~Abandoned Grave IV: Reminiscence Ad Womagica
Hey guys! Me and jazaaboo have decided to take the ladyzombies in a brand new, unique, original direction! We spent many hours creating a brand new world and a brand new look for all of them, as well as an in-depth cinematic plot that will touch your heart forever. But what is this plot, you ask? Well first let me set the scene for you, so you know what you're getting into.
In the world of Gaiaterra, people used to believe in the power of magic and the ancient Gods, but all are forgotten now. Now the people bow to the whims of the corrupt Kapt'lsm corporation, which drains the lifeblood of Gaiaterra to use for their own corrupt ends. The ancient ways and legends are now all but forgotten, although the Kapt'lsm Corp. seems bizarrely intent on making sure no one remembers or believes the old stories about a race of people that once lived on the moon known as the Cedarians... but in these modern times of steam-powered technology and neon lights, who would believe such things anyway?
But time flows like a river, and history repeats... four youths are brought together by fate, each with the same strange amnesia... and the same strange abilities. Kapt'lsm enlists them in their mercenary program for children, ZOM-B, training them for their own nefarious purposes, giving them incredibly powerful weapons and skills, and bestowing each of them with a strange crystal, which gives them bizarre and frightening powers. Kapt'lsm wants them to investigate stories of the gods returning to Gaiaterra and the resurfacing of magic, to prove once and for all that the fairy tales are false by using the god's power against them. But sometimes there's more truth in legends than in history, and their crystals prove to be a stronger connection to their world, and themselves, than they ever would have guessed.
Soon, the shocking truth about the four youths is revealed, and they rise up against their former employers... and the very world order itself. What will become of Gaiaterra? And what of the mysterious Cedarians, and the strange forms each rebellious youth can take on, using the power of the crystals?
Pretty unique, huh? Coming up with a plot this complicated and groundbreaking took some time, but we think it was worth it! But you probably want to see more of these strange youths and their new powers, right? Read on!
Jacqueline wil Tezla JorrGia (also known as "Jahki") is a lively, carefree, good-hearted and endearing young girl of sixteen, with a relentlessly sunny disposition. Always quick to bounce, giggle, flash peace signs, use cute pointless slang, and bend over in a short skirt in front of cameras, Jahki makes sure the rest of her team doesn't get too depressed or mopey. She has a tendency to trip and run into things, tumble charmingly down short little hills, and occasionally hit herself with her own weapons since she can be pretty silly and adorable! But she's always there to extend a cheerful glomp for her friends. She loves animals and has a natural rapport with them, almost like she can speak with them telepathically! A talent normally reserved for the Cedarians, strangely enough! What an odd coincidence. She has an imaginary friend that she talks to sometimes that she called Travis, but it turns out he's actually a secret magical creature that's been watching her since she woke up on Gaiaterra! Her scenes where she makes adorable asides to Travis in a squeaky chipmunk voice, much to the other character's confusion, just leave everyone in stitches.
Everybody loves Jahki and how she constantly makes cute noises while doing anything, including walking or looking at things, but she also hides a dark past! Like the others, she also has amnesia, and a strange connection to the ancient gods of Gaiaterra, as well as a strange wistful attraction to the moon. But that won't stop her from being childishly naive and excited by absolutely everything, as well as easily emotional and prone to tears.
[Background info on her character creation!]
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Jockey here is obviously riffing off of Vanille from FFXIII, and as you might have guessed I despise Vanille. It's like Square-Enix read my mind and took every single character trait I hated in their characters and poured them all into Vanille. I can't stand her. I CAN'T STAND HER. You don't even know.
But anyway her outfit and pose even riff off of Vanille, but there are a few other tidbits in here as well. The tiny summon Travis plays off of how there were tiny monsters floating around in a bunch of Amano's art for characters, and is sort of a ref to Rydia from 4 I guess, tho that wasn't really intentional. Jockey I did mostly from memory away from the computer, so she doesn't have as many tiny references as the others. In terms of personality though, she's just a big mishmash of Vanille, Selphie, Rikku, Eiko, Yuffie, just generally all the childish cutesy comedy relief characters that populate the FF stable.
In retrospect I also could have made her look more the part of the creepy jailbait character like Rikku (fifteen! and voted sexiest character!), but eh. I CAN'T SAY I'M SHEDDING TOO MANY TEARS ABOUT NEGLECTING THE BARELY-PUBESCENT SEXUALIZED CHARACTER DESIGN THAT FINAL FANTASY SEEMS SO FOND OF
OH YEAH I ALMOST FORGOT her stupid metal toes are lifted from Vincent's ridiculous boot toes, i swear
they will always look silly
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Jahki's crystal connects her to the gods of Gaiaterra and to her own unique and mysterious heritage, enabling her to take on a strange new form known as N'fect! The N'fect form greatly increases the user's abilities in combat, BUT AT WHAT COST??
Jahki's N'fect form reflects her adorable and childish nature. ^_^ Cute and small! Her special abilities mostly focus on helping and protecting her teammates. She constantly hops, chirps, twirls, and somersaults! You'll love watching her do that over and over again, because you'll have no choice.
She also makes orgasm sounds while transforming into her summon form! It's really important to her character. Her crystal and corresponding N'fect form are really important for when they ride motorcycles later! More on that in a second.
[Background info on this design!]
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JAZ DID THE SUMMON FORMS FOR ALL OF THEM AND OH MAN THEY ARE AMAZING AREN'T THEY
I LOVE THE WING TAILS ON THIS SO MUCH hahahahahaha
Jaz says this draws mostly from Carbuncle from 13 and Sephiroth's PANTS WINGS from Kingdom Hearts 2.
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Hun'trr Fastclaw is the tough, hands-on fighter of the group! However, don't let her strength mislead you - she's a cheerful, kind-hearted young girl of sixteen who is sensitive and caring and shy and feminine, like women should be. But she's also a hard worker, so don't under-estimate her! Although a slap to the face or a few mean words will take her down and bring her to tears. She prefers to fight with her fists and feet, but makes sure to wear a mini-skirt while doing it because it gives her freedom of movement (see the background info for more details on this). She's motherly and caring and empathetic, which means she can be emotional and brought to tears easily. In spite of this, she can bring a real punch to any battle! She also has two tiny cat ears which are never mentioned or talked about by anyone or really relate to anything she does. They sure are adorable though!
Hun'trr lived with a ragtag group of ruffians that called themselves the Claws, which included Jor'dann and Ray'mannd, but I'll get into them in a moment. She spent a lot of time traveling with them and working as a treasure hunter, performing plays for people in authority, and learning a lot of sneakthief skills. Now she works for Kapt'lsm, but feels that something's not quite right about the entire affair. Finding out the truth about herself nearly destroys her! But she finds the inner strength and courage to continue on, somehow. Her outfit was designed to show off her feminine qualities and be pleasing to the eye.
[Background info on her design!]
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STARTED WITH TIFA AND WORKED OUTWARDS FROM THERE like Jockey, I did Hunter from memory mostly. Again, mostly Tifa since she was the Monk and that was the closest match in my head to Hunter's melee role. Therefore, giant breasts, almost no clothes, miniskirt. The heels were from Shalua from Dirge of Cerberus and mostly to emphasize what a stupid outfit this would be to fight in. Seriously. Here's the quote from the wiki about it, even:
Initially Nomura had difficulty deciding whether to give Tifa's design a mini-skirt or long pants. Seeking input, he passed his sketches around Square's offices, and the majority of the staff members approved of the mini-skirt design. The attire was explained in respect to the game as giving her freedom of movement due to her affinity to weaponless fighting, and the skirt, noted as "quite short [...] giving a considerable degree of exposure," was kept as a staple for her alternate costumes.
AWESOME.
The catears were Funkmeister's suggestion. :B She has gloves like Tifa and Zell from 8 with those stupid twirly designs that Nomura loves so much. Most of the others reflect their original colorschemes in some way, but Hunter probably varies off of it the most since she's wearing practically nothing. She's also got a la'Cie tattoo as a bit of a riff to Fang from 13. She'd have more bits and pieces but most female FF characters are summoners or magic users, pfft.
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Like Jahki, Hun'trr has her own N'fect form!
In her N'fect form, Hun'trr is a powerful force to be reckoned with! Fast and vicious, she can tear enemies apart in seconds. Aren't the neon parts cool? She has a laser tail! No, it doesn't have to make sense cause it's a magical god form. I don't have to explain how it works to you! Get out of my office!
[Background info on her design!]
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JAZ DID THIS ONE AND I SWEAR THIS IS PERFECT
i was thinking of riffing off of Galian Beast but this is just totally amazing, haha. MORE POINTLESS NEON
NOMURA LOVES POINTLESS NEON
Jaz says this one came from the Beta Behemoth in 13
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A mysterious young woman with a dark past. Her friends only know her as "Smoke", because she has a tendency to vanish and appear just like smoke! Also she smokes cigarettes (except when she cameos in Kingdom Hearts, then it's just a lollipop). Quiet and mysterious, she rarely talks about herself or her own dark mysterious past. She is cynical and quiet, and barely speaks unless she needs to, although when she does need to she goes on and on and on, and she seems to need to talk a lot more than one might guess initially. She has a dry, biting wit, and is always there to make sarcastic comments during tense scenes so everyone knows how hardcore she is. However, inside she is a kind-hearted girl with a lot of feelings and a deep love for the world and all its inhabitants... enough to risk her life to fight for them. Over the course of their epic adventure, Smoke learns to open her heart and herself to others, and her cold exterior melts thanks to the power of friendship. It's a very long and intense character journey, trust me.
Smoke knows how to pilot airships and various machines, which is vital during the team's journey. She is also the one who discovers the elevator to the moon, which leads to the climactic reveal about their true origins and the source of their strange powers! She has a really cool motorcycle that sort of looks like two lesbians having sex (IF YOU'RE A PERV) but it's just two ladies who happen to be joined at the crotch. It doesn't mean anything. Honest!
She's also older than Jahki or Hun'trr, being a ripe twenty years old. Her age and experience show on her face, as you can tell!
[Background info on her design!]
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By this time now I had the ffwiki open and was going through it for references. The first design I had for her ended up going to Mousey instead, and when I tried to think of the closest match for her in terms of FF characters, Cid from FF7 kept coming to mind. SO SHE BECAME CID LIGHT
She looks nothing like herself to me like this, haha. Her nose really defines so much of her face. Also there are no old women FF playable characters (there are playable old/ugly men though) so she loses her eye bags as well. She does match closer to her original color scheme though than Jockey and Hunter.
Anyway, her jacket is a mix of Cid's flight jacket (has the CEDA logo on the shoulder) and Squall's silly short jacket with the fur ruff. Her shirt is the weird rolled up band outfit that everyone in FF6 had in their chibi art for some reason. She also has Yuffie's glove from Dirge of Cerberus, and her unbuttoned tiny shorts (WHY WERE HER SHORTS UNBUTTONED WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT SHE WAS SIXTEEN) from the original FF7. Also has Cid's goggles on her hip COULD HAVE PUT IT ON HER HEAD BUT WHATEVER
you may notice a theme here of stupid hair braids. Keeps her necklace, tho I fancied it up a bit more ala Chrono Trigger's Schala necklace.
Her weird sock legging thing was mostly from Ashe from FF12 since christ lady, just pick one sock. She did keep her boots though since Aeris and Tifa both had boots, why not. Tho in retrospect I should have kept the theme and given her boots stupid heels.
Her personality is every mysterious withdrawn character who sometimes comes and goes. Paine from FFX-2 and Lulu from 10 come to mind, Amarant from 9 too maybe tho I wasn't thinking specifically of him, Auron from 10 and Shadow from 6 perhaps. It's a stock archetype that shows up a lot either way. Mostly for male characters though.
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Like the others, Smoke has an N'fect form!
Smoke's form reflects her dark and mysterious nature. So dark and mysterious! Focused more on status effects, Smoke can deal a lot of incidental damage with this powerful form. For some reason there's always this screaming chorus that accompanies her transforming into this, it's bizarre.
[Background info on this design!]
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ANOTHER ONE BY JAZ I LOVE THE SKULL FACE ON THIS SO MUCH this is so hilariously stupid, i love the plaid drapery
THE MOST TERRIFYING DEMON
Jaz says this one came from Anima from 10 and THIS UTTERLY LUDICROUS SWORD FROM TACTICS A2 SERIOUSLY WTF
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The last member of their team, Fonna til Vanbrecht is a young woman also known as Charger, due to how she takes charge of any situation! Also because of how she'd charge into danger without thinking of herself and others. Quiet, aloof, and withdrawn, Charger presents an enigmatic puzzle to her teammates and the audience. What could be going on in her head? What mysterious past could she be concealing? She's not about to let you know easily! Charger says very little, and what she says tends to be brusque brushoffs. Unapproachable and a loner, she has a hard time working with the other members of her team. She starts off being callous and cold to her teammates and refusing to help them when they need her, and she has trouble talking about her feelings to anyone. As it turns out, there is a dark tragedy in her past that made her this way... and once she deals with that, it turns out she's a kind-hearted, frightened girl who just needs to learn to love and laugh again. Once she gets over her trauma, she's as bubbly and pleasant and sassy as you please! But it's a long way to get there.
Charger wields a special Meleeblade, which allows her to choose between any melee weapon that she likes in combat! While she's versatile and tough, she still has trouble thinking about anyone but herself. Sometimes she lashes out at her teammates because she has a hard time dealing with her feelings. She has a lot of growing up to do, you could say. She's very self-conscious about the HIDEOUS SCAR on her face, and doesn't want anyone to ever talk about it. It's a reminder of her terrible trauma, and how her face is permanently disfigured. :( She's one of the older members of the team, at a shocking twenty years old.
[Background on her design!]
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For some of these I had to actually stop and take breaks because they were such terrible designs. This was one of them, it has a note of "JESUS THIS IS SO AWFUL LOOKING" next to it in my sketchbook, haha.
As you can probably guess, this mostly draws on Lightning from 13 for the outfit, tho she has the long scarf muffler typical for Kingdom Hearts!Cloud and Vincent. She also has that hilarious torn armcape which is also KH!Cloud/Vincent inspired. I also knew that someone needed to have a stupid random shoulder guard, so Charger drew the short straw on that one too. The rose on it was actually from Beatrix from 9, tho I forgot that Lightning's summon deal is also a rose. OOPS. Well whatever.
