#bourbonpowered

[sugarbabywenkexing]

Do you ever wonder if there's an alternate timeline where Goncherov is real and Advance Bravely is just cobbled together from mass hallucinations? 🤔

I haven't but now I am!

Most of my thoughts along that line are about the alternate universe where Advance Bravely could be Kinnporsche, like it really wanted to be. Hot muscular gay shirtless bodyguards and a deeply fucked up side couple that start their romance with torture. It's all there.

[nihilnovisubsole]

@bourbonpowered replied to your post:

What’s the alternate start mod? Like, more time to bum around the pre-war neighbourhood or Fuck It We Bawl: start with seeing your spouse murdered and son kidnapped?

lmao omg 😂

start me up redux, the one i'm using, is a full overhaul of fo4's main quest, not just an alternate start. instead of playing as one of shaun's parents, you can be a random vault dweller, or one of dozens of wastelander classes, like a raider or NCR ranger. if you pick the "random vault dweller" start - as i have - it positions you as a bystander who witnesses the kidnapping and feels compelled to investigate it. in the wastelander start, you hear a rumor of the kidnapping, then visit the vault and unravel the game's mystery from there.

having to RP as a parent was why i avoided playing fo4, and a few hours in, it's amazing how cleanly this mod excises that. it shuffles preexisting dialogue to remove references to a spouse or son, so your character is still voiced, but you can envision whatever backstory you want. seriously, the mod page says it tweaks over 800 lines! that's dedication. it even adds some pathos to codsworth - he mistakes you for his former owner, and the references to that missing family feel sympathetic, not glitchy.

@nocturnalroostermarch replied to your post:

When FO4 came out, I was so insulted by the voiced protagonist that I refused to play it.

7 years later, I picked it up for the first time a couple of months ago, stuck in a classic camera/voiceless protagonist mod and I'm having a good time. So yeah, right now is the best time to play FO4 imo, lol

yeah, it was interesting to see which features of fo4 were deal-killers for veteran fallout fans when it came out. i promise i don't mean to pick at old fandom discourse - the question of "how much do we define the protagonist?" is a huge dilemma in RPGs. truly open protagonists give the player endless creative freedom, but when you're trying to account for everything, they can become too blank a slate. a voice or a backstory make it easier to write a cohesive character, but the more you add, the more players like me will feel penned in. that friction happened with dragon age too: a lot of players [me included] felt that inquisition's choices railroaded you into playing a certain type of character.

i think it comes down to expectations. it bothered people less with mass effect, because shepard had a really clearly-defined role from the off. [me notwithstanding. it's why the voiced fo4 protag doesn't bug me: i'm already used to irina having the wrong accent.] i also think that "east coast fallout," as we used to call it, puts its player characters in a more explicitly heroic role. you can go off the rails in fo3 and fo4, but it feels like a big departure from the way the intro set you up. by contrast, in new vegas, you're literally Just Some Guy, and benny shooting you diverts your life without changing who you are. that's closer to my philosophy: i can define a character's present, but i'd rather not dictate everything about their past or future.

[qinghe-s]

NHS should get to bite as many classmates as he wants. Some of them clearly never learned don’t start none (kill my brother) won’t be none (your life destroyed)

i sat here just blinking for like a full minute because i have erased cql canon from my mind lmao

huaisang should get to do whatever he wants regardless though. if my little angel wants to throw tantrums and be a menace that's his right. if his actions hurt anyone that's a them problem and they shouldn't have made my precious cupcake want to in the first place!

[dianaburnwood]

47 is used to sleeping in his undies, ramrod straight on his back, even though it’s been decades since he’s had to worry about spot checks and orderlies coming by with “enhancements for tomorrow, my son”. Diana sees the tension in his body as she crawls across the bed to join him, waits patiently for him to adjust to her presence and smiles deeply when he lifts an arm up inviting her to lay down on his chest. That night they both sleep better than they have in years.

[cajunandfire]

So. The Duck.

Who wants to put money on them dusting off that unused outfit from Absolution for Lust?

[minis-gaming]

Thought exercise for you: how do you think Grey would have factored into gameplay if Edwards only got to Diana after Dartmoor?

That’s an interesting question!

I don’t think that it would have made a huge difference on the story itself if Grey survived (one reason I still can’t understand the decision IOI let him die).

I believe that Grey really longed for a “normal” life and that he wanted that for 47, too. In Berlin, Hirschmüller talks about Grey and that he wanted to make Fake-IDs for him and “two other people” so that they can disappear and I’m quite sure that he meant Grey, Olivia and 47. I think Grey didn’t care much about the constant; he underestimated him. He just wanted the partners dead, getting the future he wanted and “lay the past to rest”.

That’s why I believe that the story would have continued and ended exactly as it did, with the difference that 47's journey towards greater independence would have been influenced by larger conflicts. That means he either has to decide to follow Grey or to follow Diana. I’m pretty sure that he would always follow Diana, and I’m sure, especially after the post Dubai cutscene, that Grey is aware of 47s feelings for her. So i think in the end he would accept 47s decision (because it’s his to make and that’s important for Grey) and he would support him to take down ICA and providence once and for all so he could start anew with Diana by his side, even if that would make Grey sad in some ways. I’m sure that Grey’s and 47s ways would have parted in the end, but Grey at least would get the “normal” life he always wanted- and hopefully he would start a therapy against his childhood trauma.

[a-gromova]

As soon as I heard birds, I immediately expected Birdie to appear, which would have caused a quantum singularity in-universe I know but still

Yes Yes Yes. I immediately remembered Birdie's messages. However, since I slept for only two hours before the release of the game and only got to Chongqing late at night, in my sore and tired mind it spilled out into: We have a mutual problem: MENDOZA $$$. It made me laugh so much that I accidentally turned off the PC with my foot.

[sugarbabywenkexing]

You haven’t watched Thousand Autumns yet?! Omg you’re gone love it. Yan Wushi walks into club purse tits first and Shen Qiao does not have time for it. Until he does. And it’s got some pretty brutal kills. Just a heads up. But it’s amazing how they got the bit about fortune telling by touch past the sensors 😏

Yeah it's definitely something I'm planning to get around to! Yan Wushi's tits of evil seem like something I probably need to know about