Do we have any FF6 fans in the audience?
Support us on Patreon! ► http://patreon.com/playframe
___________
STORMBLOOD series playlist! ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvFQJa1XAXzyHrbeyXrPMd3_Qg3TC4PF_
FULL SERIES playlist! ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvFQJa1XAXzzXrfl_cbsGvEl4AbTt5SMG
___________
0:00 – Introduction
0:21 – QUEST: “Return to the Rift”
19:58 – QUEST: “No Slowing Down”
22:09 – RAID: Sigmascape V1.0
29:53 – QUEST: “No Slowing Down” (continued)
31:40 – QUEST: “Unfinished Masterpiece”
34:48 – RAID: Sigmascape V2.0
42:25 – QUEST: “Unfinished Masterpiece” (continued)
48:05 – QUEST: “Won’t Let You Pass”
50:23 – RAID: Sigmascape V3.0
58:10 – QUEST: “Won’t Let You Pass” (continued)
59:05 – QUEST: “Test World of Ruin”
1:02:56 – RAID: Sigmascape V4.0
1:11:08 – QUEST: “Test World of Ruin” (continued)
___________
Want to join our Free Company? See the unofficial PlayFriends Discord for details! ► https://discord.gg/PlayFriends
___________
Check out the PlayFrame Store! ► https://store.dftba.com/collections/playframe
Dan’s Twitter (@DanFloydPlus) ► https://twitter.com/DanFloydPlus
Carrie’s Twitter (@CarrieFloyd) ► https://twitter.com/CarrieFloyd
PlayFrame Twitter (@PlayFramePlus) ► https://twitter.com/PlayFramePlus
To hear Dan talk MUCH more about game animation, check out New Frame Plus! ► http://www.youtube.com/c/newframeplus
___________
Edited by Daniel Floyd
♫ “Pray Return” by Chris Logsdon
https://lnkfi.re/pray-return
#PlayFrame #FFXIV #FinalFantasyXIV #Stormblood
source
Who is the character on the Ghost Train that Dan referenced? Siegfried?
Big FF6 fan here and I adore the references ❤
23:43 For those who are wondering as to why A'sok is in here as a Blue Mage, even though Dan said last week in the 301 video, how BLUs cannot do group content: That was actually referring to the Duty Finder where you get groupt with randos from your server-cluster. You actually CAN partake as a BLU in preformed parties.
In fact, spoiling a little of future 4.x stuff: there’s gonna be plenty of geese who will help Durmin get through the post-StB Raids and Trials as BLU. (I should know: I was there for it.)
I came across this series when you released the first episode of Stormblood several months ago, and have been watching from the beginning of ARR ever since. It's a little sad that I won't be able to binge as much any more, but it's good to be caught up! Thanks for sticking with it so long, I've enjoyed it immensely so far!
For those who have played FF 6 might've noticed that we did not see the true extent of Kefka's power or heard that Dancing mad only made it about 3/4 of the way through its movements. That is by design. The designers of the game have been upfront that they like to have the normal mode of the final fight be missing some key piece of the design as a surprise Savage players. In this case God Kefka is that surprise.
Oh man, Owain and Elaine. 😢 Did not expect that, but really should have.
The savage version of sigmascape 4.0 has you fighting actual final boss of VI version of Kefka
With even more good tunes
2:58 Remember how I said Alpha's design is based off of Chocobo from Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon? Well, the reference made its way back to the other end as well. This outfit is obtainable in the 2019 Switch remake of Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon, Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon EVERY BUDDY!, as the attire for the Alpha job, which you can get for 100% completing the game. Alpha himself is a DLC "Buddy".
9:28 The cards are a reference to a mechanic in Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon 2, which has them as one of the types of random items. Most cards have a useful effect, but there are also cards with negative effects. If you use a card without identifying it, you better hope you're more lucky than unlucky! You can also kick a card at an enemy, which is useful if you have identified a card and it has a negative effect.
13:40 Mark 48, to be specific.
22:40 "There ain't no gettin' off this train" – Barret Wallace. Wait no, wrong classic Final Fantasy…
23:26 Alas, there is no mechanic to suplex this train. Hell, Monks in this game don't even get Suplex/Meteor Strike as a technique (as of October 2023 – who knows what they'll do for Dawntrail and beyond). YoshiP has, so far, only entrusted Godbert with such powers.
