Evercold (FFXIV 8.0) first impressions
Apr. 26th, 2026 08:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
requiemsI can't sleep due to a new mystery noise courtesy of my upstairs neighbours that makes my ceilings and walls... growl???... for lack of a better descriptor. It's been going on for weeks and has now become every night. I can't climb the stairs, but even if i could, it's not something you can go deadeye your neighbours about during the night...
• shard hopping my beloved!!! another contained shard was on my wishlist for Dawntrail and we didn't get it then so I'm delighted we get to do it now, and presumably more in the future?? Wanting it after Endwalker was all the hype of the void, and the revisit to the First; I feel this every time I have to leave SHB but I care about the First and Norvrandt deeply in a way that does not fully extend to Eorzea. I like Eorzea, but I love the First for how condensed it is, all the rich lore that can be fully dived into; it's also just beautiful. which leads me to the second point
• high fantasy is back and it's Nordic (and a little bit Celtic?). The concept art was stunning. I love the snake incorporation, the concept art of the snake like, tree like, market stalls is to die for. Also the purplish trees one gives me very underwater vibes. And the one that's just, Rivendell. I WANT TO GO NOW
• I'm seeing a lot of FF13 speculation, being Caius and Yeul for the two au ra in the trailer, living in the sky above the land below, Meteor carrying the crystal that Emet-Selch made and him slumbering in the aetherial sea but dreaming of our adventures being very much Serah and Snow, a godless realm is very 13 in general as the fal'Cie are trying to reach Etro and the unseen realm/they break away from Bhuni at the end of LR to a new world, the font used in the mock up not-battlepass UI is the FF13 font, that there were some very Cie'th like models ambling around... the Sin model also excites me, because not having Sin when we had Sin Eaters was diabolical. The fourth will have to have a similar, overly ice aspected equivalent to sin eaters and voidsent, and Sin was perfect for those things!!! so I'm glad we are getting Sin now for that reason. man I just want FFX. Can you imagine a Nordic Zanarkand. man.
• I wonder if we'll have some time shenanigans to see the fourth pre and post being frost heavy... if that happens it's absolutely FF13, it's just FF13-2, I will eat this up
• I was apprehensive at the idea of what looked like a battlepass as the first thing I immediately noted was the not just weapon upgrades part of it and if you have limited time awards this just makes it more stressful and raises FOMO. I am already in one battlepass model against my will, I do not want another. However, it seems to be more a modernisation of the challenger log, which is good, because there comes a point when you level cap and have so much gil that the 'rewards' do nothing for you and there's no incentive. So! Better. This will also be good if I end up in a situation of not being able to play content, as I haven't geared Prih or Ashe at all, and was probably going to rely on poes when 8.0 drops to do so. It does make me wonder if they might phase out mogtomes and put the effective rewards into this, which will... be annoying if so... I prefer having a set "okay, we prioritise the mogtomes grind" period than coming back every week on every character. Too many alts.
• I want to make my Azem shard for Prih on the fourth real bad lol. I did make a xaela, we'll see if it ends up being her. I also keep holding up Khlip as viera have the Icelandic naming and a boy should go there...
• I don't know how to feel about Evolved mode. I like this gameplay loop. A lot of days this gameplay loop is the only thing I can do. I'm worried I'll have to relearn the game from the ground up, which I don't think I have the capacity for anymore. However, I said the same thing about Stadium and ended up actually loving it as an evolution (ha) of pushing character kits to an extreme that you just can't do in normal gameplay, it's very daunting for new players to learn, so I will force myself to keep an open mind although my kickback for no I don't like change no you can't make me remains. The difference is core mode is still here in OW, and reborn mode may get phased out, or be so suboptimal I'm left with no choice. Like, I will know I'm still playing old style. I will know that I am being the problem and not doing enough in my role. This reintroduces a lot of anxieties I have gotten over and will make me feel bad for not switching. hngh.
• the cats are in a cat tree. that is where they live. 10/10 no notes.
• no zero yet but I am Hopeful. Also ryne HAS to have involvement. SHE HAS TO. I remember shiva ryne gandalf
• an interesting personal lore thing for me to consider is with Kaesumi. In Prih's canon, she does not meet Kaesumi, but Kaesumi is there when Ysayle is left in the Mists, and they bond. Ysayle does not die in Azys Lla; Kaesumi jumps from Hraes' back and power of love is so strong she rips a hole in the fabric of reality and they both disappear out of existence and time. I knew this was to another shard, but. I think I now know which one. Ice shard for ice girls :) full heavensward gang reunion :)
I was going to play Endwalker Very Soon after mogtomes end, so I will do this, play something new, and then Dawntrail (my eyes) so I can be prepared for Evercold. I probably won't play until maybe late February or so (January is still coming out of bad months) but it'll give me time to go through 5.3 and up for patches when I can knock them all out consecutively.
Ashe also got lore. Ongoing, happening right now lore. Actual lore that's progressive and not for the new heroes but the old ones, two weeks after we got nothing for her heist and I had almost given up on her getting anything at all. Instead, something!!! Family is the most important thing in the world to her and Cole Cassidy is a projecting dumbass!!!! I need to further devour it, but Fanfest meant two days of being whelmed with information about things important to me and another silly thing about ME is I have to be careful with excitement and positive emotions or else I will experience PEM from that too 😔😭 I have recently realised this is why I am emotionally dead much of the time. It's fineTM. Anyway, I want to rewatch and reread the comic again and reassemble my thoughts for it, but Evercold's first impressions first so I can safely put it aside.
