Leasspell Dæl

[Discussion] [FF13-verse] Serah/Snow

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:50:15 GMT

I find Serah and Snow's relationship to be fascinating, and have very strong opinions about it. These opinions were formed abstractly during FF13, but with the additional perspective of FF13-2, they've solidified. (FF13-2 information will be behind a Cut.)

In my review of FFXIII, I mentioned how I wish we had learned more about Serah throughout the course of the story, especially her relationship with Snow. I wanted to know how long they had been together, how long they had known each other, how they met, that kind of thing. The only hint we have is that in the "Thirteen Days" section of the Datalog, we learn Snow has only just met Lightning. This suggests a fairly new relationship.

Everything goes topsy-turvy at this point, when Serah gets branded as a Pulse l'Cie and attempts to break-up with Snow for his own protection. Snow, madly in love, refuses to let her face her fate on her own. He defies everything that has been indoctrinated into him since birth and stays with her, promising to help her fulfill her Focus, saving her from becoming a Cie'th. Both Serah's actions and Snow's show how much they care for each other.

( During the Fireworks Festival, Snow asks Serah to marry him. This is an absolutely heart-warming gesture, and give Serah a desperately needed morale boost in her darkest hour. )

( Final Fantasy XIII-2 Spoilers behind the cut )

So that's my two... er two billion cents on the matter. If you have questions, comments, suggestions, disagreement, or anything really, feel free to drop me a line! I love discussion! (and recs :D)

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[Discussion] Final Fantasy XIII-2, the non-review version!

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 00:45:05 GMT

So I recently posted a review of Final Fantasy XIII-2 (which should only be read if you've finished the game), and left a slew of topics at the end which I claimed I would discuss later.

game as fanfic, Chrono Trigger, Snow/Serah, Lightning's knowledge of the future, "hope", Noel's inexperience, Etro's successor, Yeul's connection to Caius, historia crux shape, fanworks

It is later. :)

( As before, this is going to be full of spoilers for the game, so it should only be read if you have completed it (including the Paradox Endings). )

Okay, getting wordy again. Going to leave the topic I wanted to talk about the most (Snow/Serah) for another day, and will shoe-horn in "fanworks" with it.

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[Review] Final Fantasy XIII-2

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 20:54:13 GMT

I finished Final Fantasy XIII-2 a couple of weeks ago, but wanted to let my thoughts percolate rather than make a knee-jerk review. I think I've reached the point where my opinion isn't going to change, and I have a solid grasp of why I feel certain ways about certain aspects. So, here's my review. All spoilers will be written after the second cut. There will be spoiler-space in-between the cuts if you're reading the first section.

Graphics: 9/10
Characters: 10/10
Battle System: 8/10
Story: 8/10
World Building: 7/10
Music: 8/10
Overall: 9/10

( Spoiler-free breakdown )

( Spoiler-filled discussion of squee! and issues )

TL,DR; Very fun, with lots of replay-value. Significantly improved from its predecessor.

Wow, quite a wall of text, huh? And guess what?! I'm not done yet!! :D

But I will leave it there for now. Next time: game as fanfic, Chrono Trigger, Snow/Serah, Lightning's knowledge of the future, "hope", Noel's inexperience, Etro's successor, Yeul's connection to Caius, historia crux shape, fanworks

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Sometimes it's the little things that make you smile

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:43:41 GMT

So, I was excited enough when I realized that James Patrick Stuart who voiced Xigbar/Braig in the Kingdom Hearts series was playing Dick Roman in Supernatural this season. When I realized that the guy who played the enemy for 7x12 (Jason Dohring) was the voice for Terra (BbS)? The glee was unparalleled.

I can totally get behind turning SPN into a retirement home for KH voice actors! XD

Moment of shame? I recognized Dohring from his role in Veronica Mars, and only coincidentally made the connection to Terra this morning. *sobs*

ALSO! Suikoden fans should keep an eye on marksofstars for the next couple of months! They're trying to post 108 days of new fan activity, be it fanworks or discussion. There's still a lot of days left unclaimed if you want to join in!

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[Discussion] Fandom entitlement

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 20:37:50 GMT

Have you ever felt like a bad fan? I do, sometimes.

