rionaleonhart | You Don't Even Have A Picture.

Crossposts: http://rionaleonhart.livejournal.com/368238.html

Entry tags:

You Don't Even Have A Picture.

This video, in which two old men re-enact a YouTube argument about One Direction, is probably the only good thing ever to be spawned by the hell that is the YouTube comments section. I laughed extremely hard.

It also, although I didn't realise this at first on account of being terrible with faces, features one of the actors from my mother's play, which is on in Hammersmith until this Saturday! SO I SUPPOSE YOU KNOW WHICH PLAY YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SEE IF YOU WANT TO GET HIS AUTOGRAPH.

There is a strong possibility that I have played Final Fantasy VIII too many times. I started it after completing Final Fantasy VII (at last! I thought I was doomed never to finish that game, what with malfunctioning memory cards ruining my first playthrough and my own malfunctioning memory meaning I completely forgot where I was supposed to be going on my second, but it finally happened), because it seemed a logical next step, and I was quite unsettled to realise that I knew every event of the first few hours in advance. I knew the gist of every conversation in advance. I knew the name of every monster on the island of Balamb, taking the Fire Cavern and Training Centre into account, and I can probably name quite a large percentage of the monsters in the wider world as well. (For context: I've just finished Final Fantasy VII, and the only non-boss enemies in that game I can name are 'Jumping' and 'Soldier (2nd Class)'.)

Final Fantasy VIII isn't my favourite game. It's not even my favourite Final Fantasy. But it has had an immense impact on my life; I think Pokémon is the only other work of fiction that's had a comparable effect. I have no idea who or where I'd be without it.

That isn't an exaggeration. This game helped me learn to empathise with other people; by presenting me with Squall, a character whose thoughts and feelings I could understand, it helped me realise that the thoughts and feelings of other people didn't have to be an impenetrable mystery. It's also indirectly the reason I started keeping a blog, and I currently live with a friend I made through Livejournal. Goodness knows what's going on in the parallel universe in which I never played it. I'm probably on my third Nobel Prize by now, considering all the time I haven't been wasting on things like blogging and videogames and friendship.

I love Zell's anxiety when it looks like you're about to take Selphie's shortcut in the field exam. 'Squall... You're not gonna... It's a cliff, man...' Bless him. He may not always think things through, but he can be surprisingly sensible sometimes, and his moments of concern always make me smile. I want to be friends with him.

To jump ahead in the game a bit: I think my very favourite dialogue option in Final Fantasy VIII is one that comes up when Squall and Rinoa are reunited, if you sent Rinoa to the missile base (I don't usually send her there, as you miss out on some scenes if you do, so - tragically - I don't often get the opportunity to see this):

Rinoa: I miss'd ya. ...You know, I thought I was gonna die at the missile base. ...That's when I really missed you.
Squall: .........
Squall: Why?

SQUALL.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Gonna try and post over here as my comment apparently did sorta post on LJ for once, since I wasn't logged in... and was promptly marked as spam and possibly fell in a black hole. Oops. Let's try here!

Good thing I saved my comment :P

HEY IT'S TIMYDAMONKEY SINCE 99% CHANCE THIS COMMENT WILL NOT POST I'M NOT GONNA TRY AND LOGIN

Haha, you need to play some Shin Megami Tensei games. Everything seems to have such bizarre names first time, then you pick up another SMT game - the series often uses the same names and similar designs for regular demons rather than bosses - and start going "look, a pixie! An Alp! An Apsaras! Ukobach! Hey, it's Odin!" and somewhere down the line in the Persona games you realise you can tell the difference between Laughing Tables and Crying Tables. Same with the attack names, which are unusual but are all built on a very logical system and you learn them between games quite quickly.

In fact you'd probably like it from a language perspective, Rinoa. To pull a few move names...

