Category Archives: FFXIV

FFXIV: The Arrow

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We’re back! on! track! Let’s goooooo

I guess canonically the WoD arc (3.4) comes before Zurvan (3.5?) but oh well.

Y’ever go to, like, a museum in Europe and look at those suits of plate armour with the chemical etching all over? Gorgeous. (This one’s from the Gravensteen in Ghent)

Chapter 43: The Demon of Meracydia

 

Chapter 44: The Arrow

Dinner with Aymeric was as lovely as it always was, Achiyo reflected as she sipped her wine. The food was delicious, and Aymeric’s company was as pleasant and heartwarming as ever. Though… she was finding the red wine a bit strong-bodied for her taste. She preferred the white wines, but that would apparently not go with the red meat, slow-cooked in exotic spices and more wine until it was nigh-falling apart on the plate… Kekeniro and Vivienne were with her this time; R’nyath, who often also came, was busy with Hilda, and Vivienne had put on a show of reluctance but agreed to take his place. The dogs, Tempête and Tonerre, lay on the rug before the fire, remarkably well-behaved. Continue reading →

FFXIV: The Demon of Meracydia

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So I might not have the spoons to play the actual game FFXIV right now, but I still have the spoons to consume content! So I finally read the Chronicles of Light and omg I love it (e.g. kicking my feet in excitement whenever Alisaie says something sassy). One thing I like is that since the stories often don’t reference any specific place, it’s easy to know and accept that Eorzea is far larger than the maps we get in-game (I’ve always known/had the opinion that game maps are miniature approximations of what reality could be, and there are many good reasons for doing that instead of trying to Log Horizon it and making humongous maps, but like Eorzea’s supposed to be the size of like Europe, isn’t it? So if you compare travel times across my chapters I’m sure they’re wildly inconsistent and that does bother me a little). I’d like to incorporate that more into my fic, but I’m so literal that it’s difficult for me to extrapolate. I also finally watched the Noclip documentary, and wow – I knew the overall story of 2.0’s creation, but I have even more respect for the team now.

Lol I don’t do mods but I appreciate the fact that this one exists (changes the collar of the Alpine Coat from a ruff to a stiff collar, much sexier on Aymeric.) Also I heard there’s a VR mod for FFXIV, I need a VR headset now lol. I’ve always wanted to be totally immersed in this world!

(Been watching Honkai Star Rail videos and taking inspiration from those flamboyant anime fight scenes lol)

No new armour for Achiyo, still using level 40 mithril set. I really like it. (She does wear a helmet now tho)

Chapter 42: So Much for Retirement

 

Chapter 43: The Demon of Meracydia

R’nyath prowled through the back alleys of the Jewelled Crozier one evening, hunting senses fully alert, yellow eyes gleaming. Behind him stalked Vivienne, an ominous brooding shadow, surprisingly soft despite her heavy armour and indelicate tread. Continue reading →

FFXIV: So Much for Retirement

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The Alexander chapter! The story’s not bad but I don’t have any particular attachment to it, so let’s just focus on the kickass music! Every single track from these raids is groovy AF.

Chapter 41: The Fall of Diabolos

 

Chapter 42: So Much for Retirement

Aentfryn poured himself a mug of tea and sat on a simple wooden chair by a simple wooden table in a simple wooden hut he had built himself in the Dravanian Hinterlands. There was room and to spare out here, and it was a beautiful land. He’d carefully picked a spot on a little island on the Thaliak River, close by a gorgeous clear blue lake, not too near Idyllshire and the remnants of Sharlayan, but not too far from it, either. Continue reading →

FFXIV: The Fall of Diabolos

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It’s the Chuchupa chapter! And it’s really long! If Mhach is based on Gaelic, then the ‘mh’ is pronounced as v. I think. Although the Mhach wiki page shows the Japanese name translated into romaji as ‘Maha’ so I guess they didn’t know that.

I’ve been sitting on 95% of this chapter since the end of November, when Nanowrimo ended; I went on vacation for a bit to recover from a busy fall season, and then came back and things were even more busy (I got a promotion I don’t really want and it’s giving me insomnia whoo) and I’m just not that invested in either the level 60 24-man raids or the 8-man raids. Hence why I’m going to get them both out of the way before we continue with MSQ. This chapter is kind of fillery, tbh, but I can’t be bothered to work on it any longer.

Did you know that once you beat the 24-man raids, then you have 90 minutes to look around the level?? It’s really cool! You can see a ton of things that you’d miss otherwise! (Including some parts that maybe you aren’t supposed to look too closely at XD ) I went in to both Weeping City and Dun Scaith with Yllamse and we had a great time speculating on the design choices of the levels.

