Tales from the Dragonsong War

Seems they've got four more stories this anniversary, they just posted a fifth entry: What Remains of a Knight.

Wonder if this is going to lead into the Scholasticate quests that have been in limbo.

Haha, I just literally posted my own thoughts on this in a thread of my own. :p (That's what happens when you take too long on a post).

Hard to say, although it does give insight into why Cyr is such a pigheaded idiot, having to deal with a boss like that no wonder.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Hard to say, although it does give insight into why Cyr is such a pigheaded idiot, having to deal with a boss like that no wonder.

---

Do you think he'll want to come after us for vengeance, assuming he ever figures out who we are? O:

(I can see that boss-fight, too. He'd try to use his masters' automata against us, only for them to turn on him three seconds later and for us to spend the rest of the fight trying to keep him alive, ala Brayflox.)

I wonder who will be the stars of the next three Tales?

I wouldn't mind one that is specifically about Thordan, or a second one involving other members of the Heaven's Ward.

My guess though? Hilda, Aymeric...and Minfilia.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Berethos

I wouldn't mind one that is specifically about Thordan, or a second one involving other members of the Heaven's Ward.

My guess though? Hilda, Aymeric...and Minfilia.

---

As in Minfillia after she vanished or Minfilia after she became Hydaelyn's Mouthpiece?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

As in Minfillia after she vanished or Minfilia after she became Hydaelyn's Mouthpiece?

---

Bit of both would be neat (from her recounting of events when we meet WOTM, the two events aren't far apart, as far as I can tell).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Berethos

I wouldn't mind one that is specifically about Thordan, or a second one involving other members of the Heaven's Ward.

My guess though? Hilda, Aymeric...and Minfilia.

---

I'm putting an outside bet on Coultenet, Hoary Boulder and F'lhaminn's Wacky Adventurers in Exotic Lands as one story and maybe Wilred's murder as another, though I expect that one to be addressed in the MSQ itself.

As with previous years, I've held back from commenting until I could translate all versions and consolidate the revelations.
Buuut, they're pretty much identical this time around, so let's just move on.

The timing isn't too, too hard to work out. Lahabrea wouldn't have been discussing the finer points of summoning until he'd worked out how to merge man and god (and Nabriales says that Ysayle was basically the test-run and first success). This lines up with Estinien being successful in drawing Nidhogg's attention by fleeing Ishgard with the Eye for much of 2.00, whereas the wyrm abandons the chase when he senses that Thordan (somehow) gains the power to turn the war around.

Vaindreau is the aging leader of the Heavens' Ward, watching over Thordan when he hears him discussing his ambitions with Lahabrea. He broods over this for a bit before boiling over and storming off to confront the archbishop in the dead of night. Why not cause a bigger scene? Why not flee Ishgard and engage the Scions? Why not trust in the Warrior of Light? Because he wasn't focused on the bigger picture; he was consumed by pain and rage. Fading into the dusk of a life spent entirely in the Heavens' Ward (which he joined in his early twenties), it's foreboding enough to see the Archbishop willing to lend his hear to a mythical harbinger of chaos at all... but given the chance to summon a deiform, he doesn't choose Halone? The archbishop of the very faith to which all of Isghard entrusts itself in the midst of a thousand year war, which proclaims the Fury the truest and greatest of the gods, champion and protector of the Holy See, forsakes her in favor of some thing that sounds more like a savage's primal? Vaindreau's entire life and legacy was dedicated to an archbishop who was moving in contradiction to the core ideals of the Enchiridion. This was personal.

On the opposite side, we see Charibert, still an Inquisitor at the time. Lahabrea moves him into check against Vaindreau, who had become aware of the archbishop's ambitions and was clearly not on board with the plan. This proves Charibert's skill and loyalty, elevating him to the 3rd seat of the Heaven's Ward (the 2nd seat long-occupied by Velleguine, and the 1st being handed to Zephirin of the Temple Knights at Velleguine's request). In light of this, why Hermenost is 9th at the table, despite being a loyal holdover from the previous cabinet, I have no idea.

Anyroad, Thordan gives the order for Zephirin to choose the rest of the ward on martial skill alone; with his "blessing", the Knights Twelve of the God-king would be nigh unstoppable... and if any would step out of line, he could just "bless" them a little harder. (Perhaps despite his loyalty and history, Hermenost is just still the 9th best fighter in Ishgard?)

But Rocl's got me thinking about something else: How many of the current Twelve are newbies, then?

