Crystal Tower theories

[Iscah]

At this point, yeah, it's a runaway theory that hinges on everything connecting back to (as a friend of mine put it) "being able to identify a Miqo'te by his lips."

Lips, nose, jawline, and circumstantial evidence. >_>

And actually that line about "those who open the gates" (not doors?) seems like it could well be one of those "blatant in hindsight" kind of hints.

But about that....

For what it's worth, "let eon become instant" is in some other languages presented as, "let me upend the laws of time and space".

That's pretty cool in any case, but now I'm wondering whether G'raha might get different dialogue in those languages that hints towards that phrasing.


It also reminds me of something else I'd picked up on a while ago (but forgot to post about) - the two times we meet the "Word of the Mother" in the Aetherial Sea, she says something about traveling across time and space to her. I will have to look for the screenshots of the exact quotes later.

[Anonymoose]

The whole "gates" thing seems like one of the riskiest jumps to me, actually. G'raha said the line in a side story arc in 2.5, which was January 2015. The 4.4 voice is September 2018. Even if you take the "we write the story two years in advance" thing to mean "we know every detail town to the thematic turns of phrase" (unlikely), that probably wasn't planned. Then there's that the 4.4 voice is explicitly quoting Loffrey of Final Fantasy Tactics (albeit more verbatim in JP).



To connect a G'raha sidequest line to a main scenario Loffrey reference because they both said "gates" is ... shaky.

Though look how many things in Stormblood were obviously not planned but look downright prophetic in retrospect. Thordan's darkened view of the Warrior of Light, Sephirot's lyrics, etc. Maybe it'll be another coincidence for the ages.

[Iscah]

"Gates" just seems an odd choice of words (at least now it's pointed out) - the tower is sealed with what I would consider doors, not gates, and he uses that word in other places in that scene.

...but then again, going back to the scene in Syrcus Tower where they first open it, it's consistently called a gate there. So perhaps a red herring after all.

[Fenral]

At this point, yeah, it's a runaway theory that hinges on everything connecting back to (as a friend of mine put it) "being able to identify a Miqo'te by his lips."

To be fair, I think it started with me of all people identifying him by his lips. I fully acknowledge my, uh, bias. :P

I actually went back into character creation again, and (re)discovered that his signature button nose isn't quite standard (it's a bit smaller), but still matches exactly with the hooded figure. Also, for the umpteenth time, his eyebrows are darkened but visible and match exactly as well, meaning we have everything but the eyes to go on, not just the lips.

"Gates" just seems an odd choice of words (at least now it's pointed out) - the tower is sealed with what I would consider doors, not gates, and he uses that word in other places in that scene.

I think I'm in the weird camp where I think the hooded figure is indeed him, but the voice might not be. The "gate" thing itself is where things get a little weird, as most of G'raha's dialogue, that scene especially, was embellished heavily by the English adaptation. He doesn't even acknowledge Ramnbroes in the Japanese version of that scene, for starters.

Even without that, there's been quite a lot to suggest the Allagans and/or G'raha are coming back into play (HoH -> Omega -> Eureka -> Solus' offhand comment), even if it just means we're taking on a new empire that stole their brand image. G'raha also fits into the Estinien pattern of being very closely connected to that specific issue in a way no other NPCs can claim. I'd always felt it would be weird to take down Garlemald without him for that reason, and presenting us with an entirely unrelated lookalike right as the stars are aligning seems... more of a stretch.

Mostly, though, I want this minion that was teased on the community stream:

[Iscah]

I think I'm in the weird camp where I think the hooded figure is indeed him, but the voice might not be.

Me as well, actually.

There are three mystery elements: the Calling voice, the trailer voiceover, and the hooded figure. While it’s a reasonable guess to link them, they could be separate.

Mostly, though, I want this minion that was teased on the community stream:

I still think that looks like fanart. They look like the sort of button-badges that fanartists might sell at conventions.

If they’re showing off new official minions, why put the picture on something like that rather than a complete image on a normal sheet of paper?

[Fenral]

Here's where I found the minion shot (not my image). The Rauhban pin on the right is using official art as seen in The Art of Eorzea -Another Dawn- (p. 187), and you can see wind-up Sadu off to the left, so I'm assuming G'raha is official as well, but I'm missing a lot of context.

Still want one either way. :P

[Seraphor]

The whole "gates" thing seems like one of the riskiest jumps to me, actually. G'raha said the line in a side story arc in 2.5, which was January 2015. The 4.4 voice is September 2018. Even if you take the "we write the story two years in advance" thing to mean "we know every detail town to the thematic turns of phrase" (unlikely), that probably wasn't planned. Then there's that the 4.4 voice is explicitly quoting Loffrey of Final Fantasy Tactics (albeit more verbatim in JP).



To connect a G'raha sidequest line to a main scenario Loffrey reference because they both said "gates" is ... shaky.

Though look how many things in Stormblood were obviously not planned but look downright prophetic in retrospect. Thordan's darkened view of the Warrior of Light, Sephirot's lyrics, etc. Maybe it'll be another coincidence for the ages.

I wouldn't claim for a second they were planing this exactly in 2015, but it's not at all implausible to believe that when looking to reintroduce G'raha Tia into the plot in this capacity, that they would go back to what he said then and retroactively draw a comparison.

[Daralii]

Me as well, actually.

There are three mystery elements: the Calling voice, the trailer voiceover, and the hooded figure. While it’s a reasonable guess to link them, they could be separate.

I ultimately think the trailer voice is kind of inconsequential just because they use multiple characters' voices for it depending on the language. The Japanese version is Alphinaud, the French and German versions are Zenos(if I'm wrong about that, please correct me), though as I've listened to the trailer more, I'm half convinced that the English voice is also Alphinaud.

[Rosa_Frandlia]

Me as well, actually.

There are three mystery elements: the Calling voice, the trailer voiceover, and the hooded figure. While it’s a reasonable guess to link them, they could be separate.

I wonder also how much isn't being revealed yet due to it being revealed in 4.56 and not in Shadowbringers such as who the voice is. We still know we go to a place with 13 different circles from the 4.5 trailer, which looking at it again looks like it could in fact be Allagan and in the Crystal Tower, but it could also be another Allagan facility.

If the Allagan's though are involved, I'd love to see the Sons of Saint Coinach involved again and they have a camp right outside both The Rising Stone and The Crystal Tower. They also teased the weapons mentioned in Eureka at the end of The Crystal Tower when Nero threw his technology detector away. I thought it was simply acknowledging old content like what a lot in Eureka was doing, but this discussion makes me wonder. After all "The Black Rose" was first a side quest in 4.0 and is now key to the story.

[Kuroka]

They also teased the weapons mentioned in Eureka at the end of The Crystal Tower when Nero through his technology detector away.

Ill call it now, down there we will face the Diamond weapon and the others, lol.