Also yooo my Vivienne cosplay blog post is finished!! (contains slight spoilers for her personal story after the main photoshoot)

Chapter 40: Il était une fois…

 

Chapter 41: The Fall of Diabolos

Achiyo went down to the drawing room the next morning to find R’nyath and Chuchupa waiting there for her. “How did it gooo~?” R’nyath asked in a sing-song voice, his ears perking up and tail curling into a question mark. Continue reading →

Merry Christmas 2023

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Happy holidays! And spoiler alert for my FFXIV fanfic! Nero tol Scaeva (right) is a smug, arrogant, ambitious, brilliant magnificent b*stard, hells-bent on becoming the greatest engineer the world has ever seen (frustrated by being seemingly effortlessly thwarted at every turn by his rival since college). Vivienne Urselmert (left) is a cold, angry, stubborn, emotionally-constipated antihero who suffers grievous hardships in silence and slaughters monsters without mercy. Together, they are a match made in… something, considering he started out as a villain and she was very much trying to kill him at the time. After she blew up his boss’s base, he had nowhere to go and began wandering aimlessly, looking for advanced ancient technology to tinker with, occasionally ping-ponging off of the heroes and usually sort of helping them. He woos her sarcastically and she snaps back defensively, until those rare moments when one or another of them drops their walls (shockingly, often Nero first) and does or says something sincerely genuine. Apologies if it still doesn’t make sense to you, but it makes me laugh so I drew it. Continue reading →

FFXIV: Il était une fois…

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I wasn’t expecting this exposition to happen so soon but let’s roll with it! Also if the Ishgardians were actually French, the Fortemps boys would be using ‘tu’ with her now #justfrancophonethings

Did some re-reading of old chapters to check continuity, and I’m not sure I like what I saw. I may do some editing to 1) try and get Chuchupa’s accent more consistent, and 2) make sure it makes sense when people switch from consistently saying “Mistress Kensaki” to “Lady Achiyo”. …But not now. Now we’ve got celebratory fluff to write. Purely self-indulgent fluff, no MSQ. : D

Achiyo’s new sword is Baldur! Her new shield is the Fortemps shield. I figure she’d still been using the Holy Shield from the ARR Relic weapons until this point, even after getting the Fortemps shield from Artoirel a little while ago.

(Also I forgot that your patron isn’t necessarily tied to your birth month… So Achiyo is a Nymeia-patroned January baby.)

Chapter 39: Dragonsong

 

Chapter 40: Il était une fois…

Achiyo received many letters in the following days, some addressed to the Warriors of Light thanking them for their heroic deeds, and those she passed on to the Rising Stones so that her friends could read them and be gladdened by how many appreciated them. But a surprising number were addressed to her personally, and were of a… personal nature… being that they offered various levels of apologies for treatment she had endured upon first entering Ishgard. And after.  Continue reading →

FFXIV: Dragonsong

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We made it, you guys.

Nidstinien’s model is really cool, too bad it’s always covered in flashy lights from everyone trying to kill him. XD

Writing this boss fight felt nearly as intense as fighting this boss fight. XD Gods I love the music.

Chapter 38: Resolve

 

Chapter 39: Dragonsong

Aymeric felt his blood run cold as Ishgard came into view below him in the dark, smoky morning. In the short time that Nidhogg had been ahead of them, the Steps of Faith were become a scorched ruinous hellscape, and though he had heard the rumble of the guns from over the horizon, testifying to their mighty efforts in keeping the dragons out of the city proper, smoke was still rising from many parts of the city. Black dragons swarmed the Steps of Faith, aiming for the gates, and knights of all liveries had sortied out to meet them. They were few, now, too few – but he saw Lucia’s distinctive armour among them, and breathed a sigh of relief. Continue reading →

FFXIV: Resolve

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This chapter is quite a bit shorter but the final boss fight was ending up so long I decided it would be nicer to have a shorter chapter here rather than one colossally long one there.

Hraesvelgr is so wishy-washy. XD “My soulmate doesn’t want me to fight (*hands Nidhogg a gun*)”

Contrary to my general strategy to not use the edits the game has made to the plot since I first played it 5 years ago, I am thrilled that Sohr Khai is now a trust and I went and did it to grab extra dialogue >: D

Chapter 37: Shattered Peace

 

Chapter 38: Resolve

“Though I expected no better answer from Vidofnir, I take little pleasure from having been proven right,” Alphinaud said the next morning, as they packed their things and redressed in their armour. “‘Twould seem that our presence at Zenith will be every bit as unwelcome as I had anticipated. But what is the ire of one great wyrm to a band of self-confessed fools such as ourselves?” Continue reading →

FFXIV: Shattered Peace

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This area of plot is where I may “deviate from the prepared remarks” a bit; there’s a lot of headcanony stuff and game adjustments for a while. But you’re not exactly reading this in order to just experience the game again, are you. : )

Song at the end is “The Rose“, which sounds like a traditional folk song but is actually from the 70’s written by one Amanda McBroom; my preferred recording is the King’s Singers’ choral arrangement. It’s also on the Only Yesterday soundtrack in Japanese!

Chapter 36: Rousing Spirits

 

Chapter 37: Shattered Peace

Achiyo and the other Warriors of Light saw little of Aymeric over the following few days; it seemed all of Ishgard had been plunged into a whirlwind of activity and preparation. Honoroit was out of bed with only some scarring on his brow to show of his ordeal, Emmanellain was somehow back to his old self without being back to his old ways, and Alphinaud was looking much more confident. Continue reading →

FFXIV: Rousing Spirits

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Is it just me or have interpersonal relationships suddenly become easier between my characters starting last chapter? Like they actually like each other? Y’know, only an expansion and a half late. : P

I took out the cyclops because I don’t think it really adds anything except make Thancred miss the climax of the fight for no reason. : P

Chapter 35: Unraveling Hopes

 

Chapter 36: Rousing Spirits

Achiyo, Rinala, R’nyath, and Vivienne went down for breakfast in Fortemps Manor several days later and found Count Edmont reading a notice as he ate. “Ah, good morning to you all. Ser Aymeric has news for us. I shall call upon him after I have breakfasted, would you care to join me?” Continue reading →