Gabranth [Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage]

"A warrior who swears his life to those he trusts."
— Description

Gabranth is a secret playable character on Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage, a Final Fantasy fan-made ORPG which I create.

Character Information
Gabranth's fighting style is EXecutioner. An Archadian Judge in service to the Empire, he took on the guise of his twin brother Basch and killed King Raminas of the Kingdom of Dalmasca, disgracing Basch and ensuring Archadia's dominance of the region.

Character Appearance
Gabranth is a tall, muscular 36 year-old with short blond hair and hazel eyes. His original outfit is based on his original design in Final Fantasy XII. He wears gray and silver Judge's armor with a helmet with curved horns, and a black cape with the insignia of the Archadian Empire. Gabranth's weapon is a dual-bladed sword which he can freely disconnect at the hilt to wield as two separate weapons.

Abilities
- Ability 1 - Guilt [Q]:
Charge forward, stunning opponent, then slice swords to create an explosion.
Additional Effect: Stun, Knockback

- Ability 2 - Hatred [W]:
Conjure a large sphere of energy around Gabranth and send out a shockwave to damage enemies around him.
Additional Effect: Stun, Knockback

- Ability 3 - Aero [E]:
Create a large cyclone that slowly spins forward. Causing damage to enemies in a line and has a chance to deal multiple damage.
Additional Effect: None

- Ability 4 - Enrage [R]:
Charge and increasing Gabranth's Damage, Defense and HP Regen for a certain duration.
Additional Effect: Rage

- Ability 5 - Vortex of Judgement [T]:
Give Gabranth a chance to spin around and deal 2 times normal damage.
Additional Effect: Critical

Gabranth Preview Screenshot

Wallpaper Art
Gabranth wallpaper art that I made for the project.

Gabranth from Final Fantasy XII

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Zidane Tribal [Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage]

"A thief with great energy and a sharp wit, though all is lost when it comes to women."
— Description

Zidane Tribal is a playable character on Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage and Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage 2, a Final Fantasy fan-made ORPG and RPG which I create.

Character Information
Zidane is an Aerial Ace. Lithe and graceful, Zidane excels at midair battling, and can run rings around foes in arenas with few footholds.

Character Appearance
Zidane wears a teal vest over a white sleeveless shirt and white jabot with blue pants and several belts. He has large grey gloves with blue cuffs and two-toned grey and white boots. He also has a distinctive prehensile, monkey-like tail.

Abilities
- Ability 1 - Swift Attack [Q]:
Swift, short-ranged melee attack that damage and knocks opponent away.
Additional Effect: Stun, Knockback

- Ability 2 - Grand Lethal [W]:
Summon an aura of energy and spin towards opponents, damaging them. Has good tracking.
Additional Effect: None

- Ability 3 - Shift Break [E]:
Summon a storm of lightning bolts around Zidane and draw them away, then conjure a burst of water under him. Damage enemies around him.
Additional Effect: Stun, Knockback

- Ability 4 - Stellar Circle 5 [R]:
Creates a tornado of energy around Zidane that draws in the opponent and damage them multiple times. Zidane can't be attacked by any magic when he is spinning.
Additional Effect: Magic Block

- Ability 5 - Dodge Jump [T]:
Gives Zidane a chance to jump and dodge physical attack from opponent.
Additional Effect: Evasion

Zidane Tribal Preview Screenshot

Wallpaper Art
Zidane wallpaper art that I made for the project.

Zidane from Final Fantasy IX

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Squall Leonhart [Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage]

"A cold, taciturn youth who wields a gunblade, a weapon part sword, part gun."
— Description

Squall Leonhart is a playable character on Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage and Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage 2, a Final Fantasy fan-made ORPG and RPG which I create.

Character Information
Squall's fighting style is Relentless Revolver. A cold taciturn youth who wields a gunblade, a weapon part sword and part gun. He is a master of combos, able to chain together a myriad of attacks.

Character Appearance
Squall wears a black leather bomber jacket over a white shirt with black pants and white fur along the collar and top of his pants. He also bears his Griever pendant around his neck, with a Griever buckle on one of his belts. A small sash partially covers his right leg.

Abilities
- Ability 1 - Thunder Barret [Q]:
Fires a stream of lightning that damage and stun enemies in line.
Additional Effect: Stun

- Ability 2 - Fated Circle [W]:
Swing Gunblade to surround self with orbs of energy horizontally, then detonate them. Damaging nearby enemies and stuns them.
Additional Effect: Stun, Knockback

- Ability 3 - Revolver Drive [E]:
Surround Gunblade in a red aura and charge forward. Gunblade in a red aura and charge forward. Can be steered, and can be lengthened for a long period of time by holding E.
Additional Effect: None

- Ability 4 - Solid Barrel [R]:
Makes Squall attack destroy MP per hit. The MP combusts, dealing damage to the attacked target.
Additional Effect: MP Damage

- Ability 5 - Beat Fang [T]:
Gives a chance for Squall to strikes opponents with three slashes and knock them around, then floats above them and stabs them repeatedly.
Additional Effect: Stun

Squall Leonhart Preview Screenshot

Wallpaper Art
Squall wallpaper art that I made for the project.

Squall from Final Fantasy VIII

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A Draft of a Thesis Abstract

[This year I am completing a Communication and Cultural Studies Honours as both a capstone of my undergraduate studies and, most probably, a stepping stone into several more years of postgraduate study. In addition to some coursework, Honours largely consists of writing a 15,000 word dissertation by the end of Semester 2 (late October). As such, I will be doing less freelance writing and even less blogging this year as I work on my thesis. However, to make up for this, I might try to update here with my thesis-in-progress, both to keep the blog alive and to get some valuable feedback. While the academics in my school (in particularly my supervisor) are able to give me excellent structural and theoretical advice, few of them play videogames and even fewer engage with videogame academia. By placing my work-in-progress here, perhaps my arguments will become a little more watertight.

For now, here is an early draft of an abstract of my thesis. It gives a decent oversight about what I plan to write about this year. Needless to say, there is a very high chance that this will change in the coming months as I do more research, get more feedback, and actually start writing. But for now, this is my topic as it currently stands:]

 Partners in Crime: The Mediating Effects of the Playable Character on the Videogame Player

Through a textual analysis of Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar North 2007), this thesis aims to complicate and complement videogame studies’ current understanding of the playable character’s role in shaping the player’s experience. Just as the player may define certain actions and characteristics of the character, so too do the character’s actions and characteristics helps to shape the player’s experience.

The videogame player interacts with the videogame text as a hybrid of navigable spaces: a procedural space defined by processes that the player must comprehend; a possibility space defined by affordances that the player must act within the confines of; a fictional space defined as an audiovisual world that the player must interpret and exist in. While most videogame scholars acknowledge the role of the playable character as a vessel through which the player navigates these spaces, rarely is its mediating effect on the player fully recognised. Many texts will use the terms ‘player’ and ‘character’ interchangeably when discussing the agent that acts within the videogame space. This uncertainty as to just who is acting highlights a gap in the existing literature on playable characters and their role in mediating the player’s experience.

Engaging with actor-network theory and cyborg theory to account for the existence of the playable character’s nonhuman agency independent of the player, this thesis explores how the agencies of both actors—player and character—intertwine and mediate each other to form a hybrid actor, the player-character, which is the actual actor that navigates the videogame space.

Grand Theft Auto IV and its episodic expansions “The Lost and the Damned” and “The Ballad of Gay Tony” engage the player with three distinct playable characters while the game’s spaces and mechanics remain more-or-less unchanged. An analysis of these titles will thus allow this thesis to explore the effects of the playable character’s agency on the player-character hybrid and, subsequently, on the player’s experience.

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Cloud Strife [Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage]

"An acerbic young swordsman with glowing eyes who wields a blade as large as he is."
— Description

Cloud Strife is a playable character on Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage and Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage 2, a Final Fantasy fan-made ORPG and RPG which I create.

Character Information
Cloud's fighting style is called Buster Basher. Cloud is a swordsman who deals powerful attacks that send his foes flying. Though he is considered composed in the eyes of his comrades, Cloud often questions the reasons and methods for fighting, as well as the purposes that it would serve, and struggles to understand them.

Character Appearance
Cloud wears an indigo outfit, a metal pauldron, a brown belt with the SOLDIER symbol, brown gloves and black boots.

Abilities
- Ability 1 - Cross-Slash [Q]:
Charge and swing sword three times, knocking opponent away. Cloud will turn to track opponent if the first swing misses.
Additional Effect: Stun, Knockback

- Ability 2 - Blade Beam [W]:
Swing sword and release a blast of energy along the ground. Causing damage to enemies in a line and has a chance to deal multiple damage.
Additional Effect: None

- Ability 3 - Meteorain [E]:
Send several meteors up into the air that rain down on the enemies, damaging them.
Additional Effect: None

- Ability 4 - Mako Injection [R]:
Cloud's body has injected by Mako Energy. Gives him additional HP Regen.
Additional Effect: HP Regen

- Ability 5 - Sonic Break [T]:
Gives a chance for Cloud to swoop down and slash once to knock the opponent.
Additional Effect: Stun

Cloud Strife Preview Screenshot

Wallpaper Art
Cloud wallpaper art that I made for the project.

Cloud from Final Fantasy VII

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Terra Branford [Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage]

"A pure, innocent girl born with the power of magic."
— Description

Terra Branford is a playable character on Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage and Dissidia Final Fantasy: Warriors Voyage 2, a Final Fantasy fan-made ORPG and RPG which I create.

Character Information
Terra's fighting style is Esperkin. A girl blessed - or cursed - with both the power of Espers and incredibly powerful magic, Terra's attacks are magical in nature, but she can strike an enemy with both long and short-range attacks.

Character Appearance
Terra has long curly blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail, and purple eyes. She wears a sleeveless red dress with floral patterns, two long red gloves, several different sashes around her waist, and a pale pink cape. Her legs are covered by patterned white tights, and she wears pointed red and gold high-heeled boots.

Abilities
- Ability 1 - Blizzara [Q]:
Shoot a large piece of ice which splits into smaller ones on contact. Slowing the enemy target movement.
Additional Effect: Shiver

- Ability 2 - Fira [W]:
Fire a burst of flame along the ground that launches into the air. Damage enemies in target area of effect.
Additional Effect: Burn

- Ability 3 - Thundara [E]:
Summons several lightning bolt to slam around the enemy. Damage enemies in the target area of effect.
Additional Effect: None

- Ability 4 - Meltdown [R]:
Shoot large fireball that damage enemies it line. Largest range and high speed, poor homing.
Additional Effect: None

- Ability 5 - Flood [T]:
Summon four bursts of water around Terra. Damage and stun the enemies around.
Additional Effect: Stun

Terra Branford Preview Screenshot

Wallpaper Art
Terra wallpaper art that I made for the project.

Terra from Final Fantasy VI

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