#it was a really interesting expac

[okami-zero]

More Dawntrail Ramblings

And while this is only...mildly spoiler-y for the...mid to second half of things, I will put a readmore for spoiler avoidance.

So, this is very much a ramble, and honestly nothing earth-shattering, but I found the focus on memory in the latter half of things was very similar in some ways to what we learn with Wuk Lamat during the feats hosted by the Yok Huy, and their belief around how no one is ever truly dead, so long as they are remembered. This echoes/is based on real world cultural beliefs (I recall reading about them in Mexico, but they are likely more widespread, I am sure) that are very similar, linking remembrance and death and how they are related, etc.

The thing that has ping-ponged around in my brainbox is how the efforts of Preservation created the Endless from their own memories (and likely memories of others who knew them), and is kind of like the Yok Huy's beliefs. But at the same time, it is very different and... kind of hollow. Because the people who would be remembering those they lost are bereft of that ability, indeed having those memories just removed POOF! As if their loved ones never existed. Though people close to the deceased retain some small shadow of recollection - "I had two parents, but I don't remember their names or what they were like" - I find this to be the Regulators's most insidious function. We do meet at least one person who seems to retain a little bit more than most about their long dead parent, and we find out that people who do not have Regulators when they die remain in the memories of those they knew and loved. But for those hooked into the system, them simply vanish "into the cloud". And THAT is a phrase that knocked me for a loop, because I have worked in and adjacent to IT and was kind of horrifed that people's very memories and essence were being shunted into cloud data storage (and it kind of was, too. O.o)

But the thing that niggled at me the whole time I am running through the MSQ is how very close, and yet how so very FAR from the Yok Huy tradition the whole system is (not even getting into souls as a commodity, me and Akagi almost BSOD'd learning about that whole deal). Because, instead of those who loved and knew and cared for these people being able to remember them, they are robbed of the ability, which is then given over to basically giant fucking storage servers. To be "remembered" by machines. And recreated as a facsimiles of themself based on their (and I assume, others stoeln) memories. It's a broken mirror reflection of the Yok Huy traditions and a very interesting point to present.

And I have seen people going "oh we killed all those Endless, we committed mass murder"! Bestie, they were already dead. Those are all ghosts - quite literally ghosts in a machine. (Which is not the exact meaning of that phrase, but you get it). "But okami," you might say, "they were living and walking around and experiencing joy and wonder and life!"

Were they, though?

Imagine someone dies before they turn, say, 15. If they had a Regulator, not only do they vanish from the lives of everyone who knew them, they are now, if recreated as an Endless, eternally a child. Never aging, never growing up, never maturing. They are locked in that state, and while it looks like there can be experiences in Living Memory, it's not really life. That kind is now forever a kid, and their existence is now tied to that state forever. And we even meet some Endless who are very much unsure of whether they are really happy with their lot, because they are locked in stasis, basically. Yes, we did reunite that one fellow with his childhood love, and he was able to propose to her, as he had been unable to do in life, which was honestly one of my favorite quests. So there is SOME change, but... it's kind of like a pseudo-afterlife that is materially unsustainable. That would exist at the cost of other worlds and lives. Sacrificing the living to preserve the dead. And possibly create EVEN MORE ENDLESS, which would exacerbate the issue even further. All the sustain a stagnant amusement park full of ghosts.

So yea, this whole ramble to say that Living Memory's terminals juxtaposed with the Yok Huy sepulchres was really neat, and Living Memory and Spehene's existence was so very, very sad. And I am really enjoying Dawntrail.

Also...

DID ANYONE ELSE NOTICE AZEM'S SYMBOL POP UP OVER THE TOP OF THE KEY?! CAUSE I SURE DID!!! AND I WAS BOUNCING IN MY SEAT!

