#( there was also a soulsborne-ish game in there )

[dissociative-disaster]

So I started playing Elden Ring today, and it reminded me of a funny thing FromSoft games sometimes do with the Welsh language.

So obviously in ER there’s the character Blaidd (idk who he really is I just know he’s popular - I’m only like two hours in). Which I find funny because while to a non-Welsh speaker his name sounds cool and fantasy-ish, a Welsh speaker will immediately recognise it to just be the word for Wolf, which is quite funny. There are a few examples of these in soulsborne games, and chief among them to me is Gwyn, Lord of Cinder from Dark Souls.

Gwyn’s name comes from the Welsh folkloric figure Gwyn ap Nydd (‘ap’ has a similar usage in Welsh to ‘ibn’ in arabic, so his name means ‘Gwyn, son of Nydd) - (sometimes) king of the otherworld of Anwn, who also appears in Arthurian legends. This is well and good, but names don’t come from nowhere, and in Welsh there are generally a few places names come from. In this case, the name Gwyn probably started life as a surname.

While a lot of people might think them similar enough, Welsh surnames differ slightly in origin from English surnames. Until very recently (around the finance act of 1894 i think but don’t quote me on that this is from memory), surnames were less an inherited familial thing and more of an adjective on someone’s name, so that you could know which John out of the thirty-seven Johns in everyone’s circle of influence is being discussed. This was probably the same in England, actually, but the interesting thing is that in Wales (or at least North Wales) people still talk like this today. Nobody cares what your surname is - they know you by an adjective or nickname.

This adjective or nickname comes from one of four places generally: your job, the name of your home, the name of a more well-known family member, or the colour of your hair. For instance, my Taid (grandpa), John. Nobody knew John Owen, but everyone knew John Siop - he lived in Siop Isaf (literally ‘Lower Shop’).

Hair colour is less-used nowadays, but used to be very common, and is the basis for many surnames. Using a colour as an adjective for a person’s name in Welsh refers to their hair colour, and those old nicknames tended to stick and become surnames. A few English surnames, actually, come from Welsh hair colour surnames - like Lloyd, which comes from Llwyd (Gray), or Wynn which is from Wyn (treigliad (it’s complicated) of Gwyn, meaning ‘White’).

So we’re back at Gwyn. Gwyn ap Nydd’s name, then, was a descriptor of his hair colour. Which is interesting, but not my point. The point I was trying to get to before rambling on about the etymology of Welsh surnames was that Gwyn, and its variant Wyn, are very common Welsh first names. But the reason I find the name ‘Gwyn, Lord of Cinder’ funny is because Gwyn is the name of my five-foot-three bald uncle who plays golf and smiles like a fairy from a medieval illustration.

#welsh #surnames #rambling #dark souls #elden ring #surnames probably work exactly the same way in English now that I think about it lol. #ah well #i’ve already made the effort.

[katyspersonal]

Hello! I have been following you for a long time now and I love all your in depth analysis stuff, it makes for such great conversations. When I first played Bloodborne, I ended up making a connection with Elden Ring that I wanted to ask you about, or if you had any thoughts on it! At this point, it really is just a silly headcanon. I drew connections to the Hoslow family through Gherman, noted first by Juno using Bloodhound step, which Gherman seemed to use as well. The armor that the Hoslows use has red jewels adorning them, which could be Blood Gems. Junos helmet resembles what could be a scythe, split open to reveal flowers, which to me resembled the flowers from the hunters dream, as well as the petals from their whips. Of course, the more obvious Tale of Hoslow is told in Blood. It’s not the most well thought out, but I thought you might enjoy it! Thanks for always providing interesting topics!

First, thank you very much! I am glad to know that you enjoy my blog <:3 I just really love discussing these videogames, but Bloodborne is my absolute favourite to speculate about!

