5.0 Speculation !

Hey everyone !

I open this thread to start speculating on the next expansion that will come : Shadowbringers !

What, in your opinion, will be added to the game ? What Trial and Raid will we encounter this time ? ...

Don't hesitate to speculate at will ! Remember that we will become (SPOILER) Warrior of Dank Meme... wait... I mean Darkness.

My opinion is :

TRIAL :

As we've see in Heavensward and Stormblood, the one of the main Primal (Ravana and Susanoo) Doesn't appear in the FF Series as summon (Except for Lakshmi and Bismark that are actual summon in Final Fantasy VI (Thanks to Reynhart). But Remember that Primal aren't limited to "Summon" we actually know (Sephirot, Sophia and Zurvan was Boss and not summon in FFVI, but are considered Primal in FFXIV). So if SE follow that path, We might actually encounter something like Anima (FFX) and why not Valefor (FFX) (Believe it or not, I have seen this referenced in a Side quest). But of course, we got many possibilities. Because Viera is coming in 5.0 (Most probably), we might actually go in some Dalmascan land. So encountering Eidolon from FFXII is possible too ! I think about Adrammelech and Shemhazai, They could be Primal for Dalmascan's Beast Tribe.

Warning Spoiler :

Belias, Mateus, Hashmal, Famfrit and Ultima, are already defeated. So It's not possible to encounter them again.

24-man Raid :

So now, a big big subject. We got Crystal Tower (Lvl50), Diabolos Hystory (Lvl60), and Dalmascan Location (Lvl70).

Aside the Crystal Tower, we are always far away from the actual map we can play. Which means, Where will we go next time ? Dalmasca/Ivalice and their history are part of FFXIV, so what can be added to the world map again ? We know that the west part of Othard is not revealed, but Dalmasca seems not far away. So why not a location nearby ? but... This will be logic if we are Warrior of light and not Darkness !

The supposition must take a 180° Turn. So I suggest, that we have to fight against some Heroes probably. And with the apparition of Gunblade, why don't we have to fight against the Balamb University ? ;)

8 Man Content :

And now the big big deal.

We have always encountered THE powerful foe. Bahamut, Alexander and Omega are really really powerful. Bahamut possess a great destructive power, Alexander can manipulate Time and Space and Omega can do almost anything he want to do. So who is our next foe ? We already got 2 Primal and one Super-boss. Who have as much power as they have ?

Chaos, Exdeath, Kefka, and Cloud of Darkness are out !

I don't really have any idea about this one...

Beast Tribe :

Beside the Nu Mou that was mentionned, I think about the Garrif. They can be quit interesting to use and can have a link with Adrammelech (Who isn't really far from them in FFXII)




And you ! What do you think ?

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Originally Posted by TabrisOmbrelame

As we've see in Heavensward and Stormblood, the main Primal (Ravana/Bismark and Susanoo/Lakshmi) Doesn't appear in the FF Series as summon (Except for Lakshmi that is an actual summon in Final Fantasy Brave Exvius).

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Bismarck and Lakshmi are summons from FFVI.

So, we might expect one completely new Primal and one existing one. We know we'll have the Nu Mou beast tribe and they also mentionned Dwarves, but I'm not sure what existing Summon you could really tie to them, especially since Ultima (The Nu Mou Totema) is not available anymore.

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Originally Posted by Reynhart

Bismarck and Lakshmi are summons from FFVI.

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You are right, after some investigation I've founded it too. Sorry for my bad culture.

I'd be happy to change a bit from the "beast-tribe" summonings mandatory trials.

Knowing where we will go in 5.0 should help. Because if we really go to Garlemald, there are less chances that we will meet primals. I would enjoy a fight against a major antagonist in the form of a trial (like Nidhogg for instance, or the Chrysalis with today's trial standards).

Raid-wise it's the same. Alexander and Omega where pretty well introduced in their respective expansions. I'd like raids brought closer to MSQ, see a real implication for what I do in side content in the world. The pattern of content in separate bubbles is certainly useful from a practical point of view but it sacrifices a lot of immersion.

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Originally Posted by Mansion

I'd be happy to change a bit from the "beast-tribe" summonings mandatory trials.

