#I want this game so badly to prove to all the people who think it can’t get better than BOTW that this game will be so much more | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

aburningconstellation · 2 days

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things that i think thrawn + the ascendancy gang would love (part 2)

thrawn: earning as many doctorate & masters degrees as possible (he loves being able to say that he’s a master at everything from art history to underwater basket weaving - & he has the diplomas to prove it)

eli: the dying crafts list + being the one person preventing so many crafts from not being practiced anymore (he tries to teach them to the sky-walker girls with varying degrees of success)

ar’alani: women’s sports in general, but also really niche sports (you know she was playing pickleball way before everyone else, but now that it’s kind of popular she’s moving on to like roller derby or something)

wutroow: the duolingo owl - not the app, the owl specifically (even though she speaks like 5 languages already & will 10000% learn another just so she can gossip without other people being able to eavesdrop). also chappell roan.

che’ri: spontaneously chopping off all your hair in the bathroom at 2am (&& probably giving yourself bangs too for good measure)

samakro: renaissance festivals (you know he’s got a giant turkey leg in one hand, a mug of ale in the other + is booking it to axe throwing)

thalias: modern adaptations of jane austen novels (no one appreciates yearning like she does)

faro: driving late at night with your windows down & a killer playlist blaring (bonus points if it like just rained & you can smell it in the air)

ba’kif: sam reich on game changer (he wants his cedf officers to experience just a fraction of the stress they put him under so badly)

thrass: the headspace meditation app (also under so much stress, but handling it in a very different way)

thurfian + zistalmu: the reesa teesa ‘who tf did i marry’ tiktok series (this much hot goss? for free?! they’re sat)

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pumpkinsouppe · 1 year

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There’s def a lot I wish to be in Tears of the Kingdom, especially things like regional/diverse enemies. But the thing I really wish to see is Link express negative emotions. And not just “he’s angry at fighting enemies” but rather he’s angry and tired and upset and confused at his situation. He has followed orders from the king the moment he touched the master sword as a CHILD. We don’t even know if he truly got to be a child because his whole life has been about duty. And I’m pretty sure in this timeline he was descended from the Hylian knights so who knows how long he’s been training to just be a standard knight before the master sword.

Link SHOULD be angry that he’s stuck in this cycle of rebirth. Even when he died, the fall of Hyrule was blamed on him and he didn’t even get to stay dead. He was woken up and had to finish his duties while also being constantly reminded that his death is what lead Hyrule to look like is does. He should be angry, angry at Ganon and Demise and at the Hylian Royalty for forcing him into this situation over and over and over.

And this is exactly why I hope TOTK is similar to Majora’s Mask. Not because Majora’s Mask was scary. But because it dealt with the grief and isolation and depression Link had to face after going through an incredible traumatic journey, and then losing all of his friends as a result. Most notably losing the ONE friend who was with him the entire time. Who completely understood everything Link went through because she experienced the same thing. And she was the entire reason Majora’s Mask even happened in the first place, because Link was desperately searching for Navi because he was scared to be alone. I want TOTK to explore these hard and brutal emotions for both Link and Zelda. I want them both to be scared, angry, and distraught. I want them to cry over themselves and be selfish. I want them to do something impactful that isn’t for the sake of Hyrule. I hope there’s conflict with the Goddess Hylia. I hope they reject her outstretched hand after she has burdened two children to sacrifice themselves for the good of Hyrule.

I want there to be a good resolution to TOTK. I want both Link and Zelda to choose their own path even if that means leaving Hyrule. But I want the path to resolution to be painful and really explore Link’s true emotions. He is stoic and mute because he is burdened with the weight of the world. What good is a knight who talks when he is judged based on his actions and ability to use a sword.

With Zelda’s warning that she thinks that even Link can’t succeed, I hope we do see helplessness in Link. Again to Majora’s Mask we did get to see Link helpless. He was transformed into a small Deku Scrub with no weapons, no horse, and was an outlier in a town filled with humans. But he learned to work through that helplessness. He embraced the spirit who had to give his life for Link to look the way he does and figure out new ways to fight and communicate. He later became grateful for the Zora and Goron who let him use their spirits to aide his journey. He was able to confront Majora’s because he was never truly alone. Everyone he’s ever met has given him strength even if they aren’t with him presently.

And that’s what I hope to see in Link in TOTK. A helplessness due to his isolated burden, faced against something he could never win against alone. And thankfully we did get that to an extent in BOTW with the champions and even Zelda. But even then, fighting the divine beasts was optional. Link in a sense could have faced Ganon alone. Hell people even fight Ganon with no clothes and only carrying sticks.

No, I want Link, even in the most powerful armor with the most powerful weapon, to be helpless. And I want him to be angry about it. And upset. And hurt. Because he has earned the right to express every painful emotion for his circumstance and he deserves to be able to express his frustration. It is okay if he isn’t the hero.

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ladykinrannoch · 2 months

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Reading - the photo is real, exposes the Harkles...The Tower is here.

I used the Luna Sol Tarot early this morning on my yoga mat. It is fast becoming a favorite for these early morning readings.

My topic was that photograph. I read from Catherine's energy since I seem to connect very easily with her.

Note it is New Moon in Pisces right now. Deeply connected to intuition and compassion. Also shedding old habits cutting ties (disposing toxic relationships and situatiins) and setting new intentions for being. This energy has been around for a few days pre the New Moon.

Situation: King of Swords

Powerful male energy, mastery and usually professionals. This has been a tricky situation for Catherine and KP. Damned if they do and damned if they don't. And I think they are well aware of how tricky its been to manage her privacy while C recovers. I get a strong feeling it is also a very very clever strategy. A well thought out one. That has been planned possibly as a trap. Are their lawyers and investigators involved? Will the House of Wales sue the House of Sussex for harassment, will the media be sued for feeding the Harkle conspiracies?

Is the photo real and unmanipulated?

Knight of Pentacles - yes the photograph is real and not photshopped. This knight is slow moving energy which means they gave a lot of thought to this. It is also the reliable knight. So I can reliably say the photo is real. I am not getting H energy here at all. Except for the fact that the intention may have been to trap him?

Why did KP and William release the photograph for mothers day?

Ace of Disc's - another earth energy. Remember Catherine is Capricorn an earth sign. She planned this, she wanted to be reliable and respond to the tradition of releasing a picture for Mothering Sunday. This is fresh start too. I feel like Catherine took this decision on her own. This is her way of speaking for herself. I think she is making herself heard. She wants to approach things her way now. As I have said before Catherine has accepted and embraced her path to Queen. Aces are a new beginning. I think the Catherine we see after Easter will be more firm, more vocal and much much stronger. I don't think she will give in anymore to old fashioned rules. She intends to take control of things around her and build her image how she wants to be seen. This is no walkover. It is strong and yet the card suggests she will execute this with grace and dignity.

Did someone influence the Kill Notice with the agencies.

The Fool - I am interpreting this as a yes, but it is naive and foolish to think it won't come out. This cards warning is look before you leap. In fact it could have been a smart and deliberate trap to flush out the squad bots. And they were foolish enough to leap! I wonder where this road will lead?

Outcome for Catherine?

King of Disc's - She is in control. She has proved her point. Catherine is in her personal power at the moment. It is masculine energy, so this is not a side of Catherine we have seen before. I have an image of a chess board. Again I get the sense that Catherine is winning this game.

Underlying energy from Catherine's point of view

Four of Discs - I feel this is saying be reliable, stick to traditions. Fours are about stability. Catherine wanted to reassure the public about her health. Discs or pentacles can represent the physical body as well. But she also did not want to let people down. It has proved that even in her absence the people and the nation trust and love her.

I wanted to know more about the fool to know who started this nonsense about this photo. I was drawn to the next two cards at the bottom of the deck...

Unsurprisingly Five wands Pentacles (author correction) the poor poverty stricken duo in exile showed up. But this time one of them acted alone.

