Alas.
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0:00 – Introduction
0:25 – QUEST: “Conscripts and Contingencies”
14:47 – QUEST: “The Primary Agreement”
25:45 – TRIAL: Castrum Fluminis
35:42 – QUEST: “The Primary Agreement” (continued)
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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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The story in this episode is so horrifying and sad. It hurts my heart for Yotsuyu…… complicated feelings toward someone who has done such horrible things herself. But she was made that way. Idk It is a complicated issue I guess.
I hope this keeps going, I just started the series so I've got alot of catching up to do.
I tell you what, Gen absolutely HAD IT with Asahi by that death scene of his. And quickened it a little himself, while telling him he preferred the fangirls of his and Sephiroth’s fanclubs to his simpering. Which is quite a lot considering I don’t think any of those Firsts liked their fanclubs lmao.
On a more serious note, this whole patch just makes my heart hurt tbh. I don’t think anything could’ve improved this. It’s a tragedy the whole way down that saddens me greatly.
I love how Dan instinctively says "I suppose so" and immediately choose the other dialogue option.
Personally, the "wrap-up patches" for Stormblood aren't my favorite. Mainly, I found it interesting the first time, but time has made the story dull for me. It's actually a pretty fine story in spite of that.
Anyways, here's some primal lore for Tsukuyomi, and one that's quite a bit spoiler-heavy for those who didn't watch the video. I've also included their triple triad card information.
"It is believed that Tsukuyomi was born from the mirrored surface of the Maso Kagami, a relic of the time of the first gods. Because of this, Tsukuyomi was given dominion over the night and the moon. This deity also was charged with leading the souls of the dead to the underworld, a task they performed in "gentle quietude". It is believed that this calm nature was born of necessity to balance the natures of Amaterasu and Susano, also born at the beginning of creation.
This primal manifested in Doma, the result of a summoning fueled by a Red Kojin relic and a trove of Empire-supplied crystals. In certain legends, Tsukuyomi is revered as the Lady of the Moon─the most common tales surrounding this figure, however, depict the entity as male."
While we see Tsukuyomi here as female due to their summoner, them being attested as a male entity actually rings true in real mythos and shintoism- nobody knows the deity's true gender, but many believe them to be a male deity. This is personally one of my favorite fights in the expansion, and my favorite fight music as well. The presentation and lead-up is actually pretty good here!
Additionally, there's a note for the use of spider lilies. Spider lilies come in many colors, but the red variation is special in eastern culture: it's a flower denoting death, loss, and parting, but it's also a flower that represents guidance through the afterlife, reincarnation, and enlightenment.
As for Yotsuyu, the patches make it clear that she's a tragic figure. An orphan adopted by her aunt and uncle. Unwelcome by her guardians, further so when Asahi was born, she had been witness and inductee to imperial occupation. Alas, though she did become old enough to become an imperial student, she was sent back to labor. When Asahi was accepted into a magitek academy, she was married to an abusive husband twice her age… who died fortunately, but he had debt, and thus was sold off to a courtesan who employed her as an imperial spy.
To her testament, Yotsuyu encountered a Doman beaten bloody and begging, properly jumpstarting her hatred towards the Domans and her full defection to Garlemald. It was with her loyalty, her broken soul, her bloodlust against her estranged countrymen that Zenos gave her full reign to Doma as the acting imperial viceroy after he was given post to Ala Mhigo. Her rule would come to a close when Durmin and the Doman Rebellion came knocking at her door, but she wouldn't give up as easily as they hoped…
Alas, though she survived the encounter, she seemed to have lost her memories. Her travels with an injured Gosetsu would bury in them an attachment- one Gosetsu uncovered first, but definitely not a one-sided feeling. Alas, this familial bond would not last as Asahi had other plans, especially involving her.
Thus ends the tale of Yotsuyu- widow of the Naeuri, viceroy of Doma, summoner of Tsukuyomi. A passing that isn't seen in satisfaction, but in pity.
