Serving the pope a good length of steel?

[lololink]

I hope he won't try to sexual harrass us like his son ( ? how haurchefant is related to the old man ? ).

[Balipu]

I hope he won't try to sexual harrass us like his son ( ? how haurchefant is related to the old man ? ).

He what? Did I miss something?

[Jonnycbad]

I hope it's more complex than just the ole' predictable "evil clergy trope". I've played enough Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy X to grow weary of any powerful religious sect in an FF game. It was cool how FFT did it because it paralleled the Catholic church during the middle ages in some ways. They creatively took it to the next level though by making the church's story of the 13 holy stones and their zodiac braves story actually actually a bastardization myth wherein the stones were evil and the braves were actually demons. I could see FF14 already going down the FFT route given that "The 12", "Zodiac Braves", "Soul Stones", and "Zodiark" are all from the sameself game. I just hope it's a more complex story than a rehash of an evil Yevon/Glabados church, manipulated from behind the scenes by Lucavi/Ascians.

[Alberel]

I hope it's more complex than just the ole' predictable "evil clergy trope". I've played enough Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy X to grow weary of any powerful religious sect in an FF game. It was cool how FFT did it because it paralleled the Catholic church during the middle ages in some ways. They creatively took it to the next level though by making the church's story of the 13 holy stones and their zodiac braves story actually actually a bastardization myth wherein the stones were evil and the braves were actually demons. I could see FF14 already going down the FFT route given that "The 12", "Zodiac Braves", "Soul Stones", and "Zodiark" are all from the sameself game. I just hope it's a more complex story than a rehash of an evil Yevon/Glabados church, manipulated from behind the scenes by Lucavi/Ascians.

I am curious to find out what the relationship between the Archbishop and the Ascians is. It would seem they're playing him in a manner similar to how Lahabrea played Gaius, in which case they've offered him something and I'd like to know what that is. It's possible that he doesn't actually realise he's being manipulated though. There are still a fair few ways this could play out.

It's all reminding me of the situation in Jeuno in FFXI though and the eventual battle with Eald'narche. Hell I wouldn't even be surprised if we get a surprise plot twist that the Archbishop wasn't even the one calling the shots the whole time.

[Dalvy]

He what? Did I miss something?

Haurchefant in JP text is way more aggressive in his admiration and infatuation with the WoL.

I actually hope that Edmont is way worse than Haurchefant >.>

[Samcaesar]

I kinda hope we take down the Pope, if not for the silly factor of saying "Yeah, my friends and I just kicked the pope's ass", but it's pretty clear that most of the Ishgard Holy See is ripe with paranoia and witch hunting, it needs to be fixed before they kill more people, and from my limited knowledge of FF, that usually is done by going for the top.

[Balipu]

Haurchefant in JP text is way more aggressive in his admiration and infatuation with the WoL.

I actually hope that Edmont is way worse than Haurchefant >.>

Ahh okay. I just didn't realise 'he' is referring to the suspiciously vampire looking Count Fortemps and not Pope Thordan.

I kinda hope we take down the Pope, if not for the silly factor of saying "Yeah, my friends and I just kicked the pope's ass", but it's pretty clear that most of the Ishgard Holy See is ripe with paranoia and witch hunting, it needs to be fixed before they kill more people, and from my limited knowledge of FF, that usually is done by going for the top.

Well seeing that we will team up with Iceheart and ride Midgardsormr we can be pretty sure that we will be against Ishgard in the dragonsong war. I just hope the new pope won't be a Lala. That never ends well.

[LineageRazor]

It would seem they're playing him in a manner similar to how Lahabrea played Gaius, in which case they've offered him something and I'd like to know what that is.

Well, there's one pretty obvious carrot that the Ascians could be dangling in front of him: victory in the war against the dragons. Or, at the very least, Awesome Power of some kind, which could be used against the dragons. Ishgardian motivations generally aren't too hard to figure out: They hates them sum dragons.

As for serving the pope a length of steel, I have this odd suspicion that running the old man through wouldn't make us very popular in Ishgard. Then again, we DO seem to be able to literally get away with murder, since we walk freely around Ul'dah even while being the primary suspect in the murder of the Sultana...

[Kaiser-Ace]

As for serving the pope a length of steel, I have this odd suspicion that running the old man through wouldn't make us very popular in Ishgard. Then again, we DO seem to be able to literally get away with murder, since we walk freely around Ul'dah even while being the primary suspect in the murder of the Sultana...

Well, that's an exception to the rule. If we literally carry the pontiff's severed head out of the cathedral and put it on a pike that's a little different then being accused of murder by people no one trusts and no evidence of the Sultana's death being provided. Honestly for all we know she could still be alive. The Ex-Goldsmith Guildmaster still is even after being "Dead" (Read Suspended Animation) for roughly 20 years.

[Jonnycbad]

Having beaten FFX, FFXIII, and Xenosaga, I'm tired of Papalcide.

Heads of clergy are always either a demon in disguise or being manipulated by a demon. I wouldn't be surprised if the Arch Bishop of Ishgard has always been an Ascian, though they prefer to manipulate and watch from the shadows (e.g. teaching everyone how to summon, then observing the lulz from afar).

Also Ascians seem to posit they aren't evil and that they're similar to you. It could be the whole FF3 thing where dark isnt evil and light isnt good, but rather balance is important. In otherwords, Hydaelyn herself, becoming to powerful, could result in the destruction of everything. A lot of npcs towards the end kind of hint at this. They start mentioning how humans' expansion and subjugation and destruction of the land is making the human races disproportionately more powerful than the other beast races. So to the beastmen, our Primal Hydaelyn, is just as evil as Garuda or Ifrit and they probably think we're tempered, except we just call it echo. Probably why ifrit's temper doesn't work, because we're already "tempered" by Haedy. Inb4 an expansion comes along where we've been used all along and the final final boss is the goddess herself after we've restored her power. It'll be like Brave Fencer Musashi's Dark lumina. By gathering the crystals we actually unknowingly powered up the goddess and then she switches demeanor and becomes a b*tch. Maybe i've just played too much MGS and i'm too used to plot twists.