Knowing where we will go in 5.0 should help. Because if we really go to Garlemald, there are less chances that we will meet primals. I would enjoy a fight against a major antagonist in the form of a trial (like Nidhogg for instance, or the Chrysalis with today's trial standards). .

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I don't think we will go to Garlemald. If you remember the story from the 4.5 actually... (WARNING SPOILER !!!) Solus say something strange about an other world submerged by the Light. And maybe my speculation are in the total wrong way, and we are going to a New world. Solus is going in this "World" Again, he sayed it.

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Originally Posted by TabrisOmbrelame

I don't think we will go to Garlemald. If you remember the story from the 4.5 actually... (WARNING SPOILER !!!) Solus say something strange about an other world submerged by the Light. And maybe my speculation are in the total wrong way, and we are going to a New world. Solus is going in this "World" Again, he sayed it.

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I might not have been specific enough. I'm referring to Fanfest keynote saying 5.0 is "time to take down the Garlean Empire", whether it's from within or outside.

As a lore enthusiast, I'm kind of tired of primals. We'll definitely be getting at least 2 with the Nu Mou and Dwarf tribes, maybe one with the "fairy" tribe? The Auspices were a cool take on trial fights, but as the above poster has said, as side content it doesn't feel all that immersive or impactful.

More trials akin to Cape Westwind, where we fight against a high ranking military official would be my preference, and we're no doubt getting at least one ascian fight if the current direction of the story is anything to go by.

In terms of raids, I would like to see something akin to a raid on a particularly beefy and well fortified castrum, lots of magitek.

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Originally Posted by TabrisOmbrelame

I don't think we will go to Garlemald. If you remember the story from the 4.5 actually... (WARNING SPOILER !!!) Solus say something strange about an other world submerged by the Light. And maybe my speculation are in the total wrong way, and we are going to a New world. Solus is going in this "World" Again, he sayed it.

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I've been suspecting since 4.4. revealed that a flood of light is going to cause the next calamity that the first shard is somehow involved in this mess and all the clues in 4.5 seem to just be suggesting that further.

That said, if we're getting another situation like SB where the plot is split between two distinct locations/regions (I suspect it's going to be Ilsabard and the first shard this time), I really doubt they're going actually wrap up the Garlean conflict in 5.x. I'm expecting a push into their southern territories further from the capital to establish a foothold before the alliance makes their move to put an end to their threat once and for all, whilst we also go and clean up whatever mess is happening at the first after taking up the mantle of the WoD to ensure that the calamity doesn't occur.

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Originally Posted by CorbinDallas

As a lore enthusiast, I'm kind of tired of primals.

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Got to agree here. They've basically become 'monster of the week' type deals.

Hopefully we get more military stuff like you say, with the Garlean angle we've got a lot of room for fights against big mechanical creations and horrible biological abominations of science.

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Originally Posted by CorbinDallas

As a lore enthusiast, I'm kind of tired of primals. We'll definitely be getting at least 2 with the Nu Mou and Dwarf tribes, maybe one with the "fairy" tribe? The Auspices were a cool take on trial fights, but as the above poster has said, as side content it doesn't feel all that immersive or impactful.

More trials akin to Cape Westwind, where we fight against a high ranking military official would be my preference, and we're no doubt getting at least one ascian fight if the current direction of the story is anything to go by.

In terms of raids, I would like to see something akin to a raid on a particularly beefy and well fortified castrum, lots of magitek.

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Remember that the Red Kojin used to fight FOR the Imperial. So can we say that Susano was on Imperial Side from the beginning ? True they have Mecha-type monster and Biological Horror, but what if they use the beast tribe magic for their own purpose ?

We’re starting to run out of impactful old bosses and summons to turn into raids and trials now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the next 24 or even 8 man raids ended up being somewhat original, like the Void Ark series.

