EDIT: Chris again. Apologies if the Emet scene was disjointed - normally we try and keep it so the cutscene references the previous segment. I think the Ardbert line just threw that off a bit - hence why the Artbert clip is placed after he actually talks about Arbert specifically. Ill bonk Mike if he puts a line in the wrong place next time 😃 Well here we are - the start of Shadowbringers! One hell of an expansion and there is SO MUCH to talk about - we're definitely going to have some follow up videos for Thancred, Emet Selch and plenty more before we're done.
@@Methedreen I record the cutscene footage separately in higher quality - personally I just figured it made sense to use the 'default' WoL since Floor is so goofy looking and the videos are generally more serious when cutscenes are shown.
Ardbert was too sad to face it, till the end where he did. He was still too far in his depression and feeling of failure he felt seto was sad because of him is my read. Love the take!
The thing I love about Urianger and the Pixies is that one of the side quests, you find out hes convinced them that he HATES his house being neat and tidy, so they will periodically clean up his house for him, thinking its a prank.
My favorite thing about Dulia-chai is that they managed to present a fat character in game without making her weight a punchline, as is often the case in similar media. It was legitimately a pleasant surprise to me, and I absolutely love her character
I love her relationship with her husband. Chai Nuzz loves her so much. I especially love how when he made the giant Talos, he tells her that it's what he promised when they got engaged.
It's just such a bittersweet moment. Yshtola can't see it, but she knows the perfect Scion to describe it to her. Incredibly small, almost forgettable moments that are just coated in character development. That is Shadowbringers.
14:00 the important distinction here is that Moenbrydas and Papalymos sacrifices were very much a spur of the moment thing, a "if I don't do this right now hell will break loose". whereas had G'raha told us from the start "and then at the end I'll kill myself" then that absolutely would've made most of the Scions go "Uh, that's a bit extreme let's look for another way to solve this"
@@Yume03 he probably knew it better than anyone seeing as he extensively reviewed the WoL’s adventures thanks to what and who remained when he got woken up I love the little meta bit about him choosing to summon us after SB rather than after HW since ShB is the expansion that follows SB’s patches but really began in HW’s patches
This is honestly my biggest gripe with Preach's take. I remember, during the big scene, him talking about how it didn't make sense for G'raha to keep it to himself and that the Scions were accustomed to such sacrifice. That they would have understood and gone along with it, had G'raha told them earlier. He made this argument not long after the Scions literally had a talk about how they wouldn't let anyone make anymore heroic sacrifices. Like, I dunno if he just forgot that was a thing or what, but it's baffled me ever since. It's actually the same thing with Thancred. He legit misread what Thancred said back in ARR about delivering the news about Ifrit so that he could say he at least did something, considering he showed up late. The dude legit admits that he wasn't there in time and accidentally put you at risk, but Preach misread and has held it against him ever since.
@@hasseo1 Not that it really changes preach's stance, but interestingly enough, for when you talk to the exarch in front of the tower and mention g'raha tia, his line in japanese has him say something like "yes it's me but keep up the charade until the time is right" which was a choice I'm glad didn't make it to the english localization because of how big the reveal moment is at mt gulg for you and him I think it would've felt far less genuine if you played all of shb trying to fake your lack of knowledge until he's ready to die in front of you
Ardbert felt so much guilt that he walked away after hearing what Seto said. He do not believe he is a good man as Seto claimed, and confronting Seto at that moment would mean disappointing Seto in Ardbert's mind. It is sad, but so human.
I personally forgot this scene in the game. I remembered tearing up to the scene and especially to the end as well. I'm not an animal lover, but still, the emotion put into it, gotta love it.
Thancreds character growth from fuckboi to the father figure is what made me enjoy his character, we also need to remember he has been there for years in comparison to everyone else
@@specialnewb9821 That sounds great, Square should get on that. Not even joking, I would watch them as streamers or just a buddy adventure starring them, as an anime, manga or other property.
It's just how many layers Emet has to his character right? He's introduced and spends a lot of his early time, just being this snarky jackass 'Q' like figure from Star Trek. He's extremely powerful, he knows it, we know it, and he knows we know it. And he just adores being flamboyant and taking the piss constantly. Then as you spend more time around him, you start to see all the cracks in that facade he puts up. Underneath all the snark and theatrics, he is a deeply depressed individual. Especially if someone is coming from WoW, it's just not even in the same universe as the drivel they put out. Emet says more in one cutscene with him, than the Jailer probably did in an entire 2 year expansion. That's what makes him one of the best characters in Final Fantasy as a franchise, not just 14 itself. You spend so much time interacting with him, that by the time you finally have your confrontation you knew would have to happen since you first met you genuinely feel for the guy. You know his past, his motivations, probably even empathize with them. But you know his world and yours cannot co-exist, so you have to fight.
The months of waiting for Shadowbringers release built up so much hype that the moment I logged in on release to wake up in this alien forest was mind blowing. The way they opened up the scale of the universe was so well done and then as I also went to find Alisaie I was absolutely horrified by Tesleen's fate! Amh Arang zone chat was just a flood of "WTF!?" for weeks and to this day the realization of how dark the story goes still haunts those desert sands lol
There's a beauty in knowing EXACTLY what just happened for each player in Amh Arang whenever you see those three letters. Also was surprised in watching with Preach, not knowing they'd censored since I'd first seen it.
the alphinaud/alisaie choice works super well because you can definitely tell in alphy's side that something is fucked, even if you can't tell what without alisaie's context. doing him first presents you with the mystery of what vauthry's up to, but the knowledge of doing hers first makes alphy's side of things like watching a horror movie where you know the danger but can't stop it
Officially alphinauds side is the cannon first choice (you can check the journal msq), but in endwalker you are supposed to go with allisaie. I think that makes a lot of sense if you've done both.
so happy, you get to experience this! my wife and I playing through ShB again, on alts, just because the story is so damned good. thanks for your content , brother!
