Conversations over a cup of coffee II : Warframe

Ergo picked up the dirty dishes and loaded them in the dishwasher. A few button presses and the machine turned on with a soft purr.

Conversations over a cup of coffee I : Warframe

“Frohd called for a no confidence vote.”

The Land of Wisdom : Genshin Impact

Last time I wrote about Genshin was in August... during the summer event. Well, several months have passed, Sumeru is out and the Archon quest has concluded!

I will do a short and sweet retrospective post to put down all my thoughts about the new region.

In short - I loved it! Truly, after the many disappointments of Inazuma, Hoyoverse put on their big boy pants and delivered a one-of-a-kind experience. Spoilers under cut!

Tennotober 2022 : Warframe

Another year, another Tennotober. Decided to make a post with all the drawings I did this year. Bit of a shame I did not do a post for 2021, but then again, I could make a separate post, so what if it's almost the end of 2022!

Covid and Russia's invasion of Ukraine has sort of blended the past three years into one big porridge, so time seems irrelevant. I thought this year was particularly dreary and depressive, but truth be told, this is the first proper post-Covid year so simply I haven't had the opportunity to work-from-home as much, which means I can't procrastinate by drawing while I'm working. Last year was productive work wise exactly because I did not have that much to do at work.

This year I re-started studies in university, so now I have two obligations - work and PhD studies, so that just adds up to my low energy issues. Doesn't mean I didn't get to draw at all! I wasn't particularly productive this Tennotober, but at the same time - last year burnt me out pretty bad. I have barely picked up a pen and paper this year, even though I usually love traditional art. Anyways, less complaining, more Tennotober.

Summertime Odyssey : Genshin Impact

New update means new characters - I risked "just a tenpull" and thankfully got Heizou without ruining my pity. I already have Kazuha, Klee and Yoimiya, so right now I am saving my primmies and my guaranteed to get Tighnari when Sumeru comes out.

I also got Diluc's skin! Gamed the system by using a 2x crystal boost and only spent 15 euros on his costume. I would spend full price too, even though Genshin is a gacha, when it comes to f2p games I think costumes being a premium thing is not too bad - especially when those are full costumes with extra animations and such. Different than paying 30 dollars for a hat, for example.

The new update also came with several events and Kazuha's story quest - I will focus on the Summertime Odyssey quest and Kazuha's character quest in this post, with a little addendum about Diluc at the end!

Geronimo! : Genshin Impact

This achievement eluded me for a long time and I finally got it! With Itto, who sacrificed like 50% of his HP to pull off the winning stunt. :D

I am back to the character building grind, well, now I am putting effort into it. I am very close to triple-crowning Ayaka! My next goal is to triple-crown Yae, then get both Kokomi and Yelan to 9/9/9 and also upgrade Kokomi's weapon to lvl 90. In-between that I am raising Qiqi and Mona. Sometimes it's hard to stick to one character because of resin limits and the way the talent domains rotate, but I am trying to stick to one goal at a time. If only to give myself a purpose in the game.

I will also need to artifact hunt... let's hope I don't get distracted by yet another new character! I am always lacking fodder for upgrading existing artifacts. AND artifact grind is the true endgame challenge for anyone playing Genshin.

I really like how sassy Yelan is. I guess that's just my type, the same way I really like Yae Miko, even if she's a bit of a mischievous bully at times.

Yaksha : Genshin Impact

I took a break from Genshin Impact during May,  so when the new update rolled out, I jumped back in!

I got really lucky both on my main account and on my side account... Got Keqing AND Yelan on main with about ~30 pulls overall. Now I have every standard banner 5-star character and I have Yelan. I am glad I got her on main - she is fun to use and synergizes well with my other units. Also she's a cool character and very beautiful. :P

I got Yelan and Diluc on my side account, which means I got a guarantee on next banner, but I am a bit burnt out on grinding my side account - I am terribly behind in content but I kinda don't want to do it anyways. At least I have good units sitting and waiting for me if I ever feel like going back and returning to the grind. 

That said - the update came with a new Archon quest so I will be talking about that and Yelan's story quest!

Update : Misc

Lost a lot of creative steam, both writing and drawing wise, then suddenly regained inspiration for art! Haven't written anything though. My poor multi-part story got stuck at part 2, oh well. :D

Maybe I will write something else. I really should focus more on one-shots, knowing my adhd-like brain just can't stick to one thing too long. On the other hand - Genshin Impact hiatus ended so I could do a little writeup of the newest Archon quest.

