Thoughts on the Ascians so far?

Note:At the time of the OP post of this thread I've just finished all of Heavensward MSQs so please try to keep Stormblood spoilers at minimum if possible.


As much as I love the lore for Final Fantasy XIV so far,the ascians in particular.....are kind of my least favorite aspect of it.

To start positively,gameplay-wise,they offer some of the best boss fights/trials in the game as I loved all the battles they offered (minus the first Lahabrea battle in ARR's pretorium which was fairly easy).

It's the way they've been implemented so far that leaves me a little confused.

I know their goal is instruct Beast tribes and Eorzeans alike to summon primals which in turn drains more aether from Hydaelyn,weakening the mother crystal in the process which would hasten the summoning of their god Zodiark........but that's about all they do and in some cases it also defines the personality of each Ascians save for maybe Elidibus who seems a bit of an enigma so far from what I've seen

They feel very secondary especially in comparison to the Garlean Empire heck Lahabrea,the self-proclaimed leader of the Ascians,is offed very quickly by Thordan the moment he became a primal(the irony was delicious tho xD).

feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on anything I've said(while keeping spoilers at minimum),but I kinda wish in the future they'd make the Ascians more involved in the plot outside of primal summoning,give some personality and motivation for why each member desires the summoning of their god.I liked what they did with Elidibus so far especially his talks with Urianger but I wanna see more of that done to other Ascians

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Originally Posted by MetalSnakeXI1

I've just finished all of Heavensward MSQs so please try to keep Stormblood spoilers at minimum if possible.

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Stormblood deliberately avoids doing pretty much anything with the Ascians aside from an underling cameo and Elidibus coming back later.

Stormlood's follow-up patches on the other hand... be wary of spoilers for those, lol.

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Originally Posted by MetalSnakeXI1

I know their goal is instruct Beast tribes and Eorzeans alike to summon primals which in turn drains more aether from Hydaelyn, weakening the mother crystal in the process which would hasten the summoning of their god Zodiark

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This is how it is commonly explained by some circles of loremongers, but in my humble opinion it's not the best way to say it. This whole "draining aether" thing is usually connected to the "forcing Hydaelyn to eat other worlds" theory and none of it is confirmed.

What we know is that when Hydaelyn expelled Zodiark, the fabric of the cosmos was compromised and "cracked", creating thirteen reflected copies of the original ("Source") dimension. The Ascians are trying to cause such catastrophic disturbances that the barriers between these dimensions are "blown out". When a barrier between the Source and another dimension collapses, the reflected dimension (aka "shard" dimension) is "deleted". Everything there dies, the dimension vanishes; reduced to aether and returned to the Source dimension and the aetherial sea.

Because Hydaelyn and Zodiark's powers were cast through fourteen walled-off dimension, along with an enormous about of aether, reconsolidating them is the only way the Ascians can bring about Zodiark's resurrection and free him from whatever moon rift he's trapped in. I assume targeting the consolidation of Zodiark's power while forcing Hydaelyn to expend what little energy She can get (raising and protecting Warriors of Light who have thus far ultimately failed to prevent Rejoinings) is just part of that strategy.

The Ascians just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks in terms of trying to get conflicts going so they can escalate them towards people being willing to use weapons powerful enough to cause a disturbance capable of causing a calamity. Sometimes the plans fizzle out, sometimes they go nowhere, but eventually they'll get two equal-ish parties willing to throw pretty catastrophic forces at one another.

Most (if not ALL) of the Ascians are just ex-mortals who've given in to Darkness. Even the fourteen overlords might just be ex-Mortals directly touched by Zodiark's power, one from each dimensions with the power to raise the underling, black-masked soldiers.

Teaching mortals a deliberately-flawed summoning spell to manifest whatever they truly, deeply, zealously desire (essentially an overpowered elemental unbound and acting like whatever people believe it is) is merely a quick way to get there because they require so much aether to stay manifest and are so easy to make go to war against one another.

The Ascians are made to be such a big threat because they were so poorly understood for so long. For all we know Zodiark doesn't care about them at all and just needs agents because it's impossible for Him to act on His own (just like Hydaelyn).

That they're moustache-twirling cartoon villains is almost appropriate, lol.

"Mustache twirling cartoon villains" xD

Lol that's one way to put it.

