All i can say as a faithful Ashley LI thru the trilogy, I got to the “goodbye” cinematic with Liara in ME3 and immediately realized I had made a gigantic mistake in my chosen LI. Doesn’t help Ash was just a raging Capital B the whole of ME3.
Renegade in the Mass Effect series can be fun, but anyone that kills Mordin in ME3 has no soul.
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That’s how she ends up in all of my playthroughs but I’m still a little bitter they didn’t restore the MShep/Kaidan romance for ME1 & 2 in the Legacy Edition.
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Enough Bioware romance talk this is a Todd Thread, who is your favorite mediocre Bethesda romance??
I married Brelyna Maryon in Skyrim because she was the only dark elf bachelorette I could find, and she can summon atronachs which is neat. Her quest is mildly amusing and she doesn’t make you fetch anything.
The first time I got married in Skyrim, it was because I accidentally followed my curiosity too far into Romlyn Dreth’s new dialogue options and then couldn’t bring myself to say ‘no wait’ and hurt his feelings.
I think (it’s been a while) that I did understand what the Amulet of Mara was for, but just assumed it would take more than approximately two dialogue selections to get someone to propose to me.
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I’m still working my way through ME2 of the legendary edition, but I’ve been a paragon because I feel like otherwise you’re just kind of being a jerk?
Like I felt bad enough having to choose between Ashley and Kaiden, and I had just dumped Ashley for Liara too. I don’t think I’m made for this piracy stuff after all.
Enough Bioware romance talk this is a Todd Thread, who is your favorite mediocre Bethesda romance??
I only got married to Ayla the Huntress one time because she was cool, but I think we all know Lydia is our true bride to be. She’s down for whatever.
I’ve been Celibate in every Elder Scrolls game. I’ve never even become Ahnassi’s very special friend in Morrowind.
Is it wrong that I abandoned a game in Skyrim because I accidentally wore a Mara’s Amulet, Lydia thought I was interested, I rejected her, married somebody else and was living in Whiterun with my husband and our adopted Nords and realised I was making the woman who wanted to marry me live with my actual wife and children?
Nothing wrong with the game, I just felt horrible about the existential hell I was putting a game NPC through and decided to delete the entire world to make it end.
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To be fair, I got tired of Lydia’s vague disdain “I am sworn to carry your burdens.”
So she gets to live in the the Hearthfire Dawnstar home (The one I don’t live in/never go to).
Erandur and I, meanwhile, are living our best lives kicking rear for the Lord (aka Mara).
I’m not sure if he is romanceable but the best Skyrim NPC is Louis Letrush just for how bizarrely borken he could get
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Renegade Shep IS a jerk for the first two games. The fun kind of jerk. Also helps if you’re playing male!Shep as Mark Meer’s acting is so hamfisted and corny. Fem!Shep is better because Jennifer Hale is a league above Meer, but it makes her Renegade into a no-fun person.
Both Renegade Sheps are complete monsters in ME3, though. Which I suppose is much more consistent withcthe game’s atmosphere and tone.
There are some Renegade Triggers you just take, though.
Like in ME2, the Krogan supremacist going on a long rant. Or in ME3, when the trigger pops up for Udina and Discount Grey Fox Whats-His-Name Omniwa Shindaru Cerberus numpty they tried really hard to make an adversary but came across as just totally tonally dead.
Punching the reporter. Headbutting the Krogan
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I appreciated that if you renegaded the Reporter enough, you’d get a “Not this time!” response and she’d dodge your attack.
This civilian dodged The Shepherd’s punch. There’s elite troops being rolled like carpet by Shepherd and their Crew and this one reporter decided it is time for a Return to Sender moment. I love it.
Starfield looks eh and all but I’m over here waiting for LOTR Return to Moria because from the looks of it, I will willingly let my entire life fall apart to play dwarf on the mountain.
“I like this one! He understands!”
There needs to be a Shire sim game where you can just farm, cook, and make Hobbit friends.
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Survival mechanics unbelievably stressful when your character needs 7 meals a day
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I was thinking about that too. How can a Hobbit get anything done if he’s gotta stop every hour to cook and eat?
Can you imagine how weird Merry, Pippin, Sam and Frodo must have seemed to the rest of the Hobbits after the end of the Fellowship?
