[fgo] Babylonia spoilers to go here! I have to go for the next five hours, so it will be some time before I do much with it but:
I can’t believe you’re not allowed to use Ishtar’s NP during the second quest of the Singularity because you’re not on her friends list.
She hasn't approved your request yet.
(It’s probably that the thing she dropped is part of her NP, but I just love the idea that she refuses to be on my friends list right now.)
I’ll have to send her another request at the end of this battle.
Ishtar's FL is very exclusive
And by Very Exclusive I mean there's no one on it
One friend request to Gilgamesh that she insists was a misclick.
Casgil leaves her on Read
What a dick move. No wonder she's so angry at him.
He wouldn't have even opened it, but Siduri insisted. It might have been important!
Instead it was the equivalent of "u up"?
Anyway, my sibling has something for the next couple of hours, so while it’s a shame about not getting to hang with them as long, I do at least get back to Babylon.
You know the Singularities are getting serious when the story supports are level 90 with a level 10 skill.
For the moment, I’ve been bringing Jalter to the battles because she wasn’t here for the last Singularity (along with Mash as usual). In the first battle, she was joined by Ibaraki (Absolute Demonic Front? your demonic beasts have nothing on mine), but since I use story supports, for the second battle we had Jalter’s flag whipping right in Ishtar’s face.
Probably on purpose. Seems petty enough for her.
Me: Don’t worry, humanity is in good hands.
Jalter and Ibaraki, starting up a chant in the background: Gonna kill humans! Gonna kill humans!!
Jalter and Ibaraki, starting up a chant in the background: Gonna kill humans! Gonna kill humans!!
It’s fine, probably.
I’m just embracing my true chaotic evil nature.
HOLY CRAP ENKIDU IS LEVEL 100 HEY THERE
Gone are the days of story supports being a millstone around my neck.
Someone loved them enough to grail them ...
Gil, probably.
Enkidu being worried a representative of humanity would be like Gil made me laugh, but also: fair.
Yeah most of the story support options this time around are pretty solid, it's nice
OH NO NEW BRONZE MAT also yikes let’s wear gloves collecting these, okay?
I haven't been using them because I hunger for those bond points
but it's been nice to see them so well leveled!
It is very nice! Camelot was...hard......
ALSO WELP I'M GLAD THAT WHILE I'VE BEEN CAVALIER ABOUT STORY SPOILERS THIS TIME AROUND, I DIDN'T FIND OUT ABOUT ENKIDU'S DOUBLE CROSS THAT WAS COOL.
ISN'T IT GREAT?? I wasn't expecting that...
YEAH I WAS TOTALLY FINE WITH TAKING THE LONG WAY THE ENTIRE TIME.
AND WHAT A SPRITE.
I was also very shocked by that
It was well-played! We're so used to getting picked up by a helpful local, and most of us only know Enkidu as "Gil's buddy."
Granted, it's possible that the real Enkidu wouldn't do this, since it's apparently not the regular one? But also it's possible that they would, which like...join the line in my Chaldea with Medb and Ibaraki and Jalter and....
I’m glad Enkidu didn’t Enuma Elish us.
Though I was disappointed and confused when it got cut off without expecting it.
I had been saving some NPs too long!!
I mean, granted, I had made some mistakes and was in a dangerous place, but Mordred got to shrug off their non-Enuma Elish charge attack and I still had Ibaraki on the field.
Also I assumed Merlin would have to do something for Fou to kick him but nope just had to be his smug self.
Ahhhh, so the similarity in design was indeed not a coincidence.
......Well, at least I already knew about Fou’s apparent interest in busty women before this so that this wasn’t the point where my opinion of Fou plummeted (that was instead when someone showed me the text for Dangerous Beast).
Who let Merlin get away with being this way? (Merlin. It was Merlin. He’s too powerful and can choose to be whatever way he wants. Too bad it was this way.)
Dr. Roman: WAIT LET ME FANBOY (I presume).
Nope, actually. That was a very interesting conversation, but I decided live-blogging was taking me out of it. Two things of note: 1) Merlin ALMOST got me over to his side as just charming enough to accept his faults, but he tripped over the line into too smug a couple of times, and 2) oh NO he’s making flowers bloom at OTHER PEOPLE’S FEET that’s DELIGHTFUL.
Ibaraki with pink flowers around her as she attacks I am DELIGHTED.
Good memory candyman should have gotten a name.
They told me Gil was a good ruler. I was starting to doubt it from my initial interactions with Caster Gil, but hey, if this makes me happy to have pulled him, I’ll take it.
I know this is the more mature Gil. But also my first impression of Gil left a strong impression on me. And so I prepared the proper team:
My misandry squad is one short of a full team so I let Artoria watch approvingly.
I was originally going to go Euryale/Medb/Tamamo into Gil, but then he would have died immediately so I had to reorder things.
I mean, Medb's would have done the most damage, but I was set up for 500% Goddess's Love Parasol, so he'd get
KICKED
IN
THE
DICK
IN
THE
DICK
Justice has been served, and three music notes over Artoria's head.
My misandry team can rest for now, in preparation for the next time I must fight a dude who needs to have Respect Women Juice shoved down their throat can and all.
The male trait doesn’t last long in these parts.
I understand that, like, he didn’t have Enkidu levels of HP, and maybe he could have kept those hands going (Euryale did start to get low as I built up my NP), but also: EXCUSE ME?
What, halfway through the three NPs that each did over half his health?
> dreaming of someone begging someone not to leave and to love them again by a blood red body of water
Gudako, probably: Am I sharing Kiyohime’s dreams again?
Gudako, probably: Am I sharing Kiyohime’s dreams again?
“To harm others...to take the lives of others. These are all evils that mankind holds. These are all toxins that only affect mankind.”
So putting aside the “mankind” bit, this voice needs to watch a nature documentary. Like, point taken, but also I can get hung up on technicalities like this.
So putting aside the “mankind” bit, this voice needs to watch a nature documentary. Like, point taken, but also I can get hung up on technicalities like this.
Nammu, also known as Nerifes.
(Autocorrect wanted to change it to Nerofest. I’ve been gone too long from Legendia.)
Bašmu — oh hey we fought that one!!
PFFFFT WOW GIL IS GETTING SO INTO MASH’S REPORTS why did I say let them eat beans
OH NO I’M ACTUALLY HAPPY TO GET GIL’S APPROVAL WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME except casgil and archer gil are very different.
...wait, Ibaraki was here?? It must be weird that I used her to defeat the warm-up vs Ushiwakamaru and Benkei (I had to reset once because I took so long setting up Ibaraki and Jalter both fell).
Two Chimeras with 50k HP as the first wave...this truly is the lategame....
Gil did not feed ibaraki so she left. Bye
Also those were my exact feelings... I was ready to dunk on him, but then he turned out to be actually kind of relatable??
I had to Rayshift in a big bag of candy to toss her any time she gets rowdy.
And he actually is a wise king. Amazing. Good on you, Gil.
Also, like...Mash apologizing for not thinking about Merlin’s plans or how the townspeople would feel, and I can say either that’s not true or I feel the same way...I’m not entirely sure how to respond.
I mean, I do feel the same way, but gosh is that easy to say when I’m the protagonist with several dozen max level Servants behind me instead of a town of people who are doomed whatever they do.
I’m not judging Mash for saying it. Daily sacrifices to survive is horrifying! It’s not something that a person should receive calmly! But also it was a mistake.
IN HAPPIER NEWS.....
I don’t even care that I’m on data. I’m so happy.
I wish I’d been paying attention so I could have saved it for a battle in which she actually, you know, fought, but screw it this is great!!
We need someone of similar divinity...I was about to joke that I can just bring out one of my many Servants, but I’m realizing most of my Divine Servants are archers and/or anti-male niche. Jaguar Warrior actually backs me into a corner....
It especially undercuts the “without fighting back?” when we are like “well, I guess we’ll leave the human sacrifices alone for now.” Jaguar Warrior did suggest that she’s not eating them anymore, at least.
........King Gil........