Dia - low heal
Diarama - medium heal
Diarahan - full heal
Media - low heal (all)
Mediarama - medium heal (all)
Mediarahan - full heal (all)

Bufu - weak ice
Bufula - medium ice
Bufudyne - strong ice
Mabufu - weak ice (all)
Mabufula - medium ice (all)
Mabufudyne - strong ice (all)

You see? Understand the system of the base words and you work out the spells pretty quick, lol.

I still love FF8. I DON'T CARE IF EVERYONE ELSE HATES IT I THINK IT'S PRETTY AMAZING AND RINOA AND SQUALL ARE AWESOME.

I tried to do an FF8 speedrun for lulz, while really rusty on the game. Not only was my first attempt at disc 1 slower than - or almost slower than - the speedrun record for the entire game, but my friend playing it through casually also managed it faster than me. Here are some comedy timer pictures:

Disc 1 (http://postimg.org/image/wd6lszwp9/)
Disc 2 (http://postimg.org/image/62fl6vm03/)

Also since I haven't seen you in AGES you might be interested in the terrible Walter fanart (http://postimg.org/image/7x3jw8l9t/) I made for my friend after he decided that spawn points were not for him and appeared on another screen since she deliberately didn't trigger him. WALTER WASN'T HAVING THAT.

OH LIVEJOURNAL. I've gone and pulled your comment out of the spam black hole (you're not kidding about the black hole thing; spam-marked comments can technically be accessed, but Livejournal won't even send me notifications about them, so legitimate ones are out of luck), although I suppose there wasn't really a massive need to do that, given that it's duplicated here.

I suppose the Final Fantasy series has a fair few recurring monster names as well: Bomb, Tonberry, Malboro (hiss). Nothing as great as Laughing Tables and Crying Tables, though. (Ooh, I do like those spell affixes.)

Those FFVIII times look pretty impressive to me! I'm three hours in and I haven't even fought Biggs and Wedge yet. I suppose that's an improvement on my first ever playthrough, at least, in which I wandered around for four hours (HOW, WHAT WAS I EVEN DOING, I KNOW FOR A FACT I WASN'T SPENDING MY TIME WISELY BY DRAWING MAGIC) because I couldn't find the Fire Cavern.

Who... who is Walter?

The way the spell system works is really neat!

Walter from Silent Hill 4. It is the WORST FAN ART EVER SEEN. I mostly consider him only partially identifiable by throwing blood over his face.

The FF8 speed run top time is... 8:39:37. Yes, that's hours, minutes and seconds. I WILL NEVER EVEN GET CLOSE.

From personal experience I can say that the Digital Devil Saga games (though make no mistake; it's really one game on two discs that you buy twice and after a major story event you go back down to level 1) are a lot of fun, easily accessible to the FF-trained gamer, and have at the very least made me very curious about SMT in its other incarnations. The spell conjunction wording times is indeed very cool, though I keep forgetting which one is Expel/Holy and which one is Death.

If you do play DDS, fair warning; for the first half hour it will seem like it has terrible voice acting and a weird poorly-translated script and you will make fun of it. This is intentional and has a very valid internal plot reason and towards the end of game 1 you'll go "OH I SEE"

It starts with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn saying "Rend! Slaughter! Devour your enemies!", so that's worth the price of admission right there.

Persona is the cure to all thinks flawed in the SMT series games. :)

At least, that's my personal opinion, anyway. I enjoyed all of the other games, but the best of the bunch has always been the Persona series. I have tried DDS, DS, and Nocturne, but they just cannot stand up to Persona.

The going down to level 1 does make sense in context, at least.

DDS is pretty awesome. You might like Nocturne (Lucifer's Call) too.

Hama is expel/holy and mudo is death. I mostly remember this as in one game one of the enemies who kept spamming mudo spells at me looked like a cow. MOODO in my head, haha.

Okay, that reconstruction video made me laugh so hard I ache. "Go eat a shit." OMG.

