Get ready for a record number of mispronunciations!
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0:00 – Introduction
0:53 – QUEST: “Here There Be Xaela”
7:47 – QUEST: “The Search for Lord Hien”
15:15 – QUEST: “A Season for War”
24:09 – QUEST: “An Impossible Dream”
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Edited by Daniel Floyd
♫ “Pray Return” by Chris Logsdon
https://lnkfi.re/pray-return
#PlayFrame #FFXIV #FinalFantasyXIV #Stormblood
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I feel like Stormblood is where the XIV team really mastered designing zones.
The cliffs and valleys of Yanxia, the endless Steppe, the level 58 area (no spoilers), all of them feel so much bigger and realer and more varied than they actually are, mostly through excellent use of lines of sight and verticality. Even when flying, you completely forget about the standard-sized square box until you zoom out the map. It's a sleigh of hand that Heavensward didn't accomplish and it makes those old zones feel gamey in comparison.
10:48 the first thing Durmin asks is "Am I cute?" because if he answers no then Durmin knows this person lies.
I was expecting that Hien would turn out to be Cyan repurposed, but now I feel silly for not noticing that Kaien = Cyan. Considering how far back it was that Doma first became a part of the game's story, this reveal has been building for a loooong time.
You know, I hadn't made that connection to FFVI, but now that you've pointed it out I'm delighted by it.
As a Turkish person, Azim Steppe had so much from my culture and some of the names/titles were quite familiar to me. To grossly summarize; Mongol Empire had quite a lot of Turkic soldiers. Kirghiz Tribe was Turkic, which is why there are quite a few things we got from Mongolian culture, leftovers in our language like "han"(khan).
Oh and of course, oil/grease wrestling.
I freaking love the Azim Steppe, not necessarily for the landscape, but the people. What a delightful collection of weirdos. Doing the yellow quests here is a joy, specially the Dotharl ones.
I want his hair.
16:37 – Dholes/tenaga/etc. are such a great design, was really excited seeing XII's absolutely wild Treant design (walking with long arms, short legs just hanging there) brought to life like this.
There's just so much XII in this game, and especially this expansion. We've barely even gotten started!
The Azim Steppe is definitely my favorite place in Stormblood’s MSQ. A few tips about Mongolian that may help with the names:
The h after a consonant indicates that the consonant should be pronounced with aspiration – thing the difference between the T in “tarp” and the T in “part.” If you put your hand in front of your mouth, you’ll feel a puff of air for the first one – that’s the aspiration. In English, initial stop consonants are always aspirated, so if you see something like “Dhole” just pronounce it like the h wasn’t there and you’re good! If it occurs in the middle of a word, it’s a bit trickier, because English usually doesn’t aspirate those.
If you see a vowel repeated, this is because it is meant to be a long vowel. Like Japanese, Mongolian has a phonemic distinction between short and long vowels, so “ma” and “maa” might be different words.
Medial consonants (consonants in the middle of a word) are usually unvoiced, so d becomes T, for instance. A g on its own will usually become an h, though if it’s accompanied by another consonant it’s something like a k.
As a general rule, stress in Mongolian words falls on the first syllable, unless there is a long vowel or diphthong. Unstressed short vowels are often completely dropped. So if you see a word like “Khagan,” it ends up sounding like “Kan.” If it was “Khagaan,” however, the stress would be on the long syllable, so “khaHAAN”. This is why “Udgan” becomes “Utkun” – the second vowel is dropped, so it’s more like Udgn, and then the d and g end up unvoiced so it becomes T and k instead. Naadam sounds more like “Nahtm” with a long ah.
Beyond that, don’t stress about how to pronounce individual consonants or diphthongs – all of these words have been transliterated into text so that an English speaker can grok the pronunciation, so you’ll probably be fine just going with your gut. Plus, everything I said above only really loosely applies to actual Mongolian – the true phonotactic rules are much to complex to explain fully in a single comment.
– well Lyse, there's this RealLifeLore guy who might give you some pointers as to why 99% off the Azim Steppe is uninhabited
– if there isn't at least one FF7 cosplayer in the town of Reunion i will be sorely disappointed
– wow Lord Hien is both smarter and less defeated than i expected, yeah exile yourself publicly so the Imperials don't go out looking for you, while you recruit the most untouchable warriors you know of is a very smart plan
The Azim Steppe is, thematically and lore-wise, an amazing place. It's also one of my least favorite zones to actually BE in, because it's really just one big flat plain with a few, barely touched upon extras.
Sure, some of them get addressed in the side content- the patches and the local Tribe quest especially- but as a whole it's just kinda… there.
to this day the steppe is still one of my favorite zones
33:06 Dan: "It's getting cloudy, for some reason. Foggy."
Smokey?
I like Hien, he's clearheaded about his chances, but still determined nonetheless. And he has a plan!
As a writer who loves worldbuilding, this might be one of my favourite episodes so far! The cultural dynamic on the steppe is so fascinating, the architecture is so cool, and the CLOTHES! AAAHH! I swear every NPC in Reunion just has the most gorgeous clothes! It's beautiful! 😀
I'm already liking Hien! He's already thought through what the next steps should be for the liberation and already took action for it.
I'm really curious to find out what the Nadaam contest is going to look like!
I don't know why the Cyan theme music got me by surprised since this is Doma (the FF14 version, but still…).
Always reminds me how Sabin and Cyan are such a mismatched but delightful duo. Got me a little emotional there, ngl.
Ahh, we're finally here! Possibly my favorite region in all of FFXIV. The Azim Steppe is just so calm and peaceful — or seems that way at first glance — the characters are great, the storyline excellent… If my WoL could pick one spot to make a home for herself, it would be here.
I also really love this area because of how it contrasts the high walls of Gur Abania and especially Yanxia. Beautiful as those can be, trying to explore those regions before you unlock flying in them can be an absolute PAIN. I can't begin to describe how infuriating it was to try and fill in the map of The Fringes especially, always running into dead ends or short cliffs that it teally felt like I should be able to jump up. So much backtracking. So much frustration. This wide-open location, which still has plenty of eye-catching monuments and locations of interest, is far, FAR superior design in my eyes.
Also: Cirina is an absolute sweetheart, and my headcanon is that she and my WoL became instant BFFs right after meeting. Love that girl so much 😀
23:27 The face of someone whose about to solve your problems, whether you ask them or not