pspspsps I have not played BG3 but I’d listen to you get on the soapbox about Astarion and Gale and Lae’zel. :] I love the vampire…twink(?) and hearing good things about that Gale guy and the frog(?) lady who makes my gender kinda start buzzing like a cicada <3

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN, AND HOW NOW SO SHALL I.

Seriously though, thanks for giving me an excuse to yap. As much as I am an enjoyer of fandom shipping, I am also a friendmaxxing visitorpilled individual and while I'm a strong proponent of pretty much every Baldur's Gate 3 Origin character being friends to some degree, I have my favourites, and Lae'zel, Gale, and Astarion are a trio I find particularly compelling. Maybe just because my first playthrough I exclusively travelled with them and loved their shared dialogue. So! THE DYNAMIC (as I see it.)

This is gonna be a long post. Oops.

Gale + Astarion

The one that I like equally as a romantic and platonic venture. I'm gonna be real, I tend to like these two as an actual romantic pairing- but that's irrelevant here. I've been over the lighter reasons why I think they'd be the ultimate pompous wine aunts of the group before, but there's a bit more to it than that.

Asides from shared aesthetic and literary interests, when I say I think they like each other in a surprisingly uncomplicated way despite their personal complexities, I truly do mean it that way. I feel that Gale is the type of person Astarion could truly come to cherish as a friend, once he's in a better place personally. He's startlingly authentic, giving Astarion a space to be as well, should he wish, rather than keep up his entirely charming facade- kind to others while also being... morally flexible enough to pique Astarion's interest and to avoid making him feel like he's being monitored by someone TOO well-intentioned (because I love Astarion, but he IS a bit of a bastard and will be forever, I reckon). On Gale's front, I genuinely think a part of him would feel incredibly vindicated by having a friend in Astarion- someone who would unabashedly encourage his ambitions and wilder interests (but whom I believe would still have his best interests vaguely at heart). Obviously that can take a darker turn under some scenarios- but I like to think that Astarion's playfulness and willingness to embrace his curiosity and passion about the stranger and more... reckless side of his work could be freeing to him. Like having that one friend that finally listens to you when you say "hear me out" and only intervenes if it's a TRULY bad take. Someone he can actually be mischevious with- because Gale IS a bit of a little shit himself, when he's given the freedom to be without guilt.

Gale + Lae'zel

This is the unusual friendship that I go the hardest about. I am so normal about them and what they could mean to each other. Lae'zel is incredibly dismissive of Gale initially, as she is with most of the others- but she's incredibly soft towards him by gith standards starting from the moment he demonstrates genuine respect and curiosity towards her and her people. Assessing his physical combat skills as less-than-deal shortly after meeting him, she even goes so far as to offer to *literally* train him in gith combat tactics shortly into your journey. That is not an offer I think Lae'zel makes lightly, or out of pragmatism alone. Is it because she sees him as weak? Yes. But it's also because she sees him as capable enough to become stronger, and worth training so that he is no LONGER weak. Most githyanki would not do that for another, especially one they had not met. Lae'zel is incredibly kind and giving to the others from the get-go no matter what anyone says about her "attitude"- putting her life and the code of ethics she lives by on the ropes to help a bunch of outsiders from the very start- but she is especially so to him, someone which many of her people may have outright discarded as useless.

From there, she starts to answer some of his questions. I like to think he talks to her about Faerun in turn for every question he asks- recognizing that the earth is as alien to her as she is to it. That's a good start for any friendship, really- mutual curiosity.

And then it gets stronger, as their personal struggles are revealed. The moment Lae'zel begins to waver in her faith and her dedication to Vlaakith is right around the same moment she hotly declares Mystra a fool for "demanding that Gale place all her faith in her and giving him none in return". She defends him against a literal god, declaring him capable and part of a mighty group- a stunning turn from her initial assessment. She balks at the idea of sacrificing him when she believes so firmly that it's an unnecessary waste of a skilled man. Possibly one she now considers a friend.

They are, in many ways, similar. Groomed in different senses by gods/god-like powers that only sought to milk them for all they were worth and then discard them when convenient. Manipulators of a celestial variety- the type of people who leave you with the realization that your entire life has been wasted serving them. Both of them were even wanted for their power- Laezel for her unwavering loyalty and militant prowess, Gale for his magical ability.

So, TLDR: They have, from the beginning, connected to each other via mutual understanding. They go through shocking life changes together and find solace in finding understanding in someone whose struggle initially seemed so alien to the other. From there, I feel like they'd genuinely find more casual things to bond over as Lae'zel discovers her enjoyment of Faerun and its wonders. No one would go ham over having a friend newly excited to learn about the world than Gale "could talk at length about anything" Dekarios.

Astarion + Lae'zel

This doesn't seem right at first, right? Poncey (lovingly) vampire meets unwaveringly stoic alien warrior. Except there's something ruthless and downright STURDY about Astarion that I can see Lae'zel quietly appreciating from the beginning. She can tell that he's willing to go the distance- even if they butt heads over her revulsion concerning the tadpoles and Astarion's attempts to wheedle the group into using them for their own gain. I feel like respect is shockingly easily earned for him on her front. In turn, I feel like Astarion is quite wary of her first- but honestly? He might be vaguely assuaded by the fact that Gale, arguably the most vulnerable of them all, just seemingly wanders around chatting with her intermittently without losing any limbs or being verbally abused. He also definitely clocks right off the bat in that scheming way of his that she'd be an incredibly helpful ally to have.

Except she's not easily seduced, or swayed by charm and friendly platitudes. Instead, I think the thing Lae'zel would silently begin to appreciate about him first is the subtle ways he shows interest in the world around him- his dialogue about not remembering how much colour there was in the world, and the like. As someone who's learning to love her new surroundings bit by bit, I can see her sympathizing with his newfound adoration of the daylight and outdoors he was deprived of for so long.

Later, she wholeheartedly supports Astarion's campaign to be rid of Cazador, and he even gleefully states "good for her" when she decides to turn her back on Vlaakith- so I reckon they're another check on the front of "friends bonding over overthrowing those who have been unrighteously in charge of them for so long". The circumstances are highly different, but the sentiment is shared: fuck that guy, I won't be their puppet anymore.

Finally, in the ending where Lae'zel chooses to stay on Faerun and forge her own fate exploring a new world, I can see her and Astarion working together- both enjoying their newfound freedom from cause and control and absorbing all the joys of a *functionally* new world for the both of them. With the aid of their far more local wizard friend who's less prone to the battlefield, of course. I can see them teaming up for a glorious adventure or two easily. Battle buddies, and the like.

Hmm I get your point now about the "Zack feelings" I really do, so thank you for this! But personally I don't equate it as soldier cloud having feelings 'himself' but that it's just as way to force him to go farther away from tifa. Which we literally have to do in the game, to get her affection stats up. Also, to place that in is to also amplify that CA is never a thing that has it's own entity, it's all built by the illusion of ZA, which aerith is suffering from as well. Only idiots which they are, will be happy for such a lie, and at that point it's easier to just show zack and be done with it. I really don't get the appeal of it, because we have telenovelas where, for example a heart transplant is made and you fell in love with the one who the original owner loves but you love someone else already. In the end, the mc just forces himself to see what's real and like servers his ties with the owner's underlying wishes had he lived. He is not this person and he is only in love with his first love. Aka not real.

You see I'm trying to wrap my head around her resolution scene about something not being real. And I did find a cloti who insisted, that soldier cloud is incapable of falling in love because his affections, his ability to love is locked within the lifestream, that is for tifa only. Now, so whatever romantic feelings he may have, any sort of "falling in love" feeling he may have for her, is not love , but just 'attraction'. So it isn't real. But this is where it becomes weird to me. So soldier cloud cannot love but he can feel attraction? So this is him feeling attraction for aerith... While shamelessly pinning for tifa at the same time? I assume this is for the fans who want to get her hence the "even IF" and not "even THOUGH" because not everyone will favor her after all in they playthrough. But it gives precedent that if jenova, us the players favoured her.. that would mean soldier cloud is capable of being attracted to her in his soldier cloud way without the interference of 'zack', hence still felt by his own feelings but not to the extent of real cloud's?

This doesn't make sense to me because in part 1, it's very evident that he is not attracted to aerith in any shape or form. But it is built up that he is very much so with tifa. So the 'attraction' part just makes me go huh? In this theory. Doesn't paint him in a good light even if it's not his fault, but the player's.

I suppose im just finding a way to see if cloud, despite being forced by the player to do things, will not waver ever. After all affection points show the character chosen's affection for you, but not necessarily the mc himself.

I hope I made sense, I hope I'm not annoying. I've seen some really believe in this cloti's theory and it just sends weird vibes to me, so in short it forces me to just believe that soldier cloud is fickle in nature but this isn't real cloud anyway. Real cloud is loyal to tifa. Hmm... It would be great if this is evidently clear but still it seems as though it hints a disgusting possibility that had cloud been complete and never broken? Maybe he would be attracted to her because he did when he was broken, but it's just that tifa came first so it cannot be. I hate it, so this is why I don't like this theory I keep on seeing. I just don't see cloud have a thing for women who mess with his boundaries as shown with almost all the females in the game. Tifa is the only different one on purpose.

English isn't my first language so saying all of these across was difficult but I hope I made sense. I still think there's more that can expand on this part of soldier cloud in general though. It's pointless for me to find a direct answer for everything now anyway, so I'll just wait. I just don't want 'any implication' that aerith had a chance in any way, because Tifa deserves better than be another choice unlike how cloud is 'the one' for her alone. Strict, I know.. but I don't care.

Okay it's not that soldier Cloud has his own set of separate feelings, it's that Cloud has feelings, but some are neutered by jenova so it's like he gets a diluted version of them. There's also Sephiroth manipulating him for his own purposes, so he's under this constant state of mental assault.

Cloud loves Tifa. It's the core of his entire being. Everything he ever did was to be worthy of her in hopes that she'd fall in love with him. That core can't be removed. We see what happens in OG when Cloud loses Tifa's trust. He pretty much falls apart and goes full black cloak doing Sephiroth's bidding. That's why Seph wants to keep Cloud on edge around Tifa. The less close they are the more control he has, but jenova hates Aerith. She hates cetra because they purify the planet's energy and her goal is to rot it from the inside and use it as a ride to the next planet so she can repeat the process. That's why Aerith has to die from Jenova's pov. But Sephiroth is using Aerith to force Cloud to keep his distance from Tifa because around Aerith he is more distant from his true feelings.

At no point does Aerith stand a chance with Cloud because Cloud's true feelings for Tifa always exist, even if he can't fully reach them all the time. When he's around Tifa he becomes closer to his true self, but he won't be himself until the lifestream scene.

And here we are: the Battle of Odessen. This chapter was great: we finally get to kill Arcann, the singular goal Eight feels he was woken up for.

Eight: You sound scared, Arcann.

Uh oh. The Jadus effect is bleeding through heavily now that he's here and nothing's holding him back. This was probably the fastest I've ever beaten Arcann. Still had to use the shield gimmick, but I beat him so fast that I tanked the full force of his lightning while seconds away from death just to skip ahead to ending the battle in like, 2-4 shield smacks.

