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tvlandofficiall · 3 hours

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i really like seam. with a sizable amount of dialogue, a wonderfully composed theme song, some very interesting connections, and a sharp personality that lends well to thinking up interesting character interactions, they’re a character who more than deserves to be recognized in their own right. surprisingly though, i don’t see a whole lot of analysis out there when it comes to this slept-on stuffed animal, especially when compared to more recent introductions to the speculation scene like dess holiday or big plot movers like the knight. a lot of the analyses i have seen, both the kind that aligns with or has informed my own reading and the kind that does not, has either been long-deleted or lost to time. but tucked away inside seam’s seap is one of the most interesting characters in the game to me, and i want to shine a light (or perhaps, more fittingly, take a step into the darkness) on just what makes them such a fascinating addition to deltarune and its writing here, since most of the other seam analyses i’ve seen around are either long-deleted or are few and far between.

ANALYSIS

FATE

to start talking about seam (or any darkner, for that matter) we’ve got to talk about fate.

after all, fate and agency are all but literally the name of the game here. and seam has quite a bit to do with both of those things. right away, they tell us a couple of very important things. the lightners, they tell us, are like gods to the darkners, and they’re the ones who give the darkners their purpose.

they are actually the first to bring up the concept of a darkner’s purpose to us, and for good reason.

purpose is a concept set up all throughout chapter one, and then paid off at the end of it – once we see that the darkners are all objects, it all comes together.

an object’s fate is to serve and assist the person using it, much like kris’ fate is to serve and assist us as a player in using the game deltarune. (you need a player character to play, after all.) this setup lets the concept be further explored in chapter two, especially with spamton, but we’re here to talk about seam.

seam, being a darkner, is an object – a stuffed doll, to be exact. they’re actually the one ch1 darkner with a unique sprite in the light world, interestingly enough – so even if you end up missing their seap, there’s a little clue left to catch your eye and prompt you to seek them out. this is something that will come up again in later sections – they’re someone that’s made out to be quite important to a certain segment of the game.

but seam isn’t the soft and fluffy sort of personality a stuffed animal might typically be assigned as. (that honor goes first and foremost to the prince of the dark himself.) no, seam is a fairly snide old cat, and they certainly don’t have any pretense of considering you heroes when you first meet. they’re a doomy, gloomy, type of person;

and they do it all with a smile on their face to boot. they’re also quite a nihilistic personality, making no secret of the fact that nothing much here matters and that they sure aren’t too bothered about that. unlike their king, they don’t express much anger at their situation nor struggle against it in any way. they’re plenty content to stay right where they are – they don’t even come out to celebrate with everyone when the party goes to seal the fountain!

and there’s an additional reason for that, too –

seems they not only know the kingdom’ll vanish, but they know it’s fate that our party’ll make it happen, too. (lancer, as a contrasting example, doesn’t know until it’s already happened.)

as for the fate of an object, though – well, they tell us themselves. neither light nor dark hold anything for them.

as demonstrated through the other characters; be a useful object, and you’ll be rewarded with fulfillment, love, and attention. be a useless object, and you’ll be left abandoned, unfulfilled, and desperate. but either way, every object becomes useless eventually – no matter how many times you’re patched up without a choice in the matter. either way, you’re still an object – and either way, your fate is a pretty bleak one.

so why try fighting against something as steadfast as fate? it’s fate, after all! seam’s certainly not spamton – they don’t bother themselves with any pretense of breaking strings or defying destiny. and unlike the companion that led their worldview down such a dark path in the first place, they don’t find any freedom in their nihilistic outlook or in the kingdom’s purposelessness.

though such nihilism does, in an ironic twist, cause them to be the one who poses the question – if they’ve lost any care for the light or for its absence, could they find “purpose” in another darkner instead? could they find meaning in what little is their own?

TELEGRAPHED IMPORTANCE (OR; GAMEPLAY AND STORY INTEGRATION)

jevil and seam used to be quite close. before the knight arrived and all four kings ruled together, the two of them were a part of their court – seam the court mage, jevil the court jester. one day, jevil met a strange someone, and the things he’d told seam since that time have led their worldview to grow – in their own words – darker yet darker. this seems to have been the cause for the mindset described above – if the seeds of such a mindset hadn’t existed already.

seam doesn’t exactly know if they’d consider him a friend. but he was the only one who could match them in the games they’d play together – but match up to what, exactly?

through the power of setup and payoff, we can find out. when talking to jevil before his battle, the jester mentions wanting to play one of his games with everyone once he’s out. and he’s happy to play this game with the party, too.

the game itself is, of course, his boss battle. it’s a deadly “numbers game” where he holds most of the cards as one of the (if not the) strongest bosses in the game. and so when seam mentions playing games with jevil before he began to see the whole world as such, we can infer from this context what those games were. it’s a payoff to what jevil set up during his fight – like two people throwing a ball back and forth in narrative form.

we get some good characterization out of this, too. seam’s not just a fan of the games they played with jevil, they’re downright ecstatic about them – even asking the party eagerly to tell them what happens when they meet with jevil, saying they almost wish they could watch! a little chaos is nothing short of thrilling to them.

but this isn’t the only setup and payoff seam’s got going on. jevil’s fight also introduces the secret bosses’ main throughline – the shadow crystals. after the party defeats jevil, a crystal is added to our inventory, and talking to seam lets us do something with it.

the shadow crystals are a popular point of speculation, and seam is sitting at the very center of the mystery. it’s they that collect the crystals, supposedly to stitch together something incredible for us. there’s also the added mystery of the unused purecrystal item – seemingly, seam may also have the ability to purify these crystals too – but i’ll get into that in the speculation section. for now, let’s talk about the crystals.

