Revelations from Patch 6.3: Gods Revel, Lands Tremble

It's your regular new-patch reflections thread!

As always, please divide your notes by quest group and hide it under spoiler tags:

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Just finished MSQ.

So Golbez is in Zodiark's prison crater, implying that he is somehow Zodiark's fragment here...? And an end to life on the planet (the Thirteenth or in general) would free him from needing to exist to protect them.

The boss battles felt a bit underwhelming compared to the previous two archfiends. Cagnazzo in particular felt bit disjointed and didn't fit the music well, where the Scarmiglione fight just seems to perfectly match the hectic-ness of that music.

It's nice to see Zero opening up, and I was half-expecting they might have subverted Rubicante's death and have him recover as an ally – though that would probably undermine Zero's story arc a bit too much.

Just finished MSQ too.

I'm not sure if Golbez is a piece Zodiark, given that the camera pans down deeper into the pit at the end of the scene. That gave me the impression he plans to do something with Zodiark's thirteenth piece instead.

I can't believe I didn't anticipate him being on the moon, given the moon's importance to FF4 and Yoshi-P saying a few months ago that the moons in the shards would come up at some point.

Zero fighting as a GLD/PLD in her flashback makes me further convinced that she's supposed to be our Cecil equivalent for this Golbez arc.

Oh, writing this as a reminder for myself: I need to go back and see if Drusilla has any dialogue about the dungeon.

Myths of the Realm has just been giving me lorebomb after lorebomb.

For starters, it confirms (or rather, theorizes but we know that scholar NPCs theorizing means basically confirming) that the Twelve are based on Venat's friends much like the Watcher is. They're each tasked with a purprose to inspire humanity, and not only are they inspiring them but humanity shapes them in turn, with Dalamud the hound being born AFTER it entered the collective unconscio-... JUUUUUUUUNG! *shakes fist*

Anyway, I like that the gods have been more upfront about them wanting/needing to fight us for reasons all of their own. And their changes in personality/appearance seem primal-like, and it also raises a whole HOST of questions which I'll probably write down as I gather my thoughts. Like, I assumed the marks of the Twelve were man-made, but it seems they're deifacted and placed there by the gods themselves, and at times they feel so... random... Rhalgr's is glorified, there's an entire statue behind and I could've sworn the Ala Mhigans made it... but then the ones in the Shroud barely get a mention from Gridanians, and from their placement I believed them Amdapori. Heck, the buildings that appear in Althyk's fight also look Amdapori which just further confuses me. So, are their stones invulnerable? Do the Twelve move them around if they end up in an unfortunate place post-Calamities?

And why does The Watcher not have updated dialogue after this?!

Great patch.

MSQ

Some interesting developments.

I don't think that Golbez has a connection to Zodiark. As per the Lore Q+A last March, all fragments of Zodiark have been permanently destroyed. It's not really surprising that the moon on the Thirteenth looks identical to that on the Source, given that they are parallel versions of each other.

Perhaps given that Zodiark was at the epicenter of the Sundering, the moon may be the point at which the veil between shards is its weakest.

As usual, there were what looks like a few job-specific references to Reaper. All three all seem to be within cutscenes, however, so you should be able to review them at your leisure.

The 'Forum Messorum' (Lat. Messor = Reaper) in Lapis Manalis had a few interesting lore drops.

Dollmaster's Memorandum
Maintenance of the Galateae must be handled with the utmost of care. The delicate art of their making has long since been lost, making repairs difficult, and reproduction all but impossible. The knowledge was kept secret, passed down to those who would inherit the position of master dollmaker. That is, until one man chose to break with tradition. He claimed to be leaving on a journey in pursuit of an 'unparalleled beauty,' but we never learned the truth of it. The only thing that is certain, is the art of our forebears left with him.

(More Garlean puppetmaster references? Galatea is a Pygmalion reference, so likely a 'doll given life'.

Faded Records
Emperor Solus is convinced this magitek will spark a revolution in warfare as we know it. And as he devotes further resources to its advancement, our arts continue to fall out of favour. I fear the age of the reaper has come to an end. After all, our forebears have sacrificed for the good of the Empire. The blood spilled, the lives lost. They would dare deem us relics of a bygone era. Indeed, they believe the future lies with their 'reaper' battle armor.

(Maggie is best Reaper.)

Trainee Warning Notice
Aspirants are reminded not to approach the figures of the Pale Harvest without express permission. They should be treated with no less reverence than Galatea herself, and are hardly less dangerous. Only those who have successfully forged a pact with an avatar may spar with the Galatea Parva. They will serve to refine one's use of invocations and tactical coordination. The Galatea Magna, however, is reserved for those who are able to serve as host to their avatar. This perilous manikin is designed to push a reaper to their limits, if not beyond them. Learn to walk in death's shadow, and you shall know no fear.

(The Galataea Magna is the second boss that you fight in Lapis Manalis.)

Rubicante was great, and they did justice to his character. I can't wait to see what the Hexeyes questline adds to his backstory. I can't help but wonder if his soundtrack was a reference to the fan-made 'FF4, Appearance of Golbez's Four Lords of the Elements' (I think the corresponding orchestrion is likely the new 'Forged in Crimson'.)

Myths

The main revelation seems to be that the Twelve are related to Venat's collaborators, and the unnamed thirteenth member is the Watcher. His 'charge' who he watches over is probably the player character. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any new text yet after completing Euphrosyne. Prayers to the Twelve get redirected into the heart of the planet.

I was happy that Menphina got the final fight as well as the rabbit avatar. I particularly liked the scene with the member of the Lambs of Dalamud. I was pleasantly surprised by the council fight against Althyk and Nymeia, although in retrospect I should have predicted it from the screenshots. Nymeia seems to have an 'I win' card that probably serves as a 7 minute enrage timer, and I'd really like to see what happens if you draw out the fight that long. Doubling up on a single fight now also likely means that the final encounter of the next raid will be a surprise, since we have twelve fights in total across the three tiers.

