Featuring a special guest appearance by Convenient Chipmunk.
Support us on Patreon! ► http://patreon.com/playframe
___________
HEAVENSWARD series playlist! ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvFQJa1XAXzxn_u1C-6_3DX0yH-siBFoj
FULL SERIES playlist! ► https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvFQJa1XAXzzXrfl_cbsGvEl4AbTt5SMG
___________
0:00 – Introduction
0:53 – QUEST: “A Little Slow, a Little Late”
14:50 – QUEST: “Dreams of the Lost”
25:12 – QUEST: “Against the Dying of the Light”
39:47 – QUEST: “As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness”
___________
Want to join our Free Company? See the unofficial PlayFriends Discord for details! ► https://discord.gg/PlayFriends
___________
Check out the PlayFrame Store! ► https://store.dftba.com/collections/playframe
Dan’s Twitter (@DanFloydPlus) ► https://twitter.com/DanFloydPlus
Carrie’s Twitter (@CarrieFloyd) ► https://twitter.com/CarrieFloyd
PlayFrame Twitter (@PlayFramePlus) ► https://twitter.com/PlayFramePlus
To hear Dan talk MUCH more about game animation, check out New Frame Plus! ► http://www.youtube.com/c/newframeplus
___________
Edited by Daniel Floyd
♫ “Pray Return” by Chris Logsdon
https://lnkfi.re/pray-return
#PlayFrame #FFXIV #FinalFantasyXIV #Heavensward
source
If you'd rather read this as an essay, PDF here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oi3SyGbhzl4r2n1dhKsjirYigKOHPYTj/view
Hi there! Sara Winters- slash- Eos Fuyu, director of DTC and back again for that promised follow up essay. Now that Dan’s hit 3.1 and we’ve reintroduced Thancred to the plot, I can finally talk about him, his disability, and how they got him right where they got Y’shtola wrong
Again, before I get into the meat of this essay, I will remind you all that like the Y’shtola one, this essay will not spoil any plot further than 3.1, however it will spoil some general game mechanics that the player would be familiar with but Dan hasn’t shown off, namely the trust system. To explain, Trusts are a way to play the story content (not side stuff like the Alexander raids) with NPCs, so you can do the story stuff solo, without queueing with other players. For ARR missions, you do Trusts with minor officers from the three Grand Companies, but, starting in Heavensward onward, the Trust companions are named and known party members. Estinien is a DPS (dragoon of course) while some other characters like Ysayle are more flexible (she can tank or DPS) so that the NPCs can work around whatever job you’re playing. Alphinaud is a Healer or DPS flex in HW as sort of a mixed scholar/summoner/arcanist, slowly moving to a pure healer role in later expansions. Naturally, Thancred is indisposed in 3.0 and off doing his own thing for much of 2.0 (or Lahabrea’s secret thrall) and thus isn’t a Trust option until later in the story. I’ll be spoiling some of his mechanics, so unless Dan does some dungeons as Trusts instead of with Playfriends, you’ll not see anything I discuss in his playthrough. If you’re ok with mechanics spoilers, press on.
I won’t delve deep in the point I made about disability in narrative in general, you can read that in more depth in the Y’shtola essay. However, before I explain why Thancred was disabling a character during the story done properly, I’ll take a moment to summarize. Namely, disabled characters appearing in a plot disabled before the start of the story are either used because disabled people exist in the real world, and diversifying a cast makes that world feel more real, or that character is used in a way to shine a light on issues with the world or the plot of the story. However, if a writer chooses to disable a character during the story, that disability should further that character’s plot or motivations, lest it be used merely as cheap shock value. The gist of my essay was that Y’shtola becoming blind did not change her character, cause her to grow, or alter the plot’s course in any way. If she were blind from the beginning, then her blindness not affecting the plot is understandable- blind people exist in Eorzea and our world both and she would simply have just been a person who happened to have a disability. But the writers took the time to blind her, and then did nothing with it.
Thancred is an entirely different story, however. The swim in the Lifestream for him did not grant a traditional “disability” as we would know of one, but it did give him one within the world’s working, and it was both treated with care and a defining character moment.
In a world where everyone can use magic to some degree, what happens when someone who once could, can’t?
Thancred isn’t a “mage” in the same way that Y’shtola or Alphinaud are. He starts the game as a custom job closest to gladiator as Rogue/Ninja did not yet exist, swapping to Rogue mid 2.X, and eventually settling on Gunbreaker (a tank job) sometime between the end of 4.5 and 5.0. Even tank/physical classes in this game are technically magic based and manipulate aether, however. Warrior’s rage-based mechanics are clearly listed as aetheric in the lore, and the other two tanking jobs, Paladin and Dark Knight, straight up cast magic with MP. Ninjas have magical mudras that cast fire, lightning, water, and other elements from range, bards augment their songs with their magic (and even originally shared the same magic revival Limit Break with their healer cousins). Even mechanist shoots bullets made of the users own aether- it’s why they wear that lunchbox looking thing on their hip. They’re sucking up their own magic to shoot out of their guns.
