#seto and ardbert make me so sad

[astrxealis]

wow i get all like this over ffxiv but imagine when i finish nier

[cornelianlute]

ok i’ve kinda figured out how i want to work out the warriors of light into my portrayal of sarah. specifically the ones from the memory of heroes novel and the manga. also i know that technically the time loop in ff1 is broken after defeating chaos but when i first beat ff1 i thought it was a never ending loop (which made me emo) so i’m somewhat basing it off of that, but i’m still keeping it true to my sarah where i write her in a time after the cycle is broken.

in memory of heroes, the warriors names are setro (warrior) , zauver (thief), flora (white mage), teol (black mage). in the manga, the warriors of light consist of puffy tolte (red mage), and flitz stewart (black belt). the manga also has bahamut and matoya as two of the warriors of light and princess sarah, bikke, and db-6 also accompany them on their journey as well.

since a time loop is involved in ff1, the adventures in the novel and manga are two of the cycles that occur. sarah has vague recollections of both and the heroes from the two previous cycles. though her memories are muddied of those cycles, she does remember that the warriors of light will always be there to bring serenity to the world and save it from darkness. she doesn’t necessarily remember traveling with them around the world, fighting the four fiends, and fighting chaos, but in some respects, her heart does remember. this is why she has a desire to sneak out as much as she does as well as to the see the world beyond her home. It is also, part of the reason, why she wants to learn how to defend herself because she’s done it before and faced off against Chaos/Garland to boot.

with her lute, she sings songs of those times and while she doesn’t necessarily understand now, she knows that what she sings in song is true. while she knows in her heart that it is true, sometimes she cannot help but doubt what she pictures in her mind. maybe it is just a wish of a wistful princess. and with the words of her songs, she can see those past companions of hers and while matoya, bahamut, and bikke exist still in the here-and-now, their roles in the warriors’ adventure that broke the cycle is different than it was then. she wonders if her former friends and the warriors of light in the here-and-now also have memories of those times.

sometimes the names of her past companions comes to mind, she can only ever truly remember them through song and if her mind is kind, she sees them in dream too and remembers if only their image for a little while before forgetting again. such was the blessing or curse of a world freed from a cycle of endless conflict.

[galaxxiwrites]

I DON'T know what happened a while ago, honestly. Tumblr went from oops your draft was deleted to TEEHEE let's post your incomplete post and I'm??

edit: I hate the tumblr app.

Anyway, round 2! Again: Spoilers for the entire game, up until 5.4!

Dating (ft. Thancred, Hien & Ardbert)

Thancred Waters

I hope you're ready to give this man a shower considering how greasy he is 💀

A relationship with Thancred isn't exactly smooth-sailing. This is because of two things: one, is that he's never really committed himself to any one person in an intimate sense. Two, is because of his crippling self-deprecation that forces him to keep working past his body's limits.

So while he continues to play at being flirtatious and suave, he can't internally deny that when you two are sharing a more private moment, his heart beats at a pace he isn't used to. If you ever pick up on his nervousness, he'll try to play it off cooly.

"Me? Nervous? Surely you jest, I've been to dates like these way more times than I'd like to remember- and probably more that I don't."

Thancred says as he can barely hold his utensil properly with his shaking hand.

Additionally, I hope you're prepared to become Thancred's constant reminder to care for himself. He literally will not stop overworking himself unless you've forcefully stopped him.

He thinks that he should keep working, to make up all that he's lacked in the past. So please PLEASE remind him that he's done more than enough, and that you'll be there beside him to fill up whatever gaps he's missing. Become his pillar of support, because after all that he's lost, he is in dire need of one even if he himself refuses to admit so.

While he was raising Ryne, then called Minfilia of the First, he would unknowingly talk about you for hours on end. It got to the point where even without meeting you, Ryne thought of you as one of her surrogate parents.

