#this is from my playthrough! :D

[robo-dino-puppy]

cauldron by the ocean

#horizon forbidden west #hfw #aloy #cauldron kappa #hfw cauldrons #gotta love those triangle doors #this was from march 2022 during my first playthrough :D i guess i had to stop to take a pic in the triangle lol #i wore that armor a lot my first time through

[dairine-bonnet]

Well, if first it was supposed that Carth, according to the game writers and cut content, could redeem fem Revan, and after that they died hand in hand at the Star Forge, then here's my ending: Revan (probably, 'grey' Revan) convinces Malak to reject the Dark Side and they escape together on one of the Star Forge's ships before the station is completely destroyed. Nobody is even aware of it, redeemed Revan is considered a hero who died for the Republic/ or otherwise - maybe only a few people know the whole amnesiac Revan's story, and redeemed Bastila is declared the hero who 'defeated' Darth Malak...

P.S. The name of a possible short fic based on the story could be Presumed Dead.

#the ebon hawk crew may know or not know about revan being alive #both options are satisfying and intriguing #I was inspired by both another k1 playthrough and my own joke that the council want both revan and malak die on the star forge #now i want to read such a fic badly! #me looking for ideas how to redeem malak and stay away from revan novel at once #want to see them and the exile fighting against the true sith empire #and happy ending of course #beloved revalek again!:D #k1 thoughts #k1 playthrough #silly thoughts #kotor 1 #kotor #knights of the old republic #revan #female reman #lady revan #fem revan #f!revan #darth malak #revalek #revalak #revan x malak #malak #star wars #alexandra forst #inspiration #there could be loads of possible endings for all tastes... but without a doubt it'd be challenging to realize... #in practice

[ourfavoritetorturedwriter]

I just realized, I have ~155 hours in Alan Wake 2. You wanna guess how many actual, complete playthroughs I did? Yeah, exactly, two.

#whoops #:D #like #i did my initial playthrough #and then final draft when it came out #technically i am currently on my third one (final draft again) #the rest is from taking screenshots #and just messing around #alan wake #alan wake 2

[powdermelonkeg]

Look at him, following me around like I'm his justiciar.

#is it weird that i find it adorable #we're walking in line! :D #also my character is so short compared to him #it's like that meme of 'how to talk to short people' #tesv #skyrim #taliesin skyrim #real tea hours #i've had to zoom out so far for this playthrough. i need to see when wolves are coming #i have a mod that won't let me fight and another one that inflicts bad wounds i can't just potion away so it's important #not AS important now that tally's there to protect me from wolves but. yknow.

[pawsitivevibe]

Finished Baldur's Gate 😭😭😭😭😭

#well we'll play the epilogue tomorrow #but nooooo I don't want to be done #Love my character. Gonna use her for D&D eventually #We did acrually already start another playthrough a few days ago though #so we will do our bad choices game #But it won't be the same! #I'm so glad I got to save my bestie at the end. I was so worried #Also I saved Tom from almost not getting his happy ending with a well timed save we reloaded lol #My husband is really happy we have a game to play together that we both like and will play again

[fourteenthz]

Here's him for reference !! If u have seen critical role campaign two NO YOU HAVENT (might change to wild magic btw not sure)

