#I really need to play FFIX again

[gazkerber]

Patron sketch requests from December 2023! ❤

[kozachenko]

I've crawled out of my cave after playing Final Fantasy IX for a long ass time what have I missed?

Artist's Notes:

I'M BACK BABY! A while back I made a post with a new style experimentation thingy but I ended up deleting it because it was just kind of a boring face thing, I was planning on doing more art but then I started playing Final Fantasy IX and uhhhh yeah so that game has kind of taken of my brain for the past two weeks and I am 20 hours into the game because I love it so much. I wanted to draw Vivi because Vivi is just really fun to draw ok? I've kinda been feeling really burnt out with my lineless style, mainly because of how hard it was to do lighting. I'll show one of my initial art style tests on the bottom of this post. Again, used to have it be an individual post but it was just one face so it was kinda boring, so might as well include with this one on the subject of art styles. I wanted to kinda mix some aspects of my older style with the sketchy shading lines with a more painterly way of doing the lighting (mainly in the shadows). All in all, I think that's my favourite part about this drawing, it feels nice to finally be able to do some proper lighting again, and I want to experiment even more with my lighting and rendering in future pieces. Also, part of the pant shading got kinda lost in the sketchiness, so for next time I'll probably focus on the clarity of the more sketchy parts of the drawing, since I did go with my initial sketch for the final drawing. I also gave up on the background since I had no idea what to do for it, and I didn't put too much detail into the staff as I forgot which one I gave him in my current playthrough and I didn't want to risk spoiling myself via looking up references, but that's ok I like how the singular yellow circle on it matches Vivi's eyes. Also I was having a bit of trouble figuring out how to draw his body and how to pose him, but I like how the pose turned out a lot. It was inspired by his idle animation when in a battle in game where he does a little shimmy.

Ok I need to talk about Vivi's design because I love it so fucking much oh my god-

I absolutely love how his face is just in complete shadow and only his eyes stand out, it's so cool and unique and I love how they recontextualized the original black mage design from the classic Final Fantasy games. How they did it I won't say because I don't wanna spoil the game, but someone give this poor baby a therapist because he goes through a lot. Actually, same can be said for all of the FFIX cast, they all need therapy (again, I won't spoil anything, please go play the game for yourself).

While I do love almost all the characters in the game, even though Vivi is most fun to draw, my favourite character has to be Zidane (the main protagonist of the game). He's a really fun protagonist, and they could have easily written him as a misogynistic jerk who doesn't respect women but they didn't, and I really appreciate that. He's just an overall cool dude who's a really nice older brother figure to Vivi and also just has a cool character design (who I also want to draw eventually). Initially in the game I was planning on grinding levels for Vivi to make him the tactical nuke of the party, but then that title went to a different character (who was initially multiple levels behind the group since I grinded the party in the starting area way to much before they joined, but now they are two levels ahead of everyone and have pulled the team through a lot of tough battles, again I won't say who it is because it is kind of a spoiler and the way the gameplay actually ties into their character arc is just so good omfg). Once I eventually finish the game I'll probably write a full review on here, so no spoilers until then lol

Also, I've kinda been burning out a bit with making Touhou art, which also made me a bit burnt out with Touhou stuff in general (although I will continue keeping up with the manga) so getting into other things (i.e. Final Fantasy and even Fallout since I've watched the first season of the TV show which is a whole other post for another day) has helped me refresh and given me something new to think about. I've ended up in the exact place I feared ending up, where I would start drawing fanart for it not because I wanted to but because I felt like I had to, so I'm taking a bit of a break. When I do draw Touhou fanart again I'll try to draw for the sake of myself, and to all the other artists and fanartists on this platform (and on any social media for that matter), take care of yourself and don't forget to take breaks when you need to!

(Ok part of that last paragraph was definitley influenced by the good ol' "it's 9:00pm and I need sleeb, but the message at the end still holds up, always take care of yourself)

Oh yeah, and here is that one style experiment I did btw

Man I really fell down the "Yoshitaka Amano art enjoyer" to "Final Fantasy fan" pipe line didn't I?

[lil-melody-moon]

Our family is vegetarian, so we don't do the traditional Christmas dishes that people have here (mainly ham I think) but we make a quiche every Christmas with mushroom and broccoli, it's really good. Funnily, I think it's the same deal with Easter--I guess we've just decided that quiche is our substitute for ham.

Now that we're officially in "winter break" mode, have you been able to get some serious gaming in? You said you got a Final Fantasy remaster--have you played the whole series? What got you into gaming?

Quiche for the win, haha!

I got into serious gaming before "winter break", because I had enough of everything. Plus, they were giving away "Lego Star Wars" for free on Epic Games Store. I yoinked it - I can play as Qui-Gon *screaming* and I can later unlock Grievous *screaming times two*

*clears my throat*

I didn't play the whole Final Fantasy series, I think I got hooked on it since the announcement of Final Fantasy VII remaster. I got curious about the original and I bought it on Christmas a few years ago, wait *goes to check it on Steam* I bought it exactly 4 years ago and since then I was jumping from title to title - I played FFIX, then FFII, then FFVI and then FFX.

Final Fantasy VII was a gate for me to this series, but it also came to me at around good time. I think it was near the end of a toxic friendship I had with one girl. It kind of gave me a breather as I didn't know how to end it and damn it, it did start a tiny bit of addiction to this series and jrpgs in general. ...I started a save on this one at the beginning of this year, maybe I should come back to it and finally do a 100% on it...

Final Fantasy IX has a special place in my heart, this game is magical. From story, to music and to the whole world with its characters. I couldn't beat the game on my first playthrough so I started a new save file after a month or so and damn, did I get addicted. Haha, I remember when I had boring lectures at home - it was pandemia time - and I was doing Chocobo side quest during that time. I logged onto Microsoft Teams on my phone and listened to the lecture, grinding the Chocobo Treasure Hunt, fun times! Also, Kuja? Best villain 💜 Story wise and look wise 💜

Final Fantasy II came to me at random and it was like a random encounter in the game itself. Nobody talks about this one, but it's a hidden gem. I remember when I first played the Remaster - I started from this one, bought it on the day it came out, I think (I really fucking should play the GBA version, I need to play through Soul of Rebirth, cowards, didn't add it to the Remaster) - and I got happy like a little kid because of the graphics itself, I literally squealed because once I got on the world map I got a flashback from graphics from Earthbound 🥹 Plus, Mateus, my brother in Christ, MATEUS, I LOVE HOW HE LOOKS

Both original costume and alternate one, PEAK!

Final Fantasy VI came like a bomb and literally shattered me. Sure, I had to grow up a little bit to understand it better - same with previous titles - but I had a full rerun of it on Remaster version at the beginning of this year and God damn it, I love this one. It's just slightly below FFIX, but only because Kuja is a better villain than Kefka. Love me some insane guy tho, especially if he has "Dancing Mad" as his theme

18 minutes of pure masterpiece 💜

And then came Final Fantasy X, the last Final Fantasy I bought on Christmas. Two years ago, I believe? Yeah, bought it in 2022 and God damn, did I spend A LOT of time in this game. Not only is it not possible to finish it without doing at least a few of the side-quests, but it's also unforgiving in the final battle and the final area. Story wise it's a peak again, music wise as well, but damn it, the preparations you need to do to finish it, Lord have mercy!

And then came the interest with the original Final Fantasy. I somehow buried it under a rock when "Stranger of Paradise" came up, but it resurfaced again- Now that I think about it, ain't Mateus in one dlc to "Stranger of Paradise"? I have a vague memory of screaming about it at some point *checks it, gulps* YEP, he is, looking hella good

I'm suddenly in need to see the story of this dlc...

ANYWAYS

What got me into gaming... I think I always liked the concept of games. I watched a lot of cartoons since I was a kid, but always wanted to "take part in the adventure" and then I saw that games are a thing and I wanted to play. Got laptop, played some games there, borrowed from cousin, then came the Internet and this is where my real gaming story started.

I stumbled upon Rayman 3, watched a gameplay, then stumbled upon let's play and saw a game called Earthbound on the channel of the guy I started watching let's plays. Earthbound was my first jrpg and I love it to this day. IN FACT, I have a chance to show my university bestie what jrpgs are and I suggested her to play Earthbound together. I'm so excited! >u<

But to keep the history going, from Earthbound I discovered Minecraft, Crash, Spyro, Pokemon, Osu!, Kirby and the list really can go on and on and on until we'll stop at Final Fantasy and the most recent games I'm playing, so: Lego Star Wars and Pokemon HeartGold. Final Fantasy Remaster will soon join the list.

How about you? Are you playing something? Do you like games? If yes, then what are your favourite titles?

[yuriko-mukami]

🎮 - What’s your favorite video game?

Questions for the mun!

(( Yosh! An interesting topic!

From DL games I find it hard to decide which one I like the most, I guess I just love Ruki's routes in general (still one to play!). But that's probably not a surprise.

Aside from DL, my favorite otome games are Amnesia: Memories and Later and Hakuouki: Kyoto Winds and Edo Blossoms. I guess I'm a bit boring person who goes for classics here. From mobile otomes Ikemen Sengoku is my favorite.

Other than otome games I play mostly JRPGs (and I've played those more than otoge). There are so many games to love but my all-time favorites are Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy XII. Like many other FF fans, I started with FFVII and that game has a special place in my heart, and I truly love FFVIII too, but FFIX was the one that captured my heart completely.

In Final Fantasy IX, the story is awesome, all characters are so lovable, the music is perfection, and the world feels very alive. I love the mini-games, the battle system, and the art style too.

