Fulfilled by the filler, multiple payoffs.
0:00 – Labs Part II
5:13 – To GARLEMALD!
20:41 – The Call
24:46 – The Hug
29:25 – All the Stars
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While I do agree that the loporitt quests and Puddingway cutscenes were fillery, I also do believe they had a purpose of sorts.
Puddingway's cutscene was a break from all the seriousness that came before. We just came back from Elpis, going right into a battle saving peoples lives, and then the intense dialogue between Jullus and Zenos. After so much seriousness, a break to help us calm down was needed.
And as for the loporitt part, again very fillery and I was also surprised we didn't do those other potential dungeon/duty things, but as an extension of the break of Puddingway it works. It also shows us "Hey, all those people in all those places we've been, they're capable, they don't need to fully rely on us, and they're returning the favor." I do also kind of think that helping the loporitts would somewhat advance our relations with Fourchenault but that may be a stretch.
I will say that I do feel like a lot of characters in XIV are underutilized when they really shouldn't be (at least in MSQ), but some of them do get their time to shine in other optional but still story related content. The raids and role quests mainly.
Personally it was the 4.X content where my dislike of Zenos really happened. He was too much an edge lord that felt like some OC that couldn't be defeated because he kept finding a loophole. In the 5.X content, I was so worried what was coming with both Fandanial and Xenos having so much screen time as I found them both absolutely obnoxious. However, I feel like Endwalker made great effort to provide motivations to the both of them, and I found them more engaging to watch.
My thoughts on things like the bunny quests and general slower portions was it was an intentional slow down after heightened emotional scenes. Having weeks and months between gameplay you have time to decompress, but when you're doing all this content in a long weekend, the story needs to bring you down in itself.
Elpis was mid until the top of Ktisis Hyperboreia.
32:30 I don't think Forchenault would have literally gone and beat up the servants, but it would have caused unneeded strife
Speaking as someone who played Stormblood from day 1 of early access, I can confirm that the Zenos hate started then. I remember feeling like an alien cause I seemed to be the only one that cackled with glee whenever he showed up! Also, in my corner of Eorzea, Eden is considered the superior raid series, followed by either Omega or the current one! No one I know loves Alexander. To each their own. Thanks for the video, great as always! <3
Having lived through it push back on zenos has been a big thing from Stormblood on. If anything Endwalker reformed him for many. Issues surrounding his paper thin motivations, narrative absense, scripted wins. Not helped by other tropes/asspulls/convenient solutions in Zenos half of Stormblood. At least so went the complaints.
Great video as always, gents. To give a personal explanation on Zenos hate: stormblood did a lot to hype him up, by having him be the big leader of everything in both Doma and Ala Mhigo to being the first to defeat us in combat…and none of it landed for me! He was bored, so i was bored, and it was only when we got to the final climax and he went "i literally only care about fighting" did i actually find him an interesting antagonist, and by then it was too late. Endwalker being able to emphasize on this aspect makes me like him as a villain a lot more, but for stormblood specifically i just could not care less.
People's dislike of Zenos is from Stormblood. I'd say hate for him lessened with Endwalker but there are still people who dislike him. I personally like that he was purely hedonistic pursuing his own desires without 'good' reason. IT made him different than the other villains.
Nah. Zenos was a very empty villain that felt too moustache-twirly. Endwalker actually redeemed the character for me.
The Labyrinthos segment is a great time to just pick your own soundtrack!
And maybe someday I'll get over the hug, but it won't be anytime soon. I've told this story several times: as one of the vanishingly few people who has played a femroe ever since I started in 2.1 (back then, you could go literal months without seeing another one in duty finder), it was so cool to see a character similar to my own, and with whom I really vibed, fit perfectly with the core team. I thought we were getting a brash, hilarious foil to Urianger who'd stick with the group for years to come.
Instead, they gave her part of 2.4 and the front half of 2.5 and that was it, she was gone, just so we could dispense with a kind of nothing villain (really, who ever thinks about Nabriales anymore unless they get his stupid trial). And years – more than five of them – passed without any real catharsis. Ishikawa took pains to mention her more, and that helped, but until the moment Bloewyda hugs Urianger she's still almost exclusively an afterthought. And then suddenly she was front-and-center again because the writers took the time to actually deal with what she and what her loss meant. The dam broke and I found myself sobbing for a full ten minutes, to the point that my wife came over to check on me. It might seem silly to have formed that strong an attachment to a character who was around for such a short time, but she's exactly the type of character I love to see in media. I'm just glad that Ishikawa and the team agreed.
People also love Ameilance because she is a custom delivery. If you know you know. lol
why yes I skip GG videos all the time. I didn't see the video/s that these clips are pulled from
FFXIV has a very strong awareness of their community, and that regularly comes to us through the story. So many scenes we get and you just nod because you know they know what they're doing.
I love how your intro perfectly captures the laby music experience there 😹
I don't know what it was about this video but it felt like a step up, I really enjoyed it!
They cheated with Fourchenault letting out all of his thoughts and emotions to his kids because of that damn song. "Flow" is like the easiest way to get someone post-Endwalker to bawl.
20:57 ROCKY HORROR!!! 😍😍😍
i enjoyed the music of that area.
Only going off Zenos and say stormblood (so i spoil nothing in EW)… The problem I have with that character is… your interactions with him in the game… and how it comes to a front in Stormblood is not well realized. I recall vividly being like… why should my character A) Care about this person? B) Remember this person beyond notoriety of say what he does to Yshtola? While we the player see Zenos many a time our characters have maybe… 2? interactions with Zenos total? in all of Stormblood. The whole dynamic felt weird & forced. A class 5 clinger from someone who has only seen your picture kinda vibe. So like the character has forever been in my mind as this like "ugh… this bonehead again". To me its poorly realized, they set a bad taste in your mouth early and its really hard (try as they will) to correct that.
The “Would you be happier if I had a good reason?” line, while meta in one sense, is also addressing Jullus’ view of Garlemald directly. He’s basically calling out that to the Garleans even a sacrifice of their own people on that scale would have been acceptable if it was to get rid of “Savages” or something along those lines.
You joke about the forever loop of action music- but the NORMAL music in Labyrinthos is so ear-bleedingly-awful that I was grateful for the action loop because it kept the horrific clown music at bay.
25:34 "Savior of ARR Patch Content"
Did you forget about Lady Iceheart? 😅