Egi Appearance

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
This thread will not turn into a debate on what size the Egis are or whether or not you'll "feel badass enough" wielding them in this state. Take that sh[kupo!] back to Beta General if so inclined, and have a nice day!

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I find it extremely interesting how much the egis differ from the actual primals in terms of facial structure. Look at Garuda in particular. Would you not say that the egi looks much more like you'd expect the Ixal's legendary Empress of Birds to look? Very interesting... maybe there was more to my musing than I thought...

http://rss.finalfantasyxiv.com/jp/bl...20130729_1.jpghttp://rss.finalfantasyxiv.com/jp/bl...20130729_2.jpghttp://rss.finalfantasyxiv.com/jp/bl...20130729_3.jpg

Garuda looks much more like a wyvern of some sort to me with a hint of Quetzalcoatl from FF8. Titan.. no clue haha doesn't remind me of anything. Ifrit almost looks like a direct port of Efreet from some of the Tales of series.

To me they almost look like... a minimalistic depiction of them, facial structure included. It's almost as if the egi are just caricatures of the real thing. They seem to have pulled out the features which are really striking in the primal, and then gone with it, leaving the rest behind. That'd fit nicely with borrowing a little of their essence or whatever the SMN questline will spell out for us -- and also puts a nice distinction on Summoner summoning and the FC summoning, if that's still going to be a thing.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

http://rss.finalfantasyxiv.com/jp/bl...20130729_1.jpghttp://rss.finalfantasyxiv.com/jp/bl...20130729_2.jpghttp://rss.finalfantasyxiv.com/jp/bl...20130729_3.jpg

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I actually love their appearance. They actually look like the element they represent. Ifrit -> Fire, Titan -> Earth/Stone and Garuda -> Wind. I would love to see the Egi versions of Ramuh and Leviathan (maybe Siren too?). I wonder what they would do with Good King Moggle Mog... Hmmm...

Next to that, the Primals we would probably not see in Egi form (at least for a long time) would be Odin and Bahamut. Still, my mind is trying to form a look that would fit an Egi version of Odin and Bahamut. Hehehe.

I think they look okay ^^ They look exactly like what I would picture for the description.

In a way they remind me of the cute pets from Aion...hehe would be cool if they changed slightly as we got higher level ^^

Could this be an effect of summoning a small part of their essence that pervades the aether without allowing their personality in?

As in, the personality adds definition to a basic aetherial form.

Personally, I think Ifrit and Titan look a lot like the real deal (and still very similar to the XI avatar forms). I can see 2 different forms of face on Ifrit... one, the black spots are eyes and he has no real mouth... but alternatively, the black spots (which are yellow on some other angles we've seen) are Ifrit's mouth. Since they glow at other angles... it seems more likely they're the mouth, since Ifrit also has a glowy mouth. There are some other slightly brighter red spots under the horns that may be eyes. Titan looks angry, and Garuda looks really... birdy...

Anyway... I get the feeling they're crystals or elementals with the essences of primals transcribed into them. Presumably, there will be a story quest for each one, resulting in a mini-battle with a primal, who will then give you a fraction of their power to create an egi with.

i'm inclined to go with catapults explination.

What does Egi mean, and how exactly is it pronounced.

I keep seeing it and going Eggy... which sounds pretty stupid.

"Egi" is the most absolute uninspired name they could have used for these manifestations of the primal beasts.

Words like "proto" "primordial" "arch" or any other such word would do so much better for english.

I find it rather strange the localization team would just use the exact japanese term.

Also is a summoner in ARR really a "summoner?" They seem much more like an Evoker/Elementalist than anything.

I hope they have good lore in ...... any part of the game, but most particularly in regards to an explanation as to why they dont summon the entire beast. If that fact is disregarded in the lore entirely I'll be rather unpleased. (Aside from the Free Company Summons. I hope they dont take the easy way out with just "just because.")

As for their looks, why cant they have legs? I mean is it really that difficult to add a few more sculpted textures/model-ization?

I admit that going by the original concept artwork I was personally hoping that somehow ARR developers had somehow managed to slip an idea of mine out of my dreams and create it (I wouldn't care, not as if I'm going to go into game development anyways). In that, the Ifrit concept art made it appear as though the SMN was going to be cloaked in the essence of the Primal, while the image of the Primal rises up above and around the player. What I had hoped at the time would mean that the Primal would superimpose itself as a 'shadow' over your player, giving the player unique benefits to the type of Primal, some animation effects unique to them. Such as, Ifrit claws sweeping in and out of the air to strike a foe you target, in place of your own book AA. (any idea what this is going to be? Are we book-thumping them, sending a focused ball of energy from the pages? I'm cool with book thumping. Makes it more..judge like. And not XII judge, I mean, real life judge. "going to throw the book at you!"

In anycase, so Ifrit would cloak you in fiery cloak, swipe with claws. Titan would cloak the player in amber energies while spikes of earth are shot out towards the target. etc etc.

But this way works too, because it reminds me of the Elementalist in GW2 that I so adored. Ifrit to be a straight up DPS, Titan to be a tank pet, Garuda to possibly boost speed/GCD reductions, Ramuh to zap targets, inflict paralysis debuffs, maybe even a shock spike effect to the player? And on and on it goes.

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Originally Posted by Catapult

Could this be an effect of summoning a small part of their essence that pervades the aether without allowing their personality in?

As in, the personality adds definition to a basic aetherial form.

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I agree with this catapult. To me it seems like the egi forms, being a small portion of the primals power, they are unstable and seem to almost be what the Primals could have looked like originally when the beast tribes were young. The longer time went by the more the tribes prayed to them, the more powerful they became (almost like the gods of greek times). The more powerful they became the more sentient they became and so on and so forth. So being that the egi's are a "sample" of the primals power it seems to make sense that they would look so "primal" if you will... very elemental looking with a very basic form. I personally really like the design of the egi's and if my theory is anywhere near correct then I feel like the other egi's should look pretty amazing too! I am Excite!

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Originally Posted by norrain13

What does Egi mean, and how exactly is it pronounced.

I keep seeing it and going Eggy... which sounds pretty stupid.

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It is pronounced "Eggy" but the has always been spelt "Egi".

Its literal translation (from Latin) is 'To do, drive, lead', or to 'pass or spend time', so I'll be honest and admit that I don't really see the link =/
The only other word I can find that comes close is "Egis", which is the name of an armour's breastplate (often used in the FF-series and spelt like 'Aegis', which is its more common form).

Garuda-Egi was also previously in FF XII, as a boss and (later) a normal mob.

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__...XII_Garuda.png

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Originally Posted by Daniolaut

As for their looks, why cant they have legs? I mean is it really that difficult to add a few more sculpted textures/model-ization?

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Ifrit is the only one I see without legs ;)

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Originally Posted by Daniolaut

an explanation as to why they dont summon the entire beast

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Well that's easy enough. It would [kupo!]ing murder you. You'll have cheesed most of them off in the main scenario by the time you get to unlocking the Summoner job, after all.

More exposition and personal theorising:

Through the Scions of the Seventh Dawn quests surrounding Ifrit (and tidbits from version 1.0), we learn that the primals are, in their natural state, part of the aether stream. The elemental aspect itself as you will. The act of summoning essentially causes that aspect to manifest itself.

And once it is manifested and worshiped, it likes staying that way. Their power is directly linked to the volume of faith in them, which explains why Ifrit goes out of his way to "temper" people (read: brainwash) into blindly worshiping him.

This tells us that a primal exists only through what sentient creatures believe exists. My conclusion is that if you believe Ifrit has a personality, or more specifically, if you believe in that specific Ifrit with that specific personality, if you will it to exist, then you are contributing to the wilful summoning and sustenance of that entity. Before you know it, you have a self-propagating cycle of thought creating reality creating thought.

A smart summoner would be sure to act on the summoning of a different manifestation. Perhaps we can't help ourselves by envisaging a form similar to what we know, but we sure as hell don't want the crazy harpy-lady to show up so she can slice open our necks. We want something we can have dominance over and control.

Egi. stupid? uninspired? silly?

At the time it was announced, I thought the name "iPod" was the stupidist name I ever heard. I thought the man (Steve Jobs) had lost his marbles. I literally facedesked. As it turns out, even silly-sounding names for things become popular if the thing itself is admired for its function or whatever. "Eggo" and "LEGO", just to name two more.