How does it turn out for the Fool who should looked before leaping? The Tower very very badly. If you thought every thing they do backfires, this wrong move out does every mean thing they've done. Notice the card. Its her and him. This is their tower moment. The evidence has been gathered. The proof is there. Something will be done. It is over for the Harkles this time. Expect that big bang this Spring!

#brf #british royal family #tarot by ladykinrannoch #tarot #royal reading #prince william #princess of wales #prince harry

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maxphilippa · 3 months

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i think that the major misinterpretation that people have with taco is that she didn't get attached to mic because of her sad face in the end wanted to show regret because "she hurted her friend". like. no, she wasn't sad because she regretted what she did. she was sad because she's alone again, but she knows very well at the end that she had it coming. the reason as to why taco was so desperate of wanting mic to tell her that she did gain something is because. she SAW pickle in mic, but of course their situation is very different. "Oh but Taco couldn't have done what she did to Mic to Pickle, Mic was fully aware" but she did do that. Mic herself says it. That is pretty much what II is telling you. Taco isn't a good friend, and is not exactly a good person either. Mic was aware that Taco was/is a bad person, but Mic's nature makes her believe in whoever acknowledges her. Taco made Mic feel like she needed her, just the way she made Pickle feel back in s1.

she didn't really change thanks to mic. her faces of "regret" aren't her actually lamenting all of the stuff she did to microphone, but rather just her realizing that she proved what everyone said about her as a result. i will give it to that she might've tried to change, but not because of mic. she wanted to win the prize so she could prove others wrong on her being a loser and a coward, by being a loser and a coward. if anything, mic made her realize that she hasn't changed. she pretty much just ruined everything for everyone who saw her as a friend, and for herself.

taco's whole arc is constantly just downgraded to questionable takes and listen. i do agree that she is heavily flawed as a character. she is morally gray, but ii doesn't portray her as a good person with good intentions, nor she should be really be treated as if she was. neither she had those good intentions with mic at all, i mean, their "friendship" pretty much started because of taco wanting the prize money, taking a part of microphone's prize if she made mic won, you know, an offer. she would get the prize and mic would get recognition. but everyone seems to forget that probably, the main reason as to why she's doing all of this, is because she does regret how she acted on s1. she doesn't exactly regret doing all of that to microphone, and even if she does, it's for the wrong reasons. (that's because she did the exact same thing to you know, pickle, her once best friend, the only person she truly ever cared about)

people do tend to forget that taco keeps sending letters to pickle, and that's often just used for pickle angst and making it his only character trait, but. it's not that. it's the fact that taco keeps on writing those letters, despite fully knowing that she did hurt pickle because of her actions. taco's biggest flaw is that she can't accept that she has ruined everything and wants so desperately to be back on pickle's life because she ended up caring about him deeply as a person. as a friend. but she was never there at all, either.

taco can't seem to understand that she has hurted people badly. sure, she seemed like a "friend" to microphone, and you can argue whatever you want but a fact is that taco IS smart, and she knew that the only way to possibly keep mic by her side is pretending to want to be better, you know, the same way she pretended to be just a odd fella so pickle and her could remain together and have an advance at the game. she played with both of them. because both pickle and mic believed in her but were just used by her for the game.

however, taco does seem to regret the way everything went during-post s1. you can see how she yearns for another chance and is saddened about not getting it, but that's not only for comedic purposes, but that's because the writing is telling you that she won't get a second chance. at least not here.

what i want people to understand is that, yes, taco is a complex character, however trying to sugarcoat what she did is pretty much missing the point of her writing as a whole. she isn't a good person neither was she a good friend. she hasn't grown because she was never able to let go of something that she thinks that she can fix with some words and a prize. she thinks that she can still fix her friendship with pickle, she thinks that she can clear her name (even if she was the one who tainted it), but she only ended up proving knife right. she proved everyone right. she hasn't changed. a morally gray character is that. they're not exactly fully bad or fully good, but it's taco's actions that speak a lot. words are cheap, and taco's title is "The Liar", and that says a lot, because she kept on lying to microphone and to pickle on both of their games. she won't heal unless she lets go.

and i want to be clear here: i do think that taco can go through redemption. i do think that taco can become a better person, but not in the way people portray her to do so. because it just pretty much goes against what her arc has settled in for us, and the other arcs that were involved in hers as well.

taco's arc is meant to be somewhat a parallel with nickel's in a way. hell, even with knife's arc if anything. she treats knife as a simple bully, but when she saw that he became smarter and way more emotionally aware than what she had expected, she felt attacked by that, because he was stable. he became a better person and he was rubbing that on her, and it made her feelings of anger way worse regarding him, but it is true. knife is pretty much everything that taco wants to be, but here's the thing that made them so different:

knife stayed. taco didn't stay.

knife is accepted by everyone in the hotel because meanwhile he hasn't explicitly said that he had a change of heart, he has shown it through actions and a big difference too is that he was there for pickle, even if they weren't close in s1, and taco is on the woods because deep down she is aware that she can't go back. not if she doesn't have something to offer as an direct apology, but here's the problem. whether or not she got the prize, she still wouldn't get forgiven by anyone due to what she said that day.

again. her problem is not being able to let go and to accept when she has messed up badly. she has been lying to everyone but she has also been lying to herself as a whole. she can't keep on doing this because it's just hurting everyone and herself. keeping grudges and holding onto past friendships that were doomed to fall is just hurting her. she is not on the state to keep on trying, she wasn't at all ever.

taco's arc most likely will have closure on a way that fits her character, and i feel like that would be with her letting go of inanimate insanity as a whole and of what she can't fix anymore. her trying to find herself after years of lying to everyone and to herself. she's not a good person. but she can become one. only if she knows what she did was wrong and that her second chance isn't there, and never will be, and if she recognizes that meanwhile she did that damage, she can still become a better person. just not there.

pickle and mic don't owe her anything, especially pickle. taco does owe them an apology, but they won't accept that. the least she could do is to accept their wishes, understand that she needs to leave them and grow to be a better person. maybe, if she does that, she would actually heal.

she doesn't need anyone to fix her. she needs to fix herself.

#inanimate insanity #ii #inanimate insanity invitational #ii 2 #ii 3 #inanimate insanity taco #inanimate insanity microphone #inanimate insanity knife #inanimate insanity pickle #and no. this isn't to bring ship discourse or anything. get that away from my character analysis.#i feel like taco is a really interesting character. it is pretty sad that even if she's popular people don't get her #“she's a complex fem character” yes she is. however you are pretty much missing the point. a character regardless of the gender can do bad-#-things and have a good intention/or a way to try to make up for that in their actions. however she is a case where she can't get closure w #-ith anyone because of the way she is written/the way she was given that complexity. she won't get closure with anyone in the cast at all #because they won't really forgive her since she kept on lying and using them as puppets. she had a change of heart. sure #but that doesn't erase all the pain she has caused #i genuinely do hope she gets her eventual closure by letting go. she does deserve to be okay but not with the cast.#i feel like the best way to put is. she had a good wish (wanting to become friends with pickle and showing that she changed)#with bad intentions and bad actions (using mic to get the prize + lying to her + other bad stuff she has done to the contestants such as h #-arming them without a motive/just because.)#max does analysis

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infizero · 4 months

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i talked about this in the tags of another post but yknow what it deserves its own - can we talk about the parallels between nine and eggman??? i'm dying to talk about the parallels between nine and eggman.

i am personally obsessed with the dynamic between tails and eggman and how they parallel each other in a lot of ways. i've recently been thinking about other possible similarities they could have, and then prime literally just came and proved my point.

it was this line that made me start realizing this:

SONIC: "Is this what you want, to spend the rest of your life alone with robots for friends?" NINE: "At least I can trust them."

i don't think i need to explain how Eggman that is.

tails and eggman obviously share the surface level traits of being extremely smart and gifted with technology. we know almost nothing about eggman's past, but it's likely he was very smart for his age the same way tails is.

but something that i've been thinking about ever since frontiers came out is a possible similarity between why these two are so drawn to technology. frontiers gave us arguably one of the biggest insights into eggman's character in the form of egg memo 17:

"I never really knew my cousin, Maria. Everyone spoke of her like she was very special. All that love for someone who was gone when I was! Right! There! But I have to wonder. Back then, was she anything like Sage is now?"

the implication that eggman felt ignored by his family/the people around him and that they paid more attention to his dead cousin than him has haunted me ever since the game dropped... the fact that so much of eggman's schemes have to do with having control, remaking the world the way he wants it to be, and always heavily center around his enormous ego, plastering his name and likeness everywhere........

