repeter | Q&A Meme

Ardyn Izunia (FFXV)

What is a non-regain (and non-spoiler) thing you want to do with Professor Izunia here?

I want someone. To. Please. Give him a wardrobe makeover.

Iris has already attempted it with making him buy a new coat. But he hardly wears it. I need him to lose a bet or something so he's not always a walking fashion disaster.

OH and my question for you: Will much of Togusa's personality change with regains? Or his motivations, way of thinking, etc?

It sort of depends on what order he gets things back in and who he's surrounded himself by when the big stuff starts coming in? He could get a lot more confident, and people are already starting to push him on the path of "trust your instincts and look into things even if you don't have the rank to." But he could also just get the rug yanked out from under him and spiral into paranoia instead.

If anything, bullshit philosophy about the nature of humanity and reality will only intensify as regains happen.

How on earth did the Izunia clan get so big?

ardyn's such an excellent character - i really love how you've integrated him into the game, because it feels so fluid and smooth. aaaand that's my question; did you run into any difficulties auing him, and if so, what was the biggest one(s)?

Thank you! I've been immensely enjoying playing him in an AU setting, and I'm glad to hear that you think he's integrated well into the game.

That being said, there was definitely a lot of brainstorming that went into figuring out exactly what I wanted to do when it came to AUing him. The main issue that he was... well, a villain in the game, and therefore carried with him a lot of nasty character traits. But as a character he also had a past where he started out as a nice, sympathetic ruler and a healer -- and so I decided to go with that as an AU starting point, especially since it felt like the more natural way to begin.

BASICALLY I WANTED TO REFLECT HIS CANON, which meant that I wanted him to start as a relatively decent individual and with regains, potentially slowly revert back to his darker, bitter self. I had trouble figuring out his career path as a result, but finally decided on being a law professor? Since it reflected his political tendencies in canon (at least in the sense of knowing the ins and outs of law), but leaned more towards helping others learn and just... being not as big of an apathetic jerk to people.

SOMETIMES I STILL FEEL LIKE HIS AU HISTORY IS TOO BARE BONES but I'm generally satisfied with the result! Being in Recollé has really given me the fun opportunity to play out scenarios I'd never get to with an OU version.

wow this was tl;dr i'm sorry??

Edited 2017-03-15 04:28 (UTC)

i actually don't think it's too bare bones at all - i think, in fact, it's just detailed enough to give you wiggle room. not to mention, ardyn himself is a mysterious guy and his role in canon, while a touch obvious, was still shrouded in mystery. even when you do find out what his deal is, it's very much a shock (or. it was to me LMAO)

i'm glad you brought up the villain thing though because i wanted to ask about that. obviously there's just going to be differences between and au and ou but recolle, being a reincarnation au of sorts, kind of falls in between; do you think ardyn will eventually fall in the vein of being a villain again? or is it a little bit difficult to predict at the moment?

also i don't mind tl;dr at all! the meme is great for that. GIVE ME IT

Wiggle room is definitely something I'm glad I allowed for myself, if I'm to be honest. I suppose leaving his AU history generalized in some aspects helped with that, so! It worked out in the long run.

THIS IS A GOOD QUESTION and I've thought about it a lot? Ardyn has lived for 37 years in Recolle's "reality", and in those 37 years he hasn't had to suffer through the same trauma and endless burdens that he experienced in OU. As a result, he's actually a lot closer to how he was as a healer in his OU, as opposed to being the villain.

But while he won't get all of his earth-shattering regains at once (I'd like to play it as a somewhat slow burn, but I suppose this depends on what actually happens in-game), the biggest hurdle to overcome is that he has... literally thousands of years worth of memories and emotion that will come basically rushing back into him. And 2000+ vs 37? His current life is going to have a hard time putting up a fight; I like to think of it as a scale, and unfortunately(??) his OU side has a lot more weight to it.

So while I can say he will definitely take a very biased swing towards heading back into villain territory, this also heavily depends on his close CR! A lot of what he didn't have in OU, he has the potential to have here. (A family, for instance, that didn't toss him to the curb. People that he might be able to actually lean on, etc etc.) It's going to be a constant push and pull of "well, I have a nice life here, I have people that care about me, I shouldn't be so bitter" versus "I'm still feeling the wrongs and anger/spite of my past life, these thousands of years worth of memories are making me borderline apathetic again" type deal. If that makes sense? On the flip side, if he has CR that pushes him to be more of an antagonist, he can head in that direction too.

But basically, yes, he probably will become more villain-y at first. I DO like drama and pain, so that'll probably be a thing that'll happen; whether or not he manages to slowly vacillate back to something less extreme and more in the middle remains to be seen! I would certainly not be against it if it happened! In fact, I think it would be more interesting from a character development standpoint if it did... it would just be a goal that would take a lot of work to achieve, and probably a massive strain on his CR.

