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semi-imaginary-place · 11 months

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ffxiv 4.0 hitting the steppe

the writers were having a field day coming up with all the different xaela tribes.

hmmm

like a mama duck and two baby ducks

Magnai's speech patterns are stranger in english than in japanese. he's just normal in japanese

haurchefant would have loved it here...

I don't think the devs thought through this whole horse Yol thing. What I think happened was that they wanted the aesthetics of central asian horse based nomadic people but they also wanted a cool flying mount and like the logistics of actual people living with both wasn't thought out.

what language is everyone speaking??? I'd assume its the xaela auri language expect you expect me to believe gosetsu, yugiri, and lyse who are all people who have never been to the steppe or had extensive contact with the xaela, understand what is being said. but the other option is equally ridiculous, the xaela are stated to be fairly isolated like foreign trade in reunion is still a new and rare thing, why the hell would they all know and speak hingan.

if the echo has an auto translate function does that mean the party doesn't understand what the wol is saying 90% of the time?

Hien complains of Magnai's arrogance but he's just as arrogant to think he deserves anything here.

wow Hien is condescending af what an asshole. i want to lock hien and magnai in a room together maybe they can tear down each other's overinflated egos.

i wonder if everyone is going to get a heart to heart, yugiri and now gostesu, npcs lining up. i was wondering how the game was or if they were at all going to deal with the parallels between ala mhigo and doma so the lyse hien convo was very important but oof hien needed what gosetsu got in his heart to heart, hien as a character is really suffering for being bereft of that.

still weird magnai is the only one not wearing yellow.

bruh player character was the one that one, hien why the hell are you giving orders you have no authority.

sui-no-sato myth speaks of a great disaster that drove the raen into the sea and as nomads the xaela don't seem big of giant stone constructions. so where did all the ruins and dawn throne come from? my pet headcanon is that there was a proto auri civilization that collapsed due to some disaster and the survivors left. the raen left the steppe entirely fleeing to the coast while the xaela left the immediate area but became nomadic. the sightseeing log also confirms that the xaela were once one tribe.

I can see why people have a problem with hien. he comes off as incredibly arrogant and condescending towards xaela culture. gosetsu just got here and he had a mini arc learning to be open of cultural differences, hien has been here much longer and yet he is still far behind gosetsu's development. Yeah sure xaela society is really violent and at times unjust but for the japanese king to come barging in about how savage the culture is, is a bad look. I'll give the devs the benefit of the doubt but just like how having all the plot important scion ala mhigans be blond haired, blue eyes, light skinned, and use midlander models while the rest of the ala mhigans are mostly dark haired, have medium skin colors, and have highlander models, the japanese prince coming in and talking about how these violent foreign asian savages need to be brought to heel is a bad look, it has unintentional parallels to real life acts of oppression and human rights violations that continue in the present day. at least the japanese invasions never got all that far into central asia. Who is hien to decide what the xaela do.

On that note, to have the more east asian fusion yanxia be dominated by hingan names and culture is another bad idea. as noted in the namazu quests most of the customs in the area are not yanxian, but hingan specifically. And while yanxia is more a fusion of east asian cultures similarly to but to a lesser extent to how eorzea is a fusion of various european cultures, hingashi is specifically japanese. This sadly calls to mind the japanese invasion and occupation throughout east and southeast asia where japanese language and cultural aspects became mandatory under occupation.

the way ffxiv handles all this isn't terrible like i wouldn't say its overtly fascist and I've certainly seen worse, but its not good either it has unfortunate implications and could have been done better.

#ffxiv #ffxiv 4.0

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travelling-hydaelyn · 2 years

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Lyse vs Gyodo

#namazu quests best quests #perfect introduction to the single braincell #and gyodo is not the one holding it #Lyse is so disappointed #lyse #lyse hext #namazu #gyodo #Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood #4.0 #stormblood #ffxiv #ffxivedit #gamingedit

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lesenbyan · 5 months

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46 — skies, for Eve and maybe also both of her sisters

One Word Writing Prompts

Eve takes a deep breath and lets it out in a happy sigh; the air always smelt different on the Steppe. None of the smells of industry or stationary civilizations and it always stirred something inside of her. This is where her parents were from, and somehow that bond was enough to tie a piece of her soul here, too, no matter how complicated her feelings were.

