spring_gloom | (no subject)

realised I also want to post about some media stuff too.

I finished my replay of Dragon Age II! it is a game that was very obviously made on a time crunch but ultimately I really appreciate the story it tells. I played a female silly/charming two-handed warrior Hawke and went towards friendship with everyone (yep, everyone!) without any inconsistency in behaviour - I just consulted guides a lot. I also used the polyamory mod that allowed me to romance all four of the core romances (minus Sebastian). it was pretty nice being able to see/relive the romance progression for everyone without playing again multiple times and the bugs it caused were pretty minimal. it is unfortunately pretty funny when [sad thing happens] and all four of them come one-by-one to comfort Hawke. this time around, I think I liked the Isabela and Fenris romances the best. all four of the options are incredibly flawed people, but I especially liked the way these two friendship romances fit into the plot and developed the characters (in my somewhat pro-mage playthrough). I love that Isabela learns to maaaaaaaybe a bit less selfish, perhaps, and also works through the feelings she'd rather deny. Fenris also works through a lot but ends up very devoted.

the time skips in DAII were always weird to me because they are so long, and I still hold this opinion. I think it could work a lot better if the breaks between acts were just a single year. I really didn't mind the repeated maps, although it would have been nice if they adjusted the minimaps to only show accessible areas. I also played the Legacy and Mark of the Assassin DLCs for the first time because I couldn't afford them back in the day and they were fun! I liked the unique banter/character moments and extra story. and of course, Legacy is the DLC that directly bridges to Inquisition's story, so it was good to finally experience it.

I've also been following some current mystery shows, as always. The Good Ship Murder continues to have nearly zero presence on Tumblr... not that I'm contributing either. it remains kind of shallow fun and I wonder how long they can string it out before the two main characters actually get together properly for realz. on a funny note, I was looking at the wikipedia page and it say someone from The Scum said 'The Good Ship Murder is a woke-free zone' - they must be awfully disappointed that two of the new characters this season are a gay man and a black woman.

unlike people whose opinions I only hear second hand (thank god), I like how Death in Paradise's new DI is shaping up. how quickly people forget that most of the DIs are rude and/or annoying to start with. you can see where the character development arc is going, of course, but the fun is in getting there. even if he sucked, I could watch just for Naomi and her fab outfits. and DARLENE, my beloved. I am still getting used to Seb but Ruby was also a ball of chaos and I loved her.

what else? my music has been on the dreamier side recently. that sometimes happens around December but it has persisted into the new year. maybe I'm just recognising the need to chill.