Second, I am personally a big enjoyer of the ideas that tie different Soulsborne games together rather than keeping them as 100% separate universes, so I feel you here! The Sea that is hinted at in Elden Ring by people connected with undead-ness (jellyfish spirits, Godwyn and Tibia Mariners that hang out with Those who live in dead) is the same as in Dark Souls, which is also the same as in Bloodborne and I will die on this hill fdshfdhs

What you are referring to is moreso pattern recognition, since Fromsoft loves reusing themes and vibes, but I haven't thought of a similar vibes between the Hoslows and Gehrman before! My limit was 'omg Eleonora's bloody fire poleblade is just like Maria's for reallllll'. But scythe thing with petals and quickstepping and flowers and bloodshed and potential blood gems DOES feel very Gehrman-ish. Also the thing about Juno not wanting his brother to walk his path, like how Gehrman resists Hunter taking his place as host of the Dream, slightly? But I am thinking about stealing your headcanon about the red gems in Hoslow's armour and weapon being crystallized blood tbh x) Alberich's blood glintstone is just cosmic rocks corrupted by the bloody sacrifices, but what about some NORMAL blood crystallization? (yeahhh... a very "normal" thing..)

#thank yoooooou! #ask replies #soulsborne

[eri-blogs-life]

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fucking uninstalled. i’ve tried so goddamn hard to keep coming back to elden ring time and again and trying to finish it but it’s alweays something

and then i finally make progress and tell my friend who’s been teasing me for months about not finishing th egame when i’m so close

and he just goes all ‘lol that’s literally the easiest boss in the game how’s you have to summon for that?’ and i just

i fucking finally got anything done

and this game ain’t even goodJ??JGSJDLK>?

like, fuck. okay. coherent thoughts time. elden ring is probably the worst soulsborne game. that’s my thought. why? well it’s complicated but basically because open world games suck.

okay, that’s not fully it but the open world format does not feel like it lends itself well to a game in which you are presented with seemingly insurmountable challenges and then have to figure out how to beat them. sometimes it works - there were moments in my playthrough where i left and went to another part of the world and leveled up or found some cool new item that helped me beat the boss in question - but usually doing so just left me slightly stronger but still unable to beat anything

also i apparently fucked everything up with my character build because every endgame enemy is resistant to holy damage i guess, so my faith build literally fucks me over making this even more frustrating

none of this is coherent thoughts, i’m so sorry i said that. well, not sorry. i was trying to be coherent. but i’m so fucking frustrated right now i don’t even know what i’m saying.

i finally made any amount of progress and now my friend’s being all mean to me and i just wanna jfu=adsfjklf;jajgahl;gkjasdfl;aksdaghal;gshkjjsdf;a

i fucking hate this game

plus with the long-ass length of elden ring the story is incomprehensible to me. what the fuck is even going on? At least in previous soulsborne games the 40 to 50 ish playtime was long and difficult but you were learning things and getting some semblance of what is going on in the world. In Elden Ring, with playtimes around double that (my playthrough is at 87 hours with me giving up right before the final boss) i’m not picking up information and understanding jack shit about what’s going on

fucking final boss is some kind of giant goo dragon?? how the FUCK does that make any sense? I guess cause it’s kind of got a space-y motif and there’s also some beasts that come from meteors that maybe the story has something to do with space eldritch horrors corrupting the people of this world? In which case, hey, that’s... fine. but how am i supposed to get any of that?

and hey, in its defense, it’s been a long time since i played any other soulsborne game for the first time. i may just not remember not understanding what was going on with those games as well.

hell, maybe the only thing that makes a difference here is i’m playing elden ring alone

at least with dark souls 1 i had my roommate in college. ds2 he was there, but later also my friend jon. ds3 i was able to play with mike. bloodborne i think i was mostly alone in the actual playthrough but at least i had friends who were familiar with it and i could talk to about it

and i had one friend who also has played elden ring. and they’re bullying me for being bad at it.

it just makes me feel like shit

i miss the days i had people i could play with where i could enjoy playing with them. where i could enjoy talking with them about it and enjoy victories.

also i miss when soulsborne games were easier

anyway i’m done my ranting for now. elden ring is uninstalled and i’m fucking done. i’m not gonna touch it again for years.

