selenityshiroi

[selenityshiroi]

#hygiene and human contamination #also the fish one #the food hygiene course i did almost 25 years ago is a blessing and a curse #and my mother is allergic to fish so i have a psychosomatic revulsion to it

[selenityshiroi]

Fun fact: ‘Mind how you go’ is a Terry Pratchett reference. Not only his last book, The Shepherd’s Crown, has this dedication to one of the characters, it’s the Pratchett family’s mantra for safety:

Her [Rhianna Pratchett’s] parents were living in Wiltshire, while she was based in London but they saw a lot of each other and spoke constantly. “I’m always telling them I love them on the phone in a slightly silly way. We always say to each other, ‘Mind how you go’; it’s almost like a Pratchett mantra for safety.”

with Rhianna, the daughter of Terry Pratchett, saying this as her last words to her father and her grandfather.

#pterry #good omens #it reminds me of how I can never say 'bye' to my family when i leave the house - i have to say 'see you later'

[selenityshiroi]

FFVII REBIRTH COMPLETED

Well...that was a complicated ending. I understand why people are as torn over it as they were Remake's ending.

The multiple worlds thing is confusing af but I do actually think they have a fully realised plan for it. This isn't a 'keep tacking things on because we have to make multiple portable games' like KH deal. They've been able to plan the full scenario and whilst they keep leaving the endings confusing and complex to keep people talking about them till the next game I do hope that the finale of game 3 WILL wrap things up.

Things I liked:

BARRET. HOLY SHIT. HE HAD SO MANY GOOD SCENES. His VA is phenomenal, the banter and connection with all the characters was amazing, we got to see his back story (and even got a glimpse of Myrna :((()...They did him SO GOOD.

Yuffie. She was perfect. She came in like a wrecking ball and didn't let up. They didn't soften her laser focus on materia and it still got her into trouble (and I'm sure the great betrayal will happen in part three still) but you also got to see her bond with the crew and get invested in things and provide a different persepective.

NANAKI. I LOVE HIM. I love how they dealt with the reveal of him actually being a baby. I love that the crew often call him Nanaki after the reveal (I actually squealed the first time Cloud referred to him as Nanaki instead of Red). I really...really hate that Nanaki stiil gets referred to by the designation Hojo gave him. And the trial at the Temple of the Ancients reinforced that for me. So the crew calling him Nanaki is very important to me. But he had such great scenes with Cloud, the trial with Barret was great...I already loved Nanaki but the game was like VINDICATION.

Cait Sith. I still don't forgive them for the mispronunciation but Cait meows the Victory Fanfare sometimes so I am slightly healed. He was amazing. I got a little teary when 1.0 met his fate, even though I knew about 2.0 because I've played OG.

Aerith.

Tifa. OMG they gave Tifa a lot in this game. I was expecting her to take a bit of a back seat, since she will become super relevant next game and I was expecting it to be Aerith's time to shine. But instead we got Tifa caught up in the weapons plot.

Which leads me to Cloti. OMG.

The kiss has gone viral and it was so shocking that they went there this early. But also not because they've been building this more intimate and physically close bond between Cloud and Tifa throughout both games. The target is obviously the Highwind and eventually AC so it's nice to see the relationship building. And it also deepens the 'Cloud's mind' plot. Because we know Tifa draws out real Cloud. It's why she can help him in the lifestream, it's why he remembers stuff about their past even when everything else is messed up, it's why he is drawn to her because he's stil that young boy who was head over heels for his next door neighbour (underneath the trauma).

But it was actually everything about Gongaga that made me go wow. because, again, it's set up. For Cloud's breakdowns, for future conflict as we approach the Northern Crater, for Tifa being able to use the lifestream to help Cloud.

Cloud was also wonderful, still (when in the right frame of mind) opening up to everyone, building bonds, softening up. And the breakdowns were handled so well. I also liked how they adapted his recollection of Zack.

I love the world, I loved the exploration. Combat was AMAZING. At first I stuck to my favs but at one point I realised that I had SO MANY weapon passives to unlock so I spent some time playing the other characters and EVERY character is super fun to play.