And when it comes to Final Fantasy XII, I'm in love with its world Ivalice. It's so vast, alive, and interesting. Adventuring there fills my heart with joy. I also adore the characters, especially Balthier and Fran, and the political story hits somehow the right buttons in my mind. I recognize that the storytelling is lacking in some spots and that you need to see behind the surface to really understand the characters who don't always say everything clearly... but damn, that game gets me every time.

FFXII was also the first game I played in Japanese because I wanted to try out the Zodiac Job System version and back then it seemed that it wouldn't get a port in the Western world (A funny nuance: the voice acting was in English but menus, subtitles, and non-voiced conversations were in Japanese). So, in that regard, it is special to me. Years later we got FFXII: The Zodiac Age for PS4 here too and that was the perfect reason to play it again. And damn, I just love the job system and gambit system of that game!

I think out of all games I've played I have finished FFIX and FFXII at least 5 times each (and neither is that short) and I totally am going to play them again someday 🥰

(Sorry, this turned out a rather long answer for such a simple question... 🙈)

[createandconstruct]

I've been playing the game FFIX over again, and it surprises me how soft people make Garnet in her artwork with Zidane. The girl can be really sassy and savage at times. Yes she blames herself a lot, but she also doesn't take shit either. This is the same girl who's been training to escape and tricked everyone in eating sleeping weed. I think people forget how badass she really is.

Oh my friend. You are so right and you should say it. My girl Garnet til Sarah Dagger Alexandros XVII is a badass, sassy, savage, legend.

"Perish Zidane" Counter: 1

Just casually trains to be a three-time gold medal gymnast in her free time. She also doesn't need Zidane's flirting complaints/banter. She's got places to be and corrupt monarch-mothers to stop.

"Perish Zidane" Counter: 2

Garnet: Lol yeah I know I'm good now where's my Oscar *proceeds to dramatically pretends to die on stage so well that Brahne sobs and Steiner actually legitimately mourns her*

Princess with zero patience for her knight. They go way back. She's been sassing him for years and you know it.

Absolutely ZERO tolerance for mainsplaining. My queen.

You know homegirl was tuning him out.

"Perish Zidane" Counter: 3

Runs after Vivi and then proceeds to physically DRAG HIM out of danger

"Perish Zidane" Counter: 4

(Honestly this entire scene is just Garnet dragging him)

.

That's all just some of Disc 1. It barely even scratches the surface of the badassery and sass of Queen Garnet til Alexandros XVII.

My beloved Dagger is feminine, cute, AND she doesn't take shit from anyone. She's got an edge and a sassy tongue on her. She can be soft and kind but tough as nails when necessary. She's amazing and one of my favorite characters.

It's such a disservice to female characters when one aspect of their character becomes a hyperfocus. Usually taking away their depth and reducing them to a stereotype or one-dimension. Garnet loves Zidane, she loves her friends, she loves her people, and her kingdom. She's romantic, she loves reading, Lord Avon's plays, and she can oh idk summon god-forsaken monsters that will suck you into the abyss and she will then simply smile at you and spin her staff and swish her cute short hair while she earns that sick AP. I love her and I would let her kick my ass. So would Zidane. So would everyone. So should you.

(Feel free to add Iconic Garnet Moments™ to this thread)

[jessjustplay]

Final Fantasy IX - My First Nintendo Switch Game

January 9, 2023

The first game I bought on the Nintendo Switch was Final Fantasy IX. I bought it in 2020, two times actually. 😅

I didn't have a Nintendo account when I first bought it, so I had to use my brother's account (this was also his controller; I really liked it and I miss it lol).

When I moved out, I made my own account and I bought the game again. It was my most played game in 2021 and a lot of fun to re-experience the story.

FFIX was my first FF (back in elementary school!) and it's still my favorite in the series! Every few weeks I get the urge to replay it, but I have so many new games that I need to play first, so I tell myself to chill out lol

[immoralraigan]

Been thinking a little more about what an FFIX Verse would be like for Farus. This is what’s been stewing in my head:

I would much rather keep all Farus’ personality traits and motivations intact, as well as the unfiltered,  half-psionic nature of his magic. Without all that he lacks the intrigue that endeared me into writing him and building on those things in the first place. But in requiring this, I’m basically raising the difficulty in translating him into an FFIX verse.

At the very least, the nature of Gaia AND Terra’s history is vague enough so one can fill in the gaps as they so choose. Genome is indeed a fitting species for Farus, not only because he’s blonde, but because of his connection to being created artificially for some Great Purpose.

In Lennus 2, Farus was created to play the role of a living “switch” to activate the union of two satellite worlds to become a single demon-star, “Soa”. My headcanon there goes a bit farther than that, that he and Granada were created as part of this grand ultimatum concerning planet Raiga’s future. He, being the only Acti-Raigan left, would be needed to set off a final switch found within planet Raiga itself. But after defeating Granada and traveling to Raiga, Farus learned something about the overall intent of planet Raiga that he morally disagreed with, abandoned his duty and fled.

Now, let’s imagine that Raiga was actually Terra, and maybe Farus didn’t succeed in fleeing. 

I would have to change the context of his reason for wanting to run quite a bit, but even with how it goes for Terra it would still be enough to render Farus cynical, fearful and chaotic in the end. Either way, Terra is/was known to gobble planets in attempt to keep its crystal alive and allow its circulation of souls to continue. Garland’s Genomes actually game many centuries after that whole process started out, but maybe-- just maybe there was a “proto-Genome” of sorts created to kick off the process and, oh I dunno, act as a living battery for the planet.

Maybe Farus was that “proto-Genome”. Maybe he had been forced into a suspended sleep for over 5000 years after succeeding in the mission he was unwittingly forced through, acting as a battery for Terra’s selfish assimilation endeavors until the final failed (or semi-successful) attempt with Gaia finally pulled him out of his centuries-long slumber and freed him. Maybe what he awakened to was all the more disheartening and embittering. Maybe he would have set out into Gaia to not only learn about this world, but what happened to finally stop Terra from assimilating planets and maybe find a way to prevent letting something like that ever happen again.

OR...

Maybe it would be just as good to keep Farus’ origin planet as a separate entity entirely. My headcanon for Planet Raiga’s intent, its ultimate goal which has Farus so rattled and fearful and angry, is a really juicy one that I frequently enjoy ruminating over, and there are some FFIX characters that I feel would certainly have a word to say and be choosing sides on the subject if they knew.

It’s just REALLY hard to sacrifice the plot device that there is an entire planet, imbued with self-awareness and that likely used to be a mortal human being of sorts, that wishes to grant all things-- every single organic in the entire universe-- immortality similar to that of Raigans. The caveats to this planet’s wish are many, and the ethical, moral dilemma behind this endeavor is mind-bending.

So uhhh yeah I’m kind of struggling to decide which I really wish for, if I want to even have an FFIX verse. I could combine the two, though... Should I combine the two? Should I plant an extra deep-dive headcanon that Terra would be seeking out a long-term goal of some day granting all living things immortality? Hmm...

Very tough decision to make. I might not bother.

[autopotion]

saw this floating around tumblr and thought i would fill it out myself for funsies. specifically challenged myself not to repeat anything from the same game (same series / remakes are okay) 'cause otherwise half the answers to this would be something from FFT and that's just not fair lol. if any of my mutuals do this tag me in your post i want to see your answers!

full list & descriptions under the cut

favorite game of all time: final fantasy tactics, obvs. picked the psx one to represent because i do prefer it to wotl. don't take that as me hating on wotl though, i think it's still good and brought some good stuff to the table, i just like the original a little bit better.

favorite series: yeah it's dragon age. once upon a time i would've said final fantasy, but while there are a great deal of final fantasy games i love, i'm not really compelled to seek out the ones i haven't played before and i'm not really following new releases much (except to make fun of them ghsdfnds). meanwhile i like every single DA game and have replayed each one mind-boggling amounts, and i actively seek out news for DA4. it's clear which series i'm more into, even if there are individual FF games i like more than DA as a whole

best soundtrack: final fantasy vii (original). this one's kind of a normie answer because i think there are other OSTs within FF itself that are objectively better than FFVII's, but if i'm going to listen to any video game music for funsies and outside of actually playing the game itself, it's pretty much always going to be FFVII. zoe and i were marveling about how FFVII is basically just one huge prog rock album. it's fantastic. hang on i'm gonna go listen to the boss fight music again

favorite protagonist: velvet crowe from tales of berseria. i actually answered this one last because i had the hardest time deciding, somewhat because of the "no repeats" rule, but also partially because i am often more compelled by side characters than player characters. anyway ToB is a mixed bag where i don't like the combat, hate the fanservice, and find the world to be kind of uninspired, but the characters are absolutely incredible and might be one of my favorite RPG casts. velvet herself stands out, i find her story incredibly emotional, and while i think her writing suffers from some usual video game misogyny she's easily the most attached i've been to a player character from the outset instead of needing to get to know her (save for maybe luke fon fabre, also from the tales series lol)

favorite villain: kuja from final fantasy ix. i almost put chaos vyce (of tactics ogre), but that is absolutely 100% recency bias, especially if i compare my month-long phase of being really into chaos vyce to the years of thinking about and writing about kuja. i like kuja a lot and find him to be really emotional, and i like FFIX's conclusions about him, i.e. if a sympathetic character is worthy of redemption if he commits absolutely heinous and evil atrocities and is also generally a narcissistic asshole. ultimately the game's conclusion was "no," IMO, because "redemption" is a complicated concept and eventually you hit a point where no good actions can make up for a lifetime of evil ones, but it still gave kuja the opportunity to do one good action that saved the player characters, and his existence gave the rest of the genomes and the black mages something to ponder WRT their own individuality. also i just think he's neat

best story: outer wilds. this might seem like a weird one because it's not like "lore"-heavy, which i think a lot of people associate with "story," but a story is just as much about in the way it is told as its basic content. the way outer wilds tells its story is unparalleled tbh. every mechanic exists to support its concepts & themes, and it's some of the strongest video game storytelling i've encountered for that reason. also the story it tells is extremely emotional IMO

have not played but want to: hollow knight & disco elysium. i picked two games: one that i own but haven't started (HK) and one that i haven't bought yet (DE). of the two, i'm most excited to try DE, but i'm waiting until zoe and i can play it together.

