A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin

(cross-posted to my livejournal)

One of my (shameful) new obsessions is A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. I picked up the first book at my library in the shelf of books donated for sale. It had no dust jacket, but I thought it seemed pretty interesting from the first page and even if it sucked, I would only lose 50 cents. Well, I read it and the following books with increasingly morbid interest. Such drama, such violence, such powerful passion and even more powerful treachery!

It reminded me of the War of the Roses, a dynastic struggle in medieval England in which thousands of people died. The War of the Roses in fact was the inspiration for Final Fantasy Tactics, subtitled the War of the Lions for a reason. So there was part of the reason why I liked A Song of Ice and Fire so much! Huzzah!

If you really want to know more, you'd have to wiki War of the Roses and prepare for a looooooong read longer than longcat or read a couple of Shakespeare plays. But here are some interesting similarities. For example, both the books and the game start after a long civil war that you should know something about but you don't hah hah. Each warring family controls either the north or the south. A queen assumes regency for her son after her pathetic husband dies and directs her relatives to kill any other claimants to the throne. Many knights and even more peasants die. Corrupt churches get what's coming. Dragons rain fiery death. Female knights bust some nuts. Some unknown goes out to claim the throne for themselves, and to hell with anyone who gets in their way. Princesses are in another castle. A knight turns into a zombie, I shit you not about this one. But as far as I know, Final Fantasy Tactics does not have rampant twincest (I'm preeeeeetty sure), nor does A Song of Ice and Fire have a thunder god.

Sounds like fine entertainment? Well, they are thinking of making the books into a TV series and I would pay good money to see how they're going to cast a deformed dwarf or handle the dragons.

I would really prefer an animated movie based on Tactics, but no one cares about what I want.

Anyways, for those of you medieval history buffs who enjoy a good dose of fantasy and drama similar to Final Fantasy Tactics, this series is for you.

Japanese fanart sites: part 4

This is probably the last update for Japanese fanart sites that are hopefully link-free. Again, if you have other sites to recommend, please let me know!

Sky Lodge by maiyue

FFT, FF12. Beautiful watercolor and digital paintings in rich colors. I guess technically this is not a Japanese site, but it is a must-see!

ジャポニカラクガキチョウ by アスパラ

FFT. Graceful painterly sketches, plus a game blog with sketches of many NPCs. Also, an amazingly beautiful and sad animation of the epilogue. One of my faves!

Pine-Pinx by sueble

FFT, FF12, Vagrant Story. There's only 1 FFt fanart, but this artist has such lovely delicate paintings, I'll link it anyways!

APM by タカオ

FFT, FFTA, others. The artist has a cute retro style, sparkly-eyed and absolutely precious. Colorful art and oekaki that you just have to see.

mangetsu-an by mangetsu

FFT, FF12. Wonderfully rendered digital paintings and sketches, dreamy and natural. Actually, you'll have to search for FFT, but just enjoy the other fanarts!

7m by 藤縄
This last site I'm not sure about linking... I am terrible at Japanese so I'll not link it for now. Too bad! Because it was really funny and cute.

Japanese fanart sites: Pumpkin head!

http://pumpkin.sakura.ne.jp/

This is a Japanese oekaki board for Final Fantasy Tactics related fanart. I love looking through their giant archives (back to 2000!), there are tons of talented artists and super cute artwork about all of the Ivalice games, plus random stuff. People in Japan are ridiculously talented and goofy.

Errr sorry, I haven't been updating much. I haven't actually succeeded in poaching rare items and I haven't gotten further in the Cloud subquest, which I really need to get cracking on. Right now my brother is stuck in a battle and I am not able to play, heh heh.

Here's a goofy tegaki I did, I never finish these things.

Zeltennia Castle and Delita

Now it's a gorgeous FMV with Delita and Ramza in the church, speaking of important things, of course. I think I would die of happiness to see a movie of Tactics in this form. Although I wonder why they still use Ramza's chapter 3 armor instead of his blue and white butt-pad armor in chapter 4.

My thoughts on the plot so far? Delita is still being vague in his words, but I believe he thinks more of Teta than of Ovelia while contemplating his quest. (Poor Ovelia.) And even though Ramza knows his life is forfeit at Delita's hands, even knowing what lengths Delita would take to bring down the dueling nobility and the corrupted church, he remains so very polite. They seem to trust each other even knowing that they may cross swords in the future, and when Balmafula gives Delita some apple-sass after the battle, I sense that Delita may have some regrets. But not enough for him to give up.

Of course the battle in which we finally kill Zalmour, that was a cinch. Now it's off to save/recruit Orlandeau and all that. Exciting!

