It's as upsetting as it is thematically fitting, given how utopias tend to be in this game.

Well… SPOILERS….. That “utopia” was just another mass grave…

@@ElZamo92 Living Memories was just a big and decorated mausoleum

And the fact that your comment doesn’t even cover the upsetting truth of said Utopia says a lot about how deeply dark it all is.

Almost as if it was foreshadowing for the true nature of the "golden city", maybe 🤔🤔🤔

Remember when Dawntrail was being marketed as the "fun beach episode" expansion?

Should any of this be a surprise? We've been given warcrimes , genocide and more handed out like it was candy for how many expansions now ? Or as Yoshi-p would say ; Making the mother of all omelettes here jack , can't fret over every Eugenics program...😂😂😂

.... I DID NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT HOLY SHIT.

One for babies and another one for adults. It is really depressing for a self-proclaimed vacation expansion.

I just love when they mix their lore into the music. ❤ This tune became so empowering and emotional.

Walking up to the very last boss seeing the golden pyramid amongst all the muted purples brought me to tears.

I know that moment you're talking about too

"Of course you knew..."

Dead baby jail*

It is rather typical FFXIV to just suddenly dump "Dead Baby Cave" on the players. Though that doesn't make it hit any less harder.

i like to call it the DBD, Dead Baby Dungeon

When i went to the new world I didn't expect to be hit with the themes of eugenics, genocide, and euthanasia.

I was the very same. The music, the final boss of the dungeon and the visuals.... i was like: "BRUH this is like.... halfway!? What the fuck is going on in this expansion!! This is AWSOME

I just love how I was like "Damn that was a cute expansion, I enjoyed it" and then "Oh wait this is only Zone 3"

@@cherrydragon3120 This track really does have that "final dungeon" feel.

@@BunnychanFarabeeyeah it kinda does, I guess it is the final dungeon for the first arc in Dawntrail too

But...we are almost done with the rite of succession, and we found the golden city.

And I'm uncontrollably crying again

To think those poor babies were being killed back in the tribe just because they weren't "blessed siblings" is genuinely upsetting lore for me

@@koko-hh2bq it wasn't that they were being killed, it was that only one out of 100 blessed siblings ever hatch live, and survive. most die in the egg. so they take those eggs with unhatched children to the watery grave.

@@LastMinWin Yeah, and the reason why they buried all of them there was to prevent their souls from turning into vengeful spirits since the place is 'blessed' somewhat. Considering you still fight some undead near the start, it wasn't wholly successful.

@@pll3827 itreallywasnt u_U;; the situation for the mamool ja was genuinely desperate.

Spoiler: the dead babies song. explains why it sounds so sad.

I need this Orchestra 📜 in game.

It drops from the dungeon itself afaik

"Lost In The Deep" IS THIS WHY I'M HEARING SAVATHÛN'S SONG HIDDEN IN HERE?!

ty for the title, time to farm that dungeon so i can now cry in my house... fc house.. appartment.. inn.. EVERWHERE!!!

Honestly, I never expected FFXIV to ever tackle something as fucked up as eugenics, let alone in the "vacation" expansion.

@@BunnychanFarabee It's even worse since back in ARR, the Mamool Ja were treated as jokes for their culture's huge focus on breeding. Then we learn their culture is that way here and it saps the humor out of a lot of those old scenes.

​@@BunnychanFarabeestormblood handled the topic of collaborators, occupation, and cultural erasure more deeply than most historical and wartorn settings. Its definitely within their capability to go hard on uncomfortable subjects with a lot of grey morality.

There is also a side quest after the final feat, in which you helped a father nearly lost his mind in grief after realizing their babies were sacrificed for nothing.

Because of the sadness

Not to mentione that the dungeon itself is fucking beautifull too. The empty, haunting halls of forgotten ruins. The entrance area to the golden City. Its such a damn good duty. By far one of my favorites in the game

It makes me so nauseous and heartbroken every time I run this dungeon 😭 it’s awful what the Mamool Ja had to go through, and it feels so solemn. I suppose that’s the intent, but damn 😢

I was so glad I chose to do this with NPCs the first time because my eyes watered so much in the first part that I couldn't see properly

@@miss_kas I ran it with friends the first time and we all just kinda stopped and gasped at the same time 😭 I knew it was a tomb but the amount of urns and the realization was heavy

i know which one sadly

And all it took in that scene was one word, "would". The second I heard that I started sobbing. 😭

@@zeblith i swear i just hear the song and tears come up (and its been days, now!!) and they also used it later before one of the trial and i really felt bad for that boss .. like omg let me help them!!

where was this again?

@@loreofmetal5604 " 3 years " is as far as i willl say to avoid spoilers :)

It sounds like a lullaby for children never born.

