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A City Fallen (continued)
-Jenomis’ expedition to Rabanastre proved fruitful. He confirmed that Delita wasn’t the sole hero of the Zodiac Brave Story. A brother and sister were there: Ramza and Alma.
Jenomis named his own kids after them. He’s been studying the Ivalice legends for a while.
JENOMIS: “[Jenomis cen Lexentale] is but my stage name. My true name is Arazlam. Arazlam Durai.”
Arazlam in FFXIV vs FFT.
Lololol he’s the FFT narrator. THAT FITS SO BEAUTIFULLY, with “JENOMIS” AS A CULTURAL ARCHAEOLOGIST OBSESSED WITH IVALICE!
-Ramza retells the story of War of the Lions, specifically Orran Durai’s involvement. Orran documented the truth of Ramza’s involvement (the Durai Papers).
The church burned him as a heretic and sealed the Papers away. Ramza has the only remaining copy. He and his father are determined to reveal the truth and reclaim the Durai family legacy and honor.
-The Durai Papers are written in old High Ivalician. Jenomis’ diary is the key to decoding it, and the bangaa stole it.
-Alma worries about Ramza and Jenomis’ obsession. Not unreasonably, imo.
-The camera pans over to auracite glowing ominously on the table nearby.
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Uninvited
-Some time later, there’s a breakthrough about auracite. The Doman scholar Mikoto joins to explain.
Mikoto with the Otius.
-Auracite takes a person’s will and makes it manifest. Basically, it makes wishes real.
-Aha! This explains why the Argath we killed called himself the king of Lesalia. That was his spirit’s desire and the auracite made it come true.
CID: “If the Durai Papers are accurate, Argath was a weak and petty noble who believed that his blood entitled him to power.” That’s the Argath I remember.
-There’s an interesting language nugget in play. Alma and Mikoto refer to this thing as a “crystal.” Jenomis and Ramza seem to take offense at that, emphasizing that it’s “auracite.” A representation of their obsession with past Ivalice.
”(Father was fortunate to escape Rabastre with his life, and already he speaks of continuing his quest?)”
-Alma fears it as a weapon. Jenomis wants to use it.
Sure, Jenomis! Why should you destroy the One Ring? It is a gift! Let us wield it against… wait a sec.
-I was getting a bit confused. I see now. There are TWO auracite shards in play:
1) The Duma: Held initially by Argath, now held by Ba’Gamnan.
2) The Otius: This is the crystal we have now, passed down the generations to Jenomis and Ramza.
Is the Otius truly empty or is someone’s past desire stored inside? Mikoto thinks it might be empty… but Alma has heard voices from within the auracite.
-Uhhhhh a moogle just floated down from the ceiling. Wtf lol.
“Montblanc. The name is Montblanc. Denizen of Dalmasca’s deserts, seeker of thrills, adventurer extraordinaire.”
OMFGGGGGGGGGG HI FRIEND
When I first started FFXII, clothed moogles looked bizarre. Seeing Montblanc naked now feels… wrong.
-Montblanc wants to join the theater company here. Ramza finds the idea offensive. “We will not sully [our troupe’s] good name by granting refuge to a fluttering ball of fur!” FFXIV Ramza is a major dick.
-Montblanc saw the Zodiac Brave Story. The play moved him deeply, and now he wants to play Delita.
-Aaaaand here comes Hurdy to join the fun. Instrument and all, still in FFTA2 bard mode.
-Montblanc is kind of a flake. Only a few days ago he wanted to be a marauder. (He’s still got a little moogle-sized axe.)
HURDY: “Are you sure it is not geomancer? Arithmetician? Templar? We all know you’ll be singing a different tune come cockcrow!” Some more callbacks to FFT jobs.
-Whatever he wants tomorrow, Montblanc is determined to play the role of Delita. Pleeeease tell me that somewhere out there is a cosplay of a moogle cosplaying Delita.
JENOMIS: “Moogles are prominent players in Ivalician legend, but none of the tales mention their capacity for flight. Something lost in translation, perhaps?”
Lolol I LOVE when media acknowledges contradictory or changed lore. Like Worf being asked why Klingons look different post-TOS.
-Montblanc takes Ramza’s words harshly and goes off to prove himself a capable enough warrior to play Delita. (Spoiler: he’s not.) He’s off to kill a monster, so I go help him.
BUT WHY DOES HE CHOOSE RED CHOCOBOS TO FIGHT? They destroy me. It takes three attempts before I can dodge their Choco Meteors enough and survive.
Fuck Choco Meteors.
-We head back to the Prima Vista. Visitors are aboard. First the moogles were uninvited, and now bangaa.
