#talys makes maps

[talysalankil]

nanowrimo prep: in which i once again attempt world building

i forget if i posted about this on here yet, but last month while reading Nona the Ninth I had a moment of going "wait a minute. if tamsyn muir can make her homestuck/bible fanfiction into a science fantasy series what's stopping me from doing that with my kingdom hearts fanfiction"

(this is a joke btw. or, well, an exaggeration. it's not literally fanfiction)

anyway i dusted off a vague idea i'd had for a, quote, "vanven novel", i.e. a novel that isn't going to be vanven fanfiction, just a novel that draws on what draws me to that pairing. and that's the plan for nanowrimo. by which i mean i spent zero amount of time until now, october 29th (technically 30th it's past midnight).

but hey, i do have a few ideas. including the setting

so the idea is to have it be science fantasy, like i mention, and to have it take place on, essentially, alternate earth. but since part of vanven is the duality of it all, well, gotta work that into the setting. hence, also feature an alternate, mirror image earth.

now, inverted earth is a thing that exists but also one that I do not care for. earth is like, 30% land. if you make a world where you flip land and sea, you'd get 30% oceans, and then if you want to think about it in terms of real climates that's just a recipe for nothing but deserts.

enter: me wasting a good chunk of my days then finding a quick shortcut.

the objective: instead of flipping land and sea wholesale, flip the altitude of everything. deep oceans become tall mountains, vice versa. but then instead of setting the coastlines where they are now, essentially dump a roughly equivalent amount of water in the new relief until I get back to Earth-like conditions.

the onset: i trolled some world building communities (including, ugh, reddit. i even made a post there. i feel dirty) looking for some tools that might help. It doesn't appear anyone's done what I have, which is neat, but means I don't have a straight up template to follow

I do find elevation maps of land and oceans on earth from nasa (here and here) so I at least have a high-res and presumably highly accurate data source to start from.

my initial thought was use blender to simulate the water. so I find a tutorial for how to use my elevation map as a texture. I don't even need to really do the final stage of the rendering (turning it into a sphere) and in fact it's probably easier to simulate gravity on a flat plane. At first I use the two maps separately and it's a disaster because I haven't used blender in a decade but I don't think there's an easy way to merge the two halves.

So I open affinity photos (which is my go-to photoshop substitute) to merge the two maps into one. adjust the levels so one map uses half of the grayscale spectrum and the other map uses the other half, load it into blender, realize that the highest point and lowest point on earth aren't at opposite altitudes, go back to affinity, adjust the levels, go back to bender, and voilà, a single object.

(this is already inverted at this point)

but then i realize that that was the easy part. i have never actually used blender's physics engine, and y'know what, it is either a nightmare to use well, or it is going to make my computer catch fire, or both, but while i manage to get an object made of water with the right volume (i got an add-on to compute volume of the ocean in this to-scale version of earth!) i cannot get it to animate. and like. i don't intend to spend ages on this.

this is where a stroke of genius hits me. namely, go "hey. you already have this map in affinity. wouldn't it be easier to work with that."

This obviously wouldn't allow me to make sure the same volume of water is present, but, y'know, I wasn't even sure that would yield decent results, so I choose to do the next best thing and work with the land:ocean ratio. which, affinity also doesn't let me measure areas, especially since my source file is a raster. BUT my map is already separated between land and sea, so what i can do is threshold all the land to white and all the sea to black, use the average tool, and whatever shade of gray results from that should, in some way, represent that ratio

so my height map becomes

and our average shade is…this

#5B5B5B. Earth Gray. i'm naming it.

Anyway i go back to my detailed map, invert it, then it's time to play with thresholds. 50/50 is the grayscale threshold between sea and land on our earth, but that yields an inverted earth with 70% land which as mentioned i don't want. so I try a few values, set a threshold to turn the new land white and the new ocean black, average out. After some tests I land at a 73% threshold which magically lands on the exact same average gray. I would have content with a close enough but hey. if it's identical, all the better.

this is the resulting map, and it more or less gets me a world ocean separating continents, which is what I wanted. moving forward i decided to flip the poles around just for extra inversion and because i like the shapes better. plus, it makes sense, earth has a larger proportion on land on its northern hemisphere, so keep that true in the switch.

then i waste some extra time trying to generate a decent maps using only levels because I forgot that gradient maps are a thing. once i do remember those (by which i mean i googled it and went "oh my god i'm so stupid when i found the first result) i took the color scheme i used last spring when working on the FTEITS map, made some adjustments to flatten the land a little, and voilà. a map.

(my actual map is a much higher resolution btw i had to lower it for tumblr)

anyway i imagine if i really wanted to do realistic climates i'd probably need to add ice caps or something but i'm unlikely to go there in my story anyway so i'm happy with this result. tomorrow i'll try to come up with names for this.

I've seen people who do inverted earths reuse our names, so stuff like Atlantica/Atlantis/Atlanta for the continent where the Atlantic Ocean is, et cetera. I do and don't like the idea; on one hand it makes it clear to the reader which places corresponds to what. on the other hand it feels kinda lazy. so i don't know. i mean I still don't quite know what the story is about so i guess i should focus on that. for now what matters is i've got a world map now, yay!

one thing does irk me and it's that there isn't one large east-wet ocean like we have the Pacific, which would be a convenient place to put the 180° meridian at so that there isn't a landmass wrapping around the edge of my map. Oh well. I'll figure it out at some point.

#talys makes maps #talys liveblogs nanowrimo #nanowrimo 22 #talysnovel: world torn apart

[spacedlexi]

absolutely wild to me that i will see the takes “mass effect andromeda is just a rewrite of me1″ and “mass effect andromeda just isnt a mass effect game” side by side do you not hear yourselves

#its n7 day i get to talk about mass effect all i want #i see the 'mea isnt a bad game its just a bad mass effect game' take so often #but like!! what does that even mean!! no one ever explains what they think qualifies as a mass effect game #i agree that elements of mea are similar to me1 #but i dont necessarily think thats a bad thing? #it gives people something familiar to attach to when theyre surrounded by a new cast and galaxy they have to get to know #andromeda definitely qualifies as a mass effect game #and i especially respect it for trying to go back to the original roots of mass effect which was supposed to focus on exploration #does andromeda have faults? absolutely. disappointing is the best word i can use to describe iy #but my disappointment mainly comes from being able to see What they wanted to accomplish with mea and how they really fumbled it #due mainly to poor management #which is the saddest part #theres a lot of good ideas there!! especially with what you learn in the last like 5% of the game lol #people will compare mea to the entire completed me trilogy when thats not fair and should Only be compared to me1 #in terms of its story and characters at least. and i think the mea cast developed much more by the end of the game than the og crew did in 1 #like we all remember liara being a weird fangirl and tali being a walking dictionary #mea combat is the me series at its best even if youre one of the people who Hates that you cant control squadmates #having mapped powers makes the combat sooo much faster and more fluid and theres no way to have that while keeping the power wheel #i was sad about the loss of it too but your squadmates are pretty good at comboing your moves it just takes getting used to #also people who say the pacing is bad when they follow one mission across multiple planets when youre just supposed to focus on one location #like i said mea disappoints me but its still rated a 7/10 like thats not a bad score by any means?? i agree a 7 is fair #anything below a 5 is dubious but people think if a game is anything less than a 10 then its a failure #really the biggest hurdle to get over is the fact its a new cast in a new galaxy with a pc that is young and inexperienced #just such a shame that it got dogpiled and memed so hard that we'll probably never get a direct sequel it deserved a 2nd chance #mass effect andromeda get behind me #rant over andromeda deserved better #it speaks #ALSO the 2 player characters were twins thats GOLD and was underutilized i just want the ryders back

[felassan]

Some snippets of interest and insight from Mark Darrah, from an older Mark Darrah on Games YouTube video where he was livestreaming playing Dragon Age II some months ago -

Chat asked "Are you devs (former devs as well) hyped and excited about entire lore and world of DA like we are?''. Mark replied that the devs do get into the lore but that they actually often lean into the community to make sure that they aren't violating their own lore (because there's so much of it). "You guys have done a much better job of curating it than we have to be honest".

A comment in chat said "I think it's important to know that as DA4 ramps up, the fandom is going to change". Mark replied "for sure, definitely, as the marketing picks up for a game you draw in more people. Also, BioWare is carrying some Anthem people that picked up that never left, that have definitely changed the tenor of the fandom to some degree".

For dialogue, the reason why the paraphrase is different to what Hawke actually says is that they found in ME1 that if they just made them the same, it felt like everything you as the PC said was being repeated because you had already read it in your head and then it got said out loud. This does sometimes lead to disconnect as sometimes what Hawke ends up saying isn't really what was implied by the paraphase. Mark said "that's why we've been experimenting with different tonal stuff in different games, to give you hints as to more clarity as to what will actually be said".

