Inconsistencies with the astrologian questline and the Durendaire family

[Iscah]

Thankyou so much for replying and resolving it! It's good to finally have one straight version of events. (And I've got an alt character that I can use to play through that questline again and get the altered version of the dialogue.)


You've also 'answered' something that I'd wondered but never got around to asking - "Carvallain" is not his birth name, is that right? Evidently he's borrowed the surname of Ser Gorgagne, but it wasn't clear whether his forename is an alias as well.

(FFXIV NPCs are surprisingly younger than you (and often I) think).

Only when the lorebook throws my game-based grasp of the timeline out the window! But do be careful with Guillestet's age - he can't be that young without stretching the previous "Elezen don't mature until around age 20" information that explains why Alphinaud and Alisaie still look like children.

(Though it came up in another discussion recently that Carvallain is in the "fifteen years ago" plot of 1.0, where he must be only nineteen, so that's already pushing it a little. I'm sure there's some variation in what age they actually mature, of course.)

Why did the pirates welcome him to their crew and not just ransom him? 1. He had deep knowledge of the stars, making him a skilled navigator—something the Kraken’s Arms just happened to be lacking at the time. 2. Carvallain didn’t want to go back.

The other reason here would be that he's already run away and pretending to be "not a noble", correct? (Or at least a minor noble rather than direct heir to a High House.) So they might not have a reason to think he's worth ransoming anyway - at least to a higher value than hiring a navigator, I suppose!

The one instance where Janne says he’s been “a student of the astromantic arts for more than thirty summers,” is supposed to be him embellishing a tad (as is his wont), so this will remain.

It's entirely up to you, but I think that would still throw my estimate out by a few years if there isn't anything to establish it is an embellishment. Would "almost thirty years" still be enough of an exaggeration? That would still be bending the truth (say, counting "the start of his education" from receiving a star globe as a third nameday present!) but not putting a player's initial guess so far from the correct number, when it's all the information they have to go on.

(Doubly so when NPC appearances aren't unique enough to tell the person's intended age, and you need that context of dialogue to establish whether they are "as old as they look" or intended to be younger/older.)



Reading through the scripts again now on Garland Tools for anything else worth mentioning.

Another thing I've noticed that isn't related to the rest of the tangle, but is still "character ages askew in the AST storyline" and certainly worth looking at if you're editing the scripts... Quimperain seems to vary between being referred to as old or young, and with more quotes than I thought now that I'm actually looking for them.

From 'Hanging In the Balance':
Leveva: Bandits have kept poor Quimperain busy, harrying our camp since we arrived. I do believe the old man enjoys the excitement, however.

From 'Slings and Arrows':
Jannequinard: If it is Lady Leveva you seek, she just left with Quimperain for Limsa Lominsa. And if you ask me, those two have grown awfully close as of late. I had best keep an eye on them, lest that honey-tongued manservant of mine forget his station.

Celie (with Quimperain as hostage): Ha ha! Lay down them weapons, or I'll cut the old man a new grin under his chin!
...
Quimperain: Wait... I know you...
Celie: Someone has a good memory for being so on in years.

From 'Sharlayan Ascending':
Jannequinard: Ever since the affair with the false Temple Knights, Quimperain has been acting more...I don't know...boldly? It is as if he has to will himself to even address me as “milord.” Do you think the Lady Leveva is becoming a bad influence on the lad?

Quimperain: I shall escort the lady back to the Athenaeum, and hold her hand if I must...ah, to ensure that she doesn't wander off again, of course.

From 'The Hands of Fate':
Quimperain: A man my age should not have lasted a half bell in that last battle.

Also "just in case", depending on how the game text looks on your end and whether you're seeing the 'battle quotes' (which are included on Garland Tools) in the same place as the rest of the script: in the battle instance for 'Spearheading Initiatives' there's a line "I am sorry, Father..." that I assume is for Jannequinard if he gets KOed. So that will need updating according to the changes you listed.

And some typos (of the 'not spell-checkable' kind):
From 'Slings and Arrows', it mentions the "Bloody Member" rather than the "Missing Member".
From 'Sharlayan Ascending', Janne refers to Forlemort being "not the first relative who has plotted my timely demise". I think that is supposed to be "untimely", although I suppose it's not entirely out of character for him to make the error himself, and the text be a correct delivery of his incorrect wording.


...and I do have to ask about Janne's comment in 'Loved By the Sun' that Leveva is "far too old for [his] tastes. Or was it young?" (which is somewhere between 'odd statement' and 'unpleasant implications' given Leveva's age...)



