Patch 3.4 - Soul Surrender

[Nestama]

With Alexander, I'm expecting the fight to be somewhat similar to Bahamut Prime's - that is, the thing we fight isn't the full-size Alexander, but a representation of him in a "mental space," so to speak.

That, or Alexander used something similar to time compression... assuming that's how powerful his time manipulation is.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Well, realistically Ilberd doesn't have a shred of hope rallying a bunch of rag-tag Ala Mhigans to his side and then throwing them at his homeland to reclaim it. That would require Garlemald to be portrayed in a highly incompetent manner.

One way around that - Ala Mhigo could only have a token force present within it, with most of Garlemald's military having been pulled out/re-assigned until a solution to the primal problem presents itself. We don't know much about the current Garlean military presence in Eorzea, do we? Two of its leaders have been lost, now. I could see Varys (or even the previous Emperor) cutting his losses and leaving only a skeleton force behind. It could very easily have been anywhere from 1 to 5 years since that happened, too, so get a complacent enough regiment and tenacious or sneaky enough refugees...

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. Let's say Ilberd breaks in and takes the token force stationed there unawares, installing himself as ruler. This gives Garlemald reason to start committing troops to Eorzea again, causing both a reason to work together as well as political strife about doing so. We could then work towards taking the city back from Ilberd over the course of the expansion while conflict with Garlemald bubbles and builds as that goal comes closer to becoming a reality; by the end, our alliance of convenience would be at an end (a la the Allies at the end of WWII), but we'd have then spent enough time working alongside Garleans so as to muddy the waters of upcoming war with them.

Of course, that all works with the Primal idea too, but I kind of like the idea of street-level combat. Plus, it means Primals can take a backseat finally, since Ilberd taking the city with a Primal would almost certainly mean that we'd be contending with that Primal would then be a major focus of the story. And although that would give the narrative cause to bring Omega back in, no Primal means Garlemald would be more likely to get into the thick of it from the outset. We need, at this point, something that forces us to work with them or at least bring them back into the main thrust of the narrative, and right now any anti-Primal means that we have don't require or involve them at all (and if they had something, they'd almost certainly act autonomously, without bothering to consult with Eorzea).

[RobinMalvin]

Well, realistically Ilberd doesn't have a shred of hope rallying a bunch of rag-tag Ala Mhigans to his side and then throwing them at his homeland to reclaim it. That would require Garlemald to be portrayed in a highly incompetent manner. We also know that Ilberd is willing to go to great lengths - his brand of 'righteousness' involves murdering his own allies and scheming to harm a foreign monarch along with various other dubious decisions. So, to me, if the masked man is Ilberd then I believe it safe to assume that he has outside help and will resort to something horrible in an attempt to liberate his nation.

This is one of the reason I doubt that our masked man is actually Ilberd. He and the rest of the Braves are wanted men now, so revealing himself publicly and drawing attention, even masked, this early will only risk himself captured. He also has no way to be able to persuade the people of Little Ala Mhigo, not after his betrayal also caused Wildred's death, something everyone there seems to be aware of. Given his elaborate outfit, and the people behind him look to me like those of Corpse Brigade, I'm starting to think that the masked guy is actually the leader of the Brigade.

As much as I want Ilberd to come back just so I can cut off his arm, it's too early and too sloppy for him to resurface again, especially in that manner. If the masked guy is truly someone from the Corpse Brigade aka former Royal Guards of Ala Mhigo, in my opinion it'll make for more interesting narrative.

Yay, The Manipulator 3.0 xD

[Balipu]

Seems innocuous enough, but reading between the lines suggests he's got some kind of ace in the hole.

What's he promising them? Victory against the Garleans and the liberation of Ala Mhigo? What power do they have within themselves that justifies their pride? Their cause is righteous, but that doesn't justify doing anything, no matter how vile, to free their homeland... Hmm...

If it really is Ilberd (and it slagging is, why else would the guy be masked), he wouldn't make such a bold move without one.

That makes all the Ascians Ilberd as well, seeing that they all wear masks. And Unukalhai.

I think it is a new villain/anti hero/ anti villain we will have to deal with in 4.0 Kinda like Ysaile. As for his ace in the hole:
He probably has something, otherwise he wouldn't be much of a credible threat, but it might just be talk. Political speeches are often like that. Especially done by megalomaniac dictators.