Hu...h..... This Enkidu’s Noble Phantasm is named after the primordial sea goddess, not Enuma Elish. Interesting.
(Also, I bet you I won’t be expected to defeat him given the zero build-up to 2 million HP, but we’ll see what happens.)
(I’d probably use a different team if I expected to have to beat him. Maybe Mash/Mordred/Tamamo instead of using Saber Shiki, and using non-bond CEs in the backline.)
Another Enkidu, another “oops I still had an NP to shoot off.”
When it didn’t end after the first NP, I assumed it would go until two NPs so I waited on a skill coming back up. OOPS.
Ishtar, are you just...joy-riding and harassing people like some kind of punk?
Hmmm. So I recognized Ereshkigal in the three goddess alliance, and the deaths in Kutha match the description at the beginning of what she could do. Since Ishtar isn’t killing the ranchers, I wonder if she’s trying to drive them off.
Knowing about Rin, the jewel theft is clearly some kind of preparation.
That is neat, isn’t it?
There’s a bunch of neat things in here!
I’m greatly enjoying this Singularity.
Merlin, don’t you know you never split the party? The Master in the back keeping Servants hale and hearty. The wizard in the middle where he can shed some light, and you never let that Merlin out of sight.
Nice job, Ishtar!
(I got covering fire from her and I’m happy I was able to act respectfully in the previous scene to extra sell the returned favour.)
Also “you don’t look like you’re lying...I must be a cruel goddess”...is there something of Rin separate from Ishtar?
“She may have been of mixed blood, but...” Don’t be speciesist, CasGil.
I already wanted Tomoe sheerly for the fact that she’s one of Medb’s few actually relatively positive relationships, but the bits I hear of her in Babylonia don’t hurt.
Come on, Merlin. I doubt knowing more about Ana would make me less happy to spend time with her.
I agree that I won’t be angry if she hides it, but telling her that I might come to dislike her it I knew her secrets is a recipe for shame.
I had to use a Command Spell to keep Mash alive, but I got Tiamat down to 5,419,898.
I probably would have built a different team if I knew it was a matter of survival, but when all you have is a Buster NP (Mash/Ibaraki/Jalter), everything looks like a problem you should hit with a Buster NP.
YEAH I KNEW USHIWAKAMARU WAS FORBIDDEN FROM GOING TO NIPPUR BECAUSE SHE’D HEROIC SACRIFICE.
Oh my gosh, the second Gorgon fight is SO FUN. She charges my NP so well that even with the occasional petrification, I go LORD CAMELOT THE GREAT GRUDGE OF RASHOMON GARDEN OF AVELON every turn and I’m half-invincible.
Well, every second turn.
I originally got this second snitty (snake titty, as I’ve heard her called) down to 1.3 million, but I had yet to use my Mystic Code, so I went back to the last turn and got her down to 1,171,612.
Too bad that last Mystic Eyes is probably story-based, because I wouldn’t do nearly so well without Mash.
Th...anks...Enkidu??
Thanks Enkingu?
They were indeed constructed like Enkidu. Which means they have a heart.
These soldiers are...impressive. Well done, King Leonidas.
Well, that scene with Ushiwakamaru and Kingu in the temple was both horrifying and fascinating.
Ana: The kings who do fight are weird.
Me: looks at...everyone in this game.....
Me: looks at...everyone in this game.....
I bet that Ishtar is extra angry with me right now that I went into her battle and stopped to get on a plane.
But with the half AP I could barely get it down enough to survive the time for the flight before I have to go.
Leonidas is really good this chapter.
And yeah that scene with Kingu was absolutely horrifying 
Have a safe flight!!
I sure didn’t prepare well for Ishtar. I let my guard down for a moment and she tore through me.
The fate of someone who keeps trying to use Ana without adjusting my team accordingly, and someone who expected more than one wave. Oops.
By the time I got Ibaraki’s NP up, she wiped Ishtar off the fate of the planet, but she was hit by the doors immediately after.
I NEARLY DIED TO THE DOORS!!
But Medb was strong and had healed enough with her skill to have 450 HP left after the first NP and took both.
I think I’m going to reward her by raising her heal skill higher.
I’M SO REWARDED BY RAISING THESE SKILLS. THANKS TO THE DEFENCE UP OF MORDRED’S LEVEL 10 SECRET OF PEDIGREE.
I’ll have to do the last round later. I had supper to eat, but I had to get this much done to quiet the rising thought of I’M ABOUT TO LOSE...TO A DOOR...THIS IS REVENGE FOR MY QP GRINDING, ISN’T IT???
Yosie, sweating nervously, staring at her command seals: has it really come to this?!
I DON’T WANT TO HAVE TO USE A COMMAND SEAL ON A DOOR
IT’S I mean the main problem is that I already used a Command Seal to keep Mash alive during a story mission and I know there will come a time when I feel that it’s important to keep x character standing and I will need all these seals because I’m stubborn but also there’s a bit of IT’S HUMILIATING I HAVEN’T HAD TROUBLE WITH A DOOR FOR OVER A YEAR!!
Oops I didn’t go to bed like I should have and played FGO instead. That counter to Gorgon’s arrival made me breathe out a huff of “ohhhhh.”
Also I knew about Ereshkigal’s shtick as being super lonely and her first appearance (I guess this is the one downside to Servant spoilers)...it’s a cheap trick but I want to pull for her now. Which is bad because I fear pulling for 5-stars after Drake.
C’est la vie. I don’t think I have a lot I’m looking for in winter 2019/2020 anyway (wow I’m making any plans involving 2020 and that’s weird).
“Nullifies damage from good aligned Servants, half from balanced and evil Servants.” So...half damage, then. Mash, why are you looking at me like that?
Also is that half a club and half a chainsaw??
I don’t know how to play defence against the goddesses (also I should stop trying to make Ana work in the situations she’s not strong when Merlin is an option, but I’m stubborn).
It's modeled after Azter Obsidian Blades
aztec-
They looked familiar! ...Probably from Age of Empires II!
Thanks. I hadn’t bothered to look them up since I was very tired, but I’m glad to know them.
yes! they are called macuahuitl and they show up a lot in various video games because they are super cool
but for the record: quetz' does in fact make chainsaw revving noises
They are pretty amazing even without the chainsaw noises!
AHHHH CANDY GATEKEEPER IS BACK!!!
“Whoops, I forgot to set up my team so that it didn’t contain any Good aligned Servants for Quetzcoatal.”
...
“WAIT YES I DID BECAUSE I’M BOND GRINDING MY FAVOURITES.”
...
“WAIT YES I DID BECAUSE I’M BOND GRINDING MY FAVOURITES.”
Poor da Vinci wants in on the action and I want her here, too, but alas, I also want to not suddenly disappear into nothing.
WHY ARE NEARLY ALL THE STORY SUPPORTS GOOD I thought “surely Ishtar must be neutral,” as though I hadn’t noticed her protect people from the beasts.
(I thought by beasts they meant ranching cattle or something. I misread when she arrived to be “when they were doing farm work,” so it took me a while to piece together her actual plans.)
Anyway, my instincts cry out to use Jaguar Warrior because it’s more story appropriate even though I don’t have a proper setup to support her right, but I’m going to take Quetz properly seriously and bring Merlin (another insultingly surprising good alignment) and let Carmilla’s NP3 shine.
HOW DID YOU EXPECT US TO GET THAT AXE HOME GIL!!! (Oops, parents returning, so I’ll have to take on Quetz later.)
I’ve heard about this. I know I’m not supposed to agree with Quetz and that it actually changes the difficulty of the battle, but...but she’s so charming! I want to! I’m going to try as an AU!
HEAVY...BREATHING....
Unfortunately, even with a Command Seal to heal Carmilla, Quetz can one round WAIT IF I HADN’T DONE THAT I COULD HAVE MADE IT WITH THREE COMMAND SEALS.
I’M....SO TEMPTED.......
But the other answer is more story appropriate, so I’ll just remember: if I weren’t a fool and remembered the triple Command Seal, I could have done it!!