28:18 Yup! There's a small chance that you get to fight Siegfried, a minor NPC from FFVI who is first encountered on the Phantom Train. He isn't too much harder than fighting a ghost, if I remember correctly, which is true to the original FFVI, where he was a complete pushover.
30:27 The characters that appeared there are Cyan Garamonde's wife and son, Elayne and Owain. And yes, Hien is based off of Owain. The names of Hien's parents, Lord Kaien and Lady Mina, as well as Hien's childhood name, Shun, are the same names as the Japanese names for the characters.
9:37 this is batman level deduction.
…Nero, did you just henshin into your old armour?!
(Oh my god he is the best)
I may be biased, since VI is "my" FF, but IMO this series of fights is where XIV's occasional "self-indulgent homage to past games" shtick is at its best.
Nero is trying so hard to impress Cid, that's gay culture baeby
Iron Nero, the best magical girl
'Jesse!!!!! I want a uniform!'
Durmin: oh no! He's getting more adorable!!
Big props once again to Dan's voicework, and even more to the editor to make him sound like a proper robot! HELLO🤖
A couple times I forgor this wasn't originally voice acted.
I know Carrie does a lot of the editing, is it still Carrie doing the robot voice editing, or did Dan do that one?
My one, single disappointment in the Omega raid series is that you don't get to, somehow, suplex the Doom Train.
Do they even have trains in Eorzea?
19:17 A travesty.
19:45 As I'm fond of saying "Of course Midgardsormr won't talk, that'd being helpful."
20:21 Is a mask not just a temporary face?
22:44 So is this whole thing about redoing some of the final/iconic fights from various FF games? I'm still not sure how to feel about that. On one hand, if they just let the players figure it out, I'd be fine with it… but straight up going "hey, here's Exdeath, along with some story from well into the game" doesn't sit right with me, because idk how that impacts someone who literally couldn't play FF5 playing 5 after 14.
26:05 Wait, I thought Blue Mages couldn't do co-op stuff? The way it sounded from how you've talked about em, they can't do much.
34:31 Good birb, filling the kettle with good water for tea.
47:17 Bad Alpha! Saltwater isn't for tea. I don't care if it's Nero's tea, that kettle's probably a pain to clean.
49:17 …eeeew.
1:17:07 "Guidance"? Did you really contribute that much anyway?
1:18:11 One of, what, two times MIdgardsormr was useful?
Aaaaand while waiting for this episode I've completed the raid series. Thanks for waiting for me Dan!
o5n is one of the most memorable fights in the entire game to me.
amazing visuals.
After completing the final quest in today's video, two more Omega Records have been unlocked!
Military Officer Record I:
<blip> <buzz> Military Division, designation 151737. Initial archive recording for the “Omega Enterprise.” It is the Year 1098 of the Allagan Empire. Our campaign in the southern continent of Meracydia has succeeded in revitalizing our ailing society, stagnant as it was from long years of peaceful reign. The expansion effort itself, however, has encountered unexpected resistance. Rather than submit, the beast clans of these southern lands have begun performing rituals to call forth their tribal deities. One such “god” is proving particularly troublesome─the resurrected form of the wyrm Bahamut. Though we dispatched this formidable creature once already, the prayers of its worshipers have returned it to life with a power orders of magnitude greater than before. We must be thankful, then, for the grand vision of our emperor. In his infinite wisdom, he sees potential value in even the most deadly of foes. The capture and containment of eikons has proven well within our capabilities, and such will be the fate of Bahamut. We shall imprison this entity along with its faithful, and siphon its energy to fuel our latest technologies. At present, the emperor leads his Nightfall Company in an inexorable advance across the continent, and the battle shifts in our favor even as the crystal supplies of our enemies continue to dwindle. If we are to strike at the wyrm god, there will be no better time. Omega is the key to victory. We will awaken the weapon sealed away in centuries past, and command it to subdue the unsuspecting Bahamut. History shall know this moment as the Omega Enterprise.
