In the quiet, abandoned places in the city, where the weeds grow tall and the vines hang low, it’s possible to detect traces of the hidden societies of wallflower firbolgs. Elusive and secretive, these firbolgs spend their days cultivating the growth of nature in between the cracks of urban life, their reclamations of space standing against the totalising influence of civilisation and the state. Wallflower Firbolgs are also referred to as urban firbolgs, or city firbolgs.
Monstrous Lore: Neapolitan Gnolls
Sometimes reviled, but often envied, neapolitan gnolls are well known for their enticingly decadent lifestyles and outré appearances, and have carved a niche out for themselves in villages, towns and cities as unorthodox, foppish bohemians. These gnolls struggle with their supernatural hunger as much as any other, but have adapted a means of sublimating it into their eccentric, dandyish behaviour and satiating it with their hedonistic festivals. Neapolitan gnolls are also referred to as metropolitan gnolls, urbane gnolls, and burgher gnolls. Continue reading “Monstrous Lore: Neapolitan Gnolls”
Aria
“Our wish, our salvation, and our only hope is to end the historical crisis by becoming the alien, by ending alienation, by recognizing the alien as the Self, in fact – recognizing the alien as an Overmind that holds all the physical laws of the planet intact in the same way that one holds an idea intact in one’s thoughts. The givens that are thought to be writ in adamantine are actually merely the moods of the Goddess, whose reflection we happen to be. ” — Terence McKenna
The Slow Games Movement
A manifesto calling for a slow games movement.
Monstrous Love and Heroic Failure
Let our monsters love, let our heroes fail.
Fashion Fantasy – Shadow Hearts Covenant & From The New World
Welcome to the fourth installment of Fashion Fantasy! Every month, I’m going to be taking a look at the style and fashion of a given game, discussing some of the outfits and garments worn by characters, and analysing what they might tell us about characterisation and narrative! You can check out some of our previous installments below:
- February- Final Fantasy X-2
- January – Final Fantasy XII
- March – Bloodborne
To make up for there being no Fashion Fantasy in April, we’re doing a two-parter this month — and we’re gonna be looking at Nautilus’ Shadow Hearts: Covenant and Shadow Hearts: From The New World! Both are very-loosely-semi-historical JRPGs set during World War I and the end of the Roaring Twenties respectively, and they’re known for their often-campy style, so let’s get into it!
This post will include some spoilers for the events of Shadow Hearts Covenant and Shadow Hearts: From The New World, so only continue if you’re alright with that! Let’s begin!
Continue reading “Fashion Fantasy – Shadow Hearts Covenant & From The New World”
Fashion Fantasy – Bloodborne
Welcome to the third installment of Fashion Fantasy! Every month, I’m going to be taking a look at the style and fashion of a given game, discussing some of the outfits and garments worn by characters, and analysing what they might tell us about characterisation and narrative! You can check out some of our previous installments below:
- February- Final Fantasy X-2
- January – Final Fantasy XII
This month we’re going to be looking at FromSoftware’s 2015 game, Bloodborne. This game is part of the “Souls” series that includes FromSoftware’s other games, Demons Souls and Dark Souls, and this one in particular features a plethora of dark romantic and gothic styles to take a look at!
This post will include some spoilers for the events of Bloodborne, so only continue if you’re alright with that! Let’s begin!
Characters
Characters are listed by the primary setting they exist in, and/or by their first appearance in any setting.
Fashion Fantasy – Final Fantasy X-2
Welcome to the second installment of Fashion Fantasy! Each month, I’m going to be looking at the style and fashion in a particular game, looking at some of the outfits and garments that are interesting to me, breaking them down, and talking about them! You can check out the previous installment, where we explored Final Fantasy XII‘s fashion, right over here!
This month we’re going to be looking at Square Enix’s Final Fantasy X-2. Released in 2003/4 as a sequel to Final Fantasy X and then remastered in 2013/2014, this game is a lot more pop, campy and carefree than its predecessor — which earned it a lot of detractors, but it feels as though it’s been readily reclaimed and accepted by a lot of fans. One of said fans is Todd Harper, a games and media scholar focusing on games as culture and communication, whomst I’ve invited to give me some insight into some of the style and fashion in the game!
This post will include some spoilers for the events of Final Fantasy X and X-2, so only continue if you’re alright with that! Let’s begin!
Fashion Fantasy – Final Fantasy XII
Welcome to the first ever installment of Fashion Fantasy! This is a new pet project where, each month, I’m going to be looking at the style and fashion in a particular game, looking at some of the outfits and garments that are interesting to me, breaking them down, and talking about them!
What I’m aiming to do with Fashion Fantasy is to share thoughts about visual storytelling and characterisation in a fun way that I definitely haven’t just lifted from Raven and Raja’s Fashion Photo RuView series on YouTube. Note that I’m absolutely not an expert in any aspect of clothing or textiles, and you don’t need to be either — it’s more about just having fun and talking about style, fashion and taste! I’m not gonna be analysing every character in each game I choose, because there’re just too many — so I’ll focus on the ones that stand out most to me, for whatever reason. If you wanna talk to me about a favourite character of yours I’ve missed out, you can always leave a comment here or tweet me via Twitter!
To kick things off, we’re gonna start with Square Enix’s 2006 game (remastered in 2017), Final Fantasy XII! XII is one of my absolute favourites of the Final Fantasy franchise, and there’s a whooole looot of remarkable outfits. The characters of Final Fantasy XII were designed by Akihiko Yoshida, who also designed characters for Nier: Automata, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and Tactics Ogre.
This post will include some spoilers for the events of Final Fantasy XII, so only continue if you’re alright with that! Let’s begin!