[verflares]

nothing more frustrating than playing New Video Game and/or digesting new media in general and you're like "mmmm this is kinda bad/boring. honestly." so out of curiosity you look up to see if anybody else feels this way but you are instead greeted with if you think anything about this is bad or boring you need to be put in front of a firing squad

[meowww-ffxiv]

Love playing on Liios and getting a Reassembled Air Anchor and Reassembled Drill out at the beginning and then never being able to do that back-to-back again in the entire fucking fight because somehow the Reassembled timer is misaligned with those 2 skills.

[syrcus]

wuk lamat and erenville are the new yda and papalymo. send post.

[wine-dark-soup]

tbh even if blizzard was a decent company and wow a very very good game i'd have stopped playing by dragonflight because you can't make me care about dragons like at all

[xellandria]

70 #46, Alliance #28, Priest #4. I'd fallen out of love with my void elf (I seem to never feel neutral about rogues, I either enjoy them a lot or think they're incredibly tedious) and wanted to get rid of her, but I also want to keep at least one of everything around Just In Case. While searching for names that weren't taken on various servers, I came across Ursula on two of them, and chose to roll her on Onyxia despite already having a priest there. It also covers U names (as I also want at least one of every letter) in case my gnome priest Uma gets the boot at some point.

Vandelyn (previously Sylenna, the aforementioned VE rogue) always felt really stifled on mog choices, but for some reason there's a lot more cloth I like on BE/VE than there is leather. A bit of a shame because the female BE/VE idle stealth animation is one of my favourites, but I suppose I could always get on one of the cloud or carpet mounts if I really want to go back :P

[iraprince]

That chart of your GW2 ocs has compelled me so much. what is gw2. how do you make gay plants in it

guild wars 2 is my favorite mmo of all time! it's free to play, tho if u ever do end up paying for the expacs/living world seasons and stuff they all have flat costs, no monthly subscription ever. (this is what i really like about it, bc games w subs stress me out... if something has a sub and i don't play every day i feel like i'm wasting money or something lol vs gw i can fall off the wagon for weeks/months and no harm done)

ANYWAY our gay plants are one of the playable races -- they're kind of gw2's version of elves, loosely, but they're called sylvari and imo they're much cooler. rather than being "born" they just Wake Up as fully formed adults from the pods of a magical tree and gain mmmmost (but not all) of their consciousness/general understanding of the world from a shared dream that contains the memories and life experience of the sylvari who have come before them, and at the beginning of the plot sylvari as a people have only existed for like. ~20 years, which i think is a really, really compelling hook. also i'm being serious and textual abt the gay thing, arguably the most central sylvari npc is a lesbian and her relationship w her ex is plot important, one of the starter missions u can choose as a sylvari centers around helping a gay couple and the dialogue is Really Insistent abt not letting it be interpreted as "wow they're good friends!!" etc etc

there's also an Evil Faction of sylvari called the nightmare court who feel the dream is overly controlling/sanitized and want to "liberate" sylvari by balancing out the experiences contained in the dream w more negative and painful ones instead -- in-game more often than not they're written pretty flatly as cackling puppy-kicking supervillains but i think they're really interesting lol, a huge chunk of my + marina's ocs are either current or ex nightmare courtiers (including merrit and glyndwr!)

okay wait wait wait im getting distracted and infodumping u can learn all this stuff yourself by getting into the game. gotta rein it in. uhhh let me leave u w screencaps of a bunch of our ocs so u can see some character creation options bc they're so cool

also hey furries: fuicking excellent beast race with close to no sexual dimorphism.

(the one on the left in this pic is an m model and on the right is the f model. the main difference between charr gender models, literally, is how fluffy their tails are. charr fucking rule)

[picaroroboto]

I am struck by the sudden and intense urge to do a full analysis on the elements of anti-facism in FF14, but I don't really want to sit down and write a big ol' essay right now. But you do understand what I mean when I say it's not anti-facist just because the Garlean Empire, inspired by real-life facism, is a major antagonist you fight against - in fact, the story gains a lot when the Empire is not treated like an evil boogeyman. Showing depth and variety in Garlean characters, from the likes of Gaius, who wholeheartedly believes that Garlemald has to conquer the world to save it from itself, to people like Valens and arguably Zenos who use their power to satisfy their own desires, to ordinary people like Jullus who just go along with the ideas they were born into; giving them depth makes them more interesting to engage with as players and readers while also reminding us that facism isn't like, some sort of evil curse, it's a belief system (albeit a dangerous, cruel, illogical one) that is held by people - by humans who treat other humans as inhuman.