"Wooooooow," Aki gasps, in awe. It was their first trip as a full family, Aki's first trip ever, and, unlike Eve and Cynthia's, this one wasn't under threat of impending invasion. Thus, as she admires the view, they all slow their stride, giving her ample time to take it in.

Eve watches her sister and her Echo flashes the colors of wonder and awe and pleasure across the sight. She had waited years for this moment, and she wanted to relish it.

"We'll go set up in Reunion," their father says softly, not interrupting the moment, even as he draws the attention of his three daughters. "You girls take your time." They all three nod and their parents pull forward on their mounts with their wagon of goods to sell. Eve had offered to pay the whole passage for all of them, of course, but her parents were proud. they wanted to cover as much of the costs as they could, and who was she to deny them? This was part of a life they would of had if they'd not left, they deserved to live it if they wanted.

Eve's attention turns back to her sisters, Aki's pure delight making the other two smile softly. "What now?" Eve asks. There was little specific she wanted to do, other than introduce Aki to some old familiar faces, but that could be worked in as it was easiest, no reason to drag her across the whole Steppe for it now.

"I don't know," Aki answers still looking around. "The horizon seems to go on forever; I could get lost in it."

"You want to fly?" Cynthia signs grinning before pulling out her yol whistle.

"Can we?" Aki asks, half a delighted gasp. "I don't have a yol of my own-"

"If mine can hold me, Cyn's can hold the two of you," Eve interrupts gently and with humor, fishing out her own whistle. Two shrill whistles sound in the air and moments later two birds descend beside each of their caretakers.

Cyn climbs on her bird and reaches a hand down to Aki to help her up, unsure how to mount on her own. Eve watches as she wraps her arms securely around Cynthia's waist, careful not to sit on her tail, before she mounts her own bird. She can hear Aki laughing in delight as they take off, flying low, looking for heat currents. they find one and Aki screams happily as suddenly they're rising easily, flying in circles to get altitude until even the Dawn Throne is tiny below them.

Eve lets the twins lead the way, following their flight path and watching them, listening to Aki's delighted sounds that the wind manages to sweep back to her ears. She had dreamed of this day, back when she first flew these skies. Now that it was here, there felt a weight off her shoulders. This was freedom- true freedom. Sure she hadn't been trapped like Aki, forced to do the bidding of others for her own survival, but she had been trapped by her mission. Nothing had mattered as much as finding Aki did. And without those shackles, she felt lighter than air.

She looks out at the endless horizon and takes another deep breath, saying a silent prayer of thanks to Nhaama and Azim, and allows herself a smile.

#my writing;#4.0 spoilers;#ffxiv;#Evelynn Himaa;#Eve;#bluh take it away from me #sezja #asks;#ask prompts;

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unbreakable-oaths · 5 months

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Inter-dimensional rift

#ffxiv #oc: khutulun dotharl #gpose #au ra xaela #the queue for alphascape 4.0 was long and the scenery was pretty

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keryth-fr · 3 months

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remember last time i came back and tried to do daily lore posts only to immediately disappear again lmao

maybe i’ll try to see where i left off last time and pick that back up

#not FR #sorry for anyone who might’ve been invested in that #i’ve been being abnormal about FFXIV #i just finished 4.0 and it still has a grip on me #but i think i might wanna scry my funny little au ra as a dragon #*not 4.0 i meant 5.0 #imagine if i could remember patch numbers

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ainyan · 1 year

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WIP - Crying

“Oh please come out!” The soft call caught Thancred’s attention as he strode through the market in Revenant’s Toll - more for the soft, sweetly feminine voice than the content. Curious, he altered his path, winding through the stalls until he found a slim young hyuran woman crouched outside of a cluttered ally. From behind piles of boxes and crates, he could hear the sound of heartbroken weeping. Something nagged at him, tugging him closer.

