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glon-morski · 4 years

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On Noctis’ Injury And Its Effects On His Magic

A̷ ̷f̷i̷l̷l̷ ̷f̷o̷r̷ ̷t̷h̷i̷s̷ ̷k̷i̷n̷k̷m̷e̷m̷e̷,̷ ̷I̷ ̷g̷u̷e̷s̷s̷.̷.̷.̷?̷

Anyone who has played FFXV knows that as a child, Noctis suffered from an injury that rendered him unable to walk for a while – the reason for his visit to Tenebrae as a kid, and thus his first meeting with Luna shortly before Tenebrae fell. The Brotherhood anime and Kingsglaive movie expand on it a little bit, giving more information on the extent of the injury, as well as what caused it: a daemon called the Marilith. As a reminder, I mean this thing:

The injury was severe enough that Noctis remained in a coma for an unspecified amount of time (though most likely at least a couple weeks, if not a couple months) and even once he woke and recovered a bit, he was unable to walk, his legs being paralyzed (or he was literally paraplegic, meaning paralyzed from the waist down; that’s a valid possibility as well, and an even more likely one all things considered). Furthermore, it is a widely assumed headcanon (and rather heavily implied, though never actually stated in the game) that he was infected by the Starscourge through this injury. For these reasons, he was taken to Tenebrae so the Oracle may heal him, though this led to Niflheim attacking and conquering Tenebrae as a result.

Well, fine, he was healed. That’s that then. Except it’s not, according to Noctis’ character sheet in the game’s archives.

“An injury incurred as a young boy deprived him access to the full potential of his innate power”, huh?

Unless there was another ‘childhood injury’ that we don’t know about, which is unlikely, this references the Marilith. And that injury, though healed by the Oracle, apparently left marks deep enough that it affected Noctis’ ability to use his magic. But that begs the question: how exactly was he affected? No part of the game or the anime or ANYTHING gives us any real indication on that. So all we can do is speculate. That said, here are some thoughts I had on the matter.

1 – Warping

Noctis can warp. That’s obvious to anyone who played the first five seconds of the game’s gameplay or watched the first minute of the brotherhood anime. It’s one of the basic abilities he should have as a royal, of course he learned how to warp.

Here’s the thing, though: just because he can doesn’t mean it was (or still is) easy. In fact, Noctis had experienced uncommon difficulty in mastering this skill, as stated in the book/script ‘Prologue: Parting Ways’. Ignis outright says there that Noctis actually only mastered warping recently and goes as far as to speculate that his difficulty in learning might be connected to his childhood injury, which is as much of an indication that it’s the case as we can get since the characters visibly aren’t supposed to know for sure. Furthermore, if we consider Gameplay-Story-Integration – something FFXV does in spades, far more than I think I’ve ever seen any other game do – at the very beginning of the game, warping (and warp strikes in particular) is very costly in MP. In fact, unless you’re on a New Game+ (which doesn’t count), overusing warp strikes is the best way to end up in Stasis in only a few attacks, along with aerial combat which, surprise surprise, also makes Noctis warp and phase a lot to not fall down prematurely.

The effect lessens as Noct gains levels and thus more MP, but even late game you can sometimes end up in Stasis against stronger, aerial opponents if you’re not careful. That said, while the gameplay mechanic of gaining more MP as you level up is nothing new, here it could be explained in-story as well: as Noctis grows stronger because he’s fighting nearly every day and is thus forced to practice both his combat skills and his warping, he perfects the skill he had so he doesn’t need to use as much magic for it. He may have ‘mastered’ it before leaving Insomnia in the sense that he never fails to warp when he wants to, but for most of his journey he’s perfecting it so he can do it with more ease and using less of his reserves of Magic, and thus not fall into Stasis so easily.

Speaking of which…

2 – Stasis

Stasis is something akin to a ‘status ailment’, yet different. It’s what the state of having 0 MP is called. When in Stasis, Noctis can’t attack because he can’t summon his weapons and can’t avoid attacks well because he can’t phase, much less warp. He can’t use the magic flasks, either. The only thing he can do is run around but that, interestingly, only makes the Stasis last longer. In order to recover MP and thus get OUT of Stasis, he needs to stop moving entirely (and preferably hunker down behind a rock or something of that nature). Stasis only ends when he recovers all of his MP.

There’s a few things interesting about Stasis. The first, as I already mentioned above, is how to get out of it. You need to stop and cease moving entirely – which, if you’re in the middle of combat, is of course nothing short of idiotic. But then, since you can’t do anything anyway, Stasis is something you usually need to get out of ASAP if you’ve already failed to not fall into it in the first place. Finding a hiding spot and hunkering down helps as Noctis’ magic recovers faster that way. While there’s no indication how Stasis may feel to Noctis, however, there’s a widely-accepted headcanon that it is not pleasant. The fact that you have to stop and that crouching makes Noct recover faster lead to believing he might feel dizzy and maybe even nauseous or otherwise sick, that he as a character feels the need to sit or lie down when he ends up in Stasis. Which would make sense considering that, as far as we know, his Magic is and always has been a part of him, so having it deplete to zero is likely to not feel nice. It might be similar to when you’re anemic for the exact same reason: you need a certain amount blood and hemoglobin for your body to function properly. It’s not too much of a stretch to assume that it’s the same for Noctis and his magic power.

Noctis, however, is not the only character who may have to deal with Stasis if he’s not careful about his magic use. The others are the members of the Kingsglaive, as shown in the Comrades DLC. However, even at the very beginning of DLC, you have to try really hard to get the Kingsglaive character into Stasis. Like, fighting an aerial enemy and constantly warp striking it even though you have shuriken you can throw from a distance kind of try. In fact, in all the time I played Comrades, I only managed to get into Stasis ONCE and my reaction to it was ‘wait what? Stasis? HOW?!’ that’s how surprised I was that it actually happened, even though I theoretically knew it could. Furthermore, at no point in the Kingsglaive movie was Stasis ever so much as mentioned as far as I recall. So in this case, it is safe to assume that it’s either a case of Gameplay-Story-Segregation, or in case it’s not, that most Glaives only know vaguely that Stasis can happen, but rarely-to-never actually experience it. By comparison, early-game Noctis falls into Stasis nearly all the time (or he did the first time I played the game and before I learned to watch my MP and periodically point-warp, a tactic I largely dropped late-game and barely use in Comrades).

There’s one thing, though: magic is not a native ability of the Glaives. They get the ability to use magic by borrowing said magic from the king. Their bodies are not as adapted to it as Regis’ and Noctis’ would be by virtue of magic being an energy they don’t usually have access to. This is further reinforced by the fact that they have varying affinity for magic. So since the energy wasn’t theirs and their bodies were not meant to be able to use it, but do so anyway due to their connection to the king, it would make sense if there was a limit of how much magic they could borrow before something blocked them – either because the ‘sharing’ works by them having a certain stock which runs dry or because their bodies refuse to accept more magic from the king past a certain threshold, thus inducing Stasis. The same cannot be said for Noctis. He’s of royal blood. He was born with his ability to use magic. It’s part of him. It’s his magic, not someone else’s that he’s borrowing.

Furthermore, there is King Regis, who we know is weakening due to sustaining the Wall. He’s been weakened to the point that already at the time of Brotherhood, he lost access to his Arminger – not the entire arsenal, he can still summon regular weapons, but the Royal Arms no longer appear to him because he’s too weak. Yet even this weakened monarch withered by years of using the Ring of the Lucii is never so much as implied to experience Stasis, or to ever have experienced it. Even now, when he can hardly use magic in general, there’s nothing that may imply he’s close to or dealing with Stasis. His magic is there, he just cannot use it. But if Noctis’ father never experienced Stasis in all his life, then it would mean it’s weird that Noctis does, especially as easily as he does in early-game.

Unless, of course, his childhood injury and the Starscourge play a role in it. Hence why I believe they do.

3 – Elemental Magic

Another direct ability connected to his magic that Noctis has is his Elemancy and general spell-casting. And here’s where things get really interesting in my opinion. I’ll be breaking this into two separate parts, one about the obvious Elemancy from the game (i.e. making the magic flasks) and one less obvious aspect. Let’s start with the less obvious one.

3.1 – Elemental Deposits

In order to use elemental magic in the form of flasks, Noctis has to first store the energy from elemental deposits. These are strewn about all over Eos, most notably with one of each element (fire, ice, lightning) around every haven blessed by an Oracle. However, they’re also found in different locations to varying amounts. Mt. Ravatogh is littered with fire deposits and maybe a lighting here and there, but you won’t find any ice, which makes sense considering it’s a volcano. The cave behind the waterfall, aptly named Glacial Grotto, is littered with ice deposits and you’ll be hard pressed to find anything else (though there is exactly one fire and one lightning deposit). This implies that elemental magic is part of the very earth itself, which is important when you consider another thing:

Noctis is the only character who requires these depositis. Everyone else can cast spells ‘just like that’ as far as we know. The Kingsglaive? Both in the movie and in the Comrades expansion, they just do it. There’s not even so much as a mention of the deposits. Ignis, who’s implied to be the most magically adept of Noctis’ companions? His entire fighting style when you play him relies on elemental magic, and when you don’t play as him, he has elemental techniques to use via the tech bar like Sage Fire. He can do both whether or not Noct has stored any elemental energy himself, so it’s not connected to that.

Where, then, do these characters draw the magic from?

At first, one may think that they draw from the royal family. It’s how the Kingslaive’s abilities are explained in-game, after all. They can use magic because of their connection to the king, because the king gives them access to his own magic. The same goes for the Crownsguard, though to a lesser degree, as they don’t seem able to do much more than just conjure and dismiss weapons from the arsenal. Cor doesn’t warp once the few times he’s a guest member in your party and, unless I’m misremembering, none of the Crowsguard were able to warp in the Kingsglaive movie, either. Same for the Crownsguard enemies in Episode Ardyn. Outside the royal family, only the Glaives could do that.

So they draw their magic from their sovereign – King Regis in most cases, Noctis in the case of Ignis, Gladio and Prompto. Except we just talked about how Ignis’ fighting style, particularly when he’s the player character, relies heavily on elemental magic and he can use it whether or not Noctis has any elemental magic from deposits stored. This leads me to believe that using elemental spells is actually a two-fold job. Because the magic of the royal family is bound to the Crystal. But the elemental deposits can be found literally anywhere (even in cities in odd containers) and the kinds of deposits you find in certain terrain depends on that terrain, meaning the elemental energy is something that can be found in the earth… and by extension likely the sea and the air, too, it would only make sense.

So the royal family doesn’t actually have direct use of elemental magic, but their Crystal magic gives them a way to manipulate these elemental energies to form spells. This is further reinforced by the fact that when Noctis absorbs elemental energy, it is portrayed as colorful, smoke-like wisps or something. There’s no small flame or ice particles or sparks of electricity in the energy he absorbs (though they are there on the deposit before he starts siphoning it). That only comes when actual spells are cast. Which would mean it’s possible that whoever gets access to the Crystal’s magic via connection to the royal family gains an ability to manipulate those energies as well, and is thus capable of using elemental magic. Which would also explain why some people have more of an affinity for it than others because let’s be honest, that sounds like complicated, hard work.

As I said before, though: Noctis is the only character to actually use the energy deposits. So where do other characters grasp the elemental energy to manipulate it with the Crystal’s magic to create spells? The answer is simple: everything around them. The earth. The water. The very air. They can draw that energy from those places and manipulate it to form spells. And Noctis should be able to do the same. Yet he seems to require the deposits instead.

Could it be due to the fact that, for some reason, he lacks some aspect of his Crystal magic, be it fine-tuned control or something as simple as the instinct for it, that would allow him to weave these energies from the very air around him? Could it be that in order to grasp those energies and manipulate them, he requires a higher concentration of that energy? It seems to be the case. And by that logic, unless we assume he simply doesn’t have the affinity for magic, the only other possible explanation is his childhood injury.

But wait. One thing doesn’t add up. Noctis can use elemental spells in his parries, after all. Against certain enemies, when you block at the right moment and then press the attack button when prompted, an animation will start where Noctis counters, usually with magic. For instance, he can jump onto the flat side of a Red Giant’s sword, run up to it, up its chest, jump away and throw a fire spell at it. A similar counter is possible with one of the Niflheim machine enemies of the X generation (X-Angel or something along those lines, I think). And those counters, much like Ignis’ fighting style, can be executed whether or not Noctis happens to have elemental energies for Elemancy stored.

And that’s true. But there’s a few details to consider here. First, these counters are available against specific, late-game enemies. Besides which, no matter what the enemy’s weakness or resistances might be, Noctis will only ever use a fire spell in those parries, and not an overly powerful one, either. So going by Gameplay-Story-Integration again, this can be explained thus: by virtue of fighting and using magic far more often than he ever had to in Insomnia, Noctis eventually learned to draw the elemental energy from the air as well, but still not in what can be considered an effective manner. Especially since I’d consider fire to be the easiest spell to cast of the three (even if blizzard, by virtue of being connected to water, may be the one for which the energy is easiest to draw from the air in particular). Because lightning would be difficult to conjure from the air in general and blizzard, while probably having an amplitude of water energy that can be used, needs far more manipulation because you need to freeze it and stuff. By contrast, with fire, you just have to manipulate it enough that there’s a first spark and the rest is a chain reaction because the flames use the air (or rather the oxygen in the air) as fuel to burn. Furthermore, compared to blizzard and lightning spells, fire spells have far less of an area of effect. They’re more concentrated and thus safer to use for a counter without endangering one’s comrades, but that’s another matter entirely.

There’s another aspect of the deposits, too, namely that they’re the one thing in the game that Noctis’ companions never point out. If you pass a shop, they’ll talk about shopping or getting curatives. If you pass a haven, Gladio will often ask if you want to make camp. If you’re near a fishing spot, either Noctis or one of the others may comment on the opportunity to fish. But elemental deposits are never commented on by anyone. Almost as if they’re not seen. (Much like mineral deposits and places where you can pick up food, but admittedly, those really can be overseen. The same can’t really be said for elemental deposits, considering their glow and stuff.)

Which… actually would make sense if you think about it. Episode Gladio and Prompto were both in locations that should have been rich in deposits – Gladio’s by virtue of being a generally magical location and Prompto’s because it’s still relatively near to Shiva’s resting place, which should make him stumble upon ice deposits all over, especially considering that there were several of them in abandoned containers on the railway where the train Noctis, Gladio and Ignis were using was forced to stop (you know, that spot right to Shiva’s corpse’s head?). Yet in neither location is even one deposit to be found. Not even in a ‘yeah, there is one here, but obviously you can’t make use of it’ kind of way. Similarly, there were a couple deposits in containers in Altissia, but when you play Episode Ignis, there is not a single one. Finally, there were even deposit containers in the ruined Insomnia. I find it hard to believe those would have been brought there by Niflheim, so they had to have been there before Insomia’s fall and might even have been lying around for years. And yet you also don’t see a single one when you play Episode Ardyn. Ardyn who, being a Lucis Caelum, has access to the Crystal’s magic as well as far as we know. Admittedly, he never uses the elemental aspect, though. Actually, all he does use is warping and the Royal Arms during his final fight with Noct. Nothing else. Almost as if… as if he’s lost access to it. Maybe because of all the Starscourge he’s absorbed.

Much like Noctis, who had been infected with it to a lesser degree as a child and who thus has issues with using it as well.

But back to the deposits. One more interesting thing to note in the case of Insomnia is that these deposits lie literally in random spots among the rubble. With the addition of the Glaive Encampment and stuff in the Royal Edition, you would think there wouldn’t be deposits at least around the encampment, right? The Glaives might not need them, but still, why would they just leave them lying around in random spots like this? Especially if it was known Noctis makes use of them. Then it would have been even more logical to gather them in a safe place for him, if only to make sure they’re preserved for him to use whenever he comes back. So why wouldn’t they do that? Why just leave them? Why won’t Noctis’ comrades ever comment on them, even when you have nothing stored and they would usually remind you to maybe stock up like they do with everything else?

Simple: no one but Noctis can actually see/sense them.

As I said before, one of the possibilities of how elemental magic is weaved into spells from the Crystal’s magic and natural elemental energy is that it’s done instinctively. It’s not that the characters can SENSE the elemental energies and decide to use them. They just go ‘I need this spell’ and instinctively reach for the energies they need for it. As the energies they need are literally everywhere around them, there’s no NEED for them to be able to sense them.

But Noctis is different in that the energies flowing all around him are not enough for him to actually grasp and weave into spells. He needs spots where those energies are concentrated. Spots which he needs to FIND. And so he may have developed a sort of sixth sense, a way to sense elemental energies when they’re concentrated enough (and possibly the Crystal magic, too, because the two likely aren’t that different; the Crystal magic could even be a sort of fourth element). A way that no one else has, because no one else NEEDS to find these places. Hence why they’re only actually there in the main game, which is from Noctis’ PoV. No other character could make use of them and because they don’t even need them, no other character can even sense/see them.

3.2 – Magic Flasks

As extensively discussed above, Noctis cannot easily cast spells, not the way the Glaives or Ignis do (and his father as well before he’s been weakened by the Ring of the Lucii, at least according to ‘A King’s Tale’). He can’t draw the energy from just anywhere, it needs to be concentrated enough. Furthermore, considering you can’t draw from elemental deposits even when you happen to be right next to one in a fight (and you can do a lot of things in the middle of combat via even the main menu in FFXV) and that it’s an ability that you can ‘level up’ via Ascension, it would be safe to assume even that is not easy for him. It takes time and he needs to concentrate. Because of this, it’s very possible that the difficulty of just drawing the energy makes the simultaneous manipulation of it into a spell nearly impossible for him (the exception being the aforementioned, tiny fire spell in counters). As a result, instead of drawing energy, manipulating it and then releasing the crafted spell simultaneously like the Glaives (as well as his father) do, Noctis needs to separate the steps.

Step one has been discussed extensively above. He draws the energy from places particularly rich in elemental energy – the deposits.

Step two, an intermediate step necessary due to the apparent difficulty in drawing elemental energies, is storage. As Noctis cannot manipulate the energy at the same time as he draws it, he needs to do something with it so he can do so later. The only logical thing to do is to store it, which he does likely in his own body (as he can do it since the beginning of the game and there’s no item or anything that’s in any way required for it).

Step three: he forges the spells. Now this one is interesting, because it doesn’t seem like Noctis has much issue with this particular step. Once he has the elemental energy necessary, spell-crafting seems to be simple, at least if one looks at it once again through Gameplay-Story-Integration glasses. As stated earlier, you can’t draw elemental energy from deposits while in combat. You can, however, craft spells mid-combat via the use of the main menu. So, going by the same rules as we did for the drawing of energy, this means that crafting spells is quick, easy and doesn’t require much concentration on Noctis’ part.

Why then does he always store them in flasks? If crafting the spells is so easy, why not cast them directly from his own energy storage?

Well, another widely accepted headcanon (to my knowledge) is that Noctis can’t control the spells that well. Not in terms of crafting them, but in terms of their power and where they land. Thus, he uses the flasks to both have better control in terms of aim, as well as actual power. This idea is supported by two things.

The first is how crafting spells works. You can decide how much of each elemental energy you want to infuse into a flask and you see what the end result will be before you actually craft the spell. This is, of course, an obvious game mechanic to avoid frustration for the players so they don’t craft blindly. But it would also make sense if this was another bit of Gameplay-Story-Integration, because Noctis himself likely doesn’t craft the spells blindly hoping he’ll get the right one, either. He can either ‘sense’ what spell will come out, or he’s practices crafting spells long enough to just know from experience.

The second thing is the difference in spells between Noctis and the Glaives. Whether you look at the Comrades DLC or the Kingsglaive movie, the magic of the Glaives is far more controlled than Noctis’. It’s more focused while being just as destructive and there doesn’t seem to be nearly as much risk of getting your comrades caught up in the cross-fire, and considering I only ever played Comrades offline (meaning with AI), trust me that the difference wasn’t between actual people knowing to get out of the way. Especially since it’s not like Comrades actually has a chatting system or anything, so it’s not like you can warn anyone ‘magic incoming!’ or anything. And yet unlike the main game, your party members are never actually caught in the crossfire.

Of course, there’s one big difference between throwing a flask (which is basically a magic bomb) and casting a spell yourself, and that’s the amount of control you have over the spell at any given moment. You need to control it to cast it, control where it lands by aiming and likely control it at the very moment of casting, so when the magic is released and possibly what it considers a target, as well. Flasks remove one-and-a-half of those. Noctis still needs to control the spells when he crafts them so they don’t blow up in his face or something before he stuffs them into flasks. But he doesn’t need to keep controlling it when he aims and he literally can’t control it at the moment of casting, because that happens on its own when the flask breaks. So while the Glaives can be assumed to control even the release of the spell (exactly when it goes off, how far it reaches etc.) this is out of Noctis’ hands. Once a flask breaks, that’s it, the energy inside literally explodes outward in a big, destructive mess. And that’s exactly how Noctis’ flasks work: a big explosion of magic that decimates everything in its path.

But then we return to the question: why bother? Why not just cast from his ‘internal storage’ where he keeps the elemental energy before he puts them in flasks?

I believe that is due to the fact that casting normally would be too difficult and demand too much concentration, much like drawing the energy from elemental deposits in the first place. As I said before, putting the magic into flasks removes two steps of casting where tight control of the magic is needed: to aim and to release (and potentially to designate the targets versus the people who are not to be harmed). And that is the EASY step, as Noctis can even do it mid-combat. It’s the aiming and release that likely pose issues, which would make sense. When it’s merely in ‘wisp-form’, the energy may be more or less difficult to manipulate, but is likely easy to contain. Once it’s crafted into the spell and becomes magic, however, the actual power/strength of it likely amplifies, since you’re combining various energies together. It’s like a chemical reaction. As soon as you start mixing stuff, a kind of reaction happens and energy is released. This is likely the same. And containing that energy, that pure power that’s created when a spell is crafted, may be beyond Noctis’ grasp on his magic. Which would mean that he does not have that tight or fine-tuned a control over it. He can manipulate it to craft spells, but anything other than that is either difficult and demands a lot of concentration, or is outright beyond his capabilities.

(Again, there’s this one little spell he does in counter-attacks, but that might be about all he can safely manage.)

4 – Healing Magic

There’s one more aspect of Noctis’ magic in terms of spell-casting: healing, otherwise known as the Cure-line of spells (Cure, Cura and Curaga, as well as potentially Raise and Arise, though the latter two don’t seem to be a thing in FFXV in general). It’s the one type of magic that’s nearly entirely unavailable to Noctis.

He can’t cast healing spells. The Glaives can and do.

On the other hand, Glaives don’t use potions. I don’t think a potion, or any other kind of curative, has even been mentionned in the Kingsglaive movie (though it’s been a while since I’ve seen it so I may be wrong), and they definitely aren’t in Comrades. Curatives are something only Noctis and his companions have access to, and the description of each points out that they only work ‘by way of Noctis’ power’. So he’s the one that makes them.

