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The important difference between Pyros and Hydatos is that Pyros has bots farming the bunny fates in the south half and Hydatos doesn't have bunny bots, presumably because they get shredded by the mobs on the east half of the zone.
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Dec 5, 2023 21:07
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Mordiceius posted:This is my hot take and I will bang this drum again in a year when we reach that story. In some ways I can agree with this.
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Dec 5, 2023 21:11
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Runa posted:the boy was certainly ill-Tempered
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Dec 5, 2023 21:41
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Qwertycoatl posted:As an alternative bad and unsatisfying option, it's possible that Eureka was stupid and overconfident and didn't try to temper Ejika because he seemed to already be on-side. Yeah, I'm kinda leaning towards "it wasn't smart enough to realise it hadn't already tempered him".
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Dec 5, 2023 22:04
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Quantum Toast posted:Yeah, I'm kinda leaning towards "it wasn't smart enough to realise it hadn't already tempered him". That was my take on it. Zansetsuken doesn't immediately take people over, it's the 3 days or whatever until another Odin spawn. The times we've seen immediate tempering have been particularly strong primals and particularly weak people. Ifrit for example was deliberately hitting weakened captives with a firehose. Ejika seemed to be amenable and going along with things, he was saying all the stuff Eureka expected to hear, with Eureka's personality of a servant looking for a master there was no betrayal to consider and I'm not sure what it would have been able to do if it had.
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Dec 5, 2023 22:27
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The recolor Zansetsuken is another rare drop, as an armament for SAM or DRK. Unfortunately, it can't be dyed, which put the kibosh on my glamor idea of having the same glamor plate for PLD, SAM, and DRK, so it looked like my WoL was switching fighting styles but using the same weapon.
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Dec 5, 2023 22:56
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I mentioned it before but we've seen tempering be both a quick and a long term process. For example with Ifrit and Lakshmi we've seen them deliberately choose to temper people on the spot by blasting them with a focused wave of aether. We've also seen a large population of Sylphs get tempered by Ramuh just by being in proximity to him for extended periods of time, even with Ramuh being "benevolent" and not out to temper new followers. Also after getting flow teleported at the end of ARR 2.x, we're told Thancred's soul is somehow damaged with the effect being he can no longer safely manipulate aether (use magic/teleport) and is now is especially vulnerable to a primal's influence. So how long tempering takes is a function of time, distance, how much aether the primal is exposing them to, and the resilience of the person's soul. None of which is really talked about in this Eureka story-line which is a bummer!
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Dec 6, 2023 02:29
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Lazy Fair posted:Also after getting flow teleported at the end of ARR 2.x, we're told Thancred's soul is somehow damaged with the effect being he can no longer safely manipulate aether (use magic/teleport) and is now is especially vulnerable to a primal's influence. Oh that was the reason? All this time I misremembered it as being a consequence of Lahabrea's possession.
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Dec 6, 2023 02:37
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Lazy Fair posted:None of which is really talked about in this Eureka story-line which is a bummer! I really can't overstate just how easily the thing with Ejika and the sword could have been fixed if they'd just said ANYTHING. You can't end Pyros with Krile in despair that Ejika has seemingly been Tempered by something akin to Odin, resolve to do whatever it takes to save him (implicitly even if that means killing him if all other measures fail) and have him shout that only Kheris can use the sword safely, and then just NOT ADDRESS WHAT HAPPENED. We can sit in here and spitball ideas about how he got out of that jam all day, but the issue is that we're having to do that because the story told us NOTHING. It's so weird. Bruceski posted:Oh that was the reason? All this time I misremembered it as being a consequence of Lahabrea's possession. Yeah, that was Flow, just like Y'shtola's eyes.
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Dec 6, 2023 02:45
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I mean losing access to magic in general sucks but I think being unable to teleport is just an extra kick in the teeth. Just loving walking everywhere? Can we lend this poor man one of our fifteen mounts?
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Dec 6, 2023 02:52
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it's frankly pretty incredible what thancred is capable of despite his lack of ability to manipulate aether, especially not being born that way like a garlean
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Dec 6, 2023 02:55
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YggiDee posted:I mean losing access to magic in general sucks but I think being unable to teleport is just an extra kick in the teeth. Just loving walking everywhere? Can we lend this poor man one of our fifteen mounts? He's a ninja. Do a few hand gestures and *poof* he's 50 malms away
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Dec 6, 2023 03:09
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No I think that counts as using Aether
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Dec 6, 2023 03:09
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YggiDee posted:No I think that counts as using Aether Nope, just good planning and some smoke powder.
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Dec 6, 2023 03:19
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Actually he never did his job quests so he's still just a rogue.
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Dec 6, 2023 03:22
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sirtommygunn posted:Actually he never did his job quests so he's still just a rogue. Well in that case he gets around by crashing in the hold of really fast smuggling ships so it's still fine.
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Dec 6, 2023 03:24
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My interpretation is almost everything a job/class does in FFXIV other than auto attacks involves aether manipulation, even throwing a punch, swinging an axe, or shooting a bow as a player involves powering up the attack with aether. Even the DoH/DoL jobs are often using aether for crafting/gathering (ex: recipes take crystals), and in the Ananta tribe quests we saw them shaping metal purely through aether. The Garleans were really at an enormous disadvantage prior to the invention of magitek.
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Dec 6, 2023 03:25
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Lazy Fair posted:My interpretation is almost everything a job/class does in FFXIV other than auto attacks involves aether manipulation, even throwing a punch, swinging an axe, or shooting a bow as a player involves powering up the attack with aether. Even the DoH/DoL jobs are often using aether for crafting/gathering (ex: recipes take crystals), and in the Ananta tribe quests we saw them shaping metal purely through aether. That's not just interpretation that's explicitly canon. Every class in FF14 is some form of wizard, you just specialize in what kind of magic be it Sword or ANGRY or physical manifestation of your own guilt and self-loathing built up over your months of letting people push you around while you desperately try and help them or just putting a bunch of aether in your fist so it hurts the guy REALLY bad. Alongside his ability to travel via Aether and general magic Thancred's ability to fight has been diminished pretty heavily and so he's getting by with his mastery of stealth and his personal dexterity/ability to dodge. ZenMasterBullshit fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Dec 6, 2023 |
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Dec 6, 2023 03:31
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Which makes the fact that he successfully 1v1'd a cyclops during the Grand Melee so that you and Raubahn could enjoy your duel uninterrupted all the more impressive.
