FINAL FANTASY XIV

So, as part of me leaving FFXIV, I found it hard to be able to part without really going over the story in whole, as a chunk, and really examining and thinking on my feelings on the entire topic. I've been here for a long time. For starters, I took my trial in 2.3, back when we got a week and were only allowed to get to level 20, for reference. Yeah, we didn't even get the 2 weeks back then, yet alone the endless free trial you get today that's never ending for those players. That aside, I've had my current character since 3.3 and even since then, it's been a long and arduous journey for a multitude of reasons. But taking time to look back only seemed right. At least, before I departed from this place for the most part. Yeah sure, I'll probably come back periodically to play story stuff or join in on things I'm legitimately interested in, or maybe even at the behest of people asking me to do. But I won't be raiding savage anymore. I'm unfortunately just done. Making the time is hard.

Over the years my thoughts on FFXIV as a whole have been all over the place. For a number of reasons, story included. But, while I doubt my feelings on the community and various aspects are usually pretty negative, there's one thing that's... I don't want to say it's wholly positive, but it's definitely neutral, and not so heavily tainted by the presence of people, and that's the MSQ of this game, which I can experience alone without people being people. So yeah, as I said in the previous, this is my playthrough of the New Game + Feature. Of course, this is me taking the time to read through and truly ponder on everything, rather than having the expac rush that I'm always forced into during Early Access. So that's fun. I won't lie, speeding through expacs and patches, not only to not get spoiled by people, but to be done in time for raid & farming, is definitely something that slowly ruined this game for me. I don't super enjoy rushing. But I also don't like feeling like I have to be up at 3 am to be able to experience something without a wall of spoilers.

This playthrough is no skipped cutscenes, all voices & background music on, and English dubbed. I haven't decided if I want to do my dungeons with friends or not yet, but I suppose if people are interested in doing that, we're free to party up and do so. I decided against using my old OC to playthrough and just used my current catgirl. Truth be told, I already experienced E'dahn's story once, so I feel like forcing myself to experience it again might make me want to start skipping.

I think I'll be changing my glam & class each expac as well. Or maybe even changing stuff as I get to certain points of the story. Pretty much every class I have is at 90 anyways (Minus Viper which I didn't unlock), so no big deal. The ones I don't have leveled will get done maybe? Depends on how I feel.

I suppose you could say that doing this is my coming to terms with quitting. FFXIV is a game that, while I have my gripes with, has given me a lot over the years. I've made and loss friends. I've experienced so much, good and bad. I've met so many people. I fostered friendships, grew relationships, and parted ways with so many. And I've accomplished feats that I never dreamed I'd be able to. I went to so many different places, fought so many bosses. And for the most part I loved it all. After all, I spent 12 years here. But 12 years or not, it's time to move on. Because truth be told, this game is no longer the game I fell in love with. It's no longer the FFXIV that I desire to play. And I've come to terms with that. When even the challenges you wish to complete satisfy you no longer, and leave you feeling a bit hollow, I suppose there's nothing more to do than move on.

I don't really have an elegant way to wrap this up. These are just my thoughts & feelings on the story, as I get to experience it one last time before hanging up the towel.

Also the proofreading on this article is kinda non existent and I've attempted to clean it up and make it look less redundant (because I get very VERY redundant when I write things while being distracted) so I'm sorry if everything looks really awkwardly worded. Putting my thoughts in order has never been something I'm particularly good at. Either I go stream of conscious with my stuff or you just get slop.

Oh yeah have the full version of the thumbnail

A Realm Reborn: Part 1

Music: Serenity

So, I want to start this section off by admitting something wholly hilarious, I suppose. When I started this character in 3.3, my goal was to get ready to become a red mage, and I assumed that, naturally as one would with a Final Fantasy title, that one would need a White Mage or a Black Mage. Being used to playing support roles, I took the path of the White Mage initially and started in Gridania. I really originally wanted to start in Limsa, but I had forgotten that my previous character, the one I took the trial with and had continued (though I deleted her due to being upset over some drama that happened back then), was also a White Mage, and that you could just pick a different job and unlock other classes later. Being far more knowledgeable about the game these days, I equipped Scholar and decided to start the new game +, seeing if it'd roll a cutscene based on job, and place me where I wanted. It... did not do that. The place you started is tied to your character. So I said whatever and started in the Shroud. Considering how I had no choice and all that.

Immediately after getting started, you are funneled off from Mother Miounne to... An archer guy who's name I've admittedly already forgotten. Galfrid or something like that. He tells you you need an item level check, which is very funny when you're replaying the game. Like really buddy? You think I'm not ready to fight?

Yeah, I won't lie, I don't blame the game considering it's "New Game +" and they can't exactly de-level you in case you need to suspend your game and what not for other obligations, but it's really awkward when you can show up in nearly full BiS for your class (as we did 1 clear and didn't get weapons for everyone), and kind of tear through literally any threat in the starter areas with ease.

Anyways, all that aside, you're immediately funneled off to your first duty. I kinda forget how fast it all goes. I realize that the starter stuff is all tutorial on how the game works, and how only after you attune to the crystal and most likely immediately ding level 4, you're funneled into the actual scenario, but it feels like so much more when you start your character, vs when you actually go to replay it. One moment you're at the starter area, the next you're sent off to a mission.

The first part of the story has you stumbling across an Ixali blade stuck in an... important stump. Yda & Papalymo stumble upon you and immediately Yda starts yapping at you, only for Papalymo to cut her off (If you don't just sit there and listen to her tell her entire story--which I ended up doing. Truth be told, it's not that important.)

I won't lie, it's bittersweet to see these two again. We already know what happens with Yda being Lyse actually, with the real Yda being gone, but Papalymo is straight up gone as well, and we see it happen. This is the only route that has this happen. Both Thancred & Y'shtola may have their issues when it comes to their current situations and what not, but only the Gridania route has scions that are straight up technically both dead, and the stand in is completely just... not really in the story. Lyse is kinda y'know, busy being a leader.

So you beat up a bunch of trees that attack you all, before picking up a blue Crystal and speaking to the Mothercrystal herself.

It's kind of surreal seeing this all play out again. I won't lie, we're so far removed from the point of the story where these elemental crystals were relevant that I straight up forgot about this. I don't know how I forgot, but considering most times we have a magic circle present or even just a crystal present in the current story, it's usually the Magical Azem Friendship Summoning Across The Rift stuff that is just... now the default for literally everything.

Anyways, that aside, after we have our vision, we learn that the Ixal are acting weird and are up to something. They suspect there's attempts to summon Garuda once more, but that doesn't happen until well later in the story, so we can put that in the back of our mind for a little bit. After all, I won't lie... I don't want to see Garuda again for a good while.

As such, we part with Yda and Papalymo and once we're back we're thanked and then sent off to immediately do chores. I get it, they're fleshing out the area, having you explore, and need to come up with filler parts for the story, as well as build up the very exciting stuff. But god does this game rely on the chores super heavily in parts of the story. And it doesn't really go away either. Well, I got used to it and all. Some of these chores can be kind of interesting, as you learn a lot of lore related to the area. These ones though aren't super interesting. Just random tidbits about Gridania and the Black Shroud.

Once we're done with our first round of chores, we're told about a ritual that was interrupted in some of the local ruins. We're told about a mysterious Shadow Man and how he tempted to thwart it all, so that the Elementals--The spirits of the forest in the Black Shroud, and Eorzea as a whole. If you've been in Eureka and gotten the EXP buffs, you've seen them--would get upset and basically run rampant until the ritual is properly completed, or something like that. So we're sent down there to rescue them all. During that we come face to face with this Shadow Man.

I won't lie, I had completely forgot about this little bit with the Shadow Man but like, just from the description of it all, I knew immediately what it was. Ascians.

So, I will not lie. I am one of those people who have never had any real love for the Ascians. Like at all. I'm sure people will see this and go "But Emet-Selch! Shadowbringers! Endwalker!" and yeah those are all valid points, and that's good writing and all. But I spent several years in this game before that where they weren't fleshed out, nor did they ever come off as well written, compelling, or even remotely interesting. For the early story, they always felt like a random plot mcguffin that was used to push the writing forward with how heavily they were leaned upon. And seeing them leaned upon so early in the game, even in parts I had completely forgotten, just was kinda eyeroll worthy. And I apologize to people who disagree with me on that because like, it really does take up until we get information in late Shadowbringers for them to feel even remotely well written. But before that, they don't really give you a whole lot of reason to care. Like yes, the set up and execution has been there for ages, and I commend them for sticking to that and really having that writing pay off, but the Ascians feel more interesting in hindsight rather than as they're executed. And yes, I get it, I am also playing this with the knowledge of later parts. So it is interesting to see how early everything was executed. But that doesn't mean I have to like it. Because a lot of the plot hinges on Ascians doing the bidding. And early on, they came off very much as "bootleg Organization XIII." That isn't to say I don't like some of them individually, but I'm not crazy about them either. It's a complex tragedy on their part, I will acknowledge that. But I'd dare to say that while my feelings on the matters with them aren't nearly as complex, were definitely yearning for something more than just "It was Ascians" in some parts of the story, because it very much feels like that's almost always it.

Either way, my feelings about Ascians aside, we dispatch the summoned golem and then we're joined by Yda & Papalymo, who properly introduce themselves and explain a little bit about what they do before we're sent back to Mother Miounne who sends us out to do more chores.

This time, it's choco-chores. No biggie. Nothing too interesting here, other than the fact that the first mention of the Tam-Tara Deepcroftshows up. You're not even really going inside, nor is anything in detail mentioned yet. You're just kinda sent to the area above ground to rescue the egg, which is being guarded by the moogle you see with Yda & Papalymo (that I admittedly neglected to mention was in that first cutscene with them), and you return it.

After that you're thanked and sent off to do another duty immediately after. That one being related to the Ixal moving in on another... important tree that I forgot the name of. There's claims of them defiling the tree or something like that, but considering the Ixal that's leading the charge mentions them taking back the forest in the name of Garuda, I'm unsure which of them is in the right. But most of what the adders say in this just reads like anti-Ixali racism. This isn't the first time these kinds of sentiments are in XIV. Races that are seen as being closer to "monsters" are commonly treated like this, and while I forget the technical names that they use instead of "Beastmen" these days, it's just everything is "Beastmen" or "Damn X" which is just...Ehhhhh...