She still has her pouches from her original design, as well as the stupid hip scarf from Shalua. I think the high heel boot was sort of from... someone... frick I can't remember now, and the tied up normalish boot from Basch from 12. The cut up stupid vest thing kind of from Rosso from Dirge of Cerberus as well.
I loled so hard drawing that terrible melee sword. You don't even know. I just crammed a bunch of things together on it, INCLUDING A TRIGGER SO IT IS ALSO A GUN MELEE SWORD. Toned down her face scar from the normal giant chomp mark to the tiny little scratch. BUT WHAT A TERRIBLE THING FOR A FEMALE CHARACTER TO HAVE
In the end, she kept her wedding ring. A tiny nod to her actual design I couldn't take away. :B
Her personality is the standard FF moody hero - Squall, Vincent, most Clouds, Lightning, Amarant, probably Auron, Shadow, possibly bits of Cyan?
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Charger's N'fect form is truly awe inspiring!
Look at how intimidating that is! You should see the sequence when it appears, there's a whole bunch of acrobatics and gathering clouds and lightning strikes and the earth rises up slowly and it's great, you'll love it every time you see it. Every single time.
[Background info on the design!]
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JAZ DID THIS this is the most amazing thing i swear to god THIS MIMICS NOMURA SO WELL I JUST
I COULD SEE SOMEONE SUMMONING THIS SO EASILY, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW i love the stupid random curlies everywhere and the thing on the tail and hahahaha
Jaz says this one is a combo of Bahamut from 10 (IT HAS PENISES FOR WINGS) and Bahamut Retsu from Crisis Core.
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Now we're getting into the side characters and optional sidequests! This young girl is part of a small group of faithful followers of the old ways and traditions, and through her they learn some of the ancient legends and myths that lead them to the motorcycle elevator that takes them to the moon (known as the Moontercycle Speedway). She also helps them understand a little more about who they are. The symbol of this sect is a mouse-like creature known as the Nezuchu, and followers simply refer to each other as Brother/Sister Nezu. Later on in a tense and dramatic cutscene, Sister Nezu reveals a hint about her real name... Wartteton.
Sister Nezu is a kind-hearted young girl with a deep love for the old ways and traditions, and a brave heart willing to risk everything to help the others on their quest any way she can. Even though the dangers she faces frighten her, and she feels like she isn't as strong as the others, she keeps going because their belief in her gives her strength. Shy and self-conscious, she's easily flustered and confused by worldly talk. However, she does have a sassy and bossy side to her that will show up in one cutscene and then never again, proving she has a lot of facets to her personality. She primarily focuses on healing magic, although she also has a special affinity for time based attacks.
[Background info on her design!]
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Originally this was going to be Smoker, if you can believe that, haha. In the end I thought it just didn't fit her, but it definitely fit Mousey way too perfectly. This was another one of those designs with a comment next to it in my sketchbook of CHRIST THIS IS SO STUPID
I still have no idea what color her hair or eyes are, but decided that someone in this group had to have weird colored hair, so she got pink hair from Lightning. Her tiny jacket and button skirt come from Aeris from 7, her stupid backwings are from Eiko from 9, her long detached sleeves are from Yuna from 10 (although they do have the traditional White Mage patterning from the first Final Fantasy), the cross belts are from Squall, the holding up a pseudo-skirt is sort of from Kuja from 9, the stupid cut designs out of it though I don't remember. Her boots are a weird boot/sandal combo, I forget where the design for them came from off the top of my head.
The staff is just a bunch of stupid nonsense crammed together. THE END BLADES ARE LIKE A PINWHEEL I GUESS OR SOMETHING i have no idea where the time theme came in, it just happened. Just sort of inspired by the ornately ridiculous staffs some summoners get in various FFs.
Anyway her personality isn't unusual either - Rosa from 4, Terra (maybe a bit of Celes) from 6, Aeris, Yuna, Garnet from 9, Rinoa from 8, it goes on and on. I guess in terms of the game itself she'd be one of those comes-and-goes team members.
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This sly-looking sneaky little girl is a member of the Vixthra race, a race of people that are almost identical to normal people except they have animal attributes for no real reason and wear sexy clothes for reasons that definitely aren't because they're fetish fuel or anything. The party only knows her as Foxy, due to her obvious fox-like ears and tail. This little troublemaker has a love for shiny things ("Shinies!" she calls them) and loves following the party around, trying to steal trinkets from them. However, she tends to be clumsy and a bit ditzy, so she's never too much of a threat. Most of the time she ends up sabotaging her own sneaky schemes! She's so faily, you can't help but love her and her antics. She also gets airsick a lot, which is trouble when she sneaks aboard the airship! Oh ho ho. However, inside she has a kind heart and the capacity for good... if only she can stop trying to steal from people!
[Background details on her design!]
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We had to have someone be the furry fetish character like the Mithra from 11 and the Viera from 12, and then it occurred to us that FOXIE WOULD BE THE PERFECT CANDIDATE looking nothing like her original design whatsoever here (although this is probably how she visualizes herself). Her design mostly comes from Rosso, including the tremendously stupid buttcape which cracks me up every time. She also has the stupid random neon lines that Nomura loves to put on everything. I did give her SeeU hair though, since for some reason it felt appropriate. Her weird feet things are sort of Fran-like from 12.
Her personality is just thiefy comedy-relief characters - Yuffie mostly, but with bits of Zidane and Lani from 9, Selphie, that sort of thing. The recurring miniboss that won't leave you alone, like Ultros or Ozzie and friends from Chrono Trigger.
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Jor'dann Darkclaw is one of Hunt'rr's best friends! He always provides advice and sometimes sells the party stuff. A nice guy who's always ready with a friendly word. He and Ray'mannd were sad to see Hunt'rr go, but understood the call of destiny. Instead, they support her from the sidelines.
However, Jor'dann and Ray'mannd have information about Hunt'rr and the origins of the main four that changes everything! However, they don't tell anyone this information until just the right moment, regardless of how much trouble everyone could have avoided if they'd just told everyone right away. But there's no drama when you do things that way! You have to have the reveal way at the end of the game of something that was kept secret for no reason whatsoever.
[Background on the character design!]
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I had to give someone Eiko's giant parachute clown pants because I loved FF9 don't get me wrong but christ Eiko's design is a horrible, horrible trainwreck and her giant stupid pants are a huge part of it. JORDAN DREW THE SHORT STRAW, AND ENDED UP WITH THEM.
He also gets Yuffie's terrible shirt belt from Dirge of Cerberus. WHY DOES SHE HAVE THAT?? He also has Snow from 13's beanie cause why not. He incorporates some of his existing design though... actually, more so he incorporates the fantastic design spfi_duo came up with for him that they detailed here, which I totally love. Thus where his neon green stripe on his pants comes from. The detached sleeves somewhat echo his normal duct tape in places. Pretty sure he has Auron's shoes. There are a few characters that have the weird mesh things he's got on his arms, but I think Yuffie comes to mind most strongly for them.
