FFXIV is infamous for its darker moments by now. The Ul'dah party, most of Ysayle's story, the entire thing with Fordola and Zenos's Resonance (especially the after effects on Fordola), Tesleen... Garlemald hits so damn hard because it feels like the most grounded of all of these. It's not some existential terror like what the Final Days turns into, it's just people being scared, desperate, confused, shell-shocked, and brainwashed by years and years of propaganda to fear the outsider. It's so down to earth in how well and truly fucked up the situation is, and I respect the hell out of the writers for having the guts to go there.
Makes you wonder why the game is not rate M yet… with all the themes and events going one… you would think this game is for adults only. Not that it would matter as kids play this game so…
@@crosssquirrel4293 M rating, by ESRB standards, is "including intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, strong language, drug use, and nudity." Themes of the story itself aren't taken into account as much.
@@orrusfellin5150 Yeah… cough cough Garlemald section including quintus… Edda backstory… the Weapons storyline… the sin eaters and their transformation… and Vauthry Pretty much they cover everything you just said.
What makes it hit so hard is it also wasn't how we expected to see the fall of Garlemald. We expected to have some dramatic clash... And instead, we saw a nation devouring itself. Which in some ways is the most fitting conclusion for that part of the story. There's no epic confrontation that gives Garlemald one last shot at glory, no great and deceive victory at Eorzean hands. Instead, a nation that was created specifically to spread death and to feed the genocidal ambitions of the Ascions just died with a pathetic whimper and those left behind now have to realize how much of a lie their existence was all this time.
For me, it is like a more lofi and pleasant version of the propaganda music you hear from Russia and North Korea and that's what makes it so haunting. Imagine this playing in the morning as an alarm for all the Garlean citizens to wake up and go to work and make their nation prosperous. Especially the part where the choir joins in and it sounds like an anthem being sung in an arena or something. No wonder Zenos wanted nothing to do with ruling Garlemald
Same. To me, it's the fact that their last line of defence against tempering is something designed to arouse the very feeling that dominates the tempered.
@@sakuradaidouji6526 And when you consider that _Land Long Dead_ playing in _The Burn_ is a differently tuned _Penitum_ from _The Praetorium_ , it just hits home how destructive the Garlean Empire has been. Land Long Dead has some curious hopeful vibe to it, though. Almost like life after death.
The Garlemald arc of Endwalker gave the player something to think about that most RPGs don't: What do you do when the people you're here to help don't want your help? Also, that line when you find the sisters will haunt me for ages. *The bodies are already cold...*
Honestly they just upset me more. I didn’t care what happened to Garlemald anymore. The scions and Eorzean Alliance tried numerous times to end the war and conduct peace, but Garlemald was too stubborn to let go of their pride and stop their conquering. They refused our help when they needed it most, so whatever happened to them was on them. When those sisters died I felt no sympathy. They had it coming. I loved the story in garlemald because it felt real, and It was very fleshed out. However, unlike most people I would’ve preferred leaving Garlemald and it’s people to fend for themselves in their broken country that their leaders brought upon them.
@@Jess-sl4um That just means that you didn't really care about helping them in the first place if they didn't say thank you and treat you like their saviors.
@@NoU-wc5ny Yeah, I think that a hard part of playing a hero is saving (or trying to save) people regardless if they want or not. Some people are simply not ready to be saved.
@@theRegularJack yep, the people who came away from this storyline with no compassion for the people of Garlemald aren't fit to call themselves scions.
@@Jess-sl4um I think it's far more complicated than Garlemald being asshats in waging war and turning down aid. There's the political bigwigs in charge making the decisions in Garlemald, the civil war between those political bigwigs, and then the people themselves caught in the crossfire. And it's not like all Garleans are the same. We saw that with Cid, Nero, and Gaius, and there were countless lesser character in the area that wanted to help and be helped. The sisters and their group was a good slap in the face welcome to the nation - it showed you this is not your normal new area full of fun and adventure where you make cute friends as you frolic with magical fairies in the flower fields. This country has seen some truly terrible shit and this is how its people turned out as a result. It doesn't make them terrible people worth abandoning for the sake of "they won't even appreciate me" in my book. That just feels conceited and pathetic. You don't help people to be appreciated - you help people because they need help and you're able to give it. And like the twins found out, pushing to help those who refuse it doesn't always end well, but at least they tried rather than doing nothing, because we all know those people wouldn't have lasted long at all left on their own.
part that really completes it for me is how when the performance is over theres canned audio of an audience clapping and giving an encore before repeating. Its like the implication is that this was a live performance over the radio and the clapping is within the studio/wherever it was played, and its just repeating on loop forever, the same exact live recording, because there's nobody alive left at the station to change the track over
One of the reasons I like Garlemald the most is how down to earth and relatable it is. While the future areas were awesome as hell, I could not feasibly grasp them as Garlemald. In fact, all the hatred for Garlemald is gone, what is left is pity and sadness.
Not to be a hater but I really do feel like Garlemald was the weakest area of the entire expansion because it really feels like it could have been so much more. I feel like this would have hit harder if the Garleans were treated as less then human at times more in the story by more people and the coalition was less pure support like it ended up being perhaps having some intentions of strong arming some garlean groups onto their side to sign treaties. Or if Eorzea or their allies had any REAL hand in causing this all to happen like they pushed at them a little too hard still even though the world was ending and they ended up making the primal of the emperor on their own as despite him not being seen and declared as dead the Garleans were still convinced the emperor would save them in fear that the Eorzeans and other colonies not only took back their land but were taking garlean while they were leaderless taking people from their homes in the name of reclaiming what was theirs in the same way Garleans did to them not realizing their hypocrisy. (This all being spurred in the background by Fandaniel and Zenos who then twisted the primal into what it was for their own purposes after it was made naturally to be like in the main story.) Instead people from around Eorzea came to help when Garlemald was devastated by something they had no real hand in despite all the Garleans hurt inflicted on them because it was the right thing to do. (I know the Garleans don’t know that nessecarily but we do and if we were even partly more in the wrong we would be more invested likely.) The two sisters that died were tragic but I couldn’t feel too bad for them because everyone there genuinely just had their best intentions in mind and they assaulted our companions when we left to get them nessecarry supplies. It’s entirely understandable why they did it but my sympathy for them was minimal for them as it was their choice to do it despite all the good will we were showing them and it was their actions that lead to their deaths. It was a fine area but the rest of EW was a far higher standard to me and the excitement I had for exploring Garlemald proper and instead getting a small slice of frozen wasteland and tech allusions killed my overall love of the area. A lot of what happened while perhaps realistic didn’t hit me as hard because of the way the Eorzeans that came literally had the highest of high grounds here as the story was written and the rest of the scale and haunting or straight beauty of the expansion eclipsed it for me.
@@NianJKL Nah, weakest area was definitely the level 88 quests during the second visit to Labyrinthos. They had one good scene (Urianger with Moenbryda's parents) but other than that it's ARR levels of pacing with an EXTREMELY repetitive remix of Torn From Heavens playing non-stop all the time. Seriously, I actually muted the music during that part because the stupid song just wouldn't shut up. Doesn't help that the whole thing happens right after Elpis while, supposedly, the final days are happening... somewhere else. It's such a mood-breaking part. I've got mixed feelings about Ultima Thule because I liked the concept of the cemetery of worlds and all, but at the same time it was painfully obvious the "deaths" were fake and that everyone was happily returning home from moment one, so the whole sacrifice thing fell flat and a bit cheap to me. It does get better once you reach Meteion though. The scene with the flowers was good, the scenes previous to the end boss pale in comparison to Shadowbringers', but the end boss itself was utterly ridiculous in a good way, and the final confrontation with Zenos was good as well. I couldn't help but feel the ending of the game (after Zenos) felt a bit rushed though, like they didn't have enough time to polish it or something.
The only thing I found disappointing about Garlemald is the fact that Cid doesn't come with you. I've always thought Cid deserves a bit more attention in the main scenario quests, and Garlemald would've been the absolute perfect time to give it. Like, when you're preparing to go to Garlemald you bring along Garleans, since they'll know the people and the area better, and you bring magitek engineers, since they'll be able to salvage and repair the technology there. But despite that, nobody even mentions literally the most famous Garlean defector there is who also happens to be the most skilled magitek engineer in Eorzea.
A friend said we didn't get revenge on Garlemald like we would have in a stormblood 2 (which was the original plan) and that it is a great thing. I do agree. Ishikawa seems to have a strong interest in bittersweet thematics, exploring tough philosophical themes. She's so great at it
I think if you had it would never be anywhere near this striking and that its by your influence anyway that this was the result... beating gaius in arr leads to this
The creepiest part of this broadcast is the realization that all the audience members you hear clapping, all the performers, everyone involved, is likely either dead or tempered at the time you are listening to it. It is basically listening to the ghost of Garlemald.
Man. I think the (first) moment Endwalker broke me was when I first heard this playing. It does such a fantastic job of relaying the hopelessness and despair in Garlemald, and it made me feel like there was absolutely nothing I could do. We tried everything we could to help, but everytime this song was heard it reminded us that we were already too late. It's the chorus of a thousand souls mourning the loss of their nation. The loss of the only place they felt like they belonged. Regardless of your opinions of Garlemald as a whole, it was still full of normal people. Innocent people. Mothers, Fathers, Children; all gone. Their homes destroyed and their memories lost to time. The only people who loved them where their neighbors, and all of them are gone too.
I was sort of bummed that the story of Garlemald wasn't longer for this expansion, because I love the way this part of the expansion made me feel. It was beautifully dreadful and so heartbreaking.
It was supposed to be a whole stormblood 2 expansion originaly, but they considered doing another geopolitics based expansion was not something people would widely want, then they had the idea to have garlemald already beaten down, taking away any form of revenge we could have had (which in my opinion was an awesome move)
@@GBS4893correct me if I’m wrong, but most of the time we end up actually going to the big bad empire standin its always either A: destroyed, B: being destroyed, or C: we don’t go at all. Kind of feels like a trend is all.
@@GBS4893 I feel the ending was also fitting. Garlemald wasn't some empire that was once good and noble. It was rotten from its inception, created solely as a tool for the Ascions to aid them in the genocide of entire worlds. If we have some great, epic battle against it, it would have give them something they didn't even deserve. It's better to have rot away and decay.
I always say that good storytelling is when you sympathize with the enemy but great storytelling is when you want to help them. When you can recognize that even if you disagree with their actions and beliefs, you understand what made them that way.
remember sitting repeatedly for extended periods of time in that one train on the sofa that used to be occupied by the garlemald military leader, just listening to the other version of this tune. this story was so captivating and resonates so well.
