#knowing Stuff it’s so cool they dropped that in stormblood | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

turtersblade · 8 months ago

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Final Fantasy XIV

Caught up June 23

Spoilers! Oh man, its been a journey. As some background info, I started playing this in 2020. For years, I was super interested in this game for some reason despite never playing a Final Fantasy game before. So I started playing. And while I thought it was fun enough, man I hated the MSQ. The quests were boring, the story was boring, I just really liked the music and the MMO aspect.

Eventually, I pushed through and started Heavensward. Immediately I became way more interested in everything about the game. The story grabbed me, the characters grabbed me, everything. I hated Alphinaud in ARR. Just couldn't stand his stupid voice and his stupid face, smug know it all. Then Heavensward starts and I'm like "huh?? this dude is cool??". I really had a good time with the base game. The patch quests were pretty cool, but I dropped the game in the middle of the Warriors of Darkness plotline. It was 2022, and some cool games were finally coming out after the pandemic slowed down the industry. I hop in every now and then, but I hold off on the MSQ because I know I don't have the time to commit to it just yet. Then April 2024, Clive comes to the game, and Dawntrail is coming this summer. It's go time. Get through the Warriors of Darkness plotline at last, and I'm wondering what the point was? Was this just filler? I wasn't offended, just thought it was a weird filler plotline. Anyway, now Heavensward is over.

Stormblood

I always heard stuff about Heavensward, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker, but never Stormblood. The least good expansion I assume. I'm really vibing with this Ala Mhigo plotline though. However, now its time to travel to the East and meet up with Gosetsu, who I quickly fell in love with. Dude is awesome. So first dungeon and oh my god the music! Every final boss of a dungeon, every duty felt so grand and epic with this song! This is when everything about XIV truly sinks in for me and I truly become a fan. The combat is more advanced, bosses are more involved, the story is really truly hitting, I love all the characters alot, the areas are so interesting, everything. Zenos was an incredible villain, and easily became one of my favorites in gaming. I finish Stormblood, and I'm just in shock. This expansion was amazing. One of the ultimate highlights of the entirety of XIV to me is the Nadaam. Truly incredible. Sometime between Stormblood and Shadowbringers, I also grind for the Rathalos mount. That fight was honestly really really cool. I have played a little bit of Monster Hunter Rise and World in the past, so I really appreciated the little touches in the fight. Being able to cut his tail off, and having to use Monster Hunter potions was a nice detail. I also grind for I believe about 20 hours for all the Yokai Watch items.

Shadowbringers

Wait. Wait. Wait. A world engulfed in light...? They're following up the Warriors of Darkness storyline?!?!?!?! It took me a little bit to realize it but as it started clicking I got even more excited. I genuinely did not expect this at all. What could I even say about Shadowbringers that hasn't been said before? This isn't even peak Final Fantasy XIV, this is just flat out peak Final Fantasy. The world building, the lore, everything. The bosses became way more difficult and I found that really exhilarating. Story had me in tears at parts, it really nailed its emotion. I won't say much more about the core expansion itself, because I truly cannot do it justice. I just want to say that at this point, I have played multiple Final Fantasy games, including FF1 and Stranger of Paradise, so I was very hyped about things they did here. After beating Shadowbringers, I wanted to do something that I wanted to see for myself when it was released, the Nier raids. I love both Nier Replicant and Nier Automata, so I had to see this.

The raid was everything I could've imagined and more. It's such an insanely good love letter to fans of both Nier games. The remixed music, the bosses, the areas, all of it blew my mind. I would absolutely love to see more crossover raids, as someone who has not really touched raids at all in this game. So finally, there was...

Endwalker

I want to preface this with: I was satisfied with Endwalker. It ended the entire ongoing story in a very good manner. It was really hype! I just think its rather flawed, and I also just have personal things that did not click with me here. The pacing just felt sloooow. I checked, and while dungeons and trials were given out at the same pace as Shadowbringers, it just felt off here. It felt like an eternity between these. I feel like the questing also nose dived here. I found myself utterly bored for extended periods of time here. So many quests were "Search big ass red circle for sparkling point" and then you would eventually find it, just for it to be "uh actually thing you're looking for isn't here, search a new big ass red circle again!". There was even a point towards the end where it was "Talk to 8 NPC's in big ass red circle" but you would find an NPC, and they'd pretty much say "Not me, sorry" and it wouldn't count for the quest. I'm fairly sure some of them wouldn't spawn unless you found other NPC's too, so this took an eternity. This was so frustrating to go through, and it's what most of the MSQ feels like. I also wasn't even too terribly interested in the patch quests, but I'm still looking forward to what becomes of that after Dawntrail.

I also did fall guys during Endwalker lol

Culminating Thoughts

Now I'm left here wondering, "How is Stormblood considered the worst expansion??". While I recognize Shadowbringers is clearly better than it, I personally still have Stormblood and Shadowbringers tied as my favorites. There are so many things about those two that I did not get into that I loved so much. I liked the lore of Endwalker, and I like how it all culminated and ended, but for the most part I just felt generally meh about the whole thing? I really hope Dawntrail fixes the pacing and questing issues of Endwalker. Either way, I still truly love Final Fantasy XIV. This is definitely one of my favorite games I've played and I've barely scratched the surface of the content it has. I'm going to have brain rot over Shadowbringers for a very, very long time.

