Anyone who grew up playing video games can point to a title or two that shaped their love of the medium into adulthood. For Taline, known on Twitch as Yunalescka - or just Yuna, the Final Fantasy series was her stepping stone into the wider world of video games. She recalls being eight or nine years old, watching one of her brothers play Final Fantasy. “I became obsessed. I watched him all the time, I didn’t even need to play.”
As an adult, that passion has blossomed into a streaming career - Yuna’s Twitch channel boasts close to 60,000 followers. She’s also amassed a collection of nearly 4,000 pieces of Final Fantasy memorabilia, a collection she believes is on-track for a Guinness World Record. Game ZXC spoke with Yuna about her time as a streamer and her deeply personal quest for a world record. Interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: Would you mind introducing yourself and telling us a bit about what you do?
A: My name is Taline, but I go by Yunalescka or Yuna on Twitch. I’ve been a streamer for about seven years. I was a Blizzard spotlight streamer - I started streaming Blizzard games, like Heroes of the Storm. I did that for about six years, but I decided that the game wasn’t doing well anymore. They removed a lot of the pro scene and stuff like that, and I wanted to change.
Growing up, I had a passion for Final Fantasy, JRPGs, and retro games. After Heroes, I decided to start streaming those things, and I've stuck with that for a while. It’s been a really good experience. I’ve met a lot of new people and collaborated with a lot of other streamers. It’s been a wild ride, and I’ve grown a lot.
Q: So, you’ve been at this quite a while. When did you first start streaming?
A: I’ve been streaming for around seven years. My first stream was in 2015 or 2016. Before that, I was a laser technician. I worked at a dermatology clinic for about eight years. After that, I worked in the British Columbia Children's Hospital doing transcriptions.
I realized, I didn’t really know if I liked doing all this stuff. Being a laser tech was really fun, but I wanted a change. I’m a gamer, and I’m a huge nerd, so some of my friends suggested that I try streaming. I didn’t really know at first. Sometimes my English is pretty bad, and I'm kind of shy. But I just got over all that, and just stuck with it. It’s been a great experience.
When I was starting out, I streamed maybe once a week, because I still had another job at that time, doing online marketing. I didn't want to quit what I was doing and give it all up for Twitch because in case streaming didn’t work out. So, I was juggling two things.
Before starting out, I had never really heard of Twitch. I never watched any streamers, and I never watched YouTubers. I just went in without really knowing about any of that.
Q: I’m sure the Twitch scene was much smaller back in 2015. That was right after Amazon bought it. What was it like getting in on the ground floor of streaming content?
A: It was great. Honestly, I actually miss the old Twitch, compared to Twitch now, for a lot of reasons. It’s just kind of a different vibe nowadays. There are different categories and different things that I didn’t see back in the day, when it was more gaming. I don't mind what’s on Twitch now, I’m very open and accepting of all the stuff that I see on there now, but I do really miss the old Twitch.
Q: Do you just feel like Twitch now is trying to do too many things, whereas in the early days it was a platform more catered to gaming content?
A: Yeah, there are a lot of things on Twitch now that I like: art content and other different categories. I definitely liked it when it was more of a gaming-focused platform, but again, I accept everyone for what they do, and it’s still pretty cool now.
Q: Let’s talk a bit more about your content. You mentioned that you stream a lot of Final Fantasy and JRPG content. Could you walk us through what you stream on a day-to-day basis, and how that’s developed?
A: Well, I mentioned that when I first started streaming, it was mainly Blizzard games. I was a spotlight streamer for Blizzard, focused completely on Heroes of the Storm. I didn't stream any other game for many years - I literally played Heroes for maybe nine to 10 hours a day.
I was obsessed. It was fun, the community was great, and it was generally a good time. But then, Blizzard took away the pro scene, and there was a lot of change. Streamers started leaving, and there was more toxicity. Generally bad vibes, and I didn’t enjoy it as much anymore. I had been playing more JRPGs, Final Fantasy, and stuff like that off-stream, and I decided to start switching it up and adding more variety to my streams with that content.
