Oh EM GEE. (Final Fantasy X EASTER EGG!)

[auronlu]

So I decided to replay the last battle of FFX for fanfiction inspiration purposes. I pulled out an old saved file where I'd maxed out the sphere grid.

It occurred to me that I'd never filled out my FFX Combat Quotes page with the "Provoke" and "Threaten" quotes for every character.

Tidus and Auron, as you've probably seen, each have a couple different taunts when you use those abilities. The other characters don't say anything when they "Provoke," but they have special animations.

Sooo. YOUR ASSIGNMENT, oh FFX geeks:

1. Go find your last save file of FFX.
2. Open the sphere grid.
3. Find that Special Sphere you were saving for a rainy day.
4. Activate someone's "Provoke" node.
5. Pick a fight with a monster and Provoke it.
6. Rinse, repeat.

The "Threaten" quotes are not so exciting, but some of the "Provoke" moves are quite amusing.


Rikku "provokes" by slapping her butt and sticking her tongue out (sort of; she puts her hands up to her ears and waggles them). Kimahri does a vaguely obscene gesture with his tail. Wakka's boring, thumping his chest in a macho manner. Auron does the Seifer/Balthier "you wannna a piece of me?" hand-gesture. Tidus has a couple different taunts. Yuna seems to call out something (no quote, Square? Lazy lazy) and waves cutely (sigh). And Lulu?

Did she just make a pass at me that Varuna demon-thingie? YES SHE DID. It's the LeBlanc shimmy and an air-kiss, only less vampy and more elegant.

Alas, most of the "Threaten" quotes are boring. They all say some variant of "Don't move!" or "Stop!" However, Lulu's growled "You move, you die" is satisfying.


Now I wish someone would nab the "Provoke" animations for Lulu, Kimahri, Auron and Rikku and put them up on YouTube. SNERK.

Comments

[euphonious-glow.livejournal.com]

Rikku's Provoke made me LOL. I still don't understand why I love her so much, especially when FF12's Penelo is like a more mature version of Rikku. Yet I like Rikku more.

I think it's the Al Bhed culture and the hint of her being a chemistry genius that appeal to me. And I like characters who start out immature and experience personal growth.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Rikku acts like a giggly teenaged girl, and yet she's not. She's like a sugar-coated kid Lulu, capable, looking after other people and herself, thank you very much. She saves Tidus' butt the instant she sees him, figures him out (she thinks) and starts making arrangements to place him in Luca, and as soon as she bumps into the party again, she's immediately rolling with the punches in order to carry out her own program -- saving her cousin. No surprise that in the bridge between the two games, Rikku's showing up on Besaid with a lead on Tidus and presenting Yuna with a plan to get her out of stagnation.

Penelo isn't totally passive -- she's great fun with a war hammer in her hand! -- but she's got a very limited, practical world. Run errands for Migelo and keep herself fed. Make sure Vaan doesn't get into trouble. Mind the shop.

Whereas Rikku's been out and about doing underwater excavations, fighting fiends, building explosives, bossing dad and brother around, and going off on her own into enemy (Yevon) territory. She's a lot more independent, a lot more of an adventurer/explorer. Plus, yes, there's the mad chemistry skillz.

If the Bangaa had kidnapped Rikku in order to snare Balthier, Rikku would've disassembled an air vent, stolen as much as she could carry, hotwired a life pod and rescued herself.

I love writing Rikku. She can be corny and silly, but she often knows just the right tool for the job.

Alas, Square seems to have made her a caricature of herself in X-2...she looks older, but acts less mature. :P

[euphonious-glow.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, times infinity! You basically said what I couldn't find the words for! I loved Rikku the instant she blasted through the door in Baaj temple and reached out to Tidus. I don't ship them, but I really like their friendship.

I've always wanted to write a fic showing all those awesome things you mentioned, especially wrt the machina and chemistry aspects. People don't seem to see the cool side of Rikku.

I like X-2, but in a ridiculous kind of way. My working theory is that Rikku feels bad for Yuna and wants her to be happy, so she goes into bubbly overdrive, while repressing her true feelings. It keeps me sane.

I started replaying X for the gazillionth time recently, and the female characters really stood out to me this time. I finally realized why I'd liked X more in terms of the characters. They feel more real. It's not like, OK let's go to this place and learn all about a character's history, then move on and basically forget about them. Or the WTFery that is VIII's story. In X, you still don't know all the details, and what you do learn is scattered throughout the story. The relationships between the party members seem more solid and close than in other games. They have conflicts and moments of togetherness. I guess that's what draws me in. Even the minor characters are cool, especially Isaaru and Lucil. I also prefer Seymour as a baddie to Sephiroth any day.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, and yes.

