Gh spoiler

Daredevil: The Man Without Fear

2010.03.08 17:42 daredevil1981 Daredevil: The Man Without Fear

A subreddit for discussion of the Marvel character Daredevil.

2012.02.22 20:27 GeneralissimoFranco Legend of Galactic Heroes subreddit

A community devoted to the Japanese space opera, Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

2016.11.25 17:00 Eyegleam Gloomhaven

Gloomhaven is a cooperative game of tactical combat, battling monsters and advancing a player's own individual goals in a persistent and changing world that is played over many game sessions. In the process, players will enhance their abilities with experience and loot, discover new locations to explore and plunder, and expand an ever-branching story fueled by the decisions they make.

[link]

2023.05.25 16:09 TheDoomfarer Class suggestions - What should I go for next?

Soon time to retire my Blinkblade, and while we haven't opened up that many new classes yet, I'd love some suggestion on what to play (or not to play) next in Frosthaven. My friend played Drifter so not interested in that specific class.
I'm fine with spoilers btw, so assume I have knowledge of all Frosthaven classes even though I only have access to the starter classes, "Fist" and "Trap" right now.
I have played all GH classes apart from Tinkerer. I really enjoyed Cragheart, "Cthulhu", "Eclipse" and surprisingly enough to myself "Two-Minis".
I didn't enjoy "Circles" or "Triangles" at all. Really frustrating to play both of them. All other classes were at least ok.
So what should I go for right now, in the future, and which ones should I let my friend play? :)

submitted by TheDoomfarer to Gloomhaven [link] [comments]

2023.05.24 04:45 RyForPresident A Spoiler Reminder

I come to you live from my kitchen, where my dog has decided being nocturnal is her destiny and is accompanying me on my insomnia due to steroids (thanks whatever the fuck is wrong with my sinuses) journey to eat cheese.
This is a brief reminder on the spoiler police since we've noticed a decent amount of posts needing to be fixed the past few days: if an episode aired within 24 hours of your post discussing it, it needs to be marked as spoiler and all spoilers need to be kept out of the title. You can mark it as a spoiler in the posting stage, Reddit makes it super easy.
I'm also taking this opportunity to remind y'all we're removing and banning discussions on Sprina outside of DD threads and even then, we're keeping a close eye on them. Be nice and respectful in your debates. Do that one generally, actually.
We also got a request to do a drinking game thread and for various reasons, have decided against that. Now, if you'd like to post high/drunk, feel free! I imagine GH while high would be far more interesting. But we will not be hosting a game or something for it.

submitted by RyForPresident to GeneralHospital [link] [comments]

2023.05.22 22:21 zakatack Not all target retirement funds are created equally - Difference in performance between Vanguard (winner), Fidelity, T.Rowe Price, Empower (loser), and Nationwide Target 2050 Funds.

I thought that target retirement funds with the same date would perform similarly because they would have a similar mix of total market + bond market - spoiler alert: they do not! I have a lot of retirement accounts between my roth IRA (Vanguard), my 403b (Fidelity), my old 457b (was T. Rowe Price then moved to Empower due to employer record keeper change), and my new 457b (Nationwide). I had a little bit in each account in the various target 2050 funds, with the rest as mostly S&P500 and a few other small holdings.
I was surprised at how some of target date holdings were performing compared to the overall market, and decided to do a comparison between them. Over the last 5 years (5/2018~5/2023), Vanguard is "winning" at +11.5%, followed closely by T. Rowe Price +9%, the rest are in the negative: Fidelity -7%, Nationwide -12%, Empower -15%. For comparison the S&P (which I would have expected most of these to have a significant position on given they were ~30 years from the target) is +53% on that time scale.
I sold off most of them and moved that $ into the S&P, and then upped my Vanguard one a little to compensate for the loss of diversification. Lesson learned, don't trust those target date funds and treat them as a black box, keep an eye on how they are doing and cut your losses with the bad ones.
Static annotated chart (wish we could include pics in these posts): https://imgur.com/a/3EBtwHl
dynamic chart to look at different time scales (~~sorry for the crazy long link~~ ~~EDIT: URL shortened~~ EDIT² Automod yelled at me about my long link, tiny'd it and then my post was removed, back to the 4800 character link!): https://finance.yahoo.com/chart/TRFOX?showOptin=1#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

submitted by zakatack to personalfinance [link] [comments]

2023.05.21 08:50 wwqot Playwright's Flowers

Warning: This post includes spoilers for the fourth ending of IS2

A. Introduction

The Playwright is the fourth boss in IS2, and there’s not much information on him outside of relic and boss descriptions. He only appeared in two CGs, both of which feature him writing on his desk in what seems to be his office. This essay will focus on a specific common denominator that appeared in both CGs: the vase with blue and white flowers.

ending CG
encounter node \"Revenge Story\" CG
You might be tempted to say, “So what? They’re just flowers.”
The thing is that, blue roses, as depicted in the CGs, don’t exist in the natural world. Blue flowers, in general, are rather rare. The blue roses that exist currently are the product of genetic engineering, or dye. Genetically engineered roses have their blue pigment taken from Pansies, which appear more purple than the azure blue shown in the CGs.

Rosa \"Cardinal de Richelieu\"
So it couldn’t have been genetically engineered. This implies that Playwright deliberately dyed some of his white roses with blue dye. And if we look closely at his sprite, all the blue accents in his design are accessories that are worn, instead of on his person.

B. Significance of the Colour

Why blue? Why did he choose to surround himself with this colour? For aesthetics? If he were a real person, then we can simply say, “Because it’s his favourite colour,” and leave it at that. But unfortunately, he’s a fictional character, one that is related to Phantom- who is chock full of references to Gothic literature at that, which means by design, his colour palette was a deliberate choice on the developers’ part.

The most obvious explanation is because he is meant to be Phantom’s foil, specifically in his Blood Diamond outfit. We can see it clearly in Rhythm in Literature:

Rhythm in Literature EP
Firstly, the title alludes to the two of them: Rhythm for Lucian, who is well known for his singing voice, and Literature for Playwright, who is known to write the scripts for the troupe’s performances.
Looking at the illustration, the two of them clearly contrast each other, both in design and in position. Starting with the obvious, Luci has red accents and Playwright has blue. Luci wears a hat, a flashy outfit, has short, light coloured hair and short, fluffy tail, meanwhile Playwright only wears glasses and ribbons on his head, a relatively plain/modest outfit, longer, neat dark hair (with few strands of white), and a long tail with short, dense coat of fur. Lucian stands in the spotlight, facing the audience, meanwhile Playwright faces the backstage, away from the spotlight. Both have black central pieces (vests?) but Phantom’s sleeves are white, while Playwright’s are dark gold(?). Phantom’s cape takes up a lot of space, meanwhile Playwright takes up only a minimal amount. Also, the number of belts.
(these two are such ship material I swear)
Looking back at the troupe’s children: We have Lucian, who decided to fight back against the troupe. Shalem, who ran away. Ursus boy, who chose death. Playwright, in my opinion, represents the fourth option: to join the troupe and take part in their tragedy.
We can also see how he contrasts other ex troupe members from the ‘Parallels’ medal description:

'Parallels' medal description
‘Duality of possibilities’ is in reference to endings 1 and 2. Ending 1 features ‘hope’ where Lucian was brought back safely, but not entirely devoid of despair (ending 4). On the other hand, ending 2 features Ursus boy who suffers even in death, but we the players have an option to help him and grant his wish to disappear (encounter node Reprieve), which is an ending of despair, but not entirely devoid of hope.
The play is composed by both the cast and the playwright, together, so I think the Playwright also parallels Lucian to some extent. Lucian was always full of hope (he was the talented student with potential, looked forward to debut as an actor, etc) meanwhile Playwright was called incompetent (Silver Fork), has a bad ending (Writer's Tongue), he probably represents left hand's despair.

Another possible explanation is because the Crimson Troupe’s signature colour is red, so he surrounds himself with the opposite colour, blue, as a sign of minor rebellion against the troupe. This implies that the Playwright doesn’t agree with the Troupe’s goals, but is cooperating with them for the sake of his own goals. Further proof that supports this interpretation is the play “The Lullaby”:

The play titled \"The Lullaby\"

“A clean, comfortable, and relaxing dreamscape all begins with a lullaby, and when you are awake, everything will be that much better.”

From the CGs we can see that Playwright’s office has a similar window, lamp and ink bottle, and the shape of the glasses is similar to his. So we can safely assume that this play, which also heavily uses the same azure blue in its palette, is in reference to his office. The play symbolises a safe place to retreat to, which might imply that the Playwright uses his office (and by extension, his writing?) for escapism.
A counterargument against this interpretation is that the troupe master also adorns the same blue on his ring.

4th ending CG
But I think it can be explained by two possibilities:
i - that the troupe master knows about Playwright’s rebellion and is using the blue ring as a subtle threat, or
ii - the troupe master uses blue in his colour palette in an ironic way - this is related to my other theory that the troupe leader is a liberi (or at least, “unknown-suspected liberi” like Conviction) where he is the Bluebird of Happiness, but brings tragedy instead of happiness.

Alternatively, he might have chosen blue because it’s the troupe leader’s colour. The troupe’s signature is red, but to show his status, the leader might have chosen to wear blue to signify his special position within the troupe, and as his right-hand man, the Playwright follows suit. There’s an interpretation of the flowers that supports this theory in section D below.
He might also have chosen blue because he’s sick of seeing blood. According to the relics in IS2, he uses his blood as ink, and he is constantly seen writing or scribbling with his quill. The colour blue contrasts his blood’s red, you know, unless he has blue blood… hahah. hah. no I’m not kidding because see: no 5.
What are the two things we know about Playwright? He probably came from Gaul like Shalem and Phantom, and he has blue in his design. Blue, and French. Azure blue is France’s national colour, and many centuries ago, was used to represent the French monarchy, so Playwright might be a royalty for all we know. Read the rest of my Royalty!Playwright theory in the Extra Readings section below.

C. Blue Flowers and the Era of Romanticism

So we covered a lot about the colour blue itself, but we barely touched the main topic: blue flowers. Blue flowers are an important symbol in Romantic movement. But first of all, to really understand the significance of it, we have to look at the meaning of Romanticism and how it started.
To put it simply, Romanticism is a literary, philosophical, artistic movement that focused on the emotion and the self, in contrast to the Age of Enlightenment that preceded it which focused on reason and logic. Interestingly, some historians dated the end of Enlightenment era at the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789.
Back to Romanticism, this movement emphasised imagination, freedom, creativity, and nostalgia for the past. This focus on emotion over reason brought a lot of the literary tropes we know today, such as denying arranged marriages in pursuit of true love or the edgy solitary hero versus the entire world.
Prominent writers of Romantic movement are Edgar Allan Poe, and Lord Byron. Edgar Allan Poe was referenced multiple times in Phantom’s character and design: his birthday was based on Poe’s, and his Blood Diamond skin was based on one of Poe’s short stories, Masque of Red Death. On the other hand, Lord Byron’s stories gave birth to the character archetype called Byronic Hero: a sensitive, emotionally complex hero who goes against the world with a sad backstory that makes you want to root for him. One notable example of a byronic hero is Erik from Phantom of the Opera. That is to say, the Romantic era has considerable influence on Phantom’s lore.
During such a time, blue flowers were used to symbolise dreams, desires, love, and the pursuit for the unattainable- themes which were core to the movement. It also represented hope and beauty. Especially blue roses, which didn’t exist, were used to represent impossible love. Worth noting that these meanings simultaneously support and contradict the Crimson Troupe’s ideals: arts and beauty, but in the form of tragedy and despair instead of hope.

D. The Interpretations

Between the symbolism used during the Romantic era, and the flower language used in Victorian England, there are many interpretations we can draw - especially the way he mixed white and blue flowers, instead of sticking to only one colour. (plot twist: he just ran out of blue dye- in which case screw you kitty cat for making me think so much about this)
1, Mixture of lies and truths
White roses are often used to symbolise purity and honesty, and therefore blue roses, which are white roses dyed blue, can be seen as “fake”, “artificial” or “fabrication”. These can allude to many things, for example:
a. His arts
Playwright’s arts is said to be able to change reality to his desire, but such a powerful ability has to come with limitations. Following this interpretation, it’s likely that his arts can’t make something that diverges too far from reality. Like the way the blue rose needs white rose as a base, he probably needs to use reality as a basis for his scripts. This might explain why he needed to rewrite his script when Rhodes Island interfered and came to save Phantom.
b. His identity
From the relics and encounters, we know that Playwright is very dedicated to his revenge plan. It was emphasised in almost every piece of lore crumb that mentions him post-2nd expansion, and he was willing to sacrifice everything he treasured for his revenge. I think there’s a good possibility that he is faking his loyalty to the troupe for his own goals, either trying to use the troupe’s strength and manpower for revenge, or biding his time to stab the troupe in the back.

ACT 1's description. Keep this in mind because I go back to refer to this relic a lot.
We can see in ACT 1’s description, where he was described as “hero”. I’m certain that this is referring to Playwright because not only is it a necessary relic to get his ending, but also there’s literally no one else we know who has a bottle of blood ink, is trying to get revenge, and wrote himself an ending where he dies in a fire. The two meanings of “hero” are either the protagonist, or the person of noble character; He cannot be the protagonist, because from everything we’ve seen so far, it is Lucian who is constantly being referred to as the “protagonist” or “lead actor”, leaving only the second definition.
From what we know about Playwright currently, he is more of a villain than a hero- he cooperated with the troupe master, making Phantom’s life miserable, massacred people, and they plan to kill countless more. This is why I believe there will be a role reversal, where Playwright’s ends will justify his means, and he will be regarded a “hero”. Maybe not the traditional hero, but rather an antihero or a byronic hero. But then begs the question, what sort of end justifies all these massacres? If you ask me, I would be inclined to say the Crimson Troupe being destroyed for good and the death of the troupe leader, a possible Feranmut, but really, I’m too biassed towards my troupe-hating-playwright theory.
Alternatively, maybe we were lied to, and Playwright is the real “protagonist” of the story, and not Lucian, but I doubt this is the case. Playwright wrote himself an ending, but he also considers himself removed from his scripts, referring to himself as “the creator”.
c. His death
The developers didn’t spare any subtlety when talking about Playwright’s ending, as it was mentioned multiple times that he will die in a fire. However, this may be intended as a red herring - an attempt to misdirect the players to the wrong conclusion.
In Act 1’s description, it’s notable that the terms “first act” and “first ending” are used. Initially I thought that it was a one-act structure play, but if there’s only one act, there’s no need to specify those as the “first”. It implies that there are Acts 2, 3 or more, and Playwright’s “ending” won’t be the end of his life. It might have meant the end of his revenge plans.
Still, whatever the Playwright writes becomes reality, and he did write an ending in which he himself died. There might be a way to circumvent this, for example, by faking his death a certain scifi anime/vn whose name I can’t say because it’s a spoiler-style and letting the Crimson Troupe’s “Playwright” die, and this emo cat takes on a new name and identity (like joining Rhodes Islands and getting a new codename? hopium).
d. 4th ending - Silent Chapter
The fourth ending has Playwright monologuing a lot of things, where he says a lot of these vague lines, and it ends with him talking to the troupe leader. Because of how vague the dialogues are, I think some of these have double meanings, which describe the current situation, but also foreshadow the future events.
In this interpretation, the “lies” aren’t false statements, but rather misleading statements that drive readers to the wrong conclusions.

2. Striving for the impossible, and eternal love
This one takes the Romantic era meaning of blue flowers: something desirable but unattainable. Roses in general represent love of all kinds, and white roses specifically are used to signify eternal love. It makes sense when you think about it - Playwright has such a strong drive for revenge, he must have cared about the person(s?) he swore vengeance for a whole lot. But, following this interpretation, his revenge plan is difficult, if not outright impossible to achieve.
Maybe the target of his vengeance already died and therefore revenge is impossible, but if that were the case, he probably would have found something else to do with life- or just died right there and then because the life he spent for revenge has no purpose now. Cat is extreme.
Anyways, this means that the target either holds a powerful position in society, or is so strong that normal people can’t touch them. There are many directions to go with this info- for example, if we want to go with the Gaul Royalty route, he might want to take down the Victorian government (or like what’s left of it after the whole conflict in the main story), or maybe Leithania/Ursus too. If we want to go with the Troupe route, the troupe master is hinted to have space/time powers, which can make him nigh untouchable. And so on.
Either way, it makes a good food for thought for when we get more Playwright lore. (HG pls)

3. Nostalgia for the past, and innocence
This interpretation also follows the Romantic era symbolisms, where the past is glorified and the present is rejected. In Playwright terms, maybe the flowers signify his desire to return to the good old times, before he found out the truth about the troupe’s nature - the loss of innocence, so to say. This sentiment is shared by Phantom, who considered the troupe members his friends and family until the debut night happened and brought everything to ruin.
If we go by what is written in Shalem’s profiles, the troupe had always been intense and competitive, and those who can’t perform up to measure would be eliminated. Some IS2 relics imply that they might be killed and eaten, too. Maybe Phantom didn’t feel the brunt of these because he was the talented genius acknowledged by the troupe leader himself, but Playwright’s case might be different. His first encounter CG was called “endocarceration”, endo as in internal, and carceration as in imprisonment. Similarly, the battle node in this encounter is called, “Bound by Self”. This node is where players encounter playwrights in a dungeon, who want to continue writing but when they do, all they write is nonsense. Maybe Playwright is similar, he is trapped by his need to create the ‘perfect’ story, but he couldn’t. It’s possible that he used to be talentless, until he caught oripathy and got the ability to bend reality (the latter part seems to be implied by Painful Happiness).

description of 'Painful Happiness'
So to say that, maybe his time in the troupe before he found out the troupe’s true nature wasn’t all sunshines and rainbows either. Instead, the past he fondly thinks of might be the days from before he joined the troupe, or when whoever he wanted to avenge was still alive.

4. Divinity and loyalty
Because of how rare the blue pigment was back in the day, blue is a colour reserved only for the rich and the noble. Artists only used the colour to paint something considered important, and in the case of Renaissance times, the Virgin Mary. This resulted in the colour blue being associated with holiness and divinity. This, coupled with white roses’ loyalty, might signify the Playwright’s loyalty to the troupe.
A lot of Playwright’s character (not that there’s much of it so far) revolves around his revenge, so I’m not sure how this would fit into it. A thought I had is that maybe his revenge isn’t for a person, but rather for the arts. That matches with the idea that his death by fire is for the sake of martyrdom.
A well-known French person who died by fire as a martyr was Joan of Arc, but outside of these two similarities, I’m not sure if there’s a connection between them. Plus, the spot for Joan reference was already taken by Saileach- Unless…
Joan of Arc was said to crossdress as a boy, therefore the Playwright is actually Saileach crossdressing in her off hours. (Cough forgive me)
I don’t know what else to put here in this section, I don’t have many thoughts or ideas about it.

E. Other Notable Things:

Other things that are tangentially related but not important enough to be included in the main body:
1, Gothic literature
Touched a bit in the main body. Gothic literature as a genre had major influences on Phantom’s lore, background and character. Aside from the obvious Phantom of the Opera, there were also references to Masque of Red Death and Black Cat, among many others. I highly recommend to read both short stories by Poe to gain more insight on Phantom as a character.
2. ‘Tear of the Departed’

Tear of the Departed relic description
It was made by an elite operator who hadn’t made any appearances yet, and was hinted to be dead or retired. It has the same shade as Playwright’s blue, and Playwright is often associated with fire. He was also referred to as a ‘hero’, and both honesty and perseverance are traditional heroic qualities. This is a crack theory based on nothing concrete but maybe Playwright is trying to avenge Whitesmith?
Also interesting to think about because the voice in Phantom’s head, the same one that does his brainwashing, led Phantom to RI. So I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that someone in the troupe wanted RI to be involved.
3. ACT 1 (yes, this relic again)
It’s interesting to note that ACT 1’s effects grant hope for some reason. Of course, in gameplay, it grants hope to the players. But I like to think that his arts grant hope to the Playwright himself- a hope to achieve his impossible goal of revenge. The blood red of the ink contrasts nicely with the blue flowers, as if saying that the blue’s unattainable dream is now attainable.
4. Fleur Bleue
In modern France, the term blue flower (fleur bleue) is used to refer to a sensitive, innocent person who is a dreamer. Maybe the Playwright is actually a sensitive and innocent person inside, before he was corrupted by the troupe. I do think he enjoys tragedy, the same way Phantom and Shalem do - Shalem’s files said: the children of the abyss will always yearn for arts, after all. It’s probably part of the troupe’s brainwashing. But, like Phantom and Shalem, maybe he does have another side to him.

F. Conclusion

One way or another, Phantom and the Crimson Troupe lore ties back to the Age of Romanticism a lot, and seem to have been majorly influenced by it, so chances are that these flowers do mean something. However, a lot of these were based on my biassed thoughts and ideas, so you may or may not agree with it. But, if anyone has any other ideas or interpretations, do tell!
If 5 years from now it is revealed that the roses don’t mean anything and I was overanalysing- it doesn’t matter, I had fun researching and thinking about these stuff. Also maybe in the future, I'll write more about the theories I briefly mentioned in this post, which includes:

Troupe Leader being a Liberi
Playwright and Whitesmith
Playwright and Phantom's role reversal
Lucian and the Lynx constellation

and more.

G. Extra Readings

Gaul Royalty Playwright Theory
Phantom and the Black Cats

H. Bonus

Real picture of me:
https://preview.redd.it/dppx89rrq41b1.jpg?width=666&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dc702bc880db6ed2005bece25da00a91fd9f0fc9
My friend asked me if those flowers really are roses.
I… don’t know. They seem like roses. If they aren’t, welp,

https://preview.redd.it/8g8vq3htq41b1.jpg?width=553&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da5cce9002a533ff2200ada8a05e614ae22fbee5
(was gonna insert a saileach with playwright face in here but man I suck at editing)

submitted by wwqot to arknights [link] [comments]

2023.05.18 21:42 Eventvods DPC CN 2023 Tour 3 - Division I

DPC CN 2023
Websites: Website; Wiki
Date: 16th May - 4th June
Prize Pool: $205,000
On-Air Team: Admir "lizZard" Salkanović, Sean "Snare" Rihlamvu
Format: Single round-robin, all matches are Bo3, 1st to 4th place team are qualified to the major, 1st to 6th place teams remain in current division for the next tour and bottom two teams are relegated to Division II for the next tour
Teams: Aster.Aries - Aries ; Azure Ray - AR ; Invictus Gaming - iG ; Piggy Killer - PK ; PSG.LGD - LGD ; Team Aster - Aster ; Team Bright - Bright ; Xtreme Gaming - Xtreme

If you can read this, you have our stylesheet disabled. If you do not wish to be spoiled, please re-enable our stylesheet, as we have spoiler-specific rules in our stylesheet. Thanks!

Week 1, Day 1, Tuesday - May 16th

#	Team 1	vs.	Team 2	Twitch	YouTube	YouTube	Highlights
A1	Xtreme	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
A2	Xtreme	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
A3	Xtreme	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
B1	LGD	vs	Aries	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
B2	LGD	vs	Aries	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
B3	LGD	vs	Aries	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights

Week 1, Day 2, Thursday - May 18th

#	Team 1	vs.	Team 2	Twitch	YouTube	YouTube	Highlights
C1	PK	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
C2	PK	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
C3	PK	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
D1	Aries	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
D2	Aries	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
D3	Aries	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights

Week 1, Day 3, Saturday - May 20th

#	Team 1	vs.	Team 2	Twitch	YouTube	YouTube	Highlights
E1	Aster	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
E2	Aster	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
E3	Aster	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
F1	iG	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
F2	iG	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
F3	iG	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
G1	Xtreme	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
G2	Xtreme	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
G3	Xtreme	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights

Week 1, Day 4, Sunday - May 21st

#	Team 1	vs.	Team 2	Twitch	YouTube	YouTube	Highlights
H1	Xtreme	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
H2	Xtreme	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
H3	Xtreme	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
I1	Aster	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
I2	Aster	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
I3	Aster	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
J1	iG	vs	LGD	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
J2	iG	vs	LGD	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
J3	iG	vs	LGD	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights

Week 2, Day 1, Tuesday - May 23rd

#	Team 1	vs.	Team 2	Twitch	YouTube	YouTube	Highlights
K1	iG	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
K2	iG	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
K3	iG	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
L1	Aster	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
L2	Aster	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
L3	Aster	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights

Week 2, Day 2, Thursday - May 25th

#	Team 1	vs.	Team 2	Twitch	YouTube	YouTube	Highlights
M1	Aster	vs	Aries	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
M2	Aster	vs	Aries	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
M3	Aster	vs	Aries	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
N1	LGD	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
N2	LGD	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
N3	LGD	vs	PK	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights

Week 2, Day 3, Saturday - May 27th

#	Team 1	vs.	Team 2	Twitch	YouTube	YouTube	Highlights
O1	LGD	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
O2	LGD	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
O3	LGD	vs	Bright	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
P1	Aries	vs	Xtreme	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
P2	Aries	vs	Xtreme	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
P3	Aries	vs	Xtreme	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
Q1	iG	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
Q2	iG	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
Q3	iG	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights

Week 2, Day 4, Sunday - May 28th

#	Team 1	vs.	Team 2	Twitch	YouTube	YouTube	Highlights
R1	iG	vs	Aries	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
R2	iG	vs	Aries	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
R3	iG	vs	Aries	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
S1	LGD	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
S2	LGD	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
S3	LGD	vs	AR	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
T1	Aster	vs	Xtreme	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
T2	Aster	vs	Xtreme	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights
T3	Aster	vs	Xtreme	Draft	Draft	Game Start	Highlights

submitted by Eventvods to DotaVods [link] [comments]

2023.05.17 22:05 StudMuffinNick So.. I messed up

I am posting this as spoilers for Path of Daggers because I may mention something, but I'm only about 240 pages in so please no spoilers for PoD or further!
I meant to post a prediction post after each book but after the non-stop ride at the end of Crown of Swords, I immediately picked up Path of Daggers and am now to far to make unbiased predictions. Whoops, but I blame Robert Jordon for making the books so good lol
However, I did have a few I wanted to put out there in order to check myself/them as I continue. These ones should not be touched by the 230 pages I've read thus far in Path of Daggers and likely will be related to later books.

This one may come up soon so I want to get it out before I read it but Elayne will be "pampered" by the Seanchan. Okay, so I read a post earlier and checked back in tGH and realized that the Seanchan will "pamper" those who could make adam. Obviously Elayne worked it out, if not the exact same type. So if she ends up getting taken, she would be pampered... whatever that means. However, I think it will go further: someone else will be taken by Seanchan (likely when they inevitably attack the White Tower) and Elayne will use her ability to make the ter'angrealto get standing and use said standing to help free whoever they are.
Herid Fel was killed because he DID find a cure for the taint, or at least, was too close. IRand had initially asked him to look into it and shortly thereafter, he's killed? One of the hot Forsaken could've snuggled up to him and murdered him to avoid cleansing the taint. I hope this is right because that would be amazing to find a cure/fix
I don't know if this is obvious, but I feel like Halima is causing Egwene's migraines in order to keep close to her. This furthers my point that Egwene will get someone killed by being dumb.

