#Figuring out gpose slowly but surely

[nihilnovisubsole]

oh, right, shadowbringers! i'm overdue for another ffxiv bullet point vibe check. i actually finished it a couple of weeks ago, and then my sink exploded [long story] and i wanted to chew on it for a while. it's clear that this expac is an overwhelming fan favorite, so i figured i should formulate some more intelligent thoughts about it.

part of me worries that my shadowbringers experience was colored by how badly i missed the people and places on the source. more than the aether and gods and soul transference and all that stuff, what i really took away was a sense of loneliness. the first isn't my world. its citizens are strangers to me, though i recognize on a philosophical level that i should help them. even the scions - in theory, my closest comrades - have lived for years in the blink of my eye and become very different people. when did thancred become responsible? when did the twins grow up? i wondered what other NPCs were doing without me. all i wanted was to go home.

on the other hand, i read a theory that this is the point. the story wants you to feel cut loose from everything you know. are you still a hero in an emotional vacuum? will you still put yourself on the line to do the right thing? sure, your world will be doomed if theirs falls, but that possibility seems so huge and far-off that it doesn't register in your gut. i don't think that's the writing failing to connect with me or anything. if that's the intent, it's an interesting feeling for a game to evoke.

i may have also exacerbated that feeling by keeping my actual avatar isolated on norvrandt for so long. i mentioned earlier that i play around the game's day-night cycle, running missions based on when they'll feel most immersive. that extends to maps, too: if the story says i'm stuck in a place, i stay around that place until the story carries me elsewhere. i mean, i'll dip out for wondrous tails and daily cactpot and stuff, but i don't take big story vacations to jet around eorzea. i didn't "come back" from the far east in stormblood until doma was free. that's a lot of MSQ to just spend alone with your thoughts.

there's a storytelling paradox at work: the first's problems are so large and so bad that it's smaller and more personal when you become invested in someone's plight. i expected to care a lot about liberating ala mhigo because i'm so fond of raubahn as a character, and i did. i didn't expect to feel the pity that i felt for, say, kai-shirr, or runar's unrequited crush on y'shtola. it comes on slowly and quietly.

i don't know. it's a curious story. it's a melancholy story. it's a lot more experimental than the expacs that came before it. it'd probably be worth it to new-game-plus it at some point to pay closer attention to the individual character arcs.

same goes for emet-selch. he's a curious villain. i don't sympathize with his methods, and i obviously have no romantic interest in him. but i keep mulling him over. he keeps lurking in the back of my mind, which means that his writing succeeds by virtue of being memorable.

to my mind, everything around amaurot contributes to that success. amaurot is where it all starts to come together for me. it's a beautiful, odd place - art deco in final fantasy? who knew? - and the pinnacle of the arc's surreal "this is a dream, but tangible" tone. you can tell the team wanted to go all out with the ascian reveals they'd been building up to for years. i wonder if they had fun designing it.

even if it is. i. hm. no i shan't say it

all right, i'll say it

I AM EMET-SELCH AND I AM HERE TO ASK YOU A QUESTION

there, it's out of my system. on a less ridiculous note, i finally got royce's canon armor! now i can gpose freely. i wish there were an in-engine way to pose with NPCs, but them's the breaks. who knows? maybe we'll get it eventually. it is a live service game.

[ffxiv-f13ndish]

Calm Before the Storm: Treasure (?) Chest Under the Sea

Collab. write with @sorrel-haven [ also credit to sorrel-haven for gpose shot ^^]

Characters:

Kore Grimvik (sorrel-haven)

Lament Sorrel [mention] (sorrel-haven)

Daen Lad (@ro-valerius)

Miyu, Virgil, M'ezzo, Magnus

Kore and Miyu have to make an unfortunate rescue after Virgil finds himself in some sea snake trouble.

“I should have worn better shoes for this,” Miyu huffed after a second of catching their balance following an awkward landing with heeled boots in the sand. 

Their expression turned more serious as they lifted their gaze towards the open waters and crashing waves. 

“So it wasn’t just a dream, then,” Miyu said in a tense voice. They had a grave feeling that the only thing they would be rescuing today was a body. 