Anyways, the Ixal were lead to come and try for a claim of this land by an Ascian because of course it's Ascians and we get a view of this guy and whatever mask this is.

I'm not great at recalling which masks are which but I can't help but get curious when I see them. But yeah, Papalymo hears the man speak of Paragons, refers to them as Ascians finally, and then proceeds to talk a bit about them. During all this, we have a kind of different interesting exchange as well.

Like, I'm not even certain how this even gets mentioned, considering at this point in the game we have no dialogue choice options and there was nothing that hints at it. Nor is there any way, outside of the echo, that our character should even know about Sharlayan, unless there's a hint that like, idk, the adventure is Sharlayan from like 1.0? I'm not even sure where the adventurers come from before they become Warriors of Light tbh. The game always left that open ended because you're an outsider to your starting town, and it never seems to hint at a place that would be default. So it's weird that we suddenly know of Sharlayan.

Anyways, we return to town and we're thanked by everyone for getting involved, including by the Elder Seedseer herself. She then asks us to be an emissary for an upcoming festival meant to thank the woods or something like that. You're told how great of an honor this is to be chosen so you're sent off to go get a mask from our good friend Timbermaster Beatin who threatens us over treating it well.

Honestly, I'm convinced Beatin isn't even that guy's real name.

At the ceremony you end up standing around on stage, seeing a crowd clamouring and looking at you, then all of a sudden in the middle of everyone looking? Elder Seedseer is just talking to you about how you have a crystal on you, and starts asking if you met the Mothercrystal. And is like, telling you about the Echo. And apparently everyone is just talking, but you're still up on stage? Honestly, it's a very awkward scene. Because it's like a huge exposition dump, but you're just... on stage. Like, is this stuff that everyone knows about? Later in the story, it implies that not everyone knows about the Echo.

Either way, immediately during all this, you have an Echo--For those who don't know, a vision of the past of sorts--about the Garlean Invasion or whatever down at Cartenau like 5 years ago, when Dalamud fell. It's pretty much everything leading up to the "End of the Era" video or so, which is based on the 1.0 closing scene. Oh yeah, if you're new here and you don't know the entire story about FFXIV and how they killed the 1.0 version and remade it, that's worth looking into. Like just trust me, it's actually one of the most fascinating things that has happened in gaming in general over a 50 or so year history, and is absolutely worth going down that rabbit hole, if you never have. Either way to loop it back to the actual in game story, it's a lot of exposition. It feels out of place if you somehow actually don't know about the entire story with 1.0 to be honest. I think this is one of those points where patching in the video, the way they dumped in the Kingsglaive Movie Exposition in FF15, would kind of help. But we all know FF14 is not good at that kind of stuff, and I don't expect them to be considering how far into the game we are.

If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, here, have this:

Also yes, if you are somehow unaware of where it came from, this is where that Grandpa Fading Away gif that is used all over the place comes from. Minor Spelling Mistake Moment.

So, Lahabrea is in this batch of cutscenes and it feels a bit surreal seeing him again. Like, obviously he was going to show up. It makes sense. I mean, he's been here since ARR, and him appearing as early as level 15 makes sense. I have mixed feelings on Lahabrea at large, but I won't hesitate to say that early ARR, I kind of despise him. Or well, how he's used. Once again, very plot device-y. I'll tackle the parts that are the most offensive to me when we get there though, because we're inevitably going to get there.

With all that behind us, we wake up in the inn, and are told immediately to go check out the Lotus Stand. And then we're appointed Gridanian Envoy, with the right to travel via air across all city states.

I'll leave this section off with that. I'm not done with the traveling around the city states scenes yet, but I will be soon. Most of that will round out level 15, and then it's off to our first round of dungeons. I'm not sure how I'm going to do the dungeons yet, but like I said, maybe I'll do them with friends, maybe I'll do them with randoms. I guess it depends if people want to do stuff.

Resuming where I was, it's kinda cute how over the top they are with the little cutscene of your departure. Makes you feel so special.

During these cutscenes you're given a sudden cutaway to the Garlean Empire and the doings of Gaius Van Baelsar. For some reason, a prerendered cutscene plays here, but considering it's the events from Silverlake that were some time during 1.0 if I recall? I suppose it makes sense to a degree. Anyways it's awkwardly compressed and you can see a bit of artifacting, but it's whatever. I meant to take a better cutscene but I honestly got distracted. Either way you're introduced to XIVth Imperial Legion somewhat, but really only Gaius and Nero. Livia and Rhitahtyn are just kinda there--Especially Rhitahtyn who doesn't really seem to have any dialogue.

Music: I Am The Sea

With that cutscene putting the Garlean Empire's cruelty on full display done, we take our first steps into Limsa. We're to meet with the Admiral, and I make my way down the lift and right into her office. She proceeds to comment on the Seedseer's desire to hold a memorial, agrees, and then starts to recount some of the lore to you, the events of 1.0 and what lead up to Dalamud's fall. I wont lie, getting a Nael Mention Jumpscare is kind of funny and amusing when you're progging a fight where you're actively going through a dramatic retelling of those events. I'm of course, talking about UCOB. But enough of that. A paper is signed in response to the Seedseer's request and sent on it's way, and so are we.

I won't lie, out of all of the 3 city state leaders, Merlwyb was the one I was most enamored with. When it came time for us to pick our grand company, I immediately chose the Maelstrom. There's such a strong appeal to everything surrounding them. I know that for the most part, yeah they're all pirates, but I suppose it just makes sense to me to want such freedom. Even if Limsa has a different reputation among the players, being everyone's favorite AFK spot, and a place to pick fights over benches, still kinda love this place and it's vibe. Well, the vibe outside of the one the players have given.

So we head to Ul'dah and we repeat similar events. Raubahn starts filling us in on a bit more lore, related to the conflict with the Garleans and how they began 50 years ago. Apparently once Solus Zos Galvus taught the people how to use magitek, they started to invade. I'm sure people much further in the story definitely recognize that name. Grandpa Troublemaker is always at it. However, in his old age, his health is failing and he's on his way out. At the moment, it seems he's named no successors, which means that Garlemald at large has taken a step back, outside of Gaius and the XIVth.

With that lore drop out of the way, Raubahn too responds to the request for the Memorial, sends off his response, and sends you out the door while commenting that he'll speak to the Sultana on the matters. On your way out, the npc hands you a bit of information regarding your next destination. Seems like Baderon is looking for an adventurer to take on a job, so you're headed to Limsa once more. But that doesn't matter as much right now, as this part formally ends what the MSQ considers "Part 1."

A Realm Reborn: Part 2

Music: To The Sun

Immediately you're told to check out the Sastasha Seagrot in Aleport. You're informed that a suspicious vessel has been parked nearby at the Isle of Umbra, but they had already looked into the area and found nothing of importance the first time they looked. You're then told that maybe it's worth checking out again, and they're leaving this job to adventurers due to the amount of other things on their hands. So you're sent on your way, but not until you check out the Hall of the Novice!

Please Square, I'm in NG+ just remove the handholding parts that are necessary for sprouts.

Anyways, right after, I stroll up to the outside of Sastasha. Plenty of random NPCs around, so I went to check out what they had to say and stuff. There was a random Maelstrom guy posted there that told me if I die, that nobody was coming for my bones. Guess I'd better watch my bones then. We're also shown Avere's party as well. Avere is an NPC I have no real love for. To be honest, most of his party I can't stand. Edda's fine, for the most part. Until later. You also see another pair journeying around as well.

NPCS aside, Sastasha is your first dungeon. "Woooo" said nobody about Sastasha. While running around you run into a man named Captain Madison, who has you make chase through an entire pirate den. I've never really explored this place too often, but there's actually quite a few rooms here. There's also a place named the hole where a Lalafell promises she won't bite anymore. Upon making it through the den, you meet the captain again. You beat his ass and he tries to invoke parley. Not the first SQEX game where Parley gets brought up, and it won't be the last either.

You run through one more area and immediately after this very same captain gets slayed by a sahagin, claiming that we've sulleyed their spawning grounds. Who fuckin in this cave? They are, I guess. Actually, considering there's a place named the hole, everyone is apparently. But yeah you beat this Sahagin named Denn the Orcatoothed and immediately head back.

Upon returning, you run into Dolorous Bear's party at the drowning wench to report. Always interesting to see other parties. He basically laments upon waiting too long to attempt the quest, but says that he won't be backing down, and how he wishes that one days the bards will sing the songs of his group's deeds. After the exchange, we end up getting sent to Gridania where Mother Miounne is ready to finally toss us in the Tam-Tara Deepcroft. And we get one of our first mentions of Gelmorra in ARR. Anyways we're informed of the Lambs of Dalamud, which is a doomsday cult that's been around for about 5 years, and is apparently stirring up trouble there. Apparently the cultists worship dalamud as a god. when the moon descended, split apart, and bahamut came out, they were convinced that this was the intervention of heretics, and it's now apparently their duty to avenge him.

Tam-Tara is kinda lacking readable text bubbles, unlike Sastasha. like there's a tiny bit at the end, but I decided to sync this one regardless. Either way, you get a cutscene when they unleash Galvanth the Dominator and that's about it. The cults doings exactly are kinda left shrouded in mystery. After we finish up we check back in with Mother Miounne, who tells us she's impressed. She informs us that sadly a death occured in the dungeon though, as a group of previous adventurers had set out on an attempt to complete this job and we see... A party abusing a healer. Wow. What a fun time.

So, this is the set up for Edda's story. I remember around the time I had started playing, which was the end of 2.3 going into 2.4, Tam-Tara hard was already out and it continues Edda's story. And funny enough, when I returned to the game on a newer character in 3.3, Palace of the Dead was released, which has more lore related to all that. Funny how that happens. I'm almost haunted by Edda. Anyways, during that exchange we learn that Avere has died during their dungeon run and that ever since then she's been carrying his decapitated head around with her in a bag. Kinda unsettling, I suppose. But not as unsettling as where it ends up next! Spoilers: if you get enough Gelmorran Potsherds, you can own your own Avere head! And ride it througout Eorzea on your adventures. Yeah, they made that shit a mount. But that's all sidequests, and we're here for mainquests. So that means that after that scene is had, we're sent to the Quicksands for another job.