#eri blogs games #this is just me ranting about a my shitty experience playing elden ring #game fuckin sucks (she says endearingly) #... but also for real. it does suck in some ways but also it is incredibly well made and beautiful and stuff #just gameplay fucking sucks #elden ring

[toyherb]

aka flowerweeds

Malina | 25 | she/her | cis-ish | bisexual | wasian american 🤠

icon by @peachjooce

My twitter is @_toyherb. I like farming games like Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons, but also soulsborne and Elden Ring. I like things that are gothic or horror genre but I like cute stuff too. I am a fan of various other things, especially anime and video games (usually action rpgs).

#theres also lots of pokemon and fire emblem #im also terminally stupid and annoying. genuinely sorry about that.

[appropriate-as-always]

Obviously, one of the things that bothered me most about SV was that it gave you an open world, explicitly told you that you could tackle it in any order you wanted, and then quietly dictated a clear order to follow for the best experience. At first, I thought that the design principle itself was bad, but then I realized that Elden Ring does the same thing: big open world, but a clear (ish) order in which you should explore it. I think what Elden Ring does better than Pokémon, though, is that it is a game which is designed for failure.

In Pokémon, you are supposed to feel like the champion the whole way through. Generally speaking, you’re not supposed to lose 99% of the fights you get in. Even gym leaders, the bosses of Pokémon, are supposed to be a challenge you fight once, maybe twice if you’re unlucky. If you’re fighting it three times, you clearly need to change something up. Not only that, but because this is a strategy game, there are fights that you simply cannot win. Your level 20 Pokémon just are not going to be able to defeat level 50 Pokémon (without abusing very specific strategies). And Pokémon battles can be long. If it’s a tough fight, it can last up to ten minutes or more. If you lose at the end of that? It feels very bad. Despite the actual consequences (a minor loss of currency and a relocation to your closest rest area), losing repeatedly invalidates the power trip you’re supposed to feel as the protagonist and future regional champion.

Meanwhile Elden Ring goes out of its way to call you a nobody, and says repeatedly that your rise to power is something nobody expects. Your downfall is eminent, and when you lose, enemies rub it in your face. Not only does this inspire the “fuck you, you don’t know what I’m capable of” stubbornness which is required to beat a soulsborne, it also kinda helps you accept the fact that you are going to lose 90% of the boss fights you start. Augmenting that is the fact the game is clearly designed to minimize the issue of fighting the same battle again and again. Spawn points are right near by the arena entrance, death is quick and largely painless, and you can usually recover everything that you lost. Not only that, but by locking your currency in the boss room, you are encouraged to go right back at it, but not horribly punished for leaving them behind. And even when you’re clearly outmatched and out-leveled, because the game is a skill game and not a strategy one, every fight is technically winnable, and not just by luck or an abuse of a combination of exponentially symbiotic mechanics; the only true limiting factor is your skill.

All that blends together to make exploration feel good in Elden Ring; if you wander into an area too high level for you, it’s fine. The worst that can happen is you have to make a corpse run for your runes and book it back out. In SV? If you wander into an area over your level, you lose, and not only does that loss feels weird and unintended, but the game basically handwaves the loss as “not a real part of the story” (except, admittedly, for a few choice moments where loss is treated as as legitimate an outcome as victory, interestingly).

It is this difference in the thematic treatment of loss that makes SV’s open-but-guided world feel so much less intentional than Elden Ring’s: loss in Elden Ring is normal, and loss in SV is a fluke. If Game Freak wanted exploration in SV to feel as risky but rewarding and exciting as Elden Ring’s exploration, they should have designed SV’s bosses and enemies to always match the power level of the player, rather than try to force the player to follow an intended path.

[dontbethatguy20]

throwaway bc I'm too embarrassed to do this on my main

Saw you were taking Apex and Ow match requests and I'd like both

I'm a 5'11 - 6" dude (can't remember which one) skinny (125lbs) shaggy blonde hair that's really soft. Bright blue eyes, tan-ish skin. Love soulsborne and TES games, could go on for hours abou the lore and game mechanics. Love Thrash/heavy metal. Im a Front man in an armature thrash band. I'm bi with an inkling towards women because of bad experiences with men. I'm loud and childish but i can be serious if I need to be. I cry a lot and need constant reassurance because I have really bad anxiety about people liking me.