The woman glanced up as he neared and he lifted his chin so that she could see the tattoos to either side of his throat. In most places, that would mean nothing, but here in Revenant’s Toll there were few who did not recognize the brands of an Archon and realize that he must be one of the Scions. “Oh sir,” she said, pushing herself up and shaking out her skirts, “there is someone back there but they refuse to come out.”

The sobs hesitated, and a thin, breathy voice could barely be heard over the bustle of the crowd behind them going about their daily market. “Pray, go away. I have no need of nor do I deserve your pity.”

Thancred froze. “Please heed her,” he said, his voice low and calm. “I will handle this.” As the woman hesitated, he smiled. “I know her; she is one of ours. Pray, leave her to me, and go with my thanks and the thanks of the Scions.”

The woman glanced back as the weeping began again, then gave him an unsteady bow. “Thank you, milord,” she replied uncertainly, and as she strode off, she paused several times to look back - but she was already gone from his thoughts, his attention turned to the pretty puzzle of the packed passageway - and of the woman tucked within, weeping as though her heart were shattering to pieces.

He stepped closer, studying the alley, the boxes and crates - and the rooftops of the buildings which bordered the narrow passthrough. Glancing over his shoulder to make certain no one was watching, he bent his knees, then leapt up to the lower of the two roofs, crossing quickly to the point where the alley opened up once more. Glancing down, he could just make out the small form tucked into the shadow of the crates. Without a sound, he dropped down, landing softly in a crouch only a few fulms from that weeping woman.

She looked up as he remained kneeling, and he caught the glow of her lavender-edged eyes. “Leave me be,” she protested, even as he shuffled up to her and dropped down to sit at her side. “Can I not have a moment’s peace?”

Ignoring her protests, he stretched out an arm, wrapping it around her shoulders. “Not when you’re weeping as if your heart has broken,” he replied, his voice barely a murmur. “What is it? What has happened?”

She pushed ineffectually at him - then abruptly leaned in, burying her face against his shoulder. He turned in, stroking his hand down her back as she began to weep again, her sobs muffled against the soft linen of his shirt. He held her, reflecting that this was not the first time he’d held a weeping girl - Minfilia had been known to lean on him for comfort, and had more once wept upon his shoulder as the burden of her fate had overwhelmed her.

Never had he imagined that she would, however. Never had he met any in all his years as steadfast of heart and mind as she, so certain of her course, of her charge. Of her fate. With that certitude had come a fortitude of will, and when lesser beings would have broken beneath the burden she bore, she stood, if not tall, then resolute.

She was anything but adamant now; the sorrow and pain in her weeping bespoke a spirit strained beyond its breaking part, of shoulders bowed beneath a grief that spanned the known world. The sound of her tears brought his own perilously close to the fore; if she was weeping fit to break, he could only imagine what dire event had occurred. Who had died, he wondered? Who had died, or who had turned, or what catastrophe would have runners sprinting on their fastest chocobos to bring news to them even at this moment?

Grateful for the crates and boxes blocking any view of them, he leaned in, wrapping himself around her, and simply held her while she cried, offering nothing but absolute support. And she took it, leaning into him in turn, her arms abruptly flinging about his neck as she shifted in his arms, pulling herself more firmly into his embrace. He could feel her face pressing into his throat, feel the dampness of her tears as they soaked into his skin.

He had no idea how long they sat there; the sun had moved visibly across the sky - not enough for hours, but far longer than he’d have thought possible before she’d managed to cry herself out, sniffling into his throat. He felt her still in his embrace, holding fast, before she slowly untangled herself, dropping her arms away and settling back on her knees.

When she lifted her face to his, he saw little evidence from her storm of weeping; tear-tracks tracing across her befreckled indigo skin, a faint reddening of her eyes - but no swollen lids, no begrimed face. “As if you don’t already excite enough envy,” he murmured, and she blinked at him, “you even cry pretty.”

