Revelations from SHADOWBRINGERS

[Nalien]

So everyone saw that rework of Ultima Weapon, I take it? Estinien vs Ultima Weapon 2.0?

[Edax]

Zenos will most likely admit to the death of his father. Who can match him in power in Garlemald? Nobody. No one would dare challenge his authority, so they'll all follow out of fear of him. It won't be until some unseen event occurs that they will turn on him. I have a feeling the Populares however, will turn to Eorzea for help defeating him.

That's not how power works. Achilles might have been an invincible warrior but the Greeks followed Agamemnon. People don't look to the thugs for leadership at the national level outside of fiction. Nearly everyone in the Empire would have cause to oppose Zenos, especially out of fear. If he'll betray the Empire and murder the Emperor, then nobody is safe.

[JeanneOrnitier]

Zenos glowing with darkness in the trailer scares me. I seriously hope he didn't eat Zodiark, I want the Zodiark fight to actually be a Zodiark fight and not Zenos for like the fifth time.

So everyone saw that rework of Ultima Weapon, I take it? Estinien vs Ultima Weapon 2.0?

Is that what he was fighting? I couldn't tell.

Probably a solo duty.

[Theodric]

I'm still not 'feeling' Zenos. In my opinion he simply overstayed his welcome and risks cutting down a string of characters with much more depth and potential. He's already eliminated Varis, I don't really want to see him deal with Elidibus and/or Zodiark as well. Like Varis those two have been built up since the days of ARR.

That aside, my initial thoughts on the 5.1 trailer are fairly lukewarm. The new dungeon intrigues me and reminds me very much of Karazhan from WoW due to the ghostly figures indulging in a waltz. I'm guessing the mage we meet will be a new character introduced to the plot. Hopefully it's a legitimately new character rather than, say, a reflection of Matoya or Louisoix.

As much as I like Nier: Automata I'm a little wary of it having so much focus. I'm concerned that 'Rule of Cool' is being embraced more and more frequently which is something that pushed me away from WoW.

The line about the 'risks' for our friends - presumably the Scions - made me smirk because at this point it's clear that the story plays things very safe. I'm comfortable suggesting that nothing bad will happen to them and even if it does, it'll be resolved almost immediately. At worst, I predict that Thancred will be forced to stay behind since he can no longer manipulate aether but even that will work out if it means he can stay at Ryne's side.

[Alleluia]

That's not how power works. Achilles might have been an invincible warrior but the Greeks followed Agamemnon. People don't look to the thugs for leadership at the national level outside of fiction. Nearly everyone in the Empire would have cause to oppose Zenos, especially out of fear. If he'll betray the Empire and murder the Emperor, then nobody is safe.