Ellipsis: The RPG. Now with ninety percent more huge swords and crazy villains!
Ellipsis is all together again!
Well, Sir Snax is in town for Thanksgiving, visiting Mandy, so technically, all us dorks are in the same town for this delightful moment in the year, even if Sir Snax considers himself out of the group until after Sakuracon; I personally still consider him a member, and an active one, in the group, since he's working on his cosplay during his visit, and will be part of our group at the con, and moreover, since he's our beloved friend! (Insert Téa Gardner Friendship Speech here!)
You have no idea how happy this makes me. With Thanksgiving break finally here, I feel like this is the perfect time to harass my friends, go on wacky adventures that hopefully do not involve saving the world, and be a lazyass. Oh, man, I just thought: wouldn't it be funny if Ellipsis were your video game party? Since we always cosplay video games, it's not too difficult to imagine; some of us also wind up being somewhat typecast, so it's even easier to imagine. For example, Momo would always be our token Kid Genius character, mixed with the required lolicon/shotacon character. Ash would be the Stoic Mercenary type, or the Psychotic Villain with Inadequately-Explained Motivations for Evildoing. Whit is hardest to type, but would be the Secretly Suffering Ladies' Man, as far as I'm concerned*. Holly is the Sweet, Innocent Female Lead. Mandy is the Tsundere Female Lead or the Tsundere Female Sidekick. I'm the Princess with a Dark Past and/or a Sordid Secret. Snax is absolutely our Male Lead, who is, I'm sorry to say, usually an idiot who has to have everything explained to him, or is mopey and needs to climb out of his raincloud.
* but Whitney better back away from cosplaying Zelos, because it is my destiny to cosplay Zelos!
In other words, if we were a Final Fantasy party, I guarantee you that Holly would be our white mage/summoner/whatever we're calling it these days. She might have multiple bodyguards, might have the confusing ability to wear two outfits at once, might be the daughter of a famous man, and might have a love interest decided by fate without any thought for chemistry with his male comrades. Cough. She is definitely sweet-tempered and kind, and loves animals.
Mandy would be our black or blue mage, you decide - or mix and match for your convenience! She might wear glasses even in battle and military situations in which glasses are inappropriate, would definitely run hot and cold on any males in the vicinity, and probably has either a sad past or an insecurity to surmount. She makes snide comments but she really loves all of us in the party.
Ash is a schizotypal murderer out to perform disturbing experiments/destroy population centers/conquer a neighboring empire/kill the Chosen One, if we're going with her villain role. If we're going with her other role, she's there to make cool remarks about the male lead, when she talks at all, and to carry a sword far bigger than it needs to be. She's also there to be a foil to Whitney...
Whit is our knight, who has a happy-go-lucky attitude to mask her inner turmoil, and might be caught peeping on various female (and definitely on tsuntsun little Mandy), might have a burden none of the party members are aware of until midway through the game when it all comes crashing down, and might have an uncomfortable family situation. Other characters are always telling her to be serious.
Momo, as the youngest party member, is along on this journey out of an incredibly mature sense of duty, which lands her the coveted spot of being a thief in this party. A very honorable thief, as she only uses her ability against monsters and enemies. She might also have a family life that involves losing siblings or parents either to the bad guy or to someone in our own party.
Snax is the leading man, of any class. That doesn't mean he gets to be as suave as my darling Balthier, though. It means he gets to be insensitive or oblivious toward his female love interest, have a poor relationship with his father (and if he likes his father, he'll find out it's not his real father), and has a heart of gold, even if he claims he doesn't want to be involved in this adventure anymore.
And I'm the dragoon. I am either stoic and silent, a foil to all the other female characters, or I ooze sweetness and vulnerability until I finally snap, going psychotic and/or getting kidnapped by an enemy at some point. I can guarantee you that my father and I don't have a good relationship, that I want the guy who will end up with Mandy or Holly, and that I ramble about either love or honor, or both.
That's the Ellipsis RPG party for you. I can provide in-game examples of any of these behaviors, and I tried to make them as general as possible. I tried to expand beyond just Final Fantasy games, but into things like Tales and .hack as well, but it may be a little limited, since I'm not as familiar with the more in-depth parts of other RPGs.
