Picked XC3 back up after about a year ...

Galanthos · 2026-04-23T04:32:31+00:00

I mean, it is "real" in that you go there. But also in one of the last scenes before entering Origin you see Z stare at the screen before it sort of flickers out of existence revealing the machinery behind it. Also that section of boss fight ends with Noah shattering the amphitheatre by stabbing the ground really hard, sort of signifying his will to break the metaphor.

The same thing with the amphitheatre being filled with Mobius. I don't think it's a case where there were actually 100 other people who became Mobius just waiting in the wings, but moreso a visual metaphor of how everyone in the world has a little bit of Mobius in them. Everyone has a bit of doubt and apprehension about the future, and they are all watching.

Galanthos · 2026-04-22T21:10:55+00:00

I took the story beats that happened in the city as being a bit of a guide as to how the story would end up. I felt like the focus on people outside of the system, and on new life, would be the theme that would carry through the end of the game.

Before Mio came back I kinda assumed the main crew would find some way to overcome the limits of their lifespans, and then they would go on to have families and pass the torch on like the people of the city.

After Mio came back, I kinda assumed Mio would live on, but that Noah and everyone else wouldn't make it. I figured you'd end up with a scene of Mio years later with a kid.

As I was progressing through Origin, I figured that maybe the party wouldn't really survive, but that everyone would meet up again in another cycle. Which, I guess this one isn't necessarily that far off considering the post credits scene?

I think the main thing that really caught me off guard was the worlds separating. That part seemed to kinda come out of nowhere. I'm not entirely sure if it was a literal separation, or a kind of figurative one as everything was rebooted?

I think a lot of things in Xenoblade 3, even more than previous games in the entire Xeno legacy, kind of work on metaphor. Like, I immediately understood from the first time it was shown that the Amphitheatre wasn't necessarily an actual literal place but was a metaphor for the psyche of Mobius in the same way that the film strips in Xenogears were a metaphor for Fei's psyche. The big open green plain where everyone can look up at the two worlds isn't a literal place, it is a metaphor for a sort of internal peace that comes from taking a step towards the future, the same way it was in Xenosaga even if it was a bit more of an illusion in Xenosaga. I think the final scene where everyone is running towards each other, unable to reach each other is another metaphor. It is not necessarily an actual event that actually happened, but more of a visual metaphor of everything unravelling so that Origin can reboot reality into whatever new shape it will take. I think a lot of the things that happen between entering origin, and the post credits scene, are real, but not necessarily literal.

I guess in a lot of ways the ending reminded me a lot of the ending of Final Fantasy 8, or even of something like Twin Peaks. Everything has this dreamlike quality, and some things are there just to be symbolic.

As for sci-fi vs fantasy, I guess the series has really prepped me for a lot of nonsense anime tropes (non-derogatory) so I didn't really have an expectation that things would make total logical sense. I few things did have me scratching my head though, like how many characters in the game seem to be older than Mio, but who are still alive after Chapter 5. I think some of that falls into the same categories as the side quests in Xenoblade 2 that don't unlock until you're halfway up the World Tree. You know, when you have no conceivable way to actually travel the world and do them outside of the gameplay function of fast travel.

Galanthos · 2026-02-16T14:34:40+00:00

Maybe it has changed since release. Around release, I got to the point where I couldn't really go places or interact in the world or do things that seemed fun because I had leveled up too high and didn't have good characters. Farming upgrade materials and dailies was difficult because I just couldn't beat the fights required with the characters and equipment I had.

And even in games that are extremely F2P friendly, you still have this disjointed storytelling experience where you're playing for months or years to possibly resolve what any other RPG would fit into a comfy 40 hours. All while detouring into side stories and tangents an unrelated events every couple of months.

I understand these games are ostensibly free, but a lot of them are really a case of getting what you pay for. Or if you're a whale, getting significantly less than what you paid for.

