[ SECRET POST #3425 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3425 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.
[Final Fantasy VII/Super Smash Bros]


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02.

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03.
[The Girls Next Door, Bridget Marquardt, Holly Madison, Kendra Wilkinson]


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04.
[Pokémon Sun and Moon]


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05.
[Love and Lies]


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06.
[Aoishiro]


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07.


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08.
[The Hunger Games]


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09. [SPOILERS for Houdini and Doyle]




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10. [SPOILERS for Pokemon SM]




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11. [SPOILERS for The Witcher/Dragon Age]




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12. [SPOILERS for Cupid]
[WARNING for rape, incest]




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13. [WARNING for discussion of rape]


["Blurred Lines", Robin Thicke]





























Notes:

Really early because I've got stuff to do, sorry about that.

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #488.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

11. [SPOILERS for The Witcher/Dragon Age]

http://i.imgur.com/C8O4TKa.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

Bioware never figured out the cognitive dissonance between "oppressive situations explode in violent ways that harm people on multiple levels" and "Two dozen ninjas drop from the ceiling! Make them explode into chunks of meat!"

[feotakahari]

I'm still bitter about Garrus's loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2. You kill tons of nameless mercenaries to get your target's location, then you find the target and suddenly killing for revenge is wrong.

[(Anonymous)]

You're not killing the mercenaries out of vengeance, you're killing them because they're trying to kill you first. They don't have to shoot at you, but they do because they're in the business of murdering for credits.

Killing Sidonis, on the other hand, is personal to Garrus. He's an unarmed, defenseless mark and the only reason to kill him is because Garrus wants vengeance for his betrayal. Even if you pile them all together and say "murder is bad, mmm'kay?" it's not the same at all because it's one thing to kill killers who are trying to kill you and something else entirely when it comes to killing someone who has completely surrendered and whose life/death matters a great deal to you.

[feotakahari]

You're the one attacking the person they're being paid to protect. That means you're the one forcing the fight.

[(Anonymous)]

so should shep let criminals run free if people protect them because nope, can't kill under any circumstances?

[(Anonymous)]

But they're being paid by a criminal (and not one that Garrus and Shepard go after with murderous intent- they want to question Harkin, not kill him) and engaging in criminal activity all over the place. They're not a bunch of unarmed innocents. Also, you can even tell them to scram, I believe, in which case only a couple of die-hards and some mechs remain to protect Harkin.

And that's not even salient to the point I was making- vengeance isn't an issue against the mercs- they're just run of the mill baddies who aren't smart enough to run when Shepard gives them the chance. Sidonis, however, isn't a criminal. He's just someone who prioritized himself over other vigilantes and who is struggling with the aftermath of his decision. The only reason Garrus wants him dead is for vengeance. It's two totally different scenarios, emotionally and ethically.

[(Anonymous)]

The first Dragon Age was at least pretty good about this. Almost all of the encounters in that are with Darkspawn or demons, and most of the ones that aren't can either be played as a necessary evil your character really regrets or outright avoided.

DA2 and Inquisition were fucking TERRIBLE about it, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Have you only ever played DA2? Because that's an issue that DA2 has (probably because they had to force it out in a ridiculously truncated time frame) that really doesn't hold for other games in the series. Both Origins and Inquisition leave a decent amount of breathing room between said scenarios and combat, which felt more naturally integrated than it was in DA2.

For example you have the City Elf origin, which deals with an oppressive situation exploding in a violent way that harmed people on multiple levels and the violence that ensued was exactly what you would expect- you have to fight the guards of the nobleman who is holding your cousin captive in order to confront said nobleman and help your cousin. There are several quests in DAI that focus solely on dialogue to touch on similar themes of oppression, and very few moments that get "ruined" by combat where combat wouldn't naturally occur.

While I am completely on board with how ridiculous the enemy waves/behavior in DA2 tended to be, acting like that's BW's only mode is disingenuous. These are games that take place in a violent world where people are willing to die for their beliefs, and even then they have entire sections of their games that allow for moments to breathe without any combat at all.

[(Anonymous)]

No, I think Bioware has had an extended problem with last-act moral conundrums. It's just that with ME3 and DA2, they tried to be "relevant" moral conundrums, as opposed to Jade Empire's democratic caucus on the moral value of environmental puppy kicking, HotU's "do I use RealNames(tm) to make people happy?" or KotOR's "will you love me if I refuse to kill you?"

ME3 was a hot mess from the first hospital scene. It gave us almost a half-dozen sidequest parables, before wrapping up with a trio (quartet) of moral choices that had minimal groundwork, delivered by a Big Bad with less development than Conrad Verner.

DA2 explored the problems of oppression, terrorism, and security states with about the same grace as Sylvester Stallone handled Vietnam ( https://youtu.be/9SW7-8C8kL4 ).

Then I got into TOR, which reduced extra-judicial rendition and civilian casualties of land mines to dialogue wheels and alignment points, and I said "fuck it."

[(Anonymous)]

Congratulations?

I wish I could play the Witcher series, but for as crazy as the Dragon Age fandom actually is, I'm way more turned off by the rampaging Witcher bros who seem to only like the game because it's largely "uncorrupted" by evil sjws. I just don't have it in me to back a developer who gets applauded for the bold decision to let women be portrayed as sex objects and keeping gross brown people out of their fictional fantasy setting.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm pretty much the opposite of a "bro" but I loved the Witcher 3 and was so much more invested in the world and characters than any DA game. CD Projekt Red still has its faults but they've come a long way from the collectible sex cards of the first game, and they listened to criticism of lack of racial minorities (which was definitely awkward even as a Polish company) and are incorporating other races into the large expansion due the end of the month.

It's worth a look if you enjoy excellent writing and a fully fleshed out world with quests that go far beyond "collect x collectibles in this zone". Are you going to be rolling your eyes sometimes? Sure. But don't let the gaming dudebros be the main reason to turn you off an enjoyable fantasy experience.

[rivia]

as someone who enjoys both franchises, both have their strengths and their weaknesses, and both devs could stand to learn from the other. that said bioware mostly needs to learn about technical things like having hair options that dont look like shit, or not using the same 20 animations you have from your past 5 games, but like that anon said, cognitive dissonance! and cdpr could learn that brown ppl exist too, and that not all gay ppl are evil (dethmold, phillipa, etc) and to maybe tone down the titty and just try and be a bit less edgy at times.

honestly i'd just love if they all came together and made the perfect high fantasy game

[(Anonymous)]

CDPR defnititely knows not all gay people are evil, considering that they allow for playing Ciri as gay, and that brown people exist, considering that they appeared already in the previous expansion. Get your facts straight, person who "enjoys both franchises".

[rivia]

lmao so one character (albeit a main one) from three games, and javed from tw1 (a villain) and some stereotypes in an expansion and not the base game? mhmm. i know my facts just fine, thank you :)