The Best Venat Cutscene in Endwalker | Xeno Reacts to FFXIV Endwalker MSQ

[@danh8804]

There's a very cool, subtle character touch for Emet-Selch in the cutscene. Throughout Shb he was always slouched, slumped over, symbolic of the burden, which pays off when he is standing straight after the Dying Gasp trial - his fight was over, his burden lifted. Well, when Venat walks by him after he says goodbye to Hythlodaeus, you can see the first slump in his shoulders, the first burden that he carries for thousands of years.

[@FinalElysion]

NGL thats when I started to tear up in this cutscene. tT was subtle but very meaningful. Made you realize he was not evil.

[@cnkclark]

@@FinalElysion That's the true tragedy of Emet-Selch. He was a well-meaning, noble (if acerbic) man who was crushed into a mass-murdering monster by the weight of 12000 years of loss and horror and Tempering. You hate what he became but respect why he did.

[@TheSylvirr]

WHAT GETS ME is that Hyth gives Emet a smile to his face, but when he turns for that BRIEFEST of seconds, his expression is just 'terror'. But he wouldn't let Emet see that.

[@CeresAzalia]

Not only that, but if you talk to Emet at some point about mid-way through the Elpis arc, he says something along the lines of, "While intellectually I can kind of get why Hermes is bothered about losing his mentor and these creatures he's so close to, I just can't wrap my head around why he's so sad about it all, it's just returning to the star, I've never been that broken up about losing someone, it doesn't really make sense to me." And that's a huge statement to remember at that precise moment when we watch Hythlodaeus walk away, resolved to sacrifice himself...because now, for the FIRST time, Hades finally gets it. For all his posturing about "just returning to the star", he wasn't ready to lose his best friend. He looks stricken, he clenches his fist...this isn't supposed to be sad, he's told himself so, but it is. It hurts. NOW he gets it. Too little too late.

[@katl8825]

his posture design was one of the small touches that made ShB my favorite expansion, hands down, and in a way elevated by learning more of the Ascian backstory through EW. his tragedy is conveyed so, SO well, down to the little points like you point out. The absolute perfect balance of an enemy you can't help but sympathize with.

[@MonTonal]

“Henceforth he shall walk” One of the most powerful scenes in video game history.

[@katomamundara8106]

Considering the 'implied parallels' between our universe and theirs, it's basically telling us a message. (It's implied Etheirys IS our Earth, but on a completely different history. The Omicrons use terms for Celestial Bodies in OUR Universe. The Ancients were named after Greek Gods, etc). We might well have been or are one of the shards, if you think about it, or some version of us. So let's do Momma Venat a favor and walk, walk with all our souls to paradise.

[@cnkclark]

This comment right here. Breathtaking cutscene.

[@katomamundara8106]

(Continuing on this thought: What if the Yoshida showing up in XIV's Yearly events is BECAUSE he's crossing over from 'our' shard to Etheiry/The Source? Holy damn I'm going down a rabbit hole)

[@nerothos]

@@katomamundara8106 Here's another one: the Ancients-specifically the ones in Elpis-are the game developers themselves. Creating countless creatures only to end up "killing their darlings" because they don't fit in the world they are shaping. Hermes is that one concept artist (heh) that just can't take the disappointment any more, giving up and just quitting halfway through, almost sinking the entire project. The final days is when people with the power to create decide to channel their despair into creating truly toxic and harmful art and ideas. Summoning Zodiark is society trying to shirk responsibility and avoid tackling the issue head-on, putting a band-aid over the issues that lead to people feeling said despair in the first place.

[@Spectacular_Insanity]

It doesn't matter how many times I watch this cutscene. I cry every time.

