Endeavor's Reward

"This wretched world does not reward endeavor. It is the patron and his troupe who are receipt - maggots grown fat on endeavor's corse." Wherein the Author, much in the manner of the work in question's Central Character, attempts a rhetorical dialogue with regards to the process of first explicating, then adapting, a notable significant work from one medium to another, with the understanding that said work is done not in pursuit of profit, but rather in accordance with a personal search for meaning - thereby analogizing the author's process for the text itself and its historiography.

[mishiechua]

Knight and Queen

[raymodule]

Ramza Beoulve

[adalheidis]

You’re just an empty cage if you kill the bird

[wind-caller2]

Canopus,the Wind-caller

[ipsens-castle]

"I still haven't said everything I want to him, and I haven't heard his truth!"

God this hit me like a fucking train. Vaan's mental image of Basch, the man he blames for his brother's death, does not match the reality of the emaciated man who has nothing and would still sacrifice himself to help others escape.

While I do think selflessness is Vaan's norm (and foreshadowing in this instance), it's the need for closure that drives him to help Basch - the kicker being the hypocrisy of denouncing self-sacrifice among Dalmascan soldiers, which also suggests that perhaps he's struggled with hating Reks for having left.

[ipsens-castle]

This entire page is so cute

[endeavorsreward]

“He’s not my apprentice.”

[ipsens-castle]

Vaan compares Nalbina prison to the state of Rabanstre under Archadian rule, and asserts that his youth is not a weakness as claimed by the other prisoner, but rather a strength - he hasn't grown complacent about fighting against the Empire in the way the other prisoner has acquiesced to death by a corrupt prison system. Behind adulthood trails disillusionment, sure, but we later find out that the prisoner was a soldier there at Nalbina, where the war started and ended, bookended by two significant deaths.

Interestingly, Vaan describes losing the stone (the Dusk Shard, unbeknownst to him) as "opening up a black hole." The stone is a tether between his past (his brother) and his future (becoming a sky pirate). His small rebellion of stealing back from the Empire, holding that stone so close to a heart of resentment, is likely what gets him noticed by the Occuria - the perceived power he thinks he lost here at Nalbina prison is indeed a black hole.

[endeavorsreward]

The FFXII manga is:

Good

[ethernalium]

FF12’s Concept art and Happy anniversary FINAL FANTASY XII!

[ipsens-castle]

YES Ba'Gamnan drag them

[endeavorsreward]

Oh, THERE’S the Nabradian Lancer from the raid!

[ipsens-castle]

Balthier in FFXII (game): Clever, handsome, fresh to death, effortlessly charming, young man who ran away from home due to family issues

Balthier in FFXII (manga): Clever, stupid as hell, looks and acts his age, boy who seeks attention from multiple women bc he's insecure af

[endeavorsreward]

Both true tho

[ipsens-castle]

This is heartbreaking. Basch explains to Reks that he abandoned his brother and sickly mother because he couldn't bear living under the Empire's rule after the destruction and annexation of Landis.

And then, immediately after Noah confronts Basch and kills the king, Reks unknowingly drops a bomb on him:

[ipsens-castle]

And now, two years later, Noah has developed qualms about killing children. Interesting.

The way Vayne responds to Noah's gentle protest makes it clear that he recognizes his change and his display of contrition, and he'd kill a child just to fuck with him. To double down on manipulation, he sprinkles in some mental abuse. Vayne is phenomenally toxic to Noah.

[corpsebrigadier-deactivated2025]

Ruvelia and Orinas Atkascha

[endeavorsreward]

I have a lot of feelings about Louveria...

[camelpimp]

I’m gonna hate this in the morning but have a Meliadoul

[wind-caller]

Argath Thadalfus　2021.2.21

[corpsebrigadier-deactivated2025]

The High Seraph

[endeavorsreward]

Save her, Alma. Save them all.

[ipsens-castle]

There's something so... romantic about Lea Monde, the way abilities flower in its inhabitants as manifestations of their greatest strengths. Ashley's morally just and empathetic heart touches the wavelengths of others, he's the perfect candidate to bear the burden of thousands of lost souls - he links with Samantha because she's the only one in her group who mourns their losses. Merlose is a psychologist by profession, and a Heart-Seer by nature - the Dark is just the ink that pens the way she "reads" people. Hardin scrying on distant places is an emphasis on tactical and military know-how, and Sydney... Sydney himself is a wellspring of baggage that he sheds in the form of fiends; a charismatic figure who "compels" friend and enemy alike - and that ability is so often questioned that it paints all others as metaphor too.

And just as with any great character in any great text, they are each immortalized.

[endeavorsreward]

This is a really succinct and well-written piece about how plot and mechanics in Vagrant Story were informed by character. I actually think there’s more to say about the powers gifted by Lea Monde in the context of greater Ivalice, in which some receive “The Gift” - but it’s not worth distracting from the point my good friend has made here.

[ipsens-castle]

This is heartbreaking. Basch explains to Reks that he abandoned his brother and sickly mother because he couldn't bear living under the Empire's rule after the destruction and annexation of Landis.

And then, immediately after Noah confronts Basch and kills the king, Reks unknowingly drops a bomb on him: