Actually making progress and getting above average parses on E5S and E6S feels so good. Gear is helping but I'm happy to see myself personally lining up better with raid buffs though my gcd is .1 slower then where it should be because augmented drops are not coming to me.
Likewise! I picked up from the slog that is ARR's epilogue and just got all caught up last week. My god, was Stormblood's story absolute ballsack. Like it was almost as bad as Heavensward's was superb for an MMO. My friend and I wonder if there might be two separate writing teams for the game, and the uh.."B team" picked up that expansion's main scenario. It's kinda jarring how the quality spikes throughout the game, and I can't think of another more feasible explanation for it.
Seems like the best thread we've got around here for this, as it's kinda morphed into a FFXIV general discussion. Time for some 'tism.
Story sperging lies ahead. Spoilered the spoilers:
ARR's late stage story prior to Heavensward's prologue really kicks off was very clearly "QUICK! Beat them over the head with every last SuPeR aWeSoMe FF reference we're allowed to use while making the story itself painfully cookie-cutter!" The way it drags on and on and on really, really makes it a hell of a hurdle to clear. Hundreds of quest steps just to finally catch a glimpse of Heavensward on the horizon..
..But the payout of making it through? Getting to Heavensward content? I was very pleasantly surprised by the sudden surge of quality (all relative to the MMO genre here) writing. The characters introduced are all memorable. The pacing felt really consistent (a lack of being drip-fed content might have a lot to do with playing long after development, I admit). Existing characters from ARR actually see some development and growth. Moral ambiguity leaves you questioning who is in the right multiple times. Oh, yeah - you get put in your fucking place right out the gates, learning that you aren't nearly as special as the game previously kept trying to beat over your head at every turn. I appreciated that in particular.
I appreciated the Heavensward story enough that I actually don't want to talk about it further, because you really should just experience it for yourself.
And then you get to fucking Stormblood..ooooh my god. Daddy issues - the expansion pack.
Some characters that have already been introduced hold their own as they're brought into the story properly..some. Lyse needed to just not exist at all. She's a fucking retard that admits constantly that she can't handle doing goddamned anything, acts like a child, doesn't actually grow as a character at all, and yet gets put in charge of everything over the obvious and clear fucking choice for the role who has been present since ARR: Raubahn. She immediately demonstrates what a goddamn airheaded buffoon she is by calling a communal meeting where EvErYoNe HaS eQuAl SaY because she's too fucking weak to lead, puts everyone remotely important at risk within minutes, and gets saved by the "plot armor incarnate" ginger. It's just painfully obvious that Lyse's tard wrangler existed for a very clear reason, and losing him proves it through the entire fucking story quest.
Raubahn deserved better.
That's not even getting into anything involving Doma. The classic "bitchy psychotic woman with a big dumb-dumb male brute" trope, I find, just isn't satisfying. Compound that with the "b-b-b- I was just misunderstood and my evil upbringing is to blame" attempts at tugging at heartstrings did the exact opposite for both myself and the handful of friends playing with me. Gotetsu (whom I actually quite enjoyed until this point) isn't allowed to go out on a noble high note of self-sacrfice, oh no..he has to get dragged along in some sort of really weird redemption? arc? for Yotsuyu's irredeemably evil ass. And that entire arc ultimately ends exactly how you'd expect, making you wonder why in the fuck the writers wasted everyone's fucking time doing it.
Now this is more personal taste, granted, but "let's unite the fart-huffing self-important steppe tribes that are so worthless that Garlemald itself can't be bothered with them" really just didn't do it for me. Noble savage shit can fuck right off, imo.
Zenos was the only thing in the entire expansion that ultimately proved to be worthwhile, even if he's nihilism incarnate. He is another element throughout FFXIV that demonstrates to you that you are not some invincible all-powerful "chosen one" as the game tries to tell you in so many other ways. He's a grounding element to any hubris you may be building up. He starts out so far beyond you that all you can do is just survive while he plays with you. He just fucks with you knowing he could readily and easily end you, but he sees you have potential to be something worth him fighting if he just lets you continue to build yourself up. You could argue a lot of his decisions throughout the expansion are for that express purpose, even.
Just a schizo mess of an expansion overall. It was the first time in the entire game leading up to it (yes, all of ARR too..even the moogle shit) where I actually skipped through some dialogue just to end it faster.
Fuck Stormblood, imo.
Leaping to Shadowbringers, I was very relieved to see the quality returning once more. By the last currently complete arc of the expansion (Emet's demise), I was back to feeling how Heavensward made me felt. The character development, the introduction of new memorable characters, the shades of grey had returned to the plot. Praise jeebus.
Emet-Selch is the first villain I had seen in a very, very long time that I actually wanted to win. The knowledge he possessed, the unimaginable power he clearly had. It finally gives you depth to why Ascians are so goddamned enigmatic (borderline "RUH RUH RUH, I'm the bad guy" at times) and uncaring about what you, the player, would consider life. The "good guy" characters themselves ending up unable to actually fault Emet in fighting for his own people was such a..well, oddly mature (for an MMO) way to handle his character. The knowledge he willingly shares with you in a very melancholy resigned manner was worth more than, I'd argue, the rest of the entire game had ever offered from any one source period. He was there when his world fell. He was one of the primary reasons they even stood a chance against the chaos.
To work so hard, to get "betrayed" by your own people, to see all your work shatter to pieces right alongside all those you fought ruthlessly and tirelessly to protect. To strive for so long for a way to bring it all back..watching the feeble shattered caricatures of what used to be your people, friends, loved ones, clumsily fucking things up over and over and over again. It is actually amazing he wasn't driven fucking insane by now.