to bring seam the crystals at all, we’ve got to talk to them in their relocated shop. they’re the only shopkeeper who retains their full shop menu in castle town – spamton is absent from town altogether, rouxls and swatch do not have menus at all, and sweet cap’n cakes’ shop is remodeled into a jukebox with limited options. as such, they are the one to retain the updating, lengthier talk menu afforded to the shopkeepers. they also retain their unique shop theme – a waltz remix of the battle theme, “rude buster”. already, they’re set up to stand out.

and when we do talk to them, they has a number of varying reactions to the crystals based on the order in which you collect them. many of these contribute to the mysterious nature of seam as a character, as the context in which they occur changes what would otherwise be quite similar dialogue.

if you defeat jevil and bring his crystal to seam, they’re surprised to see that he had one. but, if you haven’t, seam pesters you about it – clearly implying they know you’d have gotten a crystal from him if you had. still, they’ll say the same surprised dialogue once you do bring jevil’s crystal to them – causing you to wonder if they were playing coy about it or not the first time around too. how do they know how that mechanic works? was there some strange intuition how they’d learned his defeat gave us the crystal, or did they know all along?

regardless, we know one thing’s for certain – seam knows what a shadow crystal is. they recognize the first crystal you bring them immediately, explaining what a shadow crystal is, that they’re held by powerful darkners, and later, implies they may come from special connections to the lightners. they’re obviously quite familiar with these crystals, leaving us to wonder just how they did and what the extent of their familiarity really is. what exactly do they want with these crystals? why do they know so much about them? why do they act so sketchy when we talk to them – there are quite a few moments that read like they’re trying to scare or bore us away given how often they say such things.

(seriously, they do this a LOT.)

and there are a few more moments where they allude to knowing things they shouldn’t, too – like the power of the next foe we’ll face and the nature of the neo body.

this mystery is, as mentioned before, another way in which setup and payoff are used to keep seam within the loop of the secret bosses’ storyline. seam prompts us to discover more crystals and tells us how to do it, we go to discover more crystals and meet spamton (who has both incredibly important thematic stuff and a difficult boss fight in his arsenal), and we bring spamton’s crystal back to seam. this sets seam up as the connecting thread of the “secret boss” arc of the game. (in other words, similarly to how ralsei and susie are central characters of the main story, seam is the central character of this section of the story.)

(and if you've ever played slay the princess, these segments are another good point of comparison.)

overall, they’re telegraphed as an important character both thematically and to this storyline of the game in a more strictly mechanical sense.

EXTRACANONICAL MATERIAL, SECRET BOSS SPECULATION, AND OTHER LOOSE THREADS

EXTRACANONICAL MATERIAL

to really get into the weeds of why seam is being telegraphed as an important character, i’d like to talk a bit about some extracanonical material as well. this information, while less immediately relevant to the game itself, is recent enough (specifically, it is all official content published after ch1’s release) that it’d like to consider it here – albeit in its own separate, much smaller section.

there are several pieces of extracanonical material and one or two unused items that are relevant to seam. the first of those is the seam ripper, a weapon detailed in the undertale cross-stitch book.

there isn’t much to say about this that isn’t explained in and of itself.

the second of those is this answer from the twitter qna that followed the spamton sweepstakes;

“cat/puppet” seems to match up to seam pretty accurately. plus, in addition to the obvious “puppet” status that darkners have at the whims of fate, “poppet” can be another word for “doll”.

finally, there is this unused item that draws a fair bit of speculation.

because it remains unused, it is far more dubious than the former two in terms of relevancy. it could end up remaining unused due to not making sense with the presented version of the game, or it could end up being implemented later due to it seeming like something to be introduced later as opposed to an older concept that got scrapped. however, because it is such a dubious item, i likely won’t be dwelling on it in this section as much as the former two things i’ve mentioned. still, i feel it’s worth mentioning. seam may have yet another trick up their sleeve when it comes to the crystals.

UNDERTALE

keen-eyed players may have also noticed another thing cueing seam as important – namely, their similarities to a certain character from undertale. deltarune, being a game not only about us as players but about us as players of undertale, uses symbols and signifiers of it to induce a variety of reactions in the player. although they are not identical to these characters – nor should they be, as this is a story about a new cast first and foremost – the cues still let us know these new focal characters can at times be similar to ones found in undertale. think of it a bit like how a character losing their shoe on a staircase can often be meant to make you think of cinderella.

seam has a few of these cues. the first is their eye – a dead ringer for one of flowey’s creepy faces. it spins clockwise just like a face flowey makes before his boss fight at the end of a neutral run. this cueing makes a lot of sense, given flowey’s also a bit of a nihilist (i’d suggest going back and watching flowey’s monologue at the end of a no mercy route – the whole thing is very relevant.)

they’ve also got a face that, when flipped horizontally, looks much like the mysteryman sprite – often speculated to be gaster – as well as the aforementioned drop of the infamous “darker, yet darker” line in reference to their descent into madness.

the secret bosses all seem to have more than a few signifiers of the man, and it makes perfect sense that the darkner standing at the center of the mystery would have them too. perhaps such a strange person is a part of what motivates them…

CONCLUSION

overall, however, we don’t yet know much about seam. they’re keen to tell us a lot of things about a lot of people, but their own story and motivations remain unknown at this point in the story. however, that doesn’t mean they’re unimportant – i’ve detailed here why i think they’re set up to be a central character to the secret boss arc, and i think that they’re far more worth keeping an eye on than they might seem at first glance.

#ooc #seam #deltarune #PHEW. this took a while. it's sort of a masterpost and cleaner version of all of my older seam posts that've been making the rounds again #i couldn't include screencaps of all the text due to there being so many of them but all of the dialogue referenced is in the text dump if #you want to check it out for yourself!

