3.4 speculation

[PArcher]

Some random speculations on 3.4/3.5:

- We're going to see Ramuh summoned again. Maybe even summon him ourselves. We're on good terms with him, and he seems to know *something* about the Hydalyn/Zodiark split. And the teaser was in the East Shroud, and if we go to raid the Castrum there (I do like the idea of it being a 3.5 MSQ dungeon) we may want the Sylphs to help out.

- Returning to the Keeper of the Lake will be to restore Middy's body (and, as such, will be MSQ required). Elidibus is not expecting this to happen (or fully believes we will fail), and this sets his plans back considerably.

- Snowcload (Hard) will be a standard dungeon clear or rescue mission, but will create a zone line between the Western and Central Highlands afterwards.

- We're going to be lured into a trap in Tharl Oom Khash; we go for whatever silly reason (damn Moogles...) and Echo to when Ratatoskr was killed. Waking up, we're surrounded by the Warriors of Darkness, and we lose the resulting (5 vs 1) fight. Perfect time for Alisae and Thancred to show up to help out (however...this doesn't guarantee victory. I feel the WoD are more likely to capture the WoL than kill, and even with Alisae and Thancred ready to fight, the WoL was downed, and to capture all they need to do is have 1 person teleport away with their quarry...)

- Speaking of Alisae, she's now a Summoner, being able to call upon Phoenix-Egi. Alph is jealous (his Carbies just aren't as impressive). We also find out she has the Echo (Alph is now a bit depressed)

- I'll add more if I think of anything

[Nestama]

Some random speculations on 3.4/3.5:

- We're going to see Ramuh summoned again. Maybe even summon him ourselves.

This goes against everything we've been fighting for. Our main goal has always been to keep Primals from being summoned (since their existence is causing harm to Hydaelyn).

[PArcher]

This goes against everything we've been fighting for. Our main goal has always been to keep Primals from being summoned (since their existence is causing harm to Hydaelyn).

Oh, I know. But if something really bad happens (perhaps an Imperial offensive on Gridania the Alliance just can't handle with no notice) we may have to.

Heck, we did allow Ysayle to summon Shiva to aid us twice. Scions happy about it? No. But we can't deny that she helped a little bit.

EDIT: And if Ramuh (or any Primal, for that matter) does have information or *something* we need to win (or even just hold out for longer to find what we need) against the Ascians, we'll have to summon him. Bad choice? Yes. But if not doing so costs us our lives, or something equally important...

[Nestama]

I think Shiva is a special case, since Ysayle was using her own body (since she had the Echo, she probably had a lot of Aether to spare) to summon the Primal.

[Nalien]

Heck, we did allow Ysayle to summon Shiva to aid us twice. Scions happy about it? No. But we can't deny that she helped a little bit.

It's definitely not something we're above doing... 1.0 ended with us actively worshiping the Twelve so Lou could summon them to stop Dalamud... Granted, his plan wasn't as simple as just summoning them, but 1.0 still ended with "Hey, remember how big a deal we made about summoning being bad? Forget it, we're summoning the Twelve!" and nobody (except Gaius) made much of a fuss about that...

Until they explicitly state that it isn't happening, Free Company Primal Summoning was planned content, and last I recall the only issue was making it work within the lore, so I would expect some change that pushes towards us actively summoning, even if it's just the once (since there is a disconnect between game play and lore). It's also by far the best way remaining to us to blast Ascians... We're out of Auracite, we've got nothing left to aetherblast with, we should learn at least one thing from Thordan... I would expect the story to push towards justifying Primal Summoning in the lead up to 4.0, given that's the perfect place to introduce such content and content that justifies it (give me Campaignnnnn!), for all we know the Crystals of Light let us summon problem free...

I think Shiva is a special case, since Ysayle was using her own body (since she had the Echo, she probably had a lot of Aether to spare) to summon the Primal.

Anything stopping us doing the same? Her final summoning even involved a Crystal of Light... I would actually guess that this is what Snowcloak (Hard) would focus on; We go back there to figure out where she got her Crystal of Light and how she came about summoning Shiva proper... Queue a boss fight (maybe even with the Warriors of Darkness) and an Echo flashback to Lahabrea telling her how to become Shiva, and we've potentially got justification to walk into East Shroud, call upon Ramuh and see if he'll let us sit behind that epic beard for a time...

