The Grouch's Trash Pile [Baldur's Gate 3]

YES and to make it even better, he voices Balthier! I love Balthier.

I also FINALLY noticed what I was supposed to notice to make the 'Basch didn't kill the king, it was actually his twin brother!!' reveal make sense -- he has no moles on his face, but his brother has a bunch on the left side of his face. I wish they'd made it a little more obvious for those of us who aren't as visually oriented, but oh well.

 

In looking up the pronunciation for marquis because I was wondering how the HECK the VAs pronouncing it markwiss went live, I found out that that is in fact the UK pronunciation and I'm dying. FUCKIN' MARKWISS.

 

I still haven't recovered from "leftenant", and now this.

 

Tomb of Raithwall. I've switched in my B team (Vaan, Penelo, and Basch) to get them xp. I hit the switch that spawns three liches, and they near-instantly oil me and start casting fire.

"Aw hell," I say, and go into the menu real quick to set up gambits to remove the oil. I back out, unpause, and... hey, where did the liches go?

They were critically hit into oblivion by Penelo and her longbow, that's where there went. JFC. Archer isn't the weak job I was thinking it was, it's more along the lines of Bard in Stormblood (rest in pieces stacking crit to the sky and pulling hate off of tanks...).

 

me: I'm not going to level or money grind this playthrough, I'm just going to do story and not get distracted by hunts and crap
me: *proceeds to get distracted by hunts and grinding for money*

I AM sick (just a cold thank goodness) so grinding is pretty good entertainment, but... whoops. I need to get moving before I start feeling all disconnected from the story like I did last time. I'm enjoying it a lot more this time so I'd rather not make myself bored and stop halfway through again. Turns out knowing some spoilers about the deeper narrative has made me way more invested in finding out how it gets there from the surface level 'plucky rebels vs. evil empire' it starts out as.

 

Picrew avatar makers are usually pretty fun, but this goblin maker is my favorite so far.



Of all the picrews I've tried out, this is the first one where I've made one of myself and went 'ah yes, this is definitely me'. I guess my true form just happens to be a fussy looking seafoam green dumpling.

I showed it to my FFXIV FC and a few people promptly made their own. We all went for notched ears, but aside from that they all vary a lot. It's really fun to see what people choose for themselves!

 

Coco'a made a new friend today!

 

Also, having gotten Coco'a through 2.0-2.1 of the rework, I can say that it is vastly improved. It was given an editing it badly needed, so the lulls in the story feel much more natural, and the action (mostly) keeps flowing when it should.

2.1, which had been the most tedious patch of the game, is now well paced and the emotional beats of the story don't get lost under a bunch of incredibly boring errands that make it feel like you're being taken advantage of. Now it doesn't feel like the WoL has to do everything for the Scions, including menial bullshit that hired hands or non-specialist Scions could take care of; instead, the WoL is doing things that they can best do because of their abilities, or because they're in a position of high trust. It goes a long way in making the WoL feel like a valued part of the inner circle like they're supposed to be, and doesn't detract from the story twist of another Ascian showing up.

 

Important question: do you still have to hear "Pray return to the Waking Sands" (or whatever it was) often enough for the "Pray destroy the Waking Sands" joke in Shadowbringers to be funny?

 

Hmm, good question! I didn't really pay attention, but you do have to go back there enough times it can get kind of 'seriously?? I was just there!' on some quests (which is now somewhat alleviated by a couple of main story quests handing out a generous amount of teleport tickets directly to the town it's in). So I think the joke can still hold, especially since it's tucked away in the name of a FATE so people who the joke has passed by won't be having an annoying 'wait why is this supposed to be funny' moment in the middle of a story quest.

 

... And there are enough self-important doofuses who think killing One Whole Primal should make them the bestest and most important hero ever who chafe at ever having to go back and take orders, how dare, that they'll keep the meme alive, no matter how much it actually applies. :p

 

PSSSST just popping in to say I love your goblinsona icon! What a good creacher.

 

I made a couple of photo posts of my ACNH island and updated my dream of it. I usually only like to update when it's sunny, but this weather made my island remind me of the PNW...

 

Times are tough, so have some shots of Coco'a being cute.



(These are from the quest where the WoL is accompanying the Doman refugees to Ul'Dah.)

 

he's so cute ;;

 

I got my new FFXII playthrough further than my original one 10 hours sooner, but now I'm looking at what seems to be a string of long dungeons, starting with Giruvegan, and my fortitude is starting to flag. I've heard things about the Great Crystal, man...

 

the great crystal for main plot isn't that complicated, it's when you get into it to get ultima that it's balls

 

That's good to hear, as my brain is prone to getting really squirrelly with this game and I'd like to actually finish it before it goes NOPE entirely. (I don't know why it's being like this since I am otherwise enjoying it, but it is what it is, I guess. It means I'm avoiding most optional content, though.)

 

HAPPY HOLLERING

 

Yeah, I've never 100%'d or made any effort towards 100%ing 12 for that reason. it's a lot of complicated shit and great crystal + zodiark mines are the worst of it.