Revelations from Patch 3.56

[Veritas-Ancora]

Checklist of everything awful in 2.56 story:

- WHY did everyone blindly accept Nero? Did we forget about Crystal Tower and trying to kill us?
- WHY were there opinion options to begin with? Even those felt forced "we have no choice" -- actually...
- WHY was Omega so easily released when Nero could have done it the whole time?
- WHY did we bother convening with the Eorzean alliance? What purposes did they serve?
- WHY Shinryu? I mean it was cool to see, but what does a dragon have to do with Ala Mhigo?
- WHY the convoluted Yda / Lyse story? "Oh hey, surprise, I'm someone else!" Is this an M. Night Shyamalan movie?
- WHY do we not even care about going to Doma? Why was it so forced for us to leave this area?
- WHY wasn't Red Mage even slightly brought into the story? The most anticipated job in the game and not even a mention?

I'm not the least bit excited for Stormblood. I honestly couldn't care about it.

[dalta]

-snip

besides the nero thing im 100% with you on this.

[fantasticm]

- WHY do we not even care about going to Doma? Why was it so forced for us to leave this area?

I'm not the least bit excited for Stormblood. I honestly couldn't care about it.

100% with you. If the level of writing we saw this patch continues into Stormblood, it's going to be bad. I'm excited for new jobs and new zones and the like, but the MSQ has completely lost me at this point. There was a reason to go to Ishgard. Now? Who even knows. 'Welp this darned Ala Mhigan Resistance almost provoked Garlemald into coming to crush Eorzea JUST CUZ, good thing it didn't happen but RIP guess we should carry on their dream and retake Ala Mhigo and Doma too I guess, we have no choice LOL.'

[RobinMalvin]

- WHY did everyone blindly accept Nero? Did we forget about Crystal Tower and trying to kill us?

Good point. I know many people see Nero's role in Crytal Tower was redeeming, that he had begun to be 'good guy'. But honestly, he didn't do anything that's so redeeming in my opinion aside from defending Unei and Doga from voidsents and even that was fueled purely by selfish desire to control CoD. He took a new path, yes, but nothing implicates he's taken a good path, or if his goal ever changed.

No one blindly followed Nero. It was mentioned time and again that no one trusted him. They simply agreed with his idea, an idea that even Cid apparently entertained before Nero pointed it out but too fearful of what would entail. Should there was enough time, I'm sure no one would allow Nero to be involved in the operation but given the circumstances and the fact he'd already done preliminary research on Omega, he was included. To the Alliance, he's simply an ally with benefit.

- WHY was Omega so easily released when Nero could have done it the whole time?

It's possible he's found way to awaken Omega but what good would that do, if no one knows it is HE who managed to do it?

He wants recognition, acknowledgement for his genius. That's what he's always ever after, and that's why he risked to come to the meeting of the Alliance. He has to be in spotlight, not some unknown hero.

- WHY Shinryu? I mean it was cool to see, but what does a dragon have to do with Ala Mhigo?

I've been thinking about this too, it certainly doesn't make sense why a myth from Far East would end up summoned by an Ala Mhigan, especially when the prayers were meant for different deity altogether. We can chalk it up to the fact that the catalyst used for the ritual is the Eyes of a great wyrm, but that still doesn't allign with the prayers, especially when we see Shinryu's power to summon Tidal Wave. Doesn't seem in the least Rharlgr-ly.

But in credits, we're shown this image,

It most certain depicts Shinryu. Eorzea didn't know of Shinryu until his appearance, so it's likely that the image is Far Eastern in origin. We don't know of Shinryu's legends at this point, but the way he's depicted in the image and the seemingly revered response of the Domans imply that he's a mighty beast of untold destruction in the legends.

The ways I can see it being Shinryu:

1) Ilberd came to the knowledge of Shinryu, and deeming his legends depict him more terrible than Bahamut, and the fact that he's still revered by Domans in Eorzea and home, chose to summon spesifically Shinryu. This is similar with Thordan VII's MO to summon Knights of The Round.

2) Ilberd didn't summon Shinryu, or maybe even any spesific deity. His words was:

"A god has no need of faith when summoned by so pure a purpose"

The "purpose" here was the desire for vengeance, cried out by the fallen resistance members and possibly the fallen Garlean soldiers. It's possible what Ilberd wished was simply a being of pure hatred and vengeance, and among the eikons drift in aetherial sea, Shinryu was the closest match, and so the primal took on the form of a dragon foreign to Eorzea.

- WHY do we not even care about going to Doma? Why was it so forced for us to leave this area?

