#It's not that I dislike Endwalker by any means

[the-manderville-mambo]

I am still firmly in the camp that, of the members of the Twelve we've seen so far, Nald'thal has the coolest design

[magitekhearted]

//On a more positive note, just got my Malboro idiot through Zot finally after dragging my feet for the last three days about it. Garlemald, here we come!

[aotopmha]

Endwalker lvl 83 spoilers!

Did Tower of Babil, the Zodiark trial and made it to the Loporrits.

I really liked Tower of Babil for how all three sections of the dungeon were different and the final boss in particular was a lot more substantial than some others.

This kind of escalation is a fantastic way to build finality and then pull the twist the story did.

This "fake" climax the story built up to is a massive part of why this twist feels so powerful because even if you can logically look at the level and see the 83 in the quest box corner, it still feels final, so you are still surprised and then questioning where the story could go from there.

It's a fantastic fakeout even with the really obvious context.

More than anything, though, I never, ever expected to like the Ascian imagery. To me the cloaked villain group trope always ends up really uninteresting because in my eyes it often impedes the individuality of the villains.

It works for the followers of more interesting-looking villains, but not the key villains of a story.

And I was dying of second-hand embarrassment almost every time one of them showed up in ARR.

And here we are in the lead-up to the Zodiark trial, where this story makes seeing the nature and first confrontation with Zodiark the most meaningful, powerful, tragic moment they possibly can.

An ancient hivemind seeking salvation from the greatest tragedy in history.

I did not think they could give these stupid masks any kind of presence or (more importantly) meaning, but they did. They did in Shadowbringers and they did here.

And Fandaniel snuffing each and every one of those voices out to take control of Zodiark is made a disgusting insult to their sacrifice, their self-appointed painful, tragic purgatory.

This scene left me in awe.

And it wonderfully continued the subversion of the idea of darkness as something inherently evil.

The fight itself is crazy cool mechanically, too.

I was terrible with reading it, but the fact that controlling Zodiark is equalled to literally manipulating the platform, reality itself, is so good thematically.

The only sad part of this is that we never got to see Zodiark at full power/with Eldibus as the core. It would not make sense for us to beat him at full power, but it is a shame regardless.

Future Ultimate material in some form, at least?

In the end, before he returned to the Aetherial Sea, Fandaniel/Amon did ask us to prove him wrong, so despite everything, there was a spark of hope in him. It was hidden, buried deep, but it existed.

And, as a consequence of all of these events, the world is screwed.

Time for bunnies!

This is another divisive part of the story, but I personally like the Loporrits because the humor that comes with them is very much leaning into the darkness of the situation. The nonchalant, blunt nature of it immediately endeared them to me.

But I know I would have probably very much disliked them if it wasn't for this element. I think if they had gone even with just a little bit more cheery humor, I probably would've disliked this whole thing, so it just barely makes the "just right" column in terms of tone in my eyes.

It's a necessary respite after all of the heavy stuff in relation to Garlemald as well.

Finally, I want to mention my love for the space-castle aesthetic. I love it, and everywhere I see it, it is immediately an highlight for me. I hope we see another location that employs it at some point.

The moon is up there in terms of zones for me just because of this. Another location in the game (among many, perhaps even all) I can't wait to see post-graphical update.

And well, Endwalker continues to be really, really good.

[laciefuyu]

NXX Feat FFXIV

(aka I am blasting my niche)

Apologize in advance for long text LOL

People who follow me before my new obsession aka Tears of Themis definitely know I keep using FFXIV quotes for my Jedi gifset (which I will willingly attest that it has some of the best writing in the media.) 

Anyway if I didn't make it my niche aka Tears of Themis x FFXIV that won't be me. So let's ramble about NXX members and what they will play (race and main jobs) and faves NPCs in the game and whatever popped up in my mind.

Main Character/Rosa

She was thinking of an idea for team bonding because they are friends and she wants to do something together

Luke proposed FFXIV because it's an MMO (so they all can play together) and has a good story.

She looked up and immediately agreed after seeing the glams of the various wol (warrior of light/playable character)l.

She was thinking of playing as a female miqo'te at first but she saw how jacked female roegadyn is, immediately steering to it with the speed of light.

She knows she wants to avoid tanks and healers because that is too much responsibility when she just wants to attack.

She ends up with arch/brd (archer/bard) for starters because 1) physical range means away from big mechanics 2) she just wants to shoot the boss from far.

Later end up becoming the main mch (machinist) because 1) cool gun 2) she is learning to shoot irl so it makes it more fun for her 3) she can PEW PEW in the game.

Always going blind to any dungeon, trial, and raid.

Because FFXIV can make you play all jobs if you will it, she tried it all eventually but she prefers being dps especially range dps

Sometimes she fights with people on forums because people keep saying mch is a useless job, and she will not stand for it!!!!

Likes to collect glams so she often drags NXX boys to farm a certain raid and dungeon to get variations.

Her favorites are Minfilia and Lyse. She really loves their characters.

She is also fond of Aymeric and G'raha. 

Used to dislike Emet-Selch but then she sobbed over him. After that, she will clown Emet-Selch whenever he shows up on the screen.

She loves Venat after Endwalker.

Artem Wing

He chose to play Elezen. He actually prefers duskwight elezen but seeing the psychiatrist stating he is going to play duskwight, he detracted from his choice because he doesn't want to ruin the mood.

Rosa casually mentioned isn't he want to play as duskwight because he was looking for the lore, and because Vyn has brain cells he put it together and gave Artem a dirty look. 

(It's just a feeling, but I think Artem in general is not sure where to put himself in a friend group especially when one of them previously had some kinda bad blood between them.)

They Have a Fun Talk™

Anyway in the end Artem still played as wildwood elezen but at least the air between the two is no longer silly and tense.

(The younger trio wanna know so badly what they talk about but neither is relenting)

Because Artem is Artem he is looking up the game stuff after the idea is proposed. He is not used to playing games all that much and feels the need to know how to do it correctly so he won't end up being a bother.

