Seal Rock Returns

[Kaiser-Ace]

I've always been terrible at comprehending the 1.0 storyline, so the summary is very much appreciated. I've always wondered just how different the planned story path for 1.0 was supposed to be, since it appeared to be setting up a lot of elements (a central focus on the Battle of Silvertear Skies, the starshower, the horns, etc) that have generally only been touched on in minor ways since.

I was happy to see Rostnsthal show up in 3.0, though.

I've often wondered if there even WAS a planed story path. I didn't even join 1.0 until patch 1.22. So I was only on for about a year before that thing had it's big finally. And it was all I could do to get to level 16 si I never even saw any of the "Path of the Twelve" story arc. (Since I found the 1.0 CS in my journal I wish there was a way to unlock the parts you didn't see via echo side quests or something, that way even new players could see what happened)

[Anonymoose]

I have a feeling that a lot of the major themes were exactly what we're seeing now, albeit in a much less polished, more time-strapped form that lacked a lot of the since-added substance. You can see the original main scenario in A Realm Reborn, but stripped for parts and rebuilt (taking into consideration the what knowledge we'd gained about the Empire and nature of primals, as well as the fact that we'd just been hit by half a Calamity).

Plot Comparison

• Wake to the Echo
  • V1: Complete mystery what it is
  • V2: The Crystal is introduced immediately
    • Assumption: Invocation of Classical FF Themes
• Settle into a New City
  • V1: Echo shows events of 1562, alluding to primals, a coming Calamity, and mysterious, dark machinations
  • V2: Echo helps resolve a post-Calamity issue, directly connects to primals and reveals the Ascians
    • Assumption: Convoluted story introduction rethought
• Meet Minfilia
  • V1: Invited to the Path of the Twelve
  • V2: Invited to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn
    • Same principle, more about the Echo is known. Minfilia's guidance updated for post-Calamity circumstances.
      
• Meet the Primals
  • V1: Crystal trade collapses; Ifrit is summoned
  • V2: Crystal thefts occur; Ifrit is summoned
    • Even dialogue is the same
• Meet the Empire
  • V1: Baelsar bids Eorzea accept Garlean rule; fight the tribes or be subjugated
  • V2: Baelsar attempts to subjugate Eorzea
    • Assumption: In V1, we didn't really know whether it was a better idea to accept the Garleans and steamroll the primals, or join with the Primals and try to destroy the Empire. In V2, Nael has already made the Garleans' motives and methods clear. The story was shifted to reflect this lack of ambiguity; neither option is acceptable - we are on our own.
• Version 1.0 main scenario is severed early and shifted to the Rise of the Seventh Moon scenario.
  

If Version 1 had continued, I assume we'd have fought more primals, learned that the Ascians were awful, came head to head with Gaius van Baelsar (original outcome unknown), and then moved on to Dravania and Ala Mhigo. Pretty much all signs pointed to that; and now we're doing it - just having taken a several-year side trip through Dalamud to make sense of the world's drastic changes.

It's easy to forget that, even now, in Heavensward, we're only taken our very first steps forward. We've been retreading the same ground, just more thoroughly. We're just now coming back to where all began, where we were supposed to go four years ago - back to see what the Fall of the Keeper was all about.

Don't be surprised if, later in the Patch 3.0 cycle, we learn a lot more about where it seems 1.0 left off with Midgardsormr and how that knowledge moves our plot forward.

[Keres]

That's true, 2.0 does generally follow a similar trajectory to 1.0, just in a more straightforward way. I wouldn't have been surprised if the Ala Mhigo subplot was supposed to be fleshed out earlier (that whole thread has felt pretty neglected up until very recently), but the direction they've taken things in 3.0 has been very good in its own right.

Some of the finer details of 1.0 still leave me wondering, though; why did the Primals appear when the Agrius exploded? What were the Starshowers? (I seem to recall it was assumed at one point long ago that observing the Starshower was what bestowed you with the Echo, but...) I assume that those things won't lead to earth-shattering revelations, but I'm still a bit curious after all this time.

