Patch 3.4 - Soul Surrender

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Originally Posted by Kallera

I think there is more to the tale(at least I hope there is), but not that Hydelyn is evil so much as misguided, reality apparently broke from her actions. Even if its the world that we are living in, reality's still busted, can't say "oh we'll leave it like this, its fine" Something is clearly missing from this between the fading hydelyn and Derplander's presence, and "Ascian lies, everything's ok." doesn't quite match it up, imo.

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I agree that misguided is probably the best - and most interesting - bet rather than DARK EVIL LIGHT GOOD. As I've said in the past, I think the FFXI Altana in WotG and Etro in XIII are both very good examples of what might be going on here. Altana loved Her children so much that She almost destroyed spacetime and the multiverse in order to protect them . So She does wrong in Her desperate attempt to not do wrong and give the best life She can to Her children.

Well-intentioned Gods causing more problems is a trope used repeatedly in this series.

I would be very surprised if the story ended up as black and white as some people would like to believe.
Then again, I was completely wrong about how simple the solution to Estinihogg was so I could futilely be hoping that SE is catering to more of an adult fanbase than the shounen crowd.

And, like Theo, I'm really excited to have some new meta material to speculate on.

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Originally Posted by Nalien

I just noticed...

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/a...3&d=1472272003

That Ixali has two pistols... Am I interested that they have that kind of technology? Am I perhaps speculating Sky Pirate Ixali? Nope, I'm annoyed I don't get to dual wield pistols... Excuse me while I add to my Phoenix Wright style freak out...

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I am more amused by the fact that it seems to be "flying" by hanging on a hot air balloon.

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Originally Posted by rjspencer4

Looks like the Demon is finally stepping out of the Book.

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That sounds like weird euphemism x)

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Originally Posted by Nalien

I just noticed...

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/a...3&d=1472272003

That Ixali has two pistols... Am I interested that they have that kind of technology? Am I perhaps speculating Sky Pirate Ixali? Nope, I'm annoyed I don't get to dual wield pistols... Excuse me while I add to my Phoenix Wright style freak out...

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And i give you that:
http://img4.hostingpics.net/pics/560...2016162821.png

next job dual pistol ?

And does that mean limsa have some kind of relation with thoose Ixals ?

It's time to get our Healer gunner :)

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Originally Posted by Fenral

But why did Zodiark want power? Power is something that only exists in comparison to the present self, so something would need to have happened for Zodiark to feel "weak." If Zodiark was always powerful, he wouldn't have needed to seek it.

There has to be something there that we haven't been told.

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There are a lot of things we are not being told. Mostly because the game doesn't let us ask the questions. I'm still waiting to hear from Midgardsormr why he felt the need to defend Lake Silvertear from Garlemald (despite apparently not having any problem with the Allagan and Mhachi capitals being right next to it). The stuff with the Rejoining has just been more on the pile.

Maybe we'll see a Musketeer class to fill the void of a mobile ranged job? Since Yoshida stated in one his interviews that the clues in 2015's Rising event were "actually created as a form of scripted dialogue and it's not meant to be the final confirmation".

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Originally Posted by Ceasaria

It's time to get our Healer gunner :)

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Chemist that gives literal shots?

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Originally Posted by Jojozan

Chemist that gives literal shots?

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FFT Chemist! It would be nice to see it!

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Originally Posted by Jojozan

Chemist that gives literal shots?

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I'd nominate a giant syringe as the weapon of choice instead, and -- to avoid confusion with Alchemist -- call it Medic.

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Originally Posted by Alice_89th

I am more amused by the fact that it seems to be "flying" by hanging on a hot air balloon.

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Hopefully this plays during the battle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL5Q4GybKWc

I want Mystic Knights, spellblades are woefully underutilized in a lot of games.

Damn SE, this has been a loooong time coming;
http://img.finalfantasyxiv.com/t/4b6...89824254_0.png
How old is the concept art we have of this? Four, five years? Anyone even have that still?

Also;

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Forced to flee the Black Shroud for fear of the elementals and their boundless wrath, the Ixal settled the windswept mountains of Xelphatol more than five hundred and fifty years ago. Since that day, they have labored tirelessly to eke out an existence in these harsh and unforgiving lands, slowly but surely expanding their dominion over the entire region. Yet the Ixal have never forgotten that which was once denied them, and so they seek divine intervention once more─to summon Garuda and beseech her strike down their enemies. In the shadow of the First Mountain, the ritual nears completion, as a brave hero once more races against time to deliver the realm from destruction.

