[spoilers]3.2 MSQ Discussion/Reaction thread

[AdamuKun322]

Little offtopic.

Once you finished MSQ 3.2
Where are the ncp of the Scions? I dont find them anywhere ( Y'shtola, Thancred and Krile )

Maybe they went their separate ways to reflect and learn?

[Ayuhra]

Unukalhai, I believe, is a Lesser Ascian (I actually didn't know people were hypothesizing he was directly Elidibus until I saw people posting it here, hence why I'm usually typing totally-not-Elidibus-or-his-servant, of course, he very definitely shares Elidibus' goals and we can use him to try to figure out what Elidibus seeks, as the 12th Lessers did for Lahabrea). I'm super excited for Cutest-Ascian's story, though, because it might just segue into a slightly more sympathizable view of Ascians.

Some of the theory that Unukalhai is Ellie or an avatar thereof is that, aside from the similarity in appearance and mysterious motives and connection to Urianger, Unukalhai is a name for Alpha Serpentis. In FFT Elidibus' zodiac sign/job class is Serpentarius. It seems to suggest there is at the very least a connection between them. Servant is definitely possible.

Serpentarius is the older name of Ophiuchus the "Serpent-Bearer" so servant actually suits the names better.

[Frederick22]

Maybe they went their separate ways to reflect and learn?

They never disapeared before, not since well 2.55

[AdamuKun322]

They never disapeared before, not since well 2.55

Hmm.. Well Thancred is somewhere in the Western Highlands. So Y'sholta and Krile should be at Falcon's Nest.

[CyrilLucifer]

snipsnip

Oh trust me, I'm the very first person spouting that Unukalhai is related to Elidibus precisely for that reason. His name means he literally cannot be. However, I just didn't think he was directly Elidibus.

(Also, who thought it was a good idea to put Sephirot into Trial Roulette?)

[Theodric]

(Also, who thought it was a good idea to put Sephirot into Trial Roulette?)

You're lucky. I want to get Sephirot again - but I ended up getting Ravana instead. As an aside Sephirot is very cool, I think. I hope the other two encounters are just as impressive - if not more so.

As for the Elidibus theory...there's definitely a connection and I do want to see a more sympathetic view for the Ascians. I'm hoping we get the same for Garlemald too though - especially with the Emperor. I mean imagine how conflicting it'd be if the Emperor finally sees things our way but gets killed by Regula. Then just as the potential for peace with Garlemald emerges the Ala Mhigans strike and screw it up. Add a fresh succession crisis into the mix and there's a lot of potential for change.

The more I think on it the more I believe that the Ascians are manipulating Garlemald to ensure that they don't ally with the WoL because then the WoL would have the full might of Garlemald behind them.

(...and completely unrelated but I would love a 'third eye' glamour. At least if they add a new Garlean raid/dungeon there's the potential for Garlean themed gear...right?)

[Kallera]

Hmm.. Well Thancred is somewhere in the Western Highlands. So Y'sholta and Krile should be at Falcon's Nest.

They are not there.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Finally finished (most of) the story-related stuff this patch, so here are my very-late impressions.

On the whole, better than 3.1, largely because so many things actually happened. Something about the Dragonsong stuff in particular leaves me a bit cold (heh), though, maybe because the problems it introduced got resolved so quickly and simply (I was expecting the business with with the disgruntled citizens to be a MUCH bigger problem when it was introduced, see below). We'll have to see where it all goes in the end!

On Minfilia/The Anti-Tower
The AntiTower itself felt lazily implemented. Most new locales have at least some foreshadowing and buildup, but the whole "oh we just remembered this incredibly convenient research center oh it's in Matoya's cavern!" schtick really came out of nowhere. The bosses (Porrogos aside) also felt haphazard in their placement, as fun as they were to play. It makes me really torn about it as a dungeon, to be honest.

But in regards to the plot: I'm not, for whatever reason, as passionately against sacrifice as a storytelling device as many seem to be here, but it really had me wondering a lot about our Mother Goddess' goals. Hydaelyn has now had Minfilia by Her side for Some Time, and yet has never made any move to actually use this avatar to talk to us. About the only thing that makes sense to me is that Hydaelyn grabbed Minfilia when it was most convenient for her to do so, what with Flow having just been cast, and was waiting until some Appointed Time to contact us when we came a-knockin'. I don't think She's so weak that she NEEDS to use Minfilia in the Aetherial Sea, but rather that She did so to show us where our friend had gone; as much as I'm reluctant to take what She says about Her relationship with Zodiark at face value, I don't think She's a malicious goddess. Good luck telling that to our Scion friends, though. It'll certainly be interesting to see where this takes Thancred especially.

On the Dragonsong War
Much of the events in this bit had me mentally referring to it as "The Wounds Weren't Lethal!: The Patch". The Barmaid, Honoroit, Vidofnir...all of them fake-out death scares. At least I now know how Chirurgeon is pronounced (although a French friend of mine insists that the "kai-ruhjin" they used is wrong). Anyways.

