Revelations from Patch 3.5

[Belhi]

Hmm... I think I need more time to digest everything but for now...

Triad

While I am pretty sad to see him dead, I think they finally gave Regulos some justice as a character. I also didn't find it particularly out of character but my viewpoint might be colored from knowing stuff from the lore book about him. Regardless he walked a good middle ground with a solid sense of pragmatism.

I think its value mainly is that it sets up the potential for working with Garlemald in the future. Plus he did kind of go out like a boss. Honestly Zurvan was almost like a background feature that the real story was built around. A minor character who's purpose was mainly setting the stage for other character's development.

I don't think anyone on this forum was shocked by the Unikalhai stuff but its good he will stick around and how he is involved in the future will be curious. We allied with the Garleans and a Ascian effectively this patch. I wonder how far his loyalty to Elidibus will go in the end as I expect a conflict with that Ascian is inevitable in the long run.

MSQ

Well a lot of the points so far were predicted but there was some stuff that was unexpected. The Griffin's tactics were very clever and almost certainly will spark a war, only more so with Omega being thrown into the mix. I didn't expect him to die. I kind of feel a bit unsatisfied with it cause Ilberd was such a jerk. I kind of wanted to see him brought down a peg before he died. I wonder how his lackies will tie into the story later on?

I felt Papalymo was likely going to die. Glad to have some solid explanation on why the ritual kills the caster. As sad as I am to see him die I will be extremely peeved if they bring him back. This makes me feel about 98% confident that the woman in the trailer was Yda. Why she specifically is important is something I think is still missing. Papalymo seemed to suggest it was something only she was capable of.

Funfact: I had a look of the edge of the Wall while doing the raid and spotted the Garlean building on the bridge from the Stormblood area screenshots. No mountains with holes in them though. Feel pretty sure Omega is going to blow a hole in Ala Mhigo now:P They have strongly suggested we don't have many options for taking down that primal without resorting to Omega. Looks like the 8 man raid will be us cleaning up our own mess this time round.

Speculation for 3.55/Stormblood:

I think war is inevitable and the fight over control of Omega will fan it into a necessity. At this point I think we will start out trying to draw together the resistance groups while learning who we are fighting and discover what Zenos is up to. I think Varis will appear on the scene and we might even see the chance to come to an agreement with him. However I suspect Zenos will kill his father and blame us for it allowing him to justify resorting to some ridiculously crazy measure to take us out.

One interesting aspect in this will be the viewpoint of the Domans. They will be observers with a particular dislike of Garleans. How they view any attempt to negotiate with the Garleans will be interesting. I wonder if they will stay loyal friends in the long run. Alternately they might see the fact that in the long run they might have to accept a middle ground if they truly want their homeland back. You know, coming to understand that sometimes you have to go forward rather than pursuing the past.

On the flipside I think that we will deal with Zenos in 4.0 and 4.x will be us trying to stablise Ala Mhigo and get everyone to stop trying to kill each other. There will be a major power vacuum with the lose of Garlean rule and I doubt everyone will be in agreement on how to fill that gap.

The long reaching ramifications going into 5.0 I'm guessing will be the fallout from the death of the emperor and his heir. War of Succession time, this time perhaps without a clear claimant and the potential to send halg the world into turmoil. I expect 5.0 to be us allying with Moderate elements within Garlemald to try and claim the throne and keep the world from descending into chaos, which of course would be very fertile soil for the Ascians to sow potential Calamities.