#5.0 msq

[thetinyscald-blog]

Countless memories and moments I took for granted...

Gods, you grew up so fast.

[juncopandi]

finished Shadowbringers for the first time and I have a lot of feelings

[trans-estinien]

i need to send eleutherios back to shadowbringers

[snow-system-wol]

Getting up and moving on after nearly dying may be a common part of being the Warrior of Light, but it doesn't get much easier. Sharing his head with a teenager with clear abandonment issues, who has chosen now of all times to be active, does not much help.

(A short look into the Snow System's worries.)

Ao3

It's silly, really, isn't it? A bit selfish even, but… well, isn't that just how teenagers are? S'chaim can't really be blamed for his own uncontrollable thoughts, even if they're driving S'ria a bit up the wall. It isn't as if it's purposeful. At moments like these, it can be hard to tell who is feeling or thinking what, and it turns into a jumbled mix. S'ria-S'chaim mess, an anxious adult and a melodramatic teenager, blurring into one stressed individual – what could go wrong?

The First is more or less saved (as safe as any Shard could be, for now), and S'ria is no longer about to die. So those were both absolutely good things. Genuinely, it was so good to spend time properly with G'raha, no secrets, to celebrate with everyone under the night sky, to have a moment to breathe at all.

That warmth and giddiness fades from his chest and the kindness and praise passes, though – and suddenly he isn't feeling well at all. It isn't as though he needs people constantly telling him he's doing good, but… maybe S'chaim does, right now? S'ria would expect to feel calm now that he's out of danger, but that adrenaline just hasn't passed, and now he's still scared but all the more distressed for not knowing why it's lingering.

It eventually sinks in that the problem might be, at least in part, loneliness.

The others have their own lives, which is more than understandable. They've spent years here, some even longer than others, of course someone would put down roots in that situation. He can't imagine how Thancred must have felt, being here alone for as long as he was.

But S'ria hasn't been here nearly so long and he feels like the only person he's actually gotten close with from this shard is G'raha (if that counts), and he isn't even sure where they stand. He… shouldn't be jealous of the fact that the others have entire lives here that they'd rather get back to than stay at the Crystarium for a little longer but – gods, he is. It does not feel good to admit.

Them heading out again so soon doesn't have to be his fault, but a part of him wonders if it possibly could be. Was his near failure enough to shake their faith in him? Did they finally realize that he was truly a bit of a hassle to deal with? Did he do something wrong and not even realize?

(And oh, Alphinaud, he knows the truth about his condition and so many other things besides – would he rather keep his distance?)

Ah, but really, this probably has little to do with him, even if he may be overwhelming to talk to at times. They like him. They have said this, some more explicitly than others. Surely that would not change so suddenly?

Still, S'ria, or S'chaim, or both of them – they are afraid. They want that fear and anxiety to leave but – how, when this is solely a self-created problem?

They itch to go to one of them, to ask "are we still alright, do you hate me?" – but that was truly a terrible idea. If they are afraid of seeming too needy, then that would just be making things much worse. If the answer is "no", then this would all look rather paranoid, and if it is "yes", then what an awkward and impossible chat that would be.

An alternative instinct is to go to G'raha for comfort, who always seems happy to see him. That doesn't feel good either. They are still not sure if G'raha is still considered a "close friend" as they try to recalibrate, but he didn't deserve the burden of having these anxieties dumped into his lap, and what's more – this is actually a pretty pathetic problem to tell someone. Maybe he doesn't want to show that part of him to G'raha.

This is their issue, and they just have to sit with it. And acknowledge that the Scions probably don't actually hate them.

And wait for it to truly sink in that the world is no longer about to end.

[eriyu]

The FFXIV script is updated through the end of 5.0!

So far I've got the entirety of MSQ up to the start of the Shadowbringers patch quests, the Crystal Tower raids, the archer and bard quests, seasonal events from the past few months, and the first few snippets of optional dialogue (I'm trying to focus on catching up first, but I couldn't not include Emet-Selch's occasional optional lore drops).

I'm also still tinkering with little layout and feature things as I go — I just added sticky headers so you can tell where you are in the middle of the script. :D

Link below! ⬇

[superlark]

Post-5.0 family reunion

Lore stuff: Onion loves money and does all the MSQ and sidequests (for money, at least initially). She also runs a marketboard business with her retainers and the trade of goods and services is always on her mind.

How she meets her retainers is also a funny story for each of them, though it's not quite ready to be told yet haha. They are fambly and being on the First a lot and having Feo Ul be the retainer communicator was a big change for all of them.

[mosthuggableffxiv]

As Promised: The G'raha Essay

Full text below

While initially pretty annoying in his debut questline of the Crystal Tower raids, G'raha Tia has proved himself to be the person in all 14 shards most devoted to the Warrior of Light. Not only was he willing to throw away his life in the present to protect the world from misuse of the Crystal Tower, but he then spent 100 years slowly and PAINFULLY turning into crystal and fusing with the Tower just to yank the Warrior of Light across dimensions to save both their life and the future of both the Source and the First.

We know from patch 5.3 that the crystallisation process is incredibly painful and draining on G'raha's body, and the poor thing is literally crying out in pain during some of those cutscenes. When we first encounter him at the start of 5.0 his entire right arm has already crystallised. Moreover, I'd like to draw attention to the fact that the crystallisation by this point is already encroaching into his face, and one can only imagine that the pain from that must have been unbearable. We can therefore deduce that G'raha Tia has spent a hundred years slowly and periodically experiencing the pure agony of his body literally turning to crystal while he attempted to transport the Warrior of Light across the Rift. Furthermore, as we have seen in the MSQ, drawing upon the aether of the Tower guarantees a burst of the crystallisation process, which means that every time he pulled a scion across the rift, including the WoL, he experienced indescribable pain.

Not only can we reflect upon the physical pain he has undergone for us, but he must have also gone through incredible emotional pain. Firstly, the horror of waking up in a world post eighth calamity, where everyone he knew is dead, but also discovering the horrific fate that had taken the WoL. That alone would be enough to break most people, but not G'raha Tia. This man then went on to survive in this post-apocalyptic hellscape, which we know was a world akin to the nightmarish landscape of the Fallout series, which can only have added to his trauma, but also managed to discover a way to change history and prevent those horrors from ever happening.

