- When she talks to me. She has the cutest squeak, and it's funny to feel like you're having a conversation with your cat
- When she plays and makes crazy jumps
- Yesterday she was clingy af (probs bc I abandoned her for a few days). So her usual ritual of sitting on my chest when I go to bed was even more extreme (she was on my throat lol). Picture under cut below.
- Speaking of which, waking up in the middle of the night and finding her at your side. Okay it's not the most comfy because then you don't dare move, but... soft...
- She hasn't done it in a while, but I love when she responds to the dishwasher beeping after the end of a cycle. Silly cat.
- She soft. Not really a moment but. As much as her shedding is annoying, after spending a week with my brother's cat, Missy's fluffy fluff is truly the best to touch. Sorry Charlou.
- A Milla moment: her absolute stubbornness about claiming the co-sleeper to herself lmao I can't wait to see how she reacts to the baby
- Back to Missy, it hasn't happened under my eyes for a while either, but twitching and fluffing her tail in her sleep. So funny.
The thing is, Xillia being rushed hurt a ton about the game and I feel like the development of Jude/Milla is one of the casualties. You say that Jude is the supporting protagonist, but the game doesn't really position him that way. Jude's story feels far more complete than Milla's (Milla's chapter 4 was such a disappointment). And others have shown that even during Milla's story, the camera focuses on Jude's perspective. I like those two, and they deserved better. Jude's side got more attention.
I agree that the end of Xillia was rushed, and that’s a real shame, especially for the Elympios plotline, but I don’t think Jude and Milla’s relationship was really hurt by that?
Because from my perspective, most of the development of their relationship happens through the first three arcs, and what’s left in the last arc is the culmination of all that, the quiet acknowledgement of each other’s feelings and acceptance that they’ll soon have to go their own way. There’s nothing left to develop by that point.
I’d also argue that Jude’s side isn’t necessarily more “complete” than Milla’s. Did it get more attention? Maybe, who knows. It does seem like a lot more goes on on Jude’s side during the big split after the Zenethra, and tbh it’s true that there are more boss fights and the like, but Milla’s side of her reincarnation are no less important, especially if you bother to explore all that can be explored in the spirit realm - it may not be as dramatic and action-packed as Jude’s side, but it’s a goldmine of worldbuilding. There’s important things to be gained from both segments, and none is truly complete without the other.
And aside from those segments, Milla’s side is littered with little scenes providing insight, development and worldbuilding all throughout the game. It’s obvious a lot of care has been given to her side of the game as well. Maybe not in an obvious flashy way, but it’s there if you pay attention.
The camera thing, I think I remember those posts, but I’ve always found them kinda ridiculous, because those very scenes often showed the camera focus on Milla’s perspective as well. Most scenes alternate perspectives–Milla’s, Jude’s, third person… And that’s true on both sides.
Now why do I consider Jude the supporting protagonist for most of the game, and how does the game position it? Well, think for a second. The last arc aside, it was always Milla who drove the plot. The party went where she decided to go, did what she decided to do, and while Jude or other party members often provided suggestions, ultimately it was her quest, her decisions, and it was always framed that way, no matter the side. That was the big thing about Milla: how she inspired others, how they wanted to follow her and support her. Even when she became incapacitated and Jude wanted to take her to his dad, ultimately it was her decision whether to proceed (of course in her circumstances it was the best solution, but she could have refused, and there’s nothing Jude could have done about it aside from either choosing to support her no matter what or to part ways there and then.) The plot wouldn’t move without her, and that’s something that is well illustrated when it takes her literally dying for the party to actually have to decide for themselves what they are going to do about their journey.
This dynamic changes in the last arc, because that’s the point of Jude’s character arc: to grow from a “follower” to someone who makes his own decisions and chooses his own path in life. And it’s true that Milla seems to take a step back there, but that’s because she has already reached her own conclusion and wants Jude to reach his without her interference. We see, especially on her side, that she’s made her decision and is just waiting for Jude to find his path. Which he does shortly after. When all’s said and done, they end the story as equals.
