#drk spoilers*

[birues]

"Yet no good deed goes unpunished, does it?"

#final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #fray myste #drk spoilers #my gifs #hi im gonna gif drk sm #but it will be forever bc i suck at tanking #any drk gif i make is for my bestie first and foremost #fray is dropping banger quotes tbh #fray.. save me... save me fray....

[heaven-dope]

fray is so kind and so interesting even if you dont really get to know the real him. its canon that he likes to travel, that he did so to gridania to learn conjury. he did so so he could patch up sidurgu (he passes it off as not a big deal but the level of dedication to keeping his peer safe is WAUGH). he teaches rielle how to heal. he puts his life on the line to protect her.

fray was a true dark knight before you or sid learned about harnessing the full extent of the abyss. he loved rielle and sid that everything you know about him was in service of helping them. hes described as an 'icy lake' but he is so loving. im in love with a fictional man i never got to meet. are you listening to me

#FRAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY AUGHHHHHHHHHHH #FUCKING EXPLODES I LOVE YOU FRAY MYSTE #text tag #drk spoilers #i guess

[yhane]

“Everything up to now has been YOUR story... And everything after now will be MINE!”

——

This image came into my mind when I was watching the EN version.

I thought I didn’t spend so much on this work, but I just found this canvas was created on 8 May…it should be TOTK’s fault

#final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #fray myste #esteem #warrior of light #ffxiv miqo'te #ff14 spoilers #drk spoilers

[azemessence]

me, myself, and the physical manifestation of my inner turmoil between light and dark

#myart #fray myste #ardbert #shadowbringers spoilers #oc: Vhel An-Kiet #ffxiv viera #ffxiv memes #drk spoilers

[terendelev]

Forgive me, forgive me... I ask, I beg, I pray, but it never comes...

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #fray myste #myste #DRK spoilers #my edits

[lavampira]

you, sidurgu, and fray taught me so much about the world. about what it means to fight for another... and what it means to fight for yourself. we're going to finish this together. the three of us.

#i finally started the drk ng+ and it's still everything to me #dani plays ffxiv #game: ffxiv #oc: d'alia liveq #ch: sidurgu orl #ch: rielle de caulignont #alia/sid #drk spoilers #ffxiv #ffxiv dark knight #sidwol #wolsid

[hopeymchope]

Having finally finished reading the DR Kirigiri light novels, here are my closing thoughts and questions.

(For background, I read these translations. Which - as I previously discussed in the first bullet of this post here - may have some small issues throughout.)

I've previously given y'all my report on how I felt / what I was thinking about this series just after passing the halfway point of the light novels, so now it's time for me to bring this whole thing home and offer some closing thoughts.

My first, dominating thought is that this would be so good to see adapted as an anime. I can easily imagine how many episodes it'd take to do each light novel and where you'd logically cut off the story... even more easy, though, would be a manga. It's definitely crying out for that kind of treatment.

Regardless of the (relatively minor) gripes I raise below? This is definitely a great series to read. You get a number of twisty, gripping mysteries, an easy-to-like lead duo, an imposingly powerful enemy force, new background on our favorite lavender-hued detective, and you even get some great new characters added to the mythos — what more do you want?

Okay, but now I'll get into the griping stuff :P For starters: Isn't it... kind of LAME to have Kirigiri repeatedly experience something so similar to the basic setup of DR1 (or any mainline Danganronpa game, really) on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS prior to DR1 ever happening??? But then she just never remotely reference any fo that experience? And YESs, of course I realize she never even obliquely references these events because these prequels weren't actually written by the time of DR1, nor even completed by DR3. But that's the kind of thing you typically want to avoid with prequels, right? ...... Even so, I guess this does take us farther into these stories deserving to be called "Danganronpa" than any other spinoff. And it's not hard to come up with excuses for why she never remotely hinted at these things; she's intentionally acting withdrawn and keeping info to herself throughout DR1 and DR3, after all. So it's not the WORST crime. It's just, like I said: kind of lame.

