#ffxv criticism

[grandwitchbird]

There’s always been a lot of discussion around the way Ardyn’s tragedy is reflected in the chocobros.

But what always sticks out to me is that we only start to understand him after he’s killed his biggest reflection: Luna. We actually see the moment his mask cracks in the scene at the altar, because Luna is very much the most direct parallel to Ardyn. She’s a healer running on blind faith in a doomed world. She’s self-sacrificing and brave and devoted like Ardyn was. She’s truly blind to the plans of the gods she serves, like Ardyn was. And, most cruelly, she wears the face of the woman he loved, the woman whose betrayal* has been used to turn him into the monster we meet in the main story.

This gets underscored in the novellas when we finally get Luna’s perspective. The blindfold of her faith is removed. She’s cursed exactly like Ardyn. But she’s not safely removed from every source of help the way Ardyn was. The gods made a critical mistake. So she immediately sets out to use everything she can to fight the gods. She’s not broken like Ardyn because she’s not alone in this world. She even asks Ardyn himself for help. And, critically, he helps this cursed and less faithful but still-devoted and brave Luna.

This is why we get that uncharacteristic sincere brutality in the scene with Luna. Killing her is meaningless on its own: she’s a dead woman walking. That was for Noctis. But when she reaches out to him as his past self, so full of faith and devotion and grace, he has to reject her. He’s a monster and the world is damned, and she’s quoting the dogma that damned him personally. She hit home with everything he wants and grieves: his humanity, his faith, his sense of the world before his devotion was rewarded with betrayal. So he hits back. And it’s perhaps the most human thing he does in the game. Because there’s a part of him that wanted to take her hand.

* she was his betrayer and proof of his brother’s betrayal and was betrayed herself for her trust: Aera like Luna is an incredible narrative hinge. She’s the absolute encapsulation of the gods’ twisted justice.

[momochanners]

Even more Thank You sketches for recent new patrons over at my P*treon ^_^

[librarysrestrictedsection]

5 Fics for March

So, since I decided to claw my way out of my writing funk (at least for NSFW writing), I figured that I would see if there were any specific past ideas or prompts that anyone wanted me to write or something new. I wanted to give the choice over, so that I would stop stressing so much about what I should write or which prompts.

SO! I am going to write FIVE fics for the month of March (hopefully).

These fics will be of my choosing, so you can submit multiple prompts and ideas. It will then come down to me to decide which ones I'll write.

I'll try and make a post tracking the submissions, if it takes the whole month to get five (which I hope not -_- )

Now, with all that being said, here are some guidelines, of sorts:

No vague prompts

Check my tumblr archive or ao3 to see what I write

If it is a previously prompt or idea, link it

No gore, super dark, hardcore noncon

No spam submitting the same prompt over and over

Alright! Hope that will kick my writing muse into work!

List of the fics that I have written for this challenge:

1.) To "Sleep" Together (SVSSS, Cumplane, Consensual Somno) 2.) Pleasing the Warrior (FFXV, CorNoct, CorNyxNoct, God AU) 3.) Living Armor & Its Usage (AC:O, Alexios/Kolossus, Alexios/Hermes, Living Armor) 4.) Kitchen Surprise (MDZS, MingXian, Modern AU) 5.) Toys to Test (AC:O, Alexios/Kolossus, Alexios/Hermes)

[evilpenguinrika]

Favourite Character Poll

Rules: Make a poll with five of your all time favourite characters and then tag five people to do the same. see which character is everyone’s favourite!

thank you @elpantalones for the tag!! :D oh gosh this took me forever just picking five faves LOL

tagging: @jasminslibrary @uncleasad @roservssell and whoever else wants to do this also you're not obligated to do this either a;dlkfjad;dkljf o(*°▽°*)o

[frieza-pp]

why is there suddenly plot in my driving-with-bros video game

[flowers-of-tenebrae]

So I went deep diving into the tags & filled my queue with old NxL posts that I hadn't seen/rb

Nice to see ppl still misunderstanding Luna's character and throwing her under the bus in 2022-24

[castielheartless]

The three people are not in the same universe but they have at least one thing in common. They all handle firearms.

