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Dear Yuletide Author Letter
Hello dear Yuletide Author! Words cannot describe how excited I am that you offered one of my teeny fandoms. I love all these canons, so I'm sure I will love whatever you write me. I'm easy to please, I promise, so what I want most is for you to write a story that you like. If you already know what you want to write, go for it! If, on the other hand, you'd like a bit more diection, read on. (Warning: I got way more rambly this year than I have in past letters. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing yet.)
Likes: I like gen, het, femslash, and slash. I like happy endings, hopeful endings, family and friends helping each other, characters I love being given a chance to shine, humor, adventures big and small, backstory, and slice of life stuff.
Dislikes: I dislike noncon/dubcon, character death, infidelity, extreme blood and violence, and unremitting angst. None of these dislikes are absolute, but I really need to be in a specific mood to want to read stories with these elements.
As far as explicit sex goes, I don't mind it but it's generally not what I'm looking for when I read fanfic. So please don't write a story that's solely porn?
Breath of Fire III: Nina
Nina! I love Nina and think she is the awesomest, so I just want something centered around her. What did she think about helping Ryu as a child? What did she do in the years before Ryu came back? What happens when she returns to Wyndia after the game ends? Or something else!
As far as pairing her with someone goes (which is definitely not necessary), I'm open to whoever, although I'd prefer any romance to be set post-game and for the story to still be focused on Nina.
Maaan, I am not really sure what else to say about this one. I thought Nina was cute as a button the first time she showed up and promptly got way too attached to her. Like, despite there being PCs who were better to have in battles, Nina never left unless it was required. I love that she's so kind and determined to help. I love that she always tries to do the right thing, even when she struggles to know what that is or has to defy her parents to do it. I love that she didn't just sit around during the years Ryu was missing but led the Wyndian guards and fought for justice. I love that she fights and struggles with finding her own identity and being seen by others as more than just the Princess of Wyndia.
So I will be totally down with anything Nina-centric you can come up with and there are a lot of avenues to explore with her. I think the tension between her and her parents (and especially her mother) is fascinating, how the Queen is just trying to protect her daughter/the Princess of Wyndia but is stifling Nina and her growth as an individual in the process, and that this conflict is one faced by a lot of parents and their children. Or what about her time leading the Wyndian guards - what was it like for her, how did the guards and general populace of Wyndia treat her, why did she decide to do that, what else did she do in the intervening years besides build a case against McNeil. Or anything set post-game would be awesomesauce too - her eventual return to Wyndia, further travels with Ryu or one of the other characters, how things are different for her when she becomes Queen, how she reconciles her desire to be an individual with her duties as a princess/queen, or a reunion with someone years down the road.
I could probably write pages about all the different gen stories starring Nina that I'd like to read, so I'll stop now before I get even more carried away. I'm also totally open to a romantic fic starring Nina rather than a gen one. Nina/Ryu is pretty much canon, but I thought Nina/Rei had an interesting flirty vibe occasionally (especially during the bit where Nina takes Rei with her to get passports from her parents) and that Nina/Momo could be interesting. Or maybe there's another totally awesome Nina pairing I haven't thought of, because I am willing to be convinced on whomever you like.
If you'd like to refamiliarize yourself with this game, have no fear: there's a Breath of Fire III tool-assisted speedrun[1] that clocks in at a little under eight hours. Which, okay, is pretty long but not anywhere near the time it'd take to replay the game. As far as I know, the TAS has no sequence-breaking glitches, so watching it gets you all of the main plot. If you'd like to replay the game but as quickly as possible, gamefaqs.com has a number of save files to help you do so (the one by KasketDarkfyre would probably be best). There's also the Breath of Fire Wiki for general reference.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009): Samantha "Sam" Sparks, Flint Lockwood
I think Sam and Flint are adorable together with all their earnest, enthusiastic geekery, so I'd love anything that lets them be together while being themselves. Maybe they can go on a date, or Flint can help Sam do meteorology stuff, or Sam can help Flint test an invention. Or something else!
I've already seen Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, so feel free to use anything from that in the story too if you want.
Oh man, this movie! It took me a while to see this movie because the book it's based on was one of my favorites as a child and I didn't think I would enjoy how much stuff had to be changed to make the movie an hour and half long. But one day it was on tv, and I started watched because there wasn't anything else on and it was enjoyable enough. And then this scene in the giant jello happened, and my heart exploded with joy. I still think that scene is the most romantic thing I've ever seen. (And I love that it inverts the trope of Beautiful All Along.) There are lots of other things I like about this movie, but Flint and Sam are the reason why it's one of my favorites.
About the movie on general, I like how it has fun with the concept of food weather and runs with it. I like lots of different types of humor, but I will always giggle at a good pun even if puns are the lowest form of humor. It's a movie full of light, happy fun, which is my favorite kind of movie.
About Flint and Sam, I adore them both separately and together. Sam's perky and optimistic and honest while still being kind and smart and completely nerdy for meteorology. Despite being so nice in general, she's still a realist with regards to the world and people around her. Flint, while sharing in her utterly nerdy enthusiasm (albeit for inventing rather than meteorology), manages to be rather naive and oblivious to the world around him and doesn't always see how his actions can affect (and potentially hurt) people, especially those close to him.
(In a small tangent, my second favorite storyline in this movie is Flint and his father and how they eventually learn to talk to each. They both care so much for each other, despite how different they are, despite being completely unable to understand each other, despite being unsure how the other feels because of said communication issues. And it makes the gap left by Flint's missing mother even bigger because they both miss her and she was the bridge between them that gave them some understanding. Basically, Flint and his dad hit my love for stories about family and hit it hard.)
So part of the reason I love Flint/Sam (aside from them being adorable nerds together) is because they show a lot of the things that I feel are important for couples. They share a love of science and feel comfortable enough with each other to express that love. They have complementary support in each other. Flint sees who Sam really is and thinks who Sam is is awesome; he helps give her the confidence she needs to be unashamedly herself. Sam understands Flint, something that no one else in his town really does, and she can help him as he gains a sense of belonging in his town and makes friends.
I don't really care what they're doing in a story -- I tossed out a couple ideas in my sign-up details -- as long as they're doing it together. I know I got a little philosophical in my musings, but grand declarations and profound introspection are not really what I'm looking to read in this fandom. A perfect fic would just be something like Sam and Flint working together to make the best weather buoy ever. (Or some other plot - I am not demanding weather buoys, I promise, it was just one example.)
Um, final notes, I guess. I am not really into gen for this fandom, but you could have them doing something together as friends and (so long as they're not sitting there going, "Boy, I'm glad we broke up, that was the worst idea ever!") I would still be all over that. I've seen Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (all the food puns, yessss!), so feel free to use anything from that as you see fit. Or not, if you don't want to see it. I have no mental hang-ups about getting fic that contradicts later canon.
Octonauts (TV): Any (nominated characters: Dashi, Tweak, and Tunip)
Octonauts combines my love for cute things and sea creatures, so it is basically catnip for me. I'd love anything that gives whichever nominated character you offered (Dashi, Tweak, or Tunip) a chance to shine. I'd especially love it if you could let them help a sea creature of some sort. But anything that lets them be the main character in the story (day in the life on the Octopod, what they were doing before becoming an Octonaut, or something else!) rather than support for Captain Barnacles, Kwazii, and Peso would be awesome.
Octonauts is the cutest thing ever. No really, isn't it just the cutest thing you have ever seen? I get so excited about the fact that this show showcases marine animals both well-known (like orcas and hermit crabs) and little-known (like hagfish and spookfish). I have loved sea creatures for about forever, so have some links I have collected over the years about nifty ones.
A swimming sea cucumber
A video illustrating different lantern fish
27 Aquatic Lifeforms You Never Caught While Fishing
The nemertean worm aka the thing that looks like someone lost their intestines on the sea floor
The Mississippi paddlefish which looks terrifying (especially when you consider that it is probably bigger than you) but isn't really after you learn a bit about it
The megamouth shark which was only discovered thirty-seven years ago and how cool is that
The vampire squid who has a cape and fangs but doesn't suck blood
An underwater lake
Fractal octopuses
The sarcastic fringehead who has a fantastic name
The conch who has pretty adorable googly eyes
Baby stingrays which are called pups when born
The cushion star which looks cute until you pick it up
The moray eel who eats its food Alien-style
The green sea slug who is part plant, sort of
The mimic octopus who imitates a variety of other creatures
And these are only a few of the super-neat things that live in the water! The Blue Planet documentary from a few years ago has even more. (In a slight aside, there are a lot of shit things happening to the ocean ecologically - the Great Pacific garbage patch, the bleaching of the coral reefs, overfishing, etc. - and I'd prefer a gift fic not to focus on these sorts of things.)
