#ffxiv language comparison

[alicelufenia]

Something I noticed going through the MSQ with JP audio is the similarities between the JP terms for "beast tribes" and "primals".

The beast tribes are called "蛮族" (banzoku) meaning "savage tribes", while the primals are called "蛮神" (banshin) or "savage gods."

Just found that interesting how the two terms have a common root in Japanese, making their in-universe association clear, while the English denotes how the two are perceived, especially in 1.0 lore when the primals were more like fundamental laws of nature given form.

[trustinsighters]

Duty Support Dialogue: The Tower of Zot

Inculcation Channel - feat. Alisaie Multilanguage

[tainbocuailnge]

i tend to hone in on the dark knight questline when it comes to translation differences in ffxiv because it has perhaps the largest difference between languages in the game, at least as far as I've seen, and it's also one of the cases where the german script (generally known for sticking pretty close to jp) also does its own thing. I actually went over the entirety of both en and de versions of it again the other day because I'd been meaning to translate it for comparison and one thing I noticed this time is that en actually has more lines, as in, optional lines when you talk to characters after they gave you the next quest objective that in german would just repeat the last line they said, in english would say something different. the journal entries changing depending on whether you have the job crystal equipped or not is also unique to the english version.

it's interesting because to me it shows that they really felt incredibly strongly about their take on dark knight and put a lot of serious effort into pulling it off. it's actually improved my opinion of english drk a little because clearly someone really believed in what they were writing here and used absolutely everything they had available to try and make it work. but even with that extra text to work with I still think the german version delivered their concept better and had a clearer vision of what they wanted to say with these quests. because the english team are just not as good at writing as they seem to think they are.

in my recent replay of stormblood in german there were so many scenes that made me think "you know what, maybe stormblood isn't as bad as I remembered it being", and then when I went to double check the english version of that scene it actually was as stupid as i remember it being. and often the thing that makes it stupid is like, lyse displaying confidence and competence in de but talking herself down in en, or yotsuyu pointing out the systematic failures that brought her where she is in de but indulging in personal sadistic tendencies in en. and making your antagonists dumber and more evil is one thing but the fact that they also made lyse sound so insecure and incompetent at so many points when she's the main character of the expansion, it's just so baffling to me. are we supposed to believe she can lead the resistance movement or not?

so knowing that de will generally be closer to jp than en is but does occasionally have major deviations of its own, and seeing all these stormblood scenes where one of the big glaring differences between en and de is that en keeps dumbing down and vilifying (female) characters that have more nuance and with it more thematic consistency in de, that leaves basically two options. either the japanese script had that nuance and the english translators were so full of misogyny that they decided to remove it, or the japanese script didn't have it either and it's the german translators that decided to not hate women actually. and while i don't know enough japanese to be sure, listening to the jp voicelines does give me reason to believe that the jp script is harsher to yotsuyu than de at various points, so it's probably a bit of both.

so, yknow, I can't make a sweeping statement of being against major script changes in localisation in general without being a hypocrite because the de script has at multiple times done its own thing in a way that i consider either an improvement or at least an interesting alternative of roughly equivalent quality. but that's also exactly what my problem with ffxiv localisation is, that when the en script has major deviations it's almost always some stupid shit like adding gendered slurs (they love calling a woman a bitch or a whore in english it gets really glaring when you start putting individual lines next to each other) and transphobia (matoya does not make fun of alphinaud looking like a girl in german) and removing instances of characters openly saying they care about something (thancred calling ryne his daughter in every language but english) and generally destroying all character voice, and when de changes things it's like, well written and makes sense even if it's different. so the en team looking down on the script theyre translating and changing it is hubristic overconfidence but when the de team does it they actually have the writing chops to back it up

[jazzpostsrandomthings]

My introduction to FFXIV

Hey, after posting the thing about the stress test server a few weeks ago, I got an idea to try and go down the memory lane, trying to recall everything that had happened during the time I've spent playing Final Fantasy XIV. I hope that someone would find my story and experiences interesting. After all, I found out that I enjoyed seeing other people's reactions to the game itself as well.

But in order to tell my story, I have to start somewhere. And I can't find a better way to do so than to tell you how I learnt of the game in the first place.

Not sure when exactly did it start, but I remember my friend mentioning that he was playing FFXIV during Summer this year, I think. I wasn't too interested, after all I had prior experience with MMORPGs like Aion, Tera, Black Desert, ArchAge and even that Digimon Masters Online or whatever was it called, and I didn't go further than level 30 in any of them (which meant I was playing for less than a month or a month and a half at max for Aion (the 2010 version prior to becoming the cash shop simulator with no story) and Digimon Masters). Why was I trying so many MMOs out in the first place? Well, my mom is actually into MMOs herself so I was visiting the titles she was playing as well (minus Digimon Masters) to help her and just find a title I would like, but it never clicked so I thought that maybe I wasn't into online gaming in the first place.

So when I heard that my friend was playing an MMORPG that was also a part of a franchise I didn't know much about, I kinda wanted to join... but I hesitated, knowing that it would probably end the same way as it did for five other titles I've listed above.

Fast-forward to the beginning of September 2023, September 2nd to be presice, when I saw some hentai-loving douche from a Russian Megaman Discord server saying how much the old gaming and MMOs sucked in comparison to perverted gachas he was playing with and how the critically-acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV was actually trash. Needless to say, the guy was banned for posting hentai there. But either way, what he said about FFXIV was actually a good advertisement for the game so I remembered what my friend was saying and decided to reach out to him, saying I am willing to give it a shot. I did mention that I might not stay for too long here due to my track record with MMORPGs, but he said it was fine and that I can leave if it doesn't light up the spark in me in a month. He then made a group DM with a friend of his who actually was a person I saw on a different server a few years ago so that was neat.

I made a SquareEnix account that same evening, downloaded the game and then logged into the Free Trial for the first time, getting hit with this game's version of Prelude (even though I wasn't a fan or FF series, I knew the tune) and feeling a sense of tranquility, staying on the screen for a few minutes and continuing to listen to it while fiddling with settings.

I watched the opening cinematic (it was great but I was wondering if the game even had Japanese voice acting because I like playing games and hearing their original language, be it English, Japanese or something else, just a personal preference) and got to the character creator. I was looking at the races, finding a liking to exactly the three of them -- cat-eared people with furry tails known as Miqo'te, tall and slender horned people named Au Ra and short child-like folk with long ears by the name of Lalafell.

Also I was struggling a lot with trying to read most of the race's names at first. It took me at least a few weeks to memorize them even.

At first, I wanted to make Axl as a cat boy here, thinking that I probably won't stick for long anyway (and I did make him in the game later, I still have his preset saved), but I decided to actually choose the race none of my friends picked up (one was a Miqo'te, other was an Au Ra), so I went for a lalafell and made my boy Pi from ROCKMAN ZERO - Chapter: AXL here to the best of my ability. One of the two friends was certainly really happy I chose a potato according to her messages when I had announced it :D

After getting freaked out by the game asking what my deity was (picked Oschon because Pi has a thing for exploring and learning new stuff about the world), I decided to pick the Healer class, before getting told not to do that because it would make early combat really annoying, and then my friend told me I can go for Arcanist since it would become a Healer class at level 30. Needless to say, I went for the book, then chose the Atomos server because my friends were there (ping wasn't bad here at all, even though everything tends to freeze rarely due to my internet provider screwing me over) and thus had set my eyes towards the seaside jewel of Eorzea -- Limsa Lominsa...

I didn't know there was a different opening for each of the city-states at that time so I had some flashbacks to ArchAge when my character, Pi Peataan (I REALLY didn't think much while giving the character a name), but then we had actually arrived to the city and... I realized I underestimated my PC with the potato graphics settings I had supposedly set for it. Those bushes took me out of it for a moment.

So, I arrived to Limsa, fixed the graphics, met Baderon Tenfingers (still giggling at that name), took notes that pirate speak is indeed quite hard for me to read quickly, then went to the main plaza with giant aetherite where I was met by my friends, the self-proclaimed 'emo catboy' Miqo'te Summoner/Scholar and an immensely tall black-scaled Auri Dark Knight. They greeted me, which made me feel all shy because before that I've only seen these people as 2D avatars and text messages, and now they could ran around me and kinda interact with me... ahem. One of them added me to the friends list (other couldn't, he was still in Free Trial), and then went their own ways while I had one hour left before the bed to explore the city.

I didn't know yet that you don't need to do yellow quests so i just picked up all the quests that were available in Limsa before proceeding with the main quest. I was getting lost in this giant city A LOT, which was the result of me having what I call "topographical cretinism", but I was... enjoying it. I ended the day without setting a foot outside the starting area, but I was looking forward towards tomorrow to explore some more, drifting to sleep while the main menu theme kept ringing in my head, accompanying me into my dreams...

Hope you enjoyed this entry. I will try to continue this series. I had a lot of fun remembering the details of the first day of FFXIV for me and what was I feeling during it all. Playing through it again with my friends that cannot play FFXIV or don't want to sink so much time into an MMO, and looking through the backlog of messages and screenshots in Discord I left while going through all of that certainly helped to assemble these memories back in a proper order.

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[gcldfanged]

Since @dragonliiight made THIS post about lithification/The Crystal's Curse and how it manifests differently in Dominants, I thought I'd add my own lil' thingy.

Hades primarily uses MAGIC- Unlike say, Garuda or Titan, Hades does not have a ton of raw physical strength in comparison to the other Eikons. This goes hand in hand with the fact that Hades excels at physical ailments and like spellwork, he needs to kind of handicap his enemies and take advantage of inherent weaknesses.

I originally said Hades= Skeleton underneath all the robes, but have since gone with darkness-afflicted/voidsent flesh instead, since... that just makes more sense. Sowwee for confusion.

Jae has a very stubborn and enduring will due to the trauma he's had to survive since childhood- So he somewhat manages to grit his teeth through a more rapid lithification process than others due to his attacks being pure aether/aether-dependent. He has developed a high pain tolerance as a result, but seeing as he is always experiencing some form of chronic pain or soreness, it often leaves him mentally and emotionally exhausted.

The Curse manifests in his body similar to Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP), which is a rare muskuloskeletal condition where muscles and tendons are gradually transformed into bone (a process called ossification). This creates a second “skeleton” of extra bone, which makes movement impossible.

Instead of bone, his body is turning into violet colored auracite similar in effect and appearance to how FFXIV's Crystal Exarch is steadily becoming 'one' with the Crystal Tower- mixed with the visible material that the staff from Hades' boss form uses. The auracite is acicular (needle structured) and grows in branching radial patterns.

As the auracite overtakes the organic matter making up his human form, Jae loses all sensory input and movement from the afflicted areas of his body. Jae currently has a jagged formation that has stemmed from his sternum and it is steadily branching outwards. This obviously makes certain movements either impossible, or near-impossible as he'll only tense up from the extreme pain, as well as be limited and abrupt in body language.

[keykidpilipili]

Playing FFXIV in more than one language is driving me bonkers actually cause now I feel compelled to watch several cutscenes in four languages, two of which I can't read, for text comparison.

[pocketbelt]

okay here we go fuck it, FFXVI criticism/complaint/whinge post

spoilers are a given, play XVI or decide you don't care, but they will at least be in the plot section at the end. There will also be mild spoilers for FFXIV: Heavensward and light mention of later parts of XIV as well (Stormblood and Shadowbringers, no Endwalker).

this isn't about being fair or even-handed it's just knives in its back the whole way down; the game is at best okay but I grow more annoyed and angry about it the more I think about it, and I personally think it is just shit now

this post is giant, you have been warned, I could not bring myself to condense it more as I felt I would be losing relevant points

Combat

XVI's marketing made a big deal of the combat director being Ryota Suzuki, 20-year Capcom vet whose last jobs at Capcom were game designer of Devil May Cry V and programmer on Monster Hunter World. His joining the team was championed, interviews focused a lot on the action game aspect, he's said it's his "personal masterpiece" in interviews and XVI's official sites in all languages call it Final Fantasy's "first fully-fledged action RPG" to step around XV's corpse.

