#xiv script

specifically, the Reddit post i saw was about how XIV's dialogue (or at least the English localization) has gotten simpler and blander over time — not just in Dawntrail, not just as part of the overall Dawntrail hate, but as early as Shadowbringers.

it's not something i've thought about a whole lot to have a strong opinion on tbh. but it did make me remember this thought about "maybe" i'd had in the past, and i wanted to crunch the numbers to see if i could learn anything. and my footnotes at the end are my notes to that effect.

Here's a basic setup for any and all searches you'll want to do:

Make sure all checkboxes are ticked (case sensitivity optional).

Put ^.* at the beginning of your expression (where it says "Type Regex here") to say "I want to see everything from the beginning of the line to my result!"

Put .*$ at the end of your expression to say "I want to see everything from my result to the end of the line!"

Type $0\n\n in the "custom template" field to put a line break in between results.

With that, you can start doing basic searches:

...but to do more complicated stuff is a little more work. Here's a small list of searches I've used myself — the useful ones written out below for those who don't want to leave Tumblr or if the link breaks, but this link to Google sheets is easier to read.

To find a specific character saying a specific word:

Format: Name:.*word

Example search: ^.*Zenos yae Galvus:.*beast.*$

Example result: Zenos yae Galvus: Man should fight for the joy of it. To live, to eat, to breed─lesser beasts snap and howl at one another for this. Only man has the wisdom and the clarity to embrace violence for its own sake.

To find a specific word said by anyone except a specific character:

Format: (?<!Name):.*word

Example search: ^.*(?<!Urianger):.*\bthou\b.*$

Example result: Ifrit: Thou art strong, mortal!

Note: Note the \b in the example search! It's not mandatory, but is very helpful in this particular case. It marks a "word boundary," so that you get results for "thou" but not for "thoughts" or "without" (basically like the "Whole Words" option in regular Ctrl+F). You can use this whenever/wherever it's helpful. Like it's not used in the above example with Zenos because I wanted it to return the plural "beasts."

To find anything said by a specific character or any of their aliases:

Format: Name\)?:

Example search: ^.*Vrtra\)?:.*$

Example result: Varshahn (Vrtra): That is all I need know of thee for now.

Note: You have to have the "Show real names" option enabled on the website for this to work!

To find any two words used in the same line:

Format: (?=.*\bword1\b)(?=.*\bword2\b)

Example search: ^.*(?=.*\bFeo Ul\b)(?=.*\bthey\b).*$

Example result: G'raha Tia: By the way, have you spoken with Feo Ul of late? Some days ago, they appeared to me in a dream─of the sleeping persuasion, that is.

Note: This looks so complicated because it will find the words in either order! Putting "they" before "Feo Ul" would work exactly the same.

You can keep these examples as templates to use for yourself without having to understand how they work by using the extension's built-in Profiles, and just swapping in the words you want to search: