#I learned from this that clouds and armor are hard to render

[over-plays]

teaching methods | #ffxivwrite2022 10: channel

in the wake of freeing the world from the shadow of mhach, val chooses to stay on with the redbills for a time, seeking cait sith’s help with his newfound powers. suffice to say, it’s not going quite as smoothly as he hoped.

The winds blowing over the Parrock are warm and balmy, carrying the distant sounds of the Redbills going about their day, tending to cargo and their ships. Engines whine and rumble their temporary farewells. Voices shout and laugh. The current of life flows on the breeze, embracing the spirit of those who make their lives on the floating rock.

It's all far more appealing than the back of Val's eyelids and the cold, dark energy pulsing through his body.

"Now, focus upon that core and channel - "

Val heaves a loud groan, flopping on his back to Cait Sith's squawk of protest.

"Come now, you're acting like a child! It's not as if this is the first time you've drawn upon the void."

Val huffs, swinging his arm in a wide arc, avoiding catching Cait in its unseen path by pure luck. "I mean... yeah, sure, but I didn't know I was doing it back then."

Cait's voice pitches with disbelief. "You truly had no idea?"

Val lets his silence answer for him. Stares up at the blue sky above him as his thoughts drifting with the clouds. His mind's eye fills with scenes of the frigid Coerthas highlands and half-hazy memories of Alberic's odd pauses and looks. The sentences that stopped as quickly as they started, dismissed by him and forgotten by Val, left to sink far below his conscious thought. Out of sight, out of mind until he happened to look back.

A pair of goggles and a mop of dark hair interrupt his reverie. At this angle, Leofard's eyes are harder to see through the tinted lenses, but his amused smirk is as plain as always.

"Hard at work, I see."

He laughs when Val answers with another groan, and steps back as Val shoves himself into a sit. When his eyes find Cait again, his would-be mentor shakes his head, paws set on his hips, long tail twitching behind him.

"Returning to the discussion from before our boorish interruption arrived... The magnitude of your voidborn power has since shifted," Cait reminds Val. "You cannot continue tapping into it without learning how to harness it properly. Should something go wrong, it could prove catastrophic - for you and anyone else around you."

Bloodstained armor. The great wyrm's roar tearing out of an Elezen's throat. A timeless fury too vast for the body it had invaded.

"You wanna teach him how to use it on purpose? Then you're going about it all wrong, furball."

Val shudders out of his thoughts to Cait's outraged sputtering, tipping his head back to take in Leofard's folded arms and curious frown.

"We all know Val here ain't one of your learned Mhachi magi; what're you expecting lectures and deep breathing to do?" His focus turns on Val as he continues, "No, you need something a little more hands on, I wager. When's the last time you put that spear of yours through its paces?"

"What? It was when we - "

Val's mouth snaps shut as it dawns on him. The climactic fight with Diabolos looms to the fore of his memories; the dark gleam of voidsent blood coating the blade of his spear, the grip of his hands tight enough to render his fingers numb.

Since then, the only enemies he's grappled with were dense, dusty tomes and Cait's penchant for rambling.

It must be written on his face because Leofard's quick to grin, sharp and satisfied.

"Thought so. Let's get the rust shaken off, shall we?"

[sasorikigai]

“ i don't want to be alone tonight. “ goddess liv @ scorpion!

love confession starters || @somniaxperdita || accepting

▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 🔥 || For centuries of torment and agony stretching to become eons, Scorpion’s demonic world had craved for any semblance of halcyon, heavenly touch. Lest the magnificent sunshine takes down and pulverizes his Nether’s armor until he is his most vulnerable self. Openly pregnable, yet having long conquered death in order to manifest himself as hellfire incarnate, Hanzo Hasashi’s rawest form remains existing, lest not thriving. The sudden feeling of drowning endless thwarts itself upon him. His mind racing with a million thoughts that never met his lips. This familiar feeling makes his heart race with anticipated fear; that he may continue to entrap himself; being choked and silenced, staying quiet and docile, fluttering out of the way as the rushing onslaught of righteous hellfire would be rendered mere pitter-patter, patter-pitter of the perilous candlelight. 

Despite the unconditional and unending love from the Goddess, Scorpion’s loneliness had manifested itself more as a creeping disease of his major organs, causing a multiple organ failure. How it would manifest behind the lungs and spreads unseen and unrecognized. In the swirling curves of dark rooms and the chaos of bright bodies, the sense of singularity would become a bitter agony; both the hum of silence and the monstrous crowd that surround this pitiful thing have no effective armorments. 

For it would constantly remain, small and seeping into cartilage, unpierced. The rain falls deafening and tranquil, nearly transporting Scorpion’s senses elsewhere; bringing a rare sense of peace and belongingness he never knew existed. And even during those moments, where the sky creates chaos, when the clouds heavily cry, is where he finds his sanity through his exertive training. In the small moments of rain is when his mind remains silent and his visceral emotions become ragingly loud, as he bleeds and enervates still, but he could never perish even in the excruciating throes of fatal suffering. 

The pity of time must have pursued Scorpion’s restless, septic heart, and through the wreckful siege that continues to batter his listless depression and lassitude of his heart and soul. The Goddess’ revelation does not come with no great surprise - as when he learns to levitate and hardly trying, Scorpion realizes - that they never have to be alone in their respective shadows. He could feel her pain ripping her apart, lest the God’s pain tolerance may exceedingly surpass that of the tormented wraith’s. Blue embers burn through the walls of obfuscating clouds, and how his scintillating flames burst and curve like diamonds, into the lost wandering lover’s hands. Her pain is his gain, which helps Scorpion to become intimately aware of the Goddess’ suffering and trials that face her. 

“I am both duty-bound, ensorcelled in love and in your fullest disposal, should you require my eternal company. You should not inquire such things,” once deathly dark and silent gaze of Scorpion’s had considerably mellowed, as the glistening expanse of his clothed chest heaves in great successions, ebbing and flowing as he had expanded all the energy he could utilize in the burning all out, as once serpentine chains had challenged the vehemence and might of streaking lightning themselves. 

“Your eyes may hide fathomless oceans; placid ad untamed in waves and crashes, but you should never allow your psyche to become blackened against the resplendent luminescence of your immaculate being.” His heaviest, most visceral words come from the most dulcet ad intimate touches, as his cradling embrace becomes a crackle of steady bonfire, its comforting warmth settling atop her shoulders, drawing her in as the pitter-patter within his chest eases the cold steel, the determined and unwavering hardness of his being to soften.  ▬▬ι═══════ﺤ 🔥 ||

[zaph1337]

Monster Hunter Rating 29: Kirin, the Phantom Beast

Next up on the docket is a prime example of the fact that Elder Dragons don’t need to look like dragons. Here’s a Phantom Beast monster that, unlike the ones in Yu-Gi-Oh!, is actually threatening in battle (if you like that archetype please don’t kill me)! Also, I apologize for the first render I’m using; I tried to give it a black background, but its mane is pure white, so using the fill tool on the background would fill that in, too, and I didn’t want to mess around in Paint to prevent that from happening. Now that that’s out of the way, make way for Kirin!

(How it appears in Monster Hunter 1 [possibly; the image on the wiki didn’t say what game or gen this render is from])

(How it appears in Monster Hunter 4)

(How it appears in Monster Hunter World)

Appearance: Kirin is an interesting approach to unicorns in several ways. First off, it doesn’t have a lot of fur; the majority of its body is covered in scales. I believe that this was to help justify calling it an Elder Dragon, because even with the lore reason behind that classification, kids might question that status anyways. The second interesting thing about Kirin is the head; while the body is unmistakably equine, the head is more like that of a lion. Honestly, though, that’s only apparent to me on the MHW render, ‘cause apart from the forward-facing eyes, the head on the other renders still looks horse-like to me. The final aspect of Kirin’s design I want to call attention to is the fact that it’s freaking huge. According to the wiki, the biggest Kirin are 32.5 ft tall (at least I’m assuming they’re talking about height, not length), while the smallest are 12.2 ft, which are still taller than any living horse on record. Now, that being said, I’ve looked at images of Kirin on the wiki, and none of them look that big, even this one labelled “Giant Kirin”:

That’s still a really big horse, though, and I can’t expect the games to make every monster exactly the size they say it is. The final thing of note here is that Kirin are frequently crackling with electricity, giving them an aura of power that accentuates their other design elements. Overall, this is probably my second favorite monster design that I’ve seen and talked about, so it gets a 9/10.

Behavior: Kirin are capable of surviving in a variety of environments, from snowy mountains to swamps to an area in Monster Hunter World called the Coral Highlands (https://monsterhunter.fandom.com/wiki/Coral_Highlands), which is literally like a coral reef on the ocean floor but above-water, which is something I didn’t know I needed until now that isn’t in Rise and now I’m sad. The Coral Highlands are also the only place where they were observed feeding, which revealed that despite their lion-like heads, they eat plants.

Kirin are known to be very unpredictable by monster standards, which is fitting, considering that they seem to embody thunderstorms. Sometimes they’re calm like a cloudy or clear sky, other times they’ll use their powers to wipe out an entire village. That last part’s just a legend, as far as we know, but it says something that people could find it believable. Unfortunately, Kirin are so rare that barely anything is known about them, which gives them an air of mystery while also making it very hard to rate this section. The fact that their behavior can’t reliably be anticipated, much like the way lightning strikes can’t be (unless you’re really tall, made of metal, or both), helps sell the idea that they are lightning incarnate, and the fact that they maintain an equine diet despite having a feline head is almost as weird as Diablos being herbivorous dragons, so combined with their mystique, I think I can give them a 6/10.

Abilities: As you’d expect, Kirin are really fast, bounding around the battlefield at a speed which makes it impossible to catch up with; the only way you’ll be able to hit one is if it comes to you, which it’ll likely only do to try to gore you on its horn. However, Kirin prefer to use their electrical abilities over physical attacks, so they’ll still try to keep some distance from you. The electricity they generate or build up on their fur strengthens their hide and makes them more resilient. But they don’t just generate lightning, they call it from the sky, and can even make it strike the spot you’re standing in, in which case your only option is to move the moment you see a white light around your feet. They can also make lightning strike several times in a small area around them to repel attackers, or call in down in a progressive line in front of them.

There are plenty of monsters in Monster Hunter that use electricity, but Kirin stand apart thanks to their ability to summon natural lightning bolts from above, even if there are no storm clouds in the sky for them to come from. This supernatural and effortless defiance of nature is why Kirin are Elder Dragons, and combined with their breakneck speed, it looks like it makes one heck of a fight. 8/10.

Equipment: Whoever made the Kirin weapons seemed to know exactly what I like, ‘cause I love so many of these design-wise, and it hurts that I can’t talk about all of them. Let’s start off with the Sword and Shield called the Kirin Bolt:

Okay, so this isn’t one of the weapons that I really like, but it’s still cool, so I’m showing it anyway. The “sword” might look like it’s more for stabbing than it is for slashing, but it’s meant to be more of a large dagger anyways. Seriously, its final upgrade is called “Thor’s Dagger.” Didn’t think Thor was a thing in the MH world, but there you go. I like how the dagger looks like it’s made out of Kirin horns (even though the colors don’t match), and the shield’s also cool ‘cause it uses Kirin scales. Don’t know where the spikes are from but whatever. Now, on to the weapons which are, in my opinion, the best-looking weapons from this series that I’ve seen yet, here’s a Switch Axe called Peal:

Unfortunately, this is the largest render on the wiki, and enlarging it makes it too blurry, but hopefully you can still see why I love this thing. The way the blue blade has a purple gradient, the blue spikes which seem to get progressively darker, the fact that they all work really nicely with the white body of the axe--everything here just works in the best possible way. I’m not planning on learning how to use the Switch Axe if I get Rise, but if Kirin was in that game, and I could make Peal? I’d probably try to learn SwAxe just so I could use it. But the weapon I am maining? Yeah, the Kirin version of it is awesome, too. Say hello to the Insect Glaive called Indigo Flash:

Don’t know why that render’s big when Peal’s isn’t, ‘cause I didn’t do this, but who cares!? Sure, there’s less blue on this than Peal had, but it still looks really cool! I really hope that the updates for Rise that they’re working on add Kirin to the game, ‘cause I need this in my life. As for the armor, it’s, well, weird. Even in MH games where there’s separate armor sets for Blademaster and Gunner, the Kirin armor is the same for both of those classes. Well, that’s less work for me, so let’s see the Kirin armor:

Zelda II: Adventure of Link called. It wants Horsehead back. Seriously, what is with this series and making helmets that are/look like they are made from the monster’s head, skull and all? Okay, the only real examples of that I can remember are this set and the Kelbi helmet, but it’s still gross. Also, aside from the pendants and the female set’s horn, there’s no blue here, which is disappointing. This armor doesn’t look bad, it’s just not great. But that just means that the Kirin’s equipment doesn’t get a perfect 10; it’s still getting a 9/10.

Final Thoughts and Tally: Kirin may not be as big and powerful as Lao-Shan Lung, but dang, if it isn’t the cooler Elder Dragon. The mystery, the speed, the lightning, and especially the looks and weapons all sell the idea that this is something more than a monster. I’m sad that it isn’t in Rise yet, but who knows? They just might bring it back one day. 8/10.

[takuchat]

The development of Final Fantasy VII is a mysterious and hard thing to follow. While there is plenty of info out there, much of it is either rumors or unsubstantiated.   The sad thing is, there is no easy way to find legitimate information on the game.  This is why I am here now, this article will serve as a source of factual information about the development of the original Final Fantasy VII.

Below, you will find interviews from the games development and release. As well as links to the sources of these interviews( interviews copied so they will not be lost one day ). Beyond interviews there will be Press Releases and some other cool information.  Enjoy.

  Logo concepts

Meteor Concept art

  Final Fantasy VII – 1997 Developer Interviews

  Hironobu Sakaguchi – Producer Yoshinori Kitase – Director Tetsuya Nomura – Character Design, Storyboards, System, Mech Design Yuusuke Naora – Art Director Motonori Sakakibara – Movie Director Akira Fujii – Battle Scene Director Ken Narita – Main Programmer Yasui Kentarou – Magic/Summoning Effects Kenzo Kanzaki – Backgrounds Nobuo Uematsu – Music

FF6 vs. FF7

Kitase: Our development concept for the story in FF6 was to have over 10 main characters, any of which could be called “the protagonist.” We challenged ourselves to create a world without someone you could point to and say, “this is the main character.” This time, with FF7, we knew from the beginning that we wanted Cloud to be the main character, and we were going to tell his story.

Aside from the story, FF6 had a lot of details undecided when we began development. A great many things were filled out along the way. In contrast, with FF7 we knew from the outset that we were going to be making a real 3D game, so from the earliest planning stage we had very, very detailed designs drawn up. The script was also locked in, and our image for the graphics was completely fleshed out. So when we began the actual work, we had already created what you could call “storyboards”. Of course there was some experimenting as we worked, but we were very clear about what we were supposed to be doing from the outset.

Actually, the very first thing we decided in FF7 was how the camera angles would change during battle scenes. We also decided on the materia system, where any weapon and armor can be equipped with any materia. Accordingly we knew the battles wouldn’t be about characters with individual, innate skills, but rather that combat would change depending on the way materia was used.

Sakaguchi: After FF6 was completed the staff had some free time. We then started thinking about what new hardware there was and what we wanted to do with our next creations, and we created a movie as an experiment. At that time we were working with the SG1 workstations, which had rendering software designed for next generation hardware. For that reason we thought it would be good if we could continue using this setup for our next game. With the SG1 software, we could develop graphics for any hardware. 1 However, for our purposes, we didn’t want the frame-by-frame, slow rendering that takes many hours; we wanted to develop a way to render the visuals in real-time for our new game.

Kitase: I believe we only had 3 months to figure all that out.

Choosing the Hardware for Final Fantasy VII

Sakaguchi: It was starting to become clear to us what the memory capacity for the different next-gen consoles would be. Our games were going to need a huge amount of memory. The Final Fantasy VI CG demo we made for the Siggraph exhibition took 20 megs all by itself. We thought that demo had a lot of visual impact, so there really wasn’t much question about which hardware we would use; if we were going to realize the promise of the demo we had shown at Siggraph, nothing but the CD-ROM format would suffice.

Another reason for choosing the CD-ROM was related to price. I think one of the big reasons the first Final Fantasy was favorably received by players, and the later games in the series gained so many fans, was that you could buy those games for around 5000 to 6000 yen. We tried to have the same pricing for Bahamut Lagoon, Gun Hazard, and our other later Super Famicom games, but using cartridge ROM meant those games had to be sold for over 10000 yen. New players did not flock to those games like they had before. If we used CD-ROM for Final Fantasy VII, we’d be able to have a 2-disc game at a price of 5800 yen. I was hoping it would be possible to make a game that could sell several hundred thousand copies.

Introductions, Difficulties, Favorite Moments

Sakaguchi: I’ve been working with Kitase for a long time, since FF5. He did most of the event scenes in FF6: the opera house, Celes’ suicide scene, the scene where Setzer climbs the stairs and reminisces, and more. I’m not exactly turning things over to the next generation just yet, but for FF7 almost all the story was done by Kitase. His original ambition was to be a film director, so he’s well-disposed towards this work–I’ve left all the in-game event scripting in his hands.

As for my part, since FF3 I’ve led the battle team, and that was my role this time too. Well, actually, the battle team is composed of solid veterans, so I stepped back a bit and played more of a producer role.

Nomura: For FF7 I worked on character design, storyboarding, and the underlying story.2 I have too many favorite parts to sum up quickly here… well, I like it all.

Narita: I was the main programmer. I did all the programming related to the field, and I also helped get everything together at the end. As for difficulties… hmm. Since it’s been a pretty sudden shift from the Super Famicom to the Playstation, we struggled first with getting used to the Playstation hardware itself, then finding out what appealing features it had, and learning how to bring out those features to make a good, balanced game. But on the programming side, what was really hard for me was going from 2D to 3D. Probably any programmer would say the same I think.

As for things I’m proud of, I thought the movies and the in-game field scenes transition into each other very smoothly. That was also the most difficult thing for us in terms of the programming.

Sakakibara: I worked on the movie cutscenes. The challenge for me was just the amount of volume we had to create, it was crazy. What I liked was the opening scene in the beginning. Although I’m already starting to forget it. (laughs)

Fujii: I did the backgrounds for the battle scenes. What was hard for me was that the field graphics would design their graphics with a very high polygon count, and I think had to find a way to reduce that count so the graphics could be rendered in real-time. Selecting the primary elements to render was very difficult. At first I was just fumbling through it, but I gradually got the hang of it and was able to connect things very well. When I first saw characters move around in those backgrounds I had made, I thought they looked great… if I do say so myself. Unless you’re specifically paying attention to them, battle backgrounds aren’t something you usually notice in a game, but we really had to prepare a huge number of different backgrounds for all the different map terrains.

Kentarou: I did the programming for the battle effects and summons. What was fun for me was recieving the storyboard mockups from Tetsuya and thinking “there’s no way, this is impossible.” But then when I got down to it, they came out surprisingly well. The Titan summon was especially memorable for me. The way we did it was new to me, and I think it compares really well with the work I’ve done in the past.

The CG Team

Sakaguchi: We definitely hired a lot more CG staff than we had before.

Kitase: Yes, but they didn’t feel like a separate, “detached force” from our main development team. They had experience in the game industry. What’s more, our existing staff at Square, who up to now had only worked on games, were able to learn a bit about CG from them.

Sakaguchi: For FF7, about 80-90% of the field and game mechanics were done by our traditional staff. For the CG staff with their specialized hardware knowledge, we tried to let them do their thing (but this time with a video game). Several top-grade special fx guys who had worked at Digital Domain and Lucasarts’ Industrial Light Magic also contributed to FF7.

Maps and Backgrounds

Naora: I worked on the unifying all the graphics, including the movies. The majority of my work was on the background graphics. In our previous games, most of those graphics were done with a fixed top-down perspective. To take a town for an example, the map would be composed of various sprites: houses, streets, foliage, fences, and so on. With FF7 we didn’t have to use sprites and could instead present the maps as one seamless image.

I had experimented with this before in the trial scene of Chrono Trigger. I used a bunch of memory to make one single image for the background. Previously we had to reuse so many sprites for our maps, but it was very exciting to be able to include whatever we wanted for FF7. We could have more varied terrain, and our whole image of the game world really expanded.

The work of mine that I really want people to see is, of course, Midgar. I had the image of a pizza in mind when I designed that city, and I really like how it turned out.

In any event, what we really wanted to convey with the backgrounds was a lived-in feel. Down to the beds and individual toilets, I put a lot of detail into everything.

And even after I stopped working, my boss was still making stuff. On one of the posters hanging on the wall, he added an image of Hironobu Sakaguchi. (laughs) I should be upfront: there’s many graphics that even I don’t know about hidden away in the game. Be sure to look closely at the walls inside the buildings. Who knows what surprising things you might discover. The Rocket Town especially has a variety of interesting things hidden away.

Cinematic Aspirations

Kitase: Visually, I wanted Final Fantasy VII to be a completely unified work, with a single style running from beginning to end. The cut-scene movies, overworld map, and battle scenes would not be disconnected, but would instead smoothly and seamlessly transition into one another. To call this game “cinematic” would be correct, but what I really wanted was something where all the compositions and shots would be suffused with meaning and show the intent of the creators.

For all our previous games, when we’ve been in the phase of brainstorming ideas and sketching pictures, there’s always been the knowledge that we have to work within the hardware memory limitations. This time there were no limits, and no restraints.

That difference in available memory had a really big influence on the development. For the gameplay system, story, and in-game events, it didn’t change very much. What the increased memory allowed in FF7 was more painterly visuals, with a better sense of space and composition. Naturally the graphics quality itself has also gone up, but I think it’s in the cinematic presentation where you see the evolution.

.

Sakaguchi: Speaking of cinematic, we also wanted to have a soundtrack with no repeated music. In movies, you don’t hear music get repeated, you know. Depending on the scene the tempo or the intensity might change though. I think something like that should be possible… although there is the matter of how much available spirit/creativity we can get out of our composer, Uematsu. (laughs) Of course FF7 is a game that takes over 40 hours, so some music is repeated, but our overall goal was to make it as cinematic as possible in that regard.

We also had Yoshitaka Amano do illustrations for the world of FF7. Some of his work appears as a frescoe on a wall in the game.

Kitase: We had really been wanting to use Amano’s artwork in-game before. In FF6, we wanted to have one of Reim’s drawings being Amano’s artwork. In the ending scene Reim would have painted a wall mural showing scenes of all the adventures the heroes had undertaken.

Character Design

Nomura: Since the characters in FF7 were going to be rendered in real-time, the nitoushin,3 chibi-style character design we’ve used in previous games wasn’t going to work here. If they brandished their sword overhead they’d end up stabbing themselves in the head. Not using the super-deformed style meant we had no limits on how to animate these characters.

Naora: I helped out on the character design too. In the previous games with the nitoushin, deformed sprites, it would look really lame if they rode a motorcycle or something. By changing the character’s dimensions, we were able to have them ride different vehicles.

Nomura: My involvement with FF7 goes back to helping create the basic story, and we came up with the characters during that time too. I think that was a good way to do things. Barret and Cait Sith were two characters whom I had wanted to create for a long time, but everyone else was created as we were writing the story.

As for things I personally designed, I think the Yin and Yang boss came out really well. Also, the Iron Giant. It wasn’t enough to just have a good initial design though. I had to create a design, then translate it into a 3D model, then see how it looked all-around, and only then could I say “alright, this is good.” Yin and Yang and the Iron Giant were two designs I felt that way about.

I also helped out on all the storyboad designs for the summons. Since 3D allows you to change the perspective in various ways, we decided to make the summons have really flashy camerawork.

Favorite Characters

Kentarou: I personally really like Red XIII’s scenes. Every time I remember that one scene of his, I start to tear up. (laughs)

Kanzaki: My favorite would be Tifa, because of her ample bust. (laughs)

Fujii: Yuffy. I like the sounds she makes. Also, it’s not a character, but I like all the summons.

Kentarou: Ah, yeah, I have a special love for Titan. Nomura said Titan should flip over the ground that the enemies are on. He would peel off a slab of the land: no matter what terrain he was on. (laughs) At first I had him come in on normal ground, and he’d flip the same slab of ground no matter what terrain… but that looked boring. I had a small insight into the problem and was able to solve it.

Narita: My favorite character is Barret. Because he does the same damage when he’s in the back row. (laughs)

Kanzaki: Yuffy and Vincent can do that too, though.

Narita: You can clear the game without getting Yuffy. I didn’t add her to my party. As for Vincent, I can’t forgive him. (laughs) Yeah, it’s Barret all the way for me.

Sakakibara: I like Jessie. She cleans your face for you. (laughs) If only you could have had Jessie in your party.

