ysavvryl

 Hello, hope you have a bright and happy Yuletide season!  This year, I've requested some cult classics among video games; I hope you find some fun nostalgia or discovery with them.  I'll recommend some videos for the games, since I know they're A) rare and old, B) stupid expensive, C) Nintendo Hard, or D) any combination of the previous.  But if you can play them, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. 

In general, my likes in stories are worldbuilding, fantasy and/or softer ranges of sci-fi, friendship, humor, overcoming difficulties, video game meta (especially in combination with worldbuilding), and adventures.  I like AUs that don't majorly alter the world; mundane AUs for a magical setting aren't interesting to me.  I also follow speedrunners and glitch hunters, so if you find inspiration in their techniques and methods, that would be a fun story too.  I'm neutral about romance and none of my requests this year have any that I'm interested in.

My Do Not Wants are M and E rated stories as these are all kid heroes and I'd rather not see them in those situations.  The exception is Majora's Mask due to the impending apocalyptic nature of the plot.  Horror is fine as long as it has some hope at the end.


40 Winks
Any (Nitekap, Threadbear, Ruff, Tumble)

I love how this game is so much like a playable kid's cartoon, from the over-the-top villains to fun transformations.  I'd love to see more of Nitekap and Threadbear.  They're kind of like an evil Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh if you think about it, as Nitekap's 'brilliant scheme' is a plan that a kid might come up with and Threadbear is maybe not the brightest bear around but he cares about his friend and is loyal to him.  Maybe more of their sleep-deprived schemes or perhaps seeing what Nitekap does when he actually gets a good night's sleep.  Is he a mad scientist, a mad magician, or both?

The kids would be fun to see on more adventures, or an exploration of what letting the Hoodwinks run amok in dreams does to people when they're awake.  This would also be a fun crossover with Little Nemo too.

Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wha3vOJHmQM  This is a no-damage run with no commentary, so it's a good reference for the cutscenes (plus they talk to all the Winks!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWg3fJ3sKGk  This one has commentary, but I had a lot of trouble finding a video that used Tumble instead of Ruff; this one can be used to see her in action.


Little Nemo: The Dream Master
Any (Nemo, Nemo's Mother, Princess Camille)

I played this game a ton as a kid and teen, so it's nostalgic for me.  I love how Nemo's mother has comments between levels; I think it'd be fun to see her and Nemo talk about his dream adventures, especially if she takes him seriously or comes to believe that his dreams are real to some extent.  The 'it's all just a dream' excuse often bugs me and it's no different here.  Why not have the dreams affect something in reality, even if just to give some confidence to the dreamer?  I think it'd also be fun to have a gender swap AU with Nemo and Camille, or maybe a dream adventure for both of them.  I also like how you befriend the animals with candy.  What might other animal friends offer, like a cat, a snake, a bat, or a squirrel?

I'd also be delighted to see a crossover between this game and 40 Winks.  They've got similar plots, of kids fighting off nightmares in a dreamworld.  This game takes place in 1909 and 40 Winks was released in 1999, so maybe Grandpa Nemo has some advice for Ruff and Tumble.   It could also lead to a fun 'you looked like a kid in the dream!' scenario (because a-kid-at-heart is a better trope than just-a-dream <3).

Videos: There's quite a few full game videos for this one out there.  If you don't mind off-topic commentary, here's a video with some players going in blind to demonstrate how difficult the game is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8R-RNACzjc  It's the second game played.


Tomba!
Any (Worldbuilding, Tomba, Mizuno, 10,000-Year-Old-Man)

I've only played the first game, but I've seen the second and it seems awesome in its own right.  This is such a colorful, funny, and crazy world and I'd love to see all sorts of worldbuilding about its oddities, like the strange physics defying paths, the magic of the Koma Pigs, the powers of fashion (of course the pants that make you fastest are red), the wine of Bacchus Lake water, flying dogs, the city/castle of Civilization, and more.  If you're more interested in something character focused, I nominated some of my favorites, like the cute witch who specializes in magical candies and the tsundere old man who keeps a lot of pet fish.

