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evilisk-played · 5 years ago

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DQH2 Speedrun Commentary Part 02: Dunisia Part 1

(Covered in this part: completing the first trip to Accordia, upgrading Desdemona and Torneko, the Grand Dunes, the Oasis fight, upgrading Lazarel, Maribel and Ruff recruitment, Dunisia Skirmish 1)

Accordia:

Twin Swords Teresa? (00:10)

In my later runs, I started to switch Teresa over to the Twin Swords. But honestly? I'm not sure it's necessary at all. The whole "extra DPS" advantage is lost on your party members being dumb.

= = =

Torneko and Desdemona In A Speedrun?

I'll say it now, Torneko and Desdemona aren't getting much use in this speedrun.

Torneko gets a bit of use as he’s technically your first healer (just make sure you unlock his healing ability, since it’s not one of his defaults). In regular play he’s... okay. He’s not my favorite honestly.

Desdemona is a perfectly fine character in regular play, but in a speedrun? She's not so good. Without a full unlocked arsenal, she's just not that powerful, and she has the "early joiner" disadvantage.

The early joiner disadvantage is that the earlier a character is unlocked, the less potent they are for speedrunning. There are number of reasons why earlier characters aren’t so good: characters that join later often join with a higher starting level, and for speedrunning (where you don’t get to grind at all) this is a significant advantage over the other characters. Late joiners also get up to date weapon when they appear (while you need to purchase equipment for early joiners, and this can be quite annoying).

The most important difference is related to the “proficiency” system in this game. Proficiency is basically a second skill tree that is only unlocked by: actively using a character; and talking to the Martial Artist in town. Contrary to what the game says, proficiency is not acquired purely through damage; it’s acquired through killing enemies, and enemies give a set amount of it (anyone whose played DQH2′ lousy postgame knows you hunt Roseguardins for fast proficiency).

It’s a really stupid system in regular play and in a speedrun it’s even worse, as a bunch of characters have key abilities walled behind proficiency like Terry. Desdemona has it really bad off in speedruns, which is a shame as she’s a beast with a fully unlocked moveset. (Maybe one day I’ll try a New Game+ speedrun...)

= = =

Upgrades:

Desdemona only gets used in two battles, and she doesn't get even close to using High Tension in either one, so I recommend upping her damage (so she does more damage, doi) and upping her MP (so she can whip out more Scrap Mettles)

Torneko actually sees a few more battles before being benched. Here I unlock Sage's Stone and up his MP. It should be obvious what this means tbh.

= = =

Getting Zap So here's something that didn't happen in the video but is something I totally missed; if you talk to the Martial Artist at this point, you can totally unlock Zap now. Zap is a very, very important skill to have. While you don't necessarily need it *now*, it's very, very important to pick up as soon as you've unlocked Maribel and Ruff.

= = =

The Grand Dunes

Optional Golem Fight (01:52)

At this point, you can totally skip the Golem with the Twin Swords' C1 Dodge Loop. It's worth noting that this Golem encounter always appears here the first time (and it never appears when you return here).

= = =

Out In The Wild (02:19) Okay, so this bit is about a potential random event that occurs in the open world. I walk past it in the video, but these events involve random NPC's needing rescuing from mobs. Completing these gives a lot of EXP, though I have personally never done any of these events, because I like consistency and outisde of this section of the game (this event will always spawn either before or after the Golem), these things are 100% random.

= = =

Oasis Chest (03:40)

You can get a Mini Medal in that chest either before or after the fight with the Knight Errant. I actually use a few Mini Medals in my runs, but I'm not so sure I'd call this one a necessary one by any means.

= = =

Oasis Fight (03:50) So this is basically a tutorial with the Monster Medal Mechanic. In this encounter, you fight against 2 Mummies, 2 Rocks, 2 Golems and a Knight Errant. The pairs of enemies will all drop a Monster Medal and you'll at least need the Rocks and Golems' Monster Medals to run through this section quickly.

The overall strategy is to kill the small fry and then focus on the bigger enemies. The Mummies will distract the bigger enemies when summoned, the Rocks will unleash a powerful attack and the Golem Medals will let you transform into one for a short amount of time.

To get the most out of this section, make sure that you have Desdemona use Scrap Mettle on the bigger enemies. Then switch to Lazarel and make sure he activates the Rock and Golem medals (remember: to get proficiency, you need to be using the character you want). Make sure to reapply Scrap Mettle in between uses, and also to go Sucker Punch > Cratermaker > Sucker Punch with the Golem to get a high DPS.

This section can be quite random, mostly because you're fighting three big bodies at once and since you're still technically level 2, it's pretty easy to accidentally die. While it doesn't matter if the other members die, you'll want Lazarel alive by the end so he can at least get some proficiency and EXP.

= = =

What Do These Idiots Want With Us?! (07:22)

Okay so I'm gonna say it now: this run of this section was *awful*. The battle goes: starting wave in the middle, then single Golem, then wave with Fires, then the Final Wave with the 2 Golems and the one Hunter Mech.

Typically, what you want to do is, aside from clearing the Waves, you'll also want to pick up a Golem Medal, a Rock medal and a Fire medal. In this run, I almost forgot about the third one, because I got extremely distracted by a Cloud at 08:11

The ideal way this goes is: final wave appears, Desdemona uses Scrap Mettle on all three, switch to Lazarel, use Fire medal, use Rock medal, then use Golem Medal. Doing this properly kills the boss really damn quickly. Here, I start it at 09:15 and I kill it in fifteen seconds which is fast for regular play, but is slow for a speedrun (I can usually cut off an extra five seconds).

The ending of the fight is also really bad. What's supposed to happen in regular play is that as the Final Wave occurs, you're supposed to be next to Maribel and Ruff and a dialogue is supposed to activate with them. I usually don't do this (so that I can clear the Mech and Goelms really fast), but what I forgot at the time was that after killing the Golem, you still need to talk to those two.

I forgot about that, and ended up wasting a bunch of time killing all the enemies (doing this forced the next scripted section, where the Dunisian sounds the retreat). You can see this stretch from about 09:34 to 10:17. While I haven't timed Maribel's dialogue, I'm pretty sure that a 53 second gap between finishing off the final wave, and actually ending the mission is probably what's not supposed to happen.

= = =

Detour to Accordia With that mission done, you finally unlock Maribel and Ruff, who you both want to switch out Desdemona and Teresa for. You also want to upgrade Maribel, Ruff and Torneko, and also buy Lazarel a stronger set of Twin Swords.

Ruff's Upgrades (11:06) Yes, you do want Call of the Wild AND Flame Breath. Flame Breath is basically CotW, but weaker, but also with an element (Fire) and a cheaper MP cost. You'll actually be using it to build up Tension crazy good. Call of the Wild is so that when you get into High Tension, you have a better damaging option.

The only thing worth mentioning is that I'm really not sure about my decision to increase his Critical Rate over simply upping his MP and Strength stats. I think it's way too early-game for his critical stat to be useful.

Maribel's Upgrades (11:17) Make sure you pick up that Kasap skill. Oh, and I guess I'll mention the strangeness of the Wisdom stat. From what I can tell, Wisdom affects two types of attacks: "magical attacks" for magical weapons, and spells (like Zap, Woosh, Frizz etc. though not Whack. Whack doesn't count as a spell. Trust me, I've tested out Ring of Ruin with Whack; it doesn't get buffed)

In Maribel's case, the Wisdom stat only affects her Frizz spell, though some weapons and movesets (like any of the Heroes with the Wands, or Cesar) seem to get boosted by increasing Wisdom. I think. Maybe. It's been a hot while since I looked into the stat.

= = =

Maribel and Ruff In A Speedrun? Both characters are also cursed with the early joiners disadvantage, though Ruff has marginally more use compared to the other characters (and both characters are still incredibly helpful for the upcoming sections).

Maribel is one of those characters that really suffers from proficiency having her best abilities. In this run, she's effectively like having Desdemona "but with a far ranged defence drain skill"

Ruff is luckier, as his two best skills (Flame Breath, Call of the Wild) are easily accessible as soon as he's unlocked. Ruff's specialty is that he's probably the most mobile fighter in the game. I actually reuse him a few times later in the game, specifically because his combat-mobility is better than even Lazarel's C1 Dodge Loop, and it gets him through some of the more annoying open world segments (like the Frozen Foothills)

= = =

March of the Harbans (12:53) This fight is one of those battles with loose scripting that leads to a lot of inconsistent runs of this stage and it honestly sucks. It seems like eradicating all Mawkeepers, then all boss type enemies like the Golem, Clouds, Hunter Mechs, and then killing a certain amount of goons, will lead to Donk spawning at *some point*.

It's worth mentioning that the Clouds (that spawn from the left) are very fast and annoying for the purposes of the getting the stage's scripting to work (you can sometimes have a Cloud reach the King of Harba without you noticing).

So there are these tar pits at 13:16. While I haven't fully tested it, I am like 90% sure that if you kill enemies on those parts of special terrain, enemies will not spawn Monster Medals. Like I'm pretty sure that's what's happening here because the Monster Medal rate of dropping in that area of the level is so consistently bad.

This stage continues straight into the next video.

#dragon quest heroes 2 #dragon quest heroes 2 speedrun #dragon quest heroes 2 commentary

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felassan · 4 years ago

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Dragon Age development insights from David Gaider - PART 5

This information came from DG on a recent SummerfallStudios Twitch stream where he gave developer commentary while Liam Esler continued playing DAO from where they had left off in Part 1, 2, 3 and 4. I transcribed it in case there’s anyone who can’t watch the stream (for example due to connection/tech limitations, data, time constraints, personal accessibility reasons, etc). A lot of it is centered on DAO, but there’s also insights into other parts of the franchise. Some of it is info which is known having been put out there in the past, and some of it is new. There’s a bit of overlap or repetition with topics covered in Parts 1-4. This post leaps from topic to topic as it’s a transcript of a conversational format. It’s under a cut due to length.

The stream can currently be watched back here. Next week LE will be streaming a different DAO playthrough with commentary from another guest. Two weeks from now LE and DG will return to continue this playthrough for another stream session like this one. LE will be uploading the previous streams to YouTube at some point as they are now gone from Twitch, before the end of the year. It’s on his to-do list!

(Part 6)

[wording and opinions DG’s, occasionally LE’s; paraphrased]

The beginning of DAO’s development was such a jumble as they had about 3 years where they just went around in circles (they did a lot of work but they never got anywhere). There was a period where the top members of the team, like the project directors and design people and James Ohlen, all had very different visions for what they wanted DA to be. For a while it was multiplayer primarily. Then they decided to make it singleplayer primarily but had an entire MP-only campaign as a separate thing. Some wanted it to be very Diablo-esque, while JO was primarily pushing more and more for it to be a successor to Baldur’s Gate as much as possible, i.e. to be story-heavy and involve a party. In those years they also switched out from the old Neverwinter Nights engine and started on the Eclipse engine, and that made everything go awry.

In terms of starting off the story, DG remembers JO sitting him down and having the idea that he wanted it to follow the same beat structure as BG2 - have an opening act, then splitting wide open and the player visits various groups in order to get enough power/money/whatever to proceed to the next part of the game, and then there would be a penultimate quest and so forth. When JO broke the beats down and talked about it in the company he talked about “the BioWare formula”. DG thought this was pretty unfortunate as he remembers Ray and Greg talking about the BioWare formula in an interview or two. Internally, BW understood what that meant, but a lot of people online (who were talking in bad faith as they didn’t like the direction BW were going in with their RPGs) would be like “Oh so you guys admit to being formulaic??” Everything to an extent is a formula, such as the classic hero’s story or monomyth. That doesn’t mean that all stories are the same.

Prior to that, they had identified the part of the world they wanted the main plot of DAO to be in (when the setting was created they didn't know which area of Thedas they would choose, and other big conflicts had also been seeded in Tevinter and Orlais). JO really liked the seeded plot in Ferelden involving darkspawn. At this point, DG was still the only writer, and JO asked him for the broad beats. So DG started putting together things he thought would work as the main beats for a “fight the darkspawn” campaign (this was a few pages). There’s no real ‘intended order’ to do the main quests in, though they always kind of thought that most people would opt to go to Redcliffe first, and Orzammar is sort of soft-gated to be last (level-wise with the tough encounter, that’s the game being like “hmm maybe this isn’t a good idea right now”).

They didn't have the different Origin stories at the time. DG proposed this as a feature later; he thought “I wonder if we can make this a feature” and said “We have choices for class and race but not as many as D&D has, so can we make this more important?” He didn’t expect them to run with it to the major point that they ended up doing so to, but JO really liked it, thinking that most reviewers really focus on the beginning of a game and that this would be something of a ‘wow’ factor for them. Originally there was 9 different opening chapters, not 6, and this was an immense amount of work for them to agree to. So, the broad beats would be “go out and gather allies”, in “the werewolf plot”, “the elf plot, “the dwarf plot”, etc. There was originally one where the PC got brought to the capital city and you got to know Loghain a lot better, but this was cut. There was a whole plot where Orlesians were trying to coup/take over the kingdom. This stuff got boiled down into a plot Mary Kirby took over (the Landsmeet). Mary had to rewrite the Landsmeet plot so many times as its purpose kept changing, to the point that if you talk to her about it now she’ll do like a ‘trauma-shudder’. At one point level design didn't think they would be able to provide a castle area for the Landsmeet, and so it was going to be held on a big rock in a field.

The showdown at Redcliffe eventually became the Redcliffe plot. Redcliffe was the second plot DG was responsible for and it went through at least one complete revision. It used to be the ‘middle’ plot. Morrigan’s OGB was a beat that was identified early on (it has the Morgan le Fay vibe to it and they all really liked that). They did think “but what if the PC is female?” but they liked it as a beat so much that they kept it. The Urn plot went through several revisions and was originally a much bigger deal. The hero moments changed - Oghren was originally supposed to die redeeming himself in a big blaze of story at the end, for example. So DG decided the big beats and it went back and forth between him and JO as they hashed out what bits they liked and didn’t like. So much changed over time to the point that you wouldn’t really recognize DA as DA from the version of it in the first ‘basic plot outline’ document. DG still has some of these documents. Sometimes he pokes through them and is like “what the hell is this” or remembers an old cut plot like “oh yeah, that plot”.

On the Oghren death: Oghren would have realized that his life had so far been rather meaningless and worthless. DG was like “if we’re going to have a buffoon [archtype] character let’s at least put some redemption in there for him”. Oghren was going to realize that he could do something to make up for it and make it up to his family, and that being a Paragon meant being selfless. A buffoon who achieves humility and clarity and goes out like this is a touching sacrifice, whereas a noble sacrifice is kind of expected of noble, heroic characters. This is what DG wanted but unfortunately they could not afford the extra cutscene for this. This was supposed to be Oghren’s ‘plot’ [arc], which is why he doesn’t really have a plot.

One of the original names for the setting, Peldia, was pronounced Pel-DEE-ah. This name came from a homebrewed world JO had made. He was keen to call it this, but DG wasn’t keen on it and so in every document after that first one, he just referred to the setting as “TDAS” (The Dragon Age Setting) instead. When they spoke about the lore on the BioWare forums after the game was announced, they would often refer to it as “The Dragon Age Setting”. Someone on there abbreviated this to “Thedas” and the devs started using it. About three quarters of the way in they were like “Can we please just give this realm a name”, and at this point JO was gone. They had a list of other names but nobody really liked any of them, and they’d been calling it Thedas for so long. Eventually, Sheryl Chee suggested “Can we just call it Thedas?” and it stuck.

Why are the elven language lyrics to I Am The One different to the other examples of elven language in the games? - BioWare didn’t write them, the DAO composer did. They asked him to write it for them. In the description they gave him of the song (like the specifications), they said that the singer is singing in elven. DG had written out what the lyrics were supposed to be in English so that he could understand. They waited for quite a while for him to get back to them, thinking he would say “Ok, what are the elven lyrics?” But when he did get back to them he sent the actual song as it currently is. DG listened to it and was like “What is this?” and on the lyrics sheet there was all the lyrics in elven. “?? I didn’t write this for him. And I look (don’t tell anyone!) and he’d translated it into Quenya from Lord of the Rings”. DG thinks this is why they never released the actual official lyrics for the sheet. The way the vocalist sings it, you can’t really discern what the words are anyway though. And the song was good, and by this point it was late on in the process and the only other option would have been to cut it. “I guess we didn’t write on the specs sheet that there’s more than one elven language in the universe.” “And that’s why that elven doesn’t sound like the elven anywhere else in the game.” “Since we never officially released the lyrics those aren’t the words anyway since you can’t hear them all”. DG did actually write out the lyrics in DA elven though, he had them ready to send along.

