Philosophy of the Hildebrand quests

[LeporidaeMenk]

It's something that has really caught my attention in his heavensward series of quests and I'm wondering if it might make sense to anyone else. Their appears to be quite a bit of influence from Camus brand of philosophy in embracing the absurd. Everyone is struggling to find some sort of meaning in their own lives, causing no end of strife in their own lives as well as those around them. Then Hildebrand arrives, literally making up his own reasons and meanings for what is going, which are typically unbelievable by any normal means of thought.

But as absurd as it is, he's happy with it and those who are working with him slowly start to accept the absurdity and feel all the better for it. Even those working against him end up accepting this absurdity and are all the better for it as all meaning is undercut by the meaning that Hildebrand himself has created and they seem to accept it themselves.

[Enkidoh]

The problem with Hildibrand is SE seem to not be sure what to do with him anymore narrative and gameplay wise. His original purpose was for the 7th Umbral Era story in the original version of FFXIV (1.0) where he first appeared as some bumbling self-proclaimed private investigator who actually didn't have a clue about investigative work or even the events going on around him. He was basically just some light-hearted comic relief that was sorely needed in a setting and story that was becoming increasingly dark and depressing indeed (Dalamud's descent), a fool who still managed to succeed despite himself and help those around him.

When he was brought back in ARR however, SE instead decided to milk his comic relief for all it was worth due to him no longer serving a narrative or gameplay purpose, turning his story into utter farce, what was more Monty Python-esque intelligent slapstick, became Looney Tunes-style rubberfaced tomfoolery with the silly expressions, the surreal situations that went beyond ridiculousness. There was no philosophy behind his story, he was just an idiot, a no-nothing-know-it-all who thought he was helping people but ultimately caused more mayhem than he was solving (the only reason his 'cases' ended up being resolved was mostly because of the player's meddling and legwork).

His story is still funny, but it stopped being touching and philosophical the moment Godbert showed up and they emulated Road Runner and Wile E Coyote, and thus went downhill from there. And I saw no deeper philosophy behind his story, if there was one it was drowned out by the sheer stupidity of it all. It's hard to be philosophical when Julyan is bashing people over the heads with a giant frying pan.

[Hasrat]

As someone with no knowledge of 1.0, I simply see his quests as devs giving animators free rein to be as ridiculous as they want.

[LeporidaeMenk]

I have no knowledge of 1.0 either, I kinda see what you're saying though. There is far more of a focus on comedy, but the writers still seem to be attempting some form of philosophy. I found the stories written so far for hildibrand to be rather touching myself, maybe i'm just a sap for such things though. When the old folks at the end of the HW ark realized there were probably better things to live for even though they were probably going to spend the rest of their lives in prison, I thought it was an excellent example of some sort of acceptance of this absurdist ideal. They were better off making their own reason for existence rather than chasing feebly after their old ways.

I have no idea what the previous writers for it were like or if they're the same ones, but I still kinda feel like the writers are trying get something like this across, even if it is sort of dwarfed by the silliness of hildibrands family.

[Usho]

To be honest, after the first few Hildy quests, I just completely lost interest and I felt his storyline was very bland and rather generic. When I realized I needed to do the Hildy arr trials for Mentor roulette, I had to stomach the remaining arr quests (ty skip cutscenes). After awhile, his antics became rather annoying to watch hence why I just skipped the remaining cutscenes. Don't get me wrong, I think he is funny, but his concept and stories just feels really meh imo. I honestly hope SE doesn't make anymore trials for his storyline that I need to unlock for future mentor roulette requirements. Forcing players to do his story and trials just to unlock mentor roulette was just bad and I hope they don't do that again.

[silverlunarfox]

Hildebrand is the best for me. I love the comic relief and completely stupid quests. ARR quests for him were just outrageous but fun to boot. The HW ones actually were fairly interesting, and I still enjoyed them for what they were. I just can't wait to see what he gets up to in SB.

I see him as one of us honestly. Theres all this chaos, and he just makes the best of it in the only way he knows how. It shows theres more than one way, no matter how absurd, to look at the world.

[LinaNyx]

I just finished the Hildebrand quests in HW and I kind of have mixed feelings here. I love Hildebrand have since I first did his quests in ARR and I love Gigi in HW but some parts did feel a bit repetitive. I'd like to see him again in SB but without either of his parents appearing. Having his parents appear in ARR fit in with that storyline even having them show up at the start of the HW quests was fine but I felt annoyed with his mom after a bit. I'm ready to take a break from seeing Hildebrand's parents. I also enjoyed Briadien and Cyr's reactions to Hildebrand though I could just like seeing people trying and failing to make sense of the clueless detective.

I see Hildebrand as an idiot who cares about helping people. I didn't think I'd like him until I saw his meeting with Maria and it seemed to me that he cared more for helping her than trying to catch the thief. Again we see with Gigi how he wants to help and comes to care for him and that is what made me like Hildebrand.

[DrWho2010]

i mean i just love humor for humor's sake. Can't something just be funny? does it really break your immersion?