Chat asked ''what is you opinion on the rewrite/corrections of a lot of the lore from DA2 in subsequent media?'. Mark replied "My opinion is that you should try to be respectful of everything that came before as much as possible. I don't like that some of the comics and things have enforced sort've standard canon so strongly. I recognize that, especially coming out of DA:O, there's not much choice, but I feel like we could have done a bit of a better job there".

[source]

He also talked more generally about DAII and the previous games in general. These bits are collected under a cut due to length:

The messages that appear at the bottom of the DAII start screen must be hard-coded as opposed to live updates received from online, as some of them still refer to long-past things

On Varric's embellished prologue scene, where Bethany's chest size is exaggerated, he mentioned that Varric was more of a pig in DAII than he is in DA:I. "Men writing men writing women"

First impressions have an impact on players' opinions of the companions. Mark mentioned that he thinks that might be one of the reasons why players tend to stick with the first 3 companions that they get in the game, because those are the ones they're used to and are forced to get a bit more context on because they're there with you for the duration of the prologue/introduction

One of the problems with DAII is that because the followers are so locked down in terms of their abilities, gameplay and roleplay are in conflict more than they are in DA:O and DA:I

Combat in DAII is essentially the combat of DA:O (the same systems underneath) if someone took the 'knobs' and cranked them in the opposite direction really far. So the same systems underneath, but just with very different numbers in them

In DA:I, lighting (what time of day it is) was created such that the best looking lighting/time of day for each area was chosen

In DAII Kirkwall, because it was essentially such a central character in the game, actually got a lot more attention than cities usually do in DA games

The design of Kirkwall's city map actually kind of discourages you from going out into the wilderness, which Mark doesn't think was the intention

He mentioned that accents are tricky and that you want replicable accents. This was a problem Mass Effect had, e.g. with Tali. Tali's accent was one her VA could do, but no-one else could do it, so they ended up with an un-replicable accent for this character

"I forgot how many redheads there are in DAII"

Adding in some of the 'this is physically impossible irl' moves and skills to warriors and rogues in DAII helped to better balance those classes with mages, which were sort've overpowered relatively speaking in DA:O

DAII tried really hard to establish an art direction. So for example, there was a strong effort to make elves not look like 'humans with pointy ears', hence they're very angular. They then backed away from this a bit in DA:I

Chat asked ''Do you guys prefer the strongest loot to be crafted or found?'". Mark replied that crafting is a dangerous thing because some players don't engage in it, so if you require crafting for the best loot you run into the problem of players who don't engage in crafting not being able to play the game. Usually the best loot is crafted, but you need to be able to play the game without using it

In DAII they were trying to control the game economy a bit better than it was done in DA:O, as especially in the first act you're supposed to be someone who has just fled the Blight, so it wouldn't make sense to have a sack of money

On the repeating cave environment in DAII, it was a very specific hole in the cave ceiling with a shaft of sunlight hitting the ground that was so identifiable/distinctive that was what showed that the cave was being reused. "That specific spot is the main reason there was backlash about and people noticing the reused cave". Chat asked whether Mark thought that a simple texture swap-out would have helped mitigate the repeating dungeons complaint and he replied that some texture swaps could have helped, but the reason why they didn't do more clever tricks to conceal it was lack of time

Another major thing that caused the noticeable repeating environments problem is that they had the same area map, as they didn't have the ability in the engine to have specialized area maps, "so what happens is you actually get lots of times where parts of the level look accessible when in fact it isn't" (blocked off doors and not making it look like that on the minimap), and that just draws even further attention to how repetitive it is. DA:O comparatively did better at disguising or effectively reusing content

Also, chat asked ''Development wise, was crunch much worse for DA: Exodus versus DA:O or DA:I since it had a year or two development period??'". Mark replied that "Crunch-wise, yeah, DAII was arguably the worst but because the game was short in terms of dev time it was less total time I guess. But it was kind've for the entire development process so that was not great. We decided to do it in December in 2009 and shipped in March of 2011, so total time from the day we decided to do it until the day it was on shelves was about 15 months." This is why the game relies so much on the followers, because they are faster to write, usually require less revisions and you can go with the first drafts a little bit more. "If Jason Schreier says it was 2 years dev time for DAII in his book Blood, Sweat and Pixels, he's incorrect". More development time for DAII would have helped but it would have needed to have been added to the timeline in just the right way. If it had been added at the end and the release date had shifted really late in development, that would have been the biggest way to help, "because you could take the game as it was and patched over the biggest shaky bits". If it had just started with a 2 year dev cycle "I think you would have ended up with weaknesses because you would have just filled up the bucket with more content and I think the solution would've been to not do that, to keep it super tight, keep the focus on the characters and then patch over the worse of the glaring things". Also, "I have slept under my desk, yes".

(pls note that in places there is a bit of paraphrasing of the info, the best source is always the primary source with full quotes in their original context. and also that this vid is from 11 months ago)

[source]

#dragon age #bioware #video games #long post #longpost #dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #anthem #mass effect

[dragonflight203]

Mass Effect 1 Replay, wrapping up Voyager Cluster and starting Hades Gamma:

-The Shadow broker agent calls and asks Shepard for Cerberus's files. Why are Cerberus's files the Alliance's files? Because Cerberus was Black Ops?

-For once, Shepard saying their loyalty is to the Alliance isn't renegade. Here it's paragon/neutral.

-Again, this conversation ends on ominous note that it will make an impact on ME2/ME3 and yet is never brought up again.

Amazon Cluster:

-Hackett takes being turned down well for once. Yes, please send someone qualified to disarm the nuke.

-I agree with the Council. Attaching nukes to surveillance drones was dangerous and irresponsible. The drones could easily have found their way to another group that wasn't the enemy to start with, but became one after a nuke went off in their face.

-I always promise to be discreet. I always take aliens with me on this mission. It would have been a nice Easter egg if doing so resulted in some extra dialogue in the future because Liara/Garrus informed their people about it.

-Agebinium - It's a nice touch that you can find the car + driver where the the scavenger corpse with the turian insignia presumably came from.

-When you enter the mine, neutral/renegade Shepard assume it's a trap. Paragon is surprisingly optimistic - maybe, just maybe, they don't know it's a nuke. Hah.

-Elanos Haliat - The dialogue with him is very good, especially the renegade choices.

-He refers to the Terminus as "Terminus Clans". I think that's the only time they're called clans? Is that just because he's a turian?

-This is a genuinely good trap. It's lucky as hell that Shepard can disarm the nuke. And the nuke itself is a human nuke - if it had killed Shepard that would have been an ironic touch.

-I finally figured out why the Mako is with the pirate camp when you escape the mine: They're stealing it. How did I never realize that before? I always assumed that was the game moving it there so you don't have to walk over the mountain.

Antaeus

-Ploba - I think we can safely conclude the planet isn't a supercomputer or the Reapers would have destroyed it by now.

It would have been hilarious if it had been destroyed in ME3, with the implication being that it was a supercomputer. Missed opportunity there.

Still... what are those structures in the atmosphere?

-Trebin - Why does every scavenger I run into attack me on sight?

-Turians were everywhere in the Atticus Traverse. There are no Batarian corpses or artifacts. I thought Batarians were who the Alliance had to brawl with to claim this area?

-So who did set up the tower that disrupted the survey team's GPS satellites? I don't think that is ever stated.

-I think this is the first example of finding Reaper tech in mines that results in miners becoming husks.

Why is this a thing? The Reapers want civilizations to flourish, then destroy them as they start to create synthetic life. So what's the point of leaving tech behind to create husks?

And why in mines? When do the Reapers even enter in mines?

-There's a glowing ball in the Reaper tech that looks like the ball the Geth worship on Feros. Is that intentional or just asset reuse?

-If you have subtitles on, Tali's heard of this happening before. The spoken dialogue skips those sentences.

-There are Dragon's Teeth at the back of the mines. So... Did the survey team put themselves on the Teeth? Brutal.

-This planet supposedly has no water, but the mine is full of it. Ah, ME1 and reusing the same maps over and over.

#mass effect #mass effect 1 #mass effect 1 replay

[corpocyborg]

My Active Mass Effect Mods

The purpose of this post is to create a comprehensive list of all Mass Effect mods that I'm actively using, so that when I make a post that features content from mods, I can easily credit them by linking to this post, rather than trying to list each relevant mod individually. A brief description of each mod is included for clarity's sake, and each mod is linked to its nexusmod page.

You may also consider this modlist as a recommendation list.

I install all my mods using ME3Tweaks Mod Manager.