IT'S SO DELIGHTFUL. And today, after seeing Mum's play again, I got to speak to the man who said 'go eat a shit', who is also delightful and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

Final Fantasy VIII resonated with me because it was the first one where I finally started to realize 'what' I was playing. Sure, I played FFIV, FFVI, and FF:MQ as a kid, but I didn't know what it was. To me, they were all games. But then over my uncle's house, I played FFVIII, and it too, changed my life. In different ways, but changed nonetheless.

I'm like you in that I've played through Discs 1-2 so much that I've got most of the dialog memorized. I've only made it to disc 3 once (my disc was so scratched though I couldn't get further), and I've never beaten it. I think to date I've only beaten three of the numbered games, and they aren't even the games that I grew up with (X, XII, and XIII).

Zell gets even better when you actually take the shortcut. "GERONIMOOOOOOOOOO!!" :) He's just such a lovable character. The whole cast is, but Zell brought me many laughs.

Oh Squall, such a ladies man. <3

I really love your chats about the FF series. I can feel the appreciation in your words. It's truly something else. I'm glad to have your entries to read. Thank you.

I didn't manage to beat VIII on my first playthrough, either, although my reason was far more shameful than disc problems: I didn't understand magic junctioning at all. I never bothered to draw, didn't junction a single spell to a single stat, and somehow - I will never understand this - managed to get all the way to Disc 4, at which point I ran into a boss that couldn't be fought with the 'summon GFs fifty million times' strategy and realised I'd basically made the game unwinnable for myself. (This icon has never been more appropriate.)

"GERONIMOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Ha, yes! I love basically everyone in this game, Squall especially, but Zell is one of my favourites.

I'm glad you enjoy my FF entries! It's a topic I'm always extremely happy to ramble about.

You make young me feel slightly better. I understood the draw system enough to draw spells! (Which I mostly did from draw points, and only cure spells from enemies.) And junction GFs! Somehow the magic junctioning went completely over my head though, despite it being EXACTLY THE SAME AS GF JUNCTIONING. It wasn't like I didn't have spells!

On the other hand, I only managed to get to the end of disc 2, so I think you win the better player card in the end. :P

-timydamonkey

I did manage to draw Leviathan from NORG (I suppose I must have discovered online that that was something to watch out for), although I think more or less every other optional GF passed me by. Handily, it learns a full-HP-restoration move. I don't think I'd ever have got as far as I did without it.

I'm just amazed that my thirteen-year-old self was patient enough to fight every battle in the game by summoning GFs and watching endless thirty-second summon animations. It's no wonder it took me over eighty hours to reach the start of Disc 4. I didn't even know how to use Boost; at least that would have given me something to do!

I drew most of the optional GFs that were on main bosses. Basically I drew any "???" spell, any GFs (since I knew I didn't have the 'spell'), but then I didn't draw any more once I'd identified the spell, except for cure spells.

But yes, I also used the GFS ON EVERYTHING strategy (I also did not know about boost, and I didn't use GF abilities... actually I think my GFs just learned default abilities, so lots of sum mag and GF HP bonuses). Granted, I was 9 when I first played FF8 (when it was brand new and sparkly!). I BLAME MY LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ON THIS.

My other 'proudest' moments include being unable to find the Fire Cavern due to turning the wrong way in epic directions fail, and the remarkably similar 'failing to find Galbadia Garden because I couldn't figure out what forest they were on about, so spent two hours finding it even though it was literally two feet from the train station'. I WAS THE BEST NAVIGATOR EVER.

Oh, I can't believe I forgot to mention my favourite FF8 gaff.

Picture this: the D-District prison. You spend ages getting to the end of it, which while not especially difficult, is pretty damn tedious. YOU BEAT THE BOSSES. TIME TO GET OUT OF THERE. OH HEY, MOVING CINEMATIC, THAT'S PRETTY COOL. OH GOD THERE'S A GIANT SHARP SPINNING THING IN ONE DIRECTION. IF I GO THAT WAY I WILL FALL AND DIE A GRIZZLY DEATH. LET'S SHIMMY THE OTHER WAY.