you love everyone hates: octopath traveler is not greatly liked among the audience it intended to cater to, i.e. people who love old pixel rpgs in the vein of FFVI. it deserves every bit of criticism leveled at it, from its shallow narratives to the disconnected and poorly written arcs of the travelers, but i also really enjoyed playing it and found it charming.

you hate everyone loves: crisis core (from the compilation of FFVII). god i hate CC. it is undeniably a fun game, and the first time i played it (as a teen) i sobbed during the ending, but the older i get the more this game sours on me. i consider it the biggest affront to the themes of og FFVII. what if shinra was "morally gray" and had lots of good people working for it! what if zack fair was actually responsible for key character traits of female characters, like aerith's ribbon or the name of tifa's bar! what if tseng was a creep who took pictures of aerith! what if it's actually really sad and difficult to be a cop for a megacorporation! )': what if i bashed genesis's head in with a rock. at least CC introduced cissnei.

best art style: hades. not even the gorgeously detailed (and highly sensual) character portraits, but the sprite work is really beautiful, the little icons for the boons & items are very cute, and the environments are gorgeous. all the movements are incredibly fluid and pleasing to look at.

favorite ending: tales of the abyss. there is so much to love about TotA, but the ending sequence is one of my favorites in any game. the final dungeon is extraordinarily bright, and if you have the right party combination for the final battle it turns into this amazing invincibility mode while tear sings in the background. also i love my personal interpretation of what happens with "luke fon fabre" at the end.

favorite boss fight: i cheated and picked two again lol. the main boss of arbiter's grounds in the legend of zelda: twilight princess was the first boss to introduce me to the concept that maybe... boss fights... could be fun?? riding around the spinny wheel while you're attacking the big skeletal dragon head was really cinematic and tense, to the point that i was almost kind of sad when it was over.

my other answer for this is the first boss fight against reno in FFVII remake. oh my god i loved that one. not even necessarily because of the mechanics, but the sheer adrenaline of finally getting to aerith, to the church scene, and then all the banter during the fight while you're trying to parry that weaselly asshole... i wanted to do it again the minute i beat him lol.

childhood game: also two here. rhapsody: a musical adventure and the first kingdom hearts i consider to be my quintessential childhood games (outside of FFT). they informed my taste in video games pretty early on. rhapsody's really cute, if not especially deep, and i want to replay it someday; when i was little, my sister told me to start with rhapsody before FFT because its very basic tactical battles would teach me how to play FFT, which is much harder lol. and of all the KH games, i'm most likely to come back to the first one, for nostalgia's sake. even though that game is incredibly linear, i cite it as the game that got me into "open world" games as a concept, since what i loved about it was its seemingly endless expanse to explore, when in reality it's pretty tightly confined.

relaxing game: stardew valley. i was gonna do this one and animal crossing: new horizons, but i came to the conclusion i find SV more relaxing than ACNH. time doesn't pass in SV unless you actually play the game, unlike AC, and the gameplay loop in SV is very relaxing and gentle to me; since days are so short, i can only complete a few tasks per day, and that's kind of freeing. ACNH is also relaxing but i can get more quickly stressed out if i'm trying to plan some big landscaping project.

stressful game: vagrant story. i don't think i've started and stopped a game as many times as i have this one. it requires so much detail-oriented attention that i only have it in me to play for an hour or two at a time before i get tired. (i was also considering putting tactics ogre for this one, but i'm actually about to beat TO pretty soon and have grown accustomed to its style, so VS is definitely more stressful.)

game you always come back to: this one was also really hard, in part 'cause of that "no repeats" clause, otherwise FFT or skyrim would be the obvious answer here. but ultimately i picked undertale. like a lot of people, i was really emotionally moved when i first played it; the massively expanding fandom kept me from engaging with it as much as i wanted to (i like my fandoms pretty small, or, if it's big, i like to curate my blog so i don't see a whole lot of it all the time), but i honestly think UT changed the game for video game storytelling. it's difficult not to compare other games to it, in part because it's in conversation with games as a whole.

guilty pleasure: i don't really feel "guilty" about any games i like, but i selected 999 for this spot because like, as i was playing it i had a ton of problems with it. i complained about the music, the misogyny, some of the puzzles, the dull environments... but it's also one of the most interesting games i've ever played. the story has stuck with me. what it does with its medium, its characters, and its narrative is kind of unique for video games TBH. so, despite all of my complaints about it, i kind of like it a lot.

tons of hours played: skyrim, no contest. i have easily over 1000 hours in that bad boy, across my various saves on various systems, soundly beating any other game i've played in terms of hours sunk into it. it's kind of embarrassing ghsdnfshg.

[sibyl-of-space]

Final Fantasy IX ~ Melodies and Memories

"Jesters of the Moon"

There are a lot of very good video games in the world, but it takes some luck and circumstance outside of a game's control for one to reach me at just the right time(s) and place(s) in my life that it has a tangible impact on who I am -- who I want to be. One that carves out a space for itself in my soul that will never be removed or replaced.

I've just finished playing Final Fantasy IX for the first time, and there's no doubt in my mind that such is the case here.

(Continued below readmore.)

I drew this art last year, when I was mourning my attachment to an old favorite game that I just don't feel the same way about anymore: Majora's Mask. I wanted to draw something that captured my feelings about it, because sometimes art is the best way to talk about something when the words don't want to come.

Why is "Jesters of the Moon," the name of a random song in the Final Fantasy IX soundtrack, plastered in the middle of this Majora's Mask fanart? Especially considering I hadn't even played Final Fantasy IX yet when I drew this?

The reason is exactly that "luck and circumstance" that allowed me to fall so uniquely in love with the game.

"Mt. Gulug"

In 2008, someone on YouTube uploaded a Majora's Mask parody-slash-let's-play series called "Majora's Mask: The Things Which Were Taken Out." The series has since become unlisted and won't be linked here out of respect for the creator who probably doesn't want things they said and made in 2008 being spread all over the internet, but because of Unregistered Hypercam 2 reasons, the series inserted other background music over the video and didn't record the actual game audio.

I didn't recognize any of the music, but I watched these parody videos on repeat because in addition to being funny (...at the time, in my mind, at least), I really really loved the music. It got to the point where I would sometimes be playing Majora's Mask and get disappointed when I approached Goht and the Mt. Gulug theme wasn't playing in the background.

I had forgotten about these videos for a really long time in the interim, but I remembered them at some point when I was thinking about Majora's Mask and I found them again. The creator had cited the Final Fantasy IX soundtrack for virtually all of the background music used in the videos, and I realized that despite knowing literally nothing about the game, I had become really fond of - and weirdly nostalgic for - the songs from it that I now recognized.

So I looked up "Jesters of the Moon" and played it on repeat while I drew out my feelings in colored marker. A few months later, I realized that my backwards compatible PS3 can also play PS1 games, and eBay had FFIX for PS1 at a good price. I had nothing to lose by ordering it and seeing what the source of all that fantastic music was like.

"Vamo Alla Flamenco"

I started my playthrough knowing nothing about what to expect from the game. I'd never played a Final Fantasy game before and my overall JRPG experience has been mostly limited to Tales of, Persona, and more recently, mainline Shin Megami Tensei. The only things I knew about Final Fantasy were a) the Tidus laughing scene, and b) Sephiroth. IX seemed like it had vibes I would enjoy, but beyond that I knew nothing about what the experience would be. So I approached it with a "let's have fun and see how it goes" attitude, naming my party members the first silly thing that came to mind, ending up with "Swaggy," "OwO," "Bitchin," "Gunz," and "SWOOORD" to start with.

(For the record I do not regret those names whatsoever.)

I was immediately struck by how differently the game uses music in comparison to all of my previous JRPG experiences. This was not a game where the composer was given a list of theme songs that were slapped on top of a mostly completed game-- this was a game constructed with the soundtrack in mind as a part of the writing process.

The opening act plays almost like an opera (side note, yes I know one of the other FF's has a literal opera, I haven't played that one): you traverse the same locations from different perspectives as different characters, introducing the cast with lighthearted humor and dramatic irony out the wazoo. While you traverse the city as OwO, OwO's theme is playing in the background, coloring your perspective of the city and the narrative. When you switch to Gunz patrolling around the castle, Gunz's theme accompanies your movement and informs his character and mission. I am so accustomed to "location themes" being the norm in virtually all video games that experiencing character and/or narrative themes as BGM instead while I bumble around town changed my entire perspective on what music in games can do and be.

The operatic feeling is definitely intentional, because the game uses a play-within-a-game narrative device to hit you over the head with its themes in a way that is somehow poignant and artful while also being extremely blatant. That is a hard balance to strike, but it manages. The whole game is like that: it is completely straightforward and tells you exactly what it's about at heart, but it does it beautifully.

