#cleyra

[rpgxyz]

He's fine...

[sir-fratley-irontail]

Final Fantasy IX Trivia Time!

Have you noticed how Cleyran eiderdowns look similar to Scotland's flag? Well, I sure did not.

The word "Burmecia" comes from "burmese", a variety of rats. And I thought it was related to Burma/Myanmar because, you know, rain and amazing architecture. Maybe it is, but I haven't read anything about it on the internet, not even an interview with someone at Square talking about Burmecia.

In fact, Burmecia's architecture was largely inspired by Antonio Gaudi's organic mosaic constructions. Beautiful, isn't it?

Also, did you know Sir Fratley (in this case, me) was named after Michael Flatley, a professional dancer who appeared on Riverdance?

And, speaking of Riverdance...

Coincidence? I don't think so.

[berylallee]

If you haven’t played FF9 you’re missing out. It’s definitely better than FF7. I said it. Come at me, clowns.

[sezja]

"Why isn't [specific FFIX thing] on the 'things I want in Dawntrail' bingo card?"

Well you see,

Hope that helps <3

[janetkwallace]

A compilation of Disc 3 Freya Crescent's dialogue

"…it's Regent Cid."

"Terra, huh...?"

"…This is a gargant?"

"What is Terra!?"

"That Zidane… Where did he go?"

"!!!"

"…Are you sure about this, Zidane?"

"!?"

"Now, I'll place the mirror here…"

"And?"

"…"

"!"

"How terrible…"

"…Indeed."

[raininglamppost]

The absolute emotional need to have Freya Crescent have a big Peppino-style emotional catharsis moment in FFIX where she goes Trance and beats the everloving snot out of one or all of those responsible for what happened to Burmecia and Cleyra with something like this playing in the background, bonus points for it being during a lightning storm because at this point she absolutely deserves to have as much dramatics as possible:

[coastersky]

Playing Video Game Music on Piano later today on Friday. Come check it out and request a song you’d like to hear in twitch chat.

[x-antlers-and-teeth-x]

We are back at it again with more adopts! Now we have Memoria who belongs to Cleyra on FR.

[peculiarmarsu]

Had ESAMarathon’s FF9 rerun stream on and thought to draw Freya for some dip pen practice. Was sweet how they cleared space to actually dance themselves during the dance cutscene at Cleyra.

[dailyfreya]

Freya and Zidane meet in Cleyra after the sandstorm has cleared. Shortly after this, Freya becomes the leader of the party in one of the very few instances where that can occur.

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

[OC from words prompt] Final Fantasy, Verdigris, Obstinate.

build-an-oc [ SELECTIVELY ACCEPTING ]

of course if i get a final fantasy i must go with a final fantasy ix character so!! what if. i take obstinate and. instead of going with the "this guy doesnt know when its time to die", i'm turning it into a "despite everything, they're going to keep thinking things arent terrible after all. keep herself positive despite everything

a survivor of the cleyra attack, a former dancer for the eternal storm. despite everything, she knows there are good people in the world.

[rpgxyz]

Fraya (dancing)

[catiuapavel]

How about... Freya Crescent?

Why I like them

First of all, she’s a halberd-wielding rat lady dragoon in a trenchcoat. What’s not to love about this?

There is also something deeply nostalgic and sorrowful about her that I adore. 

Why I don’t

I think everyone will agree she’s a little forgotten about in the later segments of the game. I get that her arc happens throughout disc 1 and 2 but I’m convinced there were opportunities to bring her back into the spotlight later on and I’m disappointed they didn’t do more. Her story (and Burmecia’s story) begged for a compelling follow-up.

And when they finally bring her back into the spotlight (if her epilogue is a spotlight at all), it’s genuinely the least interesting wrap-up imaginable. Instead of dealing with her pain, she just... gets back together with the guy who has forgotten all about her? This easily? It feels like all this complicated grief was swept under the rug in favor of a convenient ending.

Favorite scene

While I did say I think they didn’t do enough with her in the last segments of the game, my favourite scene is her conversation with Amarant in the Black Mage Village during which he muses “Can lost time ever be recovered?” when seeing the Genomes in awe at the idea that time flows in this world and she answers that they must do everything in their power to ensure their time in this world doesn’t get stolen from them. It feels like a better conclusion to her arc than what they actually went for. It speaks to how she wants to make up for all the time she’s lost as well.

Favorite line

“What irony. To find the man about whom I have dreamt endlessly… only to discover that he cannot even remember who I am!”

😬 That hit hard.

OTP

Freya/Moving on from Fratley. Her epilogue doesn’t exist

Brotp

Freya/Zidane, just slightly over Freya/Amarant

Head Canon

I think she likes women. In fact I think she likes women exclusively but has yet to realize it.

Unpopular opinion

I think any bit of personality Fratley has (not much) is rancid and I don’t find their story particularly romantic which in a way adds to the sorrow around her because you’ll never know why this attachment runs so deep she’s willing to spend her life searching for a man who cared so little he left her without a second thought.

