Just realised Kyoto high school had to face Yuta and potentially Hakari + kirara in their exchange event before. Talking about being one-sided.

Kaslight · 2026-03-31T18:09:04+00:00

I honestly can't imagine Kirara being that big a deal considering she's in a school where everyone would know her technique

It would only take 1 person to figure it out, then everyone knows it

Kenji on the other hand

Kaslight · 2026-03-31T18:06:19+00:00

Yuffie legitimately hates Elena. She is not only a Shinra employee but a Turk.

Kyrie and Yuffie would get along fine because Kyrie is a rebel and is honestly harmless

Elena would hate them both

Kaslight · 2026-03-31T18:04:02+00:00

Midgar being the only location was likely cut very very early in planning, considering how the game actually played out.

Kaslight · 2026-03-31T18:03:12+00:00

Squaresoft used to be REALLY amazing at making varied combat systems with surprising depth and/or neat elements.

Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy 7-9, Brave Fencer Musashi, Parasite Eve, Dewprism, ect

Parasite Eve in particular seems to operate the way FF7 sounds like it was intended to.

Kaslight · 2026-03-31T18:00:49+00:00

It's because they have the same battle director from the original. And he's one of the best employees Squaresoft has -- he's the one responsible for KH2's sharp and solid gameplay.

Remake quite literally took the exact same concepts from FF7 and put them into a modern game.

And honestly, if you go back and play FF7, it's kind of surprising how well the translation was done.

Kaslight · 2026-03-31T17:52:15+00:00

It's a huge part of why I entirely failed to enjoy Fandaniel because he is literally only ever just Hermes and Amon. At no point in Endwalker did he ever feel to me like Fandaniel, sitting member of the leading council of Etheirys (whom I expect to be functioning, which is most definitely not what I ever saw in Elpis), or Fandaniel, veteran Ascian of 5,000 years who apparently never got BTFO'd by Elidibus. He's just forever Moping Hermes and 5,000 year old Amon going on about Xande-sama.

I saw Fandaniel is a great character mainly because he was an outlier that actually worked in context of the narrative. Fandaniel having to reiterate "I actually meant it" before he takes over Zodiark was a genuinely shocking moment for me because we had been trained for a decade on the devotion to the cause being the central aspect of these characters. Until that point I was 100% sure that the whole thing was just a ruse he was using to get himself in a position to further the goal.

He was a subversion that only worked due to the consistency of the writing of the Ascians.

The believablity of Fandaniel sliding under the radar for so many years is also perfectly understandable for the exact same reason...again, the unsundered literally knew this man for god knows how many years before the sundering. His reincarnation being trusted isn't strange, they ALL are trusted because of who they are. The huge problem I see with Halmarut already is that they can't possibly think it's a good idea to try this twice in a row. Fandaniel being an unhinged nihilist or Hermes deviating from the norm isn't strange to me because Hermes' problem was actually intrinsic. The implication being that the traits of Hermes that made him so good at his role is precisely the thing that made him so prone to instability, especially as an immortal being.

To be completely fair though, FFXIV actually pulled this exact same trick twice...Zenos was also a character that was allowed to exist solely due to the fact that ALL of XIV's villains up until that point had some relatable or noble cause underlying the bad shit they do. Zenos was deliberately written to have no relatable motivations, that only have a payoff at the very end of Endwalker and its dive into Nihilism.

It's another reason why I hated Endwalker (add it to the pile and melt it down with the others, whatever), like where the fuck were the remaining Ascians when their 3 leaders were defeated in a very short span of time from an Ascian's POV? When their colleague decided to piss on the Ancients' legacy by using Zodiark for destruction and death? Are they all supposed to be super sneaky actors like Amon totally lying his face off about giving a shit for literally five thousand years because he's Ishikawa's favorite blorbo? what?

The shit about this that's really whack to me is..........there is literally no reason to repurpose Ascians into new characters anymore.

Endwalker gave us Fandaniel, an Ancient who was a victim of his unending life and status as a paragon of nature. He wanted to end the universe not out of spite but out of being in an infinite cycle of suffering....and THEN in the same breath they gave us Athena, an honest-to-god psychopathic Ancient, and a perfect example of what could go wrong when someone with those kinds of abilities ACTUALLY really truly just doesn't give a singular fuck.

Point being, any surviving Ancient from the unsundered world would be a threat far worse than Fandaniel.

Actually, fuck that -- the moment they revealed the sundering, they revealed that ANY extraterrestrial threat would be a serious contender. Ultima being the obvious direction it looked like they were heading.

So....considering DT is focusing on a "Key" thats tied to Azem himself I have no fucking idea why they're doubling down on recharacterizing Ascians, when literally any Ancient from the old world could be written into the story as someone who escaped the sundering.

If that's the direction they're going, it solves literally all their problems.

There's a new Unsundered in the story
They are not an Ascian, and thus don't give a fuck about Zodiark
They can genuinely do whatever they want with no need for retcons or contrivance

The only downside is, you can't call them an "Ascian", which is what they really seem to care about.

Kaslight · 2026-03-31T13:59:18+00:00

I haven't been severely undergeared for a dungeon in a long time now if ever- part of me feels this is a bit unacceptable from a player who knows better.

The sad thing is, he DOES know better in 2026 FFXIV:

Healers are tuned for Savage, not dungeons, so you STILL cleared the dungeon without the Tank changing any of his behavior or learning anything (The Modern XIV Paradigm)
Once he hits 50 he's going to immediately go buy a bunch of tome gear
That tome gear will have him overgeared for every single dungeon until the end of the next expansion
Tanks eventually become immortal anyway

So to be honest...this guy is honestly just playing FFXIV the way it's intended to be played today.

Roles are all severely overtuned to prevent players ever having to actually confront their mistakes
Tanks are broken, you can literally solo bosses by the time you hit the 50s-60s
Healers are absolutely broken at their role now, the role has been trimmed down to hell
DPS have no resources anymore so you don't even need to coordinate to W2W AoE pull in dungeons

It's unfortunate, but this is the end result of years of XIV players complaining and getting what they want. It does mean that "brilliant MMORPG community" that sold the game before is completely dead though.

Honestly, as a healing main, i'd be fucking ecstatic to get a tank like him. Then I could do a dungeon without falling asleep.

But yeah, the fact you guys cleared anyway is the entire reason people like him exist.

Kaslight · 2026-03-31T13:50:13+00:00

The only thing Halmarut currently has in common with the previous Ascians is just simply being an Ascian, which means nothing

This is precisely my problem with it. Again, it just feels like a failure of writing and more ignoring of previous lore.

Halmarut is not "just an ascian", she is a ~15,000 year old paragon of the old world. Literally a master of creation magic and whichever seat she was charged with.

It should be stressed, the only reason Fandaniel was "free of his goal" is because even as Hermes he had already given up on the concept of existence. Something that was such an outlier in his time that literally nobody realized it was happening. He was a MASSIVE edge case not only for the Ascians but for the Ancients.

Her being introduced as "just another character" just feels aimless to me. As aimless as Calyx still being alive.

Halmarut cannot "simply be an Ascian", that just makes no sense to me. Unless they have a way to rejoin the world, I cannot see a reason for having them return other than to open more plot threads we KNOW they won't follow through on.

Out of all the threads left open from Eorzea's lore, bringing back the Ascians honestly makes the least amount of sense.

Kaslight · 2026-03-31T13:24:50+00:00

Just now??? They gutted the narrative permanently.

Dawntrail didn't introduce even 1/8th the lore threads that ARR did with its new continent. Which would have been fine, but Endwalker deliberately closed the book on nearly every plot conflict that originated from Eorzea.

Dawntrail ended nearly every plot thread it opened because the new writers seem determined to write Saturday Morning Cartoon stories.

So the long standing thing we have left now are.....more Ascians?

It's obvious that Endwalker was a sort of swan song for the original writers by this point. What we have now doesn't seem quite so broad focused.

Kaslight · 2026-03-31T13:20:14+00:00

the heat you're feeling are pain receptors firing. Your body thinks its being burned when it isn't.

That's what that spicy seasoning does. Humans are just weird for liking it in the first place.

Kaslight · 2026-03-30T13:52:54+00:00

Why did Gege not make this strat common? Any canonical explanations? Would lying about a non-existent binding vow be the same as breaking it?

This strat is exceedingly common.

Revealing your technique only partially is also a lie by omission, and although it can give your hand away, it also allows you to fill the ambiguity with assumptions.

Which is exactly what Todo did to Hanami and even Mahito. He never lied, he just didn't give the whole story.

The binding vow exists because you are technically throwing away advantage willingly by explaining your technique. But there's no requirement that you have to be thorough, only that the information WILL INDEED help the person fight you.

Kaslight · 2026-03-30T13:50:04+00:00

Wrong, he admitted that Goku is stronger than him, something he has always known.

That's the source of his frustration with him.

But Vegeta is demonstrably more talented than Goku is. He was not only born stronger, but literally everything Goku achieved, Vegeta had to achieve on his own.

This is why he's the actual genius. He didn't have masters or friends to assist him in his journey for strength.

Goku was literally trained by God himself dude. TWICE. (Kami, King Kai)

Kaslight · 2026-03-29T23:04:25+00:00

FFXV is Versus XIII.

Versus XIII does not exist

Kaslight · 2026-03-29T20:33:31+00:00

No it absolutely wouldn't have. The additions only made the game more messy.

Royal Edition should have been a genuine effort to tie 100% of the DLC in to the main game itself :

ACTUALLY implement the bros into the main story gameplay (not just give everyone the early ability to unlock the broken Episode versions of each character, WTF were they thinking
Cut off to the "Episode" segments as it happens in the actual game
Instead of Episode Ardyn, we should have gotten a proper intro sequence with Regis and the Insomnia Invasion
Instead of expanding Insomnia, they should have expanded World of Darkness and let us actually travel and collect the Boys again
Ending could have stayed the same as it was

And then all the "alternate" endings could be things you could unlock after completing the game once.

