#but she is originally from xenosaga

[mewkwota]

It's really been too long but behold the other big protag of my childhood and my favorite lady character of this series.

I've been meaning to sketch her a bit for a comic I may or may not do.

If it wasn't obvious I like Shion's Episode I design the most and will be keeping the goo-goo eyes, I know it's just the Vector work uniform but she looks so cute. I remember how I used to be able to quick-draw it so easily, but now I have much more detail in my sketching.

[moved-to-void-kissed]

Here is my post for the fourth day of September! ..I don't have a caption for these renders, I'm afraid, but they basically sum up my entire selfship dynamic with KOS-MOS in one go - KOS-MOS is being ultra-powerful and amazing and awesome and gorgeous, and my self-insert Calanthe is very in love with her because of this. Even in such dangerous places as the Land of Morytha (hence why the lighting here is so.. green).

Tag list: @catake | @masterofmasters | @wazzuppy | @cherry-bomb-ships | @call–me–home | @xenobabble | @beeon | @coralward | @sanderswife | @pandapup | @altamont498 | @mercuryships | @lemonloven (to be tagged in what I make, please see this post!)

Comments on and reblogs of my work are always okay, and appreciated, but are by no means required!~

[nyxeren]

Since I'm new over here, purrhaps some introductions are in order? I'm Nyxe, and I've been making derpy screenshots for my main, Phae, since HW! I started out as a pink-haired miqo on Insta, but several dozen fantasias later, Phae's "true" form is definitely midlander hyur.

Phaemera - Leviathan - Primal

Birth name: Fhlae Mercer (yuck?)

Hails from a rich merchant family in Ishgard, youngest of four children (twin brothers are the eldest, one older sister). Disgusted by their cutthroat techniques and willingness to do anything to get ahead, and aware of the disdain from other families in Ishgard (who merely tolerate the Mercers because of their effectiveness), Phae left home at a young age to make her own way in the world. She hasn't spoken to them since, and avoids any attempts to find her. To her annoyance, Rowena seems to know both Phae's family and true name.

Natural white hair and blue-green eyes, tendency to dye hair pink. Known to change names, eye and hair colors to suit her mood, or to avoid attention. Sometimes disguises herself as other races entirely. Adept at appearing boringly average when called for, but prefers to let her personal tastes shine.

As a teenager, she was caught trying to pickpocket a member of the Rogue's Guild in Limsa Lominsa and subsequently taken under their wing. While she has come far and learned many other trades since then, she does not forget her roots, and still considers the Guild to be family. Became a Machinist out of respect for Stephanivien's vision and willingness to break from his family's tradition, as well as admiration for the Admiral. Became a Dark Knight at a low point in her life, stuck with it to harness the powers of darkness in a positive manner so that others need not walk the path of shadow.

Embraced the Warrior of Light mantle readily, and welcomes the title of Lightbringer. She considered it a chance to do the most good in the world, even if she knows at times the legend is far more impressive than reality. Feels it's important for the people to have a symbol to look up to; her affinity for stars and celestial themes stems from this, and a wish to be a "light in the darkness."

Easily bored, slightly absentminded, always restless. Zero respect for authority unless earned, speaks her mind with little regard for the consequences. Hates fake or formal people. Outwardly optimistic, spontaneous and easygoing, with a desire to see the best in people that sometimes borders on irrational. Inwardly less cheerful and naive, but still maintains a desire to believe in others. Despite her empathetic nature, she has trouble getting close to others and only has a handful of close friends. Sullen and moody at times; on these occasions, she withdraws to a number of "hiding places" to clear her mind. As her family rose to power with no regard to whom they stepped on, Phae desires to leave things better than she finds them, in whatever minor ways she can. Rarely stays in one place for long.

Canon mounts: Black Pegasus, Amaro, Battle Panther, SDS Fenrir. Canon minions: Silver Dasher, Byakko Cub, Amaro Hatchling. Canon weapons: Outsider, Makai Hand Mortar, Xiphias Eureka, Edenchoir Greatsword. Favorite earrings: White Ravens.

Influences: Ax (my original RP character, a loud, foul-mouthed, cheerful but troubled human warrior), Arya Stark (A Song of Ice and Fire), Tohru Honda (Fruits Basket), chaos (Xenosaga), Lyra Silvertongue (His Dark Materials)

That's all for Phae, I'll do more introductions for the rest of my characters when I'm less lazy!

[phoenixrisesoncemore]

I started this over a year ago and then never posted it. Sorry, my brain has been on vacation.

Thank you for the tag @senadimell! (And sorry for taking so long!)

Hmmm, favorite comfort things. Let’s see...

comfort food: Mashed potatoes. Always and forever mashed potatoes. With meatloaf or salmon cakes, or Swiss steak, or chicken, or beef roast, or anything really, or just by themselves.

comfort clothes: Something soft and flowy. Nightgowns and easy summer dresses. I would absolutely be a mumu person if it were more socially acceptable. In practice more often cotton t-shirts and cotton shorts. Soft soft soft.

comfort item: Unfortunately, my iPhone. There’s an addiction I need to beat. More healthily: a sketch pad and pencil.

comfort character: Phoenix/Jean Grey (X-men), Rogue (X-men), Catwoman (the Michelle Pfeiffer Batman Returns iteration), Eilonwy (The Prydain Chronicles), The Eighth Doctor (Doctor Who—particularly EDA-verse), Nienna (The Silmarillion—I know she barely appears but the idea of her brings me comfort), Wei Wuxian (MDZS/CQL—new addition but I love him and I suspect he’s a permanent fixture in my brain now). KOS-MOS and Shion (Xenosaga).

comfort song: Oh gosh. “Cumulus” by Imogen Heap (I’ve had that on repeat for days while I laid in bed with migraine), “To the Ancient Land” (first track of the Shadow of the Colossus soundtrack), “Figlio Perduto” (Sarah Brightman, La Luna, the tale of the abduction of a young boy by elves set to Beethoven’s 7th, Second Movement—like, can it get any better?), “Glosoli” (Sarah Brightman), “2000 Years” (Billy Joel), “Still” (Alanis Morissette from the Dogma soundtrack), “Mercy (from the Prayer Cycle)” (Alanis), the entire The Phantom of the Opera (original London cast, please), “Phoenix Rises” (John Powell from the X-men: The Last Stand soundtrack), “Dancing Mad” (Distant Worlds II cover of track from Final Fantasy VI, Nobuo Uematsu), “The First and the Last” (Xenogears, Yasunori Mitsuda). Honestly, I could go on forever here.

comfort youtuber: You know I don’t spend that much time on YouTube, but I once sat down and watched the entirety of Cooking with Dog, a cooking channel where a Japanese woman referred to only as “chef”, under the “guidance” of her dog, Francis, prepares traditional Japanese (washoku) and Westernized Japanese (yoshoku) dishes. This was my first exposure to Japanese cooking (outside of visiting an American sushi restaurant) and I was fascinated by the careful preparation of ingredients, often involving many small, deliberate steps taken to ensure each ingredient is exemplified in its best self as a part of each dish. Like watching any kind of careful and practiced craft in action, it was mesmerizing and really quite soothing.

comfort video game: Soooo many. Xenogears, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy VII, The Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Chrono Trigger.

comfort film: Moulin Rouge, Legend, The Lord of the Rings (all three), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney), Arsenic and Old Lace, Bringing Up Baby, Shall We Dance, Sunset Boulevard, Withnail & I.

comfort show: Star Trek: TNG, The X-Files, X-men: The Animated Series (look, how else am I going to get a Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Saga adaptation that isn’t a horrible dissapointment?), The Untamed (newest addition to this list).

comfort stim: I don’t know if I truly stim or not. I used to do (and still occasionally do) a thing where I had to twitch my toes in a certain rhythm.

comfort activity: Sitting on my porch or in my garden, walking through nature, driving through hidden backwoods and down old winding country roads, holding my cat (or any cat, anywhere, at any time).

Is comfort book not a thing? I am going to add it: Lord of the Rings, House of Leaves, The Prydain Chronicles, Cosmos, The Singularity Is Near (Kurzweil), Doctor Who: The Infinity Doctors, Arcadia (yes, it’s a play but it’s a play that reads as good as it performs)

tagging (with no pressure—I can’t remember who all did this the last time it went around): @thearrogantemu , @silver-grasp , @odense , @warrioreowynofrohan , @if-he-catches-me-ill

[void-kissed]

actually no that last reblog has set off a ramble so let's go down the list

How human are my self-inserts?

