Garrett: "Why didn't anyone tell us not to kill Zodiark??" Don't let Emet-Selch hear you say that, poor guy spent all last expansion trying to tell you.
It wasn't flushed out very well, but we DIDN'T kill Zodiark. We weakened him enough and stalled long enough that the Watcher praises our actions and tells us to transport out of there so he can reinstall the bindings (as he has gathered his strength, the sacrificed souls no longer hinder him) . No one anticipated Fandaniel plucking the heart out (which I gather he was in a position to do even if we did nothing since Zenos was there as well). Or, if there are any future legal inquiries....that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :D
Garrett's take on story pacing is spot-on. This was masterpiece story-telling and those who didn't have the patience for it break my heart. Maybe it's an age, experience thing - but the Garlemald setting is really powerful if you allow yourself to understand it's depth. It's SO GOOD.
The themes and stuff of Garlemald is a little too real. Especially this day and age to people who’ve been through war and suffered at the hand of morally bankrupt leaders.
Agreed. You can't have a big payoff without time to set it up. It's why Stormblood will always have a special place for me, there was so much important setup for everything that happens after. The instant gratification crowd are missing out.
It's the instant gratification crowd trained by decades of WOW-like media. We cannot do anything, just give them a chance to try. Either way, ENDWALKER is an absolute Masterpiece. ARR > EW > SB > HW > SHB > OG I wonder where DT will end up for me. :)
I am a disabled vet and did 2 tours overseas, the Quintus death really hit me hard. The buildup of the dismissal and monologue I knew what was coming, but I had to step away after it. This game has effected me so many pointed ways through the years. The survivors guilt of Lyna in shadowbringers was another one of those moments.
Another thing about Quintus is that, given his age, he was probably born around the time Solus took over the Empire. And after hundreds of years of oppression by magic users, Garlemald started winning. Conquering all of Ilsabard and moving on to Othard and northern Aldenard. All of Quintus's life has been victories for Garlemald. He probably heard every speech, every bit of propaganda said by Solus zos Galvus. And remember, Solus was Emet-Selch. Could you imagine spending 50 years listening to Emet-Selch talk up the Empire. Of course you would be a true believer of Garlemald.
I don't think the idea is so much that the Garlean Soldiers suck, more so that you as the Warrior of Light are so unimaginably powerful that to the average person, you may as well be a deity.
You've basically beat up several dozen entities considered gods at this point. And armies, and small countries... also garleans can't use magic so their natural healing processes might differ slightly, (also its a dead body it probably can't regenerate properly in the first place?)
It's both. What Garlean's lack (access to magic) is taken for granted by the rest of Eorzea. Not everyone in Eorzea has personal, direct access to magic perse (either offensive or defensive/curative) but can find access to it easily, and even for those who don't, abilities derived from manifestation of even subconscious aetheric control is common. Garleans get none of this. No magic to level the playing field in battle, no defense to not get crushed in one hit by some savage beast in the wilds, no healers to get you back on your feet or reserves of strength to get your second wind after getting knocked down. It's why the name of the duty is avoid conflict, no regenerating health, scavenge your first aid kits and repair some tech to get the upper hand.
@@gamingfae3909 It's never explained no, but we can infer through Thancred's near-identical problems that they have a more natural version of magical inability. (That also implies they'd be able to get up to his skill level without magitek boosting them, but that takes uncommon skill intelligence, and dedication.)
The Fandaniel butler facade was excellent, and Garrett's point that he allowed Zenos to get that far had me nodding. A good observation. There is a previous scene that introduces that dynamic when Fandaniel asks Zenos if he didn't have other interests. Zenos goes on a sullen rant about tedium and boredom... The camera pulls to Fandaniel's face and he takes a few moments absorbing it before making a face that implies an eye roll of (he really is nuts). I burst out laughing, but it also had the result of more enjoyment of the Fandaniel character. To me, he's very entertaining (more so after that). Then: Alisae: "This madness ends here!!!" Fandaniel: "Oh hush, this is the best part." Annoying and hilarious at the same time...just like he's supposed to be.
THIS right here is the reason I follow you two. Intelligent, retrospective and the editing!!!! Thank you for recapturing the many reasons why FFXIV is so sacred to many of us. My husband now follows you as well. Thank you....
@@zacharyzwigart4455 the watcher straight up tells you after the fight that he can reseal Zodiark now that you have him subdued, at which point Fandaniel unalives himself to stop it.
Spending the effort to edit both Val and Tuna together in the intro was great. Not just the spliced stuff, but the illusion of standing next to each other in game during a cutscene like at 1:20 and 1:31
The Garlemald Duty where you get to play as a Garlean soldier was so surprising yet awesome at the same time - it just goes to show the differences in power between the WoL compared to everyone else. There's also the fact that Zenos basically hijacked your bofy just so he can try goading you into fighting him by hurting the scions. Honestly, things would've ended a lot worse. This moment can definitely determine whether you like Zenos or not - the dude has absolutely no qualms in using your body to do whatever he wants which is to some people, is definitely a huge violation of their own autonomy and privacy. Gameplay wise, having to avoid as much combat as possible to find the quest items hidden in the map was definitely a nice change of pace. It's a shame the reception to this duty was a bit of a mix - it was definitely harder during launch so they have to nerf it. I hope the devs won't be discouraged from the negative feedback from this duty that might cause them to avoid doing something like this again.
The mods the devs did was for people redoing it on easier modes. As someone that got lost and failed a couple of times, it would’ve been helpful for me
Not gonna lie, I hated this duty. Like with the Thancred one I was cursing up a storm on how I would play Assassins Creed or something similiar if I wanted that gameplay. I would like if they gave the option at the beginning to have it at lower difficulty. I know I will screw up and have to restart again. Let me do this on easy mode from the beginning please, I don't need the ego boost of geting it on normal difficulty, I know I suck :P From a story point of view it was a good device and shows how monstrous the WoL probably seems to Garleans. I mean, even if we are half dead, if we hide somewhere we have auto-healing going on which gets us up to full health in no time, even without healing magic. Not having that really hurt. Also teaming up with the other garlean soldiers, just to lose them all in the explosion at the end of the solo duty is a show on helplessness. We're unable to save anyone here, almost not able to save ourselves. But we try nevertheless which to me is kinda an answer to Zenos questions "where does your power come from? The soul? the flesh?" It's us, it's the soul that doesn't give up and saves our friends, even with that shitty garlean blade-throw.