I really thought that the Emmanellain stuff was going to play out differently, based on his demeanor at the end of 3.1 and some of the quest descriptors, all of which made him seem reeeeally shifty. Basically, I figured he had gotten it into his head that ending the war wasn't such a good thing and was acting to sabotage negotiations - in fact, I believed that to be the case right up until the stuff with Honoroit. I thought he'd gotten his guard to shoot the girl to incite the people to anger, his general disillusionment with his own place in his family making him care little for being a scapegoat. I guess that would have essentially made him irredeemable, but oh man, can you imagine if Honoroit had died as a result of his actions, were that the case? Instead, it's just his general incompetence, and while it was nice to get some development out of him, it ultimately didn't make all that much of an impact on me.

The Grand Melee was a really cool bit. I've always enjoyed the instanced combat setpieces of HW, but this one was especially neat, and I could see it being implemented as a form of mass PVP in the future (which I'm sure is a totally original observation on my part). The fight against Raubahn was fun, and I find myself both glad and morbidly disappointed that it wasn't a more serious development that brought us into conflict with him. That said, I'd really like to see more from the other City-States in the near future; some of Yoshida's interview comments made me think that they'd get a bit more involved in 3.2 than they did, but I guess we still have several more patches to go before 4.0, so we'll see.

And Niddhog! That whole ending certainly threw a wrench in things. I'm really curious what exactly the physical properties of this creature are. There was obviously a reason why he showed up as Estinien, and while I initially thought it to be a ploy to enrage the dragons looking to negotiate a peace, that was more than a little undermined by him turning into Niddhog at the end there. Since he used Estinien's form to do anything that required physical action of him, it makes me think that the Nidhogg Shade is really just that - a shade, projected over the possessed body of everyone's favourite Rude Dragoon. It will also be interesting to see where exactly Aymeric falls when the time comes to save or sacrifice Estinien, and honestly, I could see it going either way. Is it well-known in the game itself that Estinien and Aymeric were especially close, as was expanded on in Tales from the Dragonsong War? I feel like their history is almost certainly gonna come up at some point.

And as for the teases at the end...the Thancred one is kind of intriguing, given the Minfilia developments, but I was a bit let down by the Yda and Papalymo one. It felt a bit haphazard and tacked on. That said, that mask is interesting; a quick search around tells me that nobody seems to recognize the mask itself, so the tease must be the fact that somebody is Masking Up. I could have sworn the goggled guy among the antagonistic Sky Pirates was Ilberd, though (same scar and everything!).

This has turned into quite the post, so I'll do a separate one about Sephirot and Midas later, I think.

[CyrilLucifer]

I agree about the Antitower feeling rather lazily implemented. It almost felt like it should have been last patch, or at least have had a bit more buildup than the one line from Krile in the Stones once you finished the 3.1 MSQ.

It's really odd. 3.1's MSQ felt really short and as if it was missing some content, but 3.2 unbalanced and almost too MSQ content-heavy. Maybe some of the Falcon's Nest events should have been pushed forward to give the Antitower and the Minfilia events a bit of extra time, as well as to give Aymeric's mural idea a bit of time to stew with the populace.

But, well, what's done is done and we (or SE) can't do anything about it now.

I actually though Emmanellain was going to sabotage things as well, but fail at it and get caught. But in the end he wasn't even that competent and the thought didn't cross his mind. Here's to hoping Artoriel gets some nice development as well, I think his issues run a lot more deeply than his little brother's.

[Tracewood]

I'm actually concerned with Thancred's ego as of late. The turn of events changed him to a bitter rugged rogue, perhaps it was needed character development and I'm curious to see where the story takes him

Three things come to mind that led me to think this:

• He became an Ascian puppet AND you had to rescue him
• Left to his own devices in the wilderness and forced to survive.
• Losing the one person he truly cared about, believed in for a cause.

He's obviously upset about Minfillia's fate, it was out of his hands and I get the impression he might disband the Scions altogether after the Dragonsong war to find his new calling. At least he takes things seriously now. This could cause a person to really question themselves and reflect on failure and weaknesses they never had to face. Though abandoning the Scions would mean he'd be also abandoning Minfillia's cause in a way but I get that he's going to want to "find himself" once this expansion is over but we'll see him again in the future.

Aymeric is a cool cat, though a bit too cool. Hope there isn't some twist where he's pulling a Light Yagami and the big reveal is that he is some elaborate puppetmaster that used the WoL to his ends, by killing Thordan, ending the war and allowing him to rule all of Ishgard without opposition. Though that wouldn't make sense, he doesn't come off as evil, but these days you can't trust anyone. Illberd would be right all along if that were the case.

Also, Urianger... what is he, what kind of role is he playing here. Double agent? He has been helpful in information of primals in ARR, but he's notably very low key in Heavensward. I get the feeling that felling primals works in the favor of the Ascians as well as the Scions, as the less opposing deities to Zodiark the better. Now I have to wait for another patch in hopes to know more, if we even get a tidbit of information. He is involved with the warring triad fights so we might get something.