Ba’Gamnan’s crew is here, searching for their missing captain. I feel like I’m back in Revenant Wings lol. They return Jenomis’ journal in exchange for our help.
-Apparently, the Duma auracite did something to Ba’Gamnan. It consumed his aether. It’s going to try to make real Ba’Gamnan’s deepest desire. What does he want? Power?
-RAMZA IS SUCH A BIGOT! First called the moogles “mole-bats,” now calling the bangaa “lizards.”
-Strangely, the bangaa don’t get angry. They feel they deserve slander.
RINOK: “We were fusiliers in the Dalmascan army, stationed in the royal stronghold at Nalbina.”
The Empire destroyed Nalbina fortress, marking the beginning of Dalmasca’s end. Flashback time.
-Prince Rasler commanded the garrison. Ba’Gamnan was their captain. They had to escort Princess Ashelia away from the fortress. She died in Ba’Gamnan’s arms near the Garamsythe Waterway.
Her dying words were not of anger at their failure, but rather an urge to survive. As long as a single Dalmascan stood, the nation would never perish. This mirrors Lord Hien’s thoughts on Doma.
-This is a major twist to the FFXII lore. Ba’Gamnan isn’t after power or loot; he’s after redemption.
(Even though that redemption will probably come in the form of hatred for the Empire, much like how Ilberd’s hatred spawned Shinryu.)
-Our new mission is to find Ba’Gamnan and stop him before anything too drastic happens. lol not likely
-Jenomis finds a new entry in his journal: “Ridorana.” Like, the Ridorana Cataract?
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My Power, My Pleasure, My Pain
-LOL WHAT IS A SEAL REFERENCE DOING IN FFXIV
-No updates on the search for Ridorana, but a “Wandering Dramaturge” in the troupe wants my help. [Later edit: instead of a thaumaturge, I get it, jesus the puns in the quest are glorious.]
-This is a weird side-quest, helping the Dramaturge find a bottle of rare Dalmascan rose wine.
-Not much to say here, but there’s one brilliant part. It sheds light on a strange NPC I met long ago during leveling. He kept hallucinating midges biting him. I assumed it was random weird flavor.
Turns out this guy is suffering PTSD, a Dalmascan haunted by memories of the Garlean invasion.
“My son… my daughter… how will they survive without their father? They must be so frightened… I need to go home. Now. I cannot stay… Please…”
-By the time the wine thing is done, we have news about Ridorana.
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Desire
-Jenomis found it. Off to the Lighthouse we go! And what a sight it is.
-I’m a bit nervous because the Lighthouse was one of my least favorite parts of FFXII. Long, repetitive. Also, didn’t we fight Hashmal there? If so, it’s weird that we fought Hashmal in Rabanastre. Why not save him for Ridorana?
-I wonder whether we’re going to ascend or descend.
-Found Ba’Gamnan stumbling outside the lighthouse.
BA’GAMNAN: “Prince Rasler… Princess Ashelia… I know you cannot forgive me… Nor should you. It’s all my fault I could not save you – could not save anyone – anyone but myself. I am so sorry…”
FFXIV breaking out old stuff for a hit of nostalgia is nice and all. But reimagining the relationships of past FF characters and events in XIV’s context? That’s the good stuff.
-We approach him outside the Lighthouse, along with Ba’Gamnan’s crew, and the perspective shifts to Ba’Gamnan.
He’s hallucinating through auracite-addled eyes. His eyes see our party as imperials, his enemies.
-Someone shoots him before he can hit us, and Ba’Gamnan is dying.
The crystal starts talking to him.
THE DUMA: “Recite the words. Satisfy the covenant. Relinquish thy soul unto me, and be granted that which thou desirest most in all the world.”
-A symbol appears on the Duma. A circle with… horns? It’s a Zodiac symbol. Taurus. I’m curious and so I look it up before going forward. In XII, Taurus was associated with Chaos.
-Ba’Gamnan recites the words. The Duma explodes with light, and he gets up. His arm turned into a buff monster arm, and his eyes glow yellow.
He teleports away. We’re definitely gonna have to face a transformed boss version of poor Ba’Gamnan.
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Random Stuff Around Ivalice
An AWESOME behemoth mount:
I love watching players craft in FFXIV. They look so intense!
Some visitors from past FF games:
…I hope I don’t this player as a paladin in my dungeon groups.
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Next time: the Ridorana Lighthouse is the second 24-player Ivalice raid. It’s probably tougher than the Royal City of Rabanastre, with a higher gear requirement. I hope to continue the storyline soon.
In the meanwhile, I’ll keep trying new dungeons and raids that are open to me.