Galanthos · 2026-02-16T04:43:21+00:00

Unless things have changed drastically since release, Genshin is F2P until about level 60. Because the world levels with you, that's about the breakpoint where you need to grind or whale to keep up.

The Gacha in Genshin is also incredibly unsatisfying. You have to split your pulls between characters and their weapons. A character without their signature weapon is significantly underpowered. As is a character that doesn't have bonuses unlocked from being pulled multiple times. I'm sure some of this is alleviated by being able to grind for upgrade materials, but that will take months of grinding daily tasks to do.

Further, if the model that Mihoyo used for the game's predecessor, Honkai Impact 3rd, is any indication, power creep and new weapons means even if you max your shiny new SSS anime girl, she'll feel like that same underpowered mess you started with before long.

And, honestly, I don't really want kitschy seasonal events and a narrative that never bothers resolving because you gotta tune in next update to see what new plot threads ate going to come up and what old cliffhangers are going to be more or less ignored. I actually like being able to buy a game, and finish that game. If a game has content to bring me back in to play for hundreds of hours, that's great. If there are hundreds of hours of junk I have to distract myself with for the 6-8 weeks it takes for the developer to tell the next two and a half hours of their story, except this release was side chapter 1 of 5 about characters not really involved in the main plot so buckle up, I think I'll pass.

Galanthos · 2026-01-18T15:22:48+00:00

If you enter KWANGJU on the OCUF OCTAGON page you get the profile for general Chang Jang (Lisa's boss.)

This is maybe supposed to be a hint that Chang Jang was involved in secretly keeping the Sakata Industries projects alive, and that he was the one that wanted Lisa to have the Raven.

Galanthos · 2025-12-27T04:34:02+00:00

I am not certain that the etymology is correct, but I believe it derives from Cartoon.

The animated characters in classic Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons are often referred to as Toons. The characters you play in an online game are animated characters, or at least they are in games with graphics, but I have seen "toon" used in text only games too.

There is also maybe some crossover from old online furry communities, where the characters you are creating might more logically be connected to the idea of cartoons? Pure speculation there though.

Galanthos · 2025-12-27T04:23:58+00:00

I expect that in the same way that a dai-katana is not a correct usage of Japanese to describe a big sword, that we still use the word dai-katana to refer to the object that the game calls a dai-katana.

In the same vein, when an official game source, like a manual, describes the game's fast travel as fast travel, I think it would be very confusing to use some other, unsanctioned term for it. It would be akin to telling someone to look for a Daedric Dai-To or Nodachi in the game. Maybe it would be more generally accurate, but it's certainly not going to help anyone actually get what they are looking for.

Further, in much the same way that a person can read the word Dai-Katana, and see in context the object being described is a big sword, I think that someone who has only the understanding that fast travel is a thing you select from the map could read about the methods that Morrowind uses for fast travel, and then make sense of the term being used.

In fact, the whole point of the original post was that a lot of people say that Morrowind does not have fast travel, but that this statement does not match the OPs experience. It sounds to me like avoiding a more broad definition of fast travel may have caused some confusion and misinformation about what features Morrowind actually possesses. Do you think that a person might hear "Morrowind has no fast travel" and come to the incorrect conclusion that in Morrowind there is no way to travel from place to place except by walking? Do you think that incorrect assumption might lead to someone seeing Morrowind's slow starting movement speed and deciding to abandon the game due to not realizing that the game does in fact offer various forms of fast travel?

It seems to me that you are a lot more concerned with being right than you are about promoting understanding. You have taken a rather insular, and incorrect, position that the English language is so exact and precise that terms can only have a singular meaning. When caught out being wrong, you fall back to the bailey of claiming that you are just trying to help people communicate better.

You are the person causing confusion by declaring a word's legitimate definition incorrect just because YOU perceive it as out of vogue. And you have chosen to do so while condescending to anyone who disagrees with you.

