Three unrelated things and a request

[Pickle Girl Fanboy]

Found this in a book on Tai Chi:
b) The Solution Part One: Stillness defeats Motion
The practice of this principle requires a clear mind. We should wait for our opponent to begin
making the first move then `pre-empt' him by reacting decisively before he can complete it. We
do this because, when facing our opponent, we do not know his intentions, and so we do not
know which part of our body he will attack. It is better, then, to wait until he commits himself to
an attack so that we can divert it before it reaches its conclusion, and then we in turn can counterattack
by striking his weak points. We must avoid taking this principle to the absurd conclusion
of waiting for our opponent to hit us without moving a muscle in response. That is why in a
classical text on the Thirteen Tactics it is written, `If the enemy does not move, we do not move,
but as soon as he begins to move we move at once.'
In using this principle, our mind must remain clear to enable us to detect our opponent's slightest
movements and to counteract any intended attack. The key to this principle is that once our
opponent has committed himself to an attack it is already too late for him to react to our
counteraction. In the words of the military strategist Sun Tzu, `We must know ourselves and our
opponent.' We can only do this by remaining calm and collected until we clearly detect an
impending attack to which we then immediately respond.

In this context, should Brave really be what triggers a reaction?  Maybe it should be called calmness or disciplined relaxedness or Zen or mental clarity or something like that.

Someone find Lasting Dawn, he can think of a better word for it.


Found this in FFXII:
The Light of Kiltia
Religion begin by the prophet Kiltia over two millennia ago.
The religion of the Ordalian peoples is a dualist system - a polytheistic
pantheon with the Gawd of Light, Faram the Father, at its head.
After embarking on a pilgrimage to proselytize and deliver the word of the
vision he had seen to the people, Kiltia came to Mt Bur-Omisace, and from there
his teachings spread. The Light of Kiltia, as his teachings were called,
continued even after his death, until they covered all Ivalice. Though the
followers and churches of Kiltia are spread far and wide, they do not interfere
in affairs of state or governance.
Though at one point the church held considerable influence, they willingly
discarded that power, fearing oppression. Ever since, church officials with the
rank of celebrant or higher have been forbidden from participating in
statecraft. In addition, Mt Bur-Omisace contains a mutual non-incursion policy
with the surrounding territories.
Several years after Kiltia's founding, Saint Ajora began a new teaching,
claiming that Faram alone was the one true gawd, the popularity of this new sect
further lessening the power of the Light.

So did Saint Ajora live before FFXII?  I thought all that stuff happened after FFXII, considering there is no mention of the Zodiac Brave story anywhere in FFXII.


Found an interesting article on terrorism.  If anyone has a digital copy of "Spokesmen for the despised", please pm it to me.

[Jaakl]

On your first statement, I can guess that brave is the most adecuate term for the reaction probabilities. You can't avoid the fact that you turn on to a chicken when you are too low on brave. You have to remember too, that the brave  not only helps you to trigger reaction abilities, it also makes you hit stronger. But the thing that it makes me doubt is the fact that the lower the brave the higher is the probability to found items on the floor. I guess that if you are coward you have more observance in your steps.

On the second statement, I just think that the things of other games are merely references and they only create more plot holes than before. Saint Ajora is suposed to be a rebel, and maybe a spy of the empire. Is just conspiracy.

There are my arguments, hoping you like my redaction ;D

[VampragonLord]

In this context, should Brave really be what triggers a reaction? Maybe it should be called calmness or disciplined relaxedness or Zen or mental clarity or something like that.

only for hamedo

[Jon]

The statement from the Tai Chi is nearly totally correct, except bullets fly faster than any punches and kicks and at a distance. Man who shoots first and accurately wins, therefore the Tai Chi here is useless. However for man against man, I agree with it.

[Eternal]

I -think- St. Ajora was around the same time as FFXII, maybe a little later. Ajora isn't mentioned at all in the JP version of FFXII, I think, so there are some liberties to the true place in the timeline. However, since Ajora's death and the Cataclysm happened around the same time, and the Cataclysm occurred slightly after FFXII (hundreds of years at most, maybe), it's very possible that the two are connected.

Without going into a long rant about Ivalice history, the answer to your question is no, Ajora was not around BEFORE FFXII. During or after, yes. Don't look too deeply into the Light of Faram. I think Matsuno did some retconning there, or someone did.

EDIT: A nice, simple timeline of Ivalice's history.

Final Fantasy XII -> ONE YEAR LATER ->  Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings -> TWO YEARS LATER -> Final Fantasy Tactics: A2 (Ivalice) -> HUNDREDS/THOUSANDS OF YEARS LATER-> Cataclysm -> ROUGHLY ONE-THOUSAND YEARS LATER -> Fifty Year War -> ONE YEAR LATER -> Final Fantasy Tactics -> HUNDREDS OF YEARS LATER-> Vagrant Story -> HUNDREDS OF YEARS LATER (Modern Day) -> Final Fantasy Tactics Advance -> ABOUT TEN YEARS LATER -> Final Fantasy Tactics: A2 (St. Ivalice)