So far Elidibus is the only interesting one with the whole plot with him and the warriors of darkness in which he was in talk with Urianger about since they came from one of the dying worlds...tho sadly the WoD's plot was wrapped up a little too fast.
Kinda wish they'd wrap up the Ascians plot soon and put much more focus on the Garlean empire(which from what I've seen might seem to be the case) if their role isn't expanded beyond their usual shtick.Part of me think that we probably didn't need them for stuff like Nael Van Darnus's meteor project or Illberd's flawed summoning of Shinryu even.

But hey that's for Yoshi P to decide

I think Elidibus is more interesting mostly because his mission is more complex than "cause problems", lol. I agree that the Ascians have dragged on a bit too long (I think they're nervous that people will assume Final Fantasy XIV is "pretty much over" if they end the Ascian arc, but it only gets more likely if they drag it out farther than need be.) And I agree that the Warriors of Darkness wrapped up a bit too swiftly. They seemed to struggle to balance the pacing of ending the Dragonsong War, the Warriors of Darkness, and the Griffin while maintaining the right content sequence.

Elidibus, I theorize, is the most connected to Zodiark - as much as Minfilia to Hydaelyn. It makes sense we'd save him for last, especially if (as I hope) he transcends his past role and becomes the big bad. I like an antagonist that fractures the trust of the audience and has a few good points. I'm rooting for Elidibus to be an outright snake.

Though I actually think I'd actually do it in the opposite order you were laying out here; the Ascians always try to encourage the consolidation of powers and turning them against one another. For example, you can see Lahabrea's plan to turn Thordan into a God King with global ambitions. After wiping out the dragons, Thordan would have "united" Eorzea and taken on Garlemald, at which point the Ascians would have given the Empire resources to escalate that war against Thordan's crusade and hopefully hit a Calamitous crescendo.

I speculate that Elidibus has merely modified this plan and interwoven it with a secondary layer involving that whole "new god" angle he brought up 2.3 and 3.4. Now the Eorzean Alliance and its allies will be the focus of the Garlean forces riled up for war.

However, if we wrap up the war with the Garlean Empire, we can ally with them against Zodiark, which should make for a pretty epic ending.

But who knows, lol.

The coming patch seems like it will involve the Ascians quite a lot. So some questions will probably be answered and more will be raised.

As for the Ascians and the Garleans, at the moment, it seems the Garlean threat is a byproduct of the Ascian threat. The Ascians need someone putting pressure on everyone else so that they feel desperate enough to summon eikons and it looks like the Garleans are the ones they have chosen to play that role. Solving the Garlean threat won't solve the Ascian threat; it'll just remove one of their players from the game.

The other difference is the nature of the two threats. The Garlean threat is confined to this shard and could probably be solved by "natural" means (politics, war, etc.). The Ascian threat isn't just on this shard, but to all the other ones as well. Solving that threat will involve much more "supernatural" means.

The Ascians were reduced to a non-threat the moment Nabriales was dealt with.

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Originally Posted by Wyssahtyn

The Ascians were reduced to a non-threat the moment Nabriales was dealt with.

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I wouldn't quite say that.

Even if we can defeat them in direct combat (without the Blessing of Light), actually killing them is beyond our normal means.

The main danger the Ascians present isn't direct anyway - it's their ability to impersonate others and move pieces against the heroes protagonists that makes them truly dangerous. Case and point with (probably) Elidibus playing Garlemald to his tune by whispering the right words to Varis while using Zenos' status to get Garlemald doing what he wants it to do.

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Originally Posted by Wyssahtyn

The Ascians were reduced to a non-threat the moment Nabriales was dealt with.

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Nabriales was kinda just there,the only difference is that he went straight to get Tupsimati from Minfillia rather than sticking to Lahabrea's plan

But yeah,while the Ascians seem very low key to the overall plot so far,I'll at least keep an eye on Elidibus.Hopefully he can finally make them more interesting than what they currently are

I'm currently on the fence.

As it stands, the Ascians have been confirmed to have been involved in enough schemes so far that the protagonists should realistically ask themselves if Ascians are playing them like a fiddle whenever any new threat emerges. Elidibus is intriguing, especially now that he has possessed the corpse of someone who stands to give him quite a bit of sway and political power. On the other hand, the other four major Ascians we've encountered as of ARR and onwards are no longer in the picture. The stakes don't feel very high. If Elidibus makes a move, it'll probably be Garlemald that suffers the most from his scheming. Meanwhile, there's a good chance that everything will wrap up neatly for everybody else.

