Summary:
Finishing the level 50 crafting quests as a blacksmith, armorer,
botanist, carpenter, leatherworker, goldsmith, and miner. A delightful
FFXI callback.
Blacksmithing (level 50 finale)
-A mysterious Miqo’te woman wants me to forge a sword for an old gladiator, the Bronze Bull, who recently returned to the ring. He’s been doing badly, and she thinks it’s because his weapon sucks.
-I craft the item and bring it to the Bronze Bull. He’s… confused? The Miqo’te woman made the request behind his back.
-Btw, the Miqo’te has one of the most bad-ass character designs I’ve seen. Her color scheme, her dress, the whole thing.
-We pass a message onto the Bronze Bull from the Miqo’te: “The way of the sword is such that all who walk it become lost.” This seems like a despairing message, not an inspiring one. I’m confused.
-Hearing this quote makes him remember her. He thought she died.
THE BRONZE BULL: “Heh, I should’ve known better than to think the Hellfire Phoenix would die so easily.” The Miqo’te’s name is “Hellfire Phoenix.” She literally cannot get more badass.
-He proudly accepts the sword. Hellfire Phoenix watches from afar, and walks away with a smile. Maybe she was his mentor, and is trying to buck him up. But then why that cynical proverb?
-Ah! Apparently, those were the Bronze Bull’s old words. She wanted the message passed onto him as a sneaky code letting him know it’s her.
-The quest ends with the client satisfied, albeit still mysterious. Makes sense that the blacksmith wouldn’t get the full story. We’re just a waypoint, someone to help others’ story progress. In this case, the story of Hellfire Phoenix and the Bronze Bull.
---
Armorsmithing (level 50 finale)
-The prior quests focused on an old grouchy armorsmith named Blanstyr. Blanstyr feels frustrated, that the guild has lost its standards by becoming more inclusive and more forgiving of young armorsmiths. We’ve been engaged in a competition and it’s tied. Time for the tiebreaker challenge.
-We each craft a cobalt haubergeon. Admiral Merlwyb, the take-no-shit leader of Limsa Lominsa, will judge.
-The Admiral puts our armor on Lominsan soldiers to stand and get hit. Talk about a test.
-OH SHIT SHE FIRES HER GUN AT TEACH SOLDIER WEARING ARMOR!
SHE DOES NOT FUCK AROUND. I love Admiral Merlwyb deeply.
-The one wearing Blanstyr’s armor buckles in pain. The one wearing mine does not. Victory!
-This has exposed the flaw in Blanstyr’s whole philosophy. He saw his rival armorsmiths as enemies, and refused to learn from them.
His lack of inclusion didn’t purify his work. It doomed it.
---
Botany (level 50 finale)
-The botany guildmaster, Fufuchu, has been going through a moral challenge. The herbs she’s picked have been used for war against the Ixali, a war that only causes the forest to suffer further. She quits. My level 50 quest is to see if I can reinspire her.
-Her old student asks me collect rare spruce logs, to help some nearby pioneers rebuild after a recent attack. Botany in FFXIV is ultimately about helping people.
Blacksmithing (level 50 finale)
-A mysterious Miqo’te woman wants me to forge a sword for an old gladiator, the Bronze Bull, who recently returned to the ring. He’s been doing badly, and she thinks it’s because his weapon sucks.
-I craft the item and bring it to the Bronze Bull. He’s… confused? The Miqo’te woman made the request behind his back.
-Btw, the Miqo’te has one of the most bad-ass character designs I’ve seen. Her color scheme, her dress, the whole thing.
-We pass a message onto the Bronze Bull from the Miqo’te: “The way of the sword is such that all who walk it become lost.” This seems like a despairing message, not an inspiring one. I’m confused.
-Hearing this quote makes him remember her. He thought she died.
THE BRONZE BULL: “Heh, I should’ve known better than to think the Hellfire Phoenix would die so easily.” The Miqo’te’s name is “Hellfire Phoenix.” She literally cannot get more badass.