As he’d hoped, his words evoked a teary chuckle, then she sighed, sitting back on her heels. “Ah, Thancred, thank you - though I wish you’d never seen that, I must thank you for letting me soak your shirt.” She glanced towards his shoulder, and he touched the damp spot on the soft linen.

“What, this? It’s a damn sight cleaner than what I usually end up splattered with. Think nothing of it, my friend.” He ducked his head as she dropped her eyes. “Will you speak of it now?”

Biting her lip, she turned her face from his. “Nothing. Me being foolish. Emotional. Think nothing of it,” she echoed him, but when she would have risen from her crouch, he reached out and placed a staying hand on her arm, arresting her in place.

His visible eye was concerned. “Kal'istae, nothing about you is foolish or emotional. I would not be surprised if this is the first time you’ve cried since the moment I found you in Ul’dah all those years ago. I understand, you are a paragon among women, a warrior of warriors - but you are still mortal.”

She bit her lip, dark eyes flickering up to his. “I’ve cried before,” she protested softly, and at his skeptical expression, she huffed out a humorless laugh. “I cried once in Ishgard.”

Ishgard. No doubt she was referring to the fall of Haurchefant, and he felt a twinge in his breast at having brought that memory to mind. A tragedy of epic proportions, albeit a personal one, rather than the grand world-shaking disasters she faced with such aplomb. “And this time, my friend?” he asked gently.

She shook her head, scrubbing at her cheek. “I keep seeing the cage in my sleep.” At his soft sound of inquiry, she elaborated. “The one that… that Papalymo made. And if I’m not seeing that, then I’m seeing stars. Such cold, uncaring stars.”

Her gaze returned to his, and in it he could see an echo of memory. No. An Echo of memory. “Ah, gods,” he murmured, his heart aching at the thought. “The Antetower, and the aetherial sea.”

At the compassion in his voice, her lips trembled anew. “I promised you I’d bring her home.”

“Kal'istae,” he breathed, reaching out to cup her cheek as the tears began anew. “It was not your fault. You did everything possible - and even some of the impossible.”

A faint keening sounded from her throat. “I let you down, I let you all down…”

Before she could dart, he snatched out, pulling her to him, and she gasped out a breath before succumbing to tears once more. It was not only, he knew, the death of Papalymo, who had given all he was to save them all. It was not only, he knew, the pain of leaving Minfilia to her fate, in defiance of her promises. It was the deaths of thousands like them - thousands that she could not save, whose deaths did not serve a greater purpose. Those pointlessly sacrificed in a war not of their choosing. The weight of the world rested upon the shoulders of the single Warrior of Light; many would say the sacrifice of the few that the many could live free was a small price to pay.

Thancred knew that Kal'istae would prefer she be the only one to ever pay the price. He knew that she would pay with the coin of her life in an instant if it would ensure that peace reigned supreme over Hydaelyn.

His stomach twisted at the thought and he held her tightly, even as she clutched at him, her sobs helpless, hopeless. “Kali, Kali,” he whispered, soothing her, “ah, my friend.” But he did not tell her to stop crying. He did not waste his breath on false reassurances or empty platitudes. Instead, he just held her. Stroked her. Supported her. And as once more her tears tapered off, he felt her grow heavy and limp in his arms and realized she’d cried herself to sleep.

Well wasn’t this a quandary? Not that he couldn’t easily carry her - she took up little space and weighed even less. But she was very easily recognizable, and the sight of her in his arms - even asleep - would spark a panic. But there was no way he was leaving her here.

Ultimately, he set her gently on the ground and stripped off his waistcoat, then wrapped her in it. He slid his daggers into his belt and carried her as if she were a parcel. A very precious parcel. There were few he could have done this with, but as tiny as she was, she fit easily within his coat when curled up; not even a tip of horn or tail peeked out. There were some tricky moments actually getting her out of the alley - but he was Thancred. He managed.

~*~

Once he was safely inside the Rising Stones, he set her on a table as the other Scions watched curiously and gently unwrapped her. “By the gods! What happened?” Predictably, it was Alisaie’s voice that rang out, and the rogue was fairly certain she’d used some red mage ability to get to his side almost instantly.