A wish

(This is going to be about the epilogue again)

I wish her arc had concluded with her living for herself, making up for time lost, you know? I did like the focus on Burmecia present in it, I just wish we’d have seen her together with other surviving Burmecians (Fratley excluded).

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

So if FFIX does get remade, and I’m not keen on the idea, the worst thing they could do is add more to her relationship with Fratley in an attempt to fill the holes between their meeting in Cleyra and the epilogue.

5 words to best describe them

Nostalgic, haunted, self-inflicted pain, cool

(I feel like maybe I need to add in a disclaimer that I don’t hate Fratley but I still... midly dislike him, let’s say.)

[fruitsofhell]

Random observation while listening to the FF9 OST. The track Eternal Harvest that plays over that scene of Freya joining the Cleyrans in their protection ritual is absolutely gorgeous, but I wish my memory of it wasn’t that awkwardly mocap-ed scene and was a cinematic instead. It had the potential to be a lot more powerful if given the weightiness of a cinematic, and ofc is Freya had been more fleshed out instead of having her arc come to a dead stop in the middle of the 3rd disc.

Freya and Garnet are both great conduits to explore the devastation that Kuja left in his wake on a personal level. But while Garnet is through the eyes of a young woman struggling as a leader against such incredible odds, Freya had the potential to be a great exploration of the more personal and cultural aspect of that destruction. Her people are already appeared to be a somewhat disliked minority, which is what made them an easy first target for Brahne compared to her in-laws in Lindblum. And unlike Alexandria and Lindblum where despite their state, it’s implied that the kingdoms are still fit to rebuild, the Burmecians are really fucked over. Their country was the first to be attacked and therefore didn’t have time to prepare, and then the other Burmecian state of Cleyra where most of the refugees fled to was DISINTEGRATED.

Like Freya might be the character with the most baggage to explore. After witnessing the ruins of Burmecia she comes to this ancient bastion of her people, and despite not fully respecting their distinct way of life, she partakes in their ritual, hoping it will be able to protect the last of them. And then not even an hour later, right from under her that citadel is literally wiped off the face of the earth. It’s haunting to think about, and I deeply wish it could have been explored beyond just a bit of her grieving before launching into more shenanigans.

Not that her being forced to so quickly move on isn’t powerful in itself, but I wish there was more EMPHASIS. Emphasis that could have come from a beautifully directed cinematic of that ritual she performed in vain. Able to visually represent that fragile, majestic hope the track accompanying it conveys.

[sezja]

I should make a bingo card for FFIX Things I Hope To See In Dawntrail

[janetkwallace]

It's been years and I'll never forget how Freya Crescent was sidelined from the plot of FF9.

I'll never forget how Freya, from Disc Three and onwards, gets an "alphabet soup" kind of development. Like, if you stare hard enough, you can see words and sentences that somehow make sense, fragments of a larger picture torn apart, pieces of a jigsaw that will forever remain incomplete, crumbles of stone from what once was a full statue... you get it.

I'll never forget how a lot of Burmecia-related content, from unused areas to interesting bits of lore and character stuff, was cut from the game or never came to be. The impact of the Alexandria/Burmecia wars, The King of Burmecia being on bad terms with Freya due to a past event, Sir Fratley's name in the world map,etc.

I'll never forget how Burmecia, unlike other kingdoms, never feels like a proper location. Instead, it's a straight-forward dungeon with little to explore. Well, you could say it's what it is intended o be due the urgency of the situation, war is going on, people are dying, so why bother exploring? Yeah, why bother...

I'll never forget how Cleyra is blown up by an Eidolon but the consequences of something horrifying as a genocide are left as background information. You never get to revisit the crater of what was left of Cleyra, nor do you see the Burmecians rebuilding their homeland.

I'll never forget how Sir Fratley has amnesia but nothing impactful happens afterwards. Dude just says "Hi, I have amnesia, bye!", presumably dies but is alive. Hooray...

I'll never forget how Beatrix never apologizes directly to the people who have been hurt in the conflict, the citizens of Burmecia she begs forgiveness for, and to an extent, the Cleyrans that had no way of defending themselves (other than the magic sandstorm who once surrounded their village);

I'll never forget how Puck is revealed to be the Prince of Burmecia and how that doesn't even matter because he dies, but wait, he is not actually dead! He returns at the very end of the game and that's it. Him being on bad terms with his father is thrown away as something. It's just... something, it does not get developed or addressed and nothing is ever done about it. Heck, we don't even know why he does not like to be in front of the King of Burmecia. Something about him isolating Burmecia from the rest of the world and the militarization of their society, but that's written in the Ultimania. Expanded material, behind-the-scenes stuff, not something you read in the game. At all.

It's not only Freya Crescent who deserved better.

Burmecia deserved better. Cleyra deserved better. Sir Fratley deserved more of what he got in terms of screentime, character and impact on the plot/other character's plots. Puck deserved at least a mention from someone other than Vivi, he's one of the first characters we see interacting with one of the protagonists and then he vanishes. Twice.