The idea here is similar and yet different to magic flasks. For magic flasks, Noctis needs to gather elemental energy first. He doesn’t seem to have any need for it to create curatives. On the other hand, he can’t just stuff healing magic into a flask. He requires a medium of sorts, apparently preferably in liquid form considering he always uses various types of energy drinks. Interestingly, the potency of the curative doesn’t seem to be how much magic Noctis’ stuffs into it, otherwise they could probably buy Hi-Elixirs for the price of a mere potion, but rather what kind of medium (so energy drink) he uses. Almost like the magic he infuses it with directly interacts with the chemical contents of the medium to determine the curative’s potency. Which is, at the very least, plausible.

Here we have another wonderful bit of Gameplay-Story-Integration in that you can buy curatives of any sort nearly anywhere, up to and including Gralea. Which makes sense if Noctis himself is the one who creates them. Surely even the empire would have energy drinks for their human citizens, right? And furthermore, with the exception of one (1) cutscene in Episode Prompto where Aranea uses a curative (which, considering she’s met Noctis and the others in Tenebrae before, she might have gotten from them; even if they didn’t have enough stock themselves, Noctis could have turned all energy drinks she had into curatives to further enable her relief efforts; and let’s be honest, it’s totally something Noctis would do) no one else but Noctis and his crew ever uses curatives, or even seems to know they exist. I mean, all those hunters you rescue in random side-quests? You’d think they’d have their own potions and antidotes and stuff on them if it was something that could be bought anywhere. Except all they can buy is an energy drink. Only Noctis can actually make it into a curative.

As for actually casting a healing spell in any form, Noctis cannot do that at all. The only thing he can do is mix a curative or some food into his elemental spells to create healcast spells. (Which, by the way, is another example of magic actually interacting with matter on a chemical level or something of that nature – though it’s likely more abstract than that - to determine an additional effect. If you use other items, you get stopcast, venomcast, failcast etc.)

5 – Sharing Magic With Others

The final point in which Noctis’ injury may have affected how well he can use his magic is actually sharing it with others, the same way Regis does with the Crownsguard and the Kingsglaive. However, at first glance, in this one point, it doesn’t seem like Noctis has any difficulty compared to his father. He shares his magic with Ignis, Gladio and Prompto easily enough and they can do everything a Crownsguard is supposed to.

As stated before, the Crownsguard doesn’t seem to have that much access to elemental magic, at least going by what little we see of them in the movie and the fact that in-game, Cor isn’t very magically inclined in terms of elemancy, either. However, they can materialize weapons from the arsenal. But they can’t warp. Cor never does and neither do the Crownguard operatives in Episode Ardyn.

The Glaives (and the Royal Guard they’re derived from) can use elemental magic and they can warp (though some are better than it than others). They can also manifest their weapons, as prove in both Episode Ardyn and Comrades.

I don’t remember if it was said in the Kingsglaive movie itself or if I read about it elsewhere, but I’m pretty certain it was stated somewhere that these differences were due to how powerful the ‘sharing link’ between King and subject is. The Crownsguard, being a ‘defense and reaction only’ kind of force and derived of what used to be the Lucian army to boot, only have the most basics of links to allow them access to the arminger arsenal. The Kingsglaive, on the other hand, was meant to basically be the new Lucian army (and yet, ironically, they’re based on the former Royal Guard). They were meant not to be a defense force, but an attack force. And since most of the magic the king can make available is more attack-oriented anyway, he bestowed those powers to them.

There’s also the fact that this more powerful link is more draining, too, which was likely another reason the Crownsguard only got the bare minimum of magic access.

Thing is, Ignis, Gladio and Prompto are all part of the Crownsguard, so they should also only have this ‘basics only’ connection. And yet Ignis can use elemental magic like no other Crownsguard member. Which leads me to believe that Noctis, being young and not yet burdened by the Ring, gave the strongest connection he could to his friends, allowing them access to every aspect of his magic.

But wait. If that’s the case, why don’t the other three warp? Ever?

Well, in Prompto’s case, that’s simple. He’s only been trained for a couple of months and while he was accepted into the Crownsguard, it’s downright said at the beginning of the game that his training was more meant for self-defense than to actually protect Noctis. Ignis and Gladio, however, don’t have that excuse. Gladio in particular has been trained in combat all his life. You’d expect him of all people to know how to warp, right?

Here’s the thing though: if you look at the Brotherhood anime, then outside of the few scenes actually set after the beginning of the game, neither Ignis nor Gladio are shown to be able to use magic. Even in the scene in episode 3 (I think?) where Gladio and Noctis trained with wooden weapons, they didn’t call for them or dismiss them with magic. In Noctis’ case, he might not have wanted to or he might still have been struggling to, since he was still a teenager then. In Gladio’s case, it’s safe to assume he hasn’t had access to it at that point. Especially since neither Ignis nor Gladio wear a Crownsguard uniform in the anime.

So that would mean their link to Noctis, and thus his magic, is relatively recent. Two, three years at most. And warping isn’t something that’s easily learned. Noctis might have additional trouble with it because of his injury, but even among the Glaives there are those who warp better (Nyx) than others (Libertus, who complains it makes him nauseous and that he needs to practice more). And these are highly skilled combatants with lots of experience and decent-to-exceptional magical affinity who have likely been training for years before being sent into the field (a lot can be said about Regis, but definitely not that he would send poorly-trained soldiers into a war). So learning to warp, whether you have aptitude for magic or not, takes time. Thus it is very likely that Ignis and Gladio could learn to warp if given the time and opportunity to do so. It’s just that once they leave Insomnia, they never do.

There’s one more thing, too: Ignis has a tendency to throw his daggers in combat and Gladio often throws his sword at Noctis during training. Both ultimately end up summoning the blades back to them in the end, but there’s always a second or so of delay before they do, as if they were originally trying to do something else. Like warping after the weapon. It’s thus very possible that shortly before leaving Insomnia, they have both begun warp training, it’s just that they haven’t had the time to finish it and actually learn to warp. And then once they leave Insomnia and then Insomnia falls, they don’t get much opportunity to train. Even during the ten years Noctis is in the Crystal, or rather especially during that time. Because daemons are springing up all over, the nights are getting longer and it’s basically the apocalypse. You don’t really get the chance to learn a new skill when something like that happens, you focus on the skills you already have to better them in a way that can make it possible for you to survive. So in the end, they never really learned. And after the Dawn, they didn’t really have the opportunity to anymore.

However, looking at everything else, it’s safe to assume Noctis allows them free, full access to his magic. His ability to do so is not hindered by his childhood injury.

In conclusion:

Noctis’ injury, sustained by the Marilith and likely made worse by a Starscourge infection, affected his magic on nearly every level. It made warping (and possibly conjuring weapons and other items) more difficult for him to learn. It immensely impacted his ability to cast spells, both of the elemental and the healing variety. It made him susceptible to falling into Stasis. Almost every aspect of his magic that we know of has been affected in some way. The only part of it that still seems perfectly fine (or at least there’s no reason to believe it’s been affected in any way) is his ability to create a ‘sharing link’ to give someone else access to magical abilities.

#FFXV #Glon's meta wordvomit #meta analysis #Magic #Noctis' backstory #Marilith #injury effects on usage of magic #FFXV kikmeme fill of sorts

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willow-salix · 4 years

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Day 98 of Isolation on Tracy Island and no one is moving today, well, me, Virgil and Alan are fine physically but we are being lazy and hanging out on the couches with the rest of the ones that had attempted to hula hoop. The thing with hooping is that it takes weeks to toughen up your skin and muscles to cope with such a pounding as they will get from 2kilos of hoop slamming into them over and over at speed, I’d warned them, they hadn’t listened. Them of the rock hard abs had thought they had it covered, now they are regretting being so cocky and are laying around groaning every time they try to move.

We were laying there like sloths refusing to move (yes, John is wearing his rodeo shirt and I am wearing my hideous T-shirt and no, neither of us are complaining because we are adults) me because I had no real reason to need to move and I’d much rather lay there and veg than actually deal with moving and them because they were hurting.

They were all lying around in various poses of ouch, Scott was draped artfully in one of the bucket seats, looking relaxed but I knew the real reason was because the curved back was actually helping him get in and out of it, he had his tablet with him and was apparently catching up on some admin, but I know him and I know the look on his face and it definitely wasn't paperwork he was looking at. My money would be on him watching a movie with the subtitles on.

Alan was playing a hand held video game with Gordon, Virgil was tinkling on the piano working on a new composition which was actually a fascinating process to watch, he’d hum a little, plink out a few notes, hum again, play with a little variation and then write it down.

John was stretched out on the couch, his back resting against my chest because apparently I'm comfier and I was being nice by rubbing his abused stomach soothingly. I had stolen my ipod back from Scott and had my headphones on and was seriously vibing, totally chilled out and just loving life when the comm on Jeff’s desk beeped.

I allowed John to sit up from his prone position stretched across my lap and helped drag him to his feet when he couldn’t get his abdominals to obey his commands.

“Not so fun when it’s happening to you, is it,” Virgil laughed, earning himself a level 4 John glare, patent pending. But Space man was still lighter on his feet than the lumbering elephant Virgil had been doing an impression of and was soon easing gently into the desk chair.

“Yes EOS? Is everything alright?”

“Yes, I believe so,” she answered.

“Then is there something I can help with?”

“I think we have another one of those calls, but I’m not sure so I thought you should listen first.”

John rolled his eyes and Scott groaned.

“Put it through then, thanks, EOS.”

“Hello?” a young sounding voice spoke over the comms.

“This is International Rescue, how may we be of assistance today?” John asked, immediately slipping into his calm, capable work tone.

“Hello,” the sound of a muffled giggle could be heard somewhere in the background and John lifted his hand to cut the call. I jumped into action, slashing my hand at him in a ‘don’t you dare’ gesture. We were all bored, but I had an idea of how to make it better.

I sat down on the edge of the desk and made a continue motion with my hand.

“Can I have your name, caller?”

“Erm...name?”

“Yes, it’s standard procedure.”

“My...my name's Yuri,” another muffled giggle. “Yuri Nator.”

Alan and Gordon snorted with laugher, although Scott didn't look impressed and neither did John, Virgil just looked resigned to the fact that all teenagers were idiots. I could understand that one.

I gestured for him to let me take over and launched into my best impression of Janine from Ghostbusters.

“International Rescue, what do you want?”

This time even Scott sniggered. John, being John, lent back in his chair and let me work my magic, he’d seen this happen far too many times.

“So, Mr Nator, can you tell me a bit about your situation?” I continued.

“Well, I’m trapped.”

“Trapped, OK let me just pull up my forms for trapped citizens,” I paused for a few seconds then continued. “On a scale of one to ten how trapped would you say you are?”

“How trapped?”

“It’s not a hard question, how trapped are we talking? Have you just got a smashed ankle or have you lost your whole leg? Have you had to gnaw off any of your own limbs? Come on kid, time is money, you know we charge by the minute, right? This is going on your phone bill.”

“Trapped erm...maybe a five?”

“Five, alright, now where are you trapped on a scale of one to ten, one being you tripped over a hole in the sidewalk and a twig landed on you and ten being you are currently held hostage under the sea by three mermaids and a whale?”

Gordon buried his face in a pillow to stop his laughter carrying across the room.

“Maybe a three?”

“Three, alright, trapped down a well, got it. Now, do you have any friends or relatives with you?”

“No, I’m alone,” frantic whispering was heard over the line.

“Totally alone, OK, I’ll add Billy no mates to your record, nearly done, just a few more questions before I pass you over to the relevant department head. Now, can you tell me if you are wearing pants or shorts today, please?”

“Erm...pants.”

“Has wet his pants, added to your case file. Now, Yuri Nator with the wet pants, can you please confirm your location?”

“I’m..not sure?”

“Tracing your calls to find your location I’ll add lost idiot to your file, transferring you now and thank you for using International Rescue as your rescuing service today.” I beckoned Gordon over and I swear I’ve never seen him move so fast, even with his sore tummy, although he had to take a deep breath before talking.

“Hey, this is the water rescue department, how may I help you today?”

“Erm...nothing, I’m fine. All good here.”

“My file says that you are a Yuri Nator and have wet your pants because you were scared when you fell down a well. Is that correct? Can I just ask you if Timmy is down there with you?”

“Timmy? I don’t think so, I don’t know anyone named Timmy.”

“No Timmy, check. Any Lassie’s? Because if there is a Lassie I’m afraid that is out of our jurisdiction and we’ll have to pass this case over to animal control.”

“No Lassie.”

“No Lassie, good to hear, you’d really know you’re in trouble if they bring out the big dogs.”

“Dogs?”

“Yep, dogs. Now, the problem we’re going to have is that being in a well, it’s going to be a bit too snug to maneuver Thunderbird Four down there, so we’re going to have to come up with an alternative plan. I’m going to pass you over to our logistics department to follow up on your case. Have a great day, don’t let the well piranhas bite you too hard, that will invalidate your rescuers insurance. Thanks for using us as your rescuers today.”

Gordon handed the call over to Scott, who took it on his comm, not wanting to move from his comfy spot.

“Logistics department,” Scott barked out in his toughest commander voice, the one that every one of his younger brothers knew meant big trouble. “I’m going to ask you some questions, you just have to say yes or no, got it?”

There was silence on the other end of the call.

“I asked you a question, do you understand me?”

There was a rattling sound as the phone was passed around a few times and then went dead.

John hit a button and called the number back.

“Hello?” a different voice answered.

“We know where you are, we know where you live, we know where this phone is registered, we are sending help to your location. We were told that you are trapped and as animal control is not involved we will be continuing our attempt to rescue you,” John informed him, just managing to hold in a laugh until Scott took over again.

"Logistics, do you have a basic education? Yes or no?"

"Yes?"

"You don't sound so sure of that. Do you have any plans to attend college?"

"Maybe?"

"Useless layabout, got it. Have you ever thrown up on a ride?"

"N-no…"

"The truth, now!"

"Yes."

"Adding will blow chunks to your case file. Have you tried to get yourself out of your situation?"

"No."

"Not very resourceful, got it. Now, how did you get into your current situation, did you trip, fall while looking or were you pushed?"

"I...tri- no I fell in."

"Adding clumsy idiot to your file, passing you over to the next department."

Virgil grinned as he took over.

“This is the International Rescue land rescue department, I'm the ground control operator,” he told them as Alan came and sat down beside him on the piano stool.

“We’ve been told that you are trapped down a well and that a water rescue is not possible so we need to determine if we can attempt a land rescue,” he continued in his most pleasant voice.

“Land rescue?”

“But the problem with a land rescue is that we’d have to drill down under the foundations of the well and try to break through its outer core, there is a number of risks involved in this, including drowning, crushing, cave in, impaling with a large drill and suffocation as the air is sucked out. Can we just ask which would be your preferred risk to take?”

“Risk?” the voice on the phone sounded even younger and now completely terrified.

“There’s always risks involved, kid. Do I take it that none of these options appeal to you?”

“N-no they don’t.”

“Then I have no choice but to pass you on to our space department. Have a nice rescue.”

“Space department here, how may I rescue you today?” Alan joined in, already enjoying himself.

“Space rescue? I’m not in space.”

“No, but you will be! Isn’t that cool?”

“I’ll be in space?”

“Yeah, the plan is to lower a rope down to you from Thunderbird Three. Then you’ll tie it around your waist, make sure you tie that sucker good and tight, we don’t want you coming undone half way up now, do we?”

“No?”

“That is correct. Also, remember not to hold your breath when you leave earth's atmosphere or your lungs will explode. Got it?”

“What? Explode?” the caller’s voice had taken on a fearfully high pitch.

“Uh oh, I can now confirm that we have added a code brown to the wet pants situation, Thunderbird Two. Caller, are you still there? We’ll be there to pick you up in an hour, be ready to see some stars!”

“No! I’m sorry, we lied, no one is in trouble, we’re sorry, we’re so sorry. Please don’t tell our moms or charge us for the call. We won’t do it again.”

“Tell your friends!” Alan chirped as John hung up the call.

We were silent for a second or two before we all burst out laughing, which led to many painful groans as sore stomachs protested. But it had certainly cheered us up.

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds 2015 #thunderbirds fanfiction #john tracy #virgil tracy #gordon tracy #scott tracy #alan tracy #tracy island #tracy boys #isolation island #thunderbirds in isolation #isolation #social isolation

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hedwigstalons · 4 years

Text

Biscuits and Band-Aids

My second attempt at #irrelief which has been collated by the lovely @gumnut-logic.

This fic is for @eos-in-orbit who wanted something with AceAro John.

xoxoxox

John waved goodbye and watched as the airlock began to iris closed.

A hurried “Same time next week, Spaceman?” reached his ears as the door sealed shut.

Smiling, he activated his comms. “Of course, it’s 5-2 to me. Gotta give you a chance to catch up. Fly safe Ridley.”

“Always do, Spaceman” came back the response.

John flicked off the ‘do not disturb’ setting and made his way back to the comm sphere. The weekly match of handball was turning in to something of a highlight for him. He wouldn’t describe his existence in space as lonely but it was nice to see someone who wasn’t a hologram every so often. It also added some variety to his fitness regime.

Speaking of holograms.

A familiar figure was lurking in the comm sphere. Arms folded. Grin plastered over his face causing the dimples to appear as deep shadows within the projection.

John barely gave the figure a second glance. Work came first. Eos would have alerted him to any major emergencies brewing across the globe but he still liked to check in on the world.

“Eos, update please?”

“There is a tropical cyclone system forming near the Bahamas but there is an 87% probability it will dissipate before making landfall. I am also detecting enhanced tectonic activity around Japan; I have placed an amber watch on the region.”

“Thank you, Eos. Please let me know if the situation changes.”

“Of course John.”

The hologram was now quivering with impatience. John could tell from the way the figure was swaying rhythmically that Scott had started tapping his foot. He decided to make Scott sweat it out for a bit. He studiously ignored the figure and made a very thorough check of the Japan data before turning to acknowledge his sibling.

“Yes, Scott? What can I do for you?” He arched an eyebrow and folded his arms in mirror form of his sibling.

“Just checking in, y’know. Can’t a bro have a friendly chat?”

“Not often, no. What do you want?” John went back to checking data while keeping half an eye on the Scott. The brunette seemed to be doing a good impression of a Cheshire cat.

“So. You and Ridley. She seems nice.”

“She is. Her handball technique is coming along well. Sometimes she is a bit erratic but it keeps our games interesting. Oh, can you add biscuits to the next supply run?

Scott looked momentarily thrown by the change of topic. “Biscuits?”

“Yes. English ones. Preferably chocolate Hobnobs. Ask Penny if you have trouble sourcing them.” He sighed, sensing that Scott wasn’t likely to comply without further details. “Ridley likes them but her supply on Global One ran out a month ago and the GDF aren’t exactly one for sending care packages.”

The grin turned into a definite smirk.

“Chocolate biscuits. Cute, John. Real cute. You sure know the way to a girl’s heart.”

“She’s a friend, Scott.”

“A friend who just happens to make sure that she is always free every Thursday for some good, heathy exercise. You sure you don’t want to me add some pharmacy supplies in that care package? You and Ridley need to play safe up there”

“Handball is hardly a dangerous pastime. But now you come to mention it I’m running low on band-aids. Only this time please can I have something a little more grown up.”

“You mean you didn’t approve of the Disney princesses Gordon chose last time? You know the kids ones stick the best.” Scott received a scowl in return. “Stars and planets?” A slight nod but the scowl remained. “Are you honestly saying that you and Ridley really just meet for handball?”

John turned and gave the hologram his full attention. The intensity of the redhead’s glare would have had Scott running for cover if there wasn’t 22,000 miles of space safely separating them.

“Just because you view everything with a pulse as potential conquest doesn’t mean I do. She is a friend. I don’t look at her in that way. I don’t look at anyone that way. Now I’ll thank you to butt out of my personal life.”

With an annoyed flick at the holo-controls John sent the image of Scott flickering out of existence. A firm signal that the conversation was over.

It wasn’t often that John got angry but Scott could sense he had touched on something raw and deeply personal. Scott had been a bit of a player before life got so busy but it wasn’t often this got thrown back at him in such an accusatory manner. Being cut off just cemented the fact that his teasing had crossed a line.

As teenagers he had assumed John’s lack of girlfriends meant he was gay. Later he put the lack of anyone significant in his sibling’s life down to John being shy. Now, as he thought back, John hadn’t ever shown an interest in anyone. No examples of unrequited love. No moments where John had displayed feelings of lust or fawned over film stars. He would make friends under the right circumstances but never showed an interest in taking things further.

Realisation dawned.

It was three days before Scott dared to contact his space-sibling again for anything other than missions. The atmosphere between them had been frosty and Scott sensed that John wouldn’t welcome any intrusions, even if it was in order to apologise.

He stacked the last of the packages into the space elevator and activated the comms.

“Supplies are all packed Thunderbird Five. Haul them up.”

“FAB.” The response was still curt and clipped.

Scott watched as the space elevator made its journey skywards, up towards the brother he now understood a little better. He just hoped his apology would be well received. Once the elevator was safely on its way he turned and headed up to his room. If John should call he wanted to make sure he was able to answer uninterrupted.

He hoped John would call. He hated there to be tension between them.

Just a few short minutes later his wrist comm bleeped.

John.

He steeled himself and opened the line. He wasn’t sure how this would go and mentally prepared himself in case he had misjudged things further.

“Hi Spaceman. Are we good?”

A subtle nod. “Yeah, we’re good.”

Scott let out the breath he had barely realised he was holding.

“Look, I’m really sorry about teasing you. About Ridley”

“I know. Most people don’t ‘get’ people like me. Why should you be any different?”

“Because I’m your brother. I should know better. I should have realised.”

“Hey it’s not like I parade it around for the world to see. I’ve never had the right outfit before. By the way, thanks for the pyjamas.”

For perched on top off all the regular supplies, in a box stuffed with biscuits and band-aids, had been the present that made him feel closer to Scott than he had for a long time. The sign that, despite the physical distance between them, Scott had finally reached a level of understanding.

Midnight blue and speckled with a thousand galaxies the pyjamas proclaimed what John had known his whole life but Scott was only just realising. As ace as space.

#irrelief #irrelief2020 #Scott Tracy #John Tracy #asexual space bagel

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thegeneralsnotebook · 4 years

Text

July Feature: History of Colours Part 3 -- Purple

One of the things that I was a little afraid of going into this series about the histories of each of the main colours was that after the first few entries, the series would start to get a bit dry. I would have already talked about the big decks and so the later colours wouldn’t have a whole lot left to mention that hadn’t already been said. So far at least, I’m glad to say that this hasn’t happened, and now it looks like maybe it’ll be okay. After all, we’ve got a lot of important cards to mention when we get to Pink, and again when we get to Orange, and again when we get to Blue. So I don’t think that we’re going to run into any problems on that front at all. In any case, this month is about Purple, and it’s a colour that has its own narrative to tell.

