The Stormblood Dark Knight quests Do so much more for the story of this job then I can probably speak of. This is my experience and take on the quest chain.
0:00 The Dark Side
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1:15 A Trail of Trauma
9:11 The Cracks Begin To Show
11:36 First Dark Steps
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Really enjoyed this summary.
One tiny tidbit that got glossed over tho was that Houdart not only joined the Griffon’s cause, he acted as a body-double for Illbert.
In fact, he was the guy we talked to when we first confronted the Griffon about the stolen crystals given to the Amalja.
(Yes, Illbert was the actual Griffon, but he had stand-ins like Houdart as extra insurance against attempts to stop him.)
The final DRK class quest outshines all the rest. You're gonna have a goodbad time.
The best part is how the journal updates as you go through the quests. Normally I don't read them but for the Dark Knight quests Frey is talking to you through it. It's something magical that you don't get again.
He's Myste? Nah, actually I'm glad he's gone.
Seriously though, Myste is your survivor's guilt. A mix of Haurchefant and Ysale representing the horrible guilt over the ones that didn't make it home.
Ishikawa's writing, which you are now also seeing in Shadowbringers MSQ. She also did the 1-30 rogue class story, and much of the Stormblood patch content, and finally Endwalker MSQ. She's since been promoted to supervising the other story writers, which is nice for her but sad for us.
PAX West standing ovation for Ishikawa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywhTf2c5v9Y
Another small missable bit in the quest is that as soon as Houdart vanishes, if you return to where you left gallien, you can see his body, and you're given a little epitath if you interact with him.
"Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lie."
Myste is a mix of Haucherfaunt and Ysale so the character really liked them to the point the trauma of losing them was that powerful
Fun factoid, in one of the Encyclopedia Eorzeas, we learn that Myste is Fray's surname
Every step we take: Heals a thousand wounds. Harms a thousand souls. Moves countless souls towards their goal. Destroys the goals of a thousand more.
"Do not seek forgiveness, for it will not ease the burden. It weighs as it should."
After doing the 61-70 leg of the Dark Knight job questline like you did, that's the line that stuck with me. At the time I was doing these quests, I'd just recently gotten into FFXIV because I needed a distraction and something new. I was struggling with a difficult time in my life, and I wasn't exactly blameless for the consequences I'd been dealing with at the time.
When I read that line of dialogue from Fray, I understood. I didn't feel better, but I came to the understanding that it was the whole point of it. I did it, I carry it, and I carry on with it in tow—because to do less than that, or to turn my eyes away from my part in all of it is a disservice to both what happened and my ability to do better.
In terms of the storytelling, that branch of the quest chain brings to mind that there are parallels to the journey of the Warrior of Light to the Warriors of Darkness. Not so much in the fact that their actions ended up dooming their world, but more so in the similarities of doing everything right, and still you lose.
In the case of the Warrior of Light, they've lost people along the course of their journey, whether by simple happenstance of a very bad situation already happening, or because said people were caught up in the storm of the Warrior of Light's existence and chose to continue doing so until they paid the ultimate price
What I love most about this questline is that unlike every single other instance, the journal entries for the quests are written by Fray, and not some undifined narrator as is usually the case. I strongly suggest you give them a read
You think this is emotional trauma? You haven't seen DRK gutted in every expansion because the devs don't know what to do with it!
Ngl i miss the old job quests. RIP good ffxiv storytelling..
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You can see why the writer of these quests got made the lead for Shadowbringers, can't you? Because goddamn. GODDAMN. DRK does not hold back.
Dark Knight storyline is my absolute favourite and actually made me cry once I put two and two together about who Myst was.
I still go back to reply it every so often because it's written so well Fray being that side of use that speaks his mind and refuses to do anything he doesn't want to, and Myst being the guilt we feel for those we lost and who's life we ruined because of our actions.
Fray Myst being Grays full name who's Stone we have.
Honestly I miss single quests especially with how good the Dark Knight one was.
The only lines I like was ShadowBringers storyline for jobs because that fit in with Ardburt and his companions.
I hope you read the quest journal while doing these quests, they're really quite… something. XD Almost like it wasn't you writing them…
The story of this questline so clearly marks how badly hurt the WoL really is. For all the loss and horrific things that happen, I think the WoL is probably one of the most traumatized player protagonists of any game. Sadly you get only one more quest for the Dark Knight after this, but I kind of love it. I also… implies things for the nature of the WoL in the future, past Dawntrail.
I really disliked the early quests in the stormblood chain, found them boring. So i wasnt very invested by the time every thing was wrapping up. But i gotta say in general the end made me regard everything over in a positive manner rather than disliking it.
Still working on getting all the jobs through stormblood but my favorites so far have been ninja and dragoon.
There is a short story about Haurchefant as child that has a picture of him as a child, that's his face and Ysale's hair, the child represents your guilt, I love this quest chain so much.
Knew you'd love this back when you did Fray's lv 50 content