In my opinion for the Ascians to truly be an effective threat they need to kill off a major character. Not a secondary character. Not a minor character temporarily elevated to a higher position. Someone who has been a part of the story for a while and isn't expected to die. I know some people will counter that by stating that death for the sake of death is silly, though that isn't what I'm pushing for. What I want to see is realistic, meaningful losses. Powerful and imposing antagonists only seem powerful and imposing when they're allowed to score the occasional victory. Otherwise they just end up standing around making vague threats before having their plans thwarted.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'm currently on the fence.

As it stands, the Ascians have been confirmed to have been involved in enough schemes so far that the protagonists should realistically ask themselves if Ascians are playing them like a fiddle whenever any new threat emerges. Elidibus is intriguing, especially now that he has possessed the corpse of someone who stands to give him quite a bit of sway and political power. On the other hand, the other four major Ascians we've encountered as of ARR and onwards are no longer in the picture. The stakes don't feel very high. If Elidibus makes a move, it'll probably be Garlemald that suffers the most from his scheming. Meanwhile, there's a good chance that everything will wrap up neatly for everybody else.

In my opinion for the Ascians to truly be an effective threat they need to kill off a major character. Not a secondary character. Not a minor character temporarily elevated to a higher position. Someone who has been a part of the story for a while and isn't expected to die. I know some people will counter that by stating that death for the sake of death is silly, though that isn't what I'm pushing for. What I want to see is realistic, meaningful losses. Powerful and imposing antagonists only seem powerful and imposing when they're allowed to score the occasional victory. Otherwise they just end up standing around making vague threats before having their plans thwarted.

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The one main character death that I think would just hurl the WoL over the edge would be Y'sholta being killed since she's been around a lot and plays a rather large role in the overall story from 1.0 to 4.3 and 4.4 it seems. There's also Alphinaud.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'm currently on the fence.

As it stands, the Ascians have been confirmed to have been involved in enough schemes so far that the protagonists should realistically ask themselves if Ascians are playing them like a fiddle whenever any new threat emerges. Elidibus is intriguing, especially now that he has possessed the corpse of someone who stands to give him quite a bit of sway and political power. On the other hand, the other four major Ascians we've encountered as of ARR and onwards are no longer in the picture. The stakes don't feel very high. If Elidibus makes a move, it'll probably be Garlemald that suffers the most from his scheming. Meanwhile, there's a good chance that everything will wrap up neatly for everybody else.

In my opinion for the Ascians to truly be an effective threat they need to kill off a major character. Not a secondary character. Not a minor character temporarily elevated to a higher position. Someone who has been a part of the story for a while and isn't expected to die. I know some people will counter that by stating that death for the sake of death is silly, though that isn't what I'm pushing for. What I want to see is realistic, meaningful losses. Powerful and imposing antagonists only seem powerful and imposing when they're allowed to score the occasional victory. Otherwise they just end up standing around making vague threats before having their plans thwarted.

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The only death I can think of that would be very impactful probably would be Alphinaud

Yes I know almost everybody hated him in ARR but he developed quite a bit from the ending of ARR all the way up to the end of the Dragonsong war in HW. so on my end I'm currently fond of Alphy

While some secondary character deaths did make me tear up like Haurchefaunt,a main character would hit harder.

Not saying Alphy should be killed cuz a character death only matters if it's executed very well,but it's the only thing I can think of right now

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'm currently on the fence.

As it stands, the Ascians have been confirmed to have been involved in enough schemes so far that the protagonists should realistically ask themselves if Ascians are playing them like a fiddle whenever any new threat emerges.

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Of course they are. Most of the threats only exist due to Ascian involvement anyhow.

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In my opinion for the Ascians to truly be an effective threat they need to kill off a major character. Not a secondary character. Not a minor character temporarily elevated to a higher position. Someone who has been a part of the story for a while and isn't expected to die. I know some people will counter that by stating that death for the sake of death is silly, though that isn't what I'm pushing for. What I want to see is realistic, meaningful losses. Powerful and imposing antagonists only seem powerful and imposing when they're allowed to score the occasional victory. Otherwise they just end up standing around making vague threats before having their plans thwarted.

