The key to Azys Lla

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Originally Posted by Elladie

But we weren't immediately paralysed by an Ascian. We stood there and did nothing while she talked at us. If she had taken us by surprise and wrapped us in darkness before we could react, fine. But that isn't what happens. If we'd attempted to stop her and failed, fine. But we literally DO NOTHING. The only reason for us doing nothing is the story - Thordan needs the key - which is poor and lazy writing.

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Or animation budget limitations.

Tbf the whole Sea of Clouds section was handled poorly.

Bismarck shouldn't have shown up but be hinted at when we 1st go there. He was a primal and we straight up put killing it on hold(heck completely forget about it for ages) despite full knowing the dangers in doing so. Heck our response to Ravana was way way faster.

Why was the key immune to Bismarck's aether consumption (whole islands go but small key perfectly fine so I just chalk it up to allagen shenanigans).

The empire just goes from 1 batch of cannon fire ik protecting Varic would take precedence but still you'd return fire or at least hunt down Bismarck.

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Originally Posted by Crushnight

Why was the key immune to Bismarck's aether consumption (whole islands go but small key perfectly fine so I just chalk it up to allagen shenanigans).

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This is probably not the right explanation, but I always assumed that the floating islands themselves were mostly made of crystal, which by its nature is faster to digest into aether by primals than other solid items.

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Originally Posted by Crushnight

Tbf the whole Sea of Clouds section was handled poorly.

Bismarck shouldn't have shown up but be hinted at when we 1st go there. He was a primal and we straight up put killing it on hold(heck completely forget about it for ages) despite full knowing the dangers in doing so. Heck our response to Ravana was way way faster.

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If you do the Sea of Clouds part after the first Western Highlands section, then you're immediately getting dragged from that into Alphinaud and Tataru's trial, and from there straight into rescuing Raubahn, and then into tracking down Ysayle and heading off to find Hraesvelgr (which directly includes facing Ravana). You never really have time to go back to Bismark this way, so it's somewhat more understandable.

Of course, if you do the Sea of Clouds part first, then it's a bit looser. It could sorta be justified in Bismark being in a far less populated area than most other primals we've faced up to that point (all of whom were within spitting distance of a major Eorzean city), or in just not having the means to fight Bismark available (for Ravana, we pretty much just walk in and pick a fight).

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Originally Posted by TheMightyMollusk

If you do the Sea of Clouds part after the first Western Highlands section, then you're immediately getting dragged from that into Alphinaud and Tataru's trial, and from there straight into rescuing Raubahn, and then into tracking down Ysayle and heading off to find Hraesvelgr (which directly includes facing Ravana). You never really have time to go back to Bismark this way, so it's somewhat more understandable.

Of course, if you do the Sea of Clouds part first, then it's a bit looser. It could sorta be justified in Bismark being in a far less populated area than most other primals we've faced up to that point (all of whom were within spitting distance of a major Eorzean city), or in just not having the means to fight Bismark available (for Ravana, we pretty much just walk in and pick a fight).

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We literally had no means of catching Bismarck until we befriended a Vanu Vanu tribe and got their permission to use an island as bait because unlike the other primals, he doesn't stay in any one location and just flies around and periodically eats an island.

That would be the "not having the means to fight Bismark" part, yes. We also probably wouldn't have enough pull with Ishgard to borrow the dragonkillers used in the fight before taking out Nidhogg at the Aery; even if we did, they'd be disinclined to loan out weapons if they still expected a full-on Dravanian offensive.

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Originally Posted by TheMightyMollusk

That would be the "not having the means to fight Bismark" part, yes. We also probably wouldn't have enough pull with Ishgard to borrow the dragonkillers used in the fight before taking out Nidhogg at the Aery; even if we did, they'd be disinclined to loan out weapons if they still expected a full-on Dravanian offensive.

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Yep, exactly. Basically, Bismark was just a unique case of a primal being untouchable at its initial appearance due to both behavior and resources. We wouldn't have been able to reach Garuda or Leviathan either if we didn't have the resources on hand, and even then it was hard pulling from allies for one reason or another (the corrupted crystals for Garuda's first appearance, and having a big enough boat to hold all the crystals for Leviathan).