Haha rip.
Haha rip.
are they expanding the diving board into an actual skill? That would be neat.
Will it stand on its otas a pack or is this instance of "should have been a refresh"? Second. I heard the rumor that sims 4 will actually be taking a break from major releases. I'm more excited about this because I'm really hoping they'll be using that time to focus on fixing the game.
Super interested in the latest Sims 4 news. First the new expacs looks like a lot of fun. It's not the bands pack I wanted but there looks to be lots of small details I'd love to add to my game. It looks like a fleshed out outdoor retreat.
What? People didn't like the puzzles?? But they were so easy and fun??
The only turtle that deserves having a straw slammed up his nose.
I don't think this is the gotcha you think it is. I would have burned the entire church to the ground if I could. I thought the forced reconciliation with the church was distasteful. Every person who knew the truth but perpetuated the lie should have been hunted down and executed.
It does mention that she is a little more battle hungry than before. But if the prayers of her people were strong enough to make her believe genocide for the sake of a lie is ok, she has become an evil god and I should enjoy killing her all the more for it.
He is ready to rule Alexandria. He even plans on using either Zoraal ja or Otis's swords. Not sure how I feel about that. You do you kid. And not to leave anything loose, Alisaie managed to teach a plethora of Alexandrians how to create porxie and treat the tempered in only a couple weeks.
Lastly, I knew from the start it would happen but a small part of me held out hope that it wouldn't. But Sphene retook the throne as the new Queen of Reason. (Tbh I felt she showed more resolve but whatever) Meanwhile Gulool ja has decided to dedicate himself to landguard training until he feels
Are they going to have to keep adding aether to it to keep it functioning? Where will they get the aether? It's reliance on aether is why we turned it off in the first place. Regardless, at least the first round of people got their memories back. Hopefully they will inspire others to do the same
How much power is being wasted on turning the entire place on? Also how did it return the stolen memories. We really just saw the main group pouring aether into it to turn it back on. We didn't access anything afterwards.
Been revealed earlier and utilized as a source of anxiety and hope in the story. Here it feels like it was tacked on without much meaning. I'm also not sure how I feel about turning living memory back on. Thematically it could be used to represent rebirth and legacy. But
Picking up the dropped threads, so to speak. So many Ascians were unaccounted for. I hope to see some unique takes on the group in the future. Back to the group. I liked the epilogue for the most part. Like I said before I wish that the knowledge that stolen memories could be recovered had
What was even more satisfying was seeing Calyx's face contort into something besides disappointment or contempt; complete and utter Terror. I do believe we've become his reoccurring nightmare. And Ascians confirmed! Or at least one of them. I'm surprised they're back so soon but I'm glad we're
I liked this scene a lot but I still wish there had been some visual for what was damaging Lamat'i as she hit the barrier. I love that the wold gets a unique animation for destroying the database depending on the job they're in using. I was a reaper and it was very satisfying.
But, somehow It breaks through to the Tempered citizens. Which is...I know there are different levels of tempering but I'm not sure I like this. No one else has been able to talk a tempered character out of their enthrallment. Still this give Lamat'i the opening she needed to reattack the barrier
I mentioned this earlier but I was unimpressed by Sphene's speech here. it was nice, to be sure. But I felt it would have been more meaningful if we had spent any time emphasising the value of memories to the citizens beforehand. They wanted it to be a revelation but instead it felt unearned.
We wipe the floor with Necron and Calyx is displeased but unsurprised. He reveals that killing it only makes it revive stronger due to making it experience what summoned it in the first place, the fear of death. He really thinks he cooked. Luckily Sphene is there and has a speech ready.
I did the trial with the NPCs, I think it is extremely cool that we get to use the duty support for both dungeons And trials now. Really immerses me in the story. Shtola ran as a healer, glad she's not rusty! Tbh though I had expected Sphene to be a healer. It would have fit better thematically.
It's been a hot minute since he had an honest to goodness Primal summoning. I kinda missed it. Unsurprisingly he used the registered users to bring it forth. Raha mentions that the abundance of lightning is a suitable stand-in for crystals. I'm scratching my head trying to figure out Why exactly.
I liked Calyx's reply to being asked why he's doing what he's doing. He just reiterates his goal and that he has no reason Not to do what he is trying to do. No sov story, no unexpected twist. Just the person he has depicted himself to be from the start. Also he summons a Primal!