Okay, that's that. Crown of Swords was such a beast ending! The attack and introduction of gholam?! Nyneave FIXING HER BLOCK (and also gets with Lan ❤️) and and Mat showing off his heroics again! Ugh, he's such a hunk. Only to then take control of the Sea Folk and force them to follow Elayne and Nyneave? I'm glad he's accepted his ta'veran, in a way, and is using it to the benefit of our heroes.
By far one of the most epic scenes happens: thunder rumbling, sea swelling, and Mat sees the Seanchan return. Fuuuuuuuuck, I was hopping up and down. But also, I have yet to come to the part where Mat isn't dead after the wall tumbled on him. I doubt he would be, but like, I'm hoping this leads to him being injured and being cared for by "The Daughter of the Niner Moons" whoever that is.
But finally, Rand utilizing the Asha'man and attacking Sammael was *chef's kiss, perfect. Though, I am worried that it will bring up having to kill a Maiden personally and will help further his madness :(
As you can see, I was full of adrenaline when I finished the book that I immediately opened Path of Daggers and forgot to make my darn prediction post so I guess I'll wait until after this one. What was your guys' favorite part of that book?

submitted by StudMuffinNick to WoT [link] [comments]

2023.05.15 03:48 SavedByRobots [Spoilers - All Gloomhaven Characters] All My GH Characters Painted

submitted by SavedByRobots to Gloomhaven [link] [comments]

2023.05.14 00:07 SocialistMonkey_ The Most Complete List Of Unanswered Questions And Unsolved Mysteries By The Most Obsessive Compulsive Fan Of The Show

TL;DR: I'm someone who's really passionate about this kind of show and I wrote the most complete list of unanswered questions that's gonna be updated every week for you to consult, just scroll down.

Who I Am

Hi everyone. I've been reading this subreddit almost since day one <3
This is my first post, so please be kind. English is not my first language, forgive any mistakes and the lack of an extensive vocabulary. I am funny Italian guy, it's-a me Mario, pizza pasta mandolino... how could you ever be mean to me? You would never, right? Perfect.
Now, I'm an avid cinephile and TV series enthusiast, other than a writer myself and an amateur director always looking for funds to bring his little projects to life (hopefully one day there'll be a subreddit about my eerie, creepy, enigmatic series, who knows?). Among the different genres of TV shows I watch, mystery dramas are my absolute favorite. I just love when a show is packed with mysteries that keep you hooked week after week and make you want to go on forums and subreddits to theorize and discuss with other people. I consider myself quite an expert of this genre, having watched and analyzed several series. Some I've seen completely, of some of them just a few episodes, of some others just the pilot and then I quitted 'cause they didn't seem interesting. Since I'm fond of lists, I'll quickly make you one. It's not to flex (what kind of flex would that be anyway?), just to give you some background information on how deep my passion for the genre is and to recommend some titles that maybe you didn't know.
Mystery dramas I've watched or partially watched: Lost, FlashForward, Terra Nova, Fringe, Touch, Last Resort, Jericho, Alcatraz, The Event, Persons Unknown, Revolution, Resurrection, 24, 24: Live Another Day, Homeland, Mr. Robot, The Leftovers, Under The Dome, Wayward Pines, Twin Peaks, The Prisoner, The Whispers, Between, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, Quantico, Sense8, Stranger Things, Black Mirror, The Terror, Maniac, Westworld, Origin, Dark, Manifest, The Nine, Top Of The Lake, The OA, The 100, Servant, The Wilds, Homecoming, American Gods, Broadchurch, The Bridge, Alias, Midnight Mass, Severance, Yellowjackets, The Society, Silo.
Some bs that my ex girlfriend forced me to watch and kinda fits into the genre (she still had to give me her ass, I had to): Pretty Little Liars, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, 13 Reasons Why, How To Get Away With Murder, Panic, Cruel Summer.
One last thing you need to know about me to understand the reasons behind this post: I'm a dirty illuminist. I believe in logic, reason and careful organization. Therefore in my mystery dramas I like planned out stories and consistent, satisfactory explanations. Being a writer myself, I always quote George R.R. Martin on the two types of writer: the Gardener and the Architect. The Gardener being the one who plants the seeds and then watches them grow with no idea of what they'll become, and the Architect the one who plans from the beginning to the end knowing exactly where the story is headed. I'm an Architect, and I always hope that the writers of the shows I'm watching are Architects too... even if it rarely turns out that way, ahah.

Cinema And TV

Let's not beat around the bush: the big screen is qualitatively superior to the small one. Being both a cinephile and a TV watcher I could debate this for hours, talking about how much artistic and authorial films literally require a bigger screen to show you beautiful and detailed shots that you simply cannot have on television, no matter how fancy yours is; or arguing that when the story spreads over multiple episodes for hours and hours of entertainment, you're inevitably gonna have some filler. But the point is: it's perfectly fine. We can accept that one of these two media is superior to the other without taking away merits from the inferior one. I love TV! Or, at least, what it used to be. I think one day I'll make a youtube video about this topic, with the sober title: “TV SERIES ARE DEAD”.

Simply put, I believe that people's reduced attention span and free time have paved the way for streaming platforms and their terrible imitation of TV series. You know, those long movies of 7-8 hours divided into 7-8 episodes pretending that it's a TV series... those where you only have to watch the first and last episode, and the entire central part is totally filler which you can skip.
Yeah, the technical standards have improved, with bigger budgets, artistic directing and photography, film actors, and so on... but the writing has gotten worse.
Almost everything is taken from books and comics, it's very rare to find something original.
And everyone with a basic knowledge of how a story should progress can see that they just had one good idea that would fit into a two hours movie and they stretched it to make it look like a series. 'Cause what they think is: “This shit is gonna drop all together on the streaming platform, people are gonna watch 8 episodes in one day and they won't notice the filler.”. And that's how it is: most people in the last decade have lost their critical judgement and praised series that were absolutely mediocre at best, and downright bad at worse. Back in the days you had to wait one week before the next episode (or even more, with the midseason break and occasional repeats), so you had all the time in the world to discuss what you had seen with other people, and if the next episode was filler and didn't satisfy you, you would notice and go rant on some forums (as it should be, ahah), 'cause you waited so long for it! If you watch them all in one day, you just don't notice the bad anymore.
Thankfully, this is something that From does right, with one episode per week. As real TV should do.

“The acting is terrible, that character is so annoying!”
How many times have we read this sentence on this subreddit?
The thing is: television, on average, has always had mediocre or even bad actors (with notable exceptions such as The Sopranos and Breaking Bad, both among my favorite series). And it's not a problem at all if you accept that it's inferior to cinema. Oh, but nowdays we're so used to these pathetic imitations of cinema they call TV series that we want Al Pacino and Leonardo DiCaprio in every show or we riot.
Let's just be intellectually honest and face the truth about what I suppose is one of our favorite shows: the only good actors in Lost were Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson, the rest were average or even below average (don't even get me started on Evangeline Lilly and the only two facial expressions she could make). Most of them were very suitable for their roles and became iconic (I think of Josh Holloway and Jorge Garcia, who played two of my favorite characters), but it's very easy for the casual watcher to mistake an “actor who's suitable for the role” for a “good actor in general”; a “good actor in general” is someone who could play any role.
So the Matthews family casting bothers you that much? Yeah, sometimes they look and sound funny (Jim's voice in original language is totally toneless, he sounds dead inside ahah), but I'm perfectly fine with it. Kristi and Sara are not that better. Boyd, Donna, Victor and Jade stand out as the most decent.
This is just how TV used to work.

So basically what I'm claiming here can be summarized as follows:

Cinema and TV are different
Cinema is better when it comes to the artistic side (directing, acting...)
TV series were better a decade ago
From is the closest thing we have to a mystery drama that would have come out a decade ago
I like From!

Why From Is Special

The shivers.
For the first time in 10 years I felt the shivers down my spine again watching a mystery TV series.
You know that amazing feeling that spreads throughout the body when you see a well built cliffhanger with a strange and inconceivable mystery that you weren't expecting? That happened for me in 1x09 with the tent scene and once again in 2x03 with the Brian Kelly revelation, which has (negative) repercussions that most people are overlooking and which finally convinced me to write this post.

I think for this kind of show to work there must be several mysteries concerning different topics, multiple subplots and an ensemble cast. These are the key elements. And while it's rather easy to find the last two in various series I mentioned before, the first one is almost impossible to find. The only mystery dramas I can name which had tons of mysteries, and which of course are also my favorite ones, are Lost and FlashForward (the latter being vastly underrated, I highly recommend you give it a chance, it's definitely the closest thing to Lost you'll ever watch).
Manifest? I've watched the first ten episodes or so, and it's all about the plane passengers disappearance and reappearance, then what else?
Revolution? Tried multiple times to get past the first episodes, but it's all about the electricity going off, then what else?
Severance? I'm caught up and I like it! But it's for the social implications it has, not for the mystery. Good writing, good directing, good acting... but it's all about the evil company, then what else?
You see where this is going... with Lost, FlashForward and now with From, there is not just one single central mystery but a lot of them. One could argue that FlashForward was all about the blackout, but there were actually many intriguing plots going on with the various characters storylines and their weird visions, the terrorists, the scientists, the political schemes, the mercenary company and so on.
These shows make you think a lot and make you discuss about a lot of stuff. Just look at this subreddit and how each discussion is different from one another: there are people talking about the creatures, the boy in white, the dogs, the electricity, spiders, creepy drawings... you name it! And this only happens when the story is ambitiously complex. What could you possibly discuss with The Society fans? “Uhm... are the characters in a parallel universe?”, and then that's it. What could you discuss with Servant fans? “So... what's wrong with this bitch?”, and then that's it.
Multiple elements in the story are fundamental.

But From is not exactly like Lost or FlashForward, 'cause unfortunately it lacks some important features.
A silly one that comes to mind is a creepy cliffhanger music to use in the final part of the episode when something strange is supposed to happen... a crescendo that ends with the classic dull sound “DON!”, and then black screen/title of the series.
In Lost it was: da-da da-da-da, da-da da-da-da, DA-DA DA-DA-DA, DA-DA DA-DA-DA … DON!
In FlashForward: da-da da-da-da-da-da, da-da da-da-da-da, DA-DA DA-DA-DA-DA... DON!
For the men and women of culture here, do you remember the epic ending of episode 1x01 of FlashForward? With the Suspect Zero in the stadium who stands up while everyone is passed out and slowly walks away. Priceless. One of the best cliffhangers in television history. And what about the opening of the hatch in Lost 1x25? After which you had to wait for months, eh eh.
Music is important to give you the shivers I mentioned above.

Another thing From is lacking from the glorious past of TV is a complete season of 24-25 episodes.
When you have an ensemble cast and so many mysteries, you just need more time to develop the plot.
Season one just felt incomplete, with characters dying before we could even get attached to them. We didn't know anything about Kenny's father, Jade's friend, Sara's brother... I think we should have had the standard Lost structure with flashbacks and a compelling background for each one of them, or at least for each “group” of characters (Kenny's family, the two friends, the siblings...).
Another thing that bugs me is how they never expanded on the town/colony house divergence, quickly moving forward.
Then there was Julie taking random decisions, seeing that boy who looked like someone from her past but with the viewer not knowing anything about him... a structured writing would have involved a Julie-focused episode, right?
Last but not least, the elephant in the room that everyone often mentions: the lack of communication and sharing of information, in my opinion partially due to the fact that the amount of mysteries and plots requires to proceed quickly.
I don't know, it feels like entire episodes were cut from season one for time and budget issues. But maybe it's just me.

Anyway, I just want to say from the bottom of my heart thank you to From writers for bringing TV back. Or at least for trying.
Thank you for giving me the shivers once again.
And it doesn't matter if it's not perfect. I understand all the difficulties of working in the television industry. And other people understand too, don't worry.
Just thank you <3

What This Post Is Not

Ok, I see many people here are on a war footing when it comes to unanswered questions. Just as they were on the Lost discussion threads back in the days.
The moment you dare to pronounce the expression “unanswered questions”, they immediately get triggered, stop reading and go rant in the comments: “Do YoU wAnT aLl ThE aNsWeRs RiGhT nOw?!?”. Bruh... why are you blatantly lying? Nobody, absolutely nobody, not a single soul since I read this subreddit has ever said they want all the answers to the mysteries immediately. Making a list of unanswered questions and making it detailed and meticulous doesn't mean I do.
Under no circumstances is this post intended to represent a solicitation to the writers in order to get answers.
Do I believe that a good mystery story needs to answer at least some of its mysteries before introducing many new ones? Yes.
Do I believe they're making it up as they go just like Lost writers and I would prefer otherwise? Absolutely, lol.
But I'm fine with it and I accept it 'cause this is how TV used to work. This is not intended to be a polemical discussion, so please don't make it that way in the comments.

What This Post Is

Just an opportunity for us fans of the series to wrap our heads around the many open matters, week after week, and to better organize the discussions that follow. When a new episode drops, I see a lot of threads about the same topics and other topics totally ignored only to be picked up again a few days later. Having a detailed list could make someone say: “Oh, yeah, there was that thing too! I almost forgot about it!”. 'Cause it's very easy to forget stuff when the story is complex and when a mystery was presented months and months ago.

I really hope the mods pin this on top or something, since it's the most complete list I've seen around and since I seriously intend to update it after each episode. Your upvote and participation would really help to make them notice it.

This could also function as a support to the writers, which I guess are reading this subreddit.
Without putting pressure on them in any possible way, we could provide them with a useful recap of all the amazing question marks they're leaving us with, so that if and when they would like to answer any of them they will know where to start.
I know how a writing room works, 'cause I've been in one. And we've also seen from the behind the scenes material of Lost and similar shows that what show writers usually do is write on a blackboard the 15-20 central plots of the series in a rather generic way, such as: “The boy in white”, “The spiders”, “The symbols”, and so on. But we know the actual number of unsolved plots they left behind episode after episode is not even close to that, ahah. Having an obsessive compulsive list like this one could help them keep track of everything more easily. And then if they want to answer something they'll do it, otherwise they won't, it's their free choice as writers.

Another thing this is gonna be useful for is that moment when the series will end and you will find the passive aggressive fans who will pronounce the classic, old but gold: “ThEy AnSwErEd EvErYtHiNg! I sAiD eVeRyThInG! iF yOu ThInK tHeY dIdN't It'S bEcAuSe YoU dIdN't UnDeRsTaNd It! WhAt QuEsTiOnS dId ThEy NoT aNsWeR? c'MoN tElL mE!”.
Well, then you could just direct them to this post and politely say: “Uhm... this one. And this one. Also these 100+.”.

If you think a question should be added to the list, just let me know and I'll consider it.
If you think a question has been answered and I still haven't crossed it off the list, please provide the episode and the timestamp with the explicit explanation. And mind you, with “explicit” I don't mean that two characters must sit around a table and talk about the topic out loud in a dialogue, I mean that at least it must be obvious the writers are hinting at that solution; if it's just your personal theory, it doesn't count.

I've been doing this almost since episode one.
I've found that the ratio between new questions and previous ones answered per episode is approximately 15:2 (with something like 15 new questions asked and a couple of the previous ones answered). Unfortunately you'll just have to trust me on this data and I'll just have to trust my memory, 'cause I didn't divide the questions based on the episodes and I don't have time for a rewatch (also, I've deleted those who have been answered of course). But if I'll go ahead with this (if you don't hate on me too much and don't kick me out of this subreddit), we will know every week the exact number.

What Qualifies As A Mystery

What should the criteria to define a mystery be?
Well, it should be something inherent to the plot (subplots and secondary storylines included of course), a new element of perplexity and astonishment which wasn't there before and now is.

Anything that doesn't appear in the show or doesn't arise from what we see in the show doesn't count.
No trailers, teasers, posters, promotional material of any sort. I don't watch them 'cause I don't want spoilers, but more importantly they're not definitive and things could always change when we actually see them in the show.
No interviews with writers, producers, actors and so on. “What will happen on that specific episode that actress has been teasing?” is not a mystery of the show. First of all, they could be lying just to tease. Second, if they're not the writers they don't have the complete picture. Third, even the writers might not know what's gonna happen, lol.
Material released after the end of the series, possible webisodes or videos (no matter how official) don't count, neither if they create new questions nor if they provide clumsy retconned explanations trying to put patches here and there. Unless it's an other spin off series entirely of course.

We don't consider meta information that we viewers possess but the characters don't.
“Why is the title of the series From?” and “What does the title song mean?” are not mysteries within the show. The writers could pretty easily get away with saying something like: “They weren't intended to be mysteries, just a cool title we came up with and a nice song we bought the rights to.”.

Props, costumes and elements of production design can be discussed and analyzed of course (I appreciate who, unlike me, has a keen eye and spots all of that interesting stuff), but the questions they raise don't end up here.
This is because a certain amount of freedom can be left to these artists and it's not sure whether it's the writers telling them to add a specific detail or not. I once knew a costume designer of a short sci-fi film who shared a story about how she put a small Möbius loop on a character's t-shirt after researching “sci-fi symbols” online, and people in the comments were making theories about time travel and other crazy stuff.
“Why did the monsters change their look?” will never be answered, it's safe to presume it was just the cgi department playing around.

The List

Where are the characters? Are they physically there or only their mind/soul is there?
Did someone or something, deliberately or not, put the characters there? If so, how? If they did it deliberately, why?
The log and the crows?
Why are the characters only arriving from the United States?
If the landscape the characters were in was different from that of the town, does it suddenly change before their eyes? For example: if someone is travelling in New Mexico or Alaska, do desert and snow suddenly disappear?
Since when do people end up in this place?
Can you get out of this place? If so, how?
Who was the boy the creature took the appearance of to deceive Julie?
Are trees actually moving? If so, how? And why?
Why is Ethan special and sees things?
The spiders?
The flood in the drawings?
The “quest” Ethan is always talking about? The symbology of children's stories?
Why there are no Bibles in this place?
Do people heal faster in this place? If so, why?
How did the bracelet made by Tabitha years ago and then lost get there? And why did it get there?
Who or what created the talismans? Why were they in that stone hovel? How do they work specifically? Why do they stop working if they fall or are grabbed once in position? What happens if they get into contact with the creatures?
What's the meaning of the various symbols we see around?
Why does Jade have visions about the past?
Who or what are the creatures? Why do they do what they do? Why can they overcome the protective power of talismans if invited inside a sealed place? Why did they use to scream before the talismans and now they don't anymore? Why do they smile like that? How can they be killed?
Who made the shelters?
Who or what created the faraway trees? And why? How do they work specifically? What are all the places they lead to?
Who or what caused the split between the town group and the colony house group?
Where does the electricity come from?
Where do water and supplies that the characters consume for decades and decades come from?
Did someone or something, deliberately or not, put the wild animals in the woods for the characters to find?
Who is the boy in white Victor and Ethan see?
Why is Victor special and sees/knows things? What exactly does Victor know? And how does he know it?
Is the dog from when Victor was a kid the same as the present? If so, how does it live so long? Who or what is it? Why does it appear to certain characters? And the other dogs in the woods?
Why do problems arise when two vehicles arrive at the same time? How many times has this happened before? And has it always ended the same way?
What do the dates in Tabitha's dream mean? And the ones in the bottles? Are they the same? Why was the bottle Boyd took in Tabitha's dream? Why was Jim hanging upside down in Tabitha's dream? Is this related to the bodies hanging upside down that Jade saw?
Can the dead communicate with the characters? If so, do they do it through the lights? Why are specific songs played when the jukebox turns on by itself?
Who or what communicates with Sara? For what purpose? How? Why her of all people? Why did she have to kill those persons specifically?
What shook Boyd and Sara's tent? What made that sound? Why is it the same as Tabitha's dream? What produced the dazzling light? Was it really the lighthouse that produced the sound and the light? If so, why did it look and sound so much closer than it actually was?
Who or what created the lighthouse? And why? Is there someone or something inside?
The spiderwebs? Is there really a giant spider? What are the effects of the spider bites Boyd received? Why did he see his dead wife in a cocoon?
Why does Sara also see the boy in white now? And why did he lead her and Boyd to a faraway tree?
Why are there wires if they're actually not needed? What do the drawings on the walls mean? Why did the boy in white tell Victor to go there and get Tabitha?
Who answered Jim on the radio? Where is he at? Why did he say Tabitha shouldn't have dug the hole?
Did someone or something deliberately send the storm to hinder the characters?
Why was Elgin listening to the same song from Boyd's dream?
Why did Kristi's fiancée end up here with her? Is this a coincidence? Did someone or something, deliberately or not, send her to her?
Why does Jade keep seeing that symbol?
Why does Ethan talk about “good symbols” and “bad symbols”?
The trunk with the white dress underground? The other items the creatures keep down there? The puppet? Why did Jade have a vision about the puppet?
The crow eaten by rats?
The pile of rocks? Why did the creature girl topple it? Was she behind bars? Why did she move faster than the other creatures?
Why was Victor suddenly scared when he saw specific things underground? Why did he say it wasn't the way the boy in white had told him to go?
How did the Matthews' house collapse?
Why does Elgin see things about this place?
Why did Boyd see his son at the bottom of the hole?
How did Martin throw the rope at Boyd? Why did he want Boyd to kill him?
Who are the two dead people chained to the wall?
Why did Martin say he thought the town was “the worst part”? Do the trees lead to different areas with different dangers?
The music box?
How did Martin know about Abby?
What were those worms under Martin's skin? Why did he die when the music box stopped? Why did he pass the worms to Boyd? What does the fact that Boyd now has Martin's worms fully imply?
Why did the dog appear to Boyd?
Is the creature we see most often the “leader” of the creatures? Why did he get on the bus and take the driver's seat? Memories from his past?
Why did the boy in white, as Victor says, “go away” for a long time and only returned now?
Who did the truck that Victor uses as a shelter belong to and how did it get there?
Why did Victor say he doesn't like Elgin?
Why did Victor look at Boyd with suspicion when he found out about the worms under his skin?
Who attacked Kelly and Brian? Other versions of the creatures? Why did they want to “play” with her? Why did they stick a rod into her brain and pin her to a tree? What did Kelly hear in her last moments?
Who else had, as Fatima says, “premonitions” about this place before Elgin? Who was Nadia and why did she say that this place was “calling out” to them but only a few were answering?
Who are the two children in white? Why Tabitha was the only one to see them? Is it because they look like the creature she saw underground?
Who did the puzzle Ethan found in the storeroom belong to? Why was it identical to the pile of rocks that the creature toppled underground?
What was Jim planning to do with the “EXIT” sign?
Why is Kelly's death so reminiscent of the first death Boyd witnessed? And why was the soldier specifically named Brian Kelly?
Where is Brian's body?
What happened to the last missing passenger of the bus?
Why did the boy in white tell Sara “they made this place angry”? Why did he tell her they would be safe in the faraway tree?
Are the worms under Boyd's skin the reason he felt sick? If so, why?
How did Boyd see Father Khatri? Why was he trying to talk him out of telling Kenny the truth about Sara?
Why do the creatures leave when someone gets angry/lets them know he's not afraid of them?
Why did Christopher see the symbol? Why did this change him?
Why did Victor's mother tell him to hide in a place Christopher didn't know that night? Why were they all dead the next morning?
Why did Tabitha have that vision when she put the puzzle in front of the cave's entrance? What does "anghkooey" mean? Why did the children in the vision touch her? Why did her nose bleed after the vision?
What is Randall up to?

And, finally, the most important one:

Am I too much of a naive fool if I would like at least 70-80% of these questions to be answered? Just to make a comparison, I think Lost answered roughly 40-50% of its questions.

submitted by SocialistMonkey_ to FromTVEpix [link] [comments]

2023.05.05 01:46 thepacksvrvives Season 7: everything we know so far, part 2

If you’ve somehow stumbled across part 2 first, here is part 1.
If you haven’t read the books or don’t want to see any spoilers, do NOT read this post.

BLOCK 5

Block 5 might be exclusively in Scotland across two different storylines: Claire, Jamie, and Ian’s visit at Lallybroch with Old Ian’s death in 1778; and Roger with Buck at 1739 Lallybroch looking for Jemmy.
Claire, Jamie, and Ian will head first to Simon Fraser’s funeral (Echo, chapter 75), filmed at Kinloch Rannoch. A supporting artist who was involved shared some photos in the comments under a public Facebook post.
Credit: via SurvivedTheShows, source unknown (1-2, 6-7), a supporting artist (3-5).
Midhope Castle underwent some changes to accommodate the 18th-century storylines; the front yard looks slightly different than in 308 but the windows and doors are the same as we’ve seen in S1-S4.
Credit: _simbelmyne_ (1), stevenwilson8743 (2-3), Parkhead House (4-5), stevenwilson8473 (6-8).
All photos from Midhope.
The returning cast members were announced in October and most of them filmed that month. Additionally, the rest of the Murray siblings were cast: Kitty (Emma Rafferty), Michael (Angus Miller), and Janet (Megan Daynes). We should also see Young Jamie (Conor McCarry was followed by some cast members in October) and Maggie. Layla Burns confirmed she was in episode 709, so that is when we are going to see Joan again (and Laoghaire).
Steven Cree mentioned in an interview with SheKnows that he has a “nice scene with [Sam] in Season 7” and that “the location [they] filmed in was probably the most picturesque location that [he filmed] the whole time [he’d] been on Outlander.” This is most likely the walk Jamie and Ian take in Echo, chapter 81, reminiscing about their youth together and talking about Ian’s impending death.
Steven also praised Kristin Atherton (new Jenny) in another interview, saying:

And actually, Kristin [Atherton], who came in and played Jenny was so fantastic and my storylines [previously] in the show were mostly with Jamie and Claire. I never really had that much stuff with Jenny. It was fine.

As for the other 18th-century storyline, filming also took place at Kinloch Rannoch, but at the hill used for Craigh na Dun, and Richard’s trailer was spotted. The stone circle was up for a few days in September.
All photos from Kinloch Rannoch.
Andrew Whipp returned as Brian Fraser, and a supporting artist filmed as “Brian Fraser’s housekeeper.”
Filming also took place in Culross, which previously stood in for Cranesmuir. Since we’re going to see Geillis again, Meerkat Cross was once again used for the village, with the building on the right used as the exterior of her house. Richard and Diarmaid were spotted filming in the village.
Credit: Suzy Taylor (1), Pati Sears-Burnett (2-5), Lorelle Penman (6-9), cinbin_ (10-11).
The last two photos are of Culross Palace, which was most likely used for the interiors of Laoghaire’s house, just as in S4, in Claire and Jamie’s storyline.
All photos from Culross.