That, by the way, is another thing which has surprised me so far in my research. Each of the colours so far has had a relatively nice theme emerge around their history as I pulled it together. Yellow’s was a tale of a brilliant beginning, a long period of loss, and then a slow but strong rebirth. White’s was a surprisingly thematic tale of a colour that, while it had given up the spotlight, had never given up the stage. For Purple, things are a little different, but no less appropriate, especially given the colour’s new royal connotations. Purple, I’ve found, has been a colour all about establishing dynasties, lines of decks passing a torch from one generation to the next, traceable back to a touchstone concept from older times. It was impressive how far back some of these lines reached, and indeed a few decks that I had thought emerged from whole cloth were actually perched on the shoulders of past giants that I had never even heard of before.

Before we get started, I want to again extend heartfelt thanks to my source on all matters of the predate my experience with the game’s competitive scene: the one and only Emperor Bugle. This time I really would have been up the creek if not for him, though we’ll get to that particular event in its due time.

For now, come along with me, as we unveil the saga of the Dynasties of Purple.

Two big cards with big effects, but generally used for slightly different things.

Formative Days

As with all of the colours, the story of Purple has to begin at the beginning, at the dawn of Premier. There were three major decks featuring Purple at the time, but I have covered Royal Guidance and Taxes in the Yellow and White articles respectively, and I won’t be going into further detail on them here. Instead, let’s focus on our first touchstone, though in this case the torch first lit by Big Bombs was not to be picked up by Purple, and instead was eventually passed to a different colour, which we’ll talk about in its due time.

Now, I would not be surprised by a slight sense of deja vu encountered when first clicking on that link, because indeed this early deck does bear a striking resemblance to some Harmony Purple Farming decks that have been active as recently as this year’s Winter Store Championships. The modern versions have significantly less Friends, different Epics, and some useful Resources in them, but the basic idea is absolutely still the same. PR Twilight contributes well to fighting Epics when paired with a lot of extra flip Events and a high-flipping deck in general. In addition the deck features a good host of what Purple control tools existed at the time, capped off by the brilliant Ursa Vanquisher, a card which may or may not be showing up again in this article a little ways down the page. Indeed, this was Farming before the term “Farming” was even part of the CCG vernacular. And, your eyes do not deceive you where that Full Steam in the upper left is considered. Once upon a time, a 4/0/4 vanilla actually did deserve to be a Rare, and especially in a deck so focused on its flips it was an excellent card to have.

As we move along into Canterlot Nights, we come to a deck that I’ve mentioned before, in the moment that it came during White’s article. I gave it little more than a footnote at that time, but I don’t believe that this time I can get by without giving it a full treatment. Unfortunately, I am also not qualified to properly discuss the minutiae of its construction, so for that I will defer to my source, who has written rather extensively on the topic. I refer of course to One Pace (and seriously do block some time from your schedule if you intend on clicking that link; when I said Bugle had written extensively I wasn’t kidding). One Pace is an important deck for a lot of reasons, and probably could serve as the basis for a whole article all on its own. From my research I can confidently enough say that what you see in there is the foundation upon which combo was built, a formulation of reduced-cost Events and deck-thinning that rings eerily recognizable even today. History may not repeat itself, as Mark Twain said, but it sure does often rhyme.

Finally, we close off these early days with a little list that may not have ever captured much in the way of tournament success, but certainly captured a fair few hearts and minds in its time in the public eye. This being the Antisocial Luna Farming deck that first came at the concept of building a deck with no Friends, and was a popular-enough topic of discussion.

The times, they were a’changin, and Purple was finding its stride.

The Great Realignment

Every one of these articles, I’ve realized, is going to contain a section that could plausibly be headlined by DJ and Maud, even in the colours other than Orange and Pink. Simply put, Rock & Rave was such a momentous and seminal event in the history of the game that the time before and the time after it must be kept separate from each other.

In Purple’s case, however, there was at least a small amount of time before the Great Pink & Orange War fully took hold where one new dynasty was able to be laid down, and what an important dynasty it wound up being. At this point, we have advanced to the 2014 NA Continental Championships, and within the Top 8 of that event there were two important Purple decks.

The first was the winner of the whole thing, a deck named Maudlike, notable for being one of the very first competitively successful tri-colour lists, and itself a harbinger of things to come with its relatively slow, Farming/Control oriented playstyle. Indeed, while Maud was to become best-known in a pure Farming context, her strengths in a Control deck willing to use her Power to consistently confront Problems have also been broadly recognized throughout history. And yes, here we see Ursa Vanquisher again, still devastatingly effective at defending Troublemakers in a world so lacking in other ways of dealing with them.

But in actuality I think that it is the other Purple list that appears in the Top 8 that is the more important one to take note of. It’s a deck that I personally had never heard of before doing this research, but it appears that it may be the progenitor of the Vinyl/Purple control dynasty, which as we all know eventually led to brilliant success. Unfortunately the original primer for the deck has since been removed from Reddit, but here again Bugle saved me, and so I can present to you Charlotte’s Tower. The key theme that I would pull from this deck is repeatability, as so many of its key control features are repeatable, and especially difficult to deal with in an era where Resource removal was not always considered quite so essential as it is today. It’s easy to see the hallmarks of features that we would come to expect in a modern control deck, with targeted answers against opposing Troublemakers, limited but effective removal, and so much value generation, whether it be AT with All Team Organizer, or cards with DJ. It’s an important piece of history, so I was very happy when this decklist surfaced.

Now, as we move on to the Absolute Discord era, it is true that Purple’s fortunes fade somewhat. Pink and Orange rose to the fore, and there will be more to write about this time as we get to those colours. But I do want to make two important notes here.

The first concerns Princess Luna, The Setting Moon, a card which entered the game in Celestial Solstice and left an indelible impression, particularly in the field of combo. I don’t believe that I’ve managed to avoid mentioning Dragon Express in any of the previous articles, but I’ll save the full writeup for one of the most infamous decks in history for the Orange article.

The second is about a deck that I discovered while hunting around for decklists of the other items on this list. It hadn’t come up in my discussion with Bugle, but the contemporary sources mentioned it as a “meta” deck of the time period, so I thought it was probably worth including. It went by the name of Dusk Radiance Mastery, and is mostly closely viewed as an evolution of the ideas first expressed in Royal Guidance, though with a few key updates. Most notable at the time was the inclusion of Twilight Sparkle, Friendship is Magic as the Mane. It also included some fine tech to deal with the meta, like Critter Stampede to crush One Pace’s needed 6 AT to play its Element of Magic. A fine inheritor of what was at the time a flickering flame. Not to fear, though. Unlike Yellow, Purple’s time in the shadows turned out to be very brief.

Stride found.

EO Block: The Age of Legends

EO Block is where the modern Purple story really starts. All at once, the colour got a lot of amazing cards. And then it got even more in HM. And then even more in MT. The result was a colour that was a juggernaut in competitive play, with multiple viable archetypes, and a foundation for a dynasty that was set to last a long time.

Before we talk about decklists, there are a number of individual cards that need to be mentioned. The first is the new Mane Character that the colour received in EO: Princess Twilight Sparkle, Ambassador of Friendship. It didn’t take long for people to realize that Purple’s new keyword in the set, Meticulous, was an excellent ability for Control, and this card’s ability to start making it happen on Turn 2 when paired with Ancient Research as a starting Problem was a great starting point for any Control deck. Plus, Twilight got you extra AT too, a theme that was going to keep building as more sets came out. HM granted the colour Princess Twilight Sparkle, Cover to Cover, an absurd value generator that quickly earned a reputation as an automatic inclusion in virtually any Purple deck. And finally, there is the Purple EO Event suite, backstopped by the card that eventually got banned, Interdimensional Portal.

Portal, by the way, was already doing unfortunate things as soon as EO released, though at the time everyone was blaming the new Pink/White Bulk Biceps. All Tied Up, which made a strong impression on the scene before being quite swiftly banned, offered only a taste of what was to come. In addition to using Portal for its more traditional Control roles, that deck was able to take advantage of a fortuitous interaction with Bulk to create an infinite supply of 2-AT Immediate speed removal.

HM and MT were where the colour really hit its stride though, with HM offering us another touchstone, Zipporwhil and the dynasty of classical Purple/X control that followed it. By the time MT hit and gave us Purple/White multicolour cards for the first time, White was cemented as the dominant secondary colour for Purple, and the combination became a mainstay in tournaments all over the world. The two colours admittedly suffered somewhat from being incredibly slow when paired together, and often failed to win within the allotted time limit even if they would have theoretically pulled ahead if given infinite time. But Purple had established one of its most successful dynasties, and one that would continue right up to the establishment of Core.

However, Purple/White was not the only important multicolour combination that we got from MT. Indeed yet another dynasty was going to be founded, this one utilizing Orange, and blazing a trail for classical Chaos Control, best typified by Grand Pause’s Waking Nightmare, here depicted in its 2016 NA Continentals T8 form. Similar to how archetypal Purple/White control relied on Eff Stop to replay control-oriented Events, so too could these make use of cycled Chaos effects to frustrate an opponent’s attempts to break down its walls. This also maintained its form for quite a while and inspired many successors, including (one assumes) the Chaos Control that New Dawn seems likely to bring us.

Oh, by the way, Tantabuse was somewhere in here too, and included some Purple, but I will get to it in its own due time.

Finally, rounding off the EO Block, there was another entry in the 2016 NA Continentals worth mentioning, Too Spoopy, placing in the T16. This Blue/Purple combination was something of an oddity for its time, playing Purple at an extremely anomalous speed. Even so, its combination of large amounts of frighten synergy and strong Events from both of its colours proved potent.

Some dynasties are built to last.

The Modern Era

The start of Defenders of Equestria, even though it wasn’t actually the beginning of the Core format, is still the point I use as the beginning of the current “Modern Era” of the CCG. And from this point forward, most of the decks being covered here should be relatively familiar to most of the readership. Essentially through this era Purple remained the King (or should I perhaps say Princess) of value, though Ambassador began to fall off somewhat in favour of a resurgent DJ Mane. While DE may be remembered generally as the era of Hot Wings, and of Pink in general, Purple still managed to feature on both sides of the 2017 NA Continental Final.

Bugle’s eventual winning deck Vinyl’s Bag of Tricks was already mentioned in the White article, and will get its full credit in the Pink article. Instead, I want to dedicate this space to discussion of the deck that got 2nd, the one simply and poetically called Butts.

In some senses, as a DJ/Purple control deck, Butts appeared superficially similar to the broad direction that Purple was going in around this time. Indeed, watching the Finals match between these two offered a… qualified form of thrills, but I can personally attest that it was a grand thing to watch. When we dig closer into Butts though, it becomes plain that this is a deck absolutely going its own way. Most obvious is the 53 card total, even now an extreme anomaly, and quite a bit more so in an era where consistency was absolutely everything when playing control. But probably even more important than that is the fact the deck is only playing two colours, and bucked the by-then nearly-universal trend of splashing White for Eff Stop and point acceleration. Instead, eminently_sensible committed to making it work with only two colours, and it’s a testament to his own skill that he was able to make it work so well. Per usual on these important and highly-technical decks, I defer to the author himself, in the link above.

Now, that brings us to the Beyond Block, and, thankfully for me, brings the end of this article into clear sight. Not so quickly though, because no sooner did Seaquestria get started than we saw another dynasty laid down, its echoes and heirs still making themselves felt in the present day. That deck was BRB, here depicted in its 2018 NA Continentals incarnation, reaching second as piloted by George Z. Purple and Pink yet again come together, but in the new Core format and so decidedly changed from their past allegiance. BRB was a cornerstone deck in the realignment of the Control playstyle that was happening in the aftermath of the first Core rotation, and while honest debate persists as to whether it can be correctly referred to as a Control deck, I personally fall on the side that says it is. This simply was what Control had become in the new era, no longer so reliant on Troublemakers but much more keen on removal and taking its points from confronts and faceoffs when they were available. It’s even perhaps somewhat fitting that it passed its torch on to the same three colours that Bugle had won with in 2017, completing a thematic loop as Tempest Pink/White emerged as the Control standard-bearer in a meta that was getting swamped by the resurgent Yellow. Notably, there was a Blue variant as well that managed to reach 2nd Place at the 2019 EFNW tournament.

Finally, rounding out the notable modern decks, we do have one more that could form a dynasty all its own, that being Alicorn Tribal as popularized by i8Pages in an Everfree Northwest T4 from 2019. Certainly it’s an open question for the future to see if that style of deck will see any heirs, but in a world where tri-corns are going to keep being a thing it’s a reasonable guess to make that there exists some potential for it.

New Dawn: Looking Ahead

Purple has enjoyed an amazingly storied history over the course of the development of the game’s meta. Many trends and larger arcs owe their beginning to an idea that was originally expressed with a Purple deck, and in the present day the colour has a well-earned reputation for being very good at the things it does: control, Troublemakers, and value through AT generation. What this means though, is that New Dawn is shaping up to offer an exciting, if uncertain future. Current signs point to some novel directions to the colour, with a firmer eye toward farming, and some legitimate arrows pointing in the direction of aggro. And if there should be any theme that jumps out about the history of Purple, it should be the relative lack of effective aggro. Thus the onset of New Dawn appears to be precisely that where Purple is concerned, and who knows if next year we will even recognize the colour that it has become. Yet even then, I think we can rest assured when we look back on this era, we’ll be able to trace a line of decks owing their inspiration and substance to an important foundation that emerged somewhere in the mists of the new set.

#mlpccg #history

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please-do-your-research · 5 years

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Deus Timens Et Liberi Ignem Faciunt (God feared, as the children lit a fire)

So again, instead of doing Honors work, I’ve been writing about my Necromancer!Nyx AU. Finally got a title too, which is sorta taken from lyrics from the Sommus song on the soundtrack. The OC I’ve used is one of the names I always use in online games, including FFXIV. Her name is a mix of Quel (which means High in Thalassian, the language of the Blood Elves in WoW) + Laine, which means wave in Finish (apparently), hence High Wave.

this starting part isn’t finished, I still have a section on how demons work (or more importantly, not work) in Galahd, and i will post that sometime later. I actually have to do this work, not procrastinate. Anyhoo, here’s the start of this ‘Verse.

Deus Timens Et Liberi Ignem Faciunt (God feared, as the children lit a fire)

There’s a reason Galahd never had issues with demons.

(salt and sea, hear my plea, guide us to our storm swept land, and let us hear what Etro sang)

One of Nyx’s earliest memory was of a pale grey shade singing a lullaby to his newborn sister, the twisting lilt of the language he would not learn for several years sliding in one ear and out the other.

“She looks so much like your father when I watched him come into this world,’ Grandmother said, wisps of hair that escaped her braids shifting slowly in a breeze only she could feel. ‘but then again, all babies look the same at this age. Even you, my little coeurl king.”

Nyx stared up at her from where he lay on the bed next to his mother and sister, with all the strange solemnity that only a 3-year-old could hold, the end of his first braid caught in his teeth, bead tapping his lips.

Grandmother reached out to tug the braid from his lips, smoothing the ends down.

“Our family’s gift is rare, little one, and you are even more strong and precious for it. You have to look after your sister with all you are.” She tapped him twice on the nose with the bead and Nyx scrunched it at the chill, eyes crossing as he focused on her fingers, “We guard these lands, with the blessings of storm, stone and sea. Etro guides us, as we guide Galahd. You have to guide and guard your sister too little Nyx.”

Nyx nodded, not quite understanding what she meant, but knowing that his little sister was important. The braid and bead migrated back to his mouth. His mother shifting in her sleep, the birth having been long and arduous. She pulled his sister closer to her chest and Nyx awkwardly patted the blanket back down around his mother’s limbs.

Grandmother smiled at him, her pale eyes crinkling at the corners. Beyond the room, he could hear tinkling laughter and quiet murmurs of his family waking up, getting ready to face the day. The pulse of his mothers and sisters’ souls shone bright in his mind, his grandmother’s presence a faded but steady beat. Outside, Nyx could feel the flickering lights of the village pulsate in the ever-growing strength of his power.

“I will be here if you need me, for as long as there are stars in the sky, your family will protect and guide you. Soon you will learn to call on us, and we will answer you, as we did your mother, her father, and his mother all the way back to time immemorial, and just as we will answer your sister when she grows up, and you will answer when your time comes.” She passed her hand over his mother’s brow, then his sisters, murmuring in that same lilting language as before. White light trailed after her hand, pulsing with the words before shattering like star dust. Nyx could feel the magic of the blessing hanging in the air, even if he did not know what it was, and moved closer to his mother to bathe in the lingering warmth. His eyes slipped shut and he reached out to touch one of his sisters’ tiny feet, body shifting slowly towards sleep.

Grandmother smiled down at him again, briefly touching the obsidian bead at the end of his small braid, with its inlays of bloodstone and opal. So strong for one so young.

“Oh you will be the best of us, my little dark godling, and you will command the stars.”

-----

(storm and stone, help guard this land, shield us carefully with Etro’s hand)

“We are lucky you know.”

The one known in the village as the Artisan said, as he continued to spin the pottery wheel and manipulate the pale red clay that shimmered the more he worked it. Around his feet sat a gaggle of children, their parents gifted beads clattering slightly as they moved. Blessings held in hands pressed carefully to hair, love and shelter kissed into foreheads.

“Storm-father blessed us when we came to these lands and allowed us to live here peacefully, to live as one with the earth and sky and all between.” The wheel spun on as his hands moved up the pile of clay, small lumps beginning to form on the surface before sinking back into the mass. A potter from the mainland would have scrapped it as soon as the slag began to show, crying over impure quality clay and failed preparation methods. The Artisan knew better. Soon these children would hold their own blessings moulded from clay, to press stones crafted from their souls into growing hair. One day they would take their first step upon the Walk and receive the blessings of the Fulgurian, but for now, they would learn to give form to their own.

The artisan leaned forward and blew carefully on the clay.

“For this, we give thanks to the Old Man.” The children let out quite sounds of awe as the clay began to shift its colour once again, the shimmer locked in the red clay blooming out and turning the spinning mass silver. Blood and Bone, Sea, Storm and Stone, soon the beads would properly form. From the front of the small crowd, the Artisan could see Nyx and his hearth brother Libertus leaned forward to look at the wheel closer. The usually exuberant children were quiet, Libertus with an almost frustrated crease in his forehead, trying to see exactly what the Artisan was doing. Nyx was a different case, his habitual braid caught in his lips, the Lady’s obsidian, bloodstone and opal bead flashing in the workshops light. The Artisan could see the beginning of understanding in those teenage eyes, eyes that flickered around the Artisans hands as they moulded the clay, watching the play of power as it shifted in the air and was absorbed into the forming beads. He would have made a great crafter, the Artisan thinks, with that power. His beads would have been things of beauty, but alas, he answered to a different calling.

“We are lucky because despite our distance, Stone-father cares for us and gifts us that with what we need to protect ourselves.”

At these words, the Artisan pressed the clay into the shape of a low bowl and reached into the forge beside him with a bare hand, pulling out a well-worn crucible that glowed a bright white yet gave off no heat. Inside, magma bubbled, the black crust bursting and melting back into the red in an ever-rotating cycle. Carefully, with an air of mysticism and the flare of a master at work, the Artisan tipped the crucible above the mass, continuing to push the foot peddle that spun the potter’s wheel as the magma began to pour over the edge.

“For this, we take what we are gifted by the Stone Speaker, and turn it into something useful.”

The magma hit the well, pouring and soaking into the spinning clay. Not a single drop splashed or splattered the hand still moulding the mass which began to shift its colour again. The children let out shocked sounds as silver turned suddenly turned to black, before pulling inwards and leaching the dark colour out of the clay. Inside the suddenly clearing clay, small ovals of darkness shifted around, pulling more and more of the power that the ritual has created into the small beads. The Artisan placed the crucible back in the forge and slowed the spinning of the wheel as he pulled back his other hand from the now clear sphere. Slowly the wheel span to a stop and inside the sphere, black beads shone in the light.

The Artisan carefully plucked the sphere from the wheel and stood up, bones and beads creaking with age. The children backed away from the man as he walked around to the centre of the room. He turned sharply to the closest child, a young girl near 8 years old, limbs slowly shedding baby fat, and handed the sphere to her. She stared up at him, before reaching for it at his nod with trembling hands and wide eyes, barely understanding what was being handed to her.

“Call it, little one. Call it from blood and bone, sea, storm and stone. Call your bead.”

The girl stared at the sphere, eyes flickering between the Artisan, the sphere and the children around her. The Artisan stared calmly back. He could not offer any words of wisdom here; this was her move and her will and her soul that must be ready. Some years, every child called their first bead. But sometimes, there were children who struggled to know themselves, trapped in the circumstances of their birth and early life, holding their hearts back, or shifted like the wind of their patron, not knowing what they could or would do. His mother spoken often of a young man who did not receive his first soul bead until he was in his 20s, well after his first Walk, for his heart was not settled and demanded his feet roamed Eos first. Only the girl could call her beads, no one else. Only the girl would know if she was ready. There was no censure in being unsure, no punishment for not being ready; better to known oneself properly than to believe in lies of the heart.

The girl continued to flick her eyes around, panic forming at the edges and her hands trembled even more. Shudders began to form in her limbs as she clutched the sphere, her fear of failure pushing through the aura of calm that covered the workshop.

A thin hand touched her shoulder and she jumped, holding the sphere tightly to her chest as she turned to the child beside her.

Nyx grinned at her, all of 10 with coltish limbs and an unending open heart.

“you can do it Quel,” he said, gripping her shoulder.

The girl, Quelaine, blinked at him. For a second she could see a Lady in black standing just behind Nyx, a small smile on pale lips just below the opaque veil that covered her face the only thing that could be seen. Quelaine couldn’t see her eyes but she could tell the Lady was looking at her, the smile widening just a bit. She blinked again and the being was gone. Before her was only Nyx, tilting his head like a curious coeurl.

“come on, you know you can call it.”

Her eyes flickered one last time between Nyx, the empty space behind him, the sphere and the Artisan, who stared calmly back, waiting for her patiently. Slowly, resolve formed on the young girl’s face, before she pulled the sphere and its locked beads closer to her chest and closed her eyes.

Seconds passed, then minutes and still nothing happened. The children began to shift and mutter, yet both the Artisan and Nyx watched calmly as the girl’s lips moved in silence.

Silence. Then.

A gasp.

Quelaine’s eyes flew open as the sphere shimmered slightly, spilling silver light into the air before going dormant again. Slowly she pulled her right hand away from the sphere and stared, stunned, at the small form that lay in it.

“Aquamarine,” the Artisan spoke quietly as he took the sphere from her lax grip. “Onyx and tiger’s eye, for one who will overcome her fears and gain courage and perseverance in the face of the unknown. You are strong little Quelaine, to receive a bead like that from your soul.”

Quelaine raised her eyes from her hand where the black bead shone with stripes of golden brown and blue and resonated with her and glanced at the Artisan. He smiled at her, a small quirk of the lips, before nodding to her blonde hair.

“You are ready to wear it.”

She looked back down at her bead, shining proof she knew herself. Strong, the Artisan said, strong enough to face her fears. She reached slowly for the plaited hair that was prepared for the bead and raised it to the end before freezing.

