Current state of Ul'dah, post 2.55 (Spoilers obviously)

[Gegenji]

She did tell the WoL to "hold onto the poison"

 

When she said that I kinda quirked a brow. Why hold onto it? Why not just throw it away or give it to the scions?

 

Wasn't it just a vial at that point? I don't really remember either the WoL or Momodi recognizing it as poison. And, remember, I think it's implied that she also spreads word of the WoL's innocence to the rest of the Adventurer's Guild?

[Chris Ganale]

This was brought up by my group last night, and it bears merit in that I didn't realize we were being set up to take the fall until I was reading the item description before handing it over to Momodi, something to the tune of a cloudy vial that no longer has its contents, and then she said we should hold onto it. It hit me, at exactly that moment, that I just had the poison planted on me.

 

That said, I don't believe that Momodi is a mustachio-twirling, card-carrying sycophant shithead of the Syndicate. I feel as though she's an unwilling accomplice, forced to partake of the plot because of the ease with which the Monetarists can swiftly make her business into an economic crater.

 

Of course, take my endorsement of Momodi with a bucket of salt: I bought Teledji and ill-bred's acts right up until they showed their true colors.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

This was brought up by my group last night, and it bears merit in that I didn't realize we were being set up to take the fall until I was reading the item description before handing it over to Momodi, something to the tune of a cloudy vial that no longer has its contents, and then she said we should hold onto it. It hit me, at exactly that moment, that I just had the poison planted on me.

 

That said, I don't believe that Momodi is a mustachio-twirling, card-carrying sycophant shithead of the Syndicate. I feel as though she's an unwilling accomplice, forced to partake of the plot because of the ease with which the Monetarists can swiftly make her business into an economic crater.

 

Of course, take my endorsement of Momodi with a bucket of salt: I bought Teledji and ill-bred's acts right up until they showed their true colors.

 

Or Momodi had no idea? Not everything needs to be a conspiracy with the entire city plotting against the main-character. She did recommend taking it to the Alchemist's Guild, but the main-character was preoccupied with "more important things to do".

[Aya]

I don't believe that Momodi is a mustachio-twirling, card-carrying sycophant shithead of the Syndicate.

FREE MOMODI!

[Dravus]

I don't think Momodi is in on the conspiracy. She's more likely to just be an unwilling pawn in the grand scheme of things.

 

I wonder what happened to the Elezen that the Warrior of Light was meant to meet, though. I have a feeling she was either on the conspiracy herself or, much like Wilred, realised something was amiss and ended up being silenced.

[Kage]

Pretty sure Momodi had no idea and didn't think the vial was bad.

 

I mean, why the fuck would she have any reason to suspect an empty vial?

 

edit: Think Alianne was silenced.

[Aldotsk]

This was brought up by my group last night, and it bears merit in that I didn't realize we were being set up to take the fall until I was reading the item description before handing it over to Momodi, something to the tune of a cloudy vial that no longer has its contents, and then she said we should hold onto it. It hit me, at exactly that moment, that I just had the poison planted on me.

 

That said, I don't believe that Momodi is a mustachio-twirling, card-carrying sycophant shithead of the Syndicate. I feel as though she's an unwilling accomplice, forced to partake of the plot because of the ease with which the Monetarists can swiftly make her business into an economic crater.

 

Of course, take my endorsement of Momodi with a bucket of salt: I bought Teledji and ill-bred's acts right up until they showed their true colors.

 

Or Momodi had no idea? Not everything needs to be a conspiracy with the entire city plotting against the main-character. She did recommend taking it to the Alchemist's Guild, but the main-character was preoccupied with "more important things to do".

 

That's literally what all of us want to think.

 

Look at Ilberd. We didn't think he'd go bad.

[Kage]

Using that logic, Raubahn orchestrated the whole thing. he is the big mastermind.

[Melkire]

It was Sisipu in the bedchambers with a fishing rod.

 

Conspiracy theories are just that, conspiracy theories. Unless your name is Riol.

[Aldotsk]

Technically, this whole city lore itself was literally a clusterfuck since 1.0. And I am kind of semi-glad that this happened because with Sultana in it's system the Syndicate were kind of passive-aggressively using Nanamo as a puppet to do their own bidding. 

 

Considering that she's -dead-, it's clearly now obvious that the city is finally shown their true colors of becoming lawful evil than doing goods for people.

 

*packs out of stupid city*

 

Tired of licking these sand bricks for them scum politicians.

[Chris Ganale]

I as much as anyone want to hope that Momodi had nothing to do with it, but you can't deny that the logic is sound.

 

The simple fact of the matter is that I put a very, very short list of NPCs above all suspicion: Tataru, Alphinaud, the Scions, Ol' Eyepatch (Riol), Yugiri/the Domans, and Raubahn. Twice in a row have I fallen for trusting new NPCs only to have them backstab in the worst possible manner. It shan't happen again. I don't even trust Pipin.

 

Technically, this whole city lore itself was literally a clusterfuck since 1.0. And I am kind of semi-glad that this happened because with Sultana in it's system the Syndicate were kind of passive-aggressively using Nanamo as a puppet to do their own bidding. 

 

Considering that she's -dead-, it's clearly now obvious that the city is finally shown their true colors of becoming lawful evil than doing goods for people.

 

*packs out of stupid city*

 

Tired of licking these sand bricks for them scum politicians.

 

The city just needs to have its filth purged with fire.

[Verad]

Please tell us how you really feel, do not hold back.

[Chris Ganale]

That's about the high and low of it; you're welcome.

[Verad]

A bonfire built from plot hooks is a strange-looking bonfire indeed.

[Kage]

You could even say the odd looks you see Tataru give make her look suspect in everything.

[Aldotsk]

You could even say the odd looks you see Tataru give make her look suspect in everything.

 

I actually do suspect that little runt.

 

She got into trouble several times, and almost got WoL get eaten by Morbol.

[V'aleera]

The only logical explanation is that Tataru is Zodiark.

[Kellach Woods]

A bonfire built from plot hooks is a strange-looking bonfire indeed.

 

It's strange looking because the plot hooks are bad writing.

 

Again, the events of 2.55 require that the WoL be the dumbest person on Eorzea, to the point where the only reason they would have survived everything was through sheer dumb luck.

 

That may sound awesome to some of you, but to me it's just a level of disbelief suspension I cannot attain.

[Verad]

A bonfire built from plot hooks is a strange-looking bonfire indeed.

 

It's strange looking because the plot hooks are bad writing.

 

Again, the events of 2.55 require that the WoL be the dumbest person on Eorzea, to the point where the only reason they would have survived everything was through sheer dumb luck.

 

That may sound awesome to some of you, but to me it's just a level of disbelief suspension I cannot attain.

 

In general, I am always surprised when players cannot suspend their disbelief regarding a character's stupidity. I find it harder to believe in characters that behave intelligently.

 

In the specific, the Warrior of Light is a character who has slaughtered half of Eastern La Noscea to get the ingredients for a feast in his own honor and never questioned why, spent about five levels and interminable hours of the players' life not realizing that the Inquisitor from Ishgard (whose name escapes me) does not have his best interests at heart when denying him access to Stone Vigil, hired a Mamool Ja sex offender to teach dancing lessons to Costa del Sol girls (among other absurd acts of letter delivery), and enabled the shared delusion of Hildibrand's competence.

 

Your conception of your own character as the Warrior of Light may be of one more competent, but from the things he does? He's a goddamn moron, and that's been established since Level One. The groundwork was already laid.

[Kellach Woods]

In the specific, the Warrior of Light is a character who has slaughtered half of Eastern La Noscea to get the ingredients for a feast in his own honor and never questioned why, spent about five levels and interminable hours of the players' life not realizing that the Inquisitor from Ishgard (whose name escapes me) does not have his best interests at heart when denying him access to Stone Vigil, hired a Mamool Ja sex offender to teach dancing lessons to Costa del Sol girls (among other absurd acts of letter delivery), and enabled the shared delusion of Hildibrand's competence.

 

Your conception of your own character as the Warrior of Light may be of one more competent, but from the things he does? He's a goddamn moron, and that's been established since Level One. The groundwork was already laid.

Company of Heroes MSQ-line :

All handwaved by the fact that it was necessary as established by the Company of Heroes themselves. Even though Y'shtola protests, she still tells you to go along with it because you do not have any other choice. Even if you protested, the CoH would just clam up because it was a trial that THEY THEMSELVES DEVISED. They also are not aware of the Blessing of Light that prevents tempering.

 

Coerthas MSQ-line :

Start of the stupidity, though AT LEAST the explanation being that if you ran him through prior to the moment you actually do, you would have likely ensured you never actually get to Garuda, which was necessary at the time.

