Interviews SF Interviews 2.0 - Florete

[Julius Nepos]

Nominations:
Regular: 
3: Lanko
1: Crimson Red
1: starburst
1: ~ Yuri ~

Re-interview: 
1: Florete
1: Dr. Tarrasque
1: BLSoldier
1: eclipse
1: Shoblongoo

[XRay]

51 minutes ago, Lanko said:

What's an AFOL and LEGO questions? Haha

AFOL: Adult Fan of LEGO

The LEGO Group is a company based in Denmark that specializes in making primarily plastic (usually ABS: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) construction toys, also known as LEGO bricks/elements.

Edited April 20, 2019 by XRay

[Lanko]

20 minutes ago, XRay said:

AFOL: Adult Fan of LEGO

The LEGO Group is a company based in Denmark that specializes in making primarily plastic (usually ABS: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) construction toys, also known as LEGO bricks/elements.

Funny, I really like the stuff (hence my avatar) but I don't have any, as I wouldn't have the room to store any of it haha.

[Julius Nepos]

SF Interview #218: Lanko
Interview ends on Friday 26/4/2019.

@Lanko

Lanko's interview will be followed by an extended nomination period running from Friday to Tuesday.

Edited April 21, 2019 by Julius Nepos

[Julius Nepos]

1. What FE games have you played?
2. What makes Awakening your favorite FE game?
3. Do you speak any languages other than English?
4. Do you have any interest in history?
5. Do you ever ride a bike?

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

1. So, what got you back into Heroes?

2. Why did you leave Heroes previously?

3. What are you currently studying?

4. What job do you want to have in the future?

5. Who is best FE waifu?

[XRay]

1. Although you do not have any LEGO sets, do you still consider yourself an AFOL?

2. How do you feel about people who write Lego or lego instead of LEGO, or Legos and legos instead of LEGO bricks or LEGO elements?

3. Why did you choose a LEGO Castle Minifigure to be your profile picture?

4. How do you feel about LEGO imitators (Best-Lock, Kre-O, Mega Bloks, etc.)?

5. If you could buy any LEGO set(s) right now, which one(s) would you buy?

 

Edited April 22, 2019 by XRay

[Lanko]

12 hours ago, Julius Nepos said:

1. What FE games have you played?
2. What makes Awakening your favorite FE game?
3. Do you speak any languages other than English?
4. Do you have any interest in history?
5. Do you ever ride a bike?

1. I played all of them except for Genealogy and Thracia. I actually started Genealogy some time ago, but stopped midway though for some reason.

 

2. Funnily enough, I guess it's tied with Blazing Sword, since I started FE with it, but I can only choose one, and at the time I was pretty blown away by Awakening. They were right that the game saved the franchise.

I guess Awakening did a lot of things really good, that far outweighed any cons it had. I really hated the reclassing system in Shadow Dragon/Mystery of the Emblem, but Awakening put requirements on it and also limited them based on each individual character, which made the characters stand out a little more as well. I love when design merges like this with characterization.

The time travel was also done really well, though today perhaps people are a little pissed when talking about it because of how Fates handled it.

The story had a lot of emotion going for it, both shown and not shown and left for the player to imagine, like how the kids grew up in the other world, or the fact that those children actually lost their world, since it was a diferent timeline, and most important, that all the other FEs were the same continent/world with diferent people, like how you're able to use Falchion, meet Tiki, Naga and the Deadlords. For me it was a massive "wtf" when I thought about it, and spent a lot of time searching for clues/easter eggs relating to other games of the series.

Initially I wasn't much into the "dating sim" part, but some characters really merged so well that I ended up liking it too. I thought Fates exaggerated it a bit, but then completely missed it on Echoes.

 

3. Yes, Portuguese.

 

4. Yes. For some time I was really addicted to Venice, which inevitably led me to knowing more about the Byzantine Empire and the Ottomans and the Crusades and even the Mongols (all tied to Venice at some point, believe it or not). Medieval period, its customs (good and bad) and stories that passed down are really fabulous. I'm also interested in earlier periods, but more the... "aura" of the period than anything specific.

I intend to write a book set around Ancient time  around an isolated icy land with magic around, but other stuff got in the way and I had to interrupt my research on how people lived in those kinds of regions during that time.

