#a-rapscallion

[things4your]

Your icons and headers are amazing! Thanks for sharing so much Arcane content, the series was so good I can't get enough

Really thank you angel ♥ Arcane is one the best things i have watch this year and I ended up finding comfort in some characters (even if they do suffer), so it's really cool to share my edits of something I love with all you guys!

[ilikedetectives]

I read you post about Kassandra the impossible woman and I loved it you explained things very well. I really hate that a game franchise that I used to love has turned into just a series of reskins of previous titles and wasted potential, they only change the setting but they recicle animations, motifs and mechanics plus they're kind of late to the viking party after God of War and Hellblade

Thank you for reading :) 

The issue with AC as a franchise after Ezio is that Ubi turns it into a cash cow. They should give their devs more time, but they don’t. I mean, why would they? Their loyal fans gladly hand their money over for a mediocre game anyway. 

We are at the 12th AAA game now (Skyrim knockoff/TW3 wannabe is included) and the story goes no where. The graphics and gameplay are not even at the industry’s standards anymore (look at all the games released and will be released this year like Ghost of Tsushima and CP2077). The way they make these AC games is first choose the historical period that is easy for them to reskin; once that’s decided, the story is then written to justify these changes. A lot of studios that make good games (like Hellblade, GOW, TLOU, and HZD) do the opposite: they prioritize the narrative and everything else comes after (combat, settings, graphics, etc.). These studios understand the importance of these gameplay components to make the narrative work. What Ubi is doing instead is forcing a workflow that works better for online FPS games in their offline, single-player, narrative-driven games. And the result shows.

The irony about this upcoming Skyrim knockoff/TW3 wannabe is that their official combat demo doesn’t even show any assassination asdasd. What happened to bringing the cult, oops, I mean, the creed back (not that I give a flying fuck about the ‘good guys’ with the ‘everything is permitted’ mantra)? AC Odyssey makes sense with the lack of “ASSassin” because the game is set BEFORE the cult, omg sorry auto-correct is particularly bad today, brotherhood. But Vikings as assassins... (to be fair, I can’t be the judge in terms of culture because I don’t have any Scandinavian blood in me). I can only comment on the hypocrisy of their loyal fans who would suck up all the fictional fantasy that Vikings are stealthy assassins without any historical evidence, but the moment someone mentions “female Viking warriors”, they go apeshit and every single one of them suddenly has a Ph.D. in Scandinavian History and Culture.

I’m going to close this with this Youtube comment on the PC gameplay demo of this Skyrim knockoff/TW3 wannabe.

[randomthunk]

I come from a corner of the world where Doctor Who is not a thing, so I knew very very very little about it, and yet I started watching the show because I saw GIFs of 12 and Clara ,around the time of the bank heist episode promos, and all I could think was that I loved their dynamic and that they were going to be/were a couple

Did you know it’s just been the 5 year anniversary of Let’s Rob a Space Bank, how weird is that.

I’m glad to hear that gifs can do so much to turn people, it’s almost like their crazy dumb relationship was very obvious in visual form.

[kiramessa]

a-rapscallion replied to your post:a-rapscallion replied to your post...

It’s just that before playing the game I was lead to believe that the templars were unjustified wackos, so while I was playing and I had to make choices I kept wondering if we were playing the same game? Like, stop pouring gasoline into a burning inferno please? No, ok then

LMAO THAT WAS MY EXACT REACTION TOO

“wait... everything they said makes sense. and they SPECIFICALLY HUNT DOWN AND WEED OUT THE TEMPLARS THAT ARE DOING BAD SHIT? okay, then. what are the mages doing to control themselves? it can’t be nothing, can it? oh, orsino’s helping out the necromancer that butchered my mom. and every single mage turns into a blood mage for... some reason. except the terrorist. but he becomes a terrorist. great! sure!”

like wtf

[kiramessa]

a-rapscallion replied to your post “verhohnepiepeln replied to your post:“Thank you for my life. I’ll try...”

My definitive DA2 playthrough is a red mage Hawke who supported the templars and I feel like the black sheep. I wasn't expecting Meredith to be the one proven right, since I didn't agree with their treatment of mages. I got the games years after their release and I still didn't see that one coming, I was in a constant state of WTF?. Anders gets his shit back together if spared, it's not that he's wrong, he just didn't have to prove them right, if that makes sense

THAT’S EXACTLY HOW I FEEL ABOUT HIM. His arguments were sound and sympathetic, right up until the end when he played completely into their hand for no fucking reason. There was no reason to attack the Chantry. The hell does the Chantry mean in all this? The GALLOWS is your fucking problem, Anders.

And it’s not even like Anders has a problem with the Chantry (or if he did, I missed it?). He’s Andrastian. He’s quite open about his faith. If they had written him to be very conflicted about the Chantry, instead of screaming nonstop about the templars, maybe I’d understand why he made martyrs out of them: he’d feel betrayed by his faith, and he’d want to destroy a false sanctuary. He’d be like the dark foil for Sebastian that way: Sebastian clings to faith for shelter, and Anders could have had it ripped out of his hands. That, on top of Justice turning into Vengeance, makes his breakdown so much more logical.

