FFX Replay and random thoughts
Not sure if I've mentioned this yet, but 
safety_caesars and I are (re)playing FFX. Playing in her case, replaying in my case.
First off, I'll say: I like FFX. I actually like FFX-2, also, and I'm well aware liking both at the same time is Fandom Shun material. I'm certainly not saying either game is perfect, but I enjoy them. I've replayed FFX myself two or three times, and I've started FFX-2 about a dozen times (I can never get through it because the story is much too non-linear for someone with my schedule; I have a month where I can't play anything and then I come back, can't remember where the fuck I was, and the story isn't giving me any guidance, so I have to start over and swear a lot).
Protip: if you follow all of the gasping, grunting, sighing, breathing, exclaiming, and other non-verbal personal noises that are made in dialogue with "he/she came", the voice acting is instantly improved, and the game becomes hilarious.
Watching FFX is interesting from the POV of somebody who knows what's coming. We got to the first "big" reveal last night - the Home/Final Summoning/Bevelle/wedding plot point - and I'd kind of been waiting for it to drop for a while. Watching Tidus be a doof at Yuna is really sad not just when you know Yuna's eventual fate, but when you know how Tidus reacts to it and how regretful and awful he feels. Obviously I've known for a while but I think fandom has somehow made me forget just how tragic this game is, this part especially.
I'm still leering and making noises every time Auron says... well, almost anything. I can't wait until we get to Big Plot Point Scene #2 in Zanarkand. :D
I really like the gameplay in FFX - THERE, I'LL SAY IT - although I also am finding it a little tedious. Some thoughts:
The thing I LIKE about it is that it's the perfect balance between class-based play and completely-customizable play. For example: FFIV - which is admittedly one of my favorite games to (re)play, so this is not a criticism - is completely class-based to the point of not being customizable at all; nothing changes depending on how you play the game. Everyone learns their spells at the same time. I realize the DS Remake had customizability and that was cool, but my brain still goes to the old version of it, where everybody is classed and that's that and there's no overlap: Rydia's always your mage and she's gonna learn Meteo at level 60 [or whatever level in whatever version] and she's never gonna be a good fighter, the end. I enjoy that, but I also find it frustrating that there's nothing new to try. But in FFIV, classing is characterization, too -- Rosa's White Magic is part of who she is, and being a White Mage is part of her personality.
On the other end are games like FFVII or VIII - again, FFVIII is one of my favorites, so no criticism meant - where the characters are almost entirely interchangable except for Limit Breaks because the stats and actions are so malleable. I mean, FFVIII is a great example -- Squall is always loads better than anyone else because you can't get him out of your fucking party, and Rinoa and Zell are kind of skewed towards magic/fighting respectively, but between Quistis, Irvine, and Selphie, there's not a lot of difference because Junctioning can fill up the smaller holes. So they can end up doing or being almost anything - especially once GFs start getting those Stat Up abilities. Which is cool in a gameplay sense because there are a lot of different things you can do with characters, but not as much in a mental or meta sense: is Irvine a caster? A distance fighter (of which there aren't a lot of 'distance' enemies where it matters)? A tank? Classing as characterization is absent. Even Rinoa, who becomes a freaking sorceress, isn't 'classed' as one -- their personalities are fairly distant from their battle roles. FFVII is the same way - the characters are mostly the same, strengths and weaknesses are minimized, and Limit Breaks define them.
FFX is, to me, a variant on the best of both worlds. Characters start off classed, so there's never any real confusion as to what you use Lulu or Auron for. But as you advance through the game you get the opportunity to customize, so you can have different characters do different things. If you're like me and you hate blitzball and thus never get Wakka's Overdrives or Ultimate Weapon or anything, you can have another character learn Wakka's skills, for when Wakka eventually gets outclassed by other characters with more developed Overdrives. You can turn Yuna into a fighter or a speed machine or a Sage, whatever you want.
(I once played a Girls-Only Challenge which was really hard and really fun. :D)
It's like what I really like about FFV Advance -- cross-classing, or combo-classing, customizing characters within certain molds and coming up with fun badass new ways to play.
It gets a little tedious switching in and out of battles - which are fun because they can be strategic, with the classing (and cross-classing). It gets old when you're in an area that has the same kind of monsters all the time and you're just switching in and out the appropriate people - but then there's a boss battle where you have to hope you developed everybody because suddenly you've gotta use all those abilities you didn't think were important. (EVRAE. FUCKING EVRAE.)
But I think most games have those points. In FFVIII, for example, Drawing spells is the most fuckboring thing ever invented, even when Laguna does it. In other games there's just plain levelgrinding. I think FFX manages to be strategic even with its plug-and-play battle system because the bosses aren't that mold -- and they can be freaking hard.
But maybe that's just me and I like making my mages into heavy hitters, lol.
