#would say this about ffxiv. however

[zylphiacrowley]

Love.

<previous - next>

[elizabethrobertajones]

Good choice for an upstanding roegadyn husband for Frog to bring home to her parents to impress them: Rammbroes

Hilarious choice for bringing home an upstanding roegadyn husband to alarm and frighten her parents: Rasho the captain of the confederacy in the Ruby Sea.

[memory-of-idle-musings]

Hi! May I request headcanons of: Since recently has been valentione's day event in ffxiv, how would G'raha tia, Erenville, Koana, Hades, Hythdolaues and Hermes react reader doing that "bouquet" emote where they kneel and offer bouquet of roses to them? (sorry if too many characters, wasn't sure what the limit was).

Wish granted!

Hello and thank you for being my first request here!!! The moment they added the bouquet emote to the game, my first thought was to immediately go play with it in gpose and give it to all the characters xD. So I feel you completely and I really enjoyed writing this. Anyway, here are some late Valentione's day headcanons. Hope you enjoy it!

⋆.˚┆Giving them a bouquet of roses reactions .

╰─..★.──────★.

﹒✶ | Summary:

How the characters would react to you kneeling down in front of them and giving them a bouquet of roses.

﹒✶ | Characters:

G'raha Tia, Erenville, Hades, Hythlodaeus

﹒✶ | Tags:

fluff, romance, slightly off-canon, gn!reader, pre-established romantic relationships, headcanons

﹒✶ | Trigger warnings:

None really! It's all mostly fluff and sweetness, with some mentions of insecurity and dismissal.

↪ ❥ G'raha tia:

I think that there's hardly any doubt that G'raha tia is not a sweet boy, a sweet friend and a sweet lover.

He cares very deeply for those closest to him, always trying his hardest to stay attuned to all of their wants, emotions and needs. Ready to lend a hand, to comfort and cover your back anytime the need may arise.

He's not perfect, of course, not that any of us are. But G'raha always makes sure to put a little extra care and affection into everything he does for you regardless. And contrary to most others, he does so without having any expectations, or asking for anything back in return.

So you can imagine his surprise when, one day, he sees you get down on one knee before him, and pull out a large, beautiful bouquet of blood-red roses.

The instant he realizes what is happening, his ears perk up, hands coming up to cover his mouth as a gasp escapes his open lips. The blush that appears on his face colors his cheeks almost as red as the bouquet of roses that he can't tear his gaze away from.

It would be an understatement to say that the poor boy had just exploded out of happiness.

The next breath he takes is quick, followed by a nervous laugh. And you had better make sure that he keeps on breathing deeply, otherwise you might have a passed-out catboy in your hands.

"M-my dear, what is the occasion that would make you give me this? O-oh? You just wanted to surprise me? I-"

His ears begin to wiggle as he sheepishly rubs his hands together in that typical G'raha manner that you have come to love.

Flowers? For him? Just out of sheer love and appreciation and gratitude? He struggles to comprehend why exactly he is worthy of such an adoring gesture from you, but that does not make him appreciate it any less.

Again, while he showers you with his undying love and affection regularly, he never asks for anything in return. And although he's glad that you would do the same for him, every gesture that you make to show him how much you care about him only makes him love and adore you more. If it's even possible at this point...

It takes a few minutes before his excitement levels calm down enough for him to be able to speak again. But once he does, he accepts the bouquet with repeated words of gratitude, wrapping his arms around you in a hug with a soft smile on his face.

He assures you that although he appreciates the kind gesture (and shall treasure it like his very life depends on it), you do not need to spoil, or go out of your way for him like this.

However, the soft smile on his face, the happy glimmer in his eyes and the remaining touch of pink color on his cheeks tells you that it was very much worth it.

↪ ❥ Erenville:

Your favorite gleaner was just getting done with his regular duties around Labyrinthos, unbothered by anything not related to documenting the new species that had been recently discovered and brought to Labyrinthos for further research and observation just today.

It was then that he noticed your familiar figure, leaning against a nearby pillar in the background, observing his movements like a silent guardian. He's not exactly surprised to see you appear here, as used as he is to you paying him these random visits. But he always feels glad when you do.

He begins walking toward you, eyebrows furrowing ever so slightly when he notices you fiddling with something in your hands right behind your back. And he knows that whatever it is that you are hiding, mischief awaits.

"Y/n? Tis' good to see you here. What do you-"

He doesn't get to mutter another word before you get down on your knees, wiping out a bouquet of roses from behind you.

He stops dead in his tracks, surprise flashing across his features as his eyes fall on the bouquet. He remains stunned for a moment, gaze slowly straying toward your face as he signs, coming to understand what you were plotting earlier.

"Are these... For me?" he asks, his voice revealing some hints of disbelief, still unsure whether he truly understands what is happening correctly. He extends his hands, as if to reach for the flowers, but he doesn't actually take them until you nod, reassuring him that they indeed, are a gift for him.

Erenville may not look the part, but he is not exactly unused to receiving gifts, having been given many trinkets and obscure, albeit useful gadgets (and quite spoiled by his mother as a child) by his friends and acquaintances.

From you, however? This kind, lovely gesture takes on a whole new meaning.

He carefully takes the bouquet in his hands, observing the roses with a keen eye, as if searching for something in their midst. A mix of surprise and confusion still apparent on his face.

"These are Azeyma roses..." He remarks, eyes widening in what could only be described as unexpected wonder. "They are said to be the favorite flowers of the goddess, Azeyma. And they are only grown under very specific conditions, although they are often kept in residential districts for decoration."

He looks to you, eyes meeting as you approach him. "Quite an expensive matter to get your hands on. Are you certain these are for me?"

After you reassure him once more, his uncertain expression slowly relaxes, a smile appearing on his lips as it does.

It is not that he doesn't appreciate the gesture, quite the opposite, in fact—it makes his heart soar more than he thought possible, reluctant though he is to show it.

You feel a gentle touch of a hand on your arm, barely present, but impossible to ignore. When he leans in to press a long, warm kiss on your cheek.

"Thank you."

↪ ❥ Hades:

Ever an unapproachable loner, Emet-Selch, in those days still known as Hades, was a man that would not often place much importance on such surface-level gestures and acts of appreciation as gifting flowers was.

No, to him, such sentiments would take a better form in more intricate, more meaningful acts of service. More consistent showings of care and appreciation—and, true to his nature, more subtle, yet no less intense confessions of love.

It is not that he necessarily looked down on what could be considered more common, traditional expressions of affection. But it would be a lie to claim that his pride did not stand in the way of him being more open towards them. Distasteful and sappy, as he found them to be.

And I'm pretty sure that unexpected surprises were even more scorned by him than all the things I previously mentioned.

Still, you did not allow any of it to dissuade you, as you found yourself kneeling down in front of him, a bouquet of what could only be gorgeous roses held in your hands.

He managed to register what you were trying to do rather quickly, and although his face remained mostly motionless, it was hard—even for him—to mask the slight hint of surprise and confusion that had momentarily crossed his features.

His gaze kept jumping between you and the bouquet of roses in your hands. After a few quiet moments passed, he raised his brow and crossed his arms, all with an expression on his face that told you nothing of what he felt about any of this.

Then out of nowhere, there came a deep sigh and his hand came up to meet his forehead as he shook his head.

"Ah yes, a bouquet of roses... How utterly romantical," he says, his tone stern, yet not in any way condescending. "An expression of the love one holds in their heart for another in the form of a gift, plain, direct and mostly effortless, yet transient in nature. I had thought you above them..."

No matter your next reaction to his words, he uncrosses his arms and the corners of his mouth curl up into a slight, barely visible smile. "Then again, perhaps I should have foreseen this. How very like you, something so sentimental."

He doesn't show you, but—in his own way—he does appreciate the roses. But your actions leave him with questions he had not foreseen coming up until this point.

Why did you find it necessary to give him this? Did you think he did not know the extent of your feelings for him? That you were somehow lacking in showing him how much he truly mattered to you?

Would you wish he would do the same for you?

I like to think that Hades was often a difficult man to read, and an even more difficult man to please. But he also genuinely and deeply cared about those close to him and wouldn't allow them to be hurt by his words or, in this case, preferences, without a very good reason.

He takes the bouquet from you, only giving you a nod as a sign of his gratitude as you rise up to stand in front of him.

After a brief moment, his eyes search for yours, and when they finally meet, you notice within them a softness that was never there before.

The way he gazes into your eyes so deeply, the features on his face yielding entirely to the warmth in his heart, much more apparent than even you get to usually see.

He gazes at you with love.

"You do know that I adore you, do you not?"

↪ ❥ Hythlodaeus

While he can often seem rather casual and easy-going, I believe that Hythlodaeus is a rather troubled soul. He might not say it outright, but if you pay enough attention, you'll often find or see glimpses of this facade of his slipping.

Mentions of feelings of uselessness, being inadequate and not feeling confident enough in his abilities are all something that you know he feels deep down, no matter how well he manages to hide it most of the time.

Comfort him about them as you may, you will never manage to snuff out the whispers of doubt in his mind entirely. But you sure can dissuade them from plaguing him more than is already necessary, and showing him just how much you love him and how much joy his existence brings you is a great way to do just that!

So this smug, lovable and humble sweetheart appreciates any gestures or affections that you show him with the upmost gratefulness!

And the day you get down on one knee in front of him with a bouquet of roses in your hands is the day you sniff out many of these doubts.

Like the other three, his initial reaction is surprise; widened eyes, raised brows, silence interrupted only by a single gasp and an unstable posture as he leans forward and down to look at the roses more closely.

"Y/n? Are these for me? Aww, my sweet love, you did not have to..."

A smile spreads across his face of the kind which you don't see as often. An honest smile, of genuine love and admiration.

After mumbling a thank you, he took the bouquet from you with a smile, and you could swear you saw his cheeks flush, a faint, barely visible color, which he would never show you in fear of being poked fun at.

He does feel the urge to tease you, however. But he is simply much too touched by your actions to act on it.

"My, these are quite the specimens. You really went out of your way for me, did you not?" He chuckles, teasing you slightly. "But truly, thank you. The roses are a beautiful sight, yet they only pale in comparison to you."

He truly is grateful, truly humbled by your kindness and the fondness which you show him. He would do anything if it meant he gets to receive more of such affections from you, that he gets to stay by your side for now, and for forever.

And he shall treasure these flowers exactly how much he treasures you as well.

He leans in, planting a quick, yet passionate kiss to your lips. His hand comes up to gently cup your cheek, and when your lips part, the expression he gives you makes you feel like you just fell in love with him all over again.

[mythalism]

So i've heard one FFXIV expansion was the perfect exact Solas story blueprint the writer definitely played and should have followed step by step for great success. I see you say cyberpunk was the perfect exact Solas story blueprint the writer definitely played and should have followed step by step for great success.

Both statements are pretty intriguing !! I don't know either so I'm wondering, is it the same story in a different setting or are they developping different...subthemes... if that's even possible

Thanks :D have a nice time over there

yesss i have heard the same about mr. emet selch. ffxiv is on my list!

as for cyberpunk its basically exactly what veilguard tried to be but far better executed. its actually nearly the exact same premise and i am absolutely positive that they took heavy inspiration from it considering the timeline of cyberpunk's release matches up with when veilguard was beginning its development (~2020)

basically, your character (V) gets this guy (johnny silverhand)'s consciousness stuck in their head when a mission goes wrong via the sci-fi version of fade-jail blood magic (a computer chip in ur head). johnny also happens to have blown up a building 50ish years ago with a nuke and killed like 15,000 people in pursuit of vengeance for the death of someone he loved, and is remembered as a terrorist. you can't take him out of your brain, or you will die. you have to get him out of your brain though, because you will also die if he stays. your entire quest is you trying to get him the fuck out of your head without dying. however he's not just someone you go pray to and chat with (4) times in an empty, disconnected realm. he is a near-constant presence as you go about the game. you see him visually in the world in front of you. he pops up constantly, he sees through your eyes, he feels everything you feel and he comments on all of it. he is heavily involved in main quests, often providing commentary and giving important exposition as you track down people he used to know when he was alive & embodied. but he also is regularly present in side quests, whether that is being a dick to you, ranting about the evils of capitalism, or lecturing you to have empathy for a guy who is grieving the loss of his pet tortoise. you also experience his memories visually. not as an outsider, but literally AS HIM, in person. these are entire gameplay sequences where you play AS HIM. including fucking his ex girlfriend who is voiced by alix wilton reagan. anyway. im sure i dont have to go into further detail on how mechanically this is everything that the solas/rook relationship needed to be to be compelling, to connect the new protagonist to the stakes of the blight and the evanuris, and to flesh out solas's ending with the narrative weight it deserved by letting him actually EXIST WITHIN THE WORLD... anyway. its fine.

i am actually only like 24 hours in, so i actually have no clue how the game ends or how any of this wraps up, so i cannot say if it is the perfect blueprint for his story. but on a gameplay level of how solas should have been integrated into the game world? yeah. its insane that they had this right in front of them and just... decided to keep him in fade time-out for the entire game.

if you are interested in learning more i would refer you to meryl @elf-trash and @scaryanneee who are the foremost scholars on johnny silverhand studies and the reason i finally played the game after it sat in my steam library for a year. xoxo

[dragons-bones]

FFXIV Write Entry #15: Lux Solaris

Prompt: deodate (free write) || Master Post || On AO3

A/N: Spoilers for Dawntrail.

---

It was in the heart of the Meso Terminal, before the throne of the Queen Eternal, that Synnove discovered just what the fuck had been going on with her Dreadwyrm Protocol.

The Protocol was the most strictly-maintained of all her spells, the one most rigidly bound off from every array in her grimoire with pages of page-blocks to ensure its core programming didn’t leak into any of the carbuncles. It was also the spell that had seen the fewest modifications—in fact, beyond locking out Galette and then ensuring the smooth linking between it and her Phoenix Protocol, it was otherwise unaltered from what Prin had given her years ago. It was a perfectly functional spell, did exactly what it needed to rain down untold destruction, and if Synnove never had to manipulate the Dreadwyrm’s aether again in her life, it would be too soon.

(Too, there was the fact Synnove was still mad as hell that Prin hadn’t exactly divulged just what the spell it had gifted her had been. The coding had been so alien to her eyes that she hadn’t recognized it not being a mere variation on Allagan egis, and, well, she always did her initial testing with Galette—

IDENTIFY THE ENEMY YOU WISH TO ANNIHILATE.