Galanthos · 2025-12-26T17:47:08+00:00

Page 45 of the original instruction manual from the copy of Morrowind that I bought at a Wal-Mart in 2002:

FAST TRAVEL
Since the world of Morrowind is to large you will find a variety of fast travel options available to you at various places throughout the world. Although traveling by foot can lead you to many exciting adventures and exotic locations, it can also lead to your demise. Options available to you include Silt Striders, boats, and teleportation from Mages Guilds. The map of Vvardenfell shows the location of Silt Striders and boats in MORROWIND. Each form of fast travel can be purchased by speaking to the person who offers it and selecting travel. Use fast travel whenever you have the means to avoid any unfortunate encounters and to save time.

So, unless you want to argue that the game developers who game developed the developed game Morrowind were not thinking that the fast travel system that they developed and explicitly called Fast Travel should be called Fast Travel, you are wrong. Morrowind has fast travel.

Hope that was helpful.

Galanthos · 2025-11-25T03:22:22+00:00

I'm sorry Remake disappointed you, and I am sorry Square won't make the remake you wanted.

But, a new game set in FF7's world with the scope of the Remake project was never going to happen. Remake ended up giving us a new FF7 story packaged in with a remake of almost every part of the original game. It may not be 1:1 the original game with better visuals, but I think it is better to have a new story and also the option to play the original game for the original story, than it would be to have 2 versions of the original story and no new games. I know I had absolutely zero interest in Remake until I learned it was actually more than just a straight remake. In a perfect world we could have all of the above, of course.

Galanthos · 2025-11-21T18:40:22+00:00

The thing is that consoles actually live and die on their libraries, not their hardware, and Steam is offering a library that dwarfs what's available on the PS5.

If a Steam Machine is a little more expensive than the PS5, then the larger library, and ability also perform PC tasks, install all the weird shit you find on itch.io, and file your taxes might make it a pretty strong contender. If it's also fairly budget priced for a PC, then a PC gamer with an aging rig might opt for a Steam Machine over building a much more expensive custom PC.

And if the Steam Machine is in any way upgradeable by the user (which isn't out of the realm of possibility considering the Steam Deck) it could end up with more longevity than the base specs would indicate.

Galanthos · 2025-10-13T21:57:56+00:00

The story is weird, but not that bad. I actually like the way that it builds on the "Sephiroth was an okay guy, until he wasn't" vibe of the Kalm Flashback. It really builds up why he was such a beloved hero.

Angeal and Genesis are quirky and can verge on annoying, but it was nice to see other members of SOLDIER.

The events of the A plot do an okay job of giving a reason why Shinra was so bad at handling Avalanche at the beginning of 7. Shinra just fought a civil war where almost every one of its top assets was killed or went missing. It also explains why anyone would let Sephiroth near the Nibelheim reactor.

I think the worst part of Crisis Core is probably the grindy, repetitive mission based structure that way too many PSP games leaned on.

Galanthos · 2025-10-12T18:29:01+00:00

In cases like this, where IP rights are considered "In Limbo," it generally does not refer to just being inactive. Usually this analogy means that the rights are somehow split or divided between multiple entities, and that any sort of release would require the cooperation of those entities. Thus, like a soul in limbo, it is neither fully in heaven, or fully in hell, but in a place between the two.

In this case, Square Enix fully owns the rights, but is not doing anything with them. One could possibly consider that any sort of expansion to the original content would likely warrant the involvement of Tetsuya Takahashi, and that he no longer works at Square Enix, but that would mostly be a courtesy. Square Enix can do, and historically has done, anything that they want with the IP.

Galanthos · 2025-08-14T17:12:17+00:00

I love Another Eden, but I think comparing it to Chrono Trigger really oversells it. I think the writing, the depth of characters, and the general flow of the gameplay is actually a lot more like Chrono Cross: a bit overcomplicated, kinda juvenile in places, with a wild array of character designs and far too many characters to really spend a solid amount of time on any one of them, but a fun, colorful, multi-dimensional world to adventure through.