 

5. Only when I was a kid. I'm 31 and lazy now.

 

[Lanko]

7 hours ago, Azure in a Roundabout said:

1. So, what got you back into Heroes?

2. Why did you leave Heroes previously?

3. What are you currently studying?

4. What job do you want to have in the future?

5. Who is best FE waifu?

 

1. After playing Fates I got a lot of time without playing any FE, so I got back into the series with Echoes and consequently, to Heroes. I actually didn't get back to Heroes, as I actually just started it!

 

2- I didn't leave, I actually just started it!

 

3- Officially, nothing. Unoficially, writing.

 

4- Hopefully I can turn into a reasonable writer and live off that!

 

5- When I was much younger I had a great infatuation with Nephenee, but it was in Awakening that question kinda of got answered. My Avatar didn't get interested in anyone and was progressing through the game with no marriage in sight whatsoever... until he met Tiki. 

The whole immortal thing, watching as people you love age and die while you remain unchanged forever and having to endure multiple times or maybe refuse it to not suffer later... concepts I was always interested and suddenly made manifest. Her situation and confession quote really struck a cord with me.

Edited April 22, 2019 by Lanko

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

4 minutes ago, Lanko said:

5- When I was much younger I had a great infatuation with Nephenee, but it was in Awakening that question kinda of got answered. My Avatar didn't get interested in anyone and was progressing through the game with no marriage in sight whatsoever... until he met Tiki. 

The whole immortal thing, watching as people you love age and die while you remain unchanged forever and having to endure multiple times or maybe refuse it to not suffer later... concepts I was always interested and suddenly made manifest. Her situation and confession quote really struck a cord with me.

Nice.

6. What do you think of the younger Tiki variant from the Archanea games?

7. Have you ever considered writing fan fiction?

8. May I know what kind of works you want to write?

9. Have you at least heard of Touhou?

10. Impressions of me (first and current)?

 

[Lanko]

2 hours ago, XRay said:

1. Although you do not have any LEGO sets, do you still consider yourself an AFOL?

2. How do you feel about people who write Lego or lego instead of LEGO, or Legos and legos instead of LEGO bricks or LEGO elements?

3. Why did you choose a LEGO Castle Minifigure to be your profile picture?

4. How do you feel about LEGO imitators (Best-Lock, Kre-O, Mega Bloks, etc.)?

5. If you could buy any LEGO set(s) right now, which one(s) would you buy?

 

1. I guess so... Probably I would have some if I had enough room.

2. I feel they're great, as I always wrote Lego myself haha.

3. Always been fascinated by knights, and this one looked really cool. Spent hours adjusting the size and etc back then to be just as I wanted it.

4. Never heard of them.

5. The one where my avatar is from (I think it's this one https://jaysbrickblog.com/2013/10/10/review-lego-70403-dragon-mountain/) .

Probably a Star Wars one too. Wish there could be a FE version haha.

[Lanko]

19 minutes ago, Azure in a Roundabout said:

Nice.

6. What do you think of the younger Tiki variant from the Archanea games?

7. Have you ever considered writing fan fiction?

8. May I know what kind of works you want to write?

9. Have you at least heard of Touhou?

10. Impressions of me (first and current)?

 

6. I don't think I even used Tiki in the Archanea games. I don't remember much of her, she didn't make much impression there. In Shadow Dragon almost no one has too much characterization. In Mystery things got better and she had some decent screen time, I think, but there were many more interesting characters around. Then meeting her again in Awakening made me think of what she must have been through since that time. I would probably play with her now if I play those games again.

7. Yes, but didn't went too far with it. Having ready-to-go templates, backstories, setting and etc are nice, specially when you explore things that weren't explored or add new twists, but I think the time and energy involved wouldn't be much different from an original work, and with that you can end up with something you can tweak and maybe even attempt to publish later. Getting that baptism of fire, so to speak.

8. Mostly Fantasy, Science Fiction, perhaps some Horror. Game of Thrones would be an obvious inspiration, even when I had it long before it turned into a massive TV show. Earlier works include stuff like The Saxon Stories and King Arthur series from Bernard Cornwell.

