#( me thinking while playing dissidia )

[silvergreenseraphim]

Angeal and Sephiroth (And Genesis?)—Dissidia Opera Omnia—Part Three

I AM ALIVE!!

Of course, a bunch of crazy real life things had to happen right as I was trying to translate this chapter, but I am back now and it’s time to get to work! So sorry for the wait, but I thank you all for your patience!

Also, Dissidia being literally cancelled while I was away was a very odd and unfortunately timed occurrence. I was upset to see the news, but I suppose that was a strong impetus to keep translating since we may never get official English translations now. Whew!

Well, let’s dive in!

—

So, after the last encounter with Sephiroth where Angeal had to accept that Sephiroth’s will was also influencing his choice to destroy the world, part of our team is gathered around Zack, resting and talking.

They express concern for Angeal, wondering if he is okay or if he is in shock after meeting his best friend who has changed so much. Tifa is prompted to then ask Zack what kind of person Sephiroth had been before the insanity.

Zack says,

“I didn’t really know him from the start. Only since I began working with Angeal, but I heard that they (Sephiroth and Angeal) were really close, as well as with their other best friend (Genesis). That one (Genesis) would play around with him (Sephiroth), and when things crossed a line, Angeal scolded them both. Sephiroth explained to me that Angeal gave him endless lectures about discipline, dreams, honor/hope, etc….”

A reference to this scene in Crisis Core:

This is so cute, but of course everyone else is bewildered! One of them says something like, “Wait, we are still talking about Sephiroth, right??” and Zack just laughs saying, “I don’t blame you for thinking that/wondering that.”

But Zack reassures them about how Seph used to be, saying,

“He was strong, he took good care of/helped people, and he cared about his juniors/younger colleagues. That was the Sephiroth I knew once.”

Cloud seems in awe over this. Zack goes onto explain,

“Then something went wrong with Genesis and Angeal’s bodies (reference to degradation), and they didn’t tell Sephiroth. That’s why everything got so tense. They probably didn’t want to involve him in all that, but I think Sephiroth felt alone/was lonely. I was also left behind by Angeal, so I shared the feeling.”

Cloud teases Zack, saying basically “Oh, so that’s why you acted like that when you met Angeal again,” and Zack laughs in embarrassment. Krile comments that Zack’s best quality is being always honest to himself, and Zack is grateful for the kindness. Then he goes back to talking about Sephiroth, saying,

“So back to Sephiroth. Later when Angeal and the other friend (Genesis) were gone, something went wrong with Sephiroth this time. It seemed like he uncovered the secrets about his birth/creation, but he didn’t tell me much about that. But what occurred made it clear to me….that wasn’t Sephiroth, I am certain. It’s why I want to help Angeal. I want to bring Sephiroth back to who he was.”

There is a sad moment here where the others understand Zack’s wishes, but Tifa and Cloud admit that they aren’t sure if they could ever forgive Sephiroth for destroying their village and killing their relatives even if he were to return to sanity. Cloud in particular admits that he feels anger and then sorrow, a pain in his chest, when he thinks of Sephiroth. Cloud is kind to Zack, saying that he owes him so much, but on this subject their wishes diverge. He says he is sorry for that, but Zack understands saying,

“No, it’s okay. I am sorry too, Cloud.”

They all accept the fact and agree that everyone has a different position, moving on. However, Cloud does briefly stop to wonder if it is indeed possible to bring Sephiroth back to his old self.

We cut away from this scene and go to Angeal, who is talking with some of the elder Final Fantasy characters. They ask him if he is calm now, wondering,

“So, he (the current Sephiroth) is indeed not your good friend?”

This statement sounds like a casual, “So, you aren’t friends anymore” type of observation, but it is actually in reference to the Jenova-Sephiroth dilemma. They are basically asking Angeal if the real Sephiroth is truly gone. Angeal confirms in a sense, saying that,

“That’s why I was so disturbed. It wasn’t just strictly a matter of “he has changed.”

The others remind Angeal that if Sephiroth is no longer human, then he doesn’t have to feel so weighed down by the whole thing, but Angeal says,

“No, even if that is true, even if he is physically Jenova, I can sense his will still inside.

The character Aaron says, “Then there is a strong chance Sephiroth wills himself into this state (being one with Jenova).”

Angeals says he knows and that Sephiroth does indeed not seem to be human anymore. He then confirms,

“This is why I should be the one to finish this…for the sake of my other friend that I failed to save (Genesis).”

Aw 🥲

There is a sequence here that follows where the elders talk to Angeal about his serious and responsible reputation, and how he trains his juniors like Zack. They offer Angeal some pleasant advice, saying not to worry so much about Zack anymore because the latter has truly grown. Angeal agrees, noting how much Zack matured and how he passed down his own little legacy to Cloud, who carries the buster sword. The elders encourage Angeal to realize that his strong and powerful words likely helped influence this and enliven others. They note Angeal’s persistent personality as well, but Angeal sadly says,

“Tifa told me that as well, but it wasn’t enough to get through to my friends (Gen and Seph). I was just too confident that we all understood each other. I should have been there for them more…”

Basch, one of the elders, encourages Angeal further, saying in regards to the situation with Sephiroth,

“Even though you are friends, don’t let this be such a burden to you. There were changes in his heart that you simply could not foresee, despite your regret.”

Furthermore he says, “Just because you two were close did not make it your duty (to fix everything). After all, a friend’s presence alone can be strengthening for another even when far away. But if you don’t want to regret, why don’t you try to come across him again now that you are both reunited here.”

Angeal, throughout this little pep talk, still feels badly and hangs his head, but he is surprised to hear the bit about a friend’s presence offering strength, and perks up when the others suggest he try to at least be there for Sephiroth this time around. He agrees, saying,

“You’re right. I will do what I could not do back then…but…”

Angeal pauses to speak one lament amidst his decision.

“…in this world…my other friend (Genesis) isn’t here….and I know he would have wanted to start over/have a second chance with Sephiroth as well…”

—

Small note section before we move to the final battle:

There is so much to unpack in these two scenes because of all the dialogue and all the things finally said about the issues we have been wondering about as fans.

For one, now we know how it would be if the idea of Sephiroth’s redemption were to be discussed among the Crisis Core characters like Zack and Angeal, and the OG characters like Cloud and Tifa.

Zack and Angeal fully want to bring Sephiroth back because he was their friend that they loved, but the perspective of Cloud and Tifa is completely different and understandably so. They never knew Sephiroth as a friend, but instead the great SOLDIER that simply snapped and ruined their lives.

However, they are kind and understanding towards Zack, empathizing with his wishes, as well as with Angeal. It was Tifa who encouraged Angeal earlier, saying that his heroic speeches about dreams and honor had helped her, and that maybe he could reach Sephiroth’s noble, good side with such appeals.

But at the same time, Tifa and Cloud do admit that Sephiroth has wounded them too deeply, and even if he were to come back to his old self, they are not sure if they would ever be able to forgive him for what he did.

Zack is very peaceful about this disagreement, knowing that Cloud in particular means to deal with Sephiroth and not let him go freely. He knows why and accepts it. It’s ultimately very tragic and heart-rending, but we understand why their viewpoints are so different.

As for the scene with Angeal and the elders, it was very endearing to see Angeal being the one getting a pep talk this time. He also speaks very politely and respectfully in Japanese, in contrast to his usual stern tone with Zack. We are reminded that Angeal himself is still just a young man, even though he comes off like a serious, older mentor. He is just as lost and confused as his friends and Zack.

He is very much still beating himself up over not having been there for Sephiroth and not having been able to save Genesis. What was said to him about “It was not your duty” initially caused him to protest and feel some kind of shock. He may have heard that the way anyone else struggling with regret would have. He may have thought, “No, it was my duty.”

In truth, what happened to his friends was not Angeal’s fault. He also quite literally died and couldn’t be there for everything, Yes, perhaps he is right in saying that assuming they all understood each other perfectly was a mistake, but the elders are also right—there were issues that he never could have foreseen. Angeal didn’t know how far Genesis would fall or how broken Sephiroth’s already-damaged psyche was without his friends.

Yet the one thing Angeal surely believes he could have done more was simply be by his friends’ sides when they were going down, which is fair and honorable. I think this is a reasonable conclusion, and so we now see Angeal’s resolve come into full view.

Even if Sephiroth cannot be brought back, Angeal intends to be there for him, to make up for his past mistakes, to make up for Genesis, and to find peace. He also knows and admits that Genesis would have wanted to do the same with Sephiroth if he were present.

The plot of this chapter became clear to me here.

This DOO story is about Angeal’s personal redemption within himself, and perhaps a bit of Genesis’ own as well. It is about closure with the Firsts’ trio, even if it doesn’t lead to Sephiroth’s own redemption. It is still about them 🥲

—

The final battle begins.

There are a few interludes with the Tsviets, Vincent, and Weiss that establish their inclusion in the final battle, and the plan to restore everyone’s memories within the world. The other FF characters also discuss a few things about Seymour’s loyalty, and the team comes up with a final plan to take down Sephiroth for good.

This leads to Sephiroth himself, who is once again worried about the memories Angeal has brought back and how that might interfere with Sephiroth’s anchor to Cloud. He needs Angeal gone in order to not be shaken and take over the world.

Right then, the others run up. Cloud calls Sephiroth’s name and Angeal says,

“I’ve come to stop you!”

Sephiroth announces that they are too late, and that he is ready to take control. The others claim they are stronger, but Sephiroth has the upper hand, of course. He uses a fake Tifa to trick Barret into giving up the power crystals that Sephiroth needs. When this succeeds, Sephiroth summons the great materia called Crystal that apparently holds the world together. He attempts to shatter it and the world starts to crumble. Aerith rushes in front of Crystal to defend it.

Barret and Cloud are struck with horrible memories and premonitions, seemingly about Aerith’s death when this happens. They call for her to get away, but are unable to stand with the weight of memory crashing down on them.

There is a moment of panic as Sephiroth gets ready to charge Aerith, but then Angeal and Weiss actually sweep in to block his path in the nick of time.

And so, the Crisis Core tribute battle formulates, a memorial to the spar that once occurred between three friends. It even plays the music from the CC scene.

Vincent and the Tsviets are shocked to see Weiss, who did not seem to be interested in the final battle before, but something seems to have possessed Weiss. He begins quoting Loveless once again. He says,

“Hm. “My friend, the fates are cruel. There are no dreams, no honor remains. The arrow has left the bow of the goddess.” So, is that how you became a monster, Sephiroth, the “hero”?”

