A new patch for Final Fantasy XIV just came out!
By “just” I mean, it came out two weeks ago. Which, in certain fandom spaces, is a widely understood “spoiler embargo” period. A span of time where you shouldn’t openly show off screenshots or talk plot, stuff like that, so that people can take their time and experience it on their own.
That isn’t why I took 2-ish weeks to get my thoughts together about it. I just have a lot of things to think about and a lot of things to do.
I also sorta dragged my feet finishing Pandaemonium, despite devouring MSQ in a fairly short span of time. When I got around to it, I was like “Aha, after this I will have a better scope of this patch as a whole, then I’ll feel like I can speak more on it” but in the end I don’t have all that much to say about Pandaemonium. Oh well!
SPOILER WARNING
Beyond this point, I’ll be discussing the events of FFXIV Patch 6.4
To refresh my memory on the nitty gritty I’ve been looking through my screenshots folder. I screenshot ALLLLL the time, even when I’m rewatching a scene I’ve already captured down to each frame, line of dialogue, and microexpression.
So, guess who I saw in my last screenshot before 6.4…
I just can’t escape this guy. I love him so much it’s just plain stupid.
Moving on…
Endwalker and post-Endwalker both have a lot of doom and gloom, a lot of somber moments and bittersweet deaths – but also a whole lot of ridiculous juvenile fun. Lots of cute stuff. Bunny rabbits and the magic of friendship and all that.
I’m a big fan of that aspect of Endwalker. And so, I really, really liked that 6.4 opens with slapstick gags centered around characters eating spicy food.
The opening quest made me crave spicy food really badly. (Just writing about it now is making me crave it, ugh) I felt INCREDIBLY grateful to myself that I’d let myself do just that one little story quest before cooking dinner, then getting to the rest after. Immersion!!
I also got a big win in terms of my personal Warrior of Light’s characterization. I mean, 6.4 over all gave me a lot to work with, but specifically, here, it felt so good to confirm that he has a cartoonishly hardy stomach. Has someone in the writers’ room read Pangir’s character bio or something?
There’s something basically fanservicey about a story establishing – or especially re-stating one of its characters’ favorite foods. That was a running theme in the MSQ (and Pandaemonium quests) of 6.4: Fanservice. Lots and lots of it, in various forms, including to some degree the most common connotation of that word. IE, erotic fanservice.
I’m not really into Estinien in that way, but I get it now.
Mostly, for me, sweaty push-ups scene just made me feel a deep kinship with him. Like, he’s working out. Being socially awkward but chill about it. When the workout’s done he has the relaxed, smiley demeanor of a guy who is microdosing medical cannabis. The idea that Estinien is cranky and repressed is officially outdated.
I like how much screentime is devoted to humanizing Zero. I love cold vamp-y characters feeling all confused about their own feelings. I also can’t help but see Zero as this very neurodivergent/autism-spectrum-coded character, so I feel very sentimental about her, and about seeing people treat her with respect and patience.
She’s learning about her own likes and needs, she’s curious about the world around her. She still has a gloomy air about her, but that’s what makes her so charming. Maybe she’ll never fit in with mortal society, but she can love things about it.
For some reason I feel this incredible urge to rewatch Blade…
I think the intro set a good tone. It delivers on the expectations it sets: It’s a fun little patch with cute moments and cool things to look at. I was glad I played it, but I wasn’t wowed by most of the writing. I had a nice time, and any complaints I had for any part of it sorta slid out of my mind soon after. It helps that lately I’ve been very easygoing and easy to please.
Assorted list of FORREST WINS
• From the start, lots of friendship moments with Zero. In the spicy curry scene, after I had Pangir say “I thought the spices we picked were perfect”, Zero silently answers with a relaxed smile. I really felt like these two are becoming friends. Then later, her conversation with Julus feels like the sort of late-night/early morning convo you have on some plastic back-patio furniture, you know?
• The Aetherfont dungeon is really pleasant! Going through it with the NPC Trust system was really nice because it forced me to take a slow pace and enjoy the scenery. The reasons for that dungeon being here in the story felt a little flimsy but that’s basically okay for a patch dungeon. As long as it’s well-paced and pretty, it adds to the experience.
• Zenos!! ZENOS!!! Possibly my greatest win of the whole patch. Against the gloomy backdrop of Garlean ruins, Zero has a moment where she finally feels that she understands what a “friend” is. Through that understanding she feels less lost, more sure that friendship is something she desires. The Warrior of Light smiles at her, before solemnly looking off…
And he thinks about Zenos. THAT is the kind of fanservice I crave. Not Zenos coming back into the story yet again, just moments which I can easily interpret as “Secretly, this guy was fond of Zenos, and mourns him the way you mourn a friend who passed away.”
