History NightmareFuel / FinalFantasyXIV

* [[spoiler: Nanamo's death scene is utterly chilling. One moment you're having a rather nice chat with the Sultana over her abdication of the throne and her plans for the future of Ul'Dah, one part of said plan being your support of Raubahn as her would-be idea for a republic roughs itself out. Then she takes a slow sip of her wine... and then it hits. Her likely last healthy heartbeat rings out as her eyes go wide, the poison taking effect as she silently chokes and reaches out to the Warrior of Light for help, before slumping over onto the floor, [[killthecutie: dead]] . It's absolutely jarring seeing one of the most kind hearted and unanimously good characters you've come to befriend and likely respect be murdered so gruesomely. The fact that it's the framing for a series of Wham Episodes doesn't help anything. ]]

* Raubahn in 2.55's story. Up until now, Raubahn has been a fairly stoic character and can handle almost any situation pretty rationally and calmly, but 2.55 shows what happens if you push him to far. [[spoiler: The Sultana is killed, and Raubahn is in complete grief and denial about her death. Meanwhile, Teledji Adeledji is [[KickTheDog taunting him about burying the sultana and how she must have felt gracious that someone "cut her strings."]] Raubahn has none of it, and proceeds to ''cleave Teledji in two'', all while showing a glimpse of his face that almost seems ''demonic'' while he does it. He targets Lolorito next, seemingly bent on going on a murderous rampage, but gets his arm cut of Ilberd. And then, after Ilberd admits to killing the Sultana, he flies into yet another murderous rampage and lets out an inhuman roar.]] Even though he regains he senses and [[spoiler: helps the Warrior of Light and the Scions escape]], this drastic character shift in Raubahn is unsettling.

** Also, if Cerberus dies with people inside, he won't regurgitate. Players can use Return or wait for the game to push them out, but the first time, it's pretty jarring. Fortunately this was fixed in a hotfix shortly after 2.5's release, and the players are pushed out as soon as Cerberus dies.

** Also, if Cerberus dies with people inside, he won't regurgitate. Players can use Return or wait for the game to push them out, but the first time, it's pretty jarring. Fortunately this was fixed in a recent patch, and the players are pushed out as soon as Cerberus dies.

** Also, if Cerberus dies with people inside, he won't regurgitate. Players can use Return or wait for the game to push them out, but the first time, it's pretty jarring.

* Fighting Cerberus, a 3 headed monstonsrity, in the World of Darkness is unsettling enough by itself, but once he breaks free from his chains, he gets a lot more aggressive. The beast hurls up what looks like purple vomit and standing in it makes the monster instantly rush at you and tear you to shreds for a OneHitKill. If you managed to get shrunk by the Gastric Juice and go in the vomit, Cerberus swallows you alive and the game actually transitions into a new "area" where you get to wander around inside the boss' stomach and it pulsates to boot. Now you're slowly taking damage (and it builds up over time) from the stomach acids and blob creatures with one too many eyeballs spawn and attack you. The only way out is to damage the stomach walls enough until you're forced out through regurgitation. During your time in the stomach, the battle music gets quieter and muffled to add to the creepy factor and you're completely separated from the alliances that are still fighting the creature from the outside.

* [[spoiler: Nabriales fight. Up until now, you've been protected by Hydaelyn. But thanks to Midgardsormr, that's no longer the case. Additionally, unlike Lahabrea, he has no need to take things lightly on you, nor does he taunt you into risking to have to kill a friend of your own to temporarily banish him. You get to find out just how much the Ascians at this point have been holding back their true power. And despite you finding out that the Scions have had to the tool needed to call forth a massive amount of Aether all this time in their posession, it still isn't enough to destroy a ''trapped'' Ascian, who can very much so fight back even when sealed in a White Auracite gem. It takes the HeroicSacrifice of Moenbryda to give you the extra Aether needed to destroy Nabriales. And if Midgardsormr's words are anything to consider, her's might not be the last death needed to repeat this process to other Ascians.]]

