Lin Elpis, Miqo'te Extrodinaire

Cuz the phrasing I recall hearing from the whole bit with the president was that he was going to "Support" CS3 more. There were no promises of money. Just "Support," an open-ended word that can mean money, actual man power, or his pet tools.

I'm not out of the fandom, not yet, but I'm not sure I'm going face first into new content on release any time soon. I'm not planning on buying any first party goods, or really second party either.

But while Dawntrail was about story, and I still saw hope that there could be a new beginning of another Warrior of Light (One who did everything prior, but wasn't going to build like the others had beyond their path), Evercold just closes that bridge. This feels like a path I can't walk past. There's other stuff, and that's still there. I told my therapist I wasn't angry, and that's mostly true, but also I'm still angry in other ways. I wanted more time to prepare for this inevitability, where instead of "This is a story I can still enjoy, even if I can't create beyond this point" I got "This is a story I cannot love."

And it's because of that, I'm not continuing with the story I can't move past.

Right now I'm saying "I'm totally never gonna sub ever again" but I'm not gonna hold myself to it. Maybe eventually this anger will subside, and I'll just be "I can sub for a month here or there." But I"m also not in the mood where I can purchase the next expac any time soon. I might buy it eventually in one of those moments, but I'm more likely to follow it through someone's playthrough (Whether a first-time or repeat to catch things) before I decide to buy anything. I really only bought DT presale for the earring and "Pre-release" days that we all know aren't. If I'm not thinking I'll be available in January, so the "Pre-release" means nothing and only one of my characters has everything at 100 so why would the other mean anything to me?

It's stage 1 fandom withdrawal.

That's what I'm calling it. There's multiple stages, but with a month to reflect... I finally get it. I get why the fans of certain creations by shitty creators/properties are like that (tm). I'm not sure I get the ones who still buy official products, but I get the ones who still create, who may still sell their creations or buy others' creations.

It's going to be hard to let go. This first step is mostly easy for me, but even then, I'm not sure if my mood now is my mood forever, even if it'll never return to what it was before 2024 or even in 2025, it might just move to March 2026 though. But that was already late in the state of mourning a fandom you know is moving in a different direction yet you try and cling to it.

I just wish I had more time to mentally prepare for one of the things that brought this about. I knew it was an inevitability, but I was also hopeful it was still a ways away, that I had more time to grieve that future compared to when I admitted I knew it would come.

I enjoyed the patch, and for all my jokes about Ysera and Halmarut, it probably was never going to actually happen even with how straightforwardly copying Emet-Selch's introduction Halmarut did. It's always a "What might have been, lol." cuz I'll never know who Halmarut really is. Just a glimpse of her, like we had of Emet-Selch in Stormblood.

AKA, finding the story crossing a line you can't continue, but kinda want to feel like you've got that ending you desire in the games? Here they are.

"The Ultimate Weapon." There's... one plot hook left when you close out that quest (A mysterious cry that sets up the Bahamut raids), but that is easily a case of "And the Adventure Continues." This is where I draw the line for anyone who really really wants to try but also really really hates MMOs. Play to this point using the trust system that's built into the game, and then smile and log off and uninstall the game. It's a better story than the haters give it. It's more mid-fantasy than high-fantasy, with a lovely dash of post-apocalypse, but it isn't mid. It's good. Maybe not the best, but it's a 7/10 on a proper 10 point scale that doesn't pretend it's 4 points. In which case it's an 8.5. You chased out the evil empire and killed that weird cosmic-level threat that used the evil empire general as a pawn, yay!

"The Litany of Peace." If you do like MMOs, or find that the player interaction is at a suitable level, this is where I'd tell you to play to before deciding about going forward. Honestly, it's probably the most neatly-tied bow anyone can get cuz it was where they probably planned to end this if XIV bombed again. There's a couple threads that aren't explored (The Warriors of Darkness, what's their deal, and apparently Yda and Papalymo are alive and hiding somewhere) but shhh. They don't matter. Ignore them. Everything is fine and dandy.

"Stormblood" You defeated the Evil Empire. Again. You killed the heir to the throne and Nidhogg's legacy of rage is destroyed forever. Maybe you can do the Omega or Ivalice sidequests, but they don't seem to be doing anything important, right?

