Campfire Discussion: Opening Cinematic Theories

[BruceyBruceyBangBang]

My theory with the imperials and their drive to rid the primals of Eorzea may have something to do with another celestial being that they do not view as one. It was said on the company page that they had a sudden boom in technology that seemed to come out of nowhere. I think all this time the higher ups have been controlled by a machine. Possibly Alexander.

[Anonymoose]

My theory with the imperials and their drive to rid the primals of Eorzea may have something to do with another celestial being that they do not view as one. It was said on the company page that they had a sudden boom in technology that seemed to come out of nowhere. I think all this time the higher ups have been controlled by a machine. Possibly Alexander.

Ohoho, now we're talking. I'd love to see Alexander at the heart of their technological golden age - he certainly fits the bill for "Magitek," doesn't he.

I'm curious as to why the Empire is still moving on the "False Gods" if their King is down - so that does raise some doubts about Bahamut. Perhaps it all goes back to the idea that the rest of the primals can eventually revive him if they're not eradicated.

What I really want to see develop is a few more clues to the mystery as to who the real bad guys are, here -- I don't fully trust Urianger.

I wonder how long we have to speculate and how far off track we have to get before someone shows up and goes, "OKAY, IT WAS BAHAMUT, JEEZ."

[User201109011315]

Dissecting the song "Answers", it seems like the whole thing is just a cosmic joke/natural process of "rinse and repeat".

[Catapult]

Dissecting the song "Answers", it seems like the whole thing is just a cosmic joke/natural process of "rinse and repeat".

That would be a better definition for Dissidia.

When I dissect the song, I get "how do we overcome futility?"

[User201109011315]

And the "answers" to that question of overcoming futility remain elusive. By the end of the song, it seems like a bittersweet resignation to the inevitable rather than an overcoming of futility.

Anyways, I just thought of something today which kind of solidifies the theory that Siren is the one who awakened us and gave us the power of the Echo. If you remember the R38 story quest, Ifrit explains that we have the ability to summon our own Primal, the one who tainted us. And the very first thing we hear upon entering the game is a female voice, "awakening us". The same voice sings in the themesong Answers, which relies heavily on the harp to provide the bassline, and harp is a motif used in FF games for Siren! Hence siren awakened us and gave us the Echo.

Ifrit also says that there can be only one true God, so perhaps that's why the Garleans are at war with the primals - they are doing the bidding of their own primal, who is trying to secure dominance among the Primals. And maybe we are all just pawns in the Primal's power struggle.

And maybe that's what Uriangar is warning players against.

[Konachibi]

And the "answers" to that question of overcoming futility remain elusive. By the end of the song, it seems like a bittersweet resignation to the inevitable rather than an overcoming of futility.

Anyways, I just thought of something today which kind of solidifies the theory that Siren is the one who awakened us and gave us the power of the Echo. If you remember the R38 story quest, Ifrit explains that we have the ability to summon our own Primal, the one who tainted us. And the very first thing we hear upon entering the game is a female voice, "awakening us". The same voice sings in the themesong Answers, which relies heavily on the harp to provide the bassline, and harp is a motif used in FF games for Siren! Hence siren awakened us and gave us the Echo.

Ifrit also says that there can be only one true God, so perhaps that's why the Garleans are at war with the primals - they are doing the bidding of their own primal, who is trying to secure dominance among the Primals. And maybe we are all just pawns in the Primal's power struggle.

And maybe that's what Uriangar is warning players against.

Scarily he's starting to make sense!

I did wonder about the voice at the start of the game.

Also check out this video. The leader of my linkshell made it using the opening cinematic and bits from cutscenes

[Murugan]

First things first: Devs are welcome (read: encouraged) to answer any of these questions should they see fit; we always love it when a dev sits at our Lore Campfires and dishes out some canon.

TL;DR Version: Questions We Keep Seeing
- What AG do we see here?
- Where are they fighting?
- Is that Bahamut?

I see these questions as worth finding the answers to, but when they come up in the forums, they often only show up for a half a page or so before we get back on topic and forget about them - so let's wrap them up here. I'll add alternate theories and more questions, should they arise, to the OP as we go along.


My Analysis:
Three players gather at the Ishgardian Adventurers' Guild and choose to tackle a guildleve in Mor Dhona (Likely then a region of Coerthas).

Evidence:

• It's not an AG we've seen so far.
• On his map, The Elvaan centers his gaze first on central north Aldenard.
• The camera pans over (presumably) Silvertear Falls into Silvertear Lake.

Engaged with the Marbol there, the party is interrupted by a fleet of Garleans moving south, engaged in battle with the wyrms of Dravania over the heart of Mor Dhona.