And that’s worth celebrating. I did what I could, but I don’t think fighting is fun and I mostly said it because I was charmed by Quetz and because I wanted to try this out.
I’m super liking Quetz, though.
The team that almost felled the sun.
WERE I NOT A FOOL.
I was so contrary....
Regular fight Quetz is living the Dream by destroying Merlin where he stands instantly.
REGULAR QUETZ IS KICKING IN THE SHIT OF MY NORMAL TEAM
THAT FIGHT IS HARD...
it took me a few times to beat the hard mode version
but I was stubborn and eventually managed it
Did you have to Command Seal it or did you manage to do it without that?
Either way, well freaking done!!
I decided not to be stubborn and do the regular version for story reasons but uh.
UH.
Merlin was...less than helpful.
With taking things a little more seriously, I managed to get Merlin’s NP charged before he died and thereby managed to keep him up through two NPs.......both targeting him SHE’S LIVING HER BEST LIFE OF DUNKING ON MERLIN LITERALLY.
A couple of debuffs hit! Jalter’s nullify and Carmilla’s crit rate down! These are going to be very useful, as I avoided guts and buster up.
It might be worth it to bring some good-aligned supports like Mash (if you don't have her in the party already)
Even if they don't do damage, they can still charge their NP and help shield
I think I used both Mash and Jeanne in that fight I don't remember...
Although... actually I think I used Mash and Tamamo, because she can do damage because she is unashamedly evil.
Thank you for the advice! I actually managed to succeed the next time through.
(But my parents came in after it so I didn’t say anything here.)
Mash is always here for story missions and I did keep Merlin around. I just barely kept him alive for his NP to go off and keep him alive later on — he got down to red HP!!
It went pretty well after that.
“Think carefully about who you put in your party.” YOU MADE ME CHOOSE ALREADY GAME. Sorry, Quetz, I was excited to use you.
QUETZOCOATL’S BUSTER AND GUTS BUFF IS TARGETABLE??????
Holy flip ma get the camera.
If I get the 30 quartz bounty I’ll offer it up to her gacha.
They keep forgetting to include me in the lists of girls...alas, not a part of the rewritten dialogue for protagonist gender.
I'm glad that you made it through!
And yeah it is... rather annoying that the game doesn't acknowledge our gender most of the time. That part was the most blatant, we're part of the ladies' day out too Doctor Roman
I’ve been waiting for this!! ...seriously any longer and I’d be dead.
I really wish they’d just wholesale replace the sections where it’s clearly acknowledging male Gudao!
I’ve seen them make smaller adjustments before, but these ones stick out like a sore thumb.
I can see quite clearly that the nightly chats with Ereshkigal is low-hanging fruit for waifu-creation, which makes it more annoying that it’s making me like Ereshkigal a lot.
I want to continue being her first friend!!
It worked on me too
High five, see you next year this time for gacha hell.
Also...HE LITERALLY WORKED HIMSELF TO DEATH THAT FOOL
Okay, not quite, but close!
he was just doing his best
I appreciate it.
But also dude get a bureaucracy.
little did we know that Mesopotamia invented bureaucracy because Gilgamesh worked himself to death
Hahahaha, yup.
He should have summoned Clerk Caster.
......HOLY CRAP CHAPTER 14 HAS A FEW ARROWS but since I like Ereshkigal I’m looking forward to it.
First gate: Who is most beautiful, Ishtar or Ereshkigal?
Me: Whoever puts on pants first.
Me: Whoever puts on pants first.
(Granted, Ishtar’s outfit does suit her, but come on, give the death goddess something to put on over that swimsuit!!
This...this is the least visually impressive boss I’ve ever seen.....
THEY STILL HAVE ONE MOVE PER TURN.......BABY BOSS......
Oh. Oh that’s deliberate. PFFFFFT.
It’s a minor version of the Quetz match.
I WISH I COULD REPLAY TO TRY BUT I WILL ANSWER HONESTLY.
Also I think I would have been fine vs Ishtar Murder since
AND THEN A 135k CRIT EVEN THOUGH THE CE IS ONLY 15% BUSTER
AND THEN A 135k CRIT EVEN THOUGH THE CE IS ONLY 15% BUSTER
MORDRED YOU’RE MAKING ME NEVER REGRET NOT HAVING A SINGLE TARGET GOLD SABER!!
This...this is so petty.
I...don’t really know the financial acumen of Ereshkigal. I don’t think I would trust either of them with it....
I said Ishtar this time to see what the alternative one is like.
I might go back and say Ereshkigal, just because I don’t......gosh, like. Ishtar is used to a lot of riches, but she’s also spoiled. I know nothing of Ereshkigal’s administration other than...those soul cages sound bad.....
Wait, Ishtar is farther below Venus than I remember.......DID THEY SHRINK HER SPRITE TOO
I...I know it’s Caster Gil. But that I have to consider that Gil might be the answer is...terrifying.....
In a lot of ways, Gil is. He really has been the wise king that we needed.
On the other hand, in this moment, Ishtar chose to face her greatest fear and hatred to lead us down here. At this precise moment...I think it might be Ishtar.
The primordial sea of the Abyss...I’m sure that’s not at all relevant to the spooky dream we had.
THAT TINY ISHTAR SPRITE...IT’S A CRIME THAT WE CAN’T REPLAY THESE.....
I WANT TO PLAY BOTH OF THEM UGH WHY MUST I SUFFER.
Wh...y are these so extreme ends of the spectrum.....
Ereshkigal is wrong with what she’s doing, but I still feel badly for her.
I’ll have to check the reactions to both of them to see which is actually what I want to say....
.........I don’t really get the logic here.........
It...almost makes sense, but it doesn’t really work for me.
Despite being COMPLETELY unprepared (I brought in Ishtar, who is weak to her, just to see her as a goddess for ants, and then was prepared for a skill/NP/heal heavy comp of Mash/Tamamo/Mordred, and I used guts early), I managed through first try (once I decided which Eresh I would fight).
Ereshkigal Alignment: Chaotic Evil.
“So what you’re saying is...I have a chance.”
“So what you’re saying is...I have a chance.”
....Gil is killed by Ereshkigal thanks to an opening left by overwork and Siduri is like “oh, you can’t join the celebration because you have too much work!” A harsh life....
I was up way too late fighting Ereshkigal to justify doing a whole chapter this morning, but I decided to do one arrow, and...ahhh. No story supports vs only Casters?
That was so...relaxing!!
AND OOOH IT’S ALL EXP INSTEAD OF CASTER SPECIFICALLY! CasGil, you shouldn’t have!!
Yosie is excited every time she gets to beat up Gilgamesh.
Oh no. Ana...the flower shop lady is so cute.....
(Whoops I didn’t see this due to the ways of mobile) I LOVE BEATING UP GILGAMESH even if CasGil has proven himself enough of an upgrade to go from getting kicked in the dick to being fucked to death.
An improvement.
And hahaha, ah Merlin, you can’t conjure things not appropriate for the time period on a whim, but he clearly really doesn’t want to walk mo — oh no. Oh no.
Is that...is that Ibaraki laughter??
Oh gosh, I’m...I don’t know who to bring. Do I bring my own Ibaraki? Do I keep my current setup? Do I bring Jalter since Jalter and Ibaraki have been working together lately????
I have plenty of time to figure it out, though, as my parents finished their shows and so I’ll return to being available. But...but aaaaaa I had forgotten you!!
Oh, it was Jaguar Warrior. I thought Ibaraki was being a stagecoach robber bandit. It could still be, of course.
Oh and my parents are back already, so time to stay tuned again!
There is a node that eludes to Ibaraki around where I'm pretty sure you are
I’m on chapter 15! I’ll be certainly having an eye out for it, because I perked up at a laugh, haha.
I’ll find out probably this evening. I always look forward to finding out these things as I make my way through.
Mt. Ooe Bandit Survivor...Ibaraki, you ARE around.
Time to put the fear of god in them by resetting and putting Ibaraki out front.
Thank goodness for half AP. I already reset for a more story-appropriate support.
