Exploring Eorzea / Random Stuff
-FFXIV has Qiqirin, those qute [later edit: type, but I’m definitely leaving this in] rat people from Aht Urhgan.
-The music here in Steps of Nald has a Spanish guitar vibe.
-Found a guy in a bar named Ricard. Possible FFII reference.
CACTUAR! Hola, Gracialsgc!
-I gained a “role” ability, common to ranged casters, at level 8.
-Player housing exists in “The Goblet” neighborhood of Ul’dah. It’s used mostly by adventurers, not residents. Frigging MMO gentrification.
-This is a common theme in Ul’dah. One side quest focuses on some wealthy merchants trying to kick residents of a neighborhood on the outskirts out of their homes and businesses.
-I can do “leves,” a repeatable style of bounty-quests that can be solo’d or grouped.
-I can now access inns. [Non-rhetorical question: is there a difference between resting in a sanctuary like a city, versus actually going to an inn and sleeping?]
-OMG – I went into an inn to rest, and my character had the cutest li’l “crawl into bed for nighty-night” animation. <3
---
Main Story
-A Tarutaru noblewoman named Lady Lilira has run away, and I have to find her.
-She’s near “the Sultrantree,” a giant tree. She’s repentant for something.
-Someone she knows listens in on her – a bodyguard maybe?
-Regardless, he and I take that role as some gargoyles attack.
-Afterwards, I fall unconscious. Another dream sequence. I’m in a mystical circle. A voice says the same line as in the beginning – “Hear. Feel. Think.” – but it’s a different voice. Female, not male.
-The voice calls me “crystal bearer.”
“I am Hydaelyn. All made one. A light there once was that shone throughout the realm… yet it hath since grown dim. And as it hath faltered, so hath Darkness risen up in its stead, presaging an end of life. For the sake of all, I beseech thee: deliver us from this fate.”
Is this Eorzea’s version of Altana?
-The power to fight the Darkness dwells in the crystals of light. I have a mission.
-I wake up to the bodyguard and Lady Lilira debating wtf just happened. They call the monster a “voidsent.”
-The initial questgiver tells me that the “bodyguard” is Thancred, a scholar of the aether. I’m told he’s harmless, which makes me certain he’s not.
-I go to a local bar, the Coffer & Coffin. The owner, Wystan, is a good dude. Gives cookies to starving children, fights for better conditions, etc.
He himself was a refugee after the Calamity, and knows how bad shit can get. He wants improve Ul’dah.
-Wystan recently discovered a new silver vein to build his fortune. But when we get to the site, the Syndicate attacks. They’re a mob-like group that owns Ul’dah’s Brass Blade guards.
-A cloaked and masked figure watches, summoning a giant-ass golem against us. I think the cloaked guy is from the intro cinematic.
-The hooded, masked fellow is shocked when I defeat it. I’m on his radar now.
Current guess: that masked guy is Thancred,
-Speak of the devil. Thancred shows up immediately after, and I fall unconscious with another dream.
-In the vision, I see Thancred walking through Ul’dah. He’s hitting on two women, a real player.
-He overhears citizens complaining about something stirring the Amal’jaa. The beastmen have been raiding crystal-bearing caverns.
THANCRED: “If they truly mean to summon a primal, we must act quickly.” In FFXI, the summons were fought as “Ifrit Prime” and “Leviathan Prime” and the like. I’ll bet those are the primals.
-Later, still in the vision, Thancred is sneaking about. Uncommonly bad harvests have sapped the city of its grain.
He looks up to the sky and sees an orb of fire. This must be post-Calamity.
“Aye, this weakening of the aetheric flow must surely be linked to Dalamud’s descent. And of course to the primals.” Dalamud? Is that another name for Bahamut?
-Thancred goes to a temple with a statue of a woman holding a snake. “Time to focus. No more gallivanting about like before. The Scions are counting on you.” Scions?
He’s wearing some sort of ghostbuster mas to see aetheric disturbances.
-I wake up. Thancred tells me the golem belonged to Lord Lolorito, enemy of the Sultana. So is Lord Lolorito the dude in black? Is Thancred Lord Lolorito in disguise?
-Dammit. Lolorito’s plan to scare off Wystan worked – he’s leaving Ul’dah. I can’t blame him. He wants to better the city, but if he stays he’ll die.
-I return to Momodi Modi. She says nobody knows I was at the ruins, to which I say: “LOL.” I saw the cutscene with Shadowy Masked Dude watching me.
---
Thaumaturge
-My quests derive from a textbook: “Thaumaturgy: The Yawning Abyss.”
-Chapter One: “The Threat of Intimacy.” I LOVE THAT NAME! It teaches me to keep distance in combat.
“Our most effective strategy is to topple our adversaries with overwhelming force before they have a
chance to respond. Honor is for knights… and dead mages.”
-Throughout the quest is Cocobusi, an alchemist. He dreams of being a thaumaturge, but his “aetheric levels” are too low. I think this is like midichlorians. He spends his trying trying to concoct potions to fix that.
I feel bad for him. It’s like he was denied entry to Hogwarts.
-Next chapter: the Threat of Paucity, about managing my mana resources.
-With the level 10 quest done, I can try other classes. I definitely want to explore.
-Combat jobs like pugilist and archer aren’t the only options. Miner, botanist, goldsmith, culinarian, fisher… YESSSS! I’ll start with miner.
---
Miner!
-The Miner’s Guild started as a union, fighting exploitative working conditions.
-My weapon determines my class. I just swap out my staff and grab a pickaxe, and I’m a level 1 miner instead of a level 13 thaumaturge.
-This is WILD. It’s a full class, not just a hobby.
-I roam the outskirts of Ul’dah by mining, and let me say: mining is awesome. When I find a vein, I get a choice of which mineral to try mining, each with different success rates and different experience granted for success.
-My miner abilities help with this. They use mana-esque Gathering Points to buff my chances success rates, find nodes faster, things like that.
-The level 5 mining quest has me gather 50 bone shards. The game provides a gathering log that shows where the veins that give bone shards can be found, so no hunting on the wiki!
-There’s no competing for veins! It’s not like someone can race to a vein I see and get it before me. THIS IS AMAZING.
-Reached level 10. Let’s try a crafting class.
---
Goldsmith!
-I love the goldsmith guildmaster, Mistress Serendipity. She’s a bit of a doofus.
And she has a “mammet” named Gigi, like the FFXI Aht Urhgan puppets. It constantly criticizes everyone’s work.
-Goldsmithing levels up super fast.
-I get bonus experience for crafting something I haven’t crafted before. This is a great change of pace. Many MMOs incentivize just crafting one item over and over.
-Each craft can be a multi-step process. The more steps, the more experience.
-“Crafting points” are like mana for crafting. My goldsmith abilities can improve my chances of making the craft high-quality, with the risk of a lower chance to complete the craft.
-I hit level 10, and want to try one more class – a Gladiator.
---
Gladiator!
-FFXIV gladiators are just that – not soldiers, but gladiators interested in glory and victory in front of roaring crowds.
-I get an “Armoury Bonus,” a boost to the experience gain of my lower level classes. The larger the discrepancy between the leveling class and my highest class, the bigger the experience gain bonus. So if I start a level 1 Pugilist, she will level up faster if I have a level 30 Gladiator than if I have a level 10 Gladiator because the discrepancy would be greater.
[Non-rhetorical question: Does my level 13 thaumaturge give this new gladiator an armoury bonus, or does the higher level class have to be in the same discipline? (Thaumaturge is a Disciple of Magic and gladiator is a Disciple of War.]
-A lot of the gladiator weapon names carry over from FFXI. The gladiator’s Savage Blade and Swift Blade were both sword weaponskills in XI.
-Gladiators get combos! For instance, Savage Blade does 100 damage. But if I use Fast Blade first, then Savage Blade does 210 damage.
---
Next time: continuing with the main story on Thaumaturge, but also will explore gladiator and pugilist.
