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semi-imaginary-place · 1 year

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4.0 stormblood pvp my beloved oh how i missed you. its interesting which items ended up being marketboard valuable and which werent. some items are very hard to get on the free trial but worthless on the marketboard. i pvp for the glamour and it took me 10 minutes to find where in the menu the actions were.

hmmm 3 plot threads: doma, ala mhigo, shinryu. i have a feeling like in 2.x ffxiv will be progressing all 3 at once, it would be interesting if they used the parallel narratives of doma and alamhigo to say something but i don't trust the writers.

not even out of rhalgar's reach and the game has crashed 6 times

if the ala mhigan resistance is so fractured no wonder illberd was successful if he could unite the factions. could take a leaf out of his book and do the same proping raubahn up as a figurehead to unite ala mhigo under.

attack on rhaelgar's reach: hooboy you can see how ffxiv was actually making money at this point so the dev team had an actual budget for like voice acting and fight choreography and animation. tsk cowards should have killed someone to drive home how zenos is a threat. kemp would have been the cliche choice so that the Resistance has to scrambled leaderless and even more disorganized. it would also give Lyse a chance to step up and unite Ala Mhigo as part of her character arc about struggling with diaspora identity. Y'shtola would be the other choice as the scions sacrifice yet another member and Lyse is faced with how her path is killing her friends. a concept i like is that all the scions eventually die so by the end there's no one you started out standing with yo but the devs are too cowardly to do so. like ship of Theseus scions as a friend group scions as a concept. (like when you first meet the scions alphinaud isn't a part of them yet). 3rd dude would also be cliche but i'd feel the worst about his death, brought back just to die is a terribly trope.

zenos sounds so incredibly bored i love the voice acting. that sword sheath is ridiculous why is it so big

i thought rhaelgar's reach was considered safe because garlemald didn't know where it was, and now that it is no longer hidden is it safe to stay here? oh lol they did kill meffrid aka the worst option. put on a bus since like level 20 msq and brought back just to die. waste of a character and his death is the least impactful of the 3. i just feel bad for him. because the last time the player sees him he's so angry and distraught and the player character is this last thread of hope and then you come and here see that he's found something meaningful to do

i've liked the soundtrack so far but its softer than i imagined. like there's a lot of lone soft piano.

sunk cost fallacy, but i don't want the old man to give up either. I feel for conrad.

this actually isn't a bad plan, i think i proposed something like this way back when i played 2.0

sidequesting! bioweapon black rose was developed and tested in gry albania using captured ala mhigans. comet's tail used to be a rhalgar holy site and the garleans used it for weapon testing. ala mhigan architecture traditionally uses stone and that made quarrying big especially when it was for royal palaces but garleans built using only metal.

I will say as a pipin enjoyer stormblood has been great with the pipin screen time

i have the unfounded yet strong suspicion that the writers who created yda in 1.0 are different from the people who wrote stormblood. they wanted a new character without having to introduce a new character. thus: lyse impersonating her sister. minfilia and lyse since they're both highlanders that inherited midlander models from 1.0 and they are like the only ala mhigans with very light skin, blue eyes and blond hair. like if it was just one i'd take that as a statistical improbability, but both of the major ala mhigan scion characters??? but them not looking like highlanders much is the same as cid being short in that in 1.0 midlanders were the only hyur model they had. its not going to happen but i dream of them revamping the models in 7.0 to be more like the other highlanders.

one thing i do like that arr (and maybe 1.0 idk didn't play it) sets up and then i see again here in stormblood is a theme of multiculturalism in the eorzean alliance vs the hegemony imperialism of the garleans. like the only way to gain respect in the empire in to act and be garlean so give up your original culture and try (and fail) to be as garlean as possible vs. the resistance is like hell yeah the snake ladies are great. there content in 2.0 that shows eorzeans can be just a racist as the garleans, but its hard to tell if it was done deliberately, if so actually that'd be a pretty good take. and there are aspects of this in the sidequests like where you help reunite the qiqin brothers or how they talk about how the ones outside uldah used to be regular merchants but the anti beastmen laws took away their livelihoodthe problem as with ffxiv as a whole is that its 50 (idk the real number) some writers all doing their own thing and they dont coordinate so while one group of writers are depicting the racism beast tribes face in eorzea, another group or writers is going haha look at these moral-less subhumans.so its not so much growth so much as the natural cycle of a old mmo where the writers are cycled out and we just so happened to get the anti racism ones as the msq writers where as before they were side quest writers.

#ffxiv #ffxiv 4.0

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pangolinheart · 1 year

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More about Tyr eh?

His tail goes down to about his ankles and it can be pretty clingy. Hugging or sitting together chances are it’s gonna be some degree of wrapped around you. He and G’raha have to literally untangle themselves in the mornings sometimes.

His and Estinien’s relationship was founded on regular fighting/sparing, but they both caught feelings and took forever to figure out that a) they had them and b) the other reciprocated. In 6.1 the whole treasure hunt was actually him trying to take Tyr on a date.

He was a scrawny kid and is the baby of the family.

On the angrier side- He’s technically a refugee to Eorzea. He’s from Werlyt (and a group of Haragin there that I completely made up) and his village was burned and most of his family dead or missing. He managed to get away with his dad, but his other dad was captured and taken prisoner (uncertain if he ultimately survives, but he did meet the gnb mentor Radovan). His mom and older sister are missing, and in current timeline Vrtra has offered to help him look.

And a last thing so I don’t just throw too big of a wall of text at you, his hearing on his right horn is kinda fucked up after SHB. Certain pitches and aetheric frequencies hurt him

Awww the tail thing is a cute detail! Hopefully it makes up for what I have to imagine would be the inconvenience of finding/altering clothes to accommodate for it. I love Estinien but I have to assume that anyone dating him would have to have the patience and good nature of a saint... He doesn't strike me as someone who really knows anything about romance. But he seems like he would put in a good effort for someone he cared about, even if some of his attempts couldn't be labeled unqualified successes. Tyr's backstory definitely adds some interesting dynamics to the canon of the game. It sounds like he would have had at least a little bit of personal investment in the events of Stormblood. Given that Werlyt is a major setting in the ShB side-quest trials, did he have any particularly strong feelings about the events of those quests? As for the hearing thing, poor Tyr. )= You have to think that, even with the existence of healing magic, the WoL would have some lasting scars or negative side effects from all the shit they've been through. And inner "ear" pain is no joke. Don't worry about the wall of text! <3 I love reading about other people's characters and ideas, so please feel free to share them any time!

#ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #other people's ocs #asks and answers

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memorys-skyscraper · 2 years

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well, I got to spot #1 in the queue before getting DC’d and sent to the back of the line, again, apparently because I’d been sitting in the lobby too long (which, hey, square, whose fault is that again???)

but while I wait, some thoughts on Endwalker’s structure

it is remarkable how similar EW is to Shadowbringers in terms of progression between zones/dungeons/trials

Like, in both, you get to the first hub city immediately, and from there visit two zones, with access to about half of each. One of these visits lets you enter the other hub city, but you don’t get full access and can’t attune to the aetheryte. After those two visits, you do a solo duty that transitions you to a third, entirely different zone, where you have your lv 73/83 dungeon, followed shortly by the lv 73/83 trial. Proceed to the fourth zone, then return to the first and second zones to get access to the rest of the map, as well as full access to the second hub city. In the latter of those two zones, spend a good long while running around helping other characters prepare the means by which you will gain access to the “final boss” with (overly-)dramatic music playing the entire time, then do a dungeon to ascend/descend to where the lv 79/89 trial takes place. Learn the location of the final zone after the trial, return to the first hub city for a bit, then proceed on to the last zone for all your lv80/90 content.

