FUNDAMENTALLY, CYBERPUNK 2077 IS NOT A GAME ABOUT OBTAINING RICHES, FAME OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT, DESPITE WHAT MANY PISSY REVIEWERS MIGHT SAY ABOUT IT- FIRST AND FOREMOST, IT'S A GAME ABOUT HUMAN CONNECTION IN FACE OF A GREAT TRAGEDY, EITHER PERSONAL OR SOCIETAL. V IS DYING, AND SO IS THE WORLD AROUND THEM, DUE TO CAPITALIST EXPLOITATION- V'S DESIRE TO GET RICH AND CLIMB THE SOCIAL LADDER TO GET OUT OF POVERTY BY AQUIRING MONEY AND FAME, A GOAL THAT'S VERY TYPICAL FOR PEOPLE LIVING IN A HYPERCAPITALIST SOCIETY, AND THE PLANET SLOWLY DYING DUE TO CORPO EXPLOITATION, WITH FLORA AND FAUNA DYING OFF, WATER AND AIR BECOMING POLLUTED AND CLIMATE CHANGE BECOMING MORE AND MORE RUTHLESS. IN A WORLD LIKE THIS, WHAT DO WE HAVE TO HOLD ON TO? THE GAME SEEMS TO IMPLY THAT OTHER HUMAN BEINGS ARE THE ONLY THING WORTH FIGHTING FOR- BY DOING QUESTS FOR CHARACTERS LIKE JUDY, PANAM, RIVER, KERRY, CLAIRE, MISTY OR EVEN JOHNNY, V IS ABLE TO BRING POSITIVE CHANGE INTO THESE CHARACTERS' LIVES. CRUTIALLY, ALL OF THEIR QUESTS CENTER AROUND MOURNING, SHOWING JUST WHAT BIG OF AN IMPACT DEATH HAS ON YOUR LOVED ONES, SOMETHING THAT TIES BACK TO THE PROTAGONISTS, V AND JOHNNY, GIVEN THAT ONE OF THEM WILL DIE SOON, AND ONE OF THEM HAS DIED ALREADY- IT'S A WAKE UP CALL FOR THEM, FOR V TO USE THE TIME THEY HAVE LEFT WISELY AND FOCUS ON WHAT MATTERS, AKA THEIR LOVED ONES, AND FOR JOHNNY TO SEE JUST HOW BIG OF AN IMPACT THE SELFISH LIFE HE LED HAD ON PEOPLE LIKE ROGUE, KERRY OR ALT. THAT'S WHY THE BOND BETWEEN JOHNNY AND V IS SO IMPORTANT TO THE NARRATIVE- JOHNNY IS WHO V CAN BECOME IF THEY WILL CONTINUE ON THE PATH OF SURVIVAL BY ALL MEANS AND THIRST FOR FAME, AND V IS WHO JOHNNY COULD'VE BEEN IF HE'D PRIORITIZE HIS FRIENDS AND PARTNERS WHILE HE WAS ALIVE. V CAN HELP JOHNNY TO TRY REPAIR AT LEAST SOME OF THE MISTAKES HE MADE IN LIFE, WHILE JOHNNY CAN WARN V AND SERVE AS THEIR GUIDE, AS FLAWED AND SELFISH HE MIGHT BE SOMETIMES. THEY ARE BOTH ON A CRASH COURSE TO BECOMING THE SAME PERSON ANYWAYS, SO THEY MIGHT AS WELL BE THE BEST OF THE BOTH OF THEM. TRANSCENDENCE AND CHANGE IN GENERAL ARE IMPORTANT THEMES OF THE GAME TOO, WITH V FEARING THEIR DEATH AND BECOMING JOHNNY, WHEN THEY SHOULD ACCEPT THAT NOTHING IN LIFE IS PERMANENT, AND THEY ARE CONSTANTLY CHANGING INTO DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THEMSELVES. EVEN THEIR SLOW CHANGE INTO JOHNNY, OR, MORE PRECISELY, AN AMALGAMATE OF THE TWO OF THEM, ISN'T THAT DIFFERENT FROM THE CHANGE EVERYONE GOES THROUGH ALL THE TIME, EVERY DAY. IN THE END, V CAN ASCEND INTO A BEING OF THE NET AND GIVING THEIR BODY TO JOHNNY, GOING THROUGH THE MOST LITERAL READING OF THAT "CHANGE" THEME IN THE GAME. JOHNNY'S ARC IS ALSO HEAVILY TIED TO CHANGE, AND THAT'S WHERE HIS CHARACTER ARC COMES IN-
i don’t know what else to say except that AI art is no longer simply a source of creativity or a wonder of human creation. it has become actively hostile and destructive toward the very thing it pretends to uplift and celebrate. it is void of any human element, any soul or ounce of emotion or self-expression. continuing to use AI art knowing that it comes from theft and robbing artists of their livelihood is disgusting. we need your support now more than ever. stop giving these thieves your money and admiration.
