Something else my friend pointed out is that the themes of Endwalker hit much harder when it came out, during the height of the pandemic. In which sustaining a healthy state of mind when it seemed everything might end or be changed forever was very impactful, the ability for the human spirit to persevere in spite of the nihilism of the universe was exactly the kind of message we needed at that time and deeply engendered the game to me.
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Babe wake up, new LeafRead video
😀 Yoshi P has cited “giants, monsters and Dragons by Carol Rose” as inspiration for many monster and beast in FF14
Funnily enough it does seem like they want people who are unwilling to play the MMO to experience its story, FFXVI's story is basically a realm reborn but as a single player game, and in a lot of ways FF: Strangers of paradise is similar to Shadowbringers. My hope is that Dawntrail is their setup for the game going forward in the same way Stormblood set up Shadowbringers or ARR set up Heavensward, because the second half of it really did make it feel that way, anyways great video!
"MMOs first coming out/World of Warcraft" *Stares*Yeah, there were plenty of MMOs before that.
NOWAY NO WAY NO WAY NO WAY
Might’ve been genuinely one of the most surreal videos to see in my recommended, glad you found a lot to enjoy!
What you described as 1.0 was 2.0-2.X
1.0 is almost literally unplayable and has been since 2013
we were discussing that the lore and world building of the first in shb was kinda helped by the expansion being an isekai. they build everything ground up and our character and the player is there to absorb the lore of the world and we have engagement on how the plot goes forward plus most characters have already backstories that help in establishing connection with them.
and as you say, emet made EVERYTHING better. he succeeded where they fail with ardyn and kuja before
Is it worth reading through the rest of the story, or just the parts you mentioned? (Shadowbringers and endwalker)
Incredible to see you talk about this!
Just a correction – 1.0 was actually a separate game that really doesn't exist anymore and can't be played. You can check some old footage of it on youtube. What you talk about as 1.0 (the empire, biggs and wedge, fighting the empire and then ultima weapon) was all ARR (A Real Reborn) which is actually 2.0, that's the part Yoshida replaced the original game with. The old story is no longer accessible. ARR (2.0) then leads into Heavensward (3.0).
1.0- Dead game
2.0- ARR “the Star Wars part”
3.0- Heavensward
i picked up final fantasy xiv about 6 months ago and i really resonated with it, it's fun to see that someone had a similar experience with me — i've lightly followed your videos and such as while i'm not really an book reader, your umineko video really caught my attention as someone who is also a fan of that, and it was fun to see the opinion of someone who is an avid reader there. i think your opinions and such about ffxiv are super, like, profound and different and caught some things that i didn't realize (hermes trismegistus being the namesake of hermes/fandaniel for example) and your thoughts about philosophic ideals in ffxiv are super profound and intriguing, love watching your reviews on games (but don’t feel pigeonholed into only making reviews for games! this review made me want to read utopia and i love that you can make videos about games AND books)
The most impressive part for me about the writing in ShB and EW apart from the generally compelling philosophical themes is just how much they managed to make it feel like this story really was planned meticulously from the start by connecting all the little things that have been in the game for years and giving them new context. Things like explaining the "limit break" mechanic as a manifestation of Dynamis, or the mothercrystal as a reserve of fuel needed to reach meteion. Creation magick being the basis for summoning, and of course the unforgettable lyrics of "Answers" being a straight spoiler for the purpose of our entire journey.
While of course it's an awesome feat to retroactively tie all these threads together, I think it also goes to show how much care has been put into the world-building from the start – that the story has been told with such careful consistency that such a thing is even possible. I think that's also why you won't catch many FF14 fans recommending skipping the less interesting parts of the game. Besides the major characters being important to know, and the obvious "fan service" in EW, the potential experience of becoming immersed in a world that can at times feel relatively mundane or tropey only to receive the mind-blowing revelation that all the little details are in fact more important than you could imagine is not one to be missed. I think it's the kind of payoff that can only be achieved by a narrative of such length and seemingly unnecessary fluff.
That's everyone's reaction to seeing 2Booty.
Great video your right ffxiv is a big investment to make it through the whole story so I think anyone who makes it through should share there thoughts on it and I love to hear them all truly the best videogame story Iv ever played shadowbringers specifically . May have to make my video essay on it someday lol
Hey cool video I liked listening to your opinions and philosophical knowledge :3
I played Dawntrail, and i actually like the story; lots of philosophy and stories there too. It's not as epic as Endwalker but i loved the concepts explored in Dawntrail.
