Which is weird, because Ifrit tried to temper us, and that didn't happen to him. His was a big wave of fire, and Garuda's was much more of a targeted tornado on us, so perhaps it has something to do with that?
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Ifrit was also (at the time) weaker than Garuda. Not just speaking of levels, but there were less crystals used to summon him so he was literally weaker than her since she had more for hers. As well we ultimately didn't fully beat Garuda and had to run when she forced the other two primals to be summoned so if the Echo hadn't done that we wouldn't have the Wind Crystal.
Alternatively, it was her increased power that forced the crystal out of her. Ifrit was weaker, and so was the force that he exerted in attempting to Temper us. Garuda, being much greater in strength at the time, exerted much more power in her attempt, and that attempt striking against the shield of the Echo rebounded and forced the crystal out of her. At least that sounds plausible to me.
I'd like to think so; Ifrit's wave was for a group of people, so there was probably less effort put into it, leading to a weaker reaction. Since Garuda specifically targeted you, she was likely putting more effort into it, leading to the feedback phenomenon from the Echo.
We know it takes some amount of effort to temper mortals based on the Company of Heroes' strategy for besting Primals, so it's not out of the question.
I don't think it was feedback, as such. We're told at the beginning of the game that our deeds will cause the Crystals to reveal themselves to us; I posit that's what happens here. Our standing against Garuda calls the Crystal of Wind to us.
Not if you watch the cut scene it immediately happens after she tries to temper us the blessing protects us then as soon as it goes away the blessing shoots out at her and hits her dead in the chest. I don't know if I would call it feed back but it definitely is something that hits and hurts her to pull it out.
Yeah, I look at it more as strike->counterstrike. I don't think the strength of the return stroke (pulling out the Crystal of Wind) had anything to do with the strength of the initial attack (attempted tempering). As for why throwing off Garuda's tempering attempt drew out the Crystal of Wind when it didn't draw out Ifrit's Crystal of Fire, I have two things probably contributing to it. First, if we really must prove ourselves to the Crystals as Hydaelyn tells us, throwing off Ifrit's tempering proves nothing of ourselves. Defeating him shows that we have the strength and will to face the Primal threat. Against Garuda, the events are in the opposite order. We defeat her first, but it's hard to draw a Crystal out of a Primal actively using some of its aether (though I sincerely doubt either Primal had truly tapped into the aether of the Crystals of Light). Having already proven ourselves, when the power of the other Crystals shine through the tempering effort, the Crystal of Wind is drawn out.
Edit: Then I realized I said I had two reasons and only put one. Second reason: We're just plain stronger. Granted, so is Garuda, but when it comes to beckoning to Crystals of Light, heart matters as much as strength.
Hmm wish it gave more detail on what exactly happened but ah well. Though the mother crystal did say that her blessing would serve as a sword and shield. Now I wonder if it was unconscious on our part for doing it or concious . Or if it was hydalen who made it so....
I forget, are we still carrying them around now, after the fact? If so, I wonder if Middy will interact with them.
Middy did technically interact with them I think we he messed with our contract, but if we do still have the crystals maybe he'll start chucking them at us if we still silently nod our head at everything. Useless rocks right now afterall.
Also I'm just gonna call that we have a keyblade that was used to take Garuda's crystal but we still need to get a sense of our (character's) own self before it will actually manifest. Totally calling it.