** The ending of the quest, "Corpse Groom": [[spoiler: After you defeat the Avere-head, Edda accidentally falls from the platform to her death. You go outside to assure her old teammate that it's all over -- and he looks across the chamber to see ''Edda standing there looking at him'' with the creepiest SlasherSmile. He promptly flees, you turn around -- and she's not there. Sure, Paiyo's exaggerated facial reaction's kinda funny, but still...]]

* A great deal of The Lost City of Amdapor certainly qualifies. For anyone familiar with [[NausicaaoftheValleyoftheWind Nausicaa]], the ruins in this dungeon bear a striking similarity to the forgotten kingdoms grown over by the toxic jungle, and you can plainly see the horrifying corruption spread far into the distance - what isn't obscured by clouds of choking spores, at any rate. Worse yet is the initial boss, a half-decayed, still-living goobue that routinely devours your fellow party members. If you don't kill it fast enough, the lifeless corpses of your comrades will be regurgitated onto the pock-marked stone flooring. [[spoiler:And then you get to the interior of Amdapor, seeing the marvelous architecture that once made up the whole city, and discover Diabolos at the end...and then that music starts playing...]]

** What's worse, is that's known that staying in an area that's strongly aspected in one type of aether (Such as water, of fire), often causes harmful effects. For those who cross the point of no return, if they're lucky, they'll suffer a quick death, with as little pain as possible. If they're unlucky, they'll begin suffering (painful) mutations caused by overaspecting in that Aether, which will likely kill them, just more painfully. As the Tempering process involves the Primal giving a burst of power with the aether they are attuned to, this protects them from most of the lethal affects of overaspecting, but still has it's other draw backs of causing disfigurement, mutations, and pain if the Primal so chooses. On those tempered on Ifrit, it seems the most extreme we've seen thus far is some "Tempered" enemies near Za'harak, appearing to be ashen and soot covered, with eyes as black as coals. For Leviathan's "Drowned", as seen in Sastasha (Hard), this goes as far as him inflicting pain with it, and causing those who have failed him to become more and more disfigured, replacing their heads to become more [[FacialHorror sea kin creature in appearance, such as that of a giant squid or jellyfish like]]. Let's be glad that the other Primals we've seen thus far are not as interested in Tempering the spoken races for their own reasons.

** What's worse, is that's known that staying in an area that's strongly aspected in one type of aether (Such as water, of fire), often causes harmful effects. For those who cross the point of no return, if they're lucky, they'll suffer a quick death, with as little pain as possible. If they're unlucky, they'll begin suffering (painful) mutations caused by overaspecting in that Aether, which will likely kill them, just more painfully. As the Tempering process involves the Primal giving a burst of power with the aether they are attuned to, this protects them from most of the lethal affects of overaspecting, but still has it's other draw backs of causing disfigurement, mutations, and pain if the Primal so chooses. On those tempered on Ifrit, it seems the most extreme we've seen thus far is some "Tempered" enemies near Za'harak, appearing to be ashen and soot covered, with eyes as black as coals. For Leviathan's "Drowned", as seen in Sastasha (Hard), this goes as far as him inflicting pain with it, and causing those who have failed him to become more and more disfigured, replacing their heads to become more [[FaceHorror sea kin creature in appearance, such as that of a giant squid or jellyfish like]]. Let's be glad that the other Primals we've seen thus far are not as interested in Tempering the spoken races for their own reasons.

* The previews for Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard) show the final boss arena to be littered in pentagrams, runes, and the name "Avere" repeated over and over again, in Eorzean script. Avere is the name of the tank of an NPC party who shows up during the original Tam-Tara questline. He died because his fiancee, Edda, a Conjurer, couldn't keep up on heals. She originally kept his severed head so that she could give him a burial... but, all signs point to Edda trying to resurrect him using BloodMagic.