In her mind, she could hear the whispering words of her auntie, spinning her a story as she curled up in bed.

‘No tree is a forest all on their own darling, no wave a sea, no breeze a storm. You can be strong and steadfast by yourself, but only when you let those around you help, do you become who you are meant to be.’

Quelaine lowered hand, a questioning noise coming from Nyx beside her. The Artisan’s eyes showed understanding and at the slow nod he gave her, she turned to Nyx and held the bead out to him.

“Will you place it for me?” she asked him, hand unwavering, fear gone in the face of her people beside her.

Behind the shocked boy stood the Lady again, veil shifting in an unfelt breeze. Lips turned up, the being nodded at Quelaine as Nyx raised the bead to her hair and threaded the plait through the hole.

At the close of the braids clasp, a voice echoed through her mind.

“well chosen High Wave. You will be strong.”

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terramythos · 5 years

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Review: Vicious by V. E. Schwab (Villains #1) (REREAD)

Length: 364 pages.

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Revenge Narrative, Dark, Time Jumps, Perspective Shifts, Third-Person, Great Characters, Duology

Warning(s): Graphic violence and torture. One of the main characters is just straight up genocidal. There is a very dubious consent scene later in the novel (non-explicit). Child death (sort of?). This is like, a gray versus black morality kind of story, so don’t read it if that isn’t your thing?

My Rating: 8.5 / 10

My Summary:

Victor and Eli, two genius college roommates at the top of their game, come up with a hypothesis for their senior project— that near-death experiences sometimes result in superpowers. However, when they test their theory, things go terribly awry, and both are left forever changed. Victor finds himself with the ability to manipulate pain. Eli becomes functionally immortal. And with a body count behind both young men, they transform from best friends into bitter enemies.

Ten years later, Victor escapes from prison. Cunning and manipulative, Victor has had a decade to contemplate revenge against the man who put him there— Eli. When he finds an injured 12-year-old girl on the side of the road, he discovers Eli has spent the last decade systematically murdering EOs— people with supernatural abilities. Sydney, who can raise the dead, is the one of the few to escape.

With the help of Sydney and his former cellmate Mitch, Victor begins to enact his revenge. But it’s only a matter of time before Victor and Eli finish what they started ten years ago…

But these words people threw around— humans, monsters, heroes, villains— to Victor it was all just a matter of semantics. Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human. The difference between Victor and Eli, he suspected, wasn’t their opinion on EOs. It was their reaction to them. Eli seemed intent to slaughter them, but Victor didn’t see why a useful skill should be destroyed just because of its origin. EOs were weapons, yes, but weapons with minds and wills and bodies, things that could be bent and twisted and broken and used.

Vicious is an interesting book to reread because, while the book itself hasn’t changed, the context behind it has. When I read this back in 2016 it was a standalone novel, originally published in 2013. Now I’m rereading it specifically because there is an unexpected sequel (Vengeful, 2018), and I wanted a refresher before jumping into it. Second, maybe a more minor detail— this book is homoerotic as hell, and I remember wondering if it was intentional on a first read. Now that Schwab recently came out as gay, I’m thinking it probably was, which makes it all the more entertaining.

It’s also interesting to see how much Schwab’s writing has changed over time. Originally, I read Vicious, enjoyed it, then decided to read her big fantasy series Shades of Magic, and… Well, let’s just say *that* ended up being one of my favorite trilogies ever. Whoops? But in many ways I feel my enjoyment of Shades of Magic overshadowed Vicious. I enjoyed this book, but honestly I kind of forgot about it even though it was the first one I read. That was another reason to revisit it; while I might not like it as much as Shades of Magic, it’s still plenty good.

Before I do a deep dive into the book, I think it’s important to discuss the structure. Vicious basically has two stories— one in the past, and one in the present. The first half mostly focuses on the past, while the second half mostly focuses on the present. “Mostly” is important here— the story is very anachronistic. This serves to heighten the drama; we learn about Victor and Eli’s past relationship, then get a glimpse of just how corrupted and different it is in the present day, and of course wonder what got them to this point. While I feel it’s easy to do time and perspective jumps poorly, the chapters themselves are pretty short, so I never felt disconnected from any particular plot thread. The pacing was always solid. If anything I found this novel pretty easy to read, because I could tackle just a few chapters at a time yet make significant progress in the story.

Vicious is, without a doubt, character-driven. People with superpowers exist— called ExtraOrdinary people (EOs)— and said powers develop in a unique way. Other than that there’s nothing super special about the setting. And aside from the interesting structure, the story is pretty standard. But the characters themselves are fascinating and by far the strongest point of the novel. The main focus is obviously on Victor and Eli, and how they serve as foils to one another. Both are arrogant and straight-up terrible people, but the way they see the world differs greatly, and that’s ultimately what separates the “hero” of the story (Victor) from the villain (Eli). Gray versus black morality, hooray!

Seeing the initial relationship between the two leads and how it sours and twists over time is quite interesting. At first Eli seems to be the most level-headed of the two, but as the story develops you learn how fanatical and unhinged he really is. Dude just straight up embraces genocide after a point. Meanwhile, Victor is clearly a vindictive and selfish dick from the get-go, yet as Eli’s true nature shows, seems much less terrible by comparison. The story is sometimes a bit on-the-nose with the whole hero vs villain thing and how the two defy usual expectations, but it is still interesting to realize you’re genuinely rooting for Victor. Despite everything he’s a pretty likable character.

Aside from Victor and Eli, there are three supporting characters who substantially affect the story. Preteen Sydney gets the most screentime, and with Mitch (Victor’s bodyguard/hacker/cellmate) serves as the humanizing part of the story. Victor even seems to sort of care for the two! Though how much of that is genuine attachment versus just finding them useful is debatable. There’s a super twisted found family vibe with the trio which starts to form near the end (they adopt an undead dog and everything!). On the antagonistic side of things, we have Serena, Sydney’s older sister, who has the power to compel others. She’s pretty terrifying, and has her own twisted motivations for helping Eli. At times she’s honestly more unsettling than he is.

One of my main complaints about Vicious when I first read it was *just* as I started to really dig the side characters, their relationships, and their developments… the novel ended. Yes, Sydney gets significant development through the story. But Mitch and Serena get shafted. We only really get to know them toward the end of the novel with backstory dumps or a handful of perspective chapters. A lot of the novel’s real estate centers on Victor and Eli’s past, and while I think that’s an integral part of the novel, it feels like something is missing. At the time I thought this novel either needed to be longer or it needed a sequel. Well, now it has one of those things, so it will be interesting to see what Vengeful does with the characters.

Thematically and philosophically there’s some interesting stuff going on. The hero vs villain thing is the most obvious, and as I mentioned gets pretty direct at times. But one idea I found interesting to consider is what happens to the souls of ExtraOrdinary people. It’s initially stated as fact that EOs lose a part of themselves when they die and return. They’re different, changed in a way they can’t quite describe. And for most of the novel this seems to be true. Victor and Eli both become twisted, detached people, obsessed with their own perceptions of reality. The two realize they should feel or think certain things and simply… don’t. Both attribute it to the fact they died and came back “wrong”. But the more we learn about both characters, the more we realize they were pretty much like that all along. The idea that people lose something doesn’t really hold up when you examine Sydney, who turns into a stronger and more vibrant person after coming back. It’s an interesting realization, because it highlights just how wrong Eli’s actions are.

There’s also a whole deal regarding God and spirituality vs science. Eli justifies nearly everything he does in the name of God, whereas Victor is an atheist— but the extent to which this affects things is a definite gray area. There are some uncanny coincidences in the story (like Victor discovering Sydney) that would be bad writing… except the characters notice it happening. On multiple occasions Victor notes that if God or Fate exists, it seems to be siding with him, not Eli. Even the formation of ExtraOrdinary abilities is bizarre. One gets superpowers based on their final thoughts and feelings? That’s so decidedly unscientific, especially from something that starts as a science experiment, that it really sticks out to me. Is there more to this dichotomy? I guess we’ll see if the sequel explores it more.

There are some small details I really like, but I think my favorite is the blackout poetry thing. There’s just something interesting and really funny about Victor defacing his famous parents’ self-help books. He mentions it’s one of the best gifts he got in prison, and it’s also one of the first things he does when he gets out. Probably the funniest part in the whole story is an intense chase scene where Victor is trying to escape someone through an unfamiliar house. He spots a Vale book on a shelf, and pauses EVERYTHING to just grab it and throw it out the window, then returns to the scene as if nothing happened. It’s just such an unnecessary detail that might have ended up on the cutting room floor but I honestly lost my shit laughing.

The ending is also viscerally satisfying. So much stuff ties together well. While the novel is about Victor and Eli and (ultimately) Victor’s revenge, you don’t actually learn much about his plan until it happens. A lot of lines and actions read differently in context of the ending, which is always something I like in a story.

(And here’s a totally skippable aside— *is* there some connection between this series and Monsters of Verity? The latter is a young adult duology by Schwab, which I read and reviewed here and here. But the first book has an opening quote from Victor. Hell, it’s part of the quote I picked for this review. They don’t seem to be in the same universe but… maybe they are? It’s just such a goddamn weird choice to quote a “V. Vale” at the beginning of an unrelated series. Maybe Vengeful has an explanation? Maybe Schwab just really liked that whole monsters vs humans line? I have no idea.)

Anyway, yeah, that’s Vicious! It’s certainly a fun one to read. The writing is punchy and easy to get through. The conflict between Victor and Eli is very well written and compelling. And, as I mentioned, the characters are the strong point (in my opinion, anyway), so if you enjoy character-driven media I definitely recommend it. Just note my caveat about some of the character development. Skip it if you’re one of those people bothered by Bad People Doing Bad Things In Fiction or think portraying Bad People Doing Bad Things is somehow Endorsing Bad Things. If dark stories aren’t your thing you definitely won’t enjoy this one. There are some aspects of the story that I feel could have been smoother or done differently, most of which I touch on in the review. I think Schwab has improved a lot since writing it, which is one reason I’m excited that my next read is the 2018 sequel.

#taylor reviews #taylor reads #8.5/10 #THAT'S RIGHT... i'm switching to a 10-point scale lmao #i'm too lazy to change the old ones though so... eh?

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acradaunt · 5 years

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EON Playthrough: Week 7

The 13th stratum's random encounters have a bit of a similar taste to the 10th; loads and loads of elemental recolours, but this time with a lot more physical vulnerability. My main game plan was for Juri to just delete a chump with Drop Shot while Iris Walls against the surviving elemental attacks. Elemental attacks can be stuffed very cheaply, but you can only do one element at most. Plus, with Chasers around, it's more vital they can take a normal hit as well. There's a lot of passive synergy in most encounters here. 13th also does a bit more with puzzles. I'd say it's overall one of the better strata, and almost certainly the best of the new Nexus-only areas. 9th being a fairly distant second.

It's definitely making me think about how lots of strata just had random mish-mashes of enemies without any cohesive strategy between them, and the Shrines were particularly bad offenders, literally stealing random enemies, especially from EOV, and dumping them in without a care. Some places at least had the 'oh, and here's the one enemy that's immune to the thing everyone else hates' to fall back on (8th was a good example of this). Is it weird that I like it when enemies have a firm plan to kick my ass? Things like the Roller-chucking Baboons and the Nightseeker-wannabe birdies provided a bit of a puzzle in what order is really the best to handle them and made them really pop out as interesting but fair threats.

The final story boss was kind of a huge pushover. Just didn't really seem to have any tricks up his sleeve compared to the 9-11th strata. Weirdest is probably the ultra-telegraphed mass-physical attack, which feels more like something the 1st-3rd boss should do, not the last guy. Maybe he just didn't live long enough to do much (15 turns), since he sure didn't like Terra's Delayed Charge + Cross Charge + Bloodlust combos, but felt pretty underwhelming, even compared to the big dopey final story boss of EOIV. Protector and Deja Vu Unbinds shut down any offense on his part pretty hard, though; I THINK the big thing is his attacks bind, trying to get you to mix strategies up, but when I auto-recover every turn, I didn't have to care.

I guess it doesn't really mean much, though, at the end of the day. There's still a full bonus stratum to go and at least eight or so side-bosses and side-mazes now available or will shortly be available. Even so, I think I'm ending this weekly thing here. There's just nothing left to say. Of course I plan on doing all that content, but if the past is anything to go by, it'll be literal years before I legitimately beat the superboss. Unless they're a dumbass and you can get them to one-shot themselves, like Ur-Child. What a moron.

I've clocked about 135 hours on Nexus, although I dunno how much of that was oogling weapons at Napier's or fussing around at the guild hall about colours or assigning skill points to the 48 or so characters I haven't yet used. If Monster Hunter's anything to go by, it's a pretty significant percentage. I like window shopping a bit too much. Also I apparently finished in exactly 100 in-game days (Tiger the 16th), so that's a pretty nifty number.

I can't say I looked at the other games as critically, but I can definitely say there's spots where Nexus stutters. Just like absolutely every other EO game, it completely front-ends its cool boss ideas, although here it's less 'this 1st boss has a cool puzzle associated with it' and more 'here, fight this former superboss before you're even level 20' and 'Have two bosses, back to back'. Some later bosses do have interesting setups, but they're exactly who you'd expect to fight when you first enter. The Shrines are 16+5 floors of fairly same-y ideas with the same music and background in a game that mixes things up completely every three floors. It's really only bad by what it's standing next to. If two of the shrines stole music and tileset assets from, say, Gladsheim and Ginugagagap and changed nothing else, I don't think I'd be complaining about them.

Ironically, I think the more prominent remark is how quickly some content in the rest of the game comes and goes. I think I fought maybe a grand total of two Cube Gels, Whorled Puffers, and Starry Slugs. It's actually kind of a great problem. There's just SO MUCH content that some stuff slips between the cracks. I unironically think the encounter rate could have been just a touch higher (and with less rewards from bar quests or events to compensate). Especially on some strata where most rooms are puzzle/FOE rooms with radically reduced encounters, you just don't get into fights much at all. I think a FOE interrupted a random encounter like four times, total. And most of those were bats, which are wimps (and my fave FOE for how different a concept that is). I suppose this falls into the 'good players go through stuff fast, less good players stick around longer' auto-adjusting difficulty RPGs have.

There's an obvious complaint to be made about an overabundance of earlygame strata being used and nothing ever from any game's 5-6th stratum, but it honestly didn't bother me. Apart from both of EOIII's 5th stratum gimmicks, I can't really think of many puzzle assets that never showed up, or at least with a close proxy. Well, I guess there's EOV's butt-golem switches. And EOV's falling pillars. Okay, so a couple.

I guess my bottom line is that I still do believe Nexus is the best EO game, as quantity really does completely wash away any lower quality areas. It is a lot of the same, but apart from the 2nd stratum, it never really felt same-y. Maybe it's because I never played EOU or EO2U (or EOI to begin with), so those areas might feel more dull if I had, but to me, they hardly resemble the same-y unremarkable regions and enemies they once were in EOII. Nexus is likely not the best game to start on; I'd say ideally the order is any one of EOIV/EOU/EO2U, then EOV, then Nexus. Spaced out over several years. A lot of the fun of Nexus was seeing how they improved old stuff, and how new and old stuff from different games intermingle, and without any nostalgia and some sense of familiarity, it might be a little bit of a sensory overload. EOV content was clearly deliberately avoided, so EOV still feels like a very different game with lots of super-weird classes.

I think my favourite parts were the 11th stratum, which I seemed to be facing death several times, but always pulled things out, and the bosses/FOEs were demanding, but felt fair after 10th's ultra-unfair midboss. Seeing, and especially hearing, the 6th stratum after like a decade was phenomenal, even if it was a bit of a breather area. The 4th likewise, especially its side-maze, seeing some real mixing of the games. And while I ragged on them earlier, the 9th and 13th stratum had some really good puzzles. Really, only the 3rd and 5th were really lacking in puzzle/FOE rooms. Maybe that's why they felt like such meat-grinders.

#Etrian Odyssey #Etrian Odyssey Nexus #EON #EOX #EO Nexus

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creative-frequency · 6 years

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Bar in Galahd: Part 2

@nyxulricweek Day 8 | Creator’s Choice Word count: 3909 Pairing: Nyx Ulric x Female Reader Warnings: SFW, alcohol, pining Summary: Nyx and Libertus fulfill their lifelong dream of running a bar, so what better place could your squad have for hanging out? Part 2 of 2. Read part 1 here.

It took weeks to find the time for your squad to gather again. Same crowd, same place, different drinks. Ever since the night you had turned eighteen, your heart had been restless, speeding up and slowing down completely at its own will. Or maybe it moved by the will of your secret thoughts, pushed to the furthest pits of your mind, only to be burst free whenever you laid eyes on Nyx.

You wished you had never allowed your drunken thoughts to take lead on matter of your feelings towards him. The thought had been so clear, so bright and relieving that you couldn’t let go of it.

Unfortunately, the only immediate outcome was more suffering and heartache for you, since the only thing that had changed between you and Nyx was found inside your head.

“Hey Nyx, how’d it go with Laura yesterday?” Corvin asked with a very evident waggling of his brow.

You blinked into your drink. Your heartrate sped up and there was an uncomfortable feeling of something strangling your insides. It wasn’t the first emotional heart attack ever since your mind blowing realization and it surely wouldn’t be the last.

Nyx let out a restrained chuckle. “It uhh, it went well.” With his eyes he tried to convey a message to his friend that it was not the time or place to talk about it.

“Aww, c’mon Vin. Not in front of the ladies,” Libertus said and motioned towards you and Selena, who was leaning over the table with a stern furrowing of her brows. She seemed undeniably interested in hearing more about this Laura person.

You didn’t know how to react. You wanted to throw in a snarky comment about Libertus calling you a lady, or joke about Nyx’s date, but the words got stuck into your throat.

So what if he had been out with someone? Why did hearing that make you feel so awful? You tried to swallow the rousing feelings with a mouthful of alcohol.

“Oh, so something did happen?” Corvin continued, ignoring Libertus’s comment.

You wanted to get up and go out for a breather, but your rear was glued to the chair.

“Not really…” Nyx said tentatively. Not like anyone believed him. He sounded like it was the last topic he wanted to discuss. The only reason he would answer in the first place was to make sure no one got the wrong idea from Corvin.

And so Corvin continued to pester Nyx and he kept offering short, dismissive replies. You tried to focus on your drink, but forced yourself to throw in a teasing comment or two just to make sure your behavior didn’t seem suspicious. With a few exaggerated yawns your act was believable.

It took long enough for the topic to turn from Nyx’s love life. No one had noticed your uncomfort, but it was only relieving. The situation wasn’t something you would want to experience again – which was more than likely – but you had managed through it.

It was hard to listen to, to put it mildly. Your heart stung and the relief you felt after moving forward from the topic was ridiculous. It was jealousy. And you had no reason, no right to feel that way.

Nyx looked as cool as ever, not bothered by Corvin’s lewd comments and invasive questions. You tried not to look at him. You looked at Selena, Libertus, glanced at Corvin, then at Selena again, but your gaze kept drawing to the happy smirk on Nyx’s face and inspecting the new tattoo on his cheek bone.

You were just about ready to give up for the night and head home, when Nyx informed that it was time to retire for the night. Before anyone could say anything, your mouth opened.

“I’ll help you clean up. I have nothing tomorrow.”

You were pretty sure it was a lie. In that moment you had no idea about the contents of your calendar, but spending some more time with Nyx… You needed it like you needed to breathe.

“Sure, thanks.” He flashed a smile to you that made your knees weak.

Instant regret and excitement flushed down your spine. Selena threw in some interested looks at you, but stayed her tongue. Maybe she knew you had obligations on the following day, which you had graciously forgotten all about.

It took some time for the squad members to actually leave. Libertus offered to walk Selena home, at Nyx’s silent insistence, and Corvin departed with shameless grins. Nyx would have to do some cleaning before calling it a night, but you promised to help him. Since you didn’t have anything planned. Hopefully.

You gathered the empty cups and bottles on a tray and followed Nyx into the kitchen. He held the door open for you. You almost tripped when you were too focused on his face instead of balancing the glasses.

The kitchen was annoyingly bright, clean and smelled super good. You passingly thought it was like another dimension. You placed the tray on the counter and turned to look at Nyx.

You were alone with him.

Suddenly it was hard to breathe and you had to force yourself to stay in motion and not freeze. Nyx was just whistling quietly as he put away the snacks and unopened bottles.

Astrals help you, his mere presence made your head spin and heart flutter. You hadn’t been alone with him in the same room since… since…

“Tonight was fun.”

“Huh?” you coughed and caught yourself staring at Nyx. None of what he had just said had been registered into your brain.

“Uh, it was fun. To hang out. It’s been a while,” he continued, suddenly an awkward undertone in his voice.

You forced out a cheerful laughter, but it just ended up into a high-pitched squealing. “Yeah, it was,” you said hastily to mask the failed attempt at sounding casual.

Why, oh why was it so damn hard to be in his company? All the years spent distancing yourself from the pointless daydreams flushed down the drain. You felt like a teenager again. And hated it. You were a grown woman, Astrals damn it. You should have been able to have a normal conversation with your best friend’s big brother.

No, you would have to say something. Corvin had said Nyx had been out with someone. You would have to make your move soon, before he would go and fall for some random chick. If that would happen, you would never be able to forgive yourself.

Nyx smiled tentatively. It was obvious on his face that he was worried about your odd behavior, but he just turned back to putting the stuff in place.

You stood still and cleared your throat. The situation was begging for you to act. You had him alone after a nice evening spent drinking and laughing. While you didn’t feel like you were buzzed, alcohol was most likely still coursing in your veins, giving the much needed encouragement for you to open your mouth. It was now or never. Then it would be over – one way or another.

“Nyx, there’s something I need to–”

The loud clatter of an empty bottle against the floor where it started rolling further from the table interrupted you.

“Oh, shit… Sorry, you were saying?”

Your gaze shifted slowly from the bottle to Nyx. His expression was gentle and mildly curious. “I, uhh, nothing… I forgot what I was gonna say.”

On second thought, maybe straight up confessing your feelings wasn’t the best idea after drinking. The shit Corvin had said during the evening was definitely influencing your choice of timing.

Nyx cocked a brow at you and chuckled. “Okay then. Lemme know when you remember.”

He turned away again and your cursed your indecisive ass.

Soon. You would tell him soon.

Truth or Dare

“Heyyy, looking gorgeous, girl!” Corvin said and eyed you up and down in comically grand motion.

“You always have eyes only for her. Tsk tsk,” Selena tutted, interrupting your intended reply of repulsion.

Nyx’s hand was on Corvin’s shoulder faster than he could aim a dirty compliment at Selena. “Seriously man, cut it off.”

“What?” Corvin motioned to you, “Just look at her. You’d be mad not take her out–”

“For the love of Eos, Vin, I’m not going on a date with you,” you snarled loudly.

Nyx shot a blank look at you and you tried to herd the group towards the table, hoping the topic wouldn’t be brought up anymore. Ever.