Nomura: For me, it’s of course Cloud and Sephiroth. My concept for Sephiroth from the beginning was that everything about him would be kakkoii.4 His battle movements, and all his in-game scenes too. My image of the relationship between Cloud AND Sephiroth was that of Musashi Miyamoto and Sasaki Kojiro, and I had them in mind when I designed their appearance, as well as their swords. Of course Cloud is Musashi, and Sephiroth is Kojiro.

Animating the Characters

Narita: The movement of the characters during the in-game events was actually all done by character designers in the planning group. Normally those designers convey what they want to a motion specialist, who then animates them. But in our case, the character designers learned how to do the motion work, and if they wanted to add some movement or gesture to a character they did it themselves. That’s why each character’s movements differ depending on who created them. There were designers who liked very exaggerated movements, and those who preferred more quiet, subtle movement.

For the character battle animations, however, we had motion specialists for each character. But for all the other in-game events, the designers created the character’s movements themselves.

Narita: Nomura was the Demon King of retakes. He was always making the designers re-do things. “Nope, that’s wrong there.”

Kanzaki: But it’s really thanks to him that we achieved very realistic motion.

Nomura: We spent more time on the typical, everday motion of the characters than we did on other types of motion. That’s where the character’s personality comes out, after all. So yeah, I stuck my nose into everyone’s work there. (laughs) I drew the designs for these characters from the moment we had our basic idea of them; no one told me “draw him this way” or anything like that. Every character in FF7 is one that I designed just how I wanted to.

The first characters we had were Cloud and Barret. From there we kept talking, and as we worked our ideas out, new characters would come up. All the characters were created in the course of our discussing our ideas for the game. None of them were created after the fact, as in “oh, let’s make this kind of character.” As we brainstormed about the game, we’d realize a character was already there in our minds.

Limit Breaks

Nomura: With each Final Fantasy, the entire team contributes to the initial design/planning documents, and we then pick out the best ideas from there. During that highly individual period of brainstorming, I came up with the idea of adding limit breaks to the battle system. In FF6 we had desperation attacks that would happen when you were near death, and I wanted to build on that idea. Since you were free to build your character by adding and removing materia, I also wanted to add limit breaks as a way to bring out the individual, innate personalities of each character. For that reason I’m really glad we were able to include them. It also allowed us to add more unique animation for each character, too, further emphasizing their individuality.

The Music of FF7

Uematsu: I know many players were hoping that with the move to the Playstation, we’d have studio quality music instead of the internal sound chip like that used in the Super Famicom games. And I know other companies are recording CD quality music for their games, but with FF7 we decided to do all the music with the Playstation’s internal chip.

  That’s because as far as sound quality goes, we felt the Playstation’s hardware was more than capable. It has a higher dynamic range than the Super Famicom, and 24 voices (the Super Famicom had 8). The sound effects were all recorded in the studio, but the music, from start to finish, is all the Playstation’s internal chip. This way the music puts less demands on the read access time of the CD-ROM. It’s stressful to be playing a game and have to wait all the time for the CD-ROM to load data. So we prioritized a less stressful experience over better sound quality.

From the first Final Fantasy up to Final Fantasy V, the music has had a European atmosphere: the north, castles, blue skies… But FF6 started to break away from that, and FF7 begins with a new image, a dirty city of the future. So I was thinking the music should change too. I personally like a lot of different styles of music, so I saw this game as a chance to show parts of myself which I hadn’t been able to express before.

I used keyboard and guitar for the basic compositions, and I read the story and script as I composed. But there were so many songs this time that I was really worried I would run out of time. There were something like 100 songs needed. I’d compose, then program it in, and if it was wrong I’d revise it. Rinse and repeat. I write the music out first and then proram it into the sequencer, but there was no guarantee that the Playstation hardware would have the kind of sound I was looking for. And the sound quality might be very different. For that reason there ended up being a lot of unused songs.

Wrapping things up

Narita: At the end of the development we had a closing party. We gathered all the development staff together, and we all watched the credits roll after the last boss was defeated. As the staff was listed, each respective developer stood up and took a bow. It was the first time I realized “oh, he did that.” And it was the first time I really felt how many people had been involved in making this game.

Fujii: Once the field, battle, and world maps were all joined, that was when I first felt the power of FF7 as a finished work.

Narita: Until then, everything was being developed separately, and only at the end was it all joined together. When the world map was added and you could walk around, that was definitely the moment when I felt, “wow, we’ve really made it.”

You see, the way we made FF7 was totally different from the way we made the previous Final Fantasy games. Before, there was no real “director”–everyone was, individually, their own director, and everyone created the actual data that would be used in-game by themselves. There was a head person who generally controlled the flow of work and made sure everything got into its final form, though. I guess you’ve got to have someone like that.

But to imitate that with FF7 would have required a huge number of staff and hardware for them all to work on. You could say that the way we made FF7 was closer to the way they make movies.

Sakakibara: Speaking of that, we were also asked to make sound effects that would be of the same quality and character as those you hear in movies. It felt entirely different from the way we made sound effects before.

Kanzaki: The quality of the backgrounds took a huge step up, too. We didn’t have to reuse any sprites or tiles.

Kentarou: When I was making the battle effects, it felt like business as usual for me, so I didn’t have a feeling like “these are awesome!” then. But at the very end when we were debugging and I saw them, I thought for the first time how nice they looked. I also thought, “damn, it’s a good thing I didn’t slack off.” (laughs) It would have been really bad if we had just made a bunch of shoddy effects. (laughs)

Kanzaki: There were a lot of worries at the start of the development though.

Narita: Yeah, in a certain sense, FF7 is something of a minor miracle. I mean, we only had a year to do everything.

Fujii: It’s the shortest development we’ve had so far.

Narita: Yeah, that it was. And normally you’d start developing your game after you’d learned the new hardware. But we had to learn the hardware and create the game all in the same year. I really couldn’t believe it when I saw the finished product of FF7. It’s amazing that so many people were involved, and that we completed it in so short a time.

Fujii: Time is always the one thing you’re in short supply of. We had to do the battle system after all the field stuff was done, so practically speaking we only had half a year for that. The last dungeon was a real slap-bang, rushed affair.

Midgar near finished

Concept

midgar

Interview with Official UK PSX Magazine

  Published in October 1997

Official UK PSX Magazine: Describe the game in 100 words.

Square: The latest in the Final Fantasy series is the closest Square have come to their ultimate goal of blending real-time action with FMV-quality animation, in an all-encompassing, totally absorbing and immersive interactive gaming experience. This seventh heaven is a mix of stunning backdrops, adorable and believable characters, intriguing plots, pulsating battles and tricky puzzles, which all add up to the best RPG yet to appear.

What’s the plot?

The world of Final Fantasy VII expands on FFIII’s concept of Magitek, where magical forces are a reality and have thus been incorporated into the technological progress of civilisation. This isn’t your typical fantasy setting: vast chimneys belch smoke, steam trains criss-cross the urban sprawl, neon signs crackle in the rainswept ratruns between towering factories. It transpires that Mako is a ‘dark’ form of magic, and its insidious corruption of the Shinra Corporation has created a police state by empowering a security force. You begin the game as an ex-soldier-turned-revolutionary, and immediately find yourself assisting a terrorist group called Avalanche in their attempt to overthrow Shinra and restore balance to the exploited world.

Is there anything in this game that we’ve never seen in any other?

If you’ve played SNES versions of the Final Fantasy series, then possibly not. There are slight deviations from the first six, and the music and graphics are obviously enhanced. But as a PlayStation starting point, continuity was very wise. For novice owners, however, this will be like nothing you’ve seen.

What other games have influenced Final Fantasy VII?

Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II… need we go on? There is a whole history of RPGs and all the paths that lead Square here were winding. In Final Fantasy VII, however, there have been more Western influences both externally and from those on the team.

What’s going to be the best bit of the game?

Taking an already believable story and gameplay and placing it in an environment that now looks real it is a real shock to the senses.

Why will it be better than any other game of its ilk?

The characters for a start. Square’s scriptwriting talents are once again employed to make you fall in love with the characters, then mercilessly pull your emotional strings as they experience suffering, joy, love, betrayal and even (whisper) d.e.a.t.h. Also the quest is huge, straddling no less than 3 CDs, and with so many locations that the average completion time is reportedly 120 hours.

Any specific technical conventions to speak of?

At first the system might seem to bear similarities to Resident Evil, in that your polygon hero can move around a detailed pre-rendered environment, but the backgrounds are packed with interactive ‘hot spots’. The integration of old and new techniques also gives FFVII a unique cinematic quality. Its many cut scenes are CGI movie sequences that use the same pre-rendering as the rest of the game, so that when the dizzying camerawork finally comes to a halt, the scene on which it settles is also the environment in which your character can explore. The direction is seamless. The combat system boasts AD&D complexity. Weapons and items have slots in which to fit Materia, orbs that endow the wearer with extra powers such as the ability to steal, or summon Esper-like creature attacks, with some weapons boasting more slots for combining enhancements.

So why should anyone care about the game?

Because it’s the best RPG to appear on the PlayStation. It’s sold five million copies already in Japan!

   Hironobu Sakaguchi Interview

  Interview with Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy series and producer of Final Fantasy VII. From PlayStation Underground #2 demo CD set, released in the US in 1997.

Transcription and screenshots by Tuulisti.

PlayStation Underground: Why is Squaresoft publishing Final Fantasy FVII only on PlayStation?

Hironobu Sakaguchi: In the August of 95, one of the US’s largest CG conventions, Siggraph, was held in LA. At that time we were not sure what the next generation RPG game should look like, so as an experiment we created a CG based, game like, interactive demo to be presented at the show. It focused on battle scenes that were 100% real time and polygon based. This became the seed of Final Fantasy VII and it was then that we decided to make this a CG based game.

When we discussed designing the field scenes as illustrations or CG based, we came up with the idea to eliminate the connection between movies and the fields. Without using blackout at all, and maintaining quality at the same time, we would make the movie stop at one cut and make the characters move around on it. We tried to make it controllable even during the movies. As a result of using a lot of motion data + CG effects and in still images, it turned out to be a mega capacity game, and therefore we had to choose CD-ROM as our media. It other words, we became too aggressive, and got ourselves into trouble.

Why did you need such a large staff?

A larger developer team will not always create a better game, but when a project moves onto a scale such as this, you get to spend a lot of money, and work with highly qualified staff.

We were able to use many high-end machines and work with a staff of approximately 100 people, and I believe this was one of the largest game development teams in history. As a result, the final game generates a tremendous amount of energy. My theory is this: if one person creates a game – it can be a racing game or anything – or 10 people create the same game, the one created by 10 people will be much richer in scope. There is a larger pool of resources to draw from, and each person is able to put passion into his role, creating a greater sense of depth.

How has film influenced your game-making?

It is easy to get emotionally involved with both films and games, although in different ways. Adding certain interactive aspects to films however, I believe players can get further into them, even become one with the visual images. I have always emphasized visual and sound effects because rather than making my games equivalent to films, I want my games to surpass films. That is my goal.

Why is Final Fantasy VII getting so much praise?

Without changing the basic game play, the visual and sound effects have been significantly enhanced further drawing the players’ emotions in to the game. One way RPGs enforce too many images and too much sound on the players, robbing them of the feel of control. In order to avoid those responses, we did extensive research during Final Fantasy V and VI on how to make the players interactively involved in the game, while upgrading the visual and sound effects. The results of this research are reflected in Final Fantasy VII.

Are there any new themes in Final Fantasy VII?

When we were creating Final Fantasy III, my mother passed away, and ever since I have been thinking about the theme “life”. Life exists in many things, and I was curious about what would happen if I attempted to analyze life in a mathematical and logical way. Maybe this was my approach in overcoming the grief I was experiencing. This is the first time in the series that this particular theme actually appears in the game itself. See if you can spot it!

What was it like to work with director Yoshinori Kitase?

I have been working with him since Final Fantasy V. When he joined Square, he told me he initially wanted to become a film director, but that he thought this would be impossible in Japan. The previous version of Final Fantasy could be called puppet shows compared to this one. It’s a real film requiring innovative effects and various camera angles. His experience studying cinematography and in making his own films has contributed a lot to the making of the game. He is the director of this game.

  The Making of Final Fantasy VII

  May 2003 edition of Edge magazine’s regular feature “The Making Of…”, spotlighting Final Fantasy VII. Interviewed for this article were Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura.

Transcription by Tuulisti.

3.28m sales in Japan, 2.92m in the US and 1.77m in Europe. Three CD. Over two years’ development. Over 100 team members. Nine out of ten. Adults in tears. But Final Fantasy VII represents much more than cold record-breaking statistics. Here was the catalyst for the worldwide RPG revolution…

“This was undoubtedly the game that changed everything.” Yoshinori Kitase, the director the most important RPG ever, has cause for hyperbole. “We felt a wind of change inside the company during the development process. There was this incredible feeling I’ll never forget: we were making a new thing… making history. Imagine.” He pauses. Imagine. At the time there were many doubters, but Kitase-san’s instinct proved right; Final Fantasy VII eventually propelled the high-production RPG into one of the most popular videogame genres worldwide. The first demo of the title, creatively bundled on an extra disc with Square’s first 32bit offering, Tobal No.1, stunned the world with its steam punk setting, achingly melancholic score and arresting visuals. And it bore evidence of a huge team working on a title with aspirations not yet though possible in the medium of videogames. “There was a huge number of people we had never worked with before. Up until that point Squaresoft’s teams had only ever dealt with the traditional 2D medium. All of a sudden we had new people coming in working with software like Power Animator and SoftImage that we had never heard of before. From and industry point of view, it was unbelievable what we were trying to achieve. That is why we all had this strong feeling; this great enthusiasm.” As the software houses were jumping from the 16bit systems to 32bit hardware, Squaresoft made the headlines for choosing Sony over previous soul mate Nintendo. The story behind the split is yet to be explained and as the two companies only recently kissed and made up (with the departure of warring Hirosohi Yamauchi from Nintendo and Hironobu Sakaguchi from Squaresoft) we’re are unlikely to anytime soon. Kitase-san is predictably diplomatic, “We had a big decision to make in terms of which hardware to use. Nintendo was not one step behind in terms of hardware. In fact, the N64 was quite attractive actually. But as our goal was to develop the next-generation RPG we came to the conclusion that only a high capacity mass storage media would facilitate what we wanted to achieve. This meant CD was the only option and so from that perspective, Playstation was the only choice.”

Access All Areas

There was a great pressure on the team to maximise the benefits of the new medium. “At that time Sakaguchi-san (Square’s founder) was the series’ producer. Right from the time the decision to go with CD was made he set down a ground rule for the team saying, ‘If the player becomes aware of the access times we have failed.’ So we tried many tricks to circumvent the issue such as offering animation while the game was loading data, etc. The constant fear for us having worked with cartridges for so many years was that the player would feel bored while waiting for loads. However, only CD media was able to facilitate more than 40 minutes of FMV movies so we virtually had the decision made for us.”

Another Dimension

Graphically Square was trying things only hinted at in the first generation of 32bit titles. Using polygonal characters on CG backgrounds and interspersing the action with streaming FMV was a bold aesthetic decision. “We were keen that the distinction between the in-game graphics and the CG movie sequences was not overly pronounced: something we could not have done on the N64. The change of dimension into 3D was a massive one for the Square team. You could see the game with maps and angles that only 3D could offer and in terms of game characters, we were able to offer far greater, detailed animations, so they would look more real and more alive on screen. But it was a daunting task.” The change from Final Fantasy VI to Final Fantasy VII is as graphic a demonstration of the transition between 2D to 3D as one will see. Just how apprehensive was Kitase-san about this sea change? “It was during development that I realised the impact that 3D realistic CG visuals had on overseas players. In Japan, you have the manga culture with the traditional deformed style world design and characters that live through a story with very serious themes. Overseas, you don’t have this. To be honest we were pretty confident that FFVII’s characters and graphics would be accepted overseas and ironically I was much more anxious to see how Japanese users would respond.” Undoubtedly at the heart of any RPG’s success is the plot. No matter how good your battle system or locations, without quality scripting there will be no incentive for the player to play. It is testament to FFVII’s story that the game is widely regarded as the acme of the series and still frequently referenced today. While Final Fantasy games have traditionally always drawn upon a huge selection of myths and legends, the seventh game used them as a framework for loftier ethical aspirations and ecologically conscious evangelism. “Sakaguchi had a great vision of the force behind the universe. He wanted to explore the idea that planets and people share the same basic energy and so are, in some way, intrinsically linked. He developed this philosophy from drawing upon other cultures that stated when a planet disappears an invisible energy is released in to space. This energy goes to some place to give life again when certain conditions are met. The same energy drives people. So matter who or what this energy comes from, it will concentrate all together to give life to something or someone again.” These were ideas that the SquareSoft founder had long been toying with and it is unclear as to how much of the philosophy was pure fantastical fabrication and how much was his own dogma. One thing is certain, they posed difficulties for Kitase-san, “Sakaguchi’s ideas were incredibly difficult to represent in the game since they concerned an invisible abstract concept. It was something I’d never seen done in a game before. So, I came up with the Life Stream. “This was an idea that planets have the same kinds of life systems as people’s blood or nerve network. It allowed us to more clearly examine the issues we wanted to. Sakaguchi-san’s main ideas for FFVII and the world he imagined for the game (the creatures, etc.) were very closely integrated into the “Final Fantasy” movie. FFVII and “Final Fantasy” started at the same time in their development process and they share nearly identical roots. I may have to play/watch both again and compare all their common elements.” Although lengthy FMV, random battles and an arcane combat system alienated some gamers—especially in the west where anecdotal evidence suggests it became the most returned game history—the combination proved the winning formula for thousands who had never sampled such fare before. Boosting weapons and skills with Materia, summoning devastating guardians, scouring the planet’s highest peaks and deepest oceans for secret items and raising and training Chocobo gave both fresh and old RPGers an inconceivably large universe to explore and revel in. It also provided us with a legendary videogame moment.

Death of a Friend

Easily the most infamous and memorable character in FFVII was neither the main lead nor the central antagonist, although both Cloud and Sephiroth are premier examples of excellent design and characterisation, but rather a flower seller who appears a little more than a third of the game. Tetsuya Nomura, character designer, conceived both the characters of Sephiroth and Aerith. “The main issues of contention for fans worldwide are still Aerith’s death and the ending sequence with Sephiroth. With the plot I wanted people to feel something intense, to understand something. Back at the time we were designing the game I was frustrated with the perennial dramatic cliché where the protagonist loves someone very much and so has to sacrifice himself and die in a dramatic fashion in order to express that love. We found this was the case in both games and movies, both eastern and western. But I wanted to say something different, something realistic. I mean is it right to set such an example to people?” Kitase-san is adamant that cultural art puts too high a value on the dramatically meaningful death, “In the real world things are very different. You just need to look around you. Nobody wants to die that way. People die of disease and accident. Death comes suddenly and there is no notion of good or bad. It leaves, not a dramatic feeling but great emptiness. When you lose someone you loved very much you feel this big empty space and think, ‘If I had known this was coming I would have done things differently.’ These are the feelings I wanted to arouse in the players with Aerith’s death relatively early in the game. Feelings of reality and not Hollywood.”

Classic Convention

At the time of release the internet was awash with rumours that it was possible to resurrect Aerith. Edge wonders if this was ever the developers’ intention? “The world was expecting us to bring her back to life, as this is the classic convention. But we did not. We had decided this from the beginning. There was a lot of reaction from Japanese users. Some of them were very sad about it while others were angry. We even received a lengthy petition addressed to our scenario writer asking for Aerith’s revival. But there are many meanings in Aerith’s death and that could never happen. Final Fantasy VII is arguably one of the most significant games of all time. Not simply because it was so well conceived and executed, but mainly because of its wider significance to Sony. In Japan, history dictates that hardware can not succeed without a best-selling RPG franchise. With Final Fantasy VII Squaresoft secured its position as king of the adventure tale and won Sony an army of fans both in Japan and the west. The continued pressure Square receives to do a remake of the title is evidence of the game’s continued popularity. Edge gently pursues the rumours. “If I were to redo the game onto today’s hardware I would like to make the characters more realistic, I mean like FFX for instance. I think I would try include full voice support but I would definitely keep very same plot and scenario. I know that other members of the team are eager to do the update, but, currently I have no plans. Cloud and Aerith have appeared in other titles (Final Fantasy Tactics, Kingdom Hearts) so it is possible FFVII character will appear in a future title but there is much discussion to be had first.” Whether a new generation of videogamers get to experience this RPG in next-gen clothing is almost irrelevant. While few would go back to experience this epic again, it is one of those rare games that cast an emotional spell over legions of players. For that reason it will always remain the stuff of legend.

    Afterthoughts: Final Fantasy VII

  Interivew with Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura from Electronic Gaming Monthly, issue #196, October 2005.

In light of all these new FFVII offshoots, we thought it would be interesting to look back at the groundbreaking original PS1 game that popularized the role-playing genre in the United States. We waxed nostalgic with two of FFVII’s most integral team members: Director Yoshinori Kitase and character designer/battle director/coauthor Tetsuya Nomura.

EGM: What does Final Fantasy VII mean to you? Yoshinori Kitase: FFVII was the first Final Fantasy for the PS1, and it was also the first 3D game in the series, so it determined the new direction that the franchise would take after the 16-bit Super Nintendo era. It’s by far the most memorable and important title for me, and when I had the chance to expand any of the past games, I immediately chose Final Fantasy VII for the project. The ending of FFVII seemed to me to open up so many possibilities with its characters, more so than other games.

EGM: When you were working on FFVII eight years ago, could you conceive of how much the game would affect the RPG marketplace? Tetsuya Nomura: When I look back, I remember having no concept of just how massive that project would go on to become. Of course, I’d been associated with the Final Fantasy franchise before FFVII, as I did monster designs on Final Fantasy V (Super NES). I remember that before we started FFVII, the characters from Final Fantasy IV were still very popular, despite the fact that FFV and FFVI had been released. I found this really frustrating. Why would people still be talking about those characters? So I made it my goal to create my own batch of characters that would be remembered and loved by the Final Fantasy fans. Also, starting with FFVII, I was far more deeply involved with the story and characters, so I was really extremely excited to work on that project.

EGM: FFVII was a departure from the Super NES titles… were you worried about fan reaction? YK: I wasn’t really worried about response to the graphical shift, as there were already several 3D games in America that were accepted by fans. My fear had been that the Final Fantasy franchise might be left behind if it didn’t catch up to that trend, actually.

EGM: What did you think of Cloud as a hero when you were making FFVII? YK: There wasn’t really much controversy or criticism about having him as the hero from within Square, but he is definitely a mysterious character. That’s one of the game’s main themes, the fact that the protagonist has all these secrets to unravel. He isn’t a straightforward hero like Superman; rather, he has lots of mysteries, self-doubts, and a real dark side. Mr. Nomura was also very good at designing a character like that.

EGM: We heard that the death of Aerith and the creation of Tifa both originated in a phone call between you two…. TN: It’s funny, some magazine ran that story, but only the beginning and ending of it. People think that I wanted to kill off Aerith and replace her with Tifa as the main character! [Laughs] The actual conversation between Mr. Kitase and myself was very, very long. Originally, there were only going to be three characters in the entire game: Cloud, Barrett, and Aerith. Can you imagine that? And we knew even in the early concept stage that one character would have to die. But we only had three to choose from. I mean, Cloud’s the main character, so you can’t really kill him. And Barrett… well, that’s maybe too obvious. But we had to pick between Aerith and Barrett. We debated this for a long time, but in the end decided to sacrifice Aerith.

EGM: Did you pick her to increase the drama? TN: In the previous FF games, it became almost a signature theme for one character to sacrifice him or herself, and often it was a similar character type from game to game, kind of a brave, last-man-standing, Barrett-type character. So everyone expected that. And I think that death should be something sudden and unexpected, and Aerith’s death seemed more natural and realistic. Now, when I reflect on Final Fantasy VII, the fact that fans were so offended by her sudden death probably means that we were successful with her character. If fans had simply accepted her death, that would have meant she wasn’t an effective character.

EGM: Which female character in FFVII is your personal favorite? TN: [Laughs] I’m not really interested in any superdeformed females.

EGM: Since Dirge of Cerberus is, chronologically speaking, the furthest game in the FFVII timeline, does it have a happy ending? YK: AC and DC both have their own resolutions, so don’t expect cliff-hangers there. Also, DC isn’t the direct sequel to FFVII, Advent Children is. So we can’t view DC as the ending to the whole big FFVII saga. Plus, FFVII definitely has so many diverse elements, and different fans have interest in different characters, so if, for example, one person is interested in Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith’s relationship, then AC may provide some sort of answers for them. Somebody else might be interested in Vincent, so they might want to explore DC. It’s not like this is going to complete the whole story, but it will satisfy fans who have strong attachments to individual characters.