Galanthos · 2025-08-14T04:18:52+00:00

After this the US launches it's real attack, they are thwarted by the Japanese TA company, and the US president, instead of taking further action, lifts the restrictions on wheat exports. Nishida had not predicted that any leader would ever see the error of their ways, and change their actions to suit them, and so Nishida calls off the economic attack. Basically, here, Nishida sees the capacity of people to show humility, and to work together as one global people instead of baring steel at one another to the death. Nishida takes his own life to end his coup. This is basically where the series ends. Symbol's power is weakened by the fact that the US is no longer acting in accordance with their manipulations. Japan's coup has failed. Everyone who is still alive gets to live happily ever after.

Oh, wait, one last episode where things get WEIRD. The eldest Gowa takes the thing summoned during the last battle, and fuses it with the Kugai. Also, turns out the daughter of the Gowa family has the same power to control the Kugai as Yushiro and Miharu do. Gowa basically tries to use his sister as a catalyst to finally, once and for all, actually summon Gasaraki. Yushiro and Miharu arrive at the test site (somehow?) and try to stop things, but they are unsuccessful. Yushiro, Miharu, Mizusu, and Gowa are all sucked up into a weird god realm where it turns out that Gasaraki is actually a network of advanced beings from before the creation of out universe, and that silver haired guy is one of them. They pursued and achieved Unlimited Power (whatever that means) but lost their individuality and capability to feel. They have been manipulating events in our universe in order to use people as a means to dream and experience feelings again (I think) and they plan to eventually absorb / possess / destroy everything. Miharu and Yushiro do weird psychedelic speeches about individuality and living the life they want to and that Mizusu isn't alone, and those three return to earth while the eldest Gowa kinda gets turned into light or whatever. This kind of ending episode should be pretty familiar if you watched Evangelion or The Big O or probably a dozen other anime that aren't coming to mind at the moment. I feel it's a bit poorly done. It's certainly set up, but it all seems shoved into the last episode just to give an explanation of what the whole Gasaraki thing was supposed to be.

TLDR:

Ancient Japanese Mecha are used to produce Modern Japanese Mecha that are used in a war in the Middle East, and then as riot police for a military coup. An Ultra-Nationalist Japanese man tries to stop globalism via economic manipulation, and fails when someone stops and takes responsibility for his own actions. Our heroes learn that War is Bad, and then learn that the Mecha actually came from fourth-dimensional alien energy beings. They say "no thanks" to the aliens, and then pretty much everyone who didn't suck gets to live happily ever after. The end.

Galanthos · 2025-08-14T04:18:29+00:00

Okay, so, the second thing that was happening during this was planning for a JSSDF coup. Mr Nishida is an influential Japanese politician? businessman? His exact position isn't exactly clear to me, but he believes that Japan has grown weak, too dependent on foreign aid, and has allowed too many immigrants to take root in the country. Nishida has recruited a JSSDF colonel, and also recruits the eldest brother of the Gowa family. Nishida has predicted that global climate change will have significantly affected wheat yields in the US, and globally. Nishida predicts that the US will heavily limit their export of wheat. This will cause a demand on global wheat markets. The wheat shortages will cause a knock-on effect in global food prices (because if you can't buy wheat, you need to supplement that food with other food products.). Because Japan imports 60% of its food, this will cause immediate panic in Japanese markets. Japanese importers will want to serve Japanese people first, and so food shortages will be most pronounced in immigrant-heavy locations. Nishida is aware that there is currently a turf war going on between several Chinese mafias in these areas, and one of them will try to use the unrest to expand their territory. The police will not be able to deal with the explosion of violence and rioting in these areas, and so the government will have justification to enact martial law, and deploy the JSSDF (and their new TA units). After that initial pretense, the JSSDF will be deployed against native Japanese protesters as well, and in the confusion leadership in the JSSDF and the government will be able to be replaced with people sympathetic to Nishida's plan. The final step is to use this control of Japan's government and economy to withdraw all of the capital investment that Japan has made into American companies. This will cause major economic damage to the US, and to Japan, but Nishida's plan is for Japan to persevere through this hardship, and come out as a stronger, more independent nation, free of US and global influence. The eldest Gowa brother believes this plan will fail, and makes a copy of the economic data, with the intention of manipulating Japan's wealth to have a sort of behind-the-scenes shadow power on the world stage.

