New Year's Poem 2019

[Enkidoh]

I just re-read the Rising 2018 song, and watched the end of the 4.5 trailer. I don't think it's time travel: I think we're about to go to the Mirror Shard.

The Rising song talks about everything the WoL has accomplished: "soar azure skies/wear crimson crest/shine Light" and then contrasts them with their opposite: "weave azure lie/crimson bleed/Darkness quench".

At the very end of the trailer, when Solus gives his line about "together we shall give the lie to this star's fraudulent existence" as a voice over, we see the WoL standing at the center of a ring of blue circles. At first it reminded me of Louisoux summoning the Twelve, but then I though of the Zodiac Braves symbols that appear before the Thunder God's ultimate. Then I counted the circles--there are 14. One for each shard plus the Source, perhaps? The WoL about to travel to another shard, where that Warrior of Light either couldn't or wouldn't do their job, so we have to oppose that shard's WoL by becoming their opposite--the Warrior of Darkness--in order to prevent the calamity on the Source.

A fully living being cannot travel between the Shards and the Source though which our character still is - the WoDs specifically had to die on their own world in order to come here, and even Goddess!Minfilia was an incoporeal spirit when she took them back (I can't remember where it was stated but it seems to be very much a one-way trip). The fact remains, we just have so little to go on at this time to really make an accurate understanding of just what is going to happen, until 4.55 and the full Shadowbringers trailer are released.

[Rosenoire]

A fully living being cannot travel between the Shards and the Source though which our character still is - the WoDs specifically had to die on their own world in order to come here, and even Goddess!Minfilia was an incoporeal spirit when she took them back (I can't remember where it was stated but it seems to be very much a one-way trip). The fact remains, we just have so little to go on at this time to really make an accurate understanding of just what is going to happen, until 4.55 and the full Shadowbringers trailer are released.

AFAIK, the WoDs were told by Elidibus that they had to die on their own world--he may have been wrong about that. It may be different traveling from the source to a shard than vice versa. Maybe the WoL is just powerful enough now to do it. The simplest explanation is that a Calamity breaks down the barriers between shards. Solus gets his way, and we're off.

Or not. I'm just guessing.

[CaesarCV]

While trips between shards have all been one way in the past, this is still a video game narrative where the needs of the story trump the rules of the game's "reality." Thus, if they have some other strange excuse to let us travel between the shards (whether directly physically or through some other means) they can come up with some sort of magical way for us to do that. Maybe the barrier gets weakened due to the flood of light shenanigans, or someone discovers a totally new process. My personal pet theory is that's exactly what has happened to our Scion companions. Their souls are missing, and seem to have completely disappeared from the Source according to Krile and Matoya. But since their physical bodies are alive they are certainly somewhere. This aligns a lot better with their souls being in a shard than the time travel theory. Someone somewhere (maybe Hydelyn?) found a way to move souls between the shards without killing their mortal shells, allowing their souls to transfer and either form a new body there or maybe possess one. That's admittedly a pet theory though. We know so little about inter-shard travel it's hard to say one way or another.

[ObsidianFire]

My current theory is that the Scions are somewhere on/in the Moon with Zodiark. The Moon is not another Shard, it's part of the Source. However, it's quarantined from the normal Aetherial Sea. Which matches up nicely with what we see happened to the Scions aether/souls in 4.5.

[DamianFatale]

I just re-read the Rising 2018 song, and watched the end of the 4.5 trailer. I don't think it's time travel: I think we're about to go to the Mirror Shard.

The Rising song talks about everything the WoL has accomplished: "soar azure skies/wear crimson crest/shine Light" and then contrasts them with their opposite: "weave azure lie/crimson bleed/Darkness quench".

At the very end of the trailer, when Solus gives his line about "together we shall give the lie to this star's fraudulent existence" as a voice over, we see the WoL standing at the center of a ring of blue circles. At first it reminded me of Louisoux summoning the Twelve, but then I though of the Zodiac Braves symbols that appear before the Thunder God's ultimate. Then I counted the circles--there are 14. One for each shard plus the Source, perhaps? The WoL about to travel to another shard, where that Warrior of Light either couldn't or wouldn't do their job, so we have to oppose that shard's WoL by becoming their opposite--the Warrior of Darkness--in order to prevent the calamity on the Source.

I loathe the idea of going to another shard. This kind of complicated mess could completely ruin the game for people. Remember XIII's time travel? Many people hated it.

[KageTokage]

I loathe the idea of going to another shard. This kind of complicated mess could completely ruin the game for people. Remember XIII's time travel? Many people hated it.

I'm...not sure how that would be so problematic.

If anything, it prevents things from getting complicated because it's a given that we're going to see a world ravaged by light and letting us go to one that's already been destroyed as opposed having the calamity actually happen then resorting to time travel or some such to fix it would be an even bigger mess.

[Theodric]

Exploring Nagxia and the rest of Dalmasca seems more likely than dropping everything and venturing to a completely different planet or going back in time.

- Viera are pretty much confirmed at this point and will, presumably, be fleshed out and shown in-game to a more meaningful degree.
- Negotiators from both Dalmasca and Nagxia are shown visiting Hien in relation to his alliance.
- The end teaser after Orbonne suggests a tie in to the MSQ's in the future.
- Nagxia and Dalmasca have been fleshed out considerably in the latest lore book.
- Nu Mou, from the Ivalice games, are set to be a Beast Tribe in 5.0.
- There's still the entirety of Ilsabard to explore as well as the likes of Thavnair and Sharlayan. Ignoring them wouldn't go down well and neither would rushing through them. Ala Mhigo's treatment was a point of controversy during Stormblood after all.

[Chewy2nd]

I loathe the idea of going to another shard. This kind of complicated mess could completely ruin the game for people. Remember XIII's time travel? Many people hated it.

It also doesn't work well storywise, to leave behind all this lore that has been built up and throwing the players into some world that no one has any real investment in.

[KageTokage]

It wouldn't really be leaving behind built-up lore when they teased that the first shard might have relevance in the future.

It would be continuing a plot thread that was left hanging after the end of the 3.4 MSQ when there was no guarantees the first would successfully be re-balanced by Hydaelyn/Minfilia coupled with the place being under watch by the Ascians.

I'd prefer if we just had a straight progression of six new zones like in Heavensward, but with all this weird extra-dimensional/timey wimey stuff seemingly at play, I'm having a hard time imagining that our journey is going to be limited to the bounds of Hydaelyn this time around.

[Rosenoire]

I loathe the idea of going to another shard. This kind of complicated mess could completely ruin the game for people. Remember XIII's time travel? Many people hated it.

One theory I've seen on the meaning of the Rising song is that we'll have to go back in time to undo everything that we've done, because we caused the imbalance of Light on the Source. I'd much rather go to a different world than have to go back in time and "weave the azure lie" of Ishgard's founding.