(..The actual list is under the readmore, but for most of them the answer is "not fully", ahaha)

Adriana Laverre (Pokémon) - human, but the fact she's originally from the previous timeline and got brought forwards by Anna after dying there probably makes her come across as a bit.. not right. But hey, at least she got cute reverse freckles and fancy Giratina wings from the process. Aria Fiore (Kingdom Hearts, etc.) - not human, because she's a Heartless (so, technically she used to be a human, but isn't anymore). This also applies to her TWEWY version, where she's one of the Shinjuku Reapers (though, again, she was originally a normal exchange student before dying in Shinjuku). Sapphire "Paronet" (Xenoblade Chronicles) - technically human (Gormotti, specifically), but.. also technically a Blade Eater, courtesy of the shards of Avalon's Core Crystal she fell on. Alectra (Genshin Impact) - not human, because she's.. essentially a dead nightingale that got brought back to life through a mixture of emotional and elemental power. So she's an elemental more than anything else. "Lamia" (Genshin Impact) - not human, because she's really a Pyro Abyss Mage! Her current form is a disguise she maintains using magic, similarly to how Enjou does it. Lorenza/"Colombina" (Final Fantasy) - not human, because she's a voidsent! Technically, she's a hybrid of voidsent and the-Thirteenth's-equivalent-to-Miqo'te, like how Zero is a hybrid of voidsent and whatever-the-Thirteenth-calls-Hyur. Calanthe Marsanes (Xenosaga, Xenoblade Chronicles) - human! In Alrest, her accent would imply she's Tantalese, even though she doesn't have the red hair that is commonly seen in people from Tantal. Aline Erica (Xenoblade Chronicles) - human (well, Gormotti, specifically)! Citri Cerinthe (Xenoblade Chronicles) - initially human (or, Homs, strictly speaking, which are not the same as humans because they need ether but basically they're human), but later half-Machina due to being made a Face pilot! Nova Chromalum (Pokémon) - human chosen by a legendary Pokémon (Reshiram, specifically) Catarina di Erinacea (Fire Emblem) - human with a Crest (specifically the lost Crest of the Thorn Dragon) Ardea Volucris (Dragon Quest) - not human, because she's a Celestrian! This is true even after she loses her wings and halo from falling off of the Observatory. Camille Solane (The Elder Scrolls) - initially human (Breton, specifically), but is later turned into a vampire by Serana Lady Telanthera Amaranth (Four Leaf Cloverse) - human! Emily Azalea (Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons) - human (though her boyfriend almost definitely isn't) Seralune (UTAU, etc.) - not human, because she's an UTAUloid, specifically one designed to be like a lunar goddess.

Linaria Volucris/"Ves Fiore" (Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts) - not human, because she's a Celestrian (and that persists even after she loses her halo) "Xiara"/NIL-XIARA (Kingdom Hearts) - not human, because she's a (data-)Nobody MT001524: Echo (Parties Are For Losers) - technically not human, because she's a mutant, but those are more like "humans with powers" Alise Tayle (Four Leaf Cloverse) - not human, because she's fae Carmine the Clever (The Elder Scrolls) - technically not human because she's a Khajiit? Mimi Aster (Kirby, Super Mario) - not human! She doesn't actually know what she is, but she definitely looks human by default despite having the ability to shapeshift. However, she is in fact a magic ancient, which will probably only mean something if you're very into Kirby Cat Teuthis (Splatoon) - not human, because she's an Inkling

Jet Chromalum (Pokémon) - human, even if some suspect she has to be otherwise given that her partner Pokémon is a massive golden Luxray Amber Rylin (The Elder Scrolls) - technically human (Nord, specifically), but is also Dragonborn, so.. "human with the soul of a dragon"? Chiara Verdrose (Four Leaf Cloverse) - technically human as I think of her, but it depends on whether or not witches count as humans in Cloverse, since she is a witch! Elisa Merlot (Scienceverse) - human! Very normal human despite the lab she works in

[lightbringer-ultimate]

Shad Plays Future Redeemed: 📻

Warning a big chunk of this has me theory crafting.

OKAY

What

WHY

How

UM

Radio with Vector branding? Same Vector that made KOS-MOS in Xenosaga?

The radio mentions Project Exodus and mentions an Arc Ship called Icarus, which fits the naming convention of Xenoblade X.

But also name drops DIMITRI? XENOSAGA AGAIN?

Look Na'el and Matthew's Heart to Heart is probably really wholesome and sweet but YEAH NO I WAS LOOKING AT THE SUBTITLES ABOVE.

Some people in the Xenoblade netspace claim that the Xenoblade X nods here are like...just nods and aren't really confirming anything while the Saga stuff should be important.

Look. That's a bias, plus I really think something more deep is going on here. Something that's kinda big? Takahashi is definitely cooking a buffet for us.

What I mean here is, okay okay hear me out. Monolith might be getting the Xenosaga IP back? Namco hardly does anything special with it other than have Tales characters wear the corpse that the games have become.

The last major appearance any Xenosaga character has had was in Xenoblade 2. And then we get this.

We have lore from artbooks that already confirmed the possibility that Vector exists in Xenoblade given they're still responsible for KOS-MOS (And Tel-os too) and with it being in Alpha's memory space it retroactively explains things just like a lot of things.

I don't want to turn this gameplay summary into just a huge theory board but it's like...I GOTTA take a whack at this.

Yes X has aliens and Saga doesn't , big woop. Xenoblade already established alternative dimensions and the possible way to interact with them via things like the Conduit.

What if a Vector exists in a world where there IS sentience beyond Earth? It's possible! Keep in mind that KOS-MOS is canonical to Xenoblade 2, as she's in base game.

Future Redeemed established that all quests you do are canonical as is fighting every Unique Monster.

So Rex at some point woke KOS-MOS.

Its mentioned in the artbook that both battle androids were on the World Tree and fell to the clouds if my memory is correct.

The idea of core crystal technology wasn't nearly at the point it becomes once 2 starts, but given Vector exists...this version of of the company probably used core crystal tech in their designs. Not sure if Klaus believed in open source but like...KOS-MOS definitely knows what the World Tree really is.

Okay yeah I'm scraping just the surface of Xenosaga stuff but like, I feel under qualified to talk about it. Leave that to the diehards.

But X I feel perfectly qualified in.

We see a reformed world in the post credits scene with SOMETHING careening down to it. Saga fans will claim we're looking at somewhere important from their game, but X fans will say its Mira. Meaning what we see falling is either the White Whale...or a Saga Spoiler.

Keep in mind this is a Xenoblade game.

It's probably Mira and the White Whale. Which yes, would be conflicting since "WELL THEN WHY HAVE THE VECTOR STUFF AND MENTION DIMITRI AND ALL THAT?! THERE'S SPACE COLONIZATION. "

X had a lot of Saga blood for sure, but this seems to pretty much hint that something wacky is happening in greater Xenoblade lore.

Earth went BOOM in X, but Klaus destroyed it/split it in the trilogy. So that's the argument people make. How can the reformed world be Mira if earth died a different way in X?

I...I really don't have an answer other than it's possible that Mira has some strange way of pulling other universes peoples in to preserve life because it's core is Origin or something?

Look I'm stretching here I'll admit. But I'm just wondering if time and space warping caused something?

This DLC broke me, Matthew says his full name at the end confirming that the house titles are indeed Last Names and as far as I care, Ortiz is Shulk's and Rodes is Rex's since that's the last names their kids chose to use at least.

They fused into a huge mech. Alpha's second phase belongs in Bayonetta, N actually has pretty damn good writing with depths I didn't expect.

But I'm still not gonna calm down about that DAMN RADIO!

Edit: Okay so after giving more thought, I can see the Xenosaga connections more clearly, and yeah they're important. Namco did snag the copyright to Xenosaga a while back (the Fandom went nuts). And while I don't think the future connections will be as glaringly obvious as some might hope, I do see Namco popping in to allow references moving forward. I expect them to use X substitutes when needed if they can't agree to do __

X definitely is its own separate universe within the multiverse, but I would at least say that hypothetically some characters from X would exist in a Trilogy universe, just not in the same exact roles due to timeline wackiness. (No Elma though, she would break the No Xenoforms rule).

[karereiko]

Carbuncle from Final fantasy XIV

After a long time, next work is done. Carbuncle from FFXIV. This one was quite difficult for me since I couldn’t catch right proportions for this Carbuncle, and screenshots I had weren’t so great (I played in FFXIV in past, it was good game but I started to force myself to play everyday because I was paying for it monthly. So I quit after it was too much)

For the most of the felting process I was quite worried and my Carbuncle didn’t look good, only when I got to part where I joined legs, added extra wool at connections, it started to look a lot better. And that red detail on it’s head, when I added this part it made Carbuncle look like Carbuncle. I started felting from the head, and since I wanted to keep original proportions the best I could it ended quite big. On height it is like my last figures of Zag or Than, but when you measure it’s length... I didn’t plan it to be so big, and that’s why it took so long. The tail could be longer but it was already heavy with length you see and compare to rest of the body. I’ve made shading with darker wool this way because I thought it will look more interesting and more like natural fur, like some cats have this irregular mix of their fur colors. That’s why I didn’t cover some places on legs, ears and tail very solid.

 Anyway I thought that it would be nice to make photo of it as mount for one of my previous felting works and so here is Rose riding it.

