#anyway dos2 is very cool

[prototypelq]

DOS2 has the best elves

They look like 2,5 meter high (not kidding, they are ridiculously high) twigs, and have arguably the best racial abilities in the game - a super effective combat ability and a great Corpse Eater talent, which gives all elves the ability to see/relive memories when licking/eating flesh of any living thing.

I really want to highlight two amazing stark moments from the second act of a six years old game, so beware some secondary quest, not exactly big spoilers below

In the second act of the game you can find an elf camp, where a lot of bandaged warriors will be. They are raiding the sawmill nearby, because the people running it have started cutting suspiciously wide trees. When you arrive, the elves are holding a ritual, and you either need the highest persuasion possible to enter, or an elf in your party. Inside the small camp you will see this burial rite for one of the fallen warriors.

Image transcription in case image quality get assasinated:

Narrator - *Three battle-weary elven warriors make ritual over the body of a fallen comrade, their chanting low and fierce, the pain of their losses manifest in every word.* Tovah - Blood to earth to wood to birth. The blood of Sarias to this earth. Sebille - [ELF] *Hold your tongue. You know not this Sarias.* Narrator - *The tallest, strongest elf, whom you take to be the leader, gives you a disapproving look, then turns away. She places the tip of a long-bladed spear on poor dead Sarias's chest-bone.* Tovah - Blood to earth. Narrator - *Her companions reach out and grasp the spear, ready to plunge it into Sarias's heart.* Tovah - Blood to earth! Narrator - *Together they plunge the blade deep into Sarias’s heart, then twist three times, in practiced motion. Blood flows freely to the ground, and Sarias's heart lies open to the world, neatly cut in four.* Tovah - Blood to blood! Narrator - *Each warrior plucks a piece of heart and places it in their mouth. Chewing solemnly, their leader looks to you to see what you will do.* Sebille - *Nod your head respectfully, but do not eat the flesh.* Narrator - *The elven leader gives you a curious look, then turns away.* Tovah - Sarias is a warrior, proud and true. Blood to blood. Earth to earth. Wood to wood. Birth to birth. Sarias becomes his tree. May Sarias take root. Narrator - *The elves pick Sarias's bloody corpse from the ground. Tovah looks to you... ...and the meaning in her glare is clear; you should not help. The elves send Sarias to his final resting place. His corpse rolls to a stop at the bottom of the pit. The elven leader stands and stares at her fallen comrade. Then she wipes away a tear, and turns away.*

I received great joy just by seeing this burial rite, but that's not the last of it! If you have the Spirit Vision ability unlocked, you can see the moment the ritual is finished, there will appear a spirit in a form of a tree in the place where they leave the body buried. He doesn't talk much, probably still coming to terms with shock and death and newfound tree spirit form, buuut at the sawmill, if you use Spirit Vision, you can find...this heartbreaking interaction to get a little further glimpse into elven culture

Image transcription:

Narrator - *A ghostly aura shrouds the log, along with a penetrating, icy cold.* Lohse - *Place your hand on the log.* Narrator - *Bitter cold shoots up your fingertips, through your arm, shoulder, neck, and into your brain. Your whole body contracts with the aching freeze... and a voice sounds inside of you.* Log - See what I see. Feel what I feel. Log - Look down. Lohse - *Do as the voice says and look down.* Narrator - *Where your feet should be, you see great, gnarled roots disappearing into a mossy forest floor. As this log once was, you are an Ancestor Tree.* Narrator - *As you examine yourself, you see the top of a small elven child's head as she approaches. She wraps her arms around you and rests her head against your great trunk.* Lohse - *Remember with her.* Narrator - *You pass her a memory. Once, you were her father. You pass her the softness you remember of her chubby cheeks; you pass her the warmth between you when you curled back-to-back to sleep.* Narrator - *A tear trickles from the child’s eye and onto your bark. She whispers that she loves you. She says she will come back tomorrow.* Log - You see? Narrator - *The child departs, and night falls. You hear voices and the dull thud of axes. A human approaches you and pats your trunk. He raises his axe and - * Log - You see? Narrator - *You lie in pieces on the forest floor. Rough hands toss you into a cart and haul you away.* Log - You see. You see what he does to me. You see he takes me from my life. You see he cuts me into parts. Log - You make him pay.

