The Bated Breath of Having Beta Readers (Quarterly Goals)

I just looked over at the different years and saw I wrote 99 posts in 2016. What the heck was I talking about?!

Anyway, happy June, basically! haha We're at the end of May on a 5th Friday, so that means time to provide an update on my goals, which I should have posted in April, especially because the next one will be in July, but ah well. Gregorian calendar problems.

So, back in January, I had the goal to finish writing Broken Princess, which I had done before my last official Weekly Words post. By end of next quarter (September-ish), I want to reach out to my cartographer to make an updated map, maybe two. I believe just one will suffice for Books 2 and 3, but I'll see. I also need to figure out what I'm doing about the next covers. I haven't been able to get a response back from the original artist, which bums me out, but I also don't have the funds anyway (and didn't the first time; will always thank my Kickstarter backers for that one). If I go the route of finding a new artist, I'll need their style to at least be close to FP's. Either that, or I work on them myself. It's been a while since I've illustrated, though, so I'll keep y'all posted.

I was actually thinking about the audiobook the other day. I don't want to give up on it. Now that Broken Princess is in the beta readers' hands, I should have time to listen to what I recorded and make some adjustments where needed, especially for the boys' chapters. I leaned too heavily into the voices I wanted them to have, and I know for a fact (if I haven't already said this), my voice sounded fried for Cyan and like very bad Kiwi for Andyrsn haha. I also can't wait to see what my beta readers have to say about some of the major things that happen in Broken Princess. I know two are re-reading FP first, so it'll be a couple weeks before I get some yelling in my chats, but I can't wait!

Job-wise, I'm still at my office job. I am peeking around still, but I think I'm on the waiting game. I hate playing it. But at least I had the playtesting job at the end/beginning of the year...You know, I haven't looked into that avenue yet...Let me do that. The video game project is going well! We've been meeting regularly, and we're now part of Ukie (UK Interactive Entertainment), a trade body for the video game industry in the UK! It's so cool to see everything coming together as a gamer myself. I can't wait for everyone to see this game!

That reminds me, by the end of this quarter, I might want to finish my video game writing courses! They have been so helpful, and I love putting the certificates in my LinkedIn. I can't believe I have certificates in video game writing! Ah! I actually started and read 7 books this year, and I didn't realize that! I'm proud of myself. I'm going to keep on with the reading. I developed a good pace, especially at bedtime.

Another of my goals for the next quarter: I have GOT to play some of these other games I've bought and never started or started and never finished. It's getting as bad as my books. The game team also keeps referencing games I haven't played, so I've added them to my collection, one of which is Kingdom Hearts, which I have avoided my entire life (I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE DISNEY CHARACTERS IN MY FINAL FANTASY), so pray for me.

That's all I have. I will see you all next month!

Quarterly Goals

 

Good evening! *in my Dracula voice*

As I'm reading my August Quarterly Goals post, I realize I was supposed to write one on Black Friday! Welp.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! These past few months have been a hellscape, but as the country burns to the ground, let's take some time to breathe, think of some good you can do in your community, and just be good and decent human beings.

My goal for the end of the year was to finish Divided Princess. Bad news, good news time. Bad news: I did not finish the book by the end of the year. The good news is I have ONE CHAPTER LEFT! I absolutely plan on being at least halfway tonight and fully done tomorrow. And honestly, I don't even expect the chapter to be very long, so I might actually be done tonight. I just have to finish this blog post and unpause my Book 2 soundtrack and Mini Cozy Lo-fi Timer.

My other two goals for...I guess the last two quarters was to start editing the audiobook and catching up on my annual reading goal. HA. I'm done setting goals for those right now. I'm lying. I do have an annual goal of reading 18 books this year. Currently reading three, but actively reading one, so as long as I get back into the other two, I can have 3 done by the end of February. The audiobook is on hold for now, especially, because...

So, about that major project I mentioned in October?

I am officially a narrative writer for an upcoming indie game named Prism from the new studio Creative AF Games! I'm SO EXCITED! Writing for a video game has been one of my dreams, and I did not expect it to come true! In fact, I had just donated the book I had on video game writing before I moved, so I had to go buy another copy. lol Please go to my Linktree over in the banner or just from clicking these words and scroll down for all the social links for the game studio! More information to come the closer we are to releasing the demo.

All right, the next 5th Friday isn't until May, so I will most likely do a 5th Thursday post in April to see if I'm track with my reading goal. Oh! Pending cover art and my beta readers, I might also have a release date available then, so fingers crossed, and see you next month! :)

Monthly Review

 HAPPY OCTOBER! Time for a monthly review.