He's just a side character and mostly serves the same sort of accompanying role as Tantalus from 9. However, he does play a role in the plot in that he and Ray found Hunter on the street after she fell from the moon and then the gods told them to raise her as their own kind, but they don't decide to tell anyone this even when crazy moonmonster stuff keeps happening. BECAUSE THAT'S HOW FINAL FANTASY DOES THINGS LIKE THAT, DARN IT
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Ray'mannd Jumpclaw is also Hunt'rr's friend, and tries to look out for her whenever he can. He and Jor'dann help out the party at times by finding items, being distractions or decoys, or just showing up in the nick of time to rescue everyone with a fun one-liner. He's particularly taken to thievery and isn't as friendly as Jor'dann, but he can hold his own in battle. Like Jor'dann, he too knows a secret about the main four that could shake their very world to its core.
[Background details on this design!]
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Can't have Jordan without Ray, haha. At first, I gave him a hair style since no FF characters (that aren't Yang from 4) are bald that I could think of, but it didn't quite look right. Then I remembered Locke from 6's bandanas! SCORE.
So obviously, he's got Locke's bandanas. Most of the rest of his outfit is Tidus from 10's, because christ that outfit is awful. He has a CEDA logo necklace though, haha. A SIGN THAT HE KNEW OF HUNTER'S CEDARIAN ORIGINS
Also has a random shoulder tattoo because why not. His detached sleeves again sort of echo the tape of his original design. He has Basch's boot on one leg and Zidane from 9's on the other.
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At one point everyone has to go into disguise as a member of the Order Organization. These robes hide everything from view! Pretty convenient for the heroes, huh...
[Background detail on this design!]
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I did Ray's original design with the hair but he looked nothing like himself, and when I mentioned doing Ray to Jaz and Funkmeister, someone was like LIKE ORG 13 RIGHT and i was like OH DANG
So I went and whipped this up. Later when I gave Ray the bandanas that sort of solved the problem, but I hung onto it anyway. This is basically the Org13 outfit from Kingdom Hearts added to the robething Reeve was wearing in Dirge of Cerberus with some added straps here and there. At some point in the story I guess everyone would have to go undercover (FF13 had a sequence like that, didn't it?) SO THEY'D ALL WEAR THESE ROBES I GUESS
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Of course, there have to be some villains for the crew to fight! One of the main foes that they will face is this high-ranking official in Kapt'lsm, who goes by Lunalo Adeptrix. Lunalo is vain, sophisticated, narcissistic, and tends to preen and pose whenever other people are around like a peacock. He likes flowery prose and poetry, and likes to do things with a cool elegance. He has a definite sadistic streak, as well as a somewhat nihilistic attitude towards the world. If it can't amuse him anymore, than there might as well not be a world at all in his opinion. This viewpoint leads him to eventually work towards the destruction of Gaiaterra and all of its people. If the world can't revolve around him, it won't revolve at all!
Being so influential and so refined, Lunalo prefers not to get his hands dirty, and likes underlings to do his work for him. He presents several challenges to the main four during their quest. However, if someone ruins his perfect make up or his hair, he goes berzerk! Definitely not someone to be underestimated, despite his appearance. Not only that, but he seems to have some strange powers... could Lunalo perhaps be something other than human?
He has a very ominous and scary theme with Latin chanting in it. Latin chanting is always scary.
[Details on this character design!]
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THIS IS JUST BECAUSE THE IMAGE OF PSYCHOPRO DRESSED AS KUJA MADE ME LOL SO HARD i'm sorry kitty_nakoji
Obviously this is mostly Kuja, haha. NO NIPPLES FOR YOU strappy things over them instead. He sort of mimics his original color scheme here with the red, but it's a bit tricky since he has less fabric here than usual. His hair is mostly the same and he kept his forehead scar, although I did give him that random giant braid Yuna got in FFX-2. Also gets eye makeup.
He does get some shoulder belts to call back a little to his normal smoker tongue bands, thus why the strings from them are pink. The little crystals at the end are green as a nod to the Boomer bile he usually carries around. He also kept his teeth necklace, tho I fancied it up a bit. His shoulder guards should probably have less derpy skulls on them BUT WHATEVER I WAS TIRED
I'm preeeetty sure his boots are just mostly Kuja boots, but now I can't remember. He does keep his doofy fingerless gloves though! He gets a little swirly bracely on each to make up for the missing smoker tongues again, haha.
If I had the time/energy there'd probably be a Griffin and Sparkles to round out the villain set, but in the end only Psychopro made it. But Griffin would probably look like Golbez/Garland or something, a giant dude in armor with no face, and Sparkles would be I guess Scarlet from 7 or Ultimecia from 8 or Cloud of Darkness from 3 or something. OH WELL JUST PICTURE IT IN YOUR HEAD I GUESS
Personality is obviously Kuja, mostly, with the general nihilism of most FF bosses like Exdeath from 5, Sephiroth from 7, Ultimecia, Kefka from 6...
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And finally, a side character who turns out to be surprisingly important to the story. David til Vanbrecht, in a shocking twist that no one sees coming at all, was Charger's husband! The dark secrets of Charger's past revealed... David met a terrible end. And to this day, Charger holds herself responsible for it, thus why she closed off her heart to everyone around her. But when David appears to her in the last sequences during a feverish hallucination sequence where she may or may not be dead, he forgives her for what happened and finally she can move on and be happy without ever thinking of him again!
For the short time he's in the story though, he's a kind-hearted man who cares deeply for everyone around him. Thoughtful, introspective, intelligent, and gentle, he only wanted to help those around him with his healing magic and worked hard to bring about world peace and a return to the old ways of true magick. Tragically, those traits and his inherent magical ability made him the perfect sacrifice for the Great Ritual. He was happy to sacrifice himself though to save the life of his wife, although she didn't take it very well. While he dies early on, his presence is felt throughout the rest of the game quite heavily...
[More details on this design!]
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Technically, if I was following FF more closely, all the ladies would be healers and summoners and the male characters would be the main characters, and thus David would be a fighter and Charger would be a healer and get killed or whatever. HOWEVER THE MENTAL IMAGE OF HIM AS A WHITE MAGE WAS TOO GOOD TO PASS UP and so here we are
His detachable hood is the White Mage hood, of course, and he again has the detached sleeves of Yuna. Most of his design isn't terrible specific though, or at least I can't remember where most of it came from, haha. :B JUST GENERIC NOMURA-NESS I GUESS.
The silver belts on the sleeves somewhat mimicking the logo on his shirt sleeves originally. He follows his original color scheme (which mimicked Charger's) fairly closely here. :B He has the white mage patterns on his wrists too PAINT OR TATTOOS IDK I DIDN'T DECIDE
He, like Charger, does keep his wedding ring though. :B Even if I attached a gothy little glove to it, haha.
He fulfills the Aeris role of dying dramatically at some point to further the game's plot, although he is technically still a minor character. I'm not sure if he'd be playable. :O BUT HE'D DIE ANYWAY AND IT'D BE VERY SAD maybe he'd turn to crystal or something, haha. I DUNNO WHO'D DO IT BUT IT'D HAPPEN SOMEHOW ANYWAY
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I hope you enjoyed this trip through this fantastic and magical world! Stay tuned for rhythm games, movies, books, statues, and sequels! The best part about this world is that we only have to make it once! Then once it's a success, we can just keep remaking parts of it and releasing them as new games or sequels or prequels. It's the perfect plan.
