Carbonara Preparation Under Pressure....

I'm actually super surprised to see that there are people who don't like Halsin. I guess I've found myself in the right circles because I've never seen anything but love for him!

Ok, so I've been trying to gather my thoughts on this, because it's not a fun topic to discuss. But some of the most insane takes I have seen has been like this:

While others are pointing out how insane it sounds and getting call out posts for it as though they have had no good reason to talk about it:

It's gotten bad enough that Dave Jones, Halsin's voice actor, is being quoted by people saying he should be put on a list:

Dave is a voice actor. A goddamn voice actor. He doesn't have control over how Halsin is written nor is he endorsing any creepy behavior. This is a serious accusation to make and honestly, why are Halsin haters following the voice actor of a character they hate?!

People are entitled to their feelings and they have a right to feel safe, but that does not give them the right to falsely accuse real people for things that did not happen.

This is fictional work. Fictional characters who are written out with a set plan in mind. We know Halsin's intent from start to finish and it's never changed like other, more controversial characters are intended like:

Halsin: I understand, and I will cherish our relationship.

Minthara: I already know your mind. I will know your body, one way or another.

This is not a condemnation of Minthara. She's intended to be difficult and bossy, because she had to be in the cutthroat world of the Underdark. This is, however, intended to be a comparison of the double standards I've been seeing from fans and wish would be applied fairly and civilly. I would deeply dislike being deceived if I was a new player trying out this game and found out I had been misled so badly on different characters. I've already felt aggravation finding out fans pushed a popular headcanon over what's actually in the game in other games.

Smaugust 2024 by Katy Lipscomb

I love Liara to death but sometimes it does frustrate me how hard the games push you towards her. I'm not romancing Liara. I didn't romance her in ME1. Why does my Shepard have to have so much weird romantic tension with her when they're just friends?

With characters like Garrus and Tali you can see how Shepard has a brilliant friendship with them even if they are not romanced. But with Liara, Ashley and Kaiden it just feels like the games are forcing you to interact with them romantically. Which is sad, because it diminishes their characters as friends and squad mates as well as just romance options.

Oh God I'm making another poll

Ok, so I came across one post that said that you can turn Mizora into stone as it doesn't count as damage against her (and I won't accidentally trigger Wyll into attacking even though he's technically free of his pact to her).

She has to fail 3 saving throws for this to work but my goodness, it is satisfying after she tried to kill Wyll's father and refused to leave camp when I told her to leave. No more stirring up trouble, no more taunting Wyll, no more spying on us.

Temples are built for gods. Knowing this a farmer builds a small temple to see what kind of god turns up.

What if there was a race that had been enslaved through drug addiction? Kept in line by the need for said drug and altered and changed into behaving a certain way considered acceptable for the sake of that drug? With all the pain and horrific withdrawals that come from being without it too long, to the point that said race would be driven to a brink of madness as they're left with either enduring until they get more of that drug or through death, for there is no other way permitted by those who watch them carefully?

And all the while, this race of beings are aware of what's going on, loathing their very enslavement through this dependence? Even while they crave and itch for the highs of these too brief moments because no drug truly lasts as long as an addict wishes during their zenith.

And yet, no one has tried to free them from this. Oh not from ignorance of the cruelties of slavery, no. And certainly not because it is seen as a righteous thing they'd want inflicted on themselves either.

For you see, it's all that's keeping these slaves from returning to their true natures and that would mean much death to everyone around them. Oh the shrieks and gurgles, the puffs of pain and horror, that was their delight. For these beings had no soul to appeal to, no conscience nor heart that poets write of, to stay their skin ripped limbs from prying the eyes out of the youngest of their captors.

What is this drug, you ask?

Why, love, of course.

Oh not the sentimental moment of truth where these wretched things would find some tug of mercy like our collectively bonded nature, no. It was something akin to the Oxytocin that stays a predator's teeth from the necks of their mewling babes, the compulsion of chemicals that renders the sociopathic nature of creatures built for survival through brutality into docility.

That said, this being a drug, not all of them reacted the same. Sure the guards are there to banish them back to hell, but that is only a stop gap until the cages are reinforced again and the bodies removed before the smell of blood draws the curious into resisting again.

Oh goodie, it's that time of day again: Another person posting in the Hal tag about how he shouldn't be a companion. I see the fuckery from the Larian fourms is making its way here.

Hal has nothing to do with W/ll not getting enough content. Hal has nothing to do with Minthy not getting enough content. Hal has nothing to do with [insert inane complaint here].

Creative works are not quantitative. If Larian hadn't made Hal a companion, that does not mean another companion would have gotten more content. There are TEAMS of people working in game development: It's not one single group all churning out the elements to make a game.

It is not 2 - 1 = 1. That's not how it works. Larian keeping Hal as an NPC would not mean they'd have had more time for other things. They would have spent the same amount of time on the same content regardless.

I like W/ll. I think he got shafted. But can we not turn this into a silly fan war? Can everyone just enjoy the fucking game without shitting on other fans?

Hal fans are not the reason W/ll has less content than other companions. Hal existing in the game is not the reason W/ll has less content than other companions.

JFC just let us like him in peace.

Forever thinking about the way Shepard says "He's been hurt, betrayed. He deserves something better." When Liara asks if she's fighting for a chance to give Garrus some peace when she comes to the Normandy after LOTSB.

Garrus has been through so much before and during ME2, but he puts it aside to support her. To pick her up at her lowest. From the minute he's back on the Normandy he's just there for her. Don't worry about me, Shepard. I'm fine. Fit for duty when you need me. I just got half my face blown off, but honestly I'm more concerned about you.

Shepard has the weight of the galaxy on her shoulders and Garrus is one of the first people that helps her shoulder it in ME2, despite everything else he's been through. They found each other when they needed each other the most. They get each other, and that's what built the foundation of their friendship and eventual relationship. That's what makes it great.

It's not just about attraction or companionship or a one night stand—and they both realize that pretty quickly. It's about belonging. About finding the person who sees past all the mistakes and bad decisions and responsibilities. Who sees past the soldier, the hero, the vigilante, etc, to the person underneath.

I also love the parallel with Mordin's conversation about his nephew. With thousands of human colonists going missing, the reapers on the horizon— trying to think about everything, fight for everything that's at stake is dizzying, daunting, terrifying. But fighting for Garrus? Fighting for her best friend, her partner in every way? That's something she can do. That's something she can manage.

And one of the best parts? In trying to give Garrus peace, to heal his hurts, to be there for him the way he has been for her, she finds peace herself, where she never expected to. They both find something real worth fighting for in each other, which carries them both through the suicide mission and into the reaper war.