Final Fantasy 6 fic
Jul. 21st, 2006 12:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starzafandomblogI wasn't really going to post this review until the story was finished and give it the benefit of the doubt, but I think I need to. I really don't want to label this story as 'badfic' either, because the writing is absolutely wonderful. The problem is that it suffers from horrible characterization and plot.
Series: Final Fantasy VI
Title: Not With a Whimper (Prequel: Sins of the Past)
Author: Snow Duchess
Genre: Drama/AU
Rating: R - NC-17
Warnings: Lots of violence, rape, sex scenes, and Mary Sue!Celes
Couple (if applicable): Locke/Celes, Leo/Celes, minor Leo/Terra, and other various pairings
Plot: 5/10 - Okay, let's face it, this entire thing is pretty much AU with some of the game's actual canon that mainly revolves around Celes. The author never says this, but really, some events were changed and thrown out that you cannot label this story as a FF novelization just from Celes' PoV.
The big problem? It revolves around Celes too much. And it changes canon. Okay, it changes a LOT of canon. The story tries to be overly serious, and by doing that, it eliminates some of the humor elements, like Ultros at the Opera house and skimming through certain key events or completely throwing them out the window. Which is why I have to wonder why the author didn't label this an AU storyline starting with Sins.
The author tries to detail Celes' background and takes that background info and creates a sort of alternate line by using the events that happen in the game. Sadly, they don't mesh well, and I'll get to that later.
And let me tell you, I'm a huge Celes fan and I cringed while reading both stories. I could never put my finger on why until a bit later into the second story. I'll get to that in a bit.
Writing: 9/10 - There's nothing wrong with the writing. In fact, it's one of the better written fics in the FF.net section and puts a lot of them to shame. The flow is spot on and there's hardly any sort of error in the fic. Really, this is where the fic shines the most. The problem is that it suffers in the other two categories.
Characterization: 2/10 - This is where the problem is. I always thought something was wrong with the fic, but couldn't put my finger on it. I got through Sins fine. When I hit Whimper, I finally realized what was bugging me.
Celes turned into a big Mary Sue.
She's powerful in the game, but she goes beyond powerful to the point where she could mop the floor with probably the entire party. She goes through her training during the first story easily, she rises through the ranks fairly fast. She manages to outstrip her teachers at a very young age. The Emperor values her above everyone else and while she was valuable to the Empire in the game, it's taken to a much higher degree here. And then she receives the Ragnarok Blade out of everyone else in the party.
Pretty much, if Celes and Terra somehow fought, Celes would win, hands down, just by using magic.
Did someone forget that Terra is half Esper?
Check one, super powers.
Terra is given a back seat and her role becomes secondary, and while the author tries to tie in a sister relationship between Celes and Terra, it only serves to be negative. While this is a story based on Celes and I can understand that the story needs to revolve around Celes, there is no need to give her all these extra powers and make her on par and more powerful than Terra. The other characters are just there and never really form any solid bonds with Celes save for Terra and Locke. You could wipe a good chunk of them out and never know they were missing.
Check two, stolen spotlight.
The story about Celes' 'betrayal' to the Empire is laughable and actually HURTS her character. The story itself makes it out that she never really 'betrayed' the Empire but the Empire BETRAYED her. Almost everything that happens to Celes makes it out that she is the victim and that if Kefka never 'framed' her in the previous story, that she would continue down her path of destruction. While that is an interesting theory, it's just not pulled off well and doesn't feel like Celes from the game. It's like Celes doesn't really bear as much responsibility to what happened and I think her choosing to go up against the Empire or saying, 'okay, this is wrong!' seems more like her. Here, she never really realizes that.
Check three, victim sydrome.
Moving away from the Mary Sue problem, Celes herself is pretty cold and distant throughout the story, even in the World of Ruin. Celes is distant to everyone in the group, including Locke and Terra. She never forms bonds with anyone save those two and Leo. She doesn't really change much at all from the beginning to end, besides form a relationship with Locke. She opens up to Terra and Locke, but that's it.
The author tries to create bonds between Celes and some of the soldiers in the army, and while some of them are touching, at times, it feels like they're there to create more Mary Sue sydrome to Celes, and make it more like she's the victim.
The rape scene at the beginning of Whimper was pointless as well. And kinda tasteless too. AND boasts up the 'I'm-a-victim' too. :/
I think besides Celes, everyone is somewhat in character. But sadly, that doesn't say much since the focus of this story is Celes, not the others, so it didn't earn a lot of points. What's funny is that I enjoyed Locke's character and he isn't even the focus of the story!
Negativities: Mary Sue!Celes, pointless rape
Summary: A somewhat retelling of the FF6 story that focuses around Celes. The first story gives background info on from the time she was born to the time she is branded a traitor and held in South Figaro. The second story proceeds from then to all the way to the end of the game. The story is AUish, but not labeled that.
The events don't follow 100% of the canon line, so you may see something that did not happen in the game happen in the story or the event happened, but it's done differently in the story.
Overall: 5.3/10 - Sadly, the entire story suffers from Mary sue sydrome along with skipping details, changing important key elements, or eliminating details all together. I don't mind changing events in the story, but the problem is the events were changed that suffered from the Mary sue sydrome. Mainly, it suffers from the horrible characterization of Celes, which pretty much kills the fic since this is supposed to be a story about her. And this is coming from someone who loves Celes to death. In this fic, I couldn't stand her at all.
Series: Final Fantasy VI
Title: Not With a Whimper (Prequel: Sins of the Past)
Author: Snow Duchess
Genre: Drama/AU
Rating: R - NC-17
Warnings: Lots of violence, rape, sex scenes, and Mary Sue!Celes
Couple (if applicable): Locke/Celes, Leo/Celes, minor Leo/Terra, and other various pairings
Plot: 5/10 - Okay, let's face it, this entire thing is pretty much AU with some of the game's actual canon that mainly revolves around Celes. The author never says this, but really, some events were changed and thrown out that you cannot label this story as a FF novelization just from Celes' PoV.
The big problem? It revolves around Celes too much. And it changes canon. Okay, it changes a LOT of canon. The story tries to be overly serious, and by doing that, it eliminates some of the humor elements, like Ultros at the Opera house and skimming through certain key events or completely throwing them out the window. Which is why I have to wonder why the author didn't label this an AU storyline starting with Sins.
The author tries to detail Celes' background and takes that background info and creates a sort of alternate line by using the events that happen in the game. Sadly, they don't mesh well, and I'll get to that later.
And let me tell you, I'm a huge Celes fan and I cringed while reading both stories. I could never put my finger on why until a bit later into the second story. I'll get to that in a bit.
Writing: 9/10 - There's nothing wrong with the writing. In fact, it's one of the better written fics in the FF.net section and puts a lot of them to shame. The flow is spot on and there's hardly any sort of error in the fic. Really, this is where the fic shines the most. The problem is that it suffers in the other two categories.
Characterization: 2/10 - This is where the problem is. I always thought something was wrong with the fic, but couldn't put my finger on it. I got through Sins fine. When I hit Whimper, I finally realized what was bugging me.
Celes turned into a big Mary Sue.
She's powerful in the game, but she goes beyond powerful to the point where she could mop the floor with probably the entire party. She goes through her training during the first story easily, she rises through the ranks fairly fast. She manages to outstrip her teachers at a very young age. The Emperor values her above everyone else and while she was valuable to the Empire in the game, it's taken to a much higher degree here. And then she receives the Ragnarok Blade out of everyone else in the party.
Pretty much, if Celes and Terra somehow fought, Celes would win, hands down, just by using magic.
Did someone forget that Terra is half Esper?
Check one, super powers.
Terra is given a back seat and her role becomes secondary, and while the author tries to tie in a sister relationship between Celes and Terra, it only serves to be negative. While this is a story based on Celes and I can understand that the story needs to revolve around Celes, there is no need to give her all these extra powers and make her on par and more powerful than Terra. The other characters are just there and never really form any solid bonds with Celes save for Terra and Locke. You could wipe a good chunk of them out and never know they were missing.
Check two, stolen spotlight.
The story about Celes' 'betrayal' to the Empire is laughable and actually HURTS her character. The story itself makes it out that she never really 'betrayed' the Empire but the Empire BETRAYED her. Almost everything that happens to Celes makes it out that she is the victim and that if Kefka never 'framed' her in the previous story, that she would continue down her path of destruction. While that is an interesting theory, it's just not pulled off well and doesn't feel like Celes from the game. It's like Celes doesn't really bear as much responsibility to what happened and I think her choosing to go up against the Empire or saying, 'okay, this is wrong!' seems more like her. Here, she never really realizes that.
Check three, victim sydrome.
Moving away from the Mary Sue problem, Celes herself is pretty cold and distant throughout the story, even in the World of Ruin. Celes is distant to everyone in the group, including Locke and Terra. She never forms bonds with anyone save those two and Leo. She doesn't really change much at all from the beginning to end, besides form a relationship with Locke. She opens up to Terra and Locke, but that's it.
The author tries to create bonds between Celes and some of the soldiers in the army, and while some of them are touching, at times, it feels like they're there to create more Mary Sue sydrome to Celes, and make it more like she's the victim.
The rape scene at the beginning of Whimper was pointless as well. And kinda tasteless too. AND boasts up the 'I'm-a-victim' too. :/
I think besides Celes, everyone is somewhat in character. But sadly, that doesn't say much since the focus of this story is Celes, not the others, so it didn't earn a lot of points. What's funny is that I enjoyed Locke's character and he isn't even the focus of the story!
Negativities: Mary Sue!Celes, pointless rape
Summary: A somewhat retelling of the FF6 story that focuses around Celes. The first story gives background info on from the time she was born to the time she is branded a traitor and held in South Figaro. The second story proceeds from then to all the way to the end of the game. The story is AUish, but not labeled that.
The events don't follow 100% of the canon line, so you may see something that did not happen in the game happen in the story or the event happened, but it's done differently in the story.
Overall: 5.3/10 - Sadly, the entire story suffers from Mary sue sydrome along with skipping details, changing important key elements, or eliminating details all together. I don't mind changing events in the story, but the problem is the events were changed that suffered from the Mary sue sydrome. Mainly, it suffers from the horrible characterization of Celes, which pretty much kills the fic since this is supposed to be a story about her. And this is coming from someone who loves Celes to death. In this fic, I couldn't stand her at all.