At any rate, I was enamored with this intro and had a very fun time, but I wasn't obsessed or anything and ended up putting it down. I spent several months on the first half of disk 1 with weeks passing between play sessions. I liked the game plenty, but life stuff happened and I decided to get obsessed with Dai Gyakuten Saiban and Ghost Trick for a while. No regrettis.

It was already clear, though, that FFIX was going to be special to me. My compositions for my team's game in the Global Game Jam in 2021 were directly inspired by FFIX's opera-like intro. I wrote two character themes for our game that would serve as background music when you play as the two protagonists, coloring your journey differently even when moving in the same spaces. I was intentionally trying to mimic the way music is used in FFIX as an exercise. The themes I wrote are definitely some of my strongest work so far.

(You can check out the game here if you want, I promise it is significantly shorter than Final Fantasy IX.)

"Melodies of Life"

Music caused me to pick up FFIX the first time, and music caused me to return to it. After months of not touching or really thinking about it, just earlier this week I was inspired to play it again, because - again - I listened to the right song at the right time.

I was again mourning the loss of something, in this case a friendship, for reasons I'm not going to share here. I had already heard the song "Melodies of Life" because it came up when I was looking up FFIX songs to reblog on Tumblr a few months ago, and I decided to listen to it again. Even without knowing the game context, the song itself really spoke to me in that moment: "a voice from the past, joining yours and mine, adding up the layers of harmony" - it kind of made me feel at peace with the fact that I had a lot of positive memories of that friendship and I could keep those at heart while also moving on in the present. ...I'm also a sucker for music metaphors, so there is that.

I was really moved by this song, cheesy as it is, and I was also definitely in the mood for a distraction. Picking up FFIX again felt like the best move.

It was, and my life is forever changed.

The game never stopped being beautiful and funny and touching, and the soundtrack never ceased to amaze. I recognized concepts I've seen in other games but never had I seen them used so artfully. I adored the fantasy world and non-human cast, I found myself enticed by random encounter for the first time because it made me feel like I had to struggle to survive a difficult journey. Music, gameplay, visuals, and story felt like one cohesive work of art for the entire duration.

Life circumstances got me to play the game again, but the game itself was so captivating and wonderful that I binged the entire rest of it - disks 2-4 - in less than a week. Everything else that the game had to say, it told me itself, in its own context, and I was ready to listen.

"You're Not Alone!"

This is going to make me sound like an emotionally-stunted twenty-something, but it has been years since a work of media has got me to have a really good cry. I used to cry playing games all the time as a kid but recently I'll find myself getting emotional, sure, often tearing up, but getting completely red-faced and snot-nosed because I physically cannot contain the emotions being evoked by a work? Years. I can't honestly tell you the last time it happened with certainty.

I feel like an emotional band-aid has been ripped off. I was f*cking sobbing during the entire duration of the "You're Not Alone!" sequence. It didn't matter that what was happening was obviously coming from a mile away, because the delivery was so raw and emotional and human!!! A whole game's worth of Swaggy punching first and asking questions later to save his friends, being Protag McProtag endangering himself for others in any and all circumstances, for the payoff of all of his friends forcing him to stop being such a primadonna and let them help him for once. It's true, too! He relies on them just as much as they rely on him! And the game doesn't just tell you this, no, it lets you try to solo all these fights and waits until you realize how boned you are until they come bail you out.

When Bitchin showed up with her "looks like you need a hand" I wanted to straight up yell at my tv. YES I DO!!! YES I DO NEED YOU BITCHIN!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!! I half knew that SWOOORD was going to heal me before I got truly KO-ed but I had been unmercifully wiped in "unwinnable" battles before in this game, so I legit thought I might have to re-do that whole part of the game again, and I was so relieved and thankful when she showed up and healed me.

This moment exemplifies everything that I adore about this game. It doesn't just tell you its story. It shows it to you, it sings it to you, and it and lets you play it out and feel it for yourself.

"Game Over"

This song is all too familiar to me. Gizamaluke's Grotto was very unforgiving for a first-time Final Fantasy player, especially one who didn't happen to pick up Big on the way for a fourth party member early on.

I hadn't heard the piano part in a few months, though, because when I picked the game back up I started just mashing to reload before it got to that point any time we wiped. I didn't hear it again until the game was truly over, this time for good.

I let it play for a while. Not too long, because I have a CRT TV and didn't want "The End" to get burned in. But a while. Enough to meditate on what I'd just experienced, and how I was feeling about it.

There's so much more to say about the game, far more than I could put in a blog post. But I don't think I need to describe these thoughts in words. I can do what the game did, and use music, use art, use stories, use metaphors, and use symbols to communicate what I mean; and hope that someone else is able and willing to listen.

And although a written record of my thoughts likely won't be preserved for all that long, maybe the feelings and the memories will be, so long as they have been shared.

[jadagul]

I've taken an interlude from my Final Fantasy series playthrough to replay Skies of Arcadia. I played this on the Dreamcast when it came out, and haven't touched it since; playing it again now (especially chronologically in my FF playthrough—it came out between FFIX and FFX) has been interesting. Overall it's a fun game, but it has some real weaknesses.

A big one is that the random encounters are really annoying, in a way that they haven't been in most of the FF games. Rpgs are generally driven to a large extent by random battles, and it's easy for those to become boring timesucks (at which point we talk about the game being grindy). In the FF games they haven't felt that way, but in Skies of Arcadia they definitely o.

One possible answer is just the number of random battles, but I think I'm actually getting fewer of them here than in a lot of FF games, especially the Super Nintendo ones.

That leads to a second candidate: the individual battles just take a long time. (And this is all made worse by the fact that, for reasons, I am playing on the PAL version, which is usually 5/6 the speed of the NTSC version.)

This came up a little in FFVIII and FFIX, but a lot more here: as the graphics got better and they wanted to show them off more and more, battles started just taking a long time because each individual attack has a fancy animation. And these animations take forever. Long enough that I'm actually writing this post while waiting for the animations during random battles to resolve.

(I think I argued at some point that this is why ATB worked so much better for the SNES final fantasy games than for the PSX ones: with short animations, ATB creates a new strategic regime, but with long animations it's just a turn-based system with annoying time pressure to input commands.)

But there's a third factor that I think is most important: these battles have no stakes. In most of the FF games I've been plaing, there was something happening in the random battles that I felt like I needed to keep track of. With smart play I could conserve resources, or take less damage, or something. And in most dungeons the random encounters posed a legitimate threat. They obviously weren't as dangerous as bosses, but they could still fucking kill me.

In this game, everything is just very safe. With smart play you have enough resources that attrition isn't really a thing, and very few random encounters can threaten you in any way. And that means that it's not clear what I would pay attention to the random encounters for.

I mentioned earlier that I'm writing this while waiting for random battles to play out. That definitely tells you something about how long the animations take, but it also tells you something about how much attention I have to pay. I'm not watching to see which of my characters are in danger. I'm not watching to see which abilities I have to watch for. I'm not watching to see how the damage is distributed on the enemies. I'm just deploying my attacks and killing everything.

And fundamentally, I think this points to a lack of clarity about what the random encounters are for. In the early final fantasy games, random encounters are mostly supposed to be real threats that can kill you.

Starting in V or VI, they mostly didn't expect random encounters to kill you, but they still presented real threats that required real resources to counter; the goal was to engage in attrition over the course of the dungeon. (Until late in the game, where you have sufficient ways of recharging that "attrition" doesn't really work if you have time to set up and recharge, at which point random encounters escalate to being a real threat again. This generally happens around the time you get reliable MP recharge: getting to Osmose in FFVI really changes the way dungeons run.)

But in Skies of Arcadia, none of the random encounters can really kill you unless you enter at very low power. And healing is cheap and powerful enough that you should never do that except from sheer sloppiness. So the random encounters are largely just a time sink.

And that's why I'm using them to write essays on game design, instead of paying attention to them.

[razeluxe]

Razeluxe’s Top Ten Male Characters

So I’ve been thinking about doing a particular list for my favorite characters across anime and games for quite a while and with some advice I decided to break it into my favorite male and favorite female characters. Most people that know me can probably guess at my top three favorites but if you don’t know me... well you ‘bout to learn lol. This was harder than I thought to compile...enjoy my fanboying of the boys lol.

By the by, I’ll do my best to keep spoilers to a minimum.

10) Apollo Justice (Phoenix Wright Series)

I’ve played only two games that this character was in (Apollo Justice and Dual Destinies, slowly working through Spirit of Justice) and this character particularly in Dual Destinies struck me even more than Edgeworth who is another amazing character. Apollo has an amazing spirit and it was only through playing Dual Destinies that I really got to understand Mr. ‘I’m Fine’ and his stupid ‘Here comes Justice’ puns. I feel his original game didn’t allow him to shine (still a great entry in the Ace Attorney series I don’t care what anyone says) and Dual Destinies allows him the development he deserves. He gets hurt during a trial and it allows a deep dive of his character even if his personality shifts for a while. Damn he’s savage. He’s considered the underdog in the Wright Anything Agency but he’s to me the hardest working person there who is also the most factual in court.