Before she could reach out to grab Kal'istae, Thancred’s hand shot out, closing about her wrist in an iron grip. “She’s exhausted herself out,” he whispered, hoping she’d take her cue from him. She sent him an irritated look, but settled even as Y’shtola and Krile joined them.

“She’s been crying,” remarked the sorceress, frowning. “Is she injured?”

Even as Thancred shook his head, Krile answered. “No, she is whole of body. But her aether… Y’shtola, do you see it?”

The white-furred miqo’te sighed as she reached out to touch Kal'istae’s cheek, sending Thancred an irritated glance when he made a noise of protest. “Stop being a mother hen,” she muttered at him. “I see it. She has, as is her wont, been pushing herself too hard, too close to breaking. What set her over, do you know?”

He gazed down at her where she nestled into his waistcoat; somehow, she’d managed to drag one of the tails into her grip while they had been talking and rested her cheek upon it as she lay curled up. “She has been dreaming of Papalymo and Minfilia. True dreaming,” he added, his voice dropping almost too low for them to hear. “Echo dreams.”

“Ah, gods,” Alisaie breathed. “That would do it. Well, no point in leaving her here for everyone to gawk. Could you carry her into the infirmary, at least?”

Thancred had already moved to gather her up, coat and all, adjusting her so that her head rested against his shoulder, her breath warm against his neck. “Not her room?”

“No,” answered Y’shtola as she led them into the Respite. “I want to keep an eye on her. I mislike the fluctuations I am seeing in her aether; I have a feeling she has been working herself to exhaustion to avoid just what ended up happening. The longer this drags on,” she added as she turned down the covers on the first bed they reached, “the more often such occurrences will be, as the strain of her burden to Hydaelyn drags her self-recriminations to the surface.”

Thancred laid her gently on the bed and went to tug his coat free, only to find her curled around it. He blinked, surprised, then shrugged. He was hardly interested in arguing with whatever brought her comfort - and the gods knew he, too, enjoyed the smell of good leather. He simply pulled up the covers over her and tucked them about her.

As Y’shtola settled into a nearby chair, Thancred raised an eyebrow. “Which books would you like me to bring you?” he asked softly, and she smiled at him, listing off several of the ones she’d been studying as they sought a way to deal with the primal in Papalymo’s cage. “At once, milady.”

As the miqo’te watched him walk off, she pursed her lips, then glanced towards the sleeping Au Ra, watching as Kal'istae snuggled into the forest-hued waistcoat clasped possessively in her arms. “Isn’t this an interesting development?” she mused, then settled back to await her books and watch over her sleeping charge.

#ffxiv #wol x thancred #wolcred #thancred waters #y'shtola rhul #alisaie leveilleur #krile baldesion #heavensward spoilers #pre-4.0 #kal'istae miurani #ffxiv fanfiction

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lucia-dartancours · 1 year

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youtube

#lmao #finally #asfjkl #who's laughing now clown!#Youtube #lucia dartancours #ffxiv shenanigans #ffxiv solo clear sigmascape 4.0 (savage)

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nona-your-business · 8 months

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uh oh...... im falling for urianger.......

#ffxiv #nearing the end of 4.0 and boy howdy #time for another addition to the Boyfriend Collection

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itsmeowlee · 1 year

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Li'to fancam time to clear my skin

#ffxiv #2.0 spoilers #3.0 spoilers #4.0 spoilers #5.0 spoilers

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smallest-turtle · 1 year

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Deidre: straddling zenos’ chest while he’s on the ground snarling that if SHE doesn’t get to die to escape her situation then NEITHER DOES HE

Arenvald, literally just standing there:

#hes gonn ahve to clear hsi throat in these next few sentences. rip #ffxiv 4.0 #zenos yae galvus #arranged marriage au #arenvald lentinus #deidre hunt #my post #writers room #context: her echo doesn't let her stay dead

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semi-imaginary-place · 10 months

