#i've been thinking about replaying the msq

[aethergazing]

i've been away from ffxiv for so long that now i feel meh

[pavus]

do y'all ever think about varric and how desperately you've wanted to romance him for almost 14 years and get a little choked up about it? no?

[designsdefiance]

lays on the floor. i really wish i was one of those people who could play Just Anything on their characters and not worry about it being canon or making sense because it would make my life so much fuckin easier

[tainbocuailnge]

Hey, sorry to send an ask without us knowing each other 😅

But I just saw you in the tags in the post about jrpg translations, saying that FF14 has better translations in other languages.

Can you talk more about that?😊

I played in English before and it was okay. I tried German too, but was a bit disappointed. So hearing you say that, I'm genuinely curious to hear more!

I've been replaying msq in german and wrapped up tsukuyomi just yesterday and it's insane the extent to which german is more thematically consistent and has stronger and more nuanced characterisation than english. i think the german script is more poetic too, despite english trying so much harder to sound flowery and important. I've been translating bits and pieces to my friends and I keep feeling like I'm presenting them with that botched jesus painting restoration because I just don't know how to convey how beautifully constructed some of these sentences are. the german translation team are genuinely very good writers.

as an example of what kind of differences we're dealing with here, and since it's what I finished most recently, in german from the start there's a lot more emphasis on how it was systematic mistreatment from the "good old" doma that lead yotsuyu to where she is, and that her cruelty is specifically retribution for the way doma has failed her (as opposed to english trying to frame it as in large part to satisfy her personal sadistic impulses). gosetsu is repeatedly shown to be sympathetic towards her for this even while she's actively trying to hurt and kill him (as opposed to english having him be sarcastically dismissive of her), which makes it make way more sense that he'd take tsuyu in his care later even without the "also she reminds him of his dead daughter" bit (that they do still tack on at the end but doesn't feel like a handwave excuse as much because of aforementioned consistent sympathy).

in english hien has several lines showing he's hostile to and wary of tsuyu and waiting for the right opportunity to kill her, but in german hien brings up killing tsuyu one (1) time and when gosetsu argues for her right to live hien agrees, and the difficulty in keeping her around is not his personal dislike but that it's hard to guarantee her safety when the doman people will want violent retribution in turn (in clear parallel to lyse trying to keep fordola from getting lynched without a fair trial). because german hien is not constantly talking about how he wishes he could just kill yotsuyu for her crimes, it doesn't read as pathetically incompetent of him to let her sneak out of the mansion multiple times because he was treating her as harmless citizen of doma instead of an enemy of the state (because german in general emphasises a lot that she SHOULD have had a place in doma), and her backstory is taken seriously as part of his motivation to create a better doma that she perhaps could've had a peaceful life in

there are many cases like this where german displays a nuance that english doesn't, and from very early on. in english arr cid ran away from the empire out of moral disagreements, in german it's clear that he also holds a complicated resentment over losing his father to project meteor and then his replacement father figure gaius to a similar mad search for power, something that in english doesn't come up until all the way in shadowbringers with bozja. in english castrum meridianum livia says she's going to kill you because gaius is hers, in german she's mad at you because you killed her friend mr cape westwind and is going to kill you before you can take gaius from her too.

in german heavensward thordan sounds much more convinced of his principles. when you defeat him in english he's horrified of how you could possibly overcome the amount of faith he's powered by, in german he's horrified that the future of ishgard will be thrown into chaos in the name of your pursuit of truth. gaius sounds more convinced of the ideals he spouts too, and it feels more plausible that he has people willing to die for him and his ideals. in german the similarities between nidhogg and estinien are clearer, and when nidhogg possesses him he insidiously frames it as an act of kindness.

in german, many random moments of misogyny in the english script outright don't exist. matoya doesn't make fun of alphinaud for looking like a girl. alphinaud isn't dismissive of alisaie in binding coils. most of the lines in english that insult or dismiss yotsuyu as an evil whore don't exist in german, and lines that weren't about her at all in english turn out to express sympathy towards her in german. in english hydaelyn had minfilia fuse with her by force, in german it was minfilia's idea. in english i was bothered by lyse being made head of the resistance because she sounds so unsure of what to do and think right until the end, in german she's full of conviction and clarity of purpose. I'm sincerely convinced the english team hates women.

because german doesn't go out of its way to sound like some kind of ancient wizard prophecy at every turn, several scenes which in english were confusing convey their information clearly in german (I'm particularly thinking about the minfilia anitower scene here). characters talk clearly and with a lot of personality that english fails to achieve because everyone has to speak faux old english. and because most characters talk like real people instead of ancient wizards in german it's extra cute that urianger does in fact talk like an ancient wizard.

