straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2016-09-03 12:15 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2016-09-03 12:15 pm
100 | in which I fall in love with a podcast, & play A Little Lily Princess
► I just realized when I went to post this that this is my 100th official post here. So yay for that?
► I have become so incredibly charmed by the podcast Dragon Friends, which I started listening to sometimelast week the other week because I needed something to entertain me when I was trying to get through a tedious-but-necessary portion of an otherwise good game. Whereupon I then got so completely hooked that I basically started listening to it throughout all of my free time, even when I wasn’t in the middle of some sort of menial labor, which is pretty much unheard of in regards to me and podcasts.
And now I'm in love (or at least very strong-liking), and am seriously considering requesting it for Yuletide. I adore pretty much all three of the main characters, though who stands out as my actual favorite keeps changing.
Philge was my first love, and originally my clear favorite— possibly because she was the one who was the most colorful right off of the bat, though I suppose that the fact that I had a hard time telling Freezo and Bobby’s voices apart at first probably didn’t help their cases. The whole conversation about her affair with the duke in the first episode was the moment that I knew that I was sold on the podcast as a whole, and her in particular. I also really love how unabashedly confident she is? When first typing out that sentence, I was thinking about how she combines being a half-orc with being completely secure in her sexual appeal, but now that I think about it, I also really love how confidently she does pretty much everything she does, even— or perhaps especially— when it’s blatantly the stupidest possibly thing someone could do. Or when it comes to her belief that she can actually do magic in the later parts of season two. ♥
Bobby started winning over as my favorite at some point while they were in Waterdeep. I think I specifically realized it during the fight at the ship docks? I mean, I’d already warmed up to him quite a bit for being a fail!rogue (the battle at the bridge, his trying to jump out from the door at the temple and falling on his face), but it was around that time that I realized (or maybe he started being? I’d need to re-listen to the earlier episodes to be certain) that he was… kind of the voice of reason for the group? Or, at least, the one who tended to focus more on actual solutions for their problems. And that charmed me. That charmed me quite a bit. I also really love his (or, perhaps more accurately, the guy who plays him) glee when he became a werewolf.
I wouldn’t say that Freezo’s completely kicked Bobby out of his place as my favorite, because Bobby keeps doing things that makes me go ♥ ♥ ♥, but, um, yeah, Freezo’s probably the closest thing I have to a favorite right now, despite him continually murdering characters/animals that I would really rather live. (Fare thee well, Random Lion and Horsey-Two-Horse.) There’s his sheltered upbringing, his complete inability (especially in the beginning) to navigate social situations, his tendency to turn to murder at the first opportunity…
And as I write this list it strikes me that I’m not entirely sure what it is that draws me to him so much, but I do know that the first time that he was near death in season two, I realized that, if he died, I might not be able to bring myself to continue listening to the podcast. And, okay, I did get that sensation a little bit when Bobby was in a similar situation at the end of season one, but it was a hell of a lot stronger with him. And now whenever he’s in a near-death state, or loses too many hit points, I just get like, overcome with worry for him, to the extent that I sometimes have a hard time paying attention to the other things going on, because I really don’t want him to die.
/end overly-earnest rambling
Also, he/his player kind of has this most amazing wild, unrestrained kind of laugh— almost maniacal, really. It fits Freezo’s character perfectly.
My favorite side/guest characters were Dilge and Baston, hands down (though I did really like the paladin whose name I have no idea how to spell.) I got really into the familial relationship between Dilge and Philge, and got all wibbly when he, when they got into combat in one of the final episodes, used his first move to immediately stand in front of her as a first line of defense. Also, his magic “wand” was a thing of beauty, and I am delighted that Philge is, er, continuing the tradition in her... own way. So to speak.
And then Baston. Baston. *_* His crush on Freezo is beautiful beyond words— when he briefly seemed to be moving away from that, I was actually really disappointed! Honestly, the best thing about the guest-star!Freezo episode is that it made Baston swing back towards Freezo again, haha. Though I will admit that, after Baston’s line to Freezo after the Horsey-Two-Horse incident, I was really hoping that he would become a bit yandere towards Freezo, and am slightly disappointed that nothing more ever came out of that.
Which isn’t to say that I ship it, actually. I just really enjoy the...situation, I suppose? And also how Freezo’s completely oblivious to it. Philge’s obvious appreciation for Baston’s physique just makes it even better.
Which, speaking of shipping. I can’t really say that I really strongly ship anything in this podcast. But. I am strongly invested in the relationship between Philge, Freezo, and Bobby. I think I started getting more than casually interested in their friendship near the end of the first season, when the DM tries to reintroduce the Duke as the “one who has caused all of [their] troubles”, and one of the players jumps in with a joking, “Freezo?”