MORE SPECIFICALLY, let me clarify: Although the cases in DRK don't include a "mutual killing" element, you still get at least three cases where she's [1] trapped in a specific building alongside a group of people who include a killer/"mastermind," the cast subsequently being picked off one by one, and [2] said experiences are also broadcast to a viewing audience. In fact, you even get two cases where [3] the trapped participants are expected to take specific bedrooms to lock themselves in during the nighttime! And even [4] one case where there's a weird, automated "host character" overseeing the whole thing, which is being operated around a specific set of rules. That's a helluva thing, isn't it?

I've previously expressed GREAT TREPIDATION about one specific element of this series: I was told that supposedly, these light novels included evidence that Fuhito was manipulating Kyoko into hating her father, her dad was always a victim, and Kyoko never realized that she was basically molded from birth by someone who was manipulating her feelings and actions. It all made Kyoko considering Fuhito her "most imporant person" (per DR1 and UDG's captives) come off as this tragic tale where our supposed "master detective" never realized she's been a victim of gaslighting and manipulation for many years, which would change SO MUCH CONTEXT behind her life's work and her relationships with both Jin and Fuhito. HOWEVER, GUESS WHAT? None of that shit was even true! HUZZAH!!!! NOTHING in these light novels goes against what we already knew about Kyoko, Jin, Fuhito, or their relationship(s) with one another... though there is some minor new insight provided into a couple of details. We get a new look at how Jin actually cared about Kyoko from afar (via the "Jin Ex Machina" business I mentioned in the previous post), which is in line with the hints of his lingering love for her we tasted in both DR1 and DR3 without either exonerating him for his choices OR making him 100% correct. We repeatedly watch Kyoko questioning/doubting her grandfather's/family's longstanding "detective work must come above and before personal concerns" rules. And we also get a taste of Fuhito being protective of Kyoko when he learns of the kind of danger she's in — yet simultaneously having complete trust in her talent and ability to overcome said danger. Fuhito seems to even gently help Kyoko understand Samidare's actions near of the end of the final volume... although we only get a taste of his help via Kyoko's internal thoughts, so we don't know exactly what he said to her. TL/DR? My point is simply this: The DRK light novels keep the overall morality / goodness of Kyoko's family dynamics in the same place we already understood them from the games: Kyoko and Fuhito are very close and care about each other without being overtly emotional about it, there is a rift between Jin and the rest of his family over Fuhito priortizing case work above visiting his dying daughter on her deathbed, Jin clearly still concerns/cares that linger for his daughter, etc.

What's with so many scenes of "Black Challenges" or "Duel Noirs" having signs defaced to include the word "DESPAIR"? Is that just some extra branding for the main franchise's themes? Feels out of place.

I feel bad for all those orphans who adored this dude.

General thoughts on numerous new-to-DR characters: As I said in my last post about this series, Samidare is likeable but spends most of the series very thinly defined — plus she's pretty slow on the uptake. Thankfully, by Volume 4 she starts finally pulling her weight, and she gets some much-needed expansion of her background in Volume 7 (just in time for her to make some dumb decisions). Licorne is probably the second-most important new character, and he's an asshole. An interesting one, though! And he does some heroic things! .... even if he isn't really all that morally invested in helping people. He's a self-centered asshole for most of the series, frankly, and I don't care much whether he's around or not. Salvadore Yadorigi Fukuro is awesome; a straight-up superb character with a very "DR" kind of skill/talent. Yaki Hajiki is a character who's also hard to dislike, and I wish he got more "screen time," because he's very intriguing. Johnny Arp is a fascinating one, though he definitely shares some dickish behavior with Lico. Still, I'm always engaged when he's on the page. And... look, I'm fond of Meruko "Pumpkinhead" Mifune. She's fun, sure, but I also see real potential for depth that isn't explored herin.

