my only issue with ShB was that our responses to him are only every confusion of confrontational/dismissive. i would have LOVED the option to be like "hey Emet, grab a chair, i'll some drinks, lets have a long chat" and not even about important shit like "so whats your plan? whats the goal? is there any common ground we can have?" and more "so, whats your fav food and drink? do you have hobbies? other than the destruction of worlds obviously" etc. get to know the guy. would have helped a lot later i am sure.
Really hope its not a fixed rotation. Too many ff classes have a single correct way to play which is just hit the same list of buttons in the same order til boss dead. Hoping either Picto or Viper are the "easy to pick up, hard to master" that the games been lacking for several expansions now for dps.
I think they kinda tried this already in HW and used the term "advanced jobs" to refer to DRK/MCH/AST. I played DRK, and it was easy in dungeons, but when I tried Ex trials, it was a struggle. When Stormblood came out, I switched to WAR, but the whole job system was reworked anyways.
I'm probably the only one that feels this way, but I wish the writers had gone in on trying to make Vauthry a more nuanced villain. I get his whole deal is that he is "innocent" in that he was raised from birth to believe he can do whatever he wants, but there's a lot of potential for a tragic villain there given he was created from birth to be a monster that has to die in order for Norvrandt to regain normalcy. And by the time we learn that, not only is he already dead but the story is already shifting gears to focus on Emet-Selch. I don't think Vauthry needed to be quite AS complex as Emet-Selch, since he's ultimately a minor villain, but it would've been nice if there was more to him than just "I'm evil because my dad told me to be."
The single most chilling bit of his entrance is knowing he could have just killed everyone without breaking a sweat, and didn't. He chose to let us live.
He's like 10K+ years old has skills on top of skills and creation magic a near unlimited AEther pool and yet two bunny girls tracked him down... yea I'm judging him
Greatest Sorcerer of Elf, capable of literally crafting gods out of his mind, founder of countless empires with tens of thousands of years of experience and expertise. Chooses a _sixty years old Retro model of a gun crafted in his most recent empire to deliver the most drama-queen entrance possible_
Holy Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, this guy gave me an impossibly bad vibe from the mere moment he walked up. Ascians have been known to be assholes, and Garleans just as much, but Emet is BOTH?! I knew, from the moment our eyes met, he was plotting my demise, and so I resolved to extend to him the same courtesy and try to figure out how to whack this motherfucker.
One of the things I found great about Emet-Selch is that from the moment he walks up to you, you're not sure if he's pulling your leg or not. After all, your only experience with the Ascians up to now has been one of hostility and them wanting to destroy you. And that kept nagging at the back of my head the entire time he was with us, even after he saved Y'shtola. "Is this a long con?" "Is this a mastermind of deception at work?" "Are his laments truly just that: Laments?" Then you learn that he truly wanted you to be 'worthy'. That all his interactions were genuine. That he spoke from the heart. That his grief was real. He was already a fantastic character before that was made clear. Post-realization he's THE best character in the entire game.
"Indeed, it is enough to make me think better of confronting you alone" ... Dude could easily wipe out everyone cept the MC. The deception he brings is maddening.
I think my favorite part about his offer to retrieve Y'shtola is the knowledge that, after our time in Elpis, he wasn't doing that JUST as an effort to gain trust but more because that's just... how he is. He's grumpy and sarcastic and will bitch about doing it, but he practically can't help himself when it comes to helping others. It's in his very nature. He is, despite everything he tries to be, a softhearted optimist when you really get down to it.
Another telling thing about Emet-Selch as a character since Elpis is that the for the Ancients back in the real unsundered Etherys, when they see the WoL, they dont consider them human. While Emet-Selch claims to not see the sundered people of Etherys as human or alive, in his tulpa Amaurot, the tulpa Ancients think the WoL and Scions are lost children rather than non-human familiars. To me, it seems to indicate that at least on some subconscious level, he *does* actually see them that way (probably why he wanted the WoL to prove him wrong in Shadowbringers).
The Exarchs speech here means so much more once you have the context to see he's not talking about the Crystarium when he talks about people who would labor and toil for generations on the mere chance of a better future.
Emet was just the best villain ff14 has ever personally I don't think there will ever be a villain as amazing as emet in ff14 ever again he was just so well written
3:54 Rewatching this scene, I wonder why The Exarch didn't elaborate further on this when Vauthry asked. What would Vauthry have done if he learned that his unchecked rule would lead to him and his entire world being erased?
Nothing, his whole philosophy is that the world is beyond saving either way, so best to refrain from any effort to save it and wallow in bliss for what precious little time remains. If the revelation that the Lightwardens can finally be dealt with didn't move him, the impending erasure likely wouldn't either. If anything, armed with such knowledge, he'd probably try to bolster his own worldview, perhaps by pointing out how close demise really is, or allaying concerns by citing that they'd "simply" merge back with the Source.
Thinking back on this scene, it's kind of hilarious that Emet-Selch refers to the WoL as a 'Famed Ascian Slayer', when they've literally only killed Nabriales. Igeyorhm and Lahabrea were killed by Thorden, Emmerololth was technically killed in the past by Galuf, and MOST of the rest of the Convocation were killed by Gaius. By this point in the story, Elidibus, himself, and Fandaniel are still around, and they're the only other Asciens we directly kill.
