[spoilers]3.2 MSQ Discussion/Reaction thread

[CyrilLucifer]

I love hearing people's thoughts. Any and all debates/arguments welcome.

I was surprised totally-not-Elidibus-or-his-servant actually came out of his hidey hole in the Stones and helped us directly with Sephirot. And, not entirely surprising, the Garlean story has been integrated into the Triad.

I'll post more later when my Antitower queue actually pops.

[Zul]

To Quote a character im very fond of,

"A Drink..." "tis long overdue!"
/sigh
/faint

[Anonymoose]

TO BE UPDATED AS I GO


Revelations in the Antitower

So, we've got information on the old cosmological order. The Light and the Darkness were as one reality, but (so Hydaelyn claims,) Zodiark broke the balance in His lust for power. (Not a hard story to believe.) Hydaelyn thus banished Zodiark to the heavens, forcing them to remain forever apart - planet and moon.

However, this separation put reality under such stress that the planes shattered. We are told that thirteen reflections were cast, implying that our world is the last of the frequently cited fourteen - the original. In each of these reflections is stored a shard of the Light and Darkness' power. Zodiark plots his revenge by using the Ascians to re-merge these reflections, and have so succeeded seven times.

So ... we've got LIGHT, and DARKNESS and the Original World. Twelve reflections remain.

Is the math finally started to make sense?
The seven heavens, minus Light?
The seven hells, minus Darkness?

Even siding with Hydaelyn as loyally as I have, I can't help but wonder what of the story has been left out. We could one day find that Light and Darkness are not supposed to be as separate as they are... but if the planet and moon separating created out reality and stressed it to its limits, can we really just undo that and expect anything of the familiar to survive? Seems so unlikely, even now. And yet all we get from the Warriors of Darkness is a grumpy look from Darklander.

The Dragonsong War

Well, that didn't go according to plan. And the art direction sure took a very Resident Evil approach to Estinihogg. And this war just got suddenly much more complicated. How does Hraesvelgr respond to his brood brother attempting to slay his daughter? Would the dragons unwilling to follow Nidhogg fight alongside the Ishgardians? Would Ishgard let one last generation go to their graves fighting dragons for a true purpose? It seems like a fitting end to the war, really. Ishgard does what they do best, but for the friendship of the dragons who refuse hatred. But then you have Celestial Dragon vs. Celestial Dragon. How does that work in the grand scheme of things? Or do we write Nidhogg off as long-dead, squash his eyes, and wander away with Estinien?

[CyrilLucifer]

So I think a few of us are going to be quite vindicated for our worry.

Our worst fears for Minfilia were realized. She's not entirely an individual anymore.

And yes, those were glowy eyes of doom. it actually made her look very doll-like and innocent. I wonder if that was intentional after the demon dolls of Antitower?

Also, definitely getting FFXI vibes from the Zodiark bit. The whole "as one, split, wanting to be whole" bit again is very much Promathia. That might have been what Yoshi was referring to in the that interview saying he was intentionally drawing parallels to XI's multiple worlds. But in the end of CoP, Promathia was accepted by his partner once again. Interesting.

My own random baseless crackpot

Notice the phrase 'maintaining her form' is used regarding Minfilia?

Now, what if we gave her a crystal. . .

Edit as I continue: Oh hey, I was just having a conversation about Aymeric earlier today.
Glad to see that that particular tidbit wasn't ignored.

One thing I'm appreciating in this patch, more than normal, is how expressive the WoL is now, complete with dialogue options to boot. No more pure blank-faced stoicism, we get some actual reactions.

Well, we can see where 3.3 is going now. It just seems it's a bit more...physical than I believed. I'm not sure if we can just Echo separate them with the eyes burned into his flesh like that. Though I honestly wouldn't be surprised if we can somehow magically save the day, because we're us and demi-god miracle workers. I wouldn't be surprised at Hraesvelgr having a part in 3.3 as well.

Last update -
So, ah. That first Alex quest.
That's a neat little book he has there, hmm? And here he is, spouting Second Best Ascian's lines about how fate is written, too.
Of course, I could just be seeing things I want to see and it may be disproven later in the questline (which I probably won't have time to do for about 12 hours).

