#because I love octopath a lot

[official-german-gaming]

Octopath Traveler?

Schickt mir ein Videospiel und ich sag euch wieso es scheiße ist

(Hatte ich an sich schon, aber gerne noch mal)

Banter zwischen den Charakteren lässt sich nicht nachholen und ist extrem einfach zu verpassen.

[confusions-shed-of-ideas]

Hikari: There is no future. There is no past. Do you see? Time is simultaneous, an intricately structured jewel that humans insist on viewing one edge at a time, when the whole design is visible in every facet.

Agnea:

Ochette:

Throné:

Partitio:

Castti:

Temenos:

Osvald: *nodding in agreement*

Everyone else at Hikari's surprise birthday party:

Agnea, concerned: All we asked was if you wanted to cut your birthday cake first.

[butchlifeguard]

primrose's ch3 is GOOD btw

[ponett]

Was rereading your FFXVI article the other day and I got curious to know why you don’t like Bravely Default and Octopath. I agree that Octopath is a tedious dumpster fire, but I quite liked the Bravely series apart from That One Bit of Default (and also the entirety of BD2, which plays a lot more like Octopath and is therefore dogshit). I’d be interested to hear your thoughts in more detail, if you’re willing to share?

I will definitely say that I liked what I played of Bravely Default 1 (the only one of the Bravely games I've touched) better than Octopath 1. It's not the worst. I can see how people who are more patient with it can get a lot out of it. I think most of my problems with it mainly come down to pacing. The story takes a long time to go anywhere, and the writing along the way didn't grab me. (Ringabel's constant womanizing certainly didn't help.) You unlock additional jobs slowly. It felt like I had to stop and grind a lot, either to level my jobs or just to have enough gold to buy shit. Compared to the whirlwind pace of the classic FFs it was riffing on, it felt like I was making very little progress during the time I played

But the thing that really bothered me is that, even in the early game, bosses are massive damage sponges with tons of HP that take forever to fight. My casters would run out of MP halfway through the fight, and because of how rare and expensive ethers were I'd have no way to restore their MP, so I'd just limp along to the end of the fight without magic. It was miserable. Most old school JRPGs are also pretty strict about MP recovery items, sure, but in those games boss fights tend to be MUCH shorter until later in the game, and they're generally designed so that going in with a full HP/MP party already puts you at an advantage. Those games also have items like tents so that you can restore your party at save points, whereas Bravely seemingly just expects you to turn off encounters and walk all the way back to the nearest inn. These are VERY strange design decisions in a game that's trying so hard to be accessible and low-friction, to the point that you can just turn off random encounters whenever you want. This balancing feels like the worst of both worlds when it comes to classic and modern JRPG design

I can pinpoint the exact moment in the story that was my last straw, though, about six hours into the game. I took a photo of it. It was this:

In a better story, I could roll my eyes at this line and move on. But I was already having a generally unpleasant time, and the story felt like it had barely gone anywhere in six whole hours. (By that point in FF6 you could be nearing the opera!! In Chrono Trigger you'd probably be in Magus' friggin' castle!!!!!) So I decided it was time to cut my losses

I took this as an opportunity to just go and play FF5, rather than a modern game that's imitating it. I still need to actually beat FF5 someday (I am terrible about finishing long games because ADHD etc. etc.), but god, I loved what I played of it, and it really just highlighted how much better it is than Bravely Default. WAY better story pacing, way better bosses, you unlock the jobs way quicker, the party is way more likeable. It was still a game where I found myself grinding, but in FF5 it felt like I was actively making the choice to invest time in my character builds because I was having fun with those systems, rather than feeling forced to grind for gold or whatever

TL;DR the moral of this story is that everyone should play FF5

[a-little-bit-of-ravioli]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by @the-real-azalea-scroggs! Had to wait until I was of my phone because doing these is a nightmare on mobile lmao

1. How many works do you have on A03?

18 as of a few days ago!

2. What's your total A03 word count?

157,937! Which is. Only a fraction of the word count in my Docs folder. Be prepared.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I mainly write for The Legend of Zelda; specifically Linked Universe! In fact, that's all that's posted on my Ao3 currently, since my fall into that fandom began with me uploading there! Pre-Ao3 I wrote for Black Cat (Anime/Manga), Megaman NT Warrior, various Pokémon things, Assassin's Creed, Yugioh, Final Fantasy XIV and Octopath Traveler! Some of these I still write privately, but I haven't gotten around to re-posting any.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Whistling on Deaf Ears - My longest fic on Ao3, focusing on Wild and Twilight's friendship and how good intentions can lead to disaster.

Iconoclasm - Warriors deals with the room full of portraits in Cia's palace. The Chain also deals with it, but with a bit more fire.

Deserving - Twilight finally tells Rusl that he was the wolf in the village during TP, but that also means dealing with some heavier topics. Colin half overhears them and forms his own conclusions.

Something Greater - The start of the "Hyrule can see magical auras" series! In this one we deal with Legend and his many rings.

Ocean Magic - Mermaid Legend and Zora Time have a race and then fight one of the Big Octos from WW! Fun times.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Every single one!! I love comments, they give me an excuse to ramble about my fic more!! I am always down to ramble about every single insignificant detail of any line and/or section. If you ever want more background info about one of my fics, look to the comments!

So please, I adore comments, I treat them like treasures, not responding to them would be a CRIME.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

There's no contest; Inevitable, my (so far) only MCD fic.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Hmmm, that's hard to quantify. I usually try to end fics on a hopeful note regardless. I'd say possibly either Deserving, where Twilight reconnects with his family, or Shimmering Blue, Striking White, where Time meets the Fierce Deity settled down on Satori Mountain and they both get closure.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Thankfully, no! I've been blessed with mostly amazing and patient readers, even when my upload schedule isn't the best.

9. Do you write smut?

No, not really. I've attempted it, but I'm too asexual for it lol

10. Do you write crossovers?

Very, very rarely. Mostly privately, and only very specific ones. Only a single one has had an actual plot, so far (more on that one in question 15!).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Also a nope! I tend to write for smaller fandoms, where these things don't tend to happen a lot!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have! But it's been a while. Over a decade, in fact! I tried to find the fic to link it here, but it was on the German fanfic website fanfiktion.de, and my friend who posted it back then must have deactivated her account, because it's nowhere to be seen (I still have the Word file though!). It was a Multi-Crossover that started as an RP in a forum, and we took turns turning the RP into prose one chapter each. "If a Hero Turns to Dark" was its title. We were edgy teenagers.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Hissssss. Bad question. Shoo. They are all equally important!!

