Japanese fanart sites: Pumpkin head!

http://pumpkin.sakura.ne.jp/

This is a Japanese oekaki board for Final Fantasy Tactics related fanart. I love looking through their giant archives (back to 2000!), there are tons of talented artists and super cute artwork about all of the Ivalice games, plus random stuff. People in Japan are ridiculously talented and goofy.

Errr sorry, I haven't been updating much. I haven't actually succeeded in poaching rare items and I haven't gotten further in the Cloud subquest, which I really need to get cracking on. Right now my brother is stuck in a battle and I am not able to play, heh heh.

Here's a goofy tegaki I did, I never finish these things.

Zeltennia Castle and Delita

Now it's a gorgeous FMV with Delita and Ramza in the church, speaking of important things, of course. I think I would die of happiness to see a movie of Tactics in this form. Although I wonder why they still use Ramza's chapter 3 armor instead of his blue and white butt-pad armor in chapter 4.

My thoughts on the plot so far? Delita is still being vague in his words, but I believe he thinks more of Teta than of Ovelia while contemplating his quest. (Poor Ovelia.) And even though Ramza knows his life is forfeit at Delita's hands, even knowing what lengths Delita would take to bring down the dueling nobility and the corrupted church, he remains so very polite. They seem to trust each other even knowing that they may cross swords in the future, and when Balmafula gives Delita some apple-sass after the battle, I sense that Delita may have some regrets. But not enough for him to give up.

Of course the battle in which we finally kill Zalmour, that was a cinch. Now it's off to save/recruit Orlandeau and all that. Exciting!

Milk, please!

Drawing from Tegaki-e. I like to know who orders milk at a bar. That seems like ultimate in suspicion to me!

My brother has the PSP today, so I'm playing some Tactics Advance at the moment. I'm at the last battle now, but I haven't finished all the missions yet, so I'm wasting several years waiting for the right ones to pop up. Very annoying...

Mustadio hates me!

Over spring break, I managed to get into chapter 2, where Ramza is now 17/18 years old and working as a mercenary under Gaffgarion. Man, that extra F in his name is extra gay!

I love the CG cutscene with Delita and Ovelia by Zeirchele Falls, that was gorgeous. Delita is kind of a douche, with his vague and dark comments about everything, but I guess that's how he gets things done, by not letting other people in on his plans. Ramza still looks like a lost little puppy, d'awwww...

Oh man, getting Mustadio is always challenging for some reason. Sometimes Mustadio cooperates and sometimes he doesn't. Because Ramza is an Aries and he is a Libra, we have the absolute worst compatibility ever, hah hah. I'm not too hot with Agrias either, her AI is quite uncooperative and she often hits allies with the sword spells.

My other favorite scene happens soon after this, when Ovelia is confiding in Agrias and Ramza overhears them. Then Mustadio, that rascal, hollers at Ramza and he tries to shush Mustadio up. So cute! It was never clear if Alma taught Ovelia the leaf whistle thing, but Ramza's earnest effort to show her how to whistle properly was made of adorable-ness.

Again with the Delita being vague towards Ramza, his bestest friend! But I like the dialogue of the Warjilis dock CG cut scene, very moving. It makes me wonder if Delita guessed the truth behind the Zodiac Brave stones or if he knew but just didn't care, as long as he could use it for his advantage. Ramza's lack of eloquence never fails to amaze me. Such the innocent!

Chapter 1: The Meager

Finished chapter 1 last night. That battle with Argath was grueling, I still don't understand the utter and shameful weakness of my buffed up characters. But trying to steal items always makes an easy battle much more difficult.

The CG movie afterwards was lovely but rather anticlimactic. I seemed to recall the original explosion at Fort Zeakden having much more impact. But that may have just been a first impression and possibly a sound quality issue on the handheld console.

The dialogue throughout the battle was pretty damn heartbreaking. Argath's reasoning and constant barrage against Ramza and Delita sounded just as cold and callous as it did the first time I played the battle, especially when you consider he is only 16 or 17 years old and not even a knight. But then, he did have a shameful past to compensate for. And alas, Delita's anger with Ramza, TEARS.

Homage to Mileuda Folles, it was especially sad having to kill her.

Milleuda Folles

I like the translation of the two Milleuda battles, the exchange between Delita, Milleuda and Ramza flows a little better now. Do you think Milleuda and Wiegraf are low-born knights or high-born? They do talk so very posh, it seems out of place with their supposedly low-born background. Not that I'm expecting some Shakespearean-fool accents, but clearly some of the truly low-born characters have been speaking in a very rough dialect with contractions and rude epithets whatnot. I am inclined to think that the Folles siblings were middle class knights now thrust into poverty, clinging to some past dignity.

I don't know about you, but even at 5 levels past the enemies, my thieves and monks keep getting slaughtered. I only managed to steal a couple of things from Milleuda, it was that devastating. I also realized that a couple of my characters, the mages, had really crappy brave/faith stats (after I leveled them to 11) so I had to dismiss one male (I always hate that) and put the female down the crazy job class path. Cursed brave/faith and zodiac compatabilities! At least there aren't judges and laws, sheez.

Well, this isn't my perfect game, the only purpose was to go through the storyline and see all the new cutscenes, goodies and classes. That's what I keep telling myself, anyways...

Leaf Whistle

Those silly leaf whistles will always bring tears to my eyes!

The voice acting of both Delita and Ramza kinda crack me up, since they're trying to pitch their voices so high, but I very much approved of this CG scene. The animation is so eerie and beautiful, with cross-hatching and an antique color scheme. I think one starts noticing Delita's desperate search for the meaning behind the past events, frustrated with the class struggles, while Ramza only sees that his best friend is hurt and confused. I love you Ramza, but you are quite the innocent.

Welcome!

Greetings, noble reader! I just wanted to start off with a warm welcome to whoever is reading this, if anyone at all. Probably not...

My brother and I, with great cost to our pocketbook and grievous injury to the truck, purchased a refurbished PSP just for this precious game. At this point, I have logged in several hours and leveled Ramza (an Aries) up to level 7. The gameplay is as delightfully challenging as ever. The opening CG movies are gorgeous, and the voices are as stuffy and medieval as I would have wanted. (Though what was with changing Ramza's infamous "Surrender now or die in obscurity!" line?!! It was classic! I dislike the new version, doesn't have the same ring of arrogance to it.)

My greatest complaint is the terrible load time during certain moves, which I hear was even worse in the Japanese version. I also miss the random Engrish spell and attack names, that was a charming and amusing component of the original, but I guess it would have made the lag worse. Also... Argath Thadalfas? That thounds thuper gay.

Overall, just as fun as I remembered, and the translation is much smoother and classier. Here's to further adventures!

Recent fanart!
Save the Queen (Agrias Oaks)
Ser Agrias (Agrias Oaks)
Gunner and Knight (Mustadio and Agrias)