auronlu: (Blah)
O.
M.
G.

[livejournal.com profile] owlmoose, have I got a present for you! Unless you've already found it, of course.

Final Fantasy X
Title: The Seeker Files
Author: Jebus Creiss @ Fanfiction.net
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6514906/1/The_Seeker_Files_Book_1_Kilika
Rating: T
Characters: Dona/Barthello, Paine, Rikku, Beclem, Chiapa the Cactuar(!), Baralai, Nooj, Zuke, Tidus/Yuna
Word count: ~ 20,000

Summary: some time after the end of FFX-2, Barthello is once again in Dona's bad graces. As a Warrior Monk guarding Kilika Temple, he assists in a book burning at the direction of the New Yevon high priest. Except -- he saves a book, because he's trying to appease Dona. And she throws him out before he can tell her.
He doesn't know what to do. Then he realizes that Sir Auron is one of the book's co-authors [about the only weak plot point in all this...how?], sits down to read it, and... grows up.

Barthello is most definitely the hero of this story. It involves worldbuilding, messy Spiran politics, LOTS of minor NPCs being used well, main characters doing something meaningful after they "live happily ever after," and everyone sounding completely in character from Rikku to Tidus, Dona to Beclem to *stare* the Cactuar.

Happy Hogswach, KJ!
auronlu: (Bobblehead Night)
The same disease that makes me a baseball fanatic in RL makes me quite fond of blitzball, that minigame which so many people despise. I actually will play a game for fun as a ten-minute break to wake myself up, the way other people would play a game of Tetris.

I was therefore irked at the abomination done to it in X-2. I didn't touch it. How dare they turn my pretend-you're-athletically-coordinated action game into a team management sim?

The imminent start of baseball drove me to try it again on a whim. And you know, once I get over not being able to control the ball carrier (Shoot! Shoot, you idiot; the clock is running out!), the sim is actually not bad, the moves are slightly more plausible (more types of dodges and tackles, more types of passes, no hit points or players poisoning each other), and I like the new players.

Rikku's two-arm over-the-head throw is hilarious.

But, okay, what really sells it for me?

Lucil / Paine / Miyu (my old favorite of the FFX free agents) is pretty much the best offensive lineup ever.

Lucil kicks butt, takes names. Huzzah.

I do wish they'd found a way to make the game 3D -- they're in a sphere pool, for goodness' sake -- but it's got enough oomph in it for me to enjoy.

And now, "It's time for Dodger baseball." Vin Scully, here I come.
auronlu: (dork)
... is evil. It reminds me of a bunch of guys making poo jokes with its repetitive sexual humor, and it shreds FFX unmercifully, but it manages to be wickedly entertaining. I hurt myself laughing. A lot. They have a way with words. Also, more importantly, they noticed that Lulu has a cerebellum despite the fanservice tits.

Edit: Oh yeah, the link to this site.

Of course, VGR's review of X-2, as far as it got, did my heart a world of good. I wish they'd finish it. For a brief moment of insanity I considered volunteering to help, then realized I would undo several years of therapy Also, some of you have helped me find enjoyment in parts of it, much like the Curate's Egg, and if I looked at it through a VGR lens I'd revert to my previous hate-with-great-hate assessment.

I wish I could remember all the things that made me laugh aloud (something I don't do often while reading). The only one I can remember is some line about Yuna dating poor mouse Baralai so she can teach him to wear his underwear UNDERNEATH his pants. Which doesn't seem that funny in retrospect. VGR is a bit like old Monty Python, wherein a 30-second clip isn't that funny, but the cumuluative effect of insanity is such that eventually you'll wheeze with laughter if a hedgehog rises over the top of a skyscraper and intones "Dinsdale."

Also... just because... [Screencap from X-2 which is NSFW]
 
auronlu: (Default)
AUGH. I played X-2 through twice and never got this. Somebody just posted a youtube video showing a hidden Auron scene in X-2. You have to wait for Yuna and Rin to have a 6-minute conversation before getting to the sphere, but it's got a textbook Auron line. :)

SPOILERS, of course:



Edit: Brain freeze. I now expect Auron/Gippal smut from those better qualified to write such things. (Except you're all busy with XII.)

auronlu: (Default)
There's quite a lot of people who specifically consider Wakka/Lulu one of their favorite Fandom pairings.

(Spoilers to FFX-2)

On Wakka and Lulu )


ETA: Wakka/Lulu fans, I am sorry that I got a little too forceful in stating my opinion in a few places here. There are definitely different ways of looking at all this. Please see some of the thoughtful replies below.

Say WHAT?

Jun. 25th, 2006 10:06 pm
auronlu: (egads!)
Okay, spoilers to the conclusion of Via Infinito in FFX-2.





.
.
.
.

"You are the paragon of pastlessness."



I have seen/heard many melodramatic exit lines for villains, but that's got to be one of the silliest.



Maybe now that I've gotten the obsessive compulsive MUST KILL BOSS problem out of my system I can get back to what I was supposed to be doing. I hope FFXII doesn't have "percent complete" stat ... for some reason the perfectionist in me can't resist the challenge, even when I know better.

**EXEUNT PURSUED BY A MOOGLE **

auronlu: (Default)
Hmmm. I started to reply to this person, and realized that I might make her dislike something she loved. So I decided to ramble here and leave her in peace, even though I've said some of this before.


my thoughts on X-2 )

auronlu: (thatslife)
I was just pondering archetypes, psychology, mythology again. There's a common thread that runs through a ton of fantasy and science fiction.

1) Invent a fantasy world with a system that's been in place for a long time.
2) Create heroes who push through the chinks in the system, discovering its flaws, and (usually) showing it to be corrupt.

If you think about it, it's kind of funny. Old myths tended to be about heroes creating or building culture, establishing traditions, or doing things in the traditional way.

Nowadays, we've got the rebel against tradition, who finds a new way of getting things done and overturns the old. It's obvious, and yet it's not.

Why do creators keep setting up cultures where we get to be indignant about how they operate, where sooner or later, we're going to be outraged by some aspect of the world we're trying to save? (think of our righteous indignation on Yuna's behalf.)

I haven't played many of the Final Fantasy series, but just from the ones I've played:
spoilers to X-2, X, VIII, VII )

auronlu: (kimahri)
I don't really like the White Mage outfits that much but they're occasionally handy. Ditto Berserker on Paine.

I dropped the girls down behind the Besaid waterfall last night with a lure bracer, high defensive grids, haste on the healer, and this trick.

Result:
Healer: Prays very fast.
Other two: attack every turn.

I came back this morning to find they'd all maxed out their job abilities nicely. :)

Okay, that's SO LAZY, but I play games for the adventure, charcters, and plot, more than for the thrill of the combat.

Also...

May. 14th, 2006 01:15 pm
auronlu: (dork)
I have decided that Tidus is Voldemort.

Everyone keeps calling him You-Know-Who!

All right, I'm sure I'm not the first person to have thought of this.

auronlu: (Rage)
I hate and fear Yojimbo, with a pure, irrational, completely inexplicable hate, the sort we're supposed to reserve for villains like Seymour and Sephiroth (except Yojimbo isn't really sexy).

Why Yojimbo scares the spit out of me )

auronlu: (bleeds)
I'm finally stumbling across some glimmers of depth and plot at the beginning of Chapter 3, but UGH, ugh, ugh, the world is totally populated by annoying, arrogant, political, greedy, and/or asinine characters.

X-2 ranting )

December 2019

S M T W T F S
1234567
89101112 1314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031    

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 9th, 2025 08:31 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios