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klysanderelias · 6 months

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It's always funny to me when a big-name youtuber argues vociferously that souls-like games DO have a difficulty setting, it's Playing The Game Right (leveling, build, using summons, etc), and then later on in the same video will have a fifteen minute long section complaining about how certain boss fights completely invalidate certain builds or require you to drastically alter your style of play, and i'm like... I thought you were in FAVOR of this.

And of course they're not, they just don't understand what a difficulty setting IS anymore, and that's completely fair because I think that most DEVELOPERS don't either, but it means that the criticism they make is always couched in a fundamental misunderstanding of the thing they're trying to criticise (and also usually a complete misunderstanding of where the criticism comes from).

And I want to be clear, I've beaten basically every single Dark Souls game, I beat bloodborne, I played shitloads of elden ring and the reason I didn't beat it was because I got bored, and I've done speedruns and soul level 1 runs of dark souls 3. I'm pretty much the dark souls power player that everyone expects would argue AGAINST having difficulty options.

But.

I've been playing thousands of hours of battletech, and the battletech difficulty screen has been the singlehandedly biggest argument I've had change my mind.

In the game, Battletech modifies difficulty per mission by changing the total health of enemies, changing their skills and experience levels, the usual fare of difficulty curves (although damage is never affected, thank god). But having all these granular options can dramatically change the way the game is played without simply affecting health values or hit percentages.

Toggling mech destruction and lethality means that losing a mech in a mission or having a pilot be knocked unconscious removes them permanently. They're killed, destroyed, you need to go get a new one. That's a HUGE change from the base difficulty where having a mech be completely destroyed in combat just removes the weapon components and costs a ton to repair. Likewise, changing the number of parts required to buy or salvage in order to complete a mech DRAMATICALLY changes the game - the maximum amount of parts you can get from a single mech is 3, and usually you only get 1. Needing 3 parts means that if you're lucky, you could see a brand new mech in a mission, blow its head off, and get one for free. Moving that scale up both means that rare or expensive mechs take much much longer to earn, but also that replacing mechs takes much longer (meaning that losses are even more painful).

Like, every single one of these options can dramatically affect how you play the game or change the feel of it to something much more interesting to you as a player - do you want to play a rogue-like game where you have to save and scrounge to get new mechs, and each mech and pilot is a precious resource you have to protect? or do you want to powerscale fast and constantly get new mechs and rare weapons?

And like, having extremely granular options for gameplay isn't for everyone, but then again, there are the owlcat pathfinder CRPGs that do this same thing, but have a base 'easy-normal-hard' sort of slider that automatically selects certain options, and you can adjust them if you want. If you're not interested in going through each slider you can just say 'I'd like normal please' and the game automatically makes all the selections, but you can also stop and say 'hey actually let me turn on permadeath too' and you can do that.

And I think that when people think about difficulty, they think about the most basic 'health and damage adjustments' sliders, and not ANYTHING else that actually have much more of an impact. I will hit this point to my grave that dark souls would massively benefit from difficulty options like turning off instakill effects (like curse or petrification) or removing the harsh penalty of dying when you can't get back to your bloodstain because a) that's often what drive new players off the most, and b) it doesn't fuckin' matter anyway, all you're losing is souls, the only thing it does is make you have to go grind more to make up for it.

And of course, there are always EXTRA challenge runs people come up with - nuzlocke runs of pokemon, soul level 1 runs of dark souls, hell, when I do Battletech I often add additional challenges like 'no intentional destruction of civilian buildings' or 'each mech must be assigned to a pilot and if one of them is sidelined, so is the other'

But challenge runs aren't difficulty settings, and more importantly there's no way to unchallenge run a game. You can decide to make the game harder for yourself, but you can't make the game EASIER. And when people say that you can, they're lying to you. Like yeah, there builds that are very strong in dark souls, and leveling optimally will make the game easier, but if you don't know what optimal leveling looks like, it's pointless. If you have a deep and thorough understanding of the game, and you check the messageboards, and delve through the wiki, and use a couple of exploits, the game will be easy! And if it's still too hard for you after that? Well, go fuck yourself, you just spent hours of your life doing research only to give up on the game anyway.

And the truth is, most people who argue that dark souls shouldn't have a difficulty slider are doing it out of bad faith, because they have a certain amount of ego riding on 'being good at hard game' as a character trait, and making these games more accessible frightens them because what if being good at dark souls isn't actually getting them into heaven

but also because they're somehow afraid that having extra difficulty options in the game will tempt them into choosing them? And then they won't get the 'true experience'?

Gamers are some of the most fragile people in existence that the mere option of reducing difficulty sends them into hysterics.

