Goodbye Shadowlands, you asshole
Feb. 11th, 2024 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
got_quietI'm finally out of the damn Shadowlands.
The quest to lift the curse sucked. I missed certain connections and the map sent me chasing a red herring because it put a pip where there was absolutely nothing to do until I had done something else first. I spent literal weeks logging in, wandering around with growing frustration as I couldn't figure the quest out, and logging out again. I ended up looking up the solution, which I never do, because I never want to bother with the Shadowlands again, and I am still horny for Halsin. I don't regret it. I never would have realized what the problem was.
Part of my problem is I am resistant to long rests. The game is like, "you must hurry!" and then on a mechanical level penalizes you for trying to do as much in a "day" as possible. That's one of my only major gripes about the game as a whole. I get why Long Rests are useful mechanically, but there's something deep inside me that doesn't like them. And because I try to not use them as much as possible, when the prompt to say that there was some dead flamehand I could talk to showed up in my conversation with Halsin, I literally did not know who that could possibly be, as so much had happened between the time that particular flamehand became "dead" and the game reminded me that he had existed.
---
Anyway everything else went relatively smoothly.
The quest to lift the curse sucked. I missed certain connections and the map sent me chasing a red herring because it put a pip where there was absolutely nothing to do until I had done something else first. I spent literal weeks logging in, wandering around with growing frustration as I couldn't figure the quest out, and logging out again. I ended up looking up the solution, which I never do, because I never want to bother with the Shadowlands again, and I am still horny for Halsin. I don't regret it. I never would have realized what the problem was.
Part of my problem is I am resistant to long rests. The game is like, "you must hurry!" and then on a mechanical level penalizes you for trying to do as much in a "day" as possible. That's one of my only major gripes about the game as a whole. I get why Long Rests are useful mechanically, but there's something deep inside me that doesn't like them. And because I try to not use them as much as possible, when the prompt to say that there was some dead flamehand I could talk to showed up in my conversation with Halsin, I literally did not know who that could possibly be, as so much had happened between the time that particular flamehand became "dead" and the game reminded me that he had existed.
---
Anyway everything else went relatively smoothly.
- Well, ok, the cool druid lady and sole survivor of the Harpers got herself killed by fear running into the enemy at the start of the tower siege. She also bugged out or something because when I tried to heal her up when she joined my party the game would only let me get her up to 20 hp no matter how many resources I wasted on her. My Tav shrugs and moves on.
- Zevlor is safe. Poor dude's been through it and Tav wishes him well.
- Tav has told Astarion that he'll back whatever it is Astarion wants to do. There may be mass slaughter in this game's future.
- Gale continues to try to get me to reroll so I can romance his dorky ass. His reaction to the Absolute emerging was precious. I want to create someone who hears what he said about the crown and thinks, "omg I love you."
- The love test at the circus was sweet. Astarion wanting Tav to lie and the way you can do it for him is extra sweet. Tav knocked the quiz out of the park, of course.
- When the clown show started, naturally I sent Gale up there to suffer a little humiliation and he very gamely took a massive mallet to the face. Well done, Gale.
- Oh, and of course Tav immediately accepted the Emperor's offer to make him half Ilithid. More power, no downsides? If Astarion doesn't watch out he's going to have some competition. The Emperor's annoyed response when you try to read his mind is hilarious. I'm sensing a love triangle forming between The Emperor, Astarion, and Tav at this point.
- Tav also appears to be getting roped into being accessory to terrorism for a gnome.
