This reckoning is overdue.
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Edited by Daniel Floyd
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♫ “Pray Return” by Chris Logsdon
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0:00 – Introduction
0:26 – QUEST: “A Feast of Lies”
28:42 – QUEST: “Paradise Fallen”
#PlayFrame #FFXIV #FinalFantasyXIV #Shadowbringers
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'i uphold his values of my own volition.' so a traitor to all you held dear. Requiem est infernum, kicked dog.
I found it funny that, after the tell you that the food is made of Sin Eaters, we see Vauthry clearly eating the Sin Eater that was accompanying him, but instead of an unsightly carcass, we see him devouring piles and piles of meol.
I know therea are a lot of limitations, but I only could think about the 4kids sensorship.
19:28 (Spoilers for Tales Under the New Moon: Bringer of Shadow, Bringer of Light)
The first Oracle of Light was trained to fight alongside a young boy, the son of the Eulmoran General and heir to a dark martial liniage, Ran'jit. What their relationship was, no one can remember, but they came to be the leaders of the Sinbound- an elite force who fought the Sin Eaters.
When she died, Ran'jit spent years looking for her sucessor. He trained her to fight, and years later, she too died. And the cycle continued…
Ran'jit considered himself a father to these girls, though their various opinions of him are unknown. "Ran'jit died in battle at the age of eighty-eight. His body was found lying before the graves of his former pupils, all taken before their time."
Normally I would wait until Friday, but now is a good time as I need to ask this: between Ran'jit and Zenos, which repeat boss is more annoying to deal with?
I would like to take a moment to say that Edward Dogliani (Vauthry's VA) is amazing – and as I was typing that Dan said the exact same thing (10:10), phenomenal is the right word.
He's not a reaper with a dark spirit from the void… but perhaps a bit of lightwarden would do just as well as a spirit for a reaper?
Playfriends, did you hate Eulmore? Well, today might be your lucky day. This is your spoiler free lore comment.
2:07 – Kai-Shirr risks death by rapier for his confusion here.
5:35 – Meol is Sin Eater. And given what we know about where Sin Eaters come from, and that select few of the Eulmoran residents are permitted to Ascend, we now solve the questions of why so many go into Eulmore and almost none come out. Meol is cannibalism with extra steps. But let's not discount those extra steps, as they're what's helping Vauthry enthrall the masses.
7:23 – This comment, mistaking Eulmore for Limsa (which it is intended to be a doppelgänger of) explains Thancred's line in the Shadowbringers trailer: "This town certainly has changed…"
9:25 – A city whose residents are under the thrall of a magician by way of tainted foodstuffs. Those familiar with fantasy games may be thinking of a different city, in a different place. 22 years ago, there was a city which was tainted by cursed grain. Its residents succumbed to the curse. A hero arrived, but too late to stop the plague from taking hold. And to his companions' horror, he ordered the city of Stratholme purged. To 'save' his land, Prince Arthas Menethil put men, women, and children to the sword. And now, the Warrior of Darkness stands at a similar decision point. And so are you.
More than a few players have expressed their distaste for Eulmore. From the moment the citizens applauded Kai-Shirr's treatment by Vauthry, some declared "burn this city to the ground". Eulmore sent Ran'jit after you. Eulmore sent the Sin Eaters to attack the Crystarium. And now all of Eulmore resists your efforts to slay the final Lightwarden. They will attack you. Ask yourself, how easy would it be to slay them? Let loose your spells and blades and carve a bloody trail through to Vauthry. After all, the marquee job for this expansion is Dark Knight. The first quest you took as that job had you storm the Temple Knights, vowing to kill any who stood against you, promising to all who resist that you would "kill his wife, his friends, and burn his godsdammend house down!". Those weren't Fray's words, those were YOUR words. So, Playfriends, would you take your first steps as a tragedy and follow in Arthas' footsteps?
Arthas Menethil was written as a fallen hero. Today, we defy that fate. We can be better. And it starts with having a team at your back. One that knows that you would not stoop so low. A team that will put themselves through hell to see you to the city's spire. A team who shoulders the responsibility of saving the people of Eulmore, not killing them.
19:20 – And today's the total confirmed kill count is: Three. Two Jongleurs and one man who won't back down. And knowing his history, it's not that surprising. He was raised alongside a flaxen haired woman, who helped him weather his father's death. And when she perished, he got another chance. Another Minfilia came to Eulmore. To train under his tutelage. But she would perish as well. Time and again, he took these girls under his wing and watched them die. Until Vauthry told him, "no more". No more fights against Sin Eaters. No more dead Minfilias. It's no wonder he's loyal to Vauthry. I just wish his story had been better told in our quests and not separate from it.
23:28 – That's… not how a dessert fork works.
23:42 – Yes, the glowing face is Vauthry's left pectoral. It's a face where his nipple might be. And yes, the folds of that face have been there since his introduction in Episode 5. Once you see it, you can't unsee it.
25:23 – Mount Gulg is a reference to the original Final Fantasy! Mount Gulg, or Gurgu Volcano, was home to the fiend Marilith (or as Strangers of Paradise calls her, Neon) and the Crystal of Fire. In FF9, it's a dormant volcano, and the baddies have kidnapped Eiko to perform a ritual there.
37:05 – I like that the story does not absolve the people of Eulmore of their actions. Yes, Vauthry manipulated them. But each of them have made choices. Each of them have their own minds. The departure of Vauthry doesn't erase the past. It doesn't excuse it. But it does give them the opportunity to start a new chapter. It gives them a chance to change their situation. And amazingly, they take to it.
40:20 – Magnus, Thaffe, and Jeryk had told us the Mystels of Daedalus Stoneworks had packed their bags and gone to Eulmore. Turns out, we know them! Where as Magnus is a trolley engineer, Chai Nuzz might be Talos engineer. Time to see if his days in luxury has dulled his skills.
Next time: Up the Long Ladder.
14:30 Vauthry: "Ran'jit, do we have a guest? Take his coat!"
Durmin: "I don't have one."
Ran'jit: "He doesn't have one. Also, I believe this is the man who has been slaughtering the Lightwardens!"
Vauthry: "…Ran'jit, don't take his coat."
Also; I did find this fight a bit amusing when I went through here, being a Reaper myself. It really came off as a prototype vs upgrade fight. However, unlike how those kinds of fights usually go, the upgrade won decisively.
So proud of our boy! I honestly didn't really remember this duty. The aftermath, sure. Very satisfying finally being able to attune to Eulmore's aetheryte, but I forgot this was the lead up to it. Hoo boy Vauthry is disgusting to look at. But in a way his tiny little wings are kinda funny
I'm sure your little songbird safely flew away from this chaos and still only wishes the best for you…yes…she is….100% safe. Now take this and sleep happy thoughts.
I was pretty sure it would turn out that the meol was made from human flesh. This isn't exactly the case, but it is sort of true in a more roundabout way. And the game did deliver on the Soylent Green Moment that I was expecting.
– so… i called it on both ends: Meol is a super-drug made out of people, well, Sin Eaters but those were made from Eulmoran people
– i love when games turn the HubWorlds into dungeons
– Ran'jit, if anything that makes you an even worse idiot/a-hole
– on the one hand it is low for a General, on the other Durmin outranks Ran'jit so it evens out
– oh, it actually went the opposite of what i was expecting, & it's somehow more disturbing. How do you even come up with the idea of eating a Sin Eater, much less the Lightwarden?!
– Why are any of you even asking these questions, of course we gotta help the peoples before hunting the cannibalistic abomination
– i love that the Eulmoreans weren't bad people, utterly hedonistic? sure; but none of them were malicious they just wanted an escape from the End Times, but when it come to actually show kindness they didn't hesitate
19:30 – One of the very, VERY few 'notes' I would make with Shadowbringers is I really don't see why we have this final battle with Ran'jit. This battle doesn't really ADD anything to the Eulmore duty, or to his character, and it feels like it thematically would have worked better for Thancred to have gotten the killing blow in Ahm Areng. Nothing was gained by keeping him around for this.
My biggest complaint with Shadowbringers, what is ultimately my favorite Final Fantasy story, is that Alphinaud should have clocked that soylent green is people, all the way back at the beginning when we learned that many enter and none leave.
Vauthry "why did they leave Omelas" Lastname
one heck of a Chekov's gun there….
3:15 Something about the slang just makes this even funnier.
3:28 Okay, now that just sounds gross. Not euphemistically, just ew.
4:21 He's been carving off chunks of Lightwarden, hasn't he? This is basically Corprus hunks, yea?
4:27 Well, my guess was wrong, but also very correct. Might not be the Lightwarden, but the Corprus metaphor works. Gross.
5:25 Alisaie gets it. If it wasn't as brutal, it'd make getting thrown onto the rocks worth it.
5:47 Y'know… if i didn't already want to rend Vauthry limb from limb… now'd be the time. This is a special level of twisted.
6:11 Cleanse! Purge! Kill! Where's a thermonuclear device when you need it?
8:00 Alisaie, the "in control" version of what I'd be.
8:09 Good.
9:45 Good thing I'm not calling the shots. I'd have no qualms about carving a path. I wouldn't like it, but I'd do it.
15:21 Oh, I see. You're a true waste of aether. You're a volunteer to some of the blackest evil on this star.
21:20 Wait, did I call that!? i think, before I had seen the other Wardens, I said/thought something to the effect of "he's gotta be a sin eater or something"… One sec. Okay, I didn't call it, that I could find. I compared him to a Great Unclean One, and lamented that he "couldn't" be a Lightwarden.
23:40 Oh… that wasn't a weird costume design… oh no. Oh nooo.
24:02 I'm sorry, as bad as the implications are, that just looks funny.
32:50 Thank you for adding "for a nap" there.
I was suspecting that Vauthry was the Lightwarden, but for him to still be part man is interesting…
Does that mean he became a Lightwarden of his own will with all the meol he's eaten? Or was he influenced by someone?
In either case, I'm happy once Durmin finally punches him in the face!
When pigs fly 23:57
Boy… Dan said it already, but mad props to Vauthr's voice actor, who completely sells his role here. You can hear his denial, the final breaking of sanity, and pairing that with the sudden body horror of sudden 180 neck twists and faces where they shouldn't be… it's one of my favorite moments