#post-stormblood spoilers
Note
what are your thoughts on the stormblood characters. did you like fordola at all
i wanted to organise my thoughts (oxymoron) on the sb chars actually so this is a good opportunity to start. none of my thoughts are positive though bc i think sb's writing is really bad so when i probably start to sound aggro during this while remembering this expansion i'm sorry.... i try not to be mean when criticising things but i have very little respect for stormblood. also this is about to be extremely long like im not kidding but i figure ppl expect that by now? i hope
i can't really talk abt the stormblood chars without mentioning how much this expansion worships whiteness. and thats even after playing heavensward????? with all of the stuffy white (though beloved) elves who love their white elf history??? fantasy rpgs in general ig. and from square enix. idk why i was so shocked by sb... its a fantasy rpg from square enix....that was truly my bad...................
but fordola isn't who bothers me the most anymore at least. while i was playing sb she used to be the worst sb character to me bc i just thought she was silly and hard to take seriously. initially i was just uninterested in her personality solely being a traitorous attack dog for the empire. that's not to say i don't think sellouts are interesting--i actually think characters like that are very interesting, hence why yotsuyu is one of the more interesting chars (but not by much). it's more that i dont think a single stormblood character was doing anything interesting enough for me to really appreciate, or if they were, it went nowhere or was so poorly developed that any new thing i learned about a character felt random. i feel like anything that could have been interesting in sb was squandered constantly. a lot of them had the potential to be interesting, but were instead so bizarrely flat and almost kind of cliche that i genuinely struggle to put it into words how sb managed to achieve this. possibly bc the story was so preoccupied with repeatedly driving home the same uncomplicated ideas about war and oppression (this would require a separate post) that any sort of actual personality was more or less lost? maybe because it didn't really have a foundation it was working from to keep itself focused? i feel like a lot of time would pass with the characters making the same realisations over and over again (we have to defeat zenos...!) and then when it came time for actual developments it had to rush, thus the feeling of being random. of course, unless, the character was from othard, which the game obviously gave more of a fuck about developing as a location.
like i think fordola's really serious and unwavering personality, the fact that she would do literally ANYTHING to accomplish whatever it is she wanted, could be interesting. if there wasn't so little else going on with her. and also that unlike her fellow ala mhigans she's white. i can't stress how ridiculous it was to watch her or lyse be presented as so important/be the more relevant ala mhigans and everyone else is brown and they're just white. but it wasn't only that she was white. there was just nothing else really going on with her whenever you saw her that provided any kind of intrigue or texture to her scenes. nothing about her character ever changed. until they reveal her motivations for joining the imperials (????)
ok anyone can correct me if i'm wrong, but her goal is to free the ala mhigans from the imperials.....?????? like i'm 100% sure that's what she said. but how does upwards mobility in an imperial nation that relishes in using the word "savage" to describe your people seem even remotely like how that's going to happen? i actually could not fathom for a long while that was what she had said. like i fail to find another way to describe this aside from idiotic, and i often try not to consider things in those terms, but i really don't know how else to describe this. like. this is what i mean when i say the backstory for the characters feels so poorly constructed it genuinely feels random. nothing about her behaviour to me suggested she gave a fuck about ala mhigo. it didn't turn out to be some grand farce when she had her skulls or whoever stomping on the brown guy who they collect dues from in the middle of the road the first time she was introduced. so i just have no idea why that's what her goals are or how i'm meant to believe that's what she wants. i have no idea why she would care about ala mhigo except that her father does or something? but that explained so little to me bc it was lazily done and she definitely does not demonstrate any resolve re that memory except for the one time you see it so okay
similarly, nothing suggests to me that she's deluded enough to believe this path she's on will lead to freedom, either. she didn't seem unaware of the cruelty of the imperials. she's actually meant to seem very capable and smart considering she's established her own unit amongst the other garleans and ends up getting the apparently desirable prize of being zenos' little pogchamp but then what???? why does she think that zenos will give her what she wants?? i literally do not understand what her angle is supposed to beeeee
so i considered the angle that what she said is actually not what we're meant to believe and we're actually meant to extract from the story that she's on a revenge quest for her father against the ala mhigans, and the best way to enact that would be to join the side that's oppressing them. except how she's expressed her motives and how the game makes it clear shes carrying on her father's beliefs for a better ala mhigo doesn't really imply that this is out of revenge either? also she'd be doing the exact same thing yotsuyu is doing, which could be possible bc this expansion can't write. but i just don't think that's it. i think if she truly believes that's what will help ala mhigo like her father did i don't care about it being wrong or right and whether she learns that won't work... but then it just seems so silly.......like girl there is literally no way..................... i am stumped trying to think of what this was supposed to mean or what insights her character could possibly be providing aside from the extremely banal "everyone deserves forgiveness" argument stories about colonialism are OBSESSED with trying to make. hmm i wonder why that is, square enix japan? why cant you properly research colonialism? why is media so obsessed with sympathising with colonisers and pretending its even remotely original to keep saying "if we kill this imperialist...we're just as bad as the people who have been systematically oppressing us for decades...." well...!!