Hello it's me again. I'm from Germany. If my messages are a bit incomprehensible, I'm sorry. I only know the rough overview of the chronicles. Which would you recommend? I know there is a story about Alvin and Presa. Also with him and Elize. And one in which he talks to Yurgen. And something about his past, at the time with Gilland...Rough summaries would also help me. I am searching for more information about Alvin. And those are mostly only available in Japanese. Thank you very much :)
So I’m finally awake enough to answer your message. Sorry for the wait ^^;
Anyway, Alvin Chronicle is divided in three parts:
The first part is short and is mostly him recounting the events of his first encounter with Jude and Milla.
The second part (ch.2-3) is him telling Yurgen about what he was doing after the Hamil scene. Basically he was picked up by Presa and Agria, who were tracking Muzét in the region. They nursed him back to health and told him to think about what he wanted to do, basically. There was a lot of moping around and Agria getting angry at him, and eventually he decided to join them. They received a message from Wingul about stopping Jude from reaching the Nia Khera Hallowmont, so he accompanied them there, but in the end, as you know from the game, he chose the party’s side after all, and Presa and Agria fell to their death.
The last part (ch.4-6) has him visiting Elize in Sharilton and telling her a story about his childhood. At the time, he was working for Exodus’ intelligence division and was spying on various people for Gilland. He had a sorta friend his age (they were about 14) in the combat division, and they worked together on some missions. One of these missions was the infiltration of Tavis Manor, as described in this translated excerpt.After that, they have a mission where some Exodus members are hired as mercenaries by a clan opposing Gaius (who was still in the middle of his conquest of Auj Oule here). Unfortunately someone leaked their plan to Gaius, so they get ambushed instead and Alvin nearly dies, but is spared by Gaius. His friend Zeljko disappears. Excerpt here.He returns to the Zenethra but is accused of treason by Gilland and locked up. Zeljko shows up and frees him, and takes him to Gilbert, who was the previous leader of Exodus. A few years earlier, Alvin leaked Gilbert’s romantic affair with a Rieze Maxian to Gilland, who used the scandal to oust him and secure his place as leader of Exodus. Gilbert didn’t like what Gilland had turned the organization into, so he was planning a coup, and thought Alvin would help him.Unfortunately for them, Alvin was on Gilland’s side the whole time, and only went along with Zeljko to trap them. Gilland showed up, they fought, and both Gilbert and Zeljko were killed.After that he met his mother and realized how badly her mental health had declined, and he moved her to Xian Du, away from Gilland’s grasp.
You can read about Alvin’s story in a bit more details in his biography post, if you haven’t already.
So I've heard a lot of opinions on it, but do you think it's true Rose was forced into the story very late into game production? It's not just Rose (I dont like how her role was executed but I do like her), it feels like Zestiria was a game they had a lot of ideas about but there was never balance on how to achieve it. Not hating on it but it's something I noticed how the story had trouble w/the development of characters (I'm still bummed about Edna's being a SQ) and it's mythology/world -
- building confused me. What defines a pure heart to become a Shepherd? Why a squire can't become stronger through trials too (why Alishia didn't question becoming Rose's squire after what happened w/Sorey idk)? Was any of this explained in other sources? Zestiria did have interesting ideas and I am curious if they ever talked about the process of things.
So to preface it’s been A WHILE and I don’t have my Zestiria guidebooks with me anymore, so I’m mostly going from memory. Take what I say with a grain of salt, and if I’m wrong don’t hesitate to come and yell in my inbox.
So, to answer your questions:
Was Rose forced late into the game? *shrug* Who knows? I guess I can see the reasoning for people to think that, but I don’t think there’s any concrete proof either? I think that, as you said, there were a lot of ideas and not always good implementation. They definitely tried a new approach to storytelling--I think I remember something about letting the characters do what made sense for them, even when it didn’t work well from a gameplay perspective (ex. Alisha leaving the party).