In the end, he has gone completely and utterly out of his way to try and get you to understand it all. He shows you what ancient beyond memory paintings mean, he tells you in earnest what Zodiark actually is, he showcases a spectre of his civilization for you to learn from, he shows you how it all came crashing down, he reaches so much further than any being of his stature really should, if you're fair about it.
In the end, he's only met with disappointment yet again that these lesser creatures before him cannot transcend their fractured existence and still fight him. Frankly, I think there's an argument to be made that he lets you kill him. That he just can't do it anymore. Absolutely tragic character, yet so very well done.
I think that's quite enough sperging for now. Thoughts?
Likewise! I picked up from the slog that is ARR's epilogue and just got all caught up last week. My god, was Stormblood's story absolute ballsack. Like it was almost as bad as Heavensward's was superb for an MMO. My friend and I wonder if there might be two separate writing teams for the game, and the uh.."B team" picked up that expansion's main scenario. It's kinda jarring how the quality spikes throughout the game, and I can't think of another more feasible explanation for it.
Seems like the best thread we've got around here for this, as it's kinda morphed into a FFXIV general discussion. Time for some 'tism.
Story sperging lies ahead. Spoilered the spoilers:
ARR's late stage story prior to Heavensward's prologue really kicks off was very clearly "QUICK! Beat them over the head with every last SuPeR aWeSoMe FF reference we're allowed to use while making the story itself painfully cookie-cutter!" The way it drags on and on and on really, really makes it a hell of a hurdle to clear. Hundreds of quest steps just to finally catch a glimpse of Heavensward on the horizon..
..But the payout of making it through? Getting to Heavensward content? I was very pleasantly surprised by the sudden surge of quality (all relative to the MMO genre here) writing. The characters introduced are all memorable. The pacing felt really consistent (a lack of being drip-fed content might have a lot to do with playing long after development, I admit). Existing characters from ARR actually see some development and growth. Moral ambiguity leaves you questioning who is in the right multiple times. Oh, yeah - you get put in your fucking place right out the gates, learning that you aren't nearly as special as the game previously kept trying to beat over your head at every turn. I appreciated that in particular.
I appreciated the Heavensward story enough that I actually don't want to talk about it further, because you really should just experience it for yourself.
And then you get to fucking Stormblood..ooooh my god. Daddy issues - the expansion pack.
Some characters that have already been introduced hold their own as they're brought into the story properly..some. Lyse needed to just not exist at all. She's a fucking retard that admits constantly that she can't handle doing goddamned anything, acts like a child, doesn't actually grow as a character at all, and yet gets put in charge of everything over the obvious and clear fucking choice for the role who has been present since ARR: Raubahn. She immediately demonstrates what a goddamn airheaded buffoon she is by calling a communal meeting where EvErYoNe HaS eQuAl SaY because she's too fucking weak to lead, puts everyone remotely important at risk within minutes, and gets saved by the "plot armor incarnate" ginger. It's just painfully obvious that Lyse's tard wrangler existed for a very clear reason, and losing him proves it through the entire fucking story quest.
Raubahn deserved better.
That's not even getting into anything involving Doma. The classic "bitchy psychotic woman with a big dumb-dumb male brute" trope, I find, just isn't satisfying. Compound that with the "b-b-b- I was just misunderstood and my evil upbringing is to blame" attempts at tugging at heartstrings did the exact opposite for both myself and the handful of friends playing with me. Gotetsu (whom I actually quite enjoyed until this point) isn't allowed to go out on a noble high note of self-sacrfice, oh no..he has to get dragged along in some sort of really weird redemption? arc? for Yotsuyu's irredeemably evil ass. And that entire arc ultimately ends exactly how you'd expect, making you wonder why in the fuck the writers wasted everyone's fucking time doing it.
Now this is more personal taste, granted, but "let's unite the fart-huffing self-important steppe tribes that are so worthless that Garlemald itself can't be bothered with them" really just didn't do it for me. Noble savage shit can fuck right off, imo.
Zenos was the only thing in the entire expansion that ultimately proved to be worthwhile, even if he's nihilism incarnate. He is another element throughout FFXIV that demonstrates to you that you are not some invincible all-powerful "chosen one" as the game tries to tell you in so many other ways. He's a grounding element to any hubris you may be building up. He starts out so far beyond you that all you can do is just survive while he plays with you. He just fucks with you knowing he could readily and easily end you, but he sees you have potential to be something worth him fighting if he just lets you continue to build yourself up. You could argue a lot of his decisions throughout the expansion are for that express purpose, even.
Just a schizo mess of an expansion overall. It was the first time in the entire game leading up to it (yes, all of ARR too..even the moogle shit) where I actually skipped through some dialogue just to end it faster.
Fuck Stormblood, imo.
Leaping to Shadowbringers, I was very relieved to see the quality returning once more. By the last currently complete arc of the expansion (Emet's demise), I was back to feeling how Heavensward made me felt. The character development, the introduction of new memorable characters, the shades of grey had returned to the plot. Praise jeebus.
Emet-Selch is the first villain I had seen in a very, very long time that I actually wanted to win. The knowledge he possessed, the unimaginable power he clearly had. It finally gives you depth to why Ascians are so goddamned enigmatic (borderline "RUH RUH RUH, I'm the bad guy" at times) and uncaring about what you, the player, would consider life. The "good guy" characters themselves ending up unable to actually fault Emet in fighting for his own people was such a..well, oddly mature (for an MMO) way to handle his character. The knowledge he willingly shares with you in a very melancholy resigned manner was worth more than, I'd argue, the rest of the entire game had ever offered from any one source period. He was there when his world fell. He was one of the primary reasons they even stood a chance against the chaos.