The way that the radios playing this music initially seemed to protect the survivors, but was ultimately a weapon against them is something someone much better at writing than me could demonstrate a great point with.
It's a point driven home with the plight of the Ancients as well: the danger of pining for the past, of being unwilling to walk the path forward. Maybe things were better. Maybe you were better off. But time marches in one direction, and you must forge ahead, because even in the most soul-consuming darkness, light can be found.
@@kaileenabonaduce227 They were walking the path forward though. They just wanted to save their peoples souls. It’s no different from when Ironworks resorted to time travel to resurrect the WoL.
It was also the ancients' unrestricted pursuit of knowledge and desire to forge ahead while forgetting to ask the fundamental questions that caused the whole issue with Hermes in Elpis. Same with some of the civilizations that Meteion met.
@@Jaredskoll How are they fundamental? Who says that? And why should they have to answer them in the first place? In the end, the whole thing can be blamed on Hermes and Venat. Hermes for choosing to wallow in his depression and not see that literally right outside his doors there were people who felt the same way he did, and Venat for losing hope in her people and keeping knowledge from them that could have saved them.
@@Aemeris98 Venat's fault? You might blame her for being "drastic", but her point of view in all this situation was that "if i dont build Hyadelin, then the Convocation will literally sacrifice all new living beings, which are innocent, to return to the past".
Everyone who gets close to the Tower of Babil (where Anima is) either is killed or tempered. However, the only exceptions are the ones near the radio BUT actually the radio also comes from the Anima itself which is... strange. I choose to believe it is Varis using his last will and strength to protect his people through the radio and to give them hope to live.
It's the technology contained within the radios themselves being similar to a magitek version of the warding scales. Nothing remains of Lord Varis by the time he is turned into Anima, which is probably a mercy, all things considered.
@@GBS4893 the crystal on the radio refracts the tempering like one does with light, allowing you to hear what the tempered hear moments before they are tempered without the effect of being tempered. the sound of anima calling out to his people and their reply.
That would make sense given Anima is made from his corpse, we know that when a person becomes a primal an echo of their original self still remains. Maybe Varis knows what he's become and despite everything he still wants to protect his people. It's a good theory
The question is, where these radios come from? Did they build this random radio without knowing what it does, seems unlikely. Did Fandaniel placed them to toy with people? That seems unlikely as well, imho he doesn't appear that much interested partaking in other peoples suffering (he only wants to finish his goal asap, everything else is irrelevant), however theatrical he may appear. And even in instances he did, they all survived fine and dandy. So that begs the question, maybe it gets picked up in a later plot point.
The whole Garlemald arc was a very stark reminder. Do be careful who you consider your enemy. Even as a hero, you are quite easily the monster in another innocent's tale. It has a lot of implications for real world, not just the game one.
This whole area was just gut-wrenching as you come face to face with the people who see you as the villain. Even though you truly came to help, these people will never forget how many of their friends and loved ones that you killed. And learn about their History that started them down the path of conquest. Even though they were "the enemy", I still felt sad looking at how ruined their home had become.
This area was a masterpiece. I've actually never felt even a little regret about killing the garlean soldiers during the whole game until here. I thought they were the really bad guys, because the game introduce them like that... never tried to understand them, never tried to imagine me in their situation. Now I feel so ashamed. They calling me the Hero of Eorzea for killing people who aren't that different from us? Dumbest thing I've seen. (Talking a bit about the area just after Garlemald below, don't wanna risk spoiling anyone) Great to see that the WoL is still learning from his mistakes, when the Lunarian guy in a white coat ask to kill the Ascians, you can choose to decline. (not really because you'll do it anyway unfortunately)
@@elyes_nort9687 Eh, what was the alternative? They came to conquer, to enslave all of Eorzea. Their end goal was to turn the planet into a colonialist hellscape. We were only defending ourselves, and freeing the people they had brutally conquered. Remember the state of Doma, of Ala Mhigo? It was imperative that Garlemald be stopped. Blame Emet-Selch for turning them into monsters, who would ultimately go on to victimize themselves, too.
I don't think they are mad at you for supposedly killing their "friends and lived ones". Garlemald primarily used conscripts from captured territories to fill the ranks of their armies. Perhaps at Ghymlyt Dark you fought some of the "true garlemaldians" but still the main reason they hate you is because they were brainwashed by years of imperialist propaganda of how their country is the best in a world and anyone who opposes it in any way is a traitor, or "savage" in other term. Basically underhuman.
The part of Garlemald as a zone that actually creeped me out is when you're going around giving the soldiers an instruction the WoL is pretty much a suicide command. Especially that one guy who just hears it and starts laughing before going "...finally". Like they're so exhausted and frustrated that going out to fall on enemy swords is preferable.
@@AuroDHikoshi as soon as you talk to him he tries to wind up to hit you but stops when the sheer physicality of his rage tears off a suture. They all _want_ to hurt the WoL, they blame a lot of their grief on them and you get the feeling that if they had their way, they *would* kill them with no hesitation. You may be the champion of Eorzea and the co-liberator of Doma, but in Garlemald the WoL will always have one brand and one brand only: _Murderer_
@@thehermit8618 that hits extra hard since my character's backstory is that she was adopted by a Garlean woman and her husband with her brother and raised as such. They ended up having to run when her parents were found to be Eorzean sympathisers and left their parents behind. Being known as a murderer by what she considers her own people would break her heart.
Garlemald was so very very different than I expected.. I thought I would storm Domund Kraas fighting the Sith Empire... What I got was bombed out Berlin, citizens desperately clinging to life. Soldiers ordered to fight desperation.. people afraid.. fleeing from invaders.. and a man people at the time look up to commiting suicide in a shelter/bunker.. it gave me chills to the bone reminding me a lot of history lessons at school. (but srsly tho the garlean empire is not the Nazis. Far far from it. But they are also fascists).
They remind me the most of the russians. The Garleans have an essencial mix from the roman empire and nazi germany of course, but I think the core of Garlemald comes from Russian inspirations. They have the very same soul and spirit, never bowing, relentless and that rough edge to it. They protect their territory with their life (to the point of being in danger from nato/eorzean alliance), harsh living conditions that strengthened them and the dream of a big uniting nation. Even their continent is one or if not the biggest on the planet and similarly located to russia. Also this theme sounds like a russian song.
@@Lyu-Phy They have something of every imperialist nation in the world's history. They have the names and organization of the Roman Empire (from whom italian fascism took everything). The place, climate and culture of Russia. The collectivism from China. And war as a well oiled machine from USA. The game clearly depicts Garlemald as the ghost of imperialism lurking in every nation, in every human soul. And the message is that EVERY empire crumbles, with inhuman consequences for its people, who are often blind to the truth to the very end. Those 2 kids took their own life 'cause propaganda instilled them absolute fear of everything but their fucked up imperial system. To the point genuine kindness and help could not reach their hearts
Nah they were authoritarian sure but definitely not fascist, fascism does not offer routes for conquered people to have citizenship, as well as having succession of power tied directly to a royal bloodline, fascism has it tied thru position in political party or military
@@sootythunder3111 But those conquered people do not typically achieve true citizenship. In fact, very few ever do. That's why Rhitahtyn felt so awkward about having the position he did under Gaius, that even he felt he didn't deserve the rank he had. Fordola's entire life shows just what chance outsiders have with Garlean rule. Even the people willing to get on their knees and lick their boots are treated like complete garbage. Gaius's adoptive children had a chance, and the moment their progressive adoptive father was out of the picture they were doomed. There's no integration, only enslavement under a different name. Sure, there's the notion that after a certain point of service in the military, you *can* achieve citizenship, but look at how many people we see in-game who that worked out for. Even Asahi's family held their nobility on the barest edge of a knife relying on Yotsuyu's position of power...and once that was gone, they were ridiculed and abandoned. Fascism doesn't necessarily require a specific form of leadership, it doesn't inherently exclude the notion of royalty. All it requires is that the leader in power have a cult of personality that effectively works to brainwash its citizens with delusions of ultra-nationalistic grandeur. Varis and Solas both ruled under that ideology. We saw it in EW, everyone from citizens to military personnel worshipped the ground Varis walked on. His literal title/honorific was "His Radiance". Fascism relies on the country's leaders creating symbols to rally under, symbols that rile up the populace and get them to agree to violent ideology and expansionism. Garlemald's symbolic chains of blood and duty, as per their flag, fit this bill exactly. Garlemald's authoritarian, for sure, but it absolutely exhibits the strongest ideological points of fascism in its cultural workings.
@@Can_O_Crayola well the lack of intergration mostly comes down to the fact that the head of their government and the charter goal of their leadership don’t care about governance, stability or order (hell the tippy top of the empire literally desires chaos within and without the empire) their only desire is to keep the facade going as they usher in calamities, even if the other legatuses do not know of the plan for rejoining they will pick up on the the empires apathy on certain things. If someone who was a true believer in the tenants the empire supposedly stands for was in power like ARR Gaius who we learn cracks the whip on people like the scientists who were originally responsible for the creation of black rose demeaning it as not a weapon of conquest but a weapon of mass destruction that would kill of the future citizenry of the empire. If someone like that was in charge of the empire who firmly believed that their conquest was bringing peace and order, you would be seeing a lot more effort to squash anything that disrupted the peace and order INSIDE the empire
When all you have is the past because you can't bear to look at your present, you cease to have a future. More than any other area, Garlemald epitomises what we will later find at the edges of the universe: regret, nihility, a dead end.
You are a hero destined to save the world. You have arrived in the cold empire, where the people are struggling to survive, and their lives are filled with suffering. Despite your desire to help, they seem ungrateful and would rather be devoured by beasts than accept your assistance. As you look at the still-warm corpses around you, the radio nearby intermittently plays music. You feel that this place... is unbearably cold……
Garlemald got the treatment niflheim deserved in XV, we don’t just arrive in a dead hell scape with no hope. Garlemald met a depressing fate but at least we got a glimpse at the remaining people and a sense of their true selves outside of battle and even the citizens themselves.
I’m glad you wrote that. I, like many others, made myself a Kingsglaive and believe me, I fought Bahamut to get Gralea as a hometown. I was fascinated with the Gralean people and their way of living. You can Imagine how sad I was when I finally made it there in XV just to be forced into a corridor gameplay. (My love for Gralea went so far, that my WoL is in Fact Garlean in XIV)
The fact that what happened with Quintus alone didn't bump this game up to an M rating will always bewilder me. Especially since this very platform hard-locks anything to do with un-aliving one self.