But it's probably TenRose from Doctor Who.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

One of the very few crossovers I've ever worked on; a crossover fic between Assassin's Creed and Doctor Who, that I have mapped out in both chronological and timeline order, and yes, those are different. I only ever wrote about a quarter of it, since my primary audience of it disappeared when we graduated. I doubt I'll ever pick it back up properly, and if I do it'll probably go through heavy rewrites first since it's so old. Finishing it is a nice thought, but realistically, after 9 years it'll never be high priority enough for it to actually happen.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue, especially arguments, and emotional impact. I've been told I do really well making characters feel alive and believable! Also I like to believe I'm decent at setting a scene and giving it the vibe I want it to have!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I struggle with dialogue tags when nothing much is happening besides the talking. I always feel it's too bland, and fall back on the same phrases. My scene transitions could use some work too.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've done this with Japanese phrases, because I was a massive weeb. Usually I followed them up with their own translations, though; I'm not the biggest fan of footnote translations, unless they are properly linked to. Simple dialogue tags are my favourite way of indicating a language switch.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Black Cat the Manga/Anime! It's a series about an assassin turned bounty hunter trying to live a life separate from his murdery past, but getting dragged back into things by still wanting to avenge his best friend's death. The series has a special place in my heart and my bookshelf, it left an imprint on 13-year-old me that will never leave.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Probably Jailbreak, uncharacteristically enough! It's one of the only fics I never got stuck in once. Writing it was a great feeling from start to finish. I love writing all of my fics, but that was a special few days.

Tagging @ahrva @nowhere-to-go-but-down @silvercaptain24 and @aeghina! And anyone who wants to do it, really, go wild

[nero-vanderwolf]

☆Welcome to my Enclosure!☆

⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☽ ◯ ☾₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆

The name's Nero! (they/she/he) And welcome to my enclosure where I reblog cool stuff and scream.

My sorta inactive artblog: @widenero

I enjoy many things! The Persona series, Pokémon, Octopath Traveler II, MCSM, Deltarune, Petz Dogz/Catz 2, and more!!!

My blorbos! (I post about these guys a lot):

Persona: Eikichi Mishina, Yu Narukami, Yosuke Hanamura, Goro Akechi, Tohru Adachi (+pretty much the entire cast of Persona 2)

Pokemon: Volo, Looker, Saturn. Fav Pokemon are Joltik, Giratina, Slither Wing, & Vaporeon

MCSM: Radar

OT2: Partitio Yellowil

I love oc x canon and selfshipping! My blog will forever be a place for these to thrive. (I selfship w/ Eikichi from Persona 2 <3. If you wanna see more of that then go to @nerokichi !!!)

Please don't be afraid to send me asks or DMs! I love receiving them and making new friends! Mutuals can ask about Discord!

Anyways, enjoy! Or don't! :3

⋆⁺｡˚⋆˙‧₊☽ ◯ ☾₊‧˙⋆˚｡⁺⋆

Also! Tagging my mutuals because I love them! Go check them out! Now.

@da-millerrrrr @arunytic @throne-anguis @beantothemax @these-detestable-hands @lola-legendary @justagingerwithredhair @selfdiagnosedeyemotif @meatmarkett3 @suoufield @princedetectives @deadbananazfds @victim-of-subtraction @crabknight @sombrerokiwi

[loregoddess]

okay one of my all-time favorite fanarts for the first Octopath game were these doodles of the travelers sleeping, and it made me want to make art of the Octo2 travelers sleeping but I don't have a lot of energy for art lately so I don't think that'll happen, however I was still inspired to come up with a whole bunch of headcanons about the sleeping habits of the Octo2 travelers, sooo...I wrote them instead. Cheers. (some story spoilers)

Ochette Ochette has official art showing her sleeping, so we know she sleeps curled in a tight little ball (although she probably repositions herself in her sleep), but I also think she nests. Like, all the time. Staying at an inn? Ochette turns those blankets into a nest and curls up in them. Camping? no need for a sleeping bag (unless it's cold) she'll just tamp down some grass and make a nest. Will also nest in trees by rearranging the branches and leaves. Nests in Osvald's hair on occasion.

Also I think Ochette's a huge cuddler. She's usually cuddled with Akala or Mahina, but once she gets to know the other travelers better and figures out their personal boundaries, she'll cuddle anyone who's okay with it (probably usually Agnea and Castti. Throne wants to cuddle Ochette so badly but refuses to ask...Ochette eventually figures it out though. Osvald swears he doesn't know anything about Ochette making nests of his hair or snuggling into his coat during cold nights, but everyone knows he has the soul of a loving father. One time Ochette fell asleep leaning against Hikari and he was afraid to move at all for the rest of the night).

Follows something of a crepuscular sleeping schedule, so Ochette's most active at dawn and dusk, naps in the middle of the day, and sleeps through most of the night (although she's skilled at night hunting and can stay up most of the night if need be). Ochette can technically stay awake for a couple of days at a time if she's taking breaks and short rests, since it's useful for tracking and stalking prey over longer distances, but doesn't prefer this type of a hunt. Can also technically follow a "typical diurnal human" sleeping schedule, but Ochette thinks it's stupid. Would love siestas if they existed in Solistia.

Overall quick to fall asleep, quick to wake up. Only feels groggy if it's cold or the weather's bad, as she'd prefer to continue sleeping snuggled up in her warm nest.

Castti Castti can sleep anywhere, anytime, in any position, but mostly because she does not have any sort of healthy sleeping habits or regular sleeping schedule. Terrible, terrible habit of just staying awake to help patients and then passing out as soon as she gets a brief break in her work (her sleeping at a table in her ending card artwork attests to this). She was better about getting proper sleep when she was with Eir's Apothecaries and could share the work, and the other travelers are good at nagging her to get to sleep, but Castti doesn't really hold her own sleep health to the same standards she'll expect of her patients (she is, canonically, a bit reckless about her own health, re: Osvald telling to her to take better care of herself in that one travel banter). Snores if she's gone too long without sleeping, and won't stop until she's gotten at least two hours of sleep.

Not a really deep sleeper, but not a light sleeper either. Castti has the ability to sort of sense when someone around her needs medical help, and wakes up accordingly to help them. If no one's in trouble though she could sleep through a hailstorm on a tin roof. Because she doesn't follow any fixed sleeping schedule, her body's innate sleeping cycles are a bit wonky, but if Castti allowed herself to return to a "normal" sleeping schedule she'd be the sort of person who was up before the sun rose, and be in bed as soon as the sun set.