9) Gokudera (Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

Or as I like to call him, Scowludera since he’s scowling like 90% of the time. This Ichigo ripoff’s character development is insane. And I think that trend follows most if not all the characters in this list. His relationship with his sister is interesting and he’s pretty explosive in terms of personality and intelligence. His fights are all really interesting too, he has some of my favorite interactions in the series thus far (haven’t read the post anime manga chapters yet sadly, but he’s more than earned this spot on this list). He butts heads with people a lot and he can be ignorant but he grows from his experience and you get to see it bit by bit. This dude is loyal to the bone. RIP if you aren’t Tsuna or Reborn. Also, I’d like to shout out this anime as one of the few to do the shounen genre proper justice. Go watch it. Also his sister Bianchi is <3. Oh wait. Male list. Oops. Can we also talk about his weapon? Not gonna say spoilers but that thing is dope and probably one of the best ever designed weapons. And his kitty Uri <3

8) Joshua Bright (Trails in the Sky)

This will be short as I don’t want to spoil anything, but Joshua is a very easy character for me to connect to personally. His feelings, actions, development probably relates more to me than a lot of characters on this list. He’s got good people around him...I’m very happy for his ship and support it 120%. Also the Trails Series, both Sky and Cold Steel are probably my favorite series of anything period. Go play it. There is more to this character that meets the eye and has broken my heart more than once ;_;

7) Neku Sakuraba (The World Ends With You)

Neku Neku Neku. Another very relatable character for me (see the theme here? lol) He initially shuts out people and over time, through his experience in the Reapers Game, he starts to open up and bring people into his circle. He goes through some crap, like a lot of trauma. When you learn of him it’s no wonder he wound up disliking people and society. He’s extremely creative and that creativity manifests itself in different ways. Kinda like me. It’s worth mentioning I used to roleplay this character back in the day, the very first canon character I used to write for. 

6) Shulk (Xenoblade Chronicles)

One of the only blonde’s on this list. Shulk is a character that is driven by revenge but eventually changes. He goes through some pretty traumatic stuff that I absolutely will not spoil. His personality when he encounters a certain characters shifts big time and it’s kind of scary considering how early you see this. Also he gets points for being a notably intelligent character. I mean, the dude has his own lab...and is able to fix and adjust stuff. He’s really a great and well balanced character despite all the crap he goes through. Also I used to make fun of this character and dislike him a little bit, but then I grew up. 

         The list gets real starting...now. Not that it was fake before. :o

5) Jaden Yuki (Yu-Gi-Oh! GX)

Anyone who has actually watched the entirety of GX might know why he’s here. His character development in the latter seasons so unreal and interesting. I’m not spoiling crap but there is a lot more to the character than meets the eye. Like a lot lot. Over the course of the series he loses his innocent eyes and his personality changes a lot...His character is probably one I can relate to in terms of the reasons for his actions, the way he gets down about himself, the way he acts in the final season...it hits me hard...he’s too dang relatable...just like..

4) Rean Schwarzer (Trails of Cold Steel)

Surprise surprise. Rean is here. -hears crickets- Guess you’re not surprised. I wonder why. I think I relate to this character more than anyone else on this list. Except number one. Number one is in his own league. Rean is a character who generally carries a happy disposition...he has a unique power but you can see he is actively scared of it. It’s something I actively deal with...he’s so scared of himself that he puts distance between family and friends. He never feels he’s good enough. He’s made headway through this, but...

One thing that’s extremely interesting about this character is his selflessness. You may think this is driven to the ground in character stereotypes but for Rean it’s different...his selfless has been described as abnormal by characters in game, and it’s not for positive reasons...Rean deals with some real unhealthy stuff. This is getting long.

As of this post Cold Steel 4 comes out in one month and I’m extremely worried for his character. If you’ve played 3 then you’ll know why. Also if you haven’t played the Trails series, go play it. No buts. Heck I’ll even buy the game(s) for you if I can.

--

Oh look we’re at the top three. I want to say that while numbers two and three here are pretty interchangeable, these characters have been in my top three for over a decade and a half and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Rean I love you but you have your work cut out if you ever want to breach the top 3. I wanna post a few honorable mentions here. They didn’t get into Smash but they do get Mii Costumes at least! -shot-

Davis Motomiya (Digimon Adventure 02) 

This character was everything I was when I was a kid. The way he tries everything to woo Kari is too cute. Also his unwavering faith in Ken. Also Davis Cries Veemon.

9S (Nier Automata)

Not mentioning any spoilers. Just watch this character and see how his vision of the world changes over time.

Okabe Rintaro (Steins; Gate) 

Okabe’s shift from his ‘persona’ as things get real and his efforts to fix everything is too relatable for me ;_;

Yosuke Hanamura (Persona 4) 

No, I do not ship him with Yu. They’re great buddies for sure, and he’s pretty cool. Really likable character for me personally save for a few moments in the game...he’s also the main in the Arena games. “Let’s do this, Jiraiya!” He’s so cool lol.

                    Top 3 time. Fiercely dedicated to these guys.

3) Robin (Teen Titans Go! 2003)

Robin is such a raw character that carries his past and tries so hard to move from it yet it embodies him to his core. He has since gained a softer side from forming a team, and has been doing normal teenager stuff...which is good for him. However at times that Batman side impacts him so hard that he can only concentrate on his mission, and starts shutting out everyone and everything to do things himself. It actively gets in the way of his interactions. He deals a lot with moving on from failure and acknowledging his friends more, which he does get better at over time. He is also represented by the color red. My favorite color. He’s badass and yet carries so much crap. I connect to this character a lot even now. Third canon character I ever wrote for.

2 Lloyd Irving (Tales of Symphonia)

I love Lloyd. I love his voice, I love his attacks, I love his stupid double sword logic. He says wielding two swords makes him twice as powerful lol. I love his development. I love his idealism and how it matures over time. I love everything about Lloyd. It was legit love at first sight. I remember being 15-16 and seeing him on that Gamecube boxart and saying “I wanna play that guy” Most people I feel (guys in particular) probably looked up to certain characters growing up as a child/teen. Lloyd was mine.

1. Zidane Tribal (Final Fantasy IX)

While it was love at first sight for Lloyd, that was not the case for number one on this list. I was 13 when I first played FFIX. Zidane upon encountering him, I always thought he was a cool character, but he was nothing special.  Even at Zidane’s lowest point I thought he was an okay character at best. I had not finished the game.

Fast forward a few years and I decide to play FFIX again, this time determined to finish it. I had went through some things, grew up a bit before turning this game on. This damn bandit...I remember writing this bit years ago: “His infamous mantra labeled above describes him well, but under his ability to console others with a smile, to cheer people up and meet them at their point of need with his abundant optimism lies a blonde who masks his pain and keeps his issues to himself. Despite his many friends and buddies he harbors a deep loneliness that, like his problems, he keeps to himself. One would have to look carefully to notice his character flaws for Zidane does an impressive job of hiding these problems. Whether it be through his energy, his theatrics, or focusing on other people, Zidane can cover things up quite well.”

Zidane has an absurd amount of depth to his character that I was never able to comprehend as a kid, beneath his flirting, his playful attitude, he hides a lot of feelings, a lot of anger, a lot of sadness. It used to boggle me how he’s able to uphold his sense of virtue despite what goes on in his life and the end of disc 3 answers this for me. It goes without mentioning that this was the second canon character I’ve ever written for, and I still love writing him. I could and write walls of text about how Zidane is so amazing, a chivalrous thief, a lover and a flirt but I think I can let you go lol. Hit me up if you really want to hear me ramble about any these characters, also play FF9.

...So I wrote all of that and forgot to write about Zidane’s ship...have to give it its own paragraph because I love these two together and she does wonders for Zidane as a whole as does he to her. She’s a princess and he’s a thief, they take their time to show them together through different things, different ordeals...particularly the ordeals. Its interesting seeing them both at their worst moments and the many funny moments..Man, that boat scene gets me every time...If I ever write a top ten couples list this couple would no doubt be in the top two if not number one. And I’d probably write way more than this about them because they’re great. Also they’re canon. A healthy canon. Also Dagger’s hot. Oh wait wrong list.

Okay finally done. Not editing this anymore :P

[artisticflutter]

AU Yeah August - Day Seventeen: Masquerade

I suddenly came up with this idea and ran with it. While it’s not totally an AU for one fandom... it’s a crossover. Something was AU’d for it to work hehe.

Series: Miraculous Ladybug x Final Fantasy IX Rating: G Genre: General, Fluff Pairing(s): Gardane, Adrinette Summary: Lila wants to dance with Adrien at the Masquerade Ball. She moves in to rectify this. Warning(s): Modern!AU for FFIX, Crossover, Identities Revealed, and Aged Up! Minor Lila Salt so take what you will with that.

Lila was annoyed.

Not only had she been forced to some ball celebrating Ladybug and Chat Noir’s defeat of Hawkmoth, but she was not getting any of the limelight she would’ve liked. It was hard to cater to a large crowd unlike that of her classmates in Lycée, but lately, they hadn’t been giving her their undivided attention. What’s worse, with Hawkmoth gone, the possibility of manipulating situations to her favor had drastically decreased.

The ‘lying disease’ Adrien made her admit to back in Collège had worked against her, too. Things she said were now taken with a grain of salt; even the smallest attempted jabs at Marinette had only ended up with the class making sure they never interacted because of how ‘her disease seemed to act up the most around her’.

… Oh well, she still had her ‘friendship’ with Adrien and somehow she still had her contract with Gabriel. One of the few reasons she had to attend, but even if that hadn't been the case, her mother had been invited, too - or, had been expected to attend on Italy’s behalf. There were celebrities, business owners, the works in attendance, and even a few rumored royals. 

If she played her cards right, maybe she could be the next Katie Highland or Michelle Miracle.