The only real incongruity is that Shb gives you access to Lakeland immediately along with the Crystarium, whereas EW makes up for that extra zone in Elpis, between the revisits to the first two zones. Also, Thavnair gets two dungeons because the moon has none, whereas there’s one dungeon per zone in Shb, and the lv73 trial happens in the same zone as the lv73 dungeon in Shb, which it does not in EW.

Still, it very much feels like they found a structure that works in Shb and were like “cool, let’s just do that again”. Beats the far more linear structures of HW/Stormblood imo

#rambles #ff14 liveblogging #ffxiv #ffxiv spoilers #endwalker #endwalker spoilers

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baidar-oroq · 2 years

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Endwalker MSQ finished

Spoilers behind the cut:

I do not want to go through anything like the quest chain in Ultima Thule EVER AGAIN. Sure, even as each Scion sacrificed themselves (and god was that hard for Baidar to watch when Y'shtola and Urianger did it) my cynical side was going "if it goes below three other Scions, we won't have trusts for doing the Level 90 dungeon," and I'd already joked that we were going to get the Sailor Moon, series 1, ending of the Scions sacrificing themselves to get us to the end, but...it still hurt. The very end of that chain, where you walk alone through the memories of the past who talk to you, was devastating. I liked that Y'shtola lampshaded the fact that we had Azem's soul crystal as a get out of jail free card and then told us not to use it...which set up our summoning Emet-Selch and Hythodaeus instead perfectly. I loved how they basically leaned on the fourth wall and then Emet foreshadowed possible enemies and plot points before nonchalantly saying "hey dumbass this means you can resurrect your friends, chop chop."

The final dungeon...well. Amaurot was better, and I want to knife whoever thought putting yellow AOE markers on yellow grass was a good idea on the last boss. The final trial was glorious, and I loved that the last 35% was basically a free kill with our friends praying for us and buffing us with the power of friendship. Zenos showing up as Shinryu was fucking hilarious, and set up the inevitable ending where at last we got to kill that motherfucker, sorry Zenos shippers. Baidar's character arc since the start of Stormblood has been becoming strong enough to defeat Zenos for nearly killing Y'shtola, and the fact that he got to do it was great. The fact that the WoL, in the end, beats Zenos to death barehanded was some brutal, Metal Gear Solid shit (I can't wait to see that cut scene from a lala's point of view) and I'm glad the bastard's dead.

While I understood the emotion the Scions felt for the WoL sending them away and then coming back damn near dead (I was waiting for Y'shtola to say something snarky that barely hides her feelings, thinking "what will I write to make it fit her and Baidar?" when she basically cried out "DON'T DO THAT AGAIN, MY HEART COULDN'T TAKE IT." Yeah I don't need to re-write that.), it was a little vexing considering the previous two hours in game. I'd just watched all my best friends die. Y'shtola has died three times now. G'raha's on his second death. Throwing stones in glass houses there, kids.

(edit: I have since realized that the intent of that scene is that the Scions aren't mad that you sent them away: they're mad that you stayed to fight Zenos when they thought you were coming. It's subtle, boiling down to one line, but it's there.)

I am not sure where it sits compared to Shadowbringers, 5.0 to 5.3, which essentially Endwalker is the equivalent of. It dragged some (both visits to Labyrinthos) and I think tried too hard to hammer home the grim dark, everyone is suffering themes, but when it was good, it was very good, and I submit to you that Elpis is the best questing zone in a MMO ever. In fact I have no words for the feeling of awe I had when I realized the Unsundered World was an actual quest zone. That was amazing.

Anyway I am very tired and need a break to decompress. Need to grab some gear on SAM to get ready to raid because I ain't missing Pandaemonium, and I need to level Reaper, but that's for another time.

#endwalker spoilers #ffxiv spoilers #ffxiv endwalker spoilers #6.0 spoilers

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astroellipse · 3 years

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writing *ranting about ffxiv while I wait for a queue to pop

I was so sad man... I’m just trying to do the Hildebrand questline- it popped in the middle of writing that oh my god.

What I was going to say is that I thought this queue for the quest line’s third trial was going to be 15 minutes like the last two but saw it was instead “more than 30 minutes”, and given the last time I queued for a trial that said that it took two hours, I was a little concerned. To my surprise it popped initially just seven minutes in... until someone backed out. Then I started writing this. Then it popped, I waited half a minute, and someone withdrew again. And a third time immediately after. On the fourth time I actually got in. That was ridiculous. I’ll still continue writing though, since finishing the first Hildibrand saga is a good breaking point.

That was, to be expected, hilarious. A lot of it, anyhow. Some of it just sort of hurt. The funniest moment wasn’t even during the questline, it was during the first trial with Gilgamesh. Both me and the bard were inflicted with confusion and just started blasting each other. Him knocking arrows and all but stabbing them into my forehead, and me casting ruin directly into his eyes at point blank range. That and the getting turned into a frog and getting chased by chickens. Literally nothing can top that encounter for me.

I straight up did not care about the mystery/plot the majority of the time, but I guess I should expect by now that I’ll always enjoy the characters more than whatever mediocre plot they’re tangled in. Just. The Coliseum quests specifically mostly pissed me off. The pervy tentacle monster. The needless racism. The whole thing with painting a poor person wanting to find an easy way to not be poor as undeniably evil which the game KEEPS doing makes me so fucking mad, in combination with stewing about these other themes in JRPGs especially with being all “boo-hoo, won’t anyone thing about how hard it is being rich and noble, all the responsibility, how dare these dirty poors even think about getting revenge on the very people that keep them down.

Why aren’t they just happy with what they do have? They should just put in more work if they want to eat a warm meal, even though we’ve already established there’s no work to be had. Like jesus christ I’d swear some of the shit in this game and others was being written by some 17 year old medieval lordling with too much free time between tutoring sessions. What is these peoples’ obsessions with nobility? Like I get it makes for good fantasy content but have at least a little bit of self consciousness.

I feel like I always see these games acknowledge some kind of class structure and how it negatively effects those in its lowest rungs then shrug it off as “there’s nothing anyone can do about it” and paint the impoverished as villains for being upset with the people that do have the power to change it. Sort of a tangent but this specifically is why I despised and kind of relationship between Dorothea and Ferdinand in Three Houses. She calls him out and rightfully so in the first support, then he makes a batch of pastries completely from scratch one time and this apparently makes her think that all nobles aren’t so bad? Going from straight up not wanting nobles to exist to thinking hey, they’re people too :). I hate that. I hated that FE3H characters were mostly nobles or come from notable/rich families or whatever.

Similarly I hate that FFXIV has such a huge focus on the upper crust and just completely discards and lower-class person. Like, there was a mission where I had to check on some scared refugees and they attacked me in self defense and it made me kill them? And I reported back to the guy who asked me to check on them and he just went “Ah well, what can you do.” Like what the fuck is wrong with these writers sometimes???

I was about to say this was more of an issue with ARR but remembered how the people of the Brume were treated in HW, like a mob of bumbling idiots in desperate need of guidance. What drove me insane the most on that front was when the people were on the brink of revolt after that one girl basically martyred herself, and to remedy this Aymeric decided his order and the grand companies would have their little sparring mach, because nothing sparks patriotism more like sports. Even though this left the city with significantly less protection. And that it was held in an area where not a single citizen could see it. Also, the group the people were supposed to be rooting for was the order of knights and their lapdogs (Hilda’s group) which. just. none of it made sense. It was stupid. This kinda shit makes me afraid to eventually get to Stormblood and into the thick of the Ala Mhigo stuff which they have handled TERRIBLY so far like it boils my blood to think about it. This game is so racist it’s unreal.

but. god. I was talking about the Hildibrand questline. The bit on Costa del Sol was probably the closest I came to caring about the plot, plus it had some pretty good bits. Wasn’t a fan of the big “man in a dress” at the end, though it did make me think that men should be allowed to wear dresses in this game like it would’ve looked fine without the goofy hair and makeup :/ And I completely checked out on whatever that last bit of story was no I do not care that that one girl we’ve been traveling with was the thief all along I have never liked her. Also she played into that class issue I just ranted about. The reveal of her sister was also cheap and stupid. The elezen inspector professing his love for her was also weird? My first thought during that was “jesus christ man she was trying to commit mass mur-” and then I remembered that I/my WoL was crushing on Ysale before she got axed which comes in at #2 for funniest moment in this questline. Him doing that still came out of nowhere save one or two short scenes in separate quests to me.