© Creative Commons Zero (CC0)

This is actually going to be short.

The past three months have been a whirlwind. I have a lot going on even in just this last month. Also, I realized sometime this past week that I had written a big continuity error into the story and had to go back and fix it before I could go forward. Splendid. On the bright side, I thought I needed to finish the book by today, but then I read my last Quarterly Goals post and realized I said "end of the year for sure," so, yay, no pressure.

I started a major project this month. I'm so excited about it! More information to come soon! I also start playtesting today. That should be something fun for me to focus on.

I also started working on managing some of my personal issues this past week. We'll see how everything turns out. I just know going forward, I'm choosing my peace!

Reading wise, I'm almost finished the audiobook Firefly: Big Damn Hero, and I love that world so much. Just wish Joss Whedon hadn't turned out to be awful. But anyway, I'm also reading The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Mel Robbin's The Let Them Theory. I'm not going to catch up on my goal, but at least, I'm getting back into reading.

I hope you've had a good month. Happy Halloween!

Weekly Words and Playing Catch Up

 I'm writing this early, so I don't take another long break by accident.

February, as always, was dumb short. I blinked, and it was March. But despite what books the (might as well be alt but let's be real) right keep trying to ban, I hope you learned something new in Black History Month. And Happy Women's History Month!

I finished what I thought was a trilogy, but come to find out, there are at least 30 books in that series, and by the end of the third book, I was highly underwhelmed, so not continuing it. I will say that on behalf of Women's History Month, men, please stop trying to write teenage girls. It's painful to read. On that note, the book I started reading after that seems . . . interesting. From the blond/blue-eyed golden child (literally had a golden aura around him, as seen by homeless man he and his friends were harassing) to dogs getting taken up in the rapture but not cats, I'm worried about what the rest of the writing holds, but I'll stick it out.

I've been writing up a mild rain (not a storm but haha), and I'm excited! I was very tempted to just go ahead and start Book 3 in these Shattered Chronicles, but I'm behaving. Of all three books, though, I do have the majority of the third's plot points floating around in my head. I know what the entire first part is going to be, and I know what the resolution is and how we get there. I've almost come full circle with my original idea, because I wanted the series to feel like a Final Fantasy video game, and if you know anything about that "third cd" (if you know, you know), Book 3 is absolutely going to be that. I'm working myself up just thinking about it.

I also had plans to be editing my audiobook recording by now, but I was so sick in January that I was still recovering in February! Hopefully I can pick recording back up this month. I was really enjoying it, and I want to get the audiobook out this year. Let's hope I can!

In other news, I'm in an 8-week course on how to build a game from scratch thanks to Black Girl Gamers and Anything World. Making video games is something I've thought about/toyed very loosely with over the years, so maybe this is the start of something. At least a basic game. I'm also playing with the idea of maybe making a Chapters story? I haven't done dramatic soap-opera type stories since my high school fan fiction days, and it's been even longer since I've written chapter books, but who knows? I might abandon the idea in a few weeks. haha For now, I'm at least enjoying the weird werewolf drama I'm choosing my own adventure in.

I actually don't know how well blogs are still doing. Even I haven't read the ones I follow in years now. I know with Patreon and these new blog subscriptions that are gaining traction, more popular content creators have those avenues. I do not have that luxury. I've even fallen off the social media for the most part, but I do plan on picking that back up. I was certainly supposed to be engaging more on Facebook for sure, so I will do my best! In the meantime, Happy Lent, Mubarak Ramadan, and see you next time!

I'm In Another Tournament!

Happy Friday!

I'm peeking back in on my hiatus to say I am participating in the second Black Girl Gamers Apex Legends GameFace Tournament hosted by Benefit Cosmetics!

This year, I'm in Team MeMeDe, and I've gotten some good practice in! I hope to do better than have my captain carry me all 6 games haha. If you want to watch, the tournament will be live on the BGG Twitch Channel at approximately 3:40PM EST with two Get Ready With Me segments, followed by the big game at 5:00PM. I love to get the chance to play with the BGG, and here's to more tournaments in the future!

I'm in a GAMING Tournament!

Happy Friday!

The second Friday of the month, I usually share what I’m reading, but I’m still reading the book from a few months back. I’m reading it faster, though, so I expect to have a new book to share in September. Today, I’m sharing something special!

This Sunday beginning at 4:30pm EST, I will be in my very first Apex Legends Tournament with other Black Girl Gamers, hosted by Benefit Cosmetics!

