@@thechampuru The Endless far predate Zoraal Ja, which means they already mastered electrope and soul engineering before he ever made it to the city of gold. We also know for a fact that Everkeep and Solution Nine existed before that too, as we hear plenty about how he came in and changed things in there. The arcadion for example was fully functional until he came in and closed it
@silverhand9965 Ah I see. I thought Zoraal Ja made Solution 9 that way. I went back and looked to see. My point still stands though, Alexandria wasn't futuristic. ☺ What happens after the calamity created Solution 9, a separate place then Alexandria, as we see it's ruins outside the map area.
@@thechampuru The ruins are only part of the larger city. You can see in the Alexandria dungeon that the people were rebuilding after the second boss and turning the palace in to Everkeep. It's the same place but they abandoned part of the city to focus on what would become Everkeep. During the beginning of the dungeon, before the Storm Surge, people had electrope devices attached to their houses that looked like generators.
@@thechampuru The super futuristic electrope gate beyond the Skydeep Cenote was there when Galuf, Galool Ja Ja and Ketenramm found it which predates Zoraal Ja arriving by a ton. As Flippy said, they were already in the progress of advancing to that futuristic look way before due to the electrope.
I love how in the 2nd phase Zoraal Ja's body seems to have a spot for a 2nd head, which is missing. With what we know about his father and applying titles, Zoraal Ja had resolve, but he lacked all reason in his actions.
It's both the abandonment of reason and a perfect visual to show just how badly he wanted to be better than his father, his very form trying to replicate him
He saw no miracle in who he was, only the shadow of who he wanted to be, makes sense his twisted final form would resemble a mangled version of his father.
@@amoxcillicpsychosis2967Okay so let's run down the list · Eldest sibling that fights said siblings · Has abandoned and harmed his own son · Has a second, demonic-looking form · Fight him on top of a tower where he has a throne · Uses summoned floating swords · LITERALLY YELLS WORD FOR WORD "I NEED MORE POWER" Close enough hi lizard Vergil
Love that if you're doing this fight with npc's, wuk lamat says she has no idea what to do for the 2nd phase mechanics, so she just stands there getting pummeled. In fact, many dungeons and solo duties in the expansion have a lot of funny npc interactions that i love.
A lot of mechanics that involve dodging, Wuk Lamat comments on it with a funny chide. Estinien also helps Alphinaud dodge some moves in this fight and Alisae will jokingly make fun of them for it.
It absolutely is a different tone to madness, which is usually characterized by the string slide (glissando, from a quick search) But this? This is gritty. It's _frustrated,_ angry, bitter and unceasing, answering the almost praising choir and slower bridges with heavy clashing notes that, to me, sounds like a "HELL NO".
@@ReksNuadiah The DOOM vibe of the theme is very fitting. It basically just strenghtens Zoraal Ja's resolve to never bow, he would gladly die over and over for it.
I swear the developers played Cyberpunk 2077 and Phantom Liberty when they were making this expansion. Love to see it. CDProject Red and Square Enix. Imagine that as a collab. Even better. Bring Larian studios, Square Enix, and CDPR to the table. They would make an ungodly next level game.
when you play actively with the effects on you just kinda get used to them and learn to look past them. I play and do everything with effects completely on aswell, I just hate how "empty" every group content feels with them gone.
@@Loispealz34 Doesn't seem too unlikely that a handful of Zoraal Ja loyalist Mamool Ja were in Yyasulani (am I spelling that right?) when the Dome went up. Just because we don't see them in the MSQ doesn't mean they weren't there. We see plenty in Tuliyolal, after all, and Xak Tural is right there.
If your rival is blue, seeks power, tries to surpass his father, is fought on top of a tower, willingly harms his own son, and has a devil looking 2nd form. That's not Zoraal Ja, that's Vergil.
I also just realized, the blue flames(?) on Zoraal on the first phase seem to mirror normal Viper's Reawaken state in appearance - but much darker. Wonder if that's a small touch of symbolism, even before he transforms.
With so many FFXIV villains being morally complex and dubiously sympathetic, it was kind of refreshing to have a villain who is an absolute, irredeemable piece of shit.
Nah, he was redeemed a little in his dying moments when he finally acknowledges how awful he's been acting. Then he passes down the kingdom to his son.
@@Soooooooooooonicable Yeah but no one is purely evil. Zoraal Ja is probably the closest we got to that, besides Asahi. It's very rare to see. I'd say Asahi is even worse tho cuz he didn't even redeemed himself in any shape or form, but Zoraal Ja is basically on the same page.
You have to love that hes copied everything about his father on a face value. Strength, fighting style, appearance, and unweavering resolve. Though in the end, he continued to fall short in everything that truly mattered. In the end he became the shade of his father corrupting the teaching to fit his ambition.
