Cid always has a plan.
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Heavensward series playlist! ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvFQJa1XAXzzXrfl_cbsGvEl4AbTt5SMG
FULL SERIES playlist! ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvFQJa1XAXzzXrfl_cbsGvEl4AbTt5SMG
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0:00 – Introduction
0:31 – QUEST: “Devourer of Worlds”
7:41 – QUEST: “Black and the White”
15:04 – QUEST: “Bolt, Chain and Island”
18:55 – TRIAL: “The Limitless Blue (Hard)”
25:54 – QUEST: “Bolt, Chain and Island” (continued)
32:12 – QUEST: “A Difference of Opinion”
40:21 – QUEST: “One Good Turn”
47:15 – QUEST: “An Engineering Enterprise”
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Edited by Daniel Floyd
♫ “Pray Return” by Chris Logsdon
https://lnkfi.re/pray-return
#PlayFrame #FFXIV #FinalFantasyXIV #Heavensward
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YAY FFXIV IS BACK!!!
Me: Oh giant cloud whale who is equivalent to a demi-god, please make a splash so big that you wash the current heatwave away!
Bismarck: *Whale noises"
Me: Well that's not a nice thing to say!
But on a more serious note, here in Ok'zundu is where you will be able to start the Beast Tribe quests for the Vanu. As someone who has maxed them out, I would argue that they are the most tedious post-ARR beast tribe by not only giving the fewest points per quest at 50 (same as the Moogles), but also by virtue of the Sea of Clouds not being a well laid out zone with both Aetherytes on the western side and many varying elevations.
At least you'll eventually unlock a dance emote through it.
Return of the Durmin!
yayaaaaay its back T^T! the impromptu break had me worried x_x!
In between episode 12 and 13, I have finished podt-HW and started Stormblood.
I am happy to see that Durmin is back from his vacation 😎
Speaking of vacation: how was everyone's weekend?
Not great reception, crystal mom. Might wanna take that into the shop.
All of the beast tribes also reward you with a mount at high enough reputation. If you wanted your own Goubu for a Goubu wall try the sylphs. Want a flying pig or a tank try the shadow bringers beast tribes.
Durmin's back, and he's here to hunt a white whale! Call this Spoiler Free Lore Comment! Or Ishmael, that works too.
Bismarck has been around in the FF series since FF6. Sometimes the whale displaces Leviathan as the "water" themed summon/enemy, sometimes Bismarck serves a separate purpose.
This Bismarck is a legendary sky whale, notable for its limitless hunger. And it seems this primal has a taste for islands! Well, aether rich islands, which helps sustain it. Side note: The Bismarck restaurant and culinarian school at Limsa's Upper Decks is named after this same legend. The restaurant strives to produce dishes that will entice patrons to gorge themselves akin to the whale, returning time and again with limitless palate.
7:40 – Cid's got a smart plan here. Many stories, not just games, have protagonists "Start X to Stop X", like stealing an item to ensure a baddie doesn't steal the item. In this case, we're killing a Primal to secure a key, ensuring that no one else can get to the key first. But alternatively, we could just not kill the Primal, using Bismarck as an obstacle to our opponents. There are some reasons why this idea won't work here though. First, Bismarck will continue to consume islands and aether in the Sea of Clouds. We know that Primals continue to consume aether in their region, eventually bleeding the land dry. Ishgard is attempting to colonize a corner of the Sea of Clouds for new farmland. Letting the Whale persist will slowly push out the Vanu Vanu and the Ishgardians out of the region. Second, the Primal has already tempered the Vundu tribe. If our opponents go to slay Bismarck, there is a chance that more thralls will be added to its forces. That is something that no one wants. So the Scions do what they do best: slay Primals. I like that Cid points out that this is a risk, and unfortunately, he's right. Thordan nicks the key right from under us.
And now, in addition to Thordan and Ascians, Durmin has to contend with the Garleans too! The race is on to get to the Allagan… Sky Island? And Thordan's got a head start. Durmin now has the VIth (6th) Legion interfering. Again, the Legion's numbering is a reference to previous Final Fantasy games. In this case, the 6th Legion will come into play in the Heavensward patches with a series of 8 player raids, which are all call backs to FF6 bosses.
41:42 – Okay, how many of you noticed that Lucia, a "Hyur", was the same height as Aymeric? Lucia is a full blooded Garlean, and holds the stature of one. But for all of the Empire's spy work, Garlean's defect for all reasons, at nearly all ranks. Lucia is lucky that Aymeric saw past her status as a spy, and is confident that she acts in the best interest of Ishgard now.
Some new cast:
Gemma Whelan, Lady Tanith in Elden Ring, as Igeyorhm
Stephen Campbell Moore, of The War of the Worlds (2019 series), as Regula van Hydrus, Legatus of the VIth Legion
Michael Maloney, of The Young Victoria, as Varis yea Galvus, Emperor of Garlemald
It's Bismarck time, and you know what that means: more primal lore! This lore's my favorite of the Heavensward primals, though Ravana is much more fun to fight.
