#better late than ever i suppose

[psyxophagos]

🎉🎉🎉 NEIL GAIMAN DOWN 🎉🎉🎉🥳🥳🥳

[drrba]

friend-shaped guys

[virsancte]

good days aren't easy to come by

[quietwingsinthesky]

i do love canon amy & rory but god, does some part of me wish they really had gone with the idea of the doctor picking up a child as a companion (and then later, that child’s best friend with a huge crush on her.) with the rest of the season really not changing at all, except now it’s amelia pond with an angel in her head killing her and lost alone in the woods. it’s little rory who dies and is forgotten and becomes a toy soldier. if this is going to be a fairy tale, then let it be one. children have never been safe in fairy tales.

[princessmyriad]

.

[gracieo]

It’s been so difficult to draw lately n I only feel like I’m lettin folks down because I can’t keep up in any regard. I see friends drawing and feel myself straining n frustrated because I want so badly to be able to as well, but life’s been hurtin n life’s been rough thus it’s taken somethin so important as drawing from me. I hope to God it comes back soon.

[mars-ipan]

people have been real niceys to me about my art lately and it makes me really really happy…. :]

[insanechayne]

~ ~ ~

[bonestrouslingbones]

btw what they dont tell you about socializing more & putting yourself out there more often is that after 3 days of doing so you will find yourself alone in your room in a perfect recreation of the family guy death pose

[chemblrish]

x

[nekrosmos]

.

[dreamcast-official]

hm.

[dany36]

ALRIGHT SO after just...three days i finished final fantasy crystal chronicles: the crystal bearers and....wow....this game....sigh!! where do i begin!!!! i went in expecting nothing and came out of it just...WISHING even MORE that nintendo or square enix will pick up this terribly underrated game series again and make another game to immerse us back in into its beautiful world. the game's story seriously crushed my heart and surprise surprise!! left on a cliffhanger and it SUCKS cus there probably won't ever be a sequel to this game!! :)))) but ahhhhh the ffcc brain rot is back stronger than ever and i love it. more super long junk thoughts below!!!

ok so let's start with the bad things, the most obvious one being the gameplay. i knew beforehand that this game was big on motion controls and that the main character's power of telekinesis heavily relied on it. so it's nothing like the previous games in the series where you fight with swords or lances or magic. so it's kind of...unusual....that the way that you kill enemies in this game is by flinging them around or throwing enemies against each other. and to be honest it took me a good 8 hours (mind you i completed this game at about 11 hours in) to actually get used to the gameplay and find some sort of joy in it, because well it's just...not really like any other game i've played before!! it isn't until i started to actually leveling up my accessories (which farming for materials in this game is a PAIN) and improving my range/focus that i started to somewhat enjoy it.

anyway, about 2-3 hours in i started to realize that this game is more of a...game that decides to tell a really good, fascinating story with motion control minigames in-between. and it wouldn't be so bad if the minigames were somewhat fun, but really i think they're the worst part of the game, and it makes me wonder just...what were they thinking lol. i'd say the worst offenders are that beach battle and the one where you have to sneak around the train. like...they were seriously tedious and would make me stop and think "wow what the hell kind of game am i playing...?"

the one part that really bummed me out was that...well, not to compare yet again to the original, cus heck even in most video games when you're in a town and you see NPCs, normally you can talk to them and learn more about the world or tidbits of information. but this game? you can't speak to ANY of the NPCs. the only people you can talk to here are this moogle that guides you on where to go next, and NPCs that trigger minigames which...to be honest, i think i only ever did two or so, cus again i didn't find them enjoyable to play at all.

and it made me sad because one of my favorite parts of ffcc was that you could speak to pretty much any NPC in the towns you'd go to and you'd get to learn more about the town, get lore information, or even get to know more about the NPCs and their lives. like that girl in marr's pass that would talk about their parents getting a divorce? or learn about how the ferryman's mom was sick and that's why he sold you that ferry pass to get money for her?? it just makes towns and the world feel much more lively! but here the towns, even though they would look bustling with activity and NPCs interacting with each other, it just felt...empty and not very fun at all to walk around and explore.

and it's such a shame because the world in TCB looks so interesting! like there's all these clavats and selkies and lilties out and about in the overworld, in the lett fields, in the vineyard picking fruit, in the red leaf area just chilling in a pond, and i want to talk to them!!! i want to learn more about it and how the world has changed from 1000 years since the miasma stopped tormenting the world! but no, instead of learning about it through NPCs or talking with other people or even sidequests, the game gives you this information through news crawlers that show at the bottom that i sometimes would forget to read because hey, i'm trying to walk around and see what i can discovery! oh wait, i lied, now that i remember, you CAN talk to NPCs but only in...yuke city! and from what i remember, they don't really say anything important that made me go "whoa" like when they TALKED ABOUT HOW CRYSTAL BEARERS CAME TO BE and WHY the lilty kingdom considers them an abomination!! cus they think it's a curse from the yukes!! like what!! how are you just gonna say that to me in a freaking news crawler!! aahhhh!!!