They did not nerf the normal mode. Only easy and very easy. 6.01 patch notes: The following adjustments have been made to the instanced battle for the quest "In from the Cold": * These adjustments are only applicable when choosing the Easy or Very Easy difficulties after failing the duty. -The effects of the Indomitable Spirit status effect have been increased. -The initial number of uses of the duty action has been increased. -To more easily locate certain items required to progress in this duty, the amount of fuel-concealing wreckage in the area has been increased.
I played it at launch and oh f*ck! I don't know if the bubble of the soldier that gives you the key was there at launch, but I totally didn't see it and I wasted so much time looking for it! I finally found it with only a few minutes on the clock, thinking that this was the end, except it wasn't! Suddenly there is a kind of boss fight? I managed to finish with less than a minute on the clock... "Crawl to camp broken glass" The timer was ticking down... 30, 29, 28... I was sweating! How long were they going to make me crawl? Not the whole f*cking way I hope! Thankfully, the game had pity on me. I succeeded on my first attempt with less than 20 seconds on the clock. Honestly it was by far my favorite solo trial. None of them ever made me close to panic quite as much!
As someone who got screwed out of victory the first time by my button mashing causing a menu to open (and thus no longer contributing toward the QTE and causing it to fail), I definitely would have appreciated a difficulty nerf on easier modes for when I had to redo it (with the rest of the group I played through Endwalker with who had finished the duty all waiting for me to finish). The difficulty did make that first attempt interesting, though.
Someone pulled out the early 2000s AMV skills for that opening montage. I approve and cannot wait for the followup montages you're gonna have to do from here on out, hah!
I don't think remember or see him swapping, just showing up in Garlean armor, He's never unmasked at that point. You can't say he's in a garlean body only garlean armor.
@@grass23 it is the after credit cutscene of Stormblood 4.55. A Garlean Soldier attacks him in the Elezen body and Zenos attacks him. He then talks about reclaiming his body as he slowly walks to the dead Garlean soldier. It is then that he transfer to that body. It is very clear that it was a body swap due to size difference.
I mean technically we didn't kill zodiark - we beat his ass, sure, but then the watcher came up to us ready to seal him again before Fandaniel just killed himself (and zodiark) by stabbing himself in the chest
Was going to say the same thing. There was a plan to reseal Zodiark and maintain the status quo. Even Hydalean did not see Fandaniel willing to kill himself as Zodiark.
@TheFrantic5 GG killed Zodiark and Anima in the same stream session so anything involving fighting Zodiark and the quest directly after that explains the some of the End of Days stuff (aether currents, the moon is a spaceship) they know about already
(comment re-upload) I've been playing video games for almost 30 years now, and I can safely say that the solo duty of In from the Cold was one of the most panic-inducing "OH SHIT OH SHIT OH GOD" moments I've ever had in a video game. The entire hype up to Endwalker release was that shit will go down, the stakes were high, some friends might even die. So when Zenos LITERALLY took my character, left me in a completely helpless state, Fandango slapped on a timer and said "oh no I wonder if someone will die xD, have fun!" I was SWEATING. The tension in this solo duty was a masterwork. Oh and it also didn't help that the quick-time event caught me so off guard that I knocked over my entire cup of tea on my desk, so I spent the next 10 seconds screaming while trying to spam any button I could reach. 10/10. edit: btw if you want to know a bit more on the robot bosses of Babil, there is a certain scientist with a sidequest in the subway..
IDK if Garrett or Kyle will see this, but the Frankenstein's monster and the robot in Babil are also references to FFIV. Barnabas (the monster) was created by Dr. Lugae. He turns on the Doc, before fighting the party. The Doc later shows up injured and reveals that he transplanted his brain after Barnabas injured him. Also, going to the moon is a big part of FFIV as well
36:56 _BLESS_ Kyle for saying this. There’s so many moments in XIV (including plenty to come in Endwalker 😉) that are so tense and serious and climactic, and on screen it’s the silliest thing you’ve ever seen. And it’s done with such confidence that I can’t help but love it.
Reupload is back \o/ I vividly remember Garrett at the tail end of their 5.0 marathon stream going "There's more after all this?? And people arent mad??" No, we are not mad that we are getting this content :D Welcome to Endwalker, my favourite bromance!
Watching your video i just realized that what we are eating on the dinner with Zenos is the same thing we ate at our dinner with Aymeric.... ITS THE SAME FOOD MODEL, I never realized before lol. Now I have a new headcannon that Zenos found out about our date with Aymeric, got jealous and made Fandaniel cook the same meal to try and one up it (ending up inside of us............ ) OK ILL STOP
OMG, really????? Well, I’ll join in on the theory too, I wouldn’t put it past Zenos to make it a competition about who offers us the best dinner date lol
I loved the Endwalker story when I played it. Loved it again watching Preach play it. And now I get to love it a third time through your guys' eyes. Thanks so much for taking us on the journey!
The solo duty put into perspective how terrifying the WoL and Scions are compared to the average person. How when we show up at their homeland it must be like monsters walking through their front door. It helped put into perspective the beginning of Garlemald for me which felt frustrating. I felt constantly falsely accused mixed with pity but after this I got it. Since day 1 NPCs always talk about how the WoL accomplish unimaginable feats. Here I struggle to even bring down a bear much less kill 10 for an easy sidequest.
Pretty much all enemies outside of boss fights have maybe 1 or 2 named skills and otherwise just do autoattacks. Warrior of Light as a fugitive was already done at the beginning of Heavensward and it worked back then, because WoL had not quite established themselves as a hero above all heroes, and was still just an especially effective adventurer. Even then, it was pretty much limited to Ul'dah and Mor Dhona having guards who were too afraid to even try to arrest the WoL
I play a Lala and the Zenos smile is way scarier than it is on any other race, the bend down is hilarious and the body check is an awesome moment of the game treating Lala's like they would any other race and that's why I love playing one. I know most people can't take being a Lala seriously but I can. They're just small people! I think that's awesome!
I loved the visible struggle wol is having right after the body check. Like they're in immense pain and complete disorientation but sheer, desperate force of will is driving them forward. I really felt the purity of wol's determination in that moment.
The whole dinner scene with Zenos is such a weird mix of casual and horrifying and i think it works perfectly, especially when you think that from the WoL's perspective, this is the first time they've been face to face with Zenos since he 'died' in Stormblood. I think it makes everything Zeno's does so much more impactful, he even says himself that he's "no doubt fallen in your estimations since Ala Mhigo" and i think it really hammers home just how far he's willing to go in order to try and grab WoL's attention.
comment reupload for the video reupload :D editing gets better and better with each single video... can't image where we will be in a year of even more awesome content on all sorts of games!
Now you all know why we loved the “Zenos eats the moon” guess. It’s hilariously wrong and yet so very, very close to what actually is planned that it is somehow still partially right. It’s just perfect, and I will be ceaselessly amused by you coming up jokingly with that guess and it actually being half right.
