Ga Rei: Exodus Nine (OoC)

[hero]

Time for the fandisc and the spinoff.

[Bird of Hermes]

I wasn't a part of it but it was a delight to read along.

Also, second BL RP to actually finish! Congrats!

[Spinach]

I'm gonna come in again with a (more) real post. The RP was really fun, there were highs and lows that we've been over time and time again, and I gotta thank Airen for putting up with my ~year of spotty activity and poor approach to the RP. Although Fort ended and I was in it, I wasn't in from the start like with Ga Rei. It's a much different feeling to be there from the start and see it through to the end(and not die). In a way, looking at the RP in its start and the last 6 months of its life leading to the conclusion, the two different periods of the RP are nearly unrecognizable as the same RP. The system, the scale, and even the players changed so much from start to finish and even though I didn't always embrace the shift towards the Ga Rei that we inevitably arrived at, I think I'll always look fondly at the RP.

In the beginning it was me, I3uster, Froggie, Erl, Morm, Sei and Hero. Time saw all but myself and I3uster ultimately drop, and the both of us came a hair's breadth from dropping as well. I understand the reasoning I3uster nearly pooped out of the RP, and I still feel apologetic for hounding him to be more active to the point of quitting, and I regret not getting any real IC scenes with him after he finally managed to get into a rhythm and become active again.

I still miss Erl and Hero...

To KT, Moon, Verg and Vri,

GJ.

To Frantic,

Get out of Ga Rei

[Airen]

Time for the fandisc and the spinoff.

Ga Rei: Exodus Nine Ultimax the Ultra Suplex Hold

---

Although memes aside, I do have my own brief thoughts on the rp, but they're kind of hard for me to actually put into words/some of it is spoilers for future projects.

If I can figure out a good way to say it, I will.

[hero]

I call my spinoff Uta must die but its still in closed beta.

Ontopic: Players help a lot in the Rp just participating in it. Since its a pretty universal feeling i am almost sure airen at some point must have felt like the strength and feeling of a scene was enhanced beyond the GMs initial expectations of it (Hell, one might feel that all the time). Pretty amazing how a player can turn a generic scene into a memorable one with just a few lines.

But a Rp is also about the Gm. The effort that has been put into a Rp is worthy of praise, as it is not just worldbuilding but actually enduring through life and keep updating, sometimes slow, sometimes at the speed of light. Please let this effort be acknowledged.

Overall, its teamwork, and i am glad we've somewhat evolved from a more distant relationship to a cooperative one betwwen players and Gms. Trust me, take Ga Rei as an example, of what a good rp is, and as a proof that Rps can be completed.

[Airen]

Players help a lot in the Rp just participating in it. Since its a pretty universal feeling i am almost sure airen at some point must have felt like the strength and feeling of a scene was enhanced beyond the GMs initial expectations of it (Hell, one might feel that all the time). Pretty amazing how a player can turn a generic scene into a memorable one with just a few lines.

Indeed. All the time.

Also, Saki or Mika in a bullet hell.

...Or the fort x ga rei super robot wars game.

EDIT: Also, the thing I'm having trouble putting into words are certain themes. If I talk about them too early, they might be too easy to spot in the future.

I immensely enjoyed GMing Ga Rei, even if it was rough at times.

We did it guys.

[Mooncake]

So, I'm finally home again, and I can read the epilogue, and think, and write those thoughts here.

(I actually started playing fighting games, and that derailed me for a while - but here we are.)

As Katie mentioned in his sheet dissection for Moon White, he was rejected from Ga Rei's original run. So was I, and, like KT, this was something that would stay with me for a long time. I was still pretty new to writing, making characters, and, honestly, not being an idiot, but I tried my best and managed to get accepted into Ga Rei's second acceptance cycle, alongside KT and Race.

This was... July 2nd, 2014, a little under 5 years ago. I was still a junior in high school, and was about to come in as a senior. Now I'm about to graduate college. Pretty weird, isn't it? Ga Rei has been a major part of my life for the past 5 years - and that's a little under a quarter of my whole life. Even when I've been sick, busy, unmotivated, sad, furious, or broken-hearted, Ga Rei has always been there. For me it ended up being more than just a game - it ended up being an important part of my life, helping me learn how to write properly, and write to impress other people, and to know how it felt when I succeeded.

Jacques changed a lot, as I was, originally, a 17 year-old playing a 23 year-old. But as I grew, the way I wrote him grew, too, and his character changed to reflect that. He started as a bit of a scumbag, and a skirt chaser, and a rapscallion, but he grew and matured to be a good person without ever betraying his more rogue-like qualities, and for that I will be very happy. Writing him in first person for 5 years took his toll on me, though. Writing anyone else in first person now just allows Jacques to slip in, so I think I'm gonna stay away from that for a little while! But, all jokes aside, I do love him dearly. He was a character I made when I didn't really know what I was doing, and watching him grow was kind of like watching a child grow. It was really cool to see, and experience that growth in my own person as well.

This might end up going on for too long, but... I don't know. I never felt like dropping Ga Rei (although I don't usually drop things, Titan aside). I just always had fun, from beginning to end. I know there were rough spots here and there, but it just always felt like fun to participate for me, especially because I still wasn't confidant in my own abilities compared to the big names that were in Ga Rei. But...

5 years later, and here we are.

