Hello everyone and welcome back to my parlour! This month’s guest is one of my favorite people, someone who came into my life at a very particular moment and she made everything better, I’m talking about the amazing Yukiki! Thank you for joining me and accepting my invitation!
Gosh, you’re too kind! Thank you so much for having me, I’m absolutely honoured to be here!
As always we start from the very beginning, what’s your oldest memory about gaming?
Well I was apparently turning on the computer by myself to play Reader Rabbit when I was 2 years old, but I don’t have much memory of that! So memories would have to be watching my big brother playing on the N64, and then the day he suddenly handed me the controller so I could try Star Fox 64 for the first time, since it was my favourite one to watch. I can still remember how excited I was!
What was the first video game that made you fall deeply in love?
Definitely a mix of Star Fox and Super Smash Bros 64. I could be in a ship in space or battle my brother as cool video game characters! I would even play through the single player mode of Smash over and over again to practice. Growing up I wanted to be just like my brother, so anything I got to watch him play I fell completely in love with. But I think Star Fox was the first game I got to experience myself and absolutely adore!
When did you understand that video games were always going to be an important part of your life?
Pretty much right away, I’d say. As a kid, video games meant spending time with my brother. Now that we’re grown up and don’t live together, most of our conversations still revolve around games. So I think I knew pretty early on that they would always be a big part of my life, for sure.
What does gaming mean to you?
I’d have to say gaming means friendship and community, a way to bond with people and a way to discover more about yourself.
What is your favorite video game?
Oh boy, that one’s tough! I’ve never been good at picking favourites for anything, haha. I’d say for the past 3 years it’s been FFXIV for sure, but when it comes to single player games, Age of Mythology is a go-to I play pretty regularly and have since I was a kid. More recently I’ve fallen head-over-heels for NieR Automata, though! I adore that game.
Speaking of FFXIV! How did you end up playing it?
After I met my best friend, Jesse, in college and we graduated, we started playing Tera online together to be able to hang out with the distance between us. Tera changed a LOT though and we lost interest and started looking for a new game to play together. Another friend happened to see that Twitch Prime was giving members ARR for free with the 30-day trial so Jesse and I tried it out! I ended up meeting some amazing people through the game and kept up my sub while Jesse wasn’t able to continue his, and now I play pretty much daily!
What kept you so in love with the game?
The friends I made and the story (past ARR) for sure! I think the story and development alone would have kept me playing but if it was only that, I’d be very stuck at end-game. The friends I’ve made keep me playing even when there isn’t much to do! There will always be toxic people in communities, but for the most part I find the FFXIV community is very welcoming and friendly and it keeps me around, too.
What are other games you play at the moment?
Most of my gaming time is taken up by FFXIV, honestly! Between getting all of my classes to 80 and raiding on my main, and taking my best friend through the story for his first time on my alt, it really is the main game I play right now. But I’m also playing through Hades, Genshin Impact, and trying to get back to working on my Animal Crossing island!
What other games would you like to try (either games that have been already released, or games that will be released in the future)?
I really want to play the Kingdom Hearts series! I’m a huge Disney fan and people are always shocked when I say I’ve never played or even watched them, but I never had the consoles to play them and it’s a series I want to experience for myself rather than watch someone else play. Since the games will be coming to PC I’ll finally be able to! Before the pandemic I had started playing the first game at my friend’s house, but I haven’t been able to visit with everything going on. FFXV is also on my list of games to play – I really want to play more Final Fantasy games in general.
Your Twitch channel is one of my favorites, how did you end up streaming and what are your hopes and dreams for your streams?
Thank you so much! I can’t work right now and haven’t been able to for a few years, so I’m always trying to figure out something to do with my time and feel productive. I had watched a few streams before but not that many – until one of my friends started their twitch channel. Watching those streams and hanging out with her community was so fun, I thought I would give it a shot! With the NieR raids in FFXIV a lot of friends had told me to play NieR: Automata, so I bought it and decided I would stream it for them to watch. It was so much fun being able to communicate with people as I was playing, so not only was I feeling productive, but I was also getting some social interaction. Being on cam meant I could play with makeup again, too! And now that I have a Vtuber I can still be “on cam” on days where I don’t really want to be seen.