In some ways, choosing what to ask Merlin was hard and easy. Hard in that I wanted to ask both of them. Easy that I didn’t hesitate to ask after Bedivere.
Ooh, what did he have to say about that?
I chose the other option.
KINGU VS QUETZALCOATL CAN I GET RINGSIDE SEATS ISHTAR MERLIN MASH AND ANA WILL BE FINE ON THEIR OWN RIGHT???
Okay fine but you better record it for me Dr. Roman!! I’m counting on you!!!
We can have a watch party back in Chaldea.
relares: He said basically that he felt real bad for Bedivere, but he knew that there was no way to save both that Bedivere and the Lion King, so he prioritized fixing Altria’s mistake.
And as a member of King Arthur’s court, it wouldn’t feel right to either have just Bedivere in Avalon or just Arthur out there doing that.
That's ... a legitimately very thoughtful response about a difficult decision.
And it worked out better than expected! And Fou kicked him more for being so cheerful about how it ended.
And then you get to call him trash.
He was actually quite kind about it! I was surprised and didn’t actually feel like calling him trash for once.
I expect you also got a chance to call him trash with your path.
The dialogue tree I got was more or less a discussion of Merlin's inhumanity and his position as an observer.
I did!
Because he's half-incubus, he doesn't feel/understand human emotions naturally; he imitates them based on the dreams he observes. Or so he says.
Also, it was neat to hear him talk about the Bedivere decision leading into his goal of giving humanity a happy ending.
It’s probably, like he’s half-incubus half-human, half-true and half-false.
Yeah... Merlin talks a big talk of only wanting to observe, but he's such a meddler lol.
My thought is kind of like... He says he doesn't have feelings, but he acts in a way that he wouldn't if he actually didn't have them
So he's really like Jade Curtiss
He wants to be a gamer, not a movie-watcher.
And if he really had no remorse and stuff, why lock himself up in Avalon?
yeah, I feel like a lot of merlin's talk is-- it's meant to be distracting
(I loved that confrontation intro between Quetz and Kingu. The game has gone out of its way to show the loving big sister side of Quetzalcoatl, especially when they made it so she didn’t kill anyone.)
(But I bet that goddess Kingu saw who is angry with humans who could have decided it was worth slaughtering them all is just as real, even if she chooses to be friendly.)
Merlin wants people to think he’s not affected by emotions, either his own or the ones he lifts off people, but it sure ain’t the case.
But he’s such an ass sometimes he can get away with people not looking too deeply.
Speaking of Quetz and her motivations, I have to say that... hmm. I love the ladies of the three goddess alliance!
But I can't quite make up my mind if I'm happy to recruit 2/3rds of it, or I'm sad that Gorgon is really the only brutal one. 
Yeah. Ideally for me, it would have been good to have it both ways — recruit two of them, but have at least some brutality really demonstrated rather than hinted at!
But in a game like FGO, where choices don’t have long-term effects, that would have been hard to do without some people feeling betrayed by the game over it!
Some people would flat out not want to work with Quetz if she was really having sacrifices and killing 100 people a day. Some wouldn’t want to kill her if she was willing to work with them.
And, like, as I’m writing this...I don’t really want to have been sweeping human sacrifice under the rug, and killing mobs isn’t actually something I enjoy.
So I don’t even think I necessarily would have wanted that. It’s hard to say!
That's true! I guess what I'm coming down to is that, execution wise, I would have been fine with Quetz's mission to take out humanity one by one and felt like they didn't have to soften Ereshkigal taking out an entire city, cripes
But it’s true that something was lost from the promise of the sinister first meeting in that two of them turned out to be toothless in the end, versus humans.
Yeah. I like Ereshkigal! I really enjoyed the conversations between the player and her and learning about her softer side.
But the gates coming down to just...a bunch of “do u like me y n circle one” and having all her killing undone left me kind of disappointed in her chapter?
I was ready to deal with someone who, out of loneliness, legitimately doesn’t understand how to do the right thing and kills off an entire city thinking she can at least keep their souls safe and having to deal with the fallout of realizing she messed up.
And something I like about Quetzalcoatl was the promise that she has a completely different way of looking at the world that means she can be either generous or brutal in turns under her own logic, and the latter is just hinted at occasionally.
But “look they didn’t really kill anyone” means they can avoid having to try to hit the small target of keeping those in balance for all of the many players.
Wow, plurk hid some of your previous responses earlier. that being said: you have expressed how I'm feeling really eloquently, I think!
because I agree, sweeping human sacrifice under the rug would have also felt pretty weird.
It makes me wonder how some of these stories would feel outside of the mobile game genre, where honestly the end goal is to attach you to the higher rarity characters and make you want to roll for them.
which, uh, HAS BEEN SUPER EFFECTIVE FOR BOTH OF US 
I mostly wanted merlin for the buster-meme potential, but now I am genuinely fond of his character
and you have, understandably, fallen very hard for ereshkigal
WOW DON’T CALL US BOTH OUT IN PUBLIC though only people for whom it would also be effective would be 300 comments in to a Babylonia reaction plurk.
also for the pants question: ereshkigal wins that competition. LOOK AT HER CUTE STAGE THREE!
I’m...I’m unable to refute this. Even if I was somewhat disappointed in chapter 14, I’m still going to save for her after I get Saber Fran..... 
AHHHHHH
【FGO】 エレシュキガル 宝具＋ＥＸアタック【Fate/Grand Order】Ereshkigal ...
AHHHHHHH A DRESSS
this probably isn't going to help but: her animations are very cute.
REAL CLOTHES an ascension HELPED HALLELUJAH!!
Ah, I should not have watched that video. Cute and creepy and earnest. Don’t come for my life like this, FGO.
I thought I was out of this 5-star summoning game...ah, I’m a fool.
Anyway, it’d really be interesting to see how it could look outside of a mobile game. I like the light-hearted tone and wouldn’t want, say, the dreadful trudge of Zero’s tone (not saying it’s bad, but it’s certainly not uplifting and that’s not my cuppa), but it’d be neat to see what changed.
Thank you for commenting about this, by the way, Silvie! I always really enjoy putting our heads together to chat about Fate! You get me deep down in my Fate opinions.
(Currently on the playthrough...MERLIN YOU TRASH QUETZALCOATL WAS SUCH AN INCREDIBLE ALLY.)
(At least she’s still pretty strong....)
Not even close. (glances nervously at Jalter’s HP)
And I got my heart’s desire: Ana got the final blow with her NP.
(Though I had to burn a Command Seal to keep Mash up.)
Look at how close ibaraki's bond is!!
She’s getting there!! ...that’s still nearly 170k but she’s making progress!!
After this I plan to do a bunch of mat grinding and bond grinding as I await the 20th...not that I’ll have much spare time.
I'm kind of fine with this tbh, after Camelot like... Camelot really didn't make me want to summon any of those asshole knights
Even though they are technically "aus"
I kind of get what you're saying... but now that you bring it up, the contrast between how the story treats the ladies and the guys Isn't Great 
belatedly, cos I forgot to say so earlier: I'm always happy to yosie!
I love this foolish mobile game, flaws and all
Ah, those are both good points. A difficult proposition, though I’m still disappointed.
I also love this mobage even if parts of it make me wanna scream.
Also in a good scream: MERLIN YOU BUTT WHY ARE WE ONLY LEARNING ABOUT THE REAL MISSION WHEN BLOOD STARTS SPURTING OUT OF YOU
Okay, first off, what the fuck.
Secondly, good sound direction.
Thirdly, what the fuck.
I did not know we were in the personal Silent Hill of H.P. Lovecraft.
Well, not using Merlin is no longer just a case of stubborn pride.
The many arrows of chapter 15 was intimidating, but lacked the sheer dread of having only one arrow in chapter 16.
BENKEI I FORGOT ABOUT YOU IN THE RUSH BUT BOY AM I EVER GLAD TO SEE YOU!!
........Benkei I think we need to talk but you’re needed right now. Good luck, honey.
...?????? new phone who is this
YES, DEATH AND HOPELESSNESS LET ME IN TO THIS SCENE NOW
Thank you!
