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agender-witchery · 11 months

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Guild Wars 2, as an MMO, was honestly an extreme game changer when it first came out.

Keep in mind, GW2 came out 11 years ago. While a lot of the things GW2 does now are commonplace among newer MMOs, GW2 was a trailblazer for a lot of it and still manages to hold an identity of its own. Prior to GW2, expecting a high quality MMO with no subscription fee was ludicrous. Sure, you had games like Maplestory or RuneScape, but while popular, they lacked the sort of polish you'd expect from a game like WoW.

11 years ago, most games with gathering basically had pvp gathering, where if you decided to harvest from the same node as someone else, you were effectively stealing resources from them. GW2 said fuck that and made each resource node individualized. This extended even further to other areas of play - someone helping you kill a monster doesn't result in less exp or loot for you, when doing an event everyone is able to get a gold completion as long as they reach a certain level of individual contribution, and even reviving people gave exp. This all contributed to a very friendly air about the game where in other games these actions were often adversarial, in GW2 these actions were all mutually beneficial.

When GW2 first came out, most MMOs had fairly simple combat. You often had to position yourself, but a hit was a hit. Being able to choose where you place your AoE was rare and most skills either required a target or purely existed to provide buffs. Skill shots were rare, and active dodging was unheard of. GW2 looked at combat and said "Okay but what if it was fun?". This was further enhanced by simply eschewing the traditional holy trinity of Tank, Healer, DPS in favor of Control, Support, Damage. There were clear analogs, but with no way of generating enmity and every possible build having some amount of self sustain, what would normally be a tank would focus more on disabling enemies and what would normally be a healer would focus more on general buffs. The GW2 trinity also allowed builds to dip into multiple aspects at once and most builds do a little of each even if they focus on one in particular. This made PvP more engaging as well! sPvP and WvW are both two massive areas of gameplay for GW2 and if it was combat standard for the time the game was released, both would have to function in massively different ways. GW2 remains my favorite game for PvP outside of FPS games.

Freely respeccing your characters was another thing GW2 brought to the table in a big way. FFXIV technically had it first, but given that ARR wouldn't launch until a year after GW2, I'd wager the two games had an equal amount of influence over newer MMOs adopting this sort of freedom in character building. WoW would not introduce free respeccing anywhere you want until 2016.

There is so much more GW2 can be cited for, from the way the world adapts to various events, to simply deciding that there wasn't going to be a gear treadmill and 80 is the max level forever, to the way it just gently guides you through leveling instead of sending you down endless amounts of quests.

Prior to GW2's release, whenever I talked about a new and upcoming MMO I was excited for, I would inevitably hear someone talk about how "Every upcoming MMO gets called the next WoW killer and none of them actually do it". I haven't heard that for about 10 years now.

#guild wars 2 #guild wars #gw2 #mmorpg #im tiny puppy

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mimble-sparklepudding · 2 months

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FFXIV Blog Positivity Ask Game.

Given that things are a bit sad and stressful at the moment, I thought it might be a good time to spread a little community positivity - and hopefully celebrate some FFXIV blogs of which people might not be aware.

Hightlight a FFXIV blog from which you are always happy to see a post.

Highlight a FFXIV blog that people might not know about, but that you would like to recommend to others.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with an OC who has a really compelling backstory.

Highlight a FFXIV blog that often makes you laugh.

Highlight a new FFXIV blog that would you like more people to interact with.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with an OC who is just incredibly, if not unreasonably, sexy.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who is really supportive of others in the community.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with a really original OC.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who is a really talented writer.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with some fantastic original art, whether digital or traditional.

Highlight a FFXIV blog that expands on lore in an interesting way.

Highlight a FFXIV blog that deserves more recognition by a wider audience.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who is always a joy to interact or RP with.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with some impressive gposes or screenshots.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger with whom you still can't quite believe you are actually mutuals.

Highlight a FFXIV blog which gives you "all the feels".

Highlight a FFXIV blog with an OC about whom you really want to learn more.

Highlight a FFXIV blog that has made you think about a character or setting in a different way.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who works hard to bring people together and promote events and activities.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with a romance or ship that you really enjoy.

Highlight a FFXIV blog that explores an existing canon character in an interesting way.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with an engaging OC who is morally grey, if not outright villainous...

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who really inspires you.

Highlight a FFXIV blog which does erotica (or smut) really well.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with an OC that you consider particularly cute or endearing.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who you consider to be especially talented at producing gifs or videos.

Highlight a FFXIV blog which has challenged you to think about an aspect of lore in a different way.

Highlight a FFXIV blog that explores difficult or complex emotions really well.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with an OC in whom you feel particularly invested.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who should have more confidence in their skills.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with an OC who is particularly loveable or endearing.

Highlight a FFXIV blog which you recommend new community members should follow.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who is looking for more RP opportunities (and deserves them).

Highlight a FFXIV blog that does something impressive or different with a popular trope or character.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who made you feel really welcome when you first joined the community.

