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[yyzh0u]

Heh.

[pallavimehra1239]

खेल अधिकारी, संजय दुहन, धर्मेन्द्र वशिष्ठ और वेदपाल दास पहुंचे | गुरुजी

खेल अधिकारी संजय दूहन और जाट संस्था सदस्य पहुंचे आशीर्वाद लेने ...

[mxtedlogan]

bill and Ted. do you agree

[deadshoppingmalls]

trying out new things in 2023 challenge

[aethernoise]

I was thinking about how far we’ve come with regards to the writing of MSQ and quest dialogue in general, and how many more choices we have, even if it’s all for the illusion of autonomy (since, well, this is a MMO). It has been great seeing our in-game protagonist show their own personality and emotion through these choices, just little moments of characterization that maybe ultimately don’t make a difference, but make the WoL feel more alive.

but lately I’ve personally really appreciated the situations where the dialogue-driven characterization gives us an obvious LACK of choice. I’ll continue rambling under the cut for 5.2 msq spoilers & final role quest spoilers.

Example I keep thinking about is the final confrontation with the Shadowkeeper in which she basically implores you to kill her (it’s more involved than that but I’m not gonna paraphrase the entire story)--the game gives you an option of what to say to her, but all answers still mean “no.” There is no question. There is simply no way the WoL is going to do that. Their attitude towards the request may vary, but not only is it not going to happen, the game won’t even let you SAY it’s going to happen. I think they give you the neutral “...” response as an option but even that is a huge nope.

The other thing I absolutely LOVE, though it’s handled in a bit more depth, is the WoL’s reaction to “Ardbert” showing up in 5.2. The facial expressions alone are AMAZING. WoL is suspicious and pissed right from the beginning. A couple of dialogue choices later somebody (iirc it’s Alphy?) asks like “ok is there any any any possible way it’s actually him” and your choices are basically “no” and “FUCK no.” Any ATTEMPT at tinfoil explanation by other NPCs is immediately shut down because no, absolutely fucking not, that is NOT him, I know because his SOUL IS WITH MINE, also he is inexplicably clean shaven and I don’t trust that at all--

As somebody with a WoL OC so deeply established as my lens for perception of the story, all of this is extremely satisfying and a genuine relief. I knew Alyx would refuse to kill the Shadowkeeper, and I knew there was no way in all 7 hells she would be fooled by Ascian bullshit of this magnitude. So it felt REALLY good to see that so obviously expressed in the narrative? I just loved it. It’s funny because usually I love having more choice to promote deeper characterization, but in these cases it was the lack of it that felt the most true to character. 

(Note also that I am still extremely unhappy about the level 60 SAM quest. Those of you who’ve done that one will understand why the outright refusal to strike Cyella down was a twofold relief.)

I am working on my laptop at the moment and unfortunately don’t have screenshots to add to this, but thank you for reading my Friday morning brain dump.

[slavichorror]

hannibal’s maroon eyes are the new harry styles green orbs

[ericarrow]

Kudan No Gotoshi horror manga review. It is like Final Destination except with cows!