The one failing I think the show has is that Captain Barnacles, Kwazii, and Peso are always the main characters. It's an ensemble cast, but even when the other Octonauts are given something to do, they never get to be the focus of the episode. I nominated Dashi, Tweak, and Tunip because those are the ones I'd most like to see given the spotlight, but I don't really care which of those three the focus is on. And, while it's pretty obvious I'd love something similar to an episode of the show, I also think it'd be pretty neat to see the day-to-day life or background for these characters.
Most of the episodes are available on YouTube, but it's really only necessary to watch a handful to get a feel for the characters. I remember Tweak features fairly prominently in "Octonauts and the Humphead Parrotfish," and I think Tunip gets more of a role in "Octonauts and the Jawfish." I can't recall an episode offhand for Dashi but "Octonauts and the Snapping Shrimp" looks promising. There's also an Octonauts Wiki.
Phantasy Star IV: Demi, Wren
I came out this game shipping Demi/Wren hard, so I'd love anything pairing them up. But, on the other hand, gen where Demi & Wren are friends is also something I would be ecstatic to receive. Maybe something set post-game with them working together to fix the planets' environments? Or maybe something about Demi growing up due to her experiences in the game and becoming more Wren's equal? Or something else!
I just ask that if you go the gen route, please don't pair either of them with someone else.
Phantasy Star IV! Possibly my favorite game ever for a lot of reasons. The setting, the look, the continuity between other games in the series, the gameplay-- I enjoyed just about everything about this game.
And Demi! She is such an adorable sweetheart. (Look how much shorter her sprite is compared to everyone else's!) She's very kind and also dedicated to her job. And yet, gameplay-wise, she gets to be a tank thanks to her android physiology.
I think Wren is a total sweetheart too, although not as obviously as Demi. He is just as dedicated to his job with a steady and calm personality. But I think, underneath his formal exterior, he has a hidden side that has a lot of caring and a tiny sense of humor.
I know I said I ship them, but gen really is completely okay with me too. Whenever I ship something non-canon, I just love them together in any sort of way so I friend-ship all my favorite pairings as well as romantic-ship them. Just give me Demi and Wren in whatever way you like, and I'll be happy. I'd love to see them working together post-game or Wren helping Demi deal with having been captured by Zio or building adorable baby robot helpers to fix the different planets. Or maybe something pre-game from back when Demi had just been built. Or something else. (Sorry this section is shorter than the others, but I have run out of steam. I do not love Phantasy Star less than my other three requests, I promise! It just comes last alphabetically.)
I do have lots of resources if this is the fandom we matched on, or if you'd like to pick up Phantasy Star IV. There's a tool-assisted speedrun[1] that takes about an hour and a half to watch or a two hour TAS that includes the sidequests. There's a Phantasy Star Wiki, and this fansite has a script of the game. If you'd like to play the game, have some emulators and ROMs and more game saves than you can shake a stick at. (Do be careful if you emulate though: the in-game save function never worked properly in the emulator I used. I had to restart the game twice before I figured I out I should just use save states.)
Final Thoughts: Thank you so much for offering to write one of my beloved fandoms, darling author! I know this is a long letter, but what I said in the first paragraph still stands. I am ecstatic at the mere idea of fic for me in one of my four requests, so if you already have an idea, go for it!
[1] A tool-assisted speedrun uses an emulator (and therefore save states and frame-by-frame progression of the game) to create a "perfect" game. I don't know if you're familiar with TASes or what the opinion of them is in the wider gaming community, but I think they'd be pretty decent for canon review. Personally, I find them neat because I find all the manipulation that goes on (lengthening the time between random encounters as much as possible, always getting critical hits, best walking path, etc.) really interesting. They're not a substitute for actually playing a game, but I don't think anyone in the TAS subculture claims it is. (I highly recommend the Super Metroid TASes and explanation about what they're doing as an intro to what TASes can do.)
The Breath of Fire III TAS is long, but the game itself is long. The TAS names Ryu "A" because that's two less letters for the dialogue boxes to print before they can be dismissed. For the most part, I was able to read the dialogue boxes just fine without pausing, but if you're a slower reader than me, you might want to keep the pause button at the ready.
