#currently playing ffii

[meii-jasmine]

Happy Anniversary to FF2 and FF13!

[miqoquest]

Get to know me (at this present time)

Tagged by: @xmimiteh (thank u!)

Last Song

I'm in a folksy kind of mood, so the songs that I keep listening to at least once a day, and the last ones I listened to during my drive to work this morning, have been Frog and Toad by Sonntag and Carrion Comfort by aeseaes.

Currently Reading

I just finished On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers. It was good. The Pirates movie is based off it, so its about Blackbeard trying to find the Fountain of Youth.

I'm almost done with Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky and I highly recommend it. It's a novella, it's short. It is about a royal daughter who seeks help from a reclusive wizard to save the kingdoms from a warlord and his demon army... But its Science-Fiction... And its really about linguistic anthropology and language and culture barriers! It is so good!

I also started Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny. I bought the big collection book with all 10 novels. I just started it and I'm already hooked. I don't know who started the Big Dysfuntional Family trope where everyone pits against eachother, but this gives me some Umbrella Academy vibes.

Currently Watching

I'm not really watching anything besides G-Witch. I should be watching Secret Invasion because I love Nick Fury, but I'm so Marveled out at the moment. Disney+ shows have been hit and miss for me. My favorite MCU shows have been Loki, She Hulk, and Ms. Marvel.

I'm looking forward to Ahsoka, though. I'm a huge Rebels fan since day one.

Current Obsession

Uhhh. I've been playing the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters. I'm on FFII right now.

Still chugging away at pixel art.

Currently reading about garden prepping for next year!

[thegreatklaid]

Welcome to Klaid's Awful Idea of Playing Every Numbered Final Fantasy in Order!!

So, to make a long story short, the Pixel Remasters were on sale. With that I realized, I had every one of the numbered games minus XVI on the Steam Deck. So, I decided, I hate myself. Thus, we are gonna play all of them.

I am pretty excited, I have been wanting to replay some of these games again. I've done this before, many many years ago, before FFXIII even came out. And nowhere near in order. (FFVIII was my first game and the last one that I managed to beat). But, I've always told myself that I can't beat FFVII for a 33rd time, and that I should play a new game for once. But now I have an excuse, and I hope you all join me in this one.

I'm gonna use this space to keep track of my thoughts, even more than that I plan on organizing them into a before and after. Like I've said, I've beaten the first twelve, so we're gonna talk about how I remember them, what I want to do this playthrough, and how I expect to like it after the fact. Then we'll do another post on how that all came out, and where I think it goes in order after everything. Which means I should put my current list

XII > X > VII > IV > IX > I > VIII > V > XI > VI > III > II

Now we're wiping that away. Because I actually already beat I. I didn't want to start this whole thing if I couldn't even get through one game. And now I'm committed to the idea. In short, I liked FFI. I made some weird mistakes, completely forgot that you can just buy 99 potions, so the first few dungeons were way harder and getting bullshit hits was way meaner than I remember it being. I made a lot of notes on that I didn't like the dungeons in the first game. Too many blind dead ends with them. But I really liked the bosses.

Also these pixel remasters are the weirdest collection of changes that have happened to FF1. They use the old class change styles where they get all skinny. But it uses mostly the Origins stats. Although I learned after the fact that it uses changes made to Red Mage, Monk, and Thief from Dawn of Souls, but it keeps the MP system. It was bizarre.

Which makes me wonder how FFII will work out. But that's for the next day.

[eienshi09]

Final Final Fantasy II Thoughts

Final Fantasy II (or at least, as I've pontificated about at length, the Dawn of Souls version of it) is quite an alright game. It was an incredibly ambitious project for its time. And though its time shackled it with some unfortunate mechanics, there's still a lot of interesting things it was trying to do. After a couple of iterations, it even manages to get to a state where it does those things in a quite enjoyable way.

In my parting thoughts on Final Fantasy I, I also said that I mostly enjoyed my time with it. And I genuinely did. But I meant it in a sense of, like, this was able to fill my time and be largely inoffensive. Meanwhile, I was actually thoroughly fascinated by Final Fantasy II, for better or worse. Where its predecessor was just about adequate all around, FFII has peaks and valleys for it does, or at least tries, so much more than its predecessor.

One immediately notable improvement is simple addition of dialogue. Your party members aren't just featureless avatars anymore. They're actual characters. Well, there's still a bit of room to improve on the characterization fronts, but for the time, they've got something resembling a personality that shows through what little speech they do get. The dialogue itself is rather basic and more or less boils down to some other character telling you where to go next, but there are some details about the world or situation that they manage to squeeze in that wasn't present in FFI.

The keyword system in particular was rather interesting, and something I wish they would have utilized more. It felt kind of lacking as the game went on and you got new ones less frequently and the situation only calls for a very specific keyword. I would have liked to be able to ask someone about an older keyword and they give me their current thoughts on the matter recontextualized by the most recent in-game event. For example (and I'll try to be vague but we are talking about a 35-year-old game here), after you've gotten the Ultima spell, Hilda has nothing to say about it, despite a rather important character - especially to her, of all people - sacrificing themselves so that we could acquire it. And this might be the one exception where the game does reward you for following up with someone after major events, but if you revisit Deist to tell the woman about the fate of the last dragoon, she not only has something to say but gives you a cool sword! So it's not like they didn't think to use the keyword system to add in some extra bits of lore and worldbuilding for the player.

Narratively, the game is well-enough paced, pulpy as it is. Though again, towards the end when it's back to back to back dungeons of six and more floors, it kind of wears on you. The false climax and twist reveal and double twist was, however, actually really well done. One could see it coming but that's the point; it was built up to and hinted at throughout and then paid off with you finally reuniting with your long-lost fourth party member. I only wish we had more interactions with the Dark Knight during the story.

Systems-wise, I don't think I have much else to say that I haven't already. FFII's usage-based character progression system was the first of its kind and incredibly ambitious. It could have used a few more iterations even after the couple of iterations of the DoS port.

It'd be easy to think that II would be favorable to FFI due to its higher production values alone, but I think I would have enjoyed the original version of 1 more than the original version of II, given some of the original design choices. And even though the Dawn of Souls changes bolstered the experience of playing II so much more than it did for 1, both games share the same overall "problem" of me wishing more was done to them.

Random encounters (I promise to be brief) continues to be a thorn in trying to play any "classic" JRPG, and while it isn't especially egregious in FFII, I still maintain that they could have added in a Repel item of some kind. Actually, I may be overly harsh here. The game does at the very least add in some fast travel options for you to get around in the early-to-mid game. They're somewhat limited, but very much welcome as you're traveling back-and-forth from Altair to various points of interest. Fleeing, however, is still just as much of a hassle, perhaps more so for reasons I'll get to right now.

One area that I think FFI did better at is boss fights. II's bosses were just late and endgame enemies dropped somewhere earlier where they'll be a greater challenge. This made the endgame kind of boring as we keep seeing these old bosses turn up again and again. Worst yet, any battle where one of them show up, you can't flee from at all. It's as if the game was still treating them as boss fights or something. Weirder even is that FFII does have some unique extra hard enemies that use a "boss sprite" but they're all technically optional, being treasure chest monsters. It's just kinda strange.

Though maybe the original release of Final Fantasy II deserves its dubious reputation, there is a good game in there. Playing it now, especially playing a version that does do some work to polish it up, I really wish it got the total remake treatment that its two successors got on the DS. Or even now, I wish the Pixel Remasters had been Pixel Remakes instead and breathed new life and modern tech into these old games. It's well and good to see a game as it was in history but I think it's just as fine to see the game where iconic franchise monsters - such as the Coeurl, Adamantoise, Behemoth - came from but with the ability to easily run away from them.

