TW: suicide
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Stormblood (continued)
-He’s delighted. This is probably his first real challenge in a while.
“Finally, finally, after bathing in the blood and offal of your enemies, finally you prove yourself worthy prey for the hunt!” Everything’s a hunt to this guy.
-Zenos is ready to step our fight up. He leaves the throne room out the back.
-Shinryu is here, enclosed in a giant magitek field. This is the Royal Menagerie.
-King Theodoric built this menagerie “for his foreign queen.” [Non-rhetorical question: have we heard about his queen yet?] The beasts trapped here are from her homeland.
Funny. Shinryu’s purpose here initially was to destroy the Empire. Maybe he’ll help us in the end. [Later edit: lol no]
-Zenos adores Shinryu. Makes sense. He admires might and violence, and Shinryu is might incarnate.
He asks what I want to do to Shinryu, and I get three options: kill it, bind it, or silence. I mean… I’ll go with “kill it.” Ququshu absolutely would.
ZENOS: “Does [the Echo] merely render you immune to eikonic influence? Or is it rather that your influence is far greater than theirs?”
-The Empire has been all about killing eikons. Zenos wants to change that. The research, altering Garleans to use aether, has been all about giving them control over eikons. He has a version of my Echo.
“Man should fight for the joy of it. To live, to eat, to breed – lesser beasts snap and howl at one another for this. Only man has the wisdom and the clarity to embrace violence for his own sake.”
-This is basically Zenos’ thesis statement.
-There’s a weird contradiction in Zenos. He used to be a brilliant tactician. He basically conquered Doma himself and ruled Ala Mhigo well.
And yet he basically ceded Doma to us out of disinterest while he investigated Shinryu. When we returned to Gyr Abania we kicked his ass across the continent. He disengaged, retreated, didn’t seem to care.
He’s been a TERRIBLE imperial leader. He couldn’t give a shit about the Empire. Maybe he did once, but not anymore. He’s all about himself and the joys of combat.
I’ve been wondering what will happen to the Empire itself after we liberate Doma and Ala Mhigo. We’ve had our fill of the Garlean Empire at this point. I’d be shocked if we head to Garlemald itself to fight in the next few expansions.
Bad Theory Time: the Emperor will be crafty, diplomatic even. Shoot for a tentative peace and rebuild his power without dismantling any existing power structures.
-There’s a chance for another dialogue choice. Zenos thinks we’re the same, Ququshu and him. Do I accept or deny him?
This is Ququshu. The dark knight experience impacted her deeply.
http://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2018/07/ffxiv-p...
She’s become aware of the metagame of XIV, how so much of her time is spent murdering and destroying just to get stronger. To gain levels, gain rep, gain experience. She accepts this.
The Flowey School of Thought, for fellow Undertale fans.
QUQUSHU: “I accept you.”
ZENOS: “I live for [these moments] too! This is who we are, my friend! This is all we are! Ala Mhigo and Doma and Garlemald be damned!” yup. He’s all about himself and his own goals now.
-Zenos unseals the barrier containing Shinryu.
-He’s going full godmode. He’s a Resonant, an aether-controlling Garlean.
“And before the Resonant, the gods shall be made to kneel.”
Zenos lights up, activating his Echo/resonant powers. He binds himself to Shinryu, and Shinryu yae Galvus takes wing.
-This reminds me strongly of FFVIII, when Ultimecia bound herself to Griever.
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Shinryu
-Shinryu is an 8-player trial. I looked up the fight beforehand to prepare strategies, and it is majorly complex. Most fights require me to learn a few mechanics across a couple of phases.
This? 15+ mechanics to learn and watch across 3+ phases.
-Shinryu seems to be some kind of super-eikon. He uses abilities throughout the fight from most of the prior elemental eikons I’ve fought. Leviathan’s Tidal Wave, Ramuh’s Judgment Bolt, etc.
-There’s even an “active time event” where Shinryu binds us and I have to button-mash to break out. That’s new.
-Midway through, we hop on things get trippy. I don’t know if we actually go anywhere different or if the color changes are just an aesthetic thing.
[Later edit: I reviewed my screenshots and saw Zenos/Shinryu say: “The heavens are too small a field for our dance. Let us transcend this mortal coil!” So we did to another reality of some sort.]
-GOT HIM WOOOOO! And I managed to not even die.
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A New Ala Mhigo
-Zenos plummets back to earth in the Royal Menagerie, spitting blood.
I’m never getting over the colors and art in this game.
ZENOS: “The hunter has indeed become the hunted. And yet… there is only joy. Transcendent joy that I have never known.”
He finally met a challenge he couldn’t beat. And he’s happy.
-Lyse is here. She’s enraged – all of this death and destruction was just so Zenos could feel something?
-Of course, Zenos doesn’t find that meaningless. He sees his time alive as having strengthened the races of the world, separated the wheat from the chaff.
