#think guardians from FFX | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

theparrybutton · 11 months

Text

Sequels to RPGs and how they handle progression

One of the most story-rich, narrative-heavy genres in gaming. The kind of games that don't leave many stones unturned, trying to tell full, complete stories with the lore of the setting explored to the last letter. As well as a definitive ending waiting for player, after they defeat a dark deity, or a guy trying to become one, or just a guy who's a huge asshole. Endings that give the world and it's characters a happy conclusion. But what about games that just... don't do that? Games that, while giving you a complete story, still leave out many secrets, red herrings and unresolved plotlines? Games that are made with the intent of following themselves up with a part 2? How do they handle game-to-game character progression? All this growth the player has built up over the course of their long journey?

Game sequels are usually completely different worlds with different mechanics, and even if they're set in the same world and star the same characters, the different mechanics can require character progression to be reset, leading to funny explanations (if any) like Dante selling his weapons to pay rent, or Adol Christin losing his stuff because of constant shipwrecks. RPGs are in the same boat (no shipwrecks here). These game sequels don't interact with their predecessors whatsoever because of that, aside from maybe giving you extra goodies if they detect save data. And even sequels that ARE direct continuations to previous games don't interact with prequels for various reasons. Such as, like mentioned above, having completely different game mechanics, a brand new cast of characters (who would naturally have to start from 0), and/or setting the sequel years after part 1, aging the old cast and effectively "rusting" them. For example, Final Fantasy X-2, despite starring characters from the original FFX, has no data transfers whatsoever, due to different game mechanics. But there are outliers, and there have been different ways sequels have interacted with their prequels, so let's look at a few examples.

Now, Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn is your typical case of a RPG sequel. Brand new cast of characters, set years apart from Path of Radiance (part 1 of the story), and also released on a different platform! Despite that, through the usage of GameCube memory card slots present on most Wii models, the game allows you to transfer your clear data of Path of Radiance which can affect various functions in your Radiant Dawn playthrough. For the most part, save transferring will affect characters from the first game in a minor way, due to those characters appearing much later in the story. Transferring will only give +2 to the stats a character has capped by the time they hit Level 20 on their promoted class, with a few exceptions to certain characters. One such character being Sothe, a sort of guardian figure to Radiant Dawn's new main cast, and as such he is present from the very start. In his case, his Level 20 stats by the end of Path of Radiance will carry over directly to Radiant Dawn, overwriting his base stats that he would have without save transfer, even if some stats are lower than his base stats. (Pictured below: RNG-blessed Level 20 Sothe in Path of Radiance and no-transfer base Sothe in Radiant Dawn)

Interestingly enough, the other Fire Emblem sequel game(s), Mystery of the Emblem and it's DS remake don't have any interactivity with their Book 1s. The only difference being that in Mystery of the Emblem SNES, Marth gets a special icon next to his name for just one chapter. This type of data transfer, fully carrying over character levels, is very rare in RPGs, and there's only one RPG series I can think of that does this.

The Trails series, or simply Kiseki, is a very unique series, due to it's 12 and counting games all being set in one, continuous timeline, happening one after another, with some games even happening at the same time as each other. This is because the series is cleanly split into different story arcs, each arc set in a separate in-universe country, so even here we run into the case of new games starring new casts. But the games within those arcs have interesting approaches to save transfers.

For example; Trails in the Sky SC and Trails to Azure, sequels to Trails in the Sky and Trails from Zero respectively, allow you to fully transfer the stats and levels of protagonists Estelle and Lloyd, allowing both to start at a higher level than they would otherwise, as well as having alternate versions of certain scenes, affected by how much side content you did in the prequels. Beyond those two games, a constant between all Trails sequels is that characters retain all of their abilities and the level cap is raised, due to the sequels having a much higher starting level for progression consistency. Characters will get upgrades to their old abilities on top of new ones, and if part 1's level cap was 50, in part 2 it would be raised to 100, with the characters' starting level being above 50. (Pictured below: Rean's average endgame level in Cold Steel 1 and Rean's level cap in Cold Steel 2)

And that's very cool. Not a lot of games care about character progression from previous games and yet here's a series of RPGs that put care and attention to their stories so much that they even maintain character progression consistency.

Now for something completely different, with the way the data is transferred being the unique part.

Two GBA games! But how is that possible? Save data is saved on the carts, not on the system itself! Here the developers used the ol' reliable method of passwords, with password length determining what you get to transfer over.

Short "bronze" passwords only transfer custom character names and certain event flags. Moderate "silver" passwords transfer full character stats from the original Golden Sun, as well as bronze transfers. And now the fun, stupidly long, 260-character "golden" passwords, which on top of previous bonuses, also transfer every item the party members had in their inventory by the end of the game, including exclusive items not present in Golden Sun Lost Age. A huge reward for the patient gamer who managed to put in all 260 characters correctly.

Or, y'know, you could just transfer over through the Link Cable, like a chump.

These were some of the examples of how sequels to RPGs handled character progression, if they bothered to at all. While it is a bit of a bummer that more games don't do this, it's understandable why sequels ultimately decide to separate themselves from their predecessors, even if they are direct continuations. But that's a topic for another day.

#trails #kiseki #fire emblem #path of radiance #final fantasy #radiant dawn #golden sun #trails of cold steel #trails in the sky #jrpg #rpg #trivia #cool game mechanics #adol christin shipwreck joke

40 notes · View notes

ofmoonlily · 3 months

Text

//eeeee rebirth is giving me good ideas for what I can make Yunie into. Nothing is changing. My initial idea was to put her duty from X into VII (which I usually do in all of my verses to keep her relevant to where she came from from in ffx) in order to help the planet via sacrificial lamb style. But idk if anyone would be interested in that.