The tournament will be featured on the front page of twitch.tv. You can view it on the BGG channel, where they will be having a “Get Ready With Me” makeup session before the tournament, and I will also be streaming on my channel, twitch.tv/debthebird. I haven’t done in months, so I need to make sure my stuff is set up. I hope you’ll join me. It’s going to be fun!

Quarterly Goals

 

I just realized that my quarterly goal post should take place in October, but 2020 remains on brand, as nothing is going as it should. There are 5 Wednesdays in September, but not October, so here we are!

Here were my August goals:

To get back into the swing of things - So far, I'm doing an okay job. I've been writing. My friends and I are starting a non-church book club together. We're always in church, so we wanted to do something with no relation to it. Balance is always key.

To find a job I really want to do - I'm content at my current 9-to-5 (also read 8-to-4:30), but it's not my passion, and it's certainly not in my field. As I mentioned in August, I joined a startup production company, and I edited a script for the producer. That is stuff I could do all day, especially if it paid well. I'm also part of Black Girl Gamers, and the founder posts jobs she finds. There is one for a short-term, paid video game writer traineeship. The hours are flexible, and it's virtual, so I think I'm going to apply and see where it takes me.

My next goal is to get back into reading other people's blogs. I haven't done it consistently in a long time, and I know it's because I have so much else going on it's hard to do, but still.

My next quarterly goals will be in December, so I guess I will update you on how the upcoming quarter panned out, and what my plans will be for the first quarter in 2021!

I hope you all enjoy what's left of September.

Quarterly Goals

It is the 5th Wednesday of April, so that means I am looking at and making my goals for the quarter. How has everyone done with their April challenges? Has anyone done them?

This time last quarter, I was halfway through my chemo treatments, which I have now finished! The days didn't go by quickly, but I'm grateful to God that He brought me through it. My family and friends threw me a surprise social distance-approved bell ringing as I pulled up to my sister's house. That made me feel good. My mom also felt good enough to cook, so I had her meatloaf and mashed potatoes, which I hadn't had in years. My friends also threw me a Zoom party, but I was too sleepy to stay by the time I got home. Needless to say, I had a great last day of treatment.

This time last quarter was also two months before COVID-19 really broke out over here, so...yeah. Anyway, my goals for last quarter included:

eating better/cooking more/grocery shopping more - I have actually cooked a few times, done more grocery shopping than I ever have before, and eaten more fruit and vegetables. But I'm still a sucker for a sausage Mcmuffin with egg;

exercise on my good days - because I'm working from home, I have taken walks, danced, and worked out on my lunch breaks. It's definitely helped boost my activity and kept me from going stir crazy;

and reading/writing more - I think I mentioned both in my last posts. I've gotten back into both in one way or another. Reading my last quarterly goals, I realize I need to peek into my NA fantasy to see what notes I left. It's sad that I don't remember.

My goals for this next quarter are relatively the same. I'd like to get back into shape, lose 10 pounds and keep them off over the next 6 months. I did it once upon a time. I was in my twenties at the time, but we'll see what happens.

Did you guys make any goals for the quarter?

Monthly Review

© Creative Commons Zero (CC0)

What a difference a month makes.

A month ago, I started Door Dashing to make some extra money. 2 weeks later, the corona virus hit my state, and yesterday, I heard there was a case in one of the local school districts, so with my compromised immune system, I am officially home for 5 of 7 days. I still have to come into the office 2 days because of my timekeeping duties, but when I receive a laptop with remote access, I will be home each day. Last week, just being home 4 days drove me a little crazy. I just have to find things to do, and I'm not without things to do!

Here is a list I posted to my personal Facebook:

Read more than 5 page at a time.

Finally get some artwork started.

Catch up on anime I never finished.

Watch more Chinese dramas and dònghuà (Chinese version of anime).

Get back on Duolingo.

See if I can still tell the BTS members apart.

Clean.

What are you doing while you're being safe and staying home as much as possible?

Final Fantasy Friday: Creating a Villain

Happy Good Friday!

On the last Friday of the month, I like to take some time to geek out about my favorite video game franchise, Final Fantasy.

I'm replaying FFIX, and I just passed the point where Garland, the overseer of Terra tells his beta-doll Kuja that he created him with a time limit until MC Zidane grew strong enough to carry out the mission to make Gaia habitable for the Terrans (through war and destruction). As if Kuja wasn't already mad that Garland created Zidane (he threw him off the ship on their way to Gaia, so Zidane didn't have any memory of his origin or mission), so when he heard that he was going to die, he SNAPPED and destroyed Terra in a matter of seconds.

