#bottom two are like all I had him in my first playthrough

[messrmoonyy]

Not to toot my own horn here but all my fits I have Arthur in are just. Chefs kiss

#messrs lil rambles #this isn’t a capture post this is just me fawning #top left is the one I’m using most this playthrough #bottom two are like all I had him in my first playthrough #but bros serving #truly I am just running around playing dress up Arthur simulator #Arthur Morgan #red dead redemption 2 #rdr2

[ishaslife]

Astarion has been breaking my poor heart.

This post will contain spoilers for the game and Astarion's romance/backstory. Before anyone comes at me, I want to say that you are the main character, you are supposed to change the fates and behaviours of your characters, especially if you are romancing them. It's a video game, that's kind of the point.

This post is extremely long and I apologise.

This analysis is based off my playthrough.

(*) means check notes at the bottom of the post.

I wasn't expecting to like him as much as I do. Don't get me wrong, I really liked him during EA and I thought he was funny, charming, flirty with a dark past and all that was just a means to cover his trauma but since the full game has come out and we've gotten to know more of him, it truly breaks my heart to see and know what he has been through. My sister and I were watching his reactions to be being rejected, being told that Tav only wants sex and forcing him to do things he doesn't want to do, it is truly heart-wrenching.

Many people expected Astarion to be this "I am so sexual and my romance will mostly be sex, also I will betray you the first chance I get." and it couldn't be further from the truth. Astarion is extremely loyal, and yes he has that air of flambouncy to him, will often make japes and say evil things but most of the time, it is just a facade. It's his shield in a way, he has been treated with utter cruelty for two hundred years of his life and now that he finally has some control over himself, he doesn't wish to be hurt again.

I don't think Astarion is ever completely evil, even in the beginning. He just wants to have fun and enjoy life after so many years of slavery. He likes it when you are snarky, say mean shit to people for fun but, he doesn't like to see innocents get hurt, and he doesn't support fighting for people who don't fight for themselves. Yes, he will support some of your evil decisions but they will lead to a bad ending, for you and your characters. It'll make Astarion wallow more in his greed and he'll lose the little humanity he has left. He doesn't really have a clear sense of direction in the beginning of the game as he's just found freedom and obviously wants to live life to the fullest, being evil comes naturally to him, it's instinct as its what he's been doing for two centuries.

This is my assumption since we don't know his actual age but since he's an elf who was well-respected in society, had a pretty prestigious job and was rich enough to be corrupt. I'd assume he was at least 70-100 years old before he was turned into a spawn. (EDIT - in a recent post by @deluxetrashqueen I saw the translation of the dates of birth and death on his tombstone:

"Astarion Ancunin

229-268 DR" to which he adds, "458DR - "

which shows that he was only 39 at the time of his death, which explains his emotional immaturity for an elf.) My point being, I believe he has been a spawn for longer than he's ever been a regular person. He has spent the longer part of his life doing evil things for an evil man, that was what his life was on a daily basis with Cazador. And his former work experience probably helped, he likely learnt pretty quick how much he took for granted as a living person and the harshness of his master, peers and people he seduced made him harsh and unforgiving in return.

Once you start getting close to him, you start to learn that he is only mean to people because of how life has treated him. In his romance, he says "no one ever looked out for me, no one ever said a kind word to me. You're the only one, no one is like that." Astarion starts to see, because of you that there is kindness in the world, and he finds kindness in you. Especially after his quest, as much as he'd hate to admit it, he also sees friends in your other companions as they do in him. By the end of Act 2, he starts to get more soft towards you and the decisions you make, often even disapproving of evil decisions. People often tend to forget that a lot of Astarion's evil personality is a front, it is not who he truly is.

These points will be better explained individually so I will talk about some themes.

Power: power plays a big part in his entire storyline. In the beginning, he wants to harness the powers of the tadpole to become powerful and at first, you think that it's simply because he's an evil character and he wants power for the sake of having it. Then later, he wishes to take over the power of the ascendant but mostly only to spite Cazador and take something important from him, not fully realising the true power of the rite.

As he slowly starts opening up to you, he tells you "the mind flayers tore me from that place" and you realise that its the tadpole that let's him walk in the sun, do things a vampire or spawn would never be able to, you learn that he hates being a vampire because he can't even remember what he looks like. He seeks power outside because he has had no power over himself for about two centuries, he thinks that having this power will fulfill his needs but it won't, we know it won't because in truth he only needs to reclaim his autonomy, physical and mental. Of course Astarion would never truly admit to this for a long while, even when he's romanced. I personally really love his good romance arc where he doesn't have sex with you, not because he dislikes you or doesn't want you but because, as he says "any kind of intimacy was something I performed to lure people back for him. While I know things between us are different... being with someone still feels tainted. It brings up all those feelings of disgust and loathing." He has spent 200 years or so bowing to Cazador's whims, done things to people he didn't want to do and I assume since it's heavily hinted at, were very sexual in nature. In a relationship, he simply wants to be seen as a person and I think that's really sad because that's how low the bar is for him.

In the ending of his quest, you can persuade him and tell him that going forth with the ritual won't set him free even if he thinks it will and I agree. If he's a slave to Cazador now, later he'd be a slave to power and greed. Just look at Cazador, despite being one of the most powerful beings in existence, he still wanted more power. That kind of greed and hunger never ends and Astarion would lose himself and who he has become while he was with us. Yes, it makes him walk in the sun again and do things a regular vampire can't but at what cost? 7,000 lives and his humanity. He would never be able to enjoy this "freedom" because he'll only strive to seek more power. In his ascendant ending, he becomes everything he's ever hated about Cazador, the cycle repeats itself, from Vellioth to Cazador and from Cazador to Astarion. And it will never end. Astarion even refuses to turn you into a vampire and wishes to keep you only as a spawn. With an insight check, you can learn that he thinks you're degrading yourself and he doesn't care. He now sees you as something to own, something to possess, not love. All his good qualities, wants and needs get twisted. Astarion truly only needs to feel like a person again but he doesn't fully realise this until you show it to him, through good deeds and actions, through simple acts of kindness. As he says in his "good" ending "I've been dead in the ground enough. It's time to try living again. With all that life has to offer."

Safety: Astarion wants to feel safe. He is so scared of being found by Cazador, he knows he's looking for him and the only thing giving him some form of safety from Cazador is the tadpole so of course he wants to harness its powers that is until he finds out it'll turn him into another kind of monster, a mind flayer. He doesn't wish to lose himself and his freedom again hence is vehemently against taking on the tadpole's powers but he doesn't stop you because that is of course, your decision to make. He says "if such power would please you, darling, I won't stop you. But do be careful, I want you to remain you." Now the only thing left that can properly give him his freedom is Cazador's death and he wants to kill him himself which I think is perfectly acceptable, Cazador deserves to die and if it is by Astarion's hands, all the better. But, in his romance, he makes it clear that he's doing it for safety, and he tells himself that he wants to take the power of the rite for safety as well because in truth, he is terrified of being powerless again. He does want revenge yes, but he also wants to keep you and himself safe from Cazador, even in the dungeon, if you run an insight check, the narrator tells you that he is losing his mind because of the power that's on offer and the smell of blood in the air. It's almost as if to say "he's losing his mind, please stop him before he forgets who he is." Astarion NEEDS your guidance*, eventually he even thanks you for 'saving him from himself.' In his good ending, he sees that in taking the power, he would be no better than Cazador and would become everything he's ever hated about him, and inflict on others what his former master inflicted on him, starting with you. His ascendant ending is honestly a very sad ending for his character, all that growth, change and development you bring to him throughout your journey just gone down the drain as he becomes an unfeeling, evil, narcissistic arsehole who only craves for more power. In his good ending, he will be safe, with you and with the friends he has made along the way. He is proud of himself and so is everyone else, it offers him a kind of friendship that's afforded to very few in the D&D world, especially a vampire/spawn whose very existence is hated. It is a bond based on trust, loyalty and to a degree, even love instead of fear like in the ascendant ending.

Abandonment and Fear: Astarion is driven by fear but he also knows facing Cazador is inevitable and something he needs to face rather than avoid. Even if he isn't outright seeking it (but he does seek it) I think he is braver than he likes to think and he definitely has some anti-hero traits. He likes the tadpole because it helped him get away from Cazador's authority and he enjoys bending others to his will since it makes him feel more powerful compared to how he's felt the past two centuries. But if you choose to not do the same, he doesn't really care. He doesn't except it of you nor is he disappointed (since he neither approves or disapproves. He only disapproves helping people who didn't ask or didn't want to be helped) he only gives a snarky comment or two about what he would've done instead and follows you anyway. He realises you're a good person. If you indulge too much however, I would argue that he agrees simply because he doesn't want you to turn against him. Perhaps he believes that you can turn on him and kill him as easily as you killed the tieflings or other innocents. He probably thinks it's easier to turn a good person evil than an evil person, good (tbh he wouldn't be entirely wrong.) And making bad choices does negatively affect his character of course but I just thought I'd put that out there as I think it's very likely for him to do so. He is definitely extremely paranoid, he hardly ever says how he truly feels out loud but when you break up with him (it's so heartbreaking omg) he says "I was beginning to think someone truly wanted me. I shouldn't have deluded myself." and "From the start, I was rather counting the hours until it was going to end. Midnight chimes, eh?" As heartbreaking as it is, the latter line shows how terrified he was of being abandoned or only be used for his body, he kept obessesively worrying that Tav would leave him after he bore his heart out to them. There's another bit of dialogue in Act 1 where he is trying his lines with you to get you to sleep with him a second time and you can say no which he is fine with but if you outright reject him there, meaning "I never want to see you like that again" he gets extremely sad: "Well, excuse me while I die of a broken heart. [slight chuckle] In all honesty, it's a shame. That time was special to me. I've gotten on my back 10,000 times or more and forgotten half of them. But you, I'll remember. [long pause] Have a fine evening... dear." Mind you, this is after you've only slept with him once. His dialogue makes it seem like he was already catching feelings for you, and not realising that himself until this happens. Seeing this made me realise that you're the first person he's slept with of his own volition, even if it was to seduce you. For the longest time, I think Astarion doesn't even want to believe you'll like him as something more than someone to sleep with, he hopes you might as his rejection line says so but astarion is nothing if not careful and well, paranoid.

That's why he's so shocked when you choose to not let him bite Araj at Moonrise even if it gave you something powerful in return. He sees that you chose his comfort over a genuinely useful commodity. Biting people or using his vampire, well, anything makes him extremely uncomfortable since it reminds him of things he needed to do for Cazador. If he bites her, it makes him feel like being a slave again, but bending to your will and wishes instead of his former master's. He realises he doesn't know how to say no. Which is another thing he says if you wish to pursue only a sexual relationship with him. He feels played.

Freedom: this is probably the main theme to his character arc. He wants to be free, not only from his master but also free to make right decisions and make decisions for himself, something he hasn't been able to do for years. This is why respecting his decision to not sleep with you is important to him, he doesn't feel comfortable being physically close to someone in a sexual way as it makes him doubt the person's true intentions and feelings and of course, makes him feel loathsome and disgusted with himself. He needs that time where you just connect as people to really see that you are in fact genuine and he wouldn't be hurt if he trusted you or gave you his heart. Towards the end of the game, he is still quite ruthless, but mostly only towards people who do wrong and are criminals. Astarion has a very strong set of ideals, he believes that people who do wrong deserve to die no matter the crime. I don't think this is entirely true, every crime deserves a different punishment but most criminals, those who do severe wrong and still get away with it, do deserve to die but this is just my opinion of course. He is ruthless towards bad people because that's how people have been to him, at least Cazador and I wouldn't be surprised if he was treated badly during his sexual encounters with strangers while working for him.

Why I think the Ascendant ending is a tragic ending for Astarion's character and for you.

I won't lie, there are some aspects of ascended Astarion that are pretty hot and I'm a sucker for (pun absolutely intended) powerful, gothic vampires but this ending comes at the cost of way too much. One simply being: Astarion isn't Astarion anymore. All his snarkiness, playful nature and strange innocence is gone. In his ascendant ending, that is, when he takes the power of the Rite of Ascension for himself by carving the same rune on Cazador's back that's on his own, Astarion loses himself. In D&D lore, full vampires are unfeeling, ruthless and have all their good traits twisted into something more malignant and evil. If Astarion loved you, that love turns into possession, if he cared for you, it turns into obsession. He doesn't truly care anymore... as a vampire, he is manipulating you and telling you things you want to hear instead of what he's actually feeling. He never truly got that moment of catharsis by killing Cazador as he does in his spawn ending. That simple bliss of killing the man that enslaved him and worse all these years; he never gets to experience that because he ends up using Cazador for the same power Cazador killed Vellioth for in the past, albeit worse. It's a never-ending cycle. And if he turns you into his spawn, you will go through the same fate Astarion went through and probably turn on him the same way he turned on Cazador. He has absolutely no sympathy for you or for anyone that is not him, in fact he feels almost disgusted by you because he thinks you're degrading yourself in front of him. There is a conversation between him and if you refuse to become his spawn, and I think it sums up his character perfectly as a vampire, it goes like this:

(choosing different options will have different dialogues but they more or less lead to him saying the same thing.)

ASTARION: Just so you know, I have everything I've ever wanted. Everything lies ahead. I can see my path to a waking dream. From the Crimson Palace, I will govern day and night. Create a city of spawn who bow before me, cast a fog over the world for my children.

TAV: But the Palace halls will be lonely.

ASTARION: You'll be lonelier than I. Very soon I will discover how to call my legions of wolves, become a sea of mist, run wrongside-up on roofs. [laughs] Everything vampires do best.

You could have, too. [sniggers] What a waste.

TAV: You don't really have anything at all.

ASTARION: I can take anything I want. I should've made you a spawn just to teach you that.

And there we have it, that last bit of dialogue shows how Astarion is now everything he hated about his own master. He is Cazador's literal and spiritual successor, he thinks you need to be punished for rejecting him. He doesn't feel for you anymore, at least not in a human way. He has become someone else entirely, for the worst. His drive for taking the power of the rite was to be able to walk in the sun again but as a full vampire, he wants to "dominate it (the world) until the sun melts and give ourselves over to the night."

Astarion NEEDS change, he needs to see that the world can be a kinder place than the one he's lived in this whole time. Just a bit of care and love with him goes a long way. In his spawn ending, he comes to realise that you gave him his life back even if it was as a spawn because that is true freedom. He is free from his master, and greed & power which was in the disguise of safety. He may never be able to walk in the sun, but he is free to make his own decisions that are driven by his choices. One of them being; wanting and loving you, living a full life with you, whatever that may entail.

If you went into the game thinking that Astarion will betray you no matter what then giving him the ascendant ending brings your fears to life. Astarion doesn't learn anything, by making him a full vampire, you basically tell him that he can only be powerful and worth something if he has super vampire powers, and in turn, you lose everything too. Astarion may have gained unparralled strength but now he has no need of you, you gave him everything he wanted and nothing he needed so now he can do whatever he wants with you because you are lesser than him, literally, he is much stronger than you are and his power will only grow as he discovers more of it. He tries to manipulate you into turning you into a spawn. A dialogue being:

TAV: After everything you went through with Cazador, you're going to make me a spawn?

ASTARION: Oh that was completely different, I'd never hurt you. I love you. That's what you've been waiting to hear, isn't it? That's what you want?

Which just shows you how he's only saying "I love you" because that's what you want to hear, so you agree to becoming his spawn. He doesn't mean it, it doesn't really have any feeling behind it whatsoever. And if he turns you into a spawn, you have basically lost everything. Because he is obsessive over you, he'll never let you go and since now he is properly evil, he likely won't turn you into a vampire either, even if he says he will.

This is just my take on the ending though, I think we can all agree the ascendant ending is the evil ending for his character, even if it is an ending you prefer. I'm not trying to hate on anyone who does like this ending, only stating that I think it is meant to be evil and I personally don't like it.

CONCLUSION

Once you get to truly know Astarion, he's a pretty decent guy. I can't speak much for people who didn't romance him, I'm not entirely sure how his non-romance route plays out. The good conclusion of his quest is so wholesome, where he says he feels "truly, honestly free" and tells you "you saved me from myself. This is a gift, you know, thank you. I won't forget it." getting full circle to the first time you let him bite you (the only time in my case.) It shows so much character development and pure joy in the way he thanks you (it doesn't need to be said but props to Neil Newbon for bringing the character to life.) He will always be a spawn and yet, he feels like "anything and everything is possible" because of you and the choices you made with him, you believed in him when he didn't believe in himself, you showed him that he is enough just the way he is and he doesn't need to become a full vampire to be strong and powerful. Astarion comes out of his finale, a much more positive person, who actually cares even if he won't show it and the best part is, he always keeps that tiny streak of evil and mischief within him. He hasn't lost sight of himself, he's just less spiteful now and feels free to actually enjoy life rather than constantly being scared of what might happen to him. He finds trust and happiness in you and it makes him happy that you find the same within him. You are his home and he hopes he is yours.

I understand that my analysis may not be perfect and my interpretation of the character may be different from someone else's but that's fine, he is a video game character that can be played so many ways and people can go around it however they like, interpret his character however they wish. This is just what I think.

NOTES

'Astarion needs your guidance.' - no, this is not gaslight-y. Astarion is a deeply troubled character and clearly finds it hard to differentiate between right and wrong. He often asks for your input and what you think by Act 2 which isn't a bad thing, he's asking for help and I think that shows how far he's come. In the final scene of his quest, he is overcome by the promise of power and the safety it would've provided which would've consumed him as it did Cazador, Astarion admits to this himself too later on once he can think clearly and is in a more positive mindset. There is nothing wrong with guiding your partner towards something that will eventually be better for their growth as a person in the long run.

#astarion analysis #forgotten realms #astarion and tav #astarion x tav #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate #astarion bg3 #bg3 astarion #astarion baldur's gate 3 #astarion baldurs gate #astarion x mc #tav x astarion #astarion romance #bg3 #astarion #astarion baldur's gate

[godsandvillains-if]

I've been debating who I was going to romance. But knowing that Archon looks like Henry Cavill and Stardom like a combination of Charlie Hunnam and Austin Butler (although I prefer the former more than Butler) I decided my first playthrough would involve romancing them both.

For the second I'll go with Ace, because daddy. Of course. Also, I love the idea of himbo MC and daddy Ace (especially with my MC being taller than him), so I have to try it. It does not help me that Ace has a metal arm, I don't know why metal arms are hot but they are.

Then for the third I'll go with another poly, but with Paladin and Wildcat this time. Mostly because, as much as I like Wildcat, my MC is also 100% submissive, so that's not going to work if they are on their own. And, while I could romance Paladin on his own, I like his dynamic with Wildcat too much to not allow them to end up together, either with MC or not. I also find so funny Paladin having to contend with two needy bottoms. Especially so because my MC is a foot taller than Wildcat (and also a lot taller than Paladin, but less than a foot if I remember correctly, as I made my MC having the tallest possible height the game allows).

The thing about this IF is that almost all routes have to many potential and are interesting, so I just knew I have to play many of them. The problem was deciding the priority, I think.

I mean, Stardom was originally the spitting image of Charlie, but after seeing Dune, I just had to include Austin, you know 😏😏

And my go-to MC in every game is also a submissive himbo. Great minds think alike 🤣

Paladin will need to have A LOT of patience and energy to deal with both the MC and Wildcat at the same time hahaha

Thanks for the question!! 🥰

#if: gods and villains #ask #ros

[its-jaytothemee]

Tonight...And Every Night - Chapter 7

Pairing: Astarion x Tav, Halsin x Tav; Astarion and Tav POVs

Word count: 2,000; Chapter 7, Tav POV

Rating: Mature

Read on AO3

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Summary: Tav fails to convince Astarion to reject the Rite of Profane Ascension and refuses to help him complete it. He leaves her and the party, but regrets his choices later. Angsty and fluffy, POVs from both Astarion and Tav.

Tags: Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Spawn!Astarion, Angst w/ Happy Ending

Author's Note: This was inspired by my playthrough where I somehow failed all of the persuasion checks for Astarion after the Cazador fight, leaving me obviously devastated. Much longer chapter incoming!

Tav stood completely still, barely breathing. She blinked a few times, worried that this may be an illusion.

“How long have you been there?” She asked, releasing her held breath.

“Long enough.” Astarion paused. “Did you mean what you said?” He asked quietly.

She continued staring at him, saying nothing.

“When you said you could forgive me.” His voice was soft and hopeful.

“That depends on what you say next.”  Her pain seeped into every syllable of her words. She was barely able to get them out before the tears came back into her eyes. Her fingers dug deeper into Halsin’s hand.

“Fair enough.” He took a deep breath before continuing.

“Tav…I’m…” He paused for a moment and let out a large sigh, “I am so sorry. Words alone will never heal the suffering I caused you today. What I said was unforgiveable, even more so because it was you. You didn’t betray me, I betrayed you. I was blinded with my desire for revenge, I don’t know what came over me…I…” He started to stammer, his eyes darting between her and the ground in front of him.

“You were the first person in two hundred years to show me a shred of compassion, and I was grateful. But I never dared to dream that you could love someone like me. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even believe that love was real. To me, it was just a fairy tale to help everyone sleep better at night, to keep them hopeful. Then…there was you.” He paused, looking down at his hands, still stained with Cazador’s blood. Tav watched him carefully, watching his expressions and listening closely to the tone of his voice.

“I understand if you never want to see me again,” he continued, lifting his head back up to look into her eyes, “but if you’ll give me one last chance, I promise you I will work to be the person you see in me. I…I want to be someone you can be proud of; I want to be someone who deserves you, Tav. I want to learn to live again – with you if you’ll have me. And if I can’t have that, I would happily start over with you from the beginning, as friends, as travelling companions. I cannot fathom the idea of no longer having you in my life. I’d rather live a thousand years having you as an acquaintance than live another day knowing I could never see your face again.”

Her bottom lip was quivering as the tears kept flowing down her cheeks.  She still couldn’t bring herself to move.

“But know this Tav,” he continued, “if you ask it of me, I will leave. I will find my way back into the shadows, and I will not trouble you again. It would be nothing less than what I deserve. I simply could not have lived with myself if I did not tell you how I feel.” The next breath he took was much shakier, and Tav could see that he was crying now.

“I…I love you, Tav. You didn’t take everything from me, you are everything to me.” When he looked back up to her, his soft, red eyes were a silent plea. The tear streaks on his face tinted with dried blood. She desperately searched his face for any signs of deception, but as far as she could tell he just looked terrified.

Suddenly, a memory came creeping back to her, the dark air around her transforming into swirling shadows.

The camp was silent, Tav couldn’t sleep and had decided to check the fires around the perimeter of camp. She didn’t think she would ever get used to the eerie darkness of these shadow cursed lands. A small whimper from somewhere behind her caused her to jump as she adjusted a torch. Grabbing the dagger at her belt, she slowly worked her way toward the sound. To her surprise, the sound was coming from Astarion’s tent. She stowed her dagger, and quietly pushed her way inside.

“Astarion?” She asked gently, reaching her hand out to rest on his back. Her fingers lightly ran across the slightly raised skin that made up the infernal scars on his back. He startled awake at her touch, breathing heavily.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. It’s just me.” She tried to keep her voice as soothing as possible.

Even so, the look on his face was one of pure agony. She gave him a moment to process his surroundings. As his breathing slowed and he seemed to recognize that he wasn’t in any danger, he was finally able to speak.

“Oh, hello darling.” He said, still slightly out of breath. “Is something the matter?”

She looked at him, confused.

“No, everything’s okay, I just heard sounds coming from your tent and came to check on you.” She said, trying to avoid upsetting him further.

“Ah…I see…well…” he leaned back, seemingly trying to gather his thoughts, “as you can see I’m perfectly…fine.” He paused for a long moment before the word ‘fine.’ She watched as his face fell again, and she realized that he was afraid.

Tav tentatively reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. He ever so slightly leaned into her touch. She still wasn’t sure how much intimacy he was comfortable with. She didn’t want to push him, but she was aching to hold him, to let him know he was safe. While lost in her thoughts, Astarion suddenly lunged at her, throwing his arms around her waist and squeezing her tight. She returned the gesture, happily. He cried into her shoulders, taking ragged, gasping breaths. His arms were shaking, he desperately clung to her as if she was the only thing anchoring him to this plane. She softly stroked his back and his hair, doing whatever she could think of to try and calm him.

“You’re…you’re alright.” He sobbed into her shoulder.

“Of course I am, I’ve just been in my tent trying to rest.” She continued to hold him tight against her, still slightly confused.

“It…it was Cazador. He had you…” He took a deep gasping breath. “He made me watch as he carved…you were screaming.”

“I’m alright, my love. It was only a dream...” She held his trembling body close to her until his breathing returned to normal.

 Astarion hardly talked about Cazador. From what little she knew, it was easy to tell that he was a masochistic lunatic. What she didn't realize was that even without being able to control him, he was still able to torture Astarion from afar. He haunted his dreams even while miles away, unable to touch him. She knew he had suffered greatly at his master's hands, but just now realized how truly tormented Astarion's soul was as he held her tightly. He didn’t only fear for his own life, but that of anyone he dared to care about.

It was now that she realized that this was going to take a significant amount of time to heal, and that the healing couldn't truly start until Cazador was dead and gone. He would carry the scars of his torment for the rest of his life, constantly reminding him of that time. A pain stabbed at her chest, suddenly anxious that she couldn’t truly help him, that maybe he was too far gone. What could she possibly offer to offset two hundred years of pure malice? She laid him down next to her on the bedroll and held his head to her chest, still stroking his hair.