** Previews also show Edda self-harming in order to power up said head. The animations for it are... unsettling.

* [[spoiler:The Ultima Weapon Eikon's entrance. You think you've beaten Garuda, but [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly her subjects' worship]] makes her unbeatable. Then Gaius appears, and [[IShallTauntYou taunts her]]. She responds by forcing the captive beast men of the other primals to pray to Ifrit and Titan, and with a push from Garuda, they manifest right then and there. All three primals you have fought are in one place. Couldn't get any worse, right? But then Ultima Weapon drops in. Ifrit attacks it first... and is [[TheWorfEffect killed in seconds]]. And is then ''absorbed into Ultima Weapon''. It then makes short work of Titan, absorbing him too. Garuda is the only one left. Up until now, Garuda hasn't shown anything other than contempt for everything other than herself. But faced with Ultima Weapon, she expresses pure ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness fear]]'' for the first time. But she's unable to stop the inevitable; once Ultima Weapon gets ahold of her, it ''crushes her head'', absorbing the third primal. This thing has the power of three primals, ''[[OhCrap and is in Garlean hands]]''.]]
* Tempering. Not only can a Primal convert someone to their side in a burst of power -- with no way to prevent, dodge, or block it, unless you have the Echo, and with no known way to reverse the process. Worse, while the immediately twists loyalty to the Primal, ColorCodedForYourConvenience isn't enforced. We see friendly Amalj'aa with red clothing that help new Black Mages, and tempered soldiers wearing the clothes of their country as they commit treason. The Beastmen tribe and Summoner quests only augment the [[ParanoiaFuel horror]] here : *anyone* can be tempered ''or'' claim someone else to be tempered.

* The previews for Tam-Tara hard show the final boss arena to be littered in pentagrams, runes, and the name "Avere" repeated over and over again, in Eorzean script. Avere is the name of the tank of an NPC party who shows up during the original Tam-Tara questline. He died because his fiancee, Edda, a Conjurer, couldn't keep up on heals. She originally kept his severed head so that she could give him a burial... but, all signs point to Edda trying to resurrect him using BloodMagic.
** Later previews showed Edda with a giant, terrifying, demonic looking head that has vaguely Ahriman like features, except that it's arms are it's nerve endings.

** The ending of the quest, "Corpse Groom"- [[spoiler: After you defeat the Avere-head, Edda accidentally falls from the platform to her death. You go outside to assure her old team-mate that it's all over- and he looks across the chamber to see ''Edda standing there looking at him'' with the creepiest SlasherSmile. He promptly flees, you turn around- and she's not there. Sure, Peiyo's exaggerated facial reaction's kinda funny, but still...]]

** The ending of the quest, "Corpse Groom"- [[spoiler: After you defeat the Avere-head, Edda accidentally falls from the platform to her death. You go outside to assure her old team-mate that it's all over- and he looks across the chamber to see Edda ''standing there looking at him'' with the creepiest SlasherSmile. He promptly flees, you turn around- and she's not there. Sure, Peiyo's exaggerated facial reaction's kinda funny, but still...]]

** Previews also show Edda self-harming in order to power up said head. The animations for it are... unsettling.

* [[spoiler:The Ultima Weapon's entrance. You think you've beaten Garuda, but [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly her subjects' worship]] makes her unbeatable. Then Gaius appears, and [[IShallTauntYou taunts her]]. She responds by forcing the captive beast men of the other primals to pray to Ifrit and Titan, and with a push from Garuda, they manifest right then and there. All three primals you have fought are in one place. Couldn't get any worse, right? But then Ultima Weapon drops in. Ifrit attacks it first... and is [[TheWorfEffect killed in seconds]]. And is then ''absorbed into Ultima Weapon''. It then makes short work of Titan, absorbing him too. Garuda is the only one left. Up until now, Garuda hasn't shown anything other than contempt for everything other than herself. But faced with Ultima Weapon, she expresses pure ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness fear]]'' for the first time. But she's unable to stop the inevitable; once Ultima Weapon gets ahold of her, it ''crushes her head'', absorbing the third primal. This thing has the power of three primals, ''[[OhCrap and is in Garlean hands]]''.]]

