#they do enjoy games like she does !

[haunted-xander]

Who's the "real" me?

+ some references for the Rise-related things I included <3

[solargeist]

your grian is literally so coraline coded

one of my favourite movies !!

[fatedroses]

You just answered someone about Tsukiko's horns now im curious since those are basically ears is her hearing impaired? does she compensate for it somehow if it is ? p.s. shes so pretty ( both in game and in your drawing style)

Yes, at least relative to other au ra. With how au ra horns function, her's being broken and then healed the way they were means that her ability to tell where sounds are coming from, and even her trying to distinguish certain sounds from each other is practically shot. Basically her hearing is only a bit worse than a Hyur's on average, but her spatial awareness through sound is gone.

Which, basically required her to train and maintain her vision the best she can to make up for it (and ic she's constantly looking around scanning areas, or wearing sunglasses/eye protection/using umbrellas, ect.), and also requires her to use whatever she has (her tail for picking up vibrations, her voidsent Selene for either direction or reconnaissance, or heavily relying on her party or on tech) to compensate.

It also just lends to her distaste using or fighting against ranged weapons, something she unfortunately has a lot of experience dealing with because her life growing up as an assassin and later becoming an adventurer lol

(also thank you, she's been really fun to work on and design ^-^)

[sysig]

Anyway, back to testing (Patreon)

[samarecharm]

Random question about the “they should make persona for people who like good games” post. Do people think the persona series is that bad? I know they aren’t perfect but I wouldn’t call them bad games.

I had a wholeass essay written out before i realized im too tired to make it sound coherent. AND my only experience is p 4 and 5, so my opinion on it means jack shit. All i can say is that the most recent titles suffer from bad writing. (And repetitive gameplay, but thats a different issue). Be it poorly written characters and dialogue, or poorly written interactions and plot, it is hard to take some of the stuff in the more recent games at face value. One could argue that that just means the game is subpar, not necessarily bad, but thats subjective; bad means different things to different people. And i say this as someone who thinks this game is Not the best but still found it incredibly engaging and entertaining.

[eggbagelz]

actually for a game with a plot revolving around "we're going to be gruesomely turned into mind controlling squidfolk if we dont find a cure" and aspects like "i got an engine forcibly put into my chest / my body was physically turned into that of a demon's against my will / my heart is an actual bomb and it will kill me as punishment / i was a slave who endured horrific physical abuse and my body was used for the benefit of the man who controls me" [actually all of these involve some manner of control and "discipline" now that i think abt it] there isnt NEARLY enough focus put on the actual concept of body horror and body autonomy its kind of like. just There. and it doesnt even all tie togther outside of like random convos between the characters and like i mean even thorm's whole fucking introduction involves the fact his body is unkillable like bg3 come ON man. you could be tying these themes togther so neatly so sweetly but [insert more rambling abt the issues with plot structure here]

[slice-of-light]

anyone else feel like Xur and Eris Morn would be spooky drinking buddies

[deathlonging]

ok whats all this then

[dmitriyuriev]

Danzou based on a scene from a fanfic I love. (link here- It's only in Japanese)

I highly recommend it if you're able to read it, it does a wonderful job exploring the relationship between Limbo and Danzou and has a lot of good imagery. This scene is after Limbo places the self-destruction device in her womb... which he gouged out of a living girl along with other parts. Danzou wakes up draped in a kosode decorated with the auspicious symbol of flower-eating birds, in contrast to the curses in her body.

この小説がとてもおすすめ！小説にある人形修復のエロティシズムも美しくて恐ろしいイメージもリンボと段蔵の関係も何もかもが大好き。ぜひ、読んでみてください！

[soft-serve-soymilk]

Actually I’ve come to the conclusion that Cynthia would like Kingdom Hearts for the exact same reason she likes Graces f (the homoerotic tension,,,,,,)

[aggravatedanarchy]

I fucking love video games that are buggy as fuck

Fucking around in Vault 3, helping those guys escape- I come back with the key and two of them are outside the cage and one of the Fiends is inside it instead. I'm like "wow okay," move on, unlock the cage.

And then I just. Get to watch them all crouch and "sneak" out of the cage, pushing up against and stopping in front of Fiends the whole way.