I went into the dungeon with Sphene, Lamat'i and Raha. It was fun. I died twice to the pvp section because I wasn't paying attention to the add that caused burn. I have some questions about the treatment of prisoners back in Sphene's time. And the 'public forum' inside the prison.
Because it would have made more sense for them to have been working on helping in the background rather than tacked on at the end like this. Gossam btw mentions that the number of registered neo regulators has hit 5k. Meaning his indecision was completely irrelevant. This is retconned shortly after
He's a relatively minor npc but I've appreciated his character growth. His speech is one part chastising and one part we can do it! Along with him are a bunch of other recognizable npc all ready to try & talk their fellow citizens through their unease. I wish this scene was earlier in the patch tbh.
Had grabbed up a neo regulator. True to form though he hasn't registered it, unable to make a decision for himself either way. Honestly, as he's an acting leader I feel he deserved a dressing down. But unexpectedly Lithander is the man for the job.
Before we leave we try to talk to Gossan, the acting regent of Alexandria, to warn him that we're going to be taking down Calyx and thus taking away the option of becoming an endless. again. He's been portrayed pretty consistently as a directionless coward so it's no surprise to find he
Side note, I really laughed at poor Shale's anger at having her moment stolen from her by Calyx. So much so that her dialogue almost felt ooc. After this we finally get something I've been waiting for. Sphene wants to join the fight, and she has the grimoire to prove it.
Back to the offices after we find the secret room we figure out where Calyx is hiding. Only for him to pop up uninvited to invite us to his abode. He's pretty confident he has an adversary that can beat the wold. Unlikely; the wold has been holding back this entire patch.
Speaking of, on the 9th Sphene means Eternal Light. But in rl the meaning might be even more fitting for the character, as it represents Self Discovery & was believed to protect wearers from evil/injury. Sphenes also have a higher dispersion than even diamonds.
Where he would have felt at peace with dying. He would always believe his mind had more to give than his body was allotted. I liked the scene about the meaning of gems on the 9th. While I remember a little about gem meanings here in reality, it would have been neat to know what they are on Ethyris
Also I see you creepy ass locker. You can bet my wold SLAMMED that sucker closed. Krile wonders at one point if Calyx's body had not failed him so tremendously at such a young age, would his obsession with the endless sill have manifested. I think it would have. I don't think there is a timeline
Because butting into their conversation feels wrong. Plus I like the almost proud expression to get on your face, watching your protege. Moving on we come to possibly the most fun part of the patch. The offices of the bad guys. The puzzles are really easy but it was nice to do something different
Which is why she promised to take care of the Alexandrians for her. She also extends that offer of friendship to real Sphene. Promising to rescue her if ever needed and that Sphene could do the same for her. It's a cute scene. For once the "..." Dialogue option is absolutely the right choice
But the expac seems to have a real hard time criticizing the character that wanted to commit genocide. (Although considering the wold has also committed genocide I guess that would be a bit hypocritical. Hmmm) Wuk Lamat also considers that it could just be that she had wanted to be Sphene's friend-
And Lamat'i explains that she saw herself in Endless Sphene. They were both people who wanted to protect their people but lacked the strength to do it. I wish Lamat'i would also acknowledge that endless was Wrong. That she was the worst thing Lamat'i could turn into.
And, good for her, her response isn't just to speech about hope. Rather she explains that the military was already on its way to help evacuate. They will never be mentioned again. Sphene asks why Wuk Lamat is so avid about helping the Alexandrians when she doesn't really owe them anything.
The cruel meaninglessness of death, and how the only escape is to become an endless. I do like that some citizens aren't just sitting around depressed. There's a good amount that want out of Alexandria entirely, asking Wuk Lamat for help.
Back to the story the citizens are getting pretty riled about the neo regulators that Calyx is getting distributed. Understandable with people freaking out over the concept of death and there being only 5k. Honestly the lack of violence between citizens is weird to me. He even posts a PSA about
In the scene given the wold is part of the conversation. But we didn't add anything to the scene. It would have been better to be an outsider looking in.
I liked the small reprieve from the action to sit with shale and nostalgia to help them grieve. But I think I would have liked it more if there had been more oblivion members. It would have made for a good scene. The friends in arms circled up remembering their moments with him.
While I wish we had been given more time to bond with geode before his death, I didn't find it as meaningless as a lot of players. I remember him from previous patches, doing minor missions for oblivion. I already had a sense that he was a highly valued member of their team.