Fighting battles... yep

I have been poaching, questing and leveling my special characters, nothing too interesting. However, I died miserably when attacked by 6 ninjas once. Held out as long as I could, but I had my weakling characters at the time and they weren't enough.

Soon Ramza and company will be girding their loins to enter Zeltennia Castle.

"Dispose of Mustadio!"

Worker 7 get, yaaaay! Oh man, that cutscene always cracks me up! Ramza's panic is just so hilarious.

On another note, I also obtained the Tynar Rouge in the Agrias subquest. Mustadio is a darling. I do wonder if he actually has a crush on Agrias or something, it's adorable in either case. But you know, I think everyone loves Agrias.

Dragon+Knight love~~~~

I'm sure everyone in the party now thinks Beowulf is some kind of pervy weirdo, hah hah. But I am touched by how this game decided to turn the dragon and knight relationship upside down, so sweet!

I finished the third battle at Gollund Colliery (what's a colliery?) and enticed a cute widdle pig and blue dragon into my party. But when I signed Reis and Beowulf up, I had to dismiss 2 other monsters! Other than my chocobos, my animals are freaking sterile, even in the breeding seasons, and I haven't been able to poach many rare items. Hopefully I'll strike it rich with these 2 plague horrors I got.

Beowulf is hoss

On my way to get Beowulf!!! What a studly stud.

First, I fought the battle with 7 chemists. Easy enough with Beowulf in my party. I pretty much just rushed them, stole a couple of Lambent Hats (what were there original names?) I suppose. Chemists armed with guns are annoying, I must admit, but not so hard.

The second battle at Gollund, I decided to get Agrias, a summoner and an orator in my party. This made it extremely difficult when the chemist with the Glacial Gun dealt icy death from above while the Behemoth King rampaged below, but I struggled along, healing and often raising! At last I enticed the Behemoth King in (because I didn't get to with Luso's battle) and snatched the Glacial Gun away. With no help from Beowulf might I add, always raising his faith for some reason.

My brother has already fought the third battle and tells me it will be a challenge full of defending and enticing. Whooo?

Japanese fanart sites: part 3

Well, many of these sites haven't been updated in a while, but they still have lots of pretty art for those of you who are looking for more Tactics fanworks.


89 by ひたき
Tactics, Advanced. Cute sketchy style with soft colors, be sure to check the logs for tons more funny doodles.


okoanism by おこあん
Tactics. Very bold semi-realistic style, like graphic design. Lots of character and generic class sketches to delight your eyes!


e倉庫 by 藤沢 明
Tactics, Advanced. Bold lineart and bright colors, with a really unique SD. Lots of generic class and old-man art that never fail to amuse me.


キラメクヒト by toppy
Tactics, others. A gorgeous painting and dozens of cute little oekaki sketches scattered about in a cheerful style.


4cc by スズシロ
Tactics, Advanced. Tons of beautiful sketches and little paintings in a bold and colorful style. Lots of funny group pictures, generics and other cast members, too!


Q-m3 by ツミレ
Tactics, others. Lovely painterly sketches, not too many.


国立少年　by 今村陽子
Tactics. I managed to get a doujinshi from this artist and it is not only gorgeous but funny. Lovely soft shading with beautiful antique texture.


リセット by 扇
Tactics, Advanced, 12. Funny and adorable drawings with bright colors and a fresh vibrant flair.


RMKYU by きゅきゅ
Tactics. Cute sketches and comics that I wish I could read better! Lots of Ramza love = awesome.

Meliadoul, then Balthier! Hot!

That Meliadoul is a sassy girl, completely immune to Ramza's cuteness. But then again, most of the females in this story are. They're clearly not like me! Anyways, that battle at Bervenia kicked my butt all over the place and then kicked my face in as well. I decided to just gun for Meliadoul and to hell with stealing or whipping up on the other female soldiers. The rend ability in the hands of the enemy is so much more powerful than it is in your hands! I guess it wasn't a good idea having everyone on weak jobs for a story battle, hah. I keep thinking the AI will be dumber than it really is.

Then it was time to introduce the sexy "leading man," Balthier! His entrance FMV was super smooth, but I was really impressed by the animation of Ramza fighting the thugs. So pretty and elegant, if you can believe that. *cuddles Ramza some more*

And what can I say, Balthier certainly beats Mustadio on all counts of usefulness. Sorry, Mustadio! The battle was fairly easy and Ramza got to steal the 2 new items while Balthier blasted every enemy away into oblivion.

Poaching finally yielded a holy lance, which I use with much glee!!! But my behemoths are sterile and haven't breeded anymore, while my chocobos drop eggs every few days.