[ SPOILER ] Appreciation: Thank you VERY much Dev Team...

[Anonymoose]

Agreed on most counts!

The first thing I'm holding my breath for is an explanation for the astounding coincidence that they just happened to crash their airship ten yalms from a guy we haven't seen since 2.00.

However, the one thing we may disagree on is his trajectory from here.

I could write 20 pages on this to be sure, but I assume you know enough about the man to know where I'm coming from when I ask: Has he learned the flaws in his leadership? His blindness to the compounding effects of context? Is he fit to rule? Does he want to rule? If the influence of the Populares flourishes, would his rule even be welcome or consistent with its values? Maybe ... maybe not.

My beef was that Gaius was Mr. Conquered Five Cities / Mr. Outsmarted Nine Usurpers / Mr. Eorzea Must Be Saved (By Force). He believed Eorzeans were subjects to be guided and ruled well (after the complete and ruthless purging of the "enemies of order" through whom shadow might or might not root themselves to it, yes, we should admit). Then he was put on pause to be integrated into the 2.0 rebuild of the 1.0 story.

Between 1.18 and 1.23, Cid mocked Gaius to his face as an aging has-been resigning himself to betraying his principles and scurrying about in the shadow of the White Raven. He snapped out of it. He outplayed Nael and manipulated the resources to undermine Project Meteor into the hands of the Eorzean Alliance. It created an air of reclaiming his glory and serving the spirit over the Emperor's mission over the letter of the Emperor's orders. (Incidentally the exact opposite of how Zenos approaches Varis's orders.)

But then they unpaused him. His invasion's success? Ivy. His invasion's collapse? Ivy. His motivation? Self-serving. His death? A pawn in a war between gods he was too arrogant to believe existed and (allegedly) burned to death in a storyline whose theme was rebirth from the ashes. The overall story was good, and a lot of the desperation, arrogance, and blindness fit. However, in context of 1.0 and 1.23 it really broke my crayons to assume that's who he died as.

Even if villains mostly die in their expansion cycle, your first antagonist mascot, the man wearing the number XIV, a hypocrite wearing loyalty as a front for his personal ambition - the Black Wolf all bark and no bite - leaves an awful taste.

If he dies again, dies wielding his own power and influence, dies setting up the great game to annihilate a true enemy of order who would see the world of man owned by anything but man, dies in service to the spirit of the world's salvation from shadow, I won't be mad.

For all we know, the Garlean Empire he served and believed in can't be saved. Perhaps, through the Populares, he'll understand that you cannot take a shortcut to the world uniting against a threat - that taking away their freedom of choice will only fertilize the very ground in which chaos takes root. If he assumes that the Empire is better off led by someone who knows when to make allies, to trust and unite with them against threats, and that that man is not him, I won't be mad.

Not that I wouldn't support rebirth from the ashes leading our first antagonist back to our first great enemy's throne and ending the hostilities between us in a way you don't often see in a [Good vs. Evil] scenario, all to fight the true evil facing Hydaelyn together. I'd gladly take that ... if, as is the only thing I wanted all along, it served his character and the narrative well. If he dies in service to the same spirit, I won't be mad.

Nitpickery: Gaius is about 57. Compared to Count Edmont at almost 60, his appearance seems reasonable enough.

Aside: Matsuno-san requiring an unrelated multi-stage fetch quest about wine - complete with Sideways reference (I GOT IT THIS TIME, LOC TEAM. I SEE YOU.) - just to get in the 24-man raid felt like deliberate trolling. He's probably earned the right to mess with people a bit.