JUNE STATE OF THE GAME

[etrayamods]

⏵ June State of the Game and Arrivals ⏴ Hello, Etrayans! We hope you enjoyed your time at Summer Camp! Or if your character had the fun of going off to Solmara, we hope they enjoyed fighting beasts, and convincing Borealis to come out of hiding! For this application round, we have opted to keep them open an additional week. We announced this over plurk, but realize not everyone checks there! Their new closure date will be July 4th. This will not impact our log or posting schedule at all. In addition, as of today, June 27th, the X-Men cast is no longer under cap. We've got our arrival mingle going up later today to welcome new characters! Please keep an eye out for it. On July 11th, our mission announcement and plotting post will be going up. We do want to note that this next mission will be off world, and we intend for its' duration to be four weeks. As always, we strive to be flexible and build our missions up to suit our player base/characters currently in game, so if we need to slow it down some or put up any additional logs mid-mission, we may check in with our players during to get a feel on if that would help any. Our last feedback post went up on June 19th with our next coming up on September 18th - but we welcome feedback throughout the year regardless of if there's a specific post asking for it! You are always welcome to comment to our older feedback posts with any concerns, comments, or ideas of what we can do to improve the game. We can't promise to bring everything into play, but we do listen to the ideas that have been brought our way and have implemented many player suggestions in the past. Our Mod Contact page is always open in case you would like a screened location to reach out to. Don't forget your Activity! This is just a comment with your handle and characters' names for new players. You are welcome to submit TDM threads for activity points if wanted. Our activity results post always goes up on the 1st of the month, and we have switched to providing a warning list for characters who have yet to responded to AC with an additional five days to respond from the date our results post goes up. ⏵ OOC INTRO ⏴ Welcome to the game, new arrivals! Please use the below form to introduce yourself, tell us what you’re looking forward to, and CR you want to play. We also have a mod comment HERE that you can use to ask us mods anything about our upcoming plans, add suggestions, or anything of the like. <b>PLAYER:</b> your name/handle, and your preferred pronouns if you want to provide them! <b>CONTACT:</b> your plurk, discord, carrier pigeon's name to call out to the wind to get their attention <b>ABOUT YOU:</b> what fandoms are you in? what cool thing about you do you think would be fun to share? are you more of a texty tagger, a log tagger, quick boomeranger? <b>CHARACTER:</b> who have you apped? what canon are they from? <b>CHARACTER INFO:</b> are they rowdy and loud? an introvert who needs an extrovert to adopt them and take them out into the world? how are they going to settle into game? is there anything in particular you're looking for with them? <b>PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN:</b> mostly for us mods: tell us things you're interested in! are you here more for horror elements, the mystery, soft fluffy missions, or the plot behind why echo has called everyone in? do you want to explore the world and figure out what's beyond the bubble etraya resides in? let us know! <b>OTHER:</b> this is for pretty pictures or gifs.

Comments

[ornitiers]

PLAYER: Caprica
CONTACT: @ caprican over on Plurk. Or angelolatry on Discord.
ABOUT YOU: I'm an early childhood teacher in future kiwiland. I've been peering at this game for a while and debating on who to app and. Uh. Well, all the merch for the anniversary just reminded me how much I adore this little guy. Which is to say. I love rpgs. I also adore animation, manga, and generally story-based video games. I have a particular fondness for red pandas and was an extra in the Hobbit films. Does that count as an interesting fact???

CHARACTER: Vivi Ornitier from Final Fantasy IX.
CHARACTER INFO: Vivi is a baby. Which is to say, he's technically like. A few months old, but physically is about nine years old. He's also a black mage, which means he essentially controls elemental magic and things like poison/sleep to support his friends in battle using his staff.