[@Angarato86]

should watch it in the other languages, specially the japanese (i know weeeeeeb xD)

[@gaylepena7626]

T That's how i feel singing answers now. I love that song before but now I consider it one of the goats. Chokes me up every time near the end. It's so powerful yet haunting. :(

[@tyrusdalet]

Interesting tidbit. Venat’s quote of “No more shall mankind have wings to bear him unto paradise. Henceforth, he shall wall” was hinted in 5.3, in To The Edge, where the song states: “Like broken angels, wingless, cast from heaven’s gates”

[@taldir5228]

Looking back and finding stuff like that in previous expansions is the best thing for me :D So many hidden connections that only make sense after you do EW

[@ruggedlemmings9163]

The song Answers appears throughout all the expansions in various places and it's always powerful. But I think it's strongest in EW when you realize that in this context lyrics are telling the story of the fall of the Ascians.

[@cnkclark]

@@ruggedlemmings9163 "Judgment binds all we hold to a memory of scorn." 100% referring to Hermes and Meteion.

[@AuthorMadican]

Ehhh, she didn't turn evil because she was overwhelmed by all the evil she found in the universe, she was sent out to find what other civilizations considered to be the meaning of life, what they chose to live for, what purpose their lives held, and every single star she found, every civilization she met, every soul she communed with and allowed to dwell within her, all said one thing, for many reasons, many paths to reach it, but a singular united truth among them: There is nothing worth living for. She wasn't crushed beneath evil, she was crushed beneath despair. She says it herself in the dungeon cutscene, she will end humanity not out of hatred but what she considers mercy, before they can realize that despair which ended every single civilization she found among the stars.

[@wildeyoung3943]

I'd argue that Meteon wasn't evil. She was just crushed and corrupted by Absolute Despair. She became the embodiment of it. And that's why the WoL and co here able to even fight her. When you're in a place where emotions are made tangible then despair is certainly one of, if not the, most powerful emotions. But of course we find that what counters it is Hope, a theme the WoL has held since ARR. Beautiful story arch and an incredible message imo. It wasn't that good triumphs over evil but that Hope is the strongest light in the darkness.

[@pencilgoblin655]

she got blackpilled

[@Tazrael]

"YOU RUINED A PERFECTLY GOOD BIRD IS WHAT YOU DID! LOOK AT HER! SHE HAS ANXIETY!" alternatively "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU RAN THE UPDATE WITHOUT CHECKING THE CODE FIRST?"

[@OhNoTheFace]

Still killed millions

[@AuthorMadican]

Certainly, and she's going to need to atone for that. Not that different from Emet-Selch, though he killed far more than her as an Ascian, due to the nature of Rejoinings and how the Source/reflections have the same number of souls upon them.

[@DoktorWieg]

Considering the implications of that cutscene and the time spent in Elpis is much greater than it first appears. For one, this pretty much confirms that all events leading to your visit to Elpis and Venat becoming Hydaelyn are part of a closed time loop where it assures that your character becomes the Warrior of Light, assures that she chooses your character to provoke the events that would lead to you ending up in Elpis and, by interacting and telling your story to Venat, give her the reason to sunder the world and, once you first appear in Eorzea, makes sure she gifts you with the Echo and her power. Fulfilling her promise made in another place, another time. You being the Warrior of Light isn't destiny, it is the result of setting yourself up to become the WoL because Hydaelyn knew you'd come along at one point and she was waiting.

[@kutlumzrak2689]

Which... Considering whose soul you are a fragment of... Makes perfect sense. It's not destiny. It's just nature taking course. Of course two Azems would safeguard the future, one from the beginning, and one from the end.

[@1337penguinman]

This part right here is really the turning point not just for Endwalker but for the whole FF14 Hydaelin/Zodiark storyline. When you come back from Elpis it feels different.

[@JABO95SA]

One of my favorite cinematic in vídeo games. It's pretty cool how the team manages to convey so much with the limitations of the engine.

[@StealthMaster5k]

Imagine FF16 good loooorrrdd

[@jamvng]

the amazing music is a huge component to it.