To work so hard, to get "betrayed" by your own people, to see all your work shatter to pieces right alongside all those you fought ruthlessly and tirelessly to protect. To strive for so long for a way to bring it all back..watching the feeble shattered caricatures of what used to be your people, friends, loved ones, clumsily fucking things up over and over and over again. It is actually amazing he wasn't driven fucking insane by now.
In the end, he has gone completely and utterly out of his way to try and get you to understand it all. He shows you what ancient beyond memory paintings mean, he tells you in earnest what Zodiark actually is, he showcases a spectre of his civilization for you to learn from, he shows you how it all came crashing down, he reaches so much further than any being of his stature really should, if you're fair about it.
In the end, he's only met with disappointment yet again that these lesser creatures before him cannot transcend their fractured existence and still fight him. Frankly, I think there's an argument to be made that he lets you kill him. That he just can't do it anymore. Absolutely tragic character, yet so very well done.
I think that's quite enough sperging for now. Thoughts?
While I think Emet-Selch is a very well done villian and quite nuanced for someone who wants to basically genocide universes for his own ends which is not exactly an easy thing to pull off. Emet-Selch is still a tempered person to Zodiark, so he is on some level heavily biased in favor of Zodiark. That doesn't mean he is lying, but he could be inherently not fully explaining or be putting down some aspects of his story to make his side look better. For example we are lead to believe that Zodiark is ultimately a being that requires huge quantities of life/aether to exist which makes sense given what we know about primals, so his followers will like all other tempered act in his name irregardless of the logic behind it. Sure Zodiark is claimed to have saved them, but does that mean he still needs to exist and kill who knows how many people? That is why Hydaelyn is supposed to exist to keep a being like Zodiark in check. This has some really questionable effects on the world due to the whole multi universe thing, but that was the idea and I can see why this happens.
In addition, Emet Selch's people could have (based on our limited knowledge) caused their own downfall. Because how else do these ultimate beings with ridiculous technology and magic just somehow turbo fuck everything? How can imperfect beings who cause a catastrophe, which isn't that difficult to produce for them considering you can just manifest thoughts into existence, consider themselves perfect? How can an imperfect being consider himself as the penultimate decider of who lives and dies? What gives the Ascians the right to decide these things when they potentially started this chain of events with their foolishness? Their is several layers of bias at play, even on our side because we are arguably tempered by Hydaelyn so we are equally opposed and biased to their story.
Their is a lot of weird one sided information and bias in this story, and depending on how they write it the characters within it probably can never truly make an objective or right choice. We might defeat everyone on Zodiark's side and players can still very much question if that was deserved considering Hydaelyn turbo fucked the world for some reason so how is she innocent? I just hope they don't fuck it up come 4.3-4.5
Likewise! I picked up from the slog that is ARR's epilogue and just got all caught up last week. My god, was Stormblood's story absolute ballsack. Like it was almost as bad as Heavensward's was superb for an MMO. My friend and I wonder if there might be two separate writing teams for the game, and the uh.."B team" picked up that expansion's main scenario. It's kinda jarring how the quality spikes throughout the game, and I can't think of another more feasible explanation for it.
Seems like the best thread we've got around here for this, as it's kinda morphed into a FFXIV general discussion. Time for some 'tism.
Story sperging lies ahead. Spoilered the spoilers:
ARR's late stage story prior to Heavensward's prologue really kicks off was very clearly "QUICK! Beat them over the head with every last SuPeR aWeSoMe FF reference we're allowed to use while making the story itself painfully cookie-cutter!" The way it drags on and on and on really, really makes it a hell of a hurdle to clear. Hundreds of quest steps just to finally catch a glimpse of Heavensward on the horizon..
..But the payout of making it through? Getting to Heavensward content? I was very pleasantly surprised by the sudden surge of quality (all relative to the MMO genre here) writing. The characters introduced are all memorable. The pacing felt really consistent (a lack of being drip-fed content might have a lot to do with playing long after development, I admit). Existing characters from ARR actually see some development and growth. Moral ambiguity leaves you questioning who is in the right multiple times. Oh, yeah - you get put in your fucking place right out the gates, learning that you aren't nearly as special as the game previously kept trying to beat over your head at every turn. I appreciated that in particular.
I appreciated the Heavensward story enough that I actually don't want to talk about it further, because you really should just experience it for yourself.
And then you get to fucking Stormblood..ooooh my god. Daddy issues - the expansion pack.
Some characters that have already been introduced hold their own as they're brought into the story properly..some. Lyse needed to just not exist at all. She's a fucking retard that admits constantly that she can't handle doing goddamned anything, acts like a child, doesn't actually grow as a character at all, and yet gets put in charge of everything over the obvious and clear fucking choice for the role who has been present since ARR: Raubahn. She immediately demonstrates what a goddamn airheaded buffoon she is by calling a communal meeting where EvErYoNe HaS eQuAl SaY because she's too fucking weak to lead, puts everyone remotely important at risk within minutes, and gets saved by the "plot armor incarnate" ginger. It's just painfully obvious that Lyse's tard wrangler existed for a very clear reason, and losing him proves it through the entire fucking story quest.
Raubahn deserved better.