...well, that need for control and personal recognition definitely has been recontextualized by this moment, to say the least.

recently i was thinking about this again and wondered if perhaps the reason eggman has such an affinity for machines and robots, and a dislike for living things, could stem from negative experiences with other people. and that perhaps the case could be the same for tails. "people treat me badly" -> "i don't like people" -> "machines are better"

the difference is that tails met sonic and gained friends fairly early on, while eggman assumedly didn't (whether by choice or not)

and now in prime, we have nine, a tails who never had friends. and what do you know! he's become an antagonist who is screwing over people and putting entire other worlds at risk in order to reshape the world into how he wishes it to be, and making robots to keep himself company. sound familiar?

a tails without friends results in essentially... eggman. so maybe there's little more to my ideas about eggman's villainous origins than just speculation.

NINE: "With the Paradox Prism, I'll be able to turn this world into a paradise... my paradise!"

[A picture of Eggmanland from Sonic Unleashed.]

#sonic prime #sth #sonic the hedgehog #miles tails prower #nine the fox #dr eggman #sonic prime spoilers #analysis

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kitkatopinions · 27 days

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Just saw the extended animatic that was originally meant to end V9 and is now gonna get repurposed into the (possible) V10.

Let me just say, I still feel the same about the things I saw in the first animatic. I can now firmly say that Qrow has been replaced with a doppleganger same as Blake (I wonder if it's like a partial possession thing in this case where sometimes it's Qrow and sometimes it's the faker.) I hate the dumb Winter scenes about how disappointed she is that poor people aren't nice enough to her billionaire blue blooded mother in her silly little sunhat. I have no idea what the hell Raven is doing there. The 'Remember Her Message' thing is stupid because of how poorly done Ruby's message to the world actually was and what little impact Team RWBYJNOR has actually had on the world at large. And I still want to see Whitley without Willow for three point five seconds. And I'm still wondering why the presence of an army in Atlas was a sign of pure evil and was immediately seen as a horrifying threat but seeing an army in Vacuo is meant to be a sign of peace and hope.

But also, now I have more to say.

Like first of all, I'm even more confused on how Remnant managed to pull off any sort of army now that we know what remained in Vale after the Fall of Beacon got decimated. Where are they getting their army? From Mistral, where we know Leo had all the Hunters killed? Are we meant to assume that the people that showed up from Mistral are the cops Blake called on the White Fang? Or, maybe from Argus, even though we're meant to hate Cordovin and the Atlas military that was there? Second of all, this makes me even more annoyed at Winter for being like 'if my poor martyr sister could see how badly we're doing, she'd be disappointed,' Winter get realistic goals challenge 2024. Third of all, Team SSSN and CFVY made appearances and if I ever have to see Coco "based on a nazi" Adel ever again, it'll be too soon, but I still insist that it should've been just Sun, Neptune, and Velvet because none of their other teammates got enough focus in the actual show to be real characters. They could've been casually name dropped off-handedly and it would've been fine. Speaking of teams making reappearances, Neon is there, which means she didn't die in the Fall of Atlas and likely her teammates didn't either, but they had better have a full explanation in V10 for how soldiers on the field got back to the city and threw the portals, and it's weird that we saw Neon but not Flynt. Also can I just point out that "the people who were colonized by Atlas are being aggressive to innocent Atlas orphans and need to be told off" is a writing choice the writers didn't have to do, and considering all the whole history with RWBY and bigotry, I don't know why they did that. Neon and Nora had a moment though, and I was like... Ship material? Also, Tyrian and Mercury are working with the Crown, but... To be honest, if they don't scrap that in V10 (if V10 ever comes,) I'm gonna question their decision making even more, because they just did a new location with a new villain and it proved that this late in the game it's hard to set up or properly execute new threats, and if V10 ever comes out, it's a high probability that we're not ever getting a V11. So if you ask me, if they don't cut out the Crown, they're either gonna badly execute these new bads because they expect their fans to do homework to understand the main show, or they're gonna spend way too much focus on establishing them and the Mains will get sidelined again. Merc looks like a mess, though, and this would make me think a redemption arc is a-coming except that they're pressed for time like I said, so I'm not counting on it. The fact that I have to see Peter Port of all characters is also making me want to say a lot of bad words. Like I cannot emphasize enough how much I hated seeing him and his stupid face and how much I wish he'd never existed. What is this choice to not have the serious potential mentor character who had been part of Oz's inner circle come in and instead having the comic relief teacher who blathered about testosterone and flirted with an underage student be the one to break what should be devastating news that should by all rights get a lot of focus? And where the heck is Tai in all of this? Rip to Oobleck, but out of everyone from the Vale seasons, I would not have picked either of these men to bring back, I'd have brought in Tai and Glynda. It's just a bad choice. And still no sign of Maria and Pietro, so like... What the heck?

All in all, I thought before that I couldn't have less hope for the future of RWBY, but whoa buddy this extended animatic proved me wrong.

#rwde

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cerastes · 1 month

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You enjoy Tekken a lot, is there any reason you don't stream your Ranked games? Asking out of genuine curiosity.

The first half of the answer is that I play Ranked in short bursts. I'll do 3-5 opponents (rematch or not) and then hit Practice Mode or do something else. I don't really do these long Ranked grind sessions. I think they are detrimental to me. It's how I enjoy the game. I can go for hours if I'm playing a friend, but for Ranked, I enter a different head space, and I really don't feel like entertaining a crowd (chat) or interacting with others while I'm playing Ranked because I play seriously there. I like focusing and playing my heart out without feeling the need or want to talk to anyone at all.

Which leads to the other half of the answer: Competitive/Ranked Fighting Game Dreamer.

If you've been to my streams and if I may say so myself, I can laugh at myself just fine. I don't take being blasted by chat bad, in fact, I go along with it. I died to gravity in Soulsborne after first try beating a notoriously difficult boss? Yeah, that's funny. I hype up a cool trick I wanna do and then fuck it up? Yeah, mockery is the natural result. I'm a good sport about these things, and like to use them as springboards for either an immediate laugh or for the next bit. I'm like that with all games and activities in general.

Except fighting games if I'm at the arcade or in a competitive/ranked setting.

Ranked Dreamer has something to prove, basically, because Ranked Dreamer enjoys and respects competitive/ranked gaming, and the thrill and learning that comes with it. Ranked Dreamer is not really about what I previously mentioned. It's not that I go Mr. Hyde or anything and rage; I have a lot of fun and I'm in a good mood the vast majority of the time! But Ranked Dreamer is raised-in-the-arcade-scene Dreamer, that expects people that cast any sort of judgement to know what they are talking about or shut the hell up, and the vast majority of my usual chat doesn't play or watch fighting games. I did a bit of Ranked on stream after my sets with LC when we played, and when I was downloading an opponent (and thus, getting hit a lot) after beating them and rematching, someone said something to the effect of "well now he's getting his ass kicked wwwwwww", which made me immediately want to say "don't you know anything, you reprobate, shut up", which... Is no way to treat anyone! In the moment, it's a natural thing to say, because that's just how it is when people that take something seriously (not even in a pro way, just seriously) will want to say to someone that's obviously a tourist that doesn't know anything about the scene if they start having opinions... But you think about it rationally after the fact, and it's like... No, dude, even then, don't mistreat people, lmao.

So basically, I don't want to mistreat people in the heat of the moment and regret insulting someone who was just having fun in chat and treating it as if it was another one of my mishaps. It's literally a me thing.