Of course, my numbers dropped at first. If you’ve been focusing on one game and you have thousands of followers who want to watch you play that game, you’re going to lose followers and subscribers when you make a switch. I still took the chance, and I said, ‘eff it, I'm going to play Final Fantasy, and JRPGs, and retro games.’ I wanted to build a whole new community centered around those games and genres that I loved.
It was really stressful, because I lost a lot of subs, and it’s my job on the line. But I went for it, and I started growing again. Eventually I got even bigger than I had been while playing Heroes of the Storm. I had a lot more subscribers, and I expanded like crazy. At the end of the day, I'm glad I switched.
So now, I play you know, I play new Final Fantasy games, or I go back and play some old titles, or I play some of the newer JRPGs that get released from Square Enix companies like that. I also do some throwback streams where I play a retro game on the Super Nintendo or one of the old PlayStation consoles. It’s been pretty cool.
Q: Was there ever a moment when you first switched your content over where you said to yourself, ‘did I make a mistake?’
A: Yeah, I thought that a few times, actually. I considered going back to Heroes, with all the toxicity and the trolls I had to deal with in the game sometimes. But still, I decided to go for the change, and I’m glad I took a chance on it. Because I decided to change, I grew a lot and got noticed by bigger streamers that I would never even imagine being noticed by, like Caleb Hart. He’s a good friend of mine, he’s a speedrunner, and he has crazy viewers and subscribers. There are so many cool people who I never imagined I would get noticed by or talk to. So I’m happy that I switched over and I started playing these games because, without the switch, I wouldn't have met these people and I wouldn't have grown my community. Also amazing is that all these people from the Heroes days still support me. A lot of them have stuck around all these years later.
Q: If Blizzard ever brought Heroes of the Storm back to its former glory, would you consider going back to streaming that?
A: No. It makes me so mad now, because there are so many trolls in that game. It’s just like any other online game. League of Legends has trolls, Call of Duty does too, but there's something about Heroes that gives me a negative vibe now, because of some people that I dealt with in the past. It just doesn’t sit well with me anymore. If I’m playing Heroes, I play off-stream with friends.
I'm also so much happier where I'm at now. I get to live my passions, play games that I grew up with, and play the new games that are released.
Q: You’ve said a couple of times that you grew up playing Final Fantasy. Can you tell me a bit about how your relationship with that series, and JRPGs in general, developed?
A: I didn't know much about gaming growing up. I learned about games by watching my brothers - I wasn't really allowed to touch their consoles, because, you know, brothers protect their stuff from their sister. But, that’s how I learned about Final Fantasy. One of my brothers played a lot of Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior, those types of games. I became obsessed. I watched him all the time, I didn’t even need to play. Every time he started playing, I would just sit there in his room and just watch him play for hours and hours.
I was young, eight or nine, but I grew to love Final Fantasy through my brothers. Without them, I wouldn't have gotten into these types of games, or consoles like the Super Nintendo. Like I wouldn't have gotten into them.
Eventually, I was able to play them, and then I started renting games from this corner store by our house. My dad would give me a $2 allowance every Sunday, and the corner store rented Nintendo and Super Nintendo games for $2. So that’s what I would go out and do.
Q: So it’s fair to say you’ve been into Final Fantasy and similar games for most of your life, and now you make a career out of streaming them. What about those games is most appealing to you? Is it more the nostalgia factor or is there something else that makes them especially attractive to you?
A: I think it's the storylines and the music. I think the music especially gets to me because I'm really into instrumental music like in Final Fantasy. Nobuo Uematsu is such a legend. Oh, my gosh, he is amazing. I've been obsessed with him since I was a kid. Playing games like the first Final Fantasy growing up, the music, characters, and the story really stuck with me. I couldn't wait until the next ones came out.