EGM: At the very end of FFVII, we see the epilogue to the whole story that takes place 500 years later, so really, you still have another 497 years’ worth of games and movies to fill in…. YK: Ha, maybe I’ll try to do that. In a way, I consider that epilogue to be the true happy ending of FFVII. Well, it’s a happy ending even though all the human beings are destroyed. [Laughs]

Concept art

Render

Dengeki PlayStation Vol.17– Dengeki PlayStation Vol.40-Non Translated

    Magazine Previews

  Forum member Brooke dug up some old FF7 previews from August of 1997 and was kind enough to share them with us. If you were already a Final Fantasy fan then, you might enjoy the nostalgia of the excitement that had been absolutely ravaging the West after the game’s January Japanese release. If you were not, it’s a pretty fascinating look at just how beside themselves people were to play this game. Also included is the preview of Final Fantasy Tactics, another imminent release at the time, as well as a truly prophetic piece about gaming and the third dimension.-lifestream

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FFVII 10th Anniversary Discussion: p. 8 to 13 of the FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania

  FFVII 10th Anniversary Discussion

In 2007 FFVII hit its 10th anniversary. To find out the secret of its appeal, we went to the 3 central members of the development staff behind FFVII and the Compilation. How does FFVII look through their eyes? Cloud’s Animations determined the image of the scenario

– It’s been 10 years since FFVII was released. I think the reason fans have continued to support it for so long is because it left that much of an impression on them, but what scenes stand out most in your memories as the creators?

Nojima: For me, it’s the scene where Cloud first appears at the start of the story. That scene used the cool standing animation Toriyama (Motomu Toriyama: FFVII’s event planner) made. If I remember correctly, it was named “Cloud showing off” (laughs). But when I say that animation I thought to myself objectively, “wow, this is great.” It was when I’d just started writing the scenario, and Cloud’s false persona was kind of determined based on that pose, and after that the image of the scenario started to solidify. Back in those days, a lot of different tasks would be going on simultaneously during production, so there were a lot of cases like that where the other staff would influence each other. All the important stuff was usually decided by talking it over in the smoking room (laughs). Nowadays since you’ve got the voice acting to record the scenario needs to be done first, so it’s turned into quite a lonesome task.

  Kitase: That Cloud ‘showing off’ standing animation appears in the Nibelheim flashback as well. When the Shinra soldier asked about doing “the usual”, he does that pose. The same scene is in CC too, so I instructed the staff to recreate that animation (laughs). You were in charge of the Nibelheim events in FFVII, weren’t you, Nojima?

Nojima: That’s right. Right up till the very end we couldn’t get the bugs out of it, so it was pretty rough. Like when Cloud was waiting outside of the screen for his part in the scene, his hair would be poking out from the edge of the screen (laughs). Story-wise, the scene at the Northern Cave where Cloud talks while upside-down left an impression on me. I worked on the direction for that scene, but getting the characters to run to match with the movie scene was tricky, and I remember having trouble with it. The part where Cloud addresses Tifa as “Mrs.” Tifa, I made that hoping that the people playing it would be taken aback by the change in Cloud and it would really hit the player.

Nomura: The scene that sticks out for me is the scene when Tifa going into Cloud’s mental realm and he remembers the truth about what happened in the past.

Nojima: It was Katou (Masato Katou: FFVII event planner) who made the events for that part, and the movies were made by Ikumori (Kazuyuki Ikumori: FFVII movie designer). Ikumori was originally graphic designer for the maps, and this was the first time he’d tried his hand at movies. He said, “I’ve never worked on the movies before,” but looking at him now…

Nomura: Now he’s the movie director on DC and CC.

Kitase: Katou also did the event on the airship, the night before the final battle.

Nojima: Oh, the scene with the risqué line of dialogue? It was Katou who wrote that as well, not me.

– The line “Words aren’t the only way to talk someone how you feel,” right? That was quite a mature conversation for a FF game.

Kitase: But I remember having to get another version that was too intense toned down.

Nojima: The original idea was more extreme. The plan was to have Cloud walk out of the Chocobo stable on board the Highwind, followed by Tifa leaving while checking around, but Kitase turned it down. But even with the line in question, maybe at that time none of us thought it would be something so important (laughs).

  In the original scenario, Zack didn’t exist

– Mr. Kitase, which scene do you find most striking even now?

Kitase: Like Nomura, I’d have to say the climax in the mental realm. The scene where the mysteries regarding Sephiroth and Cloud all become clear. I didn’t know until we were in the latter stages of development that Cloud’s memories were Zack’s. First of all, when I originally checked the scenario, the character of Zack didn’t exist. Zack was a character who came up as Nojima was building up the mysteries. So until that part was complete I was left wondering just how he was planning to solve this, and all the while making the event scenes, still in the dark about the truth.

Nojima: But with Zack, I didn’t simply bring him in just because it was needed for solving the mysteries. When I joined the development team, the concept of Aerith seeing her first love again in Cloud was already there, so I brought him in to link that with solving the mysteries.

Nomura: About the concept of her seeing her first love again in Cloud, at first we were thinking of making that man Sephiroth. When I got the request for the illustration of Zack we were already near the end of development, so when you look at it now it’s not even coloured, and I can’t really deny that it feels like quite a sudden request.

– Had you thought about the truth of the mysteries regarding Cloud and Zack from the very beginning?

Nojima: No, I thought of it as I went on with my work. So at the beginning there wasn’t much foreshadowing. The foreshadowing scenes, I asked the staff in charge of the event scenes to add after development reached a point where an outcome for the mysteries came into sight.

Kitase: In those days it was easy to go back and change things around later on. Lately, with the workload involved in making the graphics, it’s hard to ask people to change something once it’s been finished.

Nojima: Well, even back then, there were some people you could easily ask to change an event later on, and people who were difficult to ask, so the locations of the foreshadowing might be biased. I only went to the people who were easy to ask, and the foreshadowing is focused at the scenes they were in charge of (laughs).

Red XIII: Four-Legged Bane of the Event Planners – I think one of the things that have helped maintain FFVII’s popularity is the uniqueness of its characters. How did you go about creating the characters?

Nomura: At the very start of development the scenario wasn’t complete yet, but I went along like, “I guess first off you need a hero and a heroine,” and from there drew the designs while thinking up details about the characters. After I’d done the hero and heroine, I carried on drawing by thinking what kind of characters would be interesting to have. When I handed over the designs I’d tell people the character details I’d thought up, or write them down on a separate sheet of paper. At that time, I still wrote everything by hand as well.

– So in exactly what order did you draw the characters?

Nomura: The first ones I drew was Cloud and Aerith. Next was Barret.

Kitase: And then Nomura said he wanted to have a four-legged character, and drew Red XIII…

Nomura: After that I think things kind of stalled for a while (laughs).

Nojima: Because you said you wanted to have a four-legged character, it was a real struggle to make the cut-scenes. Like, ‘how is he supposed to climb a ladder?’ and ‘when he turns around his tail and his body end up going into the wall’ (laughs).

Nomura: The scene with Red XIII standing on two legs on the transport ship was funny.

Nojima: The scene where he says, “It’s hard standing on two legs” (laughs).

Kitase: You named Red XIII, didn’t you, Tetsu (Nomura)?

Nomura: I thought a name that didn’t sound like a name would be interesting, so I combined a color and a number. The reason I chose 13 was pretty much because it’s an unlucky number. The official details for the character and his real name ‘Nanaki’ was something one of the other staff did.

Kitase: It was probably Akiyama (Jun Akiyama: FFVII event planner) who thought of those.

– This is something I noticed before, but to type in ‘Seto’, Nanaki’s father, in Japanese with the keyboard set to kana input, you press the keys ‘PS’. I was wondering if this perhaps was where the name came from…?

Kitase: Did he think that deeply about it?

Nojima: If it was Akiyama who was in charge of that, I wouldn’t put some deep-rooted reason like that past him (laughs).

Yuffie and Vincent, who were almost cut at one point.

– Yuffie and Vincent are secret characters who you don’t have to get in your party, but I was surprised that they had so many cut-scenes prepared for them.

Nomura: There was even a time when some people thought we should cut them because we didn’t have enough time. But we somehow managed to veto cutting them, and as a result they became the secret characters they are today.

Kitase: The main reason for there being so many cut-scenes for Yuffie is down it the strong attachment that Akiyama, who was in charge of them, had. Her appearing in a battle and talking with her afterwards, all those were his ideas, and as development moved along the scope steadily got bigger and bigger.

Nojima: It’s really annoying when you try to save after the Yuffie battle and get tricked (laughs). For the story in Wutai, I made the parts related to the main story, but the events in the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods were the work of Tokita (Takashi Tokita: FFVII’s event planner).

Kitase: Those bits do have a Tokita-feel to them.

Nojima: Tokita is involved in the theatre, and the characters who appear there have the names of people involved with the theatre like playwrights.

– Who was in charge of Vincent’s cut-scenes?

Kitase: I remember making the event where he joins you in the Shinra Mansion, but his episodes themselves was Nojima, wasn’t it?

Nojima: I did write his episodes. The back story for Vincent and Lucrecia was around from the start, and I remember linking that with Shinra. In the end, Chiba (Hiroki Chiba: FFVII’s event planner) crammed the Vincent-related events in right at the last minute.

Kitase: Chiba is in charge of DC’s scenario, but thinking about it now maybe it turned out that way because he worked on the events with Vincent in FFVII.

Nojima: However, despite Vincent not having many scenes due to him appearing in the latter half of the story, he has a fair amount of dialogue, and when he does show up he talks a lot. Even though really he’s meant to be a quiet person (laughs). Even now I have a problem when creating scenarios, where even though the character is a cool and silent type, I end up making scenes where they just keep on talking and talking. Roles like Barret, who appear from the start and have a lot of lines, most of the time, basically don’t know anything. But characters like Vincent, or Auron in FFX, it tends to be the case that the quieter they are the more they know about things, and they just end up with more expositional dialogue. I still haven’t found a solution to this problem.

The reason FFVII’s characters have continued to be loved

– When thinking of the character’s stories or working on their designs, do you have any kind of tried and tested methods, Mr. Nomura?

Nomura: Maybe not a method in particular. For FFVII’s characters, they’re the result of wanting to make varied, and in a sense going for an orthodox balance. In the recent FF games, I now receive the profiles of the characters before handling the designs, so I don’t worry about the character building much now. I think FFVII was it as far as me thinking of the character’s stories first goes.

– The characters of FFVII seem to be especially popular even out of the entire series, but where do you think the reason for that lies?

  Nomura: Hmmm, I wonder? Nothing really hits me. Well, I guess that each character has their own individual episodes which are well told. You might say their personalities are too strong (laughs).

Nojima: Yeah, they were made nearly excessively individual. For example, once you’ve decided Aerith speaks like this, it starts to escalate in that direction. And like Cloud’s cool standing animation we mentioned before, all the staff in charge of the events took in anything that seemed interesting. Even Cloud’s “not interested” catch phrase comes up so much you start to think, you won’t normally say it that much (laughs).

Kitase: Everyone used it, didn’t they?

Nojima: In that sense, their characters were definitely strong. In FFVIII onwards, the height of the characters increased, and we starting to be conscious of realism. And when that happens, there are times when you start comparing them to real life people. But with FFVII’s height, even in 3D, you still don’t really get that sense of reality. Maybe in that aspect they were like cartoon characters, which was a plus. I think, maybe they had a kind of easy to remember quality as symbols.

Kitase: When I first read Nojima’s scenario, I felt strongly that his image of a heroine was fresh. The hero didn’t have a typical personality, single-minded or righteous, and Aerith lived in the slums. Those things were really fresh. And having 2 heroines, Aerith and Tifa, and having the hero waver between them, at the time that was something new. And Sephiroth too, who appears from the start and is the final enemy, and is sort of a rival. For me personally, I think those things which weren’t in past FFs might be the secret to its popularity.

Nomura: In regards to Sephiroth, I wanted to avoid having the kind of plot development where you get to the end of the story and suddenly this boss you’ve never heard of yet just appears. With FFVII, I wanted to do a story where you’re chasing someone you’ve known was the enemy from the get-go. As for the heroines, during development some people were of the opinion that compared to Tifa, Aerith has fewer scenes and didn’t really stand out, so we also increased her appearances.

Nojima: As a motif for them, Tifa is “the childhood friend who’s been with you since nursery school”, and Aerith is “the girl who transfers school mid-term and quickly leaves for another school.” Since she doesn’t have many scenes, you’ve got to make it so that the transfer student has a big impact. That was what I thought.

Feelings about Aerith, the tragic heroine

– You can’t talk about FFVII’s heroines without talking about the tragedy that befalls Aerith at the Forgotten City. That event was a very memorable scene not only for the FF series, but all RPGs.

Kitase: In the past FFs as well, important characters died and went away. Like Galuf in FFV for example, they followed a pattern where the character would go down after giving it his all in a fight. In this case, often it went that the characters think something like, they’ve tired so hard, and just accept the death and overcome it. When creating stories I think that is an option, but in FFVII we were thinking, could we take this a step further? Bring out a sense of loss somehow? What I didn’t want to have was the kind of story development where even when a character dies there’s no sense of loss, on the contrary it just raises motivation and pushes you forward.

Nojima: Kitase’s loss talk has been consistent since back then.

Kitase: And with a lot of stories, before they die there’s a lot of dramatic preparations, aren’t there? Like a “pre-prepared excitement”, or “using this as a step to fight evil further”, those are the kinds of developments I wanted to avoid. In reality, death comes without warning, and you’re left feeling dazed at the gravity of the loss… Rather than wanting to fight evil, you’re just overcome by a great sense of loss, like you just want to give up everything. I was in charge of the direction of that scene, and I tried to bring out that sort of sense of realism.

Nomura: It’s related to ‘life’, one of the themes of FFVII, so it’s not portrayed as a “death for excitement’s sake” but expresses a realistic pain. Death comes suddenly, so I think the emotion there wasn’t excitement or anything, but sadness.

Nojima: Speaking from a scenario standpoint, FFVII is ‘a story of life cycling through the planet’, so someone needed to be part of that cycle. In other words, although what happened to Aerith isn’t really based on logic, as far as the story goes, maybe one of the team was destined to lose their life from the very start. But how that one became Aerith wasn’t decided through a notice as is popularly mentioned. It was decided after everyone, including myself, racked our brains about what to do.

Truth hidden in the abbreviations of the Compilation titles

– 7 years after the release of FFVII, the Compilation began, but it was a surprise that Advent Children, the sequel, was a film.

Kitase: Originally the AC project came about when the staff said they wanted to make a film.

Nomura: But having that film work being based on FFVII was decided from the beginning.

Kitase: They’ve made several of the movie scenes for games before, so they have the know-how. But an independent film was a big challenge for us, so we had to be ready for it being considerably difficult. When thinking of what subject material we work with while having that readiness, we came up with FFVII. At first it was only planned to be 20 minutes, but before I knew it there were fight scenes, and finally it grew to 100 minutes… (laughs).

Nomura: After we started the project, there was a period where it was put to one side for a while. At that rate, the project itself seemed like it would just go up in smoke, so I put my hand up and said I’d do it, and started again from there, adding in fight scenes and so on.

– Was the formula for the Compilation’s titles, AC, BC, CC and DC, planned from the start?

Kitase: In order of release BC comes first, Advent Children was the first title we decided on.

Nomura: For BC’s title, Taba (Hajime Tabata: BC’s director) and Itou (Yukimasa Itou: BC’s producer) came to me saying they had a good idea. “How about linking with AC, and Before Christ (B.C.), and going with Before Crisis?” I just gave an nonchalant “sure, why not,” but I never thought it would end up being a formula (laughs). So, next we skipped C and went for DC. Then planning for CC suddenly began. Kitase came to my office one day and told me, “think of something” (laughs).

Kitase: That was how it all began. At then, we were thinking of a PSP port of BC. At the time, you could only play BC on NTT DoCoMo mobile phones, so we wanted to let a wider spectrum of players to have a chance to play it. So personally, I was planning releasing it on the PSP with basically the same graphics as the mobile phone version, even if we did fill in the story a bit. However, when I told Tetsu about this, I hadn’t realized at that time that that wouldn’t be enough (laughs).

Nomura: Since at first I was told it’s BC on the PSP, I thought of calling it “Before Crisis Core”. But at that time we’d already decided on having Zack as the main character, so we said, “since it’s going to be different from BC, we don’t need ‘Before’ in the title, do we?” So we took off the “Before”, and by chance it fitted the CC which we had skipped.

Kitase: When I saw the cut-scenes of the completed CC, the quality was good enough to release on the PS2, and I never expected it would be this good. With CC, I had only read part of the scenario when I worked on it, so when played up to the ending myself, as a consumer, I was moved, like “aah, so this is what Zack’s story was like…” (laughs). When I saw the ending, I though to myself, “all the titles have come together nicely. I’m glad we did the Compilation.”

  WEEKLY FAMITSU ISSUE NO. 1224: YOSHINORI KITASE INTERVIEW

IT BEGAN ON THE SNES

—First off, can you tell us how the development of “FFVII” came about?

Kitase: After development on “FFVI” ended, we started the “FFVII” project on the SNES. All of the team put forth ideas for the characters and game systems, but during that time we needed to help out “Chrono Trigger” team who at the time had run into trouble, so for a time development of “FFVII” was put on hold.

—Was the “FFVII” being developed then different from the finished one?

Kitase: Yeah. It was completely different, and Nomura (*1) had proposed things like a design for a witch. In the end, when development started up again it changed to the current setting centred on mako and the like, but the design for the witch Nomura made was incorporated into “FFVIII” in Edea.

—I see. So then, when the development began again, it become the world we have now which has a strong sci-fi feel.

Kitase: At the time there were a lot of Western-fantasy RPGs around, so we wanted to set it apart, and we wanted to achieve more realist ways of showing the story. Also, Mr. Sakaguchi (*2) had suggested a modern drama-esque story with a strong sci-fi feel.

—Had you decided on making it an RPG using 3D polygons at that point?

Kitase: When development had restarted, talk of a next generation console was already in full swing. Since the next generation hardware was said to have chips that excelled at 3D graphics, we also made a 3D battle demo movie based on “FFVI” and studied using 3D. Soon the idea came up that movies would be indispensible to the evolution of “FF” and we decided to development for the PlayStation, which utilised CD-ROM that had a large storage capacity.

“ALONE IN THE DARK”

—Was the decision to make “FFVII” in 3D a unanimous one?

Kitase: There were two directions the development of “FFVII” could have taken. One was to put pixel characters on 3D maps, like “Dragon Quest VII” and “Xenogears” would later use. And the other was the method used in “FFVII” where the characters are rendered using polygons. The pixel characters used in the story scenes in previous “FF” games were extremely popular, so at first we were considering the former which is an extension of that method. But as we couldn’t made a realistic drama in that way, and with polygon characters we could use the movement of their entire bodies to express things, we went for the later to look for new possibilities.

—Was there no resistance from the team?

Kitase: There was at first. Particularly, with the loss of the pixel graphics, the designer team such as Naora (*3) seemed to have felt that their job was put at risk. But in their own ways, everyone went to the CG training sessions and such and learnt to handle it. The people who had been there since the old days are those who had overcome that sort of times of change. In a sense, that was really the turning point for the development.

—Were there any titles that served as a reference when making a 3D RPG?

Kitase: A foreign game called “Alone In The Dark” was an inspiration. The backgrounds were single images done in CG, and when the polygon character moved along them, the camera would switch and the viewpoint would change. That method was new. “Alone In The Dark” was an adventure game, and its story was set in a mansion, but I thought that by taking this and using in it in RPG with vast field maps, it could be something different and new, so I went around showing this game to all the staff.

MOVIE SCENES YOU CAN CONTROL

—In “FFVII” one of its unique features was being able to control characters during the movies.

Kitase: What I wanted to do most of all in “FFVII” was to seamlessly join the movies and the game parts. We wanted to avoid there feeling like there was a massive gap in the graphics when moving from the movies to the playable parts, and Mr. Sakaguchi also said to not make it feel like the movies stick out. So we did some tests and made the part in the opening where the camera zooms in from a shot of all of Midgar to Cloud jumping off the train. I was in charge of the composition of that part, we used a method where as it moved from the movie to a CG image, the characters were positioned so they didn’t move out of place, and we refined it numerous times to get it to sync up nicely. When it went well without moving out of place, it felt brilliant. By the way, the kind of showy events like the scene where Tifa jumps off the Junon cannon, I was mostly responsible for those (laughs).

—Do you think scenes you can control during movies not being in other games was down to Square’s high level of technical skills at that time?

Kitase: No, rather than technical skill, I think it was more the inventiveness to want to do those kind of things. We wanted to take what “Alone In The Dark” did, having polygon characters on top of a CG background, and take it one step further. And because this was our first 3D game, we didn’t know the limits so we could have reckless ideas. We commissioned an outside CG company for the movie scenes, but when the trial version was completed, we would say “the story’s changed so we’d like to extend the movie scene by about 30 seconds” which really surprised them. Since at that time even just extending a movie by a few seconds costed 10 million yen. We made these unreasonable orders without knowing that. In the end we made do with a few revisions, but we gradually learnt that you can’t get retakes as easy as you could with games (wry smile).

—(Laughs) Did Mr. Sakaguchi give any orders for other parts?

Kitase: I think Mr. Sakaguchi wanted to follow the tradition of the pixel graphics, and to show the characters’ expressions on the field screens, so he paid attention to the size of the heads. In battles you can zoom in the camera, but since the field screens are a single background image, you can’t do that. As a result, the proportion of the characters are different in battle and on the field. But when we looked at it after “FFVII” was released, we thought “people are probably going to feel something is off with the difference in proportion” and so in “FFVIII” we the proportions on the field and battle scenes the same.

A SCENARIO WITH A HINT OF MYSTERY

—How was the story, which was distinct from the RPGs that had come before it, created?

Kitase: Before “FFVI” we had Mr. Sakaguchi’s plots, and based on that each of the staff would throw in their ideas and flesh it out, but with “FFVII” we could express things more realistically, so we couldn’t take a mishmash of all the separate episodes the staff had made up and make a single coherent game. That’s where Mr. Nojima (*4), who was one of the new staff members, came in. He had written an RPG scenario with mystery elements for “Glory of Heracles III: Silence of the Gods” on the SNES, so to make it a surprising story like that we left the scenario to Mr. Nojima and he incorporated the elements everyone wanted to do.

—Things such as Cloud’s true identity were certainly surprising.

Kitase: For Cloud’s identity, we only vaguely had an image of Cloud’s own existence being up in the air and it ending there, but the actual unfolding of events was left in Nojima’s hands. And he made not only the scenario but the actual event scenes as well, and the parts where all the mysteries get made clear like Nibelheim in the past were all in Nojima’s head so he hadn’t written it down in detail in the scenario. So we were doing the test play with no idea how it was going to end, and that’s how we first found out what happens. In particular Zack was made like that as well, he was a character Nojima brought in while he was building up the mystery, so we had no clue that he was that important a character (laughs).

—That’s surprising (laughs). Did Mr. Sakaguchi have any directions for the story, having written the plot?

Kitase: Mr. Sakaguchi had been deeply involved with the story up to “FFVI” but with “FFVII” he focused his efforts on the battles. It was Mr. Sakaguchi who suggested the materia system. At first materia had the name “spheres” which Nomura proposed, but Sakaguchi thought we should make it something that would resonate easily even with elementary school kids, so we went for ‘materia’. Back then, the staff were trying to come up with some cool name, but Sakaguchi said that in order to get it embraced across the board you can’t just think about what’s cool.

DEVELOPMENT BRIMMING WITH ENTHUSIASM

—Was the wide variety of mini-games something you planned to include from the start?

Kitase: We had thought of the bike mini-game where you escape from Midgar, but apart from that we had no plans at all (laughs). Now we don’t have staff who aren’t working on anything, but back then we could have staff who had a bit of free time between projects. There were some new staff as well so, kind of doubling as training, we had them make things that needed specialised programs, like the roller coaster shooting game or the submarines.

—So that’s the story behind it! By the way, were there any specific episodes from back then that left a mark on you?

Kitase: Actually, 6 days after “FFVII” mastered up, my eldest son was born. I luckily got there in time for the birth, but afterwards my wife said “you can’t just simply show up for the moment he’s born and everything’s fine” (wry smile). So while I caused some worry, it was a memorable time also for the birth of my son.

—So finally, can you give a message to the fans of “FFVII”?

Kitase: Looking back on the development of “FFVII” now, the difference in proportion between the field and battle sections encapsulates how the desire to “include the stuff we wanted to do” won over consistency. Those bits that are rough but you can feel the energy behind them, those are my favourite points in “FFVII”, and I think maybe what has been supported for so long. As you get used to game development you try to make something more clean and refined, but even if some things were a bit irregular, like there being so many mini-games, later on you come to realise that those can create some unpredictable sort of fun. I hope we can treasure that energy in the future as well, and not forget the enthusiasm we had at first as we make new games.

