zodiark x hydaelyn otp @mysidia@dragon.style

I still can't figure out how to handle how Shadowbringers just completely broke my character. Her life's work is based on a lie, apparently.

I've started working on a screenshot comic. It relies on a ton of speculation, and a few of the events are altered a bit, but it's at least gonna be interesting. I was planning on doing this before ShB, but now it's gonna be completely different... but now I've got a reason I wanna write through to the end.

I played so much ffxiv today...

Like somehow if I just kept playing enough, it would change the ending of Shadowbringers from being so sad...

Yes, because that's *totally* the quest reward for leveling crafting/gathering jobs. *rolls eyes at self*

Mario for Olive Garden mascot

They're equally fake and delightful.

I finished ShB today, but the ending felt so unreal I decided that not only did C'rrahsa dream the whole thing, but everything from the final dungeon onward didn't even happen in her DREAM.

C'rrah wouldn't do that, and she wouldn't smile if it happened.

The expac was an extremely good game; it's just that the ending goes against most of what my catte cares about, yet neither could she quite act to assist the opposing side? It's an impossible plotline for her to *survive*. Also just... some of the premises involve don't really mesh well with the premises that her story hangs on.

So ... yeah. What a mess. When she wakes up she's going to be like "That was intense. Also, I didn't realize I missed G'raha Tia that much."

I was all like, "I think I see where this is going. The game is gonna end by making the hero choose what I think is wrong, all the party members are going to say shortsighted things, the villain's going to be right... it's one of those games, isn't it?"

I'm close to the end, and... I called it. :/

I love it when there are stories about this topic, but I almost always disagree with the ending... *sigh*

Emet-Selch is far more than merely charismatic. He is also, in my opinion, doing the right thing in a bad situation, where all the options are unfortunate.

Wow it ramped up fast.

I had to grind out a level before going on, and then do a dungeon. Midboss had a floor attack UNDER the dramatically signalled aoes and it was invisible? I could not figure out what was killing me. It took forever to get that sorted out.

Then of course more boss fights. Vauthry somehow turned all golden and pretty? I did not think he had it in him. It turns out he really WAS innocent: not free of wrongdoing, but rather, so spoiled and coddled that he never had a chance to see what a monster he was. So finally I have the "Enemy of Innocence" title, but now that I know it's really just a boss name, it's lost its glitter.

And then plot exploded everywhere, of course. Since we've now beaten each of the Wardens in their domains, classical rpg logic demands the secret-keepers are gonna have to lay down some cards to advance the plot. But did Urianger actually have any tricks up his sleeve? No. He just didn't want to tell me that nobody had a solution but we were gonna do the thing anyway. And he figured probably the Exarch will show up and die in C'rrah's place. Which doesn't take much insight, since the Exarch is gloomy and reticent, and won't talk about what future plans he's considering, except that he wants them all to involve hanging out with C'rrah.

But hey, this is gonna get even darker (no pun intended) because this may be the first time the WoL actually just wasn't strong enough to do the thing. Oops the Scions kinda didn't plan for "what if she can't" because this is the WoL, right; she'll manage it somehow. Except what if not. And apparently not. Even Emet-Selch is just like, you're a big disappointing failure lel. Poor C'rrah just writhes in silent agony for several minutes of dramatic reveals and villain monologuing. Ryne apparently can make it better, but she politely waits for all the plot and drama to finish first.

I'm worried about the Exarch and I really want nothing more than to go rescue him and also make Emet-Selch like C'rrah again. I really don't want the Exarch to die. He is a good cat.

Right now it's time for character development through comic relief, but the twins and Urianger aren't here. What shall we do? Cat soap opera!

Crystal Exarch is brooding about being like 120 years old and half made of crystal, and is clearly in love with the Warrior of Light. Amazingly, he still does not seem to flirt; he just can't stop gushing over her. At this point she is seriously considering what to make of this guy whom, back when she thought she'd never see him again, she had affectionately called "the only tia I ever trusted, except my brothers (who are like kids forever to me, anyway)." What is this nervous lesbian WoL going to do? The Chais keep awkwardly watching this drama like they're shipping it.

If I hadn't been spoiled about who the Exarch was, it would have been obvious, with this lineup, that his character model was consistent with Nuzz. However, C'rrah herself KNOWS already, because miqo have sensitive cat noses and can recognise people by smell even when they've used too much perfume. Exarch still thinks he's hiding it. Someday she is going to have to tell him, "I know who you are by your scent, the pattern of your aetheric Tower link, and the fact that you softly go 'rrt?' every time someone calls me Rrah."

Got the lali-ho emote (which included being tested on whether it was lali-ho or hi-ho, in a village called Tomra, even though the people of the original Tomra said hi-ho...)

I do not understand how Zenos actually is alive after all? Is this perhaps a clone? Because it has been lavishly pointed out to us that he was Very Dead and Buried and Everybody Saw It. Zenos Is Super Dead, Really He Is. So... how dead is he? Find out next time when we show like one scene about what's up in Garlemald.

And that's basically all today. I yearn to know more about Emet-Selch. Someone called this "Final Fantasy Evangelion" and I have a suspiiiiicion of where this is all going and yes, I am super interested. Also, why is he so magnetically compelling? Why is this a Thing? Like I heard he was popular and everyone loved him, and he's so not trying to be fanservice in any way, and it seemed weird, and then in like the second scene he showed up in, he fascinated me. From zero to 100 almost instantly. What *is* it about him that apparently does this to "like half the fandom"?