Final Fantasy XIV

From a lore perspective, I far more prefer Stormblood, there's a lot of cool lore in it and you really get a sense of how horribly the Garleans are treating their subjects. I've especially been appreciating it after replaying it. Stormblood definitely has its issues due to being split in two and Lyse's arc suffers for it. It would've been nice to see more of her earning leadership before Conrad suddenly decides considering her for command right after you return from Doma. But I like the character herself and the idea of her arc, I just wish it wasn't quite so rushed.

I've been liking Endwalker less and less as time has gone by. Great Grand Finale story-wise but some of the lore introduced and elaborated on in the expansion I am not so fond of. Particularly the post-expansion stuff and what they did with the Twelve, and them skipping over a proper Garlemald expansion. Felt a bit like they just wanted to get rid of all the old lore and move on to new shiny stuff. Also not fond of the space stuff and the loporrits wore out their welcome.

Edited by StormKnight on Mar 27th 2024 at 9:29:22 AM

I feel like a lot of Endwalker loses its shine the further you go and the less you're blinded by the big emotional hits. It has a lot of highs, but also plenty of places where those highs are propping up the average score like a stick holding up a blanket fort. And the less said about the post-patch content, the better.

It's been fun.

Yeah for sure. It has some really high highs, some fantastic story beats and character moments, but also some pretty low lows, and thinking back on the expansion there's just more and more stuff I dislike. I did really enjoy what little we did get of Garlemald, and Thavnair was fantastic, very colorful and my favorite part of the MSQ. Sharlayan was extremely boring and I wish they had kept the Wizard Classic vibes that were implied earlier in A Realm Reborn and Heavensward, while I just straight up hated Labyrinthos. I also have mixed feelings about the Ancients as well. In some ways they add cool stuff to the lore and I really like what they did with Venat, but I also personally feel like attributing everything back to being created by them kinda devalues the lore of the setting a lot.

Post-expansion, the Alliance Raid started out strong and I love the bosses' designs but I HATED the ending and what they did to the Twelve as a result. Pandæmonium was great. I also really enjoyed Tataru's Grand Endeavor. The lore of the variant dungeons are also very nice, need to complete those.

Edited by StormKnight on Mar 27th 2024 at 10:38:36 AM

Agreed on most of those points, yeah. As much as I think the trip through Elpis at level 86 was my favorite zone story overall, it doesn't really help Endwalker's problem of not really landing its goodbyes - either the Scions' fakeout deaths, or the fact that we give Emet-Selch and Elidibus at least two more goodbyes each between the main expansion and the patch content.

And yeah, the Alliance Raids were basically never going to have a satisfying resolution, I felt like, but I still don't like the specific way they chose to end it. The final farewells from the Twelve and their sendoffs to Venat were nice, sure, but you're right that each new Ancient thing we find makes the world feel smaller, not bigger.

It's been fun.

Reading all of that I begin to worry that I'm too easily pleased

Heart of Stone

Nah, I'm just overly cynical, I think. Or at the very least, I tend to accentuate the negative when discussing things.

It's been fun.

I was referring to the plot immediately after Stormblood. Over the course three quests we get:

• The Scions want to build a magic shield to block the Garleans.
• And the Alliance brings in Doma.
• But the Garlean army is back to being able to wipe out Ala Mhigo and/or Doma in an instant, rendering all the work done in Stormblood and to a lesser extent Heavensward worthless, and presumably the magic shield too.
• So the Alliance is going to try rumormongering, because a civil war will have an affect unlike two destroyed super weapons and two proxy defeats.
• When suddenly the Scions start hearing voices that speak in vague nothings.
• And Thancred falls into a coma because he was possessed by an Ascian.
• Except that Y'shtola and Urianger also hear voices and fall into comas too because magic maybe(?); the Warrior of Light remains unharmed.
• Also, that Kobold orphan still exists.
• Meanwhile, in the Imperial Palace it's revealed that Zenos' corpse really is possessed by an Ascian. Mystery solved.
• But fuck that shit, because some dandy shows up and says he's the founder of the empire and an Ascian and the whole empire is another Ascian plot. Like, what? Was there any build up to that at all? That seems important, why are we learning about this now? We've barely had any time with the lovechild of Prince Arthas and Abaddon the Despoiler.
• Meanwhile meanwhile, Alphinaud and his new BFF, the edgy fanfic anti-hero OC named Shadowhunter, randomly walk into evidence of biological weapons.

I get that it's probably setting up stuff that happens in Shadowbringers, but learn about pacing.

Never trust anyone who uses "degenerate" as an insult.

