#char reacts to stormblood

[charlottedabookworm]

just realised that my pinned post is two years old and has so many edits to it, so:

hi. i'm char, she/they, and i dunno why you're here but welcome

mostly i just reblog random shit and complain about life so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

occasionally, i write fanfic. my most prolific fandom is FFXV and i also write for various other fandoms, most recently FFXIV, and I've long been infected into OC hell (most of my FFXV oc's are here and my FFXIV WoL's are here for anyone who's curious)

most of my fic can be found under either #my fic or #snippets as well as general fandom tags (my many many many ffxv aus have their own page to try and keep track of them here) and my ao3 account is under the same user

I swear i'm gonna get back to my fics eventually but the pandemic followed by my masters has just drained all inspiration away from me rn

anyway these days i've been live blogging a lot of games, mostly FFXIV and FFXVI but not only. if you want to avoid the posts, block the #char liveblogs ffxiv and #char plays ffxvi and #char does vidya games tags because I know they can be a lot and people don't wanna fill their dash with them

my prompts are always open

[reminder that if you're a terf or a tory you can fuck right off]

[autumnslance]

Thank you for answering my question about the matching up of written and in-game characters, that definitely helps. I had planned to start playing my WoL first but reading your advice has me thinking maybe I need a character to just enjoy the story then go back and play my WoL. When you play Dark Autumn and Aeryn, do you play one all the way through or do you play Dark to a point then go back and play Aeryn to the same point? My WoL is FFVIII inspired and pulls a bit from the game itself. ♥

You’re welcome! And I know a few folks with that approach; they have their “gameplay main” but their “Warrior of Light” for fanfic, or even their RP main, is another character—who sometimes lags behind on finishing MSQ, even.

Dark’s my first FF14 char, and I never intended her to be “the” WoL. “A” WoL, a heroic adventurer with the Echo, but she is here to help the Actual WoL (whoever that is in my or friends’ stories).

I play Dark through first partially from habit. I got her to 4.1 before I made alts to replay ARR (it was before NG+) and see the other city intro stories. She went through the patches as they dropped. Eventually C’oretta, and then Aeryn, caught up. C’oretta got left behind though, as I started taking Aeryn through story after Dark was finished (I was also waiting on Dancer for C’oretta as melee is not my forte).

Shadowbringers 5.0 I finished on Dark Autumn and was planning to take time before leveling Aeryn. But I began her play through within a couple days cuz I wanted to relive that story. And that’s kind of how it goes; Dark plays through to the end of current MSQ, then Aeryn starts her playthrough a couple days or so later.

There’s content Aeryn’s done that Dark has not, like Bozja and Eureka. I leveled all the jobs and classes on Aeryn and saw all those stories on her first. But for Raids, Trials, MSQ, it’s typically Dark first—and in the case of Raids and Trials, it’s helpful to take Dark first not only for story, but to see the fight so when my FC does it later in the week and I take Aeryn I have a good idea of what’s going on (as I am RezMage).

Dark tackles the main stories first so I get the lore and info, but also my own kneejerk reactions out of the way. I can start thinking of my WoL’s story and how she reacts to it and where the other OCs fit, and then revise that and take more detailed notes on that second playthrough (usually adding to my initial notes and reactions, to see how they match up or change).

It’s also worth noting; C’oretta and Iyna, while part of my EW stories and have parts they take in EW’s plot, and assigned role quests…they are still in Shadowbringers and Stormblood patches respectively. I know the story and lore. It’s my fiction. They’re supporting characters for my WoL, as Dark is, so I can write them where I need them even if mechanically they are lagging behind until I have the time. I do similarly with which of them has done which class/job chain. What parts of MSQ and the Raid/Trial stories the 3 alts take on, compared to Aeryn—my WoL doesn’t do all of it herself.

