Final Fantasy XIV - Kiwi Free Company

[Ravana]

I collected the last piece of gear from CAR today. I can rest easy whenever the content gets abandoned in PF.

 

[Dopey Cunt]

Biggest thing I can think of is there's some shitty people out in Yaasolani. I assume they came from Tuli since I have no idea where else they'd be coming from.

IIRC, out in Shaalaoni, they literally have children in the cerulean mines and they're treated like slaves. Besides bandits hanging about in Kozama, most of the lawlessness happens in Shaalaoni. They have the dustwatch over there but they allowed a bandit to literally sneak into their ranks and the supposed leader of the watch is too much of a retard to spot when one of his men is acting sussy baka. So uh, they aren't very good at their jobs.

 

[Agarathium1066]

IIRC, out in Shaalaoni, they literally have children in the cerulean mines and they're treated like slaves. Besides bandits hanging about in Kozama, most of the lawlessness happens in Shaalaoni. They have the dustwatch over there but they allowed a bandit to literally sneak into their ranks and the supposed leader of the watch is too much of a retard to spot when one of his men is acting sussy baka. So uh, they aren't very good at their jobs.

Its very telling to me that the place they very blatantly made to seem like the Wild West equivalent is full of slavers and criminals. SE wouldn't dare have many bad people elsewhere (even the pack of bandits in the other zone are all 'victims' who turn things around).

 

[Dopey Cunt]

Its very telling to me that the place they very blatantly made to seem like the Wild West equivalent is full of slavers and criminals. SE wouldn't dare have many bad people elsewhere (even the pack of bandits in the other zone are all 'victims' who turn things around).

Everyone knows that America bad and evil. Duh.
Orange Man in charge so that means we deserve 9/11.

 

[Well Intentioned]

Everyone knows that America bad and evil. Duh.
Orange Man in charge so that means we deserve 9/11.

Nah, it's not even that.

The Wild West is something that has taken a bit of a beating since like, the 90s, with guys like John Wayne, Roy Rogers, etc. being pointed out as being incredibly revisionist depictions of the Wild West.

Given that they have sensitivity readers (or whatever) it is pretty obvious that they were going to 'yanno, this is PrObLeMaTiC' and that they sure as fuck better be pumping the tires of the Indigenous peoples (who totally weren't dirt-worshipping savages and never did anything wrong.)

It just stems from longer trending anti-colonialism attitudes, some of which are justified IMO, but instead of going from John Wayne's version of the Wild West you veer too far into the other direction.

I just wanted like a Deadwood Lite type version of Shaaloani and given the grit that is literally just about everywhere else in the game (except maybe Sharlayan? If there was something seedy/sketchy going on there I've forgotten it) I figured we'd get something interesting. Instead we got this fucking lobotomized thing, replete with rubber bullets and whatever else.

 

[Dopey Cunt]

Instead we got this fucking lobotomized thing, replete with rubber bullets and whatever else.

"Now hol' up there, pardner. Yer speakin' a whol' lotta rroneek shit and that ain't gonna fly in these here parts. You'd best keep them lips sealed or I'm gonna hafta shoot ya with one o' these here rubber bullets. Wouldn't kill ya...probably only sting ya a little...maybe...won't stop ya from doin' yer bidness...or stop ya from doin' anythin' really...can somebody remind me why we even use these?"

 

[00R-Gundam]

Ngl a ff14 expansion based on the old west would be cool

 

[Sheep King]

I just wanted like a Deadwood Lite type version of Shaaloani and given the grit that is literally just about everywhere else in the game (except maybe Sharlayan? If there was something seedy/sketchy going on there I've forgotten it) I figured we'd get something interesting. Instead we got this fucking lobotomized thing, replete with rubber bullets and whatever else.

Sharlayan was definitely implicated in some morally questionable business, just rarely in Sharlayan itself. The Sage questline involved a rogue scholar engaged in human experimentation. And while less shady and more self-interested, they did more or less abandon Eorzea when the Garlean Empire arrived by completely dismantling the Sharlayan colony. The best example would probably be the Astrologian questline from HW where it was discovered there were literally assassins and kidnappers sent by a prominent Sharlayan politician to stop anyone who tried to teach Sharlayan astrology in Eorzea because they were that obsessed with hoarding knowledge, although it got toned down a bit in Endwalker.

Fuck, at least Radz-at-Han, also a "vibrant" ethnic city ruled over by a scaly fuck who solves everyone's problems for them so they can sit around eating curry had SOME history of war.