*1: Tetsuya Nomura. Character designer for “FFVII”. *2: Hironobu Sakaguchi. Produced heavily involved with the “FF” series. *3: Yusuke Naora. Art director for “FFVII”. *4: Kazushige Nojima. In charge of the scenario of “FFVII”.

– On the 15th anniversary To Tetsu

You’ve mainly received attention for your character designs, but you also suggested various systems like the limit breaks in “FFVII” which would be used in later games in the series. Limit breaks are similar to the special attacks in fighting games, but what an interesting idea it was to think it would be fun to place those into an RPG format. If I said it to you directly you’d get ahead of yourself so I won’t, but I would just like to say ‘thank you’ (laughs). (Kitase)

– On the 15th anniversary To Nojima

While we were asking you to come up with a mysterious story like “Glory of Hercules III”, me and Nomura kept throwing these elements we wanted without considering foreshadowing, so I think incorporating them must have been tough. But I am grateful that you pieced them together without turning us down. Thank you. But around the time of “FFX” our unreasonable behavior was too much *even for you* and you had a displeased air about you, didn’t you (wry smile). (Kitase)

  WEEKLY FAMITSU ISSUE NO. 1224: TETSUYA NOMURA INTERVIEW

CHANGES IN THE VISUAL ASPECTS

—What was the most significant thing for you in the transition from “FFVI” to “FFVII”?

Nomura: I guess it was utilising polygons. The difference in high between the characters on the battle screen and the characters on the field screen also kind of seems like the gap between “FFVI” and “FFVII”, and seeing that process of trail-and-error is memorable for me.

—At that time, I hear you could have gone in the direction of using pixel graphics, or 3D, but what were your thoughts on it?

Nomura: I originally handled the pixel graphics, so I thought that if there were no pixels then my work would be gone (laughs). Later I took some training to learn CD, but I went into design and direction rather than working as a modeller.

—The “FF” series had been particularly known for Mr. Amano’s (*1) illustrations previously, so did you feel any pressure when your illustrations were to become the main focus in “FFVII”?

Nomura: I thought of my drawings as the standing images for the pixel graphics of the previous games, so there wasn’t any pressure.

—Standing images for the pixel graphics?

Nomura: In the “FF” series, Mr. Amano’s image illustrations and the pixel characters’ designs didn’t necessarily match. Personally, I considered image illustrations and the pixel graphics as being different categories in a sense. I was in charge of the pixel graphic parts, so I never considered myself as standing alongside Amano or taking over from him. The company decided from a rights perspective to put my name out in front, but originally there weren’t any plans like that at all.

THE TRADEGY OF AERITH AND THE BIRTH OF TIFA

—It was apparently Mr. Sakaguchi who selected you for “FFVII”, but how did that come about?

Nomura: From before when making a “FF” title, everyone would put plans regardless of their section. While everyone handed in text documents they made on a PC, mine were hand-written and had illustrations attached. Because I had originally studied advertising, I would keep in mind how to make people want to read it. Mr. Sakaguchi thought those illustrated proposals were amusing. Then one day he said, “let Tetsu draw the characters.” The start of this was the brush images for “FFVI”.

—Because your proposals were amusing!?

Nomura: Until that point, I hadn’t had many proposals taken up at all, so I don’t think that’s the reason (laughts). I suppose he liked the illustrations on the proposals.

—When it was decided that you would draw the illustrations, was the world and characters’s details already pinned down to a degree?

Nomura: There was a plot for the story, and I drew them based on that. But during the course of it Mr. Sakaguchi put Mr. Kitase (*3) in charge of production, and at that point in time the plot went back to square one. From there, I was also included in coming up with the original idea for the story, and began drawing while thinking up character and story details. At first Mr. Nojima (*4) was still on the “Bahamut Lagoon” team, so Kitase and myself refined the plot.

—Was the Aerith’s shocking death scene also confirmed at that time?

Nomura: I suggested to Kitase about having either Aerith or Tifa die, and it was decided that we’d go in that direction.

—Were there two heroines from the outset?

Nomura: No, originally there was only Aerith, and Tifa was added as another heroine later. To make up for Aerith dying, we needed a heroine who would be by the hero’s side until the end. Plus with Aerith’s death, while there were characters in previous “FF” games who lost their lives, we wanted to try a different approach. By bringing out a ‘sense of loss’ with Aerith’s death, we also wanted to portray the theme of “FFVII” which is ‘life’.

—It did certain have a different impact than that of the loss of characters in past “FF” games. Were there any other points you focused on with the story?

Nomura: I wanted to have a story where you chase Sephiroth. One where there is a SOLDIER who was once a hero, and the heroes follow him. Following a moving enemy hadn’t been done before, and I thought that by chasing something it would help pull the story along.

RELATION BETWEEN THE ORIGINAL CONCEPTS AND THE DESIGNS

—Were there any aspects of the character designs that you struggled with?

Nomura: For Cloud, at first I thought that it’d be better not to use too many polygons, so I gave him sweptback hair, but I didn’t think that looked much like a main character so I changed his hairstyle.

—Were you already thinking about polygon counts at the design stages?

Nomura: While considering it, I tried to be as unreasonable as I could. I thought that was necessary in order to do things no one else had done. For instance, making Aerith’s dress with polygons was very hard at the time. But I believed that thinking about how to make that so it moves naturally would lead to improvement of skills and rendering.

—Sephiroth’s long hair must have also been tough work.

Nomura: That’s right. That was also because I wanted to make the contrast easy to see between Cloud and Sephiroth in their designs. Blond and silver, short and long.

—At the time you said in an interview with our magazine that the image of Cloud and Sephiroth was based on “Musashi [Miyamoto] and Kojiro [Sasaki].”

Nomura: Yes. In particular the weapons, and the “showdown” image, was Musashi and Kojiro.

—Were there any other parts where the story concepts or mental images came through strong in the designs?

Nomura: At first, Sephiroth and Aerith were to be brother and sister, so I gave them similarities in their fringes. That aspect was dropped during the early stages, but the fringes stayed (laughs). I believe the original idea for them to be siblings later became that Sephiroth was Aerith’s first love. Ultimately Nojima thought up Zack, and it was all tied up.

WHITE IS THE “FF” IMAGE COLOUR

—Back at the time, did you realise the extent of the influence “FFVII” had on people?

Nomura: The Internet wasn’t wide-spread yet, and there weren’t really any avenues to see the opinions of a vast number of people, so I didn’t really know how it was being received by the public. But as the release was drawing nearer, the commercials on TV were played a lot, which gave a sense of the scale of things.

—There were several variations of commercials, right.

Nomura: Among those was a commercial that Kyle Cooper (*5) had edited. That was really cool, and it impacted me the way that different editing can give such a different impression. It was because of that that I took an interest in video editing.

—So the current high quality trailers came about because of a commercial for “FFVII”!?

Nomura: No (laughs). There is an outside editing director who has worked with us for a long time, but the present trailers are created with him.

—I see. The novel design for the game packaging, with just the logo on a white background which would be carried over to the future titles in the series, was also talked about.

Nomura: A lot of that was down to (Tadashi) Nomura who lead publicity for “FFVII”. Actually, we were talking about removing the lettering of the logo and just having the image of Meteor Amano had drawn. To have people recognise that it was “FFVII” from that. I thought that was pretty cool, but it didn’t materialise. The background being white was because Sakaguchi said that the image of “FF” was white.

—So there were lots of ideas even for the packaging. By the way, I heard that you are also involved with overseeing merchandise and publicity?

Nomura: That’s true, at the time I wasn’t sure how much I should do, so ended up drawing everything like roughs for plush toys and such (wry smile). I think it’s precisely because I didn’t know, that I was able to try my hand at everything. It was “FFVII” that was the start of my involvement in publicity as well. Though I ended up revealing info about “FFVII” I shouldn’t have and causing trouble, after that I started getting confirmation first. After I started working together like that, I was also able to cooperate with their publicity strategies, and I think I managed to get them to understand the intent of the development. Most of all, it was fun to be able to do that together.

ENERGY FROM IGNORANCE

—What sort of impression do you have now looking back on time spent making “FFVII”?

Nomura: We were basically rushing headlong, without knowing what we could or couldn’t do. And that’s why I think we could generate that much power, and pack everyone’s ideas in there. Our being able to be reckless making games that way ended with “FFVII”. Personally, it was the first “FF” where a wide range of my ideas were picked up, so it was a lot of fun.

—But before then as well, you not only created the pixel graphics but also submitted proposals as well, right?

Nomura: I put forth ideas for “FFV” and “VI”, but they were only really a part of the whole. Unlike in “VI” where with the inclusion of my ninja and my gambler I was given charge of the stories for Shadow and Setzer, “VII” was the first “FF” where I was involved from the ground up. Before then, I had been giving my opinions to a few people like Kitase, so it was interesting to be able to openly introduce proposals.

—”FFVII” is a game that has been supported by fans for over 15 years, but what kind of feelings do you have for the “FF” series?

Nomura: I still remember well what Mr. Sakaguchi said about “FF” at that time. There’s no one to tell that to the new staff, so I’d like to ask Kitase if he’d do so (laughs). I watched up close how Sakaguchi had left Kitase in charge of the development floor, and personally I think that Kitase is the true heir of “FF”. Also, “FF” carries weight because it’s a title that passed through many people’s hands and not just a single person’s. For example, “Kingdom Hearts” has the same main characters and the story carries on, but with “FF” the fact that ‘each time it’s different’ can feel like a tall hurdle. But that’s exactly why the new “FF” must always exceed the ones of the past. Even “FFVII”, which has been supported by the players for a long time and many people hope for a remake, but right now we want to prioritise new titles, and to try our best to make those become like “FFVII” or something greater.

*1: Yoshitaka Amano. Works on the image illustrations and logo designs for the “FF” series. *2: Hironobu Sakaguchi. Producer heavily involved with the “FF” series. *3: Yoshinori Kitase. Director of “FFVII”. *4: Kazushige Nojima. In charge of the scenario of “FFVII”. *5: Kyle Cooper. A video creator who produces the opening credits for films, with many credits such as “Se7en” and “Mission: Impossible”.

– On the 15th anniversary To Kitase

We see each other a lot normally, so I don’t really have anything to say (wry smile). Lately, there are getting to be fewer people who worked on “FF” with Mr. Sakaguchi. Among them, I’ve worked with you for a long time, and it feels like you’ve done a lot for me. Let’s keep on going into the future. (Nomura)

– On the 15th anniversary To Nojima

I think it’s great how you write this dialogue that gives characters clever things to say, and surprising stories. In “FFVII” Cloud’s true identity was a real shock. You later founded your own company and went independent, but I hope we can keep on working together still in the future. (Nomura)

  Sources and Other Links!

  If you like to read about Final Fantasy VII, I would also recommend buying the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania.

Interviews

Interview with Official UK PSX Magazine – October 1997

Hironobu Sakaguchi Interview – from PlayStation Underground #2, 1997

The Making of Final Fantasy VII – from Edge #123, May 2003

Afterthoughts: Final Fantasy VII –

 Dengeki PlayStation Vol.17– Dengeki PlayStation Vol.40

“EGM2 August 1997 issue” scans

FFVII 10th Anniversary Ultimania p. 8-13 “Creators’ Discussion”

 Final Fantasy VII Developer Speaks Out About “The Travelling Salesman”, interview by GlitterBerri.

Yoshinori Kitase Interview

 Tetsuya Nomura Interview

  Press Releases

FFVII North American Release Announcement – SCEA, February 1997

FFVII’s Marketing Campaign – SCEA, August 1997

FFVII Official Release Date Broken – SCEA, September 1997

FFVII Breaks Sales Records in First Weekend – SCEA, September 1997

FFVII Sells Over 500,000 Copies in the U.S. – SCEA, September 1997

FFVII Sells Over One Million Copies in the U.S. – SCEA, December 1997

FFVII for the PC Official Announcement – Eidos, June 1998

Other

Marketing material https://www.resetera.com/threads/final-fantasy-7-marketing-stuff-etc-reunion.37961/page-2

Xenon- http://xenon.stanford.edu/~geksiong/papers/sts145/Squaresoft%20and%20FF7.htm

Final Fantasy Beta- https://www.unseen64.net/2008/04/11/final-fantasy-7-beta/

See Also Beta versions of Final Fantasy VII’s world and assets- Here and here

Deleted Scenes and unseen text- Here

Concept arts here and here. Oh look more.

  From the FFVII Ultimania Omega (2005). Early concepts for the world, characters and themes. – Character Files: Page 518, Cloud, Barret & Tifa. – Character Files: Page 519-520, Aerith, Red XIII & Cait Sith. – Character Files: Page 520-523, Yuffie, Cid & Vincent. – Worldview & Terminology: Page 523-525 – Scenarios & Scripts: Page 525-526 – Scenarios & Scripts: Page 527-528 – Scenarios & Scripts: Page 528-529 – Scenarios & Scripts: Page 528-529 (Part 2)

The Unused Text Series

Text and scenes found within the game code of the retail editions. Complete with in-depth commentary written by Shademp. • Article Index and Term Register • Part 1: Bombing Mission & The Train Ride • Part 2: Sector 7 Slums • Part 3: Train Escape & The Sector 5 Slums • Part 4: Honey Bee Inn – (1) Entrance, Lobby & Dressing Room • Part 4: Honey Bee Inn – (2) Waiting Room & Second Floor • Part 5: Rescuing Aeris, Story Time at the Inn – (1) Wall Market to Shinra HQ Library • Part 5: Rescuing Aeris, Story Time at the Inn – (2) Shinra HQ Library to Kalm • Part 6: Chocobo Farm to Corel Prison – (1) Chocobo Farm to Cargo Ship • Part 6: Chocobo Farm to Corel Prison – (2) Costa del Sol to Corel Prison • Part 7: Gongaga to Wutai • Part 8: Keystone Quest to End of Disc 1 • Part 9: Over the Glacier – Attack on Junon • Part 10: On the Highwind – Cloud’s Return • Part 11: Underwater Reactor – Infiltrating Midgar • Part 12: End of Disc 2 – Final Dungeon

Additional Sources- http://shmuplations.com – http://www.ff7citadel.com/ –

As time goes on, I will try and further enhance this article with more sources and interviews as I find them. I truly believe it is important to keep the history of classic games development alive.

The Development of Final Fantasy VII The development of Final Fantasy VII is a mysterious and hard thing to follow. While there is plenty of info out there, much of it is either rumors or unsubstantiated.   

[drops-of-moonlights]

A small revision on the teachers! tweaked info below:

The three schools of Magica City have been in their place for centuries, and in the case of Alfea and Torre Nuvola, are the very first schools for fairy and witch magic. They are all run by former members of the Company of Light, who assumed the roles of headmaster only 500 years ago. They were the ones tasked with holding a part of the Gate Key each after the first attack of Darkar, to be well protected under the many teachers and senior students.

The staff for each school is as follows:

ALFEA

Headmistress Laurelia Faragonda, Ascendix Fairy of Dreams. Is in charge of the Magic Archive and the Magic Animal Reserve. Her power covers light, darkness and illusions, and can erase nightmares and night terrors. A kind and gentle woman, will show you how strong she is if you threathen her students. Has the title of Nymph, as she is the magi that discovered Onyrix.

Vice-Headmistress Silvina Griselda, Professor of Combat Magic and History, Glacix Fairy of Blizzards. Stern and punctual, honestly wants the best for the students, and will try her best to help them if they’re struggling. Swears a lot when students aren’t present. Was also a part of the Company of Light, but acted more as an informant than as a frontliner.

Arlan Palladium, Professor of Potionology and Natural Magic, Arborix Fairy of Leaves. Somewhat softspoken and caring, he has a hard time of keeping his students in check during normal classes. Takes on a whole different approach during tests and excersises, becoming very hard on the students. He’s in charge of the Natural Greenhouse, and was good friends with Eldora whenever she visited. He’s one of the few magi that solely focuses on his natural Source, plants.

Lorenzo Wizgiz, Professor of Metamorphosymbiosis and Biology, Energix Sorcerer of Transformations. Loud and expressive, prefers to show his students how magic works rather than making them study it from books, and is very helpful and understanding when students struggle in his classes. Is the oldest teacher of all three schools, but has kept a young spirit and, thanks to that, a young appearance. His Source is that of Animals, but his grasp of Healing has lead to ease of metamorphosis.

Marianne DuFour, Professor of Applied Magic and Chemistry, Cosmix Fairy of Mechanisms. Is in charge of the Simulation Chamber. Jovial and prone to cracking jokes, her approach with the students is to simplify terms to help understand more complicated formulas. She frequently drinks water and has a humidifer in her classes, as her mermaid heritage makes her prone to dehydration. Her powers cover electricity and metal.

Luxiano Avalon, Professor of Metamagic and Defensive Magic, formerly a Valiantix Fairy of Light. A former Roccaluce Paladin, he’s a very quiet and to the point man, with unnatural amounts of patience. He’s very hard on discipline. Similar to Arlan, he focuses almost exclusively on his element of light. He was afflicted with a terrible aura-damaging spell that rendered him unable to fully transform again, so he summons his Paladin armor instead. He’s still able to form his wings and Valiantix Tiara, but trying anything more than that injures him severely.

FONTEROSSA (Red Fountain)

Headmaster Aure Saladin of Red Fountain. Grandfather of Helia. Ascendix Sorcerer of Weaponry. His powers fall under metal, and he uses an enchanted iron polearm that he can mold into any melee weapon he desires. Strict and firm with his students, but he really only wants them all to turn into remarkable soldiers and knights. His left eye is blind, and it’s not affected by the eye color change caused by Ascendix. Has a very rocky relationship with his grandson, and his tries of reconciliation have met with silence so far from the rest of the family.

Vice-Headmaster Disentre Codatorta, Professor of Dragonriding and Armed Combat. With an everlasting serious expression, he’s the most chill professor after Lorena. While hard on curfews and tardiness, he understands the best that most of the students are still young and wants to guide them into a better path. Took Knut under his wings after the events of S1, and eventually starts dating him.

Milos Palladium, Professor of Machinery and Defensive Maneuvers. Lustrix Witch of Sand. Cold-headed and quiet, he’s quite the contrast with his brother Arlan who teaches at Alfea. He can get too into his own projects, so he is infamously scatterbrained to his fellow teachers (and some of the older students, as well). He’s Arlan’s twin brother, and while they get along well, their differences in personality are quite astounding for some.

Gisela Alabaster, Professor of History and Strategizing. Known for being short and to the point, she’s easily the most attentive of the teachers, and will offer special classes if she can see a student has a different way of learning or a learning dissability. Incredibly defensive of her students but will call them out if necessary. She was a former member of the Roccaluce Paladins, and she’s in charge of the Red Chamber, the archive and armory of their most rare objects.

Lorena Saete, Professor of Biology and school nurse. Altheix Sorceress of the Sun’s Warmth. A total sweetheart, she’s the most caring and nice of the teachers, but don’t believe she’s not strong - she’s one of the best melee fighters the school has and she knows it. It’s kind of the confidant for some students - by which I mean most students have confessed their secrets while high on painkillers to her. She’s married to Professor DuFour.

Knut Evergroen, Teacher of Unarmed Combat and new school chef. Conjuror of Shadows. Hired to be a teacher after the events of S1, he focuses most on his job as chef since it’s the more demanding one. Prone to making jokes with his students and generally pleasant to be around, but he’s very focused on making sure his students don’t do stupid stuff and pull a muscle during training. Aside form Codatorta, he gets along the best with Lorena and can often be seen sharing a meal and talking. While not a Morpher magi, he can still summon his Conjuror uniform, and prefers it to Fonterossa’s armor.

TORRE NUVOLA (Cloud Tower)

Headmistress Gwendolyn Griffin, Ascendix Witch of Dark Waters. Teaches Magical Defenses and History. While her stature and appearance are imposing, she’s actually quite nice and understanding. Her patience runs short, however, and her punishments can be harsh yet just. Her Source covers water and poison.

Zarathustra Rivére, Professor of Hexes and Combat Magic, Energix Witch of Blue Flames. Hard on deadlines and assignments, as well as punctuality, but knows her students can do better and wants to give them the push they need.

Ediltrude Rivére, Professor of Biology and Healing, Altheix Witch of Red Lightning. Her approaches to teaching go more experimental, and while her classes are sometimes known as relax time, her way of testing the students depends a lot on attention. She’s generally more jovial than her twin sister.

Francis Bittersmoke, Professor of Potionology and Alchemy, Energix Witch of Thorns. While his memory’s fogey and has somewhat of a hard time keeping his students in check, he’s the quickest teacher in pinpoint issues in any technique the students practice. He’s in charge alongside Discorda to keep Cloud Tower healthy, as well as to guard its Heart.

[moss-sauce]

max and tin tlc. 5+1 thing.

1.

Maxis’ hair is notorious for being out of sorts, ruffled and scruffy as it may be. Being as it never catches a reprieve from being scuffed and rustled, it’s no wonder its state of being. The Hounds ruffle her hair as a brotherly sort of gesture, running their hands over her head roughly in a token of love, or as close as they let themselves get to it.

Tinleah, however, does it simply because it pleases both of them.

She is gentle when she does it. She doesn’t press down hard enough to feel Max’s skull beneath her fingertips, to where she knows it’d be uncomfortable. She knows Max would take it in stride, being the non-confrontational way she is, but Tinleah knows her best.

So, as Max sits in her Orbiter, playing with Taffy and Trouvaille, she starts the habit. 

On the floor, Max is still tittering happily at Taffy’s antics. The kavat chases a gleam of light shining off of Max’s armor in the bright room, scampering about. 

Tinleah takes her chance to strike. 

Just a casual walk past them, nothing more, she tells herself. But her hands act on their own accord, reaching out and running through the fiery orange locks impulsively.

Max freezes at the touch, and Tinleah fears she had pushed a boundary. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean--” she starts to explain.

“What?” Max is just as confused and muddled as she is.

“The hair ruffling.”

“Oh.” Max tries to shrug nonchalantly, but it’s apparent how she longs for more touches. “I’m just used to going still when it happens for fear of someone’s gear catching a clump and ripping it off of me,” she jokes.

“So... you don’t mind it?”

“Not at all.”

“Good.” Tinleah plants her hand back on Max’s head and scratches the way she’d pet Taffy. Max leans into it subconsciously, and she swears she hears Hush try to giggle from the sidelines. “Because now that I know you like it, I literally will not stop.”

“Good,” Max murmurs back. 

⁂

⁂

2.

One of Max’s tells is when she rubs the back of her neck; nervous, anxious, flustered, they’re all causes for the action. Be it Zus scolding her for being reckless, someone complimenting her, or Tinleah laying on thickly how much she loves her, Max will always rub her neck bashfully in the end. 

What would happen if she tried it? Tinleah wondered.

She waits for her opportunity to arise. Days on end spend waiting, planning for a moment to strike. 

She gets her chance one night in the Plains of Eidolon. Maxis enjoys sitting at the Gara Toht Lake shrine to listen to the erie wailing of the Eidolons, a forlorn sound to her. She feels for them, Tinleah knows; she understands the complex need to be whole after being broken once before.

Trouvaille chases waterbugs on the surface of the lake, splashing shallowly in the water. Hush perches on a dashwire and fishes idly, snickering to herself when she heaves a Norg out of the water. Datura rests beside them, laid out and relaxed. Out in the middle of the lake at night, there are no threats to worry about. The Grineer are holed up in their camps, and Vomvalysts cannot traverse water this far.

“Whatcha thinkin ‘bout? I can hear the gears turning from here,” she comments at Maxis’ silence.

“Not much.” Max mutters. Her head hangs between her shoulders, hunched over her knees.

“Not much?”

“Not much...good. I dunno.”

Her heart softens. Maxis is prone to overthinking and dwelling, something Tinleah desperately wishes she could drain out of her somehow.”About?”

“Things.”

“What kinda things?”

Max shrugs, the signal for ‘I don’t know how to word it right now’.

Tinleah reaches over, automatically rubbing Max’s exposed neck comfortingly. 

Max tenses. She’s still growing accustomed to letting the more vulnerable parts of her body be touched harmlessly. Her neck is closely guarded: a thick hood surrounds the vital part of her, and she rarely tilts her head in a way that would leave it exposed.

Which said a lot. She’s knowingly leaving it exposed to Tinleah. The back of her neck, one of the most vulnerable parts of her. Bared in the moonlight reflecting off the lake.

Max tenses at first, prepared to swat Tinleah’s hand away from the tender spot. She seems to stop and remind herself of who she is with, that Tinleah wouldn’t hurt her in any way, shape, or form. She forces herself to relax under the ministrations.

