#endwalker patch content

[pictomachine]

Themis - May 19 2025 pencil crayons - artist studio (dollarama and dollarama sketch book)

[hazelkjt]

[tillman]

[sightseeinglog]

[theblackestnight-ffxiv]

[ffxivwrite2024] prompt 4: reticent

A low drone of conversation occupied the Forgotten Knight, punctuated by the occasional sharp exclamation or burst of laughter. The table she and her companions claimed had ideal placement, near the warmth of the hearth, placed in the corner with view to all the entrances and exits of the room, against the wall so that no one could approach them from behind. Despite its obvious appeal, the regulars of the Forgotten Knight always left it vacant for them, and warned away anyone else who attempted to take their place.

D’zinhla was cloaked and hooded here. Miqo’te were more common in Ishgard than when she had first gained passage to the city, but they still stood out in general, and she in particular. Not wanting to link her activities that brought her to the Forgotten Knight with her identity as the “Hero of the Dragonsong War” and ward of House Fortemps, she came with ears and tail hidden, and tried not to draw obvious attention to herself.

Unfortunately, one of her companions was far less able to conceal his identifying features, and he’d long since given up the attempt. Despite the personal tragedy linked to misinterpretation of his appearance, Sidurgu made no effort to hide that he was Au Ra. By now he was familiar enough at the Forgotten Knight that the regulars paid his appearance no mind, which was exactly what he preferred.

The third of them was the one most likely to be overlooked, and Rielle took to that with an adolescent mix of relief and indignation that tended to prompt at least a bout of bickering with her companions. 

Unfortunately, this night seemed destined for one of them.

“Another lovely evening to sit in silence,” the girl said with a sarcastic twist, frowning in turn at each of them.

D’zinhla’s ears shifted beneath the hood, the fabric too heavy for them to perk to attentiveness. She glanced at Rielle, then across the table at Sidurgu, whose everpresent frown had deepened.

“And just what do you mean by that?” he asked in a low tone. He sounded intimidating, but she didn’t think he meant it; it was just a feature of how he tended to speak, especially when put on the defensive.

The girl was far too accustomed to him to be cowed in the slightest. “I mean that we finally get to see our friend for the first time in moons, yet here we are, silent as stone!” Rielle scowled at him. “I know to expect it from you, Sid, but you,” and she turned to face D’zinhla, “are just as bad as he is this time!”

Her eyebrows raised as she was taken aback. “I didn’t realize I was being so quiet,” she said, her voice pitched lower and huskier than she typically spoke. “I suppose I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“Then why not tell us, rather than letting it sit inside you like that?” Rielle asked, waving a hand as if it was the most obvious thing

She blinked, lips parting but her refusal dying before it found breath to be spoken. “I…”

Her voice may have failed her, but Sidurgu was in full command of his. “Now, see here, Rielle, there’s no need to be prying like that. You don’t know what she’s been dealing with, and it’s none of your business if she shares it or not.”

“Prying? It’s just asking!” She wheeled around to face him. “And what’s the harm in asking?” She put her hands at her hips, glowering at the much taller Au Ra man.

“Because you need to learn when’s the right time for that, and you just go about blundering into it.” Sidurgu’s arms were crossed now. “We’ve been over this and over this, there’s a right time for that sort of thing, and you need to learn when to leave well enough alone.”

“And how am I ever supposed to learn if I don’t ask? Huh? You tell me to ask questions, and then you get mad at me for asking! How am I supposed to learn if every time I try to figure something out, I get yelled at for trying!”

“Enough,” and D’zinhla held a hand up, weariness washing over her. “It’s fine. You’re fine, Rielle. I was just… It’s hard. It’s hard to find the words.”

Rielle was still frowning. “I bet it would’ve been easier if Sid hadn’t gone on like that.”

“Rielle, don’t you-”

“Sid.” This time D’zinhla held her hand to silence him, and let threads of annoyance slip into her voice. “It’s fine. She’s right, how else is she supposed to learn if she doesn’t ask?” She sighed, resting her hand back on the table’s surface. “Neither of us is the easiest to talk to.”

“You could say that again,” the girl muttered. 

Sidurgu’s eyes flashed in irritation, but D’zinhla cut him off. “And I suppose it feels like you can’t win. You sit in silence without speaking, or you try a few pleasantries that die away, or you push harder for something with substance and get a lecture. Is that about the shape of it?”

Rielle nodded, a flicker of hurt in her eyes.

Sidurgu made as if to speak again, and yet again D’zinhla made the decision to cut him off. “Doesn’t seem fair, does it? And I know none of us operate under any illusions on the fairness of things, but it feels like you should get more credit for the effort.”

A look of sullen triumph was in Rielle’s expression now. “It’s not like I’m expecting some scholasticate conversation. I just want to talk! Especially when we go so long without seeing you, and half the time you show up only to run off somewhere with Sid and tell me to just wait here. I’m way too old for ‘be a good girl and stay out of trouble,’ and that’s another thing, but at the very least,” and she cut off Sidurgu’s building argument, “both of you could talk more! If you’re not going to talk to me, talk to each other, and at least I can join in a bit!” She bit her lip.

D’zinhla took a sharp breath. The matter of Rielle getting left behind when they went out to “take action” as only dark knights could…that was a matter of longstanding conflict, one with at least one clear solution that she could not wholeheartedly support. Teaching Rielle the way of the dark knight would have her beside them, not being left behind, and she had shown she was more than just interested in the idea. But Sidurgu had been deeply reluctant, for many reasons that were a tangled mess of emotion. Airraim felt strongly that Rielle should be taught, but because of that tangled mess of Sidurgu’s, her opinion on the matter was especially fraught. D’zinhla was deeply torn, wishing there was a way to keep Rielle protected from what she would experience, but knowing it could hardly be worse than what she had already been through. 