-He proudly accepts the sword. Hellfire Phoenix watches from afar, and walks away with a smile. Maybe she was his mentor, and is trying to buck him up. But then why that cynical proverb?
-Ah! Apparently, those were the Bronze Bull’s old words. She wanted the message passed onto him as a sneaky code letting him know it’s her.
-The quest ends with the client satisfied, albeit still mysterious. Makes sense that the blacksmith wouldn’t get the full story. We’re just a waypoint, someone to help others’ story progress. In this case, the story of Hellfire Phoenix and the Bronze Bull.
---
Armorsmithing (level 50 finale)
-The prior quests focused on an old grouchy armorsmith named Blanstyr. Blanstyr feels frustrated, that the guild has lost its standards by becoming more inclusive and more forgiving of young armorsmiths. We’ve been engaged in a competition and it’s tied. Time for the tiebreaker challenge.
-We each craft a cobalt haubergeon. Admiral Merlwyb, the take-no-shit leader of Limsa Lominsa, will judge.
-The Admiral puts our armor on Lominsan soldiers to stand and get hit. Talk about a test.
-OH SHIT SHE FIRES HER GUN AT TEACH SOLDIER WEARING ARMOR!
SHE DOES NOT FUCK AROUND. I love Admiral Merlwyb deeply.
-The one wearing Blanstyr’s armor buckles in pain. The one wearing mine does not. Victory!
-This has exposed the flaw in Blanstyr’s whole philosophy. He saw his rival armorsmiths as enemies, and refused to learn from them.
His lack of inclusion didn’t purify his work. It doomed it.
---
Botany (level 50 finale)
-The botany guildmaster, Fufuchu, has been going through a moral challenge. The herbs she’s picked have been used for war against the Ixali, a war that only causes the forest to suffer further. She quits. My level 50 quest is to see if I can reinspire her.
-Her old student asks me collect rare spruce logs, to help some nearby pioneers rebuild after a recent attack. Botany in FFXIV is ultimately about helping people.
-I give the spruce to a carpenter, who is grateful. It will save lives.
Fufuchu comes upon this interaction and has a change of heart.
-She will continue to help the forest. Yes, the war will go on, but it will go on without her too, and with no one to try healing the ravaged forest. She chooses to go on.
-Seems like a reasonable decision, but I also would’ve been fine with her opting out of the machine entirely.
---
Carpentry (level 50 finale)
-A Gridanian captain is missing. Someone found his old longbow.
-My quest isn’t to craft a new bow. It’s to inspire the despondent Beatin (carpentry guildmaster and friend of the captain) by making him a high-quality length of lumber.
-It works! He sees the lumber and hope revives. He injured his hand in frustration, and tasks me with crafting a replacement bow for the missing (but not dead!) captain.
-I complete the bow, rush it to the site of the skirmish where the captain went missing, and find him. It’s really satisfying. I like playing the support role in games, and that carries over here.
I’m not the hero, just the person who supplies the hero, and it’s great.
---
Leatherworking (level 50 finale)
-A man named Dauid approaches me. He wants to poach me, to hire me away from the Leatherworker’s Guild and to the rival Angrbotha’s guild.
-My leatherworking guildmaster, Geva, is demanding. Dauid’s pitch is that his guild has lower standards, and is more relaxed. They don’t care so much about quality.
-I return to Geva. Apparently, Dauid was a crappy leatherworker that she kicked out of the guild.
-There’s a competition coming up. Angrbotha’s guild has been trying to get all the other leatherworkers around to drop out so that their crap product wins and gets a stamp of approval.
-I create mine, and it’s time for the exhibition.
-The judges first review the Angrbotha entry. It’s not pretty, but it’s serviceable, sturdy, practical. I like that they’re not just total pieces of shit. Angrbotha is a second-rate, but still pretty good, guild.
(Of course, my jerkin blows it out of the water.)