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Dec 6, 2023 04:35
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Thancred has effectively become a Garlean in terms of combat capabilities, but without even the benefit of the third eye (which, at best, is only some additional spacial awareness, but that's still advantageous in a fight), which makes him a useful measuring stick. Most spoken races have the benefit of aether manipulation which helps level the playing field significantly from inborn physical attributes - Lalafell can keep pace with Highlanders with proper training, even if they can't surpass the best of them (19 str vs 23 str) - but cut off from such augmentation, Thancred is still shown to be an effective combatant. Like, besides the cyclops, his post-Flow reintroduction was going toe to toe with the Warrior of Darkness, and in the later solo duty he holds off the Knight of Darkness alone - and those guys aren't meant to be slouches! But he's never going to able to cast a fireball, so any tricks for an edge beyond what a man can do with fancy footwork and weapon(s) in hand will necessitate some degree of artifice. For Garleans, this has been technology - ceruleum-based magitek and/or whatever made Goug machinery tick, should we also roll with their supposed ancestry.
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Dec 6, 2023 05:13
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Sanguinia posted:I really can't overstate just how easily the thing with Ejika and the sword could have been fixed if they'd just said ANYTHING. You can't end Pyros with Krile in despair that Ejika has seemingly been Tempered by something akin to Odin, resolve to do whatever it takes to save him (implicitly even if that means killing him if all other measures fail) and have him shout that only Kheris can use the sword safely, and then just NOT ADDRESS WHAT HAPPENED. We can sit in here and spitball ideas about how he got out of that jam all day, but the issue is that we're having to do that because the story told us NOTHING. It's so weird.
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Dec 6, 2023 05:20
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Thancred just tries harder. Skill issue, clearly. At this point if Thancred actually regained his aether usage he by all rights should be...well, maybe not full on WoL levels of strong, but he'd certainly be an absolute monster. No aether manipulation is basically his anime style weighted restraints.
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Dec 6, 2023 08:20
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ProfessorCirno posted:Thancred just tries harder. Skill issue, clearly. Thancred being stronger than the rest of the Scions because he works his rear end off at it makes a lot of sense. We've gotten insight behind his facade of Mr. Cool Guy Ladies Man Super Spy two or three times, max, and it was to tell us that 1) when Loiusoix died he self-imposed the idea that he needed to be The World's Protector in the old man's place 2) he thought he came up short in his efforts to do that constantly even before Kheris surpassed him in that role and 3) because he feels like he's not living up to that, he carries around a crushing weight of guilt over all the people who've died and/or he's failed to save since the Calamity, especially Minfilia and all the Scions he got murdered when he was possessed by Lahabrea. If he were a lesser man he might have already become a villain out of jealous despair. Instead he's remained one of the most moral and loyal people in the Scion's ranks even though he's the covert operations guy. I really hope I finally get to spend more time with him soon. It feels like forever since I've gotten to have a legit adventure with my Starter Zone Pal.
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Dec 6, 2023 08:51
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Lazy Fair posted:Also after getting flow teleported at the end of ARR 2.x, we're told Thancred's soul is somehow damaged with the effect being he can no longer safely manipulate aether (use magic/teleport) and is now is especially vulnerable to a primal's influence.
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Dec 6, 2023 08:52
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thancred is very easy to explain: the lifestream may have taken away his ability to manipulate aether, but it didn't so much as touch that dog in him
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Dec 6, 2023 09:13
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At least Baldesion Arsenal is a fun as hell raid.
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Dec 6, 2023 11:36
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Eijika was fine because he had already been tempered by the chip on his shoulder.
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Dec 6, 2023 15:42
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I still haven't done BA yet, and I probably won't - I enjoy hard content, but I don't enjoy jumping through hoops to get it done with a discord group or some poo poo. I grinded out pretty much all of Eureka alone and I have mixed feelings on it. On one hand, it certainly has some interesting gameplay ideas that got better iterated upon later. The whole thing is pretty novel in general, and I do think the game can use more things that are like Eureka (assuming the kinks are ironed out). Also, I don't think I ever felt as companionable with other random strangers in the game as I did in Eureka; even though I went in alone friend wise, I came out of it having cooperated with a good number of people who I began to recognize day in and day out as we all worked towards similar things. For me, that was quite a unique feeling when it came to 14. On the other, worse hand, Eureka is something my friends, I feel, rightfully warned me against, and I think I only pressed through out of sheer determination to get the glams I wanted. The whole experience is a miserable slog most of the time, with gameplay 'features' that I find extremely anti-fun. Sleeping dragons, the grind in general at some points, the cruel disposition of players trying to ensure they get rare drops, the annoyance of trying to find a new instance with people in them, having to use a website to optimize it... and so on and so forth. Does not help that I found the story incredibly boring and skipped through most of it, and as it turns out reading through this, I don't think I missed anything of real substance. None of this stopped me from grinding out two relics, an elemental armor set, and some many hours of bunny/NM grinding for gil and tomes. My dark knight glam still uses the sword from Eureka, and my white mage the armor. The first one I went for was the fending set and paladin relics, but in retrospect I feel those (and many of the others) look kinda crappy. Different strokes, though. It's not something I'd easily recommend to anyone looking for a good time, but maybe for a long, often-tedious time. Does the game need more things like it? You bet. Just done better, preferably.
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Dec 6, 2023 17:54
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You should do BA so you can finish the story.