I headcanon that Eight purposely came that close to death sacrificing his life to the Dark Side so he could go for the kill.

Lana: I never doubted you.

This was supposed to be a heroic moment, but it felt so cold and empty and all their words of honor were meaningless because this was his entire purpose. The kill. The assassination. There's no feeling to it. He just did what they needed him to. And it coming from Lana only made it more bitter from my perspective, because she really did need a weapon.

It worked.

Then came the hardest part: choosing to spare or kill Arcann and Senya.

This broke my heart because I've always spared them in my other playthroughs, but Eight couldn't. If there is one singular goal he must carry out, he will do it. He was brought on board solely to kill Arcann. There was nothing else. Even if Senya was in the way....he will always kill who he was aimed at. They never told him to do anything but that; he is a weapon who will fulfill what they wished for most and in this case it was Arcann's death above all else.

Theron: Arcann wasn't alone on that shuttle, remember? Senya was with him. And you tried to shoot it down!

Theron: Guess I'm relieved you're showing some remorse.

Admin gets sadder every minute: the chapter. Theron already was onto how cold he was being from the beginning, but this was the nail in the coffin. And he yelled at him....sad noises

Eight smoothed it over by saying he didn't want to shoot Senya but had no choice, but....I think what Theron can't and won't understand and in essence, everyone else in this room besides Lana and Koth, the two people who he serves the most, is that he can only do what they pulled him on board for. He doesn't have anything else to offer besides killing.

Eight tried to make this apparent with repeated reminders as to exactly what he was and how he would not be able to make decisions as a person would, but it's nearly impossible to get that across to others who don't know what that life is like, being a Cipher who had no way out and had not changed.

He would've done it differently if they hadn't wanted an assassin; but there was no room to be anything else, and no one ever told him not to be. This was a time of war. There was still no time in which he could've been anything other than Eight.

This was why I really wish KOTFE had more moments like SoR where it felt like you were among friends, but it became so functional this time when all they could speak about were tactics and the world they wanted to return to. It also broke down the original dynamic the Rishi trio had where they could at least get over their differences and they felt as if they knew each other despite their factions.

This time, it just made apparent how vast the gap between their respective lives were with no foreseeable way to close it. To do that, you'd have to take Eight away from all this, but they need him too much for that. And so the cycle won't be broken.

I think Theron now sees the confident strength he once believed in during SoR is something far less benign when it's not following his wishes since he's not the one in charge, and now it's irrevocably stained his relationship with Eight. He sees it as remorseless now when it used to be unflappable. Undeniably Imperial. Like some sort of emotionless robot, where he used to compliment it. I don't really blame him since the Republic hardly teaches anything else, but it's just so sad to watch their friendship deteriorate.

Eight can only say yes, I am remorseless. This is who I am. Look with your eyes wide open.

This victory was so hollow. Lana became more of a master. Theron is no longer close to him because he knows no other way. And Eight...his purpose has been fulfilled. These are not friends. They will call on him when they need to use him.

I think he just wants to be alone now.

OKAY.

Finished my first playthrough a hot minute ago, but got to talking with my roommate about my thoughts and feelings, so now I'm gonna put them down here! Spoilers under the cut obviously--

What I liked:

The fight atop the brain was SO cool. Struggled with it a bit at first, but once I figured out what I had to do, it became a really fun experience! Being able to summon all of my allies was so rewarding too ❤

Orpheus' sacrifice was so utterly sad that I started crying over having to kill him despite not knowing him for too long. He chastised me when I first freed him, sure, but he was a wonderful ally and a true prince to his people. I wish there was a way to save him, but alas...

Going straight from Orpheus into Lae'zel's ending. Honestly the best ending of the origin characters, hands down. The way she earnestly tells you that she'll never forget you, her promise to make sure that none of her people will either, and the sad smile she gives before flying off on Orpheus' dragon and into the Astral Sea--presumably never to be seen again... Gods, it was beautifully bittersweet. I don't even want to imagine what would've happened had I tried to persuade her to stay. It wouldn't have felt right either way. My only complaint is that I would've loved to give her a hug. I'd even settle for a handshake or something, but oh well

Karlach and Wyll going to Avernus together really felt like a 'just married' celebration tbh. Only with more fire and bloodshed, which is honestly way cooler

What I didn't like:

I really wish there was a cinematic after you kill the Emperor during the final fight. After being used and manipulated by him for so long, you'd think there would be SOMETHING. I mean, the game is named after him for crying out loud! But nope! Just a one liner from the character that ended him and that's it

Astarion's ending was like a kick to the stomach. You spend so much time showing this man that love and joy still exists in this world and that he doesn't have to be like his abuser in order to find it and he becomes so, so grateful to you for it...but he ends up like that?? Burning in the sunlight and left running away in agony all alone?? Why didn't Tav or literally anyone else simply cover him up and shield him from the sun?? We all become friends--family, even--and yet we all presumably abandon him to a life of solitude in the darkness?? And don't even get me started how jarring it is to see THAT and then watch everyone immediately run towards Karlach when she starts dying ldkfjs

There's no celebration scene like Gale mentioned. Why couldn't we have had a nice, traditional DnD tavern moment where everyone is drinking and laughing and having a wonderful time together? Hell, we could've even had this little celebration run late into the night and Astarion shows up! It would've been so nice 😭

Lastly, where is my lovely, domestic cinematic of me and Shadowheart living happily together, surrounded by a multitude of animals big and small and colorful flowers?? WHERE IS IT, LARIAN?? WHERE???

All in all, a fantastic game. I just wish Act 3 was as fleshed out as Acts 1 and 2. I heard that we're supposed to consider the character endings as early access but idk if that's true or not.

Does it change my feelings about the endings? Not at all. Will I play the game again anyway?

DAMN STRAIGHT!!!

Super Loose Dragon age Origin OC breakdown sheet

My computer's been dead (and still kind of is) for a month after... the milk incident, so I've only had the opportunity to play through Partha, and I do want to re-run her since she was my first playthrough. All of these come with a grain of salt and a lot of opportunity to be changed Warden Partha Aeducan: True to the Dwarf Noble Origin, kings Alistair, Romances Morrigain (bi rights), and does the dark ritual. The Leader. The World's most cringefail trans girl boss princess <3. She's an incredibly strong and fierce warrior, a real shit brickhouse as far as dwarves go, but also really mentally not doing well, and she expends a lot of energy not confronting this. She's remarkably successful, it's just that she's guessing the entire time and a lot of her choices go against her own, or her friends' wishes, in the name of the "Greater Good," but what that means to her is really unclear. She is so desperate to protect everyone and save Ferelden because she knows its right, but she doubts every choice she makes and so many "good" choices cause a lot more pain. She begins her journey feeling unloved, put-upon and lost and ends her journey feeling unloved, put-upon, and lost <3. She's also batshit a little and spends a lot of time doing really risky shit in a half-hearted attempt to chase death in a very Zevran-esque way aha. She comes out of the Blight an extremely weird unsettling person, and I do spend a lot of time jumping the shark with her. She drinks that weird bottle at Solider's Peak and does The Golems of Amgarrak stuff, if that explains anything. She's a ball of knots and hard to explain quickly. Mingrin: Partha's dog. Really cool guy and good boy.

Warden Judpha: Dwarf Commoner, not Brosca, thruple with Zevran and Killian. Grew up in Dust Town and was the guardian to his niece from a young age and broke when she was murdered. He's effectively ripped apart in Ostagar, and this leaves him short an arm and a leg. His Ostagar trauma makes him entirely unwilling to face the Dark Spawn. Jud start off pretty coarse - particularly with Partha, who he bitterly refers to as "Peace-Keeper" - and he softens up over time. He learns to read and write and becomes the sort of book-keeper of the group.

Warden Killian Tabris: True to the Elf Commoner Origin, thruple with Zevran and Judpha. Killian's a little less developed than the other two, but she's also pretty prickly. She dislikes Partha and Alistair because of their highborn status. She tends to lead a secondary party. I think her story is about her growing from jaded and act-first-questions-later to a more tempered and empathetic leader, as she's left to be Commander of the Grey after Partha disappears. I think Jud and Zevran allow her to soften up and relax a bit. I think she'll probably parallel Partha in a lot of ways. She joins at the same time as Alistair. Warden (Unnamed so far) Mahariel: Likely true to Elf Dalish origin. He'll likely spend a lot of time on the side lines. He joins at the same time as Partha and, when he finds himself entirely alone at Ostagar, goes "why would i die for a bunch of people who don't give two shits about me when I can go home and help my clan??" and immediately high tails it. He comes back up when the wardens come to the Dalish and find him. He gets turned into a werewolf and at the end of it he probably choses to stay and help prepare the Clans for the Dark spawn. He isn't meant to come across as a coward, but just as someone who, rightfully, is more concerned with the immediate future of his loved ones rather than a more abstract Series of Misadventures to Maybe? Save the World. Not to mention, he's alone right off the bat and has no context on how to be a warden.

Warden Surana and Warden Cousland (also both unnammed): Both mostly true to Human Noble & Elf Circle. They're more of a MacGuffin. They're both slightly older wardens than Alistair & Killian. Warden Surana and Cousland survived Ostagar (Likely alongside Killian and Judpha) and immediately went into action. They presume the old treaties are lost with Alistair and decide to go to Soldier's Peak to try and find some sort of hope. When Civil War pressures get real, Cousland makes a plan to use his Nobility status to wed Anora and reign some things back into place. This is what sends Partha on the path to wedding Alistair to Anora. When The Party get to Soldier's Peak, Cousland has been killed and likely so has Warden Surana.

Ameira Surana: Sister to Warden Surana and another Circle Elf. Romances Alistair. She is a prodigious young mage who spent much of her life in her sister's shadow. This allowed her to get away with what she wanted in peace. I forget which exactly was the specific character issue that sent her down her path, but after her sister and Jowan bounce, she does become a practicing Blood mage. she keeps this under wraps for a while and eventually saves Judpha's life with it, so he doesn't say anything about it. She joins the party with Wynne to help the Wardens and eventually falls in love with Alistair, and it's really sweet and smooth up until Partha and Eamon make moves to wed Anora and Alistair. Alistair breaks up with Ameira to try and spare her from everything that is going on. Ameira, devastated by the last 2 years' shenanigans' like every one else, does eventually fireball-blood magic the shit out of Partha and Anora and Judpha is like "hm yeah i guess i should've said something sooner."

Zevistair and Alistair/Anora for the ship bingo! (Also hi!!!!)

OOOOH VERY INTERESTING ONES

zevistair:

this one is a Very Recent consideration/revelation for me and honestly. kinda obsessed and i wish i had been into it when i was first playing origins a couple years ago/makes me want to start a new file to Observe them more

bulleted thoughts:

i love the idea that their character arcs are sort of going in...opposite directions? if that makes sense? like despite the fact they have similar brands of tragic backstory, the actual circumstances of the tragic backstory diverge such that zev is recruited into an order that makes him distrust people and alistair is recruited into an order that, in his mind, is the only people he CAN trust, but in the game itself zev is "softening"/opening up and alistair (in more interesting characterization directions lol) is hardening/losing his naivete its So Cool

attempted murder is ? because that's more the warden than alistair but it's close enough that i think it'd be a bit for them LMAO

the specific combo of zev being super forward sexually/a bit harder to reach romantically (iirc i need to replay origins Stat) and alistair being very forward romantically but inexperienced sexually is...Very Good for ship dynamic/conflict purposes...

besides that tho they're just silly. like they both make jokes and do the hahas. what more could you want

alistair/anora:

so full disclosure i've never done a playthrough of origins (or at least not gotten to the landsmeet with a warden that had this as the plan of action) with alistair and anora co-ruling which may be coloring my opinions A Lot but i'm glad you asked about it because i've been meaning to think up a scenario that i'd want to use it for (ive kept alistair as a warden, married him myself, and had him rule alone hardened fwiw)

my ideal scenario/conception of this is absolutely a like. starts literally Zero romantic interest. probably some degree of contempt, even. but through a comical series of events they end up doing pretty much everything couples do besides really "having feelings" in such a way that they're like. ticking off boxes on the Businesslike Relationship List and Getting a Good Grade in Marriage. like ok honey great work out there today. we had a functional discussion about what dishware we want to purchase, planned our next ten years of children, and practiced a polite amount of public affection while negotiating with a diplomat. here's what's on the docket for tomorrow. and through that practicality they become fond for each other? sort of? idk i still think lingering contempt is a Hallmark of their vibes and what makes it work for me as a concept

i can...sort of see them developing proper romantic feelings for each other on like Year Fifteen of Marriage maybe but tbh its more a hard-earned-despite-the-circumstances-respect flavor of romance like. you are a Stable Feature in my life. and not so much "storybook" romance which tbh would be really interesting for a character like alistair to have to work through considering How He Is in his warden romance (and iirc you Have to harden him to even do this so itd be...neat to dovetail that with that element of his development specifically re: i have to call up the desire for romance i had before i Lost My Innocence as a mask for the public to idealize re: our marriage/rule and its legitimacy but also i do not believe in it anymore. we love a lil cognitive dissonance)

probably obvious from how i talk about it but tbh not something i "ship" LOL not even in a "they're so toxic it's fun" type of ship way...idk they are a narrative device to me. the most fun they can have is a divorce arc

tysm this was very fun!! i think i'm going to go find the mahariel save file i started a bit ago and hope i remember what i was doing bc that warden would 100% shove alistair and anora together LMFAO

fic asks!! 2, 3, 9, and 15, along with a free bingo space to share any other things about your current fic that you'd like the opportunity to ramble on <3

2. What fanfic do you wish you got more response on?

i did this one in a different ask but we have established that i Love Attention so i’ll offer another one. delilah pining after/obsessing over ripley during the whitestone years. it was compelling 2 me and it holds up.

3. What’s a fic idea that you have but haven’t written yet?

i’ve got. somany. i saw the charlie’s angels reboot alone in a theater at 11am and came out of it wanting to write about spies in love so i have notes that i no longer remember the context for but i’m still kinda Into. i have a whole zevran thing for my newest dragon age: origins playthrough. Wrex & Shepard quiet moment during the reaper war in me3. there are genuinely Too Many Critrole ideas to get into but just really quick: caleb/artagan jealousy-and-curiosity-motivated hookup during travelercon (i love when characters make the wrong choices). fjord/jester/caleb where fjord dies and caleb can see his ghost for blood pact reasons so he and jester decide to do some necromancy about it (i love when characters do necromancy). different-subclasses chroma conclave timeline au with pike and scanlan (i love making overcomplicated aus). grogleth follow-up to a fic i wrote in 2020 (this one isnt just a vague mention in an author’s note anymore i have a 4k outline for it now). there’s so many of these.

9. What’s your favorite line(s) or scene(s) that you have written?

ooooough i am um. indecisive. here’s four.

the onion spell conversation in soup on the stove:

“An onion spell,” Jester snickers, crunching her spoon through the cheesy toast that tops her bowl. “We can send it back to the rest of them, maybe they’ll leave you alone.” // “Oh, Martinet, I know you wanted me dead,” Essek offers, waving his own spoon in a very convincing surrender, “but have you considered my new spell for chopping onions? Think of what the world would lose if I were gone.”

sylvester cross at the bottom of a well in grow the roses of success:

He has performed this part in palaces and slums, on trains and in factories. Sometimes it leads to adulation. Sometimes it leads to cold stone under his back, lying in absolute darkness. // The oubliette is cold. He shivers with it, and smiles.

the artifice/artificial moment in stale taste for finer things:

She’s seen the woman out of armor before; she’s peeled back the chestpiece herself to get at wounds that defy the usual stimpak to the arm trick. This is different. She tries to put it in some kind of context, Tandi's portrait on NCR bills or some senator's wife or even Alice McLafferty in her pressed fucking suit on a hundred degree day, but she can't think her way around the tableau. The Courier is out of step with the whole damn world.

the two best lines from when you’re in trouble:

He swings like a pendulum over his doom, the grip of his sword growing slick with sweat. // Bertrand Bell is a scale that defies balance.

15: Are there words, phrases, mannerisms or scenes you tend to use a lot? 

i really really try not to repeat metaphors but i’m sure there are some that are in 90% of my fics, i just don’t notice them because i’m the one doing it lol. i definitely have a soft spot for characters overthinking things and i love a moment where you establish that the pov character is also the narrator (if that makes sense?), like with an in-character insult as part of a description. one other thing about me is i hate writing transition segments. you’re gonna get three dashes in a row and the next scene is gonna start, we’re not gonna talk about going to the door and leaving the room unless it’s Important to the Story.

this answer really got away from me but thank u so so much for the ask, as you can see i can talk about my fic. for forever.

I feel like Maki got off easy with killing Kokichi and forcing Kaito and Kokichi into a very dire and difficult situation at hand. I wanted Shuichi and others to be angry at her. She claims she wanted to change yet she was willing to get them all killed just so she can kill Kokichi. She should just say she's still a heartless assassin and just go.

It's funny - at the point when this happened in V3 on my original playthrough, I didn't have many issues with her choice. I understood it. I guess I still understand where she was coming from, but I definitely find it more questionable now than I originally did.

Looking at things from Maki's perspective at the time, here is the situation: The remaining survivors are the last known members of humanity. This was done to them against their will - they had their memories wiped and were shunted onto this massive ship in order to provide some hope for humanity to go on, but they all wished to stay on Earth and die alongside their families. Now 2/3 of them are dead in a killing game designed and executed by Kokichi, the current leader of the Remnants of Despair, who wanted to both make them feel despair and punish them for being the selected elite chosen to survive Earth's apocalypse. And after revealing the "truth" of the outside world and their current confinement to them, Kokichi abducted their close friend (and man Maki loves) Kaito, then sealed both Kaito and himself up inside a heavily fortified hangar.

In response to this, Maki decides she must rescue Kaito and kill Kokichi - both to free all of them from his Killing Game and to punish the psychotic maniac behind all this murder and torment. Which makes a lot of sense.

Obviously, her plan doesn't go well. And by the time we wind up at the trial, she's decided on Plan B: Kokichi still has to die at any cost. Not only because he caused all the horror they've been experiencing, but now, because he stole the antidote that would've saved Kaito, she can take that even further and blame Kaito's death on him, too.

But the question is, is it ok for her to let everyone else get killed in order to get Kokichi.... at which point she alone will be the last survivor of humanity?

It's an insane question, but it's an insane situation. There's a lot at play here: She wants justice/vengeance DEEPLY, and with good reason. The entire group originally intended to die on Earth anyway and is now here against their will. Maybe their eventual deaths here would be far more unpleasant than death by the meteors/virus on Earth, but if Kokichi himself is among those who has to get killed, will he really want to drag out his own demise? We can even factor in Kaito's (seeming) last words to Maki: "You have to LIVE." Maybe that makes her feel like she has an imperative to fulfill his wishes.

But, ok. Here's the real problem, if you ask me: Why does Maki think that Kokichi will continue to obey the rules he's set up? It's not like he's ever been honest or straightforward. If he's in charge, he can cheat and change the rules at any time! She's banking everything on him sticking to his original rules, and that seems pretty foolish to me. She insists at one point that he would never want to defy the rules created by his beloved Junko, but even Junko broke her own rules in DR1! Besides, just because the remaining survivors wanted to stay behind and die in the destruction of Earth doesn't mean they still agree with dying after their memories were altered.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not very upset with her about it. I can see a lot of her perspective. Unfortunately, I still think she's wrong.

All that said... there isn't a lot of evidence supporting Maki being a "heartless" assassin to begin with.

TGAAC: Adventures thoughts

So I finished game 1 last Saturday, and took a brief break from continuing so I could write a fic centered around it (won’t mention what character because ~Spoilers~), and will now continue on to game 2 starting today (albeit, I did start a little of game 2 last week but was so burned out from having marathoned Case 5, I didn’t really vibe with it so I’ll probably just start over).  Here are my, as well as my wife @morpheusdreamt ‘s (who watched parts with me) thoughts on the DGS/TGAAC 1, under the cut.  LOTS OF SPOILERS INCLUDED!  READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

