[SPOILERS] Stormblood Ending

[Belhi]

I am not saying Yosetsu's actions were justified or ok. I am explaining her viewpoint and the fact that while it doesn't justify what she did or what she became it does have some basis.

Her actions aren't based around simple revenge. We see many people in the occupied territories turn a blind eye to cruelty and injustice for the sake of survival. In her eyes she is just turning that reality back on the people who chose safety when she was the victim. As I said, in her world view you are either the abused or the abuser and she was put on top. Just look at her choices. She forces that fisherman to kill others so he might live. She is making them do anything to survive, even if it means killing their own families.

[Daralii]

I must have missed this ingame (or the German dialog was again different) but was it really said that its not a shield against tempering? I mean this goes against anything we know ingame and our shield against Lakshimi also goes against this. Also we saw with Ifrit what will happen with those without the echo so it must protect us from something. It might just be that on top of not being tempered by them, one could overpower them with it and control them too.

In English at least, he says something like "Does it truly protect you from a primal's tempering? Or does it mean your influence is greater than theirs?" I'd have to rewatch the cutscene for the exact dialogue.

[Grayve]

Oh, I had almost forgotten about the Black Rose chemical weapon. Good of Gaius to stop it, but that just shows that even before Xenos' encouraging rebellion, the Imperials had no regard for non-imperial life

[Daralii]

Oh, I had almost forgotten about the Black Rose chemical weapon. Good of Gaius to stop it, but that just shows that even before Xenos' encouraging rebellion, the Imperials had no regard for non-imperial life

Unfortunately, I imagine that Gaius was opposed to it for the same reason he was opposed to Project Meteor, not because of altruism.

[Grayve]

Unfortunately, I imagine that Gaius was opposed to it for the same reason he was opposed to Project Meteor, not because of altruism.

I'm fine with a non altruistic, practical Gaius (or Varius) . The Empire could (theoretically) make things better for the world, if it wanted to. It doesn't have to do it for altruistic reasons. But I find that more interesting then Xenos... but then, people finding Gaius 'interesting' and 'morally ambiguous' is why we got Xenos in the first place.

[whiskeybravo]

37 pages here, cant read all the posts. But when I saw the clip I immediately thought "Does he have the Garlean 3rd eye, maybe?"

Sorry if someone already mentioned that, just my thoughts

[Cilia]

[Yotsuyu] is making [the Domans] do anything to survive, even if it means killing their own families.

Are you sure that's it?

Yotsuyu's motivation is pretty clearly spelled out when she's confronted after Doma Castle.

[Being free and getting even] would be enough, I thought... until I saw a Doman in the road, beaten and broken, and my heart... skipped a beat... Lying at my feet, groaning in agony, sobbing in despair. Powerless, helpless, hopeless! A vision forever seared into my soul... Oh! There was nothing I would not do to feel that joy again! To bend this cruel, twisted world to my whims!

Yotsuyu wasn't even driven by revenge. Everything we saw her do - everything - was just for the sheer sadistic pleasure she got out of seeing Domans suffer and die. This can be somewhat explained by her tragic past, or:

... but she wasn't even doing it to turn her reality back on the Domans; to make them suffer as she did. She did it just because she enjoys it.

During that same rant, reading between the lines also suggests that only her family knew about her abuse.

[W]hen I pleaded for help, I was told to grin and bear it. For the family. For [my husband]. For everyone's sake. They pretended not to notice, but they knew. They knew. What did it matter? I was nothing to them - less than nothing! I wasn't of their flesh, I wasn't a fellow Doman, I wasn't even a person. I might just as well have been dead!

Who did she plead for help to? We don't know. I find it... difficult to believe that literally everyone she met would have denied her had she asked for help - and going by her age in the Echo flashback, the Empire was governing Doma at the time, so if the government is at fault it's the Empire. Otherwise I'm leaning on a cultural thing - keeping shameful family matters private. She asked her family to help with her drunken, abusive husband, but they told her "just deal with it" - between her abusive childhood and this, Yotsuyu came to believe Doma was using her as the national whipping girl. Bystander effect might be in play, but that brings Yotsuyu's pleas for help into question.

The Doman "system" is to blame, but identifying what part of said system so that it can be addressed and resolved is what needs to be done, not casting blame on the whole nation.

On the Zodiac Weapon... yeah, a lot of it is vague. Either way, the part in question - the Trials of the Braves - is just you going around and recreating the heroics of the Zodiac Braves... somehow, despite the fact they were from Thavnair and could not have killed Imperials since the Empire didn't even exist yet. You do go murder some Imperial squatters, but how many is in question (it's been reduced), the weapon(s) aren't eating souls at that point, and they'll still kill you on sight if you're low enough level. The soul eating part comes later and is even more vague, since it powers up by clearing dungeons, trials, and FATEs... some of which you could canonically do only once... and stuff...

[Theodric]

Well, if Gosetsu knew of her abuse then that implies that it wasn't only her family who knew of it.

[Cilia]

Well, if Gosetsu knew of her abuse then that implies that it wasn't only her family who knew of it.

But the question remains: when did he learn? Until we know that, it's not fair to blame anyone but her family, who definitely knew.

[Daralii]

But the question remains: when did he learn? Until we know that, it's not fair to blame anyone but her family, who definitely knew.

Gosetsu was also a retainer to the king of Doma, so he was in a fairly privileged position as far as information was concerned. The death of a noble would have undoubtedly made its way to the castle.