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Dec 6, 2023 18:34
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You know, I'm also currently working through Eureka (only need 200 Pyros crystals for the armor I want to glam and I'll be able to go full time on Hydatos) and Pyros absolutely wasn't the experience you've grieved about for me? People just called a pull time and then checked on /shout if anyone was on the way. I managed to join a train that went through every single NM possible, sometimes multiple at the same time yet people waited. I wonder if it's a NA/EU cultural difference or my server/DC just doesn't have as many people so less chance for griefers to ruin everyone. (Bunny fates do get cleared inmediately if someone wants to do them though, but those respawn quickly).
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Dec 6, 2023 19:01
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It's still barely a story so you can skip it if you're not feeling it tbh
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Dec 6, 2023 19:02
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The main thing I noticed with Pyros is that, in some cases, the location where you grind mobs to make the NM pop is far from where the NM actually pops, so it becomes easier to pull or kill an NM while the actual group that popped it is still trying to make their way over. That one's just insanely bad design on Eureka's behalf more then anything.
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Dec 6, 2023 23:13
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GiantRockFromSpace posted:You know, I'm also currently working through Eureka (only need 200 Pyros crystals for the armor I want to glam and I'll be able to go full time on Hydatos) and Pyros absolutely wasn't the experience you've grieved about for me? People just called a pull time and then checked on /shout if anyone was on the way. I managed to join a train that went through every single NM possible, sometimes multiple at the same time yet people waited. ProfessorCirno posted:The main thing I noticed with Pyros is that, in some cases, the location where you grind mobs to make the NM pop is far from where the NM actually pops, so it becomes easier to pull or kill an NM while the actual group that popped it is still trying to make their way over. That one's just insanely bad design on Eureka's behalf more then anything.
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Dec 6, 2023 23:52
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iPodschun posted:In my recent experience on Primal, there's a few early pullers to watch out for in Pyros and Hydatos; Cyborg Xeno and Kitty Powpow are the names I remember. When those guys aren't around, everyone has been pretty cordial in my experience. That was my same experience with those exact people when I was grinding Eureka way earlier this year. Do they really have nothing better to do than make things miserable for other people in an MMO? What a sad existence.
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Dec 8, 2023 10:50
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At this point it must be a hobby
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Dec 8, 2023 11:00
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Chapter 71: That Old Black Magic When Kheris reaches Ul'dah and finds Lalai, there's no time to fawn over the new staff. While investigating the Books of Nald'thal, my old colleague discovered a cipher hidden in the text by Master Ququruka. It reveals an incantation meant to stir "memories long forgotten." Black Magic isn't a discipline that leaves stones unturned, so we head out to the Thal's shrine futz with the spell.  …  I'm starting to think the extinction of Black Mages would have been better accomplished if Eorzea's nations had left them to their own devices. The spirit takes over Lalai's body and introduces itself.  …   I went out of my way to get a cool hat for this glam, and she's talking smack… For those who've forgotten, Shatotto was the first Black Mage, formalizing the school by combining many disparate destructive disciplines with her technique for channeling atmospheric aether. She also invented the Black Mage Soul Crystal, which doubles as a regulator for the process so we won't explode like those poor bastards from the Heavensward questline. She is not to be confused with (although she was inspired by) FFXI's Shantotto, my new staff's namesake. Our illustrious predecessor left an echo of herself behind so she could see how her school of magic developed in the millennia after her death. More importantly, she also foresaw that a disaster would hit our world around this time and decided her direct intervention would be necessary to prevent it. After all, people in the future would surely be as incompetent as those in her lifetime. Speaking of which, she needs to check Kheris' skill level—he second comment denotes that she'll use the usual method.  The fight is one of the more intense I've seen from Job questing, not counting those with obvious scaling bugs. Shatotto's spells hit hard, but she also creates summoning circles that conjure ice sprites and golems until you destroy them. If you fail to keep your cool and blow things up efficiently, it's easy to get dogpiled. She also has a few AOE spells, and the amount of damage coming at you forces you to move out of them, so efficiency is a challenge. It took me three tries to get past the encounter. Shatotto is suitably impressed with Kheris' performance and deems the savior of Eorzea worthy to be her gopher. Unfortunately, the battle severely taxed Lalai's magical reserves, so the spirit enters a dormant state before she can explain the nature of the threat. Lalai resolves to get to the bottom of this regardless of her second-hand fatigue. If nothing else, we need to confirm the thing inside her is who it claims to be. Research leads her to a prophecy concerning the "rending," of a "baleful star," and a warning that it would return 23 centuries later, the exact amount of time Shatotto's memory claims to have waited. Before we can dig any deeper, Hearer Zhai'a appears with news from the Shroud. A small army of golems has emerged from the ruins of Amdapor and begun wreaking havoc on Gridania's outer settlements! I wonder if there's a connection.  I'll take that as a yes. In line with last time, Shatotto ignores all questions and marches us down to the Shroud, where the Golems have disguised themselves as Amdapori detritus left behind after the War of the Magi. Our guest from the past suggests we blow up every rock we find until they stop moving, which proves an adequate solution.  With the immediate threat handled, Zhai demands a more substantial explanation, which Shatotto reluctantly provides:  I still remember when all the Lalafels were rhyming in ARR, so I get to participate in the joke second-hand with my FFXI friends.  Black Magic, it turns out, was not invented on a whim. Early Mhachi scholars were doing some stargazing one night when they discovered an extinction-level-event comet was heading toward our planet. Since Allag's fall robbed us of space travel, Eorzean Bruce Willis wasn't available, forcing The Weeping City to tap their greatest archmage/pyromaniac for a solution. Thus were the Black Arts born in fire and glory as Lady Shatotto unleashed a spell powerful enough to shatter the falling star. Unfortunately, "shatter," did not mean "destroy." Her spell was large enough to break off a chunk of the mass and deflect the rest into deep space, but the object remained mostly intact. The gravity of our solar system was destined to bring the thing about for another pass.   