#FFXIV is the best MMO I've played

[ammyamarant]

Reading up on Arknights stuff and realizing Alive Under Sunset is a metal band made up of essentially shards of the Ægirian god (as much as I understand feranmuts), they're one of if not Elysium's favourite band, and the lead singer met up with Thorns, an Ægir, during OF-ST-6, where Thorns has a vision of a Seaborn and the way he reacts... and then listening to Devil and the Deep Dark Ocean...

I might have a slight need to write an Elythorns fic where Thorns is desperately fighting the influence of the Seaborn.

[astrxealis]

tbh i kinda think ffxiv is worth playing even for drk quests alone. but no bcs the whole game is amazing ofc yes and i love shb/enw/everything so damn much but also bcs drk quests are really good esp bcs of all that the story of ffxiv is

^^ or rather, the ffxiv free trial! ffxiv really is so huge after all >___< (and i love all of it. most of it. but a lot of it yes)

[noxinara]

Obey Me! Brothers and what kind of games I think they'd play

this is a very biased list (and long post) based off of games that I've played before :) (jk its really not biased, just games I think they would play!) I made this because I couldn't sleep last night and had brain worms-- Will probably make one for the dateables sometime soon, but this list is just the brothers!

Lucifer

Traditional Board Games.

There have been MANY times where he's been playing various board games with you, Diavolo, and Simeon.

Gets VERY competitive over games like Sorry!, Monopoly, Trouble.... Candy Land???

Will only let Diavolo win.

Shows no mercy to anyone else, including you. Sorry, love.

Card Games.

Particularly amazing at Poker. He would not let Mammon know this... until you guys have an in-house Poker night and he literally takes all??? Has the best poker face you've ever seen.

Won't even let you guys beat him at Uno or Go Fish. Boooooooo.

Puzzle Games.

I could see Luci being very good at Tetris for some reason?

One time Levi challenged him to the game to try and get out of going to RAD one day...

Let's just say he had to go to RAD that day and also had to stay over on cleaning duty. Courtesy of getting absolutely DESTROYED.

Controversial Pick: Rhythm Games.

I could 100000% see Luci tearing up some OSU! But only when all of the brothers are asleep and he's completed most of his work.

They help him unwind.

...Was that rhythmic tapping you heard when walking by his office late one night..? Interesting.

You saw him wearing Levi's VR headset playing Beat Saber one day.

No, you will NOT bring it up and you will NOT let him know of that video you took.

Oh. You posted it on Fab Snap?

Good luck. You're gonna need it.

Mammon

Gambling Games/Apps.

Where I live you can just gamble from home because it's legal to have and play gambling apps?

He would have SO many on his D.D.D. They're taking up so much of his storage space.

Plays them a lot when you're around because he thinks that you're his good luck charm.

He also goes on a lot of Horse Racing and Sports Betting sites...

It got so bad that Lucifer had to figure out how to IP block him from these. it doesn't stop him--

Gacha Games.

Has absolutely insane luck for some reason??? Only on gacha games, tho.

Has definitely played Genshin Impact and Honkai Starrail because of Levi.

He got those 5 star and Ultra Rare pulls he wanted in his first 1-10 pulls? But you? It took you over 100 pulls to get what you wanted. WTF?????

You swear he must be cheating the system somehow. There is NO WAY.

Racing Games.

Particularly the ones that you can have a full racing setup for.

He's splurged thousands of Grimm on this.

Gran Turismo? Forza? F1? iRacing? He has them all.

He is VERY picky about who he lets touch his decked out setup... He'll let you use it any time you want, though. :) You're his treasure, ofc

Controversial Pick: Old School MMOs

Definitely played Old School RuneScape or Black Desert Online or Classic WoW and created gold farming empires.

Doesn't even do end game content, he's just a guild leader making bank off the work of his members.

He probably hosts fun events though.

Would definitely be the kind of guy that makes up scavenger hunts/fashion shows/trivia nights/etc. and gives out sick prizes...

Might also rig these to make sure you or his officers win the best prizes. How sweet.

Leviathan

He is literally THE gamer.

There probably isn't a single genre of game he hasn't played.

His favorite games are definitely MMORPGs and Visual Novels/Dating Sims/Bishojos/Gal games.

Could see him as a raid lead in all of the biggest MMOs like WoW, FFXIV and GW2.

He also 100% visits the degenerate RP server places like Moon Guard's Goldshire and Balmung's Quicksand.

He's definitely not a BLUSHING MESS and rushing to close his game if you catch him in one of these places!!! He would never go there!!! Oh... you want to join him? DEFINITELY NOT.

He would get too jealous of anyone daring to look at you to even let you breath in the vicinity of these degen realms.

He's also done plenty of MMO Ironman challenges and was one of the first people to complete Classic Hardcore WoW entirely solo. Didn't even group for dungeons. What a MAN.

Bishojo/Gal games are his guilty pleasure, how could they not be?

He gets all the waifus with none of the jealousy, right???

What do you mean he picks the same one every time? He can't just cheat on them MC!!

Loves JRPGs and Soulslike games.

Has definitely beaten Elden Ring more times than he can count. Knows literally all of the ins, outs, and secrets and is eagerly anticipating the DLC.

Has probably played every single Final Fantasy game and beaten them all. Would very much have a soft spot for FF4, FF7, and FF9.

Could definitely see him playing MOBAs and 4x strategy/Grand strategy games.

He's not the Grand Admiral of Hell's Navy for nothin'. He knows strategy games like the back of his hand.

The only brother that ever rivals him in strategic knowledge is Satan. (and Lucifer, but we're talking about GAMES here.)

He spends countless hours on League of Legends.

He mains JG/Mid and gets very toxic.

Has favorite characters, but honestly just plays whatever is in meta.

Owns every skin for Ahri, Lux, Katarina, Evelynn, and Akali.

He's definitely in Challengers.

Would 100% make a Smurf account if you wanted to play and would duo bot with you.

He'd play ADC and do anything to protect you, his loving support.

Would not be toxic in your games (unless you are too).

Faker who???

Controversial pick: Casual Mobile Games

Played Flappy Bird all the time when it was popular, still has a cracked copy on his D.D.D... I don't think anyone is beating his high score.

He's got a ridiculous amount of hours on Candy Crush, Angry Birds, and Fruit Ninja.

Would throw his D.D.D into his fish tank and have Henry 2.0 guard it before he'd ever let you catch him on one of these 'normie' games...

But... he secretly likes them so much.

Satan

Hear me out, Satan would be a SUCKER for CYOA (Choose-your-own-adventure)/IF (Interactive Fiction) text games.

Would have Choice of Games, Hosted Games, and Heart's Choice hidden on his D.D.D.

He LOVES immersing himself in story games and creating various MCs.

Oh, look! An RO that reminds him of you? Don't mind him self-inserting.

Probably has character sheets made for his favorite MCs. 

Will play through his favorite stories many, many times.

It all started with Choice of the Deathless and now he owns every game on each platform? (I'm jealous)

Also goes on Dashing Don... What do you MEAN author hasn't finished this story yet? AAAA-

Detective/Mystery/Escape Rooms Games.

I don't think any explanation is needed here. It's just who he is.

Would definitely get all of his brothers (minus Lucifer) together to do a virtual escape room... Unfortunately, it became so chaotic they never finished it. Oh well.

Once played Phasmophobia with Levi, Beel, and Belphie. Was very proud of himself for figuring out the ghost... Definitely did not sacrifice his brothers for the info.

Life Sims.

Specifically ones that let you own or are centered around cats.

Has played every single Sims game and bought their cat and dogs expansions.

Definitely did NOT recreate you and himself with 6 cute cats!!!

He did NOT get the mod that extends household size so that you two could own 97 cats. He wouldn't do that, no way!!!

...Was there actually a baby in the household, too..? Why did it have his hair and your eyes...? SATAN?!?!

you know the Catz DS game? He owned every single version and will NOT let you touch them... Okay. Maybe he gave into letting you touch them, but ONLY when he's supervising!

Very much enjoys RTS Games.

He's scarily good at games like StarCraft Brood Wars/2, the Age of Empires franchise, or Rise of Nations.

He's also gotten into 4x games like Stellaris and Civ. Thanks, Levi.

Don't try and challenge him, he can beat the hardest bots and WIN... THE BOTS LITERALLY CHEAT.

HOW DOES HE DO IT? 

Controversial Pick: Fighting Games

Specifically games like Guilty Gear, Street Fighter, Tekken, BlazBlue, etc. Courtesy of Levi again. Thanks, Levi.

It helps him temper his wrath.

He'll sometimes play Mortal Kombat just for the finishers?? Why is he this way?

He could spend hours learning all the combos and tech of his favorite characters.

Has created himself some tech books and would only show them to you, esp. if you showed interest in learning the games with him!

I could see him and Levi settling disputes by doing best 3 out of 5 1v1s against each other.

Could see him maining Giovanna or Leo from GGST? Tends to prefer rushdown characters. (this one is completely biased, i named my cat after Giovanna from GG--)

Asmodeus

Dress-up/Fashion/Stylist Games.

SuitU, Love Nikki, Covet Fashion - you name it.

He has all of them on his D.D.D and will shell out major Grimm to get any outfit he likes.

Might try to make the outfits he gets in these games for himself and you, because you're the perfect model!

Has a lot of fun with it and might try and talk you into playing with him.

Will definitely post amazing outfits he makes in-game on Devilgram. Will also post countless photos and videos of you two modeling those outfits he brings to life.

...NSFW/Eroge Games.

Not gonna go into detail on these ones because you already know what I mean.

Enjoys playing those games that haunt the front pages of my Steam.

Would proudly play them in front of you to laugh at how ridiculous they are sometimes (as long as you're 18+)

Like Satan, I could see him enjoying Life Sims...

Unlike Satan, it's not because he wants animals.

Plays games like the Sims, Stardew Valley, and Sun Haven.

Self-inserts himself and will romance EVERYONE.

Has the mods where you can marry every single villager and the bed mod that makes your bed MASSIVE so all your husbands and wives can sleep with you.

Made a Sims save with just himself romping around town... No sim is safe from Asmo.

Also has a Sims save with you and him that he openly enjoys more. It has both of you enjoying that Sims Nightlife as celebrities and living in a MASSIVE mansion he custom decorated.