The Adventure of the Great Departure - discounting the fact that it’s the first case and therefore also a super-hand-holdy tutorial, I felt this was one of the stronger first cases in the whole series.  I really enjoyed Jezaill and Hosonaga, and just Kazuma and Ryuunosuke’s dynamic as a whole, even though I knew what was coming.  My complaint about this case was that it felt way too long for a first case - which, I mean, I get in hindsight because of needing to include the right amount of development between Kazuma and Ryuunosuke to make Kazuma’s death effective and to make it more believable that Ryuunosuke takes over as the main lawyer.   But also, it wasn’t satisfying to out Jezaill as the murder (even though I know she has a role in the second game) and then come to find out she probably won’t be punished for it. This lack of satisfaction became a sort of prevailing theme for me throughout the game. The Adventure of the Unbreakable Speckled Band - again, another tutorial case that felt way too long.  I’m pretty sure I was drinking the whole time I played this case, with Sholmes being the one to drive me to do it.  As with the first case, the characters stood out for me way more than the case itself. My favorite part of this was watching the bond form between Ryuunosuke and Susato.  As much as I also like Nikolina, I found this case overall to be fairly forgettable. The Adventure of the Runaway Room  - first of all, I haven’t replayed this since completing the game (and therefor completing case 5) but I feel it’s almost necessary to do so to fully grasp this case?  Which is, after having completed the game, something I really like about this case in particular.   I thought McGilded was a fantastic character (and not just because of his resemblence to Handsome Jack :p), and I knew we’d meet Gina and Van Zieks in this case, but I was still thrilled to have it happen.   Upon first playthrough, this case was like the others, extremely frustrating in the sense that I wasn’t really getting anywhere?  That the plot wasn’t going anywhere?  I mean, at least for me, I really had no clue as to how involved McGilded was in Mr. Mason’s death, so kudos to the writers in keeping me guessing.   Overall, this felt like a filler case until you get to the end and realize, oh shit.  It’s not, is it?  And then I wished I would’ve paid more attention to some details, so it’s definitely worth a replay. The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro - But no, this is the filler case!  And I know some of the characters show up in the 2nd game, but oof.  There was very little I enjoyed about this case on an individual level, and I’m not one to get super salty about ~this is problematic~ but the consistent inclusion of joking about domestic violence made me uncomfortable.   Soseki was a fun character, but the Garridebs and Beates felt over-the-top, and, again, the fact that the attack was actually an accident just made this case feel like, ??? It made me wary of starting the 5th case.  I felt, there’s nowhere I’m going to come away from the game liking it more than “just alright”. The Adventure of the Unspeakable Story -  Let me start by just saying that this is one of my favorite cases in the entire series. So the only things I knew about this case going in was that Gina was the defendant and that Ashley was the killer, but I didn’t know anything regarding motive or his background, or Gina’s whole ordeal with McGilded. Both of their arcs spoke me to quite profoundly.  I thought Gina’s development and her fears and insecurities surrounding trust were so relateable, her self-loathing and resignation to never having anything in life go her way just because of her class.  Of her needing to look out for herself because no one else will, at least not without wanting anything in return.   Like dude, I was crying when she finally accepted Ryuunosuke’s offer to defend her. I don’t really see it brought up (and maybe I just haven’t looked hard enough) about how heavily it contrasts with Ashley’s story, of them both coming from a poor background and both clearly suffering from abandonment issues and how it’s molded them and their perspective on the world and the people in it.  I thought Ashley was so compelling, even though he starts off as a sort of caricature (which I gather was the intention).   His absolute contempt towards McGilded (and clearly at himself, by the end) was so palpable for me, and left me thinking about him and the case for days after completing it. I liked too, that for as many AA cases where the killer will be like “I’m so much ~smarter than you~”, Ashley actually does a pretty good job of backing it up, that it’s more show than tell (his making the deal with Gregson and the fact that what broke most of his testimony was the Skulkins and not things he himself said)  as it tends to be the other way around. I still want to know what went down in the bus between his dad and McGilded.  I have this terrible feeling that Mason went there to tell McGilded to leave his son alone and that he wouldn’t sell the disk.  Which would make it all worse, lol but I’m fine with that. Unless Gina undergoes some sort of terrible devolvement in the 2nd game, I can safely say that she and Ashley have become Top 10 all time AA characters for me, and that’s saying something considering how long and how deeply I’ve loved my faves from the original games. Anyway, getting back on point to the actual games and not just meta on the characters, I liked the pace that Case 5 progressed at, and how it had some expected twists and turns (like Sholmes’s appearance) that weren’t made any less enjoyable by being predictable.  And I didn’t find it terribly difficult but it was still outrageously fun (minus the stereoscope mechanic which I know is just a fucky misfortune given the game was originally designed to incorporate 3DS functions, which are obsolete on the Switch).  I just thought that Case 5 felt like everything that was right in the original series, both gameplay wise and story/character wise. Despite the fact that it hangs on a massive cliffhanger -__-  But luckily i don’t have to wait two years to play the 2nd game, lol. Maybe my opinion of this game will change after I play the 2nd game, but overall my feelings are that it’s enjoyable enough and if you like Ace Attorney, and you’re more invested in the main characters/their development you’ll like it/probably even love it.  For me, the fifth case and it tying together with the third case, specifically the affects it had Ryuu, Van Zieks, and Gina makes the rest of the game worth playing, but the rest of the cases are not as individually satisfying as many of the other cases in the AA series.   I would still recommend this, however, based on how eager it’s made me to want to play the second game opposed to just feeling like I went through all that for nothing (which is sort of my experience when I replay AJ or DD now, not that I still don’t love them).

The Pirate’s Fate - Severely Undercooked

The Pirate's Fate is a visual novel written by T.F. Wright and illustrated by Volkenfox. It's not very good. Well, I guess that gives the wrong impression. It's not completely horrible and it's not the worst visual novel I've ever played, it's just . . . a hot mess. Visual novels are primarily story based, usually with player choices leading to branching narratives and the occasional minigame thrown in. As such, writing is extremely crucial for a visual novel, and the story of The Pirate's Fate is severely undercooked.

I bought it on a whim about a year ago, intrigued by the premise. I played it a handful of times then, and a handful of times more recently to refresh my memory. The premise is, in a world of anthropormophic animals, a spice merchant by the name of Mila is rescued by the Dread Pirates, consisting of Darious, Leeko, Morgana, and later Tam-Tam, after her ship sinks. The group then rope her into their quest to find a series of enchanted coins, which have the ability to transform a person into whatever they wish.

(using images off google because I forgot to take my own)

This is a really interesting premise for a story, and one that's very suited to the branching narrative of a visual novel. The problem, however, is that this is used less to flesh out a fictional world, or put our characters in intriguing scenarios, and more so used to show of the creator's barely disguised fetish. The story's too excited to turn Mila into hulking amazon warrior or give Tam-Tam tits the size of Mt. Everest, that many of it's more interesting ideas aren't given room to breath.

To give you a better idea, during the intro, you find a coin inside a griffon's cave. Afterwards the primary antagonist, Rourkie, holds you hostage and demands you hand over the coin. You have a set of three options to choose from, and from there the story branches out. I chose the second option, which I believe was to feign compliance and then attack. My playthrough then went as follows, Morgana died, we recruited Tam-Tam, visited Circe's island, visited a beauty temple, visited haunted house isle, had an audience with the queen, met someone named Steamchaser, visited a matchmakers shop, and finally the story ended in a mysterious library. I stopped early because I realized I was about to get an ending I saw before, so my total run time was about and hour and 37 minutes. Excluding the intro, all proceeding scenes last about 11 minutes, and with the amount of stuff that happens, that's not enough to flesh anything out.

In this route, Darious feels guilty about Morgana's death. Circe then manipulates that guilt and transforms him into a bear. That alone could carry an entire story, it's a strong if tropey character arc. But after he transforms, he has a heart to heart with Mila, and that's it. All of Darious' guilt vanishes in that one scene, and then he gets possesed by a ghost later on in order to keep the plot going. A similar thing happens on other story branches as well. In one of them, Tam-Tam is transformed from a female lizard into a male rabbit, and she's just kind of cool with it. She still identifies as female, and the conversation in the scene afterward posits her views on gender and identity, and that's it. The rest of her crewmates are totally okay with this development after this one conversation, and nobody reflects on their own gender identity beyond this.

In other branches, you find a coin that allows you to go back in time and change the past. When Darious gets possessed by the ghost, you have the option to go back in time to try and prevent this from happening. If you do, Darious ends up dying instead of Morgana, who's declared herself captain. There's a scene between Morgana and Mila discussing what happened, and that's it. Morgana isn't freaked out that her crewmates come from an alternate timeline. Nobody finds this weird. Nobody wonders what happened to the original crew she had, because she clearly wasn't sailing alone. Nobody posits about what they would've done if they were using the coin. It's just 'wow! time travel exists!' and the story moves on. Again, just like with Darious' potential character arc, this could carry the entire story. There's already a shitload of movies, books, and games based around time travel, but here it's just a plot device.

The world building also suffers from this as well. New settings and characters are introduced and then hastily thrown aside to continue the story. At the beauty temple, we get a lore dump about how the religion of the island is centered around beauty and physical appearances, but we never look beyond that. We never get to look at the surrounding town or talk to anyone else except the two characters that give us the lore dump.

In one route, Leeko gets transformed into the world greatest baker, and the rest of the gang concoct a plan to use him to gain access to the queen's coins. He'll be hired as the head baker, then after gaining her trust, then the gang will kidnap her and hold her for ransom. Aside from being a stupid plan (why couldn't you sneak in and steal the coins while the queen was distracted?), we don't see Leeko meeting the queen or gaining her trust, it just skips right over to her being held for ransom. There's also multiple times where character's say things along the lines of 'We've been searching for these coins for months'. Like, no, it's been five minutes, and skipping scenes like these only make that worse.

The other major gripe I have is that characters die for no reason. In one route, Mila, Tam-Tam, and Morgana have been captured by the queen and are going to be executed. While it's not shown, Leeko is meeting up with Steamchaser, and he agrees to use his magic to help Leeko out. A similar scenario happens on multiple routes, and no matter what, Tam-Tam is executed. Why, though? Like, in this moment, it would make sense for someone to die, but from a big picture perspective, was it really necessary? I can't think of a reason why she needed to die, other than dramatic stakes, and I don't think the story would suffer if she didn't. Also, Steamchaser uses his magic like a minute after Tam-Tam is carried off, could Morgana and Mila not have stalled for time?

Again, this isn't the worst I've seen. The main cast is great, the banter Morgana and Tam-Tam give are some of my favorites. The music is good and so is the voice acting. It's interesting to see the story branch out and wonder what ending you'll get. It's interesting to see what the characters transform into. But none of this excuses the fact that the story consistently fails to properly set anything up or follow through on it.

March’s Featured Game: acai cOrner

DEVELOPER(S): moca & Mitty ENGINE: RPG Maker 2003 GENRE: RPG, Adventure, Surreal SUMMARY: acai cOrner is about Mizuki, someone who has fallen into the sewers and who happens to find their favorite electric guitar! Upon obtaining the guitar, Mizuki turns into a magical girl who must defend herself against spooky sewer creatures using the guitar's magical powers.

Download the game here! Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! *moca: Hi, I'm moca, a Starbucks barista aspiring to be a writer and game developer. I have been making RPG Maker games for about six years now, with my first two projects being a Pokémon fan-game and a Corpse Party fan-game. Those two happen to be my two favorite franchises as well! I have also created the RPG Maker game MOMOKA (IGMC 2018). I have founded a group called 'Team Shibu!' dedicated to making horror games! Our current project is a RPG Maker survival horror game named 'Katharsis'.

*Mitty: Hey there, I'm Mitty! I've been working with Moca on several games for a while now, helping with mostly graphics! Please support him, as he is very kind and hardworking!! I'm also the main developer of a game called "Marinette", so I hope you'll check that one out too, when the demo is released!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *moca: acai cOrner is an experimental spooky RPG Maker game that only uses 4 colors! You are a magical girl with a just-as-magical electric guitar that you use to fend off spooky sewer slimes and other weird enemies you find in the surreal sewer system. It's half exploration and half RPG battles. What inspired me to create acai cOrner initially was to actually get myself back into the groove of making games again. I had just recently came back from a hiatus and found myself having trouble getting back into the development of 'Katharsis'. That's when I decided to make a short, experimental game to get the juices flowing.

How long did you work on your project? *moca: acai cOrner was finished in just about under a month!

