#library girl ff8

[ffviiicharacterweek]

Library Girl: June 3rd - June 10th

You chose her in the poll a few months ago, and now you get to gush about her! Here comes Library Girl Week!!

The prompt list

Library Rules

Books Recommendations

Occult Fan I

Mr. Thick Head

Mega Phoenix

The conceited SeeD

Bonus

Library Committee

Love Meter test

Combat King 003

Free Choice!

Submissions

Submissions can be posted in the AO3 collection (you can find it here) and on Tumblr starting June 3rd; please fill in this form, because from now on only the fanworks submitted through the form will be reblogged. You can also tag @ffviiicharacterweek and/or using the hashtag #ffviiicharacterweek.

And remember: HAVE FUN, AND SHARE THE LOVE!

[aleheartilly]

[RANDOM FANFICTION SPOTLIGHT] Board Games

Today's spotlight is for Board Games, another story I wrote while being on semi-mandatory rest. And it was so fun!

Fair warning for sillyness: Squall is playing Twister in this one, so yeah!

Read it on AO3 or FF.net.

For maximum effect, you can listen to the song that semi-inspired this:

[suleikashideaway]

Last Line Challenge

Thank you @angelosearch for tagging me! I love a good tag!

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you feel like).

Zell passed the counter of the library where the cute girl with the ponytail stood stacking books. She gave him a little wave and he felt his cheeks flush. His instinct was to sprint out of the library – maybe she wouldn’t notice. But…ah, the hell with it. He walked up to the counter. 

This isn't one line, but it was the last little blurb I wrote for a one-shot I'm hoping to get done in time for Rinoa Week! I know it seems like it has nothing to do with Rinoa but just you wait hehehehe

Also in fairness to myself this is not edited lol. It's literally the last thing I wrote and I can already see it's going to get some fine tuning. But! This is my first time writing Zell POV and it's so fun.

If anyone wants to play, consider yourself tagged! I love to see what people are working on!

[beautifulmaybe]

Zell loves his Pupurun shirt 😂😂 He and Raijin would totally bond over their interest in aliens 👽

[lunamanar]

I know this has been discussed a lot, but I don't recall you specifically answering it on your blog. What weapons do you headcanon for Xu, Nida, and Library Girl (and anyone I'm forgetting)?

“Anyone I’m forgetting” could be a lot of people, haha. I’ll go with those, though. 

I did mention Xu briefly, once or twice. 

Most people in fandom assume Xu is a firearms specialist, and I can’t disagree I imagine her packing at least one and being quite possibly the best crack shot in SeeD, perhaps Garden in its entirety. 

But…I don’t think she has to use it, much? I envision it as something she does more as a passionate hobby, than what she specialized in as a SeeD. I don’t envision her as someone who mixes business with pleasure, and for her, guns are most definitely a pleasure. 

But, business? Business is the business end of her palm, knee or boot to your face. Maybe not even. She can plant you in the ground and barely touch you. Basically she’s a no-frills-no-fuss-no-fucks-given Shao-lin master. And everyone knows it. That’s why no one messes with her, even Seifer. 

Her jam is quite different from Zell’s acrobatic blend of kickboxing and Aikido. Although she can if required, Xu taking someone down typically happens with a minimum of actual movement. She’d be right at home in an Assassin’s Creed game, haha.

So at most, she’d use some kind of knuckle or claw, but only for monsters that are considerably larger than humans. I also imagine her being fairly decent with blue magic, although not as good as Quistis. 

I envision her having only one GF, and even that is more of a paramagic/junction tool than something she summons much. 

If she actually does shoot you, it’s insult to whatever injury she decides to inflict; it means she just doesn’t have the time to bother expending the energy required for magic or physical contact. 

Nida…I’ll be honest, I just go with him being a saber of some sort. Not even a gunblade specialist or anything, just straight-up big honkin’ sword of the oversized-kitchen-knife variety that’s common in the FFVIII world. The fact it’s so outwardly unremarkable suits him, but I do think he’s highly proficient with it, and while not the best swordsman ever, he can certainly hold his own against anything that comes to him. I imagine he’s sparred with Squall and Seifer quite a few times.

For ‘Library Girl,’ some kind of jo or small polearm. I just think she’d be cool taking down big guys with a thin stick, haha. We never saw anyone wielding something like that in the game, really, and she just seemed like she’d be good for it. 

[lixana]

FFVIII Aesthetics - G.F. Carbuncle ( x x x x x )

[silentstarlight]

Has there been a discussion about the library girl?

I’m trying to think about what sort of weapon she’d use.  Bow and arrow? Crossbow? 

[callmederok]

…and FF8 is another game that i finished

I don’t understand why is considered the worst Final Fantasy...while FF13 is out there with two sequels that have the same identical plot as the first FF13(the plot of the three games: Lightning must save her sister, and they have to fight a god that looks like a mechanical version of a biblical angel who plans total destruction of the world/universe). Ultimately I enjoyed playing this game ^_^

I’m pretty sure that Final Fantasy 8 is the best Final Fantasy among those that should be considered “average Final Fantasy” (i mean games that are rated 6-7 out of 10 by the majority of people) in my list we have: FF1, FF3, FF7, FF12

I can understand that the characters have one common arc which is defeating the Sorceress(first Edea, then helping Edea to lose her powers only to discover that she lost them when she got defeated by Squall&Co. in CD2 and then dealing with Adele and Ultimecia) may sound boring but I sort of liked, FF8′s world is very small even compared to FF7′s, not mention that aside from the main party we had to deal with Laguna, Kiros and Ward’s arc. so literally the game is 4 CDs long and somewhere read that they had problems adding everything Nomura wanted in the game.

and don’t even come to me saying that Squall is a lame copy of Cloud, mostly because Cloud suffers from PTSD, Depression, and Personality-Disorder, while Squall suffers from abandonment issues, fear of “feeling empty and sad when a friendship/love/someone dies” and the G.F Junction that erases someone’s memory, I don’t think he is depressed but his emotional issues made him close in his own inner “world”. They’re not even similar

The game should be considered very average in the end, flawed but enjoyable. For other stuff, who may be spoiler-ish continue to read(I'm mostly writing this review for myself, like a personal diary and out of boredom XD)

Let me put this parody of the game as an apology for the long post...and just roll with it, okay? XD

I’ll mostly ramble here because I’m not even sure how to start the list of things I liked or disliked of the game that for someone can be a spoiler (but guys remember that the original game came out in 1999 and the remaster is like a year old, I shouldn’t even warn you about the possible spoilers)

I loved Zell’s love story with the library-girl, it’s a short side-quest useful only to get one of his limit-break attacks, then we see the library-girl admiring Zell while he is eating hot-dogs in the epilogue, adorable and funny!