I liked the reaction to receiving an Allagan tomestone.

As for the animals, it looks like so far we have:

Byregot: Spriggan
Rhalgr: Hawk
Azeyma: Meercat
Nald'Thal: Mummy
Menphina: Rabbit
Halone: Fenrir
Nophica: Plant? (I don't recognize this minion).
Althyk: Golem
Nymeia: Fry

I have a feeling that Deryk has some connection to the true form of the Watcher and the seventh heaven.

Ten characters of the character variety


MSQ

Short, but not bad because of it. My main takeaway was that we appeared to get about 3/4 voice acting to 1/4 text cutscenes, and this pleases me greatly. It was great to see the twins again, and the interactions with Zero were decent. I especially like Alisaie getting mad at not being asked to join the Alzadaal's Legacy mission.

In the immediate aftermath of the dungeon boss, I ran back to the start to make sure the twins were not standing ominously between two walls that looked likely to come together without much encouragement! As for the dungeon itself, aside from the revelation about the Gridanian Goldsmith, I felt a little underwhelmed by the lore details. The vistas outside were epic, but inside the final third, I didn't really feel like I got a good idea about the cavern or its spectecal until I was right at the boss, so I felt a little down about the whole experience. Maybe it will improve with replays. I'm a little sad that Drusila did not receive updated dialouge, either. But interesting to see the references to having levelled Reaper were present, despite the fact I was playing Dark Knight.

All the way until they left the MSQ, I was wary that SE were going to lean into the easy "FF4 twins incident" in some way, even though I couldn't see a way to make it happen after Cagnazzo had departed (and my overly paranoid dungeon wanderings aside). Rubicante was always the most interesting Archfiend in 4, and I'm glad he was here, although I feel like SE are trying to cram an awful lot into not very much run time. There is still that big x.5 twist that's been hinted at, and at present, it would have to be very big in order to make not going after Golbez the main priority. More likely, it will be Golbez's demise that triggers whatever it is we should be wary of. The fact that the invasion of the Source is confirmed (assuming we take Rubicante at his word, because I don't think the Source was explicitly mentioned in the Echo flashback?), feels like the writers giving us all our obvious theories up front in an effort to cloak something much larger.

In terms of the final reveals, I did laugh at the mist dissipating in the Cradle of Darkness. It felt like one of those "well, obviously you should have made that connection" moments in hindsight.

Myths

In any given expansion, lots of threads will tie together, across multiple stories. In HW, for instance, the Mhach raids were supported by the three mage job quest lines, as well as setting us up for further shard-related issues with the Warriors of Darkness. Krile linking the Watcher as the 13th and hereto fore unmentioned member of the Twelve feels like it is from that same stable of linking threads. He's already cropped up in the Omega finale, as well the Tales from the Dawn.

It seems to me that the unspoken word in all of this was "concept", as in "concept crystal". The unchanging crystals out in the world could be carefully concealed concept crystals. The Twelve (13th excluded, he is someone we can reasonably link to a living ancient), though they might be based on the remainder of Venat's circle of renegades, feel like her recreations of her friends and colleagues, in a manner not unlike that of the constellation crystals of the Convocation / Ascians.

HW dungeon chages

So far, I've only done Gubal, since I had an NG+ save right before Matoya's Cave. She no longer demands Aliphinaud and Y'Shtola remain behind, and sends one of her familiars with you to fill in the 4th spot on the Duty Support! They replaced Matoya's voice line at the end of the cutscene, and I didn't spot the difference. It was quite closely matched to the old VA. The dual VA is noted in the credits.
...Y'Shtola has a weird new "Yaah" line...

Nothing really new in ACR, except for the final boss. No rewrites to move the Y'Shtola, Alphinaud, and Estinien in to assist, so you're back with the Scion no-names, which feels pretty underhwleming for a final dungeon, but the changes to the final fights are well done.
Hope to give the rest of the dungeons a look in the rets of the week.


Edit: Thancred, Aliphinaud, and Y'Shtola in Antitower are a good combo, Thancred is very driven in his text, and it does at least reference that the trio are with you in the final boss room as you get summoned to Hydaelyn.

My thoughts on the latest...patch can be found at the following thread. Hopefully it provides an alternate viewpoint and insight.

I've started avoiding hearing about/doing content until the weekend after the patch due to requests people get to finish it themselves before watching reactions, but [Arnold voice] I'll be back.

MSQ (Friday)
Dammy

RAID (Saturday)
Dammy

Other stuff if motivation outweighs tiredness!?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JeanneOrnitier

Oh, writing this as a reminder for myself: I need to go back and see if Drusilla has any dialogue about the dungeon.

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She does not :(

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lyth

Great patch.
Myths

As for the animals, it looks like so far we have:
Byregot: Spriggan
Rhalgr: Hawk
Azeyma: Meercat
Nald'Thal: Mummy
Menphina: Rabbit
Halone: Fenrir
Nophica: Plant? (I don't recognize this minion).
Althyk: Golem
Nymeia: Fry

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Three left:

As of now there are also an Owl and a Booby roaming around north Omphalos.
I would presume them to be Thaliak and Llymlaen respectively, based on their locations and symbolism.
That just leaves Oschon left over, and I have absolutely no idea what tiny critter involved in this questline could possibly fit the bill for him...

Other Myths thoughts:

I'm sure Dynamis was mentioned here right? Given that the gods take form according to prayers, are we looking at a Primal-like situation that uses Dynamis instead of Aether?

Also, with three deities left to fight... who or what the hell is going to be the final fight? Are we fighting the watcher?