#either way at least in this game I'd say that they're an npc

[pokemon-npcs]

good blog 👍

#ask #anon #pokemon npcs #pmd #pokémon mystery dungeon: red rescue team #wigglytuff #I wonder if this is the same Wigglytuff as the one that's in the sequel... #either way at least in this game I'd say that they're an npc

[jjnonken]

Been a while since I've posted. I've decided I hate Facebook again and for now I'm letting off steam here.

I said before that I'd deleted my long rant and just stuck to a mini-rant. Well, today I'm posting a long rant. Fair warning: This is a rant.

As far as I can tell, there's no good news about the Borderlands movie. They've changed Commander Knoxx's character to be Atlas's daughter instead of General Knoxx, so I guess she'll be Commander Atlas now. That... doesn't matter. Of all the issues I have with this movie, whose daughter she is is probably the least important. Actually, it's not an issue. Her EXISTENCE is an issue, but not which NPC is her parent. Atlas isn't even an NPC, it's just a gun manufacturer, presumably named after its founder. We never see the founder(s) nor, as far as I can remember, hear any backstory. I'm not sure which problem they were trying to solve by the rename.

First problem: We do have to rescue Lilith, Athena, and one other who I won't mention due to spoilers. I can only think of those three. Lilith tells you to kill her if you can't save her... "Better dead than a damsel." Athena engineers her own rescue; you're just the muscle. So there's kind of a dearth of damsels in this franchise. The movie's premise is that Commander uh... Atlas?... needs to be rescued. So, right. Damsel in distress. Kind of immediately contradicts the lore of Borderlands, who has strong women who generally don't need rescuing.

Second is: why General Knoxx's er, I mean, Atlas's daughter? She's a new character. It's like BORDERLANDS ISN'T CHARACTER-RICH ENOUGH, we have to add more just to get the plot started.

Edit: She still shows credited as Commander Knoxx in my web search, including on IMDB. I saw Atlas in the last article I saw on the movie. It's possible it was simply mistaken. I note parenthetically that Knoxx works for Atlas Corporation, and the DLC he's in is Atlas-heavy. Could just be a mistake. Edit to the edit: The Wikipedia article premise mentions her as Atlas's daughter. But she's named Knoxx. I'm fucking confused; which is she?

Next: They have Kevin Hart playing Roland. Kevin Hart is a comedian. Roland is a serious, somber, straightforward guy who never jokes and never laughs, or even smiles. Any humor that happens in relation to him works because it plays off his sober sincerity.

Roland: Oh good, you're not dead. Lilith: That's his way of saying "Hi". Roland: Sorry. Hi.

Why do they need a stand-up comedian to play Roland? Either Hart is trying to branch out and do some serious acting, or... they're making a comedy.

OK, Cate Blanchett is doing Lilith. I don't know if she's the best choice, but I don't know who else I'd recommend. I guess I'm OK with that.

As for Tannis... I love Jamie Lee Curtis, but she's a scream queen that also does comedies. Tannis isn't FUNNY, she's TRAGIC. Again, there's humor, but it plays off her personality, which is informed by her severe social awkwardness. (She's pretty much coded autistic. I don't know if it's canon.) No doubt the trauma she's suffered has exacerbated any existing personality deficits. Or caused new ones. Can Curtis do a sober Tannis? I mean, play her seriously, not deadpan. I don't know. Again, I don't think she's meant to -- this movie is looking more like a comedy every day. Could be worse, but I'm not sure I'd pick her.

Next, we have Claptrap, who is introduced as "The wise-cracking robot" and played by... Jack Black, a comedic voice actor. Thing is, Claptrap does not crack wise. He's hilarious, but that's because, similarly to Roland and Tannis, the game plays off his naive sincerity. He's funny because he's so serious, but clueless. I haven't memorized every line in the entire franchise enough to instantly recall everything that every claptrap robot has said, but as far as I can remember, Claptrap has told MAYBE three jokes on purpose. One is self-referential, spoken by a claptrap who is supposed to be programming the game: "Borderlands? More like Memelands, am I right?" One is spoken right after a hatch is automatically locked, trapping you in the first map: "I hear that getting eaten by bullymongs isn't such a bad way to go." Was that one a deliberate joke? Don't know, so that's my "maybe." And the third is from a side mission called The Iceman Cometh. It's a moderately silly pun that any 10-year-old would be proud of. When you (as a character) don't react, he then EXPLAINS THE JOKE. When you still don't react, he LECTURES YOU on the nature of humor. TWICE. Naive sincerity, not cracking wise. So again, this suggests the movie being a comedy.

So, we have two of the four vault hunters from the first game, Lilith and Roland. The roles of Mordecai and Brick are interesting, in that THEY AREN'T THERE. Why?

Tiny Tina is. She's a psychotic young teen with a penchant for explosives. She's got a connection to Brick, who -- for some reason -- isn't in the movie. She's not the kind of person who needs a bodyguard -- she's the kind of person against whom YOU need a bodyguard. I only bring this up because... ... Krieg is her bodyguard in the movie. Why? I already mentioned her connection to Brick. Krieg doesn't have a connection to Tina, he has a connection to Maya. I don't know when this movie is supposed to take place in the Borderlands timeline, but if Lilith is retired, it'll be between the first and second. Possibly around the time of the Pre-Sequel. We don't see Krieg until BL2, where he's added as the last playable character after the original four plus Gaige. So the timeline doesn't make sense and Krieg's connection to Tina doesn't make sense and Krieg being Tina's bodyguard doesn't make sense. I don't know anything about the actors, I may look them up and try to watch some of their stuff.

Tina doesn't show in the game until BL2, but there's no reason to think she hasn't been around since Borderlands, we just haven't seen her. (But only after the events of BL:PS, since it's Jack's slag experiments on Tina's parents that kill them and drive her into being a vengeful little psychopath.) But Krieg doesn't show up until he becomes a vault hunter? OTOH until then he was living as a psycho... probably on Pandora. So I suppose the timeline might be OK, technically. I'll give them that one. But I still object to the Tina/Krieg connection.

Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi: Gina is an attractive woman, doesn't have Moxxi's curves, and she's 61. She's pretty hot-looking but I'm not sure she really fits the character, physically. Can she do Moxxi's va-va-voom? Don't know.

Charles Babalola: I don't know him. I try not to get upset at race lifts; I'm used to Sir Hammerlock being the "great white hunter" stereotype, but I suppose it doesn't hurt anything if he's black. At least he's British. This is a weak protestation at most. EDIT: Several people have pointed out that he's canonically black, which I never noticed. Well, OK then, that one's on me.

Bobby Lee plays Larry. He's another stand-up comedian. There sure are a lot of those for a serious film, eh? Also, who the fuck is Larry?

Ryann Redmond as Ellie: nobody's going to match Ellie's unrealistic proportions, but Ryann seems like a reasonable choice physically; basically, you just need a plus-sized woman who can act. I don't know anything about her acting but I presume she's competent, at least. Ellie is a smartass, so wise-cracking from her is welcome. So how come they cast a stand-up comedian as Roland but a serious actress as Ellie? The cognitive dissonance is making my brain cramp.

And Eli Roth has left the project and declared that he does not want credit for his writing. THAT bodes well.

This is supposed to be canon. Canon my ass. This is a TRAVESTY. EDIT: Somebody said it's not supposed to be canon. I read that it is. I'll try to dig up the reference when I get a minute. EDIT 2: Sorry it took me so long, I was busy procrastinating. Now, in my memory, when the first announced the movie they claimed it would be "true to Borderlands", but of course that's changed. I must have skimmed over the more recent "canon" phrasing, sorry. Apparently it's changed to "canon for the Borderlands Cinematic Universe", which is not the same as canon to the games. To me that's seems a bit disingenuous, considering that as far as I can tell, the Borderlands Cinematic Universe consists of one unfinished movie. (And calling it a "Borderlands Cinematic Universe" also seems a bit conceited since their first -- and so far only -- entry has been in Production Hell for 9 years and hasn't even finished.) So my apologies for getting the "canon" claims wrong, but I'm still unhappy and I think they're making excuses. They've taken an Action Movie script, grabbed some names from the Borderlands franchise, and pretended that the result is a Borderlands movie. They did that with Sly Stallone and the first Judge Dredd movie, remember? (Maybe you don't, but I was a fan of the comics. Fortunately the second movie was much, much better.) This makes me think of Stallone's Judge Dredd. (Also the anime version of the Lensman, but that one's pretty obscure.)

Anyway, I have more, but I think I've said what I need to. I may watch the movie out of morbid curiosity. I'm not going to dislike it out of spite, I'm not that hateful. I'll try to give it a chance. I just don't like the odds.