I didn’t like how everyone was pushing for SquallxRinoa since the beginning, I like the ship(I'm fond of every canon ship usually because the creator gives time for the ship to develop or create a subtle atmosphere of love between them) but here have like 4 guys, pushing a depressed introvert with abandonment issues in the arms of a normal girl(aside for the part where she became a witch thanks to Edea) even Squall right before entering in Galbadia’s Garden in CD2(which happens at the end of CD2) acknowledge how his friends are pushing for the ship with the Griever-ring subplot.

I didn’t like how every romantic scene between Squall and Rinoa, had “Eyes on Me” as a soundtrack, it’s a nice song, but Rinoa’s mother wrote it while thinking about Laguna, it’s a song about an untold love-story that never happened because Laguna ended up fighting in Esthar and then he met Raine in Winhill, and Giulia/Julia(Rinoa’s mother) cried over it on Rinoa’s father’s shoulder until she moved on...so in the end, the text of the song is pretty sad, feels like Shy of Sonata Arctica maybe less creepy tho. So yeah I would prefer a different song for their scenes, still liked them even with that song playing but feels bittersweet. I would love something like “Earth Angel by The Starlighters”(can you imagine? We would have a love song and Back to the Future reference in a Final Fantasy game and a pun about how Rinoa’s second limit-break “Angel Wings” and also a lovely song for cute scenes between them) but maybe I’m misinterpreting the real meaning of the song...go figure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I liked the Junction System...way better than learning all the Materia-combinations in FF7 and hoping for the best.

I already said that i liked all the scenes between Squall and Rinoa...but one of them is the exception(but still liked for a different reason): The beginning of CD3 where Squall literally freaks out over Rinoa fainting/being in a coma, he goes from “My team is really pushing me for becoming Rinoa’s boyfriend and feels weird” at the end of CD2(right before the CD’s final boss) to “Please don’t die Rinoa, i’m so scared to be alone!!!” right after that said boss fight(which is the beginning of CD3 like i’ve already said) and the reason i managed to like it regardless of the extreme change in Squall is that at least we see how easily his abandonment issues gets triggered, how truly scared is to lose someone he cares about although we go from CD1 where he is mostly annoyed but still acted professional by her to CD2 where he is mostly neutral (there is the concert in F.H. where you can decide the tone of the their private conversation by which instruments you choose) to CD3 where she is Squall’s main focus and hug each other a couple of times (and CD4 is basically the Ultimecia’s Castle and the end credits so nothing really happens aside during the mid-credit scenes where they kiss).

I disliked how Ultimecia is not Rinoa from the future...I heard of that theory a long ago, it’s been dismissed since then, but usually, with time-travel, we have bittersweet endings, I would love the tragic time-loop ending or even Ultimecia being the Rinoa of a different timeline where she never met Squall (or Squall never got the contract from the “Owls of Timber” and basically only met once and moved on) and how this little difference “created” Ultimecia and the Legendary SeeD and ultimately Ultimecia-Rinoa didn’t connect to the past of her timeline but to the timeline, we’re actually playing. Honestly, I thought that Seifer’s act of allying with Edea and Adele was because Ultimecia told him that she is Rinoa from the future, and knowing that his romantic dream was becoming “Rinoa’s knight” he did his best to serve the sorceresses controlled by Ultimecia (YES this would have created a love-triangle, but there was no other serious explanation over Seifer’s obsessions which makes him just a whiny adult that belittle everyone for the hell of it)

And IF Ultimecia-Rinoa is from the same timeline, I would like it if she killed Future-Squall by accident discovers that she is Ultimecia, triggers all the game’s events just to let Squall kill her so that she could be “in the afterlife with Future-Squall and we have a tragic loop where Rinoa and Squall from couple becomes enemies out of necessity(Squall’s necessity to stop her because maybe Rinoa lost control of her powers and wipes out half of the world or something, and Rinoa’s necessity to stop herself once she discovers that she is Ultimecia and she knows that only Past-Squall and their friends will be able to stop her). 

The theory was debunked anyway, fair enough. 

I still enjoyed the ending I mean, Squall smiles and kissed Rinoa and everyone is just having fun, hell seeing Irving being polite and even bow politely to Edea/Mother is a happy surprise, or Selphie jealous while wearing Irvine’s cowboy-hat because Irving is flirting around...(and a part of me is asking: they don’t remember much...but they grew up in the same Orphanage this is something they remember...maybe not legally or by blood but why they don’t have sibling-feelings? Like you know...caring about someone like they’re part of the family...?? Or it’s a thing that may not happen?I mean Quistis admitted that her love for Squall isn’t actual love but more like “i care for you, brother” kind of affection...should be similar for the others?)

A scene I liked (in particular) is “Inside the Lagunarock” (which I can’t find a scene in English probably because I don’t know how it’s called, I call it “Inside the Lagunarock” as a reference to “Under the Highwind” from FF7) for the ones who didn’t play the game, it’s basically a scene where Rinoa sits on Squall’s lap and craves for the intimacy of feeling close, to hug, nothing sexual...the classic intimacy of a hug in a moment of fear, sadness and in her mind that time with Squall in the cockpit of the Lagunarock is all the time she has left before being contained by Esthar’s scientists by her own decision (then, of course, decides to go save her after his friends basically scold him for allowing her to seal herself). It’s not one of the most memorable like Rinoa waking up in space and watching the Griever-rings but it’s a cute moment they have.