1:33 it's always difficult but ARR, HW and SB are so important to boost the experience Shadowbringers provide. The time spent getting to know the npcs, getting immersed in the world is so valuable that you can't just skip all the boring parts. The worldbuilding despite all of our feelings about different lows of the game is so terribly crucial.
This is my first time encountering your content. It was nice to listen to someone connect FFXIV to established philosophy.
I would encourage you to continue into Dawntrail. Review space especially disingenuous at the moment, and sprinkled with bad faith actors and YouTube opportunists… it’s by no means a perfect expansion, but listening to you here, I think you would find value in the full story experience of this expansion.
wow this is a nice channel
Really good overview. I think ill read Utopia as well.
2.0 was slow but the story was "fine". I didn't hate it but it was a slog between the Praetorium/Gais showdown and the start of Heavensward. Unfortunately it is important as it teaches a lot of later critical world building elements. Moggle Mog is when we figure out that primals have nothing to do with religion and anyone could just create one with the right conditions. Ysayle showed us that a person could fuse with a primal and toggle it on and off with enough aether. Also, that it didn't dominate their mind or temper others if it didn't want to. It also taught us how to handle Ascians permanently.
It was only up from there though. Emet-Selch is one of my favorite antagonists in any medium. He was truly the hero of his own story. Who, when presented with everything and everyone they loved being obliterated and the loss of everything that they had sworn to protect and all of the people that depended on them, wouldn't try to bring it all back? If you were alone in failure and loss and fate dangled a single thread in front of you that if you pulled on it, you could get it all back and be redeemed wouldn't pull it?
I have seen a lot of stories that dealt with time travel and timelines where the hero is the only one that knows that the whole timeline is wrong and the only one that can fix it. They go through their journey of "fixing" the timeline, never once giving a single thought to anyone that may be surviving or even thriving in the conditions of the new alternate future. In some respects, it was back to the future and Emet-Selch was Marty McFly trying to get his parents to reappear in the photograph. We, on the other hand were the new life that only exists in these new conditions fighting for survival and validation.
There were moral questions, sure. But the motivations of both sides are pure from their own perspective and I think that is the reasons that things shake out between he and the main character the way they do.
Hermes, on the other hand, didn't land with me. I don't have the mind to grasp and identify with nihilism. He was depressed and despondent and he looked around at a flawed but content and functioning civilization and came to the conclusion that because he was the only one that was sad, it was everyone else that was wrong. He really, really, illustrated why you should have a psychological evaluation for the position of head of your monster factory.
EDIT: One thing I would LOVE to see is a writers analysis of Ishikawa's method of presenting characters in such a way that they grab you in record time and more than it feels like they should. The one I am mainly thinking of is the phantom Hythlodaeus encountered in 6.0. This was a character you had never heard of, never spoken to, and were completely unaware of until he appeared at the Ancient's DMV. He was present for all of 5 minutes and vanished but in that time he became one of the most memorable and endearing characters in the game thus far. I have watched a LOT of streamers play through the expansion and I don't know that I have seen one person that, when you encounter him later in 6.3, had forgotten his name. Keeping in mind that because of covid, the time between 6.0 and 6.3 was more than a year, that is impressive.
People dislike DT mostly because of a particular character who overstays her welcome and overshadows the player. But the second half of the story does have some good themes and things to consider so I would say it's still worth checking out and playing.
The land of the ancients is Etheirys. Elpis is an isolated enclave where the ancients who were uniquely skilled at manipulating aether and creation magics carried out their experiments. Great breakdown otherwise.
i think we have to remember that it took 10 years to build up to the payoff of endwalker. dawntrail has the job of both bringing the stakes and scope back down to earth and to seed new hooks for the next 10 years. it could never have been endwalker again.
You are confusing arr and 1.0, I think
Dawntrail is great and fascinating, don’t knock it til you try it!
I must say Elidibus can be even more tragic then Emet-Selch when talking about the best villain. It is sad to see the producers keeping his story arc as a side-content in the Pandaemonium raid series instead of pulling it to the MSQs in Endwalker. Great analysis overall!