The song riseth to a crescendo.
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0:00 – Introduction
0:21 – QUEST: “In Memory of Moenbryda”
7:36 – QUEST: “Mask of Grief”
13:38 – QUEST: “Defenders for Ishgard”
21:23 – QUEST: “The Wyrm’s Roar”
32:29 – QUEST: “Committed to the Cause”
37:30 – QUEST: “Volunteer Dragonslayers”
45:39 – QUEST: “An Allied Perspective”
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Edited by Daniel Floyd
♫ “Pray Return” by Chris Logsdon
https://lnkfi.re/pray-return
#PlayFrame #FFXIV #FinalFantasyXIV
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20:00 So you're saying you're a Delighted Durmin Durami?
Very interesting to see Alphinaud get so caught up in his ideals he forgets how international politics works. Poor lad 😓
I gotta go back and watch the meeting between Ilberd and Raubahn again. Something about it hadn't been sitting right with me then, already, and now the game is practically begging me to distrust him.
I’m past 2.1 now. Slowly catching up.
introducing a new character just to kill him off and keep the old chars. Come on Final Fantasy, I know you can do better (aeris)
Oh Alphinaud, still learning your way around politics, aren't you?
2.55 time! We're in the final stretch now. Heavensward is only a few (relatively) short episodes away. Everyone praises Heavensward, but if I'm honest, this is the point where the story went from "okay" to "amazing". My popcorn is ready!
-something i appreciate of FF in general is that they're pretty good at writing npc Grief in the long term, which is kinda rare in a lot of fiction
– 10:43 so utterly unrelated, but i keep getting distracted by the Lightning Sprites just casually looking like the Recursive Sigil from certain angles, i just can't get over that
-i love that Durmin's true end goal is to get Alphanaud to wear a sweater
I'm still not over Moenbryda, and she's just an NPC in a game for me. Can only imagine how the Scions would be feeling.
"Life for death. A fair exchange.
Other bargains will be struck."
…is Midgardsormr the local equivalent of Mr. Eaten or something? Because that little appearance had some potent 'A RECKONING SHALL NOT BE DEFERRED INDEFINITELY' vibes right there.
edit "The song riseth to a crescendo" may, in fact, be the ACTUAL local equivalent of 'a reckoning shall not be deferred indefinitely', in consequence if nothing else.
Yet again, Dan's the only one having a good time around here.
Oh Alphinaud, he so badly wants to save the world, and yet politics keeps smacking him down.
47:10 Merlwyb's reflection having a visibly lower framerate is just top
24:34 We've met.
24:48 cough
24:56 Indeed. Of Ishgard. Yes.
25:07 nods poker-facedly
25:20 Oh thank the gods that's out in the open.
26:34 Not that there aren't still secrets making things awkward.
For those we have lost. For those we can yet save.
3:56
"…it's a good game."
Why does this carry so much weight?
So, at this point, are we supposed to hate Midgardsormr? The way I saw some comments, I take it, at some point, I'm supposed to stop wanting to rip his tiny ghost form in half?
How old is Durmin? Where is he from? I wanna know his backstory.
I think what's worse about Alph's lack of coat is that he's from Sharalyan, in the northern empty. An island in the far north. It can't be warm there.
Today's spoiler free lore comment is kind of short. The story explains itself well, so there's little to fill in on backstory.
Dan is correct in that this episode covers the shift to patch 2.55 (March 2015), the final patch before the new expansion. This is where everything comes together. As the council at the end of the episode shows, the Ul'dah politics, the loss in confidence in Rauhban, the rift between Ishgard and the Alliance, and whatever is happening with the Crystal Braves & Wilfred are all going to play their parts. This patch is dense with content, especially considering it's a "half patch". If you enjoy the storytelling and spectacle in this patch, I have good news: This is the baseline for Heavensward.
I am bit annoyed with the portrayal of Alphinaud in these quests. He walks into the conference with Aymeric, talking about playing hardball, only to promptly crumple before the implication that the absence of Ishgard would empower a Garlean offensive. He doesn't work for concessions for Aymeric, or point out that the Dravanians clearly have no love for the Empire, since they took to the field at the Battle of Silvertear Lake. But what's far worse is that he does not recognize that the Alliance is also viewing the situation as one of national interests. Having just seen an example of a nation state using every bit of their diplomatic capital to demand military aid, he thinks the Alliance will acquiesce just as quickly as he had. As exasperated as I am with his character, it does loudly broadcast what the development team wants to convey: Alphinaud is in way over his head, and he's only just now realizing it.