[Zohar_Lahar]

So I'm wondering where those horns came from. They seem to be similar in function as Nidhogg's eyes (in that that can be used to summon/create primals).

[Kaiser-Ace]

So I'm wondering where those horns came from. They seem to be similar in function as Nidhogg's eyes (in that that can be used to summon/create primals).

i'd say that the horns, like the Eye of Sabik, are OoParts (Out of Place Artifacts) and are remnants of a Pre-Allagan civilization that has been lost to time and history. Only the Ascians seem to have any real understanding of their purpose or function so we can almost guarantee that they are really old, really powerful, and of a danger level we have yet to comprehend.

[Anonymoose]

why did the Primals appear when the Agrius exploded?

This is confirmed to be part of the Version 3 patch cycle. 3.X - Please look forward to it!™

What were the Starshowers? <...> assumed at one point long ago that observing the Starshower was what bestowed you with the Echo

I'm not sure the starshower will be covered, but I hope so. We even saw it a few times in 2.0! There are two places people have seen it, [1] as their first vision from Hydaelyn, and [2] in-person when it actually happened in 1562. Though some people have connected it to the fall of Dalamud, we saw it long before Dalamud was even a thing, which would make it a rather large retcon (not impossible, of course). My assumption has been that it was the opening of the Voidgate after the Fall of the Keeper, but maybe we'll get some answers once we know more about what exactly Midgardsormr was protecting.

[Daralii]

They've put the rule previews online already. Looks like Seal Rock has now some Giant Allagan Tomestones, have they always been there? We'll also fight against each other to grab info from them. It's a capture the flag / sieze. While I'm a bit tired of allagans on side quests, this will mostly give us more lore about 1.0 and maybe some more about how people were dealing with the calamity over the past five years. Will this frontline also have connections with the Main Scenario like Cartenau had? Even if mininal, but I honestly don't expect much lore from it. I hope SE surprises me.

It looks like they're emerging from the ground, so maybe the island's on top of some giant Allagan structure? Would possibly explain its supposed movement.

Wonder if the tomestones emerged as part of the signal that brought Azys Lla down.

[Kaiser-Ace]

It looks like they're emerging from the ground, so maybe the island's on top of some giant Allagan structure? Would possibly explain its supposed movement.

Wonder if the tomestones emerged as part of the signal that brought Azys Lla down.

In before Seal Rock is another Allagan UFO (Or I guess USO since it's in the ocean)

[Viridiana]

(I seem to recall it was assumed at one point long ago that observing the Starshower was what bestowed you with the Echo, but...)

I think the… not "consensus," but the "shared maybe," so to speak, is that it's an event that happened in 1562 at the same time that the Ascians entered Eorzea and that a generation of people awakened to the Echo. Our characters also seem to have it as our first visions upon awakening to the Echo, though this connection is as yet unexplained.

[Rocl]

In before Seal Rock is another Allagan UFO (Or I guess USO since it's in the ocean)

Disappointed with the lack of quest involved to unlock Frontlines (Seize) and looking up the duty on the Eorzea DB to sate my curiosity proved this to pretty much be a fact

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...y/96723c6d739/

Legend has it that Llymlaen sealed a giant serpent She Herself created within Swallowtail Roam, an island said to drift about the sea so that those with evil intentions might never find it. When Seal Rock was first discovered, many believed it to be the selfsame island─but its true nature remained unknown until the Calamity laid her secrets bare. Upon their return to the island following the fall of Dalamud, Allied forces discovered Allagan tomeliths containing a wealth of knowledge. They concluded that the entire island was in fact an Allagan construct─a proving ground for Omega and other technology they developed to combat the primal threat. As was the case in Carteneau, control of the island and its resources remain disputed, and peaceful negotiations have failed to achieve a resolution. And so, once more, they would settle the matter on the battlefield.

tldr; Seal Rock was the thing everyone thought was Swallowtail Roam but SURPRISE ALLAGAN CONSTRUCT

So basically Seal Rock was the Allagan Locke's Lie :P