I knew I recognized this guy from somewhere ...

[Iscah]

Then we have to consider they went through their own version of 2.0 to 4.0 Main Storyline with their version of events slightly different due to the different names and alternate appearance of areas in the First but still mostly the same

You're assuming that the First is mirror of the Source, with the same people making the same decisions - but we've seen nothing to suggest this is the case.

The worlds split 12,000 years ago and have evolved separately from that point.

Entire cultures have gone in different directions. The chances of any people having "alternate selves" are reliant on all of their ancestors making the same choices, growing up in the same circumstances, surviving to adulthood and marrying the same partners. It's essentially impossible when the worlds have followed such different trajectories.

For a more specific example, dialogue at Xelphatol indicates that the Warriors have no idea that Alisaie has a twin, and assume Alphinaud is the same person until he speaks.


Arbert isn't meant to be us, or they would have made him a variable-appearance character based on ours. They've done that elsewhere in the game. Arbert is just a separate person with the same job title.

[Anonymoose]

You're assuming that the First is mirror of the Source, with the same people making the same decisions - but we've seen nothing to suggest this is the case.

People seemed to be struggling to accept the references Koji and Oda have made pre-Shadowbringers after seeing how much Eulmore looks like Limsa Lominsa and that the First has a Crystal Tower, so Yoshida said it again louder for everyone in the back, lol.

The First, where the Shadowbringers story will take place, does indeed show similarities to areas on the Source. This is due to the splitting of Hydaelyn into fourteen shards over 10,000 years ago—each of these separate worlds went down their own path with their own history. Naturally, their history and evolution would divulge from this point, and so we did not repurpose any existing assets.

The development team considered the evolution and history of the First and created this world from the ground up. While it might appear to have similarities, I am confident players will always have the feeling that nothing is quite exactly the same. The only commonality would be the people. The visual appearance of each race on the First and the Source may be the same, but their philosophies and heritage are quite different. I think elements such as these are one of the real joys of exploring the First.

[Iscah]

The only commonality would be the people.

That line itself might be a tripping point for understanding that it isn't a mirror world!

From context I assume that's "people" as in races rather than individuals, but it could easily be mis-read.

[Anonymoose]

That line itself might be a tripping point for understanding that it isn't a mirror world!

I had a similar concern, but the fact he followed it up with something that precludes that interpretation helps. How can the world be all the same people if they don't have the same heritage? How can you change all the ancestors without changing all the descendants? How can you change their beliefs and values without butterfly effecting what they'll do and who they'll be attracted to? And thus who will be born and die? We should be expecting a completely different population with completely different families, family names, tribes, geographical boundaries, etc.

I think when Yoshida says "the people" will be the same, it should be pretty clear that he means "we're still limited to using the same character creator."

[Zetsumei_Tsunarashi]

Head cannon incomming:

So the reason Glynard isn't manning a levecounter is 1: because guildleves aren't a thing anymore gameplay wise so they had to give him a new purpose. 2: If he was stationed in Limsa, it would make sense that he'd have abandoned his post by now as the state of the city clearly shows a breakdown of society. So now he simply runs a shop in the crystarium.

As for the leveplate having limsa lominsa written on it, it could be that particular leveplate actually came from the source. Perhaps it was intentionally placed there for Arbert to encounter it and trigger his echo to make him aware of other shards. We already know that he eventually comes to be working with ascians during the heavensward storyline. Perhaps an ascian placed that leveplate there on purpose as part of their plan to eventually bring Arbert to the source.

In any case I'm sure all will be revealed during the role quests as they are meant to Chronicle the adventures of Arbert and his crew.

[EdwinLi]

---

Maybe I should be a bit more detailed about what I mean by their version of 1.0 to 5.0 storyline....

When I say this I mean THEIR own version of 1.0 to 5.0 storyline.

For them their history is different thus their version of their Journey to stop the Ascians will obviously take different events but lead to certain similar conclusions in their own way.