But I’m exhausted of this now. I might go and start the next saga but I’ll probably go to sleep early... if anything has made me rethink playing past the free trial it’s the shit above but I’ll be honest I am pretty darn likely to cave. I can only hope the writers sorted at least some of their shit out between expansions.

#collecting my thoughts #mmorpg hell

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uvjellyfish · 4 years

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hi i wanna talk about bonana’s evolution throughout each expansion :3 (warning for story spoilers obviously)

ARR: (LNC / DRG) very new, very hopeful bo, definitely at his most "innocent" i guess. as a refresher he had literally just broken free of a rather strict household & doesnt have a very good grasp on like, anything really. his motivation is simply helping others in the best way he can: attacking things, and learning how to do it better. when he first learns about the echo and the scions of the seventh dawn, hes VERY relieved to finally have an answer for what had plauging him his whole life, but all the stuff about slaying primals and ascians and getting involved in politics just kinda went way over his head. i think the attack on waking sands was when he finally realized the gravity of what he'd been pulled into, and in all honestly he probably wouldnt have gotten through it at all if he didnt meet and befriend another echo-bearing scion (grammy smith). which leads us into...

HSW: (DRK, DRG) the rise of emo bonana...after the bloody banquet of ul’dah and the crystal braves betrayal, he took it upon himself to be the rock for the group during their stay in ishgard. but deep down he was just as, if not more desperate for SOME kind of guidance, which is what drew him to investigate hearings about a dark knight that had been slain in trial. all of a sudden he finally found an outlet for all that pent up turmoil within himself, a voice with which to speak his true mind....though maybe he leans a little too hard into it at first. after some deep soul searching & encouragement from friends and allies, he ultimately pushes through, and before he knows it he’s helped put an end to the dragonsong war :D! but a hero’s work is never done, and he never would have expected what would come next

STB: (DRG, DRK) generally he’s calmed down a lot at this point, and ever-eager for the next adventure. at least he was until the attack at rhalgr’s reach, and his crushing defeat against zenos. the true weight of the losses didnt even catch up with him until he found his dark knight’s crystal had torn asunder and he was left chasing the whims of a strange kid obsessed with doing good. um...i honestly dont have much more to say here i think ive mentioned the weird kind of detachment the wol ends up having in stormblood. he tracks a dragon to the far east and fights it, its really cool. the whole bus clapped. onto shadowbringers,

SHB: (DRK) i believe ive mentioned before bo actually gets pulled to the first shortly after thancred, along with oranje. though its worth mentioning since they WERE some of the exarch’s intended targets their bodies did get pulled. but only their bodies (and whatever they were wearing skjfkgl). and ive talked before about how he fucks up and accidentally becomes a menace bc of huge misunderstandings, and how the two of them end up rolling with the dwarves for a couple years and all that. needless to say, that combined with being pulled in the middle of directly fighting the imperials, it left bo feeling VERY annoyed, and frustrated, and honestly very helpless. which is why when the last of the group to be pulled (sasabe) shows up, he is all the more eager to leap straight back into action....perhaps too eager.

for reasons unknown to them, and even to himself, he ends up absorbing *all* the lightwarden’s aether by himself. which plays out exactly how it does in the game. by the time he’s absorbed innocence and All That happens, he is all but defeated. he finally has the realization his greatest boon would be his downfall, and that he cared too much for others...and not nearly enough for himself. but, after some pep talks from a few scattered friends, he resolves that at the very least he could go down in a blaze of glory, and hopefully take emet-selch with him. by the end of it all the best way to describe him is...at peace with himself. at least a little. until mr elidibus comes in preaching about we are ALL warriors of light and everything, and how the echo isnt actually hydaelyns blessing but the reawakening of an ancient power the person has as an amaroutine. bo stumbles a little and starts believing his role to be a mistake somehow again, but its not nearly as bad as before because he knows at the end of the day hes got friends behind him and theyre always a snap away :3

#bonana bonanza #god bless you if you read all this KSJDLKJFLKGDLKHNGLKGLK

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tarajenkins · 5 years

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Given what you've said of Vauthry, about how we're never given any chance to even try and redeem him, help him become a better person, I'd like to ask: how would you go about "saving" him? When he transforms into that Lucifer/Archangel Michael-looking guy, he seems permanently lost, but how would you write out a redemption narrative for him?

I love this ask, I hate the answer I have to give. But it’s gonna be a long response anyway, because context and because you already know I don’t know when to shut up about characters, lmao.

SO I HOPE YOU LOVE HEARING ME RAMBLE UNDER THIS CUT (but I won’t blame you if you don’t)

I don’t think the in-game narrative allows Vauthry any chance at redemption in the current time, even if he had the agency to take it. I don’t think we ever saw what he actually could have been. I think what we saw in Shadowbringers was the Lightwarden he’d been carrying finally “awakening”, as Innocence’s Triple Triad card put it. Or, as the X-Files put it in their eighth ep: “We are not who we are”.

Even if that Lightwarden could be driven out of him (I know an “Aethertech” who would do anything to make that possible cough), I don’t know if he’d regain clarity he may never have had to start. I’d love to think that he did, a long time ago. The Minstreling Wanderer tells us he can’t say whether or not Vauthry was a monster as a child, when you unlock Crown Of The Immaculate EX.

I believe the Lightwarden’s influence was driving a lot of his brutal acts of “justice”, because that is kinda their whole thing. As for the man inside the monster? I have a hunch he was desperate to not be seen as unnatural, and was trying to make sense out of what was happening to him in a way that would not make him a hybrid abomination. Because if he wasn’t a God, if he wasn’t this divine thing he was told he was – then what was he? The way he worded it, “this is why I was born…as man and Sin Eater both…” – it makes me feel he had, at some point in his life, at least once, ASKED why he was born as he was. That he had perceived it was wrong. He needed it to be right. And that was just fuel to the corruption fire.

The talk of godhood actually seemed to be a recent phenomenon, as no other NPC mentions a thing about it – they refer to him as “Lord Vauthry”, and speak of him in mortal terms, apart from his miraculous ability to keep the Sin Eaters at bay. He freely boasted of being a God to the Crystal Exarch, yet we’re to believe he didn’t say a word to his own people, all this time? Or that no one, in turn, would mention to us “Yyyyeah, about this guy….” Mayor Punchable Face may have told him he was a God, but it doesn’t sound like Vauthry bought into it enough to spread the good word for at least twenty years.

Also consider he called his transformation into Innocence a “trial”. Why would a god need to be tested? And by whom?

By the time we see him in-game, it seemed he was in a rapid decline of sanity, or at least the ability to keep up appearances, and whatever was left of him was fervently clinging to the only purpose he was ever apparently given – which is exactly what that Lightwarden (and Emet-Selch) would want.