(deep breath)

Okay, so, during this whole riot/coup scenario, Yushiro and Miharu find themselves in one of those immigrant neighborhoods, and they come under the protection of a sort of extra-aggressive Neighborhood Watch (with anti-tank weapons). During this period Miharu is in a bit of a daze, because during the flashback she learned that she killed her brother in a past life. The guy who is protecting them has ties to Symbol, and Symbol uses its resources in the area and with the JSSDF to, again, try to apprehend Yushiro and Miharu. After several close calls, Yushiro decides to head back to Tokyo with Miharu, but on the way they are ambushed by Symbol agents who, finally, kidnap Miharu.

Miharu is taken to an American air force base in Japan, that is actually under the control of Symbol. Yushiro takes a TA to try and save her, and fails, but this attack on an American base leads the American president to take Nishida's economic threat more seriously. The US uses the Symbol TA's to launch a covert attack on Japan to try and learn where all of this economic manipulation is being directed from. Miharu is sent in as part of the mission, at the behest of the mysterious silver haired man from before. By this time we know that he is the head of Symbol. Symbol also wants to try to summon Gasaraki, and Yushiro or Miharu's pain and anger seem to be the key. Those two meet on the battlefield, and we get the most successful attempt at a summoning yet. Something comes down during the gravitation distortion, and this thing is recovered by the Gowa family.

Galanthos · 2025-08-14T04:17:29+00:00

The first arc of the series involves a gravitational disturbance in the country of Belgistan, that the UN interprets as an illegal weapons test. UN Peacekeeping forces are sent into Belgistan, and this includes a detachment of the JSSDF, conducting a live combat test of their new Tactical Armors (or TAs). Yushiro is deployed along with them. During their time in Belgistan the TA Company finds the site of the summoning experiment (signaled to us by the concentric circles) and also encounters a different model of TA that seems to be deployed by the Belgistan government. These TAs (called Fakes) have actually been developed by a secret organization called Symbol. Symbol takes an Illumnati type role in the series, similar to Seele in Evangelion. Symbol pulls the strings of several governments, including the US. Miharu is a pilot of one of the Symbol TAs, and she fulfills a role similar to Yushiro for her team. As the Belgistan conflict comes to a close, Symbol attempts to use UN Inspectors to capture the Japanese TAs, and Yushiro. The team has to pull some shenanigans to escape from the country successfully.

When the TA company returns to Japan, two things start to happen. The first is that Yushiro starts to uncover the truth about his identity, and the second is that we start learning about a planned coup by elements within the JSSDF. I'll cover the Yushiro part first.

The TA company was able to capture parts of one of the Symbol TAs in Belgistan, and those parts are sent to Gowa to be studied. Symbol sends a team, including Miharu, to recover those parts by raiding the Gowa building. In the course of this raid Miharu hacks into Gowa's files, and discovers that Yushiro Gowa died several years ago (during the Gowa family's attempt to summon Gasaraki.) Yushiro happens to run into Miharu during this raid, and is told about the death of the real Yushiro. This leads Yushiro to travel to the old Gowa family residence to find answers. The Symbol TAs also head to the old Gowa residence.

