Auronlu's House of Sin

But I sure am on Livejournal.

JUST IN CASE you remember me, I moved to Dreamwidth and Tumblr.

MORE IMPORTANTLY.

Remember LOVE HER AND DESPAIR? That AU Final Fantasy X novella with Lulu as Sin?

I've been posting a heavily revised, edited, and pruned version on Dreamwidth and AO3. The final chapters exist in rough draft form and should be posted at the end of this year (I'm reposting the whole story one chapter at a time, giving people a chance to reread or discover it for the first time.)


NOW WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FOR ALMOST EVERY CHAPTER, including a lot of amazeballs full-color plates by the graphic artist of Guardian comic:



And some by me:







Relive the saga. Love Her and Despair.

[click to enlarge]

Yuna’s pilgrimage is a linear journey across a landscape, but the landscape isn’t static. Unknown to Yuna and friends (apart from perhaps Auron), they’re crossing a gameboard, and the boundaries are being redrawn around them.

[[SPOILERS from here on]] Above, I’ve shown the biggest shift in spheres of influence. Before and after Operation Mi’ihen, the Crusaders are nearly annihilated and lose all authority in the regions where they had been the major power.

As we can tell from piecing together various NPC comments, their downfall was engineered by Maester Kinoc. I believe Maester Seymour was not originally a party to Kinoc’s stratagem, but barged in at the last minute and partially usurped it, as I’ll explain below.

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This entry was originally posted at http://auronlu.dreamwidth.org/253984.html, where it has comments.

Welcome back, viewers! Before the break, your intrepid news team braved fiends and Al Bhed to bring you a first exclusive look at the devastation wrought by Operation Mi’ihen! 

Now let’s check out the buzz around Luca, the second greatest city in Spira! What lies in store for our marvelous metropolis now that its Crusader defenders have deserted their posts?

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This entry was originally posted at http://auronlu.dreamwidth.org/253784.html, where it has comments.

That’s right, viewers, it’s time to step back from the big story, Lady Yuna’s pilgrimage, and find out what’s going in the rest of Spira! Your intrepid reporter won’t be talking to everybody, of course, just some key eyewitnesses who can give us some insight into current events. —Shaami

This broadcast is sponsored by YEVON!

Here’s today’s chief topics of gossip around the Djose Continent:

• Operation Mi’ihen aftermath
• With the Crusaders out of commission, who will protect us?
• Al Bhed: more trouble than they’re worth?
• What happened to Isaaru?
• And now, sport...

[Unless otherwise noted, screencaps from my camera, so apologies for quality.]

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Cross-posted on Tumblr

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This entry was originally posted at http://auronlu.dreamwidth.org/253184.html, where it has comments.

Last time year on my FFX Liveblog, Tidus and friends slogged along the Djose Angst Road commiserating with survivors of Operation Mi’ihen. Condescending yet well-intentioned priests mingled with the walking wounded, dispensing healing and absolution, oblivious to their own Maesters’ subtle stage management of the entire fiasco. 

Sorry, no room in FFX for a Floating Continent... will some floating rocks do? [X]

[Ixion mandala & glyph]

Before we flee into the Temple of SPARKY (as my father named Ixion) to escape rampaging hopper monkeys, let me backtrack and add some thinky thoughts about the Luzzu & Gatta arc...

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Cross-posted on Tumblr here.

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This entry was originally posted at http://auronlu.dreamwidth.org/252962.html, where it has comments.

Okay, so I’m all caught up to where I left off on my old Let’s Play Final Fantasy X liveblog.

It’s been so long since I posted those that I’d almost forgotten some of the themes I was trying to highlight during my playthrough.

Lemme recap some of these themes. [SPOILERS!]
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This entry was originally posted at http://auronlu.dreamwidth.org/252737.html, where it has comments.

I meant to start posting meaningful game discussion here after the new year and have failed miserably.

This is one of those times that I may be dead wrong, and regardless, Tumblr discussion is liable to explode in STUPID WAYS even if by some miracle I'm making sense. So. Let me put this on my own blog where people I trust can set me straight or ignore me because it's not your job to educate me.

MAIN THING: When I first saw the all-male cast of Final Fantasy XV, I didn't just roll my eyes at the dudes. I saw white, white, white. And then I questioned myself, remembering that important discussion about how westerners see anime characters as white, when Japanese see them as Japanese. So I rephrased my initial reaction as, "all-same-ethnic-group" (Japanese?) Am I imposing western liberal values on a different culture? Am I failing to pick up visual cues for a more diverse cast? I am not sure, but I'm wary.

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This entry was originally posted at http://auronlu.dreamwidth.org/252311.html, where it has comments.

I have unfinished FFVII and FFX Let's Plays, I haven't gotten to Lightning Returns, I was wasting time playing Kingdom Hearts for the first time, and I've fallen hopelessly behind in Final Fantasy fan discussions and game commentary on moogle_university . My FFX novella is languishing with the last five chapters in a messy and forgotten state.

What a PERFECT time to start a new game playthrough! 



Zencribnotes on Tumblr inspired me to try Final Fantasy Dimensions again. It's an iPad/Android native Final Fantasy game that came out in 2010.  When I last tackled it, I couldn't fully appreciate how much it was a homage to the early FFs. Now, by golly, I'm going to play Final Fantasy Nostalgia Bingo, because that's the main virtue of this game. 

Posted on my Let's Play Final Fantasy Blog -->

(but feel free to comment here)

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This entry was originally posted at http://auronlu.dreamwidth.org/252032.html, where it has comments.

Moogle_university (aka Rina) has been doing an awesome commentary and playthrough of a few games, including just-finished FFX, and I need to catch up on all your awesome commentary huzzah.

Just a FYI for Minty and others who may still be eyeing this blog from time to time. 

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This entry was originally posted at http://auronlu.dreamwidth.org/251391.html, where it has comments.