Shatotto initially calculated her shot was enough to ensure the comet would never hit, but magic had its say in the equation. The fragments she broke off fell to the surface, shattering into countless shards and embedding themselves in Eorzea's soil. Their unique aetheric composition earned them the name "soulstones," and every civilization of the era used them as the foundation for golem technology. While leading Mhach's golem development program, Shatotto observed an aetheric link between every piece of the comet. The bond created an almost magnetic attraction, implying the combined power of all the shards might be enough to shift the comet's path. As a Hearer of the Twelveswood, Zhai can't overlook such an existential threat to the forest and offers any assistance he can muster. Shattoto reluctantly accepts, and he immediately proves that he'll be an asset by going to the Conjurer's Guild and the Astrologians of Ishgard to make some discreet inquiries. After all, the Alliance governments won't work with Black Mages in any official capacity. While our self-appointed boss goes back to sleep, Zhai lingers. He was diplomatic when addressing the spirit, but nothing about this scenario sits right with him. The story is farfetched, and he finds the source less than completely credible. After all, she is indirectly responsible for the War of the Magi! It's a biased thought that shows his antipathy toward Black Mages still lingers despite his personal trust in us. Lalai rightly calls him out on this:  Zhai couches his concern in the idea of unintended consequences. He swears he doesn't mistrust Shatotto's motives, but he worries we might accidentally do harm trying to save the world with a tool as dangerous as Black Magic. Notice that he doesn't have that same concern about White Magic, even though it works virtually the same way. If we were to shoot a giant Holy at the meteor instead of Flare, the risk would be roughly identical... except to Aerith Gainsborough. Yet Lalai's attitude also bothers me.  She's so starstruck over meeting the mother of the Black Magic that she's not even worried about her body's safety. Even if we assume the memory isn't lying, the phrase "figure out how we might best do her bidding," is a troubling frame for our cooperation. We've had to drag every scrap of information out of Shatotto, and she's constantly annoyed that we're not mindlessly following her orders. A little skepticism isn't the worst idea. ~*~*~ While our catboy goes through proper channels, we reach out to the rest of Team Black Mage. Da Za sends word of golems running amok in Mor Dhona, so we head out to help. Shatotto remains hidden during the journey, though Lalai feels she is awake and observing. This troubles Zhai, who wonders if we could summon her to the surface rather than waiting on her whim. It's a suggestion Lalai doesn't appreciate.  Shatotto takes this moment to make her entrance and belittles the Hearer for his continued doubts about her. This proves ironic moments later when Da Za's report proves that she's not as infallible as she believes.  ...  Zhai pounces on this a little too eagerly, pointing out the damage her disciples caused during the War of the Magi to imply his earlier point that our savior might cause inadvertent harm while trying to save the world. Then he crosses the line and asks her if we can even trust her to take up arms against her manic creations. Shatotto points out the obvious, that she has nothing to gain from allowing the golems to rampage just because she made them, especially because they might endanger her host body. It struck me as noteworthy that she bothered to respond to his accusation at all. She's been quick to ignore and dismiss far more reasonable questions. I also notice a change in her body language during the exchange. She seems… sullen.  Is it possible she was humbled some tiny fraction after learning her perfect golems weren't perfect? Did she entertain that skepticism because it seems more justified after she made that mistake? If so, it's only subconscious. She's soon asking Kheris what the hell Zhai's problem is with her. I would have liked a dialogue option to point out that she has done some suspect things, but our protagonist has a different theory.  Shatotto also recognizes the man's feelings for her host but waves his concern off on the logic that Lalai can take care of herself. That would be a lot more reassuring if you didn't keep switching her personality off and throwing her body into danger, lady! Speaking of which, a few minutes later…  She has the grace to thank Zhai, even noting how she endangered the body she's borrowing by overestimating herself, but the Hearer rejects her praise. He tells Kheris how Shatotto deliberately intercepted a blow intended for him, then admits that it would have struck home only because he was too busy watching for signs of treachery.  …  It's a nice moment for both characters. Shatotto's micro-arc of being confronted with her fallibility culminates at the same moment Zhai'a is forced to realize that he's taken his suspicion too far. We even get some proof that our self-appointed savior has benevolent motives when she risks her life to save another. It felt like a perfect Act Out for the story's first part. Now that we've overcome our reservations and our ally has been taken down a peg, we can confront the threat unhindered. Of course, we've raised the specter of 'he did it for love,' so that needs resolution.   He runs away... and then he comes back.  …  …   You know how people complain that Marvel movies spoil their emotional moments by throwing in a gag to signal to the audience that they don't take their subject matter too seriously? Bathos, I think they call it? I was feeling it here. As a side note, you're given the opportunity to tell Lalai what happened. Since everyone is bullying Zhai already, Kheris opts not to do so.  Okay, that's cute. I approve. The next step of the story begins by gathering our whole squad. The Beastpals are practically drooling over the legendary Shatotto-   -but she subtly maintains her thin gloss of humility. She's not afraid to insult everyone and talk about her greatness, but she's also forthcoming with explanations of her plans and even takes questions with minimal mockery. We're her team, not her pawns. Progress! Golem activity has been on the rise across the continent, though the ones sighted near the cities are too weak to pose any threat. Readings from Ishgard also confirm that the comet's path has been shifting closer to our orbit, though as things stand, it will still miss. Rather than be relieved, Shatotto explains that this aligns with her theories. The concern is not the reactivation or rampancy of existing constructs. She's worried about the vast deposits of soulstone in the wilderness that were never unearthed.  The comet's approach and the increasing proximity of weaker golems are creating ripple effects in every corner of Eorzea. The untapped soulstone will respond to that wave, forming new and more powerful golems. If enough of these arise, the comet WILL be drawn in. Our best bet to prevent that is heading for remote areas and killing every golem we find. This process involves a weird conversation. Between rounds of insulting big hats, Shatotto commented on how much certain places have changed since the Magi era. Gyr Abania is no exception.  