This is a strange moment of questioning from Weiss because it seems confusing with the English translation of Loveless, but he is essentially asking if Sephiroth lost his pride and honor due to a cruel cause or turn of fate. Angeal walks up and fondly reminisces, saying,

“Ah, Loveless…how nostalgic. Genesis quoted that tale until it wore me down.”

Sephiroth is oddly quiet.

Then, funnily enough, Weiss’s intentions are revealed to be about taking Sephiroth’s place. Weiss doesn’t care about what happens in the world, but believes he should be the one to reign over it instead of Sephiroth, making an amusing callback to Genesis wanting Sephiroth’s role as the hero. Angeal laughs and responds to this with,

“Oh pfftt, you two (Weiss and Genesis) are exactly alike in your competitive nature then. Do as you will.”

Essentially, Angeal accepts Weiss to fill the empty space left by Genesis in this particular world, calling back to Angeal’s earlier lament.

Weiss and Angeal prepare for the fight, but Cloud and Zack protest, telling Angeal that he doesn’t need to do this, and that they can help now that they are back to normal. But Angeal only says,

“I know you guys are reliable/strong, but I need to do this.”

Cloud understands and says,

“I see….you want to talk to him (Sephiroth) like a person…to the real Sephiroth buried behind Jenova.”

This seems to be a callback to Cloud and Angeal’s earlier discussion where Angeal told Cloud about how he treated Sephiroth like a human. Even now, Angeal wants to speak to his friend as though he were person, not a monster blended with Jenova. Angeal also jokingly adds,

“At the very least, let me show off a little bit as your senior soldier!”

The fight begins with Angeal saying to Sephiroth that he will speak to him in this way even if the latter tries to stop him. Sephiroth only dismisses this with his same, “There is nothing to talk about in this world. It will soon become an empty vessel” statement. Angeal teases a bit with,

“Come on, don’t hold back! Test your skill with us like you did that day…”

Sephiroth only says he doesn’t remember.

Their fight is familiar and striking, full of quick and clever movement. The others are thrilled watching, with Zack even recognizing some of the moves Sephiroth taught him back in the day.

The nostalgia hits Angeal in the midst of the spar and he calls out,

“Ah, I’ve missed you, Sephiroth!”

They continue, with Sephiroth still aiming for Aerith, but being pushed back by Weiss and Angeal. Angeal further recalls the memory, saying,

“Remember, we used to do this in the old training room at headquarters, playing around in there when the 2nds weren’t looking!”

Sephiroth can still only say he doesn’t remember. Angeal persists with,

“Alright then what about dumbapples? And your friend that was so eager to share one with you that he never gave up his research on them?”

Sephiroth becomes agitated at this and says,

“I told you, I don’t know/remember!”

Weiss laughs and says, “Well, you’re a sorry excuse for a Sephiroth!”

But Sephiroth only says he doesn’t need these memories, and that he erased them. Weiss says,

“Then let me remind you what our brother (Genesis) wanted. My friend, your desire is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess!”

At this, Sephiroth finally snaps in anger and says,

“Shut up…! All I need is my pure will!”

With this, Sephiroth exerts an extreme amount of power and proceeds to attack the crystal with his raw strength and will, causing everything to tremble. The others begin to panic. Sephiroth viciously says,

“There is my response! My gift to you!”

So yeah, the spar was fun until Weiss and Angeal brought back that memory of Genesis. Unfortunately, it seemingly angered Sephiroth a little too much, and from this point on, things seem hopeless. Sephiroth’s will is too strong, and in the midst of the chaos, Seymour arrives at last, taking Sephiroth’s side and betraying the others.

They begin to destroy Crystal together, and this is when a certain scene occurs that I have translated here:

A very important moment with Vincent, who tries to intervene by telling Sephiroth that Jenova is not his mother, and that his real mother cried for him. Sephiroth, sadly, does not believe Vincent.

Sephiroth grows in his power, drunken on the feeling, and Cloud, Zack, and Angeal stand at the front, ready to take him on, Yes, even Angeal has found his resolve and admits that while things look hopeless, they have to face it. Cloud summons everyone, rallying them all to fight together.

That’s when Sephiroth ascends and takes on his Safer form. Upon seeing this, Zack grows angry and says,

“If this really is Jenova, don’t hold back. How dare she mask as Sephiroth!”

But Safer Sephiroth tells them that he has gathered all the energy of the world to himself, and that they have lost because they did not have the power and strength that comes with pure hatred of the world. Angeal says,

“So, that’s your will. To destroy the world with Jenova’s power. I suppose that’s why I still can’t turn away from you or my past mistakes…because I’m your best friend.”

Angeal is at full acceptance here, understanding that he can’t let Sephiroth do this because it’s his responsibility as Sephiroth’s best friend. It’s a very loving way to say,

“I have to put you down because it’s what’s best for you in this situation.”

So, the battle ends with Seymour and Safer Sephiroth defeated. There is a moment of uncertainty as the world hangs on the edge of collapse, but the team, mainly Angeal, are able to bring Seymour back to his senses in the aftermath. Seymour falls to the earth in regret, much to Sephiroth’s disgust, who would never have let go of his hatred so easily.

Sephiroth then vanishes, summoning Cloud to the final confrontation. Cloud rushes through a portal, into the void where Sephiroth is waiting. The fight is a direct callback to the OG scene.

Cloud beats Sephiroth at once like he did in the original game, everything ending with Sephiroth’s voice echoing through the void, promising that he will return one day with his mother as long as Cloud remembers him. Cloud reassures Sephiroth that he will fight him again and again if it means protecting the world.

When Cloud returns, Zack is overjoyed and Angeal solemnly thanks him for putting Sephiroth to rest. There is a brief intermission where the other FF characters work to bring the shattered world back into balance, but overall, the fight is over and everything is fine again.

Angeal looks to the sky, and is unable to keep from lamenting Sephiroth’s loss, saying that,

“I lost my best friend twice now…I must admit I am filled with regret, pathetic as that may seem…”

But Zack encourages Angeal, reminding him that he was there for Sephiroth this time, and Sephiroth even responded in small ways. Zack also is grateful that Angeal was by his side in battle, saying that he wouldn’t have been able to face everything alone. Angeal warmly says that Zack could have easily stood strong with the way he held onto his pride and honor. There is kind reconciliation here, and with the other characters as well. Small scenes of forgiveness and new promises made.

It was sad, and everybody was hoping that Seph could be brought back, but in the end it was more about Angeal finding peace with the loss of his friend and giving himself a second chance to be there with him until the bitter end. He full-filled this wish, whether Sephiroth knew it or not. For that, I am grateful to Dissidia. They gave Angeal the closure he longed for and that he never would have been able to gain in any other game because of his death. Now I can only hope similar opportunities are granted to the others.

Final Notes:

Thank you so much again for everyone’s patience with this! I can’t believe DOO actually ended as I was in the middle of translating, and all for the sake of Rebirth too! But it had a good run and this bit of closure we got with the CC and OG characters was a pretty decent way to end it. I would have loved to see Genesis involved, but I suspect they knew DOO was ending too soon and so they found a way to at least include his precense before actually adding him to the game.

I also have to wonder if this version of the OG’s story was so Angeal-focused because the Remake will include Genesis and how he will deal with the final battle against Sephiroth. Who can say?

Either way, it was sad and beautiful and it gave us Crisis Core fans a lot of satisfaction and understanding for these characters we loved but felt were a bit deprived by Crisis Core’s writing. It was lovely to have Angeal and Zack reaffirm over and over that the Firsts’ trio were such close friends that were ultimately torn apart by tragedy. They all loved each other dearly, and Sephiroth’s loss to darkness was a massive heartbreak for them. For Zack as well.

I found so many scenes interesting, but the spar tribute was my favorite. Originally, I thought it was Angeal’s attempt to bring Sephiroth back to himself, but I then realized it was Angeal having some fun with his old friend before the real battle began and it was time to end everything. It was like Angeal’s goodbye to Sephiroth ;-;

There are some scenes I may have to edit or retranslate again if anyone finds any mistakes, but hopefully most of it came out okay, and a big thanks to @ansfair on Twitter (please check out their translation as well!) for the extra help with certain scenes, as well as my Japanese-speaking friend! I want to eventually translate a bit more from Dissidia and the earlier scenes from when Angeal first showed up, but for now, I hope this is fun for you all to read!

Much love everyone! ❤️

[superthatguy62]

The Differences and Influence of  the Final Fantasy 1 manga

While Final Fantasy is certainly no stranger to adaptations and alternate media, it’s mostly towards the later entries such as VII or XV depending on how you feel about such media, this may not be a bad thing.

When it comes to the first three entries, their adaptations are the most mysterious: Final Fantasy III got an absolutely insane manga, Final Fantasy II got a somewhat insane novelization and Final Fantasy I has an obscure manga. As these came out long ago in Japan and were rarely, if ever, re-released, knowledge on these media remains scarce.

However, TrafalgarScans on MangaDex has translated the entirety of the Final Fantasy I manga, allowing english readers to experience it for the first time.

And, while a straightforward retelling of the original game, there are a few interesting elements in it. Elements that may seem somewhat familiar if you’ve Dissidia or Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin.

Before we begin, I’m going to be doing something different from my previous discussions: Rather than doing a summary/play-by-play of the manga, I’m mostly going to be talking about things I noticed, whether they be different... or indirectly indicative of where Square would take FF1 in the future. As that implies, I will be discussing spoilers for Dissidia and Strangers of Paradise.

For context: The manga was written Kaimejii Yuu and was released in 1989: 2 years after the first game landed on Famicom, one year before it arrived on NES and the same year as the MSX port. So rejoice Space Station!Flying Fortress fans.

Let’s start with one of the obvious ones: 

The Party

The original Final Fantasy centers around four Warriors of Light who mysteriously appear, each with a crystal fragment.

In the manga, we are introduced to the members of the party bit by bit: First, there is Puffy who seems to be a traveling Warrior.

Puffy later meets Flitz/Fritz, a Monk who was kicked out of his monastery for his vices.

A Monk and a Warrior. Seems standard so far. But then there are the other 2 members.

Matoya, a witch who is skilled with black magic.

And the fourth party member... who isn’t introduced until quite a ways in. While Sarah and Bikke both join the party, the true forth member turns out to be none other than

Bahamut, the king of dragons.

Naturally, this is a pretty big deviation: Matoya and Bahamut are NPCs in the game after, but here, they’re main characters. Matoya would go on to be a prominent character in FF1, even being playable in spinoffs for what it’s worth. However, I don’t think there are many FF1 interpretations that put the NPCs in the WoL roles.