Kore looked at Daen Lad who brought them here and nodded. The pixie flitted out over the ocean a ways and looked around as if they were searching with their eyes. Kore watched the tiny figure anxiously, her fingers drummed  against her arm. 

“Ah-ha! Found you!” Daen Lad said as they pointed in the direction of Virgil casting a spell.

The moment a strange chest was brought to the shore, Miyu darted over to open it up. It took a bit of struggle to unwrap the chains from around the makeshift water coffin, but they managed to crack open the chest within the time they anxiously held their breath. 

Ocean water poured out from the chest, the inside filled with a less than appealing treasure. Virgil was bound up inside, on top of a few sandbags. Upon looking at him, Miyu wasn’t even sure if the Elezen was alive. His eyes were glassy and bloodshot, expression pallid and hollow. Unnervingly, there was a faint scent of decay under the salt of the ocean water — not that Miyu could pick up on that. But there was no mistaking in the way Virgil’s chest slowly rose and fell as he took deep breaths.

Daen Lad flitted back to the group. “I’m sure you two can take care of this from here. Buh-bye!” with that they disappeared in a flash.

Kore unhooked the astrolobe from her back and gently pulled Miyu from the edge of the chest. Wordlessly she began casting a series of healing spells. After which she handed the astrolobe to Miyu. Life returned to Virgil’s visage, but Miyu couldn’t examine his state long enough as they turned their gaze away while the man leaned over the edge of the chest and coughed up ocean water. At least, from the unsettling glimpse they got, the dark appearance indicated that it wasn’t just water. Kore took out a knife strapped to her thigh and sat Virgil up, working on his bonds gently.

“Seems you got yourself in some trouble hm?” she asked Virgil as she freed him.

“An unnecessary question,” he managed to rasp out between pained coughs. 

“Says the man of unnecessary words.” Kore quipped.

Fortunately for Kore, Virgil didn’t have many words to say. The man was still working on catching his breath again.

Miyu hesitantly stepped forward, tenderly placing a hand on Kore’s shoulder as they leaned down to speak to her in a hushed voice, “Should we keep questioning him here?”

“Let’s bring him to the Sorrels. They have a lot of healers and no one would look for him there. Bringing him to the Flower house would be too obvious, and well…” she cuts the last rope. “None of the Sorrels have an opinion on him yet.”

She put a guiding hand on Virgil’s chest and wrapped her arm around his waist, as she helped him out of the chest. 

“Yet. Let’s see how long that lasts. Maybe one of those ropes could stay around his mouth for the duration of his stay,” Miyu remarked, though they nevertheless went around to Virgil’s other side to help him get up. Once they got him standing, they almost stepped away, only to realize that the man continued to need the support. Miyu glanced down.

“Your… foot? It’s… um… gone?” 

Virgil only gave Miyu a dry look. Seemed it wasn’t a product of whatever happened to send him to the bottom of the sea. Miyu said nothing more about it, and Virgil remained silent for the duration of travel to the Sorrel house. 

----

Kore pushed open the front door of the Sorrel House without bothering to knock. Lament looked up from the book they were reading and began to smile at their sister but it immediately turned to a frown as they noticed the other two with her. Kore helped Virgil ease into a chair by the door.

“Hello dearest, I brought company.” Kore said, exhaustion creeping into her voice.

“I can see that. What happened?” Lament looked to each person, they didn’t care who offered up an explanation first.

“Lament,” Miyu greeted the Viera with a nod.

 “He’s a — um…” rather than explaining, Miyu trailed off and gave a shrug. While Kore helped get Virgil seated, they made their way to the kitchen to grab some water and a hand towel. 

Virgil stared across the room to Lament. 

“This will only be a moment,” Virgil said, with a clearing of his throat. He took the rag which Miyu brought to him to wipe the dried blood from his hands, then paused to take a sip of water before he could elaborate on what had occurred. 

“You must excuse my untimely delivery in our exchange. As you have surely gathered by now, I had been delayed by unforeseen circumstances. The Basilisks discovered our correspondence,” Virgil explained, eyes focused on Kore as he spoke. “There are 41 crew members in total. Initially 46, but five have since been disposed of. Two ships. Magnus and 22 members are aboard the ship with the coordinates I had given previously – what they call the Serpent. M’ezzo and 19 others are aboard the Python. It should be noted that they have gained an allyship with a handful of Sahagin men.”