• shard hopping my beloved!!! another contained shard was on my wishlist for Dawntrail and we didn't get it then so I'm delighted we get to do it now, and presumably more in the future?? Wanting it after Endwalker was all the hype of the void, and the revisit to the First; I feel this every time I have to leave SHB but I care about the First and Norvrandt deeply in a way that does not fully extend to Eorzea. I like Eorzea, but I love the First for how condensed it is, all the rich lore that can be fully dived into; it's also just beautiful. which leads me to the second point
• high fantasy is back and it's Nordic (and a little bit Celtic?). The concept art was stunning. I love the snake incorporation, the concept art of the snake like, tree like, market stalls is to die for. Also the purplish trees one gives me very underwater vibes. And the one that's just, Rivendell. I WANT TO GO NOW
• I'm seeing a lot of FF13 speculation, being Caius and Yeul for the two au ra in the trailer, living in the sky above the land below, Meteor carrying the crystal that Emet-Selch made and him slumbering in the aetherial sea but dreaming of our adventures being very much Serah and Snow, a godless realm is very 13 in general as the fal'Cie are trying to reach Etro and the unseen realm/they break away from Bhuni at the end of LR to a new world, the font used in the mock up not-battlepass UI is the FF13 font, that there were some very Cie'th like models ambling around... the Sin model also excites me, because not having Sin when we had Sin Eaters was diabolical. The fourth will have to have a similar, overly ice aspected equivalent to sin eaters and voidsent, and Sin was perfect for those things!!! so I'm glad we are getting Sin now for that reason. man I just want FFX. Can you imagine a Nordic Zanarkand. man.
• I wonder if we'll have some time shenanigans to see the fourth pre and post being frost heavy... if that happens it's absolutely FF13, it's just FF13-2, I will eat this up
• I was apprehensive at the idea of what looked like a battlepass as the first thing I immediately noted was the not just weapon upgrades part of it and if you have limited time awards this just makes it more stressful and raises FOMO. I am already in one battlepass model against my will, I do not want another. However, it seems to be more a modernisation of the challenger log, which is good, because there comes a point when you level cap and have so much gil that the 'rewards' do nothing for you and there's no incentive. So! Better. This will also be good if I end up in a situation of not being able to play content, as I haven't geared Prih or Ashe at all, and was probably going to rely on poes when 8.0 drops to do so. It does make me wonder if they might phase out mogtomes and put the effective rewards into this, which will... be annoying if so... I prefer having a set "okay, we prioritise the mogtomes grind" period than coming back every week on every character. Too many alts.
• I want to make my Azem shard for Prih on the fourth real bad lol. I did make a xaela, we'll see if it ends up being her. I also keep holding up Khlip as viera have the Icelandic naming and a boy should go there...
• I don't know how to feel about Evolved mode. I like this gameplay loop. A lot of days this gameplay loop is the only thing I can do. I'm worried I'll have to relearn the game from the ground up, which I don't think I have the capacity for anymore. However, I said the same thing about Stadium and ended up actually loving it as an evolution (ha) of pushing character kits to an extreme that you just can't do in normal gameplay, it's very daunting for new players to learn, so I will force myself to keep an open mind although my kickback for no I don't like change no you can't make me remains. The difference is core mode is still here in OW, and reborn mode may get phased out, or be so suboptimal I'm left with no choice. Like, I will know I'm still playing old style. I will know that I am being the problem and not doing enough in my role. This reintroduces a lot of anxieties I have gotten over and will make me feel bad for not switching. hngh.
• the cats are in a cat tree. that is where they live. 10/10 no notes.
• no zero yet but I am Hopeful. Also ryne HAS to have involvement. SHE HAS TO. I remember shiva ryne gandalf
• an interesting personal lore thing for me to consider is with Kaesumi. In Prih's canon, she does not meet Kaesumi, but Kaesumi is there when Ysayle is left in the Mists, and they bond. Ysayle does not die in Azys Lla; Kaesumi jumps from Hraes' back and power of love is so strong she rips a hole in the fabric of reality and they both disappear out of existence and time. I knew this was to another shard, but. I think I now know which one. Ice shard for ice girls :) full heavensward gang reunion :)
I was going to play Endwalker Very Soon after mogtomes end, so I will do this, play something new, and then Dawntrail (my eyes) so I can be prepared for Evercold. I probably won't play until maybe late February or so (January is still coming out of bad months) but it'll give me time to go through 5.3 and up for patches when I can knock them all out consecutively.
Ashe also got lore. Ongoing, happening right now lore. Actual lore that's progressive and not for the new heroes but the old ones, two weeks after we got nothing for her heist and I had almost given up on her getting anything at all. Instead, something!!! Family is the most important thing in the world to her and Cole Cassidy is a projecting dumbass!!!! I need to further devour it, but Fanfest meant two days of being whelmed with information about things important to me and another silly thing about ME is I have to be careful with excitement and positive emotions or else I will experience PEM from that too 😔😭 I have recently realised this is why I am emotionally dead much of the time. It's fineTM. Anyway, I want to rewatch and reread the comic again and reassemble my thoughts for it, but Evercold's first impressions first so I can safely put it aside.
