Revelations from Patch 5.5 (Part 1)

[Vyrerus]

MSQ

It all proceeded as I expected, with a few twists here and there. I hadn't expected Aymeric and Lucia to show up in the dungeon. Tiamat really nuked that one pull with her breath, awesome. I got Thancred nuked and then wiped on the final pull by putting too much faith in the Trust system, but none of my friends were on, and I wanted to get in all the patch battle content before sleep.

They've left Arenvald's fate vague again. Seems to be a reoccurring theme with him. Like how he was just absent after the raid on the Scions, and then literally only reappeared in 4.0. Like we know he's in critical condition, but the writers really leave themselves a lot of wiggle room with him as a character. It's kind of nice, because it makes it harder to read what exactly they'll do with him. You'd think with both Fordola and him having Primal slaying experience, and Ifrit being one of the most commonly summoned primals... he could have at least used that buckler of his instead of No-T-posing. I hope he makes it.

Sorrow of Werlyt

So they went with the girl, but we all kinda expected it, right? Though many wished for Alphonse to be alive, it's what made sense with the story.
I really enjoyed the fight. My healers were sorta slow to pick up on the, "Auri fighting style." I went on Warrior, and the other tank was also a Warrior. On the winning pull, both healers bought it around 12% and me and the other WAR, the SAM, and the BLM, finished it off. I died by the end because I took the stack buster alone with Holmgang, so it felt nice and epic.

Guess those shells are what he used against Ascians, maybe? Or perhaps he developed it after seeing us fight Emerald Weapon.

Glad that Gaius gets a second chance. I'm a big fan of second chances and redemption.

Nier

Cool fights but...

Wat.

Also not really digging the story being stretched out with dwarves that I don't really care about.

[Iscah]

[Arenvald] was just absent after the raid on the Scions, and then literally only reappeared in 4.0.

He wasn't active in the story but he was never absent. He's at the Waking Sands, taking a long time to get over his survivor's guilt after his friends died in the raid.

[Iscah]

A small thing that bugged me in the MSQ...

Estinien mistaking Alisaie for Alphinaud. Maybe at a distance, but anyone who ever confuses them realises their mistake as soon as they hear the twin speak - but Estinien didn't. It felt forced.

[Fenral]

A small thing that bugged me in the MSQ...

Estinien mistaking Alisaie for Alphinaud. Maybe at a distance, but anyone who ever confuses them realises their mistake as soon as they hear the twin speak - but Estinien didn't. It felt forced.

I loved that part actually.

It feels like countless repetitions of the "Alphi looks like a girl" joke were all leading to that moment. And, to be fair, her JP line was literally two quiet syllables, so not enough to make a precise vocal identification.

[Theodric]

Nier Raids:

In terms of aesthetics, music and fight mechanics I have no complaints. It's a solid raid when it comes to those aspects. The story is very vague in parts, though I suppose that's intentional since it is a crossover with another setting at the end of the day. I'm choosing to view it as being a glorified side quest without thinking too much on the broader implications.

I'm a little disappointed that both the 8 man and 24 man raid series revolved so heavily around girly characters, though. Eden at least had some male character fanservice in the form of Fatebreaker but Nier has none.

Here's hoping whatever we get in 6.0 has more testosterone to it.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Werlyt:

Wasn't a big fan of this storyline to begin with. It was pretty predictable from the start so i was hoping for this final section they'd do something unpredictable like actually kill off the girl for once but nope. Instead they killed off the brother(of course). Im personally a bigger fan of 2.0 Gaius rather than 4.0/5.0 Gaius so his arc just felt kind of meh to me overall.

Nier:

So ever since the first raid i had been hoping for an eventual 9s coffer since they had given people the feminine 2b coffer. Alas, i guess they decided more female glams were necessary for this raid as well. Overall i think it was an okay raid. Music was good and the bosses were pretty interesting. I still think Orbonne is my favorite alli raid. As for the story part of it, not going to lie i let out a laugh upon seeing them write off the story as how they do for every other event crossover where its just "portal to another world".