Highlight a FFXIV blog that you've really enjoyed seeing develop over time.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with a variety of compelling OCs - perhaps so many that you're impressed they can keep track of them all.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with a really strong and defined theme.

Highlight a FFXIV blog that is completely different to yours, whether in terms of focus or style, but you really enjoy.

Highlight a FFXIV blog with inspriring and/or impressive glamour or outfits.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who you wish posted more often.

Highlight a FFXIV blog which portrays or describes combat or warfare particularly well.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who answers OC (or other) asks with really interesting responses.

Highlight a FFXIV blog which does comedy really well.

Highlight a FFXIV blogger who has become a friend.

Remember that highlighting a particular blog as an example of one that is funny or original etc does not mean that other blogs or bloggers are not also worthy of mention. This is just about giving an example from the many blogs you no doubt follow. If you really can't choose then you could always roll a dice - or list all of the ones that qualify, but you might be there for some time...

#ffxiv blog ask list #ffxiv community #ffxiv community positivity #ffxiv oc #ffxiv tumblr #ffxiv artists #ffxiv gpose #spreading positivity (hopefully)#ffxiv

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terramythos · 6 months

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Anyway here's my breakdown of the ffxiv jobs, my opinions on playing each, and the tier rank of how good their story was

TANKS

WARRIOR - warrior is so fucking funny why did they make it able to solo heal itself and the entire party in 90% of the content in the game. Raw Intuition/Bloodwhetting is so broken in dungeons its hilarious. And then they have like 3 additional healing skills on top of that. And they kept buffing it throughout Endwalker. So it is currently the easiest to play, does the most damage (i think...?), and has the best healing of any of the Tank jobs. 2nd fave probably.

Story Tier: C, it's ok, Curious Gorge is a good name. i have like nothing to say about it it's a generic AF story

PALADIN - I used to hate PLD but I think the partial rework they got halfway through Endwalker helped it a lot. It's much less clunky now. Probably still my least favorite Tank though Hallowed Ground is fun and it's pretty close to Gunbreaker for me.

Story Tier: F, this is the worst class storyline in the entire game. It's so stupid. The writing is so bad the writers acknowledge it makes no sense at all and I'm like. Yeah, thanks, I am experiencing this shit. Perhaps write a story that makes sense next time instead of pointing that out.

DARK KNIGHT - Unfortunately this is my favorite Tank 🫡 which is rough since it has the worst survivability out of any of them. But I love how you use MP and the silly number of OGCDs. The Blackest Night is such a fun ability and it's a crime that it's not a baseline skill you get from the start. Why do they have so many DRs that only cover magic damage. I must ask.

Story Tier: S, there's a reason it's the most popular and well regarded class storyline. It's really good, also the only questline I know of that uses the quest log text as part of the narrative. Outside maybe a few of the very late Endwalker quests. And, well... same writer lmao

GUNBREAKER: I think GNB looks cool as fuck and I like that it has 2 DPS rotations. The Gnashing Fang combo is so fun. Superbolide memes are always fun. My main issue with it is a skill issue because I am just constantly misaligning its burst windows.

Story Tier: C. It has some interesting lore but I found it pretty forgettable as a story.

HEALERS

WHITE MAGE: I hated White Mage for a while but something clicked and now I totally get it. I find it fun in dungeons cause you get to Holy spam and stun lock everything. As uh. The healer. That's fun. Once you get Afflatus heals (and then Afflatus Misery) it clicks. It's fun maximizing damage and playing chicken with the tank's HP.

Story Tier: B, you get a lot of lore around the Padjal, and I think the Stormblood story where you find a padjal living in hiding with her mother is pretty good! Also it's not technically the job storyline but there's a WHM side quest to get a unicorn mount? i guess it's technically a CNJ quest but same diff. no one else gets that shit. so that's cool

SCHOLAR: probably my least favorite of the healers... it just feels super clunky. You can tell a bunch of different design philosophies went into it over the years and none of them mesh very well. They've made it so the Fairy Gauge controls literally one spell. Why have the gauge at all? It's also a huge missed opportunity that there's no tie in or interaction with the fae in Shadowbringers. I love the idea of a battle tactician healer but I think it needs a rework.

Story Tier: B+, I liked the characters and its the main way to get backstory and lore on what happened with Nym.

ASTROLOGIAN: While I think AST has a similar issue to SCH (lots of different design philosophies over the years) I find it way more fun to play. I like the card mechanic and how it interacts with the rest of the party. AST is basically the only job that has its own like. Minigame? As part of its rotation. And I know a lot of people don't like the RNG for it but personally I find it fun. I know AST is getting a redesign in Dawntrail so hope it's good.

Story Tier: C? I think? I'll be honest I don't remember it super well but I didn't find anything objectionable about it. And I like the tarot aesthetic and lore and how it's healing based on manipulating luck.

SAGE: I think SGE is tons of fun, I'm not sure if I like it or WHM more. I love all the skills SGE has for preventing damage and the gimmick where your DPS heals someone in the party. Visually the hi-tech laser shooting healer is a lot of fun. IT HAS A GAP CLOSER. The only thing i wish was it wasn't so MP negative and that it did more damage. It's a little sad its DPS output is so low compared to the other healers (even AST when you factor in how it buffs the party). Since SGE is supposed to be a healer that heals through damage it's silly its damage kinda sucks.