Which made me laugh, but it mostly worked because… it was really true? At least in the first season, Freezo pretty much was the main reason for most of the bad things that had happened to them. Which got me to wondering, why were Philge and Bobby friends with him, and why do they stick around? So that led me to inwardly musing on their friendship in general (with a background chorus of “omg, need to request friendship fic for Yuletide!”) for pretty much the rest of season one, with the end of result of my being filled with utter delight when, in episode 2.01, it’s specifically stated that Philge and Freezo respond to Bobby’s letter in part because they missed each other, awww.
(Also, their reunion scene? And how it devolves almost immediately when they find out why Bobby asked for them to come? Definitely a favorite moment for me.)
I’m mainly into them as a friendship, but I’ve also maybe started to ship it a little bit too? Maybe? Which is interesting, because when I consider any of the pairings on their own—
Philge/Freezo, Philge/Bobby, Freezo/Bobby— my immediate reaction is “nope nope nope”. But when I think about it as an OT3, something about it...starts to kind of work for me? This started sometime partway through season 2— I don’t really remember when anymore, but I do know that it was before Bobby expressed an interest in being tied up, so.
As for things that I didn’t like so much: I really, really, really, really hate how it occasionally devolves into potty humor. Just, ugh. I have to cringe my way through those parts.
I also feel like the first season was weaker than the second season. I mean, I did love the first season— it was what got me hooked on the podcast, after all. But there were a few episodes in the middle where it felt like they were wandering too far from the plot, and I subsequently found myself losing interest. They managed to hook me again, obviously, but the fact remains that I did find myself drifting off from it at least briefly. By contrast, the second season feels much tighter, at least to me, and I never found myself feeling impatient or disinterested. Practically biting my fingers off over worry for Freezo, yes. Disinterested, no.
► Speaking of fandoms that I’m considering requesting for Yuletide… I’ve also recently played A Little Lily Princess, which is a VN based on A Little Princess— a book which I hadn’t read since I was a kid, but actually reread in preparation for playing this game, as I could remember very little about it.
I played the routes in this order: Mariette, Becky, Lavinia, Jessie, Lottie, Ermengarde.
Before I get to talking about my thoughts on the various routes, though, I would like to say that, more than anything else, I actually walked out of this game shipping Lavinia/Jessie really, really hard. But more on that when I talk about their respective routes.
I also really like how they handled Ram Dass, and his relationship with Carrisford. A “devoted servant” indeed, haha. I also really love the implications about what happened after Carrisford’s illness. Also, was it me, or did Carrisford also hint at there being something more between him and Sara’s father once? Something about that “more than brothers” line + his obvious relationship with Ram Dass made me wonder.
Anyways. On to my thoughts on the actual routes!
Mariette: I actually didn’t intend to do her route first, but Becky (who I planned on doing first) took a while to show up, and something about Mariette intrigued me, so I decided to do her scenes while waiting on Becky. That meant that by the time I got to Act 2, I had both her and Becky unlocked, and at that point I was invested enough (and intrigued enough by her reaction to Sara’s sudden poverty), that I decided to go for her ending before I went back and did Becky’s.
Unfortunately, it… didn’t really work for me? I did like it when Mariette got protective/angry over what Miss Minchin had done for Sara (and when she gave her the shawl!), but other than that, I felt kind of meh about it. And I found the ending scene actually kind of...strange, and overly dramatic? It also bothered me that they used quite a bit of the “we’re the same/I understand you better now” motif, and then ended it with...Mariette being Sara’s maid again, rather than being on the same level. (This also bothered me when it happened with Becky in the novel, btw.)
Becky: This route was rather cute! Like I mentioned above, I planned on playing this route first, mainly because I left my reread of the novel shipping Becky/Sara (and desperately wanting more cuddling for warmth in the attic, haha.) Their dynamic in the game didn’t quite work for me in Act 1, but it did get better as things went on. Her route also had what was, to me, the second best ending in the game. I love that rather than Becky becoming her maid, like in the novel, Sara just straight-up catapults her into a better life. And the kneeling! I got a strong “knight and princess” dynamic from that scene, and it really, really worked for me— especially since it was Sara taking on more of the knightly role!
Lavinia: LAVINIA!!! ♥ ♥ ♥ I have to admit being at first baffled by wtf her motivations were, but then she turned out to be so deliciously fucked up, and it really, really, really worked for me. I did figure out her secret before it was revealed (mainly, the scene where Lavinia shows off her picture of what she thinks an ideal English woman should look like gave it away), but her reaction to Sara finding out was even better than I imagined. Hell, pretty much everything about her route after that moment was better than I would have ever guessed it to be. The crying breakdowns! The cuddling! Her shoving Sara against the wall! The contrast between Lavinia’s cruelty/prickliness, and her utter vulnerability! Yes, I was definitely shipping Lavinia/Sara by the end.