Once there, we're promptly told of a situation related to Copperbell mines, and how giants have taken over. Having been imprisoned for several decades, the giants are mad about the treatment towards them back 300 years ago during the thorne dynasty. They have managed to break through the rocks, and now roam the mines. Having been enslaved to work for the mines back then, they are rightfully upset. At some point they staged a revolution, but were burried somewhere deep in the mines under tons upon tons of rock for 300 years until they were recently disturbed due to the demands for building materials which caused Copperbell Mines to re-open in the first place. Miners dug too deep and the giants, with their 300 year long grudge, have been set free. Until the giants are stopped, no mining can be done which means progress on the city can't continue. We get tasked with the rather unsavory job of stopping them. Yikes.

Copperbell is an interesting dungeon, from a meta perspective at least. This is the first drastically changed dungeon from it's original version. There's a few others, but basically at some point for those who don't know, they went back and overhauled a lot of ARR & other various parts of the game in need of some care. But mostly ARR. Some quests' length is cut drastically as well. In Copperbell in particular, lighting has been overhauled, as well as rooms being cut and blocked off, and bosses mechanics being changed outright. The first boss used to come down from the top cliff area after you would beat up some mobs, but now you just walk up to him. The 2nd boss used to require being split into pieces with the use of a bomb, but now it's just dodge. I know the last boss, Gyges the Great, also has mechanics, but considering I was being lazy and just unsynced this one, I saw none of it. And I wont lie, I don't remember them, or if I've even run Copperbell since the changes.

After dispatching Gyges, you return to the quicksands and you're met with a duty. In the middle of reporting back, you happen to hear a scream outside. A merchant is threatening a refugee, claiming she stole from him. After making a series of threats and trying to force her into prostitution, we step in and dispatch the group. After that, we're treated to some exposition about the refugee situation via the echo where two merchants conveniently observing this woman buying dodo meat just happen to be dumping exposition. Either way, the woman's innocence is proven, people finally speak up, and the merchant runs off. You just so happen to run into Yda & Papalymo after such an event who prompt you to look into joining the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, by talking to Momodi.

You also run into Edda, who asks our name and tells us how much Avere looked up to us. Really awkward information to learn, yknow, knowing she still has his decapitated head in her bag.

After all that you're sent off to go on your first journey to the Waking Sands. Get used to this name, you're going to hear it a lot. Tataru lets you in and tells you to head to the Antecedent's chamber, but I won't lie, it had been a while since I had been to the Waking Sands and I decided to do some peeking around.

I won't lie, while I was expecting to see Arenvald, I wasn't expecting to see an elf who had a very similar look to someone we see much further in the future. I won't lie, she kind of jumpscared me. But I'm pretty sure that she won't be sticking around for much longer.

Either way, you're ushered in and Minfilia begins telling you about their order, and what it is they do. You're told that essentially you're in a group aimed at solving the issues of the realm, notably beginning with the Primals. This is pretty much what you're going to be doing for the most of the story for a while. Primals will be driving the plot forward up until around Stormblood, where their relevance will take a bit of a backseat. But that won't matter for a while. You're also told in depth about the power of the Echo. I think I touched on this earlier, but the Echo is basically Hero Plot Armor Bullshit. Either way, Minfillia urges you to join them, and use your powers for good. You don't get an option. You're joining. You're now Mr. Mc Plot Armor. But I suppose with the power of Primals in play, we kind of need that. IDK, it doesn't super bother me, but once you notice it, it's hard to ignore how bullshit the Echo can be, and how its kinda this convenient mcguffin type power. But whatever. This is an MMO story.

So in the middle of all this, you just get a random tangent about being able to use retainers. Basically, congrats, you get to use the marketboard stuff now outside of just buying. You can now sell. And make money. Apparently this is to convince you to join them, not that it matters, because you're not given a choice. I mean I guess you can also just not like... take the quest? But you're locked to 3 dungeons and no MSQ progress for all eternity which is like... you can't do anything. So you have to continue onwards. Pretty sure that back in the day, this is exactly where the Free Trial ended.

We start getting informed about the origins of their group in relation to Louisoix, how they all came from Sharlayan, etc. Ironic that they're telling us about Sharlayan, considering the plot seemed to imply to us that we already knew about Sharlayan, but I suppose most people weren't keeping track of that in initial playthroughs.

But yeah, we're introduced to what would normally be the entirety of our party right about now. Y'da & Papalymo we already know, but Urianger, Y'shtola, and Thancred are also all introduced. This is Thancred:

Minfilia continues on, making a comment about hoping that we'll see them all as family at some point, a comment that stings in hindsight, knowing how many of these people are no longer around in the current MSQ. Well, this won't be the first time something gets said that you look back upon and just sit there wincing. We also hear a mention of the Students of Baldesion. They'll also be relevant in the future, for a variety of reasons. Especially if you want a Demi-Ozma mount.

Before continuing the plot I decided to wander off since most of the members aside from yourself and Thancred are dismissed. Talking to the NPCs and seeing whats in order seemed a bit interesting, but truth be told, nothing too fascinating was happening. Aside from with Urianger, man is just... writing poetry or something.

Either way, you're immediately briefed of a mission. Seems that transport cargo in Thanalan was taken, and most of what was robbed was crystals, as well as a string of abductions, apparently done by Amalj'aa attempting to summon Ifrit. So we're sent off to explore Camp Drybone and check into the disappearances, before completely blaming the Amalj'aa. We're asked to check in on a merchant, who is the guy we just dunked on a bit ago, who mentions how afraid everyone is and how they wont talk to anyone while drunk out of his mind. After that we're pointed towards the church and start investigating the sister on Thancred's call after running into a Suspiciously Detailed NPC. Her innocence is proven, and afterwards Thancred's crimes against women continue. He sends ME into a den of Amalj'aa to have me investigate.

After finding a "queer leaflet" (Lesbophobia from Thancred, a classic really) in the camp, we present it to the sister who tells us how it's fake, against their teachings, and brings up missing priests robes. After that Thancred has us go undercover in beggars garments and beg for work, where we're treated to some good ol' classism from the locals. But we learn of a pond that refugees tend to gather at, before being approached by a man in said priests' clothing preaching to us about Nald'thal and... Yeah it's the merchant. He gets called out for his misdeeds, giving us a story about how he sold people out to protect The Golden Bazaar from the Amalj'aa, and then lets slip that the pay was also good, because of course that's it.

Homie legit pulls the "Don't blame us, blame yourself or god" line. Thank you, Delita.

You're told to go back to Minfilia in the middle of all this, who legit tells you "Okay, all good that you're making progress, but go learn about Materia." I really wish they trimmed these parts out of the MSQ as well. Or at least take it out of NG+ it just kills the flow of everything. Either way, you go over to Mutamix and from the NPCs you learn about the Illuminati. Yes, they're in this game. No, they're not what you think. They're goblins. They'll appear later in the story, and have ties to a major sidequest as well. We do not speak poorly about the Illuminati (of ffxiv) in these parts, as we too, worship the primal Alexander. I mean this website's url is "Ordained Motion." If you're here, your primal God is now ALEXANDER. I'm sorry. It just has to be that way.

After this, you're put back on track. You meet up with the Immortal Flames, and you attempt to stop whatever the Amalj'aas plans are. And... we're immediately betrayed. We're swarmed by a ton of Amalj'aa, then put to sleep. You wake up some time later in a cave with a ton of others. Looks like you're to be Ifrit's thralls. Queue wasn't popping so I went in with NPCs. Whatever. There's dialogue. And a lot of it. And I learned that if you do not read the cutscene fast enough, they just drop you into the instance. That would have been awkward if I wasn't with NPCs.

Immediately we're all offered up as sacrifice. Even the two traitors. Except me because I have Echo Plot Armor That Makes Me Immune and am definitely not already enthralled by Alexander. Anyways, we get to see what it's like for souls to be tempered. After this battle though, we get to learn of the unfortunate fate of people who undergo such an occurence. Once the Amalj'aa are aware that we're not tempered, they're uncertain as to why. Ifrit explains that we must belong to another god, but they cannot sense which one (or smell it, I suppose) and says that we must be among the "godless's blessed number." Which is probably a fancy way to say "chosen by the echo." Either way, with this, Ifrit attacks. This is basically your first boss fight. Not hard at all. There are scarier Ifrits out there you'll encounter in the future.

Ifrit's a funny boss to me, because every time I see him, I remember progging UWU one night and my dog going crazy in the middle of us during Ifrit phase, me trying to mute and failing, and yelling "OSCAR, SHUT UP" at the top of my lungs only to realize I wasn't muted at all, and everyone asking who Oscar was. After that, everyone just started calling him "Oscar" and when we would get to the start of Ifrit Phase with the initial dash, I'd always say "Thats my dog." Weird, I suppose. But even 10 months later, Oscar's passing still stings, and it's weird to think of how a game boss of all things is such a reminder.

Fun fact, did you know that the knockback on vulcan burst can be ignored. Arms Length/Surecast work, as well as a heavy shield. Pair it with mitigation and you won't go flying. Not really useful for the normal modes, but very helpful for UWU. But you can still do it in those modes if you want to try.

Either way after you best Ifrit, Thancred rushes in, takes care of the Amalj'aa that was about to attack you, and you escort the two criminals back to drybone before cutting to a scene of Nero and Livia on the cliffs that I had completely forgotten about. Like seriously that is not the first time I got jumpscared by Nero and yet here we are.

Pray return to the Waking Sands. We're greeted with a scene of Thancred moping about not being there to help us. Don't care, don't need him. Either way, we're informed of how primals are summoned, and the dangers they pose to the world when they're allowed to consume mass ammounts of aether, and why they turn to things such as crystals or tempering, but we're never told of the extent. If you're wondering what would happen, I'm pretty sure The Burn & The Empty are examples of this, but don't quote me on that. I just remember it being stuff about aether was involved in The Burn, and it turned into a dry desolate wasteland. Which is why the Aether datacenter is named as such because it's a dry and desolate wasteland where no totems exist. Either way, you're given a break for your deeds for the time being, but before we take said break, Thancred pulls us aside and informs us of the fate of tempered individuals--And how they're unfortunately put to death, as their only purpose from that point out is to worship primals further. He muses to himself once more, before we part ways.

I want to add on that for some reason, during this scene, Minfilia is just in the background, deciding to stare up at Tupsimati on the wall and its just so out of place. She looks like a fucking Sim, just staring into the wall and doing nothing.

For now, this is where I'll be stopping. I don't know when I'll play next, but hopefully I can get a little bit of work done between now and my next raid day, before continuing. I really just don't want to burn myself out on this game either, because while I do enjoy the story, I don't want to rush it.

Music: Salt Swept

It's been a while, so I'm here to resume my playthrough... Right on the day my sub runs out. Of course that happens, but mostly because I put off playing until I decided to actually need to log on. And of course, now that said sub is gone, I really want to play. Funny how that happens. Oh well, I'll resub later next month, if not start of next year. Mostly because I figure it's best for me to just work on my backlog of things to do for this site before anything. With that said, let's continue.

The point I left off was right after Ifrit. Which means that naturally, all the Grand Companies were at your door, attempting to recruit you. Minfillia recalls that the leaders of each city-state are to have rememberance ceremonies for the fallen of the Calamity, so she recommends that you go off to listen to them all before making up your mind. So, off to Gridania we're sent, to see the Elder Seedseer speak once more, before continuing on to the others.

I'm going to keep commentary on all of this part a bit sparse. It's really not that interesting, as the scenes are formulaic as all hell. Each time you go to see the leader of a Grand Company speak, it's always "Cartenau was bad, because the Garleans forced us to fight and we lost men. We also have to deal with Beast Tribes. Please join our Grand Company." The twins will then show up, and Alphinaud will wax poetic while bringing up each company's misgivings, before leaving you with a rather sarcastic comment.

I remember during his proper introduction, I did not like Alphinaud much at all. The choice of voice here makes him a lot more anime as well, so he seems like a spoiled sarcastic brat. I didn't realize that when I was playing through all of ARR that he'd very quickly become one of my favorite characters within the entire game. However, you'll see the rest of that unfold much later, so I'll move on for now.

We head to Thanalan to see Raubahn's speech which really had no effect on me. I have nothing against Raubahn, but at this time and point, we really don't hear too much from Nanamo, which makes it feel odd that shes the leader and he's not. Either way, I can't help but judge a little bit, considering how they always talk about how Ul'dah wishes to be the best for their citizens, but you walk outside of the city walls and it's literally covered with refugees struggling to get by, if not straight up being abused. Not a good look, and we had already gotten a glimpse of all that anyways, right before Ifrit.

I won't lie, it's always a bit funny to me that most of the people I know always tend to be in the Immortal Flames. A lot of them mention it's the convenience of the access to barracks, with it being right across from the Aetheryte, and even less movement than the Gridanian barracks from point A to point B. But even funnier to me are the amount of people I have met that care a lot more about the story that have commented that they'd rather go with the Immortal Flames because Merlwyb is a hypocrite and a pirate, as if all politicians aren't giant hypocrites. I mean, I get it, if you're going to get into your own character's head, it's better to have a strong opinion on everything, but I just find it funny that refugees suffering is fine, but piracy is where we draw the line. I mostly comment on this because I've known more people than I can count on my hands, all of them being men, who viewed the matter this way, and I always found it quite interesting.

But I suppose I'm also viewing it through my own lens of bias, so maybe that's on me for finding it odd.

With that said, we move to Limsa to cover the last of the Grand Companies.

So there's really no contest here. Maelstrom was the Grand Company I originally pick, and seeing these speeches didn't make me reconsider my bias one bit. I know some people treat it as "Well if you like it so much, why didn't you just start there," but I started based on job. So I picked GC based moreso around what I liked. And a badass pirate captain that happens to be a woman was up my alley.

Pray return to the Waking Sands. Once there, you're put on the spot to immediately make a choice once more and handed our linkperl, before the scene cuts to Alphinaud & Alisaie at the Quicksands with their commentary.

I won't lie, this scene is honestly pretty awkward. Alphinaud makes an observation, which leads to Alisaie saying that she hated these ceremonies for not actually acknowleding the heroes of the battle at Cartenau, those being the Warriors of Light that laid their lives on the line for the fate of the realm. Alphinaud's response to this is to be honestly quite snippy and sarcastic, having a rather mocking tone. It ends on Alphinaud criticizing the 3 GCs however, but that doesn't change how belittling he sounded. At some point Alisaie says she's had enough of this grandstanding, and that their Grandfather would never stand for this. With this said, she storms off on her own. We'll be seeing her later though.

At some point during all of this, Alphinaud made a comment (one which I forgot to screencap) about things that hinted at the ongoings of their current home life. At the time, we really didn't know much about all of this, but it eventually showed up in the future. It's another bit of foreshadowing that had been in the background and wasn't touched on until way later, in Endwalker. I do find it super interesting that it's brought up as early as it was in ARR. I didn't think it'd warrant mention until they were maybe at the end of Heavensward, but no, it shows up here. I won't lie, I barely remember what Fourchenault's issue with the twins was, so I can't really commentate on it past this. I suppose even Endwalker's story was quite a while back, now that I think on it.

Regardless of all that, Halo has other things to do.

Music: On Westerly Winds

During my trips back and forth between the Maelstrom headquarters and the Waking Sands, I remembered that the edge of the map near the docks in Limsa connects right to Vesper Bay. Convenient, considering Vesper Bay doesn't have an aetheryte. Funny enough, I think this is brought up later on in the story as well--To say there's a lore reason for something like that is actually funny, but there is. Still, I took the boat ride, and completely forgetting I had cutscene replays on for literally everything, it played the departure scene.

Sometimes, I forget about all the little things that exist in this game that really fleshes it all out. It's kind of fun stumbling on this all again, while I recount what my initial journeys through this realm were like. I often forget that there's shortcuts to areas around this realm, especially in places that go unvisited these days. It's really unique to see, but it's also a bit sad, considering how empty some areas are. Theres places that just don't get people going. Like yeah sure, the main hubs are usually bustling for ARR areas, but the surrounding places, even within the cities, are just kind of empty most times. It's a very different experience from something like Mabinogi for example (that being the other MMO I frequent) which usually has a lot of activity spread out within the whole of a town. XIV just has the central plaza around the aetheryte populated, as well as the marketboards, and nothing else.

We'll move on from this topic for now, and back to the story. This part is also fairly simple. We head to the Maelstrom GC Headquarters, start the sign up process and... Immediately before we can even take our oath, we're sent out on another mission. Seems like an airship sent out a stress signal after being shot down by Garlean forces. We head out to Lower La Noscea and attempt to save the two mechanics real quick.

After dealing with a handful of Garlean soldiers attempting to claim the ship, we successfully rescue a pair of Ironworks Engineers named Biggs and Wedge. They're not too important yet, but they will be later.

Once this is done, we're immediately back to the Maelstrom GC HQ where we're properly sworn in as a member and assigned our rank. This doesn't matter too much to me though, as having played for quite some time, I've already progressed through quite the amount of ranks on my own and happen to be a First Storm Lieutenant. I think there's still ranks I have to progress through, but I haven't really done it all yet, as I tend to be pretty lazy with content like this. Either way, I still have this fancy coat unlocked, and that's all that really matters. You know what they say, "Glamour is the true Endgame."

Pray Return to the Waking Sands. Despite all that's happened, we're quickly informed of a situation in the Twelveswood and sent to talk to the Adders about dealings with Ramuh. Apparently we're going to attempt to parley with the Sylphs as to ascertain whether or not they're a threat. So, we're sent on our merry way to go meet with a man in the East Shroud that has spent quite some time with them to learn of their ways.

That's right, it's time for more chores. You do a variety of things in attempt to help a former adventurer jog his memories on interracting with the sylphs. It goes by pretty quickly, but we're informed of proper greetings in the form of dancing and are given their favorite snack, milkroot. Apparently this root emits a milky liquit that, when consumed, gives you some sort of brain fog. So we're basically giving them drugs. What an entry we've been told to make.

And that's exactly what we do. We head over, we dance, we hand them over drugs, and we try to beg them not to summon Ramuh. But the sylph we talk with, Komuxio, isn't so quick to trust humans and refuses to let us speak to the Sylph Elder. So that means... More chores, yay. This leads us to gretting others, gathering items, and taking care of hostile wild life.

While out there, I found these little guys hanging around. They're Mandragoras. Very cute. I have a plush of one of them.

Another thing I noticed while I was out here doing chores was the giant Garlean Fortress you could see from off a cliff.

This is our first glance at Baelsar's Wall. That won't be super relevant for a while, but considering how close it is, it's definitely an explanation as to why Garlean forces are making trouble in the area, and why the Sylphs are scared of humans.

With the first half of our chores done, Komuxio asks us to chase down one of their friends that has wandered off into the brambles. As we follow them, they're surrounded by a group of tempered Sylphs that try to convert them, before turning around and getting more wildlife to attack us. After saving this sylph, Komuxio opens up to us. The reason they were so hesitant to let us speak with their Elder? They've gone missing after heading deep into the woods. So naturally, we're tasked with tracking them down. We're pointed in the direction of Buscarron, who will be our next questgiver as events play out.

Buscarron basically tells us that he'll keep an ear out to see if any news about the Elder pops up, before continuing on a mention of a few things he'd like to get done. So, it's off to more chores. We break up a fight real quick before being sent off to La Noscea to touch bases with a friend through returning their earring. Apparently it's a Qiqirn that he met during the Calamity that set out to make his own shop that he lost touch with. That means we're headed back to Limsa to ask around. Not long later, we're sent to Upper La Noscea, return said earring, and are roped into doing one more chore before heading back.

While doing all this, I couldn't help but notice the view of the Wanderer's Palace off in the distance. This isn't even the best view of it, as it's easier to see it in greater detail from the settlement on the other side of the lake. Another thing I noticed while flying around (but I didn't think to take a picture of) was the giant fossil in the ground that was near us. I don't even know the lore behind that stuff, so I didn't dwell on it as much as I did with the Palace. But it's all very interesting, nonetheless. We won't be heading there for a good while either, so back to the MSQ it is.

We head back to Buscarron's with the firewater prepared for him as a gift. After that, we're told to look into a wood wailer that's been possibly up to no good. We're told about Laurentius, who went from getting the cheapest things on the menu to spending coin rather lavishly as of late, and Buscarron remarks that wood wailers don't make great pay, so the sudden money struck him as odd.

So we track him down. He avoids twice, but by our 3rd run in, he tells us his story of how he was willing to swap secrets with the Garleans for good money. During this, he stalls for time, and we're ambushed.