As a kid, I had a friend who was Japanese. Whenever he would go back to Japan, he would get me Final Fantasy collectibles. As a kid, I didn’t really know a lot about collectibles, but every time he would go, he would bring me back some goodies, which made me super happy. That’s when my collection started. I didn’t really do a lot of it at first, because I was just a kid. But I would save money that I’d get from my dad, which I’d give to my friend and ask him to bring me something Final Fantasy-related from Japan. It was awesome.
Q: I’m glad you brought that up. You’ve been shooting for a world record for a while: the world’s largest collection of Final Fantasy items. Can you tell me a bit more about that?
A: I've been a collector for almost three decades. It's been a long time since I started collecting Final Fantasy items. There are a lot of collectors like me, some who have been collecting for a long time, and some that are new. There are also people that are aiming for this Guinness World Record, just like me.
The person who holds the record right now has 3,600 or so items. I’ve been talking to him back and forth, and he’s been waiting for me to get the record. I don’t have it yet, but he knows how long I've been collecting, and he’s super nice. He wants me to get this record. He’s told me, ‘you’re a queen, you’ve gotta get this.’
It's a dream for me to have this record. Final Fantasy isn’t just a series for me, it’s like a family. I think about my father, who worked hard to get me and my brothers consoles and games. He worked so hard on his own to support me and my brothers and my mom. I think about my brother, who I watched play Final Fantasy for all those hours. So, this record means something more to me than just having the most collectibles. When I look at my stuff, it represents family to me. It’s not just a statue, or a game, or a soundtrack. It's something that I grew up with.
I've been aiming for this record for a long time. The thing is, the process of certification is ridiculous. You have to take pictures of each item, you need a video, and you have to bring in a witness who will record all of this stuff.
It’s been difficult to get this done over the past few years. I’ve been dealing with a lot of personal issues. My mom passed away recently, and I just moved house. I haven’t been able to focus on locking down the record because my mind is elsewhere. But, in the past week or so, something was telling me that I need to get this done. I think my mom would have appreciated it, and the rest of my family. My friends and family have been pushing me to do it, because they know how much it means to me.
I announced on Twitter recently that I wasn't aiming for the record right now, because of everything that's been going on. I also read something else that threw me off a bit from throwing my hat in the ring.
There are a few people going for this title, and I read that there's this one collector who said that he would spend a certain amount of money to get this record. I can’t spend that kind of money, because it’s a lot.
This person wants to spend that money and buy more items so they can get that Guinness World Record. For me, that’s awesome. Anyone can start collecting at any time. You can be a collector for 30 years, like me, or you can be a collector for a few years and go for this title. To each their own, but it just kind of threw me off, because I’m the kind of person who wants to feel like I earned this record, because I've been buying things and supporting myself at the same time.
So that announcement made me decide to wait a little bit. I want to either surprise people with the record, or just wait, because I’m not going to say anything. It might happen sooner or later, who knows? I just don't want to announce it.
There are people that want to beat me, because I know I can get the record right now. I have more than 4,000 items, and I 100 percent know that I can take this right now. But, it’s a long process to get certified, and you need a really good witness.
Q: So, basically, there’s a strategy about when you go public with your intent to go for the world record, because of the time it takes to certify.
A: Yeah. Right now, I’ve told people that I'm not doing it, which I'm not. But maybe in a few weeks, I could count everything. I just moved, and I’m unpacking right now, so things aren’t organized. But once everything is out and on my shelves, that’s when I’m going to go hard and count.
Q: I’m thinking about that collector who said they were going to spend a certain amount to clinch the record. Do you think they were trying to price you out? Do some collectors resort to tricks like that to get ahead?
A: Maybe, but the thing is, this person is posting a lot of items, like, daily. I'm not going to go out and spend, $50,000 to get my collection up to 6,000 or 7,000 items. So I kind of want to just keep this to myself.
I know the current holder really wants me to get this. We’re not good friends or anything, but we talk, and he’s been waiting for me to get this for a while now. He’s definitely gotten more items since he got the record a few years ago, but he wants to take it over now.