Moreso, upon arriving in the First, he not only survived another nightmare-fuel world full of sin eaters, but managed to build an entire city and community, all while spending A HUNDRED YEARS preparing for his own death just to save the WoL's life. How many people would be capable of doing that? Especially when they knew their plan did not even have a guarantee of success?

This man must have lost countless friends and loved ones spending an entire century building and leading the Crystarium. We know from how he took in Lyna that he did not isolate himself, and made himself beloved by the city's people. The emotional toll that each death and loss over a century must have taken is incredible. And if his plan had gone as intended, he would have done all this without his name or true identity being known or remembered for it, even by the person he was trying most of all to save.

And then, when his true name was called at the end, and his identity revealed, he cried. He has shown time and again that he allows himself to show emotional vulnerability; even after spending a century working in secret and suffering so much, he still was not afraid to cry. And not just then, but at the end of 5.0 and 6.0 as well. He bravely shows the WoL his whole self, rather than hide anymore.

After returning to the Source, we see a change in G'raha Tia that has only convinced me even more that he is the most huggable character in FFXIV. With a new, and unexpected, life ahead of him, we see a playfulness in G'raha that had been dampened before. We see adorable ear wiggles, and him allowing himself to fanboy and get excitable. We see him has cheeseburger... and it is glorious. It is so unabashedly cute, that even if we discounted all of the above he would still be the most huggable character in all of FFXIV. His little arm rub when he's nervous or embarrassed is too freaking cute.

In conclusion, G'raha Tia has faced unimaginable emotion and physical pain for over a century to save the future and the Warrior of Light. He survived immense trauma and still remains able to show his vulnerability and emotions, and look damn cute while at it too. Plus, fluffy ears and tail. I rest my case.

[goldfishu]

doing our final 5.0 MSQ stream this saturday here!

[starrysnowdrop]

Shared Soul: Hali’s Shards

So I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot, and I really want to eventually have a list of all the shards of Hali’s soul… ahh well, it would be the shards of Urania’s soul technically speaking. I don’t have a full list yet, but I have some that I’ve decided on already, and I wanted to share those with you now.

Note: Because of Hali’s canon story having multiple Warriors of Light, my headcanons for Hali’s shards greatly differ from those in the MSQ with the default WoL. Also, due to the ongoing storyline, these might change in the future with new developments.

Unsundered: Urania, Seat of Azem

Urania was Hali’s past self at the time of the Sundering; therefore, Hali and all of the other shards are pieces of Urania’s sundered soul.

Source: Hali Aloke, Warrior of Light, 8 times rejoined

Hali being the sundered soul of the Source, is the one that most closely resembles Urania, though she differs from her in several fundamental ways, most notably she will not deny herself the happiness that she desires in her life for the sake of duty like Urania as Azem had done. Unlike Urania, Hali has found her happiness in adventuring, helping others, and building a life together with Aymeric.

First: Lamitt, rejoined during ShB 5.0

Unlike the default WoL’s shard of the First being Ardbert, Hali’s shard is Lamitt, the healer of Ardbert’s group. Lamitt and Hali actually have a lot in common, with both being outsiders from their homelands, having a desire to help others through the healing arts, and they both are in love with men who have no idea what their true feelings are, well until Hali confesses to Aymeric that is. Lamitt never gets the chance to tell Ardbert. She does get to live on through rejoining with Hali at the end of 5.0, and Lamitt is thrilled that Hali gets to have her happiness with her lover.

Seventh: Aerith Gainsborough, rejoined in 7th Umbral Calamity (Bahamut)

Though Hali herself is unaware of any of her other shards that rejoined with her during each calamity, the most recent shard to rejoin with her before Lamitt was a young woman named Aerith who had lived on the Seventh and was rejoined during the Seventh Umbral Calamity. Aerith was a healer who brought joy to all who knew her. She was kind, caring, and sweet, yet feisty, passionate, brave, and strong-willed, all traits that her Source counterpart shares.

Tenth: Tidus, rejoined in 6th Umbral Calamity (Water)

The shard that rejoined back during the Sixth Umbral Calamity, centuries before Hali would be born, held the soul of a young man named Tidus who had lived on the Tenth. He was a famous Blitzball star, but most notably he was a guardian to Summoner Yuna who he had fallen in love with and was willing to give his life for. Same as his Source counterpart, he was kind, brave, outspoken, outgoing, and a bright ray of sunshine in a world in desperate need of joy and laughter.

Thirteenth: Durante, AKA: Golbez, alive

Durante is the shard of Urania’s soul on the Thirteenth who took on the name and armor of his dear friend Golbez after the original Golbez was corrupted by the darkness. Durante was a knight from Baron who tried to save the world during the Contramemoria along with Golbez, but he brought ruin to the world he tried to save instead. His unflinching resolve to save his world no matter the cost, but doubting himself that he could never be the hero that his friend was, are traits that Hali shares, and Durante is a reflection of what Hali could become if she went down a dark path.

That’s all I have for now! I’ll add to this list in the future when I decide to add more! Subject to change if we get more information on the other shards.

Published: 11/30/2023

[eemamminy-art]

Would you be comfortable elaborating on "whatever they were building up to in 4.X [that] got changed pretty drastically in Endwalker"? I've seen this mentioned only vaguely in the past, so I'm still unsure what it is they were initially planning before they pivoted.

Oh yeah, so there was some interview with Ishikawa, Oda, and Yoshi-P after Endwalker where they were talking about the story a bit and apparently the initial plan was to have a garlean-themed expansion before Endwalker! The details of it haven't been disclosed as far as I know other than in that interview, they mentioned Anima being the planned final boss but most of the story beats would stay the same.