That's not even getting into anything involving Doma. The classic "bitchy psychotic woman with a big dumb-dumb male brute" trope, I find, just isn't satisfying. Compound that with the "b-b-b- I was just misunderstood and my evil upbringing is to blame" attempts at tugging at heartstrings did the exact opposite for both myself and the handful of friends playing with me. Gotetsu (whom I actually quite enjoyed until this point) isn't allowed to go out on a noble high note of self-sacrfice, oh no..he has to get dragged along in some sort of really weird redemption? arc? for Yotsuyu's irredeemably evil ass. And that entire arc ultimately ends exactly how you'd expect, making you wonder why in the fuck the writers wasted everyone's fucking time doing it.
Now this is more personal taste, granted, but "let's unite the fart-huffing self-important steppe tribes that are so worthless that Garlemald itself can't be bothered with them" really just didn't do it for me. Noble savage shit can fuck right off, imo.
Zenos was the only thing in the entire expansion that ultimately proved to be worthwhile, even if he's nihilism incarnate. He is another element throughout FFXIV that demonstrates to you that you are not some invincible all-powerful "chosen one" as the game tries to tell you in so many other ways. He's a grounding element to any hubris you may be building up. He starts out so far beyond you that all you can do is just survive while he plays with you. He just fucks with you knowing he could readily and easily end you, but he sees you have potential to be something worth him fighting if he just lets you continue to build yourself up. You could argue a lot of his decisions throughout the expansion are for that express purpose, even.
Just a schizo mess of an expansion overall. It was the first time in the entire game leading up to it (yes, all of ARR too..even the moogle shit) where I actually skipped through some dialogue just to end it faster.
Fuck Stormblood, imo.
Leaping to Shadowbringers, I was very relieved to see the quality returning once more. By the last currently complete arc of the expansion (Emet's demise), I was back to feeling how Heavensward made me felt. The character development, the introduction of new memorable characters, the shades of grey had returned to the plot. Praise jeebus.
Emet-Selch is the first villain I had seen in a very, very long time that I actually wanted to win. The knowledge he possessed, the unimaginable power he clearly had. It finally gives you depth to why Ascians are so goddamned enigmatic (borderline "RUH RUH RUH, I'm the bad guy" at times) and uncaring about what you, the player, would consider life. The "good guy" characters themselves ending up unable to actually fault Emet in fighting for his own people was such a..well, oddly mature (for an MMO) way to handle his character. The knowledge he willingly shares with you in a very melancholy resigned manner was worth more than, I'd argue, the rest of the entire game had ever offered from any one source period. He was there when his world fell. He was one of the primary reasons they even stood a chance against the chaos.
To work so hard, to get "betrayed" by your own people, to see all your work shatter to pieces right alongside all those you fought ruthlessly and tirelessly to protect. To strive for so long for a way to bring it all back..watching the feeble shattered caricatures of what used to be your people, friends, loved ones, clumsily fucking things up over and over and over again. It is actually amazing he wasn't driven fucking insane by now.
In the end, he has gone completely and utterly out of his way to try and get you to understand it all. He shows you what ancient beyond memory paintings mean, he tells you in earnest what Zodiark actually is, he showcases a spectre of his civilization for you to learn from, he shows you how it all came crashing down, he reaches so much further than any being of his stature really should, if you're fair about it.
In the end, he's only met with disappointment yet again that these lesser creatures before him cannot transcend their fractured existence and still fight him. Frankly, I think there's an argument to be made that he lets you kill him. That he just can't do it anymore. Absolutely tragic character, yet so very well done.
I think that's quite enough sperging for now. Thoughts?
I am actually glad Gotsesu didn’t die. It would have just been a repeat of Haurchefant’s death but with less impact. I noticed the Doma arc had better writing than the Ala Mhigo arc. It was obvious the writers cared more about the former than the latter.
I loved Alisae in Stormblood. She was one of the few high points of the expansion pack. Too bad the writers gave her the idiot ball and thought it was a good idea to have her fight Fordola, preventing her from fighting with everyone else in Ala Mhigo.
I am actually glad Gotsesu didn’t die. It would have just been a repeat of Haurchefant’s death but with less impact. I noticed the Doma arc had better writing than the Ala Mhigo arc.
I loved Alisae in Stormblood. She was one of the few high points of the expansion pack. Too bad the writers gave her the idiot ball and thought it was a good idea to have her fight Fordola, preventing her from fighting with everyone else in Ala Mhigo.
I personally think Gosetsu dying makes more sense then Haurchefant. Just before we raid Doma Castle he goes on this whole bit about a samurai's death and the meaning in dying while fighting for what you believe in compared to just slowly dying without purpose and your end being meaningless. It felt like a good way to show Gosetsu's point in deciding to sacrifice himself in service to Hien and ultimately redeem himself for not being able to save Hien's father. What they do with him after is kind of eh unless you want to go for a "sometimes life just happens without reason" sort of moral as he even Gosetsu asks why was he was even spared. I feel Gosetsu dying is a better resolution to his character then him just exiting the plot to be a traveling monk or whatever.
Haurchefant you can argue is less staged because it just sort of happens out of impulse which makes it a better twist, unlike Gosetsu who was waving deathflags back in the Azim steppe, but ultimately Gosetsu's death would have been a fitting end to his character up to that point.
Speaking of Stormblood a lot of the community sjw crazies latch on to it. Or they bitch about how racist and awful it is for some reason. I saw someone on Twitter throw a fit over Doma because of Japanese imperialism or something. I was unable to understand their autistic screeching. Also found someone who said it is racist to hate Ala Mhigo. Even finding the maps of it ugly makes you a racist in their eyes.
