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To Kill a Coeurl (new side dungeon)
-The Temple of the Fist, home of the old order of the Fist of Rhalgr, lies across Rhalgr’s Reach.
-A woman named Marjorie wants to explore the temple’s ruins.
-The temple is now full of obstacles and traps. A monk of legend awaits at the end.
-The first boss of this 4-player dungeon is actually two bosses, twin coeurls. I always feel bad about killing coeurls. Sure, they’re weird alien things out to kill me, but it’s not their fault. They’re still basically just big kitties.
-The dungeon has two main environments: an outdoors section along the path atop Rhalgr’s Reach, and the far more interesting inner temple.
Entering the temple.
The temple reminds me of FFX temples. Mysterious, smoky, even with little motes of light flitting about.
-Majorie has Twitch-levels of backseat gaming. Like, after I beat the second boss (a test), she chirps: “Look at that! Your time was perfectly average.” Thanks.
-The final boss is Ivan Coeurlfist. The spirit of a great monk who wanted one last challenge.
I love his Ghostly Zeus look.
-The devotion and persistence of that final monk, and the beauty of the temple as a whole, inspires Marjorie. She wants to become a monk herself.
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King of the Castle (new side dungeon)
-Outlaws have overrun Kugane castle, demanding that Kugane close its borders to ijin/foreigners.
-They took hostages, including an unnamed Ul’dahn dignitary. Someone I’ve met before?
-The outlaw leader is a merchant afraid of foreign competition. He’s not the problem; his bodyguard is.
-The bodyguard is a great swordsman who “demands exorbitant sums of money, defending his clients with seemingly inhuman displays of strength and skill commensurate with the price he is paid.”
I IMMEDIATELY KNOW WHO HE IS!
https://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2016/10/ffx-pa...
-The zone feels a lot like Shisui of the Violet Tides, the underwater palace.
Rice paper with one of the FFVI head enemies.
-It’s a samurai-centric dungeon. Tons of samurai outlaws pouring every which way.
-The final boss – of course – is Yojimbo. He’s one of the coolest-looking humanoid bosses in game because of the sheer riot of color and shape in his gear. His hat, his scabbard, his EVERYTHING.
Also, lol at his employer in the background elated at his awesome bodyguard.
His main mechanic is bargaining with his employer. The employer throws gil across the room, and our party races around collecting gil against Yojimbo’s pupper, Daigoro.
He even has a “funds” mechanic which cracks me tf up. Before he’ll do his big Zanmato attack, the merchant in charge throws piles of gil out for Yojimbo to collect. We have to collect more than him (he sends his dog Daigoro to collect it) to keep his “funds” gauge low, and thus his Zanmato damage low.
-We defeat him, and not by killing him. The merchant just runs out of funds so Yojimbo leaves lolol.
That happened to me so much in FFX. It feels good to be on the other side of that equation.
-The foreign dignitary we save is Lady Liliju, a lalafel inspired by tales of my adventures to travel the world and write.
She’s Lord Lolorito’s niece. His REBELLIOUS, STRONG-WILLED niece. I love her and hope she recurs.
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An Auspicious Encounter (new side dungeon)
-An anonymous missive summons me to test me beneath Hells’ Lid, a molten/volcanic island in the Ruby Sea. Test for what? Not sure.
-Soroban the blue Kojin tells me of the legend of Tenzen, associated with Hells’ Lid.
Tenzen was in FFXI. He was a samurai from the east who helped Iroha iirc. He wielded the Phoenix Blade, and had a close connection to the Phoenix esper.
Tenzen, from my FFXI playthrough.
http://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2017/04/ffxi-pa...
-Foul beings called Oni used to torment the Ruby Sea peoples until Tenzen, “along with the Four Lords” (whoever they are) drove them into the sea.
-But this is all legend. The oni were supposedly kojin ancestors, but who knows.
-Hells’ Lid is the 4-player dungeon.
-The color scheme down here is brilliant. It’s a fire zone, but XIV doesn’t settle for a purely red palate. It infuses blues and violets in somehow. It works, gives the area a much richer feel.
-The second half of the dungeon tells me that the Tenzen-FFXI connection is not coincidence. It’s an underground temple area, the Reisen Temple. FFXI Tenzen was from the Reisenjima Temple.
-The final boss is Genbu, an old, mighty turtle.
His main mechanic is confusing and fun. Each tile in his small area gets an arrow pointing in a different direction, and one has a glowing ball. The ball then bounces along whatever path the arrows take it while we dodge.
-We don’t kill the boss, just defeat him. He transforms into a wee little turtle.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??? IS THIS TURTLE THE KING OF CUTE ANIMALS?
THEY ALL COME OUT FROM BEHIND THE TEMPLE
-His test of us complete, Genbu the turtle welcomes us to Reisen Temple. He’s “guardian of this sacred place and leader of our little collective.”
-Soroban is taken aback on hearing his name is Genbu. He’s one of the Four Lords who assisted Tenzen.
-All the other cuties here are apparently also ancient beings with stories of their own, called “auspices.”
-Kudagitsune the fox is friends with Tamamo Gozen the Nine-Tailed Fox. (Is that a Korean myth?) Tamamo left to live amongst the world of men.
-Kamaitachi the otter is the cute transformed version of the second boss I fought. They were testing me.
-Senri is either a fat cat or a bunny. “Don’t let our appearances fool you. I could kill you five times before you hit the ground. But I won’t, on account of me being civil. For now.”
Definitely a cat.
-Down here in Reisen Temple, animals that survive long enough gain power and intelligence. The longer they live, the greater the power. They call this “the change.”
-Genbu has the power of prophecy. He summoned me here because he foresaw the Ruby Sea, Yanxia, and Hingashi subsubed by fire.
-Auspices are governed by two forces: Aramitama (rage) and nigimitama (calm). Balancing the two is key. Auspices overwhelmed by aramitama become feral things.
-Auspices seem like forces of nature. They can shift in temperament, causing natural disasters when overwhelmed by aramitama, or helping people when in balance.
-He recalls the legend of Tenzen. It actually wasn’t an oni that they drove out together, but rather the auspice Koryu. They sealed the wild and raging auspice in this temple.
-As memory of the legend fades, so fade the wards binding Koryu.
-This isn’t as simple as “kill Koryu” though. He’s too strong. I need to gather the power of the Four Lords.
-Genbu the Turtle is the first. The other three are nearly overtaken by aramitama.
-I speak to a large beauty of a horned tiger nearby, Byakko.
He’s spending all his fighting back the aramitama. It’s my job to let him surrender, defeat him, and bring him back to balance.
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Next time: Saving Byakko.
