Summary: Ascending in Kholusia. Amity, village of the exiles. Meeting the dwarves.
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The Ladder
-Last time, Lord Vauthry flew to Mt. Gulg. We need to reactivate “the Ladder,” a gigantic elevator, to pursue him. That’s gonna take some work.
-Even moreso since Mt. Gulg’s top is detached and floating.
-Emet-Selch is surprised to see Eulmore’s citizens working hard. Me too. He used to deal with his enemies by conquering them. Allag and Garlemald did that. The hard part is maintaining peace after.
EMET: “This requires the conqueror to treat the conquered with dignity, and the conquered to let bygones be bygones.” Yeah? Is that how Garlemald treated its territories?
Though he’s probably just say that the conquered never let bygones be bygones.
-He brings this up now because he admires my ideal “conquest” of Eulmore. “It’s a compliment. Take it.”
He sounds SO GRUMPY about it lol. Emet is such a great addition to the game’s dynamic.
-The harmonious scene reminds him of “when the world was whole,” and a vibrant, loving life.
Hard to tell how much of this is him fucking with me. I think there’s a core of truth, even if he’s deliberately building a specific image of himself for me for reasons unknown.
He mentions a new name, his old, joined city of Amaurot.
EMET: “Not that you would remember any of this.”
QUQUSHU: “Remember?”
EMET: “Never mind.”
Huh. Should I remember the joined world? I wonder if those with the Echo are ALSO from that initial world, or at least the heirs of those who summoned Hydaelyn.
EMET: “Anyway… You are of the Source. Should you survive the remaining calamities, you will become our equal. A complete existence in a complete world.”
I guess he’s saying if the Rejoining goes through as he plans, I’ll be that much smarter, more powerful, etc., while the denizens of the First would just die.
-He leaves.
-The crowd cheers at the newly-working Talos.
-Ardbert appears next to me. He recounts how drained he was when we first met. Now, stuff like this – group work, successes – energized him.
[Later edit: What if ARDBERT is an illusion?? Just Emet-Selch appearing in another form to screw with me? I doubt it, but I’ve seen Buffy’s “Conversations with Dead People.” It’s in my mind. (One of my absolute favorite Buffy eps.]
“Time wears you down, aye – but solitude eats away at you.”
Interesting! He’s saying that as bad as it was for him, just think how bad it was for Emet-Selch with all his thousands of years. Sure, there were other Ascians, but I get the sense still that they usually work alone.
I didn’t think of that.
“All of which is a long way of saying: don’t make a choice that leaves you alone. Nothing is worth that – especially not eternity.”
I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. Read an interesting article too that I’ll share here:
“Alienation is Killing Americans and Japanese.” " target="_blank">https://getpocket.com/explore/item/alienation-is-killing-americans-and-japanese?utm_source=pocket-newtab
---
The Ladder
-Last time, Lord Vauthry flew to Mt. Gulg. We need to reactivate “the Ladder,” a gigantic elevator, to pursue him. That’s gonna take some work.
-Even moreso since Mt. Gulg’s top is detached and floating.
-Emet-Selch is surprised to see Eulmore’s citizens working hard. Me too. He used to deal with his enemies by conquering them. Allag and Garlemald did that. The hard part is maintaining peace after.
EMET: “This requires the conqueror to treat the conquered with dignity, and the conquered to let bygones be bygones.” Yeah? Is that how Garlemald treated its territories?
Though he’s probably just say that the conquered never let bygones be bygones.
-He brings this up now because he admires my ideal “conquest” of Eulmore. “It’s a compliment. Take it.”
He sounds SO GRUMPY about it lol. Emet is such a great addition to the game’s dynamic.
-The harmonious scene reminds him of “when the world was whole,” and a vibrant, loving life.
Hard to tell how much of this is him fucking with me. I think there’s a core of truth, even if he’s deliberately building a specific image of himself for me for reasons unknown.
He mentions a new name, his old, joined city of Amaurot.
EMET: “Not that you would remember any of this.”
QUQUSHU: “Remember?”
EMET: “Never mind.”
Huh. Should I remember the joined world? I wonder if those with the Echo are ALSO from that initial world, or at least the heirs of those who summoned Hydaelyn.
EMET: “Anyway… You are of the Source. Should you survive the remaining calamities, you will become our equal. A complete existence in a complete world.”
I guess he’s saying if the Rejoining goes through as he plans, I’ll be that much smarter, more powerful, etc., while the denizens of the First would just die.
-He leaves.
-The crowd cheers at the newly-working Talos.
-Ardbert appears next to me. He recounts how drained he was when we first met. Now, stuff like this – group work, successes – energized him.
[Later edit: What if ARDBERT is an illusion?? Just Emet-Selch appearing in another form to screw with me? I doubt it, but I’ve seen Buffy’s “Conversations with Dead People.” It’s in my mind. (One of my absolute favorite Buffy eps.]
“Time wears you down, aye – but solitude eats away at you.”
Interesting! He’s saying that as bad as it was for him, just think how bad it was for Emet-Selch with all his thousands of years. Sure, there were other Ascians, but I get the sense still that they usually work alone.
I didn’t think of that.
