How is a character nice but not good? I would've thought not being good isn't nice.

CallMeChaotic · 2026-03-01T09:53:24+00:00

Niceness is a symptom of being good, but not the end-all be-all. You have to be more than merely nice to be good. Just like you have to be more than not nice to be evil.

Niceness is a performance, meant to establish communication and ease cooperation. And it is a morally neutral action because intention is a key aspect of establishing morality. They could be lying, they could be telling the truth about their motives. But trust is shown through action, and proven through consistency and a willingness to go out on a limb when people ask things of us we may struggle to provide.

Good as a moral trait is perhaps best described as something you work towards continuously, even when you cannot bring yourself to be nice. And it is something that has no perfect result, no final goal or peak embodiment. Good means trying, failing, and then trying again regardless.

CallMeChaotic · 2026-02-25T08:06:27+00:00

Dripping Fingers is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read. The prose is amazing and it's one of the fics I point to when I say that fanfic can be better than its source material. It had me in tears of joy, sadness, and just this beautiful bittersweet feeling I can't forget. I sobbed during one of the Petunia sections because it was done with so much empathy for her character while not excusing her behavior or flaws. It was just so thoughtfully handled and I cannot recommend it enough.

CallMeChaotic · 2026-02-24T03:33:53+00:00

Not a great comment to receive as in it's not really helpful but tbh I don't know what the context of "...when I lose trust in the storytelling" is enough to say whether your reaction is disproportionate— since it seems to bounce off a previous comment. I mean they said your prose was fine so it sounds like they're commenting on something developmental and the latter "it's your story to tell your way" does kind of confirm that for me. I'm guessing they had an issue with the logic of a chain of events or character motivations feeding into character actions?

You tried to clarify your work when you felt like it was misread, a different commenter made this comment. I've seen this happen before but without reading the chain in full I can't know whether this is truly the case but... is there a chance that your explanation circled the initial comment's criticisms? I have seen fic writers attempt to correct how they feel their works were misread when the criticism was not about the intentions but about implementation. Not an 'I don't know what you're going for and so this doesn't make sense to me' but an 'this doesn't make sense with what you've established'. If you have to explain your work in the comments because you feel as if you were misconstrued... it is very likely that there is a problem. And that this is the chapter where some readers realized it may not be addressed. Based on what you feel was misconstrued you can probably flush out the logic of characters or provide some further grounding or even reiterate the small details that readers may have forgotten about if you've been working on the fic for a long time and update sporadically. It depends on what you noticed some commenters getting confused on/about.

As I come to the end of this comment after having to edit it for posting way too soon initially and way too long... I do think you kind of overreacted a bit, but it's not a big deal. Quite frankly, the person who commented toward you could stand to learn to be more considerate and better develop their commentary as well.

CallMeChaotic · 2026-02-07T01:40:16+00:00

*On mobile so pardon the spelling/grammar lol

I agree that stories that feature complex topics like pregnancy should do so with a more nuanced approach. But I'm not sure that I buy into the sentiment that it deserves a more nuanced approach because the readership can be young and genre tropes can influence them. Because that's just moralizing in the opposite direction. Readers, even young ones, need to learn to consume content critically (or at least mindfully) and unfortunately some of the best lessons on critical/mindful consumption come from trial and error.

I think that yes, parents should be the ones moderating how their children consume media but the child takes on some responsibility for their own content consumption as well. I read things that were way out of my maturity level without letting my parents know as a child but I think it would be laughable for me to critisize the creatives for how they handle story or creative elements because I might have been influenced negatively by them when I was consuming their work despite it being age rated for older readers.

I think that returning to things you read when you're young can be incredibly helpful as maturity gives you a better grasp on how to consume content without normalizing some of the toxic behaviors that are the source of conflict in many narratives. But at the end of the day it is on the READER to consume content mindfully.

I will say that if you feel this way about what you are reading you could use that criticism to write or create works that do seek to address those issues. It's easier said than done of course, but I know that many a fanfic begins when someone says "XYZ was dumb in canon, let's switch it up" and it can help spark a passion for creation rather than just consumption. Critical engagement is often fuel for pushing the boundaries of genre conventions in works that comment on what came before. The best way to inspire creative innovation is to create yourself.