I mean, the Empire is a vast organization, just because you took them out of Doma and Ala Mhigo doesn't mean they won't be able to come back with more resources. It's a global spanning Empire after all.

Heck, that's why the Eorzean Alliance were so cautious with trying to free Ala Mhigo in the first place, they don't want to risk outright war, but Illberd forced their hand.

Luckily, there's a reason why Varis hasn't yet ordered an all out assault on Eorzea, which is actually foreshadowed by Zenos back in base Stormblood in his introductory speech.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 27th 2024 at 9:47:25 PM

I'll teach you a lesson about just how cruel the world can be. That's my job, as an adult.

No not really even discounting how absolutely nothing about the conflicts of Heavansward is affected by this, the whole point of Stormblood was to stop the empires current occupation of the countries. Which you did.

'Global spanning' is a bit generous, considering their presence is limited to 2/3rds of one continent.

One of the reasons the Scions go to Doma to help the rebellion there is because it'll force the Empire to fight on two fronts, stretching their resources

Nearly two continents, actually. At the start of ARR, the Azim Steppe is the only part of Othard the Empire doesn't control.

(something something small village of indomitable au ra)

Edited by asterism on Mar 27th 2024 at 6:33:57 PM

Heart of Stone

Two of three continents technically, most of Ilsabard and Othard but only the Ala Mhigo region of Aldenard.

Well, confusingly, 'The Three Great Continents' are actually just one large continent. The actual three continents of the planet are the Three, Tural, and Meracydia.

I mean in the same way that Asia, Europe and Africa can be considered one landmass 🤣

Now that I think about it, maybe what the Zenos puppet meant was not that they somehow have the forces to wipe out Doma again but the mysterious biological weapon could wipe out Doma, that would tie those two scenes together.

Never trust anyone who uses "degenerate" as an insult.

Its a whole lot of set up for Shadowbringers.

Athena's theme with official lyrics

basically underlining how she is The Actual Worst

Edited by asterism on Mar 27th 2024 at 1:10:28 PM

Heart of Stone

The Empire is also meticulously designed to be a House of Cards as the Varis says 'It was by design?!?!?!?'.

Edited by Memers on Mar 27th 2024 at 6:36:28 AM

It was also the strategy to divide the Empires attention by inspiring other imperial territories to rebel which does come to fruition with a lot of content going forward such as Save the Queen and the Weapon storylines.

That was specifically in relation to Emet-Selchs “death” as Emperor Solus. The civil war was planned in that scenario. The following one was not, and indeed Zenos gets as far as he did with destroying the Empire because someone who destroyed a previous Empire without the aid or intent of the Ascians was helping him in Amon(The Ascians did take advantage of Amons and Xandes intentional actions however). Amon causing the fall of the Allagan Empire, and as Hermes destroyed the world of the Unsundered through his actions.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 27th 2024 at 7:04:18 AM

Every accusation by the GOP is ALWAYS a confession.

Yeah, military and resource wise, it's very powerful. Leadership and stability wise?

Whole different story. Very hard to fight in a conventional war, but very prone to internal issues like civil war.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 27th 2024 at 10:38:58 PM

I'll teach you a lesson about just how cruel the world can be. That's my job, as an adult.

Varis definitely should have made his Uncle his known heir in case something happened to him. Not like he had any kids but Zenos and he refused to ever put his son on the throne

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 27th 2024 at 7:47:19 AM

Every accusation by the GOP is ALWAYS a confession.

Yeah, but Varis hates the other side of his family more than Zenos because they were already in a feud for the throne during ARR.

That's why Varis named Zenos his heir because he didn't want Titus or Nerva there on the throne. Judging from the details we know from Eorzea encylopedia 3 and the Garlemald questlines, Nerva and Titus weren't exactly military men, having very few support there, while at the very least Zenos has actual military accomplishments to his name.

When it comes to family feuds it can get really ugly, trust me, I know.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 27th 2024 at 10:50:52 PM

I'll teach you a lesson about just how cruel the world can be. That's my job, as an adult.

Varis's real problem was that Zenos was just absolutely never going to be good in charge of anything bigger than a small strike team he could actively lead into the field.

And it's at least 50% Varis's fault, so he can go fuck himself. Be a better dad, bitch, then you wouldn't have this problem!

Even if he was the way the story treats Zenos he would be the same person living in perpetual ennui outside of his fightboner.

Kind of the problem of how they decided to do things like say he’s had the dream of the Final Days since he was a kid and he felt nothing every time even when he was little. One of my problems with how they handled Zenos in the end.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Mar 27th 2024 at 7:57:35 AM

Every accusation by the GOP is ALWAYS a confession.