So I'm essentially in the "endgame" of Final Fantasy 14, with three jobs leveled up to 80 (Red Mage, Samurai, and Machinist, if you're curious) and am mostly jut killing time until the next expansion, Endwalker, drops. Thought I'd share a few random things.

Frist off, one of my two favorite raid series is the Weapon series, with a badass theme song and modern takes on the classic Weapons from Final Fantasy 7:

Great battle theme, and Ruby Weapon has my favorite redesign out of the Weapons.

Another random thing I was thinking about is what job classes the Lunaverse Six would have in this MMO universe? There's some pretty easy one to one comparisons, while others I had to kind of bend my thinking a little. Easy ones first:

Raindrops = Pugilist/Monk: Pretty straightforward, Raindrops has always been our punchy/kicky gal, and that's exactly what the Pugilist is, which eventually upgrades to Monk at lvl 30. Not much else to say here, although I did consider Warrior as a possible job as well, because the Pugilist/Monk is a very agile, fast moving job, and Raindrops has always been sort of a slower pegasus, so perhaps she'd drop the punching and pick up an axe? But no, I figured it more likely she'd just be a lower paced Pugilist/Monk.

Cheerilee = Rogue/Ninja: Much like Raindrops this one was easy, as Cheerilee is more or less defined now as a rogue and there's a job class that is directly named that. Granted it becomes Ninja at lvl 30, but honestly I don't see Cheerilee turning her nose up at learning some ninjutsu if she had to, and this is more a question of what job the gals would be in the universe of Hyadalen rather than what they are in Equestria directly. Finding the closest horseshoe that fits, as it were.

Lyra = Archer/Bard: A little more imagination required here, as oddly the "archer" class in FF14 eventually upgrades to "Bard" so it's really the only way for our Lyra to get her music on, pick up a bow and get shooting. I suppose in a weird way it makes sense since a lyre is bow shaped and has strings, and there's a few bows in the game that have a musical instrument look to them. Maybe that's what FF14's job designers thought when they were working out which class to turn Bard into? Either way, another easy choice also one that requires a little imagination to make work.

Carrot Top = Conjurer/White Mage: Okay now we start getting to the territory where one has to really bend one's thinking a bit to make it work. There is an "Alchemist" job in FF14, but it's a crafting job, so not really suitable to field work. Oh, Carrot Top would probably take both Alchemist and Botanist as crafting jobs, but for adventuring with her friends I think she'd be drawn to the Conjurer/White Mage combination because its a class that has very strong ties to the land and nature, the White Mage is essentially a druid in terms of lore, and Carrot Top's generous nature I think would draw her towards the "healer" role in a universe where she could cast magic, which in Hyadalen she could. So this is a class choice more about fitting personality to the closest job that I think works, rather than trying to be direct one for one.

Ditzy Doo = Gladiator/Paladin: Err, so hear me out here, I know Ditzy Doo is our lovable mare of kindness and general non-violence, but that's exactly why I think she might get drawn to the class that let's her both heal and protect her friends most effectively. I'll admit this is the class choice I'm least certain of, and have considered alternatives such as Dancer, which is a ranged support job that uses chakrams to fight while buffing the party with dances. But whether it's my own personal bias or not I tend to view Ditzy as one who would grow into the role of a protector and beacon of virtue a Paladin generally represents. But definitely my least solid choice, but it's mostly for lack of any other solid alternatives.

And of course, the main mare for last...

Trixie Lulamoon = Arcanist/Summoner: Another choice that was really hard to work out, since there is no "illusionist" class in FF14. The closest thing to illusions in the game are the glamours players use to make their clothes look however they want. So in trying to work out what kind of caster Trixie would be, I tried to figure out first of all what she wasn't. She's not a healer by any stretch of the definition, so White Mage, Scholar, and Sage were right out. She's not a blaster by nature, by RDD's specific design no less, so Thamaturge/Black Mage doesn't work either. She's not a physical fighter, so the swordplay of Red Mage doesn't suit her. So by process of elimination that really left one route, the Arcanist, who can upgrade to Summoner. Now why do I think Summoner itself works? Well in considering Trixie's personality, if given the range of options of spellcasting classes to pursue in FF14, I think the one that'd appeal to her the most is the one that let's her keep from getting her hooves dirty the least. The class that let's her, rather than fight directly, summon powerful spirits and primals aspects to either smash her enemies, or fetch her something to drink. While it's not a replacement for her illusionist style, it is a class choice that suits her take-charge personality that likes to also avoid too much personal exertion, so the idea of Trixie not feeling like fighting so she summons freakin' Bahamut to smite some idiots somehow seems to suit Trixie just fine in my mind.