Throne Throne is the lightest sleeper in the group. A mouse scampering across the inn floor could wake her. Always sleeps on her side with a dagger in hand. If she's at an inn, she chooses whichever bed is against a wall or in a corner with no windows, so that nothing can sneak up behind her as she sleeps, and sleeps facing out towards the rest of the room. If she's camping then she either chooses a location where she can't easily be ambushed (under an overhanging boulder/cliff, against a large tree), or begrudgingly sleeps on her back so she can survey the area around her. Once she's more comfortable with the other travelers, she's willing to treat them as "walls" that she can safely have her back to, but overall being raised by a syndicate of assassins made her an extremely cautious sleeper.

Given the nature of her work, Throne's mostly nocturnal, opting to sleep through the day, and be awake all night long. However, some jobs required more flexibility, so Throne also learned to just sort of be up whenever she needed to be up, and sleep whenever she could. If left to her own devices though she prefers to sleep through the day. Very quick to wake up, but also doesn't have too much trouble getting to sleep either.

Osvald Before prison Osvald was probably the sort of person to stay up late into the night as he pursued his research, and sleep in late during the morning. A very deep sleeper as well, although he did acquire the parental "oh shit, my kid needs me time to be fully awake" instinct when Elena was a baby that never really went away as she got older (Castti recruited Osvald to help her nurse the others when they get sick because he started having the parental "oh shit" reaction to the other travelers as well). If he needed to be up early for some sort of scholarly conference or to teach classes or something, then Rita was the one to get him up in a timely manner (she was more of a morning person), which was good because Osvald would take 1-2 hours just to fully wake up (very serious coffee person).

Osvald's time in prison changed him however, and between the cold and needing to survey everyone and everything in the prison, he stopped sleeping through the night and would sleep in short bursts instead. Like Throne, he became a very cautious sleeper, making sure his back was to a wall while he remained hyper-vigilant of his surroundings. Whatever his sleep schedule might have been didn't matter since he had to abide by the prison's work schedules. Being passed out as he washed up on the shores of Cape Cold was the first long "sleep" Osvald had in five years.

After escaping, he's sort of in a weird in-between state where part of his mind still thinks he's in constant danger and wants to continue being stressed and vigilant, and another part that realizes he's safe now and wants to finally get some rest. As a result Osvald's sleeping habits are...haphazard during his travels. Sometimes he manages to sleep just fine, sometimes he's restless, sometimes he'll be up for two days straight claiming he can't sleep. One time Castti offered him some sleeping medicine and he slept for almost an entire day. He doesn't stop being vigilant, although he's not quite as cautious as Throne (no weapons on hand), but this mostly just results in him knowing everyone else's sleeping habits and troubles. Partway through the travels, Osvald does ease up a bit as he's able to accept he's not in constant danger, and as he comes to trust the others more he begins to relax enough to start recovering his old sleeping habits.

Eventually, he is able to recover most of his sleeping habits, staying up late researching, and sleeping in late (unfortunately Clarissa and Elena have the same sleep schedule, so if they all need to be somewhere early chances are they're going to be collectively late). Osvald never does quite shake some of the habits picked up from prison though, and doesn't sleep as deeply as he once did.

Partitio Partitio doesn't sleep in any really odd positions, although he does rotisserie chicken through the night, turning from one side to his back to his other side to his stomach and back to his side, all without really waking up. Snores like a motor if he's on his back, but if one of the other travelers kicks him or tosses something at him, he'll turn over and stop snoring (won't remember this in the morning). Sleeps extremely deeply as well, and can sleep through almost anything. Coughing wakes Partitio up immediately though, because of the time he spent nursing his father's poor health--this in turn makes him a great nurse if any of the other travelers fall sick, and Castti was pretty quick to recruit him to being her aide as well.

Growing up working in mines meant Partitio was pretty tired come night, and would just pass out. He's a natural morning person, and typically follows a very regular "wake up with the rising sun, go to sleep with the starlight" schedule. Only oversleeps if he partied too hard late into the night, or else had to stay up all night for some reason.

Agnea Tosses and turns the most through the night. Not out of discomfort, Agnea just, doesn't really stay still when she sleeps, and sleeps in the strangest positions as well when she isn't moving around. At an inn the bed's covers will be an absolute mess when she gets up, and her sleeping bag ends up cocooned around her in ways the other travelers didn't think possible. Worst bedhead as well, it takes her a good half hour to get her hair brushed out sometimes. Which is fine because it usually takes her a bit to fully wake up in the morning (although if she's excited about something, Agnea can get up and be ready to go in ten minutes flat).

Also a bit of a sleep-talker, but the sort of "nonsense" sleep talk that almost seems to make sense but doesn't. The other travelers have held entire nonsense conversations with Agnea as she sleeps. She of course, does not have any memory of these conversations when she wakes up, nor do any of her dreams match the content of the conversations recounted to her. Agnea was a bit embarrassed by this at first, until she realized the others weren't teasing her to be mean, but because her nightly chatter was truly amusing in an endearing sort of way.

Prefers to sleep late into the morning/early afternoon and stay up into the night, since it fits her schedule as a dancer better. However, Angea also has one of those internal alarm clocks, so if she needs to get up early in the morning, she just tells herself at what time to wake up and then she does. Absolute envy of Pala, who does not have an internal alarm clock. Very useful when she's travelling though, since she can make sure all the other travelers are up on time if she needs too. Also, given the size of Solistia I'm assuming there's like, major time zone differences, but I feel like Agnea would be one of those people who almost never suffers from jetlag (partly bc the means to travel across the time zones quickly enough doesn't yet exist, but also because she just has a naturally good internal sense of time and adjusts to the times the sun rises and sets pretty quickly).

Temenos Temenos looks like he sleeps peacefully. On his back, hands folded over his chest, perfectly still, no matter if he's in a bed at an inn, or a sleeping bag while camping. The truth is it takes him 1-3 hours to actually fall asleep, and he's just pretending to sleep while he tries to get thoughts about whatever case (or general stress thoughts) out of his mind. Ochette, Throne, and Osvald have figured this out, since Temenos's breathing isn't actually steady until he's fallen asleep (Ochette has good ears, Throne's used to keeping a close eye on those around here, and Osvald also got good at monitoring his cellmates and the prison guards, which carried over to his traveling companions). Once he is asleep though, Temenos sleeps fairly deeply.

