#seriously don't read this if you haven't finished msq!!!!!!!!

[thefinalwitness]

ok a lot of ppl are doing it and im just so *BUZZES* about dt so i'm gonna do it too!!! i'm gonna talk about dt and ocs!!!! the readmore contains huge and detailed spoilers so please please do not read it if you havent finished the msq!!!!

also just to set the tone of this post: i LOVED dt SO MUCH so this is going to be an extremely positive post!!!! i loved literally everything about it so ig if u hated it maybe just skip this one lmao!!

IT WAS SOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN WTF!!!! i honestly expected (and dreaded) we'd be immediately foist back into Sole Hero Of The Universe Mode, and the fact we weren't has made me SO HAPPY i decided to stick with l'aiha for dt msq!!!! this expac was PERFECT for her, a chance to learn about a new culture and get away from her mantle!!!! it's everything i could've asked for and so much more!!!!

tural is BEAUTIFUL and so detailed, i loved the rites half of the expac and the way the plot twisted midway through was really fun to me!! i've seen ppl say the first and second half feel like different stories but i honestly disagree, i think zoraal ja and sphene are perfect opposites of wuk lamat and koana, and i think getting to see how coming into your own can be done right and wrong was really neat. i think they're two sides of the same coin, the coin being the story, and while i do wish we'd had more time to set up sphene's storyline, i think all the story beats themselves are great!

i LOVE the implications of the ending too!!!! we have this artifact now that has provably opened passageways to other reflections—something l'aiha has been deeply interested in and researching since shadowbringers!!!! if this is where the next 10 years are going, i am STOOOOOOOKED

i'm also so pleased with how l'aiha and j'sera (her sister, i renamed her bc dyslexia) have developed through this expac! i wanted them to grow closer now that they're both out of their comfort zones, and that's exactly what this story gave me. l'aiha becomes deeply attached to j'sera to the point of overprotectiveness throughout the rites—then, it's decided that l'aiha should stay in tuliyollal during the barrier stuff because there are 4 wols in her canon, and ONE should stay in the city. she therefore has to let sera go, and sera gets the chance to come into her own during the second half of the expac, rising to the challenge without anyone—her sister, her mentor, her parents—to protect her. when they reunite and face zoraal ja together, l'aiha gets to see how capable sera is and how much she's grown since they left sharlayan. l'aiha no longer feels compelled to coddle her, and sera no longer needs to cling to l'aiha! it's SOOOOOOOOO GOOD.

(i've also decided that, when zoraal ja orders the second attack on tuliyollal, the dragons aren't as close as they are in canon, and l'aiha uses azem's crystal to summon them to the battle. because it's cool hehe.)

sera herself got SOOOOOOO MUCH out of this expac!!!! i haven't fleshed out all of it yet, but i definitely think dt is where she and leviathan-egi start to really bridge the gap between them. leviathan-egi deeply respected its previous master, sera's mentor, and it's reacted extremely poorly to sera. it doesn't respect her as its master, treating her instead like a kitten to defend. but like l'aiha, leviathan-egi starts to realize sera has grown a lot in tural, and that it doesn't have to do all the work alone, that they can cooperate and become stronger for it.

i did NOT expect to end up shipping her and erenville, but as the story progressed i really really felt like they were a good fit! i've decided they became friends over the three years erenville was in sharlayan, so they're already familiar with each other, and aside from wuk lamat and krile, they're only REALLY familiar with each other, so they provide one another with much needed support during so much uncertainty and newness! it's sera that goes with erenville to shaaloani, and he tells her a lot about his mom during that time, so cahciua's loss hits her pretty hard too. (cahciua also DEFINITELY knows they like each other LMAO.)

i'm still getting my thoughts together for minfilia and valensia—the expac was just SO perfect for l'aiha and sera that i basically forgot to think about them VKFNKHCCHKVM. i want to though!!! i have ideas, and i think they'll both have their own strong places in dt—i think minfilia and sphene will be SO interesting, as well as valensia and koana!!

i'm just SO happy. i think dt is maybe my new first or second fav expac. i adored every second of it, it's like it was molded perfectly out of what i wanted for l'aiha and sera especially! ough. hough!!! i'm so happy.

[iffylogic]

I should pick up A Realm Reborn again. Yes! I will do this.

I haven't talked about the game much and it's killing me, I know no one'll probably read this but I need to go off, I have so many thoughts

I was level 50 when I last left off, just about to battle a Big Fighty Boi the Garleans uncovered. It has very "season finale" feel to it.

(I cheated and have been watching an online playthrough about halfwayish into Heavensward, but I still want to continue properly!)

WOL

I have a pathological need to keep my characters thematically consistent, so Carmine's gone from conjurer to white mage and I can't make myself try anything new. XD (It's pathological because I don't really enjoy playing white mage therefore this is self-harm klhfvjasdjklfhjasd)

I'm thinking once I finish this msq I'll start a Fyo playthrough that I'll actually see through into the expansions. She's a lot more flexible. She's also a punchygun person so I guess pugilist/monk and then gunbreaker later 🤔 but she DOES dabble in magics! So who knows 💃🥋

I can't put a self-insert in there because Yda already exists oTL

(not in looks lol)

GAME THOUGH!

It's so pretty and big and hilarious. My favorite quest so far has been the white mage one where I have to go all over the world finding relics to pray at. I was underleveled at the time and hadn't explored enough, so I was seeing lots of new interesting areas (and new routes to and from old areas) while running like hell from superior enemies in a panic. Seriously loved it. XD

I'm a person who gets really excited when I see new things. I love new scenery, new characters, new everything. So this game's been a constant joy and I'm frequently beside myself. I play in the name of joyous wonder, dang it. And this game delivers it with gusto. ⭐

I actually really enjoy traveling in games like this, it was almost sad when I got the hang of aether teleporting. I mean I understand but yeah I like to hoof it lol. And I still can! And it's fun!

I'm very predictable because my favorite character so far is Admiral Merlwyb. Tall person with guns and I could listen to nautical metaphors from her all day.

not kidding about her voice - a specific banquet scene happened, I was freaking out for plot reasons, then she blurted out "Seven Hells!" and I was like "thank you, I feel a little better now" XD

Favorite main cast character is probably Tataru and I am incapable of explaining why, but I love all the scions so far. I'm betting we'll get more eventually, so that'll be fun :D

The Garleans are ridiculously one-dimensional villains so far and it's kind of amazing. RE5 Wesker is my fave game villain, I eat that cheese up. Out of curiosity, I googled it and even their capital city is going out of its way to look as evil as possible. 10/10, will go on vacation there next summer

Ascians are over the top too of course, but they have a cult vibe, therefore being over-the-top is just sort of expected

oh yeah

GRANT US SUCCOR IN OUR HOUR OF N E E E E D

I know all the voices get better in the expansions (most of the main cast I already like but I get why people say this), but I'm going to miss the background-character voice acting in Realm Reborn holy shit lol

The soundtrack's alright so far (I know that gets better later as well). Kinda wish they had more than one "troubling/suspicious thing is happening" track, though. Is... is that still going to be there by Endwalker? XD

I'm crazy for the bagpipe floating island music and all the Alexander tunes 💃🎵

oh and Revenant's Toll! Arriving there was amazing. At the time, I was (again) under-leveled and was going deeper and deeper into unwelcome territory, far from help and civilization, then suddenly I'm in the middle of this remote town with pumping adventurer music and the locals are like "hey, you made it this far! Welcome to a town made by badasses, for badasses" and I'm like 🤩

SOCIAL...NESS

I need more friends to play with, I'm too shy. (I lost ALL of my momentum wanting to be social after that hell-job last year. I never quite got my spark back. 😔)

So um... what's the best way to find more people? Friendly laid-back people?

I'm obviously "Iffy Logic" on there if you wanna add me! Unless you need to search by character, in which case look for Carmine Pentella? On.... Cactuar?

Unless I'm playing Fyo. I uh... I don't know what her last name is yet. In the story she's from, family names aren't a thing. errr...

Also I notice a lot of the game's story stuff you HAVE to play alone? That's... kinda messed up, isn't it? Especially non-dungeon/raid cutscenes. You play together and one person just sorta stands around awkwardly while the other watches the story, and reacting is weird because they can't see what's happening.

Like... it feels like I'm going to a friend's house to watch a show with a friend, but then we have to be in separate rooms when I get there. Seems unfortunate.

it'd help if I could make myself play dungeons with other people. I'm too afraid I'll mess up and get yelled at. oTL

PFFFF

If you read this far, I'm both impressed and very sorry

how did you get here without a machete and safari hat