Tin rubs soothingly, back and forth along the strip of skin beneath her fluffy, fiery-red hair and the start of her Transference suit.

“It’s just a lot, you know?” The formal speaking catches Tinleah off-guard. “A lot to think about. A lot to dwell on. A lot to deal with.”

Tinleah rubs harder, reminding Max that she’s there with her. “You’re not alone in it anymore, though. You’ve a family now, one that won’t abandon you.”

“But what if--”

“They won’t,” Tinleah presses. “So help me God, if Zus and the Hounds harm you intentionally, I’ll rip their ribs out of their torsos and use them to beat their skulls in.”

Max doesn’t laugh, a sign of how deeply she was festering.

Tin uses her grip on Max’s neck to pull her closer. Max goes willingly, tilting on her heels, head still hanging. 

“I know you’ve been through a lot,” she starts softly. “You’ve been through so much. But you’re still here, kicking and fighting the entire way. You’ve made an impact on people: the Hounds, on Zus and Buffy and Dodge, on me. Don’t get caught up in your past too much. It’s in the past, it happened, and you can go on past it.”

Max stays quiet. Tinleah fears she had gone too far with her comforting rambles, before she heaves a sigh far too tired and worn for such a young body to bear.

“Thank you.” Max rubs her eyes tiredly. “I love you, y’know that?”

Tin smiles. “I’ve been told once or twice.”

⁂

⁂

3.

Maxis is maddeningly reckless at times when her life is at stake. 

Stalker had appeared out of thin air, taunting the two of them. Without thinking, in her weaker, more vulnerable Operator form, Max had barreled into the fight. 

For crying out loud, girl, Tinleah laments to herself. How many times do I have to scrape you off the wall before you learn?

But she understood, at least partially. Maxis had been brought up in a brutish sort of lifestyle, being essentially raised by Grineer for the past few years. They were taught to go in, and give their all; Maxis was no exception. 

Only there are no replacements for Max. There aren’t any clones awaiting deployment in her absence, none of them can take the role as an Operator. 

There is only one Maxis.

So when Stalker backhands her into the wall, knocking the breath out of her lungs, Tinleah snaps.

“You weakling,” she snarls from within Datura. “You’re as much of a pushover now as you were back then. Back when your glorious and gold masters pretended to care about you.”

Stalker pauses in his descent onto a wheezing Max. He turns, glaring over his shoulder. “No,” he hisses plainly. 

“Yes,” Tinleah hisses back in a derisive voice. 

Stalker clenches his hand into a fist, unsheathing War from his back. “No,” he repeats, stronger this time.

“Try me.”

He lashes out with War, the long blade giving him ample range, but Datura and Tinleah are faster. Datura dodges easily, engaging in hand-to-hand with Stalker as Tinleah jumps out of Transference. Hush has taken to covering Maxis, who’s still sitting on the floor and catching her breath. 

Tinleah is furious at this… this being. This pathetic excuse of an assassin. Targeting children. “You’re a lousy monster, you know that?” She shouts to his back. Her amp is at the ready, and when he looks up to her, she unleashes her Void powers onto him. He staggers, reeling from the intensity, giving Hush and Datura the chance to go after him in his weakened, unadapted state. 

Stalker hisses again, not unlike a kavat, oddly. He knows he’s outnumbered and outgunned. He slings one last barrage of energy at Hush, who blocks it easily, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Tinleah gathers her wits for a moment, before Max chimes in.

“What a loser.”

“You,” she snaps. 

“What?” Max stares back defiantly.

All the fire dissipates out of her. She can’t be mad at her for being the way she is. “Please. Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Max challenges.

“You’re reckless,” Tinleah mutters as she walks over to the downed Operator. “Especially when you’re with me. Why?”

“Because I’d rather be beat up a little than lose someone I care about.”

The response is blunt and floors Tinleah.

“But what if one of these times you don’t just get ‘beat up’? What if you get seriously hurt?”

The implication is there: what if you die?

“I can handle myself,” Maxis defends. She struggles to her feet, wheezing and clutching her ribs. “You don’t need to babysit me.”

“I need to make sure you’re safe.” Tinleah snips back. 

“I only do things I expect myself to be able to handle.”

“You expected to be able to handle Stalker on your own?”

“I’ve done it before,” Max complains. “Hush helped, yeah, but I kept his defenses down.”

“That’s not the point I’m trying to make.” Tinleah shakes her head. “My point is, there’s two of us here, why not...coordinate our attacks. Make them stronger, instead of one of us barging in and the other bailing them out.”

“You don’t ‘bail me out’,” Max grits. “I can handle myself.”

“That’s not the point!” Tin shouts. It catches Max off-guard, rendering her silent. “My point is, you’re so eager to rush into something where you could be harmed or killed, and you think it’s for the better because others aren’t being directly affected!” She points an accusatory finger at her. “What are we supposed to do if you get seriously hurt, where you can’t recover?” She inhales shakily. “What am I supposed to do if I lose you?”

Max stays quiet. The gears in her brain are obviously turning as she thinks over an appropriate response.

“I don’t quite know, then.” She answers simply. “I just thought that’s how it went.”

Tinleah wants to throttle her neck, slap her silly, hug her, kiss her, all at once. “Why don’ we work on it, then?” she suggests. 

“That works.” Max mumbles tiredly. 

Tinleah approaches, delicately touching her undoubtedly bruised shoulder. “You’ll need something for that. Ice packs, probably. When are you expected back?”

“Not for a while.”

“Good.” Tinleah rubs her back tenderly, and Max relaxes into it like a kubrow would relax into a back scratch. “You’re coming back with me for a bit. Solise will put you back together.”

“There’s nothin’ wrong,” Max mutters. “Jus’ sore.”

“That’s what you say now. When you’re out in the field tomorrow whining because your torso hurts because you wouldn’t listen to your girlfriend, you’ll understand why.”

Max huffs, but relents. “Fine. One condition.”

“This isn��t a negotiation,” Tinleah chimes with amusement. 

“It is now,” Max says. “You have to keep doing that.”

“Doing what?”

Max shrugs her shoulder under Tinleah’s hand, urging it back into motion on her back. She sighs and leans into the touch like Ruckus would. “That.”

“Fine. I’ll rub your back if you metaphorically scratch mine by staying safe.”

“Can do.”

⁂

⁂

4.

Max is physical in how she acts with her loved ones. 

She playfully swats and slings punches to the Hounds, though she dampens the blows when they rain on Tinleah. It’s not out of the ordinary, for her: that’s how she’s lived for the past several years, among rowdy, energetic soldiers in cramped spaces.

Tinleah finds it within herself to tolerate it.

Max flicks a cluster of pollen off her shoulder at her girl, smirking when it collides with Tinleah’s Transference suit and disintegrates into a small flaky circle of yellow.

“You test me.”

“I know,” Max chips. “It’s what I do.”

“You’re lucky I love you, then.”

“I’m lucky you love me? I’m lucky you’re tolerant. I’m blessed to be loved by you.”

“Oh, my God. That’s…”

“Awful? Cheesy?” Max pesters. “Cliche? Corny?”

“That’s lovely,” Tin finishes between her friend’s chattering. “You’re a poet and you don’t even know it.”

“I can’t write poetry,” Max scoffs. “God, have you seen my penmanship? I can barely write regularly.”

“Yes, I have. You’re right, though, it is awful,” she grins.

“See? Even my gal agrees I’m awful at some things.”

“No,” Tinleah says, the humor leaving her voice.

“That’s growth,” Max answers matter-of-factly. 

Tinleah is stunned silent. “Do you hear yourself when you speak?”

“I try not to.”

Tinleah snorts, slugging Max in the shoulder reflexively. Max hardly budges with the blow, but smiles genuinely. 

“Aw, you’re smackin’ me back. That’s growth, too,” she says.

“Shut up,” Tinleah swats her again. Max doesn’t budge again.

“All’s fair in love and war,” she warns. “Keep it up. I’ll slug you back.”

“You wouldn’t,” Tin scoffs.

“I would,” Max nods solemnly. She raises a fist. 

“Maxis Morgenne, you would not.”

“You’ve brought the surname out?” Max gasps. “Oh, it is serious, now.” She rises to her feet fluidly, like a predator. 

“Maxis!” Tinleah shrieks. There’s no stopping the onslaught, now. Max makes a dramatic show of prepping her fist, polishing it and winding up a punch. Tinleah can hardly breathe between her giggles.

Max swings, full force, but slows as soon as she comes close to Tinleah’s shoulder. It glances off the suit harmlessly, though she continues with faster momentum once she’s passed.

“I warned you. That would have been a seismic blow.” Max nods to herself.

“‘Seismic’?”

“You shoulder? Gone. That’s my power.”

“Your power is somehow being endearing while you’re actively threatening to slug me,” Tinleah snorts. 

“Exactly.”

⁂

⁂

5.

Maxis is still learning how to express affection physically.

With her brothers in arms, she punches, swats, flicks, kicks, and trips.

She doesn’t do that to Tinleah.

She’s figuring it out. She tries to be more delicate with her.

She’s also trying to figure out how to process it herself. 

“Gross. Did you just...lick my cheek?” Max snorts with a twisted face.

“The hell?”

“Did you?”

“No, moron.”

“Then what did you just do?”

“I gave you a kiss on the cheek,” Tin explains, deadpan. “You know, like what people in love do.”

Max falters, face melting for a moment. 

“Is...that okay with you?”

“I just never been smooched by someone that isn’t my parents. So, you know, it’s been a while.”

“You poor thing,” Tinleah whispers, drawing her into an embrace.

Max goes with it awkwardly. “Like, nothin’ wrong wit’ it, just--”

“You’re not used to it,” Tin finishes for her.

“Yeah.” Max shrugs. 

“By the Void, through Heaven and Hell, you’re going to get used to being treated tenderly, girl,” Tinleah takes her face in her palms, squishing her cheeks in her favorite way. “If I die doing it, you’ll still learn.”

Max stares dumbly back at her, before opening her mouth.

“Don’t you dare try to tell me otherwise,” Tin snaps to her. “You’re worth it, believe it or not.”

“Wasn’t gonna object none,” Max says. “Was gonna point out that you got glitter on your face, somehow.”

“Glitter?” She takes one hand to rub over her face furiously. “Where the hell would it have come from?”

“Hold still.” Max leans in, acting as if to swipe it off with a finger.

When she swoops in and kisses her cheek instead, she flushes.

“Love’s a two-way street,” Max smirks knowingly. “So if I have to learn it, you do, too.”

⁂

⁂

+1

“You ever think about...everything?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean like...everything. How did we get here? How did it all start? Where’d we come from?”

“Don’t get philosophical. I’m too tired for it.”

“No, like,” Max fumbles for words. “You get these giant creatures like Eidolons, but we still have tiny, microscopic critters everywhere. We’re jumping planet to planet with ease, within the Origin System. But what’s outside of it? Bigger creatures? Smaller ones? More interesting stuff to see?”

“There’s Tau,” Tin suggests.

“I’m not talking just Tau. I’m talking ‘how far does space go?’ What are we missing out on?”

“God, you’re so…” Tin trails off.

“Everything’s gotta start from somewhere, so where did all this come from?” Max takes her facemask off, rubbing her temples tiredly. The act itself is vulnerable: Maxis never took the thing off if she didn’t feel safe.

Hush flicks a rock into the water with a plunk! Datura scoffs at the behavior. 

“Like, of all the situations we coulda ended up in,” Max continues, “we ended up here.

I met you, you tolerated me, I got Hush, you got Datura, all that. So much could have gone differently.”

“I see what you mean,” Tinleah murmurs. “Quite lucky to have ended up where we are, then.”

“‘Course,” Max nods. She stares ahead at the water’s surface for a moment. 

“Max, your heart and mind are too damn big for your body,” Tin chuckles. “You--”

She’s cut off with lips meeting hers.

Max is a god-awful kisser. She’s uncoordinated, her lips are always chapped, her face is always covered in dirt of some sort, but by God, she tries. Her lips move gently against Tin’s, coaxing a noise from her throat, be it surprise or whatever other emotion she’s feeling in this maelstrom. 

Max pulls back awkwardly. “S’rry,” she grunts, scooting away.

“Don’t you dare be.” Tinleah snaps to look at her. “You’re so brave in combat and every other discipline, but you’re still scared to get close to someone, I know. You doing that on your own volition means a lot.”

“It’s not that--”

“Shush. Let me speak. You’re still learning to let yourself be vulnerable, I get that. Up until now, I’ve initiated all the contact between us, and I’ve no problem with that. You’re still getting your bearings with it. So you doing this, now, on your own, is huge. Maxis, darling, you’re lovin’ now.”

Max stares at her. Her green eyes reflect the light of the moon. Hush fawns over them from her spot by Datura.

Tinleah pulls her in again. “I’m willing to practice,” she smirks against Max’s face, their lips touching ever so lightly. 

Hush clutches her heart, throwing a hand on Datura’s shoulder dramatically as she clings to metaphorical life. Datura just rolls her head at Hush’s antics.

“God, get that Warframe of yours under control first.”

[kirintorfanboy]

Ignorance.

Years had passed since the young magus was allowed his leave from Dalaran, his eighteenth birthday marking the milestone of his exposure to the warring world below the clouds. He accepted eagerly, visiting cities and landscapes he had only ever read of in stories, ready and willing to learn all he could from the new people he was destined to meet. Through it all he managed to remain in a blissful peace, his mind a far different world than the one he inhabited; a purposeful ignorance. The siege of Lordaeron would no longer allow him to look away.

A twist of his gut, a swirling rift of his body as the space surrounding it contorted into a conjured bridge between one place and another. The only problem was, he had not cast it. 

It was a jarring shift. His feet had been upon the sanded wood of his bedroom, content within a silent home among Dalaran’s towering spires. No sound filled the room save for the occasional turn of parchment, the scratch of a quill, and the soft hum of a focused scholar. He worried for his father who had departed days ago to aid the Alliance in their assault against Lordaeron, but he retained a calm composure. His father would come back. He always did. 

And then his feet stood upon blood-soaked soil. The silence of his room had fled, replaced now by the choir of warfare filled with a myriad of screams, steel, and sorrow. Judas had become disoriented, confused and puzzled by the drastic change of environments and how he of all people could have ended up in battle. He spun around himself in dizzy circles, eyes frantically snapping from one end of the field to the other as his mind finally began to piece together where he was. Buildings of dark wood in ruin, a crumbling city of old in the distance, tall siege engines barreling flames in overhead archs, races shooting and swinging at one another in scattered formations...

He was at Lordaeron, and his father was with him. 

Judas questioned how he managed to miss him in the first place, the man laying only a few yards away under the two-toed foot of a looming troll pressing down against his breastplate. The scholar caught the rolling tumble of a stone falling from his father’s coiled hand: a summoning gem Judas had crafted for him months ago should there ever be an urgent need for him during his studies. Another snap of his attention fell his gaze to the already bloodied spear within the troll’s hands as it began a downwards thrust into his father’s stomach. Adrenaline pulsed through his veins in a manner that made his skull throb in a pounding ache, the magi sending a spell forward on impulse that halted the spear’s movement no matter how hard the troll tried to force it down. Subtle waves of arcane energy rippled down the weapon’s shaft in show of what controlled it, and within seconds Judas had turned it’s tip to the owner’s chest and buried it within through his magic hold. His hand fell in sync with the dead. 

He had never killed before. Not even harmed. At most he would conjure binding runes to imprison enemies, but the magi had a reputation of flaunting profound defiance whenever he was requested to strike another. The pool of blood puddling under that troll was his doing, the jutting spear standing tall within its chest a result of his magic. The maelstrom of thoughts that his mind became began to worsen, a flood of conscience so overwhelming that he--

“Judas.” his father croaked, saving the mage from his wandering stupor and lulling him to sprint forward. Though often meticulous to his apparel’s condition, he threw such worry to the wind as his knees skid against the dirt to fall at his father’s side, one arm intuitively snaking under the man’s head and the other reaching over the armored torso to coil at his arm. The close proximity allowed the scholar to see what he had passed over before, a furious stab wound at his father’s stomach torn open enough to peer within if one dared. Judas did not dare. 

The troll had already secured its kill; he only wanted to quicken it. His father was dying. The area around them became quiet, or so it seemed.

A welling surge of tears spilled over the young man’s waterline before he could protest, his weeping gaze turning back to meet his father’s. His slim digits and palms shook violently, making it difficult to keep the paladin in hold, and showing the insurmountable fear coursing through the mage’s body in place of his fading adrenaline. Rambles and rants were typically all that escaped his lips, but in his moment of shock and utter confusion, only one question surfaced. “What do I do?”

“You carry on.” his father quickly replied, despite the pained labor it took to do so. In the heavy cloud of growing sorrow, he managed a smile. “You study to your curious heart’s content. You go to your mother’s old home, and learn all she left for you. You raise a family of your own one day. You continue to make me proud in calling you my son.” 

“Why?” he returned, the word hardly audible through his sobbing breaths. His tears fell to his father’s breastplate, creating streaks of red as they revived puddles of dried blood. “Why let me see you like this? Why bring me here?”

The man chuckled, resolving into a pained cough and a hand to his stomach to cover the wound under his gauntlet. “Even now you are full of questions. I did not want to spend my dying moments alone. And...” He turned his head, looking out towards the ongoing battle. “I wanted you to see what we face if the Horde continues. You never wanted to hear it, Judas, so now you must see it. You must see that there is good and bad in this world, and you will have to pick a side.” He turned back to meet the magi’s gaze. “I know you’ll pick the right one, you’re too wise not to. I’d even go so far as to test your wit against your mother’s.” Another grin to distract from the well of tears collecting within his own gaze, one warm enough to spur the same expression from his son. 

“I can���t do this, father. Any of it.”

“You can.”

“How can you know?”

His father exhaled, raising the bloodied hand from his stomach to instead mold against the mage’s jaw in an affectionate hold. His lids were fluttering, and the light behind them was fading. A weak thumb brushed at one of the magi’s tears. “Because you haven’t a choice, Judas. Trust in yourself. Don’t be afraid.”

The hand fell, the scholar’s face left in a painted smear of soot and blood. “Who will listen to my notes?”

Another chuckle from his father, though pained and choked. “I love you, little wizard. Change the world like you always said you would.”

The Shadowlands came to him on queue, the man falling entirely limp just as his final word was muttered. His once lively expression of comfort grew cold and pale, dull eyes staring blank into a smoke laden sky overhead. The weight was too heavy for Judas to lift any longer, and the two fell in a slump of violet as the mage’s cloak spread to cover them both. He wept into his father’s chest for what felt like an eternity, his moment of grief eventually stolen by the oncoming stomp of feet growing near. He lifted his head and glanced forward, eyes swollen but full of an illuminating azure as an approaching tauren roared towards him, axe raised and readied to swing. Violet light began to circle beneath the two, a conjured rune spinning around them as it grew in vibrancy. Just as the beast was about to seal the magi’s fate, Judas mustered every ounce of his anger into a shout that rivaled a banshee’s-- the rune spread outwards in a flash of light, freezing every Horde and Alliance member within ten yards in a timelock that rendered them entirely frozen. 

Judas stood, the sharp grind of steel against stone heard as his father’s sword rose with him in hand. Without hesitation the blade was lunged into the tauren’s stomach, inflicting the wound his father was given in immediate vengeance. He became swift in his work, using conjured runes to blast beams of arcane energy through some of his frozen victims, or summoning sharp javelins of ice to pierce through the throats of others. 

With a final spell the timelock shattered, the Alliance soldiers watching as their opponents fell to the ground upon release. Some blinked their confusion to the mage before scattering, finding another battle to partake in until the siege was won. 

The mage teleported his father’s body away for a proper burial later, where the full weight of his loss would fall upon him. For now, he raised his eyes to the crimson banner waving proudly upon one of Lordaeron’s walls, his brow furrowing in a newfound focus. A violet visage stained in soot, a face of innocence dirtied by blood, and caring hands burdened by death. He was a different man; he had to be. Magic coursing within his palms, the scholar set forward to contribute to a war he tried so diligently to avoid. 

His father was right. 

He could do this. 

And he would. 

[trollhunter-nomura]

Ch 6.5 was the Valkyrie a changeling?

Who will win, who will die, the fight ensues! Split this one in 2 parts cuz it was too long for Tumblr

...

Early in the evening, just hours from sunset, Bular, Strickler and another changeling by the name of Otto Scaarbach stood before the completed Killahwad bridge. Otto was ready to put the final piece on, the Eye stone.

"We are about to make history." He said almost giddy.

"Be quiet and hurry up, impure! " Bular growled. Otto bowed and climbed to the top of the bridge, inserting the final stone.

The bridge glowed an eery white light and a veiled doorway appeared to open. Within the smoke was a large shadowy figure. Bular knealt on one knee, followed suit by Strickler and Otto.

"Father!" He cried out, almost in pain.

"My son, it has been too long." The voice from the other side was deep, eerie so.

"We have finally finished the bridge, all we need now is the trollhunter amulet!"

The shadow shifted. "And where is the trollhunter now?"

Bular clenched a fist, "Whoever they are they have eluded me for months now. We have not been able to even identify the human who has it."

" The trollhunter is human?" Gunmar seemed curious. "Yet it seems the changelings are failing at such a simple task. Perhaps you should get more competent changelings? "

Strickler paled at the implications.

" You're right father, I should get right on that."

Bular stood and pulled out his swords, backing Strickler to the corner.

"Bular, please..." Strickler started, knowing it was pointless.

Before Bular could act, their attention was drawn to a noise at the entrance of the room. Nomura stumbled in, looking very worse for the wear. Her arm hung limp at her side, possibly dislocated, and She had a bleeding cut on her cheek, which she had to coerce Draal to give her. It's not like she could have gotten a convincing one from Blinky or even the pacifist.

"Nice of you to join us, Nomura." Otto said snidely. "You are just in time to have some fun."

Nomura acted in pain, leaning against the wall at the entrance of the exhibit. She bit back the smile, knowing he was far from wrong.

"You're late, impure." Bular growled, turning his attention to her.

"With good reason, Bular." She turned her hand upward to show the amulet. The others stared in shock.

"Merlin's amulet! How did you get that?" Otto asked the million dollar question, the blue light reflecting on his glasses.

Nomura shook her head, "The trollhunter was here last night. Wiped out the entire nest of goblins. I managed to get this in the fight. "

Well it was mostly true. Strickler slipped away from Bular and snatched the amulet from her hand.

"My Lord with this we can take Arcadia!" Strickler shouted, holding the amulet out.

While Bular insisted he would do the honor of freeing his father, Nomura quietly fixed her shoulder knowing the impending fight would go better if she had both arms. She just hoped her hunch was correct.

Once the amulet was inserted into the bridge, it seemed to react negatively. Rather than releasing the gummgumm king, the bridge seemed to reject the amulet all together, and it went flying out smacking Otto square in the face, shattering his glasses. The amulet rolled to a stop at Strickler's feet. He picked it up to look it over.

"Explain what happened, impure!" Bular shouted in the room, now dark and silence due to the bridge being rendered inert from the loss of the amulet.

"Daylight is... HER'S to command!? The trollhunter, it won't work without the trollhunter!" He said with urgency. " Nomura, where is the trollhunter, what did you do to her? "

Nomura rolled her shoulder to alleviate the stiffness.

"Do to her? Interesting you should ask." She walked closer to Strickler. "I'm glad that my hunch was correct, that if anyone else were to use the amulet against my will, it wouldn't work. I found it funny how it happened, I mean seriously Scaarbach."

The pudgy changeling was still rolling on the ground clutching his face from the glass that pierced his eyes.

"Explain yourself impure, you try my patience." Bular said lowly, jumping from the top of the bridge.

"Explain? How about I just show you instead?" She held out her hand and recited the oath. To the surprise of at least two of the occupants of the room, she was suddenly adorned with the glowing blue armor.

"You?" Strickler asked in awe.

"How could an impurebe the trollhunter?" Bular growled, hatred in his red eyes.

Nomura shook her head as the sword appeared in her hand.

"Call me 'impure' all you want Bular, but I will still shove Daylight where the Heartstone doesn't shine." She gestured to the sword in her hand as she walked over to the entry way.

"You think you can take us both by yourself?" Strickler asked, shifting to his troll form and reaching for a handful of his feather quills.

"Of course not, that's why I brought this." She slammed the blade against the support rope, causing the curtainto fall revealing three other trolls: Draal, Blinky and ARRRGGGH.

"Traitor!" Strickler made a lunge for her, which Draal stopped.

"I'll take care of this one!" He shouted knocking the smaller troll out of the way.