It was hard enough to push back the thought of doing what you had intended to do a while ago – you still hadn’t told Nyx about your feelings, and at this rate you probably never would. The more time passed, the more blatantly Corvin was throwing flirty remarks and hinting towards uncomfortable topics. It only made it harder for you to actually bring anything of the same theme up with Nyx.

Corvin was an idiot, it was nothing new to you, but you still knew he wasn’t trying to make you feel bad on purpose. He was just sometimes an asshole who didn’t consider other people’s feelings. Over the years you had gotten the brunt of it, as had Nyx and Selena. Libertus was surprisingly good at dodging his asinine behavior.

The guys headed to the kitchen to grab some snacks and drinks, so you and Selena sat down. You both were glad to have the squad together again. While a few years back you had felt like you didn’t have the time or opportunity to hang out with your friends anymore, the situation had started to turn upside down. The age gap felt smaller with each year into adulthood and your life situations and interests were again lining up with the guys.

It made you happy. Not only because of your long history together, but because you genuinely enjoyed the company of Nyx, Libertus and even Corvin, though you would never admit that aloud. Along with Selena they were like a family to you. All those years spent playing in the mud had to count for something and you felt like you were collecting the fruits of that labor now, over a decade later.

The evening went by as usual for the most part, but then Corvin decided it was time to spice it up a little and suggested drinking games. Selena thought it was a good idea, Nyx was interested and Libertus commented, “Why the hell not.”

All eyes were on you as you sipped down your drink. You hadn’t prepared getting drunk as a skunk, but you really didn’t have anything against it either.

“Let’s do it.” You sounded more eager than you felt.

Corvin started explaining the rules with heavy added commentary from Lib. You had never before played any drinking games, but it sounded like the gist of it was just to get drunk while having fun. It was innocent enough and you agreed to keep it simple and harmless.

Corvin spun the bottle and while everyone more or less held their breath, it stopped to point at you.

“Truth or dare?” he asked with a sly smile.

“Uhm.” There was one question you absolutely wanted to avoid at all costs and it was the one Corvin would shoot just to see you squirm. “Dare.”

He leaned back on the chair, arms folded on his chest and hummed in thought. “Alright. You’re gonna spend seven minutes in the cleaning closet.”

“What? Why?” you yelped, partly laughing at the bizarre dare.

“Because I say so. And you’re gonna choose someone to go with you.”

Your heart skipped a beat. You instantly turned to look at Selena. She was already getting up from the chair.

“I’ll go with Nyx.”

After freezing in the air for a second, Selena’s butt fell back to the stool.

It was a short moment that lasted until the fierce debate in your mind was over. You shouldn’t have said that. Why did you do it? Now everyone would know about your secret infatuation with Nyx. They weren’t that stupid.

You waited for a word of protest from anyone, but Corvin was just grinning at you like the Cheshire cat.

“The cleaning closet. Off you go,” Libertus commanded and pointed at the inconspicuous small door in the corner of the room.

When the door shut after Nyx, the brilliance and horror of Corvin’s plan dawned on you. Seven minutes locked in a tight space face to face with Nyx wouldn’t do well for keeping your thoughts straight. The only reason he could stand so motionless was his hunter training.

You wanted to apologize to Nyx, but you both heard the chitter and shuffling from outside the door. There must have been three pairs of ears glued on the wood. You swallowed. It would’ve been easier without the faint beam of light coming from the wide gap above the door. Your eyes adapted quickly to the extremely dim lighting.

“It was about damn time, I say,” you could hear Corvin laugh. Lib snorted. You wanted to facepalm, but that meant you might have accidentally touched Nyx.

“No way,” Selena protested instantly, “They’re not gonna do anything.”

Nyx was biting his lip, trying not to burst into laughter. It was easier when he had something else to focus on than your face right in front of him, just a slight lean away…

You shifted your weight and took the tiniest step back to have just a little more distance to Nyx’s shallow breaths. The proximity was making your heart hammer very uncomfortably.

Your heel hit a cleaning bucket and the light touch caused a mop to fall over. Nyx lunged forward to catch it, arm reaching out over your shoulder. He was closer than before.

“You okay?” he asked. The surprisingly husky voice sent a warm jolt through you. For a fleeting moment you imagined what it would feel like against your ear or neck.

“Y-yeah. Sorry,” you stammered nervously.

Nyx placed the mop back while you leaned away from his arm, eyes strictly on his chest.

How many minutes had passed already? Three? Two and half? You could hear his every breath, your every damn loud heartbeat. It was nerve-wrecking.

“Sorry about this,” you whispered, hopefully so quietly that the party behind the door didn’t hear.

Nyx shook his head and hummed in disapproval. More time passed in silence. Corvin was wondering were you already making out and Selena laughed at the absurd thought. You shook your head at them.

Nyx was staring at you. He really tried not to, but it was dark and you avoided his gaze. All those things Corvin had said were still making his blood boil in anger and frustration. It was one thing to joke about his failed date, but he couldn’t stand to see the uncomfortable look on your face. It made his heart chest feel tight, but his hands were bound. There was only so much he could do for his little sister’s friend without–

He was alone with you now. In a dark closet. You were standing right in front of him, trying to be just as still as he was, but he could hear how your heart was hammering.

You felt rather than saw Nyx shift on his feet and couldn’t help but take a glance at him. He was… smiling? Probably, since it was hard to see.

Wait. Was he leaning in?

“Nyx,” you breathed quietly.

“Time!” Selena shouted and the closet door burst open. Light flooded into your eyes, forcing you to look away.

“So?” Corvin inquired eagerly, trying to detect the faintest hint of guilt or anything else on your faces. You rushed past him, gasping for breath.

Just what had that been? You never would’ve thought you would want the situation to continue, but as you looked at Nyx, his cheeks were veiled in a hint of red too. What had he been about to do?

You sat down. Corvin, Selena and Libertus were squinting their eyes at you.

“It was hot in the closet, okay?” you heard someone else say in your voice. Nyx was silent.

You reached out for the bowl in the middle of the table, but your hand only found air.

“I’m gonna go grab some more snacks from the kitchen,” you said and fanned your hot cheeks. Blood was still roaring in your veins, demanding the abruptly broken moment in the closet to continue.

Nyx shot up from his chair faster than anyone could even nod. “We’ve got some new stuff, I’ll come show you.”

“Uh, no it’s really okay–” you tried, but he had already marched past you towards the kitchen door. Libertus and Corvin exchanged glances while Selena shot a confused look at you, which you decisively ignored. The evening hadn’t gone at all the way you had planned.

Nyx held the kitchen door open for you and once again it was like stepping into another realm. The kitchen was quiet and you became immensely aware of his presence right behind you. The same shaky feelings that had coursed through you in the cleaning closet, returned twofold.

You took in a deep breath, but your mind was already in overdrive.

“Hey, uhh…” Nyx said, making you turn towards him. He was closer than you would’ve thought, but the kitchen was small and you refused to back away from him. Your heartbeat went wild.

“Hm?” Your hand hit the counter behind you and leaned on it, grateful for the support since your legs felt like they would give out any second.

Nyx’s eyes darted across the wall behind you and he chuckled to himself. The smirk on his lips made you bite yours in anxiousness.

“Wanna grab a coffee or something later? Like, tomorrow?”

You were so relieved that you almost laughed. He just wanted to hang out. Nothing romantic, nothing more than friends. The stinging sensation almost hurt inside your chest.

“Sure,” you replied with a beam, “Did you ask Selena yet?”

Nyx’s expression muddled and he was opening and closing his mouth, trying to find the right words. He took a step forward and you furrowed your brows in reaction. Your rear hit the kitchen counter.

Nyx hadn’t been prepared to explain himself, but there was only one way to get the message out loud and clear. “No, I wanted to go alone… with you,” he explained in a hush tone.

During the seconds it took your brains to process the content of his request, your thoughts had never been rearranged so many times so quickly.

“You… can. I mean– I want to! Uhh.”

He looked amused. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m just… mildly shaking and excited,” you huffed and tried to laugh, but your throat was dry, “I should tell you something.”

With the way your heart was thrashing around inside your ribcage you thought you would fall unconscious at any moment. It had been a long way into this moment, but you were as ready as you would ever be to take the dive into the unknown – a time past your confession. He had taken the first step. You had nothing to lose anymore.

“Okay. What is it?” Nyx urged you to continue speaking.

You drew in a shaky breath, not entirely able to stop yourself from chuckling nervously.

“I… like you.”

There. You had said it. What should have been a wave of relief, felt only numb as you waited anxiously.

Nyx’s brows shot up, but he smiled. “I guess I should come clean about something too.”

“Which is?” You held your breath.

He leaned closer to you and cupped your cheek extremely gently. His thumb brushed over your cheekbone. The smile on his lips just melted you.

“I really like you too. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize.”

Your hands grasped the fabric of Nyx’s shirt as your noses brushed together. Your eyes closed, your mind went void of any thought. The only thing left was the bursting feeling of tenderness in your heart. You had never before really, really wanted to kiss him, but he there was now.

“Is this really happening…” you murmured right before Nyx robbed your ability to speak. He was warm. You were still shaking.

The door whumped open.

You both froze for the shortest beat before jumping away from each other. Selena was staring at you with her jaw on the floor. The kitchen door was swinging freely behind her. You could her Libertus’s booming laughter from the other side. The reality of the bar was bleeding into yours.

“Uh, what’s up, sis,” Nyx said in a voice that, thanks to some miracle, sounded normal and not at all like his little sister had just caught her brother kissing her best friend.

You couldn’t say anything, not offer a word of explanation. You just stared at Selena in horror with blood frozen.

She reacted with a second’s delay.

“Wha–? INFERNIAN’S HORNS. MY EYES,” Selena screamed, turned swiftly on her heels and left the door swinging wildly after her. It creaked slightly on its hinges.

After staring after her for a silent moment, you and Nyx turned to look at each other, confused horror beginning to crack into grins.

“Saved us the trouble,” you noted nonchalantly, which was completely opposite of how you felt.

“Yeah. She’s gonna flay us later.”

You stayed silent, examining the look in Nyx’s storm blue eyes. You didn’t know had you ever seen them so close up before, but they were breathtaking. However, what really had rendered you speechless was the look in them, full of ardor and hope, warm and excited.

“Does it bother you?” Nyx asked quietly.

You shook your head gently and moved your hand to cup his cheek. He had neglected shaving again.

“Mm no. But we better make this worth it then,” you purred and pulled him down from the chin.

“You and Nyx? Really? Really?” Selena cried, “Out of all people…”

You offered her an apologetic grin. It was the first moment without any of the guys within an earshot. You were surprised Selena had been able to keep it inside her for so long. It had been almost three hours since you had kissed Nyx for the first time. Your lips were still tingling and the warmth on your cheeks would probably never cool down.

Libertus and Corvin had instantly known something was up even though Selena hadn’t piped a word. The fact that you were suddenly gazing longingly at Nyx after years of trying to play it cool was not easily missed by your closest friends.

“Eww. Just… eww.” Selena shuddered excessively.

“If that’s all you have to say, I guess we’re good?” you said carefully, still peeking at her.

She shook her head in disbelief. “After all these years… I can’t even– no.” She sounded disappointed, accusing even.

Your stomach sank along with the corners of your mouth. “No?”

Selena quickly glanced up with widened eyes. “It’s just… unbelievable. That’s all. I can’t believe you never told me! Some friend you are.”

Your sigh of relief filled the silence that followed Selena’s words.

“Actually, no. It’s definitely believable. I should’ve known,” she continued in a lighter tone.

You grinned at her. “I’m sorry. Truly.”

Selena grinned back at you. “Yeah, yeah. Just know that I’m happy for you guys.”

Thanks for reading! If you like my content, please consider buying me a coffee!

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#nyxulricweek #nyx ulric x reader #nyx ulric #kingsglaive #ffxv fanfiction #ffxv #final fantasy xv #fanfiction #my writings #glaive husbando

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crasherfly · 3 years

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Weekly Update

It’s never enough.

Be it progress in a hobby, pages written, reps in a workout, miles run, dollars spent at local businesses, weight lost and gained back, video games completed or personal apologies issued to people I’ve been too brisk with online- the prevailing theme of 2020 has been IT’S NOT ENOUGH.

This is, on its face, ridiculous. We are in a pandemic. Whatever reservations you might have about the virus, the fact is economically, we will be in dire straits for some time. Surviving should be enough. Thriving should be considered a rare bonus.

Even so, this December, I’ve struggled a great deal with feeling like I’m bringing “enough” to the table in anything I do. If I play a video game, I lament that I’m not good enough at it. If I write, I mourn the words that go unwritten. In my friendships, I fixate on small arguments that I drew myself into, or a harsh word I shouldn’t have said, worried over their long-term impact. There’s a dozen anime shows I haven’t finished. I have a script that needs pages, an end of year anime blog that needs writing. I keep skipping meditation sessions and forgetting to brush my teeth. The NBA season starts tomorrow- will I watch it to have something to talk to other folks about, or will I settle into something easier to fill the time?

Time.

I have nothing but time. I’m off until January 5th. I’ve had more time off this entire year than I’ve had any year since college. I tell myself this means I should be doing something remarkable, and yet, with more and more time off, I find I’m just doing the same things I would normally do- just in bigger quantity.

My therapist tells me it’s cuz I grew up in a home where praise was hard won- if ever given. Growing up with this deficit, it is only natural that I’d rarely feel like anything is “enough”- and blame myself when I feel lacking.

We’re still working on a solution for it.

I do know there are Good Things that I have accomplished this year. I made new friends. I became more knowledgeable about my hobbies. I picked up some new healthy habits- running, kettlebells, core workouts. I lost a little weight. I disconnected from the violently angry media sources that had wormed their way into my brain since my Gawker days. I got out of a little debt. I developed a more positive relationship with alcohol. I got to therapy. I’m becoming more comfortable with speaking truth to how I feel, instead of burying my feelings.

I still fail in many things. I have a laundry list of moments I failed this week to review with my therapist. I’m still not in a place where I can be a functional adult while also working a full time job. I have lost friends this year because I am a hard person to endure. I have had to issue more apologies this year than perhaps in any year prior. And the people who know me best would still point out, rightly, that I sound like a very different person in online public spaces than I do privately.

As 2020 comes to a close, I’m thinking about the theme I want to bring into 2021- and my 32nd year on this globe. And I think the theme I want to embrace is vulnerability, which is, ironically, the theme I struggle the most with in my personal life. I am, by nature, a secretive person- reclusive, even. Without getting into a whole Thing here, I would just say “meet my parents” and you’d get why. This shit’s been wired into me.

But as I look back on many of my issues the past year- my breakowns and spirals, the arguments, the friends lost and stresses placed on my loved ones- so much could have been avoided if I was willing to just explain what was going on in my life.

I don’t mean the long stylized depression posts I was doing back in August. Those are helpful to a point, but they don’t actually drive toward a conclusion. I mean talking about how I feel in plain terms, and explaining the pressures that lead to those feelings.

‘Cuz I think we can all agree that after almost a full year of relating to each other almost exclusively through cynical tweets and mirthless retweets that we as humans are desperately deficient in nuance- an ingredient essential to understanding each other in actual human contexts. And the only way for nuance to be understood is to speak plainly and directly to one another.

I’m going to try and do more of that in 2021. Here’s hoping the results are good.

So lets talk some vidya games and anime, yeah?

Vidya Games

BlazBlue: Centralfiction and BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle (SWITCH)

Arc Systems was having a switch sale. I’d enjoyed my time with Guilty Gear and noticed the BlazBlue series was relatively cheap, so I picked them up. I’d seen some of the fighters on Spriteclub before, so I was excited to expand my fighting game knowledge a bit further.

BlazBlue is a 2d fighting game that uses drawn sprite fighters. The effect is a beautiful anime more reminiscent of Street Fighter or King of Fighters, but with modern mechanics that make them feel more approachable. The rosters are huge and the individual fighters varied. There’s a full “episodes” mode, as well as plenty of options for training and tutorials.

Of the two games, Cross Tag seems like the easier to pick up. I’m a sucker for tag systems so that one is an easier sell for me. It’s also fun to see the crew from Persona 4 on the roster, not to mention RWBY.

Centralfiction seems to be more mechanics focused, but also includes a “stylish” mode that plays like Capcom Vs. SNK 2′s EO mode, where supers and command list moves are tied to single buttons instead of complex commands, allowing you to see everything a character can do without being stuck in hours of practice. I’m still trying to learn those damn quarter circle moves, but it’s a nice fallback option for moments where I’m not looking to exhaust my brain and thumbs.

Mario Maker 2 (SWITCH)

I’ve built three levels in the last week for Super Mario Maker 2. One I built during a work meeting, the other two I did as morning exercises over coffee. They’ve all been moderately played since and feature clear rates over 25%, so I’ll consider them a success.

I’ve uploaded over 40 courses to SMM2 since its release. That’s far more than I ever uploaded with the first game. I think Nintendo missed some big opportunities to make this game a centerpiece for the Switch. I also think the diehard fans got in their own way (designing courses on your tv is honestly not that hard- in fact, I prefer it to the portable option now). But overall, I do think that SMM2 is a success- at least for casual fans like me who value standard level design and ease of access.

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

My gaming has been somewhat hampered by the sudden implosion of my Samsung television, which houses my XBONE and Switch. About a week ago it shut down and began to flicker on and off. I unplugged it overnight and powered it on the next day to find a long black horizontal line across the panel and discoloration beneath the line. A call in to Samsung confirmed my fears- it was a wire defect and would require extensive service work. Because of the pandemic, it would take at least a few weeks before the part could make it.

The TV is still usable, so that’s a relief. I’m not dwelling on it much. Samsung was easy to deal with and they’ve promised this will come at no cost to me. There are many worse things happening in the world, so this is an easy thing to let roll off my shoulders now that I know what the solution is.

I also MIGHT have a Series X. Key word is MIGHT because I technically got my order in on the 18th, but Gamestop has yet to actually send a confirmation e-mail. However my order number appears valid and does pull up a processing page on their site, so I’m going to hang tight. I ended up pulling the trigger on a massive bundle that includes a very expensive headset and a second controller...as well as a copy of Assassin’s Creed. I can’t emphasize enough how NOT the primary audience I am for AC. However, I doubt I could pay anyone to take it off my hands at this point...so...whatever. At least there’s a chance I’ll have the new system.

My final bit of news on the technical front- I returned Cyberpunk 2077. I have zero regrets. Microsoft processed my refund in about 15 minutes without issue. I was on XBONE and yes, I tried the 1.4 update. Frankly, the update did seem to improve matters, but not so much as to be a game changer. And as I wrestled with the conundrum of powering through, or shelving the game in hopes of a future update that would magically fix everything, I finally opted to take the third option- and get off this damn train at the first possible stop. I will play Cyberpunk 2077 someday. Hopefully, when that day comes, this whole mess will be somewhat resolved.

ANIME

Jujutsu Kaisen

Season 1 has officially earned a “this show is straight fire” tweet from me. It’s just so good. The fights are thrilling. The emotional investment is real. The cast is outstanding. The design is imaginative, moody and the prettiest direction to behold this side of Fire Force.

Do yourself a favor and give this show a shot. It’s my top recommendation for the winter.

No Guns Life

I’ve almost wrapped the first half of season 1. This lovely noir continues to impress as its world unfolds. It is sure to please those itching for a cyberpunk or technoir story. The overall story still feels a bit unfocused, but I’m not minding too much. No Guns Life is one of those worlds that’s just a joy to be a part of, even when we’re unsure what its driving at.

END OF YEAR LISTS

Tis the season for LISTS. Oh man, so many lists.

I’ll be focusing my 2020 end of year stuff on anime and video games this year, because of course. I’ll also talk a little about media I’ve been enjoying. It’ll be a whole THING, either here or on wordpress.

But here’s a quick preview for those who are a bit curious about what titles I’ll be visiting for my Top Experiences list. Bear in mind that these are not confined to 2020 releases- this is purely about what I as a person dabbled in this year. Here’s what you can expect me to touch on in my end of year post :)

Games

Crusader Kings III Call of Duty: Warzone Yakuza 0 The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel Fighting Games (genre) Consoles Oculus Quest 2 NEO-GEO Arcade Stick Pro Anime

Re:Zero - Starting Life in Another World Gleipnir Jujutsu Kaisen No Guns Life Kaguya-sama: Love is War DECA-DENCE Tower of God

Manga

Berserk Fruits Basket

Tabletop

Dungeons and Dragons 5E: The Lost Mines of Phandelver/Ghosts of Saltmarsh

Streaming

Spriteclub Gawr Gura/Hololive WWE Network

Lifestyle

Kotatsus Sake

Music

Nightcore (genre) Personal Projects Alice and the Pale Horse (script) Legos (various sets) Like I said, this is gonna be a big ol’ THING. But I can’t wait to share it with you all :D

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ff15trashgoldenslumbers · 7 years

Text

Quick! Felix Natalis

You sat on the large patio before the resort, checking your phone for any kind of update of where the guys were. You still had a little before dusk, but you wanted them to get there in enough time. Well one of them mattered more than the others. You personal ray of sunshine!

When you had suddenly been called away by the family a few days ago, due to a few troubles at the family business, you did everything within your power to make absolutely certain that you would be home for your Prompto’s birthday. Yet unfortunately that did not work, so instead since you couldn’t go to the sunshine you decided to bring the sunshine to you.

“Where are you guys?” You muttered leg bouncing with anticipation, you had convinced your entire family to leave the estate to you and your friends for the next 72 hours, with the promise of being certain that you wouldn’t trash the place besides, a Prince staying on grounds would bring in some extra money.

Your thoughts turned back to the birthday boy that had yet to show up. Prompto had confided in you that he had never really had a birthday party, as his family was hardly ever home to celebrate with him. So he mostly would cook one of his favorite foods and then watch TV or play one of the latest games that were released. Your heart tore when you heard him say that! So you were absolutely determined to show him that you were happy with the fact that he had a birthday!

Only to beam as you saw the familiar grill of that black car come into view. Jumping from your perch you began to wave them down, a bright smile on your face. As the car pulled up, you couldn’t stop the giggle, you had asked the others to keep this hush-hush for Prompto.

“The blindfolds a nice touch.” You managed between your giggles, as everyone climbed from the car. Everyone but Prompto who had to be lifted and taken from the car by Gladiolus and sat before you.

“Only way the runt wouldn’t have known,” Gladiolus stated, as you took Prompto’s hand and begun to litter his cheeks with kisses. “Wanna give it 10 seconds?”

“ Chocobae!” Prompto called loudly, throwing open his arms as he hugged you tightly, returning your kisses as best he could with the blindfold on.

“Happy Birthday, Pom-kin!” You purred, taking his hand before leading him, still blindfolded, and the guys into the large doors behind you. Once inside the foyer, you reached up removing the blindfold from those beautiful blue eyes, before stepping back opening your arms. “Welcome everyone to Tres Choco Estate!”

Prompto sputtered, this place was the best place to get the perfect Chocobo experience, it was sold out to nearly everyone! With a 10-year wait list! How even!?

