As someone who grew up a military brat and joined the military myself, Jullus and Quintus are both very believable characters for me. No spoilers, but I saw a lot of young me in Jullus and a lot of my dad and his generation in Quintus. That whole Garlemald story hit me hard.
They seem ridiculous from our perspective, but they've lived in an entirely different kind of society that's dealt with constant oppression from other races for centuries. I found them believable as well. They only know other countries through their history and their propaganda
Agreed. Garlemald was where EW hooked me. I was alright with roaming sharlayan, and wholly bored by thavnair, but Garlemald grabbed me for that exact reason.
Having played the Garlemald chapter on our Independence Day, it certainly added some extra impact to its themes of patriotic fervor and stubbornness in the face of defeat...
Heyo people! Your mods here! Please don’t post spoiler comments. All you are doing is hurting yourselves and hurting my right hand because you are making me click buttons I didn’t have to click if you didn’t spoil. Are you gonna pay for my wrist surgeries? Are you gonna be my sugar-chat?!?! Didn’t think so, so stop spoiling! 🥰
38:30 Something interesting I didn't see brought up on stream/chat: Alphinaud's line during the funeral scene, "[...] we will find a way to help your loved ones...and see that no more children are left to freeze alone in the snow." Is a near-direct quote from some of Ysayle's last words in Heavensward-both in the cutscene in Azys La, and the accompanying short story. "[...] even now, I cannot let go of my dream-my dream of a tomorrow in which no child need freeze alone in the snow." It's a touching reference IMO, and really makes me miss HSW in an unexpected way.
Yeah, people complain that Haurchefants death gets beaten over our heads while Ysayle’s is ignore -they’re not picking up on Ysayle is Alphinaud’s Haurchefant. She is who he looks back on when remembering sacrifice. Alise has her grandpa, Lyse has Papylimo, Urianger has Moenbryda, Thancred has Minfilia, and Y’shtola has…
@@siyreanI was thinking about this exact thing a couple days ago, but I hadn’t considered Y’shtola,, and as much as I like her you’ve got a point. Makes me think they should’ve killed Matoya at some point.
@@sladeclegane9709 To be fair, Y'shtola sacrificed her sight back in ARR. But understandably not another person of import like the others so its not a 1:1 comparison.
So, take of this what you will. The summer before Endwalker launched, I was pre-ordered and had a medical catastrophe due to a long-term condition (kupo cancer). I was unaware of anything, though, until I woke up on the 4th of July in a hospital to find out that I'd died and fought my way back. Took months to get to the point where I could go home, stand, walk, etc. All this so I could play this expansion because no way in hell was I going to miss it. Endwalker, when I was still recovering emotionally from that experience, DESTROYED me and I will forever be grateful for it. Y'all speculating about the WoL having to "walk through the valley of the shadow of death" and reaching the other side only because of the Scions... I kinda *lived* that IRL. And then I played Endwalker. I am loving your speculations. Oh, the sights you will see. The sights you will see.
@@TheRedKnaveLP Technically that isn't entirely true. It seems more likely that some combination of the two is at work. A DK's power comes from pouring their aether into their emotions and it manifesting as dark fire. Their abilities are still aether. Bards likewise are basically using a kind of technique derived from methods developed back when the dragons, moggles and elezen lived together to allow mortals to be part of the dragonsong. It is a kind of aetheric communication in the same way using music as a proxy. Dancer I am a bit less clear on thought from memory it was a method originally developed to cleanse Aetheric corruption left behind by tragedy and death.
Garlemald was extremely hard for my husband to go through. The way the Garleans react to/treat the Eorzeans feels way too familiar to how we've had people react to/treat us in our actual lives. When you've experienced people actively trying to tear your life apart, say it's your own fault, but you'd still try to offer your hand in assistance when they need it and they not only slap it away but spit in your face, it's hard to continuing having any sympathy for them. These are people that would rather die than question their own beliefs about you and accept the help of the monster they believe you to be. Essentially, the zone was hard, not because it was poorly done, but because it was TOO well done and the people were TOO believable. They're modeled after the kind of people that make us fear for our safety IRL. My husband says this is the only time he felt like the WoL wasn't him, he couldn't have made the same kinds of choices that the WoL made in Garlemald.
I can't disagree more about the Tower of Zot's music. References to FF4 aside, the music feels eerie and disconcerting to me so I felt like it really worked. That saaaaid, it's super subjective and I love seeing other perspectives. Rock on guys
I am with you.. It really feels to me like a corruption of typical triumphant adventuring music. Familiar, yet just off, hiding something sinister just around the next corner kinda feeling.
The Tower of Zot music is basically "Golbez, Clad in Dark" at a faster tempo, and Golbez's theme is definitely a musical reference to The Imperial March from Star Wars. I don't think anyone outside of Kyle could think it sounds upbeat and hopeful, lol. (sorry Kyle, ha ha). I do, however, see how people could feel the march-like quality to the music (or as Joey says in the comments here, foreboding military music with a repetitive sound). I can see how someone could hearing that driving "march" underneath the ominous melody and think the song is meant to be upbeat. I mean the dude is performing a live show and focusing on healing as well. There's a lot going on there that would distract a person.
I'm in the same seat as you, Annielusion. Disregarding it as a reference to FF4, I think the music definitely has an eerie tone, not a triumphant one. The rhythmic beat also makes me think more of a slow, laborious trek than a triumphant march. Fitting, when climbing a spooky tower. I also think the monsters are exactly what I'd expect in a Garlean tower crafted by an ascian who used to be an Allagan.
I'm glad Garrett picked up on the Akasha - Limit Break connection that Nidhanna suggests. Remember, Duty Finder is canon via Shadowbringers lore (aka Azem's summoning incantation)...
We usually gathered *friendly adventurer companies* a la, another thing that's canon is Guilds in FFXIV. A la, like REAL PEOPLE'S Guilds. lol@@Kekira I know they are called Free Companies, but it makes another *video game mechanic* canon. lol
Hell, even roulettes are pseudo-canon by way of the adventurer's guild and grand companies; it's really just you picking up and doing a job that's "similar enough to remind you of" a dungeon you've run before.
The radio song is a musical reference to an old polish song about how "Poland is not yet lost so long as the people of Poland survive". It's a death march, cruelly implying that it's a futile effort. Soken off his shits making musical references outside of ff leitmotifs.
An interesting non-spoiler, just a callback to ARR, is that the "using bits of people for Summoning" idea has precedent. The Extreme versions of the original three primals - Ifrit, Titan and Garuda - are specifically summoned using fetishes made up from bones of their own worshippers, which apparently gave the Summons some extra oomph (essentially giving an in-game reason for why they're so much more powerful as Extremes than as Hard Modes). And it was a trick shown to the so-called beast tribes by the Ascians. So it'd make sense that Fandaniel would pull out this old trick to pump up the jam on what they've got cooking here.. if that's what's happening~
🔴🐟+🍳🧑🍳 Also, I did really appreciate the way that the writers had Quintus approached the WoL: #1 He's competent enough know who we are, #2 that putting a shock collar on us won't do anything, and #3 that torturing someone else instead of us is more effective (classic supervillain trope). It works even better as a gameplay design choice too, because it "allows" the player in canon to just leave and do whatever they want, but they have to accept that the twins will be in this situation until you come back.
Classic supervillain, yes, but also VERY pragmatic for someone who's dealing with the Worst Nightmare of the Garlean Empire with half of a broken regiment, a bunch of refugees, and no fuel.
Something which may help in some interpretation and clarification "return to the Aethereal Sea" is a phrase used to reference the moment of death. As such from Montague's classroom explanation, when one dies, the memories the spell obscured by its mechanism, are recalled by the soul once more. Unfortunately you also drift apart and dissipate at this point, but it's like remembering "oh, that's the reason i walked in to that room before... damn".
To comment on kyle's point about stories where bodies are cut up. Its not just fantasy. The story of Osiris from ancient egypt is the story of how osiris was cut up into many pieces and scattered so that he would never reconstitute. Isis then scours the earth and reassembles him. This story is literally as old as time.
