KJ

Here's the thing, about the recent announcements regarding Lightning Returns.

You all know that I'm a huge FFX-2 fan, so it's not like fanservice or character redesigns or playing dress-up dolls are deal-breakers for me. I might have rolled my eyes a little bit at Lightning Returns and her five million outfits, and I think it's more than fair to ask if a Final Fantasy game with a male protagonist would have ever included such an aspect, but it doesn't bother me really.

This thing with the breast enlargement bothers me. Not just the fact of it, but the way it was presented, the tee-hee-nudge-wink grossness of it, the idea that whether Lightning's breasts jiggle is the most important thing about the game, the fact that it's Lightning being sexualized in this particular way. In her original characterization, Lightning broke out of many of the female character stereotypes that have plagued Final Fantasy games in the past, so to see this change is really frustrating.

Take this news and combine it with the lack of female playable characters in FFXV (which hasn't been officially confirmed but seems highly likely) and the redesign of Stella from this to this, my faith in Squeenix is pretty much shot.

I will still probably buy and play Final Fantasy XV; I will still probably not get Lightning Returns unless I ever manage to finish FFXIII-2, so nothing has changed for me, really. But it's all very disappointing, and getting worse.

I've written three fics for challenges this month, and received one stunning piece of fanart, and I've just realized how remiss I've been in crossposting them all.

First, the fanart, because it deserves all the attention:

The Gryphon and the Dragon by sqbr

This is an illustration of Alistair meeting his son, imagined as a gryphon and a dragon respectively, as suggested by my short Bedtime Stories, and it. is. gorgeous. I cannot stop marveling at how well it captures Alistair's character, and the imagery of Dragon Age as translated into a fairy tale. So, so awesome. Go look, really.

And now, for the fics:

Title: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime
Fandom: Dragon Age 2
Rating: G
Characters: Aveline, Isabela, Meredith, Donnic. Aveline/Donnic
Spoilers: Through DA2, Act 2
Notes: Written for the dragonagewomen/dragonagewomen challenge.

After a major upheaval in Kirkwall, Aveline is looking for someone to blame, and Isabela makes a convenient target. Major spoilers for Dragon Age 2, the end of Act Two.

On LJ / On AO3

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Title: Depend on Me
Fandom: FFXIII
Rating: PG (drug use)
Characters: Lightning, Snow, Hope, Fang
Spoilers: Through Chapter 11
Notes: Written for the 2012 EX Mode round of newgameplus, based on two different fics by mako_lies. Both fics had interesting things to say about Lightning, as seen through other people's eyes; I turned this around and told it from Lightning's point of view.

On AO3

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Title: Prisoners
Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins
Rating: PG (demonic possession)
Characters: Templar Drass/Desire Demon
Spoilers: For the Broken Circle quest in DA:O.
Notes: Written for the March 2012 round of areyougame. Prompt was "Dragon Age: Origins, any applicable/any applicable: seclusion - Being shut away in the Tower does things to a person’s head." I claimed this with the theory that I would write about Anders, but I couldn't come up with anything that grabbed me and that wasn't fairly DA2-centric. Then a very different idea came to me....

Ser Drass is unhappy with his life in Kinloch Hold, but he has everything under control. He's certain of it.

On DW / On AO3

Ah, jury duty. The sound of news programs in the background and the tapping of laptop keyboards as we wait to be called and hear our fate. The jury waiting room at SF Civil Court is actually pretty comfortable, with decent wireless and lots of outlets. I don't know whether to hope I spend a lot of time here today or not.

Updated: The correct answer was not. Free to leave after less than an hour, that's the way I like it.

Meanwhile, another day of meme.

Day 08 – Favourite Chocobo Version.

It's got to be this little guy: Sazh's pet chocobo chick from FFXIII.

So cute, such a great foil for Sazh, and I enjoyed the dimension it added to the story.

Day 09 – Favourite Moogle Version.

Final Fantasy IX. MogNet is one of my favorite sidequests in any FF game -- I enjoy a good excuse to run around the world and see it from a different point of view -- and the idea of a messenger network of Moogles really tickles me. We also get to see many different personalities on view, from world-traveler Stiltzkin to Eiko's faithful Mog, which is a great way to develop an entire moogle society.

( The rest of the questions. )

justira asked me about the Final Fantasy characters and 'ships that I love, compared and contrasted with Final Fantasy characters and 'ships I do not love.

