The Dragon Mountain
-I return to Vidofnir. With the Gnath threat to the dragons removed, she should let us see Hraesvelgr.
-She lets us pass. Our next step is to climb the sacred dragon mountain of Sohm Al.
Vidofnir.
-Before she leaves, she warns Estinien to keep his stolen power in check “lest it breed further despair.” I’m afraid of a full heel-turn by Estinien.
-Ysayle is afraid of this path. The dragons of Sohm Al will be hostile to us, and the last thing she wants to do is kill her way through a bunch of dragons. Sorry, Ysayle
-We fight through the mountain dungeon. It’s SO BEAUTIFUL. These are in-game graphics:
-Lots of dragons here, along with some of those adorable Gaelicats.
-When the final boss goes down, my consciousness is transported back to that weird crystal space. A second crystal lights up.
I’m not quite sure what these symbolize or what triggers the crystals’ activation.
-Back in reality. A roar bursts out from nowhere, knocking Estinien down. It’s NIdhogg. “His fury… bleeds through the eye.”
-Onward, to the heart of the dragon homeland.
-Ysayle is heartbroken with the dragons we’ve killed. “Another link to the chain of vengeance. Oh, Saint Shiva, when will it end…?”
-We continue, to a string of islands atop a a sea of clouds. This is where dragons and other races once lifved together. The Churning Mists.
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Lessons in Love (Valentine’s Day event)
-It’s Not!Valentine’s Day in FFXIV! “Valentione’s Day.” The questgiver is Lisette de Valentione.
Looks like an “Alice-in-Wonderland” cast member. I love it.
-Lisette is an Ishgardian, collaborating for the holiday with a local Gridanian partner named Astrid.
-I love Lisette’s design, but I LOOOOVE Astrid’s design.
Her job is to devise an “affinity test,” like a matchmaking game.
ASTRID: “The moogles tasked with setting up the venue have all abandoned me, muttering moogle profanities as they fluttered off. “ XD XD XD She offended them somehow.
-It’s not quite the case. The moogles are being tired/slothful, but they also find Astrid’s plan too starchy and rational.
-oh good lord a moogle just talked about the importance of “kupolation” in love. Moogle sex jokes.
-Astrid improves her tests, the lazy moogles get their pom-poms swatted, and the revamped affinity test is ready.
I just need to test it. They’ll randomly match me with someone in an instanced dungeon.
-I instead go in with a friend. The first half requires us to go through a maze in sync, without breaking a tether between us.
-The second is a card matching mini-game. Again, it requires communication and participation of both players.
Brava, Astrid! The affinity test is fun and awesome.
Afterwards, I check out a bonus holiday feature, where I go with a friend to a series of fortune tellers who predict our futures together.
I can’t breathe when I first see them. The predictions are so hilariously over the top.
Our futures range from obscene wealth and love to despair and betrayal.
-One of my rewards is a flying broken-heart loveseat.
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Palace of the Dead
-I continued into Palace of the dead through Floor 50. Floors 41-50 were especially tough. The enemies hit hard and the debuffs were brutal.
-The worst was a Mimic enemy who debuffed me with “Infatuation,” the WORST DEBUFF EVER. It removed my natural healing for 10 minutes. It persisted even through death.
-That witch who’s been following me awaits at floor 50. Her name is Edda Blackbosom.
-Oh shit. I’ve seen her before. A looong time ago. She was the healer with a random NPC adventurer party. The tank in her party died, and she was emotionally destroyed. (Something like that, anyway.)
I still have a quest lingering in my log about her and for a dungeon I haven’t gotten to yet. I need to do that. I feel like I’m missing something in her storyline.
-It’s a tough fight. After we win, she seems to awaken. Like she wasn’t herself.
”Oh, Ququshu. So good to see you… I’ve started anew as an adventurer, just as I promised.”
She’s confused how she came to be here. “A robed figure.” An Ascian did this? Or someone else?
-Those 50 floors are all that exists for this first part of Palace of the Dead. The next floors open up, and they have a name: “Hellward.”
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Random Stuff Around Eorzea
-I opened up a quest series for the new friendly beast tribe, the Nonmind:
-I got a set of “Wild Rose” gear in the mail, hearkening back to FFII.
Firion!Ququshu.
-An adorable fat cat minion:
-An eagle/chicken mount?
-Did a really cool dungeon, the Dusk Vigil. It has a super creepy vibe to it. It’s an old fort that got destroyed in the Calamity. It has kind of a Moria feel, since we read the journal entries of a now dead and zombified aide before everyone in the fort got dead and zombified.
-This player has an awesome sword:
-A random cool player design/wardrobe:
-An FFIV reference:
Related question: was Namingway supposed to be a moogle? I didn’t think so, but he looks a bit like the FFXII moogle incarnation.
-Bards in XIV can play actual music! I came across this bard player having a jam session with her friends in one of the main cities:
-I completed chocobo flight! At least for one zone. (Flying mounts become available on a zone-by-zone basis.)
My friends and I flying for a group shot. I’m on the radioactive ghost. My favorite is the fat chocobo.
-A different player on a fat chocobo mount. <3
The best part is finding out which mounts actually have flying capabilities. My favorite discovery is the flying Christmas bear.
-My friend Raq has one of the best minions ever:
-Started playing around with the FFXII-style mark/hunt mini-game:
-Two chocobos dressed for winter:
-Look, this isn’t very important story-wise, but I got a kitty and a puppy.
-One of the odder mounts I’ve ever seen:
-The Golden Saucer has regular short events you can participate in called GATEs. Jumping puzzles, stuff like that. The graphic that pops up when you join a GATE is adorable:
-Visited some player houses and they’re AMAZING!
Carbuncle-themed house.
Chocobo-themed house.
Moogle-themed house.
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Next time: moogles in Dravania.
