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gffa · 3 days

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It's been a month since I last did an update on where I am with The High Republic and it's slow going because I don't have a whole lot of on-line time lately (clean-up week is coming orz) and I like to read/listen to the books while I'm on-line, but I think I can still make it before The Acolyte comes out! MAIN STORYLINE NOVELS - PHASE I:

The High Republic: Light of the Jedi

The High Republic: A Test of Courage

The High Republic: Into the Dark

The High Republic: The Rising Storm

The High Republic: Race To Crashpoint Tower

The High Republic: Out Of The Shadows

The High Republic: Mission to Disaster

The High Republic: The Fallen Star

The High Republic: Midnight Horizon

MAIN STORYLINE NOVELS - PHASE II:

The High Republic: Path of Deceit

The High Republic: Convergence

The High Republic: Quest for the Hidden City

The High Republic: Cataclysm

The High Republic: Quest for Planet X

The High Republic: Path of Vengeance

MAIN STORYLINE NOVELS - PHASE III:

The High Republic: The Eye of Darkness

The High Republic: Escape from Valo

The High Republic: Defy The Storm

MAIN STORYLINE COMICS - PHASE I:

The High Republic (2021) - 15 issues

The High Republic Adventures (2021) - 13 issues

The High Republic: The Monster of Temple Peak - 4 issues

The High Republic: The Edge Of Balance - 2 manga volumes

The High Republic: Trail of Shadows - 5 issues

The High Republic: Eye of the Storm - 2 issues

MAIN STORYLINE COMICS - PHASE II:

The High Republic: The Blade - 4 issues

The High Republic (2022) - 10 issues

The High Republic Adventures (2022) - 8 issues

The High Republic: Edge of Balance: Precedent - 1 manga volume

The High Republic Adventures: The Nameless Terror - 4 issues

MAIN STORYLINE COMICS - PHASE III:

The High Republic: Shadows of Starlight - 4 issues

The High Republic (2023) - 6 issues [ONGOING]

The High Republic Adventures (2023) - 5 issues [ONGOING]

The High Republic - Saber for Hire (2023) - 1 issue [ONGOING]

MAIN STORYLINE AUDIODRAMAS - PHASE I:

The High Republic: Tempest Runner

MAIN STORYLINE AUDIODRAMAS - PHASE II:

The High Republic: The Battle of Jedha

ONESHOT COMIC ISSUES - PHASE I:

Star Wars Adventures (2020) #6 - “The Gaze Electric”

The High Republic Adventures: Free Comic Book Day 2021

The High Republic Adventures Annual 2021

The High Republic Adventures: Galactic Bake-Off Spectacular

Star Wars Adventures (2020) #14 - “A Very Nihil Interlude”

The High Republic Adventures: Free Comic Book Day 2023

ONESHOT COMIC ISSUES - PHASE II:

The High Republic Adventures: Quest of the Jedi

ONESHOT COMIC ISSUES - PHASE III:

The High Republic Adventures: Crash Landing

ANTHOLOGY NOVELS - PHASE I:

Star Wars: The High Republic: Starlight Stories

Life Day Treasury

ANTHOLOGY NOVELS - PHASE II:

Star Wars Insider: The High Republic: Tales of Enlightenment

ANTHOLOGY NOVELS - ALL PHASES:

The High Republic: Tales of Light and Life

EVERYTHING ELSE:

Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures - 25 episodes

Currently I am also 3/4ths of the way through Convergence (which I am enjoying very much, Path of Deceit is probably still my favorite of Phase II, but I think this one might be my second favorite, Lydia Kang's writing is really working for me here), halfway through Starlight Stories, and on episode 18 of Young Jedi Adventures. All of it continues to be fun and I'm still impressed by the sheer number of moving parts that feel like they all fit well together and there are few individual moments that I feel the need to yell about, but what I think I would recommend this project for most is that feeling of a large scope story that's told throughout so many mediums and gives a sense of satisfaction for it. I don't approach The High Republic in the same way I necessarily do the originals or the prequels, I'm not personally really into it for fanworks (though, some of the fanart really scratches a nice itch) or a ton of meta (I tend to have prequels brain so my meta does get filtered through the lens of 'how does this parallel the prequels'), instead it's more of a story to experience. A really, really big story with a ton of characters that come and go and some really beautiful art to go along with it. I have affection for it and I could see it being a fanworks kind of jam for others, but I think it's also okay if you want to get into it just for the experience of a fun Star Wars spinoff series, however you approach THR is fine! So, speaking of, how's everyone else's progress going? Have some of you picked it up recently? Made progress? Still in Phase I or are you caught up to Phase III? (Honestly, I think my favorite so far was Phase II, I feel like the world had settled into what it wanted to be and I liked the characters a lot in it, which makes me very curious how Phase III is going to go, now that they've had two phases to get their feet under them.)

