Story-wise, what will happen to our Anima in 4.0?

[maxxvoltage4]

This sentient being which, unlike the zodiac weapon, has a physical manifestation and even talks to you. To just give it away like the zodiac for a more powerful weapon after giving it life just seems... Wrong.

How do you think this will be resolved?

Also if the endgame of that ends up with an anima minion, would you have multiples for each one you complete? Not to mention the gender question, that has to lead to something eventually right?

[Fenral]

Obviously, we're going to kill it. Or it's going to die naturally ("the light that burns twice as bright" blah, blah) and leave it's empty shell behind as a 275 weapon, grateful for the brief time it spent as our partner.

Somehow, I've lost the ability to see futures for post-game characters beyond the end of the patch cycle.

[myahele]

We're not killing them .... since they'll sacrifice their lives for us and make the 1st step of the new relic weapon easier

[alimdia]

We cannot know for sure how the next relic weapon will work, they could make it so you don't have to turn in your weapon to get an advantage in the next quest, or if there's an advantage at all.

[The_Last_Dragoon]

This will be what we do with it:

[Iceboy]

This will be what we do with it:

For some reason "Get Down" is playing in my had.

On topic, I think after the anima go fully grown, we'll need another vessel, but we'll keep our bright little companion =)

[Morningstar1337]

I posted this in another thread, I see 4 possibilities for this

• Best Case Scenario: They give the Anima arc some closure that involves sentient weapons for all and a way to somehow separate the soul form the weapon so that we can trade in for 4.0. In that case I'd expect a Homunculus-type NPC or a minion (or 13 like the Yo-kai Watch event in reverse). Given the ability to get more than one Anima weapon I'd say either different designs for the Minions or making up to 13 homunculi vessels (one for each job) are likely.
• Second Best Case Scenario: They end the Arc, give it some closure but keep the soul in the weapon. They will also not cave in to the fans like last time. Meaning they will not allow the Anima weapons to be used as a shortcut to the new weapon, thus rendering this discussion moot.
• 2nd Worse Case Scenario: They end the Anima arc, keep the soul in the vessel and then allow it to be traded in for a new weapon, all while pointing out the ramifications of that decision. The option will still be there but be more heavily discouraged and possibly would cause some chastising if they go through with it
• Worse case Scenario: The above but with the WoL absolved of any consequences of effectively committing murder for a rather petty reason.

I'll elaborate on this and give some speculation

• the "Closure" in the first case would be a way to separate the soul from the weapon. Either by transferring into a homunculus or minion...or by the anima dying. In the former case I expect a maximun of 13 customizable NPCs or 13 minions (one per weapon)
• A 2nd possibility is instead of killing the weapon, the new weapon quest will instead be seen as a sequal with exclsuive scenes and cameos for whose that used their anima to get the new weapon. While those who got it the hard way won;t get these touches. This seems unlikely considering other factors
• And then there's the cruel option. We turn in our weapon for tokens, upon which it will get destroyed and the soul killed. This is the 3rd and 4th option, with the difference being on whether or not the game will chew us out on this decision

[Cilia]

The solution is simple: break the weapon down into materials after removing the soulstone and creating a suitable but unusable vessel for the Anima.

It's not rocket surgery!

[midorishiranui]

Judging by how other side stories have ended, the anima will seal itself away and never be mentioned again :>

[Alleo]

Well I do hope that somehow SE introduce a new character that is appalled at creating new souls just for using them as weapon and thus creating a quest where we will find a way to take it out of the weapon and making it its own thing. After that we wont create any new sentient weapons again.

Realistically I fear that they wont even touch on this and will just give us the choice to turn it in for a easier way to get the next one (without any heartfelt cutscene) or that somehow the soul is destroyed..its not like SE loves to have other characters to sacrifice themselves for us.