The game emulates DMC heavily in style and gameplay, the comparison is desired by the devs.

And this was the stupidest thing they could have done.

Clive's core moveset is extremely lacking. He has a single 1-2-3-4 Square button combo that does not change from hour 1 to hour 45, no alternate combo routes, no ways to link seamlessly into and out of other moves, not a goddamn thing. Outside of this Clive has projectiles that are extremely weak and functionally useless (its charge upgrade does not change this), a chargeable sword attack that just leads to the same 2-3-4 hit string, a DMC Stinger-esque lunge that's obsoleted frame 1 by your default Eikon and an aerial drop attack. That's it, that's his entire basic non-cooldown moveset for the entire fucking game.

The projectile is worth honing in on: ranged attacks in Devil May Cry serve to keep your Style ranking ticking over for a few seconds while you keep your distance, and even then have extra utility and damage capability besides. Dante, for instance, in V has his dual pistols, dual shotguns and dual rocket launchers which all serve obviously different purposes and behave differently. On top of this he has his Gunslinger Stance, which changes their default attacks and gives each a special move, while also providing access to stance-exclusive gun attacks like Rainstorm, a useful midair attack with a very precise form of movement that makes it useful for sticking on bosses evasively while still attacking. In Final Fantasy XVI Clive has fucking nothing but a single piss-weak shot that does almost no damage or stagger, ever, and can be charged to do tiny damage or stagger. It has no further utilities, ever, even as it changes from its default fireball to match the element of your equipped Eikon (ice, lightning, etc). It isn't useful for anything, as flying enemies are better dealt with by using Phoenix's dash to teleport to them or Garuda's grab to yank them to you.

That's XVI in a nutshell: an extremely constrained Devil May Cry whose devs missed the most crucial and critical parts of what makes Devil May Cry work: it's not just that you have lots of moves with interlocking traits and mechanics to make a complex combat system, it's that you have so many options you can do whatever the fuck you like with. DMC's core strength is player expression: if you want to use one weapon then by god you can and can still get SSS ranks, you just have to not use the same one move in succession over and over (and don't get hit), it's just easier the more of the kit you use. XVI has no interest in player expression, you are very limited in tools and by design you are locked down.

The big stuff comes in with Clive's Eikons, of which he can equip a max of 3 who have 2 slots to put moves into. You have just 6 special moves that do the big damage and special effects and also they're all on cooldowns. The idea is to use your cooldowns carefully so they pop back up when the enemy enters stagger: in practice you can just open every fight with them and then just go back to beating on the enemy until they come back up, and if stagger happens it happens, the cooldowns will largely line up anyway. The spectacle wears away as the hours pile on and the standard enemies never get engaging. Your ability to play with moves, link them up and create mad chains is harshly limited by the 6 move cap and the fact that they all just go away for 20-50 seconds. Few of the Eikon attacks can link into each other very well, either.

Eikonic Feats clearly align with Dante's Stance special moves, as they're mapped to Circle and some are clearly just Dante's own (Phoenix is Trickster's dash and Titan is Royal Guard). The problem is you only have 3 at once and some feel like they should just be core mechanics on tap, such as Phoenix's dash or Garuda's grab, which has special animations when used to floor bosses at the 50% "mini-stagger" threshold. A combination of that, the length of time between Eikons (they're plot-tied) and the order they come in means many players will be extremely hard-pressed to even consider leaving the Phoenix/Garuda/Titan combo in particular, given how instrumental, useful and powerful their moves are. Phoenix is further a problem because it also has Ifrit's attacks without needing to "master" them to let them be equipped to other Eikons, and Ifrit's attacks are batshit good. It's not even that later Eikonic feats are bad (Megaflare is cool and has uses, Shiva's works on bosses which is delightful and Odin's just makes your standard moveset cooler so it's a flat upgrade), it's that the game's pacing and the implementation of these as limited capacity hot-swappable powers and not always-on core features discourage swapping out what works to explore and experiment, even with easy free respeccing. If you weren't locked to so few Eikons and so few move slots, getting new ones would be a delight instead of going "oh, okay" and then not bothering with their moves because most of them don't stack to Titan's anyway. I myself fucking loved Odin's and was delighted Shiva's worked on bosses, as it was a rare instance of bosses reacting to something you could do outside of the pre-ordained 50% stagger Garuda grab.

The nail in the coffin is enemy design: standard enemies such as regular knights, normal orcs, wolves and things around that size are fairly passive fodder to be blasted into paste in a single Eikon move from around the 1/3rd point of the game. Small enemies that fly die in single 1-2-3-4 strings from around the same point as long as you keep up on your equipped sword. Large enemies armour through anything and everything you do, can't be launched, their only "special" state outside stagger is the Garuda grab window, they're just big sandbags to pile Eikon moves into and dodge around. They use the FFXIV boss design philosophy most of the time, where they plainly ignore what you do and just broadcast AOEs or heavily telegraphed strikes, only occasionally moving to a new spot to do a new mechanic (which is always an AOE). They are just completely un-engaging. I think often of how Kingdom Hearts' bosses often can be made to flinch, or put into a state that's vulnerable to being launched or just hitstunned into the dirt. XVI needed that kind of thing so badly.

Un-engaging is the term for the whole thing; on Action-Focused (the higher of the two default difficulties), standard enemies don't have the HP for you to try and do things like super-long aerial combos. They turn to dust if breathed on so you can't style on shit, and the focus on cooldowns means you can only style on bosses for very brief moments before going back to dodging and mashing Square. The higher difficulties unlocked after the end of the (45 hour) game would alleviate that somewhat but they wouldn't fix any of the other problems here. I want to stress it's not that it's easy (though it is easy), it's that it's dull. It doesn't engage you. It doesn't present anything to push you to explore its limited systems, and the limits it imposes seem extremely arbitrary (if not simply existing because of performance concerns, as performance hangs by a thread as is). Plenty of easy games rank among the greats of every generation, and they do so because they're still very engaging to play and interact with. XVI isn't, at all.

And this game is at minimum twice as long as a Devil May Cry. I can't fathom the logic behind massively reducing the options and tools DMC has and then going for a much longer game. None of it really works well together, at all.

RPG Mechanics

In a slide at some convention or other presentation, YoshiP included questions from users, including some slightly more aggressively worded ones for humour. One of these was something along the lines of "Why aren't there RPG mechanics? Isn't this just an action game now?", to which they said they existed and to keep an eye out.

As it turns out, the question was more on point than expected.

XVI's RPG mechanics barely exist. Stats go up in tiny uniform amounts each level-up, and the difference is not perceptible. Enemies are already made of wet paper at level parity; that they pre-emptively crumble to dust at a slight level lead doesn't mean anything. It at least takes a significant level lead for bosses or large enemies to start melting. The bulk of your stats come from equipment, then, however...

...equipment is clearly an afterthought by the devs. For the first few hours, you have a tiny array of options of different swords, belts and bracers to craft and reinforce, and then after some hours you get Clive's dad's gear and it outclasses everything before it by leagues, and will outclass everything for the next 10 hours or so, whereupon superior alternatives are found in the odd chest in dungeon levels, to do you for the next pile of hours. By that point, the Blacksmith's Blues quests start appearing, which by the second quest unlock the recipes for the best belt and bracer in the game, and they are readily achievable around that time. Do that, and now for the entire second half of the game you never need to change equipment, ever. Weapons are worse off; the storyline gives you Eikon-related materials after each Eikon fight, which upgrade a specific sword that starts outclassing everything by the time you get Ramuh. It is topped maybe once and only very shortly, and then the Blacksmith's Blues quests come into things; they hand you the Ragnarok for free, which is only topped by the endgame Eikon sword and the best sword in the game...whose recipe comes with the Ragnarok. Outside of these, you can just ignore the swords for basically the entire game; there are only like 7 alternatives throughout the game and they get topped by the Eikon sword most of the time because this entire thing is an afterthought.

No weapons or armour have special traits or unique attributes that make them more suitable for a given area or sequence, or for dealing with specific kinds of foe. You don't ever need anything other than the thing with the highest number, like this is an ancient NES/SNES/PC-98 RPG, and there are no factors that might outweigh pure damage.

What secures this as an afterthought and not just a super simple system is that the game is constantly, constantly shitting buckets of crafting materials at you. There's only like 6 kinds of non-unique or "elite" crafting material, which are dispensed as rewards from quests, fights, chests and items lying around. By the end of the game I had around 2000 each, because you need only small handfuls for the very rare times you do craft something that needs them, and the game is always shitting them out. They have no other purpose in a normal playthrough; I've heard you can reinforce your gear to higher levels on NG+ using the materials, but that just means they're completely fucking pointless if you aren't compelled to replay the game. And they're used as the main reward for basically everything, and have no other fucking use.

Similarly, the economy's fucked: potions and other restoratives are piss-cheap and the game buries you in money and items that are sold for big amounts of money. I never sold one of those, crafted all the best gear and still had 250,000+ gil in my pocket by the ending. There's nothing to use it on other than unlocking songs to play in the home base, which are all mega-expensive (20k-50k+) to justify it, but that's clearly a sloppy "fix" for gil numbers that weren't considered. Like the crafting material, there is no other use for it; this shit cries out for investing money into the home base and other side activities, but the game has none of those.

This may as well go in this section too: the game is packed with sidequests and very few of these are worthwhile. The ones that give meaningful upgrades are marked with +s like in XIV; outside of them, some give good AP (for moves), good gil and very, very rarely give something like orichalcum for the best equipment. The majority give you fuck all, and thus are dependent on being engaging to do or telling an engaging little tale...and the majority fail at this too. The sidequests are generally MMO-tier stuff, unsurprisingly given the devs' pedigree as, well, MMO developers; you just go from point A to B to C hitting X at things until it ends, sometimes you go to B and fight stuff, etc. I've seen people say that XVI's sidequests have compelling character moments, and this is true for a handful, mostly the ones kept to the very end of the game at the end of a variety of sidequest chains. The majority tell you things you already know, things that aren't interesting and also don't matter, all three of these or not even these. Here's the thing: world lore only matters if your world is interesting, and XVI's world is not. It's a bargain bin Ivalice (the setting of FFXII and Tactics) with none of the truly fantastical designs or truly stunning world design, filtered through the Game of Thrones TV show. I hope you like hearing that slaves have it horrifically and are treated terribly because that's what most of the sidequests will be about for the first half of the game, and it's also what the plot is about for nearly the first half of the game (and is otherwise a running theme of the game), and oh my god the XVI writers want to be sure you absolutely know this beyond a shadow of a doubt. Similarly, character moments only matter for, well, characters, and the game just isn't able to sell everyone in your home base as a fun or compelling character. The moment with Otto when you find a note from Cid is genuinely heartwrenching and well done, and it's pretty much the only one that genuinely lands...and it should've been in the main story, not an incidental sidequest. Especially with how dry the main story is most of the time you're in the home base.

Also, Final Fantasy traditionally was never big on sidequests so much as side stories, optional areas and side activities. Pretty much starting with XI is when it began really dabbling in them more and more, starting with XII having some, XIII-2 having a lot (XIII-1 had nothing because it was stripped to the bone to finish it), XIII-3 being almost completely sidequests by design, XIV being an MMO and XV having a lot. The thing is, some of these still had actual minigames and side activities; XIII-2 had its casino games and chocobo racing, same for XIV, XV had a very fun fishing minigame with attached sidequests, etc. Going further back, the PS1 FFs had card games and multiple minigames throughout, chocobo breeding and racing and treasure hunting, etc. XVI has none of this, absolutely zero, and it's a shame. Sure, XII also purely had sidequests and hunts, but XII's hunts and elite hunts were way more interesting and involved than 99% of XVI's; they often had special spawn conditions, special gimmicks and mechanics, could often be brutal and even had fucking surprise twists. There's no fun surprises in XVI's hunts, even the familiar recurring faces are at their most boring and incidental here. XVI's Carrot and Red Chocobo don't even begin to stack to XII's.