I really wish this was the motif for dawntrail and not that annoying one we got. Takes me out of whatever song the game is playing when I hear "tAkE a BiTE!!!11" this song is mindblowing and is incredibly catchy.

@@VForceWaveKinda true tbh

It’s literally one of this game‘s leitmotifs reused - again. Slightly altered, of course. Soken does this in nearly every piece he creates for this game. Not sure why, it gets boring after a while.

@@Zephhi I feel like this expansion's start could've been the best X.0 ever with what they had, but for some ungodly reason they invested into exclusively the worst parts possible. The skeleton of a 10/10 is here but oh my god the final product story-wise, character-wise, and theme-wise (phase 2 of trial 3 is a terrible song) its all just downright rotten The content itself is peak though, best ever

Soken absolutely knocked it out of the park with this expansion. He and the other composers definitely took a lot more creative liberties with this expac and Im loving each track.

Gosh, this song did play during that, didn’t it…. That had me actually crying a little for w/e reason. Felt like finding out a dear friend had suddenly passed.

I suspected after so many consecutive scenes of him being "asleep", but had some hope as well.

@@Valvadrix I hardly ever pick up on stuff others say they knew was coming or had long suspected, so it def hit me. 😅

man, I was in total shock. I can't imagine what it must feel like... this is even worst than loosing a twin. It's litteraly a part of himself. Having your dead brother near you CONSTANTLY may be some next level torture. Gulool Ja Ja is such a chad

@@neoshinsei4073 right???? That part!!!

I now know what you mean. That *did* hurt, didn't expect that...!

That dungeon with this song... I was glad I did this with the trust system. I had to stop a couple times.... this dungeon messed me up.

Absolute same. We'd been told what was down there but to actually see it was shocking and sad.

One of my favorites by far!

Holy fuck I did not expect it and I loved it to bits

@paragon359 Yeah, easily one of my favorites this expansion. It reminds me somewhat of Amaurot.

@@paragon359 it also smash you to bits so feeling must be mutual

On the note of the final boss. The use of Titan Maximum's skeleton from E4S was actually genius. I love huge bosses

I LOVE E4S!!!!!!!

Running up that incline after the second boss was such an awe inspiring scene. With duty support NPC's the timing was just right that the music managed to crecendo right as the pyramid came into view and it was amazing.

​@@jjc1017:30 in the video has a similar feel.

First time i went in here i had my jaw drop to the floor. The feels, emotion, music and visuals are just amazing.

@@HalvoPlays you really had to go and invoke the monkey's paw, didn't you

@@ZiriO lol yeah

Tiny ja in those jars.

@@Megabigfox Tiny Ja forever

Bakool Ja Ja was an arsehole in the 1st half of the story, but when you get to this part, you realise that underneath all that bravado and nastiness is a child in pain. Pain from knowing that he was "produced" to be a living god for his people and that dozens if not hundreds of his siblings died in infancy as the "failures". Survivor's guilt in other words.

@@SoranPryde For real, I choked up when Wuk Lamat asked him what he wanted and he just said through pained words "I want it to END."

​@@SoranPryde From what they said, for every one of them that made it to birth, a hundred twins don't.

Bakool ja ja was indeed such an asshole i wanted to end him so badly. 😮‍💨 i feel a bit guilty for wanting that now knowing his story. Dude had so much pressure on him, so much hopes and dreams to fullfill, so much sacrifice to "justify" and he failed. Even after all the nasty things he did.

​@@ChibiNinjaVTi just got through this part today. his voice actor killed it in that scene, i could feel the pain in every word.

The thing about the first is wildly incorrect. Lakeland is where mor dhona is, Il Mheg is where Coerthas is, Kholusia is where La Noscea is, Ahm Araeng is where Thanalsn is and Rak’Tika is where the Black Shroud is. Point being Shadowbringers zones 1-5 are the Firsts equivalent of the ARR regions with Il Mheg being the only difference in that it isn’t snowy

Dude the qitana ravel gear from the shop, the ronkan armor from the dungeon, the ronkan golems... the inca/aztec architecture.... I knew instantly this was related somehow to the ronkan empire in the first. I just didnt really exactly know how. But damn i knew there was NO coincidence that so much was the same.

​@@GbrByyou can even see it somewhat on the world map. The shape of eulmore and kholusia on the map is similar to vylbrand/la noscea

@@GbrBy Not a real difference, back then, in 1.0, Coerthas wasn't snowy, and the north part of Il Mheg really look like Coerthas 1.0

​@@GbrBy actually later on in Shaaloani, you encounter the Source's equivalent of the trolley boys in the First

exact same

Same to me man, at that time where we walked up stairs and saw the golden gate gives me chills

Me too. My jaw was open half the time. It was so good. 😊😊

At least, they can grow Sharlayan grass now. I bet some of that must be really good stuff.