#dark souls #battletech #elden ring #i'm swinging at the hornet's nest I know #but I couldn't help myself #i had joseph anderson's video on elden ring in the background and I had to stop it when he said that shit #because it's so prevalent among game youtubers now #and it's the most vocal and highlighted members of the community saying it #so it's going to keep being treated like a maxim of gaming #that making games easier is terrible #and I'm just like. I'm too old for this shit. I can't spend a hundred hours on this game.#I'm not interested in having to redo this fight again #which is why I stopped playing elden ring honestly #because I kind of like spending an hour or two learning a fight #but then if the boss is reused FIVE MORE TIMES

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noble-mold · 4 months

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"A trap for two" (Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Fanart)

What could be better than starting a new blog with bare ass drukhari after 2 years of creative burnout? I swear I tried to put pants or underwear on Marazhai, but it looked ridiculous. Well… maybe the real reason is that part of me didn't want to hide his delicious pale butt cheeks… hehe…

I had extremely low expectations for the drukhari romance because I've read everything I could find about their lore before playing the game. Also I've played a lot of other games set in 40k Universe in the past and read even more books and novels since then (of which I consider only the Ahriman series worthy of any sort of attention). I thought that the paths of MC (Main Character) and Marazhai would certainly diverge forever at the end of the story. If he does not kill her in the epilogue, this already will be a "good" ending to their "relationship". The game actually surprised me with a relatively good ending (good for MC and Marazhai, not so good for everyone else around them), which also felt natural and not like some sweaty fanfiction.

So, the story of my Rogue Trader is quite banal. She was the embodiment of goodness, unusual for the 40k Universe: she kissed babies on the forehead, she fed the hungry, helped the poor and, whenever possible, tried to solve problems in a peacefull manner. She resisted the temptations of ALL the Chaotic Gods, but as soon as Marazhai opened his mouth, I realized that my heroine was doomed. His VA took this character to another level. If Marazhai wasn't romanceable and they had nothing better to do in privacy of her quarters, I would imagine that my Rogue Trader makes him read books out loud to her :D Under the corrupting influence of this drukhari, my heroine turned into a typical noble who does charity and plays a saint to keep a facade, at the same time trying to keep her bloody entertainment a secret.

If you came across this post by accident and do not understand, in the name of the Emperor, what kind of heresy is in front of your eyes, than you can direct this question to "Owlcat Studios". This is not a fanfiction. In the game "Rogue Trader" there is an actual romance with drukhari with the elements of BDSM… And I am grateful for all of the unlikely causes and conditions that this romance actually became a reality and that Marazhai is male.

Nudity and a wall of text. All the things that social media algorithms "love" so much these days, oh…

Software used: DAZ Studio, Blender (Cycles)

#fanart #warhammer 40000 #warhammer 40k #rogue trader #40k #owlcat games #marazhai #drukhari #warhammer 40k rogue trader

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calchexxis · 8 days

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40k Femslash Appreciation Post

There isn't nearly enough good wlw in Warhammer 40k, and don't get me wrong, I understand why. Considering the majority of the narratives consist of manly men doing manly things while wearing a buick on their torso and a refrigerator on each arm, there's going to be an obvious skew, and that's okay!

But today, I want to highlight some of the ladies of the 40k universe, as well as the other ladies that those ladies like to kiss. For the record, all of these will be on Archive of Our Own.

In my own corner, I've contributed:

Ennui: A longform about a Dark Eldar Wych and a Sororitas who find unlikely love on a world plagued by Orks, and in the process, discover a much darker plot that will threaten the fabric of the galaxy.

From Afar: Local Eldar Pathfinder pines after a pretty PDF guardswoman from the distance in the months while the Great Devourer approaches.

Saintsbride: A series rather than a single fic, that creatively reinterprets Saint Celestine and Inquisitor Greyfax's relationship in the audio drama Our Martyred Lady as being very gay.

His Fury, Our Hearts: Three Sisters Militant of the Adeptus Sororitas Heavy Armor division do battle against cult elements of the Alpha Legion while defending an irradiated hellhole, and also they kiss each other.

More excellent femslash can be found in the hands of user OnTheHuh.

The Iron Tower: An unflinching look at the darker side of the 40k universe on the smaller scale through the eyes of the 'bedmate' of the Planetary Governor of a Feudal world. Absolutely mind the tags, but you're in the mood for some angst and Regency-era style lesbian pining, this is your jam.

Sister Militant: Some of the best Adeptus Sororitas work out there, follows the trials and tribulations of a haunted Sister Militant as she struggles with her worth, her faith, and the demons in her mind. Very much mind the tags, again, but also again, Lesbian Angst and Pining. Also some really top notch action.

Finally, some more excellence from user AncillaThings!

Nemain's Bellum: A story that follows the ascension of a Sister Novitiate by her mentor, Palatine Caddel, through her first war and onward, when I said 'Sister Militant' is some of the best, this would be the rest of the best. Great sci-fi action and more girls kissing. Also trauma, but that's what we're here for, right?

Pigeons and Eagles: For fans of the truly excellent Rogue Trader game by OwlCat studios, and who maybe wants to see Sister Argenta being cute and gay with the God-Emperor's weirdest perfect princess, Cassia Orsellio, this one is for you.

#warhammer 40000 #warhammer 40k #fanfic appreciation #ao3fic #femslash #wlw post #ao3 fanfic #sapphic #sapphic fiction #sapphic fanfiction #sapphics in 40k

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whining-ylthin · 1 month

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OK, so, I am clearly biased because I'm not actively following Rogue Trader-specific tags and whatnot, all I see is what my follows post or reblog so there's a person-specific filter on each post that reaches my dash, but--

Everyone simps for Marzipan the Dark Elf. Everyone wants to fuck either of the Inquisition's Blowjob Brothers. Everyone likes the Eldar Ranger wife.