#alright alright ill admit (i say as if that wasnt the goals): #he has like STRONG caleb vibes. so fire coded but I do think his alignment is just a mesh of caleb and essek tbh ??? #HAVE NOT watched the 2 campaign btw so I might be saying stuff wrong... but I just am obsessed with the idea of caleb I have in my tiny min #so there's that. his gardian is between purple tiefling and a drown.... dont look at me. my bg3 durge my rules. #but right lets go to the romance like I narrowed down btw i pretty much have an idea of character for the other ones #and I also want these the most. MOSTLY gale tho and this SUCKS bc I'm pretty sure durge and gale don't match AT ALL #i could make him worse vs i don't think the game allows me to make him THAT MUCH WORSE and for the playthrough I'm planning #im just scared he will break up with me at some point LOL on the other side I think Shadowheart SPEC justiciar!shd is a good choice #i want to take her parents home this playthrough as well so like... it might be nice to see them... yeah. #minthara is just there bc I will have her in my party this time !! idk shit abt her so who knows i might fall in love #karlach is there for the same reason as gale. I'm fixated on her platonic love and how absolutely well written it is. i want to see how #it goes with the romance. but also I'm scared she will just break up with me at some point for manipulating ppl and all that... #i kinda want a durge that's not EVIL but he's like going from “i want the best for me” to “i want the best for us” #nd this involves them being their “best” version aka the fucked up versions :) ascended astarion/justiciar Shadowheart/god of the weave gal #etc etc. so yeah that. if anyone that knows how the romances really go and want to give me some tips I'm open for them 👉👈 #on the other hand... i have a backup character for gale already... she's competing with halsin on big half elfs in the camp :D so yeah #like ik I prefer the idea of “huge elf girl monk” x gale more than durge x gale... but also i get giggly thinking abt wizard x sorcerer SO #YOU KNOW... THERE'S THAT. my monk girl IS stunning tho I'll show yall her someday !! I'm still unsure abt alignment and personality tho #which isn't the case for my durg NOR the one I started playing already... she's a chaotic good halfling and I adore her. #she's kinda of the mom of the group but also not ?? fun aunt maybe !! bc she flirts with everybody that isn't her tadpole gang and is jusf #so fun... sorry if all my references ate critical role related but think vax before raven queen happened. that's her. #she's a ranger btw and i genuinely CANOT wait to start romancing halsin with her. NO ONE TALK ABT SIZE DIFFERENCE I'll not hear #I already care them so much. haven't even met the big guy in this playthrough and yet i can see the hcs so lively. #halsin didn't go back to the forest in my first playthrough like I heard that could happen ??? so I'm excited to see WHAT'S GOING ON THERE #until then... I'll let yall know how the romance will go.... get ready for screenshots tyty #but this was DEFINITELY NOT ABT HER OH GOD I'm just procrastinating the bad endings ill get with my durge... help... anyway. #let it be known that if gotarsh was a romance option that wouldn't be a question. alas HE ISN'T so pls help me pick pls ty #knowing how the companions end I THINK I have preference for minthara (not sure ill ever play with her again) and shadowheart #(same for her and justiciar) theres that. I CAN be convinced to play god!gale more but i also can be convinced of anything with him SOO #kelly plays bg3

[spookiestmothintown]

GET ABSOLUTELY FUCKED LE'GARDE

#i did it!! i beat the funger!!! #shoutout to enki for absolutely bodying that stupid fucking snake #i told you he was lucky #thank god i reset after that dinosaur fucking ate him #i somehow managed to go the entire game without anyone in my party losing limbs theres gotta be some insane luck there #anyway! the gang lives to see another day!! #im choosing to believe that they met cahara on their way out and that he had girl and moonless with him #thats the delusion i shall be operating under from here on out #the gangs all here and theyre all safe and none of them are missing limbs! :D #..with some minor debilitating ptsd but w/e #fear and hunger #funger #horror games #i think i might try out the dating sim mode before i return to my “lucky” playthrough with girl #after that all thats left is my “containment breach” attempt and then i think ill try out termina

[elizabethrobertajones]

watching my brother haul us out of a Situation in bg3 where the whole party except his monk was downed, and I have had my 3rd eye opened on how to play video games.

#to be fair he is the Most Videogames you can possibly be so I shouldn't have been surprised #i've just spent all week on the game and also know how to play D&D #but what he did was a heroic save I should write ballads about :P #... my character playing with him is a blupee from breath of the wild but a halfling #she is so sweet #to balance playing the Dark Urge in my personal playthrough :P #bg3

[bonetools]

doll girl substory. there r tears in my eyes. majimaaaaa

#shes like ok bye dad! :D #and hes looking after her like ok get home safe now…. #with this soft smile on his face #this charavter KILLS ME bc he is such a sweet guy and is just. ahjsjdnfnngfdd #like he just got back (in my playthrough) from being beat to shit by sagawa #for being unable to follow through on a kill #and is still being so kind to the people around him #born to be a sweetheart forced to be cruel #cant think too long or cry #yakuza #y0

[rouge-the-bat]

i could not specify what exactly draws me to twilight princess so much but its the zelda game ive replayed more than any other. i cant get enough of it. what the hell did they put in this game

#idk if i would have the most *time* spent playing it bc well. ive spent hundreds of hours in botw #but ive only done 2 playthroughs of botw so tp still has more playthroughs at least #AND LIKE. i can certainly explain various things i like about tp #but why am i drawn towards it constantly. at any time im wanting to replay it again even though i have so many games i need to beat #its one of the few games i just dont really tire of #twilight princess is very special to me ♡ #if they bring midna back someday im gonna go feral #tloz #twilight princess #whenever i see anything from tp i get such a huge urge to pick it up again #i would say id maybe pick it up soon but since sonic and pokemon came out recently and im prob gonna get more games on christmas #it might be a few months before i do that. maybe #ouh maybe ill do a playthrough of it as a celebration before totk comes out #since totk comes out just a few days before my birthday :D

[doodle-girl]

Me listening to “this comes from inside” after learning more of what happened in the previous fnaf games and some of their stories and realizing/recognizing the symbolism behind the lyrics and overall mood of the song:

