Let us all now fret about the boy.
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STORMBLOOD series playlist! ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvFQJa1XAXzyHrbeyXrPMd3_Qg3TC4PF_
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0:00 – Introduction
0:47 – QUEST: “Under the Moonlight”
16:09 – QUEST: “Emissary of the Dawn”
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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’m finally caught up and whoo boy did a lot happen while I was behind. This should be a lesson to me to not let the hildebrand quests parts pile up. Anyway I’m excited to see what adventures our smol samurai gets into today after that fiasco last episode.
Oh boi the build up to shadowbringer hype
Now that it's explicit, Zenos's body being possessed is actually foreshadowed really well in the few scenes we get with him before the reveal. Specifically he's too angry and too politically motivated. The Zenos we know literally cares about nothing aside his great hunt, and that shows with how bored he is with everything and everyone. This imposter is snippy with the doctor and worried about the Populares. I couldn't be really him.
This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them!
That's right, you thought one Zenos was bad, now we got two… Kinda.
We got Definitely Zenos's Body, neck injury and all, all of a sudden knowing the process of summoning and caring about "the salvation of this star"
And we got Definitely Talking and Fighting Like Zenos. But how can that be? I know Zenos was a tall boi, but he isn't an Elezen like this magitek stealing soldier…
Curiouser and curiouser… 🙃
I have to say thank you for creating this playthrough. Without you, I would have never known how great of a game this is. I love final fantasy story plot lines and have played a few in the past (10, 10-2, 13, 13-2, 7), but MMORPG's always daunted me. Your playthrough inspired me to try it out myself and I have loved every second of it. This last Friday I bought the game and moved out of the free trial. So thank you. 🙂
So the first half of the episode ended the 4.3 patch (you can always tell with the patch stories because you get an achievement afterwards), so i guess we're rolling right into 4.4…[actually the achievement pops one quest early, so the second quest in this video is actually still 4.3… weirdly! But it's a part of the MSQ..] which gives us a new type of quest for us!While they are rare, we now have the technology to play as other people in the MSQ! Who knows what type of adventures this will lead us down in the future….
27:00 AND THERE HE IS, the next of my wol, Gen’s, boyfriends! Who he is will be revealed Soon, but yes. 😀
6:05 Ladies and Gentlemen and variations thereupon, one of the best lines Thancred has ever spoken.
Also in this episode: the introduction of "Shadowhunter".
His stated mission is to hunt Ascians and he has 6 masks to prove it, quite the one up on Durmin's 3 he has slain (four if you count Lahabrea twice). How many of those six were slain for good with white auracite though…
In addition, he not only recognized Alphinaud as a Scion, but has a history with them… And, as Dan brought up, fights using gunblade techniques we've only seen from high ranking Imperial officers… Who could this Shadowhunter be?
Another mystery…
I love how the game is like, yeah its almost certainly an Ascian possessing his ass (humongous) almost immediately. But leaves you a couple new teases at other Garlean stuff on the periphery. That Ala Mhigan solider who is almost certainly Zenos.
Going to spoiler the next bit as I am going to discuss the speculation that was done at the time of release, but much that speculation was well founded. So beware
So the identity of the Shadow Hunter was pretty quickly narrowed to very few suspects, the strongest evidence being the mask lingered on at the end. That is the mask that Gaius war under his helmet. His Gunblade and moves are also all mark him as a legatus. We even see that type of Gunblade gifted to Fordola to mark her a higher up in the command structure, its rare. There had long been speculation in the back of the fandom's mind that Gaius could be alive. It also gels with motive, he wants revenge on Lahabrea for using him as a pawn. It all fits very cleanly. It helps that through side quests in Stormblood, including some for Aether Currents to unlock flying, Gaius is brought up, there is even Baelsar's Wall, a dungeon that bears his name.
Editted cause YouTube didn't like me talking about the Zenos stuff.
A cruel irony for Asahi is revealed in this episode:
While he cherished the opportunity to serve his beloved Zenos, he was nothing but a puppet. Given that the Populares was ordered to be attacked and wiped out on Zenos's command, if Asahi had lived to make the trip back to Garlemald, he no doubt would have been ordered to be killed along with the others.
I really like the reveal of the Burn. It helps explain some of the Empire's motivations. Now the question is "Is the story they were told about the Burn true?" On one hand, we know for certain from the Alexander raids that the ongoing presence of an Eikon will suck away all of the aether from the land, leaving it a barren wasteland. On the other hand, Maxima's story is "This land was burned out by constant Eikon summonings and this devastation is the reason that Emperor Solus declared war against Eikon summoners". Frankly, that sounds to me like the Empire making a convenient excuse to justify doing what they were already going to do.
I distinctly remember playing through this with a friend… and on first seeing the conversation between Zenos and Asahi, we both went "wait, that doesn't sound like Zenos… Zenos wouldn't care about this… and he wouldn't plan and scheme like this either…"
then "Zenos" drops that line about "saving the star" in this flashback and we were agreed… that is definitely NOT Zenos…
Cue a random soldier swinging a Katana in a very familiar way and talking about his hunt… it's all just very neatly done and speaks to the character writing they've done (and how much it has improved since ARR)
"I don't think I've taken out that many!" So our friend here has 5 masks on his belt (the sixth isn't an ascian) and tossed one at Durmin. At this point we have taken out Nabriales, Igeyorhm, and Lahabrea who I'm counting once because the second time it was Thorodan, and the shadow hunter likely isn't killing, just dispelling them. Add to that the "masked mage from early arr and we are up to 4, and then we can bump that up to nine if we include the HW summoner quests. So he has Durmin beat, but you can catch up.
Welp this part did not disappoint. The plot thickens and the shadows draw near, or so I’m told. I’m very eagerly anticipating what the next expansion might be because methinks we might be making it into the heart of the enemy.
“Upon sitting at the table, several cutscenes will play in sequence” ah shit here we go again
Today on PlayFrame: Revelations, revelations, don't know what else to say. Also, we're starting to get back into the Good Stuff writing-wise with the end of 4.3!
(6:06) Thancred somehow manages to make stating the obvious feel like an understatement.
So as it turns out, no, Zenos did not simply get back up after committing seppuku – someone dug him out, and more importantly it's now all but confirmed that an Ascian is possessing him.
(11:33) …that being said, however, it is quite curious that this random Elezen resistance soldier seems so proficient with the katana, and that he seems to be talking quite like Zenos. The question here is simple – who is this guy? And if this is the original Zenos, then what the hell happened to him?
(23:09) And now, presenting the latest advancement in Duty technology – Role-Playing! I believe this is the first time this appears in the MSQ, and we will be seeing it again before the end of the Stormblood patches – in short, these are duties where you take control of another character, like Alphinaud, and the ones I've seen so far all give you a temporary hotbar (similar to the one previously seen used for scenarios such as controlling the magitek armor back in ARR/the end of the HW patches), with a reasonably small number of actions.
As it turns out, someone knew that what remained of the Imperial "Ambassadors" were coming this way, and presumably chose to strike them down over The Burn because that greatly increases the chances that they won't make it back to civilization before they run out of resources – unfortunately for them, they didn't count on Alphinaud Levellieur being among the passengers.
(26:25) For some reason, I keep hyperfixating on this bit where Alphi and Maxima both dive away from the magitek armor's gun-run. I'unno why, but it feels like a neat little example of how cutscenes have improved over the game's lifespan.
(27:00) And here we meet a mysterious fellow, one who seems to be on our side – the "Shadowhunter".
You may be wondering who he is. If you're an astute/observant viewer (or you're further into the patch quests than Durmin is), you may already have guessed at his identity. I will not confirm nor deny your suspicions if you have any.
Next time: more side stuff, probably! In all fairness, if the Shadowhunter's truly been killing (or at least *dispelling*) Ascians, then I'm sure Alphinaud and Maxima will be safe in his company while Durmin's off sidequesting. The question is, then, what exactly are we going to sidequest into? Maybe we'll investigate the rumors of a strange red wyvern terrorizing the Azim Steppe? Perhaps we'll check in with Team Cid if we haven't already? Mayhaps we can find out what, exactly, an Eureka is?
No matter what Dan chooses to do, all I know for sure is that we will find out… next time!
Blink and you’ll miss it, but – is that Fordola and Arenvald at 1:20?
Yes and no!
No, those characters aren’t any more real NPCs than the soldiers with nameplates around them. But remember that Dan’s FC is the Dantalus Theater Company. A group of us have been plotting in secret to put on a surprise show for you all!
In fact, the reason we're all here is that it's plausible this is what the real characters would be doing at this point in the story.
So keep a close eye on the background when Durmin gets back to the 4.x MSQ patch quests – this isn't our troupe’s only appearance, and we're telling one of the official short stories in miniature!
2:00 Hopefully it won't be one-way. I mean, it probably won't, but you never know.
3:17 Might wanna check that gravesite.
3:27 I had wondered how this world version of "catching yourself mid-profanity" would sound.
3:58 Ah, Thancred. Practical and making Monty Python references.
5:13 Can't say I was expecting that style of grave.
6:23 Apparently, it's giving orders.
7:29 Yea, you are uniquely qualified in that regard…
7:50 I mean… idk how common resurrection is in Eorzea, but if I wanted to make sure someone was dead, I'd crush the skull. Something that you really don't survive (though I have seen gory photos of a supposed attempted suicide by shotgun, where the vic was missing most of the front part of their head… and they recovered, despite looking like a Silent Hill enemy while on the table. So anything's possible, I s'pose)
12:59 Wait, so an Ascian kicked Zenos out of his own body, and Zenos forced his way into another? Am I reading this right?
23:35 The Burn reminds me of Hoth, of all places.
24:16 That's not Carby… Carby's something else.
36:05 Good, I never expected the Doma leg to be the one I detested. On to the next.
Zenos is so horny for a fight he refuses to die.
Playfriends, it's time to wrap up the Stormblood story. The storyline that was the bulk of the Stormblood expansion, that is. There's plenty of Stormblood left, but after this we're now driving toward the next expansion. Or going over side stories. This is your spoiler free lore comment!
1:20 – You might have caught a glimpse of a few DTC members as Durmin rides by, all with the "RP" tag on their characters. This indicates that a player has denoted that their character is currently Roleplaying. And no, not necessarily the naught kind of RP. Generally the etiquette is that if you're not roleplaying, you don't bother those who are. The inverse is also true, if you're conducting roleplay, try to find a group rather than roping in unsuspecting players in duty finder. If you are interested in roleplay, you may want to look for specific forums or discords to start your journey, and most roleplayers form private groups using the Party Finder system. That being said, those not roleplaying shouldn't fear those who are. Sitting back and watching a group of roleplayers take on a quest or go about their activities can be fun! In this case, I encourage viewers to try to see what kind of play the DTC are putting on for us in future episodes. I'll summarize their efforts once their production is complete. You can get some more details by looking at DTC member @thewhitefluffyhat 's comment!
3:24 – The joke here is that common curse is "Thal's Balls", or "Thal's Bloody Balls". And this curse has LORE behind it! Back at the NA FanFest 2014, Michael Christopher Koji Fox, localization lead, revealed that he had a hand in fundamentally changing the lore of Eorzea for the sake of a joke. Koji viewed the 12 gods of Eorzea as an ample source for writing colorful curses into the game. You've heard some of them before, like "Matron's Teats" (this would be referring to Nophica, who is the fertility and farming goddess and depicted with huge… tracts of land). Koji helped the writers name the gods, and when the god of the underworld was being named, he worked backwards to create a god who's name rhymed with "balls". "Thal" was considered too short, so Koji convinced the writers to make Nald'Thal a dual aspected god, all so that he could have his "Thal's Balls" joke. This is all 100% true and you can find video of the panel where he revealed this.
I want to briefly talk about this part of The Lochs, since there isn't much story reason to go poking around this far north. This section, called Abalathia's Skull, contains this gravesite, the tomb of King Manfred, and the Royal Hunting Grounds. The Abalathia mountain range, which stretches all the way across Ishgard, terminates here.
6:10 – Dun Dun DUUUUUUN! First, I don't know if Dan planned that comment, but I think this cutscene is always at night, no matter when you enter it. Second, Who stole Zenos's Body!? Was it stolen away or did it stand up and walk away, under Ascian control?
12:00 – And now we've got an Ala Mhigan soldier who has turned on the others? Or someone impersonating an Ala Mhigan? Or perhaps… a hunter still hunts?!
17:00 – You know what this means, Playfriends. Buckle Up!
21:30 – So here we have documented proof that Primals will bleed a land dry. Or so it seems…
22:15 – Someone has realized that Maxima didn't get the memo about ensuring the destruction of Doma. And so he and his Populares must be silenced. Or perhaps the plan was to always silence the delegation and any Garleans they had liberated.
23:10 – Playfriends, welcome to a new type of duty! In the coming battle, Dan will fight as Alphinaud! This is a new kind of solo duty, which thrusts players into the boots of one of many NPCs in the game. There are some great advantages to this, allowing players to participate in conflicts where the Warrior of Light is not involved and flesh out prominent NPCs with their own trials, tribulations, and combat abilities. The pitfall is that players are now forced to a style of play that may not suit their own. If this is your first time playing a caster, this sequence can come off as awkward and unintuitive. If you're an accomplished arcanist/summoner (which is the closest to what Alphinaud plays as), then the kit you're given feels incredibly restrictive and elementary. The key is to read all the tooltips, even the abilities you think you're accustomed to, since they may have changed how the NPC uses them. Usually these battles don't commence until the player initiates a combat action to give ample time to read. Most of these sequences are designed to not be overly punishing (and there is the option to lower the difficulty) so that players don't feel crushed by the sudden shift of playstyle. This is a technique that the dev team will be refining and improving on more and more.
24:35 – Usually the Pet hotbar is just issues commands to stop attacking or stand in a specific location. Arcanist magic uses the carbuncle automatically, there is no need to direct your carbuncle (Scholar, on the other hand, can require some fairy positioning due to the fairy having a healing range). As a result, FFXIV does not have a true "pet" job, although a beastmaster job is always asked for every expansion. Who knows, there is word of a new limited job coming in Dawntrail.
25:45 – You might have noticed Alphinaud gained the Shining Moonstone buff from Moonstone Carbuncle. This is part of how the carbuncle acts on its own. Remember, blue AOEs are friendly!
32:30 – Who is this mysterious swordsman who has come to Alphinaud and the Populares rescue? He fences like the most experienced Garlean officers (and yes, I checked, he's always done that attack since 4.3's release). He knows Alphinaud by sight, and the Scions by reputation. He calls himself Shadowhunter, an Ascian killer, but self generated titles usually hide more than they reveal. And he carries one mask that matches no known Ascian design…
Next time! Durmin's got some side gigs to take a look at.
💙
"Carby. Please. Help." Ah yes, the truest form of summoner gameplay, wishing that carby would do something instead of just sitting there.
Aenor: "(I know I need to give Isildaure my undivided attention, but these waves of brotherly love make my mind drift to naughty places…Focus, Aenor! Focus!)"
Me: "He's totally imagining an Isildaure/Homei slashfic already."
Ponder acquired. Next step, acquire crystal ball.
I also did the first quest of this episode under the cover of thunderstorms. It really fit the mood lol. On the other hand, I gad no idea the scene at the grave would automatically be stormy regardless because of that.
Thancred telling Alisaie to stay put while he goes to the empire is definitely good advice, we all remember when Alisaie tried to tail the Warriors of Darkness and got poisoned as a result.
Hoo boy was I pissed with that Elezen soldier scene. Knew exactly who it was, and it sent me screaming. In anger. And rage.
For the moment, all that I shall say further is that I still consider that reaction 100% justified, and I am continuously bewildered to see others not reacting in the same way.
I had no idea that at some point you would control other characters!
I can only imagine how people reacted when it was first introduced back in the day.
The danger zone training be strong, what with Dan dodging friendly imperial attacks in that fight. 🤣