He was really cynical about the rest of humanity. Given his father, I can see where he’d get that from. Not that daddy told him people suck, it’s that Vauthry probably learned that by his father’s example. Maybe by the rest of Eulmore, too, but I got the impression he was kept seriously isolated from society before his inauguration. He seems to prefer being alone – he only leaves that room when he moves the Sin Eaters against Lakeland. He gives no indication he knows how to socialize, period. You either come to him, or you don’t see him. (He may be keenly aware humes don’t typically reach at least fifteen feet tall. Seriously, look at Cruelty’s size compared to player characters, now look how Cruelty makes a comfy couch for him.)

Cynical, and yet, he wanted to see the people of Eulmore’s “dreams fulfilled, their wishes granted”. Just so long as he was the one responsible, and he was the one recognized for it. He needed their acceptance.

ANYHOO. On to stuff I still have zero idea what to make of.

I should preface the rest of this infodump with the fact I found the Eulmore arc to be the weakest of the expansion, between Vauthry and Ran'jit. Most of the MSQ was given nuance. Eulmore was given a Saturday Morning Cartoon sledge. A -lot- of questions, with no answers, unless Squeenix decides to be generous in a fifty-buck lore book later. (something I hated Warcraft for. I should not have to pony up for a book to understand the main story quest chain in a game.) So, here are some of the questions I’ve got:

- FOOL! THAT WILL NEVER WORK!

They don’t really explain why Emet-Selch thought corrupting an infant was a good plan, as the Sin Eaters seemed guaranteed a win on The First, if only by outlasting the survivors of the Flood. Impatience, maybe? Why not give it to the mayor? That dickpickle would’ve said yes. Maybe we’ll get more answers with the Eden raid. IT’D BE NICE *COUGH*

- The meol thing.

It’s using Sin Eater’s non-existant flesh to make a bread, and through that bit of Sin Eater, Vauthry could control whoever ate it. The fanbase loves the “soylent green is people” angle, but it’s done pretty haphazardly, when you think about it like that? Sin Eaters have no lasting corporeal body. They are Light, mixed with a bit of the lingering essence of whatever they originally were – and what they originally were did not have to be humanoid. They dissolve into sparklies in the air upon death – and arguably, they would not have to die to contribute sparklies to somehow mix into food. Forgiven Cruelty lost a whole wing to Thancred when Thancred first took Ryne from Eulmore, and it seemed to have grown back just fine by the time we see Cruelty again. Killing Sin Eaters also would be entirely counterproductive to a nation that devoted themselves to NOT killing them. Also – we are shown the Afflicted, people who are falling to corruption from a SIn Eater attack they’d survived. How is it people who eat meol don’t become corrupted themselves?

Where did the idea for meol even begin? Vauthry’s father was ousted by the people as mayor before Emet-Selch said hey there, friend, you have a punchable face, let’s make a deal – and Vauthry only took control of Eulmore 20 years ago. He looks a LOT older than 20, or even 40. So his father must’ve rode his child’s coattails before then. Did Mayor Punchable Face think that was a wise countermeasure against future insurrection? In any case, Vauthry did not exert that control until the WoL and allies were coming to kill the Lightwarden of Kholusia (him), so it did not seem to be a priority of his. Alphinaud confirmed the people were of a free mind until they were made to fight the WoL and allies. (and dialogue stressed it was very noticeable when someone was not of a free mind.) Squeenix: *throws meol into purse* I have to go plotholes came up

- The “Perverted Paradise”. (I at least giggle every time Alphinaud says this.)

Vauthry is presented as the pinnacle of vice, yet the game does not really show this well – in some cases, not at all.

Gluttony: He isn’t shown to indulge in drink, let alone overindulge. Apart from the meol scene at the end, which was related to controlling the Eater-corrupted citizenry, not gluttony, he was not shown to have so much as a snack. There’s food in his chamber, all of it untouched. But! In the Shadowbringers trailer, Squeenix thought the best example to showcase Eulmore’s decadence was – three thicc'qotes. Having pleasant conversation ‘round a table. Eating fresh fruit.

Not the creepy-ass old patron who thinks that since his pretty servant can’t sing anymore, she should be “Ascended” as a kindness, although it was implied she could have recovered her health, just not her voice. Not the guy who tossed his servant from a balcony because reasons and wanted us to bring him back. Not even the noblewoman trying to have her servant killed because her lecherous husband put designs on the poor girl.

Three thicc'qotes. Having pleasant conversation ‘round a table. Eating fresh fruit.

We get it, Square, we’re supposed to see he’s fat and think that is bad. Moving on.

Lust: He doesn’t visit the adult nightclub downstairs (the adult nightclub that is shown practically empty and behind closed doors, the lewdness of it all – I clutch my pearls.) He doesn’t creep on your player character like Magnai did in Stormblood – he doesn’t creep on anyone. He doesn’t want you to be his steed. No interest is shown in the Sin Eaters apart from them fighting for him, as much as some people in the fanbase theorize he is fucking them. (They probably think that Spirited Away is about the sex industry and My Neighbor Totoro is about dead girls, too.) This game is pretty blatant when they intend that sort of thing, see: Yotsuyu, Sastasha, any number of things in Ishgard or Ul'dah. I’ve found nothing here, except the German translation for “Consort Of Sin: Forgiven Obscenity” is “Purified Fornication: Playmate Of The Redeemer”. Since this is not implied in any other translation, I put my trust in Koji Fox and the fact Obscenity’s job seems to be Official Nose Petter to Forgiven Cruelty.

Greed: I am not going to hold his rings and his robes against him, as Urianger has just as much bling (more, actually), The wealthy are made to give up ALL their fortune to be permitted to stay in Eulmore – but that wealth is then used to provide everything for free to those who live there, and the free citizenry are apparently given funds for private use to boot. If they intended to show that Vauthry was using all that for hookers and blow for himself, it did not convey well.

Wrath: If one has broken the rules of the city (or has thrown shade that takes him a full two minutes to catch), Vauthry definitely has this in spades, with a temper tantrum a lot like Philia’s Fierce Beating attack. But again, the writers don’t really show the extent of the wrath they are trying to tell . Because if you don’t break the rules? Nothing happens, apparently. Trouble seems to have to be brought forward to him, he doesn’t go looking for it. It didn’t feel any different to me than the Grand Companies, yet this is the one that finally makes Alphinaud do the *GAAAAASP*.

The populace does not seem afraid of Vauthry. In fact, they feel free to pop ‘round to have a word if they think something needs doing. Chai-Nuzz did not seem distressed by his wife’s suggestion she would have a word with Vauthry to soothe the “hard feelings” stirred up in the quest “Emergent Splendor”.

Pride: He has great pride in his ability to keep the SIn eaters under control, but doesn’t really display any vanity in himself. No portraits, statues, etc. When Alphinaud interfered with Kai-Shirr’s punishment, Alphinaud was told he’d be permitted to stay in the city if he made a painting – not a portrait of Vauthry, but of the city itself.

Sloth: We get it, Square, he’s fat and he sits down, moving the FUCK on. No actually, hold up, to be honest? As tired and :| as he looked all the time, he struck me as depressed. What guy in Paradise looks that haggard?

NOW moving on.

Envy: If my theory holds, probably plenty of unresolved envy for folks who are not “half Sin Eater”. Otherwise, I can’t think of an example here.

- “Ascension” (Sure thing, Jan)

This is only made reference to in the Weeping Warbler quest chain. “As all know, the sin eaters exist to devour the sinful. But also do they serve to gather the souls of the innocent, and shepherd them unto celestial paradise.”

Sin eaters ate a meal that represents the sins of a household you fool oh wait this is The First

The thing I don’t get here is - why are there obviously limitations on who can be ascended, and when? If the idea is strictly to feed the Sin Eaters, or make meol, or just be an asshole, why is this the only time we hear of it?

It’s like if there are no more mortals, Vauthry wouldn’t have that reassurance he is doing good anymore. Either that, or since he’s never worked in retail, he doesn’t know how to push features.