They’re not the only ones different, however

The Villains

The Final Fantasy manga follows a somewhat condensed version of the game. It’s actually kinda close to how Memory of Heroes did it, with the focus largely on Garland and the Four Fiends, concluding with a bout against Chaos.

Garland generally keeps his overall role, including his infatuation with Sarah (which makes me wonder what was the first media to touch on that aspect of him) but also has some significant differences: He doesn’t wear armor, he doesn’t seem to die before vanishing and the manga more blatantly sets up the plot twist by showing Garland entering the Dark Crystal. Only Flitz notices though, so he’s the first to realize that Garland’s behind everything once the Warriors learn about the whole she-bang from the Lufenians.

There’s also his name, but we’ll get to that.

The Warriors are promptly attacked by the Four Chaos/Fiends. There’s the Lich, who is looking positively Mobius!Chaos today.

Then we have Marilith, who looks about how you’d expect.

Then we have Kraken... Who is...

And last but not least, we have Tiamat, who has both a monster form and a humanlike form.

And then there’s Chaos, whose design is vaguely reminiscent of how Garland’s armor would evolve from Dissidia onwards mixed with traits from his Chaos form.

Oh yeah, Garland. Did you know that’s not his full name in this adaptation? Yup, long before “Jack Garland” would use the last name Garland, this Garland had the full name of “Red Garland”.

And here’s where we start to get into the influence that this manga may or may not have had on Square-Enix’s future interpretations of Final Fantasy 1.

The Backstory

In the games, the Warriors of Lights’ backstory is left unexplained. This plays into the role-play/”create a party” aspect of the game: It’s up to the player, if they so chose, to fill in the blanks about who their characters are and where they came from.

Memory of Heroes, being a close adaptation of the games, leaves its characters’ backstories ambiguous outside of tying a further connection to Garland as his time shenanigans “unchained” the Warriors of Light and wiped their memories, explaining why they can remember nothing and why nobody recognizes them.

Dissidia Final Fantasy, while not directly touching upon the events of FF1 itself, gives a backstory to its Warrior of Light: He’s a perfect manikin created by Cid of the Lufaine and placed within the cycles of conflict. Over time, he grows into more of an actual person and continuously comes to blows with Garland, who already knows him from the cycle back home. In the end, WoL ends up in the FF1 world and sets off on his journey, determined to not only save the world from Chaos but to free Garland from the endless cycle he unwittingly trapped himself in.

The manga, however, gives a more detailed backstory.

Early in Chapter 2, Puffy explains that she is not actually from that world; In another dimension, she worked at an inn and was just an ordinary girl. However, on her way to visit her friend Matoya, she winds up slipping through a dimensional barrier. When she wakes up, she’s surrounded by the circle of sages who explain the situation to her and send her off to fight Chaos, despite her attempts to argue otherwise. Puffy later meets up with a different version of Matoya, and soon after the manga begins.

This is largely forgotten about until climax, where it becomes much more important:

As one of Lufenia’s Knights of Gaia/Sky Warriors, one of the bats in the Chaos Shrine explains a bit further: It’s not just Puffy, all four of the Warriors apparently hail from other dimensions. The Knights figured that the best way to stop Chaos was to get four people from parallel worlds that Chaos did not exist in, resulting in heroes with fresh perspectives from worlds in which the crystals were not compromised. Thus they set up barriers that would link the five worlds together and the four Warriors of Light seen in the manga wound up being the four that were chosen (the manga mostly focuses on Puffy, but the implication is that Flitz, Bahamut and that version of Matoya all hail from similar parallel worlds). After Chaos is defeated, the four end up being sent back to their own worlds with no memory of their adventure. Puffy in particular goes back to being an innkeeper and serves drinks to various patrons... including Garland who, although rejected by Sarah yet again, has not turned into Chaos and is an overall decent guy.

What makes the dimensional stuff even more surprising is the meta aspect: Either great minds think alike, the parallel world stuff was in the Japanese FF1 or Square Enix took inspiration from this very manga.

Dissidia Final Fantasy is a big fat crossover featuring the protagonists from the first couple games. While the first game was somewhat ambiguous, Dissidia 012 (the prequel) would establish that the game took place on World B: A destroyed parallel counterpart to World A, which is the world of Final Fantasy 1. The reports in 012 would also establish that Onrac stumbled upon a dimensional gate which would be how they acquired the ore that allowed them to produce manikins. 

Stranger of Paradise takes the parallels even further. The concept of Lufenians drawing in people from parallel worlds to function as Warriors of Light was embodied in the Stranger Project. However, it turns out that the manga beat them to the punch with Knights of Gaia’s dimensional barriers. Of course, the KoG were benevolent compared to the SoP Lufenians who were malevolent. The concept of summoning warriors from other worlds would naturally be used there too, although in 012′s case, it’s due to Shinryu’s influence creating gateways.

And speaking of...

The Lufenians

The Lufenians are a simple, standard “Ancient Civilization with advanced tech (TM)” that was common in fantasy stories and would become a recurring trend in Final Fantasy, one that still remains even to this day. As far as plot significance go, they remain primarily in the background: They’re one of the civilizations the WoLs encounter their space station is the Semi-final dungeon and their champions were turned into bats that infodump a number of aspects about the overarching plot. 

Then there’s Cid. In the original Final Fantasy, while the airship is said to be a Lufenian creation I think, I need to fact that that, there’s no mention of any particular Lufenian who created it. Later versions would name the Lufenian “Cid”, in keeping with series tradition of naming the prominent airship engineer “Cid”. Memory of Heroes gave a Cid a more prominent role, leaving behind video projections to show what happened to the Flying Fortress, entrusting the warp cube to the robots and burying the airship that the Warriors of Light find and use to travel in the later half of the story.

However, Cid’s actions are actually somewhat familiar.

In the manga, a Lufenian (not Cid, though with the benefit of hindsight and how SE would’ve handled it, he may as well be) features prominently in the intro, leaves one of the robots to gather the warp cubes in preparation for the day the Warriors of Light arrive and leaves behind a video projection, with the man himself being long dead by then. Not!Cid’s exposition is different though, tying into how the energies from the four shrines can be seen converging on the Chaos Shrine from the Space Station as well as discussing the Knights of Gaia for a bit.

There’s also the dark crystal. In Final Fantasy, Garland is seen in front of a dark crystal in the Chaos Shrine. When the Warriors travel back to the past, they play the lute in front of the shrine, transforming the crystal into a portal. Stranger of Paradise would explain the crystal as being a “Dimensional Crystal Matrix”, sent to them by their unnamed collaborator.

Again, however, this is not the first time this has happened.

Turns out, the Dark Crystal in the manga is a “Time-Space Transfer Device”. The Knights of Gaia had used the device to set up the barriers to summon warriors from other worlds. However, Chaos took control of the device soon afterwards and used it to set up the time loop that would bring him to power. Coincidence or not, the manga Lufenians’ usage of the device would be echoed in the aforementioned two different aspects (the Dimensional Crystal Matrix and the Stranger Project). SoP would also echo the element of Garland taking control of the device for his own uses.  

Conclusion

In the Stranger of Paradise Confidential Files -Secret Chapters- (An official complete guide - Thanks ChrysalisThoughts for the clarification! ), one of the questions posed to the developers is why Jack’s station is known as “Station 19″. While the final game has its own independent time loop, apparently it was named after SoP being the 19th time Final Fantasy 1 was ported/remade at the time, with the idea of different strangers being dispatched from different stations for each of the remakes.

While that plan ultimately didn’t fully pan out, the implication of Final Fantasy 1 having parallel worlds or a connection to other worlds in general is one that has echoed throughout the franchise.

- The Final Fantasy manga utilizing the concept of parallel worlds for its protagonists.

- The Souls of Chaos dungeons featuring prominent bosses from the other 5 Nintendo-era Final fantasy games.

- Dissidia introducing “World B” with 012 establishing it of being a parallel world to the world of the original Final Fantasy

- Memory of Heroes implying that the Warriors of Light of its three adaptations (and perhaps beyond) either inherit the will/souls of the previous ones or are the previous ones reincarnated in another world.

- And Stranger of Paradise’s original intentional of having parallel worlds, along with its hinted connection to World B

It’s looking more and more like a DC multiverse, especially if you flub things to suggest that each interpretation is its own parallel world.

But, in a way, it’s oddly fitting. Final Fantasy is a game that has you make your own party. The game gives no detail as to their character or backstory. You’re encouraged to fill in the blanks yourself, hence why fanfics and such can vary wildly with how everyone ca reinterpret the story. In a way, it’s fitting that SE themselves get in on it. And it’s interesting how, almost every time, multi-dimensional shenanigans manage to get involved.

I dunno.

I just think it’s neat.

[crisiscutie]

are you on a dissida sephy kick at the moment? I've never played dissidia but I do agree he looks GORGEOUS in that game

- 🐺

...Yes. 😳 I just love everything thing about him. His design (I don't know what gets me the most, the sash or his fancy bracelet), his personality, his power level, his girlboss aura, THERE'S TOO MUCH TO LIST!

What I find especially interesting about him is his demeanor in the Dissidia games. He's noticeably calmer and more laid-back than his fellow Sephiroth counterparts in the FF7 compilation, which makes me curious for why the writers choose this direction for him. To dig deeper into his composed SOLDIER persona? Or is it a product of the flanderization brought on by AC that sadly all the main characters suffered from? But who knows, I actually quite like it. I find it very interesting and hot that he's holding back so much... but when he fights? It's fucking brutal.

As I said in a previous ask, this particular Sephiroth is slightly less lone-wolf than his counterparts. He makes alliances when it's convenient for him and throws them away when he's done. It's amusing how much chattier he is with everyone, too. He went on gods know how many rambles about his plans and mother to Seymour, and then decided at another point, to personally seek out Aerith just to troll her. And he couldn't help but throw his two cents on the situation of Mog being trustworthy or not when he's joining in on the Villain meet up... In 012, he's behaves almost like a mentor to Cloud at times, and even Tifa gets a tiny bit of this treatment from him too. I think my favorite moment of this trait is from the Mobius FF crossover, where he politely outlines his plan to Wol on how he will return to his own world (by destroying Palamecia, of course), all while devilishly taunting him. 😈 This man has a lot of energy to expand. Ambivert Sephy maybe?

What interests me is that in Opera Omnia in particular, his personality is more close to his OG self. He's more openly unhinged, and his cruelty has ZERO bounds. What he does to poor Cloud and Kadaj is so cruel... But he is still very perceptive and composed. He knows exactly which buttons to push to manipulate people into doing his bidding, and he is ever ambitious about bringing his "mother" into the world. This personality (with elements from his 012 and NT depictions) is the one I'm going with for the Dissidia AU, as I think it leads to a lot of interesting material to write about.

[gear-project]

My Thoughts on Team of 3 (Review)

After some sessions, I've come back to say that Team of 3 is actually kinda fun.

In a normal GG situation, the Vanguard players (the highest skilled players, that is) tend to crush the opposition and it makes the situation feel one-sided.

But in this mode, assists can jump in whenever they have the ability to, and completely throw the game out of wack (meaning Interference plays an important role).

From my experience playing as a Medic Bedman? (Bedframe), most of my Assists are for extending combos or doing mixups, so much of what I did was mostly to fill in the gaps and cover for any shortcomings my teammates had.

Sometimes they'd be in a matchup pinch and ask me to tag in for them, and sometimes that works, sometimes they picked a wrong time to tag me in and it'd backfire.

Also because some items are pickup-based, if you throw out an item, the opponents can pick it up instead of your ally, so you have to be strategic about useage. It has a lot of depth, interestingly enough.

Some of the stronger buffs/healing tools take a while to be ready, so timing and awareness are also key to assisting other players.

You can also do some crazy stuff like chain-swapping, where your friends jump in frequently to extend your offense... I saw a pair of Happy Chaos players really assisting together.

Also, because of Assists, you can pour on the offensive advantage in situations where the main player doesn't have the tools to do so, so being aware of your allies' strengths and limitations is just as important.

I think my biggest criticisms though, is that there's not enough in the way of Connection Filtering, since I can only connect with people on the East Coast USA and not Central USA or anywhere else more specific.

Also, the Intros are NOT as impressive as the First Team of 3 Trailer suggested they would be, so that was a slight letdown (but most players skip them, so it's whatevers).

The Equipment and Items each have their own unique effects, and it takes quite a while to see your equipment improve, which motivates players to play more and dive in to their roles with gusto.

Fortunately though, the game still rewards you with Currency while you play this mode, and there's a few R-Code unlockables as well.

I was finally able to unlock some decent music for the game, though I still wish GGX Heavy Rock Tracks were added on not just the GGXX versions. (I also miss older Sound Effects, but that's something that can't really be helped).

I'd say Team of 3 has a lot of potential and depth to it, though whether you have a Team of friends you know or if you prefer to just jump on the nearest team you come across, it's up to you.

Interestingly enough, I fought the same Team of 3 players several times despite being on different teams each time I played in one instance, so some people DO like to play together (so communication might be important for some sessions).

I'm also somewhat reminded of the sessions I had with Dissidia NT: Final Fantasy... lots of teamwork involved, but at least here there's other things you can do to assist and help out during each match.

I'll admit, I'm not the greatest GGStrive player, but even I have strong points... and those strong points can only be more emphasized in a game mode such as this.

In the days of Guilty Gear Isuka, Teamwork was also just as important, though people often forget that aspect of the game.

It is my hope that Team of 3 helps extend Strive's lifespan... and also perhaps even create a situation where more similar modes will be added.

[laidlays]

Tankdge

I honestly think they're the easiest class to play in FFXIV, but it's really funny to me that in a game full of bottoms none of them want to take lead the taid and take responsibility so you get these awkward 6 minutes standing around waiting for one of the tanks to pull. Anyways-

1. Paladin

This is perhaps one of my biases poking out again, but I think that Paladin is perhaps in its best state right now with its kit as a whole. It provides multiple utility options to help heal the party while at the same time providing a fairly good amount of damage all around. Even its rotation has been mathed out to play much smoother and, in my brain at least, makes sense and oils the gears well. When a Paladin plays well, you KNOW they're playing well with how often they are mitigating the party. It's not the strongest tank, but it offers so much that I would call it the pinnacle of tanks in FFXIV.

2. Warrior

Warrior is Unga bunga incarnate. I think all of its skills really sell Warrior as a tough, unrelenting brute force of a tank, it's game feel is honestly unparalleled. Fell Cleave remains one of my favorite skill animations in the game, and now it's been followed up by Warrior's new skill Primal Ruination. The mere fact that it makes your equipped weapon MUCH bigger for a giant explosion blow is unrivaled. Much of its kit remains largely the same and like every tank it also had and upgrade to one of its mitigation skills, but other than that it's still probably the strongest healing tank et al with Bloodwhetting and Nascent Flash. The only reason why it's in second place is just because Dawntrail Paladin exists, but I think it's a very close second nonetheless.

3. Gunbreaker

This is the COOL class, this is for all the FF8 fans and by golly did it show up swinging. I believe as of this writing it is the strongest tank in the game which only makes sense because of its 100 capstone ability that adds a really cool Dissidia-like combo to GNB. While I enjoy the double weaving combo now, I do have issues with its abilities drifting as I'm performing them as the Big Combo and Gnashing Fang combo take up a solid 20 seconds of time and if you miss one GCD things start to misalign and feel weird. Its mitigation also isnt anything to write home about either, but Heart of Corundum is a nice healing skill, Aurora is largely the same, and Superbolide is still very funny. Still very cool though!

4. Dark Knight

As much as I LOVE the lore of Dark Knight, it's aesthetics, it's skills, everything about it, it's kit has the most identity crisis I think I've seen of it yet since Shadowbringers. It's whole idea was that you had a small amount of mitigation tools and instead you brought nothing but yourself and damage as a tank to the party. But that was Shadowbringers, when the other tanks' mitigation wasn't as good as TBN. NOW they're all upgraded and even better as they bring healing to keep up with all the damage that's being put out. But Dark Knight doesn't have any proper healing abilities now, it just has the one upgraded skill, The Living Dead, and Abyssal Drain that isn't even used on single targets. Even worse, it's by far the WEAKEST Tank now as they removed Blood Weapon and didn't really give anything to compensate for it since most of Dark Knight's damage came from Edge of Shadow being weaved in. I think it's currently the most outdated class that needs to be looked at proper to regain some sort of identity outside of being Warrior 0.5.

[bluebudgie]

so after i got the information that in the console versions of the pixel remasters you can switch to the OG soundtrack i caved in and with the power of my amassed nintendo gold points got the ff2 pixel remaster yesterday evening. (context: i'm a pixel remaster hater) (but I'm also on my quest to having played every version of this game available)

i've played about an hour so far (just delivered the mithril) and here's my observations:

while i still think the character sprite work is only rivaled by the psp version in ugliness i have to admit overall it looks better than at least the psp version. the battle effects (like magic) look so much better as actual pixel art. environments look pretty. you can actually change the font to look slightly less horrible by choosing the alternative setting in the options. really not as ugly overall as screenshots online make it out to be. i have to admit defeat here. dont understand why they wont let us change the textbox colour tho.

absolutely stupid that they got rid of character portraits in dialogue boxes. "it's supposed to be close to the original release" - bullshit. this version is as close to the original as literally every other remake this game got. plus some optional quality of life so arguably actually further removed from the original than any other version of this game.

the music box in the extras menu won me over. there was minwu walking along a little road whistling little music notes and suddenly gordon stood in the way and got run over and they both fell to the ground. this is the content i'm here for.

in the german translation the king of fynn says he got shot in the butt and that is not what the english translation says at all and it kills the mood bc the man is dying but it amused me so thats a positive point as well

minimap in dungeons feels cheaty as hell but also who the fuck cares, the dungeons in this game aren't spectacular enough to warrant an actual exploration challenge. means i'm glad the stupid map is there.

overall decent version so far and actually playable with the OG soundtrack selected. i think i might end up prefering this version over the psp release. in which case the only thing the psp version has going for itself at this point are the character portraits. but at least it has the best character portraits of all available versions.

edit: wait i forgot something

minwu is white. i mean i knew this before, this wasnt a new shock but i still cannot believe they whitewashed the man to be as white as untoasted toast

so is firion but that transition already happened years ago with dissidia so its less of a shock. still. holy shit square enix leave your brown characters brown please i cant deal with this

[asheanon]

So, uh... I stated over on the Xitter how I wanted to go on a Dissidia (personal story/fanfic - yes, it includes OCs and original material. This is Ashe writing this, after all) tangent so badly, but hate fighting with text limitations with these sorts of things, so here I am, hopping over to Tumblr to go on said tangent. 🕺

(Tangent placed beneath a cut. Proceed with caution! Maybe.)

⚠️ Disclaimer for those who have played the game: I'm still experiencing the game. I'm not going to know everything. I just can't help but feel the inspiration blaze through me at certain points throughout the Dissidia OO experience, which compels my mind to take off with thoughts galore (whether or not I want it to. I can't control this brain of mine; it's like a wild animal sometimes, trust me!) I am inspired af, but please keep in mind I could be incorrect about certain bits of lore and still have a lot to experience - and I am fully aware of that even in writing this out.

Also, no spoilers. NONE. Furnish me with the informations only if I ask. If I'm wrong about something, I promise I'll concede that when I later find out about it. For now, this is just me having fun. Let me have fun. I'm just getting all these thoughts out of my head before they drive me crazy...! Hahaha!

Anyway, sorry. That disclaimer may or may not be longer than the tangent itself. Onto the actual tangent!

💭

So...! 🤔 Given how there's a tiny bit of "wibbly wobbly timey whimey" stuff going on with how characters are brought in, if you will, I can't help but to think about some wacky situations that may make for some neat story potential…

I'm going to start with the more "conservative" thoughts. Thoughts on characters from the same world being pulled in from different parts of their own respective timeline, so you have different sections of experiences and memories to play with.

Particularly (spoilers): Sal experienced the deaths of some particular characters who are not only alive, but they were brought in from a time where they had not died. She has a lot of memories about them that they have yet to experience.

When all of this is over, she's going to return to a world where they're no longer alive. And she has that good ol' fun time looming over her. : )

Which, as tragic as that is, I do dig that kind of narrative - I mean, to boot: I dig it, but I started realizing that it was one I'd worked with before, even... it was one she experienced in The Anomaly (FFVII x Original fanfic.) Of course, the moment I realized that, I was like "how original, Ashe. Good. Guess we'll do this song and dance again because you can't resist it, clearly." Haha!

BUT... it was then that I had the less "conservative" thoughts... Namely: since all this "wibbly wobbly timey whimey" stuff is happening anyway, what if... I didn't just inject Starlight (FFIX x Original) material in this, but also injected The Anomaly material? What if both of those stories were allowed some agency in this?

And by extension, what if the Sal (the Sal, you read that correctly) that is brought in has only experienced one of those stories (Starlight, because I'm biased at this time) while the characters from the other story (The Anomaly) experienced a different version of her than what is present? They met her (some rendition of her.) She never met them (that version of her never did.)

