GGaD » Cosmic Dim. (V. XVIII), You're Correct but You're Not Right

GalaxianExplosion · July 20, 2026 17:30:43

I like to imagine that sometimes AK!Raez randomly goes back to Ursus to see the sights and then Rai has to jump through 30 legal hoops to get him out of there because he is literally a wanted criminal back there. What on the world is wrong with him. (not in but on)

Also thinking about it, I think AK!Rai might be Lung, but his origins are probably mostly Higashi (and also Everywhere) and he's also Rai, so he kinda conceals it for no reason.
It makes sense due to his parentage, I guess.
Can't really fault him for being mysterious in Terra. Not even the playable operators are safe

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 20, 2026 17:39:19

It kinda makes me laugh that Wiley would avoid W by smelling the explosives on her, only for Rai to go out of his way to say hi to her every time the two of them are together (and Ines, and Hoederer. I think Ines would actually appreciate Rai which is pretty funny. Super funny now that I think about it more)
Funny mental image of Wiley pretending to be normal and nice so that W doesn't notice him

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 20, 2026 17:41:24

By the way, I think Raez would be a welfare Operator, while Rai and Wiley would force you to pay up for their services
Gameplay-wise Wiley sucks 90% of the time, Rai is niche other than in a certain IS that I guess would be his character debut (plot-wise, not playable-wise), and Raez is fine. No one remembers him.
I imagine Wiley has some kind of ridiculous mechanic with a ridiculous range that no one except people who really try to use him can remember while Raez is a healer (/jjjjjj on the last bit. He is NOT a healer)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 20, 2026 17:44:26

Theoretically Wiley would be a Limited Operator to max out how annoying he is, but Limited Operators don't usually suck. I think.
He's also just not special enough. (I'm just insulting him at this point)

Alternatively he goes straight to Kernel /j

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 21, 2026 21:14:44

GalaxianExplosion wrote:
It kinda makes me laugh that Wiley would avoid W by smelling the explosives on her, only for Rai to go out of his way to say hi to her every time the two of them are together (and Ines, and Hoederer. I think Ines would actually appreciate Rai which is pretty funny. Super funny now that I think about it more)
Funny mental image of Wiley pretending to be normal and nice so that W doesn't notice him

I imagine they eventually become friends, though he's still kinda afraid of her
Sometimes he forgets and acts too silly and then he gets scared back into place by her smile/laughter (he flirts with her one time, and then regrets it, and somehow remembers not to do that again. but you can't stop him from making fun of her Alter outfit ~~even though she might kill him for it~~)
Funny hecking dynamic of two people who are fairly similar on the surface acting in polar opposite ways (only because Wiley is afraid of her)

Rai would give Wisadel headpats lol (and she would try to be mad at him and then kinda just let it go)
I kinda imagine that since Rai would deal with Hoederer/Ines more, Wisadel would see him as "one of the old guys" and rationalize whatever he does that way. That's why she's not too mad about the headpats.

I cannot emphasize how funny it is to me that Hitan would be closer to Hoederer while Rai would be closer to Ines and Wiley (I guess, eventually) to W. I guess that means that Raez might be fond of Ulsulah. Maybe he would have a brief stint with the Sarkaz's Military Commission (probably while pretending to be Sarkaz and somehow pulling it off)...? I can't imagine him wanting to stay in a war-like environment if that war-like environment doesn't yield anything, though.

Now I'm considering Raez having worked for Babel briefly. I don't think it's something he would definitely do, but it's an intriguing thought.
I think it's interesting that even though he would disagree with Ulsulah's beliefs on the Military Commission's role, he would react by saying something like "Yeah, that's definitely what Ulsulah would think." and that would be that. (He isn't really one to impose his own beliefs onto others)

Also thinking about Rai and Ines, and I guess it would be a relatively normal relationship where they probably kept on seeing each other because of Hitan and Hoederer being close (those two are nerds) and it just turned out that they get along. Neither asks too many questions and they just vibe ig.
I like to imagine that when Hoederer and Hitan are being too nerdy, they excuse themselves and go buy coffee or something lol.
As for Rai and Hoederer, I think they have a friendly, professional relationship where Rai helps him find and sort historical info and collect intel on places that Hoederer can't go to

Btw, if it comes to working for Babel, I think Rai would be the one most likely to do it, but I don't think he was ever on the landship really, and so I doubt that he crossed paths with Hoederer/Ines/W back in the heyday. He's also just. Rai so I imagine he has so many past affiliations that asking him about it turns out to be a bigger can of worms than just leaving him be.
It's honestly more likely that Hoederer came across him in the wilds than him showing up on the main landship (and I can't imagine him meeting Theresa in-person, like actually talking to her at all)
I guess that means he might be acquainted with the Elite Operators, or at least some of them. I can imagine him knowing Raidian and Mantra, but not Rosmontis and Logos

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 21, 2026 21:45:48

By the way, Wiley would also have a bit of a working relationship with Wis'adel
I imagine he once gave the worst possible answer to her asking him about what he thought about Theresa's ideals and they were able to become friends after that since they both know there is no lower low that they could achieve in their relationship
(she nearly killed him)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 21, 2026 21:47:20