#HRNG. i am having. FEELINGS. G O D what the helk this song is even better than when i first heard it now #this thing’s a masterpiece what the shit #fnaf #fan songs #this comes from inside #music #the living tombstone #like rewatching the music video with the knowledge of playthroughs of the past games like BRUH. B R U H . OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SONG

[killjoy-prince]

So I'm on playthrough #4 of this game playing as Astarion this time around with the intention of romancing Wyll and man, picking all the good and heroic options as Astarion especially in Act 1 really is a case of "He would not fucking say that" bc Wyll likes all the good and heroic options and Astarion is. not that lolol

One thing is by chance I found a workaround on how to not make Wyll a devil and still keep Karlach alive. It worked but now im wondering if making him a devil would of been better narratively? Also I just got used to the horns that I kinda miss them. I do have a save thats right before doing the workaround but I did quite a bit of stuff so is it worth it?

#prince's talk tag #i no longer know which tag to put these rambles in lolol #i wanted to try playing as Astarion bc 1) hes my favorite character but also 2) he's a rouge and i love playing as rouge characters #they can break into anything and i want all those extra goodies #but i also so a bunch of astarion and wyll fan content and that cemented my want to pair them in a playthrough so it worked out #and bc i dont have a Tav this playthrough i can have a full group of origins #my party this time around is Astarion‚ Wyll‚ Shadowheart‚ and Lae'zel and the banter so far has been a lot of fun #shadowheart and laezel are like 2 seconds from killing each other and wyll is explaining why his name is spelled with a 'Y' #'Wyll with a Y. Why?' 'Yes with a Y! :D' made me laugh #also despite playing a character with 8 charisma my irl charisma is coming through the game again bc both Lae'zel and Shadowheart want me #theres options I can pick for both of them to initiate their romance and after beating some orcs Lae'zel turn on the '!' sign so id do it #i didn't. im not going for her yet. but this is like 4 playthroughs now. i gotta do her route next #also i gave gale one (1) artifact and barely had him in my party but his first scene initiated #i turned him down so fast bc i already did him in my last playthrough. i need a break lolol #wyll meanwhile is at exceptional affinity with me but hasn't said anything yet.... maybe after i take care of the goblins he will?

[xbraveheartx]

Here's the two VODs from twitch of my first 2 parts playing through NG++! I explain game mechanics here and there for a friend, but more importantly, we all talk about theories and story lore throughout! There's also Carmeo/Promeo trash talk (affectionate), but for anyone who wants to hear someone read out lore bits, explain the story as we go, and theory craft on the fly-- here are these!

#Lies of P #Lies of P Spoilers #Lies of P playthrough #They're not perfect because I 110% forgot how to unlock the Hermit's Cave but I explained the story to the area when I realized LOL #and of course there's lots of death and me getting greedy with my attacks :'D so I die a lot here and there #but!! It's a good playthrough I feel. For anyone who wants to like.. “bounce ideas” off someone even though it's a recording #Because I share all my thoughts about the story and whatnot and bring up questions and ideas #and people have brought up a lot of great ideas that I hadn't even considered #if you watch it and get an idea from something I might have said-- send me an ask & please let me know!!! I'd LOVE to hear and bounce ideas

[she-toadmask]

I swear my vocabulary has been ruined by this place

Bug annoys me? "I will eat you"

I really enjoy something someone wrote? My first instinct is "I'm eating this/I am consuming this/something similar"

Also earlier I texted saying a Slowbro set for the Cinderace event going on in SV fucks and my friend said, and I quote: "I am begging you to never word things like that again I am not young enough for new slang"

Edit: I don't know where I went in the tags it's late

#for reference my friend is my age so i found that very funny #its also interesting because like. i didnt have the shift in favorite character terminology that happened. #like i dont say 'i want to put him in the washing machine' and stuff like that. it didnt click with my brain. #unrelated but sometimes being able to remember shit really well is cool (like the lego star wars thing from earlier like i was 90% there) #but sometimes it sucks when you cant find what youre remembering. like this one set of d&d alignment videos i tried to find #there are so many i couldnt find it. i dont remember the channel name but the vid for chaotic good had robin hood on it #and i think lawful neutral had robocop? maybe they just talked about him in the video? #and i cant. fucking find the videos. #another thing i remembered i was eventually able to find again. these two people doing a thing doing dex stuff for all the pokemon #first time i looked i thought they were gone but second time i did find them. channels dead but at least it exists #unlike skydoesminecraft.exe where the only record is a full playthrough of the game i put on youtube. someone commented on it the other day #i hate when things go missing. i hate when people delete what they made from the internet. if its for privacy its. understandable. #i have unlisted some old yt vids of mine because my face was in them and i didnt want it on the internet #but otherwise. i dont like it. its why all of my terrible terrible wattpad fic is still out there. in case someone liked it. #it's 3 am i need to sleep