Good thing, because at the same time Bular made a move towards her with his twin swords both which Nomura narrowly parried. He swing both simultaneously, forcing Nomura to backflip out of the way. She was going to need a second sword in this fight. As she tried to get an opening, one of Bular's blows knocked Daylight out of her hand, which vanished as it skidded across the floor. Nomura did a few flips backwards to be out of the way, and instantly shifted to her troll form, armor shifting to accommodate the new form.

"Master Nomura what...?" Blinky trailed off at the sight.

"Don't worry about me, you and ARRRGGGH take care of the bridge!" Nomura shouted drawing her khopesh swords. Now she was more in her element, and it should make for a fairer fight.

"Ah... Right." Blinky and ARRRGGGH went towards the bridge.

Bular charged towards her and she charged back, now on even grounds with fighting. As the fight wore on, her dodging and blocking blows, she found it hard to find an opening. Plus with the fight in the museum, there was supposed much going on, so many things getting wrecked, she had to get him out if the museum. It was a good thing she disabled the security cameras earlier that morning. She chanced a look out the window to see it still daylight, so instead she dove thru the maintenance hatch nearby. This would have been where Draal and the others got to the museum safely.

"You are pathetic Bular, you had victory within your reach, only to have it snatched away so easily." She taunted, before jumping down the hatch. She stood in anticipation waiting for Bular to come after, and after hearing his roar, she knew her comment enraged him.

The fight went on in the sewers, blow after blow on both sides blocked and parried. Nomura grew frustrated. She had to find an opening, but even so, her khopesh alone would do nothing to the gummgumm. She used the wall as leverage to jump over Bular, much like the first time she faced him as the trollhunter. In his momentary distraction, she pressed a hidden switch on her scimitar which released a foul green poison. With creepers sun she might actually win the fight. She threw one blade at him in an uppercut movement which he blocked easily, but left him open. She slashed low at his abdomen, and made contact. The khopesh snagged on his belt, but the poison made contact. It was far too soon to celebrate tho, as with a Bellow of rage he lunged at her, one hand on his open wound, stumbling thru a grate.

In the momentary quiet. Nomura picked up the fallen khopesh and followed him thru the opening. She saw nothing, heard nothing, as she went thru the opening and eventually finding herself in the canals. The sun was still up, but approaching sunset; the sky turning orange. She still saw no sign of the burly troll. She stuck to the shadows, ears turning to catch the slightest noise.

Without warning a clawed hand wrapped itself around her throat, and in a fast movement shoved her into the sunlight. The sun's rays forced her to her human form. She clawed at the now stone hand wrapped tightly around her throat. Looking down she saw Bular at this point was half stone. The poison was acting slow.

"Tour fool poison may finish me, but I will take final pleasure in eliminating you. And when I fall, I will be remembered. There will be nothing to remember you by impure." His voice was growing stiffer as the poison seemed to be reacting inward to out.

She was certainly running out of time. Her vision clouding, black spots bouncing around. She kicked at the air, futilely. She couldn't breath, and almost couldn't think. She suddenly had a revelation, remembering what Draal had told her not long ago. 'The armor and the blade is a mere extension of your body. You have to expect the unexpected, and learn to embody the armor. Force it to do what you want.' As her vision grew darker, she wanted to do anything to wipe the smirk of victory from the troll's face. She felt the warmth of the Daylight sword appear in her hand, and in her last seconds she slashed at the gummgumm, causing the arm wrapped around her throat to disconnect from the body. Before she lost total conciousness, she saw a bright explosion of his body being destroyed.

...

Draal followed the trail of battle thru the sewers to the canal. He looked around the area and noticed the pile of rocks nearby. Sticking to the shadows he approached the scene. He noticed the rocks were what remained of Bular, and it felt as if a weight had been lifted from his chest. But where was... He noticed her, lying in the sun, lifeless.

"Nomura!" He called out.

He noticed her skin was almost the same color of her troll form's flesh. That was when he realized stone hand clenched about her throat. He heard a slight ticking sound too, realizing it was coming from the amulet, and it was slow. He had to act fast, taking note that she was in full sunlight. Without another moment's hesitation, he reached into the sunlight to grab her leg, feeling the burn of the sun pierce his right arm, and pulled her into the shade. Then he quickly crumbled the stone around her throat. Freeing her from it's grip.

Within a few seconds, the amulet spun wildly before the whole of the armor glowed brightly, as if jump-starting her. Nomura jackknifed off the ground with a deep breath, curling in a tight ball, coughing to catch her breath. Draal barely registered the motion, as his dead arm was ripped off his body. Nomura sat up, trying to catch her breath. She took in her surroundings, realizing the half burnt half petrified remains of Bular around her. So she did manage to finish him, good. She rubbed a hand around her throat wondering how she got out of the choke hold. That's when she realized her company.

"Draal what are you..." She trailed off taking notice of his arm, or at this point, lack thereof. "What happened to your arm??!?"

Draal helped her to her feet.

"Well, you were unconscious in the sunlight, I had to act quickly before you actually died." He rubbed at his shoulder. It hurt but didn't hurt.

Nomura didn't understand. She pinched her nose, her head had started pounding due to the sudden regaining of blood flow.

"But, why? If I'd died, you would have gotten everything you wanted. Bular dead, and a chance to be the trollhunter. I'm sure you would have been next in line!"

" It didn't seem right to become the trollhunter like that, it wouldn't have been right."

" Oh, suddenly your HONORABLE??" She shouted.

Draal seemed to act sheepish. "I deserve that."

Nomura shook her head, rubbing her forehead. She really wasn't in the mood for this conversation right now. She held her hand up to just cut off the conversation.

"Forget it. Where are Blinky and ARRRGGGH?"

"They should be finishing moving the bridge to Trollmarket by now. The green changeling I was fighting managed to escape in the chaos."

Of course he did.

"Strickler was always a coward. What about the other changeling?"

Draal shook his head. "I did not see any other changeling's in the room."

That didn't make her happy, but atleast they got the bridge.

"Terrific. We should get to Trollmarket."

She wasn't too happy, regardless of the victory. She didn't worry too much about Strickler, he was a sentimental fool who always got invested in his human life. Scaarbach was who she worried about, but that was for another day. They made their way to Trollmarket, Nomura's head pounding. She had a feeling her headache was going to get worse long before it got better.

[aion-rsa]

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 9 Review: Bounty Lost

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This Star Wars: The Bad Batch review contains spoilers.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 9

It sounds over-the-top, but it’s true: revelations and surprises propelled this week’s round of clone adventure stories. “Bounty Lost” features excellent bounty hunter action and a pleasant focus on Omega (not just what she is, but what choices she makes when she’s on her own). Sure, some revelations feel more like duds, but overall, it’s an episode that certainly isn’t afraid to move the plot forward, and returning characters and a real sense of threat keep it exciting.

Cad Bane has captured Omega. While the rest of the Bad Batch tries to catch up, she offers to help Bane’s hassled droid, Todo 360, as a way to escape her cell, but she’s too late. Bane delivers Omega to Cloud City, where he’s supposed to meet up with Taun We (the Kaminoan aide who ushered Obi-Wan Kenobi into the cloning labs in Attack of the Clones).

Stream your Star Wars favorites right here!

Interestingly, there’s a bit of a schism between the Kaminoans: finally Nala Se has done what she seemed likely to do and thrown in her lot with Omega, openly defying Prime Minister Lama Su’s orders to recover the girl dead or alive. Fennec Shand is also in the mix to recover “the asset.” While she and Bane clash, Omega makes her escape, rescuing herself and returning to the clones to learn what they already know: the Kaminoans want her because she’s an unmodified clone of Jango Fett, like Boba, and therefore just what the cloners need to get their share of Imperial credits.

Let’s talk about that Omega reveal first. There are two angles here: is this surprising, engaging storytelling? And, is this a good look for a show that has faced criticism throughout for minimizing the fact that Jango Fett, the original clone template, was modeled on a Maori man with darker skin than most of the animated clones? The answer to the latter is a resounding no. Why does Omega look like she does, with fair hair and fair skin? Sure, it wouldn’t have been much of a surprise if a girl who looks exactly like Jango Fett turned out to be a clone of Jango Fett. But referring to a blonde girl as the “pure” version of a brown man doesn’t seem like a great social message.

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As far as a dramatic beat goes, the reveal that the Kaminoans want Omega because she’s pure Fett DNA (like Rex, the “generation one” she spotted right away) is a puzzle piece gently slotting in. No hanging off the side of a seemingly endless drop for this parental revelation; instead, it’s delivered to both the clones and Omega in quiet conversation.

A lot of things in this episode felt like confirmations of hints that make the the story more solid. Now we know Omega’s origins, who’s on which side in the Kaminoan infighting (RIP Taun We), who sent Fennec, and a little more about how the cloners do business. (Those vats looked a bit like they could hold Palpatine clones, but on closer inspection appear to be a variety of aliens, including the obvious Kaminoan.) And that’s okay; the show seems more focused now. Funny that it happened in an episode without most of the main cast.

Yes, this is the Omega episode. It’s neat that her mouse-and-lion story doesn’t really end in the “help your enemies” lesson. Omega’s kindness doesn’t sway the droid Todo 360; instead, she tackles him to get where she needs to go. Her positive view of the world, while a nice part of the character I wouldn’t want to see completely removed, doesn’t always guarantee the people around her will reciprocate. She takes control of her own situation, and I’m impressed with the way the show balances her capability (she’s a child!) with letting her make her own choices. She does the job herself, and the range of emotions she shows here, from her anger at Cad to her confusion at the answer to her parentage, makes her feel more like a complete character. The little bit we get of the other clones is pretty nice, too, with Hunter doing his job as leader clearly under the heavy burden of knowing how much he cares about the girl. But Wrecker being the one to reunite with her first was a delight.

That brings us to the other stars of the show, Cad Bane and Fennec Shand. In a series where some of the best bounty hunters gain their longevity in the fandom by simply looking cool, it’s great to see a scene with visually arresting characters who also do things. Both Bane and Shand hit hard and ooze personality, from Bane’s Western stylings to Shand’s steely focus. The sound effects in that fight were great, from punches hitting to blasters firing, as were the way blaster bolts left visible scars on the walls. The variety of weapons and tactics they used kept up the energy of the scene so well.

I also really believed the show might kill Cad Bane, whose plot armor exists only in the form of unproduced The Clone Wars scripts. He was supposed to appear in a story where he would team up with and then battle Boba Fett, leading to a duel that seemingly resulted in the metal plate now on Bane’s head. The episode has real stakes, both physical (the bounty hunters, Omega) and emotional (Omega’s attempt to appeal to Todo 360’s good nature), but Cad Bane survives to continue the hunt.

I do wish Fennec had a bit more characterization, even with the fact that Star Wars bounty hunters are usually like this. Ming-Na Wen has tried gamely to give the character more dimension in a bevy of interviews, but we still don’t even know what planet she’s from.

“Bounty Lost” intersects with Star Wars canon (Fennec, Taun We) nicely without feeling overstuffed with cameos, and gives Omega a chance to shine. Everything is coming together, the show feeling more cohesive. Interesting that it does so in an episode without many of the main characters, and with Omega’s backstory a gentle conversation instead of a major revelation.

The post Star Wars: The Bad Batch Episode 9 Review: Bounty Lost appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3zWTDUr

[ookamikasumi-fanfics]

Diabolic 15 - End

Summary: Vincent Valentine is kidnapped by the ghost of Sephiroth for a very personal mission. 

(S/VV- After AC) COMPLETE

All characters property of Square Enix. This story was written for the intent of Personal enjoyment. No money was made from this work.

Warning! Rated NC-17: hard-core Yaoi content, adult language, mild violence, non-con seduction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fifteen ~ End ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vincent stepped from the elevator onto the unmarked twenty-fourth floor and blew out a breath. Even after six months, he still wasn’t used to being at ShinRa Power and Electric as one the dark suited Turks.

It still felt strange wearing ordinary clothes, though his dress shirts, vests, and suit jackets had all been carefully tailored to conceal his non-visible wings. He’d also been given a long trench coat with carefully disguised and strategically placed open side seams.

It had taken him weeks to remember how to knot his red tie properly.

He was somewhat used to having his long black hair combed back and neatly trimmed. Short hair would not have hidden his pointed ears. The typical ShinRa dark sunglasses disguised his scarlet eyes rather well. He still wore a red cloth around his brow, but it was a far slimmer and neater version that was worn under his hair, rather than over it. His armored glove was back at his apartment. It wouldn’t fit under his suit. He’d had to settle for simple black leather.

The whole ensemble wasn’t actually uncomfortable, but it was galling to be so…exposed. His tailor knew exactly what his body looked like. He had an apartment, a bank account, bills… He’d been forced to join society at large. He even had a car, a modest sedan.

He was far less noticeable among the general public, the average person barely looked his way. However, every single one of the Turks not only knew what he was, but pretty much everything he was capable of.

Oddly, his differences hadn’t made him an outcast, though absolutely no one liked being assigned as his partner. He was far too good at what he did. They simply could not compete on his skill level.

Tseng, his immediate superior, was positively thrilled with his ability to infiltrate just about any place he cared to send Vincent. Not to mention that he was invaluable during interrogations. All he had to do was remove his glasses to show his scarlet eyes, and smile showing his long teeth, and whoever they had in the chair would start spilling everything they knew.

The only thing Vincent had real problems with was working the day shift. He was a night creature by nature. Unfortunately he didn’t have a choice. Rufus worked days, not nights. When he went outside during daylight hours, he’d been forced to wear a fairly broad-brimmed black fedora hat to keep his neck from getting sun-burned in seconds.

To Tseng’s complete chagrin, sitting still, whether it was in a car or at a desk, would put him to sleep in a matter of minutes. He’d been forced to voice-record any reports that couldn’t wait until after sunset.

Rufus was still a total and complete bastard to work under, but apparently he’d meant what he said to Cloud almost a year ago; about ShinRa Corp. making up for very nearly causing the world’s destruction. There was no mistaking that he was out for profit, but the wars he fought were in boardrooms with lawyers, not on battlefields with monsters.

The SOLDIER program no longer existed. Instead, there was a veritable army of Turks.

Vincent sighed. He still hadn’t told Cloud he was working for ShinRa. Thank the powers that he was known for his long disappearances, so Cloud hadn’t come looking for him. According to Seph, he should be done cohabitating with Rufus sometime very soon, so perhaps Vincent wouldn’t have to.

Vincent nodded to Rufus’s secretary and approached the office door.

Rude stood by the office door in his neatly pressed midnight blue suit and usual dark sunglasses. He turned and gave Vincent a slight nod.

Tall, slender, Reno, leaned against the wall on the far side of the doorway with his unruly scarlet hair pulled back into its customary tail. His zipper suit was rumpled with the white shirt hanging out and barely buttoned. There was no trace of a tie. His arms were folded across his narrow chest and he glared at Vincent with pure vitriolic hate.

Vincent gave him a slight smile. Poor Reno… He was not happy with Sephiroth living in his lover’s body. Apparently the deal was, if Rufus played with Reno, Seph was allowed to play too. However, with Rufus and Reno painfully jealous when it came to each other, no one had touched anyone – for the past six months.  

Vincent snorted. Just as well. He had no interest in letting Rufus anywhere near him. He opened the door and walked into Rufus’s spacious black, white, and gray office.

Leaning up against the black ultra-modern desk with his arms crossed was a pale graceful youth in a black turtleneck and black jeans. His eyes were a striking green-gold and his snow-white hair tumbled over his shoulders to very nearly his waist. He was only a head shorter than Vincent and painfully beautiful.

Vincent blinked. He knew that boy. He’d seen him before…somewhere.

The youth stepped forward and smiled. “Well, what do you think?” The voice was surprisingly deep for someone so young and the expression was unmistakable.

Vincent stared. Holy shit! “Seph?”

The boy’s grin broadened. “Yep!” He held out his slender arms and turned all the way around, showing off his willowy form. “How do I look?”

Vincent swallowed hard. “I think you look amazingly…familiar.”

“I should.” The youth smiled. “This is a clone developed from one of Hojo’s early blood samples.”

Vincent felt the small hairs lift on the back of his neck. “Your early blood samples had active Jenova-taint.”

The youthful Sephiroth nodded. “It did, but considerably less than my adult body.”

Rufus stood up from his desk chair setting down his handful of papers. His white silk suit and gold tie shimmered slightly with his movements. “The clone was also subjected to a bath consisting of the water used to cure the geostigma, rendering the Jenova strain inert.” He smiled tightly. “I made sure of it myself.”

Sephiroth smiled tightly. “Uncle Rufus doesn’t want a repeat of my last performance any more than I do.”

Vincent’s brows lifted. “Uncle Rufus?”

Rufus lifted a shoulder and very casually turned to look out the window behind his desk. “Someone has to care for him while he’s young.”

Care for him…? Vincent stared while something twisted in the region of his heart. But…?

But Rufus was right. Someone did have to care for the youthful Sephiroth. Someone had to provide a home, food, clothes…a life. Vincent released a soft breath. He simply…couldn’t. He lived in the small apartment directly below Rufus, but it was merely a place to sleep, shower, and store his suits. He didn’t eat human food. He had no clue how to provide for a…a boy. “I see.”

Sephiroth’s smile slipped into something far chillier and far more determined. “Rufus and I have come to an agreement. I will be his role-model ward, and he’ll see that I have everything I need to be ready for…the future.”

Vincent lifted his gaze toward Rufus. “Then you know?”

“About Jenova haunting the life-stream?” Rufus took in a deep breath and released it. “Actually, I rather wish I didn’t.” A tight smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “I told Cloud that ShinRa intended to atone for its past transgressions.” He snorted. “However, I didn’t expect to fulfill that statement quite so literally.” He nodded toward Sephiroth.

Vincent’s mouth tightened. ShinRa had once again created Sephiroth. Hopefully this time ShinRa would help him become the world’s hero instead of its villain. “Poetic justice, perhaps?”

Sephiroth smiled tightly. “I’d say it was far closer to divine justice.”

Rufus cleared his throat and nodded toward the silver-haired youth. “So, do you approve of your new body, Seph?”

Sephiroth nodded gravely. “I do. Thank you.”

Vincent tilted his head toward the blond boy. “How did you make a fourteen-year-old clone in six months?” He frowned. “And how did you make the transfer?”

Sephiroth folded his arms and snorted. “The body is seventeen. It merely looks young.” He smiled. “The transfer was a simple kiss.” He shot a narrow glance toward Rufus. “I wasn’t sealed in materia crystal this time, so passing from one body to the other posed no difficulty whatsoever.”

Rufus nodded at Vincent. “The lab I used had one of the newer model cloning tanks, though they’re used for actual medical purposes these days, rather than experimentation.” He smiled at Sephiroth. “And I stopped the clone’s process at sixteen.��  

Sephiroth scowled. “Sixteen…?”

Rufus’s smile sharpened. “You said you wanted to have plenty of time to train, correct? I figured that it couldn’t hurt to improve your social skills at the same time.”

Sephiroth frowned. “My social skills…?”

Rufus turned around and leaned back against the window frame. He crossed his arms. “You need peers, companions, friends. The best way to obtain those is by attending school.”

Sephiroth’s small hands fisted at his sides. “I do not need an education. I was thoroughly tutored!”

Rufus nodded gravely. “Yes, and that tutoring did nothing but isolate you from the rest of humanity.” He lifted his chin and delivered a cool smile. “Three years of high school and a few more of college should do you a world of good.”

Sephiroth was going to go to high school? Vincent’s mind boggled.

Sephiroth’s mouth fell open. “You’re sending me to school?” The pitch of his voice rose. Apparently, his mind was boggled too.

Rufus straightened and folded his hands behind him. “There is no better way to discover the true character of those who will share your future than by observing them in their youth, before they learn to hide it.”

Sephiroth took a deep breath and tucked his chin. “A valid point.”

Rufus nodded. “I think you will make a most excellent addition to the ShinRa corporation.”

Sephiroth snorted. “I should warn you, I truly abhor paperwork.”

Rufus rolled his eyes. “Don’t we all?” He smiled. “But then, that’s what secretaries are for.”

Vincent stepped forward, drawing Sephiroth’s attention, and Rufus’s. “You’re going to have to control that temper of yours while you’re around all those children.”

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. “I suppose I will have to refrain from setting them on fire.”

Rufus’s brows lifted. “You still have magical capability?”

Sephiroth snorted and lifted a graceful brow. “Of course. The talent rides with the soul, but it was also inherent with the body, even before Hojo’s…additions.”

The far door slammed open revealing Reno in the doorway, his eyes wide staring hard at Rufus. “Is it true? Is it over?” He stalked in, striding right past Sephiroth.

Rude, right on his partner’s heels, stopped just inside the doorway staring at Sephiroth. His black brows lifted over his sunglasses.

Rufus focused hotly on Reno and smiled. “Yes, it’s over.”

Reno leaped straight up into the air and whooped. “Hot damn!” He shot a thoroughly lascivious grin at Rufus. “When?”

Rufus moved to his desk and lifted a paper. “As soon as I finish this meeting.” He turned and looked over at Sephiroth.

Reno froze, made a sharp about-face, and stared at the silver-haired youth. His red brows lifted over his moss green eyes, and his Cupid’s bow lips parted. “Oh, the pipsqueak’s already walking around?”

“Yes.” Sephiroth’s smile thinned. “And the pipsqueak’s hearing is in excellent condition.”

The red-head grinned and nodded. “Great! Wow…” He strode all the way around Sephiroth, quite obviously keeping his distance from Vincent. “Damn, you make a cute kid.”

Rufus cleared his throat. “He’s sixteen, Reno. That’s two years too young to play with you.”

Vincent blinked. Sephiroth was a minor. A chuckle bubbled up and escaped.

Sephiroth turned sharply to frown at Vincent.

Reno turned and stuck out his bottom lip at Rufus. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Boss.” He folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t do kids.

Vincent smiled down at Sephiroth and mouthed silently, Neither do I.

Sephiroth curled his lip in a scowl that was absolutely adorable. “We’ll just see about that.”

Vincent snorted. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m currently larger than you and far stronger. If you try anything that I don’t approve of…” He smiled. “I’ll give you a spanking.”

Sephiroth’s hands fisted at his sides and his mouth fell open. “You wouldn’t dare!”

Vincent lifted his chin and his smile broadened showing his long teeth. “Try me.” He lifted his gaze to Rufus. “ShinRa, you have my personal cell phone number, correct?” He looked down at Sephiroth. “Just in case.”

Rufus lifted a hand to cover his mouth. He coughed and his cheeks flagged with red. “Oh, why, yes I do.”

Reno laughed out loud. “Oh damn! Looks like you better be good or Uncle Vincent’s gonna give you a whupping!”

Sephiroth leveled a glare at Reno. “You do realize that since you are not a child, there’s no reason I can’t set you on fire?”

Reno very casually stepped back. “Somebody needs to learn to play nice.”

Rufus coughed again and cleared his throat for good measure. “Seph, please don’t set the employees on fire.” He smiled. “You’re going to need them, at the very least for sparring practice.”

Sephiroth pursed his lips and nodded. “Point taken.”

Reno turned to frown at Rufus. “Huh?”

Rufus strode over to his desk and sat on the corner. “Reno, does have his occasional uses. Try not to break him beyond repair.”

Sephiroth grinned. “I’ll do my best to return him in one piece.”

“Wait a minute…” Reno frowned. “Are you saying that this skinny brat can kick my ass?”

Rude snorted from his position at the doorway. “Yes.”

A rather heated exchange broke out after that.

A smile curving his lips, Vincent stepped back and silently left the office. At the end of the hall he punched the elevator call. Rufus ShinRa was certainly going to have his hands full with his new charge, but it was truly possible that Sephiroth, the great and terrible might actually have a better life this time around, and a better future.

His mission was done. He was free. All he had left to do was hand Tseng his formal resignation.

The office door slammed open behind him. “Vincent!”

Vincent turned.

The pale youthful Sephiroth marched toward him, his mouth tight and his emerald eyes blazing. “Where are you going?”

Vincent’s brows lifted. “I’m leaving.”

“What?” Sephiroth’s slender body trembled. “Why?” His voice was breathless and a damp shimmer appeared in his eyes.

Vincent shrugged. “You have what you wanted; a new body, and a new life to go with it.”

Sephiroth lifted his chin and crossed his arms. “So?”

Vincent smiled while his pounding heart bled with every beat. “You don’t need me any more.”

Sephiroth scowled ferociously. “Bullshit.” A tear slid down his cheek.

Vincent’s heart twisted hard. “Oh hell…” He strode for the youth and wrapped him in a hug. He winced. The terror of the entire planet felt so damned fragile in his arms.

Sephiroth’s hands fisted in Vincent’s coat. “You can’t leave.”

Vincent pressed a kiss to the top of the youth’s head. “I have no reason to stay.”

Sephiroth sniffed against Vincent’s coat lapel. “Yes you do. You’re my bodyguard.”