Akasha as an energy source like aether isn't a new concept. The Bard and Dancer story quests use it as an explanation for their powers, and probably the Dark Knight to a lesser extent but I'm not 100% confident on that one. Endwalker only gives it a proper name and an official status as a scientific field of study instead of being a vague energy that exists and does stuff but nobody really questions.
It was a "known unknown". Many scholars still ascribe their powers to aether manipulation and bard is using eather manipulation whan using fancy arrows but efects of songs are different enough to think that akasha might be a better explanation. Of course, Akasha being so subtle and Aether so versitile I do understand confusion but I do think it is a better explanation for bard and dancers.
Despite the Dark Knight storyline never explicitly pointing it out, I'd argue that DRK is definitely up there as one of the most Akasha utilizing jobs in the game. Harnessing your righteous fury to lay the hurt on evildoers, and your desire to protect yourself and others manifesting as an absorption shield just reeks of Akashic influence.
@@Deuzen_FIN While I do agree it would fit in terms of theme, DRK abilities are purly aether based. Your "inner darknes" or souls being a source but it is just magic and not akasha. Hell, they even use MP bar for it, unlike WAR who just command aether by a virtue of being quite angry. Most jobs are easly explained by aether, but BRD's songs buffing alies and DNC entire storyline is very akashic (hehe) and are much better explanations than old aether.
@@kfarc9687 I'm not saying it's purely Akasha, but it's likely serving as catalyst or such for the most potent Aetheric reactions. Also the impression I got is that Nidhana implies some of what we as Eorzeans have been taught is Aetheric alchemy and magick could actually be (at least partially) Akashic; it's just been mislabeled and misunderstood since Eorzean and Sharlayan scholars (even ones as voracious for knowledge as Shtola) weren't aware of the Akashic Theory before.
I think the memory magic used on the Forum isn't really "we can be trusted but you can't" so much as "this is forbidden to use on anyone, but we have collectively agreed to use it on ourselves." They understand why they've set the rule that it's forbidden to be used on others and yet they still willingly use it on themselves. They're subjugated themselves in a sense, so there's a level of severity of understanding the consequences of the magic and furthermore the severity of whatever they're ensuring they don't reveal outside the Forum. Also, can't wait for the next stream because, as with so many of us, I think it might break their brains. :)
39:30 it was Doma's Shinobi who spread the rumours about Zenos being possessed by a demon, Elidibus was doing his best to squash any naysayers, but doing it too blatantly which exacerbated the situation in Varis' mind.
I do love that the Sharlayan classroom scene explains the Seventh Umbral Calamity memory loss, because that is truly the first mystery the game presents, and they end up explaining it 8 years later
The song on that radio is one of my favorites. It's just so solemn and creepy. I was so happy when they finally released it as an oechestrion roll. Gave me a reason to grind Rank 3 Fates.
Regarding the talisman, it's important to remember that the Allagans were the first to make it under Owen's supervision. It is what Amon was talking about when he showed up when the alchemist finally made their version. Allagan are intricately linked with the Garlean Empire as a result of Emet's involvement so it would come as no surprise that they were able to create a similar device. Also, Allagans were experimenting on dragons as well so even the ingredients would likely be similar
The Tower of Zot may not be the greatest of dungeons, but it drops some of the nicest weapon glams in the game. Black with purple glow - the samurai's looks like a purple lightsaber! "Hey, what about the limb Y'shtola saw?" and "Did Nidhana just explain how LB works?" were questions we were all asking in the couple of days after EW's launch. The radio is playing a soft variation of the old 'Meanwhile in the Garlean Empire' music.
"Work that you can't quit is still....slavery" (*Laughs in Army Vet) I love watching you guys cook because it just builds up our anticipation to see you have all of your questions answered
So, not a spoiler, but some people might think of it as such: . . . . . . . . . . . . . Garleans can't use Aether, but they do have it in their bodies.
I love how your WoL have their mouths open at the end of Montegue’s explanation. To me it feels like that’s the moment it truly hits home for your character that you are Azem. It’s one of the few times msq lets your character show unique emotion and not just another clenched fist.
I’m surprised that the Warrior of Light’s clenched fist is the basis of using clenched fists as a meme reaction image since the Warrior of Light clenches their fist more.
I agree with you about the Sisters. For someone like me who didn't play the earlier FF games, there's a common experience with references like this: -Point out that something in the story didn't land or felt really out of place. -"That's because it was a reference to a prior FF game!" -Oh, well no wonder it didn't land and/or felt really out of place. Knowing it was a reference doesn't make it land any better.
I did not expect Garrett to pick up on the Limit Break connection. I mean it was fairly explicit, but because of that (and the fact that it's the magic/power/whatever system) I expected Kyle to freak out about that. Good catch, glad to see it's still on the shelf for when you need to cook some more.
The great thing about this game is that either (1) you don't have all the pieces and can't predict it or (2) you have the pieces and don't realize how they go together. Some of both in this video. I love it. :D I really enjoyed that I couldn't predict this game. So much of Western pop culture I can predict from the trailer. It was a pleasure to be surprised.
the talks of akasha is actually not so far off if you picked up quests related to bard/dancer. Though they don't inadvertedly say it as such, suggested implications may have leaned closer to the concept of Akasha, especially given that these respective aspects of their lore involve the emotions evoked by a bard's song and dancers' ability to provoke the negativity out of their audience.
Thank you for this post! Previously, it was hinted at by Omega, as well. Omega's entire raid is the damned robot trying to figure out what it is about you that makes you so strong. Omega can't see akasa- only aether.
It's funny. You guys talking about the radio reminded me of a talk I listened to about writing. "People will believe the impossible, but they won't believe the improbable."
That is to say, if this happened in real life and the radio thing happened, no one would be complaining about it. But because this is a written story, you think this is far too convenient. There's less fantastical examples, but I'm sure you get what I mean
One thing that always impressed me in this chapter was looking at the level of technology in Garlemald. Even to create a subway like Terminus which seem almost equivalent to what we have in real life. No wonder why they considered Eorzean's savages. Garlemald is a country of science, hospitals and magitech computers. I'm fairly sure Gridania doesn't even have indoor plumbing.
Yeah but verrasise though. I'd trade all the hospitals in the world for a spell that could return life to the dead at the snap of a finger. Even if it is very situational, magic is so much more powerful than technology. I think what makes technology so special, though, is the same thing that made the gun special in our world. Anyone can pick up a gun and be a soldier but it takes years of training to be a powerful mage. Sure, that mage can roast like thirty of your gunmen, but at you can always make more people.
So much appreciation for how much work you two put in on the editing of these videos. It really makes them a joy to watch. Thank you for cooking up a feast. Garret's read of Alisae's dialog at 35:45 particularly, with the melancholic radio music playing over it. I don't think it was on purpose there, but it hits me right in the theater kid feels. Oh and at 39:25 - "Rumors" of Zenos being possessed by a demon was actually our (mostly Thancred's) fault. During post-Stormblood MSQ when the Garleans started rallying because of Zenobus showing up, Thancred suggests spreading the truth as a rumor to hurt enemy morale.
I finally got a job and have some paperwork to do in person tomorrow, but I hope to catch the majority of tomorrow's stream! Also, at FanFest I and my friends dressed as Last Stand employees, and we handed out gummy burgers to any G'raha Tia cosplayers we found. I even got Kyle and Garrett to sign my apron at the fan meet up!
3:54 I must disagree just a tad here. (as someone that has played no other FF games) It is established that the Towers are powered by all of the unfortunate souls that are trapped within the tower. In the first tower we saw, with Arenvald and Fordola, it was Amalj'aa that were trapped in the Tower, which birthed Lunar Ifrit. In Pagalth'an, there was a vast host of tempered dragons, which led to Lunar Bahamut. So when Zot is being powered by the Hannish, it leads to a manifestation of their gods: The Magus Sisters. I also, personally, don't find the music the slightest bit hopeful or uplifting. The percussion is very "forced march" or army-like, giving credence to the subjugation of the Hannish people, and the main melody is rather eerie and tense. But, of course, music is a quintessential subjective experience.