In overwatch I match you with D.va

She also loves to play video games, I feel like her favorite soulsborne game would be dark souls 3, she would absolutely get wrecked when invaded but totally valid, but she would end up being ok at invasions in the long run after playing for so long.

She thinks it's cool that your in a band, even if the music is not entirely her style.

She loves that you could be childish, because so is she. You two can do childish things together. Also, with her she can't be serious even in a serious situation.

You won't need to worry about her leaving you, because she is always so lovable towards you.

_________________________________________

Your apex match up is octane

He's also also plays video games, he's more into shooting games but he could also get into the soulsborne games and other games your into.

You also have the same interest in music, witch is not surprising, that type of music hypes him up.

He loves that you are in a band, he will ask you questions about it, like, a lot of questions. Like, what's it's like, and what do you do, or even how it feels to be in a band.

He is also loud and childish and it shows so you guys can match each other's energy.

He's honestly ok at reassuring people though he's not the worse at it. But if you need reassuring then he'll try.

Overall, you too are way to similar.

#apex legends #apex legends x reader #match ups #apex legends octane x reader #octane x reader #octane apex legends x reader #Overwatch x reader #overwatch x reader #D.va overwatch x reader #D.va x reader #overwatch D.va x reader #d.va x reader #overwatch d.va x reader

[hobbydrawer]

Depending on sources, either Reddit or Twitter,

Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower (Bloodborne) is approx. 195cm-216cm.

And given the nature that other Hunters in the game are also tallies, I feel like P being a tallie giant baby puppet just makes sense, Soulsborne-wise.

I hope he is a towering figure of 210+cm as well. That would be cool.

I like the idea of cognitive dissonance design here, a combat doll menacingly at 2m tall and weighing around 200kg but having a face of a choirboy and dressing like a young aristocrat bachelor.Also has a husky deep voice that doesn’t go with his baby-ish face.

#rants #soulsborne #heights profile #pinocchio #lop

[3gremlins]

slowly picking away at doing the legendary lightfall campaign in destiny solo...idk how i feel about it tbh. like it's a completely different vibe to the game, it goes from a fun rpg-ish shooter to kind of a very careful horror game shooter where you're constantly taking cover, going around corners/entering room VERY carefully and "Life of Brian"ing away from bosses (the scene where the little guy runs in circles away from the gladiator and until the gladiator dies of exhaustion).

like it's a bit tedious and i feel like there needs to be some happy medium between normal (which feels too easy sometimes) and legendary (which feels relentlessly difficult). but i'm also very stubborn and it can't be that difficult if everyone does it, so i'm going to do these and then get enough xp into the seasonal artifact and do the gdi legendary lost sectors too* *those are also ridiculously punishingly hard and it feels bad that soloing legendary lost sectors is the *only* way to get certain exotics T.T like i personally feel that destiny's legendary modes (and also normal "dungeons") are way more punishing/less fun than any soulsborne game i've played. like the mechanics aren't difficult to figure out but they are tedious/time consuming? and when you finish, it's less "haha i did it!" sense of accomplishment and more "never doing that again omg" (i'm up to "breakneck" so have 5 to go T.T tho this person's guides have been very helpful so far)

#destiny #video games #text post #vent post i suppose #q #it doesn't help that i play as a space wizard and am bad at jumping puzzles at the best of times #feels like the devs hate warlocks specifically tho lol #but i also die less than on hunter so idk #the saddest floaty jumps to my doom #loving the arc buffs for season of the deep tho

[translationandbetrayals]

How European and Japanese culture influences merge in FromSoftware games (And a little bit about Berserk)

In this post I want to talk about the Soulsborne games, the fan given term to a japanese series of video games from the company FromSoftware, currently I am on my second playthrough of the latest game of them ‘Elden ring’ with more than 100 hours in the first one and although it is a really good game  that I recommend that everyone who wants to play it does so, what I want to talk about in this post it's about the western influence and how it blends with the influence from japanese culture.