Put shortly, XVI's RPG aspect is so fucking thin it's more an action game with a very faint RPG layer strapped on. With how simplified and restrained the action side is, you'd hope it was to work with the RPG side in tandem, but no, there's basically nothing here.

Presentation

The game's really pretty and really high fidelity until it moves. Outside of combat, in Performance Mode, the world will often just swim and devolve into a blurry mess of over-aggressive motion blur and really bad temporal anti-aliasing if you or the camera move too fast or too suddenly. It struggles to hold 30FPS when just walking around environments, and I suspect performance is why Clive's auto-sprint is turned off when in towns (and your Chocobo is forbidden from entering towns) which also makes time spent running around towns for main or sidequests absolutely agonising after a little while. The game is so pretty, but I find myself wondering if it's actually worth it; is this fidelity worth the game melting and the console revving when I try to actually move in it? No, obviously.

I will go all RETVRN here but like, the fixed camera-angles and 3D models on pre-rendered backgrounds of the PS1 FFs allowed to be visual powerhouses in their day, and VIII and especially IX still hold the fuck up now. We seem to be slowly realising the strengths of these perspectives and designs again, as Nintendo rolls out a surprisingly immaculate looking Super Mario RPG remake and Square keeps rolling out incredible remasters and remakes of their older titles. Can you imagine what a big budget FFXVII could do with the strengths of that style, where you only need to render what can face the camera and nothing else? We need to go back.

In combat on Performance Mode the game mostly holds 60 pretty cleanly, sometimes staggering a little when shit gets busy, especially in the Eikon fights where the designs are complicated and particles heavy. It blatantly jumps between 30 and 60 for cutscenes and special animated sequences a lot in these fights, and I again wonder if we wouldn't be better off with lower fidelity for smoother shows.

Still, it is pretty and they at least knew to focus on making combat perform slickly, so hey.

While I'm here, the OST is a massive downer. It's mostly generic orchestral shite and very little stands out. This is especially saddening because the composer of at least most of it is Masayoshi Soken, who is a fucking eclectic powerhouse of range and skill in his work on XIV. YoshiP's drive for a grounded dark fantasy styled like Game of Thrones strangles so much of what this game could be; the Titan Eikon battle is the one time Soken's let off the leash and it's the highlight track of the game. This is also a baffling choice when you consider the gameplay is inspired by Devil May Cry, a series rife with tracks in the same flavour as shit like this! You had the perfect team for a DMC style OST and you wasted it!

Plot/Writing

okay here we fucking go

To establish, the game's core theme is that an unequal societies built upon the exploitation of some of their people will not stand, and that if we aren't united and equal we are damned to die, likely to a problem of mankind's own making such as the gradual destruction of the environment (which is what the Blight in game is, it's the world rotting from overuse of magic). This is what all the focus on slavery early on is done for, it's about how deranged these societies are for the subjugation and exploitation of others and the myriad ways both explicit and subtle they created justifications in their cultures for it (the slaves, called Bearers, are designated slaves by religious doctrine in the Sanbrequois Empire, for example). The main counterpoint to this is Cid's anarchist commune, which is your home base and eventually what Clive comes to lead...and does very little with, truthfully. Like Clive is never very concerned with the running of the place, a lot of it explicitly is handled by Otto for you (and he did the same for Cid, apparently).

The problem is this theme isn't really backed by gameplay at all, and it's here that I have to start slagging off the writers; the main scenario writer was also main scenario writer on FFXIV's Heavensward expansion, which also really, really struggled with this, but it is a failing of the gameplay end of the team as well. Namely, in this game about how united we stand and divided we fall, Clive does everything by himself successfully and unerringly. He beats every Eikon he fights 1v1 with one sole exception, and when the final boss reveals an Eikon form it wins a 3v1 matchup (where 1 of the 3 is the Eikon Ifrit couldn't beat alone!) only to lose to a solo but empowered Clive right after. From a gameplay perspective it's a fault that your party members just never matter ever, sure, even when they are present, but from the story perspective I have no idea why you'd deliberately do things like set up the 3v1 as a loss that leads to a Clive solo victory when your entire fucking theme is people working together for the betterment of all. Like, that's the moment where all the prayers of the people at the home base explicitly fly into Clive or your remaining Eikon allies descend from on high to skewer the boss for Clive to get the winning counterhit in.

The main way the game tries to show "people uniting together" is people giving up their Eikon powers willingly to Clive so he personally gets stronger, but like, that's a shit way of doing it. When Jill gives Shiva to Clive, she falls out of the plot immediately afterward; Clive has to tag-team with Joshua to defeat Bahamut, but at the final fight, Joshua surrenders Phoenix to Clive so Clive can beat the final boss alone instead of just doing the goddamn fucking tag-team again.

On that note, talking about Shiva naturally brings us to Jill. Jill is Clive's childhood friend, she's the Dominant of Shiva and the game's female lead. And she is probably the worst-handled female character in any Final Fantasy. Combined with the handling of two of the villains and the trends among women in this game in general, XVI might actually be the fucking worst about women in the series - yes, XV barely had women in it but the ones it did have weren't treated anywhere near this bad.

Alright, so, Jill starts the game being freed from Ironblood control by Clive after he realises who she is (they've been separated for years and he was sent to assassinate her). After she's back on her feet, she tags along with Clive as he journeys to Phoenix Gate, where his life went to shit, to see if he can discover who the mysterious second Fire Dominant that killed Phoenix was. In essence, Jill goes along with Clive for his revenge/self-discovery arc, and later, the opportunity to lay siege to the western Mothercrystal owned by the Ironblood Kingdom reveals itself. Jill pushes for it to be done, saying she has her own revenge to seek similar to Clive's, and her own sins to atone for like Clive's (all the people she killed as Shiva for the Ironbloods, as they threatened to kill enslaved women and children whenever she refused). Clive agrees, and has her back the way she had his.

It's a little scuffed but the arc in general is nice. Clive legitimately does mostly take a back seat to Jill for it (though Jill isn't playable as that would cost money they spent elsewhere). It fucks up a little in places: Jill struggles to freeze a spout of lava in a way no other Dominant struggles to use their powers, and a fire beast summoned by the overarching villain right as they reach the Mothercrystal's heart manages to wall and fend off Shiva. The explanation, ostensibly, is that Shiva is struggling because she's ice-elemental in a volcano but to be frank, later evidence tells us that Shiva is just the weakest Eikon outside of perhaps Garuda (whose Dominant is the only other female Dominant. Good job, lads). Ramuh may also eat shit, but Cid is old when he loses to semi-prime Benedikta and he eats shit to a mysterious force none have perceived before; when he's on point he's the only Eikon to floor Ifrit and survived an encounter with Bahamut in the past.

Outside of that blemish, the arc works, Jill kills the Ironblood pope herself and takes her revenge in doing so. In breaking the Mothercrystal, they also break the back of the Ironbloods' religion and thus their entire society, fucking them all royally and thus both having revenge and atoning partially for the crimes she committed for them.

From that point on, Jill does mostly nothing in half the scenes she's in, and her trajectory in the plot goes thus: captured by Hugo and almost executed to antagonise Clive, rescued, sits out from going to fight Hugo, sits out from fighting Bahamut, gets one-shot by semi-prime Barnabas, is kidnapped, is rescued, watches Clive get wrecked, fucks Clive, surrenders Shiva to Clive, and then she falls out of the plot almost entirely. She is kept out of the party after that point, only appearing to menace enemies with her rapier while Dion does all the real fighting as they buy time for Clive and Joshua, and then sits out the final battle along with everyone who isn't Clive, Joshua or Dion.

At no point do Ifrit and Shiva tag-team another Eikon. Shiva is explicitly shown to be able to hold her own against Titan in the opening/after the prologue (she fights him to a draw!) but doesn't take part at all in fighting him for real! Whenever Shiva does show up after the prologue, it's to be ineffectual or get defeated, every single fucking time! She is all but explicitly stated to be the weakest Eikon by leagues!

Lads! What the fuck were you doing!? That was the most obvious fucking set-up and you wasted it!

To say that Jill is wasted is an understatement. But the fact that the writers largely see her as a damsel for Clive to save or a vector for people to antagonise Clive through is fucking baffling for a series that has, historically, done really well by its female casts. Funnily enough FFXIV also struggled with female characters until Shadowbringers, almost like there's a pattern here.

Fumbling the ball is debatably the game's real big theme because it's doing it constantly. None of the villains are a hit for a variety of reasons, and it becomes really obvious that the Heavensward leads and parts of the XIV team went onto this after that came out because the strides XIV made in villain quality afterward feel extremely telling (yes Stormblood fumbled Yotsuyu hard and Fordola is 100% awful no matter how you see her, but Zenos was gold; then Shadowbringers has the series' best villain after that). A lot of them can be done quickfire:

Benedikta is an insecure failwoman that had some actually good character foundations for an arc about becoming secure and succeeding! She's dead within the first five hours and nothing further is done with her as a character in any way, significant potential cast to the four winds for no good reason other than "Game of Thrones has killing so we should kill". Heavensward had a character somewhat like this in Ysayle and it wasted her in similar fashion (FUNNILY ENOUGH YSAYLE ALSO TRANSFORMS INTO SHIVA WHY IS THIS A FUCKING PATTERN). Also her last moments as a person are breaking down right as a group of bandits begins to attempt to rape her. Great work, lads.

Hugo is seduced by Benedikta early on and believes she genuinely loved him, and is driven by unyielding rage when someone makes him believe Cid killed her (when it was actually Clive, which like, same difference after that point anyway). He has a good speech in the Rosarian throne room but otherwise isn't up to much and all semblance of character vanishes going into his fight, with no moment afterward.

The Sanbrequois Emperor is a generic emperor man who initially wars for access to unBlighted lands and then for control of resources, which while bastardly is just standard operation for an empire. His sign of greater evil is feckless disregard for treaties, which is explicitly driven by his wife's ambitions, which, christ, we'll get to in a bit. By himself he isn't up to much of anything at all.

Barnabas Tharmr is king of Waloed, the eastern smaller chunk of Valisthea, and Dominant of Odin. He fights Bahamut in a very early CG cutscene, then isn't in the game for about 35 hours. When he shows up, he gets built up as a Vergil-esque impossibly strong opponent who truly could only have been matched by Dion, Dominant of Bahamut, who you needed to partner up to defeat as Ifrit. He wrecks Clive in a really unconvincing cutscene where he just kicks him out of a blind rush and then one-shots him, is implied to oneshot Shiva without needing to become Odin (which is not a feat as Shiva can't do fucking anything after the prologue), and shortly later has a more even fight that ends with Clive and Jill fleeing from him. Then you fight him for real at a tower in the middle of Waloed and he's Odin for all of 2 minutes before Ifrit ganks him and the rest of the fight is mostly just fighting him in his "semi-primed" Devil Trigger state. The entire time he's back in the plot, he's a calm, collected cold type who just repeats the real villain's very limited spiel over and over, until halfway through his real boss fight where he randomly begins cackling and goes psycho, revealing an actual character trait...and it's just bargain bin scam-brand Zenos from XIV Stormblood. It's never suggested at being a thing anywhere before this.

There are three villains I have not discussed above, who are noteworthy for being three different kinds of more elaborately bad.