Kore placed a hand on Virgil’s head, a silent thank you as she processed this new information. She turned to Lament.

“I need you to call your family. Tell Mina we need to get moving sooner than we anticipated. Perhaps Bea can take care of Virgil’s injuries I didn’t get to.” She turned to Miyu. “We need to gather ours, tell Ro she needs to watch the house while we’re taking care of this.”

Lament started calling people on his linkpearl without hesitation. 

Virgil lowered his gaze. Reluctantly, he then murmured, “Thank you.”

Miyu stared ahead with a bleak expression. This was all coming up much sooner than they had readied themself for. They gave a robotic nod of their head, stepping closer to Kore.

“If I may… I can assist. I just need my book,” Virgil spoke up suddenly.  

“You will do no such thing. We’re not going to throw you back into the fire we just rescued you from. We’ll talk about the book later, for now you will stay here and let the Sorrels tend to your wounds and keep you hidden.” Her tone was even, but firm. Kore was not going to relent.

Virgil narrowed his eyes. “I’ve grown accustomed to persevering through fires. This need to be a hero will do no favors for you – I know the methods of the crew quite well, and the layout of the ships.” He set a hand down on the chair, lifting himself up to stand. 

Kore pushed Virgil back into the chair. Virgil gritted his teeth at the shove, though his outright expression didn’t seem to change.

 “I don’t think you understand. There’s no ‘need to be a hero’ like you say. We don’t need that information. You are not in any condition to come with us. I am being very, very patient.” She paused and took in a grounding breath. “I thank you for wanting to help. The sentiment is not lost on me. But we need to bring people who everyone can trust, and I can’t say the others trust you.”

She put a hand on Virgil’s cheek. “Rest. Leave this to us.”

Virgil didn’t say anything for some time, cold gaze affixed to Kore with a hawk-like focus. Finally, after a near minute of a statuesque stillness, Virgil sat back in his seat and crossed one leg over the other. 

“And I suppose you trust me here?” His eyes slowly roamed over to Lament. “Residing in the same home as the one you insisted you wanted me to have no contact with, Miss Grimvik?”

“Why must you push your luck? Just take the help!” She crossed her arms.

Lament snickered. “Oh, darling. You will find Kore needlessly worries about me. I am more than capable of putting you in your place if it comes to that.”

Kore shot Lament a look, which just caused them to laugh harder.

Virgil’s brow twitched. “Just Virgil. No sense in the frivolity of… pet names when I am hardly even an acquaintance.” He went on to ignore Lament’s insistence that they could put him in his place. 

“I’ll be outside,” Miyu abruptly stated in a vacant tone, already heading to the door. 

Kore watched Miyu head outside with a small look of concern. She looked to Lament who gave a slight nod. Kore followed after Miyu, closing the door behind her. She caught up to them and put a hand on their shoulder.

Miyu was seated on the lawn, staring up at the stars above with a forlorn expression. Hearing Kore approach, they moved to stand. 

“What’s wrong?” She asked as she brushed Miyu’s cheek with her other hand.

They couldn’t meet her gaze. 

“What if I’m not ready? To face him? I don’t… I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself,” Miyu sighed, closing their eyes a moment. They leaned their head in towards Kore, resting it on her shoulder. “At least this will be over and done with soon enough.” 

Kore kissed the top of Miyu’s head and gently pulled them into a hug.

“Unfortunately we don’t have time to be ready. But we can’t wait any longer.”

[kootiepatra]

#FFxivWrite2022 - Day 28 Prompt: "Vainglory"

One character immediately sprang to mind at this prompt, and I already had a gpose all ready to go for it.

=====================

I cannot believe I am hearing this, Keimwyda thought to herself, her bow drawn at the ready.

The man in red armor was ranting, pacing, and yelling—not at her, but at the party on the other end of her linkpearl. He was going on at great length about, of all things, his childhood rivalry with Cid.

Keimwyda considered herself a very empathetic person. She was always slow to judge. She would not begrudge anyone those stabs of envy, those feelings of being overlooked, that gnawing ache of being passed over for someone else, especially someone whom you believed to be unfairly favored from birth. She could fully comprehend why there might be some bad blood between this—Nero, was it?—and Cid.