It kind of makes me chuckle that Wiley has the worst way of voicing his opinions if the opinion isn't about something basic, like how much he likes food
It's the one thing that he doesn't intend to make annoying, but it's annoying anyway.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 21, 2026 23:49:00

GalaxianExplosion wrote:
Nefarith and Ardashir playing a game of hot potato as to who can be vaguer and get taken out by the plot temporarily (their teamwork ability is in the negatives)

Also, I got the weiqi idiot.
Bro was saying something about me being a something high rank weiqi master. I showed him by losing the same stage 10 times in a row
He's about to 走着走着，只用双瞳的眼色看山海的颜色 /hj

-Galaxian-

I wanted to add for clarification that Ardashir is intriguing to me as characters go. My standards are low. But I don't necessarily like him as a whole because we don't know what's up with him yet.

The weiqi bro came again, which is either because he thinks I'm too stupid or because he somehow does not think I'm stupid enough (using him will fry my tactical abilities)
"Weiqi pieces put in a straight line do more damage".
I also do like him btw, I just think he does some dumb crap.

Anyway, between Ardashir, Wang, and Run, you can see a shared characteristic of makes questionable decisions. My taste is so fine.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 22, 2026 21:12:14

GalaxianExplosion wrote:
I can only imagine the discourse going around Endfield
"The Endmin went out with power lines today and actually started talking to people whose missions they've completely ignored for 5 months! What's going on??"
"Oh that. They said they're so tired they don't know what else to do."
"Oh."

Meanwhile on Rhodes Island: "WHY DID DOCTOR JUST DO 4 ANNIHILATIONS IN ONE DAY??? WHAT'S GOING ON????!" (*general panicking*)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 22, 2026 21:16:09

For today's session of non-sleep productivity, we're going to restructure all the PACs of Valley IV! (*my Operators look at me like I'm sane*)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 23, 2026 01:12:33

Going into Chinese history is going into a rabbit hole that will never be filled (my memory too trash for that)
I take out of my studies a general enthusiasm about the evils of man as well as anecdotes with incorrect chronology information and attributed names.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 23, 2026 01:14:21

Growing up is realizing Shezhan Qunru was just Zhuge Liang saying, "I HAVE THE MORAL HIGH GROUND AND I REMEMBER ALL YOUR HYPOCRITICAL MISDEEDS." (He researched those a while ago and never forgets)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 23, 2026 23:13:56

Wang is one heck of a dude
"Such blunderous command." Bro, I leaked ONE enemy out of 400. You didn't say anything when I failed that one stage 10 times. Why?

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 24, 2026 00:55:44

Adam is so cute
Also remind me for Seaborn events to just body-block the stuff from spreading. Make a lil empty space between two Operators.
Insert Ulpianus joke here.
(I'm sure the man could block the Blight in Endfield if he were there. He'd just stand there. Menacingly)

But seriously, I just had Ulpianus and Skadi facing each other and it was cute. It was like they were having a picnic. With Eldritch horrors. that would sometimes come between them and promptly be slaughtered and boiled. Yummy.
(Legal disclaimer: Do NOT actually eat Seaborn)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 24, 2026 02:10:56

(*to the tune of that Key and Peele racist zombie parody video*) I don't have any MONEY! no MONEY! aAAAAAAAA!

(I'm out of T-creds)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 25, 2026 15:30:59

The other day I was doing Echoes of War and thought I was doing badly, but it turned out I was using an underlevelled team (level 70 for a level 80 quest), so I was actually doing fine
I raised my Exploration Level, so now my main team is level 80. We don't talk about weapon progression though. (I think Camille and Laevatein have level 80 weapons...it goes downhill from there)

Wuling story improved in this patch, so now I'm actually excited about it :]
Also doing factory stuff. I kinda suck at it but it's fun.
Hopefully I don't run out of power.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 26, 2026 02:12:00

Endfield music got me again.

1.4 was a drastic improvement over 1.3 in terms of how it handled Arcane's backstory compared to Fangyi's. The atmosphere was on point. Also am getting emotionally damaged by the OST lol. (I'm searching up the entire chapter's to add to my poor playlist)
I'm expecting the game to become creepier as time goes on, which might not actually come into being, but I'm excited.

Also beat the chapter boss first try! I actually kinda got jumpscared by him since I was expecting more small missions. Nah, the dude came out, asked us a vague question that we somehow knew the answer to, and then started throwing hands (swords, arrows, lances...dude is a Knight-class Servant)

Bye-bye, Ardashir. Your teamwork abilities are in the hole digging for their lives. See you on Talos-V. I will throw hands. Again.
(Madoka Magica and Endfield teaming up on me with the ceiling cross imagery bruh)
Can't say he didn't have it coming ngl, Nefarith might have been on the fence but then he was like "lol they really did you in huh." Dude was asking to be stabbed.

Also, P3 Endmin?? Already??

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 26, 2026 02:25:41

HELP I'M TRAPPED IN THE GAME BECAUSE OF THE MUSIC

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 26, 2026 02:38:39

"If I cannot bend the will of heaven, then I shall move the powers of Hell."

Put some pants on first. (I cannot take anything seriously)

Alt: Maybe the will of heaven just wanted you to wear pants /jjj

I think Echo would like the lyrics of the boss theme lol.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 26, 2026 02:46:37

Trying to be a tad bit more thorough on my opinion other than "THE MUSIC IS SO GOOD (*howls like a wolf*)"

I'm always weak to the concept of adults giving their all in order to preserve the life of a child/children, and the way it was shown...well.
I'm glad Arcane showed up, in retrospect. I sympathize with her a lot. Sometimes it's hard to stop looking back and wondering what could have been.

I mentioned that the atmosphere is top-notch, and obviously the music bolsters that along with the map elements and game mechanics. I liked the way the game represented the Blightshades. Even for the ones that represent the "information" of people who were fighting to their end, enveloped in despair and fear, you can feel that they're not simply husks but echoes of the past. Then on the other end you have the white Blightshades, who represent the positive sentiments of those who can never return, who in their darkest moments still believed in a brighter future.
Of course, there's also the total despair seemingly represented by the undefeatable Blightshades, who cannot be overcome by anything except healing the Rift. Nothing can be solved by employing violence against them.. At first, they seem menacing because if you walk into their range then they insta-kill you and send you back to the nearest checkpoint, but I've come to feel as if they instead represent the need to heal and press on, to avoid the pain of looking back. If you stay in the past, forever fighting the phantoms of suffering that came before you, then the Rifts will always be there. You will always lose more comrades. But if you move aside and focus on repairing the damage that has been done--if you resolutely stride forward so that the people can return home--then they will inevitably disappear, and say their goodbyes.
Their dialogue reinforces this, too, I think. "I must press on." "I need to continue." That applies to you, too, Endministrator.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 26, 2026 20:16:37

Got jumped by Dusk, which I actually do appreciate because now I have 4 Suiblings (Sui siblings).
Funny because I introduced the siblings to my mom a while ago and she said she respects Dusk for shutting herself away from humanity 95% of the time. Basically, Dusk is her favorite. lol.

Chongyue spook when.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 26, 2026 20:33:37

(*doesn't draw*) (*gets artist sibling*)

So that's how it is, huh?

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 26, 2026 23:50:41

GalaxianExplosion wrote:
"If I cannot bend the will of heaven, then I shall move the powers of Hell."

Guess my favorite part of the theme lol

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 27, 2026 03:49:38

I know it in theory but it's still pretty wild to me that people experience the same things and end up feeling the same emotions and even creating the same words to express them

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 27, 2026 03:52:19

"Over the past few months, I thought two things.
First was the thought that I'd rather if they left.
Second was a hope that they would stay by my side forever.
I knew them for all these years, and selfishly, I hoped that I would be the one accompanying them as we went into a wider, more vast world."

"They won't come back.
Even if they say otherwise, I can feel it--because their world has become wider than the one that contained me.
So, how fortunate it is that I can say my goodbyes like this.
Thank you for the years we spent together."

I wrote something like that, too, a few months ago.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 28, 2026 16:32:42

I don't really understand why people can fall asleep to music
I just hear anything and then start getting all excited for some reason and it wakes me back up.
Or my mind starts making movies that it can't even visualize when I'm actually awake and then that keeps me semi-conscious the entire night, which is worse.

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 28, 2026 16:41:56

GalaxianExplosion wrote:
It kinda makes me laugh that Wiley would avoid W by smelling the explosives on her, only for Rai to go out of his way to say hi to her every time the two of them are together

The fact that Rai is doing this on purpose to get back at Wiley is sending me. It's so funny
It makes me wonder a lil bit how Galaxian, Rai, and Hitan are the vengeful types while other OCs (like Kiaan, Nagesh, Raez, and Wiley) aren't
I mean, Wiley is kinda vengeful, ig. But not in a serious way.
The GRAH trio really picked up Run's personality lol (I don't have a name for them)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 28, 2026 16:43:47

I forgot to add that Rai would have an IS module that would make him hecking broken in the mode
In that world, I hope Raez and Wiley also get IS modules that synergize with his so I can deploy all of them (Wiley then kills all my luck by failing my runs every time I manage to recruit all three of them together)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 28, 2026 16:50:34

Thinking about it and AK!Rai really keeps on associating himself with all the shadowy figures, so now I'm wondering if he's part of S.W.E.E.P. or like. Partially affiliated with it
No idea what he's gotten himself into but sure.
It makes a lil too much sense, actually.

I can imagine Projekt Red sniffing him like "why do you have 0 identifiable smell" (for some reason he always finds the weirdest group of coworkers to associate with and I have no idea why. It must be some sort of talent.)

His backstory gets more concerning with each passing day (that I think about AK!Rai)

-Galaxian-

GalaxianExplosion · July 28, 2026 16:52:08

Hear me out--he met Ascalon while she was going around having a crisis (killing everyone who betrayed Babel) and that's also why they're friends since similar to Wiley and Wis'adel, that was the one low that cannot be surpassed anymore.

I really do friendship randomly, huh.

I can kinda imagine Rai being a Catastrophe Messenger for a bit.

-Galaxian-