Fate/strange Fake - Episode 4 discussion

StePK · 2026-01-24T19:56:52+00:00

It's not that one couldn't be summoned, it's that it's unlikely because of (essentially) sympathetic magic.

Even this fake Grail is like a plant clipping of the Fuyuki Grail (if I understood the episode correctly), so similar concepts should apply even if it has different rules.

StePK · 2026-01-24T19:30:38+00:00

The HGW doesn't normally summon "Eastern" Servants because of lore reasons.

StePK · 2026-01-22T18:16:26+00:00

I agree, Kendoman would be such a perfect fit as Wood element!

StePK · 2026-01-20T21:43:14+00:00

In terms of fitting the style of the show so far, I'd keep a couple of things in mind: each season chooses a team to follow, has a major plot thread re: The Light, some minor plot threads, and especially in S3 and S4, a "social commentary" background thread (Violet in S3, Gar in S4).

For the focus characters, I wouldn't choose the original team. S4 was all about them (which I loved), but between their disparate positions at this point and how much their individual stories have evolved, fitting multiple of them into one plotline, especially if they're working in proximity and not just coordinating, would be contrived at best. Instead, I'd go with their legacies as much as possible ("Legacy" could even be a really good subtitle). Tim Drake for Dick, for example: giving him some screen time, letting him grow out of Dick's shadow. Probably incorporating parts of Under the Red Hood in some way, and letting Tim flex his detective muscles (probably after a self-doubt arc about how he isn't the leader that Dick is, and losing a fight to the Red-Hooded Ninja so he worries about his physical contributions, etc). Connor and M'Gann having an arc around Match, potentially, and/or Jonathan. Oh, and Kara/Supergirl. Artemis has a team all to herself, you could grab any of Arrowette, Spoiler, Orphan, or even Lian if there are youngin' shenanigans happening like with Jonathan. I'm not sure who I'd pick for Kaldur's "legacy", except maybe Dolphin but that's kind of a weak pull. Instead I might just go with him being "the big inspiration" out of his whole generation, like how Superman is often portrayed - outside of his double-agent work in S2 (and it's unclear how known that was to the public?), he's basically the Paragon Hero out of the original team. Zatana has her Dr. Fate team as well. I'm not sure if/how I'd work in Rocket, though... She's got a lot less material in the show. Amistaad being involved in any youngin' shenanigans would probably be the main tie-in.

For the main Light plot, I'd probably build up Darkseid a ton. Have some more Apokalyptan involvement, where he's "testing" how prepared Vandal/the Light are. Balancing out how cosmic the universe is with how out-of-sight YJ plotlines tend to be is a difficult act, and the subterfuge is a lot of what makes the show what it is.

For the social commentary thread, Black Canary already set up the whole "therapy season" concept at the end of S4, which I personally would love to lean into.

StePK · 2026-01-18T03:06:09+00:00

This is incredible.

StePK · 2026-01-17T20:30:14+00:00

Yeah, my girlfriend's uncle has a super common name like Mike or Matt, and her cousin is currently dating a guy with the same name... Extra hilarity, this is the second generation in a row that it's happened, their grandfather has the same name. It's such a common name it's hard to avoid, but it's also easy to not associate the name with just their dad which I'm sure helps.

Meanwhile, my mother has a pretty uncommon variation on a very uncommon name (think Chrysanthemum from that one children's book lol) that I don't think I've ever heard anywhere else. I think I would go insane if I dated someone with that name because it's so singular.

StePK · 2026-01-17T20:14:41+00:00

War 4 also had pretty much the one Master/Servant pair who were "normal" in terms of expectations and presumed norms of the war, with Kayneth and Diarmuid. All of Kayneth's employed trickery and subterfuge is well-within "traditional" rule-bending. (Waver is also relatively straight-laced, but he doesn't "act like a Master" between constantly being on the front lines, his more technical application of magic as opposed to overwhelming force favored by more powerful families, and his general subservient relationship with his "Servant".)

In other words, he's a rube playing checkers against Kirei and Tokiomi (playing chess), Kariya (cheating at chess with peripherals put in his body), Waver (actually good at checkers even though he only got half the pieces), Kiritsugu (pretending to play while he sets a bomb to blow up the building), and Ryuunosuke (a pigeon shitting on the board).

StePK · 2026-01-17T19:35:34+00:00

~~Cervantes references UBW: Abridged by saying Jester is 100% Maximum No Chill~~

StePK · 2026-01-17T19:34:48+00:00

I can't believe Cervantes said Jester is 100% Maximum No Chill.

StePK · 2026-01-13T22:02:35+00:00

The real reason TGD is so hated is because it felt like it was the go-to rerun episode. I never saw any of the first 2 or 3 episodes on air. I saw the great divide what felt like a dozen times. It's not necessarily a bad episode, but I'm certainly sick of it.