The great characters in FFX -- right down to the most minor unnamed NPCs -- are why I've wound up writing a game-length fanfiction saga. I was going to write an Auron/Lulu story, but the rest of the cast demanded it be a Babylon 5 style epic. (And Elma/Lucil insisted on being the cool subplot I always knew they should be).

I have a love-hate relationship with FFX-2. Like the curate's egg, portions of it are excellent.

I love every single character in FFX. The funny thing is that I initially disliked Lulu (fanservice and a DOLL?!) before realizing how strong and intelligent she was, and disliked Rikku as a chirpy superficial teen until I figured out what I just said (thanks largely to cupcakemonster's fabulous Rikku-fic).

Compiling the script for FFX made me appreciate all the npcs, from Elma and Lucil to the most minor unnamed people. In many places, the unnamed npcs are consistent characters, some of them with their own mini-stories. There's crazy things going on like the Luca Goers women kidnapping the Auroch's young goalkeeper and doing naughty things to him in the hold, or Besaid village rebelling against the church when the warrior monks come to apprehend Yuna (this is made more explicit in the international version, but there's a few hints of it even in the original game).

Agreed with you also on Seymour. He's the classic nutty bishie megalomaniac, but he's believable.

One last thing. I usually write shameless Elma/Lucil porn or explore the more serious side of Crusader life, but for total crack, you need to see Sir Elma, Legendary Hero (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5786458/1/Sir_Elma_Legendary_Hero). It's very short.

[dagas-isa.livejournal.com]

*drive by comment*

If the Bangaa had kidnapped Rikku in order to snare Balthier, Rikku would've disassembled an air vent, stolen as much as she could carry, hotwired a life pod and rescued herself.

This would make an awesome fic.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

It would, wouldn't it?

I've been writing Rikku a lot lately. Maybe I'll give it a try.

Rikku, Fran and Balthier as sky pirates? Oh gods...

[dagas-isa.livejournal.com]

It would end with most of the prominent families in Ivalice living as paupers.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

(I'm glad to see a post from you, by the way! Wasn't sure if you'd burned out on fandom.)

[dagas-isa.livejournal.com]

*hugs* Fandom is good, just feeling burned out in general.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Belated, but here is a sincere wish that things get easier. It's a pity we can't all have a Rikku to bust into our lives, shake things up and help us deal with whatever barriers we've got in the way.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

As per Rikku = on my almost latest replay of FFX I FINALLY got the Tidus/Rikky snow-mobile scene. [Had only managed Lulul before then.] That is the most AWESOME scene as she explains things to Tidus. Is wonderful!

[This is only -one- of the reasons I've -just- restarted FFX again ^_^ = 8 hours to Luca and I managed another Auroch win. Also for the 1st-ever time Datto got a 1st-half goal and Tidus does the -coolest- swim/dance in celebration for him!]

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

Yay Datto! He's a sweetie pie. He's another very minor character who has a lot of personality. (He's actually got a bigger role in X-2, where he'll keep coming over to the commsphere and giving you fake news reports on the status of Lulu's baby and Wakka's anxieties).

I've never gotten Tidus' swim-dance; I've only seen it in video caps. He only does it sometimes. I think it helps if the Aurochs score early, but I can't figure out the trigger.

I've gotten the Auron snowmobile ride too, but never Kimahri. I've got a saved game right before the Lulu/Rikku optional scenes and another right before the Al Bhed ambush, so I can go try and get the others.

You just have to have Tidus kill the other characters about ten times, and have him use potions to heal the one you want about 10 times, and that will do it.

Rikku's conversation in Guadosalam (the alternate scene to Lulu's "All you need is determination" scene) is also very revealing. She wants tons of kids, because she's bummed about her Mom dying so young that she only had the one brother. That scene was the inspiration for her "unruly brood" in a few of my fanfics.

And the snowmobile convo with Rikku is great. I imagine she said something similar when she first arrived, and Lulu called a "girls only" meeting to find out who she was. I'm pretty sure she had to tell Lulu she was Yuna's cousin to sweet-talk her way into the group.

[melchar.livejournal.com]

But Rikku has -2- brothers. One is 'Brother' of course, but the other is Keikku [not sure of spelling] - blond kid with goggles that Tidus can get 3 potions from on the 'recovering air ship' early part of game.

[And that Tidus can continue to get 3 potions from every time he jumps in the water/climbs back on deck before finishing that scene.]

Keikku is killed in front of Home during the assault on Home segment [where you also meet Cid] and Rikku identifies him as her brother. [And after that scene when you can search the area, Tidus can get a potion from his body.]