…but there was a world-ending weapon in his basement, and his castrum was actively under attack. A whole party of adventurers encircled him, their weapons drawn. This hardly seemed like the time.

Maybe we should just… go? Can we go? she was thinking to herself, when a large, clunky hammer of magitek design dropped out of the ceiling, shaking the room as it hit the floor. Nero took it up to wield it.

Well then.

The fight was one against four. It was hardly surprising how it ended. Though, to his credit, Nero held out longer than one might have guessed, and he exited with the same overwrought drama he had displayed on her party’s arrival.

Well… that happened, she thought in a daze. What a character. And what a time to be obsessed with the indignity of being almost the best engineer in Garlemald. She dismissed him from her mind as she pressed on towards her objective. There were far more important matters at hand.

…

The dust of the battle at the Praetorium had settled. Some time had passed. Enough time, in fact, for the defeat of the Black Wolf to no longer be at the forefront of the local gossip. Keimwyda enjoyed the blessed relief from public attention, running odd errands for the Scions here and there around Revenant’s Toll.

She did not expect to be accosted by a man dressed like… well, this.

She was slowly getting used to being recognized by strangers, though she still found it somewhat unsettling. Especially when the stranger was this strange. Even more so when he seemed to know so much about her---and not only her, but the operations taking place at St. Coinach’s Find. 

She did not recognize him. Admittedly, between the mask and the ostentatious getup, there wasn’t much to recognize. Yet something about him nagged at her as upsettingly familiar. She did not trust him for anything, but at the very least, she figured the scholars at St. Coinach’s would want to know something was afoot. 

It would not be until later, when he sauntered up to the camp, face unmasked, lips curled in a smug grin, with Cid crying out his name in alarmed outrage, that she would understand why she felt like she knew him.

Twelve preserve, what is WRONG with this man?

If she was already floored by his audacity to show his face at the camp, she was doubly so by the fact that he was actually allowed to stay.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” she asked Cid, when she could grab him for a moment alone.

With shoulders slumped and teeth clenched, he replied, “No. I am not.”

“I do not trust him.”

“As well you shouldn't.”

“Can we be sure that he won’t put a knife in our backs at the first opportunity?”

He sighed. “Not at all. But, fortunately—unfortunately?—oh blast it all—I do think that means his loyalty is only to himself, and we need not fear him turning back to Garlemald. And, much as it pains me to say, he is proving somewhat useful.”

Moons later, Keimwyda felt she could have been knocked over with a feather when Jessie actually hired the man. Poor Cid. Poor everyone who would have to cross paths with Nero’s preening swagger. She often wondered if the talent was worth the man it was attached to. She felt a little guilty for wondering it.

But only a little.

Eventually, she came to terms with expecting to see him whenever the Ironworks were summoned for a matter of great import. Further still, after learning the plans of the Crystal Exarch, and the men upon whose research he built, she even gave up on wishing that Jessie would be forced somehow to dismiss Nero from the company.

But every time the Ironworks were called to the Scions’ aid, she found herself holding her breath ever so slightly. Perhaps he had other business to attend to. Perhaps he might consider this outing somehow beneath his notice. Perhaps he had managed to achieve a modicum of humility…? Nay. No matter how given to hope she was, even she had her limits on what she could believe.

Yet if there was one thing Keimwyda excelled at, it was holding her peace. She learned to steel herself to keep quiet at the way he crowed over Garlond at every possible opportunity. She learned to expect his starry-eyed envisioning of his own name in the history books. Despite her feelings towards the man, she was still a peacemaker, and she labored to keep things focused and calm when he and Cid took to verbally sniping at one another. 

The Warrior of Light could be civil and get along with him if she must.

But, Twelve help her, he did not make it easy.

[diamondangelkitten]

Vierapril Day 10: Free Day ~ Aetherial Sea

This will be quite a long and bittersweet writing blurb, but I hope you enjoy it. Apologies that Annabeth doesn't feature as prominently, but as always, she is there. Also, one day I'll be good enough at gpose to add some photos to this, but I'd also have to work on so many character designs. For now, please enjoy...