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The Ascians are a major threat. Not to individuals, but to Hydaelyn and the world.
Most of their work is done in the background. Killing any protagonists is only attempted when it serves their goals - and most of the time it won't do that.

By now the Ascians ought to have figured out that direct confrontation with the WoL or their allies is a bad idea.

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Originally Posted by MistakeNot

Of course they are. Most of the threats only exist due to Ascian involvement anyhow.



The Ascians are a major threat. Not to individuals, but to Hydaelyn and the world.
Most of their work is done in the background. Killing any protagonists is only attempted when it serves their goals - and most of the time it won't do that.

By now the Ascians ought to have figured out that direct confrontation with the WoL or their allies is a bad idea.

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I wish tho that they'd let us in on some of the Ascians' machinations,not on all of them but enough of them to get us to know what each Ascian think and how each one differ in their approach to Garlemald,beast tribes and Eorzeans.

In short,a bit more of the care they gave to Elidibus.Lahabrea was offed too fast by Thordan before we learn much of anything beyond his ambition and for the so-called "Leader of the Ascians"....he certainly doesn't live up to the title

Personally I am getting super bored of Ascians and Garlemalde. They have been the antagonists since 2010 and it just feels like the story involving them has drug on way beyond reason. I wish we could just finish their part of the story and move on to something else. Same with everything Allagan. There were how many astral and umbral eras, each with their own civilizations and still all we really get is allagan… maybe we get a lil Nym here and there but it feels like 99% of everything is Allagan. SE really needs to step up the creativity.

I miss the games where each expac was its own thing, sure it may reference a past expac or something but this all just feels like one very long and done to death story. We always know the Ascians or the Empire was behind it in one way or another. There is no real mystery and its frankly getting boring.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

Personally I am getting super bored of Ascians and Garlemalde. They have been the antagonists since 2010 and it just feels like the story involving them has drug on way beyond reason. I wish we could just finish their part of the story and move on to something else. Same with everything Allagan. There were how many astral and umbral eras, each with their own civilizations and still all we really get is allagan… maybe we get a lil Nym here and there but it feels like 99% of everything is Allagan. SE really needs to step up the creativity.

I miss the games where each expac was its own thing, sure it may reference a past expac or something but this all just feels like one very long and done to death story. We always know the Ascians or the Empire was behind it in one way or another. There is no real mystery and its frankly getting boring.

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I kinda agree but only with the Ascians part

I think they can do more with Garlemald but mostly if they let us actually explore the empire from the inside.

Like I dunno what situation would get the Warrior of Light/player and Alphinaud to side with the empire in anyway but it'd be interesting if we got inside Garlemald and see how actual Garlean citizens go about their daily lives and whether or not the Garlean society is on board with the empire's conquest on Eorzea.

But I kinda see where you're coming from,the reason Heavensward is so far my favorite part in all of 14 is because the ascian and garlean involvement are kept to a minimum even when they were present.The scale and stakes were smaller than ARR sure since it only concerns the well being of Ishgard specifically but it made Ishgard all the more special to me.It felt like an actual home moreso than the other Eorzean nations cuz the WoL and Alphinaud were more involved with the internal affairs of the nation which helped connecting the player to Ishgard once you start dethroning Thordan,slaying Nidhogg and finally establish a peace between Ishgard and Dravania.

I'd love to see a new enemy even if it's only on a smaller scale cuz Nidhogg,while only aims to destroy Ishgard and only Ishgard,was one of the best villains in XIV for me

They seem nice.

Ascians and the fate of the universe was always my main interest although my excitement has waned over the last 5 years of waiting for more substantial developments on that front. It seemed like they were teasing something big at the end of the 2013 story arc with showing many ascians and name-dropping Zodiark, then our heroes got distracted by a lot of other stuff and forgot about impending dimensional collapse. Apparently Gaius has been focusing more on the ascians than us, focusing on the root of most of the world's problems while we've been going around mopping up the spills. Hopefully tomorrow's patch brings some good progress and revelations to this story.