I wondered if this foreshadowed a betrayal, but nothing like that happens. I guess it's just a humanizing moment where the great archmage drops her façade and contemplates that the last of her life will soon be gone. When we take out our targets, Shatotto observes something troubling: one of the golems she blasted lived for a few moments, and its last act was to attack another golem, attempting to rip out the core. She's only beginning to piece together what this might mean when we get a linkpearl call from Zhai in Dravania.  She has a working theory by the time we reconvene: the golems have been drawn to Sohm Al, the floating mountain, because it's the closest they can get to the comet. The aetheric link is creating an unstoppable urge to reunite with the larger sources of their unique aetheric signature. While they wait for the big boy, they're compelled to destroy each other. These efforts will soon create a critical mass that can exert enough force to drag the comet out of the sky. The only way we can stop this is to obliterate a sufficient soulstone before the comet's path brings it too close, but against an army of thousands, we couldn't hope to win soon enough. Unless!  I agree. What do you think, ballgame? Zoo? I don't care, I just want to hang with you guys. Her actual plan is to let the golems do the work for us. If they smash each other to pieces and unite enough of their cores, we'll only have to kill one enemy. One hopelessly godlike enemy with magical energy on the scale of an Elder Primal. Even Shantotto admits the odds are slim… but Kheris, the last successor to the Black Mage arts, has "at least half a chance." Now that's high praise! She also has praise for someone else.  …  A compliment for ZHAI'A?! She's come a long way! Everyone takes time to rest up and prepare for doomsday, which provides an opportunity to talk about Black Mage's Stormblood changes. Beyond an upgrade to your AOE DoT attack and a 10% buff to Enochian, these levels give you three new abilities. Between the Lines teleports you back to your leyline if you need to run away from it, which is a great quality-of-life upgrade (though I wish it had a bit more range). A few levels later, they one-up this with Triplecast, a two-charge spell that functions exactly like Swiftcast, except it gives you THREE instant spells. It's hard to express how much more I enjoyed playing Black Mage casually when I got Triplecast. Blizzard and Fire IV's usurpation of the Job's core was so traumatizing to me that I felt the need to write a fictional interlude to explore how I got over hating them. After Heavensward's slowdown of the Job's playstyle, suddenly being able to instantly cast SEVEN spells in a row was so intoxicating that I had to fight the urge to simply mash it every time it was available. The game has finally given me a button more satisfying than Drill! The last new spell is the reward for the final quest, a special attack known as Foul. You get a buff to activate it every 30 seconds, complete with a handy add-on to the Job gauge showing how close it is to coming online, but only if you can avoid dropping your Fire and/or Ice ticker. The bar also starts filling toward your next one before you spend the charge, which is super nice. Since it has almost double the potency of Fire IV and hits everything else in a LARGE radius around your primary target, you're strongly incentivized to get good enough to switch it on consistently.  A reward in the form of an extremely Black Mage-y super-spell for executing your Job mechanics properly was a welcome addition. In fact, all of these new buttons are great. A lot of Stormblood's Job changes have been somewhat low-key compared to Heavensward's average iteration, but Black Mage took a big leap forward. When enough time has passed, we gather in the Dravanian Forelands and prepare to take on whatever won the Golem Royal Rumble. Team Beast is instructed to form a perimeter at the mountain's base so the rest of us won't be taken from behind and our target won't grow any stronger.  The kill squad takes a few minutes to get Vidofnir's blessing to fight on her sacred mountain, which provides an opportunity for the dialogue to remind us one last time how much Death's Handmaiden has come to appreciate us, no matter what poison she might spit when she's in earshot.  With the dragon's consent, we travel to the arena where Kheris once fought Tioman and discover our quarry.  No pun intended.  …  For all the talk of the danger this foe presents, the actual fight is simple, to the point of being a letdown. Our leader holds aggro on the golem easily, our healer handles the damage easily, and the target has no special moves aside from an easily avoided cone-shaped ground slam. The only noteworthy mechanic in the duty is a meteor attack. The golem attracts shards of the approaching comet, which come in two flavors. First are the red ones, which our opponent can eat. Your allies imply something bad will happen if he accomplishes this, but they have very little HP, so I never saw what happens.  The black ones turn into golems themselves if you don't break them before they hatch. These are a bit on the tough side, but they don't hit very hard, so it's easy to blow them up and swap back to the boss.  It's a sadly underwhelming climax. With the soulstone obliterated and the link severed, our eyes turn skyward to see if we were too late.  …  ...  Someone cue Aerosmith. Or better yet, don't! We're supposed to be celebrating. With the danger past and her purpose fulfilled, Shatotto takes her leave. She offers one last round of backhanded praise to Zhai for "not mucking everything up," and some legitimately kind words for the Warrior of Light.  Her spirit leaves Lalai's body, and muses to itself one last time as it fades from existence.  After a few moments of silence, Zhai sums up the adventure rather succinctly.  Lalai doesn't appreciate his gift for understatement.  …  …  There's been a lot of Romantic Comedy Schtick in this expansion. Was that a coincidence, or are they doing 'a thing?' This is the war expansion and the uncertainty of war carving through emotional walls to expose love is a common theme in such stories. I don't know, I just work here.  There's a small epilogue, starting with a farewell to our Beast Tribe allies. We sass each other about who helped the most, a ritual even Zhai joins. Shatotto had subtly lauded his dream of a reconciliation between Black and White while making fun of his crush on Lalai in the swamp. Here, we see that dream's first concrete step. He helped us save the world, and rather than remain stiff-backed because of his bias against our methods, he's alongside us, trading jokes. Even without a whiff of Black Magic, he's part of our coven now. Before we all part ways, Lalai asks the Hearer to convey her thanks to those he was working with behind the scenes in Gridania and Ishgard. We couldn't have done this without their help, and she believes they deserve to hear the praise of the legendary archmage. Unfortunately, he has to remind her that most of them wouldn't be pleased to hear the inventor of Black Magic and a group keeping her forbidden art alive were the recipients of their help. He does, however, note that WE deserve thanks from those who would scorn us, so he'll continue his efforts to open hearts and minds. One day, perhaps, we'll be recognized publicly. Lalai appreciates the sentiment and agrees that she'll do the same… but she's also inspired to do something else:   Now, that's a nice note to end on. Black Mage 60-70 was a charming series. The overall conceit of the plot was a reminder that even with the heavy events of Stormblood, life goes on in Eorzea. There are countless adventurers that even the greatest heroes and soldiers may never know about. The premise of hanging out with the legendary wizard who created Black Magic clicked well. I liked how the story initially focused on confirming her trustworthiness rather than just expecting the audience to swallow her because she's an entertaining character/a reference to another character people like. Plus, that first Duty Battle against her was a banger. My only real complaint is that the story left me with unfulfilled expectations. When I first played through it, I was annoyed. Everyone was bullying Zhai for seemingly reasonable arguments, Shatotto barely adjusted her attitude when she was exposed in Mor Dhona, and the other Black Mages remained sycophantic all the way through. In retrospect, none of those problems were as bad as they felt in the moment, but I think tweaks along those lines could have improved the story. I would have liked to see Shatotto take a legitimate shine to our catboy after he saved her life. He proved himself to be essential to her mission and had the humility to recognize that he'd been wrong about her. He also remained the voice of dissent in later conversations, demanding full explanations when the Black Mages were unquestioningly obedient. I wish she'd shown an appreciation for those traits. To me, having a demanding intellect, the character to question authority, and the resourcefulness to leverage every resource at your disposal to achieve goals others call impossible are the quintessential traits of a Black Mage. They were all coming from our representative of White Magic in this story. If Shatotto had done more to acknowledge that, seen it as a virtue, treated him as well as she treated Kheris, maybe even chastised the disciples of Black for not being more like him, I think the ending where we're all united would have been a lot more earned. Plus, that cute line about how our predecessor knew how to treat a gentleman would have landed better! Oh well. I'll take "good," if I can't have "perfect." Especially since I couldn't even have "good," when it came to the Stormblood Job Armor.  Can I get ONE worthwhile Black Mage Set before this game ends? ARR was decent, but yeesh, their track record on this Job is appalling. Do better, Square. ~*~*~ So, what happened to that Stormblood Blacksmithing quest I had to put off talking about? Funny you should ask! The story begins in Limsa, where Brithael receives a letter from a Far Eastern smith who wants to learn about Eorzea's famous Blacksmith Guild. Kheris goes down to the docks to meet our guest, only to find she's in trouble with the law. A sleazy guy started harassing her, and when she defended herself, he tried to play the victim. Typical. Even in a country run by a woman, authority figures are enforcing misogynist, patriarchal attitu-  Ah. Well, that's different. This also helps dull the sting.  The cop lets our visitor off with a warning for Anime Hijinks and hauls the sexpest off for a chat at headquarters, so we're off to a good start. The real purpose of the incident, however, is so she can comment that the sword she used is scrap unfit for sale. She even offers to let the Yellowjacket keep it since it's garbage. Her attitude startles the guy because he considers it one of the finest blades he's ever seen. When Kheris brings the weapon to Brithael, he concurs with this assessment, noting that few in the Guild could have crafted better. This provides an opening for the girl, Sekka, to formally introduce herself and explain why she came all the way from Hingashi.  There's a small complication to her request: she doesn't want to formally join the Guild despite learning their trade secrets. She also won't explain why when pressed for a reason, simply begging us to make an exception. After some back and forth, we work out a quid-pro-quo in which she'll exchange a few Eastern techniques as payment for her instruction. H'Naanza would be proud. After dealing with her for a few minutes, Brit is already exhausted. Kheris feels compelled to explain what happened at the docks.    So, it's going well then? Sekka's days at the forge are a mild nightmare for everyone. She spends much of her time running around the shop criticizing people's mistakes. Whenever Brit tries to chastise her for this, she runs away in a huff and returns twice as nitpicky as before. Kheris is drafted to find out what the issue is, and it's pretty interesting.  When Brit asked Kheris to collect Sekka, he'd off-handedly mentioned that everyone else was too exhausted for the task. The Guild is short-handed, but demand for weapons has skyrocketed (no doubt because of the war), leaving the line smiths to work themselves to the bone trying to meet deadlines. Seeing so many talented artisans sapped of their passion is antithetical to the Hingan smithing tradition, which has become entwined with the spiritualism Samurai associate with the katana. Their swords are symbols of the soul, and this has influenced Hingashi's greatest swordsmiths to make profit secondary to self-improvement. They believe that every sword must be better than the last as they work toward transcendental blades capable of truly reflecting the essence of the warriors that wield them. This monologue got me curious. Could the story be angling for a message about profit-seeking organizations clashing with the creative spirit? Brithael isn't hurting his workers intentionally, but the system DEMANDS that he hurt them because of his status as an authority figure in an organization motivated primarily by making money. There could be a thematic parallel here with that first scene with the Yellowjacket. His service to the system initially compelled him to be harder on the victim of a crime, but his human decency allowed him to do the right thing despite the rules. Something along those lines would be provocative commentary to XIV's core audience due to the hot-button issue of "Black Companies," and how their exploitation of workers is having crushing knock-on effects in Japanese society. Then this happened.  That's right! We're relearning the lesson about listening to our customers instead of being self-indulgent with our crafting! Hooray! We all know how this song and dance goes: Sekka challenges the Guild to a contest to prove her philosophy is superior, Kheris is asked to take her on, the test is a commission from a real customer, Sekka starts without talking to them, and Kheris finds out what they want.  Hey, cameo! Neat. Anyway, Kheris easily wins.  …  Laurisse calling bullshit on those criticisms was a treat.  Brit jumps in and notes that Sekka's refusal to consider the needs of her customers is unbecoming of an artisan, and if she doesn't like it, she should change professions. Preferably right now. To her credit, Sekka takes his words seriously, ends her tantrum, and apologizes to everyone. She promises the rest of her time with the Guild will be different.  …  The fact that Brit slipped three or four suggestions to quit being a blacksmith and leave his shop into this conversation was ALSO funny. If we're stuck in a loop, at least it's a witty loop! Since this is my last chance, let's take this repetitive moment to talk about the mechanical changes to DoH in Stormblood. They added a LOT of new buttons compared to Heavensward, as if this level range was their opportunity to throw spaghetti at the system and see what stuck. Several of the new abilities were total lemons. Prudent Touch, for example, slightly boosts Quality at only half the usual durability cost but can only be used when Waste Not isn't active. I don't think I ever ran into a situation where that was useful in the several hundred items I made to unlock the Free Blue Tool achievements. Same with the 'Focused' abilities, named for the fact that they only become active after you've spent a turn doing nothing with Observe. The combo of Basic Touch and Standard Touch gives me 225% Quality for 36 CP, so getting 150% quality for 30 CP immediately struck me as pointless. On the other end of the spectrum were buttons I recognized as game-changers. The biggest was probably Reflect, a Quality equivalent to Muscle Memory that gives a free Inner Quiet stack. Starting with that buff made maxing out the bar much easier on some projects. Equally significant was Rapid Synthesis Mastery, which boosts said button's power to 500%! It's a fun addition because it adds an element of gambling to crafting. More than once, I was able to take on an item I statistically wasn't ready for because I knew I could roll the dice with Rapid Synthesis. It cost me a heap of gil on more than one occasion, but it made completing my checklist far more exciting. Rounding out the "great buttons," list is Manipulation, which is effectively the same as Waste Not, but because it works differently, their effects stack. If you can afford to use both, you lose zero durability for seven steps. In the creamy middle was Quality Assurance, a flat boost to my chance for Good or Excellent condition, and Careful Synthesis, a bigger-than-usual Progress boost in exchange for a mere 7 CP. Nothing exciting, but good middle-of-the-road inclusions to the toolbox. So, what was the net result of these experiments? They made crafting feel a lot more dynamic. Even the bad buttons felt like they were added to fill a theoretical niche. They wanted to give crafters options within the minigame so they would be less constrained by their gear. Crafting started to feel too deterministic in HW. Either you had the path to filling both bars, or you didn't. The only way to change that was to improve your stats (barring incredible luck.) Stormblood saw fit to inject some variability into the math problem, so there was some chance to solve it without simply gearing up. As much as I still like dedicated crafting gear being part of the design, I approve of the shift. ~*~*~ In the wake of the contest, Sekka keeps her word, shifting her attitude and working diligently on her skills. This status quo is interrupted by Shinto, a mysterious Hingan man willing to pay the Guild handsomely for a sword on the condition that Sekka is not told who made the request. He also insists on providing the materials himself.  Kheris has made katanas before. Indeed, he praises her reputation and scoffs at the notion that she can't handle working the useless metal. But this is a bit much, even for her, so she takes his advice and consults with a more experienced forger of Eastern blades.  ...  I still love it when they throw in those little moments where you can define your character by making a mostly unimportant dialogue choice. Kheris keeps the name to herself, as requested. Sekka notes that the problem with making a katana from such impure metal would arise during the metal folding. If we do it too much with all that rust, we'll make a blade so brittle it will shatter on contact. She doesn't explain why, which confused me. Generally, one associates FOLDED STEEL with removing impurities and making a sword stronger. A quick bit of research revealed that folding's main goal is to create alternating layers of high and low-carbon metal and to homogenize any impurities throughout the blade. This allows the finished product to have its hardest sections reinforced by more flexible metal and for both types of layer to be uniform in their elemental consistency. This theoretically creates a blade without weak spots. So, the problem with folding rusty metal is that you disperse whatever corrosion you can't remove throughout the blade. One of the effects of rust is to reduce ductility, meaning the hard layers will have little reinforcement. The overall structure will be weaker, hence brittleness. Science is neat! I wish the quest had taught me that. Remember how edutaining HW Botanist was? Anyway, Shinto praises my improbably good sword, and then we get the expected reveal.  …  This is why she couldn't commit to joining the Guild, by the by. She came hoping to develop her skills enough that Dad would accept her as his apprentice. Thankfully, he isn't discouraging her because she's a girl or anything as stupid as that. Instead, he claims she is so untalented that she'll never make it as a swordsmith.  What a douche. The fact that Kheris needed her advice to pass his test doesn't seem to faze him, nor does Brithael reluctantly weighing in. He's seen Sekka's work, and as the Guildmaster of one of the world's most famed forges, he can't agree with Dad's assessment of her skills. Even if he did, he couldn't abide how she's being treated.  …  All this falls on deaf ears, and Shinto declares that if his daughter doesn't give up on smithing, he will disown her. Brit is rightfully furious and asks why Sekka even wants this man's approval, let alone to serve as his apprentice. Her answer is simplicity itself: she spent her entire life watching him pour his soul into every weapon he makes. He epitomizes the Hingan blacksmithing philosophy she talked about, pursuing a higher level every time his hammer falls. It's not just that he's the best. It's that he's the type of artisan she wants to be. As far as she's concerned, no one else can teach her that.  You're a good dude, Brit. I'm sorry your wife left you. Since Sekka is forbidden to continue working, finding a way to appease Shinto before he leaves the continent falls to us. Brit is sure the statement that she's no good is bunk, an excuse made his real motives. Kheris tries asking directly, but the only clue she gets is that, in his eyes, she lacks something "more fundamental than skill."  After putting two minutes and likely several pints of thought into this cryptic hint, Brit decides the old man must be talking about tools. Her's are old and clunky, likely because she couldn't afford better without her father's help. Surely, if we make her something that can accentuate her delicate touch and detail-oriented approach to metalwork, Dad will see her gifts are real! After we make our presents, Kheris finds Sekka moping.  Poor kid. Her desperation for her parent's approval has completely warped her perspective and gestated imposter syndrome. It's a compelling continuation of that initial hook where she declared a top-tier sword useless trash that nobody would pay a dime to own.   …Is there something in the water or what? Everyone is falling in love! Once she gets her hands on the tools, Sekka reigns in her hormones. She'd talked about how her only hope of winning her father's approval would be to craft a katana that isn't worthless, but she couldn't imagine how to do that. The new tools change that. She rushes to the forge in defiance of Shinto's threat. One wonders if the tools or the fact that Brit made them for her inspires her more. A few hours later, the weapon is done.  