Got a theory for why the Babel beam didn't break the last seal. Amon said he had enough aether to break all the seals. I think he had the bare minimum to break all the seals, but throwing up a shield to stop Estinien's attack brought him below that minimum
After we took down the Tower of Zot Amon shrugged it off, claiming they'd just have to have Anima dream more deeply, which I assume to mean draw more aether from the other towers, which apparently taxes it in some way? Apparently that still left them with not enough to break the moon seal, with the added side effect of possibly weakening Anima a bit for us.@@noppornwongrassamee8941
20:40 not sure if anyone else commented on this yet. But they already did do that misunderstanding trope of the WoL on the run all the way back in ARR post-patches. It’s how we ended up in Ishgard for the start of HW. 😂
My favorite meme to come out during the early days of Endwalker, was a short video of a woman wobbily attempting to walk in the most ridiculous of high heels ever, staggering, struggling to stay upright, and falling over a trash can. The caption said something about, "Zenos on his way to camp with your body's glam with the 2B boots." It was so, so funny.
23:30 - I just drew a connection to our time on the first with that. Krile and Matoya are chatting about how they can trace the Scion's souls because of the link to their bodies. And they start to become ill because they are not in their bodies. It is a bit of a stretch, and takes a few assumptions on my part, but I just assumed that being in another body, while your own is around is a more aggressive form of this, and also your soul will gravitate back to your body if it is forcibly removed. The only exception to this is through death (with Zenos being an exception to that but he wasn't so much as drawn to his body as he actively sought it out.) where the soul is released - that is why Ascians do not have this issue (nor did the Warriors of Darkness) - their soul has "naturally" departed its flesh. 28:10 I took that as the latter personally. Those words were very relevant to what just happened. We had to fight to protect them - even from ourselves.
I think your idea that Zenos put us in the body he was riding actually has merit. Yes he started in an Elezen body, but at the end of Stormblood, while in that body, he was in the Ghimlyt Dark when a Garlean Soldier shows up and rushes him thinking he's an eorzean, whom Zenos then kills. And when Zenos next shows up in the capital, he's wearing the same armour as that soldier. Now he coulda just taken that armour and put it on his elezen body but I was always inclined to think he body-hopped into the garlean to take them back home. In that case that body was on hand and could've been the one he put you in, especially since the observation from Maxima (I think) after the duty is that the body immediately went cold when you left it, implying it had been dead a long time.
Reminder, Zenos in fact was in a normal Garlean soldier when he confronted Elidibus, he wasn't in the Elezen body anymore. Not that I think it is the same body the WoL is mindjacking, but just a note.
They never unmask him so you can't just say he's in a different body just because he has armor on. He could of just as easily put Garlean armor on his Elezen body.
It's obvious that he switched to the Garlean's body. Why do you think his eyes switch as he speaks about going to reclaim what is his, slowly walking towards the body. Why would he stay in the Elezen body when he would not be able to infiltrate Garlemald to reach his own body with it?
My realization in Garlemald talking to the ordinary soldiers is that to them we are what Zenos was to the Ala Mhigan and Doman resistance. An unstoppable monster slaughtering everything in its past.
Putting the WoL in a random Garlean soldier is so smart on so many levels. One I just realized is readability - they had to find armor that you can't wear in game to ensure the same level of shock for everyone. There was no chance that someone would mistake the soldier model for your own character
I came here for the content and staying for the Sailor Moon references ❤ I think, so far, this is my favorite video intro. Such a thoughtful analysis too, you’re flexing too much today 😂 Hope you keep enjoying the story!
The top half of Anima may not look like Varis, but the FF14 version's bottom half looks way more like Varis than the FFX version (which was mostly just a skull face). Especially if you look very closely at what looks like the extra face where a nose is supposed to be.
Quintus's death was a rare acknowledgment of the responsibilities of defeated wartime leadership. It gave those under his command the chance to make their own decisions on the matter. Irrespective of the X's decision, if he hadn't finished the job, his soldiers and the remaining civilians would have been compelled on some levels to continue on their own. Part conditioning, part loyalty, part pride, and part spite. Quintus understood that, and made the correct leadership decision- to ensure all knew there was more than one way forward, and not to follow blindly.
16:24 I believe Zenos DOES put us in the body he used, remember that he only occupied the Elezen body until the Gimlyt Dark. After the battle, he defeats a Garlean officer and hops to their body instead. That body, is the one he uses to reach Garlemald and the throne room. And he abandoned the body to take his own back. The armor on the body we are in, and that officer is the same. Granted it's just regular Garlean armor.
From a tactical sense I don't think the double cross was selfish. Sure he could use the ceruleum to power the heaters for a time, but they'd eventually run out and be back to square one. I think his real motive was that if they were able to successfully raid supplies from you they'd be way more set up to recover than just prolonging what they had then.
So many theories! Love seeing you guys cook. Re: Killing zodiark - if you didn't kill him Fandaniel would just use him to destroy the world himself, so you were kinda in a lose-lose situation there.
One thing my friend pointed out to me about In From The Cold that I really really like: It's one more instance of the game characterizing the WoL beyond whatever we establish as personal headcanon. They were underpowered, in a different body, their friends in mortal danger, but the WoL still bothered to stop and help the wounded garlean soldier who had the key, and tried to help the civilians fight off the Tempered. More than their Blessing or their great talent for violence, _that_ is what makes WoL a hero. Their selflessness, and their unbreakable will. To quote dialogue from the best job, "It's what we do." I've always read that flashback to Vrtra as showing us where the WoL's mind was at the time - deeply, deeply worried about the scions almost getting killed by Zenos. So much so that one of your dialogue options upon waking is asking if everyone is okay, even though _you're_ the one who's actually hurt.
Garlemald felt very much like some Warhammer 40K grim dark and the waning decade of the USSR. Before the wall fell, before Chernobyl, at the height of it's glory despite hiding all the levels of corruption and decay from the top down. Anyone could end it all for you socially, politically, and physically with a accusation or a whisper. No one broke kayfabe - you stayed in character no matter what. As a kid of the 80s this just felt so familiar. Especially with the music, doubly so with Quintus. My husband and I stopped playing for like 3 days after with all the feelings this section gave us. Then we were off to the moon and what happened after the trial just felt... surreal. I didn't want it and it has taken like 3 patches for me to like the [REDACTED]. I was so glad to be there when you both went through it together (physically even!).
The editing in that intro montage was amazing. That ending bit with garret's face over zenos killed me lol. Looking forward to watching your journey continue! and also that fall guys stream lol.
