happy anniversary to rain world becoming my favorite game ever since 2017 and still being on top :)

Can’t stop thinking about that part in the Alan Wake dlc that’s—

Alan: did you create me?

Zane: no im not the writer of your story

Alan: what was with the page you wrote about my childhood then

Zane: uhhhhhh oh man bad reception got to go bye! [disappears]

I‘m in the underworld and kassandra is hella sick and tired of everything at this point as she should

Just finished Resident Evil 7 and 8 (haven't done 8's dlc yet tho). Man, Ethan Winters desperately just wants to be a normal sitcom himbo dad but the world just fucking laughs at him and refuses to let him be. This man could never get a break and it's genuinely everyone's fault but his own.

how to make your writing be remembered forever and possibly be well loved.

(incredibly stupid and silly fanfiction line at the end of this post) I know that title is incredibly daunting but listen, its very simple. you ready?

MAKE STRONG CHARACTERS

"but kat! surely its not that simple! " nononono listen. bear with me. I want you to think of your favorite thing. Now ask: what do you remember the most about the thing you love? I will go first:

I love team fortress 2. and guess what: this game has been around since 2007, and was in development hell since before I was even born. The game has been around for 16 fucking years. And guess what? in the strong year of 2023 team fortress 2 Is STILL getting memed about. and do you want to know the crazy part? the character designs to the naked eye are not special at all. ok sure from a designer standpoint, these are very well designed characters made so that you can easily tell who they are based on their silhouette. but from the average joe.... tf2 is iconic but overall it looks ok. it doesn't seem special to a stranger to tf2. look at this completely random and arbitrary example of a game in the same genre:

I don't know shit about the characters in overwatch. Yeah i have a BASIC idea on what their personality is like based on voice lines and some videos i guess... but in-game they just exist. these characters are brightly colored, they have beautiful unique designs, hell they have even more diversity such as robots and people from other cultures! but i don't remember shit about these characters. Maybe I remember the ice lady and tracer, but nothing else. and yeah part of overwatch struggling right now is incompetant development, BUT: The characters in team fortress 2 are SO remember-able because the characters have such a vibrant personality. I am an orange box owner, its been a decade and a half and I am still remembering this game and enjoying art about it.

"but kat! that is a comedy game! Overwatch is a very serious game! are you saying comedy is needed to make a character more noticeable?" no. though I think allowing your characters to lighten up every now and then would humanize them. Not full on goofy, just give them something that makes them likeable. and if you cant do that, you can STILL make a compelling character even though they are mostly seriousness. I have an even more awfully thought out example:

kung fu panda is a masterclass in making a serious comedic movie somehow work. Master Oogway.... he isn't a comedic character at all. Yeah we made memes about him, but ignoring that, he is a wise and resourceful person. He is at calm and has faith in this intuition. there are a lot of characters like this. What makes Oogway stand out is that he is also a little bit kooky and sassy.

this youtube clip sums up what I mean. It is a funny line, it fits the character, and It doesn't ruin the seriousness of the moment. Some of the most successful series in history have something about them that has appealed to people. In my opinion: characters with strong personality and interesting traits is always a good way to ensure your writing is successful. The second most important is the characters bouncing off of each other in terms of their chemistry with each other. There is a reason why I spent years playing the first Destiny game and all of the DLC, but I remember fuck all about the characters. I think I maybe remember the bootleg star lord robot guy.

A writing exercise

here is an exercise to get you in the spirit of character making. step 1- get a random character from a random bit of media. In this case let me bring you master Oogway. Step 2- Get a completely different character from a completely unrelated series. I am going to give you Scout from team fortress 2. step 3- write a random ass thing about them interacting. Think about how the characters would react to each other and why. Think about each characters values in life and think about how they would bond and conflict with each other. Think about characters similar to the character they met in the past and how they reacted then, and if they have never interacted, make something interesting with it. Step 4- keep experimenting. Once you get into the spirit you can apply this to any new character you could want to make anyways thats it byeee- "arent you going to do that ?" do what? "make a writing thing about oogway and scout. " ........

Scout: let's go turtle you got nothing on my speed- Oogway: The one who first resorts to violence shows that he has no more arguments. Scout: that sounds like chicken talk! come on tough guy let me have it- Oogway then proceeds to make scout eat shit before vanishing in a cloud of cherry blossoms and dust from the desert. If this post isn't popular I want you to know my dignity was lost for nothing.

My ScarVio Jacq Crack Theory

i have to get this out because i feel insane that no one else seems to be headcanoning/thinking about this except two people, but i feel like jacq is definitely either up to something nefarious or has some sort of relevancy to the upcoming DLC and/or the hexagon pokémon from the scarlet/violet book

- he was marketed as almost a main character, one of the first few characters whose design was revealed and almost implied to be like a relevant character but in-game he is none pizza. nothing burger. go girl, give us nothing! he barely has any lines outside of his classes

- in relevance to that, he’s the only teacher that you can’t bond with. you can even bond with miriam and she doesn’t even teach a class. what’s up with THAT jacq

- his face during battle when he plays up the whole clumsy, sort of inept teacher vibe....excuse me? were you faking being a klutz for clout? (also his ace is farigiraf, the evolution of a two-faced pokémon...just saying)

- why does he have a beast ball he gives you for completing the dex...where did this come from? why do you have that? How'd you get that?

- the fact he doesn’t comment at all or express any sort of surprise about the paradox pokémon in your dex and is just extremely excited for research to study? aren’t you curious about what the hell those things are, when most people think the scarlet/violet book is complete bogus?

- as above, part of what i believe to be the case here, is the fact that in my opinion, jacq seems to imply that he worked with the professor and clavell in area zero. it’s stated by raifort in history class 6 that clavell and the professor are rumoured to have work together

and then jacq states in biology class 3 that he and clavell used to be fellow researchers “at the same facility” when we know that clavell and the professor were also coworkers, and it’s implied that the professor at least had a small team of people (and based on what raifort says, the identities of the people who were working together with the professor aren’t publicly known). and IF this is in fact the case, why does he have absolutely nothing to say about arven OR the professor? if he was acquainted with both clavell and the professor at this time, he’d surely know about arven, and is seemingly willfully ignoring his existence, as well as the death of a former supposed colleague

- his glasses are shaped like hexagons, something hassel goes out of his way to make note of in art class 3

which stands out to me given how prevalent the shape is, coming up over and over again. the exact shape covering the walls of time machine, and also the specific shape described of the pokémon from the book, comprised of hexagons. it is also the shape they repeatedly used in designs for the area zero expedition, present on the zero gate among other places

now listen, this is not a bad thing, in fact i would love if jacq was evil (or at least relevant) because then he wouldn’t be a complete nothing of a character who just gives you a shiny charm and then fucks off forever. and i do think raifort (even if she is my wife whomst i love so so so much) and geeta are a bit suspicious as well BUT

— WIP WHENEVER

tagged by @cassietrn and @socially-awkward-skeleton thank you lovelies! 💕

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My brain has been mostly fried the past couple weeks, but I managed to play Phantom Liberty and really enjoyed it so Vaune is getting more attention from me finally (major spoilers for the DLC!)

The shadows casted from the low light of the monitor in the back of the van only accentuated how gaunt So Mi’s features had become as she slumped wearily against the front seat. She looked ghoulish — like just another ghost that took up space in Vaune’s already crowded head. She swallowed a lump in her throat, gripped by mounting fear that the netrunner wouldn’t make it down the block, much less all the way to the spaceport and into a shuttle. The merc quickly ran through all of her options when So Mi shuddered. 

“V?” 

Vaune placed a steady hand on her knee. “Yeah?”

“I don’t wanna die,” she whimpered with a fear so deep it sounded more akin to sorrow. Even with the booster, So Mi started to fade. Her next plea came out slow and slurred. “Can’t help but regret… I just… Help me.” 

At the back of Vaune’s mind, she had the thought that those words may just be the most genuine ones So Mi has said to her thus far.

And then it clicked. 

One and only one, So Mi had said.

Vaune didn’t know exactly how yet, but she suddenly became struck with the certainty that there was no cure. Not for her, at least. After Reed’s warnings, So Mi’s insistence, the desperation of someone who had nothing left to lose at death’s door, it became crystal clear in Vaune’s mind. 

She had been played by them all in one way or another. Myers, Reed, now So Mi. She had to be Night City’s biggest fucking fool. What a goddamn mess. 

“Fuck, V,” Johnny’s voice echoed in her mind as he flickered into existence in the passenger seat. Vaune didn’t need to see his expression to know how conflicted he felt about the situation — she was at a loss, herself. “What are you gonna do?”

The merc couldn’t say she felt surprised. A huge part of her had been waiting for the other shoe to drop this entire time. Dead end after dead end after dead end. Why would this be any different? She should be angry with So Mi. She should call Reed and end this whole thing right here and now. 

But Vaune looked at this terrified young woman who had lost everything, dying in the back of a van from corrupted tech, and saw nothing but a mirror. Vaune couldn’t bring herself to hate her. And she certainly couldn’t bring herself to completely abandon her, not this late in the game. Vaune had been hired to do a job. She was going to follow through. 

Someone should get to live. 

She reached out, gently took So Mi’s face in her hands and told her what she desperately longs to hear herself from the lips of someone who actually means it. “You’re not gonna die.”

So Mi weakly leaned into her touch, but her features twisted in more hopeless agony. “You’re a good person, V,” she said with obvious regret. 

Vaune gritted her teeth as her face fell. All of the people she’s unintentionally gotten killed or hurt would probably beg to differ. In all likelihood, it’ll end the exact same for So Mi, too. It always seemed to go that way whenever she tried to do the right thing. 

“Hang tight,” Vaune said, giving her shoulder an encouraging pat. She pulled away and climbed into the driver’s seat, ignoring the apparition’s hard stare beside her. “I’m gonna get you where you need to go.”

I said I was done, but this still is on my mind and I lied.

Here's me bashing the mish mash of conflicting lore together in speculation on how Bhaalspawn work for my own "fuck you collective of official gibberish, this is my take on it" canon (again, BG2 spoilers):

I have settled on extraplanar outsider rather than native (despite the majority being born to humanoid parents). As outsiders their bodies and souls and intrinsically tied together in a way humanoids' aren't. If they die outside of the plane of Gehenna then their body dissolves and they return to that plane; if they die on the plane the rules are that "To die in this place is to cease to exist," as Irenicus helpfully put it. He's still around afterwards, so I assume he's referring to Charname (Gorion's Ward) specifically. Should the soul somehow depart to the Lower Planes without the living body, the body might follow it there (I think the body dies? I was never terribly clear on the exact details of what happened in that part of BG2...)

When Sarevok died, his body and soul dissolved and returned to the Throne of Blood, where he/his independent part of Bhaal's essence was absorbed into the "pool" of collected Bhaalspawn souls/essence. "Echoes" of dead Bhaalspawns' personalities exist within Bhaal/the collective, much as the mortal mage Midnight is an echo within the goddess Mystra, and sometimes they can be separated back into independent beings if a portion of Bhaal's essence is granted to that echo allowing them to reform a physical body and live again.

Sarevok was able to reform because he was given a fragment of Bhaal's essence (independent from the whole) - not enough to restore him to true demigodhood, but enough to materialise a physical body.

(There is... an interesting way to interpret the Dark Urge's creation here, where they're one of the original Bhaalspawn reborn - although it's not one I personally plan to use. Also the fact that they're apparently born from Bhaal's dead physical body, not the pool of essence, implies something strange happened, regardless.)