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

favorite Final Fantasy games?

im adding the games i watched gameplays for so i know their plot and games im currently playing!!!!! and ranking with the help of tier list.

also for some reason it didnt upload the record keeper pic but thats in the ok game tier, after ffii

[lowellchanning]

Q U O T E

Courage is not the absence of fear but the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

B A S I C S

NAME lowell thibodeaux channing NAME MEANING since lowell’s father passed before he was born, lowell’s mom, birdie, wanted to honor her late husband in naming their son. channing means young wolf, so she chose lowell, meaning little wolf, as a way to carry on her husband’s legacy. thibodeaux, meaning bold or brave, is birdie’s maiden name. NICKNAMES in college when he grew a beard each basketball season he garnered the name sasquatch, sometimes shortened to squatch. some of his coworkers call him that around the station. GENDER cis male PROUNOUNS he/him AGE thirty-two BIRTHDAY august 13 BIRTH PLACE new orleans, lousiana

F A M I L Y

PARENTS guy channing (father; deceased), birdie (mother; surname tbd); charles (step-dad; surname tbd) SIBLINGS step-sister (name tbd; wanted connection here!) PETS gus, a rhodesian ridgeback

A P P E A R A N C E 

FACE CLAIM derek theler BUILD 6′5, athletic. lowell’s muscles have always tended to be defined without him having to put too much effort into it, though that doesn’t mean he doesn’t put in the hours needed both for his health and his profession. lowell balances his love of junk food and midnight snacks with lean proteins and plenty of greens. HAIR light brown. the longer it gets, the more curl and texture it has, and lowell takes the time to style it properly. when he grows a beard his whiskers tend to be more on the ginger rather than brunette side of things. EYES blue DISTINGUISHING MARKS surgical scar on his left elbow from fixing a break sustained during a basketball game when he was 12. TATTOOS wolf paw print between his shoulder blades STYLE modern, casual comfort. shorts, tanks, jeans, t-shirts, and flannels. ACCESSORIES his father’s watch. lowell doesn’t wear it on his wrist, but it’s usually in one of his pockets, or kept safe and tucked away in his nightstand. HYGIENE lowell sometimes showers multiple times a day, and has for years depending on sport practices, games, and workouts, and then on work calls SCENT le labo santal 33; sandalwood and leather

P S Y C H O L O G Y

LANGUAGES english and some creole phrases/expressions VOCABULARY average-ish. he can figure out ‘big’ words with good context, and got used to looking things up from a young age. MEMORY keeping a calendar and to-do lists on his phone is needed more so for organizational and focus TEMPERAMENT sanguine  LEARNING STYLE mainly kinaesthetic, but there are some auditory elements that work for lowell. EMOTIONAL STABLITY pretty high, though that’s because lowell’s worked hard (after some rough teenage years) to have a steady foundation, which his job definitely depends on. sometimes he still bottles things up and will release it all during a workout, but over the years he’s learned when to confront something head-on rather than allowing it to fester. 

C H A R A C T E R

PRIORITIES carrying for others and most importantly his family, both familial and found MOTIVATION making his family proud SELF CONFIDENCE lowell’s always had confidence in his physical abilities. it’s his intelligence where his confidence will at times waiver, but he feels like he’s found a profession that allows him to shine. SELF CONTROL lowell had to learn some level of discipline pretty early on when it came to managing sports and academics. those lessons his mom helped instill have carried through to adulthood and lowell’s career choices. HOBBIES playing music, basketball, outdoor adventures, camping, gardening MANNERISMS usually a bouncing leg/knee when sitting still, especially for too long. running his hands through his hair when talking. touching his neck when nervous. scratching his forehead or cheek when stumped and trying to come up with an answer so he won’t feel dumb. also saying his sirs or ma’ams or missus as his mother taught and expected of him. HABITS after failed medication attempts, lowell found that yoga helps center and focus his mind, plus has improved his overall flexibility, which helps on the job, so he does at least a short routine every morning. on saturdays or sundays, depending on his shifts, he’ll make a big breakfast spread, have hot chocolate (sometimes with coffee), and do a crossword puzzle, because having to look up clues on his phone isn’t cheating, it’s just learning. ABILITIES strength and endurance. musicality. empathy.  INEPTITUDES lowell isn’t the brightest crayon in the toolshed, and had to put forth a lot more effort than most when it came to learning and course work in school. he also can’t dance. whatever grace and agility he has when it comes to athletics, and the fact that he can drum and keep a beat, goes completely away the moment he steps on a dance floor.  SOFT SPOTS animals, tiny humans, and other people who have suffered loss GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT graduating college, then the firefighter academy, and passing his EMSVO, EMT, and AEMT certifications WESTERN ZODIAC leo CHINESE ZODIAC dragon PRIMAL SIGN orca HOGWARTS hufflepuff ONE SONG "in the air tonight" phil collins ONE BOOK the giving tree shel silverstein ONE MOVIE mrs. doubtfire

P R E F E R E N C E S

LIKES the tired feeling in his muscles and bones after a productive and intense workout or physical call. tacos. pizza. nachos. whoopie pies. his mom’s etouffee and po-boys. root beer floats. spending the day out in nature. gaming. sports. DISLIKES moxie. salt and vinegar chips. ranch dressing. still not a huge fan of maine winters but dealing with it. KINKS consensual voyeurism. PET PEEVES people who are rude to service workers. the trend of crank 9-1-1 calls on tiktok.

H O M E  +  W O R K  +  E D U C A T I O N

HOMETOWN new orleans, lousiana (until 14); somerton, maine CURRENT RESIDENCE bridgeport, row house TRADITIONS sunday family dinners HIGH SCHOOL bursted park high (basketball and jazz band) COLLEGE somerton university (basketball) DEGREES b.s. with a concentration on social work/sciences CERTIFICATIONS FFI, FFII, hazardous material operations, public safety diver, EMSVO, EMT, AEMT PROFESSION firefighter/emt (10+ years) EMPLOYER somerton fire and rescue EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES pick-up basketball, cover band drummer

B I O

New Orleans was all Lowell had ever known. Aside from only a few out of state vacations, the city had always been home. And honestly, growing up in Nola meant Lowell got the best of the both worlds: big city living with a small town feel thanks to the neighborhoods and wards of Nola. Families on their street were friendly and nosy, and honestly Lowell’s mom, Birdie, didn’t mind at all because one, she had nothing to hide, and two, was more than happy that when other people learned of her situation -- a widowed and working single mom -- they were more than willing to help out. Which was how instead of becoming a latchkey kid, between after school hours and school vacation, Lowell became a surrogate member of more than a few neighboring families. And while Birdie wished she had been able to make it home from the hospital for more dinners, she was always home in time to sit down at the kitchen table and help Lowell struggle through his assigned school work.

The story was always the same each new school year, with every parent-teacher conference and IEP meeting. Lowell was always a pleasure to have in class, but he was either struggling with math or reading comprehension or his overall attention was lacking. But while Lowell and the general classroom weren’t on the best of terms, he excelled in other areas. Given his size and the fact that he towered over most of his classmates, it wasn’t shocking when the gym teacher had glowing remarks and commented that Lowell’s abilities were well beyond his years, but Birdie was surprised to learn from the music teacher that her son was both attentive and eager to learn in her class, too. After informing Lowell that participation in extracurriculars was dependent upon remaining in good academic standing, sports and music became an award system of sorts. It also didn’t hurt that burning through energy on the field or court, or banging it out with his drums meant that Lowell was less inclined to take out his frustrations of not understanding a word problem or summary question on a kitchen chair or wall.

The summer before eighth grade Lowell started to notice that his mom was coming home early from shifts now and again, getting gussied up, and leaving him with instructions for cooking frozen pizza or bagel bites while she went out. She was always home in time to look over homework and make sure Lowell was in bed on time, so Lowell never wondered too hard about it. Until the day she came home and said they’d be having a guest for dinner. Lowell met whom would become his step-dad that night. Two weeks later he met whom would become his step-sister. And before the start of the new school year, but after a small ceremony in the backyard, the new family had packed up all their belongings to move nearly 2000 miles up north. Chuck, an anesthesiologist,  had a new job at Kane-Russell Memorial in Somerton, and there was no doubt that he could pull strings and get Birdie on the RN rotation there, too.

While having a new family should have been the biggest change in Lowell’s life, everything about Maine was so different from Louisiana. Somedays it felt like Lowell was waking up in a whole new country, especially with his accent and missing his favorite local foods. But eventually school started and Lowell fell back into familiar routines of sports, music, and school work, and soon enough it wasn’t so scary putting roots down in a new place with a new family.