Isn't it interesting that so many themes in Endwalker circle around a sound or a song. From Garlemalds radios to the final boss themself, there's a song, a chorus if you will, that follows you to the final confrontation
The ending all correlated to one specific song from Meteion and all. A song of despair and death. Our struggles all stem from that but in the end, a song of hope and light was sung by that same person thanks to the Warrior of Light. Thanks to a friend.
Something interesting I've noticed is when Alphinaud says, in English: "Saver to brave the wilds than trust our magic", it's different from the German version. In German, he says (translated): "They were more afraid of *us* than the beasts they knew are out here..." which. Really hit me hard when playing through EW. Of course, they mostly believe that eorzean people are "wild and barbaric" because of manipulation from 'Solus' and others. But if you look at their whole backstory, it makes sense as to why they don't trust, even outright fear, magic and magic users. And it's this fear that made them so subjectable to said manipulation in the first place. And now, this group of people that uses magic left and right, that they were told just wants to mindlessly fight, suddenly comes along and says they want to *help*? After everything Garlemand did? After everything Eorzea did in return? Of course they wouldn't believe that. Of course they wouldn't just blindly trust that. Of course they would be terrified.
I find it funny that Quintus talks about the dream of a world united, because Eorzea did just that, and even allied and united with the Easterners, but it was to defend themselves from the very nation that was trying to attain this "united world". To defend themselves from Garlemald. Edit: 4:46 Also, I love that the music plays this specific part directly when Quintus pulls the trigger as it swaps scenes. I don't know if its made to have that exact timing, but it had that timing when I did it, and its so fucking perfect.
The dialogue in this cutscene is advanced manually, so you won't always get that timing with the music. However, I did intentionally make that alignment in the editing for this video.
Sadly they haven't united the world,just there continent. There are still nations outside of the alliance that probably want nothing to do with us,and others that are just friendly.
@@davidforde2507 The span of Eorzea/Aldenard, the Far East/Othard, portions of Ilsebard like Bozja. The coalition was effectively every major nation capable of military action in the main continents besides Thavnair and Sharlayan, and even those that weren't were fully content to send some of their best soldiers and spies. There were plans drawn up to begin a full-scale invasion into Garlemald before Zenos and Fandaniel flipped the entire game board, the table, and the chairs too. Their provinces were falling apart, legions were struggling to deal with mutiny and rebellion, and what amounted to their best champion, Zenos, had no intention or care to help them. At least on the subject of Garlemald being kicked in the face twenty times, the known world at large was pretty content to mob up and burn it to the ground.
Eorzia didnt do that until literal end of Garlemald. Only in EW that even the home continent, Eorzia, was somewhat United. Meanwhile, like it or not, Garlean Empire United more than half of the world, entirety of Illsabard + Othard with even considerable lands in Eorzia. While they did it through force, they did it far more succesfully than any other force in history except Allagans. And the unity of Eorzia is based on the fact that there is a common threat, which is Garlemald. With the Empire gone, they will be just like Balkans after Ottomans collapsed. Divided and at each others throats.
@@strider8662 I never said that they were united before then, I just said that I find it funny/ironic that they wanted a united world, and ended up getting a good chunk of the world to unite specifically against them.
It's a Swan Lake moment at best... In Russia, one of the places Garlemald is flavored after, during a time of chaos all the radio stations just suddenly started looping Swan Lake.. A few days later, they come back with the official story.
It was played more than once. It played during the August coup, but it also played after the deaths of soviet political leaders like Brezhnev, Andropov, and Chernenko until an official statement was prepared by the state. Only in Garlemald.. there is nobody left to release an official statement. There is no state anymore. Only the whispers of a dying civilization remain.
I'm so glad I found this comment. As a Bulgarian, the moment I heard this song, I immediately thought of Russia, it sounds very 'nostalgic' in a way to me, reminding me of old Russian songs we were taught at school and songs that my family would know (I studied at a Russian Language School). They've clearly done their job well with this. I think the accordion is a huge factor.
MAJOR MSQ SPOILERS: Something worth noting. All of Ethyris is bright, full of colors and beautiful landscapes. The inviting golden city of Ul'dah, a gem in desert of Thanalan. The quiet, peaceful and vibrant Gridania, against the enclosed and mysterious Shroud, Limsa Louminsa, standing tall and mighty over the ocean, like a majestic ship out to sea. The Holy See of Ishgard, a grand and glorious city, backdropped against the howling cold of Coerthas. The everlasting Ala Mhigo, still standing in the plains of Gyr Albania even after all it has been through. Doma and it's enclave, colorful and varied, a truly peaceful land following the removal of Garlemald. Radz-at-Han, filled with all kinds of people from all walks of life, working together for their beautiful city. No matter where you go in Ethyris, no matter how much struggle a nation faces, there is always light and life to be found. But not in Garlemald. When you arrive in the "Capital City of the Empire", there's...nothing. There's no colors, simply black and white. There's no landmarks, only the gloomy Tower of Babil that hangs over Garlemald like a shadow, even after the end of Endwalkers. There's no life left in what should be the pride and joy of the Empire. The only things here are remnants of a bygone era, a reminder that people once lived here. Sure, things were terrible all over but the people never gave up on hope. For all the trials and tribulations they faced, they still worked to overcome it. When Garlemald came back to Eorzea, the city states still rallied together to face the terrible threat, even though they were defeated. When the people of Coerthas realized their Holy King and the Heavensward were frauds, they still found solace and worked with the dragons to find peace. When Zenos decimated the Ala Mhigan Resistance HQ, they didn't lay down and long for death. They got back on their feet and waited for their Doman gambit. It was the cruelest and most tumultous of times that brought everyone together...but it was those same hardships that tore Garlemald's people apart. This is the glorious heart of the Garlean Empire, to inherit the wonderful dream of His Radiance. This is the generation who were awoken by the cold winds of reality. This is a people without hope.
Considering how utterly hopeless garelemald was, why was thavnir the first place to get the final days? It seems like this frozen wasteland would have been way more ripe for it
When you get to the first settlement with this radio up in the gazebo thing, and the zone music fades into this, I was so hyped. Diagetic music in this game is pretty rare, and I always loved stuff like in the Azim steppe where people are playing the morin khuur. It also creeped me the fuck out.
Dear god this song just hits my being in such a way it feels like some kind of theme I would hear in a French film in the midst of a moment of sorrow or loss and its so damn amazing
Dunno if it's been said here but the vibe I got from doing Garlemald was very Mulan. We were rallying to go fight our biggest foe, we had the support of our closest allies, we were going to fight the good fight. It's literally the scene where the song "A Girl Worth Fighting For" is playing. We are determined and jovial prior to arriving in a burned down and haunting scene, the reality that war is hell. There's never been a war were only one side bled. The harsh realization that the Garleans too suffered immensely and that we were viewed as invaders added to the cruel reality of what was going on while we only saw them as "the enemy". I always love the 2 sides to every story aspect that some stories pull, here especially.
When I first started FFXIV back in early 2021, I knew we were going to see the destruction of Garlemald, but when Endwalker finally released at the Tail end of the same year... I didn't expect it to end like this.
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground, And swallows circling with their shimmering sound; And frogs in the pools singing at night, And wild plum-trees in tremulous white; Robins will wear their feathery fire Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire; And not one will know of the war, not one Will care at last when it is done. Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree If mankind perished utterly; And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn, Would scarcely know that we were gone.
I think this is we’re I personally felt hopeless as our character is the hero it’s the first that no matter what we did to “help” it do nothing but make things worse like I was so personally pissed that we couldn’t do nothing and people were throwing there lives away honestly endwalker is amazing
This theme is like an elegy. It's so fitting, the depressing theme of it, of people crying over what they lost but still trying to stand proud. They are no strangers to adversity: since they were driven away from their homeland by the "savages" they hate, those with a talent for magic while they have none. However, unity made them strong, under the banner of their emperors, which they basically deified and taught them that there is strength in unity and purpose (and magitek). It's so fitting their emperor was in the end turned into an eikon and abomination. For me, the true sense of hopelessness comes from the fact that they were all abandoned by their emperor, and their prince doesn't even care about them; for Zenos, who only pursues his own distorted pleasures, they might as well not exist. In his eyes, only the strong belong in the world, and the imperials are, ultimately, weak.
The Garlemald section if Endwalker is the true litmus test of people actually have any sort of compassion and critical thinking skills. If you're not taken aback by Quintus' death or the grief of the Garlean people, you're an idiot who is unable to see other people's point of view. It's ironic how many people on Twitter hate this section.
I have no love for the Garlean Empire. But at the same time, I know that going Dalamud on whoever is left solves nothing. Even though I wanted to grab Quintus by his collar when he starts preaching unity. How's that? Did I pass the litmus test?
Honestly this gives me pretty heavy last days of Rome vibes. Like the Empire is over, everyone knows the end is coming and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it now. So, while this is a joyful occasion to us, the empire’s enemies. To them it must seem like the world is ending, and it quite literally did. But now the survivors are forced to pick up the pieces. Problem is, old glories die hard. I doubt we have seen the last of Gaerlamald, personally I suspect some sort of restorationist movement will arise to fight the alliance aligned Gaerlans at some point.
The song should be a hopeful song but the tone and vocals are depressive... its crafted that well in a land that is stuffed and nothing they can do to return
I don't think this was what the alliance came here to see... and it's made worse by a ascians and zeno and the power struggle and their spiralling attempts to keep power.
For a PG-13 game ffxiv has a lot of dark themes like murder, rape, depression, alcoholism, substance abuse and suicide. The writers do such a great job of including these adult themes in a toned down manner yet it still hits you hard. What a great game.
@@nawafbinhumaid_9181 iirc it was a minion's description or a stuffed doll that was crafted by someone after the woman they 'adored' (stalked and raped, atleast that's what I thought bc the guy was a fanatic) passed away or ran away and it is implied he does things to the doll with her in mind now. It was about two years ago now so I don't remember precisely what the description was of, and I could've just interpreted it in the way I tell here so take it with a pinch of salt.
if this were some other somber song from the game, I don't think the moments where you hear this track would be nearly as memorable. this song sets the tone for when it plays as truly haunting. the low fidelity of the radio, the liminal melody, the applause that is compressed to the point of no longer sounding like applause but just white noise. this track, and every moment it plays, all set in the feeling resonating in the souls of the remaining garleans, whether they want to believe it or not: "there's nobody else, and it is so cold." if every other region in the game is to take inspiration from one in the real world, then garlemald is this world's equivalent of Cold War Russia.
It's sad to think that the Quintis we meet is a broken soldier who watched his beloved home devour itself from the inside out. He maintains his façade of pride in front of us for the most part, but deep down he knows what he has to do (give up)...
Giving up for Quintis isn't suicide, it's allowing the enemy to take care of the people that were his charge/take over Garlemald, and his responsibility. The only way he could save face was suicide. Anything else was dishonorable to the point of intolerability, impossible. This mirrors a real occurrences from the authors cultural history.
I think this track perfectly encapsulates my feelings on Garlemald in EW. The people and hopes and dreams just like any other person, even if they were built on ideas embedded into them by their leaders. I can’t forgive what they’ve done because none of it can be forgiven, but they… they just wanted their homeland back. They wanted to be left alone by the rest of the world after being beaten down over and over and over again, and then they indulged in their revenge. It wasn’t enough to beat back their enemies, they needed to dish out what they had received. Now here they are, battered once again shivering in the freezing tundra, devoid of all hope and desperate for whatever they can cling onto; holding onto the idea of pulling themselves up from their bootstraps with no help. All I could think while I played through this section was “They aren’t deserving of forgiveness, but I can’t bring myself to hate them anymore”
as someone who has been confronted with this very exact scenario of people not wanting you to help them despite them desperately needing your help- this scene was utterly foreign and baffling. the scions are already paramilitary, and both of the twins have killed people. other than "they needed this to make the arc work" I couldn't even understand why their reactions were written in such a way and I still don't, even after discussions with people who loved it. garlemald needed more time to cook, and the twins didn't need most of these scenes because they had already done these things prior. the only important part was they finally had a moment to bond.
Seriously bone chilling. Garlemald was such a feeling, I didn’t even know where the song was coming from until I noticed it was the radios. I loved this part of the expansion but honestly did not expect it to go this way at all. So many other comments have described it so well.
I just got to this part and seeing the sisters dead when I thought I would be doing some heroic stuff just made me go... yikes... the music is so eerie, haunting, and sad at the same time...
This zone really does an excellent job of showing how things were from the average Garlean's perspective; deeds that people hail you as a hero for in Eorzea were ruthless slaughter of family and friends to them. The body swap duty too, in how it shows you just how ridiculously powerful the Warrior of Light is compared to a regular person.
It's also interesting to see how ideology shapes our decisions. For a Garlean soldier like Quintus there is no world after the Empire, he would never go out and die for the civilians or to salvage what remained. Because to him Garlemald's future is forever gone. And without it his life holds no meaning, the rest of the world holds no meaning. Contrast to if the city states where on the verge, or similar events. Merlwyrb and the rest would be on the front line to make sure as many as possible could survive. The image of what comes after, the future is a powerful one and it dictates how we decide to live in relation to the world.
why? You didn't do anything. The Garleans were manipulated by their leaders, not you. This woman died because she could only cling to national pride and longing for a strong and overpowering leader, both of which were the very cause of her plight and the tempering of her friends.
To me the garleans will forever be the biggest cowards and hypocrits. They are so afraid of anyone taking something from them again they'd rather invade and oppress the whole world and their cultures and force them to become "garlean" or rather just legal slaves. They always called everyone else barbarians yet they built the most brutal machines and weapons and did the most insane experiments on the people they oppress.
I didn’t feel bad for the right hand man of a ‘too real’ villain for obvious reasons, but I can feel bad for the innocent people applauding the singers in the muffled recording.
You say that but Quintus and Varis both wanted peace for their people similar to Emet-Selch. All are pitiable men similar to the leaders of Eorzea only that Varis never got the chance to change or atone and Quintus was a broken man with no way to lead his people.
@@historian252 I think Quintus "my entire nation is crumbling to pieces and I'm so stuck in my ways that I can't see any way to fix it beyond holding to the way things were" van Cinna comes out looking a little more pitiable and sad than "One True Race" Varris and "World's Loneliest Mass-Genocide" Hades
@@37calorieghost35 Yet isn't that the same way plenty of the Eorzeans see it as. Plenty if not a majority rather stick to their old ways. Varis wanting to bring an end to the conflicts amongst the different races of Eorzea especially as we know they all used to be one group is an understandable goal but the process to achieve it requires a lot of pain that even the world isn't able to handle
@@historian252 Uhhh I don't think I'm really qualified to explain in depth why Varris' idea of a 'better future' is a deeply disturbing concept from a clearly disturbed character based in a real world pseudoscientific ideology but generally we regard eugenics and "the true master race" ideas with scorn at minimum. Varris' wanted to conquer and subjugate the masses under his will so that he could help the Ascians bring about the rejoining and stab them in the back when they made good on what he believed to be genuine promises to rise those who survived up to the ranks of the ancients. Regardless of his 'reasoning' if you can even call it that, his desires are invariably horrifying and the actions he took to try and achieve them unequivocally evil, especially since he hadnt a single clue what any of the stuff he was spouting at the peace talks at the Ghimlyt Dark meant in the grand scheme of things.
I have a strong suspicion that this song being played on the radio is supposed to be a reference to Podmoskovnye Vechera (Moscow Nights), which iirc played on Soviet radio when there was no current running broadcast.
Once again, SE pulls a page out of history. The Garlemald zone screams WW2 Japan. The smoldering ruins left in the wake of the firebombing of Tokyo and the two nukes... The soldiers who refused orders to stand down and took over the imperial palace to stop the Emperor from surrendering... It's sad how people dismiss real history as "boring" when all fantasy works is derived from human history in some way shape or form.
It's very much any place where major fighting took place in WW2. Pretty much all of continental Europe was reduced to rubble and the old empires were crumbling (even the victorious ones, albeit slowly). On a sidenote, this is also a fate that the eastern bloc of the Cold war just narrowly dodged. There was a planned invasion of Poland in 1980 (similar to that of 1968 of Czechoslovakia), and USSR itself was on the cusp of civil war shortly before it colapsed. It reminded me of it because the choir there is quite reminiscent of the Soviet choir style, and some item names in the area are very much either straight out named in russian (eg. the imperial ushanka drops in the Tower of Babil), or get very close. Given where the game is from, though, and what the authors witnessed in history lessons and history documents, yeah, post WW2 Japan is very likely an inspiration here.
The best part of the game. And we know little context behind who really wrote this masterpiece. This is definitely the handiwork of someone that respected the last 8 years of the veterans 🙏
These kinds of stories where there's hopelessness with no light at the end of the tunnel isn't my kind of thing, but even so I can easily see this was the objectively best written part of EW's story.
"This message will repeat until there are none left to hear it"
Based Local 58 reference
@@JaxonElzinga Wassup
*SCP-3426 | Reckoner.*
*Keter | ZK-A-Class Scenario.*
Assume victory position
"It was a grand and glorious dream we shared"
gdi that was a serious fuckin scene right there, i think we all got a little shook from it
@@1jidion It was the moment the Garlean Empire truly died.
@PunishedSolidusRex a truly dark expansion. I fell in love with shadowbringers and endwalker. Dawntrail isn't doing it for me.
FFXIV is infamous for its darker moments by now. The Ul'dah party, most of Ysayle's story, the entire thing with Fordola and Zenos's Resonance (especially the after effects on Fordola), Tesleen...
Garlemald hits so damn hard because it feels like the most grounded of all of these. It's not some existential terror like what the Final Days turns into, it's just people being scared, desperate, confused, shell-shocked, and brainwashed by years and years of propaganda to fear the outsider. It's so down to earth in how well and truly fucked up the situation is, and I respect the hell out of the writers for having the guts to go there.
Makes you wonder why the game is not rate M yet… with all the themes and events going one… you would think this game is for adults only. Not that it would matter as kids play this game so…
@@crosssquirrel4293 M rating, by ESRB standards, is "including intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content, strong language, drug use, and nudity." Themes of the story itself aren't taken into account as much.
@@orrusfellin5150 Yeah… cough cough Garlemald section including quintus… Edda backstory… the Weapons storyline… the sin eaters and their transformation… and Vauthry
Pretty much they cover everything you just said.
What makes it hit so hard is it also wasn't how we expected to see the fall of Garlemald. We expected to have some dramatic clash... And instead, we saw a nation devouring itself. Which in some ways is the most fitting conclusion for that part of the story. There's no epic confrontation that gives Garlemald one last shot at glory, no great and deceive victory at Eorzean hands. Instead, a nation that was created specifically to spread death and to feed the genocidal ambitions of the Ascions just died with a pathetic whimper and those left behind now have to realize how much of a lie their existence was all this time.
Garlean history gives them very good reason to fear the outsider, though.
The radio music was one of the creepiest parts of that whole zone. Something about it just scared the daylights out of me.
I mean it is just "Imperial Will" but changes in cadence, tempo, instrument choice... all contribute to such things. very nice and very sad.
For me, it is like a more lofi and pleasant version of the propaganda music you hear from Russia and North Korea and that's what makes it so haunting. Imagine this playing in the morning as an alarm for all the Garlean citizens to wake up and go to work and make their nation prosperous. Especially the part where the choir joins in and it sounds like an anthem being sung in an arena or something. No wonder Zenos wanted nothing to do with ruling Garlemald
@@stars-and-clouds heh.. yeah, or like hearing Revely and the Star Spangled banner every morning when near a military base :p
Same. To me, it's the fact that their last line of defence against tempering is something designed to arouse the very feeling that dominates the tempered.
@@sakuradaidouji6526 And when you consider that _Land Long Dead_ playing in _The Burn_ is a differently tuned _Penitum_ from _The Praetorium_ , it just hits home how destructive the Garlean Empire has been.
Land Long Dead has some curious hopeful vibe to it, though. Almost like life after death.
The Garlemald arc of Endwalker gave the player something to think about that most RPGs don't: What do you do when the people you're here to help don't want your help?
Also, that line when you find the sisters will haunt me for ages.
*The bodies are already cold...*
Honestly they just upset me more. I didn’t care what happened to Garlemald anymore. The scions and Eorzean Alliance tried numerous times to end the war and conduct peace, but Garlemald was too stubborn to let go of their pride and stop their conquering. They refused our help when they needed it most, so whatever happened to them was on them. When those sisters died I felt no sympathy. They had it coming. I loved the story in garlemald because it felt real, and It was very fleshed out. However, unlike most people I would’ve preferred leaving Garlemald and it’s people to fend for themselves in their broken country that their leaders brought upon them.