There’s a specific lore reason for why there are no half-elves. He can’t say why because it involves DeepLore™ that is yet to be revealed. But it’s not just “magic genes” or “magic biology”. He assumes that eventually the true reasoning will be explained, but who knows.

DG didn’t name names but some of the more celeb-type VAs looked down on the process because the medium was video games rather than a more conventional form of acting.

In the cancelled DA2 expansion Exalted March, we would have visited the island of Estwatch. (DG will leave most of the stories about EM until when they’re playing through DA2 though). For a lot of the things they cut from DA2 they consoled themselves with the thought that they would put it in EM. But eventually the time came when they sat down in a meeting and they had a choice: they could either do the expansion and the time for it would come out of the time that had been allotted for DAI and so DAI would be smaller, or they could put everything into DAI to make it as big as they could. DG understood the reasoning and agreed with it. He really wanted to finish the DA2 stories and was quite broken up about it, but also wanted DAI to be as big and as good as they could make it. An Exalted March is the Andrastian equivalent of the Crusades, only more forceful.

Elf appearance changed so much between DAO and DA2 as a new art director Matt Goldman took over for DA2. He wanted to get away from ‘humans with pointy ears’ as he thought it was boring, and establish distinct visual looks for the factions and races. He was doing this for the Qunari and wanted to do it for elves also. It did end up going a little bit too far and so Mike Laidlaw asked him to pull the elf design ‘back’ a bit for DAI. Still, ‘just humans with pointy ears’ was never meant to be the case for elves.

Fights were rated in terms of how much time and effort it would take the player to bypass them as obstacles. If the player would end up using no expendable resources to defeat an enemy/group of enemies, that was known as a “popcorn fight”.

On Loghain’s giant pauldrons: around the time DAO was being made, WOW came out around the same time period and the big pauldrons were like, a thing

On Tim Curry voicing Arl Howe: Howe didn’t originally have any special VA involved. They had identified a few possibilities and knew that this was a character that could probably be done in one session. Those types of characters were the ones where they could cast someone who was a bit more expensive or famous. Mass Effect was being made at the time and that team had gotten a few big actors involved. Someone on the DA team wasn’t very impressed by that and considered it “starfucking” (which is when you get an actor involved with a project just so you can meet the actor, rather than mostly because it benefits the project), and the person thought it didn’t add much to the game, so the DA team tended to stick to actors who were skilled. Very late on in the process, Caroline Livingstone mentioned that she had a friend who knew Tim Curry, and asked if they wanted him for one of the roles? Lukas Kristjanson lost his mind and was like “Can we? Can we? I will rewrite the entire character for him”, and he did (Howe was originally not that interesting and Lukas was like “we can’t give this script to Tim”). Lukas added a line in there for the session to have Tim Curry record something for his wife (Tim knew and they asked him if it was okay and he was like “yeah sure”) as a gift as they were both big Tim Curry fans. Tim also did some B-roll. This is when the actor agrees to do some promotional work, like recording a video of them talking about the project, and the company then cut that up for promotional material and have the right to do so with it. DG remembers being very impressed - he came in, did his one session and was very professional. They were like “ok, let’s do some B-roll” and he was like “cool”. He sat down and got involved, he wasn’t involved in the whole process but he turned out the big smile and talked about the project and everything that went into it in glowing terms. DG was like “Ah. A) this is all bullshit but B) I am so impressed. He’s so experienced that he like makes it up, pulls it from his head and sounds completely believable. Wow. That is a consummate professional”.

They’d like to get AWR on the stream a bunch when they’re playing through DAI.

For so long party member pathfinding was abysmal. At one point they were very close to cutting the tree models (sylvans), but someone pulled a few all-nighters on their own time to make it work - there was a lot of this on DAO, people who wanted to make as good as it could be. Dwyn at Redcliffe was going to be the villain of the cut Human Commoner Origin. Lore-wise elves have always been intended to tend to be found attractive by humans. Panowen the Dalish elf pronounces Elgar’nan incorrectly. Allegra Clark’s demo reel showed that she can speak Italian and do an Italian accent, and they thought that this would be perfect for Josie. The story of the first King of Ferelden is based on Arthurian legend. Arl Eamon’s circumstances however is not inspired by the legend of the Fisher King. The Lady of the Forest is essentially a translation of a D&D monster (dryad) over into DA, she’s one of these translations that is obscured the best. In her death scene in the peacemaking option, the werewolves were each going to go up to the Lady to say goodbye to her in turn, but this was (understandably) too long for cinematic design. Zathrian didn’t mean for the surviving humans to be infected with lycanthropy, he didn’t know that would be the result. In DAO, the devs knew that vallaslin represented the gods, but didn’t have a specific god in mind for each design at the time of DAO (vallaslin designs only corresponded to a specific god by the time of DAI). [source]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [Part 6]

[‘Insights into DA dev from the Gamers For Groceries stream’ transcript]

#dragon age #bioware #video games #morrigan #queen of my heart #mass effect

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midnight-marimba · 4 years ago

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Mar’s DQXI Fic OCs

It’s Dragon Quest OC And NPC Week, and I’m going to approach it from the other direction than what’s described in the event proposal, because I rarely end up inventing a detailed character without context, but I often find a specific need for a character in a piece of fanfiction and build them up out of that prompt into something better than a footnote. So I’m going to take the opportunity to talk about some of my fics and the original characters and NPCs who wandered into them and made themselves interesting enough that I’m eager to share a little extra detail or commentary about them. (Under the cut)

Hair Tie That Binds

A comedic story about Hendrik recruiting Erik for a heist to help fix his own mistake. (9k words)

I needed a minor villain, so I invented Lady Druzy (named off of an obscure corner of a gem list, so as to suit a minor Heliodoran noble). She is petty, spiteful, vengeful, and apparently my favorite archetype of OC to write. She is awful and I loved writing her.

After Rain, The Sun Will Shine

A Sylv/Hendrik one-shot involving Hendrik’s memories of Sylv’s mother. (8k words)

When I wrote this, I had not yet heard the detail from the voice drama (please somebody translate the whole thing?? <3) that Sylv's mom's given name was Gerbera and her stage name was Sylvia (that is, exactly the same stage name Sylv took in the Japanese version of the game). I had only heard a broader rumor about the drama and Sylv choosing a stage name in honor of their mother.

So when I went to write a story about her, I looked at a list of Dutch names (to match Arnout and Hendrik — Zwaardsrust is Dutch) and hunted for one a name with a "Syl" sound. I landed on Silke, which is also satisfying from a word association perspective (since it looks like "silk" which sounds highly appropriate for a "famous Zwaardsrustian beauty" — one of the few canon details we get for her).

I tried to make her stubborn and determined, inspiring and willfully optimistic for the sake of the people she had under her leadership. Sylv-like, but with a slightly more intense philosophical flavor than canon Sylv, as she’s walking out of an arguably even greater tragedy (or at least more personal at a larger scale?)

Silk and Swagger

Faris/Reader, from the point of view of a Heliodor guard. (1.7k words)

The guard is nameless and the fic is relatively short, but my goodness it was fun inventing someone who is instantly smitten with Faris and believes the best of him at all times.

When Home Isn't Marked on the Map

A Sylv/Erik longfic set a couple years after the end of the game, in which Erik is coming out of a period of self-imposed isolation after a disastrous attempt at confessing his one-sided romantic feelings for the Luminary, and he begins by going looking for Sylv, the one old companion he dares hope won’t yell at him for his absence. (74k words)

Since the ultimate seed of the idea behind this fic was "Erik would be protective towards orphans and Sylv would like that about him" I needed some kids to put in the story. There are two sets of four that I named and included.

First is the group from the rural area near Puerto Valor, and thus they have Spanish names: Isabella, Serafito, Paz, Ana. I'm pretty sure I named the younger ones with shorter names to help myself keep them straight. In my head, they have a darker complexion than the rest of the kids in the story, since I always wish the DQ world was a little more diverse on that front, but I fear that I forgot to actually write that detail in. (Room for improvement...)

The second group is an expansion of the four child NPCs you can find playing hide-and-seek in downtown Heliodor. I could only find a canon name for Cammo (the King of Hide-and-Seek) so I gave the rest of them stone related names, figuring the pattern from Cobblestone might extend around Heliodor into the poorer and less formal areas of the kingdom (Ruby the innkeeper notwithstanding). So they are Flint, Crystal, and Mica.

There are so many of them that it was tough to give all of them a lot of characterization, but I tried to distinguish each of them at least a little. Isabella, the leader of her group, blunt in a way that reminds Erik of Mia and Veronica. Serafito, a little bit of a self-sacrificing caretaker. Paz, young but outgoing, and Ana, even younger and a little shy. Flint, the canny, cautious, and slightly manipulative leader of the Heliodor gang. Cammo, sneaky and adventurous and clever. Crystal, strong and brave and protective. Mica unfortunately ended up being most notable for the ordeals he goes through.

My favorite among them ended up being Crystal, from the instant she decided she was after Hendrik's job.

Diamond

A Sylv/Serena and Sylv/Dave fic, from Serena’s point of view. Set after Act 3 as Serena chooses a mission to research and perform healing around the world, travels alongside Sylv’s new circus troupe, and they both get to pursue some missing character development. (118k words, technically 1 chapter short of an intended ending but may not be continued.)

Mind the tags and content advisory if you go into the fic itself, because (1) for reasons of 2020, a story about a doctor-hero was simply not an ideal story to begin in the year 2019, and (2) it is NOT a utopian style world — many characters have prejudices, others are closeted in some major ways, and not all of that is gone by the end of the story. I 100% understand many folks not wanting to go roll around in that kind of fiction, and while there’s a discussion about Representation I could shoehorn in here, I’m going to set it aside for the sake of on-topic rambling about fun OC development.

For this fic, I wanted Sylv and Serena to be traveling the world together. Serena was to be motivated in part by the allure of getting to meet more new people, and also, I think it’s useful for her personal growth to spend a little time away from her blood family and most of the people from whom she would naturally take direction. I also wanted to explore Sylv as a leader in a way that’s not so easy within the canon party, and in general, I imagine Sylv both being friendly to every stranger and also having old friends pop up everywhere he goes.

Between the two of them, I ended up needing to plop in OC's left and right, both for Sylv’s new Act 3 circus troupe, and in every town they visited. Because I’m a nerd, I expanded lore for some of the regions too, and I will mention some of those details here with the characters.

Sylv’s troupe:

Chill, a contortionist from Sniflheim, where people get kind of uncomfy about magic, especially when it looks too close to evil witchery. Like, say, Zing.

Samir, a short, round bard from Gallopolis who can do amazing things with a variety of instruments, and his partner Grey, once a guard from Heliodor until he decided that job was even more bland than his name, and he ran off to Gallopolis to join the circus.

Maria and Mateo, a couple of quiet, short and slender dancers from Puerto Valor (in my head, Mateo is about 5 feet and Maria’s a couple inches shorter, though I keep gravitating away from talking in Modern Earth units of measurement when writing for this fandom). Their kids, teenaged Leo and toddler Lena, aren’t (yet) performers, but are present because I thought it was interesting to plug some kids into a story about a traveling circus troupe, and because I wanted to give Sylv an excuse to interact with kids.

Francine. A classically beautiful acrobat from Octagonia, where the only work she could find was being a bunny girl handing out flyers. She’s had a crush on Sylv, which didn’t work out, and in the aftermath she’s a little bitter and is predisposed to dislike anyone else getting too close to Sylv. She is rude and spiteful when she does not like someone (though she may do so in an overly-sweet tone), and she awkwardly overcompensates when she wants to prove she’s moved on from something, and she ended up being my favorite OC here.

Some other notable OCs in the world:

In Sniflheim: Healer Heather, the doctor who would really rather not have any magic in her house, so she doesn’t get a mob coming after her next time the tide of public opinion turns against witches.

In Lonalulu: Nohea, the charming and handsome hula dancer who isn’t quite as nice as he seems, and Pika, the shy, plain, and clumsy but kind-hearted net weaver. Both are there as potential love interests for Serena (and for contrast against Sylv, of course).

In the Inner Sea: Coral the mermaid, a singer. She's here for advancing Serena's character development, but it was fun to have other OCs react to a mermaid, and trying to write plot-advancing mermaid dialogue raised my respect for the localization team 1000%.

In Gallopolis: Doctor Zel, who is very scientific and good at her job, never makes eye contact, and lacks a comforting bedside presence. (Happily they have Faris to help with public relations during a health crisis…?)

This is only about half of the OCs and NPCs named in the story, but they’re most of the ones with the most screen time, and most of the ones that stand out in my mind. But the outgoing and friendly Sylv and Serena I was trying to write, both of whom wanted to engage with the people of the world at large, just spawned new characters around them as they went. You know those stories about mythical people where flowers bloom after them everywhere they go? This pair was like that, only with OC’s instead of flowers.

#dqxi oc npc week #dqxi #dqxi fanfiction #dq11 fanfiction #my writing #these stories are old but if you comment I will still love you forever

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illegiblewords · 5 years ago

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FOR CONFUSED BYSTANDERS

I know that I have a lot of followers who have been (very patiently) witnessing a stream of pictures, commentary, and general posts related to Final Fantasy XIV. This is going to be my attempt to present the game and its story with context for you guys who have no idea what’s going on.

I’m doing this for two reasons, the first being I LOVE THIS GAME. If I can share the positive experience I’ve had with other people, I’d like to do that. The second reason is, for people who still follow but aren’t necessarily going to play themselves--it might offer enough background info to make posts that go up more entertaining at least. I know I don’t personally mind seeing bloggers, writers, artists, etc. share something I’m unfamiliar with, but it gets more fun when I have some clue what it’s about.

Parts of this post will be just about my own subjective experience, some will be recapping the story, some will be going over different ways I’ve seen people play in case that appeals. So on and so forth. I’m aiming to offer an honest reflection on whatever seems important.

Putting this under a cut because really, this is fucking long. Not as long as it looks because pictures are included but even still. For anyone who reads, I hope you enjoy and if you have questions don’t hesitate to hit me up! :)

BACKGROUND - NON-MMO PLAYER LOVES THIS MMO

I have never played an MMO before this. I’m pretty apathetic about them for the most part. When I play games I like to design things, get good pictures, and kill baddies for stress relief. I'm here to immerse in an exciting world and story, meet characters I can invest in. Stuff in that vein. So far as gaming goes I’m pretty simple.

There are people who put heavy emphasis on the social elements of FFXIV. They’ll play with their friends specifically, either because they’re focused on fighting together or because they want to roleplay or just to hang out. I’m not really in that category.

I entered knowing no one, and while I’ve made some friends through FFXIV I mostly interact with them outside the game itself. This can happen on tumblr, on forums, on the official blog platform, etc. In-game, I encounter other players all the time but it is generally something like “I was running around the city doing stuff and other people were also running around the city doing stuff”. You can approach people. You can message them and do little emotes like waving or hugging or slapping or whatever. You can do these emotes directed at nobody and just see your character go through the animations, which can be fun for taking pictures.

More detailed encounters with other players happen in dungeons, trials, and raids. These are called registered duties. Guildhests and PVP (player versus player) exist too, but I haven’t done them. I’ll elaborate later, but the gist you need to know here is that you are grouped in with a fixed number of additional players and then placed in a setting with a pre-set encounter or encounters to overcome. Some of these are straightforward, some require strategy.

In FFXIV, people usually chat to varying degrees during duties. Most are polite, pleasant, and focused on gameplay. At least where I am, which I’ll also go into later. Occasionally there are people who are jerks in the sense that they are inconsiderate or rude to other players. Also occasionally, people are incompetent. More often though I’ll encounter someone with a great sense of humor or people who have helpful tips to improve.

This is a game where, if you see a player marked as new struggling with low level monsters, a more experienced player might pause to oneshot that monster so the newbie can escape. People are casually nice most of the time.

Since I’d normally be doing single-player anyway, for me this is very refreshing. I get to do all the things I’d be doing in a single-player video game, but I also get light exchanges with other fans in ways that aren’t disruptive. There’s enough meat to the Main Quest Scenario (MSQ) and side quests that I don’t feel bored or lonely at all.

FFXIV does cost money to play and has a subscription. This can be paid in varying increments. I personally think it’s worth it because 1) the developers are adding new content on a pretty regular basis 2) the developers actually care about quality and having happy fans 3) the game keeps getting better over time 4) there is SO MUCH you can do in the game. It is truly expansive beyond anything else I’ve seen. I might not be ready to do a subscription with every game, but for this one absolutely.

