4.1 Hype and Speculation

[Jonnycbad]

The Zodiac Braves are already mentioned during the ARR relic quest, and that's a prominent myth in FFT. I doubt the 24 man return to ivalice has any bearing on the name of this patch. Crystal Tower and Void Ark were sidequesys that had little to no impact or intersection with the MAW. So, i suspect the same. This "Legend" can either refer to a person or a myth. I feel like it refers to the 4 Shinjin since they said the next primals would be a set like warring triad. Based on the art on the world map, the legend might refer to the divine beasts: Genbu, Seiryu, Suzaku, and Byakko awakening.

[Belhi]

Seriously guys, we could have Giaus's decapitated head as quest item and people would still be arguing he was still alive and going to come back...

The patch does seem very Ivalice focused. Makes me wonder if they are purposely downplaying the MSQ not to give anything away or if they are just holding back stuff. We still have seen nothing on Eureka either and that seems almost necessary if we are going to have the new relic starting up in 4.15.

[Anonymoose]

Seriously guys, we could have Giaus's decapitated head as quest item and people would still be arguing he was still alive and going to come back...

Wow, we never even saw what he looked like. So what if the head was wearing his helmet? He could have put anyone's head in that helmet.
You're gonna feel so silly when he comes back for it.

[Cilia]

Seriously guys, we could have Giaus's decapitated head as quest item and people would still be arguing he was still alive and going to come back...

The patch does seem very Ivalice focused. Makes me wonder if they are purposely downplaying the MSQ not to give anything away or if they are just holding back stuff. We still have seen nothing on Eureka either and that seems almost necessary if we are going to have the new relic starting up in 4.15.

Do we really need severed heads as proof of death still? I find the whole bit distasteful, and we didn't exactly have time to kill him ourselves or decapitate him as proof... plus killing him wasn't really necessary at that point...

I'd wager the focus on the Ivalice bits is intense because the developers are excited for it as well. With this it's... pretty clear they're playing favorites, which is no small part of why I'm personally opposed to such heavy references. They did it with the Crystal Tower too... and even though I played and liked III it was still just a bit intrusive for my taste, even if it was made to work in the context of XIV.

The lack of info on Eureka is, I'd bet, because it's not finished yet and still further off. 4.1 itself is still a month plus away; 4.15 probably 1.5+, so I'll be patient and wait. Still, the lack of any information at all is a bit worrying... I'm going to chalk it up to Ivalice hype leaving most players uninterested. (Eureka was one of my favorite areas in III, so hopefully they do it the same justice they're apparently doing Ivalice.)

[Belhi]

Well we need some irrefutable proof and hauling back the whole body would be a lot of work. That said, considering we are stuffing giant rhino monsters into sacks and hauling them around, I supposed carrying one garlean corpse wouldn't be that much work.

[Theodric]

There's plenty of original content unique to FFXIV, so I'm not too worried. As for 'playing favourites', I don't think that's necessarily the case at all - FFXIV has shared themes with Ivalice and has been inspired by it as far back as 1.0 by design. We're seeing a lot of fanservice and references but that's applicable to multiple FF titles and is a large part of the game's appeal at this point. It's been done pretty tastefully, too. Heck, they made a direct reference to Ex-Death work without compromising either the title he's from or FFXIV itself.

As for taking the heads of enemies for proof of slaying them...I think if that sort of thing ended up happening then it'd add a lot of weight to the idea that the Warrior of Light is a 'savage'. Furthermore, it isn't exactly respectful to one's enemies, especially someone such as Gaius who had redeeming qualities and the respect of his own men. Let's not pretend as if the Scions would not be frothing at the maw if someone killed Lyse or the equivalent and then took her head as a trophy and/or proof of the deed.

As far as the MSQ is concerned, though, it's likely they're not giving anything away. Then again, 3.1 was very short where the MSQ's were concerned so hopefully we get something of a decent length for 4.1 to tide us over.

[YianKutku]

Well we need some irrefutable proof and hauling back the whole body would be a lot of work. That said, considering we are stuffing giant rhino monsters into sacks and hauling them around, I supposed carrying one garlean corpse wouldn't be that much work.

To be fair, this is an actual historical thing, although as mentioned, the logistics of carrying around the severed heads of your enemies meant it quickly turned into taking smaller trophies, like ears, noses, or scalps. In some cases, like in ancient Japan, this was because the warriors needed proof of the kill, or they wouldn't get paid.

This has lasting repercussions on international relations even today: cf Mimizuka.

As per usual, it's one of those things where the faux-medieval setting of FFXIV means we have no idea whether to apply our own morals to it, or if it's just "one of those things", like Ul'dahns selling and being sold into indentured service, or Lominsans engaging in the "spice trade".

[Remedi]

Nay, it's Godbert, the true final boss when this game reaches 10.55.

I disagree, we all know that rowena is the real villain and that godbert will save our asses when the time is right!

edit: maybe after the final fight we'll have a friendly spar with godbert

[Yasuhiro]

If the Triple Triad FF heroes are myths and Lightning came to Eorzea before the events of Lightning Returns (Shantotto and Iroha too) does that make them an exception to the myth? Has Koji or anyone on the lore team acknowledged these events not being canon and vice versa?

[Daralii]

If the Triple Triad FF heroes are myths and Lightning came to Eorzea before the events of Lightning Returns (Shantotto and Iroha too) does that make them an exception to the myth? Has Koji or anyone on the lore team acknowledged these events not being canon and vice versa?

As far as I'm aware, the crossover events are non-canon and Koji/Yoshida are sticking to XIV being its own multiverse separate from the greater FF multiverse.