Several nitpicks/questions on MSQ [spoilers]

[Radishlaw]

Just finished MSQ yesterday, I have several questions (or maybe nitpicks).

Q1. Why did the emperor leave when Livia come in with her magitek armor? I am pretty sure his big ship can do support fire like Gaius' in 1.0's Futures Perfect and it would blow us up pretty good.

Q2. When we finally got to ram into Azys Lla's shield, the opening looks just large enough for the Enterprise Excelsior. But then the battleship start chasing us, leading to Shiva's final performance. Does that mean our ram actually completely destroyed the shield forever, leaving Azys Lla a free-for-all in the future?

Q3. Do we know if the emperor is still on the ship after Ysayle's kamikaze?

Q4. Y'Shtola claimed she used flow to escape, after trying to teleport Thancred. Is there any evidence that a "teleport other" is possible in Eoreza?

Q5. Minfilia claimed she received a call from Hydaelyn telling her to go help, but Y'Shtola did not mention having seen her. Am I forgetting something or is there any reason that would explain how this can be?

Q6. I am a bit confused about how did Thordan and his knights "consume" Ratatoskr. Wouldn't having her eyeballs be enough?

Q7. Are the Heavens' Ward's transformation more of a "dragon's cursed blood" thing or more of a primal thing? They don't seem to have any crystals/power source on hand when changing, unlike Iceheart.

Q8. Does this Tataru outfit exists in game or some kind of dev fan-service?


Q9. On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are we going to see Path Companions in some capacity? The storyline seems to be heading towards confrontation with another set of people with power of the echo...

Any answer to these would be appreciated.

[Kallera]

Here are my answers on these. Feel free to correct me or add more.

#1: said support fire can also blow HIM up pretty good. His legatus person is a more likely person to do that.

#2: not sure, but if we are to go by general magitek technobabble, shield generators make a shield around the entire object, designed to do this without holes. the enterprise piercing through the shield means the shield have overloaded or otherwise failed, causing the shields around azys la to go down.

#3 The ship was damaged, not destroyed. You see it later, so the emperor is clearly still alive.

#4 teleporting in a party.

#5 i don't think we asked that from her, at least i didn't see anything of the sort. Its likely the cave in happened before minfillia ran back.

#6 More flesh= MORE POWAAAAA. That is all. (In addition, taking in the flesh of Ratatoskr also means they've consumed her essence. They and their descendants, with dragon blood as a trigger, can turn into dragons. The kicker from the plot is that this isn't just some heathen thing. but everyone related to the Knights Twelve, which means almost everyone in Ishgard, is capable of this.)

#7 they are becoming primals, the individual Knights Twelve of Thordan (Knights of the Round)

#8 it kinda looks like valentione, but i wouldn't be surprised if it has its own flair to it.

#9 dunno, i really want path companions back though.

[Rocl]

1) Lucia's performance, while grand probably didn't warrant heavy fire from the Gration. Technically the Gration would have greater firepower than the ship in Futures Perfect (as it was a 'regular' Garlean airship hidden by the Keeper) and posed more of a risk to the Emperor than was necessary.

2) I expect the shield around Azys Lla collapsed after the aetheric ram pierced it. This would explain why both the Gration was able to get through and why Free Company Airship Exploratory Ventures can bring back Allagan materials (used to create schematics for more powerful Airships, funnily enough) and explains the FATE mentioned in #3.

3) We don't know if Varis is onboard the Gration while chasing the Warrior of Light, but I expect not. They would have written themselves into a real corner with Gration stranded on Azys Lla (though if the barrier is truly collapsed, future Garlean Airships arriving isn't out of the question to ferry him back to Garlemald-- and the FATE Scared Sylla seems to confirm this as it mentions Sylla mal Albinus has recently arrived from Garlemald to Azys Lla)

4) I'm not sure what you mean by "Teleport Other." In a sense, don't we always "Teleport Other" when porting a party away to an aetheryte camp? It's possible our Teleport requires the consent/knowledge of the target, but "Flow" is a different, more powerful and forbidden spell.

5) We don't know how long we ran after splitting up with Y'shtola and Thancred before Minfilia had her epiphany. It's possible Y'shtola had already used Flow by the time Minfilia arrived at their location, or her way was barred by rubble from Y'shtola's magicks.