(continued)
Ayemeric can be injured but still carry how much weight of his official gear
And thus the Warriors of Dorkness enter.
26:20 it;'s not intentional, but Dan's stumbling make it seem like Hilda's falling for Thancred's good ol' charm XD;. Keep trying pretty boy ;P.
Dan, with the way you talk about Ishgard, you absolutely must do all the side quests related to Firmament. Both blue and yellow ones. No need to do the crafting ones though.
The Warriors of Darkness plotline always felt like it's an anime-only filler plotline they put in between seasons because they caught up to the FF14 manga and needed to stall for time.
This storyline about political and religious fanatics taking hostages, causing riots, and gaslighting in order to keep their status quo is…. a bit too real 😐
Since this particular set of quests deals with many of the issues surrounding the theocracy following the completion of the main HW MSQ, are you going to be doing any of the scholasticate quests? I know it is side content, but I thought it was an amazing follow-up to the story of the theocracy and the church following Thordan's death.
9:02 covering face IM CRINGING, YOU EDGELORD
I'd like to make a quick note about the "Warriors of Darkness". Anyone think they look familiar? We've not seen them before, but their likeness is taken from both the A Realm Reborn and 1.0 cinematic trailers. And the 'leader' with the axe looks like the Player Character 'default' that appears in all trailers where the player would be.
(Did 1.0 have a fancy title like "A Realm Reborn" or "Heavensward" does? Or is it just known as "One-Point-Oh" or retroactively known as "Before the Meteor"?)
…ngl I forgot about that guy trying to kill Aymeric. I don't remember a lot of details from the 3.x patches. Anyway, Thancred's dialogue around 21:20 strikes me as a bit odd. Why would Hraesvelgr be called "the Father of Dragons"? It was Midgardsomr who brought dragons to this star to begin with.
Yay, Tall Sarcastic Buddy is back, and looking sharp!
I like how they manage Thancred's comedic traits balanced with his competence. He's still the butt monkey of the Scions, but he's also a student of Louisoix, and has the skills to show for it.
Man, that priest couldn't have given Vidofnir a more perfect entrance if he'd tried.
You know, I think the writers of 2.0 onward made a misstep in not giving the Warrior of Light a full voice or even that much in the way of personality. Not only does it make many things a tad awkward, there are countless ways in which the other characters could have been expanded upon had they the ability to properly speak with them. Not only that but there would have bee a wealth of pathos one could get out of the Warrior of Light. The number of traumatic events that they've been through even up to this moment would surely take their toll upon anyone no matter how strong willed.
Oh no, the emotions from future events are hitting hard and I can’t even specify how bc I can’t vague hard enough. Pls send help. 😩
People keep accusing Aymeric of killing Archbishop Thordan, yet the man hasn't left Ishgard this entire expansion…..
Playfriends, looks like Durmin has some competition! We'll go over a high level of who these folks are in today's Spoiler Free Lore comment!
But first, another bit of teasing for Alphinaud. In one of these quests, Krile reveals that, while Alphinaud downplays his artistic talents, that he has trained long and hard at his sketching. All of this work at the Studium for one purpose: to impress girls.
First, let's talk about Thancred! Our Rogue is back! His appearance in this patch caused some confusion: why the bandana over his eye? Some speculated that he had lost his left eye, or his sight, similar to Y'shtola. Shortly after he tells his tale, there is optional dialogue that reveals his eye is fine, and the bandana is primarily cosmetic. That being said, there is some change to his character model, with his left eye being silver now, indicating something has happened. But later, his eyes will return to both being brown. There is a more major change to the character: he can no longer channel his internal aether. This means no casting magic and no teleporting, but also adds some peculiarities to combat. While largely unstated, all people, other than pureblood Garleans, channel their aether as they do tasks, unconsciously. This is particularly important in combat, imparting more force to strikes and defense against blows. Thancred can no longer do this as he once did. While the effects of this aether isn't consistent from person to person, Thancred will have to work that much harder to defeat foes in combat. This is to say nothing of the issues of transportation, as Thancred cannot traditionally teleport to aetherites, and must travel by alternative means. See Sara Winters' post on more about Thancred!
Oh, and that little squirrel/chipmunk that hides his modesty in the cutscenes? It's called a Nutkin! It can be obtained as a minion!
