#sort of spoilers I guess? but just for tuliyollal but you know that was in the trailer lol

[akirakirxaa]

[Takes place in An Echo Calling Me, the verse where Hyth and Hades return after Ultima Thule. Written as a prompt fill for @sylaurin, who gave me a few prompts but this one was for 'sharing a secret'.]

Akira stared out at the deep blue of the ocean, the sun painting the sky a soft orange as the sun set. Despite the joy that seemed to permeate Tuliyollal, she didn’t feel it. It was as if it were all at arm’s length, like she was some kind of beast in a cage looking out at it — separate in all ways. And no matter how welcome she was made to feel, it was almost as if she were…afraid to let her guard down.

So lost was she in her thoughts that she didn’t notice someone approaching.

“There you are!” Akira started in surprise before turning to see Hythlodaeus approaching. He’d changed into an outfit reminiscent of the locals, most of it dyed in familiar black, though the collar and accents were dyed in his favored lavender. Akira managed a tired smile in greeting before turning back to the ocean.

“Enjoying yourself?” she questioned as he settled at her back, reaching around either side to support himself on the rope railings. He dropped a quick peck on the top of her head.

“Always.” Oh, how she wished she could be as carefree as he was. “But what’s bothering you?” Akira frowned out at the water; she didn’t want to burden him, but she also knew if she didn’t tell him he would just continue to prod at her until she told him.

Or worse, go get Hades. And Akira swore he must have mind reading powers because she couldn’t seem to hide anything from him.

“I… I suppose I just feel like…” She struggled to put words to it, this knotting in her chest and this distance she felt. “I don’t know how to be just…a person.”

“But you are a person!” he lightly teased, and she gently elbowed him.

“I meant more…” Akira gave a heavy sigh, brow furrowed as she searched for the words. “All I’ve been since I lost my memories at Carteneau is ‘The Warrior of Light’. I don’t know how to just be…normal.” They stood together in silence, and when a cool breeze blew by, she was grateful for his warmth.

“Well, maybe you can use this as your chance to figure that out,” Hythlodaeus suggested. “Now that the world isn’t going to end if you take a breather, you can find out what you like to do when you’re not laying waste to your enemies.” She chuckled.

“I suppose so. As long as there’s no Allagan ruins behind a rock or something,” Akira gave a wry smirk.

“We can certainly hope not,” he replied, tucking his head against the top of hers and pulling her against him. Akira relaxed into the embrace with a sigh.

Yes, maybe she could use some normalcy for once.

[chimeramerah]

Full FFXIV 7.1 thoughts writeup

Full of spoilers and is largely very critical, click at your own risk.

P1: IN TULIYOLLAL

The patch opens with you being sent to eat more tacos, because as we know Fantasy Central America has no other foods /s

The convo with the dad and son has potential, but it feels like the writers STRUGGLED to figure out a way to show Son felt displaced. "I can't light fires" is insane, because making fire is one of humanity's oldest needs - surely in a place with as many advancements as Eorzea, they have ways to ease fire lighting. They really have no matches, no lighters? They have AIRSHIPS (that Koana imported from Sharlayan, which is stupid, but I digress) but no matches? Not even some sort of crystal powered lighter thing?

Funnily enough this recalls that ridiculous end scene in FFXVI with the kid incompetently trying to light a fire so maybe this is just something CBU3 likes lol

The scene segues into being a chance for Wuk Lamat to talk about a good thing she's done, and then when she sits down to eat with your WoL she again talks about how well she's doing as a leader. I would have preferred this be represented more subtly, but it is what it is I guess

Why are the twins representatives for Hannish culture? We have many Radz-at-Han NPCs that could appear here, it feels like they are forcing the twins to have some kind of tenuous connection to the story

"We gotta go to the genocidal maniac's funeral, after all, the people she was gonna do genocide for did love her!" GRAAAHHH DO THE WRITERS NOT HEAR THEMSELVES?

jfc this is only like 20 mins into the patch

Koana mentioning he would "ideally" attend the funeral as well is… insane? He had no attachment or relationship with Sphene like Wuk Lamat, and SHE TRIED TO GENOCIDE THE COUNTRY HE RULES. Can we really not have a character that says "She helped kill people I care about. I couldn't bear to go, so I'm grateful that WL is our representative" - it would have made sense!

