#The Unending Coil of Bahamut

[auraski]

[lizzy-calaxio]

The Unending Coil of Bahamut

(screenshots taken by @the-littlest-kojin)

[lookbluesoup]

(Spoilers for EVERY expansion to follow)

I have been thinking about Alisaie again and I just. Have an ache over how terrified she is of losing people she loves.

I also really do love how insanely protective of the WoL she is, as much as hurts how desperate she is for you not to leave her.

That antagonism toward loss is such a recurring element throughout her story. Her fear of losing the WoL comes up frequently, and she's shown to be much more overtly afraid of harm coming to them than most of the other Scions (not that the others don't also worry, Alisaie's just so loud about it.) Which, personally, I really like about her. She may idolize the WoL, but she never forgets that they're human, too.

Anyway, this is a theme for her from the very beginning, and Alisaie is faced with a major loss in every. single. expansion. Her grandfather, Emery, the Call taking the Scions, Tesleen, and Ultima Thule. And throughout those she learns to keep her heart open nonetheless, to keep trying, to keep caring. That's what she tells the Endsinger. "We take each other's hand. Share in each other's courage. Follow in each other's footsteps. And turn sorrow into strength!"

I'm gonna shove some rambles and a BUNCH of quotes under the cut, here, because they make me emotional and I like having them in one place. This isn't all of them, but it's some of the one's that stuck out to me most in my 95987324876423 screenshots (since Tumblr only lets me put in 30 per post >_> )

The Coils of Bahamut, where she begins to hope her Grandad is still alive, only to find his body has been possessed and turned into a tool for his enemy, and the man she loved is beyond saving, and that his body is now a puppet being used to try to kill her...

The loss of Emery in "A Malm in Her Shoes" official short story, when Alisaie shuts down and stops looking for companionship:

In Stormblood, trying to dissuade the Qalyana from following Lakshmi after the death of the leader's daughter:

As the other Scions get Called to the First, their souls kidnapped and their bodies left behind:

When it's just the WoL and her, about to face Garlemald on the battlefield:

That her instinct is to reach for the WoL when you're both Called again...

In Shadowbringers, when Tesleen is corrupted by the Sin Eaters and transformed into an aether-hungry zombie:

Later, when you have to kill "Tesleen", if you run the dungeon with Alisaie in your party, at the end of it she will be facing back down the road, where her friend's body was, and wishing her a peaceful rest. (And if Alphinaud is also there, he will notice, too)

Then, when the Fuath kidnap and attempt to drown you, she searches for you frantically:

When the Light in you starts to break free and the WoL collapses, she's the first to speak, "Are you alright? Say something!" and is also the first of those gathered to take even a step toward you. She doesn't walk, she runs, and only stops when the Exarch interferes - but she's immediately ready to throw hands with him too when she starts to think he means harm:

She lashes out in frustration when trying to find a way to save the WoL from the Light doesn't turn up anything

By Endwalker, you can see how much she's opened up to the WoL and the rest of the Scions. How she invites you to join her around Sharlayan, surprises you with food, and is just generally so much more open and happy.

After you go missing in Garlemald, her and G'raha are the only two who run to meet the WoL on the road when they're spotted returning to camp.

And when you don't answer immediately, she asks if you're alright, with a much softer concern.

If you speak to her before chasing after Fandaniel and Zenos in the Tower, a battle you will have to undertake alone, she will give you some bonus dialogue and pray in front of the WoL:

If she's the one that visits you the night after returning from the Moon, she has a really touching bit of dialogue to offer the WoL (if you have not watched this cutscene please go to the Unending Journey book to replay it and pick the Alisaie route, there's so much inflection the text just can't capture):

And once she's out of the WoL's immediate view she SPRINTS away, she's the only potential visitor who will do that, as if opening up to you so much was still frightening and her courage only lasted so long.

Finally at Ultima Thule, as your friends are taken one by one, she gets progressively more distressed... (I am running out of image space so I'll type a couple of the shorter ones)

"No... Not Estinien too..."

"Y'shtola, no! You mustn't!"

I wish I could post the whole cutscene here but - in Endsinger, when you send your friends away, the amount of screen time dedicated to showing Alisaie realize what you are about to do, and begging you not to do it. The shock and desperation as she recognizes that you're taking away any chance she has at fighting by your side - at protecting you. That same outstretched hand:

And when she thinks you're going to die...

“[Sobbing] You can’t leave us... Not like this... If you do, I’ll never forgive you… So come on! Open your eyes and get up!”

Of all the companions fighting desperately to revive them and call the WoL back, her's is first the voice the WoL hears clearly through the fog, too. It's the first uninterrupted line and actually gets a text box, where the half-finished fuzzy sentences you hear companions shout before do not. If Dynamis played a part in bringing you back, her desperation may well have been a tipping point.

And then she sounds angry enough through the tears that she might just murder you again anyway

I could probably fit another 30 in here but those are some big ones.