Posting new work took me so long because I had 3 works started at the same time. Carbuncle, Melia and Malboro and I just couldn’t finish any of them. I wanted to do Melia before XB3 comes out but I wasn’t able to. Then XB3 came out and it took a lot of my free time. She’s like 50% done but still a lot work before me. I think I will finish Malboro from FF15 first. I really wish to do some smaller felting work after both of them but I have no idea what I would like to do. Each thing I want to do for myself ends as complex character figure, I might like to do Eevee evolutions fo myself, but I would need to plan those better so they won’t end as big as Carbunce. For sure next character I want to do after Melia would be chaos from Xenosaga, because I loved and still love that games and him as character, MOMO too for sure I will make one day, probably I will do their ep3 clothes. I want to do Nia and XB3 gave me amazing version for her, I have thought about making her but each of her XB2 look didn’t work 100% with me. Base one because it’s too close to FF9 Garnet and I want to do her one day too. Maybe in next 100 years I will do half things I really want to felt XD. There is too much of it, but it goes slow since I have other things to do in my free time.

[faygoshill]

So like. What happened at Rennes-le-Château?

While the information presented in game about Rennes-le-Château is sufficient enough, and the XS3 database and Perfect Guide elaborate even further, the exact nature of the shift that sent the party 15 years into the “past” is still left pretty ambiguous. This is probably done to cultivate a unique air of -Sacred Mystery- around Lost Jerusalem, which is pretty neat, but I think there’s still a few conclusions that can be drawn about that event despite the lack of transparency.

I know it’s entirely possible to chalk it up to Vague Lost Jerusalem Magicks, and that may likely be the official answer the writers had in mind (as Xenosaga was originally 6 games, it’s very possible that we would’ve been able to actually explore Lost Jerusalem at some point and learn more about its very odd nature in the original plan), I think it’s more interesting and fun to try and pick stuff apart using the info we have on hand. Because what am I good for if not overanalyzing plot points in video games that amount to minor occurrences meant solely to drive the plot forwards?

First, some background information that I think is relevant to discussing Rennes-le-Château and the shift itself:

1. Shion’s pendant is a strange little trinket.

We know it’s not just a simple Zarathustra ignition key passed down by the People of the Zohar, since the Maiden's will is specifically needed to use it. But at the same time, I don’t necessarily think it’s just a Zarathustra key that Mary Magdalene coded to work with her wife (hell of a sentence, god I love Xenosaga) either. There's a few instances of it glowing and appearing to make Shion feel strange emotions when she's on Michtam, and most notably it begins to react right before the shift into her past happens.

Shion feeling lingering emotions left behind by victims of whitening isn’t really out of nowhere. She appears to have some sort of innate connection to the dead— both narratively as they're very important to her character arc and overall story, and literally as she visits Cherenkov and Mizrahi on the Beach of Nothingness, and can perceive “ghosts” like Febronia in her dreams.

This is, as hinted at by Nephilim in XS1, likely a direct result of her heightened connection with U-DO and its observation/influence over the imaginary number domain. That in turn is a result of Shion's status as the Maiden of Mary Magdalene. The pendant specifically reacts to the Maiden’s will. In areas like Michtam, the pendant glows before allowing Shion to perceive some of the dead’s emotions, an ability she natively possesses. 

Thus, it's possible that the pendant may act as sort of an "amplifier" for those abilities of hers, almost like the opposite of her glasses serving as an inhibitor. 

As an aside, since the pendant only seems to strongly react in places that are important to the People of the Zohar (a remnant of Lost Jerusalem with Rennes-le-Château, and their second homeland in Michtam/Abraxas), it may only amplify her abilities in areas like those. It makes sense why Kevin would be willing to give her it so early— it wouldn’t speed up her Gay Space Cancer until she went to those kinds of areas, which she obviously has no reason to do until his plans have progressed to that point.

2. The “past” we visit in Shion’s mind is... really odd compared to other subconscious dives.

One notable difference is that Miltia appears to be a fully simulated world using revived consciousnesses from the past. the people aren't just fragmented memories and vague shadows that can barely be interacted with, they're all about as real as you can get.

Compare, say, Mai Magus to the URTVs in MOMO’s subconscious domain (a very traditional dive) or even everyone besides Febronia and Nephilim in KOS-MOS’ subconscious domain (originally traditional before altered in a supernatural manner). The difference is stark.

Virgil acts exactly as Virgil acted. Kevin acts exactly as Kevin acted. Even the NPCs on Miltia are pretty fleshed out. All these people who Shion, Jr., Jin, and anyone else who was on the planet in that timeframe didn't know about (or in Kevin/Virgil’s case, didn’t know about their true nature) still acts... exactly as they had in the past, leading to the same outcomes with the only differences being the ones imposed on them by the party in this time period.

The second, and perhaps largest difference, is the sheer... for lack of a better word, realness? Physicality? Of Miltia's recreation. It's a lot more existent than, say, the XS2 dive.

I mean, KOS-MOS' frame and core unit are battered almost beyond repair before entering this world. She's then repaired in it, with a patched up core unit and almost entirely new frame. And once they leave? She keeps those changes. The same kind of thing happens with the E.S. Asher. An Erde Kaiser reactor is installed in it to serve as a power source due to the lack of its corresponding Vessel of Anima, and even after it leaves the imaginary space of Miltia and regains its original Vessel, the reactor seems to remain there as a backup (hence why it’s operational at the very end of XS3, despite every Vessel being used by the Zarathustra system and chaos taking his power back shortly afterwards). Not counting general gameplay/story segregation stuff like consumable items in inventories (which defy the laws of physics a few times when the party splits up every now and then), something like this just hasn’t happened before. Closest thing is characters obtaining data from within the subconscious of artificial intelligence, which is an entirely different story from something like this.

The XS3 database entry for KOS-MOS sheds a bit more light onto why this is. It's a lot to explain especially with regards to the information present in Perfect Guide but the main takeaway is that this “flashback” is a lot more intense than your average brain dive.

3. Michtam's crystalline core appears to be an integral part of Zarathustra's general functionality, and likely existed on Lost Jerusalem.

As KOS-MOS states in XS3, the pendant is made of the same substance as the rest of the crystal structures around Michtam. If we're to believe the pendant existed since the time of Jesus and Lost Jerusalem (as it's coded to the Maiden specifically), and we're also to assume the only alterations made to it were the flower petals Kevin added (as stated in perfect guide), I think it's fair to infer that either the core of Michtam or something very similar was originally inside Lost Jerusalem before being transferred to or recreated within Michtam. Due to the Bible verses inscribed into the room itself, I feel like the former is more likely, unless Zarathustra’s existence was common-ish knowledge to the People of the Zohar and work was done on it outside of just Wilhelm adding Eternal Recurrence to it. chaos also mentions that “Those who worshipped Mary Magdalene brought [Zarathustra] with them from Lost Jerusalem”, which may mean the crystalline core and not just the main unit itself. Either way, I definitely think that the same kind of structure was present on Lost Jerusalem.

With that in mind, considering how absolutely funky Rennes-le-Château is both on a "causing anomalies left and right" level as well as the general magitech and stuff that exists on it (see the optional Arcadian resource dungeon), and how Rennes-le-Château seems to be a home base for Jesus’ crew, it's entirely possible that it may have chunks of this core inside. 

If we assume the core was moved to Michtam and not recreated, I think it's also possible the chunks inside Rennes-le-Château were spared from transport due to how Rennes-le-Château seems to be separated from Lost Jerusalem in its own imaginary pocket. Even Wilhelm wasn’t able to take Mary’s corpse from it, and was presumably forced to wait until Abel’s Ark brought about the second coming of the holy land.

So... what does all this mean?

Taking all of this information into account, I have two main theories as to why the shift into the “past” actually happened. The first one being... kind of a stretch, and the second actually being decently likely in my opinion.

Theory A: The shift was due to Shion's special abilities combined with the pendant acting up on Rennes-le-Château and a healthy dose of some very intense mental stress.

This is pretty self explanatory. Thanks to the pendant being "home" where it was most powerful, the confusion stirred about from the strange sense of familiarity and flashbacks she was getting once they entered Rennes-le-Château proper, and the mental stress of watching her robot gf “die” right after she met her again for the first time in half a year, Shion’s subsequent freak-out caused her to call out to U-DO, subconsciously linking with it without realizing it.

Shion accidentally linking with U-DO due to significant mental stress isn’t anything special. She’s done it before when she was a child on Miltia, and she does it in the imaginary Miltia in XS3 as well.

U-DO’s observation targets Shion specifically, due to its high connectivity with her. We see this through the constant collapses followed by conversations with Abel trying to understand why Shion is the way she is (mentally ill). The theory here is that when linking into U-DO’s stream of observation, she specifically connected with the time where she would be under the most observation— that being the Miltian Conflict. I mean, where else would U-DO’s interest be most piqued when it comes to present day Shion's life if not the time leading up to and directly after she unknowingly resonated with the Zohar and called out to him?