But I’m betting on the former.

- LASTLY: the hypocrisy of the writer’s narrative (and the fanbase).

Tesleen was our first and horrifying sample of what Sin Eater corruption can do to a human. No matter how strong her will may have been, she was just lost to it. She scratches madly at her face when she uses one of her attacks in Holminster Switch, as though trying to stop herself, or punish herself. But she can’t help it. And we know this.

Titania was a tragedy, had to be stopped. But, a TRAGEDY. Whatever was left of the benevolent ruler was corrupted. There was never a moment where our heroes went “dis binch just evil, they gotta go down”. ( I had many choice words for Titania when I wiped enough times to them, but no actual game dialogue really says it. )

We, the Warrior Of Light, came this close to becoming a Warden ourselves. Somehow it was stalled (convenience!), but there was never a question corruption = bad and out of our control.

Vauthry, on the other hand, is treated as though he is in full control of his faculties, although the corruption before birth makes that questionable at best and he pretty clearly is not? Even as he did that Exorcist neck-twist, no one was like “oh fuck, the Sin Eaters got to another one, damn that poor man”. (Which would seem a logical conclusion to me, I hate we have like zero real say in our characters’ reactions) Not even a “ahaha okay no seriously what the fuck is going on guys”. Nope. Their reaction was “EVIL”. Trying to help somehow was never on the table. Watching him die slowly at our feet was.

We saw the Echo of the real circumstance of his birth. It had to come from the Sin Eater that corrupted him, because he wasn’t out of the womb to see that scene play out. Or Emet-Selch. Either way, we saw it, yet at no time afterward do we try to bring the truth out. We just let everyone believe he was evil by choice, and not another casualty of this mess.

And remember earlier, how I said Alphinaud confirmed the free citizenry were not under Vauthry’s control until the fight? Remember the noblewoman whose husband went after their bonded servant, and so she tried to get the girl murdered?

Yeah, we catch up to that noblewoman who tried to murder her servant. She feels really bad about that now. And what is an option we get to tell her ex-bonded servant when she wonders how she could possibly trust the woman who tried to kill her?

“Vauthry’s society brought out the worst in people…”

Fffffffuck you Square lmao

TL;DR:

In private RP land? In private RP land, where we can back the fuck up in the timeline at will? You are damn skippy that Lightwarden got purged before it took complete hold. (an Aethertech did it with SCIENCE.) And Vauthry is cynical and scarred and bitter and broken and betrayed, but he’s not evil. If anything, he’s actually pretty relatably human. And he’s actually pretty damn glad his father’s shitty legacy is over.

#FFXIV #Vauthry #LONG ASS POST #Shadowbringers #I am so sorry Unna

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bride-and-bride · 6 years

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Am I a Shitty Healer?

A Very Basic Guide To When You Will Feel Like You Suck But It’s Actually Just Hard

The first job I ever picked up when I started playing FFXIV was White Mage. And I loved healing in this game enough to keep at it, but I found that there were a lot of places where I found myself struggling and really questioning if I was any good.

AS IT TURNS OUT... that’s pretty normal! So lest you find yourself questioning if you’re fit for healing when you’re getting into it for the first time, here’s a bunch of points at which you’ll probably find you’re having trouble. Don’t panic and think you suck... you’ll get through it with a lil perseverance and practice!

In ARR:

Stone Vigil

Aurum Vale

Dzemael Darkhold

The very first time you end up in these dungeons as an at-level healer, you might find yourself thinking you’re in hell. That’s normal. Focus on making sure you have properly upgraded gear, particularly for your main-hand and body slot! Don’t skip your class quests, either... they offer skills that you’ll definitely need.

Specifically, Stone Vigil has difficult AoEs, Aurum Vale’s got a difficult second Boss, and both Aurum Vale and Dzemael Darkhold have rooms where it’s easy to aggro a LOT of mobs while also having hazards that can deal damage. It’s good to focus on where you stand and how you move!

(Keeper of the Lake also sucks at level, and is tricky even when you get it in roulettes later... again, focus on having up to date gear, and try to read up on the boss mechanics before you head in for the first time!)

In HW:

The Vault

Final Steps of Faith

One of these is a dungeon, the other is a trail, but both are places at which you’ll find the difficulty of healing jumping a bit higher than you might expect. For the Vault, it’s extremely vital to make sure you have properly upgraded gear... the 130 ironworks gear won’t be enough anymore! For Final Steps, it’s quite helpful to read about the fight ahead of time, and really make sure you’re familiar with your aoe healing spells. It’s easier now, but it can be intimidating on your first time none the less... luckily, you have a co-healer to help out!

In SB:

The Pool of Tribute

Bardam’s Mettle

Castrum Abania

The Royal Menagerie

The Pool of Tribute is a trial, and an early one which can be difficult in part because it USUALLY TAKES... quite a while to finish. The attack patterns are rather predictable but because it goes on and on, people tend to get a bit messier in the later stages. Keep an eye on your MP!

Bardam’s Mettle and Castrum Abania are notable because the trash pulls in them hit like a truck. This is pretty common in stormblood dungeons, but don’t be afraid to ask your tank to take one pull at a time, because some of the more innocuous looking pulls can be surprisingly vicious.

The Royal Menagerie.... well, just don’t get discouraged if you find it difficult, try to practice not getting too focused on healing to the point of losing track of the fight around you, and having sprint on your bars will prove a useful tool.

So How Do I Get Better?

I couldn’t say too much... I know I’m definitely always improving in my own healing, too, and I’m still realizing things that make my life easier. However, I think there’s some basic things you can do as a healer to help yourself improve!

Read your Action Descriptions Carefully!

It’s easy to miss details unless you actually take a good look at what your actions do, and it’s always embarrassing to realize you were missing something. For example, WHM’s Assize also restores an amount of MP when you use it... AST’s Essential Dignity does MORE Healing if it’s used on a target with lower HP, and SCH’s Rouse makes your Fairy immune to some status ailments (useful if they’re in the path of a Morbol’s Breath!) You should have an idea of what your stances do as an Astrologian or what Fairy Actions Scholar’s have access to!

In addition, several times you’ll get ‘2′ versions of your existing healing spells... and it’s important to take a look at how they all function, since it’s not a simple case of always using the highest numbered heal you have! Benefic I and Cure I both save you a certain amount of MP and can proc special effects on Benefic II and Cure II, and Medica I and Helios do more raw healing than Medica II or Aspected Helios.

Consider your Role Actions according to what you do!

Some of the Healer skills are extremely vital, and you’ll want to have on your bars most of the time... others are very situational, and can depend on what you’re going to be running and what your style of healing is! For example, most groups will expect Protect at the start of runs, and Swiftcast is an absolute must-have for quick raises in battles...

But Esuna is also an extremely useful tool, and having it quick at hand when someone’s paralyzed or slowed is a great help, and getting in the habit of looking for esuna-able Debuffs is a good one to have.

As for other role actions, it’s great to know that SCH’s Deployment Tactics also spreads Eye for an Eye, Lucid Dreaming gives you increased MP regeneration while it’s active, and Surecast actually prevents knockback and draw-in effects--all tools which can be very valuable in specific cases!

Know your Tank and Co-Healers

Being able to understand how best to work with different classes can make all kinds of runs a lot easier... and particularly in 8-man and raid content, knowing your fellow healers is vital! For example, any character can only have ONE shield effect on them at a time... AST’s Nocturnal Shields overwrite each other and SCH shields and vice-versa... if you’re an AST with a SCH, using Nocturnal Sect will give them a migraine and waste a lot of good healing, and if you have two AST’s the most effective way to go is to have one Nocturnal and one Diurnal healer!