"Long, long ago, in a time when not a single cloud marred the blue vastness of the sky, a stark white calf was born to a pod of sea-dwelling whales. The pale-hued Bismarck endured endless cruelty from his grey-skinned siblings, until one day they suffered the "abomination" to live no more. It is said that the gods wept at his piteous fate, and when his tortured soul ascended to the heavens they returned the white whale to life. His rebirth blessed by divine grace, Bismarck swam through the air, the whale's breath begetting billowing clouds until the sky was filled with a sea of tranquil mist. Master and creator of this peaceful domain, he thence became known as the Lord of the Mists. Compassionate and gentle, Bismarck raised entire islands into the heavens to provide sanctuary for those who had suffered similar torments. The Vanu Vanu mark this occasion in their history as the moment when the Sea of Clouds became their home."
Speaking of the Vanu Vanu, you can tell their gender with the last part of their names. "Vanu" denotes males, while "Vali" denotes females. Additionally, there are four tribes: the Vundu, Zundu, the subjugated Gundu, and the extinct Bendu.
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Additional Comments:
2:48 Here we see a wild Bismarck in its natural habitat. What a majestic sight.
15:02 As you can see, Alphinaud loves it when a plan comes together.
– I really don't like this fight. Sorely unprepared parties will get eaten, and while it's fun the first time, it's one of those fights that get underwhelming as you continue fighting it in roulettes…
33:48–35:31 Seeing Varis in the flesh again is interesting. Last time, he spit on his father's grave in the ARR patches. Now we get to see AND hear him at the same time!
The middle name of the garleans isn't just for fun: it's a status symbol, from the leaders to the military, and even to the servants, citizens, and slaves. The emperor is denoted by "zos", those in line to succeed the throne is denoted by "yae", and all other royalty are denoted with "wir". Gaius and Regula are denoted by "van", as they are the high commanders of multiple regions. "Tol" (Nero) is a second-in-command to the high commander, and "nan" (Cid) is the chief imperial magitek engineer. When these people defect from Garlemald, they tend to abandon this title as well. I would also go over most of the list, but it's very extensive and it would make this comment much longer…
41:25 Lucia being Garlean was actually easy to find out if you know how the garleans work model-wise. There are the ones built like hyurs, like Cid, then there are the elezen-type like Nero. Lucia has the elezen-type build, and you could tell by the ears and height combined (some people have additionally noticed the third eye back in ARR when they angled the camera just right.) Lucia's backstory, however, was a surprise…
Wooooo!! I was literally checking for when the last Heavensward video was 2 hours ago and was getting a little worried. Anyway, unfortunately I can't watch this episode yet, because you convinced me to try FFXIV myself! So I've been playing through and watching the episodes up to where I am in the story, and I just made it to Heavensward myself! I've fallen absolutely in love with this game and just wanted to thank you for being one of the main reasons I finally gave it a try
Yay! Durmin is back! And fighting a sky whale while riding a floating island being towed by an airship! A normal Monday for him I guess.
A quick summary of all the beast tribe quests and the general premises up through HW.
Sahagin: Novv is the father of a small group of both peaceful and helpful Sahagin living close to the South Tide Gate, help them to establish themselves and break the yoke of the other more destructive and violent clutches they share space with.
Kobolds: the 777th Order of the Kobolds are just the worst and by that we mean completely ineffectual and pathetic. Help these weaklings comically gain strength so they can gain the respect of their fellow kobolds
Amalj'aa: The Brotherhood of Ash are the last hold outs of the untemper Amalj'aa, they ask you join them as brothers and stop their people from continuing their wanton tempering of innocent peoples.
Sylphs: The slyphs of Little Solace have a problem, soon new slyphs will be born but the touched ones threaten to have these newborns become touched as soon as they are hatched. Protect the next generation of Sylphs.
Ixali: The Ixali of Ehcatl Nine seek the skies, improving on their existing war balloon technology, these Ixali wish to build a great airship so that they may reach their promised land in the heavens Ayatlan. It this tribe is notable for being one of the few referenced outside of its own tribe lore and detailing the rise of airships in Eorzea.
Vath: The Vath wish to establish themselves more formally as a civilization in the Dravanian Forelands. Help them develop an economic niche and find and identity for themselves outside of the confines of the One Mind.
Vanu Vanu: The Gundu tribe, a tribe subjugated by the Bismarck summoning Vundu, have sought the Zundu for succor and land to rebuild, having gained a small patch of land help them rebuild and reestablish themselves that they might recover from the tragedies that have befallen them. Personally my least favorite, but mostly because the Sea of Clouds is just way too big and annoying to navigate. They also have the absolute longest grind.