When Alira, the girls, and the Scions go into the Aitiascope, Alira thinks nothing of journeying into the aetherial sea. Only when she feels the spirit of Papalymo and Moenbyrda does she start to wonder about the family that went on before her. She pushes these thoughts to the side, determined to not fail her found family and be distracted. Halfway through the Aitiascope, she gets a feeling something is off but is too late to verbalize it, and the Scions are soon surrounded by an ambush from a large creature and its minions. As Alira desperately throws a shield around her friends and plants herself in front of them to take a hit, a figure jumps into the fray from out from nowhere, wielding a lance and attacking the creature. “Hmph, too scared to attack the vaunted Warriors of Light in a real fight? You really have no shame,” the figure comments before turning around to face her. “My daughter would win either way to be honest, but let’s make this an even fight.” 

The beast roars and as the Scions group up to attack, two figures run between them. “Take a break, Scions. You’ve more than earned it and far more is to come,” one says. The other speaks, “Stop your yapping sis, and more attacking”. Alira is struck speechless, as her two sisters, knives in hand, start taking out the creature’s ads. She feels a faint hand on her shoulder and turns around to see her mom there. Her mother smiles, saying, “Move ahead now deary. There’s still trouble to be had here. Don’t you worry. We won’t let you go without a proper goodbye”. Alira nods and her mom turns to join the family in the fray. 

Estinien comes up beside her, “Come now. They’re doing their part. Let’s go do ours.” Feeling Alphi and Alisae sidle up beside her, she nods. The group splits into two, running along their charted path. After defeating Amon, Annabeth, Alinea, and Aurora pull Alira to the side. “I’m fine; don’t worry.” Alinea looks to Estinien and while it’s clear she doesn’t quite believe her friend, she nods and departs with Aurora following after her. “Are you sure?” “Yes!” A pause. “I’m sorry, Annabeth, but after all this time, I never thought I’d see them again. That they’d be here.” “I know, and that’s why if you need to sit out for a bit, we’ve got you.” Alira nods, but they’ve come this far together, she won’t be the weak link now.  

After defeating Hydaelyn, Alira can’t help but start to panic that she won’t see her family again, but as the Scions slowly start to make their way back, they see her family. The others agree to go on ahead to afford them some privacy, but she can see that Thancred and Estinien are near for when this is all finished. 

She first turns to her father… Tears rush out of her before she can stop them. “I hated you. I hated you for such a long time. For loving others and choosing them over me. I know now why you done it, but it hurt Papa, and I missed you. I missed you so much.” She runs into his arms, where he hugs her tight, while stroking her hair. “I’m so sorry my lovey. I never wanted to hurt you. When I saw those girls in danger, I saw you, and wanted to protect them. I didn’t think it would take me away from you. I am so truly sorry, but I have watched over you every day since then and I am so proud of how far you’ve come.” She straightens and clears a cough, blushing, “Yea, not all of that was to be proud of.” He chuckles, “You handled it the way you could and you lived. You are fierce and strong, and I will always be proud of my daughter.” They look at each and she goes for another hug. 

Eventually the shuffling nearby makes them pull away, only for Alira to be swept into a joint hug from her older twin sisters. “Lissy, aren’t you just so proud of her? And what a man she has too!” “Violet, I swear. Focusing on men still. (queue rolling of eyes good-naturedly from everyone) Don’t you mean to compliment her on her whole family, especially baby Sibby?”

Alira laughs, “Not so much a baby anymore. I can’t believe how fast she grows daily. I miss her.” She smiles. “But I wish you were there for her. You’d be the most amazing, crazy, and caring aunts she could ever have.” Tears start to well up in her eyes again. “Now now, Li, don’t you worry about that. Did you know that the fairies can visit here? Well, they can! And guess what, me and Vi here, we’re going to be the first fairies on Etheirys! We can be Sibby’s fairy godmothers!!” Alira stares back in shock. “Are you sure?? What about being reborn and having a new life?” Violet looks at her, “We thought about that, but we saw what you’ve been through. How sometimes all you need is someone who can be on your shoulder and whisper encouragement to you. We saw what joy they bring to children on the First, and Feo Ul agreed that fairies should exist everywhere.” The twins look at her and nod in unison, “We’re sure about this”. Alira smiles and hugs them, “You have no idea how relieved I am to know you’ll still be around, even if not the same.” 

