Revelations from Patch 3.56

[Starkbeaumont]

didn't they say we will learn something about the seal middy is guarding under silvertear lake at the end of 3.xx?

[Sarevok_Thordin]

Can anyone confirm if the story dialogue differs for Legacy characters and Post-Calamity characters?

Mainly due to the revelations of Yda.

[Theodric]

How did Garleans ever win war before? This isnt the first time we kick their ass with just one magitec armor. We should just walk to Garlemald and take over.

Well, that's just an unfortunate combination of game-play and story segregation combined with the major characters involved in the story being shrouded in a ridiculous amount of plot armour. Garleans, as a society, are very focused on discipline and efficiency so seeing them reduced to comic relief is getting very tiresome. Especially when the nuanced, complex Garleans such as Gaius and Regula are killed off in favour of keeping the treacherous defectors like Cid, Lucia and Nero around.

[RobinMalvin]

I suppose many of you guys have voiced disappointment in the story; rushed, forced, anticlimatic etc. I have no more words to add into that pile, only that I wholeheartedly agree.

Alright, moving on.

While Omega x Shinryu is probably inevitable from the beginning, it surprised me a little bit because what we glimpsed from last part of the story was quite different.

See those feet there, perfectly human looking. Would be normal to assume the primal is Rharlgr, given Ilberd's origin and the resistance's prayers.

Out of the cocoon, it's this

Okay, that's different alright. I guess he just completed metamorphosis

The end story seems to copy a bit from The Fall of Dalamud, where powerful entitiy(s) appear out of a construct, wreak a bit havoc, only to disappear later. Even Merlwyb admits that she was remembered of Cartenau. Seems like a poor choice, in my opinion.

On the bright side, Yda/Lyse revelation was something like a good surprise. It explains many things about her; her adamant choice to keep her mask even when she's offered a replacement from Rowena of all people, her vague age when confronted by leader of little Ala Mhigo, and her somehow questionable intelligence as a supposedly Archon. Her lost mark also put some speculation of Papalymo's fate to rest; he's dead, for good.

[Etwo]

Well, that's just an unfortunate combination of game-play and story segregation combined with the major characters involved in the story being shrouded in a ridiculous amount of plot armour. Garleans, as a society, are very focused on discipline and efficiency so seeing them reduced to comic relief is getting very tiresome. Especially when the nuanced, complex Garleans such as Gaius and Regula are killed off in favour of keeping the treacherous defectors like Cid, Lucia and Nero around.

And that is the problem. I didnt see any discipline or efficiency in their attacks. Their generals look more like artifact driven fanatics than great tacticians or leaders

[Theodric]

And that is the problem. I didnt see any discipline or efficiency in their attacks. Their generals look more like artifact driven fanatics than great tacticians or leaders

Mm. Let's hope they do a good job in Stormblood and don't paint the antagonists as predictable, cackling villains who end up coming across as incompetent. They also need to highlight that the Eorzeans are not necessarily good or justified for taking the fight to Garlemald - they're going to get a lot of people killed on every side and realistically stir up a lot of needless instability. My favourite Final Fantasy games are those set in Ivalice - namely Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII. Vagrant Story gets a special mention too due to sharing the same setting and style. Those games embraced the moral complexities of war and the nature of man incredibly well. I was hoping for more of that from this game.

I already wiped my hands of WoW due to similar issues plaguing that game's story. I don't want to have to do the same thing here as well. I can't express how bitter I am that we finally got a nuanced Garlean in the form of Regula Van Hydrus only for him to be killed off in a side quest and not even given a mention in the latest batch of MSQ's despite how relevant his willingness to work alongside the Scions despite his loyalties to the Emperor and his homeland. However temporary that may have been it surely must count for something.

[MicahZerrshia]

Where was Thancred this entire time? I was surprised that he didn't at least make an appearance in the final chapter when everyone else did.

Also, is it just me or after the conclusion or V.1 and ARR, wasn't this whole thing a bit anti-climatic. I was like "here it comes....here it comes... aaaaaand its over." badumbum.

[DreamAngel-Ren]

Where was Thancred this entire time? I was surprised that he didn't at least make an appearance in the final chapter when everyone else did.

I wonder the same thing; did they forget him or something? They didn't mention him not even once throughout the finale XDD

[MicahZerrshia]

While Omega x Shinryu is probably inevitable from the beginning, it surprised me a little bit because what we glimpsed from last part of the story was quite different.

See those feet there, perfectly human looking. Would be normal to assume the primal is Rharlgr, given Ilberd's origin and the resistance's prayers.

Out of the cocoon, it's this

Okay, that's different alright. I guess he just completed metamorphosis

That is not at all what was there, go back and watch it again. That thing everyone thought was a foot was actually the spears on the other side of the cocoon shadowed by the spell and the gooey thing it was capturing. You can see more of them sticking out from behind if you take a look. There never was feet in there, just the blob and the spears from the spell.

[Rufalus]

Ok so I appreciated the big moments in this patch story but I think it lacked some impact in the way it was told. Yes, I agree it felt rushed and forced/contrived to tick a bunch of checkboxes and move the story along with convenient plot devices.

Nero shows up in the right place and time and offers a very dangerous solution which we quickly accept. I wonder had he not interrupted us at Gridania during out meeting with the seedseer, what our heroes would have done about Shinryu. So we gain access and control over Omega really easily and just in time to counter Shinryu's escape. I know Nero is clever but maybe I expected such a powerful and important Allagan device to be protected by some heavy security measures and be more complicated to restore and use. We just kind of waved hands at terminals to gain control and then I guess the interface was very intuitive because we had no problem issuing commands with confidence. The Omega vs Shinryu battle was nice at least.

Would have liked more time with Yda for character development other than a handful of throwaway lines to cover her grief over recent events. Would have been more organic to really see her sorrow and anger burn and heighten emotions. Ideally there'd have been at least one flashback scene with the two sisters to accompany False Yda's reveal as Lyse. Show some of what their relationship with each other was like, the good times and the bad times. Just felt sudden how Lyse drops the mask and the charade, and doesn't really react to the news that Y'Stola and the gang knew her identity all along and never thought to inform her and discuss it with her before now.