Final Fantasy XIV

A Prediction for Heavensward

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This entire post is CHOCK FULL OF SPOILERS for the most recent story events in FFXIV. Seriously, if you don't want spoilers turn back now.

Not a spoiler:  There will be internet dragons

Alright, so I'm going to be theorizing based on the state of things as of the end of the current storyline, and particularly one scene that shows up after the ending credits. I'm assuming if you're reading this you already know what's gone down, but if not you can listen to us talk about it on the latest Aggrochat podcast. The important thing for our purposes here is that the Scions of the Seventh Dawn appear to have been nearly wiped out. Yda, Papalymo, Y'shtola, Thancred, and Minfilia all remained behind and apparently gave their lives in Ul'dah to aid our escape.

What really got me thinking, though, is the final cutscene where we see Urianger speaking to Elidibus, the white-robed Ascian. We don't see much, but Urianger appears to be ready to enter into a deal with Elidibus.  My theory is about that deal and the possible repercussions.

I think Urianger, already hit hard by the death of Moenbryda, was devastated by the apparent deaths of the other Scions. Willing to do whatever it takes to save them, he enters into a deal with Elidibus, offering him the stone from Louisoux's staff if the Scions can be returned to life. Elidibus accepts, and the Scions are restored, but not without cost. They come back in the thrall of Elidibus' "One True God", effectively tempered.

This would lead into a storyline where we find ourselves having to face our former friends and desperately search for a way to free them of the Ascians' influence.  I see us facing them one by one, most likely starting with Moenbryda, and collecting a dark crystal from each as we defeat them. Adding Moenbryda to the five Scions who fell in Ul'dah would give us a total of six dark crystals to collect, just as we collected six light crystals from the primals in the Realm Reborn story.

Dark Crystals, you say?

I might be entirely off base with all of this, but this seems to me like something that fits in with the sort of story the FFXIV team have been telling thus far and also hearkens back to aspects of previous Final Fantasy games (collecting dark crystals, friends mind-controlled and set against the party). I'm looking forward to seeing if I'm right.

Hello there, Ladies and Gentlemen

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Welcome to any new readers that came from Massively to check me out!  I'm actually double glad Syp linked to me, as he mentioned the post that he made some years back that was my inspiration for my ability identification post!  For some reason I was misremembering it as something I saw on the LotRO forums.

I don't know how many folks might stick around and keep reading, but I've been considering a state of the gaming post in any case, so what better time?  Here's what I've been up to recently.

FFXIV

The 2.5 patch came out Monday, and for the first time I was entirely caught upon the various questlines.  I didn't really have time last night to try running any new group content, but I got everything unlocked and am ready to give some of it a try.  The Hildibrand questline continues to be the best thing ever, and I'm especially looking forward to the new Gilgamesh fight.

Apart from the new stuff, there's still plenty of existing goals that I'm still working towards.  I've leveled all my crafting and gathering classes to 50, but I still have plenty of better gear to work on so I can craft 3 and 4 star items.  I've been in a bit of a conundrum where I didn't want to spend a lot of gil melding materia into gear that isn't best in slot, but working on desynthesis has opened up my ability to craft the best jewelry for gathering and crafting, so that should help me move on up the chain.

I've also been working on my battle classes and have 3 of those at level 50.  Bard remains my main to which I've added Dragoon and Warrior.  I'll probably be focusing on White Mage or Scholar/Summoner next so I have a healer job available, but I haven't decided which yet.  I suspect I'd actually be better tanking as Paladin than Warrior, but I won the most absurd axe in the game off Titan a couple months back, and I've been wanting to use it ever since.

Dat Axe

Marvel Heroes

I've honestly not done much in Marvel Heroes recently apart from try to log on once a day to collect daily rewards.  I'm sure I'll swing back around to it again before too long, but for now FFXIV and occasional single player games are dominating my PC gaming time.

Shadow of Mordor

Among my Christmas presents this year was Shadow of Mordor, which I have been enjoying the hell out of.  I absolutely love Arkham City, so the basic gameplay is right up my alley, and the orc captains are a great element.  I had one poor idiot come back a total of 4 times, jumping me out of nowhere each time and looking rougher and rougher as it went along.  I do have trouble focusing on the story at all since I keep running into captains that need killing and Power Struggles to deal with.  I need to at least get to the point where I can brand captains so that getting them promoted actually benefits me.

FFX

Finally, I picked up the FFX/X-2 remaster recently and have been playing my way through Spira again.  I'd forgotten how dark that game is underneath the surface once you know what's actually going on.  So many things that were relatively innocuous the first time through have a whole new level of sad attached to them.  Really though, I guess Final Fantasy games have a history of darkness. mass genocide in VI, the whole Cloud/Sephiroth thing in VII, and Tactics, man don't get me started on Tactics.  It's like a Shakespearean tragedy told with Precious Moments figurines.

In any case I just wrapped things up in Luca and am headed out on the Mi'hen Highroad.  X is one of the Final Fantasy games that I not only beat but pretty much burned to the ground content-wise the first time around, so it's interesting seeing what all I remember and deciding how in depth I'm going to go.  I have a hard time not collecting all the things, but I don't know if I'm going to be willing to put forth the effort this time around to, for instance, get Lulu's final weapon.

Afternoon Delight

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Time to try something different.  Obviously my previous plan is not leading to posts; I think in part because I generally have started writing pretty late at night and posted just before heading to bed.  Problem is, lately it's been hard to make myself prioritize writing over sweet, sweet slumber.  Today I'm starting this post on my lunchbreak with the intention of thinking about it a bit over the afternoon then finishing it up right after work.  If you're reading this, it worked, at least for today.

Part of the problem has been the immense amount of stuff available for me to do in FFXIV.  Between daily crafting quests and hunts, getting my relic weapon, and continuing the story, I've been playing later than I honestly should be.  I suppose that has positive implications for my longevity in the game; I'm not bored of it yet.

Last night I wrapped up the relic weapon quest for my fancy bard bow with a little help from Rae, Damai, and Bel.  I had already completed the Hydra trial the previous night, so all that was left were the hard versions of the Primals: Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan.  Titan in particular was not easy, though the fact that we ended up with two black mages in the party neither of whom were very useful didn't help.  The first wasn't even wearing appropriate gear, he had put on gear with strength stats to meet the item level requirement.  The rest of the party was less than pleased about that, though I was impressed that noone was actually mean about it.  More chiding and dissapointed.  I guess Bel really was right about the community being better in FFXIV.

I also won an absurd Warrior axe from the Titan fight, so I guess I need to level my Marauder class now.  It was on the short list anyway since I'd like to have tank and healing roles available to me.  My retainers apparently want me to level Arcanist as well, since they've brought me a high level Scholar book and pants.