Summary: Revisiting the Battle of Carteneau. Aldis under attack. Trying out a host of crafting classes in Ul’dah.
Main Story – Memories of Carteneau
-Time for dinner with the Sultana!
-lol her captain Raubahn holds her up on his forearm.
-She introduces me as a champion of Ul’dah for retrieving her crown.
RAUBAHN: “While we gorge ourselves, children starve in the streets.” Buzzkill. (Though no doubt right.)
-Raubahn isn’t speaking ill of the sultana with this comment, but rather of the Syndicate. They drive poverty through exploitation. We need to restore the Sultana to full power ASAP. Benevolent monarchy > malevolent oligarchy I suppose.
-Raubahn somehow intuits that I’ve seen visions of the crystal recently. He tells me about others before me who fought the “primals” and the Garlean Empire. Alas, since the original FFXIV got pulled – I mean, since the Cataclysm – nobody remembers the names of those brave heroes.
-Maybe one day, I’ll be like one of those Warriors of Light.
-Another wave of dizziness hits me. Another vision.
-In this vision, I see Raubahn five years ago with the “Flames.” He’s with two other leaders, Merlwyb and Kan-E-Senna.
The masked villain from the intro watches from a distance.
-Later, his soldiers radio in as they’re obliterated by Bahamut. “There’s no way out! Gods preserve, what IS that thing!?”
-Some of the voice acting in this game has been good, but Raubahn yelling “Mad Snake!? Mad Snaaaaaake! Answer me!” just makes me chuckle.
-Kan-E-Senna wonders who the “dark, stifling presence “is.
-Lots of talk about Archon Louisoix. I assume that’s some frontline allied commander.
-Scene change to the evil masked dude. “That I should live to behold Bahamut once more…” So this guy is old, from another era.
“It has begun. Soon the planet will regain its true form.” I’m not sure what to make of this. FFXI featured plots around people trying to cataclysmically re-align Vana’diel, re-align it with Paradise. Maybe this is similar.
-I wake up in Momodi’s inn and go catch up with General Raubahn.
-He gives me letters for the Eorzean Alliance. He wants a memorial to mark the fifth anniversary of the Battle of Carteneau, the battle we saw in the vision.
-FFXI had a very similar questline, requiring me to go out and contact the other cities. Except in FFXI, I had to run for like 45 minutes each trip. Here, he gives me an airship pass.
---
Gladiator – Frenzy’s Past
-The level 15 quest has me hunt down some Amal’jaa raiders in Eastern Thanalan.
-When I return, Aldis enters the guild hall. Myla’s shocked! And pissed.
Aldis’ prior departure somehow disgraced the gladiators.
Main Story – Memories of Carteneau
-Time for dinner with the Sultana!
-lol her captain Raubahn holds her up on his forearm.
-She introduces me as a champion of Ul’dah for retrieving her crown.
RAUBAHN: “While we gorge ourselves, children starve in the streets.” Buzzkill. (Though no doubt right.)
-Raubahn isn’t speaking ill of the sultana with this comment, but rather of the Syndicate. They drive poverty through exploitation. We need to restore the Sultana to full power ASAP. Benevolent monarchy > malevolent oligarchy I suppose.
-Raubahn somehow intuits that I’ve seen visions of the crystal recently. He tells me about others before me who fought the “primals” and the Garlean Empire. Alas, since the original FFXIV got pulled – I mean, since the Cataclysm – nobody remembers the names of those brave heroes.
-Maybe one day, I’ll be like one of those Warriors of Light.
-Another wave of dizziness hits me. Another vision.
-In this vision, I see Raubahn five years ago with the “Flames.” He’s with two other leaders, Merlwyb and Kan-E-Senna.
The masked villain from the intro watches from a distance.
-Later, his soldiers radio in as they’re obliterated by Bahamut. “There’s no way out! Gods preserve, what IS that thing!?”
-Some of the voice acting in this game has been good, but Raubahn yelling “Mad Snake!? Mad Snaaaaaake! Answer me!” just makes me chuckle.