Story Tier: A, I loved this storyline. Both the Endwalker job stories are very self contained and interesting. While the twist is pretty obvious it's still an interesting exploration of uh. Scientific ethics. Yeah

PHYSICAL MELEE DPS

MONK: I've probably played MNK the least of the phys melee but I like the whole adaptable combo thing. Not much else to say since I have played it so little. Might bring it back out and try again. It DID have the funniest guide in the Balance discord for a while.

Story Tier: D. I think? I remember thinking it was dumb, lmao. Sorry.

DRAGOON: MAN I wished I liked DRG more. It looks so fucking cool and I like how it interacts with the dragon lore. But I find it very punishing to play. To do good damage you have to align so many different cooldowns... and snapshot your DOT correctly... and screwing one thing up just fucks your DPS output forever. Like AST I believe this is being reworked in Dawntrail so I hope it feels better to play.

Story Tier: C+. I think it starts strong since you get to meet Estinien pre-Heavensward and it melds nicely with that story. But I found it pretty directionless post-HW which is a shame.

NINJA: I remember finding this one fun. I like that there are different combos you do that have varied finishers depending on the situation. I am just... bad at remembering which combo to use to get which finisher, lol. So I haven't played it as much. NIN gets a lot of flavor other jobs don't get with their unique run and jump animations. And you get a Bunny of Shame on your head if you fuck up a combo, which is incredible.

Story Tier: A. The Rogue story is probably the most memorable of the basic class quests. Ninja just has great characters and a fun story. What is with that one guy. Karasu? If you know you know. I also like how the Rogue characters show up later in the Ninja story. That's fun.

SAMURAI: I had a similar experience to WHM here because I initially hated it then really came around once it clicked. SAM seems very complex, it has a ton of buttons and different combos. But it is actually quite intuitive once you figure out the general pattern. And it does INSANE damage. I think it's the highest DPS output in the game? I love building the combos and then doing a huge finisher for a bajillion damage. The guaranteed crits and constant OGCD weaves make me feel unstoppable. I think this is tied with RPR for me.

Story Tier: B+. I found the exiled samurai character and his journey toward redemption very compelling. I won't spoil beyond that. However it does fall apart a little in the second half. Still fun but not as good.

REAPER: I love RPR, the teleportation is a lot of fun, and I love finally unleashing the demon form and going ham on the enemy. The weapons are the coolest looking in the game. Every scythe design hits. I probably played this the most in Endwalker. My main critique is the Death's Design mechanic. I hate having to keep a stupid debuff on the target to do damage. It's like a dot but without the optimized snapshotting. If they want to keep this idea i think it would feel better to change it into something like SGE's Kardia where you apply it to one enemy to do increased damage to it without having to worry about reapplying it. not sure how they would balance this for aoe but that's not my job. But even with that caveat I still really enjoy the job.

Story Tier: A+. While it doesn't reach the highs of DRK's story it comes close. I love the badass old lady main character. Her hunting a voidsent that possessed her grandfather would be cool enough but making her a Garlean exile in hiding who grudgingly agrees to train you just adds an extra cool factor. I really enjoyed this story. As a bonus theres a lot of incidental dialogue in the post-6.0 Endwalker story if you completed the RPR story because it ties in a lot.

PHYSICAL RANGED DPS

BARD: It's a bit clunky, its got some outdated design elements, it has one of the lowest damage outputs in the game... and i LOVE IT. this was technically the first job I ever played? totally different character like 8 years ago. and i was so so bad. I think i am actually pretty good at current BRD. the animations look cool. i like that it's a class you really need to work for and optimize to eke out that last bit of damage. and boosting everyone else's damage by existing is kinda neat.

Story Tier: B. I'll be real I barely remember this but I do remember it was gay as fuck so immediately gets an extra tier for that.

MACHINIST: MCH is really funny right now because like. It's phys ranged, right. The design behind phys ranged is you have 100% uptime cause you can freely move around and not have to worry about cast timers or melee range or anything. So the trade off is that they do less damage than other classes. Endwalker MCH did not get the memo and does insane damage anyway. My controversial opinion is that it has similar burst DPS to RPR. No i will not elaborate. I'm also bad at doing good damage on MCH which is impressive since it is easy.

Story Tier: B+. Some Ishgard noble's gay son wants to build machines instead of killing dragons the good old fashioned way and has to prove himself to get taken seriously. A tale as old as time. See I haven't done this quest in like years but I still remember it. He is a memorable character. It's just not like. knockout wowza compared to the A tier stories.

DANCER: Dancer is the second easiest DPS job in the game behind SMN. So if i am sleepy it's the one I like playing. You play simon says. you do a lot of damage when you play simon says then do almost no fucking damage otherwise. I think it's the lowest direct damage in the game? for a dps i mean. You have high stakes sexual tension with a DPS of your choice via Dance Partner. I wish other DNC players knew how Dance Partner works. YOU CAN DANCE PARTNER ANOTHER DANCER. THE BUFF STACKS. BUT YOU CANNOT DANCE PARTNER THE SAME PLAYER AS ANOTHER DANCER. THOSE BUFFS DO NOT STACK. ok i'm good. anyway

Story Tier: C. there's some shit about negative emotions and purging them? in theory i think this has some interesting implications with Endwalker lore considering Dynamis and its role in the story. Very similar mechanically to what's going on with the DNC story. but i really don't think the writers made the connection so it's like pure speculation and not the actual story. It's meh. fine i guess. i did like all the flashy dancing sequences.

MAGICAL RANGED DPS

BLACK MAGE: I am so so so so so so so bad at BLM. i pull up the guide. i read the guide. it all makes perfect sense. i go into a dungeon or trial or something. somehow i always get like Zeromus or some shit. and i drop Enochian or something and everything goes to shit and i'm yelling and i'm not even like slide casting or teleporting or anything i just run around crying. then i remember i have like 10 more buttons i haven't been pressing and oh god the dot fell off. people play this? for fun? i admire it. apparently they do a ton of damage if you can play it. could not be me.

Story Tier: B? There's some voidsent and Thirteenth lore. all the black mage characters are Lalafell because it's funny i guess. OH YEAH it has like the one named male Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te NPC in the entire game and he's fun. look at this twink:

sorry i don't have anything to say about BLM i am bad at it

SUMMONER: easiest DPS job in the entire game. they redesigned it for Endwalker so it is practically a new job. i have no idea how it played before. but it is super streamlined. maybe too streamlined? it's another one to play if you want to turn your brain off. i like that at 90 you summon The Actual Primals instead of little representations of them. and i like the way your burst phase switches between Bahamut and Phoenix. it all looks very cool. they should add Leviathan as a summon in Dawntrail.

Story Tier: C.. i don't remember a single thing about this questline except you interact with Y'shtola's half sister. i think you go to Cartenau at some point. idk

RED MAGE: RDM is one of those jobs that looks really complicated when you start then you actually play it and it is just super super easy. that being said i think it's really fun. I like balancing the white and black magic gauges. Dualcast is a great gimmick and it feels cool to lob two big spells in a row at something. Dualcast Verraising a chain of dead players is so fucking funny. it's a shame that the existence of Verraise means RDM does shit damage to compensate for its utility. It and DNC just sit at the bottom with BRD barely scratching ahead of them. i think? i don't remember LOL

Story Tier: A, I really like the story and characters. I like that you have a middle-age world weary catboy (catman) as your mentor. and i like that he canonically trained Alisaie too and you chat a little about that. it's a fun story!

BLUE MAGE: what the fuck is a blue mage

Story Tier: ???

#my posts

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briar-ffxiv · 25 days

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FFXIV Write #02 - Horizon

FFXIV Write 2024 Master Post

Prompt #2 - Horizon

Briar looked at the plate before him, struggling to keep the uncertainty off his face. Baatu was beaming at him, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth gently. What was on the plate was quite pretty and Briar wouldn't deny that, but he was more than a touch puzzled by what he was being offered.

The rice was familiar, although it was short white grains when he was more used to brown or wild rice. He was fairly certain that the slices of meat were fish, although the colour of one hinted at eel. However, one pinkish meat was unrecognizable to the half-Elezen. He wasn't sure what to make of the dark green covering some of the food had wrapped around it. Briar watched as a humming Baatu set down several little bowls in front of him that seemed to hold sauces: two thin brown sauces, one of a green paste, and the last was creamy and orange. It was artistic and lovely against the black plates, but Briar could only stare with puzzled anxiety.

Biting his lip, he looked up at the tall half-Elezen, half-Xaela and nervously smiled. "I, ah, um… W-what is it, Baatu?"

"Sushi!" Baatu said, booming voice echoing a bit in Briar's ears. "I just made you some simple ones since I didn't think you had it before. Still, you've liked to try things and broaden your horizons so…" He took a moment to point to each one. "This is nigiri with salmon and prawn. This is tuna sashimi. And maki rolls with eel, bream, and more salmon!"

Briar was relieved he'd been correct about the eel and knew what salmon was. He hadn't had prawn before and frowned a bit. "What is prawn?"

"Um, sort of like a shrimp…or a crayfish."

Briar nodded and gestured to the small bowls. "And these?"

"Dipping sauces! It's traditional to dip sushi into sauces, although you don't have to. Soy sauce, ponzu sauce, wasabi and that's spicy mayo." Baatu gave a deep, bone-rumbling laugh. "Spicy mayo is a bit more western, but popular in Kugane."

"Oh," Briar said again, relaxing a bit. While it was different, at least he had an idea of what to expect and could draw at least parallels to foods he was used to. "Thank you, Baatu. I do like to try new things."