Again, reminder: Sal is a world hopper. For her to be part of any given FF world in this type of FF scenario is really just a matter of chance. Technically speaking, she has experienced at least two of those worlds - in different timelines, but given that there is only one Sal present... I was utterly delighted by the oddity of just picking one rendition of her to have amidst the wild and random chance that the renditions of the FFIX and FFVII worlds/characters have characters that both experienced her and didn't.

🤔

It's so weird and self indulgent on my part, I know. I get it. (It's also my own little Dissidia-esque excuse for being able to include some FFVII OCs and story beats from various perspectives, haha!) I literally cannot resist thinking about it in all of its weird and self indulgent glory, though. I cannot be stopped. 🥴

Even if I don't use the idea, I'm still going to think about it, you know? And talk about it too, apparently. Haha!

All of that being said, though, I have entertained the thought of Sal's actual "world" (the original one - not just her inclusion in fanfics) being included in Dissidia as well. This would include characters like Nat, Tsuniah and, well, Vance. This guy.

I'd talk more about what makes the inclusion of Vance and different timelines + funky memory loss stuff going on especially fascinating (to me) here, but it really... wouldn't make sense to the rest of you. It's all original stuff; story I know and have yet to tell the rest of the world, so... yeah. 🥲 But there's potential in that too that I'd love to play around with!

In that respect, between the Dissidia shenanigans and Fall To The Moon ones, should I ever actually manage to write out some story stuff for them, I may yet instill some intrigue in regards to who he is along with these other OCs of mine. Create my own Dissidia effect - basically, compel people to want to get to know them outside of AUs and fanfics (because Dissidia OO makes me want to get to know characters I have yet to get to know, let me tell you. Haha!)

Anyway... Lawdy, I'd say that's a good ol' tangent right there. That'll do it, for now. To anyone and everyone who stopped by to read this... madness... thank you. I hope it was entertaining, otherwise, sorry I wasted your time...! 😅

Until next time.

🌌 😎👆👉

-Moonwalks back into The Twilight Zone.-

[sixrealmsbeneaththesea]

um, a sketch of terra's dad, maduin, that i spontaneously felt like drawing and coloring over.

i've been playing dissidia opera omnia which has a healthy heaping of terra...which made me think of maduin and how cool an esper dad he is... was. so i did it.

meanwhile, sephiroth is awkward as fuck in that, delightfully so. teaming him with seymour is a weird flex, though, but whatever...

i'm probably gonna avoid posting for a while after this. my head isn't on straight anymore ~

[icharchivist]

Square really had no faith in this game doing well if they didn't frontload it with popular characters, huh

Honestly that's the feeling i get.

I will forever remember this interview before the Remake came out of one of the main dev of the game (who had gone on record saying he Hated Zack btw -- i still have the magazines with this interview in it!!! bc the guy was the guy focused on Sephiroth and the Zack plotline replaced his initial plot) was talking about "we know fans are looking forward to go back to their favorite, like Cloud, Sephiroth and Zack, and i hope the remake will make them appreciate to see their favs again who have left such an impact on people", and it raised fucking red flags to me because in what circumstances are those the characters you narrow down from ff7, especially THIS GUY. Especially when the game OPENS on Aerith.

Genuinely red flags that they were genuinely worried about how the game would do without those three being there despite the fact Sephiroth and Zack couldn't be there if they followed the plot of the OG

Like i think they were caught in a contradictory set up of, they knew fans liked the setting of Midgar, and would love to see it expended, so they wanted to focus the remake entirely on the first Midgar parts of the OG.

Midgar parts that are *not that long*, so to make it a coherent game, you'd need a lot of padding.

While ALSO the fact the Midgar part plot is extremely tight in term of timing, this is where the game is at its most linear, so it's not like there's a lot of room in the narrative of the OG itself to insert supplementary content.

while ALSO the fact that the most memorable things of the game, (aside perhaps from Wall Market that even people who never played the OG knew about because of all the memes and stuff) are ways later in the game.

Sephiroth is a legendary villain, everyone knows his iconography, if you saw him in KH or Dissidia or like that Smash Bros Trailer, would expect a couple of things about him. But all of those itterations of Sephiroth came from Late Game Sephiroth.

But Sephiroth was legendary because of the frankly unsettling slow burn they do to reveal him, to show you the extend of his power, and showing how slowly he eventually gets to pay attention to the main group. The threat of Sephiroth comes from the unsettling way he's set up, but everyone in pop culture knows bits of Late Game Sephiroth.

And as his whole thing was a slow built, he doesn't appear at all in Midgar. He gets mentioned in some conversations in ways that only makes you think there's a shared past going on, then you see the aftermath of his crimes, and it's only once you leave Midgar that you then get to hear Cloud's flashbacks about Sephiroth, and even much more later that you actually meet him.

And Sephiroth's biggest move is a way he will start to manipulate Cloud slowly but surely in a way that that is difficult to explain but require also the slow built the OG made. I think like. The thing about the beginning of the OG is that lots of Cloud's mental breakdown has nothing to do with Sephiroth (or at least not Sephiroth as he in right now, at best it's from memories). So once the Sephiroth stuff enter the pictures you kinda get to freak out because you dismissed Cloud's mental breakdowns as just this kind of weird thing but it's fine right? into seeing how the line between "mental breakdowns out of memories" and "mental breakdowns because Sephiroth is influencing him" start to blur.

This line never existed in the Remake because almost every single time Cloud has a break down, Sephiroth appear to be ominous. lol. lmao even.

then we also have Zack. Poor Zack. A mystery that is built through the entire OG, passing mentions and seeing Cloud barely flinch, and how it's his existence that ends up used in a way that triggers Cloud so badly it triggers the apocalypse. In a way the player also gets to follow the horror of Cloud losing his mind because you never left Cloud's point of view when Zack is concerned and all the reveals will hit you just as hard.

but Zack is legendary because of what this reveal tells you about his character. He was already beloved before the prequel even came around because of how just what you could connect once you knew what to look for. And then the prequel came out and Zack became one of the most popular character from the whole FF saga. because he's charming and fun and tragic.

But it doesn't happen before the late part of the game. So what do you do now? Square decided to just reveal him from the start instead of realizing people have been obsessed with Zack for years because of the way his absence is built.

One of the most well known scene is also the Major Character Death, considered a death of legend. In the game it is built to it slowly because of what the character it involves grow into the more they learn into this journey. In the remake they already lampshade all of this in a way the character sound a lot more self important than they were at this point.

and all of that for what?? i'm near the end of the game and no matter what it still seems unfinished as hell. I don't get the feeling i got a whole game experience that maybe could have a follow up, i feel like i played an overlong first part of a game with a weirdly stitched on ending.

because they couldn't trust the fans would follow and they had to rewrite a whole main plot to change things.

*bites fist and screams* seems like i'll die mad about it huh. man.

[superthatguy62]

Rant/Argument: Why Jack should not be THE Garland

Let me preface this by saying: I like Jack. I unfortunately have not played Stranger of Paradise myself as I lack the means to do so (None of the big consoles + My laptop can’t even run Dissidia NT or FFXIV. Given the horror stories I’ve heard of the PC port’s optimization, I’m not holding my breath), but I have seen playthroughs and have seen the story unfold. And Jack is a great guy, even once you get past the “I NEED TO KILL CHAOS” memes. Heck, especially after that.

But I have seen people treating Jack and Garland as the same guy and suggesting the latter is the will of the former made manifest due to Opera Omnia.

And that would be ruin Dissida Garland’s character if so.

And, instead of getting into an argument in Youtube comment sections and trying to ignore that the concepts of retcons are a thing, I’m going to summarize all three Garlands in order to argue that making Dissidia Garland an extension of Jack (rather than both being variants of the same guy) is a Bad Idea Actually meaning that SE is totally going to do it.

The nature of this essay means that it should go without saying, but spoilers for all three games: FF1, Dissidia (including Opera Omnia and everything in between) and Stranger of Paradise (including the DLCs)

Part 1: A Brief Summary of Garland

This is Garland.

Garland was once a knight of Cornelia and well beloved by all. However, his heart belonged to one person: Princess Sarah of Cornelia. However, Garland had unknowingly been corrupted in some fashion. When Sarah rejected the knight’s feelings, he snapped: He kidnapped the fair maiden, locked them both in the Chaos Shrine and killed anyone who tried to save her.

Eventually four travelers appear, each holding a crystal fragment with radiant light. The King, suspecting that the four are the Warriors of Light, tested them by tasking them with rescuing Sarah. The four entered the Chaos Shrine and fought Garland. Cornelia’s best wound up slain, liberating Sarah and ending his tale.

...At least, one would think.

Eventually, the Warriors of Light realized that the energy that the Four Fiends had siphoned from the crystal was converging upon the Chaos Shrine. Learning of a true villain who had fled through time, the Warriors of Light chased after, arriving at the Chaos Shrine 2000 years in the past. It is there that they defeat the fiends once more and confront the real villain: Garland.

Wait, what?!

Garland explains (and the ending elaborates):

As Garland lay dying in the Chaos Shrine, the four great powers (i.e. the crystals) sent Garland back in time. There, Garland would absorb their powers and send the Four Fiends forward in time who, in-turn will bring Garland back. Garland himself would reign as Chaos for a time, but eventually the power will leave him[1]. In effect, this creates a time loop that will allow Garland to live forever; Just ignore any silly questions or issues like “Doesn’t Garland only exist within the loop now?” and “That’s the most pointless form of immortality ever”.

At some point however, a freak miracle happens: The Warriors of Light manage to defeat Chaos in the past, one of two ways the cycle could be broken. As a result, the entire cycle collapses and is erased from existence. The game notes Garland is among the people waiting for the Warriors of Light in the new future and while it is ambiguous, one could draw the conclusion that the event that caused Garland to snap no longer occurred and he was back to the paragon that he once was.

[1]Some retellings embellish a few details (MoH makes the fiends natural creatures and gives the corrupted Garland an entitlement complex, Brave Exvius and few other sources imply that Garland’s rage gets stronger with each cycle, giving more of a end-goal).

Part 2: A Not-So-Brief Summary of Garland.

This is Garland.

Garland was pulled into the past by his own hand to continue the time loop that would result in him living forever. However, at some point during the 2000 year long wait, he is suddenly hit with a realization: This was a terrible idea. But alas, despite no desire to continue the plan, he knows that eventually his rage will get the best of him, he will make “an irreparable mistake” and that he is doomed to live out the Cycle once more, a thought that leaves even the mighty Garland afraid.

