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anneapocalypse · 3 months

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Thoughts Before Endwalker

As I'm about to start Endwalker, I thought it was high time I actually write up some closing thoughts on Shadowbringers, and since I really haven't done this for any of the other expansions, this has turned into a general "thoughts so far" kind of post! And also long. This is not any kind of an essay, just a big long thoughts dump. Spoilers for everything through the end of the Shadowbringers patches.

And I trust I don't have to say this to my own followers at least, but just for the record: please do not tell me anything about Endwalker here, even if you think it's minor, even if you want to hint at something I'll like. I know very little and I'm looking forward to watching it all unfold.

How it started!

It's been a year and change since I started playing this game in the fall of 2022. I didn't actually expect to play very far (I only picked it up in the first place because I was helping a friend set it up! I swore I would never play an MMO! I hated multiplayer games!) and I certainly didn't ever expect to get as deep into it as I have! ARR is very handholdy for new players, which was exactly what I needed to enjoy playing and keep playing. I love the story and the characters and the world and while I do enjoy the solo aspects of the game very much, I've also ended up really actively enjoying playing with other people! I enjoy dungeons. I enjoy raids. I run roulettes more or less every day. Free Company life hasn't always been smooth sailing (long story I won't get into here), but it's also brought me a lot of fun times and some new friends, as well as seeing me step into an active leadership role and not hate it. Who am I? 😂 I don't know! It's not that I've never tried to step out of my comfort zone before when it comes to games and hobbies, it's just that most of those experiences haven't been good and I've ultimately walked away from them. I don't know why this has been different, but it has. It's challenged me to tackle and let go of a lot of old insecurities, which I'm glad for (and grateful to friends who've been patient with me along the way). It's also just been a really good time, and continues to be.

How it's gone! (ARR through Stormblood)

So here I am, in 2024, about to start the last current expansion! Shadowbringers is easily my favorite expansion thus far, but I have really enjoyed the whole ride.

I enjoyed all of ARR, because while I don't think it has the strongest writing and certainly not the strongest characterization, it's really more a very long introduction to the world and its major players and conflicts, and while slow-moving, it does serve that function, and for someone brand-new to MMOs like me, slow was okay. It gave me time to get my bearings and learn the game.

I did really love Heavensward. It hits on several aspects of Fantasy Politics that I enjoy (generations-long war, class politics, structural reform), and postwar Ishgard, while maybe still a little rosy, still doesn't shy away from the growing pains of social change. Also the dragons were cool. I loved Haurchefant a lot, and was heartbroken by his death even as I knew it was coming; I also wouldn't change it. I think his death was meaningful and the natural culmination of his character. A Knight lives to serve. I think Haurchefant was always going to go out sacrificing himself for someone else. If it hadn't been the Vault, it would have been somewhere else. He was a delight and I miss him dearly, but it was a good narrative beat and one I wouldn't change.

Ysayle, on the other hand, I really don't think needed to die. She undergoes a fascinating character arc in Heavensward which I think the writing really drops the ball on at the end. Ideally, I think Ysayle coming to terms with her missteps while continuing to fight for what she believes in would be fantastic. She could have been a meaningful figure in Ishgard's reforms, and she would have made a great Scion. Her death also simply isn't treated with the same reverence as Haurchefant's, and I think that's sad. Heavensward has a bit of a Women Problem, in that it really doesn't give us a lot of female characters who are central to the plot, in contrast to a lot of great and memorable male characters. And the one who is most central dies with a lot less fanfare than WoL BFF Haurchefant. (And I'm not knocking Haurchefant, whom I love dearly, or Aymeric or Estinien! The imbalance is just very noticeable and I wish it wasn't so.)

Stormblood tends to get a bad rap among FFXIV's expansions. It's so common to hear people say it's their least favorite, it wasn't as good as Heavensward, etc. It came up recently in a server I'm in, where a newer player said they were having a bit of content fatigue after Heavensward, and having heard that Stormblood wasn't very good, they were considering buying a story skip. Other responses were, not outright negative, but mostly lukewarm, and I felt like I was the only one who really came out for Stormblood's story. First of all, I don't agree that it's not as good as Heavensward! I grant you that not everyone is as enamored of Fantasy Politics as I am, but as mentioned above, Heavensward is also very political, so I don't really think that's the big difference. Stormblood is maybe a bit grittier in its depiction of war, and that's something I like about it; it's really about the horrors of imperialism and the cost of resistance, and it doesn't pull its punches on that.

Ironically where it does pull its punches is with character deaths, heroes and villains alike. It does feel a little like someone thought they might have hit us too hard in Heavensward, given that we haven't had a lot of major character deaths stick since. I'm not complaining about Gosetsu's return, as I liked him very much and was very happy he lived. I will grumble a little about Zenos, though I'll go easy because I know a lot of people like him. 😛 He just doesn't do much for me. Yotsuyu was a great villain, and I was really dubious when they brought her back, but was pleasantly surprised with how her story ended, to the point that I'm willing to eat a lot of what I said about memory loss as a plot device. They did well with it, and her ultimate death did feel appropriate. Yotsuyu was never going to have a redemption arc, because she didn't want to be redeemed.

It was very refreshing in Stormblood to have more female characters taking essential roles in the plot. Colorism issues aside, I do really like Lyse as a character, and I also loved seeing Yugiri and Alisaie taking prominent roles, especially Alisaie who really hadn't gotten to be in the main plot much before. Rolling around with the three of them was a blast. Raubahn is also a favorite of mine, so seeing him play a major role in Ala Mhigo's liberation and get some character development was excellent. I'm happy that he's stayed involved with the Resistance in the time since.

I also just think Stormblood's new areas are absolutely beautiful. Kugane and the Azim Steppe are particular faves, but I just think they did a great job with the environments and I loved exploring them, including the underwater bits! Eorzea and Ishgard are so European-inspired, and I really enjoyed seeing Asian cultural influences in a fantasy setting. It is after all a Japanese game!

Just this week I finished the reconstruction of the Doman Enclave. As a player who's joined the game more recently, it's always bittersweet to learn about game elements that were temporal and are now lost to time, like the evolution of Mor Dhona during the ARR patches, or the Ishgardian Restoration in the Firmament. I can go hang out in the Firmament and craft and do fêtes and custom deliveries, but I'll never get to see the Firmament being built. It was done when I got there, which for me was after completing 3.3, very soon after completing the main story of Heavensward. The Doman Enclave goes in the other direction. It is a solo experience by necessity, but it's an experience that every new player can have: making their donations every week and watching the Enclave grow. Such things are always a trade-off for an MMO, but between the two, I would definitely choose the one that doesn't lock new players out of the experience.

And to give one last shout-out to Stormblood, I think it's pretty essential setup for what's happening when Shadowbringers begins. It's not just that the Scions are dropping like flies, it's that this is happening on the brink of a full-scale Garlean invasion. Said invasion is also critical to the bad future that G'raha is ultimately trying to prevent. The state and history of Garlemald is inextricably tied to the Ascians who are tied up in all of this. Stormblood is arguably more important to the events of Shadowbringers than Heavensward is, though Heavensward is also not unimportant, both with the continued presence of Estinien (reluctantly so if we believe him 😉), and with the involvement of Tiamat in the Shadowbringers patches. It's all connected!

How it's going! (Shadowbringers)

Urianger is, unsurprisingly, a big part of why I love Shadowbringers so much, as he gets some wonderful character development there and actually gets to be in the plot! But it's not only him—I like how character-driven Shadowbringers is overall, how much the major characters are driving the story and not merely reacting to events. ARR was largely driven by the world itself; the expansions are where the story starts to become character-driven. The driving forces of Heavensward's are much bigger than the main characters, but Haurchefant and Ysayle and Aymeric and Estinien bring a personal face to the conflict and a reason for us to be invested in it. Stormblood's emotional core is Lyse, Yugiri, Gosetsu, and their collective drive to liberate their homelands from Garlean occupation.