The whispers didn't affect the story too much so we got to experience the plot mostly as expected with some fun twists and turns and a few exceptions to the fun bit.

I love the piano mini game. I love the baby chocobos. I love that you can pet Fluffy.

Now...there is one character I didn't mention above. And I'm sure some will think it's because shipping. But, no, it's because they fumbled her.

In what SHOULD have been her game, where she bonds with the crew and makes them (and us) DEVESTATED at her death, they barely gave her anything of substance. MULTIPLE TIMES when they would wrap up a storyline the entire cast of characters would have something to say and take place in post mission banter...except Aerith who would be doing idle animation in the background. She got two significant scenes. Cosmo Canyon and TotA. Cosmo Canyon was a monologue so we didn't even get to see her bond with the crew over it and TotA her most powerful scene was her trial, which none of the others witnessed. And then they dropped the ball on her death scene, too (and, yes, conspiracy theories shut up...she's dead) by making it a header note in a poorly paced ending sequence that includes a marathon boss frenzy.

I don't ship her with Cloud. At all. I can barely see any romance in even their most intimate scenes as it all seems very platonic to me (especially in the context of Tifa and Zack existing). But the ending scenes of Aerith and Cloud were super sweet and melancholic. The failure of a date, the good bye, his brain just not able to process her death just like he couldn't process Zack's...it was pretty touching. But you just DIDN'T GET CHANCE to realy feel it. Because PRESS BUTTONS...TAKE PART IN 12 BOSS BATTLES...HAVE NEW BATTLE MECHANICS WITH ZACK...GHOST AERITH IS HERE SO NOW YOU DON'T FEEL HER LOSS

SE fucked that up. Even if they pull off the whole complacated multiple worlds stuff that a lot of people don't have faith in...they will not get that moment back.

Finally, there is one gameplay thing I hated. And that is the combination of Queens Blood, Fort Condor and that stupid Robot Battle thing. Because that is three tactical/stratagy based mini games to deal with in a non tactical/stratagy RPG. And I hate them. Queens Blood less so than the other two, because at least replays are cheap and easy. But they are not my cup of tea AT ALL. And I'm so annoyed that the Cosmo Canyon Protorelic is locked behind the stupid robot game.

BTW I clocked in at about 95 hours. I've not done everything but I did a very high chunk.

Edit: yeah...one final thing. Cid and Vincent might as well not have been in the game. They were less relevant than Johnny to the story.

But I'll end on another positive: the Junon Parade. Not only did I greatly enjoy the actual parade but MIDGAR 7th INFANTRY.

Please get them as the crew for the Highwind. I also loved Cloud's mini arc of becoming a successful leader. A+++

Overall my score of the game is probably 9/10. Might drop down or go up depending on the final game. But I'm super satisfied with it.

#ffvii rebirth spoilers #spoilers #ffvii rebirth

[selenityshiroi]

FFVII Rebirth Spoilers

Holy shit this game

The exploration is great, the world is great, the gameplay is great (I was playing on Normal up until the worm hard stomped me but I was too impatient to grind so switched to Easy so I could get through the story quicker on my first playthrough...but the style is super fun and having a range of characters to mess about with and expanded material and weapon skills etc is amazing)

But the characters. Omg the characters.

I'm just about to enter Gongaga reactor and there has been such an emotional build to Cloud's breakdowns. Which is made all the more heartbreaking by the relationship building going on.

The previous arc with Barret and Dyne was so well done and Barret's VA is phenomenal. And then the scene between Barret and Cloud showing just how far their relationship has come in such a short time? Amazing.

Everytime Cloud and Nanaki interact my heart grows three sizes. Both two boys who had to grow up too soon. I am justified in my 'Nanaki is the best man at Cloud and Tifa's wedding' headcanon.

And, yes, they are not being subtle about where Cloud's heart lies. They used half the romantic tropes in the book just between Kalm and Under Junon. I am aware of the big spoilers but even without knowing that my opinion wouldn't have changed.