BLOCK 6

The filming of the exteriors took place in Canning Street, Liverpool, as well as Chester, which both stood in for Philadelphia. It received plenty of coverage in the press and on social media.
Credit: liverpool1207 (1-4), Claire Brown (5-7), Andrea Livesey (8-9).
More photos from Canning Street.
The building with red features was identified as a brothel by people visiting the set. Supporting artists were involved in the scenes (filmed later in the studio) as “Brothel upper-class Johns” and “Brothel High class Ladies.”
Credit: Colin Lane (1-4), Billy Vitch (5-11), Andy Teebay (12), soobysnax35 (13).
From the main cast, Sam and David were spotted filming the scene after Jamie “comes back from the dead” and “kidnaps” Lord John (Echo, chapter 101). Charles was also photographed on Canning Street.
Credit: soobysnax35.
No sign of Caitríona outside but she must’ve been there as well. John posted from Liverpool with Izzy, so Rachel and Denny must’ve been in the scenes there too. Hugh Ross later posted photos of John, Izzy, and Charles on his Instagram, presumably from when he was shooting with them in Liverpool (Arch’s death scene–Echo, chapter 100).
No sign of either Lauren or César. Lauren was filming in the Dominican Republic at the time, so this storyline could’ve been altered, or they filmed their scenes at another time/only indoors.
Henry (Harry Jarvis), Mercy Woodcock (Gloria Obianyo), and Jane Pocock (Silvia Presente) should feature in these episodes. Sam Hoare also returned as Hal Grey, Duke of Pardloe.
A number of supporting artists, male and female, were involved in the filming of “the Ball.” There were artists with dance experience who filmed a “dance scene,” which the agency described as “Girls out filming at the studio, they have been rehearsing for weeks for this“ on Facebook. That shoot has to be the Meschianza, the “extravagant farewell party to honor the commanders of the Army and Navy, General Sir William Howe and Admiral Richard Howe” organized mainly by John André, in which Claire participates in Echo, chapter 98, alongside William and LJG, sometime after receiving the news of Jamie’s “death.” There was some filming done at Croxteth Hall & Country Park in Liverpool, which could be the site of the Meschianza.
Credit: Geoffrey Smith (1-5), Liverpool Film Office (6).
All photos from Croxteth.
There was also some filming in Chester, primarily at Chester City Walls, where a large number of supporting artists were spotted. All photos from Chester.
A number of supporting artists were listed as “Philadelphia travelers” and “Quaker men/women,” who also filmed in Dalmeny.
A junior carpenter working on S7 posted photos of “Jamie’s cairn.” Ian builds it in MOBY, chapter 1, in the woods between Philadelphia and Valley Forge.

BLOCK 7 & 8

Between December 2022 and February 2023, there was not much in the way of spotting the filming by locals. However, Sophie herself posted from some night shoots at Midhope Castle.
Ciaron Kelly also posted from a night shoot in December, which coincided with the OL night shoots, but it’s uncertain whether it was the same shoot. However, as mentioned above, his agency posted about his wrapping on OL in January, so it is very likely. Ernie shows up at Lallybroch during the shoot-out in MOBY, but he could also be involved in escorting Brianna and the kids back home after the tunnel rescue.
There were also scenes with “1980s Police officers” which could either be after Jem makes it out of the tunnel, when Brianna and the kids are escorted back to Lallybroch and the police insist on checking the locks, or when Jem calls the police on Rob when he and Mandy are staying with Fiona and her kids. One of the supporting artists noted he’d driven a police car.
Charles also filmed some night shoots at the time, at Hopetoun Estate, so it could’ve been used for other locations in addition to Lallybroch.
Diarmaid Murtagh posted some photos with Richard in his S7 wrap post. He included one with Sophie in Brianna’s 18th-century coat and Richard as Roger at what appeared to be the dovecot at Midhope. He deleted it a day later. Could it possibly have spoiled that Brianna reuniting with Roger in 1739 is already in S7? Brianna already has her 1980s hair there (bangs). It also looks like a bag strap across her body (Brianna carries a bag with some handy things into 1739 in the book).
In January, supporting artists were supposed to film as “MEAN OLD MR McBIRNEY & Henchman.” No idea what this one is. There’s no character with that name nor does the word “henchman” appear in either Echo or MOBY.
The filming continued in January in Blackridge/Blackraigs and Forrestmill, with supporting artists playing both Redcoats and Continentals.
Credit: stevenwilson8473.
There was also a “laundry bootcamp.” “Laundry” is only specifically mentioned in the book when Jane and Fanny join William on their way out of Philadelphia. That’s where William tells them to go when he agrees to take them under his protection.
Some supporting artists filmed a “Secret Wedding” on Feb 23rd.
The last month or so of filming seemed to be gearing up towards the Battle of Monmouth.
Lion Russell Baumann (Hessian Soldier) posted a story in his costume on January 12th. Hessians were involved both in the Battle of Saratoga and the Battle of Monmouth.
Actors Ben Cura and Wilf Scolding (Abraham Shaftstall) posted from Scotland in February. Abe Shaffstall in the book is the militiaman who shares food and drink with LJG, after LJG is discovered by Reverend Woodsworth's militia company (MOBY, chapter 51). Ben Freeman played Corporal Woodbine, who first takes custody of LJG after his fight with Jamie outside Philadelphia.
Hyoie O’Grady played Lieutenant Judah Bixby and followed Sam and David in January. Bixby is the young lieutenant under Jamie’s command at the Battle of Monmouth.
It appears that the show was casting the role of Captain Jared Leckie, the army surgeon who administers first aid to Claire when she’s shot at Monmouth (as far as I could find, those are only the actors that this specific agency has put forward for the audition; it’s likely that neither of them has been cast in this role). Jack Daynes was also a double for a Surgeon in the finale.
In his wrap post, Sam also appeared to be wearing a buff vest which would be a part of Jamie’s uniform as a General.
Maril’s #HeardOnSet on wrap day is from MOBY, chapter 65, which is the night before the Battle of Monmouth:

I slept without dreaming and without moving, until a touch of cramp in my left foot roused me enough to shift a little. Jamie raised his arm a bit, then replaced it as I settled again, and I became aware that he wasn’t asleep.
“You . . . all right?” I murmured, thick-tongued with drowsiness.
“Aye, fine,” he whispered, and his hand smoothed the hair from my cheek. “Go back to sleep, Sassenach. I’ll wake ye when it’s time.”

However, there is no certainty that Sam and Caitriona were filming the season finale that day or that the line wasn’t been repurposed for another point in the story.
In a podcast released in April, DG mentioned the filming of a scene that sounds like the moment Claire is shot and discovered by Jamie during the Battle of Monmouth, but there is also no certainty there.

MISCELLANEOUS

Caitríona and Sam are now executive producers, named as such in official press releases.
The score recording started in October 2022, as per Erik Rigler and Bruce Carver.
Gillebride MacMillan (Gwyllyn the Bard in S1) has written a song for S7. He also took over the role of the Gaelic consultant on the show from Àdhamh Ó Broin. He praised the cast: “Sam was fantastic and John Bell deserves a special mention as well for his commitment to making his pronunciation perfect” and stressed that “all the cast were really keen on making sure there was as much Gaelic as possible in the show to make it as authentic as possible.”
Camera operator Tony Kay posted a video from the promo/TVC shoot on Vimeo; I think the couple there are Caitríona and Sam’s stand-ins/picture doubles: Valerija Jemeljanenko and John Tillett. There were also supporting artists present on Oct 19-22, shooting “Redcoats Starz Gallery” and “Starz Gallery.” Sophie also posted on her IG on Oct 22nd. Edinburgh Black Cab Tours spotted the shoot.
Vanessa Coffey, the intimacy coordinator, worked on episodes directed by Lisa Clarke, Joss Agnew, and Jan Matthys.
DG mentioned in this interview that they were using the prologue of Echo.
Catríona has shared in interviews that Claire’s healing continues into S7: “Actually, what we see in the beginning of Season 7 is times […] when Claire is going through something, she’s now learned that she has to share and by sharing with him, that stops this kind of compartmentalizing and dampening things down which are always going to rear their head later.” Also in Awards Daily: “She has to share, she has to speak, and you know, we’ve continued that this season. And it’s really lovely to see that —the fact that with her healing, there’s been a lot of growth as well.”
Post-S6, Maril was very excited about Ian’s story in S7: “I’m so excited for where we’re going with Ian and Season 7. We’re gonna see such a great arc for him.”
Master Raymond returns in episode 712.
All (or most) social media posts by the cast and the official account during S7 filming.
All promotional portraits released thus far.

submitted by thepacksvrvives to Outlander [link] [comments]

2023.05.04 07:49 SoundNo3485 The Clouis Bible. Part IV: Marlon... A Tale of Betrayal and Broken Friendships 🏹.

The next part of this Bible will focus on a character who I was ignoring on purpose but now I must talk about.
Marlon.
He is Louis best friend and the things he did must be mentioned because they are pretty important for Louis character development (and the Ericson cast too).
So... Marlon, what is here to talk about him? Well, for one, he is Louis best friend and there is no question about that. The photo in his room and the way they act during the card game show he loves Louis like his own brother.
Plus, he did apologize on Louis behalf after he asked a very uncomfortable question.

Marlon: I hope you know Louis didn't mean any harm there. He's just the world's biggest dumbass. He's my best friend, so I can legally call him that.

Marlon's opinion of Louis in a nutshell.
Despite that, Marlon is realist and while he loves Louis and the feeling is quite mutual, he is aware better than anyone else that he isn't exactly dependable and judging by Aasim's comment, Marlon is really biased towards Louis. Everyone can notice that, so why should ring the alarm? Ask the reader.
Quite simple my dear reader, because if you didn't notice the things I mentioned about Aasim and Brody before, it should be obvious that despite Marlon's good qualities, he craved for something.
He wants control.
Let me explain so things can make more sense.
Before all this, Marlon rescued Clementine and AJ with whom, despite some rough patches, he is quite patient, plus he is really respectful towards Clementine if she refuses to approach Rosie, so this guy is definitively a keeper.
Unfortunately, things stopped looking so good when you saw the way he treated the Ericson Crew and Clementine to a degree.
"Aasim talked with him about going beyond the safe zone? We will talk about that later. Everything is fine".
"I am gonna give you this map, but whatever you do, never ever leave the safe zone, okay? I have lost so many people, and I want to keep you safe, okay?"
"Oh, you stole that food even when I told you never to leave the safe zone? Okay, yeah is fine, everything is fine. Go and eat; you deserve it".
"Brody is making a scene? No worries, she is being paranoid. The guy Clementine found is probably a harmless hobo! Everything is fine, okay? FINE"
I will talk about Louis later, but suffice to say, there is a lot to talk about him.A LOT.
My man, you looked fine before. What is wrong with you? must be stress, right? right?
So that is when the whole cookie crumbles.
Ladies and gentlemen, this guy right here is the episode antagonist!
Wait what? What the hell are you talking about? explain! Well, no worries, things are gonna make sense soon.
So that was quite obvious the guy Clementine found wasn't a harmless hobo because once everyone is sleeping, Brody confronts Marlon, and it's right in that moment that yours truly's heart is broken.
Marlon right here is talking about trading Clementine and AJ to the guy they found and the scene is rough:

Marlon: God dammit, why can't you just do what I ask you to do?
Brody: Because WE caused all of this. And now WE have to deal with it.
Marlon: I AM dealing with it!
Brody: By trading more of us away?! That's not fixing the problem, that's running away from it.
Brody: Let me go!
Marlon: Hey, calm down--
Brody: Don't tell me to calm down!
Brody: You can't do this! You can't just-- [Marlon grabs and/or hits Brody] ahh!

Marlon showing his true colors.
Bro you hit Brody. What the fuck? not only that, you are talking about trading MORE people? I don't know which is worse, but right now Marlon's image has stopped being clean to me and things are getting worse:

Brody: Please, please. If we just tell everyone what's going on, maybe we can--
Marlon: I said SHUT UP. [hits Brody again]
Marlon: Oh shit. SHIT. Brody, are you okay?
Brody: Fuck. You.
Brody: There's got to be some other way.
Marlon: There is no other way! God damn it, there's so few of us left! What else would you have me do?
Brody: Something! There's got to be something!
Marlon: No, no, no. There's nothing! NOTHING, Brody.

Brody begs Marlon to come clean with the truth.
And so it goes on and on. Suffice to say, the situation is quite awful. Brody is talking about being honest with everyone while Marlon is hitting her and saying that this is the only way to fix things and then Clementine appears.
Oh boy.
Clementine appears, and Marlon is trying to do some serious damage control, but this is Clementine we are talking about; she won't back away please! She has found worse guys than him.

Marlon: Brody and I were just talkin', go get some sleep. You deserve some shut-eye. You had a busy day.

Marlon is trying to control Clementine using politeness. it's not very effective.
Clementine won't have any of Marlon's bullshit and will ask directly what the fuck is wrong here, and while Marlon is trying to make Clementine leave, Brody gathers enough courage to reveal the truth.

Brody: Marlon let him take the twins. Him and his people.
Marlon: Damn it, Brody!
Clementine: Tenn's sisters? I thought they were killed by walkers.
Brody: That's the story we told everyone!

Brody reveals the twins true fate.
Suffice to say, this enrages Marlon, and he hit her fatally with a flashlight.

Marlon: I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. You're gonna be okay, I promise. Goddamn it, help! Why did you say that, Brody? I... I told you not to say it. Please be okay.

Marlon, when he realizes he lost control of the situation.
Now's when things get serious, because right now? Marlon realizes Brody is gonna turn, and Clementine knows the truth, so he runs away while leaving Clementine to her fate.

Clementine: Marlon, you son of a bitch, don't do this!
Marlon: I'm sorry... I can't... I can't let you talk to the others.

Marlon the coward, left Clementine to die.
Everything is going to be fine, right? Clementine is resourceful. The big problem is how to confront Marlon and reveal the ugly truth to everyone!
I wish things were so easy...
Not only must Clementine kill Brody with no weapons and in a cramped space, but she must open the door too and once she does that?

AJ: Where's Clementine?!
Louis: AJ, put the gun down!
Marlon: Get this fucking psycho away from me!
AJ: Where is she?!
Marlon: She's... she's in the basement. She murdered Brody!
Willy: What?

Marlon is trying to regain control of the situation.
Of course, that is when Clementine confronts him, revealing he killed Brody, and Marlon takes the opportunity to take AJ gun while he pushes him away and Louis? he quickly grabs AJ while helping him stand up.
Marlon is deranged, and he starts to blame Clementine, even though someone is pointing the blood in his face.
And then this bastard thinks he can kill Clem because she talked about the twins.