Gladiolus let out a low whistle, “How’d you manage to pull this one off, Y/N?”

You smiled pointing towards a portrait on the wall, “Grandad and Granny would do absolutely anything for their favorite and only Grandkid.”

Prompto moved over to the large portrait, before noticing the little girl in the foofy yellow dress holding an equally as fluffy chick, “Is that you?”

“Don’t look at that part!” You gasped as he rose his camera taking a picture. Moving over to drag your boyfriend away from the picture. “Grandad left only a handful of the staff with us, they’ll take your bags to your rooms, and I'll show you guys around.” You smiled holding Prompto’s hand as you moved them out a side door. “We’ve got the whole place to ourselves, Granny and Grandad said to make yourselves at home since you’re family!”

“Their hospitality is very welcome, do send our regards,” Ignis replied, following you through the ranch style of the estate.

You turned to Prompto expecting to see him with his camera up as he had been so silent. Yet instead you were greeted by the blonde seeming to be on the verge of bursting, he was actually physically vibrating with excitement and having to keep it in, so you nudged his side to get him back to Eos, “Hey, wanna see the Chocobos?”

The smile you got in return made you see heaven, “You mean it?!”

“Mmhm, they should be still causing mayhem.” You replied, “Sometimes they hang out closer to the house, every so often we’ll get a few chicks hanging out in the house, spoiled little things.”

You moved the boys through your childhood playground, only to come to a large housing area with a few pens yet other than that, it was acres and acres of grass and forest but still no Chocobo’s insight.

“Is that one okay?” Noctis asked.

Your eyes turned to where the Prince was pointing, only to gasp as you moved over to the fence, “Pinto! Pinto you crazy birb, get up we’ve got guests!” You called to the white bird laying on his back with his legs in the air. You quickly turned to the others, “He’s fine, he does this all the time. Mostly to get attention.”

Prompto chuckled as he watched you continue to yell at the large bird, telling him to get up. Only to watch as you picked up a small twig before tossing it toward the bird, watching it bounce off the bird’s stomach. “Are you sure he’s okay?”

“Yep, he’s just being a drama queen.” You grunted, before climbing the fence, moving over to the large bird, crouching beside him. “Pinto, you’re being embarrassing, get up you goofy birb.”

Prompto couldn’t help but smile as the bird suddenly rolled over, before flailing its wings at you, then bouncing before you as you scratched his neck and chest, “Is he always like this?”

“Yeah, I promise he’s the only one, everyone else is the sweetest.” You called, moving towards the gate to let them in, “I’ll call them over.”

Everyone stood waiting as you pulled a whistle from your pocket blowing into it. Only for a stampede of roughly 20 or so Chocobos appeared, standing before you as they ‘Kweh’ed and waited for a response or command tilting their heads this way and that.

Prompto’s gazed turned to you as you called his name, holding out your hand. Taking your hand, he moved as you pulled him forward before a yellow Chocobo with bright blue eyes. This was honestly his first time seeing one in person, or touching one, so when you stepped back he panicked a little.

“Sweetie?” He called, glancing over his shoulder to you standing slightly behind him.

“It’s fine, hold your hand up.”

Prompto held his hand up, watching the bird tilt it’s head this way and that before moving forward, pressing its face against the blonde’s hand with a coo. Prompto turned to you beaming, as you told him that she liked him. Only for the photographer to gasp as he was nuzzled by the large bird across the cheek.

“Oh, she already thinks your family.” You cooed, scratching the bird’s back motioning for the others to come forward.

“I bet it’s the hair.” Noctis chuckled as a black one begun to nuzzle at him, quickly followed by a blue one preening his hair.

“My hair does not look like a Chocobo butt.” Prompto gasped, completely offended, despite the Chocobo who had quickly begun to preen his hair as well.

“I don’t know,” Gladiolus smirked a red one refusing to let him stop petting them.

Ignis shifted his glasses as one of the lady Chocobo knocked them off while nuzzling him, “It would explain, Y/N affections towards you.”

Prompto turned to you with mock horror, “That’s not true, is it?”

“I mean…” You giggled playfully, only to laugh louder at the offended gasp he gave you.

“Well at least someone loves me for who I am.” Prompto pouted playfully, as he begun receiving cuddles and nuzzles from the other birds.

You allowed the men to play with the birds for a little while longer, before whistling loudly drawing the larger birds attention, motioning them towards you. “Stand back everyone, Pari kiss kiss Prompto.”

Prompto stared in shock as the bird that had first accepted him leaned forward pressing her beak to a freckled cheek, with a kissing noise before moving over to you. “Playtimes over?”

“Nah, you have one more surprise.” You replied, moving over to him as you removed his camera, his phone, and wallet before handing them over to others. “You’ll want to stand right here, and try not to look like food.” You explained, before moving back over to the others and the Chocobo who were all waiting in anticipation for the next surprise.

“Sweetie?”

“Just give me one second.” You smiled before turning towards the large housing enclosure, letting out a loud call of, “BAH-BES!”

Prompto hardly had time to brace himself before he was toppled over by quite a few round fluffy little Chocobo chicks. Some pecking at his shoelaces, another nuzzling at his face and arms, a few were even testing their little kicks on the blonde. He didn’t care that he was crying, or the coo of babies falling from his lips as he began to pet as many as he could.

“The babies are always the most energetic and don’t ever respond to the whistle.” You explained, scooping one up before plopping it on his chest. “Happy Birthday, Prompto.”

Prompto never celebrated his birthday, but with someone like you in his life, he had to admit October 24 did have some perks.

#it's prompto's birthday #happy birthday prompto #prompto x reader #prompto argentum #I wrote this last night and before I spelled checked I was everywhere #chocobo #FF15 Headcanons #final fantasy 15 headcanons #ffxv headcanons #final fantasy xv head #final fantasy drabbles #ff15 drabbles #ffxv drabbles #that picture is maybe the second best time I drew his hair #golden doodles

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peachaidee · 6 years

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Ep Ignis ramblings- mostly figured out how a happy ending could work with all the info presented to us vs the edgy sad end theory. Don’t read. spoilers, etc. just trying to make sense of it...

look i love angst and edgy stuff a lot but i dont know why some people automatically went for it in V2. to me, the story and directing was very obvious it was supposed to be a happy ending even though it was very confusing and it was difficult to figure out how it could work. i dont read reddit threads so idk if this has all been said before... just my thoughts.

after going thru V2 carefully a second time im more sure that the happy end could work out from the information given to us. Who is the "mysterious voice"? Most like the Crystal/Eos since it was the only thing around. It also could have been Luna. same VA in credits?? (Ravus did say her job wasn’t done...also great opportunity to slip future story in there for a possible ep luna, the poor girl needs it).

Anyway, lets just say the mysterious voice was Luna since she is the Oracle. Her powers would allow her to talk about the prophecy spoken by the Crystal/Eos. In V2 when it was being explained to Ignis, she never said Noct had to die. She said as long as the ring was powered up he would ascend, and have enough power to end the scourge, kill Ardyn, and could restore the dawn. This matches with the prophecy Luna tells Noct when they were kids.

I think some people think V2 can’t be real because we can’t forget as it was drilled into us for the entire game that it was Bahamut’s prophecy that we listened to and some people could not get over the requirement that a blood price needed to be made to fulfill the prophecy. Compare Luna’s prophecy to what Bahamut said in order for the Chosen King to ascend. He needed to have the ring full powered, and he needed the powers of the old kings and it can only be achieved by dying alone. This is a lot of requirements for ascension compared to the basic one told by Luna/Crystal. Now Bahamut...this fucker says as far back in the Omens trailer that a blood price must be paid and shows Regis the entire timeline of Omens playing out. I assume the endgame is the same where Noct destroys the scourge but just in a really terrible way. Terrible enough where Regis was like FUCK THAT and presumably does something to change Noct’s fate and asks the gods to forgive him. We don’t really know exactly what Regis did except for the very obvious action of sending Noct off WITH HIS BROS so he wouldn’t be ALONE.

I think that was the important part. Bahamut’s prophecy had everything from Luna’s/Crystals prophecy. The added parts were, BLOOD SACRIFICE and that it was the chosen king who would make his sacrifice ALONE. We hear this in the main game and it was repeated in Ep Ignis when he was shown the visions in the main route. So, by adding the bros into Noct’s journey, Noct’s fate was dramatically changed but tragically even Regis had to fulfill the prophecy in the end. Maybe everybody thought they had no other choice, the outcome was the same, Noct had to die. Bahamut is the war god that belongs to the Lucians so I guess Lucians have no reason to not listen to him and accept everything he says except for Regis who didn’t want Omens to happen.

So basically...what I think the whole story is about....is that fate changes if you have people to share your burden. Did Ignis have an idea how to change Noct’s fate when he suggested that to him? Maybe, maybe not. He tried by suggesting Noct they stop their journey. But later in Ch. 10 Ignis was 100% committed to Noct’s decision because he repeats Regis’ words and only wishes to stay with Noct. Maybe he knew there was no way to change it and he accepted that all the things shown to him were inevitably going to happen. Noct even cuts Ignis off in the last scene like Noct didn’t want the bros by his side (but he’ll have them in his heart), because Noct accepted Bahamut’s prophecy word for word. That he had to do it alone.

V2 looks like a timeline created by the power of love and friendship even though it hilariously hinges on 1 decision Ignis could have made differently but lets say he made the decision to go with Ardyn because he took 1 second to think things through and not be so recklessly gay to save Noct. Lets say he actually processed his future visions, he would choose the option that he doesn’t do in his visions. He would know that Ardyn couldn’t actually kill Noct right then and there. If he could have a chance to change fate he would go with Ardyn. So he does and this is a great timeline because Ignis actually tries to change fate when nobody did in the main game.

The question then becomes why do the Lucian kings know fate can be changed if Ignis sacrifices himself? Wild speculation here but it could be Regis' doing convincing the council to let Ignis sacrifice himself for the ring’s power knowing that fate can be changed that way because he did it himself earlier. Or Bahamut and the Lucian kings are assholes which we know already from Kingsglaive and the like... So did they already know about Luna’s/crystals prophecy? Maybe Bahamut added blood sacrifice and the requirement to do it alone to his prophecy because he's an edgy fuck and has no friends. Bahamut could have told Noct that he could sacrifice any one of his pure-hearted friends in his place but obviously Noct would never ever do that and would die for them all so Bahamut probably thought to make it efficient, only the Chosen King has to die it will be easy. OR, it is also entirely possible that through the events of Kingsglaive, Regis was sacrificing himself to change Noct’s fate.

By the magic power and love and friendship, Noct is able to heal Ignis using the Crystal. He was very determined in this timeline to fulfil his duty compared to the main game where he struggled and was confused in front of the crystal. He only puts on the ring kind of reluctantly in the main game but manages to do it to save Prompto. In V2 he puts it on immediately to save Ignis since he was actively dying. So sweet how in one timeline, Noct buckles up to save Prompto and in the other, to save Ignis.

During V2′s 10 year gap I was very happy to see the bros sticking together more. In the main game and in Comrades it was mentioned that they don’t spend a lot of time together but this timeline had a kind of uplifting feel and the bros felt like they had a better sense of purpose and a better plan with how to deal with the long night. At then at the last battle Noctis had all the bros +1 at his side. He had them walk tall TOGETHER, sharing the burden. I believe that was the message. If you have good friends, if you love deeply and let them share your burdens you can change fate. Of course sacrifices need to be made but you don’t have to do it alone. This is why I think at the end everyone lives. Additional detail is that Noct was still wearing the ring when it was destroyed in the main game.

Some people think V2 retcons all of Ep Prompto which I get...Ardyn uses Ignis as bait instead of Prompto but you can use your imagination to try and keep Prompto’s character development. Like, if Prompto never got into the facility, maybe Verstael would still be alive and he would have sent out all his weapons anyway? Like chase Ravus’ airship down with machines. Or maybe Ardyn wanted to fuck with Ravus and gang anyway and let Verstael do his Ghost in the Shell thing. As far as Ardyn knew, Noct still had the ring so maybe he wanted to stir up shit so Noct would finally wear it. Ravus probably could have told Prompto about his origins if they ever ran into Verstael. I feel like Ravus would know about it.

This ending did feel a bit rushed but overall it felt more like the general theme of FF games where friendship is the best and you say fuck you to fate/religion and it seems right that ffxv showed us that thru different timelines. of course this is how i rationalize everything ignoring that this was supposed to be an entirely different game 10 years, even 3 years ago and even playing Comrades I could tell they couldn’t keep the game and Kingsglaive consistent. Episode Ignis was supposed to be the last of the DLCs until they confirmed they were making more by popular demand. And to me Ep Ignis did feel like it was the end by showing V2. Because of the game’s disastrous release schedule the game ended up so messy but i think the ffxv team tried their best to tie in everything. From Omens which people speculated were story elements from vs XIII, to the main game and them confirming AU exists or that Noct’s dreams are actually real in a way. I felt like V2 was a possibility of a happy ending so I don’t see it as some dark twisted bittersweet ending. Nothing against people who do, its all good fun. I was left feeling so satisfied I actually don’t mind if they stop DLCs. But since they’re making more I feel like they can do a good job because they said they’re taking their time with these future DLCs to make sure they’re good. I hope they can explore another timeline where this time they can save Luna or something. She honestly has it the worst.

tl;dr: fuck Bahamut honestly. Also what he does in Comrades is fucked up

#.#ffxv #ep ignis #ffxv spoilers #episode ignis

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makikoigami · 7 years

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[FIC] FINAL FANTASY XV - PROMPTIS WEEK DAY 7

Title: Abendsonne Day 7: Stay with me / AU Rating: PG Wordcount: 3,860 Spoilers: All of them! Warnings: Near Death Experiences Disclaimer: I own nothing and I never played the game. Still, these guys happen to occupy my mind. Not my fault Summary: Noctis' first year after saving the world and the only thing he wants to do is to tell Prompto to stay by his side. Notes&Comments: Written for @promptisfanweek, It took me way too long to come up with something for this. Got some inspiration thanks to my wife, who said off-handedly that I could just continue writing old married Promptis, because everything where Noctis lives at the end is and AU and just. Asking someone to marry them is just the best way to ask them to stay with you. There's actually a lot of music inspiration in this, the title's English translation is "the sun at sunset" and figuratively speaking it's the time when the night welcomes the sun in its arms. Also, when I hear "Stay With Me" I always get Shakespears Sisters' "Stay" stuck in my head. It fits, too, as both Noctis' and Prompto's suffering through the Long Night.

This is written as a companion piece to days 4 and 6, and goes with my wife's entry for day 7.

Stay Shakespears Sister

If this world is wearing thin And you're thinking of escape I'll go anywhere with you Just wrap me up in chains But if you try to go alone Don't think I'll understand

Stay with me, stay with me

In the silence of your room In the darkness of your dreams You must only think of me There can be no in between When your pride is on the floor I'll make you beg for more

Stay with me, stay with me

You'd better hope and pray That you make it safe Back to your own world You'd better hope and pray That you'll wake one day in your own world 'Cause when you sleep at night They don't hear your cries in your own world Only time will tell if you can break the spell Back in your own world

Stay with me, stay with me Stay, stay with me Stay, stay, stay, stay, stay Stay with me

" ...Bring back what once was mine… What once was mine... "

He should be dead.

He had been disintegrated into atoms, just to be put together on another version of the throne where Luna had been waiting for him. He remembered thinking, 'Ah, so that's that... I'm dead now, reunited with Luna in the afterlife to live on as a ghost to wait until everyone we once knew eventually joins us. I can't wait to hear about the life they lived without me.'

Then there was pain and he cried out, even as Luna smiled at him as she seemed to disappear from his side. He looked at her bewildered, but she smiled where she stood, taking slow steps back as she mouthed, 'go back to your friends. They need you.' There was a man in Kingsglaive uniform standing behind her and the last thing he saw was how Luna leaned against him, her hand reaching out for his.

Then there was light and pain - so much pain! - and familiar voices, shouting, crying and... singing ?

It was hard to breathe, but Noctis slowly came back to, his eyes widening as he felt wet lips on his own. It took all of the strength that he had left to raise his hand from the sword, finding Prompto's cheek - so wet, so many tears - and whispering hoarsely, "Hey..."

He tried to smile, but that only managed to make Prompto cry harder. Suddenly, there were arms around his neck and he was pulled into a tight hug, even as he could feel another pair of hands working on his chest, Ignis' familiar voice giving gentle orders and then there was movement, more pain, a pressure released from his chest and he felt himself falling forward into Prompto's arms. He felt heavy then, his eyes closed and a second later, he had passed out from exhaustion, pain and blood loss.

Noctis Lucis Caelum, the King of Light, slept for a whole week, seven sunrises and seven sunsets that were celebrated by the people of Eos. He even slept through the eighth sunrise and looked like he was going to sleep through the next sunset just as well.

"You have to eat, you know?" A gentle voice said softly as he came back to, but they were obviously not talking to them.

"I'll eat later. Just leave it here, I... will eat it," Prompto's familiar voice said, although he sounded so old, so tired, so exhausted.

"Just... do it, okay? Not like the other day," Ignis said, taking a moment longer before he took his leave.

"...you should be eating," Noctis tried to say, but it came out like the screech of something dying. He made a face and tried to clear his throat before he tried again, just like he tried to open his eyes. He was trying a lot of these things, but none of them worked out. However, it seemed to be enough to bring the message across and he found himself hugged again, the scent of leather strong in his nose.

'Funny,' he thought, 'how that is the first thing I notice about Prompto. The heavy smell of leather of his uniform.'

"Hey," he tried again and this time, it was just a mild screech, but he got the word across. A sob wrecked Prompto's body, which then turned into a laugh as he buried his face in Noctis' shoulder.

"You're alive!" Prompto sobbed, his fingers finding the hair on the back of his head as he squeezed gently. Even Noctis could tell from the way the other was touching him, he was painfully aware of where Noctis was hurt, that he was avoiding his chest at all costs and when Prompto finally gave him space to breathe, he almost expected to see his father's sword in his chest.

But there was nothing. Just sunshine and a gentle breeze playing in the curtains hanging in front of the window behind Prompto.

"Where am I?" Noctis asked, not because he didn't know where he was, he was just curious where exactly he was. The last he remembered was a world at the brink of an apocalypse, no gentle breezes, no sunlight.

"The Citadel... Your old room? That's what Ignis said, although both he and Gladio weren't exactly sure. It was the room with the most comfy looking bed," Prompto explained, although he looked like was exploding with a thousand words on the tip of his tongue.

Noctis smiled faintly as he looked around, remembering almost nothing of this room. Then again, it had been destroyed quite thoroughly. The tapestries ripped from the walls, furniture broken from what looked like being thrown around, even though Ignis and Prompto had probably tried to tidy as much as he could. At least the bed felt familiar and he turned his head to the other side, his eyes widening as he recognized a few things.

"These... are the king's chambers," he said, feeling a pang of pain in his chest that had nothing to do with his physical injury.

"Well, yes and no. When we found this room the wall separating them had been torn down. So we... moved the bed a little more to the middle of the new room so that you could have a nicer view onto the city when you... you'd wake up," Prompto explained and nodded towards the large windows with even heavy looking curtains being drawn open.

He blinked to focus his gaze, and when he looked out he saw a city left in ruins and it hurt his heart.

"It's not much yet," Prompto said as if he had read Noctis' thoughts. "But trust me, people are working on making Insomnia the place they want it to be again. Same with Lestallum and everywhere else that has survived. It's... it's been only a week ever since the light returned, but I've never seen people so full of energy."

The blond's words managed to draw a weak smile from Noctis that died the moment the king turned back to look at him.

"...except for you," he noted and saw Prompto avert his gaze and worry his lip, on the left side, where Noctis remembered a scar from before the Long Night. He knew that Prompto sported more scars now, back from those ten years that Noctis had been in the crystal.

"...I'm not that important to life on Eos," Prompto said in weak protest.

Noctis lifted his hand that felt heavier than a ton, letting it come to rest on top of Prompto's on the side of the bed. "You are important to me," he said, just before he lost consciousness again, falling back asleep.

"And you are my reason to live," were the words that followed him into his dreams.

Noctis made a rather swift recovery, considering the severity of his injuries and the state of the world. Prompto stayed by his side all the time, held his hand, helped him learn how to walk again and did everything that Noctis could ever ask for. Sometimes, he felt like Ignis was secretly jealous of their new connection, but whenever he asked him, his advisor only shook his head and smiled enigmatically, saying that this was probably more for Prompto's sake than Noctis' alone.

They went on trips, travelled around the lands of Eos again, to visit those who survived the long night and made sure that everyone would get the help they needed. Noctis was stubborn about this. He wanted to make this right, he wanted the people to know that he would listen to them, that he cared more about them than himself.

Prompto, Ignis and Gladio thought it was weird, because he had sacrificed himself, but Noctis wanted to listen to all the stories. He said that after he had missed those ten years himself, he wanted to understand what it was like, that he needed to feel what it was like himself.

Prompto had declared himself his personal bodyguard, since he had accumulated the most combat experiences, since his skills as a gunman and sniper were the most useful to protect the king from any kinds of assassins. No one said that they knew he wanted to stay by Noctis' side because he didn't want to let him out of his sight, but everyone knew.

Noctis thought it was adorable, and he was most grateful for it. It allowed him to talk, it allowed him to observe his best friend and how much he had changed the last ten years.

From everyone he knew, Prompto had probably changed the most. He had grown wider, gained more muscle where Noctis had lost some of his own during the Long Night; and he wasn't fidgeting every two seconds anymore. He didn't wear his wristbands anymore, showed off his tattoo like it was just another part of his body. The last thing Noctis remembered was Prompto beating himself up over it, thinking he was the enemy when all that he had ever been was his own person. It made him happy, made him relax and then wonder if more clones like Prompto had survived. But everywhere they went, they found no one who was left from Nifelheim. It was scary, but to think that an entire people had been erased by the experiment of one madman and a mad immortal soul and what Prompto had told him was more or less an accident even before he had gone into the crystal...

Noctis didn't quite understand it, but it seemed like Prompto and Aranea had set free powers that the world were not able to handle and while they did their best to keep the damage to a minimum, no one knew what had really gotten out of that factory deep in Nifelheim. Thus, Prompto seemed to be the least surprised to learn that there wasn't much left of Nifelheim at all.

It also made him to be the last survivor, which kind of put him on the same level as Noctis, who was the last in the long line of the Lucis.

"Prom," he said as they lay in his bed one night, around a year after all magic had disappeared from Eos. They had held hands until that had turned into kisses, which had then turned into something else and now they were there, buck naked after Prompto had gone to find them a cloth to wipe them off before he snuggled right back against Noctis side.

"Mhm?" Prompto hummed, his voice heavy with sleep.

"I've been thinking," Noctis said and he half expected Prompto to shoot back 'that's a new one.' It might be because Noctis had done a whole lot of thinking in the past year that had served to turn the world into a better place.

"What is it?" Prompto asked instead, snuggled against Noctis shoulder, his arm draped over his chest to cover the big scar there.