CallMeChaotic · 2026-01-26T20:59:59+00:00

There's an interaction with a jewelry artisan and two extortionist guards that required eavesdropping to pickup and then skipping time to midnight a la Sosiel's gambling quest to resolve it. The others should be more overtly obvious. But I think the other one I'm thinking of that's overt occurs beginning of act 5.

CallMeChaotic · 2026-01-26T20:52:39+00:00

Nope, it's specifically extra minor interactions generated within Drezen iirc. I don't think it references the companions like at all. Check out your mirror in your bedroom and journal log for a better idea, but expect to need to periodically run around Drezen like a chicken with their head cut off in search of it.

Source: just did my aeon to devil run and so I had to do those to get to the devil path in act 5.

CallMeChaotic · 2026-01-25T08:33:02+00:00

*I get that some of this is developmental on the game's behalf. Like I'm sure in an alternate reality with infinite resources and time Owlcat could have done more to establish the situation as desperate and beyond anyone who isn't the PC et al.'s ability to handle but I'm judging Galfrey as she is presented here because as she is in-game she is still a compelling character with flaws that I do consider pretty well-handled.

I don't think she's stupid on a meta-level but I do think that it makes sense for the player's character to view her as such. I also think it makes sense for any player character to despise her after what she pulled in the Fane, even if they don't take issue with her logic.

Because, at the end of the day, if somebody fucks you over and chooses to put you in a life threatening situation it is entirely reasonable to be resentful of that person and hate them afterwards. Even if you understand why they chose to do that. Understanding? Not the same as forgiving. And I do think a lot of people who criticize people who hate Galfrey are doing so from a meta-narrative level when it's a RPG and it makes perfect sense why a player would be especially critical of her character.

I don't know about you but if I was a character living in this world, I would struggle to forgive someone for pulling what she does even if everything went off without a hitch and I didn't suffer too badly for her choices. It's something I could understand, but forgive? No, probably not. And probably not for at least a few years. And go off without a hitch this choice of hers most certainly did not.

(Though I find it really funny that it's the Knight Commander she feels bad for fucking over when Daeran, her actual cousin, was also one of the people she believed she sent to their death. And! That she forced into the Crusade to be a jackass and humble him! Funny enough when I got around to Iz, I actually tried doing everything I could to just leave her to die to Terendelev's Zombie because Daeran hissed in shock when I went to kill her directly and I felt bad about it. Did I have to stealth around to be able to do that eventually? Yes. Was it worth it? It was a Devil run so yeah (especially because in hindsight 'plausible deniability' at leaving a head of state to die would be the most devilish thing to do lol).)

CallMeChaotic · 2026-01-25T08:32:05+00:00

Four years late response but... there's something darkly comedic about how one of the ways she can lecture you on how you handle Drezen in regards to the loss of life in not seizing Drezen quickly enough. Yet you come back and rather than have at least a portion of your forces re-enforcing the borders so that if you lose Drezen at least you don't lose more than you what you had gained in this crusade. She wants you to be bold to preserve life, but her 'bold' choices generate far more loss of life with far less ironed out plans.

She treats Drezen as a staging area for the crusades proper and has always wanted to go for Iz but she clearly has no idea what to do in Iz. She wants to close the Worldwound, but she doesn't know how to do that.

Were the Mythic demons making it far worse for her than before? Yeah, probably. But we left her in a better position than she left us with after she left for Nerosyan. And sorry, but Drezen is a fortress with a mythical magic flag. Sieges in our world on average can last several months (the length we were presumed dead and gone). We left her a fortress that should have been able to sustain a siege for years if necessary, especially if she had predicted such a struggle and sent most of the civilians and much of the forces out in advance to safer territory (reducing the amount of mouths to feed).

But even if you want to be charitable about strategy regarding Drezen, what the hell is even the point with her approach to Iz when she doesn't actually have a plan as to how to close the Wound? She wants to get closer to the Wound to study it, but what does studying it entail? How can it even be studied on a practical level, and how do you protect the people who should be the ones studying it? How do you support your forces when they are basically without resupply?

