Revelations from Fan Festival 2017 Frankfurt

[Rufalus]

A friend came up with a theory about Yugiri actually working for the Garleans, tracking us, feeding them information, feeding us misinformation. She got caught spying on us in the last patch and passed it off as a bad habit.

[Rocl]

I wonder if that's the area drained by the Othard equivalent of a Primal...the area that "inspired" Solus zos Galvus to rid Hydaelyn of all such threat (as mentioned in the EE).

"The Burn" has definitely piqued my interest.

[myahele]

Despite being isolationist, I wonder if it's still part of the Garlean Empire? It was said that the Empire employs "conciliatory" means to bring nations into the Empire and I can see them simply showing off their Dreadnaught and the then-ruler agreed to join and pay tribute/taxes to the Empire in exchange for some limited freedom.

In a way, Kugane almost reminds me of Meiji period Japan.

The Burn is interesting, I was wondering why it was a crater-filled wasteland. Maybe that was the place where the Empire 1st ran into the Othardian primals (it has a land bridge after all) and eventually adopted their anti-primal creed.

[Dualblade]

Given that the Scions are basically all allowed to work on their own "thing", most likely most of the Scions will be a part of the Ala Mhigo part of the Campaign, while Yugiri and maybe a few of the NPCs we can talk to will end up helping with Doma. Given that teleports and airships are a thing that'll probably be a canon reason for how we can go between both campaigns.

[WhiteArchmage]

Here's a map that someone on Discord is working on. Lots of good translations for the new areas.

Is there a higer def pic of that map? it looks kinda pixelated on my screen D:

[Fenral]

Given what Othard is supposed to be, the underwater city we've seen is probably inspired by Ryugu-jo.

Be wary of turtles and, whatever you do, don't stay longer than a few moments. And when they tell you not to open the box, don't open it!

[Grayve]

Very excited to go to Othgard!

[Rocl]

I'm going to ramble about a lot of stuff because I'm pretty excited and Othard was out of left (East?) field for me. Feel free to ignore.

Doma is described as a small border nation to the East of Ilsabard, which isn't really where it is on the map currently at all. Either this has changed, or Doma relocated after its razing (in a rather short amount of time). The razing of Doma might explain "The Burn" though, as it's pretty close to where you'd expect a nation bordering Ilsabard to be. Also about where you'd expect Garlemald to first experience a Primal after their invasion though. It's possible Doma is supposed to be on the Eastern border of Othard which also makes sense for a "border city."

Another possibility for the Burn, and probably the one I'm most excited about, is that it's the birth of the Meteor Project. We know Bozja Citadel was in Othard, where Midas nan Garlond was killed after utilizing the lunar transmitter to communicate with the artificial satellite, Dalamud, awakening its inhabitant and probably eating a direct Megaflare.

Gotetsu (?? was that his name I can't remember) is likely Yugiri's lord who ordered her to take her countrymen and flee. That should be an exciting reunion!

Ahhh, anyways razing or not-razing of Doma aside, I agree with the sentiment we need more grey Garleans. Hopefully put up against the pure 'black' Zenos is supposed to embody and comparing to Regula should be interesting. I'm curious how the Varis-Zenos dynamic will work since Varis doesn't seem overly cruel, just a tad misguided and genocidal.

I feel like this is the best possible way for us to eventually make our way to Ilsabard though, at least as an adversary of the Garlean Empire (which I never expected anything other tbh). The Empire is probably weaker now than it's been in a long time (probably since the days of the Republic). The VIIth Legion is gone, one of their fiercest; the XIVth Legion is effectively out of commission and leaderless and the VIth is leaderless. Regula being one of Varis' biggest allies in the War of Succession and securing so many victories for him and his now absence probably weakens Varis' overall claim to the throne. Without his faithful sidekick it's easy to see how some opportunistic Garlean might think now is a good time to wrest the Empire into his own hands--perhaps a certain son who's already been taught by his father kinslaying is okay as long as it's for the good of the people. The question is how Varis and Zenos would differ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ How can you get more extreme than genocide?

With the upper echelons of the Garlean military reliant on mundane transportation (airships et al) I actually hope our ability to teleport between Hinagashi and Gyr Abania is what puts the pressure on the Empire. While Zenos is viceroy of Ala Mhigo, he's also High Legatus--in charge of the whole military, yeah? A war on two fronts against two different rebellion/resistances and the newly bolstered Eorzean alliance might be what's needed to start true victories against the Empire.

I can't help but notice a floating isle about Garlemald--did they copy their favourite previous Empire with hard won Azys Llan secrets?

Man, I had wanted this expansion to be the one that finally put Ala Mhigo to bed after all the teasing since 1.X, but this is by far and ahead better than I could've expected. I was fully thinking Othard was 6.0 or later which made little sense to me (how are we gonna waltz through Ilsabard and end up in Othard? If we overthrow the Empire otw there it's gonna be dumb as hell) so, yeah, I like this a lot.

Will we stop in Thavnair on our way to Hinagashi the first time!? I expected Old Sharlayan to be way further north. Does this mean we're done exploring Eorzea? What's up with that underwater city!? Were those samurai in Kugane Garlean or just Far Eastern in strangely Garlean styled garb? Which game is Hinagashi from didn't Yoshida-san call it a "series staple" a few times, lol? aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh

[Annana]

Is there a higer def pic of that map? it looks kinda pixelated on my screen D:

That one was done with the map in the trailer taken from the Livestream. Here's an updated one with the official art!

[myahele]

Looking at the map, it looks like we can see the island where Roegadyn may have originated from.

It's far north of Aldenard and has the name "Aerslaent" which sound like a Sea Wolf word. Not only that, but ships surrounding that island is drawn similarly to the ship (Galleon?) that's the emblem of the Maelstrom.