Shadowbringers, to me, really brought all of that home. It's not only character-driven but it brings a much more personal touch, I think, to the Scions themselves, with the major players being characters we've known since ARR but now get to know in a deeper way. I've always liked Y'shtola as a character but never felt I really connected with her, and Shadowbringers changed that, even as her story in Shadowbringers is in many ways about her isolation from the others, her (sometimes justified) mistrust and the way she closes herself off even to the people closest to her. Yet there is a deep caring beneath Y'shtola's prickliness as well, which we see in her leadership of the Night's Blessed, the new family she is willing to risk her life for. She's complex and difficult, sometimes angry and stubborn, and we all know I love that in a fictional woman. I really gained a deeper appreciation for her as a character here.

I've said my piece on Minfilia already, so I'll try not to repeat myself too much. I will say that Thancred is the main character I have the hardest time with in Shadowbringers. I appreciated the additional character development given to him at first, but as the story made Minfilia's death more and more all about him to the exclusion of everyone else, the more I started to kind of resent it. It really gets under my skin how he treats Ryne for like, the entire time until Minfilia Prime's final departure. The narrative kind of treats it like oh, he just has a hard time expressing how he really feels! and honestly I don't fully agree with that framing. I think Thancred's cold and harsh attitude toward Ryne does reflect how he really feels at that time—namely, he's angry and lonely and upset for valid reasons, but he's taking them out on a teenager who's fully dependent on him for her survival, to the point that she admits she thinks he hates her. His legitimate pain doesn't justify that to me, and it really kinda chaps my ass how everyone just agrees that he's the one with the most claim to call Ryne family, when Urianger was far kinder, gentler, and more comforting to Ryne than Thancred ever was. And Urianger was in pain too. He also regrets what happened to Minfilia, and his part in it. He was carrying a terrible secret that he couldn't tell his closest friends, which put one of those friends' life in danger. He just owned his feelings, instead of taking them out on a scared kid. I know my bias is obvious, and I swear I don't hate Thancred 😛 but I really didn't like his behavior here and I wasn't really satisfied with the way the narrative handled it.

Probably my least favorite part of Shadowbringers was Vauthry. I just do not like "fat" as shorthand for "evil" and I think there could have been better ways to design him that didn't fall back on that trope. Even Dulia-Chai, a very lovable character in the end whomst we stan, does fall into some fatphobic tropes, and it's unfortunate that in a game without much body diversity (not to single out FFXIV, that's a problem for games generally), we only got fat character models as signifiers for "rich person" (yeah, I get that "fat cat" is the joke, it's just not a good joke) and "repulsive, evil abomination." No love!

On a lighter note, the return of G'raha Tia as the Crystal Exarch was simply wonderful. G'raha was very cute and fun during the Crystal Tower story but his presence was quite short-lived, so we didn't fully get to know him then. I think it's pretty easy to guess that it's him under the hood; he has a distinctive voice and lip shape and also the tower is right there. So the question becomes why he is hiding his identity, what his true motives are, and that's all intriguing! The fact that his plan hinges on his pretending to be the villain at the end and he utterly fails at convincing anyone is… deeply charming. But one of the things I love most about him is the kindness he extends to the people of Norvrandt. Even though his primary mission is the salvation of the Source, he gets attached to these people, offers up the resources of the Crystal Tower freely to improve their lives, helps build a home and sanctuary, fights for the First and becomes deeply invested in their survival as well. He has a huge heart, and I love him. I'm delighted that he gets to return and join the Scions at the end, and it's already been a lot of fun to have him along on the patch quests.

And of course, Urianger my love. 💜 He really shines in this story and every scene with him was a delight, even when I was climbing the walls needing to know what he was hiding. He gets so much good character development in Shadowbringers I could go on for hours about it, but I did especially love the Echo scene where you see G'raha asking him to lie—and you see how much he doesn't want to do it. Urianger's really been on a long arc ever since Moenbryda's death, and I don't think that arc is over yet, but my biggest worry for him as the cracks started to form in his story was that we'd find he hadn't changed, and was lying here for the same reasons he did in the Heavensward patches, and as easily. And that's not the case at all. He hated doing it before, and he really doesn't want to do it again, but G'raha's reasoning is just too strong for him to refuse. I brought it up recently but I think Shadowbringers reveals an Urianger who despite his long isolation really doesn't want to be alone, and does want his friends' understanding and approval and their trust. The look he gives the Warrior of Light if they say they trust him, and then the way he submits himself to their judgment when things go wrong while begging to be allowed to help fix things… god. I love him. And I'll stop there for now, since I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say about him in the future. ;)

Emet-Selch is a fascinating villain, certainly the most interesting Ascian we've seen so far, and the one who finally turns what have been fairly two-dimensional powerful bad guys into a truly motivated and complex faction. My favorite villains are always the ones who believe they're the hero, and there are a lot of parallels between Emet-Selch and Solas from Dragon Age: Inquisition which will be obvious to anyone who's played both games. FFXIV being a more linear story afford the player a lot less choice in how they respond to their villains true motives and history, but there's definitely still an expectation that we will sympathize somewhat with Emet-Selch, and recognize the tragedy of what happened to his people.

Ardbert's ghost, too, was a welcome addition to the story. Between his presence and the role quests (which were 100% worth doing in their entirety), I felt like we finally got to actually know the Warriors of Darkness against which we briefly clashed back in the Heavensward patches, and I really felt the pathos of their story, all they fought for and lost, but also their friendship and how they cared for one another.

Shadowbringers is beautiful in so many ways. The design of the Crystarium is gorgeous. Il Mheg is probably my favorite location in the game so far. Eulmore is a fascinating dark mirror of Limsa Lominsa. The way the game takes the idea of "a world being swallowed by light" and interprets that visually is so stunning. The sky over Lakeland arrests you immediately upon arrival, and the crystallization of the Flood of Light where it was halted at the edged of Amh Araeng is a chilling reminder of how much the First has already lost. The music has also been a highlight for me! I really adore the Shadowbringers music, and it has prompted me to go about collecting orchestrion rolls more deliberately than I had before.

The more I sit and write about how much I loved this expansion, the more I think of, so while I could definitely go on, I think I'll wrap it up there. 🙂

Onward to Endwalker. I'm not making any predictions this time, because I have done my absolute damnedest to stay unspoiled for this one and I know very little about what's coming other than what the locations are, what's been revealed in the Shadowbringers patches, and that it's the end of the big story arc we've been on since ARR. I'm extremely excited.

#afk by the aetheryte #arr spoilers #hw spoilers #sb spoilers #shb spoilers #there is some #ffxiv critical #in here #and some #thancred critical #in particular #i swear it's not hate #just some stuff that sticks in my craw #but mostly this is positive!#onward we go #anne plays ffxiv

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ferrocyan · 3 months

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top 5 memories!!

these are mostly abt my friends from my fc bc they make playing this game so much more fun and awesome (long post warning)

#1 so there's this guy in western coerthas whom you can challenge to a fight named alaimbert of the spiked butt. funny guy with a lot of butt jokes. one day i was leveling samurai and thought eh why not fight mr spiky butt? then i ate shit and died. and like. the moment i died i got a dm from a stranger. this player named "yuyu nekomata" was... asking me to join her fc?

fellas i have no idea how fc recruitments work. i don't know how this girl found me. so i thought. that this person. saw me get buttspiked to death. for no fucking reason, just being a shit gamer. and thought "yeah i want THAT guy to be in my fc, i gotta ask him to join right now"

i fucking lost it dude i laughed so hard i was fully crying. and then i said yes, ofc. best decision i ever made fr. also since i mentioned going to level my gatherers yuyu gave me like 10 sideritis cookies and i still have 6 in my inventory www

#2 i started playing in na actually, in coeurl, crystal bc dreamer was there and i wanted to meet him ingame haha. but the ping was horrendous and i could never avoid aoes. i started to suspect if orange aoes weren't actually unavoidable. i could only get through the hall of the novice "avoid aoes" training by using sprint (it has a 60 second cooldown!) and praying. and i thought man, i want to try raiding in the future, there's no way i can raid if i have to sprint out of every aoe. so i packed my bags and moved out to jp. basically just picked a dc and world at random? the english speaking jp server is elemental (literally every other indonesian ffxiv player is in elemental fml) but i went to mana instead. it's good out here though since mana has an active raiding scene and the queues are super fast :]

anyway the actual memory was when i remade my character and restarted arr and i went out into the world and aggro'd a monster AND I COULD STEP OUT OF THEIR AOE WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO avoiding damage has never felt so fucking good