Where this kinda falls apart is that... well, there’s no precedent for it. The only times Shion has linked to U-DO on a large scale was when the Zohar was there for her to resonate with first, amplifying her call like an interdimensional cell tower. It’s possible the pendant substituted for the Zohar, and sending a few people into an imaginary past isn’t as great of a task as accidentally summoning the Gnosis or Abel’s Ark into worldly existence, but there’s still the one big leap of logic— we don’t know if it’s actually, well, possible for something of this nature to happen. There’s no previous example of U-DO on its own doing something like sending people back in “time”, and the database/Perfect Guide/games themselves don’t directly corroborate that idea either. This idea is mainly just conjecture based off how we’ve seen U-DO operate.

Theory B: Some latent bits of Zarathustra present within Rennes-le-Château activated on a small scale due to the presence of Anima, Animus, the pendant’s reaction, and Shion's will all acting up at once.

I actually really like this one. Consider the following:

-Multiple Vessels of Anima resonated just prior to the shift into the past.

-Mary’s consciousness and her power of Animus was “leaking” out as T-elos was destroying KOS-MOS’ core unit.

-Shion had an intense want for all this bad shit to stop, as well as possession of the pendant, which started glowing the moment she screamed.

-Gnosis are present all throughout Rennes-le-Château, and not just in gameplay— we see them in the cutscene just prior to entering the dungeon as well.

-It’s entirely possible that parts of Zarathustra’s core resided in Rennes-le-Château.

Add all this together, subtract fully resonated Vessels of Anima, a Zohar, and an Abel, and you’ve essentially got yourself a bootleg Zarathustra.

Of course, time reversal wasn't Zarathustra's initial purpose, but the capability to use that energy for that reason could've existed beforehand, simply being perfected by Wilhelm. I mean, the thing is called the “Eternal Circle of Zarathustra”, and one of its terminal interfaces is the Compass of Order and Chaos (a relic which specializes in observing the flow of consciousness throughout imaginary time). Since the Compass was discovered by Vector 4000 years prior to Xenosaga on Lost Jerusalem alongside the Zohar, it’s nothing new and was potentially always an interface for Zarathustra.

Speaking of that, something else reacts to Shion’s scream and the resulting shift into the past. The Compass itself.

It could’ve been reacting due to its duty as a terminal interface for Zarathustra, which may signify that this little imperfect bit of it stored within Rennes-le-Château was activated. And since Shion is the one who activated Zarathustra, it took her and the party straight to the most central point of her life, one where everything changed for the worse. A past that she always wished she could alter, something she actively tries to do once she gets the chance. The Miltian Conflict.

The reason I give this theory more weight than the last is that, well, acting upon consciousness and sending everything back through the flow of imaginary time is something we know Zarathustra is capable of doing. And Zarathustra could also explain the extreme nature of the recreated Miltia— it’s clearly a step above a simple Encephalon dive.

The lack of the Zohar and Abel would affect Zarathustra, obviously, but remember that this shift isn’t into the actual past. It sends Shion and the party back through the flow of imaginary time, but only 15 years back, and they never exit imaginary time either. All of Miltia remains just that, a “real” construct within imaginary space. Nothing the party does has any impact on the real-number domain outside of the “present” appearance of Abel’s Ark, which resides in the imaginary domain. I think a small fragment of Zarathustra activating and doing what essentially amounts to souped-up Encephalon dive is well within the realm of possibility for an artifact created by Mary Magdalene herself.

Besides, on a more symbolic/thematic level, Shion’s journey into the “past” and failure to change it parallels Wilhelm’s want for Eternal Recurrence. Living in the past, ignoring the present in favor of obsessing over what happened and wanting to return to that instead of moving forwards in a productive manner, etc. is all addressed as a flawed way of thinking by the end of XS3. In fact, right after the shift into Miltia, Abel has a conversation with Shion which is essentially “how do you feel about Eternal Recurrence?”. It’s something she’s down with at this point in her arc, but a philosophy she comes to reject after all her experiences. It’s a pretty banger aspect of her character arc, but I digress. The main takeaway from this is that the shift is thematically similar to Zarathustra’s purpose— what’s to say the cause couldn’t be Zarathustra itself?

Rennes-le-Château is a super intriguing bit of Xeno lore that I don't see many people tackle. It resonates with me a lot because it embodies the surreal vibes of Lost Jerusalem as a concept, and I feel like if Xenosaga managed to live a little longer we’d be able to see exactly what made planet Earth as special as it is in this universe. But since that didn’t happen, we’ll probably have to stick to theorycrafting. Which, honestly, can be just as fun as the games themselves.

[hauntedtotem]

💗 🌠 🌟 🎁 🐇 🎵 🍀 😣 💥 🎨 😔 💫

💗 if you could hug anyone, who would it be? 

my fiance bc we’re stuck long distance rn and I wanna see them ;^;

🌠 if you were in charge of the world, what would the world look like?

realistically? Ive tried to think about this alot but i don't know how to run the government or anything so I don't even know what that would look like in reality. one major thing i’d like to change is how predators get away with little to no sentencing. and the world would be much more eco-friendly, primarily i’d like to focus on restoring the coral reefs

but if we mean in a fantasy setting? i’d make certain areas have one specific weather all the time, like its always raining in this town or its always sunset at waterparks. weird ideal I guess? and winter would just not be a thing. or ig i’d make it so winter only happens in specific places. it’d just be cool to freeze time in certain areas.

🌟 what do you like about yourself? (must choose at least 3 things!)

nice eyelashes, good imagination (not so much when im awake, but my dreams are always really cool), Idk what else??

🎁 what never fails to make you happy?

playing Xenosaga, talking to my fiancé, or daydreaming/discussing BEN Drowned

🐇 what do you always daydream about?

mainly fanfics I read that were never finished, I try to make my own ending but its always impossible. and I like daydreaming about the ARG and how  characters would react in different situations, I like thinking about crossovers and what they would think about the similarities between them and other franchises

🎵 name 5 songs you love at the moment

Record Player

Will Wood - Better than the Alternative 

Kongos - You Are Strange

My Ordinary Life

A Good Look

Will wood - BlackBoxWarrior

🍀 if you could be any fictional character’s best friend/lover, which fictional character would you be?

I think we all already know  👀

😣 talk about some things that have been making you depressed/angry/anxious lately

my irl ex-best friend physically abused one of my friends and sexually assulted two of my other irl friends and there was a big falling out, but she says she didn't do anything wrong and tried to claim that I manipulated ppl into cutting ties w her? and she sent herself hate messages and tried to spread them around saying i sent it when i havent talked to her since February, which was months before my friends came out about the crap she was doing to them. and about two months ago she got a tumblr and even tho she’s been offline, idk when shes coming back and when she does she may find my current account and see that ive been talkin about her. which normally would be like, whatever- but she lives just 20 minutes away from me and has been to my house before, so I worry she might try to show up and start shit??

💥 what are some unpopular opinions that you have?

noo youre gonna get me cancelled 

well, I think all organized religion is bad so theres that.

 a lot of people say “jeff the killer was 13 in his story, but you cant draw him as 13 bc it was written in x year and hes a human so he ages, so hes 30 now and you have to portray him that way” and I think that's really stupid because hes a fictional character. hes not real, no other fandom goes by that rules, idk why people are treating him like a real person? like, if you took a character from a show in the 80s that doesn't mean the character is now 40 years older than they were in the original work, because theyre just a character and the characters don't age in real time bc theyre not real. you can make content that takes place before, during, right after, or years after his initial story, you don't need to portray him as he would be if he was a real person in todays time. I've seen people attack young artists and generally being really aggressive about this and I don't get it

🎨 what do you always doodle when you’re bored?

I honestly haven't doodled since I was in school, anything I draw now is for full drawings and not just fun private doodles

😔 what do you always do when you feel sad? does it help?

write a bunch of angst in my head, sleep, but those don't rly work, the one that works for me is just kinda go completely offline for a week and play games.

💫 who inspires you?

for art, its Krooked-glasses, nelnal, akorhaphi, funamusea, pengosolvent, ghost, ehxkor, par0llel, junji ito, and a couple more I cant remember rn. some of these are people on DeviantArt that aren't active anymore

[mishmishbean]

Kingdom Hearts review

Riku is precious.

The End

[Major spoilers for this game] I kid! This game is honestly better than I remember it. I never grew up with the original KH or had any other system outside of Nintendo systems until my PS3. And I liked it, but not as much as I do now. Not because of nostalgia, but rather just the game itself. 

Starting off with the main story, I really enjoy how simplistic the plot is. You fight the Heartless with a Keyblade, eliminating darkness that’s corroding the worlds. Each world is a different Disney world, from Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin, to even Tarzan. All of them have their own stories, mostly following the plot of the movie. The stories are short and sweet, after the Keyhole is sealed there’s no going back to the world except for maybe items or drops (which I’ll get to later). Some of them are better than others for sure. Halloween Town or Agrabah are my favorites, with Tarzan’s world being the least favorite. Deep Jungle beats the infamous Atlantis for me mostly because at least there’s more going on in Atlantis storywise. Deep Jungle follows the exact same plot but more dull and text heavy. Not complaining about reading, I love to read but like it was just boring to me personally. All of them tie together in the end as the main villain, Ansem, takes over the worlds. It’s not super complex or anything like the other games that will build on this foundation. One thing I’d improve upon here would be the Disney world stories, some were good or great, while others can fall a little bit flat. Outside of a word from Goofy, there’s no point to go back to the Disney worlds. 