The elfwood is actually...a material you can use in this universe! I have no idea how, but I found some somewhere, I swear I didn't go elftree chopping. There is another extremely sad story tied to an elfwood, this one you encounter before this in the end of act 1. There is an entire BATTLESHIP, The Lady Vengeance, who was constructed from a single Mother Ancestor Tree, and her spirit has never left. She suffered through the construction, and worst of all, later her spirit inside the tree has been subdued and enslaved by some ancient magic.

(I have nothing against top-down camera view except for when it doesn't let me take shots of everything properly)

(the figurehead of the ship comes alive to talk to you, then she turns into her usual position)

I'm no Divinity lore expert, and to be fair this is just an upgraded Cameron's Avatar logic plus some blood and cannibalism, but this is very cool and I wanted to share, anyway I love DOS2 elves.

#THERE IS NO LADY VENGEANCE GIF ANYWHERE CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS #I SEARCHED FAR AND WIDE WHY IS THERE NO LADY VENGEANCE GIF #she looks amazing when she turns to talk to you and then back this must be gif-ed #anyway dos2 is very cool #dos2 #divinity original sin 2 #dos2 lady vengeance

[nightthinker-08]

lil DOS2 rant?

Le sighhhhhh Finally finished DOS2 again, and I do adore this game a lot and has easily become my favorite. I love the combat of the game and the implementation of magical and physical armor really makes you think on your builds and strategies. And I know some might disagree cuz not a lot like turn based combat apparently? The story is so rich from start to finish, absolutely no parts of it bored me. The dialogues are fun and witty, catching me off gaurd and making me laugh way more than I thought it would. And the characters are so well written, you fall in love with almost all of them, especially the origin characters and the people you sail with in Lady Vengeance. But for all that praise, whenever I think of the romance in the game I can't help but feel its more than a little lacking. I love the characters to death I, wouldn't've have played the game twice already and have over 200+ hours on it if I didn't- but interactions with them are so few and far between. You don't even have one quiet moment with them. Well... I mean you do get one moment alone with them, but to call it a quiet one would be so... hilariously untrue for a number of reasons Anyway me being me took the little romance I can get in stride on my first play through, thinking "oh if I progress their quest they give me important dialogue!" So I focused a lot on the one person I wanted to romance (it was Sebille) and absolutely eating up any romantic dialogue that pops up (most of them catching me off gaurd cuz again we didn't talk much through out our journey and suddenly she's cozying up on me-). Only to have missed a lot in my first playthrough (not really a big complaint cuz I like you can do a lot of different things to get to the same point), and accidentally not progress one of my companions stories and have a small betrayal at the end. But then by the end of it all, while the ending I got was mostly happy, the ending I had with my chosen partner was absolutely bittersweet. While yes- I did make a lot of mistakes in my first game cuz I had no idea what the hell I was doing :D So it could absolutely be chalked up to me just missing a lot of key things to ensure a better ending with us. Hence why I played it twice in a row, and believe me I missed A LOT especially in forth joy, the first chapter. I tried my best to be as thorough as I can. Exploring every inch of them map, talking to almost every NPC I come in contact with, finishing every quest in my log book, talking more instead of fighting to get more dialogue. And while I can safely say I was absolutely more thorough this time round, I'm pretty sure I still missed a few things. Its a long ass game- there are a lot you need to keep track of, and I can be very forgetful. But I think I completed well enough to know this is the general scope of what an average player—or maybe not even averege, but a slightly more avid player—would get. So what did I get after all that? Well... Roughly the same ending with only minor differences... Was the entire game more different the 2nd time round cuz I knew what I was doing and found a lot of new and cool things through out that gave it more charm? 100%! Without a doubt! Did the companion I got together with get a happier ending? Also yes. But am I still a bit disappointed at romance and how that side plot ended? Sadly yes. Spoilers below for people who haven't played or haven't gotten to the end game.

