#azu plays ffxiv

[nyalisa-landale]

ngl, I find myself really wanting to take lamaty'i to visit thavnair. she'd love it and she'd have a total blast and I think that would be fun.

edit: oh she would not be able to stop little brother-ing varshahn. it would be great.

[nyalisa-landale]

"do you suppose [two characters] will wear matching aprons? I dearly hope so."

ALISAIE

[nyalisa-landale]

I think my main problem with dawntrail's writing is that none of the characters have ever read a science fiction novel in their entire lives, because science fiction hasn't been invented yet on etheirys, so obviously they can't tell what's going on from a mile away even though I, the player, can. (more of me thinking through this, spoilers for the whole damn msq):

the problem is that my main wol is "me if I got isekaied into the game a year after I started playing it", and I have read several science fiction novels in my entire life, in addition to having been raised on a steady diet of farscape, stargate: sg1, and star trek: enterprise supplemented by tng and tos. so she's got plenty of "educated guesses", to borrow a phrase from the msq, about where all this is going.

but the story has to constantly repeat itself because gamers can't fucking read and a chunk of the playerbase still thinks garlemald was the good guys and a lot of the audience probably wasn't raised on the early sci-fi channel's offerings or the japanese equivalent (which I suspect is a steady diet of gundam). and the wol has never been written as one of the educated adults in the room; that's what we have the nerd squad for. and the wol waits around for them to do all the smart people stuff, except sometimes for a dialogue choice where one option is to prove you've been following the conversation just fine and the other is to ask alphinaud to explain in little words.

the game's always kind of been like this, and I like it just fine, but then you combine it with all the little stuff like how when the group splits up to do stuff, we're always paired with lamaty'i and never anyone else, with the Singular exception of shaaloani, which is also the most attention the story pays to erenville for its entirety even though his home was destroyed and his mom's fucking dead and now only lives in the matrix (I have not yet been to the matrix but I do know that it's zone 6, and I'm not hopeful of erenville getting the focus he should there). and krile! she was supposed to be a big player here, we literally learn about her past and where she came from, and she gets like five lines of dialogue per zone and all of them are super generic.* what's she thinking? how does she feel about all this? idk, maybe we'd find out if the story ever let us hang out with anyone other than lamaty'i!

and to be clear: I like lamaty'i! you can tell because I consistently only refer to her as lamaty'i instead of wuk lamat! I wanna take her on a world tour, ostensibly for Diplomacy but mostly because I think she'd have a great time and it would be super fun!

but like, I would like to be able to check in with all my other friends, too! and I know she's Extremely Orange Cat Coded but I'm pretty sure she, at the very least, should be like. checking in with erenville, her childhood friend???? the story keeps telling us they're friends, but it feels more like they're two kids whose parents were friends and who were therefore forced into each other's company a lot, but not like actual friends. like we know erenville was a fussy kid so him being really snarky kind of tracks, but when you combine it with lamaty'i's general lack of... idk, care? checking in? I mean, nobody's really checking in with erenville and seeing how he's handling things, and maybe it's because the scions just generally don't really know him very well but they do know he's pretty private and therefore think giving him space is best, and that if he's struggling he'll reach out. but lamaty'i and him are supposed to be actual friends, and until about three years ago when he left for sharlayan they seem to have been spending a lot of time together, even if it was just because erenville's mom dumped him at the palace so she could go run off and have adventures (cahciua doesn't seem to have been a very good mom tbh, but maybe zone 6 will change my opinion). like. lamaty'i should know erenville well enough to feel comfortable actually checking in on him and making sure he's all right. but she just. doesn't do that. which leaves the lingering impression that they're not actually friends.

(part of this is that nobody ever fucking touches anyone in this game. it's super super rare - see me yelling about somebody finally fucking hugging gulool ja earlier. I get that they don't like to rig anyone physically interacting with the wol, because they could be anywhere between lalafell and roegadyn or hrothgar-sized and that's fucking awkward and a pain in the ass, but lamaty'i reads as a super physical person and even her just bumping shoulders with erenville once or twice and like. having one singular moment with erenville where she's like "I'm here for you" and gives him a reassuring bicep squeeze would go a long fucking way to establishing them as people who actually like each other.)

* literally nothing about the story so far would change if krile had been like some random orphan from the isle of val and just. found an old letter to her grandpa from gulool ja ja containing the earring and decided to go see what all that was about. if the two lalas from alexandria had just smuggled out the key and the earring, instead of those AND their baby. hell, she doesn't even have to be galuf's adopted granddaughter, she's just The Only Person Who Survived Val Disappearing so she's in charge of the students now! here's this letter to our organization's founder from across the globe, let's go see what that's all about! but she is his adopted granddaughter, and also g'raha's foster sister, another relationship that dawntrail has seemingly entirely forgotten about. although I suppose it doesn't matter, since krile sure doesn't seem to have any kind of emotions or even really reactions to learning about her original parents or where she came from, so what would she need reassurance from her literal older brother for? (unrelated I hate hate hate that krile's one of the youngest scions even though she's so extremely older sister coded. she's only older than the twins and maybe tataru? it just doesn't make sense to me.)