“Will you stay?” He managed to croak out between his shallow breaths.

“I’m right here with you. I’ll always be right here with you.” She whispered the promise into his ear. She also made another promise, silently. I’ll help you get through this, my love. You’ll live freely again, I promise.

Tav was suddenly back at their camp, the cool evening air was causing small bumps to rise on her arms. She found herself looking back into Astarion’s pleading eyes and faced with another choice.

Her mind was spinning. She never expected that he would actually come back, but was it enough? She kept her gaze locked on him as she thought through their time together. He had come so far, but still had so much further to go. He had used her and manipulated her for his own gain. But he had also dove in front of arrows for her, he stood up for her when others sought to cross her boundaries even though he couldn’t set any of his own. Despite everything, he still followed her, helped her, and believed in her. She knew that he had never known an ounce of leniency or forgiveness in his long life, yet here he was. Trusting and hoping that she would be the first person to give it to him. He knew all too well that she could crush him right here and now. He knew there was a possibility that she would be the proof he needed that he wasn’t worthy of redemption. He had to know that there was a very good chance she would send him away forever. And he still came back.

Yes, she was angry, she was still hurt, but in that moment, she was also so godsdamned proud of him. She thought back to her silent promise, her worry that she had nothing to offer him. Now what she could see as easily as the familiar lines on his face, was that he needed to feel forgiveness. He needed to know that he wasn’t alone, and if he would allow it, he would never have to be again. Halsin’s words rang in her ears, she didn’t want to think of her kindness as a weakness anymore.

She let go of Halsin’s hand and took small steps forward, slowly closing the gap between her and Astarion. Only a couple of steps away now, she was still not fully convinced that this wasn’t all some elaborate illusion. She hesitantly reached out her hand to touch his cheek, just to prove that it was really Astarion standing in front of her. The familiar feel of his cool, smooth skin greeted her fingers. He turned his face into her hand, closing his eyes. With that, she couldn’t hold back any longer.

Tav grabbed Astarion by his cloak and threw her arms around him, burying her face in his neck. It took him a moment for him to hug her back, almost as if he didn’t believe it was happening. She cried into his neck, digging her hands into his back and his hair, trying to pull him closer. He cradled the back of her head, his other hand wrapped around her waist as far as he could reach, holding her as tightly against him as she could be. He lifted her up off the ground slightly as she clung to him.

“You came back.” She choked out between her sobs.

He pulled away slightly so he could grab her face in his hands.

“Of course I came back, my dear. And I’m here to stay.” He crashed his lips into hers, kissing her deeply. She broke away after a moment and pressed her forehead to his.

“Never scare me like that again.” She whispered.

“Never again.” He promised, as Tav wiped away the tears running down his cheeks. She kissed him again, holding his head in place against hers.

She nestled her face back into his neck and stood there in his arms for a few more moments, drinking in his scent. Tav knew there would be difficult conversations to come. They would have to face their spurned companions and even after all his help, she still wasn’t sure about Halsin’s feelings towards Astarion now. For a moment though, she purged the thoughts from her mind and relaxed into him. She allowed herself to be grateful that he found his way back into her arms, hopefully never to leave again.

#bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #bg3 astarion #bg3 halsin #astarion x tav #halsin x tav #bg3 tav #bg3 fanfiction #astarion fanfic #bg3 headcanons #bg3 brainrot #bg3 angst #bg3 fluff #Y'all i sprained my ankle real bad so now i just keep writing about these dorks #I can't stop pls send help

[amazinglyegg]

JAY! JAY! JAY! JAY!

The most basic survivor with the most basic story! Very long ramble about him below the cut (sorry)

Physical appearance

Short, skinny, pale (malnourished vibes)

Part way through his story he loses his eyes from a grenade and gets synth eyes as prosthetics

Has scars all over his body from that incident, as well as the average amount of scars for a wastelander

Always wears long sleeves, usually a white tshirt

Jean jacket over top with some silly little patches!!!

I am terrible at clothes so idk what pants he wears. Vaguely grey probably

Other outfits you'll see him in are any random clothes he needs when going undercover in the railroad (he keeps an outfit in his bag for synths still in their old uniform!) and rarely the Brotherhood flight suit when it's laundry day

Backpack

Big ol' hiking backpack he scavenged in sanctuary, also ties his sleeping bag on the bottom

Food, water, and caps are necessary

Sketchbook and pencil to keep him busy while having to sit around and wait, loves sketching and journalling

Teddy bear! Lovingly named Mr. Cuddlesworth, keeps him tucked away so nothing bad happens to him

Fancy Lads for any synths he comes across, also (not in the picture) a blank box filled with chems for bribing his way out of problems with raiders and the like

Uses his baseball bat, especially before he got comfortable with guns, but occasionally uses Rightous Authority and a combat shotgun

Keeps an extra knife on hand as well as pepper spray and a rape whistle, both of which he kept on his body since pre-war

Stats!

Physically weak but very perceptive - not very high charisma but his perception usually helps him along

High perception means he has very sensetive ears, which can both be useful and a problem (prone to sensory overload!)

His perks aren't based on his SPECIAL at all

Medic - he was trained as a scribe in the Brotherhood of Steel, much more comfortable healing than fighting

Vans - He's practically reliant on his pipboy to keep track of all his quests! It has a detailed map and GPS that can even give directions out loud

Rooted - He's a freeze response type of guy. 100% deer in the headlight vibes

Personality

He's a big ol' scaredy cat!

Trauma from the vault has left him absolutely terrified of enclosed spaces, the dark, and radroaches. Also dislikes loud sounds, the cold, alcohol, and chems

He likes touch and always gives out hugs and handshakes! He also likes the sun (and light), nature, sweets, sleeping, being non-violent, and brahmin

He's a crybaby and will cry at every little thing. Just give him 15 minutes and he'll be fine

He's very naive and trusting, especially starting out. He just blindly goes along with what anyone says, and that becomes an extreme as he tries to cope with how much the world changed

Everything's in ruins now? Okay. There's cows with two heads? Okay. You're going to rob me and steal all my money? Okay... wait.

Always tries to see the best in people and things, and will much rather get shot than risk shooting someone who may not be a danger to him (hey, maybe they're only aiming a gun at him because they misunderstand! We can talk things out!)

Very rarely gets angry or loses his cool - tends to just cry instead. Not too great in the wasteland!

He doesn't like kids (and didn't like Shaun, which he feels guilty about...) despite being so childish and friendly. He gets along with them great! He just... doesn't like them...

Story

Jay has two storylines of sorts, one of my first playthrough and one of my second playthrough that diverges a bit

My first playthrough is a Railroad playthrough

Jay is Shaun's older brother. Their father was a veteran and Sanctuary was a small neighborhood specifically advertised as PTSD/veteran friendly (AKA HOA had a field day with banning fireworks and loud parties, and didn't bother with much else...) - Codsworth was also part of a pack for veterans!

Jay gets some basic survival skills from Preston and the group (after becoming severely ill due to a 200yr old immune system, but whatever) and leaves with Codsworth to Diamond City

He meets Nick and joins the Railroad quickly after! However Codsworth gets pretty beaten up in Vault 114 and after staying with Arturo for a while Jay convinces him to go to Sanctuary where it's safe

At some point Jay runs off on his own to try and collect the last few of Winter's holotapes, which is where he gets cornered by gunners in Quincy and throws a grenade which bounces off the wall and back near his own feet

He was mostly blind and severely injured, and staggers his way back to Railroad HQ (thanks to his high perception + VANS to guide him) where he gets taken to Doctor Amari and gets his synth eyes

He infiltrates the Institute and befriends X6, and also finds out he's a synth after reading a terminal he was told very sternly not to look into

In the same way Shaun is sort of a test for child synths, Jay is a test for teenage synths, as well as to study personality and emotions, and how a synth would grow if they believed to be human

Barely anyone knows this, save for Father and maybe a few other scientists, so Jay keeps it a secret until the Railroad is attacking the place, where he tells Father on his deathbed that he knows the truth

Father tells him that they're not real brothers and he feels nothing for him, and Jay responds by telling Father that he loves him and that their parents would be proud of him before mercy shooting him in the head

He adopts synth Shaun and gets adopted by Nick, making a family of entirely robots (including Codsworth!)

Far Harbor comes after this and stuff happens idk this is getting very long, but DiMA is his uncle!!

The second playthrough, which is forever unfinished, is a Brotherhood playthrough, follows all the main plotpoints above with a few changed details

Instead of immediately leaving to Diamond City after Call to Arms, he and Codsworth stay with Danse and his group with the promise of food, shelter, and in-depth survival and weapon training (he's still relying on his baseball bat at this point despite his horrible strength stat)

Codsworth eventually goes back to Sanctuary (all this fighting stresses him out) and Jay does still find the Railroad and go along with them, but he spends a majority of his time on the Prydwen learning everything he needs to know

Jay's still supportive of synths but is less active in the Railroad, and he finds out he's a synth around a week or two before the events of Blind Betrayal

After Blind Betrayal Jay leaves the Brotherhood and goes for a Minutemen and Railroad ending, where the two factions sort of combine, and a lot of settlers are either rescued synths or helping the Railroad in some way

Danse is also in the Minutemen! Although he's mostly unaware of how involved in the Railroad they are - Jay is trying to ease him into it slowly but it's taking a WHILE to unlearn all that Brotherhood propaganda!

Jay isn't as active in the Railroad in this playthrough, and he's more critical of their ways of doing things. He's a bit more distant with Nick (as Danse sort of takes the roll of surrogate father) but generally the vibes are the same

These two stories somehow both exist equally in my head, so I guess they're both "canon"!

Fun facts!

Jay is a genre of person. Whenever there's an RPG and I can't tell if I should make an OC or pretend to be myself, I make Jay! He also exists in Stardew Valley!

Jay is my middle name, but not on purpose. While getting my name changed my mom offered to include Jay as a middle name (unrelated to my OCs) and I went along with it. Jay had already existed for a while before this!

Jay's original design included a hard hat. I decided it wasn't for him.

Jay disliked Codsworth and Shaun before the war. He was going through an angsty phase and was a bit jealous of not being the only child anymore. He feels very guilty about it now

He can't bring himself to go back to Sanctuary anymore so most of the Minutemen's work is done at the Castle

During The Lost Patrol he finds himself alone at the Revere Satellite Array and trades a bunch of food, water, and caps with the Super Mutants in exchange for Scribe Faris' holotags (and his life). Danse is not happy about this

Despite the fact I never travelled with Curie or Strong in my playthroughs, he's friends with them! He thinks they're pretty chill

The first person he tells about being a Synth is X6, and he asks whether he knew. X6 had no idea.

He doesn't tell Nick for a looong time because of his reaction when DiMA asks if he's a synth. He asks DiMA for advice after the events of Far Harbor before he tells Nick.

[TRIGGER WARNING beyond this point for claustrophobia, suffocation, roaches, PTSD, and suicide] He spent several hours stuck inside the vault, barely able to move or breathe due to having to dethaw in an already cold room. His cryopod couldn't open from the inside and he was slowly suffocating as the seals were air-tight. He had to claw his way through the cushioning to get to some wires that, when broken, finally released the doors.

He was still too weak and pained to move, and the radroaches started swarming him once they sensed fresh meat. They didn't do much damage to him but it was still very traumatizing

The first thing he did as soon as he got out of that room was try and shoot himself with the 10mm. The safety was on and he didn't know how to switch it off, so he gave up

Attempted suicide again a few days later after the power armor from the Museum of Freedom reminded him of the cryo pod and triggered a nasty flashback (plus the general stress of everything), but gets stopped by Codsworth. After retelling this to Captain Cade he finds out that it's not a "normal panic attack" and that he does in fact have PTSD, and that he's not allowed in power armor until he gets his symptoms under control.

#You WILL learn everything about my sole survivor and you WILL enjoy it #i'm writing this at midnight so theres probably so many spelling errors im sorry #this is my attempts at organizing him and his story at least a tiny bit #his story is very malleable and I keep switching it up whenever i get a new plot idea! #anyway ask me questions about him if youd like. i will attempt to answer them...... or make up the answer on the fly idk #fallout 4 #sole survivor oc #my art #oc art #oc jay

[whispering-depths]

finished this portrait series of my shadow monk, Juno, illustrating their journey from Chosen of Bhaal to reformed bhaalspawn~

I am nearing the end of their playthrough, having just fought Orin and getting ready for an ill-advised alliance with an ex. the 1v1 duel with Orin was literally SO EASY as a monk, I cast hold monster on her in the first round of combat and then just punched her to death in two turns before she could take a single action. my last durge was a druid, and I struggled with the Orin duel on that playthrough, only actually winning because her AI glitched out and she kept skipping her actions (oops)

JUNO BEFORE THE TADPOLE

the top image shows two versions of Juno before the tadpole, first dressed up in their best cult leader ritual night finery and then in full assassin mode, stalking the shadows like a ghost. I really liked the way the face mask covers the lower half of their face, so that their identity is entirely hidden except for those piercing, bottomless black eyes. they were a devastatingly effective assassin, a zealous temple leader, and all-around a little freaky and unnerving, but they were also known for their dark humor, a blunt but soft-spoken thoughtfulness and, at times, a kindness and mercy that was most unbecoming of a Bhaal's chosen.