** Later previews showed Edda with a giant, terrifying, demonic looking head that has vaguely Ahriman like features, except that it's arms are it's nerve endings.

* The previews for Tam-Tara hard show the final boss arena to be littered in pentagrams, runes, and the name "Avere" repeated over and over again, in Eorzean script. Avere is the name of the tank that was killed when he and his party, which included his girlfriend named Edda as healer, who died because she couldn't keep up on heals. She originally kept his severed head so that she could give him a burial... but, all signs point to Edda trying to resurrect him using BloodMagic.

* The previews for Tam-Tara hard show the final boss arena to be littered in pentagrams, runes, and the name "Avere" repeated over and over again, in Eorzean script. Avere is the name of the tank that was killed when he and his party, which included his girlfriend named Edda as healer, who died because she couldn't keep up on heals. She originally kept his severed head so that she could give him a burial... but, all signs point to Edda trying to resurrect him using BloodMagic.

** Even worse its probably based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory Elizabeth Bathory]] a real life blood queen.

* The hedge sculptures in Haukke Manor's courtyard. Looming humanoid figures with holes through their heads -- a reminder that the lady of the house, Elizabeth Bathory by any other name, has been murdering beautiful young women and shredding their faces beyond recognition.

* Tempering. Not only can a Primal convert someone to their side in a burst of power -- with no way to prevent, dodge, or block it, unless you have the Echo, and with no known way to reverse the process. Worse, while the immediately twists loyalty to the Primal, ColorCodedForYourConvenience isn't enforced. We see friendly Amalj'aa with red clothing that help new Black Mages, and tempered soldiers wearing the clothes of their country as they commit treason. The Beastmen tribe and Summoner quests only augment the [[ParanoiaFuel horror]] here : *anyone* can be tempered ''or'' claim someone else to be tempered.

* [[spoiler:The Ultima Weapon's entrance. You think you've beaten Garuda, but [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly her subjects' worship]] makes her unbeatable. Then Gaius appears, and [[IShallTauntYou taunts her]]. She responds by forcing the captive beast men of the other primals to pray to Ifrit and Titan, and with a push from Garuda, they manifest right then and there. All three primals you have fought are in one place. Couldn't get any worse, right? But then Ultima Weapon drops in. Ifrit attacks it first... and is [[TheWorfEffect killed in seconds]]. And is then ''absorbed into Ultima Weapon''. It then makes short work of Titan, absorbing him too. Garuda is the only one left. Up until now, Garuda hasn't shown anything other than contempt for everything other than herself. But faced with Ultima Weapon, she expresses pure ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness fear]]'' for the first time. But she's unable to stop the inevitable; once Ultima Weapon gets ahold of her, it ''crushes her head'', absorbing the third primal. This thing has the power of three primals, ''[[OhCrap and is in Garlean hands]]''.]]

* The Ultima Weapon's entrance. You think you've beaten Garuda, but [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly her subjects' worship]] makes her unbeatable. Then Gaius appears, and [[IShallTauntYou taunts her]]. She responds by forcing the captive beast men of the other primals to pray to Ifrit and Titan, and with a push from Garuda, they manifest right then and there. All three primals you have fought are in one place. Couldn't get any worse, right? But then Ultima Weapon drops in. Ifrit attacks it first... and is [[TheWorfEffect killed in seconds]]. And is then ''absorbed into Ultima Weapon''. It then makes short work of Titan, absorbing him too. Garuda is the only one left. Up until now, Garuda hasn't shown anything other than contempt for everything other than herself. But faced with Ultima Weapon, she expresses pure ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness fear]]'' for the first time. But she's unable to stop the inevitable; once Ultima Weapon gets ahold of her, it ''crushes her head'', absorbing the third primal. This thing has the power of three primals, ''[[OhCrap and is in Garlean hands]]''.