...GAME OVER...

YOU MEAN I HAD TO SHIMMY TOWARDS THE WICKEDLY SHARP DEATH BLADES? BUT WHAT IF SQUALL FELL? THIS GAME FAILS HEALTH AND SAFETY.

I've done this before when I've played the game when I was older, too. I always get all psyched out about which way to go! COULD HAVE USED SOME INDICATION, GAME.

IT DIDN'T EVEN OCCUR TO ME THAT I COULD SHIMMY

I AM STILL BITTER ABOUT THIS

IT WAS AN FMV

I DIDN'T KNOW I COULD MOVE

I JUST HAPPILY WATCHED THE NICE ANIMATION OF THE DESERT PRISON DRILLING INTO THE GROUND

I DIDN'T KNOW SQUALL WOULD DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH AND IT WOULD BE ENTIRELY MY FAULT

AND THEN I WOULD HAVE TO PLAY THROUGH THE ENTIRE ENDLESS UP-AND-DOWN-STAIRSING SEQUENCE AGAIN

IT'S BEEN TWELVE YEARS

I'LL NEVER BE OVER IT

FMVS ARE NOT FOR MOVING. THEY'RE FOR LOOKING PRETTY!!

Although I guess that you can move in that AMV right at the beginning with Quistis, so it's like A MINOR CLUE.

(Does it tell you to shimmy? I thought the screen was like PRESS THE DIRECTIONAL KEYS TO SHIMMY but I could be wrong. I mean, it can't have been like "press -> to shimmy" or I might have, yknow, pressed the right directional arrow.

Haha, yeah, the issue wasn't so much having to do that end bit again but OH NO IT'S THE ENDLESS STAIRS AGAIN WHO DESIGNED THIS PLACE? WHY IS THERE NOT A SAVE POINT UP HERE? DO YOU HATE PEOPLE?

(There is absolutely no hint that you are supposed to be shimmying! I had no idea what had gone wrong when the Game Over screen came up, because it simply had not occurred to me that it might be possible to move.)

They probably don't even need to lock the prison; nobody's going to bother trying to traverse all those stairs for a trifling thing like freedom.

Hm. It's interesting. I will never claim to have understood it back then, but I definitely did it just for the fact that it existed. There wasn't TOO much harm in it most times, y'know? I'm still quite impressed you made it that far without doing anything of the sort.

Aw man, FFVIII! My original fanfiction home.

...seriously; that was the first canon where I discovered that fanfiction as a cultural institution existed, and that there were online communities for it, etc. And I got to throw in so much writing and experimentation writing that fanfic, in such a wonderfully supportive environment. I can say definitively that I would not be the writer I am today without that game, and all its wonderful potential and twisty turny politics and eversothematicallyfun summoning system and all the bits I just wanted to fix.

Also, there were several years in which my primary mode of interacting with people was to ramble at them about FFVIII, and, if they hadn't played FFVIII, either force them to play or explain the entire game to them, plot point by plot point, (though sometimes omitting minor details like NORG). I am amazed that I have any friends from that time period.

I can say definitively that I would not be the writer I am today without that game

I can stand next to you and say exactly the same thing. Pokémon was the fandom that introduced me to the concept of fanfiction in the first place and got me writing, but the Final Fantasy VIII fandom was where I discovered the people who really shaped my writing style. Probably my blogging style in addition to my fiction-writing style, come to think of it. Riona doesn't actually exist; she's just an amalgamation of all the Final Fantasy VIII authors she admires.

(I'm sort of amazed you have any friends from that time period as well. That's a hell of a game to explain plot point by plot point. Although somehow I've managed to retain friends from my secondary school years, when I talked about Final Fantasy pretty much incessantly myself.)