I'm not sure where Bhaalspawn stand when it comes to souls; judging by Bhaal complaining that Charname is "strange amongst their kin" because their soul has independence, they're not supposed to have one inherently separate from Bhaal's essence, that independence is just a quirk (Charname was explicitly a special prophecy child, they're the exception to the rules). Bhaalspawn can have the divine essence/their soul extracted from them and still physically exist, although it will eventually kill them. Their bodies are also considered part of Bhaal, he is described as existing in "the very fibre of their being[s]." Even after supposedly ceasing to be Bhaal's children, both Sarevok and Durge are explicitly stated to still carry Bhaal's essence in their bodies and will pass it on to any offspring they have. As 5e lore has retconned the possibility of having Bhaal's essence totally cleansed from a Bhaalspawn, rendering them pure mortal, I am rolling with that one and ignoring the mortal ending (I always go for the god endings anyway). Bhaalspawn remain what they are always. As I like them.

It does seem like their body, soul and Bhaal's essence are one big chunk, instead of the usual division of body and soul seen in full mortals. As he says: "he is [them]"; their "whole being is borrowed"; etc.

Which leaves the question of "Withers what the fuck did you do. What are you planning??" in regards to Durge being resurrected. I have no idea, but I didn't play the special snowflake demigod to have my special snowflake status stripped from me, so I'm clinging to "Durge is still a quasi-deity, and you cannot pry that from my cold, dead hands." Larian can even release a DLC or BG4 that tells me otherwise; I will ignore it.

"BG3-" Larian has left out, changed or ignored/forgotten a load of stuff about how Bhaalspawn work in their story (which is their right, it's DM fiat). There should be no "Little Brother Toop's" corpse on display on the hall of wonders because he shouldn't have a corpse. I'm blaming the tadpole, ignoring it and moving on.

Imoen is disqualified as an aberration; her thing is purely game mechanics not matching the lore that was established before they retconned her into a Bhaalspawn. Doesn't count.

We are not in Larian's house for this interpretation, just as they are not in Bioware's; we are in mine now and I'm ill and grumpy.

I really truly do mean this in the nicest way possible, but a whole petition (to a studio that has already offered giant and numerous free updates to an already giant game) feels a little… strange, I don’t know.

Fan content exists for a reason, and yeah it’s usually nice to be “validated” by canon in some respect.. but it’s totally unnecessary. This all feels kind of entitled and a little embarrassing.. There’s nothing wrong at all with just making the content you want instead of demanding time/effort/resources dedicated towards content tailored to you specifically.

No offense and none taken, anon, but I think you misunderstand what we're trying to do. First of all and most importantly, we don't demand a thing. We ask politely and make Larian aware that there is a large number of people who would enjoy a Raphael romance. Since we can assume they are still working on the game, add content (as they did recently with patch 5), finish the things that aren't round yet, and so on and so on, it is helpful for them - or so I imagine - to know what their fans would enjoy. So far Larian wasn't even contacted. I merely ask people on tumblr, and twitter, and discord who of them would like to have a Raphael romance in the game (or more scenes with him in general). A petition is simply the easiest way to name a sound number of truly interested individuals who actively said "This is what we wish for". instead of just vaguely gesturing towards some likes and comments underneath a random post. Larian will know: There is a group of people out there very willing to pay for a DLC of this very kind. Yes, pay. And that's the next point: We don't want anything for free. If you take another look into my planned letter to Larian (it's not the final version of it yet, just something to show around so people know what they are signing up for), you'll see that I added that we offer to pay for this romance if they implement it as DLC or in similar ways. We even would agree to pay the full game price again for it. I doubt Larian will truly decide on the full game price for it, but we let them know that of course well-written content and their amazing work needs to be compensated appropriately (and beyond - since it's a bonus we hope for and we are aware). No, nothing of this is the slightest bit embarrassing, entitled, or even uncommon. Larian asked for the input of their fans right from the start. They added the Halsin romance because people asked for it. They added Haarlep because people asked for this sort of content. They changed Wyll because apparently several people asked for it too (I'm personally not a fan of those specific changes for Wyll but that's not the point here). Larian is used to feedback of this sort, Larian actively wants feedback of this sort. And if they don't like our submission, they can do something very easy, costing neither time nor effort: Ignore it. I'm not going to send this in any inappropriate ways, I'll at them on twitter, maybe send it in their forum, and/or write an email to an official account meant for this sort of suggestion. This petition will be a mere addition to the letter to show them: No, I'm not a single fan with this wish, we are a large group. Larian won't think "Why don't they create fan content instead?", they will think "Is this group of people big enough to make enough money with this DLC the effort is worth it?" And maybe "How much of it is a good idea to implement to make our game even more enjoyable for our fans?" - As they did from the very beginning.

do u have any game recommendations that have character creation? besides bg3 ofc

gonna be real i wouldnt recommend bg3 for a character creation game because you can only use preset faces ...... bro but if you mean it in an oc way......

i would recommend.............

heavily modded skyrim, if you don't wanna do it yourself use wabbajack, some of the modlists on there are designed for graphics or high end systems and have very pretty characters. there's also ones not like that with rougher characters or more vanilla characters. lots of choice! do not get into the community though, this is a warning

following on from that, any elder scrolls game - morrowind is the best and one of my all time favourite games

you can follow on from that with fallout if you like the setting. i recommend fallout 1 and 2 the most as i'm not the hugest fan of bethesdas fallout but that is not a common opinion that be a hot take

heavily modded final fantasy xiv, you can fully mod on the free trial version as far as i know - be warned this is an extremely slippery slope because it has a modding community to rival skyrim and many customisation mods are paid for however there are ways around that. anyway you can get mods from here, here and here as well as the nexus

elden ring, dark souls 3 - the other dark souls but those character creations look like dogshit ass but still fun to make ocs in imo.. demon souls if you own a ps5....... i do not

pillars of eternity, tyranny, while visually quite limiting the character creators are still very neat from a roleplay pov - tyrannys has a lil "post character creation" game you get to play where you make "post game" choices and i uh, used to play that all the time for fun without intent to keep playing.....

a good follow up to that would be dragon age, all three of them but specially origins, i used to play the origins and not continue the rest of the game for fun! now be warned all of these games suck terrible dick in terms of modding because it's awkward and annoying and easily broken! i recently replayed dao and dai and so much of that time was spent troubleshooting...... joyous

have to kind of mention mass effect after? but ur kind of always making the same character..... ive always struggled with mass effect personally. maybe its the setting?

you can also look at starfield since that's got actually a pretty decent cc but i did find it quite limiting. but i've not really played it for more than an hour cuz bg3 exists so i can't say much

back to crpgs, the two pathfinder games! again limiting on the character side but roleplay side very very strong. i've not played wotr but i have mutuals who act like it is gods gift to gaming and i believe them. i really liked the first!

the outer worlds could be a good choice, i really like that games aesthetic but it's another space game and i think we're seeing a pattern that i'm just not that into those. hm. it was bethesda style gaming in space before starfield exists with the personality of fallout, kind of ?

this ones going far out there but crusader kings iii has an insane character creation and my favourite ruler ever was this old witch woman cannibal who slowly but surely turned her whole corner of the globe into a witch worshipping cannibal cult. i miss her

age of wonders 4 has a really cool cc, you can even make dragons with the dlc like Actual dragons.... i have made so many characters in there and gave them their funny little lores.. age of wonders has real cool lore and it is Completely ignored by tumblr afaik and that sucks

encased is a really cool rpg it's another sci-fi-y one.. it isn't as polished as you might expect cuz it's a very ambitious game but a small indie studio but i would say if you enjoy fallout 1 + 2 you will enjoy encased

dragons dogma! you get to make two people in this just like in bg3! i made a lil girl and her big brother and i was so fucking emotional over them that i was crying constantly even when nothing was going on. i played dragons dogma to fucking death on the ps3 and i think its interesting and rich enough to sink ur teeth into

i have to mention greedfall as the owner of the greedfall url.... greedfall is very interesting as its a double A title akin to a dragon age game.. it might make one feel a tad uncomfortable because it comes across as colonialism the rpg but it does get very interesting and it has neat as hell characters and magic and big monsters who fuck hard

wasteland 3! kinda again has the fallout type of vibe it is violent and full of dark themes and twisted themes but its also extremely comical its true black humour at times and you get to make two characters again and you can even make TWO MORE CHARACTERS so i had a bunch of custom characters.. u can get really wild in the cc as well and builds are SUPER fun....... v good game

spellforce 3!!!!! i love this game, the cc is again like another crpg one but spellforce 3 has very deep lore spanning many games .. its not typical crpg in that its also like a strategy war game too but i think it does the mixture very well and i LOVEEEEEEEE the lore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

uh i forgot to mention divinity original sin 1/2 because .. bg3 should lead you right there but uh. play them both! the first is so good in coop i feel cuz of the natural banter between the protagonists. if you don't have friend the second is very good single player just. be warned i don't think it has good endings but the ride is worth it!! and divinity lore fucks hard. i also recommend divinity dragon commander because its so much fun

can i say stardew valley? mayhaps sun haven too? if ur crazy like me you can turn these into prime oc generators. also mods

oh, monster hunter world and by extension wild hearts. monster hunter world lets you make a cat and while ur character themselves doesn't get to do much story wise i did get very obsessed with my character and wanting them fight cool monsters. wild hearts is similar though your character does feel a bit more special- be warned this game is known for running like ass on most systems, its pretty good for me but be warned all the same

TEEHEES.... KENSHI!!!!!!!!!!!! i was holding back on mentioning kenshi but i can't. you can make a whole fucked up lil squad if u want. u got weird alien races. u got a billion fucking mods. u can have ur buddies limps removed and give them robot ones. u can make an army of weirdos. bro i got so invested in my kenshi squad i was writing FANFIC. i was dreaming of them. i was unable to sleep about them. i miss them so fucking much dude!! kenshi doesnt really have a story beyond what u make it. that shit is a SANDBOX.. and i love it so much. everyone should play kenshi. its kinda like rimworld if u want a comparison. i think its Perfect. the best game to exist ever (lie) its so wonderful....... man........its also broken as shit cuz its the most ambitious game to exist ever and it was made by 1 dude so

oh if u like anime games i have to mention code vein (souls like) and god eater (monster hunter like ?) they have very good ccs and i know people super into the lore and stuff. i only played code vein and i liked it a lot honestly

uhhh i mentioned 1 mmo so i should probably mention guild wars 2, the cc is very good, the whole games end game is about fashion and looking amazing. the lore is also super duper neat! i haven't played it for a long time now but i did play it on launch and i had a blast for a few years

if you like d&d i would recommend solasta! it has a very good cc i think honestly and it feels the most like this is d&d in a video game out of every game i've ever played, and it translates the system very and faithfully (as opposed to say bg3 who changed things for game reasons). solasta is also best with friends because its so in that vibe of this is a silly lil d&d party. its much fun

lol i got the block text limit popup

kotor 1 and 2, it might be hard to get into the lore and characters if you're not into star wars but i found it pretty ok to as not a huge star wars fan. i also think they deserve to be played despite that as well because they are fantastic rpgs and some of the best bioware ever made

vampire the masquerade bloodlines!!! i am not a vampire fan really, a small one, but this game captivated me.... very easy to get into making a character i feel and ur given enough to make characters that align different ways easily. the combat did not age well..... but the story and roleplay absolutely did

ok.. im gonna stop here.. but i will say give games like icewind dale and arcanum a chance.. look at old as hell crpgs and try them. this includes bg1+2 which i still need to play myself but will be soon! they are classics because their stories are fantastic, and shouldn't be missed out on!!!!!

ngl, I feel like Dark Souls was never really that difficult. I mean, my non-gamer friend got past Ornstein and Smough (with me coaching him but regardless it was all his own effort and knowledge with me as a quicker google search at most), sure, it's difficult, but only in that, you aren't given a cheese for every single encounter, and those that exist are genuinely less fun than actually improving.