For example, for Arbert he never met the Scions because they do not exist in the First but instead his Journey resulted in meeting his Friends that also became the WoL/WoD thus they replaced the Scions in both people and encounters. Through this they took their jounrey to defeat the Primals of their world thus they earned their reputation for being the WoL in the First and on that journey discovered the Ascians.

However, then their Garlean Empire invaded their version of Eorzea which lead to them to try to convience their world's version of the City States to unify against them which eventually lead to starting the war against their version of the Garlean Empire and after etc (such as in their version of 3.0, Hraesvelgr is Evil and was killed by Arbert but there was never a Dragonsong war but just a natural war between Humans defending themselves and Dragons invading) and etc then by their version of 5.0 it ended with the Flood of Light.

Their History from Point A to Point B to Point C are vastly different but the results are the same in some way.

There is a saying that "it is not the ending that matters sometimes but the journey itself." A persona may see a similar ending to the different journies but how different the journey itself is what really determine the difference in History.

We will most likely get a better picture of what Arbert's Journey entails once we reach the First since I do expect to see some Side-quests or maybe part of the Main Storyline to actually show us what Arbert went through since part of our goal is to not get the same ending Arbert and his friends got being the Flood of Light.

[Iscah]

Maybe I should be a bit more detailed about what I mean by their version of 1.0 to 5.0 storyline....

It's possible it happened that way of course, but you're still assuming that there must be a story parallel between each 'chapter' of Arbert's quest and our own, and there's no reason to be certain that is the case.

There doesn't have to be a Garlemald-equivalent on the First, or city-states banding together, or anything that exactly follows our story.

There are primals, and Ascian meddling, and heroes called to fight against it - but that's as far as we can know. They've been on some sort of adventure, but it doesn't have to be anything like our own.

[LineageRazor]

It's possible it happened that way of course, but you're still assuming that there must be a story parallel between each 'chapter' of Arbert's quest and our own, and there's no reason to be certain that is the case.

Wellll... There's always Ascians.

We do not yet know what the purpose of Ascian meddling on the shards is. We know they meddle, and that it likely has the ultimate goal of prepping the Shards for Rejoining, but the specifics of what they do is still completely unknown.

It's possible that as part of the Rejoining, they need to ease the world into a kind of parallel state. If there's a technologically advanced nation on the Source, the Ascian meddler needs to set one up on the Shard. If there's a coalition of city states on the Source, the Ascian meddler needs to arrange for it to happen on the Shard. The commonality somehow aids in the Rejoining process.

All speculation, of course, but if we're reaching hard to try to come up with reasons why the folks in the 1.0 cutscene could be folks from the Source, it's one possible crackpot theory!

[Balipu]

Glynard is an Ascian. He was always in the background messing with Arbert

But seriously. We can't make this story work with Arbert and friends as the ARR, HW and SB trailers are clearly set on the Source and Arbert wasn't here for that.

This is how it would go down if it was all true:

Arbert and friends were chilling in the Crystarium and doing leves despite the flood of light already being a thing. Glynard gave him a leveplate friom the Source simply to mess with his mind. He saw a trippy vision of the Source. This convinced him to travel to the Source.

He fought in the Battle of Cartenau just chilled in the background in 2.0 and left the Banquet in Ul'dah pissed that he couldn't do anything to help the Warrior of Light.

On his way to Ishgard he was attacked by Hraelsvelgr who was there for some reason. After that he traveled to the Moon to chill with his buddy Elidibus.

Despite returning to the First he actually came back to join Yugiri and Gosetsu on their voyage to Doma.

And now he is back on the First again.

This hardly makes any sense.

[Koti]

*hangs upside down*
All I want to say to any of this is. I contemplated the same, but then I was like, Nooo... My 1.0 character can't be from the 1st, can he??? But what if another shard was our direct mirror, after all-- 7 shards were already taken out, there are 13 in total. Maybe? Maybe not? Only Koji Fox & Co know! ... and he probably will never tell while he laughs away evilly in a dark room wearing a black robe.

... On a different subject, if all the races are on the 1st, but with different names...
Where the heck are the Purebloods?!