as a more personal gripe, I have noticed several moments where the english script centers the warrior of light and their importance and struggles, while in german those scenes where about, like, the character the scene is about. german wol is still hydaelyn's favourite freak of nature and everyone loves them obviously, but as the example most fresh in my memory there's the scene in early post-stb where you visit fordola in her cell and she unwillingly looks into wol's past thanks to her fake echo. in english, she asks wol how they can bear all the suffering other people have put them through. in german, she asks how wol manages to stay sane when the echo makes you so deeply aware of the suffering of others. in the flashback of her past you see in that scene the german script also mentions that her face tattoo is an ala mhigan design, which makes it clearer than it was in english that she was specifically trying to rise the ranks of the imperial military as ala mhigan and makes her motivations more coherent - namely wanting to prove both the ala mhigans who hated her for being garlean and the garleans who hated her for being ala mhigan wrong by achieving success as both (and the power to lash out at both).

there have been very, very few moments where I actually thought the english script was better (shiva's trial lines and like, one line hien says at the steppe, that's it), and the vast majority of the time german is anywhere from about the same quality as english to just insanely better. the english script is so concerned with sounding cool and important that it becomes scared of letting characters be motivated by emotion. it's plagued by the kind of insincerity and insecurity that plagues so much of western media and leads to movie superheroes making fun of their own costumes. the english script will write one good line and then keep repeating that line ad nauseam and yet still fail to achieve the amount of internal thematic consistency the german script has, because english is relying on this handful of cool lines to carry its emotional core instead of actually letting the emotional core drive the characters. combined with the consistent pattern of dumbing down and/or vilifying female characters frankly I want to beat koji fox with hammers.

I'm actually very curious what about the german script disappointed you. the german voice acting is not good so if that's what turned you off I completely get it (I play with jp voices myself) but that's separate from the actual writing. these kind of things will ultimately always come down to personal preference so i won't judge but as you can tell from these several paragraphs i feel very strongly about the quality of the german script so I find it hard to imagine why you think that

[eemamminy-art]

This is a Lyse defense post, as I've just replayed 4.1 and I am full of emotions about her!!!!

People always complain about how "stupid" Lyse was for letting the Qalyana attend the peace talks in Ala Mhigo and it blows my mind how it's just taken at face value as naivety when she is clearly and boldly stating all through stormblood and its patches that she wants freedom for everyone

this part was from the end of the peaks section of stormblood, level 69 or so in msq, right after she's been instated as the acting commander of the resistance and the weight of it all sits on her! Raubahn shows her his old home and talks about her father and all that he stood for and fought for, and this is how she responds! ;0;

And here she is in 4.1-- she's struggling with her position as a leader in Ala Mhigo (a leader, not the leader-- important distinction) but she's still holding true to her beliefs! That no matter how despised she is she wants to do right by everyone and see everyone free!!

Even Fordola, who she has fought with and been so angry with for her actions (you know the scene-- murderer! butcher!! traitor!! poetic cinema and then they KISS)

And she even tries to mitigate any possible incidents by asking the Qalyana to surrender their jewelry to prevent a summoning!!

Also RE: "Lyse shouldn't be running Ala Mhigo" not only is she not but she also makes it clear that she is not looking to install any leader!! That Ala Mhigo would follow Ishgard's lead and become a democracy with its own house of commons

And although Lyse is a vocal representative for Ala Mhigo, she makes it clear that there are other leaders making up the Ala Mhigan government (as was mentioned above) and that Raubahn will be commanding the military forces/remnants of the resistance and not her

Anyway this isn't a particularly thought out post or anything!! Just one of the more common criticisms of Lyse I see online that is completely based on shit people made up because they don't like her or don't like stormblood more generally. Which I think then gets passed around because a lot of people forgot how the msq went in 4.X or just skipped through the msq quickly because so many regard it as "bad".

In conclusion: Lyse good. Raubahn good. Stormblood good. Please replay 4.1 in new game+ or something, you'll be pleasantly surprised!!!

[autumnslance]

hello Aeryn! Question! I have seen you post that Dark Autumn is your experience the story character and Aeryn is your personal WoL, when playing Dark how did you start planning out Aeryn? I want to make a personal WoL for myself and I don’t know what I should do? Any suggestions or tips? I love your tumblr! Such an inspiration! ❤️

Thank you for the lovely words! And well, I didn't really plan out anything concerning alts, let alone a WoL, at least not at first.

I think I've spoken about it before, but: I started playing back around Heavensward's release, and Dark Autumn was my first and for a long time only character; FF14 was my side game, as I was still pretty active in WoW. By the time Stormblood came out, though, I was burning out on WoW for various reasons, and started playing FF14 more. I was still level 40-something and in Mor Dhona trying to save the Scions, so I finished ARR, ripped through HW, and caught up to StB 4.0 pretty quickly while that was still new.

But I realized, going back through the cutscenes in the Unending Journey to remind myself of the plot I'd slowly meandered through for over 2 years, that there was a lot I'd forgotten, or missed, and also 2 other starter city experiences. This is also, crucially, long before New Game+ became a thing during the Shadowbringers patch cycle. The only way to re-experience the game was to replay it on an alt.

So I made C'oretta in Ul'dah and a Duskwight in Limsa Lominsa. The Duskwight didn't stick around far past the intro, but I ended up replaying the entire MSQ on C'oretta, remembering things from ARR I'd forgotten, and picking up on things I'd missed in the ARR patches, HW, and StB.

