Random thought about being ilvl synced.

[Felis]

Is that really true? The NPCs usually tell us to "gather our adventurer friends" before we go after a serious threat.

Not always.
Newest example, the new 4.1 dungeon.
Lorewise you enter the underwater entrance of the dungeon alone.

[kikix12]

The only times the game assumes you are in a party are during the "siege" scenarios (attacking a fortification and what not) or when going against a massive threat...the trials usually. You are most certainly "in a party" for Final Steps of Faith, for example. Heck, you even "gather" the party way before the actual battle...and that party you fought with was nearly entirely wiped out by the story, even...

Basically, don't expect there being any logic to an MMO. By the fact of it being repeatable, there is none possible. Except if the game explicitly made use of time loops letting the character do something with a definitive result over and over again, changing the outcome through changing the decisions...but it's neither here not in any other MMO I know of.

[BillyKaplan]

Lorewise you enter the underwater entrance of the dungeon alone.

And you're alone when Alphinaud and Arenvald find you later on. Your party members were never there.

The only times the game assumes you are in a party are [..].the trials usually.

The trials are actually the time where it makes the least amount of sense to have a party in, regardless of Lyse and Alisaie telling you to put a group together for Susano. Logically it makes no sense you'll leave them in the middle of enemy territory where they're heavily outnumbered and get a group together, then make it all the way back to the vault to fight Susano, who was said to be a Primal so you'd have to find Echo-protected members on top of it all. And where are your allies after the fight is over? Nowhere to be seen. Garuda - you're there with Cid and Alphinaud only. Ifrit - you were captured with the group of Flames, no party. Thordan - no party members otherwise the scene after makes no sense. Ravana - only you and the Scions there with Shiva getting a beating. The list goes on, and it makes sense you're not bringing a party with you because there aren't supposed to be that many people with the Echo in the game to begin with.
There are time when it makes sense to have a party, like Sirensong - your party members could've been on the boat with you, or Doma Castle, even though the scenes after that show none of your party members so that kind of debunks that. Bardam's Mettle - you're supposed to tame the Yol on your own, and it's one Yol per person, no reason to go in there with a party of four, and then you're alone again after you leave the dungeon. And the list goes on.
tl;dr this is an mmorpg so most instances are party content, but the story ignores that almost completely.

[kikix12]

The trials are actually the time where it makes the least amount of sense to have a party in, regardless of Lyse and Alisaie telling you to put a group together for Susano.

The NPC's telling to get a group is actually what I meant by the game assuming the player is in a party. Even if it does not make sense, it's there, acknowledged by the game. Such things dismissing one another are extremely common in fiction, even more so in MMO's...but hey.

And echo isn't particularly common or anything, but it's not as rare as you make it to be. It's more that people with any degree of control or mastery over it are rare. Warrior of Light is so powerful exactly because he/she have a high degree of control over it, not for having it altogether. Apparently only Minfilia had greater skill in it.

The warriors of darkness all were echo users. They are "paraller world" warrior of light party. That means, that it is not entirely without merit to assume that there are numerous adventurers that the player is "in contact with" that can be called as necessary for the difficult fight. The people you enter dungeon with may be different each time, but story-wise, they may be the very same people every single time. This is frequently implied anyway, when NPC's talk about the adventurers that the player knows and trusts. And it was a big thing with how many losses were in the dragonsong war that the player was supposedly personally knowing many of the victims.

The game assumes the character have its own life outside of what the player does after all. And the very first cinematic I remember is how all those countless people with echo were gathering around Hydaelyn. There were far more than enough for a large unit, and by the fact of them being there, those were just the ones with considerable ability in echo. Basically, other warriors of light that just didn't decide to follow the heroic path, but can still be more than happy to try their hand at god-slaying.

[Canopia]

I just chalk it up to some form of Aetheric Dampening Field in place, and it only activates when there is a certain number of foreign aetherial bodies present in the area. The field restricts your aetheric flow, thus making your abilities less potent.

[BillyKaplan]

And echo isn't particularly common or anything, but it's not as rare as you make it to be. It's more that people with any degree of control or mastery over it are rare. Warrior of Light is so powerful exactly because he/she have a high degree of control over it, not for having it altogether. Apparently only Minfilia had greater skill in it.

