Revelations from SHADOWBRINGERS

[Evraeh]

I'm honestly hoping Zenos just gets played by Elidibus and his whole "Harness the power of Zodiark/Hydaelyn" scheme blows up in his face at a pivotal moment.

The guy really doesn't deserve to be the "final boss" of the entire story arc with how long Elidibus and Zodiark have been in the picture comparatively and already had his chance back in SB.

Please, yes. I like Zenos at some point but really he doesn't deserve to be the "final" boss of something. If he want to kill us, he just have to do it on his own, why going to take more "primal" power ? For what purpose ? More power won't change anything if he just want to fight us. Or do he want us to become a "god" and fight each other till the end of times ?
And if we refuse this battle ? What could he do ? Just destroy everything cause he doesn't care ? We saw that he just want us ( the Warrior of Light ) to fight him... I don't see the point to get Zodiark/Hydaelyn's power.
For me, it's just a plot for make Hydaelyn or Zodiark in danger so we will have to do anything to save them both and then restore the balance between Light and Darkness.

And I'll laugh if Hydaelyn's power get eaten by Zenos. So that means Zenos is more powerful than Hydaelyn...? What about us then ?

[EdwinLi]

And I'll laugh if Hydaelyn's power get eaten by Zenos. So that means Zenos is more powerful than Hydaelyn...? What about us then ?

Chances of Zenos being able to consume both Zodiark and Hydaelyn is zero if they are both at full strength.

However, being Primals they can be greatly weakened to a point their powers can be easily consumed by another primal or someone with that ability.

Either way this is only one outcome I can see as possible finale.

Another is that the whole plan backfires the moment he attempts to consume them both and Zeno accidently awakens something more powerful than Zodiark and Hydaelyn combined from the Original World that may bring about a 2nd Original Calamity to destroy the entire planet while he himself is obliterated by that thing thus making 5.4 to 6.0 plot partly about the Original World and what truly lead to the Original Calamity, a good amount focused on Elidibus with him providing more History of the Original World and what he did back then before becoming tempered by Zodiark, and how to prevent it again without the need of Zodiark, Hydaelyn, or other Primals of Godly powers.

[Ilenya]

And I'll laugh if Hydaelyn's power get eaten by Zenos. So that means Zenos is more powerful than Hydaelyn...? What about us then ?

Honestly, if he does go off and eat one of them I've been hoping it was Hydaelyn, if only because how how hilarious it'd be to have to work with Elidibus to rejoin everything to the point where we can get Zodiark's help.

[RyuDragnier]

Honestly, if he does go off and eat one of them I've been hoping it was Hydaelyn, if only because how how hilarious it'd be to have to work with Elidibus to rejoin everything to the point where we can get Zodiark's help.

At that point Elidibus may consider Zenos too much of a threat to consider it, since he could just cleave Zodiark again. It's far more likely that he will decide that we, being Hydaelyn's chosen and a member of the Convocation of Fourteen, need to be completely rejoined and thus at full power to take out Zenos. Because Zenos would destroy everything with that kind of power, and Elidibus would place his bets on a member of the Fourteen (and a former colleague) with their full memories of the past choosing what happens at the end rather than a battle-thirsty egomaniac.

[Ilenya]

At that point Elidibus may consider Zenos too much of a threat to consider it, since he could just cleave Zodiark again. It's far more likely that he will decide that we, being Hydaelyn's chosen and a member of the Convocation of Fourteen, need to be completely rejoined and thus at full power to take out Zenos. Because Zenos would destroy everything with that kind of power, and Elidibus would place his bets on a member of the Fourteen (and a former colleague) with their full memories of the past choosing what happens at the end rather than a battle-thirsty egomaniac.

I suppose that is true, but it mostly just goes to where the real fun is. The fabled point where we actually work with Elidibus like he hinted at all those patches ago.

[MoofiaBossVal]

Looks like I'm in the minority who actually likes Zenos. He's a character he does his own thing and can slid pretty easily into any storyline and add dynamism to it. I'm personally more invested in Zenos as a character and as a rival for the WoL to overcome than some soul-eating, eldritch horror crystal on the moon.

To me, the Ascian plot is the least interesting storyline, only somewhat salvaged by ShB. After so many JRPGs and anime, I'm exhausted by the usual supernatural ancient conspiracy revolving around an ensemble of big bads playing the pronoun game. No matter how hard the protagonists try to thwart the big bads, everything that happens in the story inexplicably advances their agenda, up until the very end when the writer finally allows them to be foiled. As flawed as Stormbood was, I preferred it's grounded setting about people. I was rather annoyed that the story left the war arc unfinished to go back to the Ascian plot. Yay, Emet-Selch was interesting. And now he's dead. That said, it was incredibly refreshing to see Emperor Boring die and Elidibus get chased out of the capital. Personally, I think stories with conflicting antagonists are very interesting, as it usurps the "good guys stomp the bad guys one by one" dynamic and allows for a more dynamic story.

As for Zenos eating Zodiark, that would be an interesting twist, but I'm not sure how that would lead to a climatic resolution of the Ascian plot, which seems to supersede everything else. What, he eats a shard of Zodiark on the moon, we kill him, and then... ???

Zenos doesn't feel like grand, epic story ending material, while Zodiark is just too impersonal for me to really care about.

[Sylvain]

Zenos eating Zodiark or hydelyn would mea. They're in a very very weakened state. I mean, as much as Hades was strong, he was still 1 ancient. We're talking about being who we're conjured with the aether of an entire population, with Zodiark having a whopping 50%.

That's a freaking lot of eather, and while I agree they are weakened. (zordiar' because he's shattered, hydelyn for wathever reason and also because she had less starting aether) I can't see them being so weak that ze os could take them on his own.

[Alleluia]

Maybe Elidibus is going to help Zenos try to absorb Hydaelyn, therefore making him a "warrior of light".

[EdwinLi]

Either way I do expect 4.1 to 6.0 to provide us with plenty of lore about the original world and the Original Soul.

They set the stage for these plots and potentially 6.0 to 6.3 as the Finale for Season 1 storyline, now they just have to make it work.

I still hope to see a Job that is based on the Lore of awakening the Powers of the Original Soul which so far I can only see being a Noctis Job that focus on Armiger mechanic as a True Melee DPS Sword Mage or a new Job unique to FF14 that has not appeared in past FF games yet.

[Alleluia]

Has there been some kind of Word of God claim that the Ascian and Zodiark storyline is going to end in the next expansion that I missed? Legit question.