By the time Lowell graduated high school he had a scholarship for Somerton U. Even though he could have lived at home, he lived on-campus to have the full college experience, which also included playing as 4-year starter Seahorse on the basketball team. Lowell might have graduated with a social sciences degree, but after their team bus came upon an accident one winter night and Lowell witnessed firsthand everything the emergency response squads were doing to not only save people, but just to calm their nerves, he sort of felt like maybe he had a found something that could be a good fit for him. Lowell was already working towards his EMT certification when he graduated, and after moving back home began to apply to the Somerton firehouse. Lowell’s been part of the Somerton Fire, Rescue, and EMT Services family for ten years now and loves that every day is a bit of a new adventure. When he’s not working, Lowell’s playing drums in a cover band that sometimes performs at On the Rocks or hanging out with dog, Gus.

[posthumanwanderings]

alright so I’ve done a top 10 favorite obscure SNES games and my top games in general are real obvious / similar to others (all you need to know is that Chrono Trigger is the BEST GAME OF ALL TIME :) ) so I’ll do instead a.... ~Top 10 SNES Memories~

1. dat pre-launch Super Mario World hype at Sears (how I played SNES for the 1st time, then afterwards at a babysitter’s house cause we didn’t get one right away)

2. witnessing the first RPG I’ve ever seen, Final Fantasy IV (FFII in NA). I didn’t actually know how to play it, was too young so my older brother would get home from school yelling at me thinking I fucked something up but I didn’t accidentally save anything luckily. so I watched him and his friend beat it from midway in the game, the underground cave of monsters part to be exact.

3. everything about Donkey Kong Country, from gameplay to presentation and this video that came with Nintendo Power magazine:

4. playing copious amounts of Super Mario Kart with my cousin all summer while drawing our own maps and character creations during game breaks. also truth be told, but I came up with a very Bowsette like character back then, with a very similar look but only differences were that she had red hair and was Bowser’s wife, not just the princess alter ego of him.

5. celebrating my 7th birthday at Pizza Hut while getting Star Fox as a present from my mom which came out a week before. for its time it was one of the best looking console games and it drove me towards loving much of the on-rails shooter genre.

6. between the time Star Fox released and before Final Fantasy VI came out my parents got divorced, so I remember vividly how much FFVI and other SNES RPG’s around the time I learned to play from watching my brother helped me cope with it all, just immersing myself in another world and its story. no salty feelings about it now, but gaming definitely helped with my escapism from shit you can’t help in life. so, thanks Squaresoft : )

7. METAL WARRIORS head-2-head mode! I might’ve talked to one person IRL who knew exactly what was up when I mentioned MW, but I see other peeps on the net low key appreciate how intense those matches could get. made me wish the actual Assault Suits games had 2-player Vs. mode, or even co-op.

8. Street Fighter 2 and each revision afterwards was HYPE. from playing it in the arcade to seeing a decent home port, only getting buffer and faster with each release which we got with no regrets. I still play this classic game (SSF2x) on Fightcade to this day, the perfect fighting game.

9. Super Metroid’s deep, desolate atmosphere is embedded in my mind as one of most mood inducing games I’ve ever played. all while still just a 2D game too. foggy, cloudy transparencies, alienating / suspenseful music, nice use of lighting in dark areas and ambiguous ruins that the Metroid series never fully explains until the Metroid Prime series and Zero Mission. on my top 5 favorite game list.

10. sometime in the early 2010′s I had what I call an SNES Renaissance, when I got back into playing emulators but wanted to check out games I never heard before thanks to the blogs at the time showcasing the hidden 16-bit gems. my list I wrote before were the games I beat then, and there’s still plenty more for me to check out, especially the RPG’s!

had a lot of fun fond memories playing the Mega Man X games, Yoshi’s Island, Mario Paint, and losing my mind with Contra III, but I think I wrote enough already for this. currently about to beat the PSP version of FFIV (then maybe check out FFIV After Years?) then play more SNES favorites from my past and some new ones before switching it up to the next system focused vibe (o you already know..) show dat grey and purp box some love for me, and feel free to post some of your own memories here as well : )

[eirasummersreview]

Final Fantasy I review

I recently finished Final Fantasy I. I've been playing the pixel remaster version so keep that in mind for anything I say gameplay and graphics wise! (Also, I'll probably play the other 5 and review them as well, I'm currently playing FFII). Story:

This game is really old. The original is from 1987 and the story is quite simple and to the point. You're the group of legendary heroes tasked with restoring the crystals' power and defeating the big bad. Even so, it's charming and talking with all the NPCs did give more info about the lore, which was nice. It also felt like the most basic form of a type of story that later rpgs followed. Yes, adding complexity to it, but still the same basic formula, which is interesting to see.

Characters:

The main characters are completely blank, they don't speak and they're whatever you want them to be. So nothing interesting there at all. The NPCs did show some of their personality with the limitations of the time, but still nothing remarkable. This is definitely the weakest part of the game, using the categories I have.

Aesthetic:

The pixel art is detailed and pretty. The pixel did have care for all the remade arts and maps and it shows. Maybe I am a bit biased in favour of them though, since I really like pixel art. But I think it's complex enough that it looks pretty, even if it's not the best it could be.

Gameplay:

It's really easy to play, easy controls, clear battles and explanations. The NPCs also give you good enough information for you to find where to go next without much problem. I only got stuck 1-2 times and it was just because I didn't remember where an NPC was, but otherwise I had no problems. Also, the map function helps A LOT and makes navigating the game much easier and less frustrating. The bad part about it, the battles. At first they're fun and challenging, but soon they turn monotonous and pointless. I did play with auto battle half of the time, since they posed no threat at all at those times. At least it had the auto button which made it more bearable, but it was still tiresome. Most of the times, the only battles worth paying attention to were the bosses and mini-bosses, which were quite ok.

----

Overall, I'm talking about it from a modern point of view, but I want to mention again how it's a really old game. I think back in the day, it was probably a mind-blowing amazing game, from the innovation and having a cohesive plot and all. But if you play it today, it's interesting, specially if you like rpgs, but it's not something everyone will enjoy.

Still, if you like rpgs, in particular Final Fantasy, I think you'll have fun trying it out and seeing what changed and what's still the same~ It took me only 10 and a half hours to finish, so not much of a commitment either!

[villegreys]

Final fantasy iii psp review

#FINAL FANTASY III PSP REVIEW UPDATE#

However, I didn’t find myself using this for more than a few minutes. There’s also a filter that attempts to emulate a CRT display which makes the menus look slightly less sterile and gives sprites and backgrounds familiar fuzziness.

#FINAL FANTASY III PSP REVIEW UPDATE#

It’s a welcome update for that faintly-remembered dungeon layout. One of the biggest changes is the addition of a minimap for the overworld, field, and dungeon maps which can be toggled on and off if you so desire. There’s a bestiary that will also show you where on the map enemies will spawn, though it’s only accessible through the title menu for some reason. An auto-save function is handing in the even you wipe and forget to manually save. However, there are new features in the Pixel Remasters that are welcome, such as a semi-programmable auto-battle function, that, when pressed, will perform the last action you select and is retained between battles. This often changes the way you’ll conserve and spend your magic, as restoring MP isn’t as easy in the latter system.Įach title retains an in-game prologue, but eschews many of the optional content found in the Dawn of Souls and Anniversary editions of FFI and FFII – content such as the semi-random dungeons in FFI and the additional Soul of Rebirth dungeon in FFII. First off, Final Fantasy I and III return the Vancian magic system found in the original games in lieu of the MP or Magic Point “pool” prevalent in many other remasters. But are they really?įrom what I’ve played between each of the first three Pixel Remasters, it seems like a grab bag of features from every version, which is bound to please some and detract others. What’s interesting is that there are remasters that currently exist on these platforms, but are being phased out in favor of the Pixel Remasters – as if Square Enix is positioning them as definitive versions. Currently, these remasters are only announced for Steam and smartphones. Final Fantasy III, for example, has never released in 2D outside of Japan.Īnnounced earlier this year, the first six Final Fantasy titles will be given the “Pixel Remaster” treatment, with the first three launching on July 28th, and the next three to launch later this year. With many of these platforms now receding into relative obscurity, the call for Square Enix to update and port these games to more current platforms has rang ever louder. From the first PlayStation, to the GameBoy Advance, to the PSP, and then smartphones, each iteration takes a certain approach whether it be adding new features and content or an updated graphical style. Classic Final Fantasy games from the 8-bit and 16-bit era have been ported and remastered several times before.