For the more specific worldbuilding stuff, as I said I’m kind of out of touch with Zestiria’s world, so there’s probably other people better qualified to answer that. Is there anyone in my followers who can chime in?
Where do you watch The Untamed? I love the pictures and gif sets you've been reblogging, and I want to check it out for myself!
PLEASE DO, IT’S AN AWESOME SHOW! :D
It’s on Netflix in some countries, but if it’s not in yours there’s also the official Youtube channel, and I think it’s also on Viki?
Just a short warning for first time viewers:
Some characters have many names; it can take time getting used to it
The first two eps are kinda confusing because they basically start in the middle of the story, before we get a 30-ep-long flashback showing all the events that led up to the current situation. So don’t panic if you don’t get everything that’s happening at first, it’s intentional, and it’ll all make sense later ;)
No offense to those games, but I'm still having a hard time believing whoever wrote Xillia 2 and Zestiria also wrote Berseria (3rd times a charm I guess). Maybe those two former games had a lot ofor meddling (Xillia 2's unused ideas seemed better then the result in my opinion). I hope Berseria does get some kind of interview/book on it. I'd love to here their thoughts on the story or any alternative/unused ideas that didn't make it into the game.
Berseria was definitely much better, but you can still sometimes see the writer’s touches imo (esp with the ending). Guess how it turns out also depends on the direction and other writers.
Sadly, after the Zestiria fiasco, it seems that they’ve stopped giving interviews detailing the creative process, which is a real shame if you ask me.
Could I request a broad summary of the Summer 2014 Drama CD, the “Bring Me to a Fractured Dimension” section?
This one is pure crack XD
So it starts with Ivar asking Rideaux to take him to fractured dimensions (it seems all the tasks Rideaux gives him are cleaning stuff and distributing tissues), but Rideaux’s like nope, and Ivar tries to charm him “Don’t say that, boss! Lord Rideaux! Kyaa~ Rideaux’s the coolest!” (IVAR PLS) but sadly for him it doesn’t work. Rideaux torments him a bit and taunts him to beg Jude to take him along with Ludger.
So Ivar plots to get Ludger to take him along (bc no way he’s gonna beg Jude lol) while he’s distributing the tissues, but he runs into Jude and the others, who ask him to come help them buy groceries. But then Ludger has to go to a fractured dimension, and Gaius suggests Ivar goes along since he seems interested (and volunteers to do tissue distribution in his place XD).
So Ivar’s in the party along with Jude, Leia, Muzét and Alvin. Except he got sick from the trip to the FD, so they talk a bit about the feeling of entering fractured dimensions and about transportation sickness (Ivar’s totally fine on wyverns, but not on trains – Alvin remarks it should be the other way round). Anyway Ivar is super excited and immediately demands to go to Spirius to check if he’s still Rideaux’s henchman in this dimension (forget about looking for catalysts, this is totes more important lol). Since he runs off at the speed of light, the party has no choice but to follow him.
When he arrives at Spirius HQ, there’s a bunch of girls who gather around him to offer him stuff (Ivar fangirls XD). Suddenly fractured Ivar appears from the sky. Prime Ivar manages to fool the girls by claiming he’s come here to meet his long-lost twin brother. Fractured Ivar is super friendly toward Jude and calls Leia “Miss Leia” (in English) and totes believe the story about his long-lost brother and is all happy and calls him “kyoudai” (”sibling/brother”).
F. Ivar invites them to the CEO office – yep, you heard that right. He’s the Spirius CEO in this dimension. (P. Ivar is all pumped up cuz if he can become CEO in a fractured dimension, there’s no way he can’t do that in the prime! No more getting bossed around by Rideaux! yay!) Anyway it’s quite likely the catalyst is in the Spirius building considering the difference, so they agree to follow him.
