Final Fantasy XIV’s x.1 patches are supposed to be light ones in story… but apparently nobody told Dawntrail’s writers that, because 7.1 hit the ground RUNNING! It might be relatively light in lore, but it’s pulling some SERIOUS weight on laying down some story beats, and I’m here to cover as much of it as I could see!
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Section timestamps:
0:00 – Intro and MSQ (WHOA)
20:49 – Pandaemonium bonus quest (ugh)
21:59 – Jeuno (There’s a lot going on!)
33:05 – Pelu Society Quest (Pretty solid!)
Leave a comment with your thoughts on 7.1! Who the hell is this other Sphene? And for that matter, who is Alxaal, and are they the same person? Have we ever seen them in the same room?
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Just starting the video, but preemptively going to say I loved the hell out of 7.1's story. The MSQ gets dark in a way and to a degree I don't think they've even approached getting to since stormblood, and they've definitely gone farther than ever before with it. I think it's so great. Wukkie's attitude with the people who came back to Tuliyollal and the whole business there right at the start is amazing and shows how she's contributing as a leader in the community.
The reveal of fake Sphene definitely made me really go "wait, what?!", which doesn't happen to me as often anymore. Hopefully they really go somewhere with this, for I originally wanted Sphene to have a more sinister character, instead of the reluctant monster she was in the 7.0 story.
Fun little thing with the misdirect mechanic during the second dungeon boss, I'm absolutely terrible with that mechanic, so it got me good the first time. But then I thought of how the Trusts did that mechanic perfectly, so I used BLM's Aetherial Manipulation to teleport to a Trust. One of the few times I manged to go big brain time.
Also, that bit with Vana'diel and how some of the shades speaking like player character, the note you can find in the floating islands stage reads of an adventurer who bemoans about being "late for the spawn". When I first read it, it threw me for a loop regarding the metatext of the raid.
While I do agree that the MSQ picked up right at the end, I still feel that the tone shift from Resident Evil to Bison Care/Train 2.0 was a bit too much.
In fact all of the Shaaloani stuff felt like a massive low. I can’t remember a time where I was actively snorting this much at the progression and decisions that the characters were making.
Koana throws himself in front of a bison to stop a charging Tyrannosaurus…isn’t he supposed to be the smart one? Wouldn’t a better plan have been to distract it or lure it away?
Hoping we’re done with THAT kind of writing. Woof!
So, the echo at the end of the dungeon showed Zoraal Ja (we know what happened to him), the second dungeon boss (we also know what happened to him) and Teshaal Ja. That's it. Does that imply her soul got placed in the wererabbit?
I theorized a while back that there may have been two "Sphenes" that we encountered during 7.0 and we just never realized it. That would explain the alternating flashbacks we saw before the trial with her going from confident and forceful to pensive and scared (like being afraid to talk in front of the robot soldiers). I think there was another consciousness in the machine as well. Initially I guessed it was the original's consciousness that came out and spent time with her people while the other was the machine itself doing more administrative state tasks.
Now, though, I'm wondering if we're not about to get a remaining ascian associated with preservation. This one not having a body and being a sort of ghost in the machine. I noticed the digital display in the scene with Wuk Lamat confronting the new one (Speen, not Sphene, that's the good one) was crackling and going to static. Meanwhile in Living Memory, I'm guessing the meso terminal being shut down released the original body of Sphene (Not Speen, that's the bad one) from stasis and that's what we saw. She is likely still in a terribly levin corrupted state. When she looked at her hand and said "Why am I…" the followup would likely have been "made of meat now?"
I guess we'll find out in April. I wonder if they're going to give it the FF9 cap and have us fight Necron in 7.3?
I never heard anyone debating on how to say Jeuno. Vana'diel by most is said as vana dee el. The subjob quest had two versions. One was seen as a harder version due to most people doing the one you can pick up Selbina instead of Mahura. Though apparently they've made it easier at some point. Ulmia is Prishe's best friend and that's all i'll say about that for now. I like the ancients but even I was disappointed by that quest as it made me wonder why this wasn't released sooner; even at some point during 6.x. I did like that even if Erichthonios wanted a minion version of the WoL they would just give it to someone who doesn't just do "office" work.
Oh we're still doing these? Excellent! Loved your msq series for .0, glad to have it back.
I really loved the 7.1 patch, it's story was great with the exception for me of the Rroneek section. I don't think Khona's backstory needed fixing for him to make peace with the Hhetsaro, and the Hhetsaro get real close to "noble savage" territory with how they are shown here. Let's not forget that these animals that are their guides and like family to them are also their primary food stuff. The greatest predator of Rroneek is not the reaver it's the Hhetsaro.