#borderlands #borderlands movie #borderlands 2 #borderlands the pre sequel

[dutchdread]

Rebirth update 5

Just got done with costa del sol and have to say, slightly annoyed at the moment. Just got a date quests which forces you to go with Aerith. Now that by itself isn't a problem, the game loves forcing you to go on dates you don't want to go on, and Aerith also goes on a date with Tifa. Clearly anything is a date in this game. The problem is that I'm trying to keep Aeriths affection rating low so I don't want to finish the quest, but after talking to the NPCs initiating the quest I no longer had any option to refuse to do it. This also wouldn't be too big of a problem....if it weren't for the fact that now Aerith is following me around Costa Del Sol wherever the hell I go. Also, I've noticed that with Aerith our "relationship" is always forced from the outside. Either it's Aerith forcing Cloud on a date in Remake, the Wall market people or other NPC's just asserting they're love birds, Aerith forcing Cloud up a clocktower or grabbing his arms when he's clearly uncomfortable. It never comes from Cloud himself, it's never natural. It actually kinda reminds me of Cleriths trying to force Cloud into something he clearly doesn't want. It's honestly really uncomfortable to see. Anyway, the sidequests here were fun but not the easiest to get through. Getting a perfect score on the piano took me at least 5 tries and required me to reset the entire game when I made a mistake since it didn't allow a simple "try again". Got very lucky with RedXVIIs football game, took me about 3 resets I think, and managed to get through barrets pirate minigame after some trial and error as well. Biggest issue was finding the yellow hand in spot for the segways, I accidentally finished the entire "cactuar photo" sidequest while just riding around looking for the yellow hand in.

My beachwear style matched Tifas naturally, so that was nice, and I like it when the game is more obvious about what the right choices are, like choosing to go help Tifa and Red during the beach assault. Wasn't sure what the good and bad options were during the beach conversation though so I looked it up and discovered I actually didn't select the best option for Tifa in Junon, which is unfortunate but still. Also found out that every option is "good". Fighting with Tifa in a bikini adds at least one star to this game, and in general I am always happy though when running into Andrea Rodea or Madam M so all in all good times. And Johnny is just always good fun. Something I realized I am not too big a fan of are the summonings in general. In FFVII unfortunately summoning has never been a massive part of the story like in FFIX or FFX. They could have potentially addressed this by tying them in with "WEAPON" more explicitly, but since that didn't happen they're mainly reduced to just being a mechanic that's there because all FF games need Summonings. But the way to remedy that would be to make the summons an integral part of the world, to tie them into the sense of adventure through exploration, by making them a part of the natural landscape in some way. And the groundwork for that is there, the summoning shrines, those are great. But why is the culmination of these quests done in a soulless vr simulation? These should honestly be like regional bossfights that are unlocked by completing a set of regional intel stuff. I feel like this is a really big missed opportunity. Next up is another round of region intel, I wonder what the speedrun time of this game will be, I'd like to see a speedrun which incorporates doing every single minigame 100%

#ffvii rebirth

[wheelie-butch]

A problem with Scott

I should probably make a proper post about it at some point but like my annoyance at when the Wolfpack say gross stuff in Roadtrip is partially due to Scott and the Narrator's responses.

Like, I don’t like Leonard's inclusion in Prom but at least every time he says something awful every single character reacts like 'woah wtf that sucked' and whatever. You at least know the main characters are decent people in that regard.

But when the Wolfpack do stuff like heckle Polly in an objectifying way, and she gets mad, Scott doesn't like try stop his cousins, he's just like 'aw cmon Polly I know they're a handful but never mind'. He never steps in to tell his cousins their behaviour is inappropriate and he still like brings his female friends to hang out with them even though Polly clearly dislikes them, probably partially because of that behaviour. At that point, either Scott is a problem because he doesn't understand that their behaviour is bad, or he does but is unwilling to stand up to it, either by intimidation or because he loves his cousins or he knows its bad but doesn't think it's a big deal. Obviously the main problem is that the wolfpack are being douchebags, but Scott is being part of the problem as a guy by not standing up for Polly / women in general to them.

And like, characters don't have to be perfect! Scott having this blindspot and issue can be like an interesting thing to explore I'm sure, maybe it brings tension into his friendship with Polly, it should definitely add tension to his love for his cousins. And maybe him addressing this with the Wolfpack could be part of him growing up and like standing up for himself against them too. There's stuff that can be done there.

What I find weird is when like Polly will be clearly mad at them, the narrator will be weirdly like 'well these guys suck lol but what can you do' and Scott won't even acknowledge it but the game continously tells us he's a good pure soul who tries hard to do the right thing.

I guess it makes me wonder when I see these lines where the wolfpack are outright misogynistic like... why are these lines there? What’s the point? It isn't being used to develop Scott or his relationship with other characters. It's not like actually addressing the misogyny. Is the joke just like 'some people say objectifying things haha isnt that funny?' And like I said before they show up fairly often for such minor npcs, so it's weird having some characters regularly say gross stuff for no good reason. I'd find it off-putting even if they weren't my favourites and I felt like opportunities for depth were being missed. So yeah I think there's lots of fun things that could have been done with them with having them say gross stuff that would have actually bettered the game without making Scott seem like a worse person.

#mez speaks #monster prom #the wolfpack #scott howl #monster roadtrip

[mneiai]

Which established characters are you hoping to see in Dreadwolf?

Obviously I think Dorian will be at least appearing and I'm hoping Maeveris ends up in an advisory role or something like that. I'd also really like that for Fenris, where he advises us and we have some sidequests with him, but his own work and ours maybe diverges a bit, to give it the feel of there being just so much going on and so many moving pieces.

I would also really like Feynriel as a companion, I think it would be a great nod to DA2 and be an interesting way to work in some great moral conundrums for us (like having the option to influence someone's mind through their dreams or the like).

From Absolution, I'm hoping either Qwydion or Tassia become companions (though Roland and Lacklon as a pre-built set would be pretty fun). Qwydion would be like a less annoying Sera sort of role, playful and silly, but very good at what she does and with a heart of gold. Tassia would also work I think in an advisory role, but I could see her as a companion (and them both as love interests). She could be a more conservative Tevinter viewpoint, but very anti-blood magic and with a Dorian-esque desire to "save" her country from itself.

Prior to the VA's bullshit, I had actually really hoped Cullen might be a companion, simply because it would get him in basically every role he could have taken in the games and because he's one of the only characters to appear in all three prior games without DLCs, so I want those parallels. Since his epilogues never actually count, he could have been in Tevinter for a year or two before starting the game--he'd fascinate the Tevinters while also having Templar abilities they wouldn't at all be ready for.

Dagna is another "older" character who would be great as a companion and give some interesting insight. I'd love to see them go deeper into lyrium/Titan lore and having someone like Dagna around (as well as Fenris and even to some extent Cullen) could add to that. There are a ton of dwarves in Minrathous, after all, who live under the city so they don't get exiled as "surface dwarves."

Krem could also be a great companion (and finally a love interest??), perhaps under an assumed name or something like that, with a side quest involving searching out his family or having to deal with being recognized, considering he's basically a fugitive.

If they're using Tevinter Nights characters, there's soooo many options. Perhaps Myrion or Strife for their Qunari invasion experiences (and Strife as a contact to the Dalish), Hollix or Mizzy already are connected to Dorian of course, Neve has great contacts in the Templars, Lucanis could give us a connection to the Crows (would absolutely love to see my fav pair from the book, Viago and Teia, appear, and through Viago we could also get a connect to the Antivan king). Philliam, a Bard! could be the comic relief character if we don't already have one, Vadis and Irian are a great all around pair with a ton of connections to different possible plotlines.

As for repeat companions from DAI...I don't know. I've seen people say Varric, but I think they're reallllly close to overdoing Varric, and also his usage in so much other material implies he may have been "released" from tight control they normally like to keep over major NPCs. Dorian would obviously be relevant, but kind of falls into the same category of being used in a decent amount of other media now. I think Cole has some great insight, but apparently he was fairly controversial, and obviously a lot of the others from player choices.

As for DAO...I'd absolutely love to have Shale back, but most of the other characters are either dead or too affected by player choices. Though Zevran could also be interesting, I'd prefer one of the newer Crow characters.

#dragon age #dragon age dreadwolf #dragon age spoilers

[sburbian-sage]

Hey, it's the Grace of Light again. Thank you for the reassurance, and I know you say that putting it out of mind is best, but...

Well, it's just really freaking me out that I know it's coming, but don't know what it'll be... and I know that there probably just is no way to know for sure, but I'd like to at least narrow the possibility space a little?

Basically I'm hoping you could give me examples of Grace cataclysms you've seen/heard about? Just so I can at least have some understanding of how bad it'll be?

A lot of guides seem to avoid posting specific examples, or don't say if they're talking about a Grace specifically, or a Waste. I feel like I'm flying really blind here.

I imagine specifics are light in the wild, either because the nature of the cataclysm is unpredictable (the common joke is that when you're making plans for your sessions on a whiteboard, you draw a line, on the left is your "pre-cataclysm" plans, and on the right you leave "post-cataclysm" plans blank because once it happens everything you wrote up to this point will have been rendered obsolete) or because of causality. The state of knowing a horrible thing will happen, but letting it happen anyway, is something non-Time players have trouble grasping, but in much the same way that you need to let it happen or else you create a Doomed Timeline, you need to let your cataclysm happen. SBURB's intention in making you a Grace is to put you into the spotlight, and preventing your abilities from causing a cataclysm necessarily reduces your visibility. Which SBURB will respond to by killing you.

You're a native Time player, so I imagine you already know this, so I will help you out. But I wanna underline it. If you attempt to prevent the cataclysm from happening, you will die.