A lot of my good Tekken matches (that being matches I feel like I learned something or enjoyed) look like this:

youtube

Spoiler alert, but I get ragdolled the first two rounds badly. And that's because I don't know the King-Lili match-up. When you face a match-up you don't know, you have two options: Try and throw your flowcharts and strings and hope it works, OR you can try and download the opponent. You see what works, what doesn't, their habits, and their behavior in offense and defense. You experiment, and test. This involves a lot of getting hit and losing health or even rounds. But you learn a lot more and it helps you grow as a player, it's better in the long run. After those first two rounds, I gather this:

They duck on reaction when I approach -> To deal with King's dangerous grab game -> Use mids to beat crouch.

They literally only flowchart -> They always use the low after the cartwheel -> Launch it with hop kick (well, knee in King's case).

They are impulsive and will want their turn back -> Their wake-up game is aggressive -> oki with d,b3 counter into Leg Lock or backstep/properly spaced d,b3 counter into Leg Lock, depending on frame advantage and distance from downed Lili after knockdown.

It's Lili -> They'll start using Funny Shit on round start -> backstep, deal with it, punish it.

They are bad at breaking Figure Four Leg Lock -> Keep using Figure Four Leg Lock, it works.

And then I start absolutely booty blasting Lili. That's what downloading is! But non-fighting game players don't know that, so they'll see me get blasted (while I'm trying to learn) or rematching an opponent I lost to and then lose again (to learn the match-up more) and start making those comments that, while they'd usually either get a joke on retaliation or simply get ignored if they are not funny enough, will make Ranked Dreamer want to tell them to shut up and reflect on how ignorant they are if they can't even tell that I'm trying to download/learn here, obviously, are your eyes closed or are you just clinically unfunny and one of those "I just like spreading chaos lol" types. Which will then be something I regret because I feel bad when I actually insult people, especially over games.

So, it's just a me thing, but here it is explained in case you wanted a bit more elaboration.

#dreamerwave

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cloudmancy · 2 months

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i just finished acofaf and i havent finished the last few adventuring partys yet but it kind of makes me feel crazy how no one has brought up wuvvy clearly being in love with rue. especially in rue & wuvvy's last conversation theres never any indication of rue acknowledging the depth of wuvvy's feelings for them or the sacrifices she's made to be with them and its kind of baffling to me cause rue must know how wuvvy feels about them right? she left her court for them! which is literally the same exact grand gesture hob makes for rue to prove his "love" for them. except wuvvy didnt need to be persuaded. and i was so surprised how in the adventuring parties nobody rlly talked much about wuvvy's love for rue, like emily mentioned it a few times but it felt to me like this elephant in the room that no one was talking about. it's funny cause most/all of the pcs this season were queer but wuvvy comes across kind of like a "scorned lesbian" character where the lack of acknowledgement of her grievances belittles them so as to communicate that they are not legitimate and her feelings are petty and immature. which is obviously a trope intended to preserve a heteronormative and misogynistic status quo. sorry if this is kind of rambly and/or incoherent (i have the flu) i just like your posts and fanart of wuvvy and i wanted to share my thoughts!

OHHHH BOY... you're in for a treat because they do talk about wuvvy in acofaf APs 9-10. it's bittersweet because it's very much an acknowledgement of 'yeah she had feelings for rue and it's a bit fucked up what happened to her'. I cannot blame oscar for wanting to go for a PC/PC romance with brennan's character rather than the NPC but you're right... it really does bother me the way the fandom treated her as a bitch, making really aggressively violent posts when she burned hob's letter, oscar not really even acknowledging in or out of character how much rue meant to her... some of it has to be attributed to how short the adventuring parties are and how much of it was spent talking about ruehob (I have my own opinions about how baffling it was that ruehob was meta'd and built up so much entirely OUTSIDE of the campaign, the main content of the show? but that's a post for another time)

I don't think aabria, brennan, oscar, or anybody else actually meant to contribute to a lesbophobic trope or stereotype; aabria was playing a thoroughly cool character and the circumstances surrounding her just happened to end up this way. it's a game of dnd in the end where a pc/pc romance is more interesting roleplay wise and that is how the cards fell in terms of npc romance. it would not kill people to acknowledge wuvvy and how badly rue hurt her though 😞 I have a huge problem with the 'ruehob together forever, happy ending' part of acofaf & its fandom because of how little the fandom seems to remember or care about her... I do think that is a pattern of misogyny especially when you have many many fans who violently hate wuvvy for getting in the way of their (already canon) ship

I will never stop talking about wuvvy though. [slaps her horns] this satyr can contain so much devotion and angst in her

#asks #lesbianmarrow #wuvvy #acofaf #thanks for the ask! equally rambly reply back

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paragonrobits · 1 month

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so this has been bugging me ever since i saw this post. Part of it is that this is a pretty common criticism that mostly seems to boil down to people who think the found family trope is the POINT of the story, rather than a facet of it and think that any ending other than staying together forever is a failure, and this is pretty reductive. lots of stories have end goals and purposes beyond found family, like there's agendas and goals beyond finding a group of people you like, there's things like justice and Saving the World and liberating sapient beings from subjugation and so forth, but the thing that bothers me the most about this is that it kind of illustrates the biggest issue with this kind of found family fixation

that almost none of the tagged series are actually a case of found families.

you see this a lot, but more often than not they're not actually found families. They're co workers. They're people who have similar agendas and shared goals, or they're hired by a larger organization, or they're working together for the same end, or they're led by the vision and goal of a magnetic leader, but I think you could honestly make an argument that none of these are actual cases of found family.

Star Trek is the most explicit case; they didn't volunteer to go together, mostly. they're people who serve on the same ship, and that's it. they might get along, or constantly argue, but they're co-workers.

The Outer Worlds is, they're generally following the Unplanned Variable, working with them and each other because they have nowere else to go, or they see it as a job, or they went 'fuck it, not like i have anything else going on'. They bicker and fight and most of them don't particularly like each other.

Dragon Age and Mass Effect all go together since, in this case, with the probable exception of Dragon Age 2 (which, i'll grant you, actually probably is a found family to some degree), they're also working together for a common goal, and that's the primary reason they meet you. Dragon Age 1 is them staying together to fight the Blight and save the world, DA2 is mostly a case of 'I FUCKING LIVE HERE', Inquisition is all the party members joining the Inquisition to save thge world from demon doom and fight the machinations of Tevinter imperialists. The Mass Effect series has something similar for the most part, from the 'fight the Reapers' motivation of the triology as well as Andromeda focusing on building a home in a new galaxy.

DA and ME both are people who share a larger goal, and are working together SPECIFICALLY for that goal; while its easy to build friendships, their mutual bond is not the primary reason they work together. They do that because its either work together or everyone dies. There's a larger goal, and their own agendas and fears (such as Wrex's concern for his people, or the quarian/geth conflict) can become factors in that. Even further proving my point here, a lot of the ME games have squad members not returning to be party members in other games because they have bigger matters; Wrex is only a squad member in ME1 and a single DLC because he has bigger things to do in leading his people rather than getting directly involved in Shepard's mission. They might care about each other, but their own goals ultimately come first.

I like found family, as a trope. I do! But its a trope that tends to get REALLY badly misused and applied to every group of characters with decent chemistry, even if they clearly only share a goal and don't want to stay together past that point, or even if they outright openly hate each other.

Another big issue with it is that the constant treatment of the found family not sticking together afterwards being seen as a failure state. Again, these aren't families; these are groups made to serve a goal, and the goal is done, so now they have other things to do. The implicaiton from a lot of these criticisms of the found family seperating implies that you might think that you're morally obligated to spend the rest of your life with the first people you meet that vaguely tolerate you, and that's just a platonic version of conservative 'get married out of high school ASAP' relationship values.

#tropes #discourse #queued

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yuikomorii · 1 year

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Who in DL do you think needs better routes?