[daemonczar]

Shipping Info Meme

answer the following for your muse so people know how shipping works on your blog.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER?:

hmmm... none that i can think of canon-wise? i don’t really think there’s anyone really within the ffii canon that i could see with mateus, simply because he’s a bit of a shithead with commitment issues and bad opinions. i particularly also don’t really see him fawning over just anyone, because he’s a picky man with bad obsession issues.

rp-wise however... i ship him very hard with ramona’s sephiroth over at @breselin​​. it started as just a random joke but then she kept showing me all the times mateus kept trying to get sephiroth’s attention only to get left on read aksjfkm. i really love the interactions, plots, and verses we have planned for them tho!

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO WRITE WHEN IT COMES TO SHIPPING?

i’m pretty lenient with shipping topics save for noncon, shipping with minors (this including minor characters that were “aged up”), and any topics relating to those. so, with that in mind, y’all are stuck with angst, fluff, drama, dysfunctional stuff, etcetc... i think i’m at my best writing angst/drama and dysfunctional ships tho, personally. but i do love a good fluff piece here and there because i’m a sensitive soul and cry any time my muses in ships smile sincerely at their significant other.

i’m also fine with unrequited love plots from the other muse’s side. platonic relationships, enemies, rivals, etcetc... i’m fine with all of those in exchange of shipping, should it come up.

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?

like i said before i simply just won’t ship with minors, meaning anyone under the age of 18. otherwise, i think i’m pretty open-ended with it? i have a few characters where they’re in their forties but are in happy, healthy relationships with characters that are, maybe, in their early-to-mid twenties. also i have mannimarco on another blog, who is literally an antique at this point, shipping with ramona’s sephiroth soooo--

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?

bud, i’m like... so selective when it comes to that. i’ve had both weird and bad experiences regarding it before, and i just don’t wanna deal with it anymore. because of that, i prefer to ship with close friends (those that i’ve known more for than just a month.), because i’m very awkward and nervous otherwise. usually when i make a new blog, i either A) have a ship planned already for them or B) don’t bother shipping until one of my friends want to give it a shot.

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NS/FW?

tbh the moment one or both of them are tearing clothes off. i tend to just go with the flow, though, and can put a read more far earlier depending on the subject. usually it’s just when both parties are about to go at it and/or the narration’s a bit too... risque otherwise. i kinda just play it by ear!

WHO ARE OTHER THE CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?

there is... maybe one other character i’d be comfortable shipping mateus with. this is mainly speaking in terms of dissidia, though. otherwise it’d be mainly with original characters and/or crossovers with muses of friends, i feel.

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?:

god, please. almost all of my muses are insanely difficult to ship with, simply because of how they are and how they’d act in the ship-- which is why i strongly prefer to ship with close friends, because we can talk shit out and create all of these different scenes just in case it goes awry later on yet... still miraculously keep the ship strong lmao. and mateus isn’t an exception. if anything, i think he’s one of the harder people to ship with because of his issues with commitment, personal troubles, and just overall characterization i use for him.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU LIKE TO SHIP?

i love shipping! but it’s also not a priority, if that makes sense? i’m more than fine with my blogs not having ships on ‘em if it’s simply not destined. however, if there’s an idea a friend and i have going and we really like it... yeah, it’ll be a pretty prominent part of the blog lmao

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?:

it depends on the person, tbh. i’m more-or-less overall, but when it comes to my close friends i can be a bit obsessed-- meaning that i’ll almost always say yes if they toss a ship my way. i’m pretty easy to appease and also i just really love shipping with them? otherwise, yeah i couldn’t really care less.

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?

i am almost always going to be single-ship, simply because i don’t have a lot of faith in my abilities to multi-ship. it’s also that i worry about treating all of my partners fairly already without shipping in the mix, so i feel like it’d lean to Truly Disorganized Territory if i tried multi-shipping. however, i... am willing to give it a shot if someone i really trusted inquired and i talked it over with my first shipping partner, first.

WHAT IS/ARE YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP(S) IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?:

i’m not picky tbh :- |a i like all of the ships that i’m seeing on my dash, though i’ve been keeping a particularly close eye on sephiroth/cecil from ramona and artie just... just because i think it’s really cute. really cute u guys keep up the good work, A+.

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?:

talk to me! i’m most comfortable shipping with friends, if it’s not super obvious by now. i prefer getting to know my ship partners, understanding them, and just overall being able to have fun with them outside of rp. i also appreciate it when people are forward with me instead of beating around the bush, because that can get real annoying real fast. please read my rules, though, because i always will have a section about shipping readily available; it talks about my current shipping status, what i’m willing to do, etcetc!

tagged by: @breselin ♡♡♡ tagging: :-|a .... steal it.

[magpiejay1234]

I have been playing FFIV GBA for a few days, and here are my scrambled thoughts:

*Game is definitely cinematic in both best and worst ways. You can definitely understand why half of the script was cut from the game. Many of the plot-relevant dungeons like Tower of Lot and Giant of Babel are one-off dungeons, latter appearing temporarily on the overworld and the former never appearing in the overworld.

*While Cecil’s redemption story is wrapped up earlier in the game, the game doesn’t hold itself with Cecil’s war crimes during the invasion of Mysidia. Even though most of the people you fought in the opening turn out to be in Baron’s prisons, there is at least one person missing. Meaning you begin the game with Cecil killing at least a guy willingly. The prisoners don’t show up when you return to Baron, the implication being Cagnazzio, while disguised as King of Baron, executed them for the show. Ew.

*There is a weird theme of fatherhood here. Both King of Baron (essentially Cecil’s adoptive dad) and Kluya (Cecil’s dad) are important characters both in the plot and the overall lore. However, you also have Cid (deliberately designed as a father figure), Yang, and Tellah. For the other NPCs, you have King Giott (who stored the key to the Sealed Cave in her daughter Luca’s neclace) and King of Elban, who is the only monsterous parent of Edge you must defeat in the pseudo-boss battle. Of course, Cecil himself becomes a dad at the end of the game. It has become such a rare event to see a game focus on this theme, but here it is.

*The mysticism around the crystals definitely made me understand why people hate The After Years. In the original game, though the Crystals are implied to Lunarian artifacts, there is still something mysterious about them, as Lunarians, despite their technological advancements, are still clearly a religious people.

*The world building of the FFIV feels a bit weaker than the FFI and FFII, since they clearly designed backstories for the different kingdoms you see throughout the game, but they are not discussed in the game. Is Eblan supposed to be Japan with its ninjitsu? Is the town of Tomra a mining town?

The After Years of course develop these ideas further (yes, Eblan is Japan, yes Tomra is a mining town etc.), but I don’t feel the ideas are fully realized here.

With FFI all locations in the game had eleborate backstories, but the real connections the current script is focused on are the connections between the overworlds (Underworld, Overworld and the Moon). The relationships of the kingdoms before the death of King Baron isn’t described to its full.

*What is developed are the airships. Sakaguchi loves these. And they really sell you on the destructive power of the airships. This is because you have an entire regiment of airships, instead of one superweapon, like it was in the case in FFII (yes Mateus had an entire regiment as well, but you only saw it in the cutscenes.)

There are few more interesting things about the military power of Baron as well. The highest authority who willingly joins Golbez is Captain Baigan, who gets the power to transform into a demon. We don’t know if this is due to sorcery of Golbez, or a foreshadowing of Dr. Lugae’s experiments. In addition to our boy Baigan, Baron also has a regiment of the honorable Dragoons, who in the FFII were Wyvern Riders (they are just knights errands in FFIV). They really push the idea of aerial superioty screwing up the feudal system of FFIV’s world, while also noting that Baron has given up on its navy (despite the fake King Baron turning out to be Cagnazzio).

*There is also an interesting thing about the Elemental Fiends. Each of them have a sub-boss before you fight them. Scarmiglione has Mom Bomb, Cagnazzio has Baigan, Barbaraccia has the three Magus Sisters (a pastiche of the three Magi), and Rubicante has, grudgingly, Dr. Lugae and the mutated parents of Edge. The Elemental Lords themselves also become the subbosses of the Giant of Babel’s CPU, but I haven’t fought it yet (I lost to a random Mech Dragon encounter, so I’m stuck grinding here.)