[@vincentprice713]

That part in the story was what the song "Answer" from ARR was all about. "Thou must Live. Die. And know." They been holding onto that part of the story for so long.

[@HarumiYu]

Xeno whispered "Damn" is the materialized feeling of mostly of people in this part.

[@rai7988]

Hey xeems, love the MSQ reactions man, keep em coming o7 One small bit of feedback, if there’s a way you can mute the sub(maybe in post) sound effect at least for these MSQ videos, that’d be great. Sorta ruins the tension in the cutscenes + cant hear some dialogue. Keep up the good work 👍

[@XenosysVex]

Yes I'll do that for future msq stuff

[@oubunaye]

We got it wrong about the meaning behind "Answers" we thought it was what would happen in future expansions, dragons, garleans etc. when it was all about this moment...the lyrics explain everything

[@RikkiNakesone]

well the universe didn't fill meteon with evil or hate, but the darkness of overwhelming desire to die due to there being no more meaning in living. She thought it a mercy to kill all life upon discovering this, as it was the order given to find that answer. Kind of like giving a vague order to an AI that makes the decision to wipe out humanity. She kinda is like an AI with the connection to all those other meteia

[@itsyaboiherman]

So it sounds like meteon executed order 66

[@jmstover]

> She kinda is like an AI with the connection to all those other meteia I see it as they were asked to look for something they had no experience in. So, all these civilizations are saying "Death is the only way" and the meteia didn't have anything to compare it to. Hermes says he didn't teach them "so loath was I to bind another being." He didn't teach them for fear his teachings would influence them. But he asks them to look for something they have no experience with. Search for a meaning to life, without having life experience yourself. I want to believe that Hermes was hoping they would learn from other civilizations about life... not that every civilization they ran into was looking for death. Paraphrase: "You will learn from those around you. How to walk, and run, and so much more."

[@katomamundara8106]

Spoiler down below in case you haven't completed the MSQ yourself: . . . . . . . . . . The reality's closer to 'too much Empathy is bad'. She was so empathetic thanks to her Entelechy state that she was overwhelmed by the doubt, negativity, hatred, nihility, suicidal thoughts, despair, so on and so forth. The dread that some felt, such as the 'city' in Ultima Thule, who couldn't find a single living being, were then uploaded into the hive mind. And as each linked up to the Hive Mind, the Hive Mind stockpiled and these added negative thoughts/feelings basically magnified each other. This created a 'sentience' of pure negative emotion - the "Endsinger" with the Hive Mind as a basis. The Endsinger is not the Meteia, although they make convenient conduits to interacts with the living world. The Endsinger is seperate from the Meteia, or any other 'conduit' it creates made of mostly Dynamis (entirety of Ultima Thule), this is why two Meteia eventually 'broke free' of its grasp (the one we see at the Flower Field, and the one that broke free of Endsinger before fighting Zenos). The Meteia were still seperate from, but part of the corrupted 'hivemind'. The Hivemind - Endsinger - eventually manifested itself using the bodies of all the Meteia (excluding one) via dynamis to warp their forms to such an extreme. (Imagine every cell of your body being an individual sentient life form, god the suffering those birds went through)

[@jmstover]

@@katomamundara8106 [ Spoiler territory ] . . . . . . . . . I'm not sure. You can be empathetic yet not come to the conclusion that the best thing for everyone is to not be born. From my viewing of it, it came because they didn't have any life experiences of their own. They were blank, impressionable slates. So, all of these people are telling them their purpose is to die. They end up coming to the belief that it's true for everyone. Why else would the civilizations they've met be saying it right? The empathy helped them relate, but they didn't have any true life experiences to draw upon to counter being told that the reason for existing is to find a way to *not* exist. They never truly existed themselves.

[@katomamundara8106]

@@jmstover You're forgetting she has extreme empathy. She directly feels the emotions and thoughts of those she interacts with, to the point she had direct contact with the emotions and thoughts of the recently dead.