P2: IN ALEXANDRIA

Gulool Ja, child king and son of a dictator, saying he's learning about Everkeep's systems and the mechanical soldiers because it's knowledge he needs to "use his authority properly" was so dark and dystopian I had to pause for a moment, and the real insanity is I don't think the writers knew they were writing something deeply fucked up.

tbh why is Gulool Ja wearing a little potato sack that looks nothing like what anyone else is wearing in the country he is ruling over

the uncritical engagement with the regulators is an obvious plot point. A lot of the stuff that goes unaddressed in situations where it would feel normal to address it is usually because the writers want us to ignore it, so it can be used as plot fodder. sigh

everyone standing in neat little rectangles for the funeral looks so bad. Why are there some people just standing BEHIND WALLS? Did they forget to arrange the NPCs in a natural way?

white boy with cornrows jumpscare nooooo

The dialogue about, well, everything so far just seems binary. Alexandrian people: "Remembering dead people sucks!" Turali people: "Remembering dead people is great!" - why is there not a more nuanced approach to this where Wuk Lamat admits that sometimes remembering hurts? Why can't there be people from Alexandria who WANT to remember those they've lost? Are they saving this for some sort of big speech later like it's hugely revelatory?

They remembered Gulool Ja's mother! (cheering) ngl it's mad funny to be like "we've looked everywhere and can't find her!" and then have you contribute to finding her by talking to 3 people

(interlude where I bitch about how much I hate the new AST and want my fun RNG buttons back and how much I miss Plunge on DRK)

When they were like "Zoraal Ja made a lot of mysterious visits to the place where Gulool Ja's mom might be! How mysterious, I wonder why!" i was like… no adult is going to be like "i wonder why" in this context. Come on now. (booty)

tbh there is a lot of standing around and reiterating old information or just repeating what's already said or just adding uneccesary fluff commentary and I am rapidly losing my patience for this

The dungeon was fine. I remember Ruby Weapon mechanics. I liked the spooky atmosphere.

I have nothing super interesting to say about the facility otherwise. It's a plausible location to exist and just reiterates stuff we already knew Zoraal Ja was doing.

Ok this part baffled me, this interlude where they talk about how even if we get the train up and running, the Alexandrian people will still have to walk to get to it - THERE ARE FLYING CARS? You see them flying around the city!! And there are tons of vehicles as set dressing in the settlements outside S9. What in the world is this plot point?!

P3: IN SHAALOANI

Koana's reaction to hearing Hhwato say that he doesn't think anyone from his culture would just abandon their child is very weird. The fact that NO ONE thinks to ask "was there anything that happened around the time of Koana's time as a baby that could have led to him being abandoned?" is just another case of the characters forced to hold the idiot ball so we can drag the story out more. (I literally voiced this question as I was reading the dialog)

Another set of "learn about our culture!" quests which are an absolute bore. Are the writers completely incapable of showing this culture in an organic way in the world?

Koana, 1 hour after meeting a fantasy bison that he did not give a shit about prior, is really like "i will actually die for this creature." He does this with no consideration for the fact that he'd leave Wuk Lamat alone as a ruler, he'd leave his people behind, nothing. bro wtf lol

that one trader NPC that gives us exposition is a babe tho, dayum

"fixing the train" getting multiple cutscenes + a voiced one feels like they just really have NO idea what to write and have no idea how to make low stakes feel engaging.

Speaking of this whole quest chain though, it sits in stark, bizarre contrast to what actually happened with the US Transcontinental Railroad and what it did to America's Indigenous population. If you don't know, you should look it up.

P4: END/ALEXANDRIA/S9

The reveal that Gulool Ja's mom just REALLY wanted Zoraal Ja's double d to the point of doing war crimes is both sad and VERY FUNNY. Also the dramatic B&W cutscene and the zoom in on Gulool Ja's gawping face after made me actually laugh out loud.

In this, the final 10 minutes of the patch, SOMETHING INTERESTING HAPPENS. Please no one tell me this is lazy or goofy, I know, I know, BUT I'M INTERESTED. FINALLY.

Patch ends. I'm free.