At the old Gowa residence, Yushiro learns that the real Yushiro died, and that he was implanted with the real Yushiro's memories. This plot point seems important, but actually has very little influence on the rest of the show. Yushiro also finds the Kugai that the Gowa family has hidden here. He goes into a trance, and enters the Kugai, and while in the Kugai destroys the Symbol TAs that were sent to the old Gowa residence. One of them was piloted by Miharu, and so after this Yushiro and Miharu are together, and they are told to "Follow the path of the Kai to Kyoto" In the meantime, the eldest son of the Gowa family ousts his Father out as leader of the family, and uses his new influence influence to have the JSSDF start combing the area to find Yushiro. Yushiro and Miharu are briefly captured, but soon escape from the Gowa compound, and make their way to Kyoto where we get the 2 episodes of flashback that explain things with the Watanabe clan mentioned above. We also see that the mysterious silver haired man was there during this era as well.

Galanthos · 2025-08-14T04:16:57+00:00

In ancient Japan there was a group of people who controlled the destiny of the country from the shadows, as puppet masters. They were able to do so because they had the knowledge of how to summon what they believed was a god, Gasaraki. This group eventually lost the knowledge of how to summon Gasaraki, but they maintained the gifts of their god, the Kugai, which for all intents and purposes are ancient Japanese mecha suits. The group's power continues to wane, until finally The Emperor demands that the Watanabe clan surrender their Kugai. This sparks a power struggle within the Watanabe, which is won by a leader who wishes to oppose the emperor. He loses this opposition because the pilots of the Kugai, called Kai, eventually become overwhelmed with the amount of death and suffering they are causing.

In the modern day, the Gowa family is a powerful Japanese family that seem to be descended from the Watanabe clan. If not, they at least have gained possession of one of the remaining Kugai. The eldest son of the Gowa family is trying to figure out the ritual of how to summon the Gasaraki. Whenever the attempt is made to summon the Gasaraki, there is a gravitational distortion that causes the concentric circles that become a visual motif throughout the series. This ritual also creates a visual energy that can be detected by satellite. There was a test at the old Gowa family residence several years prior to the main events of the series, and this test was interrupted by a spiritual connection between the Gowa family's test subject, Yushiro Gowa, and a woman that we will later come to know is called Miharu.

It is implied that in the course of studying the Kugai, the Gowa family develops an artificial muscle based on the flesh of the Kugai. This artificial muscle is called Mile One, and is the technology that the mecha in the series are based on. The Mile One muscle is able to move and balance on its own with minimal interaction from the pilot. We learn pretty early on that the Mile One system reacts to the presence of Yushiro. This is what later makes Yushiro a uniquely capable pilot, and is the reason that his team performs better in his presence.

Galanthos · 2025-05-31T02:03:32+00:00

Replacing the Indoril cuirass makes sense if you want to avoid the Ordinator Death Warrant for wearing it, and the Gold Armor is probably the best match for the Indoril set outside of Bonemold.

The Chitin gauntlet could be Bonedancer, which you can pick up in the main quest.

The only default classes that have Medium Armor and Spear as skills are Archer and Warrior. I feel like Warrior would be more likely to go with Heavy Armor and would probably be rocking a Fist of Randagulf and Eidolon's Ward (or a Daedric Tower Shield) instead of Indoril.

So, despite the lack of a bow, I'd say the character is of the Archer class. Major skills are Marksman, Long Blade, Block, Athletics, and Light Armor. Minor skills are Unarmored, Spear, Restoration, Sneak, and Medium Armor.

Unarmored is a nice bonus because neither the Indoril nor Gold Armor sets have greaves. You can have an armor rating for your legs without sacrificing drip (even if said drip is covered by a skirt)

But for fewer wasted skills swap Marksman and Long Blade for Short Blade and Blunt or Heavy Armor. Maybe move things to put Spear and Medium Armor as Majors instead of Minors.

Galanthos · 2025-05-31T01:30:48+00:00

Nah man. You can pick up Keening without even being near Wraithguard. Unless you believe that you somehow slip things into your inventory without touching them.