[And a bit more]
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I asked Jaz what to do for April Fool's and she was playing FF8 AND SO THIS ALL CAME ABOUT
fun times
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I also posted this at dreamwidth with reluctant ambivalence. Comment here or there, don't matter to me!
In the world of Gaiaterra, people used to believe in the power of magic and the ancient Gods, but all are forgotten now. Now the people bow to the whims of the corrupt Kapt'lsm corporation, which drains the lifeblood of Gaiaterra to use for their own corrupt ends. The ancient ways and legends are now all but forgotten, although the Kapt'lsm Corp. seems bizarrely intent on making sure no one remembers or believes the old stories about a race of people that once lived on the moon known as the Cedarians... but in these modern times of steam-powered technology and neon lights, who would believe such things anyway?
But time flows like a river, and history repeats... four youths are brought together by fate, each with the same strange amnesia... and the same strange abilities. Kapt'lsm enlists them in their mercenary program for children, ZOM-B, training them for their own nefarious purposes, giving them incredibly powerful weapons and skills, and bestowing each of them with a strange crystal, which gives them bizarre and frightening powers. Kapt'lsm wants them to investigate stories of the gods returning to Gaiaterra and the resurfacing of magic, to prove once and for all that the fairy tales are false by using the god's power against them. But sometimes there's more truth in legends than in history, and their crystals prove to be a stronger connection to their world, and themselves, than they ever would have guessed.
Soon, the shocking truth about the four youths is revealed, and they rise up against their former employers... and the very world order itself. What will become of Gaiaterra? And what of the mysterious Cedarians, and the strange forms each rebellious youth can take on, using the power of the crystals?
Pretty unique, huh? Coming up with a plot this complicated and groundbreaking took some time, but we think it was worth it! But you probably want to see more of these strange youths and their new powers, right? Read on!
Jacqueline wil Tezla JorrGia (also known as "Jahki") is a lively, carefree, good-hearted and endearing young girl of sixteen, with a relentlessly sunny disposition. Always quick to bounce, giggle, flash peace signs, use cute pointless slang, and bend over in a short skirt in front of cameras, Jahki makes sure the rest of her team doesn't get too depressed or mopey. She has a tendency to trip and run into things, tumble charmingly down short little hills, and occasionally hit herself with her own weapons since she can be pretty silly and adorable! But she's always there to extend a cheerful glomp for her friends. She loves animals and has a natural rapport with them, almost like she can speak with them telepathically! A talent normally reserved for the Cedarians, strangely enough! What an odd coincidence. She has an imaginary friend that she talks to sometimes that she called Travis, but it turns out he's actually a secret magical creature that's been watching her since she woke up on Gaiaterra! Her scenes where she makes adorable asides to Travis in a squeaky chipmunk voice, much to the other character's confusion, just leave everyone in stitches.
Everybody loves Jahki and how she constantly makes cute noises while doing anything, including walking or looking at things, but she also hides a dark past! Like the others, she also has amnesia, and a strange connection to the ancient gods of Gaiaterra, as well as a strange wistful attraction to the moon. But that won't stop her from being childishly naive and excited by absolutely everything, as well as easily emotional and prone to tears.
[Background info on her character creation!]
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Jockey here is obviously riffing off of Vanille from FFXIII, and as you might have guessed I despise Vanille. It's like Square-Enix read my mind and took every single character trait I hated in their characters and poured them all into Vanille. I can't stand her. I CAN'T STAND HER. You don't even know.
But anyway her outfit and pose even riff off of Vanille, but there are a few other tidbits in here as well. The tiny summon Travis plays off of how there were tiny monsters floating around in a bunch of Amano's art for characters, and is sort of a ref to Rydia from 4 I guess, tho that wasn't really intentional. Jockey I did mostly from memory away from the computer, so she doesn't have as many tiny references as the others. In terms of personality though, she's just a big mishmash of Vanille, Selphie, Rikku, Eiko, Yuffie, just generally all the childish cutesy comedy relief characters that populate the FF stable.
In retrospect I also could have made her look more the part of the creepy jailbait character like Rikku (fifteen! and voted sexiest character!), but eh. I CAN'T SAY I'M SHEDDING TOO MANY TEARS ABOUT NEGLECTING THE BARELY-PUBESCENT SEXUALIZED CHARACTER DESIGN THAT FINAL FANTASY SEEMS SO FOND OF
OH YEAH I ALMOST FORGOT her stupid metal toes are lifted from Vincent's ridiculous boot toes, i swear
they will always look silly
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Jahki's crystal connects her to the gods of Gaiaterra and to her own unique and mysterious heritage, enabling her to take on a strange new form known as N'fect! The N'fect form greatly increases the user's abilities in combat, BUT AT WHAT COST??
Jahki's N'fect form reflects her adorable and childish nature. ^_^ Cute and small! Her special abilities mostly focus on helping and protecting her teammates. She constantly hops, chirps, twirls, and somersaults! You'll love watching her do that over and over again, because you'll have no choice.
She also makes orgasm sounds while transforming into her summon form! It's really important to her character. Her crystal and corresponding N'fect form are really important for when they ride motorcycles later! More on that in a second.
[Background info on this design!]
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JAZ DID THE SUMMON FORMS FOR ALL OF THEM AND OH MAN THEY ARE AMAZING AREN'T THEY
I LOVE THE WING TAILS ON THIS SO MUCH hahahahahaha
Jaz says this draws mostly from Carbuncle from 13 and Sephiroth's PANTS WINGS from Kingdom Hearts 2.
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Hun'trr Fastclaw is the tough, hands-on fighter of the group! However, don't let her strength mislead you - she's a cheerful, kind-hearted young girl of sixteen who is sensitive and caring and shy and feminine, like women should be. But she's also a hard worker, so don't under-estimate her! Although a slap to the face or a few mean words will take her down and bring her to tears. She prefers to fight with her fists and feet, but makes sure to wear a mini-skirt while doing it because it gives her freedom of movement (see the background info for more details on this). She's motherly and caring and empathetic, which means she can be emotional and brought to tears easily. In spite of this, she can bring a real punch to any battle! She also has two tiny cat ears which are never mentioned or talked about by anyone or really relate to anything she does. They sure are adorable though!
Hun'trr lived with a ragtag group of ruffians that called themselves the Claws, which included Jor'dann and Ray'mannd, but I'll get into them in a moment. She spent a lot of time traveling with them and working as a treasure hunter, performing plays for people in authority, and learning a lot of sneakthief skills. Now she works for Kapt'lsm, but feels that something's not quite right about the entire affair. Finding out the truth about herself nearly destroys her! But she finds the inner strength and courage to continue on, somehow. Her outfit was designed to show off her feminine qualities and be pleasing to the eye.
[Background info on her design!]
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STARTED WITH TIFA AND WORKED OUTWARDS FROM THERE like Jockey, I did Hunter from memory mostly. Again, mostly Tifa since she was the Monk and that was the closest match in my head to Hunter's melee role. Therefore, giant breasts, almost no clothes, miniskirt. The heels were from Shalua from Dirge of Cerberus and mostly to emphasize what a stupid outfit this would be to fight in. Seriously. Here's the quote from the wiki about it, even:
Initially Nomura had difficulty deciding whether to give Tifa's design a mini-skirt or long pants. Seeking input, he passed his sketches around Square's offices, and the majority of the staff members approved of the mini-skirt design. The attire was explained in respect to the game as giving her freedom of movement due to her affinity to weaponless fighting, and the skirt, noted as "quite short [...] giving a considerable degree of exposure," was kept as a staple for her alternate costumes.