The whole point of Dark Souls was Improving both your character and yourself. Getting armor and weapons, leveling up, that's character stuff, important given how they handle stat systems, but it doesn't make things Easy, just shaves off difficulty. That's intentional and very directed.

For you, you improved by exploring the world, finding information, experimenting with all sorts of equipment, positions, attacks, armors, you learned the enemies' patterns, sizes, speeds, silhouettes, and the game's never punching you as hard as it possibly can and telling you just to "git gud" Dark Souls was never "git gud" it was always "get prepared" "learn more" "experiment more" "grow as a person" "grow as a character"

To me, it's been irreparably ignored to focus solely on difficulty and obscure lore not even partially meant to be entirely learned by the average player. They utterly removed the world design for what can best be described as OOT's world design but worse. If anything is hidden you never feel good finding it because it's like finding a needle in hyrule field, the enemy placement is garbage, and of course, it's gotta go faster and faster and faster every subsequent game. Gotta keep the streamer's audience engaged! Marketing is a cinch when your gameplay is designed near entirely around advertising!

I've always felt that combat was DS's weakest link, that doesn't mean it's bad, just that, when you put Literally Everything Else on the table, combat's simply a Very small part of what you do. You're spending Far more time preparing and learning before fighting. And yet, Game of all Time. Not DS2, not DS2's DLC meant to just make it harder, not DS3's...bleh, just, just bleh, not BB, not ER. Dark Souls. Because it was a well rounded game, even when it's second half is utterly atrocious.

I guarantee my non-gamer friend cannot get further than I have in DS2/3/ER. Not that he did in DS, but he at least wants to come back to DS and complete the game. DS3/ER just makes you honestly not even want to come back. Why bother? There's nothing more I can do but devote time like a second job to improving a skill that will Never Benefit Me as much as Dark Souls has in my life.

Dark Souls gave you challenges that appeared insurmountable. But what the developer's did to keep you engaged and hopeful, was that they proved there's an Intention and Design to what you're encountering. You're only intimidated because you don't know enough. When you fail, you learn more, you grow more confident, and you try again. If that fails, you explore more, you try more, you experiment more, if that fails, you better your equipment, you grow your character, and if that fails, you know by then, it's down to You to "git gud".

DS2 onwards has None of that. It's just "git gud" there is no other place to go that makes this place feel or play any better, no amount of levels or equipment will honestly feel like they make much of a difference and there's So Much Garbage inbetween all of that. By the end of a boss fight I failed, I never think "Hmm, I should try this!" because I already did and it didn't work. Nothing gives you an advantage, it's either full on cheesing, or waste as much time as humanly possible going BACK to the god damn cheesy boss fight hoping this time the AI doesn't break in such a way that's impossible to ever predict or counter or care.

Don't get me started on how fast these games are getting but the camera seems to keep getting closer and closer to the player since DS1, and enemies larger and larger, and the combat areas are either so fucking small, or cluttered to shit, that you Literally Cannot See near every god damn combat situation.

Remember when the difficulty was due Near Entirely to the player lacking information and knowledge, and now-a-days, near anyone can beat DS with a guide? Good times. I sure wish they made games you're meant to have fun and genuinely get invested into. Now it's about making the combat visually sell itself when the gameplay aspect is not made to be fun. I don't find any enjoyment in having to quickly put in button combinations in DDR formatted patterns.

I seriously can't stop. You know what the BEST part of the weakest link, combat, is? That you and the enemy are Just As Vulnerable When Attacking. When they attack, if you aren't hit, you can go for it a hit. It's Very Mechanical and thus means you can Learn and Improve.

Enemy attacks, I dodge left, I get a hit, they're stunned, I get another hit, they go for an attack, I dodge.

Simplified, but it sure is nice to See The Enemy and Know What They're Doing based on Knowledge I Accrued Fighting It.

Now it's

Enemy attacks, attacks, attacks, attacks, attacks, now you have Maybe a Chance at a Single Swing. Repeat forever until the bulletsponge stops moving.

I get that it's it's own thing, but my god it's never been nearly as good as DS's combat. Just looks cool. Doesn't feel cool at all. It feels very lame, just bizarre to me to make DDR-like combat in place of an actual challenge you're meant to figure out, not just eventually get past. Hard to explain, but in DS, if something seemed insurmountable, it was an illusion of sorts, still difficult, but not as impossible as it seemed. What felt random and loose now feels tight and responsive. That's Supposed TO HAPPEN.

But it Never happens in any subsequent game. Every boss fight I always am pissed. Because it's never cool, or fun, it's just frustrating and when it's done I just sigh, and try to move on while ranting about just about every aspect because MY GOD no one playtested that! No one! Not one soul thinks that was a well designed moment of gameplay! Then hope to god it never gets that bad again. Then it does.

It's like...DS1's first half was a total fluke, and it's second half just permanently poisoned the rest of the series. Because that second half is just DS2, it's just DS3, it's just ER. There's not an interconnected world or any feeling that these places are even in the same universe. It's Hallways. That lead to the next level. Imagine the first Zelda's Dungeons, that's DS1's second half onwards, except each dungeon is connected by a hallway, or elevator. Just utterly boring. "You're stuck here til you're done here" simply didn't happen every turn in the first half.

Just really don't know how it went so off the rails. All I can really think is that it's all about difficulty. And god forbid if their game is FUN instead of HARD! They might just get another Game of All Time that way! And God knows No one Wants that!

