Trabia Garden

I've seen a couple of you posting ways to reflect on the year that looked fun, and I'm going to steal them for this post!

Firstly, doreyg posted this entry about favourite characters from the year, both new discoveries and returning champions.

I'm going to do something similar; I'm going to take a quick look at the longstanding favourites who've particularly occupied my mind this year, and then I'm going to comb through my 'first impressions' tag and give my favourite character from each canon I first posted about in 2024. (If no favourite character comes to mind, I'll skip the canon.)


( My favourite characters of 2024. )


My favourites are disproportionately male, I note, but my favourites are also disproportionately the main character, so perhaps the issue here is that the main character is disproportionately male. I'm pretty easily won over; I often just end up liking the character I spend the most time getting to know!

And that's the end of the character rambling, but APPARENTLY I STILL HAVE MORE TO SAY.

walgesang posted an entry on the three canons that had the largest impact on him in 2024. Here are the three that had the largest impact on me!

Our household gave Severance a try back at the start of the year, and it's one of the most compelling shows I've ever watched. We were all silently riveted to the screen. The concept - what if, when you're at work, you can't remember anything of your life outside the office? - is fascinating, and it's executed so well. The second season is expected to come out early in 2025; I'm looking forward to it!

Omori was a real rollercoaster of a game! Sometimes it's charming and whimsical; sometimes it's unsettling; sometimes it fucked me up so badly I had trouble sleeping. It's hard to think of another canon that haunts me in quite the same way. I finished it in May and haven't stopped thinking about it since.

The Coffin of Andy and Leyley captivated me when I played it in November. It didn't have quite the same 'wow, this is really cleverly executed' factor as Severance and Omori; it just went 'hey, I know what you want' and dropped a catastrophically fucked-up sibling relationship into my lap. And, yes, it turns out that this is exactly what I want.

Honourable mention to Metaphor: ReFantazio: I loved the hell out of it, but I don't think I can say it really impacted me. I had a great time while I was playing it, but I don't expect it to linger with me in the way these three canons do.


There are six minutes of the year left, so I suspect this is going to be my last post of 2024. Happy new year! I look forward to discovering what fictional characters I'm going to be weird about in 2025.

Some more questions from this fandom meme! The full list of questions is here at trobadora's journal. I managed not to ramble for five hundred words on a single question this time.

What are the origins of your penname/username?

I misread Rinoa's name as 'Riona' when I first played Final Fantasy VIII. When I realised she was actually called Rinoa, I went, 'Well, Riona's a nice name' and used it to create my fanfiction.net account; I knew I wanted a straightforward, namelike username that I could easily be addressed by. I've gone by Riona online for over twenty years now, so I think this handle is here to stay!

'riona' was already taken when I signed up to Livejournal, so I added 'leonhart': the surname of Squall Leonhart, my favourite fictional character. It had not occurred to me that this would make me look like a Squall/Rinoa shipper who can't spell. (I didn't envision myself as married to Squall; I just liked the name!)

'rixareth' is a username I occasionally use, generally when I'm a little uncertain about a site's culture and I'm not sure I want my account to be too easy to connect to my Riona identity; I used it for signing up to Tumblr and Reddit. I'm more relaxed about letting the usernames mix now! In Kingdom Hearts style, it's an anagram of my name with an added X.

What's a fandom that you wish had a bigger following?

There have been a lot over the years! It's hard to narrow it down. I'm going to say Zanki Zero: Last Beginning, a fascinatingly weird game about traumatised bisexual clones struggling to survive together after the apocalypse, with a grand total of thirty-two works on AO3 and a great OT7 that nobody but me has written for. It's a flawed game in many respects, but it has such strong fandom potential!

What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom? What fandom was it? Not necessarily your oldest fandom, but a fandom that you started and still continue to read/write/create content for in some way.

I think Final Fantasy VIII is probably the most consistently I've been into something over a long period of time. I've loved Pokémon for longer, but Pokémon is more quiet background radiation in my life, whereas I spend more time actively thinking and talking about Final Fantasy VIII. There are periods when I don't think about it much, but I always find myself back there.