[Nestama]

Probably plot reasons or something. I have a feeling Hydaelyn possibly 'taught' Ysayle to use her own Aether/life force to summon Shiva and until we're taught by Hydaelyn, we'll always be the ever nodding silent protagonist.

[Nalien]

Lahabrea taught Ysayle how to summon Shiva, if anyone... Hydaelyn hasn't been in a position to teach anyone anything since Praetorium, so I'm incredibly doubtful she positioned Ysayle against us with Shiva... If she did... Well, that just makes it all the more likely that we'd eventually get the same treatment... But no, Lahabrea seems the prime candidate, given his involvement with Thordan (which was the exact same summoning method) and given Nabriales comments that "Lahabrea will be pleased" after witnessing our battle with Shiva, the implication there was always that Lahabrea was involved in Ysayle summoning Shiva (who was the most powerful Primal at that point, despite a significantly smaller following, good news for Plan Thordan). That perhaps makes it unlikely that we'd learn the same method, but like I said, Snowcloak (Hard) + Echo... The only thing Hydaelyn would seem to have gifted Ysayle with is a Crystal of Light, of which we have 6... Of each element... For each of the original 6 Primals...

I'd say the only thing blocking that development is Kidibus, given his little cautionary tale about heroes using Primals as weapons... Still, I'm incline to think the Warriors of Darkness are either those same heroes, or ones like them, given Y'shtola comments on the aether being strange around them and given they were slaying Ravana, so if Kidibus' master is Elidibus, one starts to doubt the authenticity of his warnings, given it would seem he is being played... As much as I want Lahabrea to make a return, Thordan did perfectly display how efficiently Primals can slay Ascians (Lahabrea may get off on a technicality, I hope that triggered a few people), were I an Ascian I would find it very logical to paint Primals as the villains so the "heroes" never use them against me...

[Cilia]

I probably shouldn't be doing this after people indulged me in my "Regula - Kefka" theory (though I don't think anyone really bit) but...

Pretty sure we're "done" done with Heavensward as a storyline; we won't be revisiting 3.0 areas to learn more details about the Dragonsong War and such since we already know the whole truth. Instead we'll be revisiting 2.0 areas probably, since if 4.0 is going to take us to Ala Mhigo and the only route there through Ishgard is via Xelphatol, I doubt it's going to be our primary entry point. Capturing Castrum Oriens and then using it as a staging ground for the war seems most likely...

... though if Alisae is going to take the protagonist role from Alphinaud for 4.0, whether or not we'll be working closely with the GCs remains up in the air.

(Don't think she's going to be revealed to have SMN arts, Phoenix-egi, and the Echo. Don't get greedy now!)

It was either Lahabrea or Nabriales who taught Ysayle to summon - just further proof we probably won't ever do it ourselves, since we know better than to trust the Ascians.

Ramuh's conjecture on light and darkness was just that - conjecture. He's only a few centuries old (~1,500 years tops) so unless he has access to Hydaelyn's memories he doesn't really know the truth behind it all. He was basically doing as we do here - "theorizing."

I remain unconvinced the WoDs and the people from Unukalhai's tale are one and the same. Their MOs are vastly different and we've not seen the WoDs do anything but kill Ravana, rough us up, and then observe from a safe distance. My hypothesis is that they're extra-continual WoLs from a "reflection" whose world was destroyed - in the 7th Umbral Calamity, no less - brought here and observed by Elidibus to get revenge on Hydaelyn by striking at an opportune moment to make bad go worse. Somehow. Somewhere. Sometime. Eventually. Possibly.

[PArcher]

(Don't think she's going to be revealed to have SMN arts, Phoenix-egi, and the Echo. Don't get greedy now!)

She was present at the slaying of two Primals; Phoenix and Bahamut. Phoenix-egi makes much more sense than Bahamut-egi.

As for the Echo, Ive thought she's had it since 2.55; her foresight there is too uncanny to be just intuition.

As an aside, I also feel Alph has it as well...he's just not awoken to it at all yet.

[KarstenS]

Lahabrea taught Ysayle how to summon Shiva.

Nabriales did it, not Lahabrea.

Nabrialis told it to us during our meeting with Moenbryda.