aotopmha

[aotopmha]

I just finished it and I think the entire sequence of the Endwalker lvl 83 quest In From the Cold is kind of amazing.

I've been wanting to talk about it since I saw it happen in a playthrough.

It brings together the soul research lore, Zenos and Garlemald in general in such a cool way.

Your friends could've been dead here.

You could have been forever stuck in that soldier's body.

It's absolutely fantastic gameplay/story integration. Endlessly frustrating and annoying, but absolutely awesome thematically.

And it's not just about understanding the situation of the regular Garlean soldier, but also how powerful you actually are.

And how much the Warrior of Light cares for their friends and people.

You are crawling forward by the end to get to the camp.

That duty said so much more by having no quest markers and just throwing you into the chaos than any line of dialog ever could, even if it took me like more than an hour to beat.

(Varis' fate is disgusting and meaningful in just the right way, too. What else would be controlling Garlemald?)

Thancred's duty earlier in the story was equally cool because of thematic and gameplay reasons, but served a much different, chiller purpose.

This game has grown to be so ridiculously good at making thematic encounters.

And I hope we will continue to see it in Dawntrail. I still remember so many solo duties in ARR being so generic. But then gradually it just got better and better.

I really, really hope they won't shy away from it even if it is "frustrating". Not all of the solo duties need to be like this, but I hope they continue sneaking in stuff like this.

#Final Fantasy 14 #Final Fantasy XIV #FFXIV #FF14 #FF #Final Fantasy #Endwalker #EW

[aotopmha]

I'm around level 82 Endwalker MSQ and I know that some really hate the Garlean section of the story, but I really like it.

Above all I really like the nuance in it all.

Firstly, I think they spell out the intentions of the expedition really well – the goal is to help the regular people who are suffering, but not excuse the system they live under.

Secondly, they spell out the really important detail that a bunch of the characters do not support the Ilsebard contingent.

As an example, not all of your job mentors might show up, as was my case with the RDM mentor because of his history with Garlemald, adding important nuance in terms of varying perspectives regards to helping Garlemald.

Reading some takes you'd think everyone agrees that Garlemald is all okay and cool now, but this is not the nuance/subtext I see in the text itself myself.

This was also not the sole objective of the expedition. The towers needed to go for the world to not end.

So it isn't just randomly barging in there to self-righteously "help" another nation. Everyone needed to be on the same page at least somewhat to survive.

Thirdly, I think they gave Gaius and his group enough nuance back in ARR (and Regula in HW) and we had enough decent and more complex good/less villainous Garlean characters across the game (Cid, Nero, Lucia, Maxima) for me to not feel like asking to see them as people was rushed or too late.

The key to me is that even the Garleans who were villains had defined, substantial perspectives and sometimes had non-villainous aspects to them.

The humanity itself was always there.

Fourthly, I see people say it is a thematic mess, but I don't see any of that, either.

The entire zone is full of nuanced perspectives on how fascism can hurt people and not once are we told to push everything the empire did under the rug – if nothing else the horrors of the system are only emphasised.

I agree with the system itself being the central enemy, which to me has been the entire thematic point of Garlemald from the start.

Licinia and her sister, the ceruleum workers from other provinces, Jullus and Quintus all represent very important aspects of how the empire's principles and its own self-made "faith" affected the people of Garlemald and to see it reduced to "oh some of them are just sad now", I think really misses the point considering the foundation of some of their stories.

Genuinely believing you're right, making nationalism almost a core of your identity and being distrusting of your enemy due to far-reaching propaganda are very real struggles under systems like this.

Finally, I've seen people say we are done with Garlemald now and it's so rushed because of this and I'm just not sure about that because to me that has never been the identity of this game.

It's really rare something is dropped and never brought up again, so I always disagree with almost any claims like this.

This is why I think Sky Pirates and Four Lords will also eventually have larger significance.

(And so will the 6.x series.)

I still feel the framing is very much "there is a long way to go here."

Doma and Ala Mhigo both had restoration arcs in various content and are still in progress, really, as the 6.0 role quests, literal "restoration" content and also patch content itself (4.1-4.3, 5.4-5.5 in particular for Ala Mhigo and Doma) attest.