Speaking of characters, they’re fun to watch experiencing the story. Sora’s naiveness and optimism is charming to watch, especially with the voice of a young Haley Joel Osment. At times he sounds a bit too young since he’s supposed to be 14, but that could be said for also Riku and Kairi. Sora’s relationship between all of the characters are well done, I kinda wish there’s more to the Final Fantasy characters. Granted they were cameos but it would’ve been nice to have more depth to them. Disney characters are good, Maleficent being the queen of badass villains of this game. She’s such a ham that I like her better here a bit than the OG movie XD Plus her fight was really difficult as a dragon. It’s kind of funny going back to this game, cause at first I was meh with Riku. He was fine, until I replayed it for this completion and I fell in love with his character arc. I swear he gets the most development out of all games XD I guess I relate to him more as I get better mentally, knowing the struggle of wanting to be stronger but in the end hurting yourself. Kairi’s adorable, sounds younger than she appears but I ship her and Sora. Especially that ending uuuuuughhhh XD

I’m not a fan of admiring over graphics or gameplay. Nothing against those who do love that stuff, as long as I can play it and the story’s good I’ll play it. However, watching the opening and closing cinematics, it’s so freaking gorgeous. It just looks pretty, plus I’m happy to finally see that kind of look in KH3. As for the gameplay... it’s kind of the reason why I couldn’t stop playing until now. There’s so much to play with, the abilities, the spells, weapons, all of it changes the gameplay just enough to where you can pull off different moves, gain more Munny/HP/MP balls, different stats, or have better luck having enemies drop things. I loved just fighting the enemies after being level 70, it was a breeze but still had some challenges. I still wish that Sora’s face was still more animated in voiced cutscenes. While Devil May Cry is a different game and all, it still had more animated faces than Sora could have, especially in 3.

The fun extra stuff is where the real fun comes in. From battling the great Sephiroth, to synthesizing the Ultima Keyblade, it gets addicting after a while. I mostly went after the trophies since it gives me a fun goal to work towards, plus gives a sense of accomplishment. The boss fights were difficult, but worth the reward. Although I was pretty high leveled for Sephiroth, I still got my butt whipped by him several times. Meanwhile I yeeted ??? out of existence in one fell swoop XD. The drops in the game... are the worst aspect of this game. You have to hope that the RNG is in your favor for some of these things, even with all three Lucky Strikes and Encounter Plus. Pink Agricus mushrooms were my biggest struggle until it finally gave in after a while (even at 70 hits it gave me nothing at times). Thankfully, I didn’t need to worry about Donald or Goofy accidentally hitting it unlike the PS3 version. While I didn’t have trouble getting Defender and Wizard’s Relic this time, which I thank the Lord for that, it’s still ridiculous that it’s such a small window opening to get it. At least I didn’t need to pick up all of the Gummi Blueprints... that would’ve been a nightmare. In some way I was kind of tempted but then I remembered I could do other things like the Hades cup. 

I finished the speedster trophy plus a few others on Easy mode, which wasn’t too hard to do. Came close to doing it in a day but I’ve been staying up too late and needed to go to bed. It was a good challenge, sometimes after skipping the cutscene it was a whiplash of “what am I supposed to do now?” XD As for Proud mode, I think I’m going to save for later. I did start it, twice actually since I tried to speed through that by keeping Staff and giving up Sword. That was a mistake. I know it’s possible and all but as someone who always gave up Staff, I died a lot on the tutorial boss. So after restarting that file with giving up Shield, I got to the same place which was the Opposite Armor boss. I dunno how I keep dying outside of just low health and it’s Proud mode but somehow I do. I’m thinking of just doing a Proud mode run after everything or something, I dunno I don’t wanna do it now XD.

In conclusion, it was great to look back on a game that held up over the years. Although there was some things that could be improved upon, it doesn’t hurt the overall enjoyment of the game. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes old Disney movies, hack and slash games, or just enjoys a good story.

9/10 for me or something XD

Next game will be Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, something I never actually finished but watched NicoB play (great lets player if you don’t or can’t get the game yourself). It won’t happen right away since I’m probs going to take a break with either Xenosaga or something. Maybe just finish Avatar the Last Airbender for once XD

[moved-to-void-kissed]

"Activating Level 1 Special: R-Blade. Calanthe, I suggest you step back.” “What does that- oh your arm’s a sword now, ah-!”

Tag list: @thatslikesometaldude | @setzale | @tex-treasures | @catake | @beeon | @tartaglialovemail | @lilacslovers | @kalliopi-ships | @vilehusband | @dragonsmooch | @childrenofmeyneth | @kissofthemoonrabbit | @blackbirdcrime | @strawberryshipz (to be added to the tag list, please click here!)

Here’s my piece for the fourth day of sapphic September! It just about sums up my entire dynamic with KOS-MOS, to be honest - she’s doing something awesome, because everything she does is awesome, and then I (or rather, my self-insert, Calanthe) am just stood there in awe of her power. She’s just so cool ;w;

Reblogs of this post are appreciated, but by no means required! There are also some more renders under the readmore, including one that gives a better view of Calanthe, since I believe this is the first time I’ve actually shown what she looks like!

This was from earlier on in the process since I eventually had to swap out the city stage (I just couldn’t figure out why the floor went all grey??), but here’s a view from the back as well as what I thought was a pretty cool ominous shot from through that glitchy grey floor:

And then here is a separate render of Calanthe on her own, to show her design! It’s.. admittedly a very haphazardly-constructed reference model that I put together in the space of about two hours (the body textures are Aria’s old ones and the base itself was I think originally going to be Noire’s, it’s missing some face sliders - like the blush of all things - and from the back/if you look too closely there are actually loads of pieces of her model missing, oops) - plus I’m not completely set on that hairstyle since it wasn’t quite what I originally envisioned her having, but it works for now! Maybe I’ll end up sticking with this design, I’m not sure.

Her glasses aren’t for any kind of eyesight correction, since my own vision is fine - they just have flat anti-glare lenses to lessen the eyestrain of screen work. I have a pair of them in real life (although I never actually wear them, oops), and since Calanthe is a programmer I thought it would make sense to give them to her. I’m aware that her outfit is not like that of other Vector Industries employees, but.. long story short I’ve been imagining her with something like a lab coat this entire time, and the Vector uniform is also kind of ugly, so this is just what she looks like now. KOS-MOS’ design changed slightly from the Woglinde to Alrest, so.. so can Calanthe’s, or something =P 

(Oh, also, because I realised it might not be clear just by looking at her name: Calanthe is pronounced with two equally-stressed syllables, so it’s said more like “cal-anth” than “ca-lan-thuh”. I hope that makes sense; it’s tricky to write.)

[edvonstein]

So, Game Awards in a few hours.

I don’t care about the awards themselves, but naturally I will tune in because I am Sakurai’s Smash Thrall. That sounds horrifying.

So I wanna put down my hopes, my dreams, my predictions.

First of: Which character we getting in Slot 5 of the Fighter Pass?

KOS-MOS looks like she has a helluva chance now. There is a 4-chan post that got some things already right like the KH3 RE:Mind trailer dropping, or the PC port of Zero Dawn. (KH3 dropped in a Sony direct of sorts instead of at the Game Awards but a: the same thing happened with Resident Evil 3, and both got leaked before the Sony State of the Play thing, so that may well have been damage control. Note that the actual trailer was leaked early, not just info of the trailer’s existence. and b: they might still show up at the game awards, just not as premieres.)

There’s also the thing about Bandai Namco not having another rep despite working on the game, and while Bandai Namco was deconfirmed as getting a rep, I previously made a post about the confusing nature of KOS-MOS’s copyright status, and it seems people count her now as both a Bandai Namco and a Monolith Soft rep, making her all the more fuzzy. (Even if it makes sense for her. Monolith Soft made Xenosaga under Bamco, but Xenoblade under Nintendo.)

There’s the whole Daisy theory issue of having Daisy show up in a tweet celebrating Ultimate’s 1 year anniversary alongside Mario and all five other DLC characters. (Remember that Piranha Plant was DLC originally?) Daisy is named after a Flower, and yellow and orange are Bamco’s colors. KOS-MOS also shares her name basically with the cosmos flower, and is vaguely Bamco.

Color Theory posits that the final Fighters Pass character will get an orange background, and again, orange fits Bamco.

Also there is a lot of Mii Fighter costumes from Bamco we are missing who could show up with her.