The Phantasy Star IV TAS has no sequence-breaking that I know of, but the dialogue boxes go by very fast. You might want to keep the script open in another window if you watch.
Likes: I like gen, het, femslash, and slash. I like happy endings, hopeful endings, family and friends helping each other, characters I love being given a chance to shine, humor, adventures big and small, backstory, and slice of life stuff.
Dislikes: I dislike noncon/dubcon, character death, infidelity, extreme blood and violence, and unremitting angst. None of these dislikes are absolute, but I really need to be in a specific mood to want to read stories with these elements.
As far as explicit sex goes, I don't mind it but it's generally not what I'm looking for when I read fanfic. So please don't write a story that's solely porn?
Breath of Fire III: Nina
Nina! I love Nina and think she is the awesomest, so I just want something centered around her. What did she think about helping Ryu as a child? What did she do in the years before Ryu came back? What happens when she returns to Wyndia after the game ends? Or something else!
As far as pairing her with someone goes (which is definitely not necessary), I'm open to whoever, although I'd prefer any romance to be set post-game and for the story to still be focused on Nina.
Maaan, I am not really sure what else to say about this one. I thought Nina was cute as a button the first time she showed up and promptly got way too attached to her. Like, despite there being PCs who were better to have in battles, Nina never left unless it was required. I love that she's so kind and determined to help. I love that she always tries to do the right thing, even when she struggles to know what that is or has to defy her parents to do it. I love that she didn't just sit around during the years Ryu was missing but led the Wyndian guards and fought for justice. I love that she fights and struggles with finding her own identity and being seen by others as more than just the Princess of Wyndia.
So I will be totally down with anything Nina-centric you can come up with and there are a lot of avenues to explore with her. I think the tension between her and her parents (and especially her mother) is fascinating, how the Queen is just trying to protect her daughter/the Princess of Wyndia but is stifling Nina and her growth as an individual in the process, and that this conflict is one faced by a lot of parents and their children. Or what about her time leading the Wyndian guards - what was it like for her, how did the guards and general populace of Wyndia treat her, why did she decide to do that, what else did she do in the intervening years besides build a case against McNeil. Or anything set post-game would be awesomesauce too - her eventual return to Wyndia, further travels with Ryu or one of the other characters, how things are different for her when she becomes Queen, how she reconciles her desire to be an individual with her duties as a princess/queen, or a reunion with someone years down the road.
I could probably write pages about all the different gen stories starring Nina that I'd like to read, so I'll stop now before I get even more carried away. I'm also totally open to a romantic fic starring Nina rather than a gen one. Nina/Ryu is pretty much canon, but I thought Nina/Rei had an interesting flirty vibe occasionally (especially during the bit where Nina takes Rei with her to get passports from her parents) and that Nina/Momo could be interesting. Or maybe there's another totally awesome Nina pairing I haven't thought of, because I am willing to be convinced on whomever you like.
If you'd like to refamiliarize yourself with this game, have no fear: there's a Breath of Fire III tool-assisted speedrun[1] that clocks in at a little under eight hours. Which, okay, is pretty long but not anywhere near the time it'd take to replay the game. As far as I know, the TAS has no sequence-breaking glitches, so watching it gets you all of the main plot. If you'd like to replay the game but as quickly as possible, gamefaqs.com has a number of save files to help you do so (the one by KasketDarkfyre would probably be best). There's also the Breath of Fire Wiki for general reference.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009): Samantha "Sam" Sparks, Flint Lockwood
I think Sam and Flint are adorable together with all their earnest, enthusiastic geekery, so I'd love anything that lets them be together while being themselves. Maybe they can go on a date, or Flint can help Sam do meteorology stuff, or Sam can help Flint test an invention. Or something else!
I've already seen Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, so feel free to use anything from that in the story too if you want.
Oh man, this movie! It took me a while to see this movie because the book it's based on was one of my favorites as a child and I didn't think I would enjoy how much stuff had to be changed to make the movie an hour and half long. But one day it was on tv, and I started watched because there wasn't anything else on and it was enjoyable enough. And then this scene in the giant jello happened, and my heart exploded with joy. I still think that scene is the most romantic thing I've ever seen. (And I love that it inverts the trope of Beautiful All Along.) There are lots of other things I like about this movie, but Flint and Sam are the reason why it's one of my favorites.