I think it's a big part of what makes Alisaie such a favorite of mine, the struggle she goes through and the courage she has to keep caring anyway - something you can go back and see her learn throughout the series.

[viktorbot]

Can't find my last personal post abt ultimate so I'll make a new one anyways I finally cleared unending coil of bahamut in ffxiv yippee yahoo yayyy \o/

[wyrmwinds]

My own personal FFXIV bucket list, to be updated and hopefully completed at some point.

◆ —  EXTREME

Climb Kugane Tower

Get DRG ARR Relic Weapon

Get the “Sea Dragoon” title

Get the “Hero of Gelmorra” title on Opheliaux

Get BLM ARR Relic Weapon on Sayin

Get DRG ShB Relic Weapon

Clear Zurvan Unreal

Get all trusts (except piss rat) to max level

Get Sahagin to max reputation

Get the Landerwaffe mount

Get that upcoming Bahamut mount

◆ —  SAVAGE

“Of Dragons Deep” title

Get Elemental Armor of Maiming +2

Get over 50 likes on a glam on Eorzea Collection

Do an all no-job stone run of current content

Get all Bozja field notes

◆ —  ULTIMATE

Clear Unending Coil of Bahamut

Clear Dragonsong's Reprise

Get the Necromancer title

[ammyamarant]

I think a lot about the ultimate raid from Final Fantasy XIV Dragonsong Reprise (Ultimate) sometimes. Yes, it can be the wild predictions that I made that were supposed to be jokes but ended up true in some fashion. reddodgeballofprophecy.jpg and all. But also I just have to think about the direction they took it in. If you look back at the other ultimates, they're pretty much just "the fight you actually did, But Harder. With a secret mechanic you have to figure out to beat the fight." I didn't watch when my friends did Unending Coils of Bahamut for a reason I am not disclosing. But I did see Tiepo do The Weapon's Refrain (Ultimate) and The Epic of Alexander (Ultimate) and that's pretty much it. There's a mechanic that didn't show up in the original fights that is required to find and do to beat the ultimate version.

(Since I don't want to retype all the names again it'll be UCOB for Unending Coils, UWU for Weapon's Refrain, TEA for Epic of Alexander, and DSR for Dragonsong Reprise)

There's a little bit of that in DSR. It's nothing like UWU where you had to pay attention after each primal and assign the limit break to the proper job role, or the cat in TEA. I'll also count proper Nisi here too. But you can't kill Thordan in phase 5 of DSR. The eyes in phase 4 have a mechanic where one of Nidhogg's eyes gets healed if the people it's chained to get hurt, and the other gets hurt if the people it's chained to get hurt.

(And aside, I LOVE THIS. I've said for a while that Nidhogg is the antagonist that stands out the most for me because he just hates. He hates from beyond the grave to the point he is reborn from further hatred. And in DSR, he hates so much that he's willing to kill himself to kill you.

I love Nidhogg.)

But overall? DSR is lore. It's a story. It's not just the Wandering Minstrel telling the story of you defeating these enemies, just... embellishing a bit, but it's a story about what if? What if you had the ability to save Haurchefant? How would the story have changed? Everything done in DSR is to further serve that story.

UCOB, UWU, TEA... they're all fantastic. There's something about seeing the Ultima Weapon at the end of UWU. Chills run down my spine when I see Perfect Alexander. But DSR? The full story told about what if. What if you could save the ones you lost. Is so goddamn good. No wonder it was pushed back. It had to be pushed back to be this polished.

The ultimate raid designers set a high bar with DSR. I hope the next one is just as high.

[irisleeisatumbler]

Some UPR Macros I Have

※ Personal note ※ Now that UPR is more or less dead (rip) I think maybe I should record some macros I have made (some of them by shamelessly modifying existing macros), before inevitably deleting them for macro slots. Do NA people read macros? No. Then why did you make them? Because I don’t have a second monitor nor a good memory, so some of them are even echo instead of party chat. Do you enjoy PF ultimates? It builds character :) 

