Revelations from Patch 5.3

[Cilia]

Finally finished Castrum, so here goes.

Bozja Southern Front, or: Corrupt Bigoted Nobles™ Ruined It Again

Fairly straightforward until what was it, Rank 6, where Matsuno's seemingly ubiquitous Corrupt Bigoted Nobles™ are shown harassing Misija for her common birth, setting up the inter-class conflict and corruption that casts a pall over Bozja and for most intents and purposes the entire Hrothgar race. You thought Bozja was a simple kingdom but GOTCHA, it was a republic! No, wait, DOUBLE GOTCHA, it was actually an oligarchy with a highly stratified caste system! Corrupt Bigoted Nobles™ were Corrupt Bigoted Nobles™, and their influence persists in the Resistance! It was so bad that 7/10 of the population was below the poverty line, and 3/10 of the population was utterly destitute before the Imperial conquest! Bozjan society was stagnant in this way for over 5,000 years! You thought the ancient legend of Queen Gunnhildr was a good thing, but GOTCHA, she was just a puppet ruler put in place after the old one wouldn't use Save the Queen to protect Bozja from the Fourth Umbral Calamity! Wait, GOTCHA again, the puppet ruler had the Echo, so Gunnhildr's Blades killed her primal form so she wouldn't learn she was just meant to be a sacrificial lamb!

... Corrupt Bigoted Nobles™ being used as an easy source of drama once again. I don't like it. It's been done to death within this game and without. The instant I saw those nameless Corrupt Bigoted Nobles™ harassing Misija and then Marsak elucidating how Bozjan society really functioned, I knew it was gonna be a source of drama, so Misija's treachery was absolutely no surprise to me at all.

As it stands I have a hard time caring much about who wins. Corrupt Bigoted Nobles™ cast a pall over Bozjan liberation and history, while the Imperials are using whatever methods are available (Resonance, primals, Lucavi, voidsent, etc.) despite their supposedly superior military force. It leaves me wanting for confidence in the cause, and without that I have little reason to fight for it.

As I've said before, political intrigue isn't my favorite type of story, so the Imperials' machinations don't interest me all that much.

When everyone's a shitbag, it's hard to care about who wins and loses, who lives and dies. Bajsaljen and Marsak are really going to have to step up their game in Part III to rebuild my confidence in the cause, because as it stands my only reason to fight in this storyline is stopping Misija from abusing a primal. (Unless Alisae's tempering treatment actually works and she's deployed to aid the cause, kiss the reborn Gunnhildr's Blades goodbye!)

Anyway, none of the fights are terribly difficult, and my main complaint is how narrow the window for getting into Castrum is. Also that the new haircut clips though my GNB coat, but that happens with every haircut longer than shoulder length anyway.

[EdwinLi]

Finally finished Castrum, so here goes.

In the end of all this it is not a matter of who wins this war and who will die. It is the matter of if the right people lives through this war and make the world a better place or not after the dust has settled. All sides in this war have their dark side of the conflict in any war that will only seek personal gain for themselves as we have seen even through the MSQ. Yet such is the way of war to always put good people against each other because of conflicting ideals and the ambitions of others.

Both sides have good people who, if they can just put aside their allegiances towards their own country and/or how things are handled, will certainly get along together and make a better country. However, like all wars the conflict of what and who will be the leadership of the territory and what standards they should have for these countries have always put each side at odds with each other even if they have common goals.

Bajsaljen and Gabranth most likely may get along just fine if they just put side their ideals of who should be leading the territories of Bozjan and Dalmasca since both seek the same thing being a new country that treats everyone as equals. Not to mention far better results in creating a country of equality despite certain resistance towards that equality.

[RyuDragnier]

I'm still of the mindset that Gabranth is fully aware of who is against his plans. I won't be surprised if he sets up the people in a unit that will get completely destroyed so there will be nobody left who is still for the nobility system. So far the man has been a planner on the level of Vayne from FF12, so I'm anticipating us getting played pretty hard in the next part of the storyline.

[Kesey]

Bajsaljen and Gabranth most likely may get along just fine if they just put side their ideals of who should be leading the territories of Bozjan and Dalmasca since both seek the same thing being a new country that treats everyone as equals. Not to mention far better results in creating a country of equality despite certain resistance towards that equality.

That's the dramatic irony here. Because there is a war and both are born on different sides of it and come from different background and races they'll never know until it is too late.

[EdwinLi]

I'm still of the mindset that Gabranth is fully aware of who is against his plans. I won't be surprised if he sets up the people in a unit that will get completely destroyed so there will be nobody left who is still for the nobility system. So far the man has been a planner on the level of Vayne from FF12, so I'm anticipating us getting played pretty hard in the next part of the storyline.

It is rather a bit soon to determine what kind of person Gabranth is since we only seen the opinions of those who follow him and the opinions of others who only know about him through stories. We may have to wait until 6.X era content to really get to know what kind of person FF14 Gabranth is if speculations are right about Bozja Save the Queen storyline being just delaying the inevitable fall of the Castrum and Gabranth's story being continued in 6.X era within a new location.

That's the dramatic irony here. Because there is a war and both are born on different sides of it and come from different background and races they'll never know until it is too late.

Such is the way of war after all. As once said by the Doctor in Doctor Who series...

"This is a scale model of war!

Every war ever fought right there in front of you!

Because it is always the same.

When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die!

You don't know whose children are going to scream and burn!

How many hearts will be broken!

How many lives shattered!

How much blood will spill until everybody does what they were always going to have to do from the very beginning!

Sit down and talk!"

-12th Doctor