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Elril Moonweaver

Phoenix [Light]
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[SPOILER] Review of Stormblood 4.0 [NG+ Run]

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THE CONTEXT

There is something to be said about the quality of a recent expansion if it urges you to revisit previous installments of the series just to see if that lack of polish was there to begin with. This has been my endeavor since I started my NG+ run after finishing DT.

Though it took me months to get through the HW 3.0 NG+ run because I had other things occupying my time, this time around my focus was solely to get through the stories that I wanted to revisit, first it was the story of post-HW (which I finished shortly around the New Year) and then it was the story of Stormblood, arguably the only story I've spent a long time never picking up and revisiting - 3 years have past since I last saw the story unfold and a lot has changed since then.

Much like with EW, I didn't enjoy Stormblood my first time around because I was alone for the most part. I didn't give SB or Lyse a chance and I went on just being hell bent on not liking SB. Well this time I was not alone, I had two of my dearest friends to which I could share my thoughts and opinions about my NG+ run and as such, I had a more open mind and was more lenient, able to see the good that this expansion has in it. And trust me this time around I saw the good, thanks in no small part to how abysmal my experience with DT was.

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This story starts out slow, but there is a certain sense of hopelessness lingering in every line the characters say, it's gut-wrenching to experience it after I too have been plagued by months and months of hopelessness. The hope and joy that these characters end up having, it's nothing short of awe-inspiring and it's so wonderful to see. Sure there isn't a lot of visual spectacle to be had in a lot of cutscenes, but this story is very humane and grounded and real and not few were the times I felt my eyes welling up because of just how beautiful and sad it all was.

Gosetsu this time around was the character that I enjoyed the most, his was a journey of redemption and the fact that he is eternally grateful to Elril and Hien for the opportunity to right the wrongs of his past was just making me want to give him a big god damned hug! He was a simple and determined character, with a troubled past and many regrets but no less delightful.

Yugiri was really compelling as a character as well being too stubborn and reckless to see - much like Lyse, how her countrymen have no fight left in them, until they do manage to inspire them to rise up against the Garleans. This time around I believe she was the character I would say that I liked the least out of Lyse, Gosetsu, Hien and Yugiri. Don't get me wrong I still enjoyed her character but I don't believe I have nearly as much to say about her as the others.

Hien I really, really enjoyed this time around, he brought a certain levity with his light-hearted way of problem solving difficult situations. And he has a charm that makes him a very compelling character to follow. The fact that he took a lot of the spotlight in the latter part of the Doman storyline made me really root for him. He and Lyse are very much alike in terms of the situations they find themselves in, thrust into positions of power unwittingly because of their predecessors' deaths and learning to live up to the challenge so they can see their homelands free. This is also probably why Hien and Lyse are of a similar age. Just to further cyment how much alike they are.

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Just like in my last review of SB, I'd like to spend more time talking about Lyse, but this time instead of ranting, I'd like to actually show praise.

Yes, my viewpoint on Lyse has changed, has slowly been the case thanks to my dear friend hammering to me the idea that she's a great character. Until I experienced the story of Stormblood for the second time in the NG+ run, in the wake of a recently added character who WAS indeed too tedious to bare, I couldn't bring myself to believe him, having had such an oddly negative viewpoint of her during my first playthrough. Though most of that is owed a lot to my closed-mindedness at the time. I had enjoyed the Warriors of Darkness storyline too much to actually want to move on to a story about liberating Ala Mhigo and Doma. I wanted more of that, and yet that was not what I got and I was salty to no end.

This time around I wasn't, I knew what the story beats were and I was more interested to know how they got there. Lyse is no exception and I was interested to see how her character journey would go from start to finish. This time around she didn't feel overbearing at all (unlike her DT counterpart) and namely because the story makes it very clear that this is not a story about her.

She's just an actor playing her part in the liberation of Doma and Ala Mhigo and that the victory is not hers and hers alone. The real battles, the fights against the unexpected primal beings that crop up in the story, Susano, Sri Lakshmi and Shinryu are all victories won by the Warrior of Light himself as he is the only one capable of withstanding the tempering.

That is not to say that Lyse is not an outstanding character in her own right. Her love for everyone around her makes her very compelling, and her determination while making her blind at times to the suffering of others, makes her all the more endearing and gives her a lot of room to grow into the leader that Conrad wanted her to be. She's daunted by the task, but she rises to the challenge. And this would have not been nearly as earned as it turned out to be had the story not made sure to constantly have her question her purpose and have other characters chew her out for her naivete. She faces the consequences for her limited worldview and she emerges a well rounded character at the end of all this, willing to fight and die for the freedom of homeland.

Now... this is high praise coming from me, considering that up until now I've only been annoyed with Lyse and lukewarm towards her at best.

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Last time I experienced this story I never really touched upon the antagonists, because I didn't think it was necessary.

Yotsuyu and Fordola are both characters that I enjoy greatly and they are equally tragic characters for being products of the societies that they lived under. Neglected, talked down to, taken advantage of, despised. They both have that in common, but there is a fundamental difference in the motivations that they have to side with the Empire, that I won't touch on just yet. However I will make a mental note to touch upon it when I finish the NG+ run of post-SB.

Last time, I didn't even give Zenos the time of day. Fair enough, I didn't find him a compelling character at the time so I spared him no thought. This time however, as much as I despise him as character, as he's the antithesis to what I am and how I regard my Warrior of Light - who is an extension of myself - I cannot deny that there is something fascinating in just studying how the man thinks. It's so twisted. He's not abiding by the same logic or morality as everyone else. He's living in his own made up world where mortals exist to serve him, to provide him with entertainment. And that is equal parts fascinating as it is disturbing.

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I had a lot of fun thinking up glams that would make Elril look unbelievably good in cutscenes. Just like with HW before it, I changed my job and glam depending what moment of the MSQ I found myself in. This time around I used 2 Monk glams for Ala Mhigo - parts 1 and 2 - and one Samurai glam for the Doma part of the story. The Doma part of the story was the longest, so I spent a good portion of the story being a Samurai.

I've had a lot of fun throwing out comments and opinions to my friends while going through the story, even if they were just in the blind. This is how I would have personally wanted to experience SB and EW the first time going through them.

I've enjoyed my time with this story a lot, and I can't wait to revisit the post-SB story again. I remember having loved it back when I did it the first time.

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That's all I wanted to say for now.

Stay safe, my fellow Warriors of Light,
- Warrior of Light Elril Moonweaver
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