※ The Unending Coil of Bahamut / 絶バハムート討滅戦 (UPR ucob is still relatively alive now and I’m honestly very happy for it because I like uptime qm and neuralink positions :D) ✻ Quickmarch Trio / 進軍の三重奏 /p 　　H　　　H /p 　ーーBahaーー /p 　DPS　　　DPS /p 　Stack　　Shaker ✻ Heavensfall Trio / 天地の三重奏 /e Tanks under Nael /e Healers on the sides /e Ranges opposite Nael /e R1 take tower under Nael ✻ Grand Octet / 群龍の八重奏 /e Baha cardinal: ccw /e Baha intercard: cw /e Forward one slot if Nael ※ The Weapon’s Refrain / 絶アルテマウェポン破壊作戦 (I hate pisitioning Garuda in the middle;-; RIP cornerruda.) ✻ Ifrit / イフリート /p      Nail Order /p |　　④　③　　| /p |　②　　　①　| ✻ Primal Roulette / 蛮神フェーズ /p Garuda, Ifrit, Titan /p Ifrit, Garuda, Titan /p Titan, Ifrit, Garuda ※ The Epic of Alexander /  絶アレキサンダー討滅戦 (No macro for Strat 5 because no pf does it sadly) ✻ Timestop /  時間停止 /p 　　　            TH R/G　　　TH No db /p TH Blue　       ［BJ］　　       ［CC］　 DPS Blue /p Thunder 2　 DPS R/G　　DPS No db /p Blue tether DPS on marker ✻ Inception Formation /  時空潜行のマーチ /p Orb /p 　→①　→②　→③　→④ /p Crystal：★ /p 　　 ／￣￣￣AP￣￣￣＼ /p  　／②　　　　　　　  ④ /p 　｜　　　　　　　　　　｜　 /p 　｜①　　　　　　　　③ /p 　CC　　　　　                BJ /p 　　　　★　　★　　　｜ /p 　｜    　　　　　　　　   ｜ /p 　  　　  ★　　★　　  ／ /p 　　 ＼＿＿Shanoa＿＿／ /p True Heart  ・ Alex /p Left: H ・ Other Dps /p R: T ・ Stack DPS /p CC in the middle /p                     North /p 　　                 H /p 　Blue DPS　◎　DPS   MT /p 　　　             H ✻ Wormhole Formation / 次元断絶のマーチ /p                AP　　　　　　　　 /p 　　◎　　　　◎　　　　 /p 　　　③　　④　　　 /p 　                           /p     ⑤⑦              ⑥⑧ /p 　　　①　　② ✻ The Final Word / 確定判決 /p   Light beacon：D　　Dark beacon：2　　 /p   Rest６: Inner edge of 2 ✻ Fate Caliberation α / 未来観測α /p 　[Under] Defamation /p 　[Opposite] L: Lightning  R: Stack ✻ Fate Caliberation β / 未来観測β /e   Light beacon: dot left to A /e   Dark beacon: 2 /e   Dark blue tether: between 2 4 (S) /e   Dark no debuff: between 2 1 (W) /e   Rest: between 2 b (N) /e     ーー ーー ーー ーー ーー ーー  /e   N: Light S: Dark ※  Dragonsong’s Reprise / 絶竜詩戦争 ✻ Playstaion (This macro is not that helpful if you are semi familiar with P1, plus the fact there’s a checkpoint after P1, but I want to include it because 1. it’s actually used relatively often in PF at a time, which is rare for NA 2. It’s pretty much the same as the one in Death of the Heavens / 至天の陣：死刻 ) /p    /p    /p    ✻ Bright Wing / 光翼閃 /e HMRT ✻ Dive from Grace / 堕天のドラゴンダイブ (More commonly known as Wyrmhole XD) /p [1] Soak 2 and 3(S) /p [2] Soak 3(E/W) (Take both stacks) /p [3] Saok 1 /p Enum Towers /p H1/M1    R2/T2 /p            ★ /p R1/T1    H2/M2 ✻ 竜の邪眼 / Eyes (Also known as ICU) /p Dives order /p Dive 1 -> Melee Swap /p Dive 2 ->Ranged Swap /p Dive 3 ->First T/H ✻ Death of the Heavens / 至天の陣：死刻 /p ※Doom to North /p 　　　　　無×　　　　 /p 　　　死△　　死□　　　 /p 　死〇　　　　　　死〇 /p 　　　無□　　無△　　　　 /p 　　　　　無×

[lizzy-frizzle]

Listening to the tracks from UCoB is a gateway drug to me looking at UCoB parties in party finder

[kova-ffxiv]

AND THAT'S A FUCKING WRAP, YA'LL.

[auraski]

[lizzy-calaxio]

I have officially cleared UCoB (The Unending Coil of Bahamut - Ultimate) enough times to get every single weapon, and one spare totem - 15 times on Black Mage, 1 time on Ninja

[camiokagon]

Shiny shiny weapon <3 Finally, after 2 month, we cleared The Unending Coil of Bahamut (Ultimate) This feels goooood.

[larryzaur-blog]

bababababahamut

ULTIMATO

[wyrmmaster]

The Weapon's Refrain took about 300 pulls, Unending Coil of Bahamut about 500. It was the expac after they released, so they were still harder than Savage but significantly easier than the other two Ultimates and that makes the numbers look a little low.

The Epic of Alexander was around 1500.

Dragonsong's Reprise is sitting at 1656 currently and with how close we are to a clear it might be around 1750-1800.

Ultimates are so long and so demanding that after you reach later phases and it starts pushing 12 minutes+ just to get there you have a shitload of wipes that don't contain any meaningful prog, though. For DSR I can tell you I've done the first Thordan phase 1656 times but I've seen Double Dragons 12 minutes later about 20. I've seen Dragon King Thordan like twice and that's 15 minutes in with another 3 to go for final enrage.

It can be. Really draining and they tend to eviscerate raid groups, but god damn is it satisfying when you get the clear.

[actualkomodo]

Savage.