-Zenos raises his blade to his neck. Lyse rushes to stop him, but Zenos is done.
“Farewell, my first friend. My enemy.” Holy hell that’s a GREAT final line. In the end, Zenos just lived for himself and his combat. As his opponent, I’m one of the few honest connections he made.
He pulls the blade and kills himself. Jesus.
-He couldn’t have picked a prettier place to die. The menagerie is beautiful.
RIP Zenos.
-Lyse isn’t satisfied. She sees no meaning, no justice here. But we won. For Ala Mhigo!
-Various troops and players from the expansion line up. M’naago, Raubahn, Yugiri, Thancred, more and more. Lyse at the center, victorious.
-And the gathered troops start up a song. This must be the Ala Mhigan anthem. Lovely.
-Final monologue by Lyse. “In crimson it began, and in crimson it ended. And then… we were free.”
What a final image! Mirroring the Stormblood logo itself.
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Credits
-Cutscene as the credits roll. Lyse watches Prisoner!Fordola.
-20 years of Imperial rule over Ala Mhigo (and 25 I think over Doma iirc) ended. A brave new world.
“I won’t give up, Papalymo. I won’t!” Lyse has given speeches at key points throughout the expansion. I now see that they were from a journal or her own thoughts, towards her memory of Papalymo.
-The fully voiced song over the closing montage is pretty awesome. Gotta give that another listen.
-A musical montage from Stormblood also plays. My favorite part may be the imperial anthem.
-Post-credits! Estinien arrives in the Royal Menagerie.
-He sees the Eyes of Nidhogg on the ground. They must’ve fallen after Shinryu’s defeat.
ESTINIEN: “All but spent feeding that primal, eh? Well, you won’t be making any mischief with that amount of aether.”
Good. The Eyes are drained dry, so XIV won’t just be a parade of randos grabbing them for power.
-He’s not taking chances. He destroys the weakened Eyes with his spear. Good job, Estinien. Enjoy the closure.
-Scene change to Varis zos Galvus, the emperor. Zenos’ father. “It’s over.”
-Someone unseen offers him condolences.
-Fuck. It’s Elidibus. I forgot about the Ascians. They’re still a thing, and Zodiark is too. He’s either gonna be the focus of the coming patch content or a near expansion. I think it’s more likely to be a future expansion. Zodiark and the Ascians have had way too much build-up to be dealt with in a mere patch.
ELIDIBUS: “He was your son and heir… and an irreplaceable test subject.” Not sure what this means. I thought the Resonance research was Zenus’ idea. Maybe not. INCEPTION!
-Varis saw his son as a monster. Zenos wanted to use eikons, but Varis sees them as “[False gods] summoned by desperate savages who hearken to the whispers of shadowless charlatans.”
The “shadowless charlatans” are the Ascians. Even Elidibus is okay with Varis turning on his “black-robed bretheren.”
What’s the difference between Elidibus’ white robe and the other black robed Ascians? Hm.
-Elidibus tries to allay Varis’ hatred with a gift. He removes his mask. Elidibus’ identity (we don’t see it) shocks Varis.
VARIS: “How… how dare you…?” He’s apparently someone the Emperor knows or cares about. Idk who.
-Scene change to Rhalgr’s Reach for a brief Scion celebration.
-Lyse is a Scion, but will take a break from that role. She’s got to focus now on leading Ala Mhigo.
-Scene change, to a beach somewhere. Someone’s fishing.
-WAIT THAT’S GOSETSU ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME
[Later edit: I was happy to see this at first because I like Gosetsu, but that’s faded. FFXIV’s willingness to kill off characters continues to be weaksauce.]
-He seems washed-up or stranded somewhere.
-YOTSUYU IS ALIVE TOO, RESTING BY A FIRE.
GOSETSU AND YOTSUYU ARE ON AN ISLAND TOGETHER HOLY SHIIIIIT!!! MORE YOTSUYU YESSSS
[Later edit: This felt hypocritical. Why am I excited for Yotsuyu’s return but not Gosetsu’s? I think it’s because Gosetsu’s storyline felt wrapped up nicely. Yotsuyu’s did not.]
-Scene change again to the Wall, and the titanic hole nearby. Omega’s down there.
-Cid and Jessie are here, leading a Garlond Ironworks team on this dig. Jessie hired a consultant…?
-lolol it’s Nero tol Scaeva, Cid’s annoying/glorious rival.
This is so goofy. He dramatically removes his sunglasses.
-Black screen with giant words written:
“SO FELL THE HUNTER, BUT WHAT OF THE HOUND?
SO ROSE THE CHILDREN, BUT WHAT OF THE FATHER?”
Not sure what this means. I thought that Omega was the hound hunting Shinryu, but maybe it’s the reverse. Shinryu’s down. Omega’s still out there.
The child that rose was probably Zenos. The father, the Emperor Varis, is still out there.
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Next time: the red mage 60-70 storyline. Starting on Stormblood patch content after that.