This fight doesn't go in his favor. Buscarron sends us back up, and we're able to overpower the Garlean troops and give Laurentius a swift asskicking. After this, he turns himself in, and goes to thank Buscarron for seeing the error of his ways. Interesting claims... Keep note of that for later.

We return to Buscarron who mentions that they were finally able to track down the Sylph Elder, who had headed into Toto-rak. So we're sent on our merry way over there to report this information to the wood wailer on duty. We're told to quickly assemble a rescue team, and we're to head inside.

Music: Greenwrath

The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak is kind of an interesting dungeon. Not in terms of what you're doing in the story, but moreso due to everything surroundingit. You see, Toto-Rak is a 1.0 dungeon. For the uninformed, "1.0" is the term most people use to refer to the original version of Final Fantasy XIV and how it used to exist back upon launch. However, that version of the game closed down, and the current version is built upon it, both literally and figuratively. I bring this up (despite having brought up some other bits related to this earlier in the article) because Toto-Rak is one of four dungeons from this era of the game. While it's definitely been changed from it's 1.0 version, and even it's 2.0 version, it still remains, even if sections of it are barred off, as seen in the image below:

Anyways, I bring this up because of the fact that if you joined during 1.0, you've seen 3 versions of this dungeon. And if you joined at any point before Endwalker's post patch, you've seen at least 2 versions of it. But the one we have now is very simple. It's a straight path forward and no longer includes the alternate routes and some of the other objectives we once had. There's also been changes to ambient lighting around the dungeon as well, but that isn't nearly as interesting as mourning the lore we've lost with 1.0's closure and the dev teams refusal to at least implement some of the Legacy quests. That means the 1.0 MSQ is essentially Lost Media to a slight degree--Replays of it exist on sites like Youtube, but it's a shame we can't experience all of this as ourselves. While yes, you can run a private server for FFXIV 1.0, you'll be missing a lot of things, such as character creation and quest data. It's essentially just a map you can walk around and make assumptions of, and that's all. Makes it even more disappointing, because Toto-Rak is one of many areas connected to Gelmorra, which we don't get nearly as much lore of from 2.0 and onward.

While going through the dungeon, it's really clear to see how gutted it is. Entire sections of mods are cut out as well as objectives being removed. It's weird for the cobweb walls to just disappear, instead of having to be manually destroyed as they once were. There's also 3 notes on the wall, warning you of the dangers of the mobs. One even brings up the spawning eggs that are no longer present at all. All of this feels really annoying to see gone, but I do understand why it happens. Truth be told, on subsequent revisits to the dungeon, I don't want to go through all that. I want to get my experience and get out. I suppose that makes people like me a part of the problem? But at the same time, I suppose modernization for an MMO as old as 14 was needed.

Once making it to the boss arena, we're met with Lahabrea once more. He's really not doing anything of import past goading us and basically saying "Oooh, you're going to die to the scary bug boy. Haha your tale ends here Warrior of Light." Obnoxious, as usual.

Either way, the boss is a giant mite named Graffias. It's pretty easy to dispatch, considering I was simply unsyncing the dungeon so I could have a look around. Normally, I think it spawns 2 adds and also has a separate tail that must be killed at some point, but that might have been removed. I don't know.

Once Graffias is gone however, the Elder who is covered in webs and such just conveniently falls from the ceiling and is freed from being trapped. They thank us for freeing them, and ask us why we're here, to which we tell them our goal was a rescue. And we're immediately given an glimpse into the events leading up to where we are now with the help of the echo.

If it's not Ascians, it's Garleans. We're basically shown how the Elder had found them in the woods and sought to spy on what they were doing. Most of this scene is just Nero complaining at his troops though and pining over Cid. Because Old Man Yaoi never rests. Not that I can really complain, but it is funny how anything goes wrong and he's immediately complaining about Cid.

We come to our senses after that, and the Elder thanks us before wandering off. So, we decide to go to the sylphs once more in Little Solace. The Elder, introducing themself as Frixio, explains how once caught by the Garleans, they were forced to run into Toto-Rak. Apparently once going there, they ran into Lahabrea, and he pretty much threatened to feed them to a giant mite. What a fun guy. Either way, Yda & Papalymo step forth, and immediately begin to parley with the Sylphs, bringing up their missive from the Elder Seedseer. Frixio confirms that the Sylphs have no desire to summon Ramuh again, and how a group of Sylphs that were advised eventually summoned him based on the fear of Garlean invaders. We're then told that as long as the tempered Sylphs are left alone, there will probably be no further incidents. With that, we're given another crystal from the elder, who leaves us with a rather ominous premonition as we part ways.

With all that out of the way, we're asked once more to Pray Return to the Waking Sands. We run into both Alphinaud handing a report, and the previous duo Biggs & Wedge thanking us. Our attention is then turned to passing remarks about the remaining primals that need to be watched out for. We're given the names of Leviathan, Titan, and Garuda as the current remainders. Minfillia also comments that if the boss of the Ironworks was around, he'd definitely find a way to make their workload more efficient, and Biggs remarks on how their boss's absence has been impacting them.

Everything having been taken care of at the moment, Minifillia permits everyone a bit of respite, and the group leaves her office. Before you part as well, you mention your run in with Lahabrea once more. However, before the two of you can have a proper conversation, Tataru is heard shrieking.

Naturally, the group runs to her aid only to find that she's face to face with a Sylph named Noraxia, who has been sent to the Waking Sands to be some help to your cause, and thus Noraxia becomes a member of your group.

This concludes part 2 of ARR, and where I naturally sought to stop for the time being.

I don't know when I'll pick up playing again. Truth be told the holiday season means I'm not going to have a lot of time to set aside for playing, nor the spare cash for my sub until I'm done shopping. So, I suppose that means I probably won't have any more gameplay until the new year. If I do decide to sub earlier, it probably will be after 7.4 finally drops, due to the latest changes to how the glamour system will work. Very excited for that, to be honest.

I don't have a lot of parting words past the fact that I took a quick picture of my character in my house before I was kicked off. So here you go. It'll be a while before I continue this article. But I don't want to make any promises on how much I'll get done, because I thought "Yeah, getting to the end of Endwalker in a month seems plausible," completely trying to forget how burnt out I was at the time. So this time, I'll play at my own pace. I might be moving servers or even data centers soon, so I'll check back in after the holidays.

A Realm Reborn Part 3

Music: The Waking Sands

So it's definitely been a while since I picked things back up. I thought I'd be done with this, but I kind of realized that just taking it slow is a lot easier. Oh well, looks like you're getting a bit of ARR content while I uh... clean this place up. Figured I'd at least give some new content to go with the new look for the site. Anyways, moving on from how this place looks and onto the bulk of the content. I did this playthrough all in one sitting. And I was about to go do more, but I looked at the amount of stuff in my backlog for coding and said "Well, a single section is good enough for right now." So unfortunately, that's what you're getting for now.

We'll return where we left off. We're tasked with seeking out the Ascians. We already saw them aid in getting a Primal summoned, so we Minfilia basically says "alright, time to seek them out instead." So, we're off to investigate the lead that a strange masked man is running around over near Highbridge. There's some claims that he's commanding Qiqirn to attack the area in waves from a local merchant. He sends you on a few wild goose chases around the area, and you eventually get attacked by an udead that has a scroll with a prayer to Rhalgr on it. And thus, he accuses the people of Little Ala Mhigo. Immediately off the bat, he's just flat out racist towards Ala Mhigans (because of course he has negative things to say about refugees. Why would I expect anything else from even the NPCs of this game?) It's insane to hear how Ala Mhigans are people with barren hearts from a merchant who was trying to scam you and lead you down false leads and hoped that you'd stay to clean up some Qiqirn for him. But I guess that's just how shit is from merchants in Thanalan. Either way, you're told to seek out his daughter in Little Ala Mhigo.

So you head to Little Ala Mhigo. You speak to his daughter (who is rightfully appaled at her father's claims). You're told immediately to talk to the elder of the village, a man named Gundobald. He is neither bald, nor does he have a gun, but I suppose that's just how things are. When we go to speak to him, he turns us away immediately. You know what that means. It's time for some chores. Luckily, there's a Flame Commander stationed near the Aetheryte in the village, who sends you on a short errand to deliver some tea. While you hand that off to a few stray members of the Immortal Flames keeping their eye on the local Amalj'aa, you're told to seek out someone who can get you in the door with the Ala Mhigans. Time to seek out Minfilia to see if she can help with that connection. Pray return to the Waking Sands.

Once we've returned, we're introduced to a man named Haribehrt who left their cause to join the scions. He explains to us that because he had left, there's no way they'd be happy to see him, and instead refers us to seek out a woman named Albreda in Quarrymill. So, I go to leave to do that. But before I go, I decide to check in with most of the NPCs and spot something very curious.

Liavinne, what the fuck are you doing?

Anyways, we are immediately shown that Haribehrt is in some sort of lovers quarrel as we are introduced to his former lover? Wife? I'm unsure. But we're sent to Meffrid right away. Pretty sure this guy remains relevant. That's a name I recognize, after all. Well, immediately we're once again tossed into another dilemna. Apparently someone's dying of a fever. Dunno why they tell me to ask someone else for help when I'm literally a White Mage.

So we get run around in circles, only for a local hearer to say "Sorry, the elementals said the Ala Mhigans can't be here." Bruh... Meffrid is rightfully pissed off and tells us to find antelope horns to make an antidote. Once again, I am just standing here like "I HAVE CURE. CURE 2 EVEN. AND ESUNA. AND MORE!" like please I'm a fucking healer. Let me heal. I'll do it for free.

And then we're to run over to Buscarron with our errand. Which makes me want to scream because I'm also an Alchemist. You need tools to make your antidote? I'M RIGHT HERE. AM I A JOKE TO YOU?

As soon as we get the medicine, the same man we're looking to cure has wandered off and left a suicide note. So now we're to track him down.

We find him and quickly bring him back after saving him from... a lone goblin with a knife. Either way, with him properly healing, Meffrid gives you a letter to pass to Gundobald, and we're back on our way to little ala mhigo to... probably do more chores lets be real here. It's arr and most of the story padding is unfortunately chores.

Gundobald tells us he knows of our masked man and how he's essentially whispering in the ears of the local youth. So you get sent out to interrogate them.

We essentially learn nothing from this as none of them will talk, but Gundobald imparts his old person wisdom on us, recounting about the fall of Ala Mhigo. After this, a secret message is passed to us from a guy name Wilred. Pretty sure I recognize this guy from uh... Palace of the Dead? But I'm not sure if I remembered it correctly.