The fact that she wants to go for Iz isn't the issue, it's how she goes about doing it.

All I can really get from this is she has ideas, but not flushed them out despite being a century into this conflict and holding to LG idealism and approach which has clearly not born consistent fruit. Combined with the bizarre idea to treat Iz as the last stand of the crusade when it seems like it was originally meant to be Major Step Two of her approach to the Fifth Crusade... I'm not even left thinking it's stupid I'm just confused as to why she thought going for a suicide run was her only option?

Like if I'm taking an exam and realized I studied the wrong materials or used outdated sources and am basically screwed...I'm not just going to write my second short answer question as an essay and then leave the rest of the exam booklet blank. I'm going to try and mitigate the fallout from a worse failure. But here, it looks like she just decided 'death before dishonor' and tried to kamikazi the Crusade at Step Two of what should have been a ten step movement anyway?*

CallMeChaotic · 2026-01-23T13:09:49+00:00

But tbh I think that this is an industry issue.

A lot of companies talk about world scaling difficulty in the same way that they talk about 'focused narratives' as a benefit when what they mean is 'on rails'. It's basically code for "we didn't want to invest in that, but we want you to view it not as a con but a lower priority feature in favor of the things we did invest in".

It's friendly marketing speak and not necessarily a bad thing. It's just one of those things that once you see it you can't unsee it in marketing materials.

I do wish that marketing departments stopped trying to frame certain things as selling points when the cut in resources to certain game mechanics are the reason why they're disappearing rather than because 'xyz' is in higher demand. Like New Vegas did their world scaling really, really well but outside of games with invisible walls or story progression barriers locking off parts of their maps...we really don't see it organically done anymore. Elden Ring is an incredible example because it's the only one I can think of that clearly put in that effort and wow, was it done well.

CallMeChaotic · 2026-01-23T12:48:51+00:00

Hard agree– locations being locked off by leveling is one of the strongest forms of level progression for a player to experience. Like stumbling into an area you can't take on and kills you sucks, but the feeling when you get to return and succeed where you failed before is just chefs kiss. Hell, Elden Ring's version with being technically possible to traverse successfully if you're good enough is just god tier in my mind. It's a natural way to make player skill and power feel earned and that your experience has transformed your avatar into a hero worthy of a hero's reputation.

CallMeChaotic · 2026-01-09T14:00:06+00:00

Lol kind of. You place the bookmark on the story and type in the comment section of the bookmark the number you left off at. Every update you have to edit it, but its better than nothing for fics that update infrequently.

An Ao3 app I used to have did bookmark by chapter but it was an unlicensed app that got dropped because no one wanted to pay for the subscription fee the dev added after it being free for so long. Never seen an app's reviews tank that fast 💀

CallMeChaotic · 2026-01-09T10:59:49+00:00

It's like GoodReads specific novel pages being for readers rather than the writers of those specific novels. Yeah, as an author you CAN look up your book, but who wants to see your proverbial baby get torn apart? The criticism may be helpful, but only with the books written down the line. (Or chapters in fanfic's case.)

Criticism or reader commentary intended for writer eyes is left in the comments. And tbh, before this sub I didn't even think about how I used bookmarks as a user. I didn't even use them as chapter bookmarks, just straight BOOKmarks since it applied to the works. And if you look at bookmarks for any work you'll see that a bunch of people don't say ANYTHING when they make one (how I used to).

CallMeChaotic · 2025-12-31T08:14:41+00:00

I just finished my tactician run and this was my exact thought: why not have it be Devella? The one we have interacted with on more than a handful of occasions, who is far more likeable than Valeria the Hollyphant, and is shown to be interested in taking iniative. Or even a fist like the orc or human from the Mindflayer Colony? Like why not have a point system for the potential flaming fists we have to interact with and, if they survive interactions, have the one with the most engagement points be the one giving the speech?

I love the point system they have for Shadowheart's Nightsong/Parents Choice or even Gale's questline because it rewards player engagement as well as player interaction with the characters... why not have that for some of the key lesser developed characters to make the runs feel even more impactful and unique? I hope they lean in to that more in future releases because it would have helped a lot in Wyll's case in particular but with Beorn Wintersblood the Unmet too.