He copies being the ruler of a nation and a father but badly. Most everyone dislikes him in comparison to Sphene and he abandons his child. Gulool Ja Ja is a battle maniac but he's got heart and that's what Zoraal Ja discards in singular pursuit of power. A ruler without compassion for their people is naught but a tyrant.
Ironically enough, Gulool Ja is more the resilient son than the actual Resilient Son. He suffered a hard early childhood and at the end of it made it out with conviction and a family who cares for him. Same can’t be said for Zoraal Ja.
I love the detail in his transformation's design that his transformed state is a two-headed being but one of those heads is missing. It really fits his backstory of being the "miracle."
The screwed-up part of this theme is that it still has bits of the leitmotif of "Smile" in it. Particularly the part at 1:54 up to 2:12 sounds like the chorus of the song
No part of this trial had any right to go as hard as it did. Listening to the theme while waiting for the queue to pop, having the majority of the party be completely new to the fight, Zoraal Ja's VA knocking it out of the park, the fight itself...when I think back on Dawntrail, this trial experience is what I'm going to remember. Holy shit.
Mood. I loved everything about this trial so much. Even the song's name, "Seeking Purpose". They did such a great job portraying both his inner turmoil and just how dangerous he is when on his rampage. A real "force of nature" kind of boss.
If your sibling antagonist: Is blue, Summon a tower out of nowhere, Would not pay child support, Betray his assistant, Summon Swords, Kill a nation for power, Have a demonic silver/dark blue form Have daddy issues, That's not Vergil, that's Zoraal Ja
I love the message behind this being the Level 99 trial. The guy who throws everything away in pursuit of power has literally reached the level limit in most Final Fantasy games, and then loses to people who are higher level than he is.
Had so much fun with this fight and thought "I'm so glad we've saved the day again and the post-expac stuff can be about helping Sphene" But I then realised this was only the lvl 99 fight and we still had one more area to go.
This is not Soken tho, This is Takafumi Imamura, please stop sucking Soken off every time there is a song you like, he is not the only person in his team that makes songs. And majority of "good ones" these days are made by Takafumi Imamura and Daiki Ishikawa
The beginning of the song, with how it opens, gives me Dark Messenger vibes. Zoraal Ja reminds me of an expy of Kuja, in fact, albeit one who's a warrior instead of a powerful mage. A similar superiority-inferiority complex, a desire to be more than his creator/father, a complete descent into madness with the consumption of souls feeding into that final form, and then in his last, dying moments he does see reason and is... not so much friendly, per se, but is more open about his motivations than he ever was, and does give voice to his regrets. Even the arena makes me think of Memoria in FF9.
The elements of his second form seem to take some minor inspirations from Necron. I like how both main antagonists of this expansion reference it. Zarool Ja taking elements from his design, while the final boss (Eternal Queen in Japanese) references Necron's Japanese name, the Eternal Darkness.
@@SweetyMiki It actually has elements of both Trance Kuja and Necron, if you think of it. Zoraal Ja taking power to far transcend his limits and it causes a physical change, much like how Trance augments and changes the characters in FF9. It's actually kinda interesting.
@@BlazeIgnitus Holy smokes! Yep! Good point you brought up! Kuja was only able to enter Trance by taking all the souls Garland had harvested from Gaia (which had a lot of souls from Alexandria's destruction in disc 3) that had been held within the Invincible. Zoraal Ja did the same in Dawntrail by harvesting all the souls within Alexandria.
Was about to say I've been hearing more Dark Messenger, but I've gotten intense Necron vibes from the wails that come from the beginning of the song. Also like Necron's theme it has a very dark tone that hypes and speeds up as it progresses with electronic beats.
In other duties I’m trying not to die by wiping the tears away from my eyes. In this one I was trying not to die by head banging so hard. This music is such a banger.
I was quite eager to beat this boss, much like the other characters I did wonder why he wanted violence and war so bad, but it’s sort of answered in his second forms design, two heads with one ripped off, he really is resolve without any reason. Perhaps he would of been a better man had he two heads.
You know...when I think of the music for a fight against a... Aztec lizard man who becomes a cyborg king of a dimension hopping civilization going through roid rage from absorbing too many souls I did not think this. But it's perfect.
@@ManeEdge I respect both of you guys opinions, both have merit, played in JP but I hella agree the English Zoraal Ja VA outclassed everyone in the expansion, even the main characters (in English)
Note: In the second phase when he pulls us into that dimensional space for the platform mechanics, the skybox is the Historia Crux from XIII-2. It explains the key and the other plot relevant issues around it perfectly.