That said, possible options include:
FFVII Weapons (possibly trials like the warring triad, or 8 man raids like Alexander, fighting mini bosses along their slumbering bodies for fights 1-3 until they wake up and we fight the whole thing in fight 4)
Jenova (could go anywhere really but probably not trials, but with the whole biological weapon thing Garlemald has going on I wouldn’t be surprised at raids)
Eden (unsure how it would fit into lore, but it would be similar to Alexander)
Four Fiends, FFI or FFIV (could easily be trials or 8-man raids)
Emperor Mateus (could go a similar route to Cloud of Darkness in the Crystal Tower series)
Valefore as a new beast tribe primal
Magus Sisters as potential raid or trial primals (could be the ‘fairy’ beast tribe, or Garlean magitek themed)
Asura
Zona Seeker
Valigarmanda
Madeen
Then we could potentially get some Bahamut revival in maybe 6.0 or 7.0 with Neo Bahamut and Bahamut Zero.

But I doubt they’ll all get made into significant fights, lots of summons have ended up being minor mobs or dungeon bosses.

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Originally Posted by TabrisOmbrelame

I don't think we will go to Garlemald. If you remember the story from the 4.5 actually... (WARNING SPOILER !!!) Solus say something strange about an other world submerged by the Light. And maybe my speculation are in the total wrong way, and we are going to a New world. Solus is going in this "World" Again, he sayed it.

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Yeah I actually think we will be helping Garlemald in order to restore balance and keep from flooding Hydalen with light like what happened in world 1 (I think it was 1)

Since we're becoming the Warrior of Danrkness, maybe we'll get to fight the Cloud of Light. Maybe even in the MSQ.

Since the whole thing is supposed to be about us stopping the Light from taking over everything to keep balance.

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Originally Posted by CaptainLagbeard

Since we're becoming the Warrior of Danrkness, maybe we'll get to fight the Cloud of Light. Maybe even in the MSQ.

Since the whole thing is supposed to be about us stopping the Light from taking over everything to keep balance.

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Cloud of Light isnt really a thing.
Cloud of Darkness is just a very powerful voidsent.
Voidsent and 'light entities' are entirely different. We dont have 'light demons' or 'light ahriman', instead we have Kiribu and winged lions, etc.
There may well be an equivalent, but I very much doubt it'll be a 'cloud'.

I would love to see the FFIV Fiends in a potential raid based on the moon. And the idea of bringing back Bahamut as Neo Bahamut or Bahamut Zero would be cool as well (and could also work in a moon raid, since Bahamut is the god of summons who lives in the moon in FFIV).

Personally, I would like to see a FFX based 24 man raid.

First raid - Macalania Forest
Starts in the forest and goes into the frozen lake, where you fight Wendigo, and ends in the Macalania Temple where you fight some ice related enemy, or if the lore permits, Dark Shiva.

Second raid - Zanarkand Ruins
Starts in the ruins and goes into Zanarkand Dome, where you fight Yunalesca as the final boss.

Third raid - Inside Sin
If they made Sin like a huge voidsent (who maybe inspired the stories of Bismarck) you could start the raid fighting it in an airship like Deathgaze and like the fight in FFX, and then go inside him, fighting various Sinspawn until finally facing Jecht.

Please, we've been Bahamut-ed to death in this game so far, to the point summoner isn't a summoner, it's a Bahamut mage. No. More. Bahamut. More new and original characters.

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Originally Posted by CorbinDallas

Please, we've been Bahamut-ed to death in this game so far, to the point summoner isn't a summoner, it's a Bahamut mage. No. More. Bahamut. More new and original characters.

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Maybe Summoners can finally get a 2nd Egi to use in dungeons. Titan in dungeons is one of the worst ideas ever, and Garuda with the introduction of Devotion (Aetherpact) is questionable at best since you have to manually position her to hit the party.

HEAVY SPOILERS

8 man raid.
The Fall of the Empire.


1st wing: The Imperial Capital, Garlemald. (Invasion of the capital city proper.)
2nd wing: The Draklor Laboratories. (Brand new faction made by Noah van Gabranth's legion and maybe a resurrected Hydrus, Regula HAS to come back.)
3rd wing: The Emperor's Throne. (Fall of the empire the alliance and the populares take garlemald from the ascians)

24 man raid.
The Bloody Sin

1st wing: The Fallen city of Arcadia (Gotta fight on the dalmascan/ivalician front to retake those regions from the empire, continues after Ivalice raid.)
2nd wing: The Dark Cathedral of Lea Monde (Final fight on garlean territories against ascians)
3rd wing: Midlight's Deep (Final fight against The Undying, which is heavily resembling of Zodiark and maybe elidibus.)

