I went back to my first truly harrowingly Evil Dark Urge playthrough to grab some screenshots and... got sucked back into playing lol. But the thing is, the most evilest ending has no epilogue and the "reject Bhaal at the last minute instead of at the temple" epilogue is ALSO fascinating and gut-wrenching and harrowing but what I really missed from both runs was getting to see the fruits of her egging everyone on to be their worst possible self, so...
I went back and decided to play it a little differently. I gave Aylin to Ketheric the first time (and then to Larroakan when we defeated him but she was seriously side-eying my evil Durge after, rightfully so, and Durge couldn't leave a powerful threat like that lying around obvs), which sadly loses you Shadowheart so this time I'm going with Dark Justiciar Shadowheart.
I was a little stumped on the RP for it at first, because Zenobia (my Dark Urge) was all about, "Jumping right back into the Dead Three plot from the moment she got even a smidge of memory back," which lent to her siding with Ketheric loyally and basically working with the bad guys at almost every opportunity (except for the very beginning where she was wrong-footed and out of her element so she built up allies by helping the tieflings while she got the lay of the land. She's a big believer in long-term pay off over short-term murderizing. Also, the sadistic pay-off for betrayal is so much greater than that of simply attacking right away.)
But then I decided... heck, let's groundhog day it. Let's go with the time loop or foreknowledge plot, everything I know, my Durge knows now.
Say she had a vision, or was reborn to this moment. She saw all the variations of what's to come. Saw what happens if she sides with her father. Sees what happens if she betrays him at the last moment to destroy the brain, which was a humiliation piled upon humiliation despite her long and faithful years of service.
And she is pissed.
It's starts when she gets chewed out for giving Isobel to Ketheric. She knows she's going to kill the priestess later but for now, this is a valuable tool in showing her trustworthiness to Ketheric, and Bhaal is mad at her?? Because she decided to delay her gratification in pursuit of the larger goal?? And then, then, Bhaal has the audacity to force her to try to kill her friend and former lover, Astarion, as punishment for using her intelligence to pursue the larger goal of the Dead Three plot with some level of cunning and forethought?
She was fucking outraged. Here she's been Bhaal's faithful child, chosen, general, and mortal mastermind for years and her father can't even trust her enough to allow her to exercise the bare minimum of strategy?
And from there, as I see it, Zenobia sees more and more instances of Bhaal just not fucking trusting her with carrying out this plot, which she knows in another lifetime she pulled of spectacularly, but which offered an empty, hollow victory of handing dancing puppets over to Bhaal, ruling in his name instead of her own.
And then, then while confronting Ketheric, Ketheric admits he always planned to betray his allies.
Oh she is seeing red now. Granted, all the Dead Three chosen were planning to betray each other, that's probably a given, except... Gortash wasn't. Gortash was faithful to the end if she was faithful to him. Minthara is faithful to the end. Her companions were.
So it's less that her new chance at life is making her "good" and more that it's showing her the valuable allies she tossed away, the more interesting world she could reside in, in favor of creating a world of mindless murder targets for her equally mindless, idiot father Bhaal. What an imbecile. What an insult that he doesn't give her the barest modicum of trust. What an insult that Ketheric bald-faced tells her that he would throw all of this aside for his own ends, because he's following his own idiot god.
Zenobia is seeing absolute red. Her plan still remains. She will help Gale ascend to godhood and leave the last of his soft-hearted scruples behind. She will help her former lover and friend, perhaps her first true friend, Astarion destroy his master and rise to become a powerful ally. She will deny her lover Minthara the easy win of a kingdom of thralls in favor of the more challenging but satisfying bloody return to the Underdark together. She will aid Shadowheart in becoming a Dark Justiciar. She will tear down each of Lae'zel's gods one by one, from helping to reveal Vlaakith's faithlessness to showing her even Orpheus can become what he despises most, a mindflayer. But now it is not to show them the supremacy of Bhaal but to show them they should cast down all gods. And this time, she will not hold herself separate, no, she will cast Bhaal from her life as well to pursue her own bloody ambitions in a world of true adversaries, not one populated by mindless thralls as he directed her but did not trust her to execute according to her own vision.
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What if the shifting mound (princess) and dust sans met or switched places. All I think about is them.
tbh I head canon dust as more of a long quiet and the chaotic/destructive nature of the player as the shifting mound bit yeah it does also feel funny to swap dust next to the princess in the worlds!
first of all... the script would break. obviously. and maybe dust somehow ending up in that world actually breaches the constructs design if either player or dust interfere cuz the two sleeping gods are not supposed to have any visitors.
if the princess and Bird boi end up in the Undertale universe? that'll be more likely. since aus tend to be more lenient with outcodes than a literal god prison.
the meeting circumstances aside, when faced with the choice to save the world and kill an unknown entity, dust ironically... couldn't care less!
if it's not his world? so what? he doesn't care for the humans that'll die. and he's no savior. let it die! he'd turn around and walk away... only to end up back at the road to the cabin.
it's going to trigger him. and it WILL TRIGGER his reset phobia BADLY.
