limiting to base game dh1 or we'll be here all day
1 - okay obviously meeting the outsider is going to be on here, and there are so many little things about it that i love:
the "somewhere else..." loading screen and "something's not right..." objective update
"your life has taken a turn, has it not?" which i've ranted about before because it's just so good
"come find me" and the smirk, the mocking half bow and open hands
"in the days that follow, your trials will be great, corvo" because fuck, dude, they sure will be
"the heart of a living thing, molded by my hands" and the audacity of this man giving you your murdered lover's heart and voice to carry around in your pocket
"how you use what i have given you falls upon you" @/daud @/the players who use their powers to go on rampages in every level and then get mad when the game calls them out for it
"know that i will be watching with great interest" and that very intent eerie stare he levels on you as the scene fades out
honorable mention to the coldridge meeting from the trailer. "let's see...if we can do...better" lives in my head rent free. also the strange almost softness of "my mark. consider it...a gift."
2 - finding emily in mission 3! it's such a sweet moment, like, you know that trope where the world is in greyscale until something momentous happens and then suddenly things are in color? that's what this moment is, the color coming back to corvo's world.
3 - the betrayal:
the Five Second Foreshadowing of this line from piero if you go talk to him by his workshop before caving and heading upstairs
the very stark differences between the main trio in low vs. high chaos, martin in particular feels like a different character in each and it just adds to his overarching horrible existential unease, the way he slips in and out of roles/identities and never seems to like himself all that much no matter where he lands
the sideways perspective/camera angle the reveal plays out from after corvo finally collapses in a literal manifestation of how he's just had the rug pulled out from under him (and how it progresses to a 180 degree flip when he's drifting in the boat afterward, the world and everything else now literally upside down)
"here you are at last, in a ruined and drowning world. […] perhaps that’s just the nature of man. [...] strange how there’s always a little more innocence left to lose.”
4 - daud confrontation in the flooded district
"you're a mystery, and i can't allow that" and the callback in TKOD with "the outsider knows i cannot abide a mystery"
"i know your footsteps, corvo" do you now 🤨🤨🤨
daud kicking the rest of the whalers out in low chaos to talk to corvo alone
the fact that daud will specifically acknowledge a clean-hands!corvo: "the men you worked for asked you to kill for them, but you found some other way. you took a path i could have followed, but did not."
the absolute awestruck disbelief of "and you choose mercy. extraordinary." okay cool what if i chewed glass.
5 - "and decades hence, when your hair turns white and you pass from this world, empress emily--emily the wise, at the height of her power--will lay your body down within her mother's great tomb, because you were more to her than royal protector. farewell, corvo."
that's it
no notes
i mean really what else could my commentary add to that
makes me tear up every single time 920839502583 playthroughs later
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oh no. I've started playing tears of themis because of youuuu~~ (TヮT) could i trouble you for a few tips? for instance, when I should spend my tears? I don't know if the 30 visions for a guaranteed SSR is worth it ... ?
hello friend! ╰(*°▽°*)╯ i have to admit i cackled when i saw your tags on the episode 6.2 preview gifset. welcome to tears of themis!
okay, i have some (hopefully) useful advice about the game, but first, i'll tackle your question by explaining the most complicated thing about the game for beginners - all the different banners and the resources needed for each of them.
(i ended up rambling a lot under the cut, so just search for the TL;DR if you want a quick answer!)
Firstly, there are three types of banner currency in ToT (i laugh that the acronym of this game is also crying tears LOL).
From the right - normal tears. normal tears are used to pull on the permanent, rotation, event and birthday banners.
Middle - S-Chips, which can be converted into normal and special tears (special tears are for limited event banners) at the rate of 180 S-chips to 1 tear.
And on the left, the red gems are purchased with real world money and convert to S-chips at the rate of 1 gem to 10 S-chips.
Unless you plan to spend quite a bit of money to buy gems, S-chips are the currency of choice to keep because that allows you the flexibility to convert to normal or special tears as needed, depending on the banner you would like to pull on. Warning: Normal tears cannot be used on limited event banners, so if you convert your S-chips all to normal tears you'll be out of luck for limited event banners. Special tears are specific to each limited event banner and will only be available once the event appears.
Also, pity (the maximum number of pulls at which you are guaranteed an SSR) exists in ToT. Pity resets whenever you pull a rate up SSR. Most banners will have two or more rate up SSRs; if you pull a rate up SSR (say, Luke's), your pity will not reset if you pull the same Luke SSR again, but will reset if you pull a different SSR (like Artem's).
So, the banners. There are a LOT in ToT.
Permanent banner. Uses normal tears. Normally pity is 100. The answer is yes, definitely invest in that one-time, maximum 30 pulls to get your first SSR. And once you get your SSR, then never ever ever touch the permanent banner again!