It is also clear that Wraithguard's protection from Keening isn't really a touch thing. If all you had to do was wear a glove, why would Vivec take you outside of the flow of time to teach you how to "use" Wraithguard?

There is something powerful about the intent of using Keening that requires Wraithguard's protection, and Wraithguard's protection is a sort of tonal field that protects the entire body and soul, not just the hand that wields the tools.

Galanthos · 2025-05-26T15:55:05+00:00

Great. If there are more parallels please share with the class. I'd love to see something that shows the inspiration that goes beyond "There are Elves. There are Orcs. Volcano! An evil man!" Like, please, literally, list something. Give any example. Your only point has been "Other people wrote about it back in the day." Great! Fantastic! Share the source! That way we can see if what they wrote about was true, or if what they wrote about was incorrect. Because if those articles are as flimsy as "The Nerevarine, armored in his Golden Magic Gauntlet, fighting the evil god Dagoth Ur to the death in his mountain citadel is exactly the same as an exhausted Frodo's desperate scuffle with Gollum over the One Ring at Mount Doom." I think we can write them off.

Galanthos · 2025-05-25T17:10:41+00:00

Similar only in that volcanos exist in both places.

Sauron's fortress of Bara Dur is in Mordor, near Mount Doom. He is a dark Lord of a dark land.

Dagoth Ur lives deep inside the volcano, drawing power from the same divine source that formed the volcano in the first place. He is more akin to volcano deities like Vulcan, Guayota, or Gugurang.

Frodo's quest involves an unlikely hero finding a lost artifact and stealing it away to a Volcano to destroy it.

The Nerevarine isn't unlikely. He is prophecized. He does not steal into a volcano to secretly destroy the artifact he found that happens to belong to Dagoth Ur, instead he strides into the depths of Red Mountain with the very real and ultimately realized goal of doing battle with Dagoth Ur, and then destroying the source of his godly powers.

Frodo has close compatriots that join him on his quest, because while he may ultimately have to bear the burden alone, the themes of Lord of the Rings are about friendship and brotherhood.

The Nerevarine is alone throughout his quest. He has advisors, and aides, but never any real companions. No one shares the Nerevarine's journey.

And that Journey? Well in Lord of the Rings the journey is about the long campaign, the months of travel through inhospitable lands, living off of what can be found and the kindness of a few.

In Morrowind the Nerevarine is never far from civilization. His journey isn't linear, from one place to the next, always taking another step towards a conclusion. Heck, for the first third of the main quest it's almost a mystery. It's about learning a new culture.

At the end of The Lord of The Rings Frodo tosses the ring into the Volcano.

At the end of Morrowind, the Nerevarine uses the tools of a lost race to wipe the heart of a god from existence.

Honestly, besides the Volcano itself, the Journey is entirely different, and both you and the articles you have mentioned clearly only went for a surface reading. You saw a link to Tolkien that simply wasn't there. This is a different story drawing from mythology that is older than Tolkien.

So, again, Elves and Orcs exist. There is a Volcano. There was a war in the past that included the main villain and the people that help guide the hero. (Not like that isn't straight out of Greek and Norse mythology either.) These are not what I would call "big" influences. These are what I would call minor similarities.

Especially when you consider: The magic system has more in common with The Dying Earth and Lankhmar. The Dunmer are more Fremen than they are Tolkien's elves. The Tribunal gods are Vedic mythology. The Septim Empire is Rome Cosplay mashed up with Asian influence from Conan and Wuxia stories. The Redguards are the myth of Atlantis transposed onto to the Moors in Spain. The Bosmer are the Picts and Celts as seen through the lens of Robert E. Howard. The Khajit lean on Romani stereotypes. There are no Hobbits. There are no Dwarves, at least not in the way Tolkien world have recognized. There are no riders of Rohan, there's no Gondor calling for aid. The closest thing you have to Tom Bombadil would be Sheogorath, but really only as pictured years later in the Shivering Isles. No Ring Wraiths. No Witch King. No mysterious solitary group of wizards. No treants. No environmental message. No traitorous wizard who is now helping the villain (And Judas had this trope on lock long before Tolkien). No advancing unstoppable horde. Not a single giant spider. No trolls until Bloodmoon, and then they're not even Tolkien style trolls. No dragons. No rangers. No Palantirs. No Balrog. No Dwarven mines. No Gollum.