This essentially plays like a normal final fantasy game in most respects. You might run around solo by-and-large, but there is an NPC supporting cast. They and the villains get fleshed out very well. Same goes for civilians and other background characters. The biggest difference off the top of my head is the story’s beginning...

OBSTACLES

I’m going to get this out of the way early, but in essence I think there are two main obstacles as a beginner. The first and most notable of these is that the game’s entry point, called “A Realm Reborn”, is less well-written and EXTREMELY LONG.

Seriously. I’ve only gotten one character past this point and it took me a stupid amount of time. Some of the quests at this stage are things like “my dad doesn’t like the stinky chocobo please spray it with perfume so it is less stinky”. Or “jump through all these stupid hoops so you can fight the exciting boss you’ve been waiting for”.

However, the length at least is slotted to be fixed in the future. I’ll probably announce that when it happens in case that’s the deal changer for anyone.

On writing quality, it starts off mediocre. However, later writing is so strong that it actually manages to make past scenes WAY more interesting. The initial setup also kind of lures you into a false sense of security, at which point shit gets real very fast.

The second obstacle for beginners involves a degree of not knowing what you don’t know. For example, there is an extremely powerful attack that can be used in registered duties called “Limit Break”. Initially I didn’t even know where to find it to put in my move hotbar. Then I didn’t know that using it would take limit break away from other players in the group. Then I didn’t know that the limit breaks of different jobs needed to be used under different circumstances. An example of this would be that spellcaster SHOULD use a limit break attack on freakishly large groups of enemies, but SHOULD NOT use limit break on a lone boss unless there is literally no other damage class (DPS) available to do it. This is because the overall impact of caster limit break is comparatively low, but effects more enemies at the same time. Using limit break inappropriately can frustrate people.

There are other things similar to this, such as when you use Duty Finder (a roulette that sets you up with completely random people interested in the same registered duty) and when you use Party Finder (where you announce what registered duty you want to do with what circumstances, then people volunteer to join), or being aware of which moves are supposed to be used in which order for top efficiency. That said, if you tell people you’re completely new they’ll usually be willing to explain.

If it’s something like “how do I use the glamour plates to switch into designs I made easily” or “how does crafting even work”, youtube is very helpful too! Overall just take initiative and communicate to people your experience level while in groups and things tend to work out.

THE STORY

Disclaimer: Recaps get less detailed over time to avoid spoiling too hard.

SHORT VERSION

You are a god-slayer, or more precisely the slayer of false-gods. False-gods drain the land to make it lifeless and are prone to brainwashing people. You also regularly fight the rough equivalent of angels who believe the world as you know it has gone horribly wrong and are trying to force things back into their natural forms. Excessive death ensues anytime they are successful, so high stakes. Meanwhile, an authoritarian and technologically advanced nation is causing issues on the regular and has to be stopped.

PRELUDE/LEGACY

Final Fantasy XIV had a rocky start with patch section 1.0/the true beginning, which I did not play. While there are videos online of what it was like for those curious, the gist is that five years before the current opening the world was stricken by a terrible calamity. The nation of Eorzea (an allied collection of city states) was at war with the Garlean Empire--otherwise known as Garlemald. During this war, one of Garlemald’s scientists implemented a genocidal strategy against the Eorzeans by dragging the lesser of two moons down upon their heads. This moon was called Dalamud. However, what took this situation from bad to worse was that Dalamud wasn’t actually a moon but a prison.

Thousands of years prior, the technologically advanced nation of Allag had been performing experiments using dragons and entities known as primals. Primals are summoned into being using a combination of aether (life energy, the source of magic), ritual, and the belief of their summoners. One of Allag’s experiments involved murdering a powerful dragon then using the tortured prayers of his lover and his kin to summon a warped, primal imitation of him. This primal was then trapped as a power source and left to fester in rage and insanity.

The dragon’s primal is Bahamut. Dalamud was his cage.

When Dalamud burst open above Eorzea, Bahamut was released in all his apocalyptic glory. A collection of heroes, allied to an organization called the Scions of the Seventh Dawn (dedicated to eliminating primals for the toll they take on the land and its people) stood against Bahamut. A man named Louisoix Levellieur, leader of the Scions, cast a powerful spell by summoning the Twelve Eorzean gods to stop Bahamut. This spell cast the primal, Louisoix, and the heroes five years into the future. It also wiped the heroes, known thereafter as the Warriors of Light, from memory.

Part of what makes 1.0 really cool looking back--when the developers saw how many problems existed in the MMO, they knew they would need to reboot it. There was a date set for that to happen, which would involve taking Final Fantasy XIV offline until an improved version could be released. Players knew the real world reasons behind all this. What they didn’t know was how the hiatus and reboot would be presented within the narrative.

People who were up-to-date in the storyline knew that war had erupted and that the moon was falling. They also knew that a particular time, the game would be taken offline.

This is what they saw.

A REALM REBORN

The average player, and likely anyone reading this, will not have played patch 1.0. For us, Final Fantasy XIV begins five years after Bahamut’s calamity. The world is still recovering and has been irrevocably scarred in the dragon’s wake. Refugees from both that event and Garlemald’s conquered territories pour in even as the empire bides its time for another invasion.

The player is a fledgling adventurer endowed with a gift called The Echo. The Echo is an ability that first, prevents them from being brainwashed (or “Tempered”) by primals. This is important because like I said before, one of the things that gives primals their power is belief. This extends to prayer. If a person is tempered, they will worship and empower the primal responsible until they die. This means most people can’t even approach primals safely, much less fight them. More than one character (including NPCs) possess The Echo, but it remains a rare ability.

Another aspect of this gift is that it allows someone (without any deliberate control) to see into the memories of others, superimposing emotions and perspectives of the event over the witnessing Echo-user. It also translates all direct speech into an understandable form to the Echo-user. There are additional abilities that become unveiled over the course of the story, but these are most important and consistent going in.

The player initially is just one of many such adventurers, a guild of independent mercenaries willing to undertake odd jobs using their skill in combat. After coming into conflict with a mysterious, masked organization, however, it becomes clear that the player has been chosen as champion to Hydaelyn herself.

Because you see, Hydaelyn isn’t just the name of the planet. This is also a sentient mothercrystal claiming the role of protector to all life on Her surface.

The masked organization consists of spirits with varying degrees of immortality. They also have the ability to body snatch. These are called Ascians. Ascians argue that the world was split into fourteen pieces thousands of years ago by Hydaelyn, and that their dark crystal god--Zodiark--is the true will of the star and represents a natural state of being that must be reclaimed. Their way of pursuing this objective requires causing a series of apocalypses or near-apocalypses, always coming with innumerable casualties.

As Hydaelyn’s champion the player joins the Scions of the Seventh Dawn in combating primals, fights against lingering threats from Garlemald, and thwarts Ascian plans to continue rejoining the world through calamities.

A trailer for this arc can be viewed here.

HEAVENSWARD

Shit goes pear shaped in a big way and you have to flee territories held by the Eorzean Alliance--city states including Ul’dah, Limsa Lominsa, and Gridania. Ishgard, now a frozen, mountainous landscape ruled by a religion dedicated to the goddess Halone, takes your character in.

Ishgard has been at war with the draconic nation of Dravania for thousands of years. Dragons are immortal by natural means, but can be slain. Ishgard no longer remembers, by and large, why the war even started except that they have been losing loved ones in horrifying ways for as long as they can remember. They refused to send aid during the struggle against Garlemald specifically because they couldn’t spare forces from their war with Dravania. They have a reputation for being hostile to outsiders, having extreme class divides, and inquisition-style zealotry. Nonetheless, there are good people here and over the course of A Realm Reborn the player manages to befriend some of them.

This arc delves into Ishgard’s war, and involves the player taking part while clearing their name in the Alliance. Toward the end, it is also extremely important to note that the player encounters a group calling themselves “Warriors of Darkness”, who are in-league with the Ascians. It comes to light that they hail from one of the divided worlds, that their world is in terrible danger, and they believe the path to survival comes from confronting you.

A trailer for this arc can be viewed here.

STORMBLOOD

One of the antagonists we encounter forces the Alliance to involve itself in freeing Garlemald’s conquered territories, namely the nations of Ala Mhigo (largely Middle Eastern) and Doma (East Asian). In undertaking this task, the hero comes into repeated conflict with Garlemald’s crown prince, Zenos yae Galvus. Zenos is basically a serial killer with the resources of a prince but no actual investment in being a prince. It’s pretty wild.

A lot of this plot focuses on the consequences of Garlean rule. Over time though, it comes to light that the founder of Garlemald was a high-ranked Ascian and is still very much alive.

A trailer for this arc can be viewed here.

SHADOWBRINGERS

The plot set into motion with the Warriors of Darkness resumes as the player is forced to travel to their home world. Dealing with a setting on the brink of Armageddon, this current arc has a ton to do with examining different perspectives while getting much clearer insight on lore metaphysics. Most notably, we finally learn why the Ascians act the way they do and discover more about the nature of the player character and Hydaelyn.

I’m aware this is vague, but honestly this is my favorite of all the expansions/arcs so far. Seriously it is fucking killer.

A trailer for this arc can be viewed here.

YOUR PROTAGONIST/THE CHARACTER CREATOR

The main character of Final Fantasy XIV is known as the Warrior of Light, regardless of whether you play from the Legacy version of the game or A Realm Reborn. Similar to the Dragon Age games, in Final Fantasy XIV you get to design your own main character and shape their identity to varying degrees through the story. Some people like to imagine their protagonist as existing within a completely different role in the world of Hydaelyn for roleplay purposes (so not a Warrior of Light), but that involves essentially disregarding the main quest scenario narrative provided. It’s fine to do that of course, but I’m going to be explaining things that essentially fit within the canon approach.

There are currently eight playable races for the Warrior of Light. These include hyur (human stand-ins), elezen (elf stand-ins), roegadyns (orc or giant stand-ins), miqo’te (cat people), lalafells (dwarf or gnome stand-ins), au ra (tiefling or draeni stand-ins), viera (female-only bunny people at the moment), and hrothgar (male-only lion people, the beast race).

Each race option has two subraces attached. The most dramatic differences between subraces come up for hyur, where there are Midlanders (shorter and slighter frames) and Highlanders (taller and beefier/curvier). Otherwise it’s more minor differences.

It is common for players to develop their own personal interpretations of who their Warrior of Light character was before the story begins and how that impacts progression. This can be shaped by what race they belong to and what lore is attached to that race according to region. It is also possible to shape things according to which of the Twelve (Eorzea’s pantheon) the Warrior of Light worships. These deities are loosely described and made available for selection at the beginning of the game.

It isn’t unusual for people to pick names in-keeping with lore. A good site to turn to for this is over here, although there are also spots that go into what different names actually translate to. Other people just go with whatever they feel like. I think I saw someone named Cheese Whiz once.

Stat variation is pretty negligible between races, and it’s mainly an aesthetic/tonal choice. Currently there is some pressure on game developers to make Viera and Hrothgar playable for male and female gender options both, and it seems likely that at some point this will happen. Currently there are indications that the release for Viera and Hrothgar was somewhat rushed due to some behind-the-scenes circumstances, so while they are less versatile than other options this is likely to change at some point.

As someone who is a sucker for character customization, I want to mention that while it might be easier to get some of the fantasy races to fit a particular ethnicity--Final Fantasy actually does a great job in terms of visual versatility and has made it possible to hit a wide range of options well. For example, it might be easier to make an East Asian au ra or a French elezen, but you can easily break with that in totally believable ways. You might not have the precision adjustments of Dragon Age: Inquisition or Bloodborne, but the options presented are pretty flexible.

In terms of how the Warrior of Light works through the game, again while there is some wiggle room there are certain aspects to their identity that stay pretty consistent. They get jaded and worn out by the narrative as time goes on, they experience loss, they become increasingly chatty and sarcastic. They have powerful neck muscles from years of communication by nodding. Commonly, the personality of the Warrior of Light is also influenced by the job they choose.

THE JOBS

Something I wish got explained to me early--you only get certain jobs as options starting out, and any others you hear about getting added are only accessible at higher levels. In Final Fantasy XIV, basically when it comes to combat you start with a very basic class, which graduates to a job (better versions of the class) when you fulfill certain requirements.

There are notably three main roles a combat class or job can fall into. These include tanks, healers, and DPS. Tanks are responsible for leading the charge, provoking aggression, directing mobs, and enduring attacks in groups. They don’t deal the most damage but have the highest defense and are generally right in the thick of the action. Healers can deal damage but their main purpose is to keep themselves and everyone around them from dying, especially in groups. At the moment all of the healer jobs use magic. DPS (Damage Per Second) are the jobs that are mainly responsible for taking chunks out of the enemy’s health. Within DPS there are additionally three subcategories, these being Melee DPS (non-magical and close-range), Physical Ranged DPS (non-magical and fighting from a distance), and Magic Ranged DPS (magical and fighting from a distance). There is also a limited job and Crafter/Gatherer classes, but I’ll get to those later.

Some DPS jobs, additionally, focus more on playing support to other party members while others are geared toward boosting their own damage output.

The classes you can choose from in the character creator include:

Gladiator (Tank, Sword and Shield)

Marauder (Tank, Axe)

Lancer (Melee DPS, Lance)

Pugilist (Melee DPS, Fists)

Archer (Physical Ranged DPS, Bow)

Conjurer (Healer, Wand)

Thaumaturge (Magical Ranged DPS, Staff)

Arcanist (Magical Ranged DPS, Tome)

At level 10, if your armory system is unlocked (you need to complete a quest for your starting class NPC mentor to do this) you can approach an NPC in Limsa Lominsa to unlock the Rogue class as well. This is a Melee DPS class and uses twin daggers. If your character starts with Marauder or Arcanist this takes less time.

To graduate each of these early classes into a job, the following requirements need to be met:

Paladin (Sword and Shield): Requires Gladiator level 30, Conjurer level 15.

Warrior (Axe): Requires Marauder level 30, Gladiator level 15.

Dragoon (Lance): Requires Lancer level 30, Marauder level 15.

Monk (Fists): Requires Pugilist level 30, Lancer level 15.

Bard (Bow): Requires Archer level 30, Pugilist level 15.

White Mage (Wand): Requires Conjurer level 30, Arcanist level 15.

Scholar (Tome): Requires Arcanist level 30, Conjurer level 15.

Black Mage (Staff): Requires Thaumaturge level 30, Archer level 15.

Summoner (Tome): Requires Arcanist level 30, Thaumaturge level 15.

Ninja (Daggers): Requires Rogue level 30 and completion of quests Sylph-Management and Cloying Victory.

I’ll describe these in more detail in a bit, but there are waaaay more combat jobs than this. Currently the others are:

Dark Knight (Tank, Greatsword): Requires having purchased the Heavensward expansion and having completed all of the Seventh Astral Era Quests up to Before the Dawn, which is needed to unlock the city of Ishgard. This job starts at level 30.

Gunbreaker (Tank, Gunblade): Requires having purchased the Shadowbringers expansion and having a Disciple of War or Magic job at level 60. This job starts at level 60.

Astrologian (Healer, Star Globe): Requires having purchased the Heavensward expansion and having completed all of the Seventh Astral Era Quests up to Before the Dawn, which is needed to unlock the city of Ishgard. This job starts at level 30.

Samurai (Melee DPS, Katana): Requires having purchased the Stormblood expansion and having a Disciple of War or Magic job at level 50. This job starts at level 50.

Machinist (Physical Ranged DPS, Firearm) Requires having purchased the Heavensward expansion and having completed all of the Seventh Astral Era Quests up to Before the Dawn, which is needed to unlock the city of Ishgard. This job starts at level 30.

Dancer (Physical Ranged DPS, Chakrams): Requires having purchased the Shadowbringers expansion and having a Disciple of War or Magic job at level 60. This job starts at level 60.

Red Mage (Magical Ranged DPS, Rapier): Requires having purchased the Stormblood expansion and having a Disciple of War or Magic job at level 50. This job starts at level 50.

So total, right now the jobs include 4 Tanks (Paladin, Warrior, Dark Knight, Gunbreaker), 3 Healers (White Mage, Scholar, Astrologian), 4 Melee DPS (Dragoon, Monk, Ninja, Samurai), 3 Physical Ranged DPS (Bard, Machinist, Dancer), and 3 Magical Ranged DPS (Black Mage, Summoner, Red Mage). Total is 17 jobs. When I describe these combat based jobs, I’m not going to focus on the actual gameplay aspect because frankly I don’t know how to play all of the jobs. This is gonna be a quick and dirty explanation based on the scientific approach of “idk that’s just my impression”.