Thanks for everything, guys. KT, Spin, Buster, Vri, Fran, Verg - we did it. And I'm proud of everyone who finished hammering themselves across the finishing line.

And to Airen - thank you. Ga Rei has meant a lot to me over the years, and I'm really happy I got to be a part of it, and the community of players that it enveloped.

A lot of things in my life changed over the course of this RP, and I'm looking forward to more RPs, and to the next 5 years!

Thank you, everybody.

[Spinach]

btw saki was protagonist

[Mooncake]

incorrect, but i’ll allow it

- - - Updated - - -

ilu everybody

[Draconic]

That was kind of heartwarming, Mooncake.

[Frantic Author]

To Frantic,

Get out of Ga Rei

Shout outs to Spinach for literally making me a better writer and player purely out of spite for how much he fucking wanted me out of Ga Rei.

I loved Ga Rei and there's no real way for me to write how fucking good of an RP Ga Rei was. I miss Nagi already, and knowing that her story came to an end is v heartwarming

thanks airen, ga rei was fantastic

[Verg Avesta]

Have to admit, I guess the only thing I was left missing was writing our own last posts for the epilogue, but I think this works like this just as well.

In any case, Ga Rei was a marvel and I too am missing it already. First RP I got to play out an actual character arc... And punch a GMPC in the face. All in all amazing.

[mAc Chaos]

I never paid attention to Ga Rei for most of its run, nor was I aware of its existence, but as talk of it began to boil up from its near end, I started reading along. If that was how the whole RP was, then I feel almost jealous from how well it went. Everyone, especially Airen, was a posting machine.

It also became apparent to me after hearing enough about it that it bore a lot of similarities to BlazBlue, which I liked.

[Airen]

Blazblue was indeed one of the many inspirations.

As far as some of my thoughts on it go (and I have many thoughts) I think I'll space them out a bit as trivia for the future, but for now:

From the start I was always determined to finish Ga Rei, because I started it in a period of my life where I had a bad habit of dropping some difficult things. Self-reflection made me realize I was doing this all over in different aspects of my life, so when I decided to turn it around, that's when I knew I was gonna finish Ga Rei "for sure," because it was now on a list of things I was refusing to just put away because it might be hard at times.

A little silly yes, but I do have my pride; and while it was the last thing of those old goals to be completed, I did see it through to the end.

Of course, while it also started as a silly crossover idea (since crossovers were by their very nature kinda silly according to teenage me) I did end up getting remarkably attached to this little world of mine, and the characters that lived in it, which was another thing that kept me coming back to it. I wanted to see them off (both PC and NPC) into the future.

Of course the idea itself was born from wanting to see how a weaker world (ga rei) would deal with an overwhelming one (SMT.) At their core they were series with similar, with humans fighting monsters, but the scale and tone were different; the power of love and friendship doesn't exactly save you in SMT (Persona yes, SMT not normally), but Ga Rei itself brought those sorts of themes out as 'weapons' against that overwhelming force.

Befriending an enemy defeats them more cleanly than a blade ever could; of course that's an answer that has it's fair share of challenges, but I think it's also an appropriate one. The scale might have gone down the SMT path (as it was destined too, since this is a series where punching God in the face is a thing you can just do sometimes), but the 'heart' of the story stayed 'Ga Rei' even until the end, so I guess you could say it won?

Other random thoughts:

-Both last boss candidates (Nyarl and Chronos/The Administrator) were created with the additional theme of 'eating souls,' (albeit with very different reasons for doing so) since "Ga Rei" itself equates to "Spirit Devourer."

-When Rogue Flame became Fort's last boss, I was pretty determined to have Nyarl not be Ga Rei's however because it'd be a retread and people know how I would fight a God of Darkness cuz Akio and use it to their advantage. The administrator was a flashier fight anyway, so I think it worked out for the best in the end.

-Most challenging section of the RP for me was the midpoint where a bunch of the early characters dropped, part of the reason for the 'shift' is me taking measures to ensure the RP would actually see it's end; although a good portion of it is probably also my writing style just changing over the years.

-In addition to Ga Rei/SMT, Steins Gate/Blazblue were also heavy inspirations.

-Ga Rei never really explained how their version of spirit power worked, so I modified the Yu Yu Hakusho 'rules.'

-All the NPCs were GMPCs (?) Checkmate players. Although I did consider Liane to be a "previous protagonist" character.

-The Attack/Evade/Guard System we used at first was inspired by Super Robot Wars. No one used it, even though Resistance was a God Stat.

-Best girl is Yamuna. Fight me.

-I caught a cold right after writing the epilogue. BL Curse tried to get me.

[mAc Chaos]

Checkmate players?

[Airen]

They were always trying to figure out who the GMPC was.

It was all of them.

Therefore, checkmate >.>

If my ramblings don't make sense, I'm blaming the cold medicine <.<

[mAc Chaos]

lool

[Verg Avesta]

>-Best girl is Yamuna. Fight me.
>Rules over pits
>Doesn't show armpits
For shame. Plus she was Zerah's heroine, and I think we've established that Zerah has a stupid face.

Hence, Red was clearly the superior topgirl. Objective fact.

[Spinach]

Actually the real crossover was Ga Rei x Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

[Verg Avesta]

In the end, were Saki's drills an euphenism?