—suffice to say it was a good thing she’d gone out to test the damned thing on Seal Rock when the island wasn’t being used for wargames. Bad enough both she and Galette had spent the next sennight coming down from the resulting panic attack.)

But that meant she was keenly aware of when the Protocol began to behave oddly. It was how she had first noticed Phoenix’s aether beginning to strengthen, back on the First, which in turn had led to her and Urianger and Alphinaud and Alisaie losing their collective minds as they build out a demi-primal array from scratch.

The past few moons hadn’t seen quite as a drastic change in the Protocol as had been on the First. No, it had been far more subtle; strange bits of…not stagnation, but frequent shifts toward umbral polarity, even a faint hint of Light at some points. Less rage had filtered through the Protocol, that millennia of hatred barely tempered by its filtering through a mere demi-primal that always accompanied an activation of the Dreadwyrm Protocol, instead more of a cool, calculating regard.

And now, here in this space made of levin and electrope, Synnove had activated the Protocol, and what had answered was not the lesser form of the Dreadwyrm.

This demi-primal was white as Light, and its draconic shape was more closely aligned with what a son of the First Brood would have looked like, and not the warped abomination he become under Ascian influence. Its head lacked eyes, however, and strange crenellations crested its head and neck. A crown of Light wheeled above that crest, and its wings—

—its wings were gods-be-damned fucking SWORDS.

It was only a heartbeat between the activation of the Protocol and Ivar becoming the control core of the demi-primal. Synnove could feel her youngest son’s bafflement in the back of her mind, and knowing he was all right was about the only way she didn’t panic in the middle of a battle.

And then, in a cool, crisp voice, echoing with multiple tones through her mind like clarion bells:

LIGHTWYRM SUBROUTINE NOW ONLINE. SUMMONER PRIME LOCATED. DESIGNATION: SYNNOVE GREYWOLFE. REFULGENT LUX GRANTED TO SUMMONER PRIME. SUNFLARE GRANTED TO SUMMONER PRIME.

“What,” Synnove said intelligently, “the fuck.”

The demi-primal stretched its right wing, and one the Queen Eternal’s attendant drones slammed into and broke into pieces. Synnove, jolted back to awareness, dodged through the chaos to return to the safety of Heron’s back and rejoin the battle properly.

“Synnove, what the fuck?!” Rere somehow made the question a part of the ballad she was weaving to bolster their attacks.

“I don’t know!”

ANNHILATION TARGET DETECTED. QUERY: SUMMONER PRIME, DOES THIS UNIT HAVE PERMISSION TO ENGAGE?

“Yes,” Synnove said, already casting a Ruin III spell. “With extreme prejudice!”

The strange not-quite-a-dragon seemed to regard the Queen Eternal. And then it opened its mouth, and R O A R E D.

PROTOCOL: EXODUS ACTIVATED.

Light filled the Interphos, the same brilliant radiance that had answered Hydaelyn’s call during Her test, deep in the aetherial sea. And then it exploded, and the Queen Eternal howled her rage.

“SYNNOVE WHAT THE FUCK.”

“I DON’T KNOW!”

--

“So, I think I know what the fuck.”

Nearly a moon after successfully saving the world—again—the mages of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn (sans Urianger, who was still off somewhere with Thancred, and he was going to be outraged he’d missed this) clustered around the table in one of the conference rooms of the Baldesion Annex. Synnove sat cross-legged on the table itself, fist propping up her cheek, Galette around her neck, and Ipomoea primly loafed in her lap. The Highlander knew she looked as she always did after a research binge: hair a disaster, clothes wrinkled from being slept in, circles beneath her eyes.

The only thing missing was chalk dust, and that was only because she’d been up to her eyeballs in unspooled carbuncles for the past damned moon.

Krile reached forward and tapped at an Allagan projection device built into the table. It lit up immediately, copies of a subset of arcanima array now floating in the air for easy view.

“Let the record show we’ve got a segment of the Dreadwyrm Protocol on display,” Synnove said tonelessly.

G’raha, acting as the meeting scribe, chuckled quietly, but did as requested.

“This bit is the manifestation coding, it’s basically the mathematical image of the Dreadwyrm that the Allagans put together. What’s on display now is what Prin gave me. And this—”

Ipomoea blinked her eyes with an audible shuttering sound. The array changed.

“—is what it looks like as the Lightwyrm Protocol.”

“Well, that’s a significant change,” Alphinaud said slowly, his eyes wide. “I can see the similarities that we can assume are for ‘dragon,’ but what commands for unaspected aether are now for Light.”

“I want the bits that make the sword wings,” Alisaie said. “That is inspired work.”

Alphinaud barely restrained a sigh, glancing heavenward instead for strength as everyone else chuckled.

“I can see where the commands are branching off to affect spells like Astral Flow,” Y’shtola murmured thoughtfully. “Still following the framework you created for demi-primals. But you can still access the Dreadwyrm Protocol?”

“Mmm,” Synnove said. “But have to do this one first. Then in sequence, it’s Dreadwyrm, back to Lightwyrm, then Phoenix, then the cycle repeats. I can’t say I’m not too mad about that, s’nice not to have my trauma shoved in my face whenever we need some extra firepower.”

“Probably has to do with balancing the Light aether, though I can’t figure out how just yet,” Krile said.

Synnove inclined her head. “That’s my theory at the moment, but I’ll need to do more testing. Regardless, that brings me to this.”

Ipomoea blinked again. A different array now floated above the table, causing everyone to frown.

“Is that a message array?” Alisaie said. “Like the Arcanists’ Guild uses for courier work on their carbuncles.”

“It is very similar,” Synnove said, and gently tapped Ipomoea’s head. The sapphire carbuncle twitched her left ear a perfect fifteen degrees, and the array display zoomed in. “You all see this bit of sigilwork and equation here?”

Murmurs of ascent.

“The one time I saw this,” Synnove said, enunciating clearly, “was in Elpis. When Venat sat down with me and the girls, and showed us the full spell frame for her traveler’s ward.”

Five pairs of eyes just stared at her. Synnove raised her eyebrows, waiting. She’d had her moment of garbled cursing three days ago when she’d found that damn signature.

“Are you telling us,” Y’shtola said slowly, “that this new Protocol was made by Hydaelyn Herself?”

“My dearest, darling friend and partner in magical crime,” Synnove drawled, “that is exactly what I’m telling you.”

Krile was covering her face with her hands. “Oh, great good gods, we’re going need to put this under the strictest lock they have in Noumenon,” she groaned.

G’raha was still frantically writing. “I’m not wholly sure I’d trust it to stay safe even there,” he said. “My vote would be to store it up at Bestway Burrows, or perhaps with the Watcher.” He glanced up at Synnove. “This is more for my own amusement than any record keeping, but what did Rereha say about this particular revelation?”

“She said, quote: ‘Oh, cool, Mom decided as a last hurrah that she could get in a last round of one upmanship on the Ascians and design a better dragon.’”

Alisaie and Krile were both giggling before Synnove had even finished talking. Alphinaud didn’t try to stifle his sight this time, while Y’shtola and G’raha exchanged rueful looks.

Synnove merely shrugged, ignoring Galette’s resulting grumble. “She’s probably not wrong.”

“Oh, the loporrits are going to adore that,” Krile said around her giggles. “Sword wings.”

“Sword wings,” Synnove said. And grinned.

[gatheredfates]

a wolpertinger’s smile | evelyn rivers

Do you want to read all my FFXIV prompts? You can do that here!

STEER: guide or control the movement of (a vehicle, vessel, or aircraft). for example, by turning a wheel or operating a rudder.

His face was gripped between her thumb and forefinger, a wolpertinger’s smile of elongated fangs framed by long, blonde ears becoming harder to grasp with the widening of his mouth. Eve was pissed.

—In his defense, however, she was pissed a lot of the time. But this was not the pissed as in ‘I am unsure if I drank alcohol or drain cleaner in the last half an hour and I can’t be fucked checking,’ and more ‘the fact I am directing your gaze to me rather than slapping you silly shows the depths of my restraint’.

“Flynticus.” She was trying to be overly familiar with him this time. Being aloof and unknowable had not scared the viera off given his stupid smile was occupying her peripheral, so she was led to wonder if reversing her behavior in the other direction might weird him out enough to leave. She squeezed his cheeks harder and rocked his face for added effect. “Whose ship is this?”

“Oh, a hundred percent yours!” he answered quickly, still making that face at her. Eve’s brow twitched, worsening when he added, “my taste in decor would be better.”

Rhalgar had been a destroyer in her life in more ways than one, but this was just comical. Of all the jokes to play; of all the sickening whimsy, fanciful behavior to engage in—why this? Why couldn’t he just blow up said airship or bankrupt her on the fringes of Ul’dah? At least she’d laugh at his irony.

‘Don’t throw him off. Do not. Throw him. Off the ship. It’s too hard to explain to people what happened. There’s too many questions. Too much paperwork.’

Her tongue rolled in her mouth, clicking irritably as she replied. “Right. So. If this is my ship—my ship, we both agree it is—why th’ fuck are you touching my FUCKING steering wheel?”

“For fun—!” He barely got the words out before both her hands threw themselves into the air, an irate snarl erupting from her.

“NO. IT’S NOT FUN. IT’S NOT A FUNNY HEHOO. IT’S NOT A FUNNY HEHA. STOP! TOUCHING! MY! FUCKING! SHIP!”

“Good afternoon, Designation Evelyn!” The ship chortled back, as if it’s very mention awoke SERS from whatever stupor a patchwork AI went to when not in use. Her hands froze in the air. Her fingers curled furiously towards the palm.

“Don’t.”

Flynt just chuckled and leaned his weight against the wall, gesturing towards the computing screen where a pixelated dancing flame indicated the Systems, Engines and Reconnaissance Service was online.

“He wants you.”

“SERS. If you’re about to say what you’re going to say I swear—”

“I am pleased to report my initial search has proved fortuitous! There is a 98% likelihood the relic Designation Rexonus desires is located within ten malms in any direction! There is an additional 75% chance we’re hovering right above it!”

Eve screamed. SERS let out a mechanical scream in reply. It hadn’t caught onto the tonal differences in living beings yet.

“I knew you’d be excited!”

[flame-of-tar-valon]

ok so santa's elves aside, i would love a review of in from the cold from you

Short answer: I loved "In from the Cold" (for what it was)! I only wish it were a longer section of the game.

Medium answer:

I am completely neutral about "In from the Cold". Thinking about it in the context of your ask generated a whole list of complaints in my head, but almost none of them are actually about "In from the Cold" itself, and I can't blame "In from the Cold" for the issues of the template-based expansion development structure. But it does show the cracks in the formula where Endwalker is concerned.

Endwalker in particular needed to deliver on two fronts: it had to geographically tie up the loose ends that were constantly alluded to in past expansions from ARR onward, and it had to conclude the story on a cosmological level that surpassed what Shadowbringers accomplished. The Garlemald arc succeeds at the former; the fight against Zodiark accomplishes the latter. "In from the Cold" does its job to transition between these points.

I would even argue that "In from the Cold" does an amazing job at selling a few important story beats that the game needs you to pick up on. It brings the Garlemald arc, in a story sense, back to Zenos and Fandaniel; in a gameplay sense, it breaks from the slower and trudging (I've compared it to siege-based) feeling of the Garlemald arc in order to build tempo heading into the Tower of Babil. The gameplay is clunky, and I disagree that the clunkiness is intentionally supposed to be frustrating for the player. It's just meant to force the player to interact with the gameplay in a different way than usual. It's definitely subjective how well the gameplay is executed, but I'm willing to forgive it. I thought it was engaging.

However, Garlemald (as a zone) only gets so much screentime, and most of it is devoted to the incredibly-executed "find and rescue survivors!" arc. That means that the cutscenes surrounding "In from the Cold" feel a bit rushed as a transition. That could have been mitigated if Garlemald had been a larger section of Endwalker's story, but they had to shove Sharlayan and Thavnair in as well, which means none of these regions feel adequately fleshed out. Garlemald is the best of the three (so far!), though. I don't think "In from the Cold" contributed any positive points to my assessment of the arc, but it didn't detract, either. Therefore, I am, essentially, of a neutral opinion about it.

Long Answer: The FFXIV Formula and its Failings

Overview

"In from the Cold" is ok. I liked it as a duty with cutscenes. I'm neutral on it as a part of the Garlemald arc of Endwalker. I'm... discontented with its place in the broad scope of Final Fantasy XIV. It feels like a vestige of something that was supposed to be something else. Or somewhere else. Or somewhen else. The more I dwell on it, the more negative I become. So maybe I should really go with my immediate gut reaction and say it's great! Maybe I just didn't like the santa's elves arc so it looks better by comparison. Or maybe I didn't like the santa's elves arc which is making me really negative today! Who knows? Either way, dwelling on my opinion has brought up an urge to complain, so I'm going to try to be objective about things and break it down into analytical points.

Before I can fully give my thoughts on "In from the Cold" and the ways it either contributes to or detracts from my enjoyment of the Garlemald arc, I need to establish a baseline: what is such an arc, how does it function in terms of a typical formula, and what factors contribute to my enjoyment of story arcs across various expansions? This may not be a typical response to "In from the Cold," but for me I can't help myself from noticing story in everything. The unique gameplay features during the solo duty will also be addressed below, but if you were hoping for an in-depth (or even surface-level, tbh) answer about how the gameplay felt, I apologize in advance. I think of gameplay moreso in how it contributes to the cinema of the storytelling experience.

Ahem. Anyway. Something that never escapes my notice in games with content released intermittently is the way different releases either adhere to or abandon old design philosophies. I've complained at length about this in regards to the music composition for the various expansions. (Why do Sharlayan and Radz-at-Han share the same theme?! No, it's not because they're the only two locations where the Final Days are going to be relevant; that's stupid.) Everything about the game has changed dramatically since the ARR days. Back in ARR there were a lot of comparatively smaller and irregularly-shaped zones with ill-defined level boundaries, inconsistent dungeon/trial pacing, and a whole host of other issues that itch at me to no end.

From Heavensward onward, these things have been standardized. Each expansion has six zones included in it, all of which are large and typically conform to the rough shape of a square. These zones frequently consist of a single level range, or they might have a geographical split between two different level ranges, meant to be accessed at two different points in the story. Each base expansion includes 5 or 6 mandatory dungeons and 3 mandatory trials: a dungeon at every odd number level, plus one at the level cap; a trial at the levels ending in 3 and 7-9, plus one at the level cap. In this way, an expansion can roughly be divided up into six segments, typically every two levels.