[Nalien]

On Nidhogg;

As I suspected, Nidhogg can switch between Dreadwyrm and Dragoon stance... And absolutely no indication of where he went during 3.1... My money is still on him plotting something with the Garleans to ensure the hammer of the Empire is brought down upon Ishgard regardless of how the Dragonsong War goes... No, not him allying with them, I swear if one more person reads "Tell the Garleans that Ishgard have their own Primal" as "Nidhogg and Garlemald are BFFs"... We even know he can take on human form now, so you can all shut up about how Garlemald would shoot him on sight, despite that being a fairly terrible rhetoric anyway; They shoot us on sight, and we still have pleasant little conversations with them after, all without becoming their BFFs...

On Minfillia;

Yay, she sacrificed herself to deliver us a message and... cut out before she could finish it... Seek what? Bah! All the "Seek <something>" in various lyrics are going to bug me now...

On Hoary Boulder;

Anyone else get a Blue Mage vibe from his comments about the souls of his enemies? I certainly did...

On Y&P

Well, not really, but it came right after them... That mask? I'm guessing Illberd was the fella walking up to it, just because we've not seen him for a while...

Still think Y&P are in Paglth'an, though... We got the Popes throne room in 2.4 before 3.0, after all, so why are we getting clearly Thanalan areas for Y&P if they're in Gyr Abania? I can see Ala Mhigan refugees spilling over into Paglth'an, and I could see Garlemald having a station there they same way they have in Sea of Clouds, and it certainly is the closest place to Ul'dah that we can't go...

[Rocl]

okay some responses & my own reactions
@Nalien/Hoary

I read it entirely as a tie-in to the Zodiac Braves / Zodiac Weapons being a big thing in the East. Blue Mage would be neat though

@Gods of Eld

Well, shite, this makes me skeptical of Lil'dibus theory, but I still think it's likely. I'm also glad how they chose to handle Extreme encounters of the Triad--things like Ramuh and Shiva EX always felt weird canonically to me.

Regula confirmed Kefka. Not surprised, but it's nice to know. If he ends up pushing Varis off the Flagship to his death and Garlemald is treated to another War of Succession, MAN

A little disappointed I couldn't find any changes on the Flagship

A lot of Sephirot's attacks seemed to be Dravanian named? His theme was rather unexpected and definitely seems to point "the truths of the world" again.

@MSQ

Ziggy Stardust? Really SE? Right in the heart.
A bit disappointed in the Word of the Mother since it more or less told us that the New Years' Poem (and the Gerun Oracles) was close to the mark. I could've lived with ambiguity for more veiled confirmations tbh.

Another patch another day we remain never knowing who killed Niellefresne. Especially since this was the "Minfilia patch" I was really holding out hope....

I kind of want Isildaure to join us in a battle someday.

I seriously thought Vidofnir was gonna end up dead there too. Honoroit as well tbh, I should really shake that first reaction.

The mask being Ilberd is a neat idea, my first thought went to the Disjointed One from XI's ROV and I really hope it isn't that.

I liked the melee combat, but didn't like the post-3.2 teasers.

Where's Alisaie? Where's the Ascians? Maaaaaaannnnnn

[Chewy2nd]

My first reaction to mask dude was actually "That's Nero" lol

[CyrilLucifer]

@Gods of Eld

Well, shite, this makes me skeptical of Lil'dibus theory, but I still think it's likely.

The very last sentence of your post? That was me. No Pashtarot, no Second Best Ascian. I cried.

As for the spoilered quote

He's still related to Elidibus, guaranteed, and almost undeniably Ascian, but there's a reason why I put -or-Elidibus'-servant in my horrible nickname list. I think it's also likely that he is to Eli as Chalice and co were to Lahabrea.

[Grayve]

Can I ask what was the mask being picked up right after Yda and Pap had a scene? I didn't recognize it.

[Nalien]

My first reaction to mask dude was actually "That's Nero" lol

My first reaction was a resounding "Smokin'!"

This kicked Sephirots theme out of my head, not sure if ok with this...

Can I ask what was the mask being picked up right after Yda and Pap had a scene? I didn't recognize it.

No idea... If I've not just missed it, I'm guessing it is something along the lines of Tupsimati... Some ancient artifact of some sort...