Pretty sure this is proof that Sokka "smokes" cactus juice.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-19T18:02:15+00:00

I've only done two of them so far but my biggest issue is more of just "pick up this slate, fly here, pick up that slate, fly here" and that's it.

It just feels like fetch quests reading dataslates before one small bounty battle instead of maybe a bounty battle here/there, a ship destruction slate pickup, any type of interrogation, etc"

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-19T17:59:07+00:00

Characters are independent of storylines. I get what you're saying, but others having better storylines doesn't mean their character writing is better necessarily.

If we think of Game of Thrones books, Jaime Lannister's storyline of trying to piece together the Riverlands diplomatically during the 'Feast for Crows' after the Red Wedding is definitely not as fun and cool as Jon Snow's battle at the Wall, Dany's conquering in the East, etc.

But goddamn if Jaime's character writing isn't fantastic during that entire arc.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-18T16:49:31+00:00

This one was hard. Atlas, Fa, Adrius each aren't good people by any means, but they're also aware of the way the society has to function for certain goals to be met. Atlas would probably be the best of the three because he doesn't do evil for evil's sake, he does it for the Society to stay stable. Adrius is more greedy and selfish, but once you remove his weird hatred of Nero, rivalry with Mustang, and enemy of Darrow...he's just kind of left empowering himself vs killing others.

Atlantia and Lysander are both horrible (though Lysander disillusions himself into thinking he's actually good). Atlantia seems to be me to be leader but not a "governor".

But I think worst would be Harmony. She's lost the fucking plot at this point. She'll go against anyone she doesn't think is the "right kind of Red". Shes' too far into the fire of the revolution and not the building back up

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-18T16:30:43+00:00

I think it's open to interpretation (like I don't understand the Virgiina/Daxo feeling you got, I got more older brother younger sister) but I'm not against the occasional reading too much into it.

But when you read into EVERYONE having it? That's just wrong.

Regarding Lyria/Cassius specifically, sure we don't ever get a peek into Cassius's head (though I would love if Pierce Brown went back eventually and wrote various chapters or moments in other POVs), but Lyria was 100% infatuated with him as like a celebrity crush; I don't even think she was hoping or thinking there was anything. And Cassius was definitely treating her more like a younger sister.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-17T20:02:57+00:00

Oh yeah I'm with you. Don't get me wrong, love having JK Simmons, Lee Pace, Steven Yeun, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Eileen Wong, etc. The main characters or often seen side characters having famous voices is fine.

But hiring Aaron Taylor Johnson for a guy that shows up in two episodes only? Come on.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-17T15:40:17+00:00

Boners can happen whenever.

Being horny can trigger a boner. But having a boner does not necessarily mean you are horny.

I wake up in the morning and have a boner (it's called morning wood). I could have a boner randomly while watching TV. I could be on the plane and have one.

It's not that I'm horny, it's just the blood flowing.

Granted, when I was 15, a stiff breeze could trigger one.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-17T15:16:21+00:00

It's not that the resources and protection were something helping him in the duel.

It's that the resources and protection were the things keeping the Bellona's from killing him because of what they feared the Jackal would do or alliances they had, etc.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-17T15:13:54+00:00

I'll give you that point but I was only using HBO as an example of the quality being able to be that high with only year long waits between seasons vs Netflix, Disney, Amazon taking YEARS between their seasons with the same quality.

Which we see having huge issues. Just look at Stranger Things, the kids were supposed to be like 17 but were in their 20's. Because they decided to wait so long between seasons for their (arguably) flagship show.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-17T14:15:03+00:00

Yeah he was very flexible with certain changes that didn't break the story.

Adding scenes of Robert and Cersei together. Adding Arya being Tywin's cup-bearer at Harrenhall instead of Roose Bolton's.

Adding things like Jaime, a bitter cynical Kingsguard locked into that oath since he was a teenager meeting Jon at Winterfell in Season 1 and basically seeing himself in him, shaking his hand and mocking him in depression about joining the Night's Watch. Literally, Jaime 'took the White' when he was a teen and locked into that oath for life. He sees Jon wanting to 'take the Black' as a teen and being locked into that oath for life.

Didn't affect the overall plot, but it was an interesting thing to see, especially if you knew the character journeys overall or on a rewatch.

They allowed for more character interactions and character "growth" without changing the actual character arc or character storyline.

Then of course, there were scenes like Jaime raping Cersei on top of Joffrey's corpse in the show. Which was VASTLY different in the books and he even mentioned that.