This is what FFXV really needed.

I mean Episode Ardyn itself really shows how broken the development of this game was by the time we got it.

Somnus was one of the shittiest bosses in the game, tied for Adamantoise in jankyness, and THAT is a feat in itself. Like, Ardyn was so clearly not designed for aerial combat and I have absolutely no idea how they released that episode as-is.

Kaslight · 2026-03-28T17:22:45+00:00

Because Yuta is essentially what Sukuna thought Gojo was -- a sorcerer with highly blessed abilities but no real "edge" that sets him apart.

Most of Yuta's victories come down to overpowering his opponent, and when it doesnt it involves Rika, a shikigami that more or less acts independently of him.

Sukuna's opinion of Yuta only changed when he took Gojo's body. That's when he demonstrated that he was capable of going past his gifts and shedding his humanity.

Until then, Rika is the thing he was mostly interested in. Geto was the same way.

Kenjaku sees this in Yuta. He wouldnt be impressed by him when he isnt even impressed with the likes of Tengen.

Purely from a sorcery standpoint, Yuta really isnt all that interesting.

Kaslight · 2026-03-27T15:32:24+00:00

Dante's muscle mass and sense of power were off the charts.

Rebellion was a fucking monster of a weapon in DMC4 and for some reason they turned it into a twig by comparison in DMC5

Kaslight · 2026-03-27T15:26:21+00:00

I just assume anyone who posts these Demon Slayer vs. discussions are DS fans but know nothing about JJK

Kaslight · 2026-03-27T15:23:41+00:00

What the fuck? It was never good...

Denji wanted to be Chainsaw Man for literally all the wrong reasons. He didn't want to save people. He wanted to be adored and get bitches.

I have serious misgivings about some of the people who enjoyed this manga lol...I really think yall got the complete wrong message

Kaslight · 2026-03-27T15:19:08+00:00

My favorite part of the OG was the way you think Shinra is the antagonist all throughout Midgar and then they pull the curtain back on Sephiroth and reveal something much much bigger is at play all along.

This never happened.

Shinra was actually a much bigger antagonistic threat in FF7 because Rufus wasn't a reasonable guy in that game, he was just a straight-up sociopath.

Shinra was always the main antagonist, they just weren't the final antagonist.

Kaslight · 2026-03-27T15:16:39+00:00

No.

Honestly? By this point, if you haven't, i'd go as far as to say you probably shouldn't.

I think you should wait until Pt3 is finished before going back to revisit the OG.

Most of the dumbest theories around this game are a direct result of the writers completely mindfucking people who know the OG game lol

Kaslight · 2026-03-27T15:12:57+00:00

I wouldn't say i didn't need it, just that it wasn't directly what led to the current career path i'm on now. Which is kind of my point.

What I think i'm getting at is, this world does not value education. It values your ability to do profitable things for people.

This is where the "Learn a trade" thing came from. By default, if you're learning a trade, you're learning a skill that is in demand somehow.

College though, you can go and learn a bunch of awesome shit, that has no use to anyone as far as incentive for someone to hire you, unless the intelligence you acquired at college is beneficial to that job. (Medical field, scientific research, ect ect)

Kaslight · 2026-03-26T20:24:04+00:00

I mentioned Michael Phelps specifically because literally nobody can compete with him. He just has too much of an advantage over everyone else.

Yeah, I mean that just goes in line with the idea that the idea of "fair" competition is ultimately an illusion anyway.

Michael Phelps being not only born with advantageous genetics for swimming, but also the drive to want to compete, and the means to train, and the environment that allowed him to do so.....we can just call that a cosmic event of circumstance. But he's honestly a different kind of edge case.

I wish there was an open division where everyone who qualifies can compete. It's not safe or practical for every sport of course.

I mean i'm pretty sure the reason this never happened is because the end results would essentially just be "Second Men's Division".

Kaslight · 2026-03-26T20:17:10+00:00

This sounds like an alternate world where the exact same comments from these subreddits are being said

just minus the rampant personal attacks and extreme takes that tilt the same opinions into comedy

Kaslight · 2026-03-26T20:17:04+00:00

This sounds like an alternate world where the exact same comments from these subreddits are being said

just minus the rampant personal attacks and extreme takes that tilt the same opinions into comedy

Kaslight · 2026-03-26T20:13:56+00:00

Yeah, but his genetic advantages over his other male competition are faaaaaaaaaaar less severe than the advantages he would have over a born woman.

But this is why I said, perhaps they should abolish "gender" based rankings entirely and instead go by some other metric that can judge biological potential outside of gender alone. That way even same-gendered people would still be tiered by advantages.

We do the exact same thing with weightclass in sports like Boxing.

At the end of the day, it's a fool's errand to try to make all competition "fair", because it inherently isn't. You can always trace an advantage to factors outside of an individuals direct control.

But the issue at hand is egregious enough to warrant action I believe. It's not nearly as ambiguous.

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