[4.5 Discussion] The Flames of war in 4.5

[Jonnycbad]

If you watch the trailer, the scene leading up to WoL and Zenos about to fight shows battlefield with a bunch of burning flags, amongst which is Garlemald's imperial flag. This to me means at some point in 5.0 we ally with Garlemald and all nations fight together against some other external force or faction and all are decimated, or the Eorzen/Othardian Alliances fight against Garlemald and all are mutually destroyed.

https://youtu.be/i4QPcqPhu1k?t=40
Go to 40s, you see the flags of the Immortal Flames, Twin Adders, The Maelstrom, as well as Ishgard's Temple Knight flag, and Ala Mhigo's purple flag (I don't see Doma's but perhaps they're fighting with Ala Mhigans) then the white Gearlean imperial flag, amongst the burning piles.

[Iscah]

If you watch the trailer, the scene leading up to WoL and Zenos about to fight shows battlefield with a bunch of burning flags, amongst which is Garlemald's imperial flag. This to me means at some point in 5.0 we ally with Garlemald and all nations fight together against some other external force or faction and all are decimated, or the Eorzen/Othardian Alliances fight against Garlemald and all are mutually destroyed.

On the other hand, the primary shot of the banners shows all the (standing) Eorzean and Doman banners together - and then pans to Garlemald's alone. I don't think it's an alliance.

[Mansion]

I hope Maxima can be my 5.0 husbando once we split with Hien.

A new evil force to fight seems too out of the blue for me. Although we gather than Garlemald itself is not that unified under the "bad people" label, the fact that we learnt the empire is built out of Ascian trickery is enough of a problem.
For me the Ghimlyt Dark will be a battlefield against Garlemald. Now the trailer seems keen to make us believ that this fight leads into the "big thing" that is 5.0. But we still have two parts for 4.5 right? What could possibly be the scenario for 4.55 if we already have fucked it all up before? I'm curious.

[Iscah]

What could possibly be the scenario for 4.55 if we already have fucked it all up before? I'm curious.

It could be the 4.50 ends with possibly-triumphant possibly-forced "defeating Elidibus" and then 4.55 will be when we see just what a bad idea that was....

[Vaioumon]

Taking the Shadowbringers teaser as literally as I can, I'm thinking we get a big fight with Eorzea vs Garlemald, they pull something that wipes the whole world or we go too far and bring on the flood of light, and somehow we go back in time to fix it. For becoming a "Warrior of Darkness", I'm guessing we drop the Blessing of Light again (maybe permanently), purposely weaken Hydaelyn, and/or maybe even summon our own primal (more dragon please).

So for 4.5, I guess we'd get the big battle with Garlemald, then 4.55 would give us the light nuke and us going back in time, leading into 5.0 where we have to weaken the light while finding another way to deal with the Ascians and the Empire. Maybe we'll get the final goal being to destroy both Hydaelyn and Zodiark, since the light and dark balance is such an integral part of the world that one triumphing over the other causes disaster either way.

Or that guess is horrendously off. :P

[Mansion]

It could be the 4.50 ends with possibly-triumphant possibly-forced "defeating Elidibus" and then 4.55 will be when we see just what a bad idea that was....

Hmmm. Or the big thing is the 4.5 cliffhanger (then we ignore it and go play Blue Mage for a few months), and 4.55 identifies "how and where to solve this", foreshadowing the next expansion area/big goal (more precise than become Warrior of Darkness and take down the Empire, as presented in the Fanfest)

[TheHeavenAbyss]

This new "Calamity" could arrive not immediatly after we defeat the Empire or Elidibus, or whatever battle serves as a catalyst. It could be like the Meteor, where the players defeat Nael, and are just told that it didn't work and Dalamud is still falling. Maybe we think we won in 4.5, but something wrong starts happening that WoL doesn't notice, and in 4.55 we see the full consequences of that, culminating in some end of the world scenario.

Then, maybe, we get told that we have to go back to the past, and the patch ends with us going back to fix stuff, but then are told to wait a bit more in the past before we start changing stuff. I mean, they can't just erase the world and leave us with no world to play in while we wait for Shadowbringers. It could be just as before Heavensward, when we are told to just wait with Haurchefant a little until we get permission to enter Ishgard.

[Mansion]

Then, maybe, we get told that we have to go back to the past, and the patch ends with us going back to fix stuff, but then are told to wait a bit more in the past before we start changing stuff.

I REALLY don't want any time travel thing. That's 90% of the time an awkward make up for ways to resolve plot-holes. I'm more on the side of fucking things up big, but yeah the "Calamity" is not instant, see the world collapse further and further, but we would still be able to sort things out, and that would be the point of 5.0.

[TheHeavenAbyss]

I REALLY don't want any time travel thing. That's 90% of the time an awkward make up for ways to resolve plot-holes. I'm more on the side of fucking things up big, but yeah the "Calamity" is not instant, see the world collapse further and further, but we would still be able to sort things out, and that would be the point of 5.0.

Actually, I agree. Time travel is a plot that I really tend to dislike, not only because it is a way to resolve plot-holes but because, most of the time, it actually ends up creating a lot more plot-holes than it resolves. That being said, I believe we might be getting some time travel stuff, considering the whole "if history must be unwritten, let it be unwritten".

[Jonnycbad]

They could do a plot whereby the world was doomed when Lousioux saved us from Bahamut by sending us forward in time. Had he not done that, the Ascians would have succeeded but the world would be balanced. By us surviving and doing our WoL crap, we actually doomed the world to an even worse calamity (good job breaking it, hero)