About the movie on general, I like how it has fun with the concept of food weather and runs with it. I like lots of different types of humor, but I will always giggle at a good pun even if puns are the lowest form of humor. It's a movie full of light, happy fun, which is my favorite kind of movie.
About Flint and Sam, I adore them both separately and together. Sam's perky and optimistic and honest while still being kind and smart and completely nerdy for meteorology. Despite being so nice in general, she's still a realist with regards to the world and people around her. Flint, while sharing in her utterly nerdy enthusiasm (albeit for inventing rather than meteorology), manages to be rather naive and oblivious to the world around him and doesn't always see how his actions can affect (and potentially hurt) people, especially those close to him.
(In a small tangent, my second favorite storyline in this movie is Flint and his father and how they eventually learn to talk to each. They both care so much for each other, despite how different they are, despite being completely unable to understand each other, despite being unsure how the other feels because of said communication issues. And it makes the gap left by Flint's missing mother even bigger because they both miss her and she was the bridge between them that gave them some understanding. Basically, Flint and his dad hit my love for stories about family and hit it hard.)
So part of the reason I love Flint/Sam (aside from them being adorable nerds together) is because they show a lot of the things that I feel are important for couples. They share a love of science and feel comfortable enough with each other to express that love. They have complementary support in each other. Flint sees who Sam really is and thinks who Sam is is awesome; he helps give her the confidence she needs to be unashamedly herself. Sam understands Flint, something that no one else in his town really does, and she can help him as he gains a sense of belonging in his town and makes friends.
I don't really care what they're doing in a story -- I tossed out a couple ideas in my sign-up details -- as long as they're doing it together. I know I got a little philosophical in my musings, but grand declarations and profound introspection are not really what I'm looking to read in this fandom. A perfect fic would just be something like Sam and Flint working together to make the best weather buoy ever. (Or some other plot - I am not demanding weather buoys, I promise, it was just one example.)
Um, final notes, I guess. I am not really into gen for this fandom, but you could have them doing something together as friends and (so long as they're not sitting there going, "Boy, I'm glad we broke up, that was the worst idea ever!") I would still be all over that. I've seen Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (all the food puns, yessss!), so feel free to use anything from that as you see fit. Or not, if you don't want to see it. I have no mental hang-ups about getting fic that contradicts later canon.
Octonauts (TV): Any (nominated characters: Dashi, Tweak, and Tunip)
Octonauts combines my love for cute things and sea creatures, so it is basically catnip for me. I'd love anything that gives whichever nominated character you offered (Dashi, Tweak, or Tunip) a chance to shine. I'd especially love it if you could let them help a sea creature of some sort. But anything that lets them be the main character in the story (day in the life on the Octopod, what they were doing before becoming an Octonaut, or something else!) rather than support for Captain Barnacles, Kwazii, and Peso would be awesome.
Octonauts is the cutest thing ever. No really, isn't it just the cutest thing you have ever seen? I get so excited about the fact that this show showcases marine animals both well-known (like orcas and hermit crabs) and little-known (like hagfish and spookfish). I have loved sea creatures for about forever, so have some links I have collected over the years about nifty ones.
A swimming sea cucumber
A video illustrating different lantern fish
27 Aquatic Lifeforms You Never Caught While Fishing
The nemertean worm aka the thing that looks like someone lost their intestines on the sea floor
The Mississippi paddlefish which looks terrifying (especially when you consider that it is probably bigger than you) but isn't really after you learn a bit about it
The megamouth shark which was only discovered thirty-seven years ago and how cool is that
The vampire squid who has a cape and fangs but doesn't suck blood
An underwater lake
Fractal octopuses
The sarcastic fringehead who has a fantastic name
The conch who has pretty adorable googly eyes
Baby stingrays which are called pups when born
The cushion star which looks cute until you pick it up
The moray eel who eats its food Alien-style
The green sea slug who is part plant, sort of
The mimic octopus who imitates a variety of other creatures
And these are only a few of the super-neat things that live in the water! The Blue Planet documentary from a few years ago has even more. (In a slight aside, there are a lot of shit things happening to the ocean ecologically - the Great Pacific garbage patch, the bleaching of the coral reefs, overfishing, etc. - and I'd prefer a gift fic not to focus on these sorts of things.)
