You may be right. I just think that’s a weird characterization for some of the themes the game seems to be going for, or at least I feel like they could have done more to cement that characterization and tie it to those themes. Like so much of the game asks questions about freedom, survival, and the way reciprocal trust interacts with those things- see the stories of Shadowheart, Lae’zel, Astarion, etc. This scene could have been an affirmation of how those other stories answer those questions (by convincing The Emperor to trust you despite everything), or it could have been a brutal rebuttal of that answer (e.g. maybe it betrays you after you trust it with the stones). Instead, it kind of just shrugs off the questions. Like it doesn’t really feel meaningful for The Emperor to act the way it did, even if it’s within its character, if that makes any sense.

!It’s actually my third playthrough, just my first where I progressed Lae’zel’s story to the point where she rejects Vlaakith and wants Orpheus freed lol. And I may be in the minority here, but even after seeing all of The Emperor’s shitty dialog, I see it as more complex than that. It’s self serving and manipulative for sure, but I do think it believes it is being honest and acting in your best interest. Its dialog about illusion being a part of Illithid nature strikes me as it being quite candid and an indication that while its sense of morality is maybe alien to non-Illithids, it does at least somewhat trust you. That’s the mentality I had in coming up with these dialog options. You’re never going to convince The Emperor to act against its own survival and interests (hence it still refusing to leave the astral prism), but it doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibilities that you could convince it to trust you with its life in return for you trusting it with yours. I feel like that would be a more interesting thematic capstone to the whole Emperor story.!<

Homer framing Marge for a DUI was pretty disgusting.

I agree to an extent, but also as an Oklahoman it’s getting harder and harder to argue with this label :/

I think in this context it’s important to be specific about the type of self-doubt you’re experiencing. Are you unsure about something specific you’re stating? A decision you’re making? A belief you have? A pattern of behavior you exhibit? Yourself/your life in general (literally, “unsure of yourself”)? These are all separate things imo and warrant different levels of healthy doubt. Like, be open to being wrong about a fact, and be mindful of your behavior / willing to change it if it’s hurting others, but no need to spend energy constantly doubting who you are or how you’re living your life. Whenever I experience self-doubt, I try to first ask myself which of these categories it belongs to, and based on that I decide how I want to respond to it.

I hope this makes sense, it got rambly lol

I was also going to say Celeste! I feel like it also improved my attitude towards games in general- taught me to be persistent but forgiving of myself when I’d fail