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Sounds like round... Four? With Garuda is coming up... Oh lord, is she going to be the dungeon boss? That'd be hilarious, and very fitting with the recent slew of dungeon bosses throwing back to past titles... Garuda from FFIII, bring your Dragoons for Jump!

Needless to say, Xelphatol sounds like MSQ material, while Gumball is sounding more and more like a random jaunt for random reasons, just like I suspected... In other news;

http://img.finalfantasyxiv.com/t/fe9...891a5584_0.png

The Mask is coming to town! Is that Idyllshire, or some random Hinterlands ruins... Might be Thanalan ruins instead though, I guess we are expecting a showdown with Derplander in Thanalan... Either way, guess Yda has a good chance of returning, if the Masks are entering the MSQ proper...

Ruins look remarkably similar to the ones outside Qarn (thank you Anima quest), although I can't find the exact spot... Could always be opening up a new part of Thanalan, or similar assets were reused elsewhere entirely, but for now... That's making me think the Corpse Brigade is about to get some relevance... That gate at the bottom of their lair has been taunting me long enough...

Please, I want "Minstrel's ballad : Garuda (savage)" !!!

The description for Xelphatol dungeon is way more detailed in english than in french (we don't even know it's Garuda).
For Gubal, it's Midnight Dew who will send us here to search a book on behalf someone mysterious (I bet it's Rowena).

The title of the 3.4 for us, it's "Les gardiens des âmes" --> "The guardians of souls"

MAIN SCENARIO

Looking like Ilberd isn't a bad guess for who was approaching that Masks uniform suspiciously. He could be planning to hijack the movement. Though, while that may be the popular theory, it could just as easily be a reformation of the Ala Mhigan Kingsguard (aka Corpse Brigade). If I recall correctly, the second-in-command looks quite similar. Either way, the Masks seem suspiciously well-funded / official, so I'm looking forward to that.

And for translations, we have Soul Surrender, Soul Inheritors, Soul Guardians, and Soul Legacy...

XELPHATOL

Something seems off about that blurb. I have 550 years ago as when the Ixal settled the Black Shroud from the newspaper release in 2012.

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Originally Posted by 'Neath Garuda's Shadow

Some 550 years in the past, the Ixal chose the forest of Tinolqa* as their homeland. The stories say they built their nests in its trees, and, spreading their wings to the wind, were able to soar among the branches. Even in this ancient time, the Ixal, feeling kinship with the creatures of the sky, revered Garuda as the Empress of Birds. During this age of prosperity the feathered beastmen flourished and multiplied, overflowing the borders of their territory. Their unchecked growth, however, angered the elementals, and the Ixal were cast out of the forest. The exiled birdmen, in search of a new place to roost, migrated en masse to the great canyon known as Xelphatol.

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Did they settle, overpopulate, and get expelled from the Twelveswood all in one generation...? I'd assume 1.0 has the error, that they lived in the Shroud until 550 years ago. It gives them time for Natalan to warp their physiology, and it'd time their expulsion with roughly the first contact between Gelmorra and the Elementals, which you'd have to imagine would really annoy the Ixal; Gridania emerges just as they exit? That's bound to create some bad blood.

Looks like the Warrior of Darkness will be in on this, as well, considering we keep meeting at primals.

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Originally Posted by Ceasaria

The description for Xelphatol dungeon is way more detailed in english than in french (we don't even know it's Garuda).
For Gubal, it's Midnight Dew who will send us here to search a book on behalf someone mysterious (I bet it's Rowena).

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For further comparison, the German text just talks about "the WoL learning of a planed primal summoning". However, it also mentions "the WoD seeming to be somehow involved as well"

So either Garuda is going to be summoned again or the Warrior of Light manages to prevent it from happening in the nick of time? Either way the implications are interesting and depending on how it plays out it may add some weight to the brute force approach that Garlemald takes where Primals/Eikons are concerned. With that said I do wonder who or what ends up tipping us off to the fact that something is amiss in such an obscure region.

As far as the mysterious masked figure goes...the mask itself looks fairly sinister and the Ala Mhigan Resistance seems like a cause that could quite easily be hijacked by someone like Ilberd seeking to cause trouble. We've already seen a fair few examples of Ala Mhigans justifying actual and attempted atrocities in the name of their homeland. The skin tone, too, matches Ilberd's own.