"fine. if this place INSISTS? he'll just get it overwith and then leave."
he won't do it for the world but he WILL do it if he feels trapped.
once confronted with the "princess" he gets a sense of sick familiarity from her. not HER personally but her KIND. like being faced with a powerful being veiled in a weakened shell and a humanlike vessel.
not
another
fucking
anomaly
he's going to bash his head against the wall with an annoyed groan. he's also probably going to stab the talkative crow that follows him around and kill him on the spot.
(rip narrator)
then he's going to ask what she wants, and how this world works and HOW MANY TIMES they've already had this conversation before. he won't bring the blade, he has plenty of weapons to work with. (and the knife brings bad memories.)
the princess would first think he's a grim reaper or something... them she'd question his sanity...
oddly enough? it doesn't FEEL like he's lying and it FEELS like something is familiar but not him. not her other half. not her... missing parts? something outside of the construct. her mortal vessel would be concerned, a bit scared and maybe even get a bit aggressive and defensive... but he doesn't KILL her. he can pin her down and interrogate but he WON'T kill her because he fears it'll end up resetting.
the shifting mound itself would be EXTREMELY intrigued... and probably instantly just take him away to ask stuff curiously about the outside or if he knows how to get out. she'd ask for so many new possib- /STAB/
yeaaaah no. he's dealt with time bending people before and he ain't afraid to collapse the entire world for the sake of pissing them off. if he has to use the ol, special attack of literally doing nothing to bore the anomaly to death? so be it!
she'd see the contrarian ego and the stubborn ego in him, but also the broken ego from quiet and parts of her own other vessels.
so familiar yet so completely different. this vessel was sharpened like a fine blade to fight. yet damaged in the process.
refining iron again and again till something broke. something dud this to him on purpose. it wasn't an accident.
she knows that feeling through her adversary vessel but doesn't relate to it deeply. she can't understand it from a mortals perspective. because to her all that pain is simply just an experience or a fleeting dream.
it's not real. nor will it ever be. she's a god. she wouldn't know.
also she'd probably try looking where the hell her husband/mortal enemy vanished to.
she's not sure if she can direct her branches to open a path to dusts universe since it's not just hopping timelines or multiverses.
it's hopping entire DIMENSIONS. two completely different stories.
meanwhile:
player: YOU SUCK AT THIS YOU NERDASS BIRD!
quiet(stubborn):SHUT THE FK UP YOU EIGHT GRADE SYNDROME LOSER WITH A GOD COMPLEX I WILL KICK YOUR ASS EVEN WITHOUT MY GOD POWERS
player: COME AT ME BICH I ALWAYS COME BACK!
quiet: I WILL ALWAYS COME TO BARGAIN!
player: YOUR LV ISN'T EVEN ABOVE FIVE YOU WHIMP!
quiet: WTF IS LV!? (*angry bird noises*)
[the two immortal anomalies get along well]
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Thoughts on the new tf2 maps?
well, i can't give my thoughts on all 12 maps that were added, as my experience with them has been queuing through casual, and bots are absolutely ruining the fun of trying to play these maps, so i'll try and provide my thoughts with just the ones i've done.
Spineyard: i think ive only played a few rounds of it, but i like the maps looks and layout. the mafia skeletons are neat, although i couldn't figure out what the piles of money they dropped did. overall, pretty good payload map.
Lava Pit: it's gravel pit with a lot of lava pits, it's alright, i don't have much to say about it.
Mannsylvania: so, player destruction and king of the hill maps are kinda my least favourite gamemodes, but from what i played of the map. it's neat, i like how the map looks.
Slime: only actually got to play this map for one match with 5 players on both teams, since every other time was just flooded with bots. i like it, despite my disliking of king of the hill. the salmenn are fun skeleton replacements, i think i like them better than the other skeleton reskins. they've got fun designs too.
Perks: really liked the map, though i always do kinda wish valve would add more modular support for arena mode, so map makers don't have to resort to using other gamemodes like koth and player destruction just to simulate arena. i only played like three whole matches, with like 4 players on each team. wish i had played with more cause i did really like the concept.
Murky: im conflicted with the idea of a zombies mode in TF2, mostly just from a design standpoint. each class has their own zombie perks, some work fine, others feel lacking. with 9 classes, i think you eventually spread yourself thin with trying to come up with unique abilities that are useful for taking out the survivors. the map itself is fine. mostly had to deal with a lot of bot rounds before i could enjoy the map.
Atoll: the visual design of the map is really nice, though with how open the map is, it's tough to play as zombies, as humans have the high ground. playing as a sniper zombie, who can shoot acid, sucks a lot since you can't really get a read on how far your projectiles drop. engineer zombies have a similar problem, though with them, it's nearly impossible to see the travel arc of your pipebombs.
every other map, i've just not had enough time playing them. both due to bots and also because im doing my halloween contracts in the order it gives me.
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Okay. Gonna make a small complaint here. But like - one of things I really don't like in games is when they give me a choice that isn't a choice. Like, I'm used to it in Pokemon, cool, great, whatever.
But like. When you give me a choice to tell Kirigiri about Sakura or not. I expect to be allowed to tell her when I want to tell her. Instead of being given the exact same dialogue Makoto gave me before I clicked Tell her. Like - even Pokemon usually gives me different flavor text when I pick the answer it doesn't want me to pick.
C'mon, Danganronpa.
If it isn't a choice and there's not any additional info for picking the wrong choice in this situation, then don't give me the choice. It's frustrating either way.
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