She will very much be “half ancient” on her father’s side. He was the second to last person to know all the stories and secrets about his people which he hammered into Yuna before he was killed trying to save her. (Hojo looking for specimens to experiment on; the whole spiel.)

Hojo declared Yuna worthless to his subjections because her planet spirit guardian, Kimahri, kept interfering with his work when she was young. And since he obtained a “better” specimen, Aerith and Ifalna, he “let them go”, which was a ploy to subject them to one last experiment: a mutated SOLDIER and infantrymen to chase them down and kill them. Yknow for funsies.

Yuna and Braska were useless to him now, so why did it matter if they lived or died?

Sooo filler filler, Braska is killed keeping Yuna alive, smearing her pink palid cheeks in his blood to fake her death before he eventually returns to the planet.

Weeks go by. An older retired SOLDIER named Jecht stumbles upon a malnourished young girl clinging to a decomposing body for warmth. He takes her in, clothes and feeds her. She grows into a fine young woman, but her duty is calling to her… the planet is calling for her…

(She is more in-tune with her abilities, so she can still converse with, well, dead people, and the planet itself by simple concentration.)

One day Yuna leaves home leaving a note and implores Sir Jecht not to look for her. Unbeknownst to him, she is on a mission to protect the planet by way of giving up her physical form to unleash a hellish fury upon ShinRa’s mako syphoning reactors. It’s the only way she thinks she can save what was left of humanity.

So. She travels around as disguised as a healer and fiend exterminator (mixed with an unusual ability to conjure powerful aeons without the use of summoning materia.)

Hojo catches wind of this, and comes to the conclusion little Yuna didnt die that fateful day. Instead, he watches her. Oh how she has grown! And awakened a new ability, it seemed! Perhaps one bestowed to her by the planet itself? Ah! she is not so worthless afterall!

For now. He sends “eyes” to monitor her movements while running some “tests” in the background.

#ooc #//meta af but still kicking around the idea bc its too similar to aerith

12 notes · View notes

auncyen · 5 months

Text

so a couple months back I was messing around with the idea of ffx au and I PROBABLY won't actually do it because god how involved that would be but I do still like the headcanons for it.

here's tidus!agnea barging her way into the trial to find summoner hikari lol

“A day?” the younger man said, his voice rising in surprise. With his armor, Agnea thought he must be a fighter of some kind—probably a soldier? It looked like some kind of uniform, which begged the question of what a soldier was doing in a temple, but the priests didn’t seem bothered by his presence. Or if they were, they had a bigger problem on their minds, because the soldier continued: “Is Lord Hikari alright? Is it customary for the summoner to take so long?”

“It’s not unheard of, but…”

“More oft than not, it’s an ill sign,” a second, older priest said.

“I could go check on him,” Agnea offered. A day was a long time to stay in one place, especially with people waiting for him. What could this ‘Lord Hikari’ be doing back there?

Both priests turned to her, the older one with his eyebrows raised high. “It’s forbidden,” he told her, his words slow and clear as if he thought she’d turned stupid with the supposed memory loss. Agnea puffed right up.

“Didn’t you just say you think he might be having trouble? He’s been all on his own for a day and you don’t know how he is because you won’t check on him? What if he had an accident? What if he’s hurt?” She could picture it clear as day, some poor elder sprawled out on the floor, unable to get back up.

“Some summoners have lost their lives to the trial,” the soldier said uneasily.

Agnea stared at him, then at the priests. “And you’re standing out here? What is WRONG with y’all?” She didn’t wait for an answer, storming into the strangely lit hallway and ignoring the soldier calling after her.

The place for trials had a different sort of layout from the rest of the temple. Agnea wondered at that, but it didn’t really matter—well, not until she came to a dead end and a holo-screen popped up on one of the walls. Then she stopped and read the directions on the screen, puzzled. The phrasing of the instructions was all formal and fancy-like and made it sound mysterious. But the little tricks of moving walls and destroying them and what-not with spheres weren’t that mysterious. They’d had holo-screens in Bountivale too, and spheres to conduct energy that could be carried to where it was needed. Some of the best concerts owed their stage setup to those handy little things! If anything, the mystery was that she hadn’t seen them being used anywhere else in this village.

“Miss!”

Agnea started at the call, turning around. The soldier was jogging up to her, his face red, and she planted her feet and put her hands on her waist to make it real clear that if he was thinking of dragging her out, he had another thing coming. Granted, he definitely had the size advantage, but she figured she could still make him regret it. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “It’s ‘forbidden’, right?”

“Only the summoner’s guardians may join him in here. This is a holy place.”

Really? This place with flashy tech? “And are you his guardian?”

“Yes. I was assigned to be Lord Hikari’s guardian for his pilgrimage,” the soldier said, his tone earnest. “But I’m also supposed to protect any civilians, and—the priests told me you’ve forgotten things. I’m sure Vide will understand you didn’t mean to transgress, but you really must go back now.”

Past his muscular build, the fair-haired soldier looked nothing like Partitio. The tone, though, was recognizable. He didn’t mean her any ill will, but he thought she’d lost a few marbles. Agnea sighed. If this guy meant to check on the summoner, then maybe she should go back? “Okay,” she said, putting the glyph sphere she had in his hand. “Here you go. I’ll apologize to the priests.”

“Thank you,” the soldier said with a solemn nod. “But…what is this for? Or is this one of the trial’s mysteries to solve?”

“There’s nothing mysterious about it,” Agnea said, her brows knitting together. “Just put the glyph sphere in.”

The soldier looked at her with an incredible confusion, and Agnea slid right back into exasperation. “Oh, give it here,” she said, yanking the sphere back out of his hands. It only took a couple seconds to insert it into the hole in the wall, and she turned to stare at the man as the wall slid down. His eyes were wide, staring at where the wall had been. “Have you really never seen a glyph sphere before?”

“This is the most sacred part of the temple!” he protested. “Few ever see the inside!”

“Okay, but there’s nothing sacred about a glyph sphere!” Agnea said, but the horrified look he gave her told her that’d been the wrong thing to say.

“I don’t know why you call it by that name, but it is very clearly part of the temple’s trial! You must stop with this blasphemy. It would upset the priests greatly,” the soldier insisted.

Agnea took a deep breath. “All right, let’s start over. I’m Agnea. What’s your name?”

“I…I’m Crick,” the man answered. He looked a little unsure at the change of direction, his indignation fizzling.

Agnea smiled. “Things have been very confusing for me lately, so I’m frustrated, but it is nice to meet you, Crick. So, you’re Hikari’s—“

“Lord Hikari.”

“—Lord Hikari’s guardian. I might not be a guardian, but I’m worried about him too, and I know how to use these spheres. So let me help you make sure Lord Hikari is okay, and then I’ll worry about the priests. If Lord Hikari’s hurt, isn’t that the more important issue?”

“You have a point…” The soldier, Crick, looked into the newly visible corridor past the opened wall. “Stay close, at least. Please do not touch anything except what is necessary for the trial.”

“Because it’s holy. I understand.” She didn’t understand why it was holy, but she understood everyone was going to lose their minds if she didn’t mind herself. The important thing was getting Crick to stop trying to shoo her and focus on finding this poor elder.

The rest of the trial wasn’t exactly hard. At some points there were multiple obstacles and multiple spheres, but that just took a little bit of thinking about which went where. Agnea was a little confused why this was set up as a trial, let alone a life-threatening one from how it sounded. True, there could be accidents with spheres if they were mishandled, but all you needed was a little common sense. But it seemed that truly wasn’t common here. If spheres really were that rare here, why use them to set up puzzles? Surely they’d be handier elsewhere.

But it didn’t seem like Crick would know the answer to that question, or like it being asked to start with, so Agnea kept it to herself. Instead she focused on solving the sphere puzzles and getting through the trial while keeping her ears open for any moans or groans. They didn’t know how far Lord Hikari had gotten, after all.

They eventually made it to a lavishly decorated room, the stones of the floor colored in rich patterns leading up stairs. There was yet another door, but this time Agnea didn’t see any places for a sphere to fit in.

“I believe we’ve reached the end,” Crick said in a hushed voice. “Beyond here, the acolyte prays to the fayth, only emerging once they’ve become a summoner.”

“Oh, that’s neat,” Agnea said, and then cupped her hands over her mouth. “Lord Hikari?”

Crick’s eyes bulged as he moved to clap his hand over her mouth, just barely stopping shy of touching her. “Sh! Shhh! You mustn’t disturb him—“

“Who’s there?” a man’s voice called from beyond the door. It sounded weary, but he was at least conscious. That was a little relief.

“Are you Lord Hikari?” Agnea called again. “We came to check on you. I’m here because your guardian needed a little help with the trial.”

“You’re here because you insisted!” Crick shot back. “Don’t make it sound like my doing!” He raised his voice as well. “Lord Hikari, my apologies. I can explain—“

The door opened, sliding up into the wall to show first a pair of sturdy boots, then black trousers, a red surcoat falling over them…and the sheath of a sword, which made Agnea’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. She thought the summoner would be like a priest, but was he more like Crick, a soldier?

Then her eyes finally moved on from the surprise of the sword to a new discovery: while this whole time she’d been picturing an old man like the priests, “Lord Hikari” looked like he was her age. Maybe he had a couple years on her, but not many. In spite of his youth, though, he looked like the trial really had exhausted him somehow, his face shining with sweat as he stared at Crick and Agnea. He held one hand on the wall to steady himself.

He seemed confused by both of them being there, but his eyes narrowed at Crick first. “Go back to my brother. I did not ask for a guardian.”

“Lord Hikari, with all due respect, a summoner needs a guardian for the pilgrimage—“

“I will not have one,” Hikari insisted. The hand on the wall tightened its grip. “Be on your way.”

“Don’t be like that,” Agnea spoke up. “Crick’s been worried about you. I was worried too. And for good reason, it seems!”

Hikari’s dark eyes slid to her. He still looked irritated, but he sounded more bewildered when he asked, “Who are you? You should not be here.”

“My name’s Agnea,” she said. “And, um, no, I guess I’m not supposed to be here, but everyone thinks I got some of the Shadow’s toxin and I was worried you were hurt so…don’t be mad? And don’t be mad at Crick. He did tell me to leave. But people were saying the trial might kill you, and…and I just…” Agnea was surprised to find tears prickling at her eyes. He was fine. He was fine. And so was everyone back home, even if the stadium had gotten wrecked and she’d been flung to some weird remote corner of the world, they had to be fine, but she still sniffled, rubbing at her face with the heel of her hand. “I just wanted to be sure you weren’t hurt.”

There was a brief moment of silence, and she wondered if Hikari was still angry. But his voice was gentle when he spoke again. “I am not hurt. Thank you for your concern, Agnea. Crick…we will discuss the matter of my pilgrimage later. For now, give me a moment to rest. Becoming a summoner was more trying than I had anticipated.”

“But you have become a summoner?” Crick asked, his voice rising with excitement.