Paladin: You are a holy knight and you can heal a little sometimes maybe (???) and you are very good and noble with great defense.

Warrior: You are a beserker who loves to release your inner beast and kill shit in really violent ways and are kind of a badass and do the most damage of the tanks.

Dark Knight: Super super edgy and kind of magical but also straight up crazy, you hate corrupt authority figures and are willing to get your hands dirty and darken your name in order to protect others. One of the most beloved job questlines.

Gunbreaker: You have a sword that is also a gun and you can shoot people with it, soldier style. Basically if you have ever fantasized about having a knifegun this is like that but better.

White Mage: Very pure, focused on nature and communing with elemental beings, all about that land/sea/sky thing with ties to the elements earth, water, and air. One of three magic traditions that got involved in a next level magic fight, this one stemming from the city of Amdapor. Amdapor is full of fungus and poison spores now.

Scholar: Takes a highly intellectual spin on magic with ties to weird geometries and so forth, figured out how to summon fairy familiars from aether. Does a lot with shields and preventing people from taking as much damage in the first place. One of three magic traditions that got involved in a next level magic fight, this one stemming from the city of Nym. Nym is a floating city and is basically hovering in ruins now, with any surviving residents having been transformed into tonberries. Tonberries are little green creatures that like to stab people.

Astrologian: A fortuneteller take on magic that combines tarot cards, astrology, and crystal balls. The idea here is that Astrologians are messing with fate and time in order to heal you, sort of undoing damage. Snazzy dressers, intimidating moveset.

Dragoon: Jumpy people with spears who struggle to live down their legacy of animation lag-related deaths, my understanding is that today’s Dragoons do solid damage and are decent at survival. Their reputation, however, is that if someone is going to die in a fight it’s probably them. They are very broody and like to hang out in high places with capes billowing in the wind. They also wear spiky armor and fight dragons and have the soul of a dragon. People make jokes at their expense a lot but with affection.

Monk: You punch people to death and get gauntlets of varying levels of sharp. You also get to master chakras and go through forms associated with different animals. In a series like Final Fantasy where people carry swords bigger than they are, you’re the job that said lol who needs that and made your body the weapon.

Ninja: Very very sneaky, used to be sort of a state-sanctioned criminal. If anybody is a spy it’s you. You are very fast and can basically turn invisible and sometimes smoke bombs go off. Mudras are used and I don’t understand.

Samurai: Deal a solid amount of damage and are very flashy and cool, probably one of the highest damage outputs for Melee DPS. Very neat and fancy katanas.

Bard: Draws a connection between the strings of a harp and the strings of a bow, is able to both shoot the crap out of enemies, make enemies more vulnerable with some songs, and make allies more powerful with other songs. I think Bards are very pretty and fancy.

Machinist: These are tech nerds who realized that guns are an option. So are flamethrowers. So are robots. This job has a reputation for being ungodly complicated to play but this has apparently been rectified recently.

Dancer: Similar to Bard in that they do a lot to boost allies in a fight, do lower damage as a result but damn do they boost their allies. Also have ridiculously swanky outfits and are super flashy in fights.

Black Mage: The edgy magic users, they are disciples of Eorzea’s death god and all of their magic ties into destruction. If you wanna make the biggest explosions Black Mage is where you go. Magic ties to fire, ice, and electricity but primarily puts focus on the shift between fire and ice. Black Mages also have a reputation for being involved in demon summoning because they were kind of the assholes in that magic war against White Mages and Scholars. Black Magic as a discipline has ancestry in Mhach, which is of course now crawling with demons. Black Mage is the DPS king in the sense that if you want the biggest numbers of damage dealt, this is where you go. They are however tragically slow and squishy so expect the Black Mage to be somewhere between standing right where an attack will land or dodging frantically between spells.

Summoner: Has the ability to summon small familiars in the form of defeated primals, these being namely Ifrit (fire-based), Titan (earth-based), Garuda (air-based), Bahamut, and Phoenix. Apparently their questline is covered in Ascians too. One of two DPS capable of raising fallen allies.

Red Mage: Very fancy, fast-moving swordsmen covered in ruffles. The founders of Red Magic were Black and White Mages who came together in the wake of that magic war mentioned above. They essentially work to balance Black Magic and White Magic alongside physical attacks. They don’t get the numbers of some DPS but are again extremely fast and are also capable of raising allies. Versatile.

The limited job is called Blue Mage, currently being lamented because it’s unable to fight in dungeons or main quest situations to the extent of other jobs. Blue Mage gets abilities by fighting monsters and learning magical abilities from them. They use a cane and are massive dandies who will hopefully get the opportunity to do more in the future.

If you want to actually make in-game money without blood sacrifice, you want to get involved in a Crafter or Gatherer job. These don’t deal with combat but instead let you acquire, develop, and sell in-demand resources to other players.

Gatherer jobs include Fishers, Botanists, and Miners. Crafter jobs include Carpenters, Blacksmiths, Armorers, Goldsmiths, Leatherworkers, Weavers, Alchemists, and Culinarians. I am not good at these and so can’t explain them properly, but some people do play the game exclusively so they can level these jobs. I think that besides getting mad cash, this is probably because Crafters and Gatherers also get to make really fancy houses and get very pretty clothes with their vast amounts of wealth, skill, and resources.

THE SETTING

There are three city states that, at the start of A Realm Reborn, comprise the Eorzean Alliance. Your character becomes a hero to the Eorzean Alliance before any other nation. The three nations are Ul’dah, Gridania, and Limsa Lominsa. Ul’dah is a desert city (someone mentioned it being Byzantine), ruled by a Sultana, and watched over by the dual-aspected god of death and commerce. Gridania is a forest city (to me it looks Western European but unsure?), ruled by a spiritual Elder Seedseer, and is watched over by the nature goddess Nophica--her will embodied in the form of spirits called Elementals. Limsa Lominsa is an ocean city (Greek influenced, although some territories read Caribbean), ruled over by an Admiral, and is watched over by a sea-goddess.

Ul’dah is a major trade center and known for having a solid amount of crime and corruption, harsh wealth divides, huge reverence for the dead, and general canniness. Gridania is super spiritual and has massive reverence for the forest and maintaining both it and the boundaries necessary to co-exist peacefully with Elementals. Limsa Lominsa is literally pirate town and have the most kickass military/naval fleet ever.

Depending on what job you choose in the character creator will effect which of these three cities you start out in. It’s ambiguous where the Warrior of Light comes from so conceivably you could be a native to that city state or a foreigner from somewhere else. It mainly matters in terms of if you’re making a story up for your character or not.

Another city state is Ishgard (technically Eorzean but isolationist), which has parallels to Norse mythology, France, and the Catholic church. It is covered in snow and full of mountains. Ala Mhigo is also a city state, and while like Ul’dah it is also a desert environment this one seems to place higher emphasis on different regions within the Middle East and India. One part looks strongly reminiscent of the Dead Sea, for example. Idyllshire was formerly a territory of the nation Sharlayan, which dedicates itself to the scholar-god. However, Sharlayan up and bailed when Garlemald showed up so that whole city got evacuated.

Those city states are all based on the continent Aldenard. Garlemald comes from a continent called Ilsabard that we haven’t gotten to see yet. It’s supposed to be cold and shitty there. Also worth mentioning, Garleans are on the one hand atheists and on the other hand borderline worship their emperor.

Othard is the Far Eastern continent and represents Asia. The two main city states we’ve seen there are Kugane (Japan) and Doma (China). There are other nations in the surrounding areas that we know about as well but haven’t explored. Both Kugane and Doma worship entities known as kami, omnipresent spirits who appreciate treasure and sometimes play a role in manipulating the fates of mortals. There are also animal spirits who through wisdom and longevity gain power and the ability to change form. These are called auspices. Special shout out to the Azim Steppe of Othard as well for representing Mongolian tribes and a plains environment.

There at least two other continents around but we don’t know a lot about them yet. One is The New World and draws from pre-Columbian North America. The other once housed a nation called Meracydia that opposed the ancient Allagan empire.

Shadowbringers takes place on a world called The First, which is one of the fragmented realities split by Hydaelyn. This world is called Norvrandt. It parallels Hydaelyn in some ways but not others. The desert environment of Ahm Areng geographically resembles the red deserts of the Southwestern US, but the architecture doesn’t match. The Rak’tika Greatwood is an A+ perfect jungle setting and heavily modeled after Mayan civilization. Eulmore kind of reminds me of the idea of pre-French Revolution excesses surrounded by poverty but with almost neon circus aesthetics married in. Il Mheg is rainbow fields and glassy lakes and fae creatures fucking with you 24/7. Very pretty and art nouveau.

The Tempest is full of secrets.

THE COMMUNITY

People focus on different things in this game. It’s huge enough to make that extremely doable.

One group involves the combat-focused players. These are people who just want to take on content labeled Extreme or Savage and beat it as smoothly as possible. Very talented bunch but tend to be short tempered sometimes, also often can’t wrap their heads around people playing any other way.

Glamour hounds are people who are in this for the A E S T H E T I C S. They want their characters to look a very specific way with certain gear in certain colors and god damn it if they have to run savage to achieve their goals they are going to do it. Often also are very into exciting mounts and housing, will frequently do artsy screencaps and share them online.

Lore hounds are people who focus mainly on the main quest scenario, overall storytelling, NPCs, setting, metaphysics, etc. Some of these people just want to analyze and make predictions. Some are independent fan creators. Some are roleplayers.

Worth noting--the most active roleplay communities are on the Crystal server, on the worlds Balmung and Mateus. My understanding is that these worlds are pretty packed and come with their own collection of pluses and minuses. More drama and a high likelihood of being ambushed for erotic RP, but fun community storytelling too. You can absolutely join servers outside your geographic location, by the way.

I’m on Primal server. It’s pretty chill.

Crafters, gatherers, and gamblers as far as I can tell are out to get top tier gil and fabulous prizes. I think some just honestly like the process too tbh and it happens to pay swimmingly. By the by, yes there is an in-game casino.

Last major group off the top of my head is the people who are mainly, specifically there to hang with friends and otherwise socialize with the game as a medium for that.

OKAY BUT I FOLLOW YOU SPECIFICALLY, WHO THE HELL ARE THOSE CHARACTERS YOU KEEP REBLOGGING?

EMET-SELCH

He is an Ascian who showed up fashionably late, would rather be napping than villaining around. Massive troll and also responsible for single-handedly making the fandom care about Ascians after four arcs of apathy. Secret sad boi. I am omitting a bunch because he’s basically a walking spoiler, but someone once described him as having absolutely relentless theater kid energy and I have yet to see it put better than that.

ELIDIBUS

Another Ascian known as the Emissary. Talks more about balance than ZODIARK!!!??!!!?11111!! and sometimes tries to have conversations instead of fistfights. Is not as good at having conversations instead of fistfights as Emet-Selch but is significantly better at it than Lahabrea, who will be described next. Elidibus is notable for spontaneously adopting a child and then passing that child off to the heroes as discreetly as he could.

LAHABREA

The third major Ascian and the first recurring one players meet in A Realm Reborn. Lahabrea seems like he is probably a few screws loose, fucking loves to blow shit up, embarrasses all of the interns who get stuck with him, and spent years in charge of PR before his colleagues realized that was a mistake. Makes very poor life choices. Apparently he used to be a fantastic orator and was praised for his imagination but these talents have since been replaced by ZODIARK!!!??!!!?11111!! and explosions. Has been described as an idiot by Emet-Selch and “unique” by Elidibus, who needed to take a very long pause before saying so.

G’RAHA TIA/THE CRYSTAL EXARCH

Honestly this is only pseudo spoilers, basically everyone figured out who he was well before Shadowbringers got released. Catman is currently doing battle with another character called Haurchefant for the position of #1 fan to the Warrior of Light. Has some wild misadventures with you that involve exploring ancient ruins, excessively long fetch quests, clones, and getting sucked into a demon world. Later runs across time and space to save your life but kind of almost gets you killed in the attempt. Says he is very sorry for this later. Just doing his best.

NERO TOL SCAEVA

A scientist who fights with a massive hammer, formerly worked for Garlemald but finds himself unemployed later. Is better than the engineer Cid, who gives you all your tech. He is also a troll, an egomaniac, and fucking hilarious. It takes a while for the extent of this to be revealed because A Realm Reborn still had some issues.

AYMERIC DE BOREL

Basically in charge of Ishgard, for a while literally but now only mostly. A very reasonable authority figure, runs the the Warrior of Light across several countries when you get injured in battle then chills at your bedside. Thinks you should relax sometimes. Encourages this by taking you to dinner once.

ESTINIEN WYRMBLOOD

Broody Dragoon McAngst of Ishgard, fucking hated dragons for the longest time because they murdered his whole family. Goes on an extended journey with you and in the process reveals he also hates moogles with a burning passion. Chills out a lot later, has demonstrated he is in fact a real bro.

YSAYLE DANGOULAIN/ICEHEART/LADY SHIVA

Delusions of grandeur and good intentions, also chosen by Hydaelyn and possessing The Echo. Figured out she could use her possession of The Echo to literally become a primal without losing her mind or body. Wants peace at any cost and will kill shitloads of people in the name of peace. Morally questionable but an interesting lady. Disagrees strongly with Estinien about moogles.

HAURCHEFANT GREYSTONE

Name sounds like a sneeze, is currently fighting G’raha Tia for the title of #1 fan to the Warrior of Light. Apparently there was an event where he said he wants the Warrior of Light to be his pony, as in he wants to ride you. Has shirtless men doing squats in his office. Saves your ass when shit gets real for Heavensward and then saves your ass again when the Pope’s bodyguard tries to murder you. It does not go well.

ZENOS YAE GALVUS

Absolute serial killer who feels like you complete him and give his life meaning and are his BFF. Probably wants you to fuck him. Also the crown prince of Garlemald and has spent years trying to engineer situations that will produce someone who can actually fight him as an equal. Doesn’t give a fuck about most things but jesus does he go yandere.

FRAY

If you become a Dark Knight, Fray becomes your NPC mentor and basically takes the Warrior of Light on a journey in becoming batshit insane. 10/10 Best teacher hands down.

SOPHIA THE GODDESS

A primal who I love to pieces, basically shows that the only way you can have perfect balance forever is if you are literally dead. We know this because the song that plays during her fight is about her murdering an entire family because they were unstable.

SRI LAKSHMI

Another primal who I love to pieces, just full throttle lotus eater in action where she encourages you to go fuck everything and be happy. Super pretty.

SEPHIROT THE FIEND

One of my top fav primals, pure id and distorted Kabbalah. I have a lot of feelings about him and have analyzed his fight to pieces.

CENRIC ASHER

Lol he just my Warrior of Light. I have a story for him but it is not official or anything.

THE FIVE BILLION OTHERS

Probably other people’s characters! I just really love seeing what people come up with, whether it’s their version of the Warrior of Light or going full-throttle into OC territory. It’s really refreshing to me, seeing how passionate and inventive people get. ^^ There are plenty of other important NPC characters, some I would even consider favorites of mine, but I just don’t post them as much.

IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR JESUS CHRIST GET YOURSELF A COOKIE OR SOMETHING. GOD DAMN.

#final fantasy xiv #final fantasy xiv screenshots #final fantasy 14 #ffxiv #shadowbringers

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kmjbsweet · 5 years ago

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5 Interesting Swedish Nonfiction Books

1) Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff

"On November 5, 1942, a US cargo plane slammed into the Greenland Ice Cap. Four days later, the B-17 assigned to the search-and-rescue mission became lost in a blinding storm and also crashed. Miraculously, all nine men on board survived, and the US military launched a daring rescue operation. But after picking up one man, the Grumman Duck amphibious plane flew into a severe storm and vanished.

Frozen in Time tells the story of these crashes and the fate of the survivors, bringing vividly to life their battle to endure 148 days of the brutal Arctic winter, until an expedition headed by famed Arctic explorer Bernt Balchen brought them to safety. Mitchell Zuckoff takes the reader deep into the most hostile environment on earth, through hurricane-force winds, vicious blizzards, and subzero temperatures.

Moving forward to today, he recounts the efforts of the Coast Guard and North South Polar Inc. – led by indefatigable dreamer Lou Sapienza – who worked for years to solve the mystery of the Duck’s last flight and recover the remains of its crew.

