'This town certainly has changed, and not at all for the better'

[Iscah]

I've been doing a lot of looking at architecture in different areas of the game since this question came up - particularly at the shape of doorways and arches, and there are only two places where I've seen something like that three-part arched doorway.

One is Ishgardian/Coerthan architecture, including Mor Dhona.

The other one is Nym!

The doorways in the Wanderer's Palace look rather like that one, but still not a perfect match, and there are definite features in the Palace that aren't seen in the mystery location.

Still, I feel like it's the closest thing I've seen.

I'm not going to try to develop any story ideas from that, certainly not at this point, but it's worth keeping in mind as a possibility.

[KageTokage]

I'm leaning towards the place Thancred was in being the first shard's version of Ul'dah after the stinger in the 4.5 trailer basically confirmed that one of the shards is going to be involved in the plot of Shadowbringers somehow.

It makes more sense then this being some kind of time travel scenario, IMO, and we already know that the different shards have varying degrees of fluctuation in how much they differ from the source, so it seems plausible that the first could have the strongest similarities, to the point where it could be considered an alternate history.

[Draginhikari]

I'm leaning towards the place Thancred was in being the first shard's version of Ul'dah after the stinger in the 4.5 trailer basically confirmed that one of the shards is going to be involved in the plot of Shadowbringers somehow.

It makes more sense then this being some kind of time travel scenario, IMO, and we already know that the different shards have varying degrees of fluctuation in how much they differ from the source, so it seems plausible that the first could have the strongest similarities, to the point where it could be considered an alternate history.

I could see it being a useful tool that less likely to result in plotholes compared to what time travel usually brings with it as we're talking parallel dimensions rather then timelines.

[KageTokage]

It would be neat if we got something similar to Abyssea in XI and got to see a whole mess of familiar zones that while mostly the same geographically, have different enemies, outposts in different locations, and other smaller changes that provide a fresh experience using old locales.

I think that might be a bit too ambitious, though.

[DarthSanguine]

I'm leaning towards the place Thancred was in being the first shard's version of Ul'dah after the stinger in the 4.5 trailer basically confirmed that one of the shards is going to be involved in the plot of Shadowbringers somehow.

It makes more sense then this being some kind of time travel scenario, IMO, and we already know that the different shards have varying degrees of fluctuation in how much they differ from the source, so it seems plausible that the first could have the strongest similarities, to the point where it could be considered an alternate history.

Ul'dah doesn't exist on the First (or any other) shard. The landmasses may be the same, but the civilizations and cultures that exist on the shards have been stated to be completely different to those on the source. It's even been stated that the names that the Warriors of Darkness used while on the Source are not even their real names - the races on the First having entirely different naming conventions, due to their cultures evolving completely independent of those on the Source since before the First Umbral Era.

[Anonymoose]

In proper context I think it might just be easier to say "Amh Araeng is perhaps whatever the First has where Thanalan is for us." The idea that there's a desert belt at the 30-degree-latitude line and that there's a city there isn't too strange.

I've been going in loops in my head with the regions. I see Tactics references; maybe they're on the other side of Dalmasca. But Yoshida said during the PRQA that they were in a place that hasn't been revealed yet. If they were on Ilsabard why not just say that? Well, one looks like a desert, one looks like a forest, one looks like a beach. That's an interesting parallel, maybe it's the First, after all. But if if we're going to fight the Empire why didn't they start by showing off lsabardian regions and save these for the reveal? Or is this post-disaster Ilsabard and that's the spoiler? Around and around and around.

[KageTokage]

Hard to be certain of whether or not Amh Araeng is at the source or some other reality, but it doesn't look too unusual outside of that huge wall of crystal/ice.

That lake/seaside zone has a particularly otherworldly feel to it with the pink foliage and overflowing light slipping through the clouds as it was in the trailer.

[RukiaFae]

Hard to be certain of whether or not Amh Araeng is at the source or some other reality, but it doesn't look too unusual outside of that huge wall of crystal/ice.

That lake/seaside zone has a particularly otherworldly feel to it with the pink foliage and overflowing light slipping through the clouds as it was in the trailer.

What if these three zones are the Uldah, Limsa, and Gridanna versions on the first?
Two of the zones liked like they could be affected by a flooding of light

[CaesarCV]

Hm...from the look of the architecture, and the fact that it's Thancred, I'd say that it's probably just Ul'Dah. It's a recognizable location, he's been there plenty long enough, and it's in character for him to make a cool quip rather than panicking that the city he's most connected to is under attack. It generally looks like Ul'Dah, and I've come to not expect complete accuracy from the cinematic trailers. They're apparently made by another company, and thus there's sometimes disconnects there.

That being said, I can't say I entirely disagree with the idea that it might be the alternate shard version of those areas. I've been of the opinion that us going to the First Shard is likely ever since the last patch and our talk with the mysterious voice (still betting on Arbert for that btw). It's been previously established that people can travel between shards in soul form, which kind of tracks with what happened to our Scion friends. Normally one has to die and use a Crystal of Light to pull that off...but I'm willing to accept that maybe someone had a special way to do it anyway. The Ascians seem to be able to, although given how they body swap they probably just kill off the host and switch without thinking about it too much. There are always exceptions to these rules, and I think that someone or something powerful might have called them against their will. Maybe Hydelyn herself? That's kind of who I expect the mysterious young girl present in the trailer and key art to be anyway.

EDIT: Key Art I was talking about:

[ObsidianFire]

Traveling between shards requires someone to die and not go to the Aetherial Sea but Somewhere Else. In order to interact with the Material Realm they need to have a body so that they aren't pulled back into the Aetherial Sea, which is what is supposed to happen to aether when the container (body) holding it in the Material Realm dies.

When we kill the Ascians with a Blade of Light, what we are really doing is bringing the Aetherial Sea to them so that they can finally die and join the Aetherial Sea. The WoD knew they would die when they went to the Source as well. In fact, what they are asking Minfillia/Hydaelyn to do for them at the end of 3.4 is to take them back to their Shard's Aetherial Sea so that their aether can properly die and be reincarnated on their Shard eventually. Which is probably the biggest piece of evidence that the voice is not Arbert at all.

This is different from oh say... teleportation magic or Yshtola's Flow or even when we talk to Hydaelyn since our soul is essentially turning our body into aether and talking it with us. We aren't leaving our body behind at all. The thing with the Scions looks like someone has disconnected the Scions Souls from their Bodies, but who knows where their souls are right now. Since we have the Echo, our Soul is anchored to our body much more so then usual.

The easiest way to think of it is that using aether to travel within the same Shard is very much allowed and does not require your body and soul to be separated. Traveling to other Shards messes with the natural laws of aether a lot more and effectively kills you. It just takes some people (like the Ascians) a lot longer to properly die then it should.