And finally there are two things that Sakurai supposedly said. One thing was about the character in question maybe not being as well remembered. I swear I heard that but I cannot place where. KOS-MOS hasn’t been relevant since 2006 with the third game came out. Since then she has made only cameo appearances, like Project X or Xenoblade. Incidentally I think all the cameo appearances she had were on Nintendo consoles, DS, 3DS, Switch, except the Soul Calibur 3 one.

Sakurai’s other line was how he loved the orchestra at the Game Awards. Now how could I read something into that? I didn’t stumble into Xenosaga just because blue haired robot girl on cover hot. I was big on classical music at the time, and the box advertised that the music in the first game was performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. That was the selling point for me. Then I just got hopelessly addicted to the games themselves. So hey, the biggest reach out of all of these, but maybe?

So yeah, we do not know for sure who it is, but I am hopeful it is KOS-MOS

So now for my hairbrained hopes as to what else we’ll see.

Ultimate did... ridiculously well it seems. I can see (hope for but not expect) a bonus character happening too, like Piranha Plant, one that is free for a limited amount of time, perhaps if one also purchased the Fighters Pass, or whatever.

Now like Piranha Plant, it’s likely to be a first party character, since which company wants to offer something free through another company’s game like that? Honestly, I can see one company that miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Mainly because the company consists of a single person, and the exposure boost (plus money coming in once sales start not to mention a nice premium up front to sweeten the deal) in the West could be huge. And yes, my brain of course has to think of ZUN.

There has been rumors that a massive list of Touhou songs have been remixed for a project presumed to be Smash maybe. So here’s hoping for Reimu being that bonus character. (Or Reimu and Marisa in a tag team through Shadow Possession! Make the Daisy Hint be stoic Reimu with the thumbs up and chipper tomboyish Marisa with the peace sign next to her!) A pile of scrap metal can hope can’t it?

Granted, the bonus character, should there be one, could still be a first party character, and in that case, it might be time.

What time?

WAH! time.

Oh dear.

[langwrites]

Tag Game: 10 Questions:

Rules: Answer the questions, then create 10 more, and tag people.

Tagged by: @owlsofstarlight

1. Would you date any of your ocs?

Hmmm.

You know, given that I’m the cause of all their misery, ultimately, that would be a terrible idea.

If I had to choose (and not die), hrm. Well, Naviyd. Probably.

2. What kind of poster(s) would your oc have on their wall?

Naviyd has his father’s rather inaccurate, theistic world maps on his wall. They’re stitched somewhat haphazardly among more accurate records, diagrams, and a wonky drawing of what might someday be a pulley system.

And one nice sketch of a family of four, made by Khalil when he was six years old. It’s more aspirational than accurate, but Naviyd kept it there throughout his son’s entire absent adolescence.

3. If your oc found a time machine, would they use it? for what?

He’d probably tell himself to fight Zahara for custody of both twins.

4. Do any of your ocs have a catchphrase? If so, what?

Naviyd doesn’t see much point. Dude used to basically kill Kaltekan generals as a sacred mission, and he sure wasn’t going to make a career of that by sticking around and monologuing.

5. Tell me about one of your ocs hobbies.

Naviyd studies maps and architecture—which is why Gabilan is a lot more cavernous, winding, and mazelike than its squad design would imply—and spends his free time hunting from horseback with a bow. He does it mainly to keep his skills sharp.

If he wants to have fun, he finds someone and strikes up a friendship if he hasn’t already.

6. What inspired one of your favorite ocs?

I couldn’t choose. So, you get four.

Naviyd was inspired by...hm. Basically, I read a section of a Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual (probably 3.5) and spotted the entry on copper dragons. My next thought was, “I’ve gotta have one of those.” Several more thoughts, several years, and one quick jaunt through CYB later, and Rikuto back-retconned his way into Naviyd’s personality, resulting in what he is today.

Oceanus was half-inspired by a wacky combination of Edward Elric and this dude named chaos (all lowercase) from Xenosaga. His affinity for storms is derived from a combination of my attempts to make a sorcerer character (D&D again), and the powers of Darker than BLACK’s Agent November 11 and BK-201/Black Reaper/Hei. He, too, has been through a lot of revisions to soften and sharpen different parts of his personality, until we get the procupine we have today.

Alena, for her part, is pretty directly derived from the powerset displayed by Tsunade back when I was first watching Naruto in like…middle school? She got a fancy coat from some bolt of inspiration I can’t recall now, and her personality ended up just being like… What I admired about people who could keep their kindness and strength in tough times. I think I read a few pretty dark stories the year I really worked nailing her personality down.

And finally, Lumina. Hoo boy. Originally, she was just a derivation—the spare, the younger twin, the goof to Alena’s mother’s stern nature. And over the years, Lumina went from the mere mirror to a stone-cold badass the more I read about some real shitty common tropes—the idea that a woman’s strength was always derived from a man, or that a queen couldn’t rule on her own, and so on. I thought, “Fuck that and the horse it rode in on,” resulting in this terrifying paladin who was just always good, regardless of what others thought.   

7. What kind of clothes does your oc like to wear?

Naviyd will wear anything that is a) warm and b) looks good on him. In that order. If he has a choice between almost dying of frostbite or impressing a foreign dignitary, he’s gonna pile on those furs and demand Lumina heat the castle somehow, dammit.

He tends to get a lot of his work done while wearing just a plain shirt and pants, slippers, and the biggest blanket he can find.

8. Does your oc believe in love at first sight?

Naviyd used to. It did not pan out at all.

Oceanus doesn’t, at least as far as it pertains to him.

Alena does.

Lumina does not, and never has.

9. If you took your ocs for one story and put them in an au, what au would you choose?

I kinda already did that, by allowing all of these Terramir kids to wander over to CYB. Granted, some of them didn’t have the longest lifespan, but I’m generally content with the way that worked out.

10. What is something your oc is afraid of?

Naviyd is afraid of bears. Does that count?

Siri’s questions:

1.What was the trickiest bits of worldbuilding you have ever done?

Tryin’ to figure out what the fuck was going on with Alanrian politics. They’re a mess of squabbling states, and I still can’t remember why.

And most of the rest of the continents are just kinda...there. Like, the Mishik come from a different continent entirely, as do the Xinfanese, but those aren’t visited during the course of the plot because the thing focuses on stopping an impending apocalypse that the Kaltekan Civil War allowed to happen.

It’s their responsibility.

2.Do you have any maps(you don’t need to post the map)? What was your favorite part of developing your geography?

Cooking the macaroni afterward.

3.Does your story have magic? What are its limitations, if yes?

They do have magic, but the upper limit varies from person to person…and being to being. It’s usually a question of what’ll kill you first. That’ll be your limit. Creatures born in the Dreamscape have an instinctive grasp of magic, though they may not be the strongest, and can generally only cross over to the real world when either stumbling through a random hole or finding a human counterpart to latch onto.

Dragons are… another story. They’re basically mid-tier gods, and they can’t walk the mortal world without a vessel.  

4.Does your main antagonist believe in god?

Well, dragons all do. They have a memory of their ancestors literally meeting the gods, wayyy back in their mythology.

5.Do you have secondary villains?

At least three, yeah.

6.How many words are your drafts?

I have no fuckin’ idea.

7.What is your favorite method of outlining?

Not to do so?

8.Which one of your ocs is queer?(if multiple, mention them all!)

Uh. The ones that I remember off-hand:

Oceanus (demihet bi)

Alena (demipan)

Khalil (aro pan)

Tirane (bi)

Riyaz (aroace)

Mitra (agender aroace)

Lumina (demibiro het)

Naviyd (aro demibi)

9. If you took your ocs for one story and put them in an au, what au would you choose? (Stealing from above cause this was a fun question)

CYB, natch.

10.Which of all the names in all your books, including characters, places, animals etc., is your favorite?

The names?

Hm.

I think my favorite stroke of brilliance was Lumina’s name in the first place. Sure, it means “light” in at least one language, but the fun part is that it’s also an unit of measurement for levels of light. Once I realized I could make a theme, I started spreading it around. Her sister became Luxana, while her older niece is Alena, both of which mean “light” as well. Her family last name, adopted upon being raised to nobility, is also an old reference to how people used to measure light: Lambert. Her sister’s last name now means “fire,” which is, again, a source of light.

And so on and so forth. There’s a theme.

I ain’t gonna tag anyone since it’s late and my brain’s fried. Night, all.

[eienias20]

On Xenoblade Chronicles

Hey everything! This be me Eienias20 wanting to talk about my history with Xenoblade Chronicles. Not just the first one which is my favorite game of all time but the other two and what I think about everything.

Why? Two reasons. First is that I just want to. I’ve wanted to for a while. I love Xenoblade Chronicles so why not? Second is a bit more serious. I read a tweet about fandoms, stating which were the worst and the best. Gaming fandoms specifically. And someone in the replies brought up the current state of the Xenoblade fandom.

All the things surrounding 2 don’t paint a pretty picture but I’m confident this fandom won’t go the way my last top fandom did. (Fire Emblem)

So let’s begin!