He's also had these issues getting to sleep since forever. When Temenos was really young, Jorg would read him stories from the scriptures, and once Temenos learned to read he'd stay up late reading and rereading these stories in hopes that the tedious language would bore him to sleep. This is at least part of the reason why he's memorized almost all the stories in the scriptures, even if he can't remember the details exactly. Sometimes if he knows he's not going to get to sleep easily, he'll still read, although he's expanded his reading list to just about every genre, and usually always has some sort of book on hand as a result.

Because he remains in the same position all night, Temenos wakes up stiff and needs to stretch to loosen his muscles. However, when he has nightmares he tends to toss and turn a bit, and then just wakes up achy from having slept in an odd position. Night owl by nature, feels most awake in the evening and early night, and would sleep half the day except his duties as inquisitor and cleric require Temenos to get up early (which he uses an alarm clock for, maybe? I mean, mechanical clocks do exist in Solistia, so...). Wakes up fairly quickly, but is always a little tired throughout the day.

Hikari Hikari tends to sleep mostly on his side, and also keeps a weapon nearby (he did grow up participating in a concerning number of wars and battles). He prefers to get up early and go to bed early, but given the need for flexibility on a battlefield, can and has stayed up through the night and slept part of the day with little consequence. Hikari's also an incredibly quiet and still sleeper, rarely repositioning except to sometimes roll onto his back.

He is also a deceptively peaceful-looking sleeper. Hikari's issue is less that he can't get to sleep easily, and more that he's afraid of the Shadow overtaking him somehow while he sleeps, a fear that was especially prevalent when he was in active warzones. Without anyone he could really discuss this with, Hikari had to figure out how to get to sleep on his own, and eventually settled for meditating before he planned to sleep. During his meditation he focuses on suppressing the Shadow the same way he's able to suppress it when he's awake, and specifically visualizes locking the Shadow away for the duration of his sleep. This meditation tactic, once Hikari refined it, did help him sleep with lessened fear of the Shadow overtaking him. It didn't stop him from occasionally having nightmares about the Shadow though, which eventually led to Hikari figuring out how to lucid dream so he could get the Shadow out of his dreams as well.

All this means that, so long as Hikari has adequate time to set up, he's able to meditate and then simply lay down and go to sleep. Unfortunately, it also means that he will refuse to sleep if he does not have adequate time to properly mediate, and has on occasion just...stayed awake for a concerning amount of time. Hikari's so earnest and polite about insisting he simply can't sleep though that the other travelers have a hard time arguing with him in these rare instances where he refuses to sleep. When, on occasion, he ends up knocked out from a battle (or getting zapped off a bridge), and doesn't have control over passing out, Hikari actually does fine, since his subconscious kicks in to keep him safe from the Shadow, but this doesn't stop him from practicing his disciplined sleep ritual.

Hikari doesn't ever truly stop his meditation before sleeping after the events of his story, but he stops forcing himself to stay awake out of fear if he can't meditate, much to the relief of his friends and retainers. It's less that Hikari no longer fears the Shadow, and more that he believes in his own strength to keep it out of his mind entirely. At that point, Hikari actually sleeps just as peacefully as he looks while sleeping.

[2manyflannels]

Octopath Traveler Characters Ranked by How Good they are at Cooking

(Objective list up for no debate I am not wrong)

/j

(From best to worse)

————————————-

-H’aanit

This is actually in the game. She’s good at cooking, or at least baking, but I feel as though it’s fair to say that it extends to cooking as well. It also makes sense. Let’s be honest, Z’aanta can’t cook for shit. I think H’aanit would rush to learn so she can provide for them just so she didn’t have to eat his cooking. Also hunts can last a long time and she probably had to do a lot of campfire/over flame cooking prior to her journey to begin with. I think she’s also the most passionate about it as I can see it being a hobby of hers. (Also she hunts for her own meat! It’s hard to see this being up for debate)

-Olberic

This one might be more controversial this high up, but I believe he just has the most experience. I think he cooked a lot for the fellow soldiers during the war and he also lived alone in Cobblestone for along while, I think he’d pick up a lot of cooking skills a long the way. Also, he just kind of gives off the vibe of a dad who loves to grill. I think he isn’t as good at baking as H’aanit which is why he’s placed below her, but he can make an incredible fucking stew.

-Alfyn

I think this has the same reasoning as how chemistry and cooking go hand in hand, if you substitute apothecary/alchemy instead of chemistry. I think it also makes sense that the group doctor has a good grasp on cooking. Besides job based reasoning he seems like the type of person to help his mom out with cooking dinner ( I think also his mom taught him well and he loves making her recipes 🤧) I think especially after she died he really stepped up to help cook for Zeph and Nina (because they don’t have parents either, or at least I think I do)

(This is where there is a big gap between number 3 and 4, and a close race for 4-6. I think you could rearrange these next one as I feel they’re all around the same level)

-Tressa

This is kind of similar to Alfyn where I feel like it’s something she did with her family before she leaves on her journey. It just seems like the sort of thing they’d do together. I also think she’d be the best gatherer of ingredients, and I think she has a knack for creating her own recipes on her own merit. (I also think she improves a lot under H’aanit and Olberic’s guidance when it comes to cooking over the campfire)

Therion-

This is based on the fact that he’s had got to eat somehow, and as skinny as he is I don’t think he just eats stolen apples. I think he can cook with the bare minimum needed to survive. Like the real-world equivalent of knowing to put water in the easy-mac cup. Not extensive, but he knows the basics and can help out the group. (Also while not as skilled with picking out the best options I think he also is quite good at gathering ingredients)

Ophilia-

Like Therion I feel like she knows the basics, but she didn’t have much need to learn how to cook back in Flamegrace as that was more of the other clerics in the church territory. I do however think she improves the most during her journey, as she seems the type to be a quick learner when she’s focused on improving a skills.

Primrose

She lived in a mansion with servants for the first years of her life who would cook for her, and then I don’t think it would come up after Geoffrey died. I think she was busy doing other things, and unlike her bestie Therion I think there was just no free time for her to learn. (As shitty as Helgenish was I do think he fed them, though no trust in how much or nutritious it was). She does learn a bit and (unlike our last place) is able to help out with the cooking, she just is inexperienced and doesn’t have a knack for it.

-Cyrus

Are we surprised? No! This man is a disaster. He’s the definition of high intelligence low wis. I think he put all his energy into his studies that when it comes to life skills like cooking he just ignored completely and is shitty. Age≠experience in his case and he just keeps on making messes of things. I think it’s a Spencer Shay deal where if he simply touches a dish while cooking it’ll become inedible. He has been banned from being near the cooking pot, and settles for just making the fire before being shooed away.