The most time I've spent actively in a single 'main' fandom was the fifteen months I spent writing for Top Gear. Wow, was it really only fifteen months? I was so immersed in that fandom; I wrote so much; we had so many in-person meetups! I was sure it was two years at least!

What would make you leave a fandom, or prevent you from getting into it in the first place?

I don't typically pack up and intentionally leave a fandom; I just drift away when my interest shifts to something else. Terrible real-world associations - e.g. something awful coming out about the creator - might make me hesitate to pick something new up.

What are some things that squick you in fandom?

Extreme underage, gore, depictions of surgery. Wounding is fine! Wounding is hot! The moment internal organs are visible or a precise incision is being made, though, I am out of there. People are free to write what they like; these are just the things I find personally offputting.

What's the hardest thing about writing, and why are titles the Worst™?

I often struggle with finding a direction for a fic I'm working on. I've got a rough concept, maybe a scene or two, but I don't know where to take it or what endpoint I'm aiming for. Once I've managed to come up with the ending for a fic, everything usually starts to fall into place. Titles are pretty bad, though!

Do you have a fandom that you follow - either regularly or casually - with little to no knowledge of canon?

I have never read Johnny the Homicidal Maniac, but I've followed zarla's JTHM fic Vargas, and the little fandom that's sprung up around it, for over twenty years. I have written fanfiction for this AU of a comic I've never read.

Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

I've always got assorted low-level background ships going on, but I'm not really in passionate shipping mode about anything at the moment. I've been replaying the Uncharted series, so I've been thinking about my deep fondness for Nate/Elena. Other than that, I suppose Barret/Tifa/Aerith/Cloud of Final Fantasy VII Remake is the most recent ship I've had strongly on my mind.

A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

The Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler of Doctor Who never worked for me; I found their dynamic a lot less compelling post-regeneration. Which is slightly tragic, because I love the Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler, and the two pairings are often bundled together in discussion or gifsets! It's a real challenge when your OTP and your NOTP are technically the same pairing.

Do you prefer art, fic, or vids? Why? Bonus: If someone was to give you a fandom gift, what format would it be?

It depends on the fandom, come to think of it! I'm usually more of a fic person, but there are a few fandoms where I often find myself seeking out art. These tend to be for canons with a lot of interesting symbolism that fanartists can do cool things with, e.g. Death Note, Omori, Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Another roundup of dreams! I feel these have been getting more frequent; have I been remembering my dreams more often lately? The first of these is mildly sexual; the rest are clean.


( Dreams from June and July. )


What proportion of my dreams are fandom-related? There tends to be a lot of fandom in these roundups, but that might just be because I'm more likely to bother to write down my fandom dreams. If I wrote down every dream I'd managed to retain on waking up, there would probably be a lot of 'dreamt of trying to find the right platform for my train again'.

It's a real struggle to find any Cloud/Aerith/Tifa/Barret fanworks! I was convinced that there would be at least a handful, but apparently not.

Here is my attempt to help rectify this situation.


Title: Divisions
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII Remake (I don't think this is incompatible with the original game, but I had Remake in mind when I wrote it)
Rating: 14ish
Pairing: Barret/Tifa, Barret/Tifa/Cloud/Aerith
Wordcount: 2,300
Summary: Cloud pauses for a moment. “How close are you and Tifa, exactly?”


( Divisions )

I've just finished Final Fantasy VII Rebirth!


( Thoughts up to the end of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. )


I still feel this game could do with about thirty percent less of everything. Shorter dungeons, fewer mechanics, fewer side activities; I think it could benefit from being a more focused game all round. That's ultimately a matter of taste, though; do you prioritise pacing, or do you prioritise having plenty of things for the player to do?

Honestly, if you gave me completely free rein over the Remake series, I'd focus the game by narrowing the party down to the core four of Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Aerith and giving everyone else minor roles, and then I would be horribly murdered by fans. I like the other party members, but they often ended up feeling a bit extraneous! Also, get rid of Chadley.