im ngl i actually forgot about fordola until u brought her up bc post-sb really seemed to be gearing her up for the aforementioned redemption arc. but then i forgot how much ala mhigo gets pushed aside to put the spotlight back on doma. bc after she helps you fight sri lakshmi (another character who they just had to make white btw despite the vira/qalyana being brown bedlah babe snake women. they worship a white god. whatever i hate my life) she just vanishes. i thought that was maybe the most interesting thing they did with her character even despite my hatred for lazy redemption arcs for colonialists and cheap backstories about dead parents, bc i liked that she wasn't forgiven and that she herself didn't seem to know what was in store for her own life anymore, but stubbornly chose to help everyone fight and was still really driven despite all her L's. and then you just never see her again. as far as i can tell anyways, and i do not want to know actually bc im still in shadowbringers.
in a parallel world where stormblood is well-written i see myself liking fordola a lot. but this is not that world and i can't keep spending my time imagining a world where sb could be good. like... she just lacked a foundation that really made any of her actions make sense to me. was i meant to feel bad her dad got stoned for selling out to garlemald? i'm not being sarcastic i genuinely dont know if thats what the game wanted. i assume it is bc this entire expansion reeks of endless humanisation for white characters, but ive said the writing is so bad as to leave me genuinely confused abt its purpose many times already.
anyways the absolute worst waste of a char to me is zenos. i haven't had such a hard time taking a character seriously in a long time, and asahi gets introduced shortly after so competition was definitely fierce. i think part of it was that he was one of the few chars id seen fanart of b4 i got to him in the game which gave me the impression he was going to be insightful or something, so maybe i had given myself expectations. but ultimately i was left with maybe the most simplistic main villain this game has produced thus far. which is a shame, bc like fordola there's aspects of his char that i found really interesting, only for them to be routinely squandered with each new cutscene. initially i thought his disinterested, calmer demeanour was interesting in comparison to the other imperial chars, like gaius, who had a lot of thoughts about/passion for what he was doing. i like characters who feel a sort of existential boredom...like a real dead inside char who discovers a sort of esoteric way to live or regains meaning thru someone else--i love that trope! wanting to forever be locked in a cycle of violence with wol. sure. why not! i like that sort of thing! i was even willing to ignore the blonde hair and blue eyes (i wasn't) like i've done this before as someone who used to devote a lot of time to dimitri fe3h. this is not new to me.
but the thing is the moment zenos started talking about the thrill of the hunt i felt something in me wither and die. that trope is not interesting! i will never find it interesting!!!!!!!! if you do i'm happy for you but not me. his nihilism could have been interesting if it wasn't manifesting itself thru the subjugation of the fantasy brown people this game invented just to subjugate like...can we be serious. even just the scale of that was so beyond moronic to me. i had such a hard time suspending my disbelief whenever he opened his mouth... that i was supposed to care about this prince who was deathly bored of it all but somehow still gave a fuck about maintaining the occupation and fetishising the struggle? it was so hard to reconcile any of what he said with his actual apparent years of behaviour. like okay, i already know whiteness is synonymous with violence and ppl are unwilling to take that seriously, but seeing that realised in the sheer scale of colonial violence zenos apparently engages in and then for him to turn around and be like grr i'm gripped by such potent ennui and this is really deep. what about this was supposed to be complex or interesting or well-thought out. i genuinely have no clue
what made it even funnier (worse) to me was that before i got to stormblood i was back at home watching my dad play two separate video games where the main villain was a white guy with the exact same motivations: everything else in life now bored them except for this very specific (and not socially constructed at all apparently!) thrill of hunting real people/framing life as some social darwinist thought experiment that definitely has to be true bc look at how many ppl ive killed and conquered? what's left for me in this life now that i'm at the very top of the very real and not invented and not racist social pyramid.........? but it's not just a me thing humans are just like violent and actually love killingand i am very smart <- like how is this not just a blatantly normalised concept in life in general. nothing about zenos having this outlook reads as crazy or interesting to me, it actually just feels monumentally simple. he was just reading from the coloniser textbook. my sis actually told me while we were talking about the game that there's a book called "the most dangerous game" where i'm assuming this trope as it exists in media probably stems from, if not just the like usual racism/unfortunate fascination with imperialism over and over and over and over again. i just...that his thoughts on the consequences of his actions, the sheer amount of conquest he's engaged in, are largely due to some fatalistic boredom that comes from just being way too strong and too powerful and elevated above the savages. like okay dude.
i think if they had just removed that shit (except idk if thats possible the colonialism is so entrenched in this expansion bc ff couldnt conceive a non-white race without oppressing them) then his character would have been a lot better......maybe..? idk all that shit he says to you before he goes shinryu mode about violence or his being self-serving wouldn't have been original but at least it'd have been a lot easier to believe as his ideology without this nonsensical pile of bodies behind it that i literally could not take seriously. his final monologue was hard to sit through bc it all felt so random. my sis also pointed out that he doesn't feel relevant to the story, especially ala mhigo's story, at all, and i genuinely agree. i feel like they must have had a lot of ideas for him separately and then shoved him into this expansion because they needed a strong villain or something to keep their already thin plot running. with other villains you can see where they get their ideas from or why they're doing what they do and how their actions might progress the story. gaius for eg is a char i find really interesting bc i thought his opinions on primals in arr which is about primals was really interesting, and his conceptions of an ideal empire as well. like he actually has a leg to stand on and compelling things to say. nidhogg is also a good enemy to me, and i dont care so much for thordan but i still think he had interestingly selfish motivations and contributed ideas to the story. maybe that's because hvw didn't wallow so much in a simplistic good vs. evil like stormblood did...like hvw isnt just war its revising centuries of propagandized history and learning to change your own beliefs and going thru a lot of interesting discomfort (to put it mildly). stormblood i thought tried to be complicated at times when for eg meffrid (one of the only chars i liked in sb btw) would occasionally argue with lyse on what's "right" for occupied ppl to be doing during their occupation, like how a lot of ala mhigans wanted to keep their head down. you can see where that idea gets used throughout sb like in namia, but it never actually gets complicated into something worth thinking about bc again the chars are constantly reachign the same realisations over and over by the end (we have to kill zenos...! ANDTHEN THEY DONT EVEN FUCKIGN KILLGHI). like the ideas don't go anywhere, which might be for the best bc in my perfect world this game would not be writing about any of this. and now meffrid is dead bc ff doesn't give af about the ala mhigans or developing their thoughts/beliefs beyond the occasional potentially interesting idea on the map dialogue. atp i just feel blessed zenos doesn't have a backstory so that his personality isn't the result of some lazily done traumatic event. well i say that but the game couldn't even keep him dead so fuck my life. who knows what's in store for me. plz dont tell me.
