Revelations from Patch 4.3

[Iscah]

I know there was a passing mention of The Burn previously - I think in one of the Steppe sidequests, possibly with the tribe living in the cave and atoning for the greed of their ancestors?

[Chewy2nd]

Unknown place spoiler?

Anyone else come across this new weird place in the Lochs?

[Lauront]

Hmmm a lot to go over...

Quite a few takeaways...

1) I am beginning to understand the problem facing Elidibus. The Populares are gaining traction, perhaps as Garlean Purebloods and other citizens grow weary of their struggle to "tame" the Eikons and the costs of maintaining an empire. As Elidibus sees things, an imbalance of Light and Dark is a real threat (the WoD quest chain attests to this, although probably for different reasons to why an Ascian would see it as an issue), and if the Empire is no longer hunting Eikons down, it's possible that the urge to summon them will subside, too. This means the chaos the Ascians wish to sow will lapse, in turn. Elidibus is an Ascian, and so serves Zodiark, and what better way to cause chaos than to gain Varis's trust, kill him and take over the Empire to serve his needs? My prediction is Elidibus/"Zenos" will be the final trial, like Nidhogg, but I don't think Elidibus will die, so much as draw us deeper. The proliferation of Ascians in the Empire could also signal that they seek to consume it at this point, as reading their lore, there are echoes of what they did to the Allagan empire. They are after all harbingers of a civilisation's undoing, hence the themed spells like "End of days", "Megiddo Flame" etc. Overall, Elidibus has been working to a plan since Nidhogg fell, by lackadaisically handing over the "eyes" to Ilberd, which in turn were in Zenos's possession when he merged with Shinryu. Since the eyes absorbed Lahabrea, who knows whether he remains locked in there, influencing matters. Another possibility is that he is trying to place the Empire on an even keel with the WoL, as per the OP, with similar aims: fostering chaos. Yet I think the Populares truly are a wrench in the works for the Ascians. It's ironic, because the Empire is correct in its assessment of how great a threat eikons are, particularly given how easy they are to summon. Overall, although the Ascians are single-minded, their modus operandi can be complex, and even perceived victories against them can work to their advantage, so these are at best surmisals.

Where I begin to wonder is how long will Varis abide with it? He was unsettled by the summoning, so I suspect Elidibus has convinced him of a greater good that is being served through allowing him to assume Zenos's form, but skepticism is beginning to mount; Elidibus is a cunning manipulator, all the same. Varis is not stupid, though, and is well acquainted with what Ascians do, so how long until he becomes an inconvenience? I am hoping Theodric is correct and Alpinaud gains an audience with him, bringing him on board before it's too late. He's one of my favourite characters, so I'd rather he didn't die. I also think there may be fertile ground for cooperating with him at this stage. Over and above this, I want to find out more on whether the Resonance relates to the Ascians and whether Aulus was guided by them, so I would prefer that they did not simply drop this storyline.

If we do get a trial out of "Zenos", I do hope they will do it justice and throw in one hell of a canonical extreme mode, too. I'd like for them to showcase an Ascian in all their might (from a mechanics standpoint), rather than these stupid sidequest scenarios/story dungeons we keep seeing, which don't allow for it because they're meant to be doable by the all players.

2) Yeah, the shadow hunter is OBVIOUSLY Gaius, and it looks like he and his motley crew are picking on some of the weaker Ascians (bearing in mind they follow a hierarchy, so no all are as powerful as Lahabrea, Elidibus and co; even those red masks come with varying degrees of power.) Besides giveaways like the mask, he mentions prior encounters with the Scions. All in all, there is too much evidence pointing to it being Gaius, to dismiss it. It had Mad Max vibes, and I was half expecting Imperator Liviosa to pop out on a magitek bike. It does prove that purebloods can tan pretty well in the desert. I also think they may be doing an early tease of a possible Gunblade job. If the Emperor does die, Gaius might be the man to succeed him and put Garlemald on a better track once more. Ascians (or at the least, greater ones) don't die permanently absent certain complex "methods", though, so perhaps he will need our help. I'm also pleased to see that Maxima is genuine in his intentions. All roads now lead to 5.0 taking place in Garlemald, perhaps to help deal with "Zenos" and temporarily push back the Ascian threat - they will never be dealt with permanently on Eorzea alone, and doing so may come with its own risks if Elidibus is truthful, which I suspect he is. Maybe Thavnair or Sharlayan proper will play a role too, but they could be saving them for future expansions. They have provided the right set up (NPCs, rationale for going there, Burn possibly being a pre-expansion zone, etc) for Garlemald.

3) Very much on the fence about Zenos returning. I DID like Zenos a lot, up to Castrum Ala Mhigo, where I feel he began to unravel a bit as a good character and became just plain unhinged. From Elidibus's perspective, striking a deal with him to transfer his soul to another body (perhaps a trick he learnt through Aulus?) makes sense, as it means you have a camouflaged foe on your tracks, which benefits Elidibus, and he could also get the job done if Asahi wavered, as I suspect Zenos is fully on board with Elidibus's plans. There's the off chance that Elidibus is not aware of it, but I doubt it. Zenos is not an Ascian overlord and cannot body-hop wily-nilly without some aid. Also the slights on his looks, like "barbie man"? C'mon... SE knows from FFVII how popular bishonen villains are. Zenos may lack his father's hardened, square jawed manliness, but he still looks pretty rad.

4) The Yotsuyu part of the story was great. They were able to plausibly convey her motives and also made what was one of the most amazing looking primals to date, music and all. The scenery, the outfit and the overall composition were stunning. I liked how they fit Revolutions and the Garlean anthem into her theme. Probably one of the best musical pieces to grace the game to date. She had a pretty sad story, and in the end I think she came out with a dignified ending that suited her and brought her the peace she sought, whereas Asahi got precisely the end he deserved. Talk about crazed fanboi. It would never have suited her to just be some innocent but ultimately lost girl like Tsuyu. Additionally, it does lend credence to the view that she had developed multiple personalities to cope with her trauma. Hien came through pretty well in all the quests; he's one of the few "good guy" NPCs for whom I have a liking.

Re the OP, it may be that Nabriales was wrong about the Echo being a requirement for Eikonic forms. It may also be that not everything that we think is an Eikon/primal, is truly one. I am also beginning to wonder whether a Paragon could not perhaps impart or artificially create the Echo in a sense, much like they did with helping Aulus along in creating the Resonance (at least I suspect this is what happened.) So you may be right that Elidibus, or another Ascian, "gifted" the Echo. Yet, I also am led to believe that there may be varying types of transformation and that not all function the same or result in tempering. Perhaps Thordan could "absorb" the risks of the tempering somehow for the Knights, but it's unclear. The Echo as such is rare but not exceedingly rare, unlike the Blessing of Light. I would like more (and more importantly, more coherent!) lore on all these facets.

Lastly, I am hoping we see more of Magnai!

[Remedi]

Oh boy, so much to take in, I'm geniunely not sure if I liked the MSQ more or the 24 man more this time around

[Lauront]

Haven't got to the latter yet, but I am very impressed by the amount of content they put into the MSQ.

[ObsidianFire]

MSQ

Yotsuyu and Asahi were handled very, very well. Yotsuyu's story is one of the better tragedies in FFXIV and it had a satisfying end. It felt like everyone involved got their due even while it was a tragedy which is more then can be said for most tragedies I've seen. Also, kudos to the dev team for how they handled her amnisa. It could have been a very cliche use of the trope and it wasn't used like that.

Zenos... proof that the scenario team can eat their cake and have it too. We've got Elidibus having more influence on how the Empire is going then ever while Zenos is still majorly obsessed with us. And best of all, no one in the cast knows about it! Which is something we havn't had for a while. The person I'm the most curious about in relationship to Zenos still being around is Fordola. Her Echo is presumably still going into overdrive and I can't help but think she'll pick up that something is wrong with whoever Zenos is possessing because of it. As much as Zenos is a wild card for the Sions, the new Ala Mhigan nation and even the WoL, she's kinda a wild card for Zenos. Outside of the Warrior of Light, she's the one who picked up best on his hunting mentality and has the best chance of recognizing it in someone else.

The Burning Wastes... oooh boy. I think this is the first time the WoL and Alphinaud have been split up for what looks like to be a prolonged period of time. Seeing how the Scions take Alphinaud's disappearance in the coming patches will be very interesting. For starters, it's a good way to get them not thinking rationally about the Garlemald situation...

There's no reason the Mercenary isn't who we all think it is. Giaus is one of the few people outside the Scions/Shaleayn who knows who is really behind the primal summonings. And had some idea of what they were capable of. Which makes me very curious about who is hunting down Ascians with him... I get the feeling they probably aren't background NPCs... All I can say is... man did Lahabrea piss the wrong person off at the end of 2.0...

24-Man

I really like seeing all the little ways FFXIV Dalmasca is different from FFXII/Tactics Dalmasca. We also finally get some confirmation about when and how the Dalmasca Annexation went down and why the Garlean ancestors had to migrate north (what a convenient explosion).

Auracite... wow... no wonder it was used to combat primals on the Shard that would become the Void. Although I'm personally in favor of dropping it down the Ridorana Cataracts after this is all over. Given what's happened with the Isle of Val my faith in Sharlyan sealing techniques isn't at its strongest at the moment.

Four Lords

Sun Wu Kong's mechanics are a great interpretation of him. The ending stinger after "killing" Sun Wu Kong is perfect. Because he'd totally let us have the box if we proved ourselves just to see our reactions to the whole thing. And because him dying goes against pretty much every story told about him ever...

Whoever is in charge of the trailer deserves major kudos. I saw at least two places where the trailer footage was different from the cut-scene footage to keep things ambiguous. Keep doing more of that.

[Cilia]

Long day, folks! I only got to the MSQ today so that's all I'm going to cover!