As a note for Tomba himself, I prefer the backstory in the first game over the additions the second game made.  I love the idea of a wild boy who never had any contact with civilization heading off into more inhabited areas to unwittingly become a hero.  Of course, that makes the city/castle of Civilization extra alien to him, which makes it a pity that the area was barely visited.

Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx5nyhxaIqc  This is an in-depth walkthrough of the first game with lots of commentary (and the user as a similar video for the second game).  There's a number of non-commentary videos for both games too; an all events one would be good for reference.


Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Cremia, Romani

I adore Romani; she's so eager to defend her farm against aliens, armed with just a bow and a friendly dog.  It'd be fun to see her be badass adorable in action.  Maybe when she's older, she goes off on her own adventures but will come back home to help out her sister and tell her all about the places she's been.  Cremia's great too, doing her best as a big sister promoted to being a parent and running a farm.  Though it would be nice to see her find her own happiness too.

This was a whim addition, so I haven't looked up video references yet.


Happy writing! :)

 Hello dear writer, I hope you have fun with this!  I thought I'd elaborate a bit more on my requests here, plus talk about some spoilery things that might apply.  Most of my requests were made with the OR matching in mind, so I'd be happy with any character I request.  Others were done with the intent to leave relationships up to interpretation, including if there's no relationship in the story itself.

Some things I enjoy in general are world-building, character development, meta or cultural explanations of game mechanics, friendships, humor (including puns), attention to detail, cooking, and cats.  I tend to prefer lighter and fluffier things for reading, but dark fics with some hope are fine too.  I have very few ships that I follow and am not interested in smut, though mild romance is fine.  Or if there's something funny or heart-warming to it, I like that too.

My Do Not Wants are M-rated stories for most requests and E-rated stories for all.  I am squeamish, so please avoid any gory descriptions or keep them minimal.

As for the requests themselves...

Animal Crossing (Gulliver, any villager)

I adore Gulliver; the quote I gave for inspiration has a lot of potential, but it'd be neat to see more about the tall tales he tells.  Plus he references his time as a space traveler alongside being a sailor, and apparently a pirate now due to Gullivarr in the 7/3 update.  It could be neat to see how and why he changed careers, although ultimately he's always an unlucky traveler.

About the villagers, I couldn't settle on any one or two of the personalities, so I just requested them all!  They each have their own charm and quirkiness.  I'm fine with whoever you'd like to write about if you're familiar with certain ones.  But if you want to use a villager I have as a neighbor in New Horizons, I currently have Axel, Hazel, Static, Cyd, Merengue, Bangle, Skye, Raymond, Claude, and Julia.  Julia moved in just a couple of days ago, replacing Claudia (whom I adored).  I've also had Chops and Pippy on my island, and I loved all of them.

Star Ocean: The Second Evolution (Doctor Mirage, Marianna)

As I mentioned, I'm fascinated by Energy Nede, but I still don't like that the Nedians decided to sacrifice themselves in the end.  Destroying the artificial planetoid to bring back Expel is fine, but not taking them all with it!  Especially when their reason is that they haven't changed or evolved the whole time they were hiding; it's a lousy reason when the random NPCs around seem fine and happy.  It would be tough, yes, but underlying message shouldn't be that they're worthless and should die instead of trying.  I especially don't like Mayor Narl in all that.  While I generally don't like character bashing, Narl is an exception to that.

As for Mirage and Marianna themselves, they seem like they should have a lot of potential.  Mirage is brilliant enough to be making anti-matter weaponry, while Marianna survived a battle with one of the Ten Wise Men without any such crazy sci-fi weapon.  But since they come in late in the story, we don't get to see much out of them.  I'd be happy with some backstory on them, or perhaps a future where they survive and adapt to a different level of civilization, whether it's Expel or the Earth Federation.

Spelunky (Spelunker)

Here's one fact that I didn't put in my sign-up: on AO3, Spelunky has fanfics that are crossovers, drabbles, or are about people playing the game.  There's very little about the game itself.  So let's change that.

Final Fantasy II (Minwu, Leon)

I think this game could have been improved by removing most of the death by party headcount limitations; the amount of sacrifices so the heroes survive here makes things drearier and darker than need be.    But I still think this game's world is intriguing and the characters have promise.  I didn't have these two being in the same story in mind, but if that idea catches your fancy, I'd be happy to see it.