I assumed anyone who completed the crystal tower series knew it was the Exarch, but I agree that somewhere in the middle I did start to wonder if I was wrong. But as the story progressed and the Exarch talked more to the WoL alone, the more sure I was of his identity and the more excited I became for that reveal. I'm also someone who actually enjoys "spoilers" because it makes me excited for the reaction of the other characters involved and not just the details of that spoiler. On Urianger and Y'shtola - they are actually very alike to me. Both are obviously very smart, like to research and learn, and Y'shtola is actually just as secretive (to me) as Urianger. The difference is that she isn't written so as to make her more secretive nature an obvious part of her personality. She doesn't share her thoughts until the last minute for example and I really feel like we don't really know Y'shtola as much as some other scions. She tends to do things we don't expect and then explains afterwards - that's not being open or any less secretive to me.
I really can't wait to hear your thoughts on Thancred. I'm not a parent, so I wanted to hear from a father what Thancred's changes are to someone with children.
@@TheSylvirr "Having a whole ass ladder match for the custody of a child." Dadcred can paradoxically be someones favorite and most hated Scion in Shadowbringers. Because you know he's trying to take care of Mini-filia as much as he can, but being around her also just hurts him emotionally constantly. Because he knows it's not "his" Minfilia that he's helping. So he has a ton of scenes where he's clearly deeply conflicted over trying to raise her well, but also being distant because he just can't bear to be close to her emotionally. Like all of the times that Mike was like seething on stream "GO HUG HER YOU BASTARD!"
What's amazing about showadowbringers is despite doing something far more cosmic in nature it stayed grounded to the themes and characters it had set up.
I absolutely loved Tesleen....and had my emotions stomped so I didn't trust any other character to be there later the whole expansion. The fact she turns up later as a boss was so sad.
I went to Eulmore first, this route gives you the dungeon very shortly after Tesleen and it hits so much harder. Still trying to come out of the shock of losing one of your new friends and then you have to kill her.
Shadowbringers was really when FF14 began to break through because the gaming media called it the best FF story since X and it got a lot of press for an MMO that had been around so long
Dude I’m so glad you’re in love with this game. It’s been a joy seeing your reactions to the story. It’s funny because yshtola and urianger were always my favorite scions; in shadowrun, and a lot of 80s hacker scifi like cyberpunk, there’s always been this archetype of an overly verbose hero with a heart of gold who never says or does a damn thing that is obvious, and so for me, he was an obvious analogue and reference for that trope.
Shadowbringers was the first expansion I actively found myself working through all the questlines. I leveled every job class needed to get that little bit of extra lore and it was paid off in post patches. When SHB first came out the Crystal Tower raids were not required. So there were extra dialogue options when interacting with the Exarch. ( Which is now part of the default options luckily. ) Overall the amount in there was the perfect blend for me. It elevated the game to a level I never even thought possible with games let alone MMOs.
what you have to keep in mind with the crystal exarch, those of us who played since launch first met graha in 2013 and we left him back in 2014. so almost 6 years had past for us veterans, i had forgotten the details of the crystal tower story, i remembered graha but he hadn't crossed my mind in years. this is also why CT became part of the msq requirements in ARR. but it was never a requirement back when we first played it. so yeah for anyone new to 14 they could piece that together easily. but for vets like me it was a big surprise. maybe that context helps a bit.
Shadowbringer is just so good. It is the standard all mmo expansion should strive for. It is simply magic as you feel the whole culmination of your journey bearing fruit.
Alphy trying to dodge the public bath was so hilarious as a fem Miqo'te since she straight up can say "get in the bath, stinky" and he's like "Ok ok I'll stop being such a little bitch..." LOL
Probably brought up by someone before but the thing with the Exarch was a bit different for me and I assume a lot of other long time players as well. The story of the Crystal Tower Alliance Raid was a couple of years old by then and I didn't really remember every detail of it, when it was mentioned, that the Crystal Tower would play a role in the then upcoming addon. I was happy and excited for it, but had kind of forgotten about G'raha in a way, a character I didn't actually like too much back then. (Love him to bits now, though.) So it took me a while longer to figure it out, and, like I said, I assume it was the same for a lot of other players as well. Looking forward to your next videos and your thoughts on the story. Really love your take on it and how much fun you seem to be having :)
There's one thing I'd like to give props to and this is almost in every good literary work. The writer will often thrown in goofy or mundane chapters between heavy exposition or a deep scene. its so the reader can have a mental breather and enjoy the work. You see this in Shadowbringers and the Greatwoods acts as sort of that breather until the end where it starts to rev back up.
Just a point on the Crystal Exarch from someone who started ARR at launch: The first crystal tower raid came out Dec 17, 2013 and the last on Jan 20, 2015. Shadowbringers itself release July 2, 2019. Many of us had four and a half years without seeing G'raha Tia, with no advancement of the crystal tower story. The connection was not quite as obvious to us. On top of that, it was not mandatory at the time, originally you could actually play through Shadowbringers without even starting the crystal tower.
Not sure if you will read this, but i truly love your series. keep it up. a testament to how great this story is the moment you talked about the dog i got teary.
