#mod: faith

[tritoch]

i know a lot of people (very understandably) dislike the paladin job quests in ffxiv, particularly HW, but i do think it's fun that, now that the pre-ShB MSQ revamp is complete, paladins now have a very cool and thematic in-game storyline that happens without a word being spoken: the development of passage of arms.

none of the below is directly stated in the script, but imo it's a fairly obvious gloss on what the game presents, if you assume a paladin warrior of light. spoilers for all expansions through the end of 6.X.

in the new version of steps of faith, as vishap breaks through each ward protecting ishgard from attack, lucia mounts a final desperate effort to hold him back, with a very familiar looking animation:

but even lucia can't hold back vishap's flame alone, so the temple knights surge forward to assist her. their efforts make the shield visually more powerful and larger. the temple knights here band together in defense of ishgard, and their knightly resolve to protect their home is the difference between victory and defeat.

lucia and the knights do ultimately succeed in defending the last ward, as you have to defeat vishap before their shield falls or you lose.

later in heavensward, obviously, we will get ffxiv's most famous (failed) attempt at blocking something with a shield.

this moment can be read as fairly impactful on the warrior of light's development; as i've noted elsewhere, after the trauma of watching haurchefant bleed out in their arms at level 57, at level 58 paladins learn to channel their magic into healing (and it's called "clemency," or mercy. mercy for whom? who was guilty?), and as someone pointed out on that post, at level 58 dark knights used to get "sole survivor", letting them heal in response to a marked target's death.

for a time, you literally carry haurchefant's shield with you, and 3.3 very much literalizes in genre fashion the idea that even when you are standing alone, your fallen friends stand with you. you don't need to call any allies to stand at your side and raise their shields with you because they are already there, in spirit.

stormblood marks a pretty important turning point in the warrior of light as a combatant, in my opinion, and the text makes this clear in several ways. first, in pretty much all your jobs, you've now far exceeded your trainers and are pioneering new techniques. this is no less true of paladin, which for 60-70 abandons any trainers at all for you to show off your peerless skills in a tournament.

second, stormblood is straight up a story about you getting stronger. at level 61, zenos kicks your ass. at level 70, you kick his ass. why? because you fought and got stronger and developed incredible new techniques and became a one-man army.

for a lot of classes, this story lines up nicely with the big rotation changes or flashy new finishers on the way from 60 to 70. SMN is now busting out bahamut and casting akh morn; RDM gets verflare and verholy; DRG starts harnessing nidhogg's power directly through dragon sight and nastrond.

the tanks are divided in two: warriors and gunbreakers get huge damaging upgrades at 70 in the form of inner release and continuation, each of which lets them hit the same button many times for lots of damage and satisfying animations. paladin and dark knight get more protective abilities; dark knight gets the blackest night, and there's been plenty said about that already by pretty much everyone.

paladins get passage of arms. instead of a relentless new attack (and you get requiescat at 68, which is a way bigger deal for your dps rotation), your big reveal at 70 for zenos in your fight in ala mhigo is a superior way to protect your party, a shield that lets you stand for your allies so they never have to fall for you again. it's lucia's same shield, except you need no allies' shields to reinforce you, proof of your martial prowess and your ability to transcend limits, and perhaps in truth a reminder that you never really stand alone.

in many respects passage of arms should really feel like a paladin signature move to you now if you are playing it at this point, because you should be popping it in pretty much every fight (you are using your mits, right...?). basically every FFXIV fight has at least one big AOE with downtime that warrants passage of arms usage, usually after the mid-fight add phase with slowly filling bar. since that AOE usually drops during downtime, there's no reason not to pop passage of arms (which otherwise restricts your movement and actions), and even on normal, sometimes every little bit counts on a damage check even if it means dropping DPS (thinking here of harrowing hell P10N on release, which was...less consistent for a lot of roulette parties than you might hope).

so from 70 onward, passage of arms is in a sense a paladin warrior of light's signature move, and certainly the one a player gets to most actually enjoy (since if you're using it, you're by necessity not doing anything besides moving your camera and admiring your sick animation). it doesn't have any competition in terms of spectacle until confiteor, and those you're usually throwing out in the middle of movement.

