Heavensward
-Ahead of me is the Aetherochemical Research Facility at the heart of Azys Lla. Dungeon time.
-Before I go in though, I fly above the facility… and three giant “statues” are here. They look exactly like the Warring Triad bosses I remember from FFVI.
[Later edit: strangely enough, nothing comes of this. Maybe they’ll come into play during the post-Heavensward content, or maybe they’ll just remain as giant easter eggs. I’m really hoping for the former. I mean, the deepest parts of the dungeon are called “Triad Control.” It’d be a waste if the Warring Triad doesn’t play a bigger role.]
-I really dig the research facility’s aesthetic. It’s futurist, but rough. High technology that feels overgrown, worn, ragged.
Parts of it remind me strongly of the Great Crystal in FFXII, especially a part where the floor only materializes as you get close.
-The final bosses are two Ascians, Lahabrea and Igeyorhm.
Very cool fight, lots of crap to dodge. The only part I really hate is when they drop patches of ice on the ground that makes it super hard to control your movement. Frigging ice levels.
-Midway through, they fuse to start “the Joining,” becoming Ascian Prime.
Some of Ascian Prime’s attacks are visually wild:
-The core of all these Ascian plots throughout FFXIV has been the desire to free or wake or somehow reactivate a sort of anti-Hydaelyn named Lord Zodiark. This Joining may be an attempt to finish that job.
-The Ascians unfuse after we defeat Ascian Prime. They move to escape… BUT NO LOL! I TOSS OUT THE WHITE AURACITE, TRAP IT, AND DESTROY IT
A parting gift from Moenbryda.
NO INFINITE RESURRECTION FOR YOU ASSHOLES!
-The white auracite steals Igeyorhm’s spirit and shatters. Perma-death.
-Unfortunately, that was my only white auracite. Lahabrea’s still alive and my tools are used up.
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Return of the King
-At this point, a new figure enters. Archbishop Thordan VII with his Heavens Ward. They’re carrying a large ark of some sort.
-The Azure Dragoon has long held Nidhogg’s left eye. Sounds like the archbishop has now found Nidhogg’s right eye.
-They open the ark… and it’s actually a tomb holding the body of Haldrath, the first Azure Dragoon.
-Haldrath kept the Eye. It fused to him in death.
-Now I see where Archbishop Thordan’s plans led. He uses the eye’s power to channel the spirit of his ancestor as a primal, the legendary King Thordan. He’s going full JRPG villain and ascending to godhood.
HE GROWS HUUUUGE! His transformation turned him from a frail old man into a titanic knight.
-I like that Archbishop Thordan – ahem, King Thordan now – isn’t just randomly evil. He still is obsessed with control and order, and (delightfully) turns on the Ascian who aided him, Lahabrea. The puppet has cut the strings and has the puppetmaster in his sights.
-HE FUCKING OBLITERATERS THE ASCIAN WITH HIS DRAGON-EYE POWERED SWORD IN ONE SWING
-King Thordan is in full Lawful Good mode. He’s determined to destroy anyone who brings chaos. Ascians, dragons, or primal. Yay!
Wait that includes us, booooo
-A new trial (the single-enemy raid type) is available. Thordan time.
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Knights of the Round
-A friend of mine noted that this whole thing feels like a callback to FFVII’s Knights of the Round, and I totally agree. This is an eight-person trial is against King Thordan and his Heavens Ward – his twelve knights.
-There’s SO MUCH going on during this fight. Most of our attention is on Thordan himself, but all twelve of his knights have their own abilities. For instance, one throws out orbs for us to dodge. Another puts a pulsing frost effect on some of our raid members forcing us to run out of the group. Etc.
-Near the end of the fight, it seems like we’re fighting on a platform in space??
I don’t know what’s going on. What actually is this aetherochemical research facility?
-As he falls, we briefly see through Thordan’s eyes. He looks at Ququshu and sees her as some hideous dark phantasm of a dragoon.
It’s fucking awesome.
After all, Thordan was full Lawful Good. We fought him, and he saw us as some demonic entity. He really thought he was doing good.
-Upon defeat, he and his knights don’t collapse and die like regular people. They’re primals at this point. They dissipate and fade away.
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Hatred Outlives the Hateful
-Estinien enters the room. He retrieves one eye of Nidhogg from me, and the second from Thordan’s sword.
ESTINIEN: “All that remains is to take them beyond the reach of man and dragon both. With this task accomplished, my toils shall finally be at an end.” Like Kain after FFIV, he plans to jump out of the picture.
-He grasps the two eyes and… shit starts to go bad.
-All the time that Estinien served as Azure Dragoon, he had to fight off the corruption of the Eye. Now, he’s feeling triumphant, and just when he took hold of both Eyes for the first time.