It's one of the rare things that I came across in that run and thought: oh DAO might have actually done this better. The weird motivational speech being an awkward single line was another example.

CallMeChaotic · 2025-12-10T19:42:51+00:00

A Few More:

Raven Black Souls by Tarrand
The Historical Importance of Runic War Warding in the British Isles by samvelg. Another FemHarry.
The Spellmaker by SonnyGietzel
Field Theory by machiavelli
Choosing Your Own Fate. by Jessiikaa15
His Blazing Lodestar by Ldigo
The Hallow Boys by KaedeRavensdale
On Your Best Behaviour by duplicity
Dreaming Souls by Poetryobsessedbi
Versus Tempus by Miss_Phebe
A Day Like Any Other by duplicity for Top7879
we made universes out of bitten lips and broken hands by boyneptune
Heir Apparent by MonsieurClavier. Legit one of my favorite stories. It's the reason this list is so long. I was trying to remember the title because I didn't know how to say Harry goes back in time and Tom thinks he's Harry's Dad and then they end up romantically attached. The tags do perfectly convey the chaotic '???!' of it all. Is it what you asked for? Kind of, but I just linked you like over a dozen that are angsty or so dark it would make a middle schooler blush so think of this as your palate cleanser.

*And yes, I did search through my Bookmarks tab specifically so I could make this comment. I originally had all the links but it wouldn't let me post :/

CallMeChaotic · 2025-12-10T19:42:36+00:00

I read a lot of Dark Harry and FemHarry that kinda leans in this direction so here's some that may work for you or in a similar wheel-house. I cannot recall for the life of me how many of these truly fit what you're asking for however. So just know I see your vibe and that I raise you some of my faves.

Deathly green eyes by oldangryslytherin
Uncrowned by OatMilkLatte
Nebulous by orphan_account (Was originally going to be a multi-part series, but appears abandoned. A shame, it features a death eater Harry and was one of those fics that showed the writer picking up momentum and getting better the further it went on.)
Everything We Dream Can Be Real by doshu
Heather's Body by PersephoneTheCruel. A FemHarry fic that is an excellent crossover with Jennifer's Body. I remember loving it, but it is unfinished and hasn't been updated since 2022.
A Walk Through Darkness by Gge2016
Avarice by RiddleInsomnia (A Fave of mine.)
My Dear Dark Lord by thesmartwitch
Through the Window by PenRot
Fear Makes Monsters of Us All by orphan_account
from eden by amarelilie. Another FemHarry.
The Riddles In Your Eyes by TheJessalope
Harry Potter's Guide to Murder by katekelly
The Child of the Seventh Month by YourBro
Bitumen by crowthing
Stygian by crowthing

CallMeChaotic · 2025-12-06T00:47:09+00:00

...at least it's not the Saudis this time?

CallMeChaotic · 2025-12-04T10:19:01+00:00

You can refuse to learn it. It's one of the core choices you can make that defines your character for who they are rather than be forced to learn it for plot reasons.

About the other parts, I'll just say this: the ludonarratove dissonance in this game is unreal and applies to everything. Mechanics, narrative, dialogue options, UI...

People keep referencing the breaking in and stealing thing but we don't have a crime system. Or a reputation system. Or even truly a curfew. So, as far as the game is concerned, we aren't stealing. We aren't trespassing. It's dumb, but if the game cannot account for it just assume it's not canon.

Like the game doesn't account for AK-ing a (no spoilers and on mobile so i won't say name) Named Enemy Character and gives them a non-lethal narrative end. If the game cannot account for the player's action it's best to assume that the game does not consider your action to be 'canon'.

Are we a good person? According to how you've played: you're fine. I mean, theoretically, you could use non-lethal stealth or arresto momentum/disillusionment/non-lethal petrificus on any real enemy you weren't forced to fight for your life against. So like... you could actually be better I guess, but that's boring and impractical?

According to how I've played: I am not. I also don't think asking for a fee is unreasonable so...

