No clever subject matter

[petronia]

Indiepop Capital of the North: Amy Millan confirms to Brendan Murphy in this week's Hour that she, Emily Haines and Feist are thinking of recording an album together. So uh, in the event that you care, stay on top of that one. XD

Thank God for Youtube (VG Edition): I keep watching other people's gaming clips. Not just cutscenes for reference but boss battles and combos and such (and not just FF, either). It's lame but I can't stop for some reason. XD; (......The new JoJo game. I just remembered. Ohshi how much will I get fired if I get on Youtube right now.)

I really like the FFXIII protag's character design. She looks somewhat like a female version of Cloud[1] and a lot like a cyberpunk version of Beatrix. ON THAT BAD ASS LIKE WHITE ON RICE Y/Y. If Shiva can be a motorcycle then Save The Queen can be a gunblade.

Also she wears a cape. A++ Nomura-san...... Weirdly enough I find I'm glad the main character is going to be a woman. It's funny because I don't care about the age, gender, orientation, species or general physical shape of a novel's POV character in the least, but somehow the fact of having to manually move a little avatar around on the screen forces me to identify with said avatar, more than I would if I were reading a book or watching a movie. It's never been oppressive to the point of bothersome, but given the choice I would pick a girl over a guy (ex. when I played Suiko3 for like half an hour it was with Chris), and given further choice... I don't think I've ever been offered "nearsighted Asian female mage" in a video game - Shion probably comes closest - but this used to be a problem when people tried to get me to join tabletop RPGs. XD I automatically set about recreating myself in stats. It's very different from creating a character to write.

The following is just for Kristin really: Final Fantasy character classes, not that this helps necessarily - jobs and tropes have imperfect overlap, and every new installment in the series remixes what came before. XD;

* Vaan "One Jump Ahead": you're not forced to specialize character tasks in FFXII, but it helps, because you conserve license points that way. Vaan is a thief, story-wise - one of FF's sturdiest character archetypes - and while you don't have to play him as a Thief the psychological effort required to buck the trend is too steep for the lazy. XD Besides if you want to make money in this game you have to steal, constantly, and Vaan is there - constantly.

For boss fights I have Vaan gambited as Thief/Time Mage, out of tradition and because it works. XD To break it down, Vaan tanks which in context actually means he dodges a lot, meaning it's useful for me to control him manually to draw the enemy away from other party members, and sometimes you want to cast status effects manually as well.

* Penelo "Hips Don't Lie": is a dancer but not a Dancer - you can't license that ability in FFXII. It may be in Revenant Wings, I don't know. She has the strongest inherent magic stats in the game, and the "nice" girl is usually made the White Mage in these things, but pretty much everyone I know hates the fact that White Mages are useless on attack unless they're also Summoners or you're in the endgame phase with spells like Holy. I mean, ANTI-FEMINISM OF IT ALL ASIDE. Granted all I did was give her a bow instead of a dinky rod, i.e. turned her into Rosa, but that's because healer + long-distance weapon is as effective as it gets.

Most people seem to be playing Penelo as Black Mage or Paladin/Fighter. BECAUSE YOU CAN.

* Balthier "Bowie": there have been other pirates in FF games but Pirate is not in and of itself a job class. For most of the game thus far I've been using Balthier as a straight-up melee artist, pole + battle harness, with Thief gambits if I'm giving Vaan a breather. Would not believe the crap I get from sororial unit, who claims that poles are for girls. How can a POLE be a girly weapon? ...Moving on. Believe it or not Balthier and Fran are slower - are actively penalized - if they use guns and bows respectively, for no reason I can see except to be a bitch. Nevertheless I'm re-classing Balthier as Gunner/Chemist for the next few areas and seeing how that goes. One for sneaking past entites, theoretically, two... because it's funny.

Balthier: *is party leader*
Balthier: *spots an enemy*
Balthier: *moves toward enemy, stops a hundred feet away*
Basch and Ashe: *run past*
Balthier: *takes languid aim*
Basch and Ashe: *enthusiastic hack/slash motions in the distance*
Enemy: *croaks*
Balthier: *shrugs, puts gun away, keeps walking*

On occasion he deigns to take a potshot. When the mobs are particularly irksome.