  First I want to talk about the popularity of these games that lead people to use the words ‘Soulsborne’ and ‘Souls-like’ (because of games from FromSoftware like ‘Demon Souls’, ‘Dark Souls’ and ‘Bloodborne’)  to refer to a genre of difficult video games, that according to Howtogeek.com on ‘What Does “Soulborne” Mean?, include some or all of the following traits: A loose narrative, stamina-based combat, pattern memorization, ‘bonfires’ (a sort of completely safe checkpoint), an oppressive environment, a progression system, and loss of experience upon death.

  I also want to bring to attention how this kinds of games based on the traits I mentioned are a clear example of designing for negatives emotions, because this types of games generate a lot of frustration to its players through its oppressive environment but offers the opportunity to learn from past mistakes by being able to revive after a deadly encounter, to become stronger by leveling up and by learning the attack patterns of the more difficult enemies to overcome the challenges and come out feeling great because of this.

  Having said that, let us go to the main point of this post and talk about the western influence on this series and how it works alongside Japanese influence, to begin with every game of the series except ‘Sekiro’ is situated in a setting that is a dark fantasy european-ish late medieval or renaissance era, one of the most superficial japanese elements are maybe a set of armor or katanas that are described as “An item from an eastern land” in Dark Souls, or “An item from ‘The Land of Reeds’” in Elden Ring. If we go deeper we can see the influence of the Yōkai in the many creatures of these games, for example the giant skeleton coming from a black void, High Lord Wolnir, and its resemblance to the skeleton specter from a Ukiyo-e from Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Finally we cannot look away from the great influence that the manga Berserk has on the series, although this manga by itself has a lot of western influence, more on that later.

  This themes are masterfully implemented in the world of these games with their european setting, for example in places like Anor londo and its inspiration il Duomo, New londo and Mount saint-Michel, Archdragon Peak and Hagia Sophia, The Duke’s Archive and its influence from Harry Potter’s moving staircases inside Hogwarts, all of this presented in what could be considered a mix between romanticism and the ideas behind Japanese art, where the people are a part of an unchanging and evolving world, with their struggle being a part of the passage of time, as a part of its cycle but at the same time trying to make a stand, this in gothic romanticism is seen as mysterious and a cause of fear but at the same time in part of the flow of time in nature in japanese culture. This mix can be represented by the main character, that always makes its appearance in the last moments of an era, where they are practically alone against a world in despair, their actions clearly make an impact on the current events but in the grand scale of time the player are only ending a repeating cycle with no end.

  This mix in a dark world resembles Berserk a lot, the creator of these games has stated how big of an influences Berserk is in his work, and there is no denying the western influence in this manga, like the creatures from european folklore or Loverctaftian horror (something that is kind of the main influence on Bloodborne), with influence from the dark and gloomy imagery in The Divine Comedy while it stills retains important plot elements that are common in Japan, like ‘the wandering swordsman’ and the comedic relief character that is Puck reminiscing of the storytelling of Ozamus Tezuka’s work. The respect that the game director has for Berserk is not only seen through weapons and armors that are almost identical to some of the ones seen in Berserk but also it is dark and gloomy a mix of European and Japanese themes to create something unique and deeply appealing.

Nicolas Gonzalez.

#Manga #Japan #essay #submission

[arlenianchronicles]

OOOOOOOOHHHHH ELDEN RING

Whelp I’ve gone an done it again folks! Allow me to present my Elden Ring kidnap fam AU! The idea here is that the Fëanorians and twins are NPCs, with their backstories tied into the game’s lore. The Fëanorians will appear as major bosses, but the player has the option to redeem them, and they’ll become the player’s allies.