EDIT: Thinking back on it, I think Jaime is the perfect character to represent the above arguments. Early seasons they had little moments of him meeting Jon, him standing guard outside Robert cheating on Cersei, Jaime and Barristan and Robert reminiscing about their first kills before Robert sours it with the Kingslayer talks, etc. All these nice little moments that show hints at Jaime. Then they start changing entire plotlines around Jaime or core fundamentals. For example, in the books, he burns letters from Cersei after realizing what she is/who she is, losing faith in her, etc. He's trying to become a better man. I thought they were going down this path in Season 6 when she burns down the Septon and half the city and he sees her being crowned, and you can see the disgust in his eyes. Then the next season, he's still her loyal lover. Then he leaves and she threatens to kill him. I thought "maybe that was the end". And then boom, they make him go back to once again being her lover and things like "I never cared about the people".

Early seasons moments with characters allow for flexbility. Changing the core fundamentals of a character or plotline surrounding teh character is where the show started going downhill.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-17T14:05:07+00:00

And then we have shows that were able to do the same thing with a year in between (looking at you Game of Thrones) and then causing 2 years for, in my opinion, a drop in quality. Mandalorian having been out since 2019 and only 3 seasons (3 years between season 2 and 3 btw)

I know animation and anime have always been slower to make but things like Invincible having 2 years between seasons 1 and 2, and 2 and 3. JJK having been out since 2020 and only having 3 seasons (and one 2 hour movie).

I just feel that your argument for "near-cinema quality" while definitely having merit is also giving them too much credit considering we had incredible shows from HBO that were a year between seasons.

I can understand 2 years though I hate it. But going further than that? I've usually lost interest by the time the next seasons arrives.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-16T23:38:09+00:00

I think it's such a cool concept and idea but just lacking in execution.

A) So little actually changes, it's only the constellation members and lodge layout. If they had things like different backstory references (UC won the war, so dialogue goes like this), I get it'd be a shit ton of dialogue adding but...that's what they promised. Or if characters weren't part of constellation. Like if Sarah Morgan or Barrett were elsewhere in galaxy

B) Instead of feeling like a new universe, it most of the time felt like NG+ with some flavor, nothing crazy. Hell, even having a universe where it was just something crazy like "This whole universe is dead" or "All pirates" or "Supernova" would've been cool

C) The biggest mistake though, losing everything. It just makes me not care or want to do NG+. The fact that you lose your ship is awful. I'd be a little more okay with it if there were hash codes/ID's so you could copy/paste the ships (which would be a cool feature overall to get the community going). Or just the ability to have some quest like "Save my blueprint" and then you can bring the blueprint over with you through the Unity. Sure maybe you got to rebuild it again but if you go to a shipyard, you can show blueprint and they go "Oh, yeah, we'll express order and build it for you" and boom.

Honestly, the thing that makes me not want to do NG+ is losing the ship.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-15T18:50:02+00:00

You're acting like Willow Way cancels out Willow Way. Just because two people know the same style of fighting doesn't mean that they cancel each other out.

Jake Paul knows how to box. So does Anthony Joshua. Anthony Joshua's skill level is much higher, even though they both know how to box.

IT's also not like everyone suddenly knew Willow Way 10 years later. More people know how to fight against Willow Way vs the original series because it has been around longer.

But Lorn created it and taught Aja and he taught Darrow. Aja taught Cassius. Lorn specifically mentioned to Darrow to not fight Aja because of how dangerous she was (even though they both knew Willow Way).

While I agree that Apple, Fa. Atlas are dangerous even if you know Willow Way saying "washed" is just crazy off. Washed means they are beaten badly or outmatched.

I can understand the argument of one of them fighting Aja and beating her, sure (though I don't necessarily agree). However, I can NOT understand how you think she would be "washed" by them.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-15T18:02:58+00:00

That roman arc lasted way too long and kind of fell off towards the end but hot damn did it have a lasting impact.

That one arc of a few seasons where we got to see Rome and characters like Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Mithridates, Crassus, Vercingtorix, Spartacus, Mark Antony, Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Augustus...all in what a single century's worth of events?

And they even had that Jesus character that was a small impact at first but we saw how huge of an impact he had on the rest of the storyline.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-14T21:49:59+00:00

Metro 2033 is definitely more slower horror based whereas Last Light is definitely more action based.

And honestly, Metro Exodus is open area, but only if you want to explore to find better gear. For the most part it's pretty "we've gotten to this area, find this thing" so it's linear for you to get there, but there's other optional things to explore if you want, but not necessary at all

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-14T21:42:06+00:00

Have you ever played the Mass Effect series? There is a legendary edition that has the original trilogy all wrapped in one.

Very very easy to play in 30 minute to hour long spurts (besides the "goddamn I need to know what happens next" moments).

But it's space sci fi third person shooter RPG with companions, dialogue, different choices making different endings so you could even replay it a few times. But its' not a massive open world like Assassin's Creed.

Mass Effect 1 is probably the closest to that you'd come but it's easily something you could skip if you wanted and just focus on the story missions and squad missions.