(Though I do need to push Iyna through the last few StB patches and at least early ShB for general writing project reasons, to refresh myself on canon)

I actually keep A version of my timeline and ideas for the ladies on the blog (spoilers through current content so not sprout friendly). I have others in my doc folders—for jobs, for relationships—as well as all those notes, drabbles, and scraps as I go. But this helps give me a foundation. I can also shift it around; I added the Avengret stuff last year, and Zaine’s service in the Radiant Host only a couple months ago when I determined that was where he received his initial combat training and why he didn’t start adventuring and return to Eorzea until his mid-20s, trying to be the dutiful son first.

So. I play through entirely on Dark. Then take Aeryn through a few days after Dark finishes MSQ. During both, I keep drabble reactions, notes, etc. I kinda figure then, with all the story behind me, where all of my OCs fit into that story, and how. And I do my best to keep track of it in ways that work for me.

[charlottedabookworm]

i know i’ve been spamming everyone with ffxiv posts recently so i’ve tagged them for easy convenience

everything generally ffxiv is still tagged ‘ffxiv’ but anything posted while i’m playing the game is and will also only be tagged with ‘char liveblogs ffxiv’

then anything vaguely spoilery is also tagged either ‘char reacts to arr’, ‘char reacts to heavensward’, or ‘char reacts to stormblood’ so that anyone who doesn’t want spoilers for specific things can block those tags if they want

so yeah, hope that helps

i’m also going to tag this post with all of them to make sure they’re the right tags lol

EDIT: about to start shadowbringers so there is now a ‘char reacts to shadowbringers’ tag that people should block if they don’t want spoilers

EDIT 2: stripped the ‘ffxiv’ from all posts also tagged ‘char liveblogs ffxiv’ because it honestly didn’t occur to me that they would be clogging up the main tag

EDIT 3: i plan on starting 5.1 msq content soon and anything from 5.1 to current content will also be tagged as ffxiv spoilers to be thorough (yes, 5.1 is old news but otherwise i’ll forget to start when i hit 5.5 so i’m starting there)

EDIT 4: endwalker prep is under the tag ‘char preps for endwalker’

EDIT 5: not sure how much screaming is gonna end up on here but. all endwalker spoilers will be tagged ‘char liveblogs ffxiv’, ‘ffxiv spoilers’, and ‘char reacts to endwalker. please block the ‘char reacts to endwalker’ tag at the very least to avoid any spoilers because i am playing in early access

[charlottedabookworm]

tfw you piss off your grandson so much he shoots you to shut you up and get a few seconds of peace before you respawn

[charlottedabookworm]

every so often, between battles for the fate of the world and trying to stop the latest ascian plot, i’m reminded that the scions are just a group of historians, archaeologists, and anthropologists who (if not for said world needing saving and plots needing stopping) would be having the time of their lives investigating every little thing

[charlottedabookworm]

“Tell me, do death and destruction always follow in your wake”

Yes. Yes they do. We don’t like it either. Life would be so much nicer if we weren’t jumping from conflict to conflict so thanks for pointing that out bro

[charlottedabookworm]

Esti!!!!!!

[charlottedabookworm]

look gaius was a twat who loved the sound of his own voice and i hated him but

but he wasn’t *gestures at all of zenos* that much of a twat so i’d really like to trade in this newer model for the old version thanks

[charlottedabookworm]

honestly really loving that we’re getting the quiet, somber, nervous, hopeful moments before the assault on doma castle

it adds so much to the story that would be missed if it just skipped right to the next day

[charlottedabookworm]

just found out that the Raen live under water and the fact that I decided that Set - a Raen AuRa - was lost at sea as a child before I knew this is hilarious

[charlottedabookworm]

it’s making me wait in the same place multiple times am i about to get arrested this is going to go wrong isn’t it

[charlottedabookworm]

sometimes i hate that this game doesn’t give you many choices conversation wise because Hancock is not a merchant i trust

[charlottedabookworm]

please tell me you didn’t hire Nero

[charlottedabookworm]

yep that’d be Ilberd’s messes fucking me up even after he’s dead

[charlottedabookworm]

i’d ask if Zenos could get any creepier but I’m genuinely worried that the answer is yes

[charlottedabookworm]

“Let no man say we neglected to knock” pipin i love you so much rn