And so yeah, that's what I've been thinking about today, and thought I'd share. (I've been playing too much FF14 lately, if you can't tell)

Have good a Thanksgiving everyone. Be kind to everyone and don't be afraid to share your good fortune with everyone else. I, myself, am little bad at remembering to give to charities. So Thanksgiving is a good time to force myself to give. I hope everyone has a good time with their family today.

A merry and healthy Christmas to you all.

7620452

Yes, Merry Christmas to everyone.

7620452
7620552
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. Was quite nice on my end, with even a little snow.

7620913
Nothing but lots and lots of rain over here.

Been too quiet around here lately, but I suppose that's kind of understandable. Not much new going on for me these days, but Contest is slowly, slowly coming together for it's conclusion and I'm resolved to get it done relatively soon. Other than that, wondering what folks are excited for in 2022?

For me, its learning more about the return of the Bleach anime, which got a trailer a few months back.

No real secret I'm a pretty big Bleach fan, so this is something I'm looking forward to.

Over the course of four shifts at work, I packed up 205 40-pound bags of water softener tablets, ice melt or whatnot. My arms by the end were fucking wet noodles.

7632918
Yikes, sounds like a rough job. Worst I usually deal with is bad weather or rude truck drivers, but the actual work isn't too strenuous.

7633378
Due to some bad harassment by customers during the worst of the toilet paper shortages in April of 2020, I moved to the overnight shift at the Walmart I work at. I work in the SFS department, basically a miniature walmart.com where if our store has items for an online order, we get the stuff, bring it back to our corner of receiving, pack it up and put it onto a FedEx truck.

For some reason we got in a lot of orcers for that stuff, and the overnight shift is supposed to handle oversized/heavy items like that. So... yeah. Not fun. :p

7633395
Ah, a fellow night shift worker. *salutes* The Night shall last forever! Ahem, anyways, yeah sounds like that can get pretty physically involving, although at least it also sounds like a job where you don't have to deal with too much customer related stuff.

7633416
*Salutes back* I work 10 PM-7 AM. I have maybe the first hour where I have to deal with customers. Honestly overall it's pretty good.

7633420
10pm-6am over here, most of the time anyway. Depending on whether someone else has called out I might have to do 6pm-6am, or 10pm-10am, which is never fun, but ultimately doable as my job mostly entails just sitting in a security shack and taking care of the trucks that show up, which over the night there's almost none until the last hour where I might get twelve to fifteen to check in and off the site. Usually pretty easy unless I get an ornery truck driver who doesn't want to follow the rules, like no overnight parking.

Elden Ring is a stupidly pretty game. I'd say making the Dark Souls stile and aesthetic into a more open world style was a good move. Game plays pretty much like the the other Souls games, but with some added ease of traversal with the mount and more smooth fast travel. Combat is essentially the same, but that's mostly of a "ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of thing.

7651848
I'm excited to get around to Elden Ring, but right now I'm a bit too distracted by Legends Arceus. Even after that Horizon Forbidden West will probably be the next game to get my priority.

7652136
Horizon Forbidden West is next on my list, but it's going to take me awhile to chew through Elden Ring. Game is massive.

Anyone else remember that story where Rainbow Dash was just sort f flying around meeting new people and strange places?
This video gives me similar vibes:

7659791
I know of the story, but never read it.

7660283
That's fair, its probably somewhere in my favorites too, I really should check.

Hope everyone is doing OK!

7691059
I hope you're all doing well, too. :)

Will it be a good idea to make a Discord server for the Lunaverse?

7698618

It probably wouldn't hurt, but I'm not sure how much traffic it would get.

7699163
Yeah, it looks like it died since the last time I've visited the forums.

7698618

I won't mind being part of that Discord. Even though I've been quite, I'm still working on Lunaverse stories.

7699165
It feels that way. I still check in regularly, but don't usually find much to speak up about.

So, uh. Hey, all.
Been a while.

Back in July, my old laptop finally caught an advanced case of Not Working At All.
More irritating because I was in the middle of stuff. Actual writing stuff! Several thousand words into a chapter, and I was defs going to make more headway on it any day now!
Damn procrastination... (I do want to finish that fic. Really. And some time this decade would be nice. Just getting the writing out, you know?)
Urgh.

Hope everyone else is doing alright.
Or as alright as circumstances allow.

7724397
My laptop has been struggling with that off and on for the past year. Gonna be finally getting a new one this weekend.

BBC - Home

The Queen is dead, long live the King.