Tuliyollal is apparently a city built in like, the last 50 years between warring tribes which has no visible economic disparity between the many races that live there, no religion, no opinions on foreigners despite only having been opened to the outside world very recently. Their military/peacekeeping force, the Landsguard, was being run by Zoraal Ja (open warmonger, psychopath manbaby) but never gets a single aspersion cast their way. Stepping off the boat and hearing the swing jazz music was the moment I really started to get worried this expac.

 

[Burt Ryan]

I just wanted like a Deadwood Lite type version of Shaaloani and given the grit that is literally just about everywhere else in the game (except maybe Sharlayan? If there was something seedy/sketchy going on there I've forgotten it) I figured we'd get something interesting. Instead we got this fucking lobotomized thing, replete with rubber bullets and whatever else.

You know what is a fucking missed opportunity with Shaaloani, now that I think about it? A simil-Westworld situation.

Instead of having that retard anime princess Sphene invade Tural with her armies, she could have taken a stealthier approach.

It would require some changes to the second part of the story (and other parts as well), but imagine the Endless infiltrating over the years in Shaaloani, and then when you arrive, you notice some NPCs with that headpiece but think nothing of it, and when they "come back to life" you start to wonder how can they do that.

Sounds retarded but I'll take it over the idiot firstborn resurrecting and killing the Dawnservant, with nobody helping said Dawnservant a single bit.

"PAPA!"

 

[Xerxes IX]

No wonder this story turned out retarded Sphene is the closest we'll get to Chris-Chan's self insert in a video game. She is a "CPU" computer ruler whose goal is to cause the Dimensional Merge. Dawntrail might as well have the Sonichu medallion curse on it.

 

[Dopey Cunt]

Sphene is an example of lost potential.
Her greatest sin was that she was even more badly written than almost everything about this story.
The concept of an AI struggling between human emotions and it's programming on paper sounds like it would be really cool. Seeing someone struggle with inner turmoil is a great way to showcase someone's character and display development. We just don't get enough time with her and we're never shown how she struggles with this on a deeper level other than her just casting a melancholic gaze off to the side.
I really wish we could've seen some scenes of the real human Sphene when she was alive to compare to her AI counterpart so we could have some juxtaposition. We don't even know if her (the AI's) choice to succ the multiverse dry of aether was a choice the real Sphene would've made herself or if it was entirely the AI.

We don't know because we never knew the real Sphene, only her facsimile.

 

[Wyzzerd]

No wonder this story turned out retarded Sphene is the closest we'll get to Chris-Chan's self insert in a video game. She is a "CPU" computer ruler whose goal is to cause the Dimensional Merge. Dawntrail might as well have the Sonichu medallion curse on it.

I don't think I'm ready for the post explaining how troon cat is sonichu...

Not because it is wrong, but that it will be right.

 

[Gravemind]

Sphene is an example of lost potential.
Her greatest sin was that she was even more badly written than almost everything about this story.
The concept of an AI struggling between human emotions and it's programming on paper sounds like it would be really cool. Seeing someone struggle with inner turmoil is a great way to showcase someone's character and display development. We just don't get enough time with her and we're never shown how she struggles with this on a deeper level other than her just casting a melancholic gaze off to the side.
I really wish we could've seen some scenes of the real human Sphene when she was alive to compare to her AI counterpart so we could have some juxtaposition. We don't even know if her (the AI's) choice to succ the multiverse dry of aether was a choice the real Sphene would've made herself or if it was entirely the AI.

We don't know because we never knew the real Sphene, only her facsimile.

I've made exactly that point before myself (I don't recall if I ever mentioned as much ITT or if it was simply in discussion with friends), but my favorite part about all of this is that we haven't once even had any of that suggested to us as of yet.

We can really only make that assessment from observation and critical thinking. Which, normally, isn't a bad thing for a story, but in this case, it gives us fuckall to work with in terms of Sphene's character other than seemingly throwaway, one off little details, so you have to draw your own conclusions.

It could've worked if they gave Alexandria more time to cook and really explore those trains of thought, but they don't. And it's really weird that absolutely nobody from our group has ever stopped and gone "Given what we know so far, how does this all tie back into why this facsimile of Sphene is the way she is?" like they would, and have, in literally every other situation. But, no, it's just as the others have pointed out. Dawntrail has effectively dumbed down the cast.

 

[Dopey Cunt]

And it's really weird that absolutely nobody from our group has ever stopped and gone "Given what we know so far, how does this all tie back into why this facsimile of Sphene is the way she is?" like they would, and have, in literally every other situation.