It certainly looks impressive, but the moment Shinto sees it, he starts running it down as another pile of rubbish. He asks if this is all her skills can manage. At first, she shrinks from his words… and then she realizes that when she made this sword, she wasn't thinking of him at all.  Sekka had understood the Hingan philosophy INTELLECTUALLY, but she had never truly internalized it. For all her talk about passion for the work and self-improvement, she hadn't ever put her heart into her swords. Her focus was always on her father. And that, dear readers, is why he rejected her.  It's not the worst twist. It fits Sekka's characterization, and I like the irony that her obsession with being like Shinto paradoxically made it impossible. But did he have to bully her to the point of traumatizing her to get the point across? "If you don't get it on your own, you'll never get it," isn't exactly a sterling strategy for a parent to begin with, but adding in "and I will berate you every time you don't get it until it works or you suffer a breakdown," is a smidge over the line. Anyway, the hardass isn't about to be satisfied with her merely finding the exact dedication he wanted. Sekka will only earn her apprenticeship if (wait for it) she defeats Kheris in a katana-making contest. For once, I felt intrigued by them pulling out this plot point. If we take Shinto at his word, Kheris winning will end our focus character's dream. They wouldn't end the story like that, right? Will someone finally beat the Warrior of Light in a crafting contest? They put in some work to hype this plot point up, too. When you get to Kugane for the contest, Shinto asks for a private meeting and basically blackmails Kheris to make sure she doesn't throw the match.   It makes sense. She has nothing to lose by simply letting Sekka win. To make matters worse, the nature of the contest involves staking the shop's entire reputation on its outcome. One of Hingashi's feudal lords is planning to contract Shinto to outfit all his retainers, and he intends to present the contest winner as a representative sample of his forge's work, regardless of objective quality. If he hands over something terrible, it will spread like wildfire through the nobility. His business will be finished. Is it good parenting to risk torching your career and make threats so the test you're putting your kid through has integrity? I don't know anymore. This quest is messing with my brain. At least you can catch him being all proud of her under his breath.  Back at the docks, Sekka takes a moment to confide in Kheris regarding her increasingly raging ladyboner.   HAHA! Yeah… I mean, that's crazy that you… don't feel that way about me…  The Warrior of Light still has no game. You hate to see it. If that isn't the face of emotional damage, I don't know what is.  …  …  Anyway, we make our contest pieces, Kheris presumably struggling not to cry into the molten steel, and the judging begins.  I like the reference to "the tides of Chaos," there. A nice, subtle reference to the stuff we learned about Samurai and their history in Hingashi. As for our opponent…  …  …  …   Well, look at that; she learned a little something. Well played. Unfortunately, she didn't quite listen to the instructions. These swords are meant to be provided to the daimyo's RETAINERS, which is to say his hereditary samurai and professional soldiers, NOT conscripted vassals. It's a tragic ending to the contest. We'll never know if her extensive specialist experience in katanas could have beaten Kheris in a straight match. But it's not a tragic ending for her.  ...  With a lifelong ambition achieved and the rift between Father and Daughter mended, we bring Blacksmith 60-70 to a clo-  …  …  …  …  …  …  …  Did I like this Job set? I honestly don't know. The jokes were great. I cracked up several times, especially during that finish. I like Sekka a lot; she's a great character with that Type-A personality and her internal contradictions and struggles. Brithael got to shine in a way he didn't in ARR, both as a serious character and by upping his game as a comedic foil.  …  At the same time, the plot was very derivative of others I've seen in this expansion. It does try to remix the plot points, so it deserves credit for that. It's also not strictly fair of me to hold the repetition against this quest just because it was coincidentally my last DoH for Stormblood. But, you know, life isn't fair. Somebody was going to be the final quest I saw do this schtick, so somebody was going to face my ire for it. Then there's the weirdness of Shinto's abusive Mr. Miyagi act. He was way past the "tough love," line. The man threatened to disown the girl if she didn't give up on her dreams, and he never so much as apologized or admitted he was exaggerating to push her. The only reason Sekka was so obsessed with earning his approval was how much she idolized him, and her problems were getting worse because of his treatment. It got so bad she lost all faith in her abilities! I really wanted some kind of mae culpa from him, and I didn't get it. I just can't come to any satisfactory conclusion about the set. Some of it was great, some of it was unpalatable. None of the content was outright bad, so that's something. It wasn't as good as 50-60, but I think I'd be willing to call it better than ARR's weird anthology. I guess I give this one a big "? out of 10." I… uh… I can't think of a way to transition this into anything else. Maybe we cou-  …  Well. I guess that decides what we're doing next.
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Dec 14, 2023 09:07
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Sekka sent Brithael a letter and she would like it if he responded.
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Dec 14, 2023 09:39
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Sanguinia posted:Kheris presumably struggling not to cry into the molten steel, and the judging begins. Tears of a broken heart are the secret ingredient of the finest blades
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Dec 14, 2023 09:48
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Sanguinia posted:! Yeah this doesnt really apply for high level Endgame crafting. It's not unheard of to not have Waste Not active, or be far enough along that activating it is pointless. At that point being able to up the quality at a cheap durability cost is handy. And something similar is with Observe, if you have Manipulation active it gets you more Durability back and so you get more bang for your durability buck. Plus on the really high end crafts you may want to use observe to get rid of a bad condition and thus this can give that a boost
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Dec 14, 2023 09:53
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Dr Pepper posted:Yeah this doesnt really apply for high level Endgame crafting. I'm sure the kit will continue to evolve as I make my way up. Mostly I was just interested in the fact that Stormblood's additions were so numerous and varied compared to HW, which barely added anything.
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Dec 14, 2023 09:56
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