First fiction book that really blew me, though, was when I was really young, and it was Jurassic Park. Like almost everyone, I watched the movie first, and my father had a hardcover Jurassic Park. The book is very different from the movie, like who died and didn't, importance of some characters and such. Not exactly Horror, but Stephen King's The Dark Tower also rank very highly. Near the end of the series, the moment when the guy actually finally reaches the Tower and shouts for the doors to open nearly made me cry.

More modern works would include Beyond Redemption for Fantasy, Children of Time for Science Fiction.

9. Nope.

10. I always read your name as Azura in a Roundabout haha. Hmm, you also seem like a person with a lot of curiosity about things and the will to do something about it, for good or bad. I tried to think of something funny as well too say, but couldn't come up with anything haha.

[AnonymousSpeed]

1. I see you like history. Drop some of your favorite recounts of Venetian history and custom for us, please.
2. I think we can all agree that it's weird to waifu Shadow Dragon Tiki, but isn't waifu-ing Awakening Tiki also kinda weird? I know all waifu-ing is weird, but, you know, weirder than the base line.
3. Do we get to read any of those Lego fanfictions, and if not, may we hear some plot synopsis?
4. Yo, hear me out. The Rock breaks into your home in the middle of night and tells you that he's going to use his magical fairy powers to personify one food item into a significant other for you. Which food item do you spend the rest of your life with, and why?
5. Should I drop the "the Rock" angle for the above question when I ask it of other people in the future?

[XRay]

6. The LEGO Group recently started manufacturing in China a few years ago. How do you feel about it and are you worried about a decline in quality?

7. How do you feel about LEGO sets as an alternative/speculative investment medium (such as art and antiques)?

8. Have you played any LEGO video games, watched any LEGO movies, or read any LEGO comics?

9. Are there any licensed third party themes you want The LEGO Group to work with? (The LEGO Group so far has licensed Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Voltron, Overwatch, etc.)

10. Do you think the surge in popularity of LEGO sets in the last 10 to 20 years is just a fad?

[Lanko]

On 22/04/2019 at 10:36 PM, AnonymousSpeed said:

1. I see you like history. Drop some of your favorite recounts of Venetian history and custom for us, please.
2. I think we can all agree that it's weird to waifu Shadow Dragon Tiki, but isn't waifu-ing Awakening Tiki also kinda weird? I know all waifu-ing is weird, but, you know, weirder than the base line.
3. Do we get to read any of those Lego fanfictions, and if not, may we hear some plot synopsis?
4. Yo, hear me out. The Rock breaks into your home in the middle of night and tells you that he's going to use his magical fairy powers to personify one food item into a significant other for you. Which food item do you spend the rest of your life with, and why?
5. Should I drop the "the Rock" angle for the above question when I ask it of other people in the future?

1. There are quite a few.

1- One of the most interesting parts was discovering Venice was founded by people who actually left Rome as it was about to fall. Their people considered themselves "true Romans".

2- They had a "secret police" force that worked like this: They had statues of the winged lion (the symbol in Venice's flag) throughout the city, with their mouths open, in which people could denounce other people or schemes. By night someone would come and collect everything posted inside the lions and bring it to that group's headquarters to analyze it. It seems this wouldn't work as people could just troll or do false accusations, but from accounts of the period, it actually worked really well.

3- They had a Doge (something like their king) who was blind, Enrico Dandolo. It's the same guy you play with in Civilization 5, if you play with Venice. He was also very old (80 years or so), but still extremely sharp.

4- Venice was key to the 4th Crusade. They were designed to craft hundreds of ships and equipment, and they did so. But when the time came, not even half the crusaders expected (promised by the Pope and kings and other nobles) arrived. So them they said the ships would never leave. This then created an extremely curious situation. Venice herself manned some ships to aid the Crusaders. Around the same time, a noble claiming to be the son of the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire and legitimate heir, arrived.

So then, Venice left with the Crusaders, but was at the time threatened by another Italian city (Bari) and I think Hungary. Joining the Crusade like this dissuaded Hungary from attacking Venice (as it would encur the wrath of the Pope). But Bari (if I recall the city correctly) really scared the Venetians, so they actually convinced the Crusaders to attack, sack and destroy most of the city. The Crusaders charged a city in which its defenders raised crosses everywhere and almost razed it.

All this did reach the Pope, who excommunicated the entire Crusade, but they were already at the sea and except for the high leaders, the crusaders never knew about this.