To be clear, it's not about "the game is too hard" it's that it's Entirely focused on keeping that faux lineage it genuinely never had or earned. Just marketed.

If you want a harder Dark Souls, there's a Plethora of challenges you can do. Not a one feels forced honestly. Soul LV1, magic/bows only, heavy load only, there's so many ways to play DS1 that, simply put, aren't as feasible, nor as interesting or fun in subsequent games.

Oh I got it! It's like Castlevania SOTN vs Castlevania 2. Sure, 2's not as bad as it's made out to be, but it sure isn't well regarded. Meanwhile SOTN has exploring, growing, learning, like holy hell, it's literally 2D Dark Souls. DS wasn't even the first to do something like itself. Kinda sad how off the rails it went and how Backwards it's become. A total step down in every aspect that made a game "Of All Time" to focus on a Genuine Lie that their game's are difficult. They aren't. They're Tedious. Learning DDR is Tedious. And when that's Literally All You Have Left, I'm sorry, but that's never going to be Game Of All Time, it's simply going to be forgotten as the hype continues to die down.

As we see today, I don't think DS has ever been more popular. A game from 2011. Doing better than it was before. DS2? Still flailing in "no it's good" and "no it's bad" discussions (it's bad, it's really, really bad, not even debatable, some enjoyable aspects, but we all like burnt toast sometimes) DS3? I hardly hear anything about it because it's such a soulless piece of shit. ER is dwindling, only rescued by DLC, Bloodborne continues to be Overwhelmingly overhyped and stuck to Sony devices. I'm not even going to touch Sekiro at this point, heard it's hard, guarantee it's faux difficulty and just by looking can tell gameplay took a backseat to marketability again.

Don't get me started on artistry. It's dead. Do ya like the color grey? Because boy howdy, they got you covered. Do you like primarily 3 colors at any given point? Because boy, I sure hope you like the colors Green Yellow and Red! But grey versions of them. Like, Veeeeery Grey versions of them. Ya'll know they put this filter on there so it looks standard across everyone's monitor's and stream's right? Like, they handicap their visuals, so everyone has an equally bad visual experience? Instead of...you know just having a good looking game that doesn't stream right all the time online...Maybe we can try...not putting more than half the budget in graphics? Given it's just a marketing tool, and half the total budget is equal to the marketing budget, maybe we can try NOT putting 3/4ths the budget into marketing????

I fuckin hate souls-likes because Not A One understands what the fuck made Dark Souls good! Is it so hard to understand that, in a time where Not A Single Soul had any confidence in the design of any game they played, that the One That Made People Go "Oh Shit GOAT" was the ONLY FUCKING ONE IN YEARS that gives the player CONFIDENCE AND TRUST IN THE DESIGN!?

You can't just have it be HARD AND CALL IT A DAY

YOU HAVE TO EARN THE TRUST OF THE PLAYER

YOU HAVE TO EARN THE RESPECT OF THE PLAYER

YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE PLAYER TRUST THE DESIGN

TRUST THAT THERE IS A REAL DESIGN

YOU NEED TO GIVE THEM SOMETHING

All this faux difficult shit does is tell the player, There is no design, there is only fitting string into needle holes. And any attempt to stray from that is Severely Punished.

Fuck off.

Dark Souls is a Puzzle game where the puzzle is your fear and how you can surpass it.

It is NOT pushing a fucking boulder up a god damn wall.

Having finished the DLCs in full, and thus gotten my fill of FFXVI in its entirety (save the Final Fantasy mode and the Kairos Gate endings), I can officially say, with all certainty, FFXVI is a game that exists.

Spoilers below the cut for FFXVI and its DLCs.

I'm not one to mince words when I wanna gush about a game I love. And FFXVI has the makings of something truly fucking incredible. Wonderful fight choreography, out-of-this-world kaiju battles, music that brings you to tears through passion alone, environments that speak for their rich history, characters with such strong bases and motivations, all tied up in a bow of underwhelming character writing and a misguided ending to what could've been one of the best stories I'd seen in the JRPG genre.

I wanna reiterate: I love this game. I think FFXVI is fucking amazing, was worth the 60$ price tag, and it's two DLCs were very fun to play through. I stand by my original word that Clive Rosfield is one of the best FF protagonists we've gotten since Final Fantasy X.

However, loving the game for what it does right can stand in the same room as disliking the game for what it does wrong. It's unfortunate that I feel the need to tear into the game like this, given how much I want to praise its feats. And I still will, I still think this game is worth playing in spite of what it does wrong. But it also be remiss of me to say "just ignore these parts of the game!" and hope that people can turn a blind eye like I can.

I was hoping the DLC could ammend something I originally disliked about the original game: the ending. The ending is by far one of the most contested parts of the game when it comes to discussing the positives and negatives. Some people like the ambiguity of it all, others would rather have the truth spilled.

For me personally, I'm not in either field. Because I don't think the ending to the game is a culmination of the journey Clive takes. It does not feel genuine. It doesn't feel like he deserved his fate to be left up to guessing. If he died on that beach or if he let his name fade away in history in favor of his brother. Neither of those choices speak to me as "Yeah, that's where the story was going."

It's bitter. Not bittersweet. Plain bitter. It feels like a kick in the teeth for trying to fight his destiny. How dare he try to change fate for himself and the world. You are now cursed to live a false life, if you even survive that long. Not even your dust will be remembered.

Now, my fervent and desperate hopes regarding this game were that the acquisition of the Leviathan eikon would change his fate. After all, we saw at the end of the game that Clive was an "incomplete" vessel, thought we're never told exactly why. The assumption is the missing Eikon in Leviathan. But if not Leviathan missing, what is? Is his humanity itself keeping him grounded, to a point where he cannot change his fate? The fate of his brother?