// ✨Everyone✨

This is merely my opinion but while DL got some really enjoyable moments, no route was above average. I suppose this is my way of thinking because I've been through so many otome games that my standards have become waaaay too high. I don't just mean it because of the love interests, since I can think of over 10 games with LIs meaner than the Diaboys were in HDB/MB, but I feel like no route has anything that good to it and they're frequently flawed and poorly balanced.

The development feels way too many times really forced or it barely lasts. I mean, there are some characters who truly seem to have evolved throughout the route but in the last chapters or good endings, their development proves to be completely useless or even worse: it gets erased, which is really sad.

Another thing I’m not particularly fond of is how they turned Yui, in the later games, more into an emotional support rather than the heroine of the story because there are several routes where she’s written to be of no great use and it makes no sense since she’s supposed to be the MC?? I do understand that the love interests need to get the spotlight but the heroine has to be just as active as them. ://

I dislike how some routes attempt to redeem Karlheinz. We already know the reasons behind his actions, and he feels no remorse for those he has harmed, so he does not deserve to be portrayed positively.

DL is already messed up as it is but toxic forgiveness is often portrayed as a sign of kindness, although it’s actually creepy and when it comes to the Diaboys, that’s heavy on Ayato. I understand forgiving someone for yourself because YOU don’t want to hold any sort of grudge or hate in your heart (like Laito did in DF) but forgiving someone after they treated you extremely badly AND still caring for them or being written to befriend them afterwards, is way over the top and if you know such people irl, please check on them because they’re not okay.

The endings are getting so poorly written and I don’t get why. HDB and MB had some unexpected and genuinely interesting endings, but they became less impactful later on, and I swear, some Diaboys have the same endings as others, just slightly modified.

I'm not trying to sound ungrateful because I still love DL; after all, I'm part of this fandom; it's just that I wish the writers would put a little more effort into the routes. I understand how difficult it is to write for 13 different characters, but there are more writers, each with their own ideas, and it is also their job so expecting the Diaboys to get good routes is actually understandable.

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assorted-things · 1 month

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My thoughts on the ending

This is probably going to be a bit rambling and disconnected, so bear with me...

(This got far longer than I meant it to be...)

Does anyone else feel that the Deserter is a reflection of the person Harry could have been, if he hadn't lost his memory? The bitterness and anger and inability to let go of the past remind me of a lot of things that the Ancient Reptilian Brain and the Limbic System say in the dream sequences... I think that Harry's amnesia is a gift, in a way - it allows Harry to eventually let go of the past and decide what kind of person he wants to be now. One of the first dream sequences shows Harry a vision of himself as the hanged man, and I think in a way the old Harry did die when he lost his memories. One of the reasons the game was so affecting emotionally to me is that you as the player are the one getting Harry to turn his life around, if that's how you choose to play it, because it really makes you feel involved and part of Harry's story. It's one of the reasons why I don't think the game would work well as a TV adaptation - I think it would really lose a lot of its emotional impact without your input. It really moved me that I could get Harry to go from screaming that he "doesn't want to be that kind of animal any more", to telling the Phasmid: "I'm glad to be me - an incredibly sensitive instrument".

I really love how the tone of the game manages to be somehow hopeless and hopeful at the same time. Maybe the world is doomed by the Pale, and the Revolution failed, and maybe Revachol is a shithole, but... you can find that there are things worth loving and saving in this broken world. You're subconscious tries so hard to convince you that it's all terrible and evil and that you should just give up and let the darkness take you, but all of your actions through the game can prove that voice wrong. It tells you you're not helping anyone, but depending on how you play the game, you are: you found Billie's husband, and even though he's dead, at least now she knows and won't have to wait forever for him to come home when he won't; Cuno has someone who actually listens to him and takes what he has to say seriously; you got Plaisance to bring Annette in from the cold; you stopped the mercenaries from killing as many people as they might otherwise have done (it went pretty badly in my playthrough, but I tried), and you gave Kim a friend. I love the message it seems to be trying to put across that even if the world is ultimately doomed, you can and should still try to find the good in it, and make a small part of it a better place. And maybe in the end it won't change anything, but the fact that you had hope enough to try matters. And maybe if enough people thought that way, they could change reality for the better - maybe there was a grain of truth in that infra-materialist stuff all along. Maybe it sounds corny, but I found it very touching.

This is... sort of where the Phasmid comes in for me, because everyone thought the existence of the Insulindan Phasmid was impossible, but because you believed in it enough, you were able to prove it was real. And if the Phasmid is real, then maybe other things that people thought were impossible can happen, too... It makes me feel very satisfied that I chose "SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL IS GOING TO HAPPEN" when I painted that wall. It seems fitting.

I also love the fact that the Deserter being stuck in the past is literally killing him. And... he talks a big game about being the last real Communist or whatever, but in the end, how is he actually helping the working class by clinging to his bitterness and refusing to let go of what could have been, instead of trying to do something to help the people around him? Even though Harry is flawed, and on his own can't change the world, he's made a difference to the people around him, which is better than being consumed by bitterness and doing nothing at all.

In the end, I think for me one of the core themes of the game is faith/belief (not necessarily in a religious sense)... I think that something that really helps is Kim's belief in Harry. He's so kind to Harry, when he could just as easily write him off as a shambling alcoholic. I think Kim's faith in you makes you want to live up to what he thinks of you, so... I'm not sure how coherent I'm being here, but it's a bit like how Harry believing in the Phasmid lets him make it a definite reality - Kim's belief in Harry as a great detective, or someone who could be a great detective, makes Harry a better person, I think. (At least, that's my take on it - I got so attached to Kim as a character that I really wanted to make him proud of my version of Harry!) And in the end, his faith wasn't misplaced. Again, he can't change the world, and he's human and not a saint (much as Harry may think he is), but Kim choosing to be kind did make a difference, even if it was only to one man.

tl;dr This is going to sound unbearably pretentious, but if someone asked me if video games can be art, this is the game I'd point to and say "yes".

#this game's story and world have just grabbed my heart and squeezed #I'm Not OK #Disco Elysium #Splash plays games #Disco Elysium spoilers

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keineahnung-ichhalt · 3 months

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Tatort Saarbrücken/Ace Attorney parallels

To celebrate less than two weeks until FdG airs, I finally took the time to proofread this text about parallels between Ace Attorney and Tatort Saarbrücken that I wrote almost a year ago and then somehow forgot to post. Enjoy!

I have recently noticed that there are a lot of parallels between the relationship between Miles Edgeworth and Phoenix Wright, and the story of Adam Schürk and Leo Hölzer, so I decided to write them down. I have no idea if there is any overlap between these fandoms at all, so probably no one else will care about this but whatever. This should go without saying, but this has spoilers for the first Ace Attorney game, and the first three episodes of Tatort Saarbrücken. I’m also aware that all of these overlaps are most likely a coincidence, but I wanted to compile them anyway, because I thought that it was really interesting, and maybe someone else will think so, too.

You may ask: Who are these people? I will try to summarise their stories first, and I will go into more detail later:

Let’s start with Phoenix and Miles: They were in the same class when they were nine years old and became friends after Phoenix was accused of stealing someone’s lunch money, when Miles was the first one (and together with Larry the only one) to stand up for him and defended him in the subsequent class trial. A few months after that, Miles’ father Gregory, a defense attorney, is murdered and Miles vanishes (he is adopted by Manfred von Karma and presumably moved to Germany, but Phoenix doesn’t know that). Years later, Phoenix reads a newspaper article about Miles becoming a prosecutor, and he decides to become a defense attorney to meet him and find out what happened to him.

They meet again when Miles prosecutes Phoenix’s second case as a defense attorney after not having seen each other for 15 years. After working two cases together, Miles is arrested as a murder suspect, and Phoenix defends him in court, even though no one else wants to defend him and he is almost the only one who is on his side. In this trial, he finds out that Manfred von Karma, the prosecutor in the current case, murdered Miles’ father 15 years ago after he got a penalty because of him. Then, he decided to adopt and mentor Miles, only to frame him for murder 15 years later as an elaborate revenge on Miles’ father. By uncovering this, Phoenix saves Miles from being convicted for murder.