So this brings me to the topic today: creating a villain. Many of the villains in the Final Fantasy games were created by the people around them. Kuja was already pretty bad, but in his case he was literally created to be. Learning there was a caveat just made it worse, and in the end, he redeemed himself.

FFVII had Sephiroth, who was actually pretty chill until he thought humans destroyed his people. That's when he snapped and destroyed Nibelheim. Had he not thought he was an Ancient, his story would've been totally different. Crazy enough, he might've been a main character in what would be a totally different game! We saw a little of that in Crisis Core with Genesis as the main villain. He wasn't as powerful as Sephiroth, and that irked him.

FFVIII has Ultimecia, and going off of the Ultimecia is Rinoa theory I shared during 2016's A to Z Challenge, Ultimecia wouldn't have existed had SEED not killed Squall in the future. Rinoa never would have become Ultimecia and tried to kill all SEED. She wanted revenge.

Though I didn't talk about Seymour in FFX during that challenge and while he wasn't the main villain, he was trying to reach that because of the bullying he experienced being half human and half Guado. He never felt good enough, and so he strove to be better than everyone else and show them up with force.

Most recently was Ardyn from FFXV, who was supposed to be King of Lucis in his time, but they used his soul to absorb demons, so he became corrupted and was cast out for it. Of all of the villains, I think he was the most justified in his reasoning to destroy Lucis. Like Kuja, you can't use people as test dummies and not expect them to snap when you try to discard them.

I could play with "What if" scenarios all day with these five games. Just imagine the possibilities! I'm actually imagining an FFVII with Sephiroth, Zack, and Cloud as a team, and that would've been really interesting. Or an FFIX where Kuja, you know, didn't throw Zidane off the ship, and Dagger as the main character trying to stop them.

Sounds like I should work on some Alternate Universe stories, huh? ... Hm...

Have a great weekend!

Final Fantasy Friday: FFXV Episode Ignis: SPOILERS AHEAD

So, I forgot to post Wednesday Words this week, but I'm also not reading anything, so why not mess up the rest of the month!?

More importantly, Episode Ignis came out this weeeek! Ignis was my favorite FFXV character, and I've been waiting impatiently for his episode! So much so that I bought it before I went to work yesterday morning!

A little backstory: during the main game, there is a major battle against the Imperial Army and Noctis's guard while he's going off to win over Leviathan. His fiancée is killed in this struggle, and somehow Ignis loses his sight.

This episode lets us see what happened, but first, this opening (and Noctis's little face!):

This opening!! #FFXV #EpisodeIgnis #PS4sharehttps://t.co/2aurjCg0ga pic.twitter.com/NYln9ID1DX

— דבורה המחבר (@DebTheAuthor) December 14, 2017

Ignis has been with Noctis for the longest, I believe, and to be honest, he spoils him all through the main game. I was devastated to hear he was blinded in this scuffle.

Playing the game straight through only took an hour. You have the option to venture off and reclaim districts in Altissia, but I was trying to get a handle on Ignis's battle system and also getting up on the roofs without falling back into the water all through the city.

But also, Ignis is a BEAST! I was taking out Imperials with hardly any need for a potion until I had to fight Ravus and then Ardyn. I also didn't realize Ravus had a prosthetic arm, but he thought he was chosen to fight off the darkness and tried to wield the One Ring--oh, sorry, wrong...well anyway the Ring of the Lucii. The past kings of Lucis said, "Nah, fam," and his arm burned away! So, when Ignis picked up the ring to fight Ardyn, I knew he would live, but didn't have any details. He called on the kings to give him power to fight Ardyn, and they said, "Sure, but now you're blind." We were able to fight him off long enough for Gladio and Prompto to find us, and then Ignis collapses from exhaustion.

Rewind: while Ignis and Ravus battle through Altissia to get to Noct and Luna, we run into Pryna, one of Luna's husky-German shepard mixes (no idea what these puppies are), and she either dies or collapses but not before giving Ignis a gift of foresight, so he sees everything that is going to happen to Noctis. This helps to explain in the main game why sometimes it's like Ignis can see after this battle: he's already seen the future happen!