For your tank, each one has a specific ‘last chance cooldown’ that acts differently. Paladin’s Hallowed Ground, for example, prevents ALL damage during it’s duration, meaning you can focus healing elsewhere... while Warrior’s Holmgang doesn’t prevent damage, meaning you need to try and get them back up before it ends and they’re in a bad place! Dark Knight is unusual... their Living Dead makes it so that if they would be killed, they’re instead put in a ‘Walking Dead’ state during which they can’t drop below 1 hp... but they MUST be healed for an amount equaling their full hp before the buff ends, or they’ll die, regardless of if they have hp remaining.

There’s other quirks and benefits you can find with all kinds of classes... from Monk’s Mantra which buffs healing, to Bard’s Warden’s Paean, which can esuna a debuff OR put up a ward to prevent one, to Bard and Machinist’s ability to help regenerate MP, to the different DPS casters being able to transfer a portion of their own MP to you. The more you learn about other classes, the more you can work in cooperation with them!

Know your Limit Break!

Before you hit 50, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll never end up using a Limit Break in a dungeon or trial. Afterwards, however... there will be times when the Healer Limit Break can be the difference between victory and defeat, and having it on your bar saves a lot of heartache.

The Healer LB 1 and 2 are unlikely to get used... but restore 25 and 60% of the entire party’s HP and MP, respectively. Healer LB3 on the other hand... restores full HP and MP to all party members and instantly revives any who are dead at the time! It’s important to note there IS a range on this... people who are VERY far away might miss out, and it locks you in place until the animation ends, meaning it’s possible to bring everyone back only to get caught in an AoE and fall yourself.

This got a lot longer than I meant to, and I’m definitely not any kind of expert... just a bug who really likes to ramble and sometimes gets the burning urge to write guides for things. Still... I think healing in FFXIV is fun as heck, and I can’t help but want more people to feel confident that they can do it, even if they find it tough here and there!

THANKS FOR READING THIS FAR, WOW!

#My brain slipped into hyperfocus and demanded I type a Lot of Words #and now it'd be a waste of several hours if I didn't hit post #but I'm kinda embarrassed

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grey-lotus-ffxiv · 7 years

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Menagerie Musings

I usually don’t go into personal/OOC stuff on tumblr but I would just like to post a message for those people who have anxiety issues and are having trouble with the Royal Menagerie trial at the end of the Stormblood main quest line as well as those who are not yet there but will be soon.

It really does get better.

Most of the Stormblood levelling content has been easy mode. Naturally I assumed this was because of my inherent pro-ness and/or the classes I play having been improved.

When I had to clear it on @dd-ffxiv I got rather a nasty surprise, though: mechanics that come in rapid succession, seemingly random deaths, recriminations and eventually a timer running out without a clear.

I got really anxious about it, fearing that this was going to be what the rest of Stormblood was like, that I’d never clear this trial or that it might take weeks. All of my friends will have moved on to other things, perhaps occasionally reminiscing about that pitiful failure of a player that they used to run dungeons and other content with. The one that couldn’t even clear the final MSQ trial because he’s such a nub. (This is how my mind works in those moments.)

For sure, @bexli-nelhah and the @drunkenmoogle and @jh-rp tried to cheer me up by saying that it wasn’t that bad, that I’d got through it too. Some would add that it was easy and fun when you learn the mechanics. Which really is the last thing you want to hear when it still seems pretty daunting to you even if it ended up being true.

I ended up completing it later that day. Last night I also cleared it as a tank on @gilbert-ffxiv and even got a heap of commendations. That time it actually was fun to see a group with many new people learn, get better after every wipe, then clear the encounter with 20 minutes to spare.

My advice-from-personal-experience for those with anxiety issues is to manage your expectations. Go in with the expectation of wiping, of dying a lot to stupid things, of not clearing the trial on the first run or perhaps even the first few runs. Brace yourself for people pointing out what you’re doing wrong and maybe even being dicks about it. The menagerie is genuinely more difficult than the rest of the Stormblood MSQ but not insurmountable. Just try to see why you died and from repetition the whole thing will eventually become familiar. You’re (probably) not the only one in the group who has to learn the encounter and you may well need a bit longer to learn it. It’s fine. It’s not you.

I hope you have friends like @bexli-nelhah and people from the Moogle and Jackals who are also understanding and patient. And if you don’t, feel free to give a poke and vent at me if you like. All the hugs. - poDietrich

#Stormblood #anxiety #The Royal Menagerie

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traversingtherealm · 7 years

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“It was foolish of me to believe that I’d stay when I finally returned.

Many long years I spent away from my people, tangled in conspiracy and strife as I attempted to aid the voices that cried for help. I had done my duty for my people, served and commanded during the Dragonsong War. Though we failed to lift nary a finger to aid the nations south of us, I took it upon myself to flee the treacherous waste our once beautiful nation had become to mend relations, provide a helping hand, and seek out the source of this mysterious voice. The rumours were plentiful of my apparent and untimely demise, disappearance, betrayal, and so on. Only one soul knew of my secret departure, and he kept it incredibly well.

I hardly accomplished what I came to do, though many thanked me for my service. I made connections and friendships, something I never managed on my own when I still live in Ishgard. I left much behind on my return, which was necessary as the situation grew dire, but some apparently followed.

It is truly a miracle I was able to witness the end of a terrible war in my life time. It claimed so many precious lives from either side, and to believe the cause was a lie fabricated by the Holy See stunned me, and shook me to my core. Though I was suspicious of them for longer than I can remember, the revelation was truly astonishing. However, to reach the conclusion of a horrendous chapter in our history, we lost the lives of some of the most noble, courageous, selfless people I had ever met. I had lost my best friend, the most kind… The most… I could go on. But I choose to honour his memory, rather than mourn his loss.

Fury forgive, but I am still adjusting to the thought that I was part of an effort to eliminate the disgraced Thordan, who I am still reminding myself I am allowed to omit his former honourifics, and his Knights. My imprisonment in the Vault is an ordeal that left a mental scar that still has time to heal, but defeating the man that desired power over the safety of the people was worth the pain tenfold. The final battle with Nidhogg. A dragon that caused me so much pain, my people, his own kind… Felling the beast was cathartic. We were alike, I believe. But what separates me from Nidhogg was my resolve, my willingness to reason. A shame it ended as it did, but laying the dragon to rest led to an optimal end to a dark, unforgettable era.

My hope is that the end of the war signals an era of peace, of understanding, of reconnecting, of togetherness, and of rebuilding.

Despite all that was lost and gained throughout the conclusion, and subsequent returning conflicts that required my attention, I emerged a changed man, in a sense. My faith was disturbed, but not lost. I felt the cold grip of despair, but persevered. I, to my amusement, have collected new scars, but I wear them proudly. My mission is to carry on as he did, a beacon of hope and warmth, to wear a smile through the most difficult trials, to continue to open up to new ideas and people so that I may bring them together.

I met someone I feel the need to protect, to keep safe.

This is all a terribly long-winded entry, and still, it is an abridged look into my thoughts. I’m exhausting too much aether to jot as much as I can down, and I need to rest before I begin the next leg of my journey. A pity I have to leave, I was only able to enjoy the comforts of a post-war-torn home for a short period of time. I’ve been called upon once more to provide my talents in combat and, what they refer to as, “ability to know what to do at any given time.” I think what they are alluding to is my ‘chronic desire to be at the disposal to those in need and toss myself into danger with reckless abandon for my own well being has given me a unique insight to any given situation.’ I don’t think he would be too happy when he realizes this… I’ll have to make a note to be more careful in the field. It will be a pleasure to see the twins again, I care for them as if they were my own. I should also make an effort to alert Kanami of my plans, though I have no doubt she’ll find me, or a way to contact me soon. I don’t know how she does it.