Now to Adam and Leo: They became friends after Adam defended Leo from bullies at school. Adam’s father was physically abusive towards him and beat him regularly. One day, he catches Adam and Leo hanging out together and beats Adam up so badly that Leo thinks that he’s going to kill him, and decides to step in by hitting him on the head with a spade. Adam’s father falls into a coma, and Leo and Adam burn the garage to hide the crime. A few months after that, Adam vanishes, apparently leaving Leo to think that he has died.

Later, they both become police officers, Adam in Berlin and Leo in Saarbrücken. Adam returns to Saarbrücken, and they reunite after 15 years. After they worked on two cases together, Adam is arrested because he is suspected of murdering his father. Leo works hard to investigate his case, even though he technically isn’t allowed to, with their colleagues refusing to help him at one point and maybe even believe that Adam really is guilty. In the end, Leo manages to prove that Adam’s father killed himself and disguised his suicide as a murder to take revenge on Adam and Leo for putting him into a coma 15 years ago.

Sounds familiar? Here are all of the parallels and overlaps between those two stories that I can think of, maybe there are even more that I didn’t catch:

They met and became friends in school. Both pairs only became friends after one defended the other from bullies.

Shortly after something happens to his father, one of them disappears suddenly. Incidentally, in both cases, the one who disappears is the one who saved the other one from bullies.

Adam and Miles disappear after something happens to their father; Adams father falls in a coma, and Miles’ father is murdered

They both reappear after 15 years, during which the other one didn’t know anything about their whereabouts (Phoenix knew that Miles had become a prosecutor, but only a few years before they meet again).

Phoenix and Adam both altered their careers to see the other again; Phoenix starts studying to be a defense attorney after he learnt that Miles became a prosecutor s that they could meet again in the courtroom, and Adam accepted a transfer request back to Saarbrücken.

Both pairs meet again in their workplace, though Adam and Leo work together now, whereas Phoenix and Miles stand on opposite sides of the courtroom.

Not long after they reappear, both Adam and Miles are framed for murder by their abusive father.

The other one fights for them, even though they are (almost) the only person on their side, and everyone else is against them.

Both Adam’s father and Manfred von Karma have committed crimes in the past and framed someone else for it: Manfred killed Miles’ father and both framed the bailiff for it and manipulated Miles to blame himself; Adam’s father robbed banks with a friend, and one of them shot someone in one of these robberies. Said friend took the blame for both the robbing and the shooting, and never revealed the identity of his accomplice to the police.

Tatort Saarbrücken episode 3 is literally Turnabout Goodbyes, the fourth case in the first Ace Attorney game. Miles and Adam are both framed for murder by their father figure as revenge for something that happened in the past. Their respective partner takes their side and fights for them, ultimately revealing their innocence.

They are also both happen after they worked together for two cases.

Again, do I think any of this matters? No, but I realised that these parallels exist and had to get this out of my system. And I had fun writing this. If you notice even more parallels, please share them!

#I wrote most of this at like 3 am and that probably explains why I even wrote this in the first place #also the overlap between these fandoms is probably like ten people max #and half of them are place attorney members whom I forced to watch spatort in vc #tatort saarbrücken #ace attorney #spatort #my meta stuff #op keineahnung-ichhalt #narumitsu #hörk

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heroictoonz · 2 months

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Thinking about Tartaros Natsu au during the GMG

Natsu wanting SO FUCKIG BADLY to be a part of it and he’s like LETS GET TARTAROS IN!! IM GUILD MASTER NOW I CAN MAKE CHOICES LIKE THIS and Mard Geer is just very patiently like, no Master. We can’t joint the GMG. We aren’t an official guild and also we have to stay in hiding till the time is right. Natsu just pouts and Mard Geer is just like goddamn it I’m a failure of a demon for disappointing my Master. Okay okay why don’t you just pretend to join a guild for the games. And, of course, Natsu does it

They pick Ravens Tail for Natsu to fake join cause it was once a dark guild and I don’t know which I like better cause either a) Natsu goes in kicks ass and proves he should be in their team in the GMG or b) walks in and they’re like who the fuck are you and Natsu’s just like I’m END the most powerful demon of Zeref and guild master of the dark guild Tartaros and I wanna play games so your gonna let me in or else (cue Mard Geer so fucking distraught like MASTER PLEASE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE A SECRET WHAT THE FUCK meanwhile Ravens Tail is like wtf)

Either way, Natsu joins the guild for the games and like everyone watching calls out a loud who the FUCK is that especially when dude starts throwing around powerful dragon slayer magic (the other slayers are extra wtf over all this)

The Sabertooth shit still happens which makes Minerva joining Tartaros even funnier cause she takes one look at this dude when he announces himself to her as the master of Tartaros and she’s like THE FUCK??? THAT FREAK BRAT FROM THE GAMES?????

Natsu learns of Raven Tails plot and he’s like dude wtf you can’t just go around killing people for no reason and Ivan is like ????? Aren’t you a fucking demon of fucking Zeref???? And Natsu snaps at him like YEAH BUT IM NOT A MONSTER JESUS HAVE SOME FUCKING MORALS (can you imagine. Can you IMAGINE the master demon of the demons of Zeref telling you your beef is dumb as hell and u got stink ass morals. The absolute fucking WHIPLASH)

By the end of it all Natsu helped the other guilds stop the dragons and Ravens Tail cause he thinks Ivan’s an asshole and also cause UNCLE TIME FUCK YEAH and when he goes back home he tells Mard Geer about his adventures

And fucking Mard Geer looks at him and just goes. You met a guild that knows of the most powerful magic alive. And you didn’t. Think. Even for a moment. To take it in the name of Zeref, Master?

And Natsu is like OH MAN FUCK YOURE SO RIGHT I DIDNT EVEN THINK OF THAT I HAD DRAGONS AND FUN GAMES ON THE BRAIN

And Mard Geer already knew his Master END was an idiot but dear god did this solidify that fact

#fairy tail #natsu dragneel #mard geer #minerva orland #ivan dreyar #tartaros natsu au #toonz talks

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fancifulplaguerat · 11 months

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This post inspired me to write about why I love Daniil choosing the Termite Ending for its significance in Daniil’s arc and because I love him so very much and want to talk about him more

Though Daniil’s ending is the Save the Polyhedron one, I noticed that when discussing the Polyhedron prior to Daniil actually getting in there himself, the dialogue options are almost always A) I love the polyhedron so much my favorite building ever or B) it’s an affront to god and terrible. And this contrast remains even after he visits the tower; on Day 11 the player can choose to support or oppose the Polyhedron. When talking to Andrey, Daniil can tell him that he's ruined the town, and that it “needs to be rooted away immediately! And I will do it” when Andrey asks that Daniil leave the tower intact. Likewise, when Victor asks Daniil to preserve the tower, Daniil can say “Impossible. I really regret to tell you this, but the Polyhedron is the true cause of the outbreak.” Neither Clara nor Artemy really have this option in their routes, where they can so strongly oppose their presumed ending, so the Termite Ending seems like it could be consistent with Daniil’s characterization. I say this because though you obviously *can* choose whoever’s end you want with enough shmowders and panacea, I feel it’s quite inconsistent for Artemy to choose the Bachelor ending/Clara to choose either of their endings, etc. Daniil is the only character who I feel has a path of logic (ha ha ha) towards another character’s ending, that being the Haruspex’.

Another thing I want to note is how Daniil regards the Polyhedron, because across routes the game tells us that Daniil doesn’t actually understand the it. This first came to my attention in Clara’s route, because Aglaya tells her that, and Peter says the same. At first I felt so badly for Daniil because he loves that godless gravityless tower so much, but when I went back to the Bachelor Route, Daniil full-on just tells people that they’re being ridiculous as late as Day 9 when they tell him about the Polyhedron’s function. On Day 8 when Capella tells him about it, Daniil straight up says “you’re laughing at me” twice in a row to her. When Victor describes the Polyhedron on Day 9, Daniil’s dialogue options are “That’s blasphemy” or “That sounds naïve to me. But clearly you don't literally mean what you're saying.” And when Victor continues the options are “I didn’t meant to offend you with my disbelief” or “Qui ignorabat, ingorabitur...” (Who was ignorant will be ignorant). This man Does Not Get It and he doesn’t even seem to want to get it because he’s so Rational. Even that “I didn’t mean to offend you” still feels like Daniil hasn’t changed his mind, he's just trying to apologize for inadvertent rudeness.