So, F. Ivar’s backstory goes: in this dimension, Milla-sama accomplished her duty and left this world. So he became the head of DODA to hear about how Milla-sama was doing in other dimensions. He’s got a whole notebook of notes about various fractured Milla-sama, which he hides in a jar that suddenly gives off catalyst vibes. So they ask him about the jar. It’s his treasure, a super-rare good luck item. He found it in Duval, and it cost 20,000,000 gald (”I’ve heard that sum somewhere…” –Ludger). Paying back the loan was hard, but thanks to that he learned the joy of working hard every day, and by the time he paid it back he’d become CEO of the company. Now CEO of Spirius, F. Ivar decided not to look for waymarkers, but instead find a way to safely come back from fractured dimensions without destroying them. But such a method doesn’t exist. So he limited the DODA’s scope because he doesn’t want dimensions where Milla-sama lives to be destroyed.
After he explains that, Julius comes in to remind him of a meeting. He sees Ludger (and mistakes him for F. Ludger ofc) and F. Ivar explains how they found his long-lost brother. Julius is just like “…” though, and the party realize he’s probably figured out who they really were. But Julius leaves for a bit.
There isn’t much time left before his meeting, so as a thanks for finding his brother, F. Ivar rewards Ludger with a promotion (in this dimension he basically had the same job as P. Ivar), Leia with an exclusive interview, Jude and Alvin with coupons for the Spirius coffee shop, and P. Ivar with… the super-lucky jar! Because he wants good things to happen to him (d’aww).
Ludger’s a bit reluctant to have to destroy it because wouldn’t it bring them misfortune to destroy such a lucky item. Julius appears and confirms he totes figured them out and he guesses the jar is the catalyst. Ludger apologizes (for having come to destroy his world), but Julius says it’s all right, plus he’d had a feeling this world was fractured when a guy without chromatus ability became CEO of Spirius. Julius just asks them to wait an hour to destroy it bc his Ludger promised to make him tomato sauce pasta, and he tells P. Ludger to be well (;_;)
So one hour later, they’re ready to destroy the thing. Leia comments they’re lucky it’s the jar, because she doesn’t know what they would have done if that dimension’s Ivar had been the catalyst (since, you know, he’s the CEO, so he’s super different from the prime dimension; Ivar comments that it must mean it’s not that impossible then). Anyway Ivar gets renewed resolve to do his job well.
When they come back to the prime, Ivar gets sick again, Gaius has finished distributing tissues (and found the experience interesting), they explain what happened to the rest of the party, and Ivar sets off to find a similar jar. Also I’m pretty sure there’s an Ace Attorney joke here but I’d have to check.
The end.
btw the name P. Ivar gave when asked was… “Ivar.” Pronounced the English way. Yes.
Edit: Yep, pretty sure that’s an Ace Attorney joke.
The jar is called the “Clan [kuran] Jar” (Spirius in Japanese is “Clanspear”). When Ivar declares he’s gonna look for the jar, Leia remarks that it must not exist in the prime dimension, but Rowen says “Well I don’t know about a “kuran” jar, but I know of a “kuren” one. It’s in the Sharil manor.” Ivar immediately sets off for Sharilton, while Rowen explains to the rest of the party that it was Cline’s [”kurein” in Japanese] first pottery creation, but that it broke and when it was reassembled the letters of his name got messed up (so it read “kuren” instead of “kurein”).
Now in Ace Attorney, there’s an incident in Kurain village where a sacred urn was broken and the name written on it got messed up when the pieces were put back together.
Okay so, related to the last question sort of, but...
And btw Gaius must have had enough trust in Wingul pretty early to engage him as right arm, despite the risk of getting killed for revenge lol
I know right?! Gaius be more careful pls xD
Tho that’s just how he is. Look how he kept trying to get the party to see his pov all through the game. When he sees someone’s potential, he just needs them by his side XD