As for hopes and dreams, I don’t think I want to be a massive streamer – I’ve seen some people with chats that never stop moving and one of my favourite things about streaming is interacting with my chat. I want to build a fun and friendly community where people can come to feel safe and have some fun! I think that’s my biggest goal, growing a community. If I can make people happy, then I’m happy! It would be nice to make some money, of course, but I didn’t go into streaming with that as a main goal. I think if I did, I wouldn’t have so much fun with it. If I end up making some money with it while I’m having fun, that’s just a bonus!
We’ve talked a lot about gaming but who is the person behind the gamer?
Oh boy, I’m terrible at talking about myself. I’m a person who likes to make other people smile – entertaining others has been a big thing in my life since I started acting when I was 6, and it’s why I went to college for acting as well! Making people smile and laugh is why I decided to start streaming, too. I’m a big animal lover and used to volunteer at a shelter, so you’ll usually find me hanging out with one of my cats, Delilah and Jiji. I love to hang out with my friends, play board games, work on art when I’m able to, and spend a lot of time watching videos about ARGs, paranormal things, conspiracy theories, and true crime.
What are your hopes and dreams for the future? (obviously once all the madness is over)
The main thing is that I hope someday I don’t have to deal with all my health problems – I don’t know if that will ever happen, but I’m still going to work on it! I also want to grow my streaming channel and build up a friendly and open community where people can come to feel safe and just laugh. Eventually I’d like to get back into acting, voice acting especially, but I think my health takes priority right now. Then of course there’s the usual things, too, like getting my own place and spending my life with the person I care about. A big dream of mine has always been travel, though! I want to see the world, meet my friends from all over, and just…be happy.
And we all hope all your dreams will come true! How about gaming dreams?
Thank you! Gaming dreams….I’d like to survive this raid tier in FFXIV hahaha, the final fight is so hard on the healers! My static has just started progging it and my co-healer and I are still pretty new to healing with each other, so we’re working hard to figure out what will work best for our group. I’d love to try doing TEA and UCOB someday, though! Just for fun and the experience, the fights look really cool.
Speaking of gaming again, we’ve met thanks to the IG gaming community! How did you end up joining it?
I’ve always been addicted to taking screenshots in games, and when I was sharing some of my FFXIV ones with friends they suggested using an overlay program to enhance the look of my shots and give me some more room for creativity. I joined the discord for it and realized most of the community there shared their shots on instagram, so I decided to make myself an account just for my gaming shots! I’ve met a lot of great people through it and get a lot of inspiration from everyone – including yourself!
Do you have a message for the community?
Remember to have fun – I see people take games way too seriously so often, especially in the MMO communities. We can all get a little competitive, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! It can give you a challenge, and challenging yourself is never a bad thing. But I see people get to the point where they feel like a game they’re playing is more like a job, and that’s when you need to take a step back. Games are supposed to be fun, don’t let other people or trying to be “the best” get to you! Life is already tough enough as it is, and games should be a way for you to take a break from real life stress. There’s nothing wrong with playing a game just to enjoy it!
And lastly, who are three members of the gaming community you would like to see as my guests?
When it comes to FFXIV, and screenshots specifically, I absolutely adore the work alysmyste does! They were actually one of the first FFXIV gposing accounts I followed when I made my insta, and their creativity is always inspiring. Cosmia_ffxiv also takes adorable shots of her lala, and so does theplushiealchemist!
And with this, our interview has come to an end! It’s been an absolute pleasure to have you here and to get to meet you a bit more! You are an amazing, inspiring and sweet bean and I hope life will treat you the best way possible! Thank you again!
Gosh, you’re too sweet! Thank you so much for having me, it’s been an honour and a pleasure! I look forward to reading your next interview and learning about more people in the community!
And thank you all for stopping by and reading another interview! See you next time with another gamersation!
Kylara's Gamersations 