One of my favorite personal lolcows from the Fire Emblem fandom is a XIV player and is equally repulsive in both communities. Everyone on Twitter makes fun of her because she spews some of the most retarded takes on her account and wonders why 99% of the community blocks her.
I was hoping someone would bring up the other side of the coin. You're quite right, and I share your thoughts on the matter almost to the T. My lore-junkie friend and I have gone back and forth over the very issue you're digging at many, many times now. Isn't it awesome to have your established-in-story moral framework challenged? To not know if what you're doing in the name of "good" is even the right course of action? If you're even "good" at all? How often do you get challenged like that in a video game's story, of all places?
Let's say Emet is thoroughly biased given being tempered and is only telling half-truths whenever it comes to Zodiark. One thing he stated that I cannot see any real way of it being necessarily false is what Hydaelyn was made to do. If Hydaelyn exists to essentially be..what to call it..an aetheric schism? (might have to help me out with that one) Then that would surely mean she was created full well knowing she would shatter the entirety of what remained of Emet-Selch's race (and life as they knew it period) right along with Zodiark? I'm left wondering in what way is that a preferable outcome from their perspective, then? Was it a sort of blackpill moment? "We can't be trusted with this power, so we should be scattered to the wind" so to speak? If that or something like it is the case, then how would the followers of Hydaelyn be anything but a doomsday cult themselves? How would either primal be better than the other, ultimately?
Maybe I'm completely off, of course, but that's part of the fun. We don't have any way of knowing for now, I suppose. I'd imagine there's lore tidbits and stories I may have missed in the game that could explain more, but that's what discussion is for.
I really, really didn't want Gosetsu to die either, at first. I actually would have preferred it he'd have some fresh new story to round out his twilight years as he struggled to understand what his faith (kami, was it?) had in store for him (say he washes up on shore after the heroic moment alone...*cough*...and it goes from there). It was kind of sad and disheartening to see him used to bolster psycho's story and then just peter out as a missionary, imo. I do think Alisae was probably one of the only characters to exhibit any sort of personal growth through the entirety of Stormblood (as weird as that is given circumstances), so I agree with you there.
Shadowbringers did a lot to make so much of the story, even ARR 6 years prior to it "make sense". The Ascian's old statements make so much sense within the context of Shadowbringers if you read back far enough everything they're saying calls back to something. We don't inherently know what is going on, their is a ton of missing information and the remaining people who can tell us anything don't feel like giving a ton of information unless it is to confuse us further like in 5.2. It really does throw a massive wrench into us being "The Warrior of Light" in the figurative sense and makes it seem like we're only that in the most literal sense which in FFXIV's representation is kind of unsettling to say the least considering a world of pure light is pretty fucking shit.
While The Source can't really become pure anything like the shards did, due to their being no reason to do that unlike with the 1st shard, it still shows that light can be equally shit. I legitimately found the light bleached world of Shadowbringers more unsettling then the World of Darkness from the Crystal Tower raid series.
Emet can still be missing parts about Hydaelyn as while he has opinions and takes about her, he wasn't a part of the faction that created her he merely knew someone who was. I just think he oversells how "good" Zodiark was which makes his side more sympathetic, though I think he legitimately believes what he says just he can't be objective. Emet can call her whatever he likes, that doesn't make it necessarily true as it is just his opinion as one who sides against her and purposefully tries to convince us that she is wrong. Emet is even more emotionally charged then a far right/left sperg when it comes to his takes on Hydaelyn, for reasonable reasons, so while I assume their is some fact to what he says overall such as the world imploding because of her (until someone on the opposing side provides a good correction) the very finer details of "why" I question for now.
We know Hydaelyn is supposed to stop Zodiark/keep him in check, but how was she intended to do that? Is this some unintended aftermath that no one foresaw, is it due to a struggle because Zodiark refused to let go of his reign which caused this, is it actually intentional as the Hydaelyn faction (as I'll call them) believe that they shouldn't be the sole arbitor's of the world (their is one implication that lesser nations existed in the original world I believe) due to them seeing themselves as imperfect beings. Their are a lot of weird questions and the whole bit about the echo in 5.2 flys in the face of everything we had ever known up to this point. The fact that Hydaelyn just doesn't feel like explaining what the echo actually is, assuming this is 100% true, then she is just as manipulative as Zodiark can be.
My personal take as the story currently is written, is that no one is actually fully right as of right now, yet I can't say I know what right "should have been" without more information (like A LOT MORE). Hydaelyn feels somewhat manipulative, abuses the fact that she can on a limited level communicate and Zodiark can't, and talks in even more vague bullshit then any other major player in this story on these topics. Why is it that literally no one on "our side" that knows anything felt like explaining what is going on? She has to be able to know, her creators/followers made her from their wills so she has to know something, yet she is so weirdly innocent and either explains quarter truths or nothing at all. It has been a long time since I watched the 3.2 sections with her so maybe their is some thinly veiled foreshadowing, but I don't think the "light is good". I just don't think "Emet didn't do nuffin" either like I know some of his fan base thinks and we should all just go kill all shardies to become the overlords of the world again. Despite that Hydaelyn stalled the first's destruction, she did it purely to keep Zodiark under her heel so I don't count that for anything personally.
My memory is foggy on the finer details of Hydaelyn's faction, so perhaps their is some answer there to something I'm speculating about.
