Predictions for Patch 4.4

**Anonymoose** · 07-18-2018 05:11 AM

[Robert Baratheon voice] Traditions, traditions; titles, titles.

The first 4.4-related LIVE Letter has passed, so... off we go!

Shadow-hunter-relevant quote from an interview with FANDOM

FANDOM: What’s your process for handling pivotal moments in FFXIV lore? Can you give any examples?

Koji Fox: While we have a pretty extensive internal bible that covers a lot of stuff (history, lore) that players have never seen, it is by no means complete. While we try our damndest not to change the bible, a lot of times we find ourselves in a situation where we need to add to it. The problem with adding things to the bible is that a single addition can result in critical contradictions with existing lore.

I would say at least three or four times a patch, the localization team (mostly the lead, John Crow) and the script team (mostly Banri Oda and Natsuko Ishikawa) will have intense back and forths regarding how info introduced in a new quest is causing continuity problems with past content.

Most of the time, this communication is enough to quash most of the inconsistencies and fill any newly sprung plot holes, though sometimes we just have to take the craziness and run with it. (I did not retcon. I did naaaht. Oh hai, Gaius.)

**Fenral** · 07-18-2018 06:02 AM

Nonsense, that quote doesn't mention the Shadow Hunter at all! It mentions...

**Cilia** · 07-18-2018 07:36 AM

I hate hate hate hate hate hate... hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate HATE RETCONS! They make investigative methods useless!

Ehem. I'm not sure what's going on and the link in the other thread is broken, so for now I'm just gonna say I'll be disappointed if Fordola doesn't factor in. Not-Gaius was an important figure in her life and I don't feel like her character arc was conclusively resolved...

**Anonymoose** · 07-18-2018 07:58 AM

I dunno, the fact even you and I were able to have past debates regarding, "Do they have to show us every body to accept that people are dead?" / "Shouldn't they avoid cutting away from the death of a major character?" regarding whether Gaius could still have value to the plot I think shows it doesn't render the investigative method useless in this case. at least.

That said, I fully admit that half of my #GaiusLives talk was just because I found it amusing to get a passionate rebuttal of every mere suggestion that he was anything but concretely, conclusively, positively, absolutely, irrefutably, canonically dead every time I pointed out that it's not hard to write their way out of the truly established: they cut away mid-explosion - after he had survived several other explosions - while Nero was still in the building - and then Nero referred to his defeat, not his death, when we met again in Mor Dhona." (Granted, Nero might not even know, that's just one example.)

Like my faith in the Twelve, sometimes it's just more fun to put Occam aside if it's that personally satisfying to dream - especially if you can rock the boat with it, lol.

To quote The X-Files of all things:

DT: Mister Mulder, why are those like yourself <...> not entirely persuaded by all the evidence to the contrary?

FM: Because all the evidence to the contrary is not entirely persuasive.

I'm with you on Fordola, though. My joke was always, "There aren't many options. She's either the living metaphor of the reconciliation for all Ala Mhigo's various points of view, Redemption = Death, or she's just going to rejoin Gaius when he gets back." At the very least, there should be interesting avenues to explore philosophically.

**Mieck** · 07-18-2018 03:46 PM

I'm down with Fordola being more involved - I think I said something similar in the 4.3 spoilers thread.

I'm curious as to whether we're going to get a resolution of the Yuyuhase / Laurientis thread. The capture happened off screen, but surely they can't leave their comeuppance to be reported as well?

**Theodric** · 07-18-2018 03:49 PM

I can't shake the feeling that Gaius was actually meant to have been killed off for real, his death was just left vague as a stylistic choice. Though to be fair, his death was very reminiscent of Rufus' 'death' in FF7. Most people assumed he was dead as the scene ended when he was apparently caught up in an explosion...only for him to turn out to have survived when the canon material was expanded. This was, in no small part, due to his popularity.

So I find myself wondering: was Regula intended to play a bigger part in the story? For someone with such a memorable design he only showed up briefly in the MSQ's and then he ended up playing a major part in the Azys Lla side quests...going so far as to sacrifice himself and fight alongside the Scions and Warrior of Light. He also fully intended to return to Garlemald empty handed, deeming the devices in Azys Lla far too dangerous and volatile to take with him.