So I'm OK with "egi". (French: "egi", German: "egi", Japanese: "egi", FF XII: "egi") :cool:

As for appearance, I think they look good, and will look even better animated and in 3D. (I'll admit that the Titan-egi image did look like a sack of rocks to me when I first saw it...)

I'm def interested with what you can do with them instead of what they look like or what they're called. I'm also understanding that Carbuncle will come im many different colors! Is this true or just a concept?

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Originally Posted by Catapult

Well that's easy enough. It would [kupo!]ing murder you. You'll have cheesed most of them off in the main scenario by the time you get to unlocking the Summoner job, after all.

More exposition and personal theorising:

Through the Scions of the Seventh Dawn quests surrounding Ifrit (and tidbits from version 1.0), we learn that the primals are, in their natural state, part of the aether stream. The elemental aspect itself as you will. The act of summoning essentially causes that aspect to manifest itself.

And once it is manifested and worshiped, it likes staying that way. Their power is directly linked to the volume of faith in them, which explains why Ifrit goes out of his way to "temper" people (read: brainwash) into blindly worshiping him.

This tells us that a primal exists only through what sentient creatures believe exists. My conclusion is that if you believe Ifrit has a personality, or more specifically, if you believe in that specific Ifrit with that specific personality, if you will it to exist, then you are contributing to the wilful summoning and sustenance of that entity. Before you know it, you have a self-propagating cycle of thought creating reality creating thought.

A smart summoner would be sure to act on the summoning of a different manifestation. Perhaps we can't help ourselves by envisaging a form similar to what we know, but we sure as hell don't want the crazy harpy-lady to show up so she can slice open our necks. We want something we can have dominance over and control.

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My one beef with this idea, is if the primal exists through what the summoners believe... Why are the Sylphs so scared of Ramuh? He shouldn't come out crazy under them like Ifrit or Garuda do for their tribes.

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Originally Posted by Lusavari

My one beef with this idea, is if the primal exists through what the summoners believe... Why are the Sylphs so scared of Ramuh? He shouldn't come out crazy under them like Ifrit or Garuda do for their tribes.

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The Sylphs are split. I don't know as much about it as the more Lore-mongering people do, but I believe that the Green Sylphs are, in fact, terrified of the Primals. The Purple Sylphs are the ones which worship Ramuh and have become "tainted" by him, the reason they became purple in the first place.

If I'm wrong then please correct me, but this is what I understood.

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Originally Posted by PSxpert2011

I'm def interested with what you can do with them instead of what they look like or what they're called. I'm also understanding that Carbuncle will come im many different colors! Is this true or just a concept?

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http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/blog/post/501

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Originally Posted by Lusavari

My one beef with this idea, is if the primal exists through what the summoners believe... Why are the Sylphs so scared of Ramuh? He shouldn't come out crazy under them like Ifrit or Garuda do for their tribes.

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If Catapult's idea is as similar to my musing from the other day as it sounds like, the answer to this would be that these things are not mutually exclusive. If this idea has any merit, then it is only the outward appearance and aspect that the primal takes that is influenced by the summoner - not their core essence. In fact, the core essence may simply be the survival instinct that comes with existing at all - consume aether, get more aether, manipulate or kill anything it takes to get more aether. This raw form, be it the survivalist husk or an actual consciousness, would be given form by its worshipers. For all we know, The Twelve were ancient Allag of great power and importance and we, by worshiping their memory, accidentally deified them and gave form to aetheric concentrations like these, effectively creating the Gods themselves.

This survival instinct is terrifying regardless of what you believe about the primal. You could believe your God is Fernehalwes but it doesn't make it any less scary when he shows up promising lore tomes in exchange for crystals and pelting you with them when your offerings are insufficient. See? Fernehalwes is awesome and you're covered in bruises / papercuts.

Likewise, if my theories hold true, the Ixal and Amal are crazy because their primal was summoned. As beings of concentrated aether, they give off a sort of aetheric vapor at all times (like the mist in FFXII). It is toxic in high concentrations and causes paranoia and violence. The Amal and Ixal weren't crazy until they summoned their primals. This aetheric toxicity's effects were only exacerbated by enduring the crippling co-dependence and abusive manipulation of their "gods."