Rotation banner. Uses normal tears, pity at 100. Pity transfers between rotational banners. Every couple of weeks this banner rotates between the permanent SSR cards, two of which will get the rate up. (Each Love Interest/LI has two permanent SSRs). Generally, we advise saving your s-chips/tears for the event banners since those cards are limited, but it's not the end of the world if you'd like to throw some pulls in here.
Event banner. Uses normal tears, pity at 100. Pity transfers between event banners. There are two SSRs in this banner, usually with accompanying rate up SRs. Basically, pull here if you like that event's specific cards! After the event, the cards won't be available again until a rerun a few months down the road. The upcoming event banner is Electrifying Night, with Vyn and Luke SSRs.
Birthday banner. Comes around each LI's birthday. Pity transfers between birthday banners. Uses normal tears and pity is at 90. Only the birthday boy's SSR cards are in this banner (his two permanent SSR plus the birthday SSR), and only his birthday card will trigger the pity reset. So if you like a particular LI and only want his cards without any of the other boys coming to spook you, pull on the birthday banner! The next upcoming birthday banner is Artem (late April) followed by Marius (June).
Limited event banner. Uses special tears which you must convert from S-chips during the event duration. Pity at 100. Pity does not transfer across events. Each LI has an SSR card (4 rate up SSRs in total). Previous special events had a rolling schedule where two LI's SSRs have rate ups on a given day and the pity is shared (reset once any of the 4 SSRs are pulled).
(Special mention - we should have the Anniversary event in July to celebrate the first year of global ToT! This uses special tears and so a lot of people are saving their S-chips because each LI will have their own banner with their permanent and one event SSR in the pool, and the rate up anniversary SSR card in question is a confession card.)
--
Regarding pity - it is very possible to hit hard pity in ToT. So if you're very unlucky pulling on an event banner with two SSR rate ups, you could need 200 pulls (hitting hard pity, getting the SSR you don't want, and then hitting hard pity again) before your preferred card comes home.
Also note the pity transfer. The pity carries forward within that same type of banner only, so you can pull 20 times in Electrifying Night, and if you didn't get any SSR, those pulls transfer to the next event (Revisiting Youth), and so you would be guaranteed an SSR in the new banner within 80 pulls. The pity for limited event banners do not transfer, so if you don't have enough pulls to guarantee your SSR, my advice is not to pull! Or else you could pump in 70 or 80 pulls into that limited event banner and come out with no SSRs, and have no pity built or resources for the next events.
TL;DR - invest up to 30 pulls in the Permanent banner to get your guaranteed SSR. Then save your S-chips and tears for the event cards that you want! Since Global runs about a year behind the China server, we can view the upcoming event cards. For normal event and birthday banners, you can freely pull and try your luck (sometimes SSRs will come early and you'll pick up SR cards along the way) since the pity will carry to the next banner. However, if you are aiming for limited event cards, make sure you save your S-chips to convert to special tears that are only available during that particular limited event. For limited event banners, only pull if you have enough to guarantee at least one SSR card, unless you'd like to try your luck and are totally okay with the possibility of not getting any SSRs (or spending additional money to ensure you do).
Some other tips that I remember as a new player!
Enjoy playing the main story episodes! Each episode has one of the boys as your investigative partner, so you get to know them better that way. Each first play through earns you S-chips, so it's easy to rack up S-chips in early game :) Starting episode 4 will also unlock a lot more game functions.
Prioritize leveling up your SSR and SR cards as you will be using them long term. However, in early game because I had very few SSR/SR cards, I also leveled some R cards just so my deck would be stronger and I could fight higher level battles for better rewards. Just focus on the R cards that you have more stars/duplicates for (they will have higher stats) if you need to strengthen your deck.
Try your best to clear Trials of Themis, which gives you S-chips at first clear and unlocks higher rewards for Temple of Trials. Temple of Trials gives you weekly S-chips (up to 400 weekly).
Do your dailies and weeklies - any resources you collect now will help out later. You also get Energy Drinks which will refill some of your AP.
Events are great ways to earn S-chips/Tears and other resources! Even if you don't pull on the banners, the events are usually fun and sometimes you can earn free cards (Artem's SR will be free if you hit certain criteria in Electrifying Night, for example).
Events aside (some of which may be tedious or have repetitive gameplay), ToT is pretty easy-paced for me. The gacha and collecting cards is an important part of the gameplay - each SR and SSR has an associated card story, and will unlock either a text or a video message - but the main story of course is available to everyone, and so are the boy's personal stories (up to chapter 2 at the moment). Some of the events - especially the limited ones - also have good plotlines, and you will have lots of interactions with the LIs as well as the plot of the story itself. The card stories tend to be more light-hearted and romantic, but some of the event storylines can get quite dark. I like the range the game offers, although I can see why that may bother people who prefer either an otome game or an investigation game only.