For a hot minute I thought they were going to kill off Wayakkwe instead of death flag magee, as she was cornered protecting the mom & no longer paralyzed child. But nope. Alas poor Geode, you were a neat npc. I actually liked how they took him out though. Using his kindness against him
Also, people have been going missing leaving only white dust like from the burn behind. Pretty obvious the dust are the bodies that had their aether completely removed. Weird that the group was slow to realize that.
The regulators are a symbol of just about everything I hate about Alexandria. The whole story this far I've been waiting for the people to start taking the damned things off only to find it makes them a target? Well played game. Well played.
7.3 starts with attacking more people using those same stupid robots. But now the wold's group has noticed a pattern the victims are all people who stopped wearing the regulators. This was a great choice for the story. It really did its job in pissing me off.
Which I kept forgetting.
We're abducted by the Arcadion president. He wants us to continue the next set of raids or else dundunDUN! Also if we win he'll give us the cure. The fights were fun but the story really took a dive. I also really wish the main fighters had unique models, if only to show that they are all teens.
Boyfriend dude is depressed and this is where Yaana reveals that Eutrope left to find a cure for him, not herself. Personally that would piss me off. But it worked to brighten him up and get him to join our side. Shortly after Eutrope and her little sister (who conveniently figured out a cure.)
But the person who should have been affected the most, barely was. Also Yaana contracted psychonekrosis fighting her sister in a really dumb scene. The wold publicly challenges boyfriend dude to a fight with their occupations on the line. I spent most of this fight dead. Rip.
I felt this was poorly thought out. I get that they're supposed to be dumb teens but it's so frustrating to see all the same. Plus I really like the Heel fighter. Also the raids felt really disconnected from the msq. At this point in the timeline the citizens are really struggling with death.
But even if that was the case they should have been breaking them manually. Because spoiler alert, they will do this again. Stupid. Back to the raids. Eutrope wasn't trying to get my soul for herself but her boyfriend. Their stupid lack of communication got their mutual friend killed.
Another notable point in this msq is when calyx uses the city robots to attack the citizens. Again. It's only notable because they Keep Using the Robots Afterwards! Are they all stupid?? I headcanon that just like how Gulool ja's authority couldn't stop the attacks, it couldn't turn them off after.
Og Sphene on the other hand wants us to destroy it. Which we do. It's a fun fight. Eventually I'll get around to doing the ex version. Calyx also doesn't get why we refuse to give him the key, since it would let him harvest aether from other worlds instead of the source. Idiot.
Calyx makes us fight a robot that has part of her personal guard Zelenia. I loved this part because Sphene is Pissed. How Dare calyx make such a mockery of her dear friend. I love the constant contrasts of endless Sphene and og Sphene. Endless probably would have loved robi Zelenia
This leads into the next dungeon, at the bottom of Everkeep is the og Alexandrian castle. Why did they keep it? Idk nostalgia I guess. The real reason of course is to let og Sphene feel out of place; her home old & forgotten. Sphene and wold get separated.
Jokes on you buddy, the wold is damn near immortal. He is disturbed by this finding. Also Krile points out that he uses world titles like "the ninth" and "the source". Something he shouldn't know about. (He doesn't explain but the reason is already obvious, and confirmed in 7.3)
His plan is simple, recreate the endless so they can "evolve" past biology. He's run the numbers, he can make 5k of them for the easy price of 7% the population. He then drains power of a large portion of Alexandria to hit the wold with a suped up lightning bolt.
For Endless Sphene. Who did horrible things in the name of protecting her people. But now they're using her likeness for the sake of causing chaos? Fuck off. We chase her down and meet the real antagonist Calyx. A super genius from Sphene's time that turned himself into an endless
She seems genuinely disturbed by the current Alexandria. Especially what they do to souls. Her journey in this patch really seemed to focus on finding her place in the present. Then we're confronted by evil Sphene who og Sphene does Not appreciate. Bad enough they used her likeness and memories
She's been in stasis since her "death", but us turning off living memory released her from her casket. And luck for her Alisaie figured out how to cure Levin sickness with her flying pig. Sphene's reaction to what's been happening in the last 400 years is great. And, do my eyes deceive me?
7.2 Introduces us to yet another back from the dead character. The best one in fact. Sphene. I was shocked by how much I liked this Sphene. She has genuine feeling emotions & doesn't try to convince us we're best friends immediately. In fact I think wold makes her nervous.