Graces bring change through passively igniting catastrophic chain reactions. Their influence is more akin to poison than it is to setting off bombs. Light governs the domains of probability manipulation, favorizing outcomes, and good luck, as well as light as a physical phenomenon. Graces are a heavily passive caster-type class, and Light is heavily oriented around support abilities. With all of these bases in mind, I can somewhat easily formulate some ideas as to what your cataclysm will look like.

As a Grace of Light, you'll have a number of extremely powerful support abilities, mainly oriented around giving good luck to allies or issuing blessings that make things easier for them in their ventures. You'll be handing out luck like they're asses, and your coplayers have known nothing but years of bitter ass famine. And because the Grace class is so powerful, it'll be really good luck as well. So much good luck suffuses the air, passively increasing luck accumulation for everyone. People will probably begin leaning on it more, alchemizing equipment which provide chance-based special effects, or creating impossible plans that would only work if 1-in-a-million chances happen 9-times-out-of-ten. Then, at some point, because you've tilted the sclaes so far in one direction, the scales will flip right off the table. Probably once you go berserk and use [Dance of Thorns], accumulating truly massive amounts of luck such that you become a black hole of good fortune and go supermassive.

I predict that your cataclysm will be the luck probabilities for your session being thrown permanently out of whack as the session tries to re-adjust the values back to normal. In doing so, all of the very lucky players (except you, naturally) will have their high values overflow into naturally being dogshit, thus making everyone permanently unlucky. On the flipside, NPCs (who normally do not accumulate luck, and indeed benefit less from luck as a game balancing mechanic) will be naturally very lucky. Not only making combat a lot riskier, but ensuring that the player's plans (which they'll need to re-learn actually making real plans) will go sour in some way inevitably. You will thus be extremely noticeable for not only being the only one not cursed with bad luck, but for being the only real means through which people can be "blessed" to normal-or-higher levels of probability.

This is just one possibility, keep in mind. The "luck crash" could end up not happening, and instead the team's good luck fritzes out at a critical, session-derailing moment. Or Light's other domains of opening new paths, allowing new possibility, and alleviating burdens, while normally good, end up opening the path for something that should be impossible and changes the nature of your duties, or alleviates a burden that should never be alleviated (like hardcoded NPC behavior or basic game mechanics concerning aspects of physics or reality). I just think the luck crash is the likely one.

#sburb #replay value au #grace class #cataclysm #light aspect

[theadventurerslog]

Discworld | Part 3

The Adventurer's Log

I've been making some both serious and joking parallels with Sam & Max Hit the Road as that was the last game I played here. There was the conversation system comparison--they're the same system. And there was my vendetta against the ball of twine and another ball of twine coming up here. Well now, here's another one: post three equals me getting stuck along with a healthy dose of agony. This is a chronicle of errors. Here we go.

It started well enough. First it was palace time. The lineup to see the Patrician had a peasant to petition about the dragon. "Who wants to have their family charbroiled by a dragon? Soot's hell to shift."

Then there was Nanny Ogg! I have no idea what she's doing here, but she's here. She's also got a certain recipe book of custards, including a recipe for a love potion in there. I assume that will be relevant at some point.

And at the head of the line a thief from the guild to discuss an increase in their theft quotas for the duration of the dragon emergency.

Twoflower here with the Thieves Guild knowledge.

There was also a Fool and his Chucky the jester staff. I could interact with both of them, so that's probably important? But other than an insane (or seemingly so) conversation for a thoroughly exasperated Rincewind, I didn't glean anything useful yet. I'm certainly getting a large list of 'for later?' possibilities here.

And finally the Patrician. One day there may be an adaptation of Lord Vetinari I am wholly satisfied with, but it is not this day. I'm not a fan of this voice for him either. Anyhoo, Rincewind tried to cautiously and hypothetically approach the topic of the dragon. The Patrician wasn't having it and there were threats of visiting the "Information Retrieval Technicians" in the dungeons.

"There are no such things as dragons. They are a physical impossibility." Now what the full purpose and meaning of those statements are I'm not sure yet. We'll see how Vetinari-y he is here... Hopefully he's close to the book in this regard at least. For now a dead-end there.

There was a door that led to a fancy bathroom where I found a nice little mirror, so this visit wasn't a total bust.

I carried onto my last unchecked location on the map (I think; I thought haha): the city gate, where I found Nobby, Carrot and Sergeant Colon. Nobby and Carrot were accessible anyway. Colon was hungover up a guard-tower.

Carrot, the one in front of the gate, is a new recruit to the City Watch--all three of them. Definitely take an alternate universe approach here. No Vimes! Of course if he did exist, this would be a different game since he'd be dealing with this dragon situation. He's the main protagonist of the city watch arc.

And Carrot is very flattened to his literal mindedness and law abiding-ness. Overly so. He kept trying to arrest Rincewind for various things.

Nobby was fine I guess, but oof Carrot. Carrot my man they kind of did you dirty.

I also still didn't get much of help here! Though they are aware of someone running around stealing small items. cough.

Couldn't be us, nosiree. We'll just be on our way, my ol' Luggage and me.

I feel like I've been a bit complain-y, so I want to say I am overall enjoying myself quite a lot. I just think they fell into a habit of pushing some jokes too hard so they lose their humour. They also sometimes get overly reductionist with a lot of characters rather than simply not getting a full picture because they are just side NPCs. I don't know; it's a fine line to walk, but unfortunately I feel like there's some tripping over it here.

Back to the game, I had no firm idea what to do now. I'd been hoping I'd get more out of those last two locations, so I did a bit more wandering. I tried talking to the barber again after having talked to the woman dressed like a milk maid but nothing came of that. I went back to the psychia-trickerist and nothing more there for me either. Then I decided to check out the alley again. Something I'd forgotten to mention last time was there were periodic little explosions there. I was guessing the Alchemist's Guild may be nearby. I was sort of right.

I found out, somewhat accidentally, that when stepping on the tile that launches you, you can still move. There's a short period of time before it launches you, so you can just...step off. Oops. As it turns out I'd missed part of the alley before and found a building with... an Alchemist!

He's working with octo-cellulose to make moving pictures, or clickies. Now we're into Moving Pictures the book territory. He also has a camera. Cameras on the Disc work by having an imp inside paint the picture. There were also some apparatuses, a sink, a fireplace, strips of film and a flask with cooking oil.

But the camera. I was able to look in the camera and see the imp. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to take the imp at this point, but I was glad I knew where he was at least. I'd been wondering.

Outside was also a drainpipe and a mouse hole. I couldn't find a use for those yet either.

At this point, I still had no idea what to do about the dragon breath either (unless it's something to do with the dragon periodically burning a piece of the map, but my options on the map are limited... [spoiler alert: it wasn't]), but at least I knew where the imp was! Only one ingredient left that's a total mystery. Ha...ha...

However, now I also got stuck. Well, I ended up, due to an accident, making a little progress on things, but not in any immediately helpful way.

I'm a bit annoyed at myself because for now at least I'm avoiding checking a guide or hints. I wanted to check that I was using skills correctly, currently only pickpocket, and tried looking that up specifically rather than looking up the game manual. My mistake. That gave me a bunch of previews of walkthrough results instead and I ended up seeing a couple things. One to throw a tomato at the tax man in the stocks. And two, something about a hair roller on the woman at the barbershop.

It's not like I could forget either of those so I did the tomato. It didn't result in anything directly but when I went to get another tomato to keep one in my inventory, this time when picking one up there was a worm in the tomato and a mouse or rat went running by and Rincewind dropped the tomato. The tomato went splat on the mouse/rat I think (it all happened fast), the worm got free and the rodent ran off, and I was able to pick up the worm. I'm not sure if that's because I threw the tomato at the taxman and so it became a trigger or if it could have happened anytime the rodent runs by for some kind of timing-based puzzle, with the taxman being a way to get rid of the tomato so you can get another one or what. Either way I got a worm I guess.

My first thought was bait. I don't have anything I could use as a fishing rod nor any reason to need one right now, but I figured I'd try running with that idea anyway and try the twine with the worm. It worked so now I have a worm with string.

Turns out you can get two worms as long as one of them has the string. I briefly had a worm with string and just a worm. Then I gave the second worm string and so it became the same item and they merged into one I guess. Ah well, fun while it lasted.

As for the hair roller, I went back to the barber and yeah the woman had one in her hair that I missed before. Examining it led to a conversation about how those curls would be so traditional of her, but she wants to be at the head of fashion so the barber removed the hair roller for her. So, that's a thing that's done and I have no idea why or what do with. It's not like I got to keep the roller myself.

These weren't immediately helpful but they did end up so later. So, darn accidental guide usage.

I wandered aimlessly trying to find things I missed. I ultimately ended up coming back to the barber again--I kept not actually getting anything from there and there had to be something. This whole situation is just a string of accidents. Turns out while waving my cursor around I spotted a pocket on the barber. I tried pick-pocketing, but he spotted me. I talked to him to get him daydreaming about the milk maid again and then was able to pick his pocket and got the hair roller. I also examined the woman and found out she smelled faintly of brimstone. Are you making a connection, reader? Because I sure didn't!