Evidence:

• When the Hume wakes aboard the Imperial Juggernaut, the sun is fading from view as night falls. This means that when we first see the airships sweep over the battlefield of the party's levequest, the sun is just beginning to set. If the sun sets in the west, the empire is moving south.
• The Empire's only stronghold on our continent is Ala Mhigo, which means they likely went around Gridania, through the Rothlyt Sound, and into Coerthas, hoping to catch the King of the Primals off guard.
• On the map, the Dravania has a wyvern/wyrm right above it. Seeing as there aren't many in Coerthas, but the Wyrmking does /PERCH/ there - I assume the rest are hanging out back there somewhere.
• When we see the battle raging, we can clearly see the crystals visible in present-day destroyed Mor Dhona sticking out of the ground.
• The airship crashes here, and we can go see it still there in Mor Dhona, making the rest of this just as likely.

The Wyrmking Bahamut descends on the Garlean armada and tears it to shreads, crashing down into Mor Dhona and dying/going dormant as the entire area is destroyed.

Evidence:

• He's still there.
• When the dragon 'dies,' he explodes into light and other primals (Specifically: Ifrit and Titan) fly outwards. This would be in line with the rest of the primals being "freed" from the reign of their leader, presumably making this great beast the Wyrmking Bahamut.
• The Grand Company page clearly says the Garleans were met with a Primal after they had conquered Ala Mhigo. I believe that the appearance of Bahamut over Coerthas, where we know Ishgard has already been battling back the scalekin (likely from Dravania) is what tempted them to ignore the conquest of Gridania and strike fast and hard at the heart of the false gods.

Who challenges my analysis?
Who has more questions?
Who has alternate theories?

Every time I see the cutscene for pre-disaster Mor Dhona I get depressed that we didn't get access to it instead.

So I'm hoping the whole sequence/echo exists as a warning to us, and that eventually we can actually travel back in time where we have to save/defeat Bahamut before Mor Dhona/Bahamut is destroyed/the primals are released/or whatever.

Point is give us this silvertear falls/old Mor Dhona and let us try and avert the travesty that zone became.

[Konachibi]

Every time I see the cutscene for pre-disaster Mor Dhona I get depressed that we didn't get access to it instead.

So I'm hoping the whole sequence/echo exists as a warning to us, and that eventually we can actually travel back in time where we have to save/defeat Bahamut before Mor Dhona/Bahamut is destroyed/the primals are released/or whatever.

Point is give us this silvertear falls/old Mor Dhona and let us try and avert the travesty that zone became.

You may be on to something there.

Perhaps in the future we may see Mor Dhona operating through a 'phased enviroment' like some other MMO's have started using. where some of us who haven't completed the 'save mor dhona quest' will still see it as we see it in-game now, and others who have done the quest will see it in it's original form before it was destroyed.

Given the graphics engine on this game, that waterfall would look amazing :3

[Davorok]

With the Guildleve system it seems like we are in GroundHog Day every 10 levels. You kill a monster or capture a criminal and the next day it's like it never happened and you do it again.

So in the Opening Cinematic, did they kill Bahamut (or another Primal)? Does it matter since every Guildleve seems to be an "Echo" of something that already happened and we are doomed to repeat it till we "graduate" to a new set of Leves.

I guess I have not seen enough of the Main Story cutscenes to understand what's going on but by implying that the whole opening scene was just part of a Guildleve confuses me a great deal. Personally, I would like to see a brand new Opening Cutscene upon PS3 relaunch that focuses on an actual story rather than a Guildleve Tutorial.

[Murugan]

You may be on to something there.

Perhaps in the future we may see Mor Dhona operating through a 'phased enviroment' like some other MMO's have started using. where some of us who haven't completed the 'save mor dhona quest' will still see it as we see it in-game now, and others who have done the quest will see it in it's original form before it was destroyed.

Given the graphics engine on this game, that waterfall would look amazing :3

I sure hope not I don't like phasing. I'd rather it be a limited time effort like one major content's patch worth, where everyone playing then has the opportunity to participate and then at the end it is changed forever (and you can never do it again).

Phasing is cheap, and content is destroyed eventually anyways. I'd like to see once an expansion or once a year for there to be some meaningful content I could participate in that would change the world permanently.

(I don't mean events, I mean real content of all type/playstyles including:

• An Epic quest line
• Culminating in a solo version, and a higher tier group encounter that ends the particular storyline.
• "Largescale" PvE (like XI got late in its life, as in everyone can participate)
• Genuine challenging endgame Alliance Content

No real gear progression would be needed, no bait at all would be needed other than maybe a title, or other token for people to remember it by. People will do it to experience it, and that would make this MMO so unique.