all the thoughts i have are negative i'm so sorry but the chars i actually liked like gosetsu just get ruined by the time post-sb gets its evil evil hands on them so this expansion is genuinely just dead to me. i used to like gosetsu a lot, and i thought the shame he carried with him for abandoning hien a long time ago was a fun addition to his character. one of my favourite tropes is when a character just wants to die...like they feel like they've emotionally exhausted themselves and don't know what to do with the end of their life. i find that kind of thing really poignant. and i'm pretty satisfied w how they wrapped up his arc, actually, with him deciding to go on a sort of pilgrimage. it was just how they got there i absolutely hated.
it just keeps going back to an inability to write. for eg, if what they wanted was to complicate gosetsu's character by demonstrating how someone extremely self-sacrificial and devoted to his country's cause could actually really want to indulge in something, they choose to do it by having him play an uncomfortable game of house with someone who's murdered an innumerable amount of their country's people. but its okay bc instead of giving that idea any meaningful thought, here's a throwaway line about how he had a granddaughter so it makes sense he's doing this, also we're going to age regress the coloniser so its okay she's basically a child now which isn't a total slap in the face for everyone involved including the player, and then we're going to play these scenes for laughs and everyone is totally fine with it and it's not lazy writing at all.
asahi too i thought was an example of just poor writing, bc why is a single almost zero-context scene of zenos saving him supposed to do anything to explain his behaviour. does that not just seem lazy? he doesn't like zenos for any other reason...? we don't see asahi's thoughts on zenos except for this one cut scene where the chars could be replaced with how meaningless it is and then from then on his suddenly passionate behaviour is just supposed to be engaging...? i personally thought he was a lot more interesting when he seemed to genuinely believe in the bullshit he was saying about the empire being gracious and forgiving and rubbing his hands obsequiously at wol and being overly flattering and just a sort of greasy spoiled bastard. but then of course this totally obvious reveal happens and he's just some "crazy" guy who just wants to be his coloniser's lapdog bc he's sooooooo strong. fascinating. post-sb felt like a bad tv drama. its like the ideas in somewhat isolation are alright but they just stopped caring
tbf to asahi i did like his moments with yotsuyu. if they weren't so steeped in like....the weirdest plot points ever (random-ass yandere behaviour and yotsuyu behaving like a child) i would have been a lot more invested in the punishment they enacted on their parents for grooming one to be an imperial officer and the other being sold off. yotsuyu's backstory is still kind of typical but i thought she was like. interesting enough. she was ok. i could believe in/enjoy their callousness a lot more readily than a certain other character ive already said too much about. i think their truly awful sibling relationship had potential. dare i repeat myself about what happens to potential in this expansion
i wish i had more to say about hien and yugiri and lyse but they kind of just...idk. they just feel kind of shallow......... i don't think they really get developed much, i mean i definitely have things to say but there's just nothing really there that inspires me to do so and this post is already way too long. maybe when i finally write like an essay on how mjuch i dont respect stormblood. i like yugiri though. her hometown is very cool but she just gets relegated to "dutiful ninja" that they use when something needs to be done that wol isnt going to do, and they don't go into much detail about what really pushed her to leave or how exactly she felt, they just kind of have her parents tell you thats what she did. i liked the part though where she was like WE NEED TO KILL ZENOS RN bc it suddenly seemed out of character almost but then well where did that go...ok. hien just feels genuinely evil to me like his vibes are so off and i could not tell you why but he's kind of just there to move the plot forward so i really don't have much to say about him. and talking about lyse would just make this post even longer and more hateful. i used to really like her too.
time for something positive...? i really liked the azim steppe when it wasn't being so randomly misogynistic. that was where i was most interested in what was going on bc it had less to do with the war, but then you bring the war to them so...*screaming*. like it's a shame to me that the xaela are still framed by a focus on war, but the dotharl's concept of rebirth and the other practices the different groups had were maybe the most interesting things to me in the entire expansion. also how gosetsu had that moment with one of the dotharl warriors who died without it being some weirdly ignorant clash of beliefs. i liked that part a lot. sadu and magnai and cirina arent developed enough for me to have much of worth to say about them rn bc like yugiri and hien they kind of just become channels for the story, but at least they have a lot of personality and there's a lot to work with. also its 2am. i'm hoping to have more ideas re the xaela when i get around to doing the sidequests in that area, which i think will help me round out their characters more. i called cirina having a thing for hien from like a mile away btw bc this game is so unserious. anyways i think there should be like a spin-off about sadu magnai and cirina and if it doesn't come to exist soon i will grow like ten extra hands and make it myself
#ffxiv#ffxiv spoilers#stormblood spoilers#post-stormblood spoilers#seriously like actual spoilers#asks#anonymous#maybe my longest reply to an ask yet#goodnight#spoilers
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Yo what
Fordola saw my memories
"You...y-you... All that power... all that pain... It's too much... Too much for anyone!"