This nested dolls boss system also works with Golbez, who has supposedly King Baron as his superior (turns out to be false), only to end up being the minion of Zemus, while also having, de facto, Kain as his minion throughout the game, who gives the final crystal to Golbez (this would be later homaged by both Cloud and Rinoa, obviously, despite being such a bad and undercooked idea.)

*Sylph Cavern was the first time I couldn’t grind my out of a debacle. I forgot Yang was in the first floor, so I ended up going to the next floor in the Sylph Home to end up outside. When I decided to do the item Monsters, the second set of Evil Dreamers defeated me for the first time (Giant of Babel’s Mech Dragons would defeat me the second time, since I didn’t grind on the Moon, and couldn’t get the Lunar Whale to defeat Bahamut.)

The floating gimmick is annoying even if the cavern (and the Cave of Summons) give you good EXP, which is really the only thing of value in later dungeons.

*FFIV obviously inspired Pokémon’s tropes in a big way. One way is the EXP/money system. Early battles you had would give you lots of money with minimal EXP. Later battles, predictably do the opposite. However, you need around 9 million EXP to get to Level 99, and unlike Pokémon, random encounters don’t get easier as you Level up. Lack of Ethers but abundance of Phoenix Downs, alongside the abundance of save locations, definitely seems to have inspired Pokémon.

Because of the abundance of save locations, the game wants you to use tents and cottages much more so than FFI-FFII. Most dungeons are not places you can casually escape, you must do the plot or otherwise you have to backtrack from the beginning. Even if most dungeons are fairly linear, secret items still require a walkthrough. This gives off a weird wibe, the main plot is linear but game is designed with exploration in the mind. Just like most Pokémon games, again.

*There is weird thing around Goblins. You have dwarves, who are humanoid creatures with their own cities and established culture (in The After Years, they are just dark-skinned people.) But Goblins, for whatever reason, decide to work for Golbez, in both Tower of Babel and the invasion of Fabul. Since you have an entire society of summons (who would later inspire Espers in FFVI), and you have Mythril Village for all the freaks out there, it feels weird to see Goblins be so prominent in the game as antagonists. I feel like there is an interesting plot here.

*Strangely enough, both Edward and Edge turned out to be really useful after I leveled them up to a playable stage. Rosa, in contrast, turned out to be really useless, since she cannot wear heavy armor, and game is designed against magic abuse. So even though she has insanely large amount of MP and HP, because arrows are perishable and don’t deal much damage unless you use Aim, you might have a better show with a staff or with her bare hands. Her punches ended being more reliable for most of the game until I got proper bows.

Tellah was another surprise, even if I couldn’t use him much, because I needed to grind a lot of time before Magnetic Cavern, his character eventually grow on me (especially now that I could level him up, unlike in Underground Waterway), so I feel his death worked better on me than most people.

*Speaking of Magnetic Cavern, there is also a lot of FFI and FFII in FFIV. Dark Elf is obviously a reference to Astos, Leviathan swallowing Rydia is a reference to the Leviathan in FFII, Kain’s initial equipment and Cecil’s intitial titles are both a reference to Leon in FFII etc. Kain is also left-handed just like Leon, which is a not-so subtle hint that he will betray the team twice.

[matayu-sometimes-writes-stuff]

On Final Fantasy XIII

          I have to admit that I went into this game expecting to be disappointed. While I have intended for a while now to play through every non-MMO Final Fantasy game, at the time I started playing it I had only completed the original and FFII, and was around halfway through FFIII. The only reason I decided to play it now was availability; my brother had a copy, so I didn’t need to purchase it for myself.

           I hadn’t really heard much about the game other than “It’s bad” and “It’s Final Hallway XIII lol”. And while there is certainly an argument to be made that FFXIII is objectively a bad game, and the “hallway” criticism (that most of the game’s areas are linear, with barely any deviation in route) is valid, I absolutely loved this game. I would not recommended it to anyone who isn’t determined to play it through, for reasons I’ll elaborate on later, but this is currently my favourite Final Fantasy game, beating out the original, II, III, and now IV (which I am at the final dungeon of as of this writing).

           I’ll address the criticisms first. Beginning with the “hallway” criticism. Yes, of the game’s 13 chapters, only the area in chapter 11 (which can be revisited during chapter 13) offers any sort of exploration. It’s also where the game’s version of side quests are introduced. Note that although it’s labeled as chapter 11, almost two thirds of the game take place in this open area. I understand that this isn’t worth ten chapters of linearity to some people, but I actually found the linearity of the game to be quite enjoyable. Some people make the argument that the linearity is necessary for story purposes, as our six protagonists are fugitives from their government, and don’t have the time to be running around looking for twenty bear asses with the army breathing down their necks. This is a valid defense, but I have a much simpler one.

           Of all the Final Fantasy games I’ve played, Final Fantasy XIII was the first and thus far only one where I didn’t need an internet walkthrough to figure out where the fuck I was supposed to fucking GO.

           Maybe it’s because I’ve only played NES and SNES-era Final Fantasy games for comparison, but FFXII was so much more enjoyable simply because I didn’t need to constantly be checking a mile-long GameFAQs walkthough every twenty minutes or so, searching for place names or proper nouns just for some hint of where I needed to be. Now, this changed when I started doing the aforementioned side quests, if only because there’s no indication on the in-game map where the questgivers are unless the quest is active, but until that point I had no need for cross-checking a walkthrough. Hopefully this will get better when I finally get through the 16-bit era, but until then the linearity that I’ve heard so many people complain about is one of Final Fantasy XIII’s biggest draws for me. The linearity made the game more fun.

           As mentioned earlier, the game only really opens up in chapter 11, which is where the majority of the game’s runtime is. This is because chapters 1 through 9, and most of 10, are the game’s tutorial.

           These segments are roughly 20 hours long.

           Final Fantasy XIII has a 20-hour-long tutorial. There’s really no way to spin that as a positive. The game uses that time to its advantage, introducing five of the six protagonists from the get-go and developing them in a way that I quite enjoyed, and will say more on later. The fact of the matter is, though, that 20 hours is a ridiculous time to spend teaching the player how to use your combat system. I’m not sure if it makes it better or worse that it does legitimately take 20 hours to master Final Fantasy XIII’s version of the Active Time Battle system.

           Again, full disclosure, I wound up loving the combat system in FFXIII. But I didn’t understand how it worked until around chapter five. To explain, you have a party of at most three characters. You control one character directly, and the other two are controlled by the game’s AI, which takes its cues from you. Each character has a combination of three of six possible roles. You create what the game calls “paradigms”, six sets of any three of the available roles that you can freely switch between during combat. This allows for a party in trouble to switch on the fly from offensive classes to (for example) a tank and two healers. Once you get a handle on it, it’s very intuitive. The problem is, of course, how long it takes to get a handle on it. Twenty hours is still ridiculous.

           Ultimately, a video game succeeds or fails on its gameplay. You can have the most gorgeous backgrounds, beautiful music, and memorable characters, but if the game is hard to play, all that falls by the wayside. Looking at you, Skyward Sword. But that’s a discussion for another time.

           I’m sure the twenty-hour long tutorial turned people off of FFXIII when it first came out. I do agree that it’s ridiculous, and it’s most of the reason why I wouldn’t recommend the game to anyone who wanted something just to pick up and play. My brother, who you’ll remember is the one who actually owns the copy I played, never actually finished the game, nor has any desire to. I likely would have put it down myself if I hadn’t resolved myself to playing it all the way through. I’m glad I did. But if you aren’t approaching it with that mindset, I wouldn’t expect you to enjoy it.

           Speaking of enjoying things, let’s move on to what I actually liked about this game, which is the story and characters. I don’t know how it stacks up against more contemporary Final Fantasy games, but I personally was glad to not be playing yet another Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The story is mostly driven by its characters.

           Claire “Lightning” Farron is the face of Final Fantasy XIII, and the only character I knew about heading in. What I knew, or rather had heard, was that her character was “Cloud Strife but as a woman.” I’ll be the first to admit that, since I haven’t played Final Fantasy VII yet, I don’t know how firsthand how true this assessment is. However, from what I’ve been able to gather from pop-cultural osmosis, this is almost completely untrue. Lightning was designed with “female Cloud” in mind, but for the most part this is where the similarities end.

