Who's the greater threat? (spoilers)

[Orophin]

So for those caught up (or have read up) on the three primary story arcs, Zodiark and the Ascians, Syrcus Tower and the Cloud of Darkness and Bahamut, which do you feel is the greatest threat to Eorzea currently?

Discounting Bahamut for the time being, this question really came up after seeing the Cloud of Darkness cutscene. It is a "being" that wants to draw everything into the void. (reminded me of Ex-Death a lot actually) To me, Cloud of Darkness seems like a more immediate threat than the shadowy Ascians trying to revive Zodiark, but we know practically nothing about Zodiark or his capabilities.

I also saw Minfilia give a nod during the main story that she also recognizes these three main forces in motion at the moment. I can't help but wonder if all of these are going to converge at some point. I think Yoshi-P had hinted at this in one of his various interviews around E3.

Anyway, curious to hear others' thoughts on this.

[Morningstar1337]

Id say Cloud is the immediate threat but Zordiark is the greater threat. But then I haven't tried Coil yet so I don't know how close bahamut is to being freed

[Rikkustrife]

There is also Omega Weapon.

It would be between Cloud of Darkness and Zodiark are the biggest threats, then bahamut, then omega weapon

[Saikou]

They're intertwined. At least, that is my belief. I believe that The Wold of Darkness / The Void and The Aetherial Realm, aka where the Ascians live, is the same thing. The Cloud of Darkness is a very powerful Voidsent as far as we know. If it were true to its FF3 origins, it should be on par with XIV Bahamut in terms of power. Probably more powerful considering that it commands armies of vidsent. It is likely that, due to the segregation of story and gameplay, we will be given the appearance of The Cloud of Darkness being quite weak. I say this because she is likely to be the final boss of the next leg of Crystal Tower. But who is to say? The Ascians and Zodiark are ultimately playing the long game and thus the greatest threat, IMHO. I don't see Bahamut as an ongoing threat for the simple reason that The Ascians haven't taken an interest in anything happening within The Coils. He seems to serve no purpose to them, while Dalamud's fall and the calamity caused by Bahamuts release do seem to have been a part of their master plan. Bahamut just seems to be toying with certain characters involved in TBC storyline. While the how and why have yet to be sorted out, Bahamut is clearly in pieces and not in a position to go Megaflaring as he did when initially released from The Ragnarok System.

The end of 2.3's main scenario proved a theory that Thancred is likely not the only person who has been Dark Crystaled in recent memory. While it's unclear if The Archbishop has been dark crystaled, it is certainly implied that Ishgard is being manipulated by Ascians and quite possibly has already been manipulated by them for some time. It would also not surprise me at all if Teledji Adeledji had been dark crystaled and that this is ultimately why he has become such a villain: It's more than mere greed or lust for power. I just don't believe that a gambling house owner suddenly is very interested in acquiring a WMD which could allow him to take over the world. It just doesn't follow.

Edit: Rikustrife - IMHO, Ascians-Zodiark-Omega are pretty much the same thing. The whole Carteneau Reclamation Bill issue, see above, stinks of something engineered by The Ascians to keep the nations of Eorzea from gaining power through unity. Throw this thing out there that would give one city state great martial power if it was to acquire it. Why would that nation need to cooperate with the others? And the Ascian desire for chaos is assured.

[A_Magical_Unicorn_Rider]

Nope.

The greatest threat to Eorzea is the atma drop rate.

;D

[Saikou]

While that might be true, Xande's hidden stash of UAT's counteracts the atma problem. I can haz Laevatainn.

[Catapult]

To ask which is the greater threat is missing the point. Each is a significant and unique threat in their own right and needs to be taken seriously in its own right. Prioritise them at your own peril.

[Bauti]

Btw what do we know about Chaos?

[Alberel]

What a lot of people are overlooking is that the Ascians, Bahamut and Omega Weapon are all part of the same problem: Zodiark. The Ascians are using Bahamut to achieve their goals. We also know the Weapons were built using Ascian technology (Ultima Weapon was constructed using the Heart of Sabik as its power core, provided by the Ascians, and I find it very unlikely a more powerful model would not also be based on the same tech). Whatever becomes of our final confrontation with Bahamut and our inevitably failed attempt at using Omega Weapon to destroy him it will ultimately play into the Ascians' hands.

The Cloud of Darkness is a wildcard and we don't know if her story will be tied into the main scenario properly or not just yet.

[LillithCale]

What a lot of people are overlooking is that the Ascians, Bahamut and Omega Weapon are all part of the same problem: Zodiark. The Ascians are using Bahamut to achieve their goals. We also know the Weapons were built using Ascian technology (Ultima Weapon was constructed using the Heart of Sabik as its power core, provided by the Ascians, and I find it very unlikely a more powerful model would not also be based on the same tech). Whatever becomes of our final confrontation with Bahamut and our inevitably failed attempt at using Omega Weapon to destroy him it will ultimately play into the Ascians' hands.

The Cloud of Darkness is a wildcard and we don't know if her story will be tied into the main scenario properly or not just yet.

Reading this, at least the top part, suddenly made me think a scenario where we find ourselves teamed up with the primals to defeat Omega weapon. A crack theory for sure, but, if one thinks about how upset Garuda got at the appearance of Ultima, it stands to reason the primals would want Omega gone ASAP.