#lumi.txt #star wars #the high republic

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theminecraftbee · 2 months

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anyway, so the hermit permits: this feel VERY MUCH like the hermits going “we did not like how little we used the shopping district in 8 and 9, we want to create a mechanism that not only brings it back but hopefully forces more collaboration by preventing one guy from having the super shop”. I’m here for it! interested in seeing how it plays out going forward, it definitely at the very least intrigues me! as does iskall mentioning that if he doesn’t keep up with demand the other hermits are allowed to rebel and take his rocket permit, sir what does that mean,

#hermitcraft #me loudly: REVOLUTION!#more seriously: it’s been A WHILE since we had a super relevant shopping district #even in s9 when it was theoretically the center of the king ren plotline that was mostly only about the shopping district on a meta level #and was really more about the quests and the storyline #so it’ll be interesting to see it come back! I hope it becomes a cool center for collaborative building

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bbbartblog · 6 months

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Here's some Harvest Moon: Winds of Anthos fanart!

I've been having fun playing this~

#harvest moon #harvest moon winds of anthos #winds of anthos #judy #arnold #justin #nemo #i just finished the main storyline so i can finally focus on getting married to judy and arnold (on different files obviously)#i'll think about whom i'll marry in my 3rd file after getting the dlc #i wish this game had more save slots orz #i'm set on judy and arnold but i also really like lina and westley and kaimana ToT #also nemo - judy's brother - is my arch-nemesis since he keeps giving me quests EVERY time I talk to him #my quest log is full of quests from him asdfghj

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grey-wardens · 14 days

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not sure how accurate these numbers are but according to chubblot's youtube channel, patch 5 early access wyll had about 4k lines while (as of patch 3?) ea gale, shadowheart, lae'zel, and astarion all had over 5k lines :/

i'm not focusing too much on the exact numbers because i think some of those are for specific races/characters that multiple actors recorded even if they don't make sense for the character. however, considering the overall numbers and the current distribution of content in the full release..... yeah. ugh.

#in other words everyone had about 6 hours while he had about 4 hours #seems like patch 7 is coming in the next month but i really have no faith in them to remedy wyll's content disparity #or give him more agency in his quest comparable to the others #or give him the same amount of greetings as everyone else #or have his own father acknowledge that he is engaged...#seems like he's getting a few more lines and a kiss in the epilogue but astarion/karlach look to be getting more new lines than him :/#i hope there's more that isn't in the files currently but. sigh.#i remember being most excited for him and astarion during EA. i'm really happy with how astarion's storyline played out in full release #which makes the lack of content and care for wyll feel even more disappointing

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mumintroll · 10 months

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i am so hype for fantasy life 2 u dont even understand

#i loved the first one so muchhhh as a kid and i love it now. i cld never get into the mobile game im glad they r making another proper one #only thing i dont like is how they r obvs copying ac a bit with the terraforming in the trailer and i really dont like terraforming #like the only thing in tbe og game that was customisable was yr character + inside of your house idrc about customising the surrounding #world or anything. i dont like how acnh is so customisation focused at the expense of other features im more interested in and i feel like #fl2 is likely to go in the same direction but whatever we move.......... it will still be fun even if not as good as the og #i just hope customisation doesnt take heed over like the storyline + characters + depth of the professions and quests etc........

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imagine-nerd · 1 year

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Something something the same as it ever was

#genshin impact #genshin #Oh boy! Can't wait to add to this again in a year when we have the exact same thing happen in Fontaine!!#That last tag was a joke (fingers crossed)#If I have to bring back my other meme about the sacred sakura still being capped it is sure history will end up repeating itself #Plz I just like getting the rewards it's so satisfying to just be like hehehe I leveled up and unlocked more :3 #Like I know hyv trying to keep pacing their content and such but also *looks at all the past event stories* priorities?? Maybe?#Which is me saying I think it's stupid that there is so much of the game new players will never get to experience or even see #Like with the whole scara appearing in the inazuma story like how much of the game's player base even got to experience scara in 1.1?#The original gga event and it's storyline and the chasm quest storyline with yelan and xiao and both albedo events #Sure there's a bunch of stuff to experience if youre jsut now trying genshin or have picked it up somewhere along the way #But there's so much that's been locked in the past now and unless you were there you'll never get to experience it #Like the Diluc event - sure I could go read everything about it on the wiki if I really wanted to know what happened #But its different playing it yourself #At least I think so #I just think it's stupid of them to not allow newer players to experience those stories like forget the specific event weapons #Idk how to really put it into words and I'm just rambling now #But yeah

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mbat · 1 year

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tfw you have quite possibly the most ambitious idea of your life and it sounds amazing and like a dream but its basically impossible and will quite literally never happen

#i think all the time about which medium i wish i could turn my kingdom project into one day #and the most likely option is a comic but like #i want it to be exciting and stuff and as a comic it wouldnt be as exciting as. a video game #except the idea is turning it into a game like fuckimg world of warcraft in the sense of a giant life size fantasy world #full of places to explore and quests to do #and a main storyline that is admittedly fairly chill. it would not be as complicated as WoW though and like #in a wild way to do any game i really wouldnt care to add combat if i could help it #youd probably end up doing puzzles or specific tasks and minigames idk sjfjsjd #but it would take years upon years of work. more people than me for sure. and probably so much money #sigh.... one can dream anyway.#my post #kingdom project #not to mention i dont know if anyone else just likes exploring game environments.. thats basically the only reason i like WoW.#i love exploring WoW and seeing the excellent worldbuilding in the environments #i love exploring every games environments! its just neat #i would love to make a game where thats the whole point aside from obviously the main story djfjfn

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thevalleyisjolly · 2 years

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Got really caught up thinking how I’d rewrite The Hobbit movie trilogy if I had to keep the three-film structure and all the existing characters, and it’s so fun but I’m going to have no time to actually write this, help.