"The things they've done to you. The lies, the betrayal, the endless fighting... yet you stand, unbroken. How..? Why...?"
For those I have lost. For those I can yet save.
#skulla plays ffxiv#stormblood spoilers#post-stormblood spoilers#one of the memories was at His grave#of course it was
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It's fucking bullshit there's not a single rain of blood during Stormblood. That means Stormblood is the only ffxiv release that lies to you.
Like. Final Fantasy XIV Online. Sure was an online game. Sucked shit so they nuked it. So then comes Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. The game was rebuilt that realm sure was reborn. Both in the meta and also in the text.
Now Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward. There's like two floating continents we go to the alliance raids were about sky pirates litcherally the expansion that added flight as a mechanic. We sure fucking went Heavensward.
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers. Your quest is literally shadowbringing. You banish the eternal light and bring back the night. Technically you're the only one really shadowbringing but your friends are helping so they're shadowbringers too.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker. Hey remember that quest. Yeah that quest. At the literal end of the expansion. Where you're forced to walk. Not run. Not fly. You HAVE to walk to the end. You get a status called endwalker. The quest you get after that is the final quest. Endwalker. They were not fucking subtle about that.
So i find that it's total BULLSHIT that Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood only has a metaphorical storm of fucking blood. "Ooooh a war is kinda like a storm of blood shed" don't come to me with that crap. You're the people who made the flight expansion be named "expansion where you literally go to the sky". Was it too much trouble have ONE scene with red rain? At least a little river of blood? I thought you guys were professionals but apparently i'm dealing with the fucking syrcus CIRCUS here. Unbelievable...
#ffxiv#final fantasy xiv#endwalker spoilers#shadowbringers spoilers#5.0 spoilers#6.0 spoilers#this post is clearly a joke i just legit think it's funny we don't even get a little blood rain in stormblood
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vierapril day 24--fear
"it wasn't until alisaie fell in the ghimlyt dark--when they were carrying her body back to the forward camp, and further still to the rising stones--when the fear truly set in. when the loneliness rose up to fill the gaps where the scions used to be, and the crushing weight of it settled in.
#vierapril#vierapril24#oc: eyrie kisne#i should have a gpose tag#ffxiv#stormblood spoilers#i had long tags here but tumblr logged me out halfway through posting so#300/10 functioning website#anyway yeah alisaie was kinda like. the last straw on top of all the other 4.1-4.55 patch stuff#truly they were Not Doing Great#the loss of the scions + all the death at the front lines was Not Great#compartmentalizing that stuff to deal w later#they don't show the fear well but they were terrified to where they were just jittery and quick to frustrate
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Hildibrand and Alphinaud should meet because they are both big-hearted, well-intentioned, ambitious young men from privileged families who do possess genuine talents but are prone to grandiosity and overconfidence in their abilities, and I think it would blow Alphinaud's mind to see that all you have to do to exist in that state unscathed by consequence is to cloak yourself in the thickest layer of comedic plot armor imaginable.
#what I'm saying is that the Crystal Braves only failed because Alphinaud was too serious for Rule of Funny to apply#to be clear this is a love post#i love them both with all my heart#ariane's messy little brother and ex-fuckbuddy himbo pal#no really. they should be friends#ffxiv spoilers#arr spoilers#alphinaud leveilleur#hildibrand manderville#qualifier: i am only in post-stormblood#if they meet later i don't know about it#but they should.#anne plays ffxiv#afk by the aetheryte
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anyone here play ffxiv i promise this makes sense if you play ffxiv
#me and the guys all clutching our heads and screaming before immediately returning to our regularly scheduled war#ffxiv#post stormblood spoilers
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I fuckin wheezed
#post stormblood#post stormblood spoilers#final fantasy xiv#final fantasy 14#my videos#alisaie leveilleur#alphanaud leveilleur#im sorry for my dumb laugh#the boy yeeted himself into the ocean
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FFXIV Polyamory Week - Day 1 - Sleeping positions
Hellooooo here I come for polyship week!
Turns out I already had this shot that fit the prompt perfectly (sorry for cheating that way, it WILL happen again). Usually Rowan is in the middle of the pile, but Estinien has been in the middle before--it uh. Did not go well for him dealing with a lot of purring. (Please look forward to that in the ot3 fic, haha).
#ffxivpolyamoryweek2024#ffxivpolyamweek24#wol/g'raha/estinien#feel like i should also mention that the other half of the prompt is in ot3 fic lkgh#first time sleeping together for estinien was kugane in post stormblood#for graha it was in ishgard after 5.3#g'raha tia#estinien varlineau#rowan ul'tyr#rowan#shadowbringers spoilers#endwalker spoilers
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(Spoilers for EVERY expansion to follow)
I have been thinking about Alisaie again and I just. Have an ache over how terrified she is of losing people she loves.
I also really do love how insanely protective of the WoL she is, as much as hurts how desperate she is for you not to leave her.
That antagonism toward loss is such a recurring element throughout her story. Her fear of losing the WoL comes up frequently, and she's shown to be much more overtly afraid of harm coming to them than most of the other Scions (not that the others don't also worry, Alisaie's just so loud about it.) Which, personally, I really like about her. She may idolize the WoL, but she never forgets that they're human, too.
