#Blaugust Day 25: Birds and Bees

Last night was our regular Final Fantasy XIV raid night. We ended up going into Alexander to get gear upgrades for those what need them (which includes me), and then spend about an hour working on the Ravana fight. The speed with which we burned through Alexander really drives home how much better geared we've all gotten in the past few weeks; fights feel super quick now and we can push through phases quick enough that rotating mechanics only come up once or twice. I ended up getting the second token to turn in for a hat as well as my last piece of jewelry, so now I just need pants and chest armor for my main job. Pants I can get next week, as I just need one more spring, but I haven't gotten any of the tokens for chest armor, so that's a month out. I should probably just try to actually run more expert dungeons to cap Esoteric Tomestones and get the artifact chest. Great in theory, unlikely in practice.

I feel like I should be able to open the faceplate

Ravana went pretty well; where last week we didn't always make it through the butterflies with their swords, this time we made it to the dash mechanic nearly every time. Definite progress, and it's mostly a matter of cleaning up our reactions at this point. Ravana is a very precise fight that hinges on reacting quickly and properly when you get targeted with something. Happily, although there are multiple abilities to worry about throughout the fight, you're generally only having to think about one or two at any particular time. Nowhere near as frantic as, say, Nael Deus Darnus from Second Coil.

After we finished up raiding I decided to play some Hatoful Boyfriend so I can hopefully have experienced the long playthrough when we talk about it this weekend for Aggrochat. Basically, once you've successfully romanced enough birds, you're given the option to 'fulfill a promise made long ago' which triggers a longer run that apparently delves into the mysteries that have been alluded to in the normal playthroughs. I had already gotten the endings for the best friend and the aristocrat; last night I played through and got the teacher, the flirt, the runner, and the doctor. On that last playthrough I was given the 'promise' option, so tonight I'll probably play through that.

When you meet this guy, you think he's a little creepy.
But as you get to know him, you realize he's EXTRA SUPER BONUS CREEPY

Man oh man is this game crazy, and much deeper than you might suspect. The first two birds I romanced did not prepare me for how dark things could get. Through sheer happenstance I picked the two that seem to be the least linked to the big mystery of the game. (Well, okay, the runner is also off doing other stuff. Pudding related stuff.) The other three though, those three really make it clear that there is some dark shit going down that you're not really privy to. I'll be interested to see where the game goes with it all.