Who could this tall, unusually verbose masked stranger be?
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0:00 – Introduction
0:23 – QUEST: “One Life for One World”
3:25 – Several cutscenes will play in sequence.
33:06 – QUEST: “An Ending to Mark a New Beginning”
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Edited by Daniel Floyd
♫ “Pray Return” by Chris Logsdon
https://lnkfi.re/pray-return
#PlayFrame #FFXIV #FinalFantasyXIV #Heavensward
source
I love these scenes
so the Warrior of Darkness' names are:
J'Rhoomale (Ranger of Darkness)
Blanhaerz (Knight of Darkness)
Naillebert (Magus of Darkness)
and their leader, Arbert (Warrior of Darkness)
I don't remember them ever addressing the Devout of Darkness' name? According to the FFXIV lorebook, it's Lamimi.
Note that the majority of their jobs – Ranger, Magus and Devout – are jobs available to the player but not under those names. (Paladin is called Knight in the original Japanese, so technically not that one.) Makes sense – they come from a different world, with different cultures and different names for the jobs corresponding to the ones in our world. Which raises the question of their names all being lore-compliant with regards to the Source. There's a reason for this, but it will come up later – much later – so I'll say no more.
Arbert's voice acting is among my favorite in the game. Especially in today's episode.
"Quickly." Uriangier says after taking five minutes to explain what could be done in five seconds.
So in the cinematic cutscenes I noticed the Warrior of Light is rendered as a regular default-looking human character. Is that the same design that the Warrior of Darkness is modeled after? With certain changes? As if to give him a evil "negative world" design version of the hero?
I do feel for Urianger here – as much as it’s frustrating that he didn’t tell us what was going on, it does feel like he was thrown onto a chessboard that none of us even knew existed, and all he could really do is play along, figure out what the hell is happening, and try to find a way to mitigate as much harm as he could. If he was discovered breaking character, then there wouldn’t be even that chance, so he felt he had to take that responsibility entirely on himself. Then again, who knows whether we might have found another way out, if he’d found a way to tell us?
The line "We did everything right, everything that was asked of us and still, *still*, it came to this!" is probably the first voiced line in FFXIV to really stick with me. There have been good reads before this, of course, but that one just kinda engraved itself upon my mind, and helped show how much the voice direction and acting was continuing to improve from ARR.
51:00 What does Tupsimati actually do? I assume it to be some custom model of aether-scope, like Y'shtola, Urianger, and a few other mage characters sport, but do we know whether it has any other function by this point?
This episode'll be focused on Ifrit, since he's clearly not going to appear in person… however, given the topic, i'll also talk about a certain other thing in this episode (and a few other episodes before this), so spoilers!! You've been warned.
"The creation myth of the Amalj'aa holds that, in the beginning, there was only Ifrit. The world he spawned was filled with beasts bereft of reason or intellect, each fighting an endless, mindless battle for survival. But there was one race of great lizards whose ferocity so pleased the Lord of the Inferno that he bequeathed unto them flickering motes shared from his own primordial flame.
This sacred fire took purchase in the lizards' souls, burning away frailty and weakness, and from the ashes of their transformation stepped the first warriors of the Amalj'aa. Seven males and seven females there were, and from their joining were born seven tribes. It is told that the tribes ranged far and wide, and ruled all that walked or crawled upon the land.
Known in the present day as Zanr'ak, the place where Ifrit is said to have blessed the Amalj'aa ancestors has been a site of enduring conflict down through the centuries. Once Belah'dia, and now Uld'ah, the lizard-like beastmen will make a foe of any who infringe upon the blasted territory they believe was kissed by the holy flames of their god."
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From this quest and the quests focusing on them, we can gauge a brief history of the Warriors of Darkness. The hints were sprinkled here and there between the end of 3.0 and this episode, so this is my attempt to string it all together.
The Warriors of Darkness were an adventuring party on the First, made up of Arbert (the Hyuran Warrior), Lamimi (the Lalafellin Devout), Blaenherz (the Roegadyn Knight), Naillebert (the Elezen Magus), and J’rhoomale (the Miqo’te Ranger). They started out as regular adventurers would, helping those that needed helping and saving those that needed saving, helping the nations of the First. What tied them together in spite of their difference is once single constant: the Echo.
Their deeds had been noticed by the Ascians at one point, who attempted to stop the heroes and presumably cause a rejoining. As we've seen in Durmin's Echo flashback quite a few episodes ago, these Warriors of Light succeeded in fending off the Ascians and reclaiming peace… but nothing is that simple in this game, now is it?
In this case, their victory has instead brought ruin as the balance of the First shifted horrifically towards light. Faced with a Flood of Light like how the Thirteenth was consumed by a Flood of Darkness, Elidibus would approach them with a proposition: to rescue the First, they must travel to the Source and cause an ardor through bothering the tribes. What isn't clear is how they got to the Source in the first place… but i'll just say the first Encyclopedia Eorzea reveals how they managed to travel between shards, and it isn't pretty.
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Additional Comments;
5:35 – CARBUNCLE!! HE'S A GOOD BOY!!!!
5:57 – I love how this is the introduction to Red Mage (the rapier and focus were clearly not modeled yet though, so Alisaie gets a gleaming sword.)
– Love this solo duty as it implies what happens if you fail a trial. It's a bit stressful when playing blind though.
10:05 – And here is the prettiest Scion in the group. You'd think Thancred or Y'shtola or… everyone else in the group is pretty, but Urianger takes the cake. No I will not take criticism, it's just facts. (Edit: also he's extra because why not)
54:24 Or at least thrown them off opposite sides, geez.