Also, I did not make Dark or C'oretta to be the WoL. I was still thinking of myself as a roleplayer back then, and thanks to my old WoW experiences built RP stories where one does not play "the hero" even though that's FF14's entire setup. I also just couldn't really separate in my mind a "WoL version" versus "RP version" of either character back then. It also just didn't seem to...."fit" either one of them.

But I also eventually realized, especially as I left WoW for good, that I was just too tired and disinterested in getting involved in the dramas of another open RP community. Sticking to fanfiction was looking infinitely better, and I got a little RP from close long time friends now and again (in FF14 and also more traditional tabletop gaming). By this point, I had a better grasp of the world and the lore, the story and the characters, and the various ways the fandom approached WoLs in RP and fanfiction.

I also learned about an unused CGI Midlander woman model, and that got some wheels spinning in my head, about our beloved Meteor Survivor default WoL, and Ardbert and his crew all based on the original legacy and ARR trailer characters, and decided I was going to make an "actual WoL" OC and try experiencing the story (again) that way. I also decided, for myself, as I like "coloring within the lines" for my fanfiction writing (a lot of "missing scenes" or "meanwhiles" etc and not too much lore/canon divergence), that to keep it simple and not go too far off the rails for my own time and sanity, she'd play close to what I call Assumed Default WoL's canon actions, attitude, assumptions, etc that we get throughout the game.

Was also going through some identity figuring out at the time, so my WoL totally wasn't going to be romantically or physically involved with anyone, going to write about an aroace WoL who was just focusing on the MSQ and side story events. WoLNPC shipping obviously wasn't for me after 2 and a half other playthroughs, there were plenty of other people doing all that, it was fine if I didn't.

Plans never survive first contact with the enemy, players at the gaming table, or how your own OC actually reacts to the plots you throw them in and characters you introduce them to.

By the time I created Aeryn, I'd been playing FF14 for 2 or 3 years. I had a rough idea of her background and some important people (though not all their names yet), and then saw where playing through MSQ and the various side stories took her. I already knew the plots, after all, having done it all on Dark, and some again on C'oretta, so was able to focus on Aeryn's characterization and reactions and how that changed over time, as well as adding details to her backstory and supporting cast over time, too.

And it's become a kind of running way for me to do things; Dark is first cuz she's my baby and I can just play as me and my reactions as I puzzle out the story and see what happens. Dark's own RP responses are pretty straightforward and simple, if I decide she's even present for those events. Aeryn playing through a second time lets me see things with the benefit of hindsight and foreknowledge, catch things I missed/forgot (from hints and foreshadowing, to references, etc) and rather than puzzling out the mystery or having my own knee-jerk emotional reactions, I can take a step back and know what's happening and why--or am better able to figure that out now--and see how my character would respond, especially if that's different from me the writer.

(I'm probably still crying, though; there's no escaping that)

It also lets me solidify the lore and remember it better, especially as it starts to get meme-ified and characters flanderized by the community. C'oretta and Iyna ending up replaying again months or years later also helps remember and solidify things. New Game+ helps a lot too, especially if you don't want to alt like I ended up doing thanks to early game's lack of replayability and this game being not very alt friendly.

Some people play their WoLs first (if not only) time through, some people have multiple alts they play, some make no distinction between RP and fanfic WoLs, some folks go with their initial gut reactions to events, and some parse and reconsider the storyline and its elements later. There's no right or wrong way to do it; this is just the path I took, and have decided to stick with due to the time and energy I have for gametime. I end up playing Aeryn more as she's my collector and the one I want to have all content done on for my story reasons, and do just enough on Dark to keep her ready for MSQ requirements (and cuz I love her pretty face and giantess physique). The unexpected WoLNPC ship did help focus and adjust my writing for Aeryn, but it's far from the only thing I write about for her, or the other alts, who settled into "friends and allies summoned by the Azem stone" spot.

So my advice is, as usual, if you decide you want a whole alt to be a WoL, start with a vague plan and some general idea of the backstory, and worry about the details as they come. It can shift and change and solidify as you go, over time. Let the character grow and change in reaction to story, good and bad, and embrace the unexpected reactions and see where they take your writing. Can always leave it in drafts or retcon it later. Use replays to actually look at the story, the parts you like and dislike both and be honest and objective about why and what that means for your story, what ends up important or not to your telling and to your WoL.

Be flexible, do it at your own pace in your own way, and have fun doing it, are the main things.

[la-scree]

Let's Talk About FFXIV's Dancer Story...

For the few who know I exist and voted for this in the poll I put up, it's time to talk about one of the Jobs within Final Fantasy XIV: Dancer. And how...I really find the story horrible. Much worse than Paladin's.

Now before people start coming at me with 'but um actually's, I'm going to state this: I actually love Dancer. I've always been a sucker for classes and jobs who put focus on performance aspects. While I'm not a dancer, I used to sing in choirs and be in my schools' drama clubs. Yes, I was a Drama Kid but not the crazy batshit ones like you see on Glee. I just had fun with it. I also tend to main the Dancer Job at least when I play on Yua and anytime I really don't feel like doing much/my brain decides to go brrrrrrrr after a shift at work. You would too if you had to deal with face to face interactions. It's also great that I tend to think of great glams that would look good without the usage of mods and a lot of my glamour plates tend to be either casting or aiming involved. And yet despite all of this, I have strong feelings about the story. Negative ones.