Aerith and Tifa's friendship is also really sweet to see. It's mostly been background, because so much of the game is from Cloud's POV so far, but the bits we've gotten front and centre has been lovely. And the fact that they've been shown having the discussions from TOTP and also talking about Zack etc is nice.

And then in came Yuffie. Who remains as delightful as in her DLC but now with the crew to bounce off of! She is a chaos gremlin and I am here for it. She adds so much levity to what would otherwise be a very grim situation but when she gets serious she gets dammed serious.

Aerith has had surprisingly little focus so far in what I would have thought was a more heavy game for her. She's obviously taking some spotlight when it comes to the Turks or Zack but otherwise she's not had much specific. I suppose that will change when we get near to the anticipated events.

I think my favourite bit so far was Junon. Especially from the Parade onwards. Cloud had his own mini arc there on becoming a confident leader and it was nicely done and a little glimpse of post lifestream Cloud.

Also the piano mini game is amazing. Queens Blood is so so but I'm not a fan of the card games anyway. It's tolerable.

Cait Sith has only just joined but I'm finding him fun so far. A little over the top but okay. I liked him a lot in OG but I'm not sold on him yet. Reeve is still cool though.

Anyway, the game has been out for like 65 hours and I'm 45 hours in. Still a ways to go :)

#ffvii rebirth spoilers #ffvii rebirth #spoilers

[selenityshiroi]

Me when I'm 18 hours into FFVII Rebirth and I'm still exploring the second open area instead of progressing the plot: okay, that's enough. Let's move on. You can come back and do the rest later.

Also me two hours later: I will repeat this parade on the hardest difficulty AS MANY TIMES AS IT TAKES until I get a great score.

(I tried to win the QB tournament...I really did...but I didn't really update my cards so the last two matches were too much)

I'm getting some more sleep now after like 22 hours into the game. Reached a good stopping point. But also reached a NO PLOT IS GOING TO PROGRESS FOR A BIT point.

#ffvii rebirth #spoilers #ffvii rebirth spoilers #not important spoilers but just in case

[selenityshiroi]

FFXIV HEAVENSWARD

So I've just gotten second credits and finished this expansion with just over an hour til VII Rebirth is out in my timezone. And, wow, what an expansion it was. I made my post on ARR just over a month ago. And, yes, that means I managed to burn through this expansion in a month instead of the couple years it took me to get through ARR.

And I'm not going to say that it's because ARR is bad. It isn't. But it is overwhelming, especially for someone of my play style. And many of my delays were to do with not wanting to do Duty Finder stuff and procrastinating. I still don't love Duty Finder stuff, but it's less overwhelming when I have videos to watch and prepare with. And I'm feeling a lot more comfortable with the WHM lvl 60 kit than the lvl 30-50 kit. Trying to go back to the lvl30 dungeons without AOE heal/regen from medica II is horrible. But as for the story: OMG

I was so damned invested in everything. From the plot to the characters to the side characters to the little bits of worldbuilding going on around me. I sped through so many small quests in ARR as I just didn't have any investment in the side characters. And I do wonder if that would be different if I replayed it now that I'm not trying to learn how the game and my roles work. But in HW I took my time. I can name or recognise most of the side characters. I got emotional over plot points. The baby rat made me cry over his dead parents :(

And yet, although I took my time I ALSO played A LOT. I put aside a few other games in order to focus on this because I was into the story.

And although I'm going to now put XIV aside for a bit to focus on Rebirth, I'm so glad I got to this point. Because I want to dive into the next expansion. I want to see what comes next for these characters and this world. So the next time I see the 'includes the award winning expansion' I'm going to know that they are and should be rightfully proud of Heavensward. It was a damned good time.

[selenityshiroi]

Lightning Returns epilogue but everyone is together and happy.