Will also play any Visual Novel/Dating Game that is recommended to him by Levi.

Bonus points if it never shows the MC so he can self-insert himself.

Controversial pick (in this case, not really): VR Games

Specifically things like VRChat or Chillout VR.

Would be extraordinarily popular and have custom avatars of HIMSELF made with so many toggles that it'll make your head spin.

He would always be hanging out in night club or bar worlds.

Occasionally Mammon joins him.

Sometimes he also invites you to join him~! (Would not like it if people started hanging all over you, tho, and would probably bring you to a hot home world with just you and him if that happened...)

Beelzebub

Sports games.

No doubts about this one.

Could definitely see him playing FIFA or Madden.

Levi thinks these are SUPER normie games and is offended to have them in the house.

Beel doesn't care.

Ooo, they made a game of Fangol?!?! He becomes an expert so fast, you have no idea. Would 100% teach you how to play with him.

Loves Cooking Games or Food-themed Games...

He just can't play them for long, however.

One time you got him to play Cooking Mama with you, Luke, Simeon, and Solomon but you had to stop because he got so hungry that he was trying to eat the television????

Would have to bring in MANY snacks and vow to make dishes from the games if you wanted to play these with him around... Which is a shame because he genuinely enjoys them. 

I could see him loving Multiplayer Party/Minigame Games like Mario Party or WarioWare.

You mean he gets to play silly mini games with all of his favorite people?

He doesn't care if he wins, he just loves having you guys around.

Almost always comes in last place when he's playing with you, Belphie, and Levi but that's okay. The faces you guys make when you get your stars are worth it.

Controversial pick (and I mean this one is VERY controversial): FPS games

Now, I know what you're thinking. Beel is a gentle giant and wouldn't play these types of games...

But! I could see him forming 5 stacks with you and his brothers in games like CS2 and Valorant and being scarily good because of his amazing hand-eye coordination and reaction times?

Like he and Levi could easily carry you guys to high Asc/Low Immortal lobbies.

He would just play fill when everyone's around, but his mains would be Kay-O and Breach.

He would always be the initiator in Counter-Strike, following Levi's IGL calls perfectly.

He would also probably love playing games like Squad or Modern Warfare or Battlefield with all of his brothers, you + the dateables.

Belphie

Our resident Horror Game lover.

They give him ideas on how to prank his brothers dreams.

Once made Mammon go through Outlast in his dreams (nightmares??).

You better run, little pig.

But he genuinely enjoys them... When he can stay awake through them.

Hey, you, why don't you just play for him?

Loved playing through games like Amnesia... Unfortunately for you, his love for puzzle psychological horror probably contributed to how he acted in Act 16 OM--

Loves Psychological Dramas and those Interactive Media Games.

You know. The ones where you're combing through footage or watching videos and making choices to find out the hidden/deeper/darker meanings?

He LOVES those.

Usually has you or his brothers playing for him. It's most likely Satan.

You all get equally invested.

Idle Games.

He can run these while he's asleep.

There's nothing more to be said. 

These are the simplest type of games there are....

He's probably got a cookie empire.

Has a soft spot for Kart Racing Games.

Will regularly be in the room when you, Levi, Beel or Mammon are playing.

He's honestly pretty good at them??

When he's not falling asleep behind the wheel that is.

Controversial pick: Auto Battlers

These are games like TFT, Hearthstone Battlegrounds, and DOTA's Auto Chess.

He naps in between rounds and wakes up in 20s increments to prepare for his turn... Why does he have the timing down to a tee???

You're sure you've even seen him pick perfectly in his sleep??? How does he do it?????

Regularly comes in the Top 4, usually first or second. 

What do you mean he's a Challenger TFT player??? Wtf how???

Will not coach you if you ask, but you're free to watch!

Will definitely cuddle with you the whole time he's playing these.

All Brothers, with a bonus YOU!

I could honestly see them ALL enjoying CRPGs as a group.

They always get the mods that let you increase your party size.

Went through Baldur's Gate 3 with you on your recommendation.

They all fought over who would get to play Astarion and Mammon won?!?!

Satan got Gale

Beel got Karlach

Levi was Laz'ael

Lucifer was Wyll

Belphie got Shadowheart

And Asmo made a Dark Urge Bard that looked exactly like himself????

He literally doesn't even make any Dark Urge decisions.

He doesn't want blood staining his clothes. 😔

You got to choose whatever you wanted though!

You took the Dark Urge from Asmo and he just played a normal, flirty bard with impeccable fashion sense.

This playthrough took MONTHS and MONTHS... but you all had a blast!

Literally.

You cannot count the number of times Satan 'accidentally' hit you with fire balls. (He claims he was aiming for Lucifer.)

Lucifer somehow ended up getting you all the luckiest ending? How did he roll 3 nat 20s?????

You're on to play Divinity: Original Sin II next...

Satan has already claimed Fane.

[northwest-cryptid]

You know what, no I'll go on record and just say that;

Mabinogi hands down IS the best MMORPG.

Now sure, you can immediately call me bias; and I can literally tell you that is an overused argument. Truth is, yes I have a bias, I have a bias as someone who has played literally hundreds of MMOs, and has never found one that can hold a candle to Mabinogi. Yes this includes games like WoW or FFXIV, and even lesser known but still popular titles like Path of Exiles or Warframe or even Tree of Savior.

But why exactly do I say that Mabinogi is the best MMORPG on the market? Well I think a good MMORPG does a few things, firstly I think any game that wants to be an RPG that lets you make a character needs to give you a sense of identity. Second, I believe an MMO needs to create an interesting environment for playing alongside others; whether they're directly in your party or not. Lastly, no good RPG is complete without going on a grand adventure with proper noticeable growth.

Now, before we begin to really dive into this essay of a post, I want to cover something real quick because I think it's important. When I say Mabinogi is the best MMORPG, and I'm saying that I've played games like WoW or FFXIV. I'm not trying to say those games are bad. I will concede that direct translation and definition would suggest I believe they are "worse" than Mabinogi, and yes I do believe that. However I'm not trying to tell you that your favorite MMORPG is bad or garbage or whatever. Please do not take my personal opinion to be slander of your favorite game. For a lot of players, an MMORPG can be special to them, the characters and the world can mean something to them; and I don't want to be some hater when it comes to your favorite place on the internet.

I'm not coming into this as someone who's naive about the world of MMOs, I know the good and the bad of them, not ALL of them; but a good lot of them. However I want to make something clear; if I went into why other games were "worse" than Mabinogi I would immediately be ignored. Let's say you really like FFXIV, that's fine; it's a good game, I play it myself and am excited about the latest expansion coming out in a few days. Now if I tell you that I think it's kind of ridiculous how much they've simplified the game to the point no class feels truly unique mechanically, or how I used to like AST more before they took away our card's uniqueness and such. It's entirely possible you would stick with me and understand that, even if our opinions differ; what I'm saying is true to me even if it's not to you. Sure maybe you hated having RNG in the RNG healer class, maybe you disliked having to decide if you wanted to spread that buff to the whole party, or enhance that buff for one person, or extend the buff. Maybe you like it more now that everything sort of does the same thing. I'm not talking down to you or being sarcastic when I say, that's fine. We just feel differently about it. Thing is, I've very likely lost you; It's unlikely you hear all of that and not think I'm just some FFXIV hater. I'm not, but it's unlikely you think that way after hearing all my gripes with it. I wouldn't blame you for thinking someone who just tore into a game likely dislikes the game, that's a fair assumption.

If at any point I do sort of dig into a game for it's changes, mechanics, or just how it works. I want you to understand I only feel that way because I do enjoy those games and wish they didn't do things that made playing them feel less fun to me. Those last two words are possibly the most important there; this whole post is strictly opinion, it's my opinion. We don't need to share that opinion, but I hope you find what I say to be at least interesting. I don't see much reason to sit through the whole thing otherwise.

Oh... and one more thing, if you follow this link and download the game now it should be done roughly by the time you finish reading this, probably; maybe? <- That's not even an affiliate link; I'm not sponsored to say anything I'm saying here, I wish I was though.

Game Website Link -> Right here, if you need to make an account.

Now without further delay, let's get into my first key point of why Mabinogi is the best MMORPG on the market right now.

The first order of business in any MMORPG will also be the first thing we talk about here, creating a character. You can't step foot into a world of fantasy without having an avatar to represent yourself. If this individual is to be your fantasy self then the game better have enough customization options to really let you be you. Mabinogi has plenty, from skin color, player weight, and even age; to the colors of the garments you wear.

Let's start with that first bit I mentioned in the introductory paragraph, creating an identity. Mabinogi is a game that truly allows for a diverse cast of characters, when you first make a character the system will unfortunately be fairly limited. Yet when you're released into the game proper and complete the tutorial you will soon find that it's extremely open ended. Your character will start at an age between 10 and 17 (but can go to 25 and even further if you wish), which you'll be able to select once per day, or once per week depending on your level. Age has a very slight almost non-existent effect on your stats, but will mostly determine how tall you are. As a quick example, here is my human main at 18 (left) alongside 2 other players. While I cannot see their age, I can tell their race is human; which allows me to at least guess one is roughly 10 - 13 (middle) and the other is likely anywhere between 15 - 16 (right).

When it comes to skin color, Mabinogi is one of the few games that has a great selection. From the realistic to the fantastical; there's almost certainly something for everyone here.

I've seen light skinned characters, dark skinned characters, tanned and red skinned characters. I've partied up with fantasy demons and zombies. I buy my dyes from a player who's literally pure black with blinding white eyes; a small imp-like character who's style I absolutely adore and who's dyes are top quality. While it doesn't even begin to cover the extensive list, I thought I'd take a few screenshots to help show what I mean.

Now I understand a lot of you may feel like your character doesn't truly reflect you as a person unless you can be the right weight for you. Mabinogi has you covered here as well, albeit with a slightly convoluted system. I will openly admit that this game is flawed, it is by no means a perfect game; but I take this as a sort of "better than nothing" approach. Food in Mabinogi will grant slight stat bonuses, but underneath those stat points and flavor text there's a hidden mechanic.