So I can only imagine that what's there already and what's been set up during 4.X (varis' plans to do his own rejoining and cause a calamity through black rose, the existence of the populares and their swift downfall to dissuade any uprisings among citizens) and 5.X (Gaius being framed for regicide, garlean civil war 2 electric boogaloo, tempering and all the 5G towers, and Nerva doing anything at all) would have been the basis for that expansion but we'll never know. And the fact we'll never know is what bums me out since I find garleans to be really interesting as villains but I've accepted it by now. It seems like they're dripping in bits from whatever they'd planned for that expansion into both 6.0 and its patches so I'm certain that it didn't all go to waste but at the very least whatever arc they'd planned for Varis (and most likely Zenos and Nerva too) didn't actually manifest into much of anything.

The setup for Varis as a villain in the back half of stormblood was one of my favorite things that ended sort of lacklusterly, and that's more what I meant with that remark! I do really enjoy the couple of scenes he had in 5.0 and the reveal of anima in 6.0 but it did fall short of what I had hoped for.

But I get that the decision to cut whatever the garlean expansion would have been was probably above even Yoshi-P, and it may have had pacing issues that might've turned off some players. As it is a lot of people don't like the sympathetic lens of garleans in endwalker so I can only imagine the reception a full on expansion might have received! I think because it did get squished into Endwalker the pacing in Endwalker is a little too quick for my tastes, but the msq of this game has always struggled with being either too fast or too slow so that's not just specific to endwalker.

[hoshi9zoe]

Been playing the MSQ with a sprout friend recently and we just finished up 5.0. So the first thing we did is unlocking the NieR raids. F's in chat for the corpse room

[autumnslance]

I've been hunting around for the answer to this question, and got pointed to you by a couple of friends, so I hope this doesn't sound too weird, but I've been trying to figure out how Y'shtola shows affection (particularly for the WoL) as truthfully up until ShB, I... uh... thought she didn't like the WoL at all or as a coworker at best? So, I'm trying to figure out what cues I've missed, and playing through again hasn't helped much... again, sry to bother!

Y'shtola's tough to read, so I totally get where you're coming from.

And as I got rather long (No surprise! It's me!), below a cut it all goes.

I have to note that many in fandom see the adult Scions and twins in earlier parts of the game as not caring about the Warrior of Light due to the initial surface level interactions and hard to read behaviors that were 1) hastily written (I feel ARR texts needed another few editing passes and VA takes they had no time for) and 2) are meant to be open to interpretation.

If one is reading the canon text with an open mind to seeing how characters grow and change (not to mention the shift in writing style as a new lead took over from Stormblood on) it’s harder to say after ShB and EW especially that the Scions don’t care, when community and love (in any and all forms) is a major point of this story of hope and how the day is saved multiple times due these friendships.

Not to mention how often through ARR, HW, and StB the adult Scions are often sidelined or sent off on other missions by the narrative to deny the WoL their aid while also explaining why they can’t help in combat situations against non-primals before we had the Duty Support system. Y’shtola vanishes post-Titan until after Garuda, after the Banquet is gone for much of HW MSQ until late 3.0, is nearly killed by Zenos in early 4.0 so out of action, and then is among the first Scions to fall to the Exarch's Call and is the last of the core group we pick up at 5.0’s midpoint.

Despite how often she and some of the others are gone, or the unevenness of some of the writing over time, I wouldn’t say she or any of the Scions dislike the WoL ever, nor actually do treat WoL as a servant or as a weapon of destruction; in fact, that attitude is specifically given to Alphinaud, and to some degree Alisaie, as part of their coming of age stories in ARR/Coils and HW as they transition from spoiled noble brats to conscientious young adventurers.

Also, clicking on everyone before, after, and in between quest steps comes in handy; it’s a habit to get into early in this game and especially in replays, as a LOT of characterization, background, and lore moments come from those optional dialogues that are easy to miss. There are a lot of great moments with all the doomed Scions in the Waking Sands, for instance, that are easily skipped if you ignore the common room and just rush in and out of the Solar for missions. It adds to play time, but it can be highly worth it to get extra on each character (in ShB it’s necessary with Emet-Selch and all the lore he offers).

But to get at Y’shtola and how she shows affection for everyone—not just WoL but in general—we’re actually going to have to start with our grouchy cave witch: Master Matoya.

Y’shtola’s amazing magical talent was realized early, and as such she was given directly to Matoya to raise as an apprentice when Y’shtola was only seven years old. In 6.1 quests, when accompanied by Y’shtola around Sharlayan, she specifically notes neither she nor Thancred ever attended the Studium as youths, as they were under the care of masters of their respective fields. Matoya is also credited, according to Alisaie on her first meeting the elderly archon, that Matoya is the one who’s said to have “tamed” Y’shtola.

So let’s look at Matoya. If you visit her cave after 6.0 to find Y’shtola hanging around, Matoya says:

“Like old Louisoix, you lot set out to save the world. Like him, you believed your cause with all your heart. And like him, you succeeded. The spineless wretches of the Forum could stand to take a cue from your example. Now, as Shtola would tell you, I tend to be sparing with my praise. But for what you’ve accomplished, you have my respect and admiration.”

And in all of our interactions with Matoya, that “sparing praise” is true; she’s caustic and grumpy and acts as if she is imposed upon every time we visit. However, if she really didn’t want anyone in her cave, well, we couldn’t get there. She’d change the magic lock. Throw us out. Overwhelm us with brooms and poroggos.

Instead she lets Alphinaud come and go freely to study throughout Heavensward’s patches as he seeks a way to help Estinien, keeping an eye on him, but letting him figure things out on his own as she lets him have run of her library and resources. She aids during the Alexander questline (though is never seen). Time and again, through MSQ and sidequests, Matoya is there for sharp, clearcut, logical advice and magical knowledge and resources. Even in Stormblood’s Namazu Tribe quests, you at one point take your fishy buddy to Matoya for information. Her response to the WoL is one of my favorites:

“Had anyone else shown up on my doorstep with a Namazu in tow, I would’ve had my poroggos deal with them. I’m still not quite sure what you’re about, but if it gets you to stop fighting every other god or dragon for a spell, it can’t be all that bad.”

Coming from Matoya, that is close to a declaration of care for the WoL’s well-being as we’re likely ever going to get.