He's shy, clumsy, and really gullible, but he's getting more confident and learning more about the world since meeting Zidane and the others. His whole journey is basically around finding out more about himself/the other black mages. He is a prototype that fell off the airship and was initially raised to...er....be eaten, except he never grew any bigger and his 'grandpa' died before he ate the little guy. Vivi is gradually learning to take each day as it comes and to make the most of every minute, since he learns that black mages tend to live for about a year. I love this game, but do not let the cuteness fool you, guys, it's. Heavy.
PLOTS YOU'RE INTERESTED IN: Vivi is curious and new so. Basically anything and everything, really. I'd love for him to make friends with other non-humans. Other mages. Others to little bro at? Talk magic with? Want someone to fall for a prank/joke or take advantage of how gullible someone is? Vivi is probably the one.

OTHER:

[hexcope]

he is a baby and also my son. adopted.

[ornitiers]

He is the Cutest. I love him so much. ♥ I'm excited to see how I go with him here. I'm sure he will get some fun cr with everyone.

[betenoir]

I'll keep spoilers off this plurk but if you've played Clair Obscur these two have stuff they can really dig into. His world certainly means you need to make the most of every minute.

Also Renoir is a mage [as his world knows them] so there's magic natter to do if you're game.

[ornitiers]

Clair Obscur is on my list to check out, yes! I know fiance has it but I'm not sure how far he has gotten with it and I only caught him starting it up to see how it played that it worked on his desktop.

But yes, I'm definitely down for him meeting other mages and learning about different magic systems and such compared to what he is used to back home.

[betenoir]

Okay! Let me know how you feel about spoilers so I know what your preferences are and we're good. :)

But yes. It's a good way to start. I do have a top level at the event if that works to get us started?

[ornitiers]

Sure! I'll prob say that I'd prefer no spoilers yet, but I can let you know when I get through the game?

At the mingle? Yeah, sure! I have Vivi there too, or if you'd like to link me I can tag Vivi into his top level, either way.

[betenoir]

Yup! The mingle.

Top level is here.

Prompts are spoiler-tagged for convenience and I suggest anything but sea la vie and maybe arrival. Though sea la vie is just more to do with vague introspection and arrival has only mild spoilers (that are publically available on the game's website) so I'll leave that up to you.

[ornitiers]

Oh, if it's like. Readily available info from like the basic premise sort of thing/blurbs from the site/back of the game case sort of thing, I don't so much mind that. Just for stuff you only find out later on as you play through the game, sort of deal! I appreciate the caution, I know a lot of friends have been playing it/have played it, and it's still pretty recent in comparison to IX (25 years how.........????)

Thanks for the link! I'll have a look at the prompts and tag in.

[lastonetodie]

AWWW VIVI!! i'm so glad there's other people who play him still ;_; hello small artificial child who has a concerningly short time limit, meet a robot who's like the opposite of that hahah

[ornitiers]

He is the cutest. I also love Zidane and Garnet, and Steiner really grew on me, but. It was always gonna be Vivi for my favourite. To the point that I had a little plush before I even played it (years prior), just because he was adorable. I blame the anni and all the merch that is making me nostalgic for IX.

I'm down for Vivi meeting all types, though. That should be interesting.

[repaintress]

Vivi should never talk to Clea and there should be 500 feet between them at all times minimum, but I wanted to jump in and squeal because I love Vivi and FFIX and am so glad he's here. <3

[ornitiers]

I am canonblind since I only saw Fiancé barely play the start of the game to test it out, but. You know, saying that will just make me want to poke at her. But yes, I am glad to see others out there are also fans. IX is kind of underrated imo. It was my first FF that I actually finished, even if I played through VII and VIII first (lost my memory card for those).

[repaintress]

Well, hurting/traumatizing Vivi would be a good way to get people to call her on her shit and that is appealing. But Clea's also a giant spoiler almost by nature and I saw you were trying to avoid them.

I LOVE IX. IX is my 2nd favorite of the PS1 era FFs (only because the top spot is won out by FFT which is a masterpiece). I feel like more people appreciate it now, but when it came out it was definitely underappreciated. The characters, music, and storytelling are all top notch, and I really like how they handled the ability system too. Plus it has the best mini game in existence. (Look I'm just saying if they made an entire Chocobo hot and cold game, they should SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.)

I need to play the Suikoden rereleases and the FFT rerelease when they come out, but FFIX is on my to replay list. :D

[ornitiers]

Ah, yes. The walking spoiler type. Yup. I have at least one similar sort of character, if also way more obscure. It can be tricky to balance.