Funnily, he looked up the race lore and the twelve but managed to avoid spoilers because there is always a preface of warning when it reaches that territory of expansion spoilers.

He actually studies mechanics before they enter any dungeon, trial, or raid. 

Artem ended up playing tank as main because the younger trio preferred main dps and they needed a tank. Luke is an all-rounder but he avoids healer and tank roles when possible.

He chose gld/pld (gladiator/paladin). He studied the starter tank role and found that he would like to play that job the most.

He also played dps as either mch (because it feels right since he can use a gun) or blm aka black mage (he finds it fun to get a spot and to Not Move and deliver big damage)

Actually really into the story, and take notes while cutscenes play. 

(This left the other three confused while Rosa giggled to herself because she already knows it's his mockingbird self that is surfacing.)

Is actually a really good tank because he always does his rotation and mitigation correctly. Not without stumbles but he keeps improving to the point he can play tank with ease.

Multiple times saving a normal trial/raid because he got good mitigation and clemency (healing button) and finished the raid/trial or saving healer before dying so the healer can save the rest.

His opinion of Emet-Selch is sympathetic but ultimately the damage is already done, and his end is inevitable.

He really likes Aymeric. Find it admirable that the man is able to stay in his conviction even when the place and people he wants to protect would not always stand by him. He is glad to see Aymeric people in the corner no matter how few there are. Artem hopes that he could always stay true to his conviction too like Aymeric 

Is actually crying at Venat's famous monologue. (Flabbergasted the team)

His favorite scion is papalymo therefore it made him sad when he died.

Also loves watching countries' leaders growth, especially for Merlwylb and Nanamo.

Vyn Richter

He chose to play Duskwight because he finds them fascinating and also finds that they deserve better and should be given more fleshed-out lore.

He has a Fun Talk with Artem because they are friends now and Artem needs to understand that. (Albeit Vyn thought they would be enemies longer but they are friends now he needs to make it clear.)

(He would still annoy artem time by time but that's different vibes)

For him there was no other choice but play as a healer. This just makes sense to him because he in fact has an MD. Thank you very much, he would emulate this energy in a game too.

Vyn learned healing in the game very fast. 

His starter job is arc (arcanist) but immediately steers to sch (scholar) as soon as they get lvl 30, and he actually finds it funny when the fairy jank.

His main job is sge (sage) later on. It is interesting that the attack can heal, and he wants to master it.

He actually can play all healer but he finds whm (white mage) a bit mind-numbing, and while ast (astrologian) is fun with keeping up healing, cards, and attack he prefers something more reliable like sge.

He still plays because when there is a fairy jank, he finds it fun to play. It was also his first healer job, so he was kinda attached to it.

(And because he loves the barrier healer job. He will have to heal but he loves that he could mitigate or prevent the damages.)

He sometimes argues with Artem because of his use of clemency.

("Have more faith in your healer or play healer yourself, Artem." Vyn said in annoyance.

Artem sighed, "I canceled the clemency, Vyn.")

That said, sometimes he had to hand it to Artem because his decision to save or to mitigate the healer was usually top notch.

He only ever tells him good job and does not elaborate.

The only non-healer job he plays is rdm (red mage)

He sometimes studies the mechanic before entering the dungeon/trial/raid, but sometimes he trusts his ability enough to wing it. (He said 'I will wing it' usually when they all played in the same room instead of playing in their own place. He found it funny when Artem gave him an annoyed, yet fond look.)

That said, healing the younger trio is actually more stressful than healing Artem who plays tank.

Both Rosa and Marius play main range dps, and they are always somewhere in narnia (as in a far-off range of the heals) and Vyn either had to use a rescue button or adjust his range.

Vyn never does this to Rosa, but he sometimes uses the rescue button to drag Marius straight to the killing mechanic.

("IS THAT NECESSARY?"

"Easier to kill you than healing you.")

Luke is a different kind of trouble for Vyn. He is always on range most of the time, but he is always trying to maintain uptime therefore sometimes he dies at the silliest mechanic.

Vyn, pulling a face: behave or else

(Never make your healer mad, folks)

His favorite scion ironically is Thancred.

He took a glance and saw a man full of contradictions and took it personally. He loves to psychoanalyze Thancred.

He actually hates Thancred. He is a Hater but Thancred is fun to analyze then he grows to like him as a character because the chara growth is unexpected and endearing.

He grows to love Thancred (bitter)

Vyn is also very fond of Cid. He can relate to Cid's story and how made the decision to step away from the Garlemald. Vyn hates Garlemald as soon as they are mentioned in the game.

He takes one glance at Ishgard and is immediately a Hater. Remind him too much of Svart. He thinks Aymeric is too soft and should take care of himself more instead of the ungrateful country.

He is pretty sympathetic to Yotsuyu albeit in the end, he knows there is no good end for her.

He hates Emet-Selch. 

He is very fond of Y'shtola because one sane person (in his opinion) and the sass along with intellectuals are fun to see.

He grows to like the twin.

He has a lot of Opinion™ on Venat but ultimately he could see it as a desperate gambit at the end of the world.

"This is why an ethical class is needed for scientists and the like. Also, Hermes needs therapy. His coping mechanism is to drag the world to hell."

Luke Pearce

He is the one who suggested FFXIV when Rosa suggested gaming as bonding time.

He is actually a veteran player but uses a new game+ mode so he can enjoy the game with them.

He has an alts which male sun seeker mi'qote but his main is a male midlander hyur.

He likes to say he plays all roles but he actually doesn't like healing as much even though he can do it very well and his habit as a melee player is always bleeding through when he is tanking which causes healers to get annoyed at him.

(He still gets healer annoyed at him as melee dps but he always delivers big damage so.)

His main from the beginning is pgl/mnk (pugilist/monk) and he is one of the few people who lament when the devs tried to remove some positionals. ("But that's the fun of playing monk!!!")

Is actually a melee jobs specialist, but his best damage has always been when he plays mnk.

Luke tried to not be silly for Vyn but his Positional Is Important™

("Sorry Vyn! But-

"-My positional is important."