The one failing I think the show has is that Captain Barnacles, Kwazii, and Peso are always the main characters. It's an ensemble cast, but even when the other Octonauts are given something to do, they never get to be the focus of the episode. I nominated Dashi, Tweak, and Tunip because those are the ones I'd most like to see given the spotlight, but I don't really care which of those three the focus is on. And, while it's pretty obvious I'd love something similar to an episode of the show, I also think it'd be pretty neat to see the day-to-day life or background for these characters.
Most of the episodes are available on YouTube, but it's really only necessary to watch a handful to get a feel for the characters. I remember Tweak features fairly prominently in "Octonauts and the Humphead Parrotfish," and I think Tunip gets more of a role in "Octonauts and the Jawfish." I can't recall an episode offhand for Dashi but "Octonauts and the Snapping Shrimp" looks promising. There's also an Octonauts Wiki.
Phantasy Star IV: Demi, Wren
I came out this game shipping Demi/Wren hard, so I'd love anything pairing them up. But, on the other hand, gen where Demi & Wren are friends is also something I would be ecstatic to receive. Maybe something set post-game with them working together to fix the planets' environments? Or maybe something about Demi growing up due to her experiences in the game and becoming more Wren's equal? Or something else!
I just ask that if you go the gen route, please don't pair either of them with someone else.
Phantasy Star IV! Possibly my favorite game ever for a lot of reasons. The setting, the look, the continuity between other games in the series, the gameplay-- I enjoyed just about everything about this game.
And Demi! She is such an adorable sweetheart. (Look how much shorter her sprite is compared to everyone else's!) She's very kind and also dedicated to her job. And yet, gameplay-wise, she gets to be a tank thanks to her android physiology.
I think Wren is a total sweetheart too, although not as obviously as Demi. He is just as dedicated to his job with a steady and calm personality. But I think, underneath his formal exterior, he has a hidden side that has a lot of caring and a tiny sense of humor.
I know I said I ship them, but gen really is completely okay with me too. Whenever I ship something non-canon, I just love them together in any sort of way so I friend-ship all my favorite pairings as well as romantic-ship them. Just give me Demi and Wren in whatever way you like, and I'll be happy. I'd love to see them working together post-game or Wren helping Demi deal with having been captured by Zio or building adorable baby robot helpers to fix the different planets. Or maybe something pre-game from back when Demi had just been built. Or something else. (Sorry this section is shorter than the others, but I have run out of steam. I do not love Phantasy Star less than my other three requests, I promise! It just comes last alphabetically.)
I do have lots of resources if this is the fandom we matched on, or if you'd like to pick up Phantasy Star IV. There's a tool-assisted speedrun[1] that takes about an hour and a half to watch or a two hour TAS that includes the sidequests. There's a Phantasy Star Wiki, and this fansite has a script of the game. If you'd like to play the game, have some emulators and ROMs and more game saves than you can shake a stick at. (Do be careful if you emulate though: the in-game save function never worked properly in the emulator I used. I had to restart the game twice before I figured I out I should just use save states.)
Final Thoughts: Thank you so much for offering to write one of my beloved fandoms, darling author! I know this is a long letter, but what I said in the first paragraph still stands. I am ecstatic at the mere idea of fic for me in one of my four requests, so if you already have an idea, go for it!
[1] A tool-assisted speedrun uses an emulator (and therefore save states and frame-by-frame progression of the game) to create a "perfect" game. I don't know if you're familiar with TASes or what the opinion of them is in the wider gaming community, but I think they'd be pretty decent for canon review. Personally, I find them neat because I find all the manipulation that goes on (lengthening the time between random encounters as much as possible, always getting critical hits, best walking path, etc.) really interesting. They're not a substitute for actually playing a game, but I don't think anyone in the TAS subculture claims it is. (I highly recommend the Super Metroid TASes and explanation about what they're doing as an intro to what TASes can do.)
The Breath of Fire III TAS is long, but the game itself is long. The TAS names Ryu "A" because that's two less letters for the dialogue boxes to print before they can be dismissed. For the most part, I was able to read the dialogue boxes just fine without pausing, but if you're a slower reader than me, you might want to keep the pause button at the ready.
The Phantasy Star IV TAS has no sequence-breaking that I know of, but the dialogue boxes go by very fast. You might want to keep the script open in another window if you watch.