And hell, if you want to branch out from video games, we're like an ensemble cast anime, probably involving either mecha or some kind of supernatural plot involving an ordinary man being thrust into extraordinary circumstances that tend to involve whooping ass with a huge sword or gun, forming a rivalry with another guy who wields a huge sword or gun, being constantly conflicted, and saving beautiful women from being eaten/raped/kidnapped/sacrificed/blood-drained/data-drained/yeah. Snax, you have your work cut out for you. Hop to it! Start learning how to use a sword, because in the first episode, or the first hour of the game, you will undoubtedly be walking down the street, when BAM! A monster or enemy of some kind comes out of nowhere and attacks your childhood friend or your love interest, or both (childhood friends are so often love interests). Then along comes either Mandy or Whit to explain the ropes to our poor Snax, who's offended that we're dragging him "into somebody else's business," but his natural desire to save people overrides his complaining and jackassery, and he saves whoever got attacked in the first place. Then he gets looped into doing this on a regular basis, and as much as he blames Mandy or Whit for it, he really wants to wave a bigass sword/gun/mecha/motorcycle/whatever around and call out attack names while fiercely resenting his father. With Jill and Beau as the adorable animal sidekicks, who may be able to talk, we're set for success!
Sound like at least one show you've watched? I know it sounds like quite a few I've seen, and that's just the beginning! It also sounds like several games I've played. And more than a few fanfics I've written! (That last part may or may not be true.) So since we have such a successful formula, it's time to shoot the opening theme montage, with the necessary shots of us running, using our super moves, and finally, gazing out on a sunset or other nature scene together. If Ash is the bad guy, we also need a shot of her leering, maybe even cackling down at us from the sky as we run, jump, hack, slash, and blast our way to victory. There should also be a scene of Whit getting slapped, probably by me or Mandy, and a shot of Holly with some kind of bird or flower. The ending theme montage is more up for grabs, but I bet the anime ends with Holly and Snax, as the male and female leads, sitting on a beach, alone.
And we're done.
You're free to make fun of me all you want for thinking through this so much.
"A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world."
Well, Sir Snax is in town for Thanksgiving, visiting Mandy, so technically, all us dorks are in the same town for this delightful moment in the year, even if Sir Snax considers himself out of the group until after Sakuracon; I personally still consider him a member, and an active one, in the group, since he's working on his cosplay during his visit, and will be part of our group at the con, and moreover, since he's our beloved friend! (Insert Téa Gardner Friendship Speech here!)
You have no idea how happy this makes me. With Thanksgiving break finally here, I feel like this is the perfect time to harass my friends, go on wacky adventures that hopefully do not involve saving the world, and be a lazyass. Oh, man, I just thought: wouldn't it be funny if Ellipsis were your video game party? Since we always cosplay video games, it's not too difficult to imagine; some of us also wind up being somewhat typecast, so it's even easier to imagine. For example, Momo would always be our token Kid Genius character, mixed with the required lolicon/shotacon character. Ash would be the Stoic Mercenary type, or the Psychotic Villain with Inadequately-Explained Motivations for Evildoing. Whit is hardest to type, but would be the Secretly Suffering Ladies' Man, as far as I'm concerned*. Holly is the Sweet, Innocent Female Lead. Mandy is the Tsundere Female Lead or the Tsundere Female Sidekick. I'm the Princess with a Dark Past and/or a Sordid Secret. Snax is absolutely our Male Lead, who is, I'm sorry to say, usually an idiot who has to have everything explained to him, or is mopey and needs to climb out of his raincloud.
* but Whitney better back away from cosplaying Zelos, because it is my destiny to cosplay Zelos!
In other words, if we were a Final Fantasy party, I guarantee you that Holly would be our white mage/summoner/whatever we're calling it these days. She might have multiple bodyguards, might have the confusing ability to wear two outfits at once, might be the daughter of a famous man, and might have a love interest decided by fate without any thought for chemistry with his male comrades. Cough. She is definitely sweet-tempered and kind, and loves animals.