However, he finds that he has hit a snag: Rather than being in 2000 years into the past, he is actually in another dimension. More specifically, he is in World B, a parallel version of his world that was already in ruins. There he meets three people: Cid, a Lufenian scientist hired by 'the state’ to make a superweapon. Cosmos, a manikin of Cid’s wife created to control said superweapon after Cid and his wife refused to work with 'the state’ any further. And finally, the superweapon in question, a nameless manikin created by stuffing memories from 10+ people into one manikin, and has the innocence and disposition of a newborn child.

Intrigued by this creature which looks akin to the form he is fated to take, Garland bonds with the creature, later dubbing him Chaos. Shinryu, who entered this world prior to the others stumbling upon it, appears and soon a pact is made: Cosmos would become the Goddess of Harmony while Chaos would become the God of Discord and the two would use pawns created by Cid summon warriors to act as their pawns and wage war with each other. Each time one side won, Shinryu would purify those that fell (while also absorbing their memories to become stronger, unbeknownst to everyone else) and the battles would continue. With each cycle, Chaos would grow stronger in hopes of him becoming strong enough to return to World A, with Garland acting as his mentor and faithful servant out of sympathy.

However, it eventually became clear that that the cycles would not end any time soon. In fact, it became clearer and clearer that the cycles would never end. Realizing that he has effectively traded one cycle for another, Garland does the only thing he could do to cope with his fate: If he is to do endless battle, then he may as well savor it. Garland became (or at least, put on the appearance) of one obsessed with battle, all to mask his despair at being a slave to fate.

Of course, all of this is contrasted by the Warrior of Light. He is one of the Warriors destined to clash with Garland and while Garland himself is disillusioned at the possibility of breaking free of the Cycle due to having lived it for so long, the comparatively new Warrior of Light has faith that it will be broken. After being confronted by the Warriors of Cosmos for one final time, Garland reveals that Chaos intends to destroy both himself and the world. When asked if he is alright with this, Garland simply states that all he needs is to find another cycle and the soul of strife shall endure.

Eventually, Garland would be pulled into World B again, this time to fight on behalf of Spiritus, one of the two new gods of the newly rebooted World B. The new world ends up under the threat of Shinryu (Who’s still miffed that Cid went back on their deal and wants that sweet sweet energy) who ends up defeated. Garland leaves behind a copy of himself to act as one of Spiritus’ champions for the sake of rebuilding World B via battle energy and goes home.

This is also Garland.

(Well, so’s the guy above, but this makes for a better segue, so shush).

This Garland is (presumably, OO is kinda strange with this relation) the Garland that was created due to the events above. He hungers for battle and...

Look, I’ll break character and level with you here: Opera Omnia’s plotline is kinda spotty to me. I was on and off in Act 2 and by 3 I stopped caring for reasons that are obvious if you’re familiar with this blog’s wheelhouse. Not helping matters is that it’s unclear in and of itself how OO relates to NT, being more of an alternate continuity than a continuation. But I do know some of the things about it, especially as pertaining to the end of Act 2.

Things have gone bad and Shinryu is getting ready to snack on the World of Respite/Conflict/whatever the nature of the world kind of drifted the more its significance became stressed. The Warrior of Light leads the heroes into battle against the villains who are opposing them because of course they are. The last of these villains is Garland who, despite the world crumbling around him, still wants to battle. But don’t worry, Garland does want to preserve the world. After all, where else will he do battle?

Just as the original Garland is implied to have turned to battle to cope with his situation, this Garland turns to battle to cope with his existence, or rather his lackthereof. The Warrior of Light succeeded, meaning that Garland returned to being the honorable knight he once was... But this Garland is derived from the Chaos which no longer exists.

Eventually, the damage is done. The world begins to collapse. The Warrior of Light sends his newfound allies into the new world, choosing to remain with Garland. Then, to keep the world stable he and Garland clash for eternity until Act 3.

Some more Garland shenanigans happen in Act 3, but this section is long enough as is and I do not want to discuss Act 3 so just know that WoL and Garland have been slowly but surely being pushed as the new gods of Harmony and Discord respectively. 

But Garland’s not the only one in the running for that title...

Part 3: A Very Brief Summary of Chaos (?)

This is Chaos Advent, formerly known as Chaos (?).

Chaos Advent awaited the Warriors of Light in the Chaos Shrine. Based on Princess Sarah’s description of him, he appears to be Garland: The Knight of Cornelia who left to vanquish Chaos and not only never returned, but seemingly faded from the memory of all but Sarah. In truth, Garland had fallen to the darkness and now wishes to become Chaos.

Jack punches his face in and darkness fades away to reveal... a just-narrowly-not-a-teenage girl named Neon. 

Neon did not believe that Chaos existed and sought to give the people hope. Thus  she took the guise of Chaos to give the people a physical representation of Chaos to defeat, in hopes of inspiring hope.

But what of Garland? If “Chaos” wasn’t him, then who was he?

Well, to say his true identity would be a spoiler. If you are truly

It’s Garland.

Jack Garland.

Jack is Chaos.

Part 3.5: A Brief Summary of Jack

This is Jack Garland.

He wants to kill Chaos.

Jack Garland is one of the four Warriors of Light alongside his friends Ashe and Jed. Soon, two more followers join the Warriors of Light (3): a girl named Neon and a woman named Sophia. Together, the quartet (5) go to awaken the crystals with the help of the mysterious Astos, the king of Dark Elves. While awakening the crystals, however, they fight four monsters that are guarding them. These monsters turn into humans when they die and Jack’s allies begin regaining their memories... slowly revealing that they’ve done this before and they themselves are the monsters.

When the party returns to Cornelia, they find that they have not saved the world and, in fact, things are even worse as the crystals intensify their respective elements. They hunt down Astos who eventually reveals the truth behind the Stranger Project, with further pieces coming in as monsters attack Cornelia. Despite Jack and his allies’ efforts, the monsters kill the royal family, including Princess Sarah. It is at this point that Jack’s memory begins to return in full force and the full picture starts setting in.

Lufenia faced a problem: Cornelia’s darkness buildup was getting too intense. In just 2000 or so years, the buildup will reach critical mass and blow up the kingdom. It is at this point that a “mysterious collaborator” appears who gifts them a dimensional matrix crystal, allowing them to manipulate time and space. All the collaborator asks in return is that Lufenia pipelines the excess energy generated by the resets back to them. With their shiny new toy, Lufenia engages the Stranger Project: recruiting people from other worlds (?) to go around and maintain the balance between darkness and light.

Unfortunately, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, and in this case, the road quickly became a highway..

Lufenia became arrogant with their newfound tech. Staging their own collapse, Lufenia moved to a pocket dimension where they could observe other worlds.  Out of the Cornelians’ reach, Lufenia began experimenting with the world, warping and mutating its inhabitants and changing regions to resemble those in the other dimensions they’ve been peeping at.

Fortunately for Cornelia, Jack Garland would not stand for this. Jack concocted a complex plan beginning by giving his Dark Crystal to Princess Sarah. As a result, his memories were totally buried. Then, Astos and his friends would push Jack and lead him down a path that resulted in him becoming Chaos.

And said plan concludes with the other Strangers attacking Jack, forcing him to kill them.

The plan works. Jack storms the Chaos Shrine, heads for Lufenia and absorbs their Darkness made Manifest. The Lufenians decide to cut their losses, sealing off the station connected to Jack’s world. And when Jack’s boss tells him to look out for the Warriors of Light, she gives Jack an idea...

At the Chaos Shrine, Jack and his friends/fiends hatch a new plan: Create their own Warriors of Light to act as a beacon of hope for Cornelia. And if they must die for Cornelia to no longer worry about Darkness, then so be it.

Meanwhile, Jack’s boss is pissed that Jack got one up on her. Initially, she lures Gilgamesh to Jack’s location before sending a Death Machine in hopes of killing him. When that fails, she sends Lufenia into chaos in order to claim two pieces of crystal ore: One that gives her power over the Interdimensional Rift and one that allows her to create manikins.

All of this catches the attention of a lone moogle. The moogle is not from Lufenia but World B a world of eternal conflict. But the world that the moogle hails from is reliant on the future of Jack’s world, and if Jack’s world gets erased, the Moogle’s will go with it. Thus, the Moogle brings Jack to Lufenia in order to stop Jack’s former boss Nil from preventing that future from coming to pass.

Of course, the moogle is no ordinary moogle: Said moogle is actually a manifestation of Cosmos’ will and is implied to have been active behind the scenes for quite a while. The Moogle’s endgoal  is to to push Jack into the role of the new God of Discord (whatever happened to Spiritus is left unsaid, assuming the moogle is even referring to a post-NT timeline).

Upon defeating Nil, one of two outcomes occurs.

In the first timeline, Nil drops the crystal, which Jack refuses to use. The moogle questions Jack in ways implying that it wants Jack to pick up the crystal, but Jack refuses. He and his allies go home and live out their roles of being defeated by the Warriors of Light.

However, in a Different Future (TM), The Emperor of Palamecia (who had previously appeared in Lufenia, having tailed the moogle) appears after Nil’s death and seizes the crystal. Jack naturally beats him up, but accidentally absorbs the crystal in the process. His future secured, the moogle informs Jack that now he must take his role as the God of Discord and that he, opposite and alongside the Warrior of Light as the God of Harmony, will be the foundation for a new world.

Part 5: Now that that’s all settled

What’s the problem with Jack and Dissidia Garland being the same individual?

Because it ruins both Dissidia Garland and Jack’s characters.

Dissidia Garland is a natural extension of FF1 Garland. Even in the original game, it’s said that Garland used to be a paragon of Cornelia until very recently. In some of his interactions, especially those with Chaos, you can kind of see it.

In the end, Garland is not just a villain, but he’s a man who’s trapped. Trapped in a destiny of his own making. He’s just as much a victim of his own scheme as anyone else: But the difference is that he himself created it.

As a certain well-known movie once put it:

It also adds to his relation to Chaos. Garland was reminded of himself when he met Chaos, which is why he becomes Chaos’ right-hand. If one takes supplementary material into account, then the spinoffs alluding to Garland’s rage getting stronger over the course of the cycles could relate to Chaos’ fate in Dissidia as well: Becoming more and more powerful with each cycle to the point that 012′s post-story storyline takes place in a nightmare reality where the cycles never ended: Chaos snaps and kills both sets of warriors, reduced to a Feral Desperado... Thing.

Is that what Garland could have potentially ended up as?

Meanwhile Jack’s story is different. Yeah, sure he and his friends become Chaos and the Fiends and that’s a bummer, but the story as a whole is a “The Real Story” type deal. Thus Jack and his friends aren’t the real villains, Lufenia is. Pay no mind to how little you’ll pity them when Tiamat forces them out of their sky castle.