@@Jess-sl4um That just means that you didn't really care about helping them in the first place if they didn't say thank you and treat you like their saviors.
@@NoU-wc5ny Yeah, I think that a hard part of playing a hero is saving (or trying to save) people regardless if they want or not. Some people are simply not ready to be saved.
@@theRegularJack yep, the people who came away from this storyline with no compassion for the people of Garlemald aren't fit to call themselves scions.
@@Jess-sl4um I think it's far more complicated than Garlemald being asshats in waging war and turning down aid. There's the political bigwigs in charge making the decisions in Garlemald, the civil war between those political bigwigs, and then the people themselves caught in the crossfire. And it's not like all Garleans are the same. We saw that with Cid, Nero, and Gaius, and there were countless lesser character in the area that wanted to help and be helped. The sisters and their group was a good slap in the face welcome to the nation - it showed you this is not your normal new area full of fun and adventure where you make cute friends as you frolic with magical fairies in the flower fields. This country has seen some truly terrible shit and this is how its people turned out as a result. It doesn't make them terrible people worth abandoning for the sake of "they won't even appreciate me" in my book. That just feels conceited and pathetic. You don't help people to be appreciated - you help people because they need help and you're able to give it. And like the twins found out, pushing to help those who refuse it doesn't always end well, but at least they tried rather than doing nothing, because we all know those people wouldn't have lasted long at all left on their own.
part that really completes it for me is how when the performance is over theres canned audio of an audience clapping and giving an encore before repeating. Its like the implication is that this was a live performance over the radio and the clapping is within the studio/wherever it was played, and its just repeating on loop forever, the same exact live recording, because there's nobody alive left at the station to change the track over
A harsh reminder that you must always be better than your enemy, no only in combat but also in compassion
Garlemald was definitely my favourite part on EW. What a pure masterpiece.
One of the reasons I like Garlemald the most is how down to earth and relatable it is. While the future areas were awesome as hell, I could not feasibly grasp them as Garlemald. In fact, all the hatred for Garlemald is gone, what is left is pity and sadness.
Same here. The first visit to Garlemald was definitely the best part of EW by a huge margin IMO.
Not to be a hater but I really do feel like Garlemald was the weakest area of the entire expansion because it really feels like it could have been so much more. I feel like this would have hit harder if the Garleans were treated as less then human at times more in the story by more people and the coalition was less pure support like it ended up being perhaps having some intentions of strong arming some garlean groups onto their side to sign treaties. Or if Eorzea or their allies had any REAL hand in causing this all to happen like they pushed at them a little too hard still even though the world was ending and they ended up making the primal of the emperor on their own as despite him not being seen and declared as dead the Garleans were still convinced the emperor would save them in fear that the Eorzeans and other colonies not only took back their land but were taking garlean while they were leaderless taking people from their homes in the name of reclaiming what was theirs in the same way Garleans did to them not realizing their hypocrisy. (This all being spurred in the background by Fandaniel and Zenos who then twisted the primal into what it was for their own purposes after it was made naturally to be like in the main story.) Instead people from around Eorzea came to help when Garlemald was devastated by something they had no real hand in despite all the Garleans hurt inflicted on them because it was the right thing to do. (I know the Garleans don’t know that nessecarily but we do and if we were even partly more in the wrong we would be more invested likely.) The two sisters that died were tragic but I couldn’t feel too bad for them because everyone there genuinely just had their best intentions in mind and they assaulted our companions when we left to get them nessecarry supplies. It’s entirely understandable why they did it but my sympathy for them was minimal for them as it was their choice to do it despite all the good will we were showing them and it was their actions that lead to their deaths. It was a fine area but the rest of EW was a far higher standard to me and the excitement I had for exploring Garlemald proper and instead getting a small slice of frozen wasteland and tech allusions killed my overall love of the area. A lot of what happened while perhaps realistic didn’t hit me as hard because of the way the Eorzeans that came literally had the highest of high grounds here as the story was written and the rest of the scale and haunting or straight beauty of the expansion eclipsed it for me.
@@NianJKL Nah, weakest area was definitely the level 88 quests during the second visit to Labyrinthos. They had one good scene (Urianger with Moenbryda's parents) but other than that it's ARR levels of pacing with an EXTREMELY repetitive remix of Torn From Heavens playing non-stop all the time. Seriously, I actually muted the music during that part because the stupid song just wouldn't shut up. Doesn't help that the whole thing happens right after Elpis while, supposedly, the final days are happening... somewhere else. It's such a mood-breaking part.
I've got mixed feelings about Ultima Thule because I liked the concept of the cemetery of worlds and all, but at the same time it was painfully obvious the "deaths" were fake and that everyone was happily returning home from moment one, so the whole sacrifice thing fell flat and a bit cheap to me. It does get better once you reach Meteion though. The scene with the flowers was good, the scenes previous to the end boss pale in comparison to Shadowbringers', but the end boss itself was utterly ridiculous in a good way, and the final confrontation with Zenos was good as well. I couldn't help but feel the ending of the game (after Zenos) felt a bit rushed though, like they didn't have enough time to polish it or something.
The only thing I found disappointing about Garlemald is the fact that Cid doesn't come with you. I've always thought Cid deserves a bit more attention in the main scenario quests, and Garlemald would've been the absolute perfect time to give it.
Like, when you're preparing to go to Garlemald you bring along Garleans, since they'll know the people and the area better, and you bring magitek engineers, since they'll be able to salvage and repair the technology there. But despite that, nobody even mentions literally the most famous Garlean defector there is who also happens to be the most skilled magitek engineer in Eorzea.
A friend said we didn't get revenge on Garlemald like we would have in a stormblood 2 (which was the original plan) and that it is a great thing. I do agree.
Ishikawa seems to have a strong interest in bittersweet thematics, exploring tough philosophical themes. She's so great at it
I think if you had it would never be anywhere near this striking and that its by your influence anyway that this was the result... beating gaius in arr leads to this
The creepiest part of this broadcast is the realization that all the audience members you hear clapping, all the performers, everyone involved, is likely either dead or tempered at the time you are listening to it. It is basically listening to the ghost of Garlemald.
"Listening to the Ghost of Garlemald" perfectly describes the feeling of this song
reminds me of the nazi music Erika ua-cam.com/video/rcVb6l4TpHw/v-deo.html
I'd always assumed the clapping was radio static. Thanks for elevating my appreciation of how depressing it is :)
...wow, that's a sobering thought
... Nobody left at the radio station to turn over the track, so it just gets played on a loop. Haunting...
Man. I think the (first) moment Endwalker broke me was when I first heard this playing. It does such a fantastic job of relaying the hopelessness and despair in Garlemald, and it made me feel like there was absolutely nothing I could do. We tried everything we could to help, but everytime this song was heard it reminded us that we were already too late.
It's the chorus of a thousand souls mourning the loss of their nation. The loss of the only place they felt like they belonged. Regardless of your opinions of Garlemald as a whole, it was still full of normal people. Innocent people. Mothers, Fathers, Children; all gone. Their homes destroyed and their memories lost to time. The only people who loved them where their neighbors, and all of them are gone too.
This entire zone was peak storytelling. It was one of the most impactful narratives for me out of everything in the game.
I was sort of bummed that the story of Garlemald wasn't longer for this expansion, because I love the way this part of the expansion made me feel. It was beautifully dreadful and so heartbreaking.
It was supposed to be a whole stormblood 2 expansion originaly, but they considered doing another geopolitics based expansion was not something people would widely want, then they had the idea to have garlemald already beaten down, taking away any form of revenge we could have had (which in my opinion was an awesome move)
@@GBS4893correct me if I’m wrong, but most of the time we end up actually going to the big bad empire standin its always either A: destroyed, B: being destroyed, or C: we don’t go at all. Kind of feels like a trend is all.
@@GBS4893 I feel the ending was also fitting. Garlemald wasn't some empire that was once good and noble. It was rotten from its inception, created solely as a tool for the Ascions to aid them in the genocide of entire worlds. If we have some great, epic battle against it, it would have give them something they didn't even deserve. It's better to have rot away and decay.
True
I always say that good storytelling is when you sympathize with the enemy but great storytelling is when you want to help them. When you can recognize that even if you disagree with their actions and beliefs, you understand what made them that way.
remember sitting repeatedly for extended periods of time in that one train on the sofa that used to be occupied by the garlemald military leader, just listening to the other version of this tune.
this story was so captivating and resonates so well.
The way that the radios playing this music initially seemed to protect the survivors, but was ultimately a weapon against them is something someone much better at writing than me could demonstrate a great point with.
It's a point driven home with the plight of the Ancients as well: the danger of pining for the past, of being unwilling to walk the path forward. Maybe things were better. Maybe you were better off. But time marches in one direction, and you must forge ahead, because even in the most soul-consuming darkness, light can be found.
@@kaileenabonaduce227 They were walking the path forward though. They just wanted to save their peoples souls. It’s no different from when Ironworks resorted to time travel to resurrect the WoL.
It was also the ancients' unrestricted pursuit of knowledge and desire to forge ahead while forgetting to ask the fundamental questions that caused the whole issue with Hermes in Elpis. Same with some of the civilizations that Meteion met.
@@Jaredskoll How are they fundamental? Who says that? And why should they have to answer them in the first place? In the end, the whole thing can be blamed on Hermes and Venat. Hermes for choosing to wallow in his depression and not see that literally right outside his doors there were people who felt the same way he did, and Venat for losing hope in her people and keeping knowledge from them that could have saved them.
@@Aemeris98 Venat's fault? You might blame her for being "drastic", but her point of view in all this situation was that "if i dont build Hyadelin, then the Convocation will literally sacrifice all new living beings, which are innocent, to return to the past".
Everyone who gets close to the Tower of Babil (where Anima is) either is killed or tempered. However, the only exceptions are the ones near the radio BUT actually the radio also comes from the Anima itself which is... strange.
I choose to believe it is Varis using his last will and strength to protect his people through the radio and to give them hope to live.
It's the technology contained within the radios themselves being similar to a magitek version of the warding scales. Nothing remains of Lord Varis by the time he is turned into Anima, which is probably a mercy, all things considered.
I think the signal is taken, absorbed by the radio which makes it diffuse this song
@@GBS4893 the crystal on the radio refracts the tempering like one does with light, allowing you to hear what the tempered hear moments before they are tempered without the effect of being tempered. the sound of anima calling out to his people and their reply.