I think I might rate this as my favorite second trial of any expansion MSQ. The build up to it was great, Zoraal Ja had interesting development with how we learned what his true goal/character flaw was (The Weight of Expectations), music is amazing, fight is amazing, and the fact that his transformed form shows he is all Resolve and no Reason (or he potential killed it since it looks severed) is just an amazing visual touch.
How I imagine the development of this expansion went; The rest of the team: Yeah let's have a lighthearted adventure with happy characters for once. Give the WOL a break. Soken: I have made a song for a boss fight! Yoshi.P: Cool let's hear it! Soken: *Blasts this song* Yoshi.P: ...fuck this song is too good... let's add the remnants of a long destroyed reflection trying to invade and kill everyone to fuel their immortality with technology that even the Allagans would do a double take at!!! The rest of the team: *sighs intensify as they open the trauma drawer once more.*
This has to be Takafumi Imamura and it actually fits so well and perfectly portrays the power-hungry Zoraal Ja. The chaotic nature is also conveyed at 2:35 and it's pretty neat. It also seems like it's a pretty long track since it loops at 4:14.
SIKE! IT'S ISHIKAWA! (per ep credit) (honestly this is the most fuckery credit in this expansion i swear because this track has very similar energy to the black wolf stalks again)
@@NoName-lf9fk Holy shit, this is completely unexpected. No one would've seen it coming. I know Ishikawa also did Pulse but this is way too different from what he usually does. It's amazing though.
I did this with Duty Support first and it was such an incredible fight. Then I got it on my first Trial Roulette at level 100, and now I'm scared of that Roulette.
I dont think a villain in XIV has made me so irrationally angry (Not in a badly written way). When he tried to harm his own son, I started seeing red and every fiber of my being wanted to skin him alive.
When he *tried* to harm the kid?! My brother, he choked out the boy during the cutscenes before this trial, and then the phase shift has him slice through the image of the kid just before changing form… he already jumped past that barrier.
I felt a similar anger towards Zoraal Ja, one of the most infuriating types of villains to me (again, not in a badly written way) are ones like him where they'll go on about honor and surpassing someone in a "fair fight" while simultaneously using cowardly tactics and cheat powers. Like even after 30 YEARS to prepare, Gulool Ja Ja straight up beats him even in his old age, if it weren't for the regulator he'd be done right there.
Pretty much, talking to friends in game I did nothing but talk down on him from the moment he killed Gulool Ja Ja, basically saying if he was going to act like a spoiled brat desperate for attention then that's how I was going to treat him @ExaltedUriel
I can't get over his second phase look. Thematically it's so good with him lacking what was known as the head of Reason on his father. And it implies he somehow stole his Father's soul, or at least the Head of Resolve's, which could've also led to the incomplete transformation.
You know, when I saw this fight I thought to myself "oh yeah, those first phase mechanics are sweet, hope they expand on those in the EX" And then I progged the EX. I regret it. Vollok will follow me in my nightmares
Because this sounds so much like it's meant to have vocals in places I did a bit of digging. Lyrics mapped from 'Smile', this really seems to be the Angsty Version of the same vocal melody: 0:35 At the crossroads standing here Not a star in the sky to guide me tonight Ever lost in loss and fear Deep in darkness drown my cries 1:54 All this pain inside of me Don't know where it starts or when it'll end Try to tend the agony As I close my eyes and scream to the wind
Literally cried whenever Gulool Ja was on screen, so for Zoraal Ja to nearly choke him THEN swipe him...absolute hatred 🤬 edit - Also thank you Shtola for guiding me through this fight npc mvp 🙏
Say what you want about the story but something about this ost feels very classic final fantasy, from the jaunty town and early area themes to the otherworldly techno/classical themes. Well played imo
These dudes really went 'You know what? What if you fought Queen Brahne?' for how Zoraal Ja and Gulool Ja plays out. And then gave the Brahne equivalent the rawest track, a cyberpunk lizard makeover, and fifteen quintillion complexes.
I was jamming out hard to this song mid fight yelling "Imamura I know this banger was all you" and then dying cause I still have no clue how to read the second phase
Zoraalgil from the hit game Dawn May Cry. Real talk though this fight is so sick. Love the transition scene showing how far Zoraal Ja has gone on his twisted path.
When I was early on in the dawntrail MSQ, I for some reason kept thining of Saren from mass effect 1 when I saw Zoraal Ja When he showed up covered in cybernetics, beating the crap out of Gulool Ja Ja, I was surprised. When this music started playing in the trial, I became fully convinced that the devs/soken played mass effect 1 recently
Worst part is Zoraal Ja lost to Gulool Ja Ja in the first encounter lmao Only after he revived and caught Gulool Ja Ja off-guard then we managed to wound the old man.
I expected a lot of things going into Dawntrail. A relaxing vacation. Tacos. Bob Ross cosplayers. I did NOT expect this fight to turn into Devil May Cry.