MASS EFFECT MODS

Advanced Weapon Models for LE1: Replaces the weapon models in LE1 with their counterparts from LE2 and LE3

Casual Hubs for LE1: Allows Shepard and squadmates to wear casual outfits on the Citadel and Noveria instead of armor. Galaxy Map Trackers (LE1): Tracks active and undiscovered UNC side quests on the galaxy map. Halcyon Hairpack (LE1): Adds new hairstyles for NPCs based on hairstyles from The Outer Worlds. Keepers Finders (LE1): Marks unscanned Keepers from the quest Scan the Keepers on Citadel maps. LE1 Community Patch: Fixes bugs. LE1 Diversification Project: Reblances NPC populations & diversifies outfits/apperances.

No Skill Check Required for Loot (LE1): Allows you to open loot boxes automatically, without needing to pass a Decryption or Electronics skill check.

Normandy Rapid Transit: Adds the Normandy as a Rapid Transit destination on the Citadel. Pinnacle Station DLC: Adds the Pinnacle Station DLC back into Legendary Edition. Same-Gender Romances for LE1: Allows Ashley and Kaiden to be romanced by both male and female Shepard. Saren Stages LE: Adds new appearances for Saren so that he gradually transforms to have more and more geth implants, rather than starting out that way. Skip Minigames (LE1): Removes mini games or allows them to be skipped without an omnigel cost. Unlimited Sprint: Allows Shepard to run forever.

Virmire Savior Mod: Allows both Ashley and Kaiden to survive Virmire. MASS EFFECT 2 MODS Casual Hubs for LE2: Allows Shepard and squadmates to wear casual clothes on the Citadel, Omega, and Illium, and gives certain squadmates casual appearances on the Normandy. Early Recruitment: Allows recruitment of late-game squadmates such as Tali, Legion, Thane, and Samara earlier in the game. Expanded Shepard Armory (ESA) LE2: Unlocks helmet-less versions of the official DLC armors, as well as adds additional armors and casual outfits. Genesis Intro Dialogue Undo Mod - Legendary Edition: Restores the original Mass Effect 2 opening dialogue from before BioWare created the Genesis 2 DLC, while retaining all features of the Genesis Recap comic. More Gay Romances for LE2: Allows female Shepard to romance Miranda and Jack. No Headgear for Squadmates: Removes (or alters) the headgear on squadmates' Alternate Appearance Pack armors. One Probe All Resources: Allows a single probe to deplete all resources and make all anomalies available.

Oriana looks like Miranda's Twin (ME2LE): Makes Oriana look like Miranda. Overlord Morality Fix: Grants morality points for choosing the fate of David Archer in the Overlord DLC. Same-Gender Romances for LE2: Allows Tali and Thane to be romanced by both male and female Shepard and allows imports of FemShep/Ashley and MaleShep/Kaidan romances. Skip Mini Games: Skips hacking and bypass mini games. Unlimited Sprint: Allows Shepard to run forever. Unofficial LE2 Patch: Fixes bugs. Virmire Savior Mod: Maintains continuity from the LE1 mod where you can save both Ashley and Kaidan. MASS EFFECT 3 MODS Anderson's Final Conversation Restored: Restores cut content during Anderson's final scene.

Dreams Remade: Changes Gameplay and cutscenes of the dream sequences of ME3 to give more representation of player choices and reduce the presence of the child.

Expanded Galaxy Mod (LE): Adds quality of life improvements, customizations to the Normandy, new visitors, makes the galactic war more immersive, and adds bonus squadmates from ME1 & 2 that can be taken on certain missions. Expanded Universe - Mod Menu: Allows a user to set what books, comics, games and films they have read/played in a mod menu to allow other mods to check what you've seen and tailor content specifically for those who have seen certain parts of the expanded universe. Kasumi Dress to Citadel: Allows Shepard to wear the dress from Kasumi's loyalty mission in ME2 in the Citadel DLC. LE3 Community Patch & Framework: Fixes bugs. LE3 Diversification Project: Reblances NPC populations & diversifies outfits/apperances. Miranda Mod (LE3): Allows Miranda to be recruited as a squadmate after Priority: Horizon. More Gay Romances for LE3: Allows femShep to carryover a romance with Miranda or Jack from Mass Effect 2. No Reapers and Max Scan Range: Disallows reapers from chasing you on the galay map and increases scan range to the entire system at once.

Oriana looks like Miranda's Twin (ME3LE): Makes Oriana look like Miranda.

Spectre Expansion Mod: Improves the Shadow Broker and Spectre terminals, gives the player new difficult choices to consider via Spectre authorisations, improves the presence of background races in ME3, and expands the galaxy map to provide clues to the battles happening beyond the scope of Shepard’s missions.

Take Earth Back: Overhauls the final mission of Mass Effect 3 with the aim of representing the allies you have gathered over the course of the trilogy, fixing bugs and adding ambient immersive events.

Unlimited Sprint: Lets Shepard run forever.

Virmire Savior Mod: Maintains continuity regarding Kaiden and Ashley both surviving Virmire and both can be recruited after Priority: The Citadel II.

#mass effect #mass effect mods #mass effect modding #mass effect mod recommendations

[imperial-topaz2003]

Mass Effect Questionnaire

I saw @littleneonlily do this, so I figured I'd give it a shot, too, while I still have Mass Effect on the brain. 1. Tie between Garrus, Wrex, and Liara

2. Mordin, Samara, Zaeed, and Garrus again

3. Liara again, Kaidan, and Garrus...again

4. The M-76 Revenant. Who doesn't love a non-stop barrage of death?

5. Still like the Revenant, but if you want me to pick something else, I'll do the N7 Crusader

6. Soldier. Go ahead, call me bland, but I think it best fits both the gameplay and the story. Though I do also like the Vanguard and Sentinel classes.

7. Noveria in Mass Effect 1. I dunno why, but I just love the atmosphere this planet has, both setting and story wise.

8. Tying in with the above, the entirety of Noveria's arc, for the same reasons, with Bringing Down the Sky right behind it.

9. The Suicide Mission itself, which is my favorite level in all of gaming. Runner-ups would have to include Garrus's Recruitment, Tali and Grunt's Loyalty Missions, and the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC.

10. It's gonna be a tie between Priority Rannoch and Tuchanka. And the entirety of the Citadel DLC, too.

11. Depends. With Male Shepard, I like to pair him with Kaidan (shameless Mshenko fan here). With Female Shepard, I like to romance Liara. For Runner ups, I'd do Garrus and Tali (hetero normies)

12. I kinda wish James Vega was a romance option, preferably Bi, because I love my himbos. Other than that, I'd love to see some bisexual romance options from currently romanceable companions, such as Garrus, Tali, Thane, and Miranda.

13. Mako. Both control like ass, but at least the Mako isn't made of wet tissue paper.

14. Oh boy, you guys are gonna hate me for this one, but to me...it's Tali. Look, I don't hate her at all. In fact, she's pretty good, but HOLY SHIT, some of her fans are zealous.

15. I dunno how the rest of the fandom sees them, but I do really like Samantha Traynor and Steve Cortez. For side characters, they're really well written, both character and romance wise.

16. Haven't played Multiplayer in ages.

17. Refer to above, though I do recall liking the Earth maps.

18. I'd say SR-2. If you wanna be more specific, I like the version of it in ME3.

19. Destroy all the way...and maybe control. I know, E.D.I. and the Geth won't survive, but it's not like folks are just gonna forget how to rebuild synthetics (unless you're a moron who gets everyone killed). Control is a decent runner up if you wanna spare the robots. Synthesis is bullshit space magic (seriously, what the fuck even happens in Synthesis?). And Refusal is just...dumb.

20. I tend to lean more towards Paragon. Granted, I do make some Renegade Choices here and there, either for the sake of pragmatism or sheer amusement, but generally, the Shepards I play will lean a bit more on the Paragon side.

Not tagging anyone this time, since IDK how many of my mutuals are Mass Effect Fans, but feel free to give it a shot.

#mass effect #mass effect questionnaire #questionnaire #commander shepard #kaidan alenko #liara t'soni #urdnot wrex #garrus vakarian #tali zorah #mordin solus #zaeed massani #samara #samantha traynor #steve cortez #mshenko #femshep x liara

[wellthebardsdead]

Clockwork heart pt17

Part 16 here

———

Inigo: *riding on Roach, the horse Wyrm bought him with the little gold he had left so he wouldn’t have to walk* You are the dragonborn my friend?

Wyrm: *riding on Naomi, Taliesin hugging his waist with one hand and holding the reigns with the other* apparently…

Kaidan: *up ahead on Wyrms horse* apparently my arse, No normal person can move mountains with their voice like you can.