"Yes." Embarrassed.

Vyn sighed.)

He is the one who calls out for extreme trials or savage raids.

He knows most mechanics, that's why he can clear things with ease, the only issue is that as melee, he is very greedy for more damage so all his dead usually is silly.

He knows the story is good, so he was looking forward to seeing all of them reacting to it.

Luke already predicted all of Rosa's possible reactions to it. There is something satisfying watching people reacting as expected in certain scenes

He is happy to know Marius also likes it, commenting on what he likes and also sobbing at some parts. He finds all of Vyn's comments either funny or very on point.

Artem was unexpected because Luke didn't expect the oldest to be very taken to the story, even taking notes and all. He provides thoughtful opinions that give him more insight into a game. Luke thought he already aced all the lore then there is Artem.

Luke is HELLA curious about what is written in the notes.

His favorite scion is G'raha, previously it was Minfilia. He likes their optimistic view, and he cried a lot over Minfilia's fate and G'raha's life during shadowbringer. Hope Punk all the way!!

He hates Emet-Selch's gut for a while but also pities him because Emet-Selch lost so many people he loves and Luke could understand the feeling.

The burden of memory, but he couldn't approve of the way Emet-Selch handled it either. It's complicated.

He is very fond of Hythlodaeus and thinks that kinds of people are needed in life. To not take life too seriously and enjoy it.

He loves Meteion and is very sad about her story. In the first playthrough to Endwalker, he cried at cutscenes before the Final Dungeon.

When he played the game again with NXX, he found he started to take Venat quotes to heart. 

He respects Venat as a character.

Marius Von Hagen

He was scrolling through the races and found the most perfect fit of the character he wanted. Male Viera.

He took forever designing his character to the point that Rosa and Vyn are actually bombing his dm to get faster. Luke uses his main, so he waited for them to finish and in the meantime does roulette for dungeon/trial/raid. Artem is already finished but also looking for mechanics and lore, and most gameplay. 

His starter job is arch/brd but it also became his main. His other DPS are dnc (dancer) and smn (summoner).

Marius always goes blind when doing dungeons/trials/raids. He and Rosa high-fived over this.

He and Rosa are also the most obsessed with glam therefore he always roped all of them to hunt ones. 

("Listen, I want this so badly, Artem!"

 "Me too! The phys ranger gear is so good in this one so please 🥹")

Both of them always roped Artem 1) Easier to convince (softie mode on) 2) Luke prefers to heal if he has to fill in either tank or healer 3) Vyn can be convinced but takes time.

Also the one who is most into PVP in FFXIV

"Killing people is so fun." About Frontline mode PVP

Payton almost had a heart attack hearing it out of context once. Marius has to explain it's about a game.

"C'mon let's play Rival Wing mode!!!" Marius every time they could have time to play together. Luke and he tries to outdo kills each other whenever they get on different sides.

He sometimes knew that he annoyed Vyn with his playstyle, but that only tempted him more. The result, ofc, the occasional dragged to killing mechanic.

("Worth it." 

Marius famous last words)

His favorite character is Guydelot. Rosa knows who Guydelot is because she also plays brd. The others find out of curiosity.

("He speaks to my soul you see."

"Being a drama queen?"

"Missy! How could you!")

His favorite scions are Alphinaud and Alisaie. He is really fond of their character growth. He also has a few things he relates to each twin (family legacy, finding his own path, unlearning some behavior) and he couldn't help but cheer for them. 

He loves Emet-Selch but will clown him whenever he is on screen.

("Making fascist empire to cope? Please be serious.")

Venat/Hydaelyn's last farewell made him really sad. 

He is also really curious about Artem's notes on FFXIV.

Also despite his first playthrough blunder, he is a really good brd. He always maintains his rotation if he doesn't die.

("I am a perfect support."

"Please fix your bad habit of going far off then.")

Miscellaneous

They sometimes end up using FFXIV as a reference for what they talked about and confuse people

Luke carries them through other contents such as Deep Dungeon.

Whenever Luke used the callout for the first time ex trial/savage raid, Artem was always confused about what even fisting the ground meant.

Vyn is such a good healer that it carries thru PVP 

Marius really loves giving ideas for group glams. Artem and Vyn used to resist it but now it is just a fact of life.

Rosa has tons of their gpose.

That’s what I have so far lmao. Anyone can agree or disagree, this is just my opinion after all but if this is actually a springboard for a fic where NXX finds out about Artem’s mockingbird persona? Hahaha… Unless? The NXX Idols AU is shoving guns to my temple now.

 Hope you all enjoy my niche LOL

[paintedscales]

Someone my muse used to dislike / hate, but doesn’t any more

Hello, dreadwyrmz! Thank you so much for the ask! \ o w o / ♥ I hope that the new year has been treating you kindly so far!

SUPPORTING CHARACTER ASK MEME

Man...when the brain is screaming 'Estinien,' and I have to rein it all in because, yeah...that's not a secret. It never has been. Like, the relationship arc on this blog is the enemies to lovers trope.

So!

Urianger.

Nomin still doesn't really come to him for advice or to really speak candidly...but like, she's willing to recognize that Urianger's doing what he can to mend whatever of the bridge that has been burned. She never really cared much for the riddles and archaic ways he spoke, because Eorzean / the common tongue is not her first language, and having to parse his words to better understand their meaning was frustrating. Then there's the whole Warrior of Darkness thing that really soured their relationship, even if he did go, "actually, I'm a double agent, sorry. I am on your side."

Throughout Stormblood and most of Shadowbringers, Nomin's very much, "you talk to Urianger, because I don't want to." Like...tail end of Shadowbringers and Shadowbringers patch content, she starts to make efforts on burying the hatchet on her end. In Endwalker, she's definitely more receptive to Urianger and what he has to say and contribute.

[jorrmungandr]

(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)

Ahhhhhhhh, havin' another relaxing day.

Been playing more Lies of P lately, it's really good. I had trouble with it at the start, but since I came back to it the other day it's been smooth sailing. Not sure if that's just a brain rest thing, or if I was just right at the breaking point where I got enough stats to play the way I like to. That way being sort of a strength-focused block-based bruiser, as my traditional favorite style in this kind of game.