He was portrayed as honourable, willing to team up for the greater good and he had strong ties to the Emperor. Yet his strong ties were only touched upon in passing and then were never mentioned again.

Could he have been the original intended route for us to get to Garlemald? Only to be replaced with Gaius once it was decided that he would be making a return? I'm torn on his appearance, honestly. Gaius made for an interesting character. Yet he isn't likely to remain as he was back in 1.0 and 2.0.

Either way, I think 4.4 will likely give us a lot of information about the former Emperor of Garlemald, the current Emperor of Garlemald and also fill in the blanks in regards to Gaius van Baelsar. I also suspect we'll learn more about the Ascians as it seems like Elidibus isn't operating alone in the region.

As for Fordola, I do like the idea of her using her newfound powers to aid in Gaius' cause. She did seem to hold him in fairly high regard, after all. I don't think she'd be a good fit for the Scions in the long run due to the bad blood between them. I also suspect that she does not necessarily want to remain in Ala Mhigo and if granted freedom she would slip away elsewhere.

I think she'll be involved in 'outing' Zenos. Perhaps by sensing something amiss or having a vision if she catches a glance of him in his elezen form.

**ObsidianFire** · 07-18-2018 05:03 PM

Regulus didn't feel like anything more then Varis' "Yes man" until Zurven killed him. He's loyal to Varis' vision, but he wasn't stupid either. He didn't really stand outthroughout all of HW before The Warring Triad quests started, so I didn't feel all that bad that he was ditched as a character. He almost said more about Varis then he did about himself. Namely that Varis isn't stupid when it comes to stamping out corruption.

Giaus on the other hand... long before the game started he tried to conquer Erozea and probably would have taken it over if it wasn't for Midgarsormr's timely intervention. He's probably spent more time outside of Garlemald then in it by the time 1.0 starts. He's also more loyal to his own interpretation of Garlean ideals then the Garlean government's agendas. To the point that he all but commits treason trying to stop Metorfall. He then does commit treason by going AWOL with his Legion sometime around the Garlean civil war. Which is a lot more impressive given what SB tells us about how desertion is handled within Garlemald. Like, that could have (could still) spectacularly backfired on him. And that's all stuff that happens before 2.0 even starts...

2.0 kinda sets his character back a little, but his reaction to Lahabrea revealing why primal summoning is really happening is interesting enough to sell that he's not just interested in conquest and really does want to know how to keep the world from being destoryed. So is the fact that he all but tells the WoL to get rid of Ultima Weapon. It also sets up him as a potential foil for how Varis deals with Elidibus as Giaus puts more effort into trying to figure out what Lahabrea really wanted then Varis is currently doing with Elidibus.

I can see why they brought Giaus back, and not just because for better or worse they didn't show his death back in 2.0. It felt like his character arc was cut off at a weird point and they could have done more with him if they had wanted to. Given what they've managed to do with Yotsuyu and Fordola, I really want to see what they will do with him.

**Iscah** · 07-18-2018 06:50 PM

Patch 4.4 poster and screenshot (sourced from article here):

Due in mid-September

Story content will include:

MSQ: "Prelude in Violet"
Dungeons: "The Burn" (tentative) and "Saint Mocianne's Arboretum (Hard)"
The Four Lords: Suzaku (tentative)
Omega: Alphascape
Hildibrand
Doman Reconstruction continues
Eureka 'Part 3' (untitled for now)

**YianKutku** · 07-18-2018 07:11 PM

"The Burn" and "Suzaku" are just tentative names for now, probably because they're mostly just describing what goes on in those instances, and they haven't figured out a suitably poetic name for the actual duty location yet.

I do wonder what we'll be doing for Four Lords in 4.5, which should be the last major patch of 4.x, unless we go into 4.6 in all but name (eg "4.5671b-δ Third Strike Prime Edition Ultimate (With Knuckles) (Starring Dante From Devil May Cry)"). Tradition dictates Seiryuu, but it would be a bit of a letdown to go "well, we've sealed away the aramitama of the Auspices, Kouryuu is safely sealed away, good job" and end it there.