But. But. More than anything else, there was that ending, omg. (I did have to laugh a bit, though, about how Sara’s confession of love involved her telling Lavinia that she thinks she’s a terrible person, ahaha.)
But then. How Jessie just flew down upon Sara like an avenging goddess when she thought that she was hurting Lavinia! Jessie. ♥ ♥ ♥ That actually ended up being my favorite Jessie/Lavinia moment in the whole game, and also made me seriously consider the idea of an OT3.
Which, of course, meant that I absolutely had to do Jessie’s route next.
Jessie: Unfortunately, though, I ended up being just not that into Jessie/Sara as a pairing. Which was weird, because I actually really, really liked her route? It’s just that I liked it more for what you learn about Jessie / the fuel it gives for Lavinia/Jessie, than for what the endgame pairing was. I really love how Jessie was fleshed out from the book, and I loved that she, unlike everyone else in the game, flat-out says that she loves women and not men.
That was actually one of my biggest problems with the Becky and Lavinia routes— that when they refer to “love”, it’s never made clear that they’re talking about romantic love, and I never felt sure if they themselves understood what they meant when they said that they loved the other. I mean, this is a fluffy game, so I wasn’t expected them to go into the challenges of same-sex romance in the 19th century, but it still felt off to me. So it was incredibly refreshing to see how self-aware Jessie was of herself and her own desires.
Plus, you know, that scene also gave me that beautiful kissing CG, so. Definitely not complaining.
Lottie: I don’t really have much to say about this route. I didn’t like it very much, but I also knew that I wouldn’t like it before I played it— I mostly just went through it for completionist reasons. I just don’t like spoiled child characters as a rule, and Lottie (both in the book and in the VN) fits that archetype to a T.
Ermengarde: This route was really sweet! I wouldn’t say that it was a favorite, but I liked Ermengarde more than I did in the book, and it also had a bit of a knight/princess dynamic (what with Sara referring to Ermengarde as her “hero”), which definitely worked for me. That scene where Ermengarde catches her! But this route also took the most from the book, and that, combined with the fact that I did this route last, did make it feel the most stale to me, as there wasn’t really anything “new” to it. So definitely better than Mariette and Lottie’s routes, but not as good as Lavinia and Jessie’s.
► I have become so incredibly charmed by the podcast Dragon Friends, which I started listening to sometime
And now I'm in love (or at least very strong-liking), and am seriously considering requesting it for Yuletide. I adore pretty much all three of the main characters, though who stands out as my actual favorite keeps changing.
Philge was my first love, and originally my clear favorite— possibly because she was the one who was the most colorful right off of the bat, though I suppose that the fact that I had a hard time telling Freezo and Bobby’s voices apart at first probably didn’t help their cases. The whole conversation about her affair with the duke in the first episode was the moment that I knew that I was sold on the podcast as a whole, and her in particular. I also really love how unabashedly confident she is? When first typing out that sentence, I was thinking about how she combines being a half-orc with being completely secure in her sexual appeal, but now that I think about it, I also really love how confidently she does pretty much everything she does, even— or perhaps especially— when it’s blatantly the stupidest possibly thing someone could do. Or when it comes to her belief that she can actually do magic in the later parts of season two. ♥
Bobby started winning over as my favorite at some point while they were in Waterdeep. I think I specifically realized it during the fight at the ship docks? I mean, I’d already warmed up to him quite a bit for being a fail!rogue (the battle at the bridge, his trying to jump out from the door at the temple and falling on his face), but it was around that time that I realized (or maybe he started being? I’d need to re-listen to the earlier episodes to be certain) that he was… kind of the voice of reason for the group? Or, at least, the one who tended to focus more on actual solutions for their problems. And that charmed me. That charmed me quite a bit. I also really love his (or, perhaps more accurately, the guy who plays him) glee when he became a werewolf.