I've just been flying through bosses, beat the city streets and the factory. The weapon combination system is very cool, though I haven't really been able to find any especially interesting combos yet. I keep just going back to the starting greatsword, it's nice and solid. Can't wait to be able to buy some boss weapons, the one you get for the King's Flame looks really cool.

I never did get very far in Bloodborne, even though I was finally able to get it with my PS5. I dunno, I think it was overhyped over the years, and the framerate really does feel bad. I've heard that it has like... subtly messed up frame pacing, that actually makes it feel way worse than the 30fps it consistently has, and I believe it. Probably would've loved if I had played it when it came out, but alas! Well, I am also a noted Parry Disliker, so maybe not.

I've been taking a break from podcasts this afternoon, doing some personal writing and listening to the Misericorde soundtrack. It's been going for two hours and I'm not even halfway through, this is a truly absurd amount of music. Xeecee really spoiled us.

Feeling very tempted to get back into FFXIV... the next expansion is coming out over the summer, so now would be a good time to go and start getting caught up. I stopped playing after the first Endwalker patch, I felt kinda burned out on the game. I'd been playing pretty intensely single like patch 5.3, so a good two years.

Also like... I really enjoyed the plot of Endwalker, but I do think it tied things up a bit too neatly. It was too final, y'know what I mean? Like, it felt like there wasn't really anywhere left for the plot to really explore that would be interesting. The stuff I've heard about the patch plots is cool, but not enough to draw me back in. Plus I wasn't super interested in the raids or alliance raids, either for plot or for aesthetics.

Part of the problem, I suppose, is that Shadowbringers was just so good that anything would be a letdown afterwards. And, indeed, it was. I am way more interested in the next expansion, though, where we're just goin' to a brand new place and exploring again. It'll be great to have something geographically and thematically coherent.

[hythlodaeus-mynewoldfriend]

👎😫⚰️ for stasia!

Thank you my friend! I apologize for rambling on the last one but like family……brain has been rotating them around for a while. Anyway! Spoiler warnings for Shadowbringers onwards (post endwalker raids quite a lot in the last question) essentially so it’s under a cut

👎 = Is there anyone in your muse’s family they dislike, why?

All of her parents, though she forgets she even has a mother so how much that counts depends on you. She dislikes/hates them for different reasons. She hates her father because he wanted to use her, a child at the time, in his big plans as a pawn and when she couldn’t do what he wanted after non-stop training and working on the spell until she finally collapsed he left her calling her a disappointment and never came back. When she was working along side him as an adult she hated and loathed how he dismissed her and belittled her ideas and plans. With Emet-Selch this was a man that she actually let herself believe cared for her in some capacity and he turns around and basically lumps her in with the other sundered people (or so she perceives) meaning that she never did have a proper place among them and even had their plan come to fruition would never have been accepted by her own people. Part of her held out some kind of hope within that man and he crushed it without blinking an eye. So she retaliated by bringing on his death by letting free his grandpa nemesis. Her mother just stopped caring for her after her powers manifested and more of the truth on just who her father was came out, this was worsened by the fear her daughter created since she was still prone to unknowingly opening portals to the Void and letting free a monster or two. Her mother didn’t even look up from her coffee or say anything when Stasia left when she turned 14.

😫 = How does your muse handle a family member being stressed out? What about sick?

This woman is so detached from her family that if they get sick she’s just leaving the medicine and a single glass of water if she’s feeling generous. If she’s feeling extra generous she’ll send someone to go check on them. Frankly you being sick sounds like a you problem.

In terms of stressed out, this mostly was Emet’s domain and the simple solution was to just do what needed to be done that he had on a list essentially. Like less he had to worry about doing since he could be so uptight and meticulous about it all the less stressed he was which meant she had to listen to less of his dramatics.

⚰️ = How would the loss of a family member affect them? Does it vary based on type of family member?

See Stasia doesn’t like to have her emotions effect her in any way shape or form. This is proven by the fact that her biological father Lahabrea was killed and her first thought was “Good riddance.” It can also be seen in the fact that her father figure (that she will never admit to) Emet-Selch was killed and she had a hand in making that happen. She really just kind of just pushes it all down and turns to very black and white thinking to cope, ie. Lahabrea was a shit dad that abandoned her because at ten she couldn’t do magic that required a lot of power and training, and Emet-Selch betrayed her by saying he doesn’t consider sundered souls as truly alive which pointed out that she was seen as another pawn and she would not stand to be a pawn, she was at minimum the knight or bishop. This thinking drives harder even when meeting their past selves and how an unknown anger flares up in that she could have had better. These men had so much and could have passed on so much more knowledge, taught her more, found more of their strengths to absorb, but they didn’t and therefore their deaths were warranted and not worth much more thought.

However! There are two exceptions to this notion. The first in that found family (mostly Carly and Sib is becoming that cousin she never asked for) will effect her more internally. Losing Carly would devastate her and she would absolutely want to murder whoever it was that killed her and would then grow cold and even more heartless than before. There’s all her hope for humanity gone right there! Sib is just still on the more useful side so losing her would be a crushing blow to future plans A-T.

The second exception is her (half) brother, Erichthonios. Now it’s a little complicated but she met him in the past and there was an instant empathy and connection to him as they both got the same feelings from their father in that he was distant, cold, duty above all else, emotionless, etc. and she doesn’t want to care for him at all for a long long while because well he’s long dead in her time so why bother. As time goes on she grows to have a fondness for him in that she does what she can to keep him alive and safe beyond the necessary as she could almost as easily take his place for the role he has and feels the need to want to tell him their relation, which is unheard of for her. When it comes time to confront his mother she doesn’t want a memory version of him to sacrifice himself, though never stated (he can tell though), and when she now knows the identity of his sundered version she keeps an eye on him but still very distant and steals keeps the memory stone with his memories in it. She hadn’t planned on doing either but the last message he had pulled on her thin heart strings because he acknowledged her as his sister (guy figured it out and got confirmation when he asked Hyth about his familiar and got a haunted look in his eye that the man couldn’t place because gotta love memory wipes am I right?) and wished her the best, that he hoped they’d meet again in the future, and he never once denounced her and her attitude/actions even long after their initial meeting as the sundered version claimed that what was said was true. Like he basically says that yeah people will want her to be nicer and sure she could stand to be but nice wasn’t always going to get what needed to get done, she’s willing to do what’s needed even if it makes her look like a terrible person and that’s what’s needed from time to time so that in and of itself doesn’t make her a terrible or monstrous person like others would claim.