Food provides players with Upper and Lower muscle gain or loss, as well as a Weight gain or loss. While food is not the only method of gaining or losing both weight and muscle, it is the most common, and arguably easiest method. Players have many guides on the internet that explain which foods to eat in which order to gain the body type you want, this even includes the wiki.

It's also important to note that weight does not effect your stats, the food you eat absolutely does give a small temporary bonus. However your character can be as fat or skinny as you'd like without ever effecting your ability to perform any task.

I would be remiss not to mention another feature of creating an identity, and it does feel like this is an appropriate place to do it. Every day, or every week (depending on your level) you can preform something called a Rebirth, your level will return to 1 and you will be allowed to change some things about your character or leave them as they are.

This will unfortunately readjust your weight settings, which is why we see so many guides on how to get the ideal weight you're looking for. Thankfully it is by no means difficult to achieve this weight gain once more and will take no more than a few minutes after rebirthing.

As a quick note I won't spend too much time on, for my fellow genderfluid and NB friends out there; you can actively change your gender whenever you rebirth (though obviously you don't have to be NB or Genderfluid to enjoy this feature) and there is a good amount of items specific for crossdressing if that is something you'd prefer. That list of items is far more than your generic maid outfit for men; including everything from dresses to common skirts, with women getting suits, hoodies, and everything in between. If you switch genders you will even get an achievement specifically titled "Genderfluid" which I genuinely appreciate quite a lot.

Speaking of clothing, Mabinogi allows you to use a Style Tab when putting on gear. Your style tab won't give you any stats, but allows you to use the look of whatever is equip to the selected slot over the actual gear worn under it. The Style Tab is free for all players, so you can look your best no matter what you might be doing. Though I suppose those clothes wouldn't really be your own unless you had some kind of say over how they looked right?

Thankfully Mabinogi features a robust dying system in which you can actually use hex coded colors on just about any part of an outfit. You can also preview these changes directly on your character prior to using a dye.

There's a specific, and short; list of items that can't be dyed. Otherwise it's common for every item in the game to have at least one or two dye slots where you can customize their colors however you'd like.

You can do the same for your weapons, even giving them skins to change how they look; and then dying those skins to look just how you want them. A good weapon should match your best outfit after all, right?

Clothing items additionally come in the form of helmets, gloves, boots, main body, robes/back slot, face accessories, and then two more accessories that typically float to either side or behind you. This means you can mix and match everything you wear. You're not stuck trying to make some minor hat fit the entire rest of your armor that came as one solid piece, and you're certainly not struggling to match colors when only a small part of your armor actually dyes to the color you want.

Your identity in Mabinogi is what you see fit to make it, and while it would make this segment incredibly long, more so than it already is; the customization doesn't even end here. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, you can actually customize how often and how many times your character will blink. There is no other game on the market that lets you create a character the way Mabinogi does, not while still being an entire world outside of your character for you to explore. Speaking of that world, before we get to exploring just what this game has in store for you on your adventure; I'd like to talk about the characters who aren't you. No I don't mean the NPCs, I mean the other players, and how they impact the game you play even when they're not in your party.

Speaking of other players, to really hit home just how different everyone can look I ran around and took a few pictures of players I found in just this one small town.

You may be wondering how much these other players actually matter, in a lot of MMORPGs other players are merely there to fill out the party for dungeons or assist with world encounters. In Mabinogi they do that as well, however there is a constantly evolving economy both on the player ran Auction House, and for things like the Commerce system. Players can also run their own shops, join you for a jam session to play some music together; and even burn some items for a campfire spirit summoned at a group bonfire.

While the NPCs in this game are fantastic, the players are the lifeblood of the game, as is the case with any good MMORPG. From guilds and parties running content together, to the occasional camp you'll come across while exploring the world. Players populate Mabinogi and their effects are felt whether or not you're actively a part of their game.

One of the features most effected by this is Commerce; a trade system which lets players transport trade goods between major cities and towns. If an item is being traded to a town more than others, it's price will drop and you may find better deals by taking it to far away cities. Though you'll encounter bandits on the road, and due to carrying heavy trade goods you'll be a good bit weaker than you usually find yourself. This makes traveling in groups much easier, with those who use air travel particularly; in need of parties thanks to the dragons who will come after your hoard of trade goods. If a bandit is to steal your loot, you need not worry; as other players can take up the role of bounty hunters and track down these bandits at their hideouts to get your stuff back. Bounty Hunting is an easy way to make some cash and also help out your fellow players who may have been wronged by a poorly placed bandit or two.

What about production? Surely I don't need anyone to assist me with making my goods. Though, a second opinion never hurts; you will actually get a boost to production success rate while in a party with other players who also have production skills. In fact, this is a great way to make some strong gear; as products you make will get bonus stats over those found in stores. This does mean that the player economy is largely populated by products made by other players. If you do a good enough job on the item you're making, you'll even leave a signature behind which can be seen by the individuals who buy and use that gear. This is a minor touch, but it's one I greatly appreciate. Anyone can have a really cool demon sword, but only I have a blade forged specifically by my good friend; in hopes it would aid me in my quest. The connection between myself and my party is ever so slightly more apparent, even when they're not around; I always have a small piece of them with me.

Players attending the banquet, an event held weekly that awards free EXP and a lottery raffle at the Tara Castle; can actually donate their food to the catering tables. This is a great time to hang out with fellow players, get some free levels; and of course eat significantly too much food.

Surely that's all, right? Well no, believe it or not players actually have a hand in many things. If you want to enchant some gear but you don't have the enchanting rank to do it yourself; you can request another player to assist you. Perhaps you're an alchemist needing to create alchemy crystals of special magic skills; another player can cast that magic nearby and let you synthesize it into a crystal. If you're using the Jam Session action other players can join you with their own instruments when you play music; automatically matching whatever song you're playing. There's a fashion contest where the winner is put on display in full costume right in the middle of the major cities for all to see. There's even mechanical changes to things like magic, if you're casting Ice Bolt while I cast Fire Bolt next to you; we instead both gain a charge of Fusion Bolt. This form of magic combines the properties of your Ice Bolt and my Fire Bolt into a more powerful version of our respective magics, all because we happened to cast at the same time nearby each other.

If you enjoy music then you might find yourself reading through the Bard Bulletin Board, where players can post the compositions for their custom music. You can transcribe this music yourself and play it whenever you wish, though you can also use the MabiNovel Bulletin to read books written and published by your fellow players as well. This does in fact mean that you too could become a composer, or even an author and post your works to the respective boards.

Players can also obtain their own small piece of the world via Homesteads. These function as a sort of player owned housing system, and they allow you to do everything from growing farms to hosting your own production stations with boosted success rates. Of course the owner of the Homestead can allow either friends, or anyone; to come and gather from their herb patches, farm animals, and various logging, mining, and production sites. Meaning that other players not only offer you an expanded world to explore, but potentially gathering and production spots that may not otherwise be available at your current location.

While Homesteads start quite small, they're nothing to scoff at when fully upgraded; allowing for even a proper house, pets, and partners; to be placed on the fully customizable property. Some items will even passively grant you bonuses to your stats or provide your gathering and production stations bonuses to gathering and success rates.

Alright great, so you have a character who's uniquely you; you even have a place in the world among other players. However what good is that if you don't have a world worth existing in. You're here to play an MMORPG, if you wanted to simply dress up an avatar and exist in a space with others; you'd play something like VRChat or Second Life, or maybe you'd go download that Sims multiplayer mod. You want an RPG! An adventure! A living world to explore and be a part of!

Well Mabinogi's got you covered there as well believe it or not. Now where you fall in terms of enjoying the story is fairly up in the air; I know some people who love it and others who could take it or leave it. That's entirely fair and I don't blame them for feeling that way. To avoid potential spoilers I will be saying up front that if this has been enough for you and you're willing to trust me that this game is worth your time. Skip ahead to the Q and A if you think you need it, or go download and play the game now if you didn't already do that. Hell you can even add me in game if you want some people to play with who are going to be chill with newbies. If you need a bit more though, then keep reading because you might just like what I have to say about this game's journey.

When you start Mabinogi you'll be told you're this being from the stars, something that cannot die; and therefore has importance here. You may literally be an immortal entity, but you won't feel like it. You'll start with only a handful of skills, and with this game having no real class system it's not so straight forward how to get more of them. You'll stumble upon a few while just exploring the world, but others might require you to actually engage with the world around you. If that sounds exciting, don't worry; we've only just begun to explain the whole system of interacting with NPCs.

See the game of Mabinogi is before all else, the story of you; your character the journey you go on. So it's fitting that you keep notes in a Memo, this Memo is written in the perspective of your character; and will keep tabs on what you've been through. Each entry in the Memo is given a Key Word; and these key words will be given to you as you experience new places and things. Whenever you engage with an NPC you can start a conversation, this allows you to flip through your Memo and select a Key Word to speak about with them. Asking them about their private story will reveal this character's lore and backstory, at least; if they like you enough to share that information with you. NPCs do actually contain a system of trust with the player, and if you befriend an NPC they'll even let you access a secret shop where they sell exclusive items. Other Key Words include things like Nearby Rumors where you can obtain gossip and quests; or perhaps you want to ask about Part Time Jobs. Whether you're working for the town blacksmith to deliver some refined ore, or you're gathering wool to make bandages for the town healer; Part Time Jobs offer you fitting rewards for the work you perform, and allow you to even unlock various skills down the line if you perform well enough. Which brings us to another Key Word, the Skills Key Word. Skills is a Key Word that will ask an NPC if they believe they could teach you anything, if you see a knight you can ask them about Skills and maybe learn a new technique for your swordsmanship. Asking a chef about skills may result in them giving you a quest that has you running out to make flour and bake some bread. These methods are meant to immerse you in the world and teach you how the mechanics behind these skills works, rather than just saying you're level 16 so now you can bake bread.

Some NPCs will even react to your title, thanking you for the deeds you've done or perhaps judging you for why you'd do such a thing. This is because every NPC in the game, no matter how minor; has a story to tell. They all have unique theme music that contains a name referencing something about the character and their story. The more you talk to these NPCs and they open up to you, the more you'll learn about the world you're a part of.

However, small NPC stories don't amount to much in the grand scheme of an epic adventure do they? Well don't worry, now we're getting into the main scenario quests, and the lasting impact they have on you as a character. Have you ever felt like you should have maybe gotten a new power, or been recognized for the deeds you've accomplished after you literally save the world; only to return to business as usual? Well Mabinogi actually considered all of that, not only do you get a title that NPCs might react to, as I mentioned previously; but the Main Scenario Questline actually gives you everything from transformations to special unique items. This is again the last chance to not have spoilers as I will be covering at the very least Generation 2: Paladin and Generation 10: Goddess of Light through Generation 12: Return of the Hero.

Okay now that everyone who doesn't want spoilers is gone, allow me to tell you about just a few of these MSQ rewards; of course jumping right to the good stuff without context makes it meaningless. So let's start with a quick summary of Generation 1 that's roughly spoiler free.

Generation 1: Advent of the Goddess starts with The Goddess asking you for help, then you save her. See I kept it spoiler free! You're given the title "[Player name] Who Saved The Goddess" for doing this which grants you some nice stats, but the real reward is that you get to move on to Generation 2: Paladin. Well wow, that's kind of an underwhelming title isn't it? You just finished Advent of the Goddess and now you're on... Paladin? Huh okay, well this quest line is all about a Paladin of legend. You spend the generation becoming someone worthy of the Paladin's armor, searching for his old armor, and even reliving some old memories of his. All to figure out who he is and solve the grand mystery that sparked this whole generation in the first place. The political drama of a potentially puppeteered prince who may actually be dead from the start... Okay yea listen it's more interesting when you actually play it. The real plot twist of this whole generation however is when you figure out who that old Paladin actually is, and more importantly that they're still alive. In the final dungeon of this generation when you face off against the final encounter he is not the one who saves the day. Rather it is you who gets to don the armor of the legendary Paladin and in a moment I love, you get to save him. This transformation is actually a fairly minor stat boost at first. You're not some overpowered god, you're still you; just powered up. When you complete the generation you will find yourself with a wholly new power available to you, the power to become that very same Paladin; now with it's own skills to rank to make it even stronger than it already was.

Yes, just for clearing Generation 2 you now have an entirely new power unlocked for you. The power to, once a day in game time; transform into your Paladin form. If you're an Elf you transform instead into a Falcon, and Giants transform into a Beast. These new forms come with their own unique skills and properties. However you don't lose access to the skills and abilities you already have. This will be a running theme throughout Mabinogi, you only get more; you don't get locked out from being you. If the Paladin aesthetic isn't your deal, and you want things a little different, don't worry; Generation 3: Dark Knight might be more your style. However, this begs the question; are Dark Knights and Paladins the same thing flavored differently? Nope. Sure they are both the same Transformation at the end of the day, but their inner workings are very different. To give you a quick example of what I mean, Paladins always get the same stats every time, but they have no specialized skill they can use while transform. They're essentially your generic stronger form, with buffed stats and nothing more, dull but reliable. Dark Knights instead roll for their stats every time they transform, meaning sometimes you're going to have much stronger physical defense, and other times a much higher magic damage stat. If you're interested in the specifics, here you go:

Dark Knights also don't get forcibly removed from their transformation when their timer is up, rather they go into a state called "Disarmed" where they will take heavy damage over time, but this can be healed if they wish to power through it and keep fighting in their transformed state. They additionally obtain Control of Darkness which lets them tame an enemy to fight for them for a short time.

The Generation 2 transforms (Paladin, Dark Knight, Falcon, and Beast) all have 4 tiers of their transformation, dependent on the skills rank. Each boasting it's own unique title and appearance that builds on their central aesthetic and motif. This means a player who's max ranked Paladin will transform into a Champion, or for Dark Knights, they'll become an Infra Black. I do enjoy the morals of the game being muddier than to just say Paladin is bright and shiny and good, and Dark Knight is well, dark and edgy and bad. As you go through the game you'll learn a lot about the politics of the gods, and understand their moral values a lot better. Which leads us to our next major upgrade.

In Generation 10: Goddess of Light, we take the fight to the gods, and between Generation 10 and Generation 12, we'll even obtain the Sword of the Gods, a then usable sword weapon which ironically may not even be as powerful as some of our own gear by the time we get it; but more specifically we'll decline godhood and become a Demigod. However it's a bit deeper than that, as you'll find that at the end of Generation 10 you're confronted by your doppelganger. Upon defeating it, you gain the power to assume the form of a Demigod; which yes, you can in fact transform into while also transformed into your Generation 2 state. Not only does this form regen your HP, MP, and Stamina; but it additionally allows the use of special skills that depend on which of the gods you're allied with. Those who are being supported by the Goddess Neamhain will obtain skills such as Spear of Light, and Fury of Light; however if you decide to be supported by the Goddess Morrighan you instead obtain Wings of Eclipse, and Wings of Rage. Of course you won't have a choice right away, when you first obtain the ability to become a Demigod, you'll be defaulted to working with Naemhain's skills. They're not bad, but Morrighan isn't going to just give you her skills so easily so if we want options we'll need to get her to work with us. Once we clear Generation 11: Sword of the Gods; we in fact obtain the Sword of the Gods itself. This is important since we'll need it if we're going to fight the gods. Now in Generation 12 we are asked to fight alongside Morrighan to bring down the King of the Gods, Nuadha. For clearing this generation, you'll obtain the right to be supported by Morrighan; which is kind of funny since if you're a Dark Knight it shows you've actually betrayed her by giving up the path of the Paladin in favor of following Dark Knight. I guess she can overlook that given you just helped her defeat the King of the Gods.

Surely the upgrades stop there right? Well no, actually; but you probably knew that already. See there's actually currently, up to G25, with G26 on an active countdown to release as I make this post. With even more transformations, special skills, and some really incredible upgrades that change even the way we engage with crafting; the generation quests are more than worth your time and leave you feeling more powerful with each completion.

Mabinogi isn't just having you go through these quests to complete the story, it's also actively making you more and more the proper image of this immortal hero of legend. It's giving you a power boost on par with some silly shonen anime. As much as you may cringe to hear me make a stupid joke from the early internet; yes the Milletian could beat Goku. Sorry I had to make the dumb joke after making the shonen anime reference you know? These powers aren't ever restricted from you either; it's not as if you suddenly can't use your Paladin transformation in a dungeon, nor are you locked out from using Demigod to regen some stamina just to pick some flowers. Mabinogi is the story of your character, and it gives you so many upgrades and power scale boosts because it genuinely wants you to feel like a powerful hero going up against powerful enemies.

Now I will admit there's something to be said about the balance in some of the later Generation quests, especially because you can skip over a lot of them. They absolutely do plan for you to have the full arsenal of Generation specific skills by the time you reach Generation 20+ but dare I say, I think that's fair. We actually see this in other games too, it's just more allowed from other games because they do a better job of hiding their barrier to entry.

What I mean is that FFXIV is like Dark Souls 3, it's not going to let me go somewhere I'm not actually ready for, because it knows I won't have any fun getting my ass kicked but it's really linear. While Mabinogi is like Elden Ring, it looks at me saying "I'm ready I'm ready put me in coach!" While facing down against an actual god well before I'm... you know, actually ready. Yet it just says "go get 'em champ!" Only to watch me become a pancake two seconds later and think "yea this balance is garbage." Truth is, if I go back and do the content I'm suppose to do first; I will be more than ready for this content when I reach it. However I might actually be able to clear this content when I'm not supposed to yet, and Mabinogi; much like Elden Ring, lets me try. We see this same type of barrier to entry in how FFXIV says "hey man you can't run this until you're Item Level 280 sorry." That feels boring when you just want to run the thing, you don't want to go back and "grind" for item levels, but in reality it's just stopping you from trying and failing repeatedly. Which makes sense for the type of game FFXIV is, where other players are a requirement, and you don't want to hold them back because you thought you could do it with less.

The other truth is, with Mabinogi; not every path to success is going to look the same. I might spend my time training my combat skills, slowly saving up the small stat gains to get to where my base strength is at 500 and I can deal some nice damage. My friend who doesn't want to touch combat skills can absolutely focus on his cooking, slowly but surely becoming a master chef as I've become a master warrior. Now he can make a catering dish that boosts his strength to 500 all the same. We're not going to be dealing the same damage since things like weapon type, and skill ranks will come into play; but this does mean he could achieve the same goals as me in a totally different way. Personally I'm a huge fan of this, it lets every single character feel unique; you can truly become your own kind of player here.

Whether it's weaving your magic skills into your archery gameplay, or becoming an apothecary bard who uses musical buffs and potions to level the playing field. Perhaps you want to train your Ninja and Chain Blade skills to keep you at a distance, debuff enemies, and set explosive traps. You could even just play the game with life skills, relaxing by the pond as a master fisher; before tailoring a new outfit. All of these methods are entirely valid ways to play the game, they all give the necessary stats to enjoy whatever content you wish to, and yes they all give you levels.

It is for these reasons, and honestly; many others. That I have played this game since it's beta, for literally half my lifetime; and why I believe this is genuinely hands down the best MMORPG on the market right now. I urge you to give this game even 15 or 30 minutes of your time, don't get caught up on the old dated graphics, don't fret if you don't understand everything right away. The game is complex, it has a ton of mechanics that mix and intertwine to create a unique experience. The things you might find troublesome at first are exactly what makes the game so fun and unique when you understand them. Given the average internet speed and size of Mabinogi, should you have downloaded this game at the start of this reading it should be about done by now. If not, you've got the Q and A down there for any potential follow up questions you may have. So go ahead and jump into the world of Erinn, if you stop by Dunbarton on Channel 9 you might catch someone from the Landsbetween guild, feel free to stop and say hi; we're a friendly bunch.

A quick Q&A for things I've been asked frequently and might answer some questions or possible concerns you have about the game.

