Thread: Revelations from Patch 6.4: The Dark Throne

Originally Posted by Cleretic

Pandaemonium done.

I actually had "external forces making Athena bad/ worse" on my bingo card, because of the absolute terror JRPG writers have in general over making a female character (let alone a pretty one) too interesting, but "through the means of an alien plot device (to appeal to the six people who still care about the Heart of Sabik)" was beyond even the plunging depths of my cynicism.

The best part of the entire Pandemonium raid was

Erichtonios' growth and him beating the shit out of her mom with his face and stance radiating newfound confidence in himself.

Having finished everything but ranking up Island Sanctuary - constantly paused MSQ for the new Ocean FSH routes which have adorable scene transition animations, too many thoughts for one post.

Pandaemonium First:

"Fleeting Memories" as yet another variation on the Amaurot theme I had to mute the bmg. I could not get halfway through that fight without silencing it just to focus, my brain hates it. Fanservice for those that care about the Ascians and Convocation, congratulations. Very ostentatious golden tower, but I hope if we ever return to the Ancient World we learn about the other cities and civilizations beside the last one standing during the Final Days. An exact parallel to seeing the Sharlayan Forum, checklist marked off.

Fight itself nice. Finally against Elidibus in his own body instead of yet another power/body he stole. His staff I'm pretending is an Emperor Mateus reference. I wanted a FFII Soul of Rebirth raid, so Aitiascope is my consolation prize.

All the fights mechanically were interesting (wiped 4 times on p10 learning). P8 bored me from the beginning. Playing with the stage layouts.

Writing felt ...uneven. I was terrified Athena would be forced to have a moment of regretful motherly affection, thankfully avoided. Still the implied blame on outside alien rock, if nicely pulling back in that Ivalice raid Ultima thread, is an overused JRPG trope. And the Ultima raid was the only reason that the Heart of Sabik needed any answers beyond "Ancient Concept Crystal". The crazy neck hunch pose trope, held too long, made me snort.

I ADORED beyond words that ghost-memories Lahabrea refused to whitewash the actions of the Ascians, rightfully labelling them as hypocrisy and evil and took the extra step of acknowledging that while not as bad as Athena, he was not a good father to Erich, even when Erich was still forgiving. A lovely counterbalance to Gaius and the orphans. In that shining moment I liked Lahabrea almost as much as Erich - and then we go to the past and he's a high-handed asshole while Erich backslides in divorcing himself from his toxic family. No surprise he recombined with past self. The "we stand on two mountains" speech was clunky and eye-rolling. "Will of the Star" sounds the same as Ishgardians harping about Halone's will. Yet again I wish we had a window into the pre-Sundered world that wasn't the counterpart to Thordan or Fourchenault.

The memories shoved on random souls (poor real souls temporarily overwritten by Athena, I worried about them more than the Ancients) was a clunky write-around to avoid bootstrap paradox but the most serviceable solution to tell this story.

I like that Elidibus's ending speech looking out the the Aetherial Sea didn't end on a "foreshadowing coming doom" note. Also, yes, sea! fishing! Refocus and become a FSH Main, it has the best XIV community!

Tataru aka Werlyt sequel:

Knew we'd get back in the Gundam, though surprised we didn't fully repeat the Sapphire Instant Role-Play fight as that would have been a big draw to everyone clamoring for it during Werlyt. Getting Nero officially involved also fixed another missed opportunity. End reward item was meh, though nice to include the portraitist again. (Slides him some gil to finally get the Ysayle portrait we're years overdue for)

And as someone who never watched any of the Gundam series, even I knew vaguely about masked Char clones (whoever Char is? Charismatic red rival ace villain henchman I think?). Body-double route itself of just using the preexisting Garlean(Allag) cloning technique I guess was to fit the exact Gundam reference.

Scattered MSQ thoughts, part one:

Krile's letter, Thancred's "Archons as neutral outside party" job request, and Erenville's homecoming (though Anden reminds me of a possible reason ) are all plot hooks, though of which are 7.0's main MSQ, raid, or trial series is hard to say. Or even a dangling plot thread to be picked up in 8.0 once they decide what they need.

The recreation of shirtless sweaty Estinien one-armed push-ups art was both funny and gratuitous in the thirst trap fanservice of it. My honest opinion: most popular Japanese media is overwhelmingly obnoxious w/ fanservice of the other gender, neither appeals to me, but the animation/cutscene directing team is stretching their skills.

This patch feels like a x.2 patch in that we're returning to plot threads of X.0 with the leftover Ragnarok plan and Zodiark parts and the Tower of Babil. I loved that.

Good job high-lighting the extensive network the WoL and Scions have built up- and how the accumulated trust bypasses gaining approval filler while still showing realism and moral character by not just carrying out our hero plans unilaterally. Good writing to tie to Zero's character development and what we learned about the 13th way back with Unukalhai in HW. The power of trust and friendship isn't just the immediate party strength but this realistic community building and networking.

Dungeon itself was fun, if the music a tad disappointing because I was hoping for a new theme that wasn't Sharlayan's day theme on slightly different wind instruments.