Especially when you consider the sidequest available from one of her poroggos. It starts as an aether current quest inside the cave, but the chain continues until we discover a hidden broom under a ruined bridge, a broom in which Matoya has locked away all of her most precious memories and feelings for Y’shtola. Matoya tasks the poroggo that when she inevitably dies, his final act of service shall be to lay her body to rest alongside her hidden broom.

This is the woman who raised Y’shtola from the age of seven.

I said a lot already in my Ultima Thule post about the similarities and differences in Matoya and Y’shtola; where one is a misanthropic hermit, the other goes out into the world to help people and protect the star from dangers, even as she seeks knowledge of life’s mysteries. It’s a rather important difference, though the influence of Matoya’s caustic upbringing is writ in Y’shtola’s every ilm.

The first meeting in the Limsa Lominsa introductions, Y’shtola is labeled as “Cultured Conjurer.” In her early interactions with the WoL, and other NPCs such as the young pirate who gets in trouble, she acts as one would expect an adventuring healer to; friendly concern and relief when one is uninjured, making sure folks know Sevrin and the WoL are OK. She is certainly interested in WoL’s abilities, both combat and aetheric, but even in these early interactions she’s outwardly pleasant. If anything, she’s less brusque and sharp-tongued with strangers and new acquaintances.

Some of her easy irritation is seen in the infamous Feast preparations on the way to Titan; Y’shtola is irate at what the Company is putting the WoL through to test them and all the fetch quests they impose. She praises WoL for their patience and stoicism and humoring the Company, realizing only a bit later the WoL isn’t familiar enough with these heroes to understand why they did all this.

But Y’shtola is not effusive in her praise and compliments; though freer with them than her Master, she is still reserved and understated. Her wit is very dry commentary. She is not afraid to be stern when needed, but that would again be due to the influence of her upbringing; it’s easier to be forthright and caustic than it is to shower affection. But Y’shtola obviously tries to do the latter more often than her teacher.

The most effusive praise I can think of is in Heavensward, as the Excelsior prepares to leave for Azys Lla, when she says the WoL is “the beacon of hope towards which all men drawn” after all the WoL has accomplished so far in Ishgard and Dravania (and even in that verbal spar with Estinien, she tries to warn him of the Eye, and as you escape the Flagship upon Midgardsormr, Y’shtola is the one to ask “Where is Estinien?”).

This usually reserved praise remains true through much of the MSQ; again, she seems to allow her snarkier side and dry wit to come out around the Scions, because among her closest comrades, she is understood to be straightforward but still caring. She challenges people to do and be better (such as her argument with Merlwyb that Yugiri spies on in the ARR patches), and she challenges her Scion family most of all. In ShB there are her snappy comments at Thancred about his ward, but after, in speaking to her she is certain of his heart and willpower; the man she knows is a good one, who needs to confront his feelings and is refusing to while also not talking to his friends about his struggles. Y’shtola was trying to help in her own way—effectiveness and timing aside—and it is reminiscent of how her own Master would have done it; the comparisons to Matoya are strengthened not just by Y’shtola borrowing the name under the Floodlight.

EDIT: Speaking of Rak’tika, some other friends noted: If Y'shtola didn't already care, her first meeting with WoL in Rak'tika wouldn't have been so horrified when she was told it was WoL and not a sin eater she was seeing. She's notably upset, and then works to solve the issue, demanding answers of Urianger (who stonewalls), and then does in fact tell WoL her concerns, once Plot has been dealt with; people forget that scene as it’s not in the Unending Journey.

It does take Y’shtola time to show her vulnerabilities to the WoL, to entrust them with some secrets or take them into confidence. But that all comes rather late, for her to loosen up, to joke more, to be openly vulnerable, after everything the Scions have been through together.

It also does not help that Y’shtola’s more reserved interactions can be read as bids for reciprocation; if one were to meet her at the same level of energy, friendly coworkers it is. If one shows more friendly interest, her own level of interaction would also change—but that works in games with interactive dialogue paths that an on-rails MMO like FFXIV can’t provide as easily as a single player like Mass Effect or Dragon Age, where interactions with party members change their reception of the PC character, even to the point of OCNPC romance.

It all depends on how one reads it and feels about these characters. What clicks and what doesn’t. And for many, Y’shtola is harder to click with than others due to her reservation and sharp wit.

So if in ARR, HW, and StB she reads as a cordial coworker, that’s a valid reading; she’s as polite and friendly and concerned as one would expect a healer to be. She’s also dry, prone to understatement, and not afraid to be sharp-tongued when called for. She praises, but reservedly, as that’s her upbringing.

She doesn’t have Thancred’s snarky charm, or G’raha’s enthusiasm, nor the interplay of Papalymo and Yda. Each of the Scions are given very broad personality archetypes meant to be interpreted openly. One can even read Thancred as not caring about WoL as more than a coworker at first despite his effusive praise and honeyed words, as so much of it is a front he puts up, and his actual affection for WoL as a friend also arguably shows later (or, if going back to “bids for interaction”, it’s easier to exchange favorable energy with Thancred, but I don’t think that he’s actually much more open and able to reciprocate than Y’shtola, given his emotional stunting under the charm that takes him until ShB to work out, hence my own wolnpc ship with him taking so much time to sort).

I did present this question to my FC for some input, as Y’shtola IS a tough cookie to crack, and unlike some Ancient scientists I could name, I am willing to ask for outside ideas and perspectives to help me examine my own as I draft. One thing noted by certain multi-cultural friends is the cultural context one can read Y’shtola in; in an American context, she does seem very reserved and professional early on; polite, but very much how one would see a friendly coworker. In a British context, one friend considers her rather “chummy” in her pleasant politeness and dry, understated humor when interacting with her throughout MSQ.

For those of us who read the Scions as Found Family, we see Y’shtola as the poised older sister of the group, the supposedly responsible adult in the room who is really just as prone to shenanigans as the rest, in the right circumstance. 

And there are many who make the Mom jokes about her; some because they find her desirable and she is actually among the older Scions (despite her claims), but also because she does, as a healer first, have that Mom Friend demeanor, though it is more evident in ShB when she can joke back at the WoL’s silly responses to her concerns.