We don't know why we should go there yet. The only times it's implied of going to Doma is by Gosetsu, and he only meant them for Yugiri alone. No mention of WoL, or anyone else in Eorzea needs to go there. Also to be fair, no one says we would go to Doma first comes next expansion.

The ending implies that we would focus more on Ala Mhigo and that's probably the first focus in story of Stormblood. Would we liberate Ala Mhigo and then Doma, or the other way around is up for debate, but the certain thing is, we don't know yet. Unlike in 2.55 where we were all but certain going to Ishgard, all we know from 3.56 is that we're going to deal with Ala Mhigo first. When to Doma, is for us to look forward to.

[Cilia]

Checklist of everything awful in 2.56 story:

- WHY did everyone blindly accept Nero? Did we forget about Crystal Tower and trying to kill us?
- WHY were there opinion options to begin with? Even those felt forced "we have no choice" -- actually...
- WHY was Omega so easily released when Nero could have done it the whole time?
- WHY did we bother convening with the Eorzean alliance? What purposes did they serve?
- WHY Shinryu? I mean it was cool to see, but what does a dragon have to do with Ala Mhigo?
- WHY the convoluted Yda / Lyse story? "Oh hey, surprise, I'm someone else!" Is this an M. Night Shyamalan movie?
- WHY do we not even care about going to Doma? Why was it so forced for us to leave this area?
- WHY wasn't Red Mage even slightly brought into the story? The most anticipated job in the game and not even a mention?

I'm not the least bit excited for Stormblood. I honestly couldn't care about it.

To wit:

-Absolutely nobody accepted Nero. Half the people at the meeting didn't know who he was, and the other half didn't trust him as far as they could throw him.
-There is never a need for opinion options, but they are included from time to time to make it feel like a classic role-playing game where options are actually a thing that change the course of the story.
-Cid and Nero spent the time we were fighting the Roegadyn tribunus (Greinwaht, was his name?) figuring out how to reactivate Omega. The furthest Nero ever got was to Cartenau beforehand.
-We're convening with the Alliance because what we're doing is preparing to go to war with Garlemald, and the actions we take need to be concerted to have any hope of coming out on top. Also, Omega was in Cartenau, politically complex territory.
-Shinryu was summoned because, as Alphinaud explained, Ilberd's wish was for a disaster akin to the Calamity (aka Bahamut, a dragon) and the aether for the summoning came largely from the eyes of Nidhogg (a dragon).
-I don't know why the Yda / Lyse thing was necessary, given we had no mention in-story of Yda having a sister beforehand. I suppose Papalymo's "Farewell again, my dear Yda..." foreshadowed it slightly, but other than that I got nothing. Pretty sure this ain't an M. Night Shyamalan film though.
-We don't even know we're going to Doma yet. All eyes are on the Wall and all thoughts are on what to do after the Alliance definitively holds it.
-Red Mage was foreshadowed with Alisae in 3.4, and what Job is most anticipated is a matter of hot debate. (I honestly couldn't care less about RDM - not a fan of it, style aside.) Also, none of the 3.0 Jobs were brought into the story during 2.5(.5), so I don't see why that's such a big deal.

I'm not overly excited, but Yoshi-P has said that Stormblood will start slowly, so I'm going to give it a chance. Zenos has me intrigued either way.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Regarding Garlemald...

No attempt at diplomacy was made. Nobody brought up Regula's sacrifice even though his storyline really should be considered to be an extension of the MSQ's given how relevant it is to the game's story moving forward. I just don't get it - the lore book took the time to flesh out Garlemald as more than just a generic 'evil empire' and one can even argue that the Garleans were dealt a very poor hand, being unable to wield aether in most cases and being driven out of fertile lands in favour of living in a dangerous wasteland. They sought to survive, eventually becoming defiant and embracing magitek and military might out of necessity.

All of this is completely irrelevant right now. None of us know any of these things about their lands or their past, in-game; we just know that war with Garlemald is looming, and they haven't been especially open to bilateral negotiation in the past. Does the Eorzean Alliance even have communication channels with Ala Mhigo?

(I do agree that the Garlean Roe was more than a little bit cartoonish, and as much as I love me a good solo instance, I wish that sequence had been used to better effect. Maybe even as a way to introduce Zenos. I dunno. It's definitely my least favorite thing about the patch.

As for that checklist...well, Cilia covered most of what I wanted to say, but a couple other points:

- WHY did everyone blindly accept Nero? Did we forget about Crystal Tower and trying to kill us?

-Absolutely nobody accepted Nero. Half the people at the meeting didn't know who he was, and the other half didn't trust him as far as they could throw him.