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *moca: I had always wanted to make a Yume Nikki-like game and thought this was the perfect opportunity to try. So for the more surreal parts of acai cOrner, I took inspiration from Yume Nikki and a Homestuck random planet generator. Gameplay wise though, I took inspiration from a RPG Maker game called Ghost Suburb 0! I really loved how unique it was, especially with the timer and no dialogue aspect. I knew I wanted to do something with a timer, so I tried a rogue-like approach with the gameplay.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *moca: If you played any of my previous projects, you know that acai cOrner is vastly different than anything that I have ever done. I'm so used to using words to describe the violence in my games, so when it came to making the story, I had a lot of trouble. It wasn't until I looked deeper into why people like these types of games that I had realized that people like to interpret the story on their own, guided by exploration, to enjoy these games. After that, I let loose a bit and made something more open-ended. Another challenge was the difficulty. I was the only one playtesting the game, and since I knew the game front and back, and had no trouble getting the ending. That's why when I sent out demos to friends, I was really discouraged to hear that the experience was mostly frustrating and rage quitting-inducing haha. I worked closely with their feedback and made changes accordingly to make the experience less frustrating but still difficult. *Mitty: I think I was going through a weird artblock during the development of the game, so for some of the illustrations and backdrops for each area's fights, Moca sketched out the basic idea of what it could look like, and I just put my spin on it! It made the work much easier and faster!

Did any aspects of your project change over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *moca: Well, the game was meant to be short so there wasn't room for any big changes. Sure there are a couple gameplay changes and enemy tweaks, but not anything mindblowing. I added in the idea of making four surreal worlds kinda last minute, if that counts, haha.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *moca: In the beginning, it was just me! I didn't think I was gonna need any outside help since this was supposed to be a relatively easy project to release, but the further in development I got, the more I realized the game needed pizazz. The four color limitation wasn't enough for my lack of graphical talent. That's when I contacted Mitty about helping with the games battle backdrops and sprite animations! She is also a member of Team Shibu!, but we have collabed together even before that. Her art really made the project shine and I enjoy working with them on games! *Mitty: Moca contacted me, and I wanted to help! We are working together on another game called Katharsis, so we are quite familiar with each other. I like working with other people, especially if I'm not in the lead, it releases a bit of the pressure I feel sometimes ahaha

What is the best part of developing a game? *moca: To me, it's seeing everything come together and just... working exactly the way you envisioned it. As a game developer, you section the game off into parts to make development much more organized and faster but seeing it all come together in the end. Pure bliss *chefs kiss*. *Mitty: I like a bit of everything, but currently I've been enjoying animating and spritework, as well as map assets' designs a little more than usual!

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *moca: Mm... not really! I have an idea of what the engine can do, so when I do go out of my way to player other RPG Maker games, it's usually for writing inspiration rather than gameplay inspiration. Ghost Suburb 0 is something that I accidentally stumbled upon and immediately fell in love with it the minute I played it haha. (Fun fact: the developer of Ghost Suburb 0 is apart of Team Shibu! and is in charge of monster design!)

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *moca: There is a rat in the game that is internally called 'Ratthew' who leads you into a funky room. I relate them the most. *Mitty: I relate to the land sharks the most on a spiritual level. They are pretty much confused beans, and that's very relatable.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *moca: I wish I added more random spooky events and trap rooms. But the game was also supposed to be short and I knew that if I kept adding more and more things, development was never gonna end haha.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *moca: Well, by the time this interview comes out, there should be a new update for the game. The update should include 100% custom music by a talented composer, and a nerf in difficulty. As for sequels, who knows! The next time you see acai cOrner may be in 3D.

What do you most look forward to upon finishing the game? *moca: Definitely the fan reaction! The satisfaction of seeing your work being noticed by people and actually enjoying makes me happy. It's also the relief of just... finishing something! *Mitty: For this particular project I was obviously looking forward to seeing what people said about the little animations and such ahaha! I also was curious about the reaction to the timed difficulty mechanic, I had never seen anything like that before Moca presented it to me, so I had no idea on what people's feedback would be.

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *moca: How people will handle the difficulty. The game isn't supposed to be completed on your first playthrough, but in 2-3 playthroughs. There are rooms and places that are meant to waste your time that you should ideally skip the more you play. By later playthroughs, you should be shaving time and be better. I understand that it's not handled as best I could, but I think the experience should still be challenging and hopefully fun! *Mitty: I was a little conflicted on the timed mechanic, I loved it because it's pretty original and helps set an interesting athmosphere of worry and unease, and also seems to tell a bit of the vague story; and at the same time I don't like it much because I prefer more story-driven games and the vagueness mixed with the mechanic feels different from what I'm used to playing! I think it's more of a personal taste kind of thing, it was an experimental jam game, after all!

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *moca: Take it easy! Take short breaks throughout development. And most importantly, have fun. If it's a hobby and it's making you overly stressed, just take a step back!

Question from last month's featured dev @ressurflection: What would you say is the weakest part of your game development? *moca: Procrastination. I'm so bad at sticking to my own schedule, it's something that I try to keep in check when working with a team especially.

We mods would like to thank moca & Mitty for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out acai cOrner if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum

Don’t Wanna Fight

Prompt Angst 1: “I’m leaving.” “Of course you are, that’s all you know how to do.”

Read on AO3

The air in the studio that day was tense the moment every member set foot into their practice room as usual on a Wednesday afternoon. While everyone else was busy tuning their instruments and making sure everything was set up the right way, Luke was the last one to arrive and two pairs of eyes were following him as soon as he plopped in. The only one who wasn’t looking his way and not even lifting his head to find out who was coming through the door was Alex, and there laid the origin of the problem.

This morning in school Reggie and Bobby learned from Alex that he and Luke had some kind of argument the previous evening when they were alone in the studio, long after the others left for their way home. Alex wasn’t spilling any details about the subject or why and who it started, but it was evident the discussion didn’t come to an end. At least not to an agreement. Alex seemed way to bitter to be over the conversation between him and Luke and that became more apparent as he was avoiding Luke at lunch which resulted in a hurt expression on Luke’s face and Alex spending the time in the library while Bobby and Reggie didn’t quiet know what to do or how to fix this. Not without knowing what the real problem was.

Sure, Luke was thick headed and loud and exuberant when it came to things he loved, and he could also hold onto and defend his opinions profusely, but that was nothing they learned just yesterday. It made arguing with him quite difficult, but it always ended in hugs or at least a clap on the shoulder and an apology from Luke.

But it was apparent that that didn’t occur last night and that was new. They never parted ways without speaking things out and making sure the others were okay. So, whatever happened between Alex and Luke must have been serious, and Reggie and Bobby were watching from the side-lines because not even Luke wanted to spill the beans about last night’s events while they sat at lunch. Only three instead of being four on the table.

Luke didn’t give any indication that todays practice was blown of, that’s how the four of them met again in the studio that afternoon, and Reggie and Bobby were looking for any signs in Luke’s demeanour that indicated a coming confrontation.  

In the meantime, the boy grabbed for his guitar, seeing as he was the last one to arrive, and laid the notebook in front of him. He acted like always and when he turned around to make sure his friends were ready to start, a small smile was on his face, nothing like his usual beaming grin but better than nothing Reggie supposed.  

Alex was oddly concentrated on his drums even though he could play the beat to Now or Never in his sleep and prevented his gaze to wave over to Luke, instead focusing on Reggie today who was standing in front of the kit and felt the stare on his back. It was distracting to feel that presence on his skin and one or more time his fingers weren’t gripping the strings in the right way and the wrong sound left his bass.  

After the third playthrough, Luke shifted his guitar to his back and let out a sigh while looking at Reggie. 

“What?” He asked then when Luke made no move to explain his annoyance. 

“You aren’t your best today, that’s all.”  

Luke’s irritation was rubbing off on Reggie, mixed with his anger that no one was telling him anything. It reminded him too much of his situation at home and he thought at least here, they had no secrets. “And? It’s practice, I’m allowed to make mistakes, we aren’t on stage right now.” 

“You should always give your best as if you were on stage.” Luke countered back.  

 Bobby who until now only stood by, set down his guitar and plopped down on the couch, propping his feet up instantly. “Luke, Reg was great, stop letting your frustration out on him. Why don’t we take a short break and calm down, okay?”  

Reggie was grateful for Bobby stepping in and defending him and sat down beside him, searching for soothing contact, but Luke only huffed. “Really? We have a gig this Friday, we should practice nonstop now to make sure it’s perfect till then.” 

“We will be perfect Luke, don’t worry. But it’s not helping when you go off on one of us even though it’s nothing.”  

“Nothing? It’s like you all don’t take this seriously. That gig is important, okay? When we do great, it could take us to bigger venues, which is the reason we are working our asses off for months now. I just want you in your best form, is that too much to ask for?” The way Luke was gesturing wildly with his arms meant he was working himself up, but Bobby wasn’t one to subside. 

“No, it’s not, but you could be nicer about it” He said with a stern voice to match Luke.  

Reggie was only moving his head to look at whoever currently spoke, Luke or Bobby, not really knowing what he could say to ease the tension that filled the room. His arms were crossed in front of him and his hands held onto the fabric of his flannel on either side, playing with it to calm the uneasiness that bubbled up in him.  

“I’m sorry okay? I will play better, can we just get back into practicing, please?” Came stumbling out his mouth before he could think too much about it. Maybe he should’ve gone with a joke, but none came to his mind fast enough, which was a new occurrence in itself.  

 Bobby looked at him then with a questioning look. “Reg, you don’t have to apologize, you did nothing wrong, you know that right?”  

 Deep down Reggie knew that Bobby was right, more so when he looked in Bobby’s eyes that shone with sincerity so much that Reggie had to avert his gaze until it landed on Luke who stood there with his hands on his hips.  

“Can’t believe you guys. Tell me when you two are finished flirting.” He breathed out and turned around to put down his guitar when it became apparent, they wouldn’t come around to playing soon.  

“Luke! What the hell?” Bobby stood up and walked around the coffee table in Luke’s direction. “What is going on with you? Why are you so on edge?” Laying a hand on Luke’s shoulder like they do when they want to reassure the other. “Did something happen at home? Did you and Emily-“  

“Leave it Bobby.” Luke said in a tight voice and slipped off Bobby’s hand. “I better leave.”  

“Of course you are, that’s all you know how to do.” Another voice chimed in from the back of the studio. It was Alex, who until now sat back on his stool behind the drum kit and watched the scene play out as a spectator rather than a participant. His voice was snappy and cut through the air like a knife.  

The words must cut deep too as Luke flinched and tightened his jaw from the words directed at him. All the boys knew that Luke spend more than one night sleeping here in the loft instead of home after a particular bad fight with his mum that left him too frustrated to spend the night under the same roof as her. It was a low blow from Alex and the intention was clear.  

Luke’s head snapped back to Alex and they really looked at each other for the first time today even if it was more a glare.  

“At least I know when it’s better to let it go and leave a situation that wouldn’t turn out the way I would like it to do anyways.”  

 Alex had a tight grip on his sticks and Reggie worried that they could snap any second. “But maybe you should stand up for yourself from time to time instead of letting everything happen to you.”  

 Luke was ready to say something back. The words ready on the tip of his tongue, but Bobby stopped him before he could spill them with a hand in the air. “Wowkay guys, I’ve had enough. Will somebody finally tell me what happened between you yesterday?”  

