• kai // 30 // est. 2021
• console player ; runs on asia time
• primarily plays on elemental (JP) ; occasionally on dynamis (NA)
• this is a sideblog ; follows and likes are from @konnono
• this blog is much cooler on desktop with links to more pages, so please check it out!
mobile navigation
• about the player + faq + tag navigation (here)
• wiki-style character page (under heavy construction; here)
characters
Currently I have fourteen playable characters, but for the most part I usually post about my Warrior of Light and his merry band of adventuring friends. You can learn more about the whole cast on the character page (once that's done) but for now, here's some info about the main adventuring party under the cut!
Raginmar Steelbiter
• 48 years old (post-DT)
• RDM / SMN / MCH
• Formerly the Warrior of Light, this war veteran-turned-adventurer now spends most of his time travelling the realm(s) and inadvertently preventing apocalypses, one calamity at a time.
• Current progression: post-Dawntrail
Hyllizirn Ahldachtwyn
• 28 years old (post-DT)
• WAR / VPR
• Raginmar's younger sister; she put down her mantle of Field Commander of the Immortal Flames' Free Brigade to travel the realm alongside her brother in search of her next great adventure.
• Current progression: Endwalker
Kirika Kagutsuchi
• 26 years old (post-DT)
• WHM / AST / SAM
• A Hingan healer whose time is divided between adventuring with Hyllizirn, her partner in love and life, and providing medical assistance for the needy in the city of Ul'dah.
• Current progression: Shadowbringers
L'vazha Tia
• 43 years old (post-DT)
• SAM / NIN
• A travelling merchant-slash-treasure hunter seeking to expand his business in Eorzea and beyond; in reality he is one of the lords of Hingashi's underworld, and his true motivations are unknown.
• Current progression: Shadowbringers
Adricienne Brookes
• 32 years old (post-DT)
• SGE / DRG
• Formerly the Second Azure Dragoon of Ishgard, the half-Hyur, half-Elezen disinherited daughter of House Dzemael laid down her lance to take up the mantle of Postmaster instead, delivering missives and connecting people across the realm.
• Current progression: post-Stormblood
Canso Lechanteur
• Age unknown (post-DT)
• BRD / DNC / RPR
• After escaping Imperial conscription and fleeing to Eorzea for asylum, he joins the Order of the Twin Adder as part of Captain Sanson Smythe's bardic unit, acting as the unit's historian and scout.
• Current progression: post-Stormblood
Marzanna Branmirasch
• 40 years old (post-DT)
• ALC / MNK / BLU
• Seeking the truth behind her younger brother's death, she travels the world looking for a reason to live and a way to atone for her past as a scientist and engineer in the Imperial Legion.
• Current progression: Heavensward
Sasariku Nonoriku
• 22 years old (post-DT)
• PLD
• All alone after grieving first the death of his father figure and later that of his closest friend, he leaves behind all that he's ever known to find a new purpose in life.
• Current progression: post-ARR
nero tol scaeva may not be my favorite ffxiv character but he's definitely one of the FUNNIEST ffxiv characters
highlights include:
killing the lights and fucking booking it when you defeat him, and then just straight up deserting the garlean army with absolutely no remorse or hesitation
leaving the praetorium and almost immediately posting up under a streetlight in a stupid outfit in revenant's toll like some kind of clown hooker, waiting to direct wol to the crystal tower questline JUST so he could involve himself, too
showing up in the middle of a major city not even slightly in disguise to walk up to a meeting of world leaders and say "now it's clear the problem you're having is that you haven't involved MEEEEEE"
accepting wearing an ironworks uniform but dying it red because #aesthetics
magical girl armor transformation
bonus: cid keeping his sunglasses and then just silently handing them back afterward as if they do this all the fucking time
getting attacked and injured but just refusing to tell anyone about it until he literally collapsed
sneaking out of the infirmary but not before forging cid's signature on his expense report
telling his fellow garleans that if all they were gonna do is whine and refuse any solutions to their problems they could just fucking die for all he cares
truly one of the characters of all time. he's like a horrible beetle man. i love him.
Logged back into Twitter to find my old livetweets as I played through Stormblood (because I'm trying to decide at what point exactly Raginmar started to feel like he was being treated as a weapon by the Scions, leading to his emotional distance with them) and man, I know I keep bitching about the EN localisation but it's really that and the pre-Duty Support narrative that feels like they're alienating the WoL so much. In JP, Alphinaud says nothing of the sort! All he says is thank god Raginmar's okay, or something along those lines!
The EN localisation is so afraid of being sincere and genuine, inserting jibes and witty one-liners anywhere it can—another memorable example is how after Elidinos (Elidibus in Zenos' body) kicked his ass at the Ghimlyt Dark, the EN localisation has Hien quip it's unfair for Elidinos to have Ascian magic on top of Garlean strength when in JP all he remarks on is how strong Elidinos is—to the point where it presents a significantly different (and arguably worse) reading of the NPCs' character and personality. Krile is nowhere near the mean bullying senior to Alphinaud the EN localisation portrays her as, when in JP she comes across more as gently teasing. Alisaie isn't such a caustic little brat. Lyse's impulsive and simple, sure, but she's not stupid, and Hien isn't a stuttering mess stumbling over his words.
The thing about these witty quips is that very often they're made to diffuse tension and make a joke of what should be a tense or cathartic situation. We just got out of an encounter with Zenos that normally would have ended with everyone dead. It's not something to joke about, and yet that's what happens here: "...I feared we would need to recruit a new primal slayer." That joke implies the only worth Raginmar has is slaying primals for the Scions, and that's all they care about. They don't care about his wellbeing, they care about his ability to kill primals. Why wouldn't Raginmar feel like they're treating him like their own personal weapon, when he gets volunteered by the Scions to take out primals and infiltrate castrums without having the courtesy to even ask him what he thinks first?
Maybe I'm nitpicking. Maybe other people read it as a joke and brushed it off. But I'm honestly sick and tired of it and I really wish it'd stop being a thing. I know I should probably accept by now that the EN and JP characterisations are two different things completely; I just wish that weren't the case.
Something I wanted to point out is that after Alphinaud's character development in Heavensward, he becomes incredibly sincere and earnest. He's still idealistic and sometimes comes across as a precocious young genius with all the social troubles that entails, but he's so much more polite and genuine about his desire to do good compared to post-ARR where he was caught up in his own superiority over these idiot Eorzeans who can't cooperate to save their own lives.
That Alphinaud would have made this stupid little quip. The Alphinaud with whom we've travelled, who'd learned from Estinien just how callous and thoughtless he'd been to simply expect the WoL to endanger their life fighting primals every time... he would not reduce the WoL to a mere primal slayer. This stupid little quip is the opposite of his character development, and it's when the EN localisation disregards established characterisation to be witty and jokey that it becomes distasteful rather than funny.
Found these old gposes from 2022 that I think are still banging; god, Raginmar looks so good in a suit ;-;
Also have a BLM glam that I never ended up using but had really liked, also from 2022! I liked how the mask and high collar gave him a really sharp look in his eyes ✨
Alphinaud: "Twelve be praised! When I learned of your rather questionable plot to assassinate Zenos, I feared we would need to recruit a new primal slayer."
Logged back into Twitter to find my old livetweets as I played through Stormblood (because I'm trying to decide at what point exactly Raginmar started to feel like he was being treated as a weapon by the Scions, leading to his emotional distance with them) and man, I know I keep bitching about the EN localisation but it's really that and the pre-Duty Support narrative that feels like they're alienating the WoL so much. In JP, Alphinaud says nothing of the sort! All he says is thank god Raginmar's okay, or something along those lines!
The EN localisation is so afraid of being sincere and genuine, inserting jibes and witty one-liners anywhere it can—another memorable example is how after Elidinos (Elidibus in Zenos' body) kicked his ass at the Ghimlyt Dark, the EN localisation has Hien quip it's unfair for Elidinos to have Ascian magic on top of Garlean strength when in JP all he remarks on is how strong Elidinos is—to the point where it presents a significantly different (and arguably worse) reading of the NPCs' character and personality. Krile is nowhere near the mean bullying senior to Alphinaud the EN localisation portrays her as, when in JP she comes across more as gently teasing. Alisaie isn't such a caustic little brat. Lyse's impulsive and simple, sure, but she's not stupid, and Hien isn't a stuttering mess stumbling over his words.
The thing about these witty quips is that very often they're made to diffuse tension and make a joke of what should be a tense or cathartic situation. We just got out of an encounter with Zenos that normally would have ended with everyone dead. It's not something to joke about, and yet that's what happens here: "...I feared we would need to recruit a new primal slayer." That joke implies the only worth Raginmar has is slaying primals for the Scions, and that's all they care about. They don't care about his wellbeing, they care about his ability to kill primals. Why wouldn't Raginmar feel like they're treating him like their own personal weapon, when he gets volunteered by the Scions to take out primals and infiltrate castrums without having the courtesy to even ask him what he thinks first?
Maybe I'm nitpicking. Maybe other people read it as a joke and brushed it off. But I'm honestly sick and tired of it and I really wish it'd stop being a thing. I know I should probably accept by now that the EN and JP characterisations are two different things completely; I just wish that weren't the case.
