#gladio does a full on campfire story

[shitpostingkats]

Thinking a lot about how Ignis is given a prophetic vision and then immediately after loses his eyesight.

He sees himself, ten years from now, scars down his face, vision clearly gone, and still, still he doesn't hesitate to put on the ring. He knows, without a shadow of a doubt, that his eyesight won't come back, because he's seen it, seen himself, but he still tries to play it off for a while, give the others hope that his disability isn't permanent. How this makes his comment near the end of the game that he can sense light suspect, because we the player know he is 100% willing to lie about these things to make the people around him feel better.

And just. The fact that he also knows without question that their king will return. He has Seen it. The idea of him reassuring the others, burdened as he is with the knowledge of what will come after, that Noctis is coming back, he just Knows it. And he knows it's going to take a long time. Of course, he could use his vision to guess when it starts getting close, could know it by the length of Gladio's hair or Prompto adopting a goatee. But those details are a lot harder to keep track of when one's blind.

And of course, the fact that he doesn't need to see when they open up the door to the throne room, because he already knows what's going to be in there.

[saltmine-tbd-blog]

While I’m at it. Let’s talk Gladiolus.

From what we see in Brotherhood, Gladiolus spends time with his sister, but we never see him spending time with his father, and we never see his mother. At this point we could assume she’s just not important, or that she has passed. And with the lack of spending time around his father, does this mean that they have a strained relationship? Does he have any sort of resentment for his father or is their bond strong and full of understanding?

When his episode starts, we find out that though his family is devoted to the King as shields for decades, Gladiolus’ sees Noctis as this brat. So though he is ‘loyal’ it isn’t firmly in place like we see in the game. He is more so acting out of duty, and less out of a bond. It isn’t until Iris tells Gladiolus what happened, do we see they start to develop a sort of bond.

In Ignis’ episode we get a bit more depth to Gladiolus. We see him go to the arcade to find Noct when he skips out on training. We get to see him connect emotionally with Noctis (though it only showed a brief bit of it) involving his fathers situation. And we get to see him go out of his way to inform Ignis on Noctis’ behalf, likely the only person that can really get Specs to understand what he is unable to see.

People don’t give Gladio enough credit. He is smart, he puts himself in another person’s shoes in order to better understand what they are going through. He isn’t just some ‘meat head’ like what the fandom makes him out to be.

During the game, Gladio doesn’t get time to grieve his father’s death. Not once does anyone speak of this. Even Iris shows no emotions to the subject when they meet (though it could of been off scenes). When you stop at the gas station in chapter 3 and Gladio makes a comment about “Can’t even call her own brother” Ignis replies with “In all fairness, yours wasn’t the obituary broadcast all over Lucis.” and let’s be frank if you read that at face value, or as a joke, you won’t understand how much that throws Gladiolus under the bus. This may have been an attempt to joke, but it was a slap to the face. Iris knows, that if Noctis dies, then Gladiolus dies. So to imply that he wasn’t dead as well, then that not only tells Gladio to fuck off but it also takes a strike to his ego. Basically saying he’d saves his own life over Noctis’.

At Titan we finally get to see some emotion from stress of the situation handed to them. Gladio and Noctis have a heart to heart and there is some mention of Gladio’s father. However, once things are said and done, there is still not outward grieving. Gladio’s copes by keeping everything within. Something likely taught to him at a young age from either watching his father, or training for his duty. Everything is repressed. Which for some people, especially those under stress or raised to be bodyguards/warriors, can result in outward aggressive responses to things. Usually resulting in a bit of raised voices, yelling, a bit more hands on.

When the party is approached by Ravus at the base, Gladiolus is easily tossed aside when trying to shield Noct from danger. This is a huge strike to his ego. He has trained likely his hole life in order to protect him, but when push came to shove, he was literally shoved away. Gladio’s hurt, he failed Noct, he failed his duty. This is something he’s internally dealing with while you travel from that point to where he leaves on his own journey.

In episode ‘Cor’ we see so little about Gladiolus and his resolve. We find out more about Cor than we actually do about Gladio himself. We have to assume why he is there, his feelings, and his thoughts. Even at the end, when we see his resolve, we also see Gilgamesh saying “The Last King of Lucis is ill fit without his Shield.” Let’s focus on those first five words. People who see Gladio as a meat head won’t think twice to Gladio just nodding and walking away with the sword. But really, he likely heard those words and immediately understood. Think of the magnitude this has on Gladiolus mentally at this point. Knowing that Noct is the “last king” and not only did he lose his father, but he will sometime, someday, lose his friend. If Gladiolus wasn’t told of the whole prophecy at a young age, then finding out at this moment in time he does what he normally would, repress it. Though it is likely something he thinks about constantly from that point forward.