I think the issue was less that the tower produced primals of Hannish gods but that it didn't produce *lunar versions* of those primals. We didn't get Lunar Magus Sisters, we got the Magus Sisters. Which is a pretty valid point for breaking with the theming, but yeah, the devs probably went that way due to the recognizability factor (i.e. we didn't have the Sisters in the game already, so doing a variation on their design would make the reference potentially too far removed from FF4/10)
I heard this during the livestream as well, but I'm so confused how the Tower of Zot could be read as heroic music. To me it's just dread and a feeble attempt to remain standing upright. Of course, maybe the song hits differently to me since in the original game, it's a remix of "Golbez, Clad in Darkness" which definitely demands respect from you and you hear Golbez' theme first. FF4 Tower of Zot: ua-cam.com/video/XI_bwTmiF-g/v-deo.html FF4 Golbez, Clad in Darkness: ua-cam.com/video/o7xoXa5_A8o/v-deo.html
Just barely started this but to address the 'why not talk about the arm' - I think you might have glossed over a bit how horrific the garlean tech has gotten over the last couple expansions. Those roader enemies? Used to be people. The hypertuned technology is also people and has been expanded. They've literally been turning people into mindless organic robot slaves for their armies. And by the way, these towers feel oddly organic too no? So yeah, it's not a pointless question since the arm in question was apparently inside the core but you and your friends have been seeing a lot of traumatizing stuff since Stormblood. Edit: As a lot of this conversation is addressing humanizing the Garleans, I would note that this more horrific tech is probably not in use in ALL of the legions. Just ones that think like Zenos and employed the same scientists. The legion in Bozja I think is another one that did some really war crime-level stuff but the others may be more normal level of atrocity.
If they’ve glossed over the roaders or hypertuned, it’s more likely they dont stand out as much anymore because when Kyle first saw them in Stormblood, he went on and on about all the Garlean experimentation and how grotesque it was. Not to mention their experience with the Sorrow of Werlyt.
@@NajaSide Right, that's part of the point, honestly. So when they ask "why not talk about the arm?" it's like, we're all kind of numb to the mutilation tech by now. Y'shtola's shock could just as easily sound to everyone like "what are these psychos doing this time?!"
@@BananaMellor Hm, I can see that I suppose? I do think her interest in it is weirdly overly focused on for how little they do with it, but I can see the angle you’re coming from
Ho boy, can't wait for tomorrow's stream. Also not really mentioned and something i love is Garlemald's zone music. It REALLY stands out from most other zones with its hauntingly empty sound it has. You can really feel the weight of what happened in Garlemald through its music and I love it (plus add the radio track being an almost more broken down haunting version of the og garlean track on top of the zone music).
Having recently beaten Final Fantasy 4, a lot more of the story beats in the "Tower arc" of Endwalker are so much cooler to see now that I get the references there.
FFIV is my favorite Final Fantasy and I kind of worried that it was almost TOO much FFIV love this expansion. People seem to be confused about a lot of the references, lol.
I love that that I got an ad playing soldier boy music, that made me think for a moment you edited that in, only to skip the ad and have let the bodies hit the floor play not a second later. I’ve never had doubled whiplash before but here we are.
GG may have forgotten, but a soulless body does have aether, corporeal aether. It was explained that people are made of corporeal aether of the body, and the incorporeal aether of memories and soul. 3 types. Garleans have aether they just can't manipulate it to cast spells naturally.
I also did my playthrough alongside a friend and I remember commenting on the sound design around Victors' Spoils, where it sounded like there was a radio playing just at the edge of your hearing, and that turning into delight when minutes later I learned that's exactly what it was.
This video has me soooooooo hyped for Thursdays MSQ stream! I love listening to you guys cook. I wish I had played the MSQ a bit slower and let myself cook too!
The talismans and the radios being similar probably has something to do with Fandaniel remarking offhand that the talismans look similar to something else. Considering Emet-Selch was the big Magitek pusher and built the empire on the concept of fighting the rest of the world's primals while convincing people to summon primals, making something to resist tempering makes sense.
Fandaniel was more likely talking about how it's similar to Owen's research before Amon (Fandaniel) shut it all down. Which is why he was trying to remember the guy's name earlier on as well.
Fandaniel remarking that the talismans look like something else and how similar time flows has to do with his time as Amon. You would remember the quests leading up to Endwalker where we help Raha and Alisiae finalize their cure for tempering? Allag would need a protection against Eikons too... no?
I'm still making my way through Endwalker myself, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Varis (or even Emet) made the radios as a top secret project to protect the Garleans from tempering, just in case someone summoned a primal in the capital. It'd be an excellent way to secretly protect a good chunk of the populace/military without admitting the possibility of a primal attacking the capital (or revealing to the rest of the world there's a cure for tempering).
since Im sure yall will get to the next dungeon tomorrow, I highly recommend checking out the trust dialogue or doing it in your free time. I know you normally do just reiterating that its important to do for this dungeon. Have fun with your stream tomorrow!
I can only imagine the horrible puns Fandanamon, the worst Digimon, made to Zenos while carving up the mystery body. "We must HAND it to the Warrior of Light, his force of ARMS is really making us put in the LEG-work! His meddling is an EYE-sore! Indeed, he truly is at the HEART of our problems! I'd say he's kind of a DI-" And then Zenos hurled his scythe at him.
One big theme behind Endwalker is, of course, the sheer number of FF4 references that the team used. The Tower of Zot is one of those major references, up to and including the bosses and especially the final boss fight, wherein the proper way to kill the boss is exactly the same way as it was back in the original encounter in FF4's Tower of Zot. Sandy, Cindy and Mindy were something of a roadblock to us FF4 players back in the early 90's, and seeing the fight so lovingly re-created nearly 30 years later was a huge treat. And that's most of Endwalker; a nostalgia trip of the best kind from a group of caring devs to a loving fan base. It's no joke to say that FF4 fans eat good in this xpac, and that's part of why we love this team so much; because they're willing to go that extra mile to show they appreciate our fanboy-ism and they return our dedication in kind. But yeah, I think I agree with you in that the ToZ is a bit heavy in some ways when it comes to references. I still love the hell out of that place though. As for Akasha....what if I told you that [REDACTED] the [REDACTED]?
Watching the Endwalker trailer and seeing a paladin on the moon was cool for FFXIV fans, but it was amazing for FFIV fans. I feel like whole parts of Endwalker just hit harder for fans of the franchise. I guess that's kind of the whole game though.
The text dialogue when you find the sister's corpses lives rent free in my head. The brevity and bluntness of it. You're not even told you found them, you're not told they are dead, you're not told anything about "them" as people. Just the bodies are already cold. And having you comprehend what that line means makes it hit better than if they'd told you directly, even if it's just for a fraction of a second.
8:59 I know this is very unimportant, but I'm gonna gush about burgers anyway because I'm sick and hungry. G'raha and Alisaie's burgers are tied with the RE2 Remake truck driver's burger for my favorite video game burger representation. I don't know how the fantasy-Brits came up with burgers before the Eorzeans did, but gods DAMN that's a good lookin burg.
I'd suggest a quick trip back to the Stormblood meeting with Varis (during the intermission)....and the discussion between the WOL and Hien. It's a throw-a-way at the time....but infinitely more important in the present.
So you're saying Alisaie took the pickles off the burger and placed them near G'raha just to laugh later when he notices them and shoots ten feet in the air out of his chair?
@13:54 You've forgotten that we know from 3.4 that all Primals act as they are summoned to act. As Such, Ramuh is thought of as a wise man, so he understands "Don't conquer," "Just protect home," "I don't want to kill you, but I will test your resolve to protect my people, too." And how Ravanah is so honourable that he *Continues* to accept your stipulations to not attack the dragons after he lost. The only reason the other Primals are axe crazed murder-kidnappers is because these ones were summoned by already mind-screwed people who want that. Also, I love the Big Cook. But I think Kyle missed a very important part they just established earlier in a smaller cook. Garleans cannot manipulate Aether. Primals are called forth by hopes and dreams, the stuff of Akasha, and made of Aether. The next conclusion is "Garleans can still manipulate Akasha, even without control over aether."
