#xillia worldbuilding

[yume-x-hanabi]

The localization added a line to Milla's previous line to make her call him 'boy' (which doesn't happen in the original) just so they could have Jude make a remark about them being close in age (in JP he just says his name to introduce himself).

There's another instance here:

Karla's just revealed Gaius became king at 22. In the original, Jude muses that'd be his age in 7 years. Here they're making the gap appear smaller with that wording.

(They've also altered the way Gaius and Presa address him iirc, having Gaius call him 'boy' when he originally doesn't, and having Presa not call him 'boy' when she's actually the only character who does 😂)

So yeah, seems like there was a deliberate attempt to make Jude seem older than he really is in the localization. It's kinda funny when you think about it.

[the-east-art]

Musing on JRPGS

Just like some stuff I've been thinking about. This will mostly talk about Tales of games that I've played and Final Fantasy VII (kind of reviews of these games?)

I'm putting it under the readmore because this will probably be long and rambly!

SO quick background. I love video games but I don't actually play a ton of them, I get busy with a lot of other stuff so while I have a passion for games I would never call myself an expert. Growing up my parents did not want us playing video games, and we only ever had consoles or games because of my rogue grandparents and uncle I believe. I grew up with a Gamecube with no memory cartridge, so games I played we always started over, or had to keep the GameCube on for weeks at a time. Eventually we got one, but that was in middle school.

Most of my experience with JRPGS has been in the last six years. I met a lovely friend with a passion for Tales of games and have slowly been making my way through the catalogue with them. (they're @mewnia and do awesome art!)

Anyways JRPGS! So I have noticed a couple main ideas that guide a JRPG. Most of them are defined by their lead characters story, the world building/magic system, the fighting system, and the cast of supporting characters. Different games are stronger or weaker in the various areas.

The Tales of series and the Final Fantasy series are like sister franchises to me. They both are a long line of titles, all mostly standalone, that deal with the same general magic concepts of spirits and stuff but play around with the rules these elements play by and the role they have in the story itself. My first JRPG was really Tales of Symphonia, and while I remember really loving it, I also played it way back in Middle School. I could talk about it, but not in a way that's analytical enough for this discussion. There is also kind of a classic JRPG mid game twist, where we discover that the world is not what we thought and reveal the 'true' plot of the game.

The Tales of series while not the most popular series in the west I really love the general design elements that they choose to go with. I feel like they're just stylized enough to stand out (with the exception of Arise, which makes me worry for the future of the franchise) and their designs walk an interesting line between complex and and just approachable enough for an artist.

Tales of Vesperia - This was the first one I played with my friend. The overall story isn't anything special in my opinion, but where this game really shines is the the side characters. This may be one of if not the best JRPG I've played so far that has the characters dynamics not only feel so good, but has each characters narrative arc integrate into the main story in such an intuitive way. Many JRPGs I've played will have the main plot basically come to a standstill in order to address the side characters stories. However each character in this game has a significant relevance to the main plot, and while circumstance brings them together, it's their choices that keeps them together. Because you connect so much with the characters, this game made me have some real emotions during its' various character twists (I'm looking at Raven here) Although this games mid game twist isn't anything crazy.

Tales of the Abyss - Boasting some of my favorite character designs, this games overall plot is definitely one of my faves. I think it does its' musical motif really well in the worldbuilding. The main character specifically has some of the best written progression and development over the course of the game, which does a good job at feeling real. Both this game and Vesperia has a relatively simple battle system, but I especially like how I feel like I'm really in control of how I play my character, and that I'm making choices in battles. Again I think most of the credit to this game goes to its' good world-building.

Tales of Xillia - This one boasts some of my least favorite character designs! congrats! I just felt like the designs are too complex and as a group not harmonious. When all the characters in Abyss stand together I was very happy. When all these characters stand together it looks like a mess. That being said the mid game plot twist in this game KICKS ASS. I LOVE IT. The issues in this game are one of my faves in the moral complexity, with lots of attention put towards how we prioritize certain people in our societies. I recall enjoying the fighting in this game too, and this is the first game I think I played with a really unique ability to customize your characters with little silly props. 10/10 all games should have this.

Xillia 2 - I will just touch on this one briefly. I have big love for the protag in this game, and it has good world building. I love alternate universes. Getting to see the paths the main characters took after the events of the first game is nice, although I would have appreciated a couple more new characters in the team. The affinity building dynamic was unique to this game and something I particularly enjoyed. Ludger is also very hot. there I said it.

Tales of Zestiria - This game is, uh, fine. Designs are fine. Character dynamics range from really good to just meh. The story is pretty vanilla, which I think is on purpose? Since its like a King Arthur retelling. I feel like this game has a really weird battle system where your attacks are judged by combo rather than direction button presses, which made me feel less in control of my characters fighting. However the magical girl merge mechanic in this game made up for it. Despite being such a vanilla story, I also found myself really confused a lot? Like the names and stuff for some reason were really hard to follow? But that's okay because this game sets the stage for....

Tales of Berseria - a prequel to Zestiria, but best played after it. The vanilla tone of Zestiria perfectly sets you up for the INCREDIBLE story of Berseria, where you play as not only a morally grey character, but in many ways an actual villain. The character dynamics in this game are really fun, as most characters are also leaning into the morally grey archetype, versus some of the characters that are kind of trapped with the group but are more archetypical good characters. It ends up really making you look at the story from a lot of different angles. The designs can be hit or miss in this game, ranging from awesome to 'I know you could do better'. The fighting in this game is one of my faves, requiring some real thought and the ability to have unique abilities taken from enemies spices things up a lot. This game is, without a doubt, a tragedy. And while by this point I was kind of tired of Tales of games never giving it's protags happy endings, I can't deny that this ideas was a theme throughout all the game and all the characters arcs.

