professional grumpypants

She is willing to work with men in leadership positions even post-mind control and she will actually compliment and admire their tyrannical prowess

She will argue that the refugees in Baldur’s Gate should be enslaved because it’s practical and better for them that way, not because they’re weak lesser races that deserve to be subjugated

Spring has begun; life is rekindled...

Itty Bitty Spring Dragon stickers ♡

When I critique a video game, I usually try to do so while keeping in mind what is actually reasonable to expect from the medium; like, I'm not going to waste time arguing that an expac should include significant branching story options when that's something FFXIV doesn't do and is never going to do. Instead, I try to think about what is possible within the limitations the writers are working with. And yet, it's kind of wild to get to Stormblood, only the second expansion after ARR, and find ourselves thinking, "Well I guess they couldn't use Ala Mhigo as a hub because we don't go there early enough," when a) we could go there earlier! and b) why have we already locked the format down so hard that the endgame hub has to be set up at a particular time and in a particular way?

I know some people will disagree with me on this, but I think that in the broad strokes FFXIV has gotten better at working within that rigid structure over time rather than worse. There are some very specific shifts in storytelling that have occurred which I'd argue fit more easily within the game's format limitations (and maybe I'll talk more about what those are in another post.) All that said, you can still very much feel that skeleton underneath it, and if the writing falters even a little bit, you feel it that much more. When people complain about "pacing" in expansions, I think in many cases this is really what they're talking about: the writing stretched over that rigid skeleton has become a little too thin, and we feel that skeleton and feel that the story is being dictated by it, and that breaks our immersion.

There's a reason winning freedom from the Empire requires more than the Warrior of Light showing up. This is the real importance of Zenos in Stormblood, and frankly, I think there's too much focus on how his obsession with the Warrior of Light makes them special and not enough on what he represents about Garlemald. When Zenos shows up at Rhalgr's Reach, his narrative purpose couldn't be more clear. He represents the strength of the Empire when it turns its full attention upon a problem. He represents the reason you cannot win. He will also come to represent the Empire destroying itself from within, and in some ways that should be just as terrifying as the way he strikes you down at Rhalgr's Reach. Because if Zenos actually cared about the Garlean Empire more than he cared about his personal ambitions, it's entirely possible that even the joint rebellion of Doma and Ala Mhigo would not have succeeded.

➡️ Take a typing test here (and you need an actual, physical keyboard for this):

➡️ 'Typing classes' refers to computer skills classes you might have had in school; you can also count games or other related typing training your parents might have had you do.

➡️ Across 3 different typing test websites*, the (english language) world average typing speed is 40 WPM.

A blazing bright summer!

Itty Bitty Summer Dragon stickers ♡

I'm OFFICIALLY DONE with all the itty bitty seasonal dragons :") thanks everyone for checking them out!! It was such a fun little project to do! All the seasons here:

one (1) ct. ryne