"Here." Baatu passed him what Briar knew to be training chopsticks. Briar had been fascinated the first time he'd seen the big man use a pair and Baatu had indulged him. Still, between the scars on Briar's hands and not being used to them, he was a little clumsy still. So he was happy to use the training ones if only so as not to waste food.

Murmuring a thanks, Briar accepted them and eyed the plate, trying to pick which one was the 'safest'. He decided on the tuna sashimi, popping the bite-sized piece in his mouth. The texture of it, being uncooked, was a little odd but the flavour was mild.

Baatu chuckled. "Try some with one of the sauces. It's a bit plain without."

Briar nodded, picking up a salmon nigiri, he considered the sauces and dipped sushi into the green one. The one Baatu called wasabi.

"Oh! Briar, wait, that's--" Baatu made a little face as he warned the redhead too late. He watched with a hint of worry as Briar chewed.

"Hmm, that's--" Briar froze, eyes widen and cheeks flushing. He gave a muffled squeak and looked around, dropping the chopsticks in surprise.

"Here, here!" Baatu said, trying not to laugh as he slid the poor Shroudborn a glass of water. He bit his lip to keep from chuckling as Briar drained most of it. "That's wasabi, Briar," he repeated. "It's rather spicy so a little might be best."

Briar wheezed as he set down the nearly empty glass, blinking and reaching for a napkin to wipe his face, half-sweat and half-dripped water. Not to mention he was blushing rather hard. "I…noticed."

Baatu gave a sympathetic noise, still swallowing a chuckle. "Maybe try the ponzu sauce next? It's a little tangy and sweet and a bit salty, but not spicy."

Briar swallowed and took a deep breath. "That…might be better," he managed, bravely reaching for his chopsticks to take another sushi from the plate. This time most definitely with ponzu sauce.

Baatu belongs to @shadesofblades!

#ffxivwrite #ffxivwrite2024 #character: briar redfeather #baatu ardakium #my writing

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heretic-altias · 3 months

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FFXIV being so successful without any major romance content really is special to me as an aroace person. It tells me maybe not everything I make will be ignored for not having a love story, bc if this game can tell a story so beloved without it maybe I can too? Maybe someday I can make a game that’ll be so loved without having to tell a story I’m uncomfortable writing and reading in order to gain interest. It feels like everything needs romance to get any attention, and yet here’s the most popular MMO right now with none of it! It’s genuinely one of many reasons the game is my favorite of all time.

People keep saying they want romance routes, but for me if FFXIV added them something really special about it would be lost. Don’t underestimate the positive impact not having these things has on aspec people. It tells us we can succeed in creating things while still staying true to ourselves. Anyone can ignore options of course and I’ve played games that have them and just not done those routes, but it’s fundamentally different watching something succeed without the thing everyone acts like we’re lesser for not having. It’s inspiring, it tells us our stories really matter still.

#final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #aroace #aromantic #asexual #this is probably considered a hot take with how romance obsessed most of the fandom is #but you have your ships already and always will let me enjoy the canon for what it is

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lookbluesoup · 2 years

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I know shippy stuff and canon-adjacent stuff is popular and I'm certainly not dissing those. I like them too, they're a lot of fun! And AUs are great, I have so many!

But man, I wish there was more... idk, emphasis and exploration of the FFXIV lore, and those moments that have to have happened but aren't shown on screen - talked about and written about and illustrated here on tumblr.

That's usually been my favorite part of fandoms, discussing the lore with other fans in-depth and sharing theories, and seeing how everyone's characters would handle those big or quiet moments from the story itself. Exploring how a game mechanic/boss fight would feel from a story perspective, and what it would mean to the characters.

It's not entirely absent from here, but even when I make my own meta posts, even if they get lots of notes, I tend to see very little discussion added compared to what I'm used to from other fandoms. And when new patches come out, there's not a lot of deep talk about the story itself circulating. Maybe I've just been lucky in my previous spaces!

But... I want to know how the WoL and Graha bonded during the Crystal Tower raids. Did they sit around the campfire at night and talk? Did they drink and sing and laugh and argue?

What was it like, recovering from Ultima Thule? How did it feel to set out on the road again, leaving the title of Scion behind? Did they give their friends a tour of Ishgard? Did they visit Edmont? What was it like in the trenches of Ghimlyt Dark, for these characters who have never seen war before, versus the ones who have? Did the WoL help stabilize Lakeland, and tend wounded after the sin eater attacks?

I want late night study sessions with the twins, bittersweet work in the hot sun rebuilding Ala Mhigo, learning to fight on dragonback, Hraesvelgr's brood visiting Ishgard on diplomatic forways. I want snarking with Emet Selch while you help people with "side quests" in Norvrandt. I want gentle moments with Ryne on the road because if anyone understands the suffocating feeling of immense responsibility Hydaelyn and Minfilia have dropped on that child, it's the WoL.

What was it like for the WoL to fight the pirates in Sastasha? To see the women taken captive there? To see the Drowned mutilated by Leviathan's tempering? How did they handle the narrow tunnels and rickety elevators in Copperbell, and the giants angry after centuries of unjust imprisonment? Did they step in Aurum Vale's goldbile and have a shoe burnt off? Did they bring a pet korpokkur home from the Arboretum? Do they carry scars?

