Main Story – Garlean Magitek Revival
-I report into Momodi about my journey. She’s so happy! Being the Flame General’s envoy is prestigious.
-I head to the airship landing. Off to the second main city, Limsa Lominsa. Everyone from the Ul’dah storyline comes to see me off. Aww!
HOLY SHIT CUTSCENE! We basically see Darth Vader getting off his ship.
-Darth Whoever gives a voiceover. The Empire tried to take Eorzea. A great dragon, Midgardsormr, stopped them.
“Eorzea… a blighted realm, riddled with false gods. Twice now, it has eluded the Empire’s grasp. For all the destruction it wrought, even Meteor, the great Sin, failed to yield us control over it. And for this failure, the realm has sunk deeper into depravity.”
-The Garleans are all about purifying the masses or whatever.
-He’s Lord van Baelsar. Three dudes in sweet armor sets kneel before him. His lieutenants I guess.
-Garlean airships are shipping something in. “Magitek research” and HOLY SHIT THE FFVI IS STRONG
-One nearby engineer voices doubts about this endeavor. The “legatus” is acting independent of the Emperor.
-A dude in red, Nero tol Scaeva, overhears. (FFVII Dirge of Cerberus reference maybe?) Uh-oh. If you’re in the Empire, chances are good you don’t want an armor-clad superior overhearing your doubts.
-He calls the Midlander Engineer “Codename Hummingway.” (ANOTHER reference? FFIV this time?)
“I assure you, Frumentarium sees all.” Frumentarium? Argh! So many new terms and names.
OH SHIT NERO THEN SLICES HUMMINGWAY IN HALF
“Garlond, soon you will be made to know the true power of magitek.”
Lots to process. Also, this makes it sound like Garlond is this person’s enemy while his name makes me think he's high up in the Garlean Empire. That plus the legatus going it alone makes me think there's internal strife in the Empire.
---
Main Story – Limsa Lominsa
-Scene change. My airship arrives in Limsa Lominsa.
-I meet, Merlwyb (pronounced MEL-vib in game – Welsh maybe), Admiral of Limsa Lominsa and Commander of the Maelstrom. Not sure if the Maelstrom is a military unit or a ship. I saw her in the flashback to the battle.
-She reads Raubahn’s letter about the memorial, and reminisces. Five years ago, the city states formed the Grand Companies and the Eorzean Alliance to fight the Garlean Empire. Not sure what the Grand Companies are.
-Garlemald (the emperor I guess?) then started the “Meteor project.” Legatus Nael van Darnus intended to cast down the moon Dalamud on us. The Battle of Carteneau was the Eorzean attempt to stop this.
-It didn’t work. But I guess Project Majora’s Mask didn’t quite work either, since the moon didn’t crash. Bahamut, “elder primal,” broke out and roasted Eorzea. And since the Garleans were roasted along with the Eorzeans, this was probably not the intended goal of the Meteor project.
-Merlwyb survived. Archon Louisoix did not… OH! I’ll bet Archon Louisoix was the old dude we saw in the cutscene who warped the others away.
-The nations struggled to rebuild. The beastman have continued to send their primals against Eorzea. Sounds like Ifrit, Shiva, etc. are more villainous in FFXIV than FFXI.
-Anyroad, Merlwyb likes the idea of a memorial to help unite against various threats.
-Next stop: Gridania.
---
Fishing
-I’m SO EXCITED to try this! The guild is in Limsa Lominsa.
-Sisipu is the quest giver, he’s not the guildmaster. That’s Wawalago. He’s gone fishin’.
-Fishing is pretty simple. I find either freshwater or ocean bait of whatever level I choose – higher level bait I guess catches higher level fish – and go to town.
-OMG THE FISHING TRAINER IS SO CHEESY AND I LOVE IT
“What’s that in your eye, Ququshu? I know that glimmer! It’s the… Eye of the Fisher! It’s the thrill of the bite! Rising up to the challenge of our rival!”
Some of the crafting guilds have been silly, but the alliteration and puns are off the charts here.
-I LOVE the dynamic between Sisipu and Wawalago, her superior. (Or his? I’m bad at guessing Lalafell gender.)
You can tell they’ve been friends for a while, the kind that have heard each other’s stories already and rib each other relentlessly.
-Stopping for now at level 13. It’s a fun, relaxing job. There’s a couple of fun mini-games: finding new fishing holes and trying to mix my bait and catch all the available fish in each hole.
-I want to try leveling up a bit in Limsa Lominsa with a combat job. Let’s try a physical DPS class, rogue.
---
Rogue - Thieves’ Code
-The rogue guild name is “Dutiful Sisters of the Eidelweiss.” They pose as a convent but are really just… well, rogues. XD
-The guild inside looks exactly like I’d hope. A hive of scum and villainy. Or a converted warehouse.