Another thing i disliked is how Ellione in space looks like she is panicking over the need to tell Laguna the truth about Squall(that he is Raine’s kid, which is why Squall is always connected to Laguna during the “time-jumps/visions of the past” and never to Ward or Kiros, they’re connected by the blood-relationship of being father and son) but when Squall finally meet personally Laguna, the subject never comes up, and Laguna is unwilling to talk about Raine and tries to change subject (we saw the epilogue, ultimately he married Raine, then Ellione got kidnapped by Esthar, he saves her but he sends her back to Winhill alone because he promised to help Esthar to get rid of Adele in exchange for Ellione’s freedom, and meanwhile Raine dies soon after giving birth to Squall, and Ellione and baby-Squall are sent to the Orphanage managed by Edea Kramer and they met Quistis, Irvine, Zell and Selphie, which is also why Rinoa is never connected to those visions of the past, Ellione stated that can send back only people she knows). So yeah I wished a scene where Ellione makes the introductions even just “Uncle Laguna, meet your son, Squall”...good I just figured out that there is no origin for Squall’s surname (Leonhart)...I mean we don’t know Raine’s surname before marrying Laguna but she becomes Raine Loire by taking Laguna’s name...and Ellione arrived in Winhill before Raine’s death, enough to at least know that Squall’s actual surname should be Loire too, sure Squall Loire sounds weird but still, in theory, Squall is a Loire! (I just mindblown myself) So the Leonhart’s surname...is either made up randomly by Edea or by Ellione, it can’t be given by the Balamb Garden because the teachers use the Student ID! Squall doesn’t even give his own surname to Past-Edea at the end of the game. It just happens to have it or never being mentioned at all(bc this one was still one of those games where you could name the characters) 

or the surnames were mentioned in some old Ultimania and I’m mixing stuff up in my head?

So yeah I want a scene where they actually talk about it...or even a random scene before the ending scenes during-credits like:

After the death of Ultimecia, you can go back to the Garden, to talk personally to the characters(including Laguna, Ellione, Edea and Wedge, and Biggs if you talked to them on the Lunatic Pandora so they quit working for the Galbadian army) who are there for the celebratory party and Laguna, Squall and Ellione finally talk about this whole thing, and when you’ve finished to talk to everyone or to check Selphie’s web-diary where she wrote about this journey then you can go to the party and the credits start along with the epilogue”

The game is best among the average ones, my grade would be a B+ or an 8/10 (yeah like the number of the game: Final Fantasy 8 that gets an 8 out of 10 as a vote, lol)

Now a list of things I wish to see(but please Nomura, if you’re reading this, remember it’s a list of things I wish to see, I’m not forcing you into putting them, you’re the writer, not me and I want you to feel free to do whatever you want and please take your time) in a possible remake of Final Fantasy 8: 

- IF they want to do the same thing happening in 7 remake, where a character knows the future(see Aerith), don’t give it to Squall...it is a stretch with Rinoa(a stretch that I would like) but rather give it to Seifer, it would be a nice excuse to give him a full redemption(i don’t like him, but it’s the Final Fantasy version of Gary Oak from Pokèmon, arrogant, a bit of a jerk, and quite annoying) but no Whisperers/Ghosts, just say that it’s a timeline that for some miracle(or as a side-effect of the time-compression) got connected to the canon one and Seifer now knows things that may happen and knows stuff of the “First-Seifer” and decides to help Squall and friends instead because First-Seifer learned the lesson but when it was too late, still happy with Fujin and Raijin but with some regrets. 

- That famous conversation where Ellione tells Laguna about Raine’s son/Squall

- Maybe a longer game so SquallxRinoa can be improved (for those who don’t see the romance, like let have them a date before fighting with Galbadia’s Garden, yes we have the Fisherman Horizon’s Concert but people still complained that SxR is rushed...but people complain about everything...go figure)

- A new soundtrack for the cute/romantic scenes(unless they’re bittersweet/melancholic)

- A name for the braided librarian(the one who loves Zell) even just mentioned once it’s okay, I just want to stop to call her Library-girl or Braided Librarian XD

- Knowing why Rinoa and her father have such a bad relationship(it’s because the guy still feels like he is Julia’s second choice? Or because Rinoa is very Laguna-ish? Black hair, bold but funny attitude? Or Mr.Heartfilly was the nameless NPC soldier that is jealous of Laguna talking to Julia in the flashbacks at Deling City?)

- Remove the Chocobo puzzle, dear god that minigame is a nightmare!!!

- Hire trustworthy translators for the International version of the game, it happened with the NA-version of FF8, the same for the Italian version of DQ11, and now with the NA-version of FF7remake

- Maybe some RainexLaguna scenes(just a couple more, like Laguna doing a few errands for Raine in Winhill which would be a reference to Cloud helping around Sector 7 with Tifa)?

- A bigger world or bigger cities? I mean, how many cities there are in FF8? Dollet Timber, Deling, Balamb, Winhill, Shumi-village, Fisherman Horizon, and Esthar. (I excluded the Gardens...because they’re schools Duh!) okay that a war happened but the world is mostly covered by water with no islands or secret places(aside from the Laboratory where Ultima Weapon and Bahamut are located)

I don’t think I’ve more ideas, sorry for the long post, See ya Around!

If Toriyama is reading this(but I don’t think so but please if someone knows his Twitter account go tell him): a game made in 1999 managed to let two characters to hug each other, what’s your excuse for not giving us some LuminaryxGemma in DQ11? Your only success is a manga about people beating the living shit out of each other without any personal abilities...your creation got famous by mere luck <.<

[iaintyourbro]

So Your Ship (or Theory) Isn’t Canon

The day comes where you find out that your ship is not the canon pairing. It’s a sad day, you go through the stages of grief. 

“BUT EVERYTHING WAS POINTING TO THIS!”

Except, it probably wasn’t. 

This is how I had to deal with it a few times, and why it didn’t ruin the overall story for me. Full disclosure: None of these are considered “Main” pairings. 