Granted, Daniil has a change of heart once he gets to actually visit the Polyhedron; he’s more willing to believe it since he’s seen it. But even then, he still writes that surely there’s a rational explanation for it all, even though people are telling him just. No. This thing is fucked up and weird and you have to accept that. And finally on Day 12 Clara says to Daniil, “You want to keep the Polyhedron out of respect for the kindred genius who has calculated the mechanics of a miracle trap—a contraption able to capture what should not be captured!” And to put it simply I think the existence of the miraculous is vital to Daniil, because it proves his impossible “defeat death” goal can be accomplished. So, one interpretation here is that Daniil wants to preserve the Polyhedron mostly as a testament to the abilities of human creation/mind over matter. I honestly think the Polyhedron is more symbolic to Daniil than anything else, I mean he even says “It is not a mere a building, but a symbol,” so I think the importance for Daniil is saving the Polyhedron is again proof of possibility despite preconceived notions about what is and isn’t possible.

AND HERE IS WHERE I SCREAM. The post I linked mentions this line from Clara’s secret ending: “A tempted destroyer. He could have accomplished a feat of moral heroism. The strongest, the most straightforward, he was too strongly tempted by vengeance and destruction for his not going through with it to be anything less than... miracle, or something close to one.”

And okay all right here’s the deal. I’m obsessed with that part about “too strongly tempted by vengeance” because I’m pretty sure that’s primarily referencing his anger towards Aglaya. That is, regardless of how you played Daniil previously, part of his reasoning to save the Polyhedron is because Aglaya wants to destroy it, and Daniil believes that Aglaya double-crossed and lied to him (which I imagine hurts him a lot given his adherence to the truth and consequent rather trusting nature). The line reminds me of this exchange:

Bachelor: It doesn’t matter—she has deceived and betrayed me. She treated me like a pawn, and I won't ever forgive her for that.

Haruspex: You brought this on yourself. Don't try to get even with Aglaya. If you want to destroy the town and save the Tower only to get to her—and push her towards her demise... that would be unbecoming of you, oynon. It is you who will turn into a spiteful puppeteer driven by his thirst for revenge...

And indeed this can get through to him (side note I find it a little funny that Artemy says it’s ‘unbecoming,’ like Daniil is being scolded ahgjkgkj). I.e. one factor in Daniil’s decision was that he was angry and wanted revenge/vengeance on Aglaya. He’s certainly susceptible to acting on anger; in Clara’s route especially he’s absolutely murderous with anger over Simon’s death (he calms down more quickly in Artemy’s, but Daniil is at his most helpful little house cat then). Thus I see Daniil’s decision as not just about what to do about the plague, but whether he can accomplish his “moral heroism” by resisting the impulse to lash out at Aglaya. And all this goes to these lines which are my most favorite in all the games and make me. Inconsolable:

Fine. Let the Town remain. Let the broken circles come whole, let the interrupted processes resume. The wisdom of life is superior to that of people, so life should be allowed to proceed in its due course.

The Utopia is doomed. Feeble men should not be tempted with miracles. There is no point to forcibly preserve something whose very idea is destroyed by any kind of coercion. The Tower, the reason and the outset of the calamity, will be demolished.

I. I will never do justice how this rots my brain utterly and completely but it’s. This moment where Daniil faces reality and has to accept that miracles are impossible, that his goal is impossible. I personally like Daniil having to come to terms with death, because I enjoy the downfall of characters who try so hard to fight against the confines of being human but are, in the end, forced to confront that that’s all they are. Plus, I notice the Town is sometimes described as Daniil’s grave; I mean just the “it’s not even a trap, it’s a grave” and lines like “That is why your Bachelor is here: to meet his death—” so the Termite ending feels like delicious closure to this, that in destroying the Polyhedron and so confronting the impossibility of his goals Daniil “dies.” And I think Daniil “dying” fits even more because Aglaya tells him that Thanatica has been destroyed, and presuming that she’s telling the truth (which I do), Daniil is forced to face a turning point in his life regardless of whether he saves the Town or Polyhedron. Everything has to change for him, so his destroying the Polyhedron feels like a hopeful first step towards him moving forward.

#pathologic #daniil dankovsky #patho.txt

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fernsnailz · 7 months

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OH ALSO. ik you said something abt how some aspects of your feelings on the shth game have changed - what would you say is different now? (again feel free to ignore this)

oh yeah! overall, most of my feelings about shth2005 have remained the same - that game is a contradictory mess and i adore it. i mostly have a few minor grievances with my big shadow 2005 analysis essay. i'll talk under the cut about some specific moments that i think a little differently on - if you haven't read the big shadow essay, i'd say read it first and then come back to read this post.

grievance #1: The Doom

"being Good or Neutral around Maria makes WAY more sense than taking the Dark path. The game’s morality system breaks so badly in [The Doom] that things start to make sense again."

i still mostly agree with my thoughts on The Doom, and the game's failure in design affecting the morality system is something that i think could prompt further discussion. but a couple of people pointed out that the hero mission is still an interesting indicator to shadow's emotional state on the darker paths, and i don't want to completely discredit that concept because i like it a lot.

The Doom's hero mission is grueling. 60 gun soldiers to defeat in a maze level is not something most players would be willing to do. but it may be something that shadow is willing to do on a darker path - rage leading him to hunt and eliminate every single human he can find is harrowing, and it's a malevolence that the darker paths of this game fail to really show. so as much as i dislike the morality missions in this game, i do think they're an interesting measurement of the lengths shadow is willing to go to if it means defeating his enemy. the guy just doesn't stop.

grievance #2: boy what on earth is that take about the hero cast

"They want Shadow to work for them because of a desire to prove their side of the cycle is the right one."

i'll be real with you i think there was a bit too much analysis going on here lol. the heroes want shadow's help because there's a literal alien invasion threatening to wipe out all life on earth. are they manipulative towards shadow? i mean sometimes, but i don't think most of them do it out of malice or intentionally, and i definitely don't think they really care about proving their side of the moral compass right during the Fucking Alien Armageddon.

the only hero character that i think would be deliberately manipulative (minus eggman) is sonic, and i don't think he would consciously realize it. best example i have of sonic's occasional manipulative attitude towards shadow is the whole "if he can't be forgiven, can you?" bit from the mr tinker arc in IDW. and this is really only something he does to shadow - sometimes he just wants to get under shadow's skin without realizing what he's actually saying. sometimes sonic's just an asshole! and i like that, it's an interesting aspect to sonic that i wish was explored a little more in shth2005, the game about his rival. idk that's all i have to say here

grievance #3: who is shadow even?

"to him, doing what’s “right” means giving as many people as possible that same chance at life. It’s not a justification of morals or a desire to be heroic that leads Shadow down this path - it’s just what he wants to do."

i've circled around my final opinions in my shadow 2005 essay a lot because honestly. i don't really know where i stand on these thoughts currently lol. shadow is inconsistent enough that i struggle to really pin down what exactly he deems as "right" or what he even wants to do most of the time - it's especially difficult to pin these things down when trying to cover shadow as a whole across the entire franchise, which is what i was trying to do here. because man, does this guy feel all over the place when you look at everything.

i think there's truth in the idea that shadow doesn't really care about protecting the people of sonic's world (this sonic channel story explores that concept a bit). at the same time, i think it's also entirely possible that this "i don't care what happens to others" attitude is a bit of a front he puts up (especially around sonic). and as silly and non-canon as i think the sonic twitter takeovers are, i do think they were kinda cooking something when they made shadow work at a soup kitchen. these are all somewhat different ideas and interpretations of shadow, but i think they're all plausible for this character. personally, i'd rather embrace the inconsistency then try to limit him to one worldview.

the only solid "truth" i can formulate about shadow's motivations right now is this: whatever he deems right, or whatever he wants to do, he decides for himself because it's his life. he doesn't do these things for maria, or for gerald, or for the rest of the world. his choices and actions are his own - maybe inspired by others, but not for them. and the things he decides to do are often inconsistent because he's an immortal, traumatized, teenage hedgehog - a paradoxical creation that's still learning how to live. he might be the ultimate life form, but it's more important to me that he's just shadow.