-Jacke leads the guild. Limsa Lominsa used to be overrun by pirates and thieves, but it was too violant and chaotic. They set a code of conduct:
1) Don’t steal from fellow Lominsans.
2) Don’t screw your own crew out of their spoils.
3) “Don’t trade culls like they was chattel.” [Non-rhetorical question: does this mean ‘no slavery’ or something else?]
-The guild’s main role is similar to that of the “Yellowjackets,” the city guards. The Yellowjackets enforce the city’s laws, and the rogue guild enforces the thieves’ code.
“We go where the shadows are darkest, an’ hand out justice to them as break the code. Some rum-soaked cove steals goods from the wrong cull, an’ we steal ‘em back.” VIGILANTE JUSTICE!
-At least, that’s some of what they do. They also serve as assassins, poisoners, whatever’s needed.
-I’m excited! This feels like it fits Ququshu’s personality.
-I dig the rogue weapon. Rogues use twin daggers. It frustrates me when I the two weapons in a dual-wielding don’t match. A set of twin daggers as the main weapon means they ALWAYS match.
-This class feels great to play. It’s a bit like the gladiator using combos, but feels lighter. Like the Syrio Forel school of combat. Spinning and flashy and smooth.
-HAH! I go to turn in my starter quest, and Jacke confirms this theme: “Ye must think o’ yerself as a dancer – not a bleedin’ butcher. Ye only need so much force to ram a shortblade in to the hilt. Precision an’ speed – that’s how ye get the most outta yer stabbers.”
This is my favorite example of how FFXIV marries story, mechanics, and style.
---
Rogue – Daintily Demolished
-Level 5. My first assignment.
-Some background: Admiral Merlwyb has outlawed piracy, but still allows “certified privateers.” These privateers can loot and pillage as long as they only target Garlean vessels.
Recently, a privateer stole magitek from Garlean ships, but kept the haul from all the crew. That violates the Code. Time for some ROGUE JUSTICE.
-A badass Lalafell named Perimu Haurimu, “Underfoot,” will serve as my mentor here.
-Another cool rogue flavor thing: this is the first guild hall I’ve seen where only rogues can enter. The gatekeeper doesn’t let others in. After all, we’re pretending to be a convent!
-Underfoot and I head to the local bar for some info. The “Drowning Wench” tavern (lol).
-The barkeep tells me the Dainty Demolishers are behind this. Former pirates enamored of court mannerisms.
-We can’t find the Demolishers, but do find the goblins who bought the magitek. We swipe it back.
-Back to the guild hall. I turn in the magitek, and the Dainty Demolishers stroll right in. I was followed. They’re SO GOOFY LOLOL
-And they’re not, like, super sharp. The Dainty Demolishes completely fell for the whole “Dutiful Sisters of Edelweiss” cover. They believed they were following me into a convent.
-Which makes all the more satisfying when the rogues OBLITERATE THE FUCK OUT OF THEM. Underfoot takes one out with a throwing knife to the chest, Jacke takes out another with a dancing evade-and-slash. A Mi’qote woman destroys the third with some sweet backstabbery.
JACKE: “Welcome to Limsa Lominsa’s ever-churnin’ underbelly, where the thieves shed their skins an’ became rogues.”
---
Rogue – Skulking Stray
-My next assignment comes at level 10. Some buccaneers stole Yellowjacket muskets. The guards stopped them, but the guns were gone.
-This violated the code by stealing from Lominsans. We’re on the case.
-My partner V’Kebbe the Stray, the Mi’qote who kicked ass against the Dainty Demolishers.
-She teaches me to “skulk” for info. I stealth about the city, eavesdrop, and work with V’Kebbe to find the merchant ship taking the guns.
-LOLOL – I snuck up to take the guns. A merchant caught me, and Ququshu gives this innocent-but-not-really “Who, me?” smile that cracks me up.
-V’Kebbe holds aggro from the merchant’s guards while I stealth away with the guns.
-To top things off, there’s a whole subplot about Jacke accidentally eating V’Kebbe’s sandwich. He makes her a new one, but once she discovers he was the culprit, she calls him for violating the Code - filching (a sandwich) from a fellow rogue.
This sandwich theft cannot stand! She strings him up in front of the rogue guild hall for the night. All hail the Code.
-Afterwards, we see a Yellowjacket soldier standing unhappily outside our guild.
“And now we find ourselves indebted to the Rogues’ Guild.”
She’s disgusted. Wants to see the rogues put away in jail, not helping the guards. I get the sense we’ll see a lot more of Inspector Javert as the rogue story progresses.
---
One more thing. I did the best side-quest ever. It forced me into a dance-off with drunken pirates.
The reward was the step-dance emote that I can now do whenever I want. Epic af.
---
Next time: Delivering Raubahn’s message to Gridania.