Taliesin: Or absorb the soul of a dragon like you did.

Inigo: well, I’m extra glad I did not kill you then.

Wyrm: you may as well have, something will eventually… *sighs* it doesn’t matter anyway. Once I’m home I’m never leaving again… making me the dragonborn surely must be one final cruel joke by the gods, I’m no hero or adventurer, I can’t even fight off some dogs or brandish a blade… *sniffles* papa was right about everything…

Taliesin: *strokes his hair* shhh, enough of that. You just need some help and practice is all.

Wyrm: I don’t even have two working arms…

Taliesin: … *looks up ahead at Kaidan* Kai, can I see the map please?…

Kaidan: Why? Think I’m leading us in the wrong direction?

Taliesin: no- *trying to hide the anxiety already building inside* a-are there any marked dwemer ruins nearby?

*several hours later*

Kaidan: *carrying Taliesin out of the ruins of Mzulft* Deep breaths you’re alive you’re not dead.

Taliesin: *coming down from a panic attack* we- are NEVER GOING IN ONE OF THOSE AGAIN!

Inigo: *carrying out a bag of loot* Is it a good book?

Wyrm: *holding the Lunar Lorkhan* I don’t know but… it feels strangely important given everything that’s happened to me recently… hm? *blinks spotting a building theyd missed* …Kai?? That key we couldn’t find a lock for, do you have it?

Kaidan: hm? Oh yeah- *unceremoniously drops Taliesin on his ass and fumbles around his bag for the key before handing it to him* here.

Wyrm: th-thank you. Tali are you okay?

Taliesin: *on the ground hyperventilating* I- I-

Kaidan: don’t worry I’ve got him. *pats Taliesin on the back* keep breathing you’re fine.

Wyrm: I… I’ll be right back. *watches him with growing concern before walking off to the building and opening the doors to find a store room inside* oh?… *looks around at the rows and shelves of spare pottery, parts and more* ohhh! *grabs several gears, metal plates, bolts and ingots placing them in his satchel before passing another door and immediately back pedalling as something blue catches his eye* what?… *places the key in the door and steps in as he unlocks it to see a strange shard of what he can only describe as blue glass* wow… *slowly touches it and feels his whole body seize in shock as another memory clouds his mind*

???: Aetherium? But sir we only have a limited supply left, and with the dwemer gone we don’t know how to harvest anymore, we should not start such a grand project if we are without means to finish I-

Sotha Sil: we do not need the aid of our deep elven cousins. I am aware of their methods and how we can obtain more if needs be. But in order to create my vision for our people’s future, I must first make the gateway to the plain where it shall take shape.

Wyrm: *let’s go of the shard and staggers back as he regains control of his mind* ughh- *rubs his face* Aw- shit. *huffs and rights himself* I wish that’d stop happening… *looks back at the shard before nervously poking it in case another memory sparks before quickly putting it in his satchel too and exiting the building*

Inigo: *leaning against the entrance* Anything interesting?

Wyrm: it was just a storage room but I found some gears to repair my arm!

Inigo: that is great news my frie-

Taliesin: *having a coughing fit after hyperventilating so hard he started crying* I can’t breathe- I can’t breathe-

Kaidan: *at a loss on how to help him* T-Taliesin calm down! You’re outside now you’re safe-

Wyrm: *hurries over and shuffles his way into taliesins lap hugging him and taking his hands* shhh, it’s okay, it’s almost over now… *pulls his handkerchief from his bag and wipes his face* y-your makeup is running, it’s alright Tali I-I’m sorry you went through all that just for me…

Taliesin: *sniffles and rubs his face choking back another sob* I’m- im fine- I’m fi- *coughs* w-wanted to make you happy again- I forgot h-how horrible those dreadful r-ruins are-

Wyrm: *keeps drying his face just letting him ride it out knowing how hard anxiety like this is to stop and how similar they are to his sensory overloads* I-I’m so greatful you went through it for me, y-you didn’t have to. *takes his hand to move it from his face only to feel the larger elf squeeze it a little tighter than he’s comfortable with but not in a cruel way* … *squeezes back* I’m here.

Taliesin: *breath uneven and in short bursts as he begins to steady and ground himself feeling the weight of the small dunmer in his lap, his hand in his, the sweet smell of citrus in his hair mixing with the smell of sandalwood from his robes* I… I’m… I’m okay, I think- *clears his throat and sniffles back tears* I lost myself for a moment there-

Wyrm: it’s okay to lose yourself, so long as you come back to us eventually. *smiles and dries his face cleaning his eyeliner up* I-I don’t blame you for being frightened, that centurion had you cornered, if inigo didn’t jump on it when he did I don’t think Kaidan could have stopped it in time.

Inigo: the hero again~ *snickers walking by*

Taliesin: I… *sighs rubbing his face* I’m just glad to be out of there… I only wanted to help but…

Wyrm: m-maybe next time we avoid going into dwemer ruins.

Taliesin: *nods and laughs softly* y-yes, that. That sounds like a great idea. *smiles warmly at him as he finally calms down, feeling oddly at peace as he stares at Wyrms sweet smile and gentle face* I… *finally realises Wyrm is just sitting in his lap* I- um. *clears his throat and lifts him up as he rises to his feet* d-did you find anything you can use? *sets him down*

Wyrm: yes! I should be able to fix my arm now. Thank you Taliesin. *suddenly gives him a hug before running over to the horses leaving Taliesin standing there stunned*

Kaidan: *pats him on the back* Smooth.

Taliesin: Bugger off.

Kaidan: Hehehe~

*that evening*

Wyrm: *seated at a table in the Braidwood inn as he tinkers with his arm, the group having decided it’d be best for all of them to avoid windhelm and it’s unwelcoming inhabitants* just- go- I- *pauses watching the bolt he was trying to fit into place pop out of its position and fall off the table and onto the floor* Aw biscuits… *shifts and reaches down to get it only for Taliesin to grab it for him*

Taliesin: you should be in bed little moth. *hands him the bolt*

Wyrm: th-thank you. I will be soon I just- wanted to get my arm fixed tonight… it’s just a lot harder without mr wrench to help me…

Taliesin: Mr? Wrench?

Wyrm: oh- *blinks suddenly making his Pearl eye glow and a projection of a tiny dwarven spider suddenly appearing from it* one of my-… well… I guess he’s my only automaton now… I built him from scraps and he helps me build things.

Taliesin: *staring at the projection in amazement* I?! How?! How are you doing that??!

Wyrm: huh? Oh, i-it’s one of its enchantments. I’m very good at enchanting things, I can store memories in it, it’s, like a lexicon but very small. But it mainly just helps me see. *blinks making it disappear* it’s just magicka made visible, like fire or lightning for a destruction spell or an illusion spell. I keep memories that make me happy in case I’m sad… *looks down slightly before shyly blinking again making a projection of taliesins tear stained eyeliner smudged face appear* thank you for making me happy too.

Taliesin: *visibly blushes feeling his heart skip a beat* I- I you’re welcome but did you really have to pick that- I look dreadful!

Wyrm: *giggles*

*a few hours later*

Wyrm: *sharing a bed with Taliesin as Kaidan & inigo bunk together on the other* mnn *shifts uncomfortably as the hay pokes him and the old furs itch his skin*

Taliesin: *blinks open his eyes, too uncomfortable to sleep as well* itchy?

Wyrm: *nods* yeah…

Taliesin: *shifts and gets up pulling his thalmor robe from his bag*

Wyrm: t-Tali put it away you’ll get arrested if someone sees-

Taliesin: *suddenly turns it inside out and lays it over the hay and furs* nobody will be able to tell. *smiles and lays on it, gesturing for the small dunmer to shuffle closer*

Wyrm: *gladly does as he’s asked, wanting more so to cover it with himself in case somebody comes in and sees it* th-this feels much better.

Taliesin: *yawns and nods* I agree. If all else fails we always have our bedrolls.

Wyrm: *nods and shuffles a little closer resting his head against his chest* I-I never thought I’d miss my bed so much when I left home… but anything is better than the sleeping arrangements here…

Taliesin: *visibly blushes feeling the dunmer so close* Then we’d best get you back home as fast as we can so you can rest c-

Wyrm: *blinks wondering why he paused* Tali? *looks up at him to see him frozen in place* …Tali?… *notices he can’t even hear his heartbeat anymore* … *gets up in a panic only to see Kaidan frozen mid snore and inigo mid stretch* Wh-what- what’s happening?… *looks around the room before stepping out to see the inn and it’s patrons frozen in time, the fire unmoving, the bard mid strum of her lute, a cork from a bottle of wine halted in mid air* I- *jumps and spins around feeling something touch his shoulder but unable to see what’s there* h-hello? *reaches out and feels nothing beyond a sudden and painful headache* th-this happened in saarthal too- before- before- before- *grabs the bar as his mind flashes images of the orb and the memories of creation, the throbbing of his head pounding like a drum and beating in tandem with a heart he’d seen shot into the sea* p-papa- I-I’m- dying- it- hurts- it- hurts- it- *falls silent as cool metal touches his face, a hand, elegant in design, and a now familiar, kind face smiling back at him beyond a white void… sotha sil* y-you…

Sotha Sil: *smiles warmly at him, his very presence bringing him a strange comfort* shhh… you’re not dying… You can’t die.