I think we will still see more of the aftermath of Garlemald's collapse in the yet occupied provinces as I still think we will have to open up the huge cloud in the middle of the map in some form, I even think there still would be room for a Garlemald expansion, it just wouldn't be "as" urgent anymore and mixed with other stuff because the empire is an husk now.

As much as Bozja might seem like it was dropped suddenly because of the field notes, I do not think it is like this story to not address important aspects like this until we are unquestionably, completely done.

I know there are some reveals in the role quests and material in 6.x quests that people are also iffy about, but to me most of that seems pretty okay, too.

Garlemald has to reestablish proper trade connections, they have to fight the remainder of their old guard and they can never be complete victims. They also need an entirely new governmental system.

It's the old guard that holds them back, but also crumbles when threatened.

So I think where we are now narratively, we still need more time with Garlemald and I think we are not quite done with them yet and if there is something I personally would dislike from here on out, it *would* be getting no follow-up at all.

I think we need to actually visit Dalmasca, Corvos and Nagxia in some form and put a final end to all of those regimes.

Now, do I think more could've been done here?

Absolutely. As I said, we have whole occupied provinces we have still not seen and a whole massive cloud right in the middle of the map still uncovered.

(And I think revisiting Ala Mhigo's and Doma's struggles against specifically Garlemald in some form also needs to happen.)

So as much as I really liked the zone, it is still clear to me there might have been more done there (in fact it was confirmed because we know about a potential Garlemald expansion).

So I actually do share a criticism I see around, I just think what we got still turned out to be really good and really important nuance to go into regarding Garlemald.

Something about asking to somewhat empathise with an enemy faction just destroys any nuanced discussion on the internet, be it the heroes doing something bad (for good or bad reasons) or villains doing something good (despite having really awful views otherwise).

You see an enemy faction just even dip toes into nuance and the story automatically must be excusing them.

You see the heroes not be completely, unconditionally respectful and thoughtful and the story must be disrespectful itself.

It's such a boring way to discuss art (which is also made by people, who are flawed like anyone else) in my eyes.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #FFXIV #FF14 #FF #Final Fantasy #Endwalker

[aotopmha]

I'm always suspicious whenever everything is going well.

And the last few days have been really good for me.

I'm healthy, there has been some really good news about everything I care about, people I know and care about are doing much better than they had for some time.

Right now there are only a few things I don't like about my life.

Though I suppose these few things can be considered the tradeoff, whenever just good things happen, I'm expecting something bad to balance it out.

And naturally, at some point there will be new lows, but here's hoping for a period of everything going well for at least a bit.

#Aotopmha talks

[aotopmha]

And Dawntrail has been preordered.

First game I've ever preordered.

If it sucks or there are issues getting the full game, I'm never preordering anything again.

I am dreading the queues though, even with early access.

I also realized I lost my sprout (since I did start EW) and am a little scared, but here we go.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #FFXIV #FF14 #FF

[aotopmha]

I've been finally watching an FF7 playthrough and I did not expect what the game's identity ended up being.

Currently at the end of "Disc 1".

I knew about Aerith's death long before I truly cared about Final Fantasy, but what I did not know about was literally anything else.

Aerith's backstory as an ancient, Sephiroth's characterisation as an horror villain across the game, Barret and Dyne, Nanaki and Seto.

Before Aerith even dies, we learn Sephiroth can literally control Cloud and he first ends up beating her up and then later at the capital almost killing her because of Sephiroth's ability to control him.

It's fucked, but absolutely incredible storytelling by itself.

Sephiroth's minimalistic presence itself makes him a fantastic villain because of his relation to Cloud and whatever screwed up cosmic horror Jenova is.

I did not see any of the psychological aspects of the story coming.

And I think it's an incredibly well-told narrative from just a plain script perspective, too.

Everything matters in some form, very few dialog boxes are wasted.

I also get why everyone is shipped with everyone.

Because all of them have such strong dynamics with each other even if the dialog is really straight-forward.

Guess I'm 100% a fan.

(Also as a massive FF14 fan, FF7 is an absolutely fascinating thematic companion to FF14 and I'm only at the end of disc 1.

I love, love how FF14 does its own thing while paying tribute to all other FFs. It's absolutely a tribute, but still very much has its own identity as a game and narrative.)

I'm turning into kind of a massive FF fan narratively at least, I think – FF7 is fantastic dark sci-fi/fantasy, FF6 fantastic steampunk/high fantasy and FF14 is some of the best long-form storytelling ranging from lower to higher fantasy, light-hearted to dark fantasy and a bunch of aesthetics beyond these basics that somehow all blend.

Now from all other FF stories I've seen fully, I think FF10, FF4 and FF16 are the ones I'd place lower narratively.

I think FF10 is my least fav of these because none of the cast did much for me, FF4 has the least depth narratively, though it is still pretty fun and FF16 suffers a bunch because of its uneven last third or so, even if I like the cast and base themes a bunch.

But what I like about them all the most is that even within the turn-based formula they all feel very different to each other, again, narratively-speaking. 16 is very little like 7 and even 4 and 6, the games I consider to be closest tonally handle characterisation and narrative structure pretty differently.

Each game brings something new to the table *the series* has not done before in some form. For example, as far as I know 16 is probably one of the most low fantasy games we've had in the series.

It's not new in the broader context of fantasy media, but it is new for FF.

And I like series that don't sit still like that.

#Final Fantasy VII #Final Fantasy 7 #FF7 #FFVII #FF #Final Fantasy

[aotopmha]

The graphics update has really made me like the Au Ra.

The scales look really good.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #FF #Final Fantasy #FFXIV #FF14 #Dawntrail

[aotopmha]

And turns out my laptop runs the Dawntrail benchmark pretty much just fine with the settings I have right now.

The key is the higher settings, which hit the performance somewhat, but it never becomes downright unplayable levels of bad.

Which means I can probably play the game just fine and issues that do crop up will probably be related to a lot of players being on screen.

But the improvements, although seemingly minor, really add up.

It's the effect of putting on glasses with poor vision.

Everything is sharper. The details on outfits are no longer stickers on the characters, the environments are no longer blurry when zoomed in and materials of outfits are distinct. Shiny metal, separation between cloth and leather.

It's not a complete transformation, it can't be considering it's an MMO, but oh boy is it a step up, in my opinion.

Too bad I probably still have to postpone pre-ordering because of unexpected irl expenses.

#Final Fantasy 14 #Final Fantasy XIV #FFXIV #FF14 #Dawntrail #DT #FF #Final Fantasy

[aotopmha]

New FF14 live letter:

Yay!

Better mute and blocklist features. Very good for those who have faced any awfulness in game.

I think the graphics update stuff will be best seen in the benchmark releasing tomorrow, it's always imperfect via stream and stuff.

(I hope my laptop will run it decently enough.)

The statistics were fun (and funny).

#Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #FF14 #FFXIV #Final Fantasy #FF

[aotopmha]

It's one of those days where my faith in humanity and our future have been shaken pretty hard again.

But in the end all you can do is the best depending on the circumstances you're in, so I will try.

#Aotopmha talks #General Discussion

[aotopmha]

I think Werlyt is my favourite side quest series in the entire game up to this point.

The trials themselves are solid, but it also has fantastic solo duty content, and, of course, as is the trend with Shadowbringers, an absolutely fantastic narrative.

I think it's definitely more specifically my favourite "self-contained" narrative in the game, at least.

Gaius has an actual, substantial and well-made "redemption arc", a rarity because unlike so many similar arcs, not only does Gaius actually take action to do good to show you how he has seen the errors in his previous worldview, he also always admits to his guilt and is ready to face the consequences of his actions.

Those he did actually care about also suffer the consequences of his actions and he feels the full brunt of the negatives of his old views put into action (and what's even cooler, the positives, as well).

Gaius believed the strong must lead the weak, so his children take after him. And Gaius was fiercely loyal to Garlemald, just as his children are.

He would reach his goals by any means, not thinking of the consequences, but it turned out, such devastation was, in fact, not his intention.

And all he can do is watch as his children are destroyed by his own teachings and the horrid system he once supported.

It's a fantastic exploration of an oppresive regime such as Garlemald's.

But as great as Gaius' arc was, my favourite aspect of Werlyt was actually how it ended up being about his children, about the victims of Garlemald who gave their everything to save their home from further harm.

Valens also goes to show that an unambiguously evil villain can work for a complex story.

His evil is simple yet very real.

From his jealousy towards Gaius to his disdain for any race not his own, in fact, hatred of any being he deems lesser, I think Valens is the realest expression of the totalitarian/authoritarian regime Garlemald is meant to represent in the narrative.

And he gets squeezed like a grape by the representation of all of the children he has killed (The Diamond Weapon).

It's really good.

#Final Fantasy 14 #FFXIV #FF14 #FF #Final Fantasy #Shadowbringers #Final Fantasy XIV

[aotopmha]

Done with Eden!

(Final Fantasy 14 spoilers!)

With this kind of writing/imagery I always wonder about the age-old "just subtext" element/issue with fictional gay relationships.

Because I know the "romantic friendship" trope is pretty common in Japanese media, specifically, and really, lots of media all over the world often ends up with the gay female characters forcibly paired with boyfriends or dead, if they are characters with any kind of importance or depth at all.

New lore apparently has revealed Artemis was a woman (in fact, Artemis being a woman makes a lot of sense in hindsight if you know Greek mythology) as an ancient, so I think I'm more positive than negative about Ryne and Gaia because their parallels are pretty much text now, but you never know.

I do hope for the best. Good representation is cool.

Talking about the characters specifically, though, I do feel Gaia's character arc happened a little too fast. She was absolutely insufferable during the second wing and then pretty okay by the third.

And I'm all for female characters who can be wrong, make mistakes, be awful people, but something was off about her entire journey and the best way I can put it is that, I'm not sure I believe it.

I get the same sense with her character as I did with everything involving the Crystal Tower storyline until Shadowbringers. It feels incomplete, off, somehow because back with CT we barely learned anything about G'raha and while we do learn a lot about Gaia as a character, her growth feels more like a switch flip than a lot of other characters.

So, in my eyes the strongest aspects of Eden were Ryne and the lore we learned about the Flood.

I've said it before, but I already know the story of this game, I'm a gameplay sprout, not a complete sprout.

So I know about upcoming stuff, and I feel you could do so much more with Ryne and Gaia in light of some of it and considering where the story is heading (outside of Tural), and I really hope they'll take advantage of what they have built here at some point.

I'm not sure what they could do for me to buy Gaia's arc better, but I also don't truly dislike it or have very strong negative opinions about it, so I guess it can just stay what it is, too.

However, above all, I really like how this is just super high-effort side content.

in so many games, particularly RPGs, side content is limited just maybe a bunch of generic fetch quests or in better cases some secret super bosses.

In 14, we get whole storylines that could be their own little complete games.

It's really cool.

#Final Fantasy 14 #Final Fantasy XIV #FFXIV #FF #Final Fantasy #FF14

[aotopmha]

And I'm done with FF14 5.3.

Spoilers!

I think the points that stood out to me the most are still just the two I talked about here, but more than anything I just appreciate the closure, the bow on everything in the expansion.

Not all stories need to have a strongly-defined ending, an happy ending or even an ending with any closure in it, but I think all stories need to have an ending appropriate to the story they're telling and I think Shadowbringers had just that.

The farewells complete all of the stories told across the zones in the most natural and powerful way possible and, I think, really just speak for themselves.

As far as I'm concerned it was as perfect of an ending as you can get.

Perhaps at some point I'll talk about all of the moving parts of Shadowbringers and make a deeper dive into all of these endings, but for now I'll be heading towards the raid story and trial series and then finish off the rest of the patches, to finally head towards Endwalker.

(Aside from all of that, there's also the FF16 crossover to check out.)

#Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #FF14 #FFXIV #FF #Final Fantasy

[aotopmha]

Made it up to the 5.3 trial in FF14, specifically the cutscenes that follow it, but stopped right after for now.

Spoilers!

I think a criticism I can levy at the patch content of FF14 is that it often feels like a retread of the ideas in the main expansion. And I think Elidibus is probably the strongest example up to this point in the story.

It is very much Emet-Selch, but done "again", however, in my eyes what makes it work is the emphasis on a different aspect of the Ascians' struggle: duty.

The pain of loss and loneliness is there for sure, and so is the exploitation of the good and bad in humanity and the idea of legacy and remembrence, even the single-mindedness itself is there in Emet, but the single strongest keyword for Elidibus is duty and his tunnel vision regarding his duty.

It's where the emphasis lies that actually makes them very different characters.

While Emet's singular, emphasised obsession is the return of his people no matter the cost, for Elidibus it is specifically his duty, perhaps his role as the heart of Zodiark, as someone who is a primal.

A mantra without any basis but the vague notion of a promise to someone.

I think the parallel I find the most interesting is the one the narrative draws with the Exarch.

Because he, too, functions based on a promise to someone, a singular, tunnel-visioned idea of saving you.

And the response he gives isn't one that villainises Elidibus, but rather gives context from his perspective. He chose his course because of his personal experiences and the course his life took, as did Elidibus.

They both do what they believe is right. I think Elidibus is probably one of the most straight-forward examples of a villain sharing the conviction with the heroes and believing they are in the right in this game.

The only difference truly is the path they've walked – more specifically their memories.

Elidibus is confused about what he believes in and what he fights for because his memory has faded, so he clings to his empty mantra without ever truly thinking about it.

As a consequence of this, unlike Emet, he is pretty uncompromising. We are the villain, he is the hero, no ands, ifs or buts.

Instead of trying to find common ground with you like Emet, he tells you how morally wrong you are for doing what you do, and how morally wrong everything you have done across your entire journey is because it involves violence.

You kill anything, without any thought, just as you are bid.

He is a Warrior of Light saving the world, just like Ardbert and I like how Ardbert periodically comes through from him, just how he acted a lot like Zenos when he was in his body.

His entire thing is conviction without substance.

And I like how Y'Shtola cuts right through it all and points out how the ancients aren't exactly flawless, either.

He tells you how the sundered forget, but he himself has done so, too.

I think it's really cool they managed to make him a full-fledged character that makes sense essentially in just 5.3.

The other big reveal is you being the Seat of Azem, which I love because they somehow managed to give you a position in the story you can choose the significance of; I think making just being an Adventurer/Person of the People a cool special position is really neat.

You can view yourself as the coolest and the strongest if you so wish, but you can also view yourself as a simple traveller and anything between these two aspects because you do your own thing.

Your significance as the Seat of Azem is about what you represent and that you matter, not actually about how special you are. The story kind of allows you to choose how special you actually are.

I have a lot of thoughts about the Seat of Azem, but to me the one that strikes me the most right now is the discourse around you being The Chosen One. Because I see so many people categorise the idea as such and I think the role of Azem doesn't necessarily make you The Chosen One trope.

Among other things, I for example really like the idea of a Big Good in the world. A character that is simply good with no ifs, ands or buts attached to it.

I think you can be any of that because of the vagueness of the role of Azem. It's fantastic food for RP.

Maybe your Azem is a chaotic trickster, maybe a prideful defector from the unflexible, close-minded Convocation.

Perhaps they are a champion of anti-conformism, an odd one out that cares about the people more than anyone on the Convocation as someone with perspective and empathy for common folk, a hero of the people.

Azem is so wonderful because of how mysterious and open-ended the role is and I hope this aspect of your character is one that won't be given a much more concrete picture, though I can think of a number of ways you can make a more concrete Azem work, I prefer the freedom of interpretation regarding the role.

So in light of that, I ask, what are y'all takes on Azem?

#Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #FF14 #FFXIV #FF #Final Fantasy

[aotopmha]

Very good story

#Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #FFXIV #FF14 #FF #Final Fantasy #5.3 not done yet #planned to do it all today #Currently just too tired to continue #also not too happy with how the speech bubbles ended up being cropped #but also not too bothered by it #text post may or may not follow

[aotopmha]

Done with FF14 patch 5.2.

I think there are two issues I have with it:

1) How Ardbert's body managed to stay preserved for 100 years for Elidibus to possess it.

2) The filler.

In terms of the first point, usually they address these things in some form, be it in main or side dialog, and I did not get to every piece of side dialog.