Anyway, this is a theme for her from the very beginning, and Alisaie is faced with a major loss in every. single. expansion. Her grandfather, Emery, the Call taking the Scions, Tesleen, and Ultima Thule. And throughout those she learns to keep her heart open nonetheless, to keep trying, to keep caring. That's what she tells the Endsinger. "We take each other's hand. Share in each other's courage. Follow in each other's footsteps. And turn sorrow into strength!"
I'm gonna shove some rambles and a BUNCH of quotes under the cut, here, because they make me emotional and I like having them in one place. This isn't all of them, but it's some of the one's that stuck out to me most in my 95987324876423 screenshots (since Tumblr only lets me put in 30 per post >_> )
The Coils of Bahamut, where she begins to hope her Grandad is still alive, only to find his body has been possessed and turned into a tool for his enemy, and the man she loved is beyond saving, and that his body is now a puppet being used to try to kill her...
The loss of Emery in "A Malm in Her Shoes" official short story, when Alisaie shuts down and stops looking for companionship:
In Stormblood, trying to dissuade the Qalyana from following Lakshmi after the death of the leader's daughter:
As the other Scions get Called to the First, their souls kidnapped and their bodies left behind:
When it's just the WoL and her, about to face Garlemald on the battlefield:
That her instinct is to reach for the WoL when you're both Called again...
In Shadowbringers, when Tesleen is corrupted by the Sin Eaters and transformed into an aether-hungry zombie:
Later, when you have to kill "Tesleen", if you run the dungeon with Alisaie in your party, at the end of it she will be facing back down the road, where her friend's body was, and wishing her a peaceful rest. (And if Alphinaud is also there, he will notice, too)
Then, when the Fuath kidnap and attempt to drown you, she searches for you frantically:
When the Light in you starts to break free and the WoL collapses, she's the first to speak, "Are you alright? Say something!" and is also the first of those gathered to take even a step toward you. She doesn't walk, she runs, and only stops when the Exarch interferes - but she's immediately ready to throw hands with him too when she starts to think he means harm:
She lashes out in frustration when trying to find a way to save the WoL from the Light doesn't turn up anything
By Endwalker, you can see how much she's opened up to the WoL and the rest of the Scions. How she invites you to join her around Sharlayan, surprises you with food, and is just generally so much more open and happy.
After you go missing in Garlemald, her and G'raha are the only two who run to meet the WoL on the road when they're spotted returning to camp.
And when you don't answer immediately, she asks if you're alright, with a much softer concern.
If you speak to her before chasing after Fandaniel and Zenos in the Tower, a battle you will have to undertake alone, she will give you some bonus dialogue and pray in front of the WoL:
If she's the one that visits you the night after returning from the Moon, she has a really touching bit of dialogue to offer the WoL (if you have not watched this cutscene please go to the Unending Journey book to replay it and pick the Alisaie route, there's so much inflection the text just can't capture):
And once she's out of the WoL's immediate view she SPRINTS away, she's the only potential visitor who will do that, as if opening up to you so much was still frightening and her courage only lasted so long.
Finally at Ultima Thule, as your friends are taken one by one, she gets progressively more distressed... (I am running out of image space so I'll type a couple of the shorter ones)
"No... Not Estinien too..."
"Y'shtola, no! You mustn't!"
I wish I could post the whole cutscene here but - in Endsinger, when you send your friends away, the amount of screen time dedicated to showing Alisaie realize what you are about to do, and begging you not to do it. The shock and desperation as she recognizes that you're taking away any chance she has at fighting by your side - at protecting you. That same outstretched hand:
And when she thinks you're going to die...
“[Sobbing] You can’t leave us... Not like this... If you do, I’ll never forgive you… So come on! Open your eyes and get up!”
Of all the companions fighting desperately to revive them and call the WoL back, her's is first the voice the WoL hears clearly through the fog, too. It's the first uninterrupted line and actually gets a text box, where the half-finished fuzzy sentences you hear companions shout before do not. If Dynamis played a part in bringing you back, her desperation may well have been a tipping point.
And then she sounds angry enough through the tears that she might just murder you again anyway
I could probably fit another 30 in here but those are some big ones.
I think it's a big part of what makes Alisaie such a favorite of mine, the struggle she goes through and the courage she has to keep caring anyway - something you can go back and see her learn throughout the series.
#ffxiv#alisaie leveilleur#alisaie#shadowbringers spoilers#endwalker spoilers#meta#long post#text#stormblood spoilers#heavensward spoilers#arr spoilers#wyn gabs#lore#dialogue#shower thoughts
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Relationship Chart - Oscar
Chart created by @7thastralera. Blank form here.
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Papalymo: Papalymo was surprisingly patient with him. In turn, Oscar looked up to him. He still misses him.
Moenbryda: She was incredible. They could have been best friends or at least close to it had she been around longer.
More info on Scions on the chart is below the cut if you're interested.
Tataru: He admires her creativity. Their friendship was strengthened by their time in Ishgard. He sometimes helps her with her work, just not the paperwork. She's the one who taught him to make drinkable tea.
Y'shtola: Oscar thinks highly of her though she confuses him at times. She sometimes gives him pointers on his magic.
Lyse: Fast friends. Like brother and sister, or so the two will claim. They get along well due to their similar energy levels and optimism.
