BlackOsprey

Oh man, I am sorry about that. Are you okay?

I actually try to avoid using that term as completely as possible as it has been used so inflationary in the last years in fandoms that it lost its actual meaning.

Of course, when one just uses the setting of a certain established work that can work wonders with some OCs when the established characters are largely left out completely. One may even argue that X[chi] is largely such a situation as it takes place in a completely different era.
There are many possibilities how to pull off including OCs and on one hand I can understand some authors wanting to bring those in as of course every fic needs to bring in something new the games and official novels/mangas haven't done yet in order to make things a little more fresh.
Especially in an environment like the KH universe though that effect could be just as easily achieved with additional Final Fantasy or Disney characters which for my story I did try to go with most of the time.

Since I'm a vivid fan of Ducktales I know just how much of an odd mix of funny and badass Scrooge is so I just had to include him somehow at least as a supporting role and as it looks like right now it was mostly successful. xD

He can get his creative genius going all he wants for as long as he keeps his hands off actual script writing, allows his ideas checked by others and translated into dialogue and pacing that actually works.
The core story is all Nomura, but even if it is not truly canon Amano managed to translate that core story into something much smoother and captivating with the mangas.
I'm actually pretty ambivalent about the FF VII Compilation, especially since there are quite some new potentially interesting characters like Cissnei or Denzel and Crisis Core finally gave us a picture of how the good, hero-like Sephiroth really was like. The whole issue with Genesis though is way over the top and while Deepground and the Tsviets look rather fancy, Dirge of Cerberus itself was also a hit and miss game overall.
Yep, the story of the prequel era is actually quite intricate and makes sense in-universe, but the presentation of it in the movies is totally botched.
I could see it but not hear anything since right now my soundcard is toast (and when I am at work I cannot turn on audio for obvious reasons), so I'll have to look at this one later.

Heh yeah, I remember there was even a comic that joked about Sora being Cloud's and Aerith's son, getting the hairstyle and eye color from his father but the hair color and the very big empathy-capacity from his mother.
In DW 8 Empires it comes mostly from the "cloud"-hairstyle (which is a DLC actually) being the most fitting for Sora (and obviously Vanitas) as well since an anime style as ridiculous as Sora's obviously isn't available.
For people with really stupid/over the top hairstyles I have to work with quite some tricks like i.e. Seymor Guado from FF X.

Yep, that's our resident Guardian of fun. Looking at my Excel sheet for it, I have so far 168 created characters over all and more than 150 still planned, lol.
I'm contemplating about making a thread to show off all these guys and gals, but I've actually no idea where such a thing would be put and if there would be any interest to see it, lol.

It's obvious that the weather becomes evermore extreme and humanity certainly does have a partly responsibility for it, especially since the early days of industrialization.
It's also telling that despite having already two Super-GAUs (Chernobyl and Fukushima) people still cling to nuclear power mostly not because there is no alternative, but because of the need for more money-grabbing.

I am pretty sure that you might enjoy it. I did most of the writing, lol.

I was wondering if you read the fanfiction that Luap911 and I did together.

I think it is mostly because the authors in question heavily identify with their own OCs and up to a certain level also want to show them off. I realized I have similar urges with my own OCs in all creative mediums I'm active in but so far I managed to balance out focus and attention if there are pre-established characters around in the work in question.
Another variant which is admittedly much more annoying at least from my perspective are wish-fulfillment and/or self-insert characters that not only hijack the plot but also the connections between the pre-established characters. Like i.e. an OC that gets huge attention becoming so close to a pre-established character that the actual friends/companions that character has are suddenly but an afterthought and the pre-established characters is interacting just with the OC for more than 90% of the time.
Self-inserts can be done right, but that requires quite some skill.
Since I haven't read that story I won't pass any judgement on it, it would truly depend on if these numerous OCs regularily outshine the pre-established characters both attention-wise and in-story wise (i.e. they're always depicted as stronger/better than the pre-established ones) or if attention is more evenly spread between these groups.

Of course, too much of it may however risk things getting stale, that's why it is advisable to mix in the occasional funny/comedic or fluffy/cute scene to keep things versatile, hence why I also love including such characters as Hades, Donald, Goofy, Braig or Uncle Scrooge to bring some lightheartedness in some fitting situations.

Nomura certainly came a long way around and despite much criticism leveled at him (which as far as I know comes mostly from the western fandom in both FF and KH) he's right now probably the guy who makes the most money for Square alongside Tabata.
Yea, I think so, but luckily in the FF VII-Remake the whole old team is involved so while Nomura may direct he may not actually have much actual direct influence on the script.
Exactly, both of those are very good in cooking up concepts and scenarios but would need professional help to translate these into a presentable form that works.
I know right, it's even right down to the fact that the actual intention and potential for BBS and the prequel trilogy is actually right there in the material, the starting points are set but do not really get effectively explored. In terms of Star Wars it really shows with the TV show "The Clone Wars" that i actually delivers everything the prequel movies should have done. Prequel-movie Anakin is almost unbearable but Clone Wars Anakin is a very interesting character.

Heheh, I summoned them to Ancient China, lol, alongside a whole bunch of other characters from several works and some of my own OCs as well.
I actually also showed Gram quite some screens via PM and we gushed over how many possibilties this game allows, lol.

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Yea, and yet there are still some people out there that deny climate change being a thing...<__<

I myself have also no problem with reading very long texts and stories when I know I have the time for it. I've noticed though that some people are certainly overwhelmed by the scope of my story and on one hand I can understand that since it has as of now already more than 120.000 words, switches POV relatively often and has several parallel running story arcs with different groups of characters.
Hearing things like this is when I really mourn that I have so few free time at hand as used to read other people's stories as well some years ago. I do have to admit though, as I already stated in my story thread as well, that I am highly sceptical of stories about established universes where original/author-created characters take central roles. For characters like that, the whole setting should be original.
I have a few original characters as well with those "virus-hybrids" first introduced in Braig's mini-arc with Tron, but although the reader will eventually learn something about them they will strictly remain support characters.

Heh, I've heard that my story also tugs at heartstrings once in a while which is intended and yet I do think that it should not be used as the only primary driving force for the tale.

Indeed, pulling off such a twist requires some advanced writing skills, skills creative "idea-people" like Nomura or George Lucas don't possess. They can think up amazing scenarios and themes, but not translate these into working presentations for the audience very well.
Harrison Ford actually did say "you can type this shit, George, but you sure can't say it" directly into Lucas' face back in the 70's and George then directing them himself was what caused quite a loss of quality in the prequels (which the actual movies undeniable have).

That being said, as the "playing" part of my profile says quite a part of my sparse free time right now also goes into Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires, mainly because it has a superb character/officer editor and available slots for 850 characters (high available space on the PS4 be thanked, lol).
Creating a realistic and good looking character with voice, voice pitch, individual special attacks and anatomy can take quite some time, but it is tons of fun.
Do you recognize those two?

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It's a very stressful weather situation indeed, and now we also have floods in several parts of the country resulting already in at least five deaths.
I know the time zone-annoyance, lol, has always been a killjoy here. ;P

I got permabanned for creating a alt account and calling people out for a fight.

That's probably better than what I did. You don't want to use Craigslist, because that place is pretty shady. I think I might check OfferUp for an HDMI television, but I would have to save up the cash and meet with the person in a public place. I don't want a random stranger in my place, because who knows what that person will do. I also might want to have someone with me because I have heard of stories of people being ganged upon when they were buying something from someone and usually those people that ganged on the person were with the seller. More importantly, I should focus on buying my ID this week.

You could buy one for parts and have someone repair it. I am needing to save up for an HDMI television.

You're lucky that you have a PS3. I can't believe I sold mine. I am always needy for cash, ugh!

Sunny and Raining by ienzo628 on DeviantArt Here's one of the pictures that I took today out on my balcony.

Man, I hope you pass your SATs.

I won't definitely tell, but it is clear that Anti-Sora certainly has the bigger assets and possibilities at hand since he's not a broken heart right now. Vanitas however has the possibility of free movement at least in the reality layer of hearts while Anti-Sora is still confined to the darkest parts of Sora's heart.

Indeed, when you look at the "Who posted?" overview of the thread you realize that many of those who posted more often in the story are not really active anymore.
Long stories also tend to get somewhat difficult to read, but that's why I have a list of links to every individual chapter in the opening post to help with overview.

That is also a big aspect of it as while I do include twists in the story, I tend to place subtle hints and foreshadowing to them directly in the primary medium as well as weaving them into the planned milestones for the story itself. Twists happen not for the sake of being primarily "surprising" as sadly Nomura seems to pay more attention to but because I need them to move the story down the path it is intended to be. Some of these twists being surprising or possibly "wham" moments is only a secondary aspect.
Having no need to pay attention to gameplay issues and other game-only limitations also certainly helps.

In recent years the summer around here started to become rather unpleasant not only due to constant high temperatures but also due to often high humidity.
Heh, by now it's around 1am here so I need to get some sleep, read ya tomorrow.

There are only two more days until the weekend.

Heheh, Vanitas certainly lives up to his role as co-main antagonist of the first part of the story, but it remains yet to see who of the two is worse on the overall scale.
As for Terra, despite his body being possessed by Xehanort over a decade and in the end losing the battle against Vanitas (thanks to Anti-Sora's intervention with the "agony beam") he has gotten quite a bit stronger and eventually we will of course see him again.

That is absolutely correct. Comments and reviews on a story obviously also give quite a boost to morale and motivation for any author though, hence why it is a little sad when activity drops so much.
I'm actually pretty stubborn on such things as I hate leaving things unfinished.

Indeed, and text form also has the advantage that one can go into much more detail than any visual medium like a video game, a movie or a TV series can. Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire are prime examples for that as in both works the books deliver a much more detailed and diverse experience than the screen variants.
That I jump so much between characters and put so much focus on others in addition to Sora, Donald and Goofy (which is also what causes the story to get bloated up in size) is also very much born from my frustration with the lackluster work in this area the games deliver.
Xion will certainly need some help if she wants to make really a difference, but the groundwork for that will be laid in the coming few chapters.

Yep, it's still pretty warm temperature-wise though so you can go in rather light clothes nonetheless.

Correct, although the start of the whole "messing" with Darkness in that case lies firmly at Vanitas' feet. Without his meddling from within Riku's heart, Anti-Sora would not even exist in the sentient form he currently has.

Heh, believe me that I'm not exactly happy with the fact that updating it goes so slow, but since I tend to make adjustments to chapters even after they're written when I notice some mismatches or weird wordings (English is still only my second language after all) and I often lack the time for that it causes delays.
Heh, that may be a good idea. The thread is one of the most prolific in the FanFic section and I also have the link in my sig for a reason and yet still activity has obviously gone down due to the infrequent updates. I do not want to publish half baked stuff though as those who have already read most or all of my story are used to a certain level of quality, a level that I want to maintain if possible.

Their dynamics are also somewhat unusual as Roxas is still somewhat of a child mentally-wise and now often in situations and tasks where he must rely on instinct and act without having any reassuring knowledge to help him make decisions.
Ventus obviously would be better off in that regard but due to his still massive injuries which do actually have a story reason he can't really be much of a guide/help towards Roxas as he otherwise could be.
Anti-Sora playing his sick games with them of course also doesn't help matters at all, which means that how much relief the twins get depends mostly on how well Xion manages to distract Anti-Sora.

It involved actually navigating a huge rainstorm this time as well, lol. Luckily I had a sturdy umbrella with me.

He's the main antagonist of the first part alongside Vanitas after all.
The Disney villains also will play a small but significant part in preparation for the finale, and without revealing too much I can say that they will inadvertently help Anti-Sora.

Ah yes, Ven and Roxas. There are some more bits of bonding and brotherly cuteness around before shit really hits the fan during the finale, that much I can say. What, why and how things happen is still too spoilery, but I'll reveal that all of them will have huge repercussions for the second and third part of the trilogy, especially considering the relationships between Ventus, Roxas, Sora and Vanitas as a whole.

Writing about the twins is, while one of my favorite "character groups", often really difficult to to it involving much more meta-stuff and mental issues than the others so I'm really glad when people like those passages.

Thank you, I remember working quite some time on those two. ^__^

Ah yeah, my next answer will be delayed as I'm about to move home from work, lol.

She will have quite an important role in the final arc of the first part of the story, including but not limited to bringing Sora back on track a little and helping him in shaking off Anti-Sora's indirect toxic influence.

It's not well known anymore since it is already years in the past, lol. I even lost most of the online versions of these works because my old ImageShack account was destroyed (due to them changing their terms of service etc.) and I'm still in the process of re-uploading them on Tinypic.

I already have my own Keyblades back up, the Balance Protector (Riku-themed) and the Radiant Heart (Ventus-themed):

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Back then when I created them I actually imagined the Balance Protector to be the "default" form of my own Keyblade while Riku would get a Keychain based on it while the Radiant Heart would be a Keychain for my Keyblade and I had no idea who would have it as "default" form as Ven's obviously is Wayward Wind.

Riku also still has Soul Eater and yet prefers using his Keyblade, in HiU Kairi will be exactly the opposite of that mindset, only using her Keyblade once she gets one if it is really absolutely necessary.

Well, my skillz usually revolve around working with layers and putting different elements together and/or cutting out specific elements of existing pictures like i.e. that Cornerstone of Light. I absolutely suck at drawing stuff from scratch both analog and digital.

I used to be much active in this field back in 2011 to 2012 when I still had more free time on hand, doing several wallpapers, Keyblades and even an awakening platform for Roxas. The part of my signature that isn't from DarkGrey is also selfmade except the Sephiroth Moogle which is a work of Sign.

Nope, she's capable of wielding one obviously and may even eventually gain one, but it will absolutely not her preferred weapon of choice.

That orb is the Cornerstone of Light, or at least an exact Replica of it. Why that is will be explained through the story.
Nope, I made that staff myself with my "digital art skillz". ;P