Ideally, these segments slot fairly easily into what can be thought of as three discrete "story arcs" -- but perhaps that's naive idealism on my part. I am not, by and large, someone who dislikes things being formulaic. I'm incredibly formula-minded. My entire outline for HtGHA is based off of a very formulaic template that I repeat for each of my protagonists. But before you think this means I won't complain, think again. The only person more likely to complain about formulas than a formula hater? That's right: a formula fanatic.

So what is this formula, anyway?

Level X0-X1: Beginning with a split-path choice that lets you see part of two different zones, the paths reconverge before the mandatory first dungeon. In HW, Dusk Vigil is optional, to the detriment of the early story. (I feel like one drawback of Heavensward's story is the fact that ARR and post-ARR both have substantial Coerthas arcs, but that's a topic for later.) Ideally, the split path shows two substantially different settings and tones that the expansion will take. FFXIV perfected this step with Shadowbringers.

Level X2-X3: A new zone is accessed, usually as an intermediary point in between the start and the mid-objective: Dravania lies between Ishgard and Hraesvelgr; the Ruby Sea separates Kugane from Yugiri and Hien. ShB is a chain of Lightwardens, so Il Mheg isn't that special as an intermediary point, but it still is one, so. Yeah. The trial here is usually just a relevant but not-actually-that-special combat from the journey; Endwalker is unique by comparison. In Endwalker, this trial is unambiguously the end of the first Act. I talk more about how Garlemald functions in Endwalker's story down below. Overall, I think Garlemald is the best execution of this part of the formula.

Level X4-X5: The party arrives at the zone and works on the quest that secures their initial, mid-objective. This generally feels like the midway point, the meat of the expansion: Churning Mists, Yanxia, Rak'tika -- things are serious, the task is a committed one, lore is being revealed, but the pace is slow, plodding, trundling along. Typically this is one of the bleakest sections of the story. I feel like this was best executed in Heavensward -- the Churning Mists was HW's strongest arc, and Rak'tika was on the weaker end in ShB. Note: I just finished the Mare Lamentorum arc entirely, but have not made it to the level 85 dungeon yet, so I will only be discussing up to the quest "Returning Home".

Level X6-X7: The previous progress in the midgame has been insufficient, in a variety of ways: in HW, the vaccuum post-Aery has created fertile ground for unrest leading to The Vault, and true motives are slowly revealed. In SB, the momentum post-Bardam leads up to the crowning achievement of Doma Castle. In ShB, the steadily worsening Light Corruption and the now explicit war against Eulmore lead to the conflict with Ran'jit and Ryne's transformation. Frustratingly, the level X7 trials in HW and SB are not related to this at all; after the turning points of The Vault and Doma Castle, these trials are just primals in other zones unrelated. ShB moves the second trial to level 79 instead of 77, imo to the detriment of the pacing of late-ShB -- but that's a topic for another time. There's bits and pieces I like from each expansion here, but also bits and pieces I don't like. I would probably give this one to Shadowbringers by default.

Level X8-X9: Now solidly in the final act, the party has witnessed what stands between them and the end goal, and must complete one final detour to get to this end location. This is usually a "seeing the theme of the expansion from a different perspective" detour: While I don't think the Dravanian Hinterlands were used to their full potential due to the patchwork nature of HW's storytelling, the inspiration is clearly there. I think the one I like best here is Stormblood's march through the Peaks (and the Lochs) of Ala Mhigo. In this case, it feels less like "one final detour" and more like a slow, determined march towards the city itself.

Level X9-X0: Yes, level X9 is on there twice. That's because most of the time, this final zone lingers at the penultimate level for longer than it feels like it should. But this isn't "Dravanian Hinterlands" level 59, this is Azys Lla! This isn't "Mt. Gulg" level 79, it's the Tempest! It's Amaurot! Earlier expansions were really afraid of making substantial chunks of the MSQ require level cap. These zones usually feel distinctly otherworldly. They are (usually) completely thematically divorced from more mundane areas. Mor Dhona falls into a similar category for ARR. SB doesn't get one: the Lochs may be epic, but it's too natural.

Problems with the Formula: Zones and Geography

So, each expansion adds six zones. No problem. But how are these zones divided? Each expansion takes a different view of how the geography for the new content should be laid out.

For the most part, Heavensward is the most similar to ARR in terms of geography. Both are locked to Eorzea (unless you don't count floating islands, in which case half of Heavensward is not, in fact, locked to Eorzea). ARR explores zones in La Noscea, the Black Shroud, Thanalan, Coerthas, and Mor Dhona. Heavensward explores more of Coerthas, then Dravania, and chains of floating islands across Dravania and Abalathia's Spine. The final section, Azys Lla -- like Mor Dhona, the final section of ARR -- is teeming with Allagan, Garlean, and Ascian obstructions to eliminate. It is very visually and tonally different from the rest of Heavensward, but it ties the themes of war between dragon and man back to the Allag-Meracydian war.

Heavensward's immediate successor, Stormblood, takes a different route entirely and situates half of its zones in Gyr Abania, and the other half in the Far East. Here's where that works well: Stormblood makes a big point about parallel suffering of the conquered lands under Garlean dominion. Ala Mhigo has been haunting the narrative since 1.0, and it deserves, imo, the bulk of attention here, lest Stormblood feel like it's focusing instead on an entirely new setting. However, the disconnect comes from the fact that the Far East is a lot more culturally and geographically distinctive than anything in the Gyr Abania zones we get to access. This means that at some point, the Ala Mhigo arc starts feeling repetitive and monochromatic. The East gets the nations of Hingashi, the Ruby Confederacy, Doma, and the tribes of the Steppe, while an equal amount of land in Gyr Abania is devoted to just former Ala Mhigo.

What's wrong with the proportions of focus these two regions get, you may ask? Well, nothing, really; it's just evidence of a shift in design philosophy. Everything in Heavensward covers an essentially contiguous area, while everything in Stormblood covers two such areas, separated by an enormous and logistically improbable distance. Stormblood marks the shift toward the global, extending the Scions' reach beyond Eorzea for the first time.

Looking back at Heavensward and Stormblood, I don't think all of the zones added are used to great effect in the storyline. Especially considering how other relevant nations that exist could have been incorporated. Sharlayan could have been added in Heavensward, as the Scions flee the ravages of the Bloody Banquet and seek safe harbor, or as a tie-in to the ruins left by their exodus from Dravania, or in any way to offer a sharp rebuke of war as pointless and barbaric during the expansion whose theme is the pointlessness and barbarity of war.

Stormblood could have featured Thavnair as a more interesting and more relevant pit stop than the Sirensong Sea, especially because Thavnair's neutrality toward Garlemald is a significant point in Hingashi. Stormblood could also have condensed the Fringes, Peaks, and Lochs into two zones, with the split path at the beginning being between, say, going through the Fringes (like normal) or to the coast of Werlyt. Either or both of these changes would shift the focus from pure geographical continuity on a small scale, to large scale geopolitical involvement and thematic focus on Garlemald.

Why Garlemald, though? The Garleans are the main antagonists on a tangible, geopolitical level throughout 1.0 and ARR (even while they're being manipulated around by Ascians), and, though largely absent from HW, they are central to SB. I don't think SB needs to feature actual Garlemald in order to be good -- but I think it needs to do more setup in advance of EW's Garlemald arc in order for "In from the Cold" to be good.

Zones and More Geography: How Norvrandt Changed Everything

Unlike Heavensward and Stormblood, Shadowbringers takes a macro level view of geography. Instead of saying, "Ok, here's two zones for Coerthas, two zones for Dravania, and three zones for the floating islands above the Coerthas-Dravania area," it says, "Here's an alternate universe. The equivalent for this northern region, which in Heavensward has enough land for a major city and several wilderness zones, is all shoved into one single zone with three aetherytes."

I used Coerthas/Il Mheg as the basis for comparison because that's the only Shadowbringers zone equivalent that was developed during an expansion following this formula. Of course, the Dravania analogue was consumed by the Flood of Light, so it's not completely accurate. But based on the drawn/painted maps, my point stands: the five zones of continental Norvrandt are extremely small. They are also very distant. Not as distant as Kugane and Rhalgr's Reach -- Norvrandt is still just a reflection of the continent of Eorzea -- but travel time on the First is not something that the story reflects on the nitty-gritty.

And what a difference it makes! In Heavensward, the substantial middle portion of the story focused on the Alphinaud-Estinien-Ysayle road trip to talk to Hraesvelgr and/or slay Nidhogg. The road trip only took the party across two zones, the Dravanian Forelands and the Churning Mists, and yet even that was enough to carry the weight of travel, the sense of destination, and the uncomfortable truths of lands riven by war. Meanwhile, in Shadowbringers, every zone is its own dead end: there are no road trips through a zone. This goes hand in hand with the scope of the mission. This is no longer a small group on behalf of a city-state, nor a military alliance fighting an oppressive empire: this is a hero attempting to thwart a magical apocalypse.

This works for Shadowbringers for two reasons. The first is that these areas are reflections of zones the player is already familiar with. There is no required time to spend acclimating to the geographical environment of Amh Araeng. The player still needs to get to know the cultures there, of course, but even at a glance, its role as a blighted reflection of Thanalan is apparent. The second reason is that these zones are geographically contiguous, just on a larger scale. It just makes sense to go from Lakeland to Rak'tika. And, for the zone split choice at the beginning, it makes sense to choose between Kholusia and Amh Araeng -- they aren't too far apart.

This is where the geography of Endwalker falls apart for me. It reads like fanservice. The final* expansion of the original FFXIV plot arc revolving around Hydaelyn and Zodiark culminates here, and we haven't traveled to Sharlayan or Garlemald or Thavnair yet! Aaah! And, being of course beholden to the formula, that means three out of six zones must be mundane locations on the planet of Hydaelyn. Two of these have to be visited by the split-path arc at the very beginning. Not a whole lot of options there!

But on the other side of things, the power-scaling needs to continue at a logical pace. From saving the continent of Eorzea to liberating two-ish continents from colonial occupation and single-handedly shattering Garlemald's tenuous hegemony, where can our hero go? Why, to save an alternate world from an apocalypse! But since that wasn't the end, Endwalker needs to introduce a new threat: an existential, universal threat that predates the creation of the gods and the fall from Eden. Something so amazing that it takes the Warrior of Light to (as far as I've been spoiled; I could have the details slightly wrong) the extremely distant past before the creation of said gods, and to the edge of the universe itself.

I've heard a lot of really good things about Endwalker's story, so I'm going to assume that, post-santa's naughty elves and their lack of fashion sense, the pacing gets smoother and the story more cohesive. I don't have a problem with the disparate nature of these zones, all told. What I do have a problem with, though...

Breaking Down Endwalker: The Intro

...is the pacing at the start of Endwalker.

(Honestly, my problems with the pacing start in the 5.x patches, but dissecting that would make this exercise take even longer than the *checks clock* three hours I've already spent on this response.)

Now that tempering can be cured, surprise! Here's Fandaniel with an apocalyptic death wish! Here's some Telophoroi towers all around the world. Time to head to Sharlayan to ask them for help, because that sounds so logical, right? And of course then we have to be warped across the world to Thavnair, because that's incredibly relevant, isn't it?!

I don't have a problem with the branch split... in theory, and isolated from other context. What we see of Labyrinthos and Thavnair is only the first half; based on the levels of the FATEs in the unrevealed portions of the map I'm guessing we return to these locations for Level 78 and 75 respectively. That's all fine, I don't have a problem with it.

What I do have a problem with is the way the game is so blatantly including these regions because it has to. Having just finished the santa's workshop-ark arc, the thematic consistency between it and Labyrinthos is very clear. (Maybe too clear. Maybe a bit redundant.) And I'm definitely not saying they shouldn't have included Thavnair in the game. But the geopolitical situation going into Endwalker has been, up to this point, entirely predicated on Garlemald and its former colonies, its civil war, its tempered, its discontents.

There's way too much baggage with Garlemald to be summed up by one ice ambush, one high-stakes hostage situation, "In from the Cold", and the Garlemald Express.

In order for "In from the Cold" to shine, Endwalker needs to lead with Garlemald. Garlemald needs to be in the forefront of everyone's mind during at least one of the split path branches. The tough feelings about an incoming army, the nationalistic pride, the bitter survival, everything -- that all needs breathing room. It can't be condensed any further. I contend that "In from the Cold" needs breathing room as well for it to hit.

As a single solo instanced duty, with a fairly strict timer, there's not enough of a chance to linger on the impact of "In from the Cold." In some ways, that's a good thing. It's a sobering slap-to-the-face that, as important as siege tactics and emergency response and peace treaties and reparations are, there are more immediately pressing matters. It's presented as a tough choice -- you have to be the hero, because every second you waste feeds into Fandaniel's plans.

It also allows "In from the Cold" to conclude with little to no dwelling on material repercussions.

(Btw, my suggestion for what the new zone alongside Labyrinthos should be instead of Thavnair? Corvos. It's a Garlean colony, with a direct link to one of the more directionless-as-of-now Scions, situated near to Thavnair, and is considered as (one of) the ancestral homeland(s) of the Garlean people. It would be the perfect place to get a first view of the Garlean Empire's collapse from a more neutral or diplomatic point of view before heading to Garlemald proper.)

Ludonarrative Harmony: Why "In from the Cold" Works

So, my biggest critique for "In from the Cold" itself, which I have wasted several hours of my life not talking about yet, in favor of instead going on unnecessarily detailed tangents, is the lack of consequences in its aftermath.

These consequences stem from the fact that the Warrior of Light arrives just in time to prevent their Zenos-piloted body from harming their friends, and then Fandaniel says, "Alright, playtime's over, bye-bye! Catch me if you can!" and then you head to fight Anima and that's that.

The commands that are available to the Warrior of Light within the Garlean soldier's body are extremely limited. There is an attack buff, a defense buff, and a single melee combo button. Later, the player obtains medicine packs for healing.

This is a perfect encapsulation of the struggle that you are supposed to face in this moment. It's not supposed to be harder to win than other content, it's still supposed to be well-balanced. But winning vs losing is supposed to feel different. The win conditions have changed.

FFXIV as a game chassis isn't the best equipped for stealth or stealth-adjacent missions. Also, the lack of control over character building that the player has during these controlling-other-people scenes can be very disruptive. The system is a bit clunky and can be frustrating. I don't think that form of frustration is intended, and I disagree with the assessment I've seen in various places that this frustration is supposed to mirror the WoL's emotional state after the body swap.