Thanks for another amazing analysis and so excited to hear more is coming. Ofc I don’t agree with everything but even those give me a new perspective and enable me to enjoy more. Thanks and looking forward to your analysis as well as your stream (love how you play sometimes distracted and all. That’s how you play ff14 lol)
Loving the intros Chris, Topp tier. Looking forward to more SHB vids it's such a good expansion damn im so excited for 6.1 storyline wondering how it will be. GG PG TEAM
I'm in the same boat about Thancred pre-Shadowbringers. I really came to like him during Shadowbringers, and I feel they did him dirty with us kill stealing from him. Just because we're the chosen one. Spoiler if you haven't gotten there yet. They should have had a cutscene where Thancred tells us to go on ahead. As we go to go around the old man, he dashes toward us to try to stop us getting into Vauthry's chamber. Thancred dashes over to us and parry's the blow and we run into the room. Then we cut back and we're Thancred fighting the old man again. We go through the whole fight, and maybe at 50% Ryne jumps in to help. Maybe we're losing and she parries an attack for us, or gets his attention or something. Thancred ends up taking him out, and then a cutscene plays with Thancred talking to Ryne about how she's free now. It then cuts to us in Vauthry's chamber and it sais "Meanwhile..." And then we deal with Vauthry. Once we do, Thancred joins us in the room. Maybe he's limping and being helped by Ryne. But he nods at us to confirm that the job is done. We nod back and then the group discusses the plan.
Honestly? They should have both collapsed at the end of the duty, with Ran'jit dying. Nice and simple instead of overcomplicating it by dragging out Ran'jit's screen time.
Endwalker had a lot to live up to coming on the heels of Shadowbringers and having the daunting task of concluding the biggest story arc of FF14 but I think you'll agree, it more than proves equal to the task.
I was a little unsure how Endwalker was going to be accepted by players at large once it got (as many FFs and JRPGs) deeper into a battle of philosophy than a true battle against a foe. I was quite pleased to see how many wound up embracing it.
8:20 I am stupid, and didn't make that connection until much, much later. I'm glad they remembered later to go 'alright, for those of you in the back that didn't get the subtle part, I'll spell it out directly...' 13:28 I vaguely recall there being an early dialogue option for you to name G'raha that he denies or something. There was a little bit of awkwardness for me because both having gotten it spoiled and because of where I was in the MSQ when they reworked it, I was heading into shadowbringers without having done CT, at some point I was like "alright, it's clear I should do CT first before the point where they straight up force me to do it". Nowadays you have to do CT before moving into Heavensward, but it didn't used to be so.
I'm really enjoying these videos - some of my favorite content on the channel - keep it up & I can't wait to see the whole ShB/EW storylines revisited with your thoughts.
Man the emet selch video is going to be legendary. As someone who unfortunately cant watch the live streams, I hope you include some of your candid reactions to his story beats.
You HAVE GOT TO DO THE ROLE QUESTS. Seriously, DO ALL THE ROLE QUESTS I can't say why but DO ALL THE ROLE QUESTS. Preferably AFTER you do the Heavensward Warring Triad and 24 man raid series.
I agree with this idea, but let’s be honest, the dps role quests are significantly weaker than the tank and especially healer role quests. They should be saved for last!
@@zannzabar5197 It's not the role quests that's the reason for doing them, it's what happens after you complete them all. That quest line (especially if you do it after the HW content) ties back to some of the stuff Preach was talking about.
@@siyrean IIRC he needs physical and magical DPS jobs to get all four. He's also going to need physical melee and physical ranged DPS for the EW job quests.
@@AoiKaze2000 He already did the caster ones because Floor is a BLM main. He's leveling DRK/SCH, so just needs a melee for the fourth. He's also done Ravana and Bismarck extreme (two of the three HW extremes he did before he put those on hold for MSQ) and all of the warring triad, so those pre-reqs are met.
I am glued to every stream, but I still die in anticipation for these. I'm really glad Preach is getting to experience what we've all been raving about XIV.
Well before I started playing ff14, I saw an absolute ton of graha art and fangushing, so when I finally got to shadowbringers way later on, there was no doubt in my mind who the exarch was, because there was no way in hell people were this crazy over a version of him from the arr patches.
See, the funny thing is that... There was ONE notable person that was. This one dude in the XIV forums that was head over heels G'raha from day 1, legacy player too. And when the Crystal Tower arc ended the way it did? He raged. He kept raging for YEARS, and years and years. Six years in fact, he ALWAYS had a comment about how he didn't like how it ended for G'raha ARR. And it was so painfull, dreadfully obvious who the Crystal Exharch was ever since they released the trailer before the expansions, as well. SE never actually tried to pretend we didn't know who he was. And boy, this guy- I can only imagine his glee and genuine joy at Shadowbringers. Just thinking on him makes me happy, really.
That skit at the beginning had me actually laughing out loud. I had the exact same internal monologue. I'm like, 'I'm pretty sure I know who you are but apparently we arent going to address it...crystal tower man."
Newer players definitely have a stronger guess. For them it was G'raha and Crystal Tower a few months ago. For those of us playing from ARR it had been years with no mention of him, the story suggested the tower was open in the future meaning someone else could be the Exarch from the future, and the model didn't have the miqo'te figure along with the robes hiding the tail. There was enough to make it less certain without the original CT story fresh in your mind.
Mike played through ARR after the quest clean up right? It got me thinking that perhaps that's partly the reason why he hated Thancred so much. Because in the full ARR experience Thancred was more commonly depicted as a punching bag (comedically) a bit similar to Alphy, while for me that didn't make me 'like' him but it did make him bearable and occasionally funny. It's even more obvious if you play as female WoL, because sometimes he would lament that his flowery words doesn't work on the WoL.
It's worth mentioning Yshtola did rail against being sent on fetch quests even back during ARR (during titan). We just haven't really had a chance for high threat events where we get fetch quests since then really (the main time she was involved in msq and wasn't off doing something else was doing etheric ram, which was a fairly straightforward thing in the end)
The intro to ShB had my almost ill from stress for 3 days while I played through it. I can't imagine having to wait months on live. Also I started just after launch but before 5.1 so I had managed to skip crystal tower lol. The g'raha reveal was like... who is this cat boi? Lmao
Its so pogger while stepping in ShadowBringer, like watching LotR, everying character you have met are perfectly fit to every chapter in the journey. They did really good job for area distrtipution in this expension by characters and by using Ardbert and player youself to connect all the chapters into a story line. That is why everying enjoy this expension to actually not just feeling but joining the story.