Despite my issues, though, I really enjoyed Final Fantasy VII Rebirth overall! It looks gorgeous, the music is fantastic, the battle system feels good, the characters and their relationships are lovingly depicted, and I have to admit that I had a good time with some of the side content; Queen's Blood in particular really won me over. I'm looking forward to the final instalment!

A few more notes on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth! I'm currently in Cosmo Canyon.


( Notes on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. )


Replaying Remake at the same time as playing Rebirth, I'm very struck by how physically familiar Barret and Tifa are with each other. I'm headcanoning that they had a casual romance before the game and, when Cloud turned up, Barret assumed that it was over; obviously Tifa's going to be more interested in Cloud now. And then they all ended up in a foursome with Aerith instead.

I switched to Barret while Tifa was unconscious during a fight, and he said, 'Gonna whoop your ass twice as hard for Tifa.' It was extremely cute!

Finally, the terrible conversation Tem and I had while I was playing Final Fantasy VII Remake this morning:

Riona: I dreamt last night that Barret was humping my foot.
Barret, in-game: I'm gonna fill you full of holes!
Tem: Is that what he said when he was humping your leg?
Riona: My foot. And no. I feel that would mean he was humping it much too hard.
Barret, in-game: I'm a ticking time bomb, and sooner or later I'm gonna have to blow up!
Riona: Now, that he said when he was humping my foot.

It's time for another roundup of dreams!


( Some recent dreams. )


As ever, I tend to assume my dreams are mainly just of interest to me, so there's no obligation to read my dream roundups (not that there's any obligation to read my other entries either!), but you're very welcome to if you're curious.

More Final Fantasy VII Rebirth! I've just finished the tournament on the ship to Costa del Sol.


( Notes on Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. )


It took this game a little time to click for me, but it has absolutely clicked by this point. It's so beautiful and fun and stupid. I'm having a great time.

I was going to be sensible and wait for the cost of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth to go down. I really was. But then I saw no fewer than six of you posting about it on my reading page, and it made me sad that I couldn't read any of your posts!

Here are some early impressions of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth! Very early; I'm in Kalm, in chapter two, and I'm currently supposed to head to the clocktower.

Be aware that, although I've only just started Rebirth, this entry includes spoilers from the original Final Fantasy VII.


( First impressions of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. )


I love the unnecessary physics on everything. I walk into a hotel room and promptly knock three chairs over because I'm a fuckup. Immersion!

A question for the Final Fantasy players among you: what's your preferred party for the games you've played that let you choose your own party? Did you choose that party for gameplay reasons, are they characters you like, or do you want particular characters in the party because you think that makes most sense for the story? Or do you not have a usual party; do you switch it up on different playthroughs, or swap members in and out throughout the game?

Here are my answers:


Final Fantasy VI: This game has too many characters! My usual team is Celes, Sabin, Edgar and Locke. Celes and Sabin are my favourite characters; I like Locke a solid amount; I'm not particularly into Edgar as a character, but I find his Tools function useful in battle, and, as Sabin is already on my team, it seems fitting to include his brother.

Final Fantasy VII: My first playthrough was Cloud, Cid and Vincent, but nowadays Cloud and Yuffie are always in my party. Cloud's compulsory, of course, but I like him a lot, so I'd probably have him in my party anyway. Yuffie's fun, and her ability to attack from a distance is extremely useful.

I don't really have an established third member. If I were using my favourite characters, it would be Aerith, but on a practical level she's not an ideal party member. I used Red XIII on a recent playthrough, and I thought he was a solid member of the team; I think I might stick with Cloud, Yuffie and Red XIII.

Final Fantasy VIII: Squall, Zell, Rinoa. This is simple enough: they're the characters I like the most.

