There's something about the snow at Camp Dragonhead, even years later. She can't do it for long, but it brings back memories. Fond ones, warm ones, despite the chill. Sometimes she sits there a little too long, feeling her damp cheeks grow numb with cold.
i hate the fact that i can't teleport directly to matoya's cave because she fucking rules. every single time someone says something lofty and profound around her she just goes "are you fucking stupid or are you doing a bit" and i clap every time. that remark about minfilia throwing herself into the fire to fuel alphinaud's "dawn's light" had me fucking roaring, what a woman, please be a main character please stick around please don't just disappear please please
Just finished Heavensward on my alt (we've got another heatwave and it's set in a cold place and I've already done it so I don't need to think about things)
Slower than I remember - certainly it felt like an _age_ before first dungeon etc, but that's come to be standard given the early-in-the-expansion split between zones (I've now got a lot less sympathy for people going "DT was too slow in the first half" as their main complaint.) But picked up later, and ended on a high.
It's a very... lurching expansion. From Sea of Clouds to Western Highlands then settling down into Dravania and the Churning Mists then Whoops Back To Tie Up The ARR Patch Plot then back to the Vault, the wind-down of Dravania again, and an attempted crescendo of Azys Lla which fell apart with the maze of twisty passages all alike.
Still, it left a lot of time for character growth, an opportunity that it absolutely took; Alphinaud, Estinien, Ysayle, Y'Shtola, among others - although it has reignited my annoyance at Ysayle not ending the expac as a member of the Scions.
Although I still don't really care that much about Haurchefaunt - even this time, the ARR stuff with him lost impact after the Estinien and Ysayle Road Trip. He turns up more than I remember, but just... meh.
This character ended up as "jobs that don't fit what little character my main has", so I've gone DRK, SAM, MCH, BLM. Meant to also grab Scholar/Summoner and Paladin, but got distracted and tbqh Summoner is boring and WHM is fun. The stories there have been serviceable-to-great; DRK is good as is traditional, MCH is uncomplicated but servicable, BLM is fun, SAM is serviceable (EDIT: realised I'd not done the L60 quest for samurai. What An Ending, upping that to "actively good"). Although they'd not quite yet worked out that solo duties that are just normal mobs without mechanics, are, while good for immersion, a bit dull.
Overall, good expac, not my favourite, but tbh I'd be hard pressed to pick any as my definite favourite (ShB is up there, as is traditional, but massively soured by Ran'jit after Zenos). Now, on to HW patches, and Stormblood (which I remember not hugely liking, but I expect it improves on replay)
Definitely worth the replay, although it might have been better when Evercold brings Evolved Mode which aiui has all jobs be Competent by 50 rather than "monk makes me fall asleep on my keyboard" (but conversely, it let me see what the not-played-on-main jobs were like pre-evercold)
Just character screenshots here, as I came up with some glams I quite liked! But under the cut as slightly spoilery locations
Machinist is "went and looted Azys Lla" because unrestrained access to Azys Lla plus the Job where the WoL is building off nonsense tech into their own private universe of nonsense deserves it
(and well, possibly from the screenshot there it involves a certain amount of nicked Garlean tech given those cargo containers he's eyeing)
Dark Knight is House Fortemps Knight because it was easily accessible pre-Ishgard and very fitting (even if Hrothgar means _no_ chance of going "what me, I'm a normal knight!")
Black Mage is... well, the standard L50 Black Mage artefact armor, but I found a hat that worked on Hrothgar and dyed things more traditionally (bwim "Vivi from FF9"). It's deeply amusing whenever the game goes for a reaction shot and you cannot see anything between Collar and Hat; had to quite carefully pause things here to get face avaliable.
Other than that I've just been in the standard artefact or starting armour for Dragoon, White Mage, and Samurai
Alyss does in fact ascribe to this philosophy sadly. Or, at least, at this point she believes the pain will come anyway, and she needs to be strong enough to face it.
Destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing, perhaps?
OK, that's very ominous. The heck is that about, Fray?