"Reflections in Crystal." The biggest one with the fewest plot threads remaining cuz they did their best to leave the Zenos stuff very out of the way with only a couple cutscenes, but just... ignore that. Everything's safe. The Exarch safely merged his soul with that of his kinda-younger self (only with some time fork stuff, but honestly nothing to mend cuz that one was in stasis either way). The paragon's are dead, so sweeping up the remaining Ascians will be easy when they come around, if they think they can even do all this shit without those three. This is where to end if you want to enjoy the Free trial to the fullest but also want a happy ending.

I'm not going to list Endwalker and DT this time cuz while they're both fine, I'm in the "Can't recommend it financially" mood so only free trial stuff from me.

How I recommended it at each point:

I'm glad they love it, but I've always held that while it is a great story, the thing that makes it so popular in fandom is the situation surrounding it that made XIV big.

We were stuck on 5.2 for like what? 8 months? What a cliffhanger to be stuck on due to Covid.

Then there's the fact that WoW was struggling at the time. The streamers decided to try something different, whether or not it was a full exodus. So they brought more and more people over cuz they enjoyed it.

We aren't getting those highs again. Never. It was the buildup of before that led to that payoff, along with factors out of SE's control.

I'm not gonna fight it, as an ex-homestuck

Criteria 1: Archive Panic: XIV absolutely is that. The Free Trial Meme exists for a reason. You can get this just with the Free Trial, let alone the rest.

Critera 2: Changes you forever? Yeah, it has, mostly because of...

Criteria 3: Unique in some way. For me, it's the fact that FFXIV is a truly Atheist Fantasy story. We all give JRPGs shit for killing god, but there's no true gods to kill, probably because you start killing gods at level 20 and any way to explain that requires an atheist setting. I... struggle to enjoy fantasy that isn't at least kind of atheist now. It's my main excuse for trying to get into Critical Role with campaign 4. (That plust the fact it's a soft reboot, but the near-atheist take of the story is just... yeah). It's why I have the second-worst take in StP (Oblivion ending golden ending yo~).

Maybe one day in the future when I'm further from XIV I'll be able to look elsewhere, but the idea of an Atheist Fantasy World intrigues me in a way I can't quite describe.

Though many are fun. It's interesting to hear my opinions validated. I was team "Not Bailey" not so much because I didn't like the voice, but because the Cadence was wrong. It's fun to compare and contrast.

(That said, given recent events, I'm wondering something about the voice in question if it's not Bailey.)

Like, the way he hisses the word "Sour"

Number of gods killed:

ARR: 7 (and at least 3 more in sidecontent)

HW: 3 (With another four in sidecontent. People can argue another 12, but they're full of shit if you ask me and more empowerd by a primal than primals themself)

StB: Four (I think the Ivalice Raids has some, but I'm not sure how to class Lucavi)

ShB: Arguably none until the last patch, where there's like, at least 4, but you can also argue the 5 Lightwardens are on Primal level, and that Elidibus is one or becomes one for his fight. (Arguably up to 6 or 7 in the 8-mans, and there's more Lucavi in Bozja, but again I'm -shrugs-)

EW: Anywhere from two to nine by my count. Hydaelyn and Zodiark definitely are. Lunar primals are probably, but whether you count the magus sisters as one or three is fun, and Rala, Endsinger, and Zeromus may or may not count. (11 or 12 in sidecontent)

So... it continues. We have Bailey back, or at least the soundalike has found their Bailey imitation shoes, and they re-recorded the previous lines.

As always I see people lack time recognition and I've deleted so many bitchy comments about it from myself because I'm not gonna be mad.

But here's the thing, I was very much team "It wasn't Bailey" Like, mostly as a way of shielding myself, but also cuz... well, it didn't sound like him. I know some were 50/50. I was more 80/20. Like, there were a couple lines that sounded like him, but they were like one or two words long (The "Thunderheads!" from the duty, for example).

And as always, I didn't hate the voice. In fact, if it wasn't him, whoever did it had a solid idea of who G'raha was in their head, whether Bailey or someone else.

"Three shows a week" Oh, you wish it was three a week. It's eight. There's one day off, but two matinees a week, and they probably do a rehearsal or two as well.