Also while we're clearing up facts about the characters, and if my question on it hasn't made the cut for "things to be addressed in the Fan Fest panel", could you clarify Mordyn's comment about "Carvallain's bride"?


And a terminology query - is it supposed to be "Count de [Surname]" or simply "Count [Surname]"? Or are both forms acceptable? The script uses both at different times.


Thankyou again for all the work you do, and sorry for the piling on of more questions! I really appreciate getting the reply!

[LineageRazor]

It's entirely up to you, but I think that would still throw my estimate out by a few years if there isn't anything to establish it is an embellishment. Would "almost thirty years" still be enough of an exaggeration? That would still be bending the truth (say, counting "the start of his education" from receiving a star globe as a third nameday present!) but not putting a player's initial guess so far from the correct number, when it's all the information they have to go on.

Jannequinard: Why, it'd be no exaggeration to say I was born with a silver Star Globe in my hand, such is my passion for the science!

[Anonymoose]

Also while we're clearing up facts about the characters, and if my question on it hasn't made the cut for "things to be addressed in the Fan Fest panel", could you clarify Mordyn's comment about "Carvallain's bride"?

Every other language only says "Carvallain's out on the terrace." so I've struggled with that one for a while.

Would be a bummer if he was already married, though. I keep joking that one day his secret will out and the Durendaires will try to drag him back into Ishgardian politics and he'll have to get himself permanently disowned and exiled to be free of it...by, say, bringing Rhoswen home to mama.

[Iscah]

Would be a bummer if he was already married, though. I keep joking that one day his secret will out and the Durendaires will try to drag him back into Ishgardian politics and he'll have to get himself permanently disowned and exiled to be free of it...by, say, bringing Rhoswen home to mama.

I've seen you write that elsewhere, and it is a fantastic mental image. (You've got me laughing again just thinking of it!)

[Iscah]

Jannequinard: Why, it'd be no exaggeration to say I was born with a silver Star Globe in my hand, such is my passion for the science!

Fair enough, you could spin the line either way.

[Ramesses]

I've seen you write that elsewhere, and it is a fantastic mental image. (You've got me laughing again just thinking of it!)

Here you go Iscah... it just might have been this thread... I think I was responding to Moose's hilarious yet vivid idea about how the dinner table theatrics would unfold if Carvallain brought Rhoswen home.

And thanks again for the extensive and very detailed clarifications Ferne... Iscah's determination in listing all the contradicting facts were indeed a great catalyst in getting this resolved.

[Iscah]

I should add a big thankyou to Garland Tools for making the quest scripts accessible! Otherwise I'd have to get through all the gameplay again to re-read the dialogue, and store it all as PS4 screenshots, and the whole thing would have been a lot harder.


Also I'm curious, does this sort of script update get recorded in patch notes like all the gameplay updates? I assume so, since it's a lot of information to get changed after people have already played through the quest.

[AmemeAmeklin]

Another thing I've noticed that isn't related to the rest of the tangle, but is still "character ages askew in the AST storyline" and certainly worth looking at if you're editing the scripts... Quimperain seems to vary between being referred to as old or young, and with more quotes than I thought now that I'm actually looking for them.

This has actually been driving me crazy. He's using the same face as the 27-35 year old Elezen NPCs but keeps getting called an old man...I've been very confused.

[Iscah]

This has actually been driving me crazy. He's using the same face as the 27-35 year old Elezen NPCs but keeps getting called an old man...I've been very confused.

I don't mind it too much in general - it means there's more variety in character faces than having everyone of a particular age having a particular face - as long as it's established in dialogue and kept consistent. (Which in this case it hasn't.)

I'd assumed the same thing was in play for Jannequinard of course, and there's also at least one solid example: Baurendouin de Haillenarte, who is 56 but looks younger (literally the same character model is used for 28-year-old Aurvael) - but that doesn't matter because he's first introduced as Stephanivien's father, so there's no question that he's intended to be older than he appears.

I guess it comes back to being like older RPGs where the characters were just small pixelly sprites and you'd have no chance of telling a character's age from their appearance. We've moved on in graphics but it comes down to the same choice - they can use the "young" character model, the "generic adult" or the "old man". Anything more subtle is stated in dialogue and the player has to apply that knowledge on top of what they actually see.

[Lambdafish]

Leveva’s correct age is 16. Kyokuho is merely spitballing when he claims she is around 20.

Time to burn the fanart internet