Marlon: Aw, come the fuck on! They only met up with these "raiders" because Clem insisted they go out there. Quite the coincidence, isn't it? Shame I don't believe in those. Think about how scared we all were when the adults left. I pulled us out of that fear. I gave us all courage again. Who are y'all gonna believe, huh? Johnny-come-lately and her little fucking lunatic? Or me? Your friend?
Omar: She did help us get food.
Aasim: What good is food if a group of outsiders is gonna come along and take it? I'm just saying.
Willy: Man, this is fucked up.
Ruby: We don't know her, y'all. I hate to say it, but we don't.

Marlon uses intimidation. It's super effective!
Everyone is tense and nobody wants to vouch for Clementine despite the things she did for them.
Only two persons can reach Marlon and we don't know if they can do it.
Those two are of course, Louis and Violet.
Since the beginning, we have always taken one side or the other, but those moments were silly things for the most part. This right here is a life-or-death moment and it's interesting to see the fans many opinions about why they choose one or the other.
Of course since this is a Clouis Bible, we will talk about Louis.
You see, I always thought if there was someone who could reach Marlon is his best friend. Violet is a valid option of course because she isn't so attached to him, but the thing with her is that she isn't afraid to bring weapons and I was afraid things would escalate further if Clementine asked for her help, so Louis was a safe bet...
Right?

Clementine: Louis, don't let him do this!
Louis: Oh, no. I am not involved.
Clementine: What?
Louis: I like you, Clem, but I... Not me. I'm sorry. You're, uh, on your own. Sorry.

Louis chose to stay the fuck away from this.
Not only does Marlon look at Louis in a "don't you dare" way, but you can tell how conflicted he is with the situation. This isn't his best friend. This isn't the guy who definitively saw him past the wall. Louis is scared and can't process what is happening right now, and for that reason, I think it's a good time to talk about the way Marlon controls Louis.
Aasim talked about this before: he is Marlon's lapdog. He isn't so strict with him despite his treatment of everyone else and he accepts him for who he is! He is his best friend!
Until that, you put the pieces together and start to see the clear imbalance in the relationship.
Despite being his best friend, he never talked about the twins or the raiders with him. He chose to let Louis his best friend, almost like a brother in the dark.
He knows Louis is unreliable and can admit it to Clementine, yet despite that, he never thought about talking with him about this (which episode 2 confirms), choosing once again to leave his best friend in the dark.
Louis gave him all the love he could because Marlon is the one who is okay with him, he is the guy who saw him past the wall, yet Marlon always chooses to keep in the dark, and it's quite obvious why:
He knew Louis would have told him to do the right thing.
He knows Louis is gonna see him in another light.
And he can't lose that. Louis trust is very important to him because he is the only one who likes him and believes in him despite everyone's thoughts about his leadership. He isn't afraid to use that trust to his advantage if Clementine appeals to Louis because he knows he is attached to him.
That is what makes this decision so interesting: are you gonna do the right thing even if it hurts, or will you bury your head in the sand hoping the problem will fix by itself?
Clementine can reach Louis in a lot of ways and I will do my best to showcase it:
The Callback:

Clementine: Then you better bury me deep. Because if I come back, I'll come for you first.

Clementine is echoing Louis words back to him.
If there is something that made the relationship special, it was the callbacks. This is the first instance that shows Clementine is paying attention to Louis words, and boy, that got Louis quite good considering how shocked he is when he heard that.
Clementine may have known him for two days, but she is trying to show him that there is another person who is paying attention to him.
Step the fuck up Louis!:

Clementine: You can do the right thing here, Louis. Just step the fuck up!

Clementine telling Louis to stop being a pussy.
Pretty self-explanatory. Clementine knows he wants to do the right thing and he can do that, so stop being so scared or someone is gonna die!
And my favorite:
You are gonna let him shoot me?

Clementine: You'd let him shoot me? Really? Just so you don't have to get involved? I thought you were more than that.

Clementine expressed her disappointment with Louis for not wanting to get involved, even when he knew this is wrong.
Even if that was unintentional, Clementine saw what kind of guy Louis is behind the wall. Not only that, but the things he did for her and AJ when everyone else was doing their own tasks showed her he was more than a funny guy who loves to screw around, did Clem words got him this time?
Clementine words got him.
You can see Louis thoughts during that moment. He can't believe someone is believing in him right now. He can't believe someone saw through the wall he hides. He wasn't expecting any of this, but the worst part?
She has known him for only two days, yet here she is giving everything to him. How can he throw her to the wolves?

Louis: Shit. Marlon, come on, man. Drop the gun.

Louis is trying to stand up to Marlon.
And boy, Marlon didn't like that. He didn't like when someone reached out his best friend and made him do something he had never done before.

Marlon: Louis! She killed Brody! We can't let her walk away.

Marlon yells at Louis to stay away from this.
Louis flinches when Marlon calls his name and just like that, the courage Clementine gave him is gone. Marlon's grip on his best friend is too strong.
He knows this is wrong. He knows his best friend is gonna be a murderer. He is looking at the ugly side Marlon was hiding before, but because he is scared, he backtracks and chooses to keep his head down.

Louis: Clem, I... I... I gotta trust Marlon. I just... I gotta. I always have.

Louis trying to apologize for being incapable of doing the right thing.
Look at the way he says it: "He must!" not: I trust him! Nope, I must! Like if that is something he must do because he is his best friend and out of obligation, you can't go against the guy who you've known for 8-9 years after all...
Even when that guy is doing something really wrong.
You can mention Brody to him, but let's be honest, that isn't powerful compared to...

Clementine: He didn't trust you with the truth! He lied to you about the twins. He doesn't deserve your trust.

Clementine pointing how imbalanced this friendship is.
We don't know if this time her words reached him because Marlon finally had enough and decided to kill Clementine.
She knows that and prepared herself for the worst. She did everything she could...
...
Your relationship with Louis has changed
Right when everything looked so hopeless, Louis slid into the frame and chose to protect Clementine...
By himself. Without weapons, he knew the wrong step could kill him, yet he did it because Clementine's words gave him the courage to stand up to his best friend.
He wants to save both despite how dangerous Marlon is and the effect is immediate.
Marlon feels fucking powerless and moves his gun away. He can't believe his best friend is free of his grip and chooses to protect Clementine.

Marlon: You don't know what you're doing, man.

Marlon is not okay with any of this.
He is losing control of the situation. His best friend is against him and the best part?

Louis: C'mon, dude, just drop the gun. This is how adults do things. Not us.

Louis isn't done with Marlon and asks him to drop the gun.
Everyone starts to advance towards him and Marlon doesn't know what to do; he is screwed because if he uses that gun right now, Louis is gone and obviously he doesn't want that.
But still, he don't want to give up and starts to talk about how hard is to make the calls and how he would do the same if he could and that is... not good. Definitively not good.
Then Tenn reaches him and that is the moment Marlon is broken.

Tenn: You gave my sisters away. Why would you do something like that? I trusted you, Marlon! THEY trusted you!

Tenn summing up the Ericson Crew's feelings.
Marlon looks at everyone, especially Tenn and is almost on the verge of tears.
Clementine can finish him off by saying that he is a coward, he should have sacrificed himself, or...

Clementine: He was in a tight spot. He did the wrong thing, but he thought it was for the right reason. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't have to pay for it.

Clementine gives us a TLDR version of Marlon's dilemma.
The thing that made Marlon so tragic is that he really did a fucked thing in the heat of the moment because he knew better than anyone else that he couldn't beat the raiders.
They have weapons and are better prepared than the Ericson Crew, so he was between a rock and a hard place.
Because Marlon? Marlon was an inexperienced teenager who tried to be a leader when the adults left the school and with no support and him trying to hold so many balls, things ended in tragedy for him when he decided to bring someone else to his mess.
He was alone and he did what he could so the rest could survive.
This in no way justifies his actions of course, I am explaining the way he was thinking.

Marlon: I wanted to get them. Stage some kind of rescue. Honest, Tenn. I just couldn't. I was... I was too afraid.
Tenn: You killed Brody because she knew?
Marlon: Mm-hmm. I didn't mean to. I didn't want this. I wanted to save all of you. Sophie, Minerva. I didn't want to hurt them.

What got me with this scene is that it was Tenn who went through Marlon and made him realize the big mistake he made—not Louis, not Violet, not Clementine.
Tenn the main victim in this fucking mess because Sophie and Minnie were his sisters.
So Marlon dropped his guard and you can take the moment to enact sweet revenge on him and give him a good beating, but let's ignore that and go for the options that will let us learn more about Marlon.
Clementine calls Marlon a pathetic piece of shit:

Clementine: You're pathetic.
Marlon: I know. Always was.
Louis: That isn't true.
Marlon: No, Louis, it is. You were just the only one who couldn't see it.

Marlon admits he isn't the guy Louis always looks up to.
My heart hurts when I saw this in my hardass Clementine playthrough: a lifelong friendship destroyed by lies and betrayal and both realize this judging by the way Louis looks at Marlon, the guy he looks up to, because he was the only one who accepted him for who he is and saw him past the jokes, the piano, and everything else.
Louis is devastated because he trusted Marlon so much and is trying to process this. It's hard for him to believe his best friend is a liar and a murderer...
Clementine is willing to give Marlon a second chance:

Clementine: We can still fix this, Marlon. It's going to be okay. We can make this right.
Louis: We'll help you. We're all family here. The only one any of us has left.

Despite everything, Louis wants to believe this mess can be fixed.
He is clinging to that tiny piece of faith he still has because Louis always sees the good side in everyone, even if you are a jerk to him.
He still thinks Marlon is his brother, but Marlon doesn't think he deserves it.

“I know I betrayed you. All of you. Just let me leave. You’ll never have to see me again. Just let me become…a bad memory. Just give me that. Please.”

Marlon just wants to leave because he can't handle the guilt and the things he did.
Who can blame him? He betrayed everyone.
He betrayed his best friend, who thought he was a capable leader despite everyone's complaints about him.
He betrayed Violet a girl who, while they didn't get along very well, trusted him when he lied about the twins deaths and spoilers for everyone: This fucked up Violet so much because trust is a big deal for her and she was burned for that.
He betrayed the Ericson crew, the people he wanted to protect so much because he wanted to be a good leader and give them hope.
He betrayed Tenn, a sweet child who is willing to forgive him even when he heard Marlon sold his sisters.
He was so done with this situation and just wanted everyone to do what they wanted with him.
And then, just when you thought things couldn't get worse...

AJ: What?
AJ: I aimed for the head.

AJ fucking capped Marlon while echoing the things you taught him.
Suffice to say, Louis and everyone else turn into a fucking mess because of this.
AJ is an apocalyptic child. He don't understand the concept of surrendering and just like that, Marlon is gone and lost forever.
Finally, episode 1 is over. With this, the first part of this Bible is done. The Genesis, if you want to call it that.
The next part is gonna be the main course. The pairing dynamic is established along with the things that made the relationship blossom.
Needless to say, the Exodus part is gonna be interesting.
Get it? because Exodus came after Genesis and considering what happens in episode 2? har har!
I'll see myself out.
Join me next time with: The Clouis Bible. Part V: Paradise Lost: The Aftermath of Marlon's Murder ⚰️.

submitted by SoundNo3485 to TeamLouis [link] [comments]

2023.05.02 04:37 CPuck42 GH Boss Minis (Spoilers for Boss Scenario Characters)

Still have a few left but man these are fun!

submitted by CPuck42 to Gloomhaven [link] [comments]

2023.05.01 15:13 KElderfall Frosthaven-style character sheets for Gloomhaven characters

This is a compilation of individual links to the official Frosthaven-style crossover character sheets for Gloomhaven/Jaws/FC characters, which include updated perks, non-AMD perks, and masteries. These have been around for several months now, and are linked from the Cephalofair website; however, they're distributed through Google Drive, which (depending on your settings) can do image previews, making it easy for people to get spoiled on things, even with spoiler-safe filenames.
Because of that, there can be a barrier to entry for people who may want to use them in Gloomhaven or Jaws. The aim of this post is to provide direct links to each individual file as well as compile some information about them, summarized from dev responses or the Frosthaven rulebook.
Spoiler note: A class's character sheet will contain spoilers for that class.
Gloomhaven Starters:

Gloomhaven Locked Classes:

Forgotten Circles:

Diviner

Jaws of the Lion:

There is also a pdf document compiling all of these into a more printable format, but it contains spoilers for all classes. If you want to use it, it is here. Each page contains two classes and has spoilers for both, but if you'd like to print off specific pages, the contents (by page number) are:

Brute and Tinkerer
Spellweaver and Scoundrel
Cragheart and Mindthief
Sun and Three Spears
Circles and Eclipse
Cthulhu and Lightning Bolt
Music Note and Angry Face
Saw and Triangles
Two-Minis and Diviner
Demolitionist and Red Guard
Hatchet and Voidwarden