“Hm.” Hikari’s voice was heavy as he let himself sink back down, sitting at the top of the stairs. “Yes. I have become a summoner.”

one idea I really liked was hikari being like "I DON'T WANT GUARDIANS BECAUSE I'M DYING ANYWAY WHAT'S THE POINT (ends up leading the biggest summoning pilgrimage ever)"

#hikari ku #agnea bristarni #hikari x agnea #agkari #octopath traveler 2 #ffx au #crick wellsley #because crick is here too #poor crick

9 notes · View notes

liroyalty · 3 months

Text

The main changes that I think are present in the FFX verse so far:

Ann goes through most of Spira twice. She starts at Bevelle, goes down to Besaid, then has to travel back to Bevelle to get to the Calm Lands. Because of that, most of the actual events in the story happen on the second pass through Spira so they line up well(expect for when Ann gets kidnapped in Luca, that happens the first time they're there).

Operation Mi'ihen(which also is on the second pass through the Mushroom Rock Road), not nearly as many people get dusted by Sin at the end, because the three OP af guardians really went 'nah, i win'. There's still plenty of death due to the Sinspawns, but not a near-whole raid wipe.

The fake wedding. It's actually an attempted genocide by the guardians on all the Warrior Monks there. The wedding part of the whole thing gets forgotten about as soon as Kaizen busts a cap in Wen Kinoc's forehead & hell breaks loose. The only reason it stops is because Ann threats to throw herself off the fucking top of the Bevelle Palace & makes sure her guardians leave before jumping anyway.

Via Purifico? Never even happens. The trial still happens, but everyone who is an unsent gets outted for being an unsent. Ann faints from speed running a religious crisis through this whole shitshow. And with her out & everyone knowing his dead now, Kaizen & fam decides to make a grand escape with an outcold summoner in tow.

@warriorsofcrimsonrealms, @iunctura, @akumanoken, @prettyboywarrior

#musings [lore and ideas]#『v!ffx』#(let me just tag everyone so we all know what the speed is)

4 notes · View notes

followerofmercy · 1 month

Note

For the game ask thingy.... how about 3, 6, 16, and 27?

From this game here:

3: Best game you’ve ever played?

aaaa by what criteria? For most fun gameplay wise, Monster Hunter 3u. For most fun concept, Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise. Story, Undertale. Overall enjoyment, Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.

6: A game that’s changed you the most?

I think this weird little playstation game called Scaler was very formative to how I feel about animals now. It's about a boy who cares a LOT about lizards and gets transported into a reptile-dominated world while also getting to take on the forms of different reptiles. It's the first game I can remember that I was obsessed over.

16: Character you��ve hated most? From what game?

I have a pretty strong dislike for Dr. Ratio from Honkai: Star Rail, but my opinion of him is changing as I realize he actually cares a little bit about people dsaljf. I also thought Emile from Halo: Reach was a bit of a dickhead but, again, warmed up to him over time.

27: Has there ever been a moment that has made you cry?

Oh, tons. I cried in FFX when Yuna danced to send the departed, when Auron sat in pain at the gate of the Farplane and in a really meta moment when Yuna was the only character I had with an ultimate weapon. She'd outgrown all of her guardians and I was so touched aslfd

I've cried three times in Honkai: Star Rail in the last week! There was a point where a lady is trying to kill herself and you have to hold onto her. She snaps back that you don't just get to play hero in this one moment and leave her to suffer later and that... That fucked me up a bit. Aventurine also has a pre-recorded message on joining that party shortly after, again, killing himself (?). Then there was Aventurine's onscreen mental breakdown! I think Focalors's death in Genshin also got some waterworks.

Also Six's death in Reach. It was a GOOD ending. Shame they only made Halo 1-4 and Reach and then just stopped. Felt like they were going somewhere.

Oh and Minecraft has made me cry as a teenager! I opened up a new survival world, thought about how I have literally more virtual world than I could possibly explore myself with nobody in it and felt so overwhelmed with loneliness that I had to close the game asldfjsdfa.

#fomasks #things have gotten much better on the loneliness front #but i did kinda realize that I was using video games as an escape from reality from ages 6-16 #and that ten year period Really kinda fucked me up #I mean #there was fuckall else I could've been doing #was a good use of time #made good friends #I still get some existential dread if I play a game for too long tho asdlfkj #also realizing I have not played as many video games as I thought I had

3 notes · View notes

sheirukitriesfandom · 4 months

Text

Tag 9 people you want to know better

Edit: Forgot to mention I got tagged by @dirty-bosmer , @septicrodent and I believe someone else but if so, Tumblr ate the notification

3 Ships

Savos Aren/Rashkan Atheron (OC) - Skyrim

2. Tunon the Adjudicator/Alendron (OC) - Tyranny

3. Valsirenn/Chief Justiciar Valcarion (OC) - ESO

Spotting a trend here...

First ship

Uhh, probably something FFX. I never actively shipped any characters from that game but anything involving a certain legendary guardian was fair game for me (Auron's the DILF who started it all and I gleefully ignore his canon age)

currently reading

Ottobre, Ottobre by Katya Balen (AKA the Italian version of the book). It's a nice story and the vocabulary isn't that challenging but still challenging enough to be educational. Good practice.

Last film

Das Boot (Director's cut) - German submarine movie set during WWII and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. What can I say, historical movies are the only type of movie the German film industry doesn't completely screw up.

Last song

Nocturnal Light by Therion

Just a superb, opulent symphonic metal track

Currently craving

A nice hot cup of tea

Tagging: @elavoria (enough time should have passed from the last one, I think) @alma-amentet @nostalgic-breton-girl @rakaiawriter and @katastronoot - and anyone who hasn't done this yet/in a while

#tag game #catching up with all the tags #in the near future anyway cuz my Italian exam is coming up #I think the others have done it already so no 9 from me

4 notes · View notes

bleachpanda · 2 years

Text

Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia - Reuniting & New Adventures (Act 3 Chapter 8)

I knew I would tear up for this chapter before I even read it, and lol I totally did! Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect of Braska since this chapter gives him quite a bit of screentime when I barely remembered much about him in the original game haha, but I think what really made me get the feels from it all was when Yuna introduced herself to Braska. I didn't think about how Yuna barely interacted with him before he left, and that the last time Braska saw her was when she was 7 years old, so when she shyly told him she's Yuna, his daughter, and he said she looks exactly like her mother when he first met her was actually really really cute and sweet.