When the events at the alter take place, we see Gladio growing impatient. This is due to seeing the aftermath of what one of his best friends did, for Noct. Gladio once again likely deals with the topic by repressing it, arguing with himself internally of things he wants to say but can’t. Replying conversations that he wants to address but unable to, even with Ignis due to tension. Gladiolus feels helpless, not only because of lack of being able to speak, but the fact that he likely feels like he has fail. Not only Ignis, but Noct. He’s unable to motivate Noctis to take up the ring, trying to do so the best way he knows how and that’s trying to rouse a fire within him. And the fact that he could of done more to save Ignis the suffering he went through. Even if Ignis pushed forward with little regard for his own life.

As you fight Ravus if you go into danger in battle and let Gladio rescue Noct you will get a dialogue that is just as emotional as when Gladio sees Ignis laying on the floor in verse 2 of episode Ignis, “You’re not allowed to die!” and Noct replies with an “I know.” Gladiolus cares for Noct and his well being, even if he knows his fate.

The campfire scene allows us to see some more raw emotion from Gladiolus. You can hear his voice crack even a little. And you can even see a tear fall down his cheek just like the other bros. Finally some actual expression of his emotions.

Something most of the fandom seem to forget, not only for Ignis, but for Gladiolus too. He’s only 23 through most of the game. He’s still learning how to deal with his emotions, he’s still making mistakes and learning from them. Does he ever just let his actions stay as such? No, he accepts them, apologies when it’s required, and moves forward. Before leaving Insomnia, none of the boys have ever seen war, not even Gladiolus. They were protected by the wall, they only heard stories. The stress of this also plays a big part in how he expresses himself, along with his natural coping mechanize. Gladiolus isn’t abusive, he isn’t stupid, he isn’t just some meat head or eye candy. Gladiolus is doing his best to not fail his friends to fail his king, he’s got a brilliant mind and the brawn to go with it.

[lucianhuntress]

FFXV Characters playing World of Warcraft Part 1/3 Headcanons

I know I was supposed to start posting my writings next week, buuuuut.... World of Warcraft is a dear game to me even though I don’t play it anymore, still this was a blast to write! This will be posted in three parts, first one containing the chocobros! And it couldn’t have been possible without @glaive-eve‘s help! Gotta love our story brainstorming :3 Also this is my first-ever-published writing. I’m slightly nervous.

Second Part Third Part

Hopefully you enjoy <3

Noctis Lucis Caelum Havoc | Demon Hunter

Noctis enjoys double jumping, gliding and dashing.

Oh and he will dash. A lot.

He is eager about getting the best loot possible for his demon hunter. He might even be slightly aggressive over loot, shouting: “You don’t need that!”

He has min-maxed stats and his gear is perfectly enchanted and gemmed.

Noctis wants to be the loot master and probably whispers about it to Ignis at the start of every raid.

He still hasn’t made any progress towards being the loot master.

He won’t be the first in his guild to get a legendary item. Nor the second, nor the third.

Noctis will be acting salty towards those who get legendaries before him.

He still sits at the top of the damage meter — Despite the lack of legendaries.

He won’t move out of boss mechanics, unless it’s a sure oneshot. He is just tunnel visioning the damage and there is no arguing about it. He won’t take orders if they include moving around.

Because he needs to be on the top of those DPS meters. He won’t accept the second or the third place. It has to be the first.

And he will literally drain all the heals and cooldowns.

If the group he is in keeps wiping at same boss over and over again, he is ready to ragequit.

But he won’t.

Noctis really wants to unleash the hatred of ten thousand years. Illidan is so proud of him.

His favourite spot to go AFK is the Stormwind Keep, if he is playing on the Alliance and Grommash Hold, if playing on the Horde.

Makes him feel like a boss.

His fishing skill is maxed out.

And he has all sorts of cool fishing hats.

He won’t be sharing any of the fish he has caught though, and Ignis has to literally bribe him to share some of them with the guild.

Sometimes he pet battles against Prompto, if he is ultimately bored.

His in game title is Salty.

He will be playing a male night elf or a male blood elf, depending on the faction he is playing at the moment. 

Prompto Argentum Beast Master | Hunter

Prompto chose his class just for the pets.