So, as the credits roll and take us through the rest of the game, it ends on a moment at their last campfire where Noctis is telling Ignis that even if Ignis isn't there in the end, he's there in Noct's heart. And then...well watch for yourself. I almost lost to tears:

The bloody FEELS!!! #FFXV #EpisodeIgnis #PS4sharehttps://t.co/2aurjCg0ga pic.twitter.com/LB7TDHj5ze

— דבורה המחבר (@DebTheAuthor) December 15, 2017

This episode was perfect. It was the one we deserved all along. I'm going to play again this weekend.

Final Fantasy Friday: FFXV Assassin's Festival

Happy Friday!

It's the last Friday of the month, and that means it's time to geek out about my favorite game franchise: Final Fantasy!

A few weeks back, I realized there was an update to FFXV, so I downloaded and decided to see what it was. Over the summer, they do a Carnival in Altissia. This time, they did an Assassin's Festival in Lestallum. Here's a preview.

Apparently, Noct and Prompto are huge Assassin's Creed fans, but if you know me, you know I'm not a first-person gamer. It gives me a lot of anxiety, especially when enemies are chasing me (one of the reasons I hated FFXII). That's why I gravitate to RPGs. I did try to play this festival a little bit, but the moment the Magitek soldiers started chasing me and I couldn't get away, I knew I wouldn't be able to go on. Others enjoyed it, though, so good. I'll be awaiting the next DLC, which should be Ignis's story!

Have a good weekend!

Final Fantasy Friday: Final Fantasy XV Universe

Happy Friday!

It's the last Friday of the month, and that means it's time to geek out for a minute. Final Fantasy XV developers continue to crank out content for this game. It's becoming it's own franchise! While a mobile Game of War-style game was created for the game (and is trash), there will be a PC, pocket, and real multi-player version of this game out by early 2018! Extra content is being downloaded periodically, so I need to get back into the game to see what's available. The expansion they're doing for this game is proof to me that this will be the last major Final Fantasy game, especially as they're doing the MMO version (FFXI and FFXIV were MMORPGs). It's the end of an era (unofficially, because they haven't said anything of the sort).

I hope you all have a great weekend. I leave you with a trailer for the expansion project!

Final Fantasy Friday: I Finished FFXV

Me on Monday: I should schedule my post.
Me on Tuesday: I should start my post. Friday will be here before I know it.
Me on Wedensday: I should write my post tomorrow.
Me on Thursday: ....
Me on Friday: Oh, crap, my post!

So, I'm bad at this. haha This is usually the week I share what I'm reading with you, but I hadn't picked up The Handmaid's Tale for about two weeks, so I needed to finish that (thank God, I finished it. It was blah), BUT last Saturday, I took the time to finish Final Fantasy XV which, because I was Level 72, took me about an hour, less time than it took me to fight the adamantoise (which took me close to 3 hours).



As I explained in my post about the homages in this game (CLICK), Noctis is told he has to sacrifice himself to get light back into the world. That takes 10 years, so he comes out looking like a cleaner version of this. We had just fought Ifrit here, so he's a little covered in smoke and ash. He's telling his friends to walk tall (though they also don't make it, which I didn't realize until I read someone's explanation of the ending), and he goes inside to fight the darkness, Ardyn Izunia, formerly known as Ardyn Lucis Caelum, Noct's millions-great-grandfather or uncle, something close.

Long story short, Ardyn was supposed to be king thousands of years ago, but he was used to destroy daemons by sucking them into his soul, and because he was corrupted, he was basically banished. So, obviously, he wants vengeance on the kingdom of Lucis, which he successfully starts at the beginning of the game by having King Regis killed.

I'm awesome, so I defeated Ardyn with no problems and a nod to Cloud's Omnislash limit break. But dear God, the end sequences. With a nod to FFVII's Knights of the Round, the past kings, Noct, Luna, Gladio, Prompto, and Ignis all band together in the afterlife to get rid of Ardyn for good, and the World of Ruin (another nod to FFVI) finally ends after 10 years. The credits roll, and we get a conversation around the campfire that brings me to tears. Of course, it's the first time Noct has seen his friends in 10 years, and then, they're on their last mission together before they all go off to die.

Even with the hundreds of side quests, I give this game a 10. Not an FFX 10, but a solid 10 nonetheless lol. The graphics were gorgeous, the music was awesome. I loved the bond the guys had (seeing them do special link attacks together made me so giddy), and because there are so many other things attached to this game (Kingsglaive, Carnival, Episodes), I love the versatility. I even liked the battle system, and I'm very pro-turn based fighting.