The Moogles: Master Mogzin wishes to take up the old Moogle duty of maintaining the structures of the Churning Mist, however, he is but one Moogle and requires the help of both man and dragon to get his work underway. Help mend both the architecture and bond between these 3 races. There is also a quest where you slap a moogle. Also has very weird unlock requirements involving unmark blue quests.
"What's this, a procession of notable bastards?!"
I don't know why this was so amusing, but it was.
durmin is back to challenge the clouds this time!
Just finished heavensward and honestly it's pretty terrible, I don't get the hype anyone is talking about.
The Vanu dialect certainly seems less…prosaic than I expected. Decoding what they have to say seems rather intricate sometimes.
Oh! It's time for the Sudden Electronica Primal Theme! Bismarck (Extreme), the Level 60 version of the fight, was a pretty fun but strange fight to do on-content. It adds some really interesting mandatory purpose to the Weather changes that make you interact with the orbs differently, and there's some tank swaps during the second phase that are pretty hectic.
Things that many people don't really see in this fight:
0. There's a weather icon on the Minimap! It's that thing to the Upper Right of the minimap circle! If you hover your mouse over it, it'll provide a textual explanation of what the weather is at your current location. Interestingly enough, in FFXIV, Weather is used as a way to change the visual look of certain zones, and this even applies to boss fights! Many boss fight transitions use at least two separately-named weather states, and use the second for the post-"ultimate" / transition arena. This fight has a few more due to its use of weather in order to signify a mechanical change in the phase.
1. Something you can notice in the video: You need to be standing on Bismarck in order to deal damage to it. (You can notice that there's a shield hit effect during the first "on the back" bit on part of the screen; that indicates that someone hitting it is hitting an invulnerable (at least to them) target.) Standing on Bismarck's back means you get a debuff that damages you periodically, but allows you to deal damage to it. (Hovering over the debuff explains this, more or less.)
2. During Phase 2 (Sanuwa adds), the Extreme version of the fight has you deal with a buff that everyone gets where you can only attack one of the two enemies. This buff switches back and forth between the two versions periodically during this phase. This not only means that people need to attack different targets, but also that the tanks need to go to the other add and take over tanking duties for the other one repeatedly! (This is known as a Tank Swap). You might see variants on this gimmick in later fights due to different reasons.
2. In Phase 3, the weathers actually do matter a bit: Lightning Weather means you need to keep the water orbs around for a bit to mitigate the lethal damage of the max power lightning strikes! During water weather, however, you need to kill them fast or they'll explode and deal massive damage. Or, at least, that's the INTENT. The Normal version has this, but it's usually ignorable enough… until you get instantly deleted by the lightning strikes. That's how it be when mechanics are "ignored", sometimes!
38:57 "Keeper of the Seventh Gate," as in, the "Seven Hells" characters often swear by?
Is this the first time we're hearing of what's essentially this setting's Devil?
35:00 the ludonarrative dissonance is REAL. You just got done killing a demigod, and Emperor Pouty von Sillyhat thinks his mooks are going to stop you?
…uh, nice Livia-sas-Junius-style Ace Custom magitek armor, Lucia.
Sooooooo, uh, where'd you get it?
Edit: y'know, I was expecting the explanation to be delayed until after Azys Lla, for some reason? That'll learn me to comment before the episode's over.
Crafter and Gatherer Beast Tribes are my favorite bits in this game.
And so is the best native-born Garlean character in the game revealed. Why, yes, I've played the whole thing through to Endwalker and no, that doesn't change things for me.
Spoilers
I'm calling Livia the best character for a reason- she's the most developed of the lot, including Zenos and with the possible exception of Julius. She also happens to be my favorite because she's the only one who doesn't/hasn't spent time trying to murder us, so what?
It's been 84 years, and I can still smell the fresh paint of durmins clothing.
Let us continue with durmins story after all those years, and how he will get the heart of the sky ocean to save the world again 😀
A week without it made me appreciate just how much I'm enjoying this playthrough a bit more
I've been doing the beast tribe quests as consistently as I can and it does eat up a lot of time, but I want those mounts and minions. Plus, completing all of them unlocks a sort of finale quest and gives you a special reward.
It's a pity that the most Monster Hunter-y trial in the whole game, The Great Hunt, is side content that is not really story-relevant. It would be fun to see on this channel!
heck yeah my friend is in this one! Ama'iira my beloved
so whats this?
From Heavensward-onwards, the repeatable beast tribe quests Dan mentions also give scaling amounts of experience based on your current level. And they give more the higher your reputation with them. Great for killing time waiting for queues to pop
By the way, if you stop and look at exactly 19:43 and look at your green island, the shape is the Spira World Map from FFX!
Is it just a coincidence that Galvus gives such Golbez energy? Look at that imposing cape whoosh!
I like that they're showing good Garleans, and bad Eorzeans. That and Garlemald's imperialism coinciding with an industrial revolution gives things a Fire Nation vibe.
Once again, Tataru's people skills come in clutch!