First and simplest: the entire Ironblood Kingdom. The Ironblood Kingdom is a small island nation off the west coast of Valisthea, whose army are fighting Dhalmekia (Titan's nation) in the game's opening before the flashback sequence to Clive's childhood. They are an explicitly barbaric and unbelievably violent people who wield the Dominant Shiva for conquest, forcing her to fight for them by threatening to kill innocents. They are the only people in the game who speak their own foreign language, they have an evil religion based around human sacrifice to their Mothercrystal, they raid Clive's homeland Rosaria before the imperials take it and kill all the men, kidnap all the women to use as slaves and Jill's discussion of this leaves the implication of "worse" (rape) in the air but doesn't confirm it. The Ironbloods are just flavourless Vikings with unfortunate connotations (why are the evil human-sacrificing ultraviolent cultists who kill men and kidnap women the only ones who speak a foreign language?), and after Jill's revenge arc they vanish from the game completely and never matter ever again. They get one mention - that their society collapses after the loss of the Mothercrystal, the centre of their religion - and that's it. Clive and Jill, now heads of an anarchist commune looking to rescue and take in slaves wherever it can, never even mention considering going to the Ironblood home island to save the Rosarian slave women. They're just left to their fate out there in the collapsing society of ultraviolent Vikings.

The Rosarian slave women Jill grew up with, lived with, was protected by, and met with again during the incursion into the Mothercrystal.

Just never mentioned again, left to their fates.

10/10.

The second is the real villain and final boss, Ultima. Ultima has an interesting appearance: a snow-white gaunt fleshy being with dark pits for eyes. He endlessly repeats the same few lines about free will being evil and how mankind's will is super weak and how it is reinforced by consciousness and links with other people to survive and etc etc. This is genuinely over 80% of his lines, the remaining few being "You cannot win because I am God" and him descending into coping and seething as Clive beats his ass in the final fight, which is also the only time he develops an actual character.

Ultima is a boneless version of the Ascians from FFXIV, or perhaps it's more accurate to say that he is very clearly hacked together from Heavensward-era lore bible/character notes on the Ascians at that point. The Ascians in XIV: A Realm Reborn (the base game) and Heavensward are all one-note masked robe-wearing villains, largely interchangeable as they rant about making the Darkness happen again and resurrecting their fell god Zodiark to restore Balance, and so on. The only exceptions are Lahabrea (who fucking loves being evil and is cackling all the time) and Elidibius, the lone white-robed Ascian and their leader, who is just the smug "I Know What You Do Not and that means we will win" sort of preening villain who doesn't do that much. None of the rest matter or have much in the way of character in either part of the game, and the Ascians are entirely absent from Stormblood until the patches leading to Shadowbringers start.

If you still don't believe me, consider this: Ultima is a member of an unbelievably advanced and magically powerful race of god-like beings who ended up creating humanity, with the goal of exploiting humanity and laying waste to the world to remake it for their own ends and restart their own long-lost civilisation. That's the Ascians from XIV to a tee. It's the same exact shit, only Ultima doesn't have a character, he just spouts blandly mean evil shit so meaningless platitudes can be spit back at him before he gets punched in the face.

This was the worst possible road to take. It's a bad road to have taken at any point, but in a post-Shadowbringers world this was the worst possible road to take. With its shuffling in staff and promotion of Natsuko Ishikawa, previously a writer for optional side content and famously XIV's excellent Dark Knight job quests, to lead writer, Shadowbringers saw the Ascians greatly expanded. The remaining Ascians, Elidibius and technically-a-newcomer Emet-Selch, are fucking fantastic characters in Shadowbringers: Elidibius is rescued from being a boring forgettable generic smug man into a genuinely tragic figure, and Emet-Selch is Final Fantasy's single best villain. Ishikawa had the giga-brain idea to look at the Ascians' situation, of perpetuating apocalypses for millennia to try and reform their destroyed world and resurrect their dead god, and thought to ask "What kind of a person does that? What drives you to actually stick to that plan? And what does that do to you as a person? How do you hold together? How do you keep going?".

And it was beautiful.

And then XVI stumbles in with this fucking cumstain who just keeps burbling "free will bad, being my slave is based actually, please stop having the free will" and trying to climb into Clive's skin.

Ultima has no character and has fucking nothing going on. He is at least an embodiment of the game's main theme but that's all he is, he's the ultimate slave-driver and exists for a former slave to spout platitudes he himself doesn't embody at and then be punched so that a truly equal society can be made...except we don't see that truly equal society, we just see one that no longer has magic and thus no longer has Bearers, who were enslaved for their magic, and is thus saved from the Blight too. Except in the Ironblood Kingdom where women were generally enslaved to make food and be sacrificed. Those slaves we just forgot. Hm.

Fumbles the ball constantly.

Anabella gets her own section

The third and final villain to discuss isn't the main villain or even an ally of the main villain, she's just a singular black hole of fucking awful writing and concerning attitudes. Anabella Rosfield is Clive and Joshua's mother, and at the start of the game she quickly establishes a seething hatred and deep-seated bigotry for Bearers simply because they are slaves and poor, and similar contempt for everyone not born rich. Her husband, Clive's dad and duke of Rosaria, talks about making life better for the Bearers and thus possibly has intentions of abolishing slavery in Rosaria, so Anabella concocts a scheme with the Sanbrequois Empire to perform a decapitation strike that kills him and the duchy's top military unit and leaders while letting her walk away with Joshua, her favoured son because he got made the Dominant of Phoenix. The way it plays out, Anabella assumes Joshua died and walks off to marry the Emperor and have a new child.

Over the course of the game, Anabella makes it clear that her goal is to simply be the birth-mother of the ruler of the world. She desires no power for herself: she isn't concocting a scheme to make herself regent in a system that favours men and male heirs as rulers exclusively, she isn't working the system to get herself in charge. When she gets her weird child with the Emperor into the seat, she does so by talking the Emperor into letting an eight year old onto the throne in name while the Emperor stays on as regent and continues doing his work. This is her end goal. She simply wishes for her son (and it is always a son, too) to rule and for that son to be known as legitimately hers. Having and birthing a ruler is the sum total of her existence and all she strives for, except for one thing: killing slaves.

Anabella's hatred for Bearers goes beyond even the other cartoonish examples you see throughout the early game. She straight up creates an honest-to-god Nazi death squad to go around carrying out pogroms on slaves in Rosaria specifically, not to spite Clive specifically because he escaped enslavement under the imperial military, just to kill slaves in Rosaria because she really fucking hates slaves. The Nazi death squad pillage one village, sack a church, raze a second village to the ground and raze a third to the ground before Clive finally deals with allegedly all of them as they prepared to raze another. They kill slaves in massive numbers and kill anyone who might object as well, all explicitly in the empress' name, simply because she hates slaves so much. Slaves never did anything to her, there is no hack shite like "a slave killed her dad for being a slaver" or something like Fordola in XIV Stormblood, nor does she have XIV Stormblood's justification for Yotsuyu (victim of childhood abuse and sex trafficking that the state permitted to exist openly - and still did nothing about even when new king Hien was faced with the specific sex trafficker who took her what the fuck guys); she just hates slaves because they have magic and are slaves. They are a subset of the poor and non-nobles, who she also hates blindly.

She's a deranged eugenicist-fascist birth-obsessed gender essentialist who holds these beliefs and thoughts simply because. Literally every line of hers is self-assured smug preening about screwing people over, slaves being killed or enacting her plans to get her child onto the throne so she can claim to be an emperor's mum. There is an extensive scene where she openly shit-talks, insults and smugly preens at the emperor's first son with his deceased first wife, openly gloating about screwing him out of the throne simply to gloat. She is not in league with Ultima, she does not act to serve his plans, she isn't even unknowingly corrupted by or influenced by Ultima to stir up discord to further his ends, she's just a pit of blind hatred towards everyone and everything who sexed her way to a position to give birth to someone who would take actual power, because actual power doesn't matter, birthing someone to take it does.

I have to wonder if the person who wrote her was freshly divorced. It may be uncouth to suggest it but I genuinely believe they have problems with women. I think it's deranged this got past editing and made it into the game as is.

Like, let's be clear here: Anabella is the single biggest individual source of suffering and death outside of Ultima, the literal slaver god. She:

Disowns Clive for not being a Phoenix Dominant

Orchestrates the assassination of her own husband once she has a Phoenix Dominant child and he starts suggesting they abolish slavery

Has all her husband's top men and staff killed, to a man where possible, leaving Rosaria entirely without leadership

Has her own handmaidens killed after preening to imperial soldiers in front of them, having given them the impression they would be spared to join her as she went to the Emperor

As Empress, is explicitly said to corrupt the Emperor, making him more callous and cruel. The suggestion to break the peace treaty with Twinside is from her influence

As Empress, creates a Nazi death squad themed after her dead first husband's band of loyal men, only coloured black and now called "the Black Shields". In her name openly and explicitly, they go out into Rosaria specifically alone to kill slaves, razing villages to the ground for having too many slaves and not turning over slaves, simply for the joy of killing slaves. Two villages are razed, a church sacked and a village pillaged with hundreds of people killed, and plans are made to continue doing this before the squad is allegedly completely defeated by Clive

As Empress, goes to Dhalmekia behind the Emperor's back to discuss terms with Hugo, telling him to lay siege to Rosaria's capital to set a trap for "Cid the Outlaw". This siege destroys ever more of Rosaria, continuing the trend of aggressively and viciously shitting on and destroying her prior family's legacy and history, and also sees myriad imperial soldiers and Rosarian civilians killed in swathes by Hugo's men

As Empress, having corrupted the Emperor into sieging and taking Twinside as the new imperial capital, following the destruction of Dhalmekia's crystal, she suggests the Emperor take up Dhalmekia in making a treaty to end the war (as Dhalmekia now struggles without its Mothercrystal) and then rout them as they try to leave. She suggests this so Sanbreque can take Dhalmekia and the outlying Free Cities and thus hold all of Valisthea outside Waloed.

She then intends to have the Emperor siege and take Waloed to complete the conquest of Valisthea for her 8 year old son to nominally rule over. This is a plan she has dedicated decades of her life to: making everyone bow to her child. Not her, not her family or lineage or name, just her son. Any of her sons, just needs to be one of hers.

Directly gloats about corrupting Dion's father to Dion, and directly gloats about screwing him out of the throne. Calls his "blood" "unclean", further insults, and sneers that he should just obey her weird child emperor. Thinks this will work without repercussion. This causes Dion to carry out an uprising with the intent to kill her, leading to the slaughter of the royal guard, and Ultima (who hollowed out her weird child to wear as a skinsuit a while ago) to provoke Dion into losing control and become a raging Bahamut, which then lays waste to Twinside, killing untold tens of thousands at minimum. This sequence also gets the Emperor killed.

Ultima doesn't even do anywhere near as much as she does when it comes to sowing discord. Depending on the population count of Waloed (which is more or less entirely converted to magic zombies by Barnabas choosing to serve Ultima blindly) versus the slaughtered slaves and people in Rosaria and Twinside, she may actually have caused more deaths total by her actions than Ultima does before the aetherfloods and Waloed's zombie invasion arrive. More, if we count war dead as technically hers too by her seducing the Emperor into ordering it.

I need to make it clearer: none of Anabella's actions or motivations make any actual sense. Nothing scarred her into needing to be validated or legitimised by having a child of hers placed into the highest seat of power in the world. She has no tragic backstory. She simply comes into being an unfathomably hate-filled pit directed at the weakest and most oppressed people in society, and all of her actions directly or indirectly lead to unfathomable numbers of deaths simply because she wants them dead or because she wants to be called an emperor's mum. She does not want personal power, she does not want to shape the world according to an ideology, she is not in league with the ancient slaver god or his thrall or anything like that, she just really hates slaves for no reason and is obsessed with birthing.