Military Officer Record II:
<blip> <buzz> The details of the Omega Enterprise will be documented in a separate archive. This recording is concerned with the nature of Omega itself. The weapon is ancient, a relic from beyond the stars that was discovered around the time of our first emperor's passing. Research into Omega's properties was responsible for incredible leaps in the field of aetherochemistry. Four hundred years ago, however, towards the end of Allag's technological revolution, this research was deemed complete. Omega was subsequently placed in temporal stasis. The truth of the matter was not that there was naught left to learn, rather that we had abandoned our efforts to fully comprehend Omega's functions. We had gleaned much from the relic, and understood many of its basic operations, but we were never permitted to analyze its internal structure or determine the identity of its creators. All attempts to gain full control of the machine appear to have failed. And now, centuries later, we have rediscovered how completely the true power of Omega exceeds our wildest imaginings. Even with its stasis systems activated, Omega retained a measure of autonomy. Deprived of mobility, the weapon continued to scan the world around it, searching for a threat to engage. It was at the time of Bahamut's resurrection when Omega emitted a unique signal─a signal which appeared to indicate the acquisition of a target─and we first discovered that the machine had retained some degree of awareness. Records were consulted, and we concluded that Omega was more than a match for the god-wyrm's strength. And if the weapon had already identified Bahamut as a priority threat, then it would be a simple matter to command it to capture the eikon…The risk was deemed acceptable, and thus we executed the Omega Enterprise. As predicted, Omega triumphed over its prey. We secured Bahamut, and eventually succeeded in returning the weapon to its former stasis – an effort from which the ranks of both our military and research divisions have yet to recover… <blip> <buzz>
Sigmascape v1, or as I like to call it, "Wait, is that a train? Is that THE train?"
Alpha using cards is another Chocobo Mystery Dungeon reference. They are game's version of the classic Mystery Dungeon scrolls (basically one-time use magic spells)
Should have gone in as a monk, to SUPLEX THE TRAIN!
Playfriends, are you ready for some spooky times? It is October after all. This is your spoiler free lore comment!
This section of the Omega Raids were released during Patch 4.2, but we'll get to that when Durmin does the MSQ. We're here for Omega's tournament!
3:00 – Who's the most adorable Ironworks employee? Alpha is! he's got his own sleeves and gloves for his feathers! And yes, Jessie is working on Alpha based goodies. You can get your own Ironworks gear, but costs $8 on the cash shop. Alternatively, you can provide the Ironworks with materials from the Omega Raids to make new gear or provide tomestones to get Scaevan gear. That's right, the max item level gear for Stormblood was designed by Nero! Much more effective the Garlond's level 50 gear!
9:40 – Guess who else rules over cards? Alpha has cards of his own! Maybe he's been watching the Story Mode run of Chain of Memories
13:30 – I don't know how long Nero had this hammer duct taped to the interdimensional rift, but it's back! The Rocket Hammer! Or Gunhammer. Nero's armor is Mark 48, and almost certainly a reference to Iron Man and the MCU. Notably, the Mark XLVIII armor in Infinity War is the Hulkbuster 2.0, which would hit cinemas a few months after this patch was released.
17:30 – Alright, it's time to directly answer a question about Midgardsormr and dragons in FFXIV. Omega pursued its quarry across the stars, which means that its target also ventured from another star. Midgardsormr is not of this planet and neither are the First Brood which be brought as eggs. All dragons are aliens to this world. As someone in the comments mentioned back when the Au Ra were introduced in ARR, Au Ra are more closely related to insects than dragons. Insects and Au Ra both developed on this planet. Dragons did not. Implicitly, a significant portion of the Ishgardian populace have some kind of alien blood in them after the original Thordan and his knights consumed Ratatoskr's eyes.
Cosplay notes: Celes is one of the viewpoint characters of FF6, and is a magic knight (appropriate for Falka to be playing as a Paladin). Terra is the other viewpoint character and a mage! Setzer is another protagonist, a gambler who operates a flying casino. And A'sok is playing Blue Mage, this is gonna get wild (this is permitted because this is a preformed party, not one made by the duty finder system).
