Tales from the Shadows

[EdwinLi]

Audio version of the new chapter by Meoni....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNL1K8ElGRo

[Alleluia]

So I guess this answers my question from a while ago of how exactly Omega's contribution to the project was completed, given the logs from the Twinning end with them still not understanding how Omega traversed the rift. Omega must have helped them of its own volition at some point.

This entry made me tear up a few times. It was really good. This, plus that message in a bottle from Biggs III (that I am totally considering canon) make this my favorite Rising, yet.

I'm saddened by the idea that the 8th umbral future is still continuing out there somewhere, since it's prospects seem rather bleak. Though the confirmation that we're dealing with concurrently existing alternate timelines, rather than timeline erasure, makes me less worried about Exarch G'raha suddenly pulling a Marty McFly and dissipating when time catches up with him, so there's that. Still, wishing the survivors luck.

[Gula]

Audio version of the new chapter by Meoni....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNL1K8ElGRo

Hard pass on that. I much favor the 5.0 night tracks and ending with Kholusia for absolute ambiance and absorbing the writing in full with visions of our own interpretation.

And Meoni's no Audible(tm) reader either.

[Berteaux_Braumegain]

It also tends to ignore the fact that the BAD GUYS could use this kind of cheap trick, as well - and being immortal, they have plenty of time to figure out how to do it WITHOUT the handful of MacGuffins the heroes had to cobble together to get the job done.

Keep in mind that the MacGuffins the heroes involved with this plan involved a time-traveling Primal that locked itself away in a pocket dimension, ancient technology and previously unknown clones from a hyper-advanced society, and a superpowered alien death robot from another world that was likely the strongest thing on Eorzea (until 6.0 comes around).

Furthermore, also keep in mind that Emet-Selch kidnaps G'raha Tia during the lategame BECAUSE he wants to get his hands on the ability to time travel.

[Rosenoire]

Yes I've been shipping Cid and Nero for a long time now and that story merely gave more fuel to that particular fire.

Cid/Nero OTP. They are so married, and they were together until the end.

[Mansion]

So I first read that in French and then seeing some reactions about the text in English I went through it and noticed that it's kind of different in some details.

On the part about the Lalafell getting attacked, in English it's by a "carnivorous beast", in French it's "by a group of bandits", and the "No one will ever compare to her..." is "You know that my heart belongs to Tataru" quite literaly in French.

And while the final dialogue between Cid and Nero is kind of formal in French, in English it does seem like they are closer. French replaces "they" by "former university comrades" or that kind of things. I'm trying to scan other notable changes but these were the ones that struck me the most.

[Gula]

So I first read that in French and then seeing some reactions about the text in English I went through it and noticed that it's kind of different in some details.

On the part about the Lalafell getting attacked, in English it's by a "carnivorous beast", in French it's "by a group of bandits", and the "No one will ever compare to her..." is "You know that my heart belongs to Tataru" quite literaly in French.

And while the final dialogue between Cid and Nero is kind of formal in French, in English it does seem like they are closer. French replaces "they" by "former university comrades" or that kind of things. I'm trying to scan other notable changes but these were the ones that struck me the most.

Thanks a ton for the comparisons. I get some words and phrasing have to be localized per audience but it's kind of wild knowing that 1 language get an entirely different explanation than the other. Granted, he still died but the context is different.

[LineageRazor]

I'll admit, I may have been a bit to hard on Cid in my initial disdainful view on his giving up on the world. I wasn't there, myself, and my only window into the world was the Tale itself. He may have well tried every possible option, before going whole-hog on the change-the past goal. Still rankles, though, in a game where we accomplish six impossible victories before breakfast, every day. :P

There is no hint ingame either that he needed big amount of times to redo the world after the ancient calamity. I mean they needed to sacrifice more of their own people because the whole planet was kinda death. That does not sound like something that can wait a few years.

You are correct that there's nothing in game that says whether the restoration was fast or slow. But we're talking about rejuvenating an entire planet. That doesn't sound like something that can be done in a hurry, even by a godlike Primal. As for whether it could wait a few years - why not? The Calamity was over, thanks to Zodiark's First Task, and the surviving Ancients could use their Creation abilities again (under Zodiark's careful supervision). They are immortal, they can create whatever food and shelter they want - they could easily last for as long as it takes to rebuild the world, now that there were no longer horrible monsters and rains of fire actively trying to kill them. Heck, they could have been waiting on the moon, if the world even had one, back then!

