Sprout reacts to Final Steps of Faith! I was in SHAMBLES!

[@alyssaphillips1744]

I hate to tell you this grandma, but crying is part of the game, and that's ok!

[@GrandmaTwo]

I have never been a big crier, especially in front of other people... this game has changed all of that

[@Rushifell]

It comes back at you many times. Just getting warmed up. :)

[@williamwall3403]

And this isn't even the worst emotional damage that this game will take you through 😅

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@williamwall3403 WHAT

[@DBellBoi]

@@GrandmaTwo The Vault and Heavensward 3.0 Ending are LITERALLY warm-ups for what's ahead. Make sure you have tissues. It's a community meme, but true. lol

[@alyssaphillips1744]

I love the edit you did to this with the tombstone

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@alyssaphillips1744 thank you!! 😭 Really happy how that turned out!

[@Cyraneth]

Yeah, good to see how meaningful that moment was. It's not the first time someone dies, but it's the first time someone dies for the WoL, and that just hits different, deeper.

[@GrandmaTwo]

@Cyraneth AHHH you're so right 😭

[@amandajas6287]

I was crying, too! so long since i saw this, and it still gets me!

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@amandajas6287 it was such a powerful moment! 😭

[@Neoarchon]

27:18 There it is!! One of us. Don't worry, it's been years, and it feels like yesterday. Your pain is just getting started, btw it's always cry zone when playing x.3 patches! Enjoy the ride and keep tissues handy ❤

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@Neoarchon 😭 yep I'm just into Shadowbringers and I'm already getting that feeling

[@mr.mystere4999]

Vredfolnir is very much tied to the FATEs in The Churning Mists. There is a lengthy FATE chain that takes place there and they all involve keeping NPCs alive while completing the objective, and you're definitely going to need some allies with you in order to succeed. The last FATE required to see the chain concluded will appear towards the north side of the map, and you must protect Vredfolnir or you will fail and have to start the chain over again. After you win, Vredfolnir himself will challenge you to a sparring match at the southwest corner of the map. Win, and you and your allies get both an achievement and barding for your chocobo.

[@omegagilgamesh]

10:56 "This dragon fight is unreal." Then 2 seconds later...

[@GrandmaTwo]

It was the fight that just kept on getting more and more unreal!!

[@Teldarin]

In FF14, both the music and the feels are part of the game mechanics. 😂

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@Teldarin and they do both so tremendously well 🥹

[@elaine_of_shalott6587]

Raidwide Emotional Damage

[@BubblepunkAD]

33:56 - Subtle foreshadowing

[@ninjafoxgamesgeekery]

Nidhogg is the first villain in a long time that I've experienced that rightly found the balance of "Unforgivably evil, but unquestionably pitiable" and he set the stage for all of XIV's villains from here onward. Even if there is no question they must be stopped, that they cannot be redeemed, you'll still feel sympathy, empathy, or pity for what lead them down their road. It took longer for me to wrap my head around it with Nidhogg simply because of the 1000 years of war, but if you really really stop and put it in human perspectives, the argument between Nidhogg and Hraesvalgar is like two brothers arguing over revenge vs peace over their sister being killed within the last month. Nidhogg's rage is just unprocessed grief and for him it's like she was killed mere weeks ago while humans we see 1000 years of bloodshed as completely unreasonable to cling to anger and revenge. Granted, the Holy See has perpetuated the war for their own benefit as well. Without risk of spoilers, for all the villains I feel Nidhogg was the most tragic because his story ends without any form of closure of his perspective. He rightfully lost the war, but in the final moment, he's still left longing for resolution and justice for his sister.

[@XCC23]

also when you think about it, Hraesvelgr being kind of offput by you when you show up is completely reasonable. The Warrior of light comes to visit him along with a guy famous for murdering a whole bunch of dragons, a precocious teen and a woman who has effectively deluded herself into thinking she's Hraesvelgr's dead wife.

[@fingerofkawaii]

8:01 Nidhogg really did say "siblings before vile maids" didn't he.