The first fight is The Phantom Train from FF6! It's a GHOST TRAIN! The Phantom Train in FF6 was in the Phantom Forest, and full of interactable ghosts. One of the passenger car ghosts can be Siegfried, referencing to the fact that you can fight the legendary swordsman Siegfried on the Phantom Train in FF6. Similarly, that version of Siegfried is very weak, supposedly because it's an imposter rather than the real deal. The woman and child at the end are a reference that Cyan can meet the ghost of his wife and child after they are slain at Doma. The most iconic part of the Phantom Train fight was that Sabin, one of the protagonists, can SUPLEX THE TRAIN. Now why didn't one of our raid team queue as a monk to try it?
The second fight is Demon Chadarnook. This boss isn't based on a specific fight so much as an entire area in FF6, Owzer's Mansion. The Mansion is full of illusions and enemies, twisted by the Demon Chadarnook. Chadarnook is the boss of the area, inhabiting a painting of a goddess (the woman who appears as the boss). This use of the chocobo brush and the different paintings makes this one of my favorite fights in this raid.
The third fight is Guardian. The FF6 version of Guardian was a big magitek mecha which is indestructible the first few encounters. You can finally fell it in Kefka's Tower, where it has similar attacks to the FFXIV incarnation.
The final fight is Kefka! Much like Deltascape, if you're doing a bunch of references, might as well make the final one the big bad of the reference. The music to this fight is the FF6 theme of the same fight, Dancing Mad. Notably, the 4th part of the song only plays during the Savage version of this fight.
I like that the story seems to indicate that Nero has been taken over by Omega, with the player guessing at what type of duplicity might come… only for them to reveal that Nero's awkwardness are just him pushing through his wounds to keep supporting you.
1:17:30 – Ol' Midgardsormr's got one last trick to play, but if he has to use it to prevent his age old foe from achieving a victory by imprisoning Durmin, then he's going to do it. His disdain for Omega's "logic" is palpable.
Next time: The culmination of this tournament arc. It's time to face the final boss and break our limits.
Nero is having way to much fun for somebody who's shins are within reach.
i love that steel reason kicks in for iron nero
Kefka was the first video game villain that I actually loathed. Like not in a "oh I dislike this villain and hopes he gets his comeuppance." No no. When I first played through FFVI (En FFIII) my utter disdain for this character was such that it actually affected my mood when not playing. My thoughts were filled with how horrible he was and I couldn't wait to get home every day after school to continue my quest to end him. His laugh haunted my dreams for months and I needed, genuinely NEEDED, to put him out of my misery.
What I mean to say is, thank you for kicking his butt. Even after all these years I find Kefka's demise oddly cathartic.
3:02 … why does alpha seem to have… teeth?
Whoever did the concept art and/or model for Alpha deserves a plate of cookies, he is freaking adorable and only gets more so the longer I look at him.
so this popped up on my recommended and im THRILLED that it goes all the way back to the very beginning. will be watching them ALL 😊❤ ty for this
Leonardopointing(dot)gif
People who know this game better: Is there a pattern for a custom Ironworks uniform, either official or player made? Durmin would look super cute dressed like his buddies.
Just because Nero's one of the good guys now doesn't mean he's stopped being Nero.
Episode spoilers:
Durmin with the help of Alpha and Middy at the end of this episode:
My friends are my power!!
Train! That fight brought me much joy. I love video game train fights. I dont even know why.
BLUs' Clues: The Sigmascape raids offer two spells to tempt Blue Mages, both situationally powerful–which is like candy for BLUs.
That ghost-annihilating ray of light from the Phantom Train is available as the Saintly Beam spell. Generally, it does fairly weak damage in an area around the caster…but against undead, it does 5 times its normal damage. There are dungeons where it is quite powerful…and many more where it's nigh useless. A well-prepared BLU can solo the Phantom Train in an unsynced encounter, but even 10 levels higher, doing so can take over 30 minutes, and the chance of getting the spell is low, so you'll often see spell-seeking BLUs looking for a raid group.
The Guardian of Sigmascape v3.0 offers a spell that's also available from–of all things–the Hildibrand quests: Missile. Yes, BLU mages can fire a barrage of homing missiles. The spell is incredibly powerful…when it works. Final Fantasy fans will recognize it as the Demi, or Gravity, mechanic–it deals half of the target's current health each time it's cast. It works on about 1 out of every 3 dungeon bosses and can trivialize some otherwise very difficult fights, enabling a BLU to crush a vulnerable boss in a matter of seconds.