#turt2024 #ffxiv #final fantasy xiv #THIS HAS BEEN THE LONGEST 2 MONTHS OF MY LIFE #IM FREE!! FREE... for the next week before dawntrail..

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astralartefact · 1 year ago

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I did the thing the people do but on here nobody can stop me from also talking about it (link here if you want to do it yourself)

I put my current favorites at the top and my all time favorites (=the games I played in my childhood and still have strong memories about) closer to the bottom which created a nice gradient that happens to really fit my overall taste! There's serious stuff in one corner, there's straightforward brain empty fun stuff in the other and I get to like it all and everything in-between because favorites don't follow rules :)

Also: I put FF14's 5.1 in first place to symbolize YoRHa:Dark Apocalypse not Shadowbringers (because custom didn't work for me and that was the closest entry to it), FF14 as a whole is represented by the Stormblood entry (which I chose because it would make Heavensward people mad)

Also Also: I think my feelings about the first 5 are relatively well documented (Reincarnation here) so I will skip explaining those

Also Also Also: Spoilers

Xenoblade X best Wii U game (Yes, I proudly own a Wii U, that thing was great and I won't hear anybody say different q_q) I want a sequel so bad.

The way it was a fake MMO with pseudo guilds was so cool to me, it really made exploring Mira feel part of this big thing everyone was working on together and it worked really well with the character creator too. Also experiencing Sylvalum for the first time will always be one of my favorite video game moments ever. (also i have not played any other xenoblade so far)

Bravely Second In my teens I had this weird obsession with playing the second game of a series without playing the first?? I did it with FF13-2 (which I dropped because I couldn't get past a certain boss early on lol) and also with Bravely Second, but with the difference that I actually knew what BD1 was about lol (and also I had played 4 Warriors of Light before too)

I just have a lot of love for Second? I really like Ryo Supercell's soundtrack for how well it still fits with the half of Second's soundtrack that's just Revo's soundtrack again despite being so fundamentally different. Like you knew what was old content and what was new by the obviously different music, but it still fit, at least to me. Altair and Vega's Theme is still one of my favorite pieces ever. Also Magnolia.

NieR Replicant Yeah. ... ... ... Maybe I should put Drakengard 1 here-

Final Bar Line Shoutout to the DLC for making me check out SaGa!!! (also I needed some Rhythm Game in here, I love Rhythm Games but I never stick to one enough to say "Yes, That One.")

Pikmin 4 This would have been Pikmin 2 if Pikmin 4 wasn't the best game ever. The only note I have is that some of the (later) dungeons could have had more interesting bosses, but aside from that it's absolutely great.

Fire Emblem Fates [Bracing for impact] I get it. Yes. We all know the story sucks. You can stop prefacing any vaguely positive statement made about this game as if to make sure you aren't thought of as one of those weebs. No, you are a smart weeb who likes FE4 and knows that Thracia exists. You think Incest is bad (wait what is FE4 about again) and the dating sim shit is really really cringey. Also something something bad localisation, something something bottom half of Camilla's design. Kaga would be proud.

I just think it's neat. I do like dating sims (there i said it), I like a lot of the characters and their designs and I think the child units - as dumb as their explanation might be - add a tangible pay-off to developing supports between party members and it adds so much replay value too. I have played Fates more than any other FE game I own and it's mostly because I can develop the children into classes they certainly shouldn't be, like making Shiro a viable mage just because I can, who cares, and all the while I discover a new line of supports. And the fact that it's not brick hard really helps with that, I don't have to sit down and plan out every step I take only to reset once I inevitably stop thinking for a second just to do a silly little run of the game.

It might not be for you, but it certainly is for me :P

AI Somnium Files This is on here for gay reasons: In one of the earlier scenes in the game (I think before going into the mind thing for one of the first times or something? It's in that room overlooking the mind link machine) I examine a shelf in the background - as you do in games like this - and there I found Pewter's gay manga collection.

And of course I thought this is just your average japanese visual novel, this is all I get, a funny little hint - not even a straightforward confirmation - that this character is maybe gay or something. But no, him being gay is an actual plot point that's relevant to the story. And I felt so happy that this thing - which at that point was my own little inside joke every time he was on screen (haha gay pewter, don't worry i won't tell on you... also you're cute) - was actually real??

People always point to that Mizuki scene (which dont get me wrong is great in its own way!) but for me finding Pewter's gay mangas will always be the thing I will remember most about this game.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 I was so in love with DQB1 and with what they have shown of 2 in livestreams I ended up importing the japanese version because there was no telling when it was getting an overseas release. And then when it finally released here I of course also bought the translated version. What can I say, It's great! I hope they're doing a DQB3 in the future, but I kind of doubt it (sadly)

Inazuma Eleven Go 2 Chrono Stone Listen. I only played Inazuma Eleven as a joke. My little brother was really into soccer and online it was constantly advertised as "Pokémon but soccer" so I just tried it out to see if he would like it.

I ended up playing through all of the first trilogy (aside from the first game) on japanese - without understanding a single word - because I was just simply so hooked. (For anyone wondering: I definitely did this legally. There were definitely no NDS flashcards involved. The reason I didn't play Go until it finally came out in Europe was definitely not because 3DS emulation wasn't really an easily viable thing back then.)

And I loved when it went crazier with Go and the Keshins! I even would have liked Go Galaxy if it didn't force me keep the most unlikeable characters in the entire franchise around (also the Souls are a full on downgrade to Keshins and MixiMax in terms of flashiness), which is why I'm putting Chrono Stone here instead.

I'm so excited for Victory Road, even though it's bittersweet that it's going to end there... but honestly I'm just glad Level 5 gets to release another Inazuma Eleven after the past few years of hell they've been through.

Spirit Tracks Best Zelda. Moving on (choo choo)

Fur Fighters Okay, my parents bought this together with our PS2, I highly doubt they knew what this game even was about and I highly doubt you know what this game even is. It's not even necessarily good and I don't think I should have played it at the age I have played it at, but... I sincerely think it has shaped a lot of my interests in an indirect way??

Basically, the setting is just cute animals saving their children with the power of guns, that's all you need to know about it. (They're also plush toys, but I somehow didn't even really realize that as a child lol) It was dreamt up in a fever dream, but it's just really good too? I need to replay this game so bad.

There's just so much stuff from this game that randomly pops into my head that I remember fondly. There's a (secret) world that's just a house but big (chibi robo style) that I always think of when any other game does it...

And in hindsight this game is so fascinatingly big? The levels are enormous and there are so many of them? And nobody seems to ever have heard about it? It's wild.

Harvest Moon Animal Parade It was between this one or Tale of Two Towns, those two are the Harvest Moons I have spend the longest time with. I'm still sad the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons name fiasco happened and now all people know is Stardew Valley, which In My Opinion(!!!!) has the only benefit of being a PC game, most Harvest Moon games from the before times are better than it and yet nobody even acknowledges them anymore because of a good-ish indie game that's for the most part just a retro style PC version of Harvest Moon + Rune Factory.

But well, that's how the cookie crumbles. Good for him.

Pokémon Heartgold I was only allowing myself one Pokémon game and I already have Fates on this, I can't take one of the switch ones even if I would be fine with those too. I was also debating BW2 or Platinum, but then again I like all of them, I just don't like talking about it anymore because the internet has made Pokémon one of those topics that you just do not discuss in public if you want to keep your sanity.

Shoutout to Pokémon XD and Coliseum for being cool too.

Mario & Luigi RPG (entire series, but especially Partners in Time) Talk about gone to soon Q_Q My heroes. Legends. Icons. DId you know Yoko Shimomura wrote the music for this series??? It is simply iconic. I really hope with the Super Mario RPG & Paper Mario TTYD remakes on the horizon that they maybe revive/reboot this series too and give a new gameanother shot despite the flop of the remakes because this type of skill based JRPG is not only really unique but also really fucking fun and there's not really much else like it. For some reason I always thought I'm an JRPG gamer, but I have since discovered that I'm really not, I'm just a Mario & Luigi RPG gamer.

(And yes, I know AlphaDream is dead but that doesn't mean Nintendo can't just continue the franchise even just with a spiritual successor)

Paper Mario TTYD I mean, I think you know. Everybody likes TTYD. I also like all the other ones, I even thought Sticker Stars was fine even if it wasn't as good. I think this would actually be Origami King, but I haven't actually played that one myself (yet)

Speaking of which the music of Origami King is in my top3 favorite OSTs of all time and i'm not kidding about that, listen to the Autumn Mountain Battle Theme and tell me that's not some of the best shit you've ever heard - and almost every single track is like that. and don't get me started about the "joke" tracks (royal hotel pool or swan lake.) and the boss themes. and tranquil pipes teahouse. and then there's moments like the secret trans birdo affirming coffee club. it's so good, I'm so looking forward to what's coming next for Paper Mario and seeing that Nintendo seems to have revised their stance of Generics only with Wonder, the next one is probably going to be amazing.

Skyward Sword I LIKED THE MOTION CONTROLS

Rollercoaster Tycoon (I do like 3 too, I actually played that one much more, but I chose Loopy Landscapes because for some reason that expansion never worked on my pc as a child q_q I'm still yearning) Yeah. Not really much to say, I think. Except maybe that the art style of 1 and 2 is so... peculiar? Like it's so timeless it doesn't age the slightest, but it was also somehow already dated when it released? It's really beautiful in a way, but also kind of ugly. I don't know. I don't make sense. I love these games so much.

Super Mario Sunshine So many good memories, it would be wrong for me to not include it.

Yoshi's Island See above.

Mario Sports Mix I played this game (and Hoops 3 on 3) so much as a child/teen? And the music of this game is so good too. Makes me wonder what Masayoshi Soken, niche composer of Mario Sports Spin-Off Games, is doing these days.

#top 25 games #i'm not tagging these games individually #general video game thoughts #maybe i will remember to tag things with that in the future

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thesecondbatgirl · 2 years ago

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Why you should play the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, part whatever

Previously, two impassioned “BUT IT'S SO GOOD” posts with very little details. (Part 1, Part 2)

Okay, so, I have previously talked about the themes and the tropes and just that the game is super fun (and did you know you can play the base game + first expansion for free? Because you can) but this time I’m going to try to give a little bit more detail. I’m *mostly* only going to cover characters from A Realm Reborn (shortened to ARR or 2.0) but probably spoilers for later expansions will show up.

(A quick note: Each expansion has the base (x.0) and then 5 patches of content, and they get shortened to those. So ARR runs through 2.0 and 2.55 since the .5 patch is always divided into two. Also, 1.0 no longer exists because it was so awful they literally dropped a moon on it.)

Summary: It is five years after the invading Garlean Empire dropped a moon on us. Except the moon was actually a technological prison created by an ancient civilization that contained a fucking dragon. It was defeated at a great cost, which will be recapped after you start the game. You can watch the super awesome cinematic here!

You arrive in the city of your choice (forest city, pirate city, desert capitalist city, your choice of which does not actually matter other than you get different introductory quest lines so basically pick whatever class you want to start with and/or whichever city you think sounds cool as you can be all the classes eventually) in which you, the adventurer, turn out to be super competent and do a great service to your starting city. Oh, and you are having visions of a giant crystal.

Shockingly, it turns out that you have a power called The Echo which basically means you can get visions of past stuff which is very useful for exposition, and also you are completely immune to tempering (brainwashing) by the primals (gods) of the various beast tribes. Which is good, because the fact that the primals will basically turn anyone who tries to fight them into their worshippers, and their very existence harms the land, so really only people with the Echo can fight them.

Due to your awesomeness, you get recruited to a super secret organization, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, whose goal is to fight Primals and stop the Garlean Empire. And fight the Ascians, quasi-immortal beings who are secretly manipulating everything so that they can free their God.

And then shit gets real.

For the record, that only explains the first like, 20 levels. There is just SO MUCH to the game, and trying to explain it would be like attempting to sum up some epic fantasy novel series with 15 books and multiple tie-ins.

Short version of where the story goes:

ARR (2.0-2.55, levels 1-50): You become the Warrior of Light and fight Garleans and Primals

Heavensward (3.0-3.55): Time to stop a thousand year war between man and dragons and deal with a corrupt church Stormblood (4.0-4.55): Imperialism is bad, the game. Let’s go free some colonies.

Shadowbringers (5.0-5.55): We’re going to an alternate world to try and stop a disaster and find out the true history of the Ascians

Endwalker (6.0-currently 6.3 as of 1/10/2023): It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I think that hope can triumph over despair

So now that you know the story, let’s talk about the characters! There are loads and loads of characters, and covering all of them would be pretty much impossible, so have the major characters from ARR. I’m not going to give major spoilers for ARR itself, but I am definitely going to reference ends of character arcs because talking about them otherwise is difficult when they get so much character growth. Also I am stealing all these images from (mostly) the ffxiv wiki

You: The Warrior of Light. (usually abbreviated to WoL) Choose between 8 races, and play as many classes as you want Currently there are 19 fighting classes (20 if you count blue mage, which is a limited job that can’t be used in regular content), 3 gathering classes, and 8 crafting classes. The WoL doesn’t get a lot of options for dialogue until 3.0, but the ability to customize is great, and there’s a very strong RP community. Also I absolutely joke that this game is basically my WoL’s harem and I stand by it. (Pictured, all of your character options, female and male.)

The Scions: Super secret team of nerds who left their homeland because they wanted to try and make the world better. (it’s complicated.)

Minfilia: Leader of the Scions. Has shitty voice acting, but is basically team mom. She gives you your assignments and has a very strong connection to the mothercrystal you keep seeing.

Thancred: This is Thancred. You hang out with him if you start in Ul’dah, the desert city. He’s a flirt, former thief, but eventually ends up trying to raise a teenage girl with his boyfriend. He also has a compulsive saving people thing.

Y’shtola: If you start in Limsa Lominsa, the pirate city, you get to hang out with her. Her hobbies include attempting complicated spells, being smarter than you, calling people out on their bullshit and delivering the best insult in the game. Also she does a Sailor Moon thing. (Okay, I was going to only put in the ARR outfits but frankly her Shadowbringers outfit is great so I’m showing it off.)

Yda and Papalymo: She’s a ditz who punches things, he’s sarcastic and sets shit on fire. Together, they hang out in Gridania, the forest city.

Urianger: Speaks in thees and thous and poetry. Was totally in a kinky relationship with a woman who could break him. Gets a massive glowup in Shadowbringers.

Tataru Taru: The Scion’s secretary, who is possibly going to take over the world eventually, and makes excellent outfits.

Alphinaud Leveilleur: Ok, so listen, every time I play ARR I spend half of it yelling at Alphinaud to shut the fuck up. Because he has such a great character arc! He starts off as this super entitled 16 year old who thinks that he’s smarter than everyone and that politics is just a game he’s playing. He truly wants to make the world better, he’s just very very full of himself.

He gets *so much better* He gets his break the haughty moment and learns and grows, and gathers a lot of firewood, and learns and grows and also is absolutely dating a super surly dragoon, and I love him.

Alisaie Leveilleur: Alphinaud’s twin sister who mostly doesn’t show up until post 2.0. Her hobbies include dunking on her brother, threatening people with a sword, and generally being awesome. She also has a super strong moral compass and cares a lot for individuals over ideals.

(These are their Endwalker outfits, Alisaie is in red, Alphinaud in blue.)

Allies:

Kan-E-Senna: Gridania’s leader. Older than she looks, has a connection to the Elementals (forest spirits)

Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn: Limsa’s leader and former Pirate Queen. Very pragmatic. Will absolutely shoot you.

Raubahn Aldynn: Refugee turned gladiator turned leader of Ul’Dah’s army. One of the richest people in Ul’Dah. Incredibly loyal to the Sultana.

Nanamo Ul Namo: The Sultana. Thinks capitalism is stupid. Wants to serve her people. Occasionally hides in pots, according to Raubahn.

Haurchefant Greystone: THE BEST BOY. Will make you hot chocolate. Absolutely wants to fuck you.

Cid: Engineer and last minute rescuer. Is supposed to be 30, so I guess he just went silver fox early or something. Has his own airship.

The villains: (Gaius in black, Nero in Red. Livia is in white, and the dude with the shields doesn’t actually matter.)

Gaius van Baelsar: The Big Bad (of ARR.) Wants to know if you believe in Eorzea. Actually gets a redemption arc eventually to rival Zuko from ATLA.

Nero tol Scaeva: Cid’s ex-boyfriend who will literally give an entire speech about their rivalry and how one day he will best him. It’s *great*

Livia: Deserved a better story arc. Luckily, her sister is awesome.

That is… just a sampling of characters. Each class gets its own storyline, so there are characters there! And so many sidequests! I didn’t even talk about Detective Hildibrand!

But hopefully, this has convinced you to try, or at least made you slightly more interested. You can find the free trial here: https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/

#Final Fantasy XIV #Final Fantasy 14 #ff14 #ffxiv #truly tempered by YoshiP

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goodmorningawfulbye · 2 years ago

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Listen as one of my FF mutuals I gotta know…. can you rank your top five villains (bonus points if you say why you like em)?

now, I've played fewer FF games than maybe the average FF fan but I love the ones I have played so yes I am up to the challenge.

However. In a way, I'm counting XIV expansions as individual games, and due to how they're structured, "antagonist" may fit certain characters more than "villain" but like they have boss fights at an end point of their expac so I say that counts

Mild to moderate spoilers for every game I mention wheeee (7, 8, 14, 15)

So!

Zenos yae Galvus (FFXIV). As written, Zenos is somewhere between "it could be that deep" and "it is that deep," because of Choices(TM) the writers have made along the way, including locking valuable information in a side book that people will now disregard/downplay the importance of due to their not having read it. ANYWAY. But. Zenos is very much a reflection of the hero, the Warrior of Light. People had been discussing this since Stormblood, and then fighting about this since Endwalker came out and said it pretty explicitly, but he is. It's another version of the path the Warrior walks. If he hadn't been subjected to all he was in his life (and hoo boy is that a whole rant-worthy thing), he could have been different, more like the Warrior. If the Warrior hadn't had all the support they got, they could have behaved more like Zenos. This is just scratching the surface, because going deeper gets into excessive spoilers and personal headcanon but yeah. Zenos is a really cool character and I wish more people recognized it.

Nidhogg (FFXIV). Nidhogg was justified in doing what he did, for the most part. And the wherefore makes total sense, when the dragons say "we live forever so a thousand years ago is like last week to us, of course he's still mad." Totally valid. As an antagonist, he perfectly fits the themes of Heavensward. I wish we hadn't had to resolve his story the way we did. We had the perfect "see, people and dragons can work together with no exploitation or murder" solution. Maybe a couple, actually. But I guess he was fairly set in his position, and one can't say his grief and anger aren't valid. I just think it could have been great. I wish we'd gotten to see a flashback to when he wasn't so mired in his grief. I dunno I just really like Nidhogg and I would have wanted to see if peace could have been restored another way (my friend Dae and I say, correctly, he just needs a catgirl wife)

Sephiroth (FFVII). What's most interesting about him is how he gets where he is. He's engineered to be perfect, and then dropped into a situation, and it goes off the rails so fast from there. I was rewatching the cutscenes from Crisis Core recently and I realized Shinra is doing like five extremely messed-up things at once, and they all kind of converge on Sephiroth. Poor guy has two moms and one god-awful dad and they're all in the web of Shinra's machinations (Hojo willingly). But he didn't have to burn down Nibelheim about it. That created like. Even more problems. But his question of identity is a good one. That's interesting! I wish SE didn't use FFVII as its milkiest cash cow such that it dilutes his story but what can ya do

Ultimecia (FFVIII). What's funny to me is that Ultimecia is both really interesting and really boring. I read this really neat theory years ago that Ultimecia's final form was the Great Hyne, the first sorceress. That's what's made me like her, is that theory. And/but a lot of the cool stuff Ultimecia does is spread throughout the game when we haven't met her yet and don't know the full extent of what she's up to. Like, Edea, the stuff in space, Adel and Rinoa (as a unit), that's all before everyone starts really working on the whole Time Compression thing. I remember groaning to myself, "every disc, it's another sorceress" Though, the fact that she creates a time loop at the end of the game is pretty neat, too. (I have only seen that scene once despite playing FFVIII three times. The Ultimecia fight--the four fights one after another, in fact--suuuuuuuuucks, it took me months, and you need Rinoa in the party for Angelo but iirc that carries its own risks so I usually just go "yeah okay I bet the game I've beaten Ulti before, I'm done" instead of going through it again)

Ardyn (FFXV). I have extremely mixed feelings about Ardyn, partially due to SE's handling of the second bunch of Episodes. And because the Ardyn fans I knew in 2017 really turned me off being interested/exploring him as a character in fandom space. In canon, though, I do think "Christ, but Supremely Problematic" is deeply intriguing. SE has done the "bad guy is your family" thing before, and I think it's to pretty good effect each time. Ultimately, I have questions, but I don't feel like looking for answers. Which is sad, because there's depths there I just can't plumb.

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piejumper · 3 years ago

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Ff14 update: vauge spoilers; I've decided to forgo all but the MSQ (main story quest) so as to avoid more spoilers because my YouTube recommended page is getting fuckin tricky with me and showing spoiler vids for bosses and stuff, and because I burn myself out if I do anything else. Stormblood has been pretty fun. The new locations are cool and im hopeful that they manage to stick the landing on the stuff they're setting up in the main scenario of this expansion (also I finally met....HIM. wow he looks like he was dropped out of a emo metal works shop, he's great) also I know this is kinda overstated but wow garlemald is gunning for the all time world record of most human rights violations a single nation has committed in hydalen's history, they're gaining quick ground on allag and those guys were around for literal millenia.

#ff14 spoilers

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whitherliliesbloom · 5 years ago

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CAN WE TALK MORE ABOUT PLATONIC STUFF??? Illya and Yotsuyu / Illya and Hien / Illya and Hilda uwu!!!!

This some good fucking food thank you. No gposes because I’m still in the middle of writing reports and like I have little to no time for self indulgence lately as it is sowwie

Illya + Yotsuyu

LOVE Yotsuyu to death, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t know how much ‘friend’ they can put into friendship if it even is possible for them. I’d like to think there’s possibilities for that, though.. since it was shown when she got her memories back after living as Tsuyu, she showed genuine regret and sadness over her actions. I will never get over that ‘i will not suffer his kindness, not after what i’ve done to him’ scene okay just slay me on the spot. Same could possibly be said for Illya since we all know she’s such an incredibly gentle and forgiving person... provided Yotsuyu proves that she’s not a threat anymore, at least.

It’s difficult to really convince myself of a timeline where Yotsuyu just.. magically gets over years of abuse and trauma and quits her plans for revenge.. but in an ideal world where Yotsuyu survives and is willing to change and continues to live with maybe Gosetsu, then yeah definitely Illya would try to befriend her. There’d probably be something of resistance on Yotsuyu’s part, but like with Gosetsu, seeing someone she once saw an enemy treat her so kindly would probably sting her conscious a little. I’ve got a lot of ideas on how that may turn out and how Yotsuyu’s life with Gosetsu would be like if she did survive but I’ll probably save that for another post to ramble in... if anyone even cares that is.

Illya + Hien

GSKGJSIOGJI God okay.. So during Stormblood I definitely got the feeling that Hien was constantly trying to flex and show off to Illya.. Though I didn’t get any sense it was from romantic intent of flirting. I think Hien just really wants to look cool in front of a known hero ajdfnsujfnsf, even more so if he knows it’s one of Kirishimi’s most trusted friends. Gotta make a good impression somehow.

Hien being as friendly and as much of a bro he is got Illya to open up a little more quickly to him than she did with most other people, and she definitely looks up to him being a prince who must have so many responsibilities and he clearly has a strong sense of justice and charisma.

There’s also the fact that Hien likes to..compete with Illya somehow. Racing to see who can kill the most rampaging mobs? Competing to see who collects the most beans within a certain time? There’s no sense or reason to make everything a contest but he just does, and maybe he does it to get Illya out of her shell a little more.

And most importantly Illya is just... genuine. She’s pure and incredibly good-natured, which is rare these days. He confides in her a lot when it comes to his past, his worries about the responsibilities he has to shoulder and of course later on, one of the few people he asks advice from when it comes to Kiri.

Illya + Hilda

MY GIRL HILDA AAAAAAAA What a wonderful character we really need more of her please. I don’t think they’d be SUPER close as friends, but definitely close enough to be able to hang out once in a while while Illya drops by Ishgard.

Their relationship started out somewhat tense at first though it’s been a while since i played hw so i can’t remember the exact details of their first meeting. And Hilda’s more forward and domineering personality definitely caused Illya to b wary and scared of her at first... ESPECIALLY since this is Heavensward Illya, who is arguably at her most emotionally vulnerable and meek in life.

But as Hilda proved to be a reliable ally later on, I think Illya would open up a little more enough to not shrink away when they meet. It probably wouldn’t be until after the Stormblood though that Illya would probably consider Hilda a friend.

Hilda’s also one of those who was acutely aware of Alphinaud’s growing feelings for Illya and constantly bugs them about it.

#ask #out of mana #windup dragoon #THANK YOU KIRIMUN THIS WAS GOOD FOOD AND SUCH FUN TO WRITE UWUWUWUWUWU #windup-dragoon

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tae-ffxiv · 6 years ago

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Okay so... some thoughts on healer changes I had. I guess there’s been a lot of salt going around, luckily I’ve stayed out of most of it. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t thrown my own every now and again. I’ve mained Scholar since Stormblood dropped so of course I had my own thoughts. And... they aren’t exactly what I’d expected.

From the time of the announcement in the liveletter that healers would see a fair chunk of changes, and that more emphasis would be put on the healing part of the role, I’d heard some people were unhappy. I was a little too, but I decided rather than lament it, I’d just be... cautiously optimistic. I thought if anything, it might end up like a Summoner situation, people around for the Stormblood launch might know what I mean. The changes might be pretty bad at first, but would probably get improved upon over a few different patches.

In truth, I was considerably salty about the Summoner changes. And I’ve been rather surprised, I’ve been notably less salty about the SCH changes... BUT...

I was a little unhappy with them wanting to emphasize the healing part of the role, but really decided to roll with it, “ehhh, not sure how I feel about that, but I guess it makes sense”. At this point I still feel about the same. I don’t mind having to heal more.

What I do mind is that part of the reason I stuck with SCH, even after capping the other two healers, is because I enjoyed the way it felt to play. I still prefer its healing ‘style’ to the other two (although I’ve yet to hit 80 on WHM or AST, so that could change), when it comes to how DPS works as SCH... It felt unique, and the changes kind of removed that feeling. I still like healing as a SCH, but I’m not a fan of DPSing any more. And frankly? If it’s not recent content, I find I’m not healing very much at this point. Which leaves me to DPS.

So, that’s where my disappointment with the SCH changes lies. I feel it took some of the flavour out of the job, and now it feels a touch more generic.

And honestly? I’ve similar feelings when it comes to AST.

I 100% get why the made the changes that they made to the cards. Aside from when there was a BRD in the party, the main card people wanted to see was Balance. So? Just make everything give a direct damage buff. Makes sense. BUT... I really liked the little bit of extra thought that came with the old system. Who should the card go to? (Yes, I’m aware that I still have to pay attentions to ranged/melee cards, but still...) Should I eat the card and turn it into a buff? It really made it fun for me. Not to mention I will really miss the way that Lord/Lady of Crowns used to work. I loved the instant, flat damage that you got from one, or the (albeit small) insta-heal you got from the other. I’m a little sad to see them also turned into damage buffs.

At the end of the day, though, I get why they made the changes they did and I’m willing to accept them - perhaps reluctantly in some cases.

But it also won’t keep me from missing the old playstyles for each of those jobs. Because that’s really the source of disappointment for me. They were a lot of fun, and now they feel kind of ‘meh’. Again, I haven’t finished leveling AST, so maybe I’ll find it more fun once I hit the cap. I don’t know, but I guess I’ll find out.

Still, I don’t want to focus on the negatives, so let’s look at some stuff that I enjoyed right from the start:

First: The effects for Biolysis look super cool. So does the icon. Also I love the little spin they added to the animation when you use it. I just like Biolysis. There’s a part of me that wishes it had a shorter duration just because I want to use it more often.

Second: Also loving that extra shield from Critlo (I’m not able to recall what it’s called right this moment). Love how it doesn’t conflict with Galvanize, so things don’t get too messed up even if you have another SCH in the party.

Third: Malefic IVs effects are really pretty. It just really like casting Malefic IV. (I hope that’s the right number...)

Aaaaand Fourth: CONGRATULATIONS AST, on finally, FINALLY being able to cast an AoE before level 50. I will not miss AST being the only healer without an AoE below 50.

Okay, I think that’s all I’ve got to say on the subject, at least for now. Not much point to this except I’ve had some Thoughts, and felt like screaming them out into the void.

(Oh, also, as much as I don’t like the way SCH DPS style has changed, Art of War is a cool name for a skill, the icon looks cool, and I think(?) I like the animation. I’m usually too surrounded by mobs to really actually see the animation and I keep forgetting to use the skill outside of combat and actually pay attention.)

#ffxiv #shadowbringers #healer changes #5.0

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captainkittyandstarnoble · 5 years ago

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I already did art of this LMAO xD

Here y'all go!

Title: The Courelfist

Name: Ryco Archenveil!

Battle music: something that sounds sorrowful and kind, that at the climax of the battle the music suddenly drops into a epic an pretty cool jam. Kinda what we hear with Shiva you know? But like, more guitar and drums. Yess so much drums. Enough to let the players know that they are in for it now.

Start of the battle quote: The balance between light and dark will be restored!

Dps check: Enough! There is work to be done, and you are keeping me from it!

After she says this, she leaps to the center of the arena, where her claws glow like they do in the picture, and she leaps up to cast a ray of light and dark energy down onto the ground like the monk move that does that.

Party loosing to her: It was better this way.

Upon loosing to the party: No! I must not die! Not now! Not yet! Not while I... I have...to protect...

Other stuff: I feel like she became known primarily in stormblood, and so people remember that image of her most, but that twisted and molded with other versions of her story like heavensward and shadowbringers.

Actually, you know what, this would be a fun game! Make your own post (or reblog too if you want) and tag it as Primal WoL Challenge!

Name/Title:

Battle Music: (this could be a description, or link to a song on youtube)

Appearance: (this could be a description, art, or screenshot in game)

Start of Battle Quote:

DPS Check, moveset name or quote said when casting:

Party losing to Primal WoL quote:

Primal WoL losing Quote:

Feel free to add whatever else you can think of!

#ffxiv

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haillenarte · 8 years ago

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ruby sea place names;

I am proceeding through Stormblood very, very slowly, so I only just wrapped up everything there is to do in the Ruby Sea! However, I had a few friends ask me about certain terms, so I thought it would be fun to do a full list of vocabulary used in the Kugane and Ruby Sea regions.

It’s rather long, but it was fun to do, so please enjoy!

This post is for the Ruby Sea. The Kugane list is here.

By the way, I don’t intend this as an attack on the localization or anything; I think it’s fine that many of these little places were simply romanized as opposed to translated, since the names contain a lot of cultural flavor, and it’s supposed to be a foreign experience for the Eorzeans. This is just to help people who might want to know what all this stuff means. Also, there may be some inaccuracies, because I’m not especially well-versed in Japanese culture myself.

THE RUBY SEA

サカズキ島 Sakazuki This is read sakazuki-shima, I think, so more specifically, it means Sakazuki Island. Sakazuki means “sake cup,” as a nice Hyuran Confederate explains:

Ihaki: This is where the founding members of our organization first joined hands and toasted to the future. That is why we call this island “Sakazuki” or, quite literally, “the goblet.” Even now the tradition carries on. We bring all of our newest recruits here that they might share a drink and thus be truly united. If you’re looking to join us, I would be more than happy to recommend you to one of the higher-ups.

By the way, this might be unintentional, but if you fly out and look at the place from afar, it kind of looks like an upside-down sake cup floating in the ocean!

…Maybe it’s unintentional. Actually, it’s probably unintentional. I’m dumb, forgive me.

螺旋海峡 Rasen Kaikyo This means Spiral Strait. I didn’t even have to alliterate that on purpose, that’s just straight up what the dictionary gave me. Beautiful.

カガミの仙窟 Exile This is read kagami no senkutsu — “enchanted cave of mirrors.”

サイバイ洞 Saibai Cavern Given in katakana, and… I really don’t know. The only thing that seems to make sense is 栽培, or “cultivation,” perhaps in reference to the mushrooms that are growing on the walls there. Cultivation Cavern…?

小林丸 The Kobayashi Maru Many Japanese ship names are given the suffix maru — you can read more about that here. Kobayashi is a fairly common place name and surname, but the characters for it read “small forest.” I am told it is a reference to a training exercise in the Star Trek series.

碧のタマミズ Tamamizu The full Japanese name is ao no tamamizu, and Hancock already told you about the problems of translating ao, so let’s just call it “Tamamizu of the Blue.” Tamamizu is given in katakana, but it’s probably 玉水, or “raindrops” — literally, it evokes “a beautiful and pure drop of water, perfectly round, in the shape of a ball.”

ベッコウ島 The Isle of Bekko Given in katakana, but probably 鼈甲, or “tortoiseshell.” Since The Isle of Tortoiseshell doesn’t sound that great, maybe I should go with Tortoiseshell Isle?

ゼッキ島 The Isle of Zekki Given in katakana, and… again, I really don’t know. The only thing that seems to fit is 絶奇, or “extremely rare,” so perhaps it’s The Isle of Rarities.

スイの里 Sui-no-Sato Literally, “Village of Sui,” where sui is given in katakana, but it’s most likely “water” — so, Village of Water. It probably wasn’t written 水の里 for fear that it might be misread as mizu no sato by dumbasses who can’t read, like me.

海底宮殿紫水宮 Shisui of the Violet Tides This is one of the weirdest parts of the localization, at least in my opinion. The Japanese dungeon title, kaitei kyuuden shisuimiya, is something like “The Deep-Sea Palace: Temple of the Violet Tides.” Shisui of the Violet Tides sounds pretty cool, honestly, but the thing is, shisui (紫水) means “violet tides,” so it becomes… Violet Tides of the Violet Tides. Amazing.

Incidentally, the “box that turns you into an old crone” mechanic is most likely a reference to the legend of Urashima Taro. Since the Wikipedia summary of the story is rather clinical, if you’ve never read it, I invite you to read a version of it here.

クレナイ Kurenai Given in katakana, but most likely 紅, “crimson.”

ヒスイ Hisui Given in katakana. I feel less confident on this than I am on Kurenai, but this is probably 翡翠, or “jade.” It can also mean “kingfisher,” for the color of a kingfisher’s feathers, but “crimson” and “jade” seem intended to be complementary concepts.

シオサイ Shiosai Given in katakana, but most likely 潮騒, “the roar of the ocean waves.” As long as I’m here, I want to say that I am madly in love with Shiosai on a level I usually only reserve for Elezen men. Please let me marry Shiosai. Please let me feed Isobe dango. Please.

イソベ Isobe Given in katakana, but most likely 磯辺, “seashore.” Also, isobe mochi is a type of mochi that is grilled with soy sauce and wrapped in seaweed. Soft, squishy Isobe…

オノコロ島 Onokoro Given in katakana, but probably a reference to Onogoroshima (淤能碁呂島), the island in Japanese mythology where the divine couple Izanagi and Izanami lived and conceived their children. Apparently, “Onogoro-shima” is generally interpreted to mean “island that took form on its own.”

ラショウ Rasho Given in katakana, but possibly 羅城, “city walls.”

タンスイ Tansui Given in katakana, but probably 淡水, “fresh water.”

イサリ村 Isari Given in katakana, but probably… 漁り村, or “fishing village.” I know. I know. Look… don’t look at me.

Once again, the Kugane list of names is here.

#ruby sea #kurenai #hisui #shiosai #rasho #tansui #kugane

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