Speaking of Stormblood a lot of the community sjw crazies latch on to it. Or they bitch about how racist and awful it is for some reason. I saw someone on Twitter throw a fit over Doma because of Japanese imperialism or something. I was unable to understand their autistic screeching. Also found someone who said it is racist to hate Ala Mhigo. Even finding the maps of it ugly makes you a racist in their eyes.
One of my favorite personal lolcows from the Fire Emblem fandom is a XIV player and is equally repulsive in both communities. Everyone on Twitter makes fun of her because she spews some of the most retarded takes on her account and wonders why 99% of the community blocks her.
Wasn't their someone like this who went on a huge spiel about how Shadowbringer's primary antagonist being literally Hitler because they both commit genocide and try to antagonize people who call him morally grey?
Speaking of Stormblood a lot of the community sjw crazies latch on to it. Or they bitch about how racist and awful it is for some reason. I saw someone on Twitter throw a fit over Doma because of Japanese imperialism or something. I was unable to understand their autistic screeching. Also found someone who said it is racist to hate Ala Mhigo. Even finding the maps of it ugly makes you a racist in their eyes.
One of my favorite personal lolcows from the Fire Emblem fandom is a XIV player and is equally repulsive in both communities. Everyone on Twitter makes fun of her because she spews some of the most retarded takes on her account and wonders why 99% of the community blocks her.
Shadowbringers did a lot to make so much of the story, even ARR 6 years prior to it "make sense". The Ascian's old statements make so much sense within the context of Shadowbringers if you read back far enough everything they're saying calls back to something. We don't inherently know what is going on, their is a ton of missing information and the remaining people who can tell us anything don't feel like giving a ton of information unless it is to confuse us further like in 5.2. It really does throw a massive wrench into us being "The Warrior of Light" in the figurative sense and makes it seem like we're only that in the most literal sense which in FFXIV's representation is kind of unsettling to say the least considering a world of pure light is pretty fucking shit.
While The Source can't really become pure anything like the shards did, due to their being no reason to do that unlike with the 1st shard, it still shows that light can be equally shit. I legitimately found the light bleached world of Shadowbringers more unsettling then the World of Darkness from the Crystal Tower raid series.
Emet can still be missing parts about Hydaelyn as while he has opinions and takes about her, he wasn't a part of the faction that created her he merely knew someone who was. I just think he oversells how "good" Zodiark was which makes his side more sympathetic, though I think he legitimately believes what he says just he can't be objective. Emet can call her whatever he likes, that doesn't make it necessarily true as it is just his opinion as one who sides against her and purposefully tries to convince us that she is wrong. Emet is even more emotionally charged then a far right/left sperg when it comes to his takes on Hydaelyn, for reasonable reasons, so while I assume their is some fact to what he says overall such as the world imploding because of her (until someone on the opposing side provides a good correction) the very finer details of "why" I question for now.
We know Hydaelyn is supposed to stop Zodiark/keep him in check, but how was she intended to do that? Is this some unintended aftermath that no one foresaw, is it due to a struggle because Zodiark refused to let go of his reign which caused this, is it actually intentional as the Hydaelyn faction (as I'll call them) believe that they shouldn't be the sole arbitor's of the world (their is one implication that lesser nations existed in the original world I believe) due to them seeing themselves as imperfect beings. Their are a lot of weird questions and the whole bit about the echo in 5.2 flys in the face of everything we had ever known up to this point. The fact that Hydaelyn just doesn't feel like explaining what the echo actually is, assuming this is 100% true, then she is just as manipulative as Zodiark can be.
My personal take as the story currently is written, is that no one is actually fully right as of right now, yet I can't say I know what right "should have been" without more information (like A LOT MORE). Hydaelyn feels somewhat manipulative, abuses the fact that she can on a limited level communicate and Zodiark can't, and talks in even more vague bullshit then any other major player in this story on these topics. Why is it that literally no one on "our side" that knows anything felt like explaining what is going on? She has to be able to know, her creators/followers made her from their wills so she has to know something, yet she is so weirdly innocent and either explains quarter truths or nothing at all. It has been a long time since I watched the 3.2 sections with her so maybe their is some thinly veiled foreshadowing, but I don't think the "light is good". I just don't think "Emet didn't do nuffin" either like I know some of his fan base thinks and we should all just go kill all shardies to become the overlords of the world again. Despite that Hydaelyn stalled the first's destruction, she did it purely to keep Zodiark under her heel so I don't count that for anything personally.
My memory is foggy on the finer details of Hydaelyn's faction, so perhaps their is some answer there to something I'm speculating about.
Wasn't their someone like this who went on a huge spiel about how Shadowbringer's primary antagonist being literally Hitler because they both commit genocide and try to antagonize people who call him morally grey?
My favorite is when they accused the game of being racist (again) because the monster artists designed Ran’jit. Because if you’re a monster artist you’re never allowed to draw anything else
Some characters that have already been introduced hold their own as they're brought into the story properly..some. Lyse needed to just not exist at all. She's a fucking retard that admits constantly that she can't handle doing goddamned anything, acts like a child, doesn't actually grow as a character at all, and yet gets put in charge of everything over the obvious and clear fucking choice for the role who has been present since ARR: Raubahn. She immediately demonstrates what a goddamn airheaded buffoon she is by calling a communal meeting where EvErYoNe HaS eQuAl SaY because she's too fucking weak to lead, puts everyone remotely important at risk within minutes, and gets saved by the "plot armor incarnate" ginger. It's just painfully obvious that Lyse's tard wrangler existed for a very clear reason, and losing him proves it through the entire fucking story quest.