* Fran "Iman": is the coolly silent non-human character, I guess, like Freya or Kimahri. You almost expect her to be a Lancer (bunny hop lol), except Lancer doesn't exist in this game either. So instead she's an Archer. I'd like her to be Black Mage/Archer in lieu of White Mage/Archer, for a change, but there doesn't seem to be much point in putting MP toward anything but buffs and heals. And it feels wrong to equip her with anything but a bow. Maybe a javelin would work, come to think of it.

* Basch "Will The Real KOTOR Please Stand Up": is both a knight and a Knight (à la Steiner). As with Vaan contrariness just takes too much mental effort. XD License board consists of a buttzillion augments plus the latest sword/hammer/axe because all he ever does is whale on things.

* Ashe "Contrary To Expectations I Do Not Have A Smartass Nickname For Everyone": there has been at least one previous ruler of a small desert kingdom caught between an invading empire and a resistance movement, but... actually if you think about it Edgar is like Ashe PLUS Ondore PLUS Al-Cid. It's kind of disturbing. XD; [2]

However FFXII would definitely be cooler if Rabanastre could roll around in the desert.

Ashe has high magic stats as well, but... I can't bring myself to make her a mage. orz So I did the logical thing and made her a samurai. She juliennes things that get in her way. It looks satisfying. XD

...No really why on earth did I write all that. orz I had a whole long thing on Vagrant Story but now it'll have to wait.


[1] Not that Cloud isn't a trap when he wants to be.

[2] Edited to note: Edgar is also TWINS. Um. I guess someone in charge of FFXII really digs Edgar? THAT'S OKAY SO DO I.

Comments

[prototypical]

What is this Steal thing you speak of? I rarely used it through my main gameplay and I still don't use it now that I've beaten it and I'm just doing sidequest nonsense.

Love the interpretations though - my party of Vaan, Basch, and Penelo can plow through anything short of evil optional bosses and Hecteyes (way too many status ailments unless I wanna get new accessories and play with my gambits more...nah, I'll just level up until I can kick their sorry asses).

Do you like the guest character concept?

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I need the money! Granted I do very little levelling for the sake of levelling.

I do like the guest character concept - liked it in FFIX too. I don't see that having an extra fighter dropped into my lap is anything to complain about. XD I guess the only time they're frustrating is when you're trying to sneak past things and they don't listen.

[prototypical]

I don't level for the sake of leveling, I'm getting stronger so I can get the last two espers and the last few hunts. Basch has the Zodiac Spear, which is possibly the most powerful weapon in the game.

Guest Larsa and his never-ending potions rocked. I was so used to it that I died a lot right after every time he left.

[motorbike.livejournal.com]

EIGHT-FLUTED POLE.

POWER ROD.

(TANGENT: Actually rods are such bullshit, why are they so wussy and/or fond of casting Regen on-hit? If I were the type to enjoy intraparty attack gambits (SLEEP STATUS REMOVAL EXEMPT, pshhhh Alarm Clocks?) I'd have a whale of a time, believe me, but I feel for these dudes, man, and I mostly don't like the idea of hitting them ON PURPOSE. Same goes for hand-bombs. GAY.)

Balthier observations A++. Same thing goes for Fran, except the bow requires closer range, and so she appears to be DOING MORE for the TEAM. I vote Ashe's nickname be "Audience With the Royal Beatdown" / "-- Fist" / "-- Pimpslap" etc.

Vaan makes a pretty damn good White Mage, BTW.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Vaan does make a good White Mage, it's kind of disturbing. (I honestly suspect that in some early version of the script he was the White Mage. Then they took away Matsuno's madhu.) I stopped because... I don't need that many white mages. XD

I'm not sure how they came up with some of this stuff. Hand-bombs? Measures? Why not egg beaters? OTOH I always say this, but I wish they let you name the swords like in Vagrant Story. "Ame-no-Murakumo, which is Japanese for 'Not My Funeral'."

[celestriad.livejournal.com]

*butts in* i had the same issues with weapon names and types. the hand-bombs and measures definitely made me go 'wtf?'

although i must admit, i really get a kick out of the way my brother says 'kogarasumaru'. XD;

[corneredangel.livejournal.com]

Well, measures is just them trying to find *some* way of forcing the calculator character class into the thing. It really only works until you realize that no, there really *isn't* any way you can work calculus into a gambit...

[beeblebabe.livejournal.com]

General thoughts:

Give Basch a bow. Because it's HOT.

And that's all I have to say about that.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I do in fact! When there are flying enemies. XD I thought about mentioning it but I think I've actually said that somewhere else.