But it wasn't always like this. In fact, when Dancer was announced during Fanfest before Shadowbringers hit, I was happy to know it was a Ranged DPS. I was going to level it first then hit the MSQ afterwards. And when I played it the first time, I thought it was alright and enjoyed it. Proudly sported the AF gear and paraded around (that's kind of a big oof there but more qualified folks can talk about that than me) But then...others started bringing up some issues they had with Dancer's story; about how the tone didn't feel right or the story was giving off a bad message. And this made me think because people weren't pulling this out of their asses, they were talking about points in the story that I myself had glossed over. Unlike how I was with Hien, blindly going along with the majority in saying how bad he was, I decided to replay the story on another character and really go through all the dialogue and story and see if they had some weight to it.

And they were right. Replaying it, I had started to get angry and really rip into it on the second go. It wasn't until my forth run that I could finally really get a good sense of how I felt. I still deemed it as the worst but I could word why a bit better.

So what is the story anyway? A group of dancers from Thavnair travel to Eorzea and want to 'bring succor'. The group, Troupe Falsiam, performs in Limsa and their leader, Nashmeira (looks like a prim rich lady) sees you and asks you if you wanna join them as a dancer and kind of psuedo guide around the realm so they perform. You also meet her protege, Ranaa, who feels like the genki girl that I swear if I didn't know better that she'd try and act like Tomo from Azumanga Daioh, and she's all happy that you're coming along. It's not until later, around level 65 that Nashmeira reveals that she was hiding something from you and the others: their journey was to stop a dance called the Totentanz from causing chaos and despair.

(On a side note, why the fuck is this dance and the war dance we know are German names and our attacks are French origin names when we don't get anything like it in Thavnair proper? Or was this a 'pull out of our ass and need some pretty names for attacks?' We'll never know.)

And where do we go to stop this place? Poor areas.

You heard me.

Nashmeira's idea is to go to poorer areas, dance for them, bring out a despair monster from it, fight it, and...that's it. Everyone should be happy for about five minutes while not knowing that it wasn't for show. So we're lying about it too? Oh goodie. It's here where I'm starting to see the tone shift/deafness of the story. Here's this conflict happening but what are you trying to tell the audience? A dance will make your problems go away?

In an ideal world, that would be nice but I bet if Nashmeira met and talked to a poor person, did her dance, the poor person is probably going to look at her and ask "It's nice and all but how is that going to help me get food/shelter?" In fact, during the level 63 quest, one of the troupe members asks her why poor people in particular while agreeing that both the common and higher classes should be able to enjoy dancing, it doesn't explain why specifically the poor. You find out later that 'poor folks are more prone to despair' according to her.

Bet during Endwalker, that line of thinking bit her in the ass.

Nashmeira: "Just trust me bro, it'll be fine."

Another point to this is that during the story, this is the only time someone kind of questions the troupe's leader. There's no one who looks at this in the story and questions why they're doing this and what will it help with. Again, no one speaks up and asks "Hey, how will this help me?" or even challenges Nashmeira or Ranaa's beliefs or about what they're doing. Hell, Counselingway from the Loporrits even questioned the Dreaming Ways in their questline. When a dumb meme rabbit does better than you, something's up.

The issue I have here is that Nashmeira isn't doing what she says she's doing. In order to actually stop despair, one has to look at the situation, figure what's causing the conflict, and try to stop it there. Some may say that what she and the troupe are doing are putting a band aid on but what good is it going to do if there's no result of the solution provided? They're not stopping despair, they're just only pretending to do so. It's even worse when some of the people they're trying to help are duskwights (level 65 she and the troupe actually see them as villains instead of people who need help and had them arrested by the Twin Adder and constantly demean them, calling them from rabble-rousers to nasty duskwights), those of the Brume (who have been going through some nasty revelations since the Dragonsong War ended), and those affected by the Garlean Empire's rule for over 20 years. It's heavy matters but it's just thrown off to the side like it's nothing. None of these characters have nothing to say about the meaning of despair, what a dance could do, nothing about how the art is connected to Thavnair outside 'we're from Radz-at-Han'.

Which brings me to another point as to why I say this story is the worst: the motivations of its main characters. Or rather, the lack of motivation. I brought up that Paladin is second compared to this and it's because at least a character had a motivation for picking up the sword: remember that kid from the 50-60 questline? He wanted to get stronger because his mom died. Still a shitty motivation but at least he has one. We never learn why Nashmeira or Ranaa chose the path of the Dancer. Why do they dance? Outside of this mission bullshit, we don't really understand these characters we're supposed to be standing by. While they try to give Ranaa something in the 80 capstone quest, it just has her go to Kugane. Just that and you and her dance together to let her make her choice. Why does she dance? Why and how did she get to come across the troupe? How did she become Nashmeira's protege? If I didn't play this questline four times, I would probably needed to google their names or just call them Rich Lady and Genki Catgirl. They're boring to follow and all I wanted to do was just move onwards so I could get Technical Step. I dragged my feet during my last playthrough because it was that bad.

