We made it!
Support us on Patreon! ► http://patreon.com/playframe
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STORMBLOOD series playlist! ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvFQJa1XAXzyHrbeyXrPMd3_Qg3TC4PF_
FULL SERIES playlist! ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvFQJa1XAXzzXrfl_cbsGvEl4AbTt5SMG
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0:00 – Introduction
0:30 – QUEST: “A Brief Reprieve”
8:40 – QUEST: “A Requiem for Heroes”
42:46 – CREDITS
50:59 – QUEST: “A Requiem for Heroes” (continued)
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Want to join our Free Company? See the unofficial PlayFriends Discord for details! ► https://discord.gg/PlayFriends
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Check out the PlayFrame Store! ► https://store.dftba.com/collections/playframe
Dan’s Twitter (@DanFloydPlus) ► https://twitter.com/DanFloydPlus
Carrie’s Twitter (@CarrieFloyd) ► https://twitter.com/CarrieFloyd
PlayFrame Twitter (@PlayFramePlus) ► https://twitter.com/PlayFramePlus
To hear Dan talk MUCH more about game animation, check out New Frame Plus! ► http://www.youtube.com/c/newframeplus
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Edited by Daniel Floyd
♫ “Pray Return” by Chris Logsdon
https://lnkfi.re/pray-return
#PlayFrame #FFXIV #FinalFantasyXIV #Stormblood
source
Today on PlayFrame: The end of the Free Trial. Again.
As a reminder, everything up to this point has been available for free through the Free Trial. It is possible that the trial will be expanded again later into Dawntrail's lifecycle, but as that is a possibility in the future, for now this is as far as you go without paying up.
As such, I think I can give my thoughts on Stormblood now that we've reached the finish, so here they are.
Story-wise, there were some narrative slumps, and moments where it felt like the writers really wanted to have this thing happen but couldn't figure out how without making the cast look stupid (read: Tsuyu and 3.1-3.3), but overall I'd say that Stormblood's story is fine – I went in aware of the stigma that it was the worst expansion, and I think that's only really the case because it is in some aspects worse than its peers, even if not by that much. It's not great, it's certainly not terrible, it's just *fine*.
The story may have been of varying quality, but the environments and music hit home – and while I will note that Stormblood is where I really started to notice FF14's modern design philosophy of having dungeons be long, linear paths consisting of three boss encounters with groups of adds in between, it really helps that each dungeon feels unique environmentally – a pattern that will continue in Shadowbringers.
I don't know what else to say that others haven't been saying already, so thank you to Dan for making this playthrough and introducing quite a lot of people to the wonderful ride that is FF14's story.
I've been stuck in Shadowbringers for a good bit now, but haven't gotten back to continue it due to distractions from… many other games – Space Station 14, Atomic Heart, Civ 6, and more, just to name a few I've played this week.
Hopefully I'll find the motivation to sit down, strap in, and power on through the rest of ShB soon enough – but for now, I shall rest easy knowing that we have finally reached The Gates that have been calling to us the last four or so episodes.
Next Time on PlayFrame: Will we continue forth into Shadowbringers? Or will Durmin check back in with a certain… gentlemanly inspector?
Ah Shadowbringers is on the horizon. I want to quote my favorite cryptic lines related to it, but… because of an earlier warning from Dan about cryptic lines not being as cryptic as the author believes there is another layer of protection beyond just extra space. See below
Qjy ymj jcufsxj contract;
Jtsx gjhtrj instant;
Fx f hmfrunts kwtr gjdtsi ymj rift
mjjix ymj hfqq
If you know you won't be spoiled or want to risk it, look towards the first Roman emperor but stay five paces ahead.
Been enjoying it so much! Glad to see you share similar thoughts regarding stormblood
I still can't be convinced that base Stormblood wasn't a low point of FF14's story.
While a lot of things in the base expansion are enjoyable and it was for me one of the high points in job design, some of the plot points of the main story have some very "Lion King" kind of feel to them: people who are fated to take power and everything is better for that fact. And that denotes WILDLY from the tone of the story so far and undercuts even the rest of the story that tries to show imperialism's consequences.
This said, the updates have worked very hard to correct the shot of either this extension or of ARR, turning a lot of dumb plot points into genuinely some of the best parts of the story even if most of it is admittedly still mostly groundwork for later storytelling. For someone who quit at the end of Stormblood because of the story and came back to see this kind of writing was genuinely a welcome surprise. I'll just keep a bad aftertaste from "economic realism" being presented as the objective best choice (nay, the ONLY choice) in that one quest to rebuild Ala Mhigo.
