Revelations from Live Letter XXXV

[Enkidoh]

Remember also that Zenos has only just taken up the post of Ala Mhigo's Viceroy, as Gaius formerly held the position only til recently (until we 'relieved him of his duty' that day at the bottom of the Praetorium ) - being assigned as Viceroy for two vassal states shows either that Garlemald is facing severe manpower shortages in their top brass due to their consistently failed attempts at bringing Eorzea to heel, or that they're just overreaching themselves and thus the first cracks in the Empire's carefully upheld veneer are starting to show (not to mention the Empire has now lost at least three Legatee in the short space of five years).

So it's little wonder Zenos has to use a Doman quisling to oversee affairs in Doma while he's out of town.

Either way, it's going to be interesting times ahead.

[Khalithar]

From what they said about Zenos and his lust for battle along with how bored he looked on that throne I'm seeing him as finally being happy to have a challenge of some kind again, considering he's basically forced at this point to sit around and rule over a broken people that aren't really a challenge. Part of me is wondering if he'll make some comment along the lines of "I could have crushed the Resistance at any time, but then I'd never have anyone to fight against" or something.

He definitely seems to be the kind of enemy we'll face that will love being in combat against us, but rather than someone like Ravana that seems to rejoice in the glory of combat (see what I did there?) Zenos is more the kind that loves to fight and conquer a worthy opponent in a battle to the death for the satisfaction of domination.

Given how evil he is though, I don't actually want us to kill Zenos in a battle or a trial or whatever. I'd rather see him get taken down by treachery or some other underhanded means, given how evil he is and how much he enjoys battle, not getting a warrior's death is probably the worst fate he can imagine. Though he's probably so arrogant he doesn't believe he CAN lose, if nothing else I really want to see him get humbled.

[Nalien]

What could this mean, I wonder? Surely Omega Savage (the only content confirmed for 3.05 specifically, at least as far as I recall) won't involve a different location/feel than Story Mode; is this perhaps a hint at further Aquapolis? Deep Dungeon? Perhaps even Eureka? Totally aside from getting confirmation of some sort of non-Savage content in 3.05, I'm very interested in seeing more Thavnairian flair in the game.

My money is on Eureka. They've said it'll be central to the new Relics, right? Folk from Radz-at-Hahn have helped with the last two weapons, why not the third? Anima weapons started up in 3.15 though... Still, they say these areas will be in preparation, so they don't have to be releasing relevant content alongside the areas...

I hope Deep Dungeons though... Alchemist quests already flagged Thavnair as Blue Mage territory IMO, and I don't think they can possibly implement Blue Mage as a Job in a particularly satisfying way at this point... Make Blue Mage a Deep Dungeons Job, though? That could work... Pomanders become monster skills, Aetherpool level becomes Blue Mage level... You could do a lot of things with that concept which you simply cannot with a static Job...

Only other thing I can see it being is something PvP related, new Frontlines area perhaps... 3.05 is when Seal Rock was introduced, after all...

Kinda hope Eureka is actually to the East of Kugane, so the Four Shijin can be involved, assuming the Kyuubi Fenrir-reskin we saw in the benchmark isn't Byakko and those Four are just FATE bosses...

[Theodric]

I don't think it'd be very wise to leave someone like Zenos alive for the sake of trying to 'humble' him. He needs to be eliminated ASAP simply because he's seemingly as much a threat and liability to Garlemald itself as he is to the Eorzean Alliance. I am fairly certain that his defeat will come about due to some of his own allies turning against him, perhaps in response to his excessive cruelty or lack of care for their lives. We're likely to see a FFXII style power struggle within Garlemald as well - which will hopefully bring about a nuanced 'Larsa' type character vying for control of the Garlean Empire. I'd be fine with that, so long as it's a Pureblood Garlean who is still fairly gritty whilst priortising their homeland and people but not being against diplomacy.

I'd also like the Warrior of Light to be the one to be 'humbled' in regards to being stuck in a stalemate with Garlemald. Mostly because the WOL strolling into the heart of Garlemald and dismantling it by slaughtering everything that gets in his way isn't very compelling as far as stories go. Being forced to align with certain aspects within Garlemald - particularly the nuanced/morally complicated elements - would be much more interesting. Nor would it be a stretch when the WOL frequently turns a blind eye to many of the shadier elements of the nations he has passed through already.

[Belhi]

I agree about just crushing Garlemald would be a pretty dull story. I don't think humbling would work well exactly though as that would probably be pretty unpopular among most players.

My personal hope is that the WoL will do what they need to do to free Ala Mhigo and Doma and bring down Zenos and then come to the realisation that their efforts risk to destabilise an entire continent and throw it into conflict and chaos, fertile soil for the Ascians to do their thing. Its a case of doing the right thing but still having to deal with the consequences of their actions. I think it would be interesting to see that even acting with the best intentions can have severe repercussions.

I do still think we will see a more moderate Garlean at some point from the Garlean empire but now I am suspecting we might not get into that in detail till the patch story starts. Also, having Garlemald get thrown into such chaos would probably require the loss of the emperor which is why I think he won't make it through SB. Its kind of a 'you made this mess so now you can come and fix it' situation for the WoL, particularly if the Emperor is shown in a more positive light before he dies.

[LystAP]

I do still think we will see a more moderate Garlean at some point from the Garlean empire but now I am suspecting we might not get into that in detail till the patch story starts. Also, having Garlemald get thrown into such chaos would probably require the loss of the emperor which is why I think he won't make it through SB. Its kind of a 'you made this mess so now you can come and fix it' situation for the WoL, particularly if the Emperor is shown in a more positive light before he dies.

We have it in a sense with Regula (however, briefly). Imperial Garleans can be perfectly rationale, and outright heroic.

[Belhi]

We have it in a sense with Regula (however, briefly). Imperial Garleans can be perfectly rationale, and outright heroic.

I don't know if I would call Regula moderate but he certainly was the kind of character I am talking about but he cant really fill such a role at this point being dead and all. To move into a situation where we are actually working with Garlemald we need someone we alive we can connect with, plus it is probably important to at least sell such a character enough that most player don't go "Why are we helping the Bad Guys?".