Is the ending, and I ask this with the utmost of curiousity, meant to tell us that Clive was destined to lose everything in the end? That fighting his shackles only helped the world, and he couldn't even save himself or his brother? That a price must be paid for hubris on this grand a scale, and Clive is the unfortunate victim of it all?

This game screamed to me constantly that he wasn't going to die easily. He would not let himself lose everything he'd worked so hard to retain. For god's sake, the main message of the Bearers and Dominants is that they should get to choose how to live their life, and to live their life to the fullest.

The ending of the game speaks of inevitability. A direct contrast to everything Clive was fighting for. The ending doesn't do a good job of making it feel like a bittersweet victory, as it just kills off Joshua and deliberately tells Clive, "Nope, not good enough."

I digress, this is gripes with the ending, and how I had hoped it would change. Obviously my hopes were misplaced. Or maybe I'm jaded and trying to interpret this in ways that the writers didn't intend. But I can't help but percieve it this way, especially when I look at other people discussing the DLC and finding a lot of them thought the same.

Another thing, the hidden Eikon in the Kairos gate content. Ultima being an eikon you channel. I genuinely do not understand the point of this eikon outside of it being a means for trailer bait. Because that's all it ending up being. No story implications. Not even true practical usage besides being intense damage nukes and an overall homage to Ultima as a source of power. Prove me wrong if something at the end of Kairos gate ends up being story related, but I have a very strong feeling it is not.

Maligned Yuri Bracket: Preliminary Round!

How is Shanoa/Laura (Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia) maligned?

"well already the cv games get ignored because of the Netflix show and order of Ecclesia is even less talked about and shalaura is only known to like. My friends. Pretty much all content that exists for them is by one of my pals. come on Shanoa is a yuri icon. every female villager flirts with her. every female enemy flirts with her. she’s canonically not interested in men. please."

How is Alisha Diphda/Rose (Tales of Zestiria) maligned?

"so this is a 40 hour hour (minimum) game, and even though they're both main party members, they swap places in the main party part way through and thus only interact for like 5 minutes max in the entire game, gameplay OR cutscene...the chemistry in those minor interactions and the hypothetical dynamic they could have was literally the only thing in this boring ass game that i had any real investment in. i was living off yuri fumes. and then to add insult to injury, i found out that in order to actually see substantial interaction between them you have to get PAID DLC. LITERALLY YURI TAX."

How is Eri/Shiki Misaki (The World Ends with You) maligned?

No explanation offered.

"Wyll's quest regarding the Wyrmway is now a subquest instead of part of his main quest."

"Wyll's quest regarding Ravengard will now more reliably and frequently receive updates in Act III."

so mechanically speaking then, was the demotion of quest status in the first point required for them to implement the functionality of the second or??? because i genuinely don't understand why it became a subquest, especially when the game's structure already allows you to just ignore quests & move on to the next area if you want. most of the patch notes that directly mention wyll are bug-related or scripting flow, which i don't have a problem with (bug fixes are great, we love those). i'd love to hear any thoughts about this, though, because i really can't think of a reason why it had to become a subquest?

i also initially read that second point as planning for future updates to wyll's content but at a second glance i think it may just be referring to journal updates? i don't know, i'd like to believe my initial reaction was the correct one but... yknow. anyway i maintain that this is yet Another example of some really goddamn weird choices on the developmental end of things. if the companion quests exist on a sliding scale of 'most related to current main storyline to least,' wyll is very much at the top end of things. optimistic thought is that a lot of his scrapped content existed in the parts of act 3 that were cut, but i would think that as a studio you'd see that & make an effort to level things out with how much screentime the other companions have. at the bare minimum, your player base shouldn't be able to clock so many weird holes in his story arc where it's clear that something else was supposed to be offered.

i'm also not saying that the other companion arcs weren't clunky in some areas & didn't need a bit of help, but the disparity here makes deprioritizing those edits seem like a more logical course of action. like there's a difference between some slightly unpolished scenes vs. something that feels fundamentally lacking in a lot of structural ways, especially when you get into the finer points of the comparisons. act 3 imo is the one that feels the most bare-bones to me. like yes, there's Stuff there visually and quests too but it doesn't feel as lived-in as acts 1 & 2. i would say that the underdark to ketheric section feels the most dense, content-wise, and i don't think it's a coincidence that it's the bracket of the game i enjoy the most. i maintain that giving wyll's storyline the attention it needs would not only help with the character arc itself, but also pad out the quieter stretches of act 3. at this point i don't really see how they'd be able to add in the upper city without either completely changing the trajectory of the third act (so like, almost definitely something we Will Not See Happen & understandably so from a production standpoint. weird post-release editing aside, it is still a finished game.) & i'm also not sure what a DLC would look like here because the main story feels pretty complete too. off the top of my head, maybe one where you follow wyll & karlach into avernus would work, but that's worldstate dependent & probably wouldn't get made for that reason.

all that to say, from where i'm standing it really seems like giving wyll the same respect other companions are offered would by extension fix some of the act 3 issues, without having to release an entirely new area of the game (i'd love it i just don't think it's realistic lmao). like i know why/what the factors are that led to wyll getting the short end of the stick, it's bullshit but it's not the first time we've seen black characters handled unfairly by devs (& fans), but beyond that it's literally just. so confusing to me on the basis of writing alone. why wouldn't you use the character with that many ties to the titular city of the game more? why isn't he more integral to the story when it really seems like he has every reason to take the spotlight in certain areas?? like that's a fantastic resource of a character to use to move the narrative along and Yet.

idk. this started off as just a reaction to patch notes but it's so unbelievably frustrating to watch it keep happening every patch.