AWESOME.
The catears were Funkmeister's suggestion. :B She has gloves like Tifa and Zell from 8 with those stupid twirly designs that Nomura loves so much. Most of the others reflect their original colorschemes in some way, but Hunter probably varies off of it the most since she's wearing practically nothing. She's also got a la'Cie tattoo as a bit of a riff to Fang from 13. She'd have more bits and pieces but most female FF characters are summoners or magic users, pfft.
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Like Jahki, Hun'trr has her own N'fect form!
In her N'fect form, Hun'trr is a powerful force to be reckoned with! Fast and vicious, she can tear enemies apart in seconds. Aren't the neon parts cool? She has a laser tail! No, it doesn't have to make sense cause it's a magical god form. I don't have to explain how it works to you! Get out of my office!
[Background info on her design!]
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JAZ DID THIS ONE AND I SWEAR THIS IS PERFECT
i was thinking of riffing off of Galian Beast but this is just totally amazing, haha. MORE POINTLESS NEON
NOMURA LOVES POINTLESS NEON
Jaz says this one came from the Beta Behemoth in 13
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A mysterious young woman with a dark past. Her friends only know her as "Smoke", because she has a tendency to vanish and appear just like smoke! Also she smokes cigarettes (except when she cameos in Kingdom Hearts, then it's just a lollipop). Quiet and mysterious, she rarely talks about herself or her own dark mysterious past. She is cynical and quiet, and barely speaks unless she needs to, although when she does need to she goes on and on and on, and she seems to need to talk a lot more than one might guess initially. She has a dry, biting wit, and is always there to make sarcastic comments during tense scenes so everyone knows how hardcore she is. However, inside she is a kind-hearted girl with a lot of feelings and a deep love for the world and all its inhabitants... enough to risk her life to fight for them. Over the course of their epic adventure, Smoke learns to open her heart and herself to others, and her cold exterior melts thanks to the power of friendship. It's a very long and intense character journey, trust me.
Smoke knows how to pilot airships and various machines, which is vital during the team's journey. She is also the one who discovers the elevator to the moon, which leads to the climactic reveal about their true origins and the source of their strange powers! She has a really cool motorcycle that sort of looks like two lesbians having sex (IF YOU'RE A PERV) but it's just two ladies who happen to be joined at the crotch. It doesn't mean anything. Honest!
She's also older than Jahki or Hun'trr, being a ripe twenty years old. Her age and experience show on her face, as you can tell!
[Background info on her design!]
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By this time now I had the ffwiki open and was going through it for references. The first design I had for her ended up going to Mousey instead, and when I tried to think of the closest match for her in terms of FF characters, Cid from FF7 kept coming to mind. SO SHE BECAME CID LIGHT
She looks nothing like herself to me like this, haha. Her nose really defines so much of her face. Also there are no old women FF playable characters (there are playable old/ugly men though) so she loses her eye bags as well. She does match closer to her original color scheme though than Jockey and Hunter.
Anyway, her jacket is a mix of Cid's flight jacket (has the CEDA logo on the shoulder) and Squall's silly short jacket with the fur ruff. Her shirt is the weird rolled up band outfit that everyone in FF6 had in their chibi art for some reason. She also has Yuffie's glove from Dirge of Cerberus, and her unbuttoned tiny shorts (WHY WERE HER SHORTS UNBUTTONED WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT SHE WAS SIXTEEN) from the original FF7. Also has Cid's goggles on her hip COULD HAVE PUT IT ON HER HEAD BUT WHATEVER
you may notice a theme here of stupid hair braids. Keeps her necklace, tho I fancied it up a bit more ala Chrono Trigger's Schala necklace.
Her weird sock legging thing was mostly from Ashe from FF12 since christ lady, just pick one sock. She did keep her boots though since Aeris and Tifa both had boots, why not. Tho in retrospect I should have kept the theme and given her boots stupid heels.
Her personality is every mysterious withdrawn character who sometimes comes and goes. Paine from FFX-2 and Lulu from 10 come to mind, Amarant from 9 too maybe tho I wasn't thinking specifically of him, Auron from 10 and Shadow from 6 perhaps. It's a stock archetype that shows up a lot either way. Mostly for male characters though.
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Like the others, Smoke has an N'fect form!
Smoke's form reflects her dark and mysterious nature. So dark and mysterious! Focused more on status effects, Smoke can deal a lot of incidental damage with this powerful form. For some reason there's always this screaming chorus that accompanies her transforming into this, it's bizarre.
[Background info on this design!]
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ANOTHER ONE BY JAZ I LOVE THE SKULL FACE ON THIS SO MUCH this is so hilariously stupid, i love the plaid drapery
THE MOST TERRIFYING DEMON
Jaz says this one came from Anima from 10 and THIS UTTERLY LUDICROUS SWORD FROM TACTICS A2 SERIOUSLY WTF
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The last member of their team, Fonna til Vanbrecht is a young woman also known as Charger, due to how she takes charge of any situation! Also because of how she'd charge into danger without thinking of herself and others. Quiet, aloof, and withdrawn, Charger presents an enigmatic puzzle to her teammates and the audience. What could be going on in her head? What mysterious past could she be concealing? She's not about to let you know easily! Charger says very little, and what she says tends to be brusque brushoffs. Unapproachable and a loner, she has a hard time working with the other members of her team. She starts off being callous and cold to her teammates and refusing to help them when they need her, and she has trouble talking about her feelings to anyone. As it turns out, there is a dark tragedy in her past that made her this way... and once she deals with that, it turns out she's a kind-hearted, frightened girl who just needs to learn to love and laugh again. Once she gets over her trauma, she's as bubbly and pleasant and sassy as you please! But it's a long way to get there.
Charger wields a special Meleeblade, which allows her to choose between any melee weapon that she likes in combat! While she's versatile and tough, she still has trouble thinking about anyone but herself. Sometimes she lashes out at her teammates because she has a hard time dealing with her feelings. She has a lot of growing up to do, you could say. She's very self-conscious about the HIDEOUS SCAR on her face, and doesn't want anyone to ever talk about it. It's a reminder of her terrible trauma, and how her face is permanently disfigured. :( She's one of the older members of the team, at a shocking twenty years old.
[Background on her design!]
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For some of these I had to actually stop and take breaks because they were such terrible designs. This was one of them, it has a note of "JESUS THIS IS SO AWFUL LOOKING" next to it in my sketchbook, haha.
As you can probably guess, this mostly draws on Lightning from 13 for the outfit, tho she has the long scarf muffler typical for Kingdom Hearts!Cloud and Vincent. She also has that hilarious torn armcape which is also KH!Cloud/Vincent inspired. I also knew that someone needed to have a stupid random shoulder guard, so Charger drew the short straw on that one too. The rose on it was actually from Beatrix from 9, tho I forgot that Lightning's summon deal is also a rose. OOPS. Well whatever.