Actually, we're one of the characters with the least amount of control over the Echo. I don't remember too many instances other than 4.1 where we used it proactively. Most of our usage of it is passive protection from Primals and flashbacks, meanwhile Fordola seems to have a better grasp over it and the Ascians have basically been on our case about it since ARR, complaining how if we had better control over the Echo, we'd probably see things their way. We can't fuse with other people like at the end of ARF, for instance, and again, our control over timing has been nonexistent. So I really wouldn't say we have any control over it, least of all that we're so good with it. The opposite has actually been a running plot point for most of the game. It's just that our control of the Echo, or lack thereof, doesn't change the end result of us being monsters. I always took that comment Arenvald made about how we're stronger with the Echo, which could mean any number of things from frequency of visions to strength and length of them, but that really doesn't imply control.

That means, that it is not entirely without merit to assume

Some people assume their characters are actually Garleans. You can assume whatever you want about your character, but the game disagrees.

And it was a big thing with how many losses were in the dragonsong war that the player was supposedly personally knowing many of the victims.

I'm going to have to ask you to quote that because I don't remember anything along those lines and the cutscenes before and after the fight with Nidhogg, again, imply no other people there with you as far as I remember.

[Minako_Nightsong]

Well if my character could feel she would be screaming and crying every time I log in knowing she is about to be shot, stabbed, cut, smashed, and burned several thousand times. Every hitpoint you lose means some sort of pain and agony even if it is healed immediately.

[kikix12]

Actually, we're one of the characters with the least amount of control over the Echo.

Control wasn't exactly the right word, yes. However, the Warriors of Light echo is one of the more powerful.
Fordola doesn't even have echo. She was implemented with a power based on research of the echo. Resonation or something?! Not echo.
Ascians were about it even in respect to Minfilia. She became an actual proxy of Hydaelyn...You want to argue about fanatics arguments of "if only you had (this or that) you would see our way"?! Also, their fusion...sorry. Player characters are flesh and bones, while Ascians are purely energy. Of course it's "easy" for two bits of the same kind of energy to fuse. That happens every single day in every part of the REAL world.

If I remember correctly, many people with the echo don't have even the ability of these visions. And Minfilia, too, had very limited ability to call upon them actively. I remember one time she did what could be assumed active use of it, but was more of a prayer. After the story mission where Gaius van Baelsar was killed. Though Krile did use the echo actively on multiple occasions and she is a better user of it than the adventurer as well.

Some people assume their characters are actually Garleans. You can assume whatever you want about your character, but the game disagrees.

Eh...it doesn't?! You still haven't given a single argument that clearly shows the game disagrees, even when the story characters literally say to take a party and sometimes, sporadically and in passing, mention other characters. It's just far easier from storybuilding perspective to keep all the credit to the players character in cinematics and most dialogue after the fact.

I'm going to have to ask you to quote that because I don't remember anything along those lines and the cutscenes before and after the fight with Nidhogg, again, imply no other people there with you as far as I remember.

Hm. I meant the first Steps of Faith. I consider "dragonsong war" the entirety of the war with dragons that the player participates with, though I honestly don't know whether that is correct lore-wise. Even in Administrative Decision, Minfilia mentiones the adventurer being a commander of a squadron of adventurers. And that's not the only part, either. If you want, go ahead and look for a video of that. I won't put more effort into finding all these mentions, some of which probably aren't even from the main story quests but random mentions of irrelevant NPC's (which, yes, I sometimes actually talk with). The fact that you don't talk with those NPC's doesn't mean it's not there or that it's not acknowledged in-game.


Still, this is a rather silly thing to discuss, especially since it have nothing to do with the actual topic. So, agree or disagree...well, whatever. We'll just have to "agree to disagree" at worst.

[stanrir]

I normally think of it as one of two ways.. My character is testing herself.. which totally fits in with her personality type... or she is remembering when she ran that, cause memories can be different than what actually happened

[Mysterysword]

Well, I like to take the explanation that any and all dungeon/trial repeats I do, are flashbacks on the part of my character. The different party members each time are the result of my character being really fuzzy on the details of her experiences, so she hallucinates different people each time.