After what Ilberd has done I doubt that he will be the 'Ysayle' of 3.4, 3.5 and 4.0. I'll be very disappointed if that turns out to be the case as he's in a prime position to be a great antagonist that we can love to hate. He's also someone who could easily twist the Ala Mhigan Resistance into something so horrid that we end up allying with some of the more moderate factions/individuals within Garlemald's territory.

I also can't help but note that Elidibus specifically states to the Warrior of Darkness that the Garleans will 'play their part'. I suspect that part of his plan may very well include trying to bait Garlemald and Eorzea into a fresh escalating conflict - and Ala Mhigo seems like a pretty logical place for that to happen.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens in 3.4 and beyond!

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

Did they settle, overpopulate, and get expelled from the Twelveswood all in one generation...?

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Possibly... To overpopulate they don't necessarily need to reproduce, they could have just started migrating en mass following the discovery of "Tinolqa" after deciding its their new homeland... They have to have come from somewhere before hand, after all, we know quite a bit about their origins at this point, although there are still some pretty big gaps... Wonder if Azys Lla will come up at all in this encounter, now that I think about it... It's also possible that the Allagan made them to reproduce and develop fairly quickly, given that would only be a benefit to their intended purpose, so that could also account for a rapid overpopulation problem, assuming such a trait hadn't degraded at that point...

Could also just have been an interpretation of events... I guess the Seedseers might know the Elementals motives, but rather than being run out for overpopulating and expanding, the Elementals could have just recognized them as Allagan and slapped a big fat "Nope!" on them for it... People see a new tribe moving in and growing, Elementals push back for reasons, people assume it's because they've done something wrong... Would actually be great if this was all just a misunderstanding... After Ul'dah, Gridania (and Limsa) really need more flaws to be highlighted... Having the Elementals start a conflict with the Ixali, just because the Elementals are racist against Allagan constructs, while Gridania justifies it with "They were expanding too quickly and damaging the forest!", when they may not have been the case... That could be fun... Is it bad that I want Hydrus to actually have a point when he calls us savages? I don't want Eorzea to be as idyllic as it perhaps currently is...

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Originally Posted by Nalien

Wonder if Azys Lla will come up at all in this encounter, now that I think about it...

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I'm hoping that they tie it back to Garuda's origin story, if so.

The Empress of Birds who defeated the Lord of Snakes: Ixal vs. Lamia during the exodus from "Ayatlan"?

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

I'm hoping that they tie it back to Garuda's origin story, if so.

The Empress of Birds who defeated the Lord of Snakes: Ixal vs. Lamia during the exodus from "Ayatlan"?

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I still really want this to tie back to Midgardsormr... I'm so bothered by his complete lack of presence during the Allagan reign... They built an end-of-the-world tower next to his lake for crying out loud! Never mind what they did to his kids... Gaius was just happily flying over the lake and he gets is ass handed to him for it... I don't get that wyrms motives...

Having the Lord of Snakes instead be the Lord of Wyrms, though... Well... That kills two birds with one stone... The Allag would have done battle with him, presumably in much the same way Gaius did, and presumably because he attempted to deny them flight... Those ships would have been full of Iksalion for maintenance... The battle is won, though many ships fell, but "Garuda" claims her prize and harvests Midgardsormrs corpse and that unlocked Neurolink development for the Allag... That blob of flesh in the Neurolink Nacelle? Cloned Midgardsormr... That sends out the signal that compels dragons to obey the Allag via Neurolinks... That's three birds with one stone! I'm offending some many Ixali right now...

That's almost certainly absurd though... More likely a Ixal vs. Lamia style thing, but again I'd bring it back to the Allag... Perhaps because Garuda is much more human than she should otherwise be... Having the Empress of Birds be the mother of the Ixali, as in the one who developed the Iksalion (and Mirrorknight/etc.) project, while the Lord of Snakes developed the Lamia (and Shabti/etc.) project... That sounds fun to me... A battle over project funding, to the death! The titles, just office slurs! The threat? Grounding their research!

I can't help but wonder if the original Garuda feasted upon the aether of a Primal? I am reminded of Unukalhai's story of heroes being corrupt as they used up the energy of "gods" and eventually craved and consumed aether.

As it stands she's the only Primal who forced other beast tribes to summon their respective primals in order to consume them. I also figure that the Ixali attempting to summon Garuda in Xelphaltol will prompt the Garleans to action since it borders Gyr Abania - a direct threat to them. Would be interesting if Ixals have summoned Garuda to deal with the Garleans near their border rather than Gridania for the time being.