However, in regards to the meal thing, somebody worked it out about how much a Hobbit would likely eat per meal, and at what times.
Breakfast would be massive, and generally the heaviest meal of the day, and would be loaded with carbohydrates, salts, fats and sugars to give that boost of energy to start the day. Would also probably contain beer or tea as well, depending upon taste.
Second breakfast would be light, a snack of sorts, to cover anyone who may have missed out on the original breakfast, also likely tea would be served.
Brunch would be sweets, likely scones, jam and cream or sponge-cake, something with sugar in it to boost energy that might have begun to flag.
Lunch would be the second, and last, heavy meal of the day, and contain a larger amount of fresher produce to help keep the Hobbit healthy, and would contain more carbohydrates and fluids to replace what the Hobbits had expended. Bread, meats, vegetables and fruits, and of course, tea and/or beer.
Afternoon Tea would be sweets again, and tea, to get the Hobbit through the last part of the day.
Supper would likely be simple fare, something to soothe the stomach and calm the nerves, likely bread, cheese, a small selection of meat and, again, beer.
Dinner was the final meal of the Hobbit day and was mid-way between a light and heavy meal, hearty and filling but energy poor so that the Hobbit would need to sleep, and deeply at that, afterwards to properly digest the meal. Soups, roasted meats, baked vegetables, sweet but not overly sugary deserts, etc. Also beer.
Going off topic, but one of the reasons brewed alcohol was so popular in england, europe and certain parts of the middle east was that it was a staple food. The sterilizing of liquids for hydration and the fact it got you drunk were just happy by-products. The beer that used to be drunk by the peasants and the working class was faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar removed from the drink we have today in terms of both nutrients and alcoholic content, and it was not uncommon for a peasant to drink upwards of eight to ten standard drinks, or tankards, during a normal day of hard work.
The average tankard held about 500ml of fluids. Accounting for froth and head, that means the average peasant would consume around three and a half to just over four liters of beer on a working day, along with gruel, bread, vegetables and, if they were lucky, some meat maybe once per week. In many cases, barkeeps and brewers were actually executed for watering down their ale and beer, not because they were stiffing their patrons, but because they were potentially starving them. This wasn’t poor service, this was attempted murder for the people of this era.
Hobbits, in this fantasy world, had an impressively varied, rich and, most importantly, healthy diet. I will be quick to point out that while the Halflings did grumble and moan about their lack of meals, they kept up with hardened warriors like Gimli, Boromir and Aragon with little complaint, even a unit like Samwise Gamgee, and despite everything, were more than able to keep carrying on with just three simple and basic meals per day for two reasons.
- Hobbits were built differently under all that flubb. The Shires weren’t just pleasant little utopias of bliss, barring the occasional infestation of Sacksville-Baggins, they were well-sculpted and maintained gardens of plenty, and the Hobbits sculpted them out of forest and field through sheer bloody determination and group effort. While a Hobbit may work alone or in groups to tackle their daily work, most Hobbits worked in groups, gregariously chatting, singing or even making games out of farmwork, animal husbandry and fishing. More physically demanding work, such as building houses or repairing massive damage, was always done collectively, and your family, neighbors, friends, co-workers and even random passers-by would stop to pitch in and help as much as they were able to, both spreading the load out over dozens more bodies than usual and helping to spread and reinforce the positive community spirit that made Hobbit Shires so pleasant and welcoming to live in in the first place. That model of courtesy, aid and reciprocity made Hobbits one of the more socially harmonious and welcoming societies within Middle Earth.
- Adding to the first point, that strong community spirit push Hobbits to always be friendly and welcoming to others, even outsiders, and was generally regarded as the source of their emotional and spiritual strength throughout the duration of the Fellowship of the Ring. When others of the Fellowship bickered and quarreled, the Hobbits mended bridges and carried the load. When the others despaired, the Hobbits thought of better things that lay ahead of them and shared the simple joys of life with their friends. And to be fair, while towards the end, the terrible burden of their task even strained the indefatigable spirits of the Hobbits, Sam and Frodo most of all, they never gave up in the face of it all, a claim no Dwarf, Man, Elf or Valar could honestly make. And the foundation of that emotional and spiritual strength came from their society, their social context of constant meals, shared with good friends, in good company, and sharing the load of all their burdens so that they may be lighter in the end.