[unproduciblesmackdown]

i think i've only seen a soma playthrough twice and the first time i didn't absorb it great lol but upon just some light brushing up (incl a short article that was one of the few results that cropped up when i was like "show me the images for 'soma's save feature featured fisting, right' (yeah basically)") it's like, it's always fun when you're just left with a lot of room to Interpret Themes and unsurprisingly at this juncture i'm lasering in on just, like, the matter of [the self vs the other] via this premise that basically people can just make a copy of their Psyche at any point (but needing to find a new & different Soma in which to upload it but like, largely setting that aside when In This Scenario the new bodies don't affect their minds / sense of self at all....except for when they sometimes do? or maybe not. the like glitchy monsters are just kind of WAU automatons, right. and the people are all able to act / communicate themselves as people, though they might be affected by like, existential crises over the goings on) wherein like....the protagonist can Split In Two* at a few points via the psyche copying/uploading, and then the game Follows the copy that will be continuing to advance the plot, and the version of the protagonist we Were following is now An Other even though it's like, that was The Self (at least insofar as that was our first person pov player character) up till just now. and the protagonist can Know like, yeah that's You right over there also. and yet iirc from like, yesterday's light research, in the first instance he at least gets the Option to kill that Other/Self who was, up till just then, the Self to us too, if that makes him feel better abt the existential crisis, or at least discomfort, enough to like, keep moving right along lol (speaking of. just the other day i was like "adagioly onomatopoeiaing the opening banjo strums of rainbow connection from the muppet movie soundtrack does so much for me" and then i learned it was the anniversary of its theatrical release. hell yes. also memorably once when like marinating for hours in a general malaise & failing to find the wherewital to get up i was like "haha oh wait. i'm playing the song 'movin right along' from the muppet movie in my head. okay" up & at em)

anyways the fisting article (which, i was wondering what thoughts it would have on that truly interesting facet of the game. mostly it posited that the uhh sphincteresque penetration of it all would be Typically considered to make cishet men anxious / threatened / vulnerable, and notes the protagonist (hypothetically a cishet man) is indeed trepidatious about it, while also arguing he markedly Doesn't really hesitate in shit that hurts or endangers others in the course of his shit (though ig that can also depend on the player? haven't really rewatched it recently enough to know how much his dialogue adds to [as a character though he's making it clearer he just wants to cut a swath through your shit asap]) and also questions whether the game thinks of (or, from their argument, knows of) the protag as pretty sphincteresque himself. and like yeah probably imo lol like thee ending being what it is, and as far as i know no like Multiple Endings like in amnesia series* stories usually, and thus more room to have a protagonist who talks to characters in the present and i think like, without the ability to choose what he says

anyways that the protagonist can Understand like, hey see that guy over there, that's literally also you rn, and yet he can [Not accept that] in one case such that he'll kill that Self for "his own" Self's comfort really, as the fisting article expressed, to continue believing he is Unique and the One True Self, the only Real [himself]. when, to be sure, the game Could have kept the first person pov on that version of him we'd Been up till then, and had that pov of the one killed. or maybe left behind in another instance, i don't remember all the "transfers"....catherine Explicitly explaining that only the copy/upload format is possible, Not Transfers, making sense what with like. her magic brain scans that can can wholly parse & store your Psyche data, whatever that'd be like, definitely not being meant to, say, Extract the person's Psyche from their living human body upon doing so. while the ending's drama comes from the game Now staying with the version of the protag who'd been our first person pov character prior to that "transfer," who is Again like "why am i still here" despite having the "it's not actually a transfer" explained, b/c This version Just So Happens to be the copy of the copy of the copy like simon(4) or (5) or whatever and ofc can't have been the one(s) already just left behind somewhere back there in the complex or he wouldn't have been able to be at that point in the first place. and then "killing" catherine b/c he's so pissed, i remember it as him hitting whatever device was her effective Soma, but the article i think suggested she just got too stressed in turn and that Output fried the device. while, of course, post credits shows us their "transferred" selves just fine chilling in the ark like whew glad all that's done with