At the current moment she’s still a bit conflicted on how far to let this person into her life because there’s a lot to account for and letting people in means letting more emotions in and that just doesn’t vibe with her. All this to say that she would care about his death and doesn’t really look forward to when his time does come to an end as she’ll still be living and even possibly without Carly by then and well we saw what happened to her father figure after millennia of feeling like he was all alone and she doesn’t want that for herself. If and when he dies she will at least see him buried and leave a parting gift on his grave before never returning.

Well that was a lot. If you made it this far I reward you with family bbq time because I’m still not over this:

[autumnslance]

I noticed you doing character bingos again! I’d like to see one for Zenos if possible. I had fun with him in Stormblood, but found that joy to drowned with how he was handled in Endwalker. By the end I just wanted to be done with that monster. If the game had let me walk away without fighting him, like he suggested, I would have.

Wild, we're about the opposite; I disliked Zenos a great deal in Stormblood--he was bloody useless and an annoyance out of nowhere--while I feel they finally figured him out and mostly hit their stride with him in Endwalker, as he gave up pretending to care about military and political matters and became the wandering blood knight he actually is.

Almost got a bingo, but let's be real; I always have too much to say about major characters.

I also won't say anything negative about folks' WoLships, which are by far the most popular Zenos pairing; folks have their fun and they're welcome to it. But fandom is a good chunk of the issue with Zenos. One either loves him or hates him, and both sides tend to take it to extremes and flanderize / mischaracterize the man rather than dealing with the canon portrayal.

In my opinion, he's not that deep. Yes I have read "The Hunt Begins" thank you I own a copy of Chronicles of Light. It told us nothing new about his history and personality, just gave us a glimpse of where he started to find his focus, exactly as the title tells us. The thing is, Zenos doesn't have to be "deep" (whatever one means by that) to be compelling and do his job as a character in the story. Given his straightforward viewpoints, especially in EW as he gives an answer to Hermes' questions, Zenos himself might scoff at the need to find hidden depth of meaning to his personality and existence.

I've also said somewhere, probably my other big Zenos write-up, that he's not quite tragic, though there's tragedy all around and through him. He chooses to not deal with it in any fashion, a creature of the present entirely.

I think he needed a better introduction, seeded over the HW patches, even just in discussion and rumors if we still didn't see him until that patch 3.55 shot. I think he should have done something in StB other than be a "lose the fight the right way" plot checkpoint and just handing Doma and Ala Mhigo back to the heroes without having to really work for them.

I really think a massive part of the dissatisfaction many folks have with StB's story is that the victories are hollow after so much misery in those lands, who are then each shorted due to sharing the expansion. And a lot of that comes down to the misuse of Zenos, whose attributes are mostly told to us as he sleeps on the throne and bullies his underlings. For a supposedly brilliant man, we never see it in his military strategies, and he's played handily by Fandaniel, who knew just how to pull Zenos's strings.

So yeah. I was ready to be done with him in EW; "In From the Cold" is horrifying but I see it more as Fandaniel's scheme that Zenos goes all into. My WoL stopped caring about Zenos the moment trial 1 ended and Fandaniel's scheme became clear. I eye rolled whenever Zenos came back onscreen, though I think the scene in Garlemald with Jullus and Alisaie were good for him and lead directly into the finale.

I know what I just wrote and that I checked "too much screentime" but honestly he got a shade too little in EW. I DID dread/expect some kinda 11th hour teamup, though the "how" made me laugh incredulously. It worked in its weird way.

The final fight he still didn't understand my WoL but she was done and wanted to make sure it was finally over and he wouldn't darken her door or threaten anyone again. The solo duel is not unknown in other FF games, and I rather enjoyed it and the final punch-out at the end as they exhausted themselves entirely.

Mileage varies, depending on one's WoL, feelings on Zenos, and on that tropey duel of mirrored characters. I've also already spoken to the gripes about him being truly gone per Word of God and while one can do whatever one wants in fanfic, there's a lot of reason it does, in fact, work to leave his corpse at the edge of the universe and I'm OK with it. His part in the story, and how that affects Assumed Default Warrior of Light's self-understanding, is complete.

Like the Ascians, he's done. Interested to see what's up with his Avatar, since we also got nothing on his being a Reaper (could have used more on that too!!) as we move into the 6.x patches and build up of the next arc.

[eyetheguard]

🔥 Give us a list of general likes and dislikes, such as colours, textures, music, weather and other stuff! + Who does your OC absolutely hate, the one person who they’d sell to Satan for one corn chip? Why do they loathe this person so? (For Milo and Tatjenen!)

🔥 Give us a list of general likes and dislikes, such as colours, textures, music, weather and other stuff!

For Milo:

Milo likes pale blues, black, and white; velvet, linen, cold stone floors, cool loose dirt, wet dirt, silk sheets, polished wood, suede, dandelion seeds, tulip petals, rose petals, wool socks, bubble bath foam, incense, the smell of rolled oats, body butter, knitted blankets, jewelry, lacy/mesh fabric, gentle rain, the sun peeking through tree leaves, hot tea, layered clothes, cooking, sleeping, kissing.

He really only dislikes gelatinous/congealed textures, when it's too hot, vodka, waking up early, sea creatures, deep fried food (aside from french fries), wet clothes, deflated pillows, having to hide his accent/dialect/cant.