-lolol immediately afterwards, the town guards arrest Dauid on charges of harassment, extortion, counterfeiting, and poaching. Eat it dude.
---
Goldsmithing (level 50 finale)
-The sultana’s birthday is coming up. One of our friends, Rorotaro, tasks us with crafting her a ring.
-We do so… but then a guard comes in, arresting Rorotaro as “The Jade Fox,” a notorious thief. Is that why he wanted us to craft the ring?
-Rorotaro still proclaims his innocence. Hm. Oddly enough, Gigi (the asshole puppet/robot) believes him.
-He was right! Robert, the “guard” who arrested Rorotaro, is the true Jade Fox.
-She will continue to help the forest. Yes, the war will go on, but it will go on without her too, and with no one to try healing the ravaged forest. She chooses to go on.
-Seems like a reasonable decision, but I also would’ve been fine with her opting out of the machine entirely.
---
Carpentry (level 50 finale)
-A Gridanian captain is missing. Someone found his old longbow.
-My quest isn’t to craft a new bow. It’s to inspire the despondent Beatin (carpentry guildmaster and friend of the captain) by making him a high-quality length of lumber.
-It works! He sees the lumber and hope revives. He injured his hand in frustration, and tasks me with crafting a replacement bow for the missing (but not dead!) captain.
-I complete the bow, rush it to the site of the skirmish where the captain went missing, and find him. It’s really satisfying. I like playing the support role in games, and that carries over here.
I’m not the hero, just the person who supplies the hero, and it’s great.
---
Leatherworking (level 50 finale)
-A man named Dauid approaches me. He wants to poach me, to hire me away from the Leatherworker’s Guild and to the rival Angrbotha’s guild.
-My leatherworking guildmaster, Geva, is demanding. Dauid’s pitch is that his guild has lower standards, and is more relaxed. They don’t care so much about quality.
-I return to Geva. Apparently, Dauid was a crappy leatherworker that she kicked out of the guild.
-There’s a competition coming up. Angrbotha’s guild has been trying to get all the other leatherworkers around to drop out so that their crap product wins and gets a stamp of approval.
-I create mine, and it’s time for the exhibition.
-The judges first review the Angrbotha entry. It’s not pretty, but it’s serviceable, sturdy, practical. I like that they’re not just total pieces of shit. Angrbotha is a second-rate, but still pretty good, guild.
(Of course, my jerkin blows it out of the water.)
-lolol immediately afterwards, the town guards arrest Dauid on charges of harassment, extortion, counterfeiting, and poaching. Eat it dude.
---
Goldsmithing (level 50 finale)
-The sultana’s birthday is coming up. One of our friends, Rorotaro, tasks us with crafting her a ring.
-We do so… but then a guard comes in, arresting Rorotaro as “The Jade Fox,” a notorious thief. Is that why he wanted us to craft the ring?
-Rorotaro still proclaims his innocence. Hm. Oddly enough, Gigi (the asshole puppet/robot) believes him.
-He was right! Robert, the “guard” who arrested Rorotaro, is the true Jade Fox.
Lolol we get a nice “Princess Bride” reference as Robert rages at Gigi the puppet.
From the Dread Pira… ahem, Jade Fox Robert.
-OMG THIS IS AMAZING – ROROTARO, THE LALAFELL, LAUNCHES HIMSELF LIKE A HEADBUTTING CANNONBALL AT ROBERT
-Robert knocked Gigi out. Wait… is Gigi dead? His core was damaged…
-Yay! We use the black pearl ring I just crafted as a core replacement. It works.
And it turns out it’s Gigi’s raw condescension that saved him:
SERENDIPITY (goldsmithing guildmaster): “In Gigi’s eyes, your ring was so poorly wrought that it filled him with an overwhelming disgust. You reminded him of his purpose by creating focus for his grand disdain, and in doing so you helped him to regain his senses. Isn’t that wonderful, Ququshu?” lololol
YOU’VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME THIS IS SO GREAT!!! In investigating Gigi’s history, Serendipity discovered that his original name was Mnejing. The first puppet ever built.