it's such a signature, in fact, that the only other person shown using your one-person version of passage of arms is your greatest admirer, who studied your legend for over a century.

and it's when he fails (should've popped arm's length, bud) that the warrior of light decides they can't let their friends fall for them, and sends them away with the transporter beacon. this is all wrong: you were meant to die for them, not the other way around. yours is the shield that stands between your allies and defeat. it is you who will win this passage of arms and break your opponents lance. and you do.

and then later, when they need to quickly establish zero's domain as a place of fallen grandeur, the home of someone who once believed in heroes but is now a cool and cynical vampire hunter d, what do they use? a decayed statue of someone in the paladin endwalker gear doing the passage of arms animation, of course.

from a visible instantiation of knighthood as a joint effort to defend what is sacred, to a tribute to the fallen friends whose memories stand by you and animate you, to a symbol of the wol's power as emulated by their allies or darkly mirrored in other shards.

not bad for a mit button you hit once per fight and otherwise never think about!

[animasolascreenshots]

[alonetogether]

any thoughts? hm. nothing important.

[stevenrogered]

ONE DAY ↳book > screen

He examined the foot he held in his hand. The toenails were painted red, but chipped, the smallest nail gnarled and barely there. “Your feet are disgusting.” “I know they are. Stop playing with it then.”

——

“I think a sense of humor is overrated,” said Emma. “No, much better to have somebody you really fancy, someone who’ll rub your feet.”

[f0rg0ttenfaith]

// HELLO YEAH IM THE MOD HERE JAMES/FRUIT AND OR FRUITY. I OWN THE FORGOTTEN FAITH AU AND MAKE THE ART FOR THIS SHIT WEEHEEHEE ANYWAY HERE ARE THE REF SHEETS THAT I NEED TO UPDATE //

// INCASE YOU DIDNT CATCH ON THIS IS A BLOOD AND GORE FILLED AU AND SHIT AHAH. THIS IS JUST A BLOG FOR FORGOTTEN FAITH SHIT AND WHERE YOU CAN ASK CHARACTERS DIRECTLY. IF YOU WANNA ASK ME SOMETHING ABOUT THE GENERAL AU THEN GO TO @chaoticmoron AS THAT IS MY MAIN BLOG. //

[sexymancatalogue]

Tumblr Sexyman Of The Day #174

Gary Miller (FAITH: The Unholy Trinity, 2017)

Art By AguirreTheWormOfGod On DeviantArt!

List Of Archetypes

Chaoslord

Criminal

Dealmaker

Quotable Catchphrase

Dominating

Demonic

Eldritch

Spectacles

Forest Dweller

Glowing Neon

Johnlocked

Knifemurder

Eye Imagery

Monster Features

Mysterious

Nonhuman

Obscured Face

All Powerful

Religious Imagery

Retro

Grime

Urban Legend Aesthetic

Long Robe

Submitted By Anon!

[dailyjasontodd]

Hi! I saw your last post's tags, and I was wondering, what was your favourite theory for Robin Lives? How did it get debunked? Somehow I haven't seen proper speculation for this comic, only criticism 🥲

Oh my very early first theory (like literally thought about it after reading the very first issue) was that Jason's therapist would kill the joker, there was a page that could've been really neat foreshadowing if it went that route, but well. -🐅

[aziraphales-library]

Hi! Blogs like yours truly are such a blessing, every fandom should have one of these. It's so difficult to navigate large fandoms without them. I'd like to ask if you (or your followers) know of any human AU fics that make the implicit themes of religious trauma in the show explicit, where Aziraphale is in a cult or something the like? I've had a look at your crisis of faith tag and found a few, but I'm looking for more :) Thank you for your hard work!

Hello. Here are some human AUs involving cults and religious trauma for you...

Don't Ask by wyrmy (G)

Aziraphale's family always wanted him to keep secrets: secrets about their own controlling religious fanaticism. it's a hard habit to break.