Naturally, Wilred accuses us of being from the empire before trying to kill us. Classy.

He proclaims that it doesn't matter if we beat him, but nothings going to change the fact that they're willing to fight for their homeland.

We immediately report back to Gundobald and he's about to go uncover what the hell is going on with the youth of little Ala Mhigo

While looking around, we learn that they're going to attempt to steal crystals from the Amalj'aa in attempts to summon Rhalgr. We go to stop them but Wilred informs you that several of the youths are already dead. That means you're heading off against the Amalj'aa they pissed off. Kid still wants to go after the crystals, but Gundobald tells him to rememeber the tempered. Because that's the fate left in store for him, if he tries to go through with this.

After this, we're no closer to finding Lahabrea than we were before. Pray return to the Waking Sands.

We inform Minfillia of the situation and came to the exact same conclusion. "Wow this sure is the work of Ascians. And that sucks. but oh well not much we can do about this considering it's just a side effect of the Calamity." So we're told to take a break for the time being.

Which means we're proceeding to the next quest because the grind don't stop, babey.

Seems like there's a bunch of killings in the shroud, so we're being informed before heading right back out. We're on our way to unlocking our next dungeon, the Haukke Manor.

Music: Dance of the Fireflies

A man named Medrod tells us of an ahriman and a masked man who had been disposing of a woman's mutilated corpse. After his comrades complain about his worrying, we're informed that htere's multiple bodies, and we're told to thin out the ziz population to see if they're connected. Unsurprisingly, we find nothing. We run another goofy test with a rock. nothing. Go to look for an eyeball, find a banemite.

After a brief discussion, the 3 that sent me on this wild goose chase decide that they really can't figure it out, and they can't exactly prove that they didn't see an eyeball either. Still bothered they decide to up and leave, as they rightfully decide that this issue is out of the scope of 3 miners. They tell us to hand it over to the Serpents, but before that, we end up looking around to see if we can put anything to their claims. And that's when we find a mutilated body. We hand it over to the Serpents and notice a button engraved with a lily. With this new clue, we decide to look further into the claims.

We head to Gridania proper to contact Mother Miounne. Naturally, she points us in the direction of another, which eventually leads us to a man sulking on a bench named Ursandel. We show him the button, and he quickly spills the beans. He tells the plight of Lady Amandine and what the Calamity did to her, and what masked men started whispering into her ears. He asks us to put an end to her, and so we make the journey to Haukke Manor to do just that.

Manor is filled with voidsent, because of course it is. I'm not going to recount the entirety of Haukke Manor to you guys. I'm certain that anyone who cares remotely about FF14 could tell you it's just a maze filled with voidsent where nothing particularly interesting happens until the end of the dungeon, where you confront a succubus. Standard ARR dungeon fare and what not.

After the duty you meet the 2 masked bozos running around, who rile you up only to turn and run.

We head back to Ursandel who seems relieved for us to put this issue to bed, and then claims he will turn himself in after all that is said and done. And thus we pray return to the Waking Sands once more.

We fill Minfillia in on the happenings in haukke manor and how the Ascians blatantly flaunted to us that they were testing our strength. She says for now we'll set that aside, as she needs to summon the group once more for a briefing. And thus begins the Titan questline.

We're all promptly gathered and briefed on the fact that kobolds are summoning Titan. Immediately in the middle of the conversation, Y'shtola decides to lore dump a bit on La Noscea's current primal threat. Which feels a bit jarring considering the ARR voice acting. We're also filled in about the fact that not many know of Titan outside of a group named the Company of Heroes, which disbanded 5 years ago, and how outside of that, we have no information. So, we're warned that we're going in blind, our echo won't save us, and we'd best be able to handle ourselves in a fight.

And so, a pair of catgirl healers are sent to Limsa to go deal with Titan, while everyone else is sent on other jobs relating to the matter.

We're sent to Maelstrom headquarters, where the Admiral herself briefs us. and immediately Y'shtola has sharp words. She describes a treaty in which the Kobolds and people of Limsa Lominsa agreed to basically leave eachother alone, which Limsa's own people violated.

Despite this, we're told to prepare for the fact that the Kobolds aren't going to be open to negotiation (because honestly, why would they and why should they?) and that we should seek out information. We go to the first member of the Company of Heroes.

And so we meet a drunkard named Trachtoum, slayer of Tidus. He notices how unimpressed we look, gets irritated when we're upfront when we ask for his tactics, and sends us to do chores. And oh boy is this questline quite a lot of chores. Or well... it hada lot of chores. I suppose this is the part where I tell you that this entire sequence has been cut down to size quite a bit over the years. I remember it definitely being a lot longer. But even now, I still feel it's decently long. I'm unsure if I miss the original chores in place, but truth be told, outside of remembering the length, I couldn't tell you much about what was and wasn't there. It's been far too long and my brain has to make room for the important things like randomly recalling the Ultimate Predation diagram at any point I may dare to think upon it. So uh, yeah, sorry, no real commentary from me.

After killing some rats and a gobbue, Trachtoum's boss comes in, tells him to stop drinking, notices that we did the work (which Trachtoum objects and claims as his own), and then we have a... rock breaking contest to prove which one of us did it. Then he fesses up to his lie, and sends us off to hunt down an actual member of the Company of Heroes.

And thus we are sent to Wheiskaet, who wishes to see us prove our mettle before handing us the information to get to O'ghomoro which means more chores! This annoys Y'shtola immediately, but he stands firm on his words. And thus, we get to our chores. Which means prepping a feast. So we're sent off to procure a variety of ingredients.

Somewhere in there, I got lectured about patience from a Nunh. Are you allowed to lecture mooncat girls about this stuff as a Nunh? Like, don't we got our own laws in our tribes? Maybe I should have fanta'd back to my catboy for a little meme.

After gathering our ingredients (in a very TRIMMED quest by the way) we're told to go save a goblin named Brayflox, as the local goblin encampment seems to be under threat. From what? We're not told initially. This unlocks our level 32 dungeon, Brayflox's Longstop. It's kinda funny, because back in the day, this dungeon used to be seen as being a little bit hard on healers. These days? It puts me to sleep.

This dungeon used to be pretty neat because of the amount of extra loot you can get as well. it's been a bit frontloaded though so the goblins aren't as spread out as they used to be? It's one of the many dungeons that has obviously changed, but I mean, that's pretty much all of them at this rate.

Either way you save a goblin to get some cheese. Like I said, this questline used to be longer, and yet people complain about it still when it's been reduced to a mere fraction of what it was. And i never thought it was THAT bad. I'm not gonna say it's good story telling or anything but like... It wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. But I imagine playing a story while not having to worry about anything the game throws at me because I'm level 100 with decent gear also plays a part in that.

With everything else gathered, we're now sent after a wine fit for the feast. We learn of Shamani Lohmani, a vinter who went blind during the battle with Titan, and the depressive episode he had upon losing his sight. And how wine of all things helped with that.

After getting turned away from a man hoarding most of the nicer wines, and not having anything himself, we're told to go after a man named Drest who's living in a cabin, suffering from PTSD as he once served in the Garlean Empire. We present him with a wine made by Shamani, and he tells us to go fetch some wine he attempted to make as a thank you to him.

After a back and forth about some rare grapes that had nearly gone extinct, and the fact that we found a cutting of such grape vine on the back of a gobbue (who we mercilessly murdered to get), we're able to restore the vines and are given an incredibly rare wine... All to hand it over to some other people. So we can fight a giant chicken nugget. Yay I guess.

Immediately after completing our sidequest, Gegeruju himself shows up to apologize, before the band of heroes themselves makes an appearance, explaining the motives for the wild goose chase they sent us on. With us passing with flying colors, we can now venture into O'ghomoro and fight the Lord of Crags. Oh, and I get to eat before that.

After this you're immediately sent to make contact to someone who will lead you closer, a man named Riol, who explains the O'ghomoro mines are a rather tricky maze, filled with all sorts of traps and winding turns (where you will have to find many Yokai Medallions in during collabs). And thus, he suggest the attunement to an aetheryte. Y'shtola explains everything in further detail, how she'll have to support the connection while you go in, fight, and get out. And thus you make your way to a path and sure enough, you find it out in the open. Once you attune to this, you're ready to fight.

Music: Under the Weight

Once inside, a bunch of kobolds are upset at you for intruding upon their territory and proceed to point out how Limsa has betrayed them repeatedly. And thus, they summon him.

I wont lie unsyncing these fights is kind of lame. But whatever, it's the Titan fight. I've fought literally every Titan variant at some point so it's no big deal to me, I suppose. I will say though, out of the original 3 primals of the game, I think Titan is probably my favorite. Ifrit is just whatever, and so is Garuda. But when you go to Titan, you get an absolute set of BANGERS to listen to. Nothing beats the Primals version of Under the Weight. Shit is so hype. I literally don't get tired of this. People think UwU sucks as a fight and like ok I get it Gaols sucks but also like it's an absolute banger when you transition out of Ifrit phase into Titan phase lmao. Sorry for glazing the chicken nugget as hard as I did, I just think he's neat.

After we defeat Titan, the kobolds retreat and we're treated to a cutscene of Nero & Rhitahtyn (Mr. New Job) overlooking our latest feat. They talk about testing something against Titan--the Ultima Weapon-- and Lahabrea shows up to back Nero up. Rhitahtyn has his doubts about the weapon, and takes his leave.

Lahabrea mumbles to himself as Y'shtola is spotted, spying on him before approaching us. She teleports us back to Zelma's Run while she goes to investigate.

We go to meet with her, and at that point, our part 3 playthru is wrapped up. Onto part 4, but at a later point.

I suppose this wraps up our playthrough until I do another batch of story. Sorry I took so long to write this one. A lot of stuff has happened and it inevitably caused this to get delayed, as well as everything else. It's why my commentary feels a bit sparse in comparison. I also got very burnt out on the game. I'm admittedly not pleased the direction that most of this game is going, but I know I'll still be here. Mostly because there's an Eva collab coming up, and people are speculating on the importance of Ysayle. So I gotta see that out at the very least.

I also got a new minion to drag around with me, as well as a new look. Well, I'll leave you all with that. I'll hopefully get back to doing my NG+ soon. But no promises.