I feel like we've rushed through too many different stories and keep leaving behind stuff that has more potential or didn't reach a satisfying conclusion. I want to see more from zodiark/ the moon, minfilia-hydaelyn, unukalhai, heart of sabik (what is it?), other ascian overlords that were shown briefly and named but not defeated by us yet. Hopefully the Omega story in tomorrow's patch satisfyingly fills in details about Midgardsormr's history / homeworld / origins. I kinda wish the Tiamat story would progress with her breaking free of the guilt and depression and bindings to go make amends and do positive things, help us destroy ascians if you're so upset that they tricked you into summoning bahamut.

I think we are long overdue for a look in to who they are and what they are up to. I am glad that the liberation arcs are completely done and we are moving on to something else. We need to better understand the the rejoining and the calamities and what strings they like to pull.

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Originally Posted by Rufalus

I kinda wish the Tiamat story would progress with her breaking free of the guilt and depression and bindings to go make amends and do positive things, help us destroy ascians if you're so upset that they tricked you into summoning bahamut.

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That would be great. I think it needs to happen at a climax point for something - maybe for the finale of 5.0 or beyond. Sometime when we’re ready to strike a major blow against the Ascians, or maybe need rescuing from them. (And magic dragon telepathy can pick up the distress signal and decide it's time...)

The thing with the Ascians, for me anyway, is that while we have learned a fair amount about them and their schemes, there's still a lot more that seems like we don't know. We don't know specifically what pertains to the resurrection of Zodiark, beyond the fact that it involves weakening Hydaelyn to initiate the "Rejoinings" by sowing the seeds of strife and chaos, primarily behind the scenes. This could "break the boundaries" that have apparently imprisoned Zodiark, certainly, but I think there's a lot more to it than that, as well as to what the true plans of the Ascians are. That said, i have a feeling these last couple patches of the current expansion are going to see the Ascians come into more prominence in the scope of the story, and I suspect they will finally be putting into action all the pieces on the board they've been carefully placing all this time.

As for completely destroying an Ascian, that remains a very difficult and potentially costly endeavor. The ones we already destroyed were careless and underestimated their opponents, which was a factor in their demise. We lost Moenbryda to finish off Nabrieles with her device that uses tremendous reserves of aether, and we got lucky to have appropriate tools in the form of Nidhogg's eyes in our/Thordan's possession to dispose of Igeyorhm and Lahabrea. I doubt that Elidibus and the remaining higher-ranking Ascians are going to be so reckless, and will be far more dangerous to deal with once they enact their plans in earnest.

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Originally Posted by ChaoticCrimson

The thing with the Ascians, for me anyway, is that while we have learned a fair amount about them and their schemes, there's still a lot more that seems like we don't know. We don't know specifically what pertains to the resurrection of Zodiark, beyond the fact that it involves weakening Hydaelyn to initiate the "Rejoinings" by sowing the seeds of strife and chaos, primarily behind the scenes. This could "break the boundaries" that have apparently imprisoned Zodiark, certainly, but I think there's a lot more to it than that, as well as to what the true plans of the Ascians are. That said, i have a feeling these last couple patches of the current expansion are going to see the Ascians come into more prominence in the scope of the story, and I suspect they will finally be putting into action all the pieces on the board they've been carefully placing all this time.

As for completely destroying an Ascian, that remains a very difficult and potentially costly endeavor. The ones we already destroyed were careless and underestimated their opponents, which was a factor in their demise. We lost Moenbryda to finish off Nabrieles with her device that uses tremendous reserves of aether, and we got lucky to have appropriate tools in the form of Nidhogg's eyes in our/Thordan's possession to dispose of Igeyorhm and Lahabrea. I doubt that Elidibus and the remaining higher-ranking Ascians are going to be so reckless, and will be far more dangerous to deal with once they enact their plans in earnest.

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I'm sure by now the other Ascians won't fall so easily for the Auracite trick again(and it's kinda ironic that Lahabrea was killed by the very thing he instructs people to summon....a primal xD)

So unless they're willing to make more sacrifices like what poor Moenbryda did,they gotta find another way to kill the ascians for good which is easier said than done cuz Thordan had to be both a primal and in possession of Nidhogg's eye to kill Lahabrea and that's already a ginormous amount of aether being in use here

There are different levels of Ascians and they take different amounts of aether to kill for good. You end up killing several black mask Ascians in the SMN quests with nothing but Deathflare, for instance (and by having them be away from dead bodies they can flee too.).