To add on about the shift in tone, another reason I want to point out is that it was introduced in Shadowbringers. Given the idea of using emotions and finding ways to drive away despair, it should have been introduced in Endwalker. Not only that but it could have given more about the dancers' culture since we see a lot of Radiant Host members are in fact dancers. The tone of each of these expansion stories are different and it just feels like Dancer was just thrown in there because they already had two Jobs for the next expansion and in all honesty, makes me kind of sad. But even in Endwalker, we don't have any kind of lore or stories about the dancers unless you dig through a throwaway line during a small side quest in order to unlock another side questline. They just feel rather forgotten.

However, I think because quite a lot of people had feedback on it, and this is only a silly theory, the devs tried to do more within some of the sections like Thavnair's second half as the Palaka's Stand folk speak about what they learned from the gods or even Endwalker's Role Quests (minus the capstone); actually, those questlines address things I even brought up here like a conflict that's deep rooted within the community and steps to take to make it better besides 'kill the blasphemy'. You can't just fight the thing, you have to understand who they were, why they turned, what's the root conflict, and try to solve it. Some did it better than others but they tried at least.

And if you made it this far, congrats. You somehow survived my ramblings. And if you disagree and think that the Dancer Story is S Tier, then cool. It's ok to think that way. These are just my thoughts and overall, Dancer deserved much better because the potential there is great. But potential can only go so far. You can't solve despair with just a dance: you got to attack it head on and do something to ensure it stays at bay.

[ishgard]

g'raha tia and/or krile for the character asks? alternately, your WoL?

Oooh fun!! thank you so much!

G'raha Tia:

Sexuality Headcanon: Bisexual

Gender Headcanon: Male (but tbh I could see him being fluid about it)

A ship I have with said character: I love all of the WoLG'raha ships, it's so good, so delicious. Recently I've been a little 👀 about Thancred x G'raha also, that's got me Intrigued.

A BROTP I have with said character: I really love seeing bits and pieces of his friendships with each of the Scions tbh, esp now that he's free of the Exarch's yolk. Him and Urianger or Y'shtola nerding out, or gosh his relationship with Alisaie feeling more like siblings is so much fun and delightful. (I also really wanna see him interact with Thancred more just in general oops.)

A NOTP I have with said character: I don't think one exists 🤔 If anything I'd probably just be more ambivalent towards such a thing.

A random headcanon: It's nothing flashy or unique but (and apologies) I subject him to my usual miqo'te HCs of purring, biting, both keepers and seekers having fangs and eyes that adjust to light/dark, and yeah, the less sfw things (not pokey penis, that's where I draw the line).

General Opinion over said character: I love him so much??? I can understand why some people have their grievances with him, especially in regards to how he might 'come on strong' sometimes, but I never really got why people hold long-lasting grudges against him for the whole lying thing. (Though that's probably largely because Ahru isn't bothered by people lying to her if the ends justify the means.)

Krile Baldesion:

Sexuality Headcanon: Bisexual (female-leaning)

Gender Headcanon: Female

A ship I have with said character: Is it too obvious to say Tataru? I wanna say she had hearteyes for Minfilia, too. (Thinking about it though, a crackship with Estinien is forming in my head, oh no.)

A BROTP I have with said character: Even if not from a shippy point, Tataru for sure. Also I didn't mention this on his, but G'raha.

A NOTP I have with said character: I do NOT ship her with being forgotten and abandoned by the narrative.

A random headcanon: Listen, definitely had a crush on G'raha at some point, (and yeah Minfilia). I'm not sure if teaching Alphinaud how to paint is a headcanon or was actual canon now that I think about it (am I imagining there was something said about him asking her for advice?)

General Opinion over said character: Less of an opinion but I really can't wait to see more of her in Dawntrail, hopefully she gets a chance to really flourish. I enjoy her a lot but I feel like she's been sidelined so much (and I barely did anything with Eureka admittedly) so I just don't always feel like I know her as well as I wish I did. (Maybe I just need to replay MSQ tho.)

Ahru Hiraeth :D

Sexuality Headcanon: Bisexual

Gender Headcanon: Female, has a sort of loose concept of gender in her head though in regards to herself

A ship I have with said character: ...there are a few, but the big one at the moment is Deryk x Ahru, they've got me in a chokehold.

A BROTP I have with said character: Estinien! The minute he called her "aibou" I was sold. She's also always in close cahoots with Thancred no matter what.

A NOTP I have with said character: This is going to seem so out of nowhere but as a lover of enemies-to-lovers I have TRIED to imagine it just for shits and giggles but no, no, she hates him so so much.

A random headcanon: She loves mint (in food, drink, smoke) and though it's very slight it has a soothing quality that helps her relax. (catnip being in the mint family, yada yada) [She doesn't actually smoke a lot anymore though.]

General Opinion over said character: She is so powerful. Like. To me. Over me. I am so weak and I love her so much and she has been such a delight to explore over the years. Seeing her Go Through Some Shit and Get Worse and also Get Better has been beautiful and I want to cry I love my cat so much.

