At last, a lead!
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0:00 – Introduction
0:55 – QUEST: “Aetherial Trail”
9:37 – QUEST: “Lost in the Lifestream”
21:07 – QUEST: “Tataru’s Surprise”
29:47 – QUEST: “Onward to Sharlayan”
32:43 – QUEST: “A Great New Nation”
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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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40:00 – Dan should spend some time hanging out with the Vanu Vanu to learn the true power of the dominance dance.
I was so confused by the difference between Old Sharlayan and the city of Sharlayan. Even with Y'shtola explaining it, the best way it makes sense to me is to just think of it as the University of Sharlayan and the University of Sharlayan – Dravania.
The Y' in Y'shtola and Y'mhitra's names is their Seeker of the Sun tribe affiliation. There's basically one for each letter of the alphabet, associated with a specific animal totem for that tribe. Y in particular is associated with the jaguar.
Keepers of the Moon have a different naming convention.
Idle-shire? Iddle-shire? Eedle-shire? Eye-dill-shire? Whatever it is, please tell me there's a voiced line with the name of this town to canonize one of them, lest we descend into a jif/gif war.
Y'mhitra, my beloved. I would actually like to speak about the Summoner job in more detail. (Also it's a wall of text, you have been warned.)
When you fight primals, they disappear into aether, awaiting the moment where they are summoned once more. But what happens to any lingering aether from their defeat? Well, small parts of it merge with the aether of those present when said primal is felled, as the Allagans found out during their tirade against the primals of the lands they subjugate. Thus the art of summoning was born (and subsequently killed off, as tyrannical summoners would spell out rebellion, and the allagans did not want that.)
After Ifrit's defeat and the subsequent checkup of the sylphs, if you have Arcanist at level 30 and have completed its class quest, you get a missive from Y'mhitra. Apparently, she had made a breakthrough in allagan history, and since you have defeated Ifrit without being tempered, you are able to resurrect the art of summoning with her. Using a rite known as an Austerities, you create your own Ifrit, though this one is a construct called an "egi" created with its basic traits in mind, and is incapable of tempering since it draws from your aether instead. Along the way you awaken and battle your own egis of Titan and Garuda as well, but there is a rival summoner named Tristan trying to stop you and amass more power. With Y'mhitra's help, you gain enough power yourself to stop him from tarnishing the job you're trying to resurrect, and he fails to take you out with him.
In this expansion, you and Y'mhitra try to do an Austerities of Lightning, only for it to fail. Y'mhitra tries to figure out why that is, but the two of you get approached by Flames Captain Dancing Wolf with news that Tristan has resurfaced and is attacking caravans in Thanalan, and he needs you to assist in his investigations. While Y'mhitra attempts to solve the riddle presented to her, you end up working with the Flames to stop who he assumes to be Tristan, though it's not actually him this time.
There are a few things that sets the Summoner job apart from the others aside from sharing levels with Scholar: it is one of the more "canon" jobs alongside Dragoon, as it allow the one optional dialogue as you see later in the video. Unlocking quests at the beginning is actually tied to MSQ progression, as you need to defeat both Titan and Garuda before performing their Austerities (and you can't do that if you haven't defeated them yet). Additionally, lesser Ascians are present in job quests of the first two expansions, hoping that using the resurrected art of summoning will cause chaos. Finally, it ties with Allag, which is a key plot point as we're seeing.
I just wish Y'mhitra would come to the MSQ more.
Edit: Also, to clear things up about the differences of allagan summoning and the summoning of the gods the beast tribes have. Allagan summoners created their egis to counter the tribal gods. They aren't exactly one and the same, but run on similar principles: creating an aetheric creature based on the summoner's imagination of it. Pure summoning is dangerous as it corrupts the summoner's soul, while this specialized summoning puts no danger on the caster.
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Additional comments;
0:40 – As it should.