Yes, forget a model; a royal would be what she deserved after all her hard work trying to bring down Ladybug and that cat sidekick.

Speaking of those superheroes, as she adjusted her fox mask, she spotted them and glowered. Another take, and she felt her irritation boil to scalding anger: Adrien and Marinette Dupain-Cheng. They weren’t dancing in the spotlight or anything, but even in the dim lighting, they stood out in a crowd.

Marinette wore some gaudy red ball gown with black satin roses around from the looks of it around the waist to imitate the spots of the superheroine. Obviously her own awful design; and of course she’d wear her hair up in a tacky bun with roses clips. Meanwhile, Adrien dared to wear a black suit with green trim and tie to reflect the cat tag along. She’d make comments about his hair being tied up in a ponytail, but his father had given him permission to keep it like that. Something about his new style helped with marketing numbers even if she personally hated it. 

They were smiling and happy and looked so in love that she needed to find a way to ruin it, but how?

She smirked - duh, all she had to say was Adrien had to dance with her. How would it look to people if they didn’t? How would it reflect on Gabriel?

Cheering herself at the plan, she put it into execution.

Carefully and ‘politely’ making her way through the crowd, she reached them shortly and cleared her throat. When they didn’t stop and continued twirling on, she tried again, a little louder this time.

Finally, both stopped and gave her a quizzical look, and that was her cue.

“There you are. You’re supposed to dance with me now.”

She held out her hand and expected Adrien to take it. However, seconds passed with her standing there looking like a fool, and he made no move. She could see his eyebrow raise but - was there something off with his eyes? - it didn’t matter. She straightened her posture a little and spoke loud enough for the two dimwits to hear.

“We don’t want any trouble tonight, right? So we’re going to dance or I’m going to see you’re under house arrest for the rest of your life.”

Usually, that threat would have cowed him into obeying, but Adrien just looked at Marinette and shook his head. She looked skeptically back at him and he shrugged. Lila rolled her eyes at their stupid antics and grabbed Adrien’s, pulling him away with a firm yank. Seeing Marinette stumble was amusing, but it was only passing. Adrien ripped his arm from her hold and took Marinette’s hand, helping her steady. Lila seethed and was just about ready to cause a scene.

However, the lights turned on and she paled.

Marinette didn’t have brown eyes and Adrien’s eyes were not teal.

“Your Majesty!”

Before she could escape, Lila felt a hand grasp her arm firmly to keep her in place. She struggled and shrieked, her voice deadening at the one-eyed glare she received from the brown-haired woman who held her. There was a sword on her hip; who the heck did she think she was?

Meanwhile, a man in military garb had approached not-Adrien and not-Marinette, his eyes stern.

“Are you unharmed?”

“Yes, I’m quite alright Captain Steiner,” not-Marinette said softly. “I believe there was a mix up due to our masks however…”

“Oddly hostile mix-up if you ask me,” not-Adrien said, his eyes leaving the young woman to stare at Lila - no, it wasn’t just a stare. Something about the look had her already wary of what he knew from that look.

A hand on his shoulder, not-Marinette was about to speak when the crowd parted, allowing Mayor Bourgeois and Lila’s mother to approach.

“Queen Garnet, Prince Zidane. Please, I’m so sorry for my daughter’s actions!” her mother immediately said and Lila felt her blood drain. A Queen and a Prince? Another look, and the young woman in red really did have this Princess doll beauty to her. No, Lila couldn’t have really—

But not-Marinette - Queen Garnet - waved a hand, “Please, it’s fine. I’m fine, but you may want to help your daughter find whomever it is she’s looking for.”

“If they are even here to be found,” Prince Zidane added. “You might want to have a private word with your daughter first?”

“Yes, I certainly will…”

Queen Garnet looked Lila’s way, her eyes on the woman holding her arm, and with a nod, she was let go. Not that Lila could escape still because next she knew, her mother was ushering her off the dance floor and to an adjoining hallway to have that word.

                                                    000000

Unbeknownst to Lila, Adrien and Marinette had come to the ballroom themselves upon hearing a commotion and noticing the lights had been turned back on. Adrien was wearing a white tux with gold trimmings and tie, matching Marinette’s white A-line dress with gold embroidery down the thigh of her skirt. It was a modern take of an Ancient Greek dress she wanted to try and he’d gone along with it, suggesting all the while they should try something with Hades and Persephone. 

Anyway, they had been attempting to decide when would be a good time for Ladybug and Chat Noir to appear, but now, they watched Mme. Rossi pull her daughter away for a stern word, and slowly let their eyes drift back to the Queen and Prince masquerading tonight as their superhero personas.

“I am going to have to personally thank them for taking that hit,” Adrien whispered.

Marinette nodded and then added, “And now you see why I said we shouldn’t dress up like Ladybug and Chat Noir as our civilian selves.”

“Yeah. I’m surprised she thought they were us though.”

“Right? Queen Garnet is so beautiful and Prince Zidane is way more roguish than you, kitty.”

“Princess, I’ll have you know you’re gorgeous,” Adrien chided. “But, I will give you that part of him being more roguish. I’ll have to work on that.”

“We’ll see about that, we’ll see…”

[lauragalliart]

FFIX Appreciation Week~

Because I always arrive late, here's my little appreciative post! ❤ I wish I had the time to paint an illustration, but a class is draining all my time- more than I expected in fact- so I'm just going with this!

Day 1 → Favorite scene/cut-scene ALL of the night of the attack on Alexandria. The drama, the cutscenes, Bahamut, Alexander, the Invincible, Steiner and Beatrix fighting back to back, Zidane rescuing Garnet, EVERYTHING. *gestures at the gif below* It’s all so beautiful and heartwretching.

Day 2 → Favorite location The Black Mage Village. I would live there honestly. Everytime I play and get there, I can almost feel the sunlight shining through and the wind through the leaves, and hear the water running through the Village. Daguerreo is a close second! And I’ve sometimes spent hours in the Gurgu Volcano or Bran Bal listening to the music theme.

Day 3 → Favorite song/theme You’re not Alone. Honestly how dare they use this theme for Kuja in Opera Omnia and make me cry like that.

Day 4 → Favorite eidolon/summon/command This transformer boat.

Day 5 (July 05) → Favorite side-quest/mini game I would rush through Tetra Master matches sometimes, but then spend the entire day on the Chocobo Hot and Cold game. Honestly.

Day 6 (July 06) → Favorite boss/battle There are a few monsters/bosses I honestly feel bad beating. Like little cute Tantarian. 200% would pet.

Day 7 → D-DAY! A free day! When I have more time...I’m SO going to paint a Kuja fanart...

When I played FFIX for the first time, I was about half my actual age. With time, replaying it again and again, this title really grew on me to become my absolute favourite, not only because it features some of my fav characters of all time (*cough Kuja *cough. I’m not vocal about this on social medias but my friends may as well strangle me if I keep talking about him with this frequence. I’m sorry for this torture and grateful of having you in my life), but also because of the incredibly deep themes it portrays. Remembering the main theme of the game gives me relief and warms up my heart to this day.

Just a few more things before ending this:

A little thing I’ve always loved about FFIX is the chromatic symbolism in the colours of Zidane and Kuja (and their trance forms), and Garland, and how the theme returns in Memoria too.

The whole Steiner x Beatrix beginning with that letter gets me every. single. time. Favourite FF ship EVER. Hands down.

I NEVER kill the Gimme Cat. It’s a good cat. Would give scritches.

Morbols are cute. I don’t make the rules, sorry.

1000 jumps at the rope is just inhuman.

When I had the PSX, my first disc scratched. I had a save file in Cleyra, so everytime I wanted to replay I had to start from there. This is probably why I remember the story better from disc 2 onwards xD

FF9 was (and is?) really underestimated when I bought the game. I wasn’t really convinced with playing it at first because of this, but gosh I did finish disc one in a single afternoon.

Rufus’ Welcoming Ceremony played in the Evil Forest. Awesome.

Black Jack.

I want to try those Ghysal Pickles.

Garland bad.

Baku is a good dad btw

I love reading theories of FF1 and FF9 being connected.

Quina absolutely destroys me. I love them. 

I may or may not edit this list to make it longer. If you need good reasons to try this game, here’s a handful.

Also the strongest boss of the game is a bouncy ball.

Without Final Fantasy, I may not be drawing today. The wonder and beauty of this world remains with you.

[rentfreecat]

Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts Fanfic Recs

so yeah I figured I should get around to making a list of some of my faves to promote them, I’ve got a big enough collection of bookmarks now. in no particular order. not all of them are necessarily complete or alive

Final Fantasy VII

The Gold Saucer’s Golden Arches by belderiver

Before he doomed the world to ash and ruin, Sephiroth wanted a burger.

note: Sephiroth + sudden hunger pang = mcgold

Meetings by Yinza

Aeris reflects on her few encounters with Sephiroth over the years since her escape from the lab.

note: Aerith having known Sephiroth before is just one of my favorite headcanons

lather, rinse, repeat by annperkinsface

She knows she shouldn't confuse this act of kindness for anything else, but it's hard, when Aerith is draping a towel over her shoulders, when Aerith is warm at her back, humming as she works a thick lather across her hands.

note: adorable Aerti. Aerith being a weirdo. Tifa blushing and being kinda horny. perfect. in case you couldn’t tell I ship it.

In Circles by Larissa

Tifa hates Midgar, and yet she stays, and she stays, and she stays.