This other collector can totally take the record over after, but I just want to have this in the books so I can celebrate it. But who knows? Maybe I have more than him now, anyway.
Q: The competition aspect of this record really intrigues me. On the one hand, you have this other collector who seems like they’re giving you a bit of a hard time, but on the other, the current record holder seems like he really wants you to unseat him. Would you say the competition is mostly friendly? Or can it get heated?
A: The current holder is really nice. I only have good things to say about him - he’s super nice and humble.
I have come across people who have been very negative with me. I’ve been told that women should not be collectors. That just makes me really want to get the record. I want to do this for the women out there that have huge hobbies and are passionate about what they do.
I’m not going to talk negatively about people. It’s a competition, so maybe those were competitive words. But, I feel that, no matter your gender, you should just do what you love. I feel like some people were just negative with me, because they either just don't like me as a person for some reason, or because they are jealous. When people are competitive, sometimes they get a bit aggressive.
There are quite a few collectors that I know who are very nice, but I've had more negative experiences with collectors, for some reason. Even other women.
I feel like it has become more of a competition for some people. It makes me sad, because I'm an old school collector. I also don’t just collect anything that’s out there. I collect the Final Fantasy items that I love. If I see a Final Fantasy item, I'm not just going to buy it because it's Final Fantasy. I’ll buy it because it means something to me.
Q: You mentioned that some people have said that, as a woman, you should not be a serious collector. What’s that experience been like for you? Have you had similar things happen in your streaming career?
A: As a streamer, yeah, of course. It doesn’t happen as much nowadays, but it did happen more before. You would get people coming in and making fun of your looks, or your body, or how much makeup you wear.
When I first started streaming it hurt my feelings. I had never been told that kind of stuff. Growing up, I was never bullied, I never experienced drama. Since becoming a streamer, all of that stuff started, even with other streamers. There are some streamers that can be negative, and there are trolls that come into your stream and say negative things about you.
There was a point where I didn’t know if I should continue doing this. I didn’t know if I wanted to be a streamer anymore, because there was just too much drama and toxicity.
I had a lot of anxiety, especially in the Heroes of the Storm community. I had so much anxiety and issues with toxic people in the game. There was this one guy I remember that said women shouldn't be playing video games, and even harsher stuff.
That happens with people. They get too serious about video games. I think people just need to relax. I understand they want to get competitive, but there's no need for people make women feel bad for playing video games. We’re just playing to have fun.
But I’ve stuck with it, because I am who I am. Now, I have moderators who remove all of the people who come into my streams to say negative things, and for the past few years, there's barely been anyone. You might get one troll every couple of weeks, but that’s it. I’ve also just started to have fun with people trolling me, and they buzz off when I don’t really react the way they want.
Q: I don’t want to jinx it, but in the event you do secure this world record, what are you looking at next? What sort of projects do you want to pursue?
A: I think I want to continue collecting even after I get this record, I said ‘once I do,’ because I know I’m going to get it. I don’t know when I’ll announce it, but it’s going to be a big surprise to people. I think that, once I get this, I’ll feel a little more at peace as a collector. In the last few months, I’ve had to put my collector side on pause while I deal with all of this personal stuff.
I want to keep collecting, but slow down and just get the merchandise that means a lot to me. I’m more interested in collecting stuff from back in the day versus stuff that’s come out recently. That stuff is a more special part of my collection.
I also want to focus more on streaming. I’m going hard now to get back into my routine, and I want to focus more on full-time streaming. I also want to add in some more hobbies. Right now, I do a little resin art, and that's something I want to do more down the road.
Really, I want to focus on my community, because they’ve done so much for me and I want to give back to them. I want to be there for them every day as a full-time content creator. I haven’t been able to do that lately because of personal and mental health reasons. But I want to focus again on streaming.
I don’t think I’m going to change that much after I get this Final Fantasy record. I’ll just continue being me.
[END]