anyways just getting around to the fact of how it's easy to land on catherine as the center of the game....and of course she's the one really Not having crises over [my god, copies of my Self] or others' selves or what all, having even less of a usual Soma than simon but rolling with it, and evidently having already fully absorbed her Self as a distinct version from her original Self, despite having the same links to her that make simon or anyone else who's been copied into whatever other Soma feel like he's continuously been Himself(tm), the one true Real Self he's always been....and like, naturally catherine being the one behind the entire project of [what if we copy/paste people's psyches into a big ol mmorpg server & shoot it into space so that Maybe something can happen with them / in a way they can continue to exist] so she's Been thinking of, you know, being separate from these Selves turned Others who you'll jettison into space beyond even the body of the earth. unless it's supposed to stay in orbit lol i do not remember the details....and ofc like plenty of other people are like wow that's Fucked Up or it's Not Us and like, the latter sure is true with with the [copying, not transferring] element, but also the former is more choose your own adventure (interpretation) when the game isn't about like, and the simulation Is fucked up, or there's any element of distress or dissonance to existing on the ark, though you can't really know that until the post credits scene confirms you're just hanging out for real....which, that article was also going in on the character who's on this quest to kill the WAU as like "the versions of us it makes isn't Real it's Corrupting" and like, arguably the WAU as just kind of, naturally, something capable of growing, and doing so, and the real problem seeming to come in with the [doing whatever for supposed safety but superceding/supplanting/displacing autonomy in doing so] like, people who did not agree to whatever was done re: their Somas or they would've remembered & been like yeah i'm hanging out as a robot now, or a goop guy, gunk [YES], etc. but separate from that obvious issue it's like, my guy, You're a copy made by the WAU now lol, you're your whole person that you are, with the thoughts & feelings to decide you wanna go on a quest to destroy it, and whatever capacity to pursue it....either way i think the game makes it clear enough the WAU is a Neutral force exercising no conscious discernment, it Is a body, or it's some body (once told me) anyways lol, though i guess i did just go "those Monsters that can chase you are just wau manifestations right" so that's getting kind of complex lol, but even that can be taken as, like, it Mimicking human's shapes & bipedality & other external characteristics, i guess, and just the way an overall theme can be [hmm where's that division between the soma and psyche, machine and ghost] the WAU has been expanding and making various forms of itself, and of humans, and that's also an element of the fisting that starts out as a fingering and can end with having to leave part of yourself in WAU's core if you have completed the choice to corrupt & destroy it, that Connection and Interfacing is required, with increasing [get it in there] required as well though there's no given clear in universe reason why (w/my theory here being: just the Themes of the increasing interaction / reducing Boundary)

where was i going with this. idk naturally there's people like "well you don't have to see the wau as evil or at least required to be destroyed" like yeah one can imagine the case for that, wherein again this one guy's hypothetically mad abt like oh it can't be Us it's making, like, brother in christ You are here as You are b/c of what wau did, if you don't think You're legitimate enough, how can you be dead set on pursuing any decision you make. but also the lack of autonomy wherein wau has (probably? again would have to rewatch) killed people to transfer them to a less fragile soma, but a) also maybe it's just acted when people were already dying / killed from other causes, and naturally there's the Everyone There Doomed To Die Fairly Imminently factor and b) that [wau's neutral / purely soma no psyche (or is it. etc)] aspect that is that classic mixup of wau just acting on its programming in a way unintended by its programmers re protecting life and c) i think WAU can sure be interpreted as a parallel counterpart to the ark project, where people agreed to the latter, & get to chill with simulated bodies in a simulated world, versus the WAU being that [body, world, realm of physical existence] which is funky & Not like a cool nice recreation of the usual world & is also at the bottom of the ocean, but it's sure trying to extend the existence of ppl's psyches by shoving them into whatever robots or slapping together parts or propping up their original body or what all, i don't remember that many of the characters encountered