[celestriad.livejournal.com]

ashe holds a bow really weird... or maybe it's just me not knowing how people usually hold bows? i dunno. XP

i'm at the point where everybody has the whole license board filled, except for the last two espers. so basically, what i make them depends on what equipment i give them and what their levels are. my vaan is the guy i never take out of my party unless he's ko-ed and i'm desperate, so he's level 95 whereas the rest of my characters are at 76-77. XP i actually like balthier with a gun, although otherwise i have a tendency to equip everybody with one-handed swords so they can use shields. lately, though, i've been having basch use the ragnarok to hack and slash. it's very gratifying. XD

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty anal about keeping everyone in my party at the same level. I like being able to switch them in and out freely and get a formation with a different dynamic each time. With some games it's hard, but this one makes it easy on you, so. XD I know I'll have to go back to shields + one-hand weapon for several of the characters eventually but I'll put it off for as long as I can. XD

[celestriad.livejournal.com]

it's funny, because normally i'm like that too, but i seem to have a mental exception for the character i perceive as the 'main' character. ^^; i like never want to take that main person out of my party unless i really have to, but otherwise the rest of them have to be at the same level; balthier and fran are at level 76 whereas everybody else (other than vaan) is at 77, so they're in my party for leveling up at the moment.

it definitely is nice to be able to have different party dynamics, but i'm just so lazy, and in the end, i just find i like the one-handed weapon + shield combo too much because it's so versatile and well-rounded. ^^; most of the time, my characters all have the same or similar gambits as well... ^^;;;

[canis-m.livejournal.com]

--Summoners call upon entities of great power to attack their enemies
--typically shown to be physically frail
--an identifying characteristic of the summoner is the presence of a single horn on the forehead

And you said there were no unicorns. XD

The character classes confuse me in terms of how they relate to actual character(ization). So, like, Ashe can be played as a mage or as some sort of swordswoman, but not both at the same time? ...But wouldn't WhiteMage!Ashe be substantially different in terms of characterization from Slice&Dice!Ashe? So if gamer Y makes Ashe the former and gamer Z makes Ashe the latter, can they really be said to be playing the same Ashe? Doesn't it create, like, a multiplicity of AUs? And yet the essential storyline remains constant! ... I'm much too tied to novel conventions; it doesn't help that I have no background in tabletop gaming either.

Srsly I'm glad there is a Mahou Gakuen on the way, because without it I don't understand where all these people are getting their wizarding degrees. >_>;

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Dude, I dunno, to me Eiko outta FFIX is a bratty little girl, not a UNICORN. XD

OTOH I mentioned there is a unicorn - the Ixion summon in FFX. I do not however want to make this a selling point for Youtubing FFX, because all it means is you're going to cry at the end. LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, GRANTED.

The short answer to that is: yes, they're substantially different, no, Y and Z are not playing the same Ashe, and yes, it causes divergent characterizations, especially in details such as who uses what weapon. People are good-natured about it because having played the game one presumably knows why Ashe is carrying Tournesol in one fic and Masamune in another. However not all FFs vary, or vary in the same way. FFIX effectively railroads your characters - your thief is a thief and your summoner is a summoner, you can't give them each other's abilities even if you wanted. In comparison FFVII and FFX only encourage job classes in terms of abilities, but weapons are character-specific. In the former everyone can summon, in the latter only Yuna can summon. FFVIII encourages you to form bonds between the characters and their equipped summons ("guardian forces"); the longer you keep a GF with a given character, the more effective they are, so players tend to make a choice early and stick with it. Depending on whether you gave Squall the ice elemental or the lightning elemental, you end up ficcing with a completely different metaphor set. XD

[corneredangel.livejournal.com]

Pirate may not be a job class, but *gunner* sure-as-fuck is. And just like all that time ago, every once in a while, Balthier hitting 'do not move'/'do not act' every other turn works out *beautifully*...and when it doesn't, it's still, 'armor, *what* armor?'

...Fran with a lance actually works out nicely, plus she gets the black mage secondary; I have Penelo set as the white/time mage, and Ashe really as the ninja, but also white mage secondary.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I was trying to point out precisely that you have recurrent character types (pirate, princess, thief, female general) and recurrent job classes (black mage, gambler, lancer, summoner), but the correspondence isn't always one-to-one.

I think I'll try Fran with a lance at some point. XD