#the valley is posting #i'm not a tolkien purist and i do understand a lot of the changes the trilogy had to make as a film adaptation #some of the ideas were very good; others had potential but were not always executed well #one of the few things i like about dos is thorin and bard's conflict #that's a fantastic example of two characters both having very valid arguments that are also completely at odds with each other #that's how you do good conflict! have both characters be right given their individual contexts but those contexts clash when they meet!#i think tauriel's storyline could be much stronger if it were tied to the dol goldur storyline instead of/before the erebor plot #have her be in contact with radagast from the start; both of them being very concerned about what's happening in mirkwood #and if you really want her to go to erebor #then in dos; have her follow the orcs who attacked the party back to dol goldur #she arrives just as radagast leaves gandalf there and they discuss what's going on #tauriel puts two and two together and comes to the conclusion that someone at dol goldur is very interested in the dwarves' quest #so she heads towards erebor to discover what the dwarves are up to and why someone at dol goldur is invested in them #so many more ideas; i should probably go write them all down somewhere other than a tag essay

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motherfuckingbrad · 1 year

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also maybe ive just been anti-rob mcelhenney lately but it bothers me so much how much he promotes the sunny podcast and wrexham stuff but never posts about mq… like maybe i’m being dramatic and i’m not asking for full posts, but story stuff?? just reposting on his story??? he already does it all the time with anything wrexham and every single podcast clip on the instagram so like what the hell. like i just truly deeply feel like he doesn’t rlly give a shit about mythic quest because it doesn’t get as much attention as his other stuff, and as an avid fan of mq it gets me super worried that either mq will have a short run or like not enough effort will be put into it. and as a community fan (aka a show that had so much potential but was then partially ruined by shitty writers and shitty cast members and shitty drama) it scares me that all the potential i’m seeing will be wasted. like idk but after community (and the 100 don’t even get me started) i’m afraid of what i’ve seen happen so many times before

#like #maybe i’m being crazy insane and totally over dramatic #but i get worried #because charlie day acts like he isn’t also a cocreator already #and megan posts a little but like #rob is in it. and writes it. and created it.#and so i feel like a lot of the power falls on him #and i feel like he just doesn’t rlly care about it anymore #i feel like he is way more focused on sunny now that glenn is like back and staying #and he put out wrexham w mf ryan reynolds so like of course that got attention #but mq really doesn’t get a lot of press and i feel like maybe he’s bored #like ok it was a cool idea but after season four we can be done #and like no!!!! give us a full storyline!!!!#pls i love these characters so much 😭😭#i cannot do it #anyway!#me being sad again #mythic quest #rob mcelhenney

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arienai · 1 year

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While I'm talking about writing I do want to rec two INCREDIBLE writing apps that have helped me immensely as a writer with ADHD

Stimuwrite is a little program that you can customize with all sorts of really rewarding instant tactile feedback, for example sound effects every time you hit a key, emoji notifications and balloons when you hit your custom goal (which can be as low as you want for low energy days), and neat animated backgrounds.

4thewords turns writing into an RPG and you can kill monsters via word count in order to complete quests and progress through what I personally find to be an interesting and fun storyline. It comes with all the RPG trappings like loot, gear, even custom housing (win more stuff for your house by writing).

I cannot stress ENOUGH how amazing both of these have been in terms of my writing productivity as someone with pretty severe executive dysfunction issues. Usually I use Stimuwrite for the instant feedback and then copy and paste those over into 4thewords for the gamification.

Both are small indie projects, Stimuwrite is pay-what-you-can-afford and 4thewords is $4/month but they are very good about helping people who genuinely can't afford it.

and AS THE CHERRY ON TOP, Stimuwrite's programmer is a trans woman, and while I'm not sure about the 4thewords team in specific, the game is FILLED with really great rep, they are literally having a lesbian wedding global event going on right now as I type this. So like. I like giving money to them more than giving money to a lot of other projects lol.

Anyway no neither of these projects have told me to write about them or anything I just want to spread the love. Go check them out!!

Stimuwrite

4thwords

#my posts #writing

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little-autumn-serenade · 8 months

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Gosh I love Astarion's story and his romance. The idea of him reclaiming ownership of his body and of sex and it not having to be a performative act or something he has to do all the time because someone else wants it and being something he chooses to do because he cares about someone and wants to rather than because he feels it is something he has to do for various reasons. I love that we have this character who comes across so sexual and yet actually, has an arc that sees him finally having bodily autonomy and using it and utilising it.

Apparently people have complained about the fade to black in the scene after his quest if you convince him he's better than Cazador, the graveyard scene. Apparently, 'dark Astarion' scene is not a fade to black. But I had no problems with it. It's very symbolic of sex no longer being performative for him and I think, a character like Astarion actually benefits from that. You can write all the smut you want with him in your free time, but the reality is that it fits with his character arc, it makes sense for him to move away from performative sexual acts in the view of the audience, under a gaze, and move towards private acts which are wanted by him and which reflect his feelings towards the MC. I mean that whole entire scene is him talking about how he doesn't really know who he was or who he is and how he wants to move forward and grow.