Anyways Back To Catherine For Real. i'd forgotten this element completely, but that when catherine finds out her original self had been killed by crewmates (lol. amongst) for being set on carrying out the plan for the ark, Her Project, (i.e. launching it into space (risking that launch going incorrectly) vs keeping it on site at the bottom of the ocean here (theoretically less risky, according to at least the crewmate who killed her about her insisting on launching it anyways)) and catherine's copy / now alternate self comments on being like, a bit disappointed And surprised b/c like she says "i knew they didn't like me, but," like not thinking that dislike would lead to a semi accidental killing her (where apparently the guy who killed her may have been wearing the like powered diving suit w/the extra Strength to operate in the water pressure, like oh didn't mean to hit her That hard. in a different soma already) and seeing other ppl (not in universe) commenting on how it sure did seem to be culmination of like "the way others treated her" and how catherine always mentioned like, never having really had friends including as a crewmate here, being an Introvert....in fact, now i'm remembering that catherine doesn't even say "i knew they didn't like me, but" but rather something very close to "i know i'm not easy to like, but" like, aaaugh....like, as ever, a character or a Real Life Person sharing any particular info like "i'm [xyz]" Isn't Required for just trying to always not be ableist and to always treat other people as people even if they don't "just be normal" correctly enough, supposedly. rather than [what is "just being normal" is Correct & Good and you do Not need to undergo a continuous lifelong journey of in fact questioning this & navigating & learning how to communicate & interact & relate, you just need to fleetingly muster some superficial unhelpful Bonus efforts sometimes when you encounter the rare "exception" like someone who hands you their License To Autiste and you can let them keep their fidget cube and continue treating everyone you encounter ever organic aba style]....like, naturally in the game there's no twist where catherine turns out to be Evil or even antagonistic. she's like, patient, encouraging, friendly, helpful all throughout. she's also, ofc, simon's only guide (adding to the suspense of that [my god. my only guide was evil, and/or just my antagonist now anyways]) so he doesn't really get to pick someone he'd Like more. but that like, lifelong matter of why catherine doesn't Get to have had friends. that even as this professional associate she's treated differently, and worse, b/c you have to personally like someone & find them charming & je ne sais quoissy to Not be worse to them? it's fine to be shitty until catherine can, say, say "i've noticed you're being kind of shitty. it's probably b/c i'm autistic, officially, which i'm choosing to share with you & am now presenting my license about it, so maybe be cool about it" and then and only then go "oh ok" and Make The Exception rather than shifting your entire shitty Rule (they also would not actually really make the exception. "shoutout" too to the concept that, of course, it's actually Disrespectful to stop hating autistic ppl b/c you should treat them The Same as anyone else, and you're bringing that organic ABA all the time as part of your "just be normal" ethos life, so be sure to keep being an asshole to them & double empathy probleming putting all the depletion, extraction, punishment, losses, harms on them and all the rewards on yourself)

and like, catherine being killed b/c she was this Body who was going to take away the ark (her project / creation, which she was also just insisting on following what'd always been the plan for) wherein like, even if this guy didn't mean to kill her, he sure did after lashing out at her, same as happens w/simon in the end....and catherine also failing to be thee most "normal/default" version of a person as well by being a Woman, and probably not white either, and, of course, a nonwhite woman, also making her that much more vulnerable to being Out Of Line(tm) by just like, existing as a person & trying to do her shit, though misogyny, racism, orientalism or the like isn't explicitly invoked or especially implicitly hinted at that hard either, but it's like, how does this [scifi magical realism set in the not That distant future but material made in the way less distant past, i.e. all intents & purposes modern / current day of: in the 2010s] have Relevance beyond "would that be fucked up or what" type Invention that doesn't map on to our experiences at all....you don't Have to read into catherine twice being killed by a man who's lashing out b/c she's not delivering what he wants, but you sure don't Have to Not and be like "this is definitely No Misogyny world" like they're still being implicitly ableist b/c she's just not deemed Winsomely Likable enough, she's internalized that with that "i'm not easy to like" framing, why assume a premise of [misogyny is over] [racism is over] etc. whilest soma doesn't really proffer any scenario of like "oh if it weren't for our being able to perceive our designated Physical Differences in our human bodies, all that oppression would be over," that's not being explored even in the specific situation of its plot in the first place; people on the ark seem to have the simulation of the same bodies they originally did, ppl Can retain like, how they'd move, their voices, their sense of their bodies: elements of their physicality. and, you know, whether one even supposes there Is any meaningful body/mind division, though in soma it Is this premise like oh yeah we can digitize your psyche perfectly okay, such that your copy would experience no disruption in that Sense Of Selfness, which is what makes everything particularly like, whoah, and [wow this is just like soma] whenever something kind of invokes similar enough What Ifs but probably less engagingly lol....while also soma is flexible and spacious in letting you interpret shit, you Can defer from fisting wau to death, you don't have to be like "it's so true. thee horrors" abt the Copies Of Selves, who really just become Others to whatever now-other versions of that person, i.e. how catherine, who, as the person who wanted to scan copies of ppl's psyches & put them in a just chilling simulation server launched into space for the Chance of being copy/pasted elsewhere eventually and the chance for the participants to Exist in some form Now, and who did so, is never like, shocked or freaked out by the notion / reality of these copies' existence even though she didn't set out figuring any scans' uploads would end up on the ocean floor stations, she's not aghast & distressed in the end when after having uploaded her latest Self data to the ark & launched it, she's also Not on the ark and Still in the eventually / doomed ocean floor station, even if it's a bummer, b/c she has already just accepted That's How It Works....this [her] was not going to experience being Transferred, like she's Been saying, like she again tells simon while he's blowing up abt [why wasn't i transferred]....just clearly being an example of like, not everyone is like horrified and freaked out and like "that's fake &/or wrong" and you don't have to decide she's incorrect for being Like That, i.e. like, yep, this is the situation, i know there's the me who was killed and the me on the ark and the me here, and i know also we're also for intents and purposes separate people