Do they take the manacutter out for joyrides? Did Grani recognize the color of their soul, and choose them over the tempered twist of Emet Selchs, or did Emet charge his familiar with looking after them? Have they ever been robbed in Limsa Lominsa? Did they ever buy loinfruit?

Does that goobbue sproutling grow up? The coerl kitten become a battle steed? The wolf pup a guardian? Do the sylphs play games with the WoL when they visit the Shroud? Do they carry a polished shell to remind them of their Clutchfather? Do they stop by the guild to check on the Deftarm whenever they're in Dravania?

What was it like trekking the spindly mountains of Othard, riding a Yol for the first time, seeing the endless plains of green, and the dead white of the Burn?

Do they still have nightmares about Haurchefant, or are they good dreams remembering his smile? Did he teach them to make hot chocolate? Did they stay up all night when the Scions lost their souls, waiting by the bedsides with a candle and feeling helpless?

Do they visit Amaurot, even after Emet Selch is gone? Are they still trying to remember? Did they look up at the night sky in Elpis and feel an indescribable sense of loss?

Was there ever a moment in Endwalker where they almost became a Blasphemy themselves? Did they ever answer Venat's question? Do they know that the love their friends had for them, saved them?

#idk its SUCH a good story and theres so much cool lore #i want to keep digging into it and i miss having a community focused around that aspect of a game #ffxiv #ff14 #wyn gabs #manifesto #apparently lol #autism brain go brrrrrrr #text #shadowbringers spoilers #endwalker spoilers #long post

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tritoch · 8 days

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the witch of the cave: matoya, y'shtola, and the night's blessed

long rambly and extremely unedited post about y'shtola and matoya, two characters i really feel like we don't talk about or take seriously enough. i think the popular (and in many ways intended) perception of FFXIV as a game about dramatic high-tension moments and attendant emotional catharsis makes it easy to overlook the fact that there's plenty of subtext to mine from, especially for characters like these two who can come off as somewhat reserved and also have very little screen time together. i find the night's blessed very helpful for thinking about them both. spoilers through endwalker below. tl;dr version of the post can be found by reading the bolded text below.

on my first playthrough the whole rak'tika thing felt very underdeveloped, and i still think a lot of the story beats are weak. here's y'shtola she's your last member to rejoin she has a new village now(?) and OH she's dead again WAIT she's back and then we're off into "zodiark and hydaelyn are primals" land and there's no time to think anymore about the night's blessed. but on reflection i think this works out okay imo because the night's blessed are only just barely there for plot reasons. they serve instead, like the outfit redesign, to establish the game's new baseline concept for who y'shtola is going to be as a character going forward. the night's blessed let the writing shorthand a lot of y'shtola's off-screen development and set her up as a powerful and extremely self-actualized person, using matoya as her foil.

in brief: matoya is implied to have lived her life prior to the sharlayan exodus constantly at odds with the (imo obviously sexist and hide-bound) forum. as a result, she was pretty isolated from and in conflict with much of sharlayan society, to the point that while y'shtola leaves with everyone else in the exodus to presumably matriculate at the studium and earn her archon's marks, matoya stays behind, with no company but her familiars.

and this is agonizingly sad, i think. 15 years alone in a cave. dravania's isolation means she has no one to talk to but frogs she has magic'ed and trained into familiars. little to occupy her but her work and her memories, and her memories of y'shtola are so painful to her she locks them away. even when y'shtola returns to eorzea after ten years away she can't find the time to see her until the scion's issues demand it (to be fair to y'shtola, getting to matoya overland means traveling through ishgard and dravania, and prior to the calamity they're totally occupied with that and afterwards there's the whole dragon thing).

(hey also this whole thing is even SADDER when read in light of the encyclopedia eorzea text that "the day [Matoya] begins to remember her students fondly will be the day that her work ends." she won't let herself take these memories back until she retires!)

they barely talk at their reunion, and while there's some brief honest fondness from matoya early on they soon turn to their characteristic deflecting and sardonic back-and-forth for what little time they get to talk, before matoya delivers a poorly-translated and confusing warning on aethersight and exits the 3.0 story. even by the time of shadowbringers, y'shtola can't bring herself to admit that when alone in a foreign land, she took on her master's name, and neither will straightforwardly admit to missing the other. in a game full of effusive and warm relationships between master and pupil or guardian and ward, matoya and y'shtola's relationship is warm, but specifically characterized by distance and deflection, consistent with how matoya has rejected (and/or isolated herself from) others her whole life.

that's not to say there's not love there, obviously, and not all expressions of love look or the same. but this is not how y'shtola behaves elsewhere. when she visits you at the annex in endwalker, she's quite sincere and direct there, coming to you with her concerns and stating plainly that doesn't want to see you harmed, making it clear she was actively worried about how you were doing. she even pre-emptively apologizes when she fears she's inappropriately joked about your misfortunes. she's also obviously much more direct and deflects less with the night's blessed themselves, or runar, or urianger after rak'tika, or zero. she can be funny or glib or arch, but she makes no effort to conceal how much these relationships mean to her, or how she feels at any given point.