...............well-animated, developers. I had misinterpreted the sprites as vaguely humanoid but hmmmm.
I got spoiled for the “something that says 1 remaining is lying but ends eventually,” but I still was worried how long it would go.
If I hadn’t known, I would have been wondering if I needed to skill seal it before killing it.
Thanks to bond grinding and having finished certain ones already, I have perhaps my best end of the world team.
Ibaraki, Mordred, Medb, and Jalter. All of them have or would try to end the world themselves. They’re going to be least affected by this mess.
Poor Mash.
We’re in full Fate bs territory now.
YUP I KNEW THIS WAS NASU.
larval state of course
Oh, you hit This Bit.
Yes I hit This Bit.
Also I feel a bit bad. I had kind of already accepted that we’d hit a bleak moment where we wouldn’t be able to go after Siduri right away and would need to investigate the observation post in order to get the information needed to go into the nest.
But of course it’s time to do the big heroic thing and immediately rescue her.
I’m insufficiently protag.
Gil, you tsundere mfer.
Ah, Kingu, prepare to be disappointed.
gil: JUST GO DO THE PROTAG THING
Okay, as much as I agree with Silvie that Quetzalcoatl and Ereshkigal could have been more brutal and that would be cool, at least it meant this Singularity wasn’t full of “random NPC begs for their life and dies in despair,” because I’m already sick of it.
YEAH THAT’S BASICALLY HIS ORDER with the caveat of “but don’t take too long being big damn heroes we’re on a tight schedule.”
Oooh, new music.
That buff removal is highly rude??
Oh boy, now the camera is getting in on that shake shake action.
There’s...no NP bar???
I’m feeling like I should restart and organize my party to allow for a single turn kill...probably not quite possible.
Though hypothetically I could stun it....
The lahmu are ... rough
Okay, I was worried at first that it was going to call reinforcements if we didn’t kill it in time, but it’s just repeating itself. Why are we killing one that’s not fighting back? Where are the “capture or ignore” options?
Also I feel you on the feeling sick of it, because like. THE STORY WENT SO FAR OUT OF ITS WAY TO KEEP THE NPCS SET UP AS VILLAINS FROM KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE ... just for all this to happen?
This is feeling less like a required fight and more like an execution I’m being forced to do by the game?
like, yeah, it emphasized the tone shift but we didn't need all of those Being A Citizen Is Suffering
Ah, you've hit this fight, huh. 
Granted, I did a bad thing and looked up that it doesn’t fight back and a theory someone had on the fight, but I think that by turn 6, where I’m at now, I’d still be feeling this way a bit without that.
I was just wanting to check if there was a turn limit and if I needed to readjust my team but I kept reading without thinking.
ah, nope. you are allowed to take as much time as you need beating this one up.
Oh, wonderful. And I note they had no story supports so you have to do it yourself. Wonderful. 
As for the NPC death, watching random, nameless people die to overwhelming odds for no reason other than setting a tone is just not my cup of tea.
As a protective measure, when there’s lots of people dying, my brain defensively shifts to “oh, come on, story,” instead of keeping in the suspension of disbelief.
But the deaths from Ereshkigal were fine for me, because they happened offscreen and the suddenness of “they just died instantly” falls under unsettling to me. The lucha fights of Quetzalcoatl were fine on me, because they didn’t go past a couple things to set it up — still not my cuppa, but I accepted it.
But this relentless “showing the last moments of random people” is not something I enjoy in my fiction. It’s probably good for other people, but not my thing.
And then there’s what you bring up about avoiding casualties from the friendly goddesses so studiously...look, shift a bit of this earlier!!
It got to run, at least. But I bet we’ll kill it in the cutscene anyway.
What a joyous day this has been for us all. 
I stopped letting Mash attack the creature and let Ibaraki finish the job.
OKAY THEY DIDN’T KILL THIS ONE OFF I CAN ACCEPT THIS AS JUST REALLY ROUGH NOW. I would have been angry if the game made me go through with killing, because good bloody grief the creature did not fight back, but making us spare their life turns me around to OW THAT’S AN EFFECTIVE SCENE.
So I hurt but happily(?).
I go back and forth a bit on whether I like how this section is going (I lean more towards enjoying it, but there are definitely points of MMMM DON’T LIKE THAT PERSONALLY), but I will never be against the idea of DON’T LIKE REMOVE BUFF MM-HMM.
Yeah, not having to finish off the innocent Lahmu was a turning point for my enjoyment of this Singularity and I’m back to enjoying it. No more civilian death parade, more Kingu having to deal with complicated feelings, please.
UGGGGGGHHHH I WANNA CONTINUE BUT I’M ALREADY UP WAY TOO LATE AGAIN. I shouldn’t have saved this for my home visit OH WELL TOO LATE NOW!!
Short form: the Lahmu are of middling interest to me now that they’re characterized by a glee over killing. I don’t really have big feelings about that. But they’re a serviceable backdrop against which to paint the drama of the rest of the characters who I do find interesting.
Fenimore, you’ve had a rough day.
(I did enjoy the scene, even if I’m shitposting it.)
....Oh. That’s who it is. I did wonder why Ushiwakamaru didn’t come up again, but of course she did.
It slipped my mind in the confusion.
Ah, what a start to a battle. Hope it’s still single target!!
......I hate remove buff.
.....Holy crap Mordred what the hell
I was bemoaning that she was stuck at 89% NP charge thanks to Mash’s fall resetting the turn order and then suddenly she crits twice in a Buster Chain at like 10-20% and did over 60k with one and over 70k with the other with zero buffs.
What a pal. What a knight in shining armour.
Took care of the corrupted Ushiwakamaru fast.
Oh, Quetzalcoatl’s buster buff was on her since I was gutsing her up.
EVEN SO!!
STRONG!
also yeah... welcome back ushi... 
Ushiwakamaru did not have a fun end to her work in Uruk.....
Mordred did well by me, as is Ibaraki. Knowing I wasn’t going to be able to get Mordred’s NP up in time, I unleashed all my buster buffs and crit stars and defeated one Lahmu before it could NP by CRITTING WITH EVERYTHING, including Ibaraki’s 10% chance.
There’s a part of me that knows that, if I put Halloween Princess on Mordred expecting a single wave, I might have been able to one-turn clear it, but I appreciate that I’ve been foolishly lucky with crits this way around.
Ah, I underestimated Ushiwakamaru’s NP and lost Mordred before she could NP again even with Halloween Princess.
I worried too much about the backline ones and thought I could raise her NP normally.
Oops!!
Will I make it? Find out next time (my friend is rolling up before I finish).
I appreciate corrupted Ushiwakamaru’s unique death animation, by which I mean it disturbs me.
Guess who’s probably about to regret bringing a backline of only Bond up CEs to a Tiamat fight? (points to self)
I’m going to at least shift a couple of things around to see if I can make this a better setup.
No gods no kings only Yosie Servants.
“Where are her clothes?”
Holy flip that opening to the battle.
Also the ahhhhs were unexpected as getting voiced.
And like........I WANNA ENTER A DIALOGUE TREE WITH TIAMAT this would be my undoing doubtless.
The only times I bring Tamamo to Babylonia are to fights where we get HP recovery down status effects.
This is...this is a lot of status effects.....
Is this another battle to regret not making a team that blasts out to a quick start?
Ah. The song she makes when hit by Mordred's NP.......my stomach twisted, and I'm not sure I can name all of the emotions that went into that twist.
My delay and lack of understanding how this went lost me Mash and Tamamo. I was placing Tiamat (I refuse to call her Femme Fatale) as top priority and letting the Lahmu do as they will, and so while I waited for Mordred's debuff removal to return, I lost the other two to Lahmu attacks.
Yet another unsettling "no NP, no attacks" fight.....
I'm confused and scared. Well done, FGO, well done.
DR. ROMAN THERE ARE LIKE FOUR CHAPTERS LEFT HUSH
Oh no, we’re on the Bad End route....
Is it because I didn't romance anyone? Was this supposed to be a dating sim?