I've yet to see a single image of Ulfar's ass and I can't tell if it's because I follow people who specifically aren't into bears and other types of hard-masculine men, because his Cop-Flavored Space Wolf Vibes are that rancid, or because he does something else in the game that causes him to end up being such an unlikeable dick (derogatory) that nobody bothers to draw him. Which is a goddamn achievement and a half in 40K because you can pick up the soggiest white bread of a loyalist Marine character/chapter, bet five bucks that there is at least one person swooning over them and casually walk away 10$ richer.

"Why won't you play the game yourself--" because my free time is split unevenly between Warframe, drawing my own little mans, dealing with depressive episodes and a sudden craving for a 6/10 jank-as-fuck RPG that I know well enough by now to kind of just casually blitz through in maybe 20-ish hours, which led me to reinstall Might & Magic X of all things. Also, RT is apparently still buggy and I'm not paying 60$ to do post-launch QA for Owlcat, either the game goes on a big sale or they patch it to a decent level.

#warhammer 40k #rogue trader

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fuckitwebhaal · 4 months

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Shit wait why you leaving what happend

😭 Nothing horrible, oops, I realize how bad that last post sounds. Ultimately it’s burnout, both with the game and tumblr and within my own personal life. I don’t really play BG3 anymore, I have a lot of criticisms about it, and I find myself feeling isolated from the fandom due to either disagreeing with popular fanon or just not relating to content going around.

This blog has started to feel like a chore to maintain; I stress when my queue gets low because it feels like I have to perform to keep my little followers and mutuals happy, and that’s not healthy. I’ve been through a lot in the past few months in my personal life (moving in with parents, lost my apartment deposit, constantly sick, wrecked my car, my cat died, etc.) and I just don’t get the same joy out of it. Instead I’m stressed over “falling behind” or “not producing enough content” which isn’t normal or healthy for me. I’m holding myself to standards about playthroughs and oc lore and meta content that I’m just… never going to have the energy or drive to do.

This isn’t because some followers or mutuals have made me feel this way, these are my own personal sentiments borne out of extreme depression, withdrawal, and anxiety over how my TUMBLR BLOG WAS DOING when I have quite literally been putting out fires in my personal life and that’s where my attention should have been (and should still be, I’m not out of the woods yet).

Another thing is that the burnout with bg3 has turned my attention over to the pathfinder games that Owlcat studios has made, and I absolutely love them and I find them more engaging and well-made. It’s a much smaller fandom, I feel like I have a lot more breathing room, so I may switch to either moving my pathfinder blog here or dropping this one entirely as a memorial to my time in BG3.

Regardless nothing is set in stone, I haven’t made any real decisions yet, but I think the end is on the horizon for me in the bg3 sphere. I love everyone I’ve met and I intend to stay in contact with people (I’m not dying or going away, my discord is still open lol) I’m just really, really tired.

#askbox #personal

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russanogreenstripe · 5 months

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I've been playing Owlcat's adaptation of Pathfinder: Kingmaker and have some thoughts

There's a choices they made when designing their game that I think are really interesting from a design perspective, even if I don't fully understand or even agree with them in all cases, but they are useful intellectual exercises. Perhaps the most interesting to me is how they handle Neutral alignments.

I'm going to assume most people finding this know about the 3x3 Alignment grid used in Dungeons and Dragons and other games descended from it, including the 1e version of Pathfinder that the video game is based on. The classic Lawful vs Chaotic and Good vs Evil. Countless gallons of ink and terabytes of text have been spilled over this very basic system, but it's usually the ends of those axes that get the attention. Neutral rarely gets as much detail or analysis about it compared to Good/Evil/Chaos/Law, and it's usually in one of three modes. If I had to come up with names or descriptors for them, I'd go with something like Unaligned, Not Opted In, and Balance, and versions of these exist for both axes. Unaligned is when these opposing forces don't register for you at all, usually due to a lack of cognitive capability. Simple constructs, plants, and animals often fall in the Unaligned category, and I've heard this approach to Neutral basically described as "Neutral Hungry" - what does a bear think about moral debates? It doesn't, it only cares about whether it's hungry or not. Most people don't expect complex philosophical thinking out of a pitcher plant. Not Opted In is when a person has enough cognitive capacity that they could make principled decisions regarding the two axes, but for whatever reason simply don't or haven't. Most people aren't saints or devils, paragons or chameleons. They're just... normal. They're not concerned with cosmic struggles for Freedom versus Order, or pledged to uphold the tenets of Kindness or the debasements of Sin. They just kinda go about doing their thing without needing a big picture. When they make decisions, alignment isn't their primary factor - other things like practicality, culture, needs, and other mundane forces are more important to them. Balance is when a person does have cognitive capacity to recognize these dynamics, and intentionally chooses none of them. This is the classic Druid alignment, the middle way between the extremes. It is a choice and a firm principle, but not in a Lawful or Chaotic way, but in a way that is simultaneously both and neither.