• Zero doesn’t hurt the Loporrits. In the trailer we saw this shot of Zero looking all menacing before a Loporrit. Was it cuteness aggression? Regular aggression? Was she about to eat the damn thing? Nope! That’s just her Serious Face. Because again, Zero is a very charming character, and part of that is her creepy awkward vampire vibe. She’s taking Loporrits and their requests fully seriously, the way she would any mortal – which itself is sweet, I think.
• The Loporrits’ scenes in general. I’m a fan of those freaky little bunnies; they are Hydaelyn’s children, and so in an allegorical sort of way, they’re like Pangir’s (very ancient) little siblings. Having the quest objective “Cheer up these bunnies so they can keep working hard!” made me happy. Simple as.
• The Twins’ little syncronized moment. It reminded me of that scene in the Coils of Bahamut. You know the one. Or maybe you don’t, doing the Coils is a massive pain in the ass, even level 90 unsynced. But do it anyways! GO!
• Vrtra!!!! Not Varshahn, but Vrtra! I love seeing him in his dragon form, I love how much more comfortable he is, how much more warm and soothing his presence is. He’s so paternal, in an idealized sort of way. I love Vrtra, man. A wonderful, fittingly-human contrast to all the other Great Wyrms we’ve met in the story. Oh, and I got to see Pangir riding his back, which I love.
• Some nice visuals, particularly on the 13th moon. I enjoyed Pangir being uncommonly picturesque, both in how the light catches him, and the backgrounds he’s set against. Great use of color, and great use of unique locations that aren’t beholden to weather and time of day.
• I ended up enjoying the Trial... on my second attempt. I had neglected to gear up any class other than White Mage. I think I’m a decent White Mage in dungeons and stuff like that, but in a Trial? A Trial I’ve never done before? Urgh. It wasn’t pretty. But a day or so went by, I went and geared up Warrior, guzzled an energy drink, matched up with strangers that happened to be more chill, and I ended up finding it pretty fun and satisfying. Which is nice, because I really like Golbez, it’d suck to be forever traumatized by his fight.
Wishlist / Delusional predictions
• Zero lives. ZERO LIVES. I don’t want her to go out like Ardbert, a shard of our soul that is re-incorporated into ours in a bittersweet sort of way. I don’t want her to have a noble sacrifice. I want her to live.
• Golbez is an Azem shard… Either one of them. Whichever Golbez it is, I think it’d work better than Zero being our Ardbert.
• Vrtra retires Varshahn. I know it’s convenient to have a human-sized character, but Varshahn is not Vrtra, Varshahn is a prop! I hope this story with Vrtra and his sister leads him to stop clinging to that “baby brother” identity, and instead take pride in the incredibly accomplished adult he has become.
• Harken back to, and wrap up Shadowbringers a tad bit more. Endwalker feels almost like a sequel to Shadowbringers, those two expansions are more closely linked than any other, and considering Endwalker is all about closing the book on the story that began all the way in ARR, it’d make sense to bring it all in. By that I guess I mean, in addition to removing the last remaining fallout of Ascian nonsense (that being all this Void drama), I want to see First actually turn into a habitable world again.
• Y’know what? I also want Ryne to rejoin the Main Story Squad. Inevitably they’re going to figure out a way to travel between worlds, and Tatatu will take good care of her when that happens. And Gaia should be there too, whether or not the player has completed Eden.
• Directly related to those last two points: Guys. We NEED a timeskip. I know it would be a huge undertaking, but if we don’t get one in 7.0, when will we ever? It’s starting to get really awkward. If we had, say, a 5-year skip, then all the awkward stagnation of the “time-bubble” can at least have room to breathe. This would also, IMO, retroactively justify the Void plot being rushed to its conclusion. Think about it! No more world-ending cataclysm or ticking clocks, a nice clean slate.
• This one, I cannot stress enough. I have a strong feeling we will see Zero in a new outfit, possibly while she’s working out with Estinien. That’s all well and good, but this is my wish:
Please let her continue looking like a lesbo. If the story uses “Look! She’s girly!” as shorthand for “She’s more human now” I’ll honestly be pretty upset. I don’t think they’ll do that. I don’t think they’ll bother, if for no other reason than a fear of change. A fear of design changes causing controversy is, I think, one reason the twins haven’t been allowed to hit puberty.
• Late edit – this is one I forgot to include when I first threw this post together but that was on my mind when I played the patch quests; I'd like to see the Garlean Palace/Tower of Babil torn down. A final goodbye to the Garlean Empire, allowing the Garlean people to dismantle their old hierarchies and prejudices and way of life, and create something new.
Plus, it would provide a lot of closure for me in specific. That tower represents everything that was terrible and evil about Zenos. When it's gone, his only remaining legacy will be the memories of those who knew him.
• Lastly, I would still like a nice big Zenos portrait to hang in my character's home. Please and thank you.
Now if only new Hildibrand quests wouldn’t take so long to come out… Nothing left to do but wait. And grind. And glam. And hover over my partner’s shoulder while they progress through Stormblood.