Grinnaux surely; outside of martial skill, he's a horrible person to choose for the Ward. It's conceivable that Paulecrain came with Grinnaux; he, too, was a horrible choice (exiled from the service of House Fortemps and taken in by Dzemael to do their wetwork, which led to his knighthood), and he and the two have been buddies since.

Haumeric is a safe bet, seeing as he was chosen by Zephirin and it looks like Zephirin was only taken from the Temple Knights recently (given that 50% of the Temple Knights are still more loyal to him than Aymeric).

Guerrique I see few clues for, but he might have come from the Temple Knights with Zephirin. Can't say much for Adelphel, either, other than he's young, so it's not a stretch that he's new to the Ward seeing as he's already had a successful military career, and with Janlenoux at that. Perhaps they, too, came in as a set. Noudenet didn't seem to have any career trajectory towards the Ward until he was noticed for aetherial skill, but it doesn't say when.

That leaves Ignasse, a former Knight Dragoon who was close with Vellguine. So did he support the second-in-command's ascension to archmandirate when he was still a Dragoon, or was he already in the Ward when Vaindreau fell?

This is actually more interesting to me, because the story comments that Vaindreau is the last true champion of the ward, whereas we might be seeing only one of several such assassinations, unless a few others just happened to die untimely deaths in recent moons.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

This is actually more interesting to me, because the story comments that Vaindreau is the last true champion of the ward, whereas we might be seeing only one of several such assassinations, unless a few others just happened to die untimely deaths in recent moons.

---

I wonder...what if Nidhogg's brood killed a bunch of the Ward at once and that sent the Archbishop over the edge, into Ascian corruption?

One character I would love to know more about is Tarresson. Former count of house Dzemael (and the only one from the mainfamily so far who isn't a complete dickhead). I would really love to know how exactly he is related to Grinnaux, for example; grandfather, father, oldest brother (probably unlikely), uncle? Grinnaux' bio only states he is from the family, not his position in it, or did I miss something from MSQ (not playing in english)?
All I remember is that he was used by count for political reasons during that trial by combat. I think a story in that direction might elucidate quite a few questions I have about house Dzemael, and it would bring a most likely little known side-character more into the spotlight, which would be nice. Unfortunately, that's also the biggest contra... but together with Grinnaux and Paulecrain...
Besides, Tarresson seems to be on not-so-bad to good terms with Handeloup (another character I would love to learn more about), judging from what little we see them interact in the moogle sidequest.

Other characters... if they want to do only one story per character without doing one character twice, prime candidates are the other Ward members and Lucia I think. Especially seeing something about Zephirin would make me happy since I have mixed feelings about him and would like to know more about him.

Hilda is another character they can cover, seeing how she had her struggles in Ishgard's society for awhile.

Alph this week. Wasn't expecting that at all.

Interesting, as well, that Alphinaud was also on a personal pilgrimage of remembrance and thanksgiving. Seems like a number of people were on the road, and they all happened not to see each other, despite visiting more or less the same places. :p

Kind of disappointed tbh, not because it was Alphinaud but because it was.. well old news. He retraced his steps (as we did) so I kind of understand what they were trying to do but it was just boring and I love Alphinaud's arc. Since we're still on the Dragonsong War Tales I was really hoping for new information to play with and fit in the story (like last week's pre 3.0 Tale) instead of a post 3.3 Tale reliving 3.0~3.3. :s

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rocl

it was.. well old news.

---

I got hung up on that a bit, too. Until now, each Tale has bridged a gap or has explained / given character to a change that happened off-screen. So, at a glance, this one seems to stand alone (so far) as not quite having a purpose aside from being a Tale for the sake of a Tale (not to say that Tales aren't nice on their own, I still enjoyed it).

...Or perhaps the purpose was to canonize all of the ways we (the lore forum, us) have picked on Alphinaud. The Tale sees him affirming feelings and commitments that we've assumed he must have, but based mostly on benefit of doubt as we make fun of him for being a clumsy child-diplomat that orders the Warrior of Light around.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rocl

Kind of disappointed tbh, not because it was Alphinaud but because it was.. well old news. He retraced his steps (as we did) so I kind of understand what they were trying to do but it was just boring and I love Alphinaud's arc. Since we're still on the Dragonsong War Tales I was really hoping for new information to play with and fit in the story (like last week's pre 3.0 Tale) instead of a post 3.3 Tale reliving 3.0~3.3. :s

---

Well, it says that there will be 3.3 spoilers. So was expected to have an story on a time between patches.