The Shadowbringers leadup in post Stormblood had us all *screaming* for nearly a year before the expansion came out because we were watching the Scions dropping like flies, wondering who was going to be next. A little clarification on the trailer - it was actually released three separate times, once at each of the three FanFests, with each successive trailer adding more scenes to it, building up to the final complete version. This is actually the usual format for trailer releases, with Endwalker's being the exception rather than the rule since they only had the one FanFest online last year.
Just a reminder, White Mages were deemed too dangerous to be trained en mass due to tipping the balance of magic. It was believed to be the cause of one of the Calamities... I can't remember which one but it's talked about a little in the White Mage questline.
I just love Shadowbringers so friggen much. It has it's issues, but it's just... special. Endwalkers is really great too, but I honestly miss Shadowbringers. I still rewatch the trailer, and the music is just so powerful that it often brings me to tears. There's just something about Shadowbringers that takes it above and beyond.
The Tesleen scene. I showed my wife that immediately after I saw it. She's never played a Final Fantasy game before snd doesn't enjoy MMOs, but she's a lover of horror and dark moments like this. Even without proper context she still let out an audible "Jesus Christ!" as she watched that transformation. God I wish I could experience SHB for the first time again.
EDIT: Chris again. Apologies if the Emet scene was disjointed - normally we try and keep it so the cutscene references the previous segment. I think the Ardbert line just threw that off a bit - hence why the Artbert clip is placed after he actually talks about Arbert specifically. Ill bonk Mike if he puts a line in the wrong place next time 😃
Well here we are - the start of Shadowbringers! One hell of an expansion and there is SO MUCH to talk about - we're definitely going to have some follow up videos for Thancred, Emet Selch and plenty more before we're done.
Emet Selch did nothing wrong!
.... I'm perplexed as to why footage of different WoL instead of Floor. Haha
@@Methedreen I record the cutscene footage separately in higher quality - personally I just figured it made sense to use the 'default' WoL since Floor is so goofy looking and the videos are generally more serious when cutscenes are shown.
Ardbert was too sad to face it, till the end where he did. He was still too far in his depression and feeling of failure he felt seto was sad because of him is my read. Love the take!
Sadly no Word on Feo Ul :(
The thing I love about Urianger and the Pixies is that one of the side quests, you find out hes convinced them that he HATES his house being neat and tidy, so they will periodically clean up his house for him, thinking its a prank.
Urianger just trolls the fuck out of the fae. Let's not forget how he brought the nu mou to heel to help you.
Urianger also tricked the fae into making him tea. Devious son of a bitch
And the tea thing. Urianger just loathes having them put those funny leaves in his hot water, absolutely loathes it!
Reverse psychology is super effective
Urianger's the best lol.
Preach: I don't really get attached to video game characters
Also Preach: DOGBIRD IS SAD HOW DARE YOU FIX IT NOW OR I QUIT GAME
Oh my God-- your comment just won the internet!
Seto is best feathered camel dragon.
My favorite thing about Dulia-chai is that they managed to present a fat character in game without making her weight a punchline, as is often the case in similar media. It was legitimately a pleasant surprise to me, and I absolutely love her character
i was expecting it to go very wrong, but was pleasantly surprised.
Well up to a point . She still did the fat hug of doom 🤣
I love her relationship with her husband. Chai Nuzz loves her so much. I especially love how when he made the giant Talos, he tells her that it's what he promised when they got engaged.
@@fartimusmaximus8710 I think that made her more lovable really. :D The cuddles of death! Literally broke her husband's spine!
@@fartimusmaximus8710 That's not a fat thing, it's an anime thing.
That intro was crisp. 👍 EDIT. The end was majestic. A++ Chris.
Urianger's description of the night sky will forever make me cry
That one got me hard out of nowhere
@@dscarmo :piano instrumental of Flow begins to play:
the mans a poet
It's just such a bittersweet moment. Yshtola can't see it, but she knows the perfect Scion to describe it to her. Incredibly small, almost forgettable moments that are just coated in character development. That is Shadowbringers.
@@IcycritsHow much does Y'shtola see? She can make out the murals a minute later.
Am I just having a "what's it like to be a bat" moment?
14:00 the important distinction here is that Moenbrydas and Papalymos sacrifices were very much a spur of the moment thing, a "if I don't do this right now hell will break loose". whereas had G'raha told us from the start "and then at the end I'll kill myself" then that absolutely would've made most of the Scions go "Uh, that's a bit extreme let's look for another way to solve this"
Yeah obviously we would let anyone sacrifice themselves for us unless there was no other way. And G’raha knew this.
@@Yume03 he probably knew it better than anyone seeing as he extensively reviewed the WoL’s adventures thanks to what and who remained when he got woken up
I love the little meta bit about him choosing to summon us after SB rather than after HW since ShB is the expansion that follows SB’s patches but really began in HW’s patches
This is honestly my biggest gripe with Preach's take. I remember, during the big scene, him talking about how it didn't make sense for G'raha to keep it to himself and that the Scions were accustomed to such sacrifice. That they would have understood and gone along with it, had G'raha told them earlier. He made this argument not long after the Scions literally had a talk about how they wouldn't let anyone make anymore heroic sacrifices.
Like, I dunno if he just forgot that was a thing or what, but it's baffled me ever since.