Alright so, Final Fantasy VII

So, because I have played so many Tales of games, it is with the eyes of a tales of player that I analyzed Final Fantasy when I finally played it a month or so ago. Final Fantasy VII was an archetype game, defining a genre. That means that it is both very good, and also very lacking in the quality of life additions that we take for granted in more current games. So I won't belabor you with those critiques, just know that they're there. The designs in this game are good! very different from the Tales of series that I know, these character designs are a little more grungy looking, but overall I think the team looks good all stranding together and in the world, which is what matters the most. The magic system is something very unique, with the idea that the lifeblood of the world is also the knowledge of the past, and the materia system is simple enough for a beginner but also complex enough that if you should choose you can really dig your teeth into it. I personally really love the story of this game, both as it played with trials of the main cast, and the political power of Shirna in the face of the apocalypse. I think it's particularly telling and realistic that even in such a circumstance, the government will attempt to fight both the apocalypse AND the main cast rather than uniting. Character arcs are VERY hit or miss. We have some arcs that incorporate perfectly into the main story such as Aerith's, some that are only there to support the main characters (Tifa), some that stop the main plot in order to be pursued off to the side (Red XIII, Barret, Yuffie), and some that are barely there is at all (Cait Sith and Vincent). Luckily we have the remake in the form of future hope that some of these characters will get the spotlight and attention I feel they need.

Anyway uh if you read this all thanks! Mostly I wanted to get some of my thoughts down so I wouldn't forget it. IDK if I'll ever make a JRPG of my own, but I do really love JRPGS. I find the large cast to always be very fun, and the different ways that the games build up a world around similar building blocks to make unique stories is really interesting. Sometimes these worlds are the main focus, and sometimes they are just a beautiful backdrop for the plot.

[sumireviku]

It really is. peculiar how X2 is impossible to truly “fix”, because the FDs only have meaning because you know about X1’s story so it can’t be a standalone story, but there’s no real way to make the new worldbuilding fit so it shouldn’t be a sequel, but also the Kresniks storyline obviously can’t exist in a true Xillia sequel and even if you fixed the theme of “guess we’ll destroy the rest of the multiverse to save ourselves!” the lore is still a disaster

It’s fascinating in how so much of it just doesn’t work when you look at the big picture and yet you can’t actually take these pieces apart. It’s such a wreck and I adore it.

[mcalhenwrites]

I think your writing is great, and I wish I could write as well as you! I especially love your worldbuilding.

If anyone is giving you concrit that makes you feel demoralized, then they don’t know how to give concrit. Constructive criticism should always in the end leave you encouraged to keep writing and improve. They probably just aren’t your audience and don’t realize that their tastes aren’t objective truth.

I can only really talk about ao3, but it’s really difficult to get readers for original works that aren’t straight up porn. Even with fanfic, stats will always be better for a poorly written fic in a popular ship with popular tropes than a masterfully written fic in a dead fandom or unpopular ship. I really wish there was a place with the openness of ao3 for original works! But as it is, please don’t let stats affect your confidence in your writing.

-Your fan :)

Thank you ;A; I don't think the intention is to leave CONcrit so much as just tear me down. I know with the fandom situation (will not go into it too deep, but that affected tons of authors of the same ship) was more about a territorial pissing contest that made it hard to want to publicly share anything I wrote for the ship. Other writers were viewed as a threat and competition to be smothered out... and I just don't have the spoons on any given day to do more than crawl backwards into my cave and let them have their damn spotlight. Wasn't in it for the spotlight when I used to have panic attacks (and still do) if I get TOO much attention. xD; (I want my writing to be popular, but also I do not want to be perceived, and I want my writing to be just enough to make a living.) Funny enough, that experience was such an outlier for fandom experiences. I spent a lot of time in the Tales of Xillia fandom, where most of the artists and writers were cheering on others and inspiring them. It was such great energy. I was so clueless for someone in his 30s that fandom could be that hostile, which is saying a lot since I've been into FF7 and Kingdom Hearts since the early '00s... (iykyk...) My AO3 stats are mostly fine. Seasons didn't even have any smut and is my most popular work ever, even over anything I wrote in fandom. I noticed a dip in readership as it continued, but that became more about my worries that it had gotten too big, plus... I have been told frequently that my endings are always messy and often rushed. I've worked hard on fixing that, but maybe now they're too slow. Or I just haven't done as good at improving my endings as I thought I had? I don't know. And yes, there's a huge lack of comments on AO3 too. That's a general thing, not just my experience. One reason why I'm determined to always leave comments as best I can, even if I have low spoon days and can only just leave a short one. (I also... postpone reading a lot if I'm low on spoons, bc if I am too out of it to comment, I won't read until I CAN do that...) But like... the kudos and bookmarks are not bad. Generally. Especially for my original works. They're better than expected in some cases, disappointing in others... I don't think reception is ever consistent to be fair. :') The main thing is that I post to the void of social media, and social media never interacts. My average interaction to my writing-related posts is 0 notes/likes/etc. That should say something about how much it's worth to other people. (To myself, it's the world. I think the only thing that bothers to keep me alive, is that I can write.) I really wanted to publish some of my original stories and at least contribute a little to my financial situation, but if no one is showing interest in my writing, why would they buy it? Not really difficult to think they wouldn't. (And as far as the whole "why not just write as a hobby and get a job" argument: I'm disabled and have no skills, and I do not handle being under pressure with serving the public whatsoever, I just cry or get flustered and break down, and if I see anyone get mad at a child in a store, I just SPIRAL. As for the skills, I'm not kidding: I do not have any. I never went to college or trade school, I've never had a single extracurricular... I'm honestly surprised I went to public school, considering my dad didn't want to buy school supplies and said education was stupid. So almost everything I've learned is by sheer willpower, because I struggled in school with almost nothing but Fs from 6th grade until my last three years of alternative high school... and I went an extra year.) I'm just desperate to survive at this point, and writing is the one thing I can do... (Or thought I could...)