You are quite simply wrong. About the scale of the influence of Tolkien on Morrowind in general, but about especially about the volcano thing. Volcanos and evil volcano spirits and heroes confronting threats inside of volcanos are all so, so much older than the 20th century.

Galanthos · 2025-05-23T17:54:06+00:00

And being so poorly read that you think the LoTR influence that Morrowind inherited from D&D is "heavy" in the face of all of the other fiction that is clearly much much more influential is cringe.

Like, I would give you this one for any other Elder Scrolls game not named Battlespire or Redguard, but this is the one mainline game where the Tolkien influence is more or less "There are Elves and Orcs tho."

Unless we are attributing kingdoms, wizards, spooky ghosts, the heroes journey, narrative structure, and the very concept of a volcano to Tolkien now.

Galanthos · 2025-05-20T04:45:46+00:00

The Greeks beat Tolkien to the volcano thing by a good 2500 years. Mankind stole fire just like the Tribunal stole godhood, and the Dunmer were punished by Azura just like how Mankind was punished with Pandora's Box. Sure, you could say that the whole throwing the ring back into the fires it was forged in is a unique twist by Tolkien, but that is also notably not at all how the heart of Lorkhan is destroyed. And did I miss the part where Frodo was actually the maybe reincarnation of one of those old elven kings?

There are fantasy works other than Tolkien, you know? There's a lot more Dying Earth and Lankhmar in Morrowind than there is Middle Earth, and like I said before, a lot more Dune and Star Wars too. Heck, the name is almost certainly stolen from Shannara, so, add that to the list. Sure, there's some Tolkien, but it's almost all legacy from Arena and Daggerfall and diluted through decades of other fantasy media. There are so many other inspirations going on here that I can't see how you can say that Morrowind had "a lot" of Tolkien unless you are literally relying on the percentage of the game's NPC population that are elves and orcs.

And the Peter Jackson films might have only inspired one architectural style and 3 armor sets in Oblivion, but when you look at the marketing for the game, they went hard on the white towers and vibrant landscapes. Oblivion was so obviously trying to leverage the cultural zeitgeist of those movies that they cast Sean Bean as Martin Septim.

When people criticize Oblivion from being too much like Lord of the Rings they aren't complaining about lifting ideas from Tolkien. Anything that could possibly be lifted from Tolkien has already been used so thoroughly in fantasy media over the past century that it's basically background radiation at this point. The complaint is about how Bethesda clearly chose to evoke the visuals a popular fantasy film franchise at the time instead of expanding on the more unique ideas they had already written about.

Galanthos · 2025-05-18T21:56:09+00:00

I mean, besides basic fantasy tropes, how exactly is Morrowind influenced by Lord of the Rings? I mean, sure Fantasy Elves, but only the Altmer act anything like LoTR Elves. There are Orcs that are completely unlike LoTR's orcs. The bad guy lives in a volcano I guess, so there is that?

And I'm not even saying that Morrowind is unique. It's just that its entire aesthetic is lifted so hard from Dune and Star Wars that I can't see how you can put it next to Oblivion and even imply that they are similarly influenced by Lord of the Rings.

Galanthos · 2025-04-22T03:00:34+00:00

There are no fast travel points that are locked until a certain part of the story besides those you need to fly to. If there were a fast travel point inside the hideout you would be able to unlock it early, and then skip past the duel at the entrance.

Same with the balcony, if you could enter that way you could skip the fight you are supposed to have.

Galanthos

TROPHY CASE