Wyrm: I-it hurts- it hurts my head hurts- my heart it’s so loud- wh-why m-me- why are you killing me?

Sotha Sil: *bearing a look of immense sadness and hurt on his face that his means of protecting him would cause him pain* Kill you?… impossible… *shakes his head* No matter. I won’t allow them to use you for their plans. Please bear it for a moment longer…

Wyrm: u-use me? W-who? Wh-what do you mean impossible?

Sotha Sil: *smiles* You can’t kill a god.

“Sahloknir, ziil gro dovah ulse!”

Wyrm: *gasps as he comes back to reality, only to find himself no longer in the inn, but standing atop the hill near the settlement, his nightshirt and trousers drenched from the rain… and the world eater glaring down at him as he brings forth his ally from the earth* …I’m going to die…

#wyrm dragonborn #alduin #skyrim taliesin #inigo skyrim #Kaidan skyrim #sotha sil #skyrim

[1stupidrat]

Learned Mortality | Night 1 (Part 2) | Art Thread + Behind the Scenes

Hey everyone! Another Learned Mortality session has come and gone, and with that I have a whole slew of artworks to share with you all! This episode was a wild ride, so let's get right to it.

As always, spoilers below for the episode ^-^

In case you haven't seen the episode yet, and want to check it out, watch it here on YouTube or follow @breaksequence

First off, the convoy that was seen travelling north in King's Pass. Not much is known about this frostbitten yet, so I will save that for when it's revealed ^-^

Where the WIld Things Are got dropped this session! I love these wolves, they have a very fun "Science Factoid" about them, the calls they make are the same sounds that reverberate through ice cores and on lakes when ice impacts ice. They use their mallet-like tongues to communicate battle strategies to each other and empower their own attacks.

They've also learned to create projectile-like ice shards by dipping their tails in water and using the collected mass like a bow.

These are the first frostbitten artworks I finished for this game and defined the style I would use going forward!

So now I'd like to get into the map assets I've created for this game. As the scenarios I want to create get more and more complicated, the limitations of Roll20's default map assets become greater. I've created an array of parts that are used to create The Lucky One's network of flesh which act as its ears and feelers throughout the Titanic dungeon.

Ice is also hard to come by. These ice assets were made by me.

The Lucky One!

The main "antagonist" of this episode, aside from our boi murph. The Lucky One was originally going to be Murphy's stand, with the idea that Murph would be a "Frostbitten Sympathizer". This idea was scrapped as I felt it would be more horrific for Murphy to be aware he's being controlled, but have completely given up fighting it because of his shit luck making it impossible to fight back against this Frostbitten's luck-negation ability.

The purpose of this frostbitten is unknown, but in the documentation notes it is referred to as "The Alchemist".

It was able to see through Murphy's infected eye, feel through its feelers, and "hear" through its ear extensions that are laid out throughout the titanic. Its hearing is very bad, as it relies on vibrations and its sense of touch more than something like a human's hearing.

Fun Fact: the party was able to discern that there was something weird in the air at the start of the dungeon, but I wanted to make it very difficult to tell that there was actually anything infecting them. The spores would have begun to take hold if the party had decided to spend the night in the Titanic before continuing on, for example.

Edit: Some additional thoughts I remembered to add; Its head is shaped like a Four Leaf Clover ( four hand clover lmao ). It has a heart on its stomach exposed externally, and it has a cape billowing in the wind to mock the classic "My Heart Will Go On" Titanic scene / song. Its one leg has a walky-talky wrapped around it to imply that Murphy can "talk" to it, before Murph even reveals that. Its feet are tied and there are ice shards jutting into them. The clawing hands coming out of the shards represent the deaths of all of those on the Titanic who couldn't do anything to escape their fate... just like Murphy.

My boi murph. Just ain't his lucky day...

Based on the concept of "Murphy's Law", and designed off of the Police Officers in the music video for Tooboe's "Shinzo".

Annnd the additional eyecatches that dropped this ep:

Lastly, while not exactly "art", the construction documents I wrote for the Eso-Tiller Shuttle Loop contain some really fun details ^-^ Have fun combing for secrets~

-Tali

#Youtube #dnd #dnd art #dnd campaign #ttrpg podcast #ttrpg art #ttrpg campaign #ttrpg dev #ttrpg oc #ttrpg character #ttrpg #ttrpg stuff #jojo ttrpg #jojottrpg #sequence break #learned mortality #lesbian art #lesbian #Shinzo Murphy #tooboe #the lucky one #my art #my art style #antarctica #indie ttrpg #ttrpg design #dnd5e #tabletop #dungeons and dragons #stand

[vakarians-babe]

Chapter 38: To Kill a Witch

“Scarcely two miles east of here,” Alistair says, his voice high and somewhat mocking. “Easy to find! Impossible to miss! Impossible to miss. Impossible to miss, my left arse cheek.” Unfortunately, Talvinder is inclined to agree with him at the moment. Morrigan had made it sound so simple as they left her at their campsite, accompanied by Sher and Abarie for protection. So simple that even a child could find Flemeth’s hut. And here they are now, well over two hours later, certainly more than two miles traversed, still picking their way through the marsh.

“The Darkspawn changed the terrain when they came through here,” Sav says, but Tali can tell she’s making a bit of an excuse. She doesn’t want to admit that they’re turned around. Besides, the ground is less blighted here than in other places they’ve seen on their way back south. There’s no blackened grass, no mold climbing over barely living plants, no viscous sheen to the water. The wilted and miserable landscape is far sadder and less beautiful than it was when last they came through here, and the marsh birds have been driven off, but things still live here.

“We should retrace our steps,” Leliana offers. Tali can see Sav grimacing at the thought, at the idea of losing more time to backtracking.

“There’s no need. She said two miles east. We had to turn north around the bog for about a half mile, and that diverted us west, and then we came back down south a half mile, and had to make up the lost ground, and now—” If only Tali could make a map appear in her mind’s eye. That would make everything so much easier. Instead, she’s left with a spinning head and a pinprick headache of stress and fear and anxiety behind her forehead.

Read More.

#i forgor to post oop #laura writes #dragon age origins #dragon age #dao #dragon age fanfiction #grey warden #hero of ferelden #alistair theirin #morrigan #flemeth #talvinder kaur cousland #savreen kaur cousland #warden cousland

[kpopulation]

Tali, 30s, Canada. (she/her)

Name: Tali Nickname: T/Tee Country: Canada Birth year: 1991 Gender/Pronouns: Female (she/her) Multi?: Totally! I'd likely be more sane (and less broke) if I liked just one group, but I'd also be missing out on so much amazing music. So yeah, proud multi right there. Can I message you?: Of course! Whole reason I started this was to help fans connect with other fans. :) I'm always up for making new friends. Socials?: I used to have a Twitter once upon a time, but I never used it. For now, I'm pretty much just active here (on Tumblr), but if I get to talking with some of you and we hit it off, perhaps we can switch over to email or Kakao. (Not comfortable with just putting that information out for the masses, though. Safety first, guys. :D) Blog URL: kpopulr.tumblr.com

— Fan since: I don't know exactly how long it's been, but I was around the age of 14 when I first got into Korean music, and everything else just snowballed from there. xD First concert: BTS (2018) — Yes, been a fan of the music for nearly 2 decades, but I was late to the game with attending concerts. I just had no one to go with, and only one other fan who liked KPop so I never even considered bringing up going to one to my parents. I wish I had though, because there are a lot of groups that I probably/definitely won't get to see now. (With that said, groups barely come to Canada *now* so I highly doubt I would've had much luck with groups I liked coming back in the early 2000s.) First bias: I'm not 100% sure —because again, it was so long ago— but my guess is either BoA or GD (from Big Bang). If not either of those two, Miyavi. (He's a guitarist from Japan.) Song that got you hooked: Again, been so long, so... I don't know if this is for sure the song that got me, but I do remember watching it A TON when it first came out. I had been listening to Kpop before this point, but I feel like this was what really got me into looking into what other groups might be out there (and I wouldn't be surprised if this was around the time I got into liking 2NE1, too.) Specifically at the 24s point I remember watching over and over and over. (Big crush on BoA back in the day, I gotta say. xD)

Favourite music genre: I listen to literally everything, with the exception of country and classical. I just never really got into it (with the exception of Shania Twain when I was younger, because that was literally the only other type of music in the house apart from gospel, so it was kind of a 'which do I not like the least of these two' situation. haha. Because I'm so all over the map with my music tastes, it was very easy to get into liking music in other languages as well. I'm grateful to Youtube coming along and bringing it all to my attention. (Yes, I'm older than Youtube. What an old fart, eh? xD)

Latest concert attended: Eric Nam, about a week(ish) ago. It was my second time seeing him. Prior to that I attended a concert from Kingdom, and next up I'm going to be seeing D&E. (Majorly Donghae biased gal right there. I'm so excited, even though I don't have great seats.)

