Tag Archives: Alphinaud

FFXIV: Dust Settles

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64: For Ala Mhigo

 

65: Dust Settles

Nidhogg bared his teeth – and Achiyo lunged forwards. “For Ishgard,” was all she said, and then she had stabbed forward right through Nidhogg’s teeth into the roof of his mouth. Her sword snapped.

The jaws clamped shut on her head.

Aymeric snapped awake. Not with a scream, or sitting up abruptly, or even opening his eyes, but his mind had recoiled from the vision so violently it had clawed its way out of unconsciousness to get away. He opened his eyes into the darkness of his tent. Continue reading →

FFXIV: For Ala Mhigo

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Oops, extra long chapter! Well, it’s the season finale. I adjusted the gatecracker battle, because the Garleans would be rank fools not to put cannons on top of their walls, just letting the Alliance waltz up unopposed except for a paltry handful of flying machines. (I’m sure part of that is game render limitations, so I’m just breaking the limit.)

Tidbit that didn’t make it into the story: I headcanon the Temple Knights were training with the Immortal Flames in Thanalan for a few months to acclimatize to the arid environment. Also they’re on double water rations so no one sweats to death. Even if Coerthas used to be warmer, it’s not like it was hot. It’s like Scandinavians going to the Mediterranean – you can’t just throw them in there and expect them to operate as normal.

For Zenos fight I had to rely on an old standby boss-fight-inspo song: Blue Skies and a Battle from FE3H (which I haven’t played because I don’t want to play such a sad game).

I would really love for Ala Mhigo to have a hub city zone (like Ul’dah or Kugane) using the dungeon tileset, those textures are PRETTY.

Chapter 63: Reunion

 

Chapter 64: For Ala Mhigo

Tam tried to take stock of the last hour. Fordola was in Alliance custody. Krile was safely behind friendly lines, with Urianger. Urianger speculated that Fordola had been given an artificial Echo through those experiments on Krile, and his device, inspired by Alisaie’s testimony, had been to disrupt it. Rinala had arrived and Raubahn sent her to give his sword Tizona to Pipin, and Tam had gone along to hang out. Now how did Tam get from Pipin to… wolfmen, again? Continue reading →

FFXIV: Reunion

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Yesssssss the return of the king, as the memes say!

I’d kind of hoped to put in Raubahn’s flashbacks in the previous chapter, to pair up his memories of Lyse’s father with Achiyo’s last Echo involving her ‘father’, but eh the pacing ended up not really working out.

Thancred’s line about leather waistcoats… research tells me is a Monkey Island reference (to go with the ridiculous breath holding). (I’ve played several of the Monkey Island games, but it’s been quite a while. That sort of puzzle game isn’t really my cup of tea.)

Chapter 62: Legacies

 

Chapter 63: Reunion

The first thing to do was to warn the army of the experiments they’d encountered. The Empire did like building sinister laboratories everywhere they could – they’d built one beneath Doma Castle, for kami’s sake – and if they were creating machines that were part-beast, or worse, part-Spoken in one place, they could be creating them elsewhere. Or who knew which of their experiments had been approved and put into production. Their very horror would grant them an edge, let alone their combat capabilities. Everyone needed to know. Continue reading →

FFXIV: Legacies

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I forgot how long the Radiata bit was, and I couldn’t figure out how to abridge the WHM quest, so this is likely the third-last chapter of 4.0.

TIL that ‘cermet‘ is a real thing?? Man I know a little bit about a lot of things but I didn’t know that. I thought FFXIV made it up for the Garleans to use.

Estinien’s cannon-slaying is probably the best moment in all of Stormblood. He’s the Azure Dragoon, after all. (Jocat guitar sting)

Chapter 61: Bitter Dreams

 

Chapter 62: Legacies

Rinala walked through the forest of the Fringes, head down, tail low, lost in thought. Trying to figure out how her life had fallen down around her. How she had lost herself to the point that she couldn’t do her job anymore. That the Scions didn’t want her around anymore. Continue reading →

FFXIV: Bitter Dreams

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I know people have complained that several characters post-ARR are basically whole new characters, and I think it’s true. I feel Lyse got the better end of the deal in the character development hand-outs; she went from ‘bubble-brained comic relief’ to ‘oh crap I have to adult now, it’s scary but I’ll do my best’. Maybe it’s a bit too drastic, but you know what ARR was a bit cartoony overall so I don’t think it’s out of step with the general tone shift. But Thancred went from ‘mischievous perv with an angsty side’ to ‘Batman’, and not even a fun Batman like Estinien. And just to reiterate… I really don’t like his haircut and chin scruff. (Alphinaud’s character development is, of course, perfect, so needs no discussion.)

Chapter 60: The Fall of Doma Castle

 

Chapter 61: Bitter Dreams

R’nyath ducked through the press of soldiers, looking for his fearless leader. “Achiyo! Hey, hey, over here!”

She turned, startled, from where she had been talking to Raubahn. “R’nyath? What is it?” Continue reading →

FFXIV: Flames of the Past

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I know I’m being pretty speedy through all this… I miss Aymeric, is all.