Q: Can I use these in Gloomhaven or Jaws?
Yes, this should be fine and possibly even encouraged, with some considerations:
Three Spears spoilers - Three Spears's non-AMD perk is designed to make Three Spears function better in Frosthaven's item environment, and should not be used in Gloomhaven unless you play without Stamina Potions.
The Demolitionist's non-AMD perk will work fine in Gloomhaven, but doesn't really make sense in context of Jaws.
The Voidwarden's non-AMD perk provides Ward, a condition introduced in Frosthaven. You may want to skip it, or look up the rules for it online and use a suitable token to track it.
Sun - Sun's non-AMD also provides the Ward condition. See Voidwarden above.
If you do use these, you can ignore the Resources section entirely, and the added traits in the Notes section will not be used either. It's also worth mentioning that the icon for the Wound condition changed in Frosthaven, and these sheets use the new icon.
Q: What are masteries?
Masteries are a mechanic introduced in Frosthaven. If you achieve the listed criteria during a single scenario, you tick off the mastery box and gain a full perk as a reward. They are intended to be challenging and are not always possible at low levels.
Q: What are non-AMD perks?
Non-Attack Modifier Deck perks are options you unlock, generally usable once per scenario or during your rests. Some have two boxes; you spend a perk for each box, but to unlock the effect, you'll need to tick off both boxes, i.e. spending two perks total.
Q: Where do I get the new cards?
For the modifier decks, there aren't any! These perks only use the cards that come with the game.
The non-AMD perks can be hard to remember during a scenario, and these don't have official reminder cards like the Frosthaven characters do. You may want to make your own reminder cards, use the character sheet itself (or some other token) as a reminder, or print the unofficial Frosthaven-style cards developed by Nerdhaven.
Q: Did they really change [insert change here]?
Probably! There are some prior discussions about some of the changes here, here, and here.

submitted by KElderfall to Gloomhaven [link] [comments]

2023.04.30 12:01 FrancessaGMorris Unpopular Opinion Sundays!!! April 30, 2023

Reminder: Please do NOT down-vote! This is the thread for unpopular opinions about GH.
Please be kind. No Spoilers. No Politics. All other rules of GeneralHospital apply!

submitted by FrancessaGMorris to GeneralHospital [link] [comments]

2023.04.29 19:49 Dull_blade Heirloom Minis - Wave 1&2

Based on popular opinion, and my desire for closure, I continued to track the heirloom minis this past week. Here are the two weeks thus far:

Heirloom Minis - Wave 1/2
I now have more observations:
First off - SPOILER ALERT: Topps accidentally showed the checklist for the full-sized (FS) heirloom set, when they dropped the FS for wave2. The wave 3 FS set will consist of: Bo-Katan Kryze, Han Solo, Poe Dameron, Rey, The Mandalorian, Yoda, Jyn Erso, Mace Windu. The wave is still accessible, but the characters are not listed. ( I never saw what the award was to be for FS Wave3).
Secondly, this confirms that the mini-version of a character will not have a FS version. I thought they may offset the releases to help spread out the characters, but then come and backfill the characters from a mini wave with the characters from a FS wave.
I added a total row to see how many total blue, bronze, silver, gold are acquired during the week. This is an easy week over week comparison. It looks like the total is down about 11% from week 1. I was surprised that Fennec was not the top in blue count, but seeing how the copper, silver, gold counts are highetied than others for the week, I think people went straight to the crystal pack to get what they needed. I also added some conditional formatting shading, so you can visually see the range. We also had wave 2 base drop in the middle of the week, so that may have affected what packs people open.
I'm still puzzled on the Percentage from Blue amount. When someone melds their blue set, it decrease all the character counts by 1. This meld is only available once per trainer. Since having the full set would also grant you the blue award, the more people that melded their blues, the higher this percentage would be. But, this is only going to get you guaranteed two FS blues and one FS bronze. Since my data is fresh of the press, I'm not surprised that W2 is much lower. I expect that to even out during the week.
I suppose that is all for now. Just one other thing, however. With the drop of wave 2 base, I've decided to hoard the GH-7 Analysis Droid if anyone cares to send some my way. Seems fitting for me! Still always and forever hoarding Asajj as well.

submitted by Dull_blade to starwarstrader [link] [comments]

2023.04.29 03:57 mentat88 Question about damage (Slight spoilers for Fist class)

If there's anything I didn't hide properly for spoilers, please let me know and I'll fix!
A discussion/argument has emerged in my group about damage and I'm hoping some clarification might emerge here. I checked through the FAQ and couldn't find anything to help us. When we played through Gloomhaven we played the game such that damage from attacks is strictly different from anytime you see the phrase "suffer damage" (i.e. from traps or certain monster abilities). Now that we're playing Frosthaven it seems like the phrase "suffer damage" now refers to ANY damage taken unless specified. I came to this conclusion based off the changes in the Heater Shield item from GH (When damaged by an attack, gain 1 Shield for the attack) to FH (When you suffer (damage icon) from an attack, gain Shield 1 fort the attack) AND in the rulebook in the section on AttacksAttack Modification Order (Page 25) it says "Once all modifications have been applied, the target suffers the resulting amount of damage." My friend believes the way we played in Gloomhaven still stands (strict difference in damage from attacks vs. the phrase "suffer damage"), while I feel the Frosthaven has changed this. So that leaves us with this questions:
1) Did we play Gloomhaven wrong? (Bit too late, but it'd be nice to know, haha)
2) Is there a difference between the phrases "suffer damage" and "suffer [damage icon]"? This is a bit of minutiae but it affects our discussions/arguments. I believe they use (damage icon) just to save space. My friend believes they mean different things.
3) When you take damage for any reason (i.e. attacks, traps, abilities that hurt yourself) does that count as you "suffering damage"? Or only through non-attack instances?
Spoilers for Fist Class: The reason this has come up is mainly due to several cards the Frozen Fist has that mention "Whenever you suffer (damage icon) this round....." and one that says "Whenever you suffer (damage icon) from an attack this round....". Obviously the one that specifically mentions from an attack can only be played one way, but the similarity in wording leads me to believe the others mean from ANY sources of damage. My friend believes they only apply to suffering damage from traps, hazard terrain, "suffer damage" monster attacks and the FF's ability to hurt himself to recover a card. The outcome of this discussion would have a big effect on how I would play FF and those cards (and potentially future things in Frosthaven).
Any help/advice or pointing to a direct ruling in a FAQ or rulebook would be greatly appreciated!

submitted by mentat88 to Gloomhaven [link] [comments]

2023.04.26 14:30 WorthlessKoridian Change my mind on some Frosthaven grievances

Edit: If you've read this before and are revisiting, I made another edit at the bottom! :3
Let me start by saying that I love Frosthaven. I adore and obsess over Haven games in general, and have enjoyed the vast majority of my time with Frosthaven. My group is nearly done with the main quest and has done plenty of side content, but there's still plenty more to go! And while the game can be frustrating or difficult with SO many things to keep track of during battles, and so many ways the deck is stacked against you, I almost always end up still having a great time with it. You did amazing work, Cephalofair! <3
But it's probably due to that obsessing over them that lead me to my situation. Hype trains are never a good thing, and it happened to me a bit with Frosthaven. Leading up to its release, all the playtesters and devs and such made it sound like it was the greatest thing ever, perfectly balanced, perfectly everythinged, and though I tried not to let it get to me, it still affected my expectations a bit.
My table unlocked our final character a day and a half ago (assuming that everything is in the box), which was Seaweed, and I really hate to say it, but I felt disappointed. I know it will pass, and it was a really bad feeling, but I couldn't help but feel let down by what it was, and thus, what it also wasn't. And so, I'm making this post to air some grievances that I have with Frosthaven. I'm curious if anybody else feels the way I do about any of these things, or if anybody has insight into the design decisions behind them, and I'm hoping that people can politely converse with me about these that might help change my mind about them. At the least, typing this will help me process my feelings.
Firstly, a note on what there isn't: there still isn't any kind of martial artist / monk class. Haven games are based on fantasy tabletop RPGs, and all of the core classes are represented within the cast of Gloomhaven except for the monk. If not in Gloomhaven, then in its expansions. We have crystal-clear fighters, rogues, barbarians, paladins, rangers, artificers, a wu jen / elementalist, wizards, psionicists, a bard, druids... If not a perfect example of one of the core classes, then a handful of classes at least take elements from them, like with clerics. But nothing resembles a monk, which is sad times. As they're so cool. The closest is that 5e represents shadowdancers as a type of monk, and [GH class codename] Eclipse is perfectly reminiscent of a 3.5 assassin and/or shadowdancer (there's probably a 4e class it's exactly like, but I never played 4e), but Eclipse is clearly not a martial artist / monk as well. And then, of course, [FH class codename in relation to how it plays] Seaweed is this trope again.
The balance of the elements between characters just doesn't really exist. At least, I can't figure out a system whereby it exists. The problem already existed in Gloomhaven, where Fire, Air, Earth and Light were similarly represented between characters, but Dark was WAY more common and Ice was WAY more rare. I excused Dark's prevalence because, well, it was Gloom haven, and the next game is Frost haven, so maybe Gloomhaven is the game that'll be obsessed with Dark while Frosthaven will treat it more equally, and give Ice it's time in the limelight. But then no, it didn't. At all. It's still obsessed with Dark!!! No elements seem to be at an average level: there's barely enough Fire and criminally little Light, and despite being _Frost_haven, there's below-average Ice as well. Loads of Earth, but like, even more Dark than Gloomhaven had. To a player who meticulously pays attention to these ratios, it's very disappointing.
Which brings me to the fact that I was disappointed when we unlocked Seaweed. Spoilers for Eclipse from GH as well: it's just a second take on the Nightshroud. Invisible, teleports, Dark, Bane instead of insta-kills, "nothin personnel kid," and so on. There already is a Nightshroud. Did we really need a second one, just to do it "correctly" this time? (I acknowledge that my opinion of the Nightshroud is very different from this community's, but still, why retread the same ground twice?) Did we need to revisit the exact same character concept, when, for instance, there still is no monk? Did we need to revisit somebody who's obsessed with Dark, when other elements are in much more dire need of love and attention? I guess, when it was the only class left that we had yet to unlocked, I realized the elements could be almost perfectly balanced if the character had minor affinity toward Ice and major affinity toward Fire and Light. And so when I just saw the Dark symbol, my heart just sank. I have yet to play it, and I know my disappointment will fade with time, but right now, I'm just extremely unexcited by it. Unlocking new classes has always been so thrilling, too.
A couple of other frustrations with two other characters. These aren't about large-scale design decisions, rather feeling more like a memo was just missed somewhere.
Astral (and the solo item): the Infuser's solo item is a two-handed item that gets consumed. She also has a perk that lets her refresh spent hand items on a short rest, at the cost of an element. So there's anti-synergy. Because her solo item is two-handed, you can't even use it in one hand and a shield, or something, in the other, giving you something to actually refresh. It feels like something had to have been changed late in development. Maybe the solo item used to be one-handed? Or it was spent, rather than consumed? Or the perk let her refresh any spent item, rather than just hand items? It's anti-synergy within a character and that's neither pleasant nor fun to me. Builds should be free to ignore perks or not take solo items, but that should be a choice, rather than saying "sorry, you either use your solo item or waste a perk" to every Infuser.
Drill's experience: for the most part, the Metal Mosaic gets experience just fine. But I cannot understand why the top of Stress Vents doesn't give 1 experience point. Especially when the bottom of Heat Conduction, a rather similar ability, does. Most of my games as the Metal Mosaic, I would get barely any experience because tanking hits and steaming on enemies was what I focused on principally. And it was extremely effective: the solo scenario was way too easy. When I took breaks from that to do a bunch of attacks, sure, I got plenty of experience, but then I barely steamed on things. And steaming on things is so much more fun. Also it's how you get one of their masteries! So surely, that's what you're, theoretically, supposed to be doing. So why is my experience haul being punished for doing this playstyle?
And then another thing about Drill, but also about a set of items from Gloomhaven {96, 104, 112, 116, 125, 132 and 157}: the Metal Mosaic is made from the Ancient Technology found in Gloomhaven, which seems to directly correspond to seven items: Rocket Boots, Steam Armor, Ancient Drill, Fueled Falchion, Curious Gear, Power Core, and Ancient Bow. Most of these are the names of ability cards for the Metal Mosaic, which is super cool! And their effects quite well correspond to the item, or at least seem very reminiscent of them. Rocket Boots, Steam Armor, Ancient Drill and Curious Gear are all home runs. The Power Core isn't remotely similar to their ability card of the same name, but just going off of the name, it makes sense, and an effort was made, so I can give it a pass. Only the Fueled Falchion and Ancient Bow don't appear as ability cards. But the Fueled Falchion basically appears as two of their perks; replace one +0 with one +0 The Target and All Enemies Adjacent to it Suffer 1 Damage. But there is no Ancient Bow. Why? It feels really conspicuously absent. I have three best guesses. (1) The class was designed to be solely-melee, but I don't know why that would be the design decision going into it, when there's also the whole "it's all of the Ancient Technology" and one of them is a bow. (2) DAE Forgotten Circles bad pretend it never happened (which is a sentiment I hope wasn't behind it, because that's extremely spiteful and petty, and very mean to those who really liked Forgotten Circles, like me). (3) There are two ways to get the Ancient Bow, and only one of them gives the party Ancient Technology, thus maybe it doesn't really count as Ancient Technology; but then that raises the question of why it can give it to you in the first place. Ultimately, I'm not satisfied by any of these rationales, and it feels very bizarre that the Ancient Bow is excluded from the Metal Mosaic's kit.
Final disappointment is just that some masteries are really dumb, but hey, some battle goals were really dumb in Gloomhaven, so I can give that a pass.
HUGE EDIT: Two other things that really disappointed me!!! The balance of hand-sizes and the balance of HP amounts. I personally perfer 6-HP classes and 9-card classes. 6-HP means frail, they tend to be magical, they tend to be players from the background, supporters. That's what appeals to me in fantasy. I don't want to roleplay as hulking people who do big numbers, I like being the squishy mastermind and supporter or spellcaster. It's like me in real-life, so it provides better escapism and makes me feel like the hero. So I was very disappointed that only one unlockable class had 6 HP. It's my favorite amount. I understand it isn't everyone's, but that's why diversity is great. So that everyone has plenty of choices to be what they enjoy most. Then regarding hand sizes, it's probably "Stockholm Syndrome," but I played most of the 9-card classes in our original playthrough of Gloomhaven, and so I've come to appreciate and love them. They were always just barely less common than 10-card classes, and certainly more common than 11 or the ultra-rare 12. And then Frosthaven only has two of them. Frosthaven has more 12-card classes than 9. So clearly whatever design philosophy went into Gloomhaven did not go into Frosthaven here. And I'm disappointed by that, because, again, they're what I like. They're my comfort food. n_n

submitted by WorthlessKoridian to Gloomhaven [link] [comments]