[Cilia]

Well, realistically Ilberd doesn't have a shred of hope rallying a bunch of rag-tag Ala Mhigans to his side and then throwing them at his homeland to reclaim it...

3.4 should provide some solid answers though. Yet any attempt to reclaim Ala Mhigo isn't going to be clean or justified - it's going to be messy. One could say it'd be a storm of blood, even. Yet with all the talk of cycles and history repeating itself Ilberd's actions could be the very thing that ends up forging peace and stable bonds between Eorzea and Garlemald's more moderate elements.

While the Ala Mhigans may not have a means to reclaim their homeland right now, if Ilberd Masked Man speaks true that's about to change in pretty short order. Just what his ace in the hole is remains to be seen, but he does seem to have one.

Any attempt to reclaim Ala Mhigo will not be clean because the Garleans have proven they are not open to peacefully relinquishing territory and allowing the Ala Mhigans to be repatriated (just look at Doma). Their cause is certainly just, however - and while there are certainly going to be bad apples in the Resistance, that's simply a matter of course. Siding with the Resistance is not a bad decision overall, so long as you curb the influence of extremists. Nobody is suggesting terrorist attacks, and stopping it from coming to that is of paramount importance.

... but, guerrilla or otherwise, war is war. The reality is that bad things are going to happen, innocent lives on both sides are going to be lost, and we're going to hurt people without meaning to. There are no heroes or survivors of war - just the guilty and the dead. (Haven't I mentioned this before? I think I have...) And, given the Garleans' love of conquest and war...

That makes all the Ascians Ilberd as well, seeing that they all wear masks. And Unukalhai.

Highlander dude with Ala Mhigan crest on the back of his cloak, hiding his whole face, and talking about reclaiming his homeland? Pretty suspicious... why hide his face unless it's someone we already know but they want us to sympathize with in spite of doing horrible things?

Not saying it's Ilberd... but, it's Ilberd. He's the prime suspect right now, at least - I could be wrong. Possibly wrong. Plausibly wrong. Nanamo survived asphyxiating thanks to "it was just a sleeping potion, give her some coffee and she's fine lolz!", so...

[Caitlyn]

Did someone noticed a specific skill from Whitemage of Darkness? Its an unnamed skill where you can apply fire on an arrow. You can see it here: Patch 3.4 Trailer

This skill was never implemented in FFXIV 2.X. But it was performed in the official Trailer of FFXIV 1.0 a few years ago: FFXIV 1.0 Trailer



Anyone knows, what this skill actual do? Is it an old skill from 1.0?

[Anonymoose]

Anyone knows, what this skill actual do? Is it an old skill from 1.0?

Nope; they're just lampshading the old "nonexistent skills" from the CGs. It was a nice little touch, imho.

I assume, in the 1.0 Opening CG, the spell was supposed to be Enfire.
Conjurers originally used all six elements, while thaumaturges used only the two polarities.

[Kusanagi7]

I want masked guy to be Gaius but chances are slim to none.

[Rocl]

Nope; they're just lampshading the old "nonexistent skills" from the CGs. It was a nice little touch, imho.

I assume, in the 1.0 Opening CG, the spell was supposed to be Enfire.
Conjurers originally used all six elements, while thaumaturges used only the two polarities.

Personally I always thought it was meant to be a visual representation of a Battle Regimen! But how many people got to use those? I don't even know what the combination of Fire + Shot would make...if that was even what firing an arrow was called in ye olde days of manual selecting each individual attack...

[Daemius]

I'm Camp Masked Guy Is Ilberd for sure. It's either him or some completely new character but I don't know why he would be masked if it wasn't Ilberd.

Sophia looks really cool. Makes me want to fantasia to Azeyma as my chosen deity. If the patron deity is going to have little to no effect on my character I may as well pick one that has a cool looking primal associated with it.

So far I like the look of the final phase Alexander. It's looks like the story will finally get serious and I can stop making fun of the bad steampunk robots and cheese empire goblins.

The scene with Tupsimati doesn't look like a flashback to me. Is there any reason it has to be? Couldn't Papalymo just be hanging on to a piece of it for something or other?

Garuda is definitely either an attack or an add. You can see the final boss of Xelphatol behind her when she shows up in the trailer.