There are certain universal dialogue options in Kingmaker that are tagged with alignments. Any character can choose those options, and doing so will shift your alignment meter towards that alignment very slightly. Then there are some that are tagged with "Requires Good/Evil/Law/Chaos/Neutral" - for those ones, only characters who have that alignment can select it, and also gives a bump towards that alignment. Pretty straightforward, and a fairly representative way to handle these systems in a rigid video game. The universal Neutral options (whether that's True Neutral, Neutral Good, Neutral Evil, Chaotic Neutral, or Lawful Neutral) tend to be somewhere around Unaligned or Not Opted In. Where things get interesting is when we look at the "Requires Neutral" options - all the examples I can think of are written intentionally from a Balance perspective. They come up when two independent groups or forces are in opposition, and these options allow you to either choose no side, or choose BOTH sides as a mediator. And when you choose those options, there truly is an opportunity for reconciliation that prevents otherwise inevitable division and even bloodshed. If you asked me out of the blue "Hey, where on the alignment grid do you find brokering a peace agreement between two opposed factions that stops a civil war?" I'd probably guess either Good or Lawful. Owlcat Games says, "No, that's True Neutral." And the opposing forces don't need to be different halves of an alignment axis - there's a section early on where the only way to not take a side between two Lawful Evil groups and prevent escalation to full-blown conflict is to take an option that Requires Neutral. There's scenarios later that let you act a mediator between two very different people, and two opposed nations, and if you want to truly be able to bring both sides to the table in those scenarios, you have to be Neutral. Even if your intended outcomes are things like "Foster understanding" or "Avert a civil war," things I would categorize as Good, the game makes them Neutral. My current playthrough is mostly Chaotic Good, and I've been pretty satisfied with those options. But when there is deep, deep opposition between two groups in the Stolen Lands, Good won't always bridge a gap between them, but Neutral can. This makes Neutral options an actual Choice instead of just the thing you pick when there's not a Good/Lawful/Chaotic/Evil option - it is a principled position on its own, just as nuanced and effective as the extremes of the chart, and not just the weird ugly grey color in the middle of the alignment chart, and I think that's neat. That's different than the way I thought about it before, and that's cool to analyze.

#pathfinder #pathfinder kingmaker #alignment chart #spoilers #spoilers for a game that came out five years ago #philosophy #game design #neutral

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transgaledekarios · 8 months

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I would be so curious to hear some of your thoughts on why you hc gale as trans. Because like, I also instinctually had that thought? But I had previously just attributed it to me projecting ^^’’

Oooo of course! Yay thank you for the ask! So there are a few things. There will be spoilers for the game, and I will tag that, but just a heads up.

The first is small, easy to miss/ignore. If you look at his underwear description, it says it’s enchanted. With what? Who knows. My thought is they have some basic cleanliness/freshness spells, but also, magical packer. Obviously. Enchantment refers to the school of magic in 5e, and this is about charms and illusions. What exactly needs an illusion in his underwear? Magical packer makes perfect sense to me

Another sign for me is the way he is very…. Shy? About his body. He makes a comment about how he even waited for Tara to leave the room before undressing for bed. Which…fair. Tara is very smart, but she still is an owlcat. And I thought to myself hmm. What could make a grown adult so uncomfortable with showing their body, in any state of undress not just fully nude, even in non sexual situations?

My next one is connection to the previous. In a possibly orgy situation in act 3 (one that he actually seems into, because he likes the idea of watching you). He does his switcharoo thingy with the magical projection of him and he said a very specific line that had me go hmmm. He comments that uhuh, yes this is me. Nude. Definitely “anatomically correct”. He says those exact two words. And while this could be interpreted as a small dick joke (oh haha hilarious. Cis man with a small dick how funny 😐.) if this is the case, I’d actually be really disappointed in Larian. But I think it becomes more interesting in the case that like. He has no dick, and he’s not about to out himself to strangers.

My other thought is the romance and sex scenes with him themselves. The “normal” sex scene has him and Tav completely clothed. And fades to black. Which, to me, supports the idea that he’s a bit nervous and shy about his body. Uncomfortable with showing even the audience he’s not aware of. There’s some kind of discomfort there he needs to overcome before he can share his body, even partially nude, with someone. The astral sex scene (which is very fun btw) has a lot more happening, but you never see any genitals. Just bright light. Which I also thought was interesting. With an astral projection, he can do wtvr he wants, (even have three of him) to please you. And he’s confident and sure of himself. Practiced. Why? Because wtvr insecurity he has in his body, he can smooth over and ignore in the astral plane.

I like to imagine that he and my tav, Cordelia, have a long, heartfelt talk about it. And she’s eventually able to soothe his insecurities (at least in how it relates to her seeing him, idk that he’ll ever be comfortable with strangers or near-strangers seeing his body).

These are all that I can think of at the moment, there may be more that I just forgot. (I’ll need to replay his romance eventually).