-Nidhogg may be dead, but his spirit lives within these Eyes. He attacks Estinien mentally and spiritually now that his guard is finally lowered, for an instant.
“The keening of my fallen kindred… their smoldering desire for vengeance… mine eyes have partaken of a thousand years of pain – a pain which I shall bestow upon thee. Drink deep my rage, mortal… AND BECOME ME!”
POSSESSED ESTINIEN INCOMING! He transforms fully into Nidhogg and flies off.
Estinien no more.
-Midgardsormr appears beside me. Saddened by how much Nidhogg’s rage consumed him. Nidhogg’s his child,after all.
-The dragon flies me away from Azys Lla, alongside Cid’s airship.
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Amends
-We return to Ishgard together. So… a mixed bag of news to share. Good news: Archbishop Thordan is defeated! Bad news: Nidhogg’s spirit possessed your greatest champion.
-Midgardsormr himself is here, and Ser Aymeric gets the chance to address him.
He does so nobly. Kneels before Midgardsormr, expressing both apology for Ishgard’s actions against the dragons and (this is crucial) the desire to make things right.
AYMERIC
-Peace between dragons and Ishgard will be a long process, but at least it’s begun.
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Credits
-The credits begin to roll. This is the end of Heavensward’s main story.
-All the Eorzean leaders are in Ishgard for some kind of ceremony.
-YAAAAY ISHGARD IS NOW PART OF THE EORZEAN ALLIANCE! Its hermit era is over.
-Scene change to Ququshu outside the city, at a gravestone. The Scions arrive to comfort her.
-It’s Lord Haurchefant’s grave.
-Tataru’s ready to rebuild the Scions.
“Which means we’re going to need MONEY!!! And lots of it!” love you so much tataru
-Scene change to the rebuilding of Ishgard. The church’s tyranny is over. The city moves forward.
-Then we get a final montage of a whole mess of bosses and scenes from Heavensward. Dragons and the insect primal and Raubahn and the Sultana and everything.
What a cool expansion. Glad I played dragoon for it.
-After a long credits scene complete with voiced music, we get a post-credits scene.
-We see Elidibus the Ascian. I know there are many more Ascians, but Elidibus is one of the main ones we’ve met who’s still surviving. It looks like he’s on the moon??
-His two fellow Ascians were bested “in their attempt to initiate the eighth Rejoining.” That was the thing from the last dungeon where they became Ascian Prime.
Wait, the EIGHTH rejoining? I guess that makes sense. Ascian Prime said that they were going to RE-awaken Lord Zodiark. Maybe he’s been active seven times.
[Later edit: now that I think about it, maybe it has something to do with the various “Astral” and “Umbral” eras that FFXIV uses to mark its calendar. Something for me to keep in mind.]
“Without intervention, the balance between Light and Darkness will begin to shift, placing our mission in jeopardy.”
-He thinks I’m growing too strong as the Warrior of Light. Someone walks up to him nearby. Not an Ascian. He urges that mystery person to join his fight.
-He calls that person: “Warrior of Darkness.” WE’RE GOING FFIII UP IN HERE!!! (In FFIII, the Warriors of Darkness were not villains – they were simply harbingers of balance. I won’t assume this Warrior of Darkness is a villain yet either.)
-Fade out, as we see them LITERALLY on the moon.
-Scene change to that scholarly outpost reclaimed by the goblins, Sharlayan. Cid is hanging with goblins.
-Something beneath the city starts to react. A mechanical thing.
-OH SHIT IT’S ALEXANDER!!!!
He’s like the size of a city!! The goblins somehow woke it up.
-The screen goes black as lines of verse appear:
“Spires of deception crumble to dust
To lay bare truths long concealed
Beyond shimmering shadow
Lieth shimmering light”
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That’s it for now. FFXIV wrapped up the Archbishop’s storyline, but opened up about seventy billion new threads. To sum up where we go from here:
-Estinien is possessed by Nidhogg and probably intent to destroy any beginnings of peace between Ishgard and the other dragons.
-Elidibus will continue to try awakening Lord Zodiark.
-A Warrior of Darkness enters the fray.
-Rebuilding the Scions.
-Dealing with Alexander.
What a set-up for the post-expansion patch content. “Stormblood” is the next (and most recent) expansion, and it looks like I have a ways to go before I reach it.
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Random Images Around Eorzea
Any Seanan McGuire fans?
A dashing red mage who happens to be dressed like a chocobo:
Who’s your daddy?
An odder otter:
A player dressed as a goblin playing Triple Triad:
A guy with the glorious name of Kaiser Baconblade:
Wind-up Shinryu minion:
A bluebird minion!
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Next time: starting the post-Heavensward patch content.