Cute pets.

He even takes S.E.L.F.I.E.s with his pets.

Prompto has his S.E.L.F.I.E. -camera bound on his keyboard.

He is the definition of a hunter, which means he spends a lot of time being dead and waiting for resurrection.

Why walk, when you can get a resurrection?

And he dies often.

Maybe because he barrage pulled the whole room?

Barrage is his thing and it’ll take a lot of persuasion skills to get him change out of it.

He is almost as greedy about loot as Noctis, but he doesn’t really care about the secondary stats.

If it has agility on it and a bigger item level than his previous one, he wants it.

Everything is hunter loot.

It annoys the shit out of Noctis, when he is trying to tell Prompto what he should be equipping.

His profession is engineering and he likes crafting all those mechanical squirrels for his own, personal amusement.

He also greatly enjoys pet battles!

And his pet battle team is well trained.

He even beats Noctis in the pet battles.

When he is playing World of Warcraft, he is barely ever AFK. Prompto will keep on jumping around the town, while waiting for something to happen.

And maybe spam the guild chat for company.

He is eagerly asking people to join him on battlegrounds, looking for raids and dungeons, when he is bored.

The guild chat will fall silent instantly.

Not that he is a bad player. He knows how to do damage.

He can be quite heavy company from time to time.

Prompto was once given a special task —  Fit for a hunter. He needed to soak some damage during a boss fight.

Never again.

He likes leveling up alts, but gets tired with them easily and his character selection is full of low level characters he won’t touch again.

Maybe because someone camped him while he was leveling up.

Prompto changes his character’s hairstyle at least once a day.

His title would be the Zookeeper or the Field Photographer.

And his character would be a female. Night elf, if Alliance and blood elf, if Horde.

Gladiolus Amicitia Arms | Warrior

Gladio has an off spec for tanking, incase one tank is missing from the raid.

Tanking isn’t his favorite job to do, but he’ll do it without complaints and handles the role well.

He is usually charging right into the battle, when the pull timer is somewhere between one and zero.

Whirlwind is his thing.

He is slightly annoyed at the fact that he doesn’t really get healed.

Somehow he still survives and is usually the last man standing, if the encounter ends up being a wipefest.

And he’ll make sure everyone knows that he survived, again.

He’ll definitely twit Noctis or Prompto, if either of them died earlier during the fight.

“Noct will pay everyone’s repairs!”

Because Gladio does actually handle the game mechanics.

He’ll cheer everyone up with his motivational speeches.

“We can do this! Just 10% more!”

Occasionally he does arena, but he isn’t as passionate about it as Ardyn though they team up from time to time to get some honor points.

Gladio also loves the Brawler’s Guild.

He spends his free time there.

Or practicing his rotation on dummies while waiting for queue to pop.

Iris really hates it, when he smashes his keyboard while doing his warrior rotation. She can hear it all the way to her room.

It must be a warrior thing.

Inscription is his character’s profession and he eagerly volunteers to mill all the herbs in the guild bank for free.

He also loves crafting those Steamy Romance Novels.

He will often transmog his characters in silly non matching outfits, but he also has transmog sets if he needs to get more serious about it.

Badass warrior tiers sets look cool.

Battlelord is a cool title for him.

Gladio will be playing male dwarf, if on the Alliance side and male tauren, if on the Horde side.

Because dwarves are badass.

Ignis Scientia Subtlety | Rogue

At first, he wasn’t interested in gaming, but Noctis had him change his opinion of World of Warcraft.

He actually started playing, he began reading all the possible tips and guides online.

Now he knows everything.

Ignis could do his rotation in his sleep and he still practices it.

He was voted to be the Guild Master, when Noctis, Prompto and Gladio decided to form a guild of their own.

He secretly enjoys being the Guild Master.

He also became the raid leader due to his knowledge of raids and tactics. He knows exactly what classes to use in a boss fight and will instruct anyone if needed.

Ignis has to reassure Noctis and others that the key to beating a boss isn’t a DPS race.

He is often so immersed in his raid leading role, that he has his Cheat Death on cooldown constantly.

And he is also dead quite often.

If he happens to be the cause of a raid wipe, he’ll literally send an apology letter to everyone participating in the raid.

He is the loot master despite Noctis’s protests. He is also naturally a member of the loot council as his knowledge is invaluable.

But Ignis will gladly pass the loot for Noctis if he’s whining that he hasn’t gotten any loot again.