 

When it comes to the MSQ up until 2.1, it all makes some sort of sense as you have an alternate goal you are pursuing. It's only with the patches when they pretty much require the WoL to never do anything remotely intelligent (such as you know NOT BRINGING UP THE NUMBERS BEING SHIT AND THE SHIFTY DEALINGS THAT YOU PERSONALLY OVERSEE) and everyone else to just go along with it. The plan has so many problems that just require everyone involved to be the dumbest human beings alive when placed in their situations (or in the case of Alphinaud, inexperienced - That was the only part that I really enjoyed because it's believable. Someone as young as him, who is not used to politics and military management, SHOULD make these mistakes).

 

Postmoogle :

Not MSQ, but I'll still entertain the thought. Most of the stuff you do comes at the requests of the letter carriers themselves. Gegeruju even enjoys the Mamool Ja mating dance but believes it's too risque for most of the guests he would have entertained by it.

 

In short, they are the artifacts of their own stupidity, you just smile and nod because your task is to be a good letter carrier. The only stupidity exhibited by postmoogle quests involve the Postmoogle himself because you're not throwing him under the bus.

 

Hildibrand :

Not MSQ but I'll still entertain the thought. You are often tasked by Briardien to do stuff that runs opposite of what Hildibrand is supposed to do at the time, and more often than not the WoL looks completely shocked at the idiocy being put forward. That he's still shocked after all this time is kind of weird, but not that bad. Being an enabler does not mean being literally the dumbest person alive like 2.4 onwards requires the WoL to be.

 

Funnily enough, it's often in the holiday events that the WoL shows they're not that dumb.

[Verad]

 

Funnily enough, it's often in the holiday events that the WoL shows they're not that dumb.

 

But also not MSQ. If you are holding to the idea that it has to be within the main storylines to qualify as an indicator of intelligence - you are only "entertaining the thought" - and the "canon" personality of the WoL, then the events are irrelevant.

 

As for Company of Heroes, it sounds as if you are replacing stupidity with stunning passivity and obedience - traits which also explain the WoL's reactions in 2.55, and are also held as crimes against good characterization.

 

But in either case, as far as I'm concerned the conflict potential for RP in Ul'dah now far outweighs any concerns I have about the portrayal of a character I'm not actually playing except as a placeholder to see a plot in which I'm not actually a participant. I'll take the plot-hooks, thank you.

[Kellach Woods]

But also not MSQ. If you are holding to the idea that it has to be within the main storylines to qualify as an indicator of intelligence - you are only "entertaining the thought" - and the "canon" personality of the WoL, then the events are irrelevant.

 

That's why I said funnily enough. Also, it's not so much that the events are non-canon or anything, it's just that my main problem is with the MSQ.

 

The way I see it, if I'm going to be forced to go through a narrative in order to access content, I want that narrative to be good - especially if I need to watch enough cutscenes that they have TWO disclaimers for them. If you only care about possible RP hooks then that's fine. We're both looking at this from two completely different points of view.

 

You care about RP, I care about the game.

[Verad]

But also not MSQ. If you are holding to the idea that it has to be within the main storylines to qualify as an indicator of intelligence - you are only "entertaining the thought" - and the "canon" personality of the WoL, then the events are irrelevant.

 

That's why I said funnily enough. Also, it's not so much that the events are non-canon or anything, it's just that my main problem is with the MSQ.

 

The way I see it, if I'm going to be forced to go through a narrative in order to access content, I want that narrative to be good - especially if I need to watch enough cutscenes that they have TWO disclaimers for them. If you only care about possible RP hooks then that's fine. We're both looking at this from two completely different points of view.

 

You care about RP, I care about the game.

 

I care about the gameplay, and I care about the setting. These are aspects of the game. The narrative is an at-times useful and funny part of it, which also helps my roleplay, but I'm not holding the narrative to a certain standard of character competence. 

 

Not portrayal, mind - the portrayal is fine as far as I'm concerned. Just competence.

[BumblingSeaBiscuit]

This might be getting a little off topic, guys. Perhaps we could keep it on such? I've been really interested in reading how this has affected Ul'dah. And the NPC chatter people have been posting is wonderful!

[Kellach Woods]

This might be getting a little off topic, guys. Perhaps we could keep it on such? I've been really interested in reading how this has effected Ul'dah. And the NPC chatter people have been posting is wonderful!

 

I think we've exhausted the NPC text . Someone might want to go verify Hunberct because I think Attack on Highbridge had just failed and thus his dialogue reflected that.