3.5/4.0 Speculation & Discussion (Spoilers)

[Fenral]

And here I was expecting to come back to a bunch of flames calling me a Nazi apologist. (That would totes have happened in General Discussion.)

At any rate, I suspect the key to resolving the conflict with Garlemald will be helping them (or the future leader of our choice) find a positive outlet for whatever long pent-up frustrations are now being vented on the world at large. Simply destroying all their technology and leaving them powerless again would just start the cycle over.

Off-topic!

Anyone else fight G-rated Ragyo yet? She's pretty strong huh?

THAT WAS CRAZY. Of course there's never ontological inertia in a setting where creatures like Arceus can exist, but that was far above and beyond the usual climax boss.

[Belhi]

I don't think revenge is bad as much as the mindless hatred. Nidhogg's revenge really stopped being about revenge. The parties responsible for what happened were long dead. He just transferred his hatred onto another target and that unending hatred consumed him and his brood. I find a good counterpoint to that is Novv. Nidhogg allowed his rage to bring ruin for 1000 years, even to his own brood. Novv still has his anger but he isn't willing to sacrifice the future of his children to satisfy it.

Justice and vengeance overlap a lot. DRKs are literally empowered by anger, pain and thirst for vengeance. It is allowing yourself to be consumed by that darkness which is bad. Nidhogg allowed himself to be consumed by his anger and rage and became little more than a distructive force for everyone, including his own.

I agree that Garlemald as it is currently isn't something we will ally with. I do think however that Ala Mhigo will drag us into an internal conflict within Garlemald which might shift the balance of power and allow for the rise of a more moderate leadership for Garlemald. I feel very confident that we will see 5.0 as the Garlemald expansion. Just remember we basically seem to have the crown prince of Garlemald in Ala Mhigo. If he or the Emperor dies we could see some drastic shifts. If both die we likely have a full blown civil war erupting across Garlemald again as people grab for power.

[Theodric]

Relevant, sort of:



I made it earlier since - unsurprisingly - a lot of my in-game time is devoted to Garlean stuff too.

(I figured some of you lot would find it amusing.)

[Belhi]

I think it would be a pretty interesting twist if we get to Garlemald and discover a Legatus who happens to also have the echo and be working for Hydaelyn. Kind of like Iceheart in the view that what they are doing is for the greater good of Hydaelyn. The Garleans already have that view but it would interesting to have to deal with someone who is basically on our side of the playing board but who believes that Hydaelyn needs Garlemald, its power and its ingenuity to survive and that Garlemald, as flawed as it might be, is the planet's best chance.

[Theodric]

-snip-

I could see that happening and it reminds me of a particular plot point in FF7. Shinra were antagonists for much of the game's vast plot and despite the organisations Mako Reactors literally bleeding the planet of vital energy it was a Shinra weapon that proved powerful enough to breach the barrier blocking access to Sephiroth's lair. In short, without Shinra the main party and everybody on the planet would have been screwed. Interestingly enough once Sephiroth was defeated Advent Children and other 'expanded universe' content pretty much had Shinra turn itself around and become something of a 'protector of the planet' - mostly because it was the wise and pragmatic approach from a business perspective.

So I'm hoping we'll see similar scenarios play out where Garlemald is concerned - they've got access to some very powerful technology after all and it'd be pretty cool to see it in action and used to destroy something that is a threat to both Garlemald and the Warrior of Light. We sort of saw this already when Gaius used Ultima to consume Garuda, Ifrit and Titan. Though the reasoning wasn't exactly pure.

[PArcher]

I think it would be a pretty interesting twist if we get to Garlemald and discover a Legatus who happens to also have the echo and be working for Hydaelyn. Kind of like Iceheart in the view that what they are doing is for the greater good of Hydaelyn. The Garleans already have that view but it would interesting to have to deal with someone who is basically on our side of the playing board but who believes that Hydaelyn needs Garlemald, its power and its ingenuity to survive and that Garlemald, as flawed as it might be, is the planet's best chance.

Honestly, I'm half-expecting that to be the twist with Zenos or Varis...

[Theodric]

Honestly, I'm half-expecting that to be the twist with Zenos or Varis...

It's unlikely to be Zenos - he's been described in a recent interview as being someone that 'nobody will sympathise with'. Though given the fan following the likes of Kefka and Charibert have I imagine that might not go entirely as planned.