6) Possessing the Eyes probably would've required them to be used in the same way Estinien uses Nidhogg's. That is, they would need to have them on their person and actively use the aether/power within them. By consuming the Eye this probably isn't necessary, as they would always have the aether/power of the Eye with them. Sharing 2 Eyes among 13 people is problematic. Eating them lets everyone get a piece of the eye-cake-pie. Additionally, they could simply have just been as misguided and misinformed that it was necessary for them to eat the Eye to use it's power. The HOW they killed her, however, is still a mystery. All we really know is she was "betrayed" at Tharl Oom Khash.

7) I don't think the Heaven's Ward had access to any draconic powers, though I'm unsure of how their transformation works (but I expect this to be cleared up later). They didn't show any use of dragon's blood or anything of the sort until they brought out Haldrath's tomb in Azys Lla to create Ascalon. They only possess 2 of the 3 standard primal hallmarks: prayer and Ascian involvement; missing crystals.

8) It's a dyed Valentione Apron Dress. The rest I can't see because she's a short person, but all of it likely exists. Those look Bridesmaid shoes?

9) I'm going with 0, as sad as it may be. I expect them to be casualties of the Calamity and handwaved/never mentioned again.

[Dalvy]

About Azys Lla, yes the shield was completely removed. If you speak to the hunt npc in Forgotten Knight, he tells you that a crazy merchant lady wants the B/A/S ranks dead so she can start looting the placd

[Astrid_Stormborn]

About Azys Lla, yes the shield was completely removed. If you speak to the hunt npc in Forgotten Knight, he tells you that a crazy merchant lady wants the B/A/S ranks dead so she can start looting the placd

Rowena, you think?

[WyrahFhurrst]

Rowena, you think?

Without a doubt. Do you know anyone else that has access to that kind of information and the kind of ambition?

[Daralii]

7) I don't think the Heaven's Ward had access to any draconic powers, though I'm unsure of how their transformation works (but I expect this to be cleared up later). They didn't show any use of dragon's blood or anything of the sort until they brought out Haldrath's tomb in Azys Lla to create Ascalon. They only possess 2 of the 3 standard primal hallmarks: prayer and Ascian involvement; missing crystals.

Small nitpick, it's only a large amount of aether that's required, not crystals. Crystals are just a convenient means to transport something that's otherwise intangible.

In the Singularity Reactor they could presumably use the Eye for that like Thordan did, though I have no idea where they got it in the Vault. I can't remember if Haldrath's coffin was on the airship with them when they left; if it was, they were probably using the Eye there too.

[Anonymoose]

Q1. Why did the emperor leave when Livia come in with her magitek armor?

When you're dealing with the leader of a massive nation that only just consolidated power after it nearly collapsed into civil war, you do not f[kupo!]k around. Hydrus had the right idea - you stand between your leader and the enemy and order immediate withdrawal. No risks, no escalation, no crossfire; just GTFO.

Q2. When we finally got to ram into Azys Lla's shield, the opening looks just large enough for the Enterprise Excelsior. But then the battleship start chasing us, leading to Shiva's final performance. Does that mean our ram actually completely destroyed the shield forever, leaving Azys Lla a free-for-all in the future?

After the Enterprise-sized hole shatters, the rest visibly disables.

Do we know if the emperor is still on the ship after Ysayle's kamikaze?

I'm sure there was a debate about whether it was more risky to leave him stranded on Azys Lla, but on the Gration, or to transport him home to safety, but using a smaller Dreadnaught. I don't know who won that debate.

Q4. Y'Shtola claimed she used flow to escape, after trying to teleport Thancred. Is there any evidence that a "teleport other" is possible in Eoreza?

I imagine we're just playing by normal teleport rules but without everyone knowing where their anchor is and no game mechanics to tell you no, this person's never been there, they might get lost in the stream or end up somewhere unintended.

Q5. Minfilia claimed she received a call from Hydaelyn telling her to go help, but Y'Shtola did not mention having seen her. Am I forgetting something or is there any reason that would explain how this can be?