           Lightning is essentially the single parent of her little sister Serah, and is overprotective of her to a fault.  This has caused an estrangement between the two of them, exacerbated by Lightning’s disapproval of Serah’s fiancé, who will be discussed when we get to him. When Serah is cursed by what are essentially minor gods in this setting with a task that will either transform her into a mindless monster if she fails or put her in stasis potentially forever if she succeeds, Lighting sets out on a quest to rescue her from her fate, to the extent of defying her own gods-given task, and heaven help anyone who gets in her way.

          One of the weaknesses of Final Fantasy XIII, in my opinion, is that the game’s engine doesn’t give its characters the most expressive of faces. Lightning is a very reserved person, but you are able to figure out how she’s feeling from careful consideration and inference based on what she says versus what she’s been through. This could be made much easier if the engine was capable of rendering microexpressions. I do kind of hope FFXIII will get a high-definition rerelease, if only so that this sort of thing could be added.

          Lightning’s arc in this game (it continues slightly in Final Fantasy XII-2, and completes in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII) involves her learning that even if Serah is getting married, it doesn’t mean she’s going to be alone in the world. She forges friendships that will last literal lifetimes with her fellow companions, one of whom is her future brother-in-law she despises so much.

          Time to talk about him. Snow Villiers is a dumbass. A moron. An idiot. An airhead.

          I love him so much.

          I didn’t always. I actually started out hating him just as much as Lightning did. Snow wants to be a hero. Sorry, make that a Hero™. He’s the leader of a citizen’s militia in his and the Farron sisters’ hometown, and he believes that a true hero never needs a plan, because of the laws of narrative causality or some such bullshit. Naturally his arc involves him realizing that that’s a really, REALLY stupid way to live your life. It’s actually better than I’m making it sound: he goes through a gradual realization that his philosophy is hindering others more than helping them, and goes through some low points before he learns how to temper his enthusiasm with careful planning and coordination. Part of this is coming to the conclusion that he can still be heroic, even if he (or anyone, really) can’t live up to the platonic ideal of heroism he has constructed for himself. I began by hating him, by the end of FFXIII I loved hating him, and by the end of the trilogy I actually genuinely grew to love him. But that’s a story for another time. Snow’s motivation is actually the same as Lightning’s: to rescue Serah Farron from her fate, regardless of who or what gets in the way.

          One of the people hurt by Snow’s general idiocy is another of our protagonists: a young boy of fourteen named Hope Estheim, whose mother volunteers to fight alongside Snow to defend her son. Her death isn’t COMPLETELY Snow’s fault, but both Snow and Hope act as if it is. It doesn’t help that she shares a name, Nora, with Snow’s militia. (No Obligations, Rules, or Authority. No, seriously.) Hope’s initial motivation is revenge against Snow. To the point of murder. Naturally this doesn’t play out, but Hope’s interactions with Lightning and Snow are a guiding factor in their own arcs, giving Lightning the familiar ground of a big-sister role as she teaches him how to survive on the run, and showing Snow that heroism is still possible even if you don’t match Snow’s ideal. (To elaborate, when given the opportunity to take revenge for his mother, Hope not only can’t go through with it, but shortly after that actually defends an unconscious Snow after the two survive a several-story fall.)

          Hope comes into his own after reuniting with his father, whom he was afraid would shun him both for not being able to save his mother, and for becoming one of the gods-cursed beings that the general public are being made to fear. Bartholomew Estheim not only reassures him that he would never feel that way about his own son, but gives Hope the confidence he needs to stand up and take action of his own accord, rather than reacting to what’s happening to him as he had been doing. Hope’s a good kid.

          To contrast, Sazh Katzroy is a good father. He’s the oldest member of the main cast, old enough to have a young son, Dajh. Dajh is cursed in a similar way to Serah, and Sazh’s journey is about trying to get him back from the government, who in a cruel twist are using the powers the curse gave him to hunt our protagonists. Sazh is effectively the team dad, and honestly his arc can be summed up with a single GIF of Marlin from Finding Nemo. “Have you seen my son?!”

          Kidding aside, what Sazh has to go through are probably the most realistically terrifying events of the game. He’s a single father whose preschool-aged son is not just missing, but has been taken from him. And like everyone else under the curse, Dajh is on a ticking clock to decide which fate worse than death awaits him. There’s actual, realistic fear there, and I did really care about seeing the two reunited.

          Sazh also got the chance to act as a surrogate father to Oerba Dia Vanille, the fifth and final character who’s introduced from the get-go. For initially unexplained reasons, she’s the only member of the main cast (that we’ve met) with an Australian accent. She’s bubbly, peppy, and dealing with a trainload of internalized guilt over events that happened 500 years before the game even began.

          Vanille, along with our sixth and later introduced really final party member, are the last survivors of a civilization that fought and lost a war against the floating colony the rest of the cast lives in 500 years ago. The two of them were cursed way back then, and entered stasis until the present day. Vanille is a gentle soul, and was horrified both at the number of innocent people she had killed way back when to complete her task, and at what her awakening had brought: both Serah and Dajh were cursed, by different gods, directly because of it. There’s actually a very touching scene shown as a flashback of Vanille meeting Serah a day or two before the events of the game proper, in which she essentially apologizes for what she’s done, and Serah forgives her despite not really understanding the extent of what Vanille was apologizing for. There’s also an even more powerful scene when Sazh finds out that what happened to Dajh was Vanille’s fault, after spending roughly a full day trying to keep the young woman alive. Sazh has a tough decision to make, but it ultimately results in Vanille realizing that she is worthy of forgiveness, which she can achieve by joining with the other characters to save the people she was tasked with destroying.

          The sixth and final party member is Oerba Yun Fang, introduced about a chapter or so after the rest as a “mysterious woman” before swooping in with an appropriately named renegade army faction (the Cavalry) to save the other characters from a tight spot. She also has an Australian accent, marking her and Vanille as native to the surface of the planet. (The difference is that Vanille’s VA is actually Australian. Fang’s is not.)

          Fang is in many ways a foil to Lightning. She has the same sort of big sister relationship to Vanille that Lightning has with Serah; although where Lightning is overprotective because she doesn’t want to lose her only family, Fang is overprotective because she and Vanille are literally the only members of their people left alive (to their and our knowledge), and they are actively being hunted down by a hostile nation. Fang’s motivation is to keep Vanille safe, at any cost, even her own humanity. There’s an often-quoted line: “I’ll tear down the sky if it’ll save her.” There are some people who view Fang and Vanille’s relationship as romantic, and while I understand where they’re coming from, I prefer the parity it gives the narrative if Fang and Vanille’s relationship is incredibly similar to that of Lightning and Serah’s. While Lightning learns to overcome her unfounded distrust of others, Fang is overcoming her very well founded distrust of others. Both women learn to open up to their companions; that they aren’t as alone in the world as they feel they have to be.

          I also really loved the ending of this game, so spoilers follow. The heroes win; what kind of Final Fantasy game would it be if the villain wins, eh? Though the floating colony does get dropped on the planet, our heroes were able to convince the army to evacuate the colony instead of fighting to the death, which means most of the civilians survived. Fang and Vanille, however, sacrificed themselves to stasis in crystal for an unknown amount of time to create a support pillar for the colony; it forms into the logo for the game, which I thought was a clever touch. Lightning, Snow, Sazh, and Hope are all rocketed to the surface of the planet, but survive via also being turned to crystal; they are freed from the stasis and the brands indicating them as cursed have mysteriously vanished. Out of the wreckage walks Serah and Dajh, also freed from the curse, to reunite with their families. Bartholomew Estheim is nowhere to be seen, but a codex entry in XIII-2 confirms that he survived and reunited with Hope after the fact. I would have liked for him to be there, but I understand that showing the reunion with Serah (and Dajh) was more important. It was a bit jarring hearing Leona Lewis in 2017, as I had forgotten she even existed, but apparently there was no way to translate the Japanese theme into English and have it still be lyrical AND make sense, so they substituted an English song with the same thematic elements. It’s a nice song, and it works. This was a good ending to a good story in a maybe-okay-at-best game.