#3 at a time when i couldn't play ffxiv, around after i finished base hvw but not the patches, i watched jocat's ffxiv stream vods on youtube. i kept watching until the last available video, when he'd finished the rak'tika section then detoured to do all the role quests. that was around endwalker's release so the guy was too busy streaming to upload the old vods. since twitch vods were only available for 2 weeks i skipped ahead and watched edw instead of waiting for more shb. i followed his streams to the very end, then went ahead and purchased ffxiv to finish shadowbringers on my own

i hadn't planned to play endwalker, for reasons. i finished 5.0, then i did the only thing left i wanted to do: the twinning. i wanted to jam out to a long fall, haha. and i did! it was a very fun run. i hadn't done alexander and omega yet so alex to me is a twinning boss first and foremost. the unlock quest's cutscene where we hear the message from the doomed timeline was so touching that i teared up. i felt satisfied. i was done with ffxiv! yay!

the story of why i decided to continue playing... is for someday in the future :)

#4 and so i did continue to play, and even finish endwalker. really though, the twinning wasn't the only thing i wanted to do. i wanted to try raiding, remember? and so i got to level 90, my first time at level cap, excitedly went to labyrinthos to try the pandaemonium raids, and

my item level is too low. noooooo!

i had no idea how to get gear. what the hell is a tomestone? why do i need so many of them?? i asked around to the raiders in our fc for tips. they told me some stuff about how to farm tomestones but i thought mannn that's gonna take so long though. so i went to the marketboard and bought the then-bis rinascita gear.

one of the guys i asked, koi, saw me at the sharlayan marketboard and went OH NO. i'd just bought the sabatons when he stopped me. koi told me, "this was supposed to be a surprise, but i'll say it so you don't waste your gil. actually yuyu has bought all the gear for you! please come to the fc house to receive it."

i was.. floored. i'd joined the fc while in the middle of playing shadowbringers, so it wasn't too long ago. i hadn't talked with anyone much, only saying hi when i see them pop in or out of the game. since i was too busy doing endwalker msq i couldn't play with the other members either (though we did go into the aitiascope and the mothercrystal together, it was such a blast). but they still gave me a ton of gear and raid food and gil for materia. man even now thinking about it i get choked up. these people are the nicest and i love them so much.

the time when i would have to stop playing ffxiv again was approaching, but i swore i would first clear at least the first savage trial of abyssos when it came out, to show my friends how much i appreciated their help. i'm still holding onto this promise now.

#5 savage is hard. oh my god is it hard. i have to admit to giving up because my internet connection is very unstable, i get a lot of lags and disconnects, and devour is an extremely unforgiving mechanic with lag. i only went back to high-end content with golbez. his trial is extremely attractive for me to prog because the mechanics are mostly forgiving and easy to learn. the only one that has me by the throat is void comet rain (void stardust? idk i learned this from jp resources so) since that one is unforgiving with lag lol. and it took me a good while to prog this trial. i gave up again when 6.5 released with a new extreme, zeromus, and went for that one instead. actually getting to see enrage for the first time ever was very motivating, but i just... i like golbez a lot. i want to clear the voidcast dais extreme first, as it was the new goal i'd set after p5s broke me. so i tried again! and

i did it baybeeee hahahaha! we were a "learn from the beginning" party that was supposed to go on for only 1 meal. but at the 30 minute mark we got to like 7% and i was the only one left alive and i was like no, no we can't stop here LET ME SOLO HIM! LET ME SOLO GOLBEZ I'M A WARRIOR I CAN DO THIS IN NORMAL MODE SURELY EXTREME IS NO DIFF(explodes to void meteor)

we put it to a vote if we want to continue progging, and everyone unanimously agreed. so one final pull! in which i fucking died to void comet rain like a chump! but we ended up clearing well before enrage!! yaaaayyy!!! i got my first ever endwalker extreme clear, and also somehow the weapon coffer despite being the only one (probably) who messed up. sorry everyone ;p all the luck goes to the most undeserving in the party! now i just need to farm the mount and the golbez minion from the lunar subterrane and i will have my full golbez regalia. this is my current goal www

anyway since we're already here have a bonus sweet memory, last christmas one of the fc members, kou, gave us all drawings of our wols! look at the gang all here /;w;)/

answer correctly or else i will have to write more smut to set things right

talking about the other fc members under the cut www

from the left that's koi, one of our serious raiders. the guy is such a troll, he taught me by force to play better bc when someone else dares take the tanking role from him he will run off alone and aggro everything in sight, cuz fuck you. he did also accompany me progging both p5s and golbez and taught me a lot about tanking and communicating in pf :]

second is yuyu, our most wonderful guild leader! she's sweet and kind and loves to shower the rest of us with gil from her billionaire coffers. she's the best. beside her is hoshi, who is a pretty cool person but she's been taking breaks a lot. she's our healer for treasure map runs and it's always hilarious w her there

the bunnyboy is skyler, our most chill and cool guy B) he's a vtuber on tiktok i think? he maintains our main discord server and is usually the one organizing fc events with yuyu. also the sage main who always takes the job to heal the rest of us tank-dps mains www

lastly beside tart that's kou! i hadn't met her a lot at the start and that was because she has a very serious raiding static. she did the omega protocol ultimate, THE hardest fight in ffxiv, on patch. it was nuts. she was in that dimensional rift 24/7 lmao. she's also an artist and always has the best glams and has gotten into gposing too, a real ffxiv renaissance man. kou does old extreme/savage content for fun and often gifts the rest of us special crafted weapons that glow. like the tsukuyomi sword, my beloved

there are other members but that's all for now! thanks if you're reading this far hahah

#tart the wol #long post #i would usually put something this long under a cut but i need you all to vote

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ayakamizu · 7 months

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FFXIV Write 2023 Day 28 - Blunt

Blunt: Verb. To become blunt or dull. Characters: Ayaka Mizushima (WoL), Estinien Wyrmblood Expansion: Shadowbringers Rating: G Notes: Just a nice little moment between these two during the Shadowbringers patches (post-5.3 essentially)! No spoilers are mentioned.

“I think my legs are going to fall off,” Ayaka complained, lying across the ground. Her lance was discarded somewhere on the ground nearby. “They feel like they’re on fire.”

“Is that not… your speciality…?” Estinien questioned, not even looking her way as he continued with his pushups. She could tell he was sweating from the excursion and wondered how long his particular brand of stubbornness would last.

“You’re hilarious,” she drawled, staring up at the clouds lazily floating overhead. Some of them looked disturbed from her and Estinien’s jumping attempts. The clearing they found on the outskirts of Mor Dhona was free of any wanderers or monsters, which made it the perfect place to practice their jumping. Unfortunately, that meant they had free reign to goad each other as much as they pleased.

Which is how Ayaka found herself wondering if her legs were going to buckle under her if she tried standing up. She was definitely out of practice with her skills as a Dragoon.

She turned her head and looked towards her companion. Ayaka noted the way his arms were starting to quiver and raised a brow in Estinien’s direction. “Are you not tired?”

“I’m fine,” he grunted, although his shaking voice gave him away. “I'm used to pushing through the pain.”

Ayaka refrained from mentioning that wasn’t something one should get used to, mostly because it would be hypocritical coming from her. Alphinaud—and now Alisaie, too—chided her enough on it. Instead, she took in the various scars that littered Estinien’s body. Most of them looked like they belonged to dragon claws and, while her time fighting against Nidhogg’s brood had been short, she felt herself wince in sympathy at a few of them.

“I suppose the rush of the battlefield does that,” Ayaka murmured, thinking of her own moments. The memory of that fight in Ghimlyt came to mind, her desperation overpowering the pain she felt from Elidibus puppetting Zenos’ body. She hardly remembered the fact that she collapsed on the battlefield.