Vincent swallowed. “You have all of ShinRa…”

The youth’s hands tightened in his coat, tugging on it. “I want you!”

Vincent’s eyes burned. He was suddenly glad that that Sephiroth’s face was buried in his coat. He took a breath to keep his voice even. “You’ll be busy with school and…other things.” Peers, companions, friends…

“So? That’s only some of the daylight hours. You can work during those hours and spend the rest of your time with me, even if it’s just playing stupid video games.”

Vincent rolled his eyes. Oh gee, thanks… “Seph…”

Sephiroth leaned back and glared up at Vincent. “I can get Rufus to make you stay.”

Vincent’s bared his teeth and backed away. “Don’t…!”

Sephiroth folded his arms across his slender chest and curled his lip. His determined expression was far too mature for his youthful face, and clearly showed the man he would be. “Then don’t make me.”

Vincent scowled down at him. “Haven’t I done enough for him?”

“It’s not for him, it’s for me.” Sephiroth scraped a hand against his damp cheek. “You can’t leave me, Vincent.” His green gaze narrowed to slits. “You belong with me. My body may be new, but how I feel has not changed.” He pointed a slender finger at Vincent. “You will never escape me. Never!”

Vincent groaned. “What the hell did I do to deserve this?

Sephiroth grabbed onto Vincent’s coat. “Swear to me that you’ll stay.” His voice was deep and determined, but his gaze shifted back and forth with clear uncertainty. “I can’t…” He took a deep breath and then whispered very softly. “I can’t do this without you.”

Vincent’s heart very quietly shattered in his chest. He closed his eyes. His throat was so tight all that came out was a whisper. “I’ll stay.”

Sephiroth sighed deeply. “Good.” He lifted his chin and grinned up at Vincent. “Now, kiss me.”

Vincent sighed then smiled. “I will, in two years.”

Sephiroth’s mouth fell open. “What?”

Vincent set his hands on Sephiroth’s slender shoulders. “In two years you’ll be eighteen and old enough to kiss.”

The youth stomped his foot. “That is not fair!”

Vincent chuckled. He couldn’t help it. Immaturity was catching up to Sephiroth very quickly. “Actually it’s very fair. If you’re going to make me keep working for ShinRa, you’re going to have to wait until you’re no longer a minor before you get a kiss.”

Sephiroth growled, a low liquid rumbling in his chest. “You will pay for that.” He grabbed Vincent around the waist and hugged him.

Vincent snorted and rolled his eyes. “I’m already paying for it.” He closed his arms around the slender youth and sighed deeply. Life was certainly going to be interesting with Sephiroth back among the living.

Cloud was going to have a heart-attack.

~ End ~

[dinosrpg]

Nerevarine: The Reprise - Chapter Eight

With a hot meal in their guts and ample supplies in their packs, Sheev-La and Sevana made their way toward Bleak Falls Barrow, a mountaintop tomb looming over the village of Riverwood.  The Argonian couldn't help but wonder why anyone would settle with such an imposing piece of architecture so close by, but she supposed the village's namesake was profitable enough to live off of for generations.

The midday sun warmed the furs Sheev-La had lined her armor with, helping her recover more of her energy especially as her lunch settled in her belly.  Warm in every sense for the first time since she'd come to this place, the Argonian walked with a graceful, powerful stride.  Sevana couldn't help but admire both the shape and movement of her companion's hips and thighs, not even the fur-lined armor able to hide Sheev-La's mastered gait and fitness.

As they trekked up the mountain path, the evergreen mountainside slowly turned to gray and white, to stone and snow.  The road seemed abandoned, for which Sheev-La was thankful as her careful eye kept watch.

"Now that we're back on the road," Sevana started, casually perusing an instructional spell tome she'd purchased in town, "maybe we can talk about more positive things.  Like... what did you do before arriving in Morrowind?"  Sheev-La laughed, her breath pillowing forth in a puff of vapor.

"Gods, I was a gutter-snake."

"You?  A troublemaker?  No," Sevana teased, her heavy cloak billowing slightly with a stiff, chilling breeze.

"Oh, yes.  I was brought to Vvardenfell on a prison ship.  Before then, I was doing time in the Imperial City Prison."

"What'd you do?"

"I was a second-story woman.  'Acrobat' was my official, not-criminal title, but I hardly ever used that.  Being an orphan and a problem hatchling, I tended to lean away from people.  Made each encounter with the guards a puzzle to solve, just like figuring out how to get into a house to nick valuables."  Sevana smiled and laughed both in shock and amusement; the notion that such a hero had once been a struggling thief was something straight out of fiction.

"Hard to believe you were a common burglar before you became a historical figure."

"Oh, I was no common burglar.  Before I got used to boots, I could hang from roof tiles by foot and pick the lock of a window upside down.  I was an enigma until someone caught me in the act."

"A shame it's so cold here."

"Maybe I'll get used to it here.  I plan on settling down in Whiterun when I have the money to get a house, since it's warm and seems economically lively.  Well, when dragons aren't about, at least."

"I would hope so.  But while we're on the topic of your past, what did you do before you jumped into the House politics?  You came out of nowhere, it seems."

"Honestly... I was captivated by the land.  I knew I wouldn't be able to keep doing what I did in Cyrodiil there, since the architecture was so drastically different.  I mean, even if I tried, it would've taken weeks, maybe months to get it right.  With barely two coins to rub together, I had to learn how to survive on my own.  An outlander, one of the 'slave' races of the time, a former criminal... I didn't have anyone to count on but myself.  So, I spent a long time traveling the island, learning its ebb and flow firsthand.  I'd never embraced nature so wholly before."

"Sounds like you fell in love with Vvardenfell."

"I did.  I didn't realize it until much later, but it had always been home to me.  Even though I kept to the outskirts, I ventured into the cities and towns with regularity to peddle my spoils.  And, as cold toward me as the Dunmer were, I came to admire them.  I sympathized with their struggles.  And then... I learned about what was really happening at the heart of it all."

"What changed once you learned about the prophecies?"

"Everything.  I started paying attention.  I started seeing the Blight's impact.  And while I grew as a person, Morrowind was growing weaker.  I was no healer, but I did what I could to help those who could offer relief.  I spent weeks gathering ash salts and scrib jelly to donate to the Temple."

"How did you learn about the prophecies?  From the Ashlanders?"

"That... is a long story.  One that will have to wait, it seems," Sheev-La remarked with a frown, lowering her voice.  Nodding toward the slowly-approaching barrow, the Argonian slowed her pace and widened her stance, her keen, clouded eye spotting movement.  "I see three.  An archer, a fur-wearer with a big axe, and one with a sword and shield."  Sevana nodded, putting away her tome for later.

"Something tells me they're not friendly," the Dunmer mused, gathering a swirling mass of power in her clenched fist.  As though on cue, the archer shouted to their companions, nocking an arrow to launch at the pair of intruders.

Sheev-La didn't budge, or so Sevana thought until she looked to her side to see that the Argonian had taken cover behind a rock ahead, unsheathing a throwing knife from her bandolier.  How had she moved like that?

That line of inquiry didn't last long as Sevana refocused herself, channeling her power into a ball of liquid between her hands.  With the berserker and warrior making their way down a set of stairs heading straight for them, the Dunmer funneled the liquid toward them, forming a huge, deadly spear of pure ice.  It flew straight and true with a frightening speed and purpose, anchoring the berserker to the ground by way of his leg.  Though resistant to the icy spear's chilling nature, the Nord that had fallen victim to it still howled in agony, blood pouring from his leg with every unintended motion.

The warrior, startled by her companion's injury, didn't even get a chance as a sliver of leather-corded steel buried itself in her neck.  She slumped, dropping her shield and sword before succumbing to the darkness.  Again, Sevana hadn't even seen the Argonian move, but she had noticed the knife was no longer between her fingers.

The archer loosed another arrow, the shaft whizzing toward the Dunmer but ultimately landing in the tree trunk Sevana ducked behind, her assailant seemingly competent in at least leading their target.  Sevana waited a few more breaths, her heart pounding in her chest as she waited for the telltale impact of another arrow.  But the sound never came.

"You can come out," the Argonian called to Sevana.  "They're not going anywhere for a bit."

Leaning from her cover, Sevana spotted the archer clearly poised to loose another arrow... but they were laid down on the stairs, their joints locked in place.  "Did... did you paralyze that one?" she asked, a bit alarmed.  Only after she'd asked did she notice the Nord was down as well, having not even noticed he'd stopped screaming about his leg.

"Yeah.  She's going to have a lovely conversation with us about her friends," Sheev-La replied, grunting as she lifted the archer up by the waist and set her down.  The Dunmer's jaw was agape as she made her way to the stairs; she had expected Sheev-La to be competent in combat, but this was more frightening than she could've imagined.

The snap of the arrow nocked in the archer's bow brought Sevana back to the moment, Sheev-La rendering the weapon harmless for the time being.  Within seconds, the Khajiit girl regained her body's freedom of movement, eyes wide in terror as her bow twanged ineffectually.  "K-Khajiit will tell you anything, if you spare her!" she blurted out quickly, her accent thick and nigh on unintelligible to the Dunmer.

"Good, you know how this works.  I have three questions for you.  After you've answered, you're free to go.  First: what were you doing here?" Sheev-La started, her tone understanding and oddly comforting despite the dead bodies mere feet away.

"We were just raiding the tomb.  The locals have no idea the treasures they threw away, and their dusty dead have no use for them."  The Argonian nodded.

"Second: how many of you are here, discounting yourself and your former comrades here?" Sheev-La continued, gesturing toward the bodies.

"Eight.  Th-there are eight more in the tomb."

"Good, good.  Last question: I'm not going to catch you tomb-raiding anymore, am I?" the Argonian inquired, holding up a small pouch and dangling it before the Khajiit.  It jingled with promises of enough coin to at least buy food and shelter for a couple days.

"N-no, miss!  Khajiit thanks you!" the former bandit almost squeaked.

"Excellent.  The road to Riverwood is clear.  Get out of here," Sheev-La ordered her, dropping the pouch into the archer's hand.  The Khajiit gladly obliged, sprinting for town to preserve her own hide.

"Ancestors' mercy, what was that?" Sevana asked, offering a hand to the Argonian.  Sheev-La gladly took the hand, clasping it tightly and taking her assistance to stand with a soft grunt.

"What?  You know I've been at this for a long time."

"I know that, but damn...  I barely saw you move.  You were like an illusion."

"Precision and patience will outdo pure strength and cunning, in due time.  Stealth changes the pace of combat by forcing your opponents into an uncomfortable situation before they can adjust.  Everyone is their most vulnerable when they are unaware of important variables."

"I'll say...  I'm surprised I got a spell off before you were done with 'em."

"Don't sell yourself short, Sevana.  You've got weapons and tactics I don't, and you know how to apply them.  I'm sure you'll be saving my ass more than a few times before this is over," the Argonian told her, patting the Dunmer's shoulder and comforting Sevana for a change.

[wroughtironhero]

In Circles

@nordiixa

Chaldea Security Organization, Western Europe 02/08/2016 22:58 Humanity Foundation Status: Critical

     “Are you sure it’s wise to be using our resources so frivolously?  Our summoning materials are limited and you haven’t exactly had exceptional luck with-”

     The shield sparks to life with magical energy once more, before fizzling out into nothingness once more.

     “Damn it!!”

     My Master tugs at her own hair and doubles over as she screams in frustration.  It’s now late in the evening and she’s been trying at summoning since this afternoon.  Even Miss Kyrielight has abandoned her for the necessity of sleep.  At the moment, the two of us are the only ones still awake in the halls of the Chaldea Security Organization.

               No, that’s not entirely true.  Doctor Akiman is awake as well, but the man only rests when he eventually faints from exhaustion.  It’s a worrying habit, but one that would be inappropriate of me to correct.  As a being that truly does not require rest, it’s not my place to object to the Doctor’s chosen schedule.

     The well-being of my Master is an entirely different story, however.

     “Why...  Why won’t anyone show up...?”

     The pitiable young woman I’m contracted to is now on all fours and the verge of tears.  I walk to her side and crouch beside, gently placing a hand on her shoulder in a pithy attempt at comforting her.

     “There’s no need to be distraught, Master.  Grief won’t improve your chances of success.  Regardless, you already employ the services of several strong Servants.  We are not without the means to defeat our enemies.”

     I mean to console her, but the strength of our ranks is no lie.  Aside from myself, there is also Lily, Heracles, Altera, Drake, Jack, and a number of... other powerful Servants.  Ones who I’m less than enthusiastic about working alongside.

     She glances up at me still distraught, wiping away tears with the sleeve of her uniform.

     “But we are!!  We’re still not strong enough!  Solomon, he...”

     So, that’s what this is about.

     Darkness clouds my expression as I remember our encounters in the London singularity.  As though encountering Mordred, Zolgen, and his twisted abomination of Saber were not unpleasant enough, we also had the misfortune of learning the identity of our greatest enemy.  The being who intends to permanently eradicate humanity is none other than the King of Magic himself, Solomon the Wise.  Wielding the power of the Grand Caster vessel and that of the complete Ars Goetia, it’s a wonder to think he can be called a Heroic Spirit anymore.  Even fighting with everything we had, we only survived because he chose not to destroy us.  Unless we can find some way to level the playing field, the human race is doomed.

     That’s why she’s so desperate to summon another top class Servant.  Humanity’s continued existence is riding on her and she doesn’t have the luxury of failing.  To be burdened with such an awful responsibility as not even an amateur magic user, it simply isn’t fair.

     Yet even so, she took it upon herself.

     I let out a sigh, folding my arms and shutting my eyes before responding.

     “Don’t tell me you’re losing sleep over something like that.”

     That comment seems to catch her by surprise.  She stares at me in confusion, her breath hitching with her sporadic sniffles.

     “Of course I am!  Everyone’s counting on me, but I... I don’t have any idea how we’re supposed to beat him...”

     I shake my head at her like a bemused parent and help her to her feet.  Once she’s steady, I turn my gaze upwards to the spinning globe of Chaldeas hanging above our heads and the darkened world it displays.

     “Sure, Solomon can burn the world to cinders.  He has an army of infinite demons behind him and he’s the most powerful magus in existence.  He clearly thinks he’s invincible.  So has everyone we’ve defeated before him.”

     My Master is not without her own problems so it would seem.  You could say I sympathize with her.  I know that it’s like to be thrown into an unreasonable situation.

     An amateur magic user fighting against impossible odds in a Holy Grail War with the fate of the world at stake.  This goes a step beyond nostalgia.  It’s more like a waking nightmare.  She knows she’s walking into hell, but she keeps trying to save everyone she can with a smile on her face.  Honestly, I’m getting tired of seeing this old reflection.

     “Hubris is the word for it.  Underestimating your enemy is the surest route to defeat.  Solomon will discover this in time, same as the others.  I’m sure of it.”

     Even so, I can’t help but be fond of seeing it.  In a way, she’s like proof that these ideals lived on.

     Yeah, I am sure of it.  She’s cleared up any doubts I still had.  My Master really has a beautiful dream.

     She swallows hard, trying to regain her composure as she stares up at me.

     “How...  How do you know that for sure?”

     Surprised to hear such a question from her, I look down to meet her eyes and give her my answer.

     “That much should be obvious.  It’s because you’re my Master.”

     Shock spreads across her face for an instant before it gives way to a rosy cheeked smile.  Before I can react, her arms are latched around my midsection in a tight hug.  A single quiet chuckle leaves me as I allow her embrace to continue.

     So this is the Grand Order, huh?  It really is unlike any other conflict I’ve been a part of.

     I pat her head gently and she eventually lets go, crossing her arms behind her back.  Her smile only grows brighter as she beams up at me.

     “Thanks, Archer.  I’m glad I have such a reliable Servant.”

     Normally, I’d fight the smile such an exchange would threaten to bring out of me.  For this moment though, I’m willing to make an exception.  This girl really is something else.

     “And I’m fortunate to have such a persistent Master.  Here,” I say to her as I reach into her bag.  Withdrawing a handful of Saint’s Quartz, I place it into her open palm.  “Just one more shot and then we’ll call it for today.  Okay?”

     She nods, smiling through the tears still formed in her eyes, and grasps the magical energy constructs in her fist with confidence.  “Okay!”

     Striding up the shield, she crushes the prisms in her hand before opening it outward to the shield, offering the miraculous energy as fuel for the summoning.  The shield comes to life once again, a summoning circle made of light hovering above it.  After a moment of hesitation, her incantation begins.

     “Heroic Spirit unbound by time, hear my call.  We stand at the precipice of mankind’s ruin.  If nothing is done, our plunge into darkness will be final and absolute.  Answer me and fulfill your role as a hero of legend.  Join my cause and fight by my side against the enemy of humanity.  I ask of you...  No.  By my command, come forth, Servant Lancer!”

     The summoning circle emanates forth a blinding golden light.  As the light fades and my vision returns to me, I’m made aware of the statuesque feminine figure before me.  She’s an unspeakably beautiful Nordic warrior, clad in intricately detailed armor and wielding a menacing spear with two giant blades at its tip.

     My Master winces in pain as the red markings on the back of her hand flash with light.  Staring at the newly arrived Servant and then her command spells, she sports a toothy grin before leaping in the air with a pump of her fist.

     “Haha, it worked!!  Archer, we’ve got a new Lancer!  ...Archer?”

     My Master turns to me in confusion, curious as to my lack of a response.  My eyes stare past her, transfixed on the Noble Phantasm of our new arrival.

     Using my structural analysis magecraft, I can scan any weapon in my sight and learn the entirety of its history.  This skill and my extensive knowledge of mythology allows me to determine the identity of other Servants far more quickly than your average Servant.  In this case, discovering this Lancer’s identity is easier than usual because of her Noble Phantasm.  None could wield that spear save for the tragic heroine of the Volsung Saga herself, the maddened Valkyrie, Brynhildr.

     Her eyes snap to meet mine as I feel her read my soul just as I read her polearm.  It’s the basis of her personal skill, Hero’s Bridesmaid.  It allows her to learn the legend of any Heroic Spirit she faces, gaining an advantage against and becoming infatuated with them if their legend is a romantic one.  Of course, becoming the object of her affections has an obvious end result, as the man who slew Fafnir could no doubt tell you.

     An incomparable agony assaults me as her search begins.  My mind strains in protest as she delves through my past, desperate to find the intimacy she seeks and sink her fangs into it.  Static fills my vision as my resistance renders me paralyzed in concentration, denying her taking every ounce of energy available to me.

    ‘          I ask of you.  Are you my Master?’

     Precious memories hidden deeply within me are laid bare before the Valkyries prying eyes.  Days spent together even in the midst of War, I treasure them all more than any sword I’ve ever beheld.  Even fallen to the depths that I have, I never allowed myself to forget those golden moments.  The Valkyrie feasts on my sentiment like a leech on an exposed vein, empowering herself through my weakness.

     ‘          I finally understand.  You were my sheath          ’

     Despite my protests, she sees it all.  Every awkward conversation, every stubborn argument, every fight for our lives, every private moment; the dream we shared is on full display to a third set of eyes who should have never seen it. Her assault seems to go on without end until finally she finds the moment she sought.

     ‘Shirou          I love you.’

     Damn it.

     The struggle barely lasted longer than a second and it’s decided just as quickly.  Raising my hands up and projecting swords into them, I just barely block the spear’s thrust tip as it hovers perilously close to my chest.  Brynhidlr’s absurd speed to meet me created a gust of wind so powerful my Master was blown off her feet.  While struggling against the Valkyrie in bladelock, in the periphery of my vision, I see my Master crawling to bring herself upright, staring at me with a single eye open and a baffled grimace across her face.  As I attempt to speak instructions to her through my clenched teeth, the weight of the Valkrie’s weapon increases, launching me backwards into the depths of the facility.

     The sound of clashing metal and searing magic echoes through the halls of Chaldea, warning any staff awoken by the sound to take cover.  Sadly, it’s not the first time something like this has happened.

     The spear’s blade narrowly passes over my head, taking a few loose hairs with it, before carving out a deep gash in the hallway’s interior.  Her next swing meets Bakuya solidly, shattering the yin sword and prompting a new projection to take its place in the same instant.  I attempt to use the opening to deliver a plunging counter attack, but she bats away my stab with a deft twirl of her polearm and forces me to retreat even further backwards.

     My cloak’s in tatters.  I’ve suffered a dozen different grazing blows I’m doing my best to ignore.  As for the facility...  Well, I’m glad there are Casters on hand.  Our new recruit’s wrecked every inch of this place she’s been through chasing after me and doing the repair work by hand is not a pleasant thought.  Granted, I’ve contributed to the property damage a good deal while trying not to die, but I don’t think anyone will hold that much against me.  Assuming I survive, of course.

     Another sweep leveled at my head.  She seems to be targeting my head and chest exclusively.  I can only assume the face and heart focus are symptomatic of the homicidal obsession.  I continue to dodge and parry her blows as we move ever further through the labyrinthine facility.

     Alright, I think it’s time I was honest with myself.  I might have bitten off more than I can chew here.  I’m at a severe disadvantage fighting Lancers and seeing as the Sabers aren’t arriving as backup, this won’t end well at the rate we’re going.  She’s backing me into a corner and I’m running out of space.  Unless I pull a win out of this quick, I’ll be completely at her mercy.  My thing for dangerous women might finally be catching up to me.

    As her spear comes for me again, I catch it between my monochrome swords, bringing us to a temporary standstill.  Desperation and adrenaline pumping through my veins, I decide to employ one of my more unconventional tactics: conversation.

     “Listen, this might be a bit late but,“ I say to her, increasing my volume so as to be heard over the sound of our straining steel.  “I’m not Sigurd.  Killing me would be of absolutely no benefit to you.  You know that, right?”

     While trying to reason with the Valkyrie driven insane by heartbreak might not seem like the best idea right now, I haven’t tried it yet and until it makes my situation worse, I’m willing to give it a shot.

[ab-cogitation]

I almost wanted to complain about how cold it is this morning, But I don’t have a reason to, because truthfully, I’m happy to be back home in Detroit.

Being here means to embrace all the Seasons and their temperament.

Sometimes the Sun shines and sometimes the Sun need a break, desiring hugs from Clouds. The Sun letting it’s many emotions eject as rain, lightning, snow or to simply seek refuge in the Cloud’s shadow.

See even the Sun knows when to be humble; to stand down, take a step back and be behind the scenes. Likely recharging, resurging then emerging from the night to lead the Moon back to her sanctury. Because the Sun knows that when it’s own inner glow is too bright, it too is blinded. Caught up in the lime lights and lemon drops that it rejects the idea of even lowering itself for recollections which indebted it’s riches. Riches being the fruit of it’s Spirit, its Light, it’s loathing and longing to be recognized beyond warming sensations.

Like how it kisses our skin, draws up sweat and get us in heat to BBQ, bike, bathing suits and seeing the details of one’s frame. A lust we often have no shame in sharing. It’s obvious with how we are staring. Hormones flaring. Emotions blaring like sirens. The kind of vibration that draws courage into hiding and on lookers to confiding with a God they often forget besides Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. The inadvertently abuse emitted by the Sun is endless.

Which is why it often hide in Clouds us human call emotions.

Coming back home to Detroit has been just that; A Cloud of emotions. There’s a light in me that has been wired into us all, but quite frequently forgotten victories make us uncloth from our armor. Thus becoming susceptible to being sieged by every vice there is.

I learned this hard truth every time I handed out my still tattered Heart. Instead of bandaids and gauze pads with dressing, I opted to hold my Heart together using left over ribbon from holidays and coating it with Modge Podge and glitter.

I gift wrapped my shit, and stood back in the corner awaiting the receiver to be slapped with the element of surprise.

They thought I was perfect, because I’m pretty. Better yet they assumed that the tenderness in my words meant I would be hesitant to aim where it hurts— Accountability. Moreso towards myself, because people really believed the inner Peace I speak so freely of came without consequence. People really thought that I don’t go through things or make mistakes. Yes I’m prone to a fuck up or 10, but I view this shit as lessons given I choose to be a student.

Like….

Returning home to Detroit from Phoenix with the same amount of money I left with ($150) humbled the fuck out of me, but engulfed me to shame more than any feeling. I were under the impression that I were supposed to return with a lot more money and mantras they recited the spiritual journey I embarked on in the West Coast.

I were supposed to come back feeling like that bitch, but being broke to the point all of my mom friends had to join their coins together to get my ass back to Detroit. Which I’m grateful for that. Totally grateful. Super appreciative and thankful that they came through for me minutely, because I were days away from being put out of my apartment.

Why?

Love.

I thought I found Love in a man who was deep in a union with his childhood issues, manic anger and addiction to cigarettes and meth..

Yes… Meth.

But I tried to Love him anyway. I tried to support him anyway. I tried to make sure every morning was greeting with hot breakfast and sucking his dick on the whim so he’d never feel inclined to ask.