She still has her pouches from her original design, as well as the stupid hip scarf from Shalua. I think the high heel boot was sort of from... someone... frick I can't remember now, and the tied up normalish boot from Basch from 12. The cut up stupid vest thing kind of from Rosso from Dirge of Cerberus as well.
I loled so hard drawing that terrible melee sword. You don't even know. I just crammed a bunch of things together on it, INCLUDING A TRIGGER SO IT IS ALSO A GUN MELEE SWORD. Toned down her face scar from the normal giant chomp mark to the tiny little scratch. BUT WHAT A TERRIBLE THING FOR A FEMALE CHARACTER TO HAVE
In the end, she kept her wedding ring. A tiny nod to her actual design I couldn't take away. :B
Her personality is the standard FF moody hero - Squall, Vincent, most Clouds, Lightning, Amarant, probably Auron, Shadow, possibly bits of Cyan?
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Charger's N'fect form is truly awe inspiring!
Look at how intimidating that is! You should see the sequence when it appears, there's a whole bunch of acrobatics and gathering clouds and lightning strikes and the earth rises up slowly and it's great, you'll love it every time you see it. Every single time.
[Background info on the design!]
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JAZ DID THIS this is the most amazing thing i swear to god THIS MIMICS NOMURA SO WELL I JUST
I COULD SEE SOMEONE SUMMONING THIS SO EASILY, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW i love the stupid random curlies everywhere and the thing on the tail and hahahaha
Jaz says this one is a combo of Bahamut from 10 (IT HAS PENISES FOR WINGS) and Bahamut Retsu from Crisis Core.
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Now we're getting into the side characters and optional sidequests! This young girl is part of a small group of faithful followers of the old ways and traditions, and through her they learn some of the ancient legends and myths that lead them to the motorcycle elevator that takes them to the moon (known as the Moontercycle Speedway). She also helps them understand a little more about who they are. The symbol of this sect is a mouse-like creature known as the Nezuchu, and followers simply refer to each other as Brother/Sister Nezu. Later on in a tense and dramatic cutscene, Sister Nezu reveals a hint about her real name... Wartteton.
Sister Nezu is a kind-hearted young girl with a deep love for the old ways and traditions, and a brave heart willing to risk everything to help the others on their quest any way she can. Even though the dangers she faces frighten her, and she feels like she isn't as strong as the others, she keeps going because their belief in her gives her strength. Shy and self-conscious, she's easily flustered and confused by worldly talk. However, she does have a sassy and bossy side to her that will show up in one cutscene and then never again, proving she has a lot of facets to her personality. She primarily focuses on healing magic, although she also has a special affinity for time based attacks.
[Background info on her design!]
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Originally this was going to be Smoker, if you can believe that, haha. In the end I thought it just didn't fit her, but it definitely fit Mousey way too perfectly. This was another one of those designs with a comment next to it in my sketchbook of CHRIST THIS IS SO STUPID
I still have no idea what color her hair or eyes are, but decided that someone in this group had to have weird colored hair, so she got pink hair from Lightning. Her tiny jacket and button skirt come from Aeris from 7, her stupid backwings are from Eiko from 9, her long detached sleeves are from Yuna from 10 (although they do have the traditional White Mage patterning from the first Final Fantasy), the cross belts are from Squall, the holding up a pseudo-skirt is sort of from Kuja from 9, the stupid cut designs out of it though I don't remember. Her boots are a weird boot/sandal combo, I forget where the design for them came from off the top of my head.
The staff is just a bunch of stupid nonsense crammed together. THE END BLADES ARE LIKE A PINWHEEL I GUESS OR SOMETHING i have no idea where the time theme came in, it just happened. Just sort of inspired by the ornately ridiculous staffs some summoners get in various FFs.
Anyway her personality isn't unusual either - Rosa from 4, Terra (maybe a bit of Celes) from 6, Aeris, Yuna, Garnet from 9, Rinoa from 8, it goes on and on. I guess in terms of the game itself she'd be one of those comes-and-goes team members.
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This sly-looking sneaky little girl is a member of the Vixthra race, a race of people that are almost identical to normal people except they have animal attributes for no real reason and wear sexy clothes for reasons that definitely aren't because they're fetish fuel or anything. The party only knows her as Foxy, due to her obvious fox-like ears and tail. This little troublemaker has a love for shiny things ("Shinies!" she calls them) and loves following the party around, trying to steal trinkets from them. However, she tends to be clumsy and a bit ditzy, so she's never too much of a threat. Most of the time she ends up sabotaging her own sneaky schemes! She's so faily, you can't help but love her and her antics. She also gets airsick a lot, which is trouble when she sneaks aboard the airship! Oh ho ho. However, inside she has a kind heart and the capacity for good... if only she can stop trying to steal from people!
[Background details on her design!]
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We had to have someone be the furry fetish character like the Mithra from 11 and the Viera from 12, and then it occurred to us that FOXIE WOULD BE THE PERFECT CANDIDATE looking nothing like her original design whatsoever here (although this is probably how she visualizes herself). Her design mostly comes from Rosso, including the tremendously stupid buttcape which cracks me up every time. She also has the stupid random neon lines that Nomura loves to put on everything. I did give her SeeU hair though, since for some reason it felt appropriate. Her weird feet things are sort of Fran-like from 12.
Her personality is just thiefy comedy-relief characters - Yuffie mostly, but with bits of Zidane and Lani from 9, Selphie, that sort of thing. The recurring miniboss that won't leave you alone, like Ultros or Ozzie and friends from Chrono Trigger.
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Jor'dann Darkclaw is one of Hunt'rr's best friends! He always provides advice and sometimes sells the party stuff. A nice guy who's always ready with a friendly word. He and Ray'mannd were sad to see Hunt'rr go, but understood the call of destiny. Instead, they support her from the sidelines.
However, Jor'dann and Ray'mannd have information about Hunt'rr and the origins of the main four that changes everything! However, they don't tell anyone this information until just the right moment, regardless of how much trouble everyone could have avoided if they'd just told everyone right away. But there's no drama when you do things that way! You have to have the reveal way at the end of the game of something that was kept secret for no reason whatsoever.
[Background on the character design!]
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I had to give someone Eiko's giant parachute clown pants because I loved FF9 don't get me wrong but christ Eiko's design is a horrible, horrible trainwreck and her giant stupid pants are a huge part of it. JORDAN DREW THE SHORT STRAW, AND ENDED UP WITH THEM.
He also gets Yuffie's terrible shirt belt from Dirge of Cerberus. WHY DOES SHE HAVE THAT?? He also has Snow from 13's beanie cause why not. He incorporates some of his existing design though... actually, more so he incorporates the fantastic design spfi_duo came up with for him that they detailed here, which I totally love. Thus where his neon green stripe on his pants comes from. The detached sleeves somewhat echo his normal duct tape in places. Pretty sure he has Auron's shoes. There are a few characters that have the weird mesh things he's got on his arms, but I think Yuffie comes to mind most strongly for them.
He's just a side character and mostly serves the same sort of accompanying role as Tantalus from 9. However, he does play a role in the plot in that he and Ray found Hunter on the street after she fell from the moon and then the gods told them to raise her as their own kind, but they don't decide to tell anyone this even when crazy moonmonster stuff keeps happening. BECAUSE THAT'S HOW FINAL FANTASY DOES THINGS LIKE THAT, DARN IT
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Ray'mannd Jumpclaw is also Hunt'rr's friend, and tries to look out for her whenever he can. He and Jor'dann help out the party at times by finding items, being distractions or decoys, or just showing up in the nick of time to rescue everyone with a fun one-liner. He's particularly taken to thievery and isn't as friendly as Jor'dann, but he can hold his own in battle. Like Jor'dann, he too knows a secret about the main four that could shake their very world to its core.