Since I finally did a successful pick-pocketing I wondered if I might have missed anything with the sleazy hourglass holding guy in the library. While that aspect didn't go anywhere I did see that he had a golden banana in his ear that I'd missed before--his ticket to all of the library, gets you into the shelves, and gets you special service from the librarian.

I couldn't figure out how to get the banana off him if you can, so onto the pile of things to solve later.

While I was in the university anyway I stopped by the archchancellor's office just in case. And then I solved the dragon's breath by pure accident. Errors and accidents is the name of the game for this post after all! I wondered what would happen if you gave him other items. The hair roller seemed to have a notable point of being metal. So I just happened to choose it and... it was the item needed for the dragon's breath.

Let me tell you the brief rush of confusion and panic that flashed by though. Like can you give him anything? Can you lose items permanently?? Can you dead-end yourself after all??? When did I last save???? Then it hit me: woman smelling of brimstone. Passed onto the hair-roller. Close enough to dragon's breath, I guess. And just to make all this even better is that I had made a connection! If I had just carried the thought... See, when I saw she smelled faintly of brimstone, my first thought was "oh no, is she meant to be Sybil Ramkin?" because she doesn't seem anything like Sybil, but you know Sybil takes care of swamp dragons, so that could be why brimstone. Swamp dragons. Dragons. sigh. At least it was another ingredient so only one left! I thought.

I still had no idea what to do about that dang imp. Nobby had mentioned the Broken Drum and I was wondering if I might be missing a location entirely, while also worrying if I was maybe just missing something at the Alchemist's. I was getting kind of worried about not knowing what to focus on. Well, it turned out I was missing a location.

There it was, dinky little bit on the map that looks no different from anywhere else.

But a new location means new items. At least that's always the hope and it was the case here although they didn't end up being helpful to my current cause.

I had a chat with the bored bouncer troll who thumped Rincewind several times because Rinecewind kept saying words that rhymed with thump and he misheard I guess. It was another joke that went too long...

Then I headed inside.

I had several people to talk to:

the pair of Hublanders (same as Red Sorghum) who were just itching for a fight

the poor beat up guy who I guess got into a fight

a scared fellow who had his gate pass stolen by a ghost he thinks. He went on at length in quite some detail

the bartender

and Fleabart the Incredible, a major braggart

The gate pass seems like it may be relevant but not yet. Conversing with Fleabart led to getting a couple tankards of beer that could be shared with him or kept. I shared first then did it again and kept the drinks.

I chatted with the barkeep and got another drink and so kept the resultant empty tankard. And I scooped some safety matches off the bar.

There was a trapdoor leading to a very dark space. It was too dark to do anything and the matches don't seem to be helpful on their own. I left it for now. As well.

Since I missed the Broken Drum on the map, I wondered if I missed other areas. Sure enough:

I missed a livery stable. I like this map in some ways, but man there is just 0 indication of locations to visit. I was doing a sweeping the mouse all over in a pixel hunt at this point.

I thought I got a screencap of the livery stable. I guess I did not. Well, there was a little stable, a cart, a sack of corn and a donkey that appeared under the weather and has a tail that could be interacted with. I got some corn and made note of the donkey.

Corn! My saviour! I knew exactly what to do if not how exactly it would help. Back to the alchemist and that flask of cooking oil.

Popcorn! Or as they know it, banged-corn! (A Moving Pictures the book thing).

With the Alchemist hiding from the unexpected rain of snacks I was able to try to grab the imp. Except the imp ran away into the sink and down the drainpipe outside and into the mouse hole. But that was okay! I was riding the high of finding solutions and making progress and knowing what I was doing rather than stumbling into things accidentally. It was worm on a string time. I figured I could send it in after the imp or use it as bait. The imp was drawn out by the worm on a string and Rincewind snagged the imp.

Who's my good worm. You are, yes you are. Mission accomplished!

I wandered back to the Archchancellor feeling all good and ready to see this spell come into fruition and...

And he took the imp and sent me on my way as he always does.

You know earlier how I said this, "Only one ingredient left that's a total mystery." You know how I said this was a post of errors? Yeah, here's the biggest one. My apparently not so good observation skills strike again. Turns out I managed to miss seeing and hearing an ingredient entirely! I guess there was a total mystery ingredient!

That's right. I also need a magic coil, or, for more detail: 'a spiral of neverfailing induction'. I did see it before; I just didn't... register it somehow. I haven't a clue where this is. I wasn't keeping any eye out for anything like this. I'm just staring at my notes desperately trying to narrow down where I haven't found anything or didn't find much and hoping like heck I'm not missing yet another location entirely somehow. Gently screaming.

I did pop back to the Broken Drum. New location and all. I learn my lessons. ish. I talked to the barkeep again and got some Counterwise wine that Rincewind drunk but I got to keep the glass.

Basically made of grapes from the future. Rincewind doesn't remember last night. Rincewind's hangover happened yesterday.

Meanwhile I've gone from sweet sweet victory to what now? Where is this coil??

Locations that I've gotten nothing or very little from:

Fishmongers: I got an octopus portrait I may have forgotten to mention but that's it. There's that swordfish, and caviar

Inn

Park

Palace only gave me mirror

Livery Stable only gave me corn and still have sad or sick donkey unresolved

Dunnyking machine area

City gate

So maybe something from one of those. I think I've now found all the locations on the map. I really swept around it with my mouse after the Broken Drum and livery stable.

So, next time it's time to find the Fifth Ingredient. May it not lead me to even more agony.

#discworld #discworld game #adventure games #discworld_log

[inkbeanjo]

2, 3,4,5,6,7 for Moni and Retro on the character ask please. i love hearing about your characters

houuhghghjK i will do my best to answer retro's half, though i'll open with some behind the scenes that might shed some clarity on neo-a's weird existence in the real world.

Neo Automisia came about after I'd been playing Moni in a shadowrun living community for like 3 years, and after a point where i decided I wanted to break from that system's lore/canon out of desire to write my own shit and also out of disagreement with a lot of SR's writing- irl i've never really grown up in places or had the same friend groups for more than 3 years at a time, and my experience in making friends has been a series of meetings and farewells since I was little.

Ironically enough this's how a lot of my time playing Moni wound up being- games in the living community were sign-ups as opposed to set player groups and set tables you'd normally expect from a tabletop setting- think billboard with job postings kinda vibes, with things happening during/after/between jobs. As such, at least when it comes to fellow runners/key npcs, I'm doing my best to translate friends characters I've not gotten to really play with/hear from in years- or at least haven't had space TO do things with, life happens/things get busy etc etc you get it. Retro is OracleofMaya's wonderful gremlin, and a lot of my ability to write consistent/in-character dialogue for her comes from the fact that we talked/wrote a LOT over the years and i have an active crush on her/like writing stuff with her u///u

Long lead in over here we go:

It really depends on circumstances for the both of them- they're incredibly awkward and dealing with a lot of baggage individually/mutually, but with the right company they tend to light up. In Moni's case if worst comes to worst, she's anxious enough that even in bad company/bad circumstances she'll still titter out a giggle before realizing this isn't the time nor place.

[DATA EXPUNGED]

From my time playing alongside Retro, it never felt exactly an easy thing to earn her trust; partly due to the fact of her being a technomancer in a world that readily exploits and/or abuses them to the nth degree, and partly due to the fact that a lot of the people she and Moni worked with were either opportunistic or WAY too prone to oversharing critical information. Add [DATA EXPUNGED] to the mix and its really hard to blame her for shutting others down or out but again right company/right circumstances made all the difference in exceptions or changing that.

On Moni's end, her depression and various horribly negative experiences with people she loved or trusted have oriented her, for the most part, not to trust other people- or at least, that's the direction she tries to orient herself toward in some attempt to protect herself, and others from her. That obviously hasn't and doesn't work up to the current point in chapter 3, as Moni is basically an easily excitable puppy in a metahuman's shape.

In Retro's case, extremely- I have zero doubts that had Moni ever not kept self-vigilance up and spilled the beans regarding Retro being a technomancer, Retro WOULD have made good on that promise to fry her brain.

Distrust is fluid for Moni/liable to shift and change with circumstances and her mood- in this case I'm going to opt to make a slight shift and say that, with specific and wrong buttons pushed, it is very, very, very easy to earn a lethal grudge from Moni as opposed to solely distrust.

Both Moni and Retro are not only Nightrunning criminals for hire, but also staunch Anarchists living in the hellscape that is late stage capitalism and continued global warming/corporations having just about zero regulatory oversight or consequence placed on them. Laws on paper are not synonymous with justice or systemic equity, and both growing up in the fringes of the Seattle metroplex 100% plays into how they see the reality of how those laws actually play out in favor of the rich, powerful, and influential.

In the time I played with Oracle, Retro's nostalgia often times followed similar patterns to Moni if that tracks; both of them are rooted through warped sentimentalities and fractured memories for pasts they either can't fully remember, or remember in better contexts and through rose-tinted glasses than honestly- at least for a time. I don't wanna spoil too much in this regard, nor for the more positive ways they hold nostalgia for genuinely nice times/moments, so that's all I'm gonna say.

