Yian Kutku

It's been a long time, and I only recall possibly the least useful parts of it, but the explanation went something like how "male" writing tends to be more "compartmentalized" and "rigid", as opposed to "flowing". The example given was that I used shorter sentences and clauses, which made me look back on everything I wrote, and I'm pretty sure that's not true. But it is the case that people I talk to OOC-ly almost immediately peg me as male IRL. I wouldn't say it's everyone, but as mentioned, it's enough that I can't rule it out completely as bias. I know, right? I'd love to know the psychology behind it too. It's definitely interesting. Even in single-player games where I can choose gender, I choose female. Femshep in Mass Effect, female hunter in Monster Hunter (despite all the armours and animations being equally ridiculous on both male and female), female character in Story of Seasons and Rune Factory, including stressing out over which bachelor to date... it goes on.

In my more snarky moments, I get the weird impression that when it comes to Au Ra and Miqo'te, I can assume that the female characters are played by men, and the male characters are played by women. More seriously, I'm a male and I play female characters almost exclusively. I have no idea why, but it is how it is. I say "almost" because in my years of playing MMOs (and a short stint with MUDs), I played a total of one male character (in City of Heroes), who got benched after something like ten hours of play, simply because I didn't feel comfortable playing him. Which is the main draw of female characters for me: I feel more comfortable playing them. Again, I don't know why. I do like the female glamours more, and I do like the way female characters move in this game, but those don't feel sufficient to explain my preference for female characters. It just feels more relaxing. I do RP my characters in what I feel is a gender-neutral manner. I don't consciously do so; it's just that the traits I like to roleplay (intellectually curious, confident/timid, exuberant/reluctant, naive/world-weary) are fairly universal, and not particularly masculine or feminine. So in that sense, it doesn't really matter if I play a male or female character. I have never been mistaken as female in RL, though. I've been told that my choice of words and how I arrange them, especially OOC, is very "male"; I'm not sure if this is synonymous with "masculine". I don't actually know what the criteria for this is, but I've been told the same thing often enough (and by different people) that either there's a popular "is your writing male or female" test I've never heard of, or it really is a thing academically.

Not sure if this is the place to mention it, but the advertisement for this LS on Tumblr has a slight issue with the TinyURL. Screenshot I'm too lazy to crop or edit Basically TinyURL warns me that the link to this thread (tinyurl.com/maelstrom-command) is spam. Not sure if it's fixable (I have little to no experience with TinyURL outside of clicking on its links), but just thought you'd like a heads-up. (This may also only apply to my connection; both wired and mobile data have the same issue, though, so it's at least region-wise.)

That's pretty impressive. I can't even tell how one could get from the Hingan script to the Japanese kana. Incidentally, I'm scratching my head over this one:

Definitely, yes. The Second Umbral Calamity lasted a year and a day ("for a full twelvemoon and a day did nature's fury ring"), which isn't even going into the Umbral Era of the pestilence that tends to happen to large groups of people in tight enclosed spaces. The Third Umbral Calamity was Fire and drought, which takes time to have an effect. The Fifth Umbral Calamity was Ice and "endless winter", which also takes time to happen. So having a Calamity take several years from the time the problems start rolling to the final crash is entirely plausible. Admittedly, the Seventh Calamity's crash was particularly dramatic, matched only by the Fourth Calamity, ie Allag's fall. (I love the parallels between the Fourth and Seventh Calamity too. Apart from both involving Bahamut, there's also the fact that it wasn't the elementals or the gods or nature that caused the two Calamities; it was humankind alone as the direct instigator and mover of events.)

The Battle of Silvertear Skies was in 6A 1562, while the events of 1.0 were in 1572, at least according to the lorebook. So ten years, give or take some time between the start and end of 1.0.

I'm assuming that's in the Japanese client/audio? Those are both archaic forms not typically found in modern Japanese, which would fit the Doman/Hingan style of speech. I have the vague impression that "de gozaru" was used by other Hingans, but I can't be totally sure. It's archaic and slightly less formal than the super-polite "de gozaimasu", but more formal than the usual "desu". It's stereotypical of samurai and ronin, which certainly fits Gosetsu. "Wagahai" is pretty much just Gosetsu that I know of. It's supposed to sound self-important, by someone who thinks highly of themselves, whether justified or not. Younger/modern people might use "ore-sama" as an equivalent. On a completely different note, Soroban uses "oira", which is supposed to sound, well, country hick. So basically I think these particular phrasings in Japanese are definitely intended to evoke certain imagery, based on pop cultural history. We hear Gosetsu use "de gozaru", and we know that he's a samurai/ronin. We hear him use "wagahai", and we can get an idea of the type of proud personality he has. These would not have been as effective without the well-known popular interpretations of samurai in all sorts of media. It's much like how most Limsans talk like pirates to varying degrees, even though the "pirate accent" was basically popularized in the 20th century by Robert Newton. Or, for slightly more historical accuracy, Jacke talking almost entirely in thieves' cant.