A breathtaking blend of mystery and adventure Mitchell Zuckoff's Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II is also a poignant reminder of the sacrifices of our military personnel and a tribute to the everyday heroism of the US Coast Guard." (Good Reads.com)

2) This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland by Gretel Ehrlich

"Ehrlich unlocks the secrets of this severe land and those who live there; a hardy people who still travel by dogsled and kayak and prefer the mystical four months a year of endless darkness to the gentler summers without night. She discovers the twenty-three words the Inuit have for ice, befriends a polar bear hunter, and comes to agree with the great Danish-Inuit explorer Knud Rasmussen that “all true wisdom is only to be found far from the dwellings of man, in great solitudes.” This Cold Heaven is at once a thrilling adventure story and a meditation on the clarity of life at the extreme edge of the world." (Amazon.com)

3) The Nordic Model: Scandinavia since 1945 by Mary Hilson

"The political structures of the Scandinavian nations have long stood as models for government and public policy. This comprehensive study examines how that “Nordic model” of government developed, as well as its far-reaching influence.

Respected Scandinavian historian Mary Hilson surveys the political bureaucracies of the five Nordic countries—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden—and traces their historical influences and the ways they have changed, individually and as a group, over time. The book investigates issues such as economic development, foreign policy, politics, government, and the welfare state, and it also explores prevailing cultural perceptions of Scandinavia in the twentieth century. Hilson then turns to the future of the Nordic region as a unified whole within Europe as well as in the world, and considers the re-emergence of the Baltic Sea as a pivotal region on the global stage.

The Nordic Model offers an incisive assessment of Scandinavia yesterday and today, making this an essential text for students and scholars of political science, European history, and Scandinavian studies." (Good Reads.com)

4) The Almost Nearly Perfect People: Behind the Myth of the Scandinavian Utopia by Michael Booth

"Journalist Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians for more than ten years and has grown increasingly frustrated with the rose-tinted view of this part of the world offered up by the Western media. In this timely book, he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success, and, most intriguing of all, what they think of one another.

Why are the Danes so happy despite having the highest taxes? Do the Finns really have the best education system? Are the Icelanders as feral as they sometimes appear? How are the Norwegians spending their fantastic oil wealth? And why do all of them hate the Swedes? In The Almost Nearly Perfect People, Booth explains who the Scandinavians are, how they differ and why, and what their quirks and foibles are, and he explores why these societies have become so successful and models for the world. Along the way, a more nuanced, often darker picture emerges of a region plagued by taboos, characterized by suffocating parochialism, and populated by extremists of various shades." (Good Reads.com)

5) The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma of Stieg Larsson and the Secrets Behind the Most Compelling Thrillers of Our Time by: Dan Burstein, de Keijzer, Arne, and John-Henri Holmberg

"The fascinating stories behind what have been rightly called the "hottest books on the planet": The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest

Through insightful commentary and revealing interviews, you will enter the unique world of Lisbeth Salander, Mikael Blomkvist---and of Stieg Larsson himself---discovering the fascinating real-life experiences and incidents involving Swedish politics, violence against women, and neo-Nazis that are at the heart of Larsson's work.

John-Henri Holmberg, a Swedish author and close friend of Larsson for more than three decades, provides a unique insider's look into the secrets of the author's imaginative universe, his life, and his ideas for future books---including the mysterious "fourth book" in the series, which Larsson had started but not finished at the time of his death." (Amazon.com)

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trusthell · 2 years ago

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Trine 2 online coop

#Trine 2 online coop full

Full language support for English, French, German and Spanish, and optional subtitling for more than 10 languagesĭigital Artbook with commentary by Trine 2 artists highlighting the design of levels, enemies, buildings and many environments.Fun and challenging achievements to unlock.Hidden collectibles for extra adventuring.Superb graphics with next-gen visuals use impressive technical effects, immerse yourself in the fantastical fairytale world full of magic and wonder.Save anywhere to play as long or short sessions as you like and use the Unlimited Character Mode and Game+ for additional replay value.Online and local co-op with up to three players.Accessible for both casual and core gamers.Travel through beautiful vistas and environments (sometimes using extremely unreliable methods of transportation), including a castle by the treacherous sea, a burning desert, snowy ice mountains, all the way to the insides of a giant worm.Choose new skills to aid the heroes in their quest fight dragon fire with fire arrows or turn your goblin enemies to ice, fly across chasms with the Kitesail Shield, levitate monsters to great heights and then trap them in a box, or slow down the game world with the time-bending gravity bubble!.3 Heroes – Amadeus the Wizard, Pontius the Knight and Zoya the Thief, each with their own skills – and personalities charming and otherwise.20 levels chock-full of adventure, physics-based puzzles, hazards, enemies and contraptions.Complete Story edition features the all-new unlockable Dwarven Caverns level that takes our heroes on a journey through deep and dark lava-filled tunnels resonating with ancient legends.All owners of Trine 2: Goblin Menace are automatically upgraded to the Complete Story edition. Trine 2: Complete Story fully integrates the Goblin Menace expansion campaign and the all-new unlockable Dwarven Caverns level into one mighty fairytale. Join Amadeus the Wizard, Pontius the Knight and Zoya the Thief in their adventure full of friendship, magic and betrayal. Trine 2 is a sidescrolling game of action, puzzles and platforming where you play as one of Three Heroes who make their way through dangers untold in a fantastical fairytale world.

#Trine 2 online coop

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marvelandponder · 7 years ago

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3 for the Price of 1!

When My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) finally came out, I wanted to review it right. And to do that, I had to call in a few friends.

I basically knew this had to be a collab of some sort, but instead of reaching out to big names in the fandom, I decided to ask a couple of friends to review the movie with me. What’s more in the spirit of things than making something with the friends, new and old, that we made because of this show and its ridiculous fandom?

I have links to Mr. Mikail’s and DigiKate’s spoiler-free and, in the case of DigiKate, full-length spoiler reviews!

I’ll wait until the blu-ray/DVD comes out in January to release my full spoiler-filled review (mostly because you know how busy I’ve been the past two months, but also because I have friends who haven’t seen the movie yet), but until then, here’s some general thoughts on the movie and how it fits into the modern animated films scene.

How does it measure up to other movies? Should we be comparing it differently because it’s a movie based on a TV show? How the fuck did the Emoji Movie get nominated for Best Animated Feature when MLP: The Movie didn’t?

Meta-Narratives in Kids Movies

Gotta get this out of the way first. Big surprise: I loved it.

I knew I’d enjoy it, but I couldn’t believe how much I was smiling, even by the first big musical number. Every time a minor character came on screen that I recognized, I had to hold back a scream. I was so proud of the girls, and so impressed with DHX’s work.

I just. Fucking. Loved it.

So, there’s no denying it. My Little Pony: The Movie is an absolute joy for fans (for reasons I can’t get into in the spoiler-free review), but I think what separates this from being a universally beloved insta-classic anywhere except among fans is the landscape of kids movies these days.

Take a look at the likes of Frozen, Moana, and Zootopia and you’ll find a lot of meta commentary on the way Disney usually tells its stories—sometimes, even while embracing those cliches if necessary.

Inside Out and How to Train Your Dragon 2 tackle deeply emotional subjects, as modern Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks love to do.

Even Lego: Batman was a ceaselessly rapid-fire comedy with a heart, and hit on all fronts for it.

So, what? Is there something we’re missing? Well, MLP: The Movie does have all those elements to various degrees---meta humour, emotional subject matter, and quite a number of great jokes. But then, what’s the real missing element for general audiences and movie critics?

A clever, unique message and/or implementation. As much as we love MLP, we know it’s not the first to talk about the value of friendship. And it’s certainly not the first movie to use the 3-act fetch-quest structure it does.

If you wanna know what’s stopping MLP: The Movie from being as phenomenal to other people as it is to me, it’s that this is something I haven’t seen before, and this is something they’ve seen a hundred times (even if it was done pretty well here).

As a fan, who knows these characters inside and out, I haven’t seen these characters pushed to their limits in quite the ways they are here. Leaving Equestria and the lore and worldbuilding therein is inspiring, as it expands the possibilities and the map itself of a world I love so much. And to be honest there are one or two dark moments (by MLP’s standard) that I couldn’t believe!

Basically, the novelty and originality of the movie, at least in terms of story, comes mostly from the perspective of fans and staff members who have been dealing with this world and its characters for the better part of a decade now.

But since they used both the message of friendship without bells and whistles and the tried-and-true road trip movie plot beats, I can see why some audience members think this is adorable, but bland.

If however you think of MLP: The Movie as a response to the recent string of Disney movies that playfully roll their eyes at Disney’s happy-go-lucky (or meet-cute-and-go-marry as the case may be) philosophies, then it’s very relevant.

And a bit of that structure is actually there. Within the movie itself there’s a bit of that eye-rolling, and as seen in the trailers, it comes from the villains. The heroes remain genuinely positive and even schmaltzy, and that’s what wins the day in the end.

These days Disney in particular feels the need to call itself out on all that, and while it can be refreshing, that can also put a bit of a cynical edge into these movies that, frankly, doesn’t always need to be there. Sometimes you do need to believe in the cheesy, sometimes you need your friends and all the sentiment that comes with them. A kinder world can be incredibly charming. Trust me.

But maybe I’m being a bit harsh. All those movies have teams and budgets multiple times the size that MLP: The Movie did. Maybe it’s fairer to compare it to other animated show turned theatrical releases.

So what does that landscape look like?

Adaptation Land

There’s nothing like seeing your favourite show on the big screen for the first time. Upped visuals, bigger stories---what more could you want?

It’s here where I think MLP: The Movie measures up in wonderful ways.

Even going from a seemingly similar medium like TV to movies is a pretty hard transition, and I think there are any number of common pitfalls and crowning moments of awesome that come along with that.

But it’s very rare for an theatrical adaption of an animated show to quite meet the same level of quality as the big Disney, Pixar, and sometimes Dreamworks movies.

And it’s obvious as to why. The lower budgets, teams often having to split their time between the show and a movie, bigger-and-better-itis, you name it.

But even if I can’t say most of these movies are transcendent, there’s often still a level of excellence achieved. Even with the relatively low-performing Powerpuff Girls Movie, or the cheesiness of Pokemon: The First Movie, you can still find great movies in this category.

It’s just... they’re always better if you’ve watched the show. Always. There’s more depth, greater knowledge of what this means for the characters, a built-in love and understanding ofthe world. The phrase “for the fans” is implied. It has to be.

Unless, of course, you’re like the Lego: Ninjago movie which (I haven’t seen but heard) totally and completely abandons the canon of the show. But then, what’s the point in making a movie based on that show?

You see the problems show staffs face here?

So, I think MLP: The Movie is exceedingly enjoyable, but is that really just for fans? And if it is, did it cater enough to fans?

In her review, ILoveKimPossibleALot made a good point: we spend the movie with a new set of villains, in new territory, with new characters, and a new story unrelated to the backstories and lore that we, as fans, are so interested in.

I’ve seen a number of fans actually wish the season seven finale’s story and MLP: The Movie’s story were switched.

The season seven finale is straight up lore porn, and one of the greatest two-parters MLP has had. And honestly I would love to see this expanded on in a way to see what it would be like for Starswirl to be emotional. Build it all up even more so the weight of the regret hits home harder.

But, see, that would be impossible, because MLP: The Movie went into production 3-4 years ago.

You can tell, too. No spoilers, but Twilight’s arc in this movie is very reminiscent of something she might go through in season 4 and Rainbow Rocks.

That’s yet another reason animated adaptations are so tricky---unless you’re in the case of Hey Arnold, which is about to premiere its final movie this friday over a decade after the end of the show. In that case, no matter how long the movie took, they knew for sure where the characters would be, and thus, where they could take them.

Which isn’t to say MLP: The Movie doesn’t do anything with the characters, far from it, but I think it’s also far from how deep it could’ve gone.

But then... that rounds back to the top, and how it compares to other animated movies in the eyes of general audiences, and how they might feel alienated, and we just keep going ‘round and ‘round in circles.

So, does any of that make it a bad story or a bad movie? No, certainly not! For fans, this is a moving character study and a celebration of a lot of the elements we love most from the show (meta humour, genuine heart, the works). The beats, as standard as they are, pretty much all work, save for maybe Grubber’s comic relief depending on your sense of humour.

But, you know, it’s funny to be left with the feeling that you just watched something incredible, that made you so happy you couldn’t believe it, only to have to admit it’s understandable that critics and even general audiences won’t feel the same way. But, that’s where I am.

Depends on the context.

Go check out Mr. Mikail’s review here! And Digikate’s reviews here (spoiler-free) and here (spoiler)! *Will be updated with links shortly

Year of the Pony

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kingofthewilderwest · 7 years ago

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There are two main ways fandom analysts can connect the dots in a story: 1). by studying only in-universe events as though they are the only real things, or 2). by looking at a meta perspective beyond the shows/movies/etc. themselves and considering writer intent/commentary/etc. I think that a good combination of 1 and 2 gives us valid analytical reasons for talking about Johann’s role from Riders of Berk to present times.

From a meta perspective (the #2 technique I mentioned), no, Johann definitely would not have been conceived of being an antagonist in Riders of Berk and Defenders of Berk. The writers of the show at that time likely would have had no idea that the DreamWorks Dragons television show would extend beyond those two seasons. Those two seasons were designated as the only two seasons of How to Train Your Dragon shows at the time. So since Johann is nothing but a jabbering trader in those two seasons, we can see by that chunk in itself he was not designated an antagonistic role at that time. ROB and DOB didn’t intend to have foreshadowing.

But! From an in-universe (#1 technique) perspective, it is 110% valid to connect the dots from Race to the Edge back to Riders of Berk. Our new knowledge of Johann can be used to better understand who he was in Riders of Berk and Defenders of Berk times. In fact, the best way to analyze from a strictly in-universe perspective is to gather all facts from across officially published materials... and give the most reasonable and consistent explanation for how those points all come together. The most reasonable and consistent explanation is the one that takes in all data and fits all the data together as neatly as possible. So, the most reasonable and consistent explanation about Johann is that we can study and understand he had motives in the earlier years, being as RTTE S5 reveals Johann has been infiltrating Berk for years. This means that he would have had covert motives during episodes like “Dragon Flower.” It’s entirely legitimate to analyze Johann like this. It’s what is the best way to connect all the points of all published materials.

That said, I do believe that we can meta discuss Johann’s villainy at an earlier stage of RTTE production than last-minute-shove-together-before-S5-airs. The reason for this is that the writers started writing the last five episodes of Race to the Edge Season 6 in August 2016. This was very shortly after Season 3 aired (June 24, 2016). Timeline-wise this means that the writers would have been writing Season 5 before Season 3 aired. It might have even been around the time that we first saw Season 2 that they first started drafting episodes about Johann being an antagonist - and drafts usually come after brainstorming, besides! All this pushes Johann’s antagonistic character development earlier and earlier and earlier.

Now, the writers would have not just written the scripts and then tossed them to be produced and not looked at them again. Throughout the production phase of a show, there is going to be editing, revising, voice acting recording, potential scene deletions and reworkings (consider T. J. Miller’s ad-libs), and basically a whole lot of work before we even get to the animation stage. This means that the writers would have been able to simultaneously touch and influence the content of early seasons at the same time they start their script drafts of later seasons. This means that Johann would easily have been planned and written as a villain before one of you lovely folks detected a personality shift in Johann in Season 4. At the very least, given the dates above, Johann would have been planned to be a villain by Season 3 production times.

Now the twitter post mentioning the RTTE S5 plot twist was written a lot later in 2017, basically a year after Douglas Sloan announced they were drafting the final five episodes of the entire RTTE show. The twitter post isn’t because they suddenly decided to do a turnabout for Johann in 2017. That’s not how producing animation happens. It’s because Sloan would have been neck-deep in the final production stages for Season 5 and preparing for it to be released on Netflix. With S5 on his mind, the plot twist of Johann being a villain would be something he’d revel at anew. Reflecting upon the earlier decisions they made, he and Art Brown would then muse about “What were we thinking?” It’s not some sort of, “What were we thinking? We just threw this together! We weren’t thinking at all because we shoved it in out of the blue!” Instead, it’s more likely a, “Hey, we’re looking back and what we’ve done, and WHOA! This is a plot twist we’ve been working on a while and I’m reflecting on it because it’s a big twist and I’m finally seeing it in action!”

There’s also overall show plot pacing to consider. RTTE was originally said to be four seasons, but the writers always said RTTE would try to lead into HTTYD 2 times. This means I bet they always wanted to implement Dagur, Viggo, and Krogan as villains. Krogan, after all, is the character that leads into Drago. We only barely got to Krogan by S4. Sure, they had probably originally made RTTE more compact before the season extension, but it’s to note they didn’t even introduce Viggo until the very end of S2. They didn’t mention Viggo or Ryker at all in S1, back when it was most likely they would not have known about the six seasons. The slow-ish pacing from the start of the first season... despite the fact they would have wanted to get to both Viggo and Krogan... suggests that the writers knew PRETTY early during early seasons that they would have six seasons - and thus they would have known early-on they would need to prepare for the length of that.