I heard of the original Xenoblade Chronicles because people REALLY wanted that game brought over here...for some reason? I didn’t read into the finer details but it sounded interesting. Also “Xenoblade? Is that related to Xenosaga?” Yes I did think that.

I had passing interest in Xenosaga back then but never played the games. My older sister has, she’s played two of em.

Anyway, I decided “Why not?” and got ahold of Xenoblade Chronicles after it released and HOLY SHIT! I was not expecting to fall in love with that game as hard as I did. Its not just my favorite game ever, I also consider it the best game I’ve ever played.

It nailed everything. An amazing story, deep characters, a fascinating world to explore! From start to finish I was enthralled and as I got farther into the game I wanted to know how it all ended but dreaded reaching the credits because then it’d be over!

But all stories must end and the ending was the cherry on top. To me, Xenoblade Chronicles is the perfect game. And from that point on, MonolithSoft owned me.

I bet you can imagine how eager I was to pick up Xenoblade Chronicles X right? Very eager. Day One.

Unfortunately it would be quite a few months after release that I got the game for various reasons but when I finally did, it was on.

Before X even came out I watched the first few trailers and was deeply interested in this new world and story and all these characters that they featured. There was no context to anything so for the longest time all I knew was this: humanity crash lands on an alien planet and struggles to survive.

That’s it. The antagonists? The Ganglion? I didn’t even know they existed until I played the game myself and wow was that fun. There was one day where me and my younger sister traded off exploring Noctilum. According to the Wii U’s statistics we played X for 11 hours! That was nuts.

I greatly enjoyed X and it introduced me to Elma, one of the best female video characters ever and possibly my fave. She’s a rad character.

Of course, after all that time in X (which now is up to 600 hours across to runs) I joined a discord for the Xenoblade games for a few months. I think almost a year. Not sure. There was a lot of fun to be had there after I joined but I’m no longer a member for many reasons, key among them: it stopped being fun.

X was in this position where it followed the original XC which many consider to be a crowning JRPG, an amazing game. So naturally a lot of comparisons were made with quite a few people putting it over X. As a note, I’m not talking about the discord, this is just general internet stuff I’ve seen. In fact, the discord was more prone to putting X over XC which I disagreed with.

I think they’re both good games and while I obviously prefer XC, I can tell now that they were aimed in different directions.

Xenoblade Chronicles set out to tell a story and give you a grand adventure. Which it did. X set out to give you a world and fill your hours with exploration and wonder. Which it did.

This is where my personal opinion comes in and a little bit of how I feel about the three games in general right now.

From the moment I saw XC2, I could tell that it looked like the exact kind of game I wanted to play after I finished XC. It’s presenting itself as a grand adventure with an intriguing story and an interesting cast of characters, much like the original XC. Those elements together is what made XC my top game ever and that’s why I’m so stoked for XC2.

X was not that. I enjoyed my time with X as I’ve said and like the original game it had an amazing world to explore, the gameplay was fun and they both had great OSTs...but X lacked an amazing story and with the exception of Elma and Lin, the characters had no depth.

My biggest point on that being Irina’s 2nd affinity mission which isn’t even about her. All it tells you is she valued her family. That’s it. She got screwed on that one but truth be told, most AMs didn’t do nearly enough for their characters. There is something to be gleaned from at least half of them, but that is the disadvantage to having a cast of almost 20 as opposed to the 7 of the original. They can’t all have the focus.

And even if you reduce the cast to only the important ones, there still wasn’t nearly enough depth there, at least from what I wanted.

But then, X never set out to do that. The disappointment wasn’t exclusively X’s fault. It was set around exploration of the planet. Story and character was second to gameplay and while I love a good game as much as the next, the characters and story can grip you in a way like no other. And they didn’t.

All this brings me now to Xenoblade Chronicles 2 releasing relatively soon. December 1st. I’m so excited.

XC2 is being developed as a game that I personally prefer. Like the others it has an amazing world, the gameplay looks fun and the OST, by Naga the OST. But of course with the focus returning to characters and story it just puts it over the top for me.

There have been naysayers and complaints flying around since its reveal but X suffered the same fate early on. So its good to look ahead post release and realize those voices will fade away. Whether they turn out to like the game or decide to skip it, they’ll move on and those of us who are greatly excited for it, can enjoy the game to their fullest.

I wanted to address some of the complaints I’ve heard around, the ones about character design specifically but a lot of people have already shared opinions on that worded far better than I and I’ve reblogged them a few times somewhere in my tumblr. Doesn’t really matter.

In summation, no one’s design bugs me and a design convincing someone not to pick up the game is a pretty weak argument. Same for those writing essays about why its bad or “problematic” especially in the face of the most recent trailers.

Release is December 1st. Nothing is changing. So y’know. Accept it or move on is all I can say.

Xenoblade 2 has also gotten flack for not being X2 given that X’s ending (if you could even call that an ending) was an obvious cliffhanger. By which I mean, nothing of note was resolved and no answers of value were given.

So I could see how people would want answers but its unfair to blame 2 for not being X2. Again, personal opinion: X2 has a gigantic fight ahead of itself to deal with all the everything left open at the end of X. I’m not confident in that coming together well at all.

Despite my grievances with X, I’m still the idiot who put and enjoyed 600 hours of it so perish the thought that I hate the game. I greatly prefer XC in every single way, but I could pop in X right now, play it for a few hours and have a blast cause being stuck on a different planet does have its fun points. Many of them.

To wrap this up I say, I can not wait for December 1st to play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and join Rex and Pyra’s adventure to find Elysium!

And also to hang out with Tora cause he’s adorable.

Back to the job search I go cause I need money.

Thank you anyone for bothering to read a Xenoblade fan’s thoughts on Xenoblade.

[postgamecontent]

The Summer of Adventure: Threads of Fate

Original Release Date: October 14, 1999 (JPN)

Original Hardware: Sony PlayStation

I'll open this article with a little honesty. I had trouble with Threads of Fate, both playing it and writing about it. As with Legend of Mana, this was my first experience with the game. Unlike Legend of Mana, Threads of Fate wasn't better than I was expecting, or even as good as I had imagined. Fortunately, it's also not a bad game by any means, but it lacks a certain something. In reading up on the game's development, it became clear why I had trouble investing myself in this game. It's not meant to be a deep game or even a very serious one. The intended vibe was something like a cartoon for kids, and with that knowledge in tow, its lack of narrative substance or mechanical complexity makes complete sense. Still, this is the Summer of Adventure. I made my way through the game and am now trying to get this write-up together instead of just ignoring it and playing Chrono Cross.

I'm not sure where I got the idea that Threads of Fate was done by the same team as the 1998 action RPG Brave Fencer Musashi, but I was completely mistaken. Given how close their release dates were, I suppose that's understandable. Instead, the development team was largely filled with veterans of Chrono Trigger and Xenogears, along with a surprising amount of new faces. Even among those with experience, many team members were taking on new roles. Chief among them was Koji Sugimoto, the game's director. Sugimoto had only done programming work for the company before this game, with his debut being in the role of a visual programmer on Chrono Trigger. He was just 20 years old when that game was released, but somehow only a few years later was given the reins of a fairly major production. Threads of Fate would be the only game released where he served as a director. After that, he returned to his programming duties on titles such as Final Fantasy 10 and Crisis Core.

There are a number of notable staff members who contributed to the game. Makoto Shimamoto is credited with the original story idea and the event planning. He would be among the developers who left Square to continue the Xeno series at Monolith. Shimamoto was one of the main designers of the battle systems found in Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Xenoblade. Like many members of Monolith, he also made contributions to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, though the exact nature of his work on that title will likely remain a mystery. Threads of Fate's scenario was written by Daisuke Watanabe. At the time, he was a fresh face, but he would go on to earn writing credits on the entire Kingdom Hearts series, along with Final Fantasy 10, 12, 13, 13-2, and Lightning Returns. The soundtrack was composed by Junya Nakano in a rare solo effort. Nakano can frequently be found collaborating with Masashi Hamauzu on games such as Front Mission: Gun Hazard and Final Fantasy 10.

With all of that talent and more on board, you might expect something big from Threads of Fate. It's important to remember, however, that many of these future stars were still near the start of their respective careers. There's a sense of tentativeness about Threads of Fate that may well spring from that. It's not so much that the game lacks confidence, so to speak, but that it almost seems afraid of attracting too much attention. Indeed, as Square games of this era go, Threads of Fate might be the most forgotten. It's not the most thrilling or epic, nor is it memorably terrible, or even particularly unique. The interesting or unusual things it does do have failed to make much of a mark in the general gaming consciousness. As an example, one of the heroes of the game, Rue, wields one of those ridiculous-looking pizza-slicer weapons, but whenever that particular Square quirk is brought up, it's always in reference to Luso from Final Fantasy Tactics A2. 

