Revelations from Patch 3.5

[Cilia]

OK, finished the Warring Triad and Scholasticate! Actually I did Scholasticate last night, but...

Warring Triad

Well, with others' information it wasn't too surprising. Van Hydrus proposed an alliance, got himself killed defending Unukalhai, we beat the crap out of Zurvan, and then Unukalhai revealed himself as both Elidibus' servant and a survivor from the void.

I almost declined van Hydrus' offer (not that I could really have done so, but you know). Not because I didn't understand the necessity of it, mind, but because he still insisted on calling us savages. That's... not how you conduct diplomacy. One would hope a legatus would know better, even in an urgent situation!

Zurvan was... a bit of a let down. It's visually impressive to be certain, but other than the fire / ice seals he has no real tricks up his sleeve, and went down after one screw-up on my end. Curious that he was the only member of the Warring Triad without a vocal theme.

That Unukalhai was from the void and Elidibus' servant was... unsurprising. There's no other way he could have known so much about the void, and without Ascian assistance it's questionable how he could have gotten to our world. At least we do know Elidibus is honest when he says he's trying to keep cosmic balance.

Kind of sad to see van Hydrus go. Though we had our differences we could have been comrades, were it not for our clashing ideals.

Scholasticate

Kind of a disappointing end. The culprit was increasingly obvious, and the mastermind practically outed himself. Lebrassoir stood the most to gain and was rather beneath suspicion... which was why I began to suspect him. "Father" Saturnois' uncompromising position in expelling Archombadin also showed he quite clearly had ties to what was going on.

Unfortunately, I feel that the questline being dragged out over 3.1 - 3.5 made it difficult to remember all the characters, and the mastermind's motive felt like a deus ex machina. Nothing really foreshadowed it, though at the least it explains some of the more curious aspects of Ishgardian history (i.e. how only the Archbishop and Heavens' Ward know the truth of the Dragonsong War). Small details, to be sure, but details nonetheless.

It wasn't a bad sidestory, don't get me wrong, but... none of the characters really made an impression on me besides Crammevoix, and with the story stretched out over a year I didn't remember many of the important details, relying on obvious cues as to who the culprit and mastermind were. For mystery stories I'd prefer something more like the Gold Saucer's murder mystery case, where you had to actually search for clues and discern the truth for yourself, instead of having Briarden exposit the truth and giving you a few multiple choices that make no real difference. I understand they can't do that with every such thing, but... the Gold Saucer murder case set the bar kind of high. In my opinion.

At least I got a new emote out of it. Got plenty of glasses already...

On Garlean Ethics and Morality
Forewarning! No complaints!

I've never said the Garleans don't have their good points, or are entirely ignoble or irredeemable. Unlike Eorzeans they are proactive in dealing with the primal issue, taking matters into their own hands instead of simply reacting to threats. They're not afraid of technology, which I think is Eorzea's biggest failing - the Garleans have magitek robots, while Eorzea's most advanced machines not of Garlean design are airships and pea shooters. They have noble individuals who fight and die for their ideals and countrymen.

That said, my issue with Garlemald is not any individuals, but their actions and policies as a sovereign nation. It's political. Individuals like Regula van Hydrus having some decency (even if he insulted us in the next breath) doesn't change that their goal is to bring the entire world to heel, and as someone who values freedom I cannot abide that. As long as their goal remains "peace through tyranny," I don't see us forming any alliances with the Garleans aside from ones of necessity and/or convenience. And for every Regula, we have a Nael / Eula.

That's not to say Garlemald can't get better - but as long as world domination is their (Varis') goal, and the populace remains apathetic to or supportive of that goal along with how horribly conquered peoples are treated and his Machiavellian "the ends justify the means" philosophy, I can't really support Garlemald as a nation. "They were pushed around before magitek" isn't an excuse, since the territories they're now conquering and holding are so far removed from the Garlean homeland it's rather improbable they had anything to do with that - meaning "to survive" or even petty vengeance can't be used to justify it.