Shaking his head, he continued, “Honestly I’ve never seen you acting like this, like children. What was so bad you can’t get along for one practice?”  

He had a firm look on Luke, Alex diverted his gaze to look at the floor instead. 

“Alex wants to tell his parents.” Luke mumbled. 

Bobby furrowed his brows, not quite yet on the same page as Luke. “Huh? What does he want to tell them?”  

Alex spoke up again with newfound confidence and straight back. “I want to come out to them.”  

“That’s so dumb.” Luke whispered between breaths, barely audible but it made Alex roll his eyes.  

For a moment it was silent in the studio. Reggie was still seated on the couch, not daring to breath too loud, Luke was shaking his head at Alex’s plan, shuffling over to his guitar to play with one of the knobs, Bobby was apparently deep in thought, nibbling on his lower lip, and Alex … he was the only one who had a determined look on his face and was waiting for the others to say something.    

It was Bobby who disrupted the silence. “So, let me get this clear. You two haven’t spoken a word to each other since yesterday because Alex wants to tell his parents that he’s gay? What is your problem Luke?”  

“My problem? Our problem will be a broken Alex because he doesn’t seem to understand that his parents will never accept him. He will tell them, and they will … I don’t know, but it won’t be kind. They won’t give him the response he deserves. I- I’m not saying they will stop loving him, but we all know what their stance on people like Alex is.” Turning around to Alex he looks at him with pleading eyes.  

 “Alex, please. I wish it were different and we would live in a world where nobody cares about something like this, but we don’t, and especially people like your parents are the reason we don’t. I just can’t stand you being upset and disappointed after telling them the truth. You were so devasted after Blake found out and people started talking behind your back in school. And we didn’t even know them. But you love your parents and when they don’t have your back, I’m scared it will break you, and I can’t watch that happening.”  

 Bobby saw tears gathering in Luke’s eyes and started rubbing his back gently but looking at Alex he saw the same. Alex may try to look tougher than he is but behind that mask he was clearly hurt.  

“Alex.” Luke started again, softer this time after his initial outbreak. “I didn’t want to offend you or anything. I just wanted to protect you.”  

“You don’t have to.” Alex sighed. “It’s not your job. I know where you’re coming from, but I have to tell them. I’m not ashamed of who I am. I need them to understand why I won’t ever go on a date with Daisy from church, or take a girl to prom, or get married. I just can’t lie to them anymore. Of course, I hope that they will support me, and I also know that there is a chance they won’t. But to find that out I have to say it out loud.” Finally standing up from behind his drums, discarding his sticks, Alex came over to Luke and took a hand in his own. “And if it gets really bad, I know I have you guys. But I have to do this. For me.”  

Luke sniffled a bit and brought a hand to his eyes to stop the tears threating to fall and squeezed Alex hand to show he was good. “I don���t know why I’m crying, normally you’re the emotional one.” Luke laughed wetly and Alex smiled at him.            

“You know, I don’t know if that title really fits him anymore.” Bobby commented and tousled through Luke’s hair who swapped his hand away.           

Suddenly Reggie dived from the couch and crashed into the guys with his arms around them all, or well, as good as possible, snuggling them all closer with Alex almost in the middle.          

“Reggie? You good?” Alex breathed out with the little space he could work with, throwing a glance over to said boy.            

“I just love you guys so much. And sometimes you remind me I’m not the only dumbass in the room.”           

“Excuse me?!”            

Survey #453

“you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”

What health problems run in your family? Diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, depression, cancer, a LOT more that I'm forgetting. Where did you last have sex? I have zero memory of the last time that was, so I wouldn't know. But probably a bed? How long have you known your best friend? Since we were around 8 and 11. What’s something people criticize you the most for? That I rely on the computer too much. Are spiders scary? I mean some are, but they're also extremely fascinating animals that I really enjoy observing. Cheetos. Poofy or regular? Regular, for sure. The poofy ones get stuck in your teeth SO badly. What's your favorite music genre? Heavy metal. Be honest. What are you most afraid of? Doing nothing with my life. What's your favourite type of survey to take? The ones with really random questions that you don't see in every single one. However, I don't like "random" to where the questions are just inapplicable to almost everyone. I also enjoy questions that allow me to vent about stuff I have going on. If I'm in the right mood, deep questions are great, too. What was the last topic you read about? In detail? I don't know. What shirt do you wear the most? Besides tank tops, my Cloak "equal in our bones" Day of the Dead shirt. What's your go-to order from KFC? I don't eat at KFC. Did you have hand-me-down clothes when you were growing up? Yes. What was the last song you listened to? Well, NOW I'm obsessed with Violet Orlandi's cover of "Hotel California." I keep finding new songs that I just loop for days, man, lol. I'm still not over her "The Unforgiven" cover. Did you have long hair as a young kid? I did. How many songs do you know by the band you are listening to? I'm still listening to Violet's "Hotel California" cover, which is originally by The Eagles. I obviously know this song, as well as "Heartache Tonight." Probably more, just those are the two I know and like. What podcasts do you listen to, if any? I don't listen to any. What was your most recent binge watch? Gab Smolders' playthrough of Final Fantasy X. What’s the oldest thing currently in your house? Hell, possibly my bed frame. I don't know. If you use Snapchat, do you post to your story or send individual snaps more often? I don't have one. When was the last time you rolled your eyes? At what? Not too long ago. Mom said something that really annoyed me. Do you like mozzarella sticks? No. If you had to name one of your children after a friend, solely based on their name alone, who would you choose? Probably Alon. Everything about her is beautiful, ha ha. Have you ever watched anime porn? I can confidently say I have not... Are ladybugs cute? Yes! Would you wear something made from snake skin? Fuck no. I won't wear anything that comes from an animal. Will you leave the house without fragrance on? Yeah, idc. What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done for a significant other? In art class, I made an anatomically correct heart out of clay and put it in a shadow box along with a poem as the background. I honestly really hope Jason still has it, because I worked my ass off on it. What do you think of naming your son after the father (ex. Roy Jr.): It's not my business what other parents name their kids, but for me personally, I really don't like it. Like... give your child their own identity. It also feels kinda arrogant to me? Like are you so important that you have to force your name onto your kid? Do you like Death Cab For Cutie? I only know "I Will Follow You Into the Dark," which I adore. Do walking near or past cops make you feel uncomfortable? Yes. I just feel like I'm doing something wrong somehow. Do you think stretching (or gauging) your ears is disgusting? When they get to a certain size, to me it is. Small ones are no biggie. What piercing or body modification do you think is really gross? Oh my god, those corset piercings people get on their backs. Just... no. What would you do if your bf/gf told you they were going into the army? I'd be fucking devastated, in a hypothetical relationship where we're serious. What is the nearest gas station called? Uhhhh... I forgot lol. The second-closest though, which is almost like, RIGHT beside the other one, is Sheetz. Do you think bearded dragons are cute? omg YES!!!!!!!! What is your father’s best friend’s name? Do you know them personally? I have no idea. Ever have a dream you’re being abducted by aliens? Was it scary? No. Are you someone who tends to take a whole lot of naps? Too many, honestly. I'm just like... always tired. What is your favorite nickname you like to be called? Why do you like it? Hm. My favorite I've ever had was "Bee," which Megan called me, but I don't like others calling me that. Ever meet someone whose house has burned down spontaneously? Yes, in middle school. Why aren’t you pursuing the person you like? I kinda am. I reached out to him. What part of a person’s body do you find most attractive? Guys: shoulder blades. Girls: hips. Any friends that you’d go on a date with? Yeah. I think I want to try that with Girt and see how it goes and decide what the fuck I want. Is it cute when someone calls you babe? It's funny, I used to hate that, but now I imagine I wouldn't mind? Do you like Muse? Yeah! "Unnatural Selection" and "Psycho" are especially BANGERS. What’s your favorite flavor of jello? Strawberry. What song is stuck in your head right now? I'm bingeing the absolute fuck outta the song I mentioned earlier, ha ha. Do you have a niece or nephew? I have a lot, but only three I see regularly. Have you ever been caught doing something REAL embarrassing by your parents? idk What did you receive for Valentine’s Day? I think Mom got me a chocolate bar? When was the last time you went to a cemetery, and why were you there? I want to say this was many years ago when I went with Colleen to her church. Her stillborn brother was buried there. Have you ever owned a plant? What was it? I grew habaneros once, along with some sort of succulents from Colleen. What was the most interesting animal you have seen in the wild? I saw a mink jump into the river once when I was out fishing with Dad at our favorite spot. Were you born in the state you live in? Yep. Always lived here. What’s a smell that makes you feel ill? Dog shit. Do you like to sleep? Yes and no. I like falling asleep if it's quick, because I'm all comfy, but I also dread sleep because of my nightmares. Even with my mask, they're starting to become regular again. After last night's, I am legitimately beginning to fear something is psychologically wrong with me. Like, I cried to my mom. Do you like the smell of gasoline? Ugh, no. It gives me a headache. Have you lost contact with anyone you wish you haven’t? Many people. Did you give anyone his/her first kiss? No. Should you ever have gone to the hospital but didn’t? Vice versa? No. Who do you miss the most? Jason. What do you miss the most? Being happy. What is your birthstone? Do you have any jewelry with it? Amethyst. I have a really cute guardian angel pin with one given to me by my grandmother. What is the last dream you remember having? Last night was... awful. I remember Mom and I getting in a MASSIVE fight, and also literally yelling at my late beloved dog something about crushing his head in if he didn't stop barking. Like I mentioned earlier, I'm really scared something is really wrong with me. Have you had a church confirmation, bar/bat mitzvah, or something similar? Growing up Roman Catholic, I had a Confirmation ceremony. What was the last baby animal you saw? I wanna say a puppy on Facebook. A friend just got one.

I’m at the end of my first-ever Omega Ruby run, and I’ve honestly had a great time getting to know Hoenn. I just have to evolve some Pokemon and catch the Regis and Deoxys before I move along (I’m waiting to trade with folks to finish the Dex properly, but I can do that at any point), but I think it’s worth doing a retrospective on the characters and Pokemon I met along the way.

As a region, Hoenn is unique in that it has a LOT of water routes. You spend a large portion of the second half of the game traveling via Surf. The Azumarill in my party, Pikablue, ended the game knowing Waterfall, Surf, and Dive (it also carries Play Rough), and it was one of the most crucial members of my party for transport purposes.

When I won the Hoenn League, the team May (named ‘Hatshepsut’ in my playthrough because we love cool historical figures in this house) had with her was her evolved starter, a Blaziken named Cluck You, along with Pikablue the Azumarill, Pangaea the Groudon, Charles II the Shiftry, Friendo the Latios, and the team anchor, Bastet the overleveled Skitty. I beat Steven because Bastet dodged a Zen Headbutt from Metagross and gave me the time I needed to revive both Blaziken and Groudon in the back, and their fire moves handled the rest. Bastet went on to become the first party member to reach level 100, way ahead of everyone else. She was absolutely incredible and I love her. Her final moveset: Heal Bell (surprisingly useful, especially in Doubles), Thunder, Ice Beam, and Play Rough. She’s a Dragon Slayer.