[@cyradus]

13,000 years. She had to hold everything together for 13,000 years while we zapped right back to the present time.

[@LM-nb7rj]

The organ that plays during Venat pleading with her ancient brothers and sisters. Oh my god, it gives me chills every time.

[@TheRyel97Gaming]

Venat: no my friends. Ad interupts : this is about you and your morning routine. Me: gee thanks Venat

[@ruggedlemmings9163]

Beginning of EW when you meet her on the boat... My character: "I know what you are...I can no longer trust you..." EW when you meet her for the first time in Elpis... What I imagine my character's reaction would really be: "MMMMMMMMOMMYYYYYYYYYY!!!!" *insert ugly crying* EW at the end of the Elpis zone when you see this particular cutscene: Me: *insert even uglier crying* Seriously, the song Answers has always been a powerful song, and it's use in this cutscene just emphasizes that power. It gets me every time, even when I go and rewatch this scene in The Unending Journey.

[@southstar66]

I will never get bored of watching this scene...

[@ReveredDead]

Honestly the most powerful storyline and cutscene in my time gaming. It hits so hard and shows no mercy to you as the player emotionally.

[@aeolussvichi7680]

Man it feels like it’s been a life time ago since I’ve beaten the msq. Thinking back to it I get the same sensation I do when I think back on Shadowbringers, stormblood, heavensward/ARR. It’s nuts how time blends together for some things.

[@GarredHATES]

Just like the mice from the mouse utopia experiment. The mice had everything, plenty of food and water and space to live. But eventually just died out.

[@incognitofoxo1559]

Exactly the same reaction I had to that cutscene, speechless. Such a good story 😭

[@arkboi2145]

Weird to think that essentially in FFXIV, Etheirys (as it originally was) is akin to "Heaven" or "Eden." A "Perfect" Utopia and Paradise where "Man" knew only bliss and happiness. Where "Man" were essentially immortal "Angels" or some form of lesser "Diety," creating and nurturing life and building the world for which they lived from the ground up. They only ever died when they decided their work was done/complete and willingly returned themselves back to the aetherial sea. They, the "Ancients," "Man," or the "Ascians/Amaourotines," had a unique ability to manipulate all forms of matter in the FFXIV universe at will utilizing the abundant cosmic energy or "Aether" or the universe. So proficient was this ability, that they could literally rewrite or alter the very laws of reality. To create forms to the formless. Anything they thought of, they could create. And so immense was their Aether, that they were I like the parallels to the countless other real-world stories that hint at our world, the Earth, being actually a "Sundered" place/realm/dimension. That there once was indeed true real magic, magical creatures and beings, and thousands of Gods/Goddesses/Deities that actually did exist. But in order to keep human-kind/man-kind moving forward and to save them from despair and nihilism, that "realm" had to be forever locked away or kept out of easy reach. As Venat said in this cutscene: "I choose to believe in Mankinds potential. In his ability to find a way forward. So let there be no way back. From that temptation, I sunder us. No more shall man have wings to bear him to paradise. Henceforth, he shall walk."

[@Pietromagg]

oh man..my heart..seeing this again

[@KZorander]

Even one of the biggest MSQ skippers in the game hears Answers start playing and knows Shit Is Going Down.

[@alexpaul4144]

Damn cut scene makes me cry every time

[@alexpaul4144]

Yesssss the best cutscene in the serise bro I’m here for your reaction hard core this time

[@sakiefox7250]

Been waiting for your reaction to this

[@nebeltau534]

Okay...I cry again... :'(

[@yasuke3020]

I enjoy your content. Like always. Don't really have much else to say. Hope you have been well Xeno. o/

[@nephtys369]

Venats sacrifice is just crazy. She waited eons, holding the house up alone. She didn’t share that she wasn’t secretly evil because she knew we had to learn what happened on our own. All the while knowing she would never return to the aether.