y'shtola can be sharp, she can be sarcastic, she can go for the throat or be dismissive and imperious, but she's generally not those things with people she cares about in private conversation. for a woman who makes it quite clear that she cares a lot about the image she projects to others, she is never ashamed of her own feelings or afraid to voice them, but neither is she harsh or cruel. the one time she does the matoya-style thing of being so honest and brusque it tips over to backbreakingly blunt, it's to thancred in rak'tika, over her concerns that as the sole guardian of an isolated young ward, he isn't doing enough to affirm her as her own person or to be emotionally honest and supportive of her. i have some thoughts as to why that might be; you may be able to guess what they are!

so shadowbringers sets up a parallel for the player: remember matoya in the cave, having spurned sharlayan politics, left to pursue her research and guard the antitower, a solitary hermit for fifteen years? well here's y'shtola as matoya, in a cave, having spurned the lies and half-truths of two specific sharlayan men. she initially comes off alternately distant and brusque, unable to recognize you and perhaps changed herself. the fact that y'shtola's not just the local cave witch to the night's blessed ends up being a sort of narrative reveal, and her characterization as a beloved and respected leader who feels a deep attachment to the community in turn shows how much she's grown and surpassed her mentor. (and note in turn urianger, over there in fairyland pretty much actually doing the matoya thing except, in accordance with his whole deal, in a way that is both slightly healthier and much weirder).

and there's narrative payoff for this: y'shtola, having been fairly closed-off and mission-focused up until now, flings herself into a fucking pit and casts "hope this doesn't kill me lmao" the very second she learns the night's blessed have been harmed and she has a chance to save them (and that's not a romance thing; she has no idea runar's been harmed. she only knows the villagers of slitherbough have been poisoned, and an antidote exists). and from her (annoyingly obviously fake) death you learn that she isn't just valued and respected by the community, but has formed close enough relationships for people to feel real and deep attachment to her.

y'shtola notes at several points that she and master matoya dedicated their lives to the pursuit of truth above all else. but in the end y'shtola was also a student of louisoix, a man who far valued compassion for the plight of others above all else (and, not for nothing, he's not exactly #1 parent/guardian/mentor of the astral era either). in rak'tika, all the finest qualities of y'shtola reach a kind of culmination. the relentless pursuit of what is true and what is right, but as part of a healthy, caring community, without the isolating and painful pride of her mentor. and she sacrifices nothing of herself to attain this. she is exactly who she was before rak'tika, if anything a little more brusque. she's even still a little withholding about herself, noting that she cultivated an "image of restraint" among the night's blessed. but none of this interferes with her ability to be a powerful and respected and admired leader of a close-knit community.

and again none of this is really a critique of matoya, who i have enormous affection for as effectively the game's only representation (until endwalker) of an older woman in STEM. but she is a product of what her circumstances allowed: where matoya, as a sincere believer in truth, had only rivals in a deeply conservative and isolationist society, y'shtola, carrying forward the same principles, has friends and comrades in an increasingly open and free world. she turns her mentor's unflinching honesty from an alienating political weakness into a pillar of both slitherbough and the scions. matoya's self-imposed exile from sharlayan is, by her own acknowledgement, petty and in some ways goes against her own values. and listen you've gotten far enough in this rambling, we can all be real for a second: matoya is definitely kind of an asshole and went into self-imposed exile and sealed up her research because of a disagreement with the Forum over weapons development. y'shtola's leveraging the integrity and searing honesty she learned from matoya to far more altruistic ends!

i think a lot of players have a vision of y'shtola somewhere on a continuum from badass avatar of destruction to powerful and solitary archmage. and i agree that's cool as hell but i also think ffxiv is a game that believes, at its core, that community is one of the most important things in the world, both in terms of what it can do for a flourishing society and as a critical element for people to find value and fulfillment in their own lives. y'shtola developing her own close attachment to a community in shadowbringers is meant to serve as shorthand for how she has come into her own as a person and found a fulfilling and meaningful life in line with her ideals, living up to matoya's ideal of all knowledge existing to advance mankind. it is no coincidence that this happens at the same time as she goes from "a pretty good mage" to being consistently portrayed as one of the more powerful mages in the setting and the scions' magical powerhouse. the genre trappings and the character arc work in harmony.

i think what this means becomes a little clearer set against characters like thancred (who spends 5.0 getting to "can have a mostly emotionally honest conversation with his surrogate daughter and make her feel loved and valued") and estinien (who, after twenty years living in and dying for one walled city, had one of the worst months anyone has ever had and ever since can't be in the same place for more than two seconds). their permanent states as vagabonds reflect their lack of close ties (what with all the tragic death) and still-healing emotional wounds. by contrast, y'shtola has achieved the wisdom and grace to live life as part of a connected whole, and has found a way to bring her values to bear in all parts of her life and in her leadership of this community, in so doing improving the lives of herself and everyone around her. y'shtola doesn't settle down with the night's blessed as a natural progression of her life or as a precondition to her maturation, but instead is capable of forming this kind of attachment to the night's blessed precisely because she has developed the integrity and emotional honesty to live in accordance with her values. and she can cast LB3 meteor in cutscenes now.