blah blah Bethesda bad anyway
my favorite thing about Elder Scrolls is how goddamn fuckin weird it is
like on surface it's just some dnd game but like even a cursory glance shows tis fucking insane like:
The moons is the corpse of a god
the stars are actually holes in reality when alot of primordial spirits hated that mortals were becoming a thing and fucked off
The demon lord of forbidden knowledge/resident Cthulhu stand-in might also be the beta version of the entire fucking universe made sentient when it wasn't chosen to be the used reality
there are cat ppl that take the form of furrys, lions, or regular cats, so you can have a cursing Pirate legend whose an alcoholic & wanted in 5 countries but is also a like basic tabby cat
the wood elves are so pro-nature they're cannibals and also they murder vegetarians
Vampires came from the Lord of Rape doing well ya know
Werewolves came to exist bc the lord of hunt got bored and is a furry
sex is treated like a fucking ip copyright contract on what aspect of sex is happening and what god it's under. There's been many religious wars about this
The lizard ppl are part tree
the Dwarves all fucked off somewhere and disappeared bc they were so atheist they did math to break relativity and literally no one has any idea where they went God or mortal (except maybe Cthulhu and hes not telling)
Said Cthulhu stand-in treats hiding your grandma's secret cookie recipe & hiding a spell that would end the universe and slay a god the exact same and he will murder you for either
Everyone wants to fuck the Orcs but will never admit it and they got so bent out of shape that a demon god killed the og orc god, ate him, and shat him out bc she couldn't deal with everyone complimenting them all the time so now all Orcs are cursed to be hated but they're all still sexy & so is their god
some normal unicorns (and one bicorn)
edit: these are also on redbubble now
My personal favorite use of the standard fantasy tropes is that all the stock characteristics of fantasy races are the stereotypes/caricatures the other races use for them. For instance:
Goblins
Stereotyped as thieving little tricksters with big noses and ears, but in reality they are extremely diverse, often to the point of not being related at all. Hobgoblins, Bugbears, traditional Goblins, Gnomes, Halflings, etc have all been called ‘goblin’ at one point or another, despite having very little in common. The thieving hordes idea comes from the fact that Goblin society is super socialist and they really don’t have a concept of personal property. The idea of locking a door in goblin society is alien, as everyone shares what they have. A goblin walking away with a set of silverware is less to do with greed, and more to do with the fact that their neighbor was complaining the other day about losing all their forks, and the goblin in question saw how many forks this tavern had, and decided to equal the scales a bit.
Dwarves
Dwarves are stereotyped as hard-drinking, dirt eating, greedy, hotheads. When you live underground rickets, anemia, and scurvy are all common, and displays of physical robustness become a cultural sign of status. At the end of the day Dwarves work well together, and drink a fairly normal amount, generally only drinking heavily among company. Dwarves are hospitable to a fault, and the way they show that is by engaging in eating and drinking in excess, to encourage similar behavior of their guests. A successful Dwarven feast ends with empty flagons and plates, and still full serving bowls. Stereotypes regarding digging greedily only come about from the twin facts that space is limited underground, necessitating regular expansion into newly built caverns, and in a magical world there are monsters all through the ground. And honestly, while the most famous Dwarven cities are subterranean, most live in hills, on cliff-sides, or on the rocky shores.
Orcs
Orcs are often stereotyped as unintelligent ravaging hordes who roll up to towns and wreak havoc. They steal away with women and children, rob livestock, and burn homes. Orcs in reality are generally nomadic. In the wide open plains, where water and food are scarce, to stay in place would mean certain doom, as their herds overgraze and soil water sources. Traditional Orcish clans have ancestral grazing lands millions of acres across. Distant corners may be visited only every decade. To graze on another’s land is a high crime among the orcs, as ever bite of browse is one stolen from the lifeblood of another clan. To prevent accidental trespass, Orcs have markers, large stones carved with jagged Orcish script. When humans (etc) wander into Orcish Land, they build farms and towns, and the Orcs feel they are in their right to remove them. Humans who are ‘stolen’ by Orcs are often just guests. In the open desert, Orcs can find water easily, and have plentiful food. They are eager to trade their fine leather goods and horn bows for goods from afar. Orcs also maintain cities, far flung and small, based on elaborate commerce. Each clan maintains a Great House in the city, and any Orc unfit to ride a Warg will stay there taking care of the family finances, trading goods, and teaching the young. Orcs of any gender ride, hunt, and herd with equal success, as a result an Orcish patrol might look very much like an army of large men to a human settlement, especially when that same party demands they leave their home and offer some settlement for their robbery.
Elves
Elves are stereotyped as haughty, distant, and immortal. While Elves are long lived, they are anything but immortal. The myth comes from Elvish naming conventions, and their religious connection to family history. Elves have given names, but rarely use them after the death of a parent, at which point the eldest same-gender child of a nuclear family will almost always adopt the ancient family name, and carry it, along with the history it is tied to. Elves think very generationally, always seeking answers in the future and past, digging through ancient tomes and burying themselves in study. Elvish librarians and scholars keep extremely detailed notes on present goings on, and as a result Elvish scholarship has a very black-and-white view of the past, informed by very deliberate attempts to remove bias. Elves generally don’t correct folks who think they are centuries or millennia older than they are, because the Elvish idea of the self is a very dispersed one, where every individual is, in a way, their ancestors. Perceived haughtiness of emotional distance arises from the fact that, to an elf, the past is settled, and the present is best lived through a mindset of calm, stoic inspection. To react with sudden, poorly thought-out, or overly emotional haste is to betray your ancestors, past and future.
Reblog to kill it faster
tumblr mobile my beloathed. No I don't want to share people's posts with them... I was scrolling, you silly app....
Centaur Watching Fish by Arnold Böcklin (1878).
I love love love Böcklin’s mythical pieces, they have this sense of realism, and often even sensitivity.
Roar, 3d creature design by Sadan Vague
they are so Shaped
dog