So somewhere in the late game there's a choice to have Sebille rooted into the mother tree, I dont want to have to overly explain it but it basically bounding her to elven duties for the rest of her days and also she turns in a a tree once she dies :'Dc. Now I was an idiot and actually rooted her even when I had 2nd thought on it cuz I thought that was just her duty. And bit me in the ass at the end and was mostly what made the ending so bittersweet for me. She wasnt free yet we still loved each other so we had to part ways. Of course she said she'd always love me and never forget me before sharing a sweet kiss but it was still sad... Me being the simp I am I made a completely new game just to ensure she gets a happy ending (preferably together with my character) and she did and it was nice but... It made the whole end game conversation with her a lot shorter, it wasn't explicitly stated we'd stay together but in the epilogue nothing about our romance was mentioned. She was just happy traveling and living her best life and don't get me wrong- like Go girl! Live your best life! No need to get tied down! But I just wish the bond you form not just with your romance partner but with all your companions didn't feel like such a forgettable chapter of their life. There could have at least been a mention where at least one, or preferably all, of your party members would gather to together to meet up every now and again in the new world. Maybe its just makes me sad cuz I thought of my party as being a found family towards each other, so to see them be so ready to leave each other, split off and never talk to each other ever again really pained me. The origin characters are one, if not, my top reason I want to keep coming back to this game and replaying it but every time I just keep thinking of how it all ended, my heart sinks.

Minor complaints up ahead.

Poly? Where poly? No poly?? Give me the ability to romance both Sebille and Lohse you cowards!! so like at the end of my 2nd play through I made a save where one onf them I chose to be the new devine, made ifan sad and was generally a more sad ending- but also made me spilt with Sebille again cuz she was like "can a god mingle with us mortals?" and Im like oh shit so this is the wrong choice. So I reload my save and spread the source to everyone. and this time round it was happy again but she was still like " what happens with us is up to you" Like girl what you mean? We're on even playing field neither of us have responsibilities we're both free, what am I missing here? BUT ALSO SHE DOSENT KISS ME IN THIS ENDING?????? maybe I messed up the dialogue?? She says she wants me and love me but doesnt lean down for a kiss like my save before that or in my first game play either so I was left so confused-

another Sebille centered minor problem, after you kill her master her story kinda just ends there- Like there's nothing for her in Arx at all. And before you say it yes, we meet with Saheila when we get there, she's talking about elves wanting to rise up to start that war. And she just dismisses it and chalks it up to Saheila being insane(which you know true) but that's it? you don't want to figure out why your kin who's been through almost the same things we've been through suddenly underwent an over night change?? you aren't going to talk to the hostile elven people in arx?? People's opinion of you after killing the mother tree/ being prime scion doesn't get touched on here??? It just another one of my little disappointments in her story. She was very prominent at the start but nothing in Arx, which despite being the last chapter is still a long one. So to just have her there with nothing important to progress with her or our romance it just left me a lil bumed :/

#dos2 #divinity original sin 2 #rant #ramblings #Sebille #well this got longer than I expected it to be- #woops- #been gone for what like a month then I randomly drop a long as rant lol #still love and adore the game ofc

[rtnortherly]

Anyways, after 10 months of resisting I finally caved and got Elden Ring because why not acquire another game I’ll never finish? Its a reward for an incredibly taxing summer, that’s why, and I deserve a whole new world of minor ocs to get obsessed over. Besides, I started to rewatch my favourite streamers’ (strongly recommend Secret Sleepover Society if you want some incredibly cool, chill, funny streamers to watch) play through of it again and it looked so fun and cool and also I really wanted to explore more of the world and mechanics and lore for myself and figure what the deal is.

And indeed, so far I’ve been very much enjoying it. I like that I don’t feel particularly rushed by the narrative? I just got tossed in there, and now it’s like the game is shrugging at me and saying “I dunno, you figure it out” while also gently setting things up for me to figure out. I don’t know. I’ve been surprised to find I actually really love the ‘monotony’ of a game where you just gotta grind and get stronger by fending off swathes of enemies. I spent forever in Shadow of Mordor and Cyberpunk just… ignoring the plot to fight a guy.

Also I continue to have no access to BG3, and the day when I do is up in the air. So. Why would I go back to DOS2 or Cyberpunk or any of the other multi million games I’ve yet to finish, when I can commit crimes by tossing myself blindly into my first FromSoft/Souls-like game.

On another note:

An update on the art front: we’ve got a long weekend coming up which is the unofficial end of tourist season. I’m going to continue to take it easy until after that, and then try to get back into the swing of things. I’ve got a bunch of WIPs I’ve not had the emotional energy to dedicate much time to, and I might wanna do some sketches of Wallis (Tarnished), but I’m not going to make any promises, and in fact, I am actively negating any and all previous obligations for art I said I was going to do (except for the mermaid comic which is ever ongoing) I just… really need a clean slate and a clear head and a good reset for the well-being of the brain. And that means not feeling any pressure for a bit and then when I do start up again, I can do so freely.

