[record scratch] yup that's me, about to fight god. bet you're wondering how i ended up in this situation huh. well to begin with let's journey back to when i first returned from Elpis.....

i come back from my little jaunt down thousands-of-years-ago lane, after having learned about the true nature of things in general. i'm ready to blow these small children's minds apart, then upon being asked "so did you learn anything more about the Final Days :) ?" i just nod. earlier on when i first arrived in Thavnair it did wibblewooby screen effect stuff as i suffered from aether sickness, and here i think it should've done the same sort of thing but as a result of my brain being so full of secret universe knowledge that i had to unload on someone

felt like the game was messing with me here. i could tell i was about to have to play as someone, but the cutscene focus kept going back and forth between Estinien and Alphinaud and i couldn't tell who it would be. like it wasn't bad enough i missed out on an Estinien instance before, it ended up being Alphinaud, who is now a Sage. one day i will learn greek i swear on this

i'm realizing Zenos is just Boring Gilgamesh. they like to call attention to the fact he's totally one-dimensional as if it makes it any better. was initially worried when they introduced Fandaniel in this manner too, especially because the two were paired together. but we got our reasons with him, and i'm waitin on the Zenos deepening now. it's been three expansions i've been good i deserve some

still not buying this whole dynamis thing. look "aetherburner" see everything is aether how you gonna tell me there's something different all of a sudden. kinda worried to be honest, the way they've set up and explained dynamis as essentially vibejuice i'm starting to think i'm gonna be in for a good old fashioned Friendship Power-Up type ending. Meteion wants to kill us all with despair we'll just think about the good times really hard and save the world. worried i've spent £100+ on lore books pertaining to a universe where this happens

there's a very long segment in Labyrinthos, where it constantly plays tense music while we get the big en-moon-ening ready. my job during all this is to give the funny turban space bunnies a tour of the facility. one quest has me accompanying one of the loporrits as they sample different fruits, meanwhile the music has me thinking we're all about to be destroyed because i was too busy watching a rabbit suck on a lemon

gang's all here!!!! this scene has a lot of panning across as it reminds me of all the people i've helped out across my journeys, and i'm wondering if it woulda just been empty if i hadn't done any side content. adding that to the list of things to look up after Endwalker when i'm not worried about getting spoiled. not enough Alpha screentime in this cutscene. Fourchenault having a moment with his kids and telling them it was all for their sake i don't CARE dude there's literally a bird here

i thought the Aitiascope dungeon was a lil silly lol, buncha spirits of dead characters wandering around. characters dying not gonna hit so hard from now on knowing they apparently stay dead-alive for a long time, just chilling below Labyrinthos. also not that i expect them to show Amon and Asahi all fleshily cheeked-up during a dramatic cutscene but i find it funny that people in media always somehow hold onto their clothes in these situations. but Y'shtola and Thancred did emerge naked back in Heavensward? what the deal

so that leads us here.. been soulwarped to the mothercrystal a dozen times but somehow never noticed the massive Sharlayan-constructed(?) dungeon platforms surrounding it. when i first saw someone mention "the Hydaelyn fight" online i thought, what the hell are you talking about dude what do you mean you fight Hydaelyn. what does that mean i actually don't understand you. sure i've killed countless "gods" but how i gonna take down god god. well apparently she just wants to test us is all? phew! was worried this was going to be stupid for a second there

for her final act, god finally answered my prayers and allowed me to take NPCs into a trial. she kinda went overboard not gonna lie, like damn i know if we died here it'd mean we probably wouldn't have been able to save the world but at least give us the chance. if she dealt a fatal blow on me i would instead survive and be granted a Will to Live buff. fight went on good while because NPCs never pull their weight, so she had a lot of time to regret the whole giving me plot armor thing. kinda played herself here is all i'm saying

ended up killing her after all. oops! halfway through this cutscene the Prelude kicks in and suddenly everything seemed a little more par for the course. now all the talk about embodying hope and banishing despair by looking to the light within my heart or whatever, just got me goin yeeaaa it's final fantasy baby!!!! i'm the warrior of light i get da freakin crystals