This also confirms that some time has passed between the end of 3.3 and 3.4. Couple days, weeks, or a month like maximun.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

...Or perhaps the purpose was to canonize all of the ways we (the lore forum, us) have picked on Alphinaud. The Tale sees him affirming feelings and commitments that we've assumed he must have, but based mostly on benefit of doubt as we make fun of him for being a clumsy child-diplomat that orders the Warrior of Light around.

---

I'll agree. When I read this this morning I was a bit confused at its purpose; it seemed to be just a recap of what went on.

But maybe that's what was needed, a nod to things imagined or assumed to fill in those gaps. But...I do wonder if I'm missing something. I'll have to read it again.

Still, as good a read it was (I did enjoy the Tale; the added perspective to him and his growth is nice, and his regret is good to know as well. And then someone pointed out the button at the top of the page and it was just that much better [my WoL is female, felt off reading all the "he"s before I saw it]), I get the feeling that something more important needs to be told. Hopefully the next two have a lot of info that really fills in some gaps in the story.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Frederick22

This also confirms that some time has passed between the end of 3.3 and 3.4. Couple days, weeks, or a month like maximun.

---

As unimportant as it seems, I feel this is a good thing to know. We get a legitimate break from things to rest and unwind and prepare for whatever is coming at us (or do things unrelated to the MSQ, whatever you feel we do at this time). This is actually a small issue I have with how 2.5 flowed; there seemed to be no break between *everything* that went on (my headcannon says that the entire patch took place in about a week or less, travel time included, and the WoL barely got any time to rest from when we spoke to Middy to when we arrived in Camp Dragonhead. That's a lot of fighting and emotional drain in such a short period of time. On the other hand...I have about two-to-three weeks of rest after arriving in Dragonhead in my headcannon, so there is that)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

I got hung up on that a bit, too. Until now, each Tale has bridged a gap or has explained / given character to a change that happened off-screen. So, at a glance, this one seems to stand alone (so far) as not quite having a purpose aside from being a Tale for the sake of a Tale (not to say that Tales aren't nice on their own, I still enjoyed it).

...Or perhaps the purpose was to canonize all of the ways we (the lore forum, us) have picked on Alphinaud. The Tale sees him affirming feelings and commitments that we've assumed he must have, but based mostly on benefit of doubt as we make fun of him for being a clumsy child-diplomat that orders the Warrior of Light around.

---

I agree, it helps players to appreciate that Alphinaud, for all his actions so far is still quite young, and it gives him a bit more growth. Alphinaud has really grown since 2.55.

I have a feeling Alphinaud's story is to draw a line between the previous stories and the two to follow. Usually a epilogue/recap of that sort is used to indicate a change in focus going forward. I liked that it very deliberately highlighted that Alphinaud's combat prowess is now exceptional enough to fend off bandits and monsters without much care though. I feel there may be some foreshadowing in that.

I'm hoping one of the two remaining stories will start nudging the narrative towards the new arc we're about to enter.

I wonder...could van Hydrus be the star of one of these Tales? Wonder what's going through his head with regards to the Triad and our "meddling"...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PArcher

I wonder...could van Hydrus be the star of one of these Tales? Wonder what's going through his head with regards to the Triad and our "meddling"...

---

Seems unlikely since all the stories so far has always been from the heroes' point of view and while Charibert was an exception, that chapter seemed to focus more on the people he influenced or was affected by him rather than his motives or goals. I predict the next tales are going to be about Emmanellain and Lucia.

While a marked increase (new information! better twin!), I'm still left a little disappointed. We got to learn where Alisaie was from 2.0->3.1 (or, should you have cleared the Final Coil, from 2.4->3.1) and that she was definitely following the Warrior of Darkness (and not Elidibus, should that have been your guess). I guess the bit with the young merchant girl was supposed to be some sort of character development, but I would've been far more interested in Alisaie's rambling thoughts on her time in the Studium or how she reacted to the charges against the Scions in Before the Fall (obviously she didn't put much stock in them, but still!). I guess this also explains how she gets in contact with [insert the caravan brother you meet] at the end of 2.55 though.

The Tales always do a good job of surprising me with the focal characters, but I'm feeling the final Tale will either be a segue into 3.4 or a final bow on the Dragonsong War. That is, someone deeply connected with the Ala Mhigan arc coming up (or perhaps an old Ala Mhigan friend of ours in an ultramarine coat...) or a rather safe choice in Aymeric or Edmont to neatly stow away Ishgard in our "been there-done that" book.

Listen, they really set the bar too high with the first Tale, okay. Action! Drama! Intrigue! New characters; light shed on old ones--so much!

I kind of hope the last one will be Derplander at this rate... I'm not sure what SE has planned with their plot point, but I hope they tie up the Ascian plot nicely before 4.0 (albeit with room to come back to them later) so we can focus on more human stories going forward... That would leave us with very little room to really get anything out of Derplanders group though, so additional backstory through these Tales would be great... I guess it's possible Derplander and friends could stick around through 4.0, but I'm really not sure I want them to, they're just not that interesting to me... How they came to be the evil goatee Warriors of Derpness could be interesting, but where they're at now is painfully close to a joke IMO... Any interest I have in them is placed firmly in the past, what I've seen of them in the present has me hoping they're gone in the future... That could change, but given their relation to Elidibus, I hope not... I'm tired of the whole Ascian/Hydaelyn plot, I don't want it looming about going forward...

I also think, narratively, a Derplander tale could be quite interesting... There is potential there to play with expectations, start out with "Oh, this is about me, the Warrior of Light", then slowly it becomes apparent that it isn't... Urianger is another contender IMO, he has had a lot going on in secret throughout 3.0, and there is a lot of potential to fill in some gaps there, though I'm not sure it would be as interesting... In a similar thought, Unukalhai could be a great possibility... I'd really like to know more about this other world he spoke of, and I'm doubtful we'll get much more on that out of the remaining two patches, same as Derplander... It could make for a very interesting read, and shed some much needed light on his character... Similar ability to play with expectations as well; A kid recounting tales of the Warriors of Light...

Any of the dragons could be interesting as well... Nidhogg through the lens of Estinien during his possession could be amazing, and perhaps finally answer that damned plot point from 3.1! Ugh, why is there only one more of these?! Could we make something like this a weekly/monthly thing sort of like the Vana'diel Tribune? There is soooo much potential here...

Who am I kidding though, the next one will be about Moglin and we all know it... That or Lahabrea...

The story did a pretty great job at showing just how dangerous Eorzea is. I'd love to see more of that - both in-game and outside of it.

I was a bit disappointed by Alisaie's story. When she and her brother parted ways, she seemed gung-ho about finding her own way to save the world. So, while Aphinaud has been at our side investigating Primals, thwarting Garleans, and entreating peace with dragons, I would expect Alisaie to have been engaging in similarly breathtaking ordeals. Instead, the story chosen to highlight her adventure is her travels with a not-particularly-notable merchant caravan?

Well, at least we have the Binding Coil of Bahamut to show that Alisaie DID find at least one world-threatening crisis to deal with.

I get the feeling that this story is meant to endear Alisaie to the audience by giving her a chance to live life for a bit as an ordinary girl practicing an ordinary trade and making friends like an ordinary girl would. I guess it just fell a bit flat for me; I don't think we've seen enough of the extraordinary Alisaie to justify a vignette featuring the ordinary Alisaie.

SE sure loves their tragedy moments..*sob* every time he is mentioned I still get kinda sad so Alphinaud's story still hit me in the feels. While Alisaie's story also was kinda sad it did not hit me that much because we never new that girl so she was only introduced in this story to kill her off and I also did not find it that interesting because it really did not give much new information either.

I would have been nice if Alphinaud also had more thoughts about us as a friend and not that much about Estinien..He did mention us and sees us as friend but it was still not enough imo. :(

Still looking forward who the last one will be.

As a complete (and cruel) aside, can we please have Tataru make Alisaie a new outfit and send her off to gather materials for it? "I need to craft a Ruby for your new gear, can you get me some Emery?"

I'm increasingly sure that Elidibus' endgame is "Hydaelyn allows death, so join me!"... There are enough subtle hints in song lyrics, and now everyone is focusing on stories of loss... Prime time for him to swoop in and go "Yo, Hydaelyn allows death and suffering, Zodiark doesn't dawg!", though after Emery I guess Alisaie is just as likely to buy that as everyone else... Not sure who'd be left to step in and slap some sense into everyone by pointing out that overcoming adversity is a fundamental part of our existence... Mmmhmmm, please let it be a Garlean villain... Would set them up as a more sympathetic enemy nicely (and it damn well fits their character, seeing as they overcame a serious heredity disadvantage to conquer a world of magic with technology), and make up for Gaius being an utter moron in his dealings with Lahabrea... Assuming they go this route at all...

I only read it quickly, but my initial impression of this Tale was disappointment. Alisaie hasn't really done anything worthy of a Tale, and the Tale itself was...meh. The only thing of note was that she started to track a group hunting Primals (the WoD), but we kinda knew that already.