I think what's also refreshing to see with Braska is that everything that happens here is kinda like a bonus for him. In the original story and here, he already came to terms with the fact that he would never see Yuna grown up and had no regrets over that or anything else. But he still appreciates that he was given this chance to actually see her, talk to her and bond with her on an all new journey.

Another thing that was super cute was seeing Tidus and Jecht talk about their respective journeys with each other, and how they both encountered similar things such as the Chocobo eater and shoopufs. Honestly, seeing Tidus bond with Jecht in Opera Omnia is always such a highlight for me because they get along so well in their own bickering way. I loved it when Braska thanked Tidus and the others for being Yuna's guardian and protecting her, and Tidus got all shy, and Jecht had to interject and say that Braska was thanking Wakka and them too, not just him, and Tidus was like let me feel special for this moment lol! These interactions are something basically impossible in the story, so I'm really happy we actually have an opportunity to see how happy things could be in another form, and I guess that's exactly why Auron and Jecht felt such regret and guilt that because they weren't able to think of a "solution" and just went with the Final Summoning, that this made Braska lose his chance at a life of raising Yuna happily in Besaid. It's sad but at least in this world, Braska was able to tell them that he had no regrets and that he really enjoyed their journey together.

Even though Seymour is too consumed by his desire to be free from all his pain and to render that "happiness" upon others through death, I felt quite sad for him in this chapter. He must have felt pretty difficult emotions he couldn't swallow at the sight of Yuna and them happily getting to reunite with Braska when for Seymour, he doesn't get to reunite with his mother and he doesn't even know if she'll be happy to see him. I still find their story very sad, but Anima is such a cool summon haha. One of my most favourite scenes from FFX was Anima's appearance, it was so beautiful and powerful, I loved it. And any scene Auron appeared in was the best👌

Anyway, I'm so happy with the two fathers getting to properly bond with their children that even if Rikku doesn't appear for another year or two, I might be okay with it (not really, give me Rikku please😭). Speaking of Rikku, I do wonder if they'll have the FFX or FFX-2 version of her, I think the best way would be for her to appear as the FFX version and then regain her memories for the FFX-2 part so we can have two versions of her in the game, but I guess we'll see haha. I want Quina nowww. Back to the story...I was really satisfied with this chapter, mainly because it really seemed like a continuation of the main story, similar to the Type-0 story when Machina wanted to repent for his past. Many of the Final Fantasy characters have regrets they'll never be able to come to terms with in the main story, so seeing them be relieved of that in Opera Omnia always makes me feel a bit happier for them. The quality of the story has definitely improved throughout the game and I'm so glad I stuck with it because Act 3 definitely has the best highlights. One more chapter before I'm all caught up and have to wait for more though😭

All of the suffering I experienced grinding for this game wasn't all for nothing I guess😛

#thoughts #dissidia final fantasy opera omnia #final fantasy #final fantasy x #opera omnia #mobilegame #dffoo

35 notes · View notes

4th-make-quail · 5 months

Text

Asks for a Fic Writer!

Tagged by @eemamminy-art and @nateharmonica thank you!!

1. how many works do you have on AO3? 138! Which is weird cos it feels like only 2 minutes ago I was excited about hitting 100 lol

2. what's your total AO3 word count? 401,149 total

3. what fandoms do you write for? My top 5 written for fandoms are FFXIV (27), Resident Evil (26), FFXII (15), inFamous (13) and FFXV (13)! But I have a load of others as well - atm it's Baldur's Gate 3, alternated with my perennial beloved FFXII

4. what are your top five fics by kudos? Point of No Return - Resident Evil, Chris/Wesker, time travel fix-it fic Aphrodisiac - Overwatch, Reaper/Soldier 76, collaring and gloves kink Like a Drug - Resident Evil, Chris/Wesker, STARS era drug bust Filters - FFXV, Prompto/Ignis, 5 things fic about Prompto's photo taking Between Death and Ascension - Magnus Archives, Jon/Gerry, post season 3 fix it that got immediately jossed upon s4 releasing lol. Honestly I'm amazed this one is here, considering Jon/Gerry is a bit of a rarepair. Or at least, it was back then!! I have no idea of the current state of TMA fandom (and don't wanna know, ugh lmao)

5. do you respond to comments? Always as a rule, but usually quite a long time after I get them lksgfg

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Has to be From the Flames of the Fire, I Feel You, part 4 of my Sartauvoir/Basch series, because it's the fic where Basch dies at the end, and it finishes off with a notice from Noah about the death and funeral arrangements. I cried on my lunch break at work writing this fucker lmao

8. do you get hate on fics? I've not had anything since my ffn days, where I got a very mean comment about OOC. I mean, it was true, but MAN.

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind? It's very rare that I don't write smut! I think the yuletide fic I wrote was the first time in years lol. Either way, I like to write kinky porn with feelings and character study shit

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written? Not any more, but the craziest crossover with the most specific-ass audience was a British Comedy RPF crossed with FFX, where David Mitchell is a summoner and Charlie Brooker and Robert Webb are his guardians. It's called Spira Infinita, and I never did end up finishing it lmao. Oops. Either way, I had a blast writing it and I still think it was fucking good, all 9 kudos of it!! God... this just made me remember I also wrote a brooker/mitchell crossover with mgs. I was on some shit back then I tell you what

11. have you ever had a fic stolen? Not that I'm aware of! I'm not big enough for that, I think

12. have you ever had a fic translated? I thiiiink someone once asked me, but I forgot which fic it was tbh!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before? Yes!! I co-wrote one of my fave Ashe/Basch/Vossler fics with my friend when we got assigned each other for an ff_land exchange - Five Moments of Desire. It was really fun, we had a great time!