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ffxiv the loches to the end of 4.0

exploring the loches and fates its clear that ala mhigo has a very strong history of monarchy, stronger than what is shown for doma. a parallel is that both doma and ala mhigo are nationalistic and seek independence from garlemand, and they are both nations that are historically monarchies. doma rallies around the idea of a king, the king as a representation of a nation, and after a period without a monarch seeks to reinstate the monarchy. ala mhigo is also kingless but seems to be moving away from the idea of a king.

damn this man has been hiding out in the salt monastery, get him some food and water.

thanks for the convenient plot device to beat fordola urianger. i haven't seen you all expansion. speaking of people who haven't shown up what are the acsians up to didn't see them much in 3.0 either. ffxiv has had a long standing problem of juggling multiple plots the main ones set up in arr are the ascians light vs dark and the garleans global polimilitary conflict.

the salt lake is giant, it takes half the horizontal surface area of the map and there's an entire city down here

there's no way the player character knows how to operate garlean technology. this is sora at the computer.

the ala mhigan quarter has so many alleys. this map is useless. why does gyr abania have the special ishgardian black chocobos?

and now after 9 levels omega is back. uriange using us in his double blind experiments.

I think the writers forgot that limsa lomisa is a lalafellin name because they seem to be under the impression that its a seawolf city.

oooh they added yelling intot he background noises. nice touch

hien really did fly across a continent. ah on yolback. i was wondering why they didn't run into the same problems we faced going to doma in that moving an army across imperial controlled waters is going to spark a war. but if he only brought a few people that makes more sense. although i dont see any of the mol or xaela. when did yugiri get a yol. the doman forces might have been more effective drawing garleans forces to doma and away from ala mhigo. that door, it would have been so much easier just to unlock it but that would also have been much harder and riskier.

the story is obviously not going that way its just not how its written but raubahn could have been the new ala mhigo leader. conrad says that he wanted someone who has lived outside of garlean occupation and was more widely traveled than himself and raubhn fits the bill. politically speaking lyse is the family of two famous revolutionaries but raubahn is even more famous as the bull of ala mhigo and general of the immortal flames. he also has the proven battle and leadership record that lyse lacks. additionally here in the battle for ala mhigo he's made pipin lead general and is fighting not as a general but just as a soldier so he is willing to give up command and the flames would be fine without him. but on a personal level i see why it makes sense in character for him not to. now that illberd is dead his strongest ties are in ul'dah with nanamo and pipin. most importantly is that 4.0 isn't raubahn's story, its lyse's. She's the main character here and most things are written in service of her character arc instead of what would actually make sense.

I've said it earlier but I do really like how 4.0 centers the stories of women. I didn't even realized how bereft heavenward was of lead female characters until I got to 4.0 and it was the lyse, yugiri, and alisae show. basically until hien gets introduced on the azim steppe, lyse, yugiri, and alisae are the ones driving the plot they're the main characters and I do like that.

duty support for ala mhigo is interesting. you got tank arenvald, dps raubahn and lyse, and healer alphinaud so you cannot have everyone at once. of the 4 alphinaud is the least plot relavent but i refuse to play healer. not after it took me 5 attempts to clear battem's mettle. I may run this a couple times to see what dialogue I get.

my ilevel is so low i shoule not have run this as tank. wow the the dungeon end scene's really evolved used to be final fantasy victory music and then the pc jump excitedly and now its just a camera pan

jp zenos voice actor is doing a job. zenos usually sound soooo bored and now he's excited and deranged. did zenos just compare the wol to the primal he's trapped in a cage, illberd's primal.

localizations this time round have been pretty good. but i noticed this line is a bit different, i wasn't listening too closely but it was something like "I've never had so much fun".

zenos seems lonely. desperate for a connection and not accustomed to having one. also lol got him monologue-ing. he offers the hand of friend and wants to be rejected what a messed up little man. zenos has never had a friend. reminds me of those chronically online people with no friends but who are desperately lonely and they're doing these mental gymnastics and justifications for nothing. damn zenos is projecting HARD onto the player character. like pc is just standing there while zenos rants about how they must be the same.