I could see a sequel coming from this, but God, I hope they don't do it. Maybe another movie, where we know what happens now that there is no king anymore. I want to know how the world can go on. I could see them worshiping Noct and Luna, and they have the ability to appear at will. Mainly because of the last video clip they gave us to send off the end of the game. Screenshot here:



They finally get to be together. My heart. Be still.

I can also see this being the last game of the franchise. They did so many homages and CDs we could listen to of the old games. It was epic, and I don't think they would be able to top this one with another game. It's the best one since X. I'll play again eventually. Not for a few years, though. It took a toll on my spirit. lol

Once you finish, you get an updated logo on the main screen, where it used to just be the girl, you realize after the above sequence, that it's Luna. Then, Noct's little sleepy body appears, and Fin. *sigh* Such a good game. I'm going to play the end again just because. :)

In my next Final Fantasy Friday, I should have played Episode Gladiolus and at least started Episode Prompto, so I'll let you know how those turned out.

UPDATE 8/31/17: The episodes weren't really worth another post. Gladio's was boring, and while Prompto's wasn't as boring, I didn't need it. I know other fans probably loved them. I'm ready for Ignis's episode, though! Ignis was my favorite of the three, and the story is going to center around how he was blinded during the Imperial attack on Altissia. HERE FOR IT!

Have a great weekend!

Final Fantasy Friday: FFXV & Homages

It is the 5th Friday, but the 4th Friday after IWSG, so that means it is time for Final Fantasy Friday!

As you know, I've been playing Final Fantasy XV, a very intricate game for new and old fans. I'm finally at a point where I have no choice but to stop and do side quests to level up because I am on the final chapter of the game, which was actually the beginning of the game, so now I understand what the heck was happening.

So at this juncture, I have to stop and talk about a few of the homages to the other games that blew my mind. FFIX had homages, too (the crystal returned, skill-based mages designated by colors, etc.), but there was one in particular in FFXV that I didn't realize until I was saying it out loud (it's coming up in a few). So let's go through a few.

1) Light vs. Dark

I think a few of the early Final Fantasy games always dealt with a time where Warriors of the Light had to be called to battle away the overwhelming darkness. FFIII and FFIV are the ones that come to mind most. FFXV is a huge battle of light vs. dark. Noctis (night) from the kingdom of Lucis (light). lol Night Light. OOH, or Knight of Light! I just caught that play on words. Everything in this game revolves around keeping the lights on because if you don't, daemons emerge, and they're quite scary.

2) FFXV Prompto / FFVII Cloud

The top one is Prompto Argentum, super goofy friend of Noctis who has a dark creation story (he was genetically engineered like all of the imperial troopers we've been fighting the entire game, see Homage 4). The parallel is obvious if you know anything about FFVII. Cloud Strife (on the bottom) was a genetically enhanced trooper. Visually, they're that waify blue-eyed figure with the weird spiky blond hair and the permanent pout.

3) Keycard Access

Still looking at FFVII, as I said in the last Final Fantasy Friday, I was in this creepy dark town Gralea trying to save Prompto. I end up in a lab, Zegnatus Keep, where I need keycards to get to the next floor. In the first disc of FFVII (wow, anyone remember where you bought 3-4 disc video games? lol), I take Cloud through Shinra Lab, and I need to fight soldiers all through the place and find the one with the keycard to the next floor. It was very reminiscent of the first time I played FFVII. I really appreciated it.

4) The monsters are people.

In Zegnatus Keep, there are reports all over the lab. Whenever I'm out in the dark and while I was walking all through this God-forsaken place, I learned the empire was growing magitek (the imperial troopers) by infecting humans with a daemon pathogen (WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG). The side-effect was a lot of people turned into full out daemons. In FFVII, in a flashback with Cloud and Sephiroth, we go to Nibelheim to fix a leak in a reactor. The leak was causing monsters to sprout around town. Sephiroth tells Cloud to look into one of the pods sitting in the reactor. There's a monster in there. (Run-on alert) Not only is it a monster, it's a human injected with alien cells to make it a superhuman not knowing the result could be an alien, because it's actually Jenova alien juice that is coming through the reactor, because the stupid Shinra empire thought Jenova was an Ancient and wanted to create more Ancients and ended up with Sephiroth! So they thought they could make more.

5) Bahamut ruins your life.