I kinda got carried away with this and came up with different quests involving the fam loll XDDD Here are the basics: the twins are cursed, and the Fëanorians have been trying to cure them since the start of the Shattering. In order to make them your allies, you have to follow the quests that will save the twins. There’s good and bad options the player can take. Angst babyyy!

Design notes are below!

Maedros’ design is essentially a revamped version of his bodyguard!AU armour (and I personally like this version better loll). I tried to keep it looking Soulsborne boss-ish, but I imagine this is Maedros in his prime, when his armour is still quite shiny and his cloak intact.

Likewise with Maglor -- I turned him into a sorcerer who uses music, so I took inspiration from Rennala and the students of Raya Lucaria for his clothing. I’m also really happy with how his harp turned out! :D

As for the twins, there’s a painting in the game’s opening cinematic that features one of the demigods (who I won’t spoil). If you watch the cinematic, I’m sure you’ll find out which painting I took inspiration from XDD I wanted to give their design a pearlescent quality, with iridescent fairy wings or bird feathers in their hair. They’re also quite tiny compared to the Feanorians, and that was done on purpose since Soulsborne bosses are always so darn huge lmaooo

#will i ever stop making aus?? #not as long as ideas keep flowing from my brain lmaoo #art #my art #tolkien #silmarillion #fanart #au #elden ring #kidnap fam #elves #eldar #noldor #sindar #maedhros #maglor #elrond #elros #soulsborne #elden ring au #why is it easier for me to write outlines for stories #but not the full stories themselves loll

[confessthysiins-moving]

OH YEAH ALSO I cleaned more things up and it turns out only like 30-ish blogs i used to follow survived the purge while i was gone. Please recommend me your fav soulsborne blogs (or other games/media if you know i like them)

#║ OUT OF CHURCH. #im want new friends!

[seventeendeer]

{{ 3 things we want to know about you! So: 1.) Favorite piece of art (of any type)? 2.) When did you start drawing? 3.) What kind of games do you want to play in the future? (Any kind of game! Videogames, board games. Or mind games.)

1. I think right now my favorite piece of art is? Undertale???? I’ve just been remembering how cool n epic it is because of the anniversary, if ever there was a video game that deserved to be recognized as True Art(tm), that is the one imo

2. I’ve been drawing for as long as I’ve been able to hold a pencil! way before I can actually remember. though I got serious about it when I was 12-13-ish, that’s around the time when I started wanting to make a living doing art. I don’t anymore, but I’m glad I got the practice in anyway!

3. SO MANY VIDEO GAMES ... the ones I’m looking forward to the most are the rest of the Soulsborne series! as I talked about briefly on my blog, I finished Dark Souls 1 for the first time a few months back, so now I really want to play Dark Souls 2+3, Bloodborne and Demon’s Souls! I’m also super hyped for the new Ratchet and Clank game that was announced not too long ago! I’m gonna get a PS5 and play so many games ... never got a PS4 so I have a bunch to catch up on :Oc

#beyondthetemples #thesketcherasks

[katyspersonal]

Sometimes I just can't shake the feeling that "the curse of Mico simps mysteriously vanishing" I half-jokingly mentioned earlier is simply a reflection of the issue of Bloodborne fandom both being small(ish) and having many very talented artists.

Out of all fandoms I've been at, Bloodborne is the one where literally nothing is easier than to see extremely skilled artists banging out masterpieces every week and feel kinda.. talentless? Mediocre and not wanted, even, especially if you have a simple or cute/silly art style. The only ways to combat this dread is to get on the good side of "cool popular kids" that distribute majority of likes/reblogs, or to find your own supportive group of friends. With Mico fans it just is harder because for some reason the fanbase of this character has always been kinda disorganized, and he himself tends to attract people with very sensitive, intricate souls hahah. Thinking back on Mico fans that mysteriously vanished from the fandom like goddamn magic that I used to know, they all had severe self-confidence issues...? AND no network of "the same two supportive mutuals". Maybe that's why so many of them just deactivated or never posted again? Maybe feeling "small" as artists was too much?