It's actually the same thing with Thancred. He legit misread what Thancred said back in ARR about delivering the news about Ifrit so that he could say he at least did something, considering he showed up late. The dude legit admits that he wasn't there in time and accidentally put you at risk, but Preach misread and has held it against him ever since.
@@hasseo1 great comment! love Preach but oh man does he miss the point sometimes, it is SO frustrating to watch lol
@@hasseo1 Not that it really changes preach's stance, but interestingly enough, for when you talk to the exarch in front of the tower and mention g'raha tia, his line in japanese has him say something like "yes it's me but keep up the charade until the time is right" which was a choice I'm glad didn't make it to the english localization because of how big the reveal moment is at mt gulg for you and him
I think it would've felt far less genuine if you played all of shb trying to fake your lack of knowledge until he's ready to die in front of you
Ardbert felt so much guilt that he walked away after hearing what Seto said. He do not believe he is a good man as Seto claimed, and confronting Seto at that moment would mean disappointing Seto in Ardbert's mind. It is sad, but so human.
I personally forgot this scene in the game. I remembered tearing up to the scene and especially to the end as well. I'm not an animal lover, but still, the emotion put into it, gotta love it.
You make as many Shadowbringers videos as you want Mike and I’ll watch every damn one of them!
That intro had me cracking up 🤣
"I'll kill everything, but what's your name, mate?"
i refuse to accept that anyone paying attention to the story didnt recognize Raha immediately
17:38 You can still feel Mike's emotion when talking about Seto haha
Damn that scene hits hard
Thancreds character growth from fuckboi to the father figure is what made me enjoy his character, we also need to remember he has been there for years in comparison to everyone else
5 years if I recall correctly, with Urianger and Yshtola being there for 3 years, and the twins for 1
Wasnt Alphinaud the 1st scion who went to the 1st before Thancred?
@@SaigaTenshi Nope, Alphinaud was shortly before Alisae
@@SaigaTenshi Alphinaud collasped between thancred and the others
Still dont like him much. His character got some progress in ShB, but seems still "annoyed" than anything else.
"The most alien landscape I think I ever walk in" - I see what u did there
Can't walk on the water though, eh?
@@Teanji Urianger did.. for a few seconds..
No floating islands. 0/10
@@Screamingmanta "Not enough spherical objects to be considered an alien planet. 9/10, has a little something for everyone." - IGN
@@Teanji Did you forget the Il Mheg dungeon?
The Emet video is just gonna be an hour of Preach praising the character and just how well written his motives are. Ishikawa is our queen.
At this point I'm 100% convinced that any narrative game would be made at least 1% better for his inclusion. My favorite character in the Game.
@@ShadowkillerT13 At this point I would watch Emet and his "buddy" streaming games.
@@specialnewb9821 That sounds great, Square should get on that. Not even joking, I would watch them as streamers or just a buddy adventure starring them, as an anime, manga or other property.
It's just how many layers Emet has to his character right? He's introduced and spends a lot of his early time, just being this snarky jackass 'Q' like figure from Star Trek. He's extremely powerful, he knows it, we know it, and he knows we know it. And he just adores being flamboyant and taking the piss constantly.
Then as you spend more time around him, you start to see all the cracks in that facade he puts up. Underneath all the snark and theatrics, he is a deeply depressed individual.
Especially if someone is coming from WoW, it's just not even in the same universe as the drivel they put out. Emet says more in one cutscene with him, than the Jailer probably did in an entire 2 year expansion. That's what makes him one of the best characters in Final Fantasy as a franchise, not just 14 itself. You spend so much time interacting with him, that by the time you finally have your confrontation you knew would have to happen since you first met you genuinely feel for the guy. You know his past, his motivations, probably even empathize with them. But you know his world and yours cannot co-exist, so you have to fight.
“Welcome to Shadowbringers”
The one cutscene that the rest of us immediately know about and needs no other introduction
Welcome to shadowbringers. Bitch.
The 2nd part is important 🤣
:o
I can't stand that twitch spam tbh
The months of waiting for Shadowbringers release built up so much hype that the moment I logged in on release to wake up in this alien forest was mind blowing. The way they opened up the scale of the universe was so well done and then as I also went to find Alisaie I was absolutely horrified by Tesleen's fate!
Amh Arang zone chat was just a flood of "WTF!?" for weeks and to this day the realization of how dark the story goes still haunts those desert sands lol
There's a beauty in knowing EXACTLY what just happened for each player in Amh Arang whenever you see those three letters. Also was surprised in watching with Preach, not knowing they'd censored since I'd first seen it.
Those WTF shoulda been replied with. Welcome to shadowbringers bitch 🤣
@@MythrilShotgun where's the uncensored version!? 🤨
@@rajabuta Doesn't exist. It was merely planned before they realized that ESRB and PEGI and other ratings boards would bump the game to an M.
@@DameonStarflame phew. I thought I missed something
Mike before Shadowbringres: "I've only almost teared up with a videogame once and it was a long time ago"
The continuation: it's not because I am a souless cold hearted machine it's just that video game story telling ain't that good. so true
"we can't talk about that without talking about our boy, Ardbert".
Cut to an Emet Selch scene.
Seriously, what was up with that?
Emet-Selch clearly steals the show. :^)
Yep i know right, is it an editing problem
the alphinaud/alisaie choice works super well because you can definitely tell in alphy's side that something is fucked, even if you can't tell what without alisaie's context. doing him first presents you with the mystery of what vauthry's up to, but the knowledge of doing hers first makes alphy's side of things like watching a horror movie where you know the danger but can't stop it
Officially alphinauds side is the cannon first choice (you can check the journal msq), but in endwalker you are supposed to go with allisaie. I think that makes a lot of sense if you've done both.
Shadowbringers has the 1 "Welcome to..." moment. Endwalker has like 14 of those lol
^this
Yup
1:00 "Is that the crystal tower? Did you steal that?"