I want to add that I'm still writing. I've been working on my stories and even editing some of the older ones to polish them. A part of me doesn't want to give up the dream of at least self-publishing and selling even 50 copies of each book I release (better than nothing), but... another part of me is also like... Hahaha keep it to yourself, Cal. I've been told that I should plenty of times. That it should be enough that I even wrote in the first place. But... weird, that comes from people who constantly post their own writing. As if they also want readers. Huh.

[taleslations]

ToX 2 Unused Ideas

(For unused main plot ideas, see here.)

There are a few more unused ideas that can be found in the World Guidance book, namely fractured dimensions, some ideas about the Kresnik bros, and Fractured Milla’s personalities. Here is a direct translation of what the writers had to say about it:

Unused Fractured Dimension Ideas

A world without Leia

The party enters the fractured dimension in Leronde, and by talking to NPC they realize they don’t know Leia. They discover that Leia’s mother Sonia married a different man than Leia’s father. By talking to him, they learn that a long time ago, he wanted to ask her out but never got the courage to. That small difference was enough to prevent Leia from existing. As in the prime dimension, Jude went to med school and the world goes on mostly unchanged. This feeds into Leia’s self-doubts but she also treasures the luck of being born in her world.

A world where Ludger rejected his fate

In this world, fractured Ludger has abandoned his mission, because he didn’t want to hurt anyone anymore - and besides, since he comes from a fractured dimension, he knew that he was doomed to disappear one day, so he might as well spend what’s left of his life as a normal person. Prime Ludger destroys this world with conflicted feelings.

Lady Nadia’s vacation

A dimension where Agria (Nadia) lives as a noble lady of House Travis. She is attending a festival in Hamil with Leia and Elize. She is teaching Leia a dance to pray for good harvest, but she suddenly freezes, because Gaius, the king of Rieze Maxia, appeared in her line of sight. Pushed by Leia and Elize, Nadia nervously speaks to him. When she comes back, she hits Leia to hide her embarrassment and whispers “…He’s even cooler than I thought.” The three of them laugh and fade away among the masses of festivalgoers. Prime Leia, who’d been observing them, feels her heart break when she remembers the fate of the Agria she knew. But she swears strongly to never forget her.

An ironic fate

A world where Milla eventually destroyed Exodus, but later than in F4216’s fractured Milla’s world. Fractured Jude works with Professor Haus and they’re making big progress in… spyrix research! This fractured Milla tries to hinder their research and fractured Jude manages to escape her and entrust his data to prime Leia. When the party goes back to the prime dimension, the data turns to dust…

Gaius and Wingul

The initial idea was one of a world where Wingul was ruling Auj Oule as the Long Dau chief. In that world, he had captured Gaius, his nemesis, and was about to have him publicly executed. He even used Karla to torment him. However, that Gaius could not let go of his royal pride and abandoned his sister. Watching that, prime Gaius would slay both fractured Wingul and fractured Gaius! Gaius is a good character, but if you leave him be, he has a tendency to solve everything by himself, which means trouble for us (laugh). So we gave him a role where he could properly judge Ludger’s choices instead.

Unused Ludger & Julius episode ideas

Wrongly accused Julius

Because of plotting by someone who hates Julius, Julius is arrested for a murder he did not commit. To get it over with, the authorities try to force Julius to confess. But he doesn't want his brother to be known as the brother of a murderer. One day, the authorities warn Julius that Ludger is in danger and say that they need him to save him. So Julius confesses to the crime. He is then forced to write an apology to the victim's family and serves as an example of a model prisoner. He gets out three years later, but can't show himself to Ludger when he believes him to be a murderer, so he helps him behind the scenes.

Murderer Julius

Ludger has a sickly twin sister. The three of them lived happily together as the sole family they had left in the world, but one day Julius kills the sister when Ludger is away, then disappears without a word. The truth was, the sister asked him to kill her because she was sick of fighting against her illness. Julius at first refused but then she tried to commit suicide. He managed to stop her, but seeing her in agony, he made the decision to grant her her wish, especially because he didn't want Ludger to have to do it. He becomes a wanted man because of that, and their happy life comes to an end.

Unused Fractured Milla Personality Ideas

Cheerful Type: Likes talking and overreacts to everything so she's a bit annoying. But she's an honest girl and thus hard to dislike.

Normal Person Type: The type to get involved against their will. She was just living her life, but got caught into troubles. She's just a normal person, so people like her.

Little Devil Type: Greedy. Likes playing pranks, hates boredom. Changes attitude depending on the person.

Evil Type: Cunning. Always thinks about her own profit and risks before acting, doesn't care about others. Is lonely deep down, but rarely shows such weakness.

Modest/Pure Type: The kind of cute girl men like.

Down-to-earth Type: The kind of girl women can empathize with. Sometimes shows a cheeky side.

(Source: ToX2 Official World Guidance Book)

[felques]

Lately, I’ve been listening to some songs that make me think about Indispensable a lot. I don’t tend to add commentary on the story when I post things about this AU, so I thought I’d put down some of my thoughts here.

Different Power Dynamics in Rashugal and Elympios

It’s fairly obvious that the existence of things like Sovereigns and Varlets would affect the power dynamics of the Xillia world. I haven’t put a lot of thought into how it could have potentially affected the past of Rashugal, but I imagine it would have added a level of tension among the noble houses. A past monarch could potentially decree that a Sovereign could not sit on the throne, due to the potential power imbalance created.

Of course, I’ve also played with the idea of Nachtigal taking the throne as a Varlet. Potentially with Rowen as a Sovereign. And, in some future dimension or something, Agria would probably have manifested as a Varlet.

...But for the most part, I just try not to talk about Rashugal and changed dynamics in the context of the actual story. Ahaha.

Considering there are Elympion elements that come into play in the story (the most obvious being the earlier discovery of Elympion spyrixes to inspire the creation of boosters), I do have to think about Elympios and Exodus. The dynamic of Sovereigns and Varlets don’t exist in Elympios, primarily because most Elympions don’t have mana lobes capable of channeling the power necessary to be considered a terrifying threat like a Varlet. The rarity of Varlets and Chromatus users would make it extremely rare to see an overlap in the conditions, and for the purposes of the story, it’s never happened before.