I genuinely don't know if they're supposed to just be fine once you open the cage? So like maybe that last bit is par for the course. But coming back to two of them just wandering that room, chillin with the captors? Incredible. 10/10 I recommend this game to everyone.

[solargeist]

grian we will keep u AWAY from flora after that 😭

Right 💥💥💥 she is not able to gauge how weak or strong players are, she’s very much like, I can do it, why can’t you do it ? 🤔🤔🤔

not a good mindset to have..

she comes from a twilight forest server, shes survived on her own for a long time as a player, but grian comes from a community of friends, so there’s an obvious difference in their abilities.

she’s not gonna kill him or cause ~severe physical harm, but they don’t get along, u can see Why 😭

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

Hey hey, how about 27, 31 & 39 for weird questions for writers 😊

Hello! Sorry for taking some time to answer -- I was really tired and needed to get some rest :) oh, and thanks for the questions, of course!

27. Who is the most stressful character you’ve ever written? Why?

Oh, so far it's got to be Rose from Golden Girls. I feel like there's a very delicate balance to writing her POV, and it's easy to get it wrong. Like, I don't know -- take St Olaf stories. They're a part of Rose, so you really can't avoid them when writing her POV for long enough, and they've got to be ridiculous, but not mind-numbingly stupid, because at some point they stop being funny and become frustrating. You know?

I will say it's worth it, though. I love Rose to bits, and as stressful as it can be to get her thought process just right, it's also a lot of fun!

31. Write a short love letter to your readers.

A love letter? What could I write in a love letter that I haven't written in my works? :)

You know I write for myself, but I'd be lying if I said I don't think of you all when I'm writing something. I anticipate your reactions to certain scenes, I get curious about your general thoughts, I wonder if someone will notice something that flew under my radar and surprise me with it... it's lovely! I had no idea that writing could be such a cooperative effort before, and it warms my heart.

I don't know much about love. I'm on the aromantic spectrum, and I've only ever fallen in love once -- but, in my very humble opinion, a big part of love is consideration, it's paying attention, it's building up a conversation. If that's true, then any of my works is a love letter to anyone that reads it. <3

Oh, and of course: thank you, so much, if you've read any of my works. I'm still shocked at the idea that there are people out there who are actually interested in what I write. It's an incredible feeling.

39. What keeps you writing when you feel like giving up?

Mostly, I try not to get to the point where I feel like giving up! If I notice I'm getting frustrated with a work, I put it down and go do something else, maybe leave it be for a while. Sometimes you just need to give your brain a break! I just try not to be too hard on myself about writing in general -- this is a hobby for me, it's supposed to be fun. If it's not, that means I probably need to focus on some other hobby for some time, and I'll come back to it when I'm ready.

[undead-potatoes]

Not loving this increasingly weird behavior in fandom where they'll look at a female character behaving in certain ways and go "ooooh that's so hashtag girlboss, feminism wins uwu", but then you look deeper into it and she's actually just behaving out of fear or deep rooted trauma

[mejomonster]

I finished final fantasy vii rebirth and. Some mixed opinions.

The main good points: as a Sequel to original FF7? Its good. The women are all written well (which was a concern considering Kairi and Lunafreya in past games), and everyone was in character just fleshed out more (with 2 slight exceptions). What the game did best was accomplish an open world game, world spanning adventure, stick fairly well to some main highlights from original ff7 (which is what people wanted for ages) and with new stuff thats fun if you like the world, very little wasting of player time (so much better than ff7 remake). It did open world well, pacing well, side quests and mini games well, characters well, combat well, and overall gave the feel of what square enix was maybe Hoping and Wishing to successfully accomplish in a mainline game for years but either hasnt been able to achieve on a technical level or fumbled in the past. (So no time wasting dungeons like ff7 remake, fleshed out open world with stuff you enjoy doing so more than ff15, open world so more than ff13, and combat that feels like things theyve learned and improved on well). How it feels to play? Great, fast paced, no dead time, all enjoyable game you came to play. (With the exception maybe of Cait Siths box mandatory mini game and the aerith in ancient temple magic platforms thing but they both werent too difficult to push through if you dont enjoy them).