Itto is making a comeback and I am always happy to see best boy in story quests and event quests!

Return Home : Warframe

It's been well over a week since the launch of the Angels of the Zariman update and I've had some time to enjoy it, so I felt like writing down my feelings for posterity. This post will include a multitude of lore and quest spoilers, so beware!

The Zariman emerges, accompanied by the Lidless Eye.

One of the things I was excited for was the Valkyr Carnivex skin - it looks beautiful and I am having lots of fun running missions with Valkyr, she is a fun frame to play and she looks super cool as well.

Ready to smash Grineer

Into the Chasm : Genshin Impact

 "I'm bored, what do I do?" I ask myself and then explore the Chasm for several hours.

Venti walks the tightrope

For the sake of unlocking the map, I did the Chasm world quest so I have all the areas unlocked~ Later I will delve deeper into the story of Katarina and the weird mushroom. I do know Katarina's story since my friend showed it but I am still excited to explore for myself. 😊

Love is stored in Ayaka : Genshin Impact

Ayaka's rerun is finally here and I won the coinflip! Feeling very blessed that I won the 50/50 on two banners in a row. A rare case of luck...

Ayaka is one character I've wanted for a long time, now I can comfortably work on building all the existing characters I have. Perhaps finally build a "meta" team for the Spiral Abyss so I can fully complete it.

Or just build some of the less loved characters, like Klee, who I got semi-accidentally. I've recently grown to like catalyst users so now I have a whole list of catalysts I need to upgrade and ascend. The grind never stops.

Despite it all, one problem remains, and that is the weapon banner. I hate it, I swear I won't pull on it, yet I still do. I guess that's the gambler's mindset? Hoyoverse really had to troll us by putting the Unforged next to the Mistsplitter Reforged... Of course I got the damn claymore, which I also got in previous banners, so now it's at a whopping R3. :') I think last time I suffered with that weapon was for the Engulfing Lightning, needless to say getting two claymores in a row put me off the banner. Maybe this time I will get the sword on my second pity? Pretty please, Hoyo??? (Narrator voice: she is in deep denial.)

Viri is kot now : Final Fantasy XIV

So, at the end of December I started playing Final Fantasy XIV, unfortunately it was during a huge, new update so the queues were abysmal and I didn't feel like wasting 2 hours of my evening free time waiting to get into a game. Then, when I renewed my sub in January, coincidentally I had my debit card info stolen so I had to shut down the card and order a new one.

Some time passed, it's April now, I renewed my sub again and re-started playing where I left off! I got sucked in hard and have been spending many hours powering through the MSQ and Archer quests, also dabbling into crafting here and there. I am trying not to overwhelm myself too much with all the new stuff and mechanics.

Doing dungeons with a premade NPC party is what motivated me to restart, since compulsory group content is what held me off getting really into the game. Thankfully, I have friends to play with in the future but I also like exploring on my own and learning by playing. I cleared the first two newbie dungeons and it was fun! I don't know why I imagine MMOs to be super fast paced and wild but so far it's just stand in place, then move away from big attack. I like that!

Irodori festival : Genshin Impact

I finally put on my big girl pants and got to the bottom of the abyss! And re-did the lower floors to 100% the achievements and get the namecard. Truth be told I cannot 36 star the entire Abyss but getting to the bottom is all that I need. Despite it being a good source of primogems I don't play it too often. Maybe I need to build a simple meta team to cheese it. 🤔

The teapot is in maintenance mode but that won't stop me from slowly crawling towards rank 40 of the Sakura tree, two more and I will get my Inazuma scene. I saw some absolutely gorgeous screenshots done by other users, perhaps I should become a "teapot main" soon and build a nice sanctuary for Raiden Ei, Yae Miko and Ayaka and Thoma. Sorry, Ayato was not meant to come home on EU so it's just one sibling (for now?)~

In other news, the Irodori festival has come and I have caught up with the story and events so I will talk about them!

Venti main btw : Genshin Impact

Ayato's release came with the rerun of Venti, whom I had already gotten in his previous rerun, with a c1 constellation no less. Poor guy had been sitting at 3-4-6 skills and with sub-optimal artifacts all this time. I decided to give him some love.

The Bard of Mondstadt

When I first got him, I enjoyed Venti immensely, but he soon got replaced by Kazuha. I'd say both of them are the best Anemo support characters one can have so which one you choose depends on aesthetic and whoever has the better weapon - then again, f2p players can craft the Iron String, whereas a Stringless is harder to come by, unless you got the Windblume Ode in an event. Also Venti is easier to build for newcomers, as all of his materials come from Mondstadt. Real talk - getting an Inazuma character as a newbie is tough, you can't really do anything with them.