Glad to see the back of bad axe care albert but are we just going to gloss over the fact that Yda hasn't aged in twenty years? Sure, it was a humorous awkward conversation to lighten the mood after everybody super died, but Yda was attempting to hide something, and it's not something she wants to avoid seeing as the first thing she wants to do after years(?)/months(?)/weeks(?)/however long it has been, without contacting the scions, is go back to ala mihgo. Unless I'm mistaken, Yda is a human, not an elf, rabbit, dragon, cat, vampire, or any other long lived race, thus she should have aged over two decades. So what is going on? what does she not want Durmin and the others to know. Papalymo must be in on it and from his reaction, it is clear he does not approve of whatever it is.
I had forgotten about that moment with F'lhaminn… and now I'm crying…
This whole entire story thread just hits very different now than it did on the first go through…
This is just a between chapters bit? Wow 💚
Alisaie has a Big Sword of Light, your argument is- oh wait, no, his argument is Extremely Valid. "We did everything we were supposed to do, and our world was destroyed anyway" and "We prayed for help for so long, and only now does God step in" are very very understandable reasons to be angry.
Oooh, something's up with Yda and Papalymo?
Ahhh….this was probably my favorite part of the post-Heavensward patches. I loved the Final Steps of Faith and all of 3.3, but something about this patch in particular….the Warriors of Darkness did everything they could and are just…so desperate to save their home. Serious kudos goes to Arbert's (the Warrior) VA. He did an amazing job here.
So, a fun thing. Do you know when the WoD white mage does the thing enchanting the bard's arrow? That used to be a mechanic in 1.0! In fact, this same skill happened in the old 1.0 trailer!
Of course, it was a much JANKIER mechanic, I wasn't around for the time when those combinations were a thing and they were a nightmare to time, I hear.
Well, well, well – that's several questions of mine answered – most notably, "what happens to the organization, now that its leader is gone?" Appropriately enough, it seems that the answer is to transition it to a structure that doesn't need one. Consequently, the Scions now feel rather a lit more like a proper RPG party in the tRPG mold – they may very well have a 'face', and different people may take point depending on the circumstances, but no one member is calling the shots any longer. I am curious to see what they do with this going into the next expansion.
I only have the free trial version; can someone tell me if Heavensward ends in a positive note?
Dan’s faux-surprised “what??” at 10:10 really got me. I had to pause the video to laugh.
Alisaie: Do you think we've been deceived?
Me: You say that like there's another possibility.
I gotta say, Alisaie has just become my second favourite character out of the Scions.
9:28 I mean, once a traitor, always a traitor. You were an idiot to trust him.
Okay, I must know the spell for "suddenly beard" and "suddenly shave", I'd love to be able to put a full helmet on without beard sticking out the bottom. (Wasn't he clean-shaved before the reveal when not in disguise?)
10:38 I couldn't, Alisaie, I couldn't.
19:15 While I respect a lot about this… your error does not justify destroying another world.
54:14 Please tell me (*don't* actually) that we get a permanent resolution to those eyes and that they don't just become a recurring plot MacGuffin.
To be clear, I have no problem with Double Agent nonsense, but the distinction between being a turncoat and double agent nonsense is keeping people informed in some capacity. To turn your back on your closest comrades, to betray their trust by acting in true secrecy, to me is unforgivable. To rely on the trust of those very comrades, which you have earned over time, to trust you with something risky and dangerous, is quite another.
you say you're skipping some diversions you were thinking of doing – are you going to come back to them later? I find I enjoy those more than the main story a lot of the time.
…I struggeled A LOT in that fight, because I didn't spot the "Blade of Light" interact point for the longest time -_-'
You know the story's good when you see something, and immediately gasp in horror.
That the Griffin has the Eyes of Nidhogg is not good news. But I wonder… is it as bad as it was when Estinian had them, and was taken over?
(No spoilers, please: I'm watching things play out through this series, as I'm unable to play the game myself for reasons outside my control.)
Damn, these cutscenes hit SO MUCH HARDER now, seeing them for the second time ;_; Also, amazing voice performances all around, but especially from the Warrior of Darkness!
I enjoy how Dan just kind of breezes through some big moments as if they were nothing. Durmin was seemingly betrayed? Okay. Yda acting real suspicious? Not a problem!
The battle stance of a mnk being bouncy has ODD effects in that cutscene.
For those we have lost, and for those we can YET SAVE!
12:10 Here's the part that I and several of my friends failed in this duty. We kept clicking on Alisaie. Took us a few deaths to notice the invisible click-point with the floating text just in front of her.
I don't remember who this new narrator is, now that Edmont de Fortemps has told his part of the tale. I shan't ask yet. I don't want to add spoilers to the comments.
You know, I thought about that when the eyes got thrown into the abyss: "Should we, like…separate them? At least? Maybe?"
48:29 Yda is letting the days go by…
– now all Dan needs is to master the Bri'ish accent to be unstoppable
– for once the Sussy Baka winning was the winning scenario, glad to see the Scions reunited
– and then Yda finds herself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife & wonders how she got there
– and this is why you cast them into two different abysses
So, fun fact. The first time I experienced ARR through this playthrough, I thought for realsies that when Urianger appeared ominously talking to Elidibus, he was a turncoat. Playing through it myself, however, I was convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that that was not what was going on. Very glad to have been proven right 😁
Man. I'd be so much more sympathetic to the WoDs plight…. if someone would just stop trying to SHOOT. THE TWINS. And joking about it, the nerve! I'll take the smarm, the sarcasm, I'll even take the violence, but by gods, do you have to enjoy murdering my teenagers!? 🤬😤
When the Griffin got his grubby paws on the Eyes of Nidhogg I was so angry. If I never see those purple orbs of nasty again, it'll be a day too soon.
The more these warriors of darkness talk, the more puzzled I feel. Aaaah!