For Tatjenen:

Tatjenen is pretty simple in that he likes ice cream, overcast days (grey irises aren't all that common for him, so it's a nice change), warm dirt, fougère (shady, cool, fern-y smells), flutes/his panpipe, tomato leaves, caramel, campfires, petrichor, silk, satin, cold metal, marigolds, daffodils, martinis, doing his hair, public baths, burying his feet in dirt or sand, sunbathing.

He doesn't like wearing clothes/his mask, cold water, rumors (granted, he keeps up with them when they're about him), sleeping, being left on his own, taking notes, sitting cross-legged, lying/liars, using creation magicks, sparring, and group/work-related meals.

Who does your OC absolutely hate, the one person who they’d sell to Satan for one corn chip? Why do they loathe this person so?

Okay so disclaimer, big one, it takes a lot for Mi to genuinely hate anybody. There's been some strong dislike but he still wouldn't say he hated them. Sorry in advance because there's some popular NPCs listed, but the upside is that he doesn't feel like that anymore at the current part of MSQ (post-Endwalker) for two of the three. It only applies to him as a WoL, too. I'll put it under a cut, this is super long:

For Milo:

1 - In WoL-verse, Milo had a huge problem with Urianger's lying. Considering his involvement with the Scions usually means putting himself in a lot of danger, while he agreed to that, not knowing the details no matter how shitty, sucked. It's wild to Milo that any of them expect him to blindly trust them if they don't reciprocate that trust, but it happening more than once made it where by the climax of Shadowbringers he was definitely fed up with it. All that said, Urianger apologizing in Endwalker was literally all that had to happen to fix it! No justification of what had to be done, no talking about the greater good, just a regular old apology. That's it. They're not besties or anything just yet, but any grudge Milo held about all of that is completely gone. Milo is so huge on legitimate apologies that even if he understands your motive, he wants the hurt caused to be acknowledged. He knows Urianger always means well. 2 - The second is G'raha - it's a similar situation to how Mi was with Urianger - secrets and lying don't go over well with him. The bigger issue, and one he's still sort of dealing with I suppose, is that so much has happened between the first time they met/ the Crystal Tower storyline and engaging with him as the Crystal Exarch in particular. He was, and still is, very uncomfortable with assumed familiarity. He isn't the same person he was then, and already dislikes being put on a pedestal as the Warrior of Light.

ShB was an awful mess for him emotionally so being admired as someone he feels he is not while being kept in the dark about some things and not feeling as if his life mattered except to be sacrificed in some way made him pretty damn mad. Again, he doesn't hate G'raha - with the MSQ there's so much that was out of his hands and you have to draw a line when it comes to saving the realm so Milo would've just had to get the hell over it lol. I feel that ShB would've been a little harder on him than some other folk's WoL's, so it's just personal interpretation.

All that said, he does still keep G'raha at arms length - yes, even after Endwalker. There's respect there for sure, but Milo is quite guarded about what he struggled with as the story progressed so they probably won't be close any time soon, unfortunately.

3 - Third person! Milo can't stand Zenos. I wanna say it's nothing personal but this is the only person he's actually swung at with his bare firsts so maybe it kind of is. It not being personal is mostly about Zenos not taking no for an answer and assuming things about him just like everyone else seems to love doing. Yes he's an antagonist and they'd have to fight at some point - but there's something just really gross to Milo about interacting with him to the point he never wanted to do even that.

To add insult to injury, Milo has history in a certain line of work. Being forced to engage, him refusing/saying no not being respected, being straight up violated via body swap in EW - there's no way to come back from that for him, it's a very hard boundary. That last fight was a summation of his exhaustion, above all else. He got to the point that he stopped caring about the "why". It's all gone up in flames, there's nothing to salvage. He hates being like that but he'd hate dying atop his discarded agency a lot more.

For Tatjenen:

Tatjenen doesn't hate anybody. No one knows him well enough for him to feel any kind of way about them in return, at least not negatively I don't think. His questionable reputation is mostly about him talking too much and his struggles with narcolepsy that others aren't usually aware that he has. Being chosen as Venat's successor to the seat of Azem would have put a ton of eyes on him, so we'll just have to see if that brews bad blood between him and someone else.

[necra-loid]

oooooooh i want your opinion on Fandaniel!!

oh fandaniel so problematique <3 - reference to done dirty bc absolutely everyone woobifies him (which like yes he was gentle in elpis but also he did like. do awful things too cant separate the two) references to appearance: amon looked so cool but also so much like a clown god

[elveny]

Why I dislike the Zenos Solo Duty so much

I honestly think it's the absolute LOWPOINT of Endwalker. I dislike it *so much*, and not because I dislike Zenos as a character or because of the mechanics.

But because I think it's a HUGE disservice to both the WoL and Zenos.

Here's why.

The last Zenos scenes are the first sort-of-character development we've seen since he first appeared. For the first time, he starts to become more than the obsessed, homicidal killer he was until then. (Tbqh, I was starting to become bored by him because it was always the same in a different color. But then came Endwalker.)

The base of his character is that he is obsessed with us, that he can only feel something when he fights us, that we're the only one who can give him a challenge. We are the only person on this world he sees any worth in. He actually seems to care for us, in a weird and very twisted way! And after Alisaie told him off, he, for the FIRST TIME, starts to consider that to capture our attention, he has to do something different than, say, destroy country after country with zero regard to life, or go after our friends.

And so he does. Which is EXTRAORDINARY! He actually changed!! He went to Sharlayan, by boat, and asked to help us?? That is unheard of! And then, then, he asks us for a fight. He says he won't force it upon us, which, AGAIN, is unheard of! It was the start to being something different than the mindless, bored butcher with untapped and unheard-of powers he was so far.

But what do we do? SE railroads us into giving him what he wants. To me, it felt like a reward for all he did to us. (And lets ignore his prettiness for a second, shall we? What he did is horrible beyond anything.) Zenos bore-kills his way through life, bodysnatches us to kill our dearest friends and we reward him by giving him exactly what he always wanted - commiting suicide by WoL. Again.