Astarion can be sexy and hot and also not simply a sexual object for your MC and you to gawk at. I like the depth to him, I adored his story of taking ownership of his body. I adore that he loves the MC because they are kind to him and respect his boundaries and give him choice. I love him and I love him growing and discovering himself and taking back autonomy and I think if you care about a character and their arc and if your MC cares about that character then that character saying 'hey, I actually don't want to just have sex with you', shouldn't be something you whine and complain about, you should feel a sense of respect towards that. I think a sexy vampire actually caring more about you than sex or your blood is actually a great take for once, vampires are so symbolic of a lack of control, of uncontrollable lust and thirst and whims. So to see him have that sense of self and also sense of control about him is actually refreshing. He is in control, and he is learning what he wants and what he deserves.

Idk, I just really love his story and I fell so head over heels for the sassy vampire spawn and how he actually really cares and is deeply scared of so many things. I adore him and I think we should respect his storyline and enjoy it because how many times do we actually get a storyline like that?

#bg3 spoilers #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #astarion

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handsomeamoeba · 6 months

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WRONG.

Try again.

Actually let's get into this. As someone who loves a great many fantasy RPGs including BG3, Skyrim, and Dragon Age, let me explain what BG3 gets that Skyrim misses, in my opinion.

And this is the big one: the characters in BG3 feel like real fucking people. They have backstories, demonstrable feelings about the events and the other characters, they react to the things you do and they develop as people as you further your relationships. Even minor NPCs often feel fleshed out with distinct personalities and opinions. Hell, going out of my way to cast Speak to Animals is usually rewarded with at least one charming remark. I have never given even a little bit of a shit about 99% of Bethesda NPCs. I usually choose to travel without a companion rather than with unless I need a pack mule to carry my stuff, because their primary function seems to be to get in my way, set off traps, or attract aggro. I can't remember most characters' names unless I'm actively playing. I'm more likely to casually murder people in Skyrim than I am in BG3 or DA because Bethesda hasn't really made any of their NPCs feel like real people, and consequentially I feel no guilt. By comparison I tried to do an evil run of DA:O and gave up the instant I had to kill Wynne (the grandmotherly spirit healer) when she refused to let me go through with my plans, because I hated doing it. Lydia will watch me gut an innocent man and do NOTHING because she has no life, existence, or personality outside of me, the player. This extends to romances, obviously. While optional in all the games, most people will pursue a romance path in BG3 or DA for the additional character arcs it brings to the characters, the emotional nuances they unlock. In Skyrim romance is a box you tick of tasks to complete. In fact, once you marry them, most marriage candidates personalities change *completely* because all spouses have the same few stock dialog lines. That is, if they had a personality to begin with (again, see Lydia). You know how everyone wants to romance unromanceable characters in Bethesda games? Like Brynjolf in Skyrim, or Nick Valentine in FO4? It's because Bethesda actually bothered to give them stories and opinions.

Honestly, this extends to the player character themselves. To a certain extent every player character is a blank slate, but in BG3 and DA it at least feels possible to develop a feeling about who that character is and what they would or would not say or do. I've tried to do that with the Dragonborn and rarely feel strong feelings about them or have strong opinions about what kind of person they are. The only one I've made who I have much of an idea about is my wood elf Parafina, who is Chaotic Evil. Which again is an option I only pick because no one in Skyrim feels real.

The stakes also feel more real in BG3, more personal. Obviously there's the central quest involving the tadpoles, but more than that, it is about a credible threat to your world and the people and communities in it and the people you love. There are tons of reasons to invest yourself emotionally in the narrative. I have never, ever completed the main storyline in Skyrim nor picked a side in Skyrim's civil war. Why would it? Basically nothing happens if I choose not to. Furthermore, if you're not playing as a Nord (which I usually don't), why would you care about Skyrim as a place? You are a faceless, voiceless (pun intended) outsider who gets microaggressed at every turn being asked to choose between two different flavors of fascist. Also dragons are back but like... listen, I don't care? They get pretty easy to pick off at a certain point, it's like swatting flies, they're just a nuisance on the way to my daily errands. And isn't that such a common story? Don't you know so many people who don't really bother with the main storylines of Skyrim? Yeah it's one of the bestselling games of all time but I feel like the fact that most people don't really care about its narrative should be a sign of failure. We all know it's mostly maintained its popularity due to the modding community.

Ultimately both games have rich worlds which reward exploration with little secrets and environmental storytelling. But BG3 feels more "meaningful" because they give me reasons to care about what happens. The writers worked hard to give the game emotional resonance. So I come to the two games for different experiences. I go to BG3 to engage with an interesting story. I go to Skyrim for the quick serotonin hit of completing tasks and hoarding items.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #skyrim #skyrim critical #with all the love in my heart mind you #i was considering not tagging this tbh

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windienine · 8 months

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i want to teach you how to play chuubo's marvelous wish-granting engine...