I see what you’re saying to an extent… my main problem with that thought process is how strongly Primal Summoning has been compared and associated with Creation Magicks (and similarly Summoner/Arcanist Summoning Magicks) which- even if its not done by intent in the case of Primal summons -still made it feel like it required access to manipulate aether, they are more specifically shaped by the prayers in the way they act and the way they manifest physically. Course, there is always the possibility that they managed to create Magitek that could replicate those magicks, not unlike the Allagans in the Summoner’s Stormblood quest series.
Just adding to this (in terms of the idea of a Garlean primal) that not just ethnically-born Garleans may be true believers. Many people in the game have adopted a loyalty to a country or personage which was not "natively" theirs, such as Yotsuyu and Fordola; or Lucia to Aymeric/Ishgard; or Asahi to Zenos. With some conscripts having lived under Garlean principles for most of their existence, the summoning of a Garlean-specific primal would only need loyalty to the belief, meaning that it's feasible to bypass the question of Garlean physiology completely.
@@Final.Family Oh true, that's very possible! The summoning could very well happen from non-trueblood Garleans and then any subsequent empowering would be simple so long as it spreads its tempering.
One thing that still drives me nuts about the FFIV references... you have the Tower of Babil in Garlemald. On the map, to the East of Garlemald, there's a giant whose upper torso is above the clouds and yet we did not get a Giant of Babil to go along with the tower. The map has dragons around Ishgard. The map has the Four Lords around Kugane and the islands. The map has the Siren in the south. (It also has the Mog Station flying whale randomly south of Garlemald) But there's this big daggum giant that looks like a cross between Titan and Godzilla and there's been nothing!
Nidhana's explanation on Akasha and how it relates to Limit Break makes you think: Seat of Sacrifice where the Warrior of Light is throwing Limit Breaks left, right and center throughout the entire fight. Heightened emotions, desperation and so on... and here is Elidibus chaining one Limit Break into another, puts some things into perspective on his emotional state in the Seat of Sacrifice.
Your forgetting Elidibus was a primal can you imagine the amount of emotions prayer focused on him he was receiving. I wish the developers let us lb4 in the third trial of endwalker it would have been fun
yea I’ll just say it again, this format is perfect. The last few installments have all been 10/10 I’m at 30 minutes in and „Shadowbringers was filler“ and Garrett being an otter trying to arrange the cups were just soooo fun! Thanks for the good vibes ❤
46:30 ah, but in this case, it's more likely to be a reference to Osiris, who was cut up into 14 pieces and scattered across Egypt. FF sure does like referencing their titular number a lot
I welcome this reference since I miss Farscape too. I miss all the good ole 90s Sci-Fi shows. That were cut too short or went on too long. Especially, Stargate. lol
I love watching them speculate about things I know the truth for, the things they get wrong, the things they get right, but especially the things they get *half* right. It just makes me all the more excited to see how they react when they do find out the truth.
Same! This is where the story really starts getting sooo good. I can't wait to see their reactions. Endwalker starts slow, but the highs were so very high. Loved it
I love the radio. Shows you how the music that was the oppressive facist theme from our perspective is now an eerie nostalgic memory of a beautiful nation in the garleans eyes.
Seeing Video suggestions in the sidebar, I'm reminded that 11 Months ago, you guys were in a darker place...Il Mheg...with the Nu Mou...Darker times ;)
The point about the bosses in Zot not being the lunar versions is such a good point. I didn't even think about that. That radio music playing in the background during the garlean portion just kept giving me chills. It's such a haunting song. Really looking forward to tomorrow's marathon!
The Garlemald Empire is a combination of the Prussian (the uniforms and strict military doctrine), Roman (the Latin and all that), and Russian (location and despair) empires.
Honestly I liked the idea that the Garleans had created a device that made an aetheric feild that could protect against tempering and never realised because it was just a side effect of the function of the radio. In reality, it is suprising how often completely unexpected things can be discovered by pure fluke from things that have completely different uses.
The little potatoes and elves used magic and drove them into totally not Russia. Why would they do anything but despise you? Inside train town all the NPC's point out "Oh, it's you, you killed all my friends and squad mates at the castum, great, come to kill me to?"
There was probably 50 comments about this already, but I think the seeds of discord about Zenos being possessed by a demon were planted by the Doman spies. I think it was an idea from Thancred, and not from Elidibus.
When I arrived in Garlemald and met these survivors, it finally hit me how the Garleans see the people of Eorzea/Othard: Cars, Roads, Industry, Warmongering, Propaganda, No Magic - The Garleans are essentially 1930's Germany - and they are interacting with people running around with swords, spears, bows and arrows. Them calling us savages suddenly made sense to me for the first time. "Those people on the other continents can throw fire from their fingertips and summon monsters that take over your mind!" Of *course* they hate/fear the Ilsabard Contingent. This section is as much about humanizing the Garleans as it is about showing how the Garleans don't see the Ilsabard Contingent as humans.
Haven't been able to catch your streams recently but still watching VODs and loving your content! I had to drop a comment to compliment Garrett (I think?) on the drop of Torn From the Heavens with the explosion and Soken etc, laughed out loud there.
Elidibus was not the one that said Xenos was inhabited by a Demon. That was specifically Thancred. Elidibus brings it up because they squashed that rumor by killing everyone that said anything about it.
I love watching you theorize in these videos, it takes me back to thinking many of the same things. I can't wait to see your reactions at the end. Thank you for the wonderful content and great community.
As someone who grew up a military brat and joined the military myself, Jullus and Quintus are both very believable characters for me. No spoilers, but I saw a lot of young me in Jullus and a lot of my dad and his generation in Quintus. That whole Garlemald story hit me hard.
They seem ridiculous from our perspective, but they've lived in an entirely different kind of society that's dealt with constant oppression from other races for centuries. I found them believable as well. They only know other countries through their history and their propaganda
Agreed. Garlemald was where EW hooked me. I was alright with roaming sharlayan, and wholly bored by thavnair, but Garlemald grabbed me for that exact reason.
Having played the Garlemald chapter on our Independence Day, it certainly added some extra impact to its themes of patriotic fervor and stubbornness in the face of defeat...
Garlemald location wise is Siberia, but politically it's basically Imperial Japan at the end of WW2.
Yeah there really is the young soldier and the old soldier vibe with quintus and jullus
Heyo people! Your mods here! Please don’t post spoiler comments. All you are doing is hurting yourselves and hurting my right hand because you are making me click buttons I didn’t have to click if you didn’t spoil. Are you gonna pay for my wrist surgeries? Are you gonna be my sugar-chat?!?! Didn’t think so, so stop spoiling! 🥰
walkin on walkin on BROKEN GLAAAA~AAASSS
ROFL, dammit Jeese.
Can't wait for you and preach to pick their brains once they finish endwalker
Ah, I love that Garret caught the limit break and akasa relation! I got really giddy when it got to that part.
38:30 Something interesting I didn't see brought up on stream/chat: Alphinaud's line during the funeral scene, "[...] we will find a way to help your loved ones...and see that no more children are left to freeze alone in the snow." Is a near-direct quote from some of Ysayle's last words in Heavensward-both in the cutscene in Azys La, and the accompanying short story.
"[...] even now, I cannot let go of my dream-my dream of a tomorrow in which no child need freeze alone in the snow."
It's a touching reference IMO, and really makes me miss HSW in an unexpected way.
Yeah, people complain that Haurchefants death gets beaten over our heads while Ysayle’s is ignore -they’re not picking up on Ysayle is Alphinaud’s Haurchefant. She is who he looks back on when remembering sacrifice. Alise has her grandpa, Lyse has Papylimo, Urianger has Moenbryda, Thancred has Minfilia, and Y’shtola has…
I never made that connection before! Thank you!
@@siyreanI was thinking about this exact thing a couple days ago, but I hadn’t considered Y’shtola,, and as much as I like her you’ve got a point. Makes me think they should’ve killed Matoya at some point.
@@sladeclegane9709 To be fair, Y'shtola sacrificed her sight back in ARR. But understandably not another person of import like the others so its not a 1:1 comparison.
GG: we'll go all the way to "The Martyr"
Me: looked up what quest that is again
*excitement intensifies*
Consider my Jimmies rustled
xD yep
So, take of this what you will. The summer before Endwalker launched, I was pre-ordered and had a medical catastrophe due to a long-term condition (kupo cancer). I was unaware of anything, though, until I woke up on the 4th of July in a hospital to find out that I'd died and fought my way back. Took months to get to the point where I could go home, stand, walk, etc. All this so I could play this expansion because no way in hell was I going to miss it.
