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0:00 – Introduction
0:47 – QUEST: “The Sultana’s Strings”
13:26 – QUEST: “A Sultana’s Duty”
22:31 – QUEST: “A Sultana’s Resolve”
34:08 – QUEST: “Securing the Saltery”
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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 keep forgetting that the Syndicate isn't just Monetarists and Raubahn.
Thank the Twelve for Godbert Manderville.
That Godbert is an Imposter! The real Godbert wouldn't be wearing PANTS!!!
A DATE with the SULTANA.I see what you did there dan very clever
Surprised that Godbert came to this meeting wearing a proper pair of trousers instead of the shorts he usually wears.
Lolorito mentions he is a gourmand- and in the culinary crafting questline, you do, in fact, cook for him. He even tries to put you on the spot cooking for the Sultana.
Ah my least favorite quest, the one where Square tells us that the best way to fix the scars left by Imperialism is with… Capitalism.
Godberts argument about humans being "indolent by nature" is utter horse shit.
This episode, in my eyes, covers one of the most contentious parts of the game politically.
Godbert's message of "help those in need by helping them establish themselves" is good, but the way he says it is…. very prickly.
Furthermore, in a breaking of most every WoL's roleplaying, we automatically recommend Hancock as someone the Sultana to speak to about business, the last person I would recommend given how slimy he is.
Then we have Lolorito, the living embodiment of capitalism in the game (one some feel we should have killed given what he pulled during 2.x) and while I admit that Nanamo is correct that she will have to learn to treat with him if she is to rule, treating him as a solution to the Ala Mhigo suffering is like having a wolf protect a lamb.
Yes this is a section of the game that is hard to swallow politically personally, but also a fantastic bit of growth for a character we rarely get to see.
This questline also provides a lesson in how political power is held, wielded, and potentially lost. The Sultana reigns over Ul'dah, but she does so because the Syndicate allows her to. Not necessarily just by legal means, but as the end of A Realm Reborn showed, they're willing to resort to assassination if they feel like she's undermining them in any way. Thus, in order to actually get anything accomplished, she needs to find some way to give them kickbacks and to pay them off and keep them under her control rather than the other way around. If she doesn't, she risks both her life and any plan she sought to accomplish to benefit others.
Bartholomew's line at 1:45 is actually a reference to the level 63 Paladin Job Quest, which involves fighting Bartholomew in the Ul'dah arena.
It's always good to see Durmin, and seeing Nanamo really think of how best to serve her people is one of my favorite things about her… but I have to admit, this scene left a bad taste in my mouth. Because, not only do we see the writing try to rehabilitate Lolorito, a man who very much would have let Teledji's plan proceed if he thought he could get away with it- I can only hope they are saving him as a future villain down the line- but we are pointed in that direction by Godbert, who regrettably proves the maxim of never trusting billionaires. I am aware of the intentions of the scene, how we must work sometimes with people we don't like to bring greater benefit for all, but it rankles me that the framework of "having a job is more important than having your needs met" is accepted without question. Having integration programs for the Ala Mhigans into greater society, maybe a government stipend so they can get back on their feet and maybe start their own business, selling off one of the Syndicates numerous property for a housing block or apartment so that they can move out of that fucking cave- none of these options are seriously considered because "the minute you don't force somebody to have a job, they turn into an indolent bum and will be a drain on society," an argument I've heard so often and just becomes more wrong the more I hear it. What is so wrong about a poor person having time enough to explore life and their place in it, what they like to do, outside of their "place in society"? What is so bad about being comfortable enough to not have to choose between a 9 to 5 or death by starvation? There's nothing holy about having steady jobs; it does not make us better. So forgive me if I cannot help but sneer as I hear Lord Godbert, a man so rich he could have all the remaining refugees in homes tomorrow, spout off about men being "indolent by nature" while his own son forsook that enormous wealth to wander the earth making it a better place through the power of being a decent person. (And muscles. But mostly the former.)
But never mind. This would hardly be the only story in which its slavish devotion to status quo is a sticking point and a limitation (imo). So I will focus on the good: Raubahn! and seeing a scene I had heard being talked up in a shiny new engine! That's good!
Playfriends, today is about trade, treaties, and realpolitik. Yeah, I know this sounds boring, I'll see if we can't scrounge up some juicy lore as a side dish. This is your spoiler free lore comment
1:50 – Bartholomew is not referencing the Grand Melee from Heavensward, but a little piece of content that the game thinks Durmin has done, but Dan hasn't shown us. Because Durmin level skipped most of his jobs, the game marks the associated quests as "complete". As such, Bartholomew knows that Durmin, as a Paladin, entered into the Ul Cup, the first bit of Gladiating that happens in the Gladiator/Paladin job! Bartholomew, a Sultansworn Paladin, is Durmin's first opponent in this tournament arc, and is of course summarily trounced.
2:10 – Remember the last time Durmin was here? Watching Nanamo clutch at her throat as the life seemingly left her eyes, and then the Scions were accused of regicide? Good times, good times.
6:40 – As a reminder, of the three starting city states, Ul'Dah is the only one with a representative government. It's representative of the rich, but The Elder Seedseer and The Admiral effectively wield absolute authority with little checks on their power.
7:35 – Ah, the old stomping grounds, where Durmin the Gladiator helped the Sultansworn recover Nanamo's crown, and first encountered an Ascian. This was back in Episode 3 of ARR!
10:30 – This entire cutscene is a recreation of a 1.0 cutscene, where the player would also receive an Echo vision to see these events.
14:00 – An Ossuary is a container or room where human bones are kept. This is a reminder that the Thaumaturges guild is also a crematory.
14:30 – The story of Nanamo and the Calamity is covered by a side story on the FFXIV website, and was part of a Rising event which provided players a painting of these events. The residents of Ul'dah were in a panic as Dalamud fell, and the head of the Thaumaturges ordered the guild incinerate anyone who attempted to breach the Ossuary and defile it while looking for shelter. Nanamo rebuked the man and strode out into the streets to quell the panic among her citizens. On that day, the Sultana was attended by 7 protectors: Papashan, as the head of the Sultansworn, Pippin, in place of his father, and 5 lalafell brothers, thaumaturges of the guild. Those 5 brothers are now the heads of the thaumaturges guild: Cocobuki, Cocobygo, Cocobani, Cocobezi and Cocoboha.
15:30 – If you're a Goldsmith, the artisan's academy at Rhalgr's Reach is where you've been guest lecturing for the Stormblood job quests. The Sultana made a series of secret donations to set up the school, and also gave a much more personal contribution: her mother's crown. The crown and its jewels were provided to give the school high quality materials to work with and display their skills, and each student not only seeks to better their skills, but also repay Nanamo's kindness. At the culmination of the questline, the students, with your assistance, use a combination of some of the crown jewels and their own ideas and ingenuity to give Nanamo a gift: a miniaturized orchestrion player, one small enough to sit on a desk or night stand.
17:30 – Fun fact: all roads lead to the Saucer. And by that, I mean that all three starting city states have free airship travel to the Gold Saucer. And by extension, to Ul'dah, since the Gold Saucer has free airship travel there.
21:10 – Dan speaks about this in a thought down here in the comments, but Godbert's statement of charity becoming expected is a terrible pointless aside in an otherwise decent argument, and serves to bring it all down. Dan states it far better than I can. One thing that might have made this better is that, as a constitutional monarch, Nanamo must anticipate what her opponents in the Syndacite will say to try to block her. She needs to make her concept both generous to Ala Mhigo, but also beneficial to Ul'dah. It may also be a good idea to point out that constant charity might be distasteful to the Ala Mhigans, as they may see it as pity.
23:10 – One, I don't think ANYONE thinks of Hancock as trustworthy. The only reason I think we get any use out of the man is because Tataru is practically running Kugane at this point and keeping him on a short leash. But this diversion also feels… weird. I'm not sure what the point is of sending Durmin to Kugane to talk to a member of the East Aldenard Trading Company that we barely tolerate when the headquarters of the East Aldenard Trading Company is in Ul'dah . Especially when Hancock just SENDS US RIGHT BACK. If we were meeting with Tataru in Kugane, and then Hancock butted into the conversation in his usual invasive manner, that would make much more sense.
28:30 – "Hey remember that time you were complicit in poisoning me? I'm using your funds and the funds of your insurrectionist buddy to help refugees return to their freed homeland." "All I heard was 'get rid of refugees', I'm in."
31:00 – Ala Gannha has the quarry, but I think it's mostly been exhausted? Or it's the fact that its infested by monsters, or that Ul'dah doesn't need any Ala Mhigan granite that causes Lolorito to disregard it?
31:30 – The level 50 Culinarian quest has you catering for an official diplomatic dinner in Limsa for Nanamo, arranged by Lolorito. It seems like Lolorito picks you as the chef in an attempt to discredit Limsa's cooking school and haute cuisine restaurant, The Bismarck. Durmin, being a snack mage, of course trounces him by serving four of Nanamo's favorite dishes. Even Lolorito, fuming at the success, has to admit the food is good.
36:34 – I know Lyse is joking here, but the answer is "a lot more than he's done so far, considering he framed us for treason"
If this talk of how the Saltery is going to work is confusing, it's actually something that we're fairly familiar with. The Saltery will effectively become a company and sell stock for investment. The East Aldenard Trading company will buy some of that stock, but Alphinaud is going to ensure that the interim Ala Mhigan government has an equal, or greater, share as Lolorito. Lolorito will get dividends from the stock.
You know what, I'm going to take some time out to talk about something that is happening at the Gold Saucer right now. Durmin can't see it, since he recorded this episode before the event started, but the Gold Saucer is hosting a collab event for the next two months! The collaboration: FALL GUYS. Players get to send their characters through a series of Fall Guys designed obstacles courses to try to win a Crown! Each attempt rewards a new type of currency, MGF (Manderville Gold Saucer Fame), with Fall Guys Bean inspired minions and outfits to redeem. What's more, while this event is limited timed, all signs indicate that this will become a semi-periodic event, with many more future chances for Eorzeans to grab a crown or fall for fun! Meanwhile, Fall Guys has been running their half of the collab with special FFXIV costumes for Beans as prizes.
Next time: The council to decide the future of Ala Mhigo convenes.
This is perhaps the part of the game that I felt most conflicted over. On the one hand, it is fantastic character development of Nanamo, and a good look at broader economic considerations to remind you that this is a world with people in it. There are consequences to liberation, just as there was to war. Things do not solve themselves, and the answers are not always as easy as we wish. You can't backstab poverty for bonus damage.
On the other hand, the economic assessment of the situation still leaves something to be desired IMO. It's not unreasonable for people in these positions of power to think like this. In fact I would say it's fairly accurate to most powerful people in our world. However, to see it portrayed by the game without critique is disappointing.
See, Godbert's perspective here comes from the idea that employment under capitalism is a mutually beneficial arrangement.
The boss gets labour, and the worker gets paid, everybody wins, no?
Of course, this assessment of the situation completely neglects the power imbalance in such a relationship.
A worker cannot go without money for basic necessities, whereas the boss can go without the labour for a time; until they find another, more desperate worker who can be more easily exploited via lower pay, poorer working conditions, or both. And such workers are in high supply, especially in situations of as stark poverty as Ala Mighan refugees in Ul'dah.
Similarly, the ultimate solution here of investing in the Ala Mighan salt industry, but a foreign, private company owning a major portion of that industry and taking the relative profits is probably not as great for all parties as the game would suggest.
This idea of a multinational corporation like the East Aldenard Trading Company investing in production in a distant country to bring profits back home would be considered by critics as an example of Neo-Colonialism. Given that it's name is based on the East India Trading Company of original-flavour colonialism, this perhaps isn't too surprising. There is a lot to look into regarding neo-colonialism, but a quick excerpt from wikipedia feels relevant here:
"Critics of neocolonialism also argue that investment by multinational corporations enriches few in underdeveloped countries and causes humanitarian, environmental and ecological damage to their populations. They argue that this results in unsustainable development and perpetual underdevelopment. These countries remain reservoirs of cheap labor and raw materials, while restricting access to advanced production techniques to develop their own economies. In some countries, monopolization of natural resources, while initially leading to an influx of investment, is often followed by increases in unemployment, poverty and a decline in per-capita income."
If the game later contemplates the harm this causes, perhaps it would make an interesting further critique. However, the game did not as far as I played into Endwalker. Nor would I really expect it to. The ideas which lead to such exploitative relationships are part of the hegemonic economic ideology in most states around the world, Neoliberalism. This is the default way our society currently operates.
To expect the game to also have deep criticisms of the dominant economic system is more than a little silly.
But then, so is the idea of the main story of a fantasy MMO where you fight gods taking a moment to discuss the economic situation of a recently liberated country at all. What they have written is more compelling and interesting and thought provoking than so many other video game stories. But that also makes it more important to critique the ideological assumptions that are presented.
If anyone would like to learn more about neocolonialism and neoliberalism I would recommend Naomi Klein's book, Shock Doctrine; as well as the YouTuber JohnTheDuncan, who is a PhD researcher on Neoliberalism and Human Rights https://www.youtube.com/@JohntheDuncan/videos
7:06 That's one thing I wish SWTOR had done, but after a certain point you stop backtracking to places.
16:30 "Acquainted" is a word for it, yes.
17:03 I do not.
20:55 It's weird to see Godbert being reasonable and coherent.
26:45 I already want to punt him across the room.
30:27 I would get this so very wrong.
💙
Without knowing the full context of their world its impossible to know if Godbert's advice was good. But in the real world it is rotten to the core due to the sheer overwhelming wealth gap. If Godbert and Lolorito have, say 200 times the amount of wealth of a refugee then taxing them probably isn't the best use of time. But if they have multiple million times the amount of wealth, and the wealth of one single individual could lift an entire country out of poverty…
17:35 The background music at The Golden Saucer reminds me a lot of The British Grenadier. It's not the exact tune but the general rhythm is very similar. I wonder if that was deliberate? If so it's actually a very fitting choice given that Godbert runs the establishment.
4.0's story gets a lot of flack, some of it deserved, others not so much. Regardless of how you feel of it though, 4.1 really came out swinging with story. Lore on Ala Mhigo before occupation, moral philosophy with fordola, politics with Nanamo, and all of it drenched in character moment for all involved.
26:34 This scene felt really good to me. I feel like real political maneuvering rarely happens onscreen in these kinds of games, so it's fun to see characters play it out so dramatically. It isn't exactly "Game of Thrones" but its a fun little scene.
you make a very nice godbert, I approve
Not going to lie, I was absolutely stunned that Godbert was capable of wearing pants in my playthrough of the game first time. Biggest plot twist in the MSQ.