[smalltowncryptidfucker]

Yesterday, I spent my entire day off playing Octopath Traveler, and I have to gush about how much I love this game for a second okay.

As someone who loves character relationships in stories, and fantasy stories about people going on adventures together, this game is SO my thing. Like, the relationships between the eight party characters aren’t a Humongous part of the game, but I absolutely ADORE the party banter when it pops up!!!!

They all have such a wonderful mutual respect for one another??? Like yeah, occasionally someone will say something kind of out of pocket, mostly out of exasperation, or maybe because they don’t quite agree with the other’s ways of doing things (for example, Therion telling Cyrus his lectures give him a headache, and Tressa telling Therion she doesn’t agree with his thievery) but they sort round back to, at the very least, respect.

Like yeah, Cyrus felt a little put off by what Therion said, but he immediately thought, “Wow, I could really learn a lot from Therion, and I’m excited about it.” And even after Tressa kind of insulted the profession Therion was sort of forced into, he clearly admired her attitude.

Idk. I’m nowhere NEAR finishing the game, but these guys are so important to me 😭😭😭

[99999-damage]

fun fact to those who don’t know! agnea’s outfit is actually what some female flamenco dances wear while performing:

of course there are variations with the way to dress (some garments are like agnea’s some are more “casual”) because that’s just how the dance arts are. there is no definitive way to dress in a dance style. but i find it really really cool that a JRPG protagonist makes use of a mixture of Romani cultural expression with musical influences from Andalucía in Spain, a region that also has, to this day, a lot of Arab and Muslim influences.

she is wearing a shawl or mantón too, which some bailaoras also use:

according to wikipedia (i love wikipedia <3) the most traditional/frequent shawls used in flamenco are mantones de Manila which are originally chinese but came to Spain through the Philippines’ capital during spanish conquest period. they are also not exclusive to Andalucía, as it spread through Latin America too. mantones de Manila are made of silk and have colorful patterns, but i assume the artist rather chose a simpler design in order for more clarity when sprite work came, because this is how they look:

pretty complicated to portray through pixels! also they aren’t typically wrapped to the waist but are rather worn over the shoulders. honestly i kinda wish we could get some sort of animation where agnea dances flamenco, since the movements are pretty understandably complicated to capture in the octopath pixel style.

some more wikipedia links, if you wanna read more about the topic:

flamenco as a musical genre

general information about Andalucía (from history to political order)

[spitblaze]

Look Octopath Traveler 1 is a game that has left a very strong impression on me and one I love dearly and one that I'm well aware is gonna bounce off of some people. That's fine, not everything is for everyone, but instead of hearing 'this why this game sucks' from someone who doesn't like the game I'd rather you hear 'here's what I love about it' from someone who does, especially because of how much of my enjoyment is found in the parts that some people hate.

So, mechanically speaking- Octopath Traveller is REALLY fun, but you need to actually engage with it. For some people, combat in turn based rpgs is just overleveling and then mashing 'a' until you win. You can't really do that with Octopath- much like a lot of my other favorite RPGs, you NEED to employ strategy in order to succeed. You will of course eventually reach the point where you can breeze through enemies, and the level progression of 1 is PAINFULLY slow at times, but that just makes it all the more important to think strategically.

Narratively, it's not like...the deepest thing in the world. That's fine, not every RPG needs to be operating on a million levels of narrative depth. I wouldn’t call it 'shallow' either, but the meaning found in any given narrative is fully subjective. What REALLY captivated me was the characters. Their personalities are very distinct, and if you're the kind of person who likes to fill in the gaps yourself, there's ample room to do that. The lack of meaningful narrative interparty connection in 1 is frustrating and off-putting to a lot of people. And I get it! That's easily one of my biggest gripes with 1 narratively, with such effort put into character writing and not even implying that things connect until the post-game secret superboss. But, like I said- if you're the kind of person who likes filling in the gaps yourself, it gives you MORE than enough to imagine their interactions and their lives outside of what we see. The hole doesn't feel like a staring, gaping flaw to me and a lot of others- it feels like it’s inviting you in, to use your imagination and consider narratives between characters that the game doesn't provide itself.

And like...I get that that's not everyone's bag. If you prefer narratives with less of those gaps, Octopath 2 is an upgrade over 1 in like...every conceivable way. I still love 1 dearly, but like in the same way that even though Pokémon Emerald is my favorite I more than recognize that it's FAR from the series peak. If the mechanics of Octopath put you off too...honestly,.play Live A Live. That's the game it's inspired by, and the team that made Octopath did the remake of it. And if you're like me and love the room to use your imagination that Octopath 1 has...might I recommend the Etrian Odyssey series?

[taoofshigeru]

The Evolving Nature of Keywords and Antagonists in Octopath Traveler II

Octopath Traveler II is a masterpiece. I find new ways to appreciate this fact all the time. I hit on one specific facet somewhat recently, so want to walk through each of the main quests and go over the extent to which the creators picked out powerful character-specific keywords which do heavy lifting on multiple levels.

I made a similar post about the keywords from OT1, if you're interested in reading that, but essentially, the "keyword" for a character is a single word chosen to represent their journey. It's used to in OT1 to denote the lead-in to Battle at Journey's End in the climax of a character's route, and in OT2 to fit into their "In Pursuit of _" route boss theme.

The keywords chosen for OT2 have had a lot of thought put into them, and represent not just the journey at a glance but how a character's objectives can change, and even how they relate to their primary antagonist.

(I recommend having the tracklist for the OT2 soundtrack beside you for this, if you're not already familiar.)

Ochette (For Legends)

Ochette is on a journey to find the creatures of legend in order to protect the island. Her journey also takes on meaning for her first chosen companion (Mahina/Akala) and Acta, who become legends in the final act of her journey.

In contrast, her opposite number Petrichor is trying to kill or incapcitate the creatures of legend. Cateracta is the only one that dies on account of her efforts, but Tera and Glacis both suffer at her hands. As does the darkling. Petrichor brings not just death, but suffering on those she seeks. It contrasts nicely with Ochette's first contemporary scene, which has her hunting a gator down specifically for eating too much of the local wildlife and disrupting the balance of the forest. There's a strong ethos about how death is faced, and why a hunt is undertaken. (i.e. to protect the larger environment versus for personal gain)

Hers is the storyline that deals most directly with the balance of life and death, and the importance of a good life and a humane death. In that sense, it's less important for Ochette to directly confront Petrichor because a good life and a humane death can be given regardless of what evils others inflict upon the world.

Castti (For Memories)

Castti, an amnesiac apothecary, is on a journey to restore her lost memories. She's also on her journey to extend a helping hand to those in need, in order to honor the besmirched memory of Eir's Apothecaries.