Still, it wasn’t as if that decision needed to be settled tonight. Rielle was right, at the very least, they owed her more than this. They were, she recalled with a pang, all the girl had in this world. And that was a problem on its own as well, but at the very least, they could open up to her. Not just to each other and allow her to politely listen in, but actually include her.

Sidurgu had kept silent as she had ruminated, with a level of restraint she appreciated. So had Airraim, for that matter, which was probably for the best; it didn’t seem like tonight was a good night for broaching what she represented, and she had stayed withdrawn within D’zinhla, silently observing. 

She sighed. “I’m sorry, Rielle. You’re right. You deserve better than that.” She pressed her palms flat against the table. “So, what’s something you’d like to talk about?”

Rielle shot a look of “I-told-you-so” at Sidurgu, tilting her chin up as she looked back at D’zinhla. “Tell me what’s got you so caught up in your thoughts. You don’t have to go into all of it but you should talk to us about some of it!” She looked especially proud of her offered compromise.

D’zinhla smiled softly, though it was a weighted smile. What she’d been up to lately had been exercises in deep frustration, unable to act until problems were solved by those better equipped to solve them. But maybe putting them to words would help with that, at least a little. Rielle had very good instincts for that. 

She’s going to make an incredible dark knight one of these days. D’zinhla tried not to outwardly react to Airraim’s inner declaration, instead registering her intent to get into that–later. Right now she had a conversation to make. “Alright then, but first you’ll have to answer a few questions for me so I can figure out where to start. How much do you know about the Void?”

[mimiyanna]

Stealing this image from twitter and bringing it over here, because holy shit, some of the clowns I have been seeing talk about the game lately.

[motheatenscarf]

God, I hope patch DT msq is good.

[maelgwyn]

Ah... how's it goin' Claude?

[impossible-rat-babies]

thinking. rotating even. eyrie’s way of showing love and how it so quietly bloomed during their time in thavnair w estinien. how it slowly found its way there and so much of how it was both felt. they love each other—as friends and romantically. it’s all there, utterly unspoken, but it’s there.

[grymkoena]

Sunrise over Old Sharlayan.

[plantb0t]

Finally did the void quests with Cyella and Unukalhai today and I'm rethinking everything right now because there's no way Zeynha would have just let that kid sit in the ocular like that and hang around the rising stones without ever talking to him. No, that's like. That's his kid. Zeynha would be checking in on him literally every time he gets the chance, there's no world in which he wouldn't

[vierandancer]

“ I have this grief and I don’t know why. ” - From Zero

Random Dialogue Prompts || Accepting

"I can imagine...." She could -- somewhat. It was like when she had been in Elpis, when everything felt vaguely familiar and yet completely foreign all at once. Like a map missing half its islands, even though you knew they should be there.

Zero's situation was different, of course. But Meiko could at least empathize with that feeling of nostalgic grief and more.

"I wish I could tell you otherwise, but m'not sure if th'reasons for that grief'll ever be clear. Maybe if you spend 'nough time round us, or if we manage to save th'Thirteenth, but... who can say?" Her head tipped back a wee bit, gaze absently traveling to the sky above. It was daytime, yet the faintest blur of the moon still hung overhead. They'd be heading there again, sooner than she had anticipated. Bloody wild, it was.

"But even if you never know why, don't feel like you need that reasonin' to feel it. Bottlin' it up or shovin' it down won't rid you o'that grief. You might not have a reason t'be sad, but your body might. So...let it get it out its system, aye? Whenever you feel it th'right time to."

[trans-estinien]

Honestly if I keep up the rate I'm going at I might finish endwalker by the end of this week

[anarkhebringer]

Imagining how, depending on how the fight with Zeromus goes, it permanently weakens the hold Arkhe's siblings have on him because of the intensity and force put into the fight. He's still fully possessed and barely aware (most of the time he isn't even aware), but when idle he's noticeably at himself as he actually makes an effort to look around at his surroundings. When not doing anything, he just looks like he's relaxing, because in a way he's resting from the strain of the possession. He feels exhausted when not taken over and his siblings in control.

Maybe that's why he so instantly snaps back to himself and is free of the possession once he returns to his home village in Dawntrail. It would've happened quickly but not instantly, had his siblings' hold on him not been weakened like that.

[sightseeinglog]

[demilypyro]

I haven't been playing FF14 as much lately and I was wondering why. Then I realized all the things I was excited about for Dawntrail.... aren't in the game yet?.... Dawntrail was advertised on having a new open field exploration in the style of Bozja and Eureka, as well as a new form of "lifestyle content" which is presumably similar to the Island Sanctuary from Endwalker, and finally the beastmaster class.... None of those are in the game yet, and it's been six months now since the expansion launched.

We knew this stuff wouldn't be included in the initial release, of course. It was always going to be patch content. But that means that so far, Dawntrail isn't left with much to set it apart from other expansions. And six months after the expansion's release, that's a bit grim. There was a hope 7.1 would include at least one of these features, but all it has is some dailies and weeklies to grind out, nothing functionally new.

Time between patches has been slowly increasing for years now, and the content that can actually be called functionally "new" has been on a drip feed. Bozja was great, Variant Dungeons were very nice, and the Island Sanctuary was a pretty big deal, but each of those systems only got updated maybe once every six months. FF14 has consistently been a better experience at the end of expansions, rather than at the start of new ones, which is a strange situation.

Maybe next time they should grab some of their plans for patch content and make sure it's included in the expansion's initial release, even if that delays the expansion.