So about that Eden

[LineageRazor]

The reason for going outside the Empty is...

I think the confusion is coming from the point that

the mountains and land around Titan are brown and normal looking BEFORE he is slain. The battlefield doesn't look as though it's in the Empty at all. I was totally on board with the idea that we needed to perform the summoning in areas where that particular element was dominant, but the implication was that the place we were going was INSIDE of the Empty. In the case of Leviathan, a place where water existed in great abundance before the Flood (but was dry, white, and inert, now). So, why are there brown, rocky cliffs and a flowing river during the battle with Leviathan, instead of a featureless white basin?

It seems as though we've gone back to Norvrandt to fight these Primals, which makes no sense given the dialogue leading up to the fights. I mean, it makes sense from a gameplay perspective; a raging river or craggy backdrop makes for a much more engaging setting than white nothingness, but it doesn't track well with the plotline.

Either we're not fighting in the Empty, or the Empty doesn't look Empty for some reason. Perhaps the Primal influenced the setting with its magic? Shinryu seemed to be able to construct its own battlefield, after all.

[TinyRedLeaf]

I did not fight Eden in FFVIII, so I don't know if this is something peculiar only to FFXIV's version of the guardian force:

Eden's limit break summons a force field around a planet, arranged in twelve directions.

Is that coincidence? Or is it a subtle hint of the Twelve? My current theory is that Hydaelyn was summoned by a rebel group of 12 Ascians, in opposition to the summoning of Zodiark. Perhaps Eden was also created by the rebel Ascians, before the fall of Amaulot?

[Daralii]

I did not fight Eden in FFVIII, so I don't know if this is something peculiar only to FFXIV's version of the guardian force:

Eden's limit break summons a force field around a planet, arranged in twelve directions.

Is that coincidence? Or is it a subtle hint of the Twelve? My current theory is that Hydaelyn was summoned by a rebel group of 12 Ascians, in opposition to the summoning of Zodiark. Perhaps Eden was also created by the rebel Ascians, before the fall of Amaulot?

There are texts in Akademia Anyder that say

Lahabrea and his colleagues were doing research into the creation of beings they dubbed Guardian Forces, and discovered the necessity of sacrifice to make them manifest. Them trying to create a large GF that operates on a planetary scale would make sense as a proof of concept for the idea that would become Zodiark.

[AkaeiNox]

10 characters.

Was our unsundered soul involved in the Guardian Forces project? Could it be that work on them that raised "us" to the convocation.

[Seraph522]

Snip

Just to note, you don't actually fight Eden in FFVIII, you draw it from either the Ultima Weapon fight or from Tiamat and can use it as a Guardian Force. To address the image:

It's an almost exact recreation of Eden's summoned attack from FFVIII, the numbers included; you can take a look at it here at about 10:15. The numbers also match what is present in FFVIII's summon animation, so it could easily be a coincidence. Doesn't mean it couldn't mean more, of course, but it's not guaranteed.

[LineageRazor]

I did not fight Eden in FFVIII, so I don't know if this is something peculiar only to FFXIV's version of the guardian force:

Yes, this sequence is almost an exact replica of the summoning animation for Eden from FFXIII. Pretty much the only thing missing is the animation of Eden are the slow pans across Eden and moving the enemy (us, in this case) into position. Since FFXIV wasn't even a twinkle in Tanaka's eye at that point this animation was created for FFVIII, it is very unlikely that any of the symbols we see here were intended to have any meaning for FFXIV.

That said, there's nothing stopping the devs from retroactively assigning some meaning. Twelve is a useful number, and triangle is a useful shape. XD

[Daralii]

Yes, this sequence is almost an exact replica of the summoning animation for Eden from FFXIII. Pretty much the only thing missing is the animation of Eden are the slow pans across Eden and moving the enemy (us, in this case) into position. Since FFXIV wasn't even a twinkle in Tanaka's eye at that point this animation was created for FFVIII, it is very unlikely that any of the symbols we see here were intended to have any meaning for FFXIV.

That said, there's nothing stopping the devs from retroactively assigning some meaning. Twelve is a useful number, and triangle is a useful shape. XD

Side by side of the animations with them trimmed to match up, because Eternal Breath in VIII was easily twice the length of it in XIV.

[TankHunter678]

Side by side of the animations with them trimmed to match up, because Eternal Breath in VIII was easily twice the length of it in XIV.

It was also played at iirc 30 FPS back in VIII.

[Seraphor]

10 characters.

Was our unsundered soul involved in the Guardian Forces project? Could it be that work on them that raised "us" to the convocation.

Plot twist:

The reason we have no memories of our past Amaurotine life, is that summoning a Guardian Force... erased them.