Ongoing Acknowledgements
The Xenogears: Prelude to Destruction series has been inspired by a LOT of different works as time goes by... I suppose everyone has influences, but sometimes I make direct connections. I'd like to recognize them here, if I may.
Oh, and before I begin, let me just say that this list is NOT yet complete... so if there's something obvious I'm not acknowledging, don't tell me yet. Give me a few weeks to work on this section more first. Now then, in order of importance... let us continue.
1. Obviously, I have to give props to Square for creating the Xenogears and Chrono Trigger games... without which this fic could have never been born. While I'm at it, I'd like to thank them for not explaining enough things in Xenogears to WARRANT this look at events, because I've certainly never been prouder of anything I've done than I am this work.
2. Now for the second most obvious acknowledgement: Mox Jet. I have to give MAD PROPS (and excuse my horrible, horrible slang stuff; I'm too tired to think of better things to give people) to him, for his permission to use stuff from his series; he's been very cool about everything. Geez... everything from my use of the Finori (which I also have to give Nanaki, one of my favorite authors, credit for), to TAGs, to the many, MANY references I've made to the LEA have been all thanks to his permission. So... thanks, man!! Much appreciated, and it's made my fic all the richer.
3. Now... this reference doesn't start until Chapter 17, but it'll be a big part of the series, I imagine. The Slayers anime series deserves a lot of credit for the vast majority of the spells I use now. Actually, while I'm saying that, let me just thank Slayers Universe 4.1 for having a complete listing of said spells. That was incredibly cool, and instantly upped the quality of my fight scenes (I think, anyway) somewhat.
4. Let me just say that FF IX was most cool... a LOT better than VIII, to say the least. The main reason I'm citing it here is because of the lines I drew between its Trance ability, and the Id that played such a dominant role in Xenogears. Most cool how that worked.
5. One more, boys. This one's new, though I should've mentioned it a long time. Like Nanaki before me, I have a tendency to borrow names for characters, places and things from the Magic: The Gathering series of cards and books. I can't help it, and these things typically bear no resemblance to their M: TG counterparts (with the exception of the Avenger robots early in the fic, which are basically Urza's own take on the Su-Chi robots of The Brothers' War), but the names in M: TG are some of the coolest ones out there. Anyway.