It is time to have words with Vauthry.
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_______▼ CREDITS ▼________
Edited by Daniel Floyd
Thumbnail art by Dan Jones
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♫ “Pray Return” by Chris Logsdon
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________▼ CHAPTERS ▼_________
0:00 – Introduction
1:07 – QUEST: “Extinguishing the Last Light”
12:25 – DUNGEON: Mt. Gulg
30:43 – QUEST: “Extinguishing the Last Light” (continued)
34:59 – TRIAL: The Crown of the Immaculate
44:55 – QUEST: “Extinguishing the Last Light” (continued)
45:48 – Several cutscenes will play in sequence.
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Imagine just chillin on an island and it just gets GRABBED-
This is why, for all I hate his guts, I also pity Vauthry. The man was literally created to be what he is.
===Spoilers===
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My poor WoL, a full hight lala girl, knew the identity of the Exarch from the first. There was no mistaking that brand of theatrics, and also the Crystal Tower was kind of a huge giveaway. So when he played ignorant, she respected that whatever made him keep his identity secret was nessasary.
It was hard. Especially when the totality of The First crashed down upon her. When she saw Tesleen twist, break and burst into a sin eater. In a moment of anger upon her return to the Crysterim, she brought her open palm across his face for dragging her found family- Alisaie especially- to this hell.
And yet, even with that, she respected his desire to keep himself hidden. Her silly magic cat man, she was confident, had some plan to fight back against the light.
And now, she learned of that plan. Powerless to stop him as her body was desperately trying to twist itself into not becoming the Final Impact of this deadworld. He was to away with this cancerous light and destroy it and himself within the between of the realms.
His plan was no less to submit himself unto death once again.
She screamed G'raha Tia's name so hard that something within her broken body burst. Her scream half gargled itself onto the floor as a pile of light-irradiated bile.
1:04:22 is that a clever trip to the aesthetician off screen I see
Edit: I just noticed it's part of the thumbnail art starting with ep 28!
EPISODE SPOILERS AHEAD:
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Ok now that the cat is out of the bag (heh) I wonder, was anyone really surprised by who the exarch is? cause I called that out immediately the second I saw his model, and the game made it even more obvious with the dialogue choice they had the first time you enter the crystarium.
23:50 Vauthry does steam a good ham.
They look like big, good, strong hands don't they? I always thought that's what they were,
21:04 – You missed an opportunity for "Doomrix Cube" there. Great band name.
"Opening for LIGHTWARDEN tonight is DOOMRIX CUBE! Give 'em a hand, everyone!"
– this is why the Chai are so happily married, Chicks dig Giant Robots
– sorry Feo Ul, is really hard to tell when are you being silly from when you're being unhelpfully, glad you know we need your help regardless
– CiderSpider showed part of this dungeon on this week's Mad Mentor video & it was hilarious to see a Mad because Small lala getting chased by a horde of Tall
– oh hey is that Water boss from StormBlood, you know the one you fight on the Monkey King dungeon
– Vauthry might be a canibalistic abomination born of unholy magic… but the man has a great taste for exterior decoration
– he also clearly has a Type when it comes to Sin Eaters, just saying
– i don't know why i wasn't expecting Vauthry to become the Sin Eater from the trailer, i guess i was expecting some Akira-esque monster
– HA! we knew it was you after all CatBoy
– oh right Emmet IS Garlean after all, why magic when you can just Gun
– Durmin became the Lightwardern Supreme … this is gonna be awkward
Mt. Gulg is one of my favorite Shadowbringers dungeons. The pulls on tank get insane, the bosses are neat, the story's great, and it's just all around a really fun time. It helps that with a level sync cap at level 80, this will be the first duty where players get their full level 80 skills. The Crown of the Immaculate was also described to me as "Unlimited Blade Works". Which uh…yeah.
It's…been a while since I watched the post-Innocence cutscene legitimately. BeneG made a really funny meme about it ages ago that I watch instead lol
30:43 That echo effect is REALLY annoying.
Well dang, that was a lot. Episode spoilers to follow:
Firstly I'm glad Titania showed up, I thought it was very odd that Urianger brushed off the fae's help when we were building the Talos and that was seemingly the end of it. It didn't sit well considering we literally got everyone else in Norvrant to help except them.