Her opposite number, Trousseau, was the one to taint Eir's Memory, and his poison has taken hers (either chemically or through trauma). Because his continued actions as a mass poisoner threaten to further sully the memory of Eir's Apothecaries, he needs to be confronted and put down directly for the memories to be laid to rest.

Also, the fact that non-evil Trousseau shows up in her last memory at the end is an indication that it's also a fight for Trousseau's memory in her heart. She can't remember the kind man he once was because it would lead her to hesitate about what needed to be done, but she does want to remember her lost loved ones fondly. Even Trousseau.

Throné (For Freedom)

Throné is fighting for her freedom from the Blacksnakes, and her opposite number, Claude, holds the keys to the collar literally wrapped around her throat. So he has to be fought, for obvious reasons. Fighting him also secures the kind of freedom Throné's never had for the nameless baby whose crying voice can be heard at the end of her route as the camera zooms out.

Still, we see that it's not just Throné suffering under Claude's thumb. We see her adoptive father lost the woman he loved to Claude, and orphans like Mira being raised to take the place of whatever snakes might lose their heads in any given heist.

And, despite the "Not my tits, not my problem" way she handles the power vacuum created by Claude's death, her actions do cause chaos that allows some other Blacksnakes and abused orphans like Mira to break free. Which is not to say they become good. They're still seen running rigged casinos and the like after her path is complete. But hey, freedom to be good implies one also has the freedom to be evil, or else it's not really freedom!

(Sidenote: The baby at the end of Throné's route is such a great narrative tool for pushing the readers to ask more questions. Did Throné originally have qualms about killing Claude due to the power vacuum that the need to free the child overrode? Did seeing the woman first, then her child with Claude, make her realize this would keep happening unless she killed him for real, despite her dislike for killing? Did Claude, a questionably suicidal immortal, engineer the whole setup to erase her doubts about killing him?)

Osvald (For Revenge)

Osvald sets out for revenge and gets his revenge at the climax of his route in a direct confrontation with Harvey, his opposite number and the number one object of his revenge.

This is only somewhat subverted, as Osvald's revenge succeeds in large part due to the power of love (as a father who loves and wants to protect his daughter). Really, revenge being the one goal that doesn't evolve as much fits with Octopath's general "revenge is actually pretty reasonable when you've been wronged to that extent" ethos.

Partitio (For Prosperity)

Partitio is on a journey to bring the world prosperity! Economic well-being! For all his friends. And everyone (save maybe a few shitty loan sharks) is his friend.

But he gets TWO antagonists. Roque is doing it For Wealth (choice of words mine), a similar but distinctly different and much more selfish end. One of the more obscure definitions of prosperity is "attainment of the object desired". Roque was fought because he needed it knocked into his noggin that trains can be good for more than warfare.

Ori has, like him, experienced extreme poverty and suffering (though her experience as a wartime orphan was more extreme) and wants to ease the world's suffering. She just initially prefers to do so by ending the world. However, Ori is never fought because Partitio was always fighting the battle for her heart, knowingly or not. And, at the very last, he reached her. ;_;

Agnea (For Hope)

Agnea Bristarni is on a journey to spread hope. And boy, does she ever!

But she also gets two antagonists. Dolcinea Luciel, the boss of Agnea's route, performs not For Hope, but instead For Applause (The first phase of her boss fight has theme music explicitly called called "In Pursuit of Applause"). It's a form of selfishness that does have to be confronted directly, albeit onstage rather than in an actual fight to the death.

Tanzy, Agnea's other opposite number, has already lost all hope. And that void in her heart was taken advantage of to make her a pawn of the moonshades (and ultimately, a sacrifice). Tanzy remains unfought, because the battle was for Tanzy's hope all along and Arcanette won that fight before the story began.

However, very much worth noting is that Agnea is the one character to not get a "The Journey for _ Ends…" theme on the soundtrack. Instead, her route boss track, juxtaposed squarely between "The Journey for Prosperity Ends" and "The Journey for Truth Ends" is the Song of Hope (which she sings herself!). I think this is a thematic choice that reflects that the hope Agnea strives to bring is more ephemeral as a concept. ("Like trying to grasp hold of a cloud", to paraphrase the ending of Hajime no Ippo.) I think this has a lot to do with why the game has the epilogue. Because while all eight travelers go on living and trying to better the world and themselves in their own way, Agnea's journey for hope continues.

Temenos (For Truth)

Temenos' quest is rather straightforward. He's a detective on a murder investigation. He's looking to discover the truth behind the pontiff's death, behind Roi's death, and eventually behind Crick's death as well.

But in a pretty heavy subversion, his "Journey Ends" track plays in the boss fight with Kaldena, well before he actually gets to the truth. He's the one character of the eight to directly fight his HTAPOTCO counterpart outside of his specific story arc. Because the track was incomplete and his journey for truth wasn't over yet. To add to the synergy, Arcanette was the one most responsible for concealing the truth from him, from the depth of the moonshades' duplicity to the truth of her own identity. And she's already succeeded insofar as her goal was to bring about the endless night, so by the time she's actually fought she's happy to spill all the beans, and you fight her not For Truth, but For The Dawn.

Hikari (For Kingship)

Hikari Ku wants the throne so he can govern with compassion.

He's also the third character to get two antagonists. His brother Mugen is a comically evil king who governs with an iron fist and sends his army to make war with their neighbors. He's fought directly in Hikari's final battle, Hikari becomes king, and he's able to begin repairing the damage and attempting to make a better, more compassionate world.

However, Hikari's opposite number in the moonshades, Oboro/Kazan, has a different view of kingship altogether. Arbuably the center-stage antagonist who gets dialogue prior to Vide's resurrection, Oboro rejects the notion that even a king truly can ease the suffering inherent in the world. It's impossible to change, no matter how hard anyone tries. (After all, he was a master strategist and he did his best strategic thinking to reduce war casualties, but it never did a lick of good.) So, throughout the story, he's helping Hikari's cause without believing in it.

He may be directly confronted in the climax of The Journey For the Dawn, but he's never fought because the battle here was not to gain the throne, but to convince Oboro that Hikari's rule could make a real difference once he was sitting on it.

---

And that's the eight. Wish I could say I could end it on a more profound point, but I don't really have one. I guess, writing this convinced me the story design in OT2 being spot on was very much by design. And the fact it was the result of intentional writer choices and not just an accident makes me feel a deeper connection to the game.