SO ANYWAY I think my ultimate conclusion for alisa being so blasé about plot developments and probably being stoned the whole msq because goddammit she's on vacation, is that aside from zoraal ja thinking he's zenos and definitely not being zenos, alisa has correctly identified sphene's entire deal as being shadowbringers writ small, and sphene's definitely not emet-selch, so alisa can just kinda hang out and let lamaty'i prove her mettle and only jump in if she asks to use a lifeline. this is a problem to be solved by having eight warm bodies to throw at it, not a problem that actually Requires the warrior of light. I almost even wanna take off her serious title since she's not taking this very seriously, but I know it's going to become relevant later because I couldn't stop clicking on spoilers lol

[nyalisa-landale]

99 msq spoilers

koana: I got a summary of events from g'raha tia, but I'd like to hear your account.

me: lmao of course his updates came from the only responsible adult in the room

[nyalisa-landale]

more 99 msq ranting

I get that erenville is a private person and probably doesn't want to start yelling at his mom in front of all his friends and all her coworkers. even though he doesn't really seem to be the yelling sort, he just found out his mom's fucking dead in like. the worst way possible! so if he DID start yelling I wouldn't exactly blame him!!!!

and then the city gets attacked and he totally disappears and nobody asks where he is or if he's okay? like I'm totally willing to buy that he fucking booked it back to the backrooms, and that oblivion was all busy trying to do their best to help keep everyone safe, so it wasn't exactly some time he could talk to his mom about the fact that not only did she fucking die, but he had to find out by bumping into old acquaintances of his and asking them about her and learning they DIDN'T REMEMBER HER AT ALL!!!! she couldn't even tell him herself!!!!!!

BUT THEY DONT EVEN GIVE US THAT. like krile and raha meet up with us and one if them could easily have had a line about how erenville is safe in the backrooms but we don't even get that!!!!

and then. he finally is like "hey. before you all run off to the level 99 dungeon. I have a question for you, mom." and then. he asks her. about SPHENE?????? FUCKING SPHENE????????? not even "hey mom, you already knew sphene was an endless, didn't you? because you're one, too." but just "hey why didn't you tell us sphene was an endless, huh? that might have been helpful?"

and then! you talk to him right after the cutscene and he's like "hey wol, I need to talk to you about... never mind. it can wait" like my dude, you have been waiting this entire time please for the love of god talk to someone about this!!!! for a fussy little bunbun you are not fussing in the slightest and it's very concerning! he should be a lot fussier!!!!

[nyalisa-landale]

there's a crying child on my screen WHY is no one HUGGING HIM

[nyalisa-landale]

aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

(lv98 msq spoilers, specifically several cutscenes playing in sequence)

we said if he tried any funny business, we'd jump in. he said if we tried any funny business, he'd raze tuliyollal to the ground.

so when lamaty'i gets an advantage in their duel, and he gives the order to raze tuliyollal to the ground, remind me again why we didn't jump in?????? because I'm pretty sure that counts as funny business! (and, further, since that was his consequence for if we did jump in... he's already done it! there's no consequence!!!)

I know, I know we told lamaty'i we'd let her kill him. but she even agreed that we could jump in if he tried something! and he literally did! alisa's got a verholy locked and loaded!

and sphene!!!!! "I'd do anything for my people!" yeah, anything except play nice with the nation your realm now finds itself in so that you can take advantage of their resources and research institutions to find a way to save your people that isn't "murder the whole nation that your realm now finds itself in"! especially since, as you can fucking see, you just tried that and they didn't take very kindly to it!!!

it's like they both have one braincell each and they're both set to murder, and since it's one each, they can't even rub them together to spark actual thoughts!

haha, spark. like the lightning that overtook sphene's shard and led to all this in the first place.

like seriously, sphene, babe, you made a (bad) choice. that doesn't stop you from making a different (better) one now. but you have to actually choose to do that. and she's so fucking confident that nobody can combat her and zoraal ja's forces, even though literally all she had to go off of regarding what the lands outside the dome are even like was what zoraal ja told her, and we know he wasn't painting an accurate picture, because he's so fucking full of himself! he's so absolutely positively certain that he's the best, strongest boy in existence and that nobody could ever possibly be stronger than him, and yet at nearly every turn he's losing and throwing a tantrum about it! at least zenos had the decency to actually be able to back up his talk!!!! "I had thirty years to build up unstoppable foreign technology with which to take over the world!" well I've got some adventurers, geniuses, and a fucking dragon that says no you don't! go cry in your room about it!!!!!

this was supposed to be a duel! why were you not duelling!!!!!!!!! stop making excuses, zoraal ja, we can all see that's what you're doing! fight your little sister to the death like a man!!!! but nooooo, then he might lose, and that's impossible, because he's the best, strongest boy on the star! so instead he runs away like the whiny little pissbaby he is!!!!!