Different Character Motives

I like to think that Gaius is very much the same person in this AU, if simply because being a Sovereign would not have directly affected his life, and he’s the type of person who wouldn’t let it (or want it to) define him. He’s actually pretty uncomfortable with his dynamic with Lin because of his own feelings of rejecting being a Sovereign and Lin’s resentment.

Lin holds a lot more aggressive bitterness towards his lot in life than he does in canon. He’s lost sight of what he wanted for himself before his Varlet powers manifested, and being seen as a tool and experiment did little to help matters like that. He still protects himself by distancing himself and putting up walls, and his relationships with people in general are strained because he sees a lot of people as handlers and manipulators.

Nils still struggles with his loyalty to the Long Dau tribe. He wants the best for Lin no matter what the situation, but he doesn’t trust Taurus or Gaius’ motives for much the same reason he doesn’t trust the Long Dau council -- none of them put Lin’s humanity first.

[idledee]

i do not know the slightest things abt tales of, but your art makes me want to so bad,,, it's honestly so ethereal!!!

any tips for getting into the series/general where to start?

;__; asdflkj this is one of the highest compliments ever tyyy

(these are just the ones ive played so take that as you will! im sure there are better rec lists elsewhere ;')

if you dont mind a little outdated gameplay and LOVE expansive worldbuilding: symphonia

if you want more updated gameplay/graphics and love a tight storyline that doesnt mess around and a messy mc: berseria

if you love character growth, interesting party dynamics, incredible worldbuilding and a hard magic system: abyss

if you love found family dynamics and fun cast that bounce off each other really well, just a fun little romp and dont mind that the story is a bit lackluster: vesperia

if you love sorey and mikleo: zestiria

honestly you cant go wrong with any of them so i would go with whichever is most accessible for you bc the series span quite a range of consoles! i started with the vesperia definite edition on the switch, which is also available on steam along with berseria, zestiria, and symphonia. steam constantly run sales on these AND if you google "tales of ___ steam code" you can usually get them for even cheaper (got some for like 3-4 bucks o_o). if you're able to emulate (shhh) ive played abyss on the ps2 emulator and also plan to play graces and the xillias the same way. anyways!! lmk if you have any questions and have fun if you ever decide to start!!!!!!!!! OH I ALMOST FORGOT if you dont want to play viddy games zestiria, symphonia, eternia, and phantasias also have animes (and vesperia has a prequel movie)! theyre all pretty good haha

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Fic Questionnaire

@ford-ye-fiji tagged me to do this; thank you. ^_^

How many works do you have on AO3? 106

What's your total AO3 word count? 395,897

How many fandoms have you written for and what are they? 27 fandoms, though for most of them it’s only like one or two. They are Akatsuki no Yona, Bungou Stray Dogs, My Hero Academia, Hunter x Hunter, Tales of Zestiria, Tales of Berseria, Tales of Graces, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of Xillia, Tales of Hearts, Tales of the Rays, Professor Layton, Noragami, Pandora Hearts, Dai Gyakuten Saiban, A Series of Unfortunate Events, RWBY, Tangled the series, Doki Doki Literature Club, Ori and the Blind Forest, Vanitas no Carte, Genshin Impact, Kiznaiver, Boku dake ga Inai Machi, Kuroshitsuji, Ai the Somnium Files, and Charlotte.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos? “Pictures, Posters, and Tender Beauty”, “Plus Est En Vous”, “My Reason”,  “I Am Here, Too”, and “A Bandage for my Scars, and your Heart” ...Not surprised that four out of five of those are MHA fics, but I will never understand how that Tangled the series one I did got so insanely popular..... maybe because the show director himself acknowledged it. 0_0

Do you respond to comments, why or why not? I try to, though I have to shamefully admit I pick and choose which ones I respond to. I appreciate every comment I get, of course, every writer does, but idk, I just feel like a broken record responding to all similar shorter comments with “Thank you so much!!! I’m so happy you liked it <3″ or something like that... Is that cruel of me? >_> I also feel weird responding to comments on my super old stuff, because aside from a few exceptions, I don’t really like most of my old fics anymore alkgklflkkl and I barely remember them enough to be able to give a reasonable response to comments on those. Instead I just put all my energy into responding to longer, more detailed comments, because with those I actually have more to work with to say back... But again, I love all my comments!! I’m really sorry if I don’t respond to your comment, it doesn’t mean I’m not grateful, I just don’t know what to say back OTL

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending? Haaaah, there are a few, but proooobably the most angsty ending would be in “Smile, and maybe tomorrow, you’ll see the sun.” Since the thing is basically 12k words of agonizingly drawn-out All Might death... :’) Though I meant for the actual ending to be somewhat hopeful/bittersweet? and I surely have other ones that have more painful endings... But that’s the obvious one that comes to mind, since I’ve had multiple people yell at me for it. :)

Have you ever received hate on a fic? I can’t remember any instances of outright hate, but I’ve gotten some... odd comments every once in a while... Or just some annoying criticism that the person didn’t intend to be mean about, I don’t think, but that realllly wasn’t warranted. These comments are very rare though.

Do you write smut? If so what kind? Noooo way in hell lol

Have you ever had a fic stolen? ....I mean, not that I know of!

Have you ever had a fic translated? Yeah, I think I had at least one someone asked to translate into Russian, although they put it on FF.net lol

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No... I really want to though. Multiple friends and I have planned different ones, but we haven’t gotten around to doing any of them yet because I’m into different fandoms atm and also dealing with health problems that distract me.... My ex-friend and I had a major one that was in the planning stages, but then she stopped being my friend so it never got off the ground. :’) I’m still upset about that...

