LAK132

cryptid

[peri-bytes]

I finished Endwalker

[catchymemes]

[chryza]

The Blessing of Light is something that is intentionally left pretty vague by the story, probably as another way to let the player fill in the gaps with whatever they want, and while sometimes this manifests in the story treating the blessing like a bodysuit of kevlar, I think the much more interesting interpretation is to go full whump with it and establish that the only rule is that the warrior of light cannot die. Aside from the subplot in post-ARR/HW being more interesting with the real threat of death now upon them, it just adds so much sauce. We can magick away the possibility of their head getting chopped off with the superhuman reflexes Hydaelyn hath granted, and so it is very delicious to imagine someone who, rather than being unable to be meaningfully injured, is instead able to just keep going despite catastrophic bodily harm. The warrior of light just keeps fucking going, no matter how much they may wish they were dead. More blood than humanly possible spilling out onto the ground, face pale, hands shaking, still moving with eerie grace and agility, screaming with pain every time they bring another desperate strike down? Thats the good shit.

[saanphoenix2]

I recall the devs saying that party wipes in a dungeon are just the WoL having Echo visions on what Not to fucking do, implying that they hallucinate their death repeatedly before triumphing.

Which is equally, "That's rough buddy."

[the-wardens-torch]

A young WoL preemptively seeing themself get incinerated by Ifrit.

[cupidsynapse]

maybe i should get on tumblr again. poasting crystal exarch as an ice breaker

[spyglassrealms]

I booted my old laptop to find a file and was once again dealt immediate psychic damage by my desktop wallpaper

I open this thing just infrequently enough that it catches me woefully off guard every single fucking time

[putnamspuppeteer]

OP do you still have the original image. Would you be willing to share it.

[spyglassrealms]

but of course.

[thecat-inthehat]

I think about this scene from Endwalker a lot, where the Scions confront the Forum about the existence of the Ragnarok and the plan to evacuate the world and flee.

Endwalker, and by extension, XIV, run on hope and doing the impossible. There was no scenario where the Scions would've accepted the Forum's answer of "we can for sure save a small percentage of the population" and barrel forward with the incredible risk of saving everyone or not at all. This isn't really that surprising for RPGs, but like. Man. I really think about Sharlayan being this... rarely questioned bastion of safety and enlightened knowledge and learning, while simultaneously having the arrogance and imperialism on par with Garlemald.

Sharlayan is assimilationist at best and actively harmful to outside cultures at worst - many characters are noted to have come from outside Sharlayan and join their society, only to lose or erase their connections with their heritage. G'raha knows very little about Corvosi culture, Koana and Erenville both adopted Sharlayan names and clothes to further their goals, and while we know very little about how Lyse was raised in Sharlayan (more's the pity) but we know that she knows almost nothing about Ala Mhigo. Lyse is a bit of an odd one out given that she's supposed to be the narrative stand-in of asking questions about the areas you're going to in Stormblood, but the point still stands.

Sharlayan's culture is one of learning but not of application. They take in all this information and records from other places but don't bother to do anything with it, instead sticking it in a case to be admired like a butterfly with pins in its wings. They don't even have a culture of food save for "archon loaf", which is absolutely batshit insane. Yeah, the Last Stand/Archon loaf is sort of meant to be a joke, but also it's. Not?

It's also like. The arrogance that Sharlayan has, to just assume that, by speaking with Hydaelyn, they alone have the right to save the star and decide who gets to come with. Envoys were sent to Thavnair to invite them to join the exodus, but no one else. How can Sharlayan claim to save the world of Hydaelyn if they pick and choose and then do nothing with the samples they have collected? Are they simply going to line up every seed and animal in perfect order and say it's saved, rather than live? Real heirs of Amurot right there.