Character study/pre-game gap-filler. Written for the Tifa Zine.

note: beautiful mood piece

the nodding golden tansy by Kieron_ODuibhir

“You think this troubles me?”

“Yes,” said Cloud, without looking up from his tea.

note: one of my fave takes on Seph and Cloud’s relationship. wonderfully quiet and melancholy.

not one before another by Kieron_ODuibhir

1) Sephiroth almost corrected the first person who called Aerith his sister, a woman they’d met before they were even out of Midgar’s slums complimenting him on taking such good care of her, while their mother shopped.

2) The other half of Project S took after their father.

3) Blue eyes contemplated him narrowly for several seconds, and then Genesis’ smirk came back, lying on his face more easily, somehow. “So brothers-in-arms to the skirmish shall we hence?”

4) It felt wrong to be relying on anybody but Mother, but Mother…only cared about Sephiroth, and it wasn’t fair. Loz sniffled. “Will she take care of Yazoo, too?”

5) “I’m glad he’ll have a big brother,” she said, as Sephiroth crossed the room. “Little ones always need someone looking out for them.”

Sephiroth nodded, and bent forward, and peered at the squashed little pink thing until it stirred, objecting probably to cool air on its face. “What’s his name?”

“Cloud."

(Five times in five worlds where Sephiroth was somebody's brother, and one where he wasn't anymore.)

note: exactly what it sounds like. personal fave is 4.

Angels Still Have Faces by Kieron_ODuibhir

On the fourth day, Sephiroth looked out a window and spotted his two friends together on one of the outdoor training fields, once again exchanging harsh words, only for Angeal to wheel around and storm off at the end.

note: fics where someone other than the main character time-travels are amazing and this is that and also outsider pov mother bear Sephiroth who doesn’t know what pizza is

Final Fantasy IX

puppet play by zalzaires

starting a drabble collection for ffix. i mostly just write about kuja so hence the name.

note: my personal fave is "curtains, bookends, stars of the show” because Kuja is such so... Kuja in there

Final Fantasy XV

ffucc the wedding by Givethemtriumphnow

Gift for Victortor, inspired by their fabulous ffucc Universe.

Noctis and Luna are the same person, one soul split into two bodies.

In a world where everyone lives and nothing hurts, the wedding is still a symbol of the peace, and the show must go on. Noct and Luna just can’t wait for what comes afterwards: the Big Reveal.

note: I just really like the one person two body trope okay? pretty entertaining read!

Poor Wayfaring Stranger by lithos_saeculum

Out on a mission, Cor Leonis finds a teenager, lost and sick and partway to becoming an MT. Against the advice of all and sundry, he brings him back to Insomnia. There's not a lot of love lost for MTs in the Citadel, but some of its inhabitants may still be young enough to put aside their prejudices.

note: also on my list of likes is MT Prompto trope, and honestly fuck canon that’s just there for inspiration. TW for implied pedophilia and stranger danger in one of the later chapters.

Will You Be There, Standing at the End of the War by Adel Mortescryche (Mortescryche)

When they're attacked by the Imperial Forces at Tenebrae, Regis wasn't prepared to be rescued alongside Noctis, Lunafreya and Ravus by the Commanding General of the enemy forces. Not after the man already cut Sylva down before them.

He was even less prepared for the face lying in wait behind the mask.

He dropped down to one knee, and rather pointedly cupped the left side of Drautos’ head, delicate, making no move to actually hide the fury raging through him.

“Talk, Titus.” Regis whispered. “Before I take this airship down from the sky.”

note: Drautos time-travels and is an absolute bastard. I like seeing his and Regis’s exchanges!

For Want of a Flan by magicgenetek

For want of some patience, Ifrit never freed Ardyn from Angelgard to rebel against the Astrals.

For want of Ardyn, Nifleheim never invented MT Troopers.

For want of MT Troopers, Lunafreya and Ravus were able to escape with Regis, and Nifleheim never cornered Lucis in their war.

For want of a kidnapping, Luna, Noctis and Prompto were able to work together to get ready for the prophecy, and Ravus is ready to suplex an Astral to make sure someone survives the prophecy.

For want of separation, the four of them go to Angelgard to figure out what secrets lay there, and accidentally adopt Ardyn into their plans to save the world.

For want of 2000 years’ prep time, Ardyn’s going to have to get up to speed on the modern world fast if he wants revenge or to fulfill his half of the prophecy.

note: has a good deal of worldbuilding and linguistics nerdery. I like that. I also like the recovery element of Ardyn’s arc.

A Little More Time by Asidian

The sun is brilliant overhead – set in a blue sky dotted with clouds that float like wisps of spun sugar through the high arc of the heavens.

It's more than lovely. It's entrancing, and Noctis takes one long, final look before he turns his gaze back earthward. His vision dances with sunspots for a moment, afterimages from the blinding light – but when it clears, Noctis sees a small black dog there, patient and watchful as always.

Umbra has been waiting.

"Alright," Noctis says. "We're ready to go back."

note: short, punchy, and absolutely chilling

Eschaton by nirejseki

Sure, it's the end of the world, but that just means someone's got to fix it.

And then the world found its somebodies.

(aka, with Noctis gone into the Crystal and no one sure when he'll be back, Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto end up saving the world one piece at a time)

note: I like worldbuilding and MTs alright? and schoolteacher Gladio will never not be funny/great

Astra Inclinant by thekindmagic

“Look,” Aranea laughs, shaking her head. “I’m not trying to shit on your destiny. But the way I see it? A lot of the time, there’s no big mystery. You either keep going, or you don’t.”

note: how could I not rec femslash? beautiful melancholy mood. I’m so sad for Luna

Starlight and Shadow by ohmyfae

While Noctis and his friends are setting up camp, Ardyn Izunia happens to accidentally stumble onto the runes of their haven. The magic of the haven pulls him into two halves; One is Ardyn, a small child with a bit of an ego and a limited knowledge of the world at large, and the other is the Scourge, shambling and groundless, determined to seek out its former host and consume the light it finds there.

note: fun read!

On the Care and Keeping of Prompto by ohmyfae

Congratulations! You have been chosen to ensure the well-being of PROMPTO, who is: 1. An absolute darling. 2. Of more intrinsic value than you, your significant other, your ancestors, and the world at large. 3. Two years and four months old 3a. This is very important to remember 4. Behind you.

note: also a very fun and fluffy read! also the fic that introduced me to the amazing crackship of Ardyn and Cor, and I say crackship but... I want more of it

Kingdom Hearts

The Price of Melodrama by LawnNinja

Xemnas never imagined that one of the hardest parts of his plan would be the stupid names.

note: deny it all you wish but you know this happened. also XULORD

(i don’t need you to) Worry for Me by Cygna_hime

In a fit of defiance and desperation, Vanitas disobeys his Master's orders and goes looking for the missing half of his heart. He finds it, and something else as well, something he never expected to find anywhere...

note: I absolutely love this I’ve read this like... 3 or 4 times? go read it now

Bleeding Heart by keelahselai

Xemnas was fundamentally a bad person. Born from the fracture of Xehanort's heart, he had only caused pain to those he banded together with under the promise of finding a way to return all their hearts. He shattered the Organization he'd founded for his own gain, and he understood this with cool indifference. But beneath everything, carefully kept folded away and hidden from Xigbar's prying eye, he was also made from the other inhabitant of Apprentice Xehanort's body. And as troubling as it could be to their plan, he kept it hidden from all.

(Or, how Terra managed to keep his head above the water for thirteen years)

note: I absolutely love the.. I don’t know what it’s called, but let’s say Terramas even though that sounds like a ship name... I absolutely love that trope. this one has such just a great mood y’know?

By Choice or Chance by Six_Piece_Chicken_McNobody

Lazy afternoons are a universal phenomenon.

note: I just love Xehaqus’s tragedy. this is nice, fluffy, and one of them is going to murder the other in his own selfish lust for power. (I know III said Xehanort had other motivations but I just love the “he’s such an utter bastard that all his relationships are going to end disastrously” interpretation)

Whatever Will Be by NanakiBH

Once I tell you the words I've been unable to say, it will be goodbye.

note: more explicitly melancholy mood than last one, still great.

[battleanimrpg]

Fire Magic: Final Fantasy

Fire - Final Fantasy VII (PSX) - Simple, interesting in that the animation is pre-rendered in the particle, which is a good solution for their first foray in 3D.

Fira - Final Fantasy VII (PSX) - Really reminiscent of FF5′s? Kind of FF6′s as well. I like how Final Fantasy keeps this language of “tier 2 fire magic involves a pillar of flame” very consistent throughout the franchise.

Firaga - Final Fantasy VII (PSX) - The flashing and particles are both very effective. The flame orbs that linearily expand, not so much.

Flare - Final Fantasy VII (PSX) - Still don’t like the linear animation. But the contrast between red and blue really gives this one an intense feel. The only one so far to have a glow texture for the floor, too.

Flamethrower - Final Fantasy VII(PSX) - Creative little way to recycle the Fire spell textures.

Beta - Final Fantasy VII(PSX) - This one is just so random lol. It looks cool, once again nice use of the subtle hints of blue. The flashing, camera panning and sheer scale look imponent and ominous. Meanwhile, this one is very cheap, despite the little particles.

Fire - Final Fantasy VIII(PSX) - Love the attention to detail in this one. Main fire particles, black smoke particles, small magic / fire sparks, and a floor lighting texture mesh. Classy, simple and effective.

Fira - Final Fantasy VIII(PSX) - This one even more faithfully recreates FFV’s Fire Pillar concept, simply because of the floor mesh particles that spawn between caster / target. Really nice. Fire texture on the cone, smoke still checks, fire particles...