Let's start by listing the characters and pairings I love and do not love, and then I can start pulling out commonalities. Some of these canons could have much longer "love" lists; in those cases, I've limited myself to four of each.

( List is behind the cut )

Looking over this list, some themes in the non-loved 'ships emerge right away. Incest is a big one, as are pairings that feature a distinct age difference and/or power differential. If by this, you came to the conclusion that Larsa/Vayne is my squickiest pairing in the history of ever, you would be correct! This extends to relationships between characters who seem, to me, to have more of a familial dynamic (Lighting/Hope, Snow/Hope, Wakka/Lulu) or friends/partners (Baralai/Paine, Balthier/Fran) than a romantic connection. I'm also not usually a fan of rival ships, particularly between the protagonist and their enemy.

The ships I do like? The first thing I usually need is some text. Interaction in canon. (With one obvious glaring exception -- Raines/Rosch -- which breaks a lot of other patterns, too. I'm really not sure where that one came from) Subtext alone almost never does it for me, although sometimes just a smidgeon of text is enough for me to open up to seeing subtextual cues as well. Because of this, and also because many of my favorite characters are female, I tend to gravitate towards het rather than slash.

As for characters, it's pretty clear here that I gravitate toward heroic characters rather than villains, but at least in the context of the Final Fantasy games, rarely is the protagonist my favorite character. My very favorites are usually just a step below the main hero: the support staff. Another type of character I like is one with a mystery. A character who has something hidden, just below the surface, but close enough that I can see that something is there, something worth discovering. One-note villains and "good" characters who don't show enough emotion for me to connect with them are typically the ones I don't care for.

The one exception in the character realm is the least-favorite FFX-2 characters, and that's all about the character development. I really liked the way Yuna's character developed and grew, showing more independence and while staing the same caring person beneath the perkier exterior. It felt very natural to me, the specific ways in which she changed and did not change. On the other hand, I didn't like the development on Rikku and Brother at all; it didn't feel true, or natural, and especially in the case of Rikku it was too bad, because I rather liked her in FFX.

30 Days of... Project! Complete list of questions / Ask a question on LJ or on DW.

Ganked from imadra_blue.

1. Write down the names of 10 characters.
2. Write an one-sentence fic for every prompt, using the characters determined by the numbers. Do NOT read the prompts before you do step 1.

1. Auron (FFX)
2. Paine (FFX-2)
3. Nooj (FFX-2)
4. Yuna (FFX)
5. Baralai (FFX-2)
6. Ashe (FFXII)
7. Balthier (FFXII)
8. Fran (FFXII)
9. Lightning (FFXIII)
10. Fang (FFXIII)

The quality of these varies, but I've already spent waaaaaay too much time on them, given that I have real projects I ought to be working on instead. Of course, I want to turn at least half of them into actual stories now. One of the ficbits is somewhat spoilery for FFXIII, and another for FFXII. No X or X-2 spoilers, I don't think. Rated from G to R for both sex and implied violence.

( Crossovers and cliche abuse and crack, oh my )

Finished the final battle this afternoon. I think I'll need some time to sit with it before I can give a fully formed opinion, but for now, my reaction shot.

( Filled with spoilers, of course. )

So this thing where you can keep doing side missions after the final battle? Awesome. So, so awesome. This may be my favorite development in this game. Now we can play around at leisure without worrying that I'm going to stumble across some awful spoiler on the Internet. I hope they keep this model for future games, even if it does mean that the final boss is a little easier on the grand scale than usual.

Speaking of spoilers: now I can properly research the story I started the other day without fear. Excellent.

Just finished Chapter 8. Spoilers to that point. Please, no spoilers beyond that in comments, including icons. Many thanks!

( Deep thoughts and quick shots... )

Posted separately from my reaction shot because it involves a spoiler. From the first hour or so of gameplay, which at the time of this writing is as far as I've gotten. (I welcome comments and discussion! But since I am avoiding spoilers generally, please avoid bringing up anything that we learn later than the timeframe I mention here. You will, in that way, earn my undying gratitude.)

( Really? )

( Sweet, sweet shipping notice behind the cut. )

Of course, life being how it is, I have no idea when I'll have time to actually play it. But I can be excited anyway. *bounce bounce*

March 9, 2010.

I was being so good -- not watching every video, not seeking out images and tidbits, keeping anticipation and expectations down.

So much for that.