2.5 - Before the Fall

[Nalien]

It can't be Zodiark because I think that is going into somewhere in 3.0.

Zodiark is technically just another Primal, 2.0 is meant to conclude the Primal threat storyline, so it's likely the Ascians/Zodiark will be dealt with by the end. They could always return though, I kind of get the feeling that Lahabrea is making his own plans...

That said, I doubt the Mystery Trial will be anything significant to the story, considering it is in 2.5 not 2.51+ where the story concludes... I find it far more likely it will be another Ultima Ballad style fight, perhaps with Gaius van Baelsar and his team of utter weaklings.

I mean where would you go after a dark god?

East, then to the past, then west, if Final Fantasy XI is anything to go off. Who's to say Zodiark is even the only dark god? They've got plenty they can do given XIVs fanservice nature.

[WellFooled]

Zodiark is technically just another Primal, 2.0 is meant to conclude the Primal threat

I don't think we should be so sure of this, seeing as how two new Primals have already been announced for Heavensward. Maybe there will be less of a focus on them than before, but I don't think the concept is going away any time soon.

[Nalien]

Maybe there will be less of a focus on them than before, but I don't think the concept is going away any time soon.

I believe that's exactly what Yoshida said; they wont be the focus anymore, though Alexander is a thing now, so as usual I'm getting mixed messages from the guy...

I could actually see the Mystery Trial being Zodiark, since all the pieces for us defeating the Ascians are already in place save one, and I'm thinking the 2.51 story content is marking the return of Nidhogg, with "The Battle for Ishgard" being the dragons first assault, which we help repel resulting in Ishgard welcoming us in come 3.0. So 2.5 could resolve the Ascians storyline with 2.51 setting up the expansion. I'd still put my money on Ultima Ballad 2.0, though.

The mystery trial is Odin, I believe.

There is a decent chance that this "Mystery Trial" will be Gilgamesh Extreme.

I was under the impression "Urth's Fount" and "Revenge of Gilgamesh" were self explanatory.

[DarkStar]

I was under the impression "Urth's Fount" and "Revenge of Gilgamesh" were self explanatory.

To be fair, I had skimmed over most of the stuff from the last Live Letter, since I was really only interested in information on the new jobs. Still, good to see that Gilgamesh is definitely getting an Extreme Mode.

...Still hoping that he drops joke weapons. >w>

[Balipu]

I don't think we should be so sure of this, seeing as how two new Primals have already been announced for Heavensward. Maybe there will be less of a focus on them than before, but I don't think the concept is going away any time soon.

Not to mention anyone who still uses the 'just another Primal' argument wasn't paying much attention to the story. Moogle Mog and Shiva muddied the defintion of Primals quite a bit. First, we need to clear up what Primals are. Then we can end their threat.

By the by, three Primals have been announced, not two.

[Nalien]

Moogle Mog and Shiva muddied the defintion of Primals quite a bit.

How so? Primals are still just manifest belief through large quantities of Aether/Crystals.

Moogle Mog was effectively just an explanation on the origin of Primals (further explained in Final Coil with a bit of Bahamuts backstory), they worshiped a legend enough and managed to manifest it, turning Moogle Mog from a simple legend into an actual Primal. The Scions were confused because they're slow. Shiva was basically the same, only difference being everyone shat themselves because Iceheart was a person rather than a beast tribe... Apparently all the Scions forgot that time their Grandpa explained to them how they could summon the Twelve and how that actually did happen...

The only thing left to figure out is how we go about summoning them ourselves, which is no doubt what 2.5s main quests are going to revolve around given the Keeper of the Lakes involvement (Iceheart did tell us to go there to learn the truth). Once we can summon Primals they're not much of a threat anymore. In fact they become the weapon we use to defeat the Ascians, though again, the Scions are slow... While they were sitting there wondering how they could get a blade of concentrated Aether to kill Ascians with, I was shouting at my screen trying to tell them that Primals are concentrated Aether... "Come on you idiots! You even watched Leviathan end an immortal only to comment that it wouldn't work on Ascians because they can escape with their Dark Crystals... That's why you brought in this Auracite stuff to trap them!", seriously, it's like one step forward, two steps back with them... "We can probably kill Ascians if we can trap them!", "Now that we can trap Ascians... How do we kill them?" Sigh...

[Balipu]

[QUOTE=Nalien;2688336]How so? Primals are still just manifest belief through large quantities of Aether/Crystals.

/QUOTE]

What I ment is that there aren't really Primals, just certain creatures and ideas that are summoned as Primals. As for calling creatures 'just primals', well it all depends on the ammount of aether used. Remember what happened to Bahamut at Carteneau?

[lololink]

What I ment is that there aren't really Primals, just certain creatures and ideas that are summoned as Primals. As for calling creatures 'just primals', well it all depends on the ammount of aether used. Remember what happened to Bahamut at Carteneau?

It's the definition of a Primal, a summoned creature made a god, as for Carteneaux you mean summoning the twelves ? They weren't truly summoned so that they wouldn't drain all th aether.

[Balipu]

It's the definition of a Primal, a summoned creature made a god, as for Carteneaux you mean summoning the twelves ? They weren't truly summoned so that they wouldn't drain all th aether.

No I ment his rather one sided fight with Louisouix.

Not gonna say more as I don't know how to do spoiler tags but I think you know what I'm trying to say.

[Airget]

Apparently all the Scions forgot that time their Grandpa explained to them how they could summon the Twelve and how that actually did happen...

I was shouting at my screen trying to tell them that Primals are concentrated Aether... Sigh...

With the first part I think the old man made them forget what he did because recall they also forgot who the "heroes of light" were, that the players from 1.0 were not in the memories of anyone. If that much is true then it's also safe to say that he might lock away the knowledge of how to summon a primal because he doesn't want the Scions to rely on that. However seeing as SE (if they still have this planned) is still setting up to have roaming primals that can be challenged and then taken control of and used once for a big attack, then the finale of 2.5 may lead to that.

Which is where the second part comes in, using the Primals. But you have to recall, power corrupts, so to use the very source they had fought so hard to prevent isn't as simple as it sounds, in a way you start to enter a domain with high risk to it. Yes they could gather crystals and summon a primal, but then they are doing the same exact thing the beastmen were doing when they summoned the primal. However maybe this is where Odin falls into place. The reason we might be getting the Odin trial is because the Scion may consider him as a Primal that could be used against the Ascian, he came from nowhere and is the only primal to of not gone through a ritual to summon. He sort of just appeared after the incident with Dalamud.

The only other Primal that might serve to help the cause is Ramuh because out of all the Primals, Ramuh is the only one that appears to have sanity in a sense, he isn't as corrupt as the other Primals and I imagine he would be willing to lend his power to help take out the ascian.

So the truth is they don't have to summon a primal themselves, they could attempt to use Odin or ask Ramuh for help Though it is possible that the "special trial" may relate to the Ascian fight now that I think about it.

Though that's my guess with the way the Scion are acting, yes they could easily gather crystal to use a primal, but then they would be no different from the beastmen, and in the end their first purpose was to prevent/limit the damage caused by Primals so if they were to turn around and start using a Primal themselves not only would it go against what they stand for, but then the three nations who see the Scions as an independent group would have to consider taking actions for doing something as dangerous as summoning a Primal.