They finally let her go, enough for her to see her mom. There’s no hesitation now in running to her and giving her a hug. Considering all that her mother had likely seen, she was expecting a small bit of a talking too. She looks into her mother’s eyes, and while she does see a bit of reproach, it’s soon replaced with a teasing smirk and grin. “While I wouldn’t have quite imagined what you’d get up to as you’d grown, I cannot say I’m disappointed. You’ve lived a life few could lead, and it’s taught you lessons and compassion for a group that is often less loved. I’m proud of you my darling daughter. I too share my heartache that I couldn’t be there to stand alongside you as you grew, but that doesn’t mean I ever stopped loving you. Here, in this moment, I am so happy to be with you all.” 

The family comes together to have a group hug. “What about Eden?” Alira asks. “Tell him we miss him, that we never blamed him, and we are also proud of the man he has become,” her father says smiling. “It would’ve been nice if we could’ve all been here today, but alas.” “I’ll tell him,” Alira says, “Everything you want him to know.” Her parents smile and relay their messages, with the sisters telling him to expect a tiny bit of torment soon. 

After much laughter and hugs, Alira notices some movement from Estinein and Thancred warning that they really should be leaving soon. Alira turns back to her family one last time. “Alira dear,” her father says, “You’re mother and I will be returning to the sea now. We wanted to make sure we were here for you when you needed it and I am grateful they chose not to trust in me only. But now, now, you have found your own feet and your family. You’re ready to move on, knowing that you are loved. I hope we meet again one day.” Alira’s mother gives her one more hug, “Yes love, your father and I are sure we’ll find each other again and I know we will find your brother and you in some way or form too. But know that I love you; that we love you, in this moment, as your mother and father, and that has never once wavered or changed. Whatever we may meet again as, we will always love you.” Alira nods, more tears gathering, and the group embrace once again. Nodding and finally drawing back, the sisters see their parents turn to each other, hold hands, and kiss each other, while departing to the aetherial sea. The twins look at her, “Feo Ul is meant to be back soon,” Vi says. “You’ll be the first to know when we’re there,” Lissy adds. Alira laughs, “I look forward to your joint reign. I love you both”. One more hug happens before they walk off to a part of the underworld and Alira walks to rejoin Estinien and Thancred.

“You both okay?” Alira asks. “I’m pretty sure we should be asking you that,” Thancred jests. “But yes, seeing Minfilia again put me at peace. And even just being here. It’s more peaceful than I imagined. You never know how seas are.” “Aye, though I wasn’t able to see them like you could, I was able to feel my parents and Hamignant. They hadn’t fully left yet,” Estinien smiles. “Thank you,” he says turning to Alira. “I know you didn’t fully care then, but what you, Alinea, and Alphinaud done for me… It gave my parents something to be proud of.” She smiles, “I think they were always proud of you. Our parents both loved us. I think just seeing us alive, if not living, was something.” “You’re probably right. Though you still haven’t answered Thancred’s not a question.” At this she laughs, “Yes, I’m okay now. A part of me feels peace that it hasn’t in a long time. I’m sad Eden wasn’t here to be a part of it, but he made his peace a long time ago. I needed this. I’m ready to be better and more present”. This makes the men next to her smile. “Well then,” Thancred says, “that’s good, cause just wait till we tell the Forum what we heard from Hydaelyn.” “On second thought, let’s stay here”, causing them to all burst out laughing. 

When the group finally breaks through to the surface, she sees the girls standing off to one side. They’re all trying and failing miserably to appear not interested and not pry. Alira smiles and moves over to them, wrapping them up in a group hug. “I’ll never be 100%, but I feel more at peace than I have before. Thank you, for walking alongside me.” Aurora nods, “Always.” “Always.”

[sterling-starlight]

Is is sacrilegious to go into a church and start casting holy magic indiscriminately? Asking for a friend

[futuresuntocrystal]

     It’s cold out in Coerthas, but warm in here...