all that is to say, like, yeah the Scifi What If specific [you can copy/paste your consciousness into a different soma] is there, but also you can be looking at it as just this like, pushing to thee limit of the Self(tm) and the Other(tm) insofar as imagining yourself, as the only Internality / Mind / Selfhood you have access to, as The One True Real Self and all Others as mere somas/bodies, whether you take that to as dehumanizing an extreme as you can or you just put some double standards on Others / treat them as lesser/less Real, or oh but just Sometimes, in Some Cases, which is fine and relevant to anything, rather than what's fine and relevant being to always be aware that everyone's Otherness is a matter of perspective, you're the Other to everyone else, everyone is just as The Self as everyone else, You Could Be That Other, that other Is [you] to themself, you are the "that could be you" to them....with soma, it can just be elevated to "that Other WAS you from 0.5 mmsec ago, and continues to be them, b/c they didn't experience any disruption in their existence, though now you're both in different situations of: different locations, different bodies, the awareness there's that Other Self over there now, possibly the difference of killing that self you were just copied from so you can go on feeling like the One Real Self"....but wherein like, that's just like, [What If: you Were able to wholly & accurately Know the self inside an Other? b/c it's you from 5 min ago] of like, scenarios like [what if you time traveled 5 min into the past] except wherein that case there's usually the efforts to Resolve(tm) the timeline of that One True Self one way or another, ultimately. or is there. obviously who's positing that soma is the only material to be About the "whoa lol. me as an other" concept made scifily literal or anything

anyways that like, it creates that situation wherein one Can point & go "literally literally me" but also simultaneously one Can go "that's Not literally me arrrgh" or "that's also Not literally me, matter of factly"....simon's wrangling with the Othering of his One True Self, but he can also Know, should he choose to shift to that perspective, that all the Others who aren't alternate copies of him are all Another True Selves, An Other True Self even, though ofc as per the nature of not having a collective consciousness, he Doesn't Know the accurate whole of their psyches b/c he was not ever [literally them], but he doesn't need to to know they're just as [a whole psyche in there] as his own have been. original catherine with her fellow original crewmates being othered enough by them for the dehumanization of treating her worse, her being isolated, that indeed her being killed doesn't feel separate from all that by her or by anyone else, just an escalated extreme final fatal manifestation of it, b/c nobody ever liked her in the first place and then she became a (psyche Piloting a) body getting in the way of what one guy with amplified strength at that moment wanted from the project she made to let others' psyches keep existing in some way, which was deemed valuable enough by that guy to want to commandeer it and keep it at the bottom of the ocean versus risk a launch, regardless of how you the player think of the idea

and thinking of the way you can like, effectively befriend that boxy underwater little propellered Regular Simple Robot Helper that follows you around at some point, that is, of course it can't talk to you, it's definitely Just(tm) this not-ever-a-version of a human robot for practical tasks (dyspeptical tasks, clerical tasks, hysterical tasks) and like, imagine Its interiority, get invested, try to protect it, humanize it regardless....whereas with actual humans, and their psyches in a microchip, you can kill them for not perfectly delivering whatever you wanted even when that's not what other humans ever exist to do. then simon loses the Company he still could've Gotten From catherine, [guy who killed original catherine] didn't succeed in keeping the ark unlaunched, b/c that's what you go and do....but really just thinking of that Thread that feels so extremely relevant of like, catherine copy being simon's only option sure and working With him on this mission until we stay with the edition of him who realizes it didn't lead to his escape onto the ark, i.e. always being in relation to him in a manner of a direct practical teamup & a [take it or leave it] sole option for that anyways....but that in her original, human-bodied life, she was always "oh only a little bit" dehumanized by everyone such that she is very much aware of the way that's defined & limited her life, never had friends, i know i'm difficult to like; until that dehumanization escalated to the extreme of trying to hit her to stop her from seeing her project through, and just happening to kill her, and the fact that this seems to no one just a coincidental whoopsie of a fate just entirely disconnected from the way others always saw her and treated her as this Other among others, while other [psyche/soma]s of others who are clearly not Your Self get to have friends and not be isolated and feel hard to like forever and end up killed by coworkers

tl;dr like love a text just inviting plenty of interpretations and lenses and perspectives, ofc gonna look at it like whoa it's anarchy in there (political cats sense) where are the borders where you are thee self above thee other....soma providing that thinnest boundary of like, yeah that mf over there? there but for the [being in a different body, in a different place, with 7 seconds of negligibly different life experience] go ye. but also the usual boundary of "that person is in a different body in a different place with a different whole life but you're [that] to them and they're just as much a person and a self and an other as you are" like catherine center of the game to me