Well after over a year, I finally got the next chapter of Contest of Champions finished and posted. it's technically the last normal chapter, with the only one remaining being the epilogue that'll wrap up the last of the plot and character stuff now that the action is finished. Been forever and a day I've been working on this story, and it's a weird feeling to have it so very close to being completed, but I'm glad I've stuck with it.

7737429

Good work. I'm glad some people are still continuing Lunaverse stories. Though, I have a question. Why release chapters over 30,000 words long? That's almost half the length of a normal novel. It sounds like a nightmare to manage and edit.

7739840
I suppose it's just sort of a habit I got into. When writing a chapter I tend to keep going until I feel like the story has a natural halting point. Every now and then this leads to chapters that get quite long because I end up feeling like there just isn't a good point to say "Yeah, I'll stop here for now". Although I'll admit that in the case of this chapter of Contest of Champions, I very much wanted to get through to the point where I'd only need to do the eiplouge after this one, so it neccesitated going the extra length to really finish what I wanted to finish before I could begin the wind down to a proper ending.

Been a bit since I checked in here. Hope anyone out there who sees this that you're doing well. Been on a Lord of the Rings kick myself this past month due to Rings of Power, rewatching all the films, giving the online game a try (which is free, so hey, no cost to me but time), and finally getting around to actually reading the books. Shockingly enough I've never read them before, so figured now was as good a time as any to fix that oversight in my personal fantasy nerdom. As for Rings of Power itself, given I was never that big a LoTR buff I'm a fair bit more chill about the show than the general feeling of the internet gives me concerning the show. It's got it's flaws, but its up points as well. A lot like the Wheel of Time show that came out now that long ago, really.

And next up on the fantasy series that are now inexplicibly TV shows, Willow will be coming out soon. I'm actually kind of interesting to see what they do with that one because far as I know this one isn't neccessarily based on any books, although I do know there was a book series about Willow that I never read.

7754298
I friggin loved Rings of Power and I NEED a six-inch Galadriel in her plate armor.

Also, last month Covid finally got me. It sucked. Massively.

7754668
Yikes, I'm sorry to hear that about the Covid. It's been way to easy for some people to forget that crap is still running around.

As for Rings of Power, I defintley feel it doesn't deserve the bad rap it's been getting from some folk. Granted I'm not a big Tolkien buff, so I can come at the show from a fairly lore light perspective, but I felt it was a pretty damn decent fantasy romp with some great imagry and good character momments. I aboslutely loved younger Elrond and his relastionship with Durin. The chemistry that pair had was so much fun I think I could watch a whole show just about those two hanging out and having adventures together.

7754700
Thanks. If you haven't gotten it yet, then I highly recommend you don't. ;)

As for Rings of Power, I'm a semi-heavy Tolkien fan, but I'm light on knowledge of that era. And even if I wasn't, I'd still enjoy the show. I prefer my adaptations to not stick too closely to source material. Different mediums alone dictate there's gotta be some changes.

And dear sweet Eru YES I loved Elrond and Durin!

7754701
I find I agree that when it comes to adaptions it's actually pretty impractical to try to do things one for one, especially when it comes to taking a long book series and putting it to visual medium. This was the case with the Wheel of Time show as well, where a number of changes were made from the frist book to the first tv season, but they were largely useful changes to keep the pacing moving or help characters have smoother arcs that otherwise would have taken multiple books or tv seasons to really get to.

In Rings of Power, I'll definitely say I prefer this younger Elrond to his depiction in the films. In his younger years during this show Elrond shows a great sense of humor, how to be a charming and smart diplomat, has a huge streak of honor in just how far he's willing to go for his friendship with Durin, while still having completely sensible conflict over how to best serve his own people in regards to the whole mithril issue. Durin is also just damn well written, stubborn as any dwarf can be but honorable and passionate about his people, and has a solid arc dealing with butting heads with his father over the mirthril and the elves. Seriously, Elrond and Durin made the show for me, even after taking into account I rather liked all the other stuff as well.

MLP related but I am honestly flabbergasted there's so few fics focused on Luna & Cadence's first meeting, or Celestia & Candance pre Luna's return. I know we eventually got a timeline for her origin but even then it feels like missed potential.

7754705
I prefer the show Elrond, but I can see why he became so bitter and tired in the movies. But yeah, show Elrond and Durin and Dissa are so good together!

7754788
Hmm, good points on both.

7754970
Thanks, glad I made sense there!

Idle aside I also HC Cadence was Celestia's back up plan for if her Twilight gambit failed, which Cadence was iffy on only cos she'd rathered have deal with the upcoming problem directly first and then try the Elements, IE she's much more direct than Celestia.

7754788
There is indeed a whole wealth of potential stories to delve into concerning Cadence and just how her relationship with Celestia and Luna operates. We pretty much only ever see Cadence largely in relation to her and Twilight's history and chemistry, with very little on Luna or Celestia's end of things. I mean, heck, there could be a whole story just about Cadence trying to cope with the responsibilities of getting the Crystal Empire up and running and I could imagine her needing to often turn to Celestia and Luna for advice on how to be a leader.

7754970
I could imagine that a few thousand years (or hower long it is) of dealing with the world collectively going to shit after Sauron's return, and especially seeing stuff like Ilsildur's betrayal of keeping the ring, would really embitter the guy and make him generally more dour and cynical. It's a real stark contrast to Elrond in the show, who practically bursts with optimistic idealism and a great sense of belief in the friendship between the races. Kind of puts the movie Elrond in a way more tragic light, knowing how much crap he must have gone through over the centuries.

7754977
Great, now I'm imagining Cadance. "Oh, for the love of it, Celestia! I got the fucking Crystal Empire and Sombra coming up, not to mention that hunk of a stallion Shining Armor! I'd prefer not to crack under the pressure, 'K? I dunno... hey, Twilight? You busy right now?"

7754983
Yeah. It's sad, but believable he'd turn so bitter and cynical. One of the drawbacks of immortality, there.

7754983
I'm so heartened to hear its not just me who thinks so, also very elegantly put there, and so true on the Twilight thing, it makes sense but it is a bit frustrating we see no real hint of her relationship with them. Weirdly I think I actually did see a story like that when looking, but due to my weird fixations on when I want such a story to be set I glossed over it, but that was also like 1 exception anyway XD
7754986
Hahahaha, not quite what I was thinking but very entertaining in of itself XD

My version was more along the lines of like, Twilight's about to leave for Ponyville and-

Twilight raced up to the pink Alicorn, Spike jostling on her back as she skidded to a halt, heaving, "P- Princess, I, I, you, I need-"

She stilled as the Alicorn to Twilight under her wing, sat her down on the cobblestone and said, "Breath with me Twilight, in and out. in and out... There you go, now what had my favorite filly so frantic?"

She summoned the ancient tome that had practically materialized in her library and thrust it into Cadence's face, "Its this prophecy I found Princess, your aunt doesn't seem to take me seriously but I'm really worried!"

Cadence stared at the book, shimmering eyes taking in the information before nodding slowly and returning it to Twilight and asking in that gentle, leading tone she must have picked up from her aunt.

"Twilight, how old would you say I am?"

Twilight arched her brow, "Well, the records on your arrival in Canterlot indicate at least four hundred years, but you were already a grown mare b that point and there's some records that suggest you predate that Celestial epoch so..."

Cadence nodded chuckling, "Most Ponies don't answer that but yes I am somewhat old, now tell me how old do you think my aunt is?"

Twilight rubbed her chin, "Well, she's at least fifteen hundred years old, but speculated to be at least three or four times that, maybe older still, why?"

"In our time and especially hers we have heard and seen no shortage of prophecies, some that came true, and some that didn't," She held up a hoof to quiet Twilight's protest. "I understand this is worrying you, but let me assure you, if my Aunt had any reason to believe there was a danger she'd have plans already in motion."

"I suppose..."

Cadence ruffled her hair, "You're a good Pony Twilight and an excellent student, I know my aunty appreciates your concern but right now the best thing you can do to help her is make sure this is the best Summer Solstice Festival possible, and to take her advice, OK?"

Twilight sighed and slipped the book back into her saddle bags, "All right, thanks Princess."

"Think nothing of it Twilight, now come along I've readied a hot air balloon for you."

It was only after Twilight had faded out of sight from the Canterlot skyline that Cadence turned her attention to the approaching ponies, leader of the Royal Guard, Chief Strategist and the Wonderbolts captain.

"You wanted to see us Princess?"

"I did, you have all read the report?"

"Yes Princess!"

"Good, my aunt already had her own plans in motion of that I am sure, but she has will not protest my organizing a fallback option, in fact I would venture she counts on it and will keep herself far from it to avoid them being compromised."

She wasn't surprised to see her aunties chief guard speak up, loyal as he was, "Princess if I may, shouldn't we place our faith in her majesty."

"I do place faith in my aunt, she is experienced and wise and I assuredly do not want any of these contingencies to go into effect, but it pays to be prepared no?"