[karoiseka]

Hello if you don’t mind me asking could you do a tutorial for npc posing? I’ve been trying hard to figure it out but im not really sure what im doing?

Awww, I thank you for the compliment that I'm good enough to even CREATE a tutorial!!!

I am, however, a dabbler and an novice when playing with such tools--not a great teacher by any means!

First thing though, which program are you using? Just base game GPose? (a wonderful and amazing tool in and of itself), CMTools, or Anamnesis? The latter two both have a bunch of pros and cons, and some of my my recent work (with more than 2 people) have been by using a mix of both programs to make everything work. (which is more complicated than I wish on anyone)

Honestly, if you aren't comfortable with the base game GPose system, work with that FIRST. Only through that will you honestly get a good idea of what is possible with the other two programs. Learn what all the different poses do, where to stop them to make them look completely different, mix facial expressions! I've gotten some of my absolute favorite poses just by doing that!! And I know some absolutely amazing screenshot takers that you would *swear* that they're using a different tool, but the base pose is pure ingame gpose with some awesome effects done in photoshop afterwards. (I'm looking at you, @/kukurubean) Seriously, familiarize yourself with all the various dances, silly poses, and you'd be amazed what you can come up with to make look completely different. (got a cool shot of Karo with G'raha before I started using the other tools by using /happy and then pausing it with her expression doing something COMPLETELY different and making it look so so soft instead--see below, no additional programs used!)

That being said, each of the programs if you're looking for NPC posing has their own quirks, and one of your best friends is your carbuncle if you don't have another player to pose. Play with the tools available, find what works for you, read the little tutorials that each come with inbetween playing with the specific tools listed. The discord channel listed with them has tons of resources as well, though can be very overwhelming for someone starting out. Start slowly--is the arm in "/hug" just a little to high or low to make it look really good? Just move the arm a little bit--slowly as can be. Neck angle have to be just a little bit further down to get that eye-to-eye look you want? Try that. No need to go all out at first, and honestly, most of my favorite shots are the most simple--get the pose from gpose and save some favorites! I have a whole folder of things that I've saved for personal use, and most of them are just regular ingame poses so that I can just "paste" the character I have up into it.

Okay... I babbled a bit more than I intended to, and probably didn't answer as well as I could, but there's a *lot* out there, and as I said, I still just dabble (though I've created some that I really like). I mostly use the programs for being able to have my own two characters on the screen at the same time, or to manipulate outfits/weather at this point w/o having to go searching through my inventory or wait for that perfect sunset.

Good luck, and I hope that helped at least a little!!!

[whenarrowssing]

theshadowsspeak

replied to your

photoset

How do you even USE the new update? I couldn’t figure it out. ;____;

So the use of battle actions SHOULD be active by default in /gpose (if it isn’t you can find the option to toggle it on/off in the effect/motion/subject settings in /gpose, which is the tab underneath the camera options)

So, once Select Action is toggled on in /gpose, /gpose will play the animation for whatever the last battle action you use is. If it’s an ability that requires no target/is self targeting (like a buff or like a healing spell), then just pop it off and enter /gpose.

If it is an action that requires a target (so basically all attacks, targeted buffs that can’t be used on self) find a target to hit. A random person, a random enemy near your location, hell, even hit a striking dummy and then go find your shoot location (though I haven’t tested if teleport cancels the selection or not so do that at your own risk).

/gpose also, if you have the battle effects enabled for yourself, those will show up when gpose plays the animation, too (as opposed to not, as is with the song bird emote). If you would NOT like the battle effects to show in your screenshots, because sometimes they can do weird shit like make your character a big ball of light or make it look like their head has been severed, you have 2 options. 1. Very VERY slowly move your camera while you take your screenshot. The effects don’t show while the camera is in motion, and moving slowly helps you maintain your composition. 2. Turn off battle effects for yourself in character settings>control settings>character tab

Aaaaand I think that should be it.

Edit: OH, I found out with Sidewinder that if you cram it in too tightly, the game may not register that you’ve selected the action (I tried to finish a quest enemy off with sidewinder so I hit like 2 other OGCDs before Sidewinder to make sure it killed it and I probably confused it). So the techniques of hitting something and running will probably be the easiest ways to ensure your action has been selected.