Firaga - Final Fantasy VIII(PSX) - A real improvement over its past iteration in terms of timing and motion of the explosion itself. Still, I miss some of that knack of the flashing particles. But see? Good animation easing is sooo important.

Flare - Final Fantasy VIII(PSX) - Reiterating on the concept of concentrated heat, this spell uses a really interesting zoom out zoom in effect on the character model. The orbs of fire that stay put before zooming out and dissipating really play into that concept too. I’m not a fan of the particles in the beginning of the spell, though, but otherwise really good.

Fire Breath - Final Fantasy VIII(PSX) - Really improved upon the previous iteration, even if you ignore the flashy Limit Break intro. The most obvious downgrade is that the flame particle is no longer animated or randomly positioned, which makes it look very artificial. But the use of the flame rings in the spawn point, and the collision fire effect are both great.

Fire - Final Fantasy IX(PSX) - This game’s animations vibe a lot like a mixture of FFT/FFX. Kinda miss the little fire sparks, though.

Fira - Final Fantasy IX(PSX) - The fire pillar got a LOT larger. (The animations actually scale organically to the enemy this time around, by the way.)

Firaga - Final Fantasy IX(PSX) - I don’t like the timing very much. Very pretty and detailed.

Flare - Final Fantasy IX(PSX) - I had to make SEVERAL takes of this because the animation is just so large and the gif gets so heavy. Needless to say, this one’s amazing. Very good screen shaking effects, the sparingly used flashes really drive the point, multiple explosions, the few frames when it gets color-inverted... Pretty amazing. May be my new favorite Flare.

Fire - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - I’m shocked. Realizing how similar this is to FF7′s is, wow. It kind of is similar to FF1′s (WSC-onwards) too. They all use these pre-rendered wisps of fire in “random” spots, FFX’s two changes to the formula are way higher quality animation for these individual wisps, and the obvious smoke. Also, there’s subtle heatwaves, too. Classy.

Fira - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - Iterating on the Flame Pillar concept again. Notice how swift and sleek it is, though. Masterful timing! The blue accents are subtle but really accent the animation overall, too.

Firaga - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - RAINBOWWSS. I LOVE RAINBOWS. i’m gay

the sound effect for this is really good, too, it really does justice to the motion there -- energy sucking in then exploding in one fiery blast. This is once again another iteration on the common Firaga you’ll see through the series. Don’t understand why this one doesn’t have a floor mesh when Fira does though, I feel it’d do wonders to hide the parts where the billboards meet the floor.

Flare - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - Surprisingly underwhelming. Almost monochromatic, the timing isn’t as good: The colors are better on FF7′s, the intense heat trapping effect on FF8′s was engaging and FF9′s was just superb, if too lengthy. By the time you get this spell, it’s mostly useless anyway and you’ll be spamming Quick Hit...

Flame Thrower - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - Really simple, but effective. A mix of fire and smoke particles, with the former on additive (?) and the latter on subtractive (?) blending modes. the motion and timing is real good. The subtle impact flash and particles add the last bit of polish.

Meteor Strike - Final Fantasy X(PS2) - It’s funny that it’s called Meteor Strike when he’s launching what’s depicted closer to a fireball. It’s entirely billboard-based, too. I really like all the alpha masking and layering they got going for the FFX animations (not used a lot on the Fire spells)

Fire - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - This game went quite simpler since so much was happening onscreen at the same time. Sleek and effective though. Gone are the multiple fire wisps and a single pre-rendered fire billboard appears, though it spawns simple fire sparks on impact. I don’t know if hardware limitations are at play, but FFXII had to deal with way higher information density and a player-controlled camera.

Fira - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - Boom, screen shake. Take that, FFX’s Flare. I think the fire animation might be played in a cone-shaped mesh? also, the initial fire animation only plays once. EDIT: No, it does play for every target as Firaga shows. It’s just hard to see here because of the angle.

Firaga - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - It’s just Fira, but 3x more fire. And about 1.2x hotter. Very readable, although it raises the concern of indistinguishability to the player.

Flare - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - She’s GONE. Gone Girl. A movie I just know of because of one Ben Affleck scene. This one once again iterates on the concept Flare has throughout the series - heat that concentrates, cooks the target, then explodes into a fiery blast. This one I think is a maximum Effect Capacity spell -- a spell that, except on the modern remaster, needs to pause the whole battle system to play by itself, due to hardware limitations. You can see it really goes to town with all the particles. Amazing use of contrast, and that darker frame before the intense explosion just enhances everything. Also, notice the hue variation and subtle blues and purples.

Ardor - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - The most powerful Fire spell is blue. I’ve heard that blue flames are the hottest, but the wikipedia article contradicts this. It’s 5 AM and I can’t digest text so I wouldn’t know. Still, an interesting choice.

Firaja / Pyroclasm - Final Fantasy XII(PS2) - I don’t know even if I should put this here as it’s more of a cutscene. The fire is simple but the motion and flames themselves are great. Awesome heatwaves.

Fire/Fira (+Ruin?) - Final Fantasy XIII(PS3) - This one is really weird to capture. I’m kinda tired, too, may get back to it later -- It’s 5 AM and I have to sleep. Still, fun to see they came back to the FF7-styled fire wisps for Fire, and the fire pillar for Fira.

Resources used: FFVII FFVIII(1, 2, 3) FFIX(1) FFX(1, 2, 3) FFXII(1, 2) FFXIII(1, )

[createandconstruct]

Something about Quina in FFIX - Their magic reflects their personality to the dot. Quina is erratic, carefree, absurd to the core, and strong willed. Their magic is bizarre, whimsical, unpredictable, and powerful.

The fact they're the embodiment of the game's message is even more spectacular. They deserve more love. WE NEED MORE QU IN THE SERIES DAMMIT! Give us young Qu, old Qu, adolescent Qu, parents who are Qu, whole societies of the Qu!

Oh, btw, rename Quina to Quart to play into their Gourmand side. You're welcome

You: Here is an extremely good take on Quina and why they're actually a fantastic character and addition to the main cast.

Me: I owe you my life

You know what takes years off my life? Everytime I read an article that's like "TOp 10 ChaNgeS ThEy ShoUld mAke tO A Ff9 ReMaKe" and then they have the AUDACITY TO SAY "REMOVE QUINA FROM THE GAME. OR I read a post that says "You could remove Quina from the game and nothing would change."

Excuse me? Nothing would change?? Remove Quina? My non-binary Qu LEGEND??? The REASON why you are able to go to the Lost Continent. The character that knocks Zidane off his confident feet and teases out a frustration from him that no other character can do??? The self-aware, confident, ROCK OF THE PARTY. THOSE PEOPLE ARE SO WRONG. But you are absolutely RIGHT saying Quina is strong-willed. They have the strongest will of ALL the main characters. In a group of characters questioning themselves, doubting themselves, and facing their insecurities Quina is the wise old friend who's there for practical good old advice - even if it goes over everyone else's heads - and is always there when you really need them. May Quina EAT anyone who questions their presence in the game.

Quina is a genius character from a design perspective too because the game designers needed a character to come in and out of the party for characters like Steiner and Eiko to enter the party in Disc 2. You never really question when Quina just goes running off and leaves the party because that's just Quina. But it happens at the perfect time for another member to join up.

You also NAIL IT saying Quina embodies the game’s message. I’ve been screaming this forever so THANK YOU FOR THE VALIDATION. Quina gives an essential lesson that ties in well with the theme of the game. Quina’s journey may seem surface level ridiculous and silly - a constant search for good food - but let’s substitute eating for experiences. “To eat is to live.” Or rather, to experience is to live. The people that are “hollow,” or considered “lifeless puppets” are alive but they have yet to begin to live until they get the chance to experience the world around them. Quina is the one character who gets this in a sense. They aren’t afraid to live. They aren’t afraid to experience. As Zidane says at the end of the game, “even if we’re born to die, I’m not afraid. I’m gonna live!” Quina will die one day, and comes very close to it, at some points like in Cleyra. But that doesn’t deter them. Quina races forward to eat and experience as much of life as they can even in the face of death that looms in the world of FF9 and our own. Quina is the one character who, from the start, embodies Zidane’s quote. They are not afraid, they simply live. We could all take a page out of their book.

Also it’s time for Quina appreciation. This compilation video is a riot from Vinesauce’s FF9 stream. FF9 is one of his favorite games so he plays it with love, his Quina voice is amazing, and it’s a riot how he goofs on Quina, while they slowly become a highlight of his playthrough.  

This art by dv9lity on twitter (click the link for the full art) from the stream, inspired by the Vivi, Quina, Quale, and Quan scene, is also incredible. Anyone who hates Quina is small, peanut brain. All those who love and appreciate Quina? Galaxy brain. Don’t be like Zidane. Embrace imagination, embrace Quina. 

I guess I can also mention/plug my Quina fic. The only Zidane & Quina fic currently which is a crime. Give me more Quina content. Give me more Quina bonding with the others. Quina would give the best hugs. We need to take advantage of that potential. 

You’re also FREAKING RIGHT. The Qu’s are such an awesome fantasy race! I’M SICK OF HUMANS SQUARE ENIX. THEY’RE BORING, OVERUSED, GIVE US THE FANTASY RACES WE DESERVE. FF9 had PEAK fantasy world with its hundreds of different races. We will never achieve such heights again. Just look at the main cast. They’re so diverse, colorful, and fun together - I want that again.