and also, conveniently, this is done in a way that lets them shorthand/off-screen a lot of this arc and do the rest of it with very minimal screentime for y'shtola and it has an associated romance subplot and also conveniently she's immediately severed from this important community so she can stay footlose and fancy-free in the protagonist group and Isn't It Funny How Scion Women Settle Down Or Die While We Keep Accumulating Permanent Bachelors, I Just Think It's Funny. obviously none of this is above critique. but i think the narrative takes pretty seriously the idea that y'shtola is actually the team's most emotionally developed and mature member in a lot of ways and slitherbough is where a lot of that starts, and you can't understand all that without matoya.

#y'shtola rhul #master matoya #ffxiv #shb spoilers #ew spoilers #i wish there was a way to tag characters for personal blog purposes only. i'd use my proper than and uri and esti tags if i could #but i can't be throwing this in every random character tag

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selnyam · 11 days

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FFXIV Write 2024: Third-Rate

Takes place post Dawntrail, light spoilers within. One again I like to put my poor bunny in situations

Kynhad relaxed on the couch, despite her racing nerves. The apartment was what she was used to, nothing too unusual. Barely any decorations lined the walls, the blinds were drawn. It made sense, she mused. This was someone elses just a month ago before the current resident moved in. The current resident, who was in the kitchen, checking the stove. It was surreal to watch, as the last century of her life the Viera woman had longed to see this. Now that it was here she still had a hard time believing it.

“Do you need any help?” Kynhad asked, watching her mother press buttons. From the kitchen the taller, more muscular woman shook her head, her hands starting to move then picking up a small electrope device. She tapped on it and it spoke for her.

“I’m fine! I am better at them than I first was.” the adventurer from another world knocked on the counter then came and walked into the sitting room. She tapped on the device again, a furrow on her brow. Kynhad couldn’t help but smile at that. “Once it’s hot enough I can put in the casserole, thank you again for helping prepare it.”

“Of course Mom! It’s been forever since we got to cook together!” The first born daughter of Tyjet smiled and motioned for her mother to sit down and relax. Judging by the way she was tugging at her ears and shuffling her feet she was incredibly nervous. With a slight nod she did, her hands hovering over the device. Kynhad nodded and offered “if you go slow, I can try to follow with your signing. Gydea and I have been practicing and studying the books you brought us.” to demonstrate she carefully spelled her own name, then Flidais’s. Her mother smiled, relaxing some before spelling slowly and carefully.

[I am sorry, this is all so strange to me, in all that I have done in these last few summers] Kynhad sipped at her tea, another of the delightful foods her mother had brought from the outer world. She shook her head in disbelief before laughing.

“I still struggle to believe it. Not only that you are alive, but that you’ve been in another world, fighting in wars. That you slayed gods and powerful beasts alike. That you’ve lost your memories of us. That you found your way home.” She sniffed, tears threatening to fall. Her mother moved closer, panic and concern on her face. Kynhad smiled, accepting a surprisingly gentle hug despite Flidais’s massive biceps. “I never gave up hope, you know? I kept searching, kept hoping. I even have been visiting Selenite, a local fortune teller. She was able to let me know you were alive.” Kynhad swallowed hard, her voice trembling

“I’m so glad you’re back. We’ve all missed you. I can’t wait to tell you all about my son, my wife. We have so much to catch up on.” She hugged her mother again, a century of emotion, loss, and pain bursting forth. The two women simply held each other, letting the quiet of the room fill the air. A quiet that was broken by the buzz of Kyhad’s own device. She wiped her eyes and reached over to check it, letting out an irritated groan.

“Sorry. It’s from my agent. Apparently one of the other actresses who tried out for the new role I just got is throwing a fit. Screaming about ‘that third rate older rabbit’ and ‘how can someone over 100 play Fliss Oakland’ it’s nothing but someone complaining. I fit the role best! Hell, I already kind of LOOK like the character.” The sounds of a shattering cup caused her to turn away from her phone. Her mother’s eyes were wide, face pale. Her hands shook, struggling to spell out

[Fliss?] Flidais’s expression was unreadable, as if the Everkeep had split in half. Kynhad nodded, and began to search through her pictures.

“Yeah, I got the main romance lead in a new series being made. It’s based on a popular book series from the last 20 years. They were brought over when the worlds were joined. “ she found the picture she was looking for, the cover of the first book which she held up to her mother. “See? They’re really good books honestly, it’s hard to find really good sapphic romances. One of the best things to come out of the… Mom? Are you okay?” Flidais could only bury her face in her hands and scream wordlessly. Even here she couldn’t be free.

#flidais oakclamber #ffxiv #ffxiv viera #ffxiv sapphics #dawntrail spoilers #the rabbit rogue #kynhad

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