Often, I'll look at various fandom posts, and feel irritated by the sense of entitlement that's expressed. You know the type of posts, ones where the the writer expresses dissatisfaction with an installment of their fandom because it doesn't conform to what they want from it. This could be a love-interest that interferes with a non-canon 'ship, or new information revealed that goes against their head-canon. (This is not to be confused with legitimate complaints concerning shoddy writing/development/plot holes, etc, or a calm decision to ignore canon that josses a fanfic idea.)

I've been doing up notes on my personal head-canon for Kingdom Hearts in preparation for work on one of the projects I wound up ignoring during NaNo.

There is a conspicuous lack of Xion.

( I could excuse myself by saying... )

In an unrelated note, I've edited the Pairing Meme entry to reveal the answers, in case anyone's interested.

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[Meme] Pairings

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 01:02:02 GMT

Swiped from cypher.

Here are twenty ships of mine in twenty different fandoms, not named but described in a sentence. Guess who!

(I'm pretty liberal about my pairings, and don't have many dedicated "ships" per se. So these are just some pairings I enjoy. Some are canon, others are decidedly not.)

[Edit: 2011/11/28 to add answers. Some will only have the fandom visible, with the characters blacked-out if I feel it might be spoiler-y. For the record, I'm being stricter than my normal spoiler policy here...]

( Read more... )

All fandoms are represented in my interests on my profile, if you want some hints.

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[NaNo] Progress Report VII: Passing of the Torch

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:14:28 GMT

According to Scrivener, I have achieved my 50000 words! \o/

(Of course, according to Open Office I have 986 words to go, but given that I have sixteen days left, I'm not too concerned.)

The fic is far from over, although I have finally reached the first true inklings of the plot. And am mere scenes away from introducing the love interest from left-field. And I've surpassed all the scenes I had skipped ahead to write when I needed speed over order.

Now I'm going to go sleep the sleep of the dead, because I only got four hours of sleep last night, and my eyes just won't stay open any longer.

If they would, I'd attempt to show Open Office who's boss. But just... no. Not right now.

Sleeeeeep~!

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[NaNo] Letter to the Editor

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:55:47 GMT

Dear Self;

Using video-game cameos to fill-in for the KH characters' parents was supposed to prevent you from needing to make up back-story and characterization while still having standards with which to hold yourself. Giving the parents further back-story defeats the purpose of this. Especially as it's not plot relevant. Remember the plot? The bit you haven't started writing yet?

...

*sigh*

The worst part is I'm not even certain that the scene that's causing me this consternation is going to make it into the final draft. I'm not even sure the scenario that's plaguing me would make sense in the greater scheme of things. I'm going with it for now, though, because I'm having problems getting into the groove today, and I have to write something.

*mutters mutinously before returning to the document*

(In the interests of helping others procrastinate on their NaNo/general discussion, how do you guys deal with characters having absent or vaguely referred to family?)

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[NaNo] Progress Report VI: The Undiscovered NaNo

Sat, 12 Nov 2011 02:09:29 GMT

Okay, so my last title got cut off, apparently. It was kinda wordy and excessive.

In my panick-y whiny post about a week or so ago, I bemoaned (amongst other things), that I'd have to go into work today.

It turned out, that I didn't. This meant a whole extra day of writing I wasn't expecting, and I decided to make the most of it. Being 11/11/11, I made it my personal goal to write 11000 words today. Then I discovered that there was an on-site challenge to do 11111 words.

Made it! :)

This leaves me at 37774 words in total, which is 75% done guys! I'm stoked, I really didn't think I'd make it even this far (especially as, y'know, I only got my plot last night, and still haven't really incorporated it yet), and now I actually think I'm going to reach 50000.

If I write as much as I usually do on my days off on Sunday and Monday, I could even be "done" by Tuesday. I barely dare to hope. Of course, the fic is so far from being done that it isn't even funny, but y'know. Progress.

( The thing I've really liked about doing NaNo this year (besides actually keeping on top of my wordcount for once)? )

I don't have an excited flail-y icon. Why do I not have an excited flail-y icon? Must look into this.

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[NaNo] My ending just showed up, slapped me across the face a couple of times, and told me to get wr

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:50:40 GMT

So, confession time.