But the red mask Ascians are on another level, so...

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Originally Posted by MetalSnakeXI1

I'm sure by now the other Ascians won't fall so easily for the Auracite trick again(and it's kinda ironic that Lahabrea was killed by the very thing he instructs people to summon....a primal xD)

So unless they're willing to make more sacrifices like what poor Moenbryda did,they gotta find another way to kill the ascians for good which is easier said than done cuz Thordan had to be both a primal and in possession of Nidhogg's eye to kill Lahabrea and that's already a ginormous amount of aether being in use here

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"Initiate Soul Extraction! HA! Success!"



I'd be cool if that was involved in some manner of slaying one by extracting it and putting it in something lethal.

The Ascians in my mind are overly melodramatic and hammy. That is all. The emperor was right in saying they're overly fond of their own voices.

But as others have said, I think a lot of people have just grown weary of them. They're playing the long game, which is fine, but there's so little variation in their characters that they get boring. There's only so many arrogant speeches you can take. It begins to feel really dragged out.

I want to take the Ascians seriously, but at the rate we just kick their asses over and over again, I would say they are about as threatening as Team Rocket, as in they show up, only to be smacked around a bit and leave, rinse and repeat.

Maybe they will go into them as much more of a threat in the coming story, but right now they just kind of seem like big bad wannabes.

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Originally Posted by Tizzy_Tormentor

I want to take the Ascians seriously, but at the rate we just kick their asses over and over again, I would say they are about as threatening as Team Rocket, as in they show up, only to be smacked around a bit and leave, rinse and repeat.

Maybe they will go into them as much more of a threat in the coming story, but right now they just kind of seem like big bad wannabes.

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Big bad wannabes who are behind most of the threats and problems we face....
Most of the primals in the game can be traced back to an Ascian teaching someone how to summon the primal. Including Bahamut himself, and thus by extension both the Fourth and Seventh Umbral Calamity.
Were we to look carefully I am sure we would find them to have been involved with many of the wars and disasters of the past.
In short, without the Ascians' meddling the story in the game would be very, very different.

The Ascians are a major threat, we just don't see much of what they do - only the results.

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Originally Posted by AdamuKun322

The one main character death that I think would just hurl the WoL over the edge would be Y'sholta being killed since she's been around a lot and plays a rather large role in the overall story from 1.0 to 4.3 and 4.4 it seems. There's also Alphinaud.

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Spoilers for 4.4:

When Thancred went down, I thought he would be it. He's changed an awful lot since we first met him, and unlike Papalymo and Lyse, he was integral to the plot. We've seen him change after his possession by Lahabrea and after losing his magic--which also makes him more expendable than Y'shtola, in a way.

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Originally Posted by Rosenoire

Spoilers for 4.4:

When Thancred went down, I thought he would be it. He's changed an awful lot since we first met him, and unlike Papalymo and Lyse, he was integral to the plot. We've seen him change after his possession by Lahabrea and after losing his magic--which also makes him more expendable than Y'shtola, in a way.

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I don't think he's expendable until we get a bit more relevance out of his loss-of-magic - and until we get an explanation for what actually happened to his eye.

.............

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

The Ascians are made to be such a big threat because they were so poorly understood for so long. For all we know Zodiark doesn't care about them at all and just needs agents because it's impossible for Him to act on His own (just like Hydaelyn).

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I don't think that they should be downplayed as a big threat. They are one, both directly and in terms of the schemes they devise, some more capably than others, and they have brought down civilisations in the process, with Igeyorhm even having gone as far to plunge an entire world in darkness. All instances of the Overlords being defeated have been at the hands of the WoL (and his analogue on the First), with the blessing/aid of Hydaelyn and of course the Echo which he possesses, or similarly powerful entities, like Primals - and then, only due to circumstantial events that allowed the Primal in question to entrap the Ascian.

[Spoiler part below]

We've no idea how Gaius and his buddies did it, if they really did at all, but these are not your average mortal/adventurer, either.

I am also going to theorise that, being otherwordly entities, whose god is dormant/far away, we've not yet seen their full potential - thus far, my view is that their host might be the limiting factor of just how much aether they can channel. Still, even with mundane hosts, they can pull off impressive feats like the Ascian Prime. I'm eager to see how a tailor-made host like a certain Prince changes things.