Okay, let’s talk about the only couple I really cared about for FF7 back in the day: Vincent and Lucrecia 

Like most rational people, I have a very deep adoration for Mr. Valentine. I had a wall scroll of him in my room. He was mysterious, powerful, and my God, I’d say he was pretty effing romantic. I was also 12, but WHATEVER.

I played OG, got Vincent, saw the Waterfall scene and I was like “THIS MAN DESERVES TO GET THIS WOMAN.”

So, as we all know, the OG didn’t go in to a ton of detail about this whole thing. That didn’t really come until DoC, which of course, I didn’t play at that point. It wasn’t even out yet. And then I didn’t play it when it came out because I didn’t want to play a shooter game. 

They tell you that Hojo marries Lucrecia and that Sephiroth is his son. But then you have me that creates a theory based on a fanfiction ( That was a great fanfiction and I have no idea what it’s called because I read it 20 years ago.. ).

My theory became: Vincent was actually Sephiroth’s father. It was the only rational explanation, right? 

Who would sleep with Hojo? He’s gross. Very gross.

So, in my head, Vincent and Lucrecia did have some type of relationship and Hojo had forced her to marry him. BUT WAIT - she was already pregnant with Vincent’s child. Lucrecia played it off like it was Hojo’s, but he had his suspicions. Not that he cared, this was an experiment. He didn’t care about anybody. 

So I sat with my theory about Vincent being Sephiroth’s father, and that his sins went deeper than just not being able to stop Lucrecia and Hojo from experimenting. And Vincent suspected it too, so it wasn’t a complete mystery. In this theory, Vincent heavily suspected that he was Sephiroth’s father.

I think I replayed OG a few years ago when it came out on Switch. Once again, my love of Vincent came back. **I’m realizing that I probably did like Cloti even 20 years ago, but it was overtaken by my love of Vincent in my memories**

So I get online and am searching for Vincent things. Specifically about him being Sephiroth’s dad. And I came across it... the post proving it wasn’t canon. That the devs had done an interview and flat out said “No, Vincent isn’t Sephiroth’s father.” And if this was an episode of Maury, some folks may have jumped for joy.

I was actually hurt. Like, this can’t be right. Why wouldn’t they add that level of drama? But it wasn’t. It wasn’t canon, it was pure fanon. I’ve believed this for like 15 years. So I felt defeated.

And part of it was being wrong, which I think is a huge motivator for these ship wars. Nobody likes to be wrong. We are all human, after all. 

And I did go through about a 10 minute thing of eff that game. But guess what, I looked at it again. I actually watched DoC cut scenes (finally) and it made sense. It’s clear, it’s canon that Hojo is Sephiroth’s father. 

However, that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy that theory on my own, along with whoever else does. Fanfiction, fanart, playful discourse online about it. 

And that was fine. It didn’t ruin the game for me once I took a step back from my own theory, my own head, and looked at it as a whole. 

DoC did change my opinion of Lucrecia. For some reason I thought she was this nice lady. 

I even named my main World of Warcraft toon after her. I still have that toon, it’s still my main. 

But I was kinda like “damn she’s gonna play him like that?” And I wasn’t mad at the story anymore, I was mad at Lucrecia. But, what’s nice about that whole thing is, as the story continued in DoC, you found out she regrets her choice. She feels guilty about Vincent’s father’s death, so then goes crazy trying to save Vincent. Her “husband” treats her like trash, so then I REALLY hated him.

But I thought it was a good thing to make sure I reviewed all of the canon resources for Vincent and Lucrecia. 

I will still eat up a good fanfiction of Vincent being the daddy, though. I just will not ruin or twist the story of FF7 as it was written for it to fit that narrative. Doesn’t make me like it any less!

My next contenders, though not as serious as the above: Zell and Selphie from FF8 

I don’t know why. It was pretty obvious that the game showed Zell and Library Girl with the Pigtail (I mean, they could have at least given this chick a name) and Selphie and Irvine. And I knew that playing it. But in fanon land, I preferred Zell and Selphie. Something about them made them cute to me. Irvine and Quistis I’d generally pair up too. I have no idea why to this day, maybe just to stick people together. But even more than Irvine and Quistis I liked the idea of Seifer and Quistis. That became the thing. 

In any case, I never was upset playing the game and it never showing a single scene between those fanon couples. I loved FF8, still do. The only reason 7 overtook it was because of Remake. I still love the idea of Zell and Selphie together. 

Okay, this one actually I did have a hard time with: Psych

I wanted Shawn and Jules together by like episode 5 of that series. You want to talk about a slow burn? Those two. Shawn had other girlfriends. Jules had people. They’d still clearly have this tension. You’re like wtf guys. Come on.

When he needs to choose to save his gf (Abigail who I legit just found out was played by Rachel Leigh Cook) vs Jules in “Mr. Yin Presents...” I was like omg you son of a bitch go save Jules. Jules likes you. You know you love Jules. And he doesn’t. He save Abigail. And I was sad.

Then Abigail breaks up with him and I’m like hah!

And Jules and him get together. I actually had to spoil that for myself to keep going, cuz I almost stopped watching it. The tension was too much. That’s one where if they didn’t end up together, I think it would have ruined the show for me, as crazy as that sounds. I absolutely love the other themes in that show, but I really, REALLY loved Shawn and Jules. 

So when they break up for a bit later on, I actually got depressed. Had to spoil AGAIN to keep it moving. 

But I can guarantee one thing: If they didn’t end up together, I would not have gone online and started fighting people about it. I would have either stopped watching the series or I would have just suffered through it, depending on how tense it was.

I can tell you, when they finally kissed, I lost my shit. The tension was relieved. To get this shot, I had to watch it again AND GOT ALL WARM AND FUZZY.

And I can tell you right now, if this happens with Cloud and Tifa... I’m not sure what will happen to me. Cuz I reacted ridiculously with this, and right now I’d say I’m more invested in Cloud and Tifa. 

It’s just the release of the romantic/sexual tension that I need, I guess.

So the actual actors above were together IRL too. And I was like all about that. They were adorable. Then... she married another guy. I was like wtf guys, come on. 

I definitely made sure not to let that ruin the show, since their characters were still together. 

But in any case, you can love whatever ships and theories you want. You really shouldn’t go around lying about the story, removing parts of the story, twisting translations, words, everything that’s right in your face. 

That’s where I get annoyed. I love all the characters (except Hojo, but he is there to be hated) - so seeing this discourse is sad. 

I do laugh my ass off now more than I did before - especially over on Twitter. 

[marmolita]

shippy thoughts for ff8

so okay I admit I'm kind of disappointed that I'm not particularly attached to Squall/Rinoa but I thought I'd mention what ships I might be convinced to write about, if I were to write fic for this game:

Seifer/Ultimecia okay, clearly this is the most compelling ship in this game to me. A return to my badwrong roots from before XV made me into a person who likes fluff.

relatedly, an au with Ultimecia/Rinoa would be fascinating

Squall/Rinoa/Seifer OT3! Clearly each individual pair here has some ~feelings~ and I like the idea of exploring that together.

Squall/Irvine, because I just want Irvine to have Squall forcefully deal with him, with his dick

Squall/Selphie because she's the first person he actually seems to start caring about

Selphie/Quistis because they seem like fun

Squall/himself because a guys gotta get off sometimes and when he doesn't feel comfortable with other people at least he's got his own hand

Zell/Rinoa? I feel like he could be pretty into her?

Zell/library girl with a pigtail

Laguna/Raine? they're sweet?

Laguna/Selphie actually would be kind of fun in a casual way

Laguna is totally fwb with Kiros and Ward and you won't convince me otherwise

you knew Squall/Seifer would be on this list but I think it's probably secondary to the ot3 because I'm a sucker for canon compliance

......Laguna/Moomba. I'm sorry.

[ssnakey-b]

FF8 English-French Translarison, part 14: Romantic Cruise

Hey y’all! The translarison is back! I’m skipping ahead a bit since there aren’t really any differences. So, we are now on the bridge after Garden has transformed, where we find our first notable difference.

In the English text, Linoa just goes “Wow!” after the platform has raised. But in the French version, she has slightly more to day, going “No way, it’s impossible!”.

This one’s interesting for how close both versions are. As you probably noticed by now, the two versions generally use very different expressions. however, in this case, in the English version, this NPC says “Ahhh, my back’s killing me!” whereas the French one has him say “My back... it hurts so bad, it’s killing me!”. I’m pretty sure it’s a coincidence that they went for such similar phrases, so I find it pretty intriguing.

I wanted to bring up this NPC because he only talks like that in the English version. he doesn’t have any particular speech pattern in the French one. Gotta hand it to the English version, it does give an unnamed NPC more personality.

And speaking of the two versions being oddly similar this time around, here the French text has this character tell Squall to “go check it out”... in sense of checking something, not looking at something. This is really bizarre because it’s not really a saying in French, which would make it seem it’s an overly literal translation of English writing, but most of the localisation feels like it isn’t based off the English one, so I don’t know what’s going on here.

More oddities from the French version and more evidence of the translator only having the script to work off of. When Xu arrives and tells Squall to go back to the bridge, the French version has a text box that goes “This is the headmaster! Squall, return to the platform!” and the way it’s worded makes it sound like it’s an announcement made over the radio.

The translator was presumably confused as in the English language version, Xu says “It’s the headmaster! Get back to the bridge on the double!”. Regardless of the version the French one is based off, the original text was presumably ambiguous and so the translator didn’t realize it was a character talking to Squall directly.

A small one. In the English version, as the scene ends, Cid says “So much for my room. Where am I going to change now?”. Luckily, the French version spares us the mental image of a naked Cid and instead has him say “But where am I going to sleep, now?”.

By the way, I find this line weird regardless of the version. I was under the impression that this room was just his office, not his living quarters, so I would have thought he’d have somewhere else to sleep/change.

Here’s another small one, but one that says a lot more. in the English version, as Squall is pondering their situation, he thinks to himself “we’re in the middle of nowhere”, which is, you know, accurate. But the French version, while similar, take a much less literal approach. here, he says “we are all disorientated”.

See? There’s still the notion of being lost, which they physically are, but of course French Squall is thinking more about how dazed and confused everyone is after all that’s happened. I really like that.

There’s another very interesting change right after, as in the English version, he says “Man i’m bored...”. Again, the French version make it a bit more profound, having him wonder “Why am I being so sensitive?”, realizing he cares more about the place he lives in and people around him than he’d like to admit.

And that’s not all! As soon after, there’s a pretty big one. English Squall wonders who exactly the sorceress is and why she’d fire missiles at Garden, while also promising to himself to get even with Seifer next time he meets him.

French Squall kind of goes the opposite direction, being more forgiving towards Seifer and putting all the blame on Edea, as he goes “the priestess, it’s all her fault! Using missiles against us?! is Seifer going to escape her grasp?”.

And now, it’s finally time for the moment you’ve all been waiting for, Squall and Linoa’s date! Well, technically Squall is just showing her around, but let’s not kid ourselves, it’s a date.

The first real difference comes when Linoa asks him to make the tour a bit more fun. In the English version, she says “you know, like a normal tour?” but tin the French one, she explicitly says “Like a tourist route?”.

Squall retort is also different; English Squall thinks “What does she want from me?” whereas French Squall thinks “Me, a tour guide?!”. Again, I like the French version a bit better as it’s a bit more lighthearted. In fact Squall generally comes across as less grumpy than he does in the English version throughout this whole sequence.

Alright, let’s look at the different areas. First up, the infirmary, where... actually, you know what? I know this is what y’all really want to see so I’ll keep it for the end, nyeh heh heh!

So first up, the quad. these three girls are having a bit of a chat, and there a few differences worth noting. First, in the English text, the girl at the bottom tells her friend to tell her when she gets a BOYFRIEND (emphasis hers, not mine). In the French version, she goes further than that, telling her not to forget to invite her to her wedding. Jeez, going a bit fast, aren’t we?

And then, while in English, the dialogue ends with the girl at the top saying “ No problem! I promise! I promise!!!”, the French version gives it a surprisingly glum turn, having her ask “What if we stay single?”.

This gives an interesting twist to their body language after their dialogue ends, as I think they’re doing the SeeD salute, presumably as a way to show their bond. But because of the change in the French version, it makes it look like they’re covering their mouths as they’re gasping in fear.

And it’s not the only way the French version is bizarrely darker, as if you check them individually, Bottom Girl thinks “poor girl, she’ll end up a spinster. Granted, it’s not very nice in English either as she thinks “I bet I’ll get one before she does” but still, at least the English one believes her friend will eventually find someone.

There’s another small change with them, as the dark-skinned girl in the middle thinks “you guys are sooo great. I’ll definitely keep my promise” in English, but goes “wedding or no wedding, we’ll stay friends” in French.

Next up, the cafeteria. As I’ve alluded to at the very beginning of this playthrough, in the French version, the hot dogs have been replaced with pretzels. Interestingly, the French version also has Squall he thinks the pretzels are a myth as he’s never actually seen anybody eat any in Garden

This is in sharp contrast to the English version, where he says that some of the hot dogs are so popular, you’d be lucky to even see someone eat them, implying that they not only are they explicitly a thing, but there are multiple variants.

See, this is why I love this game. You can have all the flashy graphics and amazing technology you want, but I’ll always prefer a game so dedicated to world-building that it has canon hot dog / pretzel lore.

After Linoa chuckles at Squall’s seriousness and he retorts she’s the one who asked him to give her a tour, Linoa’s reply is quite different in tone. in the English version, she says “Oh, I’m sorry... You don’t have to get mad like that...”. In the French version, she seems more understanding, saying “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

The chat between the three students pretty much goes the same, but there’s an interesting tidbit here where the student to the right gives one of his friends grief for siding with the “Templars” (a.k.a. the faculty), with that guy telling him he did too. In the English version, the other two appear to have stayed neutral and were just hiding or something, and call him out when he wonders why they wanted to capture Cid.

We head to the parking lot and for how short that scene is, it goes quite differently depending on the version.

In the English one, the discussion goes like this:

Squall: “Just a parking lot. Nothing special.

Rinoa: “... That’s it?”

Squall: “Yeah.”

Rinoa: *facepalm* “... Never mind. Let’s go.”

in the French one, it goes like this:

Squall: And here’s the parking lot...

Linoa: How fascinating.

Squall: You think so?

Linoa: *facepalm* “Forget it. Let’s go.”

I love how in both cases, it seems like an admission from the devs that they didn’t really do anything with this area. i do think I once again have a slight preference for the French version as I like Squall’s obliviousness.

Following that is the training centre. The text is mostly the same, but there’s an interesting variation in tone. Plus it’s a line I love in both versions so I really wanna bring it up.

After Squall asks Linoa if she’s up for some monster slayin’ (I love that he even suggests that in the first place and hey, in a weird way, it does go to show he is okay with spending some time with Linoa), English Rinoa says that she can see him do that on a first date, and ironically says “you’re so romantic...”.

The French version has her even more explicitly saying “You know, you have a funny way of behaving on a first date... how very romantic!”. So you could argue there was some ambiguity in the English version, but here she straight-up says they’re on a date.

You could argue she’s joking, but either way, Squall doesn’t object, and he’s not usually one to take stuff like that lightly. Just sayin’, I think they both take this more seriously than they let on.

And finally we get to the library, where Squall meets Ellone. In the English version, after asking Squall to try and remember her, she says she’d be heartbroken to know she was forgotten. in the French version, she’s more vague, saying “It’s rather vexing when someone forgets you, don’t you think?”.

Sorry to sound like a broken record but again, I much prefer the French version’s take on it. There’s something a lot more melancholy about it and most importantly, it ties deeply into the game’s major themes by mirroring Squall’s own refusal to build memories with other people or to be remembered by them.

The more subtle tone also makes it feel like she’s trying to spare his feelings by not making it sound like he’d be hurting her, even though she may not think any less.

Well, that wraps everything up, can’t think of anything else to do, so join me next time, where we take on- oh alright, you’ve been good, here’s how the scene in the infirmary goes.

The setup is the same. Kadowaki walks in and asks Squall if Linoa is his girlfriend. I do like how the English version has her go “Oh my!” at the beginning like she’s all excited about it. if you answer yes, Linoa says “Pardon? You’d better watch out, or I’ll end up believing it”.

if you insist (by picking the phrase “I’m expressing my desires”), the following exchange occurs:

Squall: It’ll soon be true, won’t it?

Linoa: But, I... er...

Squall: I’m kidding. What did you think?

Linoa: Huh? Your sense of humour goes a bit over my head.

If you pick “Of course not, I’m kidding”, Squall still plays around with it, going “Just a little joke... between lovers.”

Finally, if you say no, this happens:

Linoa: Couldn’t you say YES, just to make me happy?

Squall: Oh, alright. Yes.

Linoa: Huh? Forget it.

And there you have it. Man, hanging out together, going on dates, joking around, flirting... no wonder some people say the romance between these two comes out of nowhere.

But anyway, that’s it for today. Hope you liked it. It’s nice to have a more relaxed session without battles and constant danger, at least not the whole the way through, isn’t it? Hope you enjoyed it and I’ll see you next time, where we confront NORG and probably do more stuff.

As always, if you like the translarison, it would be awesome if you could show your support by reblogging it and if you have any observation or question, do not hesitate to send me an ask or just comment on this post. Later, everyone!

[ffviiicharacterweek]

Angel, by suleikas_hideaway

Angel

Everyone can admit: Rinoa has her own special brand of magic when it comes to Squall. Five perspectives contemplate how the angel tamed the lion.