[confusions-shed-of-ideas]

Confusion's Octopath Traveler 2 Headcanons Masterlist that I'm getting out into the world a day before the game's release right before the canon makes it impossible for them to happen

Agnea is insanely good at handstands. Partitio, half drunk, once asked her to do a handstand on a chair, which she did, and then proceeded to shock the rest of the group by removing one hand from the chair and slowly placing it behind her back. Everyone was freaking out

Osvald doodles in his books. They're usually little faces of his deceased wife and daughter (followed by the words "I love you" or "I miss you very much"), but there are sometimes messy doodles of flowers and even some of the other travelers. The other travelers once found one of the books with these drawings in it. Osvald had forgotten to draw Paritio's hat in one doodle, and the group promptly mistook him for Temenos

Throné sings lullabies when she can't fall asleep. She sings very sweetly, but she has threatened all who have heard her sing out of embarrassment. Her audiences are usually herself or the occasional stray animal she finds out on the streets

Hikari loves birds. The birds also love him back. He once tried to feed a few and ended up attracting an entire flock, resulting on him being covered in birds and feathers, which made it extremely difficult to walk around

Temenos Does Not swear in front of kids. The other travelers found out when he stubbed his toe in a room full of children. After it happened, he simply stared at the ground before shouting "FUDGE" very loudly, sending the other travelers into a fit of laughter

Ochette doesn't eat chocolate. No one knows why. It could be because of her canine features. It could simply be because she doesn't like it. When asked, Ochette simply shrugs and responds that she doesn't know either

Castti has Everything in her apothecary satchel. Everything. People think the "take out all your weapons. *watches them take out one weapon* all of them *watches them take out the rest of their weapons*" person is Throné or Ochette. Wrong. It's Castti. No one has ever questioned her about the blade sharpening rock in her satchel. No one knows how Castti can lug the small but heavy rock in her satchel all day. No one truly knows how much her satchel can hold. No one will ever know.

The other travelers once made a joke about Partitio's last name. Once when they were traveling in the Winterlands, they saw him wearing a purple scarf, and they proceeded to call him Partitio Purplewil for the rest of the day

Ochette has a special whistling pattern when she calls for each of her creature companions. Over time, she also made one for each of the other travelers. Now, whenever each of the travelers hears their specific whistling pattern, they'll know what Ochette is calling for them. This is especially great if people get lost in a crowd. Unfortunately, no one has made a whistle pattern for Ochette yet

Castti bakes a lot. Due to her experience with her concoctions, she knows how the chemical compounds work and can make all sorts of fancy desserts. Whenever Ochette makes something, Castti is quick to follow up with a small cake or pudding. She also makes really good hot chocolate

Throné likes to have quiet tea sessions with her fellow travelers. She used to do it with a few friends during breaks as she found it relaxing. Now, she can quietly sip on her tea and engage in conversations with the other travelers. From time to time, she enjoys these sessions on her own. Those sessions are her do not disturb times. If anyone does disturb her, Throné will be very sure that there will be consequences

Osvald memorises at least one sentence of every book he's ever used for his research. It's not necessarily the first or last sentence, it's just any random sentence in the book. Once, one of the travelers was reading a book out loud. Osvald, upon recognising a sentence, asked "is that 'A History of the Winterlands'?" without even looking up from his current read. From that moment onwards, no one dared to question his memory again

Partitio likes stargazing. In his younger days, he used to stay up to stare at the stars in the sky until his parents told him to go to bed. To this day, it's a small hobby that he continues to do when he's finished with a long day of work, or when he can't fall asleep. He can recognise some of the stars, and constantly points them out to the other travelers

Agnea is really good at tying and untying knots. The knots she makes are always secure, and no matter how impossible it seems to untie a knot, Agnea can always get it undone. At first, no one knew why this was the case, or how she managed to learn this skill. The answer soon became clear when the travelers found her trying to untie a knot in one of the ribbons she used to tie her hair

Temenos sleeps with one eye open at all times. No one knows why. They all found out one morning when they found Temenos sitting asleep at a table with one eye open. They started a conversation thinking he was awake the whole time until he actually woke up and proceeded to scare the living hell out of all of them. Someone once asked him if he could see in his sleep. Temenos' answer to that question was simply to shrug and to walk away

Hikari likes folding origami cranes. It was something he used to do a lot as a child to pass the time. Now, whenever he's bored and has a piece of paper in front of him, he starts absentmindedly folding the little paper cranes and handing them to the nearest traveler. Each traveler has at least 20 of these

[raijintosworn]

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Cyan

Pronouns: she/they/he

Birthday (no year): 28/05 (I share my birth with Siegbert and am between Mercie and chrom!)

Where are you from? What is your time zone? From France, live in England so like 5 hours ahead of the toa clock so I miss a lot

How long is your roleplay experience? Like 15 years now??? What the fuck

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? So I had a friend in school who was a weeb and asked if I RP. And I thought he meant. You know. Nsfw. So I was like Ew no :( I am a teen that is gross. Then he explained he meant like fandom RP and how it works and then I joined him on GaiaOnline YES I'M THAT OLD THANKS AND YES I STILL USE GAIA. I started with hetalia. Yes I'd still like to die

How were you introduced to TOA? Lailah hinted at me for like 2 weeks with lines like "I joined this group and you know Gerome misses Cynthia" and I kept going "sounds fun :)" and did not realise they were hinting until they straight up asked. wow I have been here 6 months

Do you have any pets? No :( I don't have the time for them

What is your favorite time of year and why?(Season, holiday, general period) Summer despite you know. The bugs. But I can actually function in summer

What is your IRL occupation? Data entry; it's why I'm on the discord server most of my day now

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? I like cooking, baking, oh and I'm a cosplayer! I've been at it for 3 years and yes it's mostly fire emblem bar ONE (soon to be two)

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Tales of (WHERE ARE MY TALES FRIENDS AT), Persona, critically acclaimed mmorpg FFXIV, octopath, ?? I'm not sure what else? I tried playing dragon age but it crashes constantly even with the fixes

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: I don't think I have a fave type but I really really love Dragonair 🥺

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! I once wrote about the ships I hate for an English exam. Got an A. But at what cost. One was a hetalia ship (I was a child.) and another was Bart and Milhouse. 😑 Yes that Bart and Milhouse.

How did you get into Fire Emblem? I was told to play Awakening because I'll love it and I'll totally love all these characters. Um. I never finished it. Then Fates came out, twitter didn't shut up about that and I refused to play it. Then 3H came out. I saw Edelgard and it was joever for me. So I bought it and I've been here ever since.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? Engage, 3H, Fates (all three routes baby), Awakening, Echoes, Warriors, Sacred Stones, a little FEH until I was put off cause I summoned Easter Xander, a little FE7 and I WILL. FINISH. PATH OF RADIANCE. I SWEAR TO YOU ALL RIGHT NOW.