In the mean time, if you’re bored here’s a side blog about Wallis

[doctormage]

So the game comes out next week so there is not much point getting early access to play early access at this point (the developers literally say don’t get early access to play early access now. Early access was intended as a taster and to let people give feedback on the mechanics and stuff so there’s gonna be slight differences to the way things go. Also downloading early access isn’t gonna make the full game download any shorter) however you can get early access now basically as a preorder which will give you the digital deluxe upgrade which has a ton of cool shit you can have (including several items inspired by dos2 characters). So basically if you want the game and want to get it I would recommend getting it now for the fun extras, but don’t get it planning to play early access because the full thing is out in a week and you might as well just wait for that. I HIGHLY recommend the game though. I’ve had early access for a while and I’ve gotten my moneys worth from that alone (i have like 150 hours in it) and it is less than a quarter of the full game.

so I did in fact impulse purchase ea pretty quickly after posting abt it LMFAO but I feel validated bc I looked up the extras and they seem rly cool. I also want to be able to fuck around in the cc and get familiar w the controls before I start an actual playthrough bc trying to balance figuring out what to do w actually paying attention to the story is always very frustrating to me when starting a new game. anyway thank you for the input it’s much appreciated!! even though I’m a clown who did not actually wait for advice before spending this money <3 lol

#my second run of all 3 da games went so much more smoothly and were more fun for me bc I had a better idea of what I was doing #like. just mechanics wise

[dyrwoodan]

i don't know what's going on, what am i supposed to do, how am i supposed to feel, who is my character, what happened, what are they talking about AND i'm not a huge fan of turn-based combat but. other than that. dos2 is aight. i’m intrigued. i like the design of elves and lizards.

#fern.txt #feels a lot like when i first played poe two years ago and then i abandoned it until february of this year lmao #idk. we’ll see how i fare in dos2. #i wanted to play some new game. just to see if i can still play new games or if i’m bound to play skyedrim for all eternity #oh man i played so much of it lately #anyway. i can’t even make a characterrrrrrr. don’t know which class to go for. #my heart soul and bones say bow/daggers as always but there are so many cool options i want to branch out a little #don’t know if i’ll be able to. knowing me. #and i'm actually so overwhelmed by how cool the design of elves and lizards is that i can't choose which to play as #and i'm thinking about simply playing as a hu-... huma-... ugh i can’t even say it #blah blah humans good whatever. i don't care what other people play as. You Do You. #i Personally in my most personal opinion do not like playing as a human if i can be anything else #but rn i can’t choose lmao and it’s hindering me. elves are EPIC but am i not playing an elf in every game ever #lizards are very very cool but i don’t know if i’ll be able to get into their character and way of life #i read a little bit of lore to have some more insight #sigh. i will end up with a bow/daggers elf won't i #this is futile

[rosenfey]

having two dos2 ocs really gets me thinking how great they would do in a team... tol elven necromancer girl with her even toler necromancer lizard best friend... basically necromancer girls unite

#ambie.txt #ambie plays dos2 #oc: alethea céleste #oc: shireen mahalien #hghnh i love them because they are both necromancers practicing the art from very similar reasons but they backgrounds are very different #shireen is a noble from house of law suffering from golden cage syndrome... functional tall... a distiguished lawyer™.. elegance personifie #alethea is a forest witch and a healer shunned by her peers for her source abilities... she once resurrected her dead cat #and was super proud of herself but everyone except for her parents thought she was dangerous and all the kids stopped playing with her #and its her own patients that turn on her in the end #hghn they would understand each other so well #even though shireen is a distinguished noble she has a golden heart and she would love alethea's warm presence and humour #it would be so cool of we could make two protagonists like in dos1 gjngfhn #anyway yyeah i have a soft spot for necromancers #and you can be sure that if there is an option to play as a necromancer in any given game i will #i just think they are neat! #(i have 4 necromancer ocs so far and i am not planning to stop ever)

[pentacass]

lyzenzed replied to your post “Divinity: Original Sin 2”

So, asking as a completionist, did you play the other Divinity games?I'm tempted to try the game on this recommend alone, but am also VERY glad I played DA Origins before playing DA2...