wait wait did zenos just call the wol yuuitsu tomo like his one and only friend or the only friend for him. bruh you've never even had a full conversation with this person. ok wow a lot of lines are different I'm going to have to go look up the japanese version later.

zenos fused with a primal. how does that even work? probably more aether bs.

wow the game forces a sunset for this part of the game

seriously, last duty of 4.0 and not a single ascian this entire patch. devs really did give up on explaining why every boss fight is now on a platform in the void

see he's showing blood that's how you know he's scripted to die. suicide? edgy.

the price of freedom

THE FUCKING EYES ARE STILL THERE. and now the ascians show up after not seeing them since 3.x. what has y'shtola been doing since she was injured? uuuuuuugggg zenos said he used omega's power to trap shinryuu... so where's omega? the cidnero divorce saga continues! they were business associates

empires, occupation, communities diaspora

lyse is the main character. foil is hien. both monarchies kingship symbol of what doma lost.

zenos is under utilized his most interesting part is his final scene. but he also had to kill himself there because now that he has reached the meaning of his existence there was nothing left but the void again. miserable pathetic loser. having an existential crisis faced with the reality that his life his empty he continues to seek the only thing that can make him feel anything, the innate fear of death when he is on the brink of it.

#ffxiv #ffxiv 4.0

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the-werewithal · 2 years

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The Warrior of Light stepped out into the Royal menagerie. It looked different in the moonlight, all the lively pinks and oranges replaced by cold silver. The body was gone. They had taken him away, hopefully to bury, maybe to cremate, she hadn’t asked. She stopped several yalms from where he had fallen.

Estinien stopped half a step behind her. They stood in silence for a moment. Her eyes traced the red stains on the petals, turned black in the low light.

“Why mourn him?” Estinien asked, direct as always. With her mind tangling itself up in knots, she appreciated it.

“I’m not doing it for him, I’m doing it for me.” It was almost true.

He didn’t call her out on it. The question and its grim answers ate at her anyway.

“May I… ask a personal question?”

“Of course,” he said.

“Do you remember what you told us when you woke from Nidhogg’s grasp? About …about the intensity of his feelings and how... and how, perhaps…” she paused for a long time. She braced herself. “How you and your worst enemy were not as different as you might have liked.”

He didn’t say anything. She didn’t have the heart to turn and look up into his face.

“I suspect I may be a monster,” she said quietly.

He put a hand on her shoulder.

“I love you no less for it.”

Her shoulders sank in relief. She reached up and grasped his hand tightly. Her pauldron creaked under the strength of their clinging together. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head between her ears. She drew strength from his proximity, then let out a shaky breath and pulled herself to her full height again.

Estinien let her go and she stepped onto the flower patch upon which zenos had spilled his life blood.

The morning dew had washed most of it away, but a faint coppery smell remained.

She kneeled amidst the blooms and sat back on her heels. She got out a little bowl and poured black sand into it, then placed a short reed upright in the centre of the sand.

In accordance with the rites of the Keepers of the Moon, she put a hand on her heart, and set the reed aflame. It glinted red in the night.

The Garleans didn’t keep any rites for the fallen, so she lent him her own. Chances were he would have hated her doing this. Well, if he wanted a say in the matter, he shouldn’t have killed himself. She watched the flame work its way down the reed. The wind had died, all was still and quiet above the city.

“Goodbye, you deranged maniac,” she said softly. A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth despite herself. “May you rest… not in peace, but in that sublime joy you found right at the end. But, as I know this is a consideration you would never have extended me had our positions been swapped…” Her smile dropped. She barred her fangs as she spoke. “May that joy forever be a shade paler than the real thing, nought but a weak replica of what you found only at my hands.”

In silence the reed burned itself down and died in the sand. A thin trail of white smoke rose from the bowl.

She let out a long breath.

“You are missed, my friend. In spite of it all.”

#ffxiv #zenos yae galvus #estinien varlineau #wol x estinien #the WoL feels some kind of way about Zenos #whether she likes it or not #stormblood 4.0

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