Plus, Crystal Tower was where he showed that he could be relied on in spite of himself, given the right circumstances. It's the only reason we "trust" him at all, to the point where I'm kinda curious how that scene plays out if the player hasn't done CT. Hell, we're even given the chance to Not Trust him ourselves, in those opinion options you disliked so much. Also...

To be fair, Nero wasn't even wearing a helmet or headband. He literally walked into what should be one of the most secure locations in Gridania with his 'third eye' fully exposed. I was under the impression, as a Garlean role-player, that they would need to disguise themselves whilst roaming Eorzea's cities.

I mean, he's a pretty sneaky dude. That, and the average Gridanian likely hasn't seen a Garlean outside their fully-armored conscripts and soldiers - the eye may not register at a quick glance, if they even got that. I could see nobody paying him too much mind until he ended up somewhere he wasn't supposed to be.

- WHY do we not even care about going to Doma? Why was it so forced for us to leave this area?

-We don't even know we're going to Doma yet. All eyes are on the Wall and all thoughts are on what to do after the Alliance definitively holds it.

In addition, we haven't been given the narrative thrust to do so, for the time being. This game has played with storytelling in an MMO environment since the start; this time, it would seem that they decided to provide us with a reason to move East once we could actually do so, rather than end with an explosion of urgency and then expect us to lollygag around our old stomping grounds for three months. Clearly, it's gotten mixed reception, but I can see why they did it. We'll get our reason for going to Othard in 4.0.

[Theodric]

All of this is completely irrelevant right now. None of us know any of these things about their lands or their past, in-game; we just know that war with Garlemald is looming, and they haven't been especially open to bilateral negotiation in the past. Does the Eorzean Alliance even have communication channels with Ala Mhigo?

Is it really irrelevant, though? You don't go to war lightly - you research and pursue every available option at one's disposal before doing so. The Scions also have access to vast swathes of historical knowledge and are well aware of Eorzea's own history being rather unclean in both the past and the present. We've also had Cid, Lucia and Nero given a fair bit of screen-time yet none of them have really spoken of what drives them. They're just there, opposing Garlemald and ignoring the moral complexities of their aid resulting in their former people being killed or put at risk. Even if they've completely turned their backs upon their former homeland you'd think their eagerness to aid Eorzea would be reflected in acknowledging that not everybody in Garlemald is rotten.

Now, I don't want to spoil anything for other games but I recently played Tales of Berseria and Nier: Automata. Both solid RPG's in their own right and very enjoyable. They did an excellent job at making the antagonists very fleshed out and nuanced, driven by their own reasons and motives that weren't entirely difficult to sympathise or understand even if one does not agree with the methods used. FFXIV seems to be doing the same thing to Garlemald in the lore book yet that hasn't really been the case in the actual game yet...other than with Regula who has now been swept under the rug as if he didn't exist.

I just want some consistency. A lot of plot points were dropped abruptly or never referenced again after they were resolved. You're right in that we don't know what is in store for us in Stormblood but it's hard not to be wary given how things have been handled thus far.

[DarthSanguine]

- WHY wasn't Red Mage even slightly brought into the story? The most anticipated job in the game and not even a mention?

You might want to go back and play 3.4 again...

[Veritas-Ancora]

You might want to go back and play 3.4 again...

That was probably the most incomplete RDM boast ever. It was a single limit break that took waaaay too long to charge, and even then it didn't use a single skill. Granted, based on what we're hearing at the Fan Festivals that Red Mage was entirely incomplete and rushed into Stormblood. Still, they could have at least given Alisae a proper Red Mage attire in 3.56 just like we received a shirt and tie for whatever interview we're applying for in Stormblood. Silly Warrior of Light costume aside, she didn't even need to use a single move to prove she was a RDM. Just give her something that doesn't make her look like a SCH. They still look WAY too similar as it is.

[EorzeaHero69]

Checklist of everything awful in 2.56 story:

- WHY did everyone blindly accept Nero? Did we forget about Crystal Tower and trying to kill us?
- WHY were there opinion options to begin with? Even those felt forced "we have no choice" -- actually...
- WHY was Omega so easily released when Nero could have done it the whole time?
- WHY did we bother convening with the Eorzean alliance? What purposes did they serve?
- WHY Shinryu? I mean it was cool to see, but what does a dragon have to do with Ala Mhigo?
- WHY the convoluted Yda / Lyse story? "Oh hey, surprise, I'm someone else!" Is this an M. Night Shyamalan movie?
- WHY do we not even care about going to Doma? Why was it so forced for us to leave this area?
- WHY wasn't Red Mage even slightly brought into the story? The most anticipated job in the game and not even a mention?

I'm not the least bit excited for Stormblood. I honestly couldn't care about it.

3.56, not 2.56.