-Kan-E-Senna wonders who the “dark, stifling presence “is.
-Lots of talk about Archon Louisoix. I assume that’s some frontline allied commander.
-Scene change to the evil masked dude. “That I should live to behold Bahamut once more…” So this guy is old, from another era.
“It has begun. Soon the planet will regain its true form.” I’m not sure what to make of this. FFXI featured plots around people trying to cataclysmically re-align Vana’diel, re-align it with Paradise. Maybe this is similar.
-I wake up in Momodi’s inn and go catch up with General Raubahn.
-He gives me letters for the Eorzean Alliance. He wants a memorial to mark the fifth anniversary of the Battle of Carteneau, the battle we saw in the vision.
-FFXI had a very similar questline, requiring me to go out and contact the other cities. Except in FFXI, I had to run for like 45 minutes each trip. Here, he gives me an airship pass.
---
Gladiator – Frenzy’s Past
-The level 15 quest has me hunt down some Amal’jaa raiders in Eastern Thanalan.
-When I return, Aldis enters the guild hall. Myla’s shocked! And pissed.
Aldis’ prior departure somehow disgraced the gladiators.
-I go to the bar and meet Aldis for a drink.
-He describes himself as a “former man of conviction.” What happened to him to kill that conviction? I get the sense he wasn’t always a goofball like this.
-His sword, Frenzy, really does look awesome. It’s part of a set. Someone else wielded its twin.
-Before he can share more, archers charge into the bar. “Aldis, Sword of Nald! We’ve come for your head!” There’s a ton of them.
-We take em out. His story will have to wait for later, but it seems like whoever owns Frenzy’s twin is now Aldis’ enemy.
---
Miner
-I really enjoy the miner class. It’s like a mini-game, where you tweak strategy depending on your goal.
-My level 15 miner quest is a great example. A foreman named Deep Canyon sends me out to mine ten units of high-purity cinnabar.
-I head outside the town of Horizon. The miner ability “Lay of the Land” points me to the nearest rocky outcrop (mineral node).
-This is my first time mining in this area, so the minerals at the first node show up as “Unknown.” I have only a 25% chance to successfully mine one until I discover it. So I use my ability “Sharp Vision III” to get a major boost towards mining success, +50%. Now I have a 75% chance to successfully mine each unknown!
-I see four potential items. Iron Sand, Cinnabar, Copper Sand, and Water Shard. I’m at a high enough mining level that I have a 100% chance to mine each item, so no need to boost the success rate. But my goal isn’t just cinnabar – it’s HIGH-PURITY cinnabar, and I only have a 10% chance to mine high-purity cinnabar.
BUT WAIT! I just got a new mining ability called “Unearth” that boosts the chance of gathering high-purity items by 10% points, doubling the chance in this case.
-Now that I have a strategy, I use Lay of the Land to track nearby veins and go around until I get 10 units of high-purity cinnabar.
-Some nodes are surrounded by enemies. Ququshu is SO DEDICATED to her mining that as soon as she picks up her pickaxe, she completely forgets how to be a gladiator or thaumaturge to kill the enemy, but thankfully she can use Stealth and evade these enemies.
Miner!Ququshu cosplaying as Van Gogh.
-I turn the items into Deep Canyon, and he expresses really strong disregard for me. Or at least, for adventurers. He sees us coming into Ul’dah and getting rich off of their natural resources.
---
Weaver
-I just joined the weaver’s guild.
-It’s kind of hilarious to hear how violently the weavers’ guild feels towards unguilded weavers trying to sell their wares in Ul’dah.
-The weaver guildmaster is, as you might expect, DAPPER AS FUCK.
He’s got a feather in his top hat, and an embroidered thing at his side with a cactuar on it.
-It sounds like weaver intersects well with botany, with botany providing supplies for weaver eventually.