I've written over 25000 words for my NaNo fic, but I didn't have a real plot for it. I had an idea.

Hey, what would happen if Sora and Neku were actually twins?

I managed to get a lot of scenarios plotted out sequentially in my head for that--many of them dealing with how messed up the Reaper's Game left Neku, and supported by my secondary idea that Neku didn't forget Sora like everyone else did (hence why his memories were his first entry fee).

But there wasn't a story, just an exploration. It's why I hadn't listed it as one of my projects. I knew I'd eventually reach a point where it would need something to support it, and I just didn't have that. No big threat, no reason for them to join forces. Just... a setting. Boy, was I surprised when that's what I started writing.

Last night, my plot--specifically the ending--arrived, panting from exertion, but with no apologies for being late. It also had no problem shaking my shoulder where it was covered by my comforter and demanding attention.

It worked structurally--I'm not going to have to rewrite masses of material to work it in. It worked thematically--even tying in with the title, and a few quotes I'd dropped earlier which will now work as foreshadowing (rather than me being a huge dork). It fit perfectly with the changes I had to make to get the crossover to work in the first place--merging TWEWY's Shibuya with the Destiny Islands.

Heck, it even works for character arcs.

But, well, let's just say that as I was trying to work out some of the details last night I was crying into my pillow. It's gonna be sad. :(

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[NaNo] Progress Report V: Why does NaNo need a starship?

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 03:09:51 GMT

Skipped a couple of updates. I managed to squeak in my (personal) goal of 2000 words Saturday night, then completely slacked off and skipped Sunday altogether. Today I managed nearly 8000 words, bringing my word-count just over the half-way point at 25076! \o/

My editing sensibilities are twitching at all of the things I already know need to be either edited out or expanded upon, but I'm just going with the flow for now. I'm find the farther in I get, the less twitchy I'm getting. About the current material anyway, the earlier stuff I'm pretty much ignoring. XD

I got an extra hour sleep this weekend, and that makes me happy. :)

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[NaNo] Progress Report III: The Search for NaNo

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 00:24:24 GMT

2209 today, for a total of 12802. I am now over 25% done. I have never made it this far before!

I can already see that I'll need to do a lot of editing when I'm done, but I'm enjoying just getting stuff out. Even if I reduce my count to 1000 a day after NaNo, I'd still be pumping out a lot of material, and may actually get some of my ideas finished. Still haven't worked on any of the fics I'd planned to work on, but hey if it's working for me... XD

I restarted my Tamagotchi on the same day I started NaNo, and haven't managed to kill it yet, despite ignoring it for both work and writing. This makes me happy. And nostalgic. :)

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[NaNo] Progress Report II

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:24:37 GMT

Well, I've made my goal and beyond today, although it's not near as impressive as yesterday.

I've added 2355 words, bringing my total word-count to 10592! I'm 20% there! The trick now is not to get overconfident with my buffer. I still want to try to reach 2000 words a day, although at this point I only need 1400 a day to finish on time.

Still working on the same fic, and I'm at the point where I'm working on transition scenes I hadn't thought about yet which is both good and bad. It's good because it's new material, which is more engaging than stuff I've thought about a million times. It's bad because if I hit a stumbling block, it's going to take longer to work through it. So far so good, though!

What I'm truly enjoying at this point, is that I'm reaching places to insert exposition naturally that I kinda crammed in at the beginning. I'm re-inserting the exposition so I can prune the beginning when NaNo's done and it's editing time. Show, not tell, right? Either way, I'm not going to worry about now.

NaNo stats predict me finishing by the 9th, which while better than yesterday, is still hilarious. :D

Also, my music rotated to Robo's theme from Chrono Trigger while I was writing, and I just instinctively started grooving where I sat. This makes me happy. :)

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[Nano] Progress Report

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:04:52 GMT

According to Open Office, I've written over 8000 words today. The mind boggles.

It's funny reading the stats page. It currently predicts I will be done by November 6th. XD That is hilarious. Not every day is a day off, unfortunately, and I know I'll lose productivity along the line. Stats page says I need to write around 1400 words per day to finish on time. My personal goal is around 2000 a day. I CAN DO IT!

The funniest thing about this?