Q: I see a weird banner with P on it, does that mean I require a premium account to use that skin/hair color? A: No. That symbol signifies that it would cost Pon. A cash shop currency that is given to the player fairly regularly. You in fact get a gift box with about 20 Pon when you reach an early level milestone such as 50 or 100. It costs anywhere between 3 - 5 to change eye, hair, and skin color. Of course it only costs you to change to a color that uses the P banner, if a color you would like doesn't have any symbol (either a P for Pon or a B for a Beauty Coupon) then it's completely free. Q: I see a lot of cool characters, how much of a grind is it; or do I need to pay real money to customize my character? A: You can play Mabinogi entirely free to play, gacha boxes do contain high end loot and good in-game items. However the Auction House easily allows you to buy these items from players using entirely free to play gold when a new gacha comes out. While it might seem intimidating to make 1m at first. You'll quickly learn you can make 1m passively per week + any actual activity you do in this game earns you quite a lot. A single run of a dungeon will net me between 50k - 350k depending on drops and my actual in game luck stat. This is on top of the 160k I can make for free just logging in and doing Fynni Blossoming for the day. Of course, the higher your skills and total level; the easier it will be to make money. Q: I don't want to do a specific part of this game, can I still enjoy the other features? A: Yes. Entirely, in fact; I'm doing a challenge run on a character who's not allowed to rank up any combat or damage skills. I've already completed the first major questline of the game without any problem. I will say that your ability to play the game will directly reflect how much knowledge of the mechanics you have. This isn't to say you should scour the wiki for days on end, unless you're into that. However I would argue that having a few friends to play with, or perhaps actually taking the time to read through skills and practice with what you do enjoy doing; will help you to get by not doing the stuff you don't want to. You really can play this game however you want, it just may require you to have a better understanding of it's inner workings. You're always welcome to ask me about stuff whether that's here on tumblr or in game.

Q: My UI and HUD are this weird plastic blue color and I kinda hate it. Can I fix that or am I stuck with this? A: In the settings menu the game allows you to change the color of the UI and HUD to fit your liking. You can also enable various hotbars and disable others. Additionally you can change the game's resolution, and even pick out which version of the OST you'd like to use of which there are three distinct versions.

Q: Does this game have a meta I should worry about?

A: Yes and no, yes it has a meta; no you shouldn't worry about it. If you're really concerned I recommend picking Giant as your race and Close Combat as your starting Talent. I didn't go over Talents in this essay but they're sort of specializations, not classes. They don't limit anything you can do, but rather give you 2x EXP towards the skills they govern. Giants have a fair bit more strength and HP, they're your standard tanky race. While they may not be as fast on their feet as nimble Elves; they can take a good few more blows, and even have racial skills specific to gathering up enemies. Close Combat doubles down on what Giants are already good at, giving you more HP and Strength. Start out by ranking your essential basics, those being Defense, Smash, Counter, Windmill, and honestly throw Assault Slash in for good measure; since you'll want to often combo these skills together. DO NOT SLEEP ON DEFENSE, it is a heavily overlooked but extremely powerful skill. If you feel like you're struggling in combat, grab a shield and rank your shield mastery; even light armor mastery will be more than enough so long as you have a decent shield and the necessary ranks in the skills. You'll soon feel like a steel wall of defense that not even major storyline bosses can put a dent into.

Q: What are the differences between Elves, Humans, and Giants? Can I change my race after I make my character, since I can change my gender?

A: First off, no; sadly you cannot change your race after making a character. This is become of the racial differences. The major ones are as follows...

Elves can use invisibility to hide themselves, they'll fire 2 arrows as opposed to 1 when using archery; and they obtain a unique poison arrow that spreads to nearby targets when fired. They move faster than other races and have stats better geared towards Magic and Archery; though that won't matter too much. They become a Falcon after Generation 2 letting them use Elven Magic Missile, and cannot use 2 handed weapons nor can they dual wield.

Giants can use stomp which is a fairly week AoE ability, they also get Taunt, Stampede, and Wind Guard as unique skills. They can use two handed weapons in one hand letting them use a shield with them, and can dual wield blunt objects. They have stats geared towards a close combat play style, though again that won't matter too much later on. They become a Beast after Generation 2 letting them use Giant Full Swing, they cannot use bows but have thrown spears instead.

Humans cannot learn the specific racial skills of the other two races. They can dual wield swords; and don't have equipment restrictions outside of not being able to dual wield blunt objects and not being able to use the throwing spears. They have stats geared to an all around play style, which as you know; doesn't really matter much. They become a Paladin after Generation 2, or they can become a Dark Knight which gives them the active skill Control of Darkness which lets them tame an enemy to fight for them.

Q: Is this game Pay to Win?

A: Is any MMORPG not Pay to Win? Alright, real answer; let's break it down. Does Mabinogi have Pay to Win properties? Absolutely it does. Most if not all MMORPGs do. FFXIV has the paid level boosts just like Mabinogi has paid gacha boxes with end game loot. I'm not trying to pick on FFXIV here, it's just what I'm familiar with because I also play it. Truth is, Mabinogi gives you a lot of gold for just doing content, whether you're a crafter who can sell your wares for millions, just doing daily Fynni gems for 1m a week per character, or combat focused and running your Lord missions with boosts for a few million in a couple hours. So while I'd argue that it absolutely is pay to win, not only do you not need those minor boosts from the gear until long into the later generations; you also will have the money to buy it off players long before you actually need it. That's if you need it at all, since you can easily get ahead in this game by just engaging with the many skills and mechanics. If I had to give this a simple yes or no, the answer is yes; but I really don't think it's nearly as bad in Mabinogi as it is in other games. Especially considering how small the PvP scene in this game is. You don't need to pay to win when someone else in your party absolutely did, or maybe you just pay in gold to win. However I'd argue that it's pay to win FASTER than others. Just take it slow and enjoy the journey. Every game is pay to win, Mabinogi handles it better than most.

Q: Is there any reason for me to not like this game?

A: Yea the devs haven't hired me to write articles like this for their marketing. Boycott worthy honestly; they should pay me for this, or at least make me a soul streamer, you know? (┬┬﹏┬┬) ^ This last one is a joke, you know; in case reading comprehension.

[nadianova]

I'm a trans lesbbian with enough free time on my hands that I've considered joining multiple MMOs but never getting around to any of them and since I've recently played your VNs (enamored and fascinated by you) and saw you play Second Life I was wondering if I could ask for your recommendation... or something, if that's alright.

second life definitely more like just a sandbox hangout place. think vrchat or something? idk

but as for like MMOs idk if i have any good input on this ive just played osrs, wow and ffxiv though, even then in the end im sure ive done more rp than actually play the damn games. though with that said i do think that ffxiv is worth a go even if the beginning is sucky. its full of gays and when i get bored of doing content i can erp. win win situation

osrs is the best one but dont touch it. it will drain your time and life forever. you cant even erp in osrs. lame ass cookie clicker (said fondly)

[ffxivlucio]

(Count)Down to Dawntrail- Day 7: Free Choice

So first, I know I missed a few days ;-; I still have the ideas for it as always in my head, but work and already rushing stuff kinda killed my confidence. Maybe one day I'll type them out, we'll see. But I did have fun with what I did! It's my first time doing a daily sorta thing like this, so I expected some burnout from myself. Really, I just wanna shout out the entire FFXIV gaming community. Without what is the nicest in-game fanbase I've ever seen, I would not have made it this far. WoW is the only other MMO I've played, and while I barely remember it, I was bracing myself coming into FFXIV. At the time, I had wanted to play something in its style, but I didn't know of any games. My friend took a chance on it, but man, I was hooked instantly. This game's story is the best I've ever seen, beating out even D2's. The music..my god the music is so insanely good. But here I am rambling again as always lol I suppose I also wanna shout out a few ppl, forgive me if this is a bother. @gatheredfates- for organizing this event and the discord server, I thank you! I rly enjoy the small community that you've built, everyone is always so nice and friendly! This was a blast to do, and help me get out of my shell a little bit. @starrysnowdrop- I'm pretty sure your posts on Hali and Aymeric were some of the first stuff I saw on ffxiv's tumblr, and Aymeric's tag, and I absolutely have fallen in love with them, and your stuff! I hope Tural treats them well, can't wait to see them! @iron-sparrow- Absolutely loving your stuff so far! I love Yein and your affirmations! The way you do gposes with the thin white frame is really eye-catching! There's a lot of other people I could tag, but even if I don't interact with your stuff (mainly bc I forget to orz), I will always enjoy it. I'm excited to get to know this community better, and hopefully getting myself out there a lil more! o/

[maguneedsalife]

OK so I know it's been FOREVER since we talked BUT I have been watching a stream of someone playing FFXIV from the beginning and then I was also talking to a friend about the story of FFXIV and I thought of you.

I know if I get into FFXIV it will eat my life (and sometimes I consider it) but if I do, how should I start?

Also, what are the best parts of the story and/or gameplay?

(also Aoife is cool, I like her a lot, and I've just been casually following you long enough that she's like... my default WOL, just so you know)

aaa ty for the ask! (and it doesnt feel like forever somehow bc we reblog each other's posts all the time lmao)

anyway this ended up very long so im putting it under a readmore, but aaaaa im so happy you're interested in trying the game!!

ffxiv will absolutely eat your life, but! if you're interested in giving it a try to see if you like it, (deep breath) have you heard about the free trial of the award winning mmo final fantasy fourteen with no restrictions on playtime and content up to level 70 including the heavensward and stormblood expansio--

jokes aside, the free trial is my personal rec for where to start. you can play as most of the available races (viera and hrothgar are locked to shadowbringers unforch, but as part of the story you get an item that you can use to remake your character if you want, so if you decide to buy the game later you can use that to make the bunny or lion of ur dreams). there are some limits on things like buying items off the mb and how much gil/items you can have, but for the most part there's like 200+ hours of content that's just available for FREE. Idk if you have mmo experience, but if xiv would be your first foray into MMOs i would definitely try the trial first to see if you like it! and since stormblood is included in the trial now you can meet my favorite robot beetle without paying a CENT

the other thing to consider is that there is a big expansion coming at the end of June, which will also include a gigantic graphical update for the characters and world. right now the game is doing its best with ps3-early ps4 era graphics, but come june everything will look a lot prettier! (not that it isn't already pretty, but i won't miss the pixelated grass...). They'll also be adding furry lion ladies if that's your thing (though they won't be free to play as; you'll have to buy the full game to make a hot lion). the downside is the new expansion will be a tough time to start with everyone trying to get in for the new story, so I'd say if you want to start, either do it before dawntrail (easy to log in) or end of july (login queues have eased, and you get to see everything in the pretty graphics!)

normally here is where I'd put my "if you want to play around with the character creator, there's a free benchmark program you can download that includes it!" buuuut the dawntrail benchmark has uh, let's just say wip character models, and they're actually working on putting out an update to it sometime in the next couple weeks.... but when that update does come out, it'll be a great way to play around and see what kind of character you want your wol to be!