(dk if directed @ op but JUMPING IN ANYWAY)

I’ve played D:OS 1 & 2, and Divinity 2. And I wholeheartedly recommend all three. You can play DOS2 on its own first, cos it’s really great enough on its own, but there are tidbits you might appreciate if you’ve played the previous games, and there’s a character who appears in the end, who’s been in the previous games. tldr; YES DEFINITELY PLAY THE PREVIOUS GAMES

Divinity 2: play this for the lore, and it’ll help you understand that ^ character’s motivations better. This game’s a third-person action RPG, the combat’s a little dated (and fckin brutal for me at first), but a very enjoyable experience overall. The story is good, and the very end of its expansion will make you go, ‘Whoops’.(And I could flirt with a few girls as a girl myself, so that’s a plus. HA)

Divinity: Original Sin: Play this to get a feel of how DOS2 will be, get acquainted with the turn-based combat system, and learn to use your environment for advantages in combat. Because holy wow lemme tell you, DOS2 goes all in with its tactical combat. It took DOS’s combat system and fed it every kind of steroid known to man and alien kind. Also, this game’s unique cos you get to create 2 characters of your own, and choose dialogue options for both when they engage in conversation. That’s cool.

Divinity: Original Sin 2: Ok, I’m adding this here cos I am not freakin over how fucking good the combat system is. I LOVE IT. It makes you take into account distance and elevation and many other elements you can use during battle. It forced me (a ‘just whack em til they’re dead’ dumb barbarian) to plan my steps ahead of time, and take dozens of quicksaves in combat in case things go awry. Because things will go awry, and you’ll die if you’re a dumbass like me.

PLEASE PLAY IT. I BEG YOU TO PLAY IT. PLAY DOS2. IT’S REALLY THE SHINING GEM OF THE LOT

#lyzenzed #and tbh #dos2's storytellng made me look back on dragon age #and realise wow da's standards hv slipped huh

[prototypelq]

video game ask let's gooooo

5. Game(s) coming out that you’re looking forward to

12. A character you particularly like in the game you’re currently playing (or any other game really)

13. Quick, name the first song from a game that comes to mind

20. A boss you think is really cool

22. A game ending that’s really stuck with you

26. Realism or stylized?

Thank you for the gaming ask my beloved mutual! )))

5. That's a really tough one. While I do follow gaming news, I am not so attentive to actual game releases. Mostly because I have never really played on a 'current' platform. I have been using consoles for gaming most of my life, I played on x360 up to 2017, then I got a ps4, which was/is my most go-to platform till this year. This year was a change for me, because I finally surrendered to pirating at the beginning of the year, and played through a number of awesome low-spec indies that way. Though, I have been very lucky to get a new pc recently, and oh boy is this a big change for me. It's still crazy to think this machine can run something more than pixelart now xD (no disrespect to low-spec games in this house allowed, the more accessible the game the better, weak hardware optimisation my beloved)

I have also found a way to get past the payment blocks and have bought all those games I pirated, that was a big weight off my shoulders) So, uh, yeah. I don't follow releases. I would have said Alan Wake 2 is you asked earlier this year tho, CONTROL had me transform into a Sam Lake devoted follower xD I'll gladly watch a letsplay of it sometime soon, before I catch any spoilers. All the other game series I'm interested in are either on hiatus (Darksiders when), or the latest entry made me lose interest (Horizon 2. I love the world, so I'll follow the series anyway, but the story of the sequel is a mess I didn't like at all, and it doubled down on this new direction too). That was a long and roundabout way of saying I don't really look up to any new games currently, lol.

12. Currently - Lohse from the DOS2. This game has an extensive player character creator, however, you could play as basically one of the companions of the game, with full custom story and questline. And Lohse is a Very special case, as my dear bard woman is currently posessed)

The game has some amazing moments, where it will throw you a persuasion check to 'prevent you from throttling a character because the demon inside you didn't like them' for example. Funnily enough, in this moment in particular, if you succeed on the first check (which is hard to do early-game), if will throw you Another one with other stats to use. And Another. There's three persuasion checks in succession here, which is normally literally impossible to do, unless you mod the game to hell and leave the balance there as I did, and STILL this is the only option the dialogue will leave for you. Lohse becomes uncontrollable after this, and your other party members have to subdue her.

It's incredible, amazing time, 10/10. Other origin characters are great too, but I think this fourth-wall-meddling makes Lohse simply the best origin character to play as.

I also greatly enjoyed playing as Delsin Rowe in Infamous Second Son, I love that game, it's super fun and has great style, plus Delsin is adorable. He's a bit punk, he is witty, he is a geek, an artist and his grafitti-drawing mechanic is adorable.

Also Death from Darksiders 2. His parkour is superb, his abilities are super cool, he has an amazing horse, and he is Literally Death Rider Of The Apocalypse.