But the point of the gameplay is to represent the cinematic challenges that the script is pointing to. So, what challenges are the gameplay mechanics trying to replicate?

By the time "In from the Cold" starts, the Warrior of Light has defused an extraordinarily tense political situation involving hostages with shock collars, an attempted ambush, suicide of an extreme nationalist, and begrudging acceptance of provisions by a tired, hungry, injured civilian populace thoroughly used to war as the only state of reality. This incredibly hard-fought peace deal was not without its losses -- yes, there are former veterans with pride who cannot conceive of their identity should they accept aid from the peoples they fought to enslave, but there are also sick children who would rather take their chances against megafauna than risk having their wounds tended by strangers they know only as an enemy invading force. There are precious few survivors anyway, so every life saved is worth noting here.

The Warrior of Light distributes warm soup, and suddenly the tower springs to life again with its tempering shockwaves. This peace was always precarious -- you were trying to save the few downtrodden who somehow escaped with their lives, and you put so much energy into that goal, ignoring all else, that the big picture threat remains unaddressed. You've treated symptoms but not the cause.

"In from the Cold" serves, first and foremost, as a chastisement of the Warrior of Light for being kind and thoughtful and doing tasks for people. FFXIV hammers home again and again, in every expansion, that the WoL is canonically the type of person who does tasks for others out of generosity and selflessness. Fandaniel has bought himself time doing nothing other than putting people who need help in your way and trusting you to stall.

So, why bother with the kidnapping and the body swap? Amusement. For himself and for Zenos. I don't have a good enough read on Fandaniel to break this apart just yet, but Zenos craves the hunt, not the butchery. He complains that the spark would be absent were the two of you to rematch now, since you've already bested him and think him beneath you. What's important here is that he's not upset that you think him beneath you, he's upset that you wouldn't be putting your all into the fight as a result. He's not trying to turn the tables in order to cut you down while you're weak -- he's trying to turn the tables so that you struggle and sweat and bleed and feel the feral desperation that drives the climax of any good fight in his eyes.

This is summed up, very well, by the crawling scene at the end of "In from the Cold."

So, what about everything in the middle? The parts where you have to avoid fighting whenever possible, scavenging for limited heals, using dilapidated warmachina just to buy yourself some time, allying with Garlean civilians fleeing for their lives who see you as nothing more than a faceless, nameless Garlean soldier? That's the part where I think the solo instanced duty fails to achieve all of its potential. The reason, in my opinion, is due to the time limit and the lack of checkpoints. This should be a slower section of the game in multiple segments, where progress feels slower but with less risk of immediately dying if you get spotted. It should feel more like a survival section than a stealth section.

As for consequences -- it doesn't have to be a "Zenos kills one (or more) of the Scions" level consequence. I would have enjoyed seeing a situation where you have to find, identify, and take care of the Garlean whose body you were possessing. Something where you have to go back and explain things to any of the surviving civilians from the fight. Anything that makes you recontextualize your actions in someone else's body against your own.

I think this scene especially should be longer and have more of an aftermath moment as a parallel to the other instances of Ascian possession in the game, and possibly even to Fandaniel hotwiring the vessel of Zodiark for his own ends.

Santa's Workshop: Why "In from the Cold" Doesn't Work

But if "In from the Cold" is the bridge between the Jullus arc and the Babil dungeon, the perfect parallel to the possession that happens at the moon, the scathing indictment of the WoL's predictable selflessness, and the view in the mirror of all the helplessness and hope driving the untamed beast that Zenos yearns for...

...then why does the game immediately have to jump to weird little mice and their carrots and their control complexes and subterfuge? Why does everyone suddenly have all the time in the world once Zodiark kicks the bucket? Why does Urianger think he's a model in that #toxicslutch outfit???

Tone shifts appear all over the place in FFXIV, this isn't the first time and won't be the last, I know. But the issue here isn't the tone shift, it's the excruciating slow-down of the tempo of the game. "In from the Cold" takes the plodding pace of a serious-but-bleak environment and ramps it up to a fevered beat, just for it all to die down?

Returning to the formula I discussed above, expansions usually take the form of three-or-so Acts, roughly split at each of the trials. This division would place the entire Garlemald segment squarely within the first Act. I don't think this works very well.

Why? Because of pacing. We've spent the first Act trying to convince heads of state to act, and then we led a global contingent to help aid the very nation that had put the entire world under threat of the sword. This is all rising action, this is all introductory, this is all the premise. That cinematic structure is only reinforced by Fandaniel's various threats urging us onward to the Tower of Babil, and, eventually, the Moon.

What this is missing and desperately needs is fallout. That's not me repeating my earlier comment that "In from the Cold" needs consequences -- I'm talking more broadly, the Garlemald arc needs to foreground what happens in the absence of the Telophoroi. And it needs to do so immediately. Maybe the MSQ does head back to Garlemald again at some point. But I know it doesn't do so on a large scale, because I've already unlocked the ability to fly there. And it definitely doesn't do so promptly.

Please don't misunderstand -- I absolutely don't think it all needs to be tied up with a bow. I also don't think Garlemald has to be the focus of the expansion to the exclusion of everything else. But the reason "In from the Cold" doesn't work (or, perhaps more accurately, the reason Endwalker isn't shaped well enough to contain "In from the Cold") is that it is a fierce crescendo leading immediately to being shunted off-world. The action is interrupted in a very unsatisfying way for the reader.

I think, based on my tentative analysis of typical expansion story arc segments, that it would be possible to rearrange things to give "In from the Cold" the resolution it deserves. But I'm going to save that sort of thing for when I've actually finished Endwalker.

So, Is It Good? What's Your Review?

Mmm, yeah, it was enjoyable. The gameplay was a little clunky but nothing prohibitive. And it felt inventive enough to keep me engaged without being too foreign or immersion-breaking due to grappling with the controls.

My brother also says that it was fine.

It definitely didn't steal the show, though. The Garlemald arc is #1 in my book entirely because of putting Alphinaud and Alisaie through the horrors.

Now, I think I've been typing for about four and a half hours now and I have to get up early tomorrow. I'm too tired to edit this, so you'll forgive me if I ended up rambling on and on, or repeating the same two points with different wording and thought I was saying something new.

All opinions are my own. Despite superficial similarities to an essay, I actually didn't research anything for this except the geography of Dravania, Gyr Abania, Corvos, Sharlayan, Norvrandt, and many other things. All of the information I got was from one of the several publicly editable wikis about the game and could therefore potentially be inaccurate.

Ok that's all. Good night.

[blackoutsys]

☽ ✦ Welcome ✦ ☾

Helloo. We're the Blackout System.

☉ You may call us Astra

☉ Collectively we use They/Them pronouns.

☉ Bodily 20

☉ Black, AuDHD

☉ Generally we identify with Alterhumanity, though some of us may not.

☉ We're fine with interacting with others, and accept DMs and Asks about things. However, if you are under 16-17, we will likely block you if you attempt to befriend us, interacting with anyone below that makes us very uncomfortable. Otherwise we don't care if you interact with our posts, and it's a 50/50 on if we block you from following.

BYF...

✦ We don't participate in syscourse. We're not here to get into arguments, and would rather just share our own experiences.

✦ We don't follow back/like posts. This blog is a sideblog to our main, which we'd like to keep mostly private. We'll occasionally reblog posts here, however.

✦ We liberally use our block button. Most of the time it's not because someone did something "problematic", and is generally just us not vibing with their energy or thinking someone is generally unpleasant. Though we do block people who are genuinely problematic, we're just not gonna say shit about it here lmao.

✦ We may use terms we've coined ourselves to describe our own system online.

✦ We will not share our headmates if they're not the one posting. Do not ask, you won't receive a headcount nor names. All names are replaced with an emoji and a letter, at most, if they feel like signing off.

✦ Do not ask for our Simply Plural/Octocon, or any other social medias.

✦ We are pre-diagnosis, if that is an issue for you. While we're not seeking to get it on our medical records, we are also in the beginning stages of working with a trauma specialist to hopefully get a second opinion. This also might not be possible for many years as we live in an incredibly conservative state with few mental health opportunities.

INTERESTS AND HOBBIES...

☄ HOBBIES ☄

Digital Art, Animation, Webdev [HTML/CSS/Javascript], Gamedev [Godot], Embroidery/Sewing, Music Transcription, Tarot

☄ GAMES ☄

Secret Histories [Cultist Simulator/Book Of Hours/The Lady Afterwards], Who's Lila, Warframe, FFXIV, Fields of Mistria, Risk of Rain 2, Splatoon 3, Hollow Knight, Rain World, VTM: Bloodhunt, Valheim, Terraria, Minecraft, Don't Starve Together, Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers

☄ DIGITAL MEDIA ☄

Chainmail Chasers, Vita Carnis, Midwest Angelica, Interloper ARG, Emesis Blue

☄ MOVIES/SHOWS ☄

Arcane [Only seen 1st season], The Owl House, Spiderverse, Delicious In Dungeon, Frieren, The Apothecary Diaries

☄ BOOKS ☄

Blood Debts/Blood Justice, The Poisons We Drink

[toweringclam]

FFXIV/Elden Ring crossover: First two levels plot progress

A looooong time ago I posted a concept I had for "what if I hammered Elden Ring into the shape of a Final Fantasy XIV" expansion. I posted the overarching concept and a reimagining of Stormveil Castle as an FFXIV dungeon, but stopped there. Browsing through my drafts, I decided to revive this idea despite being literally the only person who cares about it.

Note: I'm gonna say this happens at level 150-160, just to make things easier.

It would have to work a lot like Shadowbringers. Warrior of Light gets Isekaied to a different fantasy world to try to save it, but they'd be on their own in this one. No Scions to help them out. However, they'd be significantly less on their own than in default Elden Ring. The game requires settlements and NPCs for like... quests, vendors, etc. Plus it's not an open world, so there has to be a clear MSQ plot progression. This results in a significantly less bleak world, though it's still doing a fair bit worse than even the First was.

It starts much the same as Elden Ring. The WoL arrives in the Chapel of Anticipation, then gets ambushed by the Grafted Scion. This plays out as a cutscene, after which they're dumped into the water as usual. Instead of Melina finding them, however, it's Patches. He acts friendly and tells the WoL to come visit him sometime, but doesn't mention where. After he's gone, the WoL notices their gold has been stolen. (It isn't actually stolen, that would suck, this is just a story thing).

Once you emerge from the tomb, they're greeted by Varre who tells them how doomed they are, and shortly thereafter they meet Kale, who reiterates this point. There's an Aetherite under the ruins where Yura makes his camp, but as you're flat broke, you can't use a vendor yet.

As you rest, this is when Melina approaches you. She tells the WoL not to lose heart, there is yet still hope, and those still with the strength to fight. She takes you to the Roundtable Hold, which is a bit different in this version. It serves as your main hub for the game, and you'll meet many of the important npcs there. You can actually exit the main building and enter the courtyard, which looks much like the Fortified Manor must have looked in its heyday. When you bring up the issue of your wallet, Sir Gideon Ofnir will extend you a line of credit equaling whatever you're missing (he just knows). This will let you use vendors.

Once you're stocked up, you're directed to use the Divine Bridge, which takes you to the Tower of Return. There you meet Irina, and obligatory tragedy follows. However, you also run into Boc the Seamster, and he invites you to his village. The Demi-Humans in this area are actually friendly, and serve as your first real settlement outside the Roundtable Hold (After you deal with the Shore Tribe, of course).

This brings you back to Kale, who is amazed you survived. He's joined by feckless noble Samuel Haight, who seeks aid in reclaiming his castle. Traveling there will have you meet Blaidd, and once you reclaim Fort Haight, it becomes another settlement. Samuel Haight says that with its weapons, Stormveil is quite unapproachable, but someone else might be able to help. He directs you to the camp of a bandit who is well known for sneaking in and out, which brings you to the Stillwater Hideaway and Patches.

Patches is very apologetic, says he was just holding the purse for you. As an apology, he offers you this nice chest of treasure...

...you awaken in the tunnels of Caelid. There, you meet a sorcerer who's also held prisoner. Rogier offers his aid to your cause, if you can help him out of here. When the two of you find your way out in a mandatory stealth instance, you come back to find a warrior woman named Nepheli Loux about to kill Patches for tricking her. When you save him, he pledges his aid in the fight to come, and Nepheli Loux says not to trust him and she'll meet you at the gates.

Patches proves to be unreliable, with his bandits retreating as soon as the troll shows up. The attack ends with the sudden appearance of Margit the Fell Omen. Once you've beaten him, you get some time to rest, and the opportunity to gather some new allies. D and Bernhal express sympathy but don't join your cause. However, you find Roderika and manage to /psych her into joining.

By this point you should be level 152, and ready for the assault on Stormveil Castle

[starlight-brainrot]

FFXIV - Academic Rival AU (x reader)

Characters: Aymeric, Alphinaud, Urianger, G'raha Tia, Y'shtola

Tags: fluff, high school AU, academic rival AU, gn reader, miscommunication (g'raha's)

Warnings: since it's a high school AU, it's assumed that wol/reader is the same age as Alphinaud.

Word Count: 1336

-

Aymeric

Mr. class president

Chess club leader as well?

You, meanwhile, are the captain of various sports teams

As well as boasting a more than stellar gpa

It ends up being a competition of who will have the better college application - him, or you?

Whenever the two of you meet, it feels as though sparks are flying

The two of you will share pleasantries, but make no mistake - the tension is thick.

For every competition he wins, you make sure to win a couple more. For every academic ribbon you earn, he’s right there behind you.

Haurchefant and Thancred secretly have an ongoing bet to see when the two of you will finally get together.

And as time goes on, more and more of your friends join in on this bet

It seems that the feelings between the two of you are obvious to everyone… but you.

Every stolen glance, every blush, every rant about the other - it was maddening to have to watch two idiots clearly in love avoid their feelings over an inconsequential rivalry.

It’s only after the two of you graduate and receive acceptance letters into the same college, both with full ride scholarships, that Aymeric nervously asks you out.

“I know that we were at odds in high school… but seeing as we’re both here and our rivalry has ended in a tie…”

“Would you like to grab coffee with me?”

Congrats to Alisaie, who won $20 from everyone in your friend group.

-

Alphinaud

The two of you are fellow debate team members

…however, the two of you are constantly trying to one up each other.