Endwalker, when I was still recovering emotionally from that experience, DESTROYED me and I will forever be grateful for it.
Y'all speculating about the WoL having to "walk through the valley of the shadow of death" and reaching the other side only because of the Scions... I kinda *lived* that IRL. And then I played Endwalker.
I am loving your speculations. Oh, the sights you will see. The sights you will see.
7:10 What's cool about the "new" magic system, is that if you play a bard or dancer you learn about it earlier since it is used in your job.
Also Dark Knight! It's funny to me that the three classes that use it are cute, cute and ARRRRGH
@@TheRedKnaveLPThat’s right, I forgot about the moogle quests!
Monk as well i suspect.
@@TheRedKnaveLP Technically that isn't entirely true. It seems more likely that some combination of the two is at work. A DK's power comes from pouring their aether into their emotions and it manifesting as dark fire. Their abilities are still aether. Bards likewise are basically using a kind of technique derived from methods developed back when the dragons, moggles and elezen lived together to allow mortals to be part of the dragonsong. It is a kind of aetheric communication in the same way using music as a proxy. Dancer I am a bit less clear on thought from memory it was a method originally developed to cleanse Aetheric corruption left behind by tragedy and death.
@@brynphillips9957
The monsters that show up in the DNC quest line look a lot like D[redacted] to me.
Garlemald was extremely hard for my husband to go through. The way the Garleans react to/treat the Eorzeans feels way too familiar to how we've had people react to/treat us in our actual lives. When you've experienced people actively trying to tear your life apart, say it's your own fault, but you'd still try to offer your hand in assistance when they need it and they not only slap it away but spit in your face, it's hard to continuing having any sympathy for them. These are people that would rather die than question their own beliefs about you and accept the help of the monster they believe you to be.
Essentially, the zone was hard, not because it was poorly done, but because it was TOO well done and the people were TOO believable. They're modeled after the kind of people that make us fear for our safety IRL. My husband says this is the only time he felt like the WoL wasn't him, he couldn't have made the same kinds of choices that the WoL made in Garlemald.
I can't disagree more about the Tower of Zot's music. References to FF4 aside, the music feels eerie and disconcerting to me so I felt like it really worked. That saaaaid, it's super subjective and I love seeing other perspectives. Rock on guys
Yeah I found that very interesting. How the music is written, it is not meant to be happy and triumphant lol
I am with you.. It really feels to me like a corruption of typical triumphant adventuring music. Familiar, yet just off, hiding something sinister just around the next corner kinda feeling.
I can see how Tower of Zot could give that feeling to people who haven't played ff4. To me its like foreboding military music. Simple and repetitive.
The Tower of Zot music is basically "Golbez, Clad in Dark" at a faster tempo, and Golbez's theme is definitely a musical reference to The Imperial March from Star Wars. I don't think anyone outside of Kyle could think it sounds upbeat and hopeful, lol. (sorry Kyle, ha ha). I do, however, see how people could feel the march-like quality to the music (or as Joey says in the comments here, foreboding military music with a repetitive sound).
I can see how someone could hearing that driving "march" underneath the ominous melody and think the song is meant to be upbeat. I mean the dude is performing a live show and focusing on healing as well. There's a lot going on there that would distract a person.
I'm in the same seat as you, Annielusion. Disregarding it as a reference to FF4, I think the music definitely has an eerie tone, not a triumphant one. The rhythmic beat also makes me think more of a slow, laborious trek than a triumphant march. Fitting, when climbing a spooky tower.
I also think the monsters are exactly what I'd expect in a Garlean tower crafted by an ascian who used to be an Allagan.
I'm glad Garrett picked up on the Akasha - Limit Break connection that Nidhanna suggests.
Remember, Duty Finder is canon via Shadowbringers lore (aka Azem's summoning incantation)...
Even though I know it's silly, I can't help but get a tad frustrated at how many people fail to put that together.
It was technically cannon before as they usually said we got together with friends.
We usually gathered *friendly adventurer companies* a la, another thing that's canon is Guilds in FFXIV. A la, like REAL PEOPLE'S Guilds. lol@@Kekira
I know they are called Free Companies, but it makes another *video game mechanic* canon. lol
Hell, even roulettes are pseudo-canon by way of the adventurer's guild and grand companies; it's really just you picking up and doing a job that's "similar enough to remind you of" a dungeon you've run before.
@@ArmageddonEvil I'm more so talking about Adventurer's Guild mates instead of FCs
The radio song is a musical reference to an old polish song about how "Poland is not yet lost so long as the people of Poland survive". It's a death march, cruelly implying that it's a futile effort.
Soken off his shits making musical references outside of ff leitmotifs.
10:29 How GG tells the comment section, "YES. WE KNOW."
An interesting non-spoiler, just a callback to ARR, is that the "using bits of people for Summoning" idea has precedent. The Extreme versions of the original three primals - Ifrit, Titan and Garuda - are specifically summoned using fetishes made up from bones of their own worshippers, which apparently gave the Summons some extra oomph (essentially giving an in-game reason for why they're so much more powerful as Extremes than as Hard Modes). And it was a trick shown to the so-called beast tribes by the Ascians. So it'd make sense that Fandaniel would pull out this old trick to pump up the jam on what they've got cooking here.. if that's what's happening~
Shinryu from SB was summoned from the entire field of corpses, not just Wyvren and nidhoggs eyes. It's been a thing all throughout.
🔴🐟+🍳🧑🍳
Also, I did really appreciate the way that the writers had Quintus approached the WoL: #1 He's competent enough know who we are, #2 that putting a shock collar on us won't do anything, and #3 that torturing someone else instead of us is more effective (classic supervillain trope). It works even better as a gameplay design choice too, because it "allows" the player in canon to just leave and do whatever they want, but they have to accept that the twins will be in this situation until you come back.
Classic supervillain, yes, but also VERY pragmatic for someone who's dealing with the Worst Nightmare of the Garlean Empire with half of a broken regiment, a bunch of refugees, and no fuel.
Something which may help in some interpretation and clarification "return to the Aethereal Sea" is a phrase used to reference the moment of death. As such from Montague's classroom explanation, when one dies, the memories the spell obscured by its mechanism, are recalled by the soul once more. Unfortunately you also drift apart and dissipate at this point, but it's like
remembering "oh, that's the reason i walked in to that room before... damn".
To comment on kyle's point about stories where bodies are cut up. Its not just fantasy. The story of Osiris from ancient egypt is the story of how osiris was cut up into many pieces and scattered so that he would never reconstitute. Isis then scours the earth and reassembles him. This story is literally as old as time.
Akasha as an energy source like aether isn't a new concept. The Bard and Dancer story quests use it as an explanation for their powers, and probably the Dark Knight to a lesser extent but I'm not 100% confident on that one. Endwalker only gives it a proper name and an official status as a scientific field of study instead of being a vague energy that exists and does stuff but nobody really questions.
Yeah, as a bard main, finally getting threads from those quests in endwalker was very very cool
It was a "known unknown". Many scholars still ascribe their powers to aether manipulation and bard is using eather manipulation whan using fancy arrows but efects of songs are different enough to think that akasha might be a better explanation. Of course, Akasha being so subtle and Aether so versitile I do understand confusion but I do think it is a better explanation for bard and dancers.
Despite the Dark Knight storyline never explicitly pointing it out, I'd argue that DRK is definitely up there as one of the most Akasha utilizing jobs in the game.
Harnessing your righteous fury to lay the hurt on evildoers, and your desire to protect yourself and others manifesting as an absorption shield just reeks of Akashic influence.
@@Deuzen_FIN While I do agree it would fit in terms of theme, DRK abilities are purly aether based. Your "inner darknes" or souls being a source but it is just magic and not akasha. Hell, they even use MP bar for it, unlike WAR who just command aether by a virtue of being quite angry. Most jobs are easly explained by aether, but BRD's songs buffing alies and DNC entire storyline is very akashic (hehe) and are much better explanations than old aether.