Raubahn deserved better.
That's not even getting into anything involving Doma. The classic "bitchy psychotic woman with a big dumb-dumb male brute" trope, I find, just isn't satisfying. Compound that with the "b-b-b- I was just misunderstood and my evil upbringing is to blame" attempts at tugging at heartstrings did the exact opposite for both myself and the handful of friends playing with me. Gotetsu (whom I actually quite enjoyed until this point) isn't allowed to go out on a noble high note of self-sacrfice, oh no..he has to get dragged along in some sort of really weird redemption? arc? for Yotsuyu's irredeemably evil ass. And that entire arc ultimately ends exactly how you'd expect, making you wonder why in the fuck the writers wasted everyone's fucking time doing it.
Now this is more personal taste, granted, but "let's unite the fart-huffing self-important steppe tribes that are so worthless that Garlemald itself can't be bothered with them" really just didn't do it for me. Noble savage shit can fuck right off, imo.
Zenos was the only thing in the entire expansion that ultimately proved to be worthwhile, even if he's nihilism incarnate. He is another element throughout FFXIV that demonstrates to you that you are not some invincible all-powerful "chosen one" as the game tries to tell you in so many other ways. He's a grounding element to any hubris you may be building up. He starts out so far beyond you that all you can do is just survive while he plays with you. He just fucks with you knowing he could readily and easily end you, but he sees you have potential to be something worth him fighting if he just lets you continue to build yourself up. You could argue a lot of his decisions throughout the expansion are for that express purpose, even.
Just a schizo mess of an expansion overall. It was the first time in the entire game leading up to it (yes, all of ARR too..even the moogle shit) where I actually skipped through some dialogue just to end it faster.
Honestly, the greatest fucking tragedy of Stormblood is how they utterly wasted the character of Lyse. Psycho bitch and noble savage of Doma was predictable, but at least competently written, and had a clear start and end. Hien being a bro helped. It was clear right off the gate that the writers had absolutely no idea on what to do with her, but yet, felt compelled to include her because she's on the fucking cover art of the expansion, and heavily promoted everywhere during Stormblood release.
It wasn't like they didn't have material to start. Yda/Lyse just lost their tard wrangler best friend, and outed to be a fake larping to be a Scion when she's really just a runaway Ala Mhigger who joined Papalymo because she had nowhere else to go. The fact that the issue of Papalymo death was brushed aside so quickly within a few text blurb was outrageous to say the least; there was gold to be had in having Lyse trying to overcome her grief, and actually do something to help her nation. Maybe Lyse actually learning what responsibility is. But no, she had to be this plucky air-head bitch that ended up contributing nothing of value. Watching her being dragged through the Doma arc was an exercise in painful cringe.
The fact that she was made leader over any number of more qualified characters absolutely grinded my gears. Raubhan, obviously should have gotten it, but even if not, there's a number of others that would fit the bill. M'Naago actually did shit. Meffrid, before he got fucking sliced by Zenos probably could. That old guy who died conveniently to make sure Lyse became leader would have been swell. Hell, I'd take Arenvald, who actually showed up since 2.0 and had a minor role for a bit. But no, every star in the heavens aligned to give the most undeserving skank in the world the position of Ala Mhiggan leader. Absolutely atrocious writing.
Ala Mhiggers deserve everything they got for having Lyse as their new leader.
My favorite is when they accused the game of being racist (again) because the monster artists designed Ran’jit. Because if you’re a monster artist you’re never allowed to draw anything else
Wait what? If this is the same person we are talking about I never heard that take from them. They also made a take that the character designers are colorist because the twins aren’t dark skinned like their grandfather,
I just think he oversells how "good" Zodiark was which makes his side more sympathetic, though I think he legitimately believes what he says just he can't be objective.
Agreed. Unless I'm mistaken, Emet never actually tells you what exactly Zodiark did to save the "star" ¹yet he can certainly tell you the (potentially one of many) things Hydaelyn did to (in his words) basically fuck everyone over right along with Zodiark.
Emet can call her whatever he likes, that doesn't make it necessarily true as it is just his opinion as one who sides against her and purposefully tries to convince us that she is wrong. Emet is even more emotionally charged then a far right/left sperg when it comes to his takes on Hydaelyn, for reasonable reasons, so while I assume their is some fact to what he says overall such as the world imploding because of her (until someone on the opposing side provides a good correction) the very finer details of "why" I question for now.
We know Hydaelyn is supposed to stop Zodiark/keep him in check, but how was she intended to do that? Is this some unintended aftermath that no one foresaw, is it due to a struggle because Zodiark refused to let go of his reign which caused this, is it actually intentional as the Hydaelyn faction (as I'll call them) believe that they shouldn't be the sole arbitor's of the world (their is one implication that lesser nations existed in the original world I believe) due to them seeing themselves as imperfect beings. Their are a lot of weird questions and the whole bit about the echo in 5.2 flys in the face of everything we had ever known up to this point. The fact that Hydaelyn just doesn't feel like explaining what the echo actually is, assuming this is 100% true, then she is just as manipulative as Zodiark can be.
Funny how getting some answers (even if possibly just half-truths) raises questions you never even had before above so many other longstanding issues in terms of urgency, isn't it? Or at least that's where I'm at with it.
My personal take as the story currently is written, is that no one is actually fully right as of right now, yet I can't say I know what right "should have been" without more information (like A LOT MORE). Hydaelyn feels somewhat manipulative, abuses the fact that she can on a limited level communicate and Zodiark can't, and talks in even more vague bullshit then any other major player in this story on these topics. Why is it that literally no one on "our side" that knows anything felt like explaining what is going on?