I do also think, often, about how the second half of Labrynthos deals with fetch quests with the Lopporits, that, while cute, add very little. How interesting would it have been to have the Lopporits realize that their lovely humans they've been communicating with are abandoning the majority of the world? How interesting would it have been to have Sharlayan's arrogance and imperialism called out by their allies, who had only ever known humanity through them? Have the Lopporits realize that there is an entire world beyond just Labrynthos and demand to see it, and be aghast when they're told that their allies aren't going to save it. Puddingway never would get his heart's desire if Sharlayan had had their way, the recepie would've just been saved and stored, not used and lived with.

Anyways. Get his ass Y'shtola.

[lilac-keeper]

thinking about heavensward and dunmeshi

[elizabethrobertajones]

shaking and trembling, I amass all my crafting skills to place the sammich in a tupperware

[moved-please-leave-me-alone]

Alright your Discord avatar and tumblr avatar are locked in a closet for 7 minutes ala 7 Minutes In Heaven. What happens

[lak132]

hhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm nothing good

[pocketss]

Ummm she's literally sensitive :/

[feldfrog]

Clown cars are really tiny, but clown shoes are really big. What's that gas pedal look like

[hotshotriot]

its like strippers and the economy to me

[rhymingteelookatme]

#eorzean proverb: one scion is happenstance two is coincidence three is impending calamity

via @ofdarklands

[rexuality]

y’all my friend decided to investigate what was blocking their drain system and you are not prepared for the answer

[rexuality]

[citisstreets]

i never draw for posts but something about this overtook me so sorry op

[coffee-without-anesthetics]

daily mantras:

what the hell, sure

random bullshit go

all shall be well

never kill yourself

the world is infinite

[vrabia]

ambitious indie project this, surprise box-office hit that, iron lung (production budget: $3mil) is the 'someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this, my family is dying' tweet.

[vrabia]

set construction: $800

cast & crew wages: $1,200 + uber eats

fake blood (assuming generous discount on bulk purchase): $2,000,000 i am so not kidding i did the math this is nuts

editing: average adult body-weight equivalent in monster energy drinks

[vrabia]

update when markiplier announced he's producing the dvd/blu-ray himself i was like cool he's personally supervising the process and then he was like no i mean i'm making them myself at my house and i imagined some kind of complicated gargantuan contraption dutifully chugging along 24/7 blowing up this man's electricity bill and then he was like

anyway if you buy an iron lung dvd/blu-ray: it was made on a printer-sized machine. at markiplier's house.

[woodwool]

🤗 i dont like this emoji. this is not a hug to me. this is someone doing condescending jazz hands in my general direction when i am in need of affection. not comforting.

🫂 i love this emoji. this is a hug. we are hugging and its nice. and as a special bonus they appear to be my old friends from the msn messenger logo? very comforting.

[anneapocalypse]

In the timeline post about the Circle of Knowing I put a lot of emphasis on Thancred having Archon marks at 17 but in hindsight I maybe should have dwelled more on Y'shtola who not only was also an Archon at 17, but also after graduating from ten years of study in Matoya's cave, immediately left to become an active disciple of her mentor's bitterest rival, and I think that is an aspect of their relationship that perhaps doesn't get enough attention. Both the fact that Y'shtola Did That, and the fact that fifteen years later they are on speaking terms.

[anneapocalypse]

Imagine. You're Matoya. You've had this catgirl apprentice for like ten years that you didn't actually want but your culture considers it your responsibility as an Archon to mentor the Youths so you couldn't just kick her out, so instead you were a hardass on purpose hoping she'd quit. But it turns out she was as stubborn as you were strict and she stayed and completed her whole education in your cave and now she's an Archon at 17 and damn it, you're proud of her in spite of it all. Meanwhile the whole colony is planning an exodus back to the motherland. You don't give a shit. You like your cave. You hate the Forum. Put your thesis in the Forbidden section, will they? Fine, you'll seal it away from even them, and go live in a cave. And now that Leveilleur asshole with his prophecies and his doomsaying and his godsdamned seventh verse of Mezaya seven waning moons who gives a fuck is sniffing around your apprentice for some secret society he's forming. Hah! She would never. Except she comes back to the cave to pack up all her stuff and says, Farewell, Master. I'm joining the Circle of Knowing. Master Louisoix wants to send me to Vylbrand. And you're like what the fuck. What the absolute fuck. You're doing what. You're joining whomst. You're what. Farewell, she says, and she leaves and what are you going to do about it. You're not leaving your cave. Everyone packs up and leaves and the colony lies abandoned. You stay in your cave. The Forum says, well, so long as you're staying, can you keep an eye on the Antitower for us. You flip them off. Thanks, they say, and they leave. You don't see your apprentice again for fifteen years.