[Just a small pinch of ask box questions for fun / or help with fleshing out ideas]
✍️ Name - How did you come up with your character's name? Is there any significant meaning behind it? Does their canon or in-universe name differ in any way to their in-game name?
📖 Race / Clan - Why did you choose the race or clan you picked for your character? Does this choice have any significance for their history? Did you pick their clan because of the clan lore, based on the stats, out of obligation, or for another reason entirely?
✨ Patron Deity - Who is your character's patron? Does your character actually follow the religion or believe in them? Is there a reason you chose that one in particular? What is their relationship with that particular member of the Twelve?
⚔️ Starting Class - What was your character's starting class? Is the class you initially picked their actual first class in their lore? Why did you choose that class for them, and what significance does it have to their skills or story?
🌆 Starting City - Where did your character's journey begin? Was it one of the three major cities or somewhere else entirely? What significance does this first step have to them?
🎨 Design (Bonus) - What are some of your favorite parts of your character's design? Has it changed significantly over the course of their journey? What do you love most (or least) about them?
There's a very new-ish blog called thehaymaker1234 that's been following a lot of FFXIV blogs within the past hour or so. It is very likely that thehaymaker1234 is a scammer, since they messaged me saying they accidentally reported this blog for "fraudulent activities" when they were trying to report someone else. They shared me an email screenshot that was incredibly suspicious, featuring a name, photo and phone number of a Tumblr "support staff" that I'm supposed to contact in order to settle the issue, which frankly is wild — why in the world would the person who'd reported me get an email recommending ME to contact Tumblr support? Wouldn't I have received the email instead?
I immediately blocked them, but I thought I'd share this experience since they followed a lot of FFXIV blogs and might be pulling their little tricks with you folks too. Take care not to fall for these scams!
The blog's gone now lmao but keep an eye out! If you get a message from someone saying they've reported your blog by accident and you need to contact Tumblr support via phone or Discord or anything other than the official Tumblr support page to fix it, that's a scam!
There's a very new-ish blog called thehaymaker1234 that's been following a lot of FFXIV blogs within the past hour or so. It is very likely that thehaymaker1234 is a scammer, since they messaged me saying they accidentally reported this blog for "fraudulent activities" when they were trying to report someone else. They shared me an email screenshot that was incredibly suspicious, featuring a name, photo and phone number of a Tumblr "support staff" that I'm supposed to contact in order to settle the issue, which frankly is wild — why in the world would the person who'd reported me get an email recommending ME to contact Tumblr support? Wouldn't I have received the email instead?
I immediately blocked them, but I thought I'd share this experience since they followed a lot of FFXIV blogs and might be pulling their little tricks with you folks too. Take care not to fall for these scams!
I'm not gonna lie, I'm not a big fan of the "auto move to quest objective" thing. Gaming is already too simplified already, leave SOME friction for the player to deal with so they'll feel like they're doing something instead of just watching their WoL automatically run to the quest objective
Just realised I never got round to getting the Velodyna Gatekeepers to rank 8 with Raginmar, so I guess that's what I'm aiming to achieve before my sub expires. I did wonder why I don't remember seeing Raginmar on the True Griffin mount...
Thinking about how Estinien saved the Warrior of Light from certain death at Zenos' hands and brought them to Aymeric, who then not only brought the WoL all the way to the Temple Knights' infirmary in Ishgard to recover, but also made sure to wait for them to wake up before returning to the frontlines
And another one joins the fancy nails gang! Maybe if I ever have the motivation for it I'll grind CC and get her the glittery Critical Hit C-series Tour false nails, but for now I think the False Nails you get from the Velodyna Gatekeepers are perfect for her everyday look ✨
Translated from this page:
LIGHTSPEED STUDIOS today (July 17th), Final Fantasy XIV Mobile (The most recent fantasy 14th: crystal world) in mainland China on September 30th at 12:00pm. End service then announced. After a friendly consultation between Tencent and Square Enix in accordance with the review of operations and changes in the market environment, it was decided to terminate the license agreement.
The schedule for the end of service is planned as follows.
· July 17, 2026, 19:00 - In-game billing and new user registration are stopped.
· September 30, 2026, 12:00 - The game service is officially terminated and the game server and the official website are closed. After that, you cannot log in to the game.
· October 15, 2026 12:00 - The forum and dedicated customer support are closed.
Continuing post-SB with L'vazha so he can continue to develop the Doman Enclave (and get the merchant's haori and the Philanthropist title) and good god he looks so good oughhhhh. Big fan of the Night of Devilry nails on him, they're so sparkly and glamorous! (pun not intended)