That would make sense given Anima is made from his corpse, we know that when a person becomes a primal an echo of their original self still remains. Maybe Varis knows what he's become and despite everything he still wants to protect his people. It's a good theory
The question is, where these radios come from? Did they build this random radio without knowing what it does, seems unlikely. Did Fandaniel placed them to toy with people? That seems unlikely as well, imho he doesn't appear that much interested partaking in other peoples suffering (he only wants to finish his goal asap, everything else is irrelevant), however theatrical he may appear. And even in instances he did, they all survived fine and dandy. So that begs the question, maybe it gets picked up in a later plot point.
The whole Garlemald arc was a very stark reminder.
Do be careful who you consider your enemy. Even as a hero, you are quite easily the monster in another innocent's tale.
It has a lot of implications for real world, not just the game one.
This whole area was just gut-wrenching as you come face to face with the people who see you as the villain.
Even though you truly came to help, these people will never forget how many of their friends and loved ones that you killed. And learn about their History that started them down the path of conquest.
Even though they were "the enemy", I still felt sad looking at how ruined their home had become.
I wonder if this is how older generations feel about the world wars. You have to let go when the war is over. But some hold that hatred forever.
This area was a masterpiece. I've actually never felt even a little regret about killing the garlean soldiers during the whole game until here. I thought they were the really bad guys, because the game introduce them like that... never tried to understand them, never tried to imagine me in their situation. Now I feel so ashamed. They calling me the Hero of Eorzea for killing people who aren't that different from us? Dumbest thing I've seen.
(Talking a bit about the area just after Garlemald below, don't wanna risk spoiling anyone)
Great to see that the WoL is still learning from his mistakes, when the Lunarian guy in a white coat ask to kill the Ascians, you can choose to decline. (not really because you'll do it anyway unfortunately)
I don't know how the writers managed to pull of humanising the single worst collective of people in the game, but they did it with flying colours.
@@elyes_nort9687 Eh, what was the alternative? They came to conquer, to enslave all of Eorzea. Their end goal was to turn the planet into a colonialist hellscape. We were only defending ourselves, and freeing the people they had brutally conquered. Remember the state of Doma, of Ala Mhigo? It was imperative that Garlemald be stopped. Blame Emet-Selch for turning them into monsters, who would ultimately go on to victimize themselves, too.
I don't think they are mad at you for supposedly killing their "friends and lived ones". Garlemald primarily used conscripts from captured territories to fill the ranks of their armies. Perhaps at Ghymlyt Dark you fought some of the "true garlemaldians" but still the main reason they hate you is because they were brainwashed by years of imperialist propaganda of how their country is the best in a world and anyone who opposes it in any way is a traitor, or "savage" in other term. Basically underhuman.
The part of Garlemald as a zone that actually creeped me out is when you're going around giving the soldiers an instruction the WoL is pretty much a suicide command. Especially that one guy who just hears it and starts laughing before going "...finally". Like they're so exhausted and frustrated that going out to fall on enemy swords is preferable.
When you're in the station being berated for being the wol... one line you could have said is, "well do it then! I'm here aren't I?"
@@AuroDHikoshi as soon as you talk to him he tries to wind up to hit you but stops when the sheer physicality of his rage tears off a suture. They all _want_ to hurt the WoL, they blame a lot of their grief on them and you get the feeling that if they had their way, they *would* kill them with no hesitation. You may be the champion of Eorzea and the co-liberator of Doma, but in Garlemald the WoL will always have one brand and one brand only: _Murderer_
@@thehermit8618 that hits extra hard since my character's backstory is that she was adopted by a Garlean woman and her husband with her brother and raised as such.
They ended up having to run when her parents were found to be Eorzean sympathisers and left their parents behind.
Being known as a murderer by what she considers her own people would break her heart.
@@thehermit8618 wouldnt have murdered their friends if they hadnt come all the way to eorzea to plunder, colonize and murder in the first place.
Garlemald was so very very different than I expected..
I thought I would storm Domund Kraas fighting the Sith Empire...
What I got was bombed out Berlin, citizens desperately clinging to life. Soldiers ordered to fight desperation.. people afraid.. fleeing from invaders.. and a man people at the time look up to commiting suicide in a shelter/bunker.. it gave me chills to the bone reminding me a lot of history lessons at school. (but srsly tho the garlean empire is not the Nazis. Far far from it. But they are also fascists).
They remind me the most of the russians. The Garleans have an essencial mix from the roman empire and nazi germany of course, but I think the core of Garlemald comes from Russian inspirations. They have the very same soul and spirit, never bowing, relentless and that rough edge to it. They protect their territory with their life (to the point of being in danger from nato/eorzean alliance), harsh living conditions that strengthened them and the dream of a big uniting nation. Even their continent is one or if not the biggest on the planet and similarly located to russia. Also this theme sounds like a russian song.
@@Lyu-Phy They have something of every imperialist nation in the world's history.
They have the names and organization of the Roman Empire (from whom italian fascism took everything).
The place, climate and culture of Russia.
The collectivism from China.
And war as a well oiled machine from USA.
The game clearly depicts Garlemald as the ghost of imperialism lurking in every nation, in every human soul.
And the message is that EVERY empire crumbles, with inhuman consequences for its people, who are often blind to the truth to the very end.
Those 2 kids took their own life 'cause propaganda instilled them absolute fear of everything but their fucked up imperial system.
To the point genuine kindness and help could not reach their hearts
Nah they were authoritarian sure but definitely not fascist, fascism does not offer routes for conquered people to have citizenship, as well as having succession of power tied directly to a royal bloodline, fascism has it tied thru position in political party or military
@@sootythunder3111 But those conquered people do not typically achieve true citizenship. In fact, very few ever do. That's why Rhitahtyn felt so awkward about having the position he did under Gaius, that even he felt he didn't deserve the rank he had. Fordola's entire life shows just what chance outsiders have with Garlean rule. Even the people willing to get on their knees and lick their boots are treated like complete garbage. Gaius's adoptive children had a chance, and the moment their progressive adoptive father was out of the picture they were doomed. There's no integration, only enslavement under a different name. Sure, there's the notion that after a certain point of service in the military, you *can* achieve citizenship, but look at how many people we see in-game who that worked out for. Even Asahi's family held their nobility on the barest edge of a knife relying on Yotsuyu's position of power...and once that was gone, they were ridiculed and abandoned.
Fascism doesn't necessarily require a specific form of leadership, it doesn't inherently exclude the notion of royalty. All it requires is that the leader in power have a cult of personality that effectively works to brainwash its citizens with delusions of ultra-nationalistic grandeur. Varis and Solas both ruled under that ideology. We saw it in EW, everyone from citizens to military personnel worshipped the ground Varis walked on. His literal title/honorific was "His Radiance". Fascism relies on the country's leaders creating symbols to rally under, symbols that rile up the populace and get them to agree to violent ideology and expansionism. Garlemald's symbolic chains of blood and duty, as per their flag, fit this bill exactly.
Garlemald's authoritarian, for sure, but it absolutely exhibits the strongest ideological points of fascism in its cultural workings.
@@Can_O_Crayola well the lack of intergration mostly comes down to the fact that the head of their government and the charter goal of their leadership don’t care about governance, stability or order (hell the tippy top of the empire literally desires chaos within and without the empire) their only desire is to keep the facade going as they usher in calamities, even if the other legatuses do not know of the plan for rejoining they will pick up on the the empires apathy on certain things.
If someone who was a true believer in the tenants the empire supposedly stands for was in power like ARR Gaius who we learn cracks the whip on people like the scientists who were originally responsible for the creation of black rose demeaning it as not a weapon of conquest but a weapon of mass destruction that would kill of the future citizenry of the empire. If someone like that was in charge of the empire who firmly believed that their conquest was bringing peace and order, you would be seeing a lot more effort to squash anything that disrupted the peace and order INSIDE the empire
When all you have is the past because you can't bear to look at your present, you cease to have a future.
More than any other area, Garlemald epitomises what we will later find at the edges of the universe: regret, nihility, a dead end.
Underrated comment
@@Littlebittykitty kefka palazzo liking my comment?! I just can't believe it!
You are a hero destined to save the world. You have arrived in the cold empire, where the people are struggling to survive, and their lives are filled with suffering. Despite your desire to help, they seem ungrateful and would rather be devoured by beasts than accept your assistance. As you look at the still-warm corpses around you, the radio nearby intermittently plays music. You feel that this place... is unbearably cold……
The radio has always given me a Fallout Series vibe. And it fits. A broken world listening to a radio that plays songs beyond its current place
"Mayyyybeee... you'll think of me... when you are all alone... maybe the one who is waiting for you, will prove untrue, then what will you do?"
The joke’s been made before, but
_24/7 lofi beats to mourn the damned with_
Holy crap, that's darker than the Endsinger's diary!
@@Clockwork-Sage "Dear collective consciousness..."
🥶24/7 Lofi garlean beats to freeze death to 🥶
the entire garlemald arc could be turned into a silent hill game and possibly work
Garlemald got the treatment niflheim deserved in XV, we don’t just arrive in a dead hell scape with no hope. Garlemald met a depressing fate but at least we got a glimpse at the remaining people and a sense of their true selves outside of battle and even the citizens themselves.
I’m glad you wrote that.
I, like many others, made myself a Kingsglaive and believe me, I fought Bahamut to get Gralea as a hometown. I was fascinated with the Gralean people and their way of living.
You can Imagine how sad I was when I finally made it there in XV just to be forced into a corridor gameplay.
(My love for Gralea went so far, that my WoL is in Fact Garlean in XIV)
How did Soken make the most emotional theme since Amaurot out of the FFXIV equivalent of Imperial March?
Because Soken isn't man Soken is a God of music
Holy shit. I didn't even realize until reading your comment that that's what this was, now I can't unhear.
Endwalker has two themes that get twisted with their messages
The fact that what happened with Quintus alone didn't bump this game up to an M rating will always bewilder me. Especially since this very platform hard-locks anything to do with un-aliving one self.
Probably because the actual moment of him 'un-aliving' himself was off-screened. Sure it was strongly implied, but not explicitly shown.
Isn't it interesting that so many themes in Endwalker circle around a sound or a song. From Garlemalds radios to the final boss themself, there's a song, a chorus if you will, that follows you to the final confrontation
The ending all correlated to one specific song from Meteion and all. A song of despair and death.
Our struggles all stem from that but in the end, a song of hope and light was sung by that same person thanks to the Warrior of Light.
Thanks to a friend.
This song gives off huge Sierra Madre vibes for me. Absolutely love it.
Something interesting I've noticed is when Alphinaud says, in English: "Saver to brave the wilds than trust our magic", it's different from the German version.