A Realm Reborn Part 4

Music: Ruby Sunrise

So, after a long break and me claiming back in June that I'd get this done, I'm finally here and with part 4 done. On the last day of July at that. (Well, I've been done for a few days but you know how life goes and all that.) Don't be surprised if this doesn't get put up today, because well, this is me. Anyways, on with the end of ARR.

So when we last played, we had just felled Titan. And everyone was so proud of us. The Maelstrom was thrilled, Y'shtola was... Y'shtola. And Minfillia was ready to give me a big thumbs up when I returned to the Waking Sands.

Except when I got there, nobody was there aside from dead bodies. No Minfillia, no scions, no Tataru. Just bloodshed, and Noraxia on the verge of death. And because Noraxia is still with us, we're able to have An Echo where we conveniently see the past occurences. Miss Lips herself Livia sas Junius came in and just destroyed the place and then had several people taken into custody. You watch Noraxia get slammed in a rather violent way, and it's honestly quite sad. Too bad the English voice acting doesn't particularly lend itself to this scene. Minfillia's awkward "nooooo" is almost comical, which is not something I really like to say. Before you tell me to change languages: I get way too distracted if I go into any battle with other languages on. I just cannot tune it out for some reason. And because I never know if I'm going to get asked to do things on a whim, I just don't fuck with the audio.

That aside, we're off to Camp Drybone to confide in the local priest who's name I forgot. And then we're introduced to Marques to... I honestly don't remember. I didn't even write it down. I suppose it wasn't that important as to why we were introduced to him, but like, he fixes a clock, and then has us return the clock to one of the Sisters who calls the clock queer. Considering I was playing this earlier half in June, uhhhh, that's not very supportive of you, Sister.

Anyawys, at some point it's mentioned to us that burrying our comrades might give us a sense of closure. So we return to the Waking Sands (or rather, just outside of it) and grab the remaining 8 bodies. Apparently it's made note of that they're beginning to smell of rot? What a pleasant thought. Just 8 decrepit corpses laying out in the heat of Thanalan. Like sure, you're right near the ocean but like, that's still gotta really stink.

Well, back to the Lichyard with these guys. We burry the 7 bodies, but Noraxia cannot join the others in their final resting spot. We're to take them back to Little Solace and hand her over to the elder. Once again, this really stings, but it's absolutely ruined by things that Square just didn't account for. Like, for example, the music of Little Solace playing during part of this conversation about poor Noraxia and how they came to be this way.

Off to the church one more. We're given a reprive, but for all of 5 seconds. Marques is in need of our help. He says he's being watched. So we go to check that out and we find... a Garlean soldier with no dialogue whatsoever to imply he's being watched, but somehow "proof" to further vindicate his paranoia? Well, that's not good. After all that though, Alphinaud shows up and he's like "Marques, I need you to stop fucking around, you're plot important. You're a Cid!" And just like that, he's grunting and clutching his head or something--I don't really remember anything past the grunting I'm just bullshitting based off my notes at this point. But yeah, saying his name magically activated his inner Cid memories, and he "returns to us." Just like that. No qualms whatsoever. Okay my dude.

After all that, Alphinaud's like "Okay, Cid thing out of the way, we gotta talk about Garuda. Right now." And thus we talk a bit about Garuda, something in there about Cid's airship and getting it back, and uhhh y'know, all the plot convenient things that magically are about to fall into our hands while we get some levels on us to get strong enough to fight Garuda. But yeah, we're off to find the airship. The airship to fight Garuda. Cid's airship. The poison specifically to kill Garuda. You get the idea anyways onto Coerthas.

Music: Fealty

So anyways, Coerthas is a banger zone with some banger atmosphere and a banger field track and you meet your new Bestie for Life, your first Ride or Die here, but like... Let's be real this entire zone is almost all chores. I dunno what to say to really make this section interesting. I have a lot of notes I took on it, but it can really all be summed up by a matter of things: You annoy the everloving shit out of any semblance of "authoritative looking figure" within your radius to pester about your airship and you get turned away in every annoying way possible until you prove yourself with chores. Like, I hate to say that, but that's what it is. You're someone who sure, has a bit of a reputation to you already, but the city-state of Ishgard does not concern itself with the matters of the rest of the alliance, even if they are technically members. So you cannot hide behind your shining reputation of "I've slain two primals look at me I'mma go slay another." They just don't care, and they're not going to hear it. So, chores it is.

We get given 500 million excuses as to why they can't help us as we run around doing stuff though. I will say, my favorite is "This will not be tolerated to distract us from our Holy War." Man, they're going to learn the hard way. But yeah, we find ourselves trying to get introduced to the 4 houses so that we can earn some favor when it comes to getting our airship back. And that's how we begin looking into clearing the name of Lord Francel.

You see, Lord Francel has been suspected of being a draconian heretic all because he was set up. And they're going to trying to execute him at Witchdrop. But we gotta go clear his name and give him the heads up. Which means he'll be in our debt. Which means that after all that occurs, he puts us in contact with one Lord Haurchefant.

That's right, that's bestie right there.

Haurchefant is one of those characters that's been around so long for someone like myself, that like, while seeing him is nostalgic, I'm so well prepared when it comes to the topic of his fate, that it almost doesn't sting anymore. Still, its a unique feeling to see him alive again and eagerly smiling at us in that chair. It felt warm and like home, like a simpler time for a moment. And I suppose that feeling is more valuable than the knowledge of what is to come in a way. The fact that you could return to a point of time in a game for just a moment, and remember something, someone that you once cared a great deal for. So for now, even if we're just doing menial tasks that I'm not crazy about, I didn't mind trudging through the virtual snow to help the cause of a friend.

Anyways, we get some letters of recommendation and we eventually gotta go save Lord Francel while some inquisitor guy tries to kick him off a ledge. What a convenient plot twist that while saving Lord Francel that a dragon just happens to show up, and some guy we kicked the ass of dropped a draconian rosary. Funny how that happens.

With that out of the way though, we are finally told where our airship is: The Stone Vigil. Which will be our next dungeon of course. The problem here is said inquisitor showed up and immediately cast doubt upon us, and now we cannot get in because of... plot.

So we start investigating this Inquisitor Guillaime guy. Turns out, he's not even the real deal. He's someone stealing the visage of the guy, because the real one died in the bottom of Witchdrop and is just conveniently burried in a mound of snow. So we gotta go out this guy once we have enough proof of everything (aka more draconic rosaries). And we uh, kill him. Which then has the knights going "Okay, we'll let you into Stone Vigil now."

So, this dungeon isn't really interesting, but a lot about it has changed. I'm not sure if I'd call the new version better or worse. They're about the same in my opinion--Not very memorable. But with that out of the way, we head to the final boss which happens to be a slumbering dragon. And right behind said slumbering dragon is Cid's airship. The two of them conveniently tiptoe around the dragon and sneak over to the airship. Meanwhile, as they do that, Lahabrea shows up to make everyting worse. Well, looks like we're beating the ass of this dragon.

And with that out of the way, we fly the Enterprise back to Gridania for repairs. We have an appointment over at the Howling Eye. Fun fact, I forgot it was called the Howling Eye. I've fought every variant of Garuda in this game and I somehow managed to forget her fucking arena name. What a great fan I am.

Either way, the Howling Eye itself has a rather strong wind barrier, and if we want to break past it, we need a means to neutralize it. That means using certain aspected crystals to break through. We're in search of an Ice Crystal. Which means... More chores! Yay! We go off to the crystal part of this quest yay!

We get sent all over the damn place looking for this thing. To the Burning Wall. To the Isles of Umbra. Where we then have to fight the Siren's minions all so she can fuck off back to Pharos Sirius. And then to a giant spriggan who ate a crystal. Yeah, we had to go digging around in spriggan guts to get this thing.

Time to finally give this stupid thing over to Cid, who immediately fixes it. And somehow with us fixing the ship and setting off, we trigger more Cid memories. Somehow in the middle of all his memories, we show up as a ball of light like some sort of Eorzean Fairy Godmother to hand our Mechanic Man his beloved goggles. And he somehow recognizes that that is indeed us. Interesting.

Music: Fallen Angel

Well, time to fight Garuda. She is absolutely cheeked up. Sorry I looked. Actually I'm not sorry. Either way, we beat her pretty quickly (well I do becaue I'm lazy and I'm unsyncing a lot of these solely so I can watch the cutscenes without being a nuisance to others.) and she... doesn't go down. She's still fighting. She forcibly summons Ifrit & Titan even. She even tries to temper us. But mothercrystal is like "No, I don't think so." Somehow a crystal comes out of her, and we are given our final elemental mcguffin of heroicness.

After all that happens, Gaius conveniently shows up with his Allagan Superweapon. Seriously, he drops that into battle like that scene where they fly in one of the Evas and it just drops in to do battle. And then much like Unit 01 when it goes berserk, it fucking eats all 3 of the primals and absorbs them into itself.

I'm just putting this shit in straight from my notes, actually: "After seeing that shit, Cid is like "Hey, um, how the fuck did you not notice THAT being built like wtf come on Alphinaud step up your game." Because that's a pretty apt description of what happens. But yeah, we did beat Garuda and what not which is a small victory, but at what cost? We now have to contend with Gaius's weird ass dog.

When we get there, we find Y'da, who is soon followed by Y'shtola, and we're told pretty much everything. How most of them are captive by the Garlean Empire, how she had to clean the mess up with the help of Y'shtola, which I cannot imagine the mental toll that took on her like holy shit. And also how she feels really damn guilty about not being there when this happened, as if that could somehow be her fault or as if she wouldn't have ended up either captured or dead. But yeah, in the gap between Y'da telling us all that & Y'shtola eventually arriving, we do take a little nap. We get a little visit in our dreams from Mothercrystal warning us about the dangers of Lahabrea--As if I wasn't well aware of that already. And then Y'shtola awakes us and tells us that she knows that the others are being held captive in Castrum Centri in Mor Dhona, where Gaius is "researching" the echo (Read as: having Livia beat Minfillia until she explains it.)

We cut to a scene of Gaius gloating about his super weapon and boy does this shot really evoke Evangelion episode 1. But I won't go on a tangent about that here. You really don't want me to. Just trust me.

Anyways, we make a gameplan: We're to find Biggs & Wedge, members of the Ironworks, and then we set out to save Minfillia and the others.