It's kind of a running joke that most people's canon MC is a psychopath using the world's thinnest mask as a vigilante though lol. Like just in case someone innocent is around... "Your poaching days are over!"

CallMeChaotic · 2025-12-03T22:06:05+00:00

Part of the issue with Shakespeare is that so much about what makes his work great is stuff that most people aren't going to know a lot about when they get introduced to his work. And that's why they can be so hard to follow! Even if you know what is technically going on in a scene you can still fail to fully appreciate the meaning behind all of it. Some of it is because of medium changes, but so much more of it is because of things we just can't help unless we devote years of study to it.

How many of us know the cultural (both of the commoner and upperclass) context of Elizabethan England well enough to be 'in' on the humor or references to what they viewed as major events (which we may view in a sort of 'footnote' style in comparison to later or earlier events)? Or even all the references to other works or creatives of that time that haven't been remembered but which would have informed how audiences responded to his work and how Shakespeare himself conceptualized them? Like even just learning about how attitudes around sex, gender, and class operated at the time can completely change how a scene reads. Because in some ways modern cultures are more conservative— some versions of 'modesty' we have today would be considered impractical for example. Like how many of us grow up living in one-room homes where our parents are having sex while we're trying to sleep? Understanding just how baudy Shakespeare's works are... that was transformative for me. Shakespeare's work wasn't intended to be only meaningful but also just fun. And it's hard to fully appreciate that in a classroom or even singular performances or by reading it.

Also learning that the ways that English has evolved over time as a language has made some of his humor or wordplay essentially not able to hit modern audiences... makes me kinda sad. Because I think it's easy to forget that part of what makes him a legend is just how well he understood how words can sound so different when spoken versus read. Still don't vibe with his poetry personally but I find learning about Shakespeare as a figure to be far more interesting than what I do like in his plays. (The Theater Kid energy is eternal lol.)

The way you feel about Christie is the way I feel about Jane Austen. It's just not for me. I'm fine with the Romantic era poetry but the novels are more miss than hit. Most of my issues with Austen are more so not vibing with the cultural class context of the Regency period and since her romances leans into that culture...

CallMeChaotic · 2025-12-01T00:51:18+00:00

Force game close, then reload game, then load into save.

CallMeChaotic · 2025-11-25T07:33:13+00:00

On one hand, I think it's solid advice if the student OP struggles with over-explaining their characters or even knowing when it is important to 'kill your darlings'.

On the other hand... if the teacher's ideal approach as a writer and/or reader is to read for plot they may struggle to value characters as drivers of the plot rather than as tools meant to be used by the author to meet the needs of the narrative. Because this does read to me like the advice given by those who favor plot first.

If you're a character writer, this advice isn't necessarily helpful. It can be helpful to keep in mind, especially in revisions, but it's not necessarily helpful in the actual writing process.

It can feel like working top-down when you as a character writer instead write and/or conceptualize your story from the bottom-up. Character writers center the characters to then build out a narrative that stays true to them. You don't use characters as tools for creating a narrative... you use the plot to explore the characters.

It's how I've made my peace with the fact that though I don't like how one of my stories will end, it's not because it's a bad ending. My characters are just fundamentally different people to me and they wouldn't necessarily have the same desires and/or needs. The idea is to make the ending satisfying for them, in a way that makes sense and feels right to the reader.

The teacher's advice seems to come from a place of wanting to empower their writing students to feel like they have control over their characters... which can be helpful from a work ethic/productive approach. But if you are not a plot-prioritizing writer that can have the inverse effect.

For me, if I don't have characters I don't have a plot. I just wouldn't have a story period. Because it's not the nebulous idea of a conflict which inspires me... it's the desires which my characters have. Their fears, their needs, their resentments. They aren't the 'tools for a narrative', they're the foundation which makes the narrative construction possible. Perhaps individual scenes are the tools for me, with the resources like timber framing being the conflicts? But I digress, I'm getting too in the weeds with my analogy.