Your theory is also consistent with what the Sylphs had to say. They always said that the scaled-ones and feathered-ones were not violent until after they called the Primals. Another thing, though, is that the Primal summons require large amounts of crystals to summon them. The official page says "In times immemorial, there lived mages who had not only the power to summon the primals, but also the means to transmute the primals' essences, thus binding them to their will." So transmute means to change the nature of something, and then they bind it to their will. So my line of thought is Summoners must acquire a fraction of the Primal's power, which they can then command.

Let's also think about weapon choices here... Traditionally in summoning mythologies, you see summoning circles, or patches on the ground made for summoning creatures. We start to see them appearing in X, but they also show up a lot after X. Let's assume that in XIV, the Summoning Circles don't magically appear as part of the spells (The Beast Tribes seem to like summoning in specific places and have what's needed for ceremonies out ahead of time). The books provide easily mobile summoning circles, and probably lesser consumption of summoning resources (Magic, crystals) which would explain a smaller size, and incomplete summon. I like to think though, what's being summoned is just their essence, which is then bound to a catalyst like a crystal, giving them shape.

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Originally Posted by Lusavari

Your theory is also consistent with what the Sylphs had to say. They always said that the scaled-ones and feathered-ones were not violent until after they called the Primals. Another thing, though, is that the Primal summons require large amounts of crystals to summon them. The official page says "In times immemorial, there lived mages who had not only the power to summon the primals, but also the means to transmute the primals' essences, thus binding them to their will." So transmute means to change the nature of something, and then they bind it to their will. So my line of thought is Summoners must acquire a fraction of the Primal's power, which they can then command.

Let's also think about weapon choices here... Traditionally in summoning mythologies, you see summoning circles, or patches on the ground made for summoning creatures. We start to see them appearing in X, but they also show up a lot after X. Let's assume that in XIV, the Summoning Circles don't magically appear as part of the spells (The Beast Tribes seem to like summoning in specific places and have what's needed for ceremonies out ahead of time). The books provide easily mobile summoning circles, and probably lesser consumption of summoning resources (Magic, crystals) which would explain a smaller size, and incomplete summon. I like to think though, what's being summoned is just their essence, which is then bound to a catalyst like a crystal, giving them shape.

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Or, perhaps more likely, binding them to our own aether/soul to sustain them. If the transmutation was to say, align the primals essence from ambient aether absorption to a specific type of aether, in this case, ours, it would then become a dependency type of situation. If the primal wishes to exist, it does our bidding, as we're giving it the sustenance it needs to exist at all in our world.

To note, Arcanist magic IS heavily dependant on geometrical shapes. That's been told to me in an Alchemist quest where you need to make a grimoire.
They really depend on special geometrical patterns drawn in enchanted paint, that is why they carry books full of them for more ease than requiring creation of those on the spot, also why grimoires are written with enchanted ink of various types, from silver-based ink to plant-based.

ALSO the usage of Egi... According to Fantasia it means 'To do, drive, lead', or to 'pass or spend time' in Latin... You know, saying "Ifrit Egi" would pretty much be the same as saying "Ifrit Driven" or "Ifrit Led", which is exactly where I think they went the "Powered by" sense of 'driven by'.

Of course i'm not sure if latin works that way but, it makes sense

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Originally Posted by Skies

ALSO the usage of Egi... According to Fantasia it means 'To do, drive, lead', or to 'pass or spend time' in Latin... You know, saying "Ifrit Egi" would pretty much be the same as saying "Ifrit Driven" or "Ifrit Led", which is exactly where I think they went the "Powered by" sense of 'driven by'.

Of course i'm not sure if latin works that way but, it makes sense

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That makes the most sense out of any explanation of the word's usage I've come across; the pet being "driven by" the power of the relative Primal, tapping into its power, and not actually channelling from the Primal directly.

In a way I can kind of imagine the SMN pets being a kind of empty vessel, and that vessel only takes form once you've called upon the power of the Primal to 'complete' it. In a sense the pet could potentially be the same creature in every Egi state, but it's just being imbued with the essence of a different Primal whenever its summoned.

Egi is the first-person singular active indicative of ago.

Ago can mean a lot more than is listed in this thread so far, including the to manage, to guide, to govern, to put forth, or to arouse (as in stir-up or conjure).

I think that makes perfect sense.