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

Final Fantasy XV’s ending (esp the final boss) left much to be desired but I’m not going to sit here and pretend I wasn’t ugly sobbing through most of it. Love those chocobro bois. Admittedly, I paid $17 US for a package that included all the DLCs and not $60 for an unfinished game an another $20-ish for each DLC so I imagine that colored some peoples’ opinions

oh yea dont get me wrong, i'll forever mourn what versus xiii would've been if they allowed nomura to cook a few more years instead of handing the project to someone else halfway through!! ffxv is an unfinished mess but it's MY unfinished mess yknow.......

chocobros theyll never make me hate you guys NEVER

[rednether]

I can't believe XV fans prefer Ifrit's lame ass humanoid design over his badass and cool XVI design

[madrosie]

25000 likes!

[librarysrestrictedsection]

I'm bored!

Give some ships/ideas/prompts to write.

They might just be short things, but my think tank is empty.

[ultimablades]

Had a very harrowing drive home from work (we were in a winter storm rip) but then my static finally cleared P8S…I needed this W!!!! I wanted to write bards and I still might but honestly my brain feels kinda squishy, so I think I might just go play FFXV for a bit…been wanting to replay it for a while and take a break from FFXIV to prevent raiding induced burnout so!! What better time!!!!

[domdinh]

Hey, Tumblr!

I'm so stoked to have been apart of this wonderful lil game called Date Everything!, where you can literally date EVERYTHING in your home.

This game was created by the wonderful minds of Sassy Chap Games, produced by:

Ray Chase (voice of Noctis in FFXV, Neuvilette in Genshin, Roy in Fire Emblem)

Robbie Daymond (voice of Prompto in FFXV, Goro in Persona 5, Dorian in Critical Roll)

Max Mittelman (voice of Ryuji in Persona 5, Saitama in One Punch Man, Plagg in Miraculous)

Amanda Hufford (voice of Ragatha in The Amazing Digital Circus, Spectral Shifter Morgan in SMITE, Haniyyah in Genshin Impact)

This game has it all; 100 dateable characters FULLY voiced by your favorite voice actors, at least 3 endings per character, and as part of the writing staff of this game, I can guarantee you'll laugh, cry, and overall just have a fun time getting to know all of these characters!

I'm so pumped to have been apart of this game and we hope you'll enjoy it when we eventually release!

Watch the trailer on YouTube here!

It's releasing on ALL platforms so wishlist us on Steam, Xbox, PS5, and Nintendo Switch!

[flowers-of-tenebrae]

edit: because apparently it needs to be said. despite this being a more critical post, it is NOT an invitation for you to share why you think Noctis/Luna don't make sense to YOU. don't be rude and make your own post about that instead. if you couldn't tell, I absolutely do ship these two and would rather not see your contrary thoughts (I saw enough of that back in 2016-18).

-

the romance in ffxv would "make more sense" if it was written or read as josei (you guys the tropes are there)

but that would require 1) sqex writers to invest more effort into fleshing out and showing romantic relationships onscreen. this includes writing female characters (or other genders, it's just thus far the main romances in ff have been m/f) as more than an afterthought, a guiding motivation or quiet support for the main character. that is, give them their own motivations and full character arc, show their journey (literal and figurative!!) or pivotal parts of it on screen, and for gods sake don't write them into contrived situations that ignore logic (i.e. the characters' mindset and abilities) and only serve to push the plot along

and 2) players to view the characters' relationships from a perspective other than their own for once, i.e. disengage with one's own irl preferences or morals and consider the mindset of the characters involved - why would they be romantically interested in the other character(s)