I actually posted the first video somewhere, most likely last year's A-to-Z. In my favorite Final Fantasy game, FFX, the group reaches a wall filled with people, fayth, who the team thinks are being used to summon something huge. When Tidus touches it, he faints and meets the fayth who became Bahamut (top). He tells Tidus the fayth are actually people and summoners from the old machina war. They became fayth to keep the dream of Zanarkand alive. Now they're tired, and because Tidus is from the dream world and touched Sin, the monster created by the bad guy in the game, he will be able to defeat the whole thing so the fayth can all rest. Of course, that means, they'll stop dreaming, so Tidus, as part of that dream, will also disappear. FFX has the most heartbreaking game ending I've ever had to sit through (FFVII Crisis Core was the most traumatizing, if you're a fan who happened to stumble here via hashtag).

In FFXV, at the heart of the Zegnatus Keep is a crystal, which Noct gets sucks into. There he meets Bahamut, who tells a wonderful story about how one of Noct's ancestors, who is currently roaming the world infected by daemon juice, can only be destroyed by Noct, and by doing so, Noct must gain "Providence" which entails giving up his life. So he must die to save the world. I'm pretty sure the devs did that as a nod to FFX. Bahamut, wielder of flare magic and bearer of bad news. Of course, I haven't gotten to the end yet, so I don't know how this plays out (and don't tell me!). But I will say this is also reminiscent of FFX in that both games have you take this journey to gain more power to defeat the enemy by way of sacrificing yourself! That's what the summoners did in FFX.

6) FFX "Suteki da Ne" / FFXV "Somnus"

This one you have to hear to understand, so just push play. ;)

Push it again.

The quintessential song from FFX is "Suteki da Ne" (Isn't it Wonderful). It's a beautiful song, and very light in its sound and singer. An instrumental version of "Somnus"(Sleep) is the first thing you hear when you turn on FFXV, and if you can't hear the similarity, I worry for you. But what you should also notice is the difference in the tone of the song. It's darker, much sadder. The singer is a rich alto vs. SDN's tinny soprano. I also like how FFXV is almost telling FFX to sleep, which is really what the fayth are doing in FFX!

All right, geek out over. I was very excited to see these nods to earlier Final Fantasy games, and I can't wait to finish and see if the ending wrecks my soul or makes me incredibly happy and excited to play the Gladio and Prompto DLCs. Be sure I'll let you know.

I won't see you before IWSG, so have a great weekend, and enjoy your 4th of July!

Final Fantasy Friday

Happy Friday!

It is the last Friday of May already, so that means I am bringing you some Final Fantasy obsessions.

So, the thing they tell you about Final Fantasy XV is that it's a game about friendship and brotherhood. Yada yada yada. What they DO NOT tell you is how fricking depressing it is!

I'm two chapters away from the end (tired of doing side quests, so I'm just gunning it until I'm not strong enough to beat something and have to go do a couple side quests), and here is a list of things that have happened to me: Noctis, Prince of Lucis.

1. My father, the king, is assassinated (I knew this already because Sean Bean is the English voice actor, and he dies in everything, but still).
2. Our country is taken over.
3. I find this all out by reading a newspaper that says my father, my fiance, and I have all died, so when I call home, they're like, "Well, your dad is dead."
4. When I finally get up with my fiance, she gets stabbed, and the Hydrean Leviathan drowns her! (See R.I.P. My Fiance for the graphics.)
5. My guardian/chef is blinded in battle.
6. My guardian/trainer acts like I'm being a spoiled brat and not manning up. (Bitch, my dad and my fiance have died in the span of like, a week!)
7. My best friend gets kidnapped by the man who killed my fiance (oh, and he also kills my fiance's brother!).

I can't imagine what else happens! And this chapter I'm currently in trying to save Prompto (my best friend), it's SO dark and scary! Rogue robots are jumping out and grabbing me, then exploding, daemons are popping up, and the murderer is taunting me over a loud speaker every few minutes.

I can't take it!

But anyway, here are some screenshots I took. lol

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend! Hug a soldier, think of those who died for freedom. <3

Final Fantasy Friday: RIP My Fiance!

It's the last Friday of the month, which means it's time for Final Fantasy Friday!

Also, I enjoyed my vacation but got hit with my allergies and a cold, so I need another vacation where I can sleep through the night without not being able to breathe. I wanted to play a little more of FFXV before I left and didn't get to, but I did get to spend some time on it when I got home.

Most people who run out and by these games spend the weekend or a whole week or so playing it. I have a some semblance of a life, so I don't have that luxury. Thus, the portion of the game I finally got to play was spoiled for me by fans weeks ago: my (Noctis's) fiance, Lunafreya, dies helping me retrieve Leviathan, long story short a summon. The papers say Luna died drowning, but I witnessed her get stabbed by a shady NPC we'd run into a few times! My sister, who was watching, was just as shocked as I was!