[xiv-wolfram]

I'm new to tumblr and looking to start my own visual stories. I stumbled upon yours through the suggestions and I am INVESTED. Raubae is a beautiful man and Wolfram and he are a beautiful couple!

Can you give a noob visual storyteller pointers on how to get started with their own comics?

OMG THANK YOU!!! 😭 I'm totally normal about them. I also want to apologize for Tumblr being a bit of a mess in terms of following the comics. Highly recommend the Carrd for chronological links.

As for comics - I'm far from an expert but I do see myself getting better with each one I make so hopefully some of this will help. 🤞

Read a bunch of different types of graphic novels. Pick the ones you like the most and pay attention to how they do things. I personally like lots of dialogue and character development, dramatic lighting, and focusing on facial expressions. Others focus on the action or scenery. Some a mix of both (which I'm working towards). Just find inspiration in what you love and let it help you find your style. 😁 Looking into how comics are made and what the different speech bubbles mean/text decoration/etc was helpful.

Use Clip Studio Paint or a program like it. Basically you want something that will let you cut out comic frames and add dialogue boxes easily. It really streamlines the workflow.

Write out "scripts" before GPosing. I know some folks who can freestyle but for me scripts with minor stage direction and dialogue have helped a lot. I have a different numbered line for each GPose I need to take too.

Everyone does plot/characterization differently. IDK if you were curious about that but I personally focus my plot around 3 main storylines - WolfBahn relationship arc, Wolfram's voidsent problem/past trauma, and MSQ. These plotlines overlap A LOT and come to a head in Endwalker. A lot of folks focus on their OC (I of course do.) but its also nice to develop the NPCs in some way. Most of Raubahn's development comes from MSQ which makes that easy but I do take time to touch on some of the things MSQ doesn't cover heavily like his recovery after being rescued from Halatali or the toll fighting to liberate Ala Mhigo takes on him. So I guess I just think - stories are more engaging if you flesh out the NPCs a bit. That may be personal preference though...

Really know your characters. I've found answering WoLQoTDs helps a ton. Along those lines - a timeline of their major events. Mine includes Eorzean events like The Autumn War and Garlean invasion of Ala Mhigo so I can fit my character's story in with the greater world. Before starting the comics I had a summary of his story on his Carrd (it's down now though). I also made a family tree. Replaying cutscenes helps get me in the zone to write too. Knowing them really well makes the writing flow pretty effortlessly.

Spend the time to edit each screenshot. I didn't do enough of this starting out and regret it. Even just upping the sharpness makes a big difference. Highly reccomend hitting it with the dodge/burn if you have time. The images will be smaller than most gposes so zooming in or cropping closer can help show the fine details (another place CSP shines).

Make dialogue box text large enough so that the majority of users on mobile won't need to zoom in. What I've been doing is 50 in CSP.

This one I don't do - but I should. Have someone with good grammar who also actually enjoys your story go over your comic before you post it. Ideally over the script as well. They'll point out grammatical mistakes but also since they're fans they may have some cool character insights you hadn't thought of!

Don't be discouraged if you get less "likes" than you do for GPoses. I usually get way less. On the flip side I get more actual interaction with the comics. Nice convos. It's how I've met some of my best buddies! So it's a good trade-off IMO. Most important of all - it's FUN to tell stories!

I hope this was helpful. Feel free to DM if you have more specific questions/want to have a convo too. I'm always excited to see more GPose comics! :D

[safestsephiroth]

not tagging this or anything because people certainly don't need my negativity: this is a post about dawntrail's MSQ now that I've cleared it, two months late.

In many ways, playing it how I did was an incredibly sub-optimal experience - but if I waited any longer for an optimal one I would've been waiting to the next expansion.

All the dungeons except the first, gameplay-wise, are very good.

The final dungeon of the MSQ sucks, as does most of the MSQ.

I loathe the direction they took pretty much everything.

I loathe the character writing.

I loathe the plot.

I think this is the weakest soundtrack in a final fantasy game except for 15 and 16.

I think this is the worst main theme by far.

I think every single thing in Dawntrail has been done elsewhere in FFXIV, and done better, some cases radically better.

I hate what they've done with the scions - why are they even here? they're not written at all consistently with past characterization, so make them entirely different characters. (It's because trailers/brand recognition).

I am so sick of the pattern that must be followed lock-step as the law.

two branching mandatory paths, then X1-X2 dungeon. Then a second dungeon, then a trial. Then another dungeon, and a BIIIIIG plot twist!!!! and another dungeon and a trial and then a dungeon + trial immediately after.

3 solo duties spread throughout

Lock-step same order, same timings to the level, to the same number of zones, in the same order.

If the most of the dungeons and trials were not stellar, I would call this expansion actively worthless. Because the gameplay parts comprising 5% of the total play time (counting replays for XP) are the only good parts (Aside from the role quests I am hype to start) the expansion is a 2/10 at best. At best.

Eschewing the entire story would be an improvement.

Things do not have to be original to be good. But for fuck's sakes, this story is as formulaic and repetitive as LATE season Inuyasha episodes. My god.

