#makes me wonder if we're getting any story quests next patch

[starsandthorn]

HUG TECHNOLOGY!!!!!

#personal stuff #thorn plays genshin #THEY HAVE HUGS NOW!! OUTSIDE OF CUTSCENES!!!!! I AM SHOUTING AND SCREAMING AND CHEERING #boy i wonder why they're making use of this now in a limited time event. not like they've ever done this before with say. crying technology #anyway i know they are always on my brain BUT RAGBROS HUG??? RAGBROS HUG POSSIBILITY REAL?????? I AM GOING TO EXPLODE. #really cute cutscene though!!! #ganyu and shenhe WAUUUGH. zhongli describing them as cloud retainer's daughters what if i cry. what if i explode. i love family #and yaoyao and qiqi this whole event was so sweet. it's so nice to finally see them on screen having fun together #after all the promo art they've had #and seeing shuyu around is really sweet :] i hope we get to see her after this patch since she's one of cloud retainer's disciples now #also yaksha mentions!!! xiao showing up and xianyun mentioning minu and fanan. auuuugh. #xiao making and releasing his own lantern the same year that minu is the center of lantern rite.......okay okay i'm crying it's fine #moon carver and mountain shaper talking about him AUUUGGH. #actually minu being the centerpiece of this lantern rite and chiori coming up next... #makes me wonder if we're getting any story quests next patch #like ik it's going to be the dainsleif update cause it's in march but. hrm.

[autumnslance]

The new Duty Support menu highlights for me one of the things that I think makes the pre-Titan Company of Heroes quest stand out as a chore compared to other, just as sloggy parts of ARR, due to how the narrative itself is structured.

I keep thinking there are 10 levels between the ARR primals--20, 30, 40--but there are actually 14 levels between Ifrit and Titan. In those 14 levels, we have 3 other dungeons just for MSQ. We think we're going to fight Ramuh at one point--but we don't yet. The rest of the time is spent searching for Lahabrea, and not understanding yet how/why he keeps several steps ahead of our investigation while getting caught up in other matters.

So by the time we get to the Company of Heroes, the WoL's already been running all over the realm on a failed search, meeting a ton of people (some of them, like Wilred, Laurentius, and Meffrid, who have important roles later) and doing a ton of things, but ultimately spinning wheels.

The Company remnants are understandably skeptical and nervous about this new hero who managed to do something that killed and maimed so many of them. They all bear scars and disabilities (mental as well as physical) from their battles with Titan and Leviathan. This is true of every Company veteran we meet (and it's more than the quest givers who reappear in the EW melee quests; Riol, the lala from the SMN quests, Gegeruju's miqo assistant, and a few scattered others). So it's no wonder they test and even annoy the WoL to be certain as they send us hither and yon.

As players however, it's frustrating after the slog already since Ifrit. I consistently forget how much there is between the Sylphs and the Company of Heroes (or was, before the ARR overhaul during the 5.x patches). And then it's only 10 levels from Titan to Garuda; the shock of the Waking Sands raid and fleeing to the lichyard; Central Coerthas (which was rough for me my first time through) and the single MSQ required dungeon in those levels, and then the Corrupted Crystals search--which to me is actually worse than the Company, as there's no darn reason for such misunderstanding from these academics when it's clear what we need. But it's a lot less story and fetch questing to deal with before facing the next primal and the escalating scene at her defeat. The goal is always clear and immediate, unlike the fruitless search for Lahabrea between Ifrit and Titan.

In the end, I think a lot of the disdain may come down to how the story itself is structured, and where some of these events and characters fall along the way. The quests the Company sends us on aren't really any worse than bouncing around Thanalan and the Twelveswood for the quests that come before, nor any worse than running about for the correct corrupted crystal afterwards--but it certainly can feel that way due to where the chain is placed.

#Final Fantasy XIV #A Realm Reborn #Duty Support #Ifrit #Titan #Garuda #Company of Heroes #plot #narrative #story structure #literary analysis #blogging #Lyn Meta