Estinien: His first thought of Estinien was that he seemed nice. Rude, yes but he was very kind to Alphinaud so he couldn't be that bad. He wants to be good friends with Estinien but he has as much luck as Urianger does.
Thancred: Oscar had a brief crush on him, to be honest. It faded away as quickly as it formed. What was left was a solid friendship. They look out for each other.
Ryne: He is always kind to her. Tries to support her in her growth, even if he's not entirely sure of how to do so.
Minfilia: She was a dear friend and kind of a mentor to him. He does his best to honor her memory.
G'raha: Possible romantic relationship. They definitely have a strong bond. He wasn't sure of his feelings for G'raha when he sealed himself in the tower. This may change in Endwalker.
Alphinaud: Oscar saw the good in him even before a certain chain of events humbled Alphinaud's ego. At times he reminds Oscar of his younger stepbrother. He thinks they would be friends. Alphinaud sometimes helps Oscar understand the more academic topics discussed by the Archons.
Alisaie: They can get along pretty well though he sometimes frustrates her with his absentmindedness. Neither find politics to be all that interesting. Though she doesn't believe it, he thinks she's better at Red Magic than him.
Urianger: So cool! He's looked up to Urianger since he met him in the Waking Sands. Which if Urianger does know, likely baffles him.
Krile: They work well together. He hopes she sees him as a friend because she sees her as one.
#oscar can be surprisingly hard to write for#oscar moreau#post 5.3#made in GIMP and paint#scions of the seventh dawn#arr spoilers#heavensward spoilers#stormblood spoilers#shadowbringers spoilers#ffxiv#ff14#final fantasy 14#final fantasy xiv
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MOST FUCKABLE FF14 MAN ROUND 3
#round three#hien#midgardsormr#decided since y'all are so determined to ride papa drago#i'd just use the mount model for the image#good luck hien#you're gonna need it#mod reaper#ffxiv#ff14#final fantasy xiv#final fantasy 14#messed this up 2 times#had to make this post 3 times in total#LOL#stormblood spoilers
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Post-HW/Stormblood spoilers
I just got through the final bits of post-HW content and into Stormblood on New Leaf, and while it's always felt like Papalymo gets swept under the rug compared to some others, I made an extra point of clicking on people throughout that stretch and discovered there's a fair amount of comment on him outside the MSQ dialogue.
First, though, he has one moment if you click on him just after the reunion cutscene that can easily be taken as a flirt:
Papalymo: "Mayhap it is my imagination, but you seem rather more rugged and world-weary than when last we spoke…"
There was also lots of foreshadowing (I only saved this one unfortunately):
Homei: Though there are of course some few regrets for missed opportunities. A pity we were unable to deal with Ilberd and the Braves once and for all, for example…
I think Papalymo's request that he be allowed guardianship of Tupsimati and his comments off and on after that suggest he already had thought of using that ritual as a last desperate measure. And possibly his Echo had given him some warning in some form.
Then afterwards, it turns out that Papalymo had become a mentor to Coultenet, one of the minor scions:
"Coultenet: They told us what happened with Papalymo, and I…
Forgive me, there are simply no words…"
Hoary Boulder: Coultenet greatly admired Papalymo, and aspired to achieve the same lofty heights of magecraft. His loss was a terrible blow to the Scions…
Later you can get these comments:
Coultenet: Though it might be simpler to surrender to despair, I have chosen to resume my studies in the arcane. I received much wisdom from Papalymo, and I would put his advice into practice…"
Coultenet: Papalymo's absence will be keenly felt for some time. Would that we had the strength to aid others in his stead…
Lyse: …I won't let you down, Papalymo. I promise.
Alisaie: Papalymo had to know it would only be temporary. If Grandfather couldn't contain Bahamut with the power of a thousand thousand prayers, then what chance did his disciple stand, armed only with a broken staff…
Pipin: I returned from a survey of the Wall but a moment ago. We have yet to recover Papalymo's personal effects, I am sorry to say, but you may rest assured that we will notify you and yours the moment we do.
And a couple from the MSQ:
"Yda: Omega destroyed the cocoon…
Yda: Papalymo's spell is fading. It was bound to his aether, you see…and if the connection is broken…"
Conrad: …My condolences for your loss, child.
Lyse: …Papalymo laid down his life to save us─to give us a chance to make a better future for ourselves.
Papalymo and Yda/Lyse were the first Scions I met, and I always loved his testy big brother affection for Yda. But I think on the first play through, it's easy to miss that he had the Echo (especially since you don't know what that means yet) and how powerful a mage he really was. And you don't realize just how deeply he cared for Yda until afterwards (I think when Lyse unmasks is the moment Papalymo was cemented as one of my favorites.)
#ffxiv#post-heavensward#stormblood spoilers#papalymo totolymo#Papalymo mentions after Baelsar's Wall#We won't discuss how much tissue I used...
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im not using twitter rn but i have to express this somewhere. what the fuck is wrong with stormblood
#personal#i'm in post-stormblood rn so please no spoilers i'm serious#but i genuinely did not think it could get worse#and somehow it just has not failed to surprise me!#sorry if you like it and i'm here being a hater but my god
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So how was stormblood? I know it's very hit or miss for people, so what're your thoughts?