Then they arrived at the Byzantine Empire (who was allied to Rome) and also initiated combat with it. So basically, the Crusaders were now attacking one of the most holy cities of Christianism at the time: Constantinople.

Remember that their king was an old, blind man? Now he was around 90, but since he felt he was about to die, he embarked on the Crusade as a last act for glory. Not only was him responsible for the attack on other Italian cities, he convinced the crusaders to attack Constantinople.

Well, initially the defense of the Byzantines was really impressive that the soldiers were scared. Then 90 yeard old blind Dandolo picks up the Crusader's flag and runs with it down the beach, miraculously not getting hit by any arrow. This ashamed the soldiers so much that they then finally stormed the walls.

They overthrew the emperor, and then suddenly Venice had an empire. But they were very small and didn't have the resources to manage the Byzantine Empire. Then the knight leading the Crusade actually became the new Byzantine Emperor (giving Venice a lot of commercial benefits).

Byzantium became Venice's puppet, and while this enriched even more Venice, it had serious consequences down the time. They had to keep the Byzantines weak, so they weren't allowed to have a navy and a had a weak army. The Ottomans were rising and year by year, for centuries advanced conquering Byzantine territory, one after another, until eventually, even Constantinople fell. The Ottoman Empire is now know as Turkey and Constantinople is now Istambul.

The 4th Crusade, mostly led by Venice, didn't even kill a single Muslim in the Holy Land. Instead, this Crusade only killed Christians and ransacked Christian cities, ironically.

Venice was also the entry door of the Black Plague in Europe. The Ottomans were harsh, but then the Mongols eventually appeared, and formed trade routes with the Western world. Venice had outposts that traded with them too (Marco Polo was a Venetian, if I'm not mistaken).

They had a rivalry with Genoa (who controlled the seas on the other side of Italy). One night, a drunken fight erupted between Genoveses and Venetians, and ended up killing some important Mongol in the crossfire. Furious, the Khan ordered both Italian settlements destroyed. Venice answered attacking something from the Mongols. Then the Mongols laid siege to a Venetian fortification for months.

After some time, the Mongols started getting sick and had to abandon the siege. So they threw their corpses at the Venetians before leaving. The Venetians brought their own fallen back (now contaminated with the plague), along with contaminated rats (which always existed inside ships) and kept trading and traveling around and that's how the plague spread into Europe.

 

2. I think we can all agree that it's weird to waifu Shadow Dragon Tiki, but isn't waifu-ing Awakening Tiki also kinda weird? I know all waifu-ing is weird, but, you know, weirder than the base line.

I agree waifuing can feel really strange. It was more about Robin's circumstances with Tiki's own unique circumstances that created a bond between the characters, much more than any kind of visuals. It was even she who started the whole thing!

 

3. Do we get to read any of those Lego fanfictions, and if not, may we hear some plot synopsis?

I don't have Lego fanfictions hah. Synopsis are actually pretty hard to do. Like, a bad synopsis can never make justice to even a really great story. I might come back to this later if I think of some good brief descriptions for the stuff I have (as I probably wrote too much already!)

 

4.Yo, hear me out. The Rock breaks into your home in the middle of night and tells you that he's going to use his magical fairy powers to personify one food item into a significant other for you. Which food item do you spend the rest of your life with, and why? 

Wow hahaha... I'm guessing a tomato, since I love to use tomato sauce in a lot of things. If the Rock can turn it into a redhead, all the better

 

5. Should I drop the "the Rock" angle for the above question when I ask it of other people in the future?

Maybe switch it for the Tooth Fairy or Aladdin's genie?

 

Edited April 25, 2019 by Lanko

[Lanko]

On 23/04/2019 at 1:22 PM, XRay said:

6. The LEGO Group recently started manufacturing in China a few years ago. How do you feel about it and are you worried about a decline in quality?

7. How do you feel about LEGO sets as an alternative/speculative investment medium (such as art and antiques)?

8. Have you played any LEGO video games, watched any LEGO movies, or read any LEGO comics?

9. Are there any licensed third party themes you want The LEGO Group to work with? (The LEGO Group so far has licensed Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Voltron, Overwatch, etc.)

10. Do you think the surge in popularity of LEGO sets in the last 10 to 20 years is just a fad?

 

6. I think it'll depend more on LEGO's posture about it than the country where the factory is. If qualtiy declines, and they accept it and keep going with it, it's on them.