(I mean, you do you with your WoL, but after what happened, my WoL would NOT have fought him, especially after he gave us the option not to. And depending on how you play your WoL, the fact that we basically agree with Zenos' assessment of that we're just another shade of him, can be very jarring. But the discussion where Zenos works as a foil for WoL and where not is another one.)

Listen, we are being told and shown time and again that Zenos is extraordinary. He has Ascian powers without being an Ascian. He can bodyhop, transport, transform into a primal and back at will, fly through space and break through Meteion's defenses like it's nothing, he has a Reaper form in addition to his Voidsent little friend, he has a sort of Echo that may or may not be (completely) artificial, he has had dreams of the Final Days since childhood. Fandaniel looks at him and says "Could Emet-Selch have found a way...?" There is still so much more to this character and story that I don't think for a SECOND that he's actually dead.

I am 100% certain he'll be back.

AGAIN.

Which is just cheap and lazy writing. I'm sorry. We already had the "oh look, we killed Zenos, oh wow wait what, how is he back" moment.

And if he's NOT coming back - what is all the build-up of his character for? All the story and hints and possibilities dissipating into nothingness?

Irrelevant of personal feelings about Zenos as a person; he is an extraordinary character with incredible potential. But what we get with him is a repeat of what we already had that cuts short the little development we were shown.

[magitekhearted]

//Well, my OCE Menenius alt is officially up to Endwalker. Will this be the time I finally get an alt all the way through to the end? Only time will tell. (Though probably not, lbr)

[warlordfelwinter]

scars

~760 // wol/g’raha // spoilers for endwalker

i just felt a little mean this morning and my friend just met zenos so...

.

.

G'raha couldn't sleep.

It wasn't the first time. After they had returned from Ultima Thule, when Fiver was still recovering from his injuries, G'raha had spent many a night lying awake, afraid to take his eyes off of him. He would watch Fiver's chest rise and fall, reminding himself that he was alive. And so he found himself tonight, snuggled up against Fiver's side with a hand on his chest, feeling a slow, steady heartbeat under his fingers.

A few months had passed since they'd returned. Fiver had recovered and started fulfilling his promise to G'raha. They'd been travelling. Ishgard first, where G'raha had been properly introduced to Aymeric. Fiver had shown him the city and the countryside, taking him to Dravania and the Churning Mists, relating his version of events from the Dragonsong War. It was similar, but different from what G'raha had read, and nothing in the books or records could have prepared him for meeting the dragons. Of course, he had met Vrtra, but these were dragons he had read and heard so much about in stories about Fiver. Vidofnir was impressive enough, but when they got to the Churning Mists, Fiver disappeared for a suspicious amount of time while G'raha was distracted by the moogles. G'raha had found him outside, where Fiver had grabbed his hand and dragged him, sprinting and without warning, off the edge of the floating island. After a heartbeat of terrified plummeting, G'raha clinging to Fiver who was laughing, they were caught by Hraesvelgr. G'raha didn't think he would forget that dragon-back tour anytime soon.

Now, they were in Ala Mhigo. Lyse had practically insisted they stay in one of the rooms of the royal palace while they were here, and they had been given one with a view of the menagerie gardens. They'd eaten dinner among the flowers, and Fiver had told him about Zenos.

Zenos… G'raha wasn't sure he'd ever disliked someone so much. Despite everything else Fiver had been through, despite killing gods and averting the end of the world and suffering more than any one man ever should, Zenos had been the one to hurt Fiver the most. Over and over and over again. G'raha ran his fingers lightly over the massive scar on Fiver's chest, tracing the outline, remembering that horrible moment when he'd appeared on the Ragnarok covered in his own blood, barely clinging to life. He still had nightmares about that moment, though he doubted they were anything compared to Fiver's.

Fiver shifted, his breath hitching slightly before settling back into a rhythm. G'raha looked up, watching his face twitch, and wondered what he was dreaming about. He pressed a light kiss to Fiver's shoulder, hoping it was at least a good dream.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when Fiver suddenly lurched awake with a gasp, dislodging G'raha from his side. He grasped at his face, his hair, his ears, as if checking to make sure it was all there. That it was all correct. He looked at his hands, breathing hard, before he dropped his face into them, stifling a sob.

Not a good dream. Not a good dream at all, G'raha thought. Judging by Fiver's reaction, he could guess exactly what that dream had been about. He sat up, wordlessly pulling Fiver into his arms and holding him.

Another way Zenos had hurt him. Another of the worst memories G'raha had. He could remember how relieved and excited he'd been to see Fiver walking up that hill after he'd vanished and how that relief had immediately frozen into a weight in his stomach when he'd seen that cold disinterest in Fiver's eyes. If Fiver, in the stolen body of that Imperial, hadn't shown up when he had… G'raha didn't dare think what might have happened to them all. Out of all the horrors he had experienced, that was the one thing Fiver refused to talk about.

Fiver leaned against him, shaking, curling tighter in on himself. G'raha held him closer, hoping to ground him, to reassure him he wasn't alone, that he was safe. They sat like that for a long time, the quiet of the dark room broken only by the soft hitching of Fiver's breath. G'raha rubbed a hand across his back, thinking again about scars. Fiver had a lot of them. Memories of past battles, of times he'd been too slow to get to someone with healing magic which, to G'raha's distress, was almost always. Fiver could explain all of them, some of them attached to worse stories than others. But, G'raha thought, feeling some of those scars under his fingers as he tried to comfort him, the worst ones were always the ones he couldn't see.

[sarenhale]

Endwalker Garlemald reflections

I would say the hardest part to agree with at this point in the story is the whole ‘we’re here to help Garlemald’ thing.

I understand that the Telophoroi are the main villains since they’re attacking everyone, Garlemald included, but the Scions (and the grand companies) of Eorzea going around saying that they’re trying to bear no ill will towards the Empire and their citizens and help them because they’re victims too just sounds so fake and stupid, really. As if people forgot all that the Empire had done to entire civilizations, wiping them away from the face of the Earth, bringing ‘civility’ to barbarians... bleugh... the whole pacific fight with best intentions may work for someone, for some characters, it doesn’t work for me, dog. I just find it so unrealistic and what happens with the garlean citizens you find when you first set step in Garlean territory proves that. It’s just such a backwards ideology, which is driven by good faith, yes, but it’s just so unappliable to real life and conflict. 

Also the whole ‘we were FORCED to battle every one because we had nothing’ is like??? So fucking stupid as a take, like am I supposed to agree with the soldiers on this? Maybe if civilians characters delivered these lines, allright, but when a soldier captain is doing so... lol... it’s very hard to feel for these people, it all just sounds like a pathetic ‘hey, we’re hurt too!’ excuse coming from the suppressor of barbarian civilizations

I consider Aydee a pretty idealistic person and ever her would be like ‘Yeah, I don’t think so’. Of course the actions of a nation aren’t entirely representative of its populace and citizens, but wiping away any sort of ill will because ‘we just want to help them now’ is just so unrealistic. I’m interested to see how the game will handle this conflict further, because it’s an interesting theme that of course is deeply linked to real life war and politics situations. That’s probably also why it’s so easy to smell the bullshit ‘let’s forgive and forget’ logic. But yeah. Very interesting part of the story here in Garlemald.

I would also add that this whole concept is also why I still dislike Gaius and Fordla as characters that are trying to be redeemed. It all just rings as fake and unrealistic like this whole logic here

(Also, this is not a critique on the writing at all- the whole conflict is very interesting and even the fact that I’m here pondering about this means the writing team did a good job producing thought-inducing conflicts in the game.)

[ribbi-ffxiv]

I am hoping the stat squish coming up with the release of Endwalker also has the side effect of making the previous expansions raids a bit more difficult, I heavily dislike how the DPS is so high now that in old content people completely miss out on some mechanics.

This might be an unpopular opinion because it means slower clears of old content, but the stuff that is commonly skipped due to high DPS is sometimes really cool stuff. I like to do daily roulettes (even with all jobs maxed) and it kinda sucks to blast through all this older content in about half the time it used to take.

For example, in Omega 8 (Kefka) the “grand finale” of the fight, the phase 4 music plays for about 20 seconds and he dies before any mechanics can happen. It sucks just blowing past it and makes the whole thing feel a lot less epic if that makes sense.

I’m sure there’s also things from Alexander raids that are commonly skipped nowadays, but I wouldn’t know cuz I started playing this game at the end of HW/early stormblood when they first launched the raid roulettes.

Eden 4 (Titan) is also quite a bit less fun than when it was current, just because the gear scaling is a bit nuts, you completely miss out on the part of the fight where he does the car form knockback 3 times in a row. Not to mention for Eden 1 how you can completely skip the 30 second cutscene that’s supposed to be in the middle of the fight, not at the very end (or not at all).

Maybe the old fights would be more fun if the gear scaling targeted the minimum ilvl more instead of the max ilvl you could wear at the time.

If there was a system in place to “opt in” to min ilvl when queue-ing for roulettes... self nerf to make the old content a bit harder...

[relentless-endurance]

For the character meme: Tataru and Estinien!

Tataru:

Why I like them

Gremlin omnicrafter who just wants her friends to be safe! She's been there from the very beginning and I am pretty sure the scions would fall apart without her.

Why I don’t

I have no reason to dislike her!

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

There is a really sweet scene when you depart for the first leg of Endwalker that makes me tear up everytime I think about it. There is a leg of quests in 5.3 that I also really love.

Favorite season/movie

I love Stormblood Era Tataru tbh, esp in the four lords quest chain (Which I strongly recommend doing its very good and has fun lore about a previous Warrior of Light!)

Favorite line

No particular line comes to mind, actually. But thats okay. She's just good.

Favorite outfit

Oh her Kugane outfit was so cute.

OTP

With Wedge or Krile! I think both are really cute.

Brotp

Her dynamic with Hancock makes me laugh a lot tbh

Head Canon

this is basically canon, but I am a firm believer either way that she is one of the very few people the warrior of light is actually scared of.

Unpopular opinion

Are there Tataru hot takes/?? is there.. fucking Tataru discourse??? alfjalkfja but honestly if people hate Tataru i don't trust them

A wish

I would love to see her in some side chain again like she was in Four Lords.

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

I don't know??? I guess I wouldn't be thrilled if she betrayed the scions or something but like ??? idk.

5 words to best describe them

terrifying. adorable. caring. my friend.

My nickname for them

i do not have a nickname i typically don't give nicknames unless they're a meme alkaflksjaf

Estinien

Why I like them

he is the most accurate depiction of a 32 year old man- but no I just love how he's a gruff on the outside but cares inside and also how he's a big brother(tm). Watching him grow as a character has been so wonderful

Why I don’t

less him and more the fandom but I am really not into the popular ships for him some of them are very ??????

Favorite episode (scene if movie)

My ultimate favorite is a fucking YUGE SPOILER. get back to me on this one however I also love his bits in stormblood where he just

>shows up >serves cunt >refuses to elaborate >leaves

Favorite season/movie

this... also spoilers. big spoilerino. you are free to ask me about it after endwalker tho bc i want to yell and cry about it

Favorite line

"Yet lasting peace does not come to those who simply retreat from conflict. No, you must be willing to confront it. To stare into the face of your foe... And see yourself in him. Only then can you break the cycle of torment and tragedy."

(do not look up this cutscene is spoiler but I felt like the blip itself wasn't overly revealing bc its just. its so good. i cry thinking about this scene)

Favorite outfit

I like his armor upgrade a lot.

OTP

Wolstinien!

Brotp

also the wol if its not a ship. and two different spoiler characters.

Head Canon

I do not have any that come chief to mine? as much as I love him, he is not my blorbo, as it were.

Unpopular opinion

I don't know. Well I do, but its kind of mean and I do not have the energy to be mean (not to you directly mind just. its a harsher opinion)

A wish

need more big brother estinien tbh

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen

Nothing chief comes to mind.

5 words to best describe them

I am. I am not sure? weird. i have a lot of feelings but this is ???

My nickname for them

I don't have one!