this a fantastic video essay. I find too many video essays on youtube spend too much time resummarizing the plot and not enough time analyzing, so i really appreciate whenever i find one that includes so much in depth discussion. I especially loved the section of tying nihilism to ishgard and showing how EW's themes have been prevalent throughout the game.

This video really hits on the reason why I dislike story skips, even though I understand their mechanical importance for existing. Endwalker’s message only hits as hard as it does for me because of the previous stories. In a sense, the struggle for meaning and purpose in a broken world has always been the thing the game explores. A Realm Reborn shows us a world that has survived the end, a world on the brink of disaster at every possible moment. The struggles for meaning and purpose are, quite literally, desperate struggles for survival. The banality of that task might seem incongruent with Final Fantasy, a series steeped in power fantasy, but making the player start from that low level gives us a very deep and intimate connection with those people who lives will one day rest in our hands. Even in Endwalker, when the fate of the universe is literally at stake, the game always takes time to slow down, bring you down to the level of mere mortal, and require of you to engage with your fellow man. To see what simple struggles give their lives meaning. Heavensward shows us a society that believes it has found the answer to what gives life meaning. The Ishgardian Orthodox Church is, in essence, a microcosm of those worlds Meteion found, where the people believed they found a preferential solution. And yet, Heavensward is committed to showing the flaws of the system, the way in which it rigidly polices the participants of the system, the way it fails those who slip through the cracks. The Brume stands as a living testament to the failures of Ishgardian society. Ultimately, Ishgard can only move forward when it comes to understand its true history, casts down the oppressive system, and allows all people a chance in deciding the way forward. Stormblood is in many ways quite similar to Heavensward in its connection to the theme. The Garleans represent an oppressive system that believes itself the preferential way to live life. All over the empire’s territories, we run into people who are failed by the system, people who have been broken by it into obedient husks, doing the system’s bidding out of fear of retribution or the malformed belief that doing what the system wants is the best a person can do. And yet, through uplifting one another, joining hand, and participating in a cause greater than oneself, that system can be overcome. It’s very similar to Heavensward as I said, but even more focused, because it narrows in on a few select characters (Fordola, Yotstuyu, etc.) through which to convey the message. If Stormblood is like Heavensward, then Shadowbringers is like A Realm Reborn. It again shows us a world that has seen the end, and asks how one can find meaning in the face of so much wanton death and destruction. Much like Stormblood, Shadowbringers narrows in on the story through the use of an important character: our main antagonist Emet Selch. Like the people of Norvrandt, Emet has drunk deep of calamity. Like them, he struggles to rebuild, to keep going. The depths of his despair in the face of the end of the world is such that he’s even given up on his own humanity, rejected empathy, and deluded himself into believing that the past he love is worth the lives of beings that he knows, deep down, he cares about. Like the Warrior of Light, Emet-Selch bears the weight of a world on his shoulders, but whereas the WoL has chosen to bear that responsibility judiciously, constantly showing empathy to others and helping them to uplift themselves, Emet has rejected everything. He believes that he alone knows the future of the Star, and that he will shape it by his hands. If Final Fantasy XIV has a point, I think it’s this. The world is full of suffering, always cruel, often pointless. Happiness is fleeting. But in the face of suffering, the answer is not to seek to eliminate it, nor to see to find a single answer that fits all. The answer is to uplift one another over and over again, to show each other compassion, and help every person find their own meaning. I think the quote from Alisaie when confronting the Endsinger summarizes it best, “No one is unbreakable. What pains one may weather may bring another to tears. But therein lies our strength, for when we fall our brothers and sisters are there to lift us up, again and again, without end.” That, to me, is what the game is about, and what Endwalker wants to convey.

1:34:18 That callback. Oof. Ouch. My heart.

Just to add to your comments on the Massively Multiplayer element, FF14 emphasizes co-operation much more than other popular MMORPGS like WoW in some key ways. There is no factional combat; every player is a fellow adventurer, not necessarily someone to compete with. There is no competition over gathering nodes or monsters: helping another person kill a monster will not reduce the experience or rewards they receive from the encounter, while gathering nodes are individually instanced. Job scaling means that experienced players can join friends in low-level content while still receiving rewards. I think that not only fits the themes of the game, but is part of the reason the community is comparatively less toxic than other MMOs.

Ironically nietche proposed nihilism to be argued, he didn’t actually believe it himself

this video nearly brought me to tears and the feeling of warmth I felt was so powerful it felt like endwalker's message had finally reached me. Thank you for this video, thank you for letting me find my own answer to the meaning of my own life.