I understand why it’s hit or miss! It — to get to the point i would be straight up lying if I said I was an unbiased consumer because I’m not, I’m a coastal American mid 20s rando with a Lot of very current cultural baggage around concepts like patriotism and freedom. And Hamilton references. It all has a sweet and strong and very anti-occupation message (along with themes I very much enjoy dissecting like the constant assertion that it Doesn’t Have To Be This Way, or the expansion into You may not understand this person but you must be able to accept them,) but when combined with Stormblood’s shakier coherence in writing and dialogue and pacing, it comes off as A Bit Off. to me. And I think it missed ever so slightly just due to how it was all structured and set up with the characters we have and motivations we have because the stuff OUTSIDE or Adjacent to the main story, despite how out of place it could feel, was structured great!! Like the Kojin and the Ananta trial and the Kugane mishaps and trying to murder Zenos twice and the ghost ship. Could the main structure have come across very well yes absolutely! It does it on and off it succeeds in there often! But sometimes it doesn’t. I can see a lot of where concepts were promised and not fully delivered, pacing was a bit off, things just happened without really belonging there (despite how much I loved Susano, he could have been better structured. same with many instances and also I feel like the unethical science should have been MORE IMPORTANT THAN IT — maybe it comes back. Who is that scientist.), sometimes dialogue felt somewhat canned. I feel like in a consequences-heavy expansion, many things just didn’t have important consequences, which was very strange
HOWEVER! I cannot give the new gameplay features abd dungeons any crap they are all SO GOOD. And so PRETTYYYYY. And there were so many solo duties that ruled! Every dungeon in this expansion was like whoa this is a PLACE im in you know what I mean??? I’m in a place that’s big and there’s people and there’s NEW MECHANICS and active time maneuvers (??!!!!!!!) and unique fights! I can jump on the roofs in Kugane! And, mind you, when the dialogue was good, it was good. Lyse has a fantastic voice actor. Alisaie is my favorite girl elf creature in thw world. Estinien is like the best p- the guy ever. also m’naago is my new friend. The tower was a great part of sb to me despite my singular gripe. I think Zenos’— I know it’s controversial to some people because he does assume your wol to be a bit more murderous than some people would prefer their characters be and doesn’t take no for an answer, but his um speech did something to my brain a little bit
ON that note the ending was very fast?????? Or like — not FAST, but I wasn’t expecting Zenos or Shinryu to go down in one fight. Two co-op fights, right next to each other. I kind of wanted to beat him up myself. And when Zenos was so impossible to beat before. I was expecting both of them to be WAY harder. Though Shinryu is a COOL fight I’d do the royal menagerie again in a second. I was kind of expecting a three stage trial? Like Nidhogg? I love going into space hiiii big dragon where were you this whole time… u were shafted… but u could not be suffered to live so. Maybe if we’d gotten an instance of fighting the dragon alone after beating the trial?? Could have been Themes. I don’t know
anyways no I can’t quite pin it down, but I’ve said it before I think they had the outline for the story and then built it and went oh this is too much and not enough at the same time and got stuck writing the whole thing after getting stuck in the story they already had. A COMMENDABLE job for getting turned around like that, way better than a lot of video games stories out there, good gameplay and areas that didn’t feel too empty. glances at coerthas falcons nest area. I think the ways they did the exploration thing was good, having us venture further into occupied territory etc, but so much exploration stuff felt oneoff and not there to do much for someone who has been skipping almost all of the side content except stuff I’ve been told is good. It almost felt like they were Trying New Stuff a lot, and some of it succeeded some of it failed. Such is trying stuff!! Such is trying to imitate what you had while making something new and exciting! And I can’t fault them for that
so like — putting aside the fact that I haven’t done post-sb which is like missing 40% of the Thing according to past expansions and my thoughts very well might change, i would 100% do the fights again, maybe watch some cutscenes, but I don’t think I’d NG+ this one. where is that lady selling buuz it is a CRIME i did not get to have any buuz let me buy one yoshi p
#hi Zenos I’m not going to go get tea with you but would you like to drown in a swamp with our antlers locked until someone’s head gets#ripped off and the other guy has to carry it staring at him for the rest of his miserable existence#play game#I can’t stand you as a horrible person or cancerous political presence. I bet you want to rip my throat out about it#u want me to fight you so bad it makes you look stupid#stormblood spoilers#maaah I don’t want to put my thoughts in main tags I’m writing a 30 minute high school English essay. Just grabbing thoughts and going#the more I think about it the more I think shinryu NEEDED a second one player fight#every other final fight has been multiple tri- wait well. Hm. Nidhogg was a patch quest.#no I stand by it the final HW fight was a cliffhanger so u knew a bigger fight was coming. Shinryu needed a second stage you had to fight#alone with your teeth and claws. Kill the eikon yourself; eikon-slayer. what else could you do. Nothing#nothing but kill it#This was always meant for you#maybe with Zenos inside losing control of it? maybe with him snarling at us the whole time. idk idk#I am starting to feel embarrassed for typing so much and having raw unrefined thoughts so that means I have to hit post#AND SHINRYU WAS SUPPOSED TO BE STRONGER THAN BAHAMUT I don’t know
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Thinking more thoughts about WOL!Odette...
Specifically how she's a young, naïve nun who is crafted into a god killer by a woman who loves her and who she loves in turn. How Odette had been told her whole life in the convent that she was destined to be a saint. Of course she would be 'The' Warrior of Light, of course she's Hydaelyn's chosen, of course she and Minfilia fall in love. How this means she never questions the Scion's motives or care for her.