MSQ

While I was sad that Yotsuyu's story ended the way it did, I suppose it was a more fitting outcome since Fordola's been set on the path to redemption. Her foster parents continuing to abuse and treat her like a piece of property went beyond the pale for me, and as much as it screwed things up I can't really blame her for killing them in a rage. Asahi goaded her into incarnating as Tsukuyomi as predicted (I figured out what was in the crates well before then), and despite Gosetsu's positive influence she was too broken to let go until her vengeance had been sated. At least she got it... by doing in the ones actually responsible for her torment and saving us the trouble of dealing with Asahi. (Seriously, I'm a SAM right now, should have let me parry the bullets to protect her and for cool factor!) ... even after everything she did, I can't help but feel like things could have ended differently... but the world is a strange and cruel place.

Ah well! Doma is free and on the right foot toward reconstruction and peace with Garlemald, that smarmy snake of an ambassador has been dealt with, and though it wasn't the happy ending everyone would have liked Yotsuyu went out with her own smile.

Zenos has been possessed by Elidibus. Though this could have been guessed as far back as 4.0's stinger, this is near-explicit confirmation. It was made fairly apparent when Zenos started talking about "saving [the world]" during Asahi's Echo flashback that it wasn't him - Zenos never gave a rat's ass about the state of the world, just having his fun.

Zenos has possessed that Elezen Resistance soldier; his commentary and weapon make that fairly clear. He's coming for us again.

Alphinaud impulsively went with Maxima, who turned out to be a genuine member of the Populares (hey, if you guess every Imperial is going to be a "good guy" you'll be right eventually...), to Garlemald, only to be shot down over the Burn and saved by the "Shadowhunter," a man whose commentary, evasiveness, weapon, and fighting style all very heavily imply he's Gaius. This raises the questions both of how he survived and how he got there, if it is indeed Gaius... but we need explicit confirmation before those questions are really relevant. This puts a lot of weight into the "Gaius Lives!" hypothesis, though.

Looks like Garlemald might be our next destination, or at least some of the provincial territories.

I'll get to the rest when I get to it...

[Theodric]

Shadowhunter:

It's pretty much outright confirmed that it's Gaius, given the mask:

[Cilia]

Shadowhunter:

Well, I suppose that's pretty explicit.

I figured there must have been a reason they focused on the white mask in the closing scene, and given no Ascian is known to use a white mask there must have been something special about it.

Still, while it does match up with Gaius' old helmet... the "Shadowhunter" could have acquired it from the ruins of the Praetorium somehow, or otherwise acquired one that matches up with Gaius'.

For the record this evidence does push me into the "Gaius Lives!" camp, but the possibility that he's still dead and it's all just an elaborate fakeout isn't something I'm ruling out until we get explicit confirmation.

[Eisenhower]

MSQ:

Doma being rebuilt, Gosetsu being bedridden and Yotsuyu having amnesia all felt par for the course as this round of MSQ started. I sort of expected there to be some drama involving Yotsuyu and the Doman populace. But the people seem to be able to rein in their anger far more than I imagined. Asahi trying to restore his sister's memories were also expected, but I thought initially that it would just involve the relic in order to instigate Garlean action. Seeing Yotsuyu relapse felt like an okay ending - and though it was tragic, I'm glad that it didn't get neatly wrapped up with a hugs and kisses. To me, it helped keep things grounded. Gosetsu being part of the trial was a nice touch.

The Zenos situation in terms of Ascian possession was nice to get a bit more info on. My suspicion is that Elidibus is going to parade around in that skinsuit to further push the empire towards punishing primal activity and in turn cause more desperation on the other side of the conflict. It feels like the empire has been quiet for a while in general and that a storm is going to come rolling in soon. I don't mind though. The empire doesn't feel like a threat right now. Not that it should be cartoonishly evil - the introduction of the different factions was a good addition, along with the second in command not being a jerk - but the empire got to be able to walk the walk at the end of the day.

The real highlight for me however was without doubt the short segment in the Burn, where we control Alphinaud. In the moment, I was overjoyed to see SqE try something new in terms of how they deliver story. I really hope they continue to explore and utilize new tools like the one we got now. Ideally I would have liked to see a bit more exploration before duking it out with imperial agents. But I'll take it as is. notGaius caught me by surprise though. I'm unsure how to react to it aside from "does anyone stay dead in this game?"

24-man

Overall no big reactions on this one, save enjoying Ramza being a real jerk.

What irks me is the fact that we finally get someone talking about aetheric science in good (faux) scientific terms, but she gets immediately shut down by Cid. No Cid. Let the girl talk. I want to know more. It's most certainly the case that the abbreviations and terminology used (NNR-type, CPRS waves, neuroharmonics) are just going to be one-off mentions with no solid basis. But I want to believe that the lore team sat down and actually build some science around it all. I want to believe.

Four Lords

Tataru is the worst party member. Soroban got swole. Surprise turtle vs turtle fight night.

The dungeon however, was really nice. Seeing magical mantras in two languages was really cool. Seeing an incarnation of the monkey king that actually features his transformations and staff was refreshing. Though having us ride the clouds as a transition in the dungeon itself made my mind consider whether or not that part was in-game advertisement for that mount.