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agandar · 4 months

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cleared a few more runs in splatoon after deciding i want to have fun and use modifiers and afterwards finally remembered to read the dev diaries. kinda going insane about what is developing to be a found family dynamic with 8 and off the hook (and acht mayhaps??)

they're just like 'yeah eight is going on tour with us. they're hanging out with us while we try to find their memories. also we gave them a name they're called eight now'

i need to see how the rest of the logs go but right now i need a break

#8 pointing at pearl and marina making out: those are my best friends!!#anyway.#really like how this game is actually letting the player characters be characters #usually games just tuck them away on a shelf but no splatoon is like it has been five years and they have friends now #agent 4 is kinda mia so far so wonder if they have plans for them later #also enjoy side order is a follow up on octo expansion i wasnt expecting that #not a direct follow up but a consequence of everything after deepsea metro #anyway sorting tags #splatoon 3 #side order spoilers

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tenojan-in-tevinter · 1 month

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Honestly I really want to be able to side with Solas in dreadwolf. I think it'd be super interesting to play as an elf in Tevinter and be able to just go "yeah actually I think Fen'Harel is right let's tear down that veil." I mean I assume the main conflict will be Solas trying to convince your character to join him, or your character being told they have to try and stop him, and there are not enough games that let you side with the presented "villain" character. I want to see what the world is like with no veil I'm so interested. Also so interested to see what full-on Fen'Harel Solas is like. Is he still as empathetic? Or is he more conniving and distanced from "mortals" like the old stories would have us believe?

#side note it's been a hot minute since I've played trespasser I've been obsessed with origins and anders and justice recently ok #i don't have super high hopes cause bioware sucks ass #Idk if they'll have the balls to introduce the player to that level of moral nuance #i just think it would be fun and cool to have some choices on the final outcome #*with the main villain character I should say #instead of 'player character who is awesome hero defeats evil mean bad guy'#i feel like the past games have always tried to paint a very clear target of who the 'bad guy' is #when in reality that's rarely ever so simple #i want a story that lets you decide if you actually think the bad guy is bad or not #and then lets you choose what to do about it instead of directing you to kill this one guy to save the day yknow?#and I think this would be a wonderful opportunity to explore that #and I mean we did get this is 2 if I'm honest #there's not really a singlular villain #you can choose if you think the mages or the Templars are right and side with one or the other #dragon age dreadwolf #fen'harel #solas dragon age #i just like complications in stories that make decisions very hard #make solas the players friend or something again make him seem like a person and not an evil mage entity bent on killing everyone #maybe I'm just tired of how often the writers have done moral gymnastics and tried to swap it around #to make it seem like actually the mages should all be locked away and treated like shit cause they're all egotistical maniacs #and that the Templar/mage issue is a both sides have a point thing when it is clearly not #maybe I just want them to direct us towards taking the side of the oppressed instead of the oppressors for once #Hope you enjoyed my longish rant I hide in the tags as usual

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sunflowershark · 4 months

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The experience of romancing people as a paladin in bg3 is just. so sublime. You end up latching onto a character and going you. Yes you. Something is very wrong with you. Something is very wrong with you and it is the kind of problem where I am oathbound to fix it. Let me ask you about it. Learn more about you. Learn more about your inner world. Learn more about your body. We are kissing now

#cubey’s bg3posting #seriously paladins are my favourite class solely because you as the player have a VERY REAL gameplay motivation to act a certain way #even if your character is silly like dame o’sha the compliant you still get really attached because your motives are linked really strongly!#when I first played I was a bard because that’s what I usually play in dnd and I was like yeah this games pretty good!#but playing as a paladin made me go oh. this game is *great* actually #and then obviously there’s my other favourite pastime: seeing how much questionable behaviour you can get away with while still keeping oath #even on the unwuestionably good guy oaths like ancients or devotion you can get away with being a REAL bastard sometimes #there have been multiple times on devotion where I let someone die so I wouldn’t have to lie and it felt selfish as hell LOL #baldur's gate 3

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aria0fgold · 7 months

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I thiiink I processed a bit of my thoughts bout OFF but like, my mind was blown so there isn't much in it. One thing bout it though is that I really love the music in this game, like I be jamming to the battle music it sound so cool and catchy and it's actually stuck in my head. I also love the puzzles in the game, it's not too hard and it's also so nice to do! (I say that but I brute forced at least 2 puzzles. The puzzles right before Zone 1 and Zone 2's bosses... Trial and error even though the key to the puzzle was Right in the area but lazy in I don't wanna go back to look).

Also I love how, even if the game doesn't seem like much, it was hella enjoyable for me, must be cuz of the music. Like, I'd walk around so much finding a bunch of stuff and then battles happen with some banger music and it honestly felt like I just played that game for like a hour even though it was way more than that. Like, I really really enjoyed it.

For the story of the game... I have no idea what story is supposed to be there. But throughout it, whenever the Batter purifies a zone I start doubting if it's the right thing cuz everything looks so... lifeless... Like yeah sure, the spectres are also pretty bad and killing the poor Elsens, also doesn't help how Dedan makes the poor guys so stressed too but I was thinking if there was at least another way than just purifying everything but I'm stuck with the Batter. By the end the Judge saying that I'm the puppeteer but honestly I felt like more of the puppet for some reason.

I'm stuck with the Batter my guy, I won't proceed at all unless I do things that aligns with the Batter's mission. And in either endings, it's all bad in a way that, what's done is done. Choosing the Judge doesn't reverse anything, the world is completely lifeless and "purified," so in the end it's better to just keep being with the Batter and finish what we started. Which is pretty cool cuz I kept wondering Why was the game called OFF and then seeing the Batter ending and I'm like: OOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHH (it was the first thing that blew my mind).