First off, Leviathan had an attitude. I guess because she was asleep and Luna woke her, but I needed her to chill. The battle was quite scary, as she kept diving in and out of the water and coming straight for me with her mouth agape! I actually screamed and then laughed at myself.

Secondly, the visuals in this game are just everything. Here is the saddest cutscene since Tidus's death/disappearance in FFX. Notice the different shifts, first the atmosphere, then Noct's shift from young Noct to current Noct. It's so wild! The scene is also very reminiscent of Aeris's death in FFVII. The homages!

First, the graphics. <3 Second, this hurts. #FFXV #PS4sharehttps://t.co/2aurjCg0ga pic.twitter.com/REF81W0NFh

— Deb the Author (@DebTheAuthor) April 23, 2017

I have a few more chapters before I finish the game. I might be done with side quests for now, lol. That's where most of my hours have been spent! I just want to get to the end, so I can play the DLC for Gladio!

Have a great weekend!

Final Fantasy Friday: A Month at the Carnival

It's the last Friday in February, and so that means it is time for:

This is the day I have set aside to shoot the breeze about blog memes, when available, and my Final Fantasy obsession. As you know, this year I have started playing Final Fantasy XV. This game is an experience. I'm almost sure I'm not even halfway done, and part of that is because of the ability to do side quests immediately, a first in the whole franchise, and also partly because at the end of January, a DLC (additional downloadable content) was added known as the Moogle Chocobo Carnival!


Think of it as a state fair. One of the cities in the game received a huge festival makeover, and you could do everything from fishing, to playing games, to helping little kids retrieve their balloons. Each night at about 8pm fireworks started going off for hours (probably about 20 minutes IRL), and if you racked up enough coins, you could buy a voucher to spend a night in the hotel and get a front row seat to the fireworks show. I took a lot of pictures but forgot to share them, so I can't access them right now.


Here are a few of pictures I shared on Twitter of Noctis and his dream guide Carbuncle riding the gondola through town.

You could change Noctis's clothes, so here he is being casual.



Look at the detail!



You could skip the scenic route, but sometimes, I just liked to look around.

Items you acquired through the carnival rolled over to your regular game, so I tried to get as many items as I could. I had a lot of fun, and now that the carnival is gone, I need to dive back into the real game. People are dropping spoilers on Instagram! *sigh* The price of not having the luxury of playing all day anymore.


It's a beautiful day in Delaware, so I hope the same goes for wherever you are! Get outside and have a good weekend!

Final Fantasy Friday: I've Finally Started FFXV!

On the last Friday of the year, I finally get to say that I've started playing Final Fantasy XV!

If you could hear the music! Anyway, I'm probably only 10 minutes into the actual storyline, lol. Unlike the other FF games, you can do side quests right out the gate in this one, so I've been doing those to level up my characters.

The game opens with a highly perilous looking encounter in the future. Noctis, the main character, looks to be in his 50s, and Gladiolus, Ignis, and Prompto are still by his side protecting him. Then, it lurches to the present, where Noctis's dad King Regis is sending him off to get married. I need to know how we get to that highly perilous scene!

But I'm nowhere near there yet, lol.

If you've ever played a Need for Speed game, that's the vibe I'm getting from this installment. The first screen that comes up states FFXV is for new and old fans, and I didn't play the first Need for Speed Underground to have to play the 2nd. There's a storyline, but you can basically do whatever you want until you're ready to follow it. I like that freedom. I need to make sure I keep looking at the tutorial and training for the fighting techniques, though. I don't want to forget while I'm dilly-dallying.

Here is a clip of me sneaking past something...big.

I really hope I don't have to fight this thing in the future. Did you see its TAIL!?

Final Fantasy Friday: FFXV Finally Arrived!

Happy Friday!

While 2016 remains to be a garbage rollercoaster (anyone else shocked and heartbroken by Alan Thicke, because he was one of my TV dads!), I received notification on the 13th that my package arrived containing the Day One Edition of Final Fantasy XV!

I'm extremely excited and doing my best to not buy a PS4 right away, but there's a deal on Gamestop right now for an Uncharted 4 Bundle AND a $25 e-gift card, and that's SO tempting, so by the time this posts, I'll probably have bought it. I'm not even sure what Uncharted is and am not the biggest fan of first person shooters, but the premise looks cool.

Now, my cousin says that FFXV is better than FFX, which is my favorite game in the franchise, so I will certainly be the judge of that.

Have a great weekend!