(So if anyone knows and can find anything on this, I'd gladly be corrected on whether they do clarify it in some form or not.)

It makes sense for the Cardinal Virtues because their bodies lived on as Sin Eaters.

But as far as we know, Ardbert's was buried for a hundred years. It should be dust.

I think it's a very similar situation to Minfilia's entire plot thread involving the idea of one having to consume the other and the Scions not really putting any effort into trying to separate the two instead, which is a really obvious idea that's never really brought up.

I can fully understand how these can be overlooked writing-wise because the entire situation with Minfilia gives the characters and audience an interesting moral quandary and the situation with Ardbert's body some really nice weight to Elidibus as a villain and character.

And to be fair, I think the implication with Minfilia has always been that they just couldn't find any other solution since as said, one has to absorb the other to be at full power.

The situation with Ardbert's body is tougher because the most we have is the implication of finding his Crystal of Light and returning it to Seto and that the crystal might have preserved the body, but as said, it's never really spelled out directly how his body stayed fine enough for Elidibus to possess.

(I do find it funny that Elidibus supposedly shaved, though.)

For the second point, with the story getting so much better with making sure everything matters in Shadowbringers, some of the side stuff, particularly the subplot with the two guys wanting to become Warriors of Light felt timewaste-y, it reinforces Elidibus' plan, but I feel like that whole aside with them before the dungeon didn't really need to be there and these really stand out in a story with actually decent enough pacing.

I've also been watching a FF7 playthrough recently and it struck me so heavily how concise and straight to the point, but still meaningful that game is with its dialog even through some of the awkward translation.

I love FF14 deeply, but its prose can hurt, especially in the ARR to StB era.

Brevity is the soul of wit, they say and I'm happy Shadowbringers and Endwalker not only much improved the storytelling, but also the prose of the story itself.

I actually felt the difference in prose the most between 3.0 and 3.3-3.5 and 4.0 and 4.1-4.5 earlier on, but Shadowbringers and Endwalker are the true big step forward and I don't mean just not in terms of wasting your time, but also in terms of making the smaller, slower moments just as substantial as the big turning points.

They're still not perfect (oh boy, the lead up to Mt. Gulg and the entire final section before the Atiascope in Labyrinthos), but the story makes sure the slow stuff at least matters by the end. The Moogle quest in HW could be almost entirely removed and nothing much would change, same for the Company of Heroes/wine quest in ARR and most of the chores in StB, particularly the ones involving the Ruby Sea.)

That's what I really like about the Endwalker patches. They're all super evenly paced, always keeping things going within the narrative they're telling. You never linger too long at any point in my eyes. In fact, I feel 6.5 might've needed a little more breathing room with some elements.

But tl;dr, I just really appreciate how much the game has improved narrative pacing-wise despite still not being perfect with it. It's really nice.

#Final Fantasy 14 #Final Fantasy XIV #FFXIV #FF14 #FF #Final Fantasy

[aotopmha]

Gave it a try again after waiting a bit, it's so annoying.

Seems it's not just me, so I think I'll indeed give it a few weeks or until benchmark etc.

I'm surprised I got my payments done the first time and am kind of worried about cancelling my sub if I wanted to, but SE's sites and account systems are all massive awful jank.

Yeah Dawntrail preorder not happening rn, all them 404s and 502s, lol.

#FF14 #FFXIV

[aotopmha]

The Square Enix Store is hell.

First it doesn't let me preorder and when I do finally get to preorder, the order just cancels itself and now I'm reminded how I only got to play the game because the expansions were available on Mogstation and Dawntrail currently isn't.

I'm done with 'buy the game' prog for the day.

I was deliberating holding off until after the benchmark or closer to the release date anyway in case my laptop is not decent enough for the graphics update, but if the system continues to be this faulty, I might not get to play until the expansion shows up on Mogstation, I guess, which I don't know the timeline of, but I assume some time later or even when it goes on sale.

What an endeavour to just play (or technically not even that) the game.

Yeah Dawntrail preorder not happening rn, all them 404s and 502s, lol.

#Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #FFXIV #FF14 #FF #Final Fantasy