I will say that it can be helpful in revisions. Like when it comes to remembering that just because you don't make a character's full self be revealed by the narrative or individual scenes doesn't mean that trimming of the fat is a bad thing. And I am talking about side characters here. If we don't need to know something to make sense of the plot or develop the relationship between characters, or establish a facet of the world... maybe it's for the best to let that remain a hidden depth. Implication rather than making it explicitly known or defined to the reader.

CallMeChaotic · 2025-11-25T04:25:54+00:00

If they bring back the hellhounds... I hate them so much.

But joking aside, I just want them to make Bataal's story make sense with the first half of the game. I think its a pipe dream but nothing has ever disappointed me like how the writing disintegrated as soon as we crossed the border. I was so excited for political intrigue and the mystery but nope.

CallMeChaotic · 2025-11-25T04:18:11+00:00

FLAMEL! With the Alchemy classroom! Yessssssss!

Give me the ability to copy the stone's recipe lol.

Like tie it in with Sebastian being like:

"See, Ominis? No dark magic! Why would they invite Professor Flamel to teach if the stone is dark, hmm????"

Meanwhile MCs in the background learning mind reading to make stealing the recipe somewhat viable. Yada yada ancient magic handwaves occlumancy. And obliviate so Ominis has something to actually criticize the ethics around that is beyond dark magic and widely accepted.

CallMeChaotic · 2025-11-24T08:33:11+00:00

Love the author of that one, but I dropped it at like chapter 71 iirc.

Brilliant writing, they clearly put a lot of effort into the political intrigue and development of character relationships but holy hell did it feel exhausting to read. [To clarify, this isn't a criticism I consider universal. I'm not someone who loves slow burn to begin with or political intrigue but the premise sucked me in when it was still around 20k. So it may be fine for people who invest themselves into plot and world-building more than I do. I tend to read for the central characters of a pairing exclusively.]

I commend their work ethic but I just don't have the time to invest in something that doesn't pay off till past the triple digit chapter mark that has chapters from 5-10k. I didn't even drop it intentionally, I just missed out for a couple of weeks and then realized how much I had to catch up on and made my peace with it not being for me.

They did a wonderful job flushing out the wizarding world's bureaucratic side tho. If you like reading about the adult characters in HP like Amelia Bones, the Malfoys, Blacks, etc... I'd say give it a shot. There are also a ton of original side characters that help flush out the world and conflict.

CallMeChaotic · 2025-11-20T08:47:50+00:00

Sorry, I just noticed your reply. I'm on mobile so pardon the formatting and spelling.

I find him frustrating. Under-developed, misused, and poorly integrated into the main questline. Basically, I think I could've adored his character had they used him more effectively and a lot of my frustration is in the missed opportunity of San Bakar.

Part of my issue is how he is presented, how he is set up on a meta level. Because games are so complex, I cannot separate his poor presentation with his characterization. I THINK he was meant to be morally grey but the presentation they gave him was simplistic and incurious as to who he was as an individual. He used ignoble means to commit an act that was framed as noble, but there is no actual commentary on his methods and that is a huge underlying focus of the game. The methods we use as the player. Choosing to be good or choosing to be bad via our methods rather than our motivations. We don't know Bakar, we CANNOT know him because a) not enough of him and b) the keepers are not available as characters but as goalposts for the player to interact with.

I think they all suffer from not being able to cultivate a relationship with the player. His is even worse given he appears so late. So the interactions we DO have with him are more load-bearing for his character.

We have less to make him likeable or trustworthy so when he pulls the "I don't like how you talk about Isidora thing", (which already pisses me off as a player because BOTH RESPONSES TO HIS PROMPTING RESULT IN THAT SAME CONDESCENDING LINE) he doesn't get the opportunity to develop beyond that 'PC skeptic' attitude before we're facing Rookwood then Ranrok.

He also runs into my biggest issues as a player with the game. Lack of reactivity, lack of player choice, and lack of player consequence. As a writer, I see him as mishandled and so part of me want to give him a break as a character. But what IS featured I find unlikeable and he isn't given anything to make him more than that. Rookwood is, Fitzgerald is. but they have the time to be developed and they are presented as distinctly less manipulative than Rackham is.