(view on desktop for non-shitty image quality)

#ff #ffxiii #final fantasy

[selenityshiroi]

knitting

#i was kind of expecting starfire to attack the yarn like a cat #because of that one episode where she 'devolved' into a cat #but it was a different type of adorable instead

[selenityshiroi]

If there is one thing I can trust about SquareEnix it's that they will put as many cats into their games, with animation to the best of their current capability, as they possibly can.

#this post brought to you by the random area in the FFVII Rebirth demo filled with cats #i approve of their budget choices #i too would fill my game with cats

[selenityshiroi]

Started the FFVII Rebirth Demo.

Found the piano.

Lost the next 20 minutes into getting a perfect score on the song.

#ffviir

[selenityshiroi]

My adventures in FFXIV: finally reached the end of ARR edition

So...a fair few years back I, a huge Final Fantasy fan but not so much a fan of MMORPGs, heard that the critically acclaimed MMORPG FFXIV was available on a free trial (up to level blah blah and including expansions etc insert rest of meme here). And I figured I would give it a shot.

I downloaded it to my PS4, made my character, stumbled my way through chosing a class, got lost a billion times, and then finally made it out of the city and to my first enemies...

Where, with my lack of understanding of the controls and mechanics, thought I'd accidentally attacked another player instead of the monster and insta closed the game in shame and dishonour.

(Back then I didn't know you COULDN'T attack another player outside of PVP and the player probably just teleported away with great timing)

I didn't touch the game for another year or two.

That year or two later I was exposed to XIV again through FFXIII fans. And it was also around the time that SquareEnix started to release and advertise a beginners guide to FFXIV and it was being mentioned by many people that XIV could now be played solo*.

*not quite fully but we'll get to that

So, with these factors combined, I watched the SE vids and dusted off my PS4 and booted the game back up.

A few hours later and I was invested.

This time around I wasn't stumbling around completely blind (don't get me wrong...there are SEVERAL mechanics I would later have to Google and watch YouTube vids for because the in game experience wasn't intuituive) and I had some aims to get to. Plus I now had fans of the game, that I knew, telling me 'it gets better after ARR' so I had a reason to get through the story to 'make it to the good stuff'.

So...about that.

I proceeded to spend the last two years 'getting through the story'.

And that is for two reasons.

1. I unlocked every role and initially started to equally level them all up, not realising this was not a great idea. I eventually WHM mained at around lvl 34 but I continued an obsessive need to level up all the DOL/DOH roles.

I actually ran out of material accessibility before slowing down.

2. Solo*

I very, very quickly realised that doing anything with parties made me extremely anxious. I'm not extremely confident in my gameplay and whilst I'm happy to fail and repeat in my own gameplay, I don't want to negatively affect anyone else.

But, in the latter half of ARR, I started stumbling across content I couldn't complete without a party. I avoided those side content aspects for a while and procrastinated a little with more gathering and crafting.

But then I reached the Crystal Tower. And, suddenly, it wasn't just side content I could avoid.

In order to continue the MSQ I HAD to join a party.

And here is where I give a shout out to youtube tutorials (in particular The Scrub) for giving me a guides that I could study like I was about to take an exam. Because being able to go into coop content with some idea of what to expect did ease my concerns a little.

And here is where I give a massive shout out to the XIV player base. Because I wasn't perfect. And I did make some mistakes (although I'm also pretty sure on some duties the tank was making mistakes...) but the players were helpful and kind about it. Especially when I put out a 'sry new and on ps5' message (because by this point I had transferred my file to my PS5 and brought the game for inventory space...see my crafting and gathering obsession). I think I saw one 'ugh doing with this newbs is rough' message in an 8 man raid where it went wrong for a lot of people but even that wasn't too mean.

But the bad thing about the 'it gets really good after ARR' thing was that after the Praetorium I was expecting it to be close to the end of the expansion. And that the things after it were just trying up loose ends and simple side quest stuff. So I tried rushing through it a bit but then realised that...it kept going. And it was also full of plot. New characters, more world building etc. So I slowed down again because it had been a year since the Praetorium and, sure, I'd taken some long breaks to play other games, but I wasn't getting to the end.