Fifteen years later, she walks in without knocking and says, It's been too long, Master Matoya. Is that fucking Louisoix's granddaughter you have in tow, you say. Grandson, she says. Whatever, you say. You manage to say something halfway nice about his grandfather.

I need access to your forbidden research, your apprentice says.

You look at her. All grown up and saving the world and not even holding a grudge about all those things you said when she left.

You sigh.

You say, Very well.

Just like that? she says. She's surprised.

Just like that.

[nhaneh]

okay so you got me to actually go look up that one side quest I usually only vaguely remember that you can get from Saro Roggo inside Matoya's cave - as I recall the poroggo is concerned that since Matoya has not bestowed upon him any specific duty, she might find his service unnecessary and return him to regular frogendom and thus asks for your help in trying to learn what Matoya wants so that he might find a suitable means of service. Specifically this involves speaking to a number of Matoya's enchanted brooms to see if they know anything in particular.

I'm going to paste some of the most relevant excerpts below, but if you want to look up the full quest consolegameswiki has stuff here.

First we have this particular dialogue with one of the brooms...

Self-possessed Broom: Em ot semoc eh/ehs, yllanif dna, swish-swish-aroo! So, you wish to know what is dearest to our mistress. That is a difficult question. From her research into aether to her herb garden, much and more is dear to her. Self-possessed Broom: What she loves most, I cannot say, but I know for a fact what she hates above all else: Y'shtola. Self-possessed Broom: How do I know this? Because she never, ever talks about Y'shtola. Why, she goes to great pains to avoid the subject. She wouldn't do that for something she likes, now, would she? (Optional)Self-possessed Broom: What my mistress loves most, I cannot say, but I know for a fact what she hated above all else: her last pupil, Y'shtola.

...which, after briefly reporting back to Saro Roggo, is followed up by this part with a different broom.

Serendipitous Broom: You are he/she who summoned me? Serendipitous Broom: I desire nothing of you, save that you desire nothing of me. I possess no knowledge that could possibly be of use to you. Serendipitous Broom: For my mistress has imparted unto me naught but memories—the memories of a young Y'shtola. Serendipitous Broom: The warmth of her hands. Her determined countenance. Her blossoming into a woman grown. Every mundane conversation they shared. Her sudden departure. The painful farewell. Serendipitous Broom: My mistress cannot bear to have these memories near, but neither does she wish to forget them. So it was that she entrusted them to my safekeeping and bade me to remain hidden. Serendipitous Broom: I can tell you naught more. Pray leave me to my sweeping."

So... yeah. Imagine. You're Matoya. And you have spent the last ten years of your life mentoring what was once this spitting little fireball of a kitten who had absolutely no qualms telling you just what a complete and utter mess your cave is in. And for all the disagreements you've had, all the arguments you've gone through, all the challenges and mistakes and failures and successes... this one ungrateful little coeurl somehow had the sheer godsdamned audacity to dare worm her little way into your heart and become the one most precious souls you have ever known.

And then she decides to just leave.

You're angry - worse, you're somehow feeling... lonely. You. The implacable Master Matoya - someone whom even the dolts at the Forum know not to argue with. You. Are heartbroken.

And so you shut those memories away, stuff them into one of your familiars and send it off somewhere else. Somewhere where it won't remind you of how much it hurts. Somewhere it will be safe.

Because despite sitting on a virtual treasure trove of all manner of mysterious artefacts and magical knick-knacks... those godsdamned memories are somehow the most precious thing you own.