butters... </3
Sep. 11th, 2023 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sidewaysIt has been an unquestionably crummy year for writing, which probably makes it a little ambitious on my part to join ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
tinyfandomflash. I just find the premise charming, and there are a good number of fandoms with fewer than 500 works on AO3 that I could conceivably write for - Raksura, Widdershins, the Old Kingdom, A House of Many Doors, my favourite Cherryhs...
(I say, like there are any Cherryh series that wouldn't qualify. The entire Alliance-Union universe rates 132 works apparently. Dire.)
Otherwise, it is just as unquestionably the year of Larian so far! Good grief. Firstly,syntheid and I finished Divinity: Original Sin II towards the end of August, proudly clocking in over a hundred hours of gameplay, eight months of dedicated Friday/Saturday timezone alignments, a solid collection of achievements, and only, uh, three attempts to get through the final boss fight. (Fuck you, [redacted], and your giant fucking [redacted].)
I wish I'd done better at keeping notes of things as we went through because there were so many funny and/or awesome moments. Pressing buttons that should not have been pressed. Fighting statues that should not have been fought. Lane constantly telling me not to eat people like an exhausted owner prying souls out of their dog's mouth (and then I impulsively ate a screaming flower and got superpowers so who's to say the impulse was wrong really). "...Did you just- did you just walk directly into the lava." Both of us cringing and wheeze-laughing our way through the romance / sex scene because this was Not Our Thing. The moment in the hectic final battle when a mostly-dead Lane went, "Hm, now seems a good time to use my Equaliser move" and completely flipped the outcome of the fight on its head. Chef kiss.
It was good times. I would definitely recommend the game to anyone looking for a very enjoyable and accommodating co-play game with a truly staggering amount of content. I don't know if I would have completed it alone, as I would not call it particularly compelling character work, but the plot has a few fun twists and the combat stayed novel.
Fortunately, Larian is doing solidly compelling character work in Baldur's Gate 3, which has been my next jaunt! I was a little worried my wee laptop wouldn't be able to run it, but it's doing admirably so far. I have next to no experience with Baldur's Gate as a series, so the experience is so far paralleling that of Dragon Age, where I similarly launched straight into a later title and paddled blindly around with a fairly generic player character. It seems a good sign I am already itching to try again with a more well-conceived PC despite having barely broached Act II.
tinyfandomflash. I just find the premise charming, and there are a good number of fandoms with fewer than 500 works on AO3 that I could conceivably write for - Raksura, Widdershins, the Old Kingdom, A House of Many Doors, my favourite Cherryhs...(I say, like there are any Cherryh series that wouldn't qualify. The entire Alliance-Union universe rates 132 works apparently. Dire.)
Otherwise, it is just as unquestionably the year of Larian so far! Good grief. Firstly,
syntheid and I finished Divinity: Original Sin II towards the end of August, proudly clocking in over a hundred hours of gameplay, eight months of dedicated Friday/Saturday timezone alignments, a solid collection of achievements, and only, uh, three attempts to get through the final boss fight. (Fuck you, [redacted], and your giant fucking [redacted].) I wish I'd done better at keeping notes of things as we went through because there were so many funny and/or awesome moments. Pressing buttons that should not have been pressed. Fighting statues that should not have been fought. Lane constantly telling me not to eat people like an exhausted owner prying souls out of their dog's mouth (and then I impulsively ate a screaming flower and got superpowers so who's to say the impulse was wrong really). "...Did you just- did you just walk directly into the lava." Both of us cringing and wheeze-laughing our way through the romance / sex scene because this was Not Our Thing. The moment in the hectic final battle when a mostly-dead Lane went, "Hm, now seems a good time to use my Equaliser move" and completely flipped the outcome of the fight on its head. Chef kiss.
It was good times. I would definitely recommend the game to anyone looking for a very enjoyable and accommodating co-play game with a truly staggering amount of content. I don't know if I would have completed it alone, as I would not call it particularly compelling character work, but the plot has a few fun twists and the combat stayed novel.
Fortunately, Larian is doing solidly compelling character work in Baldur's Gate 3, which has been my next jaunt! I was a little worried my wee laptop wouldn't be able to run it, but it's doing admirably so far. I have next to no experience with Baldur's Gate as a series, so the experience is so far paralleling that of Dragon Age, where I similarly launched straight into a later title and paddled blindly around with a fairly generic player character. It seems a good sign I am already itching to try again with a more well-conceived PC despite having barely broached Act II.
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Date: 2023-09-11 09:34 am (UTC)Being such a big game, the third act is far less full when it comes to interactions and consequences, but Larian has always been on the ball when it comes to updating and padding things out.
Pro tip tho: Animal Speak. Larian Studios always has such fun with the critters.
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Date: 2023-09-12 07:49 am (UTC)I am playing a druid and having a MARVELLOUS time conversing with critters, I will raise my owlbear son well 😌
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Date: 2023-09-12 07:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-12 08:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-11 10:49 am (UTC)Good luck writing!!
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Date: 2023-09-12 07:55 am (UTC)Haha, I agree somewhat, 100-500 works feels 'very small' but verysmallfandomflash is admittedly not that catchy. And there is something to be said for choking out your fledgling community by being too picky with your definitions.
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Date: 2023-09-11 10:29 pm (UTC)Congrats on finishing Divinity: OS! And aaaah, BG3 my beloved. ♥ I do love the original games, but so far (I'm closing in on the end of Act 1 now) haven't come across any particularly strong links to them - just a handful of references in books I've found while roaming around. Do you have any standout fave companions/NPCs?
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Date: 2023-09-12 08:04 am (UTC)I'm pretty sure Act 2 has a link! I did not know the character but I could tell they were significant.
I kind of love them all?? ...Except poor Astarion who I acknowledge I am neglecting. I'm romancing Shadowheart, partly by accident, but it's so sweet so far that I'm into it. Karlach is a giant puppydog I desperately want to hug, Lae'zel is weirdly endearing to me, Wyll is my Folk Hero Background bff and we smugly fistbump a lot, and Gale needs to be less in love with me but has grown on me all the same.
Anyway all that said my favourite companions are actually Scratch and the cub. And Mol. And the MYCONIDS 😍🥰🤩
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Date: 2023-09-13 10:59 pm (UTC)Same same! I'm just... incredibly fond of them all. Gale is my own most neglected character, which I feel a little bad about - even more so because he also seems to have fallen for me despite being almost permanently benched back at camp while the rest of us go out adventuring. Love yourself a bit more, Gale! But yes, Scratch is clearly number one. ♥ I managed to miss the cub, so I'm doubling back just to see if it's still possible to find them. I want a tiny feathery danger baby!