fin art account @deepseadragons - Tumblr Blog

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freshly caught art posts every whenever

flavours: ocs and whatever else my beautiful mind conjures! yay

@hadalshark is my browsing blog

i am ever so gently holding your face and reminding you that content warnings are there for a reason, they're there so that your friends can enjoy things and know when something is going to be too much for them in the moment and they can make that informed choice not to click on it it isn't a construct made by prudes to throw down kinky people it's for folks with OCD triggers, people with trauma responses, ordinary people who want to vibe with safety in a space and enjoy their time with others without being thrown into an episode it isn't just about hiding kink behind a blurry image so 'only the freaks will see it'

#absolutely #although i wish putting context tags/post spoilers didn't just completely remove my ability to see the post #or any post with a penis or a pride flag or a mention of war #unless i hand my personal details over lol #as someone from the uk #yap #reblog

voidsentprinces

Do enjoy that FFXIV doesn't write the same villain twice.

In A Realm Reborn we get the cocky, self-righteous Gaius and the mad scheming Lahabrea

In Heavensward, we have the ever raging and prideful Nidhogg, the power hungry and corrupt Thordan and the Heavens' Ward, we get the revenge driven Estinien possessed by the uncomprimising Nidhogg reborn, coupled with the stoic Igeyorhm and a different version of Lahabrea, one more calculating and yet severe.

In Stormblood we have the vengeful Yotsuyu, her bumbling brute, the complicated Fordola, and the disinterested but honed Zenos.

In Shadowbringers we have the driven Ran'jit, the self-absorbed Vauthry, the melancholic and cruel Emet-Selch, and the zealotry of Elidibus.

In Endwalker, we have Zenos returned but seemingly even more ennui than his Stormblood encounter, he seems more inwardly inspective yet seems to miss the point of us, we got the nihilistic Fandaniel, and the cruel to be kind Meteion.

In Dawntrail, we have the boastful Bakool Ja Ja, the self-assured yet waivering Zoraal Ja, the scheming Sareel Ja, the polite Sphene, the diabolical Sphene, and the cold Calyx.

Now with the upcoming patches they've pitched the cold calculating Calyx with the solemn yet accepting Halmarut.

No two villains are truly identical. They could of seen Elidibus and Emet-Selch's popularity and tried the past few expansions to recreate the lightning in a bottle. But they continued to add nuance or a greater element. Even with Zenos returning, he doesn't seem to be the same Zenos as the one in Stormblood. He feel uniquely grown and different from the past. Though he is trying to hit the same beats as he did before, the story is different so things are thus as well. Its a nice change of pace, that he is trying to recreate what he THINKS drew us to fight him in Stormblood and while being introspective and galling of Jullus but completely missing the entire fucking point of our past conflict.

That is to say nothing of how each Ilberd encounter feels different, the Warriors of Darkness, Ysayle, Asahi, Stormblood Era Elidibus, Golbez, all feel interestingly varied. In how they grow and how each of their appearances when set against us are different in their own way. Each no longer a single note but building into a symphony.

eyesofanother

im going to be critical of the game, so please feel free to avoid this reply if you are not looking for that in the discussion.

this post sort of fascinated me. yes, the villains are different by the standards outlined here: they are all mostly different people with different personalities and approaches. but it hardly felt to me like ive had a different villain arc since shadowbringers, if not somewhat since stormblood.

the face of the problem may be slightly different, but we have been doing largely the same thing over and over again: putting down a misguided megalomaniac person who wants to destroy large populations of people and/or land for the sake of their own agenda. and then after or slightly before we defeat them there is always some exposition into how they were actually hurting the whole time and the situation is not that simple. so that we can't feel too happy about defeating them and so that selling their outfits, minions and marketable plushies to us wouldn't be controversial.

and all of this usually then flows into us discovering a force which was above this villain who we just defeated, who is even more evil and megalomaniac, while the previous one was just a sad puppet, so the cycle may begin anew.

not that xiv doesnt have some of the more memorable and interesting villains in mmorpg history or even in ff history, but they are often undermined in post by these repetitive tendencies, making their arcs just one amidst many.

i may not enjoy the word salad that is ARR and HW writing, but they felt like they presented a more nuanced narrative each, full of politics and different active forces working for their own ideologies and ideals. yes, there was always some single guy to defeat gloriously at the end (gaius, lahabrea, thordan, nidhogg), but it feels almost diminutive to say they were our main goal, as we were also just as focused if not more on trying to repair political alliances, establishing communications, dealing with betrayals, deaths and losses, or downright making peace with other villains. maybe its nostalgia, but i remember them feeling quite different.

i may be looking into the wrong communities, because i hardly ever see nuanced criticisms of this story which address these things. the community splits into bigots who hate DT because a character was voiced by a trans woman and those who defend the game and said character like they were both real living people with feelings and have done nothing wrong.

maybe i lack the reading comprehension needed to see the right nuance, but to my eyes there is definitely space to discuss the racist and imperialist undertones all throughout the XIV story as well as the writing flaws, repetition and blatant reuse of narratives.