I tried to treat that nigga like a King. A God maybe. I saw beyond his conflicting ass flaws and sought a treaty with his Potential. I tried to nurse his symptoms from withdrawal by diving deep into studying herbs and tantric touches.

I tried to support his moves, no matter how mediocre, by investing in his aesthetics and trying to connect the many dots he failed to revisit.

I tried to Love this man. Be the mother he wished he had. Be the Lover he claimed never existed and be the light, the Sun to conquer his darkness.

I tried so damn hard to be what this man needed that the absence of reciprocity made me bitter. Damn near resentful, not vengeful, but definitely irrational from still keeping him around until he decided to leave cuz the well ran dry; both my pussy and pockets.

How about my sense of self worth?

I let the Sun in Phoenix illuminate a light in me to the degree I were blinded by my own insecurities.

How did I end up so desperate? Breaking my contract with Celibacy? I mean.. Ya girl was 1 year and 4 months in without dick. I were craving a booty rub, but what I wanted was Love. I wantrd to be celebrated and honored in the same fashion as our ancestors honored the Sun and now rever the Son of God named Jesus.

I felt saving this man would equal out our yolks as he unknowingly saved me from being lost in my own darkness. He saved me from loneliness just by being there. His company and conversation alone was enough until that shit became arguments, and drove me away from being at my own apartment— my name on the lease; my money paying the bills; my money putting in groceries; yet he somehow would get an attitude when I returned home too soon to MY place… A place that never felt like my own until he left.

That’s when the weight loss journey took place.

After walking my son to school in the morning, I would walk around the neighborhood with my headphones on. Taking in the scenic sunrise, the mountains and the buzz from busy commuters.

Hike, Hike, Hike

Hiking up North Mountain

Strolling around the water Basin on 10th St

I learned of parks and cool ass places in my neighborhood I didn’t know existed. I started testing out my photography skills. I tried my hand as running around the water basin and sitting on bare land with insects under trees.

I began to adopt the diet of the hummingbirds around me; seeds, nectar from flowers, berries and water.

I observed all the plants, trees and flowers around me. Absorbing their divine nature to get an organic understanding of how I want to be; rooted, budding and blossoming, letting the beauty of my essence be conceived.

Unsure of what this plant is, but it smells good as gawk!

More importantly, I cultivated a relationship with the Sun whom really shed light on who I AM.

Sunrise in North Phoenix

Taking the information downloaded home to create vision boards, a plant based diet and staying in the Rhythm with God through dance, yoga and prayer.

My vision board and cluster of craft supplies that I still regret leaving behind.

Introspection, solidarity and manifesting some shit.

It was through these regimens, practices and form of worship that enabled me to cope with being alone. I had to deal with heartbreak and anger. I had to master the emotions of grief and guilt. I had to really take the time to learn and LOVE ME.

Who I AM…

Phoenix was chosen as a healing space given that it was revealed in my name interpretation rendered by BlaqFire Nation. In my birth name, Ashley, rising from the ashes like the Phoenix is said to be apart of my story in this lifetime. Given that prior to my decision to flee Detroit I endured the death of my mother, were exposed on social media for something personal, and learning that I’ve been my baby daddy’s side bitch all these years, I were in a dire need to escape. And since I were too chicken to commit suicide after contemplating the shit over and over, relocating suited best.

And I dipped out Detroit with $150 and my son who was 4 years old at the time on a mentally excruciating three days on the Greyhound.

The rest is the journey of The Alchemist, which is also the title of a book recommended by a great friend of mine.

It was a parable that spoke to me, because much like the character, Santiago, I too were on a quest to find my treasure and love. I also communicated with the wind, the rain, the Clouds, and the Sun, which all led me to speaking with God.

That is when I learned that the treasure I dreamed of could only be discovered at home, in Detroit…

And I have located that treasure.

It was ME all along. It was ME that I found.

So while I don’t possess the material monetary shit that society says define who my status, I own something greater, more profound and infinite—It is the realization that I can only save myself. It’s a knowing that regardless of who or what I encounter, I only have control over me and that is more than manageable.

So while I wanted to complain about the cold weather, grey skies and the Sun playing hide n seek with a nigga after being spoiled in a city where the Sun shines boastfully 300 days a year, the coldest it get is 40 degrees at night during winter month (yes literally a month of cold), and no snow? I ALMOST wanted to regret returning.

You see what comparison does right? It generates a divide in the spectrum, thus taking away the Light that all is worthy of experiencing. Shit even the darkness want to be enveloped in the Sun’s grace.

The Sun… I’m so grateful for it’s solar power. It’s a star that’s assisted with my personal evolution. It’s been the formula to my countless issues. Being in the Sun, feeling the Sun; gazing at the Sun; it’s been my saving grace. Interesting how the simple things, most of which is taken for granted, become the epitome of our healing. Much gratitude to the TRUE SUN of GOD.

Had I not left Detroit, who knows where I’d be mentally…

Can’t ponder on the hypotheticals tho as they’ll strip away where I AM NOW.

Speaking of now… I went from 190 lbs to a solid one fiddy.

I had a great solo Hot Girl Summer. Bike riding, river running and being grounded by Mother Earth to be refined in feminine energy.

The journey continues….

#ABCogitation

Heartbreak and the Sun Saved Me: A Narrative on why I Returned to Detroit I almost wanted to complain about how cold it is this morning,But I don't have a reason to, because truthfully, I'm happy to be back home in Detroit.

[marcusssanderson]

10 Important methods for managing through traumatic injury

It was the longest night of my life — that night while I was trying to recover from injury. I lay in the hospital bed, incapacitated, motionless, and sweating profusely. It was five nights after a terrible road cycling accident rendered me a quadriplegic.

My mind was jumbled with orbiting thoughts of despair, anxiety, sadness, and anger. I knew my life was at a crossroads. Which way was I going to go? Surrender and give in? Or fight the good fight and give it everything I had?

Here’s how I was able to manage and recover through traumatic injury.

Methods for managing through traumatic injury

1.) Make a choice.

Nobody chooses to suffer a catastrophic injury. Nobody chooses to be afflicted with some terrible illness or disease. But we can choose how we respond to such unexpected events. You can make the choice to aspire, persevere, and prevail. Do not look at the rear view mirror and second-guess your choice, or wonder if you should turn around.

Make the choice to fight the good fight and do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes. Without choice, there is no way forward. You are simply going in circles. You can choose – but choice without action will leave you in the same place — stalled.

  2.) Apply effort.

It will not be easy. Whatever may be ailing you will require action on your part. You have to want it — whatever that choice is — and be willing to push through the forces that will try to hold you back. Be unwavering. Commit to working on it every day with faith that you’ll achieve success after all your effort.

I remember in those early days post injury, I had a brief conversation with my physician. He said to me, “Jamie, get independent.” Those are two simple yet incredibly powerful words: get independent.

  3.) Find your focus.

For the last decade since the injury, those words have guided every step of my recovery. I made it a point to do everything in my power not to be enabled by anyone or anything. I made it my focus to attempt to do things on my own, as frustrating and painstakingly slow as it was.

People always wanted to offer help, but I would just thank them and say that I need to figure out how to do things on my own. I was maniacal in those initial months post-injury to do everything possible with medical interventions of one kind or another.

There were many times I would do six, 10, sometimes 12 appointments a week. This included physical and occupational therapy, pool therapy, acupuncture, reflexology, massage, and so much more. I was under the wrong notion that the bulk of recovery occurs in the first six months post-injury and tapers after 1-2 years. I felt this tremendous sense of urgency and didn’t allow myself to rest.

  4.) Pace yourself.

My occupational therapist had said to me early on that there were four things I need to remember if I want to recover from traumatic injury: plan, prepare, prioritize, and pace myself. The most important of them was pacing. I didn’t listen, at least not initially. My body was screaming at me to rest, especially in the first year when I was still in a state of spinal shock.

My failure to pace and rest when needed caused a serious “second” crash. I learned a hard lesson. Going through trauma of this magnitude turned my life upside down. Everything was shattered from a professional, familial, marital, relational, financial, recreational, and spiritual perspective.

My life crumbled. I thought I had the mental fortitude to deal with everything on my plate. But I quickly learned after the “second” crash that I desperately need mental health counseling.

  5.) Seek mental health intervention.

It took me a year post-injury before I finally did, which, in retrospect, was a monumental mistake. It nearly cost me my life. I could have easily committed suicide. Once I did engage with a skilled therapist, I continued with her for the next five years.

Initially reluctant and impatient, I slowly adjusted to the process. I can say that I have been able to successfully process feelings and emotions deep down in my psyche. I used to think this was a sign of weakness – but it’s not. In fact, it’s a sign of strength; a tacit acknowledgment that it’s best not to go through the process alone.

From the early days when I was in the hospital, I remember just trying to get my forefinger to touch my thumb. Seems pretty pedestrian – except when you are neurologically impaired. My level of injury from the spinal cord injury was C7, which meant that the paralysis started at my mid abdomen and extended all the way down to my toes. It affected all of my fingers.

Working tirelessly just to get the two to touch took weeks. Frustratingly slow, but, eventually, I was able to do it. That little benign, innocuous goal became a little victory. This put in motion a parade of little goals, which turned into little victories. Over time, the goals and victories became cumulative. They grew into bigger goals and victories.

  6.) Have goals, constantly.

The goals can be of any shape and size you want, but start off modestly. Keep working on them until you can check the boxes and move on to your next set of goals. Think ahead of what you want to set yourself for. Do whatever it takes to accomplish them.

The victories will come. They will give you the confidence to take on your next targets. In time, you will be amazed at what you are able to do. I had heard of the words ‘mindfulness’ and ‘visualization’, but didn’t understand what they meant or what they could do for me. Through friends and books, I gained a better understanding of them, especially visualization.

I would often visualize, for example, this beam of light emanating from the heavens, shining brightly and aimed at the lesion in my central cord. I pictured it like a laser beam, dissipating the damage like the morning sun burning off morning clouds.

A decade later, I still hold on to this vision – particularly in my quiet moments, or when I’m stretching after exercise.

  7.) Visualize.

I’ve used visualization coupled with mindfulness to make internal movies of things I want to accomplish. I think of myself as a moviemaker, the author, scriptwriter, editor, and publisher of my own movies.

Back then, I would visualize what accomplishing those goals would look like. I’d choreograph them in great detail and play them over and over in my mind until the movie could play itself without any conscious prompting. It’s been vital in allowing me to make the extraordinary recovery I have achieved since 2007.

I got dealt a bad hand in this traumatic injury – and I knew I wasn’t alone. Most people are either dealing with something themselves or know someone who is. I don’t have monopoly on misery. I am not a victim. I don’t feel sorry for myself that something bad happened.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t many more good hands to play. Nobody ever promised life would be fair. For most of us, that has been the case.

  8.) Make the best of it.

It would be easy to think about all the things I can’t do anymore. So many things used to bring me joy, fulfillment, and identity. I have struggled for years trying to figure out my new purpose. Why am I still here? What am I supposed to do?

I understand now what my mother-in-law, Muriel, would often say after she was faced with the consequences of an auto accident that caused a traumatic brain injury to her second husband. She would frequently tell me, “Jamie, I make the best of it.” I understand now what she meant.

I’m dedicating myself to doing something I did very little of in my early and mid-adult years. That is to give back. I remember many years ago when I was seeing a mental health therapist unrelated to this injury. She asked me a number of deeply personal questions. My answers kept skirting around her questions and she finally quipped, “Jamie, you’re like a greased pig. I can’t seem to nudge you to speak from your heart.”

She then asked me, “Do you know what it’s like to be vulnerable?” I didn’t even know what the word meant. Or I had built up such an external armor that wouldn’t allow me to feel that way.

  9.) Be vulnerable.

When faced with any kind of traumatic injury, it can be easy to want to hide from others. Being infirmed can be shameful and embarrassing. It can even make us to want to be reclusive. I believe that if we can shed that veneer and allow ourselves to be real, raw, authentic and even vulnerable, we can draw people closer to us.

Being engaged and connected with others can be as important as taking medicines, doing therapies, or following doctors’ orders. After I suffered that terrible “second” crash, I became fearful. I was afraid of doing too much that might, in any way, set myself back and negate all that hard-fought progress.

I was cautious about everything – working, driving, and exercising. Fear is helpful up to a point. It can guard us against doing things that could be too risky or harmful. Beyond that, fear can also become an impediment: a roadblock that can get in the way of making meaningful progress.

  10.) Trust yourself.

After three years of intensive physical, occupational, and pool therapy, it was suggested that I join a gym and continue rehab on my own. I did join a club I belonged to years before and was reacquainted with a friend who was also very knowledgeable about the weight room.

He took me under his wing and trained with me. In the early days of working out together, I said to him: “Sam, when I tell you enough is enough, enough is enough!” He replied, “Jamie, you need to learn to trust yourself!” He was right. Fear was in the way of me making further progress in my recovery. His words helped removed that significant barrier.

The work that Sam and I did together in the ensuing years changed everything about my recovery. It helped defy the odds in spinal cord injury recovery. After several years, I have been able to ride a road bicycle and get on skis again – all without assistance.

Incorporating these 10 methods can help you recover from traumatic injury and get your life back together. You just have to realize that it starts with a choice.

The post 10 Important methods for managing through traumatic injury appeared first on Everyday Power Blog.

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'Shadow of the Colossus' review: One of the best games ever made is reborn

‘Shadow of the Colossus’ is one of the most beautiful games ever made.

“Shadow of the Colossus” is regarded as one of the most beautiful video games ever made. When it was released in October 2005 for Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 2, the game’s striking visuals, incredible sense of scale and simple, yet stirring story did more to advance the argument that video games are art than nearly any title before it.

Next to the kind of 4K, HDR graphics found in today’s multi-million dollar games, though, “Shadow of the Colossus’” once groundbreaking visuals look quaint. At least that was the case until Sony’s Japan Studio and Bluepoint Games set out to resurrect “Shadow of the Colossus” for the PlayStation 4.

Complete with 4K, HDR graphics, and more than twice the detail in a single temple than the PS2 version’s entire game world, the PS4 remake of “Shadow of the Colossus” is easily one of the most visually arresting video games I’ve seen to date. And whether you’ve played the title before, or never laid eyes on a colossus before, this is the edition to get.

It’s hard to beat a game that looks as incredible as ‘Shadow of the Colossus’ does on the PS4 Pro.

Beautiful in its simplicity

Unlike narrative-heavy games, “Shadow of the Colossus” doesn’t hit you with dozens of characters whose backstories could each fill every line of a 300-page novel. But it’s also not the kind of game that eschews a story entirely. Instead, Studio Japan built a tale about a young man named Wander on a quest to restore life to a young woman named Mono who was sacrificed for her “cursed fate.”

The colossi are as massive as buildings and hit just as hard.

To revive Mono, Wander travels to a forbidden land and seeks out a being called Dormin that is said to have the power to resurrect people. But Dormin, represented by a booming, disembodied voice from above, tells Wander he must first slay 16 colossi before Mono can be revived. And from there, you set out on your quest. The only other characters in the game are a shaman named Lord Emon, a small handful of soldiers and the 16 colossi. Oh, and your trusty steed Argo. God, I love that horse.

This is the story about the lengths one will go to for the person they care about, and, without giving away any spoilers for a 13-year-old game, its finale is as opaque as it is beautiful. The title’s brilliant score is as much a part of the narrative as the characters, and is already a classic. 

At times the game can crush you with its emptiness. Outside of Argo, Wander has no other emotional anchor, which makes traversing the vast deserts of the forbidden land feel daunting. What’s more, the game is sure to remind you of its incredible scale by pulling back the camera just enough for you to see the expansive landscape in front of you.

Outside of Argo, you’re alone in the forbidden land.

I specifically remember watching one of my best friends play the original “Shadow of the Colossus” during my sophomore year of college and thinking how gorgeous the game looked. But the PS2’s limitations forced the developers to make “SotC’ ” deserts look as though they were engulfed in never-ending dust storms.

The PS4, however, allowed Bluepoint to create a desert with undulating sand dunes and dust storms that cloud your vision, but don’t obscure the distant cliffs surrounding the forbidden land. Streams running through the lush forests of another portion of the forbidden land are inviting enough to dive right into, while the geysers and discolored earth of another region look as inhospitable as a distant planet. Even smaller details like individual blades of grass sway in the wind as you ride past the Shrine of Worship. Argo’s hoof prints also look realistic.

It’s not just the environments that are beautiful, though. The titular colossi are equally stunning with their enormous, lumbering bodies, stone-like armor and huge swaths of life-like fur.

You spend a lot of time looking at this fur, so it makes sense that Bluepoint put a good deal of work into ensuring that it looked and behaved as fur would in real life. Grab onto a colossus and climb up its back and its fur will react properly as the beast tries to shake you off.

See that dam in the distance? You can go there.

Naturally, killing a colossus isn’t as simple as shimmying up its leg and poking it in the head. And that’s the other reason “SotC” is so loved. See, in order for Wander to take down a colossus, you need to figure out how to uncover its weak spot. At first that can be as easy as latching onto its fur, but as you progress through the game, you need to put more and more thought into figuring out how to find a colossus’ vital point.

Essentially, the colossi serve as moving puzzles that can also crush you, blast you with giant electrified orbs or suffocate you with poison gas. Its overcoming those obstacles and learning how to beat these immense monsters that makes defeating the colossi so satisfying.

Looks or performance

The PS4 version of “SotC” comes with two play modes for PS4 Pro owners: cinematic and performance. Cinematic mode is designed to highlight the game’s graphics in 4K, HDR with gameplay that runs at 30 frames per second, which is about average for most console games. If you don’t have a 4K TV, Sony says “SotC” will run at 1080p resolution from a render target generated at 1440p. The idea is to make the game’s visuals look smoother, with fewer sharp edges around objects.

Your bow isn’t going to be enough to stop the colossi.

Performance mode, as its name implies, is designed to show off the PS4 Pro’s performance capabilities. In this mode, the game will run at buttery smooth 60 frames per second. The game’s graphics will still look gorgeous, but you won’t get the kind of benefits available through the cinematic mode.

I preferred playing in cinematic mode, since I wanted to see the game in all of its glory on my 55-inch 4K, HDR TV. After all, this game is designed to look amazing, so why wouldn’t you play it in the mode that does it justice?

And the included photo editor, which is accessible by pressing down on the directional pad, lets you capture images from the game as you play. See a particular landscape that you find irresistible? You can take a picture of it, change the camera angle, adjust the sharpness and saturation of the image and then share it for all the world to see.

Some things never change

One of the chief criticisms about the original “SotC” was how its camera could make tracking the colossi during battle, or even getting a view of the world around you somewhat difficult. And that same issue creeps up in the remake, as well. There were a few times when I was fighting different colossi and the camera kept moving in the direction the game wanted me to look, not where I was looking.

The lush forests in the forbidden land are as desolate as its deserts.

I noticed the same problem when crossing large land bridges, or when I wanted to just get a view of the world around me. Each time I moved the thumbstick to adjust the camera angle, the game would force it back to where it wanted me to look. For a title that’s meant to serve as a template for the kind of visual effects video games can achieve, that’s a bummer.

In close quarters, Argo’s controls, like seemingly all horse controls in games, felt disconnected and slow to respond at times. At full speed, though, Argo steamed ahead with ease.

Should you get it?

“Shadow of the Colossus” for the PS4 is every bit as gorgeous, memorable and tremendous as it was when it debuted for the PS2 more than a decade ago. It’s a graphically stunning piece of art with a narrative that drives you forward with a sense of wonder despite its vagueness.

If you’ve never played “Shadow of the Colossus,” the PS4 remake is your chance to experience a classic in its most perfect form. And if you played the original for the PS2, it makes revisiting the forbidden land well worth it.

What’s hot: A beautifully crafted remake of a PS2 classic; Cinematic mode makes owning 4K, HDR TV worthwhile; The ultimate version of an already fantastic title

What’s not: Camera doesn’t always cooperate with your movements; Argo’s controls felt unwieldy in close quarters

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Fear the Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 8 Review: The Door

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This Fear the Walking Dead review contains spoilers. 

Fear the Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 8

Well, damn. This is a real heartbreaker of an episode, isn’t it? If you haven’t heeded the spoiler warning above, here’s another one for you: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD for this episode. If for some reason you jumped straight to this review without first watching “The Door,” I strongly recommend that you rectify that right now. 

In a show that so often trucks in death, this one hurts a lot. Yes, John Dorie is dead. 

Unlike Morgan’s somewhat ambiguous fate in last season’s “End of the Line,” there’s absolutely no shred of doubt here. And unlike Madison and Nick, there are no hinky time jumps, no red herrings. By hour’s end, John isn’t just dead, he’s undead—and we all know there’s no amount of plot armor that can bring someone back from that. 

After almost three seasons, John Dorie receives a proper final episode to send him off to that great beyond. Over the course of the hour, Fear the Walking Dead tries and succeeds in tugging at our collective heartstrings. After all, John was the show’s one and only hopeless romantic, a sensitive gunslinger who eschewed killing. He will be missed, and so will Garret Dillahunt. 

As far as last days go, John’s was emblematic of his good-natured persona. In his final hours, he sought to help those closest to him, namely Morgan and Dakota. This is part of this episode’s brilliance, keeping things focused on this trio. The result produces an unlikely Venn diagram with Virginia’s sister in the center. Because as we learn, Dakota is the canny yet jaded arbiter of who lives and who dies. 

While it was fairly obvious a few episodes back that Dakota murdered Cameron to cover her tracks, it was less obvious that she was Morgan’s mysterious savior. “The Door,” penned by showrunners Ian Goldberg and Andrew Chambliss, is brimming with great dialogue. One bit that stands out is Dakota’s chilling assessment of the status quo: “It’s just how life is now. People kill, people die,” she says matter-of-factly. 

Of course, this doesn’t sit well with John. To him, every life and every death carries a lot of weight. Otherwise, what’s the point? Like Morgan, John has had his fill of killing. Both men are pacifists in a world defined by constant death and destruction. In another great line, Morgan remarks to Dorie, “These times, John. They make us men we tried so hard not to be.” 

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It must be said that Dillahunt, Lennie James, and Zoe Colletti all hit it out of the park, immersing themselves in their characters’ pathos and desperation. As we know, in this godforsaken world, no one can outrun their past mistakes for very long. Thanks to Dillahunt, James, and Colletti, we see how the daily act of survival is a heavy burden to bear.  This has always been baked into Fear the Walking Dead, though, this inescapable notion that regret and redemption drive characters forward in hopes of becoming better versions of themselves. Even John, one of the show’s purest characters, is consumed by doubt and self-recrimination. 

If anyone can understand the darkness clouding John’s mind, it’s Morgan. In trying to recruit John to his cause, Morgan’s comment, “I found Grace” can be read two ways. Yes, he found someone he cares deeply about, but he’s also found renewed purpose by creating a new settlement. Whether this dual meaning is intentional or not isn’t important. The fact that any subtext might exist speaks a lot to Morgan’s larger character arc. 

The same can be said for John’s explanation that a new door for his cabin isn’t meant for keeping people out. “It’s to keep the passed from getting at me, after I do what I need to do.” This can be read two ways, too. John is haunted by past mistakes, but everyone is haunted by the passed (John’s term for the undead). To me, this episode merits high marks for these lines of dialogue alone. There is an inherent logic and believability to these characters and their motivations in “The Door” that was sorely lacking in some of this season’s earlier episodes—most notably in “Damage from the Inside.”

“The Door” is careful to balance out the human drama with moments of intense zombie action. The bridge-clearing scene in particular is especially gruesome and violent. All three are committed to getting through that horde, working in tandem to forge ahead, earning every bit of ground along the way. It’s an interesting bit of symbolism that the cabin doors are literally keeping the passed at bay. Minutes later, after John finds himself in the river with a bullet in his chest, it’s the yellow door that bears him downriver. 

In the end, John washes up at his lonely little cabin, now one of the passed himself. Of course, it’s a stunned June (Jenna Elfman) who finds John. The camera lingers a long time on his vacant expression as he crawls toward her through the mud. It’s fitting that their union would end in the very place where it began back in season 4’s beautiful “Laura.” June, nee Laura, deals the killing blow with a knife to John’s head. It’s not a good death, but his was a life well lived. 

We do check in with Dwight and company just long enough to set the stage for an inevitable showdown. John’s death will likely shape the remainder of season 6, too. Surely Morgan runs the risk of losing himself again, now that his best friend is gone. As for Dakota, it’s anyone’s guess if she’ll make it to the end of the season. If Charlie can find redemption for her actions as a former Vulture, I suppose Dakota might find salvation, too. 

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I’d like to think it’s what John Dorie himself would have wanted, this chance for Dakota to discover a better version of herself. 

The post Fear the Walking Dead Season 6 Episode 8 Review: The Door appeared first on Den of Geek.

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