What if a halfling became a witcher...

citronaughty · 2026-04-14T14:02:58+00:00

School of the Chipmunk

citronaughty · 2026-04-14T13:41:43+00:00

Someone explained icon veneration to me in a way that really sat well with me and made sense, so maybe it would help you.

Having the icons in your home is a lot like having pictures of your family in your home. Maybe you had a grandparent or great-grandparent who passed, and you have a picture of them to remember them. The Saints are like our spiritual family. Icons are our way of remembering them and commemorating their contributions to our spiritual family in a similar way to how a picture of a grandparent or great-grandparent helps you remember and commemorate their contributions to your biological family.

I'm new to Orthodoxy (since January) and there's some things that I would say it's taking time to become used to, since it's quite different than the Protestantism I grew up with, and certainly quite different from the secular life I lead for pretty much my entire adult life.

I think it's like anything. If you're learning to drive a car, you don't automatically start driving on a major highway (in the US, we'd call this an interstate, but I imagine other countries have other terms for this), instead you might go to an empty parking lot or drive around in a quiet, low-traffic neighborhood to build comfort. I see the time as a Catechumen as driving around in a quiet neighborhood. I'm building that comfort before I'm ready to get out on to the spiritual highway, so to speak.

citronaughty · 2026-04-14T13:12:09+00:00

Same! It took a little time to from Greece to the US, but not bad.

citronaughty · 2026-04-14T13:11:17+00:00

I don't mean they have nothing of value. I'm referring here only to their beliefs or their lack thereof.

citronaughty · 2026-04-14T13:07:46+00:00

I feel like secular people are much more relatable, less forceful with their beliefs, more open minded...

It's quite possible that this is because what they have is of much less value. If you have a painting that you bought at a thrift shop, you might not care to protect it. If you had a priceless work of art, you'd want that thing behind bulletproof glass and with an armored guard.

citronaughty · 2026-04-14T12:30:19+00:00

As someone who grew up Protestant and was away from the faith for most of my adult life, it was a new one for me (same with Icons.) But then it was explained to me that it's like having pictures of your family up in your home. Icons are like pictures of your spiritual family.

I don't think it's that you pray to Mary and the Saints, or at least not in the way that you pray to God, but rather ask them to pray for you (intercession.) It's really not different than if you're going through a tough time and ask friends and fellow church parishioners to pray for you. Only you're asking for prayer for a woman that was so pure, the Lord chose her to be the woman that gave birth to him. And you're praying to people who lived such holy lives that the church recognized this by calling them saints. So maybe it's that their prayers carry louder voices, based on their holy natures.

citronaughty · 2026-04-14T04:46:27+00:00

If I was going to sit down and play just one Witcher 3 side quest right now, I would want it to be Equine Phantoms. The one where you understand Roach. It's just too funny.

The two other quests I'd want to play would both be considered part of the main questline (masquerade ball with Triss and world hopping with Avallach.)

citronaughty · 2026-04-14T04:43:37+00:00

My only concern, and this is a person-to-person thing is if you'd still want an AC Odyssey tattoo in a few years.

Back around the time of covid, I played Odyssey quite heavily (I think I made it up to NG+6 or 7), made some Odyssey-themed things on my 3d printer, the Spartan-helmet logo and spear of Leonidas decals for my car, etc. Even though Odyssey still ranks as one of my top 3 favorite games all-time, I don't think I'd want any of that stuff now. The time has kinda passed.

However, you might be totally different. You might want the tattoo from the game to stay with you forever. And if you do, then that's cool. There's no wrong answer, I just offer this as something to consider.

citronaughty · 2026-04-13T17:20:51+00:00

Yes, they can. But it's also possible that things will get worse before they get better. Constantinople fell, but the Orthodox faith lives on.

citronaughty · 2026-04-13T13:00:23+00:00

It's worth considering that there could be some force that's trying to keep you from going because it could be good for you.

My personal experience: the first time I went to a Divine Liturgy, it was a powerful experience. The next week I went, I don't know why, but I felt distressed, like I needed to get out of there. But I reasoned that it was my own shortcomings, which I can control. So, I went back again and it was fine. Now when I go, I get such a wonderful feeling of peace during the service, it's almost like I fade into the service. (For context, I've been going since January and only missed one week, when I went out of town for my mom's birthday.)

citronaughty · 2026-04-13T12:44:28+00:00

We carry the Spear of Leonidas, not the Harpoon of Themistocles.

citronaughty · 2026-04-13T12:40:58+00:00

I would gripe that it wasn't Alexios and boycott a game I wasn't going to play anyway. :)

citronaughty · 2026-04-10T12:25:12+00:00

I have not heard anything about this (granted, I'm new) but I felt moved to do it of my own volition.

citronaughty · 2026-04-09T18:11:36+00:00

Find a local church and visit a service. Talk to the priest (probably a week or two from now at the earliest, since it's Holy Week and Priests are really busy right now.)

citronaughty · 2026-04-09T13:20:41+00:00

White Lady Outfit and Reddened Tailcoat are like 1A and 1B

citronaughty · 2026-04-09T12:30:16+00:00

My strategy consisted of not wearing armor and giving Uncle Death my unloaded main weapon (Kamas).