She and Minfilia work so well because they understand their roles perfectly. Not always happily but they are both women of deep faith. Faith in Menphina, faith in Hydaelyn, faith in their comrades, faith in each other. They work so well because neither can place the other and their own happiness in front of their duty, their faith. That total understanding must be so freeing for them, to be able to love as fully as they can and knowing it's enough for their partner.
Odette spends most of Heavensward with a knot of grief for a heart. She tries so hard not to borrow grief from the future but it is hard not to when they just don't know about Minfilia for so long. But there is so much going on in Heavensward and without Minfilia to consistently come back to I think she's very adrift. More than ever, this expansion is when she is most like a silent protagonist.
I can't even touch that scene at the end of Heavenswards. You know the one. I did already talk about Minfilia in Shadowbringers...
#WOL!Odette#Pigeon Writing#<- i maybe should move my ramblings to their own tags but you know what#this is fine#anyway heavensward and shadowbringers spoilers within#i haven't even thought about odette and stormblood but please know it's not great time for this lil' nun#it's not a great time for Prudence either post hilda-for-real-breakup-this-time and her injury from the vault#It's not a great time at all!!! but like all tragedies there are moments of light and laughter#hm hm hm hm hm#Odette x Minfilia#this turned into more me talking about them than I had planned but like#odette is a character who so badly wants to love and be loved#that when she gets it and even knows at the start that it is gonna end poorly...................#I gotta figure out her echo I think in thsi AU I do want it to maybe be tied to her guide of the dead stuff
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ffxiv villains
Nael Van Darnus is the english localization team's greatest adversary apparently the unhinged garlean legatus responsible for slam dunking the moon into the ground. she's a big fan of bahamut, sephiroth, and majora's mask, among other things, you see, and decided to incorporate her interests into her work. she dies but doesnt.
Gaius "such devastation" Baelsar is a verbose fantasy nazi who's favorite color is social darwinism. he dies but doesnt, after getting epically pranked by a kingdom hearts cosplayer. later, his many adopted lizard children die. this all causes him to suddenly realize that fascism is not very poggers. it's all very cool and makes sense, you see. gaius "garlean man's burden" baelsar was already slightly less racist than his peers anyway so he's basically a hero.
Nero's not a villain, he's just based.
lol Lahabrea 🍞🔑🗡
Thordan is catholic.
Nidhogg was totally valid actually, but he needed to speak to a dragon grief counselor or something.
Zenos is megatron but sad is a sadistic bishonen who based his whole personality on "the most dangerous game." he's a twisted fuckin cycle path, less a person and more a weapon for the emperor to wield (at least until late stormblood). he's mostly just doing what he was born and raised to do, yeah, but it's not like that makes it fine. he dies but doesn't, as overstaying one's welcome simply runs in his family. he then spends most of his time in early endwalker trying to invite the wol to a nice, romantic, candlelit fistfight in the wendy's parking lot, by pissing on the moon (of course). that, and doing a whole lot of napping, apparently (way to beat the boring allegations, zenos). he helped cause the apocalypse because he's depressed (and very, very battle horny), but it's not like depression makes it all fine.
lol Varis 🗡😱🪦
Emet-Selch is the ceo of fascism, and was a funny and extremely likeable villain who stole the show everytime he showed up, until he wasnt. he stalled in the grieving process and decided to make that everyone else's problem by comitting mass genocide (he kins nidhogg you see) across multiple worlds for thousands of years in an attempt to bring his people back. but he's depressed (about his own ppl, he didnt seem to feel too bad about the everything else), so it's fine. genocide is his coping mechanism you see (very relatable). he dies but still has a ton of screentime and importance even after death because overstaying one's welcome simply runs in his family.
Elidibus more like elidibitch, ayo! was the convocation's little pogchamp who was sacrificed to become zodiark's heart, instead of any of the older members of the convocation who could have made that sacrifice (no, no, by all means, let the lil guy do it). he keeps desperately fighting for reasons he doesnt even know anymore, all while donning his best ff1 warrior of light cosplay (you're doing great, sweetie!). he can also apparently help you travel back in time, even though that's not how that worked when they sent the crystal tower through time initially but yeah okay sure (i kinda already did the twinning broski, cid's funky time robot is gone, how are you doing any of this? dont answer that).
lol Valens 🥛🐄💪
Fandaniel is become zodiark amon hermes a mentally ill funky little jester who is fought three goddamn times, one of those times being in the afterlife after you've already killed him once. one might assume that he may be related in some way to emet and his family based on how he, too, overstays his welcome. but no, he's just one of emet's annoying coworkers. yet another twisted fuckin cycle path, he helped cause the apocalypse (twice technically), but he was depressed, so it's fine. one of two characters whose existence slightly detracts from the whole hope vs despair theme of endwalker (imo).
Meteion is Necron a sad space bird, there to act as an homage to other final fantasy games that also have some random last minute bullshit as the final boss, not acknowledging of course that that is usually one of the worst parts of all the games that do that (i like ff4 but zeromus mcpalpatine-reference is lame). she's trying to destroy all life, yes, but she's mostly just doing what she was born and raised to do, so it's fine. she's also there to connect to the hope vs despair theme, but that is slightly undercut by the player charitably helping a violently mentally ill man die his preferred death (but like in a fun way) right after the big hope overcomes despair moment.
#ffxiv spoilers#nael van darnus#gaius van baelsar#nero tol scaeva#lahabrea#thordan#nidhogg#zenos yae galvus#varis zos galvus#emet selch#elidibus#valens van varro#fandaniel#meteion#long post#a realm reborn#heavensward#stormblood#shadowbringers#endwalker
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