Jack’s story is still tragic, but the bitterness of it being a consequence of his own actions is lost. Garland ruined the entire world all because his rage got the better of him. He has no one but himself to blame and the hopelessness it’s implied that he feels suggests that even he himself knows it. Jack’s massive plan is a direct response to Lufenia’s shenanigans.  Jack’s situation is more akin to Ramza’s, where he and his allies will go down in history as monsters as no one knows the truth.

However, all of that is ok, because Jack’s story is not

This is not his own masterpiece.

This is also ignoring all of the dev interviews and even the moogle and the Emperor saying that Jack resembles the man from the world of conflict, but is not actually him.

Fin: A Brief Conclusion

IT’S TIME FOR THE OBLIGATORY FF3 MENTION/RANT

Onion Knight in Dissidia is a character I love-hate. I can’t say I hate him all that much: I main him in Dissidia 012, he gets lots of good fanart, I used him extensively in Record Keeper and Brave Exvius  and his “little shit” attitude is fun.

But, I do not care about Onion Knight’s story. Indeed, as I alluded to above, when Onion Knight became the main protagonist of Opera Omnia’s story, I completely lost interest. I was even annoyed at how the finale ended.

Is it Onion Knight’s fault though? YesNo.

While I like Onion Knight, I prefer Luneth, Arc, Refia and Ingus. Onion Knight standing in place of the does not endear me as much as him standing alongside them. Perhaps it is because they don’t involve the FF characters in the plot, but Record Keeper and Brave Exvius understand this. Record Keeper even implies a connection between Onion Knight and the remake characters.

By contrast, Opera Omnia, the game where characters actually interact and can flex their characterization, which of the two groups is in the game at the time of this writing, and which isn’t: The four who had vague personalities in the source material or the one who only had a personality in the fighting game spinoff (Hint: It’s the one that’s only a single character)? 

At the same time though, I don’t want Onion Knight removed from the series either. Not only because of what my big issue with him is (one of a few, admittedly), but because I know that there are people that like him. I’ve been on the receiving end of the “neglect” stick, but I don’t necessarily want the other group to be simply take my place. Both can co-exist.

But what does this have to do with (Jack) Garland?

Because Garland is the same, but also different.

Opera Omnia does not hide the fact that Jack is Garland. Jack even gets his Garland armor as an alternate costume, recreating Chaos’ pose from the game logo.

But unlike Cecil or Yda, whose alternate forms cannot co-exist, Jack and Garland are treated as separate characters. As Garland was away for quite a while, they could have found some way for the Warrior of Light to restore Garland’s sanity or write some way to turn Garland into Jack or otherwise. Instead, they had Jack show up and interact with Dissidia Garland. And while Dissidia Garland is based on a Garland that no longer exists, Jack’s comments at the end of the Act suggest that he isn’t from that point; He intends to use the power of light to find a way to get home so that he can build his own Warriors of Light. If Jack truly is from that fixed future (and still alive, given that SoP was ambiguous with Jack’s fate in the true ending and the fact that Jack and his friends aren’t from Cornelia, look the timeline nonsense is weird, OK?) then why does he have memories of a timeline that no longer exists (whereas WoL at least has the excuse of having been there and lived, “memories buried in his heart” etc etc.)? 

With how blatant a tie-in the Different Future DLC is, it is inevitable that Dissidia Opera Omnia will tackle both Jack and Garland (Act 3 started, but hasn’t done too much yet. Act 4 introduces Neon and Astos to liven things up). Only time will tell where the story goes exactly, but so far, all indications seem to treat Jack and Garland as separate characters. And you know what?

That’s probably the best option.

Still, regardless of how one feels, there are fans who love Jack. 

There are fans who love OG Garland. 

They don’t need to be explicitly connected to co-exist

(Plus, no offense to Jack’s VA, he did a superb job, but Christopher Sabat Garland is hard to beat).

[crisiscutie]

Has anyone else thought about the darling with a cock and pussy but still a female or have I just gone too far? Just imagining Sephy playing with her cock and clit, or my insanest midnight thoughs are getting the best of me.

You're the first one to mention it anon, and no worries, it's an interesting thought.

Content Warning: NSFW. Dubcon. Somnophilia.

Futa is definitely one of my favorite kinks!

I think regardless of the Sephy and Darling that's being discussed, the Crisis Cutie would love to relentlessly tease his darling's cock when he gets the opportunities. There's so much possibilities with this. Just imagine him trailing a finger down Domestic Darling's cock slowly, watching the pre-cum come out of it, and teasing his wife for being so easily aroused~. Or him doing subtle things throughout the day to make her so hard and then offer himself as her relief. And how about Nee-San Darling shyly pounding Sephy with deep and forceful thrusts, neither too fast nor too slow, making Sephy whine and plead for her to speed up. Fem Sephiroth sneaking into the darling's room while she is sleeping, toying her with her darling's shaft and balls. And then she positions her wet cunt over her cock and rides her. And when the darling awakens, she sees Mommy Sephiroth happily greeting her, telling her she couldn't help but crave her seed as her walls tighten around the darling's cock... Poor darling will get drained that night. I wouldn't know to even start writing...

In part three of the Dissidia headcanons, this kink is even a focal point of the story, Can you guess what happens to the Dissidia Darling? 😏

I would love to write more about this kink!

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Any thoughts on these fighting games?

Tekken

DarkStalkers

Killer Instinct

Evil Zone

ClayFighter

Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi (Dragon Ball Z Sparking in Japan)

Arcana Heart

Akatsuki Bllitzkamof/EN-Eins Perfektewelt

Ehrgeiz: God Bless The Ring

Tobal No.1 and Tobal 2

Fighting Vipers (PEPSIMAN!)

Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax

Omen of Sorrow

Nitroplus Blasterz Heroines Infinite Duel

I've played Tekken 3 and Tekken 7 and that's it, but I wouldn't say I'm any good at the games.

Darkstalkers I've played a bit of, though I wouldn't say I'm any good, though I still hold out hope for a proper sequel with a full roster compared to the split off offshoots that currently exist.

I own Killer Instinct (the modern game), though it has far too much pay-to-own DLC for my liking, in addition to very unbalanced quest games, so I lost a lot of interest in it (though I will still mess with the characters now and then, it's been a while).

People have told me Evil Zone is good, though I have yet to play it myself, though I'd compare it to Battle Arena Toshinden in terms of style (maybe even Battle Fantasia).

I never found ClayFighter especially appealing, since there was never a version of the game that didn't seem "stiff" in animation, though I suppose it was a poor man's Street Fighter clone.

My history with DBZ games goes all the way back to Super Butoden and Hyper Dimension, though I have separate opinions between "Budokai" and "Budokai Tenkaichi" (or just Tenkaichi). Budokai is more commonly known as Dragonball Z3 in Japan (or just Z3, though we call it Budokai 3 here in the West). Unlike Tenkaichi, the original Budokai games had a 2D combat perspective, though they still played a bit with 3D plane. It was the Tenkaichi games onwards that focused more on 3D combat. I'd say I'm not "as interested" in the 3D combat compared to how much I enjoyed Budokai 3.

Also, with regard to Dragonball FighterZ, I'd say it isn't nearly as complex as the Budokai games were in tranformations and such, or even Beam Battles and clash battles which it had.

I don't exactly find the Arcana Heart series especially appealing (and I've said as much in older posts), though I did appreciate Mori bringing it to BlazBlue Crosstag as a small offering.

The mechanics of the game ARE interesting, but the gameplay itself just doesn't appeal to me by and large (sprites were very small, animations were simple, and the all-female roster was off-putting to me, so it's not my cup of tea).

I've had friends tell me how great the Akatsuki games are, and I'd dare say it's easy to compare it to older PC Doujins like Big Bang Beats and Melty Blood, but I don't actually have much experience with the Akatsuki games...

The fact French Bread insisted on bringing Akatsuki in to Under-Night as a guest character is amazing, however... along with the fact the Blitztank was added to BBTAG.

Ehrgeiz... there's a lot I can say about Idea-Factory's hidden gem in the rough: but to me the game was too much like a Wresting game or Power-Stone Clone... and the fact they used Final Fantasy characters kinda distracted from the other characters far too much for my liking.

Certainly it predates games like Dissidia Final Fantasy, but I feel like if someone was gonna make a Final Fantasy fighting game, it would happen eventually.

Ehrgeiz itself shouldn't be lauded for Final Fantasy, it should be lauded for its own story and unique characters. The fact it had a Dungeon RPG mode though... that's something few Fighting Games can brag about, and something I think more fighting games SHOULD consider (especially a game like DNF Duel... a spinoff of Dungeon Fighters, so I mean... where's the DUNGEON???)

The endings were cheesy, but that was the era back then.

That goes DOUBLE for the Tobal games... Tobal itself was everything Dragonball Z fighting games probably would have been if they turned it in to a Virtua Fighter spinoff.

There are far too many ideas in Tobal to really discuss in a paragraph here, but suffice to say it has a very odd roster... very massive roster too... so I'd argue they overdid it in some capacity.

Fighting Vipers... I can't really say much, since I've never sat down to play the game, though I do find SOME of the characters appealing.

If Fighting Vipers ever did a Dead or Alive Crossover like Virtua Fighter did with Tekken, that'd be pretty interesting.

Dengeki Bunko/Nitroplus... hmm... I don't have fond memories of these games (don't get me wrong I have higher opinions of it now than I used to, but it's still not my favorite kind of fighting game).

If ARC System Works or French Bread were approached in to making a Dengeki game, I think I'd be more eager to play it... just something about it that screams "cheap doujin fighter" to me, and that doesn't bode well in my history of playing fighting games.

I feel like Omen of Sorrow wishes it was Mortal Kombat and Castlevania Judgement... the latter of which was done by 8ing, and I still sincerely think is a great game.

Unfortunately some fighting games are fated for obscurity, though it's up to you if you want to play them or not.

Once again, I find All-Female rosters to be somewhat unappealing to my taste, though on the flipside of that, Skullgirls doesn't enforce that rule as adamantly as Nitroplus and Arcana Heart seem to. SNK Heroines is also an odd duck in that regard.

If you don't agree with my opinions, that's fine... but just understand that I have a predilection for weapon-based fighting games... so games with tiny sprites and moe cutsie characters are just NOT appealing to me...

Anyways, right now, to me the peak is probably Soul Calibur 6 and Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising, though even if I say that, I'm still waiting for the "egg" that is Guilty Gear Strive to finally hatch itself.