She heard him grunt, this time with a bit more pain, and sighed. Ayaka tried sitting up—and immediately regretting it—and grabbed her lance. She twirled it around and used the pole to poke Estinien in the side, causing the man to give a tiny shriek (that neither of them were going to talk about ever) and lose his balance. He flopped on his side like an unimpressed cat before rolling over onto his back, arms spread out.

He looked over in her direction, a horribly displeased look on his face. “Are you mad?” he asked, glaring.

Ayaka shrugged, throwing her lance a little bit further away and flopping on her back as well. “Maybe.”

“That would explain a lot.”

“Twice now you’ve made a joke today! Is the world ending?”

Estinien groaned, a pained look on his face for a split second. “Knowing our luck? Yes.”

That got a laugh out of Ayaka, with Estinien soon joining in. True, they both were probably in much more pain than they realized at the moment, but for now she’d enjoy cloud watching to pass the time. Either the pain would dull more considerably or one of their friends would notice their absence went on longer than planned—whichever came first.

#ffxivwrite2023 #ffxiv #ffxiv writing #expac: shadowbringers #wol: ayaka mizushima #c: estinien wrymblood #aya: writing #when you're both idiots that like to goad each other #that's ayaka and estinien's dynamic for me

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lizzy-calaxio · 1 year

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An Introduction Post!

Me, the mun, am Valerie, or Elizabeth! I have a lot of hours logged into FFXIV (over 10k hours) and I have written a lot of fics! I’m in the process of fully fleshing out my timeline, so bear with me as canon shifts. My house is on Ultros (Primal data center), plot 12 ward 28 of the lavender beds, come visit me!

I follow from @lizzy-frizzle

Beginner’s Guide that I made (currently working on updating for Endwalker): https://docs.google.com/document/d/19Oa07hkaQFIGJDxW8MyumcDHuhi5ZNAwbul9Lk6PuxA/edit

OC Information below the read more

Lizzy Frizzle: My main OC!

Age: she starts ARR at 17, and she’s currently 24 Gender: Trans Woman (She/Her) Orientation: Lesbian General Info: Lizzy is an Au Ra Raen that was orphaned early in her childhood, she grew up with her adoptive parents in the black shroud and following their deaths from the 7th umbral calamity, she spends a couple months on her own, then she gets taken in by the Sylphs and they teach her many things, for better or worse. She also excels in academics, and managed to create her own faerie to heal with, though she is uneducated and has no formal training. When she goes to sharlayan, she begins studying properly under Archon Conroy Rayne. Lizzy is polyamorous and as of current patch she is married to Brilliant Caladium, Sadu Dotharl, and Suzaku, while she is dating Shio Shinju.

Her Ancient is Iremia, a renowned Psychologist sporting powerful Emotion magic. Iremia desires to become Azem, but Emet-Selch shoots down the idea under the reasoning of "I don't want to lose the convocations best therapist" but Iremia knows the real reason is cause Emet views her as a little sister, and doesn't want her gallivanting off into dangerous places. At the end of shadowbringers, Lizzy discovers Iremia's apartment, and through mystical and magical means, gets to have a conversation with Iremia, this leads Iremia to bestowing Lizzy with her knowledge about Psychology, as well as her emotion magicks, though not as potent.

Lizzy’s children with parents:

Frizzle Rose – Lizzy/Bril - born right before stormblood Tranquil Grove – Lizzy/Bril - born right before stormblood Alice Frizzle – Lizzy/Sadu - born after shadowbringers

Ship tags: Lizzy/Bril – Brilizzy Lizzy/Sadu – Explosive Duo Lizzy/Shio – The idiots Lizzy/Fordola – Brooding Mess (bad ending AU)

Mono Rose: My secondary OC!

Age: she starts at 16 during the post-ARR stuff, she’s currently 22 Gender: Non-binary (She/They but don’t call her a girl) Orientation: Pansexual General Info: Mono Rose is a lalafell that lives with her family in the shroud. The oldest of 8 children, she strives to break out on her own and go on plenty of adventures. One day in the shroud she tries taking on a boar, only to stumble and get saved by Lizzy. Lizzy then teaches her how to properly use the bow and arrows, and Mono starts training to become a Bard. Mono thus looks up to Lizzy as a role model and hero, however, Mono refuses to join Lizzy and the Scions because she just wants low stakes adventures, so she frequently adventures with Bril. She also spends a lot of time babysitting Lizzy’s children.

Lizzy’s Children:

- Frizzled Rose (she/her) -appearance wise she takes after Lizzy a lot, but she's very much an angry ball of violence, her main job is Warrior and she is shorter than min height for roe (she's the same height as lizzy when fully grown, and she's pissed about it.) Frizzled wants to become a famous adventurer and save the world like Lizzy and Shio, but Lizzy is strongly against it and tries to keep her out of harms way. Frizzled often hangs out with Alice, only causing more problems around Ul Dah.

- Tranquil Grove (He/him) - appearance wise takes more after bril but still has lizzy elements, he also takes after lizzy's personality moreso, in that he's very peaceful and calm (we are ignoring black mage lizzy, shhhhh), he mains scholar and uses Lizzy's old codex that has her notes in it. He very much doesn't like violence, and tries to keep the peace often (struggling with Alice and Cota, or if Alice, Gwen, and Frizzled are in the same room). He gets along with Khaidai, they bond over their desire for non-violent solutions

- Alice Frizzle (She/they) – Alice was born half-blind due to the excess light aether in Lizzy on conception, due to this she is slightly more clumsy then the rest of the children. After she gets older, she can see fuzzy colors of people’s aether, though it doesn’t help much in a combative environment. Due to her half-blindness and brash personality, she receives numerous scars during her fights. She becomes a notorious (monk) bodyguard in Ul Dah, where her reputation is only held up by the fact that none of her clients ever get injured, despite her reckless behaviour.

#ffxiv #pinned post

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gilligans-islands · 3 months

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(phoebe if you see this DONT read this there will SPOILERS)

yknow all throughout shadowbringers i wasn’t really feeling the graha hype until near the end and even then i wasn’t fully on board

i mean i really liked his character but idk i was just struggling to get attached i guess plus i’m realizing now i may have just been distracted by how much i loved emet selchs character but i’m not sure

anyways i just finished the patch 5.3 post shb quests and oh man… oh man oh man guys im on the hype train

my wol is very much his own character to me and he lives his own life in the game but usually im the same page as whatever he’s got going on because he’s still my character

but watching the big cutscene after seat of sacrifice and all the cutscenes after i was like “Galileo?! When did this connection between you two start?!! Why wasn’t i informed about this??” I felt like a parent who hadn’t been let in on their kids relationship gossip lol

#it’s like when writers talk about them having a certain idea of their characters and who they are but then when they write them they’re like #who is this?? oh wait… no i see it this is what’s happening here #and i think that’s fun and interesting #very excited to see more of graha in the future now that he’s on the team :))#graha tia #ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #shadowbringers #ffxiv shadowbringers #ffxiv spoilers #shadowbringers spoilers

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thescions · 4 months

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On the subject of the passage of time --

We know that, as an MMORPG, FFXIV technically exists in a 'time bubble' where no one ages (although Meteor looks a little gray in that Dawntrail teaser, just saying). However, on our blog we'd like to establish a vague timeline, if only so that the twins don't remain in eternal baby jail.

We operate under the assumptions that 1 Expansion + Related Patches = 1 in-game year. The only exception is Shadowbringers, which only lasted 6-8 Months in the Source.

While the Scions lived in the First for 1+ years, their bodies lacked souls for no longer than a single month (to explain a believable amount of stress put on Krile/the dire situation the Scions faced while separated from their bodies). Also, Tataru definitely seized the opportunity to give Thancred a trim at that time.

That being said -- Alisaie and Alphinaud are 18/19 around the beginning of Endwalker, and have started their growth spurts. Now it is fair to say that a mix of genetics and external stress may affect the speed at which they grow to full height, as well as just them being unique individual beings. They will stop growing around 20-21 years old, with Alisaie reaching a height of 6'1" and Alphinaud a height of 6'2". Throughout this period of relatively rapid growth, they will experience body pains, headaches, and general side effects of becoming l o n g.