-So far, this isn’t my favorite class. It just feels like I’m going AFK to craft 50-60 balls of yarn a lot. But this is just the early stages, and once it starts interacting more with my other crafting and gathering jobs, I think that’ll change.
---
Alchemist
-This is my last Ul’dah crafting profession to start on. It started out as an attempt to create gold and silver, eventually creating potions and medicines, but it’s met with distrust.
-lol the guildmaster, Severian, is SUPER INTENSE! He doesn’t want to train me, then suddenly changes his mind. Maybe he thought of a use for me.
I get the sense that he treats assistants the way Cecil on Welcome to Night Vale treats interns.
-Severian has "blood ties" to the Syndicate.
---
Goldsmith
-The early levels of goldsmithing are more static than mining. I stay in the guild, craft my new stuff, and level up pretty quickly. All the items so far can be bought in the guild.
-The level 15 quest features a series of jokes about (I can’t believe I’m saying this) Gigi the puppet sexually harassing the guildmaster, Serendipity. Critiquing her physically, to say the least. It’s kind of gross?
-By level 19, I'm approaching the point where items can no longer be crafted with supplies bought from an NPC vendor. I have to go out and gather/kill in the world, outside in the Ul’dah region.
Crafting jewelry while a SUPER ADORBS PUPPER plays nearby.
And the main story just sent me off to visit the other two main cities! Perfect timing.
-Look. I know I said I’d just focus on two jobs, on the thaumaturge and the gladiator… but nah lol. I want to explore the low-level quests in other areas! The stories in other areas!
My new plan is to level up a couple of other combat jobs in the other cities. See those areas, and gain access to the lower-level crafting materials that can only be found in those parts of the world.
GOD THIS IS EXCITING! THE WORLD IS OPENING UP!
---
Next time: Leaving Ul'dah.
Weaver
-I just joined the weaver’s guild.
-It’s kind of hilarious to hear how violently the weavers’ guild feels towards unguilded weavers trying to sell their wares in Ul’dah.
-The weaver guildmaster is, as you might expect, DAPPER AS FUCK.
He’s got a feather in his top hat, and an embroidered thing at his side with a cactuar on it.
-It sounds like weaver intersects well with botany, with botany providing supplies for weaver eventually.
-So far, this isn’t my favorite class. It just feels like I’m going AFK to craft 50-60 balls of yarn a lot. But this is just the early stages, and once it starts interacting more with my other crafting and gathering jobs, I think that’ll change.
---
Alchemist
-This is my last Ul’dah crafting profession to start on. It started out as an attempt to create gold and silver, eventually creating potions and medicines, but it’s met with distrust.
-lol the guildmaster, Severian, is SUPER INTENSE! He doesn’t want to train me, then suddenly changes his mind. Maybe he thought of a use for me.
I get the sense that he treats assistants the way Cecil on Welcome to Night Vale treats interns.
-Severian has "blood ties" to the Syndicate.
---
Goldsmith
-The early levels of goldsmithing are more static than mining. I stay in the guild, craft my new stuff, and level up pretty quickly. All the items so far can be bought in the guild.
-The level 15 quest features a series of jokes about (I can’t believe I’m saying this) Gigi the puppet sexually harassing the guildmaster, Serendipity. Critiquing her physically, to say the least. It’s kind of gross?
-By level 19, I'm approaching the point where items can no longer be crafted with supplies bought from an NPC vendor. I have to go out and gather/kill in the world, outside in the Ul’dah region.
Crafting jewelry while a SUPER ADORBS PUPPER plays nearby.
And the main story just sent me off to visit the other two main cities! Perfect timing.
-Look. I know I said I’d just focus on two jobs, on the thaumaturge and the gladiator… but nah lol. I want to explore the low-level quests in other areas! The stories in other areas!
My new plan is to level up a couple of other combat jobs in the other cities. See those areas, and gain access to the lower-level crafting materials that can only be found in those parts of the world.
GOD THIS IS EXCITING! THE WORLD IS OPENING UP!
---
Next time: Leaving Ul'dah.