Mnejing was one of the princess’s royal puppets sassy asshole (sasshole?) puppets way back in Final Fantasy XI. What a callback.
---
Mining (level 50 finale)
-This quest focuses on internal politics of the miners’ guild. A guy in the guild had been challenging me to mining competitions to show flaws in the guild the past few levels, and he just admitted that his dad put him up to those. His dad was trying to shame the guild.
Now the dad’s plot has been exposed. The guild is about to give him the boot. So it’s my job to… save him?
-He was against the guild out of jealousy. A long time ago, the guildmaster got picked over him to run things. He thinks she betrayed her.
There’s something uncomfortable here. Gender never explicitly comes into it, but the story is about a male who feels a woman was picked for a promotion over him, and he can’t even imagine it was based on her merit. He thinks she schemed and backstabbed him.
But nope! She was just better.
-She handles this pretty well. She mostly feels upset at the misunderstanding that caused a schism between former friends. She does not seem to be angry at how little he thought of her and how he tried to actively sabotage her.
-It’s my job to find some rare ore and submit it to the guild’s supervisors on his behalf. I think this is to show we have his back, but not sure.
-In the end, the misunderstanding is cleared-up. He apologizes, he learns she beat him on merit.
And yet… I feel he gets off easy. As a man I’m not sure it’s my place to go farther than this, so I’ll leave it there.
-That’s the last of my level 50 crafting/gathering quests!
---
Next time: Wrapping up the pre-Heavensward story.
From the Dread Pira… ahem, Jade Fox Robert.
-OMG THIS IS AMAZING – ROROTARO, THE LALAFELL, LAUNCHES HIMSELF LIKE A HEADBUTTING CANNONBALL AT ROBERT
-Robert knocked Gigi out. Wait… is Gigi dead? His core was damaged…
-Yay! We use the black pearl ring I just crafted as a core replacement. It works.
And it turns out it’s Gigi’s raw condescension that saved him:
SERENDIPITY (goldsmithing guildmaster): “In Gigi’s eyes, your ring was so poorly wrought that it filled him with an overwhelming disgust. You reminded him of his purpose by creating focus for his grand disdain, and in doing so you helped him to regain his senses. Isn’t that wonderful, Ququshu?” lololol
YOU’VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME THIS IS SO GREAT!!! In investigating Gigi’s history, Serendipity discovered that his original name was Mnejing. The first puppet ever built.
Mnejing was one of the princess’s royal puppets sassy asshole (sasshole?) puppets way back in Final Fantasy XI. What a callback.
---
Mining (level 50 finale)
-This quest focuses on internal politics of the miners’ guild. A guy in the guild had been challenging me to mining competitions to show flaws in the guild the past few levels, and he just admitted that his dad put him up to those. His dad was trying to shame the guild.
Now the dad’s plot has been exposed. The guild is about to give him the boot. So it’s my job to… save him?
-He was against the guild out of jealousy. A long time ago, the guildmaster got picked over him to run things. He thinks she betrayed her.
There’s something uncomfortable here. Gender never explicitly comes into it, but the story is about a male who feels a woman was picked for a promotion over him, and he can’t even imagine it was based on her merit. He thinks she schemed and backstabbed him.
But nope! She was just better.
-She handles this pretty well. She mostly feels upset at the misunderstanding that caused a schism between former friends. She does not seem to be angry at how little he thought of her and how he tried to actively sabotage her.
-It’s my job to find some rare ore and submit it to the guild’s supervisors on his behalf. I think this is to show we have his back, but not sure.
-In the end, the misunderstanding is cleared-up. He apologizes, he learns she beat him on merit.
And yet… I feel he gets off easy. As a man I’m not sure it’s my place to go farther than this, so I’ll leave it there.
-That’s the last of my level 50 crafting/gathering quests!
---
Next time: Wrapping up the pre-Heavensward story.
