If it isn’t obvious from the title, then this article contains spoilers. However, is it really a spoiler if it’s been out for a year? When are we allowed to start posting content without tagging it with spoilers? This is a legitimate question because there will always be someone who is behind, much like I was.
It took me a year to get to this point. While everyone was already doing the new 24-man raids in Final Fantasy XIV, I was doing literally anything else. I think it’s because, during the entirety of 2020, I was in a Free Company of two. It was me and one other person, and I’m 100% sure they were a bot. Final Fantasy XIV is the type of game where I need to have a community of people to enjoy it.
Sure, the story is great, but the money I spend monthly is to forge and maintain friendships. The latter I didn’t do in 2020. To be fair, a lot of my absence in 2020 was due to me working in the medical field during a pandemic. It was tough to maintain friendships. There were other reasons too, but that’s a story for another day.
A couple of weeks ago, I attempted the Amarout dungeon. It’s the last dungeon in 5.0 and caps off the story of Emet-Selch. I made it all the way to the dungeon’s last boss with a healer who volunteered to help me through the dungeon. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the most patient person. Who offers to help a newbie through a dungeon only to get verbally frustrated every time they do something wrong? I ended up getting frustrated with his frustration and left the dungeon.
I disappeared from Final Fantasy XIV for a couple of weeks before coming back and attempting the dungeon with trusts. It was rough, but I made it. However, I was not ready for the next twenty minutes of my life to make me feel the most gutted I’ve ever felt.
The cutscene at the end seemed a bit generic. Everyone was making their last stand; the Scions were clearly not up to the task to fight off Emet-Selch. They’re like the Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin to DBZ’s Perfect Cell.
However, the feel train didn’t start until my WoL started experiencing symptoms (vomiting, excessive glowing, etc.) of turning into a Sin Eater, where the feels train started off the tracks.
Ardbert came in and offered to fuse our souls into one.
Emet-Selch couldn’t believe it. You know, typical villain stuff, instead of taking me out during a transformation phase, he just stands there and waits for me to go to full power.
Yes, Ardbert and I have become one. Well, we technically always were “one,” but now it’s official. Like, we can put it on a legal document now, right?
The Crystal Exarch shows up and uses his power to bring in other adventurers to help me take down Emet.
Also, this is probably one of the coolest screenshots I have of my character.
After Emet reveals his true form, Hades, we battle through a surprisingly easy trial. Honestly, I thought it was going to be a little harder than this.
Even when he goes into his final, FINAL, form, his mechanics were surprisingly predictable.
After winning the battle, the final cutscene starts. At first, it starts off a little corny. All the Scions come in and do their weaker Dragonball Z energy attacks while waiting for Gohan to come in with the final Kamehameha wave.
Throwing Ardbert’s axe (apparently, filled with all this extra light we had) was enough to rip and tear a hole through the Ascian.
However, I was not emotionally ready for this line. It wasn’t just the line. You could see the acceptance on his face.
More than my character, she looked like she was glad to be done with all this mess.
But back to Emet-Selch’s line.
“Remember…remember us…” “Remember that we once lived…”
For some reason, that cut me a lot deeper than I was expecting. I somehow, for a year, avoided Shadowbringers spoilers, so my emotional reaction was still one-hundred percent genuine.
We knew Emet’s intentions. They were obvious, but it was the way he went about them that was wrong. He never processed his emotions properly. Was he tempered? I’m not sure. I’m sure it’s answered later on as I go through Shadowbringers post-story, so don’t spoil it for me, but this is my perspective.
I just hope he never comes back. As much pain as I felt for him at this moment, it would definitely water down this memory if they magically brought him back. Maybe it’s his expression that got me more than the line? You can see it in his eyes. Did we break the tempering, if he was? Did he truly want to find a better way to do this that involved less tragedy? All he wanted to do was have his life back.
I was not emotionally ready for this, and I’ll most likely take until 6.0 to recover, unless the wounds reopen during my adventure through Shadowbringer’s post-story content.
Maybe my emotional pain will find temporary reprieve during Final Fantasy XIV’s Showcase Announcement on February 5th, 2021.
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