14. what's your all-time favourite ship? GOD this is hard!!! I think Nero/Credo tbh, I never get tired of thinking about them, even as sadly underrated as they are. Also Sartauvoir/Basch is highly up there, I've never been seized with such an insane streak of inspiration for a ship. They got me in their clutches and no mistake!!

15. what's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I don't actually have much in the way of wips, but I do have 5k of a Sart/Basch AU where Sart channels his fenex summoning to bring Basch back to life, but it stalled a little due to a combo of scheduling for other things, other ships taking over my brain for a bit, and honestly the general lack of fandom for them? I have a few close friends I met because of the ship, but getting such low response to things is really demoralising and makes it hard to continue. I DO want to finish it for sure, but atm I am too gripped by other ships so idk if it'll happen.

16. what are your writing strengths? I think dialogue for sure, and characterisation.

17. what are your writing weaknesses? Fight scenes x_x Which is annoying, because I love them and have a lot of sparring/fighting related kinks!!! I persevere, but I hate every moment of writing them lol

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? Uhh nothing I've ever done! I think it'd be fine if you're fluent in that language OR if you have a trusted friend who is, who can give you actual sense-making sentences, but otherwise, do not!

19. first fandom you wrote for? Baby's first fandom was handwritten Redwall/Discworld crossover in reporter's notebooks as a very young child, but my first fandom-fandom was ffvii, where I wrote a frankly terrible Reno/Vincent fic! And idek why cos I don't ship it at all? I think I just had a boner for both of them and wanted to get it out. It is still on ffn alas, but eugh.

20. favourite fic you've written? Honestly I think it's my SartBasch series, Body Politics. It caters directly to my own id, and I think it's really good! I actually planned it out as a cohesive series AND actually finished writing it! Proud of myself lol. And I just.... *clenches fist* love those old men.....

----- tagging people, if u wanna do this, then consider urself tagged!!

#quailfic #ask quail #thank u for the tags!!

2 notes · View notes

edenfelled · 5 months

Text

This headcanon was originally posted on @rosafulmen ! I have tidied it up for this blog.

no one look at me, i am having brainrot for a FFX failed!guardian lightning. she became a guardian for serah who desperately wanted to defeat sin, but she was ultimately unable to protect her when the time came. despite that, her skill and expertise in guardianship is second to none, and other summoners seek her out to try and assist their parties.

i've attached some other thoughts below the cut.

claire and serah grew up in luca after being orphaned at a young age. although the port doesn't have a dedicated temple, much of the people who assisted the girls during this time ( at least until claire was old enough ) were yevonites, which helped serah instil a firm belief in the religion. i don't think claire ever held an overtly negative opinion to the church, she just... didn't see the point in praying to a god who implied the reason their parents died was the result of them not being 'pure' enough. she also quickly picked up the dichotomy of acceptable and unacceptable machina, even if she wasn't allowed to talk about it.

claire joined the crusaders as soon as they would take her, mostly working odd jobs around the city. like the guardian corps, this gave her the ability to provide for her sister at the cost of her time. serah met snow during this time — and up-and-coming blizball star for the luca goers — and began to seriously consider becoming a summoner.

this was also the time where claire changed her name to lightning. it likely started as a codename she adopted and was reinforced during the pilgrimage, especially after journeying through the thunder plains.

lightning returned home as soon as she learned of her sister's plan and the two got into a massive argument. serah would not budge on her plans despite her outrage, and snow was fully prepared to drop his blizball career in order to support her. not only did lightning not approve of their relationship but she was convinced snow would get her killed. she became a guardian only to show them both how stupid the idea was.

serah attends her first temple, gains her fayth and the pilgrimage begins. there's also huge opportunity for the other cast to integrate here. maybe sazh lost his son and became a guardian for him, or maybe fang/vanille were another prototype dream before tidus? no matter who, they journey the land until they finally reach zanarkand.

serah ends up choosing snow to be her final aeon due to the love they held for each other ( i vibe with the idea that he promised to marry her after she got the aeon and... well. ) and the knowledge that lightning would completely reject yunalesca's truth. this means lightning was not privy to what went on inside the room of the fayth — she saw two enter and one leave.

i don't really know if my personal ship for snow / lightning applies in this verse but it can go one of two ways. whether she secretly loves him or she's finally accepted him as being worthy for serah, he sacrifices himself for what is ultimately a few years of peace. this nearly leads her to attack yunalesca, only for serah to intervene and remind her that all their work is for nothing if they die.

in the end, though they reached sin, serah was struck down before she could complete the ritual and dies in lightning's arms. no one really blamed lightning for being unable to protect her; the life of a summoner and her guardians is a perilous one, safety is not guaranteed, and a guardian can do everything they can and it still not be enough. lightning could not protect serah from sin itself. all it did was instil in her the senselessness of the pilgrimage.

with nowhere else to go, lightning returns to luca where she is constantly propositioned by summoners looking for an experienced guardian. she rejects every single one until yuna.

auron specifically sought her out after serah's death. as the both of them were products of a malignant belief, they vowed to undo the cycle. this means that lightning wouldn't say anything about the final aeon, despite knowing a guardian would have to die, and wouldn't interject when the others were offering themselves during zanarkand. I don't know (?) if she would know he was unsent, but it ultimately wouldn't matter to her.

i also have two ideas for snow's fayth. one, light buries it somewhere in zanarkand and gives up the location to yuna after they defeat yunalesca. though he would not be her final aeon, she is able to ensure his death wasn't for nothing and he could assist yuna during the fight with sin — ultimately freeing him and avenging serah. two, she's had it on her the whole time and basically does the same thing minus leading them to the fayth. if a baby seymour can carry anima around before a temple, so can she.