Ahhhhh I am vibrating with EXCITEMENT. WE ARE SO CLOSE TO HEAVENSWARD. THE STORY IS ALREADY GEARING UP AND STUFF IS GETTING REAL GOOD. HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS, VIEWERS. WE'RE IN FOR A FUN RIDE. I started playing XIV shortly before this series started, and I've just gotten into stormblood recently and I can confirm, the writing and characters ONLY KEEP GETTING BETTER FROM HERE. I've been watching this series and following along because some stuff hits REALLY different in a second viewing, and it's been fun and PRETTY WILD at how some of the stuff we've seen here and in previous episodes… allude to or set up or get ironic echoes in later things. Man. I get so excited with every new episode.
And Dan, your commentary continues to be DELIGHTFUL and makes this possibly one of my favorite ways to experience the content of FFXIV despite also playing it myself. You've been doing great work and I really appreciate all the love and care you put into every episode of EVERY game you share with us, not just this one.
Man, there are almost as many plotlines going on as in Game of Thrones. And you know what that means: things are going to end badly (although hopefully better written).
Dan's palpable enthusiasm to reach heavensward is just so infectious.
((Consider this a spoiler warning regarding Alphinaud and his Character Development. Im not referring to anything outside this video but contextually you might be able to draw conclusions that could be spoilery.))
I cant believe how Smarmy and Arrogant 2.0 Alphie is. Its been so long – I havent done these quests for… 8 years?
Take that audience with the leaders of the city states – my god, boy!
Lets set the scene:
He rocks up to an audience with a woman who has wrestled control over a group of pirates and transformed it into a functioning city state, A woman who speaks, deals and negotiates with and for elemental powers who could, if they wished, destroy her entire city state on a whim, and a man who has fought enemies his entire life in both combat and politics and bears the scars and experience of it with his very being. Even the Sultana, even though she is barely an adult, she has to juggle a group of corrupt hyper-wealthy merchants complete with armed thuggery, a crippling poverty crisis in the lower sections of her city and an ongoing refugee crisis.
Each and every one of them are dealing with primal, aggressive tribes, an invading magitek army, each of their cities own flaws and issues, and even each other over Cartenau and Omega.
And in walks this kid.
Alphinaud is 16, and has spent the most of his life living and studying in a city that has none of these issues and only too much idealism. He gets by on basically his Grandfather's name, and what does he do? He walks into this room and, with the argument that "Its the right thing to do", basically demands that those city state leaders drop what they are doing, gather their forces and march off to war with flying, fire-breathing, ageless, super powered lizards of death to save a nation that has previously scorned them. Right now. They are under attack right now, go help. Its the right thing to do.
Then Alphinaud is offended to be told that "Yes, we would love to help. It IS the right thing to do. We are going to do what we can, but that is basically nothing, because we are busy! Perhaps you can try hiring some mercenaries, or looking for help from those free companies?"
Offended!
"You would entrust the survival of Ishgard to SELLSWORDS?"
"My duty, is to Country, and my People. If you dont understand that, then you shouldnt be here."
Shut down, Alphie.
This is politics.
God i love this game.
This part of the game evokes such complex emotions. You, the player/WoL, didn't really know Moenbryda that well, but everyone around you did. They are all hurting, badly, and while you feel sadness at the loss of someone who was clearly a hero, you can't really understand the depth of grief that her close friends are feeling. There's so much history here that you're not a part of, and it creates this palpable distance between you and the others, and yet at the same time you're someone they are very much depending on right now, both in terms of combat and emotional stability. And I know I at least really wanted to help be that support for them at a time it was so clearly needed, even if I didn't really know how. It's a complex bag of emotions that actually really resonated with real life experiences I've had, and that I don't often see portrayed in games or in fiction in general.
I suppose Alphinaud comes from sharlayan, which is even more north than this. Now, it’s not quite as snowy, but maybe he’s just really a cold weather person?