syni

i remembered this exists which is *the thing*

it's the thing that happens that i wrote about before, the cycle-of-interests. it doesn't help that disinterest leads to forgetting, and i am very, very forgetful

a lot has happened lately!! i went to europe for the first time. went to germany. i went to a horse convention because i am one

i feel like i've grown a lot over this last year. there's been a lot of stress, a lot of chaos and worry, but also a lot of pushing myself and success, too. it would be easy to focus on the very bad frequent things that have been happening around this last year but i can't function like that. i spent months actively reading the news to ensure i was on top of current events and it absolutely destroyed my ability to enjoy anything, so i've been cutting back on it severely. i love and appreciate my friends, even when times are hard, even when mind is the enemy

also, my favorite game ever got its sequel which feels like fable (yes silksong) and wowie i'm still enjoying that 30 hours deep

I did the crossed paths events with both Temenos + Throné in Flamechurch, and Agnea + Hikari in Ryu

genuinely assumed Throné's character could understand the concept of perceiving a treasure as something beyond materialistic goods. i was wrong. a person doesn't count as a treasure apparently. a person whose story is extremely mysterious and has even gifted our party a mysterious (albeit dusty) object, to boot

Temenos sees the value of course. he's fucking Temenos.

This is the game as of late. The one, the only. The obsession

Does it warrant space on this journal, on the greater internet, as my third post to dreamwidth in particular? I'm going to say yes.

Fair warning ahead of time any posts about this game will have spoilered content! I'm essentially stream-of-conscious-ing my thoughts and experiences and reflecting on them as I continue to play.

---

so okay i'm like 20 hours deep into the game at this point. I've collected every one of the titular eight characters and have seen every first chapter (they've been really well thought-out, actually!) The order that I picked them up was probably a bit strange -- I started with Temenos, first off my god, Temenos.... He's a cleric whose disposition of doubt has earned him immense trust with the church, propelling him into the high-ranking position of Inquisitor. He's also a snarky twink who seems to enjoy toying with Crick, the very green Sanctum Knight assigned to assist the church at Temenos' hometown of Flamechurch and I love him for it.

after Temenos, the nearest logical place the game directs you to go is New Delsta to pick up Throné. But I had other ideas, heading north instead to the snowy region where Osvald can be found. His brief character description intrigued me the most from the jump as it sounded tragic and impressively spicy for a modern JRPG... Something about incarceration for killing his wife and child. Yeah that's intense, I NEED this guy's take on things. When I finally found him, the game warned me that his introductory sequence actually lasts two chapters and that I wouldn't be in control of Temenos until both were completed. As is Octopath's way you can choose to "hear a story" at any city in the game by talking with the city's bartender (a cute touch). So... armed with that knowledge, I decided to put it off.

As my plan was to snag all of the characters *first* and then go deeper into their stories afterward, I high-tailed it to the next target. Still not Throné. Straight up, fuck Throné

I really wanted to visit the other continents so there was a lot of exploration that happened around this time. I went really far north looking for a boat -- no such thing. Then south, along the coast, until I eventually did find a port, which was good because I was starting to worry the path forward would have required something less intuitive, like an airship, or an underground bug-travel system.

The next pickups were in this order: Ochette, feral beast girl, -> Castti, amnesiac seafaring apothecary, -> Hikari, betrayed desert prince, -> Agnea, carefree starry-eyed dancer, -> Throné, who cares (alright fine she's a thief born into a corrupt gang and wants her freedom), -> Partitio, youthful rugged merchant.

Octopath is a very unique game in that it's extremely non-linear in a certain sense. The stories of every character can be completed at any time, in whichever order you choose -- you don't even need to find all of them before going deep into one. Having played the first game, though, my strategy was to get everyone first, then stick with four and complete those four entirely, then the next four. After collectin' 'em all, I decided my first party of four was going to be: Temenos, Agnea, Throné, and Hikari. That leaves the next group of four to be Osvald, Ochette, Castti, and Partitio. I tried to make sure there was a balance in both teams of damage output and healers (although the game gives you great options to multiclass all of your characters, so I don't think this ultimately was a large concern).

I then went on to do Temenos' chapter 2, Agnea's chapter 2, Throné's chapter 2, and Hikari's chapter 2, all of which were even better than the chapter ones... which I was really surprised by?? Usually the opening chapter is among the strongest, right?

Seriously though, I love Temenos... like, just in case I wasn't clear enough earlier..... when he's deep in thought he furrows his brow and then kind of goes into a psychedelic alternate dimension where no one else exists and he can examine shit. Which is really fucking funny and campy but I still find it cute.

Next time we're doing "Crossed Paths"... which is kind of like when two characters in your party have a shared event. Pretty excited about that. Temenos and Throné have one. We'll see what happens......

i'm actually a ghost fuzzy thing on the internet and wanted to write somewhere that felt ~coooomfy~. i haven't journaled in a way that felt 'journaley' in quite some time. social media is weird. and you know the internet is a big place with different places to post and share but I've always felt fringe and weird about it and I need room to grow!!! mmm-yup well...

hi!!