Anyway. Y’shtola isn’t a social showoff; with magic, sure, but in personal interaction, she holds quite a bit of herself back for awhile, and her ingrained responses due to her upbringing are to be reserved with affection and praise, while quick with wit and straightforward in her speech, not pulling punches. She will be cordial with acquaintances and new people, and shows the concern for others one expects of a healer, but she’s not going to gush the way others might.

This is a lot of words. I like Y’shtola, and get her lowkey approach and humor, so always considered her friendly, but was glad to see her caring clarified in ShB and EW, alongside the other Scions. But if her and other Scion friendships with WoL don’t quite gel for others until arriving on the First, that’s perfectly understandable.

[serengeral-alaan]

A (Very Not) Brief Retrospective on the 4.0 MSQ, Since I Just Finished Replaying It

This is a (very not) brief retrospective on the main story of the initial Stormblood expansion, also known as Patch 4.0. 

The 4.0 main story has a bit of an unfortunate reputation. Unenviably stuck between the critically-acclaimed Heavensward stories and the Shadowbringers stories, the 4.0 storyline is often regarded as being the second weakest since the game’s rebirth in 2.0. Even the 4.1-4.3 and 4.4-4.55 storylines, side content, and much-improved gameplay, despite their high praise, can’t fully erase the bad memories many people have about the 4.0 story.

In my view, I think people are correct that 4.0 is weaker than all of Heavensward and Shadowbringers…with some qualifications. 4.0 has a fundamental problem in its storytelling in a way that its 3.0 and 5.0 cousins do not, which is a very large part of why I think so many people came away feeling noticeably unsatisfied. That said, 4.0–while flawed–still did an admirable job with what it had, because it had to deal with writing obstacles that no other storyline in the game had to deal with, save perhaps Endwalker’s 6.0. 

Nevertheless, while acknowledging that 4.0’s story is pretty good, it’s worth talking about its weaknesses and why they might have occurred.

-

You can find the 2.0 retrospective here: https://www.tumblr.com/serengeral-alaan/719337913881657344/a-brief-retrospective-on-the-ff14-20-storyline?source=share

2.1-2.55 here: https://www.tumblr.com/serengeral-alaan/719620374219849728/a-brief-retrospective-on-the-seventh-astral-era?source=share

3.0 here: https://www.tumblr.com/serengeral-alaan/720425547634802688/a-less-brief-retrospective-on-the-30-msq-since?source=share

3.1-3.3 here: https://www.tumblr.com/blue-flame13/720965476614914048/a-not-particularly-brief-retrospective-on-the?source=share

3.4-3.55 here: https://www.tumblr.com/serengeral-alaan/722234104381325312/a-not-brief-retrospective-on-the-34-35-msq?source=share

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The big flaw in 4.0’s story is pacing. 

To make sure we’re on the same page: by “pacing” I mean the rate at which important narrative events happen in the eyes of the audience, which in turn affects how the audience feels about the story at any given time. This is typically done by carefully placing a certain number of dramatic scenes between a certain number of quiet scenes in a certain controlled sequence. Depending on what kind of story the author wants to tell, you may have more dramatic scenes, more quiet scenes, more intense dramatic scenes, more somber quiet scenes, and so forth.

You can think of a story as the author taking the audience on an emotional ride–therefore, the ride has to move at an appropriate speed at the appropriate times for the audience’s emotional journey to feel satisfying. 

A story where too many impactful, dramatic events happen too quickly is poorly paced, because you don’t feel like you’ve had time to properly recover from the last dramatic moment before the next one hits. Stories like that end up feeling rushed or incomplete. Meanwhile, a story where not enough impactful, dramatic events happen over time is poorly paced, because you get bored and restless waiting for the next dramatic event to occur. Stories like that feel like they drag on or that nothing happens. 

If a story feels unsatisfying and the issue doesn’t seem to be with how the characters are written, there’s a pretty good chance that the story suffers from pacing issues.

This means that a writer telling a story has to carefully adjust the speed of the emotional journey to make the audience feel the appropriate emotions, and to avoid making the audience feel unnecessarily overwhelmed, bored, confused, or exhausted.

For the most part, Heavensward’s storylines generally did not have severe pacing issues. There might have been moments where running errands for NPCs might have felt a little dull, or helping Krile track down Thancred and Y’shtola might have gone on for slightly longer than it needed to, but that’s about it. Climactic moments like Thordan’s defeat and Nidhogg’s death happen at the right time; the tragic deaths of Harchefaunt and Ysayle happen at proper moments in the story to raise the stakes and prevent things from slowing down too much; and we get quiet moments–like having dinner with Aymeric and connecting with Ysayle and Estinien on the road to meet Hraesvelgr–to settle down the tension between dramatic scenes to give us, the audience, a breather.

In contrast, 4.0 is oddly paced. The story about Ala Mhigo feels like it gets cut off early on by our extended trip to Othard, then when we come back to Eorzea we blitz through the Ala Mhigan rebellion in a hot minute. It feels as if the story is supposed to be about Ala Mhigo, and it’s framed as such, but we spend an inordinate amount of time out east.

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Now that we’re on the same page on what “pacing” means, let’s talk about why the 4.0 storyline suffers from pacing issues. I tend to split 4.0 into three major story arcs: 

First, the Ala Mhigan Intro arc. Here, we meet the Ala Mhigan Resistance and the Eorzean forces under Raubahn making ready to retake Ala Mhigo. We meet Conrad and his Resistance lieutenants (Meffrid and M’Naago), as well as our antagonists Fordola and Zenos, and get some initial victories before we’re stomped flat by Zenos at the Fist of Rhalgr. Along the way, we get a taste for what life is like in Ala Mhigo under the Imperial boot by exploring the first chunk of the Fringes and the Peaks.

Second, the Othardian arc. After deciding that opening a second front against Zenos would take the pressure off of Ala Mhigo, we head east (fighting some ghosts along the way), hit up Kugane, and make our way across the Ruby Sea, where we make friends with the Confederacy and the Blue Kojin and make enemies of Yotsuyu (plus our first Trial with Susano). We take things in at Doma, get smacked by Zenos again, and go north to the Azim Steppe to find Hien and hopefully bring him back to Doma. Hien insists that he wants an army of Xaelans at his back, so we help him win the Naadam while also meeting prominent Xaelans (Sadu, Magnia, Cirina). Then we return to Doma, flood the castle, and drive out the Imperials, though not before seemingly killing Yotsuyu and losing Gosetsu.