When the young lady finally met you, she couldn't help but feel so overjoyed. Nay, no words could describe just how ecstatic she felt to finally meet you- so much so that she accidentally blurted out mom/dad.

Thancred had no explanation for that, at all. In fact, he didn't even deny anything—maybe hinting that he doesn't mind finally taking things more seriously.

Hien Rijin

Do you like himbos? You do? Well, you're in luck, because Hien is 200% made of himbo and 500% made of respect women juice.

Being around Hien feels like being under the sunlight surrounded by sunflowers, his smile just radiates so much happiness that it's contagious.

And he's grateful for the fact, as he would never ever let you be sad. He thinks you look the best smiling, so he'll always try and keep it like that.

Hien, being the leader of Doma, will naturally have most of his time dedicated to the rebuilding the country. This also includes a lot of diplomatic work, which can be incredibly taxing at times. So whenever you're around, all he needs is a small comfort cuddle and he's fully charged again!

If you're having an extremely bad day, Hien won't shy away from taking a day off from his duties. After all, you were as important to him as Doma was. He'd stick beside you for the whole day, taking you to Doma's many scenic views.

"I remember a time when cherry blossoms filled the lands of Doma. I hope that one day, I'll be able to show you the view I saw on those days."

Isn't exactly the type to get jealous, because he fully trusts in you and your relationship. If, however, someone is being way too persistent, he won't hesitate to show off his katana to whoever is persuing you

"Dearest, there you are! I recently sharpened my blade, would you like to have a look?"

Though he addresses you, Hien side eyes whoever is forcing themself on you. A hand rests on its hilt, ready to bring the blade out, thus scaring off the poor soul. The two of you laugh it off right after.

Ardbert

You were an adventurer that started alongside Ardbert, and many of your earliest missions were spent together. Because of this, it was no wonder that you two started dating.

Even when he became a famed hero of the First, Ardbert would always return to your side. It was so heartwarming to know that Ardbert was still the same man you fell in love with even after all this fame.

He likes to take you out on evening dates. The both of you ride on Seto as he takes you across the star-filled sky. A lot of times you both just end up stargazing atop the highest mountain within the area. The stars, no matter how many times you saw them, always managed to take your breath away.

"Yeah, it's really breathtaking."

He says, although you don't know he was talking about you as you were too busy looking up.

Fuck I'm such a sucker for this trope ekfkdkfkd

He's thankful you really aren't one of Hydaelyn's chosen, but he's constantly worried about you nonetheless because he knows you're most definitely out there facing a strong enemy with your own party.

Always defends you whenever someone calls you as merely "his lover." While yes, he is proud that everyone knows you're his, he knows of your own strengths and wants the entire world to know about too, hence why he lets you adventure off even though he's constantly worried about you.

When he was brought back by the crystal as a spectre, the first person he searched for was you. Much to his dismay however, all that awaited him was a tombstone, sullied with clutter as the people's wrath for him unfortunately extended to you as well.

[rprambles]

FFXIV - Click

“What about you? You must have a friend like Seto. Chocobo, perhaps? C’mon, you tell me something for a change.”

He’s deflecting a little. More that a little. But he is actually curious; a strange feeling after so long adrift. The little au ra doesn’t call him on it, fingers moving and twisting. He’s seen her do this before, back in the Source, but it had just seemed odd handwaving at the time. Now he understands it, though he couldn’t even guess at how.

“Not a chocobo, a yol. They are grand creatures with grey and purple and white plumage. They are fierce, preying on weak hunters, and only allowing those who have proved themselves upon their backs. My friend is called Bayar. I sent them back to the Steppe before I came here.”

She’s still wearing her gauntlets, every gesture accompanied with a metallic clicking. He wonders at the practice it took to sign while wearing them. “The Steppe? That’s your home, then?”