I hope that Dan does at least a little bit of Bozja when he gets to that point, because the payoff we get there to what they're setting up here with Cid is great.
i dunno, those are pretty good Kweh of you ask me, also i vote for Dan to use his King Candy voice for Kefka (i know he's meant to sound like the Joker, but we all need to stop trying to be Mark Hamil)
I know that Hildebrand and these Omega raids are some of the sillier storytelling in 14, but I think they really serve to highlight how important that silliness is in the style of storytelling this team is best at.
Comparing to 16, I feel like they could reach similarly emotional moments, even though here they are arguably undercut by whimsy it still works. And when it doesn't work, you still have the whimsy to enjoy for it's own sake.
In 16 you don't have that whimsy, and so in the moments where the storytelling is weaker you're kind of left with nothing?
Basically I'm saying that taking the whimsy out of Final Fantasy does it a disservice.
Like, how much did just seeing a Moogle feel out of place in 16, whereas here we had a chibi chocobo use a magic card to turn into a frog, pratfall twice, immediately followed by the final sacrifice of the father of dragons against an ancient foe, and neither felt entirely unwarranted or alien to the rest of the experience. Could it have been more impactful, sure. But where it lacked, we still have the joy of the silliness.
so utterly unrelated, but i've been trying to workshop a HoloCure moveset for Durmin
Main weapon: couldn't really think of it, probably something like Korone's with Maxed Out form adding a back slash. in reference to Monk & Samurai's class
Offensive Skill: Danger Puddle – Every time Durmin stops moving it generates an AOE that explode after 5 seconds, damaging enemies & Durmin alike, the longer he stays still the greater the AOE
Support Skill 1: Snack Delivery – Refreshing Pretzels drop at random, restoring HP & increasing Durmin's movement speed
Support Skill 2: Snap Travel – similar to Shion's skill it places 2 portals that Durmin can travel between freely. Easter egg, there's a random chance Durmin will swap costumes
Ultimate Skill: DTA Dantalus Theater Agency – Summon a random character (Durmin excluded) & uses their Ultimate Skill
That hammer is the Mark Forty… Eight!
…
That took forty-eight tries to build? Hope it was worth the effort, Nero.
The FF6 references are so good!
And I love that they've added the original Kefka laugh in the battle
Yes! My favorite Final Fantasy is displaying my old favorite Final Fantasy today!
I’ve been following a WoW player who’s been getting into XIV recently and when she got to this raid set, she wanted to look up Kefka’s laugh bc she hadn’t played VI (I think XIV might be her first FF?) and she initially thought the laugh wouldn’t be in the raid. Her reaction upon hearing the laugh was priceless tbqh ! 😀
"Dodge the missiles!" Don't let them become hittles.
When Jesse pulled Alpha aside right before they made their way back to the Yawn I had an abiding hope inn my heart. And she did not disappoint! It might be Company chic instead threads by Tataru, but it's still super cute looking. Especially his little goggles.
13:41 48. XL is 10 before 50, so 40, VIII is 3 after 5, so 8. Also, has he been moonlighting as a commercial announcer since last we met?
18:56 Hang on. The "Deltascape" had FF5 enemies, this "Sigmascape" appears to have FF6 enemies (judging from the blatant Kefka mask)… What's next? An "Omegascape" with the FF7 house attached?
22:49 I see we're getting the obvious ones out the way first. Although I don't know of any iconic FF6 boss battles besides the train (and Kefka, but I'm sure we'll get to him). And the octopus has already cameo'd in Ul'dah (as part of the ARR Hildebrand stuff) so unless we're due to face a souped-up version in an opera house or something I'm sort of drawing a blank.
34:43 Alpha pretty clearly filled the kettle with one of those cards while Nero and Cid were bickering. More evidence that Alpha is more than he appears.
53:39 Ah, so the Guardian is being recast as a sort of "greatest hits" version of all the FF6 bosses they weren't able to fit in.
1:02:31 Meaningful glances from a cartoon chocobo should not be this concerning.
💙