Breath of Fire IV (Ryu, Fou-lu)

On the other hand, these two are inextricably linked and I am very interested in seeing a story about how they're two halves of the same god, yet their own individuals at the same time.  It's nifty how they start as opposites to each other and being in those extremes cause them problems.  But over the game's course, they take some traits from the other and improve themselves that way.  At least until the Fou Empire decided to drive their first emperor insane.  The other gods explain that Ryu's power as an Endless would be swallowed up by Fou-lu's power if they met too early, but would it really?  The Yorae dragon was summoned differently from them, so things might turn out differently than the other dragon-gods expect.

Though I like both characters and wouldn't mind seeing your own ideas about one or the other!

 Hello, I hope you have fun with this exchange!

I love reading and have a wide range of tastes, with the genre picks being my favored types.  Save one, the one request with 'darkfic' as a genre is mostly due to the canon material already having dark elements and my request focusing on one of them.  I do like darkfic when the mood strikes me or with some fandoms, but mostly I prefer more idealistic and optimistic stories.  I'm mostly neutral on romance plots and not interested in smut.  Also not interested in high levels of gore and violence, but canon-typical violence and discrete bits of gore are generally fine by me.  When it comes to games with a choice of protagonist gender, I nearly always go with female to match me.  But with fanfic of those games, I'm fine with either protagonist gender.

That should cover the general, so here's some specifics.

Dark Cloud 2 (Lin, Alexandra)

I love this game for having so much to do, being so vibrant, and having lots of colorful characters (even if many of them would benefit from more attention to develop them).  It's also very optimistic, changing the world not just in the present and future, but in the past too.  I picked two women from this game who I believe have good potential for stories and development, plus I like them both.

Lin: I adore Lin, from her timid teenage self to her playful elder sage self.  Her character goes through a bit of development in-game, becoming braver and determined after traveling with Max and Monica, but then it skips a century to where she is the Great Sage (and one of the most lighthearted video game sages I've run across too).  It'd be nice to see some of the in-between, including how Balance Valley itself changes from a new town with a strange landscape into the grand temple for the Moon Crystal it becomes.

Also, despite how this whole game is about fixing things through time travel, they give up on trying to save the original Crest from his sacrifice.  Lin and Crest are one of the few ships that I favor strongly, so I'd be really excited to see him being saved and they both go on to become Great Sages.

Alexandra: We don't see much of Alexandra in-game, so she seems impossibly sweet and good.  Still, she's a queen who lives in a massive and elegant palace, and there's some kind of war or conflict going on that ruins her land.  What was happening back in that ancient age?  And how did saving her change things?  Does she try to escape to a peaceful life or hold onto her rule?  I view Alexandra as having a motherly relationship with Sirius, so I'd prefer they not be shipped.

Persona 3 (Protagonist, Thanatos)

I love that this game has you trying to balance a normal school and social life alongside fighting a supernatural threat that leaves people utterly apathetic so they call for the end of the world.  And then when that threat manifests, it seems like it's far too much for a bunch of high-schoolers to take on even with the power of their personas.  Still, you press on to stop the end of the world anyhow, with the power of friendship to back you up!  However, one of the more interesting parts to me is something that's left up to player interpretation: how the protagonist deals with having Death in the form of Thanatos sealed up inside them for years.

I nominated these two separate, although I'm interested in a story about both of them.  This is so their relationship is open to whatever interpretation you go with.  Also, I have only played through the vanilla NA release, but I am familiar with other versions through LPs.  Thus, I don't have a strong preference for the protagonist's name or gender.

My fan theory about this game is that the protagonist is a lot more aware of what's going on than they let on.  The meta reason behind why they need things explained to them or don't know the truth about Thanatos is that the player needs these things explained, or not explained so that plot twists are unexpected.  But what would be the in-game reasons the protagonist keeps quiet?  I believe that they're aware that they're going to die sometime; it fits with the game's motto, plus the personas most related to them (Orpheus, Thanatos, and Messiah) are all related to Death too.  And to me, they don't seem surprised at the supposed first time they experience the dark hour, on the way to the dorms.  Cautious, maybe, but not frightened or surprised.  Then when you consider the in-game social stats, they change a lot over a year.