She nods and he almost regrets asking, the look on her face is so sad. “It is the only place where I wholly belong. The Scions are good friends, and the Fortemps are kind. Even in Doma, I do not feel fully...” She pauses, taps her chin with one sharp claw as she frowns at the floor. After a moment she meets his gaze again, fingers clicking away. “When you came to the Source, what did it feel like? Not the journey, but to stand and exist in a place that was not yours?”

Ardbert tilts his head. “Like... everything was off. The air didn’t feel right.”

“Yes. Only home feels as it should. Only the Steppe. I have managed to make friends in many places somehow, but they are not my home.”

“Somehow?” He raises a brow, almost smiling. “You don’t know how you made friends?”

Muunokhoi laughs, a rough warm sound. “No! I am grumpy and I punch people when they make me angry. Would you want to be friends? And yet I have the Scions, and the Fortemps, and Hien.”

“Hien? Who’sat then?”

“The lord of Doma. He is strong and brave, too brave sometimes. He has a good heart.” She hesitates, as if... shy? “He is important to me.”

“Important as in... you fancy him?” He can’t help the surprise in his voice - and no doubt all over his face.

She smirks. “Which is so odd, that I like someone, or that I like Hien?”

“I just wasn’t expecting the Warrior of Light to admit she’s sweet on someone.”

“Warrior of Darkness,” she corrects, gestures almost smug.

“Oh of course.” He gives her a mock bow and she laughs again. “You’ve really taken to that title, haven’t you?”

She shrugs. “It suits me better. Azim has never shone on me.”

“Who’s Azim?”

“The Dawn Father, one of our gods. The other is Nhaama, the Dusk Mother, and She has always welcomed me in the night.” Her fingers move faster, metallic scrapes and tings accompanying the stories of the Steppe. She tells him how Nhaama scattered dust through the night sky and made the stars, how She made the Xaela and Azim made the Raen to fight but the two people found their way to peace instead and were given the world. And other more mundane tales - how she had originally gone to Eorzea to bring her cousin home, and how she’d climbed the Ceol Aen to listen to the wind sing.

It’s little wonder they lose track of time. He doesn’t realize how much until she yawns and he notices the sandwiches are all gone. Before he leaves, she surprises him again; “We should talk again soon. You are good company.”

“That’s better than when we first met and you tried to kick me in the head.” He grins at her laugh. “We’ll see.”

[baidar-oroq]

Patch 5.3 thoughts:

Under a cut, spoilers ahoy, you have been warned: 

Okay, first off. Loved it. Loved it loved it loved it. 5.3′s MSQ magnificently wrapped up and summed up Shadowbringers, let us say goodbye to everyone in wonderful ways (the new dungeon was pretty much “run through three zones, get helped by all the NPCs we met along the way) and I spent the several hours doing it just being constantly bombarded by feels. The duty where Elidibus basically makes you fight your way through the history of the game, killing shades of friends and enemies alike? Genius. By the end I was basically telling Elidibus furiously that I was going to fucking kill him for putting me through this. That’ll be important later. 

The tension of the story just elevated perfectly as the story went on, with the Scions finally showing overt signs that they were running out of time (and good god, was it creepy finally seeing their actual bodies, even if my head went ‘they wouldn’t make new models for all of them if they weren’t all coming back) and Elidibus ratcheting up the tension by summoning heroes from other shards to fight you in the dungeon. Knowing all the while that he was a primal, and summoning Warriors of Light to fight you was empowering him. 

And then there was the trial, where, unbelievably enough, Elidibus transformed into the classic Warrior of Light and we fought him and won and then...man. I was actually sad for him, in the end. More so than I was with Emet-Selch actually. Elidibus, more than any other Ascian, had been the most like the WoL in the end. 

So, yeah, of course the Exarch turned to crystal and effectively died, but we convenient had a spare soul container for him that he’d filled as a test, which meant the people who guessed we’d get some kind of Exarch in Gra’ha Tia’s body ending were right, and we got a new Scion. I’m not as enamored of him as others are, but I’m glad they explained it as being him accepting his own memories from an older self, not the Exarch erasing his younger self, since that had some unfortunate implications. 