(* just remembered i had these asterisks: sure enjoying how the premise of amnesia games effectively creates Alternate Selves b/w the protagonist's present self, with however much missing time, and past selves whose goings on are completely relevant to the in media res situation you're also tackling while obtaining pieces of that past to priovide further context/info, and how this premise manifests for different stories each time; you've even got oswald like physically divided into Two Selves in a:amfp, though iirc it's not like, psychically equivalent, kinda "regular oswald & nefarious destroy the world duplicitous oswald" lmao, classic....uhh and shoutout to penumbra being similar ish in that the protagonist's story isn't want's relevant, he's trying to find out what happened to his dad and more broadly the like underground pocket world he enters for those answers? iirc....but that soma shares that amnemonic premise of [intro] [suddenly like ???] [having to navigate your present mission & figure out the past & your Missing time] but like, thee respective Lores don't overlap really, soma obviously starts present day and takes an even more obvious leap into a future / completely different location, rather than amnesia games being set in the past with missing time of like, idk months? to even just days, uhh supposedly like [forever] in justine but that's like, i dunno sure lol, the peak mysterious / withheld protagonist really, on purpose. while naturally there's also the fact that, technically, this simon we are following at the start of the game did not actually forget anything, and that's a fun distinction despite that it otherwise initially seems like the same [amnesia] premise....and that he did kind of ""forget"" things in that original simon lived however much longer before dying, that his scan then ofc didn't retroactively include. so once again it's like, well, in amnesia ppl have likewise kind of rewound to a Past Self before the missing [crucial context to your in media res misadventure] time, w/daniel (and justine) even doing this On Purpose, though as is the nature of the amnesia series, everyone regains enough of that missing info about their goings on anyways, though you the player are Not in a story of like "wow they did Exactly the same thing again and ended up in the same place anyways" and Do get to kinda choose who they are / indeed end up with some Alternate Self, potentially, despite there being plenty of room wherein like, it's not precisely, granularly laid out Exactly Who They Are at any point anyways. only just now getting extra amnemonic lore that yes daniel got all fucked up on vitae rituals b/c that's just what happens! and people are fairly horny for it! always a possible interpretation that he was high on vitae (okay one proffered pronunciation of "curriculum vitae" (which i was like lord i feel like i've gone "what tf is that" about before but what tf is that. turns out it's what CV stands for as your specifically educational resumé) does say "vitae" would, in that case, rhyme with "nigh." other sources are listing like a million different combinations of a million different ways to pronounce each syllable. also they gotta say it a way in the game but i forget. daniel's VA apparently being some chemistry teacher? just like alchemy. not what the pope said to do, weird science, it's my creation....) anyways! the psyches diverge, the bodies don't, unless they do (oswald....uhh the guy in the bunker. lambert :( ) like catching up with The Self again, encountering extreme examples of Othering and Dehumanizing and [you are just like only a soma to me] with various means and ends of acting thusly to get xyz results

#uhh nominal tagging. i probably have nonzero soma posts...? maybe? lol #soma #amnesia #atdd #soma spoilers yeah but a) game's more than half a decade old at this point b) material that hinges on Surprising you the first time as like #thee sole worthwhile feature of its experience: probably not that good; i don't think soma's even dying to keep you from guessing any #''twists'' and if you Do it doesn't feel like you're like cheated of anything lol. though i'm sure the surprises are fun. the ending is sur #like yeah oh a fucked up surprise for the player too; but that's b/c the game of course Until Now followed the ''advancing'' simon copy #c) same as (b) but like spoilers don't really ruin things anyways imo. who is reading this in whole like ''damn i was Just gonna play this' #whereas idk now you know of it. also lbr who is reading this in whole period? probably some people lol. you do not have to ofc as a fact an #as a stance. i'm like; would i read someone's longass post abt something i don't already know abt / am not interested in? not often #d) if you Are like ''nooooo SOMA spoilers arrrgh i was Just abt to play it'' like damn my bad. i'm sorry. play it anyways it'll be fun #or e) watch a playthrough. i myself cannot Firsthand Game too much & this has generally been the case #long post //// #all this uncrucial and noncomprehensive but just taking 90k words & meandering tangents to say [hand over heart] catherine.... #as is my mode of verbalizing anything really #i'll recommend the game easily enough; sure watched a full playthrough twice & may revisit for a thrice. or at least various clips lol #even got a safe mode (where you Can't Die so you can get through every part b/c thee story is the point anyways)

[kanomitri]

"Fighting's all well and good,..."

"...but where's all the treasure?"

(Tap for higher quality.)

#i've been working on this for SO LONG WOW #i think it's been two weeks? #could've been done sooner if I hadn't slacked so much -3- #ah well #COLM!! #from #fire emblem: sacred stones #he was among my favorites in my first playthrough #and since i'm replaying the game #i decided to draw him!! :D #kurikuri art #artists on tumblr #character art #colm fe8