It means they probably would have had Dagur, Ryker, Viggo, and Krogan as definites very “early on” - perhaps with the potential for Johann to be added. So they would have been planning for six season-like plot arcs from way way way early. Even if the writers didn’t plan Johann to be an antagonist when they first started RTTE, it’s possible Johann was a “maybe” concept that was suggested earlier during brainstorming, and then left open until they had written more solid lines and saw they had the episode length to insert the idea in.

There’s nothing out of the blue about these calendar dates; the timeline of tweets proves they didn’t pull this out of their butts without forewarning, work, and preparation. I’m not saying RTTE is the best about long-story arcs - that’s where it’s weakest, usually, to be honest - but I’m also not saying this was unprepared. It looks like it was prepared. And I bet that if we go back to RTTE from earlier seasons and really study Johann, it’ll be consistent with the revelations we learn about him at the end of this season.

So then, how do we explain some things like Johann being nervous around Viggo and the dragon riders in Season 4? It’s to note that Johann is nervous around Viggo and the others when they’re searching his ship... when Hiccup and company are nearby. Johann certainly has to act nervous around Viggo in front of Hiccup and the other riders - it’s part of his pretense! There is no part in Last Auction Heroes where Johann is alone with Viggo or Ryker (it’s also to note we don’t know when he joined up with them... could be more recent than S4); at all times, Johann is near enough to the dragon riders that he must be in his charade. The only time Johann is alone with the dragon hunters, he’s shown to be skittish - not because he’s with the dragon hunters, but because some of them are fighting and he doesn’t want to get caught in the skirmish.

I think it’s not too hard to conceive why Johann’s helped the dragon riders. In Riders of Berk and Defenders of Berk times, Johann would have wanted to be near Berk to learn more about dragons. The Hairy Hooligans guarded their secrets from many tribes like the Outcasts and Berserkers, so Johann gaining the Hairy Hooligans’ trust was vital for him to key in on useful information. Furthermore, he would not have had a conflict between 1). a quest for the Dragon Eye or other information, versus 2). helping the Hairy Hooligans. Hiccup and his friends were not in any location to interfere with Johann in this search for dragon information. So, for him, talking and being friendly with the Hairy Hooligans was a very logical and useful thing for him to do - beneficial and the best way to get the information he needs!

By Race to the Edge times, it’s still in Johann’s best interest to help Hiccup rather than stick obviously, solidly with Viggo. There are several possibilities to consider for why he continued helping the riders:

Johann could be stabilizing his alliance with Hiccup and the others to retain trustworthiness. By helping them “against Viggo/Ryker/etc,” Johann makes himself incredibly inconspicuous to them. This has huge long-term advantages considering that Berk is the most sophisticated society when it comes to human-dragon relations.

It could have been the easiest way to access Dragon Eye information. Hiccup and his friends are very good at unlocking information about the Dragon Eye and learning new information about dragons beyond what the Dragon Eye states. Yes, Viggo seems to have a better knowledge of the Dragon Eye... but consider: how many people would Viggo share incredibly important information to? Hiccup and his friends could have been more likely to tell Johann information about dragons than Viggo would have been likely to share that same information to Johann. Thus, Johann would want to help Hiccup and company because he would gain more information that way.

Johann might not have been allied with Viggo at the start. Again, we don’t know when Johann started actually allying completely with Viggo. It’s possible Johann was working by himself (or working for other people not associated with Viggo) in the early seasons - in which case he would certainly prefer the dragon riders he was friends with to have the Dragon Eye over a trader he was not friends with. Johann wouldn’t randomly help Viggo if they weren’t yet allied!

For that matter, if Johann allied with Krogan first, it makes sense why he wasn’t working with Viggo. Krogan and Viggo weren’t on the same page at first, and frankly they still have a lot to work out.

It could have been necessary to keep himself undercover. Once Johann reveals himself, he reveals himself, and loses all possibilities of connecting with Berk and using them as sources. While that might mean working against Viggo and other potential/actual allies... it would also mean that Johann, in the long run, is still in the better grounds. It would be more prudent to keep himself undercover and lose one short-term battle than to reveal himself and lose the long-term “war.”

So, through a combination of using RTTE current data to make a new interpretation of ROB/DOB, and through looking at timeline dates, I don’t think this plot point was as late game or out-of-the-blue as you suggest! Of course I’m not Douglas Sloan or Art Brown or anyone actually in production, so I can’t say for sure - but here is where I’d place my bets!

Thanks so much for engaging with me on this fun topic.

#long post #rtte #rtte spoilers #Race to the Edge #Johann #Trader Johann #analysis #my analysis #anonymous #awesome anonymous friend #ask #ask me #Krogan #Viggo #DreamWorks Dragons

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maud-eration-blog1 · 7 years ago

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Gladiator Heroes Hack

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evilisk-played · 5 years ago

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DQH2 Speedrun Commentary Part 10: the Great Divide North Part 1

(Covered in this part: pre-battle upgrades, the Battle of the Great Divide North)

Pre-Battle Upgrades

This is something that I discovered *after* this speedrun, but I don’t think increasing Wisdom is the way to go for characters like Meena and Teresa. As far as I can tell, Wisdom literally only boosts magical skills like Woosh, Zap, Bang etc. While I haven’t properly tested this for Meena and Teresa, I can confirm in the case of Cesar that you shouldn’t boost his Wisdom if you want him to get better damage. tl;dr don’t boost Wisdom if it’s not someone like Jessica, where the main ability you’re using them for is a magical skill.

= = =

Divide and Conquer Section 1 (01:06)

This whole extended section is probably one of my least favourite parts of running this game. There’s not a lot you can do to make this section go faster and to top it all off, progressing to the next section is all about killing a bunch of really annoying enemies that move around a lot.

At 01:43, I’m specifically aiming to hit the Chimera’s in the air. It’s very important to get as many Chimera medals as you can.And actually hitting Chimera’s is really annoying (rather than using Carver, the smarter play would be to use Teresa, since her jump attack creates a barrier that can hit them).

At 03:08. you can see how *stupid* Moosifers can be. Carver gets killed because he’s armoured up and takes more hits (instead of being knocked away for 1 hit). Even if you dodge that attack, you waste a lot of time having to chase after Moosifer’s again. There is a way to deal with that attack, but you don’t have anyone in your party that is currently capable of it (Alena can do it, but she’s a late, late unlock, and Terry needs his proficiency boosted up to be able to use Perfect Guard).

This overall section went way slower than normal. It took forever to get four Chimera medals, it took forever for the Grim Riders to spawn (and they didn’t end up gathering at the King of Accordia like they usually do), I also had to chase after a stray Moosifer on the end of the map. This section can be really random.

= = =

Divide and Conquer Section 2 (08:01)

This is another really long section, though I actually managed to discover two skips. The skips basically allow you ignore the first phase of the battle. How the battle normally plays out is that you’re supposed to help out Donk and the Queen of Ingenia as they advance to their respective Mawkeepers. It’s all very epic, with Donk fighting a Green Dragon and all. With the skip, you just immediately go to their targets, kill them, and this lets you skip to phase 2 where all your allies congregate towards the middle.

You basically use your Chimera medals to assassinate Donk’s target. You return to the middle and wait for the Mawkeepers to spawn. You clear one, get another medal from the Sabretooths, then you assassinate the Queen’s target, clear the stray Mawkeeper and then you push up the middle. All of this is much easier said than done, and even if you don’t mess up the execution, there’s still the final push which is hard and has to be done legit (no skips, unfortunately).

At 12:11, I just screw around and see what happens if you cast magic over the edge. You get some funny effects for some characters.

At 13:15, I make the final push. Since we skipped a whole phase, there’s a lot more enemies than there’s supposed to be. Trying to just assassinate the Knight is a really stupid idea, as it’s the strongest enemy there in terms of raw stats. You’ll kill all the enemies off before you actually get around to killing the Knight... and killing it doesn’t even progress the fight! You actually have to kill every big bodied enemy to progress. The best you can do is have a lot of High Tension and Monster Medals stockpiled. Trying to picking them off is what I mean by having to do this section “legit”

Also, make sure you kill all enemies before heading off to clear this big wave.

This stage continues into the next video

#dragon quest heroes 2 #dragon quest heroes 2 speedrun #dragon quest heroes 2 commentary

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smokedstorybara · 5 years ago

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WIP Priority List

August 2019

10. Grey - a comic about an autistic boy who gains superpowers and decides to become a superhero(I plan for there to eventually be spin-off comics about the other heroes he meets) - still higher priority than any wips not on this list, but the complete lack of plot makes working on it difficult so...

9. Eternity and Forever - a three part comic about the goddess of carnage and destruction’s plan to destroy all life on earth and those trying to stop her(she’snot the main character but each part has a different main character and the same villain)- I have no idea how long any of the parts are likely to run so I’m somehow putting it off and working on it at the same time

8. Mythicals - six kids in different parts of the world each find an artifact that gives them a magical transformation and powers, years later they all meet at a performing arts school in New York and team up to protect the world - mostly just at this exact spot cause it’s not a drain like the two above but not as important to me as those below

7. Kings - Bandit King Vakhtang joins a rebellion, headed by a young man prophesied to be the next king of their country, because he’s perpetually unsatisfied with life and because the boy offered to pay, they end up teaching each other valuable life lessons - practically interchangeable with Sisa, actually, just that one takes place earlier chronologically

6. Sisa - secluded and lonely king Tupakusi sneaks out of the palace to finally meet his people and makes some distressing discoveries; at the same time, young thief Viper sneaks into the palace to be the first to steal from it and find something he maybe shouldn’t have - yeah

5. Consequences - a college student from our world is transported to another and finds themself physically changed, they set off on a quest to find a way back to their own world and their original shape and happen to learn some things about themself along the way - my One True fantasy story, only one not set in a dubious parallel to our world, so I’m equal parts looking forward to writing the whole fantastical setting and terrified

4. The Completely Unrelated Adventures of Four People Who Had Nothing to do With Each Other Beforehand - four teenagers in a small town in Texas discover that magic is real and that all four of them have it, over the years they get caught up in a dangerous race between two secret organizations for something known only as The Artifact - this is, like, my most Iconic story in title alone, one of the most exciting to write entirely by virtue of the pov character, and the one I’m actually furthest in writing

3. Vagabond Baron - a collection of stories following the life of Konstantin Panotnik as he gains a Barony, gets married, and becomes a national hero - very important to me because I’m drawing from my own disabilities for the main character and also because of how I’m doing the main romance(of course I’m also a little worried about handling either or both of those things wrong but since I’m, again, drawing from my own experiences, it’s not as much of a concern as some of the other things I’m writing)

2. Angel - Angel Prince, in the middle of an internal struggle between identity and religion, discovers a terrible secret and decides they must take action, even if it might tear their family apart - is this far in the list because it pulls the most from real current events, so it feels a little more urgent if I want it to be the social commentary most my wips secretly(or not-so-secretly, depending) are

1. Shadow Warriors - every year, all the twelve year olds in a small mountain town are sent up into a certain mountain for the dragon who lives there to choose a number of them to stay with him and learn his ways, to help him as he gradually loses strength from curse laid on him while he protected the town from an invading army - this story has existed since I was, like, twelve and is literally my oldest story, so it feels only fair to give it top priority

#priority list

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lia-nikiforov · 7 years ago

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Weekly Anime Ra...mblings?

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, I decided to finally start using a Tumblr account I’d created ages ago just so tumblr would let me look at more Free gifs. And the reason I decided to give actual use to this long abandoned account was that I wanted a space to talk about and discuss and engage about the seasonal anime I’m watching, hence why I had this little feature very unoriginally called “Weekly Anime Ranking”, basically listing my favorite and least favorite episodes of the week.

After a few seasons I realized it wasn’t very feasible to write a little paragraph of all 14-20 shows I was watching on a weekly basis, not to mention that I felt I wasn’t really enjoying the episodes because I was constantly thinking of what I’d say in the review and trying to find a good screenshot to use etc etc. Besides, I wasn’t getting a lot of engagement/discussion out of them, ‘cept for that one time the typemoonies got mad at me for hating rape-enabler Archer :’D.

So recently I thought doing a lighter format with just randomly commenting on moments from this week’s episodes that stood out to me instead of forcing myself to find something to say about every single episode could be more fun and this week I had a lot of thoughts that I wanted to vent! So let’s get it started and see how this feels

The first thing I kinda want to talk about is Centaur no Nayami which is one of the most tonally bizarre shows I’ve watched in a while. It’s oddly political but in a noncommitant, fait accompli manner that I find quite strange because it’s not really clear what they’re trying to say at this point.

But what I want to talk about for this episode is this group lesbian vaginal examination because I am so confused.

For context, Hime is commenting on how one time a boy made fun of her asking her if her vagina looked like a cow’s udder, so her two friends agree to show her their vaginas and look at hers to appease her insecurities –due to her centaur anatomy, she has no way of looking herself- and hence this scene.

On the one hand the show’s been pretty upfront about its lesbian characters so far, but I’m so puzzled as to why we had to dedicate 10 minutes of the show to girls looking at each others’ vaginas. In concept it sounds grossly fetishistic, but in execution it’s weirdly non-sexual so I’m… not sure what to make of it??? Is it being critical of how society fabricates reasons to make girls feel self-conscious about their bodies? Is it just trying to be kinky? What is your deal, show?

I think we’ll never know so let’s move on to another strange thing:

So… why is anime getting it on with my lord and savior Quetzalcóatl?

For those who don’t know, Quetzalcóatl is a nahuan (not exclusively Aztec, the Aztecs –which are more properly called Mexica but I digress- were one of many Nahuan peoples) god also known as the Feathered Serpent and is one of –if not the most- important deities in the Nahuan pantheon. Prehispanic Mexican deities pretty much never get portrayed in anime beyond a swashbuckler mixture of sorta Aztec sorta Mayan imagery and “human sacrifices” anecdotes, but in the past half year I’ve seen two references to Quetzalcóatl –as a dragon in MaiDragon and now in Centaur both in mention and also appearing as a new character that shares his name. There’s been some hints at a mystery surrounding the Antartican snakes sprinkled over the show and I’m just like… what are they gonna do with this I’m so confused.

And continuing with the theme of weird Mexico representation, now I kind of wanna bring up the episode everyone’s talking about because it is such a glorious disaster I don’t even know what to say? I think this screencap says it all tbh

Vatican Miracle Examiner was one of my most anticipated shows of the season so it is a little disappointing that it’s becoming the meme of the season and that it deserves it to boot. What started as a potentially interesting -if unoriginal- mystery somehow became a clusterfuck of “exotic” catholicism/satanism that peaked with the revelation that the real life Gestapo official Heinrich Müller somehow smuggled Hitler’s cryogenized corpse into the Mexican jungle and used Hitler’s cryogenized sperm to inseminate two women in the hopes of bringing the second coming of the Fuhrer. There was also some satanic seances and drug-cult-child-sexual-abuse going on in the sidelines (probably the closest thing to actual Catholic church procedures all things considered) and it all culminates with our heroes defeating Hitler’s demonic son by burning him alive and setting him on fire through holy water...

Or was it?

This is so hilarious I can’t find the words. Am I supposed to interpret this as “catholic priests have so little faith in their own religion they carry sulfuric acid because they know holy water wouldn’t work for shit”?

By the way I’m very upset they didn’t do St. Catherine’s martyrdom right. I really wanted to see some dude shredded by a spiky wheel. The Saw franchise’s got nothing on them pre-millenial Catholics

On to less joyous things, Ballroom continues its merciless quest of not living up to its potential to the point I’m starting to believe Amazon’s exhaustive ad campaign and aggressive hype fabrication has actually hurt the show because people expected it to be so much more and it just... isn’t.

We also gotta talk about the animation... or lack thereof. Episode 4 ruined what was supposed to be an incredibly intense tango scene, not only by abusing still shots which is par for the course at this point, but also by committing the grievous sin of telling instead of showing. On my first watch I was so bothered by it that I timed it (loosely): out of a 4:13 minute long dancing scene, two minutes are spent on the actual dancing (and that’s counting the still frames, without them the actual animated dance is barely 50 seconds), whilst the remaining 2:13 minues (half of the scene!!!) are wasted on audience pans and commentary telling us how amazing Hyodo’s dance is. If it’s so amazing let me fucking see it

We also gotta talk about this fucking jerk:

Jerk guy that is actually not a jerk are a commonplace genre staple of shonen anime. THe problem here is that Sengoku has so far shown to be 100% a jerk with zero redeeming qualities and his jerkness crosses the line repeatedly. In particular the way he treats Shizuku is gross. He basically disrespects her in every possible way and never owns up to it and fucking calls her a skank for being reasonably upset and petty because no one talks to her and they treat her like decoration rather than the talented dancer she is and this fucker comes and slutshames her and it’s framed as a fucking joke.

