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Yuletide 2017
Oct. 13th, 2017 03:28 pmI signed up for Yuletide this year because I'd like to write outside my comfort zone of themes and tropes, and it's been my experience that people provide lengthy and well-considered prompts for the exchange. I ended up being assigned to someone who suggested an intriguing idea, but... I'm not sure I'm actually qualified to write it?
She requested a missing scene from an event that occurs late on the third disc of Final Fantasy IX; and, as much as I love that game, and as much as I love reading fic and dōjinshi about that game, I realized that I haven't actually played it all the way to the end since 2010. I mean, the Final Fantasy fan wiki contains extremely detailed information, and I can always watch the sequence on YouTube, but I'm still feeling a bit in over my head.
Given the two months between now and the December 18 deadline, I'm sure I can write at least a thousand words of something, and I think it will probably be okay if my story is faithful to the spirit of the prompt, even if someone else who's more familiar with the game might have been better able to cater to the specifications. I'm also considering drawing fan art to go along with my fic to help make up for the fact that it's probably going to be on the shorter side. I really want to give a meaningful gift that will make the person happy, you know?
Thankfully, a slightly updated version of Final Fantasy IX was just released for PS4 last month, so I went ahead and spent the $20 to download it. Last night I played for about an hour, and it was painful. It's distressing to say this, especially since the game was remarkably beautiful for its time, but it has not aged well. The blurred pixelation of the environments is intense, and it feels even more extreme when contrasted against the sharpened character models. There are some neat shortcuts built right into the options menu (such as the option to max out your party's Gil and Skill Points whenever you'd like), but I don't think this makes the game any more enjoyable to play, especially since it wasn't grind-oriented to begin with. Also, I know it's sacrilegious to say this, but I've grown so used to ambient and environmental sound design that Nobuo Uematsu's score of catchy one-minute song loops is kind of annoying me.
I seem to recall that the game becomes more interesting after your party leaves Alexandria. I also remember how much I love Vivi, and I'm starting to get some ideas on how I can write Garnet as less of "a princess who wants to be free" and more of an actual human being.
She requested a missing scene from an event that occurs late on the third disc of Final Fantasy IX; and, as much as I love that game, and as much as I love reading fic and dōjinshi about that game, I realized that I haven't actually played it all the way to the end since 2010. I mean, the Final Fantasy fan wiki contains extremely detailed information, and I can always watch the sequence on YouTube, but I'm still feeling a bit in over my head.
Given the two months between now and the December 18 deadline, I'm sure I can write at least a thousand words of something, and I think it will probably be okay if my story is faithful to the spirit of the prompt, even if someone else who's more familiar with the game might have been better able to cater to the specifications. I'm also considering drawing fan art to go along with my fic to help make up for the fact that it's probably going to be on the shorter side. I really want to give a meaningful gift that will make the person happy, you know?
Thankfully, a slightly updated version of Final Fantasy IX was just released for PS4 last month, so I went ahead and spent the $20 to download it. Last night I played for about an hour, and it was painful. It's distressing to say this, especially since the game was remarkably beautiful for its time, but it has not aged well. The blurred pixelation of the environments is intense, and it feels even more extreme when contrasted against the sharpened character models. There are some neat shortcuts built right into the options menu (such as the option to max out your party's Gil and Skill Points whenever you'd like), but I don't think this makes the game any more enjoyable to play, especially since it wasn't grind-oriented to begin with. Also, I know it's sacrilegious to say this, but I've grown so used to ambient and environmental sound design that Nobuo Uematsu's score of catchy one-minute song loops is kind of annoying me.
I seem to recall that the game becomes more interesting after your party leaves Alexandria. I also remember how much I love Vivi, and I'm starting to get some ideas on how I can write Garnet as less of "a princess who wants to be free" and more of an actual human being.