As Rocl said, it's probable that they were already gone by the time Minfilia got back. It's possible that Y'shtola was the only one Flow'd away and Hydaelyn told Minfilia to go back or lose Thancred, or it's possible that Minfilia's orders were related to Yda and Papalymo, or completely unrelated to the Scions at all. Please look forward to it!™

Q6. I am a bit confused about how did Thordan and his knights "consume" Ratatoskr. Wouldn't having her eyeballs be enough?

I'm not sure they even knew how to otherwise harness the power (as an Azure Dragoon would) at the time, other than to take their power into themselves. As Rocl said, dividing the eye-pie seems like the most efficient and obvious route for thirteen people to become empowered.

Q7. Are the Heavens' Ward's transformation more of a "dragon's cursed blood" thing or more of a primal thing? They don't seem to have any crystals/power source on hand when changing, unlike Iceheart.

They are a direct reference to the summon Knights of the Round from Final Fantasy VII (Hence Archbishop Thordan VII and the Heavens' Ward), which makes me assume primal. As for the missing aether, I don't know. If you go by the SMN quests, an infusion requires less aether than a manifestation to start. Perhaps they had crystals unseen, perhaps their lineage of having consumed Ratatoskr's eyes made them more aetherically sensitive, perhaps the Ascians did something. I haven't puzzled that one out, yet.

Q8. Does this Tataru outfit exists in game or some kind of dev fan-service?

They're correct - pink Valentione's. You can even see the V on it in that shot.

Q9. On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are we going to see Path Companions in some capacity?

Unknowable, but probably pretty low. I'd be surprised if the game even remembers what I named my Path Companion, and the vast majority of current players never had one to begin with.

[Cilia]

1. Personal danger. In regards to the Enterprise vs. the Gration, while the Gration is superior in size and firepower the Enterprise can outmaneuver it any day. It's not equipped with weapons, though, so there's not much we can do. Just think back to how a cadre of X-Wings took down the Death Star.

2. Yes, the aetheric ram used to break through Azys Lla's shield completely destroyed said shield.

3. I don't know where else he would be, though given some time passed between our time in the Sea of Clouds and when we broke into Azys Lla I wouldn't be surprised if he went back home to Garlemald or something.

4. When you teleport in a party with party members in the same area, they can teleport with you. Plus, Flow is forbidden magic and doesn't follow the rules of normal teleportation.

5. Y'shtola had already cast Flow by the time Minfilia ran back, so the cave was already collapsed and Y'shtola (and maybe Thancred) were lost in the Lifestream. Of course they wouldn't have seen each other.

6. The implication is that they literally ate her eye(s), which contain a dragon's power / life essence, to give it to themselves without needing to cart the thing(s) around. That way they all have a modest power boost instead of giving a huge one to one person or a large one to two; makes a more effective fighting force.

7. It's a primal transformation, just like Ysayle used Shiva as a Super Saiyan mode. How they do it without crystals and aether, well, that's the question I don't really know. The Knights of the Round fight is reasonable because Thordan and the Knights are using Nidhogg's eye as a source of aether (which is stated to be a practically bottomless reservoir), but how the knights do it when we fight them individually (during the Vault, f'ex) I don't know.

8. That's a dyed Valentoine Apron. I could replicate the outfit with a little effort, but... ehh.

9. 2 - 3. Most players don't have them and they seem to have been discarded in the change from 1.x - 2.0.

[Berethos]

Perhaps they had crystals unseen, perhaps their lineage of having consumed Ratatoskr's eyes made them more aetherically sensitive, perhaps the Ascians did something. I haven't puzzled that one out, yet.

Possible they already access to the aether needed via the other eye - in the quest "Alphinaud's Way we see where one (Ser Zephirin) can already transform, and we know they've long had the body of Haldrath and thus the other eye.

I don't think when it's used to create the blade and turn Thordan VII into a primal that it was the first time it was used. Smaller amounts of aether used to create the less powerful primal forms of the twelve is, I believe, a likely course of events.

I'm not clear on what they needed from Azys Lla regarding their plans (perhaps something related to better harnessing the power, or better controlling it when summoned), but the aether needed almost certainly in their possession well before we even came to Ishgard.