Actually all the men treat Shizuku like a trophy rather than a person and I hope they all die, none of them are worthy of her.

The last thing I want to talk about is Re:Creators because this week was yet another episode of Meteora talking for 25 minutes straight with some bonus “look at us, LN writers, we’re so great, we’re the bestest ever”. It’s kind of a less industry-insider Bakuman.

Something I didn’t mention in my WonFes breakdown was that they showed photos of the Meteora Nendoroid as well as announced a scale which made me wonder because there is no indication any other character of the series is getting any figure treatment: is Meteora the Rem of this show? And most importantly: WHY. She’s literally the exposition mouthpiece and little more and if it were on me she would literally never talk again.

The only thing I got from Re:C this week was this:

English must be stopped

Immediately.

#weekly anime rambling #ballroom e youkoso #vatican kiseki chousakan #centaur no nayami #re:creators #let's see if i can keep this up lol #still took a loooong time to write #and is probably about as long as the rankings were #but i like how it flows #the more i watch ballroom the more i want to extract shizuku from that show #so she can find a partner worthy of her

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 6 years ago

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The lineup isn’t set until Muhyo and Roji’s comes along later on...

Angolmois 2

Ah, I got that explanation of what “Angolmois” is from ANN earlier but now I see how they learnt it.

Someone on ANN showed me the way to a Wikipedia page…which says Sou Sukekuni will die and the Mongols will invade.

Kemari.

There’s something silly about how straightfaced everyone is about chucking Kuchii out…haha.

This mut be the period Kimetsu no Yaiba is set in…because that shiitake boy seems to be similar to Tanjiro (of that series).

“Ah, even the great Jinzaburou-dono is weak at the knees for a pretty princess”…at least, that’s a fairly cliched line if it’s coming from the mouths of one of the characters.

Dang, this man is too much of a shonen hero for a show involving chopping heads off enemies.

There’s a small spotted cat (?) on the roof of one of the houses (?).

“The older you are when you have children, the more you love them.” – Uh, and the more likely it is that they’ll have genetic abnormalities. Just sayin’��

Okay, so Gontarou is the one with the small black moustache. Got it.

The lines on the filter move with the camera! Yikes! That’s going to be a bit distracting…

Oh, Sou Sukekuni’s middle name means “on top of a horse” if I’m guessing the right kanji. That’s exacty where he is now.

I see…so that strategy (shooting arrows straight into the air) would require minimal training and not that much time to pass around verbally.

Uh, was it just me, or did some soldiers look like they were in CGI?

Oh, so Yajirou is the one in the purplish armour. Okay. Update: Nope, Umajirou is his name.

Welp, historical records said Sou Sukekuni would die (like I said at the start of the episode). I just didn’t know it was going to be so soon.

BnHA 52

After a 1 week break, let’s get back into the fray!

I love this OP already! It’s much better than “I keep my ideals! Sorezore no jinsei (etc. etc.)…” at the very minimum already! (Peace Sign is my favourite BnHA OP, by the way, after listening to it a bunch on Spotify.) Interesting how you see Deku through Tooru though…

Iida’s waving in his usual way, I see…(LOL)

Interesting that they call their gyms “alpha”, “beta”, “gamma” etc. At least, that’s the assumption from seeing “gym gamma” in the subs.

The D in TDL stands for daidokoro (kitchen) in Japanese. Alternatively, it could refer to Tokyo Disneyland, which is why Deku refers to a certain mouse.

Ashido was so doing a Kamehameha…or a hadouken…one of them, anyway. I’m not that well-versed in Dragon Ball, y’know.

There’s something kind of sad about how All Might goes “I am here…because I didn’t have anything else to do today!” now that he no longer can retain that muscle form for too long.

“…ask an expert.” – Y’mean…Hatsume, right?

I…can’t believe I’m laughing at this stupid boob joke…(LOL…?)

“Likes: Steampunk” – I was reading a non-fiction book on steampunk and apparently the main appeal for some people is the ability to make everything yourself, as a form of “raging against materialism” and whatnot. Never thought I’d have to mention that in the commentary, but here we are.

Power Loader seems a tad small in comparison to Iida (and probably All Might as well), huh?

Wait…this powered suit…reminds me of a Gundam first and then Wallace’s pants next. *starts humming Wallace and Gromit theme tune*

I kind of read ahead because of my duties on the BnHA wiki, but Deku’s going to end up using a kicking move, right? Right?! The only thing better than a punching move is a kicking move!

I really like Long Hope Philia already…but what is a “philia”, though? Update: It’s the opposite of phobia. It means “brotherly love”.

Lord of Vermilion 1

Also known as “Dude of Red: The Red Dude”. According to the opinions I’ve seen around, this show is probably going to the drop pile, but on the offhand chance it does survive, I’ll have to probably put it on hold anyway…

There’s something funky about those designs…like someone tried too hard to be edgy with the red lines.

Where’d the bubbles come from? Oh wait, he trapped her in the big bubble and that’s how there are smaller bubbles…ohh. Okay.

“Cut the bullshit!” – Welp, you read my mind. How the heck did we get here???

…and Tokyo Tower. Just because we can go there too.

Why is Chiyu monologuing when she has a weapon pierced through her body???

Okay, why are these guys implying there’s a nationalist slant to all this?

Wait, explosion butterflies? C’mon, Buso Renkin did that better!

“A secret arrow. I see.” – For some…reason…I can’t stop myself from laughing! Hahaha, he’s been impaled in the eye and yet he says, “I see,” wahaha!...okay. I’m calm now.

Something tells me someone wasted Dude of Red: The Red Dude’s budget on the OP. Also, all of their storytelling ability went there too…

The ep title clearly ends in a ka, so it’s a question. It should be “Are Our Lives the Debt We Pay to Our Enemies?”, then.

Kote and men appear to be two different strikes in kendo, but also their strike areas...? I’m not sure…

C’mon, if the show started with the high frequency noise, then we wouldn’t have to have suffered through the in medias res segment going too long!

No wonder they call this Dude of Red: The Red Dude…this fog is very red!

“Don’t tell me you have amnesia.” – Oh, great. That’s at least the third amnesiac this season…Island, Planet With and now this! Update: Nope, it was jumping to conclusions…

Jokei…is there a Keijo Uni? (Not to be confused with the T & A sport.)…Nope, the closest thing I got was in Korea…

How do Chihiro and Kotetsu even know Kakihara, anyway?

LOL, somehow that was so chuuni. I feel like I want more but there’s too much of a talent gap between this and the other shows, so it’s going on hold.

Angels of Death 2

Hanebado went on hold since Dude of Red ranked above it.

Isaac Foster, huh? Is that Bandage Man’s name?

I swear the rainbow puke is the most colorful thing in this anime…

Lemme guess…this passage is from the Bible. The show’s holding my interest, it’s just that it’s kind of waning because Satsuriku no Tenshi has been getting some real bad talk all around and yet it’s pretty popular. At least, that’s according to Prattle…

The comedic beats seem out of line with the rest of the show. Like someone was trying too hard to make the show “mainstream”. I’m finally able to put my finger on what I think Satsuriku reminds me of now – it reminds me of The Dog Island, a much more relaxing game. Then again, this is because of all the talk about finding triggers – that game is all “find to complete quests”, so it’s easy to see how the comparison came about.

Gloves? Was someone here earlier?

From far away, the dots on the grave blueprint seem to be Chinese or Japanese, but up close…they’re just dots.

Alright, I get it already…*eyeroll* this is based on a game, Rachel’s said she’s going to die about 4 times already, this scene with the red background is a cutscene yada yada yada…

Oh. Y’know what? This reminds me of ol’ Nancy Drew CD-ROM games! I love those! Plus the banshee scare scene in one of them is poised like a huge jumpscare, that probably would make a better anime than this…

I headcanon Zack is ADHD or something of the sort.

Wellllllll…if there’s one thing I agree with this show on, it’s that suicide is bad.

“You can cry…or something, can’t you?” – Come to think of it, Rachel does come off as a bit of a Rei Ayanami sometimes.

How the heck is he dry enough to be tromping around like that in front of the graves when he just stood in water for so long??? Isn’t he drenched?

There’s something vaguely nostalgic about this show and yet I don’t think it’s good enough to keep on the commentary, so on hold it goes…

Cells at Work 2

Is it just me, or are the background characters CGI…? (Oh man, last time I complained about this was Tsukigakirei…that didn’t go down well, let’s just say that…)

This is a joke from Plyasm, but…don’t lewd the platelets!

It’s the Abyss from Made in Abyss!

There was a segment on the news about how deadly sepsis was recently, so…I’m kind of scared of that bacteria now…

I guess you never wanted to ask for WBC fighting a shark…well, it’s just as weird as Sharknado, only…it’s happening.

*sees “brachial artery”* - This particular RBC likes working near the lungs, huh?

I don’t think we’ve seen the eyecatch for this show before, so…that’s an interesting way of handling things.

Don’t tell me…it’s those adorable lil’ platelets, right??? This is an abrasion, they’ll surely come!

Von Willebrand factor.

The serious WBC made a joke! Amazing!

Planet With 2

I’m calling it now – secretary woman with green-blue hair is the real bad guy! (You can tell by the enthusiasm in my voice that it’s Epileptic Trees time!)

*cue cat faces and masks* - Imagine if they used that censorship in 18+ material…it would be a riot just to look at…

But blue-green haired lady, aren’t there 7 Nebula Soldiers???

…Oh, so that’s what happened to the money Takezo spent…haha.

Geesh, enough with the panties, Sensei…also, couldn’t Souya just go and nick some money, then use it to purchase some meat? Or just beg for food money or ask for an allowance or something in order to get real meat?

Hmm, come to think of it, most of the people have colours in their names – even Souya – but Sensei doesn’t and same with Hideo. But Hideo has the character for “wisdom” in his name and the character for “tiger”, which is the theme of his mecha.

Those meat buns are huge! The size of an adult’s palm! Then again, I’ve been having a bunch of meat buns for breakfast lately and they are that size…sorry, false alarm.

Oh my gosh, this pig Weapon’s even weirder than the bear one!

(muffled laughter in the background) – They wasted perfectly good art on a one-off gag about bean jam…not that I minded, of course, but…hahaha…

Phantom in the Twilight 2

The sign’s Tahoma font is…kind of awkward, actually. I thought that last episode, but haven’t said it in these notes until now.

“You’re such a lazy count.” – Hmm…now if someone removed one of the Os in that sentence…that would be a sketchy sentence indeed.

Notably, Luke’s surname is Bowen.

Toryu was a jiangshi. Called it!

There’s something on Ton’s phone that says “picture”, I’d presume it’s the Chinese and/or Japanese equivalent to the “Pictures” app or folder.

This guy with the glasses – Haysin, I think the guy with the partially-shaved head called him – looks like Chopin from Classicaloid…

To be honest, I’d never actually heard of vampires needing to be invited into places until Shiki came along, so this is only the second time I’ve witnessed it, so to speak.

Who knew a ghost was good enough to be a hacker in the modern age? (smirks with how inventive this is)

All that blue text is definitely not any coding language I know. In fact, it’s mostly gibberish…

Mhmm…a mingling of the supernatural with the technological. Me likey.

…What the heck did Ton just tackle?

Oh my gosh! I’m laughing so hard! A vampire doing karate! I love it!

Is this the beginning of a Haysin x Shinyao ship? Update: His name is Chris, not Haysin. Haysin is the other dude.

Garfunkel though…what a stupid name. Sounds like a cartoonist (Arbuckle), a cartoon cat (Garfield) or a singer (Simon and Garfunkle) though…

I didn’t realise this at first, but Vlad has two spots on the side of his face. Probably beauty spots.

I love how they only put the grainy filter on Vlad while he was reminiscing.

Angolmois 3

I find it interesting that Kuchii uses the armour as the thing the Tsushima people should follow, rather than following him. They probably revere the armour more than the man…

Where’d Kano go, anyway?

The reliance on panning over stills is kind of annoying…

Welp, there’s Kano, right when the plot needs her…or is that one of the exiles…? Kano looked pretty boyish to me.

Koorogi means “cricket”, methinks.

Holmes of Kyoto 2

This is the lowest ranking show right now, so its spot is currently being threatened by the late debuts…not to mention I’m currently one spot over capacity, so something has to go.

The Saio-dai is like a May Queen, apparently. Not that I really know what that means…Update: Oh, there’s an explanation, just when I thought they wouldn’t give it…

“There’s lots of things named Aoi here!” – That’s what I said…last episode.

Saori and Kaori…I’m going to get so confused between these two…

Hmm…well, obviously, if the person were physically close to Saori, that might mean they know each other.

“Sissy” is an insult to me, so I’m surprised to hear it being used as a substitute for “sister” here. (It’s probably “nee-san” in Japanese, or “ane”.)

Hanamura, LOL. (Hanamura = “flower garden”.)

I find it funny that Holmes has LINE stickers of his own. Plus that Aoi’s got his number in as “Holmes-san”.

There is quite clearly some sort of romantic subplot here. Also, why is it that Aoi only ever seems to be motivated by either personal matters or romantic ones???

Noticeably, Kaori’s the only one of the trio which is wearing pants…

The backgrounds in this show are so pretty! Too bad there’s credits over the top…

Mt Kurama is known for its tengu legend…but the “you may meet a handsome man filled with overwhelming arrogance” made me LOL hard.

The thing about this show is that it’s giving me flashbacks to Detective Conan, both good and bad, which makes it hard to comment on. On hold it goes.

BnHA 53

Why is the title “THE Shiken”, though? (Emphasis on “the”, since having the title half in English doesn’t seem to make sense…)

The different characters that appear on the screen are variants of koi, which is one of 3 ways to say “love”. However, the three are different types of love.

Inasa is to enthusiasm like Bakugo is to anger…uh…

Oh dear…is this another Christmas cake lady???

This black spikyhead is You Shindo, right? He and Midoriya looks kind of similar…

1540 divided by 2 is 770…yowch, 770??? That’s kind of small when it’s one of 3 locations for Japanese students, plus whoever else in the state is training to be a hero.

Cells at Work 3

Naïve…? Oh, it’s a naïve T cell! I forgot about those guys!

I love how the naïve T cell is actually naïve, plus the zombies have hats that aren’t brains, but bits of cells.

100 degrees…C or F???

Why does this T cell give me RBC flashbacks???

Cyotoxic T cells…man, those words bring back memories. I had to memorise stuff about T cells and B cells for biology way back when. In fact, I think I learnt this entire process. If only I had Cells at Work then…

Would the normal person even know what a dendrite is, though??? They wouldn’t know it has protrusions if they don’t know what a dendrite is!!!

Aw, the Naïve T Cell’s gotta be protected. Not as much as the platelets, but still…

Helper T Commander is eating dango! That’s too cute!

Ohmigosh, it’s like Gon from HxH, you know, the meme version of him with the long hair? It’s so silly and yet so perfect for this purpose!

The Effector T Cell’s face looks familiar…Then again, this is David Production so that would explain part of it…(For those who don’t get it: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.)

Apparently the eccrine sweat glands are the major sweat glands…

2/10. Platelets only appeared for 2 seconds at the end (LOL).

Tsukumogami Kashimasu 1

You probably didn’t know this, but I became a fan of Lily Hoshino through Kigurumi Guardians…

Ooh, I like the titlecards already! By the way, obiage is something used to hide the obi.

Netsuke.

What’s with this song…? It sounds like someone put traditional music into a pop music blender and put female vocals over the top…oh, Miyavi. That might explain something.

Well, there you go…I didn’t need to Google netsukes after all.

That flower there is a morning glory…the one with the white centre.

Why does there seem to be a vibe that the sister likes the brother in ~that~ way???

This is kind of like Toy Story…isn’t it?

The transitions are kind of disorienting…I almost felt dizzy right there…

Koku.

“So the letters Sanae-sama was receiving are from someone else that she loved before getting betrothed…?” – No duh. That’s how it always goes in Detective Conan.

“So he believes that ultimately humans never cherish us curios.” – There were your Deep Themes of the day, folks.

Hmm…that’s a tough one. On the one hand, I’m kind of squicked out by potential romance between Seiji and his “nee-san”. On the other hand, there was a lot of talking (which I don’t mind), but the logic behind these mysteries didn’t quite make sense because the emphasis for this show is the supernatural (also not a dealbreaker). The narrator’s helpful, but a tad intrusive to the story’s flow, plus it’s kind of hard to see where conclusions were made due to even more problems explaning logic (in parts that are meant to explain the logic) than Holmes of Kyoto. It’s meant to be charming, but if I keep going through the show with not that much emotion, it’s probably destined fo the drop pile…

Planet With 3

Kumashiro…panda in Japanese is “panda”, but kuma = bear and shiro = white…if not castle, that is. Update: This “shiro” is neither of those...

Kigurumian, huh? Kigurumi = mascot suit, so…uh…

Who was the girl with the blue dress…? Another Mizukami heroine, I presume?

These bathroom jokes are bad…but I’m laughing at them…

So Nezuya…is just a chuuni??? Wuh???

It’s a parody of Mu again…? Is that magazine really that popular in Japan?

The other girl (not Nozomi) has a senbei rice cracker in her mouth.

Moleke-mbembe.

Phantom 2

I love how Wayne detaches his hand to scratch his head. It reminds me of zaShunina frim Kado and what he’d do with his hands…*gets flashbacks to zaShunina strangling Shindou* Uh, yeah, maybe that’s not the best comparison though…

Fought Dracula? Wasn’t he from Romania though?

Wayne King everywhere…it’s more like self-wan-oh, I’ll spare you the dirty joke, okay?

Wait, are the Twilights meant to stand in for something in the real world if they have government and international support? Refugees, maybe?

Hmm? Luke’s pasta…? What’s this (owo)?

Luke reminds me of Impey from Code:Realise…I think this is the second time he’s done that.

I love how Ton takes Shinyao’s rescue into her own hands. It shows how strong their friendship is.

*Luke howls* - What is that idiot doing now???

*sees burnt cookies* - Welp, at least we don’t have ourselves an invincible heroine who can do everything, either.

Is it just me, or when Ton runs out to protect Luke, are her booty shorts longer??? Update: When I looked at them later, they seemed to be the same length…

When did Chris get rid of his glasses???

Toryu’s raison d etre is “more dakka”, as they say.

Okayyyyyyyy…”jumping across water” is just a bit over the limit of what I think a werewolf can do…

Toryu’s plait seems to move with his emotions…and was that an eye I saw glowing in that fringe of his? Ooh…interesting.

Angolmois 4

Why do all Mongolians in media sport the Fu Manchu moustache, anyway…? Either that or the Chinese (the official in Mulan had a similar kind of moustache)…

Matouqin. It looked like a Chinese word, but it was actually Mongolian…

There seems to be unrest among the Mongols, huh. Jurchen…seems to be racial discrimination of some variety.

Dantsuke mochi. The link is to an academic PDF which discusses the Mongol invasion.

Huh? Apparently Holmes of Kyoto references sashimo grass…but apparently in English the grass is called “moxa” or “mugwort”.

Oh, post-credits segment. Keep watching…

Oh, wow…you can really see the parallels between Teruhi and Sasamaru now…when everything burns to the ground.

BnHA 54

Ite means “archer”, IIRC.

Shindou = oscillation, tremor, vibration (different kanji though). Once he released that earthquake, that made me realise why You Shindou’s powers make a lot of sense. Plus the “You” matches the yu in yurasu (Vibrate).

Oh! The “arashi” in Yoarashi means “storm”…ah! I understand now!

This Camie lady is bascally Catwoman with sludge…

Cells at Work 4

I bet the segment at the start of this episode is the same as every other episode’s…

You can see a female platelet checking out how food is dissolved…she’s so adorable!

Capriccio…then again, why does the basophil speak in riddles???

Those two platelets staring at the basophil with his umbrella…LOL!

Emesis = vomiting.

Seriously though. This basophil’s so chuuni, it’s pretentious…

This was probably the least funny of the episodes so far due to the threat level…and of course, platelets were only in the background this time.

Planet With 4

Who was it that wanted a harem of high school girls again? Actually, that’s Imamura from Grand Blue, isn’t it…?

Mont St Michel. Heard of it before (I think it’s in Lupin III even), but it didn’t ring a bell for a second…

Seriously, how self-centred is Nezuya, anyway?

Hmm…this team-up reminds me of when Team Rocket would team up with Ash (Pokémon) somehow…but that’s because the “good” and “bad” guys (as much as we can call either side that) are joining forces.

“What’s a hangover?” – LOL, Souya really is such a kid…

*dragon eats Ginko and Miu* - Wow…’tis the season for vore…

Even Souya got a hangover, LOL!

0 notes

beeblackburn · 8 years ago

Note

What are your other favorite novels besides TSOIAF?

Thanks for the question!

OH GOOD GOD WHERE DO I BEGIN?

Putting a “Keep reading” cut because some spoilers for the Realm of the Elderlingsseries and much gushing over one… okay, maybe two of the The First Law sequel standalones.

First off, most of the novels from the Realm of the Elderlings series. (I’m not totally a fan of Golden Fool and even less of a fan of City of Dragons, except for the Malta, Alise and Sedric parts. Seriously, Malta is better than you all.) Hobb has this romantic melancholy that’s dripping with atmosphere throughout her stories. And I honestly like the meandering in her stories. It builds up this idyllic atmosphere and character development before Hobb’s punctures it and her characters with extreme violence inflicted onto them.

But if I had to single out books… Mad Ship, Fool’s Errand, Dragon Haven and Fool’s Quest.

Mad Ship because I kind of love Wintrow’s character arc here, balancing out his introspective tendencies (and condescension, let’s be honest) with the pragmatism of being in very dangerous territory and having to adapt in ways he never expected from the start of the trilogy. And I rather love how it comes out here and the jarring shift in perspective he has to have.

And this was the first book I got really… engaged with Kennit as a person. Ship of Magic, I was more disgruntled and sighing at his distrust of practically everyone, enemies and allies. I liked his character and Kennit was an intriguing bastard, but he lacked a sort-of human dimension for me. Here, it becomes damn clear that Kennit’s been through so much damage.

And his relationship with Etta and Wintrow and Vivicia is just really kind of intriguing and interesting and engaging to read because it felt like new territory for these characters and I love the way they bounced off each other in this book. They fed and worked off each other splendidly and I even got a few sad feels over Kennit with his relationship with Wintrow.

(No, I’m not excusing his behavior in Ship of Destiny, just pointing out that Mad Ship gave Kennit more dimensions for me to sink my teeth into.)

Althea, Brashen and the other Vestrit family members stopped making me slap my forehead a quarter of the time as well! With a common goal and united together, they were a force to reckon with. Shame it didn’t happen a book earlier, but hey, I’ll take what I can get. Paragon and Amber’s relationship was super intriguing (Amber has the best quote in Mad Ship by far) and Paragon is… Paragon. :)

Also, I STOPPED wanting to push Malta off a bridge. Forever. After a book and a half of her being the world’s most brattiest daughter (and bridge-pushing worthy) her POV became a delight to read because she finally got her priorities straight. The intelligence and cunning was always inside her, she just focused it onto other areas.

ALSO SHE STRONGARMED A DRAGON INTO HELPING HER. Heart eyes, yo.

Fool’s Errand was just great because it was the start to a whole new Fitz. A more dangerous, more competent and “not taking any shit” Fitz. He was rude, he was addicted to elfbark, he snapped back at Chade (honestly, I don’t blame him here), he cuts off all sexual relations with Starling after realizing her marriage, he’s quite obstinate to Dutiful and… that scene. Just that scene. If you read the novel, you know the scene.

Also more Fitz and Fool is wonderful. Along with Nighteyes. It’s a great three-way dynamic between all three and Fitz continued to shine as one of my favorite fantasy protagonists ever, showing off an older, mayhaps wiser, Fitz while making me cringe as he keeps retreating, he cuts himself from people he loves and probably love him back because he thinks they won’t care for him or that he’ll just trouble them.

It’s just a really good, self-contained book in my opinion, containing a nice main plot and a few good subplots thrown into the pot. It starts off slow as Robin Hobb books are like to do and subjects you to a tense storyline full of bang fantastic finishes and narrative pay-offs like you wouldn’t believe that hurt. That really hurt and twist in your heart.

I have an irrational soft spot for Dragon Haven. Sedric, Leftrin and Alise’s arcs were all amazing and I love how Sedric and Alise navigated their respective past abusive relationships and forged onward after realizing and accepting how awful their partner was. My heart ached for Sedric and Alise, even when they were screw-ups in their own right.

Fool’s Quest is just the book that Robin Hobb kept breaking my heart every 20-30 pages. It was so packed full of call-backs, narrative pay-offs, tragedy and heartbreak and triumphs and… I actually never wanted to facepalm at Fitz once. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love how deer-headed Fitz can be sometimes, but other times, they made me sigh and see red at Fitz for being an idiot (I’m talking that scene in Golden Fool.)

Here? Absolutely none of that. Everything made dramatic and characterization sense. There’s just a beauty and believable desperation in Fitz’s inner monologue over the circumstances of this novel. I love the way the story is paced, the snowy jewel that is Hobb’s prose, the old characters I meet again (Chade and Nettle) and the new characters I learn more about and like (Shun and Lant) and the settings Fitz treks to. This novel’s what I’d actually consider the best-constructed Robin Hobb story so far. No contest.

My all-time favorite fantasy standalone though? The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie. I love it, I just love it to pieces, I have a lot of embarrassing emotions for it and I’m pretty unapologetic about it. I have reread that book about 5-6 times and it’s still hilarious, insightful, pithy and full of rich characterization that I can chuckle at and feel a twig of empathy for.

It’s full of anti-war imagery and themes, but what I especially love about it are three things in particular:

1. I love how well Abercrombie captures the “sexy” nature of military bureaucracy. He’s done it with West’s chapters in The First Law, but here, he captures how frustrating it is to deal with the chain of command from a grunt and commander perspective, given his shifting POVs and how slow and unreliable communication between the ranks can be in medieval times.

Good and shit men die, not because the enemy host was stronger or better than their host, but because lack of military intelligence, fog of war, racial prejudice, inability to take advantage of the terrain or inter-military rivalries. Sometimes, your men die because the messenger you sent to give your orders to them got shot by a stray arrow. By sheer luck, men can lose their lives.

Also, Tunny. Tunny is a one-man commentary on military chain of command.

2. The prose. Abercrombie writes battle scenes like no one’s else business. In my opinion, he writes some of the most chaotic, blood-rushing and deafening war scenes ever, perfectly capturing what it’s like for a common soldier to fight in the middle of a warzone… and how utterly nuts it is, given all that clangor and blades flying. Basically, read the “Casualties” chapter. It’s a masterpiece.

But Abercrombie isn’t content with writing visceral, skull-bashing action, he’s also hilarious, full of sardonic asides and witticisms into his descriptions. Basically, every thought out of Gorst and Calder’s head is gold, Gorst’s in how acidic, self-pitying and sarcastic it is (oh my god, the letter he writes to the King of the Union alone… and stuff like this in the middle of a battlefield: “Gorst had the expression of a boy who had been told he could not have a puppy this year.”) and Calder in how sardonic, slippery and self-conscious it can be.

And his prose is always clear-cut, but it sings with how accessible and seamless it feels to read. It’s beautiful in a sharp way, most sentences are meant to cut you with a feeling and they hit their marks generally. That’s the thing about Abercrombie’s works: they’re infinitely quotable, almost every line hilarious, poignant, brutal or darkly funny.

3. THE CHARACTERIZATION BECAUSE ABERCROMBIE EXCELS HERE.

First off, I love Beck. He’s a kid who goes through a well-treaded “war is hell” arc, but it works here because 1. he wasn’t a total innocent, he was an asshole at the start and that’s okay, Abercrombie doesn’t gloss over teenage entitlement, 2. the way he finds out about how hellish war can be is rather shocking in a genre sense, 3. The First Law is all about people trying to escape the cycle of violence and failing and only getting out through death or getting out before your wrists are drenched in blood. Beck’s fate at the end is downright refreshing as a result.

Also, Gorst. Gorst is one fascinating onion from outer layer to the deepest depths of himself. You get all this noted politeness from the giant he is, his constant scathing, contemptuous inner monologue, snarking at everyone’s blaring incompetence, some truly messed-up impulses from his psyche and some really savage swordplay from a “gentle giant” of a man. Gorst is layered and the narrative pay-off for his arc at the end is truly Abercrombiesque.

Finree. Okay, this woman is awesome. Flawed and she constantly blurs the lines of decency and self-interest, love and ambition, gritted politeness and sharp bluntness, but she is awesome and she’s a fascinatingly different perspective on war, both from her relations with her commander father and husband and her own cunning. When you stare down and snipe at both Bayaz and Black Dow, wiping the smirk off Bayaz’s face, you win. You just win to me.

Craw was a cool old guy and I love how Abercrombie doesn’t really tear down the “honor gets you dead” idea that more nihilistic, darker fantasies (including his own!) here. Craw being a “Straight Edge” is actually what gains him social cache and nets him approval from others. People trust him not to stab them in the back and, for the most part, Craw’s not really punished for that so much as his sense of ethics doing it for him. Plus, it’s really fascinating to get a peek into Black Dow’s psyche through Craw’s eyes.

(Also, holy crap, Shivers. You’re scary. You’re so very scary, you’re more ruthless and nihilistic Sandor and my heart kind of hurts for you, but you’re frightening as hell.)

But yeah, I just want to talk about Prince Calder because so many emotions over this scheming bastard. His first chapter already endeared me to his characterization, being an ambitious, scheming, quippy fallen prince who has a heart of silver (bronze more like) towards his wife, his growing insecurities over his place in this warrior society gave me room to empathize with and even his blunt, direct scheming was charming in a win-less way. And his ruthlessness with strangers was par for the course of Abercrombie protagonists.

Then Scale’s initial fate on the battlefield and Calder’s reaction to it.

Calder only grew more awesome from there when he finally decided to start walking the talk and apply himself into showing the kind of leader he could be. From the military actions he takes, to the funny stuff he commits to, to being snarky under pressure, I grew more and more respect for him not being all talk while acknowledging he’s done some ugly stuff in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

And then his interactions with Black Dow and Bayaz at the end. My brain cheered at the former and it melted at the latter. That meeting was legendary. And then his last chapter. Calder is playing a ballsy as all hell game in the North. It’s just… Calder’s got layers and probably the best character arc in The Heroes.

So yeah, The Heroes, I will always gush unabashedly. Great characters, tight pacing, wonderful themes, smooth prose, witty quotes, hilarious remarks, what’s not to love?

That being said, Red Country has really growing on me a lot in the past year ever since I got more into the Western genre and the writing style in my university courses. It might be Abercrombie’s warmest of his first six novels where not all characters are strictly bastards or monsters, some just being normal people whose only crime is being stuck in a moral rut and not being strong enough to break out of it yet or dark people genuinely trying to reach for better. Same world, but different cast of characters, a relatively moral one.

In that sense, I really appreciate Red Country as Abercrombie deconstructing himself. Temple and Shy are two normal people caught in the muck of darker people and made witnesses to even blacker deeds. It’s genuinely jarring when I read Cosca, one of my favorite anti-heroes, become a dark, dark man since last time, his humor intertwined with horror and atrocity he perpetuates onto more innocents now. And Lamb… let’s just say I got the chills reading Lamb and my reactions to them were Temple and Shy’s reactions to them.

And yet, it’s not entirely pitch-black. The same cutting humor is still there, but there’s a gentle wistfulness in this work barely there in The Heroes. There are some people who regret their black deeds of the past and some who want to rise above the mud again… and some even succeed, believe it or not. For the most overt time, Abercrombie allows some characters to change for the better. After a shitton of skulls, but it’s par for the course of Abercrombie.

@racefortheironthrone also, I’m curious. I’ve seen that you’ve read Abercrombie and commented on the world-building of The First Law but what’s your take on the sequel standalones as stories of themselves?

As for other favorites… Wolf Hall (very well-written historical fiction), The Goblin Emperor (not a book for cynics), The Lies of Locke Lamora (reread 3-4 times, such a beautiful jewel of prose) and the entirety of The Dagger and the Coin quintet (seriously, read it for Geder Palliako and Clara Kalliam, such rich characters that deconstruct well-worn tropes).

#robin hobb #realm of the elderlings #golden fool #city of dragons #mad ship #fool's errand #fool's quest #dragon haven #joe abercrombie #the heroes #red country #wolf hall #the goblin emperor #the lies of locke lamora #the dagger and the coin #too many character tags

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