WHEW. Okay. that's the first part of your question.

Second part of your question - i wont discuss details of the story bc imo it's worth experiencing firsthand, but i think my favorite part about the story is that your little guy is at the center of it. a lot of the wol's narrative is left open to interpretation, and you are free to imagine how your character responds to the plot. every single person who plays this game has a different and valid experience with the same story, simply due to how they envision their character participating in it, and i think that's beautiful. i can't think of a lot else like it out there.

you'll see a lot of people online arguing that some expansions are "skippable" or base game is "skippable" but they're all lying to you. play all the main story. watch all the cutscenes. there's no need to zoom through it. the reason you are crying your eyes out at the end of endwalker is because you have watched your wol grow from the time they were killing level 1 ladybugs in the starting area. some parts might be stronger or weaker than others, but it all comes together to make one of my favorite stories videogames has ever told.

(also, no spoilers, but shadowbringers is still my favorite expansion for a reason. you've probably osmosized a fair bit of it from my posts about it but it's soooo good. it's worth seeing in person.)

also there are some surprisingly good storylines in the "side" content (raids, trials, etc), so it's definitely worth picking up those blue plus quests and seeing what adventures are to be had. not to be biased but the omega storyline is my favorite ("yes ren we KNOW you like the robot beetle"). some are serious (there's one about child soldiers) and some are goofy (in one questline you solve zany mysteries with the world's least competent detective) but all of them have heart, and a little final fantasy corniness.

as for gameplay, its probably obvious that i love the fashion aspect. Gear you obtain can be seen on your character (even jewelry!), and there's a whole system for saving outfits. people joke that glamour is the true endgame but i literally, like an hour ago, cleared a high difficulty raid because i wanted a specific shirt. So obviously the dressup aspect is a main draw for me gameplay wise.

but other than that, one of the game's strengths is there's something for everyone. if you want to be the sweatiest raider and optimize your rotation and get BiS and clear ultimates, you can, but it's not the only way to enjoy the game. i have friends who enjoy just dinking around in roulettes, friends who love to fish, friends who roleplay, friends who organize rare monster kill trains, and friends who spend a ton of time on minigames in the casino. that's just scratching the surface. there's so much to do!

anyway, whew, i think that maybe answered your question? or maybe you now have more of them?

i am always available here and on discord to answer questions and help you get started in eorzea :3 ty again for the ask!!!

and aaaaaaaaaa hearing that you like aoife makes me so happy 😭

[nabaath-areng]

I feel so strange thinking about how I considered myself "new" in FFXIV for the longest time, as when I started playing there were so many legacy players around. I saw their mounts and their titles, I talked to them, played with them, and to me they were the experienced ones teaching me how to play my first MMO. For years I considered myself a newbie.

And then, just the other day, I see in the chat of an FC I was invited to on an alt, people talking about having played for a long time, and their longest playing member having been around for 5 years. It hit me just how long of a time that is, and how much longer passed before I'd even realized it.

I ask others if they remember various things from the past, and I can count on one hand the amount of people I meet in recent years who do. So many things I still consider new and flashy, like Gpose and job gauges for instance, have now been in the game far longer than they have not. It's a strange situation caused by me losing about a decade's worth of memories and life (due to mental health issues that practically broke me) as well as the normal feeling ot time passing without me really thinking about it. Less and less did I see the legacy titles and mounts, but I didn't pay much heed. Until one day I suddenly stop and look around, realizing that I haven't seen any legacy players at all for a while. I'm certain they're out there, but most likely not in the same sheer abundance as before.

It's a bit similar to real life, where my home was once just an old, secluded village that have now become geographically closer to the city without ever moving. Where the others I used to surround myself with have all moved on in slow trickles over the years, and where I cannot expect everyone to remember the same things that I do. So many new people everywhere, some that cause lines in the grocery store that can afford to keep running after all these years, and some that fail to load in on my weak little laptop's screen.

It's like I have two homes mirroring each other, and obviously that means I age in both of them. I bought this game as a gift for myself on my 18th birthday... and here I am 10 years later, turning 28 today, and realizing that I'm still here in both places despite everything. Waiting for another expansion all over again, just like when I was staying alive just because I wanted to play Heavensward so bad.

I can't even begin to count just how many people I've known and interacted with throughout the years in this game. There are memories that my years of paranoia and psychosis stole from me (something which I only shook off the last remnants of half a year ago), of people who I know were important to me but who I'm also unable recall much about beyond their names, which is something which fills me with both deep shame and sorrow. Some I remain in touch with to this day, and some I am mutuals with on various sites, even if we don't chat regularly anymore.

There's a lot that I don't remember, or that I even memorized in the first place. Things have changed time and again for both better and worse. But FFXIV has remained a constant throughout it all, even when I've been unsubbed due to lack of a PC and just on a general break.

I don't know what my point is with all of this really, but I guess I just really wanted to get it off my chest. It's not all sunshine and rainbows these days either, but my mental health is better than it's ever been, I have a partner and friends and family who all mean the world to me, and even though some things will forever be less than ideal, I am so so so happy that I didn't give up. Staying alive really was the best decision I ever made ❤️

[thecrystarium]

　　 · 　 * · ✦ about the blogger ✫ ✵ ·　　✵ 　　 ˚

b | 30+ | she/her | queer i've been playing ffxiv since 2/20/22! i played wow for 10+ years and then left for a long while, was missing mmos, so i decided to give ffxiv a chance after seeing someone play a bit of it. i fell in love immediately, absolutely loved the gameplay and story, and ended up finishing endwalker on 9/19/2022! i'm a decent gifmaker, a mediocre writer, and a bad gposer, but i'm having fun doing all of them! all likes and follows come from @pdwoozi~ :) update: very close to finishing dawntrail! i've just got the lvl 100 dungeon and the last trial left to do, and i'll get around to it soon! i'm so enraptured in crafting/gathering right now, i don't know what to do with myself. i've got culinarian and fishing @ 100 and i'm working hard on everything else!

　　 · 　 * · ✦ warrior of light ✫ ✵ ·　　✵ 　　 ˚

twinkle littlestar | 29 years old | pictomancer (main) twinkle littlestar (a chosen name rather than her given) is of the dunesfolk lalafell and is small in stature compared to others of her age. her nameday falls on the 29th sun of the first umbral moon and she very much loves to celebrate it with all of the people she's come to call friends. twinkle chose ul'dah her home, though she hails from somewhere else entirely. she loves the twists and turns of the city streets and the shadows the lamps cast when they flicker on at night. oftentimes, you'll find her just outside the city walls, looking straight up at the stars and marveling over the heavens. she doesn't remember much of her parents, who were taken away from her all too soon, but she does remember her mother singing her a little song every night as she snuggled up under her covers to fall asleep.

to say that twinkle loves the nighttime and stars (those from the source and those from other shards alike) is an understatement. if you ask her, the night sky is ever-changing, the heavens ever-moving. there's something exciting to see in it every time she glances back after having just looked away. (just ask her about the moment she saw the night sky return on the first!) the mere sight of something space-y sends her into an excited tizzy the likes of which you've never seen before. and for gods sakes, don't get her on the topic of constellations and their meanings because you'll never hear the end of it. see, here's where most people would figure she would have taken up with the astrology guild, but the people that know twinkle best know that her true talent lies in the arts. hand her a piece of paper and you won't get it back without doodles all over it. when she can't find the words to describe what she wants, she'll draw you a picture of it.

in twinkle's book, the less she has to speak, the better. she can go days, weeks without talking sometimes, and it brings her peace. so, when she has something to say, listen. it's usually important. her friends, at first, attempted to get her to speak more, but after an explanation to alisaie that she really didn't care much for idle chatter or feel a need to insert herself into conversations, everyone else got the memo. she's not trying to be rude or shut herself out: she does love to listen! to music, to the sound of her friend's voices, to the silence that surrounds her whenever she escapes to look at the night sky.

[chicken-druid]

every so often, i think, maybe now's the time i finally get into ffxiv. but it always isn't. not yet. historically i've only ever played mmos when someone i was dating or wanted to be dating got me into them. and as much as i do kinda want to get into ffxiv on my own, i think it would ultimately be best to wait until a cute girl who's desperate to have a friend to play it with comes into my life. it will probably happen eventually. so i'll just hold out until then

[lilacs-and-lavenders]

Experimenting with different games to see which ones interest me. I got SF6 and it's fun watching CPU Kimberly beat up pl1. Love all the colors. It's nice seeing something different for a change on my TV screen. Refreshing even looking at something that isn't laced with terrible memories. 👏🏽

Having a bit of a difficult time staying in FF, though. Yes I am going to be playing when the DT expansion releases but I don't know how often. I'm just too annoyed by the other players when I log in. They don't really bother me at all but...idk...I guess all of my bad memories of the toxic fake friends I met ruined the overall atmosphere and feel of the game for me as well as my view of people as a whole so I have a love/hate relationship with it. Affwcted me more than I thought. Traumatic memories. Ugh. I love seeing my WoL though but I cant bring myself to log in much which is why I created them in Sims 4. It also gets incredibly lonely since no one really talks to each other especially if you aren't in their friend group/clique. And I am obviously not good at making friends despite my best efforts. They always end the same. Trauma. Trauma. And more trauma. I honestly don't know what I was expecting from an MMO. I got a little to ambitious with wanting to branch out try new things. 😅 I'm going to stick around to the very end of the game whenever that is ofcourse. I obviously can't quit because of my houses which sucks because I am losing all drive to play it. BUT whenever it does finally end, goodbye FFXIV. I'm dipping out. Deuces.✌🏼

I think I am just wanting something new. A change of pace. But it is so hard to find games that interest me and counter my low attention span. I mostly like idle games now and mobile stuff. I love Sims 4 despite it's flaws but do wish that it still had a lot of the elements that Sims 3 did like cars and an open world. They also really need to optimize it because the latency issues are a pain in the ass. 😭

I have a bunch of other games on backlog that I might try out. I don't have the patience for long-winded storylines anymore let alone long games like the new AC Creeds bleh. I don't like overly grinding stuff, either. And I don't want anything that's an online multiplayer. Just...no. FF drained me.🤦🏽‍♀️

I do have other hobbies like writing, drawing, and photography. We'll photography on my phone since I don't have a professional camera. Also blogging obviously. I've changed blogs so many times on here. 🤣

tldr: MMOs are not for me and most of the FF players drained me and killed the game for me due to their toxicity and need to want to manipulate and take advantage of others. It's sad. Looking for newer games to play that strike my fancy and keep my attention. I love idle games and stuff like Sims 4. Well...games that allow me to design my own character. I don't like overly long games and grindy gameplay. Too stressful and draining. Have other hobbies, too. I get bored of things easily.