"Yes Princess!"

"Very good, please accompany me to the royal combat hall where we shall speak at length."

As they set off, Cadence turned her attention to the palace, 'Auntie, your plans are intricate as they are subtle, and I truly hope they work, because mine will be vastly more direct and terribly messy.'

Cadence was the princess of love, and one thing many forgot about that emotion was just how destructive its wielder could be when protecting what they adored, but if they were all unlucky, Nightmare Moon would see exactly how deeply and fiercely Cadence loved her family, her friends and her home.

7754997
That's a good one, too. Admittedly I'm kinda on this, "Good lord I am DONE with this bullshit," kick lately. Not sure why, just needing some humor I guess. :p

7755000
Thanks and totally fair given the state of the world, I am on lots of kicks at all times so who knows what I will write.

In this one's context, its basically, "Celestia has been at this so long she has achieved an almost Zen like state of chill and prefers to make her enemies defeat themselves or to at least operate with surgical precision." In contrast "Cadence has been at this exactly long enough to have almost zero chill and who likes to solve problems with a direct application of lasers, be they shields or explosions."

Broadly speaking I imagine the actual "Cadence back up plan" is Cadence breaking Celestia out of her prison and they double team NMM, or if that doesn't work her trying to assassinate NMM during a moment of vulnerability.

I've also been watching a LOT of wrestling review videos.

I'm still around. Actually, these forums are set as the homepage on my browser, so I'm pretty much always lurking about keeping tabs on whatever gets posted. Haven't got much writing done lately, understatement, but I do keep Trixie and company on my mind in other ways ever since I discovered HeroForge.

I've also been keeping up with the latest MLP G5 stuff. The Tell Your Tale micro series on YouTube in particular has actually been surprisingly charming, despite the limitations of its shorts format. The full length Make Your Mark series on Netflix has been a bit more hit or miss, but I think it's been steadily improving as it goes along.

Other than that I've also been watching Star Trek: Lower Decks and all of the new Marvel streaming shows.

7754668
Aww... so sorry to hear that. Glad you seem to have pulled through and hope you aren't suffering too many lasting effects. I know for some people it can really drag out.

Oh, and as for the subject of adaptational changes in general and Rings of Power specifically, while I haven't actually watched it myself, it's probably for the best that they are more or less making up their own prequel. Even if they had the right to do a direct adaptation of Tolkien's Silmarilion, it was really only ever meant as backstory notes and so doesn't hold up all that well as an independent story of its own.

7754788
I've actually got a half-written fic buried somewhere on my harddrive that was my own take on what Cadance and Celestia's first meeting could have been like and went on to explore some of the ways immortality can alter a person's perspective.

Cadance: "It was strange when I went back to visit [insert town name], none of the ponies I met before were there to greet me."
Celestia: "Cadance, you do realize it's been fifty years since your last visit?"

Maybe I should brush off the dust and see if I can finish it up.

Weird aside, does anyone remember a fic where after Discord Celestia and Twilight were returning the Elements to their spot only to find out Discord cursed it and it seemingly trapped Celestia. Twilight blacks out and when she wakes up a chunk of the capital is a fiery wasteland and she has to go in to find Celestia and is attacked by some big ass chimera which is driven off by a strange Alicorn about Luna's size. This Alicorn has a white coat and ethereal green hair and an archaic manner of speaking, and strangest of all, she calls herself Celestia.

Basically, Discord seemed to either forcibly swap Celestia and a chunk of the land with a past version of herself or rewind her clock so she was who she was back then, a much more intense warrior queen.
7755321
Huzzah its not just me who finds the premise interesting XD and also ooh that is a nice exchange there, I do love immortals and love lived species perceiving time differently and actually having to adjust to it is a neat thing to play with, I like the exchange!

7755355
Yeah, although I think an immortal perspective is mostly a matter of scale. I'd wager many of us on this forum are old enough to have been gob-smacked when we attend family reunion and find out some younger relative, we swear should still only be five years old, is in fact actually getting ready to graduate high school.

7755406
True, true, I hear that's a reasons "Look how much you've grown" is such a common rejoinder.

7755005
While I've never been much into wrestling, a friend of mine showed me this video once and I found it rather fascinating.

7755321
I really do like those Heroforge figure designs, and Ditzy is definitely my favorite of the bunch.

----------
Random aside, but today me and my nephew went to go see Dragonball Super: Super Hero in theaters, and damn was it good! I mean, granted it's the kind of film that would probably only really appeal to Dragonball fans to begin with, but for being a theatrical release for such a series, it really hit all the right spots for me.