LMFAO i'm dumb and forgot your question. i'm also braindead and can't spell

What CR has surprised you the most in Recolle so far, and why? Whether positive or negative, doesn't matter!

Edited 2017-03-15 05:20 (UTC)

shush, don't worry, i clearly didn't mind!!!

i think one of the funnest things about playing a villain in a game like this is seeing how far their cr can take them. there's obviously a similar aspect for heroes, but the stakes are a lot... the word i want to use is higher for villains. the chance at redemption often ends up being very much a hot button topic in these situations and it's fantastic, i think. i'm really excited to see where ardyn goes; you've done a genuinely stand up job with him thus far, blending his au and his ou in such a way that it's very easy to see that this is ardyn. as such, seeing where you take him is just A BLAST and. again, i can't wait.

HM... if i can be a little general, here, jade's respect for all the adults she knows has surprised me the most. it's not something i really expected because, forgive me if you're homestuck familiar, but in canon jade grew up alone. no family and potentially no friends, she had to rely on herself. there aren't any authority figures for her, aside from her. deceased grandfather who is somehow stuffed look please dont ask its homestuck. she seems to have a rocky relationship mostly because she's projecting a lot of her insecurity regarding his death on him, so that's all i really hard for reference in game. but likely due to the fact she DID NOT GROW UP. ON HER OWN ON AN ISLAND lmao, jade has a lot more understanding of certain social cues like respecting your elders, teachers, etc. it's been interesting to work with!

ardyn's done a lot of really excellent stuff in game but i'm curious to know if there's anything in particular you wanted to do with him, whether it's something silly or serious! aaaand, why is it that you want to play out that scenario?

I know it's only been a month and a half, but favorite thread with Ardyn so far?

Oh man LMFAO that's tough? He's had so many good ones with like... practically everyone I've threaded with.

Off the top of my head, I loved all of his threads in the bar crawl log. Him being dared (by Grell) to serenade someone (...Grell) was definitely v. hilarious.

That log was a fucking national treasure.

yes it was, i was laughing 2 hard the entire time

So the same question to you! what's your favorite thread with Arlene so far? And secondly, what regain are you looking forward to the most, and why?

Favorite threads: Probably either the nipplepocalypse 2k17 because oh my god what the hell, or the blind date because it was just plain cute.

Regain-wise: Like I said to other questions, the ability to travel via corridors of darkness is going to be a good one, and it'll be exciting to see how her losing her heart and becoming a Nobody again works out.

We know Ardyn has more scarves than anybody in their right mind wants or needs, but is that his only hat?

Does Ardyn regret going into teaching at all?

I don't think he regrets it, no! He sometimes wonders what path he would have chosen if his family hadn't pressured him into taking the political route, which initially began with him going into law, but it's not something he lingers on very often. He's actually pretty happy with his position in teaching, and even if he doesn't practice much anymore, it's a skillset he knows he can always fall back on if he has to.

He has an affinity for law, and (since I'm playing him in this AU as more sympathetic, like how he would have been early in his original canon) he also enjoys helping his students learn and understand as a professor. All in all, he's happy with his lot in life!

What sort of specific CR are you hoping to garner in Recollé for Freya? Someone to challenge her way of thinking, someone to be best buddies, or anything really! Also, tell me what regain you're looking forward to the most. :)

I am a big fan of negative CR, I admit. Or even people she's friends or allies with that are willing to get up in her face about things. Freya's not quite prone to the same bad decisions as Fang, but when that time comes, it'd be great to have CR to call her out on her shit and/or make her calm down. Best buddies, or maybe even a romantic interest if things go that way, would be great too. She's at her best when she has people whose interests she's willing to aggressively look out for.

And regain, well, remembering the Day of Transgression, because I'm horrible. Childhood loss of parents, home, start of a war that'd shape a huge part of her life, etc. All the emotions tagging along with that memory are going to make the transition from Freya to Fang very interesting. Power-wise, Bahamut might be fun. I have a mental image of her trying to pick a fight with it the first time it shows up in the parking lot because thanks memories.

What kind of scenario are you looking forward to the most with AU-Ardyn? Or if you have any goals with him, if that's too specific.

what's ardyn's worst nightmare?

Ardyn’s actually a pretty-well adjusted man in this AU. How boring, I know. Any metaphorical demons he has might have to do with his family, honestly, and the fallout he had with them. It’s not so much a “worst” nightmare as it is a resentment that he can’t quite get rid of — and one that he’s reminded constantly when spending time with Fynn, a younger brother that he doesn’t blame any of the aforementioned drama on.

BUT IF WE MEAN LITERALLY, Ardyn does have a reoccurring dream that NORMAL people might consider a “nightmare”. Him wandering in an endless dark, with nothing to guide him. An eternal night type thing! To add a dash of foreshadowing to him one day coming to terms with the decisions he made in his OU.

Jokingly, it’d be a pretty big nightmare if someone ruined his scarf collection. :(

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oops i should add a header in here for vague ffxv spoilers

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DROPKICKS

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