In German, he says (translated): "They were more afraid of *us* than the beasts they knew are out here..." which. Really hit me hard when playing through EW.
Of course, they mostly believe that eorzean people are "wild and barbaric" because of manipulation from 'Solus' and others. But if you look at their whole backstory, it makes sense as to why they don't trust, even outright fear, magic and magic users. And it's this fear that made them so subjectable to said manipulation in the first place.
And now, this group of people that uses magic left and right, that they were told just wants to mindlessly fight, suddenly comes along and says they want to *help*? After everything Garlemand did? After everything Eorzea did in return?
Of course they wouldn't believe that. Of course they wouldn't just blindly trust that.
Of course they would be terrified.
Yay, we have the same sentence in the french version, this hit me hard too..
Radio just doubled the experience
I find it funny that Quintus talks about the dream of a world united, because Eorzea did just that, and even allied and united with the Easterners, but it was to defend themselves from the very nation that was trying to attain this "united world". To defend themselves from Garlemald.
Edit: 4:46 Also, I love that the music plays this specific part directly when Quintus pulls the trigger as it swaps scenes. I don't know if its made to have that exact timing, but it had that timing when I did it, and its so fucking perfect.
The dialogue in this cutscene is advanced manually, so you won't always get that timing with the music. However, I did intentionally make that alignment in the editing for this video.
Sadly they haven't united the world,just there continent. There are still nations outside of the alliance that probably want nothing to do with us,and others that are just friendly.
@@davidforde2507 The span of Eorzea/Aldenard, the Far East/Othard, portions of Ilsebard like Bozja. The coalition was effectively every major nation capable of military action in the main continents besides Thavnair and Sharlayan, and even those that weren't were fully content to send some of their best soldiers and spies. There were plans drawn up to begin a full-scale invasion into Garlemald before Zenos and Fandaniel flipped the entire game board, the table, and the chairs too.
Their provinces were falling apart, legions were struggling to deal with mutiny and rebellion, and what amounted to their best champion, Zenos, had no intention or care to help them.
At least on the subject of Garlemald being kicked in the face twenty times, the known world at large was pretty content to mob up and burn it to the ground.
Eorzia didnt do that until literal end of Garlemald. Only in EW that even the home continent, Eorzia, was somewhat United.
Meanwhile, like it or not, Garlean Empire United more than half of the world, entirety of Illsabard + Othard with even considerable lands in Eorzia. While they did it through force, they did it far more succesfully than any other force in history except Allagans.
And the unity of Eorzia is based on the fact that there is a common threat, which is Garlemald. With the Empire gone, they will be just like Balkans after Ottomans collapsed. Divided and at each others throats.
@@strider8662 I never said that they were united before then, I just said that I find it funny/ironic that they wanted a united world, and ended up getting a good chunk of the world to unite specifically against them.
"The two bodies are already cold."
It's a Swan Lake moment at best... In Russia, one of the places Garlemald is flavored after, during a time of chaos all the radio stations just suddenly started looping Swan Lake.. A few days later, they come back with the official story.
It was played more than once. It played during the August coup, but it also played after the deaths of soviet political leaders like Brezhnev, Andropov, and Chernenko until an official statement was prepared by the state.
Only in Garlemald.. there is nobody left to release an official statement. There is no state anymore. Only the whispers of a dying civilization remain.
I'm so glad I found this comment. As a Bulgarian, the moment I heard this song, I immediately thought of Russia, it sounds very 'nostalgic' in a way to me, reminding me of old Russian songs we were taught at school and songs that my family would know (I studied at a Russian Language School).
They've clearly done their job well with this.
I think the accordion is a huge factor.
It was crazy to see our supposed enemies, who we fight for most of the expansions to actually destroy themselves before we got there
MAJOR MSQ SPOILERS:
Something worth noting.
All of Ethyris is bright, full of colors and beautiful landscapes. The inviting golden city of Ul'dah, a gem in desert of Thanalan. The quiet, peaceful and vibrant Gridania, against the enclosed and mysterious Shroud, Limsa Louminsa, standing tall and mighty over the ocean, like a majestic ship out to sea. The Holy See of Ishgard, a grand and glorious city, backdropped against the howling cold of Coerthas. The everlasting Ala Mhigo, still standing in the plains of Gyr Albania even after all it has been through. Doma and it's enclave, colorful and varied, a truly peaceful land following the removal of Garlemald. Radz-at-Han, filled with all kinds of people from all walks of life, working together for their beautiful city. No matter where you go in Ethyris, no matter how much struggle a nation faces, there is always light and life to be found.
But not in Garlemald. When you arrive in the "Capital City of the Empire", there's...nothing. There's no colors, simply black and white. There's no landmarks, only the gloomy Tower of Babil that hangs over Garlemald like a shadow, even after the end of Endwalkers. There's no life left in what should be the pride and joy of the Empire. The only things here are remnants of a bygone era, a reminder that people once lived here.
Sure, things were terrible all over but the people never gave up on hope. For all the trials and tribulations they faced, they still worked to overcome it. When Garlemald came back to Eorzea, the city states still rallied together to face the terrible threat, even though they were defeated. When the people of Coerthas realized their Holy King and the Heavensward were frauds, they still found solace and worked with the dragons to find peace. When Zenos decimated the Ala Mhigan Resistance HQ, they didn't lay down and long for death. They got back on their feet and waited for their Doman gambit. It was the cruelest and most tumultous of times that brought everyone together...but it was those same hardships that tore Garlemald's people apart.
This is the glorious heart of the Garlean Empire, to inherit the wonderful dream of His Radiance.
This is the generation who were awoken by the cold winds of reality.
This is a people without hope.
Considering how utterly hopeless garelemald was, why was thavnir the first place to get the final days? It seems like this frozen wasteland would have been way more ripe for it
@@Acrysalis Given they said that both times it started where the aether currents were weakest I'd suggest that's why, and it then quickly spread.
When you get to the first settlement with this radio up in the gazebo thing, and the zone music fades into this, I was so hyped. Diagetic music in this game is pretty rare, and I always loved stuff like in the Azim steppe where people are playing the morin khuur. It also creeped me the fuck out.
So haunting yet so beautiful, and so very, very sad. What a great zone and storyline. I was not ready for those tears.
Dear god this song just hits my being in such a way it feels like some kind of theme I would hear in a French film in the midst of a moment of sorrow or loss and its so damn amazing
Dunno if it's been said here but the vibe I got from doing Garlemald was very Mulan. We were rallying to go fight our biggest foe, we had the support of our closest allies, we were going to fight the good fight. It's literally the scene where the song "A Girl Worth Fighting For" is playing. We are determined and jovial prior to arriving in a burned down and haunting scene, the reality that war is hell. There's never been a war were only one side bled. The harsh realization that the Garleans too suffered immensely and that we were viewed as invaders added to the cruel reality of what was going on while we only saw them as "the enemy". I always love the 2 sides to every story aspect that some stories pull, here especially.
When I first started FFXIV back in early 2021, I knew we were going to see the destruction of Garlemald, but when Endwalker finally released at the Tail end of the same year... I didn't expect it to end like this.
You caused this... but didn't expect this
Easily the most haunting track in the game. Absolutely bleak.
Whenever I listen to this I just feel so...cold...
Still get fucking chills listening to this
"Bereft of hope, and now dignity."
"Bond, forged in blood....that I will not see tarnished." 0:42
Oh my god, how did I only just realize this is playing to the tune of Imperial will!?
There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum-trees in tremulous white;
Robins will wear their feathery fire
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;
And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.
Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree
If mankind perished utterly;
And Spring herself, when she woke at dawn,
Would scarcely know that we were gone.
I think this is we’re I personally felt hopeless as our character is the hero it’s the first that no matter what we did to “help” it do nothing but make things worse like I was so personally pissed that we couldn’t do nothing and people were throwing there lives away honestly endwalker is amazing
This theme is like an elegy. It's so fitting, the depressing theme of it, of people crying over what they lost but still trying to stand proud. They are no strangers to adversity: since they were driven away from their homeland by the "savages" they hate, those with a talent for magic while they have none. However, unity made them strong, under the banner of their emperors, which they basically deified and taught them that there is strength in unity and purpose (and magitek).
It's so fitting their emperor was in the end turned into an eikon and abomination. For me, the true sense of hopelessness comes from the fact that they were all abandoned by their emperor, and their prince doesn't even care about them; for Zenos, who only pursues his own distorted pleasures, they might as well not exist. In his eyes, only the strong belong in the world, and the imperials are, ultimately, weak.
I'm listening to this right now alone in my apartment, sitting on my mattress while sipping a bottle. This soundtrack fits perfectly
The Garlemald section if Endwalker is the true litmus test of people actually have any sort of compassion and critical thinking skills. If you're not taken aback by Quintus' death or the grief of the Garlean people, you're an idiot who is unable to see other people's point of view.
It's ironic how many people on Twitter hate this section.
I have no love for the Garlean Empire. But at the same time, I know that going Dalamud on whoever is left solves nothing. Even though I wanted to grab Quintus by his collar when he starts preaching unity.
How's that? Did I pass the litmus test?
Sounds like a beautiful tango, a tango of hopelessness. I love it.
Omg!!! I’m searching this since first time hear this!! Thanks for upload buddy😰
Man. This game got DARK.
Stand strong, proud people of Garlemald. We just need to hold on a little longer. Help is coming. The Legions are coming home....they have to....
If Steiner attacks, everything will be fine
Honestly this gives me pretty heavy last days of Rome vibes. Like the Empire is over, everyone knows the end is coming and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it now. So, while this is a joyful occasion to us, the empire’s enemies. To them it must seem like the world is ending, and it quite literally did. But now the survivors are forced to pick up the pieces. Problem is, old glories die hard. I doubt we have seen the last of Gaerlamald, personally I suspect some sort of restorationist movement will arise to fight the alliance aligned Gaerlans at some point.
The song should be a hopeful song but the tone and vocals are depressive... its crafted that well in a land that is stuffed and nothing they can do to return
I don't think this was what the alliance came here to see... and it's made worse by a ascians and zeno and the power struggle and their spiralling attempts to keep power.
It was at this moment when I was like "So it's gonna be like that huh, we just going left face into darkness now".
"First came the war, then came the roar. When morning came, Garlemald was no more."
For a PG-13 game ffxiv has a lot of dark themes like murder, rape, depression, alcoholism, substance abuse and suicide. The writers do such a great job of including these adult themes in a toned down manner yet it still hits you hard. What a great game.