A cool detail - that ala mhigan soup has actual multicultural lore and its a hero of culinarian quests in I believe stormblood. Other cool detail - there is a soup giving Ishgardian, who refers back to Ishgard sidequest where you deliver soup to help people reconnect
I loved Garlemald, it was weird and uncomfortable but beautiful. 14 goes so far to make you feel like the hero as the WoL so I thought it was cool to see the other side of that. There is a line one of the soldiers says about the horror of witnessing us (the WoL) cutting down their fellows at the Praetorium. It makes you realize just what a terrifying figure you are to your enemies. So when Zenos took my body and went after my friends I was legit scared I was about to watch one of the scions fall to my own hand. I thought the ideas they were playing with in this segment were fascinating. So many great themes in this bit of the story and it brought back those Stormblood vibes for me.
You didn't actually kill Zodiark though, the Watcher did say he was about to bind them again, but Fandaniel then pierced his own heart to make sure Zodiark died.
I like the edit cutting with the music at the beginning. That ambient Moon music has always reminded me of an older chill ATB track like Sunset Girl with that echoing piano.
Hey fun fact about the power of friendship in FFXIV. It's *real*. Think on it. Azem in the ancient times would go around solving problems in the world with others. When you get into a group with others, your stats (and the party members) all go up, depending on how many/what Job(s) join. I posit that part of Azem's magic is amplification of themselves and those allies around them. Ergo, power of friendship.
oh god I need to finish endwalker before y'all catch up. I literally started Shadowbringers when you started ARR and am basically at the end of 2 videos from now!!
It's so crazy to me how many people online didn't like or understand the point of being in Garlemald. People who didn't understand why you help those kids who clearly didn't want your help, who didn't want you there, and why you're not just slaughtering Garlean soldiers as this long-term enemy that the game has presented to you. Who didn't understand that the point is not just to humanize your enemies, but to show that when you live in the imperial core, you are not immune to propaganda, and might act against your own self interests due to what you have been taught and told your entire life by your leaders and your society. Garlemald is a tragedy, not only because of what Zenos did to it, but because Emet-Selch shaped his country in such a way that it was able to fall so easily. And it would have fallen at some point. Maybe not in such a chaotic and terrifying way, but it would not have been left unscathed to finish the rejoinings.
I think a calamitous collapse of Garlemald was always part of The Design. (*insert soundbite here*) Just look at what happened to Allag, another one of Emet's designs, and the empire upon bones of which Garlemald was built. Such grandeur designed only to fail so as to better facilitate a Rejoining.
Like emmet said it was made for instilling chaos into the world but the emperor wanted a truly peaceful existence although through conquest where eventually all fighting would stop which went against the ascian plans for rejoinings so when things started to get peaceful emmet offed himself so chaos would ensue and the scars from that civil war were still fresh so all it took was a small fire to start them up again after all that what else would you go do in garlemald? They had no army to fight every faction was busy killing each other you were only there to offer aid against the only thing they could never hope to challenge, a primal. I like the idea that we would go bang on the gates and demand their surrender but what then? You couldn't take all of them prisoner just look at WWII we could only sanction the germans and make them see their crimes but we couldnt jail all of them so instead we went to garlemald to stop ascian and primals and hope the people don't become enthralled by zodiark or start a mass genocide for fandaniel
Of course it was. In the alternate timeline Black Rose ravages Garlemald, or at least its colonies. Thing is from the Ascians's standpoint Garlemald was better than Allag. They only got one Calamity out of Allag, they got 2 from Garlemald. @@Deuzen_FIN
Kyle cooked so Zenos could eat.
Zenos just needs a Snickers
@@ArakDBlade You're not you when you're hungry; you're Shinryu.
@@ahorseofcourse7283 This is far more punny than it has any right to be...
When it comes to custom facial animations for cutscenes, my take is always: Thank Hildibrand for the practice the animators got.
Garrett: "Why didn't anyone tell us not to kill Zodiark??" Don't let Emet-Selch hear you say that, poor guy spent all last expansion trying to tell you.
It wasn't flushed out very well, but we DIDN'T kill Zodiark. We weakened him enough and stalled long enough that the Watcher praises our actions and tells us to transport out of there so he can reinstall the bindings (as he has gathered his strength, the sacrificed souls no longer hinder him) . No one anticipated Fandaniel plucking the heart out (which I gather he was in a position to do even if we did nothing since Zenos was there as well). Or, if there are any future legal inquiries....that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :D
@@Anomander23 Agreed, and the whole thing is in self defense anyway, it's not like we were plotting to kill him. It was a twisted Zodiark.
Garrett's take on story pacing is spot-on. This was masterpiece story-telling and those who didn't have the patience for it break my heart. Maybe it's an age, experience thing - but the Garlemald setting is really powerful if you allow yourself to understand it's depth. It's SO GOOD.
Coff, coff. Fusionx and his annoying comments on how much he wants to say that Endwalker was horrible...
The themes and stuff of Garlemald is a little too real. Especially this day and age to people who’ve been through war and suffered at the hand of morally bankrupt leaders.
Agreed. You can't have a big payoff without time to set it up. It's why Stormblood will always have a special place for me, there was so much important setup for everything that happens after. The instant gratification crowd are missing out.
It's the instant gratification crowd trained by decades of WOW-like media.
We cannot do anything, just give them a chance to try.
Either way, ENDWALKER is an absolute Masterpiece.
ARR > EW > SB > HW > SHB > OG
I wonder where DT will end up for me. :)
I so agree. I dont think you can have high high emotional moments that hit you really hard without having some breaks and slowness between
"All lalafells are evil. "
The lala council will remember this.
Where is the lie tho? Or are we not supposed to let everyone else in on it? Honestly I slept through the meeting notes.
@@nyminenemine it's not about the lie. It's about the exposure.
yes, of course they willl remember, they are evil,. you're just confirming it lol
@@rajabutaDon't worry about it. We have an inside man. Jesse knows where to find them.
@@NeoZhinzo I got 3 Hrothgar in a trenchcoat... no one suspects that they aren't a lalafel.
I am a disabled vet and did 2 tours overseas, the Quintus death really hit me hard. The buildup of the dismissal and monologue I knew what was coming, but I had to step away after it. This game has effected me so many pointed ways through the years. The survivors guilt of Lyna in shadowbringers was another one of those moments.
Another thing about Quintus is that, given his age, he was probably born around the time Solus took over the Empire. And after hundreds of years of oppression by magic users, Garlemald started winning. Conquering all of Ilsabard and moving on to Othard and northern Aldenard. All of Quintus's life has been victories for Garlemald. He probably heard every speech, every bit of propaganda said by Solus zos Galvus. And remember, Solus was Emet-Selch. Could you imagine spending 50 years listening to Emet-Selch talk up the Empire. Of course you would be a true believer of Garlemald.
