FFXII Graphics: Doctor of Philosophy in Final Fantasy XII

[aorin]

Long story short, I've attended my university convocation yesterday, and to commemorate this event, I made a series of icons, animation banners, friends only banners and oversize-bandwidth-consuming group banners XD With the theme, "Doctor of Philosophy in Final Fantasy XII" ;D

Honestly, I wasn't too keen on my own graduation ceremony. While the pomp and circumstance was a treat, it was dreadfully boring in the robbing room earlier that afternoon. I mean, I seriously felt like a canned sardin, and it's not because I was crammed into a room where I have to bump shoulders to move, or the fact that I'm wearing four layers of thick clothing inside the sauna-like room (not to mention, I kept on tripping over the hem of my gown, arms flailing and all, and I probably took out someone's eye with the mortar board X3), or even the fact that the graduands, boys and girls alike, despite being well-educated and smartly dressed, were gabbling like fish-mongers in a fish market :3

Now, what ultimately drove me nuts in the end was not all that (though, a large part of it), but rather it was the silly rule: No drinks allowed until the end of the ceremony 8O In the situation where I'm in a blazing warm room, filled with hundreds of noisy students from my faculty, with a Harry Potter gown sitting on my shoulders, and the last morsel of food that I had was three hours ago; the committee saw fit to impose this rule then =.=|||

I nearly dehydrated along the way TT^TT

Anyhow, while I'm not all cheers and celebration for my graduation, I'd probably go mad with joy if I receive a Ph.D in Final Fantasy XII XD

And btw, strangely, for the last two weeks, half of the post by my f-list were either graduation-related or hospital-related :P Well, congrats to the earlier and well-wishes to the latter :)

[20] Icons
[12] Characters Banners
[04] Friends Only Banners
[04] Group Banners {Small, 810 x 135}
[04] Group Banners {Medium, 1200 x 200}
[02] Group Banners {Large, 1800 x 300}

[+] Comments are nice :)
[+] Credit is even better :D
[+] No Hotlinking :3
[+] Do not modify without permission X3

ICONS

Group	Group

Ashe	Basch	Vaan	Penelo	Fran	Balthier
Ashe	Basch	Vaan	Penelo	Fran	Balthier
Ashe	Basch	Vaan	Penelo	Fran	Balthier

CHARACTERS BANNER

Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca
Quote: A New Day Has Dawned. Spoken in the ending on the Strahl, announcing Dalmasca's liberation.
Flower: Lily of the Valley. Well, originally, I wanted to let Ashe hold a single rose, but since two other guys were already posing with a huge bouquet of roses, I had to consider other choices :3 Ok, I know no one receives LofV during their graduation ceremony, but, I really liked this little bell-shaped flower XD Besides, this is one of the flowers that doesn't look dangerous in Ashe's hands XP





Basch Fon Ronsenburg
Quote: We Are The Arbiters of our Destiny. Spoken in Giruvegan, after Ashe receives the Treaty Blade.
Flower: White Roses. Ehehehe... XD This flower choice is rather personal. I admit, I love white roses and insist on receiving it on any occassions (Iris and Lotus is a close second, but...), so, of course, I'll chuck a bouquet of roses into Basch's hands. Though, I honestly think Basch had more of the "approach-me-and-I'll-smack-you-across-the-face-with-the-most-convenient-thing-in-my-hand" look XD Well, who can blame him, since I've replaced his favourite sword ;D





Vaan
Quote: I'm Ready to Find a Purpose... To Find Real Answers. Spoken in the Garif Village to Ashe.
Flower: Sunflower. Brighy, sunny, cheery, attention-seeking and always staring at sun, sounds like a flower that would fit Vaan very well ;) Though, my question is that, I just wonder how did Vaan manage to graduate in the first place and what university would actually confer him a doctorate... He looks suprising adorable, and a bit cocky, even though it was hard to fit the square academic cap on him XD





Penelo
Quote: Keep Our Eyes on the Road Ahead. Spoken in the Epilogue.
Flower: Tulips. I'm not a big fan of Tulips generally, compared to other types of flowers, but I do think it looks really lovely. And Penelo looks so cuddly and cute holding two stalks of violet tulips XD It was easy to let her hold flowers and still look comfortable in it. I don't know, but I find Penelo to be quite endearing here, and even her line sounds very inspiring ;) She just looks so... GENKI here XD





Balthier
Quote: Quite A Performance. Spoken in the Rabanastre Treasure Room, when he first appeared.
Flower: Red Roses. Of all the characters, I worked on Balthier's first, as I actually intended to make a congratulatory banner for a friend. And, it wasn't easy to get rid of his gun, and replace it with a bunch of roses. Honestly, I couldn't find a nice picture of a bunch of roses, so I ended up cropping a picture of a "vase" of roses instead. Oh well, as long as Balthier looks comfortable holding... XP Also, it was hard to settle the mortar board on his head, as the back of his hair was porcupine-ish... X3





Fran
Quote: I Won My Freedom. Spoken in Eruyt Village to Jote and Mjrn.
Flower: White Lilies. She was the hardest to work with. First, I couldn't find a nice, inspiring, uplifting quote from her. Then, her original pose made it quite hard to add a flower to it, and somehow, I got a bit ambitious and wanted to remove her weapon as well. With a picture of only three stalks of White Lilies, I had to duplicate them and resize them until it covers all the spaces of where her bow used to be X3 Surprisingly, I had so much fun working on her cap though, with her long ears, it has to be custom-made XD

FRIENDS ONLY BANNER

GROUP BANNER (SMALL)

GROUP BANNER (MEDIUM)











GROUP BANNER (LARGE)

Comments

[stormbornxxii.livejournal.com]

I love them! To put it mildly as well of course, but it's cool if you want to throw the word "obsessed" in there, I will understand XD The political war and intrigue is one of the first things that appealed to me about FFXII. I mean, I go absolutely nerdy over things like that. I also love how rich and detailed the world is; the settings are so expansive. It never feels like you're in "random town on the way to town that really matters," etc. It gives a unique complexity to the game that I enjoy.

I can imagine obviously that the significance of meeting a deadline in the "real world," and in college is completely different. At least, the consequences aren't the same of course. I'm a horrible procrastinator, but I've gotten slightly better. Trouble is, I even do it with things I like. Just know that of course you are not alone in that, and hopefully it gets better XP

Love, love, love being a Lit major. It's really affected how I read everything though. I'm extremely analytical, but it's fun for me. Ah, I might have done journalism, but I lack the personality for it (way too shy, etc). What field of journalism are you interested in? Today in one of my classes we talked about the GRE test, which I did not know about at all, apparently it's a test for Grad school applicants. Well I went to the site and checked out the practice test for English Lit... I think if I took it I probably would have ended up getting maybe 10 out of 230 questions right XD

Penelo/Larsa is one of the reasons I see Penelo as more than as you said, a damsel-in-distress, or sidekick. I wasn't really fond of Larsa that much up until the end of the game, and then I was all "he's pretty cool for such a lil guy," he went from pretentious to mature in my eyes. But anyway, I figure being the mature boy he is, Larsa really wouldn't be so fond of Penelo if she was such a weakling, etc. I find their relationship very interesting, and cute. And what are your top 5?

My OTP would have to be Balthier/Fran, if I'm going with what makes the most sense, or is most evident, blah blah, but I love Basch/Ashe too and Balthier/Ashe is fun. I mean... I'm really all over the place with FFXII since I like all the characters and I'm really interested in the sort of dynamics that different pairings might have, especially between the characters that acted like they didn't even know each other in the game. I mean the lack of direct conversation between the females in the game leaves all sorts of possibilities, as well as being a bit odd. How could there be no bonding moments XP. I'm always interested in anything that paints the characters in a new way. Again, all over the place XD

And yes I'll add you; I'll check out some of your fics as well ^^

[aorin107.livejournal.com]

Haha, it's nice to hear that the Ronsentwins getting more love. Basch is ok, but Noah is seriously so under-appreciated :P I'm very impressed with Ivalice as a whole, perhaps, it was influenced by my love for history and myth generally. I don't mind modern, or sci-fi stories, but my favourite are always historical fictions ;) Granted, I do have my complaints about this game, one of it being their thin characterization and lack of overall character interactions, but I'm still quite fond it :)

Unable to meet deadlines in college means a poor grade or perhaps, failing a subject. Unable to meet deadlines in work now, means that there's a chance that my boss will dock my pay X3 One, I can fix, the other, not so easy XP But meh, if I have any sense of improvement, I would have updated more often on fandom stuff XD

Seriously, I really wished I had done Eng Lit previously, then maybe I wouldn't so nervous about applying for this subject in Masters Level. But if you ask me for a specific field in Jr, I would say, creative and feature writing, in comparison to newsreporting. Just a matter of interest, and features are more freestyle :) Eheh, I squeak when I talk, and get tongue-tied easily, not exactly the best type of person for Journalism, but well, there are aspects of it that I enjoy ;)

I like the dynamics and possible conflicts that Penelo/Larsa might have :) Due to their standing in society, I believe that if there's a possible relationship between them, it would be interesting. Perhaps, not now, but in a another few years and when Larsa grows a few inches, things might be fun :P Though, I can't imagine young, underage Larsa trying to romance Penelo though :(

And my top 5 characters would be Basch, Noah, Ashe, Penelo, Vaan and Larsa (interchangeable) :)

Oh~~ :) It's cool that you see possibilities in pairings, I'm quite dedicated to mine, and while I expand from time to time, I don't think it's possible for my OTP to change to something else :) Just a personal preference, I don't mind others shipping different pairings as long as we maintain a cordial relationship :)

When you said that you are going to read my fics, I think my whole body jerked to a urgent fullstop D: I mean, not that I'm not proud of my fics or anything, and if I were embarassed about it, I wouldn't even post it up :3 But, I get jittery when someone tells me that they are reading my stuff, it's ok if I didn't know or expect but if not... :P ::bite nails::

[stormbornxxii.livejournal.com]

First off, I apologize if my comments are overly long, I do try to be concise ^^

I think he's under appreciated too *hug* for Noah. And yeah the history and mythology is what appealed to me about it (one of the things). Basically I like when it seems like thought is put into the background, or little things that don't entirely matter, but are completely developed anyway. It's why i find the fantasy genre so intriguing, the world-building. In a very nerdy way I imagine the author's with notebooks and notebooks full of historical stuff that only gets a casual mention in their novel. I would LOVE if there were some sort of guide book to Ivalice. Of course it would be in Japanese, but I would buy it anyway. I have only played through FFXII once, but unlike the others, there is nothing in there that jumps out at me as being utterly random.

One of my classmates suggested to me that she thinks she should seek medical help for her procrastination XP I don't know if it's that serious, although it can probably point to a medical condition at times. I know sometimes I'm just lazy, and sometimes it's me trying to avoid certain anxieties I have. But I swear it's an epidemic XP

Ah, just wondering. I would have loved to be a music journalist, but alas. Good that you are doing something you enjoy.

I can imagine Larsa completely seducing Penelo XP But I always forget he's only 12, my mind keeps putting him up to 14, which is still young of course. But yeah their relationship is really interesting, in-game and post.

My fav characters (you didn't ask, but I'm telling you anyway XD) are Basch, Noah (I prefer him as Gabranth), Ashe, Balthier, and Penelo.

As far as pairings... there's a shot at the end of the game where I think everyone is standing in their right pairings: Balthier/Fran, Basch/Ashe, and Vaan/Penelo. But since I really like all the characters I like seeing how they would interact with each other, since like you said in-game interactions are a bit lacking. I'm usually not so flexible though, it's just with this game really.

Well, did I say I would read your fics? I meant that I absolutely would not be reading them, sorry for saying otherwise XP

[aorin107.livejournal.com]

Oh, no worries, I used to break post-limit on a constant basis ;) Until I realise what a hassle it would be for those who are not used to receiving them :P

Ah, I see :) Yeah, those little details that seem unimportant but once you caught the significance, you'll be amazed by the depth they had. I'm fine with the fantasy genre, though, I favour historical more, as not only it have to build a world we are foreign with, it's soci-political aspect interest me ;) There is a few guide book of sorts, namely the FF Ultimanias, so, perhaps, you might want to consider that :) It's Japanese, but at least it provides more insights to the game ;P

I'm lazy, and I know it :3 It's a complain that I always get, it's not my work that they are not please with, but my general lackadistical attitude to the urgent works X3 Meh, I'm permitted to be lazy these days, maybe that's the best cure I can get XD

Oh noes!! I can never become a music journalist, it's not a field that I'm familiar with. Though, travel, nature and history might be just my call :P Anything but news reporting... :(

I still couldn't quite believe that he's 12. I mean, it's really hard to believe that, especially when he has an equally tactical and genius brother :3 But well, it is their work and normal logic don't quite apply :P

On the contrary, I'm quite flexible with fandoms that I'm not to big on. But if not, I'm quite dedicated to specific pairings for my favourite fandom X3 It changes and I can accept most pairings, though I might not enjoy it as much as others :P

OH... phew... You see, despite everything I'm coping with issues in writing XD ::wibbles::