According to an interview that director Sugimoto did with Gather Your Party a couple of years ago, Threads of Fate was built to satisfy three major goals. Like others on the team, he was just coming off of Xenogears, and he couldn't help but wonder if kids would be able to understand or enjoy games like that. He felt that kids were future customers that weren't exactly well-served by many of Square's games. Sugimoto wisely believed that for the sake of the company's future, they ought to start addressing that audience. As a programmer, Sugimoto really enjoyed doing 3D coding. Very little of Square's output at that time was in full 3D, so he wanted his game to cover that, as well. Finally, since this was his first shot at the director's chair, he wanted to come out of the gates with something exciting and lively.

Did he accomplish those goals? Well, to an extent, I guess he did. There's no denying that Threads of Fate is more kid-friendly than things like Final Fantasy 8 and Xenogears. The story certainly has some characteristically Square-like twists to it, but the tone is closer to a children's anime than the usual angsty teen adventure Square was largely turning out at the time. There are plenty of silly jokes, goofy expressions, and bits of physical comedy that help maintain that cartoony mood, and the game's true ending is really just an open-ended bridge to the next adventure. The gameplay is similarly light. Overall, there aren't many systems to grapple with, and each of the two heroes will only have to deal with a portion of them during their playthrough. Map designs are largely straightforward, and the combat system doesn't go much farther than stick-and-move. The difficulty is somewhat low in all respects. A single playthrough runs 15-20 hours or so, but you'll have to reach the end with both characters if you want to see an extra scene. That's a little on the longer side for an action-RPG, but I could imagine someone enjoying bashing things around for that length of time, even if I didn't.

For a fully polygonal game, Threads of Fate looks and runs quite well. Square was generally fond of using a mix of 2D and 3D assets in this period. Using 2D backgrounds freed up resources to make the 3D main characters look better than you would expect from the PlayStation, so it was a pretty good choice for the kinds of games Square was making. Threads of Fate went all-in on the polygons, and it's fairly impressive in that context. Comparing Threads of Fate to Brave Fencer Musashi makes it seem like the former is almost an entire generation ahead. While it's not quite as attractive as Mega Man Legends, it has a similar sort of appeal to its visuals. Come to think of it, the sense of humor isn't far off from that game's, either. The game makes good use of its 3D visuals with dynamic camera angles and combat mechanics that take the added visual depth into account.

While I won't go so far as to accuse the game of being dull, I think it's in the director's third goal that it stumbles the most. If the aim was to make something exciting and lively, I'd say that the team only halfway accomplished that. Amusingly enough, its main failure can be found in one of its notable selling points. The game has two protagonists, Rue and Mint. While they are both working towards the same goal, their narrative paths are quite different. The stories frequently cross over with each other, but the tone of each is quite distinct. Rue is seeking a relic that he hopes can bring his friend back to life. He ends up on a typical Square quest for identity once his origins are revealed. Unfortunately, his personality is exceptionally boring. The game is aware of that and hangs a hat on it often, but hanging a hat on something doesn't remove it from the room. Mint seeks the same relic, but for totally childish and selfish purposes. She wants to show up her younger sister and take over the world. She's a total brat, and she only evens out a little bit over the course of the game, thank goodness.

From a story standpoint, Rue's quest seems to be trying more, but it ends up being far too cliche. It also drags you through some really awful existential speeches. By contrast, Mint's story is a breath of fresh air. It's silly, shallow, and not afraid to be completely stupid if it thinks that will earn a chuckle. She's a princess who likes to jump-kick first and ask questions later, and she has an acute phobia of pumpkins that the game milks for all it's worth. I'll go as far as to say that the optimal playthrough of Threads of Fate is to play Mint's quest first, and then just leave it at that. Your only reward for doing Rue's side of things is an avalanche of Pinocchio winks and a brief cut-scene that sets up a never-to-come sequel.

It extends to more than just the story, though. Rue and Mint also have different gameplay styles. Mint can cast a variety of useful magic spells. Her repertoire constantly expands over the course of the game, and the only catch is that you need to keep an eye on your MP. Those points will slowly restore as you whack away at the enemies with physical attacks, giving the gameplay a nice balance between safe ranged strikes and risky but necessary close combat. Rue is a little different. He can change his shape into the forms of the enemies he fights. Unfortunately, he can only change into the last five enemies he has encountered, which makes that ability very unreliable. Rue has to depend more on his trusty weapon. Given the general lack of zip in the melee combat, it makes for a long slog. I suppose it's cool on paper, and I can't deny that it's an innovative way to introduce some puzzles outside of the normal action-RPG stuff.

Threads of Fate is at its best when it's being goofy. Its serious moments have been done many times before, and far better. But when it starts parading out its cast of bizarre NPCs, it's hard not to smile a little. Characters like the star-obsessed Duke, the self-absorbed Rod, or the garish Fancy Mel are not only weird and wonderful in their own right, they bounce off of the heroes really well. Especially Mint, who is frankly having none of this foolishness even as she is cranking up the absurdity all on her own. The game's localization doesn't try very hard taking any of this seriously, and although it comes off as rough and amateurish in places, neither of those qualities are particularly out of place in both this game and its era. The overall courseness that the English script is prone to is practically a perfect match for the bratty Mint, who isn't nearly as elegant or amazing as she thinks she is.

Had I encountered the game in the right time or place, I might have liked Threads of Fate better. It has charm to burn and it's certainly competent in most regards. I guess the problem is that it doesn't seem all that interested in being anything more than that. And while it's not a terribly long game in the grander scheme, any enjoyment to be gleaned from the gameplay is exhausted well before the credits roll on even the first playthrough. That's a long ride on silly jokes alone. That said, it's not hard to find people who absolutely adore the game, and it certainly got its fair share of positive reviews in its time. It's also probably unfair to expect so much from a game that was explicitly designed to appeal to children. Again, it's not a bad game at all. I'm not displeased that I played it. But I also didn't take much away from the game, so it's hard to say if people with no existing connection to it should bother diving back in time to give it a go. 

Previous: Legend of Mana

Next: Chrono Cross

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[radicaldreamer017]

1, 2, 4 & 5

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?

In general, pedo ships, real people shipping, cutesy shipping a good character with his/her abuser/bad guy who killed/abused his/her loved one/s. etc…

2. Are there any popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

Fran/Balthier in FF12. Sharla/Reyn in Xenoblade. Rude/Reno in FF7. Sam/Daniel, Sam/Janet and Sam/Cam in SG1 (I could add Jack/Daniel here, especially as they’re more popular than the ships I mentioned… except i vastly prefer the Jack/Teal’c brOTP lol). MC/Yosuke in P4. Ed/Al in FMA (well, duhh, they’re actual brothers… but it was a popular ship anyway back then). Maybe Bart/Margie in Xenogears (i have many feels over them… but they’re mostly familial… I guess same with Bart/Sigurd). I also never shipped Jr/Momo from Xenosaga. Bart/Fei too. And Harry/Ron in HP I guess (never saw a hint of possible romance there… but I guess i’m not alone… since the main ship war was about Harry/Hermione versus Ron/Hermione). There are more, i’m sure.

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?

Jack/Daniel from SG1… even if I understand its “appeal”. I just can’t stand it. And yeah, they were massively popular back then. The fandom is partly responsible for my emotional response to this ship, though. I also hated Jack/Laira and Sam/Pete (the latter being the most embarrassing “obstacle to the main romance” type of ship I have ever seen)… but those were never popular. Also, I remember hating Hachi/Takumi (abusive crap) from Nana and Allen/Hitomi from Escaflowne (Kevin/Shion from Xenosaga is also terribly abusive… ugh… but I guess it was more or less acknowledged when she rejected his “help” in the end). Oh… and Haruhi/Kyon from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (she’s an insufferable bully and Kyon almost punched her in the face for it… instant nOTP for those reasons). That said, I don’t remember any recent nOTPs… then again, I don’t play or watch new things these days (save for Persona 5… but I don’t have a clear nOTP… maybe MC/Ryoji or MC/Futaba ? Because I dislike Ryoji… and Futaba feels like a sister… I think Futaba, much like me, also needs personal time to feel more comfortable in life). Ohhhh, wait… Dojima/Adachi from P4… this one ship can BURN. I don’t get why it was still a thing in the fandom after what happened to Dojima’s daughter. And i remember being irritated by the Hot Fuzz ship/duo too (though it wasn’t abusive… guess I just couldn’t stand Danny’s character or something).

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

The FF7 fandom can sometimes sour me on Cloti and Zerith (the latter being already a bit hit and miss because of Crisis Core’s writing… did they really need to copy most Clerith moments and strip Aerith of her original independant characterization to make Zerith “work” ?). Thankfully, replaying the game without thinking too much about the fandom and compilation helps to enjoy FF7 fully all over again. But damn… it sucks how much fandom can ruin your feelings about ships, characters or entire shows/games/movies… Communities are nice in theory but your feelings are never as pure and true as when you experience shows/movies/games on your own. And i’m not going to talk about SG1 again. Same thing here… only worse since I can’t even bring myself to rewatch the series.