So what motivates them to change so much?  Or return to the area their parents died in?  Did they know about the Fall and come back to trigger that, only to change their mind over the year?  Or maybe they really don't know these things.  How is it then to live with Death inside you, whether you know it or not?

Pokemon (Magikarp Salesman, Original Hoenn Trainer, Original Sinnoh Trainer)

I don't care how popular or niche, easy or difficult, any game is.  What matters to me is how fun the game is to me and if it inspires me.  So Pokemon is a series I keep returning to to play through, write fanfiction, and read fanfiction.  I was most into Pokemon games around the third and fourth gens, so although I've played through the main series in each generation so far, Hoenn and Sinnoh feel most nostalgic to me.  So I'd like to see a story set in one of those regions.  Maybe a small plot, maybe part of a bigger one, just something there.

Except, of course, for the famed Magikarp Salesman who could show up in those two regions but could really show up wherever.  If you take in-game lore into account, things like Pokemon evolution and potential are little understood by the average person.  So is the Salesman aware that Magikarp has the potential to become the really powerful Gyarados, or is he just out to make a quick buck with an easy scheme?  Does his scam come back to bite him?  And what other Pokemon-related scams might he be up to?

Animal Crossing (K.K. Slider, Animal Villagers- Peppy, Normal, and/or Lazy)

Animal Crossing is the video game equivalent of chicken soup, just a nice comfort game that helps me feel more positive about things.

K.K. is one of my favorite AC characters, so laid back and chill but he must be passionate about music.  He's also quite talented in being able to cover so many music genres with just a guitar and his voice.  It's fun to listen to him in a cafe, or dance way far into the night when he's being a DJ.  But, the most striking image I have of him is from the Gamecube version, where he showed up at the train station when the stars were shining, or when rain or snow was falling, just to play music for whoever came up to him.  He seemed very indie back then, passing out a free aircheck weekly as long as you showed up to listen.  Now in New Leaf, you can buy his music in stores and he has a permanent music job in the club, so how did that change come to be?

As for the villagers, they're personalities I love and always want to have one or two in my towns.  The Normal girls include most of my favorites; they're so warm and kind, while also being the lone sane person in a town full of crazies most of the time.  My current New Leaf town has Sally, but I always hope to see Mitzi or Coco move in.  The Peppy girls bring so much spirit into a town and are great for cheering people up, or completely annoying them with their energy.  I currently have Twiggy as my Peppy girl, but I don't have a strong attachment to her and might replace her if she wants to move; I don't favor any particular Peppy girl, but the town never feels right if I don't have any around.  And with the Lazy boys, I find them hilarious and so imaginative.  I currently have Drago and Doc as my Lazy boys, though really I've never run into a Lazy I didn't like.  A story focusing on one of these types, or maybe some crazy times with all three, would be great!

Also, I have a little challenge exercise that I've done with Animal Crossing before.  Start up a week-long game journal for an Animal Crossing town you're playing, where you record what your neighbors do or say in that time: their conversations with you, their requests, random actions like fishing or shaking trees, talking with others and how they emote afterward.  After the week is up, come up with a story based on the journal. Maybe expand on a problem or conversation they had.  Maybe the random conversation generator came up with something wild (I have not forgotten 'creamed spinach karate' or getting stuck in a mire of molasses from a magazine maze game).  Have fun with this one if you decide to do it! 

 Hello fellow gamer and writer!  :)  I hope you have fun and find some good inspiration in this exchange!  This letter explains more about my requests, with a few links to relevant resources that might be helpful.  I'll admit to being picky with what I read, but most things I'd rather not read can be gotten around by keeping things less than an M rating.  It depends a bit on canon material too; I'm fine with M-rating stories from something like the SMT series, but not so much from Animal Crossing.

The Do Not Want list: a story with an E rating (as stated above) and character bashing.  Maybe I like a character, maybe I don't, but whatever the case is, I'd rather not see a character hated on for little to no reason.