My remaining observations/thoughts contain some spoilers for the Danganronpa Kirigiri series, so I'm putting the rest UNDER THE BELOW CUT... although I still avoid mentioning the identities of any culprits or masterminds so as to keep the primary case mysteries intact.

Yadorigi = Intelligent, quiet dude in sunglasses who looks like the answer to "What if Munakata found his chill?"

What, exactly, is the state of Yadorigi's eyesight by the end of the series? Initially, we learn that his unique eyesight is very important to his work in uncovering fraud. Later, after a blow to the head, we're told that his eyesight will never be the same as it previously was. In the final volume, he visits Kyoko while wielding a white cane. So uh... does that cane imply that SYF is now blind or very close to it? Or am I reading too much into a walking stick here?

Nothing infuriates me quite as much as when major problems in a story could be easily resolved via basic fucking communication, and a failure to communicate on a base level is absolutely CORE to why things go south in the seventh and final volume. By the time Kyoko and Yui are heading out to the case, the situation is this: Without Kyoko's knowledge, our redacted overarching mastermind (henceforth referred to as "ROM") tried to get Samidare to agree to be the culprit in this final Black Challenge. She refused. ROM then said their organization (the Crime Victim's Relief Committee) will eliminate Kyoko if Samidare doesn't play along. And then, right after saying this? ROM pretty clearly DIED right in front of Samidare, before she can ever express any intention of changing her mind or not. She is then confronted by the enigmatic Tokichiro Endo, who is basically the go-between for culprits and the organization, who demands her final answer. Based on what happens in the case immediately after this, it appears that this conversation somehow ended with Samidare refusing to be the true culprit in this case but ALSO accepting that she would be framed for the murders and take the fall. So now Samidare has a choice to make: Does she (A) trust the Crime Victims' Relief Committee to keep their promise and leave Kyoko alone so long as she keeps her mouth shut...... even though Samidare refused to meet their demands and become the case's culprit? OOOORRR does Yui (B) realize that the Committee has already broken their supposed "rules" by forcibly coercing her into being the culpri — not to mention the fact that they're routinely aiding and abetting murders — which adds up to mean that she can't trust their word and must warn Kyoko of the danger she's in now that the committee has threatened her life directly? Any thinking person should choose (B), but Samidare of course chooses (A) so the plot will happen. *FACEPALM*

The worst part of this is that EVEN when our two heroines have just barely escaped from a burning building and fled out into freezing conditions, leaving them on the razor's edge between two possible methods of death with everyone else from the case seemingly already being dead? Samidare STILL won't outright deny being the case's culprit when accused. With literally NO REASON LEFT not to come clean, she never says jack shit. And then she dies!

During the denouement, the conclusion Kyoko reaches after leaving the hospital and revisiting the scene is... murky, and I think this might be something caused by the translation methods used. It currently reads as though Kyoko reaches the correct conclusion about the case, accurately determining Samidare's innocent AND identifying the true culprit(s). However... she doesn't seem to be 100% confident in her decision? It sounds like Kiri still harbors some lingering doubts about Samidare possibly being guilty?..... Even though she sounds really confident in her (correct) conclusions immediately before that. So it's left ambiguous. Which, I suppose, is one way to maintain Kiri being the Best Detective while simultaneously leaving room for her line in DR1 about how her burns happened because she "trusted the wrong person." She almost entirely knows that she didn't actually trust the wrong person, but they have to leave some doubt so that line can exist? ...... IF this translation is even accurate on this part.

Say... why did Samidare believe she'd die on this mission? It wasn't actually any more inherently dangerous than any other mission her and Kyoko had gone on... LESS dangerous than some, I'd argue! But she prepares this whole letter for her eventual death, so she clearly thought it was a strong possibility. My only guess is that she believed Kyoko was going to be targeted for death, and she planned to fulfill her oft-promised role as Kyoko's human shield. But if that was REALLY something Samidare thought was going to happen, then she had NO REASON to not tell Kyoko the truth about everything. If they're already out to kill Kiri, then OF COURSE it's smartest to warn her about it! So: Why the "last letter"? What made you think you were fucked, Yui?