Overall the alliance raids are good so far. I like the characters involved, I absolutely love the locations, seriously every forest is so vibrant. I demand a makeover for Gridania!! But the reappearance of Sareel ja and his use of Electrope weighs it down a bit.
If people can be so perfectly duplicated using a small piece of Electrope why didn't Sphene use Electrope for her Endless? Why wasn't that even considered? As of 7.3 prishe is having some trouble, but that's b/c I beat the ever loving shit out of her back in 7.1. so that can't be why.
The other raid is the FFXI crossover raid and it's also very fun. But a bit frustrating. Because this is where we are introduced to yet another amazing ability of the electrope that I mentioned earlier. The ability to Perfectly replicate a person physically And mentally. Ugh. I fucking hate it. Also
Will fix hers. Yaana, in a moment of sanity, rebukes her; saying that using another person's soul to save herself is wrong. She still wears a regulator, (a symbol of using souls as commodities) though so I guess the hypocrisy went over her head. Or it's just another detail the writers forgot.
You are later introduced in the arena to Yaana's mia older sister Eutrope. Fun fight, stupid character. She disappears after the fight only reappear at the gym/Yaana's house demanding your soul. Apparently the feral souls all the fighters use degrade their souls & she thinks using the wold's
Who really thinks you should be wearing a regulator. This would be a great moment for the wold to firmly but gently rebuke the use of regulators. Instead we're once again told that different cultures should be respected I don't care how often you say it Hiroi, I will never respect their shit culture
The fights are fun, they even have a proper Heel that "cheats" during his fight (the cheating obviously being part of the script). In between the fights the first person you beat, Yaana, volunteers to be your second and the wold figures why not. You are introduced to her little sister
Not for the fighting, of course, but because they have simulacrums of previous fighters for the wold to use as teammates, rather than face each enemy alone. I'm not sure what my wold was more insulted by. The use of simulacrums or the idea that he couldn't curb stomp the entire roster at once.
Regulators. But it didn't. And just like with the fake Ardbert, the scions choose to not say anything. On to the raids! First set is the Arcadion. They're one part WWE, one part MMA with magic. And for the First time the wold shows disapproval towards Alexandrian culture! Yay!
Should have been enough for people wanting the chance to escape death if it became an option. Did it have to be Sphene again? I suppose that was the path of least resistance. It would have worked better if it had lead to a conflict between manipulated citizens and the ones who stopped wearing the
All she was used for was to manipulate the citizens into forgetting she was dead? Why? I still don't see the value in that beyond her telling them to become endless, again. But the story didn't need that. Having to face the death of their queen and so many of their countrymen, having to remember
Also the second fake Sphene is introduced Elidibus as Ardbert style. She's ultimately...not all that important to the story, oddly enough. In fact I think the Alexandrians despair over the loss of their queen would have worked better for the patch msq in the long run.
Them not being completely disgusted by the Alexandrian treatment of souls is incredibly out of character, considering what they know. And I really wish we could have them mention, at least in private, how being dependent on the deaths of others for your society to survive is just awful.
and spoiler, because it's not introduced here, they end up being forced to have Sphene later speech the anxiety away anyway! And it feels really cheap! This would have also been a great time to have some talk amongst the scions on how to go about dismantling Alexandria. Again,
That would be tacked on at the Verrrry end with not a single thought devoted to it. It's frustrating that the value of memories and how they carry us through the hard times was given so little value in a story that is supposed to be weighing the value of memories!! Ah!
I liked that they were, and will, struggle with it. It's basically the only struggle we are given in fact. I like that Lamat'i didn't speech the conflict away, as Shonen Protags so often do. This is where they Should have also introduced the possibility of recovering their lost memories. Alas
Actually abandon him! Just like how Lamat'i's dad didn't abandon her! Trauma and feelings of inadequacy immediately resolved! And thus the One character that voiced Any dislike for any culture is quieted. Meanwhile, the Alexandrians are confronting death.