You’re definitely not the black sheep as far as I’m concerned. I personally support the templars and my first playthrough of DA2 was a red warrior Hawke that was fully behind Meredith. I’m only going with the pro-mage route this time because I didn’t earlier.

ETA: I suppose he picked the Chantry as a sort of “lesser” target, because if he went against the templars that would just loop back into a mage VS templars thing without forcing people to reconsider the structure of their society. But attacking the Chantry forces everyone to scramble and... do... something. I guess? I dunno. I thought I had an idea there.

Basically, Anders knew he couldn’t go after the templars because that’s what they’d expect, but he also knew someone had to pay for what happened because... Vengeance, I guess? Something had to change, and for things to change, something awful had to happen.

I still think my “broken faith!Anders” idea makes more sense, because up until Act 3 I honestly thought he was just going to have a HUGE Gallows jailbreak for the mages. But then Act 3 comes around and I don’t think he’s even focused on that anymore, he just wants someone to pay.

That reminds me of Flemeth and Mythal, actually.

[corseque]

Do you think Abelas knew or at least suspected what Solas truly is?

There’s some shit going on in their dialogue together that I don’t think we get… I’m not sure Abelas totally knew what Solas was, but probably knew that he wasn’t just another shemlen outsider elf. I also wouldn’t put it past him to be able to keep cool even if he found out the whole truth, cause Abelas is super ancient and composed and chill. So it’s possible. 

Also part of what they say is an exchange that could be interpreted as Solas saying, “Hey, there’s still a place for you, lethallin, if you want. ON TEAM SOLAS” and Abelas didn’t seem uninterested. I wouldn’t be surprised if Abelas is working for Solas in the next part of the story.

Especially in those last exchanges, with Abelas looking super thoughtful. And the way he responds to Solas’ last words in elven… he just nods and accepts. I think that last phrase was a religious ritual phrase. I know that everybody and their dog has tried translating that last thing Solas says, but I just want to try too, cause it makes me mad how Solas lies SO MUCH

I’m translating “ar lasa mala revas” first for reference, because I feel in my bones that they’re both religious ritualistic phrases and they’re connected.

Ar lasa mala revas =

ar (I)

lasa (grant)

mala (your)

revas (freedom)

- “You are free.” - Solas’ immediate translation - for Lavellan’s benefit since she doesn’t know the language - for this is “you are free,” but a more exact translation would be “I grant your freedom.” I feel the “I grant” part it is important, because (if I’m getting this language right) he could have said, “Ma revas” (lit. ”You [are] free.”) So there really is a sense of him granting her freedom, or him having the power to free her.

Malas amelin ne halam, Abelas

There’s no word “malas” or “amelin” in this language, or root words that would make up those words [elven is an agglutinative language]. The only thing you can translate here is “- ne halam” which means “- you finished.” Doesn’t make sense. But if you give it a slightly different space punctuation, suddenly every word is a known elven word, or made up of known elven root words -

Ma lasa melin ne halam, Abelas =

ma (my, mine, you, your)

lasa (grant)

melin (made up of the prefix for time “me” + the suffix for blood “lin” - the same suffix used in “vallaslin” which is the blood writing on both the faces of the Dalish and ancient elves, marking them in servitude/dedication - in context, it’s not a bad guess to say this word is referring to Abelas’ millenia of sentinel servitude to Mythal, since Abelas wears vallaslin dedicated to Mythal)

ne (you)

halam (end, finished)

abelas (sorrow) (or Abelas’ name)

- lit. “My grant time-blood you finished, Abelas.”- lit. “You are granted, time-blood you finished, Abelas.”- “My grant to you, your time-blood is finished, Abelas.”- “I grant you, your time of blood servitude is over, Abelas.”

Basically any way I translate it, there’s only one real meaning I can think of.

The reason I mentioned “ar lasa mala revas” is because the situations are very similar, he says them both sort of ritualistically, and these two phrases are one of the few places “lasa” (grant) has been used, (other than in the curse phrase “fenedhis lasa” and on the temple doors to the Solasan temple, which also has ritualistic meaning (a prayer to the gods to grant favor), and is also associated with Solas (it’s scrawled on doors to a temple obviously related to him)).

So Solas is imo saying a ritual phrase releasing Abelas from his duty to Mythal, which Abelas recognized and seemed to accept, and didn’t act like Solas was overreaching. Perhaps this is a phrase that could only by said to those with the power to say it, and for Abelas to have accepted it from Solas means he accepted him as having more clout than the sentinel leader of a major elven temple. which is INTERESTING.

Also interesting because Solas totally lied to the rest of his companions that he said, “I hope you find a new name, Abelas.” Because he’s a LYING LIAR.So it was obviously something important that he didn’t want the others to know. And it was something the developers didn’t want translated easily by people who have all the words in this language memorized. 

[emedeme]

The DA comics are great and awkward cullen is everything I needed, especially after finishing my solas romance playthough.

glad to be of service. i feel like you could also use this