13. First song that comes to mind would be Bound Together, since I mentioned it a lot the last few asks...excluding that one, Subhuman + BTL, and Black Dog for the fun of it, All Is Soft Inside which was featured for a virtual concert of AURORA in Sky: Children of the Light (adorable game, which will hopefully come out sometime on pc, mutuals I would hold your hands in that game so. much.)

20. A really cool boss. Sorry King Cerberus and Vergil, you are cool by definition. The first that comes to mind is the Guardian fight from the Darksiders 2, which is honestly the most badass fight in the series. THAT MUSIC HITS SO HARD. And that finish animation, oh my, pure epic.

22. A game ending that’s really stuck with you. ooops already did a too-long and roudabout post about that one xD

26. Realism or stylized? Stylized anytime. Realism is honestly kind of boring, though I admit sometimes seeing your fave very detailed is cool. For example, dmc5 Dante design is my favourite out of them all, because it is finally (kind-of) down-to-earth. The game is about fighting demons and being cool about it, but the story is of human struggle and issues, and the character design finally reflects that. And I do enjoy the Impressive hair physics in Horizon games, but that's it for realism. Stylized is literally better in every possible way: it makes the design more flexible - it can be expressive or constrained, depending on your direction; it is cheaper to produce and easier to optimize and easier to run. Plus 'realism' is a forever-outdated style. Games that were considered 'realistic' in 90s, 00s and 10s don't look so realistic to us now. Even Delsin Rowe I mentioned above - he looks great, the motion capture and animation for the game looks awesome, but his face is kind of baby-smooth and the pupils of every character in the game are just a bit too-wide, it makes them all look like they all collectively had some hallucinogens xD. Meanwhile, stylised games can never go out of style, as they are the ones dictating it. Beyond Good and Evil still looks good, Fables look good, Psychonauts does too, etc. These games always exist in the state they were meant to be viewed in, while realistic games are always reaching for the not-really-but-sort-of unattainable standards, which change with time and available technology.

Stylized is Always. Better. In. Every. Way. Also make games optimized again and lower the hardware reqs. I swear, it's like every new title requires you to buy an entire basement full of rocket-science multi-computers, each with a videocard which name will make the math-lovers cry.

#this was fun to answer thank you) #mutuals my beloved #gaming #surprisingly a lot of darksiders snuck into this one xD #darksiders #infamous second son #dos2 #dos2 lohse #delsin rowe #darksiders death #sky cotl #that sky game

[rtnortherly]

Here to ramble about my dos2 AU comic I’m planning (I’ll probably just title it Good Intentions with a subtitle or something) because I live for long meandering train of thought posts.

So, to start with, I’m low-key redesigning some smaller elements of Loke and Arboren’s looks. Arboren is already super off model (referring to his game look). He’s a Conjuror in-game and tends to have bulkier armour & a shield, whereas what I draw him in what probably would work best as some kinda mage armour, probably. That’s mostly because I get really overwhelmed by armour and how it layers and effects mobility and when I first started drawing Arboren I was even less confident with it (drawing my Elden Ring Tarnished has only helped a little).

I made a post about how he looks in-game versus how I draw him before but for illustrative purposes I’ll add the images here.

And for fun, here’s an old armour redesign I did based on the whole idea that he’s scavenging armour piecemeal and how you can craft stuff with shells and driftwood and stuff:

I still really like it as a look but realized very fast that there’s a lot of detail there that I didn’t want to have to draw every time. All things considered, his orange and green look can be broken down into a handful of different parts, which is much easier to navigate than all those shells. And that wheel shield, which I still think is dope but is a nightmare to visualize.

I also don’t tend to draw him with a wand, but given that I don’t draw in-game scenes much, it hasn’t really been needed. It’s only been recently while doing comic stuff I realized I’d have to think about it.

Anyway.

Recently I did the black and white two page thing and made some more changes. Nothing big. I just decided that I couldn't be chuffed to draw the driftwood arm guards (I'm still so sick you guys it has been brutal) so I went with one super long fingerless glove, and none on the other arm as to not interfere with the golden arm band I draw on Arboren (what is it there for when he's a poor escaped convict, you ask. For fashions I say. Because I love asymmetry.) Might decide to give a shorter wristlet or something for a bit more balance though, who can say.