Who will capture the attention of the audience?

Who will have a more airtight argument?

You were known for your iron logic. It was tough, if at all possible for others to oppose your arguments

Alphinaud was meanwhile known for capturing the hearts of his audience

Surely a formidable duo, if only the two of you could get along…

As the semester drags on, the big competition for your debate team inched nearer and nearer

With all your mock debates with Alphinaud, you felt like you had done all that you could for tomorrow’s event

But it felt like something was missing…

It was Alphinaud who approached you, wanting to go over strategies

Begrudgingly, the two of you recognized that the other could provide helpful tips

Alisaie gives her brother a knowing look as the two of you settle in with your laptops and coffee. He avoids her look with red cheeks.

He feels sick the morning of the competition. He’s so nervous!

But when he hears you say that he better not lose to anyone but you, he feels some semblance of peace, followed by determination for the day ahead of him.

To no one’s surprise, the two of you crush your competition, leaving your opponents floundering for words as you leave them behind in the dust

No, the real surprise is how loudly the two of you cheer for each other upon victory - how proud you are for Alphinaud and how proud he is of you.

-

Urianger

You’re unsure of when or how the two of you started competing to see who could read more books in the library.

Perhaps it was that the two of you saw each other there everyday

Or the fact that Moenbryda and Y’shtola seem to constantly egg the two of you on

Little did the two of you know, the roegadyn and miqote were trying to get the two of you together, as they had been trying to do for the past four years.

Maybe this will be the year…

Urianger found himself exploring sections of the library he wouldn’t usually frequent in hopes of being in your presence just a little longer.

His puppy love felt silly to him, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop, especially if you kept looking at him with that soft smile of yours

If given the chance, he’d make a whole new library for you filled with poems and flower words detailing his feelings for you.

If someone were to find one of your names in a library book’s checkout card, it was near guaranteed that the other’s name would be just under it.

Your name became synonymous with his, and vice versa

But a competition that was never meant to be one in the first place will fall apart, have its lines blurred and crossed.

Moenbryda and Y’shtola receive their answer one day when they approach your usual reading spot, only to find the two of you lounging together in one of the library’s bean bags, books long forgotten in favor of sleep wrapped in each other’s embrace.

-

G’raha Tia

Could the two of you really call it a rivalry?

As far as anyone could see, the two of you just had a string of unusual coincidences.

The exact same schedule, lunch spots near each other, both being on the Tennis team - you saw him every hour of every school day.

So then, was it coincidence that his heart eventually began beating faster when you were around?

G’raha felt like he was going to explode, constantly in your presence

So, like any healthy and sane person does, he begins to (try to) avoid you.

Unfortunately for him, it’s almost impossible to avoid someone who shares your whole schedule

Oh, and you definitely noticed what he was doing.

Had you done something to offend the miqote?

Slowly, your friendship morphed into avoiding the other, both of you running from your feelings

When I say that everyone is tired of the two of you making puppy eyes at each other when you think no one is looking

I mean EVERYONE

It’s the twins who eventually get fed up and decide to act on it, forcing the two of you to put the tennis equipment away together, just to get the two of you to talk.

The silence is deafening as the two of you awkwardly clean up

It’s when the two of you brush fingertips and he recoils like he’d been burned that you snap.

“Am I really that disgusting to you?” You question, frowning.

Upon recognition of what he’s done, G’raha scrambles for an explanation, but eventually sighs and gives in, telling you the truth, he’d always had a crush on you, and hoped it’d fade away with time.

News flash, his feelings only got worse

He sincerely apologizes, not expecting any reciprocation or forgiveness

And is shocked when you give a relieved giggle.

“I’ve always liked you too, idiot.”

-

Y’shtola

Y’shtola was going to destroy you.

Well, perhaps that’s a bit too strong.

There was an internship available for fresh graduates under a well known researcher, and both you and Y’shtola were competing for a recommendation for said internship

Anyone who witnessed the two of you would admit that it’s a bit scary to watch the two of you interact.

As they say, an immovable object met an unstoppable force.

Even your teacher is a bit intimidated by whatever’s going on between the two of you, but given that they’re receiving help from the two of you, they’ll keep quiet about the fact that they can give you both the recommendation.

Though the two of you were at odds, it didn’t stop you both from completing your work together swiftly and without complaint.

You couldn’t help but feel as though Y’shtola enjoyed riling you up - but even as you tried to resist the temptation to reply to her, you failed every time

Luckily for Y’shtola, out of everyone she could have this silly competitive streak with, it was you. Oh, how cute you look when you’re upset, lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed.

Upon the realization that both of you got the recommendation, an eerie silence entered the room.

All that competition for nothing?

How embarrassing.

And if anyone noticed the two of you walking to a coffee shop, hands entwined after this whole mess?

They’re better off not mentioning it.

-

a/n - I apologize if I wrote anyone ooc hehe... I'm not used to writing for many characters so I just took em and ran (shrug)

[chynandri]

ive bought like 3 different games this month, and just renewed my sub to ffxiv too - but you know what, im now in a position to purchase fire emblem engage too lmao... what's one more game purchase before this crazy month ends

some of my Hard Honest Thoughts (H.H.T) about engage for like no reason other that I want to talk about it years later

unfortunately I have to say that like maybe half of the fe fandom at the time, I was very disappointed with the engage trailer. the look of it, the fire emblem heroes-ness of it with the returning characters. but I suppose I didn't know what it was I actually wanted from another fire emblem either. I just wanted another cultural reset like three houses, searching for whatever was in the water when they made that game. because after however much love I put into it, I was terribly and utterly burnt out on it. it's too bad because I made some really cool art during that time, but, I kinda just feel nothing when I look back on it...

I can't say if all this was THE reason I'm no longer such a fire emblem head, but maybe it was part of it?

flash forward a few years later, i got to do a really nice drawing of jade/ivy, all the requests I got for fe rally for Gaza (fundraising event for Palestine charities) were of engage. I think by this time my initial disappointment and judgment mellowed out, and honestly whether it is of commissions or donation art I naturally end up curious and receptive to whatever it is im drawing. to draw it better of course. so with the distance of time at my side, I watched some supports of various characters to know them better. I do enjoy Rosado for his shameless gender-ness a lot. sure enough, this game didn't look that bad to me anymore. a growing need for me to actually play this game took place in me. I also just miss fire emblem gameplay.

im a big supporter of going against the crowd, having your own opinions, and actually being able to enjoy and see the meaning and beauty of almost all things. surely we would all be less miserable and actually like the games we play if we had an objective mind and realize everything is good and worthwhile, it's us that's the problem. you have to meet art halfway. but im not perfect unfortunately, initial feelings and reactions are pretty strong

[rydiathesummoner]

Why I want a FFV remake more than FFVI

No really, hear me out here! I know VI is beloved, and childhood nostalgia is extremely profitable. I get it. However, I truly believe FFV could be an absolute beast if it were remade into a modern game.

Beware, 32 year old spoilers ahead!

Combat

If you ask anyone who has played V (there are dozens of us!) and you ask what the best part of the game is, probably at least half would say the job system. And I would agree. The job system even in its rinky-dink 1990's form is a blast to play. It can make even trash mobs fun. Now imagine the job system in a modern action game. OMG. I would spend hours just trying different combinations on trash mobs. And if action isn't for you V already has you covered! They can make barehanded really easy to get from the beginning, give it some really fun animations and the non action players can just slap it on everybody and still have a good time.

Glamour

A lot of people claim that customizing the look of your armor is pointless and for girls. Then they play FFXIV and the next thing they know they've been doing a dungeon for two hours because the hat won't drop. FFV is absolutely ripe for a glamour system. Each job has its own flair, and each character has their own style. Imagine a glamour system where you could mix and match, much like XIV's but without the jank. Replay value would skyrocket.

It has better fans

I said what I said. VI has an extremely obnoxious fan base. It's not as bad as VII's, I'll admit that. However, while VII fans are lunatics over shipping wars, VI's fans are obnoxious because they are smug assholes. They shout from their mom's rooftop over and over how it has the absolute best story and characters, and if you don't agree "YOU havE NO mEdia lITeRAcy." Since nobody played V as a kid, they have no nostalgia blinders and we can all spend more time enjoying the game and less time hearing purists bitch and moan about how Terra's hair is all wrong and "tHIS iS not EXacTlY how IT WENt In tHe OrIgInAL." And we will ALL have a better time for it.

Built-in LGBT+ and watching people cry over it will be fun

Faris is non-binary in all but name. The term non-binary didn't exist back in the 1990s, but she does fit the idea. She poses as a man to avoid harassment yes, but then later says she doesn't really care if you call her a he or she. Galuf goes all boomer on her, and Bartz stands up for her saying "Faris is just Faris. She's great no matter a man or woman!" The game does proceed to use she/her pronouns for Faris, but they/them pronouns were not a concept to the general population back then. Just imagine all the anti-woke crowd crying over how Square Enix went super woke, and everyone can just point at the original game like "dude. It's in the original. Lol." It's free extra entertainment. Also you're free to disagree, but even as a straight cis woman I have a hard time believing Bartz is fully straight. Sure he has his moment when he sees Faris asleep, but he doesn't really get upset over being like "wow this dude's hot" and I can't stress enough that this game was made in the 1990s, attitudes on this subject were completely different. Also, some of his job outfits are... look I don't want to stereotype but there's a lot of "he's at least bi, right?" when it comes to Bartz.

It's not so serious

I'm fully in agreement with the "Game of Thrones ruined entertainment" crowd. I'm over dreariness, and the idea that if nobody died, then nothing happened in the plot. It ends up dumbing down stories. It's not my problem if you're so dead inside you need to see something extreme to get an emotional response. I went to therapy for that, I didn't demand everything have a bloodbath so I could feel something. We're not in a great era IRL right now. Times are tough. I want to spend my precious free time actually having fun and laughing at characters. It would probably have a similar feel to Rebirth. The story does have serious moments but it's mostly about having fun.

There are only 5 characters

FFXV had some story problems, but where it worked best was its core characters. By the end of XV it's hard to NOT be attached to the chocobros. FFV has the same situation, you're with your friends the whole game so there's plenty of time to develop the characters. The original did ok with developing Bartz, Lenna, Faris, Galuf and Krile, but a modern remake could really do it right and make the characters really fleshed out. FFVI has too many characters for a modern game. Hell it has too many characters for an older game. Everyone has a VI character they never use and forget they exist, and I don't like that. It would suck up a ton of time and resources to give development for Gogo and Umaro. I don't care about them enough anyway.

Bartz could be a really refreshing main character

For those who haven't played FFV before, the main character is named Bartz, and he's dumb as shit. He has a good heart and loves his friends. But the boy's brains are scrambled eggs. I want Square Enix to take that and run far with it. I want them to zoom past shonen and go full Zoolander with Bartz. I want him to absolutely own the dancer outfit, sashaying around while murdering mobs, then sit down in the sand and hug Faris when Sylva dies. He'll probably cry more than Faris. Then he will go and not understand how many weapons to collect after hearing the Tale of the 12 Legendary Weapons (yes this actually happens in the game.) Typically the non-broody protagonists in the series we see maturity and a better understanding of the world, but I don't want that for Bartz. It's been done. He's my Zoolander. I'd rather he remain dumb as shit at the end, and his character development is about him being a completely directionless idiot into an idiot with an idea of what he wants to do with his life. It's ok if what he wants to do is stupid and unrealistic. Maybe he'll open a school for kids who can't read good.

There's zero romance

Yes I know, romance is extremely profitable. But even in the original Bartz does not end up with any of the girls. They are all extremely close friends by the end, but nothing romantic. That's right, a story with no love triangle, no will-they won't-they drama, no anime harem. It's possible! Who knew? It's refreshing! They would have the entire game to really dive into the theme of friendship without shipping wars destroying everything. I just want to try it in a modern game.

That One Scene would be absolutely epic in an HD remake

If I haven't convinced anyone by now, just imagine this: Galuf's last stand in HD. It would be glorious. It would be heart-pounding excitement. It would easily go into the top 10 of most epic fights. Imagine this fight on the scale of the Titan or Bahamut fights from XVI. I'm drooling over the thought. Please, Square Enix I'm begging.

[koukouture]

Talking abt Stormblood bc it's not as bad as ya'll made it out to be

I thought Stormblood was amazing. Kinda slow in the beginning but it picks up after the Reach gets destroyed. I swear to god I cried at the ending cutscene where they were singing the Ala Mhigan anthem I have never felt so damn patriotic for a fictional country in MY LIFE.

For me, I think Heavensward and Stormblood both sit in the same camp of "high highs but LOW lows" because both of them have great moments but then utterly fail in others. For example, I thought Stormblood's villain cast was amazing especially compared to Heavensward. The more political aspects of Stormblood's story were also a joy and the whole thing did feel like an exhausting two front war. I think where Stormblood failed where Heavensward and the other expansions (up to SHB at least) succeeded is the character development. As for Heavensward's lows... it's the entire second half leading up to the final confrontation. Yeah I said it. After Haurchefant died the writing kinda took a nosedive in quality and then gradually built it's way back up to the Final Steps of Faith which I felt was an amazing finale. I will go into Heavensward another time bc I feel the need to defend Stormblood a bit.

Obviously we need to talk about Lyse now so let me preface this by saying that I LOVE Lyse. She is amazing and I liked her a lot- HOWEVER. I can't deny my girl was done DIRTY. I feel like Lyse just didn't really grow? Like pre Stormblood Lyse and post Stormblood Lyse are supposedly different people but nothing feels different? Character development doesn't need to be drastic as Alphinaud's ARR-Heavensward development but I feel like there is nothing different at all about Lyse. I guess you could say there's a difference between Lyse as "Yda" and normal Lyse but I don't think there is? No I don't have any proposal's on how to "fix" her writing I just feel like maybe we skipped a couple steps? I feel like in Stormblood we didn't get lots of individual character moments as opposed to the other expansions where we always got some moments where the main story takes a backseat for a cutscene or two and we talk feelings. Because that's where I feel ffxiv's character writing shines. In those moments of reflection and quiet we get lots of characterization. Or maybe it was in Stormblood or a) I forgot or b) it just didn't fucking matter in the end. The later is probably the worse.

I feel like Hien also has this problem where it feels like he did a lot of his development off screen before we met him. Which would be fine if he was just a supporting character but he's kind of the main character for our time in the Far East and in a good chunk of the post Stormblood MSQ. Again- I love Hien. That's my homie- but he just feels sort of nothing at times? Like there are just gaps in his character or really important moments that we should have seen but we just didn't. Again, I have no offers on how to "fix" it but it just feels really off.