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: first was technically Awakening but I didn't like it so I dropped it until 2022 I wanna say? So really my first FE was 3H. My favourite? Depends on the day.

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series!

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason!

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays?- Awakening:- Fates:- Three Houses:- Engage:

Favorite Fire Emblem class?

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable?

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? (Black Eagles, Blue Lions, Golden Deer, Church of Seiros, Those Who Slither in the Dark, unaffiliated civilian, other - for example Almyran)

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent?

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? (Firene, the Kingdom of Abundance; Brodia, the Kingdom of Might; Elusia, the Kingdom of Knowledge; Solm, the Queendom of Freedom; Lythos, the holy land of the Divine Dragon; Gradlon, the desolate land of the Fell Dragon)

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔(separate letters, to-ah, other?)

Current TOA muses: Cynthia and Ryoma!

Past TOA muses? Alas :(

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Cynthia! My beloved. I didn't think she could be such a strong muse I picked her up cause I was bullied into it. Now she bullies me daily

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) I don't know actually? I love posh assholes. I love sweet girls. I love chaos characters. I dunno you should see my muse list on my indie it's a wild mix

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? I wanna write unrepentant assholes but I can't :( I struggle with that. I'm trying tho

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) um. Well. I like intimate stuff if you're picking up what I'm putting down. But then I run away about 2 replies in so I write fanfic usually. I like kissing too. Um. I love high emotional scenes too. If I could describe my writing style, it's "My Dinner With Andre - the novel" (I've never seen the film but I get the gist)

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? I want Ryoma to be happy. Like genuinely I want him to be in a place where he can forgive himself, maybe even forgive the nohrians. I want him to move on and have a peaceful life as a teacher. But I also want him to fall in love which is. So silly. But. My brain is a shipper lol. As for Cynthia? Hm. I have thoughts for her but that's a whole arc

Favorite TOA-related memories? I dunno! I've had a lotta fun here but I can't think of any specific stuff offhand? Maybe how welcoming everyone was when I joined that was nice 🥺

Present or past tense? Present! I live in the moment! I tend to tense match but present. I like third person and second person POV too but I can't RP in second person BC it feels weird? I mostly write in second person if I'm writing a vent fic. Why? I dunno

Normal size text, small text, no preference? I like tiny text but again I size match. I snoop to see what my partner does and copy them :D

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉  I am working towards the worst fucking creature. 0/10. I hate him (Innes. Yes he's my discord icon rn why do you ask). If someone else grabs him, hm. Tana? L'Arachel? I had more but I'm gunning for my moron mullet man ngl I have THOUGHTS

[palidoozy-art]

Me and my group started a one-shot in Pathfinder 2E that might honestly transition to a full-fledged campaign. But because my work is never finished, I decided that for this campaign I'd try a "theme" of old jRPGs.

The tokens are heavily based off of Octopath Traveler's, and the portraits are heavily based off of the original Final Fantasy 7.

More of me rambling under the cut.

One of our players had a birthday and couldn't really make the session, so while they were absent my players wanted to try out more of Pathfinder 2e. I wanted to play more of Kjosev, so we decided we'd have a campaign set waaay the fuck back in time.

Almost 200 years ago in our weird CoS/homebrew world, there was an eclipse (caused by the Lord of Twilight Woods/Serafim) that lasted for an entire year. The world went from essentially quasi-industrial/advanced to early medieval, and roughly 75% of the population was killed off. When my players want to create new countries or races, one of the first things I ask them is "how did they survive the Eclipse?" -- because that's how impactful it was.

... so we decided: hey, wouldn't it be cool if we ran something set there? So that's how it started.

It'll also be one of the first time I get to be a full-fledged player in 3+ years, as Ellerian's player will be taking the reins and DMing (the concept interests him a lot). The Eclipse hasn't happened yet, and I don't know when it will. He's told me "I want you guys to fall in love with the world first, then I want to take that away."

The characters, from their portraits, left to right, top to bottom;

Calim (Chaotic Good Summoner) - A blind first quarter elunin (rabbitfolk/viera from my previous post) who can only 'see' through his summon, a shadow drake. He's a college dropout and constantly cracks jokes about being blind. Didn't even know he was a summoner until he finally managed to pull out an eidolon to save a slave girl.

Juno (Lawful Good Fighter) - A genderless waning gibbous elunin who serves as a member of the Night Watch. They take their job extremely seriously. The party hasn't gotten a chance to meet them much, sadly, but hopefully will get more interaction in the future.

Kjosev (Neutral Good Druid) - A dusk elf druid that I've rambled about extensively, but he's a druid of Twilight Woods. A former wizard and seer, he lost his ability to cast arcane spells after being tortured and paralyzed in parts of his hands. He adapted to druidic magic after isolating himself in the Woods. Left to try to warn people of a great calamity. He doesn't know what, specifically, is going to happen, just that it'll be bad.

Genrik (Lawful Evil Summoner) - A dusk elf who was a former teacher. He's a dusk elven supremacist, calling humans 'hairless apes' and insisting that the dusk elf kingdom will rise again. Eventually. It won't, but he seems pretty sure of himself. He only escaped the destruction by stealing a fiend (to enslave, of course) and fleeing when the armies came. He assumes everyone knows him (they don't).

So far they are extremely fun, and I am excited about it. The style also saves me a lot of time as we can just, uh. Borrow sprites from Octopath and other jRPGs.

[paulthebukkit]

Thank you for reminding me JUST HOW MUCH I ADORE LIVE A LIVE! The game is so freaking good!

YOOOO I love it so much too! I decided to play it because of an upcoming collab in the EN version of Octopath CotC (the mobile game) and I had heard really good things about it. I love stories that subvert expectations in interesting ways and Live A Live did not disappoint…

I’m also amazed about the influence that this game had despite the fact that not many people talk about it. It arguably inspired the Octopath series with its basic premise, and I recently found out that two songs from Undertale (including Megalovania) are named after songs from Live A Live as well?

I also heard rumors that a sequel is in the works now that the remake is out, and a lot of JP players for Octopath CotC are expecting a new Live A Live collab next week (we’ll see). But yeah, it’s really awesome seeing this game get the recognition it deserves! I reeeally hope it does get a sequel because it feels like they’ve only scratched the surface of what they can do with its formula.