The Road to 5.0

[Remedi]

Honestly it all depends on how 4.x ends. They are idd setting up something big for the finale

[Nalien]

I wonder if we might use Azys Lla to get to Garlemald and skip over most of the territories... Just looking at the map there is an Azys Lla style floating island over Garlemald and 4.4 went to lengths to repeat that Allag only floated 2 things; Azys Lla and Dalamud... So... What's the floating islands above Garlemald? I suppose it could just be natural floating islands, and it doesn't even look like Azys Lla on the map (which seems to be an official in game map too now), but who knows...

I'm probably just reaching, because I want Azys Lla to have some damn relevance after Heavensward just kinda glossed over it, but... I guess mostly I just think Castrum Solus would make a good 4.5 dungeon, given recent revelations... It would make for a great mobile fortress for us to jump off from, assuming we can gain control of the facility... Heck if nothing else I guess the Ironworks might need to salvage some materials from there for the whole Doman Shield plan...

[Zephanoa]

I wonder if we might use Azys Lla to get to Garlemald and skip over most of the territories... Just looking at the map there is an Azys Lla style floating island over Garlemald and 4.4 went to lengths to repeat that Allag only floated 2 things; Azys Lla and Dalamud... So... What's the floating islands above Garlemald? I suppose it could just be natural floating islands, and it doesn't even look like Azys Lla on the map (which seems to be an official in game map too now), but who knows...

I'm probably just reaching, because I want Azys Lla to have some damn relevance after Heavensward just kinda glossed over it, but... I guess mostly I just think Castrum Solus would make a good 4.5 dungeon, given recent revelations... It would make for a great mobile fortress for us to jump off from, assuming we can gain control of the facility... Heck if nothing else I guess the Ironworks might need to salvage some materials from there for the whole Doman Shield plan...

I am actually somewhat in agreement on this at least that the zone was relatively unutilized effectively. In 3.x we figured what it was, and what it was doing. In 4.4 we figured out how it got there. There is now no real relevance to go back there except for the ship is still docked there and that Tiamat is still there (I visit her every so often.)

[KageTokage]

I'm still wondering how real Zenos is going to play into this whole mess with him having been a complete no-show in 4.4.'s story portion.

If they intend to put an end to him before 5.x, I hope he'll get a decent final send-off instead of, say, just randomly showing up to challenge us to another fight. Ideally, I think I'd want him to play a part in defusing whatever Ascian/Garlean scheming comes into play in 4.5 even if it's for a petty reason like annoyance at his body being hijacked and/or wanting to rid us of distractions.

[ObsidianFire]

I don't think Real!Zenos wants us dead or that he cares about who is using his body or what Garlemald is up too. He's a total wildcard in that what he wants is very specific to him and no one else. How that will be spun is anyone's guess. I do think he would not be happy if anyone else messed with us too much. If it was the kind of thing that would make us stronger long-term, he'll probably be fine with it as that will make his fight with us more interesting for him. But totally removing us from the picture? I don't think he'd want that.

Hunting us down to face us in combat again is all he really cares about at this point, so I don't think he'll have that much of an impact on the plot until someone threatens that. Although, with Solus back and the Ascians becoming more directly involved with stuff, that's probably slated to happen sooner rather then later.

What is probably the most interesting part about Real!Zenos is that no one knows he's still around. No one is going to know to plan for his involvement on either side so it'll be quite easy for him to blindside everyone when he does get involved in the plot.

[Remedi]

Maybe when he'll find out that somebody is using his body he'll decide that hunting himself would be rather amusing and the real ultimate prey

[Ramesses]

You know, this is an interesting point to contemplate.

And after re-watching the end scenes for 4.0 a while back, I realized that there is a possibility that RealZenos might have been a knowing and willing cog in Solus' plan from even before the Emperor died. Something he says to the WoL and Lyse makes me wonder if he always knew about his part to play, perhaps his knowledge of being used by his grandfather...

...And I think it gives more gravity to his statement "My first friend, my enemy"

[Theodric]

It's a possibility. Zenos does have shades of Solus' theatrical nature - and one has to wonder how much influence Varis had in raising Zenos compared to Solus. Very little of what Zenos did actually served to benefit Garlemald - and his cruelty caused many of his enemies to ignore the mercy and honour that other major Garlean figures had shown. One has to wonder if Zenos was 'brought in' specifically to undo all the good that Gaius had accomplished.

[Ramesses]

It's a possibility. Zenos does have shades of Solus' theatrical nature - and one has to wonder how much influence Varis had in raising Zenos compared to Solus. Very little of what Zenos did actually served to benefit Garlemald - and his cruelty caused many of his enemies to ignore the mercy and honour that other major Garlean figures had shown. One has to wonder if Zenos was 'brought in' specifically to undo all the good that Gaius had accomplished.

This is why I seriously wish we will get more information on Zenos' past. I mean...

• Was he born from a loveless marriage between Varis and his wife or a product of some indiscretion; hence, his father's nonchalant attitude towards him?
• Was he a normal child at birth but competitive intrigue at the imperial court forced Varis to make his son into a formidable tool? And then Solus-- perhaps seeking to add more "pawns" into his scheme for chaos -- egged Zenos ever further into performing Resonance experimentation on himself?
• Was he just a failed "genetic" experiment altogether and Solus coldly shrugged and said... "Right, I've finished molding this one into a suitable monster for our purposes...on to the next sibling"?
• Was he at the cusp of a new realization when he eventually got his hands on Gaius' journal? "Ahhh... I can control eikons if I do this, this and that! No more boredom, lets burn down everything!"

So many questions that will need a bevy of information and a chronological timeline in order to attain answers... this guy is a fourth generation royal who likely had everything imaginable at his beck and call yet was bored. He possibly took up the blade at an early age and maybe found out he had a natural prowess for battle... and realized he finally found something that made his blood sing (at least for a while).

Thus, like an adrenaline junkie, he obsessively kept seeking stronger opponents... perhaps this was his way of finding solace against all the insane elements unfolding at court... I dunno.

Problem was, he finally found the WoL, his new best friend... forget Daddy, Granddad and all their crazy plans... he'll happily burn all of Hydaelyn to ash if it meant feeling that battle joy just one more time.

[Remedi]

according to the lore snips on ala mhigo, they said he was a prodigy of talent and that made life boring for him