#｡･ﾟﾟ･ — 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞 : lightning #i still have so many to go but this verse is one of her most expansive so #slam dunks it #｡･ﾟﾟ･ — 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧 : lightning

3 notes · View notes

casualtheoriesandthoughts · 1 year

Text

Revisiting Religion in Final Fantasy X

I've been replaying Final Fantasy X recently, and it's been interesting to both play a game I loved growing up and in some ways grew up with as I replayed it several times over my life till now. I've since started studying religion and theology in grad school, and I started thinking about how much religion plays a role in FF games. FFX shows it most prominently, and it's certainly accepted by a pretty large part of the fanbase that the game is critical of religion.

That being said, I noticed something when Tidus arrives in Besaid, and encounters the Yevonite religion for the first time (and apparently religion in general). Tidus never really criticizes the temple or the teachings of Yevon, even though he's irreverent to the extent of breaking into the Cloister of Trials and admitting that he's never prayed before. He also remarks that he senses a "gentleness" coming from the aeon Valefor when Yuna summons her for the first time. Tidus isn't really hostile to religion, and even in latter parts of the game, he never criticizes Yuna or anyone else for believing in Yevon. He even gives Auron a little grief for not being more respectful in Guadosalam; and when the party falls to the lake bottom in Macalania, he says "Praise be to Yevon; that's what I would have said, if I was a follower of Yevon". This, despite having just witnessed easily the most blatant display of priestly corruption in Seymour's murder of his father. It's not to say that Tidus is sympathetic to Yevon, but more that his retrospective in Zanarkand isn't in the least marked by an animosity toward religious figures.

The reason I'm pointing all this out is that while it's true that FFX presents a narrative that is critical of religious figures in-universe, I've come to the conclusion that it would be mistake to assert that the game's basic posture is criticality towards religion. It's certainly not the extent to which such a position appears in Persona or Shin Megami Tensei games (which is a whole other conversation). In fact, I would go so far as to say that FFX actually is very pro-religion to an extent, but is more solidly critical of corruption and moral complacency. I see this most in Tidus and Yuna's relationship, as their growth as characters explains much about what core values and messages lie at the heart of the game.

Tidus, as the self-insert main character with a personality, is kind of like our lens on Spira. He is always very empathetic toward and considerate of Yuna's feelings about Yevon and the path of being a summoner. Yes, he doesn't know the truth about the Final Summoning till quite late, but he never denies what the pilgrimage does for the summoner. Even while not always jibing with its rules about machina, self-sacrifice and authority/tradition, Tidus doesn't deny the more basic religious beliefs of Yevonites. His retrospective narration doesn't really focus on religion at all, either.

To be fair, I might be stretching it a bit here, since the personal values of Yevonites are never truly explained beyond the necessity of the pilgrimage and a reverence for summoners. But what we do see: caring for the wounded, praying for others, the processing of death through the sending, and the way feelings are foregrounded in the reality of beings (ex. the dream of the fayth), tell us a lot about the religiosity of Spirans in general (and not even just Yevonites).

And really, what confirms my perspective more than anything else, is that because this is a fantasy RPG, all the magic and summoning is 100% real. There's no room to debate that summoning, mysticism and prayer are not essential parts of this society, in a way that directs all blame for suffering to human fallibility (such as in Mika, Seymour and Yu Yevon). Even post-Bevelle, Yuna's spirit is never broken, and even more so when the party fights Yunalesca. Yuna never ceases to be motivated by her determination to save Spira from Sin, to help people and to believe in her guardians to walk beside her. She continues to entreat the fayth at temples in spite of her wavering trust in the institution that sanctioned her pilgrimage in the first place. The fact that the fayth themselves are unconcerned with Yevon as an institution and continue to empower summoners should say a great deal, as they seem to enter into a kind of spiritual relationship with the summoner through prayer. In Auron's own words: "The fayth are the ones that give power to the summoners. Not the temples or the teachings."

That might seem like instrumentalization on Auron's part, but I think his resentment at some level has little to do with Yevon's teachings, and more to do with its duplicity in the face of immense tragedy and willingness to deceive the people with false hope. His faith Braska and Jecht, his past as a warrior monk and his troubled friendship with Kinoc all seem to point to Auron being disillusioned with Yevon for its complacency and moral bankruptcy than for the practices of faith and the effort of fighting against Sin/sin. Rikku too, despite being Al Bhed and routinely despised by Yevon, never actually feels a revulsion to Yevon's teachings but rather the way that people blithely accept others' sacrifice as a means to their own (temporary) happiness. I stress values and practices not because they're closely followed by everyone, but because Yevon's clergy doesn't fully assent to them themselves and feels free to delude the people. To me, that is the core conflict in FFX: dreams/hope VS nihilism/resignation.

In this regard, Mika is the most obvious perversion of religious authority in his cynicism toward the living and the very reality of death itself. How can you take him seriously about being reconciled to Spira's being full of death, when he himself doesn't fully die? Yunalesca, more than even Mika, is the living/undead symbol of a kind of nihilistic morality that Spira has succumbed to in the face of tremendous despair (i.e. Sin). Seymour represents the darkest consequence of that nihilism: someone who would actually annihilate Spira in the belief that it would liberate its people. Yu Yevon is the origin of Spira's woes, and is literally a shadow of his hatred for Bevelle and the desire to protect Zanarkand. It's a pretty stark commentary on the way that an inability to be moral and care about others can twist the collective moral compass, and how true faith and hope (as in Yuna/Tidus) offers a way forward.

