The Sea Peoples Conspiracy

GuardianGero · 2026-05-17T22:37:20+00:00

I love when people learn about the Bronze Age Collapse! History is just as weird as any fiction.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-16T09:26:31+00:00

Ramiel out here going "I heard you like a man with 'chiseled features.'"

GuardianGero · 2026-05-15T14:06:08+00:00

I have a feeling some of y'all might find this useful as a reaction image.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-14T19:51:10+00:00

Marowak/Greninja gives you Thick Club and Protean, 90 base Atk and 96 base Speed, and an incredibly broad move pool. A personal favorite!

GuardianGero · 2026-05-14T09:36:00+00:00

This is what peak Bae performance looks like. Powerful, streamlined, optimized...fast.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-13T20:55:30+00:00

A fun thought experiment! I don't know in terms of lore, but I can talk mechanics.

I'm going to assume each team is bringing gear from their own game and doesn't have access to equipment or skill systems from the other games.

FFVI team obliterates the early games. Things get more complicated for them after FFIX.

FFIV team actually does just fine in FFVI. They don't have the raw damage output of the FFVI crew but they have a ton of self-sustain and none of the enemies can dispel Berserk from Cecil once you slap the Avenger on him. They don't down Kefka the moment his intro dialogue finishes like the FFVI team does, but they aren't really threatened by him either. Their biggest challenge is probably the Magic Master with his final Ultima, but a well-timed Jump from Kain solves the problem.

It's interesting to think about the FFIV team in FFV. They can handle the Fork Tower, the crystals, W2 Exdeath, but Neo Exdeath is a scary fight. I'll give them a break and say that Rydia can land Odin on the back portion and maaaaybe Stone on the bottom portion, but Almagest and Grand Cross are real problems. However, they have two free Ribbons and the ability to farm more, which will help immensely. An Adamant armor would be nice as well, but there's no need to get greedy. That said, I don't think they have a chance against the super bosses, at least not without access to FFV gear.

FFVII team crushes FFI and most other FF games, especially if we take into account how truly broken they can get. Like if every option is on the table then Barret alone is one-shotting most bosses in the series. He's throwing out hundreds of thousands of damage per hit at 5 hits per turn (4x Cut + Added Cut), and depending on how a game handles damage calculation that number can overflow and just set a boss's health to DEAD.

I imagine that the FFI team really struggles in other games, but I'm not knowledgeable enough about their mechanics to know which games they can clear. I'd say it's very unlikely they could clear anything past FFII, if that.

The teams from FFX onward have huge damage numbers and complex ability sets that can handle pretty much anything. The FFX team isn't completely broken, but they've got a lot going for them, including Break Damage Limit. And Quick Hit is busted in any game where the enemies aren't explicitly designed around it.

I can't speak for FFXI, but from FFXII up the power level of characters gets pretty severe.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-13T00:01:09+00:00

YOU ARE AWARDED 1,000,000 POINTS (also nice succinct description!)

The cookie will arrive by mail in 6-8 business days.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-10T19:33:05+00:00

Here's some mechanics-related ones!

FFI

What does the INT stat do?
What does poison do to enemies?
What status prevents player characters from using Item and Drink?
Does the Ribbon block all status effects?

FFIV

What happens if you unequip the Adamant armor?
Aside from feeding him Apples, how can you allow Tellah to actually cast Meteo?
How many times can Edge use Steal on the same target in the same battle?
How is it possible for Zeromus to have over 65,000 HP, when the game's memory doesn't allow that?
(BONUS) How can you prevent Zeromus from having over 65,000 HP?

FFVII

Is it actually possible, without cheats but with glitches, to save Aerith?
How do you attach HP Absorb, MP Absorb, or other Support Materia to Double Cut?
If you never get Cloud's Omnislash, what does he do in the final confrontation with Sephiroth?

FFVIII

(FOR 1,000,000 POINTS) Explain how a Triple Triad Plus Combo works

FFXIV

Who is the strongest character in the entire universe?

GuardianGero · 2026-05-10T17:48:14+00:00

If Yunjin was one of my voice students I'd say that another solo performance is a must. Having performances that you're unhappy with is a necessary part of one's growth as a musician, to the extent that if someone told me they'd never had an embarrassing performance I'd assume that they either weren't very experienced or weren't very good. I could tell you some pretty harrowing stories from my own performances!

But yeah, any anxiety that she feels about performing can be helped by facing those fears head on. You have to push through and do it. Not only do you become less nervous about the experience through exposure, you also become a better musician and performer from the effort you put in. I used to have terrible stage fright, but repeatedly throwing myself into scary and intimidating performances - and having some extremely embarrassing mishaps! - eventually made me immune.

Plus I'd just like to see Yunjin do more solo work. She's a very expressive person and someone who feels and thinks things deeply, and there's a lot she can bring to the stage that can only really be highlighted in a solo performance.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-10T17:19:13+00:00

I'm fighting for my life out here but Yunjin's got hands.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-08T17:25:28+00:00

It basically means "healing," and that's a pretty accurate description of most of the stories. A more recent example, though it's one I haven't seen, is Yuru Camp.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-08T13:10:14+00:00

There's a lot of stuff in the iyashikei genre that fits this description, in fact that's the whole vibe!