I think Stormblood did a much better job with the villain's writing this expansion. Like the characterization and backstory of the antagonists this expansion (barring Asahi bc he felt kinda tacked onto Post-Stormblood stuff) was amazing. I really felt for each of the villains this expansion. I do think there is something to be said about how ffxiv girls always kinda get cucked when it comes to writing bc I thought Yotsuyuu deserved better and Fordola begrudgingly beginning to align herself with the heroes post Stormblood feels like untapped potential. Idk what it is but the writers seemed to have thought out the villains more this expansion than the heroes.

Like obviously I love Zenos everybody fucking knows that about me- but Yotsuyuu bro. Hnnng. I kind of love how she's not a fighter and how she deals with her femininity. Like I was so fucking sick when post-Stormblood her fuck ass dad shows up and remarks that she's still pretty and he could sell her off???? God. I'm sorry I loveeeeee exploration of the female experience in any media and maybe it's a personal thing but Yotsuyuu really parallels my WoL. Yotsuyuu is just female rage to the max I love her and I completely understand her. Yeah, if I grew up like THAT I would have also turned on my own country. (/j)

Actually let's circle back to ffxiv girls getting done dirty by the writing because Y'SHTOLA???? HELLO????? My girl did NOTHING for the SECOND EXPANSION IN A ROW????? Y'shtola was out of commission for literally all of Heavensward and only came back during the Dragonsong questlines for convenience AND THEN she gets cucked after the big inciting incident of Stormblood and just doesn't wake up until (from what I remember) the final battle??? WHAT THE FUCK MAN??? I think Y'shtola in general just has kind of a big writing problem as well but like her characterization is so good I can't help but like her and that can be said for a lot of ffxiv characters especially this expansion.

Aiyaa anyways, tldr Stormblood overall plot was super ambitious and mostly good, character writing fell kinda flat this expansion. Stormblood is also unfortunately sandwiched by two objectively better expansions bc Heavensward is so fucking hype and Shadowbringers is... Shadowbringers. Yeah I finished Shadowbringers and I kinda feel for Stormblood lmao like how do you immediately get followed up by THAT. It's not even a competition. I feel like Stormblood was really long- which I do appreciate bc uh I sped through Shadowbringers in like four days 💀. Pacing is very important and I think Stormblood needed to be long to be believable. It feels like it takes span across several months which makes sense because we're fighting two fucking revolutions.

However, I think Stormblood really wins when it comes to the trials and raids. None of the dungeons really stuck out to me BUT THE TRIALS. Ohhh my god. Susano my fucking beloveddddd ugh that fight is so fun. Also the Yojimbo/Gilgamesh trial from the Hilibrand quests is a great time it's always a good day whenever I get it in roulettes. I have yet to do the Alliance raids bc I kindaaaa got distracted with Shadowbringers but I think the Omega raids as well as the accompanying questline was a delight. If Stormblood wins over ANY expansion it's for the content. I've already finished the Shadowbingers raids (the lesbians got me) but I think the Omega raids are still a lot more fun. As for the Alliance raids, well, Stormblood has to top the Nier raids for me because I think they're GLORIOUS. But yk what I'm sure it will bc from what I've gathered everyone says Stormblood has some of the best content.

[northwest-cryptid]

You know what, no I'll go on record and just say that;

Mabinogi hands down IS the best MMORPG.

Now sure, you can immediately call me bias; and I can literally tell you that is an overused argument. Truth is, yes I have a bias, I have a bias as someone who has played literally hundreds of MMOs, and has never found one that can hold a candle to Mabinogi. Yes this includes games like WoW or FFXIV, and even lesser known but still popular titles like Path of Exiles or Warframe or even Tree of Savior.

But why exactly do I say that Mabinogi is the best MMORPG on the market? Well I think a good MMORPG does a few things, firstly I think any game that wants to be an RPG that lets you make a character needs to give you a sense of identity. Second, I believe an MMO needs to create an interesting environment for playing alongside others; whether they're directly in your party or not. Lastly, no good RPG is complete without going on a grand adventure with proper noticeable growth.

Now, before we begin to really dive into this essay of a post, I want to cover something real quick because I think it's important. When I say Mabinogi is the best MMORPG, and I'm saying that I've played games like WoW or FFXIV. I'm not trying to say those games are bad. I will concede that direct translation and definition would suggest I believe they are "worse" than Mabinogi, and yes I do believe that. However I'm not trying to tell you that your favorite MMORPG is bad or garbage or whatever. Please do not take my personal opinion to be slander of your favorite game. For a lot of players, an MMORPG can be special to them, the characters and the world can mean something to them; and I don't want to be some hater when it comes to your favorite place on the internet.

I'm not coming into this as someone who's naive about the world of MMOs, I know the good and the bad of them, not ALL of them; but a good lot of them. However I want to make something clear; if I went into why other games were "worse" than Mabinogi I would immediately be ignored. Let's say you really like FFXIV, that's fine; it's a good game, I play it myself and am excited about the latest expansion coming out in a few days. Now if I tell you that I think it's kind of ridiculous how much they've simplified the game to the point no class feels truly unique mechanically, or how I used to like AST more before they took away our card's uniqueness and such. It's entirely possible you would stick with me and understand that, even if our opinions differ; what I'm saying is true to me even if it's not to you. Sure maybe you hated having RNG in the RNG healer class, maybe you disliked having to decide if you wanted to spread that buff to the whole party, or enhance that buff for one person, or extend the buff. Maybe you like it more now that everything sort of does the same thing. I'm not talking down to you or being sarcastic when I say, that's fine. We just feel differently about it. Thing is, I've very likely lost you; It's unlikely you hear all of that and not think I'm just some FFXIV hater. I'm not, but it's unlikely you think that way after hearing all my gripes with it. I wouldn't blame you for thinking someone who just tore into a game likely dislikes the game, that's a fair assumption.

If at any point I do sort of dig into a game for it's changes, mechanics, or just how it works. I want you to understand I only feel that way because I do enjoy those games and wish they didn't do things that made playing them feel less fun to me. Those last two words are possibly the most important there; this whole post is strictly opinion, it's my opinion. We don't need to share that opinion, but I hope you find what I say to be at least interesting. I don't see much reason to sit through the whole thing otherwise.

Oh... and one more thing, if you follow this link and download the game now it should be done roughly by the time you finish reading this, probably; maybe? <- That's not even an affiliate link; I'm not sponsored to say anything I'm saying here, I wish I was though.

Game Website Link -> Right here, if you need to make an account.

Now without further delay, let's get into my first key point of why Mabinogi is the best MMORPG on the market right now.

The first order of business in any MMORPG will also be the first thing we talk about here, creating a character. You can't step foot into a world of fantasy without having an avatar to represent yourself. If this individual is to be your fantasy self then the game better have enough customization options to really let you be you. Mabinogi has plenty, from skin color, player weight, and even age; to the colors of the garments you wear.

Let's start with that first bit I mentioned in the introductory paragraph, creating an identity. Mabinogi is a game that truly allows for a diverse cast of characters, when you first make a character the system will unfortunately be fairly limited. Yet when you're released into the game proper and complete the tutorial you will soon find that it's extremely open ended. Your character will start at an age between 10 and 17 (but can go to 25 and even further if you wish), which you'll be able to select once per day, or once per week depending on your level. Age has a very slight almost non-existent effect on your stats, but will mostly determine how tall you are. As a quick example, here is my human main at 18 (left) alongside 2 other players. While I cannot see their age, I can tell their race is human; which allows me to at least guess one is roughly 10 - 13 (middle) and the other is likely anywhere between 15 - 16 (right).

When it comes to skin color, Mabinogi is one of the few games that has a great selection. From the realistic to the fantastical; there's almost certainly something for everyone here.

I've seen light skinned characters, dark skinned characters, tanned and red skinned characters. I've partied up with fantasy demons and zombies. I buy my dyes from a player who's literally pure black with blinding white eyes; a small imp-like character who's style I absolutely adore and who's dyes are top quality. While it doesn't even begin to cover the extensive list, I thought I'd take a few screenshots to help show what I mean.

Now I understand a lot of you may feel like your character doesn't truly reflect you as a person unless you can be the right weight for you. Mabinogi has you covered here as well, albeit with a slightly convoluted system. I will openly admit that this game is flawed, it is by no means a perfect game; but I take this as a sort of "better than nothing" approach. Food in Mabinogi will grant slight stat bonuses, but underneath those stat points and flavor text there's a hidden mechanic.

Food provides players with Upper and Lower muscle gain or loss, as well as a Weight gain or loss. While food is not the only method of gaining or losing both weight and muscle, it is the most common, and arguably easiest method. Players have many guides on the internet that explain which foods to eat in which order to gain the body type you want, this even includes the wiki.

It's also important to note that weight does not effect your stats, the food you eat absolutely does give a small temporary bonus. However your character can be as fat or skinny as you'd like without ever effecting your ability to perform any task.

I would be remiss not to mention another feature of creating an identity, and it does feel like this is an appropriate place to do it. Every day, or every week (depending on your level) you can preform something called a Rebirth, your level will return to 1 and you will be allowed to change some things about your character or leave them as they are.

This will unfortunately readjust your weight settings, which is why we see so many guides on how to get the ideal weight you're looking for. Thankfully it is by no means difficult to achieve this weight gain once more and will take no more than a few minutes after rebirthing.

As a quick note I won't spend too much time on, for my fellow genderfluid and NB friends out there; you can actively change your gender whenever you rebirth (though obviously you don't have to be NB or Genderfluid to enjoy this feature) and there is a good amount of items specific for crossdressing if that is something you'd prefer. That list of items is far more than your generic maid outfit for men; including everything from dresses to common skirts, with women getting suits, hoodies, and everything in between. If you switch genders you will even get an achievement specifically titled "Genderfluid" which I genuinely appreciate quite a lot.

Speaking of clothing, Mabinogi allows you to use a Style Tab when putting on gear. Your style tab won't give you any stats, but allows you to use the look of whatever is equip to the selected slot over the actual gear worn under it. The Style Tab is free for all players, so you can look your best no matter what you might be doing. Though I suppose those clothes wouldn't really be your own unless you had some kind of say over how they looked right?

Thankfully Mabinogi features a robust dying system in which you can actually use hex coded colors on just about any part of an outfit. You can also preview these changes directly on your character prior to using a dye.

There's a specific, and short; list of items that can't be dyed. Otherwise it's common for every item in the game to have at least one or two dye slots where you can customize their colors however you'd like.

You can do the same for your weapons, even giving them skins to change how they look; and then dying those skins to look just how you want them. A good weapon should match your best outfit after all, right?

Clothing items additionally come in the form of helmets, gloves, boots, main body, robes/back slot, face accessories, and then two more accessories that typically float to either side or behind you. This means you can mix and match everything you wear. You're not stuck trying to make some minor hat fit the entire rest of your armor that came as one solid piece, and you're certainly not struggling to match colors when only a small part of your armor actually dyes to the color you want.

Your identity in Mabinogi is what you see fit to make it, and while it would make this segment incredibly long, more so than it already is; the customization doesn't even end here. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, you can actually customize how often and how many times your character will blink. There is no other game on the market that lets you create a character the way Mabinogi does, not while still being an entire world outside of your character for you to explore. Speaking of that world, before we get to exploring just what this game has in store for you on your adventure; I'd like to talk about the characters who aren't you. No I don't mean the NPCs, I mean the other players, and how they impact the game you play even when they're not in your party.

Speaking of other players, to really hit home just how different everyone can look I ran around and took a few pictures of players I found in just this one small town.

You may be wondering how much these other players actually matter, in a lot of MMORPGs other players are merely there to fill out the party for dungeons or assist with world encounters. In Mabinogi they do that as well, however there is a constantly evolving economy both on the player ran Auction House, and for things like the Commerce system. Players can also run their own shops, join you for a jam session to play some music together; and even burn some items for a campfire spirit summoned at a group bonfire.

While the NPCs in this game are fantastic, the players are the lifeblood of the game, as is the case with any good MMORPG. From guilds and parties running content together, to the occasional camp you'll come across while exploring the world. Players populate Mabinogi and their effects are felt whether or not you're actively a part of their game.

One of the features most effected by this is Commerce; a trade system which lets players transport trade goods between major cities and towns. If an item is being traded to a town more than others, it's price will drop and you may find better deals by taking it to far away cities. Though you'll encounter bandits on the road, and due to carrying heavy trade goods you'll be a good bit weaker than you usually find yourself. This makes traveling in groups much easier, with those who use air travel particularly; in need of parties thanks to the dragons who will come after your hoard of trade goods. If a bandit is to steal your loot, you need not worry; as other players can take up the role of bounty hunters and track down these bandits at their hideouts to get your stuff back. Bounty Hunting is an easy way to make some cash and also help out your fellow players who may have been wronged by a poorly placed bandit or two.

What about production? Surely I don't need anyone to assist me with making my goods. Though, a second opinion never hurts; you will actually get a boost to production success rate while in a party with other players who also have production skills. In fact, this is a great way to make some strong gear; as products you make will get bonus stats over those found in stores. This does mean that the player economy is largely populated by products made by other players. If you do a good enough job on the item you're making, you'll even leave a signature behind which can be seen by the individuals who buy and use that gear. This is a minor touch, but it's one I greatly appreciate. Anyone can have a really cool demon sword, but only I have a blade forged specifically by my good friend; in hopes it would aid me in my quest. The connection between myself and my party is ever so slightly more apparent, even when they're not around; I always have a small piece of them with me.

Players attending the banquet, an event held weekly that awards free EXP and a lottery raffle at the Tara Castle; can actually donate their food to the catering tables. This is a great time to hang out with fellow players, get some free levels; and of course eat significantly too much food.

Surely that's all, right? Well no, believe it or not players actually have a hand in many things. If you want to enchant some gear but you don't have the enchanting rank to do it yourself; you can request another player to assist you. Perhaps you're an alchemist needing to create alchemy crystals of special magic skills; another player can cast that magic nearby and let you synthesize it into a crystal. If you're using the Jam Session action other players can join you with their own instruments when you play music; automatically matching whatever song you're playing. There's a fashion contest where the winner is put on display in full costume right in the middle of the major cities for all to see. There's even mechanical changes to things like magic, if you're casting Ice Bolt while I cast Fire Bolt next to you; we instead both gain a charge of Fusion Bolt. This form of magic combines the properties of your Ice Bolt and my Fire Bolt into a more powerful version of our respective magics, all because we happened to cast at the same time nearby each other.