But FF14's biggest strength as an anti-facist story comes from the conflict with the Ancients - it's not a coincidence that Emet-Selch, leader of the Ascians, is also the founder of the facist Garlean Empire. This idea of returning to an idealized past (when not only is this process impossible, the past was never as good as anyone remembers it, or was only good for a minority of people) comes up a lot in facist ideology. Endwalker tears this down by not only hammering in Shadowbringers' thesis that you can never return to the past, it also shows us how the Ancient world was never really as perfect as Emet remembered it, thus strengthening our resolve to embrace the present.

Also, I'm no political scholar, but it seems to me that a lot of right-wing beliefs stem from a deep distrust of other people - for example, they might oppose police or justice reform because they genuinely think that fear of punishment is the only thing that keeps others from harming them. The importance of trusting others is a strong theme in FF14: the problems with the Beast Tribes and their Primals only begins to be solved when they turn from over-relying on their gods to trusting their fellow sentient beings instead. And, in the post-patches of every expac, the WoL helps the nations they've saved get back on their feet in a way that makes certain they'll stay stable when the WoL leaves for their next adventure - this is a system of trust too, showing that they trust the people they protect to solve their own problems from time to time.

I just think the way that FF14 doesn't just portray facists as stock enemies, but attacks the ideas that serve as the core of their beliefs, is really well done. *Note: while I discuss the resemblance between the Garlean Empire and real-life facism, I also understand that FF14 is fiction. I am not criticizing the writers for allowing Garlean characters to be sympathetic, nor am I attacking anyone for liking those characters.

[autumnslance]

A Tale of Two Sisters

From early in ARR, the WoL has run into members of the intrepid Ironheart family, beginning with Millith in Gridania and appearing early in each expansion since. The family follows in their famous ancestor's footsteps and explores the world, kindly marking items of interest in the WoL's own sightseeing log.

And it's no different in Tural, as we first meet Elsebee Ironheart, who gives us sightseeing records for Yok Tural. It seems we have to seek out her twin sister, Emeline Ironheart, for sights of Xak Tural with which to fill our log book.

But even the familiar sightseeing log entries get their own twist in Dawntrail...

Elsebee Ironheart: A fellow Eorzean, am I right? Do you fancy yourself much of a sightseer? Elsebee Ironheart: Dear old Millith gave you her journal? My, what a small world. It just so happens that I'm her cousin! Elsebee Ironheart at your service. Elsebee Ironheart: Well, if you've met Cousin Millith, I'm sure you can guess why I “crossed the salt,” as they say. This continent is positively brimming with sights unseen by Eorzean eyes, and I'm here to discover them all! Elsebee Ironheart: My twin sister and I, that is. You see, I had more interest in Yok, while she was drawn to the vistas of Xak. So it was that we parted ways at the bridge, each of us touring half of Tural. Elsebee Ironheart: …So give me your sightseeing log, then! Elsebee Ironheart: Let's see, let's see… Oh, how beautiful! I should like to see these places myself someday. Ahem, er, sorry, I was going to just scribble down… Elsebee Ironheart: …my notes on Yok Tural! I included what my sister shared with me of Xak Tural, but I'm afraid it isn't much. Elsebee Ironheart: My twin's name is Emeline and she's still wandering about over there. Given your natural affinity for Ironhearts, you'll doubtless run into her someday. Elsebee Ironheart: Well, I'm sure you've got places to be and vistas to behold. May your journey throughout Tural be bright and unforgettable!

When first doing this on Dark Autumn, I really didn't think much of it; business as usual, right? Noted the comments about the sister, and as the log only went to zone 4, well, guess we'd deal with that when we found her twin.