Fantastic essay, the rare kind that makes me want to turn right back around and watch it all over again. I was hooked immediately and constantly struck by both your writing and your delivery. I especially wanted to say how much I appreciated the sharing of your personal stories both with the game and with life at that time. I'm reminded by your points at the end about Endwalker's relentless hope in the face of such despair of the ending lines of Revenge of the Sith's novelization: "The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins - but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars.”

listening to this at work and I was suddenly like, "HOMESTUCK?!" lmfao. beautifully written essay though!

Thanks. I watched this during MSQ roulette and daily dungeon

God, the Multiplayer Made Medium section has me wondering if I’ve been playing the game wrong. I haven’t joined a free company, and in general I don’t directly engage with the social aspects of the game beyond queueing into raids. In part this is because I play on console with a controller and therefore communication is inefficient at best, and in part this is because I mainly play single-player games, and maybe there’s more parts that I’m not consciously aware of. I have some lore for my WoL, but I honestly didn’t know there were spaces where people share their personal lore. Maybe I’m just not on the right socials? For me, I’ve always approached FF14 as a solo experience that countless other people are also participating in, who I’ll see running about and with whom I’ll occasionally team up with. In the metaphor of MMO as a third space, I’m the girl at the coffee shop who orders a latte and then just sits at her own table reading a book. Now that I’ve written it out, I think that’s a valid approach.

This video is beautiful, thank you for all your hard work :)

Di di di digital duck

Lovely video! I was initally deeply emotional over Endwalker, until I organised my thoughts a bit more and had my view soured by (my perceived view of) its take on suffering and pain as a a source of ultimately strength and growth. I have been in more than a few painful places in my life and none of them has made me feel stronger for overcoming them or pulling myself out of them, rather it made me relieved and hopeful for better in my future. In the present though, I don't believe this to be Endwalker's primary takeaway, a belief shared by you in your video and other excellent FFXIV video essays I've seen on the topic. I've come full circle in appreciating it all the more for acknowledging and giving credence to these ideas and showing examples of "answers to the question", even when they are flawed and incorrect sometimes.

i love talking about my WoL! i have many alts, and some of them do have backstories (one has fanfictions written by moi xD) I'shevi Tia is my main, me and a friend have two lala's named Mimi and Momo who are besties for life and book buddies (smr and sch) and we even have Vash and Wolfwood alts that got isekaid as a joke xD i personally love sticking to the lore and world as much as possible because for me it's a great writing challenge. My WoL has even gone beyond the game, he has an alternate self in the Limbus Company game and even in FF XVI! the point is to just have fun! you never know what can happen! make your characters your own and have fun!

Listen, lots of people are depressed but most of them don't try to destroy the world.

Jullus' shock, disbelief, and sorrow when the cure for tempering was brought up reminded me of Dr McCoy and his father from Star Trek 5. Bones had to end his father's suffering by pulling the plug only for them to find "a cure, a god damned cure" just a few years later.

This was such a beautiful video essay. Well thought out, and genuinely moving. Thank you for sharing your story as well. ♥

Incredible video. FFXIV also found me at a rough time and endwalker really helped me reframe my post religion life and really opened my eyes to a more optimistic nihilism where we each find our own meaning.

I'm not even 25 minutes into this video. I'm not commenting to praise you for what seemingly is going to be a very philosophical and intellectual take on Endwalker. I'm not here for that. I'm here to say that you having the quote of Engels Fredrick, in the style of a FFXIV chatbox is CUTE AFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF and because it's on a video so serious i just thought it good to comment on that lil piece I found cute ^.^

EW impacted me to the point where I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be alive without it. I played through it while in a very dark point in my life. I still haven't fully recovered from just how wholly I was consumed by despair, but playing through EW genuinely gave me hope for myself. Quite literally pushing me to Forge Ahead. idk how they did it, but it's wild that a game did what I couldn't manage myself for at least a decade and counting lol

Insults people's taste in anime to prove a point about bulling. Not every SAO fan is one that would make a Mary Sue character. As a matter of fact, it's people that don't watch Anime that are more likely to do so. Point failed spectacularly.

I feel like Solano from Mercs 2 isn't part of the Vergil effect. He isn't ever a TRUE antagonist, since he isn't ever fought against. Blanco and Carmona are your main rivals, with Solano, he just hides in his Bunker Buster proof bunker.

This video is so under-rated. Thank you for doing this story so much justice

This video was utterly beautiful, be proud. You are a fantastic writer, speaker, covid tester, survivor and human being

honestly, this got me into persona all over again due to how descriptive and put-together your narration is + this helps alot with my story-writing, thank you!

Please create a part two for the new ghost types and I would love to see a video on Demons!

