Tag Archives: FFXIV

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: The Naadam

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If you have not yet become aware of how cool Mongolian throat singing is, please check out Batzorig Vaanchig on Youtube. (If you like folk metal and you don’t yet know the Mongolian band The Hu, you should also check out their music!)

I was a little surprised by how many people were specifically looking forward to the Buduga, especially because I completely forgot they existed until I started writing this chapter. So, uh, in the interest of giving the people what they want, the T rating is getting stretched a bit. (and maybe something else is gonna be too-) Enjoy. :3

Chapter 57: Endless Sky

 

Chapter 58: The Naadam

Achiyo was not impressed by the current situation. Hien had suggested that they go with the Oronir and Budugan warriors, saying: “If all goes to plan, they will be fighting for us soon enough. What say you? Shall we go and greet our comrades-to-be?”

She was not yet sure that it was a mistake. She did not have the political knowledge or foresight to see whether this endeavour would benefit them in the end or not. And simply because Magnai of the Oronir was the most irritating, arrogant, unreasonable, heavy-handed, egocentric, tyrannical clod of a leader she had ever met was no reason to not see it through, since Hien and Kekeniro had agreed on it.

But she was not safe, her friends were not safe, and if it came to a fight it would not go well for them. And she did not know how to change that. Continue reading →

Ambassador of Ishgard

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I was reading Kyota Ko’s Japanese Folktales books and also listening to a ton of Joe Hisaishi (Studio Ghibli’s composer) soundtracks and then my friend and I rewatched Nausicäa of the Valley of the Wind and then I read Spirited Away fanfics for 10 hours straight and it all made me want to write a Japanese-themed fairytale. So I did. Immediately. Abandoning all my other creative commitments.

This fairytale is set in the FFXIV world so I don’t have to do too much world-building/character-building, but it’s set in an AU. Don’t think too hard about it, it’s a fairytale. It features several of my WoL from my main fic, For Love and Life, but you don’t have to read a single word of that for this fic because this fic is in an alternate reality in which the Dragonsong War was somehow resolved in the recent past without the WoL, and Hingashi is currently entering something of a Meiji period in which outsiders are permitted entry. Which is why a couple of my characters who are not from Hingashi (Chuchupa is from Limsa, R’nyath from Gridania) are portrayed as being from Hingashi for purposes of this fic.

Achiyo, my main WoL, has always had Ashitaka’s Theme for her theme song, but lately I’ve been feeling like Nausicäa’s OST would work for her as well, and specifically for this fic Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away OSTs were very inspiring (shout out to The Rain too). Maybe some Inuyasha inspired me too? Idk, I just like the idea of the Japanese wilderness completely infested with supernatural beings and animism. (They’re not the only culture to have this, obviously, but they’re the ones I’ve been reading about so that’s what we’re doing today)

Since this is mostly a romance, I really wasn’t expecting this story to have as much horror element as it did? Japanese horror is inspiring but I didn’t think I’d have that much of it? Arachnophobes should probably skip this one. Or at least, stop reading after the bit about flowers.

I hope it’s entertaining!
Continue reading →

FFXIV: Into the Fringes

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Whoooo Stormblood!!! Y’know, once upon a time I thought I’d never make it here, even though I’ve had tons of notes for it for a long while. And I know, with it being the most political expansion, it’s a little more difficult than the others to get emotionally invested in – but I have some story threads that I think will be pretty interesting. And of course, this is a fanfic, I can skip the worst of the politics if I want! You’ve already all played the game anyway.

That being said, I personally found 4.0’s opening to be one of those spots that’s hard to get emotionally invested in. So we’ll be moving fast for a bit.

Thanks, Cider Spider, for forever implanting Lyse puns into my brain.

Also oops I spent the past three months in 1) year-end work crunch/recovery, 2) writing out Achiyo’s entire backstory (will post after I finish posting 4.0), and 3) playing Honkai Star Rail.

Chapter 48: The Battle in the Sky

 

Chapter 49: Into the Fringes

Rinala looked around at the Alliance camp within Castrum Oriens, the fortification on Baelsar’s Wall that was now the Alliance headquarters in Gyr Abania. It was already more arid on this side of the Wall than the Shroud, the trees thinner and less leafy, reminding her of the southern border of the Shroud where the forest met her own Thanalan. This part of the castrum was largely built of stone, with metal on top, which surprised her after seeing the grand metal intricacy of Baelsar’s Wall itself – were the Garleans taking advantage of older structures as the basis for their own fortifications? Continue reading →

Fanservice Day 2024: Achiyo

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In some parts of the internet, people choose to post something fanservice-y on April 1 instead of engaging in tomfoolery. As someone who is indifferent to most tomfoolery and who really likes fanservice, I’m in favour of this. So here is Achiyo in her kimono, flashing a little bit of shoulder. I’m sure Aymeric is thrilled. (I also drew a chibi Aymeric with heart eyes but it didn’t come out very well.)

I dressed up in my own kimono to take reference pictures and – if you’re wearing the kimono properly, you’re really strapped in! You can’t just let one shoulder coyly slide down seductively. First you have to tug and pull to loosen enough fabric. So, lesson learned. I did find a new tutorial on how to dress that really helped me do it better than I’ve done it before. I need more accessories tho. I traced her head from a screenshot.

FFXIV: The Battle in the Sky

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I feel like Nero’s English VA isn’t smug enough. He needs to sound punchable. His dialogue shows him to be at least purporting to be utterly full of himself, and I feel the VA plays it a bit flat; he sounds almost normal despite the dramatic dialogue. BRING ME SASS

Chapter 47: The Edge of Gyr Abania

 

Chapter 48: The Battle in the Sky

Achiyo, Kekeniro, Vivienne, Alphinaud, and Alisaie were the last to arrive at the council at the Lotus Stand. Besides the four Alliance leaders and their retinues, Cid and Yugiri were there. Alisaie did not actually have to be there, but Achiyo guessed she was curious enough to put up with politics. Continue reading →

FFXIV: The Edge of Gyr Abania

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3.5 ahoy! I’m feeling a bit more inspired for this one. Maybe because Aymeric is more in it? Apparently I need a husbando around at all times for maximum investment lol.

I was really tempted to name this chapter ‘Border Walls Don’t Work’ but I thought that might be in poor taste lol.

I recommend Hyper Rainbow Z from the OST for the tea break shenanigans. : D

R’nyath wears the Holy Rainbow Shirt of Aiming, but like… more.

Chapter 46: An Echo Across Worlds

 

Chapter 47: The Edge of Gyr Abania

R’nyath sat with Hilda on a wall high up in Foundation, looking out at the Stone Vigil. The castle was no longer the abode of dragons, which was great, but there was now no need to repair it either since there would no longer be any dragon attacks. From what little R’nyath knew, the Ishgardian parliament had decided to spend their national budget elsewhere, leaving both the Vigils to fall further into ruin. At least they were pretty ruins. Continue reading →