The bad? Mostly... if you treat Rebirth as a SEQUEL to original ff7, these arent major issues. They just annoy me as a player of the original ff7 game. Because i know plenty of people will ONLY play ff7 Remake and Rebirth etc, and never know the original characterizations. So 2 characters were slightly unlike their original ff7 selves, and instead more like their Advent Children (and general non ff7 appearances) selves: aerith and sephiroth. Sephiroth's character being NOT like ff7 originals is more irritating personally. Because yeah... i get it. As a sequel to original ff7, this Remake/Rebirth Sephiroth might be from the future (so he is Advent Children esque version of himself), hes had time post losing his way to really get all mysterious and hyperfocus on cloud and be a looming vague pest. But the thing is... in the original ff7 the reason we learn hes used to be a SOLDIER war hero, is so the cast and you are confused why he kills Shinra people. Then you and the casy figure: well cloud remembers sephiroth finding out hes a monster cause of shinra, justifiable for sephiroth to hate shinra. Unflrtunately Sephiroth also decided to hate ALL HUMANS. Then you later find out maybe Jenovas controlling Sephiroth/one with him etc. But the key here is you find out at some point in original ff7 that sephiroths goal is mainly Destroy World because Hes not Human. Rebirth... does not clarify this very important and very BASIC point ever. Maybe it assumes its so basic that as a ff7 fan you should know.. but plenty of new players wont. Rebirth clarifies yes sephiroth may be Jenovas kid... but the whole MOM, im an ancient like Jenova! Oh Jenova isnt an ancient oh well fuck humans anyway! Either way fuck humans ill kill them all! None of those Very basic sephiroth motives are clarified much. I felt Rebirth did good explaining the Gi and the black materia. But to make Sephiroths motives so vague, why he wants to end the world SO VAGUE, why hes in clouds head (the black robes are everywhere but the game HINTS theure sephiroth clones but never actually spells it out eevn though its a BASIC KEY DETAIL). Now... because Rebirth is a sequel, it makes sense... if hes Advent Children Sephiroth he already knows he isnt an ancient, knows hes Jenovas kid, knows he wants to fuck with Cloud specifically now and the world generally but not necessarily so singlemindedly desperate to just kill all humans. So yes, Sephiroth is in character for his future self... but i feel like even with him less SINGLE MINDED and freshly with Jenova, clarifying some basics of his Original old timeline motives... would be helpful to new fans. So it annoyed me. I think the biggest Not Good writing decision in Rebirth was to never fucking clarify Sephiroths original basic goal: im not human like mom, hate humans, kill world. I suspect the writers either thought players KNEW so hinted instead of being on the nose (but to new players theyll just be CONFUSED), or they plan to explain those basic things in game 3. Which seems stupid to me and shouldve been explained earlier.

And Aerith. As a sequel? She remembered the other timeline which explained some moments she was calmer than original ff7. She forgot, then toward the end of Rebirth she seems to have remembered the other timeline again and that she needs to die and X happens etc. So her being calmer based on the plot they wrote for Rebirth? Makes sense. However... i deeply miss her Original FF7 personality where as an Ancient she freaks out a bit LIKE sephiroth, paralleling him, that shes not human, a freak, that it all rests on her as only one ancient left. Their overwhelm parallels each other. Aerith is more scared in original ff7 of being the only ancient, of what it means, of finding out more. That fear is slightly there in Rebirth but WAY LESS. its only a little in cosmo canyon and almost gone in the Ancient Temple. In ff7 expanded universe theyve changed her character over time to a calmer wiser goddess type like in Advent Children, and so yes in Rebirth when she remembers the alrernate timeline it makes sense she'd be calmer like her future self. However... i miss original ff7 aerith. I miss her initial shock, loneliness, fear of the weight on her shoulders, not being sure what to do. Her and Sephiroth, because of Rebirth writing them to know more, act more like their future selves and so. While it is in character and logical to the Rebirth plot. Its also sad to me that anyone who only plays Remake and Rebirth simply wont see what they were like WHEN these revelations were brand new shocks to them, forcing them to react and grow and fear. I dont think Aerith is written bad, i just think because this game is in reality is a Sequel im just personally mourning that it didnt have that as much of the original Aerith's personality who was afraid and discovering. Mostly her Rebirth personality is similar to original ff7s. But in some high tension moments shes way calmer and wiser than in the original. I miss getting to see some of that before to after character growth.