That part cracks me up everytime I hear it
Loving the intro PG team
every single major point of this video makes me realise how much you'll love endwalker and its making me unable to wait for this weeks streams lmao
if SE ever made a horror survival game based on surviving after the flood in the first, i would buy that game in a heartbeat.
SE did do a horror survivor called Parasite Eve. I love that game. But it needs a remake like Final Fantasy 7.
@@Gillrien I mean they could always make a chocobo ripoff of Mario Kart.
@@ninjaman0003 you mean the game “Chocobo Racing”?
i'm so waiting for Mike's comprehensive take on Emet! hopefully with part 2 by the end of endwalker!
so happy, you get to experience this! my wife and I playing through ShB again, on alts, just because the story is so damned good. thanks for your content , brother!
I didn't know how much I needed a flying Mike through time and space.
Absolutely love it to see Preach progress and analyse the story of ffxiv! Here for it!!
I assumed anyone who completed the crystal tower series knew it was the Exarch, but I agree that somewhere in the middle I did start to wonder if I was wrong. But as the story progressed and the Exarch talked more to the WoL alone, the more sure I was of his identity and the more excited I became for that reveal. I'm also someone who actually enjoys "spoilers" because it makes me excited for the reaction of the other characters involved and not just the details of that spoiler.
On Urianger and Y'shtola - they are actually very alike to me. Both are obviously very smart, like to research and learn, and Y'shtola is actually just as secretive (to me) as Urianger. The difference is that she isn't written so as to make her more secretive nature an obvious part of her personality. She doesn't share her thoughts until the last minute for example and I really feel like we don't really know Y'shtola as much as some other scions. She tends to do things we don't expect and then explains afterwards - that's not being open or any less secretive to me.
Yo what scenes made Mike cry?? I just finished base SHB today, fucking amazzzing
Thank/blame Ishikawa, head of the writing dept this expansion, for the greatness that is Shadowbringers.
I really can't wait to hear your thoughts on Thancred.
I'm not a parent, so I wanted to hear from a father what Thancred's changes are to someone with children.
In his streams he covered how much he loved Thancred.
Ran'jit as well. As a parent myself, I really did sympathize him.
@@hkoizumi3134 I mean, that is why we all code that fight 'the Custody Battle'
@@TheSylvirr "Having a whole ass ladder match for the custody of a child."
Dadcred can paradoxically be someones favorite and most hated Scion in Shadowbringers. Because you know he's trying to take care of Mini-filia as much as he can, but being around her also just hurts him emotionally constantly. Because he knows it's not "his" Minfilia that he's helping. So he has a ton of scenes where he's clearly deeply conflicted over trying to raise her well, but also being distant because he just can't bear to be close to her emotionally.
Like all of the times that Mike was like seething on stream "GO HUG HER YOU BASTARD!"
@@TheSylvirr The Custody Battle, oh my god...
What's amazing about showadowbringers is despite doing something far more cosmic in nature it stayed grounded to the themes and characters it had set up.
I absolutely loved Tesleen....and had my emotions stomped so I didn't trust any other character to be there later the whole expansion. The fact she turns up later as a boss was so sad.
Same sadge
I went to Eulmore first, this route gives you the dungeon very shortly after Tesleen and it hits so much harder. Still trying to come out of the shock of losing one of your new friends and then you have to kill her.
Shadowbringers was really when FF14 began to break through because the gaming media called it the best FF story since X and it got a lot of press for an MMO that had been around so long
Loving watching these living the experince again through your streams and these amazing videos.
Dude I’m so glad you’re in love with this game. It’s been a joy seeing your reactions to the story. It’s funny because yshtola and urianger were always my favorite scions; in shadowrun, and a lot of 80s hacker scifi like cyberpunk, there’s always been this archetype of an overly verbose hero with a heart of gold who never says or does a damn thing that is obvious, and so for me, he was an obvious analogue and reference for that trope.
I've been so hype waiting for his Shadowbringers review, great first video can't wait for the rest!
Shadowbringers was the first expansion I actively found myself working through all the questlines. I leveled every job class needed to get that little bit of extra lore and it was paid off in post patches.
When SHB first came out the Crystal Tower raids were not required. So there were extra dialogue options when interacting with the Exarch. ( Which is now part of the default options luckily. )
Overall the amount in there was the perfect blend for me. It elevated the game to a level I never even thought possible with games let alone MMOs.
Its been a great journey watching you play through shadowbringers, I can't wait for your take on Emet :D
love that you are genuinely enjoying what you are doing again fella
what you have to keep in mind with the crystal exarch, those of us who played since launch first met graha in 2013 and we left him back in 2014. so almost 6 years had past for us veterans, i had forgotten the details of the crystal tower story, i remembered graha but he hadn't crossed my mind in years. this is also why CT became part of the msq requirements in ARR. but it was never a requirement back when we first played it. so yeah for anyone new to 14 they could piece that together easily. but for vets like me it was a big surprise. maybe that context helps a bit.
Shadowbringer is just so good. It is the standard all mmo expansion should strive for. It is simply magic as you feel the whole culmination of your journey bearing fruit.
I think you meant to say Endwalker 😉😁
@@darthfinality both
Alphinaud with a female WoL is amusing as it's quickly a "I'll wait for you to go first" moment.
Oooooooh that’s what he was talking about! lol
Alphy trying to dodge the public bath was so hilarious as a fem Miqo'te since she straight up can say "get in the bath, stinky" and he's like "Ok ok I'll stop being such a little bitch..." LOL
So so happy you’ve gotten to experience the amazing amazing story of shadowbringers!! Thanks for the great take!
