Completed the main story quest line for Stormblood today! I'm so glad to finally be done. I don't think Stormblood is one of my favorite expansions...the portion that took place in in the East/Doma was interesting, but overall not really a fan of the story this time.
I decided to try out party finder for the first time to complete the Royal Menagerie to defeat Zenos. Was definitely faster than using the normal duty finder to queue for the trial. However, I def went into the fight not knowing any of the boss mechanics which resulted in me getting pushed off the platform all, but once during the whole fight TvT I felt bad for my party cause they kept having to res me for being an idiot and falling off every god frikin time....
I was also super lucky to meet someone who was willing to help me complete my aether currents for the Lochs. I am so grateful that they were willing to help ferry me to the last two I needed as both were in somewhat difficult places to get to if you didn't already have flying T-T I don't understand why they put some of the aetherytes in difficult to reach places cause trying to figure out how to get to them without flying hurt my brain ;-; (although it was probably partly my fault for trying to use my brain when it was 2a in the morning xD) Anyways, my gratitude goes out to the player who was kind and patient with me to get them completed.
After completing my aether currents I moved on to the post-Stormblood cutscenes and I nearly jumped out of my chair when Estinien showed up. I know they showed him two other times, when he first found where Omega and Shinryu crashed as well as when he took out the imperial canon at Castrum Abania. I really wish he would have shown himself to everyone, but I know he was doing his own thing. I was just super happy to see him again. He's by far one of my favorite characters so far although I will admit that when I first met him I wasn't sure how I felt about his personality, but after traveling with him, he grew on me and now is one of my favorites. Plus his relationship with Alphinaud is just great xD I'll never forget the scene in Heavensward when Estinien poked fun at Alphinaud for crying at his bedside.
Speaking of unexpected happenings I was not expecting the last scene with Gosetsu and Yotsuyu. I was pretty convinced that Gosetsu was gone. Originally I was hoping that the foreshadowing they did during his apparent departure meant he was going to show up later at some point (which I guess in a sense he did). I will admit that the fact he got stranded on an island with Yotsuyu was pretty funny xD Also, I can't tell if I feel sorry for Cid. He can't seem to get away from Nero and when he came walking into the scene in my head I was going "of course it's f*ing Nero..."
Also somewhat related to unexpected encounters my friend reminded me that during one of our meet ups they encountered some very interesting new friends. Unfortunately I don't remember what free company they were associated with, but their member outfits were moogles in speedos. I want to say that my friend and I spent about 2 hrs listening to their stories and at some point my friend made the realization that we may have ended up joining a role play of sorts on top of a possible group date. (felt a little awkward, but since my friend didn't want to leave I just stayed silent and kept them company...) I will say that the experience was an interesting one and if anything the highlight of that interaction was a few of us having our own moogle minions out and they gathered together and were dancing. Not gonna lie it was pretty cute.
To end today's entry I wanted to mention that Arenvald has gotten himself on my radar of favorite side characters. His suggestion of taking a break to go adventuring was such an unexpected, but welcome side quest/story. I haven't completed that side quest yet, but I'm looking forward to finding the hidden treasure! Till next time.