Post-Endwalker verse-based interactions are free to reference these things, or outright ignore them if they don't fit with your interpretation! But we here do not want to damn the twins to eternal teenagedom, so if you're willing to acknowledge that aspect of them, awesome!

#alphinaud hc;#alisaie hc;

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thesecondbatgirl · 1 year

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Why you should play the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, part whatever

Previously, two impassioned “BUT IT'S SO GOOD” posts with very little details. (Part 1, Part 2)

Okay, so, I have previously talked about the themes and the tropes and just that the game is super fun (and did you know you can play the base game + first expansion for free? Because you can) but this time I’m going to try to give a little bit more detail. I’m *mostly* only going to cover characters from A Realm Reborn (shortened to ARR or 2.0) but probably spoilers for later expansions will show up.

(A quick note: Each expansion has the base (x.0) and then 5 patches of content, and they get shortened to those. So ARR runs through 2.0 and 2.55 since the .5 patch is always divided into two. Also, 1.0 no longer exists because it was so awful they literally dropped a moon on it.)

Summary: It is five years after the invading Garlean Empire dropped a moon on us. Except the moon was actually a technological prison created by an ancient civilization that contained a fucking dragon. It was defeated at a great cost, which will be recapped after you start the game. You can watch the super awesome cinematic here!

You arrive in the city of your choice (forest city, pirate city, desert capitalist city, your choice of which does not actually matter other than you get different introductory quest lines so basically pick whatever class you want to start with and/or whichever city you think sounds cool as you can be all the classes eventually) in which you, the adventurer, turn out to be super competent and do a great service to your starting city. Oh, and you are having visions of a giant crystal.

Shockingly, it turns out that you have a power called The Echo which basically means you can get visions of past stuff which is very useful for exposition, and also you are completely immune to tempering (brainwashing) by the primals (gods) of the various beast tribes. Which is good, because the fact that the primals will basically turn anyone who tries to fight them into their worshippers, and their very existence harms the land, so really only people with the Echo can fight them.

Due to your awesomeness, you get recruited to a super secret organization, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, whose goal is to fight Primals and stop the Garlean Empire. And fight the Ascians, quasi-immortal beings who are secretly manipulating everything so that they can free their God.

And then shit gets real.

For the record, that only explains the first like, 20 levels. There is just SO MUCH to the game, and trying to explain it would be like attempting to sum up some epic fantasy novel series with 15 books and multiple tie-ins.

Short version of where the story goes:

ARR (2.0-2.55, levels 1-50): You become the Warrior of Light and fight Garleans and Primals

Heavensward (3.0-3.55): Time to stop a thousand year war between man and dragons and deal with a corrupt church Stormblood (4.0-4.55): Imperialism is bad, the game. Let’s go free some colonies.

Shadowbringers (5.0-5.55): We’re going to an alternate world to try and stop a disaster and find out the true history of the Ascians

Endwalker (6.0-currently 6.3 as of 1/10/2023): It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I think that hope can triumph over despair

So now that you know the story, let’s talk about the characters! There are loads and loads of characters, and covering all of them would be pretty much impossible, so have the major characters from ARR. I’m not going to give major spoilers for ARR itself, but I am definitely going to reference ends of character arcs because talking about them otherwise is difficult when they get so much character growth. Also I am stealing all these images from (mostly) the ffxiv wiki

You: The Warrior of Light. (usually abbreviated to WoL) Choose between 8 races, and play as many classes as you want Currently there are 19 fighting classes (20 if you count blue mage, which is a limited job that can’t be used in regular content), 3 gathering classes, and 8 crafting classes. The WoL doesn’t get a lot of options for dialogue until 3.0, but the ability to customize is great, and there’s a very strong RP community. Also I absolutely joke that this game is basically my WoL’s harem and I stand by it. (Pictured, all of your character options, female and male.)

The Scions: Super secret team of nerds who left their homeland because they wanted to try and make the world better. (it’s complicated.)

Minfilia: Leader of the Scions. Has shitty voice acting, but is basically team mom. She gives you your assignments and has a very strong connection to the mothercrystal you keep seeing.

Thancred: This is Thancred. You hang out with him if you start in Ul’dah, the desert city. He’s a flirt, former thief, but eventually ends up trying to raise a teenage girl with his boyfriend. He also has a compulsive saving people thing.

Y’shtola: If you start in Limsa Lominsa, the pirate city, you get to hang out with her. Her hobbies include attempting complicated spells, being smarter than you, calling people out on their bullshit and delivering the best insult in the game. Also she does a Sailor Moon thing. (Okay, I was going to only put in the ARR outfits but frankly her Shadowbringers outfit is great so I’m showing it off.)

Yda and Papalymo: She’s a ditz who punches things, he’s sarcastic and sets shit on fire. Together, they hang out in Gridania, the forest city.

Urianger: Speaks in thees and thous and poetry. Was totally in a kinky relationship with a woman who could break him. Gets a massive glowup in Shadowbringers.

Tataru Taru: The Scion’s secretary, who is possibly going to take over the world eventually, and makes excellent outfits.

Alphinaud Leveilleur: Ok, so listen, every time I play ARR I spend half of it yelling at Alphinaud to shut the fuck up. Because he has such a great character arc! He starts off as this super entitled 16 year old who thinks that he’s smarter than everyone and that politics is just a game he’s playing. He truly wants to make the world better, he’s just very very full of himself.

He gets *so much better* He gets his break the haughty moment and learns and grows, and gathers a lot of firewood, and learns and grows and also is absolutely dating a super surly dragoon, and I love him.

Alisaie Leveilleur: Alphinaud’s twin sister who mostly doesn’t show up until post 2.0. Her hobbies include dunking on her brother, threatening people with a sword, and generally being awesome. She also has a super strong moral compass and cares a lot for individuals over ideals.

(These are their Endwalker outfits, Alisaie is in red, Alphinaud in blue.)

Allies:

Kan-E-Senna: Gridania’s leader. Older than she looks, has a connection to the Elementals (forest spirits)

Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn: Limsa’s leader and former Pirate Queen. Very pragmatic. Will absolutely shoot you.

Raubahn Aldynn: Refugee turned gladiator turned leader of Ul’Dah’s army. One of the richest people in Ul’Dah. Incredibly loyal to the Sultana.

Nanamo Ul Namo: The Sultana. Thinks capitalism is stupid. Wants to serve her people. Occasionally hides in pots, according to Raubahn.

Haurchefant Greystone: THE BEST BOY. Will make you hot chocolate. Absolutely wants to fuck you.

Cid: Engineer and last minute rescuer. Is supposed to be 30, so I guess he just went silver fox early or something. Has his own airship.

The villains: (Gaius in black, Nero in Red. Livia is in white, and the dude with the shields doesn’t actually matter.)

Gaius van Baelsar: The Big Bad (of ARR.) Wants to know if you believe in Eorzea. Actually gets a redemption arc eventually to rival Zuko from ATLA.

Nero tol Scaeva: Cid’s ex-boyfriend who will literally give an entire speech about their rivalry and how one day he will best him. It’s *great*

Livia: Deserved a better story arc. Luckily, her sister is awesome.

That is… just a sampling of characters. Each class gets its own storyline, so there are characters there! And so many sidequests! I didn’t even talk about Detective Hildibrand!

But hopefully, this has convinced you to try, or at least made you slightly more interested. You can find the free trial here: https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/

#Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #ff14 #ffxiv #truly tempered by YoshiP

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voidsentprinces · 3 months

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Personally, Stormblood has always been on the discontent side for me. I was invited to try FFXIV in the last days of Heavensward by an acquiantenance. And was nearly completely uninterested in the experience. I got to maybe level 30 back when Paladin used Flash to gather enmity. And was so use to WoW's whack-a-mole ability system that the GDC felt sluggish and unwieldy. Plus the main story, the strongest point and selling point of any FF game was locked behind grind-a-thon leveling? People's suggestions at the time to even level through from 30 - 40 was to do levequests. And that was...an entire 12 hours I'm not getting back. And it seemed like too my grind for too little story at the time. So I dropped it.