(diceless rpg released by jenna k. moran in 2011)

... in as few words as i can manage!

there's a person running the game and playing the world (here, they're called the hollyhock god or "HG" for short.)

and one or more other people playing several characters who serve as the game's central cast (the player characters, or "PCs" for short.)

if you're one of the PCs, your main goal is to progress through a storyline by earning experience points ("XP") before play, you'll be given a little card with a set of goals on it. this is a quest. it describes the kind of story you're here to tell with your character today.

a quest needs a certain amount of XP to be completed, at which point you earn a reward and proceed to the next quest.

you can get XP in a few common ways:

completing the goals described on your quest card (major goals can only be completed once and give a large amount of XP, flavor goals can be repeated indefinitely but grant a smaller number)

participating in scenes with other PCs and/or the HG, talking to and working with one another and describing how your character feels. (this is an XP action, and you can take one once per scene)

evoking a specific emotion out of the other players that they reward you with XP for (this is called emotion XP)

a scene involves one or more PCs interacting with one another or the world. once everyone's been in two scenes and taken two XP actions, that is a chapter. you tally up all the XP you earned, refresh your resources, and the session is over.

that is the core loop. you try to progress directly on your quest, you spend scenes interacting with other players, and you play into the archetype you've chosen for a few bonuses. finish a quest, unlock a new storyline.

in other words: you have experiences as your character which give them the will to grow and change.

check out this example ^^^

this one's structured for a loner character-- some mad scientist or mage who knows that the world is in danger and is eager to solve that problem all alone.

but... this isn't really a story about singular great men solving singular great problems alone, though. how much can you tell about this character, their conflicts, and where they're headed, all based on the quest structure alone?

your challenge is to:

do the things listed on the card, when possible. take up burdens, structure the weird ominous dreams and portents your character is experiencing, create scenarios where they have to rely on others against their better judgement (quest XP).

spend time with the natural world and/or the other PCs every scene, having experiences that affect your character personally (XP actions).

act as your character in ways that drive the other players to stunned speechlessness, the usual target reaction for this character's archetype (emotion XP).

be loose and have some fun with it. you'll be working with several quests at a time, so try to chain them together and create openings for other players to fulfill their own goals as well.

... and you've done it! those are the fundamental basics of the game!

#cmwge #chuubo's marvelous wish granting engine #ttrpg #jenna moran #nobilis #lots of folks keep describing this thing as “a tome” and “arcane”#i get why #but here's the core loop broken down into simplest terms. for you!#follow for more guides to rpg esoterica

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tossawary · 3 months

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For several different reasons, I'm not personally a big fan of "Soulmate AUs" (universes where there is some way to determine your destined romantic partner, often by some kind of magical birthmark), though I will admit that I have read and enjoyed some of these stories before. There are lots of fun and interesting ways to explore and subvert these tropes.

But past the coercive amatonormatism of it all (which I have seen many people consciously explore in neat ways), one of the things that sometimes bugs me is the worldbuilding or lack thereof. Often, the author of a Soulmate AU is not interested in expansive worldbuilding for a short fic and that's fine and fair. They're explicitly not here to explore what known soulmates throughout history would do to culture, both in terms of social norms and actual laws of government, in a 2k meet cute fic about people finding love.

The world being largely unchanged in a Soulmate AU sometimes makes me wonder if soulmate marks or whatever ARE relatively recent in these worlds, especially when so many of these worlds have magic. How did this HAPPEN? Some of these soulmate setups are so specific and artificial in their design (timers, written words, etc.) that I can't fully suspend my disbelief that it's at all natural. I replace this system's origins in my head with the "a wizard did it" excuse. Then it would make more sense for this world to be more or less identical, just with soulmates slapped on top by a mischievous or angry god.

I have seen many people go with various kinds of "it's a blessing from the gods" explanations and I think that's fun and fine worldbuilding. (And for most people's stories, there just isn't really a need to actually explain this magic system.) I'm currently interested in the idea that someone, not necessarily a divine being, intentionally or even accidentally cast a soulmate spell RECENTLY. Some people are thrilled and other people HATE this.

"Yeah, we've only had 'soulmates' around for about 200 years, since that big mysterious spell, and it's been a big fucking mess ever since." That's a funny mild subversion of the trope in my opinion. And also, I mean, personally speaking, I think that "let's go on a quest to argue with the god wizard who says you're not my soulmate (and maybe kill him and end his stupid spell)" is potentially an incredibly romantic storyline.

#tossawary fandom #fic ideas #soulmate au

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ohnoitstbskyen · 6 months

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youtube

ARCANE season 2 is just one year away!

We finally have a confirmed date for Arcane season 2: November of 2024, just one year away. Riot posted this striking stylized rendering of Jinx simply walking away from camera while some music plays. It is barely more than a teaser trailer, and it would be completely absurd to try and divine meaning or predictions about the show from it. So that's what I'm gonna do! The teaser is accompanied by the musical theme of The Bridge, which Powder sings in the first scene of the show as she and Vi are crossing this very same bridge in the aftermath of a pitched battle, finding their parents among the dead. It is Jinx's foundational trauma, and the crossing of the bridge is a repeated motif in the first season of Arcane, representing the divide between the cities, between characters, between ideologies. And so in this teaser Jinx is crossing the bridge again, in the aftermath of having lost her third father, blaming Piltover not inaccurately for all her suffering. If this is the tone-setter for the show, then, it seems Season 2 of Arcane will be grounded in Jinx's war on Piltover, her attempt to do what Vander couldn't with his riot and what Silco couldn't with his political manipulation. Dear friend across the river My hands are cold and bare Dear friend across the river I'll take what you can spare

To expand a little bit beyond what I can do in a 60 second short - it is of course an obvious conclusion that Season 2 of Arcane would feature Jinx's vengeance against Piltover (there is only so much you can try and predict from a 15 second teaser), but I wonder about the structure that this will take. Will Jinx's vengeance be a feature, a concurrent storyline running alongside all the other storylines, or will it be the central axis that everything else is orbiting?

