hello! i saw one of your early posts about how you were enjoying captive prince because it has court politics and you seem very cool. i was wondering if you have any book recs where the author handled court politics well? i hope you're having a great day/night!
Okay, note first that my standard is basically: there must be at minimum 3 distinct factions (1 person can be a faction) with motivations/goals that are both overlapping and opposed to one another, and you know it's good when Character A manipulates Character B into doing something specifically because A knows this will make Character C respond in a certain way, which is A's actual goal. That said, not all of these will definitionally meet those standards.
Anyway, off the top of my head:
Heartstrikers series, Rachel Aaron
Queen's Thief series, Megan Whalen Turner (politics & messy motives accumulate over the series)
A Song of Ice and Fire, George R R Martin (I know, I know - but in the competing lists of 'things GRRM does genuinely well' vs 'things GRRM thinks he does well but doesn't actually', this is solidly in List 1)
Baru Cormorant series, Seth Dickinson
A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine
Elantris, Brandon Sanderson (but probably NO other Brandon Sanderson books, no matter what they appear to contain - he's somehow good at both 'factions with competing motives' and 'messy plots', but not at the whole )
The Hands of the Emperor, Victoria Goddard, doesn't really have court politics like this, but it does have court governance & bureaucracy, including a short chapter that's literally entirely the protagonist making a speech in defense of universal basic income. So I can almost guarantee that you're going to enjoy it.
honestly, if you want drama, go dwarf noble. idk how you feel about mr bhelen aeducan but that origin will 117% make you feel more strongly. if you want pure anger, go female city elf. it's my favorite origin because yeah human noble is dramatic BUT THE CITY ELF'S RAGE? that's all i can say without spoiling it. dwarf and elf origins just hit different, man.
hi! i saw your post about hatoful boyfriend and i'm here to ask: is there any other weird dating sim you can recommend?
Oh, certainly! While I won't claim to be an expert in the genre, if you're looking for an unconventional dating sim (i.e., batshit insane), I have a few titles and vague descriptions of half-forgotten games to throw at you.
Jurassic Heart (ukulele-playing T. rex).
There's one where your LI is a head in a pot.
There's a cricket dating sim, but I'm pretty sure that one was not SFW.
The entire Shall We Date? franchise (?) was pretty weird to me, though in a different way than the others in this list and I didn't finish even one of the games.
I feel like I can't in good conscience recommend weird dating sims without mentioning My Horse Prince, but I'll confess that I haven't actually played that one yet.
There are other peculiar video games in this genre but I either forgot them or haven't played them. I found most of these by browsing TV Tropes, googling "games like ___", and looking at online gaming magazines (yeah... yeah). If anyone here has any weird dating sims to recommend that aren't on this post feel free to do so!
hello! i'm here to ask about your wardens because i love your style and i love them??? anyway: does kelton have siblings (canon says there are 5 amell kids), if yes, is he the eldest, middle or youngest, and do they somehow stay in contact? what were the complications in his love life? you talked about who your wardens romanced, but what about the other companions, how do they each get along with wynne or leliana, for example? did they ever disagree on a major plot event/choice, if yes, why?
hi! oh dear alright I will try to answer it all, let me unpack all those things
Boy has this given me a lot to think about. First, Kelton’s siblings:
This was done on the spot so I apologize for their derpyness. I accept that part of his backstory and original concept, that he is one of the 5 Amell kids. For the whole Amell family, I like to think they are people who like to spend a lot of time outside, hunting, hiking, sightseeing, animal watching (one of such events resulted in an accident that also awakened Kelton’s magic). Those Fereldan bears, man.
Two younger kids will later be sent to the circle, the older two are merchants/handle the family businesses. I haven’t given them any names. When it comes to keeping in touch with them, I think Kelton would try to reach out to each of them after the Blight is dealt with and he travels around the country with Zevran.
On the topic of his love life, his experiences from the circle were just fast, casual hook-ups with no strings attached, he adapted a really easy-going and carefree approach to ‘relationships’ (he never really formed one that lasted). He had one try at a more serious, actual relationship, but the other person ended it for both their sakes. They were still on friendly terms after that, so for Kelton in was all in all a good experience and he was happy with how things were (at least he thought that for a long time).
When he met Morrigan, he was smitten from the very beginning. They got along well, he respected her approach to life and wanted to learn from her experience of the outside world and wilderness. For some time, it was all good, nothing really bothered him and both had fun. But then he heard something that didn’t really sit well with him (I’d have to replay/find that particular quote but it was something along the lines ‘I’ll take from you whatever I want whenever I want’) and after giving it some thought he ended their romance.
In the middle of the Kelton/Morrigan crisis Zevran joined the party and at first they were just flirting a lot, then talked it out and started sleeping with each other. Both were cool with this arrangement until feelings happened. It got messy around the time the group traveled to Orzammar, but I think I will talk about it more some other time.
Summing it up, it took Kelton some time to realize he 1) wants an actual relationship with everything that can come with it 2) doesn’t really know how to begin/maintain one, so that’s what he needs to learn.
Who my Wardens get along with - to pick the ‘top 3′:
Kelton: Morrigan, Wynne, Alistair
Soraya: Leliana, Morrigan, Sten
Amy: Sten, Leliana, Oghren
Aaaand to end with major plot events - the most they fought with each other (and their companions) was when it was time to decide about Loghain’s fate (Kelton wanted to conscript him, Soraya was on the fence, Amy wanted him dead).
Thanks for coming to my TED talk. (and thank you so much for those questions!)
i saw your post about a templar bootlicker run in da2 and i'm attempting that right now except it's not so ambitious. i managed to bring bethany's approval to the middle but that girl is impossible to rival. i managed to befriend varric again (goddammit) but anders already hated me before act 1 ended. success?? but siding with t*mplars is a punch to the gut because every time you do that shit not just your companions but even the quest people are like YOU'RE HORRIBLE. full rivalry run is next
god that sounds the fucking worst
imagine rivaling VARRIC. he is literally made to be your friend. he is entirely friend shaped. good luck on your run!!!
have you ever done bastard warden/hawke playthroughs? i feel like you love anders too much to do that, and now you're too traumatized by ayrin to attempt a second bastard run in any game.
oh you hit the nail on the head. i HAVE imagined a playthrough of DA2 where i intentionally rival everyone, but it would mean i’d have to pick the mean speech option with characters i love, and i already CANNOT do that. the only way i’m doing this current Bastard Inky run is by making evil choices during quests, but still being pleasant and helpful to my companions. yall saw how i was when i had to break up with Dorian yesterday dfgsdfgsfdgd
a Bastard Warden run would mean getting like, half of my companions killed so yeah....... i cannot do that either lmaoooo
however i am really REALLY curious abt the “all rival” DA2 playthrough idea. i just... dont think i could ever handle calling Anders an abomination to his face, or giving mages to murderous templars, etc. NOT TO FUCKIN MENTION; being mean to Merrill. SHE IS INNOCENT AND PURE I CANT DO IT AAGGGHH
avrupasya replied to your post: “this is gonna be horrible but im making a militant andrastian,...”:
that is indeed the face of someone who would side with templars, you have my sincere congratulations
FDGHHGFDHGFDGHFHGFHGF im glad i succeeded in making him look like the sort of person who would re-establish his own oppression in favor of a more authoritarian world, which he can manipulate better than one that is fair.