And honestly, with so much else happening in the MSQ and all the sidequests, the Ironheart sisters fell out of mind...until I reached Solution 9 and saw, upon arrival, a single blue-marked sidequest available immediately...

Emeline Ironheart: That tome…that wouldn't happen to be a sightseeing log, would it? Emeline Ironheart: Millith! Now that's a name I haven't heard in a good long time. And dearest Elsebee… Emeline Ironheart: She's my twin sister, you see, and I haven't seen her for thirty long years. Not since I was trapped during my exploration of Yyasulani. Emeline Ironheart: It brings me great joy to know she is well. Pardon me for asking, but…might I see the notes she added to your log? Emeline Ironheart: She always did make such bold strokes of her lettering… Here. Emeline Ironheart: I've added my own notes. Some of the information may seem improbable at best, but I believe there is truth in every entry. Emeline Ironheart: Were I younger, I would set out in search of these fantastic sights myself, but alas, my body can no longer endure such travels. Emeline Ironheart: Though thanks to you, I feel lighter than I have in an age. If there is one thing I should wish, it is to see my sister again before I die. There is so much I would share with her… Emeline Ironheart: But you have better things to attend to than an old woman's musings. Take care, kind adventurer. And may your journey lead you to vistas both bright and unforgettable. Emeline Ironheart: Whenever I lay eyes on a traveler like yourself, I think back to the days I roamed the land as a young lass. Such fond memories…

When I first reached this quest, it took me out at the knees. They're not the only set of twins we meet in this expac, but they are the only ones separated by the time shift of the dome.

Returning to Tuliyollal, you can speak to Elsebee again:

Elsebee Ironheart: What? My poor sister's trapped inside that strange dome!? Elsebee Ironheart: Thank you─this is precisely the lead I've been searching for. Now I just need to find a way inside!

It's not clear whether WoL lets her know that her beloved twin is now as old, or maybe even older, than their parents may be...

I do somewhat hope we get more about this, as post-MSQ Elsebee has no new lines, and Emeline only says:

Emeline Ironheart: I gather that the world outside is now accessible─though leaving Everkeep may be a feat too far for these weary old bones. I just pray that my twin sister is hale and healthy…

Usually the Ironhearts don't get their own stories; they're there to facilitate the sightseeing log and that's it. But in this case, Dawntrail's story creates a heartbreaking scenario for this famous family, separating two of its closest members not with distance, but time.

[haunted-xander]

Finished the 6.55 MSQ so here's my (very positive) thoughts:

‌Love love LOVE Wuk Lamat she's so fun and her dynamic with Erenville is hilarious. Very excited to see more of her in Dawntrail.

‌Krile is already getting some nice scenes and I'm very happy she's finally gonna get the spotlight in dt. My girls been side-lined for 4 expacs it's about damn time she gets to shine.

‌The inventor of Pictomancy is literally Relm. Like they name drop her. Obv not the same Relm as in VI but still! Relm is real! And she was an Archon! tbh them naming an important character related to this type of magic after her isn't surprising- I just expected it to be something in the job quests rather than the MSQ.

‌Zero made super-spicy dishes popular in Thavnair lol. Wuk Lamat trying to toughen it out was hilarious. God I love her.

‌Wuk Lamat & Erenville being childhood friends was not something I expected! Very fun.

‌The catboy from the dawntrail promotional artwork is probably Wuk Lamat's brother, Koana(Was that his name? tbh I forgot. But she has a Miqo brother that's what's important). He looks smart, and it's possible he's gonna be another candidate claiming for the throne.

‌Based on the artwork, I had figured our main group was gonna be WoL, Krile, Thancred and Urianger, as they are the only Scions featured, but based on the quest it'll probably be Wol, Krile, Alphinaud and Alisaie. G'raha is allegedly staying behind, but since he's shown in Tural in the trailer I think he'll find an excuse to come along anyway lol.