(ffx still is the best written ff romance imo. it doesn't overpower the narrative but it is strongly intertwined nearly every step of the way. it invites the audience along for the ride, but it's actually more grounded, more normal than epic despite the stakes. most importantly it is satisfying for many players, y'know bc yuna and tidus are both major characters, protagonists who are never sidelined in their own game)

p.s. epistolary romances are great; try reading some! (yes ffxv could have, should have included actual personal letters between noctis and luna. at least dotf tries to amend that, but i don't really buy that they never EVER sent each other long drawn out and/or embarrassingly personal letters they regretted sending until they received a reply that nearly made them weep with relief)

p.p.s i am the #1 advocator for "they should've showed us more of luna's journey (or let us play as her!!)" and "luna should've joined the party" and "noctis and luna should've interacted more (on screen)"

[sasouken]

here is a list of muses i want to write a little more, so like for a starter ! if you don't specify which muse you'd like, i'll randomize it ! if you have any questions, feel free to reach out ! i will also be queueing them !

jester lavorre - critical role

mollymauk tealeaf - critical role

mabel pines - gravity falls

evie grimhilde - disney's descendants

hawks / keigo takami - bnha

hoshi kimura - soul eater oc but primarily used in bnha verse / open to other verses

scaramouche - genshin impact

kaveh - genshin impact

yuji itadori - jjk

tsumiki fushiguro - jjk

megumi fushiguro - jjk

satoru gojo - jjk

yuuta okkatsu - jjk

dean winchester - supernatural

tohru honda - fruits basket

vesper arlo - voltron oc

rayne storms - fandomless oc ( has a number of verses )

rovian thalias - vampire/elf oc

prompto argentum - ffxv ( canon divergent )

kairi - kh

[aberooski]

Assigning Final Fantasy summons to GX characters because why not?

With specifications on which version of the summons I've assigned them, only some genuine explanations of my thought process, and I will take no criticisms 😌

In my mind how this works is that the summons function like they do in 13 at least at least to a certain point. Like how they obtain their summon at some point throughout whatever story is being told here, or maybe some of them have obtained them already, and they're summoned via crystals in the heat of battle when needed. So in my mind as I'm picturing all of this, I'm picturing the 13 summoning technique to an extent.

Alright, let's get into it!

Jaden - Anima (FFX)

If you know the Anima lore you know this is actually so big brain

Yubel -> Anima

Syrus - Valefor (FFX)

I like the idea of Sy and Zane having a similar type of summon (Zane gets Bahamut, spoilers) with them both being creatures that fly, a dragon and a big bird. But Sy's is weaker in power and has a gentler spirit, but that spirit is strong. Very thematically accurate for them.

He could also have Doomtrain to sync up with his deck archetype I think that would be funny

But he gets Valefor because I have a lot of sentimental value towards her and she's one of my favorite summons and he's my favorite and I said so 😌

Chazz - Ixion (FFX)

My favorite lightning summon

Thunder boy and his lightning horsie ⚡

I would honestly just love to see it

Alexis - Shiva (FFX version cuz she's my fav summon period)

Decks are being taken into account and she plays an ice deck in the manga and while she's in the society of light in season 2 🧊

I don't have a crazy in depth explanation for this I just feel it in my soul. I've always said she would be a Shiva girl like me even without her and Atty both having an ice elemental association betwixt all the GX media.

Giving my favorite girl my favorite summon

Atticus - Diablos (FFVIII)

Nightshroud -> Darkness -> Diablos.

Another big brain choice actually

He could've also had Shiva pretty easily tbh and I considered that, but ultimately went with Diablos for the Darkness representation.

I mean come in, the guy is basically possessed by the main evil entity of the show and Diablos is essentially the devil.

Bastion - Leviathan (FFVIII)

His ace monster is Water Dragon, come on now. 💧🐉

Hassleberry - Titan (FFXV)

Titan is a big strong man as is our boy

Also he's Earth element and if Hassleberry had an element he would be Earth I feel it in my non-dinosaur bones.

Sadly there are no dinosaur summons I'm sorry bby 😞

Chumley - Choco/Mog (FFVII)

I'll be so for real I had such a hard time figuring out Chumley like from the summons I had left to choose from cuz I added Blair and Chumley to the list last, I couldn't find one I thought fit super great

But as I was going over the summons lists again I pictured these guys appearing alongside Chum and I just smiled. It just made me smile and so does he.