Probably brought up by someone before but the thing with the Exarch was a bit different for me and I assume a lot of other long time players as well. The story of the Crystal Tower Alliance Raid was a couple of years old by then and I didn't really remember every detail of it, when it was mentioned, that the Crystal Tower would play a role in the then upcoming addon. I was happy and excited for it, but had kind of forgotten about G'raha in a way, a character I didn't actually like too much back then. (Love him to bits now, though.)
So it took me a while longer to figure it out, and, like I said, I assume it was the same for a lot of other players as well.
Looking forward to your next videos and your thoughts on the story. Really love your take on it and how much fun you seem to be having :)
There's one thing I'd like to give props to and this is almost in every good literary work. The writer will often thrown in goofy or mundane chapters between heavy exposition or a deep scene. its so the reader can have a mental breather and enjoy the work. You see this in Shadowbringers and the Greatwoods acts as sort of that breather until the end where it starts to rev back up.
Mike this content is so good so so good. It’s unique. The production quality is amazing. You are the only one making actual programmes! Love it.
Just a point on the Crystal Exarch from someone who started ARR at launch: The first crystal tower raid came out Dec 17, 2013 and the last on Jan 20, 2015. Shadowbringers itself release July 2, 2019.
Many of us had four and a half years without seeing G'raha Tia, with no advancement of the crystal tower story. The connection was not quite as obvious to us.
On top of that, it was not mandatory at the time, originally you could actually play through Shadowbringers without even starting the crystal tower.
Not sure if you will read this, but i truly love your series. keep it up. a testament to how great this story is the moment you talked about the dog i got teary.
Urianger describing the night sky to Yshtola.
Urianger consoling Ryne.
If you couldn't see why Moenbryda loved him before - you do now.
What a man
Thanks for another amazing analysis and so excited to hear more is coming. Ofc I don’t agree with everything but even those give me a new perspective and enable me to enjoy more. Thanks and looking forward to your analysis as well as your stream (love how you play sometimes distracted and all. That’s how you play ff14 lol)
Internet needs more people like you man, fantastic work!
Loving the intros Chris, Topp tier. Looking forward to more SHB vids it's such a good expansion damn im so excited for 6.1 storyline wondering how it will be. GG PG TEAM
Missed a great joke in the intro by not having Mike need to use the toilet when the Exarch grabs him >
BABE, WAKE UP. A NEW PREACH VIDEO
Thanks for making more videos of Shb. Your analysis and impressions are really interesting
I'm in the same boat about Thancred pre-Shadowbringers.
I really came to like him during Shadowbringers, and I feel they did him dirty with us kill stealing from him. Just because we're the chosen one.
Spoiler if you haven't gotten there yet.
They should have had a cutscene where Thancred tells us to go on ahead. As we go to go around the old man, he dashes toward us to try to stop us getting into Vauthry's chamber. Thancred dashes over to us and parry's the blow and we run into the room.
Then we cut back and we're Thancred fighting the old man again. We go through the whole fight, and maybe at 50% Ryne jumps in to help. Maybe we're losing and she parries an attack for us, or gets his attention or something.
Thancred ends up taking him out, and then a cutscene plays with Thancred talking to Ryne about how she's free now.
It then cuts to us in Vauthry's chamber and it sais "Meanwhile..." And then we deal with Vauthry. Once we do, Thancred joins us in the room. Maybe he's limping and being helped by Ryne. But he nods at us to confirm that the job is done. We nod back and then the group discusses the plan.
Honestly? They should have both collapsed at the end of the duty, with Ran'jit dying. Nice and simple instead of overcomplicating it by dragging out Ran'jit's screen time.
That was a brilliant intro. Kudos to the editors.
Endwalker had a lot to live up to coming on the heels of Shadowbringers and having the daunting task of concluding the biggest story arc of FF14 but I think you'll agree, it more than proves equal to the task.
I was a little unsure how Endwalker was going to be accepted by players at large once it got (as many FFs and JRPGs) deeper into a battle of philosophy than a true battle against a foe. I was quite pleased to see how many wound up embracing it.
"Why are we on the moon?" Methinks you're mixing up your trailers
i think he meant ascians on the moon lol
Whoever comes up with the ideas for these intros deserves a raise because they're quite entertaining while being relevant to the topic of the video.
I envy you, because you can experience the story for the first time. Treasure every moment.
8:20 I am stupid, and didn't make that connection until much, much later. I'm glad they remembered later to go 'alright, for those of you in the back that didn't get the subtle part, I'll spell it out directly...'
13:28 I vaguely recall there being an early dialogue option for you to name G'raha that he denies or something. There was a little bit of awkwardness for me because both having gotten it spoiled and because of where I was in the MSQ when they reworked it, I was heading into shadowbringers without having done CT, at some point I was like "alright, it's clear I should do CT first before the point where they straight up force me to do it". Nowadays you have to do CT before moving into Heavensward, but it didn't used to be so.
Still waiting for the sequels of this video!!
I'm really enjoying these videos - some of my favorite content on the channel - keep it up & I can't wait to see the whole ShB/EW storylines revisited with your thoughts.
Man the emet selch video is going to be legendary. As someone who unfortunately cant watch the live streams, I hope you include some of your candid reactions to his story beats.
The intros are getting better and better each video 😂 keep it up!
You HAVE GOT TO DO THE ROLE QUESTS.
Seriously, DO ALL THE ROLE QUESTS
I can't say why but DO ALL THE ROLE QUESTS.
Preferably AFTER you do the Heavensward Warring Triad and 24 man raid series.
I agree with this idea, but let’s be honest, the dps role quests are significantly weaker than the tank and especially healer role quests. They should be saved for last!
@@zannzabar5197 It's not the role quests that's the reason for doing them, it's what happens after you complete them all. That quest line (especially if you do it after the HW content) ties back to some of the stuff Preach was talking about.