............................uh oh. (said looking at the map)
That water wasn't there before.......and Tiamat is big enough to be a geographic feature...........
.....boy is it fortunate that Gil's secret weapon works like a shield........
...OH. RIGHT. CLAIRVOYANCE.
THIS CYCLING BETWEEN "MANY ARROWS" AND "BARELY ANY ARROWS" IS MAKING ME UNCOMFORTABLE.......
I DON'T KNOW WHICH IS WORSE.......
five...hundred......humans............
see, this kind of horror I'm actually okay with even if I'm sick of the individual shock value deaths, because, well. it makes sense. and also a number is a statistic but also what the flip.
I’d say he is a million times more my type than Archer Gil, except I’d have to make Archer Gil’s “my type” value to be a positive number.
w... welcome to endgame babylonia, yosie...
I'm
nervous
When I think of Fate from my limited experience, I think of bs like this discussion of why Tiamat can't die. It's bs but also it works within the canon.
Ereshkigal, I’ll still be impressed by you even if you’re kind of a mess, I promise.
But I guess putting on this display makes her happy, so go ahead.
........Um, Ereshkigal, can we talk about privacy and boundaries?
Just...like if I manage to summon you, just a quick little chat about things like that.
...She's spent at least ten years making preparations to just collapse Uruk into the underworld. I find this to be the most charming thing she's said since our last heart-to-heart on the surface.
NICE ONE, ERESHKIGAL oh my gosh she's happy she spent all this time cursing have I taught a bad lesson
OH. I FORGOT. ABOUT HOW ISHTAR CLEARLY HAS LOST THE BULL OF HEAVEN.
THERE'S SO MUCH TO KEEP TRACK OF HERE.....
Ah. The goddess Ishtar is holding a pet-shaming sign. Siduri would not be pleased.
CasGil...is so good.... I actually love him.
CasGil..................... is shockingly good.
Tiamat's height is getting listed in km^2 and yet...that's two-dimensional area. I guess they're giving a slice of Tiamat???
I can't believe how good CasGil is.
Tiamat has a bonus against anything born from a womb...is...is Mash the test-tube baby immune???
Tiamat’s profile...sure has a lot.....
Making all of chapter 19 cutscene really shows how much more comfortable FGO has become with its medium.
I could also make a Kojima joke but I will refrain.
OH NO. QUETZ AND GORGON.
I love Quetzalcoatl.
Gilgamesh.....you’re not a Servant yet...please sleep ever.......
King Gilgamesh. How are you this good in your later years? Truly, anyone can change for the better.
........the deaths in the Singularities aren’t undone.
Holy fuck.
That’s. Hoo boy. I hope he’s wrong.
Ah, and it’s Kingu heartbreak o’clock. Look at the time.
.........Gil gave Kingu the Holy Grail. I did not think of this. Even if I had, I wouldn’t have expected it to make me feel so happy. 
YET AGAIN THE DREAD OF A MILLION ARROWS AND THIS MUSIC
.............TIAMAT MOVED.
Chaldea, you’re a bunch of melodramatic nerds, but you’ve earned it after all of this.
Even between battles, Tiamat moved okay I’m way past reasonable bedtime, aaaaaa this game.
Ah, hello my backline that is mostly carrying bond CEs. Nice to see you.
I appreciate the spindly legs walking in the background. Having the background shift around as we get closer — the art direction in this section is pretty swell!
Oh wait, Ishtar kept her feet flying around! ...but the two who came out were the bond CE two.
I knew you’d be back, corrupted Ushiwakamaru. I should have expected nothing less than doing it right now.
But I thought you planned to drop that form.
I wonder what would happen if the multiplying one multiplied with the frontline full — but not curious enough to fight another nearly 19k of Ushiwakamaru HP!
Ushiwakamaru always using her evade when her copy is almost done: that’s mean!!
The crunch of a clone disintegrating. Eugh. Sends a shiver down my spine.
This is unkind.
Medb tanked the NP like the queen she is, though.
She fucked the goo clone into paste, which is perhaps a little unsettling.
In less disturbing news, one more battle and the buster crit Mystic Code is max level!!
BENKEI!!!
The ushi fights are uncomfortable. Especially the sound effect... that wet crunch, eugh.
Major props to the sound direction.....
Also, this scene with Quetzalcoatl's sacrifice is cool, but also...why can't we be up there protecting her from those flying Lahmu???
AND THE CUTSCENE ENDS BEFORE SEEING WHAT HAPPENED!!!
Oh....since chaos tide happens at the beginning of the turn...one turn guts is ineffective.......
Oh well, I got a third person with a charisma-like skill out during a turn that Jalter has her NP and two cards, one of which is a Buster. ALL ON JALTER!!
Jalter delivered like a good agent of chaos and hatred.
I didn’t think she’d have enough to finish off the 2k+ remaining but she did it.
ALSO WELP I CAN SEE MY HOUSE FROM UP HERE WITH WHERE TIAMAT IS WITH RESPECT TO THE CHALDEAN EMBASSY!!
NOT THE GREATEST SIGN.
An...unknown Servant. At this stage of the game....
One of the people I can see it being, I’ll be sad that the enemy is a Saber.
............................................................................................HOLY FUCK.
GORGON?????
SHE'S FIGHTING TIAMAT ON PAR AND IS COMING TO HELP US??????
or rather take revenge and as a side benefit it helps us HECK YES.
"Huh," thought I, a fool, back when fighting Gorgon, "Her NP seems a little lackluster for such an impressive Servant." I think this no longer.
Ow...ch...?
(Also: 
Yay.)
Yay.)
Ana Gorgon is so good.
Ah, there goes the embassy. And as much as I was annoyed by the setup of the repeated deaths, this finale has some great highlights of everyone pouring everything they have into everything.
THE LAHMU SOUND LIKE HOUSEFLIES, WHICH PUTS ME ON EDGE BY ITSELF.
The lahmu are so disturbing. 
Also I don't want to interrupt your game flow, but remind me to rebuttal a conversation much higher up you guys had about the goddesses not being brutal enough.
Because I would argue an important point being overlooked that applies to Ereshkigal.
Um. That background.
Feel free to debate in! I’d be happy to hear a counterpoint.
We will regardless be able to agree the Lahmu are disturbing.
Nothing to bring Ishtar and Gil together into almost tolerating each other like the end of the world. Not that Gil can ever admit to needing to be looked after.
Which is hilarious, given her host body's track record with Gils at the end of the world. 
Now that it’s CasGil and I don’t have the associations with him being a right prick to Artoria, I can properly enjoy how Extra he is.
Caster Gil is so much better... Just leagues and leagues an improvement
I'm kinda glad his banner is lasting all the way until the end of the year, because maybe if my finances are well enough off I can roll for him after all.
........OH MY GOSH IT’S KINGU!!!
I managed to get a copy of him and I was originally a bit MMMM, because his summoning message and several of his battle lines sound very Archer Gil.
But this chapter has made CasGil someone I love.
Unexpectedly.
My first encounter with Gil in Stay Night where he was, as I saw someone describe it once, a bad hentai villain has held with me strongly. CasGil managed to make it through that.
ANYWAY KINGU IS HERE TO BRING ON HIS OWN REVENGE HELP.
A GOOD. CHILD.
HE WAS BORN INTO THIS WORLD TO PROTECT IT AAAAAAAAAA
NO YOU ARE THE RIGHT CHILD AAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAA
Like, Babylonia is cool and all, but the design of Tiamat was clearly prepped for someone’s bondage fetish.
WHAT A COOL VISUAL.
ERESHKIGAL AM I EVER HAPPY TO HEAR FROM YOU.
I’m gonna cry.
I really am going to cry.
how can I choose between two ?? story supports I think the silver one is Jaguar Warrior. I don’t know who the gold is...Ishtar??
THANKS ERESHKIGAL WE OWE YOU ONE
JAGUAR WARRIOR YOU’RE SO STRONG!!!
I did not expect a return of Merlin. Even though he told me he would revive if killed.
LIKE IT WAS JUST FOR A SPOT OF TEA.