Ignis can often be found standing in the Auction House with a campfire placed next to him.

He knows his business and makes sure that the guild bank has enough money.

He has cooking skill maxed out.

And he is always looking out for new recipes!

Will desperately beg Noctis to share some of the fish he has caught.

He will be the one crafting all the buff foods and feasts for the raids.

Ignis loves to earn all the raid and dungeon achievements. He’ll make sure there is an event in the calendar for the guild to attempt the most hardcore ones.

So he does have all sorts of fancy titles and mounts from those achievements.

But he still uses the title he worked the hardest for: The Insane.

He also has the Loremaster, because he needed to know everything.

His characters would be a male worgen, if on the Alliance side and a male troll, if on the Horde side.

[fishylife]

I’ve had some time for the ending of Final Fantasy XV to sink in, so here are my thoughts. Spoilers. 

Before I begin, full disclosure: I did not play the game, I watched a Let’s Play video series for it because I do not own a gaming console on which I can play this game. Now, let’s move ahead.

I am officially sad. 

This article highlights the fact that Regis and Luna both were aware that if Noctis were to accumulate enough power to eradicate the world of daemons, he would have to die in the process, and they hid this from him. It sounds a bit bad when it’s phrased like that, but I don’t think Regis and Luna felt good about it at all. 

I see the Oracle as a guide and partner for the King. Throughout the game, Luna is becoming weak, though, and she’s come to accept that she will die in the process of aiding the king. In addition to that, though, she’s come to accept that she cannot spend the rest of her life with Noctis, and also that Noctis cannot live out the rest of his life. I truly believe she bears no pleasure in this, but she’s very diplomatic and understands that she must sacrifice herself for the greater good of the public. At first I didn’t quite understand the ending, where we see Noctis and Luna getting married, but I think it might be their marriage in the afterlife. That makes me happy. Noctis and Luna both deserve a happy ending.

Regis, Regis, Regis. I can’t believe how much guilt he could feel by bestowing such a fate on his son. I wish we could have spent a bit more time getting to know Regis. I think he was probably a good father whom Noctis had sort of grown apart from in his adolescence because of typically teenage angst. But Regis knew that he was going to die in the invasion by the Empire, and so in his last conversation with his son, he tried to be as fatherly as possible, telling him to “walk tall.” In the end, Noctis definitely appreciated the relationship with his father.

And then there’s Noctis and his crew of Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto. First of all, they are the best three friends a king could have. Each one of them supports Noctis in their own special way and love him like a brother. I love how the game adds in so many little interactions and conversations between the crew because it makes us grow attached to them as a group. Whether it’s on car rides, during battle, or at night at the campsite, the way they act and speak around each other is so natural. They work together like a well-oiled machine. The beginning scene where the dudes are pushing the car along the road to Stand By Me is the quintessential “those were the good days” scene for this group, and I will never not cry now when I hear Florence and the Machine’s rendition of Stand By Me. 

Another important scene is of course the mid-credit campfire scene. I interpret this as a flashback scene. Noctis has made peace with the fact that he will die, but the fact that his friends would die with him is an insane amount of dedication, that not anybody would do for you, and he doesn’t know how else to express his appreciation except by telling him that they’re the best. 

For some reason, the beginning battle scene with Ifrit is one I hold dear. The way they protect each other during that scene shows a friendship that I will always envy. This part especially. Look at this shit. 

Another scene I want to talk about is the one right before Noctis ascends the throne. He tells his friends to walk tall, just as his father told him to. At this point we pretty much know that “walk tall” is a manly stand-in for “I love you.” After that, Noctis proceeds to claim his power, and Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto fend off the daemons to prevent any interference with Noctis’s proceedings.

After reading a few things, I think my interpretation of the scene is that Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio do die, and appear with Noctis, Regis, and Luna in the afterlife to defeat Ardyn. To be honest, I think Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio would feel pretty sad and even maybe a little guilty if they remained alive while Noctis died, so I like to think that they died as well, so at least they can all be together in the afterlife.

Basically I have a lot of feelings about the relationships in this game and I will probably revisit them at some point now or later. Now onto gameplay stuffs. 

The aesthetics of this game are A++++. I’m super shallow and I can’t play a game unless I love the visuals. Not only does the game look realistic, but the way the characters move is just so natural and smooth. It’s the small things, like how Prompto taps his foot or how Noctis stumbles out of the car that make the game that much more immersive. 