[@XelaShade]

Never thought the day would come when Xeno would play the MSQ

[@mjs3188]

> The Best Venat Cutscene in Endwalker > The Best Cutscene in Endwalker > The Best Cutscene ftfy

[@TarossBlackburn]

*coughs politely* If only I had learned to speak sooner...

[@jakemoore5077]

I think when xenos shows up and after the fight are my favorites this us right after those

[@drago1uk2000]

NO LONGER SHALL DRAGOONS HAVE JUMPS TO BEAR HIM TO THE SKY. HENCEFORTH HE SHALL DASH.

[@mariaveenema4337]

This cutscene is absolute perfection, the choice of song. And the exact right moments to bring in certain parts of the lyrics. Just masterfully done.

[@Cipher_Actual]

I wasn't ready to cry today.

[@KyvannShrike]

Dialogue taken straight from the lyrics of Answers.

[@ViewTube_Emperor_of_Mankind]

She spent 100000 years so see humanity grow and saved us all in the end.

[@jinenjuce]

"Master Venat, there are too many of them! What are we going to do?"

[@havocarius]

Me when playing this scene, streaming to my friends: "Oh god she's going to Kylo Ren them."

[@MegaTurkeylips]

Something similar to what Venat did to us, read 'The Dosadi Experiment' by the great Frank Herbert. After that, read 'Whipping Star' by the same author. The origin story of Saboteur Extraordinary Jorg X Mckie. Frank Herbert didn't just write Dune. '

[@emerelle3535]

The try not to cry challenge I never will beat.

[@ViewTube_Emperor_of_Mankind]

That pipe organ drop at 10:00 is so epic

[@TarossBlackburn]

You'll have to realize that in this cutscene Venat is an untrustworthy narrator. We are seeing, translated into our frame of reference, the memories of someone who had become a Primal somewhere halfway through the cutscene. So that lightbeam coming from the sword was more Hydaelyn finally striking down Zodiark (very likely when Zodiark was momentarily weakened when Elidibus removed himself from him to reform as his Emmissary self). And yeah, Meteion was overwhelmed by the answers she got to her question, answers she could not understand. As Emet-Selch said himself. In order to answer Hermes' question she would both need to find life AND those whom she finds must WANT to continue to live. And as more and more Meteia absorbed the emotions, the Dynamis, of those who fell to despair even the 'base unit' wasn't spared that fate thanks to us... She tried to run away. She tried to make sure that she was stopped. She tried everything she conceivably thought she could do to prevent herself from having to give Hermes the report of her sisters but we HAD to catch her. And so she, too, fell to Despair.

[@SoraNhasni]

Man.... Who's cutting onions again

[@veiregor]

I watched this all with bgm off on my first play cuz i didn't realize it was turned off. The deafening silence was kinda fitting ngl.

[@Daccura]

Love these videos.

[@Cocobean110]

I have experienced ludo

[@BloodKitten_]

is there vods of the msq somewhere? kinda wanted to see some parts that are not in those shorter versions.

[@VenatFFXIV]

yes me !

[@franman781]

One has to appreciate just how powerful Venat really was. It took the Convocation and half the population of man to bring about Zodiark, but Venat sundered the world into 13 Shards, also creating a new god more powerful than Zodiark to bind him and serve the people of the various worlds.

[@KevinM491]

she also had a ton more prep time than they did

[@ADKV95]

Afaik, Hydaelyn was actually weaker than Zodiark but at the point of their fighting, Big Z is pretty much just a wild animal acting on instinct, because the heart which control him, Elidibus, already withdrawn himself from Zodiark, also, Hydaelyn was pretty much created specifically to counter Zodiark, to check him. She also has time to prepare, the cutscene is not to be taken literally, i fully expect it even sort of went back to how it was in Elpis cuz new life was growing and maturing from Zodiark's action, so it could easily have been hundreds if not thousands of year since the first Final Day until the Sundering, lots of time for Venat to prepare especially since she now knows the future from what we told her.