Families and Curses : Genshin Impact

A new update has graced Genshin Impact, which means that the eternal grind loop comes to a halt and I can explore new places and play new quests! I am still waiting for Angels of Zariman on the Warframe end and lost a bit of steam in regards to Guild Wars 2... so I guess this is my own eternal loop of playing different games. 😅

Right now there is a photo event on so I'm allowing myself to have some fun with action shots.

I also played Ayato's story quest and the new Archon quest, so spoilers below!

The assistants : Warframe

Scilla Oma: holder of the "key", has been the longest with Nef, she previously served his mother and is known for her loyalty to Anyocorp and the Anyos themselves. Respects and adores both Nef and his mother. Has a disdain for those that "don't know their place", is most distinguished by her knowing smile, in many ways mimics the mannerisms of the Anyos but keeps an elegant and well composed aura.

Cani Mae: also worked for Nef for a very long time, he got his job by simply "neutralizing" his opponents when applying for the position of assistant, being the only candidate left. Talks shit about Nef behind his back but plays nice to his face. Only wants the money and is not particularly loyal to Anyocorp, looks out only for himself and detests putting in any amount of effort. Cani's parents are Perrin, he abandoned his family. Nef knows this and he knows Cani isn't loyal to Perrin too, but still likes to test his loyalty from time to time. Mostly by accosting him during performance evaluations.

Caella Nob: a newbie, mentored by Scilla, gets bullied by Nef as she's not as good at her duties. Her reason for seeking out the job of assistant was to pay off a loan for an apartment. Dutifully counts the years, months, days and hours left until the loan is paid off. Tends to keep a more "neutral" position on Anyocorp in the vain hope that when the apartment is paid off and she can seek more meaningful employment, Nef might write a letter of recommendation. 

No pictures because they are still vague visions in my mind. They all have very modest bodysuits, probably in a Corpus deep blue or something like that. They all keep their hair short. Practical and modest so their boss "pops" in front of them.

Scilla has dark hair, Cani has dark hair but dyes it a dusty blonde, Caella is a brunette. Cani is the tallest and Scilla and Caella are about the same height. They all have average builds. Scilla looks middle aged while Cani and Caella look more like adults in their 30s. Cani is closer to Scilla in age than Caella but steals Nef's aging-retardants to slow down his own biological aging.

Rich guys and their money : Warframe

I was thinking about Nef, as I tend to do, and I finally found a solution to a problem I had with his character - how do I reconcile with the fact that he's quite a fool but still very influential as an individual in the Corpus.

The answer - an entourage of assistants.

Basically Nef is the CEO who is completely uninvolved with his work for most of the time, a "right hand doesn't know what the left is doing" type. He has assistants who manage the finances and the assets and organize everything that has to be done. Nef will get involved based on his own selfish whims, since he is known to be emotionally immature and narcissistic. Obviously Nef is the type of man you can't say "no" to, which is why whenever he appears in the story it results in a major fuckup.

Vox Solaris? He blows up a coolant tower.

Glast Gambit? Gambles everything away.

Deadlock Protocol? Releases his supposedly dead father (and founder of the Corpus) out in the wild.

The Waverider? Gets swindled by literal children.

The relationship between Nef and his employees and contemporaries is a strange mutualism.

The other Board members need him as a useful idiot - capable people get things done but the Board cannot keep being corrupt if it has people with conscience and work ethic, thus someone like Nef keeps the balance: he is very rich and brings in a lot of valuables but at the same time is very hands off and his servants can be easily dealt with as they are more concerned with securing their own wealth, rather than risking messing with high ranking Corpus politics.

His closest confidants and servants benefit from the freedom of managing all of Nef's assets - sure, the boss is a bit of a manchild who might throw a tantrum and you always need extra money for "unexpected outcomes" but in Corpus society, wiping a rich man's ass is a job most Corpus can only dream of. It is the closest a regular crewman can get to luxury.

Viri can antagonize Nef because she is a Tenno.

Back again : Guild Wars 2

So, a new expansion for Guild Wars 2 just launched - End of Dragons! Which means that after a very, very long hiatus I have jumped back into the game.

