Really makes you appreciate the relative cooperativeness of the pixies.
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Edited by Daniel Floyd
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________▼ CHAPTERS ▼_________
0:00 – Introduction
0:23 – QUEST: “Courting Cooperation”
16:09 – QUEST: “The Key to the Castle”
25:08 – DUNGEON: Dohn Mheg
43:48 – QUEST: “The Key to the Castle” (continued)
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I love Minfillia being a Rogue. As you mentioned it's a really heartwarming thing that she would've learned knife combat from Thancred. But also I think it's just really fun to have this small adorable teen in a cute dress just whip out some knives to go to town in combat.
Mechanically she's a Light-Themed Ninja. She doesn't know the typical Ninja tricks, but she does know Light magic. So instead of using Suiton in order to Trick Attack she casts Banish to enable it. A small flavor thing but it's so cool that they customized all the Trust party members to not just be completely vanilla jobs like the player.
7:50 urgh… suffering, thy name is Thancred. I… have such a problem with him in this expansion (a problem, I confess, that has as much or more to do with the archetype he is playing than him), but he was close to Minfilia all his life and had to say goodbye to her… twice. That does damage to a boy, and I am not unsympathetic to it. Now, if only I didn’t want to do some damage to him too, because Thancred. (“My Minfilia”? Jesus, dude, she wasn’t your personal pet!)
22:25 ooh, Dan’s being creative with his recording again! I love his little flourished he puts on his voice acting ❤
Dohn Mheg is beautiful, but darned if I could ever beat Grohle on my own. That growth mechanic is no joke.
38:28 I imagine the horses are Kelpies, or based on the same.
39:45 man, I think Aenc Thon’s fight is probably among my favorite fights in the whole game… I love both illusions and fiddle enemies, so (Cu Culainn is what your thinking of, I most definitely spelled that name wrong)
50:40 “* cough * splutter* T-thank goodness for good old Soroban and the blessing of the Kojin, that’s all I have to say!” Quoth my cat boy when he got out of this.
An interesting factor that I'm not sure has been touched on yet, is the fact that within the First, A.O.E danger puddles have a more harsh and glowing effect. This is due to the in-game lore that the Echo uses aether to broadcast the moves that we the player see as danger puddles. However, in the first, due to the aether imbalance, the projection is ALSO suffused with light.
Playfriends, time to get moving on this "slay the Lightwarden" plan. We know they're holed up in the Castle, but do we just storm it? This is your spoiler free lore comment!
0:40 – The Astrology option is only available if you've leveled Astrologian, if I recall. Durmin's not the only one ruling over cards these days.
11:30 – This dilemma is eating Thancred up. Every hour, every moment alongside Minifilia contributes to a war in his heart. Should she wish to lay down her burdens, the Minfilia we know, that Thancred has helped raise as family, will be back. But he also knows that teaching this young woman to learn, to survive, to live will just as surely kill the woman he looked after for all these years. And for a man who grew up with no family, casting aside a member of his family of choice is no easy matter. This is why Thancred seems to regard Minifilia warmly in one scene, and be distant in another. This child looks up to him as a protector, a guardian, and perhaps a father. But if he takes up that role, he risks killing the woman who he views as his little sister. When Durmin asks him what outcome he wants, he stands at the crossroads that afflicts his heart each day, for three years.
16:12 – Munificent basically means generous.
19:35 – Fauth are malevolent water spirits in Scottish folklore, with their name meaning "hatred".
19:40 – The large pink topped tree is the marchioness which I elaborated on last episode.
As we're back in a dungeon, let's talk about another of our Trust members. Since it's possible Durmin tanks future dungeons, let's get the character who only tanks out of the way: Thancred! While the back implemented duty support system allows Thancred to operate as a Gladiator or a Rogue in old dungeons, from here on Thancred is tanking as a Gunbreaker. When Minifilia is in a duty with him, you'll see him use the Gunbreaker's Cartridge Combo, which is indicated by the explosions. Without her, he will use a different combo, indicating he cannot replenish his aether cartridges. This is only an animation difference though, as he still deals the same damage. He tends to have good self healing, shields, and mitigation, which he employs well against bosses. He will use an AOE ability against additional enemies if you force him to engage more than one group, called "Quick Slash". He will also use Superbolide, the Gunbreaker invulnerability, when near death. "Keep your guard up!""
40:35 – This is a unique mechanic for Dohn Mheg. You must walk the narrow path to reach the other side to destroy the Lyre. Falling will set you back to the beginning (and if you're streaming, it'll increase the chances of you appearing on Lulu's FFXIV Streamer Highlights!). The most interesting thing is how the Trust NPCs handle this mechanic. Minifilia will tip toe across the platforms, meaning that she doesn't actually make it across before the Lyre casts Finale. If the twins were here, they'd show their own way of navigating the path, with Alisaie sprinting the distance and Alphinaud starting off slow, but speeding up when he realizes that time is of the essence. And then there are those who just cheat! Thancred uses a Ninja skill, Shukuchi, to jump from the first path to the other side. Urianger just teleports across. Neither of these work, the movement skills in the game register you as crossing the intervening distance, and it'll have you fall into the pit (and yes, it also works that way for Healers' Rescue, meaning you can pull people off the path). If you're not so sure on your pathing, don't worry, the damage output of the rest of the team will break the Lyre for you.
42:00 – Dan is correct, this enemy model was used in The Void Ark, as the boss Cuchulainn!
Let's discuss some lore on the region that Il Mheg used to be: The Kingdom of Voeburt. We can see the ruins of the capital at 47:45, the castle town for Gruenes Licht. Much like the other lands of The First, Voeburt is dark mirror to a place in Eorzea. 49:05 makes it explicit, this is an analogue for Ishgard and Coerthas. One might think that Il Mheg looks nothing like Coerthas, but that's because it is comparable to Coerthas before the 7th Umbral Calamity. Prior to the never ending ice and snow, Coerthas was a green and lush as Il Mheg is today, albeit with fewer flowers than what the pixies planted. While Coerthas and Ishgard are heavy on French influences, the Voeburt of old was heavy on the Germanic influences. It held a coat of arms of a two headed wolf (possibly referencing the Double Eagle of The Holy Roman Empire), symbolizing the founding alliance of the Drahn and the Galdjent. The royal family of Voeburt were Drahn, while the ruling council was majority Galdjent nobles. As with its alpine inspirations, Voeburt had many shepherds and crafters, producing everything from wool to musical instruments. Shortly before the Flood, Voeburt had been afflicted with a strange illness that seemingly struck at random, transforming people into monsters. Very little remains of Voeburt. Most of its ruins are either under Longmirror lake or Titania's Castle. Its survivors fled as the kingdom fell to the Flood of Light, and the Fae took up residence.
Next time: We get some allies to help us fetch the other items needed to open the castle.
Oh no you broke the first 2 rules of dealing with the Fuath!
'…where the hells did you learn how to use a gun blade Thancred? Also, where did you find one here?'
Dohn Mheg is easily the prettiest dungeon in all of Shadowbringers, and possibly the entire game. I have a bit of a soft spot for it as it was the first dungeon revealed for this expansion and it's quite a fun one. I forgot we went to it so soon, though. I think this is also the dungeon that makes the most out of the NPC companions in terms of showing their personality. Not going to repeat what others said, but I learned this relatively late as I didn't use the trust system when I did the ShB dungeons for the first time.
💙
we're alll maad herreee… eheheheheheh….
In the entirety of my favourite expansion, this has the most baffling plot elements that I have difficulty wrapping my head around: Minfillia's possession of random little girls to conscript them into the war against the sin eaters.
So, we know from episode #9 of this playthrough that while some of the "Minfillia" girls accepted their role, others did not. Now if I offered the choice of "you must either fight, or abandon the world to the sin eaters", that's not really a choice at all, especially when foisted onto a young child. And apparently some actually did reject their fate, but were forced to face the sin eaters anyway.
Minfillia telling Thancred that the current Minfillia has a choice, and that she would be willing to just transfer her power and end the cycle… Based off the story as we've experienced so far, I don't think this choice was offered to the previous hosts.
Child soldiers make me uncomfortable. That goes double if it's functionally conscription. Making Minfillia be the one to do so makes it all the more off-putting. And it's all kinda just… glossed over in the story. Nobody mentions how screwed up this is, and none of the scions mention how their former leader, that Minfillia of all people, is the one that's responsible. It's the one singular thing that sticks out for me in the story of Shadowbringers.
Oh man I love Dohn Mheg, definitely a trippy, fun dungeon!
– on the one hand having Thancred being unable to use Magic skills without Minifillia is a fantastic touch… on the other what where they thinking by not letting us ask Urianger why he isn't wearing double Googles anymore
– also of course the YugiOh player would send you on a Monster Catching mini-errand
– if it didn't include the Bloodsport thing, the Fuath would make for some amazing Interior decorators… kinda shocked Eulmore isn't an ally of the Fae considering their whole Hedonism Culture
– THAT'S IT! Once we get back to the first yall will go take Swimming Blessings from the Toitel !
– thank you Ardbert, glad we're getting to chillout with you, sadly you are a ghost & not a party member, but still cool
– oh, i thought the Faes were living in the Equivalent of Gridania, what's what i get for stereotyping
I get serious kh wonderland and dance of the sugar plum fairies from this background music.
Someone (I am assuming Carrie) is having fun with the voice modification during editing 🙂
BLU's Clues:
We're back with new BLU spells, and Dohn Mheg offers us an appropriately silly one: Candy Cane. At 31:16, we see the first boss prime a tankbuster attack on Thancred…in the form of a shower of sweets. Blue Mages, of course, find an attack this ridiculous irresistible, so they must learn it, too. As a BLU spell, Candy Cane does moderate physical damage in an AoE (just slightly more than the basic BLU attack spells) and critical damage to the target's dignity. Of greater strategic importance, it reduces the target's Strength and Dexterity attributes–and hence their physical damage output–by 10%, which is nice for nerfing hard-hitting attacks from bosses trying to turn the mage into BLU goo.
It also restores 10% of the caster's mana. Because of the sugar rush, I suppose.
The shade of fear is Cu Chulaiin, a boss from The Void Arc
That dungeon was very pretty. I have a feeling the next two factions we deal with are going to be a similar don't mess with fae/spirits story because I'm detecting a trend here.
@playframe, Everyone seems to leave Dermin behind. He needs to upgrade his ssd and internet, or a longer pair of legs.
Dan is definitely a fey of some sort…..absolutely🤣
Ive been speedrunning this series for the past couple months, and what a delight it is to catch up right at the beginning of my favorite expansion and one of my favorite if not the favorite video game experiences of all time
That was such a gorgeous dungeon! The visual spectacle of this game gets better and better with each expansion!
Yoooo the watery voice
As a nonbinary person, I have no choice but to stan the pixies.
With all Dan's worries about the dangers of the lake, I was beginning to think he'd forgotten that he can breathe underwater.
37:45 "Well, Daniel, stairs are a series of platforms arranged at incriminatally increasing heights to help us go up and down inclines!"
(the pink text that would have been, if Daniel didn't edit Durmin's videos :P)
16:19 Munificent: more generous than necessary, usually in the sense of a gift or sum of money. I have my doubts that Sul Uin is accurate in their self-assessment.