And third, the Ala Mhigan Victory arc, where we prosecute the full war against the XIIth Legion and Zenos. We bring good news of the Doman rebellion to Raubahn, then help the Eorzean Alliance and the Ala Mhigan Resistance win a major strategic victory by seizing Castellum Velodyna. After securing the Fringes, we’re briefly sidetracked by meeting the local M tribe and dealing with Ananta affairs (where we get our second trial, Lakshmi). There’s some back and forth as we push through the Peaks, capturing two major Imperial forts and rescuing Krile along the way, and finally we lay siege to the city of Ala Mhigo itself. After some sneaky operations where we secure half the city to prevent civilian deaths, the Alliance and the Resistance storms Ala Mhigo, we defeat Zenos twice, and at last set Ala Mhigo free.  

With this in mind: in my view, the Othardian arc being plopped right in between the two Ala Mhigan arcs create major pacing issues.

The Othardian arc is *long*. It includes three MSQ dungeons (Sirensong Sea, Bardam’s Mettle, Doma Castle), a Trial (Susano), four overworld maps (Kugane, Ruby Sea, Doma, Azim Steppe), and tons of new cultures and people (the people of Hingashi, Othardian Garleans, Domans, Blue and Red Kojin, the Confederacy, Xaelan Au Ra). This means the Othardian arc took up a huge amount of the player’s time and energy, offering a ton of new characters and information for the player to absorb. For a lot of players who might only do an hour or two of the main story per day, this could mean they’ve spent whole weeks just in Othard.

This length means there’s not that much time for the two Ala Mhigan arcs. The Ala Mhigan Intro arc is surprisingly short: you have some errand-like quests and two single-person instances, but this introductory arc has no dungeons or Trials and takes place in one-and-a-half maps (most of the Fringes, and the northern half of the Peaks). In contrast to the Othardian arc, we don’t get much time to really get to know characters like Meffrid or the people of Ala Ghanna before we’re whisked away to Othard.

The Ala Mhigan Victory arc is much meatier, but everything moves at a blisteringly fast pace. In contrast to the Othardian arcs, where we got to mill around and get to know the myriad peoples and places of Othard, we don’t really get to stop and indulge in Gyr Abania as much. There’s an excellent scene in the Peaks where we get to visit Raubahn’s hometown and have a moment to reflect on things, but we don’t get to talk to or know the people of Ala Ghiri or Radiata, or learn much about Ala Mhigan culture the way we learn about the Xaelan Naadam or Kugane customs. We barely see anything of the entire Lochs map aside from the city of Ala Mhigo, since we’re very quickly pushed into launching the final assault on the city.

So, in terms of pacing, you have this awkward situation where we’re starting a new story (the Ala Mhigan Intro arc), but then we’re suddenly forced to stop that story to go somewhere else (the Othardian arc). After spending a ton of time and attention elsewhere, we finally come back to where we left off (the Ala Mhigan Victory arc) and hurriedly finish the rest of the story.

This results in the Ala Mhigan portions of the 4.0 feeling awkward, unsatisfying, and empty. The Gyr Abanian region has three maps (the Fringes, the Peaks, and the Lochs), but you get the impression that those three maps contain only a fraction of what we get in Kugane, Doma, Azim Steppe, and Ruby Sea. The Othardian story arc feels like it gets to take its time and tell a full story, while the Ala Mhigan story arc feels cut off in the middle and rushed.

This is very unfortunate indeed, given that the story frames itself as a story primarily about the liberation of Ala Mhigo.

There’s another major pacing issue created by how the Othardian arc is placed in between the two Ala Mhigan arcs: how it screws with the feeling of triumph at throwing off the yoke of Garlean oppression. We get a victory scene after the Doma Castle dungeon, where Hien brings the Doman people to the Doman Enclave and gives a big speech about Doma’s bright new future. We also get a similar scene after defeating Zenos in his Shinryuu form, when Lyse receives congratulations from the Eorzean heads of state and joins in on a rousing rendition of the Ala Mhigan national anthem.

The two triumph scenes aren’t carbon copies of each other, of course. The Ala Mhigan triumph is much grander in scale, while the Doman triumph is more down-to-earth. However, they hit the same emotional beat–the feeling of vindication, relief, and joy at seeing an oppressed people finally take back their future after a long and difficult struggle. By having the same emotional beat hit twice, once in Doma and later in Ala Mhigo, the second hit is robbed of a lot of its energy. Especially since there wasn’t all that much time between the Doman triumph and the Ala Mhigan triumph (see, again: how the Ala Mhigan Victory arc felt a bit rushed).

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So I’ve laid out what I think is the biggest flaw of the 4.0 storyline: the pacing, born from the story skipping over to Othard and spending too much time there. Now I want to talk about why I think this issue came up.

I want to re-emphasize that I don’t think the 4.0 story is bad. In fact, overall I think it’s pretty great. 4.0 is a fascinating examination of what conquest and oppression does to people, and it’s packed with a ton of memorable characters and amazing set pieces. If 4.0 has a bad reputation, it’s largely because it has the misfortune of having the aforementioned pacing flaw while being sandwiched between two of the most highly regarded stories in the game, Heavensward and Shadowbringers.

I also think 4.0 is fantastic given the enormous obstacles that the writers were up against. For all my above complaints about 4.0, it’s honestly a small miracle that 4.0 turned out as well as it did. 

So what made 4.0 in all likelihood a giant pain in the arse for the dev team to write? I’m of the view that there are three major obstacles for the writers to overcome when they are writing any story for FF14:

Narrative concerns. These are obstacles that every storyteller in every medium has to grapple with. Concerns like what the cast of the story will be, how to write them, figuring out what the plot will be for the story, and so forth.

Lore constraints. These are pre-established parts of the setting that the writers have to work with, as well as future considerations about lore that the writers have to be wary of. For example, the way aether and magic works in FF14 is a lore constraint–the writers can’t have a person, place, or thing do X, Y, or Z with aether in violation of previously-established rules about aether, unless they want to retcon things or explain how some exception applies. If they do want to retcon things, then they have to figure out how to without causing trouble later on. 