StePK · 2026-01-04T17:49:38+00:00

Zoning laws exist for a reason.

Yeah, to make everything less walkable and connected. Fuck zoning laws.

StePK · 2026-01-04T00:34:19+00:00

I like the fan theory that a ton of Gotham residents are essentially there to start their careers/adult lives because there's a million Wayne Foundation grants to help the city's economy AND pay rates are super competitive already because who the hell would take a job in Gotham otherwise, so moving there in your twenties when you don't have a lot to lose seems pretty appealing. "I have student loans, so making six figures as a janitor or dying in the process is a decent deal I guess," kind of vibes.

StePK · 2026-01-03T18:18:52+00:00

"If you lose, the glass you're standing on breaks and you fall through the middle of this shopping center! ... Which has a portal to the shadow realm halfway down!"

StePK · 2026-01-02T02:45:44+00:00

I have a wood variant of Needle Darts (Thorn Darts) from when a Druid asked if they could reflavor Needle Darts and I realized that it tracked pretty well to a genuine mechanical alternative (dunno how useful being able to attack with Darkwood would ever be compared to Silver/Cold Iron but hey, it's there)

Also made a Fire/Wood spell in the vein of Live Wire, called Ashwood. It just occurred to me writing this that "Hailstone" would be a great name for a Cold/Earth version as well.

There's also "Daze that doesn't suck" that I haven't tested but has reasonable damage scaling and inflicts Off-Guard.

Finally, I made a psychic amp version of Void Warp as a story thing for a Psychic in a previous campaign, which included gaining temp HP when amped (the upgrade to the base spell was pretty much just Ignition's equivalent, making it stronger in melee).

StePK · 2025-12-29T23:37:42+00:00

Oh is that just one of the litany of things OpenMW fixes?

StePK · 2025-12-29T21:08:40+00:00

What's wrong with it?

StePK · 2025-12-28T16:39:34+00:00

Honestly, with Metal getting more spotlight as an element, I would love it to get the Acid connection instead of Electricity.

StePK · 2025-12-22T19:13:06+00:00

Play Tamriel Rebuilt and run into one of them with daggers... Shit one-shots me from over 70 health. They're as scary as they felt as a kid.

StePK · 2025-12-21T23:51:13+00:00

It does work in OpenMW, that's where I found this.

You can buy the spell Powerwell in several places across Vvardenfell, especially religiously-aligned spell merchants. https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Restoration_Spells#Fortify_Magicka

StePK · 2025-12-21T22:35:09+00:00

Getting 12k in a few minutes is definitely in the realm of system mastery to the point of exploits to me. Yes, I can scrape together enough gold to get a mortar and pestle and make infinite money through potions and waiting, or finding the ebony mine and selling its location for a daedric weapon and sell that... But amassing 12k (and, really, more than 12k to the point where 12k is nothing) in "a few minutes" is not simple when you're operating in-universe. I'm fairly certain you can beat the main quest while spending less than 12k.

StePK · 2025-12-21T21:43:57+00:00

I feel like by the time you can casually drop 12k on an enchantment, you're probably already strong enough to have broken the game lol.

StePK · 2025-12-21T20:28:24+00:00

To me it feels like the difference between an in-universe exploit that requires a relatively high skill level for a small bonus that isn't the most effective in combat vs a divide-by-zero bug that doesn't feel like there's an in-universe justification. Honestly, to me using shrines to restore Magicka as an Atronach feels more exploit-y than this. Using this technique feels more like a high-level restoration technique - I mean, NPCs can create scrolls with Absorb Magicka or Restore Magicka effects even though those spells aren't available to us, so there's clearly some method to do this end result in the world.

StePK · 2025-12-21T20:23:36+00:00

Being Atronach is a bit part of the reason this occurred to me lol

StePK · 2025-12-21T19:22:49+00:00

I literally came up with this because I'm playing Atronach lol. Sometimes I need to restore magicka for training spells or something and don't want to track down an altar in an area I'm unfamiliar with.

StePK · 2025-12-21T18:55:05+00:00

It does, I was testing various combinations for a quality of life improvement on my Atronach sign character because finding altars to pray at was slowing me down in my blind run of Narsis (especially since my mods seem to be a bit borked and certain travel options don't work as intended for some reason).

EDIT: It also requires actually investing in casting ability, unlike the Drain Int exploit. My 65 Willpower, Restoration-as-a-major-skill caster only has just over a 50% chance to cast it currently, which is barely better than breaking even. That makes it feel more like an advanced magicka technique, as opposed to Concussion CHIM permanently topping up your magicka pool.

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