[4.5 Discussion] The Flames of war in 4.5

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Originally Posted by Mansion

I would actually not mind if 5.0 brought devastation on lands we have known, and that this NG+ feature would allow us to "jump back in time" to complete quests that would not be available anymore... It could bring strong immersion. But that would be colossal work.

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I agree that would be cool! But that's also kind of an entire expansion worth of content. I would not be opposed to another expansion set in the City-States that we have come to know and love, or even based around their devastation. I would actually love a City-State expansion where each of them have their own struggles to deal with. World of Warcraft did a similar idea with the Cataclysm expansion after all, and Yoshida himself is a big fan of that game and takes clear inspiration from it. That being said, that does not appear to be this expansion. Shadowbringers has already announced multiple new areas in foreign regions, so it's not like they're just adding new Shrouds or La Nosceas (I suppose that could be a twist but it's unlikely). While Square Enix has clearly been quite ambitious about these sorts of things in the past (Stormblood perhaps a little too so) the idea of trying to manage both crises at home and exploring/expanding new areas seems a little difficult to handle. Maybe if they had several more years and a truly titanic staff, but there comes a point to what they can realistically pull off. I still think it will be a dark moment for the Alliance, just not complete and total devastation of the areas we currently play and craft in.

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Originally Posted by Mysteltain

The closer we get to 4.5, the more I'm getting the impression that, in order to pull off a time-skip sort of scenario (as the Shadowbringer's trailer would imply), we'll complete Ghimlyt Dark and whatever else happens in 4.55, followed by "resetting" the timeline to just before the climax of 4.55 until Shadowbringers eventually drops. I'm not saying that this will be due to any sort of time traveling shenanigans, just your standard New-Game+ or postgame system from other games that let you continue exploring the world or playing the game after you've finished. The Witcher 3 comes to mind, as after the end of that game you're essentially dropped back in to the world just before all of the craziness of the final chapter happens. Same goes for the first two inFamous games, or really most open-world games with a NG+ or postgame feature.

This way, no matter what happens at the conclusion of Stormblood, we won't be locked out of certain areas or be prevented from doing certain quests or tasks based on the events of the story.

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Doubt so, as SE did made up a reason for us to freely walking around with a messed called 2.55 this one should not be too hard to get a reason without doing time skip. Just limit the damaged zones to the next expac and it's our job to stop it from engulf the entire world is good enough.

We know from Fanfest that 5.0 be set against a backdrop of the six nations we have allied moving against Garlemald proper. For one reason or another it seems probably pretty safe to say that the Garlean invasion fails for some reason, though it is anyone's guess what forces the Garleans back.

This knowledge suggests a few things.

Firstly, we probably won't see much impact on the existing zones from the Garlean attack. One way or another their attack probably fails.

Secondly, It seems unlikely we will be seeing a time skip as it is unlikely that the Allied nations take years before they move against Garlemald and we know from 4.4 they are of the mind that until the Ascians are removed peace with Garlemald is impossible. This is why I expect time travel. If we can spend ages wondering around lost in a past era and it will have no impact on how things progress back in Eorzea. If we have to have a time skip, that would ironically give us the time for one without impacting the flow of the war.

Thirdly, I expect that the time between 4.55 and the expansion will represent the time it takes to fully mobilise and organise and invasion into Garlemald's territories. As for Time Travel, if it does happen, I have a feeling that our Echo will allow us to transition between where the souls of our allies have been called to and our own bodies. After all our echo is tied to our souls and its the soul which is getting called.

If the Scion's souls are being called, they are being called somewhere. Maybe it is another shard. Maybe it is another time. Regardless that were is going to be important. I don't expect for the voice to be Calling them into the future even if that is where the voice comes from. Very little would be gained from calling Thancred and co to a point where it is already too late to stop things going wrong.

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Originally Posted by Belhi

If the Scion's souls are being called, they are being called somewhere. Maybe it is another shard. Maybe it is another time. Regardless that were is going to be important. I don't expect for the voice to be Calling them into the future even if that is where the voice comes from. Very little would be gained from calling Thancred and co to a point where it is already too late to stop things going wrong.

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Personally I think that they are being called to another shard, more specifically Arbert's shard. We already know that souls can travel between the shards, even if physical bodies are unable to. That particular shard is already implied to be plot important, since it is about to be destroyed by a flood of light and is only barely being kept alive by the efforts of Hydelyn herself. The fact that we have to become Warriors of Darkness (something Arbert personally tried to do) and that light themed enemies were shown in the trailer further reinforces this idea. Not to mention it means no time travel shenanigans, which can get very complicated very quickly. And that since that shard is a clear vision of a possible 'future' for Eorzea, we could 'change the past' by not making the same mistakes he did, and instead averting the coming doom. That's my guess anyway.

Either way I really don't foresee Eorzea getting devastated or losing access to the current game world. Side Activities are still structured around being able to do them whenever and wherever you want, and the new crafter storylines being about rebuilding Ishgard kind of derails the concept that the whole world is going to blow up.

I'm frankly disappointed in that the Scions that are out of commission will be able to recover so quickly. I was suspecting it to be an early 5.0 plot point of their recovery

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Originally Posted by Dreggit

I'm frankly disappointed in that the Scions that are out of commission will be able to recover so quickly. I was suspecting it to be an early 5.0 plot point of their recovery

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Who said that won't be the case? I honestly don't think that they're coming back to normal this patch. In fact, the trailer seemed to imply that Lyse is going to get pulled away too.

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Originally Posted by CaesarCV

Who said that won't be the case? I honestly don't think that they're coming back to normal this patch. In fact, the trailer seemed to imply that Lyse is going to get pulled away too.

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I could have sworn one or two of them are features in the trailer. Hmm /shrug. I'm just hopeful that it doesn't resolve easily with the build up that it has

Yoshida had an interview a few days ago where he said the Scions being called will be gone into more in Part 2 of 4.5. Thancred was certainly in the trailer and acting very much like himself (as opposed to being possessed), so we know he at least gets better. Given that the Scions as a whole were put up as the faces of the Trust system, they probably will be back by the end of 4.5.