3.1 MSQ Reaction [SPOILERS]

[Frederick22]

Y'know I think 3.15 will have some MSQ content as well as the relic.

I hope you right, but sadly there was no confirmation. On 2.5 Se said that MSQ would be splitted on 2

[Anonymoose]

All this situation with Gaius really made me feel pity about him.

Same. If you closely follow his story from beginning to end, he was what I call a true believer. He bought into the notion that the Garleans, the second coming of the great empire of Allag, were all that stood between the planet and its destruction - that might is right and all nations must be brought under the Imperial standard by will or by force in order to save them. And, compared to others in the Empire, Gaius acted (at least as far as his principles were concerned) with honor. The problem lies at the heart of Garlean philosophy. Their brutality and ruthlessness undermine their own cause, especially as they spend far more time treating the symptoms than the cause and even end up spreading the fear, rage, and hopelessness that causes people to welcome primals and Darkness into their hearts. They, like Allag, are yet but pieces on the board.

However ... XIV, as the successor of XI, takes great strides in setting the standard for what it means to be an installment of Final Fantasy Online. As FFO becomes a celebration of past games, invoking previous installments in a way that stand-alone main sequence games cannot, I'm not entirely sure that Yoshida-san and co. are ready to let the mascots of their own game go down so early in its life cycle. Did we see the death of Gaius van Baelsar the man, or only the end of Gaius van Baelsar, Legatus of the XIVth Imperial Legion and loyal servant of Garlemald?

[Frederick22]

snip

The title "true patriotic" would not be better?

[Tenkuu]

What advantage would eliminating us give to Elidibus? We have the Echo, the Blessing of Light, and have proven that we are a "warrior's warrior". He stands to gain more if he can slowly influence us to join his cause. We might lose the Blessing, but we proved we could manage without it. I think it's safe to say everything he does is towards that goal. Why bring out the WoD? Because they would be more influential to the WoL than an Ascian.

True, but if we are in his way, the easiest option would rather be to try to eliminate us. He certainly didn't stop Lahabrea from trying, after all, so clearly he was not completely opposed to the idea. On the WoDs though, we are not exactly likely to start trusting people of about equal strength to ours who randomly attack us and our friends, so I don't see how they would influence us in any way other than being one more enemy for us.

[Tenkuu]

I think Lahabrea came to him right after - when Louisoix cut off the seventh rejoining. The ARR Echo of the Battle of Cartenau suggested that Lahabrea was sure that this is it, baby. Why come to Gaius before that? Once the whole "phoenix" thing happened, I think Lahabrea figured - welp - needs moar chaos - and pulled Ultima out of Gyr Abania's basement knowing that Gaius would be the most likely to embrace gifts of extraordinary power in such a way that he'd immediately use them to wage war.

About that, why didn't Lahabrea go for Omega after Ultima's destruction?

[*] The Garleans attacked Silvertear Lake because they, too, knew of the legends about the place and realized its aetherial importance and knew that it could be tapped for summoning. (Confirmed by Fernehalwes)

So what were they aiming to accomplish by attacking it? Were they going to occupy it?

Same. If you closely follow his story from beginning to end, he was what I call a true believer. He bought into the notion that the Garleans, the second coming of the great empire of Allag, were all that stood between the planet and its destruction - that might is right and all nations must be brought under the Imperial standard by will or by force in order to save them. And, compared to others in the Empire, Gaius acted (at least as far as his principles were concerned) with honor.

I don't think I can call a man who would sanction the slaughter of several innocents "honorable". Not to mention that he essentially made his move against the Waking Sands when the Warrior of Light was otherwise occupied and then proceeded to capture those he did not kill. To me, Gaius is not so much honorable as, like you said, a true believer. More than that though, I think he was a very practical man who, instead of relying on blind faith in some gods who only respond to crystals, instead relied purely on his own strengths and abilities.

[ChazNatlo]

About that, why didn't Lahabrea go for Omega after Ultima's destruction?

He was out of commision due to his injuries from the ass Kicking we gave him in the Ultima incident. By the time he got back into the ring, Various Parties were already trying to uncover Omega. Same with the Crystal Tower. He either already did put them into motion, or he didn't need to.