I haven't worked on any of the three fics I said I would. Instead, I've worked on a KH/TWEWY crossover, based on the idea that Sora and Neku are twins, and Neku didn't lose his memory of Sora like everyone else (which is how he wound up in such a state going into the Reaper's Game).

It's been another of my back-burner projects. I had two separate starts on my hard-drive, one with a decent word count itself, that have both been discarded. If I can keep my inspiration going, I might actually get it done this November. O_o *crosses fingers*

Also, I am wearing socks with snowmen spurs on them. This makes me happy.

That is all.

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I don't really have anything new to say...

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:36:28 GMT

I just wanted to play with the new "Create Entries" page. :D

*giggles and scampers away*

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NaNoWriMo 2011

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 21:16:53 GMT

So I'm attempting this NaNoWriMo thing again, and will hopefully make a better accounting of myself this time. I always start strong, usually getting 10,000 words in the first couple of days. Then I get complacent. After all, I have such a huge buffer, I can be idle for a few days, right? *wince* So, yeah, determined to be a winner this year! (Or at least share my humiliation publicly if I fail!)

I usually try to use NaNo to make progress on various WIPs sitting on my hard-drive. This year, I'm going to focus on three projects:

( Titles and fandoms and summaries; oh my! )

I'm planning to organize my notes and previously written scenes on here to try and keep everything straight. Normally my policy is not to post WIPs until at least one draft is complete to prevent leaving people hanging (as I have with my first WIP... *sobs*). With the caveat that all work posted would be (very rough) draft only, and that there'd be no guarantee of completion, would anyone be interested if I left the entries visible to people on my Access List? Or should I go with my original plan to just leave the entries Private?

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[Fic Rec][Chrono Trigger] Time Breaks the Threaded Dances + [Suikoden] self-pimp

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:13:36 GMT

So I participated in the Round 3 Gift Exchange on newgameplus, and received this beautiful gem! The prompt I had given was: Crono, Schala, meeting anytime post-rise of the Black Omen. Ignores Radical Dreamers, Chrono Cross, and the new DS ending.

I wanted to wait until the author-reveals had been done, so that I could give proper credit where it's due.

BIG BIG THANKS to jack_of_none, who wrote one of the most unique fates for Schala I've ever read!

Title: Time Breaks the Threaded Dances
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Summary/teaser: You never forget a woman you died for.

( In case you're interested in what I wrote... )

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[Review][No.6] A short anime with a long back-story

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 22:18:32 GMT

I was introduced to the anime "No.6" around the time that episode nine was released. As there were only two more left to go, I decided to wait until the series was finished before writing a review. That was several weeks ago. I've been thinking about it since then, trying to decide what to write.

( First of all, let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Post-apocalyptic dystopia? Sign me up! )

So, if you enjoy character-driven anime with a sci-fi/dystopian bent, this is a definite must! What I'm enjoying even more is a fan-translation of the novels that's slowly (but brilliantly!) being released. Now I'm getting all the extra goodies that were left out of the anime too!

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[Discussion][Song of Ice and Fire] Finished A Dance with Dragons

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 17:08:23 GMT

So I finished A Dance with Dragons last night.

( Spoilers behind the cut! )

Of course, this is all speculation. The only theory I'm really married to is the one about Jon Snow.

Hopefully it won't be another six years to find out more. XD

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[Discussion][Doctor Who] A Good Man Goes to War

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 01:40:45 GMT

So I re-watched A Good Man Goes to War tonight, to refresh my memory before the new episode comes out tomorrow.

While watching, I couldn't help but think that the role of Vastra (the reptile alien) would have suited Jack Harkness much better.

( Spoilers behind the cut. )

Vastra would have been a cool character to have there too, but I really felt like she was just substituting for the Captain as it stood.

I thought it was all in my head, until I read this:

Steven Moffat said he planned writing in a cameo for John Barrowman to reprise his role as Jack Harkness, but Barrowman was busy filming Torchwood: Miracle Day and was unavailable.

I think in my head, from now on I'm going to be substituting Jack in that scene. XD

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[Discussion][Song of Ice and Fire] Eating my words, but not all of them

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 20:54:03 GMT

I'm on the third book for my SoIaF re-read, and even before I finished the first one I realized that half of my theory was wrong.