It is clever of them to allow more-or-less anyone to just turn into a summon if the circumstance is right. That way they can always provide a climactic bossfight no matter the character.
Playfriends, The Desert Bus has come to a halt. $1,193,460 was raised this year, with 6 days, 23 hours driven. And you were part of that! And so was Carrie! Thank you for your support, in any way, shape, or form it came in!
But back to Doma! Hien knows this meeting is a trap. He's got to scout out the situation, in the event that Asahi has actually brought the Doman conscripts with him. But these should be considered hostages; this will not be a prisoner exchange.
6:00 – "How about I don't cut off your access to the Ten Thousand Food Stalls?". Okay, so promising that they get to make a recruitment pitch to the conscripts does seem appealing, but the conscripts will need to make this choice themselves.
11:00 – Is cracking really what we should be so worried about here? Ship hulls are rarely a single layer of plank, and I'm not certain 3 folks untrained in the art of seamanship would really be able to- you know what, it's a video game.
15:45 – Alphinaud, you do have a hint of Asahi's intentions: they're bad. Considering we're going to walk in and accuse him of messing with Yotsuyu, we're pretty far on the "war" side of "if you wish for peace, prepare for war" scale.
19:00 – Oh, Asahi got Yotsuyu a replacement dress. I guess he's… thoughtful like that?
21:00 – Okay, show of hands here, how many of you thought the crates contained magitek or bombs? Nope, Asahi is actually more devious than that, they're full of crystals! And how many remember what Alphinaud and Hien said about the Red Kojin? With Susano having depleted the aether from much of the Red Kojin vaults, the primary method of keeping a check on their possibility of summoning was to prevent them from gaining copious amounts of aether. And guess what, that little mirror with moon motifs appears to be a relic! Perhaps it was taken from the Red Kojin vault? Would that explain why a group of Red Kojin would come to Doma, were they searching for it?
23:00 – I honestly don't know why Asahi maintains the fig leaf of reason before the others. They know he brought the crystals. Even if they don't know what he had done with Yotsuyu, there's no need for pretense. After all, he can just lie on the reports on the way back to Garlemald and order everyone to agree with the report.
25:30 – The good news is that I don't think Tsukuyomi is going to be tempering any Domans. She's all about the suffering, she doesn't want their worship. The bad news is that she's all about the suffering. Tsukuyomi, or Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, is a moon deity in Shinto tradition. The actual Tsukuyomi has multiple, sometimes conflicting stories, and is sometimes shown as genderless, but other times as the male lover of Amaterasu. The most relevant tale is one of their creation where Tsukuyomi is birthed from a mirror held in Izanami-no-Mikoto's right hand, after Izanami's defeat. The Primal is depicted with rabbit ears, which reference the Japanese myth of the moon rabbit (based on the appearance of craters on the moon).
Tsukuyomi is one of the most stylish fights in the entire game, and it continues to be a favorite to this day.
27:23 – You might notice the rotating red "caution" maker around the main tank here. This was a new symbol that I believe was introduced in Shadowbringers. This is a cleaving tankbuster, usually in a line trough the tank, although sometimes it can be in a cone. So don't dance so close to your tanks.
28:35 – And this is the line stack marker! We may have seen it before, but this is where this mechanic and its symbol become common. All targets in a line will be hit, and divide the damage. Notably, this can provide extra leeway compared to the traditional stack marker, as the line stretch across the battlefield, and people can spread out more.
29:25 – This add phase is something special. Very rarely do we get to experience a story of suffering while we fight a boss (suffering of characters, I mean. I'm sure there's plenty of suffering of players in Savage, Extreme, and Ultimate fights). If you'll notice, the mechanic here is to take down the adds to prevent Tsukuyomi from filling the Suffering Gauge (see the lower right). Or perhaps more literally, we are attempting to ease the Yotsuyu's Suffering.