I also love the main character. She's very well written. She's not just a placeholder for players to self-insert themselves in her place to interact with the LIs - honestly, I think half the fandom wishes she were a romanceable option as well XD.
okay, this is soooooo long, i'm sorry. but i love this game a lot and please feel free to ask me anything! I think you picked a good time to pick up the game - the Electrifying Night event should be quite lowkey and stress free, so you can focus on the main story and leveling up your deck and see if you want to stick with the game long term. And it's about four months to the Anniversary, which gives you enough time to save up if you're going the F2P or minnow-spender route.
I hope you enjoy the game and getting to know each of the main male leads! I have my bias but all of them are endearing in their own ways. I replayed some of the earlier episodes to refresh my memory for when episode 6 released, and there's been quite a bit of character and relationship development. I'm excited for you to experience it!
did you see that they talked about your crypto art in the new apex dev stream 👀👀
I DID OMG I LOST MY MIND ABT IT ON TWITTER THIS MORN IT WAS LIKE THE FIRST THIGN I SAW WHEN I WOKE UP !!! THANK U GUYS ALL SO MUCH IM STILL KINDA REELIGN ABT IT 😭😭😭😭😭💕💕💕
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Ok! Umm- you certainly don't have to push yourself to write about this, but imagine something about Merlin (in an AU where Arthur and the knights know about his magic bc they all /deserve/ it gdi) and Gawain messing with the knights using Merlin's magic? ie: stealing food off someone's plate from half a room away, changing color of cloaks, swapping clothing so it seems like two people end up with the other's ... all around silly stuff I guess. XD Here's to hoping you feel better soon!
Thanks ❤️❤️❤️ It’s been a lot of up and down recently, so I’m mostly trying to keep my mind off things and just muddle through. Things will look better from the other side, I know.
Sorry if this isn’t the entire thing, lol, just a short thing with Gwaine being the nuisance we all wanted him to be. XD ❤️
“Alright, but consider this,” Gwaine straightened his pose and flipped his hair slightly in a manner he knew was attention-grabbing and charming, and the grin on his face proved it, “Lord so-and-so has been a complete arse since the moment he set foot in Camelot.”
Merlin only continued to scrub at the floor, mostly ignoring Gwaine and his posturing to continue his work. The castle servants had been harried and called to action the past few days, and he didn’t have the time or patience for Gwaine right now. “Sir Epinogre is allowed his attitude.”
The words were bitter, even for him.
“Just a wee spell,” Gwaine wheedled, now bent over the banister he was leaning over in a childish pique. “He doesn’t deserve the dinner made for him.”
Merlin paused there to glare up. “And who do you think would be blamed if his dinner disappears on him? The kitchen staff is already harassed as they are.”
“Merlin,” Gwaine told him plaintively, “Who do you think I am? I would take full responsibility.”
—
True to his word, Gwaine was sitting wide-eyed and innocent during dinner as Sir Epinogre stood violently enough that his chair was nearly knocked over from where he was seated as a guest of honor next to King Arthur. As wide-eyed and innocent as Gwaine attempted to look, though, he made no intention of hiding the entire chicken thigh that had disappeared only moments earlier, instead chewing obnoxiously around the entire leg stuffed in his mouth, hand raised incriminatingly and holding the bone.
“Thief,” Sir Epinogre was hissing, pointing a finger at Gwaine even as the other knights around the table sighed in exasperation, Sir Percival going as far as to chuff Gwaine lightly behind his head. “My plate was full a moment ago! How did you— sorcery!”
“Sir Epinogre,” Arthur called out sharply, a hand rubbing his temple a moment before he turned to glare sharply at Merlin standing behind him. Merlin only gave him a shrug and a mild grin before Arthur turned his glare over to Gwaine. “You should know better than to accuse Camelot of harbouring sorcery. If your aim is service in this kingdom…”
That seemed to bring the man to bear quickly enough. “My apologies, sire. I mean not to accuse this kingdom’s vigilance, but—”
“You will see in time,” Arthur pressed over Epinogre’s words, glaring at Elyan who was snickering quietly as Gwaine balanced a chicken bone on his nose. “That my men are merely… spirited, and a prank or two is not beyond them if training has not depleted their energies.”
“Merely slightly of hand, Sir Epinogre!” Gwaine called out shamelessly, and then took another mouthful of meat as the knight seethed, “To keep you on your toes. Camelot knights must always be vigilant of their surroundings!”
“Slight of hand? You are more than twelve feet away—”
“As Sir Gwaine said,” Arthur interrupted yet again, words turning dry, “slight of hand.”
And with the king having spoken, Sir Epinogre could only swallow his protests and agree, glaring downward at his plate as Gwaine saluted Merlin with a chicken bone and even Lancelot smiling as he shook his head.
