I love FFT, but I've never looked up any fic for it. I found this fic rec on TV Tropes. What an insightful and touching peek into the head of a "generic" unit. Stellar job!

Is this what happens when you fire one of the cannon fodder in game? So sad. I feel Guilty now.

Randomly browsing around. Found this fic. Read it. Loved it. Moved to tears by it.

Unfortunately, I don't use archers anymore - I only used them long enough to get a thief and any other jobs I wanted but that was all.

And no, I don't use summoners either. I use calculators until they are proficient in their Math Skills, then I change them to samurai, ninja, monks, knights, lancers, and mediators with Math Skill as their secondary skill (unless I decide to have Steal be their secondary). Give everybody faith, stop them all (except for my units, who wear equipment to make them immune), put them to sleep, rob them blind, slaughter them.

Meh. Rambling. But you provoked me into it! I may have to see what else you wrote.

I've always felt bad about dismissing characters.

But this story just drove that guilt to a whole new level.

This is a great story which helps put a light to all those poor generic soldiers that fought by our sides.

This nameless heroine, my sympathy really goes out to her.

The content of this story is very well written.

I can't comment on mechanics too much, but it is readable with all around good grammar.

Anyway definitely a worthwhile short story, great job.

Really good, it had a strong tone and was a moving, original piece.

you know, i always thought it was ridiculous...

but i'm glad to find out that i'm not the only person who actually felt bad for the people i dismissed.

the damn game creators made the OC characters in that game to way to pity drawing...

My favorite strategy is using a mediator to "talk" people into my party, then removing all of their equipment after battle and dismissing them. After around the middle of chapter 2 or so, once you start encountering people in random battles regularly, I basically don't buy equipment anymore.

Anyway. This was really good, it's what fanfiction is supposed to be.

Holy mother of god this is great. The life and love of a generic archer. *sniff*

On older story, though new to me. Excellently done! I know I'm going to have a lot of trouble dismissing anyone the next time I replay FFT.

Ordinarily I don't go in for the pieces that prominently or exclusively include OCs, but I'm so glad I looked at this one. I took the first third of the story on faith; it was written in good prose, and the voice you gave this woman was pleasant to read, even if it wasn't the sort of thing I usually like. But by the time I got past the discussion of military equality between men and women, I was hooked.

I especially liked the way you interspersed her internal dialogue with snippets of Ramza's "real-time" conversation, and I liked the way she kept returning to her mental analysis of the meaning of his tone and vocal nuances. That was the most convincing, realistic detail of the whole piece.

That was a damn good story. This is one of your older works, it seems, and if your new stuff somehow improved I think I'd probably have to sit back from the screen a little bit further to avoid getting blown off the chair.

This is a heart-trip if I ever read one. Like a few other reviewers have said, this story has a life of its own, and I attribute that to its explosive rhythm. Never a period when a comma would do just fine, bursting thoughts out breathlessly more frantically than the spoken word. I'm sure a lot of people don't realize prose is as much about rhythm and timing as much as poetry is. In this way, the best stories always flow with an aesthetically-pleasing rhythm to it, and that aspect is definitely alive in "Dismissed".

But this is a heart-trip. We feel bad for our young heroine, especially since she isn't afraid to feel good about what she's done, not afraid to admit why the hell she's here, not afraid to kill- and at the same time she is scared, scared as hell. Anyone who says OCs suck just hasn't seen a good one characterized. Yes, she is one soldier, but she is every soldier, and this can be said about everyone in every war ever fought.

I tried to read through the story critically, because I always feel like a sheep always giving just praise. Again, like the other readers have said, after a point it does seem to drag on a bit. Personally, I think it's the patches of purple that do it in. For example, when our heroine mentions, after shooting some monk, the "blood streaming out across the chill autumn air", I couldn't help but think who the heck would actually be thinking about autumn air. It is vivid, but I think it's a bit much. Draclau having glowed with ruby light and "swelling into a bloated abcess" might have had something to do with it also. Take this with a grain of salt, because there's no way I could pull a triumph of emotion like this out of my hat without some miracle.

There were some other paragraphs (mainly the couple about the gaunt monks, and Draclau) that seemed unneccessary, and the very end seemed a bit odd (specifically the 'fearless, cunning', etc. line). I was wondering, was there a particular reason our narrator switches to third-person towards the end? It's not neccessarily a fault, just curious.

The only other things I can see are a few typographical hiccups (downon in one instance, and I think one other that I can't recall)

Anyway, excellent story. A great read.

...I want to cry...

Awesome, simply awesome. beautiful. This is in favorites, it is. You must write more.

O...

*Shivers*

This story is so... the proper adjective eludes my grasp...

Her devotion and agony is palpable, terrifying, inspiring, heart-breaking, and breath-taking.

Hats off to you, DK... this was... magnificent.

Aww. I feel incredibly guilty now about all the people I've dismissed.

Also I like the unnecessary sex.

And the part about Ramza's voice in and out of battle.

Yar.

A masterpiece. Truly beautiful