In Season 1 the show was very much structured around a handful of storylines all converging into the same, single, tragic end-point - for most of the narrative, characters like Jayce and Vi were not even consciously aware of one another, even as their actions had impact on one another. By the end of Season 1, the characters are much more closely acquainted and connected with one another, and maybe that requires a change in structure. Perhaps, rather than a handful of narratives all converging together towards one central tragedy, we get a series of stories exploding out from one central starting point?

Because I could absolutely see Jinx and her war being the anchor-point that everyone else is reacting to. Vi's primary quest is to stop her, so is Caitlyn's. The Council will want bloody revenge, Noxus is going to sense weakness and take advantage of a civil war, the Chembarons will be fighting among themselves to take Silco's place...

It's only really Viktor and Singed whose storylines I could see maintaining some degree of separation from Jinx's vengeance... but then, I do operate on the assumption that Hextech will be used to build weapons of war and that that will be the final breaking point between Jayce and Viktor - I don't think Viktor's moral compass would allow his invention to be turned on the undercity in this way, the very people he most wanted to help and protect.

In this way, I have a feeling he'll enter the war essentially on Jinx's "side," building augmentations and applying Singed's nihilistic philosophy of science to build something to defend the undercity which Jayce, in turn, will find too horrible to contemplate or forgive.

Also who the fuck knows what Vander/Warwick is going to be doing? Is the connection between Singed and Orianna going to... like is Ori going to turn up? I would like Ori to turn up.

#arcane #arcane season 2 #tbskyen #Youtube

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rawliverandgoronspice · 7 months

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The Dondon Post (or: the bizarre TotK's side content counterpoints to its main quest's immuable binary morality)

Speaking of strange TotK Choices, I think I have one singe post left in me about this game; and it's about the Dondon quest, "The Beast and the Princess".

(and about other stuff too, you'll see, we'll get to them)

More specifically: about how... strange of a thematic point it feebly attemps to make in the larger context of the storyline, and how it seems to be yet another mark of a world that, perhaps, once tried to be more morally complex that it ended up becoming.

Buckle up: it's a long one, and it gets pretty conceptual.

(good gem boys notwhistanding)

The Princess and the Beast

So, a couple of things about the setup. We are investigating potential Princess sightings; but at this point, either because we have already completed a bunch and know the general gib, because we have met a couple of wild Fake Zelda shenanigans, or through the simple fact that we are completing a side quest, we know there's a good chance it won't lead to an actual Zelda information. So when we ask Penn about what is going on and he replies with the ominous "we saw the Princess riding some kind of beast --a frightening one with huge, brutal tusks-- that the princess seemed to control", we get Ideas. Then the sidequest is registered: "The Princess and the Beast".

So. You know me. And if you don't know me, here's what you should know: my brain immediately flared up with the thought there was no way in hell this wasn't some kind of wink towards Ganondorf's renowned boarish beast form, especially given tusks were given so much focus.

My first assumption was: that's a miniboss right? I will get to fight some small boar-like thing that Fake Zelda rides sometimes. Cool! I didn't hold too hard onto my hope that the relationship of Zelda and/or Ganondorf to the natural world, or to each other would be expanded upon, since I had already been burned before, but my interest was piqued.

You have to understand how starved I was for any hint of complexity or mystery or ambiguity at this point. I was extremely eager for the game to throw anything at me that would surprise me, enlighten something pre-established, make the exploration lead to a meaningful discovery or deepening of characters, world or themes (and not just slightly cooler loot, or a bossfight, or a puzzle devoid of emotional context --cohesion and depth is what motivates my play sessions, especially in an open world game that I want to believe is worth losing oneself into). This was about the most intriguing task on my to do list at the moment, and so I plunged in immediately.

After really REALLY misunderstanding what I was supposed to do (I stalked every corner of every forest surrounding the tropical area at night or during blood moons in hope to see something --which was very much the wrong call), I arrived to the other stable, then was guided to the other side of the river where Cima awaits and explains that these creatures are actually a new species discovered by Zelda; that they are gentle and kind and not at all scary ("Dondons aren't beastly, they're adorable!"), and even somehow digest luminous stones into gemstones. They like the company of people and liked Zelda in particular.

I was... I felt two different ways about this conclusion, and I think it's worth to explore both: disappointment and some sort of... "huh!" Hard to describe this emotion otherwise.

I'll get the disappointment out of the way first, because it's the least interesting of the two. While I think the little emotional arc I was taken on was not devoid of interest --I was indeed taken on by the rumor and intrigued by its implications-- I wanted, well. A little bit more. And if the creatures were to be Zelda's pet project, I would have loved for them to be actually terrifying and feisty, and for her to develop an interest for these creatures in particular regardless. It could have been very interesting characterization that veered out of the perfect princess loving the perfect world floundering around her, always bringing her clear, practical benefits from the interaction.