Speaking of contact, yet another I must get in touch with is a certain old friend who would be please to know of my intentions to once again lend a hand in her fight. I’ll send a message once I’m packed. I may bring an old weapon I’ve used in the past along side my bow. It has been getting more and more difficult to use my beloved what with the state of my sight.

Until I write again. Fury guide me.

- Thierremonte Formell “

From the journal of Lord Thierremonte Formell of House Formell of House Fortemps

I imagine Thierre probably wanted to get his thoughts down since he hadn’t really written in a journal since illness finally took his vision. Save for the maps and small notes he allows himself to create, he tries not to needlessly exhaust himself for menial tasks. However, poor thing’s got a lot on his mind lately, and he’s OFF AGAIN. Can’t catch a breather.

@annoy-the-void , had to sneak in the last screenshot ;)

See ya later, Heavensward! Onto Stormblood.

#ffxiv #ffxiv heavensward #thierremonte formell #myath sochen #kanami tokuyama #(by mention but still)#i should write something for her maybe #ashelia riot

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euphie-correl · 7 years

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3.5 and Beyond

Thanks to day long maintenance keeping me from playing FFXIV, I’ve had a lot of time to think about where the story is headed and what I’d like to see happen in 3.5 and onwards. Since I have way too many thoughts to fit into a single post, I figured I’d write about what I’d like to see from the Grand Company leaders.

Kan-e-Senna - I’m going to assume that as part of the plot leading up to Stormblood, the Warrior of Light is going to clear out the Garleans from the East Shroud. This will remove the last material threat to the Black Shroud, restoring it more or less to peace. Kan-E-Senna is currently only acting as the head of state due to the ongoing threats, so this puts her in an interesting position. With the immediate threats gone, should she abdicate her role as head of Gridania and simply return to her seat as the Elder Seedseer on the Seedseer Council or retain her role in case the Eorzean alliance needs decisive action? I think it would be a great chance for the Warrior of Light to act as an advisor and confidant to her, rather than just a glorified beat stick. Going further with this, I think it would be nice for our choice to have a persistent effect on the world. For example, if we advise her to abdicate, the Seedseer Council would be the official government of Gridania again and we would maybe get to see Kan-e-Senna in her Padjal form as a sitting member of the council. At some point in the story, this could cause issues if you need a quick response from Gridania for some crisis, but the council is divided and stuck in deliberation. On the other hand, if she remains the head of Gridania, you would get immediate support, but it would cause internal strife in the Shroud since those opposed would feel that she is abusing the power that was really only given to her to deal with the Garleans. I think these kinds of branching effects on the world would help make the world feel more customized and would make us really think about our choices.

Merlwyb - Looking through the lore book, it’s mentioned that the Admiral is chosen through a trial known as the Trident, which is held every 7 years. Merylweb won the title of Admiral in 1563 (again per the Lore book) and now it’s 1577. Assuming that she won “re-election” in 1570, there should be another Trident held sometime this year. While Merlwyb did away with piracy, I can’t imagine she would abolish Limsa’s oldest tradition, so I’d like us to see a Trident at some point in the 4.X series. The way I imagine it would go down is something along the lines of the Garleans attempt to interfere in it in some way. I could see them either having one of their own admirals enter the contest on the grounds that anyone is free to enter or backing one of the pirate captains that is unhappy with the ban on piracy, with the goal that by re-establishing piracy, they will sow discord in Eorzea. Regardless of which exact route they go down, I would imagine that Merlwyb’s opponent would be someone decked out in the strongest Magitek armor/weaponry Garlemald has to offer. To combat this, I’d love to see the questline for the Blacksmith/Armorsmith quests be a joint questline that involves us creating Eorzean armor that is superior to the Garlean style. I can image a big climatic fight where Merlwyb effortlessly deflects gunblade attacks with a buckler we made for her, while surgically and ruthlessly dismantling her foe’s Magitek Armor using the gun we lovingly crafted for her.

Nanamo and Raubahn - I feel like it would be some kind of tragedy if Raubahn didn’t go to Ala Mhigo to fight alongside the Warrior of Light and his countrymen to free his homeland, so of course that needs to happen. Back in Ul’dah, I imagine that Nanamo will be having a political fight with the rest of the Syndicate on who to appoint as a replacement for Teledji Adeledgi. With Raubahn gone, she’ll have to deal with the politics on her own. In the end, she makes a wager with Lolorito, if Raubahn wins in his duel with Ilberd, she gets to name Teledji’s replacement. If Raubahn loses, Lolorito gets to name both Teledji’s and Raubahn’s replacements. Lolorito considers it a sucker’s bet, since Raubahn lost last time, and he had both arms at the time. In a stunning upset, Raubahn wins the fight, after which, Nanamo names the Warrior of Light as the last member of the Syndicate and immediately holds a vote to replace the Sultanate with a Republic. The vote will be tied with you, Raubahn, and Godbert voting to dissolve and the other 3 voting against. Lolorito will act smug and tell her it was a valiant attempt, but ultimately doomed. Nanamo will then correct him and tell him that while the Sultana has precious little power, she does have the authority to cast the deciding vote in the Syndicate should it be tied, and thusly, her last act as Sultana is to dissolve the Sultanate and establish the Republic of Ul’dah.

#ffxiv #patch 3.5 #and stormblood #kan-e-senna #merlwyb #nanamo #raubahn #spoilers #sometimes I wish I could write fan fiction

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gamerszone2019-blog · 5 years

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Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Review - Dancer In The Dark

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/final-fantasy-xiv-shadowbringers-review-dancer-in-the-dark/

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Review - Dancer In The Dark

Whereas previous Final Fantasy XIV expansions grappled with broad-brush concepts in corruption, religion, and imperialism, the path you tread in Shadowbringers is a distinctly personal affair. The central conceit is the battle between good and evil, and between the dual concepts of Light and Dark, but at its core is a story about a protagonist who’s been left adrift and has to come to terms with their identity alongside long-time companions against the backdrop of a dying world. This harkens back to the sort of character treatment that the non-MMO Final Fantasy games have prided themselves on for decades, but even with the familiar subject matter, the journey here feels distinctly forward-looking. The question for a lot of fans was whether the longevity of the game post-Stormblood would last. When you roll the credits on Shadowbringers, it’ll be hard to envision a world where the answer to that is anything other than a resounding “yes”.

Shadowbringers hinges on a revelation. The quests between Stormblood and the new content do a great job of laying down a narrative foundation rife with inter-faction politics, intrigue, and shadowy figures pulling strings with hidden consequences. As the new expansion opens, however, that particular nest of vipers is upended by way of a forced jaunt through time and space. What starts as a quest to save your friends takes a life-altering turn; you’re thrown into the heart of a conflict between Light and Dark that strikes at the core of the hero mythos that the game has built around your character since A Realm Reborn.

As the Warrior of Light, you’re tossed rather unceremoniously into the realm of Norvrandt: a world ravaged by the very element that you’ve chivalrously championed all your life. Like any erstwhile hero facing the unknown, your job initially is to search for some clarity and a way to save your friends back home from eternal slumber. It soon becomes very clear that your impressive deeds in Eorzea mean next to nothing here. No one knows of your previous accomplishments, there’s a distinct distrust from the locals, and your usual non-verbal charm gets you nowhere.

The kicker is that any mention of the Light will make you public enemy number one; it’s rampaging through the land and leaving death and destruction in its wake. You’re unmoored and as good as stranded in an unfamiliar world where your values and beliefs could get you killed. Starting a new MMORPG expansion can often feel like slipping into a pair of worn shoes that have stood the test of time; there’s a certain sense of security afforded to you because of your established Chosen One status. With the story’s rocky start, Shadowbringers takes a decidedly discomforting approach by doing the narrative equivalent of taking those shoes off your feet and getting someone to beat you with them. The solution it offers in its opening minutes is simple: Set aside everything you know and become the Warrior of Darkness.