[@GrandmaTwo]

LOL

[@Anharie]

gotta say, did not expect alphinaud to throw farther than the warrrior of light. he was slightly behind and his eye still passed the the eye the warrior of light threw.

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@Anharie he put his whole ass into that throw because he was NOT having them anywhere near Astinien again!!

[@elaine_of_shalott6587]

13:10 I watched so many times trying to figure out when we got the eye. I decided that magic eye yeeting mid battle was the only explanation. 18:35 I call that Nidstinien Don't clip the crying? Who do you think we are, FF14 fans?

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@elaine_of_shalott6587 Nidstinian 😭

[@rivenoak]

emotional damage is part of the game and HW is just the starter :)

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@rivenoak so I'm learning 😭

[@ninjafoxgamesgeekery]

Someone should make a mash up of FFXIV with "EMOTIONAL DAMAGE" video!

[@RianaFelblade]

I thought I recognized you! I watch a lot of OW content and have always seen you pop up. So cool to see you playing FF14 :D ♥

[@GrandmaTwo]

OHH HEY!! Yeah I've been an OW streamer for a long time, I still play that but Fridays are for FF14!! :D hello!

[@yamchayaku]

For some players, the Final Steps of Faith forces them to deal with a hidden mechanic, which happens to obscure their vision. lol. A friend of mine hates this mechanic every time he has this in his roulette.

[@GearheadPrime]

Regarding your question about Akh Morn, it's a very common ability among strong dragons and actually does mean something in their language. 'Circle of Death.'

[@GrandmaTwo]

Ohhh thank you for sharing! Someone else mentioned it was Migardsormr's brood in particular who is known for it as well!

[@Scarabswarm]

​@@GrandmaTwoYeah, it is really neat how there is almost a subtext or hidden language in the mechanics sometimes. One can see the relation between certain monsters by how they share either identical mechanics or variations on them. For a completely fictional (and therefore spoiler-free) example, if you ran into a dragon who was some kind of frankenstein's monster dragon, during the fight it might have a mechanic named "Akh Morn Toxicus" (I'm making this up), and the party would be hit with some kind of multi-hit stack marker that left a poison effect on them after. And then after the fight, you would find out the boss you just defeated was some mad scientist's experiment where they cloned and twisted one of the First Brood. So the mechanic itself gives the player a little hint of the story to come, so you can have the dread set in early.

[@jasonbanta5698]

Yes Ahk Morn is a staple multi-hit move of high level dragons 🐉 in game midgardsormr and first brood.

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@jasonbanta5698 SEE, that's what it seemed like to me too! Thank you!

[@StealthMarmot_]

The fact that the music stays on Dragonsong instead of changing to a battle tune is telling of what Final Steps of Faith is, and why it is one of my favorite fights in the game. While the mechanics are not too special, the story behind it is. Nidhogg's battle is not triumphant, it is tragic. This grand dragon, ancient and powerful, is consumed by hate. His hatred is all that kept him going and he is incapable of doing anything else but hate. He could never be happy, he could never forgive, even if he wanted to. And on some level, he probably does want to. But his heart has burned away, his soul in ashes. He is dead in all possible ways but physical, and not in a way that could ever be revived. There is no going back for him, and even the possibility of a better world will not change him. He could never hold love or joy in his heart again. There is nothing to do but end their suffering. And that is the tragedy.

[@GrandmaTwo]

Its SUUUUUCH a good fight!! Ahhh I get chills watching back on it! And yes the story of Nidhogg is so tragic. It always pained me to have to fight the dragons once you knew everything. :( But I also don't think he would have been able to take over Estinian the way he did if Estinian wasn't in his own way very similar (or rather headed down the same path); I think it's a big catalyst for how much he changed after this and went his own way.

[@fairabbigailgrace]

Another grandma playing FFXIV. :) I'm a new grandma, but not new to FFXIV. I do hope you enjoy have been enjoying your journey so far and you enjoy the rest of the story!