For Moni: 22. Jealousy is weird for Moni, because it's only really ever happened when Retro had started seeing/dating(?) a magical psychologist character of mine who has a hate boner against moni and vice versa. Moni herself is polyam, pan, and for the most part easygoing when it comes to interpersonal relationships; she doesn't really have explicit desire for material stuff barring cybernetics to cram into her meat suit, or good food tucked in the pockets and hole-in-the-wall joints of wherever she's living. Even in the case of the aforementioned psychologist, the jealousy stemmed more out of her overt fear of a mage who could root through, tweak, or otherwise puppet your brain like a marionette. 23. Envy is also weird- as mentioned the material things she does want are things she has zero problem waiting or saving for, and when it comes to relationships/the relationships of her partners and metamours she's open/patient. But a core piece of Moni I'm in the process of explicitly laying out/continuing to lay out is her absolute impulsiveness- the things that she DOES envy are immaterial and more abstract, in ways that to most would just sound like complete nonissues. It's something yet to be brought up, but Moni genuinely envies her peers and coworkers who have or are working toward a definite retirement plan, or have the intention TO retire because they have something in mind. For Moni at this point, she did not for one second in her career think about what retiring might look like or that she could/should- it was utterly foreign to be asked "what're you going to do after you're done running?", and to look inward only to find an answer along the lines of "what?". She envies people that have desires beyond what's immediately in front of them- not because they have it better, but because for all of her attempts to she can't figure out what she wants- no matter how hard she tries there's something missing that, to her at least, makes her feel like she was never supposed to be metahuman. This's one example but you get the gist, it's wanting to feel like you know where you're going and where you want to go/otherwise self actualize and feeling like you're drowning.

#neo automisia

[anchanted-one]

Alliance Commander Ask Game

I saw this interesting post by @consularmain , and thought I'd do it too!

1. Who’s your Alliance Commander? What class are they? Alignment? Random other facts you wanna share?

That would be Vajra Devarath, Jedi Knight. He's mostly Light-Sided, but gets very attached to people. During his 'funeral' after he and the rest of Braga's strike team went MIA, my Consular thought he was a bad Jedi, but a really great person.

His story deviates greatly from the game, but I'll be referring to that rather than the game. I'm currently writing it on AO3, but I'm on Shadow of Revan, at the moment. I'm a long way from writing about his Commander days.

2. What’s a reason or two you like that this character is your Commander?

Vajra is decisive and clearheaded. He doesn't always know what's best, but on these occasions, he's very quick to ask Lana, Theron, Koth, Jorgan, Beywan, Scourge, Kira, or anyone else for their opinions. And choosing the one he things is the best one.

He has a good reputation in the galaxy. Most ordinary people see him as the ultimate white knight errant; honest (more than he actually is), self-sacrificing, and a winner. The Sith and both sides' High Command (including Acina) acknowledge his strength. The Jedi acknowledge his commitment to the galaxy, and perhaps even the Force. I should say, Vajra didn't ask for this, his legend just grew on its own thanks to him getting a lot of spotlight missions.

3. What’s a reason or two you don’t like about them being Commander?

Vajra was permanently affected by the carbonite. It's a source of chronic pain for him, to the point of knocking him out when he least expects it. He does cope somewhat after accepting both Sides of the Force thanks to Satele and Marr, but fifteen years after his return, he's got quite the litany of health problems.

He also has an old problem with mental health. He does deal with it on Rishi, thanks to Lana, but killing or losing allies can hit him hard.

4. Why did this character of all your OCs become Commander?

I've always been partial to the Knight-Errants, and the Jedi Knight felt like the natural anti-Emperor crusader. I thought that once they kill the Emperor in chapter 3, they're already the strongest boss in the galaxy, with few able to stand against them. In addition, Kotfe-et always felt like a Force-user storyline to me. It doesn't translate well for the others. I mean, Smuggler and Bounty Hunter are basically criminals, and Cipher Nine is a spy, not a poster model. And there are the fights against Arcann and Vaylin too...

5. Who did they side with? Did they stay loyal or go saboteur? Or maybe you headcanon they defect properly?

By the time of the Iokath conflict, my universe is far divorced from SWTOR storyline. In fact, the reverse happened. With the Fleet and the Gravestone under his command, Vajra attempts to put an end to fighting. He more or less strongarms both sides into going along with it. Acina and Chancellor Rans are the ones who have to choose, and they choose 'surrender.'

6. Are there any NPC’s from the class stories you’d like to see/HC join the Alliance? Ex: Master Timmns, Ardun Kothe, Watcher One, etc.

The following are part of my Alliance: Shara Jenn (remote worker), Watcher One (secretly), Praven, Bengel, and a bunch of others.

7. How’s your OC feeling about the current Malgus situation?

Doesn't happen. Vajra has the habit of decapitating enemies. Malgus was killed on Ilum, and there was nothing could be salvaged from the station's self-destruct.

On a meta level, I hate enemies that won't stay dead. It's lazy writing, and they already had Malora. They could've brought back Jadus, if they wanted nostalgia-bait, the community would've rejoiced. (You either die as a respected adversary, or live to become more nuisance than terror)

8. Are any of your other OC’s part of the Alliance? If yes what do they do for the Alliance? Do they get along with your Commander?

Most notably, Jasme Shan, Theron's twin sister. But she's not one of the starting classes. She's an Archivist first, combatant second. She's also Vajra's best friend.

Technically, Cipher Nine is a founding member, but only Vajra, Lana, Shara Jenn, and Watcher One know about it. Lana lets Theron and Jasme in on the secret at some point, but I don't know when.

Seraphim Abbot, who's a Jedi pilot and Kira's husband, also joins when she does (earlier, in my story).

Hekaten (Sith Inquisitor) joins the Alliance, in a way. They get along okay.

In addition, Roban Queens (Trooper) joins the Alliance early. But he's had a problem with Vajra for over a decade now.

Vajra encountered Commander Tavus on Taris, but didn't apprehend him, since Garza kept his defection secret. Roban hated him for it, somehow expecting the then-fifteen-year-old to somehow know how to tell a traitor. He picked a fight with Vajra, and lost. To add insult to injury, Vajra filed a formal complaint against him and Garza, which led to her losing trust, and getting a temporary demotion. He never forgave Vajra for that.

During the timeskip, Roban worked with Lana, and began to want her. But she wasn't interested, and he blamed Vajra for that (rarely admitting that he himself was the problem).

Oh, and um. Roban and his family are Zakuulan sleeper agents. He hates Arcann for killing them, but he's a Valkorionist through and through. So that's one more reason to hate Vajra.

9. How does your OC feel about Odessen? (Bonus: how do you feel about it)

Vajra loves it. The scenery is perfect, and it's balanced in the Force. In my story, Lana starts developing it as mroe than just a military base. It has cities, farms, industries, and even markets. They build a home on Odessen, and raise their kids there.

Personally, I love it. Only world I love more is Alderaan.

10. How does your Commander feel about being the Commander?

He accepts it. You have to understand though; he takes it to a whole new level. If you've ever heard of the Shogunate in Japan, that's what he becomes. A benign military dictator. He's able to bring peace to the galaxy thanks to this, but he hates how he's going against his teachings to be a dictator. In addition, he would've liked to have retired from fighting and leading. To spend the bulk of his time as a good husband and father.

11. Favorite place in the Alliance base?

The cliffs overlooking the base and valley beyond.

12. Favorite mission in KotFE?

Chapter 3. The escape from Zakuul, and getting rescued by Lana. On a personal note, I like how this mission frames Vaylin as a force of nature. Like the Dahaka from Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. She was a better Vader, back in those days. Then she became a worse Kylo Ren...

13. Favorite mission in KotET?

The final one, though it's very different for Vajra. When he and Hekaten meet face-to-face for the first time, Valkorion realizes that the Sith has a super-strong pull on ghosts. He uses that to escape his 'cage' (Vajra) and transfer over to Hekaten. The final chapter, where you have to piece yourself together, takes place in Hekaten's mind rather than Vajra's. The Inquisitor escapes thanks to Vaylin's interference, and Vajra briefly resumes his role in containing Valkorion before destroying him for good using Tenebrae's original body.

14. Least favorite mission in either? Why?

From meta, the walker missions. In the game, Iokath. I hate everything about that world, but especially the conclusion. After everything SCORPIO did, having her arc resolved with a single choice like that is dumb. Personally, I resent SCORPIO blaming all organics for what only the Cabal did to her. And she's not fighting for droid rights; she has no problem treating HK-55 like a tool.

15. Is your Commander successful because they’re skilled? Or are they perhaps just really lucky?

Skill more than luck, but I can't stress on how important his friends/council are to his success.

16. From our OC’s point of view, SoR -> KotET wasn’t a fun experience, did they develop any fears as a result?

He was terribly upset by finding out that he lost five whole years. Especially because everyone he knew has changed and grown without him. Most importantly, Lana and Jasme. The latter lost the love of her life (Sith Warrior, Kairegane Rooks) and nearly gave up. He wished he'd been there for her, as she'd been for him.

He's also aware of just how hard his absence was for Lana, with whom he shares a powerful Force-Bond. It was almost dead for five years, which caused her no end of grief.