@@kfarc9687 I'm not saying it's purely Akasha, but it's likely serving as catalyst or such for the most potent Aetheric reactions.
Also the impression I got is that Nidhana implies some of what we as Eorzeans have been taught is Aetheric alchemy and magick could actually be (at least partially) Akashic;
it's just been mislabeled and misunderstood since Eorzean and Sharlayan scholars (even ones as voracious for knowledge as Shtola) weren't aware of the Akashic Theory before.
I think the memory magic used on the Forum isn't really "we can be trusted but you can't" so much as "this is forbidden to use on anyone, but we have collectively agreed to use it on ourselves."
They understand why they've set the rule that it's forbidden to be used on others and yet they still willingly use it on themselves. They're subjugated themselves in a sense, so there's a level of severity of understanding the consequences of the magic and furthermore the severity of whatever they're ensuring they don't reveal outside the Forum.
Also, can't wait for the next stream because, as with so many of us, I think it might break their brains. :)
39:30 it was Doma's Shinobi who spread the rumours about Zenos being possessed by a demon, Elidibus was doing his best to squash any naysayers, but doing it too blatantly which exacerbated the situation in Varis' mind.
I do love that the Sharlayan classroom scene explains the Seventh Umbral Calamity memory loss, because that is truly the first mystery the game presents, and they end up explaining it 8 years later
Val sitting there slack jawed during the classroom scene 🤣🤣🤣
That was 50 minutes? That didn't feel like 50 minutes at all. Great job guys.
The song on that radio is one of my favorites. It's just so solemn and creepy. I was so happy when they finally released it as an oechestrion roll. Gave me a reason to grind Rank 3 Fates.
Regarding the talisman, it's important to remember that the Allagans were the first to make it under Owen's supervision. It is what Amon was talking about when he showed up when the alchemist finally made their version. Allagan are intricately linked with the Garlean Empire as a result of Emet's involvement so it would come as no surprise that they were able to create a similar device. Also, Allagans were experimenting on dragons as well so even the ingredients would likely be similar
Like he might of been musing about the talismans being similar to the radios in when he was in xot
The Tower of Zot may not be the greatest of dungeons, but it drops some of the nicest weapon glams in the game. Black with purple glow - the samurai's looks like a purple lightsaber!
"Hey, what about the limb Y'shtola saw?" and "Did Nidhana just explain how LB works?" were questions we were all asking in the couple of days after EW's launch.
The radio is playing a soft variation of the old 'Meanwhile in the Garlean Empire' music.
I swear, you guys have like the highest quality weekly videos. I really admire the editing.
I love that you caught the Torn From The Heavens reference! Soooo much I can't say but really enjoy the cooking and can't wait for the next segment!
"He's evil!"
"Was that in QUESTION?!"
Excellent delivery on that, I was laughing for quite a bit XD
"Work that you can't quit is still....slavery"
(*Laughs in Army Vet)
I love watching you guys cook because it just builds up our anticipation to see you have all of your questions answered
So, not a spoiler, but some people might think of it as such:
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Garleans can't use Aether, but they do have it in their bodies.
Correct. I thought for sure the big reveal of Endwalker was that the Garleans couldn't utilize Aether but were great at channeling to stop
I love how your WoL have their mouths open at the end of Montegue’s explanation. To me it feels like that’s the moment it truly hits home for your character that you are Azem. It’s one of the few times msq lets your character show unique emotion and not just another clenched fist.
I’m surprised that the Warrior of Light’s clenched fist is the basis of using clenched fists as a meme reaction image since the Warrior of Light clenches their fist more.
I agree with you about the Sisters. For someone like me who didn't play the earlier FF games, there's a common experience with references like this:
-Point out that something in the story didn't land or felt really out of place.
-"That's because it was a reference to a prior FF game!"
-Oh, well no wonder it didn't land and/or felt really out of place. Knowing it was a reference doesn't make it land any better.
Khara kidnapped me into the bathroom and beat me with a sack of Florida oranges because of last time, so I’ll just say continue to cook 😅
I did not expect Garrett to pick up on the Limit Break connection. I mean it was fairly explicit, but because of that (and the fact that it's the magic/power/whatever system) I expected Kyle to freak out about that. Good catch, glad to see it's still on the shelf for when you need to cook some more.
I didn't think about it before but "who we were before" is also a theme over Garlemald, just in a more immediate timespan.
The great thing about this game is that either (1) you don't have all the pieces and can't predict it or (2) you have the pieces and don't realize how they go together. Some of both in this video. I love it. :D I really enjoyed that I couldn't predict this game. So much of Western pop culture I can predict from the trailer. It was a pleasure to be surprised.
I remember on Mr Happy's State of the Realm podcast there used to be this one joke that Stormblood never ended and that we're still in it 😂
the talks of akasha is actually not so far off if you picked up quests related to bard/dancer. Though they don't inadvertedly say it as such, suggested implications may have leaned closer to the concept of Akasha, especially given that these respective aspects of their lore involve the emotions evoked by a bard's song and dancers' ability to provoke the negativity out of their audience.
Thank you for this post! Previously, it was hinted at by Omega, as well. Omega's entire raid is the damned robot trying to figure out what it is about you that makes you so strong. Omega can't see akasa- only aether.
The body-splitting conversation fucking *destroyed* me.
"So traditionally when you cut up a person-"
It's funny. You guys talking about the radio reminded me of a talk I listened to about writing. "People will believe the impossible, but they won't believe the improbable."
That is to say, if this happened in real life and the radio thing happened, no one would be complaining about it. But because this is a written story, you think this is far too convenient.
There's less fantastical examples, but I'm sure you get what I mean
Boy, I love the smell for fresh cooked FFXIV theories in the morning!
:)
One thing that always impressed me in this chapter was looking at the level of technology in Garlemald. Even to create a subway like Terminus which seem almost equivalent to what we have in real life. No wonder why they considered Eorzean's savages.
Garlemald is a country of science, hospitals and magitech computers. I'm fairly sure Gridania doesn't even have indoor plumbing.
Yeah but verrasise though. I'd trade all the hospitals in the world for a spell that could return life to the dead at the snap of a finger. Even if it is very situational, magic is so much more powerful than technology. I think what makes technology so special, though, is the same thing that made the gun special in our world. Anyone can pick up a gun and be a soldier but it takes years of training to be a powerful mage. Sure, that mage can roast like thirty of your gunmen, but at you can always make more people.
So much appreciation for how much work you two put in on the editing of these videos. It really makes them a joy to watch. Thank you for cooking up a feast.
Garret's read of Alisae's dialog at 35:45 particularly, with the melancholic radio music playing over it. I don't think it was on purpose there, but it hits me right in the theater kid feels.
Oh and at 39:25 - "Rumors" of Zenos being possessed by a demon was actually our (mostly Thancred's) fault. During post-Stormblood MSQ when the Garleans started rallying because of Zenobus showing up, Thancred suggests spreading the truth as a rumor to hurt enemy morale.
I finally got a job and have some paperwork to do in person tomorrow, but I hope to catch the majority of tomorrow's stream!
Also, at FanFest I and my friends dressed as Last Stand employees, and we handed out gummy burgers to any G'raha Tia cosplayers we found. I even got Kyle and Garrett to sign my apron at the fan meet up!
3:54 I must disagree just a tad here. (as someone that has played no other FF games)
It is established that the Towers are powered by all of the unfortunate souls that are trapped within the tower. In the first tower we saw, with Arenvald and Fordola, it was Amalj'aa that were trapped in the Tower, which birthed Lunar Ifrit. In Pagalth'an, there was a vast host of tempered dragons, which led to Lunar Bahamut. So when Zot is being powered by the Hannish, it leads to a manifestation of their gods: The Magus Sisters.
I also, personally, don't find the music the slightest bit hopeful or uplifting. The percussion is very "forced march" or army-like, giving credence to the subjugation of the Hannish people, and the main melody is rather eerie and tense. But, of course, music is a quintessential subjective experience.
