Gotta help the Fortemps boys.
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0:00 – Introduction
0:24 – QUEST: “Reconnaissance Lost”
6:52 – QUEST: “At the End of Our Hope”
18:20 – QUEST: “Knights Be Not Proud”
23:03 – QUEST: “Onwards and Upwards”
31:15 – QUEST: “An Indispensable Ally”
33:31 – QUEST: “Meeting the Neighbors”
38:39 – QUEST: “Sense of Urgency”
42:48 – QUEST: “Hope Springs Eternal”
47:44 – QUEST: “A Series of Unfortunate Events”
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Edited by Daniel Floyd
♫ “Pray Return” by Chris Logsdon
https://lnkfi.re/pray-return
#PlayFrame #FFXIV #FinalFantasyXIV #Heavensward
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The Sea of Clouds is pretty and a glimpse of what Coerthas looked like in 1.0 (aside from the fact everything's on floating isles.) One of my favorite locations in the game.
The Vanu are one of my favorite tribes in the game. Owl-like people that dance upon engagement, and they make cute sounds. I fell in love during my first encounter with them.
WHALE AHOY. Can't cover the White right now because he's not quite a focus here, but Final Fantasy fans may know that Bismarck is a reoccurring summon. I'm happy that this gives me the chance to go over primals again, but later.
Haurchefant's "Damn!" at 56:40 makes me laugh.
I wonder, given Durmin's implied rise in impatience, if a certain tank's storyline will be covered in this expansion or later.
Now I remember that when I did At the End of Our Hope quest I managed to kill the spinnless heretic that you follow onto the cabin, a bunch of shield lobbing from what I remember haha!
Man, Midgarsormr's voice feels like such a downgrade. Back in ARB he spoke super slowly, as if time worked differently for him. It was weird and otherworldly. Now he just talks like he's "regular" old.
"Handful" is now my headcanon name for Emmanellain, thank you ^_^
Ah, Artoirel & Emmanellain… I was so annoyed by these two during these quests, but like so many NPCs in this game they really grew on me over time 😀 Honoroit, on the other hand, has never done anything wrong in his life!!
4:25 yes, in fact! The reason that aetherite is like that is when the dramatic climate shift happened during the calamity, the cold burst the crystal and froze the flags in place! That's why they're all frozen at weird angles, and also why there's no places to teleport in the highlands save for the first camp
i like that Dan sought to find a way down, when i first showed up in that zone I just jumped
Haurchefant, I think your little brother needs a backpack leash. Or maybe a spray bottle to keep him off the counter.
One thing I can't shake is how the "Quest Accepted" jingle just sounds like "FIIIVE GOLDEN RIIINGS" from 12 Days of Christmas.
EDIT: I have seen a few "Bismarcks"… this one is not bad, but also lacks guns
and guns… has anyone else realized that Tolkien (read: British) style elves with French style names live in a country with a Norse name and Norse dragons?
I remember, when I played through this, the conversation with Iceheart was the first real point at which I went "woah, this is so much better now" … cause the tone in her voice and delivery just added so much depth to the dialogue… it made her feel so much more real as a character and person…
This was the first big turning point in how I engaged with the story for me…
Playfriends, your spoiler free lore comment is envious of Durmin's climate today, considering the roasting summer we have in NA. But the lore will continue until morale improves!
While ARR provided the game the ground work for the world and mechanics, Heavensward is known for codifying how FFXIV will operate for the future. Many of the design decisions for the format of this expansion becomes the standard for future expansions. Let's start with the introduction to Ishgard. Very soon after starting the expansion, players are introduced to a hub city with an aetheryte. These cities usually have their own market boards, hunt boards, and inns. The Main Story will provide a small quest giving a tour around the city, allowing players to attune to the local aetheryte network. Shortly after that, the Main Story bifurcates, with two storylines that can be completed in any order the players choose. These two storylines allow players to interact with NPCs and get to know 2 of the 6 zones new to the expansion. The two storylines will remerge, usually around the time the story kicks into high gear.
In addition, each new expansion brings some mechanics changes. These are major points for the devs to alter how previous jobs work, to ensure that the new content and talents all work well together. Some new jobs are also added (we'll likely go over these if Dan chooses to do a Job episode for Heavensward), with the level cap for all jobs increasing by 10.
Also, the new flying mechanic was introduced into the game, and has been fairly unchanged since its introduction. While explore each new zone, green orbs of wind aether can be found, humming away at various points on the map. These aether currents can be attuned to, causing them to vanish. Each zone has a certain number scattered around the map, with some aether currents being quest rewards. Players have an aether compass which will indicate the general direction and distance to the nearest aether current to assist in hunting them down. Finally, one aether current is locked behind a major story quest near the end of the zone's story, meaning that players will be walking (or chocobo riding) for most of their first time through a zone. With all aether currents unlocked, players can then fly throughout the zone on all mounts. This system rewards players for exploring the zone, which they are usually already doing by running around completing main story quests, and conducting some side quests, which tell more lore about the area.
Let's also talk about some oddities in Heavensward. First, the new jobs are all started in Ishgard, which means that players cannot unlock the jobs until they've started Heavensward. In future expansions, the new jobs will be started in the starting zones for ARR, allowing players to unlock them earlier. In addition, the Heavensward jobs start at level 30, which is 30 levels below the new level cap, while future jobs will start 20 levels below the new level cap.
Now on to lore! This episode spells out why Haurchefant's surname is not Fortemps, in spite of being the son of Count Edmont. Haurchefant Greystone is illegitimate, but has been taken in and raised by his noble house. This is not the norm in Ishgard, showing that House Fortemps takes a gentler tack than other high houses. Blood matters in Ishgard. As the story has driven home, Ishgard holds deep inequalities, but unlike Ul'dah, this is based not on coin, but on family history. That being said, many in Ishgard would claim that is a distinction without difference, as the high houses also hold great economic power. The biggest visible indicator of where someone lands in Ishgardian society is elevation. At the base of Ishgard is the Foundation, where the common & poor folk reside. Higher up in the Pillars hold the merchants, clergy, and high houses. And finally, in the rarified air, above all others, sits the church and the Archbishop.
And some of our new voices:
Siobhan Hewlett, Maya Brooks from Mass Effect 3's Citadel DLC, as Iceheart
Allan Corduner, Gehrman from Bloodborne, as Midgardsormr
Gwilym Lee, of Midsomer Murders, & Bohemian Rhapsody, as Cid
Ryan Gage, Micolash in Bloodborne, as Wedge
Antony Byrne, of The Witch games & TV show, as Biggs
If you do some of the side quests in the Sea of Clouds it's strongly implied that Ser Marielle is Laniaitte's girlfriend. This is something they have to be somewhat secretive about, for two reasons. First, as a daughter of one of the high houses of Ishgard there's an expectation of Laniaitte someday being married off to some lord to produce heirs and secure relations between their houses.
Secondly, as the unlock quest for Wanderer's Palace hard back in A Realm Reborn explained, romance between people of different races, even same sex, is a major taboo in more conservative areas. Ishgard is of course one of the most conservative places in the world at this time.
Oh, by the way, the new Cape Westwind and Lahabrea solo instances are pretty cool. It might be a cool little bonus video to see those two story bosses in all their newfound glory (whether through NG+ or some other method).
"If you're gonna have a fantasy setting, you might as well have a floating island in there somewhere."
The Lesson of Chrono Trigger.
23:17 You're… chipper.
23:24 Okay…
23:32 That was not, in fact, what I was thinking, but you do you.
23:43 And where do I enter this picture?
23:56 This plan is entirely without flaw or error.
24:02 Hah.
24:05 I doubt, I doubt.
24:22 The kind of fun which doesn't leave a scar, perhaps?
24:34 I am not sure I like you…
27:03 You know what? You're alright, considering.
29:30 Oh yeah, that prick! I'm so glad I've not met anyone else in Coeurthas who meets that description!
29:48 If experience is any guide, fate'll get there.
30:03 We were having a moment, Romeo.
30:51 What part of "Let her finish talking with Master Durami" is difficult to understand?
31:00 I'm getting the sense, yeah…
Laniaitte sounds very much like a victim of the random name generator effect a lot of these names have. I suspect it can be best approximated by "Laan-YITE" or "Laan-YIH-tuh."
31:48 Praise Hydaelyn that it wasn't just me.
32:03 A wise plan, my lady.
32:18 Propriety forbids me from editorializing.
32:34 See that you do!
32:55 Good man.
33:09 I mean, speaking as a foreigner, that greenhorn is ripe for some pranking.