I don't think the idea is so much that the Garlean Soldiers suck, more so that you as the Warrior of Light are so unimaginably powerful that to the average person, you may as well be a deity.
You've basically beat up several dozen entities considered gods at this point. And armies, and small countries... also garleans can't use magic so their natural healing processes might differ slightly, (also its a dead body it probably can't regenerate properly in the first place?)
It's both. What Garlean's lack (access to magic) is taken for granted by the rest of Eorzea. Not everyone in Eorzea has personal, direct access to magic perse (either offensive or defensive/curative) but can find access to it easily, and even for those who don't, abilities derived from manifestation of even subconscious aetheric control is common. Garleans get none of this. No magic to level the playing field in battle, no defense to not get crushed in one hit by some savage beast in the wilds, no healers to get you back on your feet or reserves of strength to get your second wind after getting knocked down. It's why the name of the duty is avoid conflict, no regenerating health, scavenge your first aid kits and repair some tech to get the upper hand.
@@rabid_si Is it ever explained why the garleans can't manipulate aether?
@@gamingfae3909 It's never explained no, but we can infer through Thancred's near-identical problems that they have a more natural version of magical inability. (That also implies they'd be able to get up to his skill level without magitek boosting them, but that takes uncommon skill intelligence, and dedication.)
@@gamingfae3909
It’s speculated that Emet Selch manipulated the proto-Garleans to selectively breed out their ability to use Aether.
I just had a funny thought how Garret and Kyle, could pull off some KILLER Fandaniel and Zenos cosplays.
100% facts
I mean... even the hair colors are sorta accurate xD
^this
The thumbnail's too good, we need Kyle as butler Fandaniel!
Except that Garrett would be Fandaniel since he’s the shorter of the two.
GG guys so dedicated that they make us experience Echo flashback on youtube.
The Fandaniel butler facade was excellent, and Garrett's point that he allowed Zenos to get that far had me nodding. A good observation. There is a previous scene that introduces that dynamic when Fandaniel asks Zenos if he didn't have other interests. Zenos goes on a sullen rant about tedium and boredom... The camera pulls to Fandaniel's face and he takes a few moments absorbing it before making a face that implies an eye roll of (he really is nuts). I burst out laughing, but it also had the result of more enjoyment of the Fandaniel character. To me, he's very entertaining (more so after that). Then: Alisae: "This madness ends here!!!" Fandaniel: "Oh hush, this is the best part." Annoying and hilarious at the same time...just like he's supposed to be.
THIS right here is the reason I follow you two. Intelligent, retrospective and the editing!!!! Thank you for recapturing the many reasons why FFXIV is so sacred to many of us. My husband now follows you as well. Thank you....
I follow them for Kyle out of nowhere comparing Endwalker to Sailor Moon and it makes complete sense.
Remember you didn't kill Zodiark. You weakened him. Fandaniel finished the job.
THIS
That makes sense. Maybe Hyd was thinking of sealing Zodiark again but Fandaniel executed himself.
@@zacharyzwigart4455 the watcher straight up tells you after the fight that he can reseal Zodiark now that you have him subdued, at which point Fandaniel unalives himself to stop it.
PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY!
I can't say what I want to yet, but watching this just reminds me of how much I love Endwalker
Spending the effort to edit both Val and Tuna together in the intro was great. Not just the spliced stuff, but the illusion of standing next to each other in game during a cutscene like at 1:20 and 1:31
I love when they do that!
The Garlemald Duty where you get to play as a Garlean soldier was so surprising yet awesome at the same time - it just goes to show the differences in power between the WoL compared to everyone else.
There's also the fact that Zenos basically hijacked your bofy just so he can try goading you into fighting him by hurting the scions. Honestly, things would've ended a lot worse. This moment can definitely determine whether you like Zenos or not - the dude has absolutely no qualms in using your body to do whatever he wants which is to some people, is definitely a huge violation of their own autonomy and privacy.
Gameplay wise, having to avoid as much combat as possible to find the quest items hidden in the map was definitely a nice change of pace. It's a shame the reception to this duty was a bit of a mix - it was definitely harder during launch so they have to nerf it. I hope the devs won't be discouraged from the negative feedback from this duty that might cause them to avoid doing something like this again.
The mods the devs did was for people redoing it on easier modes. As someone that got lost and failed a couple of times, it would’ve been helpful for me
Not gonna lie, I hated this duty. Like with the Thancred one I was cursing up a storm on how I would play Assassins Creed or something similiar if I wanted that gameplay. I would like if they gave the option at the beginning to have it at lower difficulty. I know I will screw up and have to restart again. Let me do this on easy mode from the beginning please, I don't need the ego boost of geting it on normal difficulty, I know I suck :P
From a story point of view it was a good device and shows how monstrous the WoL probably seems to Garleans. I mean, even if we are half dead, if we hide somewhere we have auto-healing going on which gets us up to full health in no time, even without healing magic. Not having that really hurt. Also teaming up with the other garlean soldiers, just to lose them all in the explosion at the end of the solo duty is a show on helplessness. We're unable to save anyone here, almost not able to save ourselves. But we try nevertheless which to me is kinda an answer to Zenos questions "where does your power come from? The soul? the flesh?" It's us, it's the soul that doesn't give up and saves our friends, even with that shitty garlean blade-throw.
They did not nerf the normal mode. Only easy and very easy.
6.01 patch notes:
The following adjustments have been made to the instanced battle for the quest "In from the Cold":
* These adjustments are only applicable when choosing the Easy or Very Easy difficulties after failing the duty.
-The effects of the Indomitable Spirit status effect have been increased.
-The initial number of uses of the duty action has been increased.
-To more easily locate certain items required to progress in this duty, the amount of fuel-concealing wreckage in the area has been increased.
I played it at launch and oh f*ck! I don't know if the bubble of the soldier that gives you the key was there at launch, but I totally didn't see it and I wasted so much time looking for it! I finally found it with only a few minutes on the clock, thinking that this was the end, except it wasn't! Suddenly there is a kind of boss fight? I managed to finish with less than a minute on the clock... "Crawl to camp broken glass" The timer was ticking down... 30, 29, 28... I was sweating! How long were they going to make me crawl? Not the whole f*cking way I hope! Thankfully, the game had pity on me. I succeeded on my first attempt with less than 20 seconds on the clock. Honestly it was by far my favorite solo trial. None of them ever made me close to panic quite as much!