‌Thancred and Urianger are going to be competing against us, which will be interesting. I think it'll be fun to see some of the Scions take on a more rival-y role, if only for a bit. It looks like they were petitioned by someone else participating in the Rite of Succession, so maybe they're working for Miqo boy? They're on his side of the artwork after all 🤔

‌(Also I think the writers know how popular those two have gotten together lol they're like making it a point to have them with each other at all times)

‌Estinien is going to Tural just for the hell of it which I think is hilariously in character. Literally going there at the same time as us purely by coincidence. He really can't escape us can he.

‌Y'shtola is neither seen nor heard of which tbh I think is fair given how much screentime and focus she got during the whole Zero arc. I do wonder why she's going to Tural tho, she's in the trailer too so I'm certain she will be there.

‌(Also, since G'raha, Estinien and Y'shtola aren't aligned with any particular side as of now, I think they'll be a neutral third party in the Succession rivalries going on. That, or they'll end up siding with the 3rd sibling that isn't the Obvious Villain (based on Wuk Lamat and Erenville's accounts) somehow. Will be fun to see in any case.)

‌The little memory dialogue from Emet was nice :) just a reminder of the adventures yet to be had. Also he's finally in the unending codex which I think is nice (ngl I kinda forgot about the codex until he got added to it)

ALSO I almost forgot to include it BUT we have a nice heart-to-heart scene with G'raha alone on a bridge and if the writers weren't COWARDS (and/or worried about romance ambiguity, at least for those relating to the WoL) he could've proposed to us then and there. You know he wants you. Do not hold him back writers let him do what he wants. (I'd have said yes ofc)

‌Backpack :)

[i-mybrunettelady]

the thing that makes icebrood thee nyra expac (aren't they all) for me is the fact that up until this point, she's been trying to unlearn a lot of the anti-charr racism brought on by her very ascalonian upbringing, which includes not fighting charr unless she really has to. so now she not only joins a charr civil war but also killed a lot of them (even if they are dominion/frost legion).

add to that the fact she sees her younger self in ryland (gone wrong), she's going head to head and has tried to murder smodur two times during the whole season, and the fact that ryland is the son of her close friend rytlock, it just adds a whole lot of interesting factors when you play an ascalonian commander during icebrood.

[transzojja]

ok i've finished janthir wilds part 1 here are my thinky thoughts

i've only had waiting sorrow for ten chapters of janthir wilds but if isgarren does anything to her i'm killing everyone in the wizards tower and then myself.

the lore is interesting, especially about how bloodstone captures the souls of those sacrificed/killed on it. Really gives another meaning to my reaper wielding bloodstone weapons (now if only they weren't just skins and actually functioned like bloodstone... infinitely stronger power reaper...). I like how we're getting some answers on mursatt and the white mantle without it detracting from the lowland kodan. I also like how the lowland kodan's culture is very rich, and they give you the time to slowly go through it and digest it. And this is just the lore presented obviously in the story, there's journals EVERYWHERE with more!

The titans are also interesting. It seems like they can be revived countless times, and yet they still go out of their way not to die. Why is that? What happens when one dies, gets sent back, and then revived? WHO is doing the reviving? Do they have a neck I can snap to prevent them from every reviving another titan? Why are they also called godspawn? Does this have anything to do with Abbadon?

I'm not fond of how they're slanting the Commander to be largely on the side of the Astral Ward. Don't get me wrong they're a really interesting organization and the lore is probably crazy, but I dont like how the Commander was written to be like 'okay i'm just gonna trust isgarren that this wizard is dangerous' as if isgarren was rational?! The whole POINT of isgarren's character is he's NOT rational! the COMMANDER knows he's not rational! The LORE CONFIRMS he's not rational! I would've been more comfortable if the Commander was more receptive to Waiting Sorrow when she was first revealed.

More on the Commander, I feel like they weren't given enough enforcing power. Decision-making. I'm not talking about player choices and game mechanics, I'm talking about the narrative. They keep answering to everyone's beck and call rather than being the COMMANDER they've proven themselves to be. Like would it be so hard for them to make it so the Commander suggested they keep scouting Janthir rather than the Tyrian Alliance just sending them out? Would it be so hard for the Commander to actually plan attacks? Can't the Commander at least question the motivations of the people just sending them out wily-nily? Especially as I've mentioned with Isgarren, question him! Question his goddamn motivations! LIE TO HIS FACE AGAIN!

TL;DR: What would've made this expac perfect is if the Commander had more agency in the plot and could engage in some fuck-around-and-find-out'ing. The highlight for me was when the Commander lied to Isgarren and told him to do his own dirty work. 8/10.

[bluebudgie]

After escaping the gold saucer i have beaten brayflox longstop (pretty!), titan (not pretty!) and stone vigil in one day 👍 garuda's next. I think. That was also the first time i've seen the "new" stone vigil.

ramble:

The imposter inquistor arc in coerthas was pretty ok. I have my usual beef with the execution but the premise was interesting.

I'm trying really hard to get into the story and lore this time around. After 10 years lmfao 😭 It's just. I don't know how to say this without sounding really mean which is absolutely not my intention bc i know many people love this game. But something about the dialogues puts me into an instant Resident Sleeper mode. I'm having the worst time paying attention to what anyone is saying. I know there's the infamous "arr is the worst part it'll get better" but ive SEEN story bits of later expacs and they do the exact same to me. Something about the way the story is presented isn't compatible with my brain. Which isn't meant to be judgement about the quality of the story told at all.

BUT i'm trying this time and i'm hoping to get a bit more connected to some of the characters and lore. I've never really fleshed my player character out at all in the past but seeing that I have two trial account characters now I'm thinking about how they could maybe go through the events as joint protagonists. With a few basic tropy personality traits to start and we'll see if something develops from there. They strike me as a fun duo.

Also looking forward for the lvl 50 dungeon so I can finally get tomestones to buy a mini dodo 😭 The curse of no marketboard access. And the curse of nothing unlocks accountwide.

Thanks for coming to the messy thoughts ramble.

[icebrooding]

A non-comprehensive first word-vomit of my thoughts abt Janthir wilds in non-chronological order:

Poky is my son and if anything happens to him I will commit Crimes of a very bad nature. I also called he and Braham would be great friends even before it got mentioned as a possibility right at the end.

I really like what they've done with the Warclaw; not only is the new skin extremely cute but I've been having so much fun w/ it's skills. Boing boing boing.

This soundtrack fucks REALLY hard??? Like holy shit??

Isgarren soft boy story reveal (but I already knew he was soft from SotO anyway but this is probably the most explicit we've had about just how soft--)

Greer is gonna have a lot of people horny for him, I can just kinda feel it? If people want to fuck the bog queen, I can imagine people also want to fuck the sexy-voiced Titan.

The 'boss segments' sure felt like boss segments, holy shit. I had no real issues on the first Greer and Decima fights but the one at the end actually caused me a lot of issues. Not sure how, but it did.

I really love the first half of the expac being this kind of 'low stakes' feeling adventure (and really FEELING like a good adventure, the way the maps are designed and their scale making exploring them SO good ouegh), and then the latter half is this slowly ramping 'oh fuck, Titans', culminating in 'oh fuck. /another/ titan.'

I somehow REALLY really appreciate the 'we cannot do this we need to retreat' stuff. I really liked the one at the end, the Commander's hesitance before calling off the pursuit. Feels like they've really learned over the years that rushing in isn't in their (or anyone's) best interest.

I genuinely always thought Sorrow was gonna be a polar bear. Did not expect a grizzly, but appreciate the subversion of my expectations. Even after her reveal I'd expected the lowland appearance to be an illusion of some kind, but nah. Girl straight up grizzly. Gotta respect.

On that note, I did have a joke going on for a few months of 'we walk into the lowland kodan lands and just find her sitting amongst them like 'oh shit'' so this was pleasant for me lmao.

Sincerely curious on how things will go between her and Isgarren after that little catfight. I don't wanna see Dagda crushed by losing her again :sadcat: She's like the kid caught between a really bad divorce--

Can Lyhr finally meet Rand again--

Can Stoic Alder be my new dad? And can he please not die I cannot bear (HAH) if anything happens to him either ; _ ;

where is zojja

Mildly upset that we're shown not to really remember Dagonet. I REMEMBER YOU, BIG BRO :crycat:

on that note did his voice get deeper

I feel like the horror of the White Mantle came across really strongly, as someone who (still, damnit) hasn't gone far in GW1, reading the notes around Syntri really painted a really gruesome and horrific image of the sentiments at the time... it was upsetting, to say the least.

Fuck? Ether towers and Jade Constructs though--

I would have appreciated any warning from my friend abt how going into the water of Syntri was like reliving my least favourite parts of Subnautica all over again.

I'm just gonna pretend we didn't talk to Anise at the end of the story LMFAO. I did not like that, honestly.

I KNOW HE WAS MENTIONED AGES BEFORE BUT ISN'T IT FUNNY HAHA IN SOME WAY THAT MABON, VOICED BY LIAM O'BRIEN, HAS AN ALIAS FUCKIN' NAMED "OBRYN"

spear aesthetic fucks even if i suck at it

Caithe getting to sit on the fireplace is iconic. queen behaviour

look, if we're (MAYBE) going to the domain of anguish (maybe isgarren can scream enough to open a portal again for us) then can we finally just bring legavo there and go ham? i'm sure it'll be fine.

more thoughts at another point when i can formulate sentences

[rosewoodroad]

Scattered thoughts on SoTO

Tl;dr: Lukewarm climax, lukewarm ending. Isgarren is still rude.

Finished the final chapter in an hour and a half. A lot of drama was condensed into those 3 instances, but it felt like there was zero point to the first two where we were just at the camp. It got a bit juicier in the third instance in Eparch's palace. Like, three drops of juice juicier.

The most interesting bits of the story I can recall are:

Eparch ate his entire army! At the time, I was like "oh shit" but in hindsight, I was really hoping for Eparch to be planning a massive attack or something. There was so much build up as to why he wasn't retaliating against Peitha. But no, his great plan was just to eat his own soldiers. I guess it makes sense with his character, but I think if the execution and consequences of the reveal was better, it would have been a real slap to the face.

Eparch's first contact with Tyria was the Maguuma Jungle and Mordremoth, the latter of which he was scared of. This is a real neat detail imho, and helps paint a better picture of the power hierarchy between our antagonists. Eparch truly isn't that big of a threat in the end.

Eparch's final battle was a letdown for all his intrigue. Heitor was harder than him. I literally stood there and tanked all his hits, there was zero mechanic to the encounter. It sure made the speedkilling achievement easy, though.

Meh battle aside, Snargle is always a pleasant surprise.

Isgarren is such an asshat. It makes him an interesting character, but I'm upset they didn't do more with him. Like, what was all that talk about the Commander being similar to Isgarren before? Everyone is like, "you remind me of him" but they never show how?? I thought they were gonna do some real in depth introspection into his personality by the time the story ends but I guess that's it. We're supposed to see the two of them as twins for some reason, but maybe the Fractal will shed some light?

Sounds like Zojja is leaving us for good this time. The exchange between Zojja and the Commander is the only element of the chapter that made me feel things :( Also, I love how the Commander's lines here mirrored their monologue in the prologue: "See? Everyone's doing just fine, Aurene" to "Everyone will be fine, Zojja."

I think my biggest disappointment with the ending is the lack of implications in the epilogue. We could talk with a bunch of people but they're all about the future with the Kryptis and whether peace is possible and whatever. Nothing about, or from, mainland Tyria. No hints for the next expac. No mention of our guild members. No Ivan, who sent us on the mission to begin with and heard nothing from us since. No Taimi, who really ought to be spamming calls on the comms device now that she knows Zojja is back. What is the point of the communicator device in our bags when it's literally used for the prologue and nowhere else???

Peitha's king now. I love how they kept the 'king' title instead of making her queen. But... that's it for her, I guess. I knew she wouldn't betray us, but I admit it's also sort of boring how the story just ended there. I think it could have benefited from more post-story achievements where we help out with turbulent politics or diplomacy instead of going on another treasure (or kryptis) hunt binge. Right now, it feels like the equivalent of brushing dirt off our pants and going, "welp that's done."

Nobody's gonna mention what Eparch said about Kryptis' predatorial nature, huh? They drop his (very, very tiny violin) sympathetic backstory and motivations, and then proceed not to bring its implications up at the peace treaty scene. Absolutely nobody is bothered by Kryptis possibly needing to feed off mortals.

All in all, honestly a forgettable ending. Looking back, the expac started off really strong thanks to the intrigue behind the Wizards and Isgarren. But once that intrigue is solved and we go delving into Nayos, it just feels like a rehash of all our previous adventures where we fight to overcome some Great Force of Evil- just that the Commander isn't in the spotlight anymore. I would've preferred it if the past three chapters were spent with the wizards instead, solving dumb magical problems (or even fighting to keep the Astral Ward a secret!) instead of partaking in a generic military storyline for the 9th time. Like, instead of Eparch, we could have been hunting down a whistleblower, or a traitor maybe, something that keeps the intrigue there.

At least it's acknowledged that the Commander is tired of this stuff too. They need a nap.

[ratasum]

I want SO so badly to enjoy SotO. I really do I swear to god I did not come into it wanting to dislike it. I hesitated posting this at all. I'm still extremely hedgy about it.

I was incredibly excited, hype as hell, posting thoughts and analyses of the different things that dropped, and I genuinely enjoyed the first release. There was a high there, and outside of Mabon's death and what felt like a tendency towards more tentatively telling than showing anything, I was hooked in.

But the following two drops have just... killed any hope or enjoyment I had. With them being so short, plot threads that were genuinely fascinating feel like they won't have time to get tied up and will be left to dangle forever. Zojja, whose "exciting character arc" was bare bones and all told in journals you had to scavenger hunt for, was promptly ascended off screen and then shuffled out of the narrative (I have other issues with her writing too as someone who plays a LOT of asura but I don't want to get into it). We haven't seen her since the very opening moments of the second chapter, and anet leaned hard on bringing her back as a big thing in this expac.

But the most glaring thing to me is something that hits more personally. That for me, as someone who grew up adjacent to cults and now has family members actively IN a cult, the behavior of the Wizards has come off as incredibly suspicious since the JUMP, and I was genuinely hoping some of the ambient dialogue and some of the odd journals were going to mean something.

The isolating of new members away from anything they knew, the lovebombing of "you're here because you're special we can see what's so good and special about you," and the use of tragedy and personal loss IN THE MOMENT OF IT HAPPENING to pull the final string of "You can stay here and you'll never have to experience like that again; the world can't hurt you if you stay here forever."

It's terrifying to see this presented as a positive to me. I'm incredibly uncomfortable with it, since I see that kind of behavior play out in real time with my own family.

And it sucks because there's an EXCELLENT skeleton there. I'm fascinated by the Kryptis and their plight, I like that the wizards come off as incredibly shady and not actually as benevolent as they appear, the conflict has so much potential. I like (most) of the new characters. I ADORE the voice acting. And the Horn of Maguuma and Nayos are genuinely beautiful locations. There was so much potential for emotional turmoil in Zojja's arc if they'd followed through with it. Mabon was an interesting connection to the wizards I hadn't expected. We know some part of Lyhr regrets that he ascended at all, feeling like he was manipulated. There's the mystery of that Kodan who left without unascending!

But there's one drop left and with how short the last two drops were I just don't feel like there's enough time.

I hope they prove me wrong. I'm being as optimistic as I can.

I want to be wrong about my misgivings because I love this game, and when I complain, it's not out of malice. It's because I remember how it felt to be excited for every drop, waiting on the edge of my seat during Living Worlds and lamenting having to stop playing to sleep during expacs.

I want that feeling back and it sucks that I can't seem to find it.