Good grief, you “observer,” you sure stick your nose in it all!!
Oh. Oh my gosh.
Grandpa???
Oh, no, it’s the old man we met earlier but he still looks incredible.
NO IT IS HIM HE’S BEEN HERE ALL THIS TIME
GRAMPS!!!!!!!!
Ereshkigal, you’re cute.
And you’re also cool.
THAT BURST OF FLOWERS AND THE HEAL I GASPED ALOUD.
AWWW I DIDN’T NOTICE MERLIN HAD HIS THIRD SKILL FOR MORDRED’S NP BUSTER BRAVE CHAIN WITH CRITS.
MMMMM THIS IS SO COOL BUT MY PARENTS ARE FINISHING THEIR SHOW I SHOULD WAIT TO FINISH UP.
ERESHKIGAL AND MERLIN ARE SUCH INCREDIBLE SUPPORTS MORDRED WAS ABLE TO BEAST THAT FIGHT EVEN THOUGH IT WASN’T A LANCER OR AOE.
You are having such a good time and I’m loving it.
Playing FGO makes me feel like I’m actually saving the world and this chapter sure is on that train.
I’m glad I’m having fun. I was afraid I wouldn’t when the tone shift of the Lahmu happened, but I am.
Now I have to decide if I’ll bring Mordred to the end of this or if I’ll cycle through my World End Squad.
Also re: the goddesses maybe brutal wasn’t the right word to choose to describe my gripe, but my issue is less with the characters and more with stories that waive their own consequences wrt character death, especially for townsfolk
Outside of fgo, a good example of what I’m trying to articulate is “oh no! This entire town is filled with horrible toxic sludge! And the nobility just left everyone to die horribly!” But then it turns out everyone else is just hanging out in the basement of the castle making curry
I prefer hopeful stories and not every story that does this sort of thing does it badly, but when it comes to bad stuff I admire stories who stick with it and work through the consequences
Anyway I ALMOST FORGOT BUT
I love how literally every ziusu-dra reveal reaction I’ve seen is identical
GRAMPS!!!
Yeah, I like when everyone lives way better than deaths, personally, but I also feel like...Ereshkigal definitely intended to kill those people. And yet, because no one was really hurt, we sidestep the actual conclusion to this arc of deciding what we feel about her doing this.
Especially since those people die later anyway because of Tiamat’s business eradicating everyone.
Also we completely ignored the claim from I think Ishtar that Ereshkigal keeps souls she likes with her even though they painfully freeze into nothingness. Can we talk about that one?
It cheapens the story arc for me, even if I guess it’s better than if they actually died and we ignored that so hard. I think with Ereshkigal, I’m mostly disappointed that it just felt like we sidestepped “goddess who has been alone from birth turning out morally askew despite having a good heart and this needs to be confronted” in favour of
“well, she has her silly little peccadilloes but don’t we all anyway haha she’s kind of clumsy isn’t she? okay we’re cool now.” Then again, I might be feeling that way more because I found the morality slightly askew of the confrontation of “tough life BIG DEAL EITHER SUCK IT UP BABY OR LEAVE THE DEAD TO THEIR OWN DEVICES” (not quite but that’s how it felt).
With Quetzalcoatl, the resolution was fun, but I was sad we got fewer chances to see shark teeth.
That’s where I stand at the moment, as far as my personal feelings on the matter.
Also GOOD EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW OF GRAMPS
Why can’t they tell me who I’m going to be playing with?? I’ll see if I can do this next section with Queen Medb. She’s stuck to the back for a while.
MERLIN DOESN’T WANT TO SHARE WALKING ON AIR EVEN WHEN IT’S NOT UNDER HIS OWN POWER THE SELFISH MAN
AAAAAAA IS IT GRAMPS DO I GET TO PLAY WOTH GRAMPS???
I SURE WILL FOREVER MORE PLEASE COME IF I THROW A PULL AT YOU GRAMPS oh gosh beast type y i k e s
.........did he just gain 31 NP from one arts card
Oh right, Ereshkigal’s blessing includes that. Thanks Ereshkigal, you’re the best possibly extremely dangerous friend!
Gramps is fun.
also just because I know you love her: saber shiki is very good for this fight for the same reason that gramps is!
Oh yeah! She sure would be.
I’ll have to think if I wanna break up the End of the World squa — I love Saber Shiki let’s go
Since I have Medb instead, this fight is going to take a long time.
Though I got a regular attack Death activation from Gramps in a clutch moment — I attacked a full charge bar Bel Lahmu with Gramps’s NP Buster Brave chain, but since Evening Bell wasn’t up, the NP didn’t cause death. I was thinking about whether I needed to reset and use a defensive skill when suddenly its HP vanished unexpectedly.
Oh see, Yosie, the point that bothers you (while fair) actually relates to what I was going to make a case for, more than Silvie's.
(because in that case I positively agree - I also prefer more hopeful stories than grimdark ones, but there is something admirable about doing a darker storyline and committing to it)
(as opposed to only going halfway, to avoid bigger consequences)
Anyways, regarding Ereshkigal.
Her being as soft as she is is actually set up really well, but it ironically has nothing to do with Ereshkigal herself.
I don't think we ignored her personality as described by Ishtar at all, so much as we technically never met Ereshkigal as she would have been under normal circumstances.
The reason why Eresh is as nice as she is is better explained through our regular bonding with Ishtar, actually. When she's normal Ishtar, even, and not even Eresh badly pretending.
They both used FSN Rin Tohsaka as a catalyst for being summoned, and the girl's body herself. As Ishtar explains, after being summoned she merged with Rin.
Most likely, Ereshkigal merged as well, with the aspects of Rin's personality that weren't absorbed into Ishtar.
....which, given we got exact math per Ishtar, would actually be a lot.
If Ishtar is 30% Rin Tohsaka, that would mean Ereshkigal absorbed the remaining 70%. She's still the one piloting the body, but she's influenced by Rin's original personality to a much stronger degree than her sister is.
While Ereshkigal 1.0 absolutely would have intended to kill those people, Rin wouldn't.
And trying to either preserve a few souls in the afterlife or, barring that, help people die peacefully over a more gruesome fate is such a Rin Tohsaka move, oh my god.
(obviously I'm a little biased here)
(RIN IS MY GIRL, I COULD ESSAY FOR HOURS...)
Tone-wise it still ends up being a little bit of a copout, because it's definitely a loophole to make the goddesses more endearing by the end.
But in Eresh's case I think it's one that's set up surprisingly well, even if it makes me wonder what she'd be like under different circumstances. 8|a
If your theory that Eresh is 70% Rin is correct, it’s possible that the formal, intimidating start to our face-to-face in the underworld was less acting and more using the Ereshkigal part — or maybe not. I haven’t thought too deeply about the possessive summons, as I have trouble wrapping my head around it, so this is just me spitballing.
I do agree that softer Ereshkigal was set up properly — like, her first scene in the Singularity, I think there was a comment about how she could just kill basically everyone in her territory at will but had not, which she didn’t want to talk about. I already knew that she was more human-friendly.
There was a bit of “this goddess could have gone more hardcore places” after Camelot’s treatment of the Knights of the Round Table, but I was kind of expecting it and wasn’t super sad about that one.
But it kind of felt...unfinished to me? Maybe it’s because I told Ereshkigal that she wasn’t at fault since I felt more that way than “I don’t really care,” and then the next scene was written assuming the latter.
And then rather than really resolving her feelings of “well, it’s too late for me now, I’ve done unforgivable things,” we skipped on ahead with “well, no harm done.” The lack of consequences felt like it took the weight from the scene and felt silly in hindsight when it’s like...these people are going to be dead anyway, so we aren’t even having the feel good
of people surviving, though of course there’s CasGil’s whole “we were doomed from the start but there is meaning in living even a handful of days longer.”
Now Quetzalcoatl, she I really wish was a little more brutal. You get an awesome shark-toothed smile and you just barely hint at the darker side in between massive big sis elements?
She’s charming, but SHARK TEETH.