The weapons and the combat also look amazing. There isn’t that much magic and spell-casting in this game, which normally might annoy me a little, but I’m not the biggest fan of the magic system in Final Fantasy games anyway, so it didn’t bother me that much. The weapons look fantastic. I just wish I got to see them up close a bit more because I’m sure the detail was probably astounding. 

I also wish there were a bit more wardrobe options but that’s what I say for literally every video game ever so don’t mind me. 

The only other thing that mildly annoys me is how much integration there is between this game and the anime and the Kingsglaive movie. I staunchly believe that each piece of media should be complete on its own, and that you shouldn’t have to watch/read something else in order to get the whole story. 

I suppose the story was good enough for me in this game. Rightful king has to find a crystal to gain power in order to rid the world of daemons. There are small gaps here and there that don’t make much sense, but don’t interfere with the story that much. Especially for the political situation regarding the Empire, that would have made a lot more sense if I had watched Kingsglaive, but I would have appreciated if they woudl have expanded on that in the game, rather than pointing people towards the movie or the anime. Unfortunately, DLC is a common element in many video games nowadays.

I also want to comment on the chapter where Noctis is separated from Gladio and Ignis, and needs to rescue Prompto. That entire chapter just feels like it came straight out of a horror video game, especially when you have to hide from rogue axemen that are roaming the halls, armed with the ring you only learned to use just now. It was uncomfortable, but it was well done. I just would have never wanted to play that chapter myself, so I’m glad I got the chance to watch someone else do it. Fuel for my nightmares, much?

Overall, my favourite parts of the game were probably the visuals and also the relationships among the characters. I usually love stories with large casts, but this one does it for me because the bonds between the characters aren’t artificial and actually mean something. 

Last but not least, Final Fantasy XV makes me absolutely envious that I don’t have a group of friends like Noctis does that will back him up through thick and thin without a second thought. Scrolling through Prompto’s photo album will make me especially wistful about it.

[loqis]

thekingsshield:

    Gladio stays still, hands balled into fists at his side. However, as Loqi continued to speak, his fists unclenched. Shrugs, sighs, and confidence. He couldn’t help himself as he slowly followed in that air of confidence and calm. “So that’s what this all is? A reunion? Get to know each other? Hell of a time to plan it. Take a seat, Loqi.”

    He rolled his eyes. “It’s a long story. We set up our camp, Prompto and Noct wanted dinner, Ignis said he would cook, Prompto and Noct wanted burgers from a diner, Ignis gave in, and I said I was not going to reset the camp again, so I’d just watch it. I’m here on my own wishes. Noct’s got enough protection with Ignis there to be up his ass at all times. He’ll be fine. No matter how many times he pushes away his Shield.”

    An odd silence filled the camp when his amber eyes met Loqi’s blues. Then came that question. Well, was Loqi right? Was Noct naive to what the world needed? Was he inconsiderate of other people? 

    “Noct hasn’t left the Crown City in a long time, I’ll give you that. Kind of inconsiderate at times, but he knows what he’s doing.” Does he really? “He’s young. He’ll grow into his role as king…But to answer your question, you’re right.” Alright, he wanted off the subject and he wanted off it now. He chuckled. “Never saw the day I would say that you’re right, Loqi. How long did it take me to say that since I have met you? Nine or ten years?”

Loqi listened to Gladiolus as he watched the flames of the campfire. He was calm, almost relaxed. Everyone who would have seen them probably wouldn’t beliebe their eyes. The Shield of Prince Noctis and the Brigadier General of Niflheim sitting together as if they were old friends – and well, it wasn’t so far off. “It have been nine years now, I think.” Loqi looked up at the darkening sky for a moment, as if he had to think about it. “Yes, nine years since we first met in Insomnia. You still in the midst of becoming a Shield, I as a young Captain. You showed me around and made that stay bearable. And nearly killed me with spicy cup noodles… I never ate that again since then.” There was a small smile on his lips as he thought back to those days. Far more calm, no full fledged war… at least Loqi had not taken such a big role in it back then. And Gladiolus had not been tasked with the impossible. The young general did not look towards the taller man. Almost as if he spoke to himself. “You waste you potential on him… you know that, Gladio. Do you really think, do you really believe he will magically save the world? He won’t… he is too selfish, too ignorant. I was in Insomnia after the city fell. I saw the dead, Gladiolus. I saw your father. He was a brave man and died just like that for a king who betrayed everyone – and his son really takes after him. It would be a shame if you shared this fate. It would be so far below you to die for a brat, who wouldn’t even be able to feed himself.”