Things I dislike:
Sexual content- I'm simply not interested in this.
Gore: Injuries happen, but please don't get overly descriptive of blood, vomit, and such.
Transphobia, homophobia, sexism, racism, etc.: Any hate towards a person and their identity; can't we all just get along and accept each other?  :)  If you want to write about one of these subjects, that's okay but please don't be part of the hate.

Things I like: Fantasy, soft sci-fi, adventures, mundane life in a fantasy setting, puns, optimism, big hams, tropes, geeky discussions, fluff, character development, world-building, friendships, warm fuzzies, cats.

More on specific requests... mostly ramblings, and I don't mind if you follow your own inspirations with these games and characters.

Crossover fandoms: Gulliver (Animal Crossing) & Admiral Bobbery (Paper Mario)

Not much to add to this one; it really is only one line that I based this friendship off of.  But I love both games and characters, so why not?

Breath of Fire IV: Any

An LP for reference, the symbolism post is particularly good.

Fou-lu, Fou-lu/Mami, Fou-lu & Ryu- Fou-lu is a fascinating character, being half a god expected to do a full god's duties and getting betrayed by the very people who called for him in the first place (well the descendants of the callers, but it's still betrayal).  I like how he changes, from living among the poor people of his empire, and falling in love with one.  And possibly from how Ryu finally manifested.  Fou-lu doesn't say much about it and Ryu hardly says anything, but I always wondered if they had a greater awareness of each other than they let on.  Could they remember what each other was doing from their dreams?  Were they able to communicate that way?

Ershin: Ershin is just awesome, which is why I requested him/them.  I am interested in Ershin's job as a hex purifier.  The hexed areas are horrible, but their 'source' is distant from the area that's been cursed.  What does it take to purify it?  Or you could just write Erishin being awesome, or figuring out their place in the world with or without Deis.

Scias: Again, Scias is awesome as are many of the characters in this game.  You could write him with either interpretation of him, whether he has a shy stammer or if he's drunkenly slurring all the time.  Whichever it is, his sword skills are top-notch.

Tarhn: Tarhn is Cray's mother.  Interestingly enough, she's human but the Worents don't care about it as they consider her a part of their tribe.  She's also a priestess to the Grass Dragon and lives out in the Golden Plains as a part of that.  She's one of those minor NPCs that would be interested to get a better look at, whether her day-to-dy life living out on her own, or if she talks to someone interesting who's come out to see her and the dragon god she serves.

Ni Ryong: Now being the Dragon God of Mud might not seem that great, but this is a world where there's a huge sea of mud covering it.  People sluice the muddy waters for materials and such, so they would find him important.  Plus I like how he interacts with the party: nearly breaks down the dam just to come over and non-verbally say hello in an adorable fashion.  Ni Ryong could still make for a fun story.


La-Mulana: Any

An archeologist adventurer does make for some thrilling action scenes, but I also like how one would piece together fragments of history to solve the puzzle of how things were in the past.  In this game, it does often involve actual puzzles to progress further into the dungeon while much of the actual history is in pieces and relics.  It has a mix of real world myth and in-game myth with a lot of potentially nice stories to be figured out from the fragments left behind.

Lemeza: The protagonist is interested in the past, but did he have theories or other evidence of past races that have been destroyed?  Or did the effort to keep knowledge of the Mother from the current race work well enough that he's only done archeology on his own race?  And he would be the natural choice if a story had a focus on one area of the dungeon.

Mulbruk: She's a guide left behind in case the dungeon explorers have no idea about the history behind the ruins that's needed to solve its puzzles.  Thus she knows a lot about the past and La-Mulana itself.  She could be good for telling stories, or maybe about how she knows nothing about what's outside the dungeon and be curious about what Lemeza's people have done.

Mother:  It's interesting to have these villainous ancient era mother goddesses who are terrifying and cruel.  They give others life and believe that gives them to right to demand worship and obedience no matter how unreasonable their demands are.  This Mother in particular would wipe out entire civilizations for failing her, not giving them the chance to learn from their mistakes and advance their technology.  What's her perspective on her situation, and of a race of children that's entirely forgotten about her?