Biggs and Wedge are found in Coerthas. One under a bridge, and another being ambushed by Garleans, because it's always Garleans. And when it's not them, its Ascians. But with the two of them found, we head to Mor Dhona, and we hatch a plan to break in: Just walk in the front gate. Easier said than done but: Steal some uniforms, hijack a magitek, and walk in the damn front gate. LARP a little.

This is a bit easier said than done because we have to do chores to get from point a to point b as usual. So we go and hijack our magitek. Then we have to replace her heart with the help of a mammet heart. Which means we have to run to Ul'dah and head to the goldsmith guild where we then get called "Alphinaud's Servant." Thanks kid. I'll remember that you little bastard. But yeah after all that happens, we get into a bit of a fight over our magitek unit whom we've dubbed "Maggie." But we then get to break in and make an absolute mess of everything. Which we naturally do.

The first moment we spot the rest of the scions, we just go for it. As we're escaping, we're nearly cornered, until Cid swoops in with his airship. Neat. But as we're flying out, the Ultima Weapon is fucking firing on our asses. There's a bit of a loredrop here that's very minor, but pretty interesting. We're told that the Ultima Weapon is an Ancient Allagan Super Weapon (It's Always Allagans) which is like, in hindsight its really damn obvious. But it's also remarked that it was unearthed in Ala Mhigo. Huh. What they doin down there? I wonder where in Ala Mhigo this thing was unearthed because like, that'd be a really interesting thing to see on the map.

Oh yeah, and Lahabrea shows up, and he's possessing Thancred's body. Minfillia lets out this "Thancred noooooooooooooooooo" line that's also just so awkwardly delivered that it kills all seriousness behind this scene in English. I can't help but like laugh I'm so sorry. But yeah, I won't lie, when I first saw this plotline, I was really looking forward to Evil Betrayer Thancred as a story plot point. I... was honestly so sad that it didn't become a plotline. Seriously. Give us an alternate reality where Thancred betrays us. That's interesting. Maybe not like super interesting, but I like the thought of it.

Also while on the airship, apparently Krile calls Minfillia. Interesting lore tidbit, I did not realize that Krile was introduced that early.

But yeah, with the Ultima Weapon unveiled, we gotta go inform the alliance leaders of this. Luckily for us, they're already in a meeting. A meeting about whether or not they want to surrender to Gaius or raise arms against him, and possibly get blown up by his new super weapon toy. Luckily, we walk in and change their minds in the most dramatically timed moment ever, because they were seriously thinking about giving in. Normally, I'd judge them for that, but like, they're at war. I kind of don't blame anyone for feeling exhausted and thinking about what's best for their people. But yeah we show up and they push all their actual worries aside because "Woah, that guy killed 3 primals woah!"

After all that, pray return to the Waking Sands. We have work to do. And we have to start talking about how to get Thancred back. Luckily, we have a Thancred Saving Mcguffin prepared for the occasion to hang onto while we talk about how I'm going to blow this Ultima Weapon guy up. By which I mean, we start talking about our War Plan. Basically, our plan is to take out a guy, and then start cutting off each one of the castrums from the Praetorium where the Ultima Weapon is at so we can back them into a corner. Our job is to well, take out Rhitahtyn, then move onto Castrum Meridianum, and then work our way to said superweapon. Fun.

The fight against Rhitahtyn is kind of neat now. They added a lot of mechanics rather than allowing him to be the pushover he was for years. And considering the fact that there's a job being added in that is very much based on his style of fighting--The upcoming class of Bastion for the latest expac (which hasn't been published yet. For reference, this is the final day of July in 2026 so that means we're currently in patch 7.55 as of writing this.) It's all really neat. But hey, we got phases. We got an actual fight. It's not exactly mechanically exciting or anything, but it's neat to see either way. But yeah, we kill him, we break the transporter, and we move on to the next part of the plan.

So we're off to Camp Bluefog to do Castrum. Ohhh Castrum, how you've changed. They trimmed like a good 60% of this place and put some mechanics on Livia. lacking half the cutscenes it used to have as well. This place is now Just Livia. Oh well. What I really miss is where Cid would follow us around n people would put the C1D markers while waiting for him. And then people would try to skip phases on a certain boss by executing stuns and pulling it into a corner in attempt to skip the mobs it'd spawn. It was a cute and fun group activity. Anyways, uh Livia? Obsessed with Gaius. Thats it. Thats all there is to her. Nothing all that interesting. I really wish we got a cutscene of us breaking her fucking helmet's stupid lips off. But yeah that happens and we just leave. We hop on Cid's airship and we're like "Off to Prae lol. lmao."

Honestly I've done this fucking dungeon so many times over the years that part of me thinks I have it's dialogue memorized. But I really don't. Either way Gaius shows up, taunts Cid, then Nero shows up, taunts Cid, reminds them they're divorced. Then Gaius shows up, taunts you, and promptly gets his ass beaten. Ultima Weapon has been sifted out of the dungeon these days, and everyones been given "mechanics" to make them seem more up to date. Oh well. Also like... Gaius speech.txt, because people do indeed have this shit fucking memorized. How very glib.

CidNero is the best Yaoi in all of Final Fantasy though I will say. Thats OTP. I should actually put them on my ship page if I haven't. I love ships like this actually. 57 times divorced middle-aged boyfriends is the best type of boyfriends. Prove me wrong. I dare you.

Music: Ultima

Anyways, the Ultima Weapon now has it's own instance with mechanics and all that. But like, I forgive it because it means that people don't just skip over this thing like they used to. Now sprouts can actually hear Ultima's theme. And it's a fucking banger. Literally one of the best tracks in the game. Honestly, it's such a great final boss theme, especially for a fucking mmo boss. Like, go off Soken.

Standing here being face to face with this thing though, I won't lie and say I don't have a bit of emotions. And it's of course, for all the wrong reasons. Ultima isn't just a final boss, it's probably one of the biggest hurdles I've ever faced in this game, albeit from a completely different instance. Still, being face to face with it, in a space where I'm allowed to reflect on all my feelings towards this game cannot help but bring back the memories of prog and what a grueling experience it can be when you're with a bunch of people who just don't share the same sentiment towards clearing that you do. Still, it's best not to dwell on that. I obviously have the clear, as you can tell from the picture. But gazing upon it once more, I couldn't help but remember my time there.

With Ultima Weapon out of the way, you get to fight Lahabrea. He also gets mechanics. And a little fakeout dps check that you fail, which was kinda interesting. But also a little cheesy to be honest. I kinda wasn't fond of that addition, even though it's so very typical of this game these days. Kinda sad they didn't reference any other versions of Lahabrea's mechanics that I remember, but like, oh well. I swear I'm not a shill for P8S which was legitimately a really good fight.

Fun fact, since we're on the topic of Lahabrea and I didn't bring it up earlier since I was much more focused on the idea of Hot Evil Thancred being a thing, I will say ummmmmm... So I forgot he gets possessed. Like, completely. Which is funnier because I progged UwU and like, GUESS WHO'S STANDING THERE IN THAT FUCKING LIMIT BREAK PHASE. Like, I swear, I wasn't even the guy hitting the button for any of the LBs, and yet I managed to forget he was right there. I have no excuse.

But yeah, after everything is done and over, you're treated to a smattering of cutscenes. You have everyone forcing the evil out of Thancred in some sort of mothercrystal void area where you all become Goku, start screaming, and fly at Thancabrea. I... also forgot that was there, and it's honestly just as cheesy as what I mentioned earlier. I really uh, don't like that scene it's just so awkward.

In the meanwhile, Porta Decumana is blowing up and Gaius is just laying there, feeling sorry for himself. I don't care. He'll be back later anyways so the whole "oooh we don't know if Gaius died" plot point is kinda lost on me personally due to like, future knowledge and all. But I suppose maybe this was tense once. Maybe it was even emotional for some people. I don't really care much for Gaius though, sorry. But yeah, we escape the tunnels just barely as everything is blowing up in our wake, with Babygirl Thancred in tow. Seriously, as they were waiting for me, everyone was worrying but also speculating on my death, and Minfillia just went "OH, THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GIRL!"

But yeah, the Realm is saved! Thanks to our hero... Halo Two by Bungie, available on Microsoft Xbox.

As the start of the credits roll, Alphinaud monologues a bit. And then the Alliance Leaders give some little speeches. Telling us to look towards the future and what not. Which is kinda interesting, when you think of everything surrounding this game. After all, this is the closing part of patch 2.0, which is the relaunch of FFXIV. After the other one died in a fire, who was to know if they even had a future. Funny how that turned out (cue the infamous FFXIV copypasta here where people do literal free advertising for the game.) It's always so interesting to look back, remembering how rocky this path was on the outside. I suppose that's why I admire this game.

With all that out of the way, credits proper roll. Answers is playing here, and I won't say that I also didn't get weirdly emotional due to my time spent in the Eternal Torture Nexus known as what UCoB ended up being for me for a while. But that's irrelevant. I do want to say though, the Meteor Survivor list from 1.0 was a cute touch.

After the credits, we get a few post cutscenes. We get to see Zodiark. We get to see the Ascians gathered in... What looks to be the fucking GM Jail? Hello? Like where is this cutscene taking place? But we get to see 3 named ascians other than Lahabrea: Pashtarot, Igeyorhm, and Nabriales. 2 of those names are very familiar, but I cannot help but scratch my head at whoever the fuch Pashtarot is. Who knows, maybe that guy will show up later. Since it's always Ascians and what not.

But yeah, you also get to hear a big roar and you're told a primal has awoken (Though this is slightly before the previous part described) and uh, low and behold it's fucking Bahamut. Which is just a "hey, guess what Raids you get to unlock yay!" But after all that we return to the Waking Sands, where Minfillia is like: Good job out there! By the way, that is indeed another primal!

And then I get told flying is unlocked which uh, doesn't matter to me because I've had it unlocked. But yeah, that wraps up part 4, and the end of ARR 2.0

For now, I will probably try to rush through parts 5 & 6. They used to be incredibly long, but I know they're fairly trimmed. I also may go explore the raids: Both Bahamut & Crystal Tower, especially the latter considering how lore important it actually is. I am undecided how I want to handle the rest of the ARR content. I do kinda wanna talk about everything that was added at that point and how things were added, but I also don't think anyone needs a historian blog when there's plenty of people out there, who probably remember those patches way more than I do. After all, I didn't join til the tail end of 2.3. For now though, I will take my leave. You should see more sooner than later, though.

Byebye.