Like, I feel like this game's story got A Lot of stuff for me to know (Time to read through what everyone's theories are. I'm not really good with those so I always enjoy reading everyone else's). Like, the thing that I kiiinda get is that there's a lonely child who doesn't like his dad and prefers his mom but the mom doesn't even visit him much. He made 3 friends which he turned into guardians of the zones, and a mom regarded as the Queen. And then there's Batter which I feel like was based off of Boxxer in that comic that the kid was given to by his dad. And like, gestures vaguely, yeah, it's neat :D (my train of thought broke I don't remember what I was going with that).

#ariaplays #ariaplays: OFF #wai do i still use those tags for the final thoughts posts or no????? welp im using em in this post now #like this game is hella good its like reaaaally good but i cant say How good cuz im speechless #like i actually really like how the characters know theres a player #but at the same time it feels like that part is crucial in knowing the full story #also zacharie constantly breaking the fourth wall. like thanks dude. glad to be reminded that im playing a video game #but also thats crazy to be reminded im playing a video game through a video game character #also so funny how i went to the wiki and saw mention of a character called Sugar but i never got to meet her #which im kinda glad cuz ion wanna make zacharie sad cuz the batter killed her. im no completionist thank goodness #also like thats another thing. the batter decides when and where i can flee from a fight. which is fair. a common mechanic but #really makes it seem like hes more in control of everything than i am despite literally controlling his body #oh and the designs in this game are sooo horrifying yet soo cool #the most distressed ive been is during the bird boss fight cuz can you PLEASE let go of valerie's body alrdy hes dead #yet hes still hanging onto the birds head please shake his body off and let him rest #seeing and hearing the judge meowing loudly in the rooftop after that boss fight for his brother like maaaaannnn... pain...#anyway id like to say that i literally get attached to anything easily and i very much so like the add-on alpha. its my buddy now.#its been with me since the start of the journey. my favourite add-on...

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holytrickster · 1 year

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idk i think it's so funny I went down a survival horror game rabbit hole when a) I'm too freaking anxious for horror games I will make myself cry, b) it was all PS2 stuff which is extra funny bc I've never even played on someone else's playstation let alone had one, i was always a wii kid lol. but now my brain is like ah yes. time to consume everything I can about games I can't even play and that are stupid expensive/hard to get now

#also i love that people draw jennifer from rule of rose and fiona from haunting ground together #they're just two girls with their dogs and in horrible situations and you know im glad they get to have dogs #any game where i get to have a pet is alright by me even if shit is otherwise majorly fucked #anyway. i do need to play pathologic. it's funny bc in theory it is really the kind of thing I'd like bc there's so much stuff to uncover #plus i think classic HD (which is the version i have) fixes the bad translation so it's not even like it's too hard to understand #at least only hard to understand in the intended pathologic-y way anyway #and i really really like the soundtrack #and everything I've watched and read about it is sick as hell (no pun intended) so i think the thing making me unable to get into it is the #actual experience of playing it. like it's funny how much of an asshole dankovsky is but that doesn't mean I *want* to play as an asshole #its funny the only time i really like playing that way is in skyrim bc im just. greenish elf that picks everyone's locks bc it was the first #thing i figured out and characters will just ???? let me fucking do it??? (i say having gotten arrested in whiterun like immediately)#i guess because I'm not invested in any of the characters yet because i havent had time to sit down and really play it #i guess that'd kind of be the way i play in lotro but that's more just me not interacting with other players #fun fact i think i still have one of the earliest fellowship quests sitting unfinished bc i can never form groups to finish them #i don't think I'll even ever get good at lotro though honestly #more just knowing what buttons to spam #idk i played hunter FOREVER but minstrel is really really growing on me #even though some of the skills are kinda wasted since i only ever play alone #anyway what was i talking about

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racke7 · 1 month

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So, last night I was thinking about FF14 and Skyrim again.

Specifically, my feelings of "I played this game all day - do I feel like I actually did anything today, or not".

If I manage to play Skyrim for basically a full day (instead of some random burst of an hour), I usually feel like I've "advanced the story" of that character, gotten better gear, established the character's personality a little bit (doing X instead of Y, prioritizing this quest over that, commentary through regular gameplay, etc).

So I don't necessarily feel like I "did a lot of things today", but it does feel like there's an "accomplished" feeling, kind of.

If I play FF14 a full day, I feel like-... It feels a bit as if I've watched a really long movie (especially if I played MSQ)? It's a sometimes-good movie, so I don't necessarily regret it, but... that's it. Between the queues for dungeon-diving and travel-time, a lot of the gameplay really amounts to "watch a cutscene".

So, I learn new stuff about FF14-lore, I might get inspired into creating a fancy new outfit for a class, and... a few numbers go up? The aftermath of playing FF14 really does feel as if I've spent the day watching a weirdly prolonged movie.

#a part of me keeps making annoyed noises and saying ''just buy the fucking game already''#bcs then i'll have bigger caps available. more outfits. etc. but then i remember that it's a subscription.#a subscription that will lock this character forever if i stop paying the fee. and suddenly i REALLY don't wanna.#and the fact that i keep feeling as if ''this is a movie - not a chance to create new and interesting characters''?#it definitely pushes ff14 closer towards something like no-character-creation The Witcher and actual-railroading Divinity 2 #and... yeah. mmos aren't exactly famous for letting you develop ''interesting characters'' in the story or whatever #but that's usually bcs there isn't a LOT of story. and it's usually very ''start a new character''-friendly #which ff14 is very much designed AGAINST (you can do all the classes as one character. msq is really fucking long. etc)#so despite how deeply invested ff14 is in its own story. it almost feels like the player isn't allowed to INTERACT with it.#skyrim has many faults (many many faults) in its story. but usually there's an ability to pick and choose what parts to interact with.#i could play as a thief and NOT join the thieves guild. i could ignore the civil war. or alduin. or miraak.#i can even make a choice sometimes to pick a side (dawnguard/vampires. empire/stormcloaks.)#there are even some daedric quests that allow for ''murder the innocents or get cool new item''-choices.#do those choices matter a lot as far as gameplay is concerned? not really. but for a character-story? it's incredible.#so ff14 has this whole world of amazing things. and you HAVE to play through msq to see it.#and msq doesn't really allow you to be anything other than ''heroic and steadfast warrior'' with MAYBE a bit of flavor-text mixed in.#which would be fine in most mmos. bcs the story is such a small part of the game. but ff14 has a FUCKTON of story.#so... you get to choose what your character looks like. and then you get to see them in lots of cutscenes.#bcs you don't really have any control over WHO this character of yours really is. just what they're wearing.#so yeah. it ends up feeling a lot like i've just watched a movie. not done something ''creative'' for character-building.#ff14 #skyrim #personal stuff #video games #rants

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oathofkaslana · 3 months

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i do really enjoy people telling me abt their hi3 thoughts i think its so sweetie that people think to come into my ask box to talk to me about it :'') <3

#waaaaa :''')#it also makes me feel like i need to criticize it more i feel like i hype it up too much bc im very not normal abt the good in it rn #please believe me its not perfect both morally and like. just in its writing/design.#early game writing especially can feel a lil odd. i dont necessarily think its either a good or bad thing #but i feel like its important to mention that based of the content in-game alone i only really started to get attached to the characters #around 5-6 chapters in #<- in part bc they just fumbled the wendy arc imo.#and even then it was only a slight attachment! a deeper attachment would only form later in i think 9-ex #bc of the connection that they didnt know hmeko was dead #<- STILL MAKES ME LOSE MY MIND BTW.#i do think the tonal change is necessary to understand how a honkai eruption changes the atmosphere and disrupts life yk #esp since it fits well w the military commentary when its revealed that HoV's awakening is because of otto #i also think it just lets players dip their toes in first #and sets up a world where kiana is actively devolping alongside her environment #but man it can feel. boring sometimes.#hnk3 #mhy criti #and this isnt even getting into the other writing issues and the things i have an actual moral issue with

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snapscube · 6 days

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Can you please elaborate on the original FFXIV getting blown up?

yeah so, in summary, when FF14 was first released it was helmed by an entirely different team of producers who were very much not interested in learning from developments in the MMO genre up to that point and kinda created a mess of a game. it wasn’t really due to one thing in particular that the game failed though, the entire production was highly mismanaged. people knew in beta that it was going to be a mess but they pushed it out anyway and it was a major flop critically and a big hit to square’s reputation. the producers were then removed from the project and another producer named Naoki Yoshida who had a lot of experience working on the Dragon Quest MMO was brought on to replace them and hopefully improve the state of the game.

when realizing just how fucked FF14 1.0 was at the time, yoshida gave square a bit of a hail mary option and was like “we can improve this game, but it will never be great in this form. let me continue making updates to the game… while also in the background secretly rebuild the entire game almost from scratch”. fucking miraculously square was like “yeah sure” and actually gave that idea the greenlight, with a 2-year window to release.

so that became the plan. improve the game in incremental amounts for players currently sticking with it, and then wipe the whole slate clean and release a FF14 2.0 that was a fundamentally remade experience, actually taking more design inspiration from other successful MMOs and other final fantasy games. they didn’t just decide to wipe the original game on a meta level though, they actually worked the destruction of FF14 1.0 into the plot of both games. and so, famously, the day that the servers for 1.0 were shut down was a day where IN GAME players fought a horde of deadly monsters spawning around the world until inevitably a giant moon crashed into the world and took the servers offline for good. and then when you play 2.0, they frequently reference this calamity in the early MSQ and players who stuck with 1.0 until the end actually got their entire character transferred over with a special tattoo, opening cutscenes, and special dialogue throughout the MSQ that connects them to the game that was deleted.

there’s a 3-part noclip documentary that goes into more detail, it is FASCINATING stuff.

youtube

#ffxiv

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waterberry-strawmelon · 1 year

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trying not to be overly negative about season 2 but GOD the occasional uncomfortable moments i had in dungeons and daddies season 1 are fucking MAGNIFIED in season 2. this shit sucks. like, we get it, you think your weird cishet male experiences from 2002 are universal or what-fucking-ever but treating this weird teen girl vs. teen boy binary as real (even for the sake of comedy) is, like, not fun to listen to lol

#like i get it maybe you were a fucking incel in high school but not all boys are like that and its really fucking tiring to hear about #like. maybe im just oversensitive or some shit but i personally dont find that funny #i find it threatening and dehumanizing!#maybe i want an escapist comedy podcast that DOESNT remind me of how cishet men will see me as some object for them to look at #i get so uncomfortable being in spaces where im the only girl or only not-guy there #because im CONSTANTLY worried the people around me are making me into some fucking manic pixie dream girl #or 'not like other girls' gamer girl #just because i play VIDEO GAMES IN THIS COLLEGE VIDEO GAME CLUB #like. AGH #to anyone who hasnt listened to dungeons and daddies but was maybe thinking about it—dont let this put you off of it!!!#the setting for season 2 is a high school setting and all the player characters are teens/teen archetypes #so this is why it's cropping up right now i think #im gonna give them the benefit of the doubt and hope it gets a little bit fucking better as they settle into a groove in this season #(since as im writing this im only on episode 4)#and anyways season 1 of dungeons and daddies is genuinely the funniest podcast of any genre ive ever listened to. ever.#but i think im just surprised (and maybe shocked and a little hurt by realizing some of these cast members just dont have the #awareness to realize this stuff isnt cute its actually really annoying and is making anyone who's ever been on the receiving end of this #behavior is just. not gonna be having a good time #like theyre absolutely not condoning it—theyre making fun of it! but its still not funny to see EVERY SINGLE MALE CHARACTER thirst after the #girl characters. bc this kinda says a lot about what these hosts think real teen boys act like #when i can assure them their high school experiences (that i know theyve grown out of and regret; and i respect that growth bc it actually #does show) ARE NOT UNIVERSAL!!!!!! NOT FOR TEEN GUYS AND NOT FOR ANY OTHER TEENS. LOL. its just not the default!!!!!!#and THAT is whats making me feel all icky.)#god these tags are a mess #will campos youre my only hoe #he (and beth for the most part) are the only ones not on my shit list about this xjshdfnjkndks #ANYWAYS once again dont let this deter you from the podcast #i just needed to scream about season 2 feeling a little weird so far #dungeons and dads #mine

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alpaca-clouds · 8 months

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Why the media CEOs will always learn the wrong lessons

Yesterday a friend and I talked about how the entire (AAA) game industrie looked at BG3 being as popular as it is and going: "Oh, we need to produce 100+ hour games, I guess! Those sell!" Which... obviously is not why it is popular. The game is not popular because it has 100+ hours of gameplay, but because it has engaging characters, that are well-acted and that work as good hooks for the players. Like, let's face it: The reason why I so far have sunken 160 hours into this game is, because I wanna spend time with these characters - and because I wanna give them their happy endings.

But the same has happened too, just a bit earlier this year, right? When Barbie broke the 1 billion and every Hollywood CEO went: "Oh, so the people want movies based on toy franchises! Got it!" To which the internet at large replied: "... How is that the lesson you learned from this?"

Well, let me explain to you, why this is the lesson they learn: It is because the CEOs and the boards of directors at large are not artists or even engaged with the medium they produce. They mostly are economists. And their dry little hearts do not understand stuff more complex than numbers and spread sheets.

That sounds evil, I know, but... It is sadly the truth. When they look at a successful movie/series/game/book/comic, they look at it as a product, not a piece of art or narrative. It is just a product that has very clear metrics.

To them Barbie is not a movie with interesting stylistic choices that stand out from the majority of high budget action blockbusters. It is a toy movie with mildly feminist themes.

Or Oppenheimer is not a movie to them with a strong visual language and good acting direction. No, it is a historical blockbuster.

And this is true for basically every form of media. I mean, books are actually a fairly good example. In my life I do remember the big book fads that happened. When Harry Potter was a success, there was at least a dozen other "magical school" book series being released. When Twilight was a big success there was suddenly an endless number of "teen girl falls in love with bad boy, who is [magical creature]" YA. When the Hunger Games was a success, there were hundreds of "YA dystopia" books. Meanwhile in adult reading, we had the big "next Game of Throne" fad.

Of course, the irony is, that within each of those fads there might have been one or two somewhat successful series - but never even one that came even close to whatever started the fad.

Or with movies, we have seen it, too. When Avengers broke the 1 billion (which up to this point only few movies did) the studios went: "Ooooooh, so we need shared universe film series" - and then all went to try and fail to create their own cinematic universe.

Because the people, who call the shots, are just immensely desinterested in the thing they are selling. They do not really care about the content. All they care about is having a supposedly easy avenue of selling it. Just as they do not care about the consumer. All they care about is that the consumer buys it. Why he buys it... Well, they do not care. They could not care less, in fact.

So, yeah, get ready for a 20 overproduced games with a bloated 100+ hours of empty gameplay, but without the engaging characters. And for like at least 15 more moves based on some toy franchise, that nobody actually cares about.

And then get ready for all the CEOs to do the surprised Pikachu face, when all of that ends up not financially successful.

Really, I read some interviews yesterday from some AAA-studio CEOs and their blatant shock and missing understanding on why BG3 works for so many people.

Because, yeah... capitalism does not appreciate art. Capitalism does not understand art. It only understands spread sheets.

#baldurs gate 3 #oppenheimer #barbie #barbie movie #hollywood #game industry #media #indie media #media criticism #anti capitalism #late stage capitalism

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i-am-terrowin · 1 year

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it’s so fucking frustrating having a dm who DOESNT KNOW HOW FUCKING DASH ACTIONS WORK

#he also refuses to read our character sheets bc ‘we should know our own character’#but there’s a person in the campaign who didn’t even know that they were supposed to add spells to what they have from their subclass and i #had to coach them on how to add spells and how to wildshape and i had to tell THE FUCKING DM THAT HE SHOULDNT NERF #FUCKING CUNNING ACTIONS FOR ROGUES BECAUSE THEYRE NOT THAT FUCKING OP YOU JUST DONT KNOW WHAT YOUR PLAYERS CAN DO #AND HE SAID THAT A PLAYER COUPDNT USE THEIR DIG SPEED TO TAKE A DASH ACTION BECAUSE THEYD JUST RUN INTO THE WALL #THATS NOT HOW FUCKING DASH ACTIONS WORK IT JUST ADDS TO YOUR MOVEMENT #he also didn’t let that player wildshape until they actually read how to do it but like bruh at a certain point you just don’t want people #to be able to use their cool abilities from their class that they’re prob excited for #he’s cool though #just kinda a dumbass #he also does some weird fuckshit with advantage and disadvantage where if you roll a nat 1 with advantage the nat 1 overrides it #don’t really like that but also like whatever it also works the other way around #he’s also really inconsistent on whether he uses the meets it beats it rule #the games fun overall but sometimes i am remind of how annoying it is that he doesn’t know the rules or our abilities #but it’s his table so he gets to fuck with it however he want but holy shit #HE ALSO LETS ANOTHER CHARACTER DO 2WEAPON FIGHTIN WITH A TWO HANDED WEAPON BUT HE WONT LET ME DO IT #IT MAKES ME WANT TO TEAR MY FUCKING EYES OUT #i don’t wanna be a rules lawyer but some of his rules are annoying and he doesn’t even know most of the rules so i feel like i have to #correct him or explain them sometimes

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homunculus-argument · 9 months

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I know it would probably be a logistical nightmare to also make this accessible to the actual people represented, but I think it would be cool to have a game where the whole point is that every character has different limitations, that make it impossible or at least incredibly difficult to get past the whole game without switching them every once in a while, and the way you switch is by going to another character and asking their help with something.