SMT: Strange Journey: Any

My request might seem a bit lukewarm, but I love the game and like watching the characters deal with their awful situation as best they can.  There are a bunch of questions I have about the game's plot, although I don't expect them to be answered directly in the game.  And I've seen several topics around where the troll answer to something is 'because of bad writing', which always seems like a good point to start with a fanfic to me, hehe.

Alex: She seems to be the main source of 'bad writing' comments and other derogative statements.  I haven't yet reached a point where her motives are explained (but I likely will by the time of story reveals), so she does seem mostly like a bundle of hate and anger who seems to feel like she has little to lose.  There also seems to be some time travel going on with her.  What does she think she'll accomplish doing something as dangerous as time travel?  It's also be nice to see her rounded out as more than just 'someone out to murder you for unstated reasons'.

Irving & Chen: As said in the request, a lot of the crew doesn't seem like the best of the best.  Chen is one, since she says she's better at teaching the theory and process of things rather than actually doing them.  But I would believe Irving qualifies as one of the best.  I love how much enthusiasm and drama goes into their development of new goods for you.  They'd make for a fun story, I think.

Commander Gore: I'd also believe that Gore is one of the best too.  He's certainly well known as the whole crew of the Red Sprite respects him greatly.  How much did he know about what their mission will entail?  What did he plan on doing for the investigation?  And what made him so well-known and beloved of the crew?

Protagonist: I'm not particular on what you name him.  Or if you want to make him a woman (I tell various demons 'I'm a woman' when it comes up and so far have been disappointed when they get disgusted).  But as I said, the environment and atmosphere of this game is wonderful and the protagonist would be a good person to do a 'hero vs environment' style plot.  Or even a 'hero vs themself' where the Schwarzwelt reflect some negative aspect of himself.

Jimenez: He seems like one of the odd choices for a part of the investigation team.  From my recollection, he says he was a warrant officer and he's felt like he didn't fit in.  But he's also one of the few on the team who has used a demonica before.  Even the protagonist, who was a solider of some kind, hasn't done so.  Was he a tester of the armor system?  Or is there something else in his past that got him chosen for the team?

Zelenin: I've seen her described as a PTSD victim with the world's worst job, which does fit her situation.  How did she end up getting sent out as a member of the Monitors team when they should have unmanned drones and the Strike team for info gathering?  Why was she assigned Monitors anyhow, since she seems like a knowledgeable scientist at the start?

Warriors of the Eternal Sun: Any

There's no fanfic of this game, at least none that I've found.  But here's a fun and short LP of it, useful since the cat owner gets spoken with every time the castle dialogue updates.

Cat Owner: Just a lone generic NPC who asks if you've seen his cat.  But he (she?) is memorable for being relatively sane while the rest of the castle goes crazy.  They even have a line in the credits, so sadly he hasn't found his cat.

Lost Cat: Obviously if there is a Cat Owner, there must be a cat, right?  And since this game runs off early D&D rules, cats are actually dangerous creatures (see Stray Cat in FFVI for another example).  Maybe the cat just went off on their own adventure.

Marmilian: aka the scholar in the tower.  He also gets nutty, but seems to regain his sanity for a bit when you return from the fire caves.  He does mention seeing a cat, so the cat is really there (or is it not there because all these nuts can't be trusted?).

Player Character: Just for some freedom if you don't want to write crazy people (or are they crazy too?).  Although, one thing that struck me as curious: the characters can be female and their portraits will show them that way.  But the female sprites are identical to the male sprites.  A beard on the female dwarf doesn't seem out of place (even though her portrait has none), but the female fighter's sprite seems to have one too.  In fact, all the people in the castle seem to be men.  Where are the women of this group?

 Hello writer!  I hope you're having a good year so far.

My general DNW this time is simply nothing over a T rating, as that cuts out a lot of things I'll skip a story over for.  I'm not interested in the sexual side of a relationship.  Rather, I like seeing how couples work through problems together, share happy moments, and do great (or even simple) things together.  Most of my requests are for genfic anyhow.  I do have an anxiety about choking, so I'd rather that not come up.  I'll accept M-rated fics for one fandom as I realize it's difficult to stick to T with.  For that one, some sexual content is fine but too much of it will lose my attention.