Chapter 58: The Naadam

 

Chapter 59: Flames of the Past

“As if we’d lose to the likes of him!” Lyse cried, watching the Imperial Roegadyn officer flee back towards Doma. “And we’re only gonna get stronger. Stronger and stronger until we’re strong enough to take back everything they stole!”

“Hear, hear!” R’nyath echoed. The Xaela roared in triumph.

Hien turned to Cirina. “I have kept my promise, Cirina. They are yours to command.” Continue reading →

FFXIV: Endless Sky

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There are a lot of nice little story bits in the Azim Steppe, like when Lyse tells some kid what a ‘nation’ is, but… I don’t have a lot to say about them.

Honorifics are a bit tricky for me in this part. The English dubs/subs translate the titles and honorifics to English for ease of the unfamiliar, even for characters who would probably use them (it would make perfect sense for Yugiri to call Hien “Hien-sama”), so how weeby culturally appropriate for the implied in-game culture do I want to get by putting some of them back in?

I’ve been listening to the J-rock band Cidergirl again recently, and I think the lead singer seems to have a voice type very much like the Miqo’te voice type that R’nyath has. They did the opening song, Cinderella, for the anime Komi Can’t Communicate, which I enjoyed very much, but they’ve got more super-happy music, and R’nyath is specifically adopting Saityen.

Chapter 56: The Second Duel

 

Chapter 57: Endless Sky

The Scions, the Doman Liberation Front, and the villagers of Namai did not retreat far at first. Nearly everyone was in high spirits, talking animatedly. Isse was fairly bubbling with excitement, his face alight in a way Achiyo had not seen before. He looked so young and kind when he smiled. “Can you believe it? We faced the crown prince himself and lived to tell the tale! You’ve no idea what this means for us. Everyone’s talking about getting more weapons and armour and… and… And we’re not going to stop until we’ve taken back our homeland!” Continue reading →

FFXIV: The Ruby Sea

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Love the Ruby Sea night music, Westward Tide : )

Been hard at work on my Vivienne cosplay again – I’ve just about completed a pair of Abyss gauntlets! Next up, Abyss sollerets… wish me luck… T_T

I’ve also been reading the books written by Kyota Ko and they’re fascinating! And paint a pretty grim picture of normal peoples’ lives. In our peaceful modern day, Yotsuyu’s actions seem outrageous, but when you read about thousands of historical people dying in (for instance) revenge plots, or to pre-empt revenge plots, she actually seems pretty tame. But I don’t think we could stomach too much real life in this romantic fairy tale, mixed with real heartfelt emotion though it is, so I’m not changing the plot or anything.

Chapter 52: Going Home

 

Chapter 53: The Ruby Sea

‘Safe’ in the offices of the East Aldenard Trading Company, Hancock explained the situation: no one would find easy passage to Doma at this time. Things were not as Achiyo had left them. The Ruby Sea was controlled by a group known as the Confederacy, and she vaguely remembered them; the merchants she had sailed with before had paid them a toll, the Ruby Tithe, to cross the straits. She did not remember much more, for it had not been her business, and was glad Hancock could explain things in full. Continue reading →

FFXIV: Going Home

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An onsen and shopping? It’s like all my anime filler episodes have COME AT ONC- (gets slapped to the First)

Eh, it’s frivolous, but I had fun. : )

All Achiyo-related flashbacks can use Parting Ways as their soundtrack.

Chapter 51: When the War Is Over

 

Chapter 52: Going Home

Setting sail the next morning was as quick and efficient as even Chuchupa could have hoped for, though Urianger showed up at the last second to give a gift to Alisaie, a new rapier of silvery steel that would be easier for her to wield than her summoned aetherial weapon. Achiyo could see that had gotten Rinala’s hopes up, but no sign of Thancred was forthcoming before they set sail – with a remarkably full complement of passengers, for besides the eight Warriors of Light, Lyse, Alphinaud, Alisaie, Tataru, and Lilidi, there seemed to be a number of rogues in green caps who looked like pirates but not part of the crew, and a Doman ninja. Rinala seemed to know all of them, and how, she had no idea. Perhaps they would explain over the next two moons. Continue reading →

FFXIV: When the War Is Over

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this is horribly self-indulgent (7,000 words of fluff, most of it written literal years ago) and yet it’s what we’ve been waiting for, please enjoy : D

Chapter 50: Achiyo Defeated

 

Chapter 51: When the War is Over

The wounded were borne away in wains to Castrum Oriens, Y’shtola among them, with Lyse and Pipin to guard. Gradually, those left took stock of their situation. Rhalgr’s Reach was in shambles. The tents were charred tatters; the cannons were in pieces. Holes had been blown in the cliffs, including those that contained historic chambers now laid bare to the elements. And there were so many bodies, hundreds of casualties, many of them unarmed; people lined them up in neat rows to prepare for burial, weeping and cursing the Imperials. The ground was covered in scattered dark patches of dried blood. Continue reading →