In the end, ROM's overarching mission is both a success and a failure. Do they take away Kyoko's main emotional attachment, making her withdraw even further into pure logic so she'll avoid getting hurt? Yes. Do they make her deny the value of such attachments in the first place, resulting in her staying isolated forever after? No. She 95% knows she's right about Samidare's innocence in spite of ROM's attempts to frame her; it's just the pain of the loss that makes Kyoko withdraw, not some grander conclusion about distrusting everyone. In fact? I'd argue that Kyoko's speech in DR1's Chapter 4 about accounting for emotions is a strong rebuke of ROM's entire view of the world.

....by the way, does ROM have their own copy of Junko's talent??! It sure seems like they're another "Ultimate Analyst," essentially; able to see patterns of behavior so clearly that they can essentially predict most future events.

#drk #danganronpa kirigiri #danganronpa kirigiri spoilers #drk spoilers #Salvador Yadorigi Fukurō #Kyoko Kirigiri #Yui Samidare #danganronpa light novels

[yloiseconeillants]

#drk spoilers

[amalthea-felsblood]

“Surrender your weapon?" ✗ "After what happened in Ul'dah? They must be mad."

"Have I not been good to you?"✗ "Have I not given you everything I promised?"

"If this is how it must be, then so be it."

#final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #ffxiv screenshots #my wol #marian varlineau #ffxiv dark knight #drk spoilers #ffxiv hyur #finding peace in the truth #I love drk so much #inspired

[nagunkgunk]

soul full of friends

#doodle #ffxiv #uhhhhhhh spoilers of so many flavors #ffxiv spoilers #shadowbringers spoilers #ffxiv shadowbringers spoilers #heavensward spoilers #drk spoilers #drk quest spoilers #? i twied.... #wol

[theninthlaw]

IT WEIGHS AS IT SHOULD...

#ffxiv #ff14 #Fray #Fray Myste #I just wanted to draw some moody shit with DRK iuHASFiuhafafhafiuhaf #ALSO NEVER AGAIN WITH THAT SWORD HILLLTTT #AAAAAAAAAAAAA #My alt WoL #Shura #HWspoilers #drk spoilers

[birues]

fun fact: you can solve your problems violently with a Giant Sword and your angery simulacra knight pal but watch out!!

#tuana tag #the last thing you see before you :skull emoji: #ffxiv #drk spoilers #god I LOOOOVE eden sets sm sm sm sm

[humblemooncat]

Have a little DRK headcanon before I go to bed. As a treat.

I happened to see this again and, coupled with seeing that "What is your WoL's signature weapon/attack" ask on my dash a bunch, it got me thinking.

Ki'to's signature isn't an attack, it's a shield. The Blackest Night.

And thinking into the nature of the shield, absorbing a certain percentage and granting dark arts (which I then use because free damage button go brr), but also looking at that dialogue and what/who Myste represents physically. Haurchefant and Ysayle. People who died to protect you. It got the mind cogs turning.

While TBN is generally a bubble, I imagine Ki'to's forming much like Esteem (or "Devotion", in his case). A shadowy manifestation of someone he loves, come to protect him, and then dish out a dark arts attack in his stead.

Sometimes it's Aymeric, sometimes it's Thancred, Sometimes it's his own father. And on the rare occasion it's Haurchefant. I imagine the first time he saw that he was glad he had a shield up because he'd stop dead in his tracks at the all too familiar sight.

At least, this is what happens when it's cast on himself. When cast on someone else, the shadow is him. A manifestation of love and protection for the other person.

Just figured I'd share 'cause it gave me some feels and now you have to feel them with me.