If you enjoy music then you might find yourself reading through the Bard Bulletin Board, where players can post the compositions for their custom music. You can transcribe this music yourself and play it whenever you wish, though you can also use the MabiNovel Bulletin to read books written and published by your fellow players as well. This does in fact mean that you too could become a composer, or even an author and post your works to the respective boards.

Players can also obtain their own small piece of the world via Homesteads. These function as a sort of player owned housing system, and they allow you to do everything from growing farms to hosting your own production stations with boosted success rates. Of course the owner of the Homestead can allow either friends, or anyone; to come and gather from their herb patches, farm animals, and various logging, mining, and production sites. Meaning that other players not only offer you an expanded world to explore, but potentially gathering and production spots that may not otherwise be available at your current location.

While Homesteads start quite small, they're nothing to scoff at when fully upgraded; allowing for even a proper house, pets, and partners; to be placed on the fully customizable property. Some items will even passively grant you bonuses to your stats or provide your gathering and production stations bonuses to gathering and success rates.

Alright great, so you have a character who's uniquely you; you even have a place in the world among other players. However what good is that if you don't have a world worth existing in. You're here to play an MMORPG, if you wanted to simply dress up an avatar and exist in a space with others; you'd play something like VRChat or Second Life, or maybe you'd go download that Sims multiplayer mod. You want an RPG! An adventure! A living world to explore and be a part of!

Well Mabinogi's got you covered there as well believe it or not. Now where you fall in terms of enjoying the story is fairly up in the air; I know some people who love it and others who could take it or leave it. That's entirely fair and I don't blame them for feeling that way. To avoid potential spoilers I will be saying up front that if this has been enough for you and you're willing to trust me that this game is worth your time. Skip ahead to the Q and A if you think you need it, or go download and play the game now if you didn't already do that. Hell you can even add me in game if you want some people to play with who are going to be chill with newbies. If you need a bit more though, then keep reading because you might just like what I have to say about this game's journey.

When you start Mabinogi you'll be told you're this being from the stars, something that cannot die; and therefore has importance here. You may literally be an immortal entity, but you won't feel like it. You'll start with only a handful of skills, and with this game having no real class system it's not so straight forward how to get more of them. You'll stumble upon a few while just exploring the world, but others might require you to actually engage with the world around you. If that sounds exciting, don't worry; we've only just begun to explain the whole system of interacting with NPCs.

See the game of Mabinogi is before all else, the story of you; your character the journey you go on. So it's fitting that you keep notes in a Memo, this Memo is written in the perspective of your character; and will keep tabs on what you've been through. Each entry in the Memo is given a Key Word; and these key words will be given to you as you experience new places and things. Whenever you engage with an NPC you can start a conversation, this allows you to flip through your Memo and select a Key Word to speak about with them. Asking them about their private story will reveal this character's lore and backstory, at least; if they like you enough to share that information with you. NPCs do actually contain a system of trust with the player, and if you befriend an NPC they'll even let you access a secret shop where they sell exclusive items. Other Key Words include things like Nearby Rumors where you can obtain gossip and quests; or perhaps you want to ask about Part Time Jobs. Whether you're working for the town blacksmith to deliver some refined ore, or you're gathering wool to make bandages for the town healer; Part Time Jobs offer you fitting rewards for the work you perform, and allow you to even unlock various skills down the line if you perform well enough. Which brings us to another Key Word, the Skills Key Word. Skills is a Key Word that will ask an NPC if they believe they could teach you anything, if you see a knight you can ask them about Skills and maybe learn a new technique for your swordsmanship. Asking a chef about skills may result in them giving you a quest that has you running out to make flour and bake some bread. These methods are meant to immerse you in the world and teach you how the mechanics behind these skills works, rather than just saying you're level 16 so now you can bake bread.

Some NPCs will even react to your title, thanking you for the deeds you've done or perhaps judging you for why you'd do such a thing. This is because every NPC in the game, no matter how minor; has a story to tell. They all have unique theme music that contains a name referencing something about the character and their story. The more you talk to these NPCs and they open up to you, the more you'll learn about the world you're a part of.

However, small NPC stories don't amount to much in the grand scheme of an epic adventure do they? Well don't worry, now we're getting into the main scenario quests, and the lasting impact they have on you as a character. Have you ever felt like you should have maybe gotten a new power, or been recognized for the deeds you've accomplished after you literally save the world; only to return to business as usual? Well Mabinogi actually considered all of that, not only do you get a title that NPCs might react to, as I mentioned previously; but the Main Scenario Questline actually gives you everything from transformations to special unique items. This is again the last chance to not have spoilers as I will be covering at the very least Generation 2: Paladin and Generation 10: Goddess of Light through Generation 12: Return of the Hero.

Okay now that everyone who doesn't want spoilers is gone, allow me to tell you about just a few of these MSQ rewards; of course jumping right to the good stuff without context makes it meaningless. So let's start with a quick summary of Generation 1 that's roughly spoiler free.

Generation 1: Advent of the Goddess starts with The Goddess asking you for help, then you save her. See I kept it spoiler free! You're given the title "[Player name] Who Saved The Goddess" for doing this which grants you some nice stats, but the real reward is that you get to move on to Generation 2: Paladin. Well wow, that's kind of an underwhelming title isn't it? You just finished Advent of the Goddess and now you're on... Paladin? Huh okay, well this quest line is all about a Paladin of legend. You spend the generation becoming someone worthy of the Paladin's armor, searching for his old armor, and even reliving some old memories of his. All to figure out who he is and solve the grand mystery that sparked this whole generation in the first place. The political drama of a potentially puppeteered prince who may actually be dead from the start... Okay yea listen it's more interesting when you actually play it. The real plot twist of this whole generation however is when you figure out who that old Paladin actually is, and more importantly that they're still alive. In the final dungeon of this generation when you face off against the final encounter he is not the one who saves the day. Rather it is you who gets to don the armor of the legendary Paladin and in a moment I love, you get to save him. This transformation is actually a fairly minor stat boost at first. You're not some overpowered god, you're still you; just powered up. When you complete the generation you will find yourself with a wholly new power available to you, the power to become that very same Paladin; now with it's own skills to rank to make it even stronger than it already was.

Yes, just for clearing Generation 2 you now have an entirely new power unlocked for you. The power to, once a day in game time; transform into your Paladin form. If you're an Elf you transform instead into a Falcon, and Giants transform into a Beast. These new forms come with their own unique skills and properties. However you don't lose access to the skills and abilities you already have. This will be a running theme throughout Mabinogi, you only get more; you don't get locked out from being you. If the Paladin aesthetic isn't your deal, and you want things a little different, don't worry; Generation 3: Dark Knight might be more your style. However, this begs the question; are Dark Knights and Paladins the same thing flavored differently? Nope. Sure they are both the same Transformation at the end of the day, but their inner workings are very different. To give you a quick example of what I mean, Paladins always get the same stats every time, but they have no specialized skill they can use while transform. They're essentially your generic stronger form, with buffed stats and nothing more, dull but reliable. Dark Knights instead roll for their stats every time they transform, meaning sometimes you're going to have much stronger physical defense, and other times a much higher magic damage stat. If you're interested in the specifics, here you go:

Dark Knights also don't get forcibly removed from their transformation when their timer is up, rather they go into a state called "Disarmed" where they will take heavy damage over time, but this can be healed if they wish to power through it and keep fighting in their transformed state. They additionally obtain Control of Darkness which lets them tame an enemy to fight for them for a short time.

The Generation 2 transforms (Paladin, Dark Knight, Falcon, and Beast) all have 4 tiers of their transformation, dependent on the skills rank. Each boasting it's own unique title and appearance that builds on their central aesthetic and motif. This means a player who's max ranked Paladin will transform into a Champion, or for Dark Knights, they'll become an Infra Black. I do enjoy the morals of the game being muddier than to just say Paladin is bright and shiny and good, and Dark Knight is well, dark and edgy and bad. As you go through the game you'll learn a lot about the politics of the gods, and understand their moral values a lot better. Which leads us to our next major upgrade.

In Generation 10: Goddess of Light, we take the fight to the gods, and between Generation 10 and Generation 12, we'll even obtain the Sword of the Gods, a then usable sword weapon which ironically may not even be as powerful as some of our own gear by the time we get it; but more specifically we'll decline godhood and become a Demigod. However it's a bit deeper than that, as you'll find that at the end of Generation 10 you're confronted by your doppelganger. Upon defeating it, you gain the power to assume the form of a Demigod; which yes, you can in fact transform into while also transformed into your Generation 2 state. Not only does this form regen your HP, MP, and Stamina; but it additionally allows the use of special skills that depend on which of the gods you're allied with. Those who are being supported by the Goddess Neamhain will obtain skills such as Spear of Light, and Fury of Light; however if you decide to be supported by the Goddess Morrighan you instead obtain Wings of Eclipse, and Wings of Rage. Of course you won't have a choice right away, when you first obtain the ability to become a Demigod, you'll be defaulted to working with Naemhain's skills. They're not bad, but Morrighan isn't going to just give you her skills so easily so if we want options we'll need to get her to work with us. Once we clear Generation 11: Sword of the Gods; we in fact obtain the Sword of the Gods itself. This is important since we'll need it if we're going to fight the gods. Now in Generation 12 we are asked to fight alongside Morrighan to bring down the King of the Gods, Nuadha. For clearing this generation, you'll obtain the right to be supported by Morrighan; which is kind of funny since if you're a Dark Knight it shows you've actually betrayed her by giving up the path of the Paladin in favor of following Dark Knight. I guess she can overlook that given you just helped her defeat the King of the Gods.

Surely the upgrades stop there right? Well no, actually; but you probably knew that already. See there's actually currently, up to G25, with G26 on an active countdown to release as I make this post. With even more transformations, special skills, and some really incredible upgrades that change even the way we engage with crafting; the generation quests are more than worth your time and leave you feeling more powerful with each completion.

Mabinogi isn't just having you go through these quests to complete the story, it's also actively making you more and more the proper image of this immortal hero of legend. It's giving you a power boost on par with some silly shonen anime. As much as you may cringe to hear me make a stupid joke from the early internet; yes the Milletian could beat Goku. Sorry I had to make the dumb joke after making the shonen anime reference you know? These powers aren't ever restricted from you either; it's not as if you suddenly can't use your Paladin transformation in a dungeon, nor are you locked out from using Demigod to regen some stamina just to pick some flowers. Mabinogi is the story of your character, and it gives you so many upgrades and power scale boosts because it genuinely wants you to feel like a powerful hero going up against powerful enemies.

Now I will admit there's something to be said about the balance in some of the later Generation quests, especially because you can skip over a lot of them. They absolutely do plan for you to have the full arsenal of Generation specific skills by the time you reach Generation 20+ but dare I say, I think that's fair. We actually see this in other games too, it's just more allowed from other games because they do a better job of hiding their barrier to entry.

What I mean is that FFXIV is like Dark Souls 3, it's not going to let me go somewhere I'm not actually ready for, because it knows I won't have any fun getting my ass kicked but it's really linear. While Mabinogi is like Elden Ring, it looks at me saying "I'm ready I'm ready put me in coach!" While facing down against an actual god well before I'm... you know, actually ready. Yet it just says "go get 'em champ!" Only to watch me become a pancake two seconds later and think "yea this balance is garbage." Truth is, if I go back and do the content I'm suppose to do first; I will be more than ready for this content when I reach it. However I might actually be able to clear this content when I'm not supposed to yet, and Mabinogi; much like Elden Ring, lets me try. We see this same type of barrier to entry in how FFXIV says "hey man you can't run this until you're Item Level 280 sorry." That feels boring when you just want to run the thing, you don't want to go back and "grind" for item levels, but in reality it's just stopping you from trying and failing repeatedly. Which makes sense for the type of game FFXIV is, where other players are a requirement, and you don't want to hold them back because you thought you could do it with less.

The other truth is, with Mabinogi; not every path to success is going to look the same. I might spend my time training my combat skills, slowly saving up the small stat gains to get to where my base strength is at 500 and I can deal some nice damage. My friend who doesn't want to touch combat skills can absolutely focus on his cooking, slowly but surely becoming a master chef as I've become a master warrior. Now he can make a catering dish that boosts his strength to 500 all the same. We're not going to be dealing the same damage since things like weapon type, and skill ranks will come into play; but this does mean he could achieve the same goals as me in a totally different way. Personally I'm a huge fan of this, it lets every single character feel unique; you can truly become your own kind of player here.

Whether it's weaving your magic skills into your archery gameplay, or becoming an apothecary bard who uses musical buffs and potions to level the playing field. Perhaps you want to train your Ninja and Chain Blade skills to keep you at a distance, debuff enemies, and set explosive traps. You could even just play the game with life skills, relaxing by the pond as a master fisher; before tailoring a new outfit. All of these methods are entirely valid ways to play the game, they all give the necessary stats to enjoy whatever content you wish to, and yes they all give you levels.

It is for these reasons, and honestly; many others. That I have played this game since it's beta, for literally half my lifetime; and why I believe this is genuinely hands down the best MMORPG on the market right now. I urge you to give this game even 15 or 30 minutes of your time, don't get caught up on the old dated graphics, don't fret if you don't understand everything right away. The game is complex, it has a ton of mechanics that mix and intertwine to create a unique experience. The things you might find troublesome at first are exactly what makes the game so fun and unique when you understand them. Given the average internet speed and size of Mabinogi, should you have downloaded this game at the start of this reading it should be about done by now. If not, you've got the Q and A down there for any potential follow up questions you may have. So go ahead and jump into the world of Erinn, if you stop by Dunbarton on Channel 9 you might catch someone from the Landsbetween guild, feel free to stop and say hi; we're a friendly bunch.

A quick Q&A for things I've been asked frequently and might answer some questions or possible concerns you have about the game.