WHICH brings me to my next point....is anyone gonna talk about the miasma streams?? like hello??? what's going on here lol. like the first time i saw them i was like uhhhh oh the miasma streams are...back? but no one really seems to mention them?? unless i missed it in a news crawler but it's like WHAT those bitches were scary AF in the first game and here it's like...nobody really cares! truly wild.

sigh. but ANYWAY! enough about the bad things. let's talk about the good things! and of course my favorite thing about video games is...the soundtrack, which this game's is just FANTASTIC. this isn't the first game that i've decided to pick up and play because i happened to listen to its soundtrack first instead of the game (see: nights journey of dreams, sonic colors, sonic unleashed, etc.). and just...without words. like...it's no secret that the original ffcc is one of my all-time favorite OSTs, so the first time i heard alfitaria capital city, i was completely blown away and had to stop what i was doing at work. like this game REALLY did manage to capture the sound and atmosphere of the original alfitaria city and modernized it to fit the era of crystal bearers. and i mean the game WARNS you from the start that you're about to play a game with a badass soundtrack: it greets you with such a gorgeous song right at the title screen (a sacred haven), which it BRILLIANTLY reuses in an intense scene towards the end of the game!! i wanted to cry!!!! like UGHHHH i love video game music so much and alskdfjlaskjdflaskjdf.

honorable mentions of the soundtrack are: snowfields (now THIS also reminds me a lot of the original ffcc soundtrack...fucking beautiful!), the pioneer spirit (loved this song in the eastern wildlands but now when i hear it it makes me want to cry cus it's the one that plays in the ending scene with belle out looking for layle and keiss heading to the selkie guild to take care of his tribe aND alkdjsflksjadflkjasdlfkj just stab me in the heart already please), and the moogle woods (this...is honestly such a soothing melody like wow i want my mind to be in this place every second of my life PLEASE). there's obviously more but those are the ones that stand out to me, i'll definitely be listening to it more in the coming days now that i'm more aware of where/when these songs play. and more tears will be incoming!!!

and lastly, the story and the characters. i don't even know where to start. first of all, the designs of the characters are fantastic. i mean, the world and lore of FFCC is just honestly amazing and seeing the characters now with a more "realistic" approach to them was such a pleasure to see instead of the chibi-like ones we saw in the original/DS games. like seriously, everyone looks so fucking cool in this game! keiss, belle, layle, AMIDATELION MY FUCKING BELOVED, just...everyone! i mean the yuke already looked cool as fuck in the original, but here i don't know what it was about them that increased their cool factor by 1000%. and i think that's what makes me so angry about this series! there's so much potential in the world of FFCC and its characters and it's such a shame that we might not get to see more of it! it was honestly driving me insane as i was playing through the game because like i mentioned above, there is so much to explore and so many possibilities but instead we got this severely underrated game with a gorgeous story but that was badly executed.

ok so the story! i'm not sure how much of it would make sense to people that are new to the series. i mean i don't think the game does a good job at explaining its setting or the tribes or the history of the lilties. i mean, we know that they had already ruled the world by the time ffcc1 came around and some of the NPCs were mentioning how they wanted the "glorious age of lilties" to come back. so when i found out that the lilties and the yukes were in a great war that caused for the yukes to all but vanish i was just like...what the fuck man!! not the freaking power-hungry lilties at it again wanting to be the all-mighty tribe to rule over all of them!! sheesh!!!! and then you have the selkies who are still more or less outcasts and loners, and then the ever-peaceful clavats that are poor but always hard at work (fields of fum anyone?). oh and witnessing the hatred that existed between the lilties and selkies, with the lilties being called onions? like HELLO!!! again, so much potential and room for exploration but it all just left me wanting more!

but i think even not knowing much about the past games, this game's story manages to be super engaging and interesting. and it all takes a huge fucking turn once you discover that jegran aka the lilty high commander is...a fucking crystal bearer!!! what the hell! and his power is beyond fucked up!! i seriously WAS NOT expecting amidatelion to die, like she was just trying to save her tribe, her family, and she sacrificed herself for layle!! and put her trust in him to carry out the resurrection!!! 😭😭😭😭😭 i was in just utter shock!!! amidatelion is seriously one of the coolest characters in the game, and them being voiced by caitlin glass just made me love them even mrore. and then the whole thing in the aerial prison with jegran turning the selkies into crystals?? finding out princess althea was ALSO A CRYSTAL BEARER??? like the game starts out pretty slow in its storytelling but once the whole jegran/crystal bearer thing happens, the intensity of the game is just nonstop. honestly i REALLY enjoyed the more "mature", darker storyline that TCB took and it seriously makes me want to do a new game+ to experience the story again. it is just THAT good and satisfying to watch all of the plot twists unravel into the final battle.

as for the ending, i'd say i'm pretty happy with it. i seriously cheered and clapped of joy when princess althea and a group of yukes shook hands to signify the start of a new era for all tribes (SCREW YOU JEGRAN). and honestly...whatever belle has going on for layle, i support it lol. i thought it was super cute how she, of all people!!, is the one that refuses to give up hope on layle being alive (and she's right!), so she sets out to look for him while my boy keiss goes to help out the selkies after their leader sacrificed himself. i mean, i can't say i understand why layle is still a bearer even though it looks like the game wants you to think that bearers lost their power (like althea), but if so, would that mean that jegran is also still alive somewhere??? GOD obviously a sequel is probably never going to happen but the possibilities of it just make me heart itch!!!

all in all, the gameplay truly is the worst part of a game that has such a wonderful and engaging story to tell, and if there are any other ffcc fans like me that were put off by the gameplay, then PLEASE at least look for a let's play to see the cutscenes because wow, the story is MORE than worth it if you're a fan of the series.

so i guess next step for me is to play ring of fates cus i never did play that, and replay echoes of time because i played it in college and i have almost no recollection of it lol. but i doubt anything (not even the original ffcc) will come close to just how this game, despite its many shortcomings, managed to build a fantastic set of characters that you empathize with and learn to love as the story slowly but surely develops. what a ride!!!

[unproduciblesmackdown]

that moment when: everyone's lives are restricted and constricted and these imposed consequences are attributed to anyone's continual individual failures to seek, find, and follow the Correct Path through Life, and so everyone is left on their own to only be seeking & finding these failures as well as the only answer to how their lives can be better....versus Not seeing the world as the free marketplace meritocracy of everyone's personal failures/successes, nor everything in your own life, and thus not forever having to scrutinize Where You Must Be Bringing It Upon Yourself by fucking up or at least failing to do the correct thing, and exist only in perpetual punishment for your ongoing failure and occasional temporary reprieves from it. recognizing everything that wasn't & isn't & wouldn't be [this is because you're bringing it upon yourself] and thus having more capacity & capability to look at the realm of your personal individual self, reality, experiences, life through the perpetual instances of seeking, finding, and following your own needs/wants through one's inherent personhood and exercises of autonomy and recognition of where & when & how one recognizes moments of their existing freely & in more resonant genuine alignment with themself, you know? endless examples to be found in endless fractals of [where & how are people's lives made smaller]. and that of course this doesn't preclude the ability/option at any time to question one's choices, since you'll be able to find more Actual choices available to you (and, also crucially, find more actual choices made by others that are in the pursuit of limiting Yours) to look at, and people getting to exercise their autonomy isn't the same as "everyone doing anything they want regardless of how it affects others" since that [how does it affect others?] element instead being Regarded would be able to lead to recognizing that, in fact, an effect might be the infringement on others' autonomy, hence: There's A Problem....like the ability to just go ham with [questioning???] anything in existence, certainly including oneself, b/c the "norm" is such that rather you're only supposed to be able to question yourself for your failings (or those positioned as less than, thus, beneath you) and not even have the language to express a questioning of aspects of life beyond that b/c stop calling anyone "cis" they're just Normal, Just Be Normal and it would all be fine

[supercantaloupe]

christ they're running us ragged over here

[lowestechelonabomination]

was freaking out about how I was going to fail this one stupid seminar class that's for SOME REASON a graduation requirement and thinking there's no way I'm getting above a 60 in it because there are only 10 assignments for the whole semester and all of them are weighted equally and all of them SUCK and are exactly the stuff I hate doing and I've been super behind in the class for the past 3 months so basically I'm screwed and then uh. my four missing assignments got put in as zeroes and my grade only dropped to a 58. WHICH IS BAD. but if I turn them in and get 50s on all of them and then get a 90 on the culminating paper (WHICH IS WEIGHTED THE SAME AS THE OTHER ASSIGNMENTS FOR SOME REASON BUT WHATEVERRRRR) I'll have a solid 76. WHICH IS NOT GREAT. BUT IT'S NOT FAILING. GUYS I'M NOT GOING TO FAIL