Forget critical thought. They all just accept her as if she were a real person despite the revelation that she's a literal computer program infused with the memories of the dead person she's supposed to be imitating.

They try to make us believe that memories alone are supposed to make someone who they are but that was already debunked in Endwalker in the form of Fandaniel. Even after having all the memories of his previous life shoved into him, he remained his own person and only carried those memories inside him. An AI is still an AI, even if you give it memories of someone who once existed, it doesn't change who they fundamentally are. Even the AI Sphene admits this, calling herself the "bearer of Queen Sphene's memories" and then going even further by declaring that those false memories are what's holding her back. Maybe the idea that memories make the man works if that person is a real human being, but you can't apply that same logic to a program.

The AI Sphene and real Sphene were not the same two people. They are vastly different, yet that is never explored. They just treat her as if she were the real human Sphene when it's painfully obvious that she isn't.

The concept of clones, AI, and artificial beings created to bring a dead person "back to life" has been done into the ground in media, yet how is it that Sphene is the worst depiction of it that I've ever seen?

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

Its very telling to me that the place they very blatantly made to seem like the Wild West equivalent is full of slavers and criminals. SE wouldn't dare have many bad people elsewhere (even the pack of bandits in the other zone are all 'victims' who turn things around).

Forget critical thought. They all just accept her as if she were a real person despite the revelation that she's a literal computer program infused with the memories of the dead person she's supposed to be imitating.

The more and more I read about this expansion, the more and more I'm hesitant to jump back on FFXIV at all. I mean, I was fond of the plot all the way through Endwalker, and I was even looking forward to going through the Void arc in the post-MSQ, but... everything I've heard about DT just makes me not want to bother. I know we've still got several patches to go, but that just makes me more hesitant; the way the story's going, I don't want to play if the plot's just going to get worse.

 

[Agarathium1066]

The more and more I read about this expansion, the more and more I'm hesitant to jump back on FFXIV at all. I mean, I was fond of the plot all the way through Endwalker, and I was even looking forward to going through the Void arc in the post-MSQ, but... everything I've heard about DT just makes me not want to bother. I know we've still got several patches to go, but that just makes me more hesitant; the way the story's going, I don't want to play if the plot's just going to get worse.

My personal take is to wait until more of the expansion's current story "arc" is done then decide from there. Might be a while.

I still have enjoyed the raids but those are not a constant presence. Not enough by any measure to be worth a sub.

 

[Ravana]

For an expansion that's supposed to be a "new start" there certainly isn't anything interesting or happening in the new zone. In ARR there were larger problems than just Garlemald. In Dawntrail there's no real conflict outside of Zoraal Ja being a dick. While there's like, lizard eugenics happening, nobody seems to give a shit.

 

[Troon Whisperer]

I'd wait until 8.0 to see if they improve anything. DT might be the new story arc's ARR, something we just tell people to grit their teeth and push through to get to the better bits.

 

[Scream Aim Fire]

My personal take is to wait until more of the expansion's current story "arc" is done then decide from there.

I'd wait until 8.0 to see if they improve anything. DT might be the new story arc's ARR, something we just tell people to grit their teeth and push through to get to the better bits.

That's what I was thinking so far, really; if DT manages to pull itself out of the death spiral, and/or if 8.0 ends up being good, I'll jump back in, but otherwise...

I was thinking about making a new character, you see; run through the entirety of the MSQ, from ARR all the way through DT, both to see what got updated in previous expansions and generally just mess around. I really did love FFXIV back in Endwalker, and I was willing to give the Void arc a chance now that it was all released, but from what I've heard about DT, it just ruins everything.

For an expansion that's supposed to be a "new start" there certainly isn't anything interesting or happening in the new zone.

That's basically the real main issue with DT, isn't it? There's no conflict, nothing to really draw the player in; Tural is this super-peaceful utopia that basically spits in the face of the entire rest of the world's history, and the only area that's really bad is, as mentioned above, the Old West-themed place with the rubber bullet shit. The plot goes from 0 to fucking 6000, taking what was supposed to be a simple beach episode and having us fighting ANOTHER world-destroying threat. The antagonists are retarded, the protagonists are retarded, pre-established characters are all assassinated and replaced with caricatures, and the entire plot is supposed to revolve around a tranny's fursona. There's not even any hooks for future plots from what I can gather; everything just gets resolved in the dullest way possible.

It just... feels like the expansion was explicitly designed to piss the fans off and ruin FFXIV. Par for woketards, unfortunately.

 

[Dopey Cunt]

In my restless dreams...
I see that glamor...

Everywhere I fucking go.