I appreciate btw how emet-selch whines that we won't trust him, then makes us do the busywork of finding a place for him to do his "unambiguous act of kindness", and sends us off with an insult
so if i remember the story right his va was actually worried about how the finished result would be to the point where he didn't look at anything online after release
it took, iirc, all three of the Sennas metaphysically pointing to Y'mhitra and being like "okay, so, the soul and associated aether you've got that's most like this, right here? we would like it back. alive, please, and still shaped like a miqo'te."
It's both "wtf is this guy?" and establishing that you can do aether fuckery while having the mindset of a person (for given levels of that given Ascian)
it's immensely pleasant to listen to, whether or not you have specific nostalgia for the tune, and it perfectly expresses: - the underlying tenderness of Y'shtola and Matoya's relationship - Matoya's own understated loneliness - wistful joy looking back at multiple DECADES of a franchise that started with what Square thought would be their last game
also, I can never manage to cap emet in mid-shrug but shoutout to that being his only response to Y'shtola's thanks, even after he specifically prompted thanks
and I'm fascinated by the tension between their complete and unwavering devotion to following the emperor's orders in both letter and spirit... and their understanding that "allies of Ronka" barely means any fucking thing when Ronka hasn't existed as a meaningful geopolitical entity for millennia
a band of adventurers showed up like "hey we did an archaeology and successfully got this seal of Ronka, that makes us allies right?" and the Viis are like "oh thank fuck now we don't have to choose between devoting our lives to something impossible or being oathbreakers"
like. imagine if we couldn't get anywhere near Giza because bunnygirl archers would kill the fuck out of us anytime we tried, and then some archaeologist working in fuckin Greece was like "hey so we found this ancient message that was sent out by the last Pharaoh calling for aid from Egypt's allies, uh, can we help you?"
and then the bunnygirl archers were just like "oh my god, fucking finally, we've been waiting so long. please, help yourself to all the wisdom of Egypt"
it's hard to be chuuni when your powers objectively exist and your motives are entirely benevolent and reverential, but he manages it somehow, and I love him
like the most I could imagine for Keimgeim's relationship with her was healthy respect with a dollop of "I'm glad she's on my side" - definitely comrades, but not much human connection beyond that
so like, y'know. player and character are a dual entity. Keimgeim's my connection to this world, and I'm the source of Keimgeim's feelings. so if either half of that equation isn't given much chance to connect to a character...
which is inevitably because I couldn't really connect to them as a player! I liked them, but didn't really connect to them the way I do, say, the twins
but here - this scene in particular but also this dungeon in general - I realized I as the player have come to actually feel close to Urianger, to feel that friendship-by-proxy through Keimgeim that I didn't get with him before
backstory: I was on voice chat with lastbastion when she was restreaming the E3 where the Shadowbringers trailer dropped, I had absolutely no context for any of what I was seeing, and she was losing her entire shit
A chimeric monstrosity, Eros was thought to be the amalgamation of several unfortunate creatures that were caught up and fused together by the Flood of Light. The meaning of its name─“romantic love”─is a mocking play upon the intimate and uncontrolled embrace which resulted in its present appearance.
also another fun reference in the raktika dungeon: there's a bit where you come out of the underground caves to the cliffs, and you see a giant tree with red birds flying past
Oh interesting too. But yeah philia, eros, [spoilers] all relate pretty well to the story in their zones, but [spoilers] is the most obvious about it i think if you look up the name meaning
Shakespeare is all the heck over shb especially obviously il mheg and kholusia have a lot by also the final zone is absolutely full of references to [a play]. Emet's heavily a reference to [a certain character] from [zone name play]
I could go on way too long and excitedly about the greek and Shakespeare themes in the zones and their relation to the story in each and probably still miss 90% of it
also re: emet-selch knowing his storyline and seeing it are different because you can know what it is but seeing just how tired he is hits you on a deep emotional level
anyway I am taking a quick break to do slitherbough sidequests after all, if only so I can chat with all the Blessed later about how rad the night sky is
what the fuck is this guy- the underlying tenderness of Y'shtola and Matoya's relationship
- Matoya's own understated loneliness
- wistful joy looking back at multiple DECADES of a franchise that started with what Square thought would be their last game
oh no2. OH HEY THE WALL PAINTINGS
Forgiven FlatteryErosmore than himthat he fucking banned it