As someone who got screwed out of victory the first time by my button mashing causing a menu to open (and thus no longer contributing toward the QTE and causing it to fail), I definitely would have appreciated a difficulty nerf on easier modes for when I had to redo it (with the rest of the group I played through Endwalker with who had finished the duty all waiting for me to finish). The difficulty did make that first attempt interesting, though.
Someone pulled out the early 2000s AMV skills for that opening montage. I approve and cannot wait for the followup montages you're gonna have to do from here on out, hah!
Methinks the boys forgot Zenos swapped the Elezen body for a Garlean body on his way back to the throne room. Love the vid guys!
Yep, it is the body he used all Shadowbringers.
I don't think remember or see him swapping, just showing up in Garlean armor, He's never unmasked at that point. You can't say he's in a garlean body only garlean armor.
@@grass23 it is the after credit cutscene of Stormblood 4.55. A Garlean Soldier attacks him in the Elezen body and Zenos attacks him. He then talks about reclaiming his body as he slowly walks to the dead Garlean soldier. It is then that he transfer to that body. It is very clear that it was a body swap due to size difference.
"Zenos eats the moon" is the GG meme that just keeps on giving
5.0 end: how is this not the end of the game
5.3 end: how is this not the end of the game
Lvl 83: BRUH
I mean technically we didn't kill zodiark - we beat his ass, sure, but then the watcher came up to us ready to seal him again before Fandaniel just killed himself (and zodiark) by stabbing himself in the chest
Was going to say the same thing. There was a plan to reseal Zodiark and maintain the status quo. Even Hydalean did not see Fandaniel willing to kill himself as Zodiark.
Shh. 🙂
@@TheFrantic5 Its literally in the cutscene - they watched it, i watched them watch it live
@@remi3246 ~~timestamp?~~
Edit: I wouldn't consider it polite to bandy about content this video series hasn't gotten to yet.
@TheFrantic5 GG killed Zodiark and Anima in the same stream session so anything involving fighting Zodiark and the quest directly after that explains the some of the End of Days stuff (aether currents, the moon is a spaceship) they know about already
(comment re-upload)
I've been playing video games for almost 30 years now, and I can safely say that the solo duty of In from the Cold was one of the most panic-inducing "OH SHIT OH SHIT OH GOD" moments I've ever had in a video game.
The entire hype up to Endwalker release was that shit will go down, the stakes were high, some friends might even die. So when Zenos LITERALLY took my character, left me in a completely helpless state, Fandango slapped on a timer and said "oh no I wonder if someone will die xD, have fun!" I was SWEATING. The tension in this solo duty was a masterwork.
Oh and it also didn't help that the quick-time event caught me so off guard that I knocked over my entire cup of tea on my desk, so I spent the next 10 seconds screaming while trying to spam any button I could reach. 10/10.
edit: btw if you want to know a bit more on the robot bosses of Babil, there is a certain scientist with a sidequest in the subway..
IDK if Garrett or Kyle will see this, but the Frankenstein's monster and the robot in Babil are also references to FFIV. Barnabas (the monster) was created by Dr. Lugae. He turns on the Doc, before fighting the party. The Doc later shows up injured and reveals that he transplanted his brain after Barnabas injured him. Also, going to the moon is a big part of FFIV as well
36:56 _BLESS_ Kyle for saying this. There’s so many moments in XIV (including plenty to come in Endwalker 😉) that are so tense and serious and climactic, and on screen it’s the silliest thing you’ve ever seen. And it’s done with such confidence that I can’t help but love it.
I love it when a series can take something that when described sounds absolutely ridiculous, but then play it completely serious
also, my theory since forever was that ishikawa meant for fandaniel to wear a maid dress in the dinner scene and i stand by it
When you guys made your first FFXIV video these were the reactions we were all knowingly signing up to see 😂
so glad yall did this in person together :D
Reupload is back \o/
I vividly remember Garrett at the tail end of their 5.0 marathon stream going "There's more after all this?? And people arent mad??"
No, we are not mad that we are getting this content :D Welcome to Endwalker, my favourite bromance!
“But is he NOT though?!”
I love that
Watching your video i just realized that what we are eating on the dinner with Zenos is the same thing we ate at our dinner with Aymeric.... ITS THE SAME FOOD MODEL, I never realized before lol. Now I have a new headcannon that Zenos found out about our date with Aymeric, got jealous and made Fandaniel cook the same meal to try and one up it (ending up inside of us............ ) OK ILL STOP
OMG, really????? Well, I’ll join in on the theory too, I wouldn’t put it past Zenos to make it a competition about who offers us the best dinner date lol
I mean he does seem like the jealous type
Most people wouldn't say that because its more of a murderous rage and didn't live to tell anyone
34:35
Kyle: "The Garleans love making motorcycles out of people"
LMAO
Strange, I feel like I have been here before...
Deja vu, we have been in this place before
We never left
No one's ever really gone
I loved the Endwalker story when I played it. Loved it again watching Preach play it. And now I get to love it a third time through your guys' eyes. Thanks so much for taking us on the journey!
All of Kyle's faces during this 😂 Just beautiful.
Thanks for making these. Getting to vicariously re-experience the first time through this story again is a treat.
The editing is top notch in this video. I the cuts around the beginning of the dinner scene were great.
The solo duty put into perspective how terrifying the WoL and Scions are compared to the average person. How when we show up at their homeland it must be like monsters walking through their front door. It helped put into perspective the beginning of Garlemald for me which felt frustrating. I felt constantly falsely accused mixed with pity but after this I got it. Since day 1 NPCs always talk about how the WoL accomplish unimaginable feats. Here I struggle to even bring down a bear much less kill 10 for an easy sidequest.
Pretty much all enemies outside of boss fights have maybe 1 or 2 named skills and otherwise just do autoattacks.
Warrior of Light as a fugitive was already done at the beginning of Heavensward and it worked back then, because WoL had not quite established themselves as a hero above all heroes, and was still just an especially effective adventurer. Even then, it was pretty much limited to Ul'dah and Mor Dhona having guards who were too afraid to even try to arrest the WoL
I play a Lala and the Zenos smile is way scarier than it is on any other race, the bend down is hilarious and the body check is an awesome moment of the game treating Lala's like they would any other race and that's why I love playing one. I know most people can't take being a Lala seriously but I can. They're just small people! I think that's awesome!
I believe mind jack in 14 first appeared in T8 Coils in ARR. So the term has been around for a while.
Still weird.
I loved the visible struggle wol is having right after the body check. Like they're in immense pain and complete disorientation but sheer, desperate force of will is driving them forward. I really felt the purity of wol's determination in that moment.
We've only just begun! Looking forward to next week.
I love the Sailor Moon reference. 🥰
The whole dinner scene with Zenos is such a weird mix of casual and horrifying and i think it works perfectly, especially when you think that from the WoL's perspective, this is the first time they've been face to face with Zenos since he 'died' in Stormblood. I think it makes everything Zeno's does so much more impactful, he even says himself that he's "no doubt fallen in your estimations since Ala Mhigo" and i think it really hammers home just how far he's willing to go in order to try and grab WoL's attention.
Great Editing as always guys!
Looking forward to Part 2!
comment reupload for the video reupload :D
editing gets better and better with each single video... can't image where we will be in a year of even more awesome content on all sorts of games!
Now you all know why we loved the “Zenos eats the moon” guess. It’s hilariously wrong and yet so very, very close to what actually is planned that it is somehow still partially right. It’s just perfect, and I will be ceaselessly amused by you coming up jokingly with that guess and it actually being half right.
Got a theory for why the Babel beam didn't break the last seal. Amon said he had enough aether to break all the seals. I think he had the bare minimum to break all the seals, but throwing up a shield to stop Estinien's attack brought him below that minimum
Or losing the Tower of Zot wasn't as inconsequentional as he tried to pass it off as being.
@@cparle87 I kinda assume Amon knows what he's talking about when he says he has enough aether to break Zodiark's prison.
After we took down the Tower of Zot Amon shrugged it off, claiming they'd just have to have Anima dream more deeply, which I assume to mean draw more aether from the other towers, which apparently taxes it in some way? Apparently that still left them with not enough to break the moon seal, with the added side effect of possibly weakening Anima a bit for us.@@noppornwongrassamee8941
20:40 not sure if anyone else commented on this yet. But they already did do that misunderstanding trope of the WoL on the run all the way back in ARR post-patches. It’s how we ended up in Ishgard for the start of HW. 😂
My favorite meme to come out during the early days of Endwalker, was a short video of a woman wobbily attempting to walk in the most ridiculous of high heels ever, staggering, struggling to stay upright, and falling over a trash can. The caption said something about, "Zenos on his way to camp with your body's glam with the 2B boots." It was so, so funny.
I've been waiting for you guys to get to this part since I started watching
Karth after credits scene!!
23:30 - I just drew a connection to our time on the first with that. Krile and Matoya are chatting about how they can trace the Scion's souls because of the link to their bodies. And they start to become ill because they are not in their bodies. It is a bit of a stretch, and takes a few assumptions on my part, but I just assumed that being in another body, while your own is around is a more aggressive form of this, and also your soul will gravitate back to your body if it is forcibly removed. The only exception to this is through death (with Zenos being an exception to that but he wasn't so much as drawn to his body as he actively sought it out.) where the soul is released - that is why Ascians do not have this issue (nor did the Warriors of Darkness) - their soul has "naturally" departed its flesh.
28:10 I took that as the latter personally. Those words were very relevant to what just happened. We had to fight to protect them - even from ourselves.
the video editor did love this story beat, exquisite recap montage 👏
I think your idea that Zenos put us in the body he was riding actually has merit. Yes he started in an Elezen body, but at the end of Stormblood, while in that body, he was in the Ghimlyt Dark when a Garlean Soldier shows up and rushes him thinking he's an eorzean, whom Zenos then kills.
And when Zenos next shows up in the capital, he's wearing the same armour as that soldier. Now he coulda just taken that armour and put it on his elezen body but I was always inclined to think he body-hopped into the garlean to take them back home. In that case that body was on hand and could've been the one he put you in, especially since the observation from Maxima (I think) after the duty is that the body immediately went cold when you left it, implying it had been dead a long time.
And once again you've outdone yourself with the intro. Fantastic work.
That thumbnail is just glorious. And now that we are really knee deep in Endwalker, it’s time to get actually really serious and intense.
Reminder, Zenos in fact was in a normal Garlean soldier when he confronted Elidibus, he wasn't in the Elezen body anymore. Not that I think it is the same body the WoL is mindjacking, but just a note.
They never unmask him so you can't just say he's in a different body just because he has armor on. He could of just as easily put Garlean armor on his Elezen body.
@@grass23No, because that would make the following duty pointless as the whole point is you seeing a Garlean perspective and you can't use aether
It's obvious that he switched to the Garlean's body. Why do you think his eyes switch as he speaks about going to reclaim what is his, slowly walking towards the body. Why would he stay in the Elezen body when he would not be able to infiltrate Garlemald to reach his own body with it?
It is SO fun to watch you two cook, thank you for the effort you put into these videos!
I wish there were extremes for certain dungeon bosses, as a FFX fan I would love a Anima EX
It was supposed to be the 6.3 trial, but SE rushed the expac to make way for FF16 release.
Kyle's kitchen is absolutely open for business and serving up hot, fresh bangers.
The intro was so sick! What a great feast and a great video.
Loved the split shoulder checking scene. Great editing.
Very nice edit on the opening sequence
My realization in Garlemald talking to the ordinary soldiers is that to them we are what Zenos was to the Ala Mhigan and Doman resistance. An unstoppable monster slaughtering everything in its past.
Putting the WoL in a random Garlean soldier is so smart on so many levels. One I just realized is readability - they had to find armor that you can't wear in game to ensure the same level of shock for everyone. There was no chance that someone would mistake the soldier model for your own character
I came here for the content and staying for the Sailor Moon references ❤
I think, so far, this is my favorite video intro. Such a thoughtful analysis too, you’re flexing too much today 😂
Hope you keep enjoying the story!
These intro montage's give me chills every time, well done. Though I think La Hee is still my favorite video intro.
The top half of Anima may not look like Varis, but the FF14 version's bottom half looks way more like Varis than the FFX version (which was mostly just a skull face). Especially if you look very closely at what looks like the extra face where a nose is supposed to be.
Okay that's awesome edit work with you two side by side and the double soldier
Quintus's death was a rare acknowledgment of the responsibilities of defeated wartime leadership. It gave those under his command the chance to make their own decisions on the matter. Irrespective of the X's decision, if he hadn't finished the job, his soldiers and the remaining civilians would have been compelled on some levels to continue on their own. Part conditioning, part loyalty, part pride, and part spite.
Quintus understood that, and made the correct leadership decision- to ensure all knew there was more than one way forward, and not to follow blindly.
16:24
I believe Zenos DOES put us in the body he used, remember that he only occupied the Elezen body until the Gimlyt Dark. After the battle, he defeats a Garlean officer and hops to their body instead.
That body, is the one he uses to reach Garlemald and the throne room. And he abandoned the body to take his own back. The armor on the body we are in, and that officer is the same. Granted it's just regular Garlean armor.