Now...I had seen exactly one thing from FFXIV before playing the game at all. I have been exposed to some more spoilers since then, but the scene I had seen before playing was a complete scene that was understandable without context. Nanamo's part at the end of ARR.

So I knew it was coming and I was starting to piece together the context leading up to it before I reached it. And the longer it took to show up the more I thought 'wow...this really is the expansion that never ends'.

Until yesterday. When 'several cutscenes will play in a sequence' popped up and I knew.

It was time.

The Venn Diagram of side characters I really liked and characters who FFXIV killed off is pretty much a circle.

Still mourning Noraxia and don't get me started on Moenbryda, the character so hot even my aroace ass went 'oh'.

But it finally happened. I reached credits on ARR.

It's taken me 2 (or technically like 5) years but I made it!

The story for ARR wasn't bad, but there were sections where I just wanted to get to the next bit. It took me a while to really get into the swing of things and understand the world and it's characters. At the beginning I didn't really like any of the city leaders because there was a lot of 'let's kill all the beast tribes' talk and the beast tribes seemed sentient, so it seemed pretty genocidal. But then the sentience and right of the various races to live and coexist became a plot point and I think that was when I finally started to settle into the world building.

It probably took until post praetorium for me to really get into the Scions squad. This was not helped by Minfilia's VA who almost made me hate the character because yikes. I don't want to blame the actress, because I do believe that voice direction has a lot to answer for with dubbing. But it was so bad. I am very glad I have now reached the stage where a new cast and studio took over.

Now my new task (other than, obviously, playing HW) is to work through the tribal quests. I really like the tribes and was very happy to unlock the quests. But I didn't work through them and I forgot that you are limited in daily activity. And that they share a quest quota.

I also think there might be some materials locked behind the quests???

I also would like some money for a house. Ha. Haha. Hahaha.

I have like 560k. Houses are like 3mil at least.

But I'm missing out on so much crafting by not having a house to fill with furniture.

#ffxiv

[selenityshiroi]

Me: I don't really watch TV I'm too busy with video games and background Twitch channels

One (1) gifset on tumblr: heyyyyyyy...look at this random scene from this k-drama

Me going to bed at 3am after binging three episodes on Netflix: opps

#it's my demon btw #not sure what tweaked my interest #but I'm enjoying it so far #just enough ridiculous hijinks and drama and longing stares to keep things interesting

[selenityshiroi]

Pretty sure "ease him" doesn't mean anything but I'm NOT rewriting that now >:/

First >> Next

#good omens #merlin #asdhdklsljsggkla #what an inspired crossover

[selenityshiroi]

Zelda! Zelda!! What is cuter than a baby!?

#zelink #link if you keep being that adorable then you and zelda are gonna have THREE babies

[selenityshiroi]

Starting Again 💕

#the most relatable video on the internet

[selenityshiroi]

Basic rules for analysing fiction, an incomprehensive list jotted down in a hurry:

The protagonist isn’t always right

The protagonist isn’t always good

The protagonist isn’t always written to be relatable or likeable

The narrator isn’t always right

The narrator isn’t always good

The narrator isn’t always telling the truth

The narrator isn’t always the author

The protagonist’s moral compass, the narrator’s moral compass and the author’s moral compass are three entirely different things that only occasionally overlap

Pay attention to what characters do and not just what they say

Pay special attention when what the characters do is at odds with what they say

A lot of the time the curtains are blue for a reason. If they aren’t, you should read better books

[selenityshiroi]

so sick of seeing people debate if clive would win against noctis or cloud in a fight when we all know he could whoop their asses

the REAL question is, could he beat lightning?

#lightning beat bhunivelze AND ripped hope's soul out of him in one fell swoop and didn’t need her sister to bail her out #(okay they did do one final 'power of friendship' strike but that was cinematic it doesn’t count) #clive only have walmart brand bhunivelze and he didn’t even steal a whole new planet after #just patched up the old one a little #the only reason light wouldn’t kick his ass is that she would probs punch him in the face once and then realise he was on her side