Thanks again for the ask! 🧡🧡🧡

#bg3 spoilers #bg3 gale #trans gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #my thoughts #bg3

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v1leblood · 25 days

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i want to go back to rogue trader when the game gets polished up and doesn't uhhh hard lock me repeatedly but its genuinely crazy that owlcat, existing in a post-mass effect world, decided to make romance options limited, sexuality locked, And prohibit players from romancing most of the xenos. like. what year do you think it is

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vitanithepure · 4 months

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Again, spoilers for act 3 of Rogue Trader below cut. Big ones, be warned.

I...I was not ready to hear Heinrix actually yell at me. I think I got used to silent grumbling and eye-rolling, some snide comments here and there...

And...I think he has the right to react this way. We, as characters not the players, have no proof at this point. Only the word of Yrliet, who betrayed us once already, and the testimony of Marazhai who orchestrated the whole thing and straight up said he tortured Achilleas until he agreed to work for him.

How much we trust them, Heinrix included, is up in the air of course, but...man, I was so anxious during this whole ordeal, I can't imagine what all of them would feel after all they have just been through the last few...days? Weeks? Just...jfc.

I believe Achilleas was, indeed, forced to betray us by Marazhai because he leads us into a trap if Yrliet is no recruited, I think? That happened during my first playthrough (that bugged the hell out on act3 and I had to start over, mind you, so maybe things didn't play out the way they were supposed to).

So, yeah, Yrliet did do us a favor in some convoluted way, but the whole situation is so stinky I don't hold it against anyone if they lash out. Just top-notch storytelling there, is all.

I'm waiting for Owlcat to get a budget for a AAA game, they would destroy us with it.

#*sigh* please let act3 end already #the fights are crazy difficult #the hurt is exceptional #but I'm so ready for it to end #please #rogue trader

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sroloc--elbisivni · 7 months

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Sorrow is an Autumn Heart bibliography

October 16, 2022 is the day I put up the first chapter of what I still refer to as the spookyfic, and I'm overwhelmed and delighted that people are still finding it enjoyable. @letsgetempirical asked about the bibliography, and because I still have a lot of the info and wanted to do something for the ficiversary, here we go!

some notes: this is in two sections. The first section is the officially-formatted version (Chicago style) of stuff I knew I would need to refer back to or would definitely be using something from and remembered to put in Zotero while I was looking at it. The second section is...all of the links I zipped away into onetab when the fic was done. It's much less coherent. Not everything in here showed up in the fic, either--some stuff was just me following rabbit holes that looked interesting, or finding out that whatever I was looking at wouldn't fit for whatever reason.

Some of the jstor links are very ugly and I apologize for that. I also apologize that not all of the sources are going to be publicly available, as I was using university library access through work. The gun stuff in particular was maddeningly hard to get Anglophone sources on. I also just gave up on food at some point which is why the only visible meals in this story are the two from Usagi's recovery, and which I still managed to fuck up by forgetting the difference between yams (native to Japan) and sweet potatoes (from south america via pourtugese traders, not at all widespread). c'est la vie.

I WOULD like to shout out three of my absolute favorite open-access sources I found while researching this: Sengoku Daimyo, an SCA site that consistently had specific terminology or details I needed and whose 'Calendar and Time' page was probably my single most frequently consulted website; Shinsen On-Hiinagata: A New selection of Respected Patterns, which is a genuine Early Edo period book of kimono patterns and where I got the chrysanthemums kosode Leo wears in chapter 3; and The Rice Harvest, an online game where you play through a rice growing season in the Edo Period as resource manager. Yeah. I never managed to get all the way through because it was more time than I had to invest when I wanted to get back to writing, but its existence delights me and it DID teach me what tea orchards were.

Part 1:

Aoki, Reiko. “Innovation and Incentives in Japan Focus on Pre-Meiji,” n.d., 24.

Armstrong, Katie. “History of Kimono: The Edo Period.” Owlcation. Accessed November 5, 2022. https://owlcation.com/humanities/History-of-Kimono-Part-4-The-Early-Modern-Period-Edo-Period.

Breen, John. "Resurrecting the Sacred Land of Japan: The State of Shinto in the Twenty-First Century." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Vol. 37, Issue 2, (2010): 294-315

Brown, Delmer M. “The Impact of Firearms on Japanese Warfare, 1543–98.” The Journal of Asian Studies 7, no. 3 (May 1948): 236–53. https://doi.org/10.2307/2048846.

“Danka System.” In Wikipedia, October 16, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Danka_system&oldid=1116488468.

Docslib. “Talismans and Amulets in the Japanese Collection1.” Accessed October 14, 2022. https://docslib.org/doc/1588708/talismans-and-amulets-in-the-japanese-collection1.

“Fudai Daimyo - in The Edo Period.” Accessed November 6, 2022. https://www.liquisearch.com/fudai_daimyo/in_the_edo_period.

Greve, Gabi. “Edo - the EDOPEDIA -: Teppo Guns.” Edo - the EDOPEDIA - (blog), April 30, 2016. https://edoflourishing.blogspot.com/2016/04/teppo-guns.html.

“Ofuda.” In Wikipedia, October 4, 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ofuda&oldid=1114105231.

Sengoku Daimyo. “Etiquette.” Accessed October 14, 2022. https://sengokudaimyo.com/etiquette.

“Shinsen On-Hiinagata (A New Selection of Respected Patterns).” Accessed November 5, 2022. https://collections.mfa.org/objects/316014/shinsen-onhiinagata-a-new-selection-of-respected-patterns;jsessionid=B2C387B7B543B9D56C2759D94A3A8755.

"Special Exhibition: The Introduction of Guns in Japanese Warfare," National Museum of Japanese History, Oct. 3 to Nov. 26, 2006, 9.

Walthall, Anne. “Do Guns Have Gender?,” 24–47, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520267374.003.0002.

Yu, A. C. “Chigyo - Japanese Wiki Corpus.” Accessed October 14, 2022. https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/history/Chigyo.html.

———. “Kamishimo - Japanese Wiki Corpus.” Accessed November 5, 2022. https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/culture/Kamishimo.html.

———. “Kokushu - Japanese Wiki Corpus.” Accessed October 14, 2022. https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/title/Kokushu.html.

国友鉄砲ミュージアム. “STORY,” March 16, 2020. https://kunitomo-teppo.jp/ikkansai_en/story_en/.

Part 2:

https://www.justonecookbook.com/tsukimi-japanese-mid-autumn-festival/ | Celebrating Tsukimi: Japanese Autumn Festival • Just One Cookbook

https://owlcation.com/humanities/The-Role-of-Shintoism-in-Art-During-Edo-Period-Japan | The Role of Shintoism in Art During Edo Period Japan - Owlcation

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45744 | Autumn Grasses | Japan | Edo period (1615–1868) | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

http://dwl.gov-online.go.jp/video/cao/dl/public_html/gov/pdf/hlj/20151101/06-07.pdf | 06-07.pdf

https://metimejp.com/lucky-charms3/ | Looking for Good Health in Ancient Japanese Culture - Me Time Japan

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=Morishio&atb=v229-1&ia=web | Morishio at DuckDuckGo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzu_(bell) | Suzu (bell) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Japanese_musical_instruments | Traditional Japanese musical instruments - Wikipedia

https://japanobjects.com/features/furin-wind-chimes | Furin: All You Need to Know About Japanese Wind Chimes

https://sengokudaimyo.com/calendar-and-time | Calendar and Time — Sengoku Daimyo

https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/building/Yamajiro%20(mountain%20castles).html | Yamajiro (mountain castles) - Japanese Wiki Corpus

https://www.britannica.com/place/Japan/The-Tokugawa-status-system | Japan - The Tokugawa status system | Britannica https://www.pin1.harvard.edu/cas/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Fkey-

https://nbthkebscandinavia.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/e6968-pettersson_16th_century_matchlocks.pdf | The evolution of the Japanese matchlock during the 16th century - e6968-pettersson_16th_century_matchlocks.pdf

https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/history/Joshu%20Daimyo%20(governors%20of%20castles).html | Joshu Daimyo (governors of castles) - Japanese Wiki Corpus

https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/culture/Jinya.html | Jinya - Japanese Wiki Corpus

https://www.kikkoman.co.jp/kiifc/foodculture/pdf_12/e_002_006.pdf | e_002_006.pdf https://wattention.com/traditional-rice-harvesting-in-japan/ | Traditional Rice Harvesting in Japan - WAttention.com

http://www.thericeharvest.com/info/game-basics-and-tips/growing-tea.html | Growing Tea | Game Basics & Tips | The Rice Harvest

http://www.thericeharvest.com/game.html?difficulty=easy&villageType=mountain | The Rice Harvest

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/44674 | Farmers' Lives in the Twelve Months | Japan | Edo period (1615–1868) | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

https://www.tokyoweekender.com/2022/01/in-old-japan-rice-luxury/ | In Old Japan, Rice Used to Be a Luxury | Tokyo Weekender https://sake-museum.jp/en/saketalk/1010/ | The History of Rice Polishing in the Edo Period - Sake Museum (Hakushika Memorial Museum of Sake)

https://www.japanpowered.com/japan-culture/understanding-japanese-good-luck-charms | Understanding Japanese Good Luck Charms

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11776994/ | [Camphor in the Edo era fireworks] - PubMed

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv176ktd4?searchText=mountain%20castles%20edo%20period&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dmountain%2Bcastles%2Bedo%2Bperiod&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A335be2b0edac87a2794e24ced0c184ea | Technical Knowledge in Early Modern Japan on JSTOR

ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A335be2b0edac87a2794e24ced0c184ea | The castle town of Hikone and its future on JSTOR

https://www.jcastle.com/view/Daimyo | Daimyo - JCastle, the guide to Japanese Castles

https://www.jcastle.info/view/Edo_Period | Edo Period - Jcastle.info

https://www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/building/Yamajiro%20(mountain%20castles).html | Yamajiro (mountain castles) - Japanese Wiki Corpus

https://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?452907-Food-during-the-Sengoku-Era | Food during the Sengoku Era