What's your all time favorite ship? Mmmmm that’s hard; I don’t ship that much at all, so although I have a few favorite ships, one in particular doesn’t really stand out to me as my hardcore OTP.... Buuut I guess I would say Snow/Serah from FFXIII; I love ff13 so much, it’s so special to me, and those two are just the absolute sweetest and the heart and soul of the game 🥺❤️ I haven’t written anything for them or ff13 in general, but maybe someday.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will? I only ever have one WIP at a time, so..... Hopefully not my current long one, I am constantly trying to slap myself for thinking, intimidated as I am by it with all my ideas for it and all the research I need to do. :’)

What are your writing strengths? I think I’m really good at writing characters’ emotions... the emotions they show, and everything they’re feeling internally. I really like the stream-of-consciousness style of internal monologue I’ve started using within the last few years; I think it’s very... cathartic? In general I just think I’m good at writing softness, cause I definitely feel the soft feels rereading my stuff lol

What are your writing weaknesses? Motivation.... starting a writing session and not getting distracted.... ADHD.... what do I do. :’) Although I just said I like that stream-of-consciousness style I use, I often feel like I use it too much, or things get redundant, and too wordy and overwhelming, bah..... I’m also shit at just.... knowing things, like worldbuilding, but like, real-world stuff that everyone knows, but I’ve been living under a rock my whole life and not done a lot of things that are normal for most other people, so I struggle with that in my writing, which is why all my fics not-so-subtly eek around mentioning things like food and irl places and so much else, haaah.... now I’m got myself writing 1800s Victorian London; someone save me

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? Ehhhh only do it veryyyy sparingly, like when a character is startled and might briefly revert to their native language, or something similar. I just did that in one of my recent fics, actually, and looked up a few Russian words, being super anal about getting it right.... and I still got a comment correcting my Russian, even though it was only like 3 words in the entire thing, with nothing else to say about the rest of the fic... it was a little frustrating :’)

What was the first fandom you ever wrote for? Akatsuki no Yona/Yona of the Dawn. That was the first series that really got me into fandom and making online friends, and gave me the courage to try writing fics; I’m so grateful to it for that, and it still remains one of my favorite mangas <3 Ah, to be able to pump out fics as easily and quickly as I did back then...

What's your favorite fic you've ever written? I think it’s still “Manufactured Hearts, Real Happiness”, the sole Tales of the Abyss fic I’ve written. TotA is my favorite game of all time, and I wrote this for a Tales big bang that happened a while back; it turned out much longer than I ever anticipated, one of my longest fics to date, and pretty much exactly how I wanted it to be, which is always the best feeling... I was so happy to feel like I did my favorite game justice. :’) Now.... my dream is for my current WIP to become my new favorite, if I can pull it off right; we’ll see :’)

Uhhhh I’ll tag @sixtyfourk , @cenally , @arcane-palm , @kyoukalay , @magicmetslogic , and @evevoli03 , if any of you want to do this~

[b1a4seeyou]

A-5, B-4, C-3, D-10, E-6, F-8, G-9

Oh me oh my, Anon. I see what you're trying to ask me about. 👀👌

These answers will contain majority of the Tales of Series spoilers and VERY LONG so heads up!

From this ask! :

A-5 - Favorite major antagonists

I couldn't tell who's my favorite main villian but it's either Chronus or Julius (wait, does he count as a villain? Idk but he fought the others anyway xP) Something about their reasoning to stop the team's tracks is kinda... something. Well, Chronus is more to giving the team the "trial" but Julius knowing he'll be part of the fractured piece and trying to stop them from going any further just SADDENS ME. He already knew it might affect to Ludger, thus the bad end, and forcing himself to work under mister greedman, Bisley so Ludger won't get involved is just JWOEBFOCJV. JULIUS DESERVES TO BE HAPPY WITH THE LIFE HE HAS BUT NOOOOOO, THE GAME JUST LIKE TO WRECK OUR HEARTS ;;

B-4 - Favorite parent-child relationships

Okay, I'll be honest here. *INHALES* The Lhant boys and their parents, especially their mom. Yes, the boys ended up separated, Hubert as a step son to.... I forgot his name aksnldkc, and Asbel went to this knights academy. Even tho these two went separate ways, their parents still love them and let them have their own choice. Tho except rebellious Asbel skdjfkcn. Their mom still thinks of them, even after the lost of the father, as if theyre still little baby boys. Mom instincts, man. They still treat them as babies even theyre all grown adults. XD If I'm not mistaken, there's this one cutscene where Hubert and the mom had a little teatime together and talk about how she misses him being inseparable to the big bro and honestly, I giggled and cried at the same time bc it's JUST TOO PURE!!!! We all know he still loves his family even tho he still has the grudge but hey, it's mom and son bonding!! And of course, their father still loves them even tho Hubert is taken away and had a fight with Asbel. He always does. ;; And Asbel repaying him by keeping his kingdom safe and continuing the quest just shows how he tries to prove his father that he'll take the responsibility he left!

C-3 - Favorite worldbuilding

OH, THIS IS INTERESTING!!!!! I'll have to say Xillia one and two's world. The combination of modern and tradition made me happy to see!! Focusing on each region from both games intrigues me to walk around the city and also around nature. uwu. Vesperia's travel to one continent to another is pure genius. I love it~!! Oh!!! Forgot about Berseria/Zestiria's too. Their plain fields and caves are all stunning 👌👌

D-10 - Favorite green place locations

WBPSFJCOVJ HOW CAN I PICK ONE IF THERE'S SO MANY OF THEM XDD. Maybe the majority of Zestiria's fields count cause there all just... green. Jsowlnekfv

E-6 - Favorite event battles

THE KATZ KORNER BATTLE IN ZESTIRIA BECAUSE I CACKLED A LOT WHILE PLAYING. FREAKING LUDGER AND JUDE TURTLEZ. AMAZING 😂😂

F-8 - Favorite character theme song

Ah. I see youre making me emotional over one song uwu. Does Hymm of Proof count?

G-9 - Favorite school costume

Too broke to get these akandockv

[fontasticcrablettes]

Have you ever heard of theories of Vesperia being a distant prequel to Symphonia? If so what your thoughts on them?

I’ve heard them yeah.  It can be fun to try to tie all the games together (I recall coming up with some theories for how Abyss leads to Vesperia based on some of the easter eggs scattered through the game), but I don’t think they have any actual basis.

Most of the theory amounts to Vesperia creating mana and naming the summon spirits, but these are just Tales staples.  It could just as easily be a prequel to Xillia, which also has mana  and the same names for the summon spirits (and also, the globe Gnome sits on in Xillia is a map of Terca Lumireis).   The summon spirit names are also used in Abyss (not the spirits themselves, but the names are used for months and worldbuilding things).  Also, it’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, but Vesperia’s Light spirit/deity is named Rem, as in Abyss, and not Symphonia’s Aska/Luna (listen to the incantation the High Bishops make; they invoke the name of Rem for their light magic).

So yeah it’s a fun theory and coming up with arguments to justify wild theories and plot possibilities, but I have no illusion of them actually being canon.  Tales has done “this game is a distant prequel to an older game” twice now (Symphonia/Berseria) and it’s always a lot more obvious and with way more concrete connections.  

[carnelianwings]

I don't mean this in an accusatory way (I'm asking because, honestly, this is what happened to me), but did the Berseria fandom comparing it to Zestiria negatively color your opinion of Berseria? You seemed much more positive about Berseria and Velvet's character when you were updating us about your progress while playing it for the first time, and it seems like only after you finished it and looked at the fandom that you started voicing negative opinions about it.

I might have put it less bluntly before, but there’s a reason every Berseria gameplay video I have for Velvet has her in some other outfit other than her default - usually the pirate one. I’ve been pretty much against Velvet’s default outfit from the beginning, comparing it most often to Judith’s and Milla’s for similar levels of skin-bearing fanservice, not to mention some of the ridiculous fanservice shots we get of her, especially in the (somewhat pointless) 2 episodes of Berseria we got jammed into Zestiria’s “adaptation”.

There’s some good parts of Berseria’s writing, and her gameplay and combat is ridiculously fun once you figure out how to keep the Souls incoming for near-infinite combo, and I really liked all the ways the worldbuilding and backstory to Berseria tied it to Zestiria, but to sum up my reasons for why Berseria doesn’t even make my Top 5 for Tales games: (Cutting for Unpopular Your Mileage May Vary Opinions)

The good parts of the writing barely makes up for the ridiculous amounts of Stereotypical Gender Role jokes, especially the incredibly incredibly incredibly tired “men are poor innocent souls and women are just cunning bitches out to make them suffer” ones. These were always present in Tales, but I never felt like they were being rammed down my throat and slapping me in the face the way they were in Berseria.

Eleanor and/or Velvet getting endlessly propositioned by NPCs in town was so bad, I could make a drinking game out of it. As a girl myself, I hate it when that happens, and it made me cringe really badly to see both of them subjected to it.

Velvet’s default outfit. It shouldn’t be as big of an issue as it is, but for fuck’s sake, at least get that girl a proper shirt that fits so I don’t wince every time I see that clasp/brooch above her boobs because that top looks like it’s super uncomfortably tight to the point she shouldn’t be able to fight in it without the damned thing popping off. I’ve said it before too but, if they wanted tastefully sexy, they should have just done the pirate outfit as her default. You still get the awesome cleavage and the sexy in heeled boots look, she just doesn’t look nearly as uncomfortable in it.

All the goddamned “The Lord of Calamity Is Also the Perfect Waifu” moments. I get what they were going for (she’s just a Normal Girl who wanted to grow up, fall in love, have a family), but that one skit cut in of Velvet in an apron and fucking cleaning the inn room because she thinks the room wasn’t cleaned up to her standards left a horrible gagging taste in my mouth.  Oh wait, that was just Stereotypical Gender Roles gagging me again as usual.  It’s also a really narrowly defined definition of what happiness and normal looks like, because, if nothing else, Velvet was providing for Laphicet by hunting boars in the woods. Like give the girl more credit and agency here. If they’d just left it as “she really likes to cook and that’s her hobby, and it’s a tragedy she can’t enjoy that anymore because she lost her sense of taste”, that would have left a less bad taste in my mouth.

Velvet, Phi, and Eleanor had good reasons for seeing everything through to the end, but the reasoning felt weak for Eizen, Magilou, and Rokurou. Especially Rokurou, whose main motivation was “to fight and beat Shigure” and he didn’t really seem to show much growth past that, or at least, seem invested enough to stick around until the final battle. Maybe I missed something in my mad rush to the end so I didn’t get spoiled by Zestiria’s “adaptation”, but as it stands, I keep wondering why Rokurou’s still in the party by the time we hit the final dungeon.

Unpopular, probably incredibly controversial (fandom-wise) opinion here, but in my personal honest-to-Maotelus-and-Maxwell opinion? Milla Maxwell got the better end of the deal for being a female lead, and she had to share that spotlight with Jude. I held that opinion before I finished Xillia, but having finished Jude’s side and 3/4ths of the way through a Milla’s side, I’m even more sure. At the very least, she didn’t get hamstrung nearly as badly for needing to be “the perfect waifu” the way Velvet did.

[yume-x-hanabi]

“I heard that the Stribog Line is departing from Trigleph station today. It’s a special train that has a lounge and other luxury facilities! It floats, so you can hardly feel the shake. It costs a lot and the wait list is humongous, so it’s a bit out of reach for middle-class folk.”

”The Akhalteke Line uses a somewhat more outdated system than the Stribog Line, but it still retains a lot of popularity because of the very distinct sound it makes when running.”

[kaleidographia]

[Review] Tales of Vesperia: The Brightest Star in the Night Sky Doesn't Shine as Strongly as I'd Hoped

Warning: Contains allusive/thematic spoilers.