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

I've wondered about Keyakku. He could be a game inconsistency -- there are a very few, especially in the hidden cutscenes. However, when Keyakku dies, Rikku cries over him, but she doesn't actually identify him. Cid comes over and hold him for a moment, but he doesn't say anything about Keyakku either. So Keyakku could be a cousin, Cid's younger brother, or just a family friend.


*digs out script*

Guadosalam optional Rikku cutscene:

Rikku: You an only child?
Tidus: Yeah.
Rikku: I got an older brother, myself.
Tidus: Huh.
Rikku: I wish I had some younger brothers and sisters, though...
Tidus: So ask your parents.
Rikku: Mom died... A machina went on a rampage...
Tidus: I'm sorry.
Rikku: When I get married, I'm gonna have lots of kids! That way they'll all have brothers and sisters!

Arriving at Al Bhed home:

[Rikku runs to the blond spiked-hair guy, who's just collapsed]
Rikku: Keyakku! Who? Who's attacking us?
Keyakku: Yevon... Guado... (Dies)
Rikku: Keyakku? Keyakku!
Lulu: A war? Between Yevon and the Al Bhed?
Cid: (Arriving) That is wrong! Guado go for the summoner.
Rikku: Father...
[Cid strides over, kneels, embraces Keyakku, then clears throat and stands.]
Cid: You Rikku's friends? Well, just don't stand there, come on! Let's go kick those Guado out of our Home!
[Rikku hangs back, looking down]
Tidus: Who...?
Rikku: Cid. Leader of the Al Bhed... He's my dad.
Tidus: Let's go.
Rikku: Yeah. We have to save Yunie

Edit: But wait, you're spelling Keyakku's name Keikku, which looks like a Japanese spelling. Did the English dub localization team leave out some tidbit about him?

[sissyhiyah.livejournal.com]

"Did she just make a pass at me?"

She totally did. She's flirty that way.

I always got a kick out of these little extras. Kimahri trying to be all mature through the game. Pfft. Yeah, right. Fun stuff when a Ronso acts like a Wookiee.

And speaking of Seifer being all cocky, I always wished that one could have Seifer and Quistis in the same party to get a similar effect. Both of them had fairly provocative gestures, with that hand gesture you mentioned and that sexy whip cracking at the beginning of every battle.
Did VIII have provoke? NO! But still! Whip! Midriff! Boots! Boy, if I were a giant monster with a giant tongue, I'd...er, um. Yeah.

(and can chain whips crack like bullwhips? I doubt it, but my point remains. It's hot.)

Anyway! I had a point in posting a comment. Didn't I?
Um...
Uh...
Yeah to someone putting that on youtube! Totally!

[euphonious-glow.livejournal.com]

Hey, don't be ashamed, Quistis is smoking! Also the first FF character that I really identified with. I have some kind of dysfunctional love for Seifer, and the game gave me the impression that Squall actually wanted in Seifer's pants. I sort of shipped Quistis/Seifer, which is totally unhealthy but also made of hot blonds, whips, and smirkiness, so it's okay. FF8 takes itself way too seriously, but it is fun.

[auronlu.livejournal.com]

You have just pressed all of Sissyhiyah'ss buttons (except I don't know if she's got any interest in the ever-so-obvious Squall/Seifer dysfunctional relationship).

Sis is our resident Quistis/Seifer writer, with healthy helpings of Quistis/Xu for variety's sake.

And that icon makes me drool. I'm so shallow. :P (Except it also makes me sad, because it's Eowyn girding her hair up for a fight scene that got cut because PJ was too busy writing his Haldir/Aragorn AU fanfic.)

[sissyhiyah.livejournal.com]

Buttons? I have buttons? Hee! Guess I do.
Oh yes, I've noticed the Seifer/Squall thing. I just. Hate. Squall. Can't. Make. Myself. Like. Him. Have. Tried. Have. Failed. Grr. Want. To. Punch. Him. In. Head.

Holy hell, I'm channeling Fujin again.

Nah, I've noticed how bad Squall wants to hump Seifer (and hump him he would. Seifer is such a cute little bottom, though he likes to pretend he's not) but I just get so BORED with Squall. Ugh. I've tried so hard to like him, but it's impossible.

I'll stick to Seifer and Xu. Fun characters, even though Xu has so few lines. She's such a charming little bitch. And since I'm nerding out, look at this incredibly lovely actress. If she scowled a bit, can't you see her as Xu?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8mlc9zv5Ho&playnext_from=TL&videos=COQZZ0yCO6k