Gameplay needs. FF14 is, of course, a videogame as well as a medium through which we experience a story. While those of you reading this article obviously care about the story of FF14, gameplay considerations are always in the forefront of the developers’ minds. The devs have to make sure that an expansion’s main story is structured so that it can permit a certain number of Dungeons and Trials, as well having room to fit side content that may be added now or later (Raids, Alliance Raids, FATEs, hunt marks, zones like Bozja and Eureka, etc.) The devs also need to make sure that the players have access to all the overworld areas in the expansion by the end of the X.0 story–no keeping, say, Doma or the Azim Steppe cordoned off in a X.1 patch, for example.

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So how did these constraints impact how 4.0 was written?

To begin, let’s discuss the story goals of the development team in 4.0, because the goals that the devs wanted to accomplish expose the problems they likely ran into when they encountered the above three constraints, and how their attempt to get around those problems resulted in the pacing issue I discussed above.

In my view, the devs’ main objectives with 4.0’s story were the following:

-Tell a story about the liberation of Ala Mhigo

-Tell a story about the liberation of Doma

-Keep the focus of the story ultimately on Ala Mhigo

It’s clear to me that the writers ultimately wanted to frame the story as being about the liberation of Ala Mhigo, with the liberation of Doma being told as part of that greater story. We know this because the previous storylines spent more time building up the eventual liberation of Ala Mhigo, the 4.0 story starts in Ala Mhigo and initially focuses on Gyr Abania, the main character of 4.0 is Lyse who has a very deep personal connection to Ala Mhigo, and the story ends with the liberation of Ala Mhigo. 

The objectives immediately present the writers with a problem: according to the lore, Gyr Abania and Othard are really far away from one another. Meanwhile, the Scions, the Eorzean Alliance, and our Doman allies–unlike the Warrior of Light–cannot simply teleport back and forth across three continents on a whim. According to the lore, it takes weeks, if not months, of sailing to go from Limsa Lominsa to Kugane, and air travel is out of the question due to Imperial aerial might. This means the writers can’t tell a story where our main characters hop back and forth between Eorzea and Othard freely, or else the story will constantly be bogged down by people having to travel across the globe. 

This, in turn, has a really big implication: if the story takes us to either Gyr Abania or Othard, the story has to stay there for some time. Compare this to the 3.0 storyline, where Ishgard is relatively close to the rest of the Eorzea–which is why the 3.0 story was able to take a quick break from Ishgard business and deal with Nanamo.

And that’s just the lore-constraints obstacle rearing its ugly head. What about narrative concerns?

The writers’ decision to make 4.0 the story ultimately about Ala Mhigo, rather than Doma, forced  them to create a story that starts and ends in Ala Mhigo. The writers have to start the meat of the 4.0 story in Gyr Abania, because starting the meat of the story elsewhere would take the focus away from Ala Mhigo and onto wherever else the story began. It also means the writers have to end the story in Ala Mhigo, because, again, ending the story elsewhere takes the focus away from Ala Mhigo.

Imagine if the writers had started or ended 4.0 with the liberation of Doma. You’d end up with a situation where the players’ first impression of the 4.0 story is focused on Othard, or the big, climactic ending of 4.0 would be about Doma’s freedom. With an approach like that, 4.0 wouldn’t be so much about the liberation of Ala Mhigo, moreso the global fight against Garlemald–and that, in turn, would require a different story with a different focus from what we got in 4.0.

Ergo, there was no other option but to stick the Othardian arc in the middle of the Ala Mhigan arcs, if the devs wanted to have an Othardian arc at all. They can’t easily take us out of Othard and bring us back to Eorzea and vice versa, and they couldn’t start the story in Othard, either.

And no, putting the Othardian arc off until 4.1-4.3 wouldn’t have worked. The story that the developers wanted to tell required the Scions and the Warrior of Light to physically visit the places undergoing rebellion. If the devs opted to leave the Othardian arc until after 4.0, that would have meant telling all of 4.0 in just the three zones of Gyr Abania–the Fringes, the Peaks, and the Lochs. 

No other expansion in the game tried to tell its X.0 story in just three zones. If the devs did try, they would have had to somehow make the three Gyr Abania zones incredibly dense visually and in terms of content in order to make the 4.0 story not feel devoid of content. Then, the devs would also have had to go on to make the Kugane, Ruby Sea, Doma, and Azim Steppe overworld maps on top of all that later in the Stormblood expansion. The sheer amount of content the devs would have to make in order to keep the Gyr Abanian sections from being boring, while also making sure the rest of Othard even existed, would be mind-boggling and not a viable model for game development. 

The devs also would have to explore the rich Othardian story arc in just three patches, plus dealing with Yotsuyu, and tidying up loose ends in Ala Mhigo after its liberation…and this isn’t mentioning the fact that the X.1-X.3 story arc simply can’t be as long as the full X.0 story arc. There just isn’t space in the story to deal with all the Othardian stuff in 4.1-4.3.

Lastly: on top of the story issues you’d create by staying in Gyr Abania for all of 4.0, doing so causes problems with gameplay considerations.

Every single base expansion in the game–the X.0 story–always comes with a certain number of Dungeons and Trials. This is a template that the developers came up with in Heavensward, and 9 years later that template is still going strong. Imagine figuring out how to shove five or six MSQ Dungeons and three Trials into the three zones of Gyr Abania. And don’t think you can get away with having fewer dungeons and Trials! Imagine the riots that would happen if 4.0 had come out with just one or two Trials, or not enough dungeons.

You also need to figure out how to pace ten levels’ worth of gameplay across these three Gyr Abanian sections without making each level up feel like it takes too long, or else players get bored. You’d better hope that players don’t get frustrated from being only level 63 while still stuck in the Fringes. Preventing players from hitting level cap before the end of the 4.0 storyline is not an option either, since that can affect later content that expects players to be at max level.