Maybe the last story will tie this one with the story better. Idk. Still am interested in a Tale from van Hydrus considering we have a bit to go with the Triad, and they may tie back to the msq in the end...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PArcher

The only thing of note was that she started to track a group hunting Primals (the WoD), but we kinda knew that already.

---

Now that I think about it... What Primals, exactly? We saw them take on Ravana, but there must have been others for such rumors to spread...

I also wonder if the settlement in the Sea of Spires might actually show up in game... We're seemingly getting Lily Hills in 3.4 for unknown reasons... Any reason I can speculate (from "meh housing" to "omfg hamlet defense!") has me thinking Limsa and Ul'dah should be getting similar areas, so a settlement in the Sea of Spires being mentioned has my attention...

We've seemingly missed some Primal summonings though, as have the Grand Companies, since they've not mentioned anything... You'd think they'd inform us right away if they noticed Primals surfacing and being put down... The Scions took a pretty big hit recently and could do with gaining some competent allies, and the Companies have no reason to know Derplander and co are jerkfaces... I wonder if they're new Primals or familiar ones... If Derplander and friends have been taking on the current Beast Tribes independently, that could trigger new aggressions between them and the Grand Companies... Please SE, just put me out of my misery and announce that Hamlet Defense is dead and buried...

I have to admit.. the story was meh.....

At least we know how she might had gotten her connections for the 2.55 story

Also this kept me thinking something. Does Alisaie have any idea of the big changes that his brother suffered?
He isnt annymore the person she thinks, infact Alisaie may like his "new" brother.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Frederick22

Also this kept me thinking something. Does Alisaie have any idea of the big changes that his brother suffered?
He isnt annymore the person she thinks, infact Alisaie may like his "new" brother.

---

Their Tales even mirror them gaining some of the other's strengths, Alisaie learns how to deal with people a little better while Alphinaud begins to train to be a better fighter.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LineageRazor

I was a bit disappointed by Alisaie's story. When she and her brother parted ways, she seemed gung-ho about finding her own way to save the world. So, while Aphinaud has been at our side investigating Primals, thwarting Garleans, and entreating peace with dragons, I would expect Alisaie to have been engaging in similarly breathtaking ordeals. Instead, the story chosen to highlight her adventure is her travels with a not-particularly-notable merchant caravan?

Well, at least we have the Binding Coil of Bahamut to show that Alisaie DID find at least one world-threatening crisis to deal with.

I get the feeling that this story is meant to endear Alisaie to the audience by giving her a chance to live life for a bit as an ordinary girl practicing an ordinary trade and making friends like an ordinary girl would. I guess it just fell a bit flat for me; I don't think we've seen enough of the extraordinary Alisaie to justify a vignette featuring the ordinary Alisaie.

---

Actually, this lines up pretty well with what we saw of her at the end of the Binding Coil storyline, in which she said she would travel Eorzea and find her own purpose for fighting. And in this story, we found her doing exactly what I expected: Traveling Eorzea, helping people, and getting to know them.

I thought the story was awesome, if sad, because it confirmed a few things I had long suspected about Alisaie's character. For one, she's implied to be a straight-up better fighter, and made of tougher stuff then her brother ("if you insist on hitting something, then I would be happy to arrange a meeting between you and the floor." Anyone?). Compare her relatively comfort and ease with traveling, with Alphinaud's struggles when with Eistinien, Ysayle, and the WoL. Alphinaud admits in his own story that he had only studied fighting as an 'academic exercise' before, whereas this story implies Alisaie had been putting her arcanima to, ahem, 'practical' use long before he thought of it.

An interesting note was that Alisaie wasn't too popular at school, and she admits to herself that her brother is far better with navigating various social situations. But while she's no diplomat like her brother, she's actually more capable of forming close bonds with others, once they get past her somewhat-harsh exterior, thanks to her more emotional nature. Hence, why she makes close friends with Emery in such a short period of time (and takes her death fairly hard). To put it another way, pre-character development, Alisaie was the kind to have a few, close friends, while Alphinaud had a wide pool of acquaintances.

This story also re-affirmed that Alphinaud had to go through all that character development before Alisaie could be re-introduced into the story. Alisaie feels things very deeply, which is why she couldn't stand her emotionally-cold twin (not to mention his arrogance drove her up the wall). She couldn't rejoin the Scions proper until the rift with her brother mended, and that couldn't happen until he dealt with his flaws. Now that Alphinaud has been brought down several pegs, and has learned to be a bit more emotional himself, reconciliation is possible, which means she can now be introduced into the story with the (hopefully) eventually intention of her properly joining the Scions for 4.0.