[Background details on this design!]
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Can't have Jordan without Ray, haha. At first, I gave him a hair style since no FF characters (that aren't Yang from 4) are bald that I could think of, but it didn't quite look right. Then I remembered Locke from 6's bandanas! SCORE.
So obviously, he's got Locke's bandanas. Most of the rest of his outfit is Tidus from 10's, because christ that outfit is awful. He has a CEDA logo necklace though, haha. A SIGN THAT HE KNEW OF HUNTER'S CEDARIAN ORIGINS
Also has a random shoulder tattoo because why not. His detached sleeves again sort of echo the tape of his original design. He has Basch's boot on one leg and Zidane from 9's on the other.
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At one point everyone has to go into disguise as a member of the Order Organization. These robes hide everything from view! Pretty convenient for the heroes, huh...
[Background detail on this design!]
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I did Ray's original design with the hair but he looked nothing like himself, and when I mentioned doing Ray to Jaz and Funkmeister, someone was like LIKE ORG 13 RIGHT and i was like OH DANG
So I went and whipped this up. Later when I gave Ray the bandanas that sort of solved the problem, but I hung onto it anyway. This is basically the Org13 outfit from Kingdom Hearts added to the robething Reeve was wearing in Dirge of Cerberus with some added straps here and there. At some point in the story I guess everyone would have to go undercover (FF13 had a sequence like that, didn't it?) SO THEY'D ALL WEAR THESE ROBES I GUESS
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Of course, there have to be some villains for the crew to fight! One of the main foes that they will face is this high-ranking official in Kapt'lsm, who goes by Lunalo Adeptrix. Lunalo is vain, sophisticated, narcissistic, and tends to preen and pose whenever other people are around like a peacock. He likes flowery prose and poetry, and likes to do things with a cool elegance. He has a definite sadistic streak, as well as a somewhat nihilistic attitude towards the world. If it can't amuse him anymore, than there might as well not be a world at all in his opinion. This viewpoint leads him to eventually work towards the destruction of Gaiaterra and all of its people. If the world can't revolve around him, it won't revolve at all!
Being so influential and so refined, Lunalo prefers not to get his hands dirty, and likes underlings to do his work for him. He presents several challenges to the main four during their quest. However, if someone ruins his perfect make up or his hair, he goes berzerk! Definitely not someone to be underestimated, despite his appearance. Not only that, but he seems to have some strange powers... could Lunalo perhaps be something other than human?
He has a very ominous and scary theme with Latin chanting in it. Latin chanting is always scary.
[Details on this character design!]
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THIS IS JUST BECAUSE THE IMAGE OF PSYCHOPRO DRESSED AS KUJA MADE ME LOL SO HARD i'm sorry kitty_nakoji
Obviously this is mostly Kuja, haha. NO NIPPLES FOR YOU strappy things over them instead. He sort of mimics his original color scheme here with the red, but it's a bit tricky since he has less fabric here than usual. His hair is mostly the same and he kept his forehead scar, although I did give him that random giant braid Yuna got in FFX-2. Also gets eye makeup.
He does get some shoulder belts to call back a little to his normal smoker tongue bands, thus why the strings from them are pink. The little crystals at the end are green as a nod to the Boomer bile he usually carries around. He also kept his teeth necklace, tho I fancied it up a bit. His shoulder guards should probably have less derpy skulls on them BUT WHATEVER I WAS TIRED
I'm preeeetty sure his boots are just mostly Kuja boots, but now I can't remember. He does keep his doofy fingerless gloves though! He gets a little swirly bracely on each to make up for the missing smoker tongues again, haha.
If I had the time/energy there'd probably be a Griffin and Sparkles to round out the villain set, but in the end only Psychopro made it. But Griffin would probably look like Golbez/Garland or something, a giant dude in armor with no face, and Sparkles would be I guess Scarlet from 7 or Ultimecia from 8 or Cloud of Darkness from 3 or something. OH WELL JUST PICTURE IT IN YOUR HEAD I GUESS
Personality is obviously Kuja, mostly, with the general nihilism of most FF bosses like Exdeath from 5, Sephiroth from 7, Ultimecia, Kefka from 6...
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And finally, a side character who turns out to be surprisingly important to the story. David til Vanbrecht, in a shocking twist that no one sees coming at all, was Charger's husband! The dark secrets of Charger's past revealed... David met a terrible end. And to this day, Charger holds herself responsible for it, thus why she closed off her heart to everyone around her. But when David appears to her in the last sequences during a feverish hallucination sequence where she may or may not be dead, he forgives her for what happened and finally she can move on and be happy without ever thinking of him again!
For the short time he's in the story though, he's a kind-hearted man who cares deeply for everyone around him. Thoughtful, introspective, intelligent, and gentle, he only wanted to help those around him with his healing magic and worked hard to bring about world peace and a return to the old ways of true magick. Tragically, those traits and his inherent magical ability made him the perfect sacrifice for the Great Ritual. He was happy to sacrifice himself though to save the life of his wife, although she didn't take it very well. While he dies early on, his presence is felt throughout the rest of the game quite heavily...
[More details on this design!]
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Technically, if I was following FF more closely, all the ladies would be healers and summoners and the male characters would be the main characters, and thus David would be a fighter and Charger would be a healer and get killed or whatever. HOWEVER THE MENTAL IMAGE OF HIM AS A WHITE MAGE WAS TOO GOOD TO PASS UP and so here we are
His detachable hood is the White Mage hood, of course, and he again has the detached sleeves of Yuna. Most of his design isn't terrible specific though, or at least I can't remember where most of it came from, haha. :B JUST GENERIC NOMURA-NESS I GUESS.
The silver belts on the sleeves somewhat mimicking the logo on his shirt sleeves originally. He follows his original color scheme (which mimicked Charger's) fairly closely here. :B He has the white mage patterns on his wrists too PAINT OR TATTOOS IDK I DIDN'T DECIDE
He, like Charger, does keep his wedding ring though. :B Even if I attached a gothy little glove to it, haha.
He fulfills the Aeris role of dying dramatically at some point to further the game's plot, although he is technically still a minor character. I'm not sure if he'd be playable. :O BUT HE'D DIE ANYWAY AND IT'D BE VERY SAD maybe he'd turn to crystal or something, haha. I DUNNO WHO'D DO IT BUT IT'D HAPPEN SOMEHOW ANYWAY
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I hope you enjoyed this trip through this fantastic and magical world! Stay tuned for rhythm games, movies, books, statues, and sequels! The best part about this world is that we only have to make it once! Then once it's a success, we can just keep remaking parts of it and releasing them as new games or sequels or prequels. It's the perfect plan.
[And a bit more]
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I asked Jaz what to do for April Fool's and she was playing FF8 AND SO THIS ALL CAME ABOUT
fun times
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I also posted this at dreamwidth with reluctant ambivalence. Comment here or there, don't matter to me!