I’m the lover let’s gooo

gatchaman crowds was not terrible but it was not great either, its message fall flat because of right off the bat problems are handle talking first ,the people have power in them selves, tech is really helpful but dont always rely on it ect . since it lacks actual villains its lacking moments where team would come together bond its instead replaced by hajime i have the solutions . since there no main villain group but just public means are new character that going to overshadow the main cast is going to have most development. its type of anime that message being first is what causes the story to fall flat , gatchaman was not the sole inspirations for stuff like power rangers it was Japanese spider man . they only had them fight harmless monsters, these weak spirits, and overpowered gatchaman . gatchaman would be greatest tokatsu anime if just had villains for are main group to work off of and hajima wasn't just second coming of jesus. rui and O,D tho where wasted on this anime. . i know Fuuto PI camed out waaaay later but they should just copy a kamen rider a solo group of 3 O.D , hajima , rui , then sugane and katze as last memebers for season 1 . then season 2 focus on new memeber, its still scoop of just 5 but its not spread as thin.

Whow whow whow! Shadow is more than fast enough to keep up with Sonic without his air shoes! There just their to look cool. And they are most likely a gift from Gerald and Maria. Also this was a pretty cool video.

i started watching this video, but soon started wondering if i actually should. even just remembering the story of meteion many of the horrors seen in thavnair or garlemald still makes me cry. And while I'm at work, I don't know if i want to just sob while remembering all of that again, put into beautiful words. Now having watched the video, that bit towards the end, about how all or most of us have had those feelings or wishing we didn't exist at all rather than continue the suffering. its such a strange feeling, i remember it from the time in highschool with my own identity and unrequited love along with awful relationships had me crying almost every night, wishing I'd simply stop existing. or now when i consider myself mostly happy, excited about things I'm doing and seeing, the loneliness and self doubt sometimes creeps in and i just cry and wonder if it wouldn't be better to simply disappear

mosquitos may be a minor annoyance, I agree. People actually die from hornet stings though. Lovely vid.

28:42 Sounds like the average first-child experience.

Such a great vid! Even when it gets stuff kinda off I’m charmed by it Although I coullddd do without the Demeter slander It’s such a tired argument in the community

Thanks for these. So close to the complete set... just 5 more to go!

(I’ve only seen the series once, I’m sorry if this is inaccurate). I think Anthy’s ability to play the part of what her others want her to be is also a form of conflict avoidance. She is a pretty passive character, and doesn’t really seem to resist anything that happens to her, at least for most of the series. Taking on someone’s interpretation of her as a false “personality” could be her way of making sure that they don’t get a glimpse of her real thoughts, opinions, ect. She was vilified at a young age (BY AN ACTUAL MOB.), for not letting Akio live out his role as a “prince” at the cost of his life, and I can’t imagine she’d want to face that kind of thing again (this is also the earliest example of her standing up for herself/what she believes in that’s shown, and she’s stabbed in response, multiple times, by grown adults). That’s probably why any instance of her controlling someone is usually subtle, because the last time she told people to back off, they responded with physical violence. So instead of enforcing boundaries, she uses manipulation. And because trauma and how it affects her is a such a big part of her character, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she’s so passive and willing to act as whatever someone wants her to. It’s a trauma response. Or at least, that’s my interpretation.

Look i need help the father and blood starved beast beat my a$$ but the last 3 micolash,wer nurse, gerhman i beat all of them first try so can anyone tell me wtf happened

i enjoyed the noh puns

Nice view on the BNSF line

please do the devil as well ! ithink that is one of the moust interesting arcana together with tower.

The fact that those screams are octos being blended makes splatoon a lot darker And in the 3rd game after the octo expansion the screams stopped

This is for me the best queer representation ever. It's actually using sexuality as a plot and it does it so well. I feel so represented when you were talking about the struggles of hiding sexuality through layers of maturity and strength :') She just wanted to be treated fairly

That moment when you pause it and the screams continue

Is there any website where you can download the game other than Steam?

that lesbian take is a crazy reach

Regarding those that say Zenos has a point, should indeed not forget that Alisiae also has a point.

Euridice DID wonder if Orpheus still had his "curls and tan" (and then had to explain to Zag what a tan was, lol), so he notably changed drastically after losing her.

What's tricky is Hades seems to take place long AFTER most of these myths do. So Supergiant portrayed these gods POST canon--a "what if", if you will.

Apparently, it's debatable whether Dusa is Medusa or just a gorgon. She uses "your blood" when talking about Medusa's, but she may have been born from it.

I wonder how the "Zeus gave Persephone to Hades" take on the myth is supported. I always heard Hades abducted her, and she decided to stay.

#micolashwasright