The day is finally here! Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, containing content previously unseen outside of Japan, has finally been released, so that us English speakers and/or non-PS3 owners can experience the new storylines, characters and features for the first time! Alas, this isn’t a post about that, firstly because this post is going up day-of-release and I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, and secondly because I am writing this from outside of the country and won’t be united with my pre-ordered copy until I return next week, RIP.

Therefore, this post is written from the point of view of someone who has only played the Xbox 360 version. I will try to keep it brief for the sake of not spoiling newcomers to the game, and also hopefully not to complain about things that are fixed (or broken??) in the Definitive Edition.

Tales of Vesperia is a game in the long-running “Tales of” franchise from Bandai Namco, the first one in HD, originally released for the Xbox 360 in 2008, later receiving an updated PS3 version in 2009, exclusive to Japan. Like many older fans, my introduction to the Tales of series was with Tales of Symphonia for the Gamecube, and I fell in love hard; I was therefore extremely excited to play the next games, but unfortunately, I never owned the platforms for them until very recently. Along with Tales of the Abyss, Vesperia and Symphonia form the “holy trinity” of games in the series almost everyone loves; find a Tales fan and ask them their favourite game, and the answer will likely be one of those three (note: I’ve heard very good things about Graces and the two Xillia games, but unfortunately haven’t had a chance to judge them firsthand myself). The three games, while not directly related in terms of plot or setting, share a lot of things in common, as they had mostly the same creative team, often referred to as “Team Symphonia” (as opposed to “Team Destiny” which made most other games since then). One notable difference is the scenario writer, Takashi Hasegawa, while Symphonia and Abyss were written by Takumi Miyajima.

The Tales series is known for its reliance on anime and JRPG tropes, often used in a way that plays off cliché expectations only to then layer plot twists and character development and produce a much deeper experience than what would be expected from the get-go. When used effectively, these methods produce a story that is both fun and emotionally challenging. Tales of Vesperia is no different, offering a cast of archetypes that should be highly recognizable to those familiar with the genre, and yet this may be best set of characters in a Tales game. The party has impressively good banter, chemistry and dynamics and several scenes had me laughing out loud or yelling, and I never had a bad time watching their relationships unfold.

Unfortunately, the game spares little time fleshing out backstories or learning more about each individual character outside of the main plot. By the end, I was left wanting, as the cast was so endearing and vibrant, yet I knew next to nothing about them aside from what had been relevant to show onscreen. I longed for more information about where they had come from and how they had gotten where they were, but it is a testament to the strength of the character writing that their storylines reached a satisfying conclusion despite this relative sparse amount of information about them. “Backstory is not story”, Craig McCracken and Frank Angones were fond of saying to fans of Wander Over Yonder, but for a game with the size and scope of a 60-hour JRPG, not providing that window of information feels like a hole in the worldbuilding.

Mechanically, Vesperia builds on the model established by Symphonia and refined in Abyss, where combat takes place in a 3D arena and the player can run around, hit enemies and rack up combos fighting game style (the franchise calls this “Linear Motion Battle System”). While Symphonia was in 3D, it restricted the player to a single side-to-side corridor of action. Abyss added the ability to run around in 3D space by holding down a button, a feature Vesperia also has. This makes combat easier and more fun, as nothing is quite as satisfying as avoiding an attack and then running around and hitting the enemy from behind. And, as the game allows up to four players controlling different party members, and I have a player 2 (shoutout to my roommate Opal), Vesperia’s system is the most well-suited to multiplayer. If nothing else, I never felt lost while on the battlefield yelling for backup. The one major flaw is that boss fights come with massive difficulty spikes and I often had to grind and formulate careful battle plans with Opal just to not get continuously massacred by bosses.

Storywise, Vesperia starts off very strongly, sort of peters out near the middle, and then the third act falls apart. At first the theme is anti-authority, with a protagonist who grew up in the slums, neglected by nobles, who became a knight and then quit out of disillusionment when it turned out all they did was squabble about politics, and the inciting incident and early driver of the plot is his quest to “fix the plumbing” as a popular Tumblr text post put it. It’s clear Yuri has all the reason in the world to not trust authority and he even goes full vigilante against unjust abuse of power, but while this thread seems like the most important theme in the story, after a while so many other elements come into play it ends up lost and doesn’t really make much of an appearance except to highlight the differences between Yuri and Flynn’s approaches to life and how they prefer to help people. On its own it’s a compelling idea, but it never gets the follow-through it deserves, and my expectations were certainly subverted—but in a bad way.

It’s hard to talk about the third act without spoilers so I will probably come back to it for a proper analysis at a later date, but its ultimate message was already kind of limp in 2008 and is even more laughable now. For a game whose initial premise was so strongly against authority, the ultimate resolution of the main conflict reads as incredibly daft in light of just about everything that is happening in politics at the moment. There’s a very strong environmental allegory and the comparisons to climate change are not subtle, but the writers probably bit off more than they could chew because realistically trying to solve this problem in the time the story allotted would have been next to impossible; I still would have hoped the implications of the given solution had been actually explored instead of settling for an “oh well, guess everything’s been fixed now”.

I’m being harsh about the plot because to me Vesperia has a lot of wasted potential. Don’t get me wrong: I do love this game. It is in fact up there with the holy trinity as far as my opinions of the series go, but it lands in third place out of the three because it just fails to live up to what its first half promises about the world it created. To put it bluntly, if the story had just ended at the conclusion of the second act, it would have been much stronger. That the game continues for another 20 hours on a completely different track with an unsatisfying, unrealistic conclusion is a huge shame because it brings down what could have been a real masterpiece of tropey anime JRPG narratives. I live for that stuff, there’s a reason I want to play every Tales game, but that’s what makes this letdown the most disappointing. At least the characters themselves get good conclusions; it is unfortunate I can’t say the same for the main plot.

