[SPOILERS] Revelations from Patch 3.3

[Theodric]

Alright, so:

The Warring Triad

We fight Regula for a third time but he manages to escape. He's pretty passionate about his loyalty to the Emperor and insists that the Garlean's methods will lead to salvation. He also mentions something interesting about the magitek within his blade and summons some sort of...giant cat during the encounter. This pretty much proves that whilst Garleans cannot cast magic directly they can, in fact, cast it through the use of their equipment. This explains Gaius' ability to teleport and conjure fire. Much like Gaius, Regula's 'magic' looks very similar to ceruleum. We also learn that auracite is, in fact, not a good thing and apparently corrupts heroes who use it into monsters. I think it's a clear hint that Regula will go down that route - plus it means we can't rely on its use to deal with the Ascians, I suppose.

MSQ:

Hraesvelgr tests us which is the plot for the new MSQ dungeon. He agrees to aid us against Nidhogg. We fight Nidhogg. An interesting enough encounter - though then we defeat him and Ysayle/Haurchefant show up in spirit form to help us save Estinien. Some people on this very forum predicted that happening which...makes me worry that the developers are indulging in blatant fan-service at this point where major fan theories are concerned. I like Estinien so I'm not unhappy that he survived but at the same time I don't want it to become a convenient plot device that allows us to save any of the protagonists who happen to be in a similar situation.

Nobody died...other than Nidhogg and countless nameless generic Ishgardian soldiers. Aymeric removes the influence of the church from Ishgardian politics (does that include the worship of Halone?) and established a House of Lords and a House of Commons. He ends up being the most important figure. Airship routes are established between Ishgard and the other major cities. Peace with the dragons is seemingly achieved...so Ishgard gets a happy ending. Edmont steps down as promised and Artoriel is the new leader of House Fortemps.

Overall it was...satisfying, I suppose. I expected a bit more to happen though - and the cliffhanger was literally just a short scene involving the Warrior of Darkness clashing briefly with Alisae...who is promptly rescued by Thancred. They flee together and Elidibus claims that they will 'do their part'. Nidhogg's eyes are thrown from the Steps of Faith...and it's hinted that the Warrior of Darkness/Elidibus are interested in them. They're shown to be somewhere in the Shroud. No scene showing us Yda and Papalymo.

We're due to get another patch in two weeks, though. I wonder if there's any chance it will come with more MSQ's?

[myahele]

As I predicted, Hraesvalgr will give us one of his eye. The fact that we now have it (in us?) means that we can now form a blade of light whenever we want since Great Wyrm eyes are a wellspring of aether. The revelation that Auracite were used in another world is interesting ... I wonder if we'll be able to produce more auracite to capture Asciens and then use Hraesvelgr's eye to finish them off?

I wonder if the Asciens were these former heroes corrupted by god they captured in auracite? Might explain the name and glyphs similar to FF12's Espers

I have a feeling the Estinian (since he's got a new hairstyle and face?) will play a role in retrieving Nidhogg's eyes from the WoDs; perhaps he's got a lingering connection to the eyes. Enough to at least detect its presence since he and Nidhogg were one.

[NellMoshroca]

In the cutscene later on when we're flying over Churning Mists with Hraesvalgr he appears to have his eye back. Though this may just be an error by the devs.

[CyrilLucifer]

One of the bigger deals about Unukalhai is when you question him again after the questline about himself.

Remember that whole Sahagin Elder, mortal-ascension bit?

Yeah, we're back at that.

[Naria]

MSQ:

When Aymeric told us to throw the eyes away I was like "No, how about we burn them. Crush them? Give them to Hraesvelgr. Anything except leave them lying around somewhere" to my screen.

. . . If we have to fight some incarnation or aspect of Nidhogg again I'm going to be really annoyed.

Otherwise I enjoyed the end of the Dragonsong war arc.

Count de Durendaire's support of Aymeric seemed to come out of nowhere though or am I missing something?

[Anonymoose]

Re: Deus Ex... (MSQ)

I question whether Haurchefant and Ysayle were even really, concretly meant to be there. Remember at the end of 2.00 when everyone in the damn game mounted up to Wild Dash Lahabrea? None of them ever bring that up again; they probably were unaware we even saw that, right? I always took it that visions like this were a reflection of our deepest bonds - a connection to another essence. Not necessarily them, but a faint shadow of their existence left upon us by our bond, manifesting at moments of great need and reaffirming why it is we fight.

Warring Triad

So we have confirmation that other worlds are actually other entire worlds and that they, too, have been seeded with mortal life... This brings a lot into the picture. Are they other crystals? Or are they the reflected worlds? If so, how many die when the Ascians succeed in a rejoining? Is this our final origin for the transmigratory Ascians and perhaps even the Warriors of Darkness? I need to do some digging...

[Cilia]

MSQ

While throwing the Eyes off of the Steps of Faith might seem like a boneheaded idea, I'm pretty certain we've seen the last of Nidhogg. His freakin' spirit left, after all, so even if someone were to retrieve his Eyes undamaged they'd probably be little more than aetheric batteries.

As for Haurchefant and Ysayle's spirits intervening when we were trying to pull the Eyes off of Estinien's armor, Alphinaud stops himself just short of saying he could have sworn he felt them after the fight. The Echo might just have granted us better clarity, or perhaps it's like Zack in VII: Advent Children Complete. Ehh... don't think too hard about it, yeah?

Warring Triad

Unukalhai does say, or at least heavily imply, that there are other worlds with sapient life. While this should have massive implications and open myriad possibilities, I seriously doubt many of them will be explored. If anything we're probably looking at a IX-ish setup, albeit with sentient crystals as opposed to the passive ones of that universe.

As for Unukalhai's exposition on his past... yeah. Probably "artificially" given the Echo a la the Sahagin Elder, chances are it were Elidibus. I'm still not entirely sold on the idea; I'd like to think they wouldn't make it that obvious while still keeping the whole air of mystery around the kid.

[Morningstar1337]

MSQ

I find this patch to be a fitting and epic conclusion to the Dragonsong War. Everything seems to had reached a Climax. As for Hraesvelgr's eye, even if it wound up a part of us, I question how effect it will be at making the Blade of Light, Nidhogg's eye was hevaly drained offing Igeyorm...Then again Nidhogg proved to capable of burninating the Ishgard and PUGs alike, so I assume the eyes would "recharge" over time.

Warring Triad

Pretty sure the exposition was prolly just an VI reference...for now. I do think we might wind up dealing with ether paraellel universes (like XI) or alternate timelines (Like XIII-2) or both.

[Nalien]

Mog Dailies

So... Whei Ahf seems to imply that Hraesvelgr is basically responsible for Bard... He mentions that Hraesvelgr gave men magicks to fashion sacred instruments, so that man could join in their chorus, and that the horn entrusted to the Moogles is one of those... So... Hraesvelgr essentially taught music and that's why Moogles have magical instruments, and thus Bard?

What's more... Doesn't that imply that the Twelveswood Moogles did indeed leave during the start of the Dragonsong War? They're the ones that teach us Bard, after all... If they separated earlier, they'd not have been around when Hraesvelgr created Bard... Though perhaps I'm just reading too far into this...

I really should go do the MSQ some time...

[Grayve]

MSQ Question

Is this the first that Midgardsomerr has appeared before our allies? That seems like kind of a big deal. For some reason I thought he'd appear after the others had left the room, previously.