Next I'm glad Vauthery got a "handsome" form for no other reason than it sorta (I mean extremely minorly but still sorta) helps alleviate the bad connotations Dan pointed out with the only heavy set characters so far being "gluttonous".
I do like the cutscene showing Vautherys creation but feel it could've been placed later to not expressly tip the hand. Imo it sorta underminds Emmet's betrayal, because despite specifically ommiting his face, it's clear from the voice who it is (which is why I also would've picked the other question).
Also cat boy! I completely forgot about him and his name, but in hindsight, wow that was really there all this time. I dislike the pretend heel turn though, I feel like at least for our WoL and Urianger he could've been honest with his intentions as soon as he started the spell and we'd have accepted his decision. Yes Y'shtola and Alise do have some distrust for him, (and his whole plan really screws over the source and only delays Assaian victory because the Scions are needed) but just like they trusted him after Urianger spoke up I feel they would if no false heel turn was made.
Now as for the betrayal. As mentioned above I'd have preferred if the Vauthery origins were placed differently, potentially later although idk where would be a great fit. That scene basically just screams "hey Emmet is going to be a problem" and then Emmet is a problem. Yes our trust for him has always been rocky, but his actions over the expansion have given him a foothold of trust, however uneasy it may be. This scene basically kicks that foothold from under him before he can betray us, which imo undermines the act. Don't get me wrong I was 80%~ sure he was going to betray us anyway (there was so much setup for it), but there was 20%~ of me that did believe there was potential room for "negotiations" (5%~ of me still belives there is?). The actual betrayal is pretty good, but I can't help but wonder if I'd have felt more betrayed and emotional if it wasn't so highlighted immediately beforehand.
Anyway I have other potential questions or thoughts but they might get answered next episode so I'll hold off. I did enjoy this sequence though because it was good.
…I have to ask, did Keimwyda lose a bet?
💙
I love how PISSED Titania gets at times like this.
Oh my GOD my literal favorite Trial in the entire game ;_;
Well, no, second I guess. Actual favorite is in the next expansion but still
Vauthy…. what an intersting case…
spoiler.
He's not completely wrong, concidering what else happens in this episode. And yet…
SPOILERS. DO NOT READ BEFORE WATCHING THE VIDEO.
I'm really curious about when other people figured out the Exarch's identity. As for me, I had my suspicions ever since the moment we have the option to ask if the Exarch found G'raha in the tower. While playing through the story I kept trying to figure out WHEN the Tower was pulled from the Source. One theory I had was that he pulled the tower from the past and that was part of the reason the tower just appears seemingly out of nowhere after the 7th Umbral Calamity. My other theory was that the tower was from the future and the Exarch was G'raha hiding his face for some reason. I really, really wanted my second theory to be true.
And then I got to the scene with the conversation between the Exarch and Emet-Selch. For some reason I was sure that I recognized the Exarch's voice and it was driving me crazy. So I went to the Final Fantasy Fandom Wiki. I typed "Crystal Ex" and the only auto-complete option left was "G'raha Tia" Needless to say, I paused the cutscene and took a few minutes to kick myself… (Also, at the time I did not know who Jonathan Bailey was and did not recognize any of his roles. I do NOW.)
For me, this accidental spoiler did not ruin this reveal. In fact, I think it made me more emotional. I finally understood why he hid his identity, why he didn't say anything. And it was heartbreaking. My main thought afterwards was "We have to save him."
You could say that the fight against Vauthry went immaculately.
The Impossible challenge: don't hide things from your friends.
19:53 I can't be the only one who looks at this and immediately thinks of Nier Automata😮
sighhhhhh… what, does this guy feel like he has second amendment rights too?
All this talk of how great this dungeon is, and no one's talked og the music. The dungeon theme here, "In the Belly of the Beast" is great (you also heard it when the BFT started up), probably among my favorite dungeon themes- and there are some good ones! And that's all that I can discuss without spoilers, so don't keep reading unless you've finished.
I mean it, shoo!
So, all cards on the table: I began Shadowbringers earlier this year, but even before that time, I had known who the Crystal Exarch was. I didn't, like, remind myself of it during the fact (I am pretty good at immersing myself), but before I knew I would play this game, I had seen that certain video by JoCat, which spoils this. But honestly, I was still affected: I too was playing a heterochromatic Mi'quote lad and during the CT raid, I had headcanoned that my WoL and G'raha had cottoned to each other quicker and more strongly than anyone else he had met so far in the story, due to their race and eyes (heterochromia is kind of a thing in Mi'quote society) , and by the time I was finished playing Crystal Tower and got to know the circumstances of how he was trapped, it actually built my anticipation of seeing him return. And I… well, I can't say I wasn't disappointed, because after having seen that certain JoCat video, I was a little bit crushed that your WoL doesn't actually holler out "G'raha Tia!". And of course, the real twist of that moment is everybody's favorite Ascian, the saddest man in the world, pulling his Sudden Yet Inevitable Betrayal anyway.
A truly great Duty all around. And, though our Durmin didn't literally bust like Mr. Creosote, we still seem to be in a bad place. To quote the song "The battles done, and we kinda won, so let's sound our victory cheer/ But where do we go from here?"
in most stories, I don't like characters like Feo Ul. In this game, though, I agree with them every single time. We are cold and cruel and heartless for not calling out for them!
28:15 Something Dan missed here is that, during this part of the fight, the "real" boss shoots the upgraded version of the attack, while the others just do the base version. So for the circle AoE, you want to stand just outside the center circle for the "real" boss, because it will shoot out the big donut as well. Same for the lines, the others only shoot the straight line in the direction they're facing, the "real" boss does the cross as well.
6:47 I'm in stitches, this Fae. Hi, Titania, glad you could make it.
10:17 "Brevity" may be in Urianger's vocabulary, but not his demeanor.
13:08 I know it's precisely none of the Scions MO, but if there was ever a time: Rip and tear, Scions. Rip and tear, until it is done.
26:03 I might steal the visual of this place for a D&D game… if I remember to.
31:09 The echo just makes this funny to me.
32:25 man there's some imagery going on here that feels like shots being fired. Great big shots.
35:45 Huh, the naming convention has me curious. All the eaters have names that are forgiven sins/"sins"… but Vauthry's title is just a positive(?) trait.
39:36 I feel like I just got a memo I was supposed to get a while ago. This expansion is chock full of called shots. How did I miss them?
47:54 This will only end well, I'm sure.
51:59 Ah, there it is.
53:47 It does make sense, though. The power of some of the powerful beings on the planet sounds like a good battery for jumping ship.
56:34 I have no memory of this character.
57:13 Yea, not surprised to see him, doing his thing.
Episode spoilers:
So remember back in episode 2 when Durmin got to ask the Exarch about G'raha Tia and Dan sounded like he had only just remembered he existed?
Shame on you Dan for this deception.
BLU's Clues: Put on your shades, Blue Mages, we're going to Mt. Gulg. The Forgiven Obscenity, Vauthry's final guardian, has our first spell this time, and it's a flashy one: the Conviction Marcato, which you can see at 27:24 as the boss surrounds herself with a golden discs and plaques to fire a line AoE of golden ribbons at Durmin. Spectacular as it is, it's really another basic damage spell for BLUs–a spammable filler with reasonable damage in a line AoE. It does have a little secret, though, but to unlock it…
…we have to beat down her boss. The big man shows off our next spell, Winged Reprobation, at 40:13. BLUs can borrow one of Vauthry's heavenly swords to fire off their own beam of light. Damage-wise, this is a small upgrade over Conviction Marcato, but it has a hefty 90-second cooldown. However, it has a sneaky trick: it grants the BLU a stacking buff that resets the spell's own cooldown, allowing you to cast it several times in a row. With the fourth cast, it doesn't reset its cooldown, but changes the buff to one that doubles the damage of Conviction Marcato for 10 seconds instead.
So, for best damage, you'd cast Winged Reprobation four times, then spam Conviction Marcato while the buff lasts. It's a pretty potent combo for BLU's basic attack, but it takes up two of the twenty spell slots in your loadout. There's a lot of competition for those slots; a DPS-focused BLU may be able to squeeze both spells in, but a BLU healer or tank will probably opt for more utility spells instead.