...alisa has to still be stoned. it's the only way. zoraal ja is such a nothing threat that it doesn't even matter if she's sober or not. you've got this, lamaty'i! go kill him, babe, I've got your flower! and in the background she and alisaie are just snarking back and forth about how much zoraal ja sucks and how sphene's super short-sighted and how infinite growth is stupid and impossible.

[nyalisa-landale]

I just finished the first trial in dawntrail and guys, alisa is having such a good time

I was glad to see zoraal ja just absolutely wreck bakool ja ja with one blow; that dude absolutely needed humbling. I am less happy about soraal ja's plotting (I don't actually remember his name I hope that's it). I know he's the reason bakool ja ja is purely fucking with us now and I strongly suspect he's the one who suggested setting loose valigarmanda.

and then he's like "I suggested ignoring it and letting it ravage tural just for an advantage in the contest, but noooo, zoraal ja had to go and fight it" like my dude!!!! I know he doesn't know it's not just about finding the city of gold (but isn't he supposed to be like a royal advisor or something??? shouldn't he be smart enough to figure that out????) but like seriously, the dawnservant famously vanquished and sealed away valigarmanda, do you honestly believe that completely ignoring it breaking free is going to win the dawnservant's favor???? like is he expecting it to kill us, or does he think we can defeat it and it'll just slow us down? either way, if zoraal ja had gone along and just ignored it like he wanted, it would have been a real bad look!!!!!!

anyway me and alisa both are looking forward to showing that guy what's what

she also 100% saw valigarmanda and was like "um. hmm. yeah. we're gonna fight that." wuk lamat is like "well yeah, of course I kinda want to, it would be real exciting, but-" "didn't say I want to. I said we're gonna."

then after the fight she definitely deadpans "yeah it's almost as if since each if you embodies one of your father's better traits, that by working together you can accomplish even greater feats than he did! like he wanted to make sure you knew the value of teamwork and allies, or something????? but I'm just a catgirl, what the hell do I know"

the flippant self-deprication falls a little flat since she's a level 94 summoner whose initial response to literally anything involving combat is "oh, ok *summons demi-bahamut, deathflare, ahk morn*" but I bet zoraal ja still doesn't pick up what she's putting down.

[nyalisa-landale]

solution nine msq spoilers

alisa's like frantically vibrating in place almost every single time sphene and lamaty'i are talking with the sheer effort it takes to keep her mouth shut. she's just mentally repeating "not my circus, not my monkeys" over and over and over, so that she doesn't blurt out things like "so, have you had to start prioritizing which memories you have to keep and which ones can be deleted to free up space for new ones yet?" and "incurable chronic disease from unbalanced aether? alisaie can fix that," and "i wonder which ascian invented electrope," and "sphene, I have vanquished gods, giant robots, god-powered giant robots, the strongest individuals that two entirely separate planets were able to muster at the very peak of their power, and the physical manifestation of the despair and anguish of over a hundred and eight planets, in order to prevent the complete and utter destruction of our own. I didn't need a regulator for any of that and I don't need one now. quite frankly, the only reason I haven't already driven my rapier through zoraal ja's skull is that I promised lamaty'i she could fight him first."

if raha were there too he'd also make some of these connections, or at the very least she could squeeze the shit out of his hand, and he spent a hundred years building and ruling a nation! he's probably got some valuable insight here! but nooooo, he had to go be a nerd and stay in the lab and do research, and now alisa's stuck reminding herself "lamaty'i wants to make friends, I cannot fuck this up for her, I have to wait for sphene or zoraal ja to fuck it up first" while on the verge of vibrating into another reality entirely with all the effort it's taking her to keep her fucking mouth shut

(in the back of her mind jane's like "for the love of god can literally any other scion take a turn babysitting lamaty'i so we can go enjoy the fully automated luxury gay space communism before it all inevitably comes crashing down under the weight of the unspeakable ethics violations required to keep it functional? raha? ali? literally anyone? erenville could use something to distract him from the fact that his mom's died and uploaded her consciousness to a stupid mascot robot*, surely he can get back to his usual routine of following lamaty'i around and making sure she doesn't brain herself on sharp corners for like an hour or something. please????")

* I have only just reached the part of the msq where erenville finds out she's dead, but I've suspected this since we met her. and alisa, having read An Sci-Fi before in her life, definitely also did.

[nyalisa-landale]

the texture on the m!lala's scarf is really nice in the update

[nyalisa-landale]

"I think g'raha's going to be even more of a hottie"

SIR! ...that had better be a promise

[nyalisa-landale]

MOONBASE

SPACE EXPLORATIONNNNNNNNN

[nyalisa-landale]

uhhhhhhhhhhhhh that heritage found concept art is giving me serious midgar vibes

[nyalisa-landale]

I would like to explore the cyberpunk city!!!!

e: oh shit it's our second city

[nyalisa-landale]

fuck I gotta play pictomancer

[nyalisa-landale]

HROTHGAL IN THE TRAILER!!!!!!! I REPEAT WE HAVE A HROTHGAL IN THE TRAILER!!!!! AND SHE'S PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!