"If... you're the last known survivor from Nifelheim," he started, earning himself a slight tightening of the hold around his middle. "If you're the last one from Nifelheim, that... automatically makes you the ruler, right?"

"There's no one to rule over though."

"Hm... doesn't matter, in this case. Just trying to say that... there's no better way to show Lucis' will to bring peace to Eos than our... friendship ," Noctis said, because that's what they were officially. Friends. Mostly because Noctis hadn't figured out a way to change that yet. But he had an idea.

"Friendship, yeah," Prompto snorted and Noctis could hear the pout.

He sighed, because he had chosen his words wrong. He was able to argue with people from all over the world, but when it came to Prompto, the one person in his life that he really wanted to matter to, he was as clumsy as a teenager still. While that was frustrating on the one hand, it was also something that kept him grounded, that kept him striving to be better. For Prompto.

"You know what I mean," Noctis sighed. "What I want to say is... for the sake of publicity and the public image of Nifelheim in the heads of the people... Would you be willing to share your origins with the world?"

There was a long moment of silence and Noctis already opened his mouth to tell Prompto that he didn't have to do that, that they would find another way, because he understood how much he was really asking from his lover.

"...I guess it's a good idea," Prompto sighed and Noctis shifted, turning around to look into his eyes.

"...you're really okay with that?" he asked, gently running his hand over his lover's cheek.

"For you... I am," Prompto confirmed as he leaned into the touch, violet blue eyes closing.

"I love you," Noctis whispered as he leaned in to seal those words with a kiss, meaning them in an entirely different context than the one that he was sure Prompto thought he did, but that didn't matter. He would tell him sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.

~*~

With the reestablishment of radio and TV, Noctis saw himself in the focus of various cameras and faced with microphones many times a day. It was okay though, he wanted Eos to know that he was there, that we was speaking to all of them.

The day he revealed Prompto's origins to them, also marked the day that his father had died. The day that Nifelheim had attacked Insomnia. The day that almost all of them had lost their homes and most of them their hopes, just to wait until the long night started.

Noctis had prepared a long speech, intending to clear up all those misunderstandings, to end the rumors that were going around and to confirm a few others.

One was the real intent of Nifelheim's call for a peace treaty. Another was his engagement to Luna and what exactly had happened in Altissia. Among many others, one of the last topics was identity of those MT soldiers, how they had come to life and what had happened to Nifelheim during the long night.

Ultimately that would lead him to Prompto's origins and lastly, to what was most precious to him.

He stood behind the doors to the balcony on which he would hold his speech in a few moments. However, there was one thing that he needed to do before he stepped outside.

Prompto, in his self-assigned role as his bodyguard, eyed the crowd suspiciously through a nearby window as Noctis took his hand and pulled him back inside.

"Noct, I need to..." the blond started, just to stare wide-eyed at Noctis as the king sank to his knees. For a few seconds, his eyes flickered to Ignis and Gladio who stood on the other sides of the room, but they were grinning and nodding, as if they knew what was to come.

"Prom," Noctis started, the words almost getting caught in his throat.

'Come on,' he told himself, 'you didn't feel nervous about talking to a crowd of people as far as your eyes could see, this is much easier! It's just Prom!'

But it wasn't easy, because a lot of things could go wrong.

"Prompto Argentum, you know that I love you, right?" Noctis started again, because this was something formal, something important that deserved a full name use. "We've known each other for a long time and... through those years, you've become my most important friend. When... when I said that I'd made my peace, it was because I wanted to give you a world to live in and I... I didn't think that I, Noctis Lucis Caelum, was important. But you proved me wrong. 'A world without you wasn't worth living in,' that was something that you showed me over and over again. And yet you did, because you knew I'd come back," Noctis said, squeezing Prompto's hand as he inhaled shakily, trying to hold back the tears that Noctis could see so very clearly.

"And I, I didn't want to live in a world that was so cruel to you. I didn't want to rule over a kingdom that condemned people for where they came from or made them feel uncomfortable like you did when you found out where you came from. I've loved you, even back then, because you were you. You managed to make me smile when I felt the most down in my life and I... I couldn't imagine living without you. Yet, it was my fate to fight alone, to save this world all on my own. But you stayed by my side," Noctis said and he could see Prompto's eyes flicker back to Ignis and Gladio again.

Yes, these two had been with him as well, but Prompto had stayed with him even afterwards.

"And I want to stay by yours. So, I'm asking you to stay with me, forever, if you want to and if the Astrals allow us to. Prompto Argentum, do you want to marry me?"

Prompto sobbed and choked back a laugh. "Holy shit, man, my heart hurts from that speech! But did you really think that through? We're both the last in our line, we will not be able to create any offsprings and-"

"Yes, I've thought about that. I was destined to sacrifice myself back then, I was supposed to be the last in the long line of Lucis anyway and you... you were lucky to survive as well as the last in your line," Noctis rationalized, feeling his own nerves slowly getting the better of him. "So, I am quite aware what I'm asking of you. Will you... continue to be by my side?"

Prompto worried his lip, his hand cold in Noctis' hold. For a moment he looked conflicted until he huffed a breath and then looked up with a tear-stained smile. "I didn't plan anything else with my life other than to stay by your side... so yes. Yes, I want to marry you! I-if that's okay with the protocol and... you know."

"Prom, I'm making the protocol up as we go, and I say it's fine. Don't worry," Noctis said as he got up, hearing Gladio scoff behind him. Ignis shrugged, putting his hands up because he stopped caring about the protocol once Noctis had taken over.

The king finally got the small, velvet box out of his pocket. "I've got this for you as a token of my promise," he said to his fiance and opened the box, revealing a simple silver band with lines carved into it that made it look like a chocobo feather, yellow gemstones that might just be diamonds placed all around it. "I hope you like it..."

"You know you could have gotten me a plastic ring and I'd've been fine," Prompto laughed, carefully lifting the ring to look at it. "It's beautiful..." Prompto smiled as he handed the ring back to Noctis, offering his hand wordless for Noctis to put it on, which he did with a grin.

"It is," Noctis smiled, looking at the other's hand in his. "Looks even better on you."

"Nerd," Prompto laughed and leaned in for a small, awkward kiss. "I love you. More than anything in this world."

"I know," Noctis smiled as he looked up and leaned back in, returning Prompto's kiss with a gentle one on his own. "Come on... I want to tell the world."

"E-eh? Right now?"

"Yes, right now . After that speech we had planned anyway," Noctis grinned, stepping forward to go out on the balcony. He smiled at the cheering people, slipping his hand free of Prompto's hold to wave at them before he stepped forward and started his speech.

His voice was hoarse by the time he asked Prompto to stand by his side and he was exhausted. However, that didn't stop him from taking Prompto's hand and squeeze it reassuringly. His fiance looked nervous, but as Noctis smiled at him, he seemed to relax himself and let Noctis praise him. At least as long as he didn't have to get anywhere near the microphone and talk himself, but they had rehearsed even that part.

Once Noctis had vowed to work out a lasting peace treaty between all countries of Eos, he took Prompto's hand again, pulling him to his side.

"To ensure the stability of this treaty between Lucis and Nifelheim, between royalty and the common folk, I hereby announce that on the day before the coming year's Light Festival, a royal wedding will be held," Noctis said, feeling that his voice was close to failing him.

"I, Noctis Lucis Caelum, announce my engagement to one Prompto Argentum and am delighted to tell you that he accepted my request!"

There was a moment of stunned silence in the crowd and Noctis felt a bout of anxiety grow in the pit of his tummy. Then, he heard Gladio start clapping to his left behind him, Ignis joining in and when Gladio cheered, the people seemed to wake up from their silence and they started cheering for them.

"Man, I thought they'd hate it for a second there," Prompto gasped as he wiped a lone tear from his eye. He started waving when people started calling his name, his other hand tight in Noctis'.

"It wouldn't have mattered, I would have married you anyway," Noctis said, beaming down as he started to wave himself. "Let someone else become king, I just want to be with you."

"...Good thing we can have both," Prompto smiled, but it soon turned into a grin. "You've got a few promises to fulfill."

"And I will break down the borders. All of them. There will be peace and happiness for everyone, because that's all that matters. And you are my peace and happiness."

"Man, ever since you've become king, you've become all sappy and stubborn," Prompto laughed.

"I've always been sappy and stubborn. Never got the chance to show it though," Noctis grinned and then pulled on Prompto's arm to pulled his surprised fiance over into a kiss. The crowd cheered a little louder and he grinned at Prompto.

"I love you."

Notes: Thank you for reading all the way to here! I hope you had as much fun reading my stories for Promptis Fan Week 2017 as I had writing them!

(In case anyone was wondering about that first line, it's Prompto singing and it's a preview for another story (That Tangled Story) that I'm going to write soon.

#promptisfanweek #promptisweek #prompto argentum #noctis lucis caelum #final fantasy xv #Makiko Igami's fanfiction

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tancong · 7 years

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The Delightful Date

What will two couples make of their day together, a once in a lifetime chance as they finally manage to bring Angela away from her endless pile of work?

Romance.

Summer was a time of the year that was always full of festivities and fun. There wasn’t any major festivals or romantic events during this time of the year as with the other seasons. However, it was definitely one with festivities and fun. The nights were always filled with chatter and people, whether they were simply walking by the stylish stores that lined the streets or the stalls that were set up at the city’s center where festivals were often held.

Though the level of excitement and celebration of the nightlife in the city center could hardly compare to that during the lunar new year and the mid-autumn festival, they were quite lively nevertheless. Such was the way of life in the now peaceful Japan.

It was on one of such rather ordinary summer day that Genji had chosen to bring Angela on a date. Well, ‘bring’ was probably not the proper way to describe it. Perhaps coerced would be better. He had to practically pull her from her works, carrying her in his arms while she pouted and protested just so he could sit her down on the bed and talk about the plans.

Then it took Hana coming along to actually convince her to take a day off for herself. As much as he admired and respected how much she worked, she really neglected to take care of herself at times. He can’t remember the last time that she had taken a vacation, actually did she ever take a vacation? At best, he had been able to drag her out a few days in a month on dates and things of the such. He never complained about it, of course, it was her work and he had plenty of his own.

However, there had to be some sort of moderation in all things. As such, he was absolutely determined to convince her. He knew not whether she realized that and agreed, or whether it was because Hana also came. Either way, he was glad that she finally agreed.

The pair soon found themselves in Japan. Their day began at noon, dining at a modest traditional restaurant. It wasn’t overly fancy nor memorable, but definitely an important part of their day. After all, that was when he finally saw Angela unwind, smiling and laughing as she allowed herself to relax and move her mind away from her thoughts about work.

He knew that it rarely, if ever, happened. Even in the middle of a combat situation or dinner at the base, she was doubtlessly thinking about the possible things that might happen and the things that she would need to do once she finished whatever task she was doing. As such, he was quite pleased to see that she was actually enjoying herself rather than still working in her mind. That was the point of the day after all.

As they exited the restaurant, Genji smoothly slid his hand into hers, a hand which she grasped lovingly and rather willingly. To his amusement, it was not until they had walked a few blocks down the street when she finally finished chatting with Hana about shopping and noticed the fact that they were holding hands. Met by an innocent smile on the face of her lover, all she could do is cover up her giggle with her free hand before leaning in toward him.

“A sly ninja as always aren’t you. You could just offer your hand to me like a normal person.”

Genji raised an eyebrow and very calmly responded with, “Well if I were to do that, you would say no to tease me, saying that I should work harder to get to hold your hand or something of the sort. I would say sneaking my hand into yours was pretty hard work.”

Angela considered this for a moment before smiling brightly and rewarding him with a kiss on his cheek for his rather clever reply. Their hands swung between them gently, rhythmic to the pace of each step. They passed many shops, pausing here and there to gaze at the items they offered. They eventually found themselves visiting one, yet another modest place with cute items.

It was a joy for him to watch Angela and Hana chat as they picked out clothes they think would fit the other or would like the other’s opinion on. As well-versed as he may be with girls, he was not going to interfere with their choosing. He knew there would come a time for him to give his input. As such, he simply leaned against a wall with a convenient view.

As for Lucio, however, he stuck by Hana’s side. There was a young man who was much more well-versed in the young lady's and overall modern fashion. Being of similar profession and popularity, he supposed that as a couple they were quite a pair. Soon enough, both Angela and Hana had found themselves a small stack of clothes that they wanted to try on.

Their eyes met even as Genji got up from his leaning position, making Angela smile at the sight of her cute cyborg ninja. It may come with experience but it was definitely amusing to see how he knew exactly when to start moving to accommodate with her wish. After all, who else could give her better feedback on whether her outfit would please her lover other than Genji himself?

In the end though, it was not as if he wouldn’t think that everything looks lovely on his Angela. Well, there was a low cut dress that she presented to him with a graceful pull of the curtain and a flirtatious smirk. That made his jaw drop even as a flash came from Hana’s phone. As his vent popped open to release a gentle mist of steam, Angela giggled and dropped her act.

“Good reaction. So? What about this one, Genji?”

Genji coughed once before looking her over once more before hesitantly speaking, “Well, you look extremely sexy in it but I don’t think it’s exactly … your style for wearing outside.”

Angela pretended to think for a moment before smiling. “Good~ You passed the test. But you got one thing wrong.”

Genji blinked before tilting his head in curiosity. Angela then winked at him before turning to go back into the changing room, glancing over her shoulder as she spoke.

“This is not for anyone else to see but you. ”

The curtains closed, prompting Genji to look at the couple standing nearby on his right. Lucio had an impressed expression on his face and made a clapping motion with his hands while Hana was covering her signature smirk with one hand before giving him a thumbs-up.

The couples left with a bag full of new clothes, each bag held by the male despite any protest that any of the ladies may have voiced. This was rather evident by how the way both clung to their lover’s arm as if in thanks for the service they were performing. Well, it was a small price to pay for being clung to by a pretty girl. Both of the men that day could agree on that fact at the very least.

They found themselves in front of a large center, where Hana’s eyes lit up. She gazed toward Genji with eagerness in her eyes, which made the other two feel rather left out and confused. Genji simply sighed and responded with a smirk before beginning to walk toward the door.

“I hope I don’t ruin your day, Ms. Song.”

Hana simply stuck out her tongue at him before responding coolly, “No Ms. Song business here. You better not go easy on me Genji.”

The opened doors revealed a large arcade, filled with music, voices, sounds, and lights. By the others had absorbed everything, Hana had already found the game she wanted to play. She pointed at it and eagerly skipped toward the machine as Genji nodded, leaving Lucio to look between the two before sighing as he trailed after the girl who suddenly abandoned him.

Genji suddenly seemed to remember something and looked over at Angela sheepishly, only to be met with a pout before she broke into a soft smile and pushing him toward the machine that in front of Hana.

“Go on now. Impress me.”

Genji saw down and laid his hands on the controls. It had been many years since he last played at an arcade, though he had recently picked up a few games back at the base. As busy as he was, Angela was much busier and there were times when even he had nothing else to occupy himself. As exciting as meditation and reading was, the draw of video games drew him back now and then. Besides, it was rather interesting to see how his experience with Overwatch and real life combat changed his perception and video gaming abilities.

The coin slid smoothly into the slot of the machine, allowing him to look through the familiar characters. He smiled to himself as he spotted his old favorite, the one that he had always played and had practiced on the most in the recent times. However, this was not the one he picked. Instead, he picked a monk. One with an honorable and pacifist background who only fought when he truly needed to.

Much like someone else he knew. Though comparing him to this video game character would not do him justice. After all, Zenyatta was far stronger.

The pair loaded onto the 2D stage, facing each other with their life bar and other information loading onto the screen promptly. As the music picked up its rhythm, Genji found himself cornered to some degree. As good as he was, Hana definitely seemed to have the upper hand. The cyborg frowned a bit as he failed to predict an attack, allowing her to lock him into a finishing combo that he could not stop as she unleashed her power bar on him.

They agreed on a best of 5 prior to the match, which was fortunate considering that it wasn’t an impressive show at all for Angela. His bar was at zero and Hana’s was tapped down to only 70% at best.

“Eo? Yogeo in-gongjineung?”

Genji rolled his eyes as he heard Hana taunting him from the other side, hearing her giggle afterward as she most likely got punched on the arm by Lucio. With that, the second match began.

The second match ended with an upset as Genji won the round much to Angela’s delight. He was rewarded with a kiss on the cheek as Hana peeked from the side of the machine to frown at him and stick out her tongue tauntingly. They wasted no time beginning the third match though.

The timer ticked down to nearly zero despite both of them fighting rather than stalling or hiding. Blows after blows were exchanged as they seemed to be more evenly matched this time around.

However, Genji misread a single attack, the one that ticked his life down to zero even as Hana’s character stood with only a sliver of her own health bar remaining. A small “Kuso ...” could be heard as he gazed at the final score screen. The name “D.VA” popped up once more, albeit second place to her own score from the first round, as she proudly placed her score onto the leaderboard.

“Mō issen negaou ne,” the young cyborg said to himself, though Angela nodded with a smile as he met her gaze. Well, she did know that phrase after all.

And apparently, so did Hana as she leaned over the side once more to smugly smirk at him. “Geim-eul hamyeon igyeoyaji.”

Genji nodded as he loaded up once more. However, this time his selection cursor changed off the monk. Instead, it went to another man.

A middle-aged ninja infamous for his ability to confuse the opponent with his speed. Creating and closing distance between himself and his opponent is a vital part, though not many people liked him too much. As fancy as he seemed, some complained that he was too hard to play for the low damage value that he put out.

For Genji however, he was the perfect pick. Even from his youth, he recalled connecting with the man. More than the physical description and profession, there was something about his style and personality that made him quite likable. A soothing and calm voice even amidst the battle, along with the smooth flow of his blade when he chooses to brandish it. That was a man that he looked up to, despite being fictional.

“D.va-san, honki o misete miro.”

Her smirk quickly turned into an expression of surprise as she saw the change of character on the stage. As confident as she was in winning, as a gamer she was still wary. After all, why would Genji not pick this character until now? Was he just trying to mix things up to try and get her off guard? Either way, she was not going to let him have a chance. She was going to get her third point.

The results definitely surprised everyone other than Genji himself. Despite losing the first few trades, he steadily evened the health bars and eventually ticked Hana’s own health down to zero. He did not bother to put his name on the leaderboard despite making it to third place. Not that anyone really noticed.

“Jjajeungna.”

Genji chuckled and coyly replied, “Eh? Sono teido ka?” only to receive a frown from Angela. He smiled apologetically before she broke into a sigh as she hid her smile behind her hand. She had never seen him so competitively and lively before, there was no way she could be mad at him for the banter the two were having.

“You better beat her now. Otherwise, you lose your honor forever,” Angela poked at him.

The comment caught him off guard for a moment, his mouth open slightly before he changed his expression to one of mock thoughtfulness. He nodded wisely and said calmly, “You’re right, I might end up having to consider committing honorable sudoku.”

Angela opened her mouth to chastise him for teasing her, only to pause for a moment as his words registered. Her mind went blank in confusion for a moment, just a bit too long for her to reply before the beginning of the next round.

In their last round, Genji did not seem to hesitate any longer. His character moved across the screen, attacking at Hana’s from multiple different angles. Just when Hana thought she had an opening and moved to attack, a victorious smirk accompanied by a glint of Genji’s eyes told Angela otherwise. Hana quickly realized her mistake, as if having seen the look in Genji’s eyes as well. But by then, it was much too late.

“Owarida.”

Hana’s character met an onslaught of attacks, knocking her into the air and allowing Genji to land hit after hit. Even using her power bar to break from the combo did not save her, as Genji predicted it in his backward dash to prevent the short hit-stun, only to dash forward with great precision to strike just as he character became vulnerable once more. With that, the fight was over.

Genji let out a soft sigh as Angela hugged him happily and Lucio patted the pouty ex-champion on the head. As Hana gazed at the screen, she saw a score that pushed her down by one rank, to second place. Her eyes widened at the familiar tag, standing up suddenly to the point of almost hitting Lucio’s chin with her head. By then though, Genji had already stood up with a knowing smile and linked his arm with Angela’s, getting ready to leave.

As Lucio tugged on her arm to do the same, Hana began to follow him. She cast one last glance at the screen behind her, the screen that the young cyborg had been using just moments ago. After all, he had just used a tag she had not seen for many years. For so long, she had been hoping to face the one person whose score she could never beat, the legendary Demon Fighter of Hanamura.

The previously unknown player by the tag of G.N.G.

* * * * * * * *

Alas, their double date in Japan came to an end. While they wanted to stay out longer, they did end up compromising with Angela to return early. She had protested that she didn’t want to stay out too late, hence not bringing any fancy dress for dinner or a kimono for the festive stalls at night. Though she regretted it now, they were still heading back.

Even if their wonderful day came to an end a bit earlier than they realized that they would have wanted, it was a wonderful day nevertheless. Their dinner was filled with joy as everyone found time to eat together once more, listening to the recount of the two couple’s days, with Hana pouting at Genji and demanding a rematch every other sentence.

After dinner, Hana approached Genji to ask him about his tag, only to hesitate before sighing with a smile. As curious and excited as she was to finally having a chance to fight against him, he did defeat her in the end. Probing at her habits and skills with a character that wasn’t even his main, learning about her tricks and techniques before showing his true skill to defeat her. She couldn’t ask for a better rival.

Well, she supposed that it would be nice if he had told her earlier. And not always so busy with his girlfriend. Not that she minded of course. Seeing as how happy they were together that night, she didn’t have the heart to steal him from Angela over video games.

Her rematch against him can wait for another day.

With that, their wonderful day together came to an end. Yet in their memories, there will always be the vivid image of their smiling faces, the competitive tension in the air, the gentle breeze of air conditioning that starkly contrasted with the warm and humid air outside of the arcade, and the most importantly, the warm touches of love.

The gentle touches against the gamers’ arms, the soft kisses exchange clandestinely, the warmth of their linked arms, and the countless other small gestures that they all exchanged. A day full of memories together as friends, yet also between two separate pairs of couples.

A date full of delight.

#gency #emergenji #bunnyribbit #bunny ribbit #genji #mercy #d.va #lucio #hana song #lucio anneo seneca #genji shimada #angela ziegler #gency fanfic #emergenji fanfic #bunnyribbit fanfic #bunny ribbit fanfic

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crystalnet · 7 years

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My Top 10 Video Gamesss

I'm really bored so I'm just gonna do this, fuck it. Top 10 from a guy whose genre of choice is the action-(J)RPG, of which makes up about half this list. I'm gonna try to keep it pretty short and sweet, cuz like who cares, like why am I even doing this who cares. (Digibro says text-blogging is dead, like I need to make videos but like who would want to watch the video of some rando listing things either? Idk, like I don't really get any motivation for anything anymore. But I do like games/JRPGS soooo.... without further ado...). Also I'm doing a 1-game-per-franchise rule 'cuz otherwise it'd be largely Zelda and Final Fantasy because I have good taste, am sheepish and bland, and overly-content with the same 2 franchises. But yeah, I'm digging a little deeper here.

1. Zelda Breath of the Wild-

This may seem risky, audacious and possibly even sacrilege to put a game that is only like 5 months old on this list, but really this is the only game that I could really confidently put on my top spot. I think this game is just about perfect, and even though its not technically my genre of choice, it comes pretty close to a JRPG, and yet feels more pure than that, and somehow even deeper in a way. I'm just astounded by everything from the mechanics, to the presentation to the flow of this game and more. But especially those things probably. The "flow" of this game for example feels so fucking organic and open-ended that it essentially feels like no other game I've ever encountered. You can wander for hours semi-aimlessly and still have an amazing time and work towards progress.

The climbing/paragliding thing is just about the coolest mechanic I've ever seen or played in a game and works as a really amazing foundation for one of the underlying aspects of this game, which is sheer unadulterated exploration. And I was saying it somehow reminds of a JRPG even tho it's Zelda and that has everything to do with the deep item-management and collecting, the deep cooking/crafting system, and the huge array of weapons which all transform the combat from being vanilla-as-fuck as it was in previous console Zeldas (barring Skyward I suppose) to really cool, challenging and pretty dang deep, for a Zelda game at least. And that, along with so much of this, including the incredible different experimental non-linearity of it, make this unlike any other than Zelda save the first, revolutionary entry. A lot of the depth also has to do with the crazy deep physics. Did I mention the physics?? And though there's only like 5 dungeons (I easily count Hyrule castle, and this is not including 120 shrines and the various fortresses/mazes), they're really ace and easily rival my favorite Zelda dungeons in the way in which the structure of the dungeons must themselves be manipulated in order to solve their puzzles (my next top 5 is gonna be Top Zelda Dungeons btw..).

So yeah, this game is just freakin' incredible and this iteration of Hyrule is probably my favorite game world of all time. Every inch of it is beautifully lit, realized, and filled to the brim with little puzzles, shrines, formidable foes and questing galore. Also the horses. The horses are sick. And yeah, climbing to the tops of mountains and paragliding down (or later using Revali's Gale to ascend rapidly) is the most free I've felt in a game since the weirdly amazing web-slinging in Spider-Man 2 (PS2). Also the difference between how weak and basic you feel at first to how you feel toward the end when you have the Master Sword, a crazy good arsenal of weapons that you've curated, all the spells and Shiekah slate magic and all the amiibo-dropped gear attained from an illegal/frowned-upon amiibo deck is freakin awesome and even cooler than the dynamic progression of something like Dark Souls. And the whole first 10-20 hours or so of a new file are especially “special” to me. Not that it gets less fun-- in many ways it gets more fun as you get more capable and experienced-- but the Plateau segment is a master class in tutorial segment design, and the way you learn to live off the land is kind of incredible... There’s this whole Buddhist-esque anti-attachment thing the game forces you to accept regarding early weapons breaking all the time that help make you depend so heavily on scavenging and exploring and always looking for more loot just so that you can survive. You really learn to live off the land, and well that’s beautiful. And everything about all the various mechanics and the world feel so holistic and cohesive and unified in a way that I just haven’t really seen before. Anyway, yeah I could go on but I think that mostly sums it up. This is the only game where it feels like your actually exploring an amazing natural environment, but without like sore feet and bugs and being sweaty and stuff. It's just all the good stuff involved in taking in a crazy beautiful environ. I already said that but yeah. This game feels restorative, peaceful, meditative. And I never get sick of those lonely little piano chords. It's good. Perfect even. Really a masterwork for me. And the DLC is sweet to boot and still incoming, so yeah. Me likey. 2. Final Fantasy XV-

Where I feel really good picking BotW as my #1, and can do it without hesitation, and it's not even a tough call to make as my favorite entry of its respective franchise, this one is a bit more complex. And like a lot of FF fans would probably rightfully scoff and write me off right away, whereas Zelda fans would probably be more accepting of BotW as the top pick. Because it involves a shit ton of caveats. For one thing, deep deep down, FFXI will actually always be my favorite video game experience of all time. Always. Forever. Sorry not sorry BotW. But I'm not putting that one, because I feel like there's something weird about listing an MMO that I only played for 3 years as a child and can't really revisit in a real capacity. Its sealed in time and perhaps that's what makes it special. Sure I could get on one of the couple of PC servers still going but it wouldn't be the same. Another caveat is FFVII, IX, and XII (Zodiac Age!!) are all, to me, way classier and probably on a technical level "better" than XV. And yet, I'm kind of have this disease where 64-bit games have aged worse for me than any other gen, and while XII is fucking awesome (Zodiac!! ^.^;;), I don't have quite as much fun playing that as XV (though its pretty close...). Somehow, despite all its short-comings, FFXV almost perfectly captures the charm and joy of this series, and all my memories of it, while containing them within a fucking gorgeous-- immaculately so at that-- package that is super freakin' playable compared to older turn-based titles. Like, ATB/turn-based FF will always be more "legit" in a sense, but I can't deny I am an action-JRPG addict and this game hits the sweet-spot for me.

Did I mention how beautiful it is? While some might see the new fixation on open-worlds as kind of redundant-- and BotW has now kind of revealed the flaws in the old triple-A formula for them--, I think this is just a reeeeally good rendition of the "open-world" concept, which is something I always wanted in FF. And while you can't join in with other players like in XI and carve your own path in the world (multiplayer is coming though...), there is a certain feeling of freedom felt in this game that makes so many other FF titles seem so limited (lookin at you XIII). Also, pretty. It's pretttttty. And if BotW's Hyrule is my favorite game-map, Eos is my favorite world in terms of like lore, look, and design. It's freakin cool. It looks real and there are cars and there are modern-looking people like us but there's also crazy monsters, magic, teleportation, robots and evil empires (well those are real). And the monsters seem like something out of an otherworldly Nat. Geo. the way everything is so wonderfully detailed. Its freakin cool Dinotopia shit in this bitch. So yeah, while there are flaws-- notably of which are the lack of customization in character-progression that I love in games like XII Zodiac Age and with the kind of unrealized story which is spread mercilessly across an anime mini-series and OVA-- this game feels like a perfect monument to my favorite series of all time. And like you can play all Nobuo songs while exploring this amazing world. Like seriously that tiny little feature is what puts this over-the-top. Otherwise I might have honestly chosen IX or XII Zodiac Age 'cause they're classy AF and the RPG mechanics are deeper. But fuck it, when I play this, it's basically the best visualizer for an endless Nobuo Uematsu soundtrack I could imagine. And like Shimumura's new stuff is great on top of that. This point falls apart 'cuz I could just play an FF actually composed by Nobuo, but like this way it's like an endless loop of my personal favorite Nobuo. Nobuo...

But anyway... Yeah I like the look, combat, magic, world, characters, chocobos, and the look again. Also the potential... I think multiplayer could be really, really cool honestly. So while it bears some of the issues all post-Enix-merger FF games have (like weirdly dropping parts of the plot which is like...why???, or the fact that they're having to patch it all year, and are adding stuff (can you say DLC $$$$)), it's still a minor masterpiece for me. And while not as deep, or even as charming as old PS1 FF or 16-bit FF, its just so damn playable. I'm not a good retro-gamer like other people-- I like my games new and bright/shiny, and this game is shiny AF. So yeah. I clearly have to defend the hell out of this, but fuck it, it's great. Like seriously the design of everything? Just walk around and like look at it. LOOK AT IT. Character models!!! Lighting!!! Facial animation and movement!!! Omg. Okay, yeah I'll leave it at that. Don't hate me. 3. Super Smash Bros Wii-

I feel like I don't even have to explain this one. This is quite simply the perfect multiplayer game. And as with BotW and FFXV, I like these latest iterations a lot, which may seem sheepish and like plebian-core but fuck it. Melee was reeeeally fun back in like 2008, but I'm not trying to play that rn. Robin all day. And Cloud?? So yeah, there's just something kind of endlessly sweet about a game where the likes of Mario, Pac-Man, Sonic, Megaman, Cloud, Ryu and... Bayonetta (??) all collide in a game with amazing physics, awesome platform-y freedom-of-movement and a deep competitive scene which almost make this seem like some kind of weird master-game. Like the Master Sword of games. An Einherjar/Valhalla of all videogame character of fame and fortune. So yeah, its great. I can't speak about it to it to the length I did with FF and BotW because I feel like it speaks for itself. Its just pure, unadulterated Nintendo/pan-franchise world-colliding fun. 4. Nier Automata-

Nier/Drakengard lore is fucking crazy, deep as hell, and multi-faceted AF and Yoko Taro is freeeeakin cool and the best game director this side of Hideo Kojima. And where the first Nier is an amazing, lovably imperfect game-- clunky combat, and weird genre-hopping and all-- this one is like freakin' awesome to play front-to-back. Unless you like don't like abruptly inserted bullet-hell segments. But the main combat is irrefutably sick, which is crazy. Platinum games took a reeeeally weird game-world and made it feel super slick despite all the amazing quirks that are inherent to Yoko Taro's games. Also this is one of my like top 5 maybe 3 game soundtracks of all time. It's amazing and reminds me of my favorite Yuki Kajiura soundtrack for .Hack//Sign. Is there a term for awesome vaguely medieval-ish female-vocal heavy mystic-sounding music? 'Cause this game has it in spades and it's freakin sweeeet. Alongside some like soulful adult-contemporary R'n'B ballads? Buy yeah, amazing-feeling combat, a plethora of combos and weapons, a solid amount of depth to character progression, and really fun bullet-hell segments make this game sooooo playable and maybe my favorite action-RPG of all time (FFXV doesn't quite feel like a true action-RPG?)

But then, on top of that it has an amazingly evocative story, with wonderfully dynamic characters who are lovingly revealed over the course of multiple play-through, in a an epic struggle that revels in the philosophy of Sartre, Kierkegaard, and Marx among others. That in itself is freakin' crazy. Games/anime/movies with AI characters or like androids can be so cliche in their exploration of existentialism, and this game can seem like its gonna be like that at first, but it ends up making good on its promises, and functions as just a really cool exploration of a rich philosophical tapestry. And it's all beautifully told, in these really nice semi-muted colors and with these super lovely character models. Plus the open-world is surprisingly great to run around. I love the over-grown human city thing, and the super atmospheric music come together with the aesthetic to make this game so emotional. Like honestly, along with other aspects of the story, this game is sooooo feels-heavy for me. It can be really sad, and there's this amazing dichotomy/friction between how fun it is to play, and how like strait-up bad it can make you feel sometimes. To like even play it. Getting into that would be spoiler-y and stuff, but yeah I'll kind of leave it to there. The story is awesome. 2B and 9S are amazing. The concepts and way this game actually effect you are super unique, and all the presentation-aspects bring it together so beautifully. It's just like... wow. Like play this game. then play it 5 times to get all the endings. 5. Metal Gear Solid V-

I almost have to make the same caveats I did for FFXV for this game as well. Yes, I know, it's not perfect. It partly represents like the downfall of this whole series, and the darker side of video-games in general. There's a pachinko-level pay-wall type thing inserted right into this and there's some behind-the-scene drama involved that strait-up led to Kojima's departure from Konami? (firing??) Idk, idc, I don't have the energy for that, honestly. So maybe I'm a horrible MGS fan, but I'll be damned if I don't love this game unabashedly. I first played it during a time when I had basically spent 5 years not playing any video games besides Smash, and it was an amazing reintroduction into the world of triple-A titles. Emergent gameplay. Openness. The most handsome character model of all time (Big Boss is my daddy). And that Asia song "Only Time Will Tell". Seriously-- something about the way that song synchs up with the feel of sneaking into an Afghani military outpost in the early 1980's any damn way you please is like the story of this game for me, and part of why it's on this list. That song is everything. Like in the context of this game that is. But also outside of it too? But yeah the sheer openness is just incredible. Not open in the same way like Skyrim or BotW is, but in terms of how you complete each and every mission. It feels like your writing the script to your own big action movie every time you set out. Like the game doesn't force anything on you. Did I mention Big Boss is fucking hot.

And yeah, great music, gameplay and overall presentation, and the cool base-management stuff adds this really cool RTS-ish depth that fleshes out the game wonderfully. Add some solid online PVP, a sweet mech and the gatdamn coolest most open-ended stealth gameplay I'm aware of, and you have yrself a winner. Sorry old, classic MGS, I gotta go with the new model. It's just so damn playable. Like yeah, I know, Konami is like really bad, and fucked up, and like if I really respected Kojima maybe I wouldn't chose this one? But like man I can't help it. I love it soooo much, contemporary triple-AAA-developer-dysfunction and all. Oh and Asia. And the Pere Ubu "Man Who Saved the World". And "Take On Me". Honestly without the tape-collecting/playing this might not be included. But yeah, its clearly great.

6. Dark Souls- Idk, I'm not even a huge Souls guy but this game is kind of breathtaking. I got it for cheap and went in a skeptic, and remained that way for a decent chunk of it, but around the time I was getting to Sen's Fortress things started to click like crazy. This game is undeniable and I'll leave it to the plethora of well-made YouTube analyzers to really get into why. But for me, as far as action-RPGs go, this feels like it has some of the most legit customization and progression of any RPG I've played. It's got an amazing world, with the vertical-nature of the map and way that inter-locking various paths slowly reveal themselves is an amazing thing to behold as the game unfolds. I also just really love the online aspects of this game. I played this game when Dark Souls III was just about to come out and it gave it this kind of spooky feeling. Like I still got invaded a good bit and had help when I wanted it from others, but I could tell it wasn't as busy as it might have been during its initial hey-day. Like playing a weird culty Dreamcast game online in like 2005 (Phantasy Star Online anyone?). This spooky feeling of people being there but not at the same time fits the lore and the world itself really well and that aspect is probably even more exaggerated now (plus the fact that I fuck co-op proves im a n00b). But the fact people were still playing it at all, and still do to this day, speak to how singular and amazing it is. For me, this is just the end-all be-all as far as archetypal high fantasy worlds go-- at least as far as the darker side of things go. Its a bit heavy metal and dreary for me as far as fantasy goes (I like my shit kinda twee and anime-core), but if I want dark and bleak, with an underlying sense of old-world scenic beauty, this game is unbeatable. Like literally, I can't beat it. That's my one complaint: too hard! I'm a noob, maybe one day I'll git gud and stop getting wrecked-- one can hope... 7. Persona 5

This is weird to put after Dark Souls 'cuz if I'm honest I feel like this game has so much more charm and character and like personality than Dark Souls? Idk, I guess I can make that claim. Like Dark Souls has tons of personality, but like Persona 5? I guess it has to do with my slight preference for action-RPG over turn-based, but this game almost seems like one long ass 100 hour+ trek through sheer charm and personality. Hm, PERSONA-lity? Wow genius. But really, this game is just dripping with unique style and charisma. And I'll be honest, I wen't in expecting a lot and for a solid like 20 hours initially I wasn't all that into it. I'm still kinda an SMT noob so I think I'm just impatient for how long this game takes to reveal itself. It's just freakin big and deep that it literally takes that long and then some to truly get going. But once it does... oh boy does it. I think it might be the coolest turn-based game I've ever played in terms of just the sheer combat itself (sorry all pre FFXI Final Fantasy games???). Equal parts FF at its deepest and classiest and Pokemon at its um. Well idk, it's not as Pokemon as Ni No Kuni, but the Persona-collecting system is freakin great. And the level of challenge the combat/dungeons have seem almost pitch-perfect in a way RPGs rarely do. And then add in all the social links/dating sim components, and the open world, and the weird Sly Cooper-inspired stealthy dungeon-crawling and you have like one of the craziest, coolest most legit JRPGs of all time.

But yeah the saving grace for me is the actual turn-based system/combat itself. For a turn-based, its bizarre how kinetic and speedy it can feel. You have all the time you need to strategize if you so chose, but once you know what your doing it can be like lightning, right up until the point where your arguing with a demon to either fork over some loot or join your party, or else your moving fluidly back into great dungeon-crawling action. And then yeah all the crazy super-Japanese high-school student simulation stuff rounds things out delightfully. Like, I admit I like my RPGs to either be high fantasy or else cyber-punky and this is neither of those. Like I'm not even sure what aesthetic so much of this is... smooth jazz and sassy r'n'b moodiness, and like Japanese high-school-attending outcasts who moonlight as stylish treasure-hunting demon-slaying thieves and fight against the inner-world manifestations of corrupt adults-- like what is that vibe? I really don’t know, but I suppose its something all true otakus understand on some inherent level, even if it does remain mysterious and ever allusive in its charms to me.

But the story is cool and huge (Seriously, 100+ hours! What?!!?) and plumbs psychological depths and doesn’t pull punches when it comes to getting a little dark, if maybe in a somewhat simplistic way. But yeah, this game oozes charm, like in the way Mona is so undeniable as a side-kick. I mean they’re almost annoying too but then like, no, Mona’s pretty great though. There are things I can almost imagine it doing that would make me like it even more (like the whole day-cycle thing never quite feels as open as I want it to? But like if it was it'd be like 300 hours. Just that thing where you speed through yr day and almost skip right to one scene in-class and then BAM its after-school), but yeah like this nitpick doesn't even fully make sense. It's just that this game is open-ended af and yet it can also sometimes feel kind of like your spending a lot of time clicking through text without a ton of control. But really that's just the like first 20-30 hours. And again the combat is just undeniably solid. So yeah, it's lite-novel-y and when yr not in dungeons it can seem like yr clicking through an anime almost, but I mean that's kind of also what makes it amazing.

And I'll just touch lightly on presentation stuff like the amazing soundtrack and the f a b u l o u s style of all the menu's and just over-all visual flair of this game, 'cause literally everyone notices that instantly. The dungeons also seem kinda weirdly PS2-looking to me, but like it doesn't matter. This game has a crazy amount of depth and charm that make more immaculate looking triple-A's seem soulless. Plus, yeah like all the menu stuff and like visual segues make it seem so much more stylish than them too even though its clearly not on the same level technically. So yeah, this game’s a lot of win. I was skeptical of the hype honestly, and aspects of Persona 4's world are a little cooler to me still, but man this game is just like... yeah it's good. It's soo long and so written and chock full of a very distinct kind of charm that it seems comparable to having some kind of weird virtual pal inside my ps4 (Does that sound sad ^.^;;). Like it's just cool to know I can always pop it in and hang out with my old pals Ryuji, Ann and Morgana. And Makoto. For like 100 more hours now. How long is this? Where am I, I've been playing it for 3 days, help!? 8. Odin Sphere Leifthrasir-

I'll have less to say to this 'cuz I'm pretty new to the hype-train and thank god 'cuz I wrote way too much about P5? But yeah, this game is the addictively-awesome side-scrolling action-RPG/Beat-'em-up I didn't know I needed in my life. At first I thought the over-all look was kind of not really my thing, but I've done a full 180, and while its not the like more traditional anime/FF-esque style I'm used to, I've come to see just how beautiful and fresh its style is. And then the combat itself is sweeeeeeet. Endlessly playable and as deep as you'd want a still kinda light-feeling action-RPG to be. Plus there's a deep cooking system which just always takes good action-RPGs or any game over-the-top for me. Most of the game is done exploring these really fun combat-filled levels but some respite is found in the mini-farming and cooking mechanics. And the crafting adds an extra dimension as well. Soooo deep. I also love that it scores you on how stylishly your playing by tracking yr combos. This is one of the more fluid and engagings JRPGs I’ve played, and the hand-drawn look is to die for. So yeah, I'll keep it short and sweet, but the action is great, the characters' various play-styles are wonderfully varied, and the overall presentation is just so unique and cool. Oh and the story ends up being like really legit? Caught me by surprise. It's mostly just good old fashioned sprite-based fun, with a really sick Norse-inspired fantasy aesthetic. A video game's video game (what does that mean?? (you get it)).

9. Dark Cloud-

The true OG "Dark" action-RPG of my dreams and heart-- sorry Dark Souls, you were a decade late. This game encapsulate the joy of PS2-era action-RPGs, a high-point for the genre. The kind of vaguely bland-but-still-unique fantasy look of it (a successful "Ocarina-killer" for my money, on a visual level at least), the procedurally-generated dungeon crawling, and the freakin’ awesome city-building and NPC-interacting make this game pure win. Like yeah, its a bit clunky with its combat, but charmingly so for me. Its mostly just got this really nice sustained vibe of like sheer pleasantness all throughout, and I just can't get enough of its over-all vibe after all these years. Harder to put this one into words... but yeah the city-building and little tiny touches with all the NPC-helping and questing is what make it special for me. Especially the city-building (you get to restore these little towns that have been ravaged and you have to make everyone happy with the way you set things up. So Japanese and so fun..) Like what a cool, weird feature that ends up being great. Idk, its great. I like the vaguely arabian-ish vibe too. It's just... really good. It's just sheer PS2-style win. So yeah this one is mostly a lot on inarticulate nostalgia but fuck it. 10. .Hack//Infection-

Speaking of inarticulate nostalgia...Now I can't quite say this game is like truly a "good" game? All the way through at least. In some ways its part of a big cash-grab for Bandai-Namco. I'll go with the first one in the series, but its really just a piece of a whole along with 3 other games, that may have been a bit padded and intentionally designed to leach a whopping 200 US from a true dreamer back in the day, who just couldn't help themselves. BUT it's also kind of amazing. Like the combat and dungeon-crawling is a bit cut-and-dry (is it just me or are procedurally generated PS2 dungeons kind of sick?) but its enough. You have tons of party members to choose from, a plethora of magic scrolls to use if you so choose, and your 2 trusty little twin blades with which you can press X to slash with until the cows come home. A game like Kingdom Hearts as an action-RPG seems so much more fluid and kinetic and yet? Well KH is ridic, and if I'm gonna die on some hill for a goofy anime-core action-RPG it'll be this one any day. It combines my favorite aesthetics (mysterious celtic-y high fantasy AND cyber-punk) by way of being a game-within-a-game, and by being about a fictional MMO while not actually being an MMO it's kind of meta AF also. Also, the stuff with the emailing the other party members you meet and the system that has you increasing your bond through these simulated conversations with other players just reeeally gets to me, and seems cooler than Persona confidant-developing honestly. I'm a huge sucker for the original anime, and you got these really sick OVA anime discs with each entry which were set in the real world that the game existed in and even though that shouldn't factor in really, I admit it does. It all comes together as this kind of cool, weird, slightly-trashy anime wet-dream from my childhood at the end of the day. Also, some sick music, sick AF character designs, and an overall concept (that I'll actually defend to the death despite some of the superficial anime plotting/characters) round things out very nicely. Just the fact that this is a game about an MMO... like what a concept (and a decade before that SAO garbage fire shit). Plus Grunty raising. And the G.U. Last Recode remaster is right around the corner, OMG!!!!!!

also rans/runner ups: 11. SSX 3

12. Resident Evil 4

13. Katamari Damacy

14. Super Mario Galaxy

15. No More Heroes

16. Spider-Man 2

17. Catherine

18. Bomberman '93

19. Tekken 4

20. Marvel Vs. Capcom 2

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