3:55 – This is the first time we learn about forbidden spells. Fortunately, though Y'shtola had utilized such a dangerous spell, it IS a lead, and Durmin and friends must now follow it.
7:54 – Looks like Y'shtola was dragged to the Twelveswood. Gotta hurry, or else she'll die for good.
11:08 – … but it also seems Flow can be reversed. Makes you wonder what Thancred's fate is… (THOUGH I am in 6.1 content so I know the answer, but i'm not going to talk about it to keep spoilers unspoiled.)
– I still wish Y'mhitra was in the MSQ more. She's in a Tales Of side story, and also cares deeply about her half-sister. But there's no trace of her in the MSQ aside from visiting her once, unfortunately. Though it might be my Summoner main bias, I do wish she had more story relevance given her intrinsic tie to a main character.
16:06 – It has been mentioned in a comment i've seen, but the 26 Miqo'te tribes have a hierarchy. It's moreso that these tribes are just giant harems, led by the females but sired by a sole Nunh. This Nunh is NOT the leader, but the breeding male of the tribe. The Tia that are born in the tribe may have a goal to defeat the Nunh and claim their place as the new breeding male, though other Tia might just head out to create a tribe of their own to little success. This hierarchy does not mean there's in-breeding, as females of other tribes may join a new tribe, thus keeping the lineage pure.
Y'shtola is part of the Jaguar tribe, denoted by the Y at the beginning of their name. Only close friends and companions may drop the tribe name from a Seeker's name, as it would be a sign of disrespect otherwise.
While males are classified as Nunh and Tia, the females have a last name defined by their father's first name. So, to be very formal, Y'shtola Rhul would be Shtola of the Jaguar Tribe, daughter of Y'rhul Nunh. Meanwhile, G'raha Tia, a male Seeker Durmin had met before, would be Raha of the Gryphon tribe.
19:17 – Cat Burrito. They had to knock the normally-serious Y'shtola down a peg.
24:02 – Awww… i've always loved this interaction.
27:11 – I also love her new clothes. Tataru chose something quite fashionable for her.
– You guys are gonna enjoy Master Matoya. She's one of my favorites from Heavensward, and she's an absolute blast.
30:35 – This brings up notable information about the Twins: they are Dravanian-born Sharlayan natives. While Alphinaud's parents had left with the 1-year-olds and thus he has barely any experience with the hinterlands, Y'shtola seems to have more memories of the place given she was mentored there.
Durmin: got a new spear from ramuh… it has a electrical effect.
Durmin 5 secs later runs thru water..
I really hope you do the Dark Knight job quests. The level 80 quest legitimately made me tear up
You shouldn’t put a cyan name in the title
It’s billed suspense & it’s makes the rvill more impactful
It feels like a spoiler
Playfriends, it's time to get our cat back. This is your spoiler free lore comment!
Y'shtola casted dangerous, forbidden magic. But when you're between a rock and a hard place, what are you gonna do. So, the Lifestream is a thing in FFXIV! It's not as central as it was in FF7, but it still serves as the kind of "river of souls" and a big aetheric body in this game. And find Y'shtola, we're going to need to consult
The FBC and the BoardThe Elder Seedseer and The Elementals. This is part of the game where it really hammers home how alien the Elementals are. They are noncorporeal and even have issues with causality.15:05 – FFXIV does make some effort to acknowledge when you've already encountered an NPC. If Durmin hadn't been a summoner, Y'mhitra would not know him on sight. In later expansions, this will get even more intricate.
Because Dan asked, here's a refresher on how Seekers of the Sun Miqo'te naming works! Y'shtola Rhul is of the Y tribe (1 of the 26 tribes of Sun Seekers). Her personal name is "Shtola", but is only used by family and close friends. Her "last name", Rhul, is the name of her father. As such, we know that she is the half sister or full sister of Y'mhitra Rhul. Both are daughters of Y'Rhul Nuhn.