(I have made another post that speaks of my discomfort that Zelda does everything everywhere and everyone loves her for it --I get what they were trying to go for, but it either lacks conflict for me to buy into that dynamic at the scale of several regions, or they went on too hard for my taste, as she is, at once and in the span of a couple of years at most: a schoolteacher, a gardener, an animal researcher, a scholar, a traveler, a military expert, a knower of landscape, a painter, a horse rider, an infrastructure planner, a [...] princess --at some point it begins to sound made up, "Little Father of the people"-esque to rattle the hornet's nest a little bit, especially if it's not shown as either a clearly godly characteristic or, even more necessary imo, a negative trait; another expression of her killing herself at work to compensate for a perceived flaw she's trying to earn forgiveness for, like she did in BotW. But that's another topic, and the clumsiness of her character arc has been well threaded by basically everybody disappointed in the story already.)

But, if I decide to be a little graceful, I'd like to explore my "huh!" emotion, and take it apart a little bit.

I think there's something interesting to have such strong parallels to setting up a story about the relationship between Zelda and Ganondorf ("The Princess and the Beast", like come on guys that's the conflict of over half the series), or at least Zelda and the concept of Evil since Ganondorf pretty much represents it in this game, and then have it go: actually, there was a horrible monster that everyone was afraid of, but Zelda was wise and patient enough to approach it and realize its potential beyond the tusks, what beauty can be brought upon the world if one makes the effort to look for what exists underneath. It says something a bit deeper about the world and about Zelda in particular. It intrigues, at the very least.

Is it a reach? Probably! Is my first interpretation that the quest is actually about "eww you thought Zelda would be interested in *disgusting vile monsters* and not sweet and gentle and human-loving animals that literally shit jewlery when cared for? jokes on you, she never would feel any ounce of sympathy for anything that isn't Good and Deserving" uhhh definitively truer? Probably! But I also don't want to dismiss that the quest made me think about it. If I had completed it earlier, I might have even felt like it was (very clumsy, not gonna lie) setup about the main conflict.

But that's also a good segway into my next section: the arbitrary limitations between the animal and the creature, the monstrous and the human.

And the fact that TotK points directly at it.

A Monstrous Collection

(these two guys are just. doing So Much and being So Valid despite being massive weirdos the game wants us to be slightly repelled by. I, for one, respect the Monster kinning grind and their general Twilight Princess energy.)

So. These two guys. There is so much to say about these two guys. I don't think I have seen the Trans Perspective on Kolton on tumblr, and I would love to get it because. I feel like it's a worthwhile discussion (just, how gender and identity is handled in TotK overall, I feel like it's a very complicated conversation and I have not seen super deep dives and I'd be very interested in hearing more).

Beyond the throughline of voluntary consumption of magical objects to turn into less human creatures being a weirdly prevalent plot point in TotK (Zelda, Kolton and Ganondorf casually transing their entire species for funsies --Ganondorf being particularly relentless with Fake Zelda, mummy/phantom shenanigans, Demon King and then literal dragon), I want to focus on Kilton a little bit.

Kilton is genuinely the only NPC in the game willing to acknowledge the inherent personhood that monsters have (the game does showcase them picking up fruits, mourning their boss if you kill them, being cutesy and happy to identify you as one of their own if you wear the appropriate mask --and that's not even getting into creatures like the Lynels, who seem to really edge on the limit of being a conscious creature with a system of honor and property and many other things). He does encourage us to think of monsters as more than a species whose only worth lie in how fun it is to eradicate them; even more, gameplay-wise, he does give us a reason to interact with them in other ways than just our sword with his museum. He does encourage us to see that beauty for ourselves and then select what we think is coolest/most intimidating/cutest/eight billion ganondorfs in every pose imaginable

The fact that Ganondorf is considered a monster was a great win for this feature in particular, and is very funny, but it's also... A lot, if we dig at it a little more than warranted. Beyond all of the Implications and all of the things of representation and political conflict and values already discussed ad nauseum: when did he stop being considered a human? What does that mean about the flimsiness of what is a monster and what is a creature and what is an animal and what is a person and what is even a hylian, as sheikahs got absorbed into the definition in this game? Especially with the stones taken into account, how profound changes in nature are a huge part of the plot (even when reversed and ultimately pretty meaningless): how easy it is, to make that slip? Who decides when that slip has been made? What is acceptable to hurt without remorse? What is beautiful and worth preserving? What is both at once? What is neither?

And again, in a classic Zelda conundrum (appreciative(?)): who the fuck gets to decide that, when, and why?

The Bargainers and the Horned God

(major shoutout to these big guys for being the sole and only providers of actual depth to the Depths, and for looking cool as heck)

So. Let's move the conversation to the Depths.

Conceptually: what an interesting idea!! And so well executed (initially)!! A mirror world to the surface, dark and hushed and full of unknown creatures; haunted by gloom and sickness and the unknown. Not a first in the series, far from it: from ALTTP to ALBW, and even taking the Twilight world of TP into account, this idea of a Dark World acting as a deforming mirror to Hyrule and revealing many interesting aspects as we get to explore both is always a very interesting take on corruption and envy and fear/weakness and/or some sense of darkness looming under the perfect exterior. I'd argue even the Lens of Truth of both OoT and MM's serve a similar function, both gameplay-wise, but also in terms of theme: not everything is as it seems. In the world of Light, darkness must hide itself; but darkness also possess its own beauty, its own hardships, and will stare back at you without blinking if you go seek for it. It's, in my opinion, one of the series' most compelling conversation about the cyclical nature of fate, the coldness of godhood, and how small one feels in the face of a universe that is more complicated than it initially appears --which is why Courage must be invoked to push forward regardless.