Also, in the case of his signature weapon: Odenta Kai, dyed gunmetal black. Literally has not changed since I got it. o/

#Ki'to #Mooncat ramblings #DRK headcanon #This would not leave my brain until I shared it so #here you go #xD #Also #Heavensward spoilers #DRK spoilers #Just in case

[hythlodaes]

btw am i supposed to be okay about this,,,,

#drk spoilers #i'm feeling new emotions ty #ffxiv

[pangolinheart]

I almost never read the journal entries in final fantasy xiv but I happened to be looking for something and in my search found that the journal entries for the Stormblood Dark Knight quests are actually "written" by Esteem AND I- Here are some choice selections from the sb drk quests, from the mildly amusing to the ones that ripped my heart out:

Four more times must he do this. Four more times must he employ his powers to make broken men and women whole, so burdened by his deeds he is. Again you consent to the plan for...reasons. 

But, for now, Sid could do with a drink. Or a nap. Or one, and then the other.

...you realize it is none other than the woman who led the protest against the peace conference at Falcon's Nest, and poisoned your drink, which was not very sporting at all. 

...she admits she once looked on you with hatred, but no longer. Fight, if it be your will, and if the gods show you favor, then so be it. And when we are called to account, so be it.

Her heart knows naught but guilt. Seeks naught but forgiveness. Ware the penitent, for theirs is a compulsion all consuming. 

Myste is nevertheless troubled, as is his wont, though at least he is grateful. And you are still a good person, apparently. That's nice. 

And so, in a fit of what can only be described as temporary insanity, Sidurgu has proposed that you return to Moghome. Apparently he hopes that the fresh air and the quiet might cheer the boy. Alternatively, he may long to punch a moogle in its furry little face. 

Myste stares out at the endless expanse and speaks of loss, which we know all too well. So, so many friends and loved ones. Close your eyes and you can see them pass, one by one, in solemn procession. A lesser woman would be tempted to forget, but we know better. 

As feared, Sidurgu will require some time to recover from his wounds. So poor is his condition that he is not even fit to make the journey back to Ishgard. Alas, this means that he must enjoy the company of the moogles at Moghome for the foreseeable future. But all is not lost─he did give you leave to punch a moogle for him. 

He laments his fate, wishing he could go back and convince his former self not to place his trust in the Griffin...but if such things were possible, you wouldn't have a broken shield, now would you? 

She is not the first, nor will she be the last to betray you. She will implore you to see reason, to seek solace in the fiction. And when you refuse, she will have no recourse but one. As I did not. Be ready.

And now, the betrayal. Myste believes that the only way we can atone for our sins is to “undo” them with his simulacra. Every life we took, every death that weighs upon our soul, he would make amends for it all with his beautiful lies. I can end this charade, godsdammit, I can end it! Now is the time! You need me! YOU NEED ME!

The little girl who wanted to make this cruel, twisted world a better place, futile as that is. She's going to get us killed one of these days...but what can I say? I love her. I forgive her. And you... 

(the very last sentence really got me afhajkfla)

... he knows that your destiny leads you elsewhere, for you are still a hero. You are still a good person.

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #dark knight #esteem #myste #dark knight job quest spoilers #drk spoilers #stormblood spoilers #long post #ESTEEM MY BELOVED #I think about them every day of my life #the entire thing is so good??? #i had to cut a lot out #no offense to sb enjoyers #but the sb drk questline is better than the entire msq of sb #i enjoy the drk job quests a normal amount

[stxrmnight]

Crossposting here

Did you know an add called Anguish can spawn if your health drops under 50% in the DRK LVL50 instance and it can be triggered again after an interval of time? So far 4 have been found to spawn so, well uhm

#fray myste #dark knight #ff14 #ffxiv #drk #drk spoilers #ff14 spoilers #ffxiv spoilers #nemiarts #she is clothed so THIS IS SFW LADS!!! #fray beloved