Like you start out the game with one character and go "oh huh, the colour sceme of this game is really cool, really interesting use of such a limited palette", play through the puzzles for a while, and then encounter something where you're supposed to arrange some slightly differently coloured puzzle pieces to the right order by shade or something, and it's goddamn impossible. No matter how many methods you try, it's just not clicking, no matter how logical your solutions seem, no matter how clearly they can't be arranged in any other way that'd make more sense.

And maybe you go online to ask people "hey I'm stuck in the colour puzzle, what the hell am I supposed to do to get past this?" and someone tells you to go find one of the other playable characters and ask for their help. Which sounds patronising and stupid but you're stuck so you might as well give it a try. You go to one of the other characters, choosing the dialogue option to go "hey I need a hand with something, I can't do this on my own", and when they go "sure, let's go", your controls now switch to the other character.

And the colour scheme switches immediately. The aesthetic limited palette has changed to a far wider range, there's details in the environment that you hadn't noticed, like the muted faint flowers on the ground are actually bright red, the greyish shirt that your first character was wearing is actually striped with orange and green. The first POV character is colourblind, this whole time you haven't been able to perceive the difference between green and red. Solving the colour arranging puzzle with the other character is a breeze.

And this is the repeating theme of the game - every character has their own limitations, and while none of the puzzles are easy, you learn to think "maybe I should ask someone to help me with this" whenever you've been stuck for an unreasonable amount of time. You need to grab a buddy along for the quests, or you'll need to go back to get one eventually, and the way the game is structured somehow ensures that you can't just tactically dodge the limitation puzzles beforehand. Deaf character's POV doesn't have the audio clues that different pieces of the same puzzle make a different clicking sound, the puzzle with garbled numbers on it stops being garbled when you're not playing the character with dyscalculia.

You slowly get to know the whole cast, and occasionally help them out with things, too. You know which character could probably help with something you're stuck with, but while they'd be glad to come help, they're unfortunately stuck doing some task that could take you 20 minutes but is going to take them all afternoon, and you can offer help. Sometimes the helping-a-buddy-out minigames don't come with any direct transactional reward, you can just help a friend with something just because you can.

And the game's whole goal isn't to just illustrate how different people have different strengths, and sometimes things that are easy for you are hard for someone else, and vice versa, but to condition the player to think "maybe I should just ask someone to help, instead of wasting time struggling on my own."

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azuremist · 6 months

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Mainseries Pokemon characters who can be argued to be bisexual-coded (due to their implied crush on the player)

1. Shauna (Pokemon X and Y)

Kalos takes place in France, and Paris is the city of love. So, in the words of Junichi Masuda, "I wanted to implement some elements of romance with Shauna when playing as a boy and express a deep friendship when playing as a girl."

However, due to the VERY few dialogue changes between female vs male protags (as well as actions Shauna takes that are intended to imply romantic interest being the same across all player types, such as her staying behind with the player in the early-game forest), this can be argued to be unintentional bisexual-coding.

2. Lillie (Pokemon Sun and Moon)

Lillie is implied to have a crush on the player. When the player character is female, on Exeggutor Island, she says, "I want to become a Trainer, and learn all the things you know, Selene..." When the player character is male, she says, "I think... I'd like to become a Trainer, too. And travel together with you, Elio..."

Obviously, the difference between these two dialogues makes it pretty clear that they want her dialogue with Elio to be interpreted as more romantically-inclined. However, much like Shauna, Lillie's actions and dialogue varying VERY little otherwise between female vs male protags can be read as unintentional bisexual-coding.

3. Kieran

Kieran is the first character here to receive absolutely zero dialogue changes across player gender. Additionally, I'd say he's the character that we get the strongest hints regarding romantic feelings towards the player with.

Kieran has multiple moments where he's implied to feel romantically towards the player. These include, but are not limited to:

His sister saying that he's "been all googly-eyed over you" since you met, and that he "wouldn't stop talking about you - even at home. I seriously couldn't get him to shut up." Kieran reacts with embarrassment when she says this to the MC.

Him saying, "You're...you're special," before pausing, then getting embarrassed and rushing to change the subject.

When the MC calls him a friend, he responds, "What?! R-really?! We're friends? F-friends... I feel all tingly and funny hearing that... Ehehe..."

After the MC changes into their festival outfit, Kieran says, "Whoa...", when seeing them for the first time.

The player can even seemingly flirt with Kieran; when Kieran describes letting Ogerpon move into his home, the player can teasingly ask when they, themself, can move in with Kieran.

These are all very common romantic tropes. I think Kieran is the closest thing that we have to a canonically bisexual mainline character at this moment.

4. Carmine

Carmine has a fewer number of specific moments compared to her brother, but she can still be easily read as having feelings for the player.

Her extreme reaction to Drayton asking the player on a date is the best example, with her bringing her hands up to her face, and saying, "A wha-?!" Once Drayton leaves, Carmine continues fuming. (This can also be chalked up to her general dislike towards Drayton and how he can be manipulative, but the fact that it's that request that sets her off specifically makes this also easily read as jealousy.)

And speaking of...

5. Drayton

While, like Kieran and Carmine, Drayton doesn't have any dialogue changes between if the player is male and female, it's not really clear how he actually feels about them.

He tells the player, male or female, that they can go on a cafeteria date to talk, which the game fully acknowledges as a romantic phrase via Carmine's extreme reaction. He also tells the player, "From one charming catch to another..."

