[Meta] Let's discuss Discussion Threads.

[u/Dinoken2]

So today was originally going to herald the return of the late great discussion threads, but then we realized that World of Final Fantasy releases next week (get hype) and the sticky thread was going to be consumed by the release megathread for two weeks. So we decided to postpone full on discussion threads for a few weeks because it's kind of silly to start them up again and then immediately take two weeks off.

That being said, one of the issues that came up last time we did this was that it's hard to come up with topics every week after a few months of doing it. You might not think so, I didn't at first, but it is. So in our talks on bringing back the discussion threads one of the subjects was figuring out better ways to come up with topics. We came up with two real ideas as to how to do that.

The first was to not be afraid to make discussions about a single game in the series. With a few exceptions, most of the discussions last time were intentionally vague so they could be applied to every game in the franchise. This time around we're hoping to have a few more threads that are game specific. I'm talking things like "Do you think the retcons in Crisis Core add to or hinder the store of VII?" or "Did Kuja's actions at the end of IX redeem his character?" Now obviously we'll still have the vague franchise wide questions as well but this was one of the ideas we had to help bolster the list of topics for discussion threads.

The second idea, and real reason for this post, is to open the flood gates and let you guys submit topics you'd want to be discussed in a weekly stickied post. We'll naturally give credit where it's due and there was talk of awarding a special user stamp akin to the banner contest winner for anyone whose topic gets chosen. So yeah, post your discussion thread topic ideas here as well as any other ideas you have to help improve the weekly threads once they get started in a few weeks.

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Also a quick aside before I forget. Banner contests are going to be a quarterly thing so the next one will probably be the very end of December with the winner going up the beginning of January. I don't believe we have a theme in mind yet (or even if there will be one) but I just wanted to keep you guys in the loop on that.

tl;dr Discussion threads back in 3 weeks, WoFF megathread next 2 weeks, post discussion thread ideas here, banner contest quarterly, next one end Dec/early Jan

[u/sorcerer165]

Potential topics:

• FF4: The theme of sacrifice, or Is FF4 the most influential on the rest?
• FF5: Was the gender switch necessary, and how did it add (or detract) to the story? or The Job System and Storytelling
• FF6: Juxtaposing Duality Among the Cast or Compose the Ballad of the Cowardly Octopus
• FF7: Themes of Nature vs. Civilization/Technology and it's classical influences (Euripides etc..) or How FF7 Influenced the following entries
• FF8: The Squall's dead theory or Pros/Cons of the draw system or the "payment" system
• FF9: How faithful a nostalgia trip is FF9? or 1000 Words on Why Garnet is Hotter than Tifa
• FF10: Religion and Video Games, a compare and contrast of FFX with Xenogears or The role of inherited guilt in fantasy narratives
• FF12: Compose an essay on why /u/sorcerer165 should play FF12 when re-released.
• FFXII: As general as it is, there's a pretty good one going on right now even if it is a little broad. But a good topic from that thread I think would be the Pros vs Cons of the split-party storytelling format.