About Zodiark: We do know that the end goal after Zodiark is free, is to sacrifice the remaining people of the source to get back the Ancient ones. Since there is no talk about this at all and there is also no talk about Ancient ones we can probably assume that he is not free. It would also be strange if they would create a prison for him which can only hold him up to 8 rejoinings.

...

In the end is there any hint ingame that Zodiark would be able to break free after only 8 calamites? If not then its much better to assume that its not the case and that he would not be free.

After eight rejoinings, Zodiark would be at more than half of his former power. We know that Zodiark was stronger than Hydaelyn, which is why she needed to Sunder him to beat him. What we don't know is how much stronger. Eight could well be the tipping point, the point at which Zodiark is strong enough to break the bonds that hold him. There's only so much she can do, and it sounds like Hy made a pretty darned secure prison if it was able to stay tight even after seven Rejoinings. There's plenty of redundancy there, already! You could just as well ask, why didn't she Sunder him ten thousand times, instead of just fourteen?

As for an official source as to eight being the last Rejoining needed to free Zodiark... I don't recall how I know this, or even whether it was in-game or the devs talking, but I'm pretty sure it was mentioned. Maybe someone else can confirm/deny that assumption?

I would say the devteam wrote themselves out pretty well of this one.

Furthermore, also keep in mind that Emet-Selch kidnaps G'raha Tia during the lategame BECAUSE he wants to get his hands on the ability to time travel.

It doesn't matter. The fact that the Ascians don't know how to do it? Irrelevant. The fact that the heroes used one-shot MacGuffins? Irrelevant. The very fact that it's possible to go back and change the past means that it will always be out there as an option - an option which, up until now, the story hasn't had on the table. Even Alexander, with all of his time shenanigans, did not change the past in any way - everything that he did, had already happened.

Emet wanted G'raha because he was a SHORTCUT to time travel, not because he was the only option. Ascians are immortal - they have LITERALLY all the time in the world (and then some). If he wanted to, Emet could spend a few hundred thousand years and <ironman>BUILD ONE IN A CAVE, WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!</ironman>

It's a tougher sell for the heroes, but I see it in much the same way as Y'shtola's second rescue from the Lifestream: it might SEEM like a miracle, one-shot solution, but if it can be done once, it can be done again. And if the writers are bad enough, it will.

[Ilenya]

Emet wanted G'raha because he was a SHORTCUT to time travel, not because he was the only option. Ascians are immortal - they have LITERALLY all the time in the world (and then some). If he wanted to, Emet could spend a few hundred thousand years and <ironman>BUILD ONE IN A CAVE, WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!</ironman>

It's a tougher sell for the heroes, but I see it in much the same way as Y'shtola's second rescue from the Lifestream: it might SEEM like a miracle, one-shot solution, but if it can be done once, it can be done again. And if the writers are bad enough, it will.

Who's to say they haven't been? Who's to say that they aren't capable of time travel in some form or another? I mean, it's entirely possible that they have tried, and that in doing so somehow made things worse, so Emet-Selch wanted to figure out if this sort of thing was repeatable, because, while an Ascian having it is one thing, a lesser being having access and not having the skills to use it 'properly' is a whole different can of worms to the Ascians.

Not saying that is the case, but there could be other alternatives.

[Lasana]

Beautiful story, easily my favorite of the ShB Tales.

I'm still full of questions about the Bad Future timeline, though: if the Source is actually dying there, what does that mean for the Bad Future!Ascians' plans? I thought they needed life to be able to continue on the Source after all the Rejoinings were complete (Emet tells us the plan is to sacrifice the life left over to bring back their fallen Amaurotines), and it seems like that won't be the case in this timeline. Emet and Lahabrea are both presumably still alive in the doomed future, so maybe they're planning to undo the Black Rose effects and get civilization going again at some point, finish off the remaining Rejoinings and call it a game?