If we are lucky, SE has finally understood that raids are at its best when they relate heavily on the main storyline, and they are not just a "escape". That at least they have to be truly unique to Hydaelyn, and not just a placeholder to slap on fan service (looking at both omega and ivalice first 2 wings, that felt like terrible anime fan service filler episodes).

If we are lucky, we might yet see the comeback of 8 man dungeons or maybe even better, 4 man harder dungeons. For "trials" (at this point trials or raids are meaningless... They are the same). I think, we gonna see tons of FFVII and VIII featured, maybe something Jenova/SEEDs related with all these cloning going on.

Anyone knows if north of Garlemald there is a huge meteor crater xD?

All I know is that Solus and Elidibus are going to do a fusion dance and probably usurp the apparent worship of the Emperor to turn into a Super Ascian God™ or Varis is going to inadvertently do the latter and become an eikon. So basically Thordan 2.0, the Electric Boogaloo

If we're going to be WoD, then I would like to see a Warrior of Light primal.

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Originally Posted by Katie_Kitty

If we're going to be WoD, then I would like to see a Warrior of Light primal.

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I think something along these lines is probably. Not exactly the warrior of light as a primal, but things that would skew more toward light and holy entities. We saw hints of how they could do this with Thordan and Lakshmi. So we might see things such as Ultima, the High Seraph as shown in FFXII as opposed to her more FFT appearance in the Ivalice raid (imagine a beast tribe that maintained the concept of Ultima, so she appears in a different form than she did in the raid) You also have espers from earlier titles that specialized in more holy magics like Kirin (FFVI) or Asura (FFIV).

I also wouldn't be surprised to see more Amdapori influence in the design in general with the Kiribu and such like we've seen in that dungeon.

Lastly I'm starting to suspect that Garlemald might not be the destination, or at least not the sole destination, in the expansion. Given many plot points in Dalmasca left unresolved, and the fact that we're seeing representatives from that nation in Hien's court in the MSQ and that Hein wants the support of that nation (once stabilized) and Naxgia for his Eastern Alliance, it wouldn't surprise me to see either or both of those nations represented in some of the new zones. Not only would that give more to the story of those areas, but it would give the developers more geography to work with considering Dalmasca is largely desert and Naxgia is largely dense jungle contrasted with what we know of Garlemald being largely tundra.

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Originally Posted by wereotter

I think something along these lines is probably. Not exactly the warrior of light as a primal, but things that would skew more toward light and holy entities. We saw hints of how they could do this with Thordan and Lakshmi. So we might see things such as Ultima, the High Seraph as shown in FFXII as opposed to her more FFT appearance in the Ivalice raid (imagine a beast tribe that maintained the concept of Ultima, so she appears in a different form than she did in the raid) You also have espers from earlier titles that specialized in more holy magics like Kirin (FFVI) or Asura (FFIV).

I also wouldn't be surprised to see more Amdapori influence in the design in general with the Kiribu and such like we've seen in that dungeon.

Lastly I'm starting to suspect that Garlemald might not be the destination, or at least not the sole destination, in the expansion. Given many plot points in Dalmasca left unresolved, and the fact that we're seeing representatives from that nation in Hien's court in the MSQ and that Hein wants the support of that nation (once stabilized) and Naxgia for his Eastern Alliance, it wouldn't surprise me to see either or both of those nations represented in some of the new zones. Not only would that give more to the story of those areas, but it would give the developers more geography to work with considering Dalmasca is largely desert and Naxgia is largely dense jungle contrasted with what we know of Garlemald being largely tundra.

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I was thinking something more along the lines of desperate Eorzeans who only know the stories of the WoL's exploits summoning their idea of a Warrior of Light as a primal and then us having to go out and slay it. I just think it would be interesting to have a situation where our own legend comes back to bite us, and a symbolic slaying of the Warrior of Light would be an interesting way to show that maybe they shouldn't rely on us so much.