Summary: The first three fights in 5.4’s Eden’s Promise raid. Gaia wrestles with her past and memory.
This continues the Eden storyline from part 194: http://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2020/03/ffxiv-p...
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Empty Promise
-Gaia and Ryne regularly eat coffee biscuits together. This is already a delight.
-Gaia seems so much more comfortable. Dates with Ryne, even learning to drive.
-When we return to the Empty, it seems like things are a bit too Light-y. Still pretty barren.
Suddenly, the voice in Gaia’s head starts: “Finally, you have returned to me…” Is that Eden speaking to her? I kind of doubt it, since Eden is a force of Light. The voice wants her to “restore Darkness.”
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Fear of the Dark
-We’ve started restoring the six elements, but they’re all still Light-aligned. Maybe Darkness can help.
-So we’re back to summoning our recollections of different primals, but I’m not sure what “dark” primals we’ve fought. There’s Zodiark, but we haven’t fought him.
-OH SHIT THE CLOUD OF DARKNESS FROM GAIA’S HOME DIMENSION! (I still hold a bit of fear in my heart for that thing. I never beat it in FFXI.)
-Something weird is going on. Gaia keeps forgetting small things, like a festival Ryne talked about. Is it some physical block preventing Gaia from cementing a relationship?
-We’ll put that off for now. “Eden’s Promise: Umbra” is unlocked.
-Super fun fight. My friend Carrie saved the day with an epic healer limit break!
-And things are SO much nicer afterwards! Attuning with Darkness definitely seems like the way to go. And the crystal… well, Carrie was farther ahead in the cutscenes than the rest of us, giving this dialogue:
Aproustian: “How gay is it?”
Carrie: “At the moment, it’s rainbow crystal gay.”
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Shadows of the Past
More echoes in her head. “For a hundred long years, I have waited for this moment.”
Shadow bursts from Eden. AN ASCIAN? “I am Mitron, servant of Zodiark.”
He’s the voice that whispered to her all along. Thanks to us, he’s now free of the prison in Eden.
OH SHIT – “Wait… that is Eden! An Ascian transformed into a sin eater.”
MITRON: “I knew you would come for me, Gaia.” Was she an acolyte of Zodiark or something? He says he’ll restore her memories.
-He’s the guy who fought Team Ardbert. When Minfilia stopped the Flood, he also restored a sliver of consciousness to Mitron.
-Where does Gaia come into this. WAIT IS SHE AN ASCIAN???
-So he’s not fully free yet. This is just a strong mental projection. He’s almost free.
-…oh no. Gaia no longer remembers Thancred and Urianger. Mitron’s meddling is erasing parts of who Gaia has become.
-So before progressing, we try jogging Gaia’s memory. Telling her tales of Urianger and Thancred.
GAIA SAID RYNE HAS A PRETTY NAME. Look I’m latching onto ANYTHING to sail this ship.
-Into Eden. Mitron wants Eden to show something of the past to Gaia. About the Shadowkeeper, Cylva, who we learned about in the role quests.
-He’s so mad! He thinks Ryne and I are poisoning Gaia. Was she also Mitron’s his lover/partner maybe?
Mitron whisks her away somewhere, so some vision of the past intended to jog her memory.
-I was NOT expecting the Cylva/Shadowkeeper storyline to come back around. This boss design was one of my favorites, with the mouths, painted eyes, and the XIII-behemoth-style shift from four legs to two.
And the core mechanic of following the shadows was awesome too!
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Voice of the Soul
-Back to Eden. Gaia watched that Shadowkeeper fight and it rings bells for her.
MITRON: “Yes! You and I joined our power as one to create the Shadowkeeper. We bore witness to its battle with the Warriors of Light.”
-He’s been trying to restore her old form. But she likes her new life! This is similar to Ryne’s story, trying to balance her current life with the goals and choices from her previous life.
-Gaia even summons that badass hammer (that goes with her dress) in an act of final defiance.
I like how ineffective Mitron’s temptation is. She doesn’t really remember that life (yet).
-Still, Mitron is sympathetic. He’s been stuck for a century and now basically finds his love out of reach.
-Well, he was sympathetic until just now when he overrides her wishes, poofing her hammer and amplifying the darkness inside her. We even see her Ascian mark appear.
GAIA, to RYNE: “Who are you?” FUCK
-They join into Ascian Prime, like Lahabrea and That Other Dude I Can’t Remember back in HW.
She used to hold the seat of Loghrif. Gaia is her name like Hades was for Emet-Selch. (I think?)
-Scene change to them in front of Zodiark. [Later edit: I should say, “Zodiark’s statue.” For some reason, I had assumed this was actually Zodiark in a petrified slumber, then I remembered seeing Elidibus talking towards the inside of the moon. I assume that’s where Zodiark actually is.]
They certainly seemed to sincerely care for each other, as much as Zodiark’s tempered can.
This whole thing actually reminds me a bit of ST: Voyager’s Tuvix storyline – at least, if Tuvok and Neelix were evil but Tuvix wasn’t. Mitron is trying to speak for someone he believes can’t speak for themselves.
-Back in reality, Ascian Prime is drawing on some memory of Ryne’s to fuel a summoning.
-Something based on Ryne’s hopes and fears. Will it be a Minfilia boss fight?
-NOPE! Even better. It’s her two dads formed into one, in the memory where she was locked in Eulmore. It makes sense that while she knows they honestly cared for and loved her, that protectiveness (ESPECIALLY when she was locked up) would be a fear.
-Ryne is pissssssed at Mitron for using these memories against her. Rightfully so.
-GO GAIA! She’s still in there, trying to break free.
-The Prime fusion starts shedding… crystals? Memories of Gaia and Ryne.
And SHATTERS THEM NOOOO
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Next time: the end of Eden’s Promise.
