This morning I have so many things to say… but don’t feel like I can really say any of it? By the internet rule of too soon I have fallen off the precipice that was the normal flow of Final Fantasy XIV. I’ve seen some stuff… and now really don’t feel like I can talk about it without ultimately ruining the game experience for all of the people who were further behind than me. As such I am just opting out of talking about any of the various bad ideas I experienced this weekend. Instead lets talk about Dwarves.
The level 78 gear set that comes through questing is the “Dwarf” set. For those not yet playing this game… Shadowbringers takes place in a “through the looking glass” sort of version of the world we known and love. In that world instead of Lalafell, you have the mining and tinkering Dwarves that are most widely known for wearing a helmet that gives them a non-descript black orb face with glowing yellow eyes. While there were technically Dwarves in the first Final Fantasy title… the ones we have come to love and respect for their Lali-ho-ness first appeared for me at least in the 4th title that we instead got as the 2nd title. Numbering is hard.
At least some part of my attachment to Lalafell is because I love small races… but small races that tend to be about the scale and proportions of a Fantasy Dwarf. Gnomes don’t do it for me… and depending on the game I can take or leave Halflings. Where my joy lies is with the subterranean masters… in part maybe because I secretly dream of a purely underground existence far from the reach of the evil sun? So once I was able to start BEING a Dwarf in FFXIV… you damned well can bet that I made some glamour happen. The 78 crafted set is dye-able and I have chosen soot black for the time being because it more or less goes with everything.
So yeah… for the time being that is all you are going to get out of me. Lali-hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! In part this gives my brain time to wrap itself around the events that just happened, and also you as the player time to catch up and experience it for yourself. There are spoilers… and then there are SPOILERS… and what I have been experiencing lives firmly in that second camp. Please do not leave comments below spoiling what I am talking about for my readers, because wow some stuff happened. Me saying that alone is probably bad enough.
Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers is I believe now officially my favorite Final Fantasy game ever. I am just hoping they manage to stick the landing. At this point I am level 80 and working my way through to the ultimate climax of the game… but like a nesting doll things seem to keep unfolding before me. I’ve already gotten effectively two more areas to explore that I was not expecting… and it just sorta keeps going. They managed to pull a Phantasy Star Online 2 on me… and well I am holding on with both hands for now.