Edited 2013-11-28 17:44 (UTC)

she's just an amalgamation of all the Final Fantasy VIII authors she admires

Oh my gosh, yes. I definitely did this. Reading fanfiction completely opened up my eyes to new styles of writing. My favorite writers - and fics - have definitely shaped the way I write. And while I still add new and awesome styles into my writing, my main voice is still, at its foundation, based on what I learned from FFVIII fanfiction.

And yeah. Even though I played FFVII at around the same time as VIII (I can no longer remember which one happened first -

magistrate, can you recall?), VIII was definitely the one that had the most impact on me. I still remember all the monster names too, along with most of their attacks. I think the last time I started the game (I usually don't get to Esthar, I'm sad to say), I got this thrill of nostalgia from the R1 trigger for Squall's gunblade, haha.

And, I mean, FFVIII introduced me to the idea that two guys could be in a romance and it could be awesome. And it ended up introducing to my wife.

Edited 2013-11-29 13:42 (UTC)

You know, I'm not actually sure. It would make sense if it was VIII first, as I was way more into it at the time, but I can't remember either.

either force them to play or explain the entire game to them, plot point by plot point, (though sometimes omitting minor details like NORG)

OR MAYBE DOING ALL THREE AT ONCE, CAUSING CERTAIN PEOPLE TO ARRIVE IN THE BASEMENT COMPLETELY UNPREPARED

UNPREPARED AND ~~TERRIFIED~~ HORRIFIED

Here was my understanding of NORG as a kid:

"OH MY GOD THAT'S TOTALLY THE SUGAR PUFF MONSTER!!!"

-timydamonkey

Haha! My problem was basically that I fell into writing fanfic hard and face-first, so most of the time when I was talking to people about the game, it was actually just to give them background about the stuff I was writing so I could talk about that.

And apparently I never once wrote any fic which required people to know about NORG.

So. Oops?

That is a wonderfully dramatic reconstruction.

HEY IT'S TIMYDAMONKEY SINCE 99% CHANCE THIS COMMENT WILL NOT POST I'M NOT GONNA TRY AND LOGIN

Haha, you need to play some Shin Megami Tensei games. Everything seems to have such bizarre names first time, then you pick up another SMT game - the series often uses the same names and similar designs for regular demons rather than bosses - and start going "look, a pixie! An Alp! An Apsaras! Ukobach! Hey, it's Odin!" and somewhere down the line in the Persona games you realise you can tell the difference between Laughing Tables and Crying Tables. Same with the attack names, which are unusual but are all built on a very logical system and you learn them between games quite quickly.

In fact you'd probably like it from a language perspective, Rinoa. To pull a few move names...

Dia - low heal
Diarama - medium heal
Diarahan - full heal
Media - low heal (all)
Mediarama - medium heal (all)
Mediarahan - full heal (all)

Bufu - weak ice
Bufula - medium ice
Bufudyne - strong ice
Mabufu - weak ice (all)
Mabufula - medium ice (all)
Mabufudyne - strong ice (all)

You see? Understand the system of the base words and you work out the spells pretty quick, lol.

I still love FF8. I DON'T CARE IF EVERYONE ELSE HATES IT I THINK IT'S PRETTY AMAZING AND RINOA AND SQUALL ARE AWESOME.

I tried to do an FF8 speedrun for lulz, while really rusty on the game. Not only was my first attempt at disc 1 slower than - or almost slower than - the speedrun record for the entire game, but my friend playing it through casually also managed it faster than me. Here are some comedy timer pictures:

Disc 1 (http://postimg.org/image/wd6lszwp9/)
Disc 2 (http://postimg.org/image/62fl6vm03/)

Also since I haven't seen you in AGES you might be interested in the terrible Walter fanart (http://postimg.org/image/7x3jw8l9t/) I made for my friend after he decided that spawn points were not for him and appeared on another screen since she deliberately didn't trigger him. WALTER WASN'T HAVING THAT.

OMG it is in MOODY BLACK AND WHITE with ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC! That is GREAT.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You Don't Even Have A Picture.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject