Let's Talk the Twins and Their End Goals

[LineageRazor]

Well that's a problem with deities in most RPGs in general.

Either they're evil or they do nothing

To be fair, when the good gods actually intervene directly, the story tends to become boring. Deux Ex Machina is a derided trope for a reason! It only tends to work when the intervention needs to be invoked by the mortal heroes of the story, such as when Louisoix lead the prayer to the Twelve that capped off v1.0. Their triumph was overcoming adversity and paving the way for the miracle to come.

Evil gods intervening directly does not have that handicap, as it tends to up the stakes and make things MORE exciting. How can our heroes possibly prevail against a GOD? Handle with care, though - it shouldn't be EASY for the heroes to counter an evil god...

[Remedi]

Well the concept of what is a god is actually very difficult to do well writing-wise.

[Bright-Flower]

Do we know if Louis actually communed with the actual Twelve and they for sure exist or if he 'summoned' them and they may not have been 'real?'

[Cilia]

The only god(s) that can be proven to exist are Hydaelyn and Zodiark, as they have been shown to affect the physical plane (Ultima is a bit of Zodiark's power, while Hydaelyn passively grants the Warrior of Light power and directly shielded them from the aforementioned Ultima).

Whether the Twelve, the Doman kami, Azim, Nhaama, the Mol Old Gods, or any other deities actually exist remains unknown (although the Kojin Beast Tribe quests do strongly suggest the kami exist in some capacity).

[MetalSnakeXI1]

To be fair, when the good gods actually intervene directly, the story tends to become boring. Deux Ex Machina is a derided trope for a reason! It only tends to work when the intervention needs to be invoked by the mortal heroes of the story, such as when Louisoix lead the prayer to the Twelve that capped off v1.0. Their triumph was overcoming adversity and paving the way for the miracle to come.

Evil gods intervening directly does not have that handicap, as it tends to up the stakes and make things MORE exciting. How can our heroes possibly prevail against a GOD? Handle with care, though - it shouldn't be EASY for the heroes to counter an evil god...

If it's handled with the same build up and grace as Louisoix then I'll welcome it with open arms since that's one of the better example of deity usage in plot.

I dread both troupes equally but the troupe of evil deities have been used much more with most stories mostly highlighting that gods and religions are always evil which is a bit of an absurd overgeneralization.For me I like balance which is so far something XIV did a bit right in a way even if some leaning towards the evil deities troupe occured

[ObsidianFire]

Louisoix was very careful to invoke the Twelves' power rather then the Twelve themselves. Otherwise there would have been twelve new primals to take down right as a calamity was happening. And even with all the difference, a primal was summoned by everyone in Eorzea (Phoenix, Primal of Regeneration). Bahamut just managed to temper it immediately, which is why it wasn't an even worse problem.

[Remedi]

It's odd that the tempering of a primal isn't addressed much in-game, considering the implications.
Well until 4.0 that is but even after noone actually commented on the ability to condition primals.

However I don't consider Zodiark and Hydaelyn gods yet, reason is that the setting has shown so far only false gods who are called gods because of their power to destroy and make other revere them. As such the very presence of gods is questionable, it could be that in the end both Zodiark and Hydaelyn could be very ancient primals. This is just a theory ofc and nothing more, but I question actively what defines a god in this setting in the first place.

[Theodric]

I'm fairly certain that 'Twin Dooms' refers to Garlemald and Eorzea. A full out war would lead to staggering casualties on both sides. Almost everything that the Ascians have done recently or have been revealed to have done contributes to nudging Garlemald and Eorzea in a direction that sets them up for a war. If we look back at the War of the Magi none of the three cities survived. All were brought to ruin and utterly decimated. Of the survivors, only a handful actually managed to stick around.

The FFXII vibes are extremely prominent. Much like in FFXII, the closer we get to the Empire the more we learn that war is by no means the best option. Both sides do not necessarily want it and those that do want it are compromised and/or coerced.

5.0, then, is almost certainly going to be a story about compromise and working alongside Garlemald to cut away the Ascians and mitigate causalities in the process.

I suspect that Alphinaud will serve as the 'Larsa' for the Eorzean Alliance. Maxima and Gaius are solid candidates for the 'Larsa' on Garlemald's side of the fence, though we can't rule out a completely new character emerging to serve such a role.

[Ramesses]

I suspect that Alphinaud will serve as the 'Larsa' for the Eorzean Alliance. Maxima and Gaius are solid candidates for the 'Larsa' on Garlemald's side of the fence, though we can't rule out a completely new character emerging to serve such a role.

Precisely one of the reasons Alphy continues to remain on my favourites list... and the possibility of a new Larsa-like character on the Garlean side adds to the excitement of how 5.0 could unfold. Can anyone imagine Zenos having a sibling or cousin that is the complete opposite of his current disposition? That will be fascinating.

[ShinShimon]

"Twin dooms" comes immediately after mention of 1) a calamity, and 2) a flood of light. That's probably what they meant. We have to stop the Ascians from causing a calamity, but we also can't go too far and wipe out all darkness, causing a flood of light.

What will probably happen is that we/our allies get overzealous in response to a new (attempted) calamity, and forget what the WoD said about upsetting the balance.