And then, since I was messing with the outfit anyway, I did this rough sketch of Arboren with a head band solely because I'm always wrestling with drawing his hairline:

Realized after the fact that I didn't draw the horn headpiece that he has in-game, which isn't uncommon. I'm prone to leaving them out depending on how I feel. They clearly aren't part of elven biology, so I get confused about how they're attached?? Or if I'm reading the model wrong???

I'm not right?

But it did get me to thinking: this is an au. I could just give the elves fun little satyr/faun horns. To compensate for the fact that I never draw the (really so so cool and I do love it as a feature) skin texture they have that kinda gives them that wooden look?? Y'all know what I mean? I never draw that because, again, that's a detail I knew I would have a hard time replicating repeatedly (it's not being lazy, it's being "efficient". yeah).

Did I consider going full crazy person mode and just making them some kinda faun/satyr? Yes. Have I completely given up on the idea... not entirely. Will I maybe doodle that when I'm done with this? Tempting. Because If I'm going au... why not go ham with it?

Which brings me to some plot things. And this is really just me "talking out loud" so to speak, so I can get things straight in my head. Y'all are being my rubber ducks or whatever.

So, years ago now, I actually started to draw out panels of my fanfic. Mostly just the segments that focus more on Loke and Arboren, and I got part way through fully colouring it and my will died.

^Proof

I kept all the plans which was a large segment of chapter one, and now, having done aforementioned black and white things which is from chapter three, I have a large chunk of that chapter too (I planned way more panels than I needed but that was all mentioned in another post. Or at least the first part of it before the two really get in the weeds talking.

So that made me think I wanted to say heck to heck, why don't I just cave and start making a comic about these two? I've only been dancing around the idea for the last Two Years or whatever. I know I have Uncanny in the Grove going on at the moment, and a million other things I want to do, and UitG at least I think I can keep on doing alongside its illustrations on top of a side comic thing. It's just... I keep coming back to these two, anyway. I know what I want from drawing them so I'm not going to do the thing I always do where I get bogged down by the design of the characters while I have a plot just waiting for me to get my shit together. Like, I know these two and they give me joy to draw so i might as well just stick to it. especially now that I'm wrangling things down to a more simple style that I could maybe manage long term.

To reiterate a point, I made in a previous post... somewhere... here or on bluesky idk, this is an AU which won't involve Source, or Godwoken or Sourcerers or any of that. While I love fan fiction I've never been very good at just... retelling a plot that has already happened. Even the written drabble series I have for them always took place, like, off-screen of the game if that makes sense. The only really tie over was Loke's pejudice and background as a Magister, and Arboren's role as someone victimized by the Magister's so it feel feasible to me. I just... as far as plots go, that feels like a very big one, unless I literally just illustrate moments in time outside the canon game plot as I have been doing in my written fic. But to do that I'd actually have to finish the game (I will eventually I'm just really bad at playing games consistently) and I know myself well enough to know that if I put even one more step than absolutely necessary between me and a thing, it starts feeling insurmountable.

Now how do you write about these two when the entire premise of their relationship is that Loke is deluded by "duty" and a mob-like fear/superstition, and Arboren is viscerally unwilling to be imprisoned and violated by a system which is so corrupt it isn't even funny.

But transplanting Loke's duty and delusion (the fact that it was Source never felt super intrinsic to his character, more that bad things were happening in the world and his fear made him make dumb uninformed choices and he got all weird and fanatical about it which... its never really about the reason in those situations, just the reaction) onto some other problem, and by focussing down on the kind situation the elves were in. The whole lore surrounding the elves in dos2 was super fascinating to me (MY DUDES WERE FORCE FED PERSON MEAT TO UNCOVER ENEMY SECRETS IN HORRIFIC BASTARDIZATION OF A SACRED PRACTICE WHAT THE FU-).

Now... I've got some ideas. The issue is that it'll be a stretch to make it fit with all the comic stuff that I have already roughly drawn. Which was the whole reason I even came around to doing this. So. IDK, maybe I'll just line those out and post them and be done with it (I don't wanna some of them are already coloured) maybe I'll let it be another side project that I work on sporadically and update once in a blue moon like the mermaid au. Maybe I shall embrace the oldest and most noble of Drawfee sayings and Delete My Art and just start afresh. Who can say? Not me. That would require decisiveness lol.

In the meantime I'm going to go draw Arboren as a Satyr/faun and consider other ways I can skew this even more into AU because I have zero restraint.

#rt rambles #good intentions #arboren and loke #writing stuff #art stuff