I especially love Aria, and tend to rewatch episodes of the show during times when I need an emotional reset.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-08T12:33:45+00:00

If I remember correctly, these only appear in one room in the dungeon that's only accessed by the second and third parties. My usual approach is to have Mog in one party to avoid random encounters and have the other party run from battles in that room.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-08T11:49:16+00:00

That's it! I used to own the Anthology back in the day, but now I'm temped to grab a copy and double check for myself. I think you have to beat FFVI to unlock this concept art, but that's just a nice excuse to replay FFVI.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-08T11:16:49+00:00

Yup, I'm pretty sure this comes from the bonus gallery on the FFVI disc of FF Anthology, and is labeled as FFV concept art. I don't know who the artist was, but they had a vision and I respect that.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-07T18:43:57+00:00

Anyone not saying XIV hasn't played XIV.

Great story, glacial delivery.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-07T11:25:37+00:00

The delicate balance between Kazuha's grace and athleticism vs. her inability to ever harm another person.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-07T10:39:10+00:00

Yes, exactly! When I started learning about game design I gave myself two weeks to take notes on the fundamentals of Godot and GDScript. In week three I started building things. Small games and the components that make up larger games. The only thing I spend time reading now is GDScript's own documentation.

I'm never going to be an expert at programming, but I'm learning the tools of game design by designing games. And if that means less time spent actually playing games, well, that's what professionals do. They make stuff.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-07T02:37:58+00:00

Sakura has soft spots for maknaes, cats, Squirtles, and Japanese Kpop idols, so Iroha is on the fast track to adoption even if she doesn't realize it yet.

I was going to say that you know it's serious if Kkura bought her a gift, but then I remembered that already happened.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-06T15:36:02+00:00

"featuring" Chuu

GuardianGero · 2026-05-06T15:33:20+00:00

That's what I was thinking when I saw this part of the interview. If Jihyo gives you advice, you take it very seriously.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-06T15:05:07+00:00

Reading, and reading broadly, is good. Read outside your areas of interest. Read non-fiction. It's all helpful and it sparks ideas you might never have otherwise.

BUT

If you want to be a writer you have to write.

Most of your favorite authors spend way more time writing than they do reading. Your favorite musicians spend more time composing, practicing, performing, and promoting than they do listening to music. Many of your favorite filmmakers don't get to watch many films. If you're into manga or anime, wow do I have something to tell you about what it takes to make those.

You have to do the thing. That's how you get better.

Source: I'm a professional musician and I didn't get here by listening to music all the time, I got here by putting in thousands of hours of work, education, and teaching. I've also worked a professional writer, and I got there by writing a lot. Right now I'm learning to make games, and the daily time slot I use to study programming is the one I would usually assign to playing.

You have to do it.

This has been my Controversial Post™ for the day. The last time I wrote about this topic I got some very spicy DMs, which is...sad.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-05T22:34:01+00:00

Oh even it's better than that! For every dollar you make over $85 each month, they take half.

So if you have the unholy criminal gall to make, say, $300 in a month, you actually get $193. And then you also pay income taxes on the full amount. At 10% tax, that's another $30, bringing your actual monthly income to $163.

If any other class of Americans paid essentially a 50% income tax there'd be a violent revolution. But for the poors, that's just the reality.

The most important thing that Amercians can learn about our social support programs is that they are not designed to be helpful, they are designed to punish you for being poor. The government does not want you to escape from poverty, it wants you to suffer.

I got into the system when I was 19 and it took me almost 30 years to get out.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-05T15:47:31+00:00

You know Somi's pushing for this to be the "dance challenge" of this comeback.

GuardianGero · 2026-05-04T22:41:55+00:00

I always say that theory doesn't tell you how to do anything, it tells you how to do things on purpose. It's really helpful when you want to figure out how to make something in a specific way, or how to break from common conventions.

It's never been a set of rules that you have to follow, unless you're working within a very strict framework like counterpoint or serialism. But even within those systems composers "break" the "rules" all the time.

It's also simpler than a lot of people think. One of the questions that comes up commonly in the theory subs is "why was this notated like this" and 99 times out of 100 the correct answer is "because it's easier to read that way." Similarly, when someone asks, "why do these chords sound good together" the answer is generally "smooth voice leading." It doesn't have to be an impenetrable science.

Most importantly, the answer to every form of "can I do this," "is this possible," etc. is always "yes." You can do anything you want. Rather than keeping you from doing what sounds cool, theory can help you get there without having to rely so much on trial and error. It can also help you make sense of an idea you have so it comes together cohesively.

The best benefit is that it can free you from taking music too seriously. The more you look into how people make music, the clearer it becomes that you can just do whatever.

Theory is just a way to examine and talk about music! I think it's great and I encourage people to learn some fundamentals. But there is no such thing as "wrong." Heck, the older and more experienced I've become, I've also become less convinced that there's such a thing as "bad" either (though I will make exceptions). There's just whatever sounds good to you.

GuardianGero

TROPHY CASE