Revelations from the Shadowbringers E3 Trailer

[Emmanellain]

Is it just me or did our boi Alphinaud get taller???
Or am I seeing things because the camera is at a certain angle.

[Seraph522]

Is it just me or did our boi Alphinaud get taller???
Or am I seeing things because the camera is at a certain angle.

It's the camera angle; you can see he's about the same height as before in the benchmark and in other parts of the trailer.

[Emmanellain]

It's the camera angle; you can see he's about the same height as before in the benchmark and in other parts of the trailer.

Ah, thank you.

[Rocl]

So, I'd been seeing the Ifrit was right all along! bit posted around, and I knew in ARR, at least, he specifically says he can't "smell the taint of another" upon us. I remembered ARR Ifrit dialogue being remarkably similar to 1.0 Ifrit dialogue, but it seems in some regards the passage of time has addled my mind, so here's a quick transcription of 1.0 Ifrit (with generic Companion text in brackets):

You avow yourselves blessed by gods, yet lack the capacity to summon them to your aid. (Rocl's note: He's likely talking about us introducing ourselves as being members of The Path of the Twelve)
To which do you kneel, mortals?
[I kneel to no primal]
Fools. Blind to the grace of those who would grant you protection and bless you with their fortune.
[Protection? Who protects me now then, eh?]
Your blindness is born of ignorance. I smell the taint upon your soul. Is it Garuda...or Titan? Perchance...Leviathan?
[Who the hell are those guys?]
Vex me not, mortals. The Paragon warned of the godless blessed.
There can only be one true god in this world, and those without cannot be allowed to roam unchecked.
Yet the Paragon has entrated that I spare you, and so I shall—on one condition.
Vow that you shall forsake the summoning of Another. Do so, and your sins will be absolved. Refuse me, and your soul will burn for eternity.
[What? You mean I can summon a primal!? But how?]

and 2.0:

Forsooth, thy frail mortal frame can serve as vessel to the blessing of but One.
Yet I smell not the taint of another upon thee...
The truth of thine allegiance waxeth clear─thou art of the godless blessed's number.
The Paragons warned of thine abhorrent kind. Thine existence is not to be suffered.

It's weird he can't figure it out 2.0 before the fight, but during the fight, specifically the end he references the blessing of Light. Garuda tries to temper us too, fails, is confused for a minute and then after we rip a Crystal of Light out of her and complete our six set smells Hydaelyn. It's weird to me it takes both of these Primals a minute to figure it out....

Also fun to note Paragon becomes plural after the Calamity :P

[Daralii]

So, I'd been seeing the Ifrit was right all along! bit posted around, and I knew in ARR, at least, he specifically says he can't "smell the taint of another" upon us. I remembered ARR Ifrit dialogue being remarkably similar to 1.0 Ifrit dialogue, but it seems in some regards the passage of time has addled my mind, so here's a quick transcription of 1.0 Ifrit (with generic Companion text in brackets):

You avow yourselves blessed by gods, yet lack the capacity to summon them to your aid. (Rocl's note: He's likely talking about us introducing ourselves as being members of The Path of the Twelve)
To which do you kneel, mortals?
[I kneel to no primal]
Fools. Blind to the grace of those who would grant you protection and bless you with their fortune.
[Protection? Who protects me now then, eh?]
Your blindness is born of ignorance. I smell the taint upon your soul. Is it Garuda...or Titan? Perchance...Leviathan?
[Who the hell are those guys?]
Vex me not, mortals. The Paragon warned of the godless blessed.
There can only be one true god in this world, and those without cannot be allowed to roam unchecked.
Yet the Paragon has entrated that I spare you, and so I shall—on one condition.
Vow that you shall forsake the summoning of Another. Do so, and your sins will be absolved. Refuse me, and your soul will burn for eternity.
[What? You mean I can summon a primal!? But how?]

and 2.0:

Forsooth, thy frail mortal frame can serve as vessel to the blessing of but One.
Yet I smell not the taint of another upon thee...
The truth of thine allegiance waxeth clear─thou art of the godless blessed's number.
The Paragons warned of thine abhorrent kind. Thine existence is not to be suffered.

It's weird he can't figure it out 2.0 before the fight, but during the fight, specifically the end he references the blessing of Light. Garuda tries to temper us too, fails, is confused for a minute and then after we rip a Crystal of Light out of her and complete our six set smells Hydaelyn. It's weird to me it takes both of these Primals a minute to figure it out....

Also fun to note Paragon becomes plural after the Calamity :P

I wouldn't be surprised if they can't smell Hydaelyn's branding because it's indiscernible from the aetherial equivalent to background radiation. The completed Blessing of Light would probably amplify it enough for Garuda to tell.

[Zyneste]

That was my hypothesis oh so long ago. We're effectively living on a Primal, and Primals aren't inherently "bad", just all the ones we've faced (who've been summoned via Ascian teachings...) are actively leeching off Hydaelyn. Granted, perhaps Hydaelyn also guzzles aether like the rest of the Primals, given that's basically the lore behind Rejoinings at this point... Still... I'm hesitant to kill the very embodiment of the very land we walk on... Hydaelyn seems self sufficient when you factor out Ascian meddling...

I don't think Hydalyn guzzles the worlds aether, so much as she is the world's Aether. Hyd and Zodiark are the same beings, torn between letting life run its course and destroying it. The ascians who want the return of the one true god [hyd+zod] spread the seeds of primal summoning to weaken hydalyn. I posted this in discord thinking about it after watching the E3 vid. Glad someone else was thinking it too. xD

" I think the narrative of this expac is to push us away from hydalyn, but ultimately we are going to stand with hydalyn. I thought for a moment, what is hydalyn doing that makes her a better primal than the rest, then I realized hydalyn has never really manifested a form outside of borrowing minfilia and the crystal.

What if the world is hydalyn, manifest. We are her dream, like ffx. Primals being summoned weakens her ability to keep the world running.

Zodiark wants the destruction of the world [all 13 shards since hydalyn split them] so that hydalyn and him can merge back into one. Hydalyn, reverent of her creations, emboldened by their prayers refuses to wipe the slate. For the sake of her children she will keep their world alive, even as they deny her and drain her power for the protection of lesser gods."

[RicaRuin]

My two cents: I suppose 'the will of the star' is actually the entity of both Hydaelyn and Zodiark combined.

[Mansion]

What does the imperial invasion that started in 4.5 have to do with anything we've seen in the trailers? Maybe I'm just not putting the pieces together. The way the MSQ ended and what we've seen in the trailers doesn't seem connected.

To be accurate, 4.5 ends with a status quo. Nobody wins, nobody loses. Both parts keep their positions. Nothing is happening there unless there is a major change. Varis and Zenos withdrew to deal with the rumours in Garlemald and possibly prepare another assault. But the WoL has nothing more to do there. It's up to the Eorzean Alliance to handle things there for now.

[Alleo]

I will wait until we get the full story because right now I still doubt that reveal. First should we really trust an ascian? Also doesnt that mean that they are tempered too? I am also a bit confused because we know that Answers at some part is from Hydaelyns view and there she is definitely not sounding bad. Since they often try to mislead us with such trailers (thinking certain people will die or that Urianger is a real traitor) I wait until its truly done in the story. But if that is true I am a bit disappointed..just another FF where we would have to fight any gods..

[Malkria]

First time I have ever shouted out "I knew it!" Startled my boyfriend who was sleeping next to me, and I got a pillow to the face. But I called the whole "Mother Crystal was a primal" over a year ago...now to see how it actually plays out in context instead of just in a trailer.