So I guess it’s...I found Ereshkigal’s level of brutal mostly fine, but her story resolution felt lacklustre due to no consequences and it would be interesting to explore more of her learning to readjust her morals to outside the underworld. Quetzalcoatl’s resolution was fun, but she herself could have used more brutality.
I think that’s where I stand, though I can’t speak for Silvie.
Unrelated, but after I finish Babylonia, I kind of want to look back at the Singularities and remember who I brought to each and how that might have affected my personal journey through FGO’s story.
Like, Fuyuki was Mash/Liz/Caster Cú, and I suspect that Orleans and Septem were both with what I had raised at the time (Liz/Kiyohime/Robin Hood/Carmilla).
Okeanos and London were the height of my “theme team” stage, as I managed to defeat both of them with mostly only Servants who were canonically there (a special kind of suffering in Okeanos, where I had 3-4 archers or something). America had a team raised so they’d be about the right level, mostly Silvers. Camelot and on, I’ve come to use my best Servants.
Now that the levels are high enough to basically require them, haha. But Babylonia especially has had some who were clearly favoured, with my developed team “We Tried To End A World Ourselves But Now We’re Here To Stop It (and Mash),” which would have been an interesting addition to the embassy.
But I’ll have to be less tired first.
Tomorrow, we return to Babylonia and maybe finish it???
Here we go.
Once she got to this point, I planned to give the final blow to Mash, since she deserves it after all the work she’s done. But since I was denied that, I decided to go instead for some slight overkill.
By the way, that very long mouth is common but effective. Good show.
I still hate buff removal.
But, in this case, it was fine, because I had Ereshkigal giving me buffs that Tiamat could not remove in the underworld.
THE RUDEST.
YOU COULD HAVE STAYED IN YOUR OTHER NEARLY NAKED CLOTHES. YOU’RE DAMN LUCKY I’M STILL THINKING ABOUT CASGIL SO DON’T RUIN IT.
And Jalter gets to be part of the final blow team because I was close enough to using everyone once in this battle that I’m going to do so.
.......this team was entirely designed around bond levels, so I didn’t notice just how many lores went into it:
MERLIN’S FLOWERS ARE STILL GOING THANK GOSH I WAS SO AFRAID OF HOW TO DEAL WITH THE LOSS OF HEALS
Well those buster crits sure do a bit of damage when you set it up, now, it sure does.
I don’t know if Gil will get to NP since I’m not going to let him have the final blow. It might be fitting, for his city, but if he wanted to go over the top of letting Mash or Jalter do it, he should have been CasGil form.
She crit on a 20% chance. She earned it.
Also, I felt it appropriate that Ibaraki started her battle with being the one to speak (“My blood is boiling — literally!”) and Jalter ended hers with one that was very appropriate: “Now, I will take your head. Goodbye.”
I feel like Gil was saying things I don’t remember from when I last used Silvie’s? ...Too bad I have no idea what it was.
All this does is make me less inclined to do it, you butt!!
.....what the flip QUETZALCOATL????
I love Jaguar Warrior and yet also: I can’t believe how useful this gag character was???
She did so much this Singularity!
Wait. Is catching burning Quetzalcoatl why Jaguar Warrior was so charred in the underworld???
.....I just asked after Ereshkigal because they’re semi-sharing a body. She said nothing about repercussions for helping!!
Why do you start getting consequences noooow???
GOSH DARN IT ALL, ERESHKIGAL!!
DON’T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT ISHTAR
.........
sighs, opens wallet
I guess I’m not free of saving for 5-stars like I’d hoped I was.......
Ishtar, you’re unexpectedly sensitive and generous to your sister.
.........on the verge of YOU DIDN’T DIE?????
Oh, I guess not LIKE I WOULD BELIEVE THAT AT THIS POINT.
I’ll take “Things I Never Thought I’d Do For Gil” for 1000, Alex.
Merlin, you old softy.
I guess that’s an important deadline.
And there we go. With this timing, I guess we really do get one day to rest before the final battle begins.
Thanks for reading, everyone. It’s time to level Mash and Jaguar Warrior.
My power against Solomon grows. (Also I find it quite pleasing that my actual Babylonia commentary ended on 660. Though 6 more comments would have been truly appropriate.
Also, a screenshot I took but forgot to upload in the fuss:
Shhhhh Tiamat!!
Shhhhh Tiamat!!
Super/Great Success at the last moment! What a good kouhai.
Oh, those are the extremely rare new material that CasGil nee —
She probably won’t get max levelled today, because I’m running low on EXP in my Servant folder. (But what about the approximately 170 stacks of 2+ EXP in your presents box?) Shhhhh.
I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter Yosie!! and with such perfect timing
because I was lazy checking plurk for a few days and just caught up with your commentary now, I wanted to comment re:FSN Gil, something that isn't completely obvious is that
In FSN, Gil's been affected by the grail muck. so he's like... as twisted as Ushi got in this chapter
Not to say that he was a good person prior to being affected, because he's also affected by the point in his life his saint graph is summoned from but like
He still might act in ways that he wouldn't have without the influence of the grail
He was still a dick in Fate/Zero but IIRC he only got extremely egregiously unforgivably bad after the grail incident
I feel like Nasu started writing him as a bad hentai villain with a few neat concepts attached to him in FSN and the more he messed around with him the more attached he got to Gilgamesh as a more complex character
That is more than likely completely correct, too. Most of the characters have evolved a lot over the course of different appearances
Yeah I'd never say Nasu is a perfect author but I do feel like he's genuinely improved as a writer over the years and I respect him a lot for that
He still has his quirks though. This chapter... really has a lot of the Nasu magical technobabble....
I mean if we're going Thermian Argument yeah that's what's up RE: Gil (that the grail mud made him a rapey douchebag) but if we're going for actual real world timelines Ran's is probably the most correct
Gil said the mud didn't affect him but like, he's not a reliable source on that
Yeah.It's hard to tell whether it's intended or just a retcon, since there are a number of other characters aside from him who keep being pushed to be sympathetic that I just cannot ever have sympathy for because of their past actions.
i will admit the characterization upgrade that worked best for me was cursed arm because he went from kinda nothing to a character i'd take a bullet for
I mean calling it a "retcon" is a bit much it's more like new material revealed new information from a different perspective
Yeah, I expect the grail mud had something to do with it in canon and it wasn’t just he had such a big turnaround after his bad adolescence, but it has tarred (pun unintended) my view of Archer Gil.
I have the same feelings as you on that one. The grail theory is just a reason I'm more willing to give his other versions a chance, unlike, say, Gilles, who should immediately become mana prisms on sight
It’s true.
I just saw this from your other Plurk (backtracking here) and tbh I think the Word of God from Nasu is that Gil is uncorruptible from the Grail Mud, though, eh, Nasu frequently contradicts himself about his own series, so I guess people can still hypothesize it affected him
I don't worry too much about it because like others said I'm more focused on the meta-level of why he changed around, mainly being that he's a character whom different writers have dabbled with and Nasu himself has gone in different directions with him
Urobuchi did F/Z, which made Gil more popular, which made Nasu re-write him in CCC, then in Babylonia
I don't put too much stock in original VN/FSN Gil or even UBW because all that was just Nasu's early writing and he was a stock villain at the time
Yeah that’s mostly how I feel about the guy, especially since he’s even kind of inconsistent across FSN’s routes
I prefer to think Gilgamesh is just an inherently chaotic being who can circumstantially being heroic or the worst motherfucker ever and I don't really mind that because that dichotomy intrigues me
It took me a moment to remember there’d been some grail muck discussion earlier, haha. (Not that I’m saying that’s a bad thing. A lot of my friends meme about how freely I reply to things super late and they don’t have to exaggerate my behaviour at all to do so. 
)
)
I’d remembered vaguely hearing that the accepted canon was that Gil was actually telling the truth about not being corrupted, but also I’m not exactly an expert on Stay Night or Zero canon since I still haven’t gotten back to finishing Zero or starting UBW (or watching Heaven’s Feel, but tickets for the movie were sold out when I went).
Good to know from a Gil expert, though! Thanks for letting me know.