Oh and. The aerith dies scene. Does it make sense in context of Rebirth written as a sequel? Sure. Is it impactful? Not as much as the original. In Rebirth, theres a scene where Cloud is losing control and listening to Sephiroth and attacks Tifa, causing Tifa to fall into mako. That scene is high stakes and emotional and lands WELL. Later in Rebirth, when Aerith actually dies, Cloud has not lost control and isnt the one who killed her. Its fine, as a sequel to ff7 i get the choice to make him able to stop himself from hurting her. But it does make the scene less impactful: now cloud will NOT be blaming himself for her death, will not be struggling with the guilt and fear, and will not be as terrified of losing control again. Since he wasnt the one who attacked her. And since he saw her ghost/something post death, hes not even sad or grieving her. He thinks shes fine. These 2 things will result in a WILDLY DIFFERENT cloud moving forward than the original ff7 one who very much was distraught and horrified he did that. So like... as a sequel its fine these changes were made. But death wise... i wouldve prefered like, cloud drops her from up high qhile struggling with whispers, or doesnt get to her in time and sephiroth stabs her when shes too far away. The way Rebirth did it, cloud was near her, she gets stabbed anyway. It seemed to me almost like the writing was trying to vaguely or softly kill her, like somehow making it vague would make it hurt less. Yeah it did hurt less... but id rather if a character i love dies that its a Worthy Scene for them to die in. A strong meaningful scene that makes me cry, that felt like the loss it is. The Rebirth scene... couldve done its plot as intended and just make Cloud farther away or something and it wouldve been better to me. Maybe the writing point was Cloud thinks its fine, and its still not, and he cant even feel distaught because he cant tell if she died or if things are fine? Thats the only angle i can see where maybe the death scene did what the writers wanted? Anyway. Aeriths moms death made me sob, Aeriths death did not. It is what it is. I feel like Tifa, crying in my heart off screen, the game acting like Cloud like its fine and it looks fine to him but im confused like Tifa aa to why hes (the game) treating it that way. Lol.

Overall? Um 4/5. 8/10? Really solid square enix game, Amazing as far as final fantasy 7 SEQUELS go. It has one main weak spot in treating Sephiroth fully mysterious when a few clarifying details could help the game stand on its own Better (and make Sephiroth a stronger enemy character instead of a vaguer one). The other weak spots are more my personal preference and mourning the parts of ff7 original i miss and had wished were in this, but as this is a Sequel in a parallel timeline i dont feel the parts effect Rebirth on its own merit. It IS the best Square Enix game ive played in ages, at least since Final Fantasy X or XII. I thought it was better than FF13, FF15, definitely better than ff7 remake (i hate time wasting dungeons and bad pacing its a dealbreaker), and than kh3 (although kh3 was quite good for a kh sequel). I get to play FF16 next, which will hopefully be as good as Rebirth or better! Since its also on the PS5 and clearly from Rebirth, the square enix main team can do excellent combat, open world, level design, mini games, side quests, and good pacing now. So i'll just have to see if ff16's story is better. And i am guessing it hopefully will be, since Rebirth as an ff7 sequel has some weirdness to its plot quite typical of ff7 extended universe stories like Crisis Core and Dirge of Cerberus. Whereas ff16 is a brand new plot, so they have nothing preventing them from a tight excellent written story except themselves. I am curious how BIG ff16s world will be though. Because ff7 Rebirths world was MASSIVE and very full of stuff, tons of mini games, cool stuff to find or do or little character side quests. If ff16 also takes me 60 hours to beat the main story its gonna be thw longest final fantasy main title ive ever played.

Rebirth is very replayable if you enjoyed it. I will probably replay ff7 original soon.

[hiraganasakura]

Man I rly genuinely wish I could play CotC. The soundtrack is filled with absolute bangers amd the story seems genuinely interesting. But alas. It is a mobile gatcha game. And my brain cannot focus on mobile gatcha games to save my life even if the subject is my literal hyperfixation apparently? Like I've tried and it doesn't work lol