I wouldn’t say that Freezo’s completely kicked Bobby out of his place as my favorite, because Bobby keeps doing things that makes me go ♥ ♥ ♥, but, um, yeah, Freezo’s probably the closest thing I have to a favorite right now, despite him continually murdering characters/animals that I would really rather live. (Fare thee well, Random Lion and Horsey-Two-Horse.) There’s his sheltered upbringing, his complete inability (especially in the beginning) to navigate social situations, his tendency to turn to murder at the first opportunity…
And as I write this list it strikes me that I’m not entirely sure what it is that draws me to him so much, but I do know that the first time that he was near death in season two, I realized that, if he died, I might not be able to bring myself to continue listening to the podcast. And, okay, I did get that sensation a little bit when Bobby was in a similar situation at the end of season one, but it was a hell of a lot stronger with him. And now whenever he’s in a near-death state, or loses too many hit points, I just get like, overcome with worry for him, to the extent that I sometimes have a hard time paying attention to the other things going on, because I really don’t want him to die.
/end overly-earnest rambling
Also, he/his player kind of has this most amazing wild, unrestrained kind of laugh— almost maniacal, really. It fits Freezo’s character perfectly.
My favorite side/guest characters were Dilge and Baston, hands down (though I did really like the paladin whose name I have no idea how to spell.) I got really into the familial relationship between Dilge and Philge, and got all wibbly when he, when they got into combat in one of the final episodes, used his first move to immediately stand in front of her as a first line of defense. Also, his magic “wand” was a thing of beauty, and I am delighted that Philge is, er, continuing the tradition in her... own way. So to speak.
And then Baston. Baston. *_* His crush on Freezo is beautiful beyond words— when he briefly seemed to be moving away from that, I was actually really disappointed! Honestly, the best thing about the guest-star!Freezo episode is that it made Baston swing back towards Freezo again, haha. Though I will admit that, after Baston’s line to Freezo after the Horsey-Two-Horse incident, I was really hoping that he would become a bit yandere towards Freezo, and am slightly disappointed that nothing more ever came out of that.
Which isn’t to say that I ship it, actually. I just really enjoy the...situation, I suppose? And also how Freezo’s completely oblivious to it. Philge’s obvious appreciation for Baston’s physique just makes it even better.
Which, speaking of shipping. I can’t really say that I really strongly ship anything in this podcast. But. I am strongly invested in the relationship between Philge, Freezo, and Bobby. I think I started getting more than casually interested in their friendship near the end of the first season, when the DM tries to reintroduce the Duke as the “one who has caused all of [their] troubles”, and one of the players jumps in with a joking, “Freezo?”
Which made me laugh, but it mostly worked because… it was really true? At least in the first season, Freezo pretty much was the main reason for most of the bad things that had happened to them. Which got me to wondering, why were Philge and Bobby friends with him, and why do they stick around? So that led me to inwardly musing on their friendship in general (with a background chorus of “omg, need to request friendship fic for Yuletide!”) for pretty much the rest of season one, with the end of result of my being filled with utter delight when, in episode 2.01, it’s specifically stated that Philge and Freezo respond to Bobby’s letter in part because they missed each other, awww.
(Also, their reunion scene? And how it devolves almost immediately when they find out why Bobby asked for them to come? Definitely a favorite moment for me.)
I’m mainly into them as a friendship, but I’ve also maybe started to ship it a little bit too? Maybe? Which is interesting, because when I consider any of the pairings on their own—
Philge/Freezo, Philge/Bobby, Freezo/Bobby— my immediate reaction is “nope nope nope”. But when I think about it as an OT3, something about it...starts to kind of work for me? This started sometime partway through season 2— I don’t really remember when anymore, but I do know that it was before Bobby expressed an interest in being tied up, so.
As for things that I didn’t like so much: I really, really, really, really hate how it occasionally devolves into potty humor. Just, ugh. I have to cringe my way through those parts.
I also feel like the first season was weaker than the second season. I mean, I did love the first season— it was what got me hooked on the podcast, after all. But there were a few episodes in the middle where it felt like they were wandering too far from the plot, and I subsequently found myself losing interest. They managed to hook me again, obviously, but the fact remains that I did find myself drifting off from it at least briefly. By contrast, the second season feels much tighter, at least to me, and I never found myself feeling impatient or disinterested. Practically biting my fingers off over worry for Freezo, yes. Disinterested, no.
► Speaking of fandoms that I’m considering requesting for Yuletide… I’ve also recently played A Little Lily Princess, which is a VN based on A Little Princess— a book which I hadn’t read since I was a kid, but actually reread in preparation for playing this game, as I could remember very little about it.
I played the routes in this order: Mariette, Becky, Lavinia, Jessie, Lottie, Ermengarde.
Before I get to talking about my thoughts on the various routes, though, I would like to say that, more than anything else, I actually walked out of this game shipping Lavinia/Jessie really, really hard. But more on that when I talk about their respective routes.