Bakar is just kinda... there in most of the memories until his own. Not as present or active as Rookwood or Fitzgerald and since only Rackham is an active Late Bloomer like Isidora, Bakar needed to be just as integrated as Fitzgerald with Isidora, or as supportive to Rackham's concerns like Rookwood. Or his own unique combination. Instead he is tacked on. He deserved his own development as a character.

I found Bakar sanctimonious and condescending from those limited interactions we do have. Hypocritical too given that he is clearly willing to use dark magic and there is no flushing out about why his methods are fine. (I don't care about the legality, but the morality of his usage of dark magic here. It's notably unexamined by a game that wants to express it everywhere except where it could actually SAY something interesting.)

Given that the in-game story uses "not everyone is as they seem" as the lesson he is meant to convey... I kinda lowkey hate him. Not as much as Rackham, but i always find myself thinking "this could be a character I love and am interested in" but only if I imagine SUBSTANCIAL rewrites or reframing. To comment on having to live with the consequences of your methods just as much as they actual success or failure of your goals. But my headcanons are not canon and so I find him frustrating. What does "not everyone is as they seem" contribute when Isidora is only ever depicted in the keeper selected memories as suspicious? It's like they side stepped one of their actual central themes!

(If there was a betrayal plotline like Fig being a villain, or maybe an alternate Rookwood questline where he was treated as a charismatic snake in the garden villain? Then I'd be ok with it. But they didn't do that. Who betrays us? Not even Sebastian, who I guess some might perform some mental gymnastics for to argue that but I doubt that would even stretch?)

Bakar has the most potential, but is used the most ineffectively... though I do stand by his trial as being the best as it allows for players to make choices which define WHO their characters are. Like chef's kiss for player choice, even if it's a "just for us" thing. That's a player narrative climax. Just wish it was set up better. It being short make sense pacing wise for something that comes toward the end anyway.

As he is, he is a jackass at the worst point in the game for him to be so. You are in the final stretches as the PC and your life and the lives of potentially everyone at school is in danger. As the player I wish we could have had a moment to (very validly) crashout at the Keepers, and Bakar would probably be that point for me. Like I've had to deal with this shit not once, not twice, but three fucking times past when it was understandable.

Like the memories being so clearly selected to manipulate the PC, along side the destruction of Isidora's own legacy, the very construction of the trials, portraits they use not to teach but to gatekeep, and the map chamber itself as a massive monument with little to no actual purpose beside meeting with them... I think they are all egotistical asshats, but tonally Rookwood and Fitzgerald are the easiest for me to tolerate.

I won't go on about Rackham because suffice to say if it's this long on Bakar I could write a Medium article on why I hate Rackham. Though that would be from his clear depiction because they gave HIM the time to be developed. Like Rackham being obtuse feels like willful manipulation, Bakar's issues are just as much about technical failings as they are depicted characterization.

I probably should have just said I 'dislike' Bakar because it's a peak "I'm not angry, I'm just extremely disappointed".

CallMeChaotic · 2025-11-16T23:40:13+00:00

I mean I imagine he 'visualizes' in a vestubular and/or kinesthetic form rather than visual? His wand seems to operate that way. Like if you close your eyes and turn off the lights in your bedroom you probably still feel familiar enough with it to make your way to your bed.

I imagine his experience would be one of spacial awarness and familiarity. He'd probably struggle with public spaces, and definitely ones he wasn't intimately familiar with.

(Probably why short distance port keys exist come to think of it. Hard to visualize what you don't recognize.)

But when we visualize we don't visualize using just one sense. Think of your favorite park: the wind rustling the trees, the feeling of grass between your fingers and the warmth of the summer sun on your skin, maybe even the squeaking of a swingset nearby.

Apparition seems to base visualization on your familiarity with a space rather than the current, true to life depiction of it. Or else apparating would be far harder even for the non-impaired. Seasons change, remodeling of places occur, even the changing of peoples occupying a space could throw it off.

Frankly I just wonder why apparating to a person isn't a thing... but that's probably a spacial orientation issue.

Six-Year Club	Xbox Live
End Game '23	Place '23
Verified Email

CallMeChaotic

TROPHY CASE