And they clearly aren't intended to make sense, because she's obviously meant simply to be hated. She exists to be hated, she's a completely ridiculous, embarrassingly cartoonish mess that acts as deranged as possible to make you hate her. One of her longest scenes is that one I keep referencing where she openly gloats at and insults Dion and laughs that her child is now emperor and he isn't, and she legitimately completely thought she could just do that and nothing would come of it.

Because she's shocked when Dion rocks up the next night, declares rebellion and attempts to kill her weird child. She is reduced to hysteric screaming when the Emperor takes the blow and dies, completely shaken and left a quivering wreck found by Clive later in the ruins of the imperial palace, legitimately unable to believe this could have happened or that anything could go wrong.

She's so specifically engineered to be spited and hated, to try and make you seethe at her, to be a singular symbol of all evil, and for what? This isn't the first time this team has done this sort of shit, though never to this scale; FFXIV will randomly produce minor villains and NPCs who are evil to the point of blatant stupidity, doing acts and getting minutes-long scenes of cackling and sneering and gloating about it at agonising length, and it's always dumb and bad when it happens there. At least on one occasion the gloater gets bisected gloriously, half the time they weakly eat shit or are simply rolled away.

Anabella is the worst fucking instance of it by far; as a villain type it just fucking sucks because it's not interesting to see, it has nothing interesting to say, it isn't fun or actually shocking or actually capable of disgusting you to your core, it's just weird and annoying in how much time they take up. Combining the weird birthmother angle shit to it, the fact that they're always sons and that she's the only woman in the upper ranks of these governments makes it all very pointed in a very discomforting way.

One might say it's realistic, there are genuinely people out there who are bigoted beyond belief and beyond all rationality, who will be bigoted even when it will actively work against them. Yes, that's true, they are tragically common and often shitting themselves on social media at the revelation that no-one likes them, not even their fellows. But so what? So what if they're realistic? It's not interesting, they aren't interesting, they're just shitty people. Being realistic doesn't automatically make them a good fit for a story, and often it makes them a bad fit.

Moreover, if you want to bring realism into this, let's do it: let's bring realism into Anabella's shit. That scene with Dion, realistically, is so fucking unbelievably stupid that she could not have conceivably survived to that point in the first place, she would have gotten herself killed stupidly long before it. Dion is:

First son of the Emperor

Leader of the Sanbrequois Dragoons, dragon-taming super knights and strongest and most powerful military division of a heavily militaristic society. This also makes him the highest ranked military leader in the country

Dominant of Bahamut, divine dragon in a society that worships and utilises and integrates dragons into itself. Bahamut is also undebatably the strongest of all Eikons. Sanbreque is a deeply religious society, Bahamut's Dominant is nigh-on a living god to them.

Suspecting that Anabella is an agent of, or possessed by, Ultima, who he knows is a real thing thanks to Joshua. He knows his father has become more violent and cruel lately, and has been since the marriage with Anabella. This makes Anabella a threat to all humanity, not just his family or Sanbreque, and thus she needs to be killed.

Is seeing Anabella tear his family apart before his eyes and taking away his birthright while laughing about it

Alone with her in the room at that point.

Is willing to kill her.

Is armed.

Dion has every single conceivable form of social and institutional legitimacy available in a medieval/early modern society shielding his actions. He could kill Anabella in the street and simply declare "Heathen" and walk away unfettered. He is also an extraordinarily powerful warrior himself before you even factor in "can transform into the most powerful god" - when he comes to the throne room to declare rebellion, no knight or cardinal/bishop there speaks up when the Emperor commands Dion's arrest. They don't budge. They either agree with him, or take his legitimacy over even the emperor's, or they simply refuse to fuck with him lest he kill them instantly.

When Dion orders the Dragoons to rebel and seize the palace, they do so without question. Not a man disobeys or turns away, they immediately set about slaying the royal and city guards, while evacuating and protecting civilians flawlessly. They take his assertion that Anabella is a traitor and usurper and that she and her 8-year-old son need to die without question and set about carrying it out.

Dion's word is basically divine law.

And Anabella, living in this society for over a decade if not near two, near the highest seat of power, regularly around bishops/cardinals/high priests and commanders, somehow believed that actively antagonising Dion as much as is entirely possible could not result in anything other than Dion going "okay" and just kneeling before her child. She somehow figured that Dion was not, in fact, the single most powerful man in this society (literally so, in a physical sense, too) despite living in it and seeing its workings from the inside for years.

Anabella is so stupid it's criminal. She's such a bad character it's unfathomable. The entire plot is actively warped by her presence and her list of sins is so deranged it undermines the fucking story because is this societal system that employs slavery actually this bad, or is it just this singular individual lunatic at the top ruining everything? She's the single worst character in any Final Fantasy, any one, ever. There is a weird seething, boiling disgust behind this character and I don't think it's unfair to say that someone wasn't right when writing her. Someone was freshly divorced or freshly seething about a woman for something, because I don't see how you go to these lengths and not be.

In fact, take what was said about Jill before, consider what they do with Benedikta, consider that no other female character is as prominent as these three. And then contemplate these facts:

The creative director and screenplay writer was also main scenario writer for XIV: Heavensward, where the main female character in the core cast, who also transforms into Shiva as her power-up state incidentally, steps to another primal as Shiva and gets fucking wrecked, and later sacrifices herself when there wasn't any real need to, dying as Shiva to a big airship.

One scenario writer was a scenario writer for Persona 5, which should speak for itself

One scenario writer was a game designer for Yokai Watch 3, a game so uninterested in its own female lead that not only is half her story completely irrelevant to main story, but postgame content actively denies you entry if you try to play as her for no actual reason. No plot reason, no character reason, she just can't do some things like a battle challenge tower simply because.

Another scenario writer was a story writer for Yokai Watch 3, as well.

And tell me that the writing staff of Final Fantasy XVI doesn't have problems with women.

There's other straggler issues I had, but nothing will top that. Now at the end of the post, actually, I remembered something and have nowhere else to put it. It's petty but I want to get it down somewhere.

After a point, you get a historian/lecturer at your home base called Vivian who tells you about the state of the world and the ongoing conflicts at different points throughout the story, and she is entirely useless every time. She gives you a very basic rundown of character backgrounds, she gives you a very basic rundown of recent history, and 95% of the time you already know what she tells you from previous scenes and the remaining 5% isn't of any use or interest, when it's even there. It's annoying in that it's pointless minutes of fluff and padding to a game that could do with better pacing and thus doesn't need it.

Like a lot of CBU3's work, it's following in the footsteps of an Ivalice game, specifically this time Final Fantasy XII (which is also a regular source of names, scenes, characters, plot elements, ideas and more for XIV as well). There are a scant few scenes in XII where you get an excerpt of the memoirs from a relatively minor NPC, the Marquis Ondore, and the first one of these comes in the game's opening, after its lengthy and gorgeous CG cutscenes. It sets the stage of the world and puts in more context for the things you saw in the cutscene, and establishes what the prologue sequence you're about to play is.

Compare the two for yourself: XVI's first Vivian scene (0:31 to 2:14, there's little bits of dialogue before and after with Clive if you want) and XII's opening excerpt with Ondore (7:04 to 9:14).

It's not just the performance, though I would argue Ondore's is miles and miles better, it's the presentation and all, really. XII's lead-in, its use of images, its fucking great music, the way it cuts it silent at the end to deliver its tantalising sting, it's not just exposition but a solid part of the opening narrative itself. Note how much faster paced Ondore's performance is, and how much easier it is to follow as a result. That sort of pacing would help a lot of XVI's dialogue and delivery, XII's English dub is very lively and theatrical and it really elevates it.

But really, I am petty about it; Ondore's opening excerpt is one of those scenes fucking embedded in my head, his delivery and cadence of his lines stuck in there. I love that scene, it's so good at establishing tone, context, flavour and leading in to the prologue it's nuts. I was excited to see XVI try the same, and was deflated when it didn't match up, and continually annoyed every time we had to go back to this random lady to be told things I already knew or even had just inferred.

And if you think I'm harping on it, just look at this bit where when asked "how do we enter Ash/Waloed", Vivian gives a 3 minute lecture only to end on "the beach you already went to literally right before this return to the home base". Tell me these scenes aren't just fucking filler.

Final Fantasy XVI should've been right up my alley. "Final Fantasy but Devil May Cry" crosses my favourite series with one of my other favourites, I should have been the target audience for this one. But holy good fuck, they fucked it in basically every area and I grow more negative on it the more I think about it.

At least now I can shit this out and get it off my mind.

[laeorinel]

FFXIV Write 2023 - Day 27 - Sole

Another day of struggle writing done.

Shadowbringers spoilers aplenty.

As Samara lurked around the upper walkways of the Crystarium, she occasionally glanced down at the people below. There was an excited buzz in the air; word had spread of the night sky returning to yet another area of Norvrandt. It had been a while since she had seen The Wandering Stairs so busy. Drinks flowed freely, and she would not be surprised if the partying continued all through the night. She would spot her fellow Scions every so often, darting through the crowds to either get their own drinks and join in with the revelry or moving onto somewhere else.

She spotted Ryne off to the side with Thancred. While it was hard to make out all too much from the distance from what she could tell from their body language, both of them were at peace and, for once, looked comfortable in each other's company. She did not miss, however, the occasional glance from one or both of them in her direction.

A part of her wanted to join them, but it was safer for her to keep a distance. She did not want to worry them further, especially now that hiding the changes the Light was causing was becoming more complicated. She knew Ryne would offer to share the burden of being the host to the Lightwardens aether. She would not let that happen.

No, this was how it had to be. She had the sole responsibility of keeping the Light at bay. She would not condemn the young woman who had only just carved out a name and place for herself to this fate. Nor would she condemn the man so dear to her to lose another one he loved. If her life was the price that needed to be paid to save this world from destruction, then so be it, but that did not mean they needed to see every moment of her decline.

The physical changes were becoming harder to disguise. Her hair was becoming more brittle and paler as the days went on. At first, it was just a few stray hairs tinged a horrid pale bright yellow; now, most of her hair was tinted white at the root. She could easily cover it up with various dyes, but the changes to her eyes and scales were harder to conceal. She doubted the others had not noticed the changes in her attire, with every shred of scale and skin hidden beneath cloth, leather and metal. Her eyes she could do little about.

Still, the external changes paled in comparison to the ones happening inside. She was partly keeping herself separate from everyone else because she could feel herself coming undone at the seams. Her emotions were harder to keep in check, and her already tempestuous anger was always a hair's breadth away from being unleashed on anyone for even the most minor of things. Then there was the paranoia. The First had changed her friends; how could it not? Regardless, she still trusted them. Or did. Now, there were moments when she questioned their motives and wondered if they were friend or foe. On more than one occasion, she had found herself reaching for a weapon, ready and willing to fight any or all of them. It was a feral state of mind she had not felt in years, and to say it unnerved her was an understatement.

Then there was the hunger. She would need to go out hunting again soon. It was easier to hide the increase in her appetite that way, though she imagined sooner or later someone would come across the string of animal corpses felled across Lakeland or catch her mid-hunt or feast. That is assuming none were aware already. She knew the Exarch had a means of keeping an eye on her. Not to mention, a certain ghost was never too far away.

"Yet again, I find you alone. Want some company?" as if one cue said ghost made his appearance. Ardbert made his way over to Samara, taking his place by her side at the railing.

"Are you saying that more for my sake or yours?" Samara did not take her eyes off the crowds below as she spoke.

"Does it matter? How are you feeling? You're looking a little pale."