33:23 *cough*Alphinaud*cough
34:18 Hm… I've had experience with sudden shifts of mood towards the warlike before.
38:04 It is also rather beautiful a place. Just saying.
41:01 Oh no, I've made a mistake.
41:45 You see, I'm with you, but orders are orders, and really, the Vanu's sudden change of heart Lady Marielle mentioned has me concerned.
17:05 – Gotta keep those ears warm… with chain-mail…
22:12 Huh. I like how subtle the suicide-mission vibes were. Mainly in that, while it seemed like such, it was hard to separate them from generic "always send the MMO protagonist into hilarious danger alone" vibes. To take that and confront it head-on? I like it.
Bismarck looks very cool. Nice name choice, too. I don't recall that being a FF summon before.
“Did we have fun on our adventure? … You lost the crystal gathering competition, you know… And you’re grounded.”
LOL
21:30 I was wondering how Haurchefant was related to House Fortemps! Glad that was cleared up.
A fun little detail – for solo duties like the one towards the start of this episode, you quite often get a slight buff to your hp regen and such to make fighting alone easier. Most of the time, especially in ARR, this buff is called ‘The Echo’, but it changes in different activities – for instance, I think this one’s something like ‘Hero’s Resolve’ (although I may be mixing it up with a different one). I just think it’s neat, a lot of the various buffs and debuffs you get for plot reasons have specific names and descriptions.
Yay Cloudtop! First I arrived there it reminded me of XC2 all that cloud sea 😄 Love it when two of my favorite games remind each others 💕
Gosh darn skywhales? In MY Final Fantasy? It's more likely than you think!!!
@1:30 one of my favorite bits from ishard was estinien talking about how he didn't consort with heretics, to my WoL, who is an Au Ra (aka the people with horns like Yugiri, who some ishgardians think look too much like dragons), in my Dark Knight armor (a class unlocked in Ishgad, which for Reasons ishgardians also don't like), with my minion, tiny Midgarsormr, chilling on my shoulder.
Sure dude. No heretics here………
4:24 Fun fact: At the end of 1.0 (after the servers shut down) most if not all of the 1.0 aetherites exploded during the Calamity. In Coethas they both exploded and then froze completely solid mid-explosion due to the rapid change in atmospheric aether. That's also why they keep talking about the sudden change in weather during the early bits of HW. Coethas was a grassland zone in 1.0 but literally froze over overnight during the Calamity to become the desolate tundra we know it as today.
22:31 – Are they foreshadowing then, that he will break his word eventually?
The moment they mentioned that the Vanu suddenly changed I knew there was a primal involved!
Also that primal's design is really cool
Edit: also loving Cid's new outfit!
For anyone new here, some of the unique lingo they use for measurements (at least in the English translations) are:
Ilm = inch
Fulm = foot
Yalm = yard
Malm = mile
Give or take
Despite what the game shows, Reconnaissance Party Knight is actually a sweet gig. Finding out the bars with the best drinks and food, selecting the music, that sort of thing.
I like that the spineless heretic doesn't just vanish and you can actually follow him, so considerate. Not like your tour guide. Can I ask why you didn't get on Queyfreind to catch up with him?
"I'm glad to hear it!…never question me again." is peak Durmin.
Absolutely love how useless Emmanellain is. No one better complain about Thancred's bragging ever again. Also, Durmin's little tapping gesture when looking at the crystals is adorable.
In which ways does other MMO have a more antagonistic PVP hostile environment?
(Sorry, I'm catching up with the episodes now)
"As long as you're entertained, you can't have any worse ideas. I think" – the eternal mood for wrangling this elf
This series just keeps getting better and better! Keep going Dan! I need to see the rest of the story! And the side quests! And every other thing there is to do!! I can't actually PLAY this wonderful game, but I can watch you play it while I work!
Reminder: Emmanellain is 26.
I'm loving mini-midi randomly popping in to sass our protagonist and who ever else can hear/see him, also love Durmin casually dancing around and avoiding the fact that it was less Lady Iceheart escaped and more they had a rather civil conversation and he let her walk away, makes me think that mayhap our protagonist is beginning to question whether or not he's on the right side of this forever war cause he certainly seems to be holding some cards close to his chest even amongst allies without his trusted confidant Minfilia who at least so far in the base ARR story has been the one he's voiced his troubled thoughts to.