Based on what little we see, the person does look like the Highlander face model of Ilberd, even the tanned skin looks similar.

I am interested to know what exactly is going on in Ala Mhigo now that Gaius and his crew are no longer there. Is there a new Van ruling, for example.

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Originally Posted by myahele

I am interested to know what exactly is going on in Ala Mhigo now that Gaius and his crew are no longer there. Is there a new Van ruling, for example.

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Unless they decide to scrap the whole "#th Legate = Final Fantasy # references!" thing, I really hope the XIIth Legate has taken over charge of Ala Mhigo... XII style antagonists? Villains that might actually have some depth?! Sign. Me. Up.

I'm ready for Ala Mhigo. It's time to kick some Garelan butt.

Honestly I'd like to see more Cid's and Lucia's than just straight up doom music background, fire shots to kill beast tribe standing near main character and or dragon kick to their face and some sort of sephiroth like quote involving ridding the planet of some sort of cancer and ill be back, warrior of light, after ganking this important item/friend from you and somehow managing to escape(again)

Looking at the dungeon previews and I actually laughed, "Garuda!? Again!?" The ixali just won't stay down.

So I guess the new story will have us trying to stop Garuda's summoning and fail at that (again, for billion times), but WoD crew will just jump in and cage her, after that we'll face them maybe as trial or instanced battle.

A little disappointed we're not going to Xelphatol for some progress to Ala Mhigo. 3.5 maybe

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Originally Posted by RobinMalvin

So I guess the new story will have us trying to stop Garuda's summoning and fail at that (again, for billion times), but WoD crew will just jump in and cage her, after that we'll face them maybe as trial or instanced battle.

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We'll defeat Garuda in the dungeon, then she'll suddenly reappear and cast Aerial Blast and knock us down. Then the Warriors of Darkness will show up and laugh at us like we're eating salad with a dessert fork, then she'll try and Aerial Blast the WoD and the Roe Pld will block it with the power of his incredibly manly beard, then the Derplander will smash her to the ground with his axe, and the Lalafell Whm will then beat Garuda to the death with her staff while Alphinaud and the WoL stare in horror at the brutality they are witnessing.

I'm hoping we don't fight Garuda yet again.
Maybe we'll actually stop the summoning or come just in time to see the WoD group killing her like with Ravana.

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Originally Posted by ADVSS

Honestly I'd like to see more Cid's and Lucia's than just straight up doom music background, fire shots to kill beast tribe standing near main character and or dragon kick to their face and some sort of sephiroth like quote involving ridding the planet of some sort of cancer and ill be back, warrior of light, after ganking this important item/friend from you and somehow managing to escape(again)

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Eh, I think we need more Garleans like Drace, General Leo and Gabranth. We don't need more defectors - we need Garleans who are loyal to their homeland and people whilst still being fairly sympathetic. Neither Cid or Lucia give much insight into their homeland or former culture anyway.

As I've said in the past, though, 3.0 was a huge improvement over 2.0 so hopefully 4.0 will be an even bigger improvement and will actually start showing us more depth where the antagonists are concerned. Perhaps 3.4 will be the start of that - especially since we're due some insight into what, exactly, Elidibus, the WoD and the Garleans are doing.

FF7 and FF12 were brilliant in that regard since a lot of scenes gave insight into what the antagonists were doing, planning, made them seem competent and even added depth and reasons to sympathise with them at times. In 3.0 I feel that it was a missed opportunity not to flesh out the likes of Thordan and Varis much more - both had very little screen-time despite being major players in the overall story.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

Eh, I think we need more Garleans like Drace, General Leo and Gabranth. We don't need more defectors - we need Garleans who are loyal to their homeland and people whilst still being fairly sympathetic. Neither Cid or Lucia give much insight into their homeland or former culture anyway..

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<3 General Leo R.I.P. enjoyed all 10 seconds of playing you as a character T_T

From the depths of Hell to this forum once more...

I killed the time playing God Eater: Resurrection and God Eater 2: Rage Burst. And now nobody's going to talk to me because I got banished... and senpai will never notice me... ah well.

Anyway, guess I was wrong about Gubal being the "patch" dungeon, but that's what I get for relying on intuition instead of evidence.