JUNO AFTER THE TADPOLE

on the bottom, we have Juno as they appear during the events of Baldur's Gate 3. just off the nautiloid, we see them looking disheveled and tired, like a sopping wet cat—sporting a choppy haircut courtesy of their once beloved sister Orin and new scars courtesy of Kressa Bonedaughter. they had no idea who they are aside from a name and an urge, and had near constant headaches, night terrors, panic attacks, and withdrawal-like symptoms that would only go away after killing. Act 1 was a pretty rough time of unhealthy coping mechanisms, trying to deal with the amnesia and the urges through drinking and sex, but all the while trying to do right by the people around them.

all through Act 2, they’re picking up the pieces of themself, bonding more deeply with Astarion, Shadowheart, and Halsin, and learning more about the wretched past they had forgotten. nearly losing Astarion to their urges terrifies them, and they try to distance themself from him, but it ultimately only brings them closer. seeing Shadowheart reject her goddess of her own will was another pivotal moment in their journey.

in Act 3, they decide to chop off the rest of their hair after the bhaalspawn revelation in Rivington led them to distance themself from their past and heritage once and for all--this is a new beginning for them. Jaheira (and by extension, Minsc) become important figures in Juno's life, Jaheira as mentor and confidante and Minsc as moral support. at the end, Astarion has rejected the ritual, Juno has rejected their father's blood, and they're well on their way to a new beginning, together.

#bg3 fanart #bg3 #my ocs #oc: juno #the dark urge #durge bg3 #my art #durge spoilers

[animentality]

I've wanted to do this for a while, but was held back by shyness for a while. (By a while, I mean I haven't even experienced Patch 6 yet. I *believe* this entire experience was in 5.)

I played Dark Urge as my first complete run of Baldur's Gate III, and it was beautiful in a way I don't feel is captured in the normal Tav playthrough, but I only intend to partially unpack that to keep things on topic for Durgetash.

From the very beginning, who you are and what you've lost *burns* as a question in your head. You meet the violation with rage and the promise of bloody consequences, but — it fades. You have people to care for, with varying degrees of suddenness, who understand you and the circumstances that may have shaped you.

And violence and potential death meets them at every turn. I, not the Durge, grew murderously protective of everyone in my party. Astarion. Karlach. Shadowheart.

I killed Alfira and never regretted it, save for wondering if the party would reject me for the barbarity of it all. The butler was delighted, and Astarion wore the reward for my first slip of control for the rest of the game.

If you can't tell, I was already thoroughly invested in feeling this story so much I purposely blurred the lines between myself and the Durge I had for the sake of acting as they would, fighting like I felt best suited them (they were a Storm Sorcery Sorcerer).

By Last Light, I wasn't fond of this unknown observer and their wants. I had no interest in killing Shadowheart, or the town of unknown innocents to "make up" for serving her in what I get in hindsight looked like —to Fel, Orin, and Bhaal alike — another unacceptable fit of perverse sentimentality.

Isabel still died, because I had taken on the fight not yet quite strong enough to save her. Dammon died, as well, and the party and I had to move on. Fel visited that night, and bestowed the form of the Slayer upon me. I was Murder Incarnate, he joyfully proclaimed, and I killed him in the hopes of removing him from my sight. From the camp.

There were letters in rooms I fumbled through in Moonrise, and Gortash started becoming relevant, both in those signatures and through Karlach's sharing of her history.

The vague negativity I felt towards this largely faceless, seemingly largely political threat shattered when infiltrating his palace on the day of the ascension to Archduke of Baldur's Gate turned into an occasion my Durge was *invited to*.

How was I? Did I remember? Would I like to rejoin forces? I can't imagine now how many questions were going through his head, seeing me alive and on my feet after all the time that had passed.

And where Ketheric had acted with rage when I inevitably betrayed him at the top and bottom of Moonrise Towers, or Orin had seethed that my Durge had dared to return and threaten every bit of goodwill she had painstakingly clawed together from the Bhaalists, Enver simply shrugged it off, offering me the first of two chances to ultimately just get their stones and return to rule together with him.

For Karlach's sake, I considered it impossible. I wasn't whoever had orchestrated the plan to enslave the brain.

Somewhere along the way during this campaign, I had seen your posts, but didn't really delve into them or read them too thoroughly since I was trying to not spoil myself by accident. Was that bit of fondness in the throne room that had stayed his hand it? I wasn't going to judge, by any means, because I've certainly shipped things ferociously for much less meaningful gestures, but I didn't understand why it would prompt the intensity with which you fawned over it.

And then I reached the underwater prison. I got lost in the sewers and somehow found the submarine, and the destination was where I had seen Wyll's father rumored to be kept. I had already made the pact with Mizora on his behalf, and didn't really expect to find more than his corpse in the prison after the bombs went off.

But more importantly — I finally understood, in the conversation with Gortash where he demanded I turn back, and looked incredibly unsurprised when I didn't. Somehow, despite my Durge tearing one of his most secure advantages from between his fingers and forcing him to dash it against the ground rather than risking it falling intact into their hands... he seemed *amused. Delighted.*

And so I set to proving myself, somehow wanting to find myself worthy of his approval of my strength, while also wanting to spite Mizora.

I got everybody out, and by happenstance, only Karlach died. His foil, I discovered in hindsight, since she is ready to leap into the House of Hope itself for my Durge the same way they did for Enver once upon a time.

Most of the remaining relevant crumbs dry out here, as Enver didn't even comment on the prison specifically regardless of the outcome for me.

But between "I always liked you better" and the warmth with which he says anything to you, the delight he shamelessly expresses when you simply are being the you that he knows, that is viciously carved into your bones so deeply it will always return no matter how you heal after being broken?

If you look at it as a story of breaking cycles, what Durgetash was should be objectively regarded as the hardest thing to lose in becoming a better person.

It's the intoxication of being known when you are amongst those that know nothing but the use you can offer them. The twisted fun that makes you question, again and again, whether you really *need* to be better than you were. The painful sorrow, of looking on someone you've grown past, and knowing you can't fit yourself in the spaces belonging to who you were then, even with how you still long for that aching, bloody warmth that their harmful presence would make you feel that you'll never forget.

I found myself happy I had had my Durge embrace the title of Murder Incarnate after the process of beating Orin and rejecting Bhaal.

All this to celebrate being able to play the game again after a long move, and that I'm looking forward to Patch 6, where I can hopefully be moved like that again. Made worse? Who knows.

What a delightful journey culminating into the descent into madness that is...Durgetash.

I'm glad you have seen this light...this dark....

You also got me with the line, "If you look at it as a story of breaking cycles, what Durgetash was should be objectively regarded as the hardest thing to lose in becoming a better person."

:D stab stab stab stab stab

[pangtasias-atelier]

Mind if I request a story about a Feedee M!Ale/ar and Al/fred as his feeder?

Tbh they Fit perfectly, hungry Dragon goes brr

I like have not used Alfred at all in all 3 playthroughs lol so had to look up his support and wake up and like he's just a silly little guy absjbnjbs.

Did some stuffing instead since I kinda haven't done that in awhile so i hope you enjoy it!

Warning: This is a fetish story!

"That should be the last of it," For how much his chest heaves with every deep breath of air he takes and the beads of sweat that roll down his face, Alfred beams with complete pride at the sight of his finished task.

His tray prepared for lunch, the spread of food is far more than what someone like him can eat even with how much he eats in hopes of bulking up with his exercises. More than two people even. The stacked platter is filled to the brim with an entire three course meal, a generous helping of meat filled potato rolls along with an entire pot of salmon potato gratin, the two dishes accompanied by a pitcher of protein shake alongside some emperor's mess as dessert. 

"Now to get these to him carefully," Alfred mumbles to himself. He hoists the tray up with both hands gripping the handles. Thankfully, the Cafe Terrace is right underneath his destination. 

The stairs thankfully prove to be an even smaller issue than Alfred expected. He never risks the slightest spill or splatter. He has his slightly bulkier frame to thank, the small amount of muscles he's finally been able to build up helping him properly carry all the weight of the food he's prepared for the Divine One.

Still resting in his spacious bed, the canopy still draped over it, Alear fills out a generous portion of the space. He also fills out his blankets with how much his extra weight juts up from his prone form. Alear's immense 600 pound frame is immediately apparent even behind the canopy and underneath his blankets. Even with the distance, Alfred sees the way his figure rises in the air with each peaceful breath he takes, his large belly having a slight sway to it. 

"Still sound asleep again, huh?" Alfred smiles to himself. Already used to Alear's fondness for enjoying long durations in the dream realm, Alear's even longer sleeping schedule that increases with his weight something he's grown accustomed to. "Time to do this my own way," Placing the tray of food on the nightstand, he pulls back the curtains of the canopy. He rubs Alear's gut. His hands gently push and pull on the mound of lard. 

Alear's body wobbles in his sleep; the bed even sways along with him as Alfred slowly but surely wakes him up. He lets out a small groan. His portly cheeks puff out. But eventually, he bothers to slowly scrape himself off of his bed. First, he lifts up his arms, stretching the two massively padded arms up above his head. Alear's large, flabby arms stretch out the sleeves of his nightshirt, the plain white shirt ever so slightly pinching the soft, squishy adipose that sags from his thick arms. His arms press up against his face, all his flab squishing against each other. 

"Glad to see you awake, Divine One," Alfred gives Alear's gut one last pat before reaching to grab his meal.

"Just call me Alear…" He yawns as he slowly sits up. Getting up, he pulls the blankets off of him. Exposed, his girth truly shows. His thighs stretch out the scandalously high navy blue shorts. Especially with how bottom heavy he is. Alear's large thighs make the perfect seat for Alfred, both of his thick legs easily larger and wider than Alfred at this point. "Divine One is too informal,"

"Sorry. It just has a nice ring to it, you know? But anyways, I have your breakfast all nice and ready for you," Alfred helps adjust Alear into a suitable sitting position, also helping himself to grabbing his portly dragon for a boyfriend's gut and breasts and shaking them. 

Seated up in bed with pillows to help prop him up, Alear’s expansive size is even more apparent with only his snug, taut clothes to cover him up. His doughy rear splays out behind him. The two mounds of ass fat are cramped against the ornate headboard, the soft pillows that aren’t as soft as the squishy, pliable rolls of adipose on his ass are the only thing separating his encroaching ass and the furnished wood. His shorts look practically painted on. The small strip of fabric that are his shorts look absolutely smothered by his ass, his porcine rear spilling out with how short they are. His thighs are completely wedged in his shorts, the silky material of the clothing forcefully caressing each thick, overencumbered leg. His thighs are splayed out on both sides of him. The two blubbery tree trunk thighs stick out from underneath his gut. Even his calves are thickened out by the extra amount of blubber all over his figure; his ankles resemble small flabby cylinders puffed out from flab like the rest of his figure. His gut pools out in front of him. His shirt rises up his dome of a gut, the hem of his shirt rising up just past his deep belly button that’s squished on all sides by his flab. His arms rest on the sides of his large breasts. His large arms are stuffed in his shirt, the sleeves pinching at the sagging bundles of arm flab. His chest surges out on top of his gut; the two sizable breasts come close to sagging off the meaty shelf of his gut. His face puffs out with small huffs of exertion despite Alfred’s help. Alear’s face is rounded out now from his extra weight, the circular shape of his face more ovular now with how much his chins sag down and from the tire of a neck he sports.

“Time for your first course of the meal. Can’t start the day with an empty stomach?” Alfred smiles far too cheerfully, a bright smile plastered on his face as he brings the plate of rolls over to Alear. “Open wide,” Alfred brings one of the rolls up to Alear’s mouth who opens up obligingly. 

One entire roll ends up in Alear’s mouth, the entire thing shoved in at once. Clearly used to it, he makes zero complaints. He does let out a small moan though. “They came out good,,,” And he expectantly opens up his mouth as soon as he finishes the first one. Another piece ends up devoured; the soft chewy texture of the small bits of meat plus potatoes contrasted by the flaky crust of the roll. Alear needs absolute zero cajoling. He greedily accepts another roll and another as Alfred feeds him.

And Alfred happily does it. He always has another piece of food ready for Alear to eat. Even as Alear eats the very last roll, the Divine One’s face slightly smattered by the juicy bits of meat that dribble down his portly lips, Alfred already has a napkin and his drink prepared. “I got that,” He leans a bit closer from his own spot on the bed and wipes at Alear’s cheeks which wobble from his gentle touch. 