I'm also wondering why we're going back into Saint Mocianne's Arboretum. More seeds? Violet seeds, maybe?

Also, I note that we have no Beast tribes. Expected, but still mildly disappointing. I suppose we should look forward to the Allied Beast Tribe questline in 4.5.

**Iscah** · 07-18-2018 07:20 PM

3am half-asleep thoughts on the poster: "Why's the dead emperor on the poster? And of course that's actually Elidibus not Zenos! OMG he's going to convince Varis to primalify the emperor!!!"

Actual rational thoughts: I think we'll be getting some flashbacks that go into more depth about Garlean history/politics along with Gaius's motivations. That would explain having all the (known) royal family on the poster, plus having Zenos front-and-centre seems more appropriate for actual Zenos than scheming-in-the-background Elidibus.

As I mentioned in the other topic, the one thing that really stands out to me is Gaius's "protector" stance and his hand on Alphinaud's shoulder. For a single image it's such an instant suggestion of a bond even if you didn't know the characters - and more than I was expecting to see at this point. It will be interesting to see how their relationship forms.

I like how Gaius's mask is visible in the lower corner. Given the 'collection of character faces' across the rest of the poster, it's almost like another one. "Gaius the legatus" and "Gaius the shadowhunter" as separate people.

Gaius's other companions didn't get included - are they not important enough, or was it just getting a bit crowded?

And one more thing - maybe it's a trick of the light, as they seem to be using red tones in the shadows (eg. around Gaius's face) but it looks like Alphinaud has blood on his ear. That's going to bug me all the way until I get to the end of playing it, even if it turns out to be nothing.

Originally Posted by Cilia

Ehem. I'm not sure what's going on and the link in the other thread is broken, so for now I'm just gonna say I'll be disappointed if Fordola doesn't factor in. Not-Gaius was an important figure in her life and I don't feel like her character arc was conclusively resolved...

Oops, fixed that link (it's the same one I posted above). Attention fail; opened the page to get the URL, got distracted looking at the image again and completely forgot to actually copy the link so I just pasted in whatever was previously in my clipboard and didn't even notice... late night posting is bad.

I seem to have completely forgotten Fordola having anything to do with Gaius. I may need to get my second character through Stormblood MSQ before this patch arrives.

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

it's not hard to write their way out of the truly established: they cut away mid-explosion - after he had survived several other explosions - while Nero was still in the building - and then Nero referred to his defeat, not his death, when we met again in Mor Dhona.

And of course that Gaius doesn't appear in the Palace of the Dead, even though Livia and Rhitahtyn do! So even if it's a retcon-relative-to-2.0 and they did write that scene intending it to be his death, it seems plausible that they changed their mind some time ago. Or possibly left it open deliberately from the start.

Alternately they only realised he "seemed not dead" due to fans asking about it, and decided to go with that....

Originally Posted by Mieck

I'm curious as to whether we're going to get a resolution of the Yuyuhase / Laurientis thread. The capture happened off screen, but surely they can't leave their comeuppance to be reported as well?

I went back through the "recruiting the Crystal Braves" quest just recently, and even knowing what happens next I felt like Laurentius was genuinely wanting to redeem himself at that point. (And instead we sent him into the worst possible group of people to help him do that.)

Yuyuhase, on the other hand, is awful from the start. Never stops mentioning that he's in it for the money.

Originally Posted by Theodric

I think she'll be involved in 'outing' Zenos. Perhaps by sensing something amiss or having a vision if she catches a glance of him in his elezen form.

I think so too. She's perfectly equipped to be able to recognise Zenos by his thoughts rather than his face - whether she's the first one to sense something amiss, or we call on her assistance to track him down.

Re. other characters to be brought back into the story, I'm still waiting for Estinien to come back. Was all that lurking around throughout Stormblood just so he could turn up to destroy the Eyes without it being his first appearance in the plot? I was waiting for a payoff where he met up with the group again, and never got it.

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