They will find a convenient magic solution everyone is happy with. To me it felt overly simplified. Maybe it would have been better as a long set of side quests, maybe even a story without a firm resolution. and b/c this expac seems determined to never have a bad guy ever, Koana's parents didn't
Extremely short & shallow. They felt more like a caricature more than anything else. A lot of people really hated the train solution but I don't see how they could have improved it, since the whole expac is determined to make every character respect each other's culture no matter what. Of course
Something I was looking forward to but was ultimately disappointed by. It felt rushed and hammy. And Koana's willingness to sacrifice himself, a leader of a nation, for the life of a single rroneek was stupid. I respected him less for it. In addition the exploration of the hhetsarro culture felt
To upset a literal child. Who we really shouldn't have been allowed to follow us in. It seemed irresponsible and it made me wonder if I was wrong about Gulool ja's age bracket. Is he considerably older than I assumed? We'll never know. The exploration of Koana's past was
On to the patches. I really liked 7.1, we got to explore some of the vile things the Alexandrians did while trying to track down what happened to Gulool ja's Mom, who turned out to be just as awful as dad. Although none of the team says anything particularly damning, I chalk it up to not wanting
Which...I'm fine with. I've simply headcanoned that my wold was deliberately using only the amount of force needed, and would have escalated if the circumstances changed.
The final fight was a great end to 7.0, I actually liked Lamat'i breaking through the barrier. Even her wonky Spheeeeene. Haha. It was a good challenge for the player but storywise it felt like Wold was holding back a bit. Surely the destroyer of the Endsinger would wipe the floor with the Interphos
Suspicious from the start and my dislike of them only grew, with the occasional moment of fondness. So when the NPCs all were wracked with conflicted feelings and grief I was left feeling out of sorts. I tried to just remind myself that no character is universally appealing.
Forced our character to like her. A problem I also had with Venat. Unlike Emet who I grew to love thanks to his words, actions and characterization, Sphene & Venat are introduced to us as characters we're supposed to like immediately. I did not, in fact, like them immediately. I found them
I liked what they were trying to do with Sphene. She was a loving creation faced with impossible programming. But she didn't seem to struggle with it much. I would like to see her at least looking for an alternate solution, even if through the echo only. They also
It felt a lot like HW, where we were strung along helping a country that disgusted me from the start, with no opinion whatsoever. Even a single line questioning things would have made me feel better about the situation. But none were offered. Here, too, I would have liked a chance to react.
The 12 mention not wanting to interfere with mortals much. But they weren't Forbidden. In fact several of them did step in to help their followers when needed. Yet Halone was a ok with the murder of innocents in her name? Unforgivable. Her inaction is despicable. Fun fight though.
The soul has no value at all, that it is entirely our memories that define a person. The problem, I think lies with how passive the scions + co are about this. All of them just shrug it off. A great chance for conflict almost completely ignored. And the Wold is not allowed an option at all.
I even liked the moral ambiguity of the endless. What makes a person a real person has always been a grey area for FFXIV. Emet & Elidibus saw only complete souls are real people. The scions insist that even a tiny piece of a soul counts as a full person. And here Alexandrians believe that the soul
A break in my negativity. I saw the parallel they were making between Sphene and the endless and the wold with the sundered. I liked the flip on ShB. Now the wold was playing the part of Emet and Sphene the part of the wold. I saw the parallel and I respect what they were attempting. But
Saying something about "respecting different cultures". Thank you but I will not. And the fact that not a single one of the team was allowed to even comment on the difficulty of being respectful when faced with something so disgusting is demoralizing. It felt ooc.
Furthermore the alexandian culture is gross. They strip souls & use them like a common commodity. Now, I'm fine with that as a contrasting view of souls. A lot could have been done with it. Yet very little was. In fact, we weren't even allowed to look at it negatively. With damn near every npc
She was content to watch her son waste away until Alisaie fixed him. Electrope is a building substance, a battery, a magical catalyst, you can create perfect imitations of a person with it. Is there anything Electrope can't do? What a boring answer for everything.
But no. I can't think of a single NPC that mentions anything negative about their reliance on the miracle substance Electrope. Not even the mother of a child so burdened by Levin sickness he was entirely paralyzed. You'd think she'd be begging to leave Alexandria the moment the dome opened but nah.
Everything relies on it. There is only one downside to using it in the form of Levin sickness & that is not even directly from the Electrope, it's from an overabundance of lightning aether. Which powers Electrope, so you'd think at least Some NPC would be adverse to the society they're stuck in.
The Alexandria plot however fell flat for me. I didn't like the aesthetic, I don't like how we never got to explore the area before the dome arrived, so we never felt the loss of the area or people. I hated Electrope. It's called rare yet almost literally everything in Alexandria is made of it.