Samara sighed, leaning heavily against the railing and staring vaguely toward Thancred and Ryne. "Before, when I thought of the Light, I thought of the sun, a force that nourishes life but could also snuff it out in an instant of fire and flame. Compassion and fury in equal measure. I was wrong. It is cold and unyielding. I feel like I am in the middle of a snowstorm, the cold robbing me of my senses with each passing moment until nothing is left but the still of winter."

"Not good then. I assume you know what is happening?"

"That I am becoming a Sin eater, or that I am dying?" Samara idly picked at a patch of off-colour scales. She tried to not dwell on it, even if they were starting to turn a discomforting shade of gold.

The question went unanswered, with Ardbert quickly changing the topic. "What will you do?"

"Keep fighting for as long as I can. Pray whatever scheme the Exarch has in mind works, and if not…take matters into my own hands."

"What the hells does that mean?"

"If I fall to the Light, both this world and the Source are doomed to calamity. However, the calamity the Ascians wish to bring about can only happen if I, or something harbouring this damn Light, exists."

"So you would return to the Source before you turn. You realise that could cause what is happening here to repeat there. The aether would pass onto another, and then two worlds would be full of Sin eaters."

"Unless the aether was destroyed or absorbed in a single moment." her gaze turned up to the night sky. She knew it was not Nhamma up in the inky black sky, but it was a comfort all the same.

"On the Source, the land I hail from is known as the Azim Steppe. There is a sacred place up in the mountains known as the House of the Crooked Coin. Inside, you can find a fragment of the Dusk Mother, Nhamma, one of my people's deities. People from Tribes all over the steppe travel there when…when everything becomes too much. We throw ourselves at Mother Nhamma's mercy. Literally. Everything a person is, was, or could ever be is destroyed."

"That's your plan? Suicide?"

"What other choice is there? I either live and am freed of this burden or become the doom of this world and everyone on it. I refuse to let the latter happen. Not if I have a way of stopping it."

"Except you don't! You have no way of knowing if your plan will work."

"It is better than the alternative. What sounds better? Guaranteed destruction or the faint hope of averting it? I'm dead either way."

"I just don't want to take everyone down with me…"

[thetoxicgamer]

WoW Dragonflight Patch 10.0.7 Makes Chat a More Pleasant Place

Azeroth will soon receive a number of new features, one of which is a welcome method to organise communication, as shown in the WoW Dragonflight patch 10.0.7 PTR. Despite numerous ups and downs over the years, the Blizzard game is clearly one of the top MMORPGs on PC. However, there is one area where World of Warcraft has consistently lagged behind competitors like Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIV. If you’ve ever spent any time even in the vicinity of World of Warcraft, you’ve probably heard of ‘Barrens chat’ – the colloquial term for the unfiltered nightmare of players spouting their collective thoughts, arguments, and general trolling into the general chat window. It’s named after the Barrens, a large, low-level area that was once a hub for such hubbub. While trolls nowadays have mostly moved over to Trade chat to instigate their arguments, there’s no question that WoW is still packed with problematic players picking fights. Perhaps more of a direct frustration is chat in dungeons and raids, which is equally notorious for its largely unforgiving and often confrontational nature. The trend of many WoW players finally checking out FFXIV over the last few years has been marked by, perhaps more than anything else, an astonishment at how generally friendly and encouraging the community is compared to WoW’s player base. The Blizzard MMO is notorious for players lambasting you with insults at the first sight of a mistake or bad build, before they unceremoniously boot you from the instance. While I’d love to make some grand hypothesis about the overarching themes of Final Fantasy XIV encouraging friendliness and support, the most important factor in cultivating that friendly community has been the consistent enforcement and moderation of rules that clamp down on players being rude to one another in chat. World of Warcraft, by comparison, has long felt fairly lax in that regard – but now Blizzard is giving players a new tool to help minimise grief. As Wowhead reports, the WoW 10.0.7 PTR build includes a new social setting alongside the already-existing, all-or-nothing ‘mature language filter.’ This new option is called ‘censor messages’ and includes a toggle allowing you to apply it to everyone, all players but your friends, all but your friends and guildmates, or no-one. WoW Dragonflight 10.0.7 social settings menu - new 'Censor Messages' option offers a choice of Everyone, Everyone except friends, Everyone except friends and guildmates, and No-one.While there are currently no further customisation tools, as seen in the above picture (via Wowhead), it appears that messages marked as inappropriate will be hidden, allowing you to choose if you wish to see them or not. You’ll be notified who the message is from and that it’s ‘potentially inappropriate’ along with a toggle to display it, should you wish to do so. It’s somewhat of a band-aid solution, but I’ll take what I can get. Being able to minimise the spam of potentially problematic messages is a welcome change in the right direction. Hopefully we’ll see additional steps taken by Blizzard to try and clean up its community and chat further as it strives to win back fans following the release of Dragonflight. WoW Dragonflight 10.0.7 is also set to bring a WoW Paladin rework helping the class to re-find its identity in one of the best multiplayer games on PC. Meanwhile, the latest WoW Dragonflight patch notes for February 7 tweak the patch 10.0.5 classes dramatically with buffs to a range of builds. Take a look at our WoW Dragonflight tier list to see what’s strong right now, and make sure you’ve got the best WoW addons for Dragonflight in 2023. Read the full article

[robynmarkius]

Language Differences

So I have a bit of a long ramble, which involves Spoilers for the end of 5.3; obviously. Some of it’s already out there as I replied on mobile while half asleep, but it led to talking to the lovely @shiro-from-cafeberry​ about the German text. (Once again, thank you so much! I enjoy talking to you! :D <3 I have discovered I have even more questions for you to help with. lol) I then bothered my friend and co-writer @xehniscreations​ about French and she said it’d be a good practice to shake off the rust. (She ended up translating the whole ending scene for practice! <33 lol )

This all started because I am married to a man who has a degree in Linguistics and a simple questioning of one line/part led to hours of jokes and discussions. Which then turned into me putting my game client into two languages that I don’t speak a word of just to see what a character said... XD And! And! Learning a few other things along the way. I’ve been having so much fun with this and I hope you all can too. Plopping a cut here so as not to completely destroy anyone still trying to avoid Spoilers... or those who want to prepare some tissues. lol

I have cried a lot in the process of this entire Translation, and keep crying. lol As long as this post/translator ramble got, I made sure to post the ‘screenshot comic’, “Remnant” [as its own post] for the sake of focus. That was the scene that started this trip down the rabbit hole, after all. xD

After three days of editing this post, I decided to split it, so that this was just the ending scene. There’s flashbacks I also covered, but this was getting extremely long and I realize that I had not asked Shiro about the first flashback at all! So I still have things to finish and more to talk about before I have more.

For now, though, let’s talk!

Part One: Elidibus’ Explanation

The lines in question came from when Elidibus picked up the crystals, then told us he heard the voices of despair/cries and lamentations of his friends. After which there’s a slightly awkward explanation about how there were lots of opinions and thoughts about the world/star, which led to Elidibus pulling himself free of Zodiark in order to help his friends. It bothered Hubs because it felt kinda “clunky”; he explained:

“I think it’s because of a general norm of Japanese society we hear so much about. That it’s important to have a consensus and not to stir up trouble or stick out too much; which is how that part kind of reads. Your direct Translation is fine. I just feel like the localization team just kinda gave up when they wrote the English version. They could have give a little more context on it when they wrote it. Instead, what happens is, it feels out of place and awkward where it is. It also doesn’t give the context of when Elidibus freed himself from Zodiark. Is there any context that says that wasn’t when Hydaelyn shattered the star into the reflections or Shards?”

Putting aside his question about when Elidibus actually separated from Zodiark for now; as that’s a whole ‘nother discussion that’s rather interesting; I finally understood what he meant by my Translation felt clunky. It was accurate to a “direct translation” versus a “localization”. I re-translated the whole part just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, and made sure that the final lines I wrote in English still made sense. lol

First, I wanted to note the differences in terms; in case I slip when putting this together. ^^; The literal translation of 「十四人委員会」 would be "Fourteen-person Committee"; but in the context of FF14, (at least in English,) we call it the "Convocation of Fourteen", so I try to stick with that for final translations. What makes anything with the Ancients more difficult, is that they're not speaking a language that we can immediately understand, but rather making sounds that our Echo/超える力/l'Écho/Kraft des Transzendierens interprets into words we/the WoL/WoD can understand. The downside is lack of clarification for actual translation if you don't fluently read or speak another language. lol

For example, when Elidibus speaks, we hear the words spoken, so if there's a kanji that's said more than one way, I can hear which definition is correct by listening to the sentence. But the Ancients' "woop woop wop wah wahp woo" is harder to interpret... but, at least it's the same in every language, right? XD For German, they have “The Convent”, and French has “The Council of Fourteen”.

Second, in English, we called him “The Emissary”, which is another term for “Mediator; Arbitrator; Go-Between” which is the definition of the term 調停者 [shouteisha] , his Japanese title. When translating from German, Shiro used the term “The Advocate”. His French title is “le Médiateur” His role seems to be the same, at least, he settled disputes, found the facts, kept things in check, and generally maintained balance. That was the seat of Elidibus; which is necessary to understand why he said what he said about being needed. (Those titles come from the first flashback as well as the second one; which I’ll get to in the next post. <3 )

The English lines that started this conversation are: “Divided -- over the fate of the star. A rare occurrence, always fleeting. But not this time. Not this time... Reconciliation. Elidibus. I was needed. I withdrew myself from Zodiark. For them...”

Japanese: 世界の行く末について、たくさんの意見が出た…… そんなことは珍しいから、委員会のみんなが悩んでいた。

だったら、エリディブスが手助けしに行かないと…… そう思って、ゾディアークから零れ落ちたんだ。

Final Translation: (after edits and all this discussion) "A great many opinions were expressed regarding the fate of the world, Everyone in the Convocation was troubled, since such a thing was unusual.

That being the case, I could not go help them in my role as Emissary. I believed that they needed Elidibus, so I pulled myself from Zodiark.”

In French, from Xehnis: "Le Concile avait perdu sa cohésion...Face à l’anéantissement, les avis divergeaient sur la marche à suivre pour sauver notre planéte…

Ça ne leur ressemblait pas...Plus que jamais, ils avaient besoin d’Elidibus...Ils avaient besoin de moi...Alors, je me suis détaché de Zordiarche pour voler à leur secours…”

Her final translation: “The Council had lost its cohesion...In the face of annihilation, opinions differed on the way to save our planet…

It does not resemble them...more than ever, they needed Elidibus...they needed me....so, I detached from Zordiark to fly to their aid…”

The German lines, from Cafe Berry’s Shiro, along with the explanations: "Die Zukunft der Welt hing in der Schwebe und Chaos machte sich breit. Die Ascians waren zutiefst gespalten. Der Konvent uneins..."

Here, they are talking about how the Ascians, and most importantly, the convent is divided. How the future of the world was not clear and with that chaos spread.

"Elidibus, der Fürsprecher, musste etwas tun. Ich musste etwas tun. Und so spaltete ich mich wieder von Zodiark ab ..."

Here, Elidibus says that Elidibus, as the Emissary, had to do something. HE had to do something. So he split off from Zodiark.

Their translation they gave me then, was: "The future of the world hung in the balance and chaos spread. The Ascians were deeply divided. The convent divided ...

Elidibus, the advocate, had to do something. I had to do something. And so I split off from Zodiark again ... "

This was the part that my husband had called into question; with my original translation to:

"Many opinions and thoughts came forth, regarding the fate of our world.... The Convocation was worried, as such a thing was unusual."

世界の行く末について、たくさんの意見が出た…… そんなことは珍しいから、委員会のみんなが悩んでいた。

The literal translation of it all, would be: "The world's future/fate concerning/regarding, a great many/a lot (of) comments were brought up/expressed......

such thing(s) are/is curious/rare/unusual because/since, committee of everyone("Everyone on the Committee") (was/were actively being) troubled/worried.”