In practice, this is more difficult than it sounds. Norvrandt is home to all manner of dangers, and the most insidious aren’t the ones that come at you with sharp teeth and sharper claws. There’s a seething undercurrent of wrongness that permeates everything, as beautiful as the lush forests and the wide, open fields of this realm may be. These sentiments are felt throughout the design of Shadowbringers’ new locations and dungeons: the debaucherous Eulmore where the rich are willfully ignorant to the suffering of others, the deceivingly dangerous riot of fae and fancy of Il Mheg, and the apocalyptic wastelands of times long destroyed by the Light, to name a few. Each new environment is twisted violently in some way, whether it’s the presence of monstrous enemies or the cruel ways that its inhabitants have chosen to eke out a living.

The main story quests ferry you from location to location at a decent clip, though ample time is devoted to you experiencing the horrors that the Light has wrought about the realm. Having to go back to what feels like the equivalent of Hero School affords you some breathing room; it’s clear that the expansion wasn’t going to live and die on the Warrior of Darkness’ shoulders alone, and a large part of the narrative is actually devoted to fleshing out popular supporting characters from Final Fantasy XIV canon. You’re not the only one who’s had to make some difficult adjustments, and Shadowbringers doesn’t shy away from tough questions about sacrifice, honor, and duty (or their tougher answers).

The dungeons and trials are an excellent way for Shadowbringers to hammer those points home, and to deal with important narrative beats. It’s a credit to the game’s development team that the dungeons are much more than just a means to keep you occupied or to give you enough experience to move on to the next big thing in the world. They function like little pockets of insight into the decayed state of Norvrandt, complete with harrowing bosses and crumbling ruins. These dungeons see you racing through castles fighting seraphim and diving into fae realms making desperate pacts to secure your future. And it all plays out to a distinctly operatic soundtrack that leans heavily into dramatic strings and modern vocal frills, creating a perfect atmosphere to underscore the urgency of your character’s mission. Every new encounter of this fashion drives the Warrior of Darkness closer to their goal of restoring balance to the world, whether it’s driving a sword through the heart of a friend now-twisted by Light or unearthing the origins and primal motivations for this conflict. Dungeons have always been a part of the main story’s requirements in Final Fantasy XIV, but here they feel just as crucial to your enjoyment and understanding of the tale as the new quests do.

Quests place you directly in the shoes of these supporting characters, and playing as them is both a welcome change of pace and a chance for newer players to deepen their understanding of the game’s lore. That being said, not all quests are made equal, and there are some confusing mechanical decisions that may frustrate. For example, the end of the expansion requires a player to have completed a max-level quest before picking up a lower-level one to progress to the grand finale. In other cases, optional quests that share a common thread can sometimes be spread out across different locations on a map and aren’t signposted any differently from unrelated ones. This can make you feel like you need to slog through every mundane errand in the hopes of finding a diamond. Luckily, these instances are few and far between; just like its predecessor, Shadowbringers brings to life a number of humanizing stories through its side quests and manages to make you care about the day-to-day lives of new characters who initially have nothing but scorn for what you stand for.

It’s not solely about capitalizing on known factors, though. The expansion introduces plenty of unfamiliar delights to sink your teeth into–the Trust system is perhaps the most important addition for accessibility that Final Fantasy XIV has seen since its rebirth. It allows players to take a fully-formed party of NPCs from the main story quests into dungeons with them, eliminating the need to wait 20 minutes in the queue if you were trying to go through matchmaking. This is the perfect solution for players who don’t want to play with strangers and ensures that no one is gated from progressing in the story just because they may have to wait an inordinate amount of time to find the necessary party. These NPCs are drawn from a pool of the familiar faces of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and from some noteworthy new acquaintances, so using them in the Trust system is a pleasant nod to the value that the Shadowbringers narrative places on friendship and sticking together in the face of adversity.

On the matter of the new classes and races aside, servers are currently teeming with Viera and Hrothgar avatars ready to take on the world. While the new race models look as spectacular in motion as one would expect, the Gunbreaker and Dancer classes are still a relative unknown that players are puzzling out at this early stage in Shadowbringers’ life cycle. Gunbreaker packs a hell of a punch as a high-damage job, suited for an off-tank role that trades in axes and greatswords for something a little less traditional. Dancer’s primary focus other than looking absolutely enchanting in combat is to provide buffs for party members, and it appears to be trying to fill the utility ranged DPS role previously occupied by Bards who have now had their party-wide buffs removed.

Gunbreaker currently feels a little too much like it was originally meant to be a DPS class. It does a ridiculous amount of damage, managing to hold its own against the likes of Black Mage and Samurai. This seems a little antithetical to the tanking philosophy imbued within the other role options, where the thematic focus on survivability and protection is much clearer. Healers in particular will have to get used to managing cooldowns around Superbolide, one of the key Gunbreaker abilities that reduces their HP to 1 whilst preventing further fatal damage. Playing as a gun-wielding tank is novel but hard to master as it takes a higher-risk approach to putting your life on the line for your party members and also requires those partied with you to be familiar with your new tricks.

Dancer, for all of its beauty, currently lacks some fire in the damage department. You have to manage two class-specific stances–Technical Step and Standard Step–each with its own set of moves to master. You also have access to Closed Position, which lets you choose a dance partner to benefit from your buffs and your skills. Pulling off a perfect performance will buff the Dancer’s DPS overall, and the key to doing damage is through graceful move combinations that ultimately let you unleash AOE attacks upon unsuspecting foes. The strength of Dancer shines through in prolonged encounters where their deadly chakram slice and dice at enemies, giving them the chance to use skills from both stances for a significant payoff. That being said, setting up these balletic massacres takes time; without enough breathing room to perform a routine, the Dancer can feel a little more frumpy than flamenco, especially in the majority of the game’s legacy content where breathing on something is as good as a killing blow.

Both classes have a distinct identity, though the streamlining of the other jobs has muddied the waters a little in respect of the existing classes enjoying the same individualism. You used to have to pick up quests specifically for your chosen job to learn new skills. Now, Shadowbringers has replaced these with role quests for DPS, tanks, and healers, and these exist mostly to provide experience and to further the overall narrative than to improve any existing affinity with your character’s chosen profession. While some job questlines were more involved than others (Stormblood introduced a particularly heartfelt Samurai one), to do away with them entirely seems like a waste. Role actions also have been further simplified, with changes to tanking and healing in particular removing some bloat but also making them more homogenous. While this makes it easier for newcomers to plug and play, it feels like it’s come at the cost of the unique class identities which past expansions have been so careful to cultivate.

Some of its changes to the player experience are still causing a little discomfort during this teething phase, but Shadowbringers makes a strong case for itself as the game’s most engaging expansion. It’s not just the sheer scale and strength of the narrative weaving in years of old lore without cheapening the experience for new players, or the immaculately designed boss fights replete with spectacular music and thematic touches. It’s also the implementation of the Trust system and the chance to truly feel the impact of the Warrior of Light’s decisions over the past expansions through exploring the stories of your companions. For a story that starts with a laser focus on your character’s motivations and misgivings, it tells a tale that ends up being the biggest and the best that Final Fantasy XIV has ever told. Equal parts redemption, vengeance, cruelty, and sassy Elezen, Shadowbringers promises a hell of a lot when you take your first steps into Norvrandt and delivers a truly spectacular finish even if it stumbles a little along the way.

Source : Gamesport

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gamerszone2019-blog · 5 years

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Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Review

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Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Review

Source : Gamesport

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