[Spoiler part below]

I'm pretty sure that with the regular Ascians and even some of the Overlords, Zodiark has little bond, but things may differ with other Ascian Overlords, and particularly Elidibus. This new guy pretending to be "Solus" looks like he'll be fun, and I'm hoping he lives up to those Ardyn vibes.

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Originally Posted by ObsidianFire

There are different levels of Ascians and they take different amounts of aether to kill for good. You end up killing several black mask Ascians in the SMN quests with nothing but Deathflare, for instance (and by having them be away from dead bodies they can flee too.).

But the red mask Ascians are on another level, so...

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I think we're glossing over something here - you kill them as the WoL, an individual blessed with the Echo in greater strength than usual, and with power garnered the lingering essence of a dead draconic primal, after a lengthy battle. It's not trivial stuff, much as Deathflare may seem to be from a mechanical POV. Compared to most mortals, you yourself in the game are closer to a demi-god.

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Originally Posted by Tizzy_Tormentor

I want to take the Ascians seriously, but at the rate we just kick their asses over and over again, I would say they are about as threatening as Team Rocket, as in they show up, only to be smacked around a bit and leave, rinse and repeat.

Maybe they will go into them as much more of a threat in the coming story, but right now they just kind of seem like big bad wannabes.

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Plot device. Read above. It's not that simple. They certainly have already accomplished a great deal on this world alone.

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Originally Posted by MetalSnakeXI1

I'm sure by now the other Ascians won't fall so easily for the Auracite trick again(and it's kinda ironic that Lahabrea was killed by the very thing he instructs people to summon....a primal xD)

So unless they're willing to make more sacrifices like what poor Moenbryda did,they gotta find another way to kill the ascians for good which is easier said than done cuz Thordan had to be both a primal and in possession of Nidhogg's eye to kill Lahabrea and that's already a ginormous amount of aether being in use here

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I'm inclined to agree. They're adaptive and no doubt will have grown wise to our parlour tricks, one of which came at the cost of a Scion. Allagan trickery such as binding Primals or the Heart of Sabik will also be things they anticipate - because they taught them how to do all that. They're also why any attempts by the Eorzean Alliance to lean on primals will likely result in failure, besides serving their purposes. No, the primary threat to them is Hydaelyn and the WoL, through the strength she has bestowed upon him/her. But that is a deus-ex-machina and will probably only last as long as it takes for Zodiark to become more active - assuming he even is antagonistic towards us.

All that being said, I do want to see more from them. The drama is all part of it! I'm hoping the new guy delivers on it!

Just a reminder that the original poster is only up to post-Heavensward and things we learned in 4.4 should only be talked about vaguely.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Iscah

Just a reminder that the original poster is only up to post-Heavensward and things we learned in 4.4 should only be talked about vaguely.

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As long as Stormblood spoilers are hidden then it's no biggie

Speaking of Stormblood,I went through both Yanxia and Azim Steppe just recently

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Originally Posted by MetalSnakeXI1

As long as Stormblood spoilers are hidden then it's no biggie

Speaking of Stormblood,I went through both Yanxia and Azim Steppe just recently

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Sounds like you're making good progress through Stormblood! I've found the post-game patch stories more enjoyable than the main game.

And I made that post because someone did forget to hide spoilers, and I wanted to point it out without....well, pointing out where the spoiler was (or worse, quoting it, as people sometimes do!) in case you did read it and didn't catch onto the significance of it.

Anyway, all good, and it looks like it got fixed before you got here. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Iscah

Sounds like you're making good progress through Stormblood! I've found the post-game patch stories more enjoyable than the main game.

And I made that post because someone did forget to hide spoilers, and I wanted to point it out without....well, pointing out where the spoiler was (or worse, quoting it, as people sometimes do!) in case you did read it and didn't catch onto the significance of it.

Anyway, all good, and it looks like it got fixed before you got here. :)

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Just recently defeated Lakshmi in Gyr Abania ^_^,so far clocked in over 240 hours on FF14 in around 3 and a half months which is why I was able to reach Stormblood as fast as I did.........I got too addicted I admit xD

But yeah I didn't look through the spoiler quotes but I do appreciate you guys hiding them for me before I would've spoiled myself by mistake ^_^