Again, not only this character, but the example I am most familiar with because unlike other characters, this one fails to create a "core" if you know what I mean? But THE funniest thing? Situation with art in the fandom reflects how Fromsofts games feel themselves...? The sense of being overwhelmed by something much bigger and stronger than you, feeling your self-confidence crashed and wondering how THE fuck are you supposed to overcome this? This is the other side of being in the community full of a little TOO talented people, really. It just can be easy to feel like you are worse than others and not wanted.

Basically, I don't know who needs to hear this, but if you feel like your skill and talent are lower than everyone else's - treat it like being kinda not very good at soulsborne games as a player, and if you feel like you just can't join a group or create your own to get enough engagement and validation - treat it like not being able to online coop for help! How would you continue playing in this situation? Right, you would study the game, keep trying new tools and practice on your own terms and at your own pace! If you feel this kind of dread, do the same: experiment with the style, designs, characters, ideas and so on until you feel so engaged and satisfied that you just can't quit. Until it becomes almost like addiction and finishing your art ideas becomes what keeps you here. Before I've found the same five people that always like my art I've also been feeling like I just don't belong and my art is worse than that of "actually" talented artists here. So I've kept looking for something within my art itself and discovered a passion: both for drawing characters in the way that captures every single detail (no matter how much it torments me lol) and for depicting absurd amount of references for characters in every single state of their life! This is what helped me to not feel so bad about what art skills I lack, this keeps me engaged even if I stop getting notes and compliments at all, this is what makes how good other people's art is irrelevant because it is about my goalposts now, and I am sure other people who don't feel confident can find their own ""playing style"" but in creativity that'll make it fun!

Just don't quit, okay? Like... no matter how much you may feel that "everyone else is more talented or more supported or both", I promise you can find the way. Just like how you didn't understand how to beat these games at first but adapted in the end. EVERYTHING Soulsborne goes back to a theme of having to overcome a really hard challenge, right? Creativity too, and our self-confidence is under constant testing which I honestly do not recall being the case in my previous fandoms??

#fandomry rambles #creativity #sorry Ive just been reflecting on all the small artists that just disappeared #yeah I get it. it gotta be the pressure of some insanely talented artists in this fandom

[bravest-notts]

”10*″ favorite characters from 10 different things! tagged by @brightandshinynewstories and doing this before i close that tab and forget i was tagged in something

dedicated to all those other times people have probably tagged me in something that i haven’t seen because this is a sideblog and i never check my activity 

*there’s only seven

do i even remember ten individual pieces of media with characters i like enough to be a favorite oh god NOPE!

these are in no particular order because i’m having a hard enough time coming up with ten different fandoms, let alone ranking them.

10: Caleb Widogast, Critical Role [*hurriedly mutters under breath* andyashatoo] - my, uh, dnd character level of Tragic Backstory Life means i relate to, and understand, caleb [and yasha, i can’t pick between them and you can’t make me] heavily. i also really, really, really love unflinching portrayals of grief and mental illness and what that does to you as you deal with, or don’t deal with, it. also i am big gay and caleb is attractive and i WILL die on that hill god dammit.

9: LORD ADMIRAL BABEY Jaina Proudmoore, World of Warcraft - yes i am wow trash, i have been playing for a decade [*long pause while i stare into space and reckon with the fact that its been a decade*], and i have always loved jaina. they very very nearly put her in the same goddamn Traumatized Women Goes PsYchO!1!!111!!!! that they’ve done to sylvanas but by god we’ve escaped that fate [for now...], making her the.... only........... female faction leader of any, uh, relevance who isn’t a barnacle character or undergoing some level of character assassination via bad writing. i could complain for at least five more paragraphs, so i will just end this here and spare everyone. she’s badass and laura voices her and you should watch this right now. 

8: Gollum, Lord of the Rings - yes i know this is a uh, an odd one, but he’s the best goddamn character in the entire series in terms of someone you can really sink your acting teeth into. i did a... god how long was it, ten minute? i think? gollum monologue - 1/3rd i wrote myself, 2/3rds spliced between the LotR movies - for an acting competition and again at a theatre showcase and he is now My Boy. yes i can do the voice. i blew my voice out doing it once but it’s very fun. pretty easy once you figure out how to get into it. 