Oh! I wanted to add this note in, too. On the days when I don't play. I feel so much more relaxed. So that speaks volumes there. I'll stick with my single player games. They're so chill now. 😎❤️

[pushthequorumbutton]

This is very random, but do you have anything thoughts on FFVII (or Final Fantasy in general?) I know you played and wasn't really a fan of FFXVI, which I'm not sure anyone was really a huge fan of based on lack of people posting about it, lol. There was a time that I was VERY enamored with FFXIV (the online MMORPG), which I think has some of the best stories in the entire franchise, but I think the mainline games are kind of struggling. :/

uhhh I don't think I've EVER finished a final fantasy game lmao. The closest I came was FF15, which as fun but with a stupid plot (I got to the final battle and dropped it); then FFX, and it was good but the voice acting KILLED me (I listened to the English dub); and finally I've played probably 1/3 to 1/2 of FF16 and the plot actively killed my braincells the only thing I love about that game is Cid's VA.

I've read a lot of FF7 fic, and I think I want to play the remake... sometime... eventually..... when the whole game is out and not just half. OH and I've watched my sib play Crisis Core which was good, so I do want to play that as well. Gotta dig out my DS...

My sib is very into FF14 (they raid on the ultra tier or w/e the git good ppl do) but the most I know about that is the housing, because they would solicit interior decorating advice from me and show me cool decorating glitches. lmao. I don't play many MMOs bc I dislike coordinating with strangers; the only MMO I play is LOTRO, and I do everything as a solo (free) player on there.

[marcilled]

According to the votes on that poll, at least 70% of you want to hear about my FFXIV ocs (meanwhile, only 12% think i should sleep. so i'm awake still, typing this.) I'll ramble about them under the cut, but for the ~7% that said they don't know what ffxiv is, I ended up rambling quite a bit about what ffxiv even is, and why I personally enjoy it/what i recommend for anyone who's interested in it. (I made it easy to skip over if you don't care to read about that, though)

Gonna put this under a readmore since it got really long;

Cassern Qestir! my main girlie. she/it pronouns. lesbian .

she's the warrior of light. if you don't know what that means; it's the protagonist. if you still need more context:

(skip to the blue text if you don't want to read me explain ffxiv and why i think it's worth playing, i didn't expect to ramble this much about it...)

Final Fantasy XIV is a MMORPG by Square Enix. Most other final fantasy games aren't MMOs, but this one is. That means it's a multiplayer game with RPG elements. It's also heavily story-driven. While you might hear people complain about the story at times- and I'd be one of them- it manages to really leave an impression in spite of any contrivances, awkward writing, or plotholes. That's due to the fact that the player character is... well, whoever you want them to be.

Your WoL (Warrior of Light), the player character, is the protagonist of the story. And it really must be emphasized... They are so, so fully the protagonist, it's hard for other protagonists to even compare to the protagonist energy the warrior of light has. That might seem... dull or uninteresting to some, but eh, it's not like you can please everyone- the point is for you to get into character, and if that doesn't interest you, then hopefully the other characters in the story will. Personally I love this aspect- I've made the WoL my own oc with a really, really detailed backstory. Which brings me to my next point;

The Worldbuilding... The worldbuilding is probably the strongest point of ffxiv, aside from the STELLAR soundtrack it boasts. The worldbuilding is incredibly detailed, and is there to encourage roleplaying, as well as to help the plot along (tho, really, it works best as a means to encourage roleplay). I suppose I should be more specific here; it's the setting that's really the key point here- the world, the cities, each and every river and valley... But also the time period, the history, etc etc etc... There's a lot of material to work with, and I suppose you'll just have to believe me that it's really quite in-depth (if you're interested in that depth! totally fine not to engage with it, too.)

All of this isn't... going to grab or interest everyone, certainly, but eh, I've accepted that at this point lol. Don't force yourself to keep playing it if it isn't grabbing you, but for me, I started playing it for the social aspect- doing something in the game with friends, socializing in the game, making new friends through it... it's been great for that. What I didn't expect is how much the story would grab me.

FFXIV's story is very slow to start, but gradually builds on the humble roots of your adventurer until you're literally saving the entire universe. It's very, very gradual, and this slow pace might turn people off as well. Especially if you hear people say "it really gets good at heavensward!" "shadowbringers is unforgetable!" "just wait til next expansion--" these sorts of things are common to hear, but it's the same as touting that a game gets good "after the first 20 hours of gameplay", it's poison. Just try it out and see how you feel about how it plays. If the style of doing quests is interesting to you, if the combat feels engaging or shallow. etc. hey wait this was supposed to be about my ocs. ok i'll finish talking about the story and then get back to my ocs.

Anyhow. The story is really shallow at first, it's true. Even within the whole base game itself, (A Realm Reborn, aka 2.0), it can be a bit dull and contrived, and boy oh boy is the voice acting completely awful... It's rough around the edges. But if you're like me, you can really appreciate a series that starts out rough around the edges, and slowly evolves over time from humble beginnings into an epic tale that really blows away your expectations... It's about growing with the narrative, to me. If that sounds interesting to you, maybe you'll like it. I certainly did. In fact, ffxiv might be like... top 10 games to me, in terms of how its story affected me personally. Particularly the shadowbringers and endwalker expansions. But you can't skip all the way there, either- the context of everything that happened before it is crucial to understanding where you're at once you get to those expansions. The more you skip, the more lost you'll likely be. Take your time. Don't rush. And ignore anyone who tells you "it gets really good at (x) part!!!", it's a great way to set yourself up for disappointment if you end up not personally connecting with a certain plotline or character moment. I think, the thing that makes ffxiv really special... is.. it's YOUR story. The story of you- your warrior of light. And the parts that are going to connect for YOU, and for your warrior of light, are not necessarily the same as what connects for anyone else. You may end up loving the slow, humble beginnings of ARR, and feel alienated by all the saving-the-world stuff that comes later. Who knows! It's what you make of it. That's kind of the beauty of it. Now, I could talk all day about how I personally connected to shadowbringers and endwalker, (and some smaller moments, scenes, & questlines from earlier in the game), but you didn't come here for all this, you came here to read about my ocs. SORRY.

I'm done talking about FFXIV as a game now. It's time to ramble about my OCs.

FFXIV is really great for making OCs, if you like its setting. Square Enix doesn't like when you talk about it, but there's a pretty big modding scene that lets you customize your characters way beyond what the vanilla game allows for. This is often used for horny purposes, but more interesting to me personally is the gender euphoria I get from seeing my own body reflected in my own character. I gave Cassern wider shoulders, made her taller than any other au ra woman can be in vanilla, and gave her the horns that are typically only on male character models. She is so transgender. i love cassern.

Cassern Qestir is the warrior of light, meaning she's the protagonist that goes on to save everyone and everything. But at the start of her story, she's a budding new adventurer, completely new to Eorzea- her home is far to the east, in the Azim Steppe, where most Xaela Au Ra hail from. It started out casting spells, but picked up ninjitsu along the way, and quickly became one of the most skilled shinobi there is.

(she kills fascists lol)

she's also pretty socially awkward, in spite of her unparalleled combat capabilities... it lacked a lot of confidence early on in the story, too, but over time it got a lot of character development, and gained confidence. my little beepo. i have a lot of photos of it, but I don't want to make this TOO long... plus, it's difficult to give a spoiler-free overview of her character that's still approachable to people that don't know anything about the game. I suppose I could talk about her backstory, because most of my writing for her actually happens before the main game... but, eh, I'd still need to introduce a lot of settings and topics that wouldn't make sense if you haven't played before. tricky to do. maybe I'll attempt that one of these days. Anyhow... onto my next oc...

This is Samga Mol! they/them. bi.

Samga is a touchy, standoffish Xaela dragoon. (Dragoon means they fight with a lance- it's one of the many jobs in the game, like Ninja is. I'd need another long tangent to explain that in full.) Samga was actually close friends with Cassern in their youth, having also grown up on the Azim Steppe- but the two of them haven't spoken in years... I wonder what happened between them?

They're very edgy, as dragoons often are- but they also have a softer, gentler side that they don't often let show... They also get grumpy if you say they're cute. (Which is just even cuter, by the way.) They actually have a soft spot for animals, particularly chocobos.

But shhh, don't tell anyone you saw them like this... they have a reputation to uphold, you know. Tough, menacing dragoon that kills in the name of dragonkind and all that. Most feared heretic in all of Ishgard, strikes fear into the hearts of the temple knights... Wait, weren't they from the Azim Steppe? How did that happen?? Hmm, I wonder...

---

I have a lot more OCs, but most of them don't have cohesive designs and intricate backstories like Cassern and Samga do- and more often than not, mostly exist just to add more depth to the story between the two of them. There's a few others I have, like this mad scientist catgirl named Dr. Frankie. I'm still working on her. She's completely unrelated to Cassern and Samga's story;

stay tuned if you enjoy morally dubious scientist women with an ephemeral grasp on social etiquette. i'm already obsessed with this little freak, i just need to develop her a bit more before i start showing her off all the time. she also has an ... "assistant" that i'm excited to design. more on that later.

Anyhow, this was a really, really brief overview of my ocs, and I have SO many more thoughts on them, that I post about with much more frequency over on @azimsteppe ... when I remember to... (I usually use twitter for ffxiv stuff, but I'm sure you're all familiar with how that website is faring these days...) just be aware that there are spoilers on that blog, and although i try to tag them, you'll likely run into some spoilery stuff if you browse there long enough.

please let me know what you think!! it always makes me happy hearing what people think of my ocs and what interests them about them... :] and!! big thank you for reading all of this!! it was a lot of fun just to ramble lol, my ocs mean a lot to me. so i'm glad it interests at least some of you. take care!!