Q: I see a weird banner with P on it, does that mean I require a premium account to use that skin/hair color? A: No. That symbol signifies that it would cost Pon. A cash shop currency that is given to the player fairly regularly. You in fact get a gift box with about 20 Pon when you reach an early level milestone such as 50 or 100. It costs anywhere between 3 - 5 to change eye, hair, and skin color. Of course it only costs you to change to a color that uses the P banner, if a color you would like doesn't have any symbol (either a P for Pon or a B for a Beauty Coupon) then it's completely free. Q: I see a lot of cool characters, how much of a grind is it; or do I need to pay real money to customize my character? A: You can play Mabinogi entirely free to play, gacha boxes do contain high end loot and good in-game items. However the Auction House easily allows you to buy these items from players using entirely free to play gold when a new gacha comes out. While it might seem intimidating to make 1m at first. You'll quickly learn you can make 1m passively per week + any actual activity you do in this game earns you quite a lot. A single run of a dungeon will net me between 50k - 350k depending on drops and my actual in game luck stat. This is on top of the 160k I can make for free just logging in and doing Fynni Blossoming for the day. Of course, the higher your skills and total level; the easier it will be to make money. Q: I don't want to do a specific part of this game, can I still enjoy the other features? A: Yes. Entirely, in fact; I'm doing a challenge run on a character who's not allowed to rank up any combat or damage skills. I've already completed the first major questline of the game without any problem. I will say that your ability to play the game will directly reflect how much knowledge of the mechanics you have. This isn't to say you should scour the wiki for days on end, unless you're into that. However I would argue that having a few friends to play with, or perhaps actually taking the time to read through skills and practice with what you do enjoy doing; will help you to get by not doing the stuff you don't want to. You really can play this game however you want, it just may require you to have a better understanding of it's inner workings. You're always welcome to ask me about stuff whether that's here on tumblr or in game.

Q: My UI and HUD are this weird plastic blue color and I kinda hate it. Can I fix that or am I stuck with this? A: In the settings menu the game allows you to change the color of the UI and HUD to fit your liking. You can also enable various hotbars and disable others. Additionally you can change the game's resolution, and even pick out which version of the OST you'd like to use of which there are three distinct versions.

Q: Does this game have a meta I should worry about?

A: Yes and no, yes it has a meta; no you shouldn't worry about it. If you're really concerned I recommend picking Giant as your race and Close Combat as your starting Talent. I didn't go over Talents in this essay but they're sort of specializations, not classes. They don't limit anything you can do, but rather give you 2x EXP towards the skills they govern. Giants have a fair bit more strength and HP, they're your standard tanky race. While they may not be as fast on their feet as nimble Elves; they can take a good few more blows, and even have racial skills specific to gathering up enemies. Close Combat doubles down on what Giants are already good at, giving you more HP and Strength. Start out by ranking your essential basics, those being Defense, Smash, Counter, Windmill, and honestly throw Assault Slash in for good measure; since you'll want to often combo these skills together. DO NOT SLEEP ON DEFENSE, it is a heavily overlooked but extremely powerful skill. If you feel like you're struggling in combat, grab a shield and rank your shield mastery; even light armor mastery will be more than enough so long as you have a decent shield and the necessary ranks in the skills. You'll soon feel like a steel wall of defense that not even major storyline bosses can put a dent into.

Q: What are the differences between Elves, Humans, and Giants? Can I change my race after I make my character, since I can change my gender?

A: First off, no; sadly you cannot change your race after making a character. This is become of the racial differences. The major ones are as follows...

Elves can use invisibility to hide themselves, they'll fire 2 arrows as opposed to 1 when using archery; and they obtain a unique poison arrow that spreads to nearby targets when fired. They move faster than other races and have stats better geared towards Magic and Archery; though that won't matter too much. They become a Falcon after Generation 2 letting them use Elven Magic Missile, and cannot use 2 handed weapons nor can they dual wield.

Giants can use stomp which is a fairly week AoE ability, they also get Taunt, Stampede, and Wind Guard as unique skills. They can use two handed weapons in one hand letting them use a shield with them, and can dual wield blunt objects. They have stats geared towards a close combat play style, though again that won't matter too much later on. They become a Beast after Generation 2 letting them use Giant Full Swing, they cannot use bows but have thrown spears instead.

Humans cannot learn the specific racial skills of the other two races. They can dual wield swords; and don't have equipment restrictions outside of not being able to dual wield blunt objects and not being able to use the throwing spears. They have stats geared to an all around play style, which as you know; doesn't really matter much. They become a Paladin after Generation 2, or they can become a Dark Knight which gives them the active skill Control of Darkness which lets them tame an enemy to fight for them.

Q: Is this game Pay to Win?

A: Is any MMORPG not Pay to Win? Alright, real answer; let's break it down. Does Mabinogi have Pay to Win properties? Absolutely it does. Most if not all MMORPGs do. FFXIV has the paid level boosts just like Mabinogi has paid gacha boxes with end game loot. I'm not trying to pick on FFXIV here, it's just what I'm familiar with because I also play it. Truth is, Mabinogi gives you a lot of gold for just doing content, whether you're a crafter who can sell your wares for millions, just doing daily Fynni gems for 1m a week per character, or combat focused and running your Lord missions with boosts for a few million in a couple hours. So while I'd argue that it absolutely is pay to win, not only do you not need those minor boosts from the gear until long into the later generations; you also will have the money to buy it off players long before you actually need it. That's if you need it at all, since you can easily get ahead in this game by just engaging with the many skills and mechanics. If I had to give this a simple yes or no, the answer is yes; but I really don't think it's nearly as bad in Mabinogi as it is in other games. Especially considering how small the PvP scene in this game is. You don't need to pay to win when someone else in your party absolutely did, or maybe you just pay in gold to win. However I'd argue that it's pay to win FASTER than others. Just take it slow and enjoy the journey. Every game is pay to win, Mabinogi handles it better than most.

Q: Is there any reason for me to not like this game?

A: Yea the devs haven't hired me to write articles like this for their marketing. Boycott worthy honestly; they should pay me for this, or at least make me a soul streamer, you know? (┬┬﹏┬┬) ^ This last one is a joke, you know; in case reading comprehension.

[morsking]

so i see you have a very similar intersection of interests to me, therefore i must ask: thoughts on oberon fgo meeting titania ffxiv.

nothing good would come about that, especially if he's meeting titania as they exist in the shadowbringers msq. that would be the most thematically compatible version of them he could meet, anyway. lostbelt 6 takes place in a land that has already died but the moment it permanently vanishes from existence has been delayed, so it stagnates in a perpetual twilight where morning (a new beginning after the end) never comes. titania's existence in shadowbringers is quite the same. they're not quite a fairy anymore, but also not quite a sineater. but the world cannot move on so long as titania doesn't die because as long as they exist light aether will continue to suffocate the land, but killing them is also the best thing you can do for them (as evidenced by the fact they are able to reincarnate into a new faerie in the pixie allied society quest). in that sense, like britain, titania is destined to die.

oberon would find this situation cruel and despicable, because even though this faerie is called "titania" they are not the titania who is uniquely suited to love the eccentric faerie king oberon. pixie titania is not a substitute for the faerie queen, so once again oberon is denied the better half (a reason to exist outside of ending existence) he yearns for.

apart from that, the entire reason why oberon wants to destroy proper human history is because it doomed titania to exist only as a fictional character unable to take living form as a servant. proper human history deemed titania useless to its existence beyond disposable entertainment, and that he cannot forgive. for another being named "titania" to have to die and the world go on without without them would probably mean oberon would oppose the death of titania for the salvation of the first. however, i think that because he is conceptually "oberon", the faerie king who loves the very concept of "titania", and also "vortigern", the abyssal worm whose mission is to devour the world and kill it for good, he might resolve the contradiction of those roles much like he does in avalon le fae by killing titania himself and then eating the first, frustrating the rejoining and then moving on to swallowing the source too. that would involve a lot of subterfuge and manipulation, especially trying to outmaneuver and out-bullshit known shady manipulator emet-selch and the wary and mysterious exarch.

you could try to convince him not to do these things by saying if titania dies, then they're free to reincarnate. but the problem with that is titania ceases to exist anyway, leaving behind the memories and experiences and the identity that made the pixie known as titania, titania. an lad has some memories as titania, but they expressly are not titania. "if the world doesn't have titania in it then what's the point?" he'd reason. and anyway oberon cannot ignore that his role is to bring things to an end as his sacred and terrible mission imprinted into his very being. it would be like telling fire not to burn, or wind to blow, or rain to fall.

so yeah, tl;dr is it would be a real bad time for him. it'd be a great story for exactly the kind of oberon fan who is a sadist.

[shivapvoid]

Why the Pelupelu Allied Society Quests Are Bad

Disclaimer : I am not qualified to talk about these topics. It’s possible that I’m not right in some of these points, so take this with a grain of salt and do some thinking yourself. This is only my opinion. I have no doubt that there are more qualified people than me to make these points and talk about them, as I’m only an art student with little experience with the wider world. However, as I’ve seen very few people talk about the Pelupelu Allied Society Quests as a whole, other than hearsay of people on Twitter, I’ve decided to compile a few words about the below points.

P.S. When I was writing this, I hadn’t (and still haven’t) finished all of the Pelupelu Quests. As of posting this, my rank in it its still Sworn.

everything is under the cut.

Problem 1 : The Tourism Feel

The “tourism feel” in Dawntrail, and its sidequests, is a point that many players of FFXIV have pointed out. Whether it be the overuse of tacos as general food, even though there should be other foods that people enjoy eating, or the fact that the people of Tural (or should I say, the FFXIV devs,) flaunt their culture as if it is an exotic and mysterious thing that nobody has ever seen before (it really isn’t), the tourist feel that I myself have played through is pervading and invasive in Dawntrail’s entire experience to me, and spoils it entirely.

I will only be talking about the Pelupelu Allied Society Quests in here, so that shall be my main point of focus, not the main story. This brings me to my main point in these Allied Society Quests. The Turali Travel Agency in Kozama’uka. It’s framed as a way to make funds to fix the broken bridge between Kozama’uka and Tuliyollal, to help Kozama’uka rebuild from the great storm they had, and to help fellow Turali know each other better, as the different factions barely know each other, living so far from each other as they do. Now, this in and of itself isn’t a problem – until you realise that the residents and citizens of Tural are more than capable of rebuilding and knowing each other themselves.

So why is the Turali Travel Agency introduced? It’s because of a Pelupelu of course, by the name of Liplu. Liplu wants to take, in her words, a business opportunity to help achieve the goals that I stated above.

She states,

“Our goal is to help revitalise this community as it attempts to rebuild after the great storm. Promoting Kozama’uka as a tourist destination will provide a much-needed source of income for the region, and with it, all the benefits that follow.”

My first thought when I read this dialogue was “I didn’t realise income was the issue.” This nebulous problem of “money” never came up or was addressed when we first come to Kozama’uka in the main story of Dawntrail, or when you progress in the Pelupelu Quests. Sure, you could say that they were busy with the Rite of Succession, but the fact is that it was never a problem in the first place. Why am I so confident in this fact? It’s clear that the Hanu Hanu trade their reeds or fish to make a living, so why do they not simply continue with their way of life and rebuild their village that way? Why do they not ask the Moblins and their myriad of crafters to help rebuild the bridge?

Or better yet, why not just requisition funds from the Dawnservants, who would be very eager to help, to rebuild the bridge? It doesn’t make sense. The Pelupelu Allied Society Quests are simply a way to shoehorn the Warrior of Light into helping something that doesn’t need to be helped. Simply put, the Pelupelu Society Quests are effectively useless and an incredibly lazy way to storytell, since the Warrior of Light is not needed here, but is still being framed as ‘being useful to the region’. They, as a Warrior of Light, do not know this region. They are not a citizen of Tural. They do not know their way of life. To be framed as a paragon of ‘knowing culture’ because the Warrior of Light has traveled far and wide is a false statement, and effectively turns the Warrior of Light into a foreigner meddling in matters outside of their jurisdiction.

If you are not convinced, let me compare the Pelupelu Allied Society Quests to a rather similar Allied Society Questline from the last expansion of Endwalker. The Arkasodara Allied Society Quests. The Arkasodara Allied Society Quests are only similar in a surface level – The Warrior of Light is enlisted to help a wayward band of Arkasodara who like to race with hippos. The player then find these wayward souls and bring them to Kancana, who gives them work to do, namely, which is delivering packages to other people.

The Warrior of Light, here, is simply helping them bring packages to and fro. There is no other involvement whatsoever in their work other than in key moments, not because they are a Warrior of Light, but because they are an adventurer. There is a clear story being told in the Arkasodara Quests, involving the Hippo Riders and other Gajasura who were previously living alone without outside help in Thavnair.

While in the Pelupelu Quests, the Warrior of Light is constantly lauded as an individual who can fix anything – a deus ex machina, almost. This is evident by the fact that the Pelupelu Quests open with Liplu giving lipservice to the Warrior of Light’s achievements in Tural.

“The mighty warrior who traveled the length and breadth of Tural, taking in its myriad sights, sounds, and smells─even those within the otherworldly dome!? The savvy haggler who helped the Third Promise acquire a saddle worth ten pel in the thousands column, despite starting with a mere hundred!?”

This is the key difference between the Pelupelu and Arkasodara Allied Society Quests.

This, also, brings me to my next point.

Problem 2 : The Lack of Conflict

There is little to no conflict in the Pelupelu Allied Society Quests. There is no problem to be solved, there is only progress. There is no driving force – so to speak – that drives forward the plot. It makes for an overall boring, bland and uninteresting story. Now, I realise its a big ask of an mmorpg to make a goddamned sidequest interesting, but the standards have already been set by the previous Allied Society Quests before this. The Stormblood ones were better. The ARR ones were better.

It’s just not an excuse, that the FFXIV team simply couldn’t uphold the quality of the storytelling, especially when millions of players pay 15 USD or more every month just to play the game. There’s no excuse for the drop in quality of storytelling at all.

Even if the story was meant to be “relaxing” like a vacation with low stakes, even a story with low stakes can feel interesting. Take, for example, the various sidequests peppered around the map. They’re short, sweet, and still catch my attention for the few minutes that I’m doing them. The Pelupelu Allied Society Quests feel like someone’s buried the stakes in the ground and burned them to ash for good measure. It just doesn’t feel engaging at all.

Conclusion :

I don’t really know how to end this. This started as a rant towards how I felt about these quests and it still shows in my writing. Feel free to reply to this if you can. I guess... what I’m trying to say is that this isn’t worth what I’m paying FFXIV for. This isn’t what I signed up for. No amount of complaining to Square Enix can fix this. As of writing this, I’m planning to unsubcribe. If you want things to change too, I suggest you vote with your wallet, not your words. If not, keep enjoying the game, I guess.