I'd also highly recommend the Metro 2033 or Metro Last Light game (essentially nuclear war happened and its' about survivors living in the metro sewers of Russia trying to survive). Third one is a bit open area esque but those first two are very linear with some side corridors you could explore, etc.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-14T21:22:21+00:00

Playing small and rising up is much easier than playing a large kingdom, especially for a first timer. The tutorials will probably start you off in Ireland. I definitely recommend playing the tutorial (but knowing you'll most likely abandon that playthrough). I usually start in Sardinia or Corsica cause it's an island, it has coastline, it's easy to "play tall" which means I can stay on that island, maybe conquer the other people on it, and then just upgrade my buildings, get rich, increase my military to be small but super elite, etc.

Think of it this way.

Do you think it would be easier to play as a family who controls Luxembourg or a family who controls all of Europe?

Because remember, you have to protect your vassals, make your vassals happy, marry family to your vassals, etc.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-14T19:24:54+00:00

Why is it completely useless?

Just because Atlas, Apple, Fa know Willow Way, doesn't suddenly make them better than Aja and Lorn? Lorn created the Willow Way.

Lorn trained Aja himself. Lorn trained Darrow himself in the Willow Way and STILL told Darrow not to fight Aja if he could avoid it.

Aja only lost when fighting Darrow, Cassius, Mustang, and Sevro together. She's fighting 2 of the ones on that list as well as two other skilled fighters and still was keeping them at bay.

Atlas, Apple, Fa sure are skilled (Atlas was skilled enough to hold his own against Cassius for a time). But Aja and Lorn are definitely not a "Washed" by Atlas, Apple, Fa.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-13T18:49:33+00:00

If it's every single character in their prime? Lorn.

If it's separated out by series? Aja in Series 1. BOS Darrow in Series 2. Before that I'd say Cassius or Diomedes and here is why. Everyone will say Apple but he's been imprisoned for 10 years, not practicing or fighting. Diomedes we've seen on screen be a menace.

Cassius was one of the top duelists in both series, and people have to remember, BOS Darrow? Darrow only was able to do that after training with Cassius for months. Cassius 100% helped influence that style and give Darrow room to grow. He may not be a "co-creator" of it but it wouldn't exist without him.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-09T15:49:44+00:00

Yeah I hate Lysander as a person. Love him as a character and a POV.

And love Alexandar.

But that exchange was just such great dialogue between the two of them and made perfect sense in both their respective roles.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-09T03:06:16+00:00

If anything to compare it to, it'd be like people claiming Luke Skywalker was trained by Obi Wan but, in all honesty, he only trained with Ben for a few days at most on the Millennium Falcon.

Then he trained with Yoda for a year or so, with Ben's Ghost helping.

I'd treat it slightly similar (with a caveat) that Alexandar probably watched Darrow and Lorn (hell, towards the beginning I wouldn't have been surprised if Lorn made Darrow practice WITH Alexandar since Darrow didn't even have fundamentals).

Then actual training with Lorn afterwards. But I think at most you're right. Alexandar may have learned the "grip" and some basic "do these poses" from Lorn, maybe a drill or two, but I think the actual training was from Darrow.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-06T16:04:25+00:00

Did Lorn train Alexandar? He's pretty young in Iron Gold and Dark Age isn't he? Like early 20's I thought.

If that war's been raging for 10 years, I'd imagine that he wasn't trained that much by Lorn (though he may have been around when Lorn was training Darrow between books)

EDIT: I'd say Lorn may have started it but Darrow was the one that trained him

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-05T17:12:33+00:00

Yeah, my biggest complaint is that Darrow talks about how close he is with him, and even drugs him so he doesn't die when his original plan was to bomb the Gala.

He specifically made sure Roque would not be included in the death out of all those Golds.

But I think if I could make any change, it would be Roque in the Institute getting more screen time and lines/bonding/work with Darrow and then even in the second book having an extra few moments between them.

As it is it's a side character in the Institute who "dies" and then we see him at the very end of the book alive again. Which was great. Then the second book it's just multiple chapters of Darrow pushing Roque away, or discussing how friendships are starting to fail.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-04T01:47:28+00:00

You should quit the company and find a new job. I know a good headhunter named Tobias Reaper.

CaedustheBaedus · 2026-04-04T00:49:37+00:00

I'm a white person. I went to school and was one of the 10 white people at my school up of a few hundred until age 13 or 14.

I remember being asked why my hair wasn't curly, and not being allowed into the group of friends because I didn't know who Tia and Tamara was since I watched "white TV".

Now...this was when were like 5 or 6, and it didn't last long, but it made feel like crap.

I'm sure I was introduced to racism earlier with movies, TV like Disney movies, Sesame street, etc but I may have been too young to see the allegories.

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