And then we had all the farewells to the First, where I cried twice-once when Halric finally spoke, and like a baby when Seto got to talk to Ardbert’s soul within us. I’m glad that Runar got to have a moment with Y’shtola that wasn’t just heartbreakin, with some hope that she would return. I was worried he’d be having to watch that broom she enchanted sing about how one day she was going to return and know she wasn’t. I might ship Baidar and Y’shtola, but Runar’s cool in my book. 

Speaking of the last: the return of the Scions to their bodies allowed me to let out a breath I’d been holding since I caught up to Y’shtola being called to the First back in February 2019. Canon shipping has the peril that you don’t control one of the characters, so for eighteen or so months Baidar’s lady had a sword of Damocles over her head. For now, at least, she’s back and as safe as a woman who casts dangerous magics frequently can be. 

Everyone who always says Square gets feelings out of us by killing our favorites, I need to point out that 5.3 is easily the most emotional, feels worthy patch FFXIV has...and they didn’t kill a single person. They made me cry for a talking flying camel seeing his old friend’s soul again. That’s magnificent.

[sinuntosea]

Shadowbringers

I don't think I've ever felt so strongly about a gaming experience? Like as a whole? I've never had something elicit this kind of emotional response and so effectively tell a story about hope and the way it touches everyone in a world. I've never been more invested and cared more and cried more or felt my chest swell and then felt the absence of that. To feel so hopeful and capable and then I felt lost and sad and even then the world rushed to my side to lift ME up when it was always my job to give them hope and be their hero and protect them because I was always capable. I've never cheered for moments like this and felt devastation at them for my sake and then for the sake of others who wanted what anyone wants. I've never marveled at a world like this and the beauty and tragedy of it, especially one some proclaimed as dead. I've never cared about the person opposing me as much as I did and felt like I genuinely understood them and their desires and that our choices didn't distill down to a decision between cruelty.

I care so much about everyone involved. My scion family, the friends, the new families and groups and towns and workers and small actors introduced, the unbending hope some of them felt, the doubt some felt that it might be okay to hope and the complete loss of it others would feel and trying to pull them out of it. All of that before even mentioning the beautiful thematic dressing all of it was wrapped in that appealed and resonated with me after years of decorating a blog with imagery of heaven and hell and stoneworks and stained glass and then maybe the best soundtrack any game has produced period.

This meant so much. I have 1,100 screenshots since launch to sift through as such. There will be a few photosets. 

Direct MSQ spoilers under the cut to comment on specific moments and people.

Restoring Ardbert's hope meant everything to me, to see him slowly turn towards it and then have him right us when everything had gone wrong. Feo Ul offering to make us King and protect us in Il Mheg when it seemed like nothing would be okay. THE CHAIS who I never expected to love after the way they treated their bonded like play-things, Lyna falling and cursing her inability to save her people yet recovering, the people of the Crystarium, Seto and the amaro's deep love and solemnity at the loss of their masters and not wanting to see anymore harm done, the Miners continual work and hope and Jerryk's flights of fancy, Halric and Tesleen, Runar and the depth of his feelings and care for Y'shtola which made me feel validated when no one would admit how they felt, the Night's Blessed and their reverence and hope for a world they lost, the Viis and the immediate and genuine allyship they showed when given the opportunity to fulfill their duty, the DWARVES and Ronitt and his mum, Eulmore's exiles and citizens rallying around one another to restore the ladder, everyone coming together to make the talos a possibility. The polite and generous Amaurotine, Ryne's struggle with personhood and acceptance in spite of Thancred's feelings and parentage, Alphinaud's continual growth, Alisaie's heart breaking in only wanting us to be okay and only knowing to support us when options seemed few, Y'shtola and Urianger's ardent care for us above nearly all else. And Emet.