I'm excited to live through Shadowbringer once again through this let's play. While not my favourite, that would be Endwalker, Shadowbringer has some of the best writing in the entire game.
Welcome to cry. That aside, you are a good bean Dan of Playframe.
Look mysterious voice, we have to talk about your timing.
As a passive enjoyer Thank You Dan for all the time and effort you've put in to this.
Already very hyped for the next expansion! Glad to hear you are being a champion of restraint and self-care, though. Hope the break treats you well, Dan! (And everyone else too!)
And so we're back here, where the free trial players are. We've traded our paywall for a… moneypit, I guess?
We're now yelling "LET ME IIIIIIIN" with an echo!
I would never play an MMO so I love being able to follow the story via you
"Are you sure you're in a fit state to do this?" me: Nope! But I'm gonna anyway.
A good story is thought provoking and entertains, what makes it a great story is the ability to also evoke a wide range of emotion and Stormblood certainly drew out emotions. In my opinion it will be difficult to out match this expansion. This upcoming Shadow Bringers has a steep set of steps to climb.
When I started watching, I was indeed just a passive participant. It wasn't until halfway through Heavensward that I started playing myself. Thanks to an abundance of free time, I have since managed to complete Endwalker's main story and levelled all classes up to 80, and a third to 90. It's fair to say I love this game now, and it's world. And I never would have played it if not for this series. I cannot thank you enough. I hope being a patron goes some way towards that 🙂
For a long time, I would have said Stormblood was my favourite. Shadowbringers didn't work for me at first, for reasons that I'll explain once we start, but it has certainly grown on me, and now I honestly don't know if I could choose between these last 3 expansion's stories.
Enjoy your break, Durmin, we shall need you again soon enough!
Playfriends, THROW WIDE THE GATES. This is your spoiler free lore comment.
The content of this episode was released with Patch 4.56, which was released in March 2019.
10:30 – Varis might have returned to the capital, but Raubahn is overly optimistic if he thinks this means the Alliance can go on the offensive. Walking away from the battlefront can also mean he thinks the coming battle is best left to others. Like Zenos.
13:00 – Prior to the Duty Support changes, I'd have said that this team doesn't have a tank, but I guess Hien's been covering both DPS and Tanking since the change. But what they're really gonna need is a healer…
13:17 – Welcome to our third NPC control instance! This time we're playing as Hien! Dan's used to playing Samurai, but that's where things can get tricky. When you're used to the full kit of a job, using the reduced NPC version can really mess with your combat flow.
13:55 – Lyse is putting all that leadership EXP to use! This allied buff increases outgoing damage and decreases incoming damage. It's nice to see melee fighters still have party utility and not just damage.
14:35 – Maybe Lyse really did learn a thing or two from Y'shtola. She's juggling healing and DPS.
16:45 – Lyse is willing to make the sacrifice play, but Yugiri's got a trick up her sleeve. That trick is duplicating the Ninja LB3, Chimatsuri, to target all the swords that are casting the fetters. A heck of a trick.
18:45 – I love that the person who lands the helmet breaking hit is Lyse. A woman who taught herself how to fight. No official monk training, just grit, determination, and spirit.
19:15 – If it wasn't obvious to everyone that Zenos is currently being inhabited by an Ascian, Hien's statement points out the glaring fact. No one who witnessed this fight can doubt that this isn't Zenos anymore. It's Elidibus. One of the senior most Ascians, using a Garlean body so strong that it once struck Durmin so hard it snapped a blade, along with ancient magic beyond our ken. There's few on this world who can stand up to such a combatant. Fortunately, our Snack Deliverer has arrived.
22:45 – Remember that DPS check from the Ala Mhigo dungeon? It's baaaaack.
24:10 – As Dan demonstrates, the orbs (and all of the other attacks) inflict Vulnerability Stacks. With enough of them, a single strike will end Durmin.
25:55 – That moment when your family won't stop calling while you're in the middle of something reaaaaal important.
27:45 – "The only winning move is not to play" – Joshua, Wargames
31:00 – I swear, this guy only times his entrances when it's MAXIMUM DRAMA.
31:55 – Looks like Thancred's plan worked! Good job Riol, who has taken over Thancred's role in the interim.
36:12 – It's a bit hard to see here, but yes, that's Arenvald and Fordola relaxing in the Seventh Heaven, along with several Alliance soldiers. Well, not actually Arenvald and Fordola, but players Role Playing as them. So let's detail out the story that the Dantalus Theater Company's been acting out in RP mode. The story that they're covering is one of the side stories that can be accessed on the Square Enix website, with the Stormblood stories being titled Tales from the Storm. The story is The First Step, and the DTC have been acting out some of the background stuff that is implied in that story.
Since Ala Mhigo is joining the Eorzean Alliance, they soon offer up a unique weapon for the defense of Eorzea. With the senior members of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn incapacitated, many are trying to pick up the slack. Not just from the duties that the slumbering Scions cannot accomplish, but also Durmin's. And Ala Mhigo has a one of a kind weapon that they are willing to put under Alliance command: an Eikon slayer. While the Alliance has done their best to strangle the flow of aether crystals going to hostile tribes, some Primals are still being summoned. The various city states have assembled teams to infiltrate and destroy these weakened Primals, but without someone with the Echo, they're just fodder for enthrallment. This is where Ala Mhigo's contribution comes in.
We saw in patch 4.1 that, for the purposes of battle against a Primal, a Resonant is as good as the Echo. So instead of keeping Fordola in a cell, Ala Mhigo is putting her to work (she agreed to it!). Not without restrictions though, and Arenvald is there to provide Scion support, the Echo, and Fordola's leash. And what a leash it is: her necklace is a collar with a remote kill switch. It will strangle her the moment the order is given. Not that Arenvald thinks it's necessary. He has full faith in her. The others, not so much. The team taking on Ifrit led by Captain Wolf while Jajasamu, formerly of the Company of Heroes, leads an elite Summoner Squad (the arcanists we saw being roleplayed). The mood of the team is morbid prior to the engagement, with good reason. No one has fought a Primal without team members being tempered. They are all volunteers, but this feels like a death sentence. But with Fordola and Arenvald shielding them, Ifrit falls. What's more, when the team sees Fordola break ranks with their formation, they initially think she is running from the battle, but she is in fact rescuing one of their wounded thaumaturges. After the fight, the mood is one of jubilation. The Eorzean Alliance has bested a Primal without the Warrior of Light. Not a single soldier tempered. They can do it and take the load off of Durmin. And one by one, they show that they have faith in Fordola. When asked why she risked it all to save the thaumaturge, she replies, "Little girls need their fathers." The thaumaturge is astounded she knew he had a daughter. Fordola may never be able to free herself of the collar or the guilt. But with Arenvald's guidance, maybe she can build a new life. One fight at a time.
The DTC put on this little play for us with the coordination of thewhitefluffyhat (who also plays Fordola). Please look at their comment for additional details about the production as well as a full cast list!
51:50 – No we don't! Isildaure's just got to book that voyage to Doma! Time for this seasoned adventurer to become a world traveler! Alianne, your grandfather will be fiiiiiine.
53:58 – Aw man, we forgot about this guy.
I do want to point out how different this situation the story is in is compared to the previous expansions. At this point in A Realm Reborn, we knew we would go to Ishgard. We were waiting just to be admitted to the city. We knew that Ishgard's war with the dragons would play into our next adventure. At this point in Heavensward, we knew that we'd be going to Ala Mhigo. We knew that the liberation of Ala Mhigo would be the dominate thrust of the next expansion.
So, I have a question. For those Playfriends who know nothing of Final Fantasy XIV, who are watching along, where is Durmin going? What will his next adventure comprise of? Unlike the previous expansions, this is much more murky. For those who experienced this content when it was new, there were trailers and FanFest information for the community to speculate off of, but I'm interested in what those who have no additional information think Durmin is in for. Please feel free to speculate below. And for the rest of us: just smile and nod. No spoilers.
Durmin Durami will return in Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
Please look forward to it.
Passive viewer who refuses to touch the game,here. Largely because I know I will bounce off the game,as it's an MMO. The story's been a ride,so far.
I'm a dude who hasn't played 14, and I'm digging Durmin's playthrough. I wouldn't be seeing the story if not for this, so THANK YOU!
11:48 Really? Gonna pinch Cid's soul, too?
14:43 I don't like that they call it the WoL's "timely" arrival.
16:23 Huh, why do you have one of Suasnoo's swords?
18:42 I do love Lyse's bits in stuff like this. She may be the last one up, but she's not wasting time on much.
19:13 Man, Hien's tsuba will never not look ridiculous.
26:07 Someone who doesn't understand how to be precise and keeps stealing people's souls for… reasons.. yes.
26:59 This got very KH all of a sudden.
27:21 The souls of the Scions are all MIA, and them being MIA ties to you, specifically. There's plenty of cause for alarm. Nevermind our allies now at the mercy of Zenos mk2.
28:36 Given all this guy's done, I wouldn't touch that "gift".
37:46 Yea, this guy's real good at that.
38:03 Oh, good, he might be holding them all hostage so we play his game… joys.
43:42 While I'm still waiting for this "great story" that prompted this series, I will say this expansion has so far received the lowest marks from me for very specific stories. Overall, it's still "good", but I have some notes. I am very curious what that one bit about kidnapping Hien was about from the Reconstruction leg.
44:18 Yugiri looks real good in concept!
44:37 I mean… the whole point of Stormtroopers is to be faceless (but scary, with skull-like helmets) soldiers, and the movies make most of the officers looks like dolts. I wish SW had the time to make the Empire there really scary, but all the footnotes we get (Hoth, Tantive IV, etc) all get brushed aside in no time.
45:08 …man, Yotsuyu just always looked good, apparently.
45:52 Peak Alisaie energy in that art.
47:50 Ah, good. I've been waiting… mostly impatiently.
48:15 +1 to "not played" count, and won't play, tbh. I'm more or less done with MMOs as a concept.
48:35 It got rewarded briefly, in tiny snippets along the way. Nothing earth shattering yet.
48:41 Too late for me. You've managed to hype it up enough that I"m very skeptical it will live up to it, especially after FF16.
48:59 So… all the things 16 couldn't do?
48:30. dont have the budget, time or money for ffxiv; so Thank you Dan, you have been my window into this world.
Passive non-14 player here, I don't have the time to play FFXIV and I am soooooo grateful for this chance to see this story unfold, it's so good, I love it
Makes me wish I had time and money to play xiv
Thank you Dan. Thank you so much.
I'm always glad to see another Stormblood appreciator in the wild.
The game was in kind of a weird position when StB first dropped: Heavensward had been a massive improvement over ARR both narratively and mechanically… but also was kind of a side story, in the grand scheme of things, which put the game in the awkward position of having to return to its main plot with a side story as its most interesting part, having to figure out how to shift attention from Thordan and Niddhogg back to Garlemald and the Ascians; an uphill battle, considering ARR.
While I don't think it does quite as well as ShB does for the Ascians I still agree with Dan on how StB does an admirable job of making Garlemald a more interesting antagonist.
im not a FF player at all for reference, and i can get why dan likes the story of the game, i love it too. But i can not fathom , i can't consive why the massage repeted in all hallucinations wasnt even mentioned by anyone after so many times. i know it's a questnable origins of information, but gezz… not even a word about that?
(edit) by the way i mean it in the 6 time the message was delivered before the zenos fight.
Showing up as another (semi) passive observer. I have started playing FFXIV because of you but so far Durmin has been leading the charge for me in the story, and I kind of wouldn't have it any other way ^^
Now, time for me to finally go save Alla Mhigo myself!
Enjoying the ride. Thanks for the tour 😊💚👌
Back when this FFXIV playthrough first started, I thought I would definitely stay in the passive watchers camp. I'd never played an MMO before, and I was very intimidated. How things have changed since then! This game (and DTC in particular) really does have an amazingly welcoming community.
Dan's comments at 43:40 matched how I felt too. Once I did start playing, I was certainly enjoying the game before Stormblood. But it was this expansion where I became truly invested in the characters and the setting. And for exactly the reasons Dan describes – the way the story doesn't shy away from portraying the horrors of imperialism, but manages to also create complexity, sympathy, and interesting personalities for people on all different positions of the conflict.
Here's to a well-deserved break for Dan and to another great expansion coming up when Durmin returns!
Congrats on completing Stormblood! I had never played an MMO when I started watching this series but after seeing the HW patches and the variety of jobs, I was convinced to give it a try, and now I’m obsessed with these characters and have even gone on to clear savage raids. I’m so glad you started this series and look forward to Durmin’s ShB adventures!!
Well, it looks like everyone who is experiencing the story is making a comment, so I will too! This has been a great story to experience. And aside from some loose context from watching the cinematic trailers for future expansions I have no idea where this story is growing. I can't wait for the little warrior of light to return. Enjoy the break!
Adding to the crowds saying they've never played FFXIV, but absolutely LOVE this playthrough. It just keeps getting more and more compelling, and I'm super grateful for being there from the start as Dan takes us all through this story so delightfully every week!
I hit these credits on accident on Halloween, I thought there was a little more than there actually was, but because I hit it on Halloween and I had that day off work anyway, I decided to also go ahead and start Shadowbringers immediately, and maaaaaaaaaaan the first couple bits of Shadowbringers are absolutely perfect for Halloween. I also started Shadowbringers almost a year to the day after I started playing. I started a few days before Halloween 2022.
Hi, I'm one of the few who has never played 14 loll
Playframe has just been a comfort channel for me since I found it (back around The World Ends With You) so I already knew I was going to watch whatever, and I'm a sucker for a fantasy story and I've heard the mystique of final fantasy and I wanted to get in on it
And then the 14 storymode became a comfort series for me and now I've watched up through Heavensword twice, Realm Reborn three times, and tried to go for four
I'm so glad you decided to make this series and I really appreciate that you're still going with it, especially with how much more work it must be, I get so excited every episode, and especially when it comes back after breaks
Honestly, I appreciate everything you do, both here and on New Frame Plus, you're an inspiration
I don't know if your surmise is just going to amplify the vocal minority, but: I have never played FFXIV and, I believe, have enjoyed your playthrough much more than I would have playing it myself.
I don't think Stormblood is bad, however I will say that in my opinion it's the lowest point in the story. There's three reasons for this:
1) it suffers from empire strikes back syndrome, it has no real start or end.
2) it sits in the unfortunate position between heavensward which amplifies the story and shadowbringers, the best expansion.
3) someone has to sit on the bottom and it's this or arr and arr has a strong start by my opinion so by default this has to be it.
me a while ago: i can definitely finish stormblood msq before dan finishes up the patch episodes, it'll be easy
me now, only just having gotten to doma castle: ….ah
at least shadowbringers is still a ways off, it'd be hard to resist watching and i'm trying to avoid gaining more information than i already have before going into it.
Hi Dan. Just to throw my two cents in, I've been with this series since the beginning and Stormblood made me get an account for ff14. Very happily playing along in Durmin's wake. Thanks so much for all the work you do.
This series got me into finally playing it to experience all the side quests (and job quests) that are not shown in this series!
I had to take a breather because it is a lot to tackle all at once, but I'm ready to dive in again!
Speaking up as another one of the passive observers. I don't have the time to play a MMO, but I'm really thankful to you for showing all of us this story in an approachable form.
Thank you Dan, thank you a lot.
– This mysterious voice really needs yo learn proper timing, good thing Estinien was at Jumping distance
– man, Tataru is amazing
– I fear where Emperor Varis plans to use the Black Rose… & i strongly fear Ala Mihgo is not the top of that list
– oh yeah i love that the writers actually took the phrase "the first place the Garlean Empire invaded is Garlemald" to heart & made them such a menacing yet nuanced entity
– yeah, i still have no desire to PLAY FF14 but I'm so looking forward seeing Durmin experience more of it
This series continues to bring joy. I am very much looking forward to "the platonic ideal of a Final Fantasy story", whenever it's ready.
It just occurred to me just how LONG this one expansion has been airing on this channel. It feels like there have been a dozen or so story arcs since last we reset the counter.
And yeah, as someone who has not played this game personally I am ABSOLUTELY enjoying this playthrough and hope that you will continue it so long as the game continues to have good expansions.
I, too, am one of the people who has not played FFXIV but I have been enjoying this immensely. It's one of my favourite youtube series.
Dan: "Boy, [Estinian] hates stickin' around, huh?"
Me: "Especially for a guy who looks that much like a cocklebur."
Wow, Dan! Congratulations on wrapping up both of the current weekday series on the same Friday! Thanks for all the work you and the DTC folks did bringing us all this story content. I don't have the time to play games myself and I appreciate the chance to experience them through this channel.
Hey Dan, another non-14 player here! I've been watching since this series' inception and I still love it and look forward to it with each expansion or patch content. Since I can't really play MMOs myself, its nice to have the opportunity to watch this wonderful story… And its given me something to talk about with a couple of my friends who ARE FFXIV players! So thank you once again, keep up the awesome work.
48:27 Hi. I'm a passive observer who is still sticking around.
I am experiencing the story for a second time but I started playing thanks to you. I usually don't like MMORPGs, this one though, is a big exception.
One thing of note is how the game is adding duties in the midst of the "several cutscenes in a row" so you actually have something to do instead of just watching a movie.
I'm one of the non-player watchers and have really been enjoying the series. It sounded like Stormblood was a lot of work recording and organising which is very appreciated. I can't see myself ever playing FFXIV but I'm already looking forward to more once you and Durmin have had a break.
Dan, thank you so much for continuing this enormous playthrough and showing us this wonderful story. It is highly appreciated!
Man, I’m so excited for ShB. Looking forward to seeing it in 6 months.