This is very obviously him flirting with the player, but, due to his laid-back and just-a-liiittle-bit-sleazy nature, this more so comes across as him trying to tease the player character, rather than anything earnest.

If nothing else, he's at least confirmed to be comfortable with romantically teasing male classmates, which I would consider a win.

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baldursgate3tempobsessed · 8 months

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Your stories have definitely scratched that Astarion itch that I've had since I started the game!

One thing that's diffently not sat right with me at the end of the game, is how tav and the gang don't run after astarion after he loses his immunity to the sun. I would imagine that if the player character was romantically involved with the guy they would atleast try to shield or comfort the poor guy. A short drabble on that would be awesome!

That's so sad, I heard that's what happens 😭😭 I'm in act 3 and haven't had to see it for myself yet so yes, let's do some preemptive therapy there! And just warning since I haven't beaten the game yet I'm sure this will be inaccurate as fuck, but also with spoilers somehow ~

It was an exhilarating feeling, to win against all odds. One that Astarion had never been confident he would experience. It felt good, final. The official beginning of his new free life, even if it was bittersweet.

This was the bitter part, the end of his illithid protection. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, and the burn was already starting. He was being an idiot, standing there with the rest of you like he belonged, waiting for the last possible second before he had to scuttle down in the darkness. But he wanted to see this out. Hadn't he earned that right?

According to the laws of reality, no. No he hadn't, because you had barely opened your mouth before the pain started to overwhelm him. The others would be able to hear it, the sickening sound of his skin crackling.

He was out of time. But before he could make a break for it, you happened. Astarion had been a little preoccupied with his impending doom to pay close attention to what you had been mumbling. But then sudden blackness was blanketing above your heads, opaque enough to make it as dark as night.

Astarion's eyes widened as the pain subsided, surprised beyond belief.

You were looking at him with concern in your eyes, gesturing to the think cloud of darkness above your head, "Will this be dark enough? Can it still get through?"

Astarion stared at you, momentarily confused on why you would do something like that. Before he remembered, oh. Yes. The extended care for his well-being was probably included in the whole love thing. Of course. Obviously.

That was definitely going to take some getting used to.

But the reasoning didn't stop an idiotic smile from blooming on his face.

You grinned back at him, somehow still managing to read his mind even without the tadpoles, "Did you really think I would forget about you?"

He had, but through no fault of your own. One of these days he was going to actually remember that he was worth the effort to keep alive.

"Thank you darling," Astarion said, ignoring the quested as he waltzed up to you. He grabbed your hand in his, bringing it up to his lips to kiss, "Just what would I do without you?"

"Speaking of," You turned to the Emperor, a question in your eyes as you vaguely waved upward, "Is there anything we can do about this particular problem?"

"The astral tadpole is still-"

"I'll pass on that, thank you very much," Astarion interrupted, cringing at the very thought of willingly letting another worm into his brain, "But I appreciate the thought."

There were worse things than living his life in darkness. And Astarion was counting becoming a mind flayer in the top three.

He watched, participated even in everyone's final goodbyes, always eyeing you at of the corner of his eye. It's not that he thought you would leave after you both declared your eternal love for each other, but... the two of you hadn't exactly talked about the specifics of the future either.

But that didn't stop you from leaving together. Astarion hadn't expected you to keep the dark cloud above his head as you walked the streets, startling nearly every passerby. But hells, the heroes of Baldur's gate had earned the right to a little strangeness.

You both had decided on going to the nearest, most windowless inn that you could find. Astarion wanted nothing more than to scrub the brain viscera from his skin and sleep for three days. Preferably with you in his arms.

But before all that... he had to know something.

The question was out of him as soon as you both were behind closed doors, "So what happens next to the great hero of Baldur's Gate? I'm sure you have something in mind."

He was just praying those future plans still involved him.

You blinked at him, head cocked like he was asking a silly question, "We go and find you a cure so you can walk in the sun again of course. What else would we do?"

That took Astarion aback, "I-Do you think that's really possible?"

"Well," You started, counting off on your fingers, "We know that illithid powers can do it. As well as devil contacts and ritualistic demon sacrifices. If that's all possible then that means there has to be something else on the other end of the spectrum, right?"

Astarion didn't exactly share your blind confidence. But you did have a point. The two of you had managed so many impossible feats in such a short amount of time. What was one more?

"I suppose there's a chance," Astarion said, hope fluttering in his chest with every word, "And if there is a chance no matter how small, I'm going to take it. But..."

He didn't want to ask, but he needed to know, "Are you sure this is what you want? I would... understand if you wanted to go your own way."

In all honesty, Astarion would not understand. He'd be absolutely furious. Especially after everything you'd been through. This was more of a confirmation for his waning self-confidence than anything else, versus a sincere to desire to let you go your own way. He had no intention of letting you go, not if he could help it.

But his near certainty in your feelings was the only thing that gave him the confidence to ask the question in the first place. And you did not disappoint.

"No, this is what I want," You insisted, reaching out to take his hand in yours, "You're what I want."

That was exactly what Astarion needed to hear. He used your joined hands to tug you closer, face to face.

"Good, because as selfless as I am, I really did not want to let you go," Astarion smiled, leaning in to lightly press a kiss to your lips, "I hope you realize that my love has made me a tad bit obsessed with you my dear."

"I'm sure it's no worse than me," You sighed, resting your forehead against his own, "You've really ruined me for anyone else haven't you?"

Astarion grinned, leaning in for another kiss. He had every intention of making it stay that way, for as long as you would have him.

#astarion #astarion x reader #astarion x tav #baldur's gate 3 #long fic #asks #im feeling these asks #a mix of real dialouge and orginial #i make them so touchy feely #i feel like he kind of would be #but i dont blame the game guess that would be so much to animate oh my god

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