The Depth's otherworldly ambiance is truy wonderful, whether in the plays of light and shadows, the creatures native to the environment we meet there (wish we met more!), the soundtrack, the strange aquatic/primordial plants, the fact that the dragons visit this place and connect them to the outside --invoking ideas of balance and interconnectivity, that the tree branches look like veins. The coliseums, the mines, the zonai facilities and the prisons do seem to poke at many things about what the relationship to the past was to this place; was it ever truly a place? Did it look like this back then? Why was it buried? Why did it come back? But in spite of it all, I think the Depths struggle overall to question or reveal anything about the surface that we couldn't already assume going in (that the only thing congealing there is Ganondorf's gloom, his lonely domain of Wrongness, only shared by Kohga and the yiga --the only naysayers of Goodness and Light, contemptful and blinded by self-importance and rage). The zonite is mined by gloomy monsters --why, what for?-- so any notion of greed and over-expansion that could have been associated to the zonai is now reabsorbed into Ganondorf's general evilness, since it needs to be reminded he is everything and anything bad with the world: darkness and conquest and greed and capitalism and pollution and bad weather and sickness and darkness and violence and war and death and betrayal and fakeness and lies and patriarchy and exploitation. No matter that he never does a single thing with zonite in the game; rather set up elements of conflict that never go anywhere than, for a second, let the foundations of absolute goodness and absolute evil risk becoming shaky --and you coming to this unwelcoming dark place that hates you, killing the miners and taking their resources for yourself is, on the other holy, royal fur-covered hand, utterly legitimate. The resources were once Rauru's after all, were they not?

And this is what I would say, except... except for the dead. The fallen warriors, the poes, and, most important of all: the Bargainer statues.

The Bargainers are, in-universe, godly creatures guiding the fallen to a place of final respite, regardless of moral alignment. The poes are all, fundamentally, cleansed of judgement: they are lost souls whose past reality does not matter anymore, and all deserve that peace regardless. In spite of the heavy paradise/hell parallels drawn in that game, with Rauru/Zelda/Sonia as the guardians of Light where Ganondorf gets to become a Devil-like figure, it is confirmed here that no such thing exists when you actually die in this universe.

It almost feels as if the fabric of Hyrule itself, in a brief moment that refuses to elaborate on its own point, goes: "yeah, whatever is happening here between Light and Darkness, it doesn't actually matter. This conflict is futile and doesn't understand the real nature of being alive, dead, a god, a person, a monster, an animal. The truth lies elsewhere --but you will never be told what it is."

It's: wild.

One of the game's most striking traits of narrative brilliance in my opinion --to the point where I'm wondering whether it's there on purpose or was effectively an oversight since every other aspect of reality breaks its own back trying to reassure us that everything is at its correct place, receiving the appropriate treatment by the universe in a way that is never to be questioned.

Another case of that ambiguity being allowed to exist without being immediately crushed and repressed is the case of the Horned God (interesting parallel to Ganon's actual horns that he develops in this game in case the hellish parallels weren't clear enough already): a demon Hylia sealed into stone and pushed far from humans in a clear case of questionable behavior since, while the Horned God isn't exactly nice, does propose a different philosophy you are not punished for exploring; and yet, a proposal that has seen itself persecuted in a very real sense by the goddess of absolute goodness, patron of hylians, Zelda, and many more. Pushed away from view.

Interesting.

And Yet, Light Must Prevail

Okay, so, after all of this, we're left to ask... What the fuck is up with morality in Tears of the Kingdom?!

What do we trust? These half-breaths in the occasional sidequests that Light and Darkness is just the wrong frame of reference, that nature cannot be this simple, is ever-shifting and can be recalled or reaffirmed by arbitrary forces, and might even not matter at all in the universe's fabric, despite having so much of its lore soaking in the dychotomy? Or... everything else about the game, this insistence that Good must not only be assumed as whatever tradition the kingdom has passed down for thousands upon thousands of years, but remain utterly unquestioned the entire time? That Bad is without cause, graceless and unworthy of investment?

Are the Bargainer's statues the only thing worth listening to, that morality is a fable the living tells themselves --or should we be moved when Darkness destroys Light, when Light suffers to preserve itself and the world --but not when the Other is rightfully slain?

Was Kilton correct to see beauty in the monstrous? Was Kolton onto something when he let go of his previous form because there is no clear distinction between what should receive an arrow to the face and what shouldn't? Or should we rather focus on Zelda losing her human form as a beautiful and tragic sacrifice --but something that never actually altered her nature as a hylian, the descendant of a lineage of Good Kings meant to rule forever?

Is the Dondon good because it always was, or was it worth Zelda's love in spite of the fear it initially provoked?

Either way, at the end of the game, evil is slain. Ganondorf is, not killed, but --like his angry BotW boar counterpart-- destroyed, as monsters tend to be. He explodes over the lands of Hyrule, freed from Darkness; freed from everything wrong, since the foreign menace that embodied it all was wiped out in one fateful sweep of a holy blade cradled in sacrificial love. Nothing wrong remains. The Sages reaffirm their vows to protect the kingdom forward, and a very human --hylian-- Zelda smiles: Hyrule now forever and ever basked in eternal Light.

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