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/81d8gf/what_was_japanese_cuisine_like_during_sengoku/ | What was Japanese cuisine like during Sengoku Jidai era Japan? How was it different to modern Japanese cuisine? : AskHistorians

https://www.britannica.com/place/Japan/Samurai-groups-and-farming-villages | Japan - Samurai groups and farming villages | Britannica

https://kokorocares.com/blogs/blog/life-in-edo-a-prominent-era-of-establishing-japanese-food-culture | Life in Edo: A Prominent Era of Establishing Japanese Food Culture - Kokoro Care Packages

https://www.kikkoman.co.jp/kiifc/foodculture/pdf_12/e_002_006.pdf | e_002_006.pdf

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.Z480GtLLhOvuc1zsHfsakQAAAA%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=17bd9f98803761c2300bdae496a0afb2a793b5ba6a5c3fb55316692806ed8087&ipo=images | th-1957266066 (JPEG Image, 129 × 180 pixels)

https://www.liquisearch.com/fudai_daimyo/in_the_edo_period | Fudai Daimyo - in The Edo Period

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fudai_daimy%C5%8D | Fudai daimyō - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fief | Fief - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimyo | Daimyo - Wikipedia

https://www.adfontes.uzh.ch/en/tutorium/old-japanese-maps/edo-period-maps | Ad fontes: Tutorial / Old Japanese Maps / Edo-period maps

https://www.digital.archives.go.jp/das/image-l/M1000000000000000309 | 和州郡山城絵図 https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/1286203?_lang=en | 〔日本図〕 - NDL Digital Collections

https://www.nakasendoway.com/castle-towns-2/ | Castle Towns

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=topographical+map+japan&t=ffab&atb=v229-1&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-preview.redd.it%2FGNBAmxXsj_ebIW6pZj0pV6ZYu--m3oHxwgpYveuCgo.png%3Fauto%3Dwebp%26s%3D8b008a3a286a814e1e7cf96b79a33dfe5b070883 | topographical map japan at DuckDuckGo

#fic talk #sroloc babbles #fic research #usagi yojimbo

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passionesolja · 3 months

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Uuhhh so look, in regards to the new patch of Baldur’s Gate 3 coming out. To me, it’s a red flag that it’s 21GB and the main marketing thing they’re going with is kissing scenes. For context, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is like 43GBs and that’s a big ass game. A patch of this size shouldn’t have romance scenes be the selling point, cinematics data or not. I’ve been super forgiving and tolerant of Larian because I do respect them, I do like them. I loved Divinity: Original Sin 2 in high school. But this shit is absurd. The epilogue shit was sweet or whatever but ima be real, it really wasn’t needed when a lot of BG3 players aren’t even through with the game yet. It really could’ve waited. BG3 needs a lot more than just a fan service epilogue

Mf, fuck the forehead kiss scenes, where is the upper city of Baldur’s Gate? Will we finally have late game scenes be voice acted? There’s so much issues with BG3, like real issues that other cRPG devs couldn’t get away with, but Larian is focusing on genitalia physics. Shit that isn’t at all important.

It’s pretty obvious that the whole “Baldur’s Gate 3 came out the box complete” praise isn’t true because shit like the difficulty modes and everything else should’ve been there from the start. Like they were in Pathfinder.

I like the game, but these patches and their lallygagging is getting played tf out. It’d be one thing if they were locked in, fixing this shit, but their focusing on bullshit romance scenes and changing characters to be more palatable when they need to be filling out and fixing their game. Say what you want about Owlcat, but they get busy with their games. They didn’t fuck around with adding romance scenes and stupid physics that mfs not even gon care about fr, they get shit done.

Larian, y’all need to get shit done and stop acting like this shit a game. Romance scenes aren’t important. Mfs pressuring you to give a companion more kiss scenes isn’t important. Stupid ass lil gimmicky dick and ball physics aren’t important. BG3 has some real problems that need to be fixed, tick tock mfs too because this shit will only be glossed over for so long.

There’s a reason why Owlcat gets a pass for its buggy games in the community, it’s because they don’t spend months giving Daeran 5 hours of romance scenes. They get their games fleshed out and fixed up quick. Owlcat would NEVER move like this with Pathfinder.

Best believe that the hyper focus on fan service and romance shit is going to bite Larian soon if they don’t pull it together soon. I dunno what the fuck they’re doing, but Larian wasn’t moving like this when BG3 was in Early Access, but now they’re just losing the plot. Larian, fuck off with the bullshit fan service and fix shit—add shit.

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate #baldur's gate iii #bg3 meta #Larian #bg3 critical #larian studios #larian critical

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1helios1 · 4 months

Text

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @elavoria, thank you!

A little snippet from a Rogue Trader fic I am writing (I blame Ela for getting me to play an Owlcat game, and I blame Owlcat for forcing me to write fic by not making the hot space nun romanceable. How dare they.)