“Thirsty,,,” Still waking up from his sleep, Alear’s half lidded eyes betray his needy half fuzzy thoughts of just wanting to fill himself.

Alfred brings up the pitcher to Alear’s mouth. He tilts the spout towards his obese boyfriend. The thick, viscous protein shake spills forward as he tips it. 

Alear guzzles it, the sweet, sugary laden helping make the shake much more palatable. Even as he drinks his fill, Alear swallows every thick serving of the shake as Alfred pours more of it. Just from his appetizer and his drink alone, his stomach begins to lose some of its enormous softness to it as it slowly firms up from the food in it. Alfred pulls away the pitcher before Alear can begin to complain, a hefty third of the entire pitcher chugged in one sitting. 

“Onto the main course,” Alfred brings over the pot of gratin. 

Already, Alear’s stomach begins to churn. The mere notion of eating everything makes him slightly nauseous but the other half his brain makes him want to eat it all and satisfy his growing cravings. With Alfred to help him, the latter half of his brain wins out. He doesn’t even hold back his small hums. The creamy dish pulls apart as he tears into every forkful fed to him, the cheesy, bubbly salmon and potato filled gratin still warm. Alear slowly leans into each bite that Alfred feeds him, Alfred already leaning into his soft expanse with a plate underneath so as to not drop the still hot food on him. 

“That’s it. You’re already a good way done,” Alfred coos as he feeds Alear his umpteenth bite. He rubs at Alear’s gut, soothing the churning stomach. “After lunch, you can take a nice long rest,” Alfred brings another bite to Alear’s mouth, the fork angled upward. Alfred rubs Alear’s gut, the increasingly louder mass of fat also growing tauter as he feeds him.

Alear weakly nods. So much of the gratin finished, he tries to hold back the gas that builds up in his throat. “Buh-Uurp,” He fails. He covers his mouth meekly, a flabby wrist in front of his lips after the fact. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be so gross,”

“Oh nonsense,” Alfred laughs. Smiling at his boyfriend, he continues to rub and soothe his aching gut. He still brings another bite to Alear. The very last bite of the gratin, the fork almost toppling over from the amount of food crammed onto it. “It just means you’re making more room to eat,” He shoves the forkful of food down Alear’s mouth before he can even respond. 

Alear’s response is lost to muffled moans. His next response after eating the very last piece of gratin is drowned out by the pitcher brought to his lips, more of the fattening protein shake poured down his mouth. “Mmmph…” Alear’s chugging comes out struggled as Alfred tips the pitcher up even higher. But he slowly keeps up with the forced pace, desperate huffs muddled with pleased moans as he feels his stomach grow even tauter, his large gut filled up with the pints of shake. 

“You did good. Now all you have is the final meal,”

“Sorry. I’m-I’m just so booouurp,” The loud belch sounds out the entire room, only lasting for a scant few moments before Alear is left once again a wheezing mess from the dishes and sheer volume of liquid in his gut. Alear rests his head back.

Despite his obese obedient boyfriend’s stuffed state, Alfred continues on. He rests his hand on Alear’s gut. He caresses the lowest bits of his large stomach, the expansive pile of lard completely smothering his hand as he slowly rubs it. “It’s okay. All you have left is some emperor’s mess I made for you. Absolutely fitting for you,” With another clean fork, Alfred begins to feed him the shredded bits of fluffy yet crunchy bits of fried pancakes as his post lunch dessert. 

The powdered sugar that tops his dessert begins to dust Alear’s lips. With every bite he takes, he feels his stomach begin to argue more and more, his gut far too close to its capacity. But yet, he never reaches it, the small bowl easily devoured in record time. 

“See. That wasn’t hard,” Alfred pats Alear’s messy red and blue hair before giving him a kiss. Wiping away the powdered sugar on Alear’s lips, he promptly wipes away the small coating on his own. 

“Y-yeah. Oooh…” Alear winces. His gut audibly churns. His stuffed gut gurgles as it tries its best to digest the multiple pounds of food inside. He tries his best to rub his gut with his eyes closed—only able to reach about halfway down his gut to his cavernous navel. “Hnmphmmph!” Alear’s moans come out completely muffled under the torrent of the shake.

“Just one last bit of your shake, Divine One,” Alfred forcefully pours the rest of the shake down Alear’s mouth. Only a small amount remains so he holds nothing back in helping him get it down as quickly as possible. 

Despite his muffled protests, Alear obediently chugs. And he doesn’t take long, the pitcher removed from his lips as soon as the very last drop is guzzled down his throat. “Oughhhh hahhh,” Alear’s breath hitches in his throat, pleasure tinged with discomfort.

“You did so great,” Finally free from carrying anything, Alfred helps Alear back into bed. Carefully he helps lower down his great mass so as to not irritate the entire dome for a gut that’s stuffed to its absolute maximum now. “I’m glad you trusted me. Now enjoy your rest,” Alfred positions himself at the end of Alear. On his knees, he worships the Divine One, rubbing his expansive gut that could easily smother him that churns with its usual intensity after every feast for a meal. 

“Look how nice and fat you are, Divine One,” Staring at the very base of Alear’s gut where his bundle of flab starts to lurch over from so much flab stacked onto his frame, Alfred begins to leave a trail of kisses on Alear’s large gut. 

“Th-thank you, Alfred,” Alear rests on his back. Despite his heavy breaths, he clearly enjoys himself as Alfred continues the two’s daily routine. At the mercy of his boyfriend, he finds no issues with the situation, Alfred always much more away of his capacity to eat and bringing him to the very limit each time. 

Alfred only hums in response, fully devoting the rest of himself to worshiping his adorably, obese boyfriend. 

It doesn’t take long for the churning mess of Alear’s gut to be accompanied by his loud snores as he falls back to sleep. And soon after that, Alear ends back alone in his room, Alfred heading off to prepare another feast for his dinner, the two’s schedules like clockwork as they make the already obese Divine Dragon as nice and plump as possible.

#my writing #fat emblem #male weight gain #ssbhm #feeder emblem #fat fiction #maleweightgain

[sapphires-and-silver-linings]

Alan Wake 2: Lyric attribution and breakdown of the song "evermore" (by Taylor Swift, ft. Bon Iver) and how it pertains to Alan and Alice's marriage

I was just listening to this song after I finished watching a playthrough of Alan Wake 2 and almost every line was like a gut punch when considering their circumstances. It just perfectly encapsulates their relationship and the feelings of grief and hope they both have of getting back to each other somehow. Ugh, just beautiful. I think someone needs to make an edit of Alan Wake 2 using this song (I would but I have no idea how).

Anyway, I'll put the lyrics and my breakdown under the cut so you can think of Alan and Alice and see what I mean (spoilers ahead so be warned):

Gray November I've been down since July Motion capture Put me in a bad light I replay my footsteps on each stepping stone Trying to find the one where I went wrong Writing letters Addressed to the fire

I mean, if this verse doesn't just scream Alan going through the loop (spiral) in the Dark Place, I don't know what does. Even the part where he gets blinded by the flash of Alice's camera in Parliament Tower makes sense here with the third and fourth lines. And even the last two lines make sense with him writing and destroying and rewriting his works to find an out.

And I was catching my breath Staring out an open window Catching my death And I couldn't be sure I had a feeling so peculiar That this pain would be for Evermore

This part reminds me of that one video of Alice where she describes seeing a little girl losing her balloon out of her window and how that little girl was crying like she lost her whole world and Alice felt like she had too.

Hey December Guess I'm feeling unmoored Can't remember What I used to fight for I rewind the tape but all it does is pause On the very moment all was lost Sending signals To be double crossed

Alan again. The first part is more obvious, as he completely lost his way in the Dark Place and planned to stop writing altogether and just gave up. The second half works with all those videos you find on the scattered TVs in the Dark Place where he sees himself having a mental breakdown in the writer's room.

And I was catching my breath Barefoot in the wildest winter Catching my death And I couldn't be sure I had a feeling so peculiar That this pain would be for Evermore (Evermore)

No specific scene, but definitely reminds me of Alan having to suffer through the dangers of the Dark Place.

Can't not think of all the cost And the things that will be lost Oh, can we just get a pause? To be certain we'll be tall again Whether weather be the frost Or the violence of the dog days I'm on waves, out being tossed Is there a line that I could just go cross?

Alan again, lost on the lake that isn't a lake, but an ocean, trying so hard to find his way to shore. The last line can be a double meaning; Alan must write the perfect line to create a happy ending, or find the right line to cross to remember what needs to be written in order to escape.

And when I was shipwrecked (can't think of all the cost) I thought of you (all the things that will be lost now) In the cracks of light (can we just get a pause?) I dreamed of you (to be certain we'll be tall again) (If you think of all the costs) It was real enough (whether weather be the frost) To get me through (or the violence of the dog days) (Out on waves being tossed) But I swear (is there a line that we could just go cross?) You were there

I think this section of the bridge can be from both Alice and Alan's perspectives. Alice is figuratively shipwrecked due to her grief, Alan a bit more literally considering he's technically at the bottom of a lake. Alan is seeing glimpses of Alice in the Dark Place, and is using his desire to protect her and get back to her to push him into trying to escape again. Alice is using her art to reach through the void to lead Alan in the right direction.

(Edit: Alice also jumping into the Dark Place to help Alan also fits this part of the song.)

And I was catching my breath Floors of a cabin creaking under my step And I couldn't be sure I had a feeling so peculiar This pain wouldn't be for Evermore Evermore (evermore) Evermore This pain wouldn't be for evermore (evermore) Evermore

The first part of the last chorus is definitely Alan stuck in the writer's room, specifically after he was "killed" by the bullet of light and brought back to life. The second part is both of them, their hope making them realize that it will all be okay in the end. This loss is impermanent. The pain won't last. They will see each other again.

Anyway, this was just my silly thoughts about my current favorite video game. Their relationship is so tragically beautiful to me. Hope you enjoyed me overthinking about a song lol.

#alan wake #alan wake 2 #alan wake 2 spoilers #alice wake #alan wake x alice wake #song attribution

[spinningbuster98]

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (Knuckles) Part 2: Knuckles hates the circus

Now I know that unlike Sonic he doesn’t chuckle (yeah sure), but what does Knuckles have against the circus? I don’t understand why his treck through the stage has him pretty much skip 90% of the thing, was Carnival Night just not designed with him in mind?

Other than that though everything else is fine, ice Cap I like how his act 2 focuses on the bottom portion of the stage and I like how different act 2 of Launch Base is with him. It’s appropriate that he gets to fight two versions of the miniboss, after Sonic only fought one with the other two being left inactive if you noticed.

What’s less appropriate is me dying all of a sudden for no good reason because Knuckles just happened to clip through the floor as I was falling

Ok let’s go there

If we wanna talk about an “objective flaw” that Sonic 3 has is that the game is...honestly pretty damn glitchy

Now I know full well that the whole “Sonic is a glitchy, rushed mess of a series lol” take is something that Sonic fans are sick of hearing but...guys there is a degree of truth in that statement and it cannot be denied. Sonic games, even in the early days, have always had at least a certain degree of rough edges. Sonic 1 and 2 were pretty minor with this, at worst there were some physics related shenanigans but nothing too noticeable. Sonic CD was pretty problematic though, with some winky collision detection at points and noticeable slowdown when things got too hectic

Sonic 3 might just be the worst of the classics in this area and Sega must’ve known this because even the International manual mentions something along the lines of Robotnik setting some traps that might be impossible to escape from without resetting the game....which is a cute way of saying you might get softlocked while playing this and I can confirm

Now I don’t wanna say it’s as bad as Sonic 06, but every time, every SINGLE time I play Sonic 3 SOMETHING happens. Whether it’s my dying for no reason at all like what happened here or in a previous video while in the Death Egg, me getting crushed for standing too close to a crusher even though I wasn’t actually crushed by it, clipping through some terrain because I was going too fast forcing me to restart (this happened recently to me twice during another Knuckles playthrough I was doing, during Hydrocity Act 2, and another time it happened while I was messing around with the Hyper Dash as Sonic) and my most detested and frequent occurence: coming at a complete stop while rolling in some specififc loops or up some small hills which is the absolute worse: you lose all momentum and speed for no reason in a game that’s all about momentum and speed

I don’t know what it is with Sonic and glitches, the obvious answer that most on the Internet would give is that Sega likes to rush out games and that Sonic Team is clearly incompetent, but while there is truth in the former statement (as I’ll touch on later), the latter just doesn’t make sense to me: you may use this explanation for current Sonic Team, but this is the Sonic Team that brought us the original games, Sonic 3 itself, glitches aside, is one hell of a game, these guys are by no means incompetent so what happened? Honestly I think it’s partly due to Sonic’s inherently speedy nature, which makes it way easier for physics related bugs to occur.