[kieuecaprie]

KieueCaprie's Games Completed List of 2022 - Reflections

I don't think I'm gonna be able to throw in one last entry into this (and that would be unhealthy to do so) so I'm gonna call this list good. It would've been nice to at least put Super Lesbian Animal RPG on there but I've been taking my time with that game. (RPGs are also exhausting after a while so I need time to recharge. I love the genre, it's just that I lack the energy to go through them in long bursts and I appreciate it when the RPG breaks itself up into chunks that have clear endpoints)

With that out of the way, however, it's time for the opinions nobody asked for. That's right, this is a blog post about my opinions on what impressed me this year. No restrictions on release date, it just has to be something I've completed. And no repeats. If you wish to unveil my bad opinions, click that funny "keep reading" button and let's get on with it.

Favorite Replayed Game: Banjo-Kazooie

(The entry can be found here!)

This was a toss-up between Banjo-Kazooie and Plok, and while I like the Incredible Exploding Man (who has a webcomic now for some reason, not gonna question it), Banjo-Kazooie has left a deeper impression on me.

Hell, I've completed it, like, six or seven times! Several of which have been true 100% completions! Stop'n'Swop notwithstanding...

I genuinely enjoy the Banjo-Kazooie universe a lot and it saddens me to this day that the only modern-day relevancy they have is as merch to sell and a fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which I guess is more than can be said for a lot of old fogies.

I appreciate Microsoft for 1) keeping backwards compatibility with Rare Replay for Xbox and 2) allowing Nintendo to put Banjo-Kazooie on N64 Online, so that's something!

Favorite Modernized Remake: Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series

(The entry can be found here!)

Again, another toss-up because this and LIVE A LIVE came very close to leaving their mark in my soul. However, I have to give my little wahoo mans his due, even though I appreciate LIVE A LIVE for finally leaving Japan.

It's just that the game is cute as hell and it's a crime that Namco-Bandai really likes to not advertise their games sometimes (I wonder where I've seen this before. Maybe where The World Ends with You?) and dooming the game to obscurity.

So, I will not shut up about how good this game is, even if it's a re-release of the two major games in Klonoa's lifespan. But two good games they were.

Favorite VR Game: Cosmonious High

(The entry can be found here!)

The only new VR games I've played this year has been this, BONELAB, and Zenith VR, all of which are great, however Zenith VR is an MMO and MMOs are long and it is still fairly barebones atm, PLUS I didn't finish the MSQ for it so...

Cosmonious High is yet another Owlchemy Lab VR Toybox-like game with similar mechanics to their previous titles, more specifically Job Simulator and Vacation Simulator. But boy do they know what they're doing. There's a more proper STORY going on this time!

I genuinely enjoyed my time playing through this, even though BONELAB has the better replay value in the end, and I loved pretty much every character I came across, including the one who is a big fan of blebs. I, too, love blebs, they are friends. :)

Favorite Series I Got Introduced To: Armored Core

(Armored Core 1's entry in my games completed list can be found here!)

Gran Turismo (and Forza Horizon) are close second(s) and introduced me to the other side of the racing genre that wasn't just yeeting (beat) koopas and bananas at opposing drivers.

Armored Core, however, is a different story. For the longest time, the title made me think of it as some sort of generic mil-sim game and not the dystopian sci-fi mech action game it truly was. As much as I hate to say it, The Game Awards and them showing the Armored Core VI trailer opened my eyes to its true colors.

Started with the very first game in the series, it was clunky, it was a Playstation 1 game, it was very clunky, but I liked it a lot. Sure, there were times when it got frustrating to deal with like the final section of the game or fighting bunny-hopping enemy ACs but I really liked everything.

Then I started playing the other numbered games, up to 4, to see what each generation was like. 2nd Gen was more of the same but it was on PS2 and introduced a heat mechanic that I have a love-hate relationship with. 3rd Gen took 2nd Gen and improved upon it, I dare say it may be my favorite AC generation by far. 4th Gen took everything and made it significantly faster, which I enjoyed, with a more story-based focus which was great but the missions had horrible, and I mean horrible, difficulty spikes where the game at its lowest was a slogfest and where the game at its highest was fun. It's the only generation that I have mixed feelings about really, the pace was nice but 4A kind of made everything too fast.

But all in all, I'm now looking forward to the day that Armored Core VI comes out to see what kind of game it turns out to be. I just hope it isn't locked to something like PS5, which I still don't have btw.

The Game Of A Time: Hello Neighbor 2

I didn't even include this in my Tumblr list but it's on my Twitter list. I dunno what to say about this one other than it was a game and it was a time. And it was surely Hello Neighbor 2.

(High On Life would've been my pick had I actually bucked up and finished it... but it's exhausting.)

My Game of the Year: My Friend Peppa Pig

(The entry can be found here!)

Yeah, sorry, can't compete with perfection. :)

My Actual Game of the Year: Kirby and the Forgotten Land

(The entry can be found here!)

The best ever 3D Kirby title that is actually in 3D and not played in a 2.5D perspective! Sure, the powers were a little small in selection but it was made up for in the amount of upgrades you could have for each of them. Not to mention that the game is fun and cute as hell!