31:10 – The soundtrack here is Wayward Daughter, a much beloved song with both English and Japanese lyrics. And, if you were watching Desert Bus on Friday afternoon (Pacific time), you might have caught this little spoiler on the Magic Card or FFXIV Song quiz!
36:45 – Look who's back, the most punchable face in all of Final Fantasy XIV.
37:15 – "I might be a little hostile because YOU HELPED SUMMONER HER!"
37:35 – I seriously do not understand how Asahi's warped mind works here. He literally stated that because "a Doman citizen" summoned a Primal, the peace deal was off. That's his "official" line to his men. What's more, we know he helped do it! There is no peace agreement, and he acknowledges it! With no peace agreement, Doma and Garlemald are at war once again! There's nothing to stop Durmin from gutting him. If he had hid his involvement better, he might still have a fig leaf of protection, but nooooo, Mr. Zenos groupie has to gloat at every turn!
39:00 – Honestly, I'm good with this outcome for Asahi. He doesn't even get the "honor" of dying to Durmin's blade.
Yotsuyu did not deserve tears of sorrow, with all the suffering she wrought. But Tsuyu, an innocent life, the woman who she could have been without the pain of her journey, deserved a better fate.
44:30 – I kind of like this turn, even if it's weird. This means that NONE of this plan was Asahi's. He's incapable of formulated a plot this advanced. This was all planned by Zenos. But I wonder, since when did Zenos know how to summon a Primal? Where did Zenos get that mirror, he doesn't seem the type to be interested in such trinkets? And how is he alive?
50:40 – This is a big shift. While Asahi arrived spouting claims of peace, Maxima actually seems to mean it. The Populares aren't a fake political group, they're real. They want reform in the Empire. They're facing an uphill battle, and they've nearly been used to ignite another conflict, but we now have friends inside the Empire. And Maxima won't be leaving with only captive Garleans.
58:45 – Gone is Gosetsu Daito, the Samurai of Doma. Gosetsu Daito, monk of peace, shall walk these lands. To give solace to the departed. To give comfort to the pained.
Next time: The end of the patch, and maybe something more?
Something to chew on (spoiler warning for the end of this video):
During the Azim Steppe segment of the 4.0 story, Gosetsu expresses incredulity of the idea of the Dotharl dead being reborn as a different person. Fast forward to 4.3 and Gosetsu's final act of Stormblood is to, himself, be reborn as a different person (albeit symbolically rather than literally).
I dunno, I just think it's neat.
1:12 Hien can't accept PoS's methods, I can't accept most of Yotsuyu's story in this patch.
15:33 Somehow, I don't think there's much choice here.
18:24 Press any button to doubt.
19:04 Well, at least she got her drip back…
21:35 Man, I just keep disliking this more and more. Now the Empire is trampling her… though that is the most expected one. Getting her killed for her failure, I presume.
22:44 <surprised Pikachu face> How ever could we have seen this coming?
23:23 Unless you'd rather be enthralled to the eikon, yes, you dolt.
24:41 This feels so extra, i bet her VA had fun.
27:44 I suppose that's better than "you need an interrupt banked for this one move or everyone dies."
31:00 Bullshit.Redemption is a choice.
35:27 Two Lala samurai? I like the bucket… but I like the nodachi more. (I'm guessing it's god drip + a different class)
36:54 You deserve to be put down.
37:24 Nah, I'd kill you for free.
37:36 What bridges?! You literally tore them down when you sacrificed your sister to become an eikon!
37:57 Which means Durmin should cut you down where you stand.
38:42 I hate how passive the WoL is here.
39:11 The only one with the stones to do what needed to be done… fucking figures.
41:31 You deserved better than death, you deserved redemption.
45:11 Gods, he's worse than a fanboy.
46:49 Be a good boy and stay dead, please.
52:16 I'm no diplomat, but sounds like suicide to me.
54:22 This kinda makes Hien look the fool. The terms were based around summoning, PoS went out of his way to lug around mystery crates, and also was hell-bent on reawakening Yotsuyu. The writing was all over the place.
1:04:19 There is no meaning. The whole thing was just a dragged out death sequence. I've had a few places in 14 that haven't set well, but I genuinely hate this patch's story.
I suspect Gosetsu prefers to row himself across water as a means of keeping fit at his age. Those arms and back aren't going to work themselves out!
Today on PlayFrame: We finally see the end of a storyline that a lot of people are conflicted on, including myself.
I originally had more stuff here. I don't now, because as I said, I am very conflicted on the writing quality of this patch and other people's opinions aren't helping me pick a side between love and hate. There are parts that are neat, but when your evil plan requires a cast-wide game of "pass the idiot ball" in order to work, that tends to make those bits feel like they're only near by comparison. Either way, whether or not the writing is bad does not change the fact that it was, unfortunately, written, and thus arguing about it won't change it.
And so, Asahi earns himself a spot next to his parents (and a certain cleaved Syndicate popoto) on the board of "people who died because they got within attack range of someone they'd just massively wronged". May his soul be dragged to the bottom of the seven hells, and may the demons and monsters down there treat him with the same (lack of) respect and tact which he treated his sister, his parents, and us with.
As for Yotsuyu, it seems as though Asahi prepared enough crystals for that primal summoning to leave her corpse intact – so at the very least, she could be buried. While I can't rightly say that the actions she made in her final moments are enough to outweigh the mountain of sins committed beforehand, what I can say is this: whether she passes up to the heavens, or drags her brother's soul down into the seven hells with her, may she be judged.
While he thankfully has not died, Gosetsu has chosen to step out of our story on a leave of permanent pilgrimage – though I suppose it's not out of the question that we might see him again one day. Wherever his travels do take him, may he walk/swim/otherwise travel evermore in the light of the Crystal.
All in all, this patch was… more than a bit of a mess, and the best thing I think I can confidently say about it is that this particular mess of a plotline is now FINISHED. It's done. We can now move on from the divisive narrative slump of 4.1-4.3, into patch content that should HOPEFULLY have less issues of wriitng quality, and with an interesting hook of Alphinaud heading directly into the lion's den in search of info, intel, and maybe some Garlean associates.
So next time… assuming we don't divert to more side content, we'll enter 4.4, and with it the beginning of the setup for what many people consider to be the best expansion in the game's history. Will I be there? Most likely!
Yugiri lampshading that the writing is pretty cliche is, er… I mean… at least they know? But goodness, I am really still waiting for the 'good writing' payoff.
I can't say I'm sorry to see the end of Yotsuyu and Asahi. After having watched this again, my opinion of this whole thing is mostly unchanged.
I think this entire arc is one big exercise of "pass the idiot ball". Everyone involved needs to make some serious mistakes for this whole thing to work. Hien did not treat Yotsuyu as a very dangerous prisoner. Hien allowed an imperial agent unrestricted and unsupervised access to a very dangerous prisoner. The various members of Doma security allowed either a dangerous prisoner to roam free or didn't provide proper care for a patient with memory issues from wandering off and potentially hurting herself or others. Asahi couldn't keep his "Bwaahaahaa! I am actually a BAD guy!" speech to himself. None of the Scions were willing to do anything other than say "oh, who could have expected this to happen?"
While the last bit with Zenos helps patch the holes in Asahi's actual plan (kinda), it still does not fix the fact that it was a terrible plan. What would have happened if Hien had killed Yotsuyu upon being reintroduced to her? What would have happened if Hien hadn't held the idiot ball and let Asahi visit Yotsuyu alone and unsupervised? What would have happened if Hien had said "Sure thing, Asahi. We would be happy to turn Yotsuyu back over to you in return for our countrymen."? What would have happened if Yotsuyu's memory had not returned in time for her to be in a room with a whole bunch of crystals? What would have happened if any of the Imperials (Maxima, perhaps) had been willing to back up Doma's position that the summoning was completely Asahi's fault?
Using a weak summoning as an excuse to help break the Populares makes some amount of sense, except that the plan was so Rube Goldbergian that you can't really rely on it. If this did not go exactly as it did, the Empire would have been left in a worse spot than if they didn't attempt the plan in the first place.
The conflict between the expansionist and populist factions of the Empire is really interesting and I look forward to seeing more of the politics of the Empire. I just wish that there was a better way to bring this story to our attention.
I consider this storyline to be one of the low-points for Stormblood. I remember have fond feelings for the next two patches, so let's see how that holds up.
– ok i'm glad i actually was able to guess what Asahi's plan to fake a diplomatic incident was, granted i expected the Prisioners to be summoning the Eikon, not Yotsuyu herself
– Tsuyu, what would Gosetsu say if he saw you like this…
– actually she does look pretty dang cool
– welp, despite Asahi's Death Note monologue, the negotiations went surprisingly smooth, as in They actually happened
Hold on, so was Yotsuyu reawakened while retaining Tsuyu memories like the end of the last episode implied? Or was Tsuyu flooded with Yotsuyu's memories and going along with asahi's scheme in a "live as a monster or die as a good man" kind of way?
Asahi really is his parents' son.
On an entirely different topic, I actually shouted "alphinaud no!" at the screen when I got to that point in the story. Not because he was incapable or it was a bad idea but because, yes, i have reached the 'protect the twins' stage in my caring for them.
💙
Lord, I… didn't really expect much from the writing of this game, despite all the hype. I was certainly concerned when a ruthless and compelling villain seemed to be given the amnesia treatment…But perhaps I should have had more faith, because these quests continue to surprise me, this time by giving us two excellent foils of each other-Fordola and Yotsuyu.
Both women came from tragic, abusive pasts, or had tragic events that robbed them of normal lives. Bother were given the chance to get their own back and then some through service to the Garlean Empire, and while sympathetic, both went too far and became abusers in their own right. And both, somehow, were given second chances, a means to seek redemption… only to lose that chance when it becomes clear that redemption would be hard, if not impossible. Two diametrically opposed solutions to a problem- Fordola attempting to shoulder the burden of redemption anyway and living on to use her Echo to hunt other primals, while Yotsuyu becomes a Primal to give her enemies their revenge and take down as many of the forces that shaped her- namely her family. I did not expect such a beautiful, melancholic ending to these stories… but damn, I'm glad I was able to see it through.
So thanks for showing us the full story, Dan! Looking forward to what's to come, even though I will miss Yotsuyu and Asahi and their amazing faces! (No, really. Look, I stan good heel-work in my house, and Yotsuyu and the family that made her? chef's kiss Excellent heels, all.)
This is perhaps my favorite mandatory normal mode trial in the game (shout out to the optional green one in ShB and the green extreme in ew). The music, the story, the naritive intermission its all just so good. Really the 14 team pulling out all the stops, for what only had to be a fight mid expansion to tide us over.
Man, she should have tempered him and made him grovel
I had thought that Tsuyu was Yotsuyu's chance at forgetting the past that made her a monster, that she could finally know the peace her family denied her. Maybe her path was a different one. Those memories were not gone, but buried, as Asahi showed by restoring her. She got the revenge she needed, against her parents and her brother for their sins against her, rather than the surrogate revenge against Doma in general. Plus, these events led to our heroes learning that Zenos yet lives, and the threat of the Asciians with the Empire, two great threats to Eorzea linked together.
Now the Scions and the Warrior Of Light will be prepared for this threat rather than be caught unawares. So maybe, just maybe, Yotsuyu did not die in vain, but set into motion the events that will save the world from great evil.
18:15 …They're filled with crystals, aren't they? It just clicked. Now to see if I'm right, and this is a (highly hypocritical, might I add) summoning in progress.
19:35 And cracked in a different way, but that's not here nor there, now is it?
21:01 I'm going to call this a successful prediction, if only for the sake of my hit/miss ratio.
23:27 Yes, I, the Scion and known god-killer, am telling you, the ruler of a nation who conspicuously does not have the Echo, to get the fuck out.
26:30 It occurs that Yotsuyu's fate was sealed from the moment she got a TV actress cast in her role. Because how else to ensure that she remains in the game until the servers go cold than to give her a boss fight and a reason to keep doing it?
36:16 You just couldn't stay away, could you?
37:16 I didn't know that Imperial Officer duties involved amateurish summonings.
37:58 So if you die, things aren't going to get any worse? Just checking.
38:24 Oh, this is your hard-on for Zenos again. Say what you will about the man, he at least knew to appoint someone who thought with something north of the gonads.
38:29 And he loves no one alive more than I.
40:10 Didn't see this coming, did you?
41:39 Why didn't you just tell us? We would have helped you. And arranged a trial for your many crimes afterward, but… it didn't need to end with your death!
42:38 Such a godsdamned waste.
42:47 How dare you still live?
46:42 He wouldn't come for anyone else.
48:51 This was Zenos' doing.
51:26 …Dammit that makes too much sense.
52:26 You know what? This is not as ambitious nor as reckless as some of your previous endeavors. Just come back, OK?
53:40 Alie, how old are you two again?
58:36 There's all too many of those, you know. I can think of worse retirements.
1:02:11 Don't we always, Alie?
1:03:30 I assumed he was projecting something onto the blank slate that was Tsuyu. The memory of someone lost, or whatever.
Goosebumps every time. One of the high points of the entire MSQ. I didn’t think it could get better than this trial (lol)
BLU's Clues:
That extremely extra flower explosion thing at 31:00? Yes, BLUs can learn that. It's called Nightbloom, and it's a popular choice for the spellbooks of late-game BLUs. It does a reasonable burst of damage to all enemies nearby, but more importantly, it inflicts a strong damage-over-time (DOT) effect that lasts for a full minute. It's very effective for gnawing away at a boss's health while the BLU is throwing out more crazy spells (or frantically dodging mechanics).
This trial is still my favorite encounter in the entire game so far. The way all of the elements come together is masterful. The story hit me like a truck when I read the lyrics for Wayward Daughter
I remember when I first played through this, completely not expecting the summoning. I knew they were up to something, but the crystals still took me by surprise. Plus this fight has awesome music!
Also a note is that the artifact she is given is the third in the trio of artifacts that make up the royal regalia of the Imperial Family of Japan – the Yata no Kagami.
I stand by what I once said: as much as I disliked Yotsuyu, Tsuyu deserved a kinder fate.
I wonder how Asahi thought he'd walk away from that last exchange alive even if Yotsuyu hadn't skewered him herself, after spitting in your face like that..
Honestly, this is one of my favorite boss fights in the game in terms of story-telling. Yotsuyu had a glimpse of what a gentler life could be, and when she remembered her past, knew that she wouldn't be able to keep it, and so went straight back to where she was, even though she now had doubts in her heart.
In a way, her remembering and defection is a mercy for Hien, who was put between a rock and a hard place with her memory loss- there was no good answer for what to do with her. We'll see if keeping her around for as long as he did comes back to bite him…
I like this idea that the Domans in the Garlean plan were entirely incidental. They could care less about what happened to them, this was all a political move to stoke imperialist sentiment.
Alphinaud was the real surprise. I audibly shouted "What?!" when he spoke up.
#NotARedemptionArc!
I love the parallels (and differences) between Yotsuyu's and Fordola's arcs.
The facial animation on Unhinged Asahi really reminds me of a Phoenix Wright character. It's such a silly choice, and really adds something to the character.
it's a sad trial.
So good