Lastly: if the above is all true, and the Othardian story arc being shoved into the middle of the Ala Mhigan one makes the Ala Mhigan story feel too short, then why not lengthen the Ala Mhigan bits? But that runs into its own problems. 

If the Ala Mhigan Intro story arc goes on for too long, then that pretty much forces the devs to include a dungeon and/or a Trial in that arc, which messes up their plans for dropping content later in the story–do they just not have the Sirensong Sea dungeon? Do they remove Bardam’s Mettle? Remove the Shisui of the Violet Tides optional dungeon? And if they add a Trial to the Ala Mhigan Intro arc, do they remove Susanoo? What happens to Lakshmi?  If they move Lakshmi to the Ala Mhigan Intro arc, does that force the Ananta story arc to be moved as well?

And so on and so forth. As you can see, just making the Ala Mhigan Intro arc longer comes with its own slew of problems.

I think you could argue that lengthening the Ala Mhigan Victory arc wouldn’t cause the same sort of problems that lengthening the Ala Mhigan Intro arc would. However, making the Victory arc longer raises issues with the sheer length of 4.0 in total. The Othardian arc was a meaty and lengthy story arc itself–making the Ala Mhigan Victory arc into its own meaty and lengthy story arc would feel exhausting, and thus cause its own pacing issues. It’s one thing if the Ala Mhigan Victory arc feels rushed, but it’s another if the entirety of 4.0 feels like a slog because the story just doesn’t end.  

In short: given what the developers wanted to do with the 4.0 story–telling a story about the liberation of Ala Mhigo–I don’t think they really had any other choice other than cutting the Ala Mhigan story in half and shoving the Othardian story in the middle. They couldn’t just do the Ala Mhigan stuff in 4.0 and do the Othardian stuff later in 4.1-4.3. They can’t spend 4.4-4.55 doing the Othardian stuff, either, since they need those patches to set up Shadowbringers. And they can’t just arbitrarily lengthen the Ala Mhigan sections of the story without raising bigger problems.

Given all the issues the devs had to grapple with in making 4.0, I find it a small miracle that the final product ended up better than 2.0 at all.

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There are, of course, other problems with 4.0’s story. For example, I think Lyse steps too far away from the limelight in the Othardian story arc in order to give the Othardian cast more camera time, resulting in Lyse feeling like she’s just a third wheel in that chunk of the story. Likewise, Lyse comes across as just a little too obtuse about why oppressed peoples do not rise up in rebellion, which made her seem too insensitive, and oddly underprepared, for her personal journey.

However, those problems aren’t fundamental the way 4.0’s pacing issues are. If it weren’t for those pacing issues, I’d say that people nowadays would be fiercely arguing over whether 3.0, 4.0, or 5.0 are the best–or at least, 4.0 wouldn’t be dumpstered as harshly as it is today. Nevertheless, since 4.0 has a deep-seated problem that left players feeling noticeably less satisfied than 3.0 and 5.0, it’s not remembered as fondly by the fans.

[aetherotransformer]

ASHENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN (heavy rain style screaming) 5, 8, 27?

5. Where are they from? What was their childhood like?

answered here!

8. How did they feel about the liberation of Ala Mhigo? Do they feel it could have been handled differently? Where they at all bothered by how they were involved? 

i mean ashen teared up a little at the end of stormblood she was up there singing the anthem with the cast. she does wish that eorzea gave a shit earlier lol but at this point its a "well im glad it even happened" thing for her because zenos's attack on rhalgr's reach/finding out that her dad was actually alive and conscripted into the garlean army left her pretty shaken and she did seriously doubt the resistance's ability to win. ultimately she was aware that it was probably their last chance to do so for a while so she went all in with supporting them and didn't regret it. she was sort of pissed at having to go to the far east though because it felt even more like the scions were prioritizing doma over her homeland. and also because she ended up not really liking hien. she would have preferred they let her stay in gyr abania but what can you do

27. How did the events of Shadowbringers impact them?

ohh boy this one is a lot so im keeping it to 5.0 and not the patches. besides the baseline msq stuff (ardbert soul merge etc) the one physical impact it had on him was that his hands stayed sin eater-ified. they have a feathered appearance now but are cold and waxy to the touch and incapable of channeling aether (hence making monk the one job physically inaccessible to ashen)

anyway you're here for the yuri. ashen didn't understand why ysayle sacrificed herself for him when one of the last conversations they had was about settling down in dravania after the dragonsong war ended, and assumed it was a suicide-by-garlean-airship because she felt the sins she'd committed were too numerous and dying like that was the only way to redeem herself. his brain immediately pinned this as being his fault because he'd previously told ysayle that he wouldn't forgive him for what she did in the name of shiva (but that it didn't matter to him). this sort of fucked ashen up for an expac and a half and made him resent that kind of self sacrificial behavior. he almost had a thing going on with ardbert in the first but by the time he realized his feelings they were in amaurot and he was actively dying. ardbert's soulmerge was just sort of further salt in the wound.

but then he met cyella—cyella, who was undone by ardbert's mercy—who was now, a century later, begging for ashen to kill her, so that she might be redeemed for all her sins—and something in him broke, and he refused, because he's tired of people being self sacrificial. and if maybe they were willing to do that for you it's not because you're a warrior of light or because they want to atone. it's because they love you. now theyre dating and ashens almost come to terms with ysayles death* (*ill type the last loose end up when i do aitiascope its living in my mind right now)

oh also the ancients stuff didnt really do anything for ashen i guess. she already believes in the cyclical nature of fate. the ancients fell due to their mistakes. this current civilization will, too, someday. what is the point

[finalrespite]

A quick poll just for anyone who sees this. I don't even need it shared I just want to decide: I hit cap on DRK near the end of the 5.0 MSQ so I can opt into another class going forward into Endwalker.

[kulvefaggoth]

I came up with a few canon outfits for Belius as he progresses through the events of the MSQ!

This is used from before his arrival at Eorzea until the mid 2.X story

This is from the ending of 2.x until the end of 3.x (so the entirety of Heavensward)

This one is used during all of Stormblood and until about the ending of 5.0 (aka after Garlemald withdraws from the war and goes to shit)

This one is currently the final canon outfit for Belius which started being used around the beginning of 5.x