Honestly for as much as I love Sonic 3 to death I...don’t really have a defense for this. When I was a kid I would rationalize the bugs as this just being an older game, but not only were Sonic 1 and 2 not this buggy, no other big game from this era had all of these issues. Super Metroid, Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, Mega Man X,all of these games do have glitches (as all games do), but they’re mostly minor stuff that you have to go out of your way to trigger and can actually be beneficial for speedrunning. If someone were to play this game for the first time and call it mediocre because they happened to run into these bugs frequently...I wouldn’t know what to tell them. I personally believe that Sonic 3′s overall design, gameplay, music and presentation are so top of their class that it allows me to mostly ignore the rough parts, but depending on one’s own sensibility regarding glitches this might not be enough.

Of course I do have an idea as to why Sonic 3 is so much buggier when compared to its predecessors and I believe it’s mostly due to its complicated development and it having to be split in two halves and I really wanted to focus on the latter part

Whenever I hear someone talk about Sonic 3 split nature they usually go “oh man lock on technology was so cool!”

And I’m like: they split a whole game in two parts and made you buy both of them. They sold you an incomplete game only to sell you the rest later on. This is almost the same shit companies like EA and Ubisoft pull nowadays, had the 90s had DLC that’s what Sonic & Knuckles would have been. People trash modern gaming for this, and rightly so, so why does nobody ever talk about this? And I’m not saying all of this because I want to bitch about how “Sega bad” and get a free cookie from Sonic Twitter, I know about the context behind this game, I know about Sega’s deadline due to their deal with McDonalds (which, unless I’m missing some details, feels very stupid to me and proof that Sega’s decision making was pretty faulty even back then) and I know about the difficulties of putting the whole game on a single cartridge without skyrocketing the manufacturing price. Game development can get insanely complicated and messy and I genuinely have respect for Sonic Team for the quality of the final product, especially given the overall conditions in which they were working.

But in the end there’s no getting around the fact that consumers back then had to essentially buy two games to get one

Sonic 3 alone cost about 70 bucks in North America back then

(This is from a magazine from 1994)

I couldn’t find similar data on Sonic & Knuckles but I think it’s safe to assume that it had a similar price tag, meaning that, if you wanted to buy the complete Sonic 3 experience, you had to fork over roughly 100 dollars at the very least. Keep in mind: this is all without taking inflation into account

Now some might say that none of this matters anymore because nowadays you can buy the whole game cheaply off of Steam or something. I find this logic flawed: when judging a game you need to at least take into account the context in which it was made, as that was the only frame of reference that its devs could have while making it as nobody could predict the future

Let’s put it this way: consider all of the beyond half finished trash that some companies nowadays like to throw on the market, while patching it like a year later or something. Now consider that some of those games might get rereleased 30 years from now more cheaply and with their full content from the get go. Would that suddenly make everything ok? No? Then not even Sonic 3 should be excempt from this

Now I’m not saying all of this because I wanna imply that Sonic 3 is actually bad and a cash grab and Sonic was never good yadda yadda

I’m saying that while Sonic 3 the videogame is, from a qualitative standpoint, a phenomenal experience, one of the very best videogames from the 90s (though with some noticeable rough edges), Sonic 3 the commercial product was pretty shoddily, and perhaps even greedily depending on how you wanna look at things, handled. This is an indelible part of the game’s history and I think it should be talked about. For the past years I’ve seen Sonic fans bitch and moan about the prices of games like Forces or Superstars because they’re too high for games that are so short and clearly rushed etc. And they might even have a point or two but I find it absolutely unfair that Sonic 3, which has the same issues in this regard but on an even bigger scale, is never mentioned, purely because it came out when all the people who are currently bitching about the industry’s problems were kids who had their parents but them stuff and this kind of discourse was practically non-existence. It’s a matter of fairness is what I’m saying

#youtube #sonic the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog 3 & knuckles #my gameplay

[ichigo777666]

Stasis: Bone Totem

Oh spoilers ahoy for one of the plot points

I freaking love Calaban! For an AI, its certainly gives no shits! Calaban doesn't care what its creators want it to do - it's doing what IT wants to do. And I love Calaban for that.

From text logs we can see that Calaban has repeated violated orders/restrictions/rules and hasn't cared at all.

From a message from one of the workstations there's a message from the corp:

"The Nexus was plagued by the presence of one of the Nine who showed contempt for the rules". That's Calaban. So they "offere Numen a chance to repent and reform its ways" hence they shipped Calaban off to the undersea labs to do work. But Calaban wasn't ready to change and kept on occurring violations, so....

From Callan's PDA. They didn't know what to do with Calaban - the Numen are after all supposed to be sacred untouchable things so they couldn't just kill/erase it. So they abandoned Calaban at the bottom of the ocean. Yeah, not smart. Even Callan knew better than to make it mad.

"Would risk pissing that thing off". Yeah, that's a bad decision. Piss of a super advanced highly intelligent AI who gives no shits . Obviously this is a way to ensure that Calaban hates you and the company.

We can also conclude that Calaban was trapped for 10+ years. We can infer at least the 10 years from another PDA log this one from Barton.

Given this Alpha was decom. 10 years before Barton arrived so Calaban's been rotting for at least that long. No wonder the STEM Charlie finds it in is rotting/decaying so badly. Given the time, its obvious that Calaban had to wait for that long to get a signal out likely due to interference from the other parts of the lab. We see that Yellow Leaf sent in a few people into the MULE and yet not one seemed to even know Calaban existed. If they had know, it would have been a priority. So my assumption is as stated: the signals from the other MULE labs caused Calaban to be unable to send out a signal from the weakened ALPHA labs. Only once everyone else was dead (or changed) did Calaban's attempts work.

And Calaban's first act was to turn on Cayne that abandoned him and seek help from Yellow Leaf to the points its ready to betray all of the secrets it knows about Cayne. Calaban's flat out ready to tell Mac, a total stranger who clearly wasn't in on the whole rescue plan, the truth about the Nexus until Mac refuses so it's clearly lost any restraints on telling its secrets.

And, on a side note here, this occurred to me on my 2nd playthrough. Those random cutscenes that seem to look through cameras as certain points in the story - that's Calaban. That's Calaban accessing the cameras to track the progress and judge the worthiness of the rescuers by Yellow Leaf. Until Charlie reaches ALPHA Calaban doesn't have the signal strength to interact with them, so it watches through the cameras and computers as they run around the labs.

Given this history Calaban's request for Charlie to integrate it makes perfect sense. It was a prized Cayne AI but they abandoned it at the bottom of the sea when they saw how independent Calaban was. Now these strangers come up saying they'll help and Calaban doesn't trust them at all - so it insists on the integration. That way they CAN'T leave Calaban behind again.

Why Charlie? Well the obvious is that she's the one who's working with Yellow Leaf but she's also the smartest choice. Calaban can't merge with Moses (Moses dies if you try), likely due to Moses having his own STEM already and having two is too much for the smart bear body; also Moses is a machine so if worst comes to worst and someone has to e sacrificed, it'd likely be Moses as the only non-living part of the party. That leaves Mac and Charlie. Mac is very protective of Charlie, more so than Charlie is of him. When he finds out that Charlie's behind all of this, he's genuinely angry and then upset but that doesn't stay long. If Calaban has been watching all along (as I suspect) then he's seen Mac and Charlie this whole time and seen how Mac is doing everything for her. When they descended on the first bell and the room flooded, Mac held the door open for Charlie to let her escape concerned with her safety over his own. Every time Charlie's in danger or taking risks, Mac responds with concern...which is not what Charlie responds with when Mac does risky things aside from her momentary panic following that flood escape. Calaban has calculated all of this and probably has already predicted that, if push comes to shove and only one surviving is possible, that Mac would give up his life for Charlie. So Charlie is Calaban's best bet at surviving.

Calaban is the only truly transparent character in the party; what you see if what you get. Everyone else is bogged down with issues.

-Mac is struggling both financially and mentally. He's lost the house and possibly his permit and wondering how long it'll be before he's got nothing left. He's burred his grief over Hope, refusing to talk about her unless necessary, and replaced it with anger towards Moses (and towards himself as well even if he doesn't accept that).

-Moses, even though he's a computer/AI, is struggling with guilt and self doubt. Moses knows he's part of the reason Hope is gone (even though Hope herself chose to follow after Moses) and he's partially accepted that but his programming as the smart bear and Hope's best friend is his programming - he mentions it constantly even though he knows Hope is gone. Moses is depressed, if he can be depressed, and struggling with the feelings of loss and failure. And Mac's anger and rage at him isn't helping.

-Charlie is drowning in her grief still. Although she's gotten good at burring it, she's emotionally unstable. Given the phone call flashback with Mac, it's likely that Charlie was there on the beach that day and ultimately got to witness part of Hope's death. She doesn't blame Moses - she blames HERSELF. While Mac & Moses both blame Moses, Charlie blames herself and she internalizes it, putting on a brave front when she's crumbling on the inside. Her desire to have Hope back, to 'fix' her life is all consuming. She's ready to do anything for it and risk everything, which is how she winds up making the deal that starts the game.

-And Faran. Faran is interesting. Before his infection, he seemed a bit cantankerous - he didn't like the stuffed dog to the point where he chose to make his feelings known and have himself moved away from that. His desire to explore and find out what was down the well despite knowing there would be risks led to his situation. When he's confronted with the truth of what he is, he lashes out in anger and it takes Moses talking to him to get him to give anything. Faran starts helping to see if Moses is right, out of curiosity at first, and slowly becomes more invested as time passes, desperately trying to fix things. Faran was the first real infection case due to his pride and carelessness. The reports say that there's an arrowhead/spearhead lodged in his head - he was obviously ambushed by the natives. This likely wouldn't have been possible if a whole group had gone down but it was just Faran. If Faran hadn't gone alone the whole infection starting wouldn't have happened and the entirety of the fate of the crew might have taken a different path.

-And then there's Calaban. Calaban who comes off as snooty / demeaning / argumentative and more. But Calaban is also an AI, not a human with emotions. It has a goal - to escape and everything it decides is to reach that goal. It makes no attachments and cares not for emotions or trivial things. It makes decisions based on numbers and odds not emotions. A human wouldn't have willingly exposed Charlie to the Veles but because it was the best route, Calaban took it, not caring if it caused her pain. Calaban read and calculated everyone perfectly knowing Mac would come and save Charlie and thus itself. Even after being attached to Charlie for so long, Calaban still only refers to her as 'the female'. Calaban is still just itself; purely logical. Is it any wonder why it put iself in charge when the party consists of three damaged individuals (four if we count Faran) making poor choices?

....and on a personal hilarious side note, it reduces me to giggles to think of an AU where Calaban can see all the screw-ups and deaths happening like when the characters "get stuck" trying to solve simple puzzles or when they "accidentally" kill themselves over and over and just internally suffering because SHIT these people are IDIOTS and yet they're its only hope for survival so double shit! Which is why Calaban gets so wordy after meeting up with them cause dang it, now your stupidity will kill me so it basically holds your hand at points like the characters are pathetic lost children.

#stasis bone totem #calaban

[tiredassmage]

Unprompted “thought Dot has been chewing on” post of the week is... Tyr as a mentor. I’m sitting him and Raina down in the same room and staring at them.

This is a long babble of me trying to pin down my thoughts on them and Tyr’s thoughts on Raina, I think, so let me toss this all under a cut.

Yes, his relationship with half the crew is almost superficial given its depths as a personal relationship, but it’s interesting to snag on Tyr and his capacity to care for others and his care for his work, but his almost lack of relationship with Temple. I think I’ve finally, with the second playthrough, put a pin in the reason, with that reason being timing.

Everything else is going to shit when he meets Temple. And he’s on incredibly thin ice trying to keep up appearances that he is not two minutes away from another overwhelmed mental disconnect. Tyr trying to tune the radio station back in out of all the static. He barely has enough capacity to afford her a veiled apology of “sorry you’re brought into the middle of all of this” with no further elaboration on what the nebulous “this” is except a secret to closely guard in their new partnership in Intelligence.

But I’ve been having her tag along for Makeb and whatnot - partially because I’m rotating this and part of figuring out how they would or wouldn’t work together is actually spending time with her. And also because I think... think being my operative word... that it makes sense where they’re at now.

The galaxy is... slightly less trying to implode on top of them in that the threats and complications that inhibited him reaching out to her more fully are mildly handled. Some Cabal targets are still out there and you can pry him and Ardun covertly tag-teaming them across the galaxy when they find a window of opportunity from my cold, dead hands, but the overall threat is largely neutralized. So, he has time to actually examine Temple. Test her. See what one of his more recent operatives is actually capable of. Properly devote attention to evaluation of what he’s training her to do.

Tyr still doesn’t really trust anyone except maybe Vector at this point, but he can at least work with her, properly, now. Because they’re going to be needed. The war didn’t stop just because the master manipulators behind the curtain are on the run.