There was also the lines that followed, which were also rough to word in English, so the whole section had felt awkward.

だったら、エリディブスが手助けしに行かないと…… そう思って、ゾディアークから零れ落ちたんだ。

“if that's the case, Elidibus (from) assistance (as/in the role of) to go/to do (could not),

so/appearing that/seeming that considered/believed/reckoned/judged/decided/desired, Zodiark (from) spilled over/scattered from (n'da - 'no desu' / 'no da' used to add emphasis)"

I had tried: "I decided that they needed Elidibus, but as I was I couldn't help them, so I pulled myself away from Zodiark.

Which was another way to put the idea of: "That being the case, Elidibus could not go rescue/help, I believed, then spilled and fell over/scattered from Zodiark."

It ended up: "A great many thoughts and opinions were expressed regarding the fate of the world, Everyone on the Committee was troubled, since such a thing was unusual.If that was the case, I could not give them assistance in the role of Arbitrator. I believed that they needed Elidibus, so I fell/scattered from Zodiark."

In the end, for this part, it really helped to learn what was said in French and German, because it helped solidify more what was trying to be said, and that there probably is at least a little societal influence in the Japanese text. If it hadn’t been for Xehnis and Shiro’s assistance, I probably wouldn’t have landed on something that felt comfortable enough in English. <3

They all feel different, but have the same general idea: that even after Zodiark was summoned; and Elidibus became his Heart; things hadn’t been fixed. Things continued to grow worse, and they began to fight, and have conflict. As Arbitrator/Emissary/Advocate/Mediator, Elidibus’ job was to maintain balance, and settle disputes, but he could no longer do the job of his seat as the Heart of Zodiark, and it seemed to be destroying the Convocation; making things worse; so he yanked himself out of a Primal to go tell everyone to SIMMER DOWN, NOW.

Sidenote/Side Question here... I wonder what happened with Venat and Hydaelyn...? Perhaps we’ll get clarification in the future, as the only person who’s become/been anything like Elidibus has been Minfilia as the ‘Words of the Mother’, then sent off as an “Emissary” of sorts to the First. lol

This all led to wondering about the last line; as it was clearly different in the Japanese Audio than the English Text. I do want to state that I think what they did in English worked just as well for the emotional gut punch intended from Elidibus’ last words; but it’s very different. It did lead to looking at the flashback in Anemnesis Anyder where we heard the line about the rain, which will be in the next post.

English: “The rains have ceased, and we have been graced with another beautiful day. But you are not here to see it.”

Japanese: 私が最後に残ったって……仕方ないじゃないか……。 Translation: “There’s nothing for it then, is there? I’m the last one left...”

French: Je devais partir en dernier... Comment aurais-je pu abandonner mes amis, esseulés en ce bas monde? Translation: “I had to leave last...how could I abandon (forsake) my friends, lonely in this lowly world?”

German: Es ist vorbei ... Alles verloren ... Ich bin der Letzte ... Translation: "It is over. Everything lost... I am the last..."

Japanese can also be read as “I’m the last one left... I guess it can’t be helped, huh?” but even in context, it didn’t flow quite as well as I’d like.. but that doesn’t take away from the crying, does it... ; A; I got the term “Remnant” from Japanese, where “watashi ga saigo ni nokotta tte” would literally translate to “I’m the final remnant”/”I’m the last leftover”, which I did word as “I’m the last one remaining/left.” (It is also 'Sumo term, cried by the referee to indicate that a rikishi is still in the ring’, but that didn’t quite feel right here, however, you can take the sumo joke if you’d like. <3)

I’m going to repeat that I think referring back to the line he was told back when he’d gotten the title of Elidibus wasn’t bad, and it did still work very well to convey that lost, lonely, longing he was left with as a remnant; what little was left of him, lamented the loss of his beloved people; people that he’d just wanted to save. This is evidenced in French and German; where he states that he’s all that’s left, everything is lost, it is over... that he had to go last, so he wouldn’t abandon his friends.

I appreciate that we gave Elidibus all the constellation stones, which, in a way, let him finally be with all of his friends once more. All the stones, except for ours; we kept that, because Hades made it for us. He made it for us to remember, so that the story of the Ancients wouldn’t be forgotten; the ‘truth’ he made sure he told us when we asked about the past.

At least, that’s what I choose to believe for now.

[Next Post >>]

[futuredagger]

𝓂𝒾𝓇𝒶𝒾𝔁𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓮𝓻

The Basics ––– –

Age: 133

Birthday: 17th sun of the 6th astral moon

Race: viera / veena

Gender: female

Sexuality: demigirl

Marital Status: married

Alignment: chaotic neutral

Physical Appearance ––– –

Hair: long purple locks that are beginning to fade into pink waves. what used to be a solid color now exposes her age and her unending need to find equilibrium between light and dark.

Eyes: aquamarine blue. 

Height: 6′

Build: her slim frame hides her strength and muscle quite well, but forces other zones to look a bit more endowed.

Personal ––– –

Profession: free company static leader and resident sleeper.

Hobbies: selfies, sleeping and helping sprouts along their journey.

Languages: mooglespeak (kupo!) and dragonspeak (toskh na!)

Residence: shirogane, but looking to colder climates in ishgard.

Birthplace: golmore jungle, though now banished.

Religion: shiva and hraesvelgr are relationship goals.

Patron Deity: menphina.

Fears: spiders, loss of friends, standing out too much in a crowd and not getting enough sleep.

Relationships ––– -

Spouse: she has had two wives. from year 5 of the seventh umbral era until a requiem for heros in the seventh astral era she was married to aori. after their relationship was dissolved, she married to another shortly after, talon.

Children: none.

Parents: unknown, abandoned at a young enough age to never really know her parents.

Siblings: none.

Other Relatives: none.

Pets: her chocobo, sweetea.

Traits ––– -

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted 

Disorganized / In Between / Organized 

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded 

Calm / In Between / Anxious 

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable 

Cautious / In Between / Reckless 

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved 

Leader / In Between / Follower 

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic 

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic 

Traditional / In Between / Modern 

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy 

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured 

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal 

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Additional information ––– –

Smoking Habit: only recreationally.

Drugs: none.

Alcohol: occasionally.

From the Player ––– –

my character is an in-game reflection of myself, perhaps more personal than anything. final fantasy xiv has been a source of growth and awakening for me,  through all of the trials and tribulations i’ve faced. for example, though i was never truly “abandoned” as a child, i have been diagnosed with complex ptsd as a result of my parents’ choices when i was younger. my hair actually is purple (though fading to pink because.. well, dye fades). i was genuinely married from 2014 until 2019 and my spouse at the time played ffxiv with me under a character named aori. i believe he still plays, but what his name in-game is now and what he’s up to i’m not entirely sure. while i’m not married again, i am with someone new named talon. i moved in with him in august of 2021 after we had been dating for two years.

writing about my character is kind of difficult for me, because a story never really formed for her until shadowbringers. that expansion dropped the same summer i finalized my divorce, and it led me down into some very dark places as well as into bright places. shadowbringers also brought an immense amount of change in my character, both in terms of race and job choices. from heavensward until shadowbringers, i had been an au’ra, so a lot of the backstory i would have for her doesn’t involve viera. for jobs, i have been playing ffxiv since 2.0 released and for a large majority only played scholar. (i was that one person in my fc for the longest time that only played scholar, actually...) with the changes in shadowbringers to scholar, i was really disappointed with how it felt to play in comparison to how it felt before. because i was going through such a hard time offline, i saw it as an opportunity for growth in-game so i switched to gunbreaker and now it’s my main job. i hope that i’m able to work on her backstory more throughout endwalker and as things continue to improve in my life offline.

i’ve moved to tumblr because of a few reasons. one of them being that the twitter community in terms of modding and general ffxiv stuff has become increasingly toxic and negative. i just wanted a spot ultimately to show off screen captures of my character and talk ffxiv stuff, but it’s so hard to with some of the people i’ve met on twitter. the second reason is because i love reading and writing, and though i probably won’t ever role-play with this character (seriously, don’t count on it), i do still want to be able to read others’ musings about their time in eorzea and perhaps share mine, too. like i said at the beginning, she’s an extension of my offline self, and i’d like to give her as much love and attention as i do my actual self.

i hope that this works as a decent intro to who i am and whatnot. i know i kind of followed a lot of you and only posted big booty modded bunny screen captures, which i realize was probably not the best start lmao, but please do expect more screen caps with mods and i’ll be sure to work on a resources page so that you can see what things i’m working with.

thank you so much for your time; i know this was a lot, but just know it means a lot to me that you did.

[alicelufenia]

Dark Knight Quest Translations! (Reddit Link)

I’m a fan of any cross language comparisons in FFXIV, and with the Dark Knight quests and the job itself meaning so much to me I was very excited to see how other languages differ.

Turns out EN is VERY different from JP/DE in terms of ie., Fray’s origin and personality, the overall tone of the quests, and especially the level 80 quest (right down to the title, “Our Closure” not having the same gravitas in other languages as it does in EN). I was especially surprised to learn that the whole “DRK quests are written differently than every other quest, even changing depending on whether you have the job stone equipped while reading them” is EN exclusive! I had no idea localization could just do that!

As with all the language comparisons, I welcome the variety of ways this game is written for different languages, how it ranges from extremely flowery and verbose in English while being much more concise and straight forward in other languages. I’m a huge fan of looking at all the little differences, finding things that inspire me from all of them, and incorporating them into my own personal canon. It’s part of the game as far as I’m concerned (on top of glamour, and I guess raiding too :P *is in a static*)

[fatewalker-phoenix]

2, 13, 20. *spins the wheel* (from oc asks pt 2)

2. Is there a meaning behind their name, or a particular reason why they have it?

Eden Azalea's name has such a long boring history behind it that I fear I would put everyone to sleep recounting it, suffice it to say that it comes from the names I used for two previous MMO's I played before xiv, as well as my online tag. In-game, as we know, eden is the fae word that means utopia, and is the alias she adopted for herself on a whim following the loss of her memories. Her birth name is Tsutsuji.

Kiana's name origin story is that I literally took Kiara from the Lion King II and changed one letter for the OC I was developing for my Inheritance Cycle fanfic, from which she originates. Kveykva is from the in universe ancient language of that series, and means lightning. The name Kiana itself is of Hawaiian origin and means divine, so put em together and you get divine lightning, which, I mean, is pretty metal ngl. Ironic since she's the most Baby of the three.

Airi Nakamura was the name given to a Bleach OC made for me by a friend. Airi itself has meanings both in Japanese (beloved jasmine) and Finnish (messenger). In story it has come to be her nickname, as her full first name is Aurora.

13. What are their views on marriage? If they want to get married, what would their dream wedding be like?

Eden, as the sole married one of the three, thinks marriage is pretty dang sweet. In keeping with both her and Astor's (@tiredassmage) wishes, theirs was a fairly quiet wedding, much to the chagrin of much of the Alliance who wanted a union between two Warriors of Light to be a grand affair. But enough of their lives and accomplishments are under the scrutiny of the public that they are happy to keep such a moment to themselves. With that said, let there never be any doubt that the two are deeply, deeply in love. Eden couldn't imagine a future without him in it that she would want for herself, and he will never fail to get a shiver of delight out of her when calling her Mrs. Caulfield.

Airi's views on marriage are...complicated. On one hand, she would absolutely be down for a lavish affair and the chance to dress up and declare her vows! But. Her strict parents drilled into her that her marriage would be one that benefits their family, feelings and romance be damned, giving her an overall bitter feeling toward the idea. Additionally, the man who owns her heart is...not one for conventional weddings, period. It was already a shock to see him dressed up for the Banquet at all. And their bond is already one that has transcended eons and lightyears, to declare their union in a ceremony seems very insignificant in comparison. There will be opportunities to dress up, but a wedding as the setting is unlikely for the time being.