Seems all we're getting before patch day (unless a trailer comes out) is a couple images - one with a "Mask" and the other the already-seen pic of the WoDs squaring off against us in a ring of fire. And vagueness.

Not gonna comment on the Garleans because it's been beat to death already.

It's possible that even if Gubal isn't related to the MSQ's it'll be relevant to Idyllshire's growth...much in the same way that the arboretum was. The place has been steadily built up over the course of the expansion and it seems like it's very close to completion. Presumably once Alexander is dealt with the general region will be much safer as well in the aftermath.

Though I do wonder if Ishgard will ever be repaired or if it'll simply be stuck in the past.

I hope the battle against the WoD plays out like the Grand Melee. That's the one instance I wish we could replay...

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Originally Posted by Theodric

Though I do wonder if Ishgard will ever be repaired or if it'll simply be stuck in the past.

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There are NPCs still worrying about the next raid in Ishgard... Apparently news of the wars conclusion hasn't spread that well...

I wonder why, actually... I mean, I get that a restoration project like Idyllshire is problematic, since we all see that as it is, someone doing 3.0 for the first time wont arrive at the same place we did, but for Idyllshire that's fine... For Ishgard, it would be quite odd for someone to walk through those gates for the first time, to find a city unharmed, with friendly dragons kicking about, and NPCs celebrating the end of the war... But then... Places like Bahrr Lehs exist... I fly past it and there are Ishgardians dancing for dragons, new players fly past, and it's still a ruin... Shouldn't something similar be possible for Ishgard?

Yeah it's strange to me that they don't use phasing for stuff like Ishgard. It'd even work for Idyllshire/Revenant's Toll.

The reason why Bahrr Lehs (and Alexander!) can do changes per stage is that all of the collision data is still set. So even if you and a new player were in Bahrr Lehs and tried to run into the middle you would still be stopped by something, but that something is different on both of your screens. The fountain for you and...I think a pile of dead trees for them?

So why can't Idyllshire do that? Because they've added land, so if they did phasing either they'd have to split up new players and old players (which they've stated they don't want to do) or have new players come in and wonder why people are standing on air.

Ishgard would be somewhat easier to deal with, because most of the rubble, while it has collision data, could have that removed and the invisible walls brought in so you could no longer stand on ruined edges...but then every player would know Ishgard would be fixed, so it couldn't be a surprise if they wanted it to be.

So Xelphatol will be a MSQ dungeon after all, well I was terrible wrong.

I guess Sorh Kai was too obious to keep it hided.

It does appear that the WoDs will appear in Xelphaltol if the background is an indicator:

http://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-cont...09/FFXIV-3.jpg

Unless it's Natalan or Howling Eye area.

I do hope that the rest of the WoDs will have dialogue. They don't need to have VA, simple text dialogue will be nice. Rather than the looking at each other while grinning. I their personalities/ character will play show.

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Originally Posted by myahele

It does appear that the WoDs will appear in Xelphaltol if the background is an indicator:

http://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-cont...09/FFXIV-3.jpg

Unless it's Natalan or Howling Eye area.

I do hope that the rest of the WoDs will have dialogue. They don't need to have VA, simple text dialogue will be nice. Rather than the looking at each other while grinning. I their personalities/ character will play show.

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Where did you found that?!

Also yes, thats indeed Xelphatol. I can see the Ixal houses behind the Miqo'te.

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Originally Posted by myahele

It does appear that the WoDs will appear in Xelphaltol if the background is an indicator:

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Definitely Xelphatol, the background is waaaay too similar to the preview on the lodestone.

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Originally Posted by myahele

Unless it's Natalan or Howling Eye area.

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As of 1.0, the Howling Eye was in Xelphatol (and the Bowl of Embers was technically in Paglth'an). Maybe things haven't changed, after all, and the map just labels things weird sometimes (such as how the World of Darkness is mapped as Mor Dhona and not, like, the void).

I'm really looking forward to the Warring Traid stuff, though. Ever since van Hydrus whipped out that magitek-generated ceruleum tiger I've been curious how far the Kekfa parallels will go. Imagine if the power [E/Li'lidibus] was directing him towards led to usurping some pretty strong Allagan mojo and turning them on Varis? Best case, the Azys Lla initiative has to fall back behind Ala Mhigan lines, worst case they're already out another emperor.

Still, that's a bit further than a subtle homage... <shifty eyes>
Plus I was hoping Baelsar might put the petty and short-sighted of Garlemald in their place, eventually...