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A Gentleman Falls, Rather Than Flies
It’s been a loooong time since I last touched these quests. Like, almost 100 posts ago.
http://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2017/09/ffxiv-p...
I figure it might be a fun, silly capper to my core XIV experience.
-The last quest series ended when Hildibrand Mandervile, Gentleman inspector, rocketed into the sky.
-I find Nashu (Hildibrand’s adoring & adorable assistant) in Ishgard searching for him. Godbert’s here too.
-An Ishgardian inquisitor named Cyr arrives. He’s looking for Hildibrand too, on charges of heresy.
Cyr seems like an alright dude. He’s just overzealous. Any time he hears something slightly odd, he gets all “AHA, THE SCENT OF HERESY!”
Bless Godbert for rocking beachwear even now.
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Don’t Call it a Comeback
-We find Hildibrand in the snowy waste nearby. He must’ve landed feet first in the snow.
NASHU: “And he’s surrounded by giant fluffy man-shaped gazebos!”
-Godbert frees his son with a mighty suplex. Welcome back, Hildibrand.
-…wait is that vivi??? It was buried beneath the snow.
-OMG IT IS!! Well, his name is “Gigi” which is close enough. He even does the signature Vivi hat-adjust.
-Well, hard to say whether it’s his real name. He has no memory; he just woke up saying “GiGiGiGi…”
-We head back to Ishgard to investigate the little guy. And just like the first series of quests, a mystery person is watching.
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The Gigi Situation
-Cyr now wants to haul poor Gigi in as a potential heretic. Thank goodness Hildibrand protects him, adopting him into “House Manderville.”
-We take him on a tour of Ishgard. Maybe something will jog his memory.
-yaaaay we get a trip to the chocobo markets! It doesn’t help. True to FFIX, Gigi has never seen a chocobo before.
-oh god. I forgot the sadness suffusing Vivi. A kid shuns Gigi. The literal worst thing ever.
-Onto the jewelry district, where Hildibrand destroys a priceless vase by doing his pose… and Gigi restores it magically. The little bot’s got power.
-But it only saddens GigI more to see his own power.
“PlEaSe, PaPa HiLdY, nO mOrE. i KnOw YoU mEaN wElL, bUt We CaN dEnY tHe TrUtH nO lOnGeR. I aM a MaMmEt.” He runs off.
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The Measure of a Mammet
-Say what you will about Hildibrand. He’s an oblivious, ridiculous goofball. But he’s sincere in his desire to care for Gigi as a father.
-We track him to the snowy expanse outside Ishgard. Gigi went to see his Grampa Godbert in hopes that of becoming a real boy.
-Godbert obliges. By turning Gigi into MOSTLY NAKED BUFF GIGI WTF GAME
”PaPa HiLdY! i’M a MaNdErViLlE mAn!”
-It’s short-lived. Godbert’s magic wears off shortly,
And the legitimately sweet Hildibrand comforts his new son. Puppet or no.
-A new player arrives on the stage, sending Godbert and Hildibrand fleeing. It’s… Hildibrand’s terrifying mother, Julyan.
”I’ll not be made grandmother to a bloody buggering mammet.”
This frigging quest y’all.
-The camera pans away to show three robed figures watching this.
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A Gazebo to Call Our Own
-We come across Hildibrand scolding Gigi. Apparently, he was caught defacing a gazebo with magic. Not very becoming of a gentleman.
-this is too precious. Gigi was just drawing a family crest! He’s playing house.
-Meanwhile, a rash of crime has broken out. People impersonating the knights of the Heavens’ Ward and using that image to scam some quick cash.
-We track the criminals to Idyllshire. This might be a longer case, so one of the gobbies in town gives us a place to stay.
-GIGI IS SO HAPPY! He gets a home.
Even draws the “family crest.”
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Don’t Trust Anyone Over Sixty
-Two of the fake knights beckon us for a meeting outside Idyllshire.
-And they’re glorious. They’re elderly impersonators, and they’re glorious. Old retired dragoons calling themselves the Grand Sers.
-Their leader is a woman, Dorys. They’ve followed us since we found Gigi.
-She kidnapped Gigi. She thinks he can help them reclaim their lost youth somehow.
-Dorys drops a smoke bomb and disappears. “They’re getting away! …slowly.” LOLOL
-What follows is another bizarre sequence where we rescue Gigi. This plan includes convincing one of the dragoons to get a massage, and then stealing his armor while he’s relaxed.
-We spring Gigi from the cage when Dorys yells after him: “Vivi!” HE’S LITERALLY VIVI
DORYS: “Remember who you are, Vivi! A creation of the great Sharlayan archmagus Quan!”