2023.04.25 17:20 MarcelvanBasten Green Hell is pure quality, and some of its aspects reach far beyond the usual survival chops

Survival games are an obvious niche. But even considering that, I’m still slightly puzzled by the lack of detailed opinions I see around for this game. In the age of comprehensive game essays and hours-long video critiques, there’s nothing of the sort that I could find centred around it. In my opinion, it deserves a lot more discussion and leaning into than the occasional 5-minute reviews it seems to have gotten.
Because Green Hell is, simply put, the most impactful survival game I've played so far, in mechanical depth, content, and more surprisingly, narrative hook.
If you're anything like me though, it will leave you pulling your hair for the first few hours. The premiss is quite basic: you wake up in the middle of the Amazon tasked with a) surviving, and b) untangling the threads that explain your current predicament. However, on Normal difficulty, the learning curve feels insane. The survival aspect of this game is painfully realistic, or at least as painfully realistic as a game can get, something that becomes even more brutal if you enable permadeath. Which alongside the relentless hand-holding refusal, means you’re in for quite a treat. You will die. You will often die in the most brutal of ways - mauled, infected, poisoned, lacerated, starved - and sometimes, not fully understand why. This is frustrating in the beginning, but the more you die, the more you start understanding the mechanics you're meant to engage with, so at the same time, a sense of learning begins to kick in.
This isn't to say you would do well to never seek external help - I initially had to use a guide just to understand some of Green Hell's basic elements. But by punishment, you do become better. And eventually, something in your experience changes, and the survival aspect of the experience clicks. You begin to understand what things do, how to craft and utilise tools, how to use different substances, where to find sustenance, the ways in which you can use the environment to your advantage, how to come back from a problematic physical and mental state. Your smartwatch, the ever-present companion that helps you understand what you need and when you need it, becomes your best friend in the most dire of straits. Your only friend. And incredibly, you begin to go through all of this even within the starting area, without having to venture into its vast open world. There is a lot to learn, some to master, and a few growing pains to be had. But even when it feels like it's trolling you, Green Hell never gives you more than you can chew. Not really.
At the time this all began to happen to me, I was already fully hooked, and even when I wasn't playing the game, I couldn't stop thinking about it. The sense of immersion you get while playing it, more than well executed, is visceral. Your smallest successes, when they eventually happen, are initially perceived as Mount Rushmore-level achievements. The feeling of having to effectively navigate using nothing but a vague map and compass is incredible, mainly because the entire game is set up around that premiss. This is a pet peeve of mine when it comes to the immersive feel in games, since more often than not, the ones that come with mini-maps or radars lack the environmental cues and landmarks you’d need to get by without them, so turning them off simply isn't a valid option. Even within the survival genre, navigation sometimes seems haphazardly implemented. But in Green Hell, for all intents and purposes, you are this guy stranded deep in the Amazon jungle, with all its remarkable beauty and danger that are out to amaze and kill you in equal measure. And even though it's initially difficult to get your bearings, you can navigate your way through all of it using the simplest of tools because that's a very intentional core part of the game's ethos.
This scale of immersion and survival depth would have already been enough to keep me engaged for hours, but Green Hell takes it much further than that. And one of the ways through which is does it is content. There is so much to do, so much to discover, so many different avenues to explore and modes to experiment with, and so much stuff that keeps getting added to this day, that I hardly think anyone would get bored even if they tried. I honestly feel they nailed the size of the world and how they scattered points of interest throughout. You can be as cosy or as uncomfortable as you want with how you choose to interact with the environment and the options you are given. I feel as though I haven't even scratched the surface of everything there is to see and do, and as deadly as it is, there is also a strangely alluring, almost comforting vibe to this world that kept pulling me back into it.
All this praise aside though, there is something else Green Hell does remarkably well that makes me think it could be a recommendation even for people who don’t like survival games. To me, the most surprisingly competent thing about this game is its story. I finished it a few days ago, yet I'm still thinking about it. The mysterious layer it uses to hook you and make you invested is so well sparsely fed to the player, that I can’t think of one single moment where I didn’t want to keep finding out what the hell was happening. Even when I was struggling to stay alive. Plus there’s this layer of intangible, almost supernatural elements to the narrative that not only keeps you on your toes, but also makes you wonder about exactly how straightforward your character’s own experience is. Without getting into spoiler territory, the journey makes very effective use of some millennia-old Amazonian practices in the form of eye-opening plant medicine (with the visual and audio spectacle that comes with it), and this serves as a very unusual driving force behind the narrative beats. So much so that I don’t remember any other game using something like this to this degree. Admittedly, everything about this game will hit closer to home if you have first-hand experience with either the substances or the setting it explores, but I feel even someone completely detached from it will appreciate its singular approach. Then there’s the ending, or rather the endings, which don’t disappoint in the slightest, even though one of them stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of impact. Green Hell came out almost four years ago, yet ironically, the story it tells is likely more relevant today than it was on release.
There is a bunch of stuff Green Hell could've done, and since they keep updating the game, can still do better. I would strongly appreciate a considerably longer day/night cycle (similar to State of Decay 2's 90mins, basically double what GH currently has). I would also like to see more customisation options, such as predator and tribesman spawn rates. Console controls are far from intuitive, and it takes quite a while to get comfortable with them. Some of the physics can be a bit wonky, and pop-in can sometimes look atrocious. Finally, story-wise, the main character could certain be more charismatic. Not all of this could be fixed coming from the game's current state, but addressing the things that could would already make a significant difference towards enjoyment. The funny thing is though, while some of these issues are annoyingly in your face on a regular basis, they still aren’t enough for me to see this game as anything short of wonderful.
You know those moments when you think back to something you’ve experienced in your past and immediately get washed away by an emotion associated with that time, such as nostalgia, comfort or fond memories? This was me with Green Hell, mere days after I had stopped playing it. It made me feel a certain way, emotionally heavy, but a good heavy. The kind of heavy that sticks and makes you realise the game you’ve just played meant more to you than you could've possibly anticipated. It rarely happens, you don't quite know why it happens, but nevertheless, it's there. I wish more people would talk about this game. I wish more people would praise it. If you haven’t yet and feel like trying it out, don't get disheartened by its perceived initial difficulty. And even if you’re not into survival games I'd say put it on easy and give it a go, since there may likely be something in it for you, story-wise. For all its frustrations, there is a very impressive blueprint on display here in the way it blends gameplay, mechanical depth, environment, choice-consequence gravity, atmosphere and compelling narrative, that I’ve never seen executed in the survival genre in quite the same way. Which is all the more impressive for a dev’s first title. 9/10

submitted by MarcelvanBasten to patientgamers [link] [comments]

2023.04.23 12:01 FrancessaGMorris Unpopular Opinion Sunday!! April 23, 2023

Reminder: Please do not down-vote unpopular opinions. This is a place to post unpopular opinions about GH or unpopular opinions on this subReddit.
Please be kind. No politics. No spoilers. Also, all the other rules of GENERALHOSPITAL apply.

submitted by FrancessaGMorris to GeneralHospital [link] [comments]

2023.04.22 22:49 Khadgarar Can i send my players the PHB safely?

Greeting everyone, planning to run a campaign for my players, and wanna givve them some basic info on the world and nations of GH. The Grim Hollow PHB has quite a lot of lore, and considering the fact that it IS the PLAYER handbook, it should be safe to send it to my players(by which i mean, it has no spoilers or info that should be hidden from the players), but i just wanted to make sure)

submitted by Khadgarar to GrimHollow [link] [comments]

2023.04.22 21:26 Just_Christ Angus has RETURNED! (A review)

First, I'm going to start by saying I'm going to be as unbiased as possible. I'm not going to go into a huge in depth review, rather I'm going to talk about what I liked and didn't like. I think it's important for our Prince to get an idea of what the fans like, what works and what doesn't to improve the sound of the next record. Spoiler alert: the list of things I didn't like is way shorter than the things I liked.
First off, the good. This does not sound like Gloryhammer AT ALL, and that's a very good thing! At times, this album is metal, pop, electronically, disco metal, and rock, sometimes multiple styles in the same song. It really sounds like Angus McSix is not trying to copy what came in the past, but rather is looking towards the future. There are only fleeting references to the past, namely through jokes or very small references to GH. This is honestly exactly what I hoped would happen. He is still the same Angus that we know and love, and the album expects you to know that. There is one song though that I will talk about later that deserves specific praise in this department. Number two, the album surprisingly does not end with Angus defeating Seebulon, quite the opposite. Seebulon succeeds in breaking out of his prison to wreak havoc. Despite all of that, there is absolutely closure in this album, a sense of completion despite the story very clearly not being over. More on that later.
The songs are good at the very least, but amazing at the best. Not only that, but the ones that I didn't initially care for are now growing on me, and I can definitely say that I really like all of the songs. After a brief sound adjustment period I love this record. The album is super melodic, heavy at times when it needs to be, and the guitar work is top notch. The solos are guitar licks fit perfectly with where they are, but more on that later. The drumming is one of the strongest elements of this record, with SKAW! knowing when to play heavy and when not to. The electronic work is outstanding, and as a fan of Beast in Black, Within Temptation, Dream Theater, Amaranthe and many others that incorporate electronic elements to their albums, I can safely say that I love the style of music that they've brought to the table. I can see how someone who only likes traditional power metal would be put off from the record but I am not that person. The album is best listened to in order of lore, I have not even attempted to listen to it in order of tracklist.
The bad:
The album is a bit anemic on the fast and heavy side. There are absolutely heavy elements to the record, but it never fully dives in on heavy. I have to say, I love the songs as is. But I wish there was at least one heavy metal song with brutal speed, drums, guitar work and a punishing solo. I know the members are capable of it, so it's something I hope to see in the next record. It would never stop me from not listening to it, but it's a preference I have. The only other bad that I still notice after about ten plays is that the vocals are definitely buried in the mix. The vocals definitely need to be louder. Finally, I think there is an over reliance on vocal layers and harmonizing. Thomas' voice is amazing, and his voice is strong enough to lead with just one or two lines except for emphasis. I have seen the live videos and to be honest, hearing just him sing and very little backup vocals sounded amazing!
Finally, the ugly.
Admittedly, there won't be much here but the things that are here I hope are corrected in one way or another. The album should have been presented in order of the story. There has been much confusion, despite having the booklet. Most people don't know how to read Morse code and it definitely added to the confusion when we received discrepancies from the booklet and what Thomas and Seeb said in interviews. Sixcalibur is technically track 2, despite Eternal Warrior blending in with visions perfectly and Seeb saying Eternal Warrior is track 2. It belongs between Ride to Hell and Master of the Universe, and Laser Shooting Dinosaur belongs between Fireflies of Doom and Amazons of Caledonia. That's it for the ugly! Just track placement!
Finally, Starlord of the Sixtus Stellar System deserves some praise for ending the album. I said before that there is closure in the album, and that is found in Starlord. The bombastic chants of Angus as the song winds up let you know you're in for an awesome song. The album ends with the circle of Starlords being completed. The journey from Angus McFife XIII to Angus McSix, Starlord of the Sixtus Stellar System is now complete. He is reminded of the War on Mars, all that he fought for, all he sacrificed, the journey through hell and his new allies were all for preparing him for the coming battle.
I rate the album a 8.5 out of 10. A 9 out of 10 if it would have been in order of the story.
I cannot wait for the next album and am eagerly awaiting the fight against Seebulon to make its way to the US!

submitted by Just_Christ to angusmcsix [link] [comments]

2023.04.22 02:20 Geekqueen15 What Was The Best Soap This Week? (April 17th-21st) Mini recap w/ spoilers below

What was the best soap this week? Mini Recap and Spoilers Below:

On Bold: RJ returns home, and Steffy reminisces on her birthday as "Bold" celebrates 9,000 episodes! Taylor confronts Sheila in prison.
On Days: Harris makes a deal with Bo. Stephanie reunites with Kayla. Eric and Nicole struggle with their feelings after their hookup, and Hope comes face to face with Bo!
On GH: Felicia reunites with Holly. Holly and Felicia are outbid by Tracy who comes to Ethan's rescue. Victor's plan is put into motion and Spencer concedes to Victor after he threatens to throw Trina overboard. Spencer and Trina get closer.
On Y&R: Victor tears into both Adam and Nick regarding Sally's pregnancy. Summer confronts Diane in prison. Michael decides to take Diane's case and Jeremy Stark winds up dead after an altercation with Phyllis.

So what was the best soap this week?
View Poll

submitted by Geekqueen15 to SoapNet [link] [comments]

2023.04.17 03:53 Extension_Leek5973 Lobotomy Corporation Spreadsheet

Good evening! I don't really use reddit at all, but I created a spreadsheet for myself to make management a bit easier. This spreadsheet does contain spoilers for certain late-game content, but that can be avoided by sticking to the intro and employee sheet. If anyone is interested in using it, you can find it Below! I hope this helps prospective managers in their endeavors.
This sheet includes both a section for employee management and assignment,abnormality info, and information on ordeals and other difficult events.
It was designed with the idea in mind that something more accessible, visual, and less text-heavy than the wiki might be nice and help me specifically with what I was having trouble managing.
Please enjoy!
Here's the link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PVf8XuGhOjpE5fp9tbyFgyqEjmNew4LV2Z4OhOZJKw0/edit?usp=sharing
Intro page for the Spreadsheet

submitted by Extension_Leek5973 to LobotomyCorp [link] [comments]