More specifics on my requests:

Dark Cloud 1 & 2: I've never found another game quite like these two; many come close, but don't have the mix of dungeon exploring, crafting, and town building that I love.  I like them for their optimism and goofy awesomeness.  For the first game, I've requested Toan & Xiao.  Xiao is one of my favorite catgirls because she behaves as what she is: a cat who's been transformed into a girl rather than a girl who's trying to emulate the cuteness (or cruelty) of a cat.  And while Toan is a silent protagonist, one of the earliest cutscenes shows him finding some flowers in his ruined town and having this hopeful look of happiness at it.  So a story of their work to restore their world or later on when they're enjoying it would be great.

For the second game, I have Max & Cedric.  Their form of invention amuses me: taking pictures for inspiration, mixing the pictures to get a plan, then gathering a few materials to build crazy contraptions like a fuel tank that looks like a metal jar of milk or robot body made from an old fridge.  Max is another cheerful optimist protagonist, though he also wants to get away from being a spoiled rich kid.  And then Cedric is a gruff old mechanic who's an encouraging mentor along with not taking nonsense from anyone, even the Mayor.  It's a really fun friendship, so it's disappointing that Cedric fades away from importance after the first chapter.

Also from the second game, there's Lin/Sage Crest, meaning her mentor of course, not herself (not interested in selfcest).  Most ships I like to be analytical about how they might work, but this pair I find genuinely adorable.  I love that they're dedicated to the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge through magic, for the sake of others rather than themselves.  While I admire that Crest had the bravery to sacrifice himself for the safety of the Moon Crystal, I would really love a way to save him so he and Lin could be together.  After all, this game is all about fixing the present and future by changing the past, so why leave Crest to his fate?

Persona 3:  I've requested three of my favorite social links for this game because I'd love to see more out of them.  As I said in the sign-up, I don't have a preference for the protagonist's gender in the Hierophant and Sun links.  But since Tower requires you to go in a club that serves alcohol at night, I'm not too comfortable with having a high school girl go there alone.  I don't have many specific notes for this one as it's one of the more popular and well-known games in my requests.

Though one note I have is for Protagonist & Akinari.  I have a personal interpretation of Minato as being aware of his fate at the end of the game; death is a major theme of the game, after all.  This is particularly interesting to consider in the context of the Sun link as Akinari knows how he will die but not when, while Minato has an idea of when he is meant to die but not exactly how.  Use this as an idea if you like, or ignore all that heavy death stuff in favor of them doing something fun together; either is good!

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: This is one of the few games that I'll play with self-imposed challenges just because I've played it so much.  I love how the castle starts its characterization as its own being here, and all the little wonderful details that go into the game to make it a great experience.  Ghost and Bat are my favorite summons for such details: Ghost gets confused by Alucard's transformations and wanders off, while Bat gets a heart above its head when you turn into a bat and then calls on more bats to join you.  And the Librarian still amuses me; while others who are familiar with Alucard are dismissive of his choices, the Librarian welcomes him back warmly and agrees to help out (as long as you exchange gold and gems).  Closer looks at these friendships that Alucard has would be great.

And I just had to nominate something silly, so there's the monster pairing of Spectral Sword/Magic Tome for this game.  Spectral Sword is one of my favorite monsters from any video game.  There's various ghosts and ghostly entities with cool weapons around the castle, but nothing like Spectral Sword using a multitude of weapons despite being a weapon itself.  And then Magic Tome is an enchanted book about weapons, so of course it would fall for something like Spectral Sword!  As long as it complies with the rating request, I wouldn't mind some suggestive things with these two; what would they find flirtatious or suggestive anyhow?  I'd love to see how this fun pairing gets interpreted.

SMT IV Apocalypse: This is the fandom where I'm fine with M-rated fics, partly because the three friendships I requested are messed up in some fashion, as opposed to P3 where the friendships shouldn't be hard to keep to a T rating.  Despite the many complaints I see, I like the often extreme contrasts of light and dark in the game.  And being an optimistic person, I like the friendship themes too (though I agree that it could have been done a lot better).  Some of the friendships are twisted, like Dagda & Nanashi and Krishna & Flynn, but they're interesting kinds of twisted.  The whole relationship that gods and humans have in these games, with the gods trying to control humans even though they need the support of humans to survive, is something that I like reading and writing about.  These two pairs in particular are great because the gods involved (and eventually the humans) are aware of and trying to change the nature of that relationship, but still end up using their human partners as other demons do.