Y'shtola is the elder sister. Although you might not know it if you asked their ages. Y'mhitra is 26, and Y'shtola claims to be 23. In seeking out Matoya, we're going to learn a bit about Y'shtola's past!
(A comment that Y'shtola makes about her age when the Sharlyan colony was abandoned puts her actually in her early 30s)
27:28 – Tataru's work is real good. And you can expect this quality of work from all of her crafts!
Something needs to be explicitly pointed out here. Characters talk about going to "Sharlyan", but this is a bit of a misnomer. What existed in the Dravanian Hinterlands is a Sharlyan colony. When Eorzeans traded and conversed with the Sharlyan residents there, they started to refer to the colony as "Sharlyan", and the nation they hailed form as "Old Sharlyan". Only recently (within the last year) have players learned the semi-official name for the colony: "Emporium". Don't expect that term to be used much, the settlement was abandond in the wake of the Garlean invasion of Ala Mhigo, roughly 15 years before the start of A Realm Reborn. Most players call the location by it's modern name, Idyllshire.
The new voice cast:
Robyn Addison, Sera in Dragon Age: Inquisition, as Y'shtola Rhul
I just love how suprised dan was about the introduction of the illuminati, but y'shtola looks amazing in her new outfit. Way more delicate compared to her previous outfit.
Leader of the tribe beds all the females and fathers all the children, that's how they have different mothers. All other males have to cope unless they defeat the leader and take his place
The pronunciation of "Idyllshire" is fascinating to me. I've heard a number of different ways to pronounce it, and the way Dan chose in this episode is completely different to my own. Being someone who grew up in England, I see a lot of places named "_shire", so my pronunciation is more like: "Eed-ul-sheer", and I suspect that's likely closer to how many of the voice cast would pronounce it too. For whatever reason, this particular area has a wide variety of different pronunciations and it's quite interesting to see how people do it.
Ah, Sharlayan. One of my favorite City-States, mostly for the FASHION. Starting with the Lv 60 gear you find right here in Idyllshire and including several gear sets I've found in abandoned Sharlayan labs and libraries nearby, I've really grown to love making glamour outfits out of them!
33:16 Flying in the Forelands: I really feel like this map in particular was designed around the idea of "the player will get flight eventually." Viewed from above, the main story follows a giant S-shaped path across the entire map with impassable ridges surrounding the only road. This keeps you 'on rails' so to speak. While the terrain aids the story's flow, it would be an absolute pain to do any exploration or future questing if not for the fact that you can unlock flight almost immediately after finishing the story in this area. With flight, those obstacles become nothing and let you move freely.
Yay! Ydilshire is my favorite place in the game for now, and I am pretty far into Stormblood.
Also, in Stormblood you get to understand better how Miqo'te tribes work, if you do the sidequests.
Miqo'te, like the other races of FFXIV have two variants that each have distinct naming conventions. Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te like Y'shtola and F'lhaminn, as Dan mentioned are characterized by names with a single letter before an apostrophe. The letter before the apostrophe indicates their tribe while what follows is their given name. Family and close friends will drop the tribe letter in casual talk, like how we see Y'mhitra refer to her sister simply as "Shtola".
Female Seekers of the Sun don't have last names, as the tribe letter serves that function. Males will either have the title Nunh (for the tribe's main breeding male) or Tia (for non-breeding males).
As such, G'raha Tia (from the Crystal Tower raid story) is a non-breeding male from the G tribe named Raha.
Sun Seeker Miqote naming lore:
There are twenty-six tribes corresponding to each letter of the English alphabet. The first letter of every Seeker of the Sun's name is simply this clan name, followed by an apostrophe. Not using the clan appellation when one is not themselves a member of the clan is considered a serious social faux pas and generally real rude so don't do it. Y'shtola and Y'mhitra for example are from the Y (Yah) clan.
Female Sun miqote have two names: the first is their given name. Shtola and Mhitra are two examples. The second name is a family name, that is dependent on the name of the clan leader who sired them. For example, Y'shtola Rhul would be named "Shtola" to her family, has the appellation of the Yah clan, and is the offspring of Y'rhul Nunh.
Male Seekers of the Sun do not have family names. They are either "tia" or "nunh", the latter signifying a breeding male who is the head of his tribe. So for example: G'raha Tia is a male miqote seeker of the sun named Raha, who is of the G (pronounced like Gu or Goo), and is not the current alpha male of his clan, hence Tia.
The letter of a mythra's familial name is a tribe designation. So Y'shtola could be read as Shtola of the Y Tribe.
Ok so for sun cat names like Y'shtola Rhul are simple. If they are male it is Tribe'Name rank, such as G'Raha Tia, a tia names Raha from the G tribe. The only ranks are Tia base male, or Nhun which is basically alpha and the only breeding male.
For females it is Tribe'Name father's name, so she is Shtola daughter of Rhul of the Y tribe. Since there is only ever one breeding male at a time one can take this as something of a mark of generation as opposed to lineage. If another Y cat had a previous Nhun's name as their surname you could rightly assume she was older, and take a decent stab at when she lived.
The stuff with Sharlayan feels a lot like that episode of Avatar, where the tinkers & machinists move into an empty Air Temple. That can be a really interesting situation with a lot of mixed emotion for both parties and I haven't seen any story besides Avatar tackle it yet
Yay, we found another buddy! And she's looking fancy!
Wait, Illuminati? That's a thing here too?
26:00 "You HAVE been keeping the light of hope alive haven't you?"
New Y'shtola can't help but sound like a stern teacher ready to smack your knuckles with a ruler
Behold, the actual start of many jokes, especially from me, about Y'shtola's habit of blind teleportation and what that does to one's clothes.
3 and 5 are fun. That is all
Sam and Max Series?
So in Seeker of the Sun culture, a tribe is led by a single male that makes all decisions for the tribe and is also the only male who gets to breed. He has the title of Nuhn. All other males in a tribe are given the title of Tia (hense why you see so many Miqo'te males with that name). A Tia can claim a Nuhn's title by defeating him in single combat. This is why Y'shtola and Y'mitra have different mothers but the same father. All of their tribe members from their generation likely have the same father.
The letter at the front of a Seeker's name is their tribe. Conveniently there are 26 Seeker of the Sun tribes so each one took a letter when they came to Eorzea. You'll only ever see someone omit the tribe name from a Seeker when they're very very close (which is why Y'mitra can get away with it for Y'shtola) it's very very rude to do it otherwise. It's also worth mentioning that female Seekers take their father's name as their surname.
So Y'shtola Rhul is Shtola of the Y tribe and daughter of Y'rhul Nuhn.
18:31 I am so very positively surprised of how respectful the camera-work felt here. The "glowing naked person floating in the air" tends to feel way to male gaze / fan-service heavy in sooo many games, but the cameras movement from her hand up to her face feels more like it is gentle and caring. 10/10
Also, just all the following shots avoiding the usual "we only have tiny towels here, and our cameraman can only do closeups, sorrryyy" kind of stuff. Proud of this games creators here^^
Always loved Y'shtola's HW outfit. And on to meet Matoya! Very fun people living in and around the Hinterlands. Also fun fact, the Dravanian Hinterlands is the only normal zone in FFXIV without a single aetheryte crystal. While it makes sense since the Sharlayan colony there is long abandoned, it is slightly annoying as players are forced to teleport to Idyllshire to quickly access the zone. It's another loading screen, and your destination may not be close to where the city leads out. Heavensward and Stormblood have some awkward aetheryte placement in their zones at times.
Y’shtola’s Heavensward outfit has a special love for me. See, I was an avid player of Mobius Final Fantasy for the last year or so of service. One of the various Jobs you could get from the gacha (an absolute terror of one that makes even Genshin’s look nice and probably one of the reasons the game ultimately died) were special jobs where other major FF characters could take the place of the player Wol in battle, and Y’shtola was one of them – and hers with that lovely Heavensward outfit was the first of those I got lucky enough to grab.
Honestly, it’s a crying shame the gacha was so awful on that game (not even a pity system! Even Genshin’s crappy gacha has a pity system!). The story was solid and I will forever adore Wol/Sarah/Garland/Maia tbh. Rip forever my dear Mobius. 😔
Y'shtola briefly mentions her sister in the last cutscene we see of her in post-ARR, as we're escaping Ul'dah. As she is casting her spell, she says "Forgive me, Mhitra"
For Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te (like Y'shtola, Y'mhitra, and G'raha) the first letter of their name is their family's/ clan's name. The Seekers have a patriarchal society, a single male leader with many females and some males under them. The Nunh is the leader and other males are called Tia. Go look at character names in Forgotten Springs for an example (if you're just watching and not playing, check ARR episodes 16 and 17)
27:25 Tataru is so talented! Best receptionist/ coinkeeper/ weaver ever!
34:00 Yay! My favorite Heavensward area!
40:03 LOL. I took a drink of water at the wrong moment.
(22:28) you know, this might be one of the first bits of hinting at the current plotline of Tataru's Grand Adventure. Course, at this point it's little more then that famous line about Batman, "Where does he get all his wonderful toys".
Also, definitely seconding how much better the zones get from Stormblood onwards. From the lovely plains zone in Stormblood, the starting zone in Shadowbringers, and my god the last two zones of Endwalker. Just utterly divine imho. And those are just my personal faves!
Tataru – "Please come back, Y'shtola."
Y'shtola – "Well, if she's the one asking, I don't have a choice."
Idyllshire: the Actual Best Town. It's a place for friends.
I see this title and am simultaneously concerned, curious, and a little excited. I said before, the whole "fake British accents" never bothered me, I just went "okay, this is how these people talk", so I'm not sure how I'm gonna feel about new Y'shtola voice. So far, it's been… an adjustment for the others so far. Will edit this after the video.
EDIT1: I'm sorry, a chimera hide?! Tataru, do you have an Arisen in your pocket or something?
EDIT2: I don't know if it's got to do with how long it's been since Y'shtola had a voice, if she didn't speak as much, or if my memory is just that bad… but the new voice suits her, it wasn't super jarring like Tataru ot Alphinaud's was for me, no "that's not what you sound like!". I'd have to do a side by side to see which one I prefer.
Also, her new outfit is amazing.
Adding a bit on the Mi'quote, I think there are a grand total of maybe 3 NPCs total that are male Keeper of the Moon Mi'quote. Some of that stems from early 1.0 designs having the Mi'quote be a female-only species, but then the overall lore states that male Moon catboys are just…not adventurous or really connected.
It makes me happy that the way to get Y'shtola back from the aether is to bring her sister to the elementals and say "can you make us another one of these, please?"
For a second, I thought we'd get a Summoner's Dance like Yuna's in FF10.
Side question: Did anyone else keep save slots for the Super Cool Cutscenes in games in the days before YouTube?
-honestly im really glad they waited until this late to start bringing back the remaining Scions
-so… does your character leave Y'shtola's room if you play as a lady?
-every setting that makes Goblins friendly end up with them being the best NPCs
That scene when we saw Y'shtola again for the first time was really epic and touching when I got to it for the first time… but a small part of my brain couldn't help but go "so the lifestream cut her hair, huh" x'D
Y'shtola: It is time for me to rejoin the cause.
Tataru: Not like that you won't.
Y'shtola after changing to the new outfit: Better?
Tataru and me with her: Yaaaaaasssss b***h slay!!!
Is it just me or are Y'sthola's eyes lighter than they used to be?
I was afraid that she was blind for a bit
I knew of Matoya yeaaaahy
Tataru is so precious. Considering all lalafells are bloodthirsty monsters xD
I have just realized that the silly tower there is an airship landing. I always just thought it was compensating for something.