Legitimately you both are my all-time favorite streamers. You have the bestest dynamic.
great editing on the intro. 14/10.
From a tactical sense I don't think the double cross was selfish. Sure he could use the ceruleum to power the heaters for a time, but they'd eventually run out and be back to square one. I think his real motive was that if they were able to successfully raid supplies from you they'd be way more set up to recover than just prolonging what they had then.
So many theories! Love seeing you guys cook. Re: Killing zodiark - if you didn't kill him Fandaniel would just use him to destroy the world himself, so you were kinda in a lose-lose situation there.
One thing my friend pointed out to me about In From The Cold that I really really like: It's one more instance of the game characterizing the WoL beyond whatever we establish as personal headcanon. They were underpowered, in a different body, their friends in mortal danger, but the WoL still bothered to stop and help the wounded garlean soldier who had the key, and tried to help the civilians fight off the Tempered. More than their Blessing or their great talent for violence, _that_ is what makes WoL a hero. Their selflessness, and their unbreakable will. To quote dialogue from the best job, "It's what we do."
I've always read that flashback to Vrtra as showing us where the WoL's mind was at the time - deeply, deeply worried about the scions almost getting killed by Zenos. So much so that one of your dialogue options upon waking is asking if everyone is okay, even though _you're_ the one who's actually hurt.
ok ok, you got a great editor, no need to flex THIS hard
I don't remember the last time a thumbnail made me burst out laughing but here we are.
Welcome to Endwalker =]
Just dropping a praise for Kyle & Garret, you guys are awesome ❤
That intro montage I think is the best edited bit of content y'all have done so far. Great job. 💜
Garlemald felt very much like some Warhammer 40K grim dark and the waning decade of the USSR. Before the wall fell, before Chernobyl, at the height of it's glory despite hiding all the levels of corruption and decay from the top down. Anyone could end it all for you socially, politically, and physically with a accusation or a whisper. No one broke kayfabe - you stayed in character no matter what. As a kid of the 80s this just felt so familiar. Especially with the music, doubly so with Quintus. My husband and I stopped playing for like 3 days after with all the feelings this section gave us. Then we were off to the moon and what happened after the trial just felt... surreal. I didn't want it and it has taken like 3 patches for me to like the [REDACTED]. I was so glad to be there when you both went through it together (physically even!).
The editing in that intro montage was amazing. That ending bit with garret's face over zenos killed me lol.
Looking forward to watching your journey continue! and also that fall guys stream lol.
A cool detail - that ala mhigan soup has actual multicultural lore and its a hero of culinarian quests in I believe stormblood. Other cool detail - there is a soup giving Ishgardian, who refers back to Ishgard sidequest where you deliver soup to help people reconnect
I loved Garlemald, it was weird and uncomfortable but beautiful. 14 goes so far to make you feel like the hero as the WoL so I thought it was cool to see the other side of that. There is a line one of the soldiers says about the horror of witnessing us (the WoL) cutting down their fellows at the Praetorium. It makes you realize just what a terrifying figure you are to your enemies. So when Zenos took my body and went after my friends I was legit scared I was about to watch one of the scions fall to my own hand. I thought the ideas they were playing with in this segment were fascinating. So many great themes in this bit of the story and it brought back those Stormblood vibes for me.
You didn't actually kill Zodiark though, the Watcher did say he was about to bind them again, but Fandaniel then pierced his own heart to make sure Zodiark died.
I like the edit cutting with the music at the beginning. That ambient Moon music has always reminded me of an older chill ATB track like Sunset Girl with that echoing piano.
When Zenos smiled using our body, my irl body shivered and my hair stood up xD
Wow at 1:30 you edited both of you on to the scene that is such a good attention to detail. Love the stuff you do
Hey fun fact about the power of friendship in FFXIV. It's *real*. Think on it. Azem in the ancient times would go around solving problems in the world with others. When you get into a group with others, your stats (and the party members) all go up, depending on how many/what Job(s) join. I posit that part of Azem's magic is amplification of themselves and those allies around them. Ergo, power of friendship.
Also you were warned plenty not to kill Zodiark. They told you in Shadowbringers that he keeps the laws of nature.
Respect to your editor for that beginning sequence.
Would be the boys for the most part themselves. Nahuel (Edits clips for the Clips channel) helps occassionally as well
Can't wait for the next part.
oh god I need to finish endwalker before y'all catch up. I literally started Shadowbringers when you started ARR and am basically at the end of 2 videos from now!!
Masterful edits guys ❤
Oooo, now I get to watch the Premier!!
You can recognize Varis as Anima's bottom half.
It's so crazy to me how many people online didn't like or understand the point of being in Garlemald. People who didn't understand why you help those kids who clearly didn't want your help, who didn't want you there, and why you're not just slaughtering Garlean soldiers as this long-term enemy that the game has presented to you. Who didn't understand that the point is not just to humanize your enemies, but to show that when you live in the imperial core, you are not immune to propaganda, and might act against your own self interests due to what you have been taught and told your entire life by your leaders and your society. Garlemald is a tragedy, not only because of what Zenos did to it, but because Emet-Selch shaped his country in such a way that it was able to fall so easily. And it would have fallen at some point. Maybe not in such a chaotic and terrifying way, but it would not have been left unscathed to finish the rejoinings.
I think a calamitous collapse of Garlemald was always part of The Design. (*insert soundbite here*)
Just look at what happened to Allag, another one of Emet's designs, and the empire upon bones of which Garlemald was built. Such grandeur designed only to fail so as to better facilitate a Rejoining.
Like emmet said it was made for instilling chaos into the world but the emperor wanted a truly peaceful existence although through conquest where eventually all fighting would stop which went against the ascian plans for rejoinings so when things started to get peaceful emmet offed himself so chaos would ensue and the scars from that civil war were still fresh so all it took was a small fire to start them up again after all that what else would you go do in garlemald? They had no army to fight every faction was busy killing each other you were only there to offer aid against the only thing they could never hope to challenge, a primal. I like the idea that we would go bang on the gates and demand their surrender but what then? You couldn't take all of them prisoner just look at WWII we could only sanction the germans and make them see their crimes but we couldnt jail all of them so instead we went to garlemald to stop ascian and primals and hope the people don't become enthralled by zodiark or start a mass genocide for fandaniel
Of course it was. In the alternate timeline Black Rose ravages Garlemald, or at least its colonies. Thing is from the Ascians's standpoint Garlemald was better than Allag. They only got one Calamity out of Allag, they got 2 from Garlemald. @@Deuzen_FIN
"WOL Is a menace" = that's the lead up into heavensward :D though most people dont believe it
That editing was great as was the video itself, but the thumbnail.. ah.. *chef's kiss*