It doesn't help how he realizes that they've had five years of growth taken away from them, including the family they wished to start together.

And then there's Kira, who had a son while he was frozen.

As a result, he's very afraid of losing time. He's always in a hurry to get the work out of the way, so he can do what's really important to him--spending time with his loved ones. He's loath to let them out of his sight, like he's owrried they'll slip through some crack and vanish the moment he has his back turned. This also makes him very angry with Arcann, though he manages to put his feelings aside.

17. AU time! If your Commander wasn’t Commander, which of your other OCs would have likely taken their place?

Probably no one. Kairegane Rooks, the Wrath, was terminally ill. For her to survive, she'd have to not have a congenital disease. Hekaten is taken prisoner by the Eternal Empire, and Lana and Theron don't trust Roban due to his affiliation to Zakuul (in addition to his general creepy behavior). He proves them right by abandoning the Alliance when Valkorion takes over Hekaten. Smuggler and Bounty Hunter are far too removed from galactic politics to care. I suppose someone would've risen up, but it would've been a dark and bloody universe that ended up in an even worse place than where we are now.

18. Who’s someone your Commander hopes they never have to deal with again?

The Emperor, and Roban. That second guy especially. Creeped on his wife (Lana, whom he married way back during SOR), and joined Valkorion. He even had the temerity to pretend that Force Users have bad inner eyes, rather than accept that maybe Valkorion really was the Sith Emperor.

19. Does your Commander hold on to/still use any titles they earned before KotET?

He doesn't, but he finds them thrown his way very often. Some of the titles he has, which aren't in-game titles:

General, Jedi Marshal, and Crown Reaper (or just Reaper).

20. Share something, anything at all, you want about your Commander that you’ve not really gotten the chance to share before but really want to.

Honestly, I've either already written it, or will be writing when I get there in the story.

In the beginning, I intended for each of my OCs to correspond to a deadly sin:

Vajra: Pride (in his swordsmanship) Kairegane: Lust (thrill seeker) Roban: Envy Hekaten: Greed Mark Fordorn (Bounty Hunter): Wrath (He's an escaped Power Guard) Juun Stede (Smuggler): Gluttony Devel Nirol (Consular): Sloth.

But I did a poor job of keeping to it in most cases, so the 'sins' are a shadow of what they might have been, with the exception of Mark, who's still a very angry man.

#star wars #swtor #hero of tython #jedi knight #the old republic #star wars the old republic #lana beniko

[anchored-trident]

Community-building Tag Game

Tagged by: @quigonsjeans

Name: Real names? In this economy??? Call me Trident

Pronouns: he/him

Where do you call home? Currently holed up in Fullerton, southern California, although I am very eagerly planning to move to Concord, NH in the next 12-15 months (depending on finances)

Favorite animal: I'm going to be boring here and say cats... even though both cats I've owned have died... Primarily because they don't lick you and slobber all over you

Cereal of choice: Trix, but like, the old, classic Trix. From like, 2015. The good Trix

Are you a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner? 80% visual, 20% kinesthetic. Audio means nothing to me. Fun fact: I can't/won't actually commit to learning somebody's name until I've either seen it written down, or I asked them to spell it out so I can visualize their written name in my mind (like actual letters on a whiteboard)

First pet: I had a fish. It died. It was a very long time ago. I'm not sure if I ever even named it. Then I didn't have pets for a very long time. Then I had a cat... adopted a kitten whose yearning for the Great Outdoors could not be restrained by any amount of human-enforced enclosures

Favorite scent: Lemon. Lemon handsoap. Lemon merengue pie. Lemon pound cake. You get the gist

Do you believe in astrology? Naw, but when I was 8, I got really into astronomy... of course, back then, we lived in the Hungarian countryside, where it was a lot easier to see stars than in SoCal. I make yearly trips to the middle of nowhere to look at the Milky Way, and deeply regret that I still to this day do not own a proper telescope

How many playlists do you have on Spotify/Apple Music? 46 Spotify playlists that I have made... a few more if you count playlists I'm subscribed to. My music friends either strongly dislike or are extremely puzzled by my music taste

Sharpies or highlighters? Can I pick neither? I'm going to pick neither and go with fountain pens instead. Recently got into fountain pens, and they're AWESOME

A song that makes you cry: Hmmm... I haven't had a good cry in at least 7 years, but... there are a few that can touch my heartstrings just right and bring me to the verge of tears. How Long Will I Love You, from the movie, About Time, tugs on the strings of my hopeless romantic heart in just the right ways

A song that makes you happy: I was not expecting to have to think so hard about this one... I think it's going to be a toss-up between I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift (with the goat-like screams whenever appropriate) and Believe by Cher, because both of those are songs I can't help but sing along to, and even though I've never been a good singer, I love them

And finally, do you write/draw/create? if so, use this as an opportunity to shamelessly (😉) promote yourself!

Can't draw for the life of me. I write poetry on my other Tumblr account, @trident-writes-poetry

I am also a D&D Dungeon Master and love brainstorming plots and ideas and NPCs, but I don't necessarily write anything. I think I'm an ENTJ, so the idea of sitting still and being alone with my own thoughts is terrifying, so I'd rather just spend my time with people

Nominations (either because we're mutuals or I find you interesting): @logo-comics, @litostaves, @psychopomp-reborn, @technolilly, @teaboot, @clawedandcute, @o-lei-o-lai-o-lord, @thebirdandhersong , @messianicbabycatcher

#tag game #tumblr tag game #trident.txt #about me #might do more of this hmmm

[rumielisapublicspeaker]

ONE PIECE

So. The story so far.

YES THERE WILL BE SPOILERS

So. Firstly I would give One Piece an overall 9 as an anime. From what I've seen and heard, the show has kept up even after 20 years, thanks to the wonderful Oda, and that is very important to me as an avid watcher.

True, I never made it past episode 60 the first time I watched, I don't think, HOWEVER!!! That doesn't mean I disliked the show, I liked it a lot. I just probably have ADHD (╥_╥) which means a lot of the longer shows I want to watch get put down by accident because a new shiny show comes out that I want to watch then and there... (I'm looking at you Jujutsu Kaisen (๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭.

I restarted the anime about a week ago during my move into my new apartment at episode 45, as it's the last episode I can fully remember (though I did skip through a little because I can't lie... the Buggy filler episodes were not my thing) "૮₍ ˶•⤙•˶ ₎ა I also know that the Netflix live action ends around episode 45 as well, which- I'm happy to say, is probably the ONLY live action adaptation of an anime (apart from the theatre productions of studio ghibli films like My Neighbour Totoro) that ACTUALLY WORKED!!! Also, Jamie Lee Curtis, a true One Piece fan loved it! Plus, both Oda and Mayumi have crowned Iñaki as the real world Luffy SO SUCK ON THAT HATERS!!! True, I didn't watch the live action fully, as my friend was watching it whilst I played dragon quest 11 (good game) but I got the gist of it, and it was really good from what I could see.

NOW!! ON TO THE GOOD SHIZ!!!

I am currently on episode 57, as of writing this, which means Chopper is only 24 episodes away ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽ つ And I NEED to meet the baby!! I'm currently watching the crew sail with this little dragon doo dad (who I cannot remember the species name, but his name from Apis is Ryujii.) And shit just started happening. The boat is a rocking, the sky is raining, Zoro and Apis currently have rope burn. It's a good episode. If I recall correctly, they're about to enter the Grand Line?? I know they're right next to it at least, but I think they're trying to get Ryujii home- I just realised that they just landed on the island I am dumb. There was a strange wispy of wind a second ago, which means that one guy is likely already on the island with them I think. Who knows "૮₍ ˶•⤙•˶ ₎ა. Either way, once again this show is showing how corrupt the government system is lmao.

Anyhoo, overall, I don't think One Piece can really be judged by episodes, unless you talk about the live action. I'd say a better judgement would be going by arcs? I will say, this arc is pretty mid, just because I've seen it before and because I don't think Apis as a character is good whatsoever. She's just kind of that npc character in an rpg that directs you on a fetch quest before telling you that she must be protected as she's annoyingly coming with instead of staying home safe- oh wait she's the only one who can talk to the dragon and therefore knows where the fetch quest main area is. Great. Yeah, she's extremely mid now that I think about it.

I wouldn't skip this arc, just because I think all arcs leading up to the Grand Line are definitely important, HOWEVER, I do think she could've been in it less. The grampa would've had more to offer in my opinion, even if it was just comedic value. Plus, he could've been a secret badass who saves the day, who knows.

Also, as I'm writing this, my wifi CUT OUT (╥ᆺ╥；) so now I'm dying of death... (╥ᆺ╥；)(╥ᆺ╥；)(╥ᆺ╥；)

Anyways, I would recommend One Piece, but at the same time, if you aren't used to watching long form anime... gooooood luck. I can only do this because I watched Naruto and Shippuden a couple years back and that- ugh that hurt. One piece was still only one episode 800 too... It hurt so much. Yes it's a good anime BUT IT WOULD BE HALF THE LENGTH IF THEY CUT THE FILLER OUT, KILLED OFF SOME OF THE USELESS CHILDREN YOUNGER THAN NARUTO, REVEALED KAKASHI'S MOLE, AND CUT THE FIGHTS TO HALF THE LENGTH!!!!