But yes. I do want to gradually work my way through the other FF I haven't played. IX was just the first I actually finished, but it sure felt like most people skipped it because of the timing, with just going to the PS2 when it released.

I played on PS, but I would like to replay with mods if I can poke my fiance to help me figure those. I did see we are getting Tactics rereleased, so might get to that at some point too.

[repaintress]

Yup yup yup! So no CR for now, but I love Vivi and wanted to make it known that I love Vivi and will be on the sidelines cheering with Vivi pompoms.

A lot of people were introduced to FF (and JRPGs) here with VII and since VII and VIII share certain similarities, they were put off by IX. Personally, I think IX has aged the best of that era aesthetically. Tactics is 100% work playing, but the gameplay is a complete departure from the mainline series.

I've played I-XII (minus XI and I don't even think you can play that any more so *shrug*), if you want recommendations on which ones you might like depending on what you liked about IX. (I'm a librarian who isn't working as one and I rarely get to flex my recommendation muscles...). Huh. I never played FF on a PC, so I never thought about there being mods, but of course there are now. My kingdom for a fast travel mod.

[untsundered]

So how would Vivi like to practice magic with a Sorcerer of Eld? However, he will unfortunately see Vivi as a creation/construct and not a person (but he also won't see much of anyone here...as one, yay equality?), but that isn't an inherently...negative thing in his view. It's just a Fact. Dogs are dogs, Vivis (and basically all of Etraya's populace) are creations, he fails to see how that is a problem.

He is also susceptible to being bullied by people who need his help, or try to appeal to his better nature by punching his empathy directly (or by being seemingly helpless and pitiable), and I think Vivi being who he is absolutely would be able to do that even if incidentally. The absolute little guy of Vivi, man.

[ornitiers]

I have started on XIV, but I'm still getting through post-credit stuff for ARR, so still way early on with that yet. But that isn't.....wrong? Vivi is a creation. But yeah, he also learns and develops his own identity throughout the game.

But yes. If anyone can unintentionally poke at people to help/soften to him, it is Vivi. For sure.

[untsundered]

Oh boy! Well, if it would be better to wait on CR if you wish to avoid spoilers, then I am also okay with that as well! Emet is pretty far in, and I wouldn't want to unintentionally spoil anything for you.

All the same I love Vivi and I'm super glad that you brought him! He's the cutest and I look forward to seeing what he gets up to. 😌

[ornitiers]

Mm. I am getting there, but I only started in like. September or something?? So I haven't been playing for nearly as long as a lot of my friends. So I am well aware I am very behind with XIV.

Aw, thank you! I adore him, and seeing the merch and everything for the anni just kinda reminded me, I guess.

[sabigoe]

Vivi! My favorite FF9 character and blast to the past... He's such a cutie...

Hello Caprica! I'm Hamu and I play this very friendly little girl Fio from the NieR series. And if you're familiar with the series, she has a tragic backstory like pretty much every NieR character... but she's doing OK here in this setting and is the sort of person to smile through hardship. She's around 7-8ish, though she's about the same tiny height as Vivi. I think CR with these two would be really cute if you want a fellow kid friend and I love throwing her at nonhuman types, especially since her first real friend is a nonhuman... except he's a giant 7 ft tall monster, haha.

[ornitiers]

Hi! Look, I couldn't resist the cuteness. I do also adore Zidane and Garnet/Dagger, but. Vivi, though.

I know of Nier but have yet to play it. I'm totally down for cr, though! Vivi needs all the friends. Especially closer???? to his age. And ones that are not scared of him with his appearance.

[plangona]

caprica!! vivi seems so cute and i'm so excited to share a game with you here too and get some more cr with you!

[ornitiers]

Hai! He is very cute. There's a reason he was immediately my favourite before I even actually played the game. I had a plush of him for years before I sat down with IX. He's adorable. Just. Also comes with trauma.

[plangona]

haha yeah i don't blame you. anyway looking forward to seeing what cr happens!