Truth be told I am nowhere near getting to play the expansion, however. I never finished any content after Path of Fire so I am quite lost on the plot. Not only that, I don't even remember that well what I did play so I decided to create a new character so I can try out a class I hadn't played much - the Engineer! The EoD spec for them seems fun and in general it's good to re-tread old paths with something new, at least that's what I think.

Technician Viri visiting the Pale Tree

Memories : Warframe

My father did not care for the etiquette and formalities of the Corpus, he spoke what he meant and made sure that his conversation partner knew his intentions from the get go. He was honest, hard working and stood for what he believed.

Which is why the Board assassinated him.

[..]

If I hadn't know Nef Anyo for so long I would believe that the character you see speaking to the other aristocrats is the real him. No, The Prophet of Profit is merely an act.

[..]

When we were mere crewmen, we would often stargaze at the end of our shift, as we had little energy to do else. He would point at the sky and say "Ergo, one day, you and I will be among the stars". It's what kept us both going.

[..]

Reaching the stars left me with a profound emptiness, perhaps that is the reason why I left the Corpus.

"I am not a magpie, you cannot win me over with trinkets."

Small updates : Genshin Impact

This was a lousy week but gacha was good to me and gave me a nice surprise! Now Xiao looks pretty holding a polearm that actually matches his aesthetic.

Friend wanted to test Shenhe's support abilities so DPS Qiqi could show off, it was quite fun!

Is this the dream team? : Genshin Impact

The other day RNG blessed me with Fischl and now I have what I think is a solid team. As much as Albedo helped me along the way, I just know Fish and and Yanfei will create a really tough team! Unfortunately now I'm stuck with two characters that share ascension materials...

Kaeya is surprisingly reliable, probably because it's hard to get a cryo DPS without going the premium way, I know I waited a long time on EU to get my hands on Ganyu and she was a life changer!

That said, my next goal on Asia is to get Ayato... Childe is my trusty hydro DPS on EU so I can't abandon him, besides, I really want Ayaka too so that's my plan for getting two birds with one stone, albeit on different servers. The sole reason I started an alt in the first place was to follow my friend's example who pulls for different characters on different servers in the f2p way, granted she is way more of a diligent explorer and grinder than me but still.

Once I catch up with the main quest I can do side stuff at my leisure. Another thing is to get enough materials for ascension at lvl 70 so I can do the world ascension quest and get to AR 45. I sat on 35 and 45 a long time on EU so on Asia it will probably be even longer, since I'm slower with exploring and dailies there. 😅 All in due time, though.

I have other games to play too, really need to get back into GW2, but my plan to catch up before the expansion pack drop kinda failed anyways... Six days and I'm not really anywhere, just messing around with my new engineer. Oh well, the game isn't going anywhere on launch day.

As a side note - the dynamic of these two always brings a smile to my face!

Catching up : Genshin Impact

 

I spent this weekend catching up on different content both on my main account and my alt account. Mostly quests and exploration~

Eternity : Genshin Impact

I finished the second chapter of Raiden Ei's story quest and let me tell you - it gave me feels!

Deeper discussion under the cut, mind the spoilers!

New Tennogen : Warframe

 

Protea Technocron is one of the many Tennogen skins I've been really looking forward to getting, it's by the same author who made the Nidus Technocyst which is a strong favorite of mine. Switched the helmet, however, since I like my Protea with a ponytail. 😤

I love the matte, more mechanical look of the skin, so I fashioned Protea to look like Parvos Granum for an overall "Proto-Corpus" aesthetic. 😌

Arsenal view

Baby Tanuki : Genshin Impact

 

I really enjoy the non-combat events Mihoyo/Hoyoverse throws at us!

Baby, baby boy~

Hand holding : Warframe

Happy Valentine's day~ Have two old prunes holding hands reluctantly.

More drawings under the cut, mostly old stuff from 2021, includes other affectionate interactions.

Corpus and Perrin : Warframe

Ergo's father was a pariah among Corpus and obsessed with holokeys. He collected them religiously, leaving the impression of a deranged conspiracy theorist, which would be a true observations to someone looking from the outside in. Glast Sr would dedicate his life to locating holokeys, even getting his son involved, spending days and even weeks in front of a computer, calculating possible coordinates for holokeys. 

Father and son would bond over this search but also become alienated. Work came first, family was second. Ergo was often warned not to get too attached to anyone and to definitely not trust anyone. Glast Sr was on the board, during times when the Corpus Board of Directors had an odd number of members. He was a thorn in everyone's side - smart businessman, rich, strangely charismatic but still managed to always sway board votes in his way, often disturbing the pre-made deals some of the other members had planned.