I came back again when Legion was about to hit for WoW and I was kind of burnt out on WoD grinds and felt a brick wall in place of anything of interest. You had to spend TP for Sprint and like...Samurai's AoEs consumed a god awful amount of that so it severely limited them. But hey, at least I had gotten to Heavensward this time and found it...okay? It was overhyped and felt like it under delivered. Sure the questing and flying made it a breath of fresh air compared to grinding pre-patched Post-ARR but man I expected it to come out with chocolate cake and a free house for me to live in for the rest of my life. But it was just a decent little expansion and I pushed through it and its post to the beginning of Stormblood. Where I got my first experience with the frustrating fight with Zenos and got to the beginnings of the Ruby Sea before I just bounced off it once again. And went back to WoW to enjoy the entirety of Legion.

But then BFA happened and god damn was I just...so fucking burnt out on grinding World Quests, Reputation, Dailies, and so forth. That I was like "Fuck it, fine. I will literally Dark Souls this game by bashing my head against the metaphorical brick wall and get through this." So I leveled through the Ruby Sea. Fought Susanoo for the first time and then...and I shit you not, the literal moment I left Susanoo and entired the cutscene after, my graphics card died. Since I was still a poor College student at the time. It took my 3 months or doing odd jobs and getting paid under the table to save up enough for a new one. But I decided if I was going to bang my head against the wall, I better do it proper.

So I created Genixma and bashed my head all the way through the A Realm Reborn thru Stormblood MSQ. This was the dying days of Stormblood, so the Shadowbringers hype train was going. And while it LOOKED cool, I had been burnt by Heavenswards' overhyped expansion before. So I just sort of meandered through the story. And found Stormblood...completely underwhelming. The Yda to Lyse beat felt weird, Zenos did jack shit the entire time, I didn't like Fordola or even know why Yotsuyu was here and then gone. The Azim Steppe felt like Dances with Wolves but like...in the worst way possible. The FUCKING AETHER CURRENT PLACEMENTS IN THE LOCHS (at the time) CAN KISS MY FUCKING ASS! And like, the ending to Zenos and everything was like...it felt like I played A Realm Reborn but condensed to 10 levels of story.

The only good thing I enjoyed about Stormblood is that I didn't have to level two jobs to unlock my advanced job. And Bard felt amazing to play. It literally had its own rhythm. But since the MSQ didn't blow me out of the water. I decided to just engage with the Roleplaying community on Mateus (this was before Realm Travel was a thing, so you just had to make do). Met some cool people, failed at making an active guild, and then Shadowbringers launched. I started shitposting on here, started a personal vendetta against Titania, and actually, Shadowbringers was the first expansion and beat of the story I really enjoyed. But this is about Stormblood and how it hit at a time where I was just burnt out on the MMORPG experience. So, unfortunately, it didn't get a fair shake but honestly, first impressions are important and Stormblood failed to do it.

So yeah, thats my experience with the game up until Stormblood. I did not care for it or most of its characters. Especially the second half Ala Mhigo which felt SUPER padded like they were trying to squeeze in as much story as Doma had in like...4 - 3 levels of content. And last, and what fucking annoys me to this day. We go to free Doma from Garlean rule so they can aid us in taking back Ala Mhigo. We free Doma and then fight through Ala Mhigo freeing 99.99% of it. And Doma only shows up, LITERALLY, at the last moment. Not as a hail mary but as aerial support. Like...had it not been for Zenos. We could of probably freed Ala Mhigo in the first 5 levels. And its only because Zenos did NOT give a flying FUCK that we did completely retake Ala Mhigo. In fact, Zenos is a nothing burger of a character in hindsight. Its like he was created specifically so we'd have road block to retaking Ala Mhigo in the first 5 levels and force us to go reclaim Doma instead.

Endwalker story telling analysis and metaphors for the character aside. Zenos literally sat around and did jack shit for 3 expansions total. That combined with Doma showing up at literally the last moment and treated with fanfare when it felt like, "Oh, the kid who was sick this entire group project finally came to school today and will get full credit for 0.1% of the work" kind of feeling.

A Realm Reborn was boring and rough. Heavensward was overhyped but also kind of a smooth experience. Stormblood...feels like they should of gone for Ala Mhigo or Doma. Both feels like they were trying to have their cake and eat it.

That was my first reaction to each chunk of the story thus far.

Next week, lets see how many people like Shadowbringers.

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xiv-wolfram · 1 year

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The Company We Keep - Comic Script

Shadowbringers - Patch 5.55

Wolfram and Raubahn finally have a real conversation for the first time since patch 4.1.

Wolfram Saga Comics (Chronological)

This is the script for a future comic. Posting for those who don’t want to wait to get the story. Numbers indicate frame number. A/B mean a frame is split.

Zoomed out clip from the cutscene of the meeting where the Grand Company of Eorzea is established. Narrator - “Raubahn has been cold towards Wolfram ever since a night not long after the liberation of Ala Mhigo where he confessed his love and the Warrior of Light reacted poorly. After the meeting to form the Grand Company of Eorzea, Wolfram hopes to convince his friend to talk to him.

Shot of a hallway in the Ala Mhigan palace. Wolf walks behind Raubahn.

Wolf catches up to him, smiling nervously - "Hey Rau…we haven’t talked in a while. How have you been?"

Rau, still looking straight ahead - "Well, Ala Mhigo was finally beginning to heal before these bloody towers showed up."

Wolf looking worried - "I asked how *you* are. How are you um… feeling?"

Rau walks a bit faster, annoyed - "I'm not sure why something as trivial as my feelings would interest the Warrior of Light. Warrior of Darkness. Whatever you're calling yourself these days."

Wolf worried - "Raubahn, please! Just speak with me! Surely you can spare a few moments?!"

A) Raubahn stops in a doorway B) and closes his eyes. Jaw clenched.

Wolf standing beside him, leaning forward a bit. “Why are you acting so cold? You won’t answer your linkpearl. You reject my meeting requests. I… I miss our friendship."

Rau rounds on him, annoyed - "Did all that Light make you lose your bloody mind??! It’s completely unfair for you to expect friendship from the man whose love you rejected like that.” Wolf shocked - "Rejected?! That's what you think I did."

Rau mad - "THRICE DAMN YOU, WOLFRAM! I told you I love you and your response was a bullshite claim that we cannot be together due to your condition. A condition that has yet to be an issue for you in almost two decades. Then you left me sobbing on that godsforsaken rooftop. What would you call it?!" Wolf shocked - "No I -"

Rau annoyed - "If that isn't rejection I don't know what is. A flimsy excuse like that. Knowing full well we were together for two years and you had no concern for my safety then. So, what is different now?" Wolf looks guilty. Thought - 'I was a selfish arsehole…'

A) Rau’s eyes tearing up with a hurt expression - "You know the conclusion I came to? The only thing that made a lick of sense to me?" B) Wolf confused - "I thought it was obvious, it's -"

Rau, angry, points to his left arm - "It's this. You think me weak now. That I could not defend myself if you lost control."

A) Wolf, shocked/WTF face - "WHAT?!" B) Wolf starts laughing - "Oh Gods! No Rau!"

Rau shocked/confused - "I don't see the humor..." Wolf laughing uncomfortably.

A) Wolf covers his mouth with his hand, holding back a chuckle - "I'm so sorry I just… never expected that to be a concern of yours.” B) Wolf smiles at him with a soft expression - “Raubahn Aldynn, you're the strongest man I know. I regret that I made you feel that way for even a second."

Wolf regains his composure and looks at Rau, seriously - "I'm truly so very sorry. I was feeling a great many emotions at the time and didn't explain myself properly. I thought my presence was the source of further pain, so I removed myself. Afterward, you didn't want to speak with me in private so I had no idea that you were feeling this way."