Varis, however, has explicitly stated something along the lines of it being his 'solemn duty to defend this very star' so presumably there's much more to him than what we've seen thus far. So far we haven't seen very much of him at all - and I still worry he'll be getting the 'Gestahl' treatment in Azyz Lla. With Zenos having been revealed to be his son he would, presumably, be next in line should anything happen to his father. We also know someone is scheming against Regula and seeking to sabotage his efforts...so perhaps it's a stretch but could Zenos be plotting against his father, end up getting both Regula and Varis killed and put himself as next in line for the throne only to bring more instability to Garlemald as a whole?

[Cilia]

It's unlikely to be Zenos - he's been described in a recent interview as being someone that 'nobody will sympathise with'. Though given the fan following the likes of Kefka and Charibert have I imagine that might not go entirely as planned.

People don't like Kefka and Chairbert because they're sympathetic, they like them because they're so unsympathetic. They're complete bastards and make no effort to conceal that, all while reveling in their evil. They have so much fun being evil that the player has fun just watching them (and maybe achieves some catharsis by proxy). Kefka gets some sympathy in light of his Shade Impulse ending in Dissidia, but other than that he's an irredeemable nihilistic megalomaniac who just has so much fun it's hard not to like him.

It's the same phenomenon you see with the likes of BlazBlue's Yuuki Terumi and Borderlands 2's Handsome Jack. Both sadistic monsters who will kick any puppy and cross any line to achieve their goals, but they just have so much fun doing it it's hard not to be entertained by their antics and like them because they are so vehemently immoral and revel in it. Most villains these days have some kind of excuse or good intentions - a villain who does not is refreshing, in a manner of speaking.

... somehow I don't think this is going to be the case with yae Galvus. The Garleans are always very dour and serious.

[xygar]

New
Jobs
-samurai Class Dps
-red mage blue mage

Weapons
- Use Gun blade / Dual-Swords / Double bladed sword

Dye
Being able to Dye specific parts of a armour (Dbx2)
Shader Opptions (Destiny)

More Outfit
Garlean Bosses outfits
Other Final fantasy cross over attires
(Auron,Zack,Genes,sproth)

Dye Ability
Change colour for All WEAPONS AND All Outfits
All mounts

[Belhi]

I could see that happening and it reminds me of a particular plot point in FF7. Shinra were antagonists for much of the game's vast plot and despite the organisations Mako Reactors literally bleeding the planet of vital energy it was a Shinra weapon that proved powerful enough to breach the barrier blocking access to Sephiroth's lair. In short, without Shinra the main party and everybody on the planet would have been screwed. Interestingly enough once Sephiroth was defeated Advent Children and other 'expanded universe' content pretty much had Shinra turn itself around and become something of a 'protector of the planet' - mostly because it was the wise and pragmatic approach from a business perspective.

So I'm hoping we'll see similar scenarios play out where Garlemald is concerned - they've got access to some very powerful technology after all and it'd be pretty cool to see it in action and used to destroy something that is a threat to both Garlemald and the Warrior of Light. We sort of saw this already when Gaius used Ultima to consume Garuda, Ifrit and Titan. Though the reasoning wasn't exactly pure.

I don't know if I would use Shinra as an example as most of the things they helped with only happened largely because of Shinra's actions in the first place. It is fair to say Shinra had eventually turned itself around by Advent Children but it was a long path to get there and they fell along way and were pretty humbled before they turned around. I would also argue that Ultima isn't a great example either since it was reckless use of technology not fully understood that blew up in Garlemald's face and if anything we have seen has told us is that trapping Primals isn't necessarily a good fix and can be potentially catastrophic. One of Garlemald's biggest vices is recklessly messing with tech they don't understand or underestimate the risks of in the pursuit of power. Its that error which has lead to many of Garlemald's biggest disasters, including causing the 7th calamity.

I point to Ishgard as a parallel. Ishgard is a powerful military nation with a number of strong disciplines and has much about it worth saving. But there has been and to some extent still is a lot of bad stuff too which has dictated much of Ishgardian policy. Frankly Garlemald might end up requiring a political shift on the same scale. I'm not saying defanging Garlemald as much or turning them all into hippies but making them more moderate and less focused on conquest and domination.