Characters: Rinoa Heartilly, Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas, Selphie Tilmitt, Quistis Trepe Pairings: Rinoa Heartilly/Squall Leonhart, Zell Dincht/Library Girl, Irvine Kinneas/Selphie Tilmitt Additional tags: N/A Prompt: Liontamer Author: @suleikashideaway

[ramajmedia]

FF8 Triple Triad Guide: Where to Find Rare Cards & Easy Wins

FF8 Triple Triad is one of the series' best mini-games, featuring rare cards, diverse mechanics, and main story relevance. Few of the mini-games integrated into a Final Fantasy's core experience have as significant an impact on gameplay as Triple Triad does - it can easily be manipulated from the beginning of the game to give players access to extremely powerful abilities, items, and cards that will make winning rarer ones later in the game much easier.

In fact, FF8 Triple Triad is so good it was resurrected before the game that spawned it. Square Enix brought the card game back in FFXIV as a mini-game there, and it has become an integral part of that title's ecosystem, weathering several years of play and remaining a beloved pastime for residents of Eorzea. Although the game was changed somewhat in its FFXIV iteration, it mostly remained intact, so players familiar with the FFXIV MMORPG offering - and that game comes highly recommended by modern JRPG fans at this point - will have a leg up if they're jumping back into FF8 now that it's been remastered on modern platforms.

Related: FF8 GF Guide: All Locations & Abilities Explained

FF8 Triple Triad is pretty simple to pick up, and the game has an excellent tutorial that explains everything players need to know about the way the game can change rules based on region and player. This guide won't be introducing players to the basics, but will instead help those who have fallen into the long spiral of Triple Triad addiction find the rarest cards in FF8 - and offer suggestions on how to get the less rare but useful cards that will make acquiring those rare cards, which look great in FF8 Remastered's drastically improved graphics, easier, too.

Rare cards are only available from select characters in the world of FF8 Triple Triad, and some of them can be missed if players aren't careful. They're character cards that represent powerful cast members, and they're by far the most powerful in the game. Once players acquire a decent number of them, winning at Triple Triad becomes much easier, which in turn makes acquiring the rare FF8 Triple Triad cards in the late game a lot more doable, too. Here's a rundown of each card, alongside where to find them.

Quistis Card - Can be acquired from any Trepie; there are a few in the 2F Classroom of Balamb Garden, and one in the Cafeteria (challenge the two boys at the table and choose the one sitting in the back)

MiniMog Card - Can be acquired from the young boy doing laps in the main hall of Balamb Garden; can be reacquired after losing it to the Queen of Cards from the boy in the painter's house in Dollet

Zell Card - Can be acquired from Ma Dincht, Zell's mother, in Balamb, after completing the SeeD Exam

Diablos Card - Obtained by defeating Diablos after acquiring the Magical Lamp from Cid after being given the mission in Timber but before leaving

Seifer Card - Can be acquired from Cid; the best opportunity to do so is when he presents the player with the Magical Lamp

Angelo Card - Can be acquired from Watts in the Forest Owls base

Kiros Card - Acquired from a man in all black across the street from the Junk Shop in Deling City; only available if the player loses the MiniMog Card to the Queen of Cards in Disc 1

Minotaur Card/Sacred Card - Acquired by completing the Tomb of the Unknown King and unlocking Brothers as a GF; Sacred can be won back from the boy in the painter's house in Dollet

Rinoa Card - Acquired from Caraway in Disc 2 while on Selphie's team in Deling City by first losing the Ifrit Card

Leviathan Card - Acquired from Card Magician Joker, who randomly appears on the bridge going right from the first screen of Balamb Garden's Training Center; if he doesn't show up, re-enter the screen until he does

Quezacotl Card - Acquired from Dobe in the Mayor's House in Fisherman's Horizon

Irvine Card - Acquired from Flo in the Mayor's House in Fisherman's Horizon, provided the player lost the Sacred Card to the Queen on Disc 1

Carbuncle Card - Acquired from Card Queen Heart during the CC Group Quest; cannot be challenged until leaving Fisherman's Horizon; located in Balamb Garden's bridge and is a female SeeD member

Gilgamesh Card - Acquired from the Card Master King, who can only be challenged after beating all other members of the CC Group. Keep resting in Squall's Dormitory in Balamb Garden until the King finds him and challenges him. After the initial challenge, he can be found in the bridge.

Chicobo Card - Obtained by completing all the Chocobo Forests; can then be won back after being handed to the Queen of Cards from the boy in the painter's house in Dollet

Odin Card - Obtained by defeating Odin in the Centra Ruins

Pandemona Card - Obtained from the Balamb Hotel Owner after liberating the city (only available in Disc 2-3)

Chubby Chocobo Card - Obtained from the guy on a bench near the Library in Balamb Garden, only available after losing the Chicobo Card to the Queen of Cards

Selphie Card - Acquired from Selphie's friend near the fountain in Trabia Garden during Disc 2 after arriving

Cerberus Card - Obtained after beating Cerberus in the main hall of Galbadia Garden in Disc 2; this is unavailable after the end of Disc 2

Edea Card - Acquired from Edea in Edea's House at the beginning of Disc 3

Shiva Card - Reward for giving Zone the Girl Next Door for free on the White SeeD Ship in Disc 3

Ward Card - Acquired from Odine in Esthar as Squall in Disc 3

Alexander Card - Acquired from Piet in Lunar in Disc 3

Laguna Card - Acquired from Ellone in Lunar in Disc 3; must be won from Ellone before speaking to her normally

PuPu Card - Obtained by feeding PuPu 5 Elixirs after his UFO crashes

Doomtrain Card - Acquired from the Timber Pub Owner in Disc 3

Phoenix Card - Acquired from Esthar's Presidential Aide in Disc 3

Bahamut Card - Obtained by beating Bahamut in the Deep Sea Research Center

Eden Card - Obtained by beating Ultima Weapon in the Deep Sea Research Center

Squall Card - Acquired from Laguna in Ragnarok

There are some opponents early on in FF8 Triple Triad that will offer up some powerful Level 5 cards. Cards are sorted by level in terms of their relative strength, so Level 5 cards are typically more powerful than 4 or lower - although the differences between ranks within one of each other is less pronounced, and some Level 4 cards can be contextually and strategically better than 5, and so on. With that said, though, Level 5 is definitely what players should be shooting for. Here's a quick rundown of Level 2, 3, 4, and 5 players who are accessible in Balamb Garden from the beginning of the game and can help build up a player's deck so they can win rare cards more easily when the time comes.