Politics with Garlemald is presented as well as I could expect as for in this game, though once more I am frustrated at Trapper's Den and how once again the former slave class that built Garlemald and controls the cerulean and has the magitek expertise that is earning this trade deal is shoved out of the political power in favor of Imperial Era senators (who are realistically self-sabotaging and delusional in their demands and separated themselves from the bulk of their people in nominally more luxurious quarters. That got an eye roll and laugh as well as their obstinate political maneuvering to hold the shreds of what they see as their power while ignorant of outside physical realities and logistics) Still conditioned by the imperialist mindset that destroyed most of their people, turned their country into an abomination, and created misery, genocide, and destruction across all of Ilsabard and Othard. Sadly just like in Werlyt 2.0 no option to tell them the Empire was an Ascian's evil. Cynically wondering what the corruption and brain-drain will look like in Garlemald in a decade and if it can avoid backsliding into another dictatorship that destroys itself and threatens the peace of its neighbors, but this is the best option for this batch of Garleans.

Jullus (and his VA) is yet again the highlight of this zone.

And Part Two, because I can't be terse and there's no overlap between friends who care about diving into analysis and story and plays XIV (my real temptation to start playing GW2):

When Duarante and Golbez first shown (and the not predicted twist that Golbez is the dead friend), I called them Edward and Alphonse Elric, especially as they're hiding who's in the empty suit. The depth of obfuscation is a choice. People predict Golbez was the 13th's Ardbert, and while I loathe the idea of our WoL collecting and retaining Azem shards with the fury of a thousand suns, I fear the temptation for creating that wretched power-up plot is too tempting. At least they constantly reaffirm in this Void arc and Pandae how new lives create new identities and that the souls swallowed inside retain their own distinct self-hood. Some XIV job lore does this too but I would rather re-frame as active choices to carry on legacy than physical pieces of souls absorbed into Super-Azem Blob. Speaking of which, the Azem summon party animation has lost the coolness factor from 5.0 and is overused and boring but inescapable gameplay mechanic.

Not having the name Theodore anywhere was a good choice, strengthening the separation.

I doubted Zero = Zeromus would happen. Glad to be right. Wonder if Zeromus was the 13th's initial Azem Reborn like the First's FFI WoL.

Lopporit section was stronger than I thought it'd be, enjoyed the humor balance.

The extended Dragonspeak discussion with Azdaja and Vrtra was great, I love the Nidhogg is rude to all his siblings, I desperately need a sibling council scene where Hraesvalgr interacts with Vrtra (ideally we'd have Tiamat and Azdaja). That it was her choice (under duress) to stave off corruption was a nice twist if a little much like Tiamat. Azdaja look vague vulture-esque. I love vultures. Still give her 30% max chance of surviving. Sadness.

Vrtra has the best character development and actualization and I'll miss him in 7.0.

The Red Moon had a great atmospheric vibe. Not just music. (6.X has been especially fun because my sister who doesn't play XIV recently completed IV/AfterYears. So I show her parts and she geeks out. She loves IV Golbez, btw.)

Only have done the Golbez fight once but I do like that it was brute force magic and meteors without feeling like other ice/fire combo fights or meteor mechanic spams - it didn't feel like a copy of a Nael or SoS or that mage from CLL.

Originally Posted by Denishia

Scattered MSQ thoughts, part one:

Politics with Garlemald is presented as well as I could expect as for in this game, though once more I am frustrated at Trapper's Den and how once again the former slave class that built Garlemald and controls the cerulean and has the magitek expertise that is earning this trade deal is shoved out of the political power in favor of Imperial Era senators (who are realistically self-sabotaging and delusional in their demands and separated themselves from the bulk of their people in nominally more luxurious quarters. That got an eye roll and laugh as well as their obstinate political maneuvering to hold the shreds of what they see as their power while ignorant of outside physical realities and logistics) Still conditioned by the imperialist mindset that destroyed most of their people, turned their country into an abomination, and created misery, genocide, and destruction across all of Ilsabard and Othard. Sadly just like in Werlyt 2.0 no option to tell them the Empire was an Ascian's evil. Cynically wondering what the corruption and brain-drain will look like in Garlemald in a decade and if it can avoid backsliding into another dictatorship that destroys itself and threatens the peace of its neighbors, but this is the best option for this batch of Garleans.

Jullus (and his VA) is yet again the highlight of this zone.

I will say about

Garlemald, that it always leaves a sour taste in my mouth. The people in charge seem to always be ultra-nationalists and for a moment I was sure that the twist was that they were hoarding the resources meant for the common people, instead of just worrying about their cultural identity. A piece of me was going "are you worried that we'd steal all your warmachina and resources and re-traumatize your people because that's what YOU'D do in this position?"

Also, I've seen other people saying about Pandae and... I disagree. Also because I'm one of six people who was still interested in the Heart of Sabik:

I don't think we were meant to see Athena as a "victim" of the auracite. The narrative even goes out of its way to say that even if it drove her desires to the extreme, they were still HERS, and it was still HER in there. And I love that they went back to explain it since it was one of those "We'll throw this at the wall and say how important this is and now we kinda forgot all about it among all these others plot points we also threw at the wall." things from the 2.x era. The fact that it also ties with my favorite side-story is a bonus.