Next let's talk about the Warriors of Darkness. Remember the cinematic trailer to ARR? The stand in for the player character, referred to as the "Meteor Survivor" by the community, was teleported away from Bahamut's fury by Louisoix. But he wasn't alone. You might have noticed that the Warriors of Darkness are all designed to resemble the companions in that trailer! A Hyur marauder, a Lalafell white mage, a Miqo'te bard, an Elezen black mage, and a Roegadyn paladin!
The Vault sequence here is great for gameplay, story, and development! This reuses assets from The Vault dungeon, adds to the story (of course religious fundamentalists would barricade themselves in a cathedral), and more importantly, begins to show NPCs operating in combat. Since a dungeon is being used, this can be seen as the first test of using NPCs to accompany a player, regardless of their role, through part of a dungeon. It's not perfect, Aymeric and Artoirel don't take aggro to keep Durmin as safe, I'm uncertain Alphinaud can heal sufficiently if you take a lot of damage, and the events are heavily scripted, but it's a first step. The cutscenes afterwards are a great achievement in facial rigging, showing vast emotions from the characters.
The True Brothers of the Faith are clearly extremists, but you really have to sit and ask, if your faction thinks throwing a child to their death from the roof of a cathedral is an acceptable course of action, Are You The Baddies? The only benefits out of this is that all of Ishgard watches as a member of the church attempts to kill a child, while a dragon saves that child. The True Brothers have unmasked themselves as killers, and shown that peace with the Dravanians is beneficial to Ishgard.
And this completes patch 3.1, which was released in November 2015!
New cast members:
Peter Bramhill, Egil in Xenoblade Chronicles, as Thancred
Joe Dempsie, Gendry Baratheon in Game of Thrones, as the leader of the Warriors of Darkness
Harry Hadden-Paton, of Downton Abbey, as Artoirel
Oh! I… was not expecting that squad to actually show up in game. O.o and so in the way of getting to Taliesin-less Thancred.
Edit: Though I will say that Thancred's new VA is an impressively good match for sounding similar to Taliesin. Certainly much closer than the gentleman who replaced Sam Riegle. (Not that I'm complaining, just interesting; I'd comment on the others, but I'm much more familiar with those two's voices from following CritRole, so it's more noticeable there)
Hey, is it box art guy?
Yay, more friends for the Snacky Boi! And, oddly far more helpful then ever friend to boot, double yay!
– I for one welcome an entire expansion's worth of dunking on Alphanaud
– … does Alphanaud accept commissions, asking for a friend
– hooray Papa NieR, i mean Thancred is back!!
– How many times do we have to teach you this lesson Bug Man… oh wait, he got taken care of
– see? now that's why it bothers me that the game keeps referring to you as THE Warrior of Light after ARR, we can clearly tell by the WarriorS of Darkness they intended for multiple WoL
– Ser Ameryc is just that cool he can win a Swordfight while still recovering from a stab wound
– ok yeah Priest you could argue that, but can you argue that the Pope swinging the corpse of the First Asure Dragoon while dressing up as the Founder of your Church all while claiming to be said God not being a Blasphemy worth excommunication?
Ayemeric, why do you even wear all that armor if a damn kitchen knife can get through it like that.
So much stuff I could comment on. Amusing censorship, Thancred's unflinching "priorities", the question of how Durmin got the shield at his height when the butler(?) didn't kneel or anything, the list goes on.
Looking forward to what's next.
Not gonna lie, when Artoirel echoed Haurchefant's words before this raid on the Vault, I started seriously wondering if this plot was gonna turn into the tragic legend of the fall of House Fortemps or something.
I'm glad it didn't, though – Artoirel turned out to be a decent sort after all.
CENSORSHIP NUTKIN!
1:08:51 My fave approaches! 💜
this is Thancred
sorry i had to
Everything in this game is funnier, more emotional and prettier when you play as a potato.
I am aware that "my arm will not falter, my shield will not break" is probably just a thing knights of Ishgard say, but since it's ALSO the thing Haurchefant was saying before his turn at the Vault, I was very worried for Artoriel in my playthrough of this.
Lord Edmont, why must you hit me in the feels so?
And of course, you're not a true PLD if you don't glamour that shield over anything you get.
This is Thancred.
19:45 this right here confirmed for me that Lucia should just not leave Aymeric to his own devices EVER!!!
I'm kidding, I know he's very capable on his own. But first he runs of and gets imprisoned, and now this… feels like a pattern ^^'
30:00 I think this is about the point you can talk to Honoroit and he will mention his lord Emmanellain's morals are unassailable. … because you'd have to be able to find them first.