Mandy would be our black or blue mage, you decide - or mix and match for your convenience! She might wear glasses even in battle and military situations in which glasses are inappropriate, would definitely run hot and cold on any males in the vicinity, and probably has either a sad past or an insecurity to surmount. She makes snide comments but she really loves all of us in the party.
Ash is a schizotypal murderer out to perform disturbing experiments/destroy population centers/conquer a neighboring empire/kill the Chosen One, if we're going with her villain role. If we're going with her other role, she's there to make cool remarks about the male lead, when she talks at all, and to carry a sword far bigger than it needs to be. She's also there to be a foil to Whitney...
Whit is our knight, who has a happy-go-lucky attitude to mask her inner turmoil, and might be caught peeping on various female (and definitely on tsuntsun little Mandy), might have a burden none of the party members are aware of until midway through the game when it all comes crashing down, and might have an uncomfortable family situation. Other characters are always telling her to be serious.
Momo, as the youngest party member, is along on this journey out of an incredibly mature sense of duty, which lands her the coveted spot of being a thief in this party. A very honorable thief, as she only uses her ability against monsters and enemies. She might also have a family life that involves losing siblings or parents either to the bad guy or to someone in our own party.
Snax is the leading man, of any class. That doesn't mean he gets to be as suave as my darling Balthier, though. It means he gets to be insensitive or oblivious toward his female love interest, have a poor relationship with his father (and if he likes his father, he'll find out it's not his real father), and has a heart of gold, even if he claims he doesn't want to be involved in this adventure anymore.
And I'm the dragoon. I am either stoic and silent, a foil to all the other female characters, or I ooze sweetness and vulnerability until I finally snap, going psychotic and/or getting kidnapped by an enemy at some point. I can guarantee you that my father and I don't have a good relationship, that I want the guy who will end up with Mandy or Holly, and that I ramble about either love or honor, or both.
That's the Ellipsis RPG party for you. I can provide in-game examples of any of these behaviors, and I tried to make them as general as possible. I tried to expand beyond just Final Fantasy games, but into things like Tales and .hack as well, but it may be a little limited, since I'm not as familiar with the more in-depth parts of other RPGs.
And hell, if you want to branch out from video games, we're like an ensemble cast anime, probably involving either mecha or some kind of supernatural plot involving an ordinary man being thrust into extraordinary circumstances that tend to involve whooping ass with a huge sword or gun, forming a rivalry with another guy who wields a huge sword or gun, being constantly conflicted, and saving beautiful women from being eaten/raped/kidnapped/sacrificed/blood-drained/data-drained/yeah. Snax, you have your work cut out for you. Hop to it! Start learning how to use a sword, because in the first episode, or the first hour of the game, you will undoubtedly be walking down the street, when BAM! A monster or enemy of some kind comes out of nowhere and attacks your childhood friend or your love interest, or both (childhood friends are so often love interests). Then along comes either Mandy or Whit to explain the ropes to our poor Snax, who's offended that we're dragging him "into somebody else's business," but his natural desire to save people overrides his complaining and jackassery, and he saves whoever got attacked in the first place. Then he gets looped into doing this on a regular basis, and as much as he blames Mandy or Whit for it, he really wants to wave a bigass sword/gun/mecha/motorcycle/whatever around and call out attack names while fiercely resenting his father. With Jill and Beau as the adorable animal sidekicks, who may be able to talk, we're set for success!
Sound like at least one show you've watched? I know it sounds like quite a few I've seen, and that's just the beginning! It also sounds like several games I've played. And more than a few fanfics I've written! (That last part may or may not be true.) So since we have such a successful formula, it's time to shoot the opening theme montage, with the necessary shots of us running, using our super moves, and finally, gazing out on a sunset or other nature scene together. If Ash is the bad guy, we also need a shot of her leering, maybe even cackling down at us from the sky as we run, jump, hack, slash, and blast our way to victory. There should also be a scene of Whit getting slapped, probably by me or Mandy, and a shot of Holly with some kind of bird or flower. The ending theme montage is more up for grabs, but I bet the anime ends with Holly and Snax, as the male and female leads, sitting on a beach, alone.
And we're done.
You're free to make fun of me all you want for thinking through this so much.
"A good friend is a connection to life - a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world."