“Sister Argenta, thank you for joining me.” Their eyes seemed to study her, taking in her plain, pious attire, and she realized they had probably never seen her out of her armor, or any sororitas, for that matter. They gestured that she should take the seat opposite them, and she did so, even though instinct told her to stay standing. In compromise, she kept her back straight and hands clasped neatly in her lap, permitting herself a minimum of comfort. “Keres, how may I be of service?” “I wanted to discuss what happened, with Idira.” “I thought you might. Let it be known that I did what I had to do in defense of this ship and the faithful within. I took no pleasure in killing Idira. She was a dangerous heretic, and she was losing control.” She spoke calmly, but quickly, not really giving herself time to consider her words or the wisdom of offering an unrequested explanation. In the Schola Progenium she had learned that such was always regarded as an excuse, but she couldn’t help herself. In a way, that was also one of the lessons. To fight for her place, even if it seemed a losing battle. For their part they just smiled that imp smile that either meant they were teasing her, or about to tug a thread and unravel her completely. “You find no pleasure in serving your god emperor?” Emperor’s grace. They were good at getting past her guard. So good she almost didn’t notice their word choice. Your? Not our?

#wip #rogue trader #sister argenta #warhammer 40k

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dekarios · 2 months

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i’m actually very upset with all the issues surrounding the game now. it’s disappointing. yeah, the little additions here and there were cute but now, it feels like they’re trying to appease everyone. which is impossible bc there’s always gonna be someone out there who’s gonna complain, who’s gonna find fault with a decision made. if a games meant to be fully released, at fully released price, don’t touch it again beyond fixing bugs. just like art, too much detail can ruin the end result. thank you, have a good day.

while i don't have issue with free updates to games, stuff that other games would compile into a paid for dlc, yknow like this is the extra romance stuff dlc.. you know that would exist elsewhere... i do have an issue with how its handled and how theyre doing it while there is bugs. like.... lets compare to owlcat

owlcat are known to spend the first few months of a new release exclusively on patches that fix bugs

and then when the bugs are more or less entirely sorted, theyll start adding free new content like new customisation options being an example from wotr

larian are only adding new stuff they think will get themselves more sales. they are targetting people who will go "oh i'll buy the game now" over the new updates. they're not fucking dumb... what they're doing is working. it's a money making scheme. they are a company who wants money!

its just. so fucking soulless at this point. bg3 has no soul to me anymore.

edit: bug fixes are not a massive prio for larian because the greater community don't fucking care. no one is really talking about it. just some bitching here and on reddit and the discord server. but they can easily be tuned out for all the people calling it the best rpg ever and talking about how much they love to kiss their love interests.... keeping those loud people happy who are constantly promoting their game and bringing new customers in IS the prio

#fray.txt #ask #Anonymous

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optiwashere · 3 months

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what other RPG games do you like?

Heya anon, what a fun question! If I sat and listed all the RPGs I like, it would take forever. Here's a ramble instead because I'm bored on a Sunday.

I've been playing basically any kind of RPG since I got a copy of Fallout 1 in... 1999? '98? I was too young for it, but I was also too young to watch horror films then and look at how I turned out.

Pretty sure I blindly walked into the Glow in one of my first playthroughs and didn't understand why my character kept dying afterwards lmao.

Then I got into BG with BG2 when it was released. After that I started reading Drizzt novels, and that's where everything went wrong.

Either way, I like pretty much any kind of RPG. If you can find it on GOG, Steam, or Abandonware sites, I've probably at least tried it. Old-school, draw a map, tile-based dungeon crawlers like Pool of Radiance or Might and Magic? Yep, love those games. All the Infinity Engine games and their modern clones? Yep! I'm really hoping we get a Pillars of Eternity 3 some day. Even though I think they've all had massive problems so far and I've had bad interactions with the company's community management, I'll probably play the next Owlcat game too. I loved the Mass Effect and Dragon Age games when they came out, but I'm eh on ME2/3 and DA is a really uneven series. I'm less into JRPGs these days, but I've played stuff like Chrono Trigger, Persona, and most of the Final Fantasy series.

Speaking of FF, strategy RPGs are just so, so good and I've had to make do with constant replays of Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre for years...

Tabletop RPGs are my only other real hobby these days besides writing, and I'm currently on a break from running anything. I plan on running either Dungeon Crawl Classics or the MCDM RPG (if it's out by then) when I'm ready for another campaign.

I've been a Larian fan since Divinity 2 (that's the Dragon Knight Saga, not Original SIn) and the fact that they got handed BG3 is still kinda surreal even now lol. I remember Kickstarting D:OS1 and thinking it was such a fun tactical RPG with just awful characters. That's what all of their games were like before D:OS2, really. Look how far they've come! And they managed to make a system that I think is largely bad for tactical play pretty fun.

OH! I also love ARPGs. I'm thankful I don't have a real hour count of my Diablo 2 playtime since ca. 2001, because it would not reflect well on me. My Path of Exile playtime is already dangerously concerning.

#hey you can ask me things!#personal nonsense #MMOs I am just way not into anymore... I occasionally play on early expac everquest 1 fanservers but not for long #and I'm eventually going to play the persona 3 remake but finding the time for it is... ough...#and open world “sandbox” RPGs just don't really do much for me either #but these days I love the relatively underplayed/obscure stuff #Voidspire Tactics? Underrail? sure let's go. still waiting on Death Trash to get a full release >:|#(and as a bg and general crpg vet I'm very happy to say that turn-based > real-time with pause)#(+ the contrarianism about BG3 not being a “real” BG game is hysterical)

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