- - -
It's funny, though, replaying, because I'm not very fannishly active for this game, and I am not entirely sure why. I love Auron/Lulu as a ship, but watching the game, there really is little to no evidence of them ever, like, interacting about anything much. (Which... ships sail on much less, so it isn't a criticism, but I've been actively looking for hints and so far coming up dry.) In fact, on this playthrough, Lulu is leaving me a little bit cold; she's the kind of character I usually find fascinating but this time it's as if there just isn't much there. She never gets explained: she just was with Chappu and then went on some pilgrimages and she casts magic and for some reason Guado really like to target her in battle and, well, that's that. Her motivations are just there but they never really get developed.
As always the character who draws me in the most is Rikku, which is also funny because she's the archetype I'm usually not drawn to. But what I like about Rikku is that she's so serious and big-hearted and determined to save her cousin, and she's never once apologetic about her people and their lives to Wakka or anybody else -- I love the way she continues to question Yevon and the teachings, even as the Yevon threads start to unravel; she's more a catalyst for what happens with Yuna than I think most people give her credit for.
Auron is still awesome. Braska and Jecht and Auron are still my OT3.
Also shipping Tidus/Wakka this playthrough, BY THE WAY. WHO HAS FIC. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE IT.
Hadn't realized in previous playthroughs how Seymour is set up as a creeper basically from the beginning, with his creeper voice and creeper dialogue and sinister demeanor -- I was kind of spoiled so I probably didn't notice because I knew he was a not-so-good-guy, but it's really freaking obvious coming back to the game with a bit of distance.
I'm still unsure why this game doesn't catch me fannishly, though. There are a lot of ideas I have and things I'd like to explore, but for some reason they're never forceful enough to drag me to the keyboard and sit me down, going, DO THIS. Other fanfiction ideas have. None of the characters speak to me personally (like, say, Quistis Trepe) or draw out my interests and sympathies and nostalgia (like Rydia). I am hoping this playthrough changes that, though, because like I said, I'd like to create more for this fandom.
What I find I like the most is the world. It's complicated and it's actually a pretty shitty place to live, all things considered. It's so complex and well-built because of it. The 'rules' of the fayth and the pyreflies and the aeons, the complicated relationship Yevon has with everything, and the way Yuna is a product of that and still manages to walk her own path (again, I am convinced the Al Bhed play a bigger role in this story than fandom admits).
Anyway, that's where we are now, and those are my thoughts. More as I go!
This entry was originally posted at http://seventhe.dreamwidth.org/281977.html, which has
comments. Comment there (with OpenID) or here, it's all good.
safety_caesars and I are (re)playing FFX. Playing in her case, replaying in my case.
First off, I'll say: I like FFX. I actually like FFX-2, also, and I'm well aware liking both at the same time is Fandom Shun material. I'm certainly not saying either game is perfect, but I enjoy them. I've replayed FFX myself two or three times, and I've started FFX-2 about a dozen times (I can never get through it because the story is much too non-linear for someone with my schedule; I have a month where I can't play anything and then I come back, can't remember where the fuck I was, and the story isn't giving me any guidance, so I have to start over and swear a lot).
Protip: if you follow all of the gasping, grunting, sighing, breathing, exclaiming, and other non-verbal personal noises that are made in dialogue with "he/she came", the voice acting is instantly improved, and the game becomes hilarious.
Watching FFX is interesting from the POV of somebody who knows what's coming. We got to the first "big" reveal last night - the Home/Final Summoning/Bevelle/wedding plot point - and I'd kind of been waiting for it to drop for a while. Watching Tidus be a doof at Yuna is really sad not just when you know Yuna's eventual fate, but when you know how Tidus reacts to it and how regretful and awful he feels. Obviously I've known for a while but I think fandom has somehow made me forget just how tragic this game is, this part especially.
I'm still leering and making noises every time Auron says... well, almost anything. I can't wait until we get to Big Plot Point Scene #2 in Zanarkand. :D
I really like the gameplay in FFX - THERE, I'LL SAY IT - although I also am finding it a little tedious. Some thoughts:
The thing I LIKE about it is that it's the perfect balance between class-based play and completely-customizable play. For example: FFIV - which is admittedly one of my favorite games to (re)play, so this is not a criticism - is completely class-based to the point of not being customizable at all; nothing changes depending on how you play the game. Everyone learns their spells at the same time. I realize the DS Remake had customizability and that was cool, but my brain still goes to the old version of it, where everybody is classed and that's that and there's no overlap: Rydia's always your mage and she's gonna learn Meteo at level 60 [or whatever level in whatever version] and she's never gonna be a good fighter, the end. I enjoy that, but I also find it frustrating that there's nothing new to try. But in FFIV, classing is characterization, too -- Rosa's White Magic is part of who she is, and being a White Mage is part of her personality.