Sometimes it's just that simple.

But I did also consider Fenrir as an option as well.

Blair - Siren (FFVIII)

Siren specializes in status ailments (silence specifically) and you could argue her love deck reolves around a status ailment, namely Maiden In Love causing male monsters to fall in love with her, which actually is sort of a thing in some FFs through the Lamia enemy but shhhh

8's Siren can also heal status ailments so that gives Blair more abilities available to her to support the party

Valefor would've been another choice for her I just feel the vibe there but I want Sy to have her so 😌

Garuda could be another decent potential choice for her as more of a combative summon than a support summon, I feel that vibe too.

But I dunno I was just drawn to Siren for her so there you go.

Zane - Bahamut (FFVII Remake or FFXIII/XIII-2)

Dragon

Bahamut is typically among the most powerful of all the summons if not the most powerful depending on the game.

I'm wrestling between 7R and 13, 7R has almost some cybernetic action going on that gives me Cyber End energy while maintaining the classic dragon design, and 13 has Chaos Bahamut in 13-2 so he could have Bahamut then it could morph into Chaos Bahamut once he enters the Edgelord Supreme era to facilitate the shift from Cyber End to Cyber Dark if you follow my brain's logic

Aster - Phoenix (FFXVI)

......I-I mean..... Phoenix... Aster.... Aster Phoenix..... 😅

I literally could not resist 🤭

I would also except Odin for him though I think that would be cool too that's a vibe

Jesse - Carbuncle (FFVI)

Ruby Carbuncle ✋

Axel - Ifrit (FFX)

The perfected classic design imo

Badass fire boy 🔥

Like dude imagine Axel with Ifrit by his side

Unmatched

Jim - Syldra (FFV)

Syldra was Faris's pet and best friend since childhood who became a summon later in the game after sacrificing herself. Very reminiscent of Shirley being Jim's best friend/pet/protector since they were both young.

The implications of of the idea of Shirley sacrificing herself for Jim and becoming the summon makes me upset tho so we can just delete any timeline where that happens 😁

Crowler - Alexander (FFVIII or FFXIII)

Alexander is typically a machine or like a straight building or structure of some kind and Crowler plays Ancient Gears so 🏰

8 is a very good classic Alexander, just a great summon, and 13's I have a lot of sentimental value for but also him being a guy that turns into a defensive wall in Gestalt mode and with the way Crowler will put himself between harm and the kids at times.... thematically accurate Alexander?

Crowler wouldn't be beating the Dad allegations any time soon with that version on his side

7 Rebirth's Alexander is a close 3rd choice I think too I really like that design

With Alexander I was trying to think about practicality cuz they're all so massive and occasionally story relevant so he's not always a readily available summon so I sadly ruled out 9 and Type-0 as much as I really wanted him to have either of those too

Really wrestling with the specifics of this one

Sheppard - Ramuh (FFIX)

Wise old man

Sheppard is kinda dumb tho and makes some questionable decisions but he means well he's got the spirit

Banner - Chaos (FFXII)

In the lore, Chaos died and and was reborn several times.

Banner died and was reborn when he transferred himself into a new body, then he died, then still stuck around as a ghost.

Debated switching Phoenix from Aster to Banner and finding another one for Aster but clearly I did not lol

Also considered Phantom from 6 because it's just a ghost and uh.... Ghost Banner. But Chaos is cooler.

Adrian - Zalera (FFXII)

I was gonna give him Odin because of the insta kill move and how he had Exodia which is an automatic win but then I was looking at the summons list and was looking through the 12 Espers and listen.

Zalera is an Esper of death who clutches a woman in his arms and uses her wails to inflict death.

This really reminds me of Echo clutched in Exodia's hand screaming as she's being murdered by Adrian in the interest of obtaining Exodia.

Plus we had no 12 representation I chose Banner's after this and as 12 is my second favorite ff behind 10/10-2 that is criminal.

Welcome to my mind. 😌