[wandringaesthetic]

I was considering returning to FFXI because of reasons which led me to think about my FFXI character, who is a tarutaru, which led me to think about Shantotto being the FFXI representative for Dissidia, which I only feel is more odd now that I've actually played FFXI. The FFXIV crossover events use Iroha in this role, and the FFXIV raid series has so far used Prishe, who both imo make more sense as being sort of heroes of the piece.

Which led me to thinking: Y'shtola has never made full sense as FFXIV representation. I suppose as of ARR (which was about when Dissidia NT would have been in development--I think and I'm not looking it up right now) she would have been the most popular of the scions. I feel like Alphinaud or Alisaie or both might be better representation now, but as of back then before either of them had much/any character development they would not have even been in the running. Theoretically, one could use any of the other significant scions for the role, but I think it would pretty much have to be chosen among your liaisons for each of the city states. Thancred would seem to be as good an option as Y'shtola, but I don't think Yda and Papylymo are good enough characters individually without the other to bounce off of, and given later events, they would be tricky to put in something like Dissidia because [spoilers] and [spoilers].

(by the way, the spoilers I'm referring to obliquely are some of the only surprises in FFXIV I had *no* inkling of, so thanks for that FFXIV fans, thanks. Unfortunately I think it's because they're not that popular, but nonetheless)

So I guess I get why it would have come down to those two and I also get why Y'shtola was chosen, because a) we're kind of light on girls here and b) as of ARR she's the better character

I would like it if Squeenix made another Dissidia game, especially if they made one that was just a normal ass fighting game, or at the least something that was actually fun to play. So who might they choose for FFXIV representation now? For the chaos side, it's gotta be Emet-Selch, I think if you took a poll among FFXIV players for best villain of the piece, he would win (correctly. best antagonist in Final Fantasy. I do not say this lightly.) by a fair margin.

But for the Cosmos side? My dizzy daydream is that this imaginary video game has a character creator robust enough for you to make your FFXI and/or XIV WoLs and throw them in there but barring that ...

I feel the twins would be a good choice. I think FFXIV is so huge we should allow it to have two characters. Another choice that would make a lot of sense but also irritate me would be Estinien. (Could this be what Yoshi-P meant when he said Estinien might be going into space???) He's basically stuck around so long past his expansion just because players like him, and he has functioned on a plot level as the stand in for the WoL while you were in the first. Eorzea's second (third?) baddest dude. But-- I guess this doesn't matter at this point, because he's been all over ads and the trailers for the expansions--his face and the fact that he survives Heavensward are kind of spoilers. Also, Dissidia has tended to function off of characters' day one characterization, and when you first meet Estinien he is kind of a raging asshole. Lastly, I love him and he's my biggest blorbo in the game but even I am getting kind of tired of this guy.

So who--

Wait. Stop the presses. Consider: Y'shtola is still representing FFXIV but it is very much post-Shadowbringers Y'shtola. And post-Shadowbringers Y'shtola is desperately seeking to find a way to cross the rift to get back to her lion boyfriend. And doing some kind of dimension hopping like that might lead one to, say, for example, some sort of world between worlds where chosen champions from many universes are gathered.

MAYBE Y'shtola trying to cross the rift is even the inciting event of this extremely hypothetical plot to this extremely hypothetical game. Maybe her being Missing and Somewhere Else for a while might even be canon to FFXIV?

I mean I don't expect character writing that good for the (again, extremely hypothetical) massive crossover cash in project, but Just Think Of It.

[gorematchala]

I played some more of Dungeon Encounters today and so far its pretty cool and I like it but I'm glad I paid $10 for it lol. I think i forgot to mention it the other day but the battle theme is so bad I turned the muaic off entirely. The battle system itself is cool though, and the way gear and builds work

I'm just so scared of the characters I like getting petrified or lost cuz the way you unpetrify them or find them is kinda nightmarish. Its the main reason a lot of people gave the game bad reviews but i think its one of the best parts of the game actually. If they get petrified you have to leave them where they are and find an altar on another floor that will ask for X Y coordinates of the person you want to cure, and that X Y coordinate shit is how you find wandering characters too. Ones you havent met yet or ones who got separated. They can end up *somewhere* on a floor with 700 tiles. Its awesome and also very mean

Battle works kinda like dissidia opera omnia actually where theres a number barricading your health bar. Every character and enemy has physical and magical defense bars that need to be worn down before they lose health. The values vary though so like black bears have 110 physical defense but only 90 magical, so obviously the most efficient way to kill them is magic. But then i got my ass kicked because I tried to use AOE spells before I realized that the wizards next to the bears could reflect my magic back at me

Theres stuff in there to be sure its just taking a while to find all of it

[terraxcloud]

No Promises to Keep

[Verse: Loren Allred] I won't say that it was fate I won't say that it was destiny But if not, what could it be That drew you towards me? Could it be chance? [Chorus: Loren Allred] Till the day That we meet again Where or when I wish I could say But believe Know that you'll find me Promises to keep We won't ever need [Chorus: Loren Allred] Till the day That we meet again At our place Just let me believe In the chance Know that you'll take my hand And never let me go

***

I have been getting that vibe that this song was prepared to be a real life FF6 Opera. Having it be sung by Aerith in-game but with Loren Allred dressed similarly to Terra is interesting due to the fact that Aerith is playing the role of "Princess Rosa", yet Aerith isn't the actual "princess" (she has said that she's not one in Remake).

In a way they just hinted on who the "princess" is, because in the back of our minds we know that it could instead be Tifa singing, even Yuffie (well, maybe). Even if it isn't and it's just Aerith singing it, remember that Aerith has her own theme and it sounds very similar to the FF6 Opera.

The lyrics make me feel like there may be a temporary "meeting" in the first stanza. She seems really confused as to what caused him to appear to her, which makes her assume that it will happen again.

This is unlike "Hollow" where Terra takes initiative but the ending of that song makes it seem like she feels hopeless:

But I, I know That you're long gone But I, I will Go on howling and hollow To never know

In essence, Terra wasn't expecting much, but "something happens". "Know that you'll take my hand" is a reference to the ending of FF7, because the only part of Aerith's song that plays during that scene is the first notes which sound the most like the FF6 Opera.

Although, the lyric "At our place" implies a ton. There's probably millions of dollars and years of sweat behind that one lyric in particular

I think that the reason they chose the word "promise" is to connect it to the "Promised Land". With a potential reference to FF7's ending, the "at our place" lyric, and the word "meet" ("Maybe I can meet her...there." "Yeah, let's meet her.)

The "Promise Scene" is important. It's either Tifa or Tina (Terra's other name :P).

Also, a main theme implies a main character in some way. The semantics of that may be confusing here, probably because it's supposed to be a mystery to everyone.

So there is a chance that the "surprise" is Cloud actually finding Terra "by chance" for a little while, but is it? What about Zack's timeline? There are quite a few hints that Terra will be involved in Zack in some way (WoFF Serah/Zack scene - FF15 DLC connection is the biggest)...perhaps there's two Terras as well? Two Clouds, Two Aeriths, but only one Zack. I think one of those Terras may die (hint from Dissidia NT, her solo WoFF intervention, and Aerith's Lost Chapter in DFFOO.)

The Krile Lost Chapter hint about Terra asking how Krile travelled to different worlds still is on my mind. Travelling by meteor isn't a weird thing as the FF5 characters, Noel in FF13-2, and Jenova used one, but with the possibility of two Terras...would one use a torsion and the other a meteor? The problem is that these hints exist, if they didn't exist I wouldn't have a question. That DFFOO scene is very, very intentional.

Considering that Jenova is her antithesis, it makes sense that she'd use a meteor. She can't end up in Cloud's timeline...can she? It would definitely change everything.

I also have to mention what the devs said about Advent Children being a part of the end. What does that even mean? Advent Children isn't about crazy battles to them, y'know. Perhaps to the fans, but not to the developers.

I believe Tifa also has to meet her as the ending of FF7 implied.

[black-omen-born]

Coming out of tumblr retirement for this lol

here's my official opinion as a person who owns an Elemental Archfiends t-shirt (and not like a general ff4 shirt that happens to have the archfiends on it, i mean like a shirt of the archfiends specifically)

-- Scarmiglione is my favorite and I'm extremely into the new design. i like the purple color and the weird vaguely simian skull face. could have been grosser but also he can't actually be undead-undead for lore reasons so perhaps not an unexpected change. maybe he can come to the Source and possess a corpse for a while, as a treat (for me). Also his backstory was the most inspired. I liked that he was a real piece of shit and not even in like a badass way.

-- Barbariccia is the least interesting fiend design and i think this is pretty much a straight upgrade across the board. It's not pictured in this image set but I thought her lair being shattered bits of ruin lashed together with gigantic mats of hair was low-key kind of disgusting. Replacing the whirlwind with her just wrapping herself up in hair and punching the shit out of you was also a good choice. It's less wind-themed but who cares.

-- Cagnazzo is my least favorite, which sucks because FF4 Cagnazzo is very close to Scarmiglione in my heart. In FF4 he kills and replaces Cecil's adopted dad so I was hoping for some shapeshifting/doppelganger fuckery in 14 and that didn't happen. More importantly, the 14 version doesn't look like a horrible fucked up little freak. Huge step in the wrong direction. I liked his accent though.

-- Rubicante is fine. I think he had the least changes. I have never liked his color scheme but it looks okay here. I don't think his body should have been visible at all until he opened his cloak in phase 2 of the trial, but I do appreciate that he was basically just fully nude under there. The question finally answered. Huge props for getting Hyadain to arrange the song but I have to knock a few points off for not having Rubicante use the healer LB3 on the party mid fight. Missed opportunity.

-- Golbez is in Dissidia so he's had a high poly 3D model for a while, and 14 Golbez does not deviate from that much, which is fine. I liked that they played up the appearance of having a single eye, and as someone who has spent a lot of time writing fanfiction and such about video game characters who don't even have enough dialog to fill one side of an index card, I deeply appreciate the fact that they built a whole plot arc around Golbez's shadow dragon that appears in FF4 for a grand total of maybe 45 seconds. Also when I got to the trial I actually laughed out loud, like "Oh my god after 30 years Golbez finally has a sword", and then that actually turned out to be a plot point, which was quite frankly delightful.

That said I think Durante should have been more naked.

Tune in next time (?) for my thoughts on whether or not the boss "Damcyan Antlion" indicates the presence of an alternate universe evil version of Edward from FF4 (yes. the answer is yes)

Scarmiglione, Archfiend of Earth

Barbariccia, Archfiend of Wind

Cagnazzo, Archfiend of Water

Rubicante, Archfiend of Fire

Golbez, Knight in Black (Durante)