Lets ride this thing home.
Part 1: https://youtu.be/D8LsjQBaR98
Part 2: https://youtu.be/vI84szEFH6Y
0:00 – Into Amaurot
6:16 – Cast Titles Aside
13:32 – The Dying Grasp
24:06 – Resurfacing
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Oh, Amaurot… I would highly suggest looking into the novel Utopia (1516ce) by Thomas More considering it is the inspiration and provides the name of the city of Amaurot.
One of the most Perfectly executed ending segment out of any game I've played.
And I don't say this lightly, but the sheer attention to detail, the build-up, the execution… the music! Every piece added up to something truly Special.
Emet is such an amazing antagonist because while you cannot condone his action, you can still relate to his motive. Imagine watching all those you love, your friends, your family, sacrifice themselves to ward off the apocalypse, then watch the survivor sacrifice themselves again to counter was the first sacrifice created. What if you could bring them all back ? What if you could bring back the old world ? How far would you go for that if there was even the slightest possibility of it happening ?
I always see Emet's use of "us" and "we" near the end as him acknowledging us as an equal. He didn't believe any mortal could be a worthy inheritor of the star, but was wrong, and finally comes to terms with it. More on that in 5.3 and Endwalker.
Congratulations!
Ah yes, I’ll never get tired of the crazy joyful ramblings of someone who just finished 5.0. I swear, we’re all tempered.
i can feel joy in every words.
Don’t worry guys. The patch content is the best storytelling and best battle content, and in my opinion cannot be topped. I hope I can join you in trials but sadly I live in Japan so I’ll just be tuning in to your streams if I have the chance.
"Let expanse contract, eon become instant. Champions from beyond the rift, heed my call!"
Somewhere, beyond the rift: "Holy crap, instant duty pop for DPS!"
Emet having the name Hades isn’t as random as you might think. Remember, the whole expansion we’ve been fighting twisted versions of angelic looking beings after a catastrophic world wide flood (which once the land was restored the first rainbow appeared), showed up at the pearly gates of Vauthry’s paradise on Mount Gulg, where he transformed into ‘god’, then where do we go? Down into the darkest depths of the world where we find a city full of dead people ruled over by Hades. And to top that off we have the Eden raids.
Connected the dots yet?
Fantastic video as always gents, I was there for the live stream and loved every minute.
One bit of feedback though – the Trial was "The Dying Gasp" not "Grasp". (Apologies if this has already been pointed out, but I ain't reading through every other comment.) 😉
"such a sucker for a good skybox" You're in luck! Endwalker is 100% foggy skyboxes!
For me the "crown" on Hades model looks more like a yoke – a manifestation of the weight he carried for millenia and the effort he put int bringing his brethren back. An honor and a very heavy burden in one.
My headcanon is the auracite tactic failed, but Emet bowed out willingly rather than use a crystal of darkness to survive.
I always thought the music was about you and Ardbert
Ardbert being the warrior of darkness, you being the warrior of light. Two tones of the shadows of the same Amaurothian soul who was shattered to form you both.
To me the warrior of light/darkness is just to show you are a warrior – period. What you need to do as that chosen warrior may change depending on circumstances and you can't assume light is the best and dark is all bad or all Ascian. I think even Urianger touches on that when he tells you that darkness and light are just umbral/astral or static/dynamic forces. In other words, don't fixate on light/dark as much and don't assume that bringing light to something is the "right" answer. There is a balance.
I wouldn't mind an RE4 video but that's just me though (yes I read that entire thing).
Thanks for sharing your journey!!!
I recently rewatched the King Thordan fight, and a comment that was made at the time just had a different meaning to me. When he eats Lahabrea, "that's good have a consequence in the future" I think the consequence is almost immediate. I think that's why he gets a glimpse of your soul's form at the end of the fight. The ascians can recognize your soul, and he gained that recognition from eating Lahabrea.
Whoa, no mention of the fact that Ardbert's axe is finally clean in the final scene? No longer stained with blood, his soul is cleansed as he approaches his comrades.
I love how you guys made 2 Tim Curry references in less than a minute and I don't think you guys even realized it at the time since the organ guy in Beauty and the Beast 2 was played by him then go on to the "SPACE!" meme. 🤣
chekov's ardbert going off is one of the best moments of this expansion, and it's wild that it gets BETTER
I keep thinking of whats to come with Endwalker and I'm like I can't wait till they see <redacted due to spoiler> but then I'm like… they have all the patch content its going to be 2026 before we get to that stuff.
I love these discussions.
and on almost everything im like 'You think that now?! id love hear what you think when you get to X'
I would absolutely be THERE for RE4 videos. That game was my shit growing up and it WILL BE AGAIN.
My theory on completing Endwalker was that Emet has been trying to give up on this plan for a long time, he's got a duty to his people but he could maybe let them rest if he could be convinced that he could entrust their duty to protect the star to someone. If mankind was strong enough to be entrusted with their legacy. But even when he is faced with the evidence of that he can't bring himself to believe it. He wants to let go but can't bring himself to do it.
You're gonna eat so many of your words here.
This entire sequence was, for me, the hypest moment I’ve ever seen in a game
Talking about the mention of Graha wondering if the age he came from still exists somehow, look up the Tales of X where the X is a different thing for every expansion. It’s a collection of short stories that give more lore for each expansion, especially for side characters. There was one from ARR iirc where pirate leader lady confronts her past. And there’s one from Shadowbringers where Graha’s question is answered fully! Check it out!
Its hilarious that they think they have to wait until endwalker for the story to get even better lmao
Kyle at the end: We had a full course meal and we are both satisfied. But always remember…I had to drag you to the table. 🤣🤣🤣
What I absolutely love from FFXIV as a Time-Travel story – it's that the only person who did proper Time Travel by his own will, doesn't know how it supposed to work fully. Let's be clear – G'raha is as confused as everyone else to how this thing should've worked. We are literally threading unknown waters in terms of magic and technology and trying to figure out how things could work and making new discoveries in world's magic and science. And this Summoning spell was invented and perfected by G'raha, not discovered from some archives – he did it with trial and error over the span of many years and it took him at least 5 attempts to cast the spell correctly and even that required him to make a beacon and put it to the First (somehow, I don't know how)
I love this part of detail, because in so many Fantasy stories any form of magic like that is either commonplace or it's an old knowledge that some ancient wizard made hundreds of years ago, or so. Not an actual achievement of a person that stands right here in front of you. Shadowbringers makes sure that you know – Summoning spell was no small feat and yet G'raha managed to figure it out in span of years of trial and error and he achieved something that even Ancients were not able to do.
I love this approach because it shows that world still has its own secrets that people have to figure out and possibilities to realise. It just sets up that "anything can happen" in this story, in the meaning that there is place for unexpected discoveries and adventures that player never has thought about before.
Lol, like they'd kill off the Crystal Exarch after that freaking sad parade.
One fact: nobody (on our side) died. That alone is enough to convince me that Emet had made up his mind to entrust his legacy to us despite finding us unworthy time and again. He kept egging us on to go through that transformation and hopefully become.. enough.
For me, knowing Shadowbringers was based on FF3 gave me at least an idea of what to expect.
FF3 is all about flipping the light and darkness dichotomy on its head. It was the first FF to toy with the idea that the warriors of darkness could be the good guys. Also, the Crystal Tower is from FF3.
So when Elidibus says he'll send warriors of light after us, I was like, oh its happening!
Also, you're correct about Ryne and Thancred going off to do the 8-man raid. I highly recommend doing the raids the same way you did Omega: as you get to the patch where they came out. Since they tie closely into the msq.
I can not wait for you to get to Endwalker.
Also, the reason your soul is repaired is Arbert.
Y'shtola was wrong! Ryne is more on point here. The Damage was healed. It's not that the Light was expelled. It became part of you. Think back to Emet-Selch's Powerpoint on the sundering and how the Rejoinings work. The Source is flooded with an aether until it breaks, and asborbs the Shard. The WoL was flooded with Light until the WoL was breaking, and Ardbert was absorbed into them. What Emet's plan was "If you can contain the light, you can rejoin people on the individual level. If you remake everyone into their original self, no one would fight against the rejoining."
What Elidibus was talking about at the end. "They (The current Warrior of Darkness, our PC) shall meet the same fate as every Warrior of Dark before them (Rolequest spoilers, the Shadow Keeper). Death at the hands of the Warriors of Light!" Lohgrif and Mitron were assigned to the first. They orchestrated Warriors of Light to go fight and kill the Shadowkeeper, in order to cause the calamity. But as we see in a flash back WAY back in Heavensward, Arbert and his party went beyond that and went to fight and defeat the Ascians.
So here is my interpretation of how the Exarch's survived rewriting history. We know that the Scions 'real' bodies are back on the Source and their bodies on the First are basically shells made of aether that they are inhabiting. We also know that sufficient control over aether allows one to manifest physical objects a la Mount Gulg or the Ascians Creation magic. Furthermore, I do believe that through questing in Amaurot, the false Ascians comment on our remarkably low aptitude for Creation magic. Remarkably low, but not non-existent. The Exarch is heavily tied to the Crystal Tower, which we know functions as a massive reservoir of aether, and is very important to just about everyone in the Crystarium. While they certainly do not have the capability to actively use creation magics, it is my theory that, buoyed by the energies of the Tower, their collective subconscious will is sufficient to stabilize his existence.
In other news, one of the reasons I love the Shadowbringers/Who Brings Shadows track is how perfectly it fits not just Emet, but also ourselves. 'Two-toned echoes' can also be referring to us+Ardbert, Warriors of Light/Dark on the Source, and Dark/Light on the First. 'Authors of our fate, we orchestrate our fall from grace. Worthless players on the stage, our defiance draws us straight to the edge' – As Ardbert says in that final confrontation, "This is our future. Our story." We made the choice to hunt the Lightwardens, sure Emet didn't object as was occasionally even helpful, but throughout the expansion we have been the ones making decisions and taking action, as would befit a Warrior of Darkness (read Change). I recall a lot of wordage on the behalf of the Ascians liking their machinations to a game or a play, and Emet, in the guise of Solus, had a particular penchant for the theatre. Throughout our adventures, we have utterly refused to follow the whims of the Ascians, our supposed directors, and all of this has brought to the edge- of the world, of space, of being consumed by the Light within. 'Recollections of the past' easily describes the Echo. As for 'Riding Home… Finding Hope' We have returned Ardbert to his home on the First and brought hope with us. We seek to find a way home to the Source for our friends and bring hope for a future not beset by another Calamity. For me, this sets our battle against Emet not simply as us vs the big bad, but almost as equals, fighting for fundamentally the same goal, the safety of the star and its people, but with diametrically opposed notions of what that means. Even when defeated and dying, Emet does the last thing he can to preserve his people; he entrusts their legacy onto us. He doesn't concede, he can't. There is too much at stake. But he can pass the torch, so that somehow, someway, they might survive. That has been my favorite moment in the game so far
The beauty of Emet as a villain is that never had a chance to overstay, from start to finish he was an amazing villain. This makes him one of the greatest.
"Just as long as those heroes can't zoom out further than they should" made me laugh harder than it should have.
My favorite dungeon in all of FFXIV. It impressed every step of the way.
I did not see the song like that. I saw the song as our WoL as bringing the Shadow, and Ardbert as the one who brought the light, because they were the cause of the flooding of light, and our WoL was the one who brought back the night. The very last line in the song says “I am shadow, I am the light”. Emet Selch just created the sin eaters to keep the one family line in power. The Asians in general manipulated the first’s hero’s and that caused Ardbert & co to bring the light. Just my $.02.