Add 3 cents when you realize the small pots sound like children

Mushoku?

​@@jangouni1619elden ring

this weirds fleshs guy

Glad I wasn’t the only one, definitely would feel right at home in Xenoblade 2

I love how unapologetically Xenoblade this expansion has been. I love it.

Fuck the summer vacation. It hasn't been a vacation from the start. We're medling with politic affairs and fighting beasts left, right and center. Not to mention the BS bakool ja ja was putting us trough. Yes we took a bit of a backseat during all this as the warrior of light. (Cuz appearently nobody in Tural knows we are the most powerfull individual on the planet but whatever) But we still been fighting with some stakes involved. I barely can call that a vacation

​@cherrydragon3120 this. It never was a vacation LOL Not to mention, and this is just a personal gripe, but later on during a certain part. We suddenly lose battle IQ and stand around doing nothing like we haven't saved the star multiple times over. I know it's to tell a story and animations are a thing but I hate when it makes our character look incompetent.

I...I was joking.

@@cherrydragon3120 Imagine the MSQ being a single quest of “/frolic in the waters at the beach of Tuliyollal 1,000 times.” At the end of the day it’s still a video game. Players need challenging content to do and an engaging story to follow. Granted, this so-called “low stakes vacation” turned into another “Gotta save the world” situation way too quickly, but it was bound to happen some time.

@@sizzychittybangbang People too serious to correct casual thing.

Man i shud finish the MSQ then... now i am curious AF

There's something about having to pass through the graveyard of unborn children to reach the golden city only to find out that it's the simulacra of those who should have been put to rest a long, long time ago... It hits in such a distinct way from our visit to the First or even the Thirteenth.

Same on this video at 7:28 c:

I had that too. I've been humming it alot

I fricking love it

Survivial's guilt + extreme expectation from his people + being revered as a god-like being in his culture create a inflated-ego Bakool Ja Ja who is reckless and willing to do everything to get the end results, even though he would've likely had no problem to overcome feats in a normal and fair way, like some NPCs telling you, considering he has both strength and wisdom. When he lost to Wuk, someone who he deemed to the the least-threatening contender, he finally faced a reality check. Everything about him was about him winning: winning so that his dead siblings' death won't be in vain, winning so that he can bring his people to outside of the seemingly inhospitable forest, winning so that there will be no more blessed siblings. Then he failed. The shock made him bawling and running like a baby. When he faced his father and told him his failure, you would expect him getting angry and attacking his father for insulting him. Nope, he just quietly accepted being kicked out and left. When he was brooding in the Skydeep entrance, his mother revealed that he cried among his dead siblings everytime something bad happened. You no longer saw a haughty and scheming cartoonish villain. It was just Bakool Ja Ja being himself, when the shackle of having to win at all cost was no longer on his shoulder. He even realizes his actions were wrong and didn't expect forgiveness, and threw away his pride if there was any left to asked Wuk to help his people. Because even after everything horrible he did, he did for his people's future. It is not an excuse for him to do those horrible things against other Claimants, but it shows that he has an another side which you can sympathize with.

@@YoukoZuki Funny how they gave a lot of the same traits to Zoraal Ja as well, dialed up to 11 with his rampage over everything.

I neeed it ):

You need better teammates that dont need as much healing then so you can continue to feel emotions 😊

Ultima Thule got me bad enough, the places and themes in dawntrail had me bawling on more than one occasion, I dunno how much more my fragile heart can take

I mean TO BE FAIR: As sad as their origin is they and the silverscales were still attempting to enslave the tonberries.

@@TheDarkFable Oh, he definitely had it coming. It's just a shame he became entitled, then resorted to banditry and mass murder, considering his origins

Miquiztlioztotl would be more apt considering all of the Aztec influences. I agree, though. It would've hit much harder.

@@Michael-qk7cs yak tel is mostly mayan however. With cenotes and xibruc pibil and all of thay

What does it mean tho

@@cherrydragon3120 Maya underworld. It means something like "Place of fright".

​@@alexmetaverseI see. Good to know!

For me too

Wheres the leitmotif from?

​​​@@doinyourdad_6969It's Yak T'els overall motif! You can hear it in both it's day and night themes :> Typically when a dungeon takes place in an overworld area its theme will incorporate the area's theme in it

I liked them as a villain at the start, purely because they were a pair of *extremely* punchable faces

​@@jacobkern2060 i didnt think square would be able to make a villain i could hate more then zenos. But here he was, Bakool ja ja was an absolute asshole. Untill...the lower forest of yak'tel. Now i kinda feel bad for him.