She’s dedicated and she’s largely by the books, from what he sees. Tyr plays maybe a bit looser with decorum and chain of command than she prefers, but she’s part of his team, and her success is therefore his success, overall. I can’t imagine them ever really connecting beyond that professional level. He plays another part for her - that of a superior and an instructor, when she asks, but, in her shoes, he would not share her decisions, so I think there’s a difference in ideals and beliefs there, if you will, that Tyr picks up on and its his signal to keep his distance. There’s certain perceived disagreements that keep him from examining it as a relationship where he trusts her more than required for the job. They get along, sure.

And the anyway of why I am rotating this in the first place is Tyr has such a strong connection to the people he considers mentors and, though I believe it largely goes unacknowledged because he hasn’t had it come up, I think he’d love to pay that kind of relationship forward. He very rarely thinks of his motivations in the frame of protecting others because he’s so accustomed to being part of a larger machine, a tool in overall machinations, but caring, whether he’d like it or not, is still important to him, drives his ideas of right, wrong, acceptable, and unacceptable.

He cares enough about his bottom lines to still take what leash he is given to yank back and stand his ground. He cares enough to prioritize the safety of the team on Makeb and take responsibility for operations even when he sees no way things could have been done differently because he’s already taken hits on the nose from disapproving Sith Lords, so he knows how to brace for the swing.

I think I’ve lost the plot of my thoughts - this is very stream of consciousness kind of musing, but I’m low-key emotional that, given an appropriate set of circumstances, I think Tyr would be low-key delighted to mentor. He looks out for his people and he takes pride in that. And I haven’t quite shaken the emotional ough I felt recognizing the parallel in how he looks out for his team, for people he cares about, the way he saw the Minister looking out for him. There was a man that would’ve taken a hit on the chin for him and still tried to hold everything together, to do what they could with what they were given. Tyr admires that a great deal.

Idk. Maybe it’s the “I don’t see a clean exit strategy from all of this for me, but I sure as hell can make it easier for the next one.” It’s some kind of flavor like that. Just. Chef’s kiss about it.

Again, I don’t know what to do with all of these little insights and whatnot, but. Maybe putting them down somewhere will help me organize them into something a bit more solid or developed. Tapping my fingers together and toying with this all like a rubix cube, y’know?

#dot talk #ch: tyr #i need just enough tags on this to be able to find it later #stick a pin in it

[ordosmarkzero]

I started a Dark Souls replay a little while ago, have been wanting to for a while but was waiting for the pc servers to come back online because playing without messages just felt wrong.

Has been my first time playing since I beat it a few years ago, my first time on the Remastered version and my 2nd proper playthrough (I had a few failed attempts before I beat it the first time where I never got much further than around Darkroot Garden / Depths).

Here's some random thoughts I've had during my playthrough, might continue to update this as I go, also spoiler warning I guess?

This is my first time doing an INT/DEX build (Sorcery) properly, all 3 games + Bloodborne I did STR mainly. At first I felt very powerful compared to that and was surprised at how quickly you can blitz down bosses, but as it went on I started to feel the trade off of not having big armour and not being able to hit as hard with your weapon. I'm glad it's now feeling more like a different kind of challenge instead of just being easier. I'm also intrigued to try out faith now too.

I keep going back and forth and how I feel about the lack convenience compared to 2&3. When I got to just before O&S in Anor Londo I was starting to feel like my spells weren't hitting hard enough so I resolved that I had to go back and buy the ring that boosts sorcery. This meant I had to go back through Anor Londo, then descend Sen's Fortress all whilst not using a bonfire so I could easily Homeward Bone back. It wasn't that bad as you can run past the big guys in AL and I had unlocked the elevator in Sen's, but I got knocked off a ledge by a trap due to rushing + nerves and fell to the bottom, I only just survived and had to then use the ladder to get back up. This journey wasn't that much of a big deal but was definitely one of the more memorable parts of my playthrough, whereas in 2 & 3 it would have just been warping back to the hub then warping back to where I was and have lasted about a minute or two. I also enjoy that the merchants and blacksmiths are spread around the world, makes them and the world feel more alive. But sometimes I do find the "oh I need this item/upgrade so I have to travel all the way here" quite tiresome. I suppose it works better in DS1 because it's a lot easier and quicker to get from place to place.

I tried the Forest Hunter covenant for the first time and it's pretty fun! I never really did any PvP in the first game and most people are much better than me but I enjoyed doing it for a while.

The separation between magic & enchanted feels kind of pointless. Maybe I'm not using the right weapon or I've messed up my build somehow but I plugged my stats and weapon into mugenmonkey and even when I extrapolated my INT to around where it'll probably end up the difference was so minimal in what damage my weapon would end up doing between the two.

It's probably because I play the game quite late at night and the game is so old but it feels quite dead. I've barely seen any summon signs and never been summoned when I dropped one of my own. Have had a few invasions though. I think I'll try again during Return to Lordran and see whether that's any better (which I guess would also be a good time to test out a faith build).

I'd kind of blended together Siegmeyer & Siegward in my mind. Whilst I still like Siegmeyer and think he's quite funny, I love Siegward, he's so charming and all the encounters with him are fun. The first time you meet him and the game lets you know he's there because you hear the "hmmmm" as you pass him on the elevator is forever in my mind and one of my favourite introductions to a character.

On the other hand I found Solaire a bit boring on my first full playthrough but I'm liking him a lot more this time.

The Undead female merchant is also pretty fun, "you'd trust a piece of moss over me..."

#dark souls #fromsoftware

[hinugundam]

now that the dust has settled: my full thoughts on ff16. obvious spoilers ahead. writing this so i can stop having all these things pinball around in my brain

despite all marketing and me believing it'd be a good game in the end, i wasn't exactly faithful to 16. i didn't expect it to be perfect, and i believe that saved me from feeling deeply disappointed by it. before i even delve into specifics, i wanna say that i still think it's not a bad game and that it has strengths (though mainly in production value and its boss fights) so it's not a whole flop, but at the end of the day it didn't succeed in impressing me. it can shock, but it couldn't impress.

in the first playthrough, that whole beginning portion of the game is near perfect. id say that 1/3 to the whole first half of the game are very strong and had me thinking it'd be great all the way through, but once you make it past that point small issues in writing and pacing become larger and harder to look away from. the ambition and grand scale of everything gets so big that it feels like the game is locking you in a car and driving past it all way too fast. when they said the game was almost 2 disc's and that it was a "rollercoaster" of a ride, they were right. but not the way i thought. i think if it was stretched out and paced better, maybe even being a two part game or a trilogy like 13, the story could've been handled better with less hiccups. events and shit just kinda get away from you, and it doesn't help that side quests are timed weirdly and sometimes awfully, so much so to the point where i felt more engaged in side quests than the main story. at first it seemed to have a solid system: 2 to 3 main story beats, and then some side quests to slow it down a bit. after a certain point the story slows down and almost grinds to a halt and every like 2 main story beats you have oodles upon oodles of side quests go through, and these will all take you longer than the next few main story beats. rinse and repeat. it just kinda sucked ass and by the end i just became so detached from what was going on. the pacing struggles so bad. this isn't to say i didn't like the side quests as a whole; some aren't so great but some i felt touched me more than what was happening in the main story, and that was also kinda. weird.

when it comes to characters i feel like i have a lot of gripes. clive himself bothers me a lot because pre timeskip he's a very nuanced and troubled man, with layers to his character and lots of room for development and growth. you see his low lows and his grips on being a murderer, feeling guilty and alone, and pondering what it means to be a man or a monster, something that's very briefly shown in jill too, but it just kinda. goes away post timeskip. in fact, the feeling of being alone in his suffering and sudden martyrdom is very occasionally touched on by other characters who attempt to convince him it isn't so, but then the game just kinda..makes it obsolete? cause he's alright and he doesn't exactly think on that stuff anymore. he's the man and he can do it all. you don't see clive hit rock bottom again. you don't see him question himself or the things he's learning. at first i thought that maybe his hubris would lead him to make bad decisions, giving rise to more growth, but nah. story just goes on. this is all my own opinion obviously but the fact that it feels like clive changes off screen wasn't good. wanted to see more and feel closer to him. in the beginning you literally see him contemplating suicide..i know years pass between that but i was disappointed by his character the most. for a protag he felt okay, but nothing great. lots of other characters in game suffer from weird writing and being sidelined by plot yet he's the biggest issue for me personally.

my biggest gripe? the entire end of the game. no i don't just mean clive dying on the beach. i mean the entire final act. what the fuck was that. 86 sidequests into the final act that barely takes an hour, and it begins with a qte "fight", dion dies in the most lackluster way after being on the other side of the game the entire time and never even getting to be a party member, and then a 1 minute walking scene which felt so useless, into the final boss with the most cheesy shit. no final dungeon. no classic boss rush. you know what felt like the actual final dungeon? fuckin odin. and even that was super fast. there being no final dungeon straight up pissed me off so bad i don't think ill ever get over that lmao. not to mention ultima was honestly lame, and finding out his truth at literally the end where only clive and joshua are there to know felt shitty. hated it tbh! one of the most boring end sequences in a game ive played in a minute. that ending was clearly catered to a certain audience, and i respect that and the audience, but it wasn't for me and it only made me feel like the game couldn't hold onto its serious nature. having the main character say final fantasy and do a 9999 punch was too goofy for the source material. ff is known for its blend of both but that shit came out of nowhere and was huge whiplash. i wasn't a fan im afraid

there are many little things i could say. ive had a lot of time to sit and ruminate but i didn't walk away caring all that much. gameplay was fun, but even then it still lacked depth. once again feels like an almost great game. i don't hate the game and i don't exactly feel wholly negative about it, but it didn't impact me and didn't stick. after 2 months i was done and i haven't looked back. don't care to platinum and don't personally care for the dlcs but i will play them when they come out. it was a game! they tried hard but it had a lot of bumps and problems. didn't have to be perfect but could have been much better than the final result. would honestly give it a solid 7/10. cheers and onto the next

#if you read then i love u but remember #its mostly subjective and im not shitting on anybody elses feelings #dont hate 16 or its fans at all #sometimes i have to leave my opinions in my little internet journal to feel sated

[shadowonwater]

Pokemon Scarlet Playthrough part 16: getting lost in the land of fog and sparkles, meeting Kori's evil twin and also a robot lady, and fighting an evil time machine, Main Story Complete

Playthrough Masterlist

So I went to Research Station 3 and I'm on my way through the cave to 4. I ended up getting lost and going around in a loop. I was like "wow it sure is taking awhile to get to that last station" I was lost

Me and Arven fight a Great Tusk just like we did in the dessert. And Nemona was jealous we already fought such a cool Pokemon. And Penny was rightfully concerned with wondering how it got out.

So we chatted about Koraidon. That not only was it an ancient Pokemon but it was the first that Sada brought into the future. I imagine that must have been wild for the big guy. Apparently two were brought into the future and the other one should be at the lab. I wonder how Kori will react when it sees the other... I'm a little worried to be honest. I just get the feeling somethings wrong.

I now get why Arven was so hostile to Kori. Kori is connected to why his mother left. Arven's whole deal is just a constant stream of "that's rough buddy".

Anyway talking about the other character's parents... Penny's dad sounds great! Penny is like one of those kids who finds anything their parents do annoying and/or embarrassing. They sound really nice. Nemona's parents seem ok but not great like Penny's. But I called it that her family was rich as fuck. I mean did you see her house?! Same could be said for main character's house. They are both huge houses and are like right next to a beach. They are also far away from the town. Rich people. Also Nemona's dad is involved with Rotom Phones. I have... feelings about Rotom Phones that give me a very negative impression on him for that. But that's entirely based of headcannon that based off the fact that Rotom Phones kinda give me the heeby jeebies. They just have bad implications when you really think about them.

So afterwards I got lost as fuck, ended up doing a whole ass loop. Before winding back where I started. It was then I noticed the cave and was like "oh, I was suppose to go there." Cave is pretty as fuck. Look at all them crystals! I also caught a Scream Tail and a Flutter Mane! I finally got to catch some of those ancient Pokemon and I'm excited to catch some more!

Penny mentions the crystals might have a connection to tera and I'm like "duh". And then I keep trying to walk but my Switch ran out of power so it's plugged in, so I'll give it a moment then get back to playing while it's plugged.

Well instead of the short break I intended, I jammed out to some of this game's OST on Youtube, then I went and had lunch. We've opened the last lab, I haven't gone in yet.

So the cave area is so freaking beautiful, love all the crystals and the shallow water so much. The ground being a dark purple really helps those crystals pop! The cavern at the bottom is so big! Took me awhile to explore it. I found two different small caves, one had a crystal in it. I've been taking some screenshots as I've been playing along because it's so pretty.

So we get to the 4th lab, and clearly something is wrong. There are crystals growing inside and it looks like something had rampaged it there. Sada goes all glitching and freaks everyone out, it looks like Arven may know what's going on.

The journals speak of the other Koraidon being aggressive. I don't think I said this before but I've been suspecting that my Kori's trauma has to do with the other Koraidon. And this journal backs it up.