[alphascorpiixx]

Now that I've tried out all of the different roles in ffxiv I want to share my favs and my thoughts on them

First of all, red mage my beloved. For a long time I was content with just watching a playthrough of the game bc an mmo would eat my time. then I watched a guide for the red mage and instantly knew I had to play this job. I love red mage and the joint caster/melee playstyle. I don't have verraise yet though and I feel bad every time the healer wipes

I'm definitely best at dps and I like caster a lot and melee not so much. I started out as arcanist and summoner is my next fav caster after red mage. I switched to thaumaturge halfway through the arr msq specifically for the Heartless staff but haven't touched black mage since I finished arr. the cast times are just too long for me to truly enjoy the job but I do like the fire/ice switching

The only melee dps I've played so far is dragoon which is . . . fine. I wish i liked dragoon more bc I love FF4/Kain Highwind and I want to see Estinien's storyline. but playing the job in ffxiv isn't as fun for me as other jobs. I feel like I should try another melee since I do like the melee aspects of tank and red mage. maybe samurai bc sword

speaking of tank, I just started the dark knight quests and love it a lot. I'm still nervous about tanking in dungeons but that means I just need to do it more for practice. I tried marauder but haven't even upgraded it to warrior yet but I have dark knight now

As for healer I'm very surprised at how much I enjoy this role. I only tried it bc scholar came free with arcanist and wanted to at least give it a shot. I still don't quite understand the best healing optimization and fairy placement but I haven't had a party wipe! (I have accidentally let the dps die bc of my laser focus on keeping the tank alive 😅)

And I just realized I haven't done any physical ranged dps jobs yet oops. I'll probably do machinist rather than archer/bard bc I'm tired of starting at level one. And I want a gun

[elliewiltarwyn]

Top 5 memories!

i think i kind of cheated and put a couple of them in the top 5 mounts answer lol. but nevertheless! let's see what i can think of!

-------------------

5. Clearing savage raids with my static

i'll be fair and put this at the bottom because i already rambled about a bunch of them in the top 5 mounts post, but yeah, super meaningful to me. mmo raiding always seemed so out of reach in every other mmo i've played, so being able to not only challenge and conquer them in FFXIV but do so alongside friends has been some of the most rewarding feelings I've ever experienced.

4. the end of Endwalker

Endwalker MSQ in general, honestly, but the ending really put a fine point on it. I think I still would put Shadowbringers at the top, but Endwalker in general being about hope triumphing over despair just felt really salient at a time when it was really, really easy to despair over stuff happening IRL (both in society at large and individually). experiencing a story that just unambiguously unashamedly goes "hope is the most powerful force in the universe and it will win" is just. really nice.

3. attending friends' ingame wedding

i just think it's really sweet that you can do this ingame. i've been to a fair few (including my own! :V at one point, at least...) but my favorite was after a recent major advancement in the, ahem, crime technology scene, and we were just hanging out in discord and playing Among Us before the ceremony before actually going and seeing the super-cute ingame ceremony "as we see ourselves" and the whole thing just really felt like we were having an actual party. it was a good night.

2. Dark Knight 50 and 80 quests

still some of the most emotionally powerful moments in the whole game, and both resonated deeply with me, and maybe even helped me come to terms with parts of myself IRL?? when i was watching my best friend play through 50, there was a moment after the end where we both just sat there in silence and he eventually said "Damn, how do you even follow that up? Where do you go from there?" and the writing finds out ways of course. especially in Shadowbringers. but damn, if that ain't a mood. plus I'm a sucker for evil/dark twin/clone shit. >.> and turning that into "it's just you, trying to make you love yourself in the ways you never let yourself do before" was, again, kind of salient.

Patch 5.3 day

5.3 was the first time I was caught up and able to experience the new content on the same day as everyone else. i had also just managed to cap out DRK on Ellie, meaning she was finally the canon job I had decided for her. so going into the new MSQ content on that day, completely unspoiled, experiencing that part of the story alongside everyone else, as my canonical self, and ending up main tank-ing the Warrior of Light trial who is basically an encapsulation of all the heroic imagery across the entire damn Final Fantasy series... i've had emotionally meaningful moments that got to me in other games before, and some of them mean even more to me than this. but experiencing that tidal wave of emotions in that way alongside people just as into this shit as I was... i'm not sure anything else will ever hit in quite the same way again.

(it was also the day where, after I had finished the MSQ bit and just went to some random place to hang out and process it all, i got recruited into the FC where i met most of my ingame friends with whom I'm still friends today, so it was also a good day in that sense too ;u;)

thanks for the ask @sasslett!! i made it extremely emotional and sentimental and i'd apologize but i'm pretty sure that was exactly your goal :P

[autumnslance]

School's In Session; Prep for Cold Weather

I've been doing a lot of PvP on Dark and Aeryn this week. Anyroad.

Scholarch Montichaigne's lecture on aether is impressive (and rewatchable in the Unending Journey). Some of it is information we knew before, thanks to the Shadowbringers story through its patches, but it's good to get the refresher on the different kinds of aether that make a person. Also his explanation of memory and magical effects not only explains the Forum's self-administered spell restriction, but also later the pivotal events in Elpis.

Not to mention the honestly impressive conjuration of the paper, pen, paintbrush, and inkwell, and their manipulation. He's showing off for his impromptu class, made of his friends' grandchildren and this weird Eorzean adventurer. It's all in fun...but also a not-so-subtle reminder of just how adept the Scholarch is, and he's but one member of the Forum.

Our understanding of the Lifestream and souls and memory modification refreshed and better explained, we're off to Limsa to meet the trio of badass ladies who run the Alliance.

Seriously one of the things that struck me on first playing this game back in ARR was during the patches and seeing them in a room together, and realizing Eorzea is entirely run by 3 very different women. The men came later. After years in other MMOs with even shoddier track records when it comes to women characters, it was a Thing. While FFXIV isn't always great, the treatments of their leaders has been far more consistent than some.

*stares into the middle distance in Azerothian for awhile*

Before heading to Limsa, I did some of the sidequests that pop up around the Studium. Alisaie's admirer with the mammet, the Forum robes quest (C'oretta in Forum robes is someone's nightmare I'm sure; hers is the bland color scheme), some pretentious tutors, a few wayward books, and of course the beavers. Which gets an accompany quest.

Now that that horror is out of the way...for now....

The WoL declaring their reason for the Scions joining the Ilsabard Contingent gets us another rousing "Heroes Forge Ahead." This scene is also not voiced despite its importance, nor the next one with meeting Raubahn, Aymeric, Gaius, and Maxima in Ala Mhigo. This quest, "A Capital Idea," isn't replayable in the Unending Journey at all; it skips from "Sound the Bell, School's In" to "Best of the Best."

And the men waiting in Ala Mhigo reiterate their dedication to keeping Eorzea safe in the Scions' absence, though also caution the Contingent and its humanitarian goals were not entirely popular in the realm. Still, we're a long way from the city-states' reliance on the Scions for...everything.

Gaius having to stay behind is an obviously painful choice for him and it irks me they brought him back just to stick him in mediocre optional content while sidelining him (so far) despite Garlemald. Though there's strong points about why it's a bad idea for him to go, and gives Maxima time to shine as Lucia's second.

The Ilsabard Contingent Intro is a great scene, one of the rewards for a player who's completed optional content. Emmanellain's fully cringey and cringing here; honestly, this is not his forte and trying to constantly force him into a warrior's role is the worst idea. Also, he doesn't have Honoroit to balance him out.

I do enjoy the moment of Scion levity, as Alisaie nearly gets to watch Y'shtola murder Thancred and Urianger. You know she'd take notes.

Y'shtola: In the meantime, I have a bone to pick with Thancred and Urianger regarding their wagging tongues…

Run, boys! (It won't help)

We also get another of Temulun Mol's prophecies, delivered by Cirina:

Cirina: Two suns─one burning red, the other frozen black. Closer they circled, closer and closer, and as they danced the world fell to ruin. In blinding chaos she spied blackened silhouettes, and knew at once that one was yours. Cirina: Yet we knew not how to interpret this dream, save as a sign that great danger awaits. But whatever lies ahead, I will walk with you, traveler.

ThisIsFine.jpeg.

Handing out the Warding Scales and wow, A-Rhun's dialogue is radically different for a White Mage vs a Non-WHM. Everyone else is mostly the same, though you have far more people to speak to depending on how many job quests are completed, and if Bozja is also unlocked/completed.

A few more reminders of the cold, and just as the fashion-conscious Scions debate what to do to avoid wearing the fugly GC overcoats, Tataru arrives with her new Look and their cold weather gear. Also word that the long-forgotten Scion Roegadyns have returned to handle the Rising Stones, so she will go to Sharlayan to help Krile.

Seriously, as a Roe player, I thought the devs had forgotten Aergmhus and Bluomwyda, last seen after the Crystal Braves fiasco in Heavensward. Then they got a brief mention in 5.55, and now mentioned here. Returning to the Rising Stones from Ala Mhigo, the duo is indeed present, and the only ones in the Scion HQ as everyone else is dealing with the Towers and helping the realm. They've apparently been answering to Riol the whole time:

Bluomwyda: It's been quite some time, hasn't it? As I recall, Ishgard was still at war with Nidhogg's brood when last we spoke. I hear the dragoon from those days is a Scion now. Bluomwyda: As for Aergmhus and I, we recently returned from a mission in the provinces, where we built up an information network at Riol's behest. The man's a tyrant─had us working every waking moment. Bluomwyda: Anyroad, the two of us have been tasked with keeping watch over the Rising Stones, but I'm keeping a closer watch on Aergmhus and his alcohol intake. Last thing I need is for the man to be in a drunken stupor when trouble comes our way.

Aergmhus: Well, if it isn't Mistress [Surname]! Long has it been since we last met, but surely you haven't forgotten, have you? 'Tis I, Aergmhus─formerly of the Maelstrom and the Crystal Braves! Aergmhus: Upon returning from my mission abroad, Tataru called me to the Rising Stones and asked me to “prepare for the worst.” And though the worst has yet to come, I must abstain from indulging in a glass of wine until after it's passed.

Next up: Garlemald!