A) Rau, confused. Thought - ‘Suppose that makes sense from his perspective…Why is it impossible to stay angry at this man?!’ B) Rau blushes lightly, looking away, a worried expression - "Well what is it then? Do you …no longer find me handsome? I um... I know we’re quite a bit older…" Thought - ‘Though I’ve had no complaints over the years…’

A) Wolf covers his mouth, holding in more laughter - "Please, you can't be serious! Stop with your jests. My behavior on the eve following the Grand Melee should have put that concern to rest." B) Rau looks annoyed - "Well, we'd had quite a lot of ale. Even then you couldn’t go through with it."

B) Wolf blushes and looks embarrassed - "I certainly could have… I wanted to. I thought you didn’t. I wasn't as drunk as you and simply used alcohol as a convenient excuse for my actions. If you require further proof…There was the night we shared a tent before storming Ala Mhigo. Did you really believe I was cold? And um… there was something else…which I pray escaped your notice."

A) Rau looks at Wolf, surprised. B) Gestures to himself, grinning - "Oh! So that was my doing?!"

A) Wolf turns red, looks at the ground, embarrassed - "Aye, very much so." B) Rau grins proudly - "Full glad am I to know you’re aware of how attractive I am. Fine then Wolfram, tell me your reasons."

Wolf smiling sadly. Thought - I did a horrible job of explaining myself… he deserves the truth… even if I can’t say those three words.’ Says - "Rau, back when we were together it was because I placed my own wants above your wellbeing. I cared more for my own happiness than your safety and I feel great shame for the danger I put you in. That is the only thing that has changed in all these years. So no - it's not because I think you weak. You're as fearsome a warrior now as the day we met. More so even."

A) Rau pondering, worried. Wolf off camera - "I have but one motivation that could be considered selfish - I don't want to awaken to the sight of your mangled corpse. Not like my family. Not due to any weakness on your part, but I think the evil bastard is clever and would attack you when you were asleep…” B) Wolf smiles sadly - “And I considered another possibility…one that is somehow worse."

A) Wolf looking at Rau seriously - "That you kill me." B) Rau, surprised.

Wolf smiles sadly - "I care not for my own life, but if you love me, surely having to kill me would hurt you more than almost anything else in this world. I walk around with the burden of knowledge that my family died at my hands. A burden that I can barely carry - I could not pass that on to you."

Tumblr imposed break.

A) Rau surprised, thought - 'Oh gods… I hadn't thought of that.' B) Rau smiles sadly - "Aye… Now I'm beginning to understand…"

Rau furrows his brow - "What of your many years controlling it? Your time with the Scions. That woman that you lost…clearly you had feelings for her - don't deny it. How were they not at risk but somehow I am?"

Wolf smiles sadly - "It's just… *so much worse* around you. I'm starting to think it is harder to control the happier I am. I'll admit I've pondered it for years."

A) Rau raises an eyebrow and smiles warmly - "So… I make you happy?" B) Wolf smiles sadly - "Aye, very. Why do you think I've been so upset without your friendship? It was all I could have of you and now that's gone too.'

A) Rau annoyed - "All you could have? Really? No - all you would allow yourself.” B) Rau straight face - “What if I told you that I could kill you and it would not destroy me? That I've become a master at carrying the burden?"

Rau straight face - "Have you any idea how many deaths I'm responsible for, Wolfram? I have been fighting for my entire adult life. In addition to killing I've sent countless to fight on battlefields knowing full well they would die. I've started bloody *wars*. I've been shouldering that weight for so long it's become a part of me. One more death, no matter how painful to me personally, could not outweigh the lives already on my conscience."

Wolf stares at him, speechless and slack-jawed. Thought - ‘He's right…how incredibly ignorant of me…’ Rau standing closer.

Rau pushes Wolf against the doorway, holding him there with the back of his forearm. Stern expression. Thought - ‘I’m fairly certain this will fail, yet I must try.’

Rau leans close. Smiles sadly - "So here I am, Wolfram. Willing to call you mine and unencumbered by doubt. Have all of me or have nothing."

A) Rau kisses Wolf B) passionately.

Rau pulls back, still pinning Wolf to the wall, Wolf leans forward trying to continue kissing him, tears in his eyes. Rau thought - 'He truly does care for me… '

Tears falling down Wolf’s face. Rau smiling sadly - "What will it be? I will respect your decision but know that it is your own. I will not abide you naming me as the reason we are apart."

!)Wolf looks longingly, tears falling down his face. B) Wolf crying with heartbroken expression - "Rau I… I can't. I'm not as strong as you. If the voidsent killed you… that *would* destroy me…I can't."

Rau smiles sadly and moves away, caressing Wolf's face - "I cannot deny your reasons. They are valid. Yet I also cannot force myself to be around you when I want more than your friendship. It hurts too godsdamned much." Wolf rests his face against Rau’s hand, frowning and closing his eyes.

Wolf, leaning back against the wall, tears still falling, smiles sadly - "Aye, Raubahn…the last thing I want to do is hurt you more than I already have. I'll respect your wishes and will stop attempting to spend time with you."

A) Rau smiles sadly, eyes tearing up - "Thank you. I hope in time my feelings will change and I can return your friendship. I'm sorry, Wolf, truly." Thought - 'He can't say it, but he does love me…and with that knowledge somehow my anger is gone. Leaving only pain.' B) Wolf smiles back sadly - “I’m sorry as well. So very very sorry.” Thought - 'I’m going to miss him so much, but at least now I understand why.'

They kiss, tenderly, tears falling down their faces.

They part, looking longingly into each other's eyes. They both think 'Goodbye…'

Wolfram Saga Comics (Chronological)

#ffxiv #ffxiv wol #oc wolfram #hyur highlander #ffxiv oc #hyur #wolbahn #wolcomic #raubahn #raubahn aldynn #wolfbahn #WolframSaga

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anneapocalypse · 3 months

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Hey I know this is pretty out of the blue, but I know you beat Shadowbringers recently and I was wondering if you've checked out the official side stories on The Lodestone? I don't think I can send links in a message but you can find them right there on the Lodestone under "Play Guide", then "Side Stories and More"... I definitely recommend reading these because they are full of cool canon lore!! Especially "A World Forsaken" if you were ever wondering WTF was up with The Twinning dungeon (under "Tales From the Shadows"); BTW the first two sections are Endwalker-era stories in case you wanna avoid spoilers! Also I am not sure how far you are into post-SHB content so the Shadowbringers ones may also have spoilers for the 6.x patches!

If you already know about these just ignore this message!! 😅 I just randomly remembered this because I am starting the Omega arc on my alt and there's a cute side story in one of the Stormblood sections about Cid and Nero when they were kids.

Thank you for reminding me, I have been pointed to the stories and have just... not gotten around to reading them. :'D And I really should!

#ask anne #anne plays ffxiv #ladyswillmart

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autumnslance · 1 year

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Hi Aeryn, I have a question. How did you start writing your ship of Thancred and Aeryn? You mentioned it was by complete accident but I would love to know how it happened! I ask because I was explaining a scene I was trying out to a friend and I said it was a "fake ship" which I'm surprised I even said as my ship is important to me. I would love some insights on how you got your start. I really appreciate all the feedback you've given and have been using it in all my writing. Thank you for all the advice, you do amazing work, Aeryn!

Aww, thank you; I try! (and today's a day where I needed some encouragement, thank you)

I've written a bit about it, in a link in my pinned post, as well as some other writing posts around here, and some has to do with how out of nowhere the idea of OC/NPC shipping was for me at all, given my old school WoW background, and really only encountering such things in single-player games as part of the gameplay and narrative overtly.

Thancred's a favorite character; he hits a lot of tropes I tend to like, his story arc was interesting, especially where it was starting to go as we approached Shadowbringers and the mystery of the Call in the patches and the teaser trailers. I like snarky wit, and both Taliesin Jaffe and Peter Bramhill help that, as I enjoy their voice work.

Aeryn came about as I was grappling with some things about myself, and I wanted to reflect that with an AroAce WoL close to the game's Assumed Generic Default Hero, going through the story with her reactions, not mine. And there's so many good wolships out there already. After 2 other full playthroughs, it just didn't seem anything I was going to do.