Girl groups or guy groups?: Well, I like both, but I certainly stan more of the guy groups. (If I had any friends interested in seeing the girl groups I like —*ahem* Mamamoo... *cough* Hwasa *ahem*— and if any of them would come to my country then I would be SO THERE, but I fear even if they did come I would have to go alone, and being the anxious, socially dysfunctional person that I am... I would not enjoy that experience (no matter how incredible the concert was.)

That's all I can think of at the moment, but as the database gets built up and other people start putting up their profiles, perhaps I can get more ideas of what questions to answer and I'll update my 'bio' more.

#name tali #place canada #age 30s #gender female #kpop #korean #music #kpop fans #kpop fan #jpop fan #cpop fans #tpop fans #fans #database #kpop database #get to know #making friends #friends #grp 2ne1 #grp bigbang #solo boa #grp bts #duo dande #grp ericnam #solo gdragon #grp hwasa #grp kingdom #grp mamamoo #grp miyavi

[talysalankil]

the hyperfixation report back at it again

i did say i was out for a few days

progress was actually slow today (not the least of which because on my first day back home my mom decided to take up half of my afternoon, which, given that i woke up around eleven, that’s a serious chunk of my day lmao)

but anyway i did make some progress nonetheless, with stuff like the look of rivers on the map (giving them a non uniform width which is relatively easy and just makes them look a little nicer, at least when zoomed in)

i’ve also started work on labeling rivers (the ones that already had a name anyway), and putting down major roads and train tracks in anemos (the only place i’ve really given it some thought so far given that it’s my main setting). i’ve also popped down pretty much every city that is mentioned anywhere in the book and/or my notes. (including finally the pratorian ones)

(i really wish there was a way to automate which layers one can include in each export, sigh. affinity designer is really good but at times it is just flat out strange. also the current file is a third of the size of the last backup i’ve made, and i checked, nothing has been lost in the way, so idk what’s going on there. maybe by separating my layers better i’ve allowed it to optimize compression or something?)

anyway honestly i kinda think that’s all i can do with this master map for now (safe for like, improving appearance lol). now it’s more about going back and forth between scrivener and this to piece together all the world building stuff. that, and also look into projections to see if i project this map to make more precise map of each country? or at least do like, a map for a given book, like book 1 is mostly in northeastern anemos to get a more detailed and less deformed view of how the place looks like. i mean this is around the 40° latitude so it’s not too deformed by the projection here but still.

like here's anemos in equirectangular (the one i've been working with)

orthographic (ignore that i used the topo map for this)

and conic

i'm still puzzled by which of the latter 2 is better tbh. this is all still pretty confusing to me

But still how cool would it be to have a map for book 1 like people put in real books that's like. the region of the world the book is actually set in? something like this (but like, redoing the annotations so they actually look readable lmao)?

idk i think it would look pretty cool. once i get everything sorted out, anyway. this is obviously still missing information.

#talysnovel: fteits #talys makes maps

[annalyticall]

Thoughts on Mass Effect 2

This will be a longer review than my thoughts on Mass Effect 1 as there is about twice as much content to discuss. I'm going to compare this game to Dragon Age 2 a lot since they are both Bioware sequels and relative black sheep of their respective franchises.

I played again as Shiv Shepard; colonist, sole survivor, sentinel, and Paragon. While I had played Shepard with survivor's guilt in ME1, starting this game with her dying and being brought back to life changed how I played her; instead of feeling guilty for living, she was angry as hell for being raised from the dead. While I still ended up being a maxed-out Paragon since most people I interacted with were not Cerberus, I earned more renegade points than I had last game as I took any and all opportunities to sabotage Cerberus and piss off the Illusive Man.

(I had some more fun with photo mode)

Major decisions include: talking Garrus out of revenge, pardoning Tali without evidence, convincing Mordin to keep the cure data, reuniting Thane with his son, helping Samara kill Morinth, and rewriting the heretic geth. I made Tali my tech specialist, Garrus my ground forces specialist, Mordin the crew escort, Samara my biotic barrier specialist, and Miranda and Jack my final squadmates. I completed everyone's loyalty missions and no one died. I blew up the base and told the Illusive Man I will not work with him. I romanced no one (but did confess feelings for Samara) which still kept my prior relationship with Kaidan active.

My list of pros and cons and thoughts on the companions and DLCs below.

The Good

Varied Content. Besides there just being way more content than in the previous game, the side missions no longer felt like a copy-and-paste slog. Even the random missions picked up from probing were different from each other, as some were rescue missions and some were recovery missions and some were "take back the base" missions, and, while not all of them were particularly exciting, they were not actively annoying either.

Character Driven vs Plot Driven. When I think about it, I think one of my major gripes with ME1 was that the plot drove everything and the characters came second to the story. ME2 reverses this concept and puts the two-fold cast of characters front and center; the whole game revolves around recruitment and loyalty. While preference is subjective, I believe stories that focus more on character than on plot are usually more enjoyable, and I definitely enjoyed this game in that regard. It made the finale way more intense and high stakes when the stakes are losing characters you've spent the last dozen hours with.

Resource Management. One of the major improvements of ME2 compared to ME1 is the streamlined way gear and guns are handled. They were removed completely from an inventory system which saved a lot of time. I missed my unlimited ammo, however, refilling on ammo was relatively easy and wasn't too much of a hindrance.

The Normandy. The Normandy of ME1 didn't actually have much of a nostalgic impact on me. Playing the Normandy crash site mission was sad, sure, but I ultimately didn't much care for the ship itself. The Normandy of ME2 impacted me much more, and I think that's for a few reasons: First, each room is associated with a particular character, which gives the room itself that character's personality. Second, EDI acts as the voice of the ship, giving it a personality of its own. Third, the NPCs that populate the common areas and their timely conversations add a little more to the believability that this is a real crew. Last, Shepard's customizable room gives the player a chance to make their own impact on the Normandy, as I collected spaceships and pets and changed the ambient music and collected trophies. All of that together made the Normandy feel like home, one that I would definitely hate to lose.

Map UI. One of my biggest points of frustration in ME1 was that I would have to remember what star cluster and system each quest was on as I navigated the map, requiring me to often cancel out of the map and double-check the log. I was happy that ME2 rectified this by melding the journal and map features while navigating.

Conflict. I'm glad this game wasn't more of the same "we could have handled this problem if not for all this red tape bullshit" from the first game. True, that's still a common theme, but for the most part working with Cerberus bypasses all of that and allows for more interesting conflicts to be explored. It was also nice for me to explore what my Shepard would be like if not entirely reigned in by her need to uphold an honorable public image as an influential human to the council, which had guided a lot of my decisions in ME1.

Probing Minigame. This is probably just me, but I liked the minigame to probe for resources. It was more involved than in ME1 where all you did was press a button, and it allows you to pick and choose what resources you wanted to get from it. Also, the minigame itself kinda induced a zen state for me.

The Bad

Repetitive Combat. This might just be because I play Sentinel, but I was quickly getting tired of the "take cover and poke out every few seconds to shoot or overload shields" mechanic. In ME1, I was able to pop on a barrier and run and gun for a while and get creative with the abilities I had to make combos. The higher cooldown times and lower shield capacities in this game meant I was basically sidelined the entire game and couldn't find another viable playstyle even after I upgraded those abilities.

Initiating Romance. I was already on the fence about starting another romance since I had a previous relationship with Kaidan, but the romance dialogue options did not encourage me. This is one way ME2 is similar to DA2, in that both have weirdly horny options for starting the flirt dialogue that I don't want to choose even if I am interested in that character. Example: the first line you have to initiate a romance with Garrus is to suggest sleeping together, this after he has voiced basically no romantic interest in you up to this point. It would have been so out of character for my Shepard to say that even if she did like Garrus that way, especially given the power imbalance. In ME1, Kaidan and Liara both flirted with me first; I could judge what I liked and didn't like from the things they said, and from there could either encourage or discourage them from flirting after that. While I have my problems with ME1's romance system too, I like the rapport this approach to romance builds. Hell, even in DA2 Anders and Isabela flirt with you first. Sorry, but I appreciate a good slow burn, and if I can't gauge the vibes of what a romance is going to be like before more serious flirting, I can't commit to those options.