And then Samyaza & Adramelach are also a bit of a silly pair, but I think they could be fun together.  There's only one hint that I recall of them potentially being connected aside from simply working under Lucifer, and that's when Adramelach is taunting Hallelujah about Abe.  That could be taken several ways.  Still, they'd be an odd contrasting pair of friends, just hanging out and talking of how to sow Chaos into the world.


Happy writing!  :)

So, picked up this account for Yuletide, but I'm gonna start with NaNoWriMo plans!

I'm thinking about fanfiction this year. I've got several little bits and ideas, plus I could get in a few chapters for Rewinding Ways, Slice of Heaven, and possibly Kagutsuchi if I don't finish that off in October. But my main idea is to do something for Shin Megami Tensei IV and its sequel Apocalypse. I'm currently playing through SMT IV on a second cycle, Chaos ending where I could go raid the last dungeon but I'll probably do some challenge requests first for unlocking demons. And I need a better distribution on Luster Candy and Debilitate for when I can't simply nuke everything in one round. I should have Apocalypse soon too. Anyhow...

The main issue I have with the fanfic now is that I have conflicting ideas. For SMT IV, I'd like to twist things up some. Neutral ending is notorious for how strict its requirements are, so it could be interesting to use the new game+/cycle idea to work through how Flynn wouldn't be satisfied with Chaos, Law, or Nothing. However, there is a glaring option that you can't take in the game itself: what if he simply never gave his name in the initial dream sequence, thereby turning down fate?

If Flynn refuses to speak up then, would the roles of Law and Chaos Heroes be fulfilled? They both say they can take shape once you meet them. Perhaps Jonathan and Walter couldn't be identified as such, thus their fates cannot be fulfilled either. The gauntlets seem to work off genetics, so they (and Isabeau and Navarre) will still be picked out as samurai. But if Flynn's turning down fate, he might be able to fail the rite intentionally. It is his gauntlet, so some prior cycle knowledge could hold some quirk to not activate it. My 2DS is finicky about the top-right corner, actually, so I'd probably do something like that.

But the 'game' is still set to play, with the various sides already working towards their goals. Now that they can't find their human representatives, what will they do? The Black Samurai already is at work in Mikado, and we can assume Gabby is always working towards her goals. This situation where the vital pieces of the game are unidentified is really interesting to me.

Of course, this affects how SMT IV:A would play out too. Perhaps Flynn never goes to Tokyo, or if he does it'll be as quite a different person. I'm still sure Nanashi and Asahi would be Hunter trainees whether Flynn's there or not. But the Ring of Gaea and the Ashura-kai would still be strong contenders with their original leaders. The Divine Powers won't have the Lucifer and Merkabah conflict to take advantage of (although tweaking Krishna would be something I'd do anyhow, so that just helps). But Lucifer wouldn't be active in a situation that would lead to Nanashi's death and revival.

That's where the sticky issue with trying to write for both games is because one of the most interesting things to me in Apocalypse is Nanashi's situation. It's apparently a subtle undeath since others are surprised to hear that he's actually dead. When I get the game myself, I will be chatting up NPCs to see what they notice about him. I already did a short fic on how Asahi might rationalize it early on, and I would like to play with that idea more.

But if Flynn denies his role, then I not only have to find another point to kill Nanashi at, but also find other goals for him to have. Asahi too, since Isabeau's not there for her to look up to. Plus the Ashura-kai under Tayama will be an entirely different obstacle than the same organization under Abe. And then how long would Tokyo and Mikado stay separate?

A lot to think over, but I've got a month's worth of planning to hammer some things out. Also, if anyone does decide to read this and is good at maths, would you help me figure out the time ratio between Tokyo and Mikado with the Firmament in place? I've seen it in terms of years, but this kind of project would go better if I knew the day to day ratio.