Even though the Final Summoning is "false hope" and one that covered up Spira's suffering, the fayth themselves continue to be present. When you revisit the fayth in each temple, it kind of affirms that Yuna (and Tidus, in a way, through his connection to Bahamut) does in fact have some kind spiritual purpose in fighting Sin. Heck, even the way that Belgemine sticks around in spite of having failed to defeat Sin, seems to drive home that faith and belief is important in the world of Spira. It makes it difficult (at least for me) to believe that the substantive spirituality of Yevon and Spira doesn't matter. And while there's more I could say about what FFX ultimately teaches about religion in a more theological way (esp. through the talk of dreams and the fayth), I think I'll leave it there for now.

#ffx #tidus #religion #finalfantasy #fantheories #video games

12 notes · View notes

randomkposts · 2 years

Text

While I am thinking about final fantasy X

How long does a calm last?

Every fanfiction has their own take on it. And while the game does indicate Calms are varients, I think numbers like a year or two (or shorter), are unrealistic.

Lady Yunalesca defeated the first Sin 1000 years before Yunas in game journey.

Gandof, the first Summoner after Yunalesca came 600 years after her. Gandof also accomplished other great deeds, like Qactuars entrapment apparantly. So 400 years pre- game. I have to wonder what Sin was up to? Did he have Annual attacks? Are all other parts of the world destroyed besides Spirian Islands? Hard what at that official history. So while probably Sin has probably done a hell of a number on the Spiran poupluation, I don't know that how Spira is still standing if Sin is half as destructive as it was in game. FFX your world is sad and beautiful, but your lore makes me want to kick things sometimes. And this is one of them. Probably not what I should do at 2am, but yolo.

Possible theories include but are not limited to- Sin has gotten faster over the years in travel time to sow more destruction.

-Sin has recovered from the calm faster over time, like a virus learning resistance to antibody.

-Sin conqured other worlds occasionally coming back to cause Havoc on Spira.

-Naps?

-Summoners with the strength to seal Sin have had their leinages die out.

-Jecht personally got into a pissing match with his son, and the destruction seen in game was an unusually high ammount?

In order for Spira to still be standing, the poupluation has to have time to recover. And it takes 15 years for someone to be somewhat of an adult. Sort of. And we have to assume that summoners are not grown on trees, and that it takes more then just changing your job class to be an effective one. At least 2-3 years. In other words, training. Apparantly his Calm was short lived, in whatever the hell that Means in Calm timelines.

High summoner Ohalland came 230 years before Yuna. The blitzball playing priest. It doesn't specify the length of his calm, but apparantly he was only the third.

The numbers make me baffled, ok. Theres 170 years between them, assuming the numbers are accurate. 170 years between High summoners second and third. 600 between the first and second.

This does not make a lot of sense of the Calm is two years. Two years is not a lot of time to recover the poupluation after being struck by the uncaring fists of death and destruction.

Yocun was 100 years before game. She was the Crusader High summoner. She had a sword, and is apparantly the first female summoner since the original. Her Guardian is a warrior Monk!

Then 13 years before the game, Sin killed Braskas wife, and So Braska went back to the temples to get summoner training after all his priest training. So now theres a 90 year gap.

But I'm still in disbelif over the only five High Summoners Over 1000 years period, and the intensity of the gaps. Like Sir, I'm no mathmatician, but your numbers are insane. Absoloute hard what. If any Sin is capable of disintigration like at Mushroom rock, and even without that drownings seem to be frequent given its tropics, what has the rate of death been over those thousand years? Not just direct death from monster attack, but death from messing up the landscape, or killing the people needed to bring in harvest and support the poupluations. The property it destorys, people crused in homes, breathless in the merciless ocean?

Summomers do not have a high sucess rate, with both dead summoners, and ones who give up encountered on the journey. Lulu has been a guardian to both an ex-summoner, and a Dead one.

So I think that, while high summoner is not a roll anyone should be able to fulfill, I think that its sensible for there to be more then five High Summoners before Yuna. Let Takumi and Kaya, Katara and Sakura, Dimitri and Lambert have been summoners in the time before Yuna. Make some OC High summoners. I've just expanded the summoner count to nine, and even with those numbers it still feels pretty unbelivable.

Like, lets give the Years of Calm an unlikly number of 20 years. 9x20 =180. Lets give Gandof 10, beacuse actually his was apparantly short. 170. And give Braska 7, as thats when Yuna joined training (3 years before start). 163. Thats 837 years of Sin rampaging. Or 900 with the original at 20 years.

And thats paced throughout the 1000 years.

Lets go to 10 years for 3, 5 for Gan, 7 for Braska. Thats 42 years of Calm. 17 within a 100 year time period.

If Sin is something that builds up the longer it is active, then that period of 600 years before Gandof became a summoner is boggling. What is Sin doing? Spawning Jenova?

Even if we give Yunalesca and Ohalland 25 years of Calm, for ridiclously long, Braska 7, Yocun 15, and Gandof 10 thats still less then 100 years for recovery, paced out over 1000 years. Just what in the world is missing in the history between what was covered up in the church, and what is lost to time known only to the fadeing ruins? Other summoners, so my bet goes. Swallowed by church propaganda and time.

#final fantasy x #the Calm #random k #plot bunnies #a conversation with my friend #worldbuilding #ffx #theories #more summoners #ffx worldbuilding #ffx sin #spoilers #ffx spoilers

11 notes · View notes