Hacking Minigames. I don't think I minded the minigame in ME1 because it was relatively short if you were good at it, and I was able to breeze past most of them in under 5 seconds. The two main minigames in ME2 are more time-consuming and get boring very quickly.

Betrayal Yes We've All Seen It. Seriously, after a few loyalty missions I was able to almost perfectly predict what the end of any given mission would be. Miranda trusts her friend to keep her sister safe? The friend is going to betray her. Jacob wants to find his missing father? His father is no longer the man he once knew. Tali wants to find evidence of her father's innocence? Her father is actually guilty. Mordin wants to rescue his old student from the krogans? His student is actually working for the krogans. Garrus and Zaeed already start out betrayed and are just seeking revenge. If it isn't betrayal, it's some kind of parental/child conflict, see: Miranda, Jacob, Tali, Samara, Thane, and arguably Grunt. I maybe wouldn't mind it so much if betrayal and parental relationships were the main themes of the overarching story but they were not, making the loyalty missions feel oddly detached from the rest of the story despite taking up so much time and being some of the most enjoyable parts of the game.

Pacing. I'm glad I was given a heads-up to complete all loyalty missions before the IFF mission because I don't think I would have saved everyone if I hadn't. Once the IFF is installed, the story rushes to the end at break-neck speed (or at least if you care about the fate of your crew it does). It doesn't give me a whole lot of time to get to know Legion or to progress relationships with the later-recruited characters.

Conflicting Morality. Sometimes the Paragon options were sympathetic to Cerberus, sometimes they were staunchly opposed to Cerberus. Sometimes the Paragon options were for rewriting the geth, and sometimes they were opposed to rewriting the geth. Thankfully, I didn't care about accidentally racking up a few renegade points this time around, but it was frustrating when the game couldn't agree on its own moral lines.

The DLC

Liar of the Shadow Broker. This was the best DLC for me. Not only did I enjoy the fight against Vasir (although I could tell, again, that Vasir was going to betray me well ahead of time) but I also liked Liara's arc as you can see her slowly accepting a darker path into becoming the new shadow broker. That's not to say she's morally corrupt, but I can definitely see her character potentially turning into something darker in ME3 now in her position. I also liked the final talk with her in Shepard's room - she was sympathetic about the Kaidan situation and I got to discuss how frustrated I was working with Cerberus. Overall, it got me to care about Liara much more than ME1 did. It was definitely worth the time.

Arrival. From my favorite DLC to my least favorite, I HATED this DLC. For one, I didn't even know it was going to be a DLC when I started it, so it was kind of a rude surprise when the mission I thought would take 10 minutes turned into an hour. What I hated most about it was that it was so stupidly high stakes for a DLC that is not related to the main story at all. You're telling me I have to crash an asteroid into a relay and kill 300K people in order to save all of humanity but somehow this isn't the game's finale? Not to mention I didn't have a choice at all. The whole thing just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Project Overlord. Speaking of bad taste in my mouth, this left a bad taste too but for other reasons. At first, I really liked it, since it was spooky and was giving me Alien vibes with how suspense some sections were. Once I got to the end, however, I was horrified by the way an autistic character was treated. I'm glad he was viewed in a sympathetic light and I was given the chance to rescue him and punish his abusive brother but it still didn't feel like enough to justify including it or the potential decision to continue his torture.

The Squad

Tali. Tali my beloved. For reference, I am going to list these characters in relative order of how much I like them, and Tali is top tier for me. I would, again, romance her if I could. I think what I like most about her is that she's sweet but she also recognizes her worth and stands up for herself when she needs to ("if they don't like it they can go to hell") and I adore that about her.

Garrus. I love Garrus, and again, I used him most out of any other squadmate because I like hearing his commentary the most. That said, I think I still only view him as a close brother figure since he really gave me no reason to think he was romantically interested in me outside of the fact that I knew he was a romance option. Also, buddy, please stay behind cover, you're getting shot.

Mordin. I know he's basically if Sheldon Cooper was a war criminal and also funny, but I love Professor War Crimes. He may justify doing some fucked up shit for "the greater good" but you can also see that he cares deeply about people on a personal level, and when those two beliefs conflict it makes for the basis of a very intriguing character arc. I can't wait to see it through.

Samara. I love her, she's got such an interesting stance on justice and morality. Like Mordin, I think she kills for the "greater good" but also struggles with her duties on a personal level. She's the only one I tried to romance but I quickly backed down when pushing her too much felt disrespectful of her and her code.

Kasumi. Kasumi's loyalty mission was one of my favorites because it was just... different. No big betrayal, no tense relationship with a parent. It was a clean heist story with a side of tragic romance. I like her a lot, but unfortunately, being a DLC character, she wasn't fleshed out very much after her mission.

Legion. I wish I had more time to spend with Legion, but what time I did have with them was very interesting. They provided some new insight into the geth and gave Tali some conflict as well. Their loyalty mission was also one of the ones I spent the most time thinking about since I'm sure it will have major repercussions. My favorite moment was when I asked them why they were wearing my old armor, to which they said they did not know, suggesting that they do, in fact, have an individual desire and sentimentality that is too complex for them to comprehend outside of their programming, at least at the moment.

Thane. I liked his dedication to giving his son a better life before he dies. He had to grow on me, but over the course of talking to him about his history and late wife, I grew fond of him. I definitely wouldn't want to romance him though.

Grunt. I liked Grunt enough, especially at Tuchunka. Like Wrex, I didn't bring him around a lot simply because I didn't have a great reason for doing so.

Jacob. Like Kaidan, I had heard people thought Jacob was boring, and, like Kaidan, I was ready to approach his character with an open mind and defend him from that allegation. But no, he's boring. I liked him a lot more in the beginning when he had a similar conflict to my Shepard about being ex-Alliance and working with Cerberus. Unfortunately, that doesn't really go anywhere and his loyalty mission has nothing to do with it. Sorry, Jacob, I gave you a chance.

Miranda. I really did not like Miranda in the beginning. I would often bring her to missions related to Cerberus just to show her how awful they could be, but she seemed stubborn in believing all bad cases were just hedge cases - exceptions to the rule. Girl, how many exceptions can you make until it is a rule? I purposefully brought her and Jack to the end mission because I had a feeling I could betray Cerberus at some point and I wanted to see their reactions to it. Thankfully, she pulled through at the end and saw the light lol.

Jack. Jack is very hard for me to like, even after her loyalty mission. I definitely feel sympathy for her, and I want her to be able to trust me, but her edgelord personality was laid on a little too thick for me to take seriously sometimes. I don't mind brooding "too badass to care" characters, hell I like Shadow the Hedgehog, but when the character says things like "I like to kill and I like being badass and look at my tats I'm too hardcore for you pussy" I just have to roll my eyes. She felt like if a middle schooler wrote what they think a cool dark character would act like.

Zaeed. I hate Zaeed. I think it's mostly because I don't really give a shit about his 20-year-revenge-plot and was much more annoyed that he expected me to let innocents die for it. I saved the workers and was still able to gain his loyalty with a paragon speech check, but after that mission I never bothered to talk to him again since I wasn't interested in his stories anyways lol. Definitely a character I don't mind being a DLC companion.

Miscellaneous. I liked Joker a lot more in this game and appreciated the brief time I could play as him, it felt very tense. EDI was fun to have around too. Kelly kind of creeped me out sometimes, and gave me "but I'm an empath" vibes, but I appreciated her role too. Kaidan frustrated the hell out of me but after his pseudo-apology email I'm willing to give him another chance. Anderson was cool, though he didn't have much to say. It was good to reunite with Wrex too.

Overall, this game was much more enjoyable than ME1, though I still wouldn't say I like it better than Dragon Age yet. We'll see how ME3 holds up.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

#woo this was long #anna plays mass effect

[arcstral]

🌋 VOLCANO - how bad is their temper? is it a slow boil, or a instant explosion?

( how bad is their temper? is it a slow boil, or a instant explosion? )

Outside of blatant displays of injustice it is very difficult to make Marth angry to the point of visibility. He's levelheaded and only occasionally finds himself caught up in negative fits of emotion from time to time. By the turn of his second war he's become a graceful young man with a tall ceiling for tolerance and healthy emotional intelligence. That temperament is also the end result.