Speaking of Midgardsormr, I've always wondered if the Battle of Silvertear Skies might have been classified as a Calamity in any other situation, since it changed the aetherial landscape on a wide scale. It apparently made the summoning of Primals much easier, which, in the absence of Echo-blessed adventurers, would have been a lot more damaging than they ended up being. And then Bahamut happened, which changed the aetherial and physical landscape on an even wider scale.

Just ran a Wanderer's Palace Normal with a Paladin who: Mass-pulled, and did not use any cooldowns or defensive abilities other than Shield Oath Killed the critters delaying the Tonberry Stalkers, then lingered around in front of the Tonberry Stalkers as they stabbed him, as though he has no idea what to do when an untargetable enemy starts stabbing you Used all his cooldowns at once upon aggroing the boss, including Hallowed Ground, Bulwark, Sentinel, and Convalescence at the same time (but curiously not Rampart, which never appeared throughout the dungeon) Ran around killing the Tonberry adds in the final boss (which give the Tonberry King extra damage for his Everyone's Grudge attack) Did not use Flash a single time in the entire dungeon, apparently relying wholly on Circle of Scorn for AoE enmity I stayed on because the two DPS (RDM and MNK) were actually pretty good, doing high damage and staying out of all AoEs. Still. How.

Datamined by Reddit, under "Blackbosom gear". No idea what form it will take in-game, be it something obtainable in-game or a Mogstation purchase.

I'm predicting, at least early on, that AST/SCH will be even more meta, due to Chain Strategem, Spear, and Critlo. I'm not sure yet what to think about the Scholar changes, since my primary irritation (increased cost on Adloquium) has not changed. I did not expect the Indomitability buff (was actually expecting a nerf), which makes me even more nervous that there will be content requiring such massive AoE healing. Excogitation has graduated from "what the hell is this" to "well, okay". Having its recharge be the same as its uptime might be nice? Would still be better if it went off at the end, regardless of whether the target's HP dropped below 50%, but that might be too overpowered. Guaranteed recharge reduction of Aetherflow by five seconds every time we use an Aetherflow ability is pretty nice. The reduction in MP cost of Esuna might actually be the change I'm happiest about. No longer do I have to go OOM in the first boss of Great Gubally Lubrally because the party just will not stop standing in bad. EDIT: The Job Guide for Scholar has been updated. That's pretty amazing.

The WHM rushed straight for the exit, so I didn't even get a chance to go "yo what the hell". I decided to post the story here because I thought the claim that "Healers only heal, and dance the rest of the time" was hyperbole, not an actual thing that happened. I mean, apart from that, the WHM was a pretty decent Healer when it came to healing. Didn't overheal much, didn't let me get too low, easily kept up with pulls, so on and so forth. I didn't want to get into a whole big argument about whether Healers should DPS in the middle of the dungeon, so I kept quiet. But that Manderville. I don't know of a more effective way to say "I know I'm wasting your time, and I don't care."

Personally I'm mixed. I don't mind more flowery language (although sometimes I have no idea what Baderon is saying, much less Jacke), but when the English translation takes certain liberties, I am hesitant to call it acceptable. (Weirdly, based on the Japanese dialogue, I think the character who is the most closely translated into English is Urianger.) The problem comes when the localization inserts nuances and implications that are simply not there in the original, and to no apparent purpose. Going back to the Matoya example, there's no reason for her to either be unobservant enough to mistake Alphinaud for his sister, nor immediately snarky enough to pretend to do so. If there really is a need to emphasize how Alphinaud looks like his sister, the Warriors of Darkness do precisely that later on, so inserting this particular instance just feels redundant. And then there's the creepy and insensitive text of the Wind-Up Moenbryda minion, that is far more tasteful in the original. When the translation is not exact, but still remains in the general vicinity of the original, I don't mind. When it does its own thing completely unrelated, though, then I have to judge it on how the changes contribute to the story. And in many cases, the judgment is lacking. It's not offensive, but merely pointless; changing the text just for the sake of changing it. EDIT: A minor example, from early in Stormblood, involving Zenos:

To the WHM healing me in Brayflox NM: I understand that due to some concerns about low-level DF groups, you might want to concentrate on healing me as the Tank rather than throwing out some (ie any) DPS. I also understand, due to certain clues, that you are at or above level 50, and probably not Jump Potioned, so you should have some experience in this game. But when you are literally doing the Manderville while I'm tanking Aiatar, I can only conclude that you are taking the piss.

Just started the Stormblood story, and have just decided to go to Doma. Haven't actually gone yet; just made the decision. Am I misremembering, or is the English translation getting more and more distant from the Japanese? I noticed this in Heavensward, where Matoya randomly called Alphinaud "Louisoix's granddaughter" instead of the Japanese "Louisoix's grandchild", but it's getting more pronounced as the MSQ goes on. An example during one cutscene (that was shown in the launch trailer) involving Fordola:

Not Sounsyy, but while waiting for his much more detailed post, just something from the lorebook: Now I'm curious what the other elements are like in their astral and umbral forms. I think only Sharlayan and Ishgard post-HW has something resembling a political vote? I could be wrong. Ul'dah is a hereditary sultanate, putting aside the bit about the power being in the hands of the Syndicate (which is technically an oligarchy?). Gridania is... I forget the term for it, but the Padjals are essentially the ruling class from birth, but not hereditary as such. And the Padjals govern by the will of the Elementals. Limsa is an interesting case. The Admiral is chosen by the Trident, so it's more a competition of seafaring skill than political prowess, but if the pirate culture resembles our own historically, each ship is a democracy in its own right; they elect the Captain and Quartermaster, who are effectively the executive and judiciary branches on each ship. Presumably a sailor receives the right to vote when they are acknowledged as part of the crew, as opposed to spoils captured.

As a Scholar, I tend to twitch any time people ask me to AoE. I mean, I do put down Shadowflares when it's up. Other than that, well. I once failed at two trash pulls, in Dusk Vigil. I still contend that it's not my fault, since the Tank (a DRK) was wearing gear ten levels below the dungeon. Not ten ilevels, but ten levels.

I'd like to ask how, but I'm not sure I want to know the answer.

I ran three dungeons in a row with DRK as Tank. In all three cases, their buff bar contained no buff icons apart from what was provided by myself as Healer, Darkside, and very occasionally Grit. This is despite their mass-pulling. I'm beginning to wonder if DRKs have any mitigation cooldowns to reduce damage.

Not played Stormblood yet, but I don't mind spoilers. Do Regula van Hydrus or Zenos yae Galvus get any sobriquets? As in how Gaius van Baelsar is "the Black Wolf", and Nael van Darnus is "the White Raven". I'm mostly curious if all Imperial Legates get similar titles, or if Gaius and Nael were particularly special. I assume getting to the position of Legatus in the first place requires being an accomplished badass, or at least ruthless enough to assassinate your way to the top. Which is still badass, because either you have to not get caught, or you have to gain a reputation for being so dangerous that nobody, even the Emperor or fellow Legates, wants to question your rise. I suppose Zenos is also known as "the Crown Prince", but that's more his position and status, rather than a nickname given due to reputation.

Just went on a Syrcus Tower run, my very first. Fairly good Alliance, no salt, mechanics explanations in Alliance chat, everyone pulled their weight. Except for one person on our team, Alliance C. She was a Ninja, level synched down, so she's at least 50+. She has a sprout icon. She did a bit of emote spam whenever we stopped before a boss, as well as pop several of the Magicked Prism stuff, but I didn't really think much of it. She also tended to wander off on her own instead of staying with our team, but maybe she's new. As the run went on, I noticed that she was taking a curious amount of damage. She was pretty much the only person in the entire Alliance who needed to be rezzed, multiple times. I assumed this was because she was one of those players who didn't bother to move out of avoidable AoEs. Finally, at the last boss, after spending most of my GCDs trying to keep her up, I decided to examine her gear.

I forget whether I read it in in-game dialogue or in a speculative forum post, but I think there was some mention that the Ishgardians were afraid the heretics had been tempered (frozen?) by Shiva, and were relieved to find that Shiva had not tempered anyone; the heretics followed Lady Iceheart because they wanted to. Other Primals who did not temper are King Moggle Mog, and Enkidu of dubious canonicity. Moggle Mog was summoned by the Mogglesguard of the Twelveswood Moogles. Judging from the circumstances of his re-summoning for Extreme, the Mogglesguard did not summon his Extreme mode because they were tempered, but merely because Kuplo Kopp tried to lecture them and they got pissy. Having said that, the quest for the regular Hard version does mention the possibility that Moggle Mog would temper the Moogles eventually, so it's still possible. Also apparently Moggle Mog was first summoned back in 1.0, but I don't have any details on that. I don't even know what's going on with Enkidu.

That's an amazing resource. I was thinking of making something like it, but that's a lot more informative and in-depth than I could have done. Bookmarking for plenty of further use.

... I... what? How did you manage that? Idk the game uninstalls randomly for PS4 players if you put it in rest mode and god forbid the dog accidentally yanks the cord out while he sleeps under the table. Known issue, yes. Official Lodestone post, although it's annoyingly terse and doesn't really say anything we don't already know. Square Enix claims it's Sony's problem.