I'm glad this story filled in the gaps as to what Alisaie has been up to since she left at the end of the Binding Coil storyline. Its the perfect set-up for her proper return to the MSQ in 3.4. (Fingers crossed!)

I just hope that the next tale is interesting..

I really enjoyed the story, while it might not have had far reaching implications, it gave us more insight on not only Alisae, but also more on the lesser seen areas of Eorzea, it kinda lets us know that, the settlements and areas we see in the game arent the whole of Eorzea, there's probably dozens of little towns and areas that we don't see. It also makes sense for Alisae to take some time away to figure out what she wants to fight for.

Maybe the last tale would be about one of the dragons? Since it kinda the last story about the war. Hopefully its a little bit more interesting than the last one. We did learn a bit about Alisae but still wished it has some more input on the recent events or maybe even her reaction to what happened at the end of 2.55 and her worrying at least a little about her brother and us.

They usually save unexpected ones for last, last year we got Lolorito's story, would be interesting if we got an Ilberd tale.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nalien

I'm increasingly sure that Elidibus' endgame is "Hydaelyn allows death, so join me!"... There are enough subtle hints in song lyrics, and now everyone is focusing on stories of loss... Prime time for him to swoop in and go "Yo, Hydaelyn allows death and suffering, Zodiark doesn't dawg!", though after Emery I guess Alisaie is just as likely to buy that as everyone else... Not sure who'd be left to step in and slap some sense into everyone by pointing out that overcoming adversity is a fundamental part of our existence...

---

Sure, but I think it's very easy for even the purest belief to become corrupted. Is that not the entire point of our conflict with the primals?

I'm still holding out for the possibility that somehow, something in our future has taken "suffering makes people better" to its logical endpoint: "to make people better, I should make them suffer." If not primal!Hydaelyn, then Zodiark, maybe?

Or maybe that's just a villain character I want to write someday. /shrug

I feel like whoever's writing these stories is a little too in love with the plot device of killing characters off for whatever reason. The story tries to make Emery's death meaningful and dramatic, and I suppose it is for Alisaie, but it did nothing for me.

Of course, I've seen Final Fantasy kill off characters before, but when you introduce a character for the sole purpose of killing her off to tug at the reader's heartstrings, it's going to come off as cheap, especially when you only have a few paragraphs to make her more than a cardboard cutout. In particular, the raid on the Waking Sands after Titan, and even Ysayle's death, were poorly-handled, in my opinion, and that's the nicest phrase I can find for it. We barely knew anyone who died in the raid, so that hardly made an impact on me, and Ysayle's death felt glossed-over in the MSQ itself.

Honestly, I like these Tales for the insights they provide me, into characters and events that we wouldn't be able to see in-game. It's a great help when I'm working on my own fanfiction. But the pacing of Alisaie's tale was entirely too rushed, basically trying to summarise everything she's been doing and in doing so, fails to make me care about any of it.

Ysayle's death was tastefully done and hardly something that didn't receive a great deal of attention. If anything, one might suggest that she was mourned a little too much considering that her actions - justified as they may have been - resulted in a lot of death and torment for Ishgard. It's very refreshing for both major and minor characters to perish from time to time - and it's hardly as frequent an event as people make it out to be considering that the bulk of the main cast are virtually immune to dire injury or death at this point. Even many minor characters receive that luxury.

There's nothing cheap about Emery's death. The point was to show that the wilds and roads of Eorzea are dangerous enough that the average person's life is at risk of ending in the blink of an eye. Which makes sense given that one bite from a monster, a stabbing from a bandit or a landslide is going to kill most people who do not have luck on their side. I think a lot of people around these parts honestly forget that not everybody in Eorzea is like the Warrior of Light or his allies.

Then there's the simple fact that no matter how well done a death is in a videogame, book or movie someone, somewhere will have a strange 'snobby' mentality that all death is cheap and forced. Others will become incredibly angry if their precious fan favourites are harmed which, in turn, does far more damage to a story simply because it results in numerous characters being free from any and all major consequences.

I also feel the need to point out the irony that a lot of the same people complaining about this story also posted in the 'Where is Alisae?' threads that cropped up over the past year or so. The story was, in my opinion, quite obviously written to explain her absence. It's also a short story so it's hardly going to be crammed with the same amount of depth as an elaborate in-game quest chain would boast.