I think the issue was less that the tower produced primals of Hannish gods but that it didn't produce *lunar versions* of those primals. We didn't get Lunar Magus Sisters, we got the Magus Sisters. Which is a pretty valid point for breaking with the theming, but yeah, the devs probably went that way due to the recognizability factor (i.e. we didn't have the Sisters in the game already, so doing a variation on their design would make the reference potentially too far removed from FF4/10)
I heard this during the livestream as well, but I'm so confused how the Tower of Zot could be read as heroic music. To me it's just dread and a feeble attempt to remain standing upright. Of course, maybe the song hits differently to me since in the original game, it's a remix of "Golbez, Clad in Darkness" which definitely demands respect from you and you hear Golbez' theme first.
FF4 Tower of Zot: ua-cam.com/video/XI_bwTmiF-g/v-deo.html
FF4 Golbez, Clad in Darkness: ua-cam.com/video/o7xoXa5_A8o/v-deo.html
Just barely started this but to address the 'why not talk about the arm' - I think you might have glossed over a bit how horrific the garlean tech has gotten over the last couple expansions. Those roader enemies? Used to be people. The hypertuned technology is also people and has been expanded. They've literally been turning people into mindless organic robot slaves for their armies. And by the way, these towers feel oddly organic too no? So yeah, it's not a pointless question since the arm in question was apparently inside the core but you and your friends have been seeing a lot of traumatizing stuff since Stormblood.
Edit: As a lot of this conversation is addressing humanizing the Garleans, I would note that this more horrific tech is probably not in use in ALL of the legions. Just ones that think like Zenos and employed the same scientists. The legion in Bozja I think is another one that did some really war crime-level stuff but the others may be more normal level of atrocity.
If they’ve glossed over the roaders or hypertuned, it’s more likely they dont stand out as much anymore because when Kyle first saw them in Stormblood, he went on and on about all the Garlean experimentation and how grotesque it was. Not to mention their experience with the Sorrow of Werlyt.
@@NajaSide Right, that's part of the point, honestly. So when they ask "why not talk about the arm?" it's like, we're all kind of numb to the mutilation tech by now. Y'shtola's shock could just as easily sound to everyone like "what are these psychos doing this time?!"
@@BananaMellor Hm, I can see that I suppose? I do think her interest in it is weirdly overly focused on for how little they do with it, but I can see the angle you’re coming from
Ho boy, can't wait for tomorrow's stream. Also not really mentioned and something i love is Garlemald's zone music. It REALLY stands out from most other zones with its hauntingly empty sound it has. You can really feel the weight of what happened in Garlemald through its music and I love it (plus add the radio track being an almost more broken down haunting version of the og garlean track on top of the zone music).
Having recently beaten Final Fantasy 4, a lot more of the story beats in the "Tower arc" of Endwalker are so much cooler to see now that I get the references there.
As a long-time FF4 fanboy the entire Endwalker MSQ made me beyond happy.
FFIV is my favorite Final Fantasy and I kind of worried that it was almost TOO much FFIV love this expansion. People seem to be confused about a lot of the references, lol.
I love that that I got an ad playing soldier boy music, that made me think for a moment you edited that in, only to skip the ad and have let the bodies hit the floor play not a second later.
I’ve never had doubled whiplash before but here we are.
GG may have forgotten, but a soulless body does have aether, corporeal aether.
It was explained that people are made of corporeal aether of the body, and the incorporeal aether of memories and soul. 3 types.
Garleans have aether they just can't manipulate it to cast spells naturally.
I also did my playthrough alongside a friend and I remember commenting on the sound design around Victors' Spoils, where it sounded like there was a radio playing just at the edge of your hearing, and that turning into delight when minutes later I learned that's exactly what it was.
This video has me soooooooo hyped for Thursdays MSQ stream! I love listening to you guys cook.
I wish I had played the MSQ a bit slower and let myself cook too!
The talismans and the radios being similar probably has something to do with Fandaniel remarking offhand that the talismans look similar to something else. Considering Emet-Selch was the big Magitek pusher and built the empire on the concept of fighting the rest of the world's primals while convincing people to summon primals, making something to resist tempering makes sense.
Fandaniel was more likely talking about how it's similar to Owen's research before Amon (Fandaniel) shut it all down. Which is why he was trying to remember the guy's name earlier on as well.
Fandaniel remarking that the talismans look like something else and how similar time flows has to do with his time as Amon. You would remember the quests leading up to Endwalker where we help Raha and Alisiae finalize their cure for tempering?
Allag would need a protection against Eikons too... no?
I'm still making my way through Endwalker myself, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Varis (or even Emet) made the radios as a top secret project to protect the Garleans from tempering, just in case someone summoned a primal in the capital. It'd be an excellent way to secretly protect a good chunk of the populace/military without admitting the possibility of a primal attacking the capital (or revealing to the rest of the world there's a cure for tempering).
since Im sure yall will get to the next dungeon tomorrow, I highly recommend checking out the trust dialogue or doing it in your free time. I know you normally do just reiterating that its important to do for this dungeon. Have fun with your stream tomorrow!
I can only imagine the horrible puns Fandanamon, the worst Digimon, made to Zenos while carving up the mystery body.
"We must HAND it to the Warrior of Light, his force of ARMS is really making us put in the LEG-work! His meddling is an EYE-sore! Indeed, he truly is at the HEART of our problems! I'd say he's kind of a DI-"
And then Zenos hurled his scythe at him.
"My Lord, that missed me by a HAIR. There's no need to be so TESTES. You should learn to LIVER a little."
@@Scarabswarm And Zenos eats the moon out of stress. We did it, we spoiled Endwalker.
I very much enjoyed this comment 😂
One big theme behind Endwalker is, of course, the sheer number of FF4 references that the team used. The Tower of Zot is one of those major references, up to and including the bosses and especially the final boss fight, wherein the proper way to kill the boss is exactly the same way as it was back in the original encounter in FF4's Tower of Zot. Sandy, Cindy and Mindy were something of a roadblock to us FF4 players back in the early 90's, and seeing the fight so lovingly re-created nearly 30 years later was a huge treat.
And that's most of Endwalker; a nostalgia trip of the best kind from a group of caring devs to a loving fan base. It's no joke to say that FF4 fans eat good in this xpac, and that's part of why we love this team so much; because they're willing to go that extra mile to show they appreciate our fanboy-ism and they return our dedication in kind.
But yeah, I think I agree with you in that the ToZ is a bit heavy in some ways when it comes to references. I still love the hell out of that place though.
As for Akasha....what if I told you that [REDACTED] the [REDACTED]?
Watching the Endwalker trailer and seeing a paladin on the moon was cool for FFXIV fans, but it was amazing for FFIV fans. I feel like whole parts of Endwalker just hit harder for fans of the franchise. I guess that's kind of the whole game though.
The text dialogue when you find the sister's corpses lives rent free in my head. The brevity and bluntness of it. You're not even told you found them, you're not told they are dead, you're not told anything about "them" as people. Just the bodies are already cold. And having you comprehend what that line means makes it hit better than if they'd told you directly, even if it's just for a fraction of a second.
8:59 I know this is very unimportant, but I'm gonna gush about burgers anyway because I'm sick and hungry.
G'raha and Alisaie's burgers are tied with the RE2 Remake truck driver's burger for my favorite video game burger representation.
I don't know how the fantasy-Brits came up with burgers before the Eorzeans did, but gods DAMN that's a good lookin burg.
I'd suggest a quick trip back to the Stormblood meeting with Varis (during the intermission)....and the discussion between the WOL and Hien. It's a throw-a-way at the time....but infinitely more important in the present.
9:15 Clearly Kyle doesn't know about the eternal battle that is cats vs pickles
So you're saying Alisaie took the pickles off the burger and placed them near G'raha just to laugh later when he notices them and shoots ten feet in the air out of his chair?
@13:54 You've forgotten that we know from 3.4 that all Primals act as they are summoned to act. As Such, Ramuh is thought of as a wise man, so he understands "Don't conquer," "Just protect home," "I don't want to kill you, but I will test your resolve to protect my people, too." And how Ravanah is so honourable that he *Continues* to accept your stipulations to not attack the dragons after he lost. The only reason the other Primals are axe crazed murder-kidnappers is because these ones were summoned by already mind-screwed people who want that.