[@VorAbaddon]

@@ADKV95 You have the right of it to a point, but as Emet Selch explains in one of the cutscenes in the Ocular during ShB, Hydalyn was created with "the power to enervate her foe", or to sunder Zodiark. As we find out in EW, that's because she is created with the foreknowledge of what needs to happen. So while Zodiark is the more powerful being over, Hydalyn is design specifically as an anti Zodiark weapon, so being hyper focused on that one task grants her the eventual edge over Zodiark in their conflict.

[@Dio____Brando]

I think the beam part was when she became a primal, she fought zodiark and won and then sundered everyone thay would be the most logical conclusion

[@TLiebCNV]

You da man xeno!!

[@SuperPalese]

I love Xeno voice overs

[@drago1uk2000]

Hydaelyn did everything wrong.

[@RaidenKaiser]

Since they remade venat in this game I wonder if the occurians are going to show up as some order of gods to punish humanity and headlyn's chosen for disrupting the balance lol. If anyone is confused go play ff12

[@HikingFeral]

Y U do this to me

[@itsyaboiherman]

Chat help me out....ive seen this scene so many times but never understood that black zone venat was walking through

[@jmstover]

Metaphorical representation of Venat/Hydaelyns journey through time alone. Being hit by the different calamities (rejoinings) and weakening her, but still moving to the end goal your appearance in Elpis showed her. Some take it to be, especially the last part, that Hydaelyn was taking hits for you, which is why you could keep going. I don't take it like that (there's a few places where she intervenes, but not always), but instead that she was with you your entire journey even if you couldn't hear her. *Edit:* That entire cutscene is honestly a large remembrance of events instead of a "true" playing out of events (like an Echo vision). For example, in the Amaurot dungeon there are a lot more bodies in that area than was depicted in the cut scene (2nd boss arena). Seeing Hythlodaeus walk away a representation of losing half the population. etc....

[@katomamundara8106]

@@jmstover Anyone who takes that scene literal is hence taking the idea that Hydaelyn was born within minutes of Zodiark's initial summon as Hyth was part of the initial sacrifices to Zodiark. And Hydaelyn was spawned after the 2nd set of sacrifices (the ones that healed the Star's damage from the Endsinger's attacks in the Original Final Days).

[@jmstover]

@@katomamundara8106 > Anyone who takes that scene literal Many people I know were treating it as a Echo vision, which we know are true events. We'll ignore "How the @$@" did you come to that conclusion, and focus on why you ignoring the "I remember" at the very start.

[@katomamundara8106]

@@jmstover Ugh it's not even an echo vision as those are actual events replayed. Also the 'I remember' is a clue it's not meant to be literal, but all the same jesus people, you're thinking in the span of 3-4 minutes, Hythy sac'd himself, Venat conveniently didn't try to save a soul, then walked into a building where she turned into Hydaelyn while people were about to sacrifice themself to Zodiark. I know people can struggle with the concept of time, but this is ridiculous.

[@itsyaboiherman]

@@jmstover ahhh well damn....

[@RoxyLuffer]

Essentially She turned Grimdark Super Depressed.

[@Tyrbris]

Xeems should go into voice acting. Concern

[@teshafura2617]

Heartbreakng cutscene and there a shiny baldo on screen what a disgrace Smadge

[@celesticer9949]

MSQ Parsing :O!

[@RengekiX]

yooo

[@FahadGG1]

Im xeno fanboy

[@gazza7693]

lol why is he playing as a bunny girl wtf?

[@bmpk7473]

oh my god i came back to this after a year and forgot he did that voice for his characters lines and it killed me within the first 30 seconds /e i was one of the little bitches who complained that the subs notification was too loud in previous videos and never thought about it again, and I notice now you lowered it in this one, which I know is annoying tedious work so either you or your editor much appreciated :)