#fernasks #sonic loreposting #FINALLY i can get these very specific critiques i have of that post off my chest lmao

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skyloftian-nutcase · 2 years

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Things I’ve observed/love about Linked Universe

Sky, my precious beloved Sky, he is the absolute soul of this group, and it’s not in an obvious way, which is what makes it so great. Sky is a quiet, sincere, caring person - he is not an overwhelming presence in the Chain. He looks out for his teammates, he cheers people up (when Legend teases Wind about his mask, Sky pipes in with “I think it’s cool,” to cheer him up), as soon as someone is hurt Sky is literally the first person to help them. E.g. when Time is hurt, Sky goes to him first. When Wild is hurt, Sky helps protect him and Wind. When Twilight is hurt, Sky helps Warriors protect him. He tries to reassure Twilight that the attack wasn’t his fault when they’re ambushed, he takes the heat away from Legend’s Pink Hair Disaster when Warriors and Hyrule tease him about being slow (which has to sting given his journey, but he doesn’t show it, he just rolls with the punches). He’s always seemingly in the background but he is always present, always piping up or hopping in when someone seems to need help, and I love that for him. He’s the first hero, the original, the one who started it all, and it’s just perfect that he looks out for everyone in his quiet manner. I’d love for a story where Sky is hurt or goes missing and the Chain suddenly realizes how much warmth he brought to the group now that he isn’t there. Or I’d love to see the Chain realize that this fluffy bird loving sleepyhead actually has a core of molten magma and is a feral god slaying sass master. Characters who are capable of destroying worlds but choose to be kind, sweet, and unassuming instead are just my favorite.

Time, I love how he’s obviously the leader of the group but I can 100% guarantee it was not something he actually decided, he just started doing his thing and is used to traveling on his own and making decisions (as Jojo pointed out, he’s used to being decisive because he’s dealt with time travel) and the entire Chain just silently agreed “he’s ancient and acts like he knows what he’s doing, he’s the leader.” Time probably didn’t even realize it until a few weeks into their journey and was like “crap when I did become the Dad how do I deal with eight insane children.”

Twilight, Lord, where do I even start with this ranch hand, his protectiveness and Big Brother Energy is everything. Also, he is awesome as a wolf, and after seeing how he was treated as a monster by his loved ones in his game, I understand why he hides his ability from the Chain; poor thing is probably scared they’ll be afraid of him or hate him and that must hurt. I adore his relationship with Wild and with Time, and I really enjoy seeing him look out for his other brothers too, like when he got irritated at Legend for snarking Sky (joke’s on him, Sky is the King of Sass). He is so eager to prove himself to Time it hurts. I hope he doesn’t die. T_T HE CAN’T DIE, JOJO, HE’S AN OLD WOLF WHEN HE HELPS WILD, DON’T CAUSE A PARADOX DANG IT.

Legend truly is a legend, like he is so amazing and layered. I love his sassy defensive shell, I love how he is both Tired of adventuring but couldn’t imagine not doing it, like this kid is clearly hooked to adventuring (as much as I love the fancition about him being like NOPE when the Chain initially finds him, I 100% believe he’d actually be exasperatedly saying “this would happen, wouldn’t it” but secretly be pretty intrigued/excited at the prospect), he’s just traumatized from the whole Marin situation. I also love how he steps in as de facto leader to protect his family when Time, Warriors, and Twilight aren’t there. And one of my favorite moments with Legend was when Wild got hurt and Legend was immediately like OMG HE’S DEAD like chill, honey, Legend is such a drama queen. XD

Hyrule is such a precious bean and I want to hug him so badly like oh you sweet child why do you think little of yourself SOMEONE SHOWER THIS BOY IN PRAISES AND ACCOLADES. I also find it interesting how he has this duality to him, like he looks at the others and says “I’m not a hero like you guys” but when surrounded by enemies he just smiles maniacally and says “TIME TO BURN EVERYTHING” like... guys, Wild isn’t the arsonist of this group, Hyrule is.

Wild is wonderful in all his angst, but my favorite aspect of him is when he gets to be a goof and show his, well, wild side. Him and Hyrule are such an underrated pair, like we need more of their insane gremlin energy together. Send them into a cave and see what happens, Time, just don’t be surprised when the whole mountain shudders and collapses on top of them because Wild set off too many bombs and Hyrule swore the exit was this way but maybe it actually wasn’t. (Twilight had to go digging through the rubble and was not happy while Sky paces frantically at the camp being held back by Legend, who is saying stop being an idiot, Wolfie will find him you don’t have the stamina to dig through an entire mountain and Time is just sitting in a corner silently fuming and waiting to give Wild and Hyrule The Look when they get back while Warriors takes charge of the group because Time can’t be bothered with this BS for the rest of the night)

Warriors I honestly love his charisma and he definitely hides a lot of hurt and trauma under it. Like he’s a soldier, he’s fought in a giant war, clearly he’s going to have baggage, but unlike others (Legend or Wild) who make it obvious, he just acts as the teasing or caring big brother and handles it like a somewhat functional adult, which, as much as I love angst, is a nice change. I’d be interested to see his experiences get addressed at some point, but in the meantime, you keep being a seemingly stable rock for others to lean on, Warriors. *salutes* Also I love how affectionate and loving he is with the youngest heroes like Hyrule and Wind.

Wind just has so much energy to him, he is a delight. So cute, never let your little light stop shining, kiddo. He has a lot of heart and determination, and I love that he is competent and really doesn’t need the amount of babysitting the others try to force on him, but he is still very much a kid. Like unlike Time, who was likely a very quiet, solitary, and mature kid after his adventure, Wind is just so boisterous and has that childlike energy, but it doesn’t detract from the fact that he is still a good fighter.

EDIT! Four is definitely the one I know the least about, but I’ve been looking into him some more and noticed that he is someone who is a mature person and I feel like he wants to prove that he is an adult - like he’s go ta natural maturity to him but he gets offended easily when called a kid by an elder. He’s patient with younger heroes, loves to tell stories (don’t tell me he doesn’t, he was being super dramatic in telling his octorok story), but my favorite thing about him is that the reason he is so even keeled is because the poor kid has FOUR PEOPLE SCREAMING in his head at any given time. Like yeah, I’d be the zen person in the corner constantly meditating too if I had to deal with that. He’s also very observant, he figured out Twilight’s secret before almost anybody else. My favorite thing about him is that the instant he split, Red started having a complete meltdown even though the entire point was to prevent Wild from having a meltdown over the same thing. I can’t stop laughing at that comic, honestly. I think Four has spent this entire journey just watching the others with a running commentary in his head and I really need someone to write that, like imagine when Wild got hurt and it goes something like:

Red: Oh no! He’s hurt, we have to help him!

Green: The Sailor and Sky have him! We have to focus!

Blue: HAHA WHAT A MORON, GET WHAT YOU DESERVE FOR BREAKING SO MANY SWORDS, DUMBASS

Vio: This isn’t productive, we need to focus--

Blue: MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST USE YOURSELF AS A SHIELD MORE OFTEN SO YOU DON’T BREAK THOSE TOO

Vio: BLUE FOR THE LOVE OF HYLIA

Red: OMG THE CHAMPION IS GONNA DIE

Green: *sighs* We’re screwed.

#linkeduniverse #linked universe #lu sky #lu time #lu twilight #lu wild #lu hyrule #lu warriors #lu wind #lu legend #lu four

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