          Beautiful music, lovely visuals, fantastic characters that play off each other, stacked up against a control system that takes almost a full day to learn, a slightly sluggish camera, and a linear, story-driven game world (which apparently counts as a bad thing for some reason). I love this game. I’ve heard very good things about VI, and everyone always gushes over VII and IX, but until I get to those, I have my favourite Final Fantasy, and it’s XIII.

[djgamek1ng]

Final Fantasy... Brave Exvius!

Hey there! Back with a post for this week! This time I will not talk about FFXIV! Instead I’ll talk about the mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius! It’s a gacha game with Final Fantasy characters throughout the whole franchise (with the exception of Final Fantasy VII in Global and Final Fantasy VIII in both Global and Japan): from the original Warrior of Light from the very first FF game (even though that design wasn’t used until Dissidia on the PSP I think) to Noctis from FFXV. It’s a gacha game so that means... random units.

You have the “easy” to get 3* bases: low tier characters that honestly get outshined by higher base units. 3* bases include Bartz, Faris, Lenna, Galuf, Krile and Exdeath from FFV, Cecil and Kain from FFIV, Terra and Kefka from FFVI, Cloud of Darkness from FFIII, Zidane, Vivi and Kuja from FFIX just to name a few. You have the harder to get 4* bases: low-high tier characters that can either range from really bad to pretty good. 4* bases include Garnet from FFIX, Snow, Vanille and Hope from FFXIII, Agrias, Gaffgarion and Orran from FF Tactics, Rikku from FFX, King, Eight and Seven from FF Type-0, Minfilia, Papalymo and Yda from FFXIV (even though they were limited time units... WHY GUMI?! WHY?!) just to name a few more. Oh boy, 5* bases... These are the top dogs in terms of damage, utility, tanking (not really tanking though. Warrior of Light too OP)... Pretty much anything. 5 bases include Orlandeau, 2 versions of both Ramza and Delita from FF Tactics, Noctis from FFXV, Y’Shtola from FFXIV (again a limited time unit... No permanent FFXIV units so far in both Global and Japan... WHY?!), Lightning from FFXIII, Cloud from FFVII (only in Japan for now), Trance Terra from FFVI, Tidus from FFX, Emperor from FFII, Onion Knight from the original FFIII, Luneth from the DS remake of FFIII just to name couple.

“Wow, that’s a lot of units DJ! How do you even keep up with all of them?” Good question my dear reader! You just do keep up. It’s like the hundreds of Pokémon there are: you don’t have to put them into your memory permanently, just know their general purpose. As example it’s good to know that Rikku is a support with some chaining capabilities or that Ramza is a bard type of character while Mercenary Ramza is mostly a tank, but you don’t need to commit it to memory.

“So what about 1*/2* bases? Are those any good?” Another good question! No, they are not unfortunately. They are mostly FFBE (Final Fantasy Brave Exvius shortened) original characters, but there are some familiar faces in the friend point summon pool (Biggs and Wedge from FFVI for example). They can only be upgraded to 3* at most. The highest (currently... please don’t change it) is 6* and most of the rare summon pool can go up to there.

“Okay, so are 5* bases the only units worth bothering with?” Hell no! You have some awesome 4* bases! Agrias is one of the best chainers currently in the game, even though you do need to enhance her abilities. Ashe from FFXII (another 4* base) is a great chainer and a good off-healer. Luka, Refia and Aria are all excellent 4* base healers. Warrior of Light, Veritas of the Earth (both 4* bases) and Charlotte (a 3* base) are some of the best tanks currently on Global. Also, you only have a 1% chance to get a rainbow currently (it will be upped to 3% in the future).

“1%?! Only a 1% chance to get a 5* base?! Please tell me I’ll be able to pull <insert any 5* base here> in any reasonable time?!” Well... There are 32 5* bases currently... So to get the specific 5* base unit that you want you have a 0.03125% chance... This is assuming you would be pulling without banner influence (aka which units you are more likely to get at any given time).

“WHAT?!” Don’t worry! I know how much it can suck to want Noctis, Lightning or the upcoming Cloud and not get them but remember this: this game is pure RNG. Wanna hear a story?

“No” Too bad dear reader! The third FF Tactics banner came with it’s units being two 5* bases being Knight Delita and Mercenary Ramza, FOUR 4* bases with Agrias (goddammit, I want you so bad Agrias ;~:), Gaffgarion, Meliadoul and Orran and only one 3* base with Ovelia. There was a Mog King event (and no, even though Mog King in this game is really generous, I still fucking hate moogles. Sorry Rau!) giving a total of 10 summoning tickets. I was just summoning them away, since I’m a free to play player with no patience. One of my tickets had a nice surprise: a rainbow crystal. Out of it came Mercenary Ramza, who’s considered a pretty bad unit at the moment (he gets pretty good with ability awakenings) but I love him all the same. This is almost a year after me playing this game with no rainbows until that point. Fast forward until 1ish weeks ago. This raid event (FFXI’s Shadow Lord raid) gave us a 4*+ guaranteed summoning ticket and summoning ticket around the 400.000 point mark. I got both of them a couple days after the raid went live. First the normal ticket. Comes down as a gold (4*) summon. I click it, it reforms into a rainbow (5*) summon. Out of it comes Dark Knight Cecil: a mediocre finisher when unenhanced but an absolutely insane finisher when enhanced. “Okay second rainbow awesome! 4* guaranteed ticket go!” I summon. Comes down as a blue (3*) summon. I click, since it’s guaranteed to reform into a gold. “Rainbow reform” I joke as I click it. Little did I know, it did reform... Out from it came an Olive (a FFBE original unit): another finisher! I chose her as my current finisher, but that’s my story. Luck in this game is weird. I can’t pull an Agrias for the life of me, but rainbows? Well apparently 2 in a row is more likely than one specific 4* base. So don’t you worry about not getting your Noctis or Lightning (assuming you aren’t a whale, spending hundreds of euros/dollars on this game), you’ll get lucky eventually!

Anyways, I’ll be wrapping up this post. I could go on and on about this fantastic little mobile game and I will, but not in this post. I’ll probably be posting my daily pulls for the next week or so as a daily source of content, so keep on the lookout for that. Thanks as always for reading this pretty long post! :D

[mirrorsofparanoia]

Noclip FFXIV Documentary Part 1: “One Point O”.

So the new FFXIV Noclip documentary just hit the internet and after watching it, I just have to write down some of my thoughts. 

As a former FFXI player I remember the time when  the first artwork of "Project Rapture", the code name for FFXIV, was leaked. It had a great effect on the veteran FFXI community. For a really long time I’ve heard people talk about how they’d love to see XI in better graphics and suddenly there it was. It was obvious that this was going to be the spiritual successor of XI. The art style was a bit different, but the artwork had Mithras and Elvann on it, it just had to be a sequel or something like that. 

I absolutely adored XI for everything it was. Granted the game had it’s many flaws, but it gave me much more than any other FF game or any other offline game.

It gave me new friends. 

It was my first MMORPG and gave me the opportunity to meet a lot of incredible people I still concider friends and still meet regularly irl. And I still concider the time I’ve spent with those shitheads on TS talking nonsense and bullshitting till early in the morning the best time of my life. 

So knowing that there was basically a FFXI-2 game coming at some point was incredible. We could start it together again! And we would recreate our characters! We were convinced that it was going to be a bast. Hell, I started saving money to afford upgrading my PC in time for the release! 

And it only got better after the official annoucement of FFXIV. It was the same team working on it! It was Tanaka, the man! Our man! By that time the team had 10 years of experience working on XI, they knew what they were doing, right? We were imagining the amazing story cutscenes of FFXI in awesome graphics and with new physics, like, just how much more epic would that be? 

When I received the mail with my close alpha access code, I thought I was going to die. The chance to help improving the game I was looking forward to more than FFXIII or Versus.  

I think the common misconception was that when the alpha launched, the failure was instantly obvious, but I think it wasn’t. We were running around, trying different things out or just generally figuring out how the game works. There were things to do and the story cutscenes were just bloody awesome. 

