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Since otherwise my specific posts will be even longer.

I'm only up to the start of Heavensward so so some of this will probably be wrong! There are some very vague spoilers but I've tried not to spoil anything significant.

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So just spent WAY too much thought and a non-negligible amount of real life money on a new name for my Final Fantasy 14 character because it WASN'T LORE COMPLIANT. This game has definitely gotten its claws into me >.>

The name I settled on was Laneko Delaneko, which is also not entirely lore complaint but close enough that I can headcanon a backstory to go with it.

Below, the MANY MANY other names I came up with, most of which were just me having fun with the lalafell name structure.
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So Final Fantasy 14 has these things called "minions", which are entirely cosmetic but fun little pets that follow you around doing absolutely nothing but look cool/cute. Thus far I've just picked up a couple from quests: a little wildcat kitten you rescue, a wind-up airship souvenir from flying in an airship, etc. They're fun, but can clutter up the screen, and sometimes it stretched my suspension of disbelief that like...a little puppy was following me into battle with giant monsters and not being hurt. It all felt a bit silly.

But that was before I got the minion reward for the quest The Rising Chorus.
( Major spoilers up to near the start of Heavensward! )

So as planned, I tried out some other jobs in FFXIV to see if any suited me better, and one did! Red Mage, which suits me so well that I have found dungeons with real people actually...sort of...doable?? With the combination of better job, better movement, and watching guides, I've gone from visibly mediocre to just a bit below average for a noob (and the game marks noobs so that people will be nicer to us), which makes me feel much less Seen. At least so far, the three dungeons I've done have all been described by the guides as fairly simple, so we'll see how I do later.

I think being able to practice doing dungeons with NPCs also made a huge difference. I did the easiest ARR endgame dungeon a few times to grind for currency and even though it's not that different to regular combat it still made the whole Doing Dungeons thing feel more familiar and unscary.

I'm enjoying the plot so far, too! As promised, the game is poking the colonialist setting a little, though the colonised people are still, thus far, either childlike fairies or animalistic Beast Men, most of whom go around indiscriminately murdering and torturing their colonisers so, uh. We'll see.

Also, I know there's some popular characters and ships that show up later but for now my heart belongs to Maggie, the sentient magitech armour, who I ship with fresh oil and hugs.

Going to write up why I like Red Mage but I think that suits being in a separate post.

I FINISHED A REALM REBORN!!! I did the big battles and got to the credits of Final Fantasy 14!

Which by no means is the same as finishing the game, I have a bunch of interstitial parts and then will begin the first of several expansions, each just as big as this first part. But I am done with the start! Which is from all accounts the most boring part of the story, and it's only up from here! I spoiled myself for the end of ARR ages ago but have only the vaguest sense of what happens next, it's exciting :D
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flamebyrd recced the Playframe Let's Play of Final Fantasy 14, and I've been really enjoying it, and so been checking out their other videos.

Playframe is run by Dan and Carrie Floyd, the ones I've watched have mostly been Dan talking and Carrie editing with the odd bit of added text commentary. Their Patreon describes them as "chill and positive" and that's definitely the vibe. It's mostly upbeat, gentle, and cheerfully chatty, with lots of squee. Dan has a background in animation and media studies, so there's some nice moments of analysis too.

These are the two series I've liked the most:

Final Fantasy 14: I was enjoying this fantasy MMO except for the unavoidable group dungeons, so it's nice to have a chance to see the rest. Here's the review I wrote at the time. He's going through the main storyline, and is currently at the level 38 quest. I gave up on the game at the level 44 quest so it's not anything new to me yet but still enjoyable, and it's fun seeing how a competent person plays haha, especially since he explains what he's doing. And it's a fun story, even if I'm being reminded how unfortunate the 'Beast Tribes' of Angry Indigenous Monsters That Are Mostly Brown And Black thing is (I hear it gets better but...ehh...) As he keeps reminding the viewer when things get bogged down in boring fetch quests, the story doesn't really get good until after level 50, so I'm looking forward to that!

Hollow Knight: this is a side-scroller full of fighting-while-platforming, so I am absolutely never playing it, but I kept hearing the story is great. Which it is! (the fighting-while-platforming is great too, from all accounts, if you're into that) And the cheery commentary helped lighten the scary bits and fill in what would otherwise have been boring watching-someone-else-jump-platforms-and-fight parts.

It's a cute, bittersweet tale of a tiny ungendered bug knight exploring and ultimately saving a ruined bug kingdom that fell to a mysterious Affliction. It's a perfect mix of cute, horrifying, and beautiful, with glorious art and good writing. The fact it's all little cartoon bugs stopped it getting too horrifying for me, and it's ultimately a compassionate and hopeful game. But there's still a lot of maggots, spiders, lumbering corpses, tragedy, violence, and death. And while the Affliction is more like a corruption than a real disease there's still a lot of Bulbous Infections As Creepy Threat. Also when I described one of my favourite parts to Cam he just stared at me for a moment then said "You know, you can be pretty dark", so, YMMV >.>

So, I've been playing the online multiplayer roleplaying game Final Fantasy XIV for about a month and really enjoying it! I still haven't found the free trial too limiting, and enjoy games less when I'm subscribed to them, so am continuing to put it off buying it. I do intend to buy a copy at some point just to pay them back for all the fun I've been having, plus I'll reach the free trial limit of level 35 in something eventually.
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Thanks to everyone who gave me prompts, they were a nice mix of things to draw.

I also drew some fanart for the vampire game I'm working on:


Isabel and Elsa on deviantART Isabel and Elsa on tumblr

And now, the prompts! This is the only fic I wrote:

Links: "Stirring" at AO3, "Stirring" at fanfic.net
Info: G, gen, 976 words, no content notes
Fandom: Avatar: The Legend of Korra
Characters: Korra, Tenzin, Lin Bei Fong
Summary: For the prompt "Lin Bei Fong and/or Toph Bei Fong: training." Set between episodes 8 and 9.

Under the cut: Original art and fanart for Harry Potter, Pride and Prejudice/Avatar the Last Airbender, Fraggle Rock, Final Fantasy 13, and Creeks and Crawdads
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Ug. I have a cold. Lying around on the couch feeling like crap is frustrating enough without a runny nose and a sore throat to go with it. Anyway, to fill in the time…art post!


Self Similar Alphabet on deviantART, on Tumblr

( Fringe, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Portal 2, Avatar the last Airbender, Final Fantasy 13 )

FFXIII: Rygdea and Rosch

Drawn for Velithya's prompt. I'm amused that I've done two pieces of FFXIII fanart now despite never having played the game (though I'm sure I will eventually. And the costumes are fun to draw in that ridiculous Final Fantasy way)