Ffxiv isnt pg-13 its age rated for 16+
@@JetEriksen wtf kind of backwoods country has a 16+ rating? France?
@@JetEriksen my previous reply with the link isn't showing but ffxiv's agreement says it's meant for children above 13.
Wait rape ? I don't remember it unless it was a side quest ?
@@nawafbinhumaid_9181 iirc it was a minion's description or a stuffed doll that was crafted by someone after the woman they 'adored' (stalked and raped, atleast that's what I thought bc the guy was a fanatic) passed away or ran away and it is implied he does things to the doll with her in mind now. It was about two years ago now so I don't remember precisely what the description was of, and I could've just interpreted it in the way I tell here so take it with a pinch of salt.
Welcome to Endwalker.
To them it was Liberty... or death
if this were some other somber song from the game, I don't think the moments where you hear this track would be nearly as memorable.
this song sets the tone for when it plays as truly haunting. the low fidelity of the radio, the liminal melody, the applause that is compressed to the point of no longer sounding like applause but just white noise.
this track, and every moment it plays, all set in the feeling resonating in the souls of the remaining garleans, whether they want to believe it or not: "there's nobody else, and it is so cold."
if every other region in the game is to take inspiration from one in the real world, then garlemald is this world's equivalent of Cold War Russia.
One of the most kino segments in the game
It's sad to think that the Quintis we meet is a broken soldier who watched his beloved home devour itself from the inside out. He maintains his façade of pride in front of us for the most part, but deep down he knows what he has to do (give up)...
Giving up for Quintis isn't suicide, it's allowing the enemy to take care of the people that were his charge/take over Garlemald, and his responsibility. The only way he could save face was suicide. Anything else was dishonorable to the point of intolerability, impossible.
This mirrors a real occurrences from the authors cultural history.
if depression had a sound, this would be it
Really haunting, perfect for the corpse of Garlemald's capital.
Leave it to Soken to make such a beautiful tune out of that annoying Galean theme we have heard a thousand times.
It was more than just soken this Time around. And I love it
the beauty and versatility of music, a few simple changes can make a song youve heard a thousand times feel fresh and new.
It was a freaky moment to know that the Garlemald theme canonically exists in-game as a lo-fi version
It really just set in that the last thing some of these soilders ever saw was a dancing lalafell wearing a cat hoodie
*the body's are already cold*
I think this track perfectly encapsulates my feelings on Garlemald in EW. The people and hopes and dreams just like any other person, even if they were built on ideas embedded into them by their leaders. I can’t forgive what they’ve done because none of it can be forgiven, but they… they just wanted their homeland back. They wanted to be left alone by the rest of the world after being beaten down over and over and over again, and then they indulged in their revenge. It wasn’t enough to beat back their enemies, they needed to dish out what they had received. Now here they are, battered once again shivering in the freezing tundra, devoid of all hope and desperate for whatever they can cling onto; holding onto the idea of pulling themselves up from their bootstraps with no help. All I could think while I played through this section was “They aren’t deserving of forgiveness, but I can’t bring myself to hate them anymore”
.... And now dignity
Radios in Xenoblade: It was all canon. All of it. From the very beginning.
Radios in FFXIV: lmao depression.
as someone who has been confronted with this very exact scenario of people not wanting you to help them despite them desperately needing your help- this scene was utterly foreign and baffling. the scions are already paramilitary, and both of the twins have killed people. other than "they needed this to make the arc work" I couldn't even understand why their reactions were written in such a way
and I still don't, even after discussions with people who loved it. garlemald needed more time to cook, and the twins didn't need most of these scenes because they had already done these things prior. the only important part was they finally had a moment to bond.
This song is more relatable than ever, even or especially in todays time...Stay safe folks, we will all make it.
Seriously bone chilling. Garlemald was such a feeling, I didn’t even know where the song was coming from until I noticed it was the radios. I loved this part of the expansion but honestly did not expect it to go this way at all. So many other comments have described it so well.
I just got to this part and seeing the sisters dead when I thought I would be doing some heroic stuff just made me go... yikes... the music is so eerie, haunting, and sad at the same time...
This zone really does an excellent job of showing how things were from the average Garlean's perspective; deeds that people hail you as a hero for in Eorzea were ruthless slaughter of family and friends to them. The body swap duty too, in how it shows you just how ridiculously powerful the Warrior of Light is compared to a regular person.
@@debleb166 Indeed that is the essence of war, there are no true winners.
It's also interesting to see how ideology shapes our decisions. For a Garlean soldier like Quintus there is no world after the Empire, he would never go out and die for the civilians or to salvage what remained. Because to him Garlemald's future is forever gone. And without it his life holds no meaning, the rest of the world holds no meaning.
Contrast to if the city states where on the verge, or similar events. Merlwyrb and the rest would be on the front line to make sure as many as possible could survive.
The image of what comes after, the future is a powerful one and it dictates how we decide to live in relation to the world.
This version of the song definitely gives me more complicated feelings fighting Luvia and Gaius for the 18,000th time.
I could’ve only imagined how heartbroken the guy would be seeing his once proud nation reduced to ruin by a madman and his nihilistic partner
God this part made me feel like such a monster... D:
I mean, they did start all of it by invading almost every realms of the world, and went on a killing spree, including inside the old Scions HQ.
why? You didn't do anything. The Garleans were manipulated by their leaders, not you. This woman died because she could only cling to national pride and longing for a strong and overpowering leader, both of which were the very cause of her plight and the tempering of her friends.
Lol, calm down. They were still propagandised civilians and I still felt like the bogeyman.
To me the garleans will forever be the biggest cowards and hypocrits. They are so afraid of anyone taking something from them again they'd rather invade and oppress the whole world and their cultures and force them to become "garlean" or rather just legal slaves.
They always called everyone else barbarians yet they built the most brutal machines and weapons and did the most insane experiments on the people they oppress.
@@Xyrenos I agree, and no amount of humanising will undo all of that - was just expressing how the cutscene hit me.
Idk this theme is so calming
Probably intentional but this reminds me of wwii radio
i want this orchestrion roll in my apartment 🥲( i hope they will add in game soon uwu )
add to 6.1patch(noisy version orchestrion roll) YoshiP said
@@garlean2578 wow thank you !!!!
are there garlean radio decorations?
Not sure if you know, but if you get to shared fate level 3 in garlemald you can buy the orchestrion with bicolor gemstones
I didn’t feel bad for the right hand man of a ‘too real’ villain for obvious reasons, but I can feel bad for the innocent people applauding the singers in the muffled recording.
You say that but Quintus and Varis both wanted peace for their people similar to Emet-Selch. All are pitiable men similar to the leaders of Eorzea only that Varis never got the chance to change or atone and Quintus was a broken man with no way to lead his people.
@@historian252 I think Quintus "my entire nation is crumbling to pieces and I'm so stuck in my ways that I can't see any way to fix it beyond holding to the way things were" van Cinna comes out looking a little more pitiable and sad than "One True Race" Varris and "World's Loneliest Mass-Genocide" Hades
@@37calorieghost35 Yet isn't that the same way plenty of the Eorzeans see it as. Plenty if not a majority rather stick to their old ways. Varis wanting to bring an end to the conflicts amongst the different races of Eorzea especially as we know they all used to be one group is an understandable goal but the process to achieve it requires a lot of pain that even the world isn't able to handle
@@historian252 Uhhh I don't think I'm really qualified to explain in depth why Varris' idea of a 'better future' is a deeply disturbing concept from a clearly disturbed character based in a real world pseudoscientific ideology but generally we regard eugenics and "the true master race" ideas with scorn at minimum. Varris' wanted to conquer and subjugate the masses under his will so that he could help the Ascians bring about the rejoining and stab them in the back when they made good on what he believed to be genuine promises to rise those who survived up to the ranks of the ancients. Regardless of his 'reasoning' if you can even call it that, his desires are invariably horrifying and the actions he took to try and achieve them unequivocally evil, especially since he hadnt a single clue what any of the stuff he was spouting at the peace talks at the Ghimlyt Dark meant in the grand scheme of things.
@@historian252 I lost sympathy for Varis when he decided genocide with chemical weapons was the way to go. Cool motive, still murder.
Kinda sounds like what comes out of a record player that you force backwards.
I have a strong suspicion that this song being played on the radio is supposed to be a reference to Podmoskovnye Vechera (Moscow Nights), which iirc played on Soviet radio when there was no current running broadcast.
Once again, SE pulls a page out of history.
The Garlemald zone screams WW2 Japan.
The smoldering ruins left in the wake of the firebombing of Tokyo and the two nukes...
The soldiers who refused orders to stand down and took over the imperial palace to stop the Emperor from surrendering...
It's sad how people dismiss real history as "boring" when all fantasy works is derived from human history in some way shape or form.
screams more post-WW2 germany to me
@@garfieltinsel9696 probably has inspiration from both
It's very much any place where major fighting took place in WW2. Pretty much all of continental Europe was reduced to rubble and the old empires were crumbling (even the victorious ones, albeit slowly).
On a sidenote, this is also a fate that the eastern bloc of the Cold war just narrowly dodged. There was a planned invasion of Poland in 1980 (similar to that of 1968 of Czechoslovakia), and USSR itself was on the cusp of civil war shortly before it colapsed. It reminded me of it because the choir there is quite reminiscent of the Soviet choir style, and some item names in the area are very much either straight out named in russian (eg. the imperial ushanka drops in the Tower of Babil), or get very close.
Given where the game is from, though, and what the authors witnessed in history lessons and history documents, yeah, post WW2 Japan is very likely an inspiration here.
I especially love the part in history when the dragons and the elves went to war for 1000 years.
@@RevenantBob Its like you completely missed the point of OPs comment. Outstanding.
The best part of the game. And we know little context behind who really wrote this masterpiece. This is definitely the handiwork of someone that respected the last 8 years of the veterans 🙏
man.
I played through this chapter when the war in Ukraine started. The music and atmosphere hit me like a wall of bricks..
This is giving me Pathologic vibes
this would've been nice to listen to without immediate spoilers haha
its one of the creepiest song in FFXIV , i kinda remember one of those countries where they had a propaganda and almost wiped out a race..
This song is haunted nationalism.
Too bad we never heard Varis sing....
I bet Darth Legolas had a lovely singing voice.
I want the lyric of this
everywhere at the end of eorzea
These kinds of stories where there's hopelessness with no light at the end of the tunnel isn't my kind of thing, but even so I can easily see this was the objectively best written part of EW's story.