On the other end are games like FFVII or VIII - again, FFVIII is one of my favorites, so no criticism meant - where the characters are almost entirely interchangable except for Limit Breaks because the stats and actions are so malleable. I mean, FFVIII is a great example -- Squall is always loads better than anyone else because you can't get him out of your fucking party, and Rinoa and Zell are kind of skewed towards magic/fighting respectively, but between Quistis, Irvine, and Selphie, there's not a lot of difference because Junctioning can fill up the smaller holes. So they can end up doing or being almost anything - especially once GFs start getting those Stat Up abilities. Which is cool in a gameplay sense because there are a lot of different things you can do with characters, but not as much in a mental or meta sense: is Irvine a caster? A distance fighter (of which there aren't a lot of 'distance' enemies where it matters)? A tank? Classing as characterization is absent. Even Rinoa, who becomes a freaking sorceress, isn't 'classed' as one -- their personalities are fairly distant from their battle roles. FFVII is the same way - the characters are mostly the same, strengths and weaknesses are minimized, and Limit Breaks define them.
FFX is, to me, a variant on the best of both worlds. Characters start off classed, so there's never any real confusion as to what you use Lulu or Auron for. But as you advance through the game you get the opportunity to customize, so you can have different characters do different things. If you're like me and you hate blitzball and thus never get Wakka's Overdrives or Ultimate Weapon or anything, you can have another character learn Wakka's skills, for when Wakka eventually gets outclassed by other characters with more developed Overdrives. You can turn Yuna into a fighter or a speed machine or a Sage, whatever you want.
(I once played a Girls-Only Challenge which was really hard and really fun. :D)
It's like what I really like about FFV Advance -- cross-classing, or combo-classing, customizing characters within certain molds and coming up with fun badass new ways to play.
It gets a little tedious switching in and out of battles - which are fun because they can be strategic, with the classing (and cross-classing). It gets old when you're in an area that has the same kind of monsters all the time and you're just switching in and out the appropriate people - but then there's a boss battle where you have to hope you developed everybody because suddenly you've gotta use all those abilities you didn't think were important. (EVRAE. FUCKING EVRAE.)
But I think most games have those points. In FFVIII, for example, Drawing spells is the most fuckboring thing ever invented, even when Laguna does it. In other games there's just plain levelgrinding. I think FFX manages to be strategic even with its plug-and-play battle system because the bosses aren't that mold -- and they can be freaking hard.
But maybe that's just me and I like making my mages into heavy hitters, lol.
- - -
It's funny, though, replaying, because I'm not very fannishly active for this game, and I am not entirely sure why. I love Auron/Lulu as a ship, but watching the game, there really is little to no evidence of them ever, like, interacting about anything much. (Which... ships sail on much less, so it isn't a criticism, but I've been actively looking for hints and so far coming up dry.) In fact, on this playthrough, Lulu is leaving me a little bit cold; she's the kind of character I usually find fascinating but this time it's as if there just isn't much there. She never gets explained: she just was with Chappu and then went on some pilgrimages and she casts magic and for some reason Guado really like to target her in battle and, well, that's that. Her motivations are just there but they never really get developed.
As always the character who draws me in the most is Rikku, which is also funny because she's the archetype I'm usually not drawn to. But what I like about Rikku is that she's so serious and big-hearted and determined to save her cousin, and she's never once apologetic about her people and their lives to Wakka or anybody else -- I love the way she continues to question Yevon and the teachings, even as the Yevon threads start to unravel; she's more a catalyst for what happens with Yuna than I think most people give her credit for.
Auron is still awesome. Braska and Jecht and Auron are still my OT3.
Also shipping Tidus/Wakka this playthrough, BY THE WAY. WHO HAS FIC. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE IT.
Hadn't realized in previous playthroughs how Seymour is set up as a creeper basically from the beginning, with his creeper voice and creeper dialogue and sinister demeanor -- I was kind of spoiled so I probably didn't notice because I knew he was a not-so-good-guy, but it's really freaking obvious coming back to the game with a bit of distance.
I'm still unsure why this game doesn't catch me fannishly, though. There are a lot of ideas I have and things I'd like to explore, but for some reason they're never forceful enough to drag me to the keyboard and sit me down, going, DO THIS. Other fanfiction ideas have. None of the characters speak to me personally (like, say, Quistis Trepe) or draw out my interests and sympathies and nostalgia (like Rydia). I am hoping this playthrough changes that, though, because like I said, I'd like to create more for this fandom.
What I find I like the most is the world. It's complicated and it's actually a pretty shitty place to live, all things considered. It's so complex and well-built because of it. The 'rules' of the fayth and the pyreflies and the aeons, the complicated relationship Yevon has with everything, and the way Yuna is a product of that and still manages to walk her own path (again, I am convinced the Al Bhed play a bigger role in this story than fandom admits).
Anyway, that's where we are now, and those are my thoughts. More as I go!
This entry was originally posted at http://seventhe.dreamwidth.org/281977.html, which has
comments. Comment there (with OpenID) or here, it's all good.