“All of which is a long way of saying: don’t make a choice that leaves you alone. Nothing is worth that – especially not eternity.”
I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. Read an interesting article too that I’ll share here:
“Alienation is Killing Americans and Japanese.” " target="_blank">https://getpocket.com/explore/item/alienation-is-killing-americans-and-japanese?utm_source=pocket-newtab
-The Ladder is up and running.
-In voiceover, Ardbert adds that he and his comrades once rode the Ladder too.
WOOO!!! HE JOINS US ON THE LADDER! I really love what Ardbert adds to this story.
-There’s a village up here at the Top Rung of the Ladder. We assumed it’d be abandoned, but maybe not. We see someone watching us.
-The village appears empty… but there’s fresh food laid out to dry. It’s inhabited. Maybe they’re scared?
-The dude who’d been watching us emerges. Oh, it’s Tristol! He’s the artist we saved from being turned into a sin eater snack in Eulmore.
-This town is Amity, made up of survivors from Eulmore.
-That explains why everyone hid. They feared the working Ladder was a sign of Eulmore’s attack.
---
In Mt. Gulg’s Shadow
-Alisaie and I d some reconnaissance closer to Mt. Gulg. Lots of sin eaters.
-I wonder what that halo around the mountain is. Crystallized Light?
-Urianger and the Exarch find us and join. They sent some drones to test whether we can reach the floating mountain, but nope.
A sin eater swarm makes short work of them. Flying’s out.
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A Gigantic Undertaking
-Dullia kind of jokingly says we should just bring the mountain back to the ground, and an idea hits Y’shtola: why not make a GIANT TALOS to reach up and grab the volcano?
-Chai thinks he can do it, with an army of workers. Thancred will ask for help from the miners of Amh Araeng, Alisaie will ask the Mord, and Alphinaud will check in at Kholusia.
Y’shtola will grab Night’s Blessed mages and Urianger will try the Crystarium. (The fae are too mischievous and unreliable.)
-Team Scion sets off to bring… well, everyone.
-Lol. Next comes a mini-game to try to encourage the overwhelmed Chai. I have to pick the right set of dialogue options to encourage him without being too harsh or too fawning.
-Chai, Dullia and I head to Amity, and boy is this uncomfortable. I mean, these are Eulmorans approaching asking the exiled for help! The apology they make is sincere and painful.
TRISTOL: “Should I forgive you? Hate you? Perhaps it’s not even my place to judge. After all, I sought a place in your city. I wanted to be you, once…”
He has all the conflicting emotions trying to process the Eulmoran apology that you’d imagine.
-Whatever the final choice, he’s putting that aside for now to help us reach Gulg.
---
Meet the Tholls
-On top of the workers, we also need a giant ore heart to finish the Talos.
-The Tholls are a group of dwarves who can help, and YAY DWARVES!
“Don’t forget to greet them with a hearty lali-ho!”
-I head to the town of Tomra. This was a small Dwarven town in FFIV too iirc.
-Their Chief Xamott is a boisterous sort. I get the sense that a lot of dwarves are boisterous sorts.
-He’s willing to help us, after a brief test called “3-D MineRunner.” Is this a reference to something?
-It’s a short mini-game. Dwarves run across the screen, and I have to shoot ones with weird hats.
-Really happy to be here. I’ve been psyched to chill with the dwarves this whole expansion. Lali!
---
Random Stuff Around Eorzea
The Talos look so much like Construct 8, but with pointier chests:
One of my favorite enemies here is the Calx. It’s an abstract conglomeration of shards, and it sounds like wind chimes when it moves:
---
Next time: Working on the giant Talos with the dwarves.
-Lol. Next comes a mini-game to try to encourage the overwhelmed Chai. I have to pick the right set of dialogue options to encourage him without being too harsh or too fawning.
-Chai, Dullia and I head to Amity, and boy is this uncomfortable. I mean, these are Eulmorans approaching asking the exiled for help! The apology they make is sincere and painful.
TRISTOL: “Should I forgive you? Hate you? Perhaps it’s not even my place to judge. After all, I sought a place in your city. I wanted to be you, once…”
He has all the conflicting emotions trying to process the Eulmoran apology that you’d imagine.
-Whatever the final choice, he’s putting that aside for now to help us reach Gulg.
---
Meet the Tholls
-On top of the workers, we also need a giant ore heart to finish the Talos.
-The Tholls are a group of dwarves who can help, and YAY DWARVES!
“Don’t forget to greet them with a hearty lali-ho!”
-I head to the town of Tomra. This was a small Dwarven town in FFIV too iirc.
-Their Chief Xamott is a boisterous sort. I get the sense that a lot of dwarves are boisterous sorts.
-He’s willing to help us, after a brief test called “3-D MineRunner.” Is this a reference to something?
-It’s a short mini-game. Dwarves run across the screen, and I have to shoot ones with weird hats.
-Really happy to be here. I’ve been psyched to chill with the dwarves this whole expansion. Lali!
---
Random Stuff Around Eorzea
The Talos look so much like Construct 8, but with pointier chests:
One of my favorite enemies here is the Calx. It’s an abstract conglomeration of shards, and it sounds like wind chimes when it moves:
---
Next time: Working on the giant Talos with the dwarves.