Also, I love the Big Cook. But I think Kyle missed a very important part they just established earlier in a smaller cook. Garleans cannot manipulate Aether. Primals are called forth by hopes and dreams, the stuff of Akasha, and made of Aether. The next conclusion is "Garleans can still manipulate Akasha, even without control over aether."
I see what you’re saying to an extent… my main problem with that thought process is how strongly Primal Summoning has been compared and associated with Creation Magicks (and similarly Summoner/Arcanist Summoning Magicks) which- even if its not done by intent in the case of Primal summons -still made it feel like it required access to manipulate aether, they are more specifically shaped by the prayers in the way they act and the way they manifest physically.
Course, there is always the possibility that they managed to create Magitek that could replicate those magicks, not unlike the Allagans in the Summoner’s Stormblood quest series.
Just adding to this (in terms of the idea of a Garlean primal) that not just ethnically-born Garleans may be true believers. Many people in the game have adopted a loyalty to a country or personage which was not "natively" theirs, such as Yotsuyu and Fordola; or Lucia to Aymeric/Ishgard; or Asahi to Zenos. With some conscripts having lived under Garlean principles for most of their existence, the summoning of a Garlean-specific primal would only need loyalty to the belief, meaning that it's feasible to bypass the question of Garlean physiology completely.
@@Final.Family Oh true, that's very possible! The summoning could very well happen from non-trueblood Garleans and then any subsequent empowering would be simple so long as it spreads its tempering.
Why aren’t the videos more successful!?!? Incredible cookery, as usual! Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, cook ‘em in a stew!
One thing that still drives me nuts about the FFIV references... you have the Tower of Babil in Garlemald.
On the map, to the East of Garlemald, there's a giant whose upper torso is above the clouds and yet we did not get a Giant of Babil to go along with the tower.
The map has dragons around Ishgard.
The map has the Four Lords around Kugane and the islands.
The map has the Siren in the south.
(It also has the Mog Station flying whale randomly south of Garlemald)
But there's this big daggum giant that looks like a cross between Titan and Godzilla and there's been nothing!
Sounds like something they can always revisit later. Most people probably didn't expect the crystal tower to ever be relevant again after ARR.
Nidhana's explanation on Akasha and how it relates to Limit Break makes you think: Seat of Sacrifice where the Warrior of Light is throwing Limit Breaks left, right and center throughout the entire fight. Heightened emotions, desperation and so on... and here is Elidibus chaining one Limit Break into another, puts some things into perspective on his emotional state in the Seat of Sacrifice.
He also goes to LB4. But he is very likely using aether to mimic LBs or using the Akasha of the heroes from other shards to do those.
Yeah, thanks Endwalker, as if ShB didn’t turn me into a crying mess enough, ya just gotta come out a year later and twist that knife all over again.
Your forgetting Elidibus was a primal can you imagine the amount of emotions prayer focused on him he was receiving. I wish the developers let us lb4 in the third trial of endwalker it would have been fun
yea I’ll just say it again, this format is perfect. The last few installments have all been 10/10
I’m at 30 minutes in and „Shadowbringers was filler“ and Garrett being an otter trying to arrange the cups were just soooo fun! Thanks for the good vibes ❤
Some nice weather we are having today. . . .
Nothing makes me more hype at the start of a video than some Torn from the Heavens. 🎻
hope and pray that people in game will refrain from filling up your screens and will give you room to breathe in future streams. you need it.
46:30
ah, but in this case, it's more likely to be a reference to Osiris, who was cut up into 14 pieces and scattered across Egypt. FF sure does like referencing their titular number a lot
Tower of Zot is like walking around inside an evil version of Moya from Farscape...
God I miss that show
@@KironX1 Same.
An unexpected reference to be sure, but a welcome one.
I welcome this reference since I miss Farscape too.
I miss all the good ole 90s Sci-Fi shows. That were cut too short or went on too long. Especially, Stargate. lol
I love watching them speculate about things I know the truth for, the things they get wrong, the things they get right, but especially the things they get *half* right.
It just makes me all the more excited to see how they react when they do find out the truth.
Is this a cooking show?
4hrs later and nearly 5.5k views!!
Love it! Can’t wait for tomorrows marathon!!
Guys be cooking up a full course meal. With burgers.
A nice fun appetizer before the stream tomorrow. Very nice
I am very eager to see how you enjoy the next sections coming up
Same! This is where the story really starts getting sooo good. I can't wait to see their reactions. Endwalker starts slow, but the highs were so very high. Loved it
Commenting strictly for Otter with Cups. Thank you for this new chapter of my life.
I love the radio.
Shows you how the music that was the oppressive facist theme from our perspective is now an eerie nostalgic memory of a beautiful nation in the garleans eyes.
Seeing Video suggestions in the sidebar, I'm reminded that 11 Months ago, you guys were in a darker place...Il Mheg...with the Nu Mou...Darker times ;)
The point about the bosses in Zot not being the lunar versions is such a good point. I didn't even think about that.
That radio music playing in the background during the garlean portion just kept giving me chills. It's such a haunting song. Really looking forward to tomorrow's marathon!
"Traditionally when you cut up a person" about had to spit coffee all over my desk. I wasnt ready
NO ONE TALK ABOUT THE LIMB IN THE TOWER
IT'S NOT IMPORTANT I PROMISE
Love the illusions to Soviet Russia all throughout this zone. Utterly chilling!
The Garlemald Empire is a combination of the Prussian (the uniforms and strict military doctrine), Roman (the Latin and all that), and Russian (location and despair) empires.
There's definitely a lot of the pride and disillusionment of post war Japan baked in there too. It really just can't be a more depressing zone, ha ha.
The boys are really cooking in this discussion
Honestly I liked the idea that the Garleans had created a device that made an aetheric feild that could protect against tempering and never realised because it was just a side effect of the function of the radio. In reality, it is suprising how often completely unexpected things can be discovered by pure fluke from things that have completely different uses.
Serendipity (and I'm not talking about the Goldsmith Guild Master) is a heck of a thing.
Amazing video! So much fun and now to vibrate until tomorrow's stream.
No details, but genuinely impressed with their level of cooking
These discussion videos are my favorites as ya'll have gone through the MSQ. Its so fun watching the thought processes going on!
The little potatoes and elves used magic and drove them into totally not Russia. Why would they do anything but despise you? Inside train town all the NPC's point out "Oh, it's you, you killed all my friends and squad mates at the castum, great, come to kill me to?"
enjoyed your discussion! such cookage
The real day one experience was staring at the log in queue waiting for the 2002 error.
This game provides many answers to questions it raises.
You just get to stop and wonder, cause you stop to wonder.
Wow. We the audience really got a feast with how much cooking they did in this video 😂
There was probably 50 comments about this already, but I think the seeds of discord about Zenos being possessed by a demon were planted by the Doman spies. I think it was an idea from Thancred, and not from Elidibus.
When I arrived in Garlemald and met these survivors, it finally hit me how the Garleans see the people of Eorzea/Othard:
Cars, Roads, Industry, Warmongering, Propaganda, No Magic - The Garleans are essentially 1930's Germany - and they are interacting with people running around with swords, spears, bows and arrows. Them calling us savages suddenly made sense to me for the first time. "Those people on the other continents can throw fire from their fingertips and summon monsters that take over your mind!" Of *course* they hate/fear the Ilsabard Contingent.
This section is as much about humanizing the Garleans as it is about showing how the Garleans don't see the Ilsabard Contingent as humans.
Haven't been able to catch your streams recently but still watching VODs and loving your content! I had to drop a comment to compliment Garrett (I think?) on the drop of Torn From the Heavens with the explosion and Soken etc, laughed out loud there.
Proper corsets can help keep you warm. It's two/three extra fabric and leather layered hugging the torso.
Keeps the cold off the kidney's anyways.
Elidibus was not the one that said Xenos was inhabited by a Demon. That was specifically Thancred.
Elidibus brings it up because they squashed that rumor by killing everyone that said anything about it.
I love watching you theorize in these videos, it takes me back to thinking many of the same things. I can't wait to see your reactions at the end. Thank you for the wonderful content and great community.
18:38 Thanks to that mash up of Fandaniel and Amon I'm just imagining him as a puppet from Team America: "Fan-DAMON" (Matt Damon).