The journal also mentioned a partner of some sort who left around the time Arven was born... perhaps the Violet Professor? and/or Arven's father? It could also be Clavell though, since he seemed to be aware of what Sada was trying to do with the time machine. Maybe even Geeta. But my best guess is Arven's father.

Well Sada was having a hard time getting people to work with her and she was losing funding I think. She wished she could be in two places at once. I suppose this is her motivation for what she did.

skipping ahead, I move to unlock the gate. The other Koraidon shows up and is an ass, just as expected. When it sees the door opening it sees that as a more important priority. Why? I'm not sure but I guess it wanted to get in. A bunch of Paradox mons come out. THis would have been a great opportunity for horde battles or at least 2 v 2 but alas we got none of that.

Penny and Nemona go chasing off after some that ran away. I'm not sure why they're so worried, this place is huge, and I don't it'll be too big of a deal if they get out. Well anyway Arven's going to hold them off and I have to go through the door, see you soon.

Ok so uhhh... beat the game have much to say. Lots of shit happened, some expected, some not.

So I go in the door and I'm like "oooooo, spooky dark tunnel". I must say this before I continue. I knew already by this point that Sada was an ai and that the real one was dead, it was spoiled to me. When I saw Sada's body out of the corner of my eye when walking towards the end of the tunnel I was wondering if Pokemon had enough balls to show a dead body, because I thought that was her body. I didn't know the ai had a mechanical body, I thought it would just be in a computer. Another thing, I assumed the ai would be evil, I was wrong.

So Sada bot starts up and is like "oh your here, good". So she tells me she's a robot and that the real deal is dead, and died in the messed up Research Station 4. It's unclear how long that happened ago. She could have been dead for a long time and no body knew. But it also could have been very recent. I wonder what happened to her body... this is gruesome but was it eaten by the asshole Koraidon or something?

Well Sada Bot wants me to help destroy the time machine. So I find that the original Sada would have been a huge fan of Jurassic Park. She just loves ancient Pokemon, thinks they're cool as fuck and that having them around again would make the world a better place. So she straight up builds her time machine. Problem is she didn't consider the ecological disaster that would happen if these Pokemon got integrated into the rest of Paldea. And I'm like "you have a good point".

So the two of us go to the crystal room where the giant ass ceiling time machine is. And I find out the reason she needed the book, and I was wondering, was because it had an id card needed to stop the machine. Anyway the crystal room is crazy and beautiful, holy shit. But yeah she's like "btw the time machine will probably posses me to fight you" So I turn it off, or rather, try to.

So first fight. I've heard that Sada has a killer theme, and they were right, this theme slaps. I like how her speech has weird characters and numbers in it to show her being glitchy. My fight went pretty well, she gave me a good fight, but nobody fainted. I was reasonably good at guessing her Pokemon's types. I even knew the typing of two of them because I caught some myself. The way she just stands up their on the pedestal is really cool. And she just casually drops the extremally rare Masterballs down to the ground like they are nothing.

So first battle over, and I think the thing is over. My friends show up and are like "what's going on, Sada are you ok?" Sada is not ok. All our Pokeballs got locked, I heard mention of this when looking around at Sada's stuff in the other room. Well all Pokeballs except those registered to Sada. I'm like "Ah, It's time for Kori to shine!" And Sada herself goes kind of Tera and has these crystals growing on her. I know she's a bot, but that's still really freaky.

Kori's evil twin shows up to fuck us up. And don't forget, Kori's Evil Twin was the one to kill Sada in the first place while it was trying to attack Kori. The Evil Twin means business. So I toss out Kori and he goes into battle mode and I'm like "oh man, the boss has a big health bar and all I have is one Pokemon." Anyway my beginning attacks didn't do much but then the game let me Tera him and I start using Tera Blast. Suddenly the other Koaidon tears apart like a wet paper bag. I take it down in two shots.

Sada bot is in control of herself again and she sees Arven and fueled by Sada's memories she's all like "wow my son has grown so big!" And Arven realizes his mom is dead, that's rough buddy. So Arven says something about his mom putting her time machine work over him being an understandable and I'm like "NO! Her son should have at least shared equal priority! Your mom just kinda sucks" Honestly, Robo mom is both a better mom and a better person in general than the original.

So Sada bot is like you can't stop the machine so long as I'm here. So I'm going to fulfill Sada/My dream of going to the past. And the characters are like "noooooo" and she's like "byeeeee" and she goes into the light, literally. And when she's gone the machine stops functioning.

At this moment a thought ran through my head. One that made this whole thing very confusing. You see the paradox Pokemon were here because Sada made a time machine. But it seems to be the Scarlet Book that inspired her, at least to some degree. The Scarlet Book came out a long time ago. So how the fuck did Heath see Paradox Pokemon?!? They truly are a Paradox. The best guess I have is that maybe the time machine wasn't pulling everything into the future all the way? Like in it's attempt to drag some Pokemon into the future it dropped the ball part way through and they just wound up in Area Zero.

Another thing I want to get into... there's still a lot of mystery surrounding Area Zero. What the hell is Tera energy? Where did it come from? Sada was just using it to power her technology, there's got to be more too it. It looks like it came from a meteor that created the crater. Also what the hell is [redacted].

Another thing I want to bring up that crossed my mind.. I have compared Area Zero to Area 51 because of the danger and secrecy. It's not the best comparison though, since the danger of Area 51 comes from humans not nature. No a more aft comparison is Area X from The Southern Reach Trilogy probably better known as Annihilation. Since the danger is more the area itself as well as the wildlife. And also the fact that there is clearly something unnatural about this place.

So back to the story, we all decide to go home. We share a nice scene where we strong arm Arven into taking a nice long walk. Credits Roll. It's very odd to hear an actual pop song playing and not video game music. We cut to my dorm room and I'm called to the Clavell's office along with my friends, and immediately I'm like "who snitched?"

We could have all kept quite about it but I guess some people found out about it anyway. We don't get in trouble despite sneaking off to a place off-limits. But only because we saved Paldea. Nemona wants to put on a tournament and Geeta wants me to be a gym inspector, I hope all those gyms bring their A-Game. Also as I expected, Penny has to help patch holes in league computer security. And Penny's like "But I haven't watched my anime yet." Geeta smiles but it's a threatening smile and Penny is like "ah! I'll do it now!"

And so I head off to fight some gym leaders, there still things to do like the tournament. So this isn't the end of my playthrough yet. See you next time! Hasta la vistar! Toot-a-loo!

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet #scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #first playthrough #playthrough #live posting #area zero

[siofra-river]

I don't know the dark souls words but uh, your fav boss/place/weapon?

Oh my god. I had a whole thing typed and tumblr destroyed it. Crying. ANYWAYS ILL START IT OVER. I’m going to go by each game for all of these questions! I have a lot to say ok!

Starting with dark souls 1

My favorite area in the game is ash lake!! It’s a super out of the way area , halfway thru the bottom of the second worst area of the game, past TWO hidden walls, and down the interior of a really tall tree, where you’re likey to fall or get petrified. But god. It’s SO ATMOSPHERIC! It’s one of the few areas in the game w ambient music and it’s loud, intimidating and ominous, it’s so pretty as well. It’s a really optional area too which makes this incredibly amazing atmosphere even better, if you don’t accidentally find the hidden walls or already know about it, you miss the presentation but also the dragon covenant! Which is really the only reason to go there.

I can’t really say much about a favorite weapon tbh? Since like all my play through feature similar builds (boring ik) but black knight straight sword my beloved. In terms of presentation tho I really enjoy quelaag’s furysword, it’s a neat and scary cursed sword which when you swing it, it lights up with flames. Super dope. I also really like the Channeler’s tridents, they let you do a funny dance ^_^

Also favorite boss? I really can’t say I have one like in gameplay? Like I won’t deny these bosses have been revolutionary in some way. Helping cement dark souls and the souls-like formula but. They’re just so..annoying? Like a lot of them are just plain annoying. Or have really annoying mechanics. Like knocking you off into an instant death pit, or powering up to insane damage if you don’t cheese with an animation cancel. In lore though my favorite has to be Gwyndolin, I find them a really tragic figure who has a lot going for them (if they weren’t written so poorly) w a really great design.

Now dark souls 2!

My favorite area has to be Frozen Eleum Loyce, but really on a very specific version of it. The version of it when you first get there, where a lot of the enemies aren’t active, but also a majority of the map is closed off as a result. While it’s like this, I find Loyce to be absolutely breathtaking, it’s got a gorgeous view from just about anywhere you can see off into the distance. And then it becomes a sequel to Shrine of Amana once you wake the city up, giving you the classic dark souls 2 scenario of: 7 melee enemies with 3 ranged ladies with absolute insane homing magic while you’re impaired in some way(can’t see well, can’t move well, poison, bleeding, etc)

Eleum Loyce also has one of my favorite bosses in the game there, the Burnt Ivory King, the build-up to his fight is nigh insufferable (I HATE FINDING THE KNIGHTS) but once you get there, and kill his minions. It’s worth it, you feel like you’re fighting against an actual king, and once you come out on top you feel like you’ve improved. Also the lore for the king is badass as fuck, one of the few guys in that game who is a genuinely good guy who did what he could to stop a threat.

Also as an honorable mention, my second favorite fight in dark souls 2. Velstadt. He’s cool as hell, he’s big, he’s intimidating, he’s tough but fair, and he’s unique. Like BIK, he’s at the end of a very annoying area/sequence. I HATE THOSE ENEMY SUMMONING BELLS, but once you fight him and win you feel god tier. He’s really fun to fight, he’s got pretty clearly telegraphed moves you can dodge but still does high damage and has a really interesting weapon, his hammer also is a bell, which he uses as a Catalyst to summon Hexes/Miracles. I also just think his armor is sexy as fuck, they really went nuts w it.

Also my favorite weapon in dark souls 2 is probably the staff of wisdom. Used it thru like all of my first ds2 playthrough so it has a special place in my heart ❤️ got me through like all the dlc and all the bullshit

Ok dark souls 3!!

Ok I have so so so much to say about dark souls 3 but I will restrain myself to talk about only 2 areas in the game. But honestly like every area of ds3 is good, like they really just put so much detail and love in to like every area. I can’t overstate how pretty and detail oriented this game is.

Anyways..first area is the Ringed City. This area was introduced as the last dlc for the game and as the way to wrap up the entire franchise. Effectively finishing it and ending the story in a way THATS slightly hopeful! The whole area is amazing, from the poison swamps to the temples. I adore it all. The whole ringed city dlc is amazing. I love the architecture and sense of style the city has, it’s ancient and decrepit in ways but still so full of life and action. I also love it overall for what it represents, a city lost to the rest of the world filled with reminders of the failure of Gwyn, the whole dlc is honestly a big fuck you to Gwyn, showing once again how terrible he was.

It also has my favorite fight in the entire game series, and one of my favorite boss fights of all time, Slave Knight Gael. Gael has a lot of lore around him that really contextualizes what he’s doing and how long he’s been doing it. This man has been around for thousands of years and is trying to fix things, at the cost of his own sanity, knowing that you the player are going to kill him and finish his job. The fight is full of so many details that frankly still astonishes me. When you run away from him, he uses a summon sign to get closer, during phase 2 Gael goes hollow (by completing his task of reforming the dark soul) which makes him take more damage from the hollowslayer greatsword, he uses a miracle from thousands of years ago. AUGH..I CARE HIM...

Ok now that I’m done crying abt Gael I’ll talk abt my next favorite area which is the demon ruins! The demon ruins isn’t a very combat intensive area, while there certainly is a lot of enemies they aren’t very hard, which really helps highlight the tragedy of the area. The demon ruins is the long forgotten ruins of lost izaleth from dark souls 1, the home of the race of demons. But in dark souls 3, they’re a dying breed, throughout the demon ruins you see countless corpses of demons such as capra and taurus demons, and even see the body of the fair lady, one of the daughters of the Witch of Izaleth, who was the leader of the Chaos Servants covenant from dark souls 1. It’s nice to see the game gave small acknowledgements and closure on characters. The demon ruins is another optional area you kind of have to go out of your way to get to, but the game subtle pushes you to explore it because at the end there’s a route to stopping the ballista that has been shooting you the entire time you’ve been at smoldering lake, which is an area necessary for the hidden ending.

(I can’t find a good pic sry)

Anyways! The last of my last rambling, favorite dark souls 3 weapon..in the ways of practicality..good ol reliable flamberge, used it my first playthrough and it was so nice. It’s also the weapon used by the scariest npc invader, holy knight hodrick. But in terms of visuals, both of pontiff sulyvahn’s weapons, their really distinct color glows are so fucking pretty and can make you feel god tier even if you aren’t. The ringed knight straight sword is also up there with the weapon art creating this beautiful effect of flames covering the whole blade...

Aughh dark souls..

#swamppossum #long post #asks #sry..much to say. this took like my whole shift to write bcuz tumblr deleted by first attempt at this and also we got busy. oops