I like the historian on the Hakkon DLC

KENRIC: "When spirits are willing to talk, most historians love the chance of a firsthand report." INQUI: "You're not concerned about the literal existence of an Avvar god?" KENRIC: "Not particularly. If the Jaws of Hakkon once bound their god to a dragon, it's likely just a powerful spirit. (cont.) That isn't to downplay the important cultural significance to the Avvar. But magic does not equate godhood. (cont.) Every Blight comes from the "Old Gods," which are also dagons corrupted by outside influence. (cont.) Sometimes, I wonder if we really know what we mean by gods."

I like this conversation. On one hand it does still have a bit of underlying implication that "The Maker is the Real God & these other gods are not real gods, just spirits, mortals" etc ignorance, but it does bring forward the cultural significance of what "god" even means regarding varied definitions per culture.

The Dwarves don't have "gods" per se, they have the Stone, the stone-sense, and the Paragons as a version of Ancestor veneration or Hero Worship (some, to my knowledge, can be Paragons while alive, but I'd have to replay dwarf origins to remember).

The Elves with their destroyed history elevated their circle of immortal beings to godhood mythologically, and while their understanding of their own pantheon has changed over the eras through colonization, they're still a legitimate "type" of god as their pantheon are ascended beings that even predate humans to the point one of the evolved (though incorrect as we find out) mythologies is that the creation/evolution of humans is what made elves lose their magic and isolate themselves.

The Avvar worship spirits and know they're "spirits" (besides the other primordial gods of the pantheon) but do not let that deter them from venerating these animistic beings and gain their blessing the way "real" gods would, which, if a "spirit" does everything a "real" god does, then that.. makes them a "real" god. Because the definition of a "god" is so vast and nebulous an soupy per cultural ideology.

Humans worshiping "The Maker" enjoy the idea of the untouchable, non-literal entity much the same way the Avvar look at their personification of the Sky and Mountain and Winter.

I like this conversation also because, well, the Maker is supposed to live in the Fade. "The Maker" itself could be "just a powerful spirit" , also not to downplay the significance but it's not a bad thing to be tangible or intangible. It's a real world conversation, also, gods that are tangible (animism, personification, etc) vs intangible are no better nor lesser than each other culturally (despite, you know, ignorance, elitism, colonization, etc).

Not only that but, if the Maker and the Tevinter Imperium and the Elves and Spirits all existed so long ago, Elves even before humans, and the idea that Solas/Dreadwolf is the individual who created the Veil and split the material and ethereal worlds apart to trap the "gods" that could very well include "The Maker"

I know I've been ornery about the way Dragon Age seemingly treats non-chantry (non-christian) religions, but I can 100% forgive characterized ignorance if it does turn out "oh, the Maker is also one of the spirits-turned-god and the idea of what is a god varies culture to culture whether its a powerful, elevated mortal, a powerful (conditional?) immortal, an ethereal entity like a spirit, a spirit taking mortal form, and many others, as they are al part of this ecosystem and thus can each be venerated accurately and appropriately with no real right or wrong answer" or some other interesting twist. DA gods dont have to be "just" spirits or "just" mortals turned immortal etc, they can all be "gods" without downplaying their influence and power and apotheosis.

Sidenote, I wonder if the Avvar would think of someone/thing like Cole to be blessed or apothesized.

I get so excited when it comes to mythology, real world and fictional. They're so much fun, and the conversation, again real world or fictional, can also be fun.

easy explaination of why most if not all the characters have ended up flanderized in FEH: it started as a gacha game for FE fans and now is a FE game for gacha fans. That's why Alphonse won over Sigurd or why Gullveig won last year's cyl with only 2 lines of dialogue too.

This is why I don't want the jugdral remakes to happen, bc look at engage, using FEH's mechanic and FEH using its ring mechanic in order to sell more lyn, camilla and marth alts. I don't want jugdral to end up with another silly gimmick that isn't necessary on the game or the story but can be sold as another gatcha powercreep thingy. As long as FEH is on service, the main franchise is going to be directyl affected by it.

2 lines of dialogue? You're charitable anon!

But... yeah, with time, FEH became its own thing and is apparently even considered a main FE Title given how Vero was added, albeit through a DLC, to Engage and I mean -

If Vero's writing is supposed to represent FEH, I have to inform you I found my new least liked FE game lol - which brings the main question : what is an FE game?

TBH, to me, FEH OCs are barely characters (Vero needed heavy retcons and ignoring elephants in the room which were there since book 1 to become remotely close to one) which makes me completely baffled at how they can even be "picked" for events like CYL, but if we are talking about popularity contests, then people will vote for their faves... aka the most recent characters they like or have seen - sure it doesn't help that Siggy'n'Leif are from jp only games, but CYL1 saw Roy being picked, even when his Smash Bros popularity dwindled. Can you imagine, in 2024 if Roy wasn't picked for CYL1, him competing with the non-entity that is Alfonse as "the most beloved FE characters voted in by the fans?".

I mean, I can get liking OCs in gacha/crossover games (I'm not pointing at someone in particular about Crestoria lol even if i prefered kanana to vicious) but I can bet you 2 kebabs that if a Tales gacha organised the equivalent of CYL, Leon and Yuri would be picked before any Male OC, and I'd bet 1 kebab about Alicia or even Milla being added before the Kanonos.

In FEH, Book 2 Vero (or was it 3?) was picked over... Elincia. Recency bias is a thing but... yep, it has been a long time now since FEH stopped being a gacha game for fans of FE, but became its own thing with sometimes FE characters being referenced.

I agree with your last remark though, as long as FEH exists, evil will - I mean, as long as FEH exists, it will have some sort of influence in the main games - even if I reiterate, FE15 managed to dodge its influence, only to fall in some other pitfalls.

Jugdral remakes can play like SoV, "additional" characters will be in a DLC and not have any relevance to the story, I mean, even if you can roll for Sharena on a NG+, she might not even have one line.

But, tbh, it's not the gacha aspects that worry me the most about Jugdral remakes, it's the state of the franchise/fandom post FE15 and especially post FE16, but I'll make a separate post about it.