I had some rough, basic ideas for Aeryn; my generic nameless WoL writings that often end up in my "Ruminations" thread on Ao3 were the start of figuring her out. Personality traits, interests, the outline of her background and family, sketched out with room to "discover" and build on over time. And she is a "successful" enough character that when MSQ stuck her and Thancred in the same room for the first time...Click. Boom. And I sat back in my chair flabbergasted.

I can't find it, but at some point I've noted that characters that seem to "do their own thing" are really just our subconscious taking the wheel; we are responsible for our characters' builds and their choices, but for me, a "successful" character who unfolds like I'm discovering them and their life, who surprises me with choices and actions, is cuz I gave them a solid enough grounding, know who they are...and my unconscious goes from there, usually cuz my conscious is holding myself back due to all the usual fearful, imposter-syndrome-laden reasons.

Aeryn's still on the AroAce spectrum, just not as I intended. She is still written to be intentionally close to the Assumed Generic Default WoL in terms of how/why she participates in MSQ and other adventures, and her personality and character is all built from there, with my own take on the MSQ and how her backstory and upbringing slots together with it.

And I apparently subconsciously made a character that was suited to romancing my favorite Scion when there was no conscious intention. Then I spent something like 2 years writing for him and her separately to determine if it could and would actually work, to figure out my takes on both of them, and gather up the bravery to share it publicly cuz goodness knows there's enough wolcred out there, and mine was coming out during Shadowbringers which was sure an interesting time to be a Thancred fan, lemme tell ya.

I have a lot of drafts. A lot of stops, starts, scraps that didn't work, things I should really just polish off and publish. And SO MUCH encouragement of friends, gentle teasing and urging me to share, showing me Thancred-centric fan creations, making friends with other wolcred writers, and folks leaving me lovely comments when I did finally post a few tentative things to start and then snowballed on.

Now here we are and I am thoroughly caught by my blorbos and their shippy nonsense (I also got lovingly yelled at for that tag but I've never come up with a better one).

So a combo of confidence in my character creation, letting the characters and story unfold as they "wanted to naturally", and accepting the encouragement of others as I inched my way to the edge before taking a deep breath and diving in.

#Final Fantasy XIV #lyn meta #shippy nonsense #wolcred #Thancred Waters #Aeryn Striker

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avallachs · 4 months

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I really think its part of his development especially bc we didnt have much insight of him before endwalker and it's just in 6.0 that we get him like on his peak "wol doesn't love me enough" phase. Maybe I'm extremely biased bc I adore endwalker and it's exactly that expansion that made me go "oh i get him now. I love this guy now. Goddamnit." Idk there's truth in what u said bc I'm pretty sure it's the only time we see him like having just a tiny bit more of emotion and I'm mostly referencing his talk with the Wol on the moon, the whole thing felt like him finally accepting/having something denied to him you know? Like the wol would give him a battle but not like the one he wanted so I like this point of turn for him. Also on the final days at garlemald scene, I don't think stormblood!zenos would ever give a fuck about what alisaie had said. It really starts to show him genuinely hearing what the world has to say to him, even if he doesn't care or not agree etc etc. It just feels like he listens for the first time and therefore he starts to like feel something other than wrath or whatever

But again I did just start liking/understanding him after endwalker so this might be a very specific pov but yeah :) that's how I see it lol (excited for ur zenos content tho hehe)

i get what you’re saying completely, and i don’t disagree, either! i’m having a bit of trouble putting my exact thoughts into words. obviously, some change/development had to occur in order to avoid him feeling stagnant, and i think that was done effectively (like, in your example, how he actually starts listening to people & seems to become a little more self-aware in that regard). it’s difficult to explain, because he still felt like himself when we saw the seeds of this change being sown in the post-shadowbringers patches, but something felt a little off in a way i can’t quite put my finger on by the time we got to endwalker. having said that, i don’t dislike his endwalker iteration by any stretch of the imagination.

though, in all honesty, quite a few characters felt a little bit off to me by this point as well. could just be me being finicky but failing to find the right way to phrase it!

#thank u for sharing your perspective friend mwah !! 💖🎀#asks #anonymous

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ayakamizu · 8 months

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FFXIV Write 2023 Masterpost

My masterpost for all the FFXIV Write 2023 entries! I'll try to keep this as up-to-date as possible since this'll be the first year I'm just straight posting my entries to Tumblr.

Day 1: Envoy - Noun. A diplomatic agent. Any accredited messenger or representative. Stormblood - no spoilers.

Day 2: Bark - Noun. The external covering of the woody stems, branches, and roots of plants, as distinct and separable from the wood itself. Pre-ARR - no spoilers.

Day 3: Free Day (Connection) - Noun. Association; relationship. Shadowbringers - spoilers for the Sorrow of Werlyt questline.

Day 4: Off the Hook - Slang. Out of danger; free from obligation or guilt. Endwalker - set during the Healer Role Quest.

Day 5: Barbarous - Adjective. Brutal or cruel. Synonym: Heartless. Heavensward - spoilers for Dark Knight level 30-50.

Day 6: Ring - Noun. An enclosed area, often circular, as for a sports contest or exhibition. Heavensward - no spoilers.

Day 7: Noisome - Adjective. Harmful or injurious to health; noxious. Synonyms: Foul, sickening, poisonous. Heavensward - spoilers for the end of base 3.0 and going into 3.2 (I think).

Day 8: Shed - Verb. To cast off or let fall (leaves, hair, feathers, skin, shell, etc.) by natural process. ARR - no spoilers.

Day 9: Fair - Adjective. Of a light hue; not dark OR legitimately sought, pursued, done, given, etc.; proper under the rules. Shadowbringers - spoilers for the aftermath of Mt. Gulg.

Day 12: Dowdy - Adjective. Not neat or tidy; shabby. Endwalker - Minor Mount Rokkon related spoilers.

Day 13: Check - Verb. To make an inquiry, investigation, etc., such as for verification. Endwalker - spoilers for Endwalker MSQ and some Dark Knight related spoilers as well.

Day 15: Portentous - Ajective. Marvelous; amazing; prodigious OR ominously significant or indicative. Endwalker. Takes place after Dowdy. Minor Mount Rokkon related spoilers.

Day 18: A Fish Out of Water - Idiom. A person who feels awkward or unhappy because they are in a situation that is not familiar or because they are different from the people around them. Pre-ARR.

Day 19: Weal - Noun. Well-being, prosperity, or happiness. Endwalker - major spoilers for Endwalker MSQ!!!

*Day 20: Hamper - Noun. A large basket or wickerwork receptacle, usually with a cover. Endwalker. Takes place during the patches, but no spoilers for MSQ or anything else. 5.3 and onward spoilers apply for a certain character though.

Day 21: Grave - Noun. Any place that becomes the receptacle of what is dead, lost, or past OR Death. Shadowbringers - major spoilers for Shadowbringers MSQ and minor spoilers for the level 80 quest, "One Final Journey."

Day 22: Fulsome - Adjective. Disgusting; sickening; repulsive. Endwalker - no major spoilers, we're at the very start on the way to Old Sharlayan for this one.

Day 23: Suit - Noun. A set of men’s garments of the same color and fabric, consisting of trousers, a jacket, and sometimes a vest. Shadowbringers - 5.3 and onward spoilers apply!

Day 25: Call It a Day - Phrase. End a period of activity, especially resting content that enough has been done. Stormblood - takes place during the period between 4.5 and Shadowbringers, so beware of spoilers for anything beyond that point!

Day 26: Last - Noun. A final appearance or mention; the end or conclusion. Heavensward - spoilers for the aftermath of the Vault.

Day 28: Blunt - Verb. To become blunt or dull. Shadowbringers - no spoilers though! Takes place during some vague point in the Shadowbringers patches.

Day 29: Contravention - Verb. To dispute or contradict (a statement, proposition, etc). Shadowbringers - follow-up of Blunt! Same things as that entry apply here as well.

Day 30: Amity - Noun. Noun. Friendship; peaceful harmony. Endwalker - Spoilers for the final battle!

*Note: This prompt was submitted as part of a make-up day! I'm placing it her because that's the actual day the prompt is assigned to.

#masterpost #ffxivwrite2023 #ffxiv writing

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