I also really like how they handled Ram Dass, and his relationship with Carrisford. A “devoted servant” indeed, haha. I also really love the implications about what happened after Carrisford’s illness. Also, was it me, or did Carrisford also hint at there being something more between him and Sara’s father once? Something about that “more than brothers” line + his obvious relationship with Ram Dass made me wonder.
Anyways. On to my thoughts on the actual routes!
Mariette: I actually didn’t intend to do her route first, but Becky (who I planned on doing first) took a while to show up, and something about Mariette intrigued me, so I decided to do her scenes while waiting on Becky. That meant that by the time I got to Act 2, I had both her and Becky unlocked, and at that point I was invested enough (and intrigued enough by her reaction to Sara’s sudden poverty), that I decided to go for her ending before I went back and did Becky’s.
Unfortunately, it… didn’t really work for me? I did like it when Mariette got protective/angry over what Miss Minchin had done for Sara (and when she gave her the shawl!), but other than that, I felt kind of meh about it. And I found the ending scene actually kind of...strange, and overly dramatic? It also bothered me that they used quite a bit of the “we’re the same/I understand you better now” motif, and then ended it with...Mariette being Sara’s maid again, rather than being on the same level. (This also bothered me when it happened with Becky in the novel, btw.)
Becky: This route was rather cute! Like I mentioned above, I planned on playing this route first, mainly because I left my reread of the novel shipping Becky/Sara (and desperately wanting more cuddling for warmth in the attic, haha.) Their dynamic in the game didn’t quite work for me in Act 1, but it did get better as things went on. Her route also had what was, to me, the second best ending in the game. I love that rather than Becky becoming her maid, like in the novel, Sara just straight-up catapults her into a better life. And the kneeling! I got a strong “knight and princess” dynamic from that scene, and it really, really worked for me— especially since it was Sara taking on more of the knightly role!
Lavinia: LAVINIA!!! ♥ ♥ ♥ I have to admit being at first baffled by wtf her motivations were, but then she turned out to be so deliciously fucked up, and it really, really, really worked for me. I did figure out her secret before it was revealed (mainly, the scene where Lavinia shows off her picture of what she thinks an ideal English woman should look like gave it away), but her reaction to Sara finding out was even better than I imagined. Hell, pretty much everything about her route after that moment was better than I would have ever guessed it to be. The crying breakdowns! The cuddling! Her shoving Sara against the wall! The contrast between Lavinia’s cruelty/prickliness, and her utter vulnerability! Yes, I was definitely shipping Lavinia/Sara by the end.
But. But. More than anything else, there was that ending, omg. (I did have to laugh a bit, though, about how Sara’s confession of love involved her telling Lavinia that she thinks she’s a terrible person, ahaha.)
But then. How Jessie just flew down upon Sara like an avenging goddess when she thought that she was hurting Lavinia! Jessie. ♥ ♥ ♥ That actually ended up being my favorite Jessie/Lavinia moment in the whole game, and also made me seriously consider the idea of an OT3.
Which, of course, meant that I absolutely had to do Jessie’s route next.
Jessie: Unfortunately, though, I ended up being just not that into Jessie/Sara as a pairing. Which was weird, because I actually really, really liked her route? It’s just that I liked it more for what you learn about Jessie / the fuel it gives for Lavinia/Jessie, than for what the endgame pairing was. I really love how Jessie was fleshed out from the book, and I loved that she, unlike everyone else in the game, flat-out says that she loves women and not men.
That was actually one of my biggest problems with the Becky and Lavinia routes— that when they refer to “love”, it’s never made clear that they’re talking about romantic love, and I never felt sure if they themselves understood what they meant when they said that they loved the other. I mean, this is a fluffy game, so I wasn’t expected them to go into the challenges of same-sex romance in the 19th century, but it still felt off to me. So it was incredibly refreshing to see how self-aware Jessie was of herself and her own desires.
Plus, you know, that scene also gave me that beautiful kissing CG, so. Definitely not complaining.
Lottie: I don’t really have much to say about this route. I didn’t like it very much, but I also knew that I wouldn’t like it before I played it— I mostly just went through it for completionist reasons. I just don’t like spoiled child characters as a rule, and Lottie (both in the book and in the VN) fits that archetype to a T.
Ermengarde: This route was really sweet! I wouldn’t say that it was a favorite, but I liked Ermengarde more than I did in the book, and it also had a bit of a knight/princess dynamic (what with Sara referring to Ermengarde as her “hero”), which definitely worked for me. That scene where Ermengarde catches her! But this route also took the most from the book, and that, combined with the fact that I did this route last, did make it feel the most stale to me, as there wasn’t really anything “new” to it. So definitely better than Mariette and Lottie’s routes, but not as good as Lavinia and Jessie’s.
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