i woke up today determined to walk the end. unfortunately before we set off to the outer reaches of everything, i made the mistake of getting optional dialogue from Alphinaud where he mentions our old friends are hanging around Sharlayan, and asks if i've come across any of them. naturally i then had to take far too long combing every inch of the city to find them all, so i could get two lines of secret forgettable dialogue that i couldn't find online

i gotta say i'm disappointed this game seems to forget i became able to commune with Alpha. the kwehs are all well and good but i just wanna know more about how he's doing. i want to sit down with him and talk with/nod at him, for an extended period of time. Square Enix's coward online store that never restocks merch deprived me of the opportunity to do this in my own home so at least let me do it on my computer screen

this girl doesn't know that going back on meds got my emotions all out whack, she and her domain will tremble before me. i'll take out my moodlamp flower and the rapid color switching will be enough to have her convulsing on the floor. game starts feeling like a creepypasta at this point, quest titles become glitchy messes and Meteion treats us to some jumpscares. it briefly flashes a scene of her bleeding from her eyes dude

with the power of love dude haven't you been paying attention. G'raha we need to start making out pronto come on. after that we can focus on how we'll beat Meteion

before i came here i realized there was still a beast (i'm still on 6.0 and the term got removed in 6.1 ok historical accuracy is my excuse) tribe i had left to encounter. the edge of the universe is a long way to travel for rep grinding every day man i don't know. met these funny ghost guys and assumed it was them? kinda freaky but kinda cute i guess, better than the elephants. i'm big on shadowy faces with big glowy eyes, it's why i like the dwarves despite being decidedly a lalafell racist. but it turns out the other tribe is actually some terminator-lookin Omega robots. might give into despair after all

these guys got so megasmart they managed to learn the single most fundamental truth of the universe, at which point their entire race turned suicidal. they offer us this awful terrible knowledge and we're weirdly enthusiastic about it? honestly didn't know if i, as in my actual real self wanted to hear it, in case it burdened me with some new perspective i didn't wanna deal with. but it ended up just being that eventually the universe will end?? is that really it bro that's nothing!! i came to terms with that when i was 8, i was like whaa oh my godd... for about three minutes, then i started playing Mario Kart

Scions dropping like flies every other quest. one-by-one they sacrifice themselves, to some vague extent and for some vague reason, to help me progress to the next set of space rocks. i was hoping G'raha would be the last to go. the cutscenes are already overly dramatic, as if there's meant to be any part of me that believes they might really be gone and that i'm not gonna see them all again in twenty minutes. but i was hoping when G'raha disappeared it just being us two would get me an extra spoonful of sappy catboy talk. he gave me a lot already but i would have liked more. i'd like more G'raha in general

be honest with me, am i Basic. they engineer the most likeable most kissable and softable smart/strong/cool character mathematically possible, and i go straight for him just like everybody else does. being in love with G'raha is the default. maybe if they invested a little more into M'naago i might make the effort to be more adventurous. but for now i am typical final fantasy player i want to have sex with the red cat

there's a long sequence of just walking alongside Alphinaud and Alisaie, every now and then stopping to ask how they're doing. it's very slow and quiet. this is where it started to hit me a little. almost nine years since i arrived in this world, the very first one i spoke with back then now gone, finally having her story and all her story's stories seen to their end. if i could fill in for that extra catboy sap i wanted from G'raha for just a minute

i don't have the time to attempt to convey in words everything this game has done for me over the years. and regardless i don't have what it takes to wax poetic in regards to each step i take, like every character in this world shows themself to. moreover still, the meds are wearing off, so all i can risk taking the time and energy to muster up is, i'm not entirely sure i'd have survived the past couple years without this game. it inspires me to no end. i'm incredibly grateful it exists. nothing else could get me to touch upon what it means to me without succumbing to signing it off with a stupid joke