Sorry, got emotional there. But yeah. One Piece? Good show. It also only has about 50 filler episodes out of the current 1076 episodes that are released. That's an achievement. Also I am now realising how quickly they must have pumped Naruto out if that show had 750 episodes plus movies...

Final thoughts? Watch One Piece. Don't watch Naruto. It isn't worth it. Also, idgaf if people disagree. If you watch Naruto, only watch Naruto. Don't bother with Shippuden. Hinata is the only good character after Naruto, but she isn't worth it.

#onepiece #one piece #luffy #naruto is too long and has too much filler #naruto isnt worth it #if you watch naruto only watch naruto do not bother with shippuden #sasuke isnt hot he was an asshole #sakura is abusive #luffy is the king of pirates #king of the pirates #chopper #tony tony chopper #jamie lee curtis loves one piece

[gascon-en-exil]

Have Some More Three Hopes Story Predictions

Based this time on the datamined joining levels of recruited characters, and building from my earlier predictions.

I'll assume for this that Seteth, Flayn, and Manuela are exclusive to their respective routes; the dataminers have been using characters' age data to figure this stuff out, and their ages being listed as ??? makes that much harder to determine. At any route I do think it's safe to assume that Seteth and Flayn are AG-exclusive especially as Catherine also is. Manuela could go either way at this point. I'd prefer her to be available on other routes because flexibility is essential to her kind of work *ahem* and because I just enjoy her character, but at the same time I can see her being SB-exclusive particularly if something bad happens to Hanneman early on like some have been predicting.

I'm also not going to be talking about the characters at the bottom whose join levels are listed as 50 (and also Gatekeeper). People are saying these are likely either story-independent Renown rewards - how else could Rhea be playable in SB? - or unused unit data like Three Houses also had with a few characters. For most of them I'm hoping it's the latter; Gatekeeper may be fine for a meme in Heroes, but I'd much rather do without him being anything more than a goofy NPC in a game that's trying to take itself somewhat seriously.

Scarlet Blaze

10: Constance and Hapi

16: Ashe

22: Lorenz, Ignatz, and Balthus

27: Raphael, Lysithea, and Marianne

32: Mercedes

33: Shamir

37: Yuri, Byleth, and Jeralt

43: Leonie

Constance joining SB early isn't surprising, but she's also with Hapi. Maybe they're fleeing the monastery in Chapter 5 after the Empire conquers it and Constance uses her Imperial connections to talk her and Hapi's way into the army? Ashe is probably tied to the continued unrest among the western lords of Faerghus.

Most of the Deer come in two big waves in the 20s, suggesting that this is around the time that Claude makes his big political move to dissolve the Alliance (~Chapter 9, based on GW chapter titles). Lorenz would be the most pissed among the playables, so he shows up first along with his knight and also Balthus.

The rest feel like stragglers, although extremely-late-joining Leonie made me raise an eyebrow. This just about confirms my suspicion that lategame SB will include an incursion into Leicester, probably to hunt down Thales in Shambhala. Knowing Leonie, you'll probably have had to recruit Jeralt first and maybe even use him directly for the recruitment. Also, is Yuri working with Jeralt's Mercenaries in this route, or is that just coincidence?

Azure Gleam

9: Petra, Seteth, Flayn, and Hapi

16: Dorothea

20: Bernadetta

26: Balthus

33: Lorenz, Raphael, Ignatz, Marianne, Catherine, Shamir, and Yuri

41: Linhardt and Constance

44: Byleth and Jeralt

46: Jeritza

AG gets a bunch of new characters right away, starting with Petra apparently being fed up with Hubert using her as cannon fodder in Ailell. This may also be the case later on with Dorothea and Bernadetta. Seteth and Flayn coming in right away isn't surprising, although having to wait so much longer for Catherine is. Hapi...is also here, all of one level earlier than in SB. The first battle map of Chapter 5?

The Alliance implodes a little later here it seems, and while Balthus gets out a bit earlier everyone else comes in a massive clump. I'd be curious if Shamir's recruitment were tied to Catherine, but she comes in at the same level in SB so probably not. The AG chapter titles are not very helpful when it comes to figuring out how this story will handle what happens in Leicester, if it even does at all apart from taking in these recruits.

Linhardt and Constance must be recruitable out of the Empire's lategame defenses, possibly while attending Hubert and Ferdinand's demented drag ball (at least Constance is dressed for the occasion). The thought of such an all-around awful character as Jeritza hanging out with the Lions makes me dry heave, but he appears to be the latest normally-recruited character on any route so hopefully he'll just stand in a corner mumbling about bloodlust and murder while Mercedes feeds him ice cream or something. (Also, if I do go for 100% for this game, I'm not touching Jeritza on AG and will instead do everything with him on SB. I've more than had my fill of his awful availability from CF, thank you very much.)

Golden Wildfire

9: Linhardt

15: Balthus and Holst

21: Bernadetta

25: Petra

30: Constance and Hapi

33: Yuri, Byleth, and Jeralt

36: Ashe

42: Dorothea

Linhardt must be at Myrddin and defects to the Alliance there. Balthus and Holst joining early is unsurprising, and I expect to see a lot of boisterously no-homo'ed gay undercurrents from those two (can they single-handedly save the GW men from dull heterosexuality?). It seems like prolonged conflict with the Empire may be what pushes Claude to his big power grab based on the steady trickle of Eagles and also Constance bringing in Hapi again.

Again, Yuri joins at the same level as Byleth and Jeralt so I really have to wonder if there's something to that. Some have noted that Yuri joins as a trickster in SB and GW (where he's at the same level as those two) but as an assassin in AG (where he joins at the same level as a bunch of Deer), but I'm not sure if that's meant to say anything as in Three Hopes trickster appears to be the master class upgrade to assassin. He just isn't promoted yet in AG for some reason.

No idea what's going on in GW lategame, just that it involves Ashe and Dorothea. Chapter 12 being "Two Kings" could either be Claude and Dimitri fighting or teaming up, which seems like around the time Ashe would join. Dorothea...I got nothing right now, unless the final chapter being "Field of Beginnings" means the route will end with Claude taking down Edelgard for good at Gronder.

#Fire Emblem #Fire Emblem Three Hopes

[koko-soko]

Let me guess. You’re a Zenos enjoyer and that’s why you hate Zero. Because she got exactly the story you had hoped for Zenos. For him to learn how to be around people and go on adventures with you, but instead of him, his voidsent got the story.

Neat, my first ask on this account.

Oh dear lord I would have quit the game if they gave my sweet precious boy Zenos this story. Zenos is perfect as he is, and what you're describing is literally the plot of 6.0.

The patch story is, like, really bad.

1. It's clearly just a trial story, which is fine, but because they called it the msq, they felt they needed to take up a certain amount of playtime. So they invented these completely contrived, fake problems that give us an excuse to waste a ton of time talking to NPCs in Garlemald and the First who really have nothing meaningful to say.

2. The solution to their contrived problem, at least in Garlemald, flies in the face of the themes of the decade-long msq--selflessness, self-determination. It's literally just the propaganda line for 21st century colonialism??? "Garlemald, this poor sweet darling baby 🥹, its people are desperate not to improve their conditions, but to really feel like they've earned it 🥹 ! I know, we'll stop providing aid and instead let them sell off their natural resources to Thavnair for pennies, y'know, for the spirits of the people!"

3. E v e r y t h i n g just felt so god damn forced. The Golbez / Durante stuff was played up for tears, but we literally only just last patch learned who the fuck they are and their back story. Zeromus is completely irrelevant to the plot and was just an excuse to give us a trial. They literally were like "sorry, wol, you missed the story cuz you were just roleplaying a nuke, here's an echo flashback of what the *real* heroes were doing".

4. **Zero.** Counter to what I think you're implying, I never really had resentment toward her *in the context of Zenos*. Zenos had his ending. In fact, he had three endings if you're counting the high school AU. I love him, I love his character, I'd love to see more of him, but if they're done with him, I'm satisfied. **On the other hand** Zero just whines the entire god damn time, in the same exact way, about how she doesn't understand non-transactional relationships until suddenly it clicks for her in 6.5. There's no development, it's like they had an *idea* for the development and direction of the character, but they forgot they had to stretch it for two years worth of main story, so they just....had her repeat herself until her gigantic 180. It's not *shown* how she's transactional in nature or changing, it's just that she literally tells us every patch that that's how she is. It's so god damn boring and dry. It's like reading a 14 year old's fanfic.

5. The constant, unrelenting fellatio of FF4 also doesn't help. I have nothing against it, but they went *hard* with the "inspiration" this time. Makes everything feel disposable and predictable.

6. And since you brought up Zenos, like. Zero went *out of her way* to bring up Zenos in conversation, out of nowhere, four patches in a row. They were clearly angling to draw a contrast here, but it was never made. She never accepted or rejected Zenos view on friendship, she just ... WANTED TO SAY WORDS I guess. God I fucking. That went nowhere.

7. AND SPEAKING OF THINGS THAT WENT NOWHERE 6.1 was full of neat little lore about the voidsent and souls and what it means to devour someone. This all went absolutely freaking nowhere. Just thought we'd bring it up I guess????