That said the cinematography and horror in this patch was on point. Everything from Galool Ja's core memory flash to the queen coming back. There was a lot of strong craft on display, which really elevates an already good A-plot.
I really appreciate how they handled the cross over, making sure it's basically all contained, but still able to interact with our world. That isn't Prishe. We don't have to worry about xiv tainting her canon, nor the specifics of her canon messing up xiv. Its an automoton made to look and act like her. Its all visions and paper puppets, but used by a flesh and blood villain to weaponize this nostalgia against us. As a roleplayers I'll admit I get a little bit bothered when I see someone using neir tech, because tucking it away in a little corner of another dimension wasn't far enough. We also know that the devs can't easily plop ff11 in the world like they could with Ivalice, because it's too big and too different. What they did here is the perfect balance of letting it be real, and important to xiv, while still giving it the freedom to be true to xi. Bakool JaJa being our main character for this story line also lets us spend more time with him, and explore him as a character separate from the people he directly hurt.
its so refreshing hearing positivity about this patch, i really enjoyed it! as for what's going on, i do have a small theory, but it's a big stretch:
i think 'Preservation' is going to either be or appear similar to Shinra. the new dungeon gave me some massive Hojo and 'reactor monster' vibes and i'm almost certain that the Sphene y'shtola and shale saw is the living sphene. who's to say who or what preservation really is, all we have is second hand accounts at best. its just a theory tho!
She came from the Meso Terminal. 20:25
"This is also a skill i don't have in real life." LOL same. I really liked this MSQ patch. I'm just glad I'm not the only person who enjoys the story details. I come to your channel to here an opinion that isn't so negative. Even if theres something you don't enjoy, your attitude about it is great. Thanks so much for your content.
So my take on the Sphene situation is that the one in Solution 9 is a very basic AI that doesn't go so much in depth as Endless Sphene does. It's pretty easy to see by her not recognizing us and just repeating some phrase to answer us.
Now, the Sphene in Living Memory could be one of two things: Either this is really a reproduction of the Endless Sphene or some rogue elements in the Preservation put something into the Meso-System that would activate when the system is deactivated and that actually could create a relatively normal body for the Original Sphene (meaning she doesn't have any memories partaining to New Alexandria of course.) to give her a chance at a normal live.
Also I think it is implied that the Gulool Ja Ja that was recreated as the Phantom is supposed to be XI's Gulool Ja Ja but I cannot really source it to a specific interaction or something that was said about it.
Thank you for the review of 7.1! I'm assuming that we're going to be hipdeep in Preservation in the next patch story.
And another City of Heroes player! fistbump
No, she is 100% back
Ulmia is actually Prishe's long-time friend! (Naturally I have to mention they are often shipped)
As for the end of the raid, it seems strongly implied we will see the Zilart brothers Kam'lanaut and Eald'narche. Something interesting about them is they actually draw an interesting parallel with the whole reason/resolve thing Tural has going on.
Have had three wipes in Jeuno Walk so far which is already equivalent to the entire run of Myths of the Realm, and all of those came from flubbing the balance mechanic. Frustrating in the moment but also engaging to have some bosses that don't take 30min to wind up every mechanic.
Also, Shale voice hot idk what to tell you.
shout out to COH, Virtue RP forever. So happy that Homecoming is around. Gives me my weekly dose of classic MMO.
Perhaps there wasn’t the scope for it in this video, but I think a far more interesting and less reductive interpretation of Teeshal Ja's character exists. She says that she admired Zoraal Ja’s strength, focus and passion, and was captivated by his intensity. None of that describes lust to me, but rather a misguided romantic attraction towards the facade of ‘The Resilient Son’.
When he flips out over becoming a parent, it drives home how superficially she knew him, and how naive she was to think that her arrangement with him would lead to the “new beginning” that she had “dreamed of for so long.” She built him up way too high while admiring him from afar, and her ideal should have come crashing down when confronted with his reaction.
Unfortunately though, even after his freak out she still tries to convince herself that he was “just surprised”, that “he’ll come around” and they’ll “be a happy family”. It was something she wanted so badly that she refused to see the reality of the situation.
The really interesting thing to me is that the whole time she had this huge cognitive dissonance. Despite knowing that he would never be romantically interested in her (“That gaze would never fall upon me, I knew.”) (also her arrangement with him is in itself an admission of this), she pursued him anyway, falling into the belief that this completely contrived relationship could lead to them becoming a happy family.
Someone on the hellsite thought the braids on big bunny (definitely not an ancient failed carbie) looks like Cahcuia
I’m a little scared