( Once again putting my theory behind the cut, even though theories don't really count as spoilers, do they? There ARE spoilers through the first three books. )

There's probably more, but that's all I could think of off the top of my head. I'm keeping my eyes open as I continue my read-through. Keep in mind, I haven't read the newest book yet, so my theory may get destroyed then and there. We'll see.

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[Resource][The World Ends With You] Wardrobe Masterpost

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 23:58:58 GMT

This is the masterpost for my The World Ends With You Wardrobe-breakdown project. Please note that the purpose of this breakdown is to serve as a reference for writing fanfiction, and thus does not include game mechanics.

( Overview )

( Credit )

( Layout )

( Neku's Wardrobe )

( Shiki's Wardrobe )

( Joshua's Wardrobe )

( Beat's Wardrobe )

( Partner's Wardrobe )

( General Wardrobe )

There's a lot of room for interpretation, and compiling this has sparked a few ideas in my head. I hope it has the same affect for others!

If you find an error, or have found this resource useful, please feel free to comment and let me know! :)

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[Resource][The World Ends With You] Joshua's & Beat's Wardrobes

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 00:04:23 GMT

Today is two for the price of one! Below the cut you'll find the wardrobes for both Joshua and Beat. Interestingly enough, both boys have fewer clothes attributed to them than Neku and Shiki, but the individual articles tend to cost a lot more.

I referenced this Item List on GameFaqs significantly, as well as the Threads List on TWEWY Wiki.

Clothes are sorted first by type (Top, Bottom, Top&Bottom, Headwear, Footwear, Accessory), then brand, then the item name, then price, then description (from the game).

In the item name column, I also included the in-game icon and the bravery stat. While I'm trying to keep the game mechanics out of these resource posts, I think the bravery's often significant as to how likely a character is to wear something. There are certain challenge related items where the stat is obviously stacked for game mechanic's purposes (such as the Angel Feather and Your Cap), but overall I find it useful.

( Joshua's Wardrobe )

( Beat's Wardrobe )

Let me know if there are any errors!

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[Resource][The World Ends With You] Shiki's Wardrobe

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 01:25:40 GMT

Continuing with my The World Ends Wit You reference posts, here's Shiki's wardrobe. Please see this post for an explanation on what I'm doing. That's also where you'll find Neku's wardrobe. When I'm done all of this I'll be compiling it into one giant post (at least, that's the plan).

I referenced this Item List on GameFaqs significantly, as well as the Threads List on TWEWY Wiki.

Clothes are sorted first by type (Top, Bottom, Top&Bottom, Headwear, Footwear, Accessory), then brand, then the item name, then price, then description (from the game).

In the item name column, I also included the in-game icon and the bravery stat. While I'm trying to keep the game mechanics out of these resource posts, I think the bravery's often significant as to how likely a character is to wear something. There are certain challenge related items where the stat is obviously stacked for game mechanic's purposes (such as Mr. Mew). I think the stat is especially important for Shiki in trying to figure out what she would wear normally, versus what she's willing to wear because of her Reaper's Game appearance. That's just my interpretation, though.

( Shiki's Wardrobe )

Let me know if there are any errors or issues!

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[Resource][The World Ends With You] Neku's Wardrobe

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 23:46:08 GMT

Yes, all characters can wear all articles in The World Ends With You, but a lot of articles will only activate an ability if a specific character wears it. I'm considering such articles as being specific to a certain character's wardrobe.

I referenced this Item List on GameFaqs significantly, as well as the Threads List on TWEWY Wiki.

Clothes are sorted first by type (Top, Bottom, Top&Bottom, Headwear, Footwear, Accessory), then brand, then the item name, then price, then description (from the game).

In the item name column, I also included the in-game icon and the bravery stat. While I'm trying to keep the game mechanics out of these resource posts, I think the bravery's often significant as to how likely a character is to wear something. Neku requires much higher bravery to wear the few feminine articles he has in his wardrobe than his usual J of M fare. There are a few notable exceptions (such as My Phones) which have obviously stacked bravery stats for game mechanic purposes, but overall I think it's a useful tidbit for characterization.

( Table under the cut! )

Lemme know if you find this useful!

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