GIGI: “I rEmEmBeR nOw… We LiVeD tOgEtHeR… aNd He TaUgHt Me MaNy ThInGs AbOuT tHe OuTsIdE wOrLd…”
They even incorporated frigging QUAN into this quest!
-Quan was an asshole. He only loved Vivi when he thought the mammet could save him from aging. Vivi never discovered that power, so Quan cast him out.
AHA! That’s why Vivi had the power to restore that broken vase. Restoring things to their earlier states.
-This trio of old dragoons used to be famed heroes. Ishgard stopped caring for them when they grew old. Ishgard needs to get its veteran affairs in order.
-The Sers found something in the Great Gubal Library leading them to Vivi actually has the power to reverse aging. They plead… and he listens. Vivi will go with the trio.
-I’m shocked. This may be my love of FFIX talking, but this is an honestly moving incorporation of Vivi’s story. Into a motherforking HILDIBRAND QUEST.
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The Proud and the Pointy-Eared
-Cyr has heard stories about Allagan temporal magic like Gigi’s. It’s unreliable at the best of times. He’s concerned what will happen when Gigi tries to resurrect Quan.
-I like that even within the narrow scope of these quests, Cyr gets an arc. His time around all these supposed “heretics” has taught him how ridiculous Ishgardian overzealousness can be.
-Hildibrand tried pursuing the Sers. They disposed of him easily… because Gigi’s attempts at restoration magic are working. They’re younger.
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If I Could Turn Back Time
-Time to rescue Hildibrand’s “son” and stop the Grand Sers.
-But not before a long interlude focused on massaging Hildibrand with his legendary family oil.
-The Sers jump down to meet us in youth mode. They’re using this second chance to kill more dragons (even though the war is over) just for glory’s sake.
-VIVI IS CREEPY NOW! Using the magic altered him, turning him into a little Black Waltz.
-Their group performs some grand series of ultimate attacks on poor Hildibrand, their own version of VII’s Knights of the Round.
-And yet, Hildibrand stands up! He doesn’t fight back. He just talks to Gigi, asking him to come home.
(I go back and forth with the name. Vivi is his original name while Gigi symbolizes his newer Team Hildibrand-aligned self.)
-Vivi is angry. He wants to bring back Quan and needs more power. “i NeEd ThE wYrM’s EyEs!”
Vivi with Nidhogg’s eyes is a bad recipe right now.
-He tries using his power to restore the beaten and bruised Hildibrand. It doesn’t work.
-Cyr chimes in: Vivi’s power isn’t about restoration – it’s about making the world the way Vivi believes in his heart it should be. He couldn’t change Hildibrand because deep down, Vivi loves him as he is.
Even back then, he failed to make Quan younger because he knew his “beloved grandpapa was exactly as he should be! Every day was to be treasured and worthy of celebration!”
I get people disliking the quests, finding them too ridiculous, but there’s something so pure here.
CYR: “You were never broken, Gigi. You were never abandoned. All he wanted was to set you free!”
-Even Quan turns out to have been good. He took away Vivi’s memories to make it harder for others to take advantage of him.
He freed him from being a construct only designed to use this overwhelming power. Freed him to make a new life and new story of his own.
-The Sers have heard enough. They attack all out… but Gigi stops them.
”I aM vIvI, gRaNdSoN oF aRcHmAgUs QuAn, AnD gIgI, sOn Of HiLdIbRaNd HeLiDoRmAxImIlLiAn mAnDeRvIlLe! AnD tHiS iS mY sToRy!”
FHJKLFDHSLFKDSL I’M PUMPING MY FIST GO VIVIIIII
In a blast of magic, he restores thing, makes them as he truly wants. The Sers are old, Hildibrand and our group are safe, and Gigi is his old pre-Black Waltz self.
-Even the Sers get a bit of a happy ending. Some romance!
-Vivi’s powered down. Drained of batteries for now.
-Hildibrand makes an unfortunate remark about his mother “aging gracefully.” She goes full demon mode, using her frying pan to send him careening off.
Into the next expansion presumably.
-Even Cyr gets a happy ending. He’ll remain at Hildibrand’s home in Idyllshire. Inquisitor no more; a part-time inspector.
AWWW I GET TO TAKE LITTLE VIVI/GIGI WITH ME!
-Closing credits, following Cyr in his new life.
-Btw, bless all these Hildibrand credit shots.
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Next time: There are Stormblood Hildibrand quests, but only some of them have been released. I’ll wait to do them until they’re all released.
I’ll post some final (or at least, interim) thoughts on FFXIV next week, take a bit of a break, and then start FFXIII.