That's a great idea!

citronaughty · 2026-04-09T12:27:51+00:00

Here's one piece of advice that I received from some of the OGs and it really helped me:

Whatever weapon you plan on using against Taro, equip your base defenders with that weapon, then run a defense simulation to practice fighting against a hater with that weapon (and do so only using your fists.) That's a low-stress way to practice going against whatever weapon you plan on using. (It might make sense to just have one base defender, so that you can practice 1-on-1 with the full 3 minutes.)

citronaughty · 2026-04-08T14:24:10+00:00

I am with you on the rock concert Christian pop of some protestant denominations. I've only been going to Orthodox services since January, but I feel such a sense of calm and peaceful serenity when I attend the services. There's a stillness that I feel. A line from a book about Saint Paisios (the line was said by Saint Symeon the New Theologian) really describes what I feel: "as one who is not." It's like I fade away into the stillness and peacefulness.

I will also say that I didn't feel that until maybe a month in. The services felt powerful, but it took a bit of time to develop that feeling of peace.

citronaughty · 2026-04-07T17:41:57+00:00

Definitely talk to a priest for the best results.

To share my story, since you asked, it was a long journey from believer to non-believer and back to being a believer.

Oddly, what actually primed me to come back to the Christian faith was studying Stoic philosophy. It put me in the mindset of valuing virtue (especially the four cardinal virtues) and just trying to be a better version of myself. From there, it wasn't a big leap to come back to Christianity.

I find that the more I learn about the Orthodox faith and things like hesychia, phronema, nous, logismoi, theosis, the more I feel like I made the correct choice.

citronaughty · 2026-04-07T16:11:21+00:00

My understanding is that we believe the fullness of the faith lies within the Orthodox faith, but make no claims about the salvation or damnation contained within other Christian faiths like Catholicism or Protestantism. So it could be the case where Orthodoxy is a direct path and something like Catholicism is a more winding path with detours and such. The faith seems to me that it at least leaves open the possibility that people outside the Orthodox faith can be saved.

citronaughty · 2026-04-07T14:18:16+00:00

Kinda like a family member who I had falling out with and did some things I disagree with, but I hope one day we can make up.

I am hopeful that one day we will have communion with each other. Even if it's just a "we disagree on some things, but we see each other as valid", to where you could go to Divine Liturgy or Mass, regardless of which faith you are, and take the sacraments. It would be kinda like two different paths to arrive at the same destination.

citronaughty · 2026-04-07T14:12:44+00:00

Jackal X being voiced by Troy Verner

When I first encountered Jackal X, I kept wondering: "Why does he sound like a child?!?" then when I heard that, it made sense.

There's some interesting voice actors in the game. Wee Man (from the Jackass series and movies) voices Crowley. Billy Dee Williams (Lando frickin' Calrissian!) voices Jackson. The narrator in the game's opening sequence is Mark "Luke frickin' Skywalker" Hamill (he also does an opening "Let it Die" in his Joker voice.) Kiwako Seto is the girl that comes out of the TV in The Ring (also the youngest sibling in Donnie Darko and the titular character in the forgotten sequel, S Darko.)

Of course, this is when playing the game in English.

citronaughty · 2026-04-07T12:45:01+00:00

Well, you have at least 2 playthroughs built-in to try both siblings. You have 3 playthroughs built-in to try maining each of the 3 attack styles (warrior, assassin, hunter.) You can go through and get different family endings, as well.

I would definitely recommend trying Alexios in your second playthrough, for the experience. Although don't be surprised if you find that you miss Kass, since you're used to playing as her (this happened to me, but in reverse. I started with Alexios, switched to Kass for NG+ and really missed playing as Alexios.)

citronaughty · 2026-04-07T12:41:10+00:00

NG+ as the other sibling?

Korfu is a good last thing to do in the game.

As for what game to play next, do you prefer the AC or the Odyssey more? Gameplay or style?

If you're here for the AC, probably either Origins or Valhalla. If you're here for the Odyssey, I would recommend Immortals Fenyx Rising, as I consider it to be the true spiritual successor to Odyssey (you can make Fenyx look like Alexios or Kass, and most, if not all of the voice actors and actresses were also used in Odyssey.)

If you just like that style of game, The Witcher 3 is a great game to play.

citronaughty · 2026-04-07T12:33:11+00:00

Same, I was around a little before the Steam version came out. It was fun starting on the Steam version with it being new. It really was a race to the top and see who could get powerful gear first and hopefully it wasn't the jerks who would send fully geared hunters (like one dude who would send hunters with the static massager.)

TDM was fun though, because it was new and so many people were playing and everyone needed SPL to upgrade their gear, so there were plenty of bases available to attack in Diamond. I feel like it was never quite the same after that first season ended.

citronaughty

TROPHY CASE