8. So much, SO MUCH of Endwalker's story--main, patch, and side--revolves around the theme of companionship. At the same time, the game that story is in is progressively turning into a single player action rpg. It leaves the stories feeling hollow and fake. Like, okay, I should make friends and that's where the fun of the game should be. How should I do that? Uh...sit in limsa I guess? Cuz everywhere else is either silent (DF), communication forbidden (PvP), just soloed by the community (v/c dungeons), or positions other people as either warm bodies or hindrances (PF). FUCKING ENDWALKER man. They started off so strong with the msq and fucked it up every single step of the way.

#ffxiv #ff14 #asks

[rosieartsie]

Superlatives OC tag

I wasn't tagged by anybody I'm doin this because I FEEL LIKE IT lmao. But I tag @magefaery @theskeletonprior @muddshadow and @peresephones

most arrogant :: Oh boy, Dreigas and Iphigenia for sure. Funnily enough for similar reasons! Lmao these characters are actually a lot alike- they'd fuckin' hate each other

most humble :: Hmmm... Leopold? He's pretty humble tbh, he kicks so much ass but treats it like it's just his regular tuesday. A lot of the time it is his regular tuesday lol

most charming :: Femi for sure is very, very charming. Kalmin is a total charmer as well, even though he talks very loud lol.

most talkative :: Jane will talk you up a wall if you let her lmao

least talkative :: Dreigas, for sure. He would probably not talk to anyone at all if it wasn't considered totally rude, and he only cares about not being rude for the sake of his reputation.

most relatable :: To me? Jane. Love her, wanna be her when I grow up.

least relatable :: Hmmm... That's hard, I find most of my characters relatable in some way... I think Dreigas takes this one again lol, he's such an asshole.

most ambitious :: Kalmin and Jane are tied for this one lol- both of them HATE to lose, and are very determined to be the best. It's a good thing they don't exist in the same universe because they'd either be the very best of friends or the most bitter rivals.

most easy-going :: Aquestros is very easy going tbh lol- they're a weirdo and they hold grudges a lot? But situationally they're really mutable. Mercutio is also pretty chill and go with the flow, even when it comes to dealing with demons.

most high-strung :: Iphigenia and Setsulin are both very high strung lol. Iphigenia thinks they're god's gift (in a way they are, at least half lmao) and Setsulin has a very, very, almost nonexistent tolerance for bullshit. 

most pretentious :: Iphigenia again lol. Fuckin' neeeerrrdddddddd Beaux can be pretty pretentious too, but he really doesn't mean to be.

most cheerful :: Argos tries their damnedest to be happy-go-lucky, they take after their dad in that way, even though shit gets pretty hard for them. If left alone, they're a very joyful person.

most patient :: I haven't introduced y'all to this guy, but @magefaery will know lmao. Charlemagne is incredibly patient- he's learned to be, he used to be a real short fuse, but a lot of his best qualities are learned rather than inherent to his nature and patience rates high among those developed skills.

most diligent :: Femi and Jane are extremely diligent lol- they're protags and they don't let their stories drag them around. These ladies get shit done, yes they do.

now adding a few extras just for funsies~  those i tagged don't have to do these if they don't wanna :P

most bullied :: Huh... I dunno actually-- Iphigenia was bullied as a kid, which resulted in some pretty gnarly stuff for them... Yeah, I'd say Iphigenia is the most bullied of my characters, not that they allow anyone to see how it gets to them.

most loved :: Femi. For sure Femi. *points to her spiderweb 80 person polycule*

most terrifying :: Another guy you guys haven't met lmao, but Fortissimo lol. Fortissimo is from a DnD game, he's an NPC who is a triton and he's basically a Mantis Shrimp anthro. In game he punched the sea and made a real tsunami, and under the right circumstances can pink mist someone with his fist. He's a jolly guy, and a pirate that kicks the crap out of bad guys, but the fact that he can do that is utterly horrifying lmao

most hated :: Dreigas lmao- I cannot emphasize how much of a dick this dude is he is so fucking unhinged lmao. He has reasons, I don't think anyone gets to be such an asshole for no reason but it's an explanation, not an excuse. What a garbage man lmao

#ask game #I just felt like doin it for funsies

[trolleytracksmoved]

tbh i think the reason why so many toontown fans have gotten to the point where they think the toons are the bad guys is bc most of CC lore is centered around the cogs and rarely does any private server entertain the idea of what life is like outside of toontown/without cogs. i think once you start getting to the point where the toons are seen as villains you need to take a few steps back bc i just don’t get why the toons fighting against the cogs for invading their land and fighting their ppl should be viewed as a bad thing lol (1/2)

you don't have to apologize for the lengthy ask, anon! discussions like these are always appreciated and i love hearing people's thoughts on toontown's story. otherwise yeah, i agree with everything you said.

to an extent i do get why private servers don't exactly expand toon lore outside of their relationship with the cogs. the premise behind the game is simple, and toontown isn't toontown without the cogs, after all, but the same could very well be said for the reverse. an equal amount of effort must be put in both sides for it to be balanced.

as it currently stands, there is a disproportionate amount of toon lore compared to cog lore in clash's case. so much so that i can't help but wonder if there's a bias towards cogs due to how both parties are treated by the narrative. cogs are given both inner and outer worlds, distinct personalities, relationships, and they'll sometimes be written in a way where you'll sympathize with them whereas toons are pretty much treated as a plot device or an in-game mechanic who exists to only hand you tasks. i can't really think of any "important" or key toon character who were given same luxuries as say, atticus or any of the manager bosses really. at least not off the top of my head. yet at the same time it's not like i'd say clash is ignoring toons entirely either? the npc's you meet throughout the storyline do have personality i guess, but they're also meant to be one-offs. they aren't main characters you get attached to, nor are they written to have personal goals or backstories or character arcs in mind. it's just really strange how we're this far into the game yet we don't have toon characters who are as fleshed out as the cogs overall.

[cappy-zone]

Here's a tricky one: how DOES capturing work?

No like seriously, how does it work? When Mario throws you onto something, he gets sucked into its body and takes control of it. That's the basics, right?

But why are you the ONLY BONNETER (who's been confirmed, mind you) to use capture? Does capturing require a bond between you and another person which can explain how when one throws you onto something, they get sucked into its body, not you? And even IF you're able to use capture and be able to control what you capture ON YOUR OWN, why didn't you go after Bowser and his minions??

I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS AS TO HOW THIS AND THE PREMISE OF SUPER MARIO ODYSSEY WORK AND NINTENDO HASN'T GIVEN US AN ANSWER YET, WHAT ARE THE CONDITIONS HERE???

Going to step out of character for a sec to put a theory/attempted explanation on this one for fun so bear with me.

So, either bonneters are ghosts, which explains this more simply, or they're living creatures resembling ghosts, which might be the case since there's not really anything in SMO that outright confirms that Cappy is a ghost, despite the presence of them elsewhere in the Mario franchise. I'd personally subscribe to the latter honestly because Cappy being an actual ghost raises more questions than it answers. If there are sentient bombs and mushrooms in this universe, I can get around the idea of guys who look and act like ghosts but aren't really dead.

And like, magic just... exists in the Mario universe, as made clear by Magikoopas etc, and I'd argue that bonneters are inherently magic in the way of their self sustainability as shapeshifters. How can cappy think, and talk, and apparently drink tea, then turn into Mario's hat with enough hollow room for his head and suddenly have no capacity for any of the biological functions to do so? If Cappy is not truly a ghost, then he at least has some way of compressing or temporarily vanishing elements of his body when he doesn't need them (including his entirely visible eyes), like... a pocket dimension for organs, or that he is entirely made of magic in the first place. He can either tuck himself inside the impossibly small space in his own hat/head, or vanish most of his body at will, as well as standard shape shifting. And if he is a ghost, well, we can just say he's a spirit and they behave weird and leave it at that. But either way, his consciousness persists beyond the boundaries of a physical form already.

Cappy is not the only bonneter who can capture, and I'd have to assume they can do it without a third party like mario. In postgame cap kingdom, one of the bonneter npcs is wondering out loud if capturing is a new trend and if there's anything around they can capture. Glossing over the implications of a society where an entire group of people who just possess others for fun, and moving on, that suggests this is not a Cappy exclusive power, but rather something all bonneters are able to do. Also, having the superpower if being able to let other people possess things through you sounds... incredibly unuseful?

so, if Cappy is able to cleanly separate his mind from his physical existence from attributes of his physical existence, I don't think it's too much of a reach to think he could possess someone, or magically extend this pocket dimension spirit severing power on someone else to project their consciousness into something else like a weird spirit medium. I doubt a bond is even necessary since he'd known Mario for all of, what, five minutes? Before he could let him capture a frog.

I think Cappy did not go after Bowser on his own because he's established as a little nervous and having someone else to team up with probably gave him the determination to out his "go to the Cascade kingdom to find an old airship" plan into action. either that, or he was already planning to go and Mario happened to show up before he did.

Not to overanalyse a kids game though lol!

#Cappy #super mario odyssey #I just woke up sorry if there's grammatical errors here I'm not proofreading this