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@fairabbigailgrace aww hello fellow Grandma!! Thank you so much 🥹🤍

[@xtankhillx7970]

This is why I tell people final fantasy 14 is more like crying simulator 14. The game has a way of introducing you to npcs you come to adore only for them to die, then the game brings those npcs back 100 hours later when you thought you had come to terms with their death

[@GrandmaTwo]

This one they reeeeeally twisted it at every turn leading back to this part too, and it was a totally different kind of crying

[@kpenn100]

i can see it 100 times and it gets me everytime

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@kpenn100 just like me fr 😭

[@linkaiser8709]

Ah... The Final Steps of Faith...It got to all of us....

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@linkaiser8709 a sucker punch to my soul

[@JustinK0]

looks like we got a skill clicker! 19:40 setting up proper hotkeys and learning them prevents deaths like these.

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@JustinK0 one day....

[@aasilashlily6681]

You’re going to do a lot of crying in the coming Expansions. Be ready, good time, great times and sad times are ahead. They put together an amazing story that will hit you in the feels over and over.

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@aasilashlily6681 😭😭😭

[@SiresOrbwits-oi8mz]

I'm just gonna assume Jesse was Jesse Cox the mythical emotion vampire leprechaun of 14.

[@Teramoix]

There are people who will watch this scene and unironically claim that the Warrior of Light is somehow not the main character of this game

[@GrandmaTwo]

WHAT

[@Teramoix]

@GrandmaTwo That was pretty much my reaction to that too

[@omegagilgamesh]

1:47, I think that dragon is a smaller version of Twintania from Binding Coils of Bahamut. And speaking of 'cool as shit,' that glam of yours slams! Simple, not sexualized, yet very fashionable.

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@omegagilgamesh aww thank you! Coils was SO GOOD TOO! thanks for pointing that out! And I am very proud of my glams in the game and try to have the vibe fit the story and where my WoL's head is at at the time :*) 🤍

[@Xilibrius]

*Sees plunge* ahhh this was before Dawn trail released.

[@GrandmaTwo]

YEP I miss the previous version of Plunge SO MUCH >:(

[@Mocita]

And just think, this is Heavensward. Imagine what the rest of the expansions are like.

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@Mocita 😭😭😭

[@shadowzach00]

Wait until you get to shadowbringers

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@shadowzach00 oh I've started it on stream already.....

[@mezias00]

We started playing FF14 in the sommer and ARR MSQ was hard to get through but after that came thie amazing Heavensward :D It might be a bit hard to get through all the "Filler" Quest in between the ARR MSQ, but after that you get to enjoy Heavensward, so everybody should try this game :D

[@GrandmaTwo]

I loved ARR! I mean I had nothing to compare it to so it didn't feel "slow" to me. But oh boy the story really takes off in Heavensward big time!

[@gamester512]

And the expansions that follow only get better. Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and so on. This is coming from someone who has completed both Stormblood, & Shadowbringers and is well into Endwalker. :)

[@GrandmaTwo]

@gamester512 I've just gotten into Shadowbringers!! I'm really excited because I enjoyed Stormblood a lot! :) I'll have the VODs and some edited videos up for that in the next few weeks!

[@mezias00]

​@@GrandmaTwo There were just to many MSQs that literally did nothing for the Main Story, it only helped you reach ARR Max Level. You could about halve the MSQs of ARR without losing any important part of the Story.

[@GrandmaTwo]

@mezias00 I disagree, there was a lot of world building that really got me into the story in the dust place!

[@ecchidragon8038]

You reacted just like me when they showed up... 😭

[@GrandmaTwo]

I was NOT emotionally ready for any of that! It hit me so hard out of nowhere!

[@neutroniumranger9036]

If you don't cry during Final Fantasy, you are not playing Final Fantasy :D

[@GrandmaTwo]

You definitely aren't doing it correctly if not crying and I would definitely doubt a person's soul

[@passerbeta2298]

prepare thy tear glands for SHB and EW

[@GrandmaTwo]

@@passerbeta2298 they are primed

[@nekogamer2508]

The later expansion will be worse just aheads up so bring tissues

[@GrandmaTwo]

🥲

[@JangoFox11880]

I hate and love at the same time the fact that seeing Haurchefaunt still extremely hurts.🥲

[@GrandmaTwo]

You summed this up perfectly ;-;