What AU would they belong in the best?

See it's funny, because all three of them come from other fandoms, technically making ffxiv the AU!

Of the three of them, however, Eden's characterization was developed the most in xiv, and it's become a little difficult to fit her into other universes without having to change large parts of her (such as her memory loss and future-sight Echo). If I had to pick one AU she would do well in, it's one where she can flex her full queenly self to its max, so something in the fantasy/historical fiction genre would fit her. If she finds herself

Kiana is meant to be an underdog protagonist, so she's very flexible on where she can go. I do still carry a soft spot for her original incarnation as a surprise Dragon Rider in the war between the Varden and the Empire. She's most recently found herself in a small YGO 5'Ds AU with a few friends.

Airi is also very flexible on which universes she can go into, she usually fits into the role of the rich family's runaway heiress (think Lucy from Fairy Tail), who like any Disney princess just wants more than whatever stifling role her parents want to force her into. Bonus points if she's able to meet a brooding world-weary grump who slowly warms up to and falls in love with her over the course of the story (psst Shay that's your queue)

[kunstpause-archive]

FFXIV Write Prompt #19 - Where the Heart is

‘Where the heart is…’

The saying is far older than the body he currently inhabits. And yet far younger than his mind is. It came into existence somewhere in between.

After the sundering.

A saying about home. The place, or the person, where one would always want to return to.

A simple concept. And a quite natural thing.

The first time he hears the phrase, he scoffs at it. Mortals and their limited view. Putting stumbling, gangly words together to crudely describe something so true, so natural, with their incomplete language. It is barely worth his time.

Over the centuries, though, he learns to appreciate their childish attempts at describing the world around them. They are still so far beneath him, and they make no effort to grow, but listening to them long enough, he can see some beauty in their crudeness. Can see their fumbling for what it is - an attempt to give form to the things that can not be grasped. 

They can’t make their thoughts take shape after all. They have never learned how to color the world with what they feel. They can’t take what is inside their hearts and make it manifest into pure beauty.

So they use words, descriptions, and every comparison under the sun. They refine them and distill them into phrases that stand the test of time, that linger on long after their creators are dead. Like children, learning how to walk, he often thinks. And over the many years, they start running.

The way they use words reminds him strangely of concepts sometimes. He would never admit it out loud, but sometimes he is something akin to impressed when he sees them fill an empty space with their ideas and make something new. And he grows fond of what they are doing somehow. They fill the blank pages of a book with stories that come to life in front of his eyes on grand stages. From nothing, they learn to create whole new worlds. 

Fondness becomes a passion, and soon he watches the actors on stage, faithfully delivering their lines, and something clasps around his heart. They are so different from what he has lost. And yet, when he sees them perform, he sometimes thinks they are the same. They play their parts as he does his own. On a grand stage, keeping the people watching in suspense. But they can never deviate from their script. They create a story, reel people in, and take them on a journey with them. And if they are as good as he is, then, for the smallest of moments, their audience believes them wholeheartedly.

If they are good, it feels almost real.

(It isn’t.)

The act always ends. The curtain always falls. The next day begins, and with it, another journey. For them as well as for him. And no matter how real it sometimes appears, it never quite feels like home.

(Except, when it does.)

When he sees the Warrior of Light, he sees them act, just like him, as they share the same stage, like puppets on strings. And he has no idea why the phrase is on his mind again. 

(But he knows.) 

He plays his part, and for a moment, one big, beautiful moment, he is so good at it, it feels real to him as well.

‘Home is where the heart is.’

He laughs bitterly at the words. He wishes he could still shrug them off as he did before. Could still pretend they are silly and untrue. But even he is not that good of an actor.

Emet-Selch can see it right in front of him. A vain yearning for a home. He sees, and feels, and knows where his heart is. It lies just out of reach. 

(Bathed in light.)

But in the end, his heart doesn’t matter. Can not matter. It is but a feather against the weight of his soul. Emet-Selch knows that he can never go home.

Not when his soul is the very chain keeping his heart in check.

The show must go on, and he plays his part.

And remains, as always, tempered.

[yzareenxiv]

FFXIV Write 2021 - 2: Aberrant

Aberrant

((TW: Mild body horror))

Two figures walking in perfectly harmonious steps through the jungle-esque territory where the trees’ hearts beat in their bark and their sap bled thick ichorous blood. Two figures with bows and quivers on their rounded backs. They hunched as they walked, backs bowed, legs digitigrade but ending in feet clad in leather-like boots. An odd number of eyes between the two of them, uncountable for when one would close on the first figure, it may reopen on the second, or where it first appeared, or not at all. It made them excellent hunters.

They were hungry. The flow of aether that the world-eater had brought to this region had abruptly ceased and the two had been forced back to ranging their territory daily for sustenance.

Both stopped and turned their heads in perfect synchronicity as a flock of small prey abruptly took wing, screaming and calling at each other.

One flat voice stated. “Strange.” The second replied in the exact same tone. “Very.”

“Should we examine further?” “Let’s.”

They turned together and walked single-file down a game path in the darkness, the ever-shifting purples, reds, pinks, blacks of the sky providing enough ambient light for their feet to find the way. They stepped into a small place where the creeping, hissing, whispering foliage had been broken, many branches still keening softly as the ichor bled from them into the ground. Together, they laid their many eyes on the figure that lay sprawled in the midst of the clearing.

The second spoke first. “Is it dead?”

The first replied quickly but in the same flat affect. “No. Look, it’s breathing.”

“So it is.”

“What is it.”

“A new creation of the Queen-mother.”

“No. It is something stranger.”

“Something new.” The flat tone did not match the surprised way in which the many eyes blinked.

“Possibly.”

“How odd.”

“Agreed.”

The aberrant being on the ground groaned very softly and the two hunters went silent as one, turning their heads to watch. One limb moved. Another. A third, fourth, and fifth, though the fourth had a strange way of flopping around in comparison to the others. Protuberances from the head moved, twitched. The hunters slung their bows from their shoulders together, other hands reached back for arrows that they did not yet nock.

Spring-green eyes opened slowly, the color unimaginably vivid in this place and both hunters recoiled. The creature on the ground blinked several times, the black in it’s eyes very wide. It’s breathing was harsh and sped up as it pushed itself up and looked around in a fashion that was unmistakably alert, frightened.

“I do not like this.” The first muttered.

“No.” The second agreed.

“We should report it.”

“We should…” The voice trailed away.

“You disagree.” The words were stated, as all the others, flat and emotionless, but several of the eyes swiveled to look at it’s kin.

“I want to catch it.”

A beat of silence. The creature on the ground was holding forelimbs to it’s head, moving very slowly and carefully. Injured?

The hunters watched it, the first finally stating. “Cache it in a tree. Then we will report it.”

The second seemed satisfied. “Yes.”

The creature on the ground turned what must have been sensory processors of some kind- ears?- towards them before those wide eyes turned their direction. It garbled something, the snarl transcending language, and began to carefully pull itself together into a crouch. It’s eyes continued to frantically dart around as the “ears” turned swiftly. The hunters nocked their arrows, drew, fired in smooth synchronicity.

The creature in the clearing let out a startled, pained shriek as it was struck in left shoulder and right calf. It tried to turn and break and the hunters eyes widened at how fast it moved, even injured, but only a few steps forward before the mild paralytic on the arrows ensnared it and it went down, the fifth appendage being the last thing to move as if in defiance.

The hunters moved together to break the arrow-shafts while leaving the heads in their prize. They finally ceased to move in a pair as one lifted the creature and the other pulled a binding from it’s belt. The hunters stopped in their motions and sniffed the air. Aether. The creature appeared to be...bleeding it?

Their eyes fluttering in bliss in a way that made them rapidly appear and disappear, the hunters opened wide the mouths in their torsos and allowed themselves the indulgence of licking the wounds clean with wide tongues. The flow of aether became sluggish, ceased, as their saliva hardened over the wounds.

“We could keep it.” said the second.

“No.”

“No.”

“We will cache it, then report it. And be rewarded.”

“Yes.”

Satisfied, they wrapped the strange creature in a blanket, tied it off, and cached the bag in the branches of the heart-beat trees, where the foliage hissed and whispered around it.

[mottledscales]

Voice Reference: Muunokhoi

► ACCENT

“country” (?) │ “backwoods” │ “sailor” │ “noble” │ foreign speaker | “The Queen’s English”

As one might expect, Eorzean is not Muunokhoi’s first language and as a result his words tend to be fairly accented. Those of the Khatayin and Ura tribes might find it familiar as it and its dialect are specific to the Tail mountain range. Similarly, Xaela of the Azim Steppe might consider his accent noticeably different from their own.  However, as it has been many years since he was last in the company of his own tribe or anyone with a similar manner of speaking, it has lightened considerably.

► ELOQUENCE

educated │ uneducated │ doesn’t use conjunctions │ shortens words │ just makes up their own words  │ old English │

When he speaks -rare as it is- he often paints a very different picture than the hulking behemoth that he is...depending on the language he’s currently utilizing. Old Auri, Doman, and Common all share a somewhat similar level of proficiency for him, with the former being his strongest and Doman a close second. In both of these, Muunokhoi is eloquent and well-spoken, which might seem like a departure from his hulking physique. He does falter occasionally, particularly in Common or Eorzean, and is prone to pausing while he tries to remember word in those languages he might know instinctively in others. Or vice-versa.

► TONE

loud │ soft │ room volume │ high pitched │ low pitched │seductive │velvety │ speech impediment │ abrasive │ gruff │ shrill │ booming │ matter-of-fact │ toneless │ husky │ gravelly │ breathy │ nasal │ barking │ chatty │ condescending │ musical │suave │ world-weary │ brash │ authoritative │ lisp

So...there’s two tones one might hear out of Muunokhoi. If you’re a stranger or he’s in public, he’ll speak in a monotone rumble. It’s soft, but due to the depth and low pitch, his voice tends to travel well. Its a conscious effort, he prefers to be inconspicuous. If you’re a friend -or a child- you’ll earn his openness, fluctuations in tone according to his mood, etc. He’ll still remain quiet, for the most part, but he’ll come off less robotic or stoic. Its uncommon for him to yell or to raise his voice, but when he does, it booms. Particularly his laughter. 

It’s probably worth noting that Muunokhoi does possess a speech impediment in the form of halting, almost-stutter like stops at times. That’s further covered in This Ask

► HABITS

incorporates different languages / terms / sayings │ uses gender-specific terms │ adapts to audience │ changes pitch around animals or children │ shifts tone when lying │ gives others nicknames │ uses terms of respect towards others │ pauses in mid-sentence to work out the the right word │ incorporates colorful descriptors / analogies

Usually you’ll hear him say “Mr [Name]/Ms [Name]/Mx [Name]” to refer to any adult, honorifics when using the appropriate language for them, and titles of those he knows to possess them, though the latter of these is sometimes a point of amusement, rather than respect. Muunokhoi tends to be respectful to a level that can be aggravating if you want to be casual with him. He still refers to his closest friend is still “Mister Myym’sae” more often than not, and Shirojishi is still “Mister Gyokuro” There’s...rare instances of him dropping formality. Few and far between, those.

► VOICE REFERENCE

Christopher Judge as Kratos from the most recent God of War is a spot-on comparison for the depth and gravelly feel of Muunokhoi’s voice. Video is full of puns and dad-jokes. You’ve been warned.

Tagged by: @ffxiv-sunderedsouls Hell yeah. Thanks my dude.

Tagging: Hmmmmn. @myymsaetayuun, @kiin-tsu-gii, @teebster, @hadriandemara-ffxiv, @dread-adumbration​, @black-water-tia​