Spoiler timestamps below folks. So Mike has finally arrived in Stormblood after what seems like forever in Heavensward and boy is this gonna be a tough act to follow. In today’s video Mike talks about his initial experience in the expansion and his thoughts on some of the gameplay and characters so far.
00:00 – Intro
00:26 – Pre Stormblood Spoilers
04:30 – Minor Early Stormblood Spoilers
15:40 – Major Early Stormblood Spoilers
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Gear: https://preachgaming.com/shop/
Twitter: @Preachgaming
Live Stream – twitch.tv/preachlfw
Website: https://preachgaming.com/
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Evening folks – the queue gods were cruel to me this afternoon but we got there. Spoiler timestamps are on the video and down below. Are you on the anti-Lyse team like Mike or the pro-Lyse team with me? – Chris
00:00 – Intro
00:26 – Pre Stormblood Spoilers
04:30 – Minor Early Stormblood Spoilers
15:40 – Major Early Stormblood Spoilers
I don't think SB is a bad expansion, but it's definitely the weakest of the bunch. HW was a hard act to follow for sure, but they obviously learned some BIG lessons about pacing and blew my socks off with ShB and EW.
What is that Gshade preset it's gorgeous 😍
I find it interesting how much more he /thinks/ he understands compared to how little he actually understands. Like saying the Warrior of Light doing small errands for villagers is "out of place". No dude, the entire archetype of the WoL is that he makes bonds and raises support from the people by engaging and helping as many people as possible on a local and personal level, no matter how small the task. This explicitly becomes a big plot point in Shadowbringers for example.
"I know what they're doing.." Uh, no dude you really kinda don't..
Not to say he doesn't understand anything, he does have some good points but he clearly thinks his insight into the game and its lore and mechanics is at a 99% when it's more like at a 40% or so still.
Iirc, Zenos golf caddy of katanas is because Garleans can't manipulate aether, so the bizzare golf bag infuses the swords with aether artificially.
Zenos is one of my favourite characters
How do you top Heavens Ward? You dont!
You start laying foundation for the next story and maybe stories to follow many expansions after.
Stormblood is quite different but necessary.
Zenos BAE Galvus <3
my favorite line in video "FOR LYSE!!" in english VO do they call her 'lees' ? in japanese its 'Lee su' レースー
Reapercussions. I saw what you did there.
Funny thing – Stormblood has two writers. One writer wrote Ala Mhigo. One writer wrote the segments in Doma.
The Doma writer got promoted and wrote Shadowbringers and Endwalker. The Ala Mhigo writer.. I heard a rumor he basically gets coffee now, but that's a rumor.
Personally, I think it shows. I think Ala Mhigo is awful and Doma is great. The two depictions of Zenos and the "female sidekicks" to him in each zone really stand out from each other.
Also take note that the structure in each of the segments has very similar beats – meeting up with the resistance in each area, having an encounter with Zenos, etc, but each has a different setup, It makes it seem like the expansion was a test to see who would follow up to Heavensward.
lol, we wow refugees love zenos lol
Huh, who knew Preach's editor had such good taste 😛
Lyse is awful and doesn't get better. She was better when she was parenting to be a one-not trope.
I can understand why people don't like stormblood nearly as much as heavensward and shadow bringers, but stormblood was much needed grounding before sending our asses into an entire new world. And stormblood had a major improvement in msq duties (like the naadam) and the dungeons/trials.
My only complaints with Stormblood was how much I had to deal with Lyse, and some of the pacing in the middle. But every expansion suffered from pacing at one point or another, so Stormblood is hardly alone there. The characters and the story beats ended up being some of my favorites
I think Lyse is a good enough character, and my hot take is that people dont like her because she doesnt have big tits. Simple as that
A smile better suits a hero🥲🥲🥲🥲
I think the anti-Lyse squad is really vocal about a character that they kind of mistake the meme for reality for. She's not supposed to be smart, she's not supposed to be a good leader, she's basically foisted up as a figure head leader because of her name alone, and she's not meant to be seen as someone who is hyper competent at her job. Papalymo basically sheltered her from any responsiblity and in Stormblood she has to learn how to deal with it with him no longer supporting her. I think Lyse in 4.1 is incredibly stupid, but that's something she does way way later in the story and there are people trying to fit in who just started Stormblood talking about what a bad character she is. Like, you haven't even seen the part where people complain about her!
He aren’t seen what’s coming around the corner!
So glad you like Xenos, excited for you to continue on 🙂
Damn Mike your hair is looking fresh AF
One thing I don’t hear a lot, but that I think matters: Ala Mhigo is visually dull. Going from the Fringes to the Peaks does not feel like entering a new zone. After how visually distinct most of the areas are in HW, the areas of Gyr Abania feel really bland and samey.