So what were they aiming to accomplish by attacking it? Were they going to occupy it?

Assuming they could capture and control the lake, and they could contrive a way to effectively valve the flow, they'd control the primary flow of Aether entering Eorzea ((All of Hydelen? I'm not actually read up on that.)) I don't know of their motives, but I'm pretty sure that being able to mete out aether at their discression to whomever bows down to them ((and presumably isn't using it to summon Primals)) would put even more pressure on Eorzea and the Alliance than Ultima did. Areas without Aether die, right, I understood that correctly?

Edit: also, no Aether, no Primals. and Primals=bad.

[CyrilLucifer]

Lahabrea might have been going after Omega. Keep in mind that the Overlords don't do all their own dirty work, Lahabrea and possibly the others at least have servants do a lot for them as well. Even when Lahabrea dies his servants are still working to see his will fulfilled; a little thing like being banished to the void wouldn't stop his plans completely. There was that one line in 2.2 or 2.3 in Ul'Dah that may have implied there was Ascian involvement in the plot. That plot may have been one of Lahabrea's backup plans for Omega. Or it might not have been Lahabrea's at all, but another Ascian's. Honestly, we don't know in this case and I can only make conjectures.

When you can teleport around at will, you can work multiple fields. I wouldn't be surprised if he at least had his hands in other countries events, similar to how it was said that Hydaelyn has multiple people working for her throughout the world.

His little pet project did seem to be the altering of mortals into Primals, but he was arrogant enough to put Nabriales in change of that, to Nabriales' chagrin. So he wasn't overseeing even his favorite projects. Alternatively, I like to think Elidibus was giving Lahabrea a little smack on the hand as he made Lahabrea work with him in 2.X in Ishgard, so he had to put Nabriales in charge because he couldn't personally oversee it.
Belated edit: Point being, Lahabrea was otherwise occupied, but could have very much still have influenced events in some way, like he did with Ysayle.

[Keramory]

I must have missed the part with URIANGER , where was this in the main story???

[Cilia]

Did we see the death of Gaius van Baelsar the man, or only the end of Gaius van Baelsar, Legatus of the XIVth Imperial Legion and loyal servant of Garlemald?

While I would also like Gaius to come back, as he was a good and honorable opponent for the most part who we could have been friends with under better circumstances, he was stuck in the exploding Praetorium we ourselves barely managed to escape. While he can come back, perhaps reformed as Nero seems set to, that would be a bit of a Deus ex Machina in my opinion unless they did it really well.

About that, why didn't Lahabrea go for Omega after Ultima's destruction?

Aside from being out of commission... who knows. It might be an impractical solution, or it could be because Lolorito and Teledji were already going at it. Where they learned about it from, who knows? Maybe it was even... an Ascian! Dun dun dun!

So what were they aiming to accomplish by attacking [Silvertear Lake]? Were they going to occupy it?

Probably. If they controlled Silvertear Lake, not only would they be assured that Primals would still be hard to summon, but it would probably be a great source of aether for their magitek.

I don't think I can call a man who would sanction the slaughter of several innocents "honorable". Not to mention that he essentially made his move against the Waking Sands when the Warrior of Light was otherwise occupied and then proceeded to capture those he did not kill. To me, Gaius is not so much honorable as, like you said, a true believer. More than that though, I think he was a very practical man who, instead of relying on blind faith in some gods who only respond to crystals, instead relied purely on his own strengths and abilities.

If you're referring exclusively to the Waking Sands raid... the casualties were likely a result of Livia's rather loose morality (and sanity). He probably told her to go capture the Archons, and well... she's kind of a psycho bitch, so wouldn't care how many casualties she caused - her orders were to capture the Archons, anything else she could take liberties with.

Gaius was definitely a true believer, but to be fair, he had some valid points even if he was too extreme to really be good. He was also definitely a professional, practical man who relied on his own abilities instead of a deity, which is why I respect him so much.

[Cilia]

I must have missed the part with URIANGER , where was this in the main story???

It's the very last scene. You can rewatch it as the last scene in "As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness" in the Unending Journey.

EDIT
It's actually the next-to-last scene. The last scene is the Yda and Papalymo setup.