Despite all this I think Vesperia is a worthwhile experience, and one of my favourite things about is its aesthetic sense. Every location is immersive, polished, and the pinnacle of what I want to see in a videogame, to the point I dream of Symphonia and Abyss remakes made in the same style (and every other game in the series, to be honest, but that seems unlikely with the direction it’s taken since then). I genuinely cared about the party and I wanted to see them succeed and I was ultimately happy that they did even if I did roll my eyes a lot. The combat was so satisfying and so fun to play with a player 2 it makes me twice as mad that Zestiria’s camera goes completely wild during multiplayer and prevents me from joining in. I should note that for someone who plays as many games as I do I am notoriously terrible at them so I heavily favour story over mechanics, but Vesperia is a game that reminds me that engaging gameplay can make a huge difference. Yeah, I suck, but at least I’m having fun while sucking. That’s more than I can say for a lot of games.

If you like JRPGs, games that let you run around and hit things, or fun and intriguing character dynamics, you’ll probably like Tales of Vesperia. If you’re looking for a coherent story from start to finish, you’ll probably disappointed, but there’s just enough there to keep you engrossed until the end. Overall, Vesperia is solid, and the parts it fumbles aren’t bad enough to ruin the whole thing, but hopefully the extra content in Definitive Edition helps to smooth it out; I’ll have to find that out for myself.

Aside from how it messes up the voice acting this time around. Oh, Bamco.

[sumireviku]

If you are going to give me Xillia 2 feelings, you should also give me a prompt to direct them at.

Anon I hope you mean Kresnik bros because I would commit crimes for more Kresnik bros content ;-; I have so many ideas for them I’d love to tackle once I’m able to actually progress in the game (school anxiety is keeping me from doing anything fun rn but I also don’t want to write any fics until I’m absolutely certain I have a grasp of their canon personalities so all I have thus far is just a bunch of half-formed thoughts based on what spoilers of canon i do know)

Ludger and Julius are so agonising because they’re just ANGST throughout the game itself and there’s no way for them both to be happy post-game and anything pre-game is also just PAIN because you know it won’t last

Also Julius is just... killing people... routinely... and Ludger knows nothing about it... even when Julius kills at least one Fractured version of Ludger...

Anyway! Impromptu canon gushing aside. Prompts? (Basically all of these I plan on writing at some point but I would LOVE to see other interpretations. And obviously it’s a list for a variety of choice rather than a request to fill all of them!)

Ludger remembering the first five years of his life (bonus points if Julius is actually around for the fallout)

Julius murdering Fractured!Ludger

Ludger reconciling “cool older brother Julius who’s chill and loves his cat” with “scary aloof Spirius agent Julius who’s very good at murder and has always been good at murder and has just been hiding it from Ludger”

I don’t believe this is possible because I don’t know the full Xillia 2 worldbuilding yet but... reincarnation au.... please... i want them to be happy somewhere......

There’s an overly dramatic thought in the back of my mind of Julius’ past actions coming to light before Chapter 15, and it instilling a sort of doubt in Ludger about whether or not Julius actually cared about him as much as Ludger does

[timbeon]

So I played Tales of Berseria recently, and... I was actually pleasantly surprised? I don’t think I’d call it *good* exactly, it still has issues to be sure and some of them are pretty big, but it feels like Bamco actually started listening to the complaints people have been making for years and is making an effort to course-correct. The plot’s easy to follow, the worldbuilding makes sense, the playable characters are all pretty likeable, and it owns and earns its grim bleakness far better than Xillia 2 or Zestiria did. So yeah, pleasantly surprised. Hope they keep going in this direction.

Also I got a triple bingo

[taleslations]

Deciphering Elympios

There are many signs and posters scattered through the Xillia world, using its special writing system. Here is a translation of some of those we can find in Elympios.

Train schedule (same in all stations)

07:30 - Oscore - Platform 01

07:51 - Drellin - Platform 01

08:23 - Marksburg - Platform 03

08:46 - Hors - Platform 01

Trigleph Subway

Svarog ↔ Trigleph ↔ Dazhbog

Other Station Signs

↑ Platform

→ Subway Platform

Ticket  Machine

Information Counter

Station Staff Office

Station

←Platform / Wharf→

Trigleph Streetsigns

←Square

←Station / Commercial District→

Armors / Weapons

Katz & Co.

Bunnyz Ltd.

Noco Export

Yle Export

Morning Star Inc.

Tigerz Electronics

Duval Street Signs

(red) Duval Real Estate Special Deal on Properties Full Capacity 8-31-2, District no.4, Duval 04098765432

(blue) #3 Apartment #2 Apartment

Items TEL 0309876576598

Shops, Bars, Hotels etc

Bento - 700

Tomato Sandwich / Egg Sandwich - 300

Melon Bread - 240

Hot Dog - 280

Triben (abbreviation of Trigleph Bento)

Fish (+ various types of fish at various prices)

Wine (+ various types of wines at various prices)

Chal (the rest is too small to read)

Playboy

(grey text)

Ale

Red Wine

Cocktails

Soft Drinks

Cheap

Posters, Notices, Magazines

To hire Cheap lodging Would you like to live under the sea breeze? - Kaufman

(both) Otherworld Reactor Plan We support this project

(left to right) (only titles)

Master

5

Jump

[credit to @brilliantcataclysmrips for the posters below]

Ludger / Julius Criminal involved in the train terror attack

(left to right, top to bottom)

Wine Bar Ex Machina

Weapons

Armors

Ex Machina

(too small x3)

Items

Accessories

Inn

(too small x5) (the one with the cat says “Have you seen my cat?” on top)

Wine Release - On sale 9/8

Fish Grabbing Contest - 4/12 (+bunch of small text I can’t read)

(left to right) (small text at the bottom says “National Advertisement Organization”)

Prosperity

Growth

(no text except bottom text)

With Haste - Eternal Prosperity

Linking the World - Train Travel

Let’s travel

(top to bottom, left to right) (only titles, small text is too small)

Speak with your back

(vertical) Eternia (horizontal) Of Symphonia

Xillia / Graces

Thing

The Abyss

Misc.

AM 09:45 - XX/XX - Clear Skies

Explosion at the Plant

Kibble (rest is too small)