Yeah, it's a little on the easy side, even in Wild Mode, and the True Arena didn't pose much of a challenge this go around but Kirby is a good game and I love it so much.

(Honorable mentions go to: Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series (already picked for Favorite Modernized Remaster), Cosmonious High (picked for Favorite VR Game), LIVE A LIVE, Bugsnax, Earthbound (the one on SNES Online))

And that's all for now.

I'll start up a 2023 list as soon as I have something to report. As I've said, I'm currently working through Super Lesbian Animal RPG and Silent Line: Armored Core. Fortunately, the former works on Steam Deck so I can get my Super Lesbian Animal Role Playing Action before going to bed.

...yes I know what I said. No, I refuse to reiterate.

[eemamminy-art]

🔥 endwalker?

Ha I don't want to get too negative here but I didn't like it. For many reasons, and even upon playing it a second time my feelings haven't changed. The pacing really bugged me though I know that was due to the expansion being two expansions compressed into one, which I can't fault it for since I know that was outside the devs hands.

I guess mainly it's the message of the story for me. All the emotional stuff felt kind of like, a bit condescending and rather cheap when you consider no named characters were ever in any danger, like I felt 0 stakes the entire time despite supposedly being at the end of the world. It doesn't help that every sad traumatic death was with someone we never knew or knew for all of 5 minutes. As someone who has been forever shaped by loss and death and depression it also kind of sucked for the whole, if you're sucked into despair you just kind of snap out of existence thing. Comes across as like a bootstraps kind of message to me personally, like just stop being depressed 4head 🤪 if you're "weak" due to the strain of life on you, you just cease to exist!! Some people have found all of that stuff in its message to be relatable to their mental health struggles and losses but I just found it rather insulting and it filled me with dread.

I'm happy for people who did find some catharsis from endwalker though! It just really didn't do much for me. There are some scenes here and there that I really really loved, but for the most part I didn't like it. I hesitate to talk about it since I experienced quite a bit of backlash for being critical about shadowbringers when I first played that (though I did like it upon subsequent replays) and the few times I've mentioned not liking endwalker I've been either told to shut up or that I just "don't get it" 🤷 I think it's worth talking about why a fanbase that is so quick to talk about being mindful and critical of media we consume is also quick to squash any criticism of the game's writing as a whole. I do still love the game to this day and will continue to play it, I've just kind of curbed my expectations in regards to msq going forward so I don't continue to feel as bad with every new patch as endwalker made me feel.

[autumnslance]

Hello Aeryn! I don’t know if anyone has asked you yet but how did you get the idea for a personal WoL for your fanfiction? Do you write what is your personal head canon or do you stick as close to the game’s lore as possible? I ask as I want to write fanfiction for my character but the lore is so confusing. I have the Encyclopedia of Eorzea but I’m still afraid that I’ll write something that someone will say “ that’s not in lore so it can’t work!” A lot of my ideas are not lore friendly.

So don't worry about making them lore friendly. Just write what works for you.

There's a lot of lore, and some of it has changed over time as the expansions have adjusted story; it's kinda meant to, if you notice that all the supplemental material is written In Character to an extent, and characters in the world can be misinformed, biased, or just wrong. it's even a plot point in MSQ a few times, when the Scions have to reconsider what they think they know of primals and Ascians and so on, and do more research and investigating.

Write what you want to write. It's for you first of all, and anyone else that might vibe with it. Anyone else trying to lore police can learn to scroll on by or get screwed in a not fun way. Plenty of folks write like that already.

Me, I've always been a lorehound and prescriptivist and like writing "in between the lines" and doing scenes plausibly missing from canon events. But that does take a lot of time and replaying and rereading and researching and even then there's things I change or ignore or add on or "gotten wrong" or otherwise drift from the lore as needed for my story, for my characters. Cuz I'm writing for me first of all, and some other folks like following along for some reason or another.

Fandoms like this one where folks can and do write their own OCs interacting with the NPCs and MSQ are what got me writing my own personal WoL. Watching early Dragon Age and Mass Effect fandoms interact with each others Warden and Shepherd stories--each unique, each their own, seeing and taking the plotlines from different angles. Realizing the fandoms I'd been in previously where "don't be the sole hero, don't interact with the important NPCs, don't interact too closely with the plot" were stifling and policing and why did I care about that?

So when I found a hook that worked for me, for my own WoL, I gave it a shot. I wrote what seemed to work. Sometimes it's ridiculous and barely within lore, sometimes I make my own lore, sometimes it just is. I've written a few other posts over time about how and why I made Aeryn as I did, when I already had Dark Autumn and C'oretta Khell but didn't make either of them WoL.

Cuz at 30-something years old, I wanted to break free and write an indulgent anime fantasy protagonist for myself. I stick close-ish to lore cuz it's how I am, but even I dance around it and change it up. And it seems to work out OK.

And attempted lore police can come back with a warrant, but they will likely find themselves simply blocked cuz this is the internet, not an academic writing course or a job where you have to please faculty or employers.