Do you suppose anyone actually does truly know? I'd suspect that crystal cat and word salad elf may have at least some answers they're choosing not to share, but..I guess I find myself doubting that anyone alive (that we know of so far..perhaps on another Shard?) knows jack shit about Hydaelyn.
She has to be able to know, her creators/followers made her from their wills so she has to know something, yet she is so weirdly innocent and either explains quarter truths or nothing at all. It has been a long time since I watched the 3.2 sections with her so maybe their is some thinly veiled foreshadowing, but I don't think the "light is good". I just don't think "Emet didn't do nuffin" either like I know some of his fan base thinks and we should all just go kill all shardies to become the overlords of the world again. Despite that Hydaelyn stalled the first's destruction, she did it purely to keep Zodiark under her heel so I don't count that for anything personally.
My memory is foggy on the finer details of Hydaelyn's faction, so perhaps their is some answer there to something I'm speculating about.
I don't recall any details, myself. I am very glad that it has been demonstrated to us that the light is clearly not some sort of "good" for the world anymore than darkness is "evil," as I think that's a key piece of making a story go from good to great. It mimics life much more in that way. That being said - as much as I was cheering Emet on, I knew that ultimately I just couldn't allow his plan to happen if possible. Knowing your foe is most likely far more justified in pursuing the goals he has than you with your own was a very bittersweet moment that remains so through this day for me.
On that note, some fun speculation for the future: Perhaps we'll ultimately fuse our soul back together (we're already twice the person anyone else is thanks to Ardbert giving himself up to us) across the next few expansions and end up approaching what Emet truly wanted all along. That'd be quite a trip.
¹My friend and I have wracked our brains on that one. If Hydaelyn is the planet we live on..the Source..is that name merely ceremonious? No one has ever referred to Hydaelyn as a planet that we could find at all, yet Emet references the "star" his people lived on constantly. Is the Source and Shards what's left of Emet's star? Or is it merely just some FF word fuckery, you think? Or..?
Honestly, the greatest fucking tragedy of Stormblood is how they utterly wasted the character of Lyse. Psycho bitch and noble savage of Doma was predictable, but at least competently written, and had a clear start and end. Hien being a bro helped. It was clear right off the gate that the writers had absolutely no idea on what to do with her, but yet, felt compelled to include her because she's on the fucking cover art of the expansion, and heavily promoted everywhere during Stormblood release.
It wasn't like they didn't have material to start. Yda/Lyse just lost their tard wrangler best friend, and outed to be a fake larping to be a Scion when she's really just a runaway Ala Mhigger who joined Papalymo because she had nowhere else to go. The fact that the issue of Papalymo death was brushed aside so quickly within a few text blurb was outrageous to say the least; there was gold to be had in having Lyse trying to overcome her grief, and actually do something to help her nation. Maybe Lyse actually learning what responsibility is. But no, she had to be this plucky air-head bitch that ended up contributing nothing of value. Watching her being dragged through the Doma arc was an exercise in painful cringe.
The fact that she was made leader over any number of more qualified characters absolutely grinded my gears. Raubhan, obviously should have gotten it, but even if not, there's a number of others that would fit the bill. M'Naago actually did shit. Meffrid, before he got fucking sliced by Zenos probably could. That old guy who died conveniently to make sure Lyse became leader would have been swell. Hell, I'd take Arenvald, who actually showed up since 2.0 and had a minor role for a bit. But no, every star in the heavens aligned to give the most undeserving skank in the world the position of Ala Mhiggan leader. Absolutely atrocious writing.
Ala Mhiggers deserve everything they got for having Lyse as their new leader.
I really wish M'Naago and Arenvald, at bare minimum, ended up being more important. I was hoping for a case of Raubahn having two fresh young capable faces to help him unfuck his homeland by the end of it. Perhaps something like Raubahn staying in command until some sort of major reconstruction arc had finished, then passing the reins over to M'Naago/Arenvald and playing the "too good for an official rank/title" advisor to keep 'em on track. Lyse could have been a court jester, I suppose..though even then, she'd have to be funny to pull that off. Oh well.
Papalymo deserved better, even if what he was trying to do in order to contain what everyone thought was Bahamut (when compared against the dumpster fire that is the Coils of Bahamut lore) hurts my brain. His character itself shouldn't have been done dirty like that. Not to mention we all now know exactly why he seemed to goddamn cranky all the time. That man had the patience of a fucking saint to put up with Lyse constantly (even if he did kind of enable her bullshit).
Speaking of Stormblood a lot of the community sjw crazies latch on to it. Or they bitch about how racist and awful it is for some reason. I saw someone on Twitter throw a fit over Doma because of Japanese imperialism or something. I was unable to understand their autistic screeching. Also found someone who said it is racist to hate Ala Mhigo. Even finding the maps of it ugly makes you a racist in their eyes.
One of my favorite personal lolcows from the Fire Emblem fandom is a XIV player and is equally repulsive in both communities. Everyone on Twitter makes fun of her because she spews some of the most retarded takes on her account and wonders why 99% of the community blocks her.
Should get a FFXIV community watch thread one day perhaps. From the sub-reddit protecting pedophiles, people using discord bots as spyware, LGBT groups making you use patreon to change your OWN name on their server and some fashion star person who has gotten porn of their character with Khole and a Square Enix employee for the game that used to sell pics of themself wearing diapers. The list goes on with this fucked up playerbase.