Narrator: Talys was a small border kingdom, with no grand order of knights to boast of, but its king selflessly gave Marth use of the isle’s eastern fortress. And as he saw the boy shake with anger and grief, he also gave wise counsel: “Prince Marth,” he said, “I do not doubt you love your sister something great. But you must be patient…time is on your side. If you stay here, and grow stronger, a time will come when you can help her.”

As suggested by the omniscent narrator, his fledgling years spent in Talys between ages fourteen and sixteen is when his temper was at its worst.

A displaced princeling filled with moody spells dry of a smile, periods spent wallowing in thought or raking the point of a pen over Dolhr on the map, over and over. Back then he didn't fly into rage so much as seethe in it. Pointing his anger and grief like a weapon toward the Gra traitors and Grust villains, toward Medeus and the dragonkin that composed his empire. He was just a boy, and he acted just how a privileged young boy with everything stripped away from his hands would.

Age and peace brought with it sharp differences. Now it's not that anger doesn't come easily to Marth, the same injustices and villains still incite his fury, it's more that he's able to regulate these emotions with greater aplomb. Less a boy and more a man. With his current breed of anger the lukewarm bubbles will show far sooner than the boil; in a noticeable tension to his body or an out-of-place quiet. At fourteen years old that same state was boyish, sullen, and unpredictable. Marth would have apologized to the Altean knights for how he behaved in those uncertain times.

#◜ ╰ ♕ ◦ › royal mandate ‹ ASKBOX. ◞ #◜ ╰ ♕ ◦ › gathered wits ‹ INTROSPECTION. ◞ #aimlessarchery #thank you for the ask <3 #shadow dragon marth once again reigning supreme

[k1nky-fool]

“You may take your son home, Mrs. Talis, but he is never to set foot on academy grounds again.” Heimerdinger finalized, adjourning the meeting, and letting the daylight fill the hall once again.

Lady Talis left with her son fast so as not to draw any unwanted comments from any of the councilors or anyone else in the hall.

But there was something else of vital importance that Devo would be damned if she let pass by. Viktor was about to head off, but she caught his wrist before he got away from her. She saw the look on his face, and it would kill her if he let something as small as the council’s choice smother the passion she’d seen in him.

When he turned to her, he waited patiently for her to say something, but there weren’t enough words in the world for her to explain what she was thinking. She likely wouldn’t have enough time to try to figure it out, so she settled on trusting him to take matters into his own hands.

“Do it.” Devo blurted to him quietly to not alert anyone to what she was suggesting. “Whatever it is you’re thinking, do it.”

“Devo, I might be the one on trial next.” He insisted.

“As if you’ve ever asked for permission.” She scoffed. “Do it, Viktor. You’ll never get another chance.”

There was another expression he gave that Devo couldn’t quite place. It was familiar too. Like that night he found her creating a star map in the library, or like when he watched her earnestly observing the objects of her own obsession. He looked like he wanted to say something, but like now he couldn’t find the words.

“Devoan,” Grayson’s voice startled her and she had no choice but to turn around. “A word.”

She gave a look back to Viktor, noting that the spark in his eyes was back. Grayson pulled her aside to a secluded corner.

“Something I should know about him?” Grayson asked.

“Other than he owes me a date, nothing comes to mind.” Devo said, making Grayson chuckle a little. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to apologize to you.” Grayson said, “I know Marcus has caused problems for you before. I wanted to let you know it’s not because I don’t see it.”

It was certainly a surprise. Not that Grayson had never apologized before, but never against Marcus. Usually she gave unconvincing defenses of his work. “Grayson, I want to believe he’s just got a massive learning curve ahead of him, but either he needs to get over it fast, or the next time he goes into the undercity, he’s getting eaten alive. I want him to learn his lesson, and I’m sure you’d rather he survive it.”

She seemed to agree. “I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that it’s getting dicey with the undercity. I’m trying to hold everything together, but I might not be able to.”

It's 492 it counts give me that god damn dvd commentary

ooooo you found a good one. I have a lot of different parts of Devo's character that I place as foreshadowing for later moments and later stories, and you just found a big one.

So, you know how people say "I can fix him" or "I can make him worse" about men? Well, Devo doesn't really care for DIY projects. She kinda just wants to look over his shoulder and watch him fuck things up himself.

When I characterize these moments with Devo, where she sees that spark of obsession, she herself becomes obsessed with it. If you are looking for someone to talk you out of doing something, Devo is not the person to go to.

Especially with Viktor, she sees that he has taken an interest in it, and his curiosity has gotten the better of him, and she knows what that obsession feels like. She knows how exciting it is, and I thought the best way to illustrate that was with Devo maybe looking like she's enabling that obsession.

Devo loves to see her friends succeed and become frantic with excitement. To her, its like seeing stars for the first time. When I write these moments where Devo becomes so wrapped up in Viktor, and when she pushes him to do the risky or ridiculous thing, I'm really trying to set up the moment where she realizes that she has fallen in love with him.

Now, with Grayson mentioning that she knows Marcus is a problem, and that she might not be able to smooth things over with the undercity, I'm definitely trying to set up Devo's reaction to her death, and the problems that Marcus is going to bring as the new Sheriff. But in a way, I'm using this conversation with Grayson as Second hand foreshadowing for Marcus and Devo's shift in dynamic.

Marcus is a very deep and complex character, and I look forward to writing more of him in the future. Both in Fuck Around and Find Out and other projects. We usually see Marcus characterized by his fear and guilt. I definitely plan to use a bit of fear and guilt for him in FAFO, but I'm trying something different with him in another piece that's coming together slowly.

#arcane oc #arcane #arcane fanfic #viktor x oc #viktor x reader #arcane viktor #fanfic ask game

[vakarians-babe]

Hello!

For your ao3 wrapped: 9, 10 and 29? :)

Hi hi!! Thank you for the ask 💗

AO3 Wrapped Ask List

9. Favorite pairing you wrote this year?

This is really hard because I have my favorite aspects of each pairing that make them unique. That said, this year was the first time I shared a fic for Varric and Elodie, and I had a lot of fun writing them specifically.

10. What work was the quickest to write?

Definitely Salving Touch. I sat down and wrote it in one sitting at midnight after playing Baldur's Gate for the whole day.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

I have several favorites again this year, but this moment between Savreen and Ranjit is especially dear to me because of my friend and Savreen's creator and her reaction to it. It's a little long, but I think it's worth it.

“I want to do what is right, what is my—” “Your duty. Yes. But what do you really want? What does Savreen want?” His words cut her to the bone, ripping through her flesh like a freshly sharpened blade slipping on a cutting board. The cold that blooms over Savreen’s skin, dewing like sweat, could almost be blood.

“I—I want—” She wants to run, to stay, to cry and scream. She wants Tali to understand her feelings; she wants Tali never to know how she feels. She wants to run into the river, splashing in the water until her fingers and toes go numb. She wants to go home, to Highever, and she wants to find Arl Howe and she wants to make him feel pain, the pain he’s made her feel, deep under everything, under the shell she’s built around herself. She wants to run off, here and now, with Ranjit, going anywhere or nowhere, it doesn’t matter. She wants to take his hand and kiss each and every bone within his body, and she wants and she wants and she wants. She wants so many things, so many uncountable things, and they scare her, those shining gems, tumbling over each other like beads, scattering as though from a broken necklace. He’s right. She doesn’t want to want anything, not as she feels the shame creep, hot, up her cheeks. And he is right—she did want him against her better judgement, she always has thought of him as a weakness of hers, even when she has wanted him, and him alone. “You are allowed to want things, Savreen.” “No—” She is on the verge of tears, she can feel them building inside of her skull, can feel the pressure returning. “No, I—” “You are allowed to want things at the same time that your duty is before you.” A tear slips out, down her cheek, and she blinks furiously. “You are able to want things and to still fulfill your duty. Your duty is not a punishment, nor is it meant to torment you. It should bring you joy.” Savreen’s knees will not hold her, and she buckles to the ground. The dirt is wet, and it seeps through her pants. “It should bring you as much joy as my duty to you brings me.” With languid movements, smooth, almost as though he’s trying not to startle a songbird, Ranjit steps closer, kneels in front of Savreen, stretches out his hand, offering it to her. She stares at his palm, the way his glove creases in the same spots as his skin. She could never forget the shape of his palm, the map of his skin, the feel of his hands—they are as dear to her as her own fingers. “Will you take my hand?” Again she stares at him, her eyes lost in his as she tries to determine when, exactly, she forgot what her duty meant to her, when she forgot herself. “What are you thinking about, Savreen?” When Ranjit speaks, Savreen closes her eyes. “Does it matter?” She asks. “Always.” She takes his hand.

#ao3 wrapped #greypetrel