I want to see more heroic and good Garleans as much as anyone else. That's just going to take a lot of reformation.

EDIT
Hildibrand

Aww... that was heartwarming! And it's nice to see Cyr actually got character development in instead of becoming Charibert 2.0!

Now if only I could get Julyan to teach me to get that more intense aura and the glowing eyes...

A couple thoughts on the MSQ... or rather in general...

OK, Papalymo has implicitly died, and you're saying "Bury yourself in work to forget your grief?" That's seriously unhealthy! If that's how the Scions cope it's no surprise Thancred lashed out at Emannelain (not that the kid didn't deserve it) and the Warrior of Light's negativity took on a corporeal form of its own! It's no small part of what led to Thancred getting possessed by Lahabrea, setting a lot of 2.0 into motion!

Seriously! Seriously unhealthy!

[Fenral]

Seriously! Seriously unhealthy!

MSQ

I've been saying that for ages! I wouldn't have nearly the problem I did with all the various sacrifices in this game if they weren't either a final desperate act born of some vile cocktail of self-loathing, powerlessness, and despair (i.e. G'raha, Ysayle), or immediately shrugged off as necessary (Moenbryda, Minfilia twice, Estinien certainly tried, and now Papalymo). Louie still gets a pass in my book because his sacrifice did have dire unintended consequences, including the domino effect that continues to this day.

Alphinaud is still at his breaking point, apparently, but he hasn't quite broken yet. If there was any one part of your grandfather's legacy to reject, that would be it. You can do it, Alphi!

"I don't want to save the world if none of you are in it." - no FFXIV character ever.

[Cilia]

"I don't want to save the world if none of you are in it." - no FFXIV character ever.

MSQ

While I do agree that the narrative's love of self-sacrifice is getting to be quite a bit much, especially after we swore we were done with it and refused to sacrifice Estinien to finish Nidhogg, I'm getting rather more concerned with the coldness of the characters.

Yeah, grieving and beating yourself up over Papalymo's sacrifice ain't gonna bring him back. Same goes for everyone else we've lost. But so what?! They were our friends, or at least our comrades, and losing them hurts! If you don't take the necessary time to process that pain and sorrow, it'll just keep building and building until it hits like a ton of bricks and leaves you emotionally wrecked.

While I don't agree with everyone sacrificing themselves, that's their choice to make and respect those decisions, no matter how painful it may be. What pissed me off was how cold everyone was about it. Y'shtola more or less said "Papalymo sacrificed himself to stop this new primal. Welp, better get back to work! Get your ass in gear, Krile!" and Urianger was just like "I shalt go pore over mine books in mine stuffy cellar, that I may find a course that shalt make Papalymo's sacrifice worthwhile." Is he not worth a single moment or a single tear?! He was our friend, or at least our comrade, damn it! If he bought us time, use just a little to grieve so you don't break down at an inopportune moment, then get back to work!

We're not even taking time for ourselves to grieve for our fallen friends. Not even the tiniest bit. One should not get lost in sorrow and regret, but it's stuff like this that leads to things like "Fray." And that is a truly dangerous road to walk.

Even if the Garleans, primals, and Ascians don't manage to kill us, we could end up breaking down and collapsing in despair eventually. Get some grief counseling, Scions! You've all clearly got some form of PTSD!

"As long as I don't think about it, my anguish doesn't exist." -Scions of the Seventh Dawn

[Fenral]

"As long as I don't think about it, my anguish doesn't exist." -Scions of the Seventh Dawn

Not even really talking about MSQ anymore but

And this is why FFIII > FFII. Sure it still had some of FFII's... problems with guest characters (Aria who?), but it also had a moment that told a bunch of them "we still need you, even if you think your role is over." Thus far, FFXIV is far more representative of FFII than anything else, no matter how many other references it throws at us, and that's kind of troubling, because so many other games in the series could almost be thought of as responses to FFII's handling of death.

In the meantime, I suggest curling up in a blanket with some hot cocoa and watching Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, if you haven't already.