He’s done all the heavensward contend and he’s already started leveling a tank and healer. We’ll get there guys!
@@siyrean IIRC he needs physical and magical DPS jobs to get all four. He's also going to need physical melee and physical ranged DPS for the EW job quests.
@@AoiKaze2000 He already did the caster ones because Floor is a BLM main. He's leveling DRK/SCH, so just needs a melee for the fourth. He's also done Ravana and Bismarck extreme (two of the three HW extremes he did before he put those on hold for MSQ) and all of the warring triad, so those pre-reqs are met.
What a great video - I just wish all the previous videos were of this quality
Fantastic video! Can’t wait for the next ones!
I am glued to every stream, but I still die in anticipation for these. I'm really glad Preach is getting to experience what we've all been raving about XIV.
Was that an obscure Doctor Who reference at the start? TY for that Preach.
Can't wait for Preach's thoughts about Emet-Selch! ShB cemented his status for me as my favorite character.
Mike's video on Shadowbringers. YEEEEE BABY THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR
I can’t wait for you to get to the real lore dumps in this expansion ;) mind = blown.
Well before I started playing ff14, I saw an absolute ton of graha art and fangushing, so when I finally got to shadowbringers way later on, there was no doubt in my mind who the exarch was, because there was no way in hell people were this crazy over a version of him from the arr patches.
See, the funny thing is that... There was ONE notable person that was. This one dude in the XIV forums that was head over heels G'raha from day 1, legacy player too. And when the Crystal Tower arc ended the way it did? He raged. He kept raging for YEARS, and years and years. Six years in fact, he ALWAYS had a comment about how he didn't like how it ended for G'raha ARR.
And it was so painfull, dreadfully obvious who the Crystal Exharch was ever since they released the trailer before the expansions, as well. SE never actually tried to pretend we didn't know who he was. And boy, this guy- I can only imagine his glee and genuine joy at Shadowbringers. Just thinking on him makes me happy, really.
@@JulianSkies In a funny way that's actually really wholesome.
That skit at the beginning had me actually laughing out loud. I had the exact same internal monologue. I'm like, 'I'm pretty sure I know who you are but apparently we arent going to address it...crystal tower man."
Newer players definitely have a stronger guess. For them it was G'raha and Crystal Tower a few months ago. For those of us playing from ARR it had been years with no mention of him, the story suggested the tower was open in the future meaning someone else could be the Exarch from the future, and the model didn't have the miqo'te figure along with the robes hiding the tail. There was enough to make it less certain without the original CT story fresh in your mind.
The intro had me crying. Preach is an incredible entertainer.
Mike played through ARR after the quest clean up right? It got me thinking that perhaps that's partly the reason why he hated Thancred so much. Because in the full ARR experience Thancred was more commonly depicted as a punching bag (comedically) a bit similar to Alphy, while for me that didn't make me 'like' him but it did make him bearable and occasionally funny. It's even more obvious if you play as female WoL, because sometimes he would lament that his flowery words doesn't work on the WoL.
I've been so excited to watch these!!!!
It's worth mentioning Yshtola did rail against being sent on fetch quests even back during ARR (during titan). We just haven't really had a chance for high threat events where we get fetch quests since then really (the main time she was involved in msq and wasn't off doing something else was doing etheric ram, which was a fairly straightforward thing in the end)
Wow this was next level! Love Preach!
Love seeing your review as always
We got answers about Zodiark in Rak'tika, not Il Mheg. But yeah. Great video.
That's easy. I can answer that. The Crystal Exarch is [REDACTED].
Shadowbringers definitely deserves a whole bunch of videos for discussion. Those intros are getting more and more creative :D
The intro to ShB had my almost ill from stress for 3 days while I played through it. I can't imagine having to wait months on live. Also I started just after launch but before 5.1 so I had managed to skip crystal tower lol. The g'raha reveal was like... who is this cat boi? Lmao
Its so pogger while stepping in ShadowBringer, like watching LotR, everying character you have met are perfectly fit to every chapter in the journey.
They did really good job for area distrtipution in this expension by characters and by using Ardbert and player youself to connect all the chapters into a story line.
That is why everying enjoy this expension to actually not just feeling but joining the story.
This channel has such quality content. I cannot wait for the Emet Selch video.
Wish I could "like" more, love you insights!
That intro was hysteric thank you 😂
The Shadowbringers leadup in post Stormblood had us all *screaming* for nearly a year before the expansion came out because we were watching the Scions dropping like flies, wondering who was going to be next.
A little clarification on the trailer - it was actually released three separate times, once at each of the three FanFests, with each successive trailer adding more scenes to it, building up to the final complete version. This is actually the usual format for trailer releases, with Endwalker's being the exception rather than the rule since they only had the one FanFest online last year.
Fuuuuu Even hearing the Shadowbringers theme brings a tear
Just a reminder, White Mages were deemed too dangerous to be trained en mass due to tipping the balance of magic. It was believed to be the cause of one of the Calamities... I can't remember which one but it's talked about a little in the White Mage questline.
Ok this intros are 14/10
Bringing back so many feeling!
I just love Shadowbringers so friggen much. It has it's issues, but it's just... special. Endwalkers is really great too, but I honestly miss Shadowbringers. I still rewatch the trailer, and the music is just so powerful that it often brings me to tears. There's just something about Shadowbringers that takes it above and beyond.
The Tesleen scene.
I showed my wife that immediately after I saw it. She's never played a Final Fantasy game before snd doesn't enjoy MMOs, but she's a lover of horror and dark moments like this. Even without proper context she still let out an audible "Jesus Christ!" as she watched that transformation.
God I wish I could experience SHB for the first time again.
Thank you for all the content gang, appreciate it