Memory Lane Is Paved With Thorns by retiredseraph (T)

Aziraphale looked around. He was standing in the courtyard of his old church, which had a few trees but was mostly paved with pebble-laden concrete, which was all slightly blinding in the sunlight. People from the congregation moved around him as if it was an average Sunday after the morning sermon, going in and out of buildings, forming little groups, heading to cars, children running around. The usual. But Aziraphale didn’t feel like he had when this was the average weekly occurrence; cheerful and looking forward to changing into more comfortable clothing. Instead, it felt more like a sickly sweet poison was smothering him.

how to pay for my own life too by MostWeakHamlets (T)

"Growing up, Aziraphale knew long skirts and waist-length hair in braids." Aziraphale is raised in a religious cult that promises its members will all become angels when the rapture comes. He learns all the things a girl should know, but problems quickly begin to form when he attends school on the Outside. He starts doubting that girls his age are actually supposed to know how to deliver babies, mend clothes, and cook dinner for their 10 siblings as he's always been told. And he highly suspects that he's never been a girl in the first place.

The Drowning Men by karuvapatta (E)

Crowley was done with religion years before he met Father Aziraphale.

One and the Same Fall by ElliottRook (E)

Aziraphale Fell is a UK student attending an American Catholic school on exchange, an escape from a strict, conservative family. Anthony Crowley is a juvenile delinquent on his last chance, sent to live with his uncle and attend a school that promises to shape him up. When they cross paths at St. Bernadette's, they nearly instantly become friends, and nobody likes it--not the teachers, not the old-money students, not Aziraphale's family--but it's the best thing that's ever happened to either of them. Hanging over their heads, though, is Crowley's plan to flee the moment he comes of age, and what will happen after they're no longer trapped in the same gilded cage.

Millennial Blues by comicgeekery (E)

Aziraphale is a standard retail bookseller trying to make ends meet. One day a man named Crowley shows up with a flyer for a variety show looking for new acts. And, well, Crowley is handsome and Aziraphale has been lonely...and working on some magic tricks. What harm could a bit of light flirting do? It all should be fine as long as no one asks about his past...

- Mod D

[endead-art]

22.) Favorite mod (prompt)

Unfinished design below

[elizadushkudaily]

MOD NOTE: On February 9, 1999 - 25 years ago - the BTVS episode 3x14 Bad Girls aired for the first time. To celebrate we will be reblogging Bad Girls gifsets all this week. (There will be decent Faith x Buffy vibes, aka Fuffy.)

Happy Bad Girls week to all who celebrate!

(icons can be found at LINK)

[yourfavoriteworksatmcdonalds]

Can you do John Ward from F:TUT?

Aka, this bitch;

Please and thanknyou

(i made two versions!)

john ward from FAITH: THE UNHOLY TRINITY works at mcdonalds!

[animasolascreenshots]

[dragon--sage]

bad faith gamer: VEILGUARD WON'T BE GRITTTTYYYY AND DARKKKKK LIKE ORIGINS!!!! passssssss

me losing my shit in the darkest and grittiest moments of origins:

[nochangeintheplan]

cannot believe we were robbed of kiwami 3 because of a cash grab majima game:(

however it does mean that kiwami 3 is confirmed to be the game after this basically

While I would like a Kiwami 3 (graphical update and rebalancing combat a little) I didn't believe it was happening and still kind of am not sure where I stand on it, since I'm concerned about what they'd do exactly and if they'll end up recoloring Mine or changing things up strangely to fit this new Richardson lives timeline or whatnot.

Idk just Majima game feels draining because one, mascotizatized Majima vibes, and two, lately I've just been missing the earnestness of the drama. I liked Yakuza for how seriously it took its own deranged plots, while at the same time being silly, but it feels like things have been banking on the silly-meme-game more as of late.

Gameplay looks fun at least but not for 65 dollars oof. I hope the Majima stans and people with whimsy in their hearts can enjoy this and have fun with it at the least kgckx /gen

[dol-dee]

Monster of your own making

[bbloveseevees]

I know most of you guys probably saw the Funkast… but…

Can we talk about Step Right Up: Adventure Isle?

It’s one of the most clever FNF mods ever in my opinion.

You don’t pick the songs you play, the game picks for you. It’s completely random.

It includes some iconic horror stories, like Tattletail, FAITH, Duck Season, and Yumi Nikki!

And the fact that it’s one of the only fnf mods I’ve seen that doesn’t include BF in any shape or form.

This is what peak modding is.

And its name is Step Right Up: Adventure Isle.