Level 2: Trepe Groupie #2, girl in 2F Hallway, girl and male student in Library Hallway

Level 3: Generally most people in Balamb Garden play Level 3 cards, so challenging anyone who isn't on this list is a safe bet

Level 4: Trepe Groupie #3, Cafeteria Lady, girl in 2F Hallway, girls in Dormitory Hallway, all students in Library area except the girl behind the desk

Level 5: All Trepe Groupies, Gatekeeper, Cafeteria Lady, male student in blue in Library, girl in Library reading area

There's obviously some overlap here, so plan accordingly. Completionists will want to play the girl who resides in the Library's reading room, as she plays all cards across levels 1-5 and can help build out a collection quite easily.

In general, All is the best rule to play under once a player is confident in their Triple Triad deck - winning with All means the defeated player gives up all of the cards they took into battle. It's a great way to amass cards. Eventually, rules degenerate into different ones, with All progressing into One, which is much less desirable. This can be reset with careful rules manipulation, but it's a lot of hassle, and it's only recommended for players who are adamant they will be collecting all cards in the most efficient way possible. Otherwise, just try to avoid Random as a Special Rule, which is a devastating one to allow to spread throughout a region, as it will often make a player's hands way worse in the late game while opponents will have predictably high card quality no matter what.

Next: Don't Expect A New Final Fantasy MMO Soon

source https://screenrant.com/final-fantasy-8-triple-triad-rare-cards-guide/

[ffviiiheadcanons]

Perfect Pairing from the FF8 community server!

Again, thank you Mozz!

This is Part 2! Part 1 is here!

PERFECT PAIRING:  Library Girl With A Pigtail/Selphie's Friend (the one that has her card)

12,000 words of F/F slash later, not a proper name anywhere in sight.

Want to join us in the FF8 server? Click here!

[silver-wield]

So this asshat on twitter made a meme that basically said "Shout-out to the main-heroines from the final fantasy franchise" typed in bold. This included included all the heroines except tifa. i mean, they put aerith instead of the real heroine of FFVII, tifa.

These people make me hate aerith even more, firstly aerith was annoying in 7R and now the cl*riths who are a pain in the ass. They shouldn't be here if they cannot acknowledge the "real heroine" of FFVII

I saw. It doesn't even have all the heroines, just the ones they think they can appropriate for their bullshit.

This is every woman in FF and of those women, these are the heroines.

FF1: Princess Serah

FF2: Maria

FF3: Refia

FF4: Rydia & Rosa

FF5: Lenna & Faris

FF6: Celes & Terra

FF7: Tifa & Aerith

FF8: Rinoa

FF9: Garnet

FF10: Yuna

FF12: Ashe

FF13: Lightning

FF15: Luna

Now, of those heroines these are the love interests.

FF2: Maria

FF4: Rosa

FF6: Celes

FF7: Tifa

FF8: Rinoa

FF9: Garnet

FF10: Yuna

FF15: Luna

You'll notice some of the titles have no love interest at all because a heroine isn't the same as a love interest. A love interest is separate. Any character can be a love interest, but not any character can be a heroine. Depending on the story, a character is both a heroine and a love interest, but being one doesn't mean being the other.

In fact, several supporting characters are also love interests.

FF8: Zell and the library girl

FF8: Laguna and Raine

FF9: Beatrix and Steiner

FF9: Freya and Fratley

FF10: Lulu and Wakka

FF12: Balthier and Fran

FF12: Vaan and Penelo

FF13: Snow and Serah

FF13: Noel and Yuel

FF13: Yuel and Caius

FF15: Shiva and Ifrit

So, you'll notice Snow and Vaan are there, and are listed as heroes of their games, but neither is a love interest of the heroines.

Because being a heroine doesn't mean they get the hero.

Besides, Nojima said Tifa's a heroine, so them ignoring the literal writer is pathetic and salty.

[lunamanar]

Got any headcanons for Ellone post-game?

I have a few, yes!

First, both for plot-reasons and because I think she would, I imagine Ellone does not stay in Winhill (nor does Laguna). There’s just too much going on elsewhere, and now that she doesn’t have a thousand sorceresses trying to hunt her down, it’s just a tad bit safer. And, lest any uppity White SeeDs be grupy about it, she accepts Squall’s invitation to stay at Balamb Garden. 

Multiple reasons for this: first, of course, she’s got a lot of catching up to do with Squall. Second, it’s “safer” (at least she has a bunch of child mercenaries backing her up, amirite). Third, Garden travels a lot, so she’ll both never be in one place for too long, and she’ll be able to visit a lot of places she couldn’t, growing up (as far as Squall is concerned, she’s an adult and can do what she pleases, same as anyone else). And finally, yes, Garden visits Esthar on the regular, so she’d see Laguna plenty. 

(I had thought at one point that she might stay with Laguna in Esthar, and I don’t think that would be a bad option, necessarily, but I don’t think she’d get the interaction with Squall she would want, there. Plus, like I said, it’s much more convenient for my plot purposes for her to get at Garden, and I don’t thing that’s an unlikely option for her, either.)

This isn’t to say she just continues to be anyone’s pet for the rest of her life. I imagine she helps out with the younger children at Garden, and maybe even enrolls in some classes there. (Why not, if little brother is there to spot you the fees?) I also imagine that, although she’s been shaken of the whole idea she can change the past, she’s still a bit fixated on it. It’s a difficult dream to let go of. She and Rinoa might attempt a small bit of entrepreneurship by opening a tiny cafe in the library. Maybe Library Girl (”Phoebe” in my stories) helps, haha. Not a particularly well thought out idea, mind...more like something Ellone suggested off-hand, Rinoa got excited about, and easily recruited others who liked the idea to help. I doubt either she or Rinoa stayed in charge of it for too long, but I do like the idea that it stayed in operation. You never know until you try, right? Plus, now Instructor Aki has something new to lose his shit about: coffee and tea stains, everywhere.