As soon as I got my hands on the Eon Flute I started running around to check every Mirage location that came up in the hopes that it would be a Mirage Cave. I knew that was where Tynamo was, and I needed Eelektross to complete the Submas team I was building (the other nine members are in SwSh at the moment; Eelektross will hopefully someday join them). On November 30th, my persistence paid off, and I went and caught three Tynamos so I could have the entire evolutionary line in my National Dex in Pokemon HOME. As it turns out, Eelektross still hasn’t been added to HOME because Third Rail has become a vital member of my party in postgame and I love him and he loves me. (I’m just Emmet, really.) The Eon Flute is also really nice in that using it allows you to literally fly in real time over the entire region, and I prefer doing that to using Fly because it’s just so aesthetically nice. Friendo just swoops down and picks me up, and we have a nice time exploring together. It’s especially pretty at night when everything is all lit up. It’s a lovely little feature exclusive to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and it’s so great.

Character-wise, Hoenn has produced some notables. Magma and Aqua are two of the most beloved villain teams in the entire franchise, and the reboots gave them so much more personality and gave the leaders and admins some excellent updated designs. (Years ago, when the remakes were first released, my dash was filled to the brim with Hardenshipping.) I had OR, so I had Magma to contend with, and one of the single most entertaining things in the entire game is Maxie’s losing animation. It’s perfect, it suits his character so well, and it’s just really funny. Also, shout-out to the Team Magma grunt that I met in the Extremely Obvious Hideout who told me how proud he was of kicking his soda habit whilst standing next to the vending machines. I love that guy. In terms of reformation, Magma and Aqua come around very easily when they realize that they’ve had a very bad idea - they ultimately were well-intentioned but made a really horrible mistake and set out to set things right (with the player’s help, of course). It ultimately makes both teams very likeable.

In terms of other characters, not every Gym Leader from Hoenn is a complete standout, but a few are very, very popular. Flannery is a perfect time capsule of 2003 fashion and I love that so much, and I don’t think I need to say much about Wallace. He’s just Wallace. He’s so freaking entertaining. Steven is also a very popular Champion, and he plays a pretty big role in the plot, so you see a lot of him throughout the game. (He and Wallace are also a very popular ship, with Originshipping - named for the Cave of Origin which Wallace has to grant you access to - actually being referenced in Pokemon Masters on, of all days, Valentine’s Day. Make of this what you will, but I’m here for it.) The Gym Leaders all received redesigns as well, with a lot of them benefiting greatly from it - I like Roxanne’s new school uniform so much better than her old one, for example, and once again, Wallace outshines everyone with an ensemble that would go wonderfully at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. I wish we got to know the Gym Leaders a bit more as people, because they don’t get to stand out as characters as much. Galar actually did this very well by allowing us a lot of interactions with the Leaders outside the Gyms and as teammates and rivals in the Galarian Star Tournament. A big part of the reason Wallace is so popular as a Gym Leader here is that you see him outside the Gym multiple times and can even compete with him in Contests. You get to know him as a person more and not just as the eighth Gym Leader, and it makes him a much more interesting character.

In short, here’s how the League stacks up for me:

Roxanne: Benefited massively from her character redesign, which gives her a lot more personality. Would like to see her and Steven interact since they’re apparently friends, which I imagine revolves around going out and licking rocks together or whatever geologists do with their geologist friends.

Brawly: He still isn’t very distinct. He’s a surfer who trains Fighting-types, which is a bit of a subversion since you’d expect Water-types from someone like that, but nothing about him really pops for me.

Wattson: Gives off Grandpa Vibes. Wattson actually gets a lot of expository development via his work on New Mauville and Sea Mauville, where you find out he halted the projects to protect the Pokemon ecosystems in both locations. A lot of employees were angry about this and he was even investigated briefly for stopping the projects, even being called a traitor to the company (which appeared to overwork its employees and prevent them from unionizing), but it was apparently evidently clear that he did things out of environmental concerns, and the employees were able to find work on other projects elsewhere. This actually slots nicely into the themes of the game involving environmentalism and how to ensure the livelihoods of people and nature both.

Flannery: Time capsule from 2003! I was, of course, around in 2003 (I turned 14), and Flannery was at the peak of fashion back then. Flares were in, and I miss that trend so much. For that alone, she’s one of my favorite Gym Leaders in this generation, but I also appreciate that she’s shown trying to find her footing and figure out who she is instead of pretending to be someone else. There’s a certain performative aspect to being a Gym Leader, but it needs to come naturally from them and be an extension of their own personality, not be artificial. I would, however, love to know who her grandfather is. It’s still never been confirmed. (As a side note, a lot of people headcanon her to be Kabu’s niece, since he’s from Hoenn, which is cute.)

Norman: A Dad. More specifically, the player character’s dad. There’s really nothing that stands out about him except for that damn Slaking, which gives a lot of people trouble. I did, however, appreciate the conversation he had with Wally’s father as Wally and the player character departed together, because I’m actually pretty close to my own father (who I’m very similar to in many aspects). I’m 31 years old and I still get emotional every time my parents tell me they’re proud of me. Notably, Norman is the only player character father we have ever seen in Pokemon, though, which is odd.

Winona: In-game, she doesn’t feel like she has much of a personality, although she goes off on aesthetics pretty well. It just weirds me out that that’s her hair coming out from under the helmet and not wings attached to it. She could have been really cool but she gets the short end of the development stick.

Tate and Liza: The two of them intentionally playing up the ‘weird twins’ angle by completing each other’s sentences actually comes across really cutely because they’re kids. You can also run into them in the Lilycove Department Store being children and buying toys, a good reminder that they’re still very young and evidently very skilled for their ages. Battle-wise, my Azumarill knew Surf by this point so I ended things quickly because I’m into Doubles as it is and like using spread moves when I can.

Wallace: I’ve discussed him a lot above, so I don’t need to say much else, but he really is the most notable Gym Leader in the region, and not just because he’s the last one you face. He has a lot of personality and development, you meet him outside the Gym several times, his niece Lisia is also out and about in the game and the family resemblance is notable, and you find an old magazine in Sea Mauville featuring a woman on the cover who looks like Lisia - likely Wallace’s older sister, Lisia’s mother. The entire family gets more development than a lot of the other Gym Leaders in this region.

Sidney: The first member of the Elite Four you face...I’d actually like to know more about him. He seems like an interesting person, and I personally enjoy Dark-types myself so I always appreciate seeing Dark-type users not being portrayed as evil. His upbeat nature is nice, and it’s a pleasant surprise to run into him at the Battle Resort, even if he was only there to track down Steven.

Phoebe: I love how much her appearance contrasts with her Pokemon typing. She’s a Ghost-type trainer and you’d never guess that from her outfit! Her grandmother is the old woman on Mt. Pyre, which is why Phoebe has an affinity for Ghost-Types, and I’d love to see more interactions involving them together. You can run into Phoebe on Mt. Pyre after you beat the League and talk to her briefly - she was likely visiting her grandmother - but sadly she doesn’t get much development outside of that.

Glacia: An Ice-type trainer who we learn next to nothing about. Glacia is mentioned outside of the context of the Elite Four by an NPC in the Mauville Food Court who says she was slurping down ramen so intensely that she broke a sweat, but that’s all we know about her aside from that she’s originally from a different region, and she tells us that herself. Not very memorable.

Drake: Yet another Dragon trainer late in the game, and not one of the more notable ones. Lance and Clair are remembered for being cousins and for being the first Dragon trainers you really come across in the series, and later Dragon-type trainers like Iris (who becomes Champion of Unova in B2W2) and Raihan are carried by their personalities and distinct looks. Drake is just an old sea captain with Dragon-types, and he doesn’t really jump out at me much either.

Steven: A major player in the plot - one of the most active Champions we’ve had in the franchise - and a perpetually popular character. I never minded running into Steven out and about in Hoenn, even if it meant I’d have to listen to an infodump about rocks, and his Champion battle was actually fairly difficult for the team I brought in despite having two team members with Fire-type attacks to handle the Steel. As I mentioned above, it was my Skitty that made the decisive dodge to allow me to bring in the team member I needed to deliver the final blow, meaning this is now the second time in my life I’ve beaten the Champion with an unevolved house cat. (Rick Pratt the Purrloin is a vital member of my beloved Young Ones Galar Championship Team.) Overall, Steven’s a very likeable Champion, and I did enjoy the little detail of the rocks on display in his home - he has them labeled so you can see where he found them, and they’re from every region featured in the games up to that point.

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire also have the Delta Episode, which features Rayquaza (which you’re forced to catch) and a character named Zinnia, who isn’t in RSE at all and is new to ORAS. Besides being named after my favorite flower, Zinnia’s personality is actually very interesting because although she comes across as cheery it’s clear she feels the weight of a massive responsibility and that the cheeriness is covering a lot of pain. Her Whismur named Aster is evidently named after someone important to her who is no longer around, and it’s never revealed in-game who the original Aster was. Whoever Aster was, though, Zinnia misses her deeply. In a 2015 interview, Ohmori Shigeru stated that the original Aster was the person who held the position of Lorekeeper before Zinnia, but we don’t know anything more than that - a shame, really, because that makes for some interesting backstory.

Overall, I had a lovely time in Hoenn, and I’ll be moving on to Kalos in the next few weeks once I finish up this Dex business first. I just wish I got to get to know so many of the characters I’ve met a little better, but I adore the team I put together and I’m super proud of them and all they’ve accomplished.

Hello! I just want share my feelings about the ending of Remake. I'm really bothered by it, tbh. Should I even trust Nomura on directing this considering his obsession with timelines? I'm now concerned with my favorite scenes in the OG like the Under the Highwind and Cloud and Tifa in the Lifestream. 😥

Hey there Nonnie! I didn’t expect my response to be so long, so I’ve placed it under the cut. I hope this helps!

I’m gonna be honest with you, after my first watch of the ending, all I felt was pure amazement and nostalgia for the game. A little confusion, yes, but it was mostly overshadowed by the positive emotions that filled me, most especially in how satisfying it was to watch Tifa in the entire game. It was afterwards when I started to watch people’s analysis videos and saw everyone’s mixed reactions that I also grew anxious and scared of what the ending meant for the game.

It was just as Aerith said in the ending of Part 1 - how she misses the steel sky. The dull metal of the plates above the slums was always a constant, and in the constant we find comforting familiarity. There is nothing scary when you know just what you are staring at. But now the team is literally out in the open, walking under a boundless blue sky – the endless possibilities, the unknown, and it is without a doubt, frightening. Not just for the characters, but for us fans who now, after decades of knowing the story, are faced with blank pages and the ghosts of what already came to be. I also started to think of so many what ifs, so many ways to make this already complicated story even more complicated and angsty. I also felt troubled and scared, and it ruined how I had enjoyed the Remake. Also, adding timelines just somehow takes away what’s special about the game – if it didn’t workout here, it doesn’t matter because so and so could’ve happened in this timeline – and I just really am not a fan of that (no matter how much I love the best puppy boy Zack Fair).