I've experimented with different parties in Final Fantasy VIII. Squall and Zell are always in my party, but I've done Squall-Zell-Selphie and Squall-Zell-Quistis playthroughs, because Rinoa is unusable for a large portion of the story and I thought I shouldn't get used to having her as a member. (In my first playthrough, I started out with Squall-Zell-Rinoa and then used Irvine in Rinoa's absence, just because he had the highest level.) Eventually, though, I decided I wasn't going to let Rinoa's patchy availability prevent me from using my favourite party; I use Rinoa whenever she's around. When she's not an option, my third member is usually Selphie.

Final Fantasy IX: On previous playthroughs, it's been Zidane, Garnet, Freya and Amarant. I like Zidane, Garnet and Freya; I'm not that interested in Amarant, but my Chocobo Hot and Cold addiction always makes him into a powerhouse, so he's too practically useful to give up! On my most recent playthrough, though, I developed an unexpected fondness for Steiner and swapped Freya out for him.

Final Fantasy X: Yuna, Auron and Rikku. Yuna and Auron are my favourite characters, but, honestly, that's largely coincidental; the main reason I use these three as my party is because they're the three characters I can get the Celestial Weapons for. All the others are impossible! Yuna, Auron and Rikku are manageable, which means they end up doing ridiculous amounts of damage while everyone else is capped at 9999. I level everyone up pretty evenly until I reach the point at which I can get the Celestial Weapons, at which point I start focusing exclusively on these three.

Final Fantasy XII: I actually don't have a party for this game. Because the 'you can switch characters out mid-battle' mechanic means it's beneficial to have strong backups, I level up all the characters evenly, constantly swapping them out, like they're a Pokémon team. On a practical level, all the XII characters are pretty much the same, so I suppose I'd use my favourites if you made me pick a party: Balthier, Fran and Ashe.

Final Fantasy XIII: Lightning, Sazh and Fang. This party doesn't have a great medic, which is a slight gameplay drawback, but overall it has a good balance of roles, and I like the characters a lot. If I were just using my favourites, it might be Lightning, Sazh and Snow, but I think Snow is best in small doses (even if I'm very fond of him), and I don't want to give up Fang's ludicrously high Strength stat.


BONUS QUESTION: how do you feel about your favoured party as an OT3/OT4/OTX? Let's see if I'd ship mine.

Celes/Sabin/Edgar/Locke: I could go for this? I could go for this. The sibling incest might complicate things, but honestly that's the main thing making me go 'this could be interesting?' rather than 'no, get Edgar out of there'.

Cloud/Yuffie/Red XIII: n-no. I do not ship these guys in any combination. The mercenary made entirely of psychological problems, the bratty sixteen-year-old and the lion? I don't think that would work, and it wouldn't even explode in a fun way; it would just be confusing for everyone involved.

Squall/Zell/Rinoa: yes, absolutely! This is a ship I've actually contemplated before. Squall/Zell is my favourite Final Fantasy VIII pairing; Squall/Rinoa is canon; Zell/Rinoa would be extremely cute; Squall/Zell/Rinoa would be great, although Squall would occasionally need to lie down in a quiet room to recover.

Zidane/Garnet/Steiner/Amarant: this is fine until you get to Amarant. Remove Amarant and then we'll talk. Steiner being confused and alarmed by this EXTREMELY IMPROPER arrangement would be great.

Yuna/Auron/Rikku: ooh, I could go for this. Yuna/Auron could be fascinating. I think Yuna/Auron is the main draw for me here, and I'd probably prefer the pairing on its own, but adding Rikku doesn't ruin it. (I don't imagine relationships between cousins would be considered incestuous on Spira; it's relatively rare for them to be considered incestuous on Earth.)

Balthier/Fran/Ashe: this is a great idea, yes! The only problem is that I feel this threesome carries a risk of ballooning Balthier's ego to dangerous levels.

Lightning/Sazh/Fang: huh! Hadn't occurred to me, but I'd be up for it. Maybe a V-shaped arrangement focused on Lightning; I think I'm inclined towards interpreting Fang as a lesbian, so I can see Lightning/Sazh and Lightning/Fang more easily than I can see Sazh/Fang.


If you'd like to, feel free to answer the 'what's your usual party and would you ship them together?' questions for other party-based games, not just Final Fantasy!