7. Never thought about it. Now that you mention, maybe in the future it could be interesting...

8. Sadly, no.

9. Fire Emblem, obviously! I guess League of Legends, Warcraft, Dragon Age and Mass Effect would be fine too.

10. I never knew there was a surge in popularity. I thought most of its fanbase was almost like Fire Emblem's, not gigantic (until maybe Awakening) but very loyal.

[Julius Nepos]

Nominations for #219 are open.
Nomination ends on Tuesday.

Let's continue the experiment to see how much interest there is in re-interviews. Here are the rules.
In addition to your 2 'normal' nominations, during this nomination phase you may also nominate a maximum of 2 people who have already been interviewed. Anyone who has not been interviewed since Interview #169 is eligible for these re-interview nominations.
So you get a total of 4 votes: 2 for people who have not yet been interviewed, and 2 for people who haven't been interviewed since Interview #169.
On Tuesday I'll count up all the votes and, depending on how much interest there is in re-interviews compared to regular interviews, either make Interview #169 a regular interview or a re-interview.

Additionally, I think it's time to bring this experiment to a close and make a permanent decision. I think this experiment has shown that on the one hand the option to re-interview people is appreciated, but that on the other hand there is still sufficient interest in regular interviews compared to re-interviews.
Before I make a final decision on what the rules are going to look like from now on, I'd like to hear what people think. So, in addition to your nominations, you may vote for one of the following options.
A. Return to the old rules: re-interviews are only allowed on every tenth interview; other interviews are reserved for new nominees.
B. Keeping up what we've been doing now: every nomination period, you get 2 nominations for new nominees and 2 nominations for re-interviews.
C. Integrating the systems: every nomination period, you get 2 nominations for which anyone who has not been interviewed in the past 50 interviews is eligible: you are therefore free to nominate new people or people who have already been interviewed before, up to your discretion.
Note that I may not be strictly following the majority outcome of this vote in my final decision, but I will take it into account and would like to hear the opinions of the people who care enough to voice them.

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

Interview: @NOTchazbc24 and @DehNutCase

Reinterview: @Dragoncat and @XRay

C

[Julius Nepos]

Nominations:
Regular: 
1: NOTchazbc24
1: DehNutCase

Re-interview: 
1: XRay

C: 1

1 hour ago, Azure in a Roundabout said:

Interview: @NOTchazbc24 and @DehNutCase

Reinterview: @Dragoncat and @XRay

C

Dragoncat was interview #180. Anyone who has not been interviewed since Interview #169 is eligible for re-interview nominations.
You may nominate someone else instead.

[Azure the Scale Tipper]

1 hour ago, Julius Nepos said:

Dragoncat was interview #180. Anyone who has not been interviewed since Interview #169 is eligible for re-interview nominations.
You may nominate someone else instead.

@Ice Dragon then

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

@Florete and @Freohr Datia (Renominations)

@Crimson Red (New nomimation)

Option C

[Shiki]

@DehNutCase

@JSND Alter Dragon Boner

for new nomimations.

[Rezzy]

35 minutes ago, Magus of Memery said:

@DehNutCase

@JSND Alter Dragon Boner

for new nomimations.

Have neither of them been interviewed yet?  I'll second both

Option C.  Also, I think it would be nice in the event of a tie to hold the interviews one after another without another round of nominations, with the one going first being the new interview, if there is a tie between new and repeat.  @Julius Nepos thoughts?

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

New interview: Lightchao42

Old interview: Fleece

[Julius Nepos]

Nominations: 
Regular: 
3: DehNutCase
2: JSND Alter Dragon Boner
1: NOTchazbc24
1: Crimson Red
1: Lightchao42

Re-interview: 
1: XRay
1: Ice Dragon
1: Florete
1: Freohr Datia
1: Fleece

C: 3

On 27-4-2019 at 1:57 AM, Rezzy said:

Option C.  Also, I think it would be nice in the event of a tie to hold the interviews one after another without another round of nominations, with the one going first being the new interview, if there is a tie between new and repeat.  @Julius Nepos thoughts?

I toyed with this idea before, but didn't really see a need for it. However, it might be a good idea to make that change now. 
I'm going to revise the rules tonight anyway, so I'll give it some thought then.