I thought real hard about this – no way will I let the ending affect the sky-high I was on (and still am) while watching the playthroughs and rewatching all my favorite scenes. And then I came to this answer: despite all the worries stated above, there is something that I think we can all put our hopes on - the  treatment and writing of Tifa and Cloud’s relationship.

I remember in an interview, the writer, Nojima, said there were so many things he wrote for the OG that didn’t make the final product. Nojima is widely known to love Tifa’s character, as does the then character designer and now director of the remake, Nomura. We were blessed with so many Cloti scenes that weren’t in OG, from the subtle to blatant, in words of support and comfort and even more in action. NPCs were even used here and there to remind the player of how Tifa is special or important to Cloud. Their relationship is treated with so much care, referenced even when Tifa is not around in a chapter. I do believe this slowburn is the story Nojima wanted to write, maybe had already written but was watered down for technical or practical reasons in the OG.

And when Tifa said in “Alone At Last” that it’s funny how they went their separate ways and they think they wouldn’t see each other again, but here of all places they meet again?? That, to me, was Nojima writing that Tifa and Cloud would always find their way back to each other, because their fates are inextricably linked to each other. This is even fortified when Cloud decides to stay even when his job is done, all because of Tifa. 

I also strongly believe that no matter what changes the ending of Remake will be opening to, Tifa will always be the key to bringing back the real Cloud and repairing his fractured mind. She is the only one among them who grew up with him and can prove he is Cloud of Nibelheim, she is first and foremost the start of his journey when he decided to be strong enough to protect her. Cloud finds himself through her, Tifa successfully reconstructs her own memories through him, and they grow stronger together and because of each other. (Pls excuse me I’m crying at this point) Also, unearthing Cloud’s memories is the key to revealing the Nibelheim Incident, which is also Tifa’s origin story and the birth of the villain Sephiroth. This is a very important turning point and a core story element that it will be very odd to erase it. Also it has been set up that there is a metaphysical Cloud who isn’t the one we’re following in the story – the real Cloud who appears in his subconscious to support him when he falls down from Mako Reactor 5, at the start of Chapter 8.

(I also have an idea in mind about how the Lifestream scene will go if it will be altered/enhanced in the next instalment??? If in Part 2 Aerith lives, she will be the one to help open the way to the Lifestream, and as the number one supporter of Cloti she tells her something like “This is all I can do. The rest is up to you. You’re the only one who can do this.”)

Also, that iconic scene in which Tifa cries, and Cloud cannot find the words to comfort her, but embraces her instead and assures her that crying isn’t pointless? That, I think, screams “Words aren’t the only way to tell someone how you feel”. That was Highwind before the Highwind. If they already outdid themselves in the Midgar Arc where in the OG there weren’t a lot of key Cloti scenes, I think they just might take it up a notch in Part 2.

The Remake really was such a wonderful thing, and despite how the ending made me feel, I can’t help but be hopeful in the writing that has always, time and again, brought Tifa and Cloud together. Also, as Nojima said, when he wrote AC as the follow-up to the OG, he said that he knew “Tifa and Cloud would be together” in the end. Coming from the writer himself, I think the story is in the best hands.

About Nomura, I decided I will have faith in his love for Tifa to do right by her character. The only thing I wish for is for her to be treated the same way as Cloud when they encounter Sephiroth. She literally had the same journey as he did, and her life was drastically changed by the Nibelheim incident.

So there you have it, those are my thoughts about the ending, which I hope can extend some positivity your way. Sorry if this was too long!

The Story Behind Solas with Dragon Age Lead Writer Patrick Weekes - Dialogue Wheel (Part 2 of 3)

Full video: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFx1nCdZFjw&t=1s

Part one here

Time: 12:16

When it comes the characterization of a character that you’ve already been give at least some sort of name to. We know that this character is some sort of trickster god - when you were trying to develop and make him some a stand-alone character, did you ever have to rely on what the mythos already established of this particular kind of eighth-seat god that maybe a lot people hadn’t heard a lot about?

Well, I think, like we talked about before, one of the great things about the Dragon Age universe is everything that you learn in a codex entry is something that someone else heard in a story and wrote it down somewhere and you’re reading half of the book. So the good news on that is anything we wanted to do with Fen’Harel, there was so little and what was in there was already so sketchy that we had all the freedom we needed to play with him.

That turned out to be a nice thing because I think if we had someone that was completely by-the-books, already established, their character already given, it would feel like more of a letdown to write that as a character or you would have to play against type, you’d have to do something completely different to show he wasn’t just what the stories wrote about him. And, you know, in some ways that is both liberating but also disappointing to people who might have liked  the original stories. This was a fun experience of getting to fill in some of the gaps.

The only thing I think we had to struggle against is that anyone who hears “trickster” or anyone who hears “oh, he’s chaotic and unpredictable” it feels like there is a natural urge to go to “He’s Loki in the Avengers. He’s the guy who’s gonna make large grand-standing plans.” Or, you know, “He’s the Riddler, who’s gonna leave clues to test you.” We had to get away from that: “Let’s tone that back a little bit, let’s not have him be the Jack Nicholson Joker version of the Dread Wolf.”

That’s quite a quote.

You got Dorian as a large, grandiose , extravagant figure and it would have been easy to have him go that way. It was fortunate that we had Dorian as the mage who had the larger-than-life persona already to make Solas be the quiet one.

Time: 15:21

Was there ever an instance where you were really pushed with giving some indicators to the player that Solas may have some connection to this going through the gameplay? Because you do see a lot statues of Fen’Harel. There’s many instances of where you’re discussing it, you’re traveling through those lands. Where do you walk that line, how do you walk that line, or do you just completely disregard it whatsoever?

The goal we had is we wanted the very careful players, the very sensitive players, who were playing attention and watching every scene with Solas to know that something was up and to want more answers and then go to “OH MAN” as soon as the stinger after the credits rolled. But we wanted most players to just go “Oh, okay, he’s like ‘Fade nerd.’ He’s like ‘hippie guy.’”

The other thing we wanted was everyone on their second playthrough, as soon as they talked to Solas to be like “Oh, man, he’s just saying it. He just flat-out said it right there and I missed it completely the first time!” I think we called it the “inevitable in retrospect”- or the “slap the forehead on the second playthrough” style of writing, where we wanted people to see that the most interesting thing about the trickster god is he’s not actually that great of a liar - He is almost telling you a lot of the time. And, you know, some of the tragedy is it that you never had the chance to actually ask, “Wait -are you Fen’harel?”

Time: 17:13

We talked about leaving breadcrumbs, what that meant. Now the big turn, the big scene at the ending:  How did this come about, were you really involved in that sort of process and are you happy with it?

Oh, I’m absolutely happy with it. It went through several iterations,. Mike was hugely involved. The writing was definitely done by Dave; it was a huge crit path moment. He had me give a look at the Solas voice, I think I looked at it, I don’t think I actually changed a single word in the final one.

We had versions where after the main plot it was actually going to be a full plot where you the player went and were actually present when Solas confronts Mythal. We had a part where we said, “Wow that’s too big, a lot of players are gonna miss that, we’ll make it a DLC.” So it was gonna be a separate DLC where that happened. At one point we said “No, this is too big, we actually - let’s cut it and address it next game.” So it was going to be this thing that we pushed off into some future content.

I am really happy with what we went with, because, I think, you know, for my money, that short, little Marvel-style, after-the-credits stinger is what we needed. We needed something so that everyone who was paying attention and everyone who was really invested could go “oh my god!” And go, “Okay, so, just in case you were wondering, we’re not done, we have more stories to tell, and we are confident enough in what we are doing that we are willing to throw that ball.” That stinger is essentially us throwing a football to future us, trusting that we are going to catch it. Because, you know, at the end, we had that level of confidence. We felt that we had that level of confidence, we felt we made a really good game. Dave led an amazing team of writers, and I’m really touched that he has the confidence to believe that I’ll be able to carry that on for him.

Time: 19:49

When we spoke to Dave, one of the big moments that he mentioned, was when he created kind of a long-term idea for what’s going to happen in the Dragon Age universe. And to hear him say it, he mentioned that what he originally wanted for Dragon Age: Inquisition couldn’t happen - it was far too big - it wouldn’t work. And you guys had talked about  taking that concept, finishing Inquisition somewhere in the middle of that concept arc, and then using at least an influence or something like that to affect the franchise going forward.  Speaking with you now, as someone who has taken up the reins, do you know what I’m talking about? Am I talking crazy? Where do you see it going?

Um…

Reasonably - of what you can say on this.

So here’s the last scene of the next game… (laughs). I think there’s an extent to which no plan really survives contact with the audience when it comes to video games. We look at how fans react, we look at what hit, what rang true with everyone. You know, it’s funny, having people react angrily actually isn’t as bad as having people ignore things sometimes. Having people react angrily  means they were definitely emotionally engaged, so you know you hit something there. Whereas having fans go, “I don’t know, fine, I guess, whatever” and move on means, “Okay, I don’t know if that’s what we want to go back to. We didn’t actually get anything from them there, they didn’t actually remember that later.” So that’s a phase that comes after every game we ship. We look at what hit, what missed, and where we want to go from there.

Now that said, Dave’s future plan is, I think, fantastic, epic, and heartbreaking. Our plan is to use that as our starting point. To look at where we want to go, what we want to do, and it will not be - and I, you know, Dave and I have talked about this - it will not be the story that Dave would tell if he were still here as lead writer. Because it could never be that. We can get into that when we talk about Cole a little bit, but if I tried to do that I would just be doing a bad impersonation of Dave Gaider and no one is ever going to be as good at that as Dave is. My goal going forward is to, as lead, put my own spin on that process, put my own spin on the plots going forward, on the thematic elements, while keeping those same thematic elements that we had. Because, I think, what Dave has set in motion in three games, countless DLCs and expansions, is something that can endure: The idea that no choice is ever really that easy and that the great events always stem from human-understandable motivations.

So, that is where I think where we are going to go, as vaguely as I can say.

Time: 23:30

Speaking of specifically to Solas: His continuation of the story. Adding that little “Marvel moment” at the end - what do you think that did for the crit path and the overall arc of the story that players experienced in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Do you think they would have been more satisfied if there was  a DLC or is that just us gamers complaining because we can’t get everything we want right away?

Well, I think you want to leave people wanting more. “Man I wish you guys had done more” is a better problem to have than “Man I wish you guys had done less.” So, I think, looking at it from inside the studio, we didn’t have the resources to do much more than we did. So it was never going to be the big moment right then anyway. From my perspective, the reason I’m really happy we have it is, like I said, I thought it was a vote of confidence. The team is still the Dragon Age team and it is still the writers and designers who did everything else, who made such wonderful characters and were responsible for such fantastic plots.

Time 25:10

Well, again, looking at that in its completion, it’s good to see that even a character that needed to give you a stinger in your estimation didn’t take away, I guess, from the overall story you were trying to tell.

Well, thank you. Yeah it was obviously the moment we were building toward, but again, the goal was even if we didn’t have that stringer, he was still an interesting enough character that people would have not felt cheated that he was in the party.

Part 3