7: Lup, The Adventure Zone - she’s my absolute favorite character in the whole story, i love her, she’s perfect. i will never forget the jaw dropping horror of that last stolen century episode when you realize and the absolute apeshit delight at her return. 

6: Alistair, Dragon Age: Origins - he’s a sweetie and a dork and he’s Trying His Best and i love him so much. i have to sit on my own hands to avoid romancing him every goddamn playthrough. he’s also the #1 reason i always leave morrigan at the camp, because she’s mean to him and i feel bad. 

5: Utsuki/Kureha, Kuon - another vidya gaem entry bc that’s all i can think of off the top of my head rn. really the game overall, because her story is just half [...ish] of it. her trauma and the rituals she’s undergone warping how she sees herself and experiences the world, namely by seeing herself as her sister, and how it relates to the grudge cycle and the Buddhist concept of complicity, is... fascinating. all of that depends on how you interpret the game and the vast difference between the two storylines, and it’s very hard to explain without context, but. cool shit. 

4: i’m calling it here because it’s nearing midnight and i cannot for the life of me think of four more separate things. i can think of plenty within what i already listed - queen azshara, every single character from critrole, solas because god i love complicated characters, and i couldn’t possibly single out a character from the soulsbornes because what really makes it for me is just the world as a whole so its like... i CAN’T say a fav boss bc they aren’t a favorite character. 

3: thor.

2:

1:

#not cr #i feel... mildly self conscious that these are almost all from video games #and not like. books. or stuff. #i never read fiction anymore sldkjflds so my characters to pull from are... limited #if i remember [i won't] i will go back and add four more things if i ever think of em [i won't] #[the pain meds are not making this easier also so i should just. go slepe.]

[foxingpeculiar]

So I've been playing Single-Dad Simulator (God of War) and am enjoying it quite a bit, although I'm still getting a handle on the more complex and meticulous combat. I got the magic chisel thing, but am fucking around with some sidequests before I go back up to the mountaintop and try to go to Jotunheim, which I understand to be half-ish way? Which means, unless I get really busy, I should be able to finish it before the 25th. More thoughts on that later.

But I was also watching a bunch of YouTube footage and something was pointed out/occurred to me in that process. Even though I've now beaten all 6 Soulsborne games, I did them all in the last year, which means they've all been kind of mapped out. If I got stuck, I could go online and find the answer. But that's not going to be the case for Elden Ring. Because I have a preorder, I'll have it at launch, which means I'll get to be part of the community figuring it out. And I'm excited for that, cos that's a prospectively neat experience.

#personal #video games #God of War #Elden Ring

[waywardcosplays-blog]

Hey and help, tumblr people!

   Since I know y’all have an excellent taste in games and films/series I’m wondering if you have any cosplay you’d like to see me doing? Preferably something that fits me (unlike those awfully beautiful and strong women I tend to choose...), so the picture of me above is for reference

    I’m still planning to do Ciri (Witcher 3) and Lady Maria (Bloodborne) at some point -- as well as working and/or cleaning up my smaller cosplays (wearable/finished ones include: Yennefer, Margaery Tyrell, Sister Friede, Sirris of the Sunless Realms, the Fire Keeper, Major Kusanagi, BotW Zelda, Ramsay Bolton, and Jyn Erso and some others).

   I am looking for anything Norse/Scottish&Irish/medieval/renaissance/gothic/fantasy-related. As mentioned above, Soulsborne, Witcher, Dragon Age, GoT, anything going in that direction would be amazing! But I am open for anything as long as the design strikes me. It also doesn’t need to be a game or other media piece I know, for I can still play/watch it and see if I like the char; so don’t hold back!

   I will also gladly draw something small-ish for whoever’s suggestion I choose. The second pictures is a portrait I drew, so you’d get something along the lines of that if you’d like to :)

   Thank you ❁

#cosplay #cosplayer