I'm Always Myself.

I've been replaying Final Fantasy IX on and off over the last year or so, and I'm starting to approach the end. Here are some notes!

I'm too used to the canonical names to rename characters in Final Fantasy VII or VIII, but I can't play Final Fantasy IX without renaming Zidane to Rakuni and Vivi to Rikku. It just doesn't feel right otherwise. I can call the protagonist Zidane in my Dreamwidth posts without any trouble! But, when I'm actually playing the game, he has to be Rakuni.

I was very confused when Final Fantasy X actually included a character named Rikku, having previously given Vivi that name when I first played IX. It's possible that I saw the name in a magazine review of X, it stuck in my mind and I gave it to Vivi, having forgotten where it came from.

I wouldn't have minded having Blank as a permanent party member. His dynamic with Zidane is fun. I like the weird amicable hostility of their conversation when Zidane leaves Tantalus; it's basically just 'lol, fuck you, don't die, bye.'

You know, I've never really questioned the fact that tents are a single-use item in most Final Fantasy games. Yes, of course you need twelve tents if you want to spend twelve nights in the wilderness.

I'm really liking Steiner this time around! I wasn't expecting this at all! Steiner never caught my attention before, but I really like his unwavering devotion to Garnet, and his conflict between the loyalties he's sworn and what's right.

Huh! I left off playing for a while and resumed during my current Death Note phase, and Kuja actually reminds me a little of Light Yagami in some ways, which had never occurred to me before. They're both so dramatic and spiteful! They both think they're so great. Kuja's just more open about being a villain.

The problem with this game is that I love Chocobo Hot & Cold too much. I keep getting frustrated when I'm forced to progress the plot, because I just want to get back to the minigame! I wasn't able to calm down and focus on the game's story until I'd found all the Chocographs and was no longer constantly thinking 'when am I going to get to dig up more Chocographs?'

This game has a (very annoying) status effect called Virus. Is this a virus native to Terra? A lot of Terran enemies inflict it, whereas the only enemies that inflicted Virus on me on Gaia were Zorn and Thorn. Did Zorn and Thorn come from Terra, maybe?

I love how aggravated Zidane is by the discoveries he makes on Terra; it's interesting to see another side of him. 'I don't care about all this Terra and Gaia stuff!' he snaps, as the game tries to throw yet more bullshit plot revelations at him. He doesn't want to be a pawn in some stupid planet takeover plan; he just wants to spend time with his friends!

Zidane: Hey, Amarant. Can I ask you something?
Amarant: No.

I snorted aloud. I used to find Amarant dull, but on recent replays I've found myself enjoying the fact that he thinks he's really cool. (Too cool for victory poses!) Extremely funny. He would not be pleased to hear that that's why I've warmed to him a little.

I love that Garland divulges his plan to use Zidane to create war and goes 'you should now be aware of the meaning of your existence' and Zidane's response is 'yeah, I'm aware of ALL THE FRIENDS I'VE MADE, SCREW YOU.'

And then there's the 'You're Not Alone' sequence! When your protagonist has spent the entire game being upbeat and friendly, it hits hard when he finally snaps and yells at everyone.

A lot of Final Fantasy games fall apart slightly as they approach the end, I think. Final Fantasy IX is notable in that, late in the game, it actually gets stronger.

That's not a criticism of the early parts of the game; it's strong all the way through! But some of the most memorable and effective scenes take place late in the story. There's no point in Final Fantasy IX where I go 'oh, boo, the best part is over', whereas, as much as I love Final Fantasy VIII, I'm always a little disappointed when I hit disc three.

Are You Gonna Do It Or What?

November is just around the corner, and I'm not ready for it!

Since 2009, I've tried to write a little every day during the month of November. I'm not attempting National Novel Writing Month; I just have to write at least a hundred words of fiction every day, on any project. It's a small amount, but I don't have any active fic projects at the moment, so I don't know what to write!

Therefore, I'm turning to you guys.

Tell me a fic concept you'd like to see me write, and I'll attempt to write a few lines of it.

If you're not sure which fandoms I'm familiar with, the fandom list on my AO3 account is probably a good place to start. If you have multiple ideas, feel free to make multiple requests and I'll pick which one(s) to write.

There are a handful of things I'd personally prefer not to write - e.g. suicide, sexual content involving characters under fifteen, Teddie from Persona 4 - and I'm hopeless at smut, so you won't have much luck requesting specific sex acts; it'll just end up fading to black. If you're not sure where my boundaries lie, though, you're welcome to suggest your idea anyway; I can always just opt not to write it.

We don't have to know each other well for you to request a ficsnippet; I'm sorely in need of fic concepts for the coming month, so you'd be doing me a favour! So long as you accept that a) there's a chance I won't write your idea and b) my writing may be a bit rusty if you request something I haven't written before or haven't revisited in a while, go ahead and request whatever your heart desires.