It took a week or so for us to realize what a mess it was. It looked like FFXI, it sounded like XI, but it felt like sticking yourself a fork into an eye. The mechanics were a mess, the battle system didn't make any sense, it was literally unplayble (meme intended). The one thing that was obvious was that Square Enix in their mentality was still stuck 7-8 years in the past. In FFXI Tanaka had already shown numerous times that he liked to reuse the experience from his previous games. For example the Skill Leveling System of FFXI was based on FFII and the Job System on FFIII, on both of which Tanaka worked as game designer. But this method crashed and burned in FFXIV. It was just like the guy in the dokumentary said, we were asking ourselves “What were they thinking?”.

Not only was this not the sequel we, FFXI players and alpha / beta testers, were hoping for, it was just plain a bad game. And we knew exactly that no matter what we say or what kind of feedback we provide, there is nothing that can save this game. The feeling of powerlessness was brutal. It was broken on the most fundamental levels that were beyond repair by the time the release date hit. 

The disappointment was just heartbreaking.

The emotional impact of it hit pretty bad. We put so many expectations into the next FF MMORPG, it was supposed to be our new place to be together. But what we got was the equivalent of a playground set on fire. Many people quit within the first few weeks. The rest of us struggled to find reasons to stay and clang onto the hope of the so-called “Miracle Patch” that would make everything better. At some point it became a running gag in the community because it never came. 

I quit and came back numerous times. Partially because I wanted to believe that there was still hope for it and partially because there were still a few friends playing it.

It was a huge back and forth, but when SE released the statement and said that they decided to start charging for the game in order to fund the future content, I couldn’t say no. There was still some hope left, SE had never disappointed me before. And I wasn’t alone. Many people wanted to contribute. We wanted to extinguish the fire on our playground. 

And we did. 

I’m glad that SE didn’t give up on the project and I’m glad that the dev team was able to get through this hell. And I’m happy that I sticked to it. It makes me proud to know that it was us, the Legacy Players, that gave FFXIV the means to become what it is today: the second largest sub based MMORPG in the world. 

For me personally this documentary is the close I didn’t know I needed. It answers the open questions and shows us the process from the perspective of the developers. And while XIV in it’s current form still cannot replace what FFXI was for me (partially probably due to nostalgia), it has become a title worthy of the name Final Fantasy. 

[dominic-nonata]

Tagged by @vm-cenzo Aww thanks!

Rules: Tag people you want to know better!

Nickname: Kat

Zodiac: Virgo

Height: 1.69 mt

Last thing I googled: super smash bros. rom

Favorite Music Artist: Ahh can’t really decide right now but uhm Florence + The Machine, Moloko and Zero 7

Song stuck in my head: last one was The Rebel Army by Nobuo Uematsu, from the FFII ost (thmm! that Distant Worlds version is sO good man)

What am I wearing now: my pijamaas

Why did I choose this url: it was the name I was going to have and “un-born” in spanish. It’s sort of my alter ego from another dimension

Do I have any other blogs: Yes! Four actually: @the-katherina is my aesthetic blog, @trazos-grises is my “art” blog (haven’t uploaded stuff in a while but I still draw a lot), @bows-tears-and-pearls is my Lolita fashion blog, and I recently made another one @katkat-11440 wich I’d like to use as a reference blog O:  

What did your last relationship teach you?: Uhm my current relationship is based on respect, effective comunication, and enjoyment and I’m quite happy with that

Religious or spiritual: I’m a sensitive, spiritual person but way too pragmatic to have religious beliefs I guess

Favorite color: Lilac

Average hours of sleep: 5, 6 or 7 during normal university months; +9 during free months, counting my endless naps. I love being barely conscious yass

Lucky number: Im not sure… 8 or maybe 11? 

Favorite characters: Woah, uhm… Yao (Hetalia), Marluxia, Axel (KH), Fran (FFXII), Aragorn (lotr). More recently, Dana Scully (X-files), Tsubaki, Niles, Takumi and Scarlett (FE14), Stahl and Henry (FE13), Ilima (Pokemon Sun). I’m still playing FE echoes but I really like Boey and Clair

Dream Job: a tree, probably, idk im sleepy

[beowulfs-booty-call]

I love the Emperor from II, but he's a pain. You should get FFX though. For the PS2, and it's great. VII, VIII, and IX (especially IX) are amazing. Only having older consoles makes that hard though. I have all the older ones myself, I've played so much of the series. Oh, love Minwu from FFII too. I identify with him a lot.

Oh! Noted with gusto! In that case, I’ll definitely try what I can find! IX at first seemed a little... “Odd” for me, albeit I know the story and watched playthroughs of it with Zidane and Vivi (I really identified with Vivi’s story!) but it was more “odd” to me because I just wasn’t used to it at the time, since, I suppose there’s a sort of  style hopping to get used to? Like, in no way bad, just, “Woah, this one looks different!” especially with Eiko! I heard it was on steam, but I’m better off hoping to find em on amazon for now till I rack up the cash.

And GOSH, MINWU. THE ONLY ACTUALLY WONDERFUL MAN IN MY PARTY. 

Lemme break it down what I’m currently suffering in 2 right now, bear with me:

- Firion’s party is like, what, 19 year olds? 20 at the most? They’re still called kids in the opening, what with being FATALLY INJURED BY THE EMPIRE lol

- Maria cannot and most likely will not get a hit in unless it’s a boss battle. I’ve been getting her agility up though to land some hits in to make sure she can do more than magic.

- I swear to god there is no defend option and the only way to defend is to manually set two shields in hand, and fam, I just want to defend so Maria can grind up protect since it can miss. Miss, i say, miss.

- Firion’s party.. Doesn’t talk very much. You get the whole sense of the party’s personality, but... Maria is relegated to the token women who’s most likely Firion’s love interest? I’m imagining so, but, I don’t mind the presence, it’s just I wish there was more to her and Guy than the usual blurb of generic dialogue and just hearing the other characters outside the party speak. Of course, I’m up to after the Dreadnaught was built, so, this is likely not a problem. It’s just mainly hearing others give you fetch quests and dialogue you have to remember that sort of detracts from the experience. It'd be great though if later on you get more ideas of how Guy, Maria, and Firion all met or something.

- GOD BLESS MINWU. DID YOU KNOW IF YOU GRIND TELEPORT TO LEVEL 7 WITH HIM, HE CAN USE IT ON THE GENERALS IN FYNN? YOU CAN GET FLAME BOWS AND GOLDEN ARMOR FROM THEM AND I DIDN’T REALIZE UNTIL LIKE, FIFTEEN MINUTES GRINDING WITH HIM.

Fynn: Captured

Firion and allies: Useless

Teleport, level 7:

THE GENERALS ARE FORCIBLY REMOVED FROM FYNN.

- Princess Hilda seems to be the only one sans Minwu with an actual heart. Five bucks says she’s gonna get kidnapped somehow. Somehow.

Or worse off, they’ll do a tale of two princesses and you’ll end up getting a fake princess who’s really the Emperor. 

- Minwu has so many skills, but Basuna and fear and fog make no sense to me... Basuna since we have Esuna, and fear and fog are just...  toad in a different name and silence. I replaced them with thunder, fire, and blizzard for taste.

- Why do I have to WALK all the way back and forth if I miss the ferry from Poft just to go back to get the airship? Just let me use the darn canoe to row my butt across the ocean. Maybe then Firion’s strength stat will go up

- I legitimately thought Firion was wearing a backwards cap on in his sprite. Or worse, some form of a du-rag. God, was I wrong.

- Guy is wearing a Bikini because they didn’t have enough gill to give him an actual outfit. It’s all good though, he likes it. That’s it, that’s my head canon.

- Most people tend to think Maria is a simple mage and here she is, decking fools with her fists.

- Did I mention I love Minwu than like, most of the cast?

- Scott somehow... Faded away as a death? We got  his ring, but unfortunately, cannot pawn it for plot reasons

- The Dreadnaught killed people, but like, somehow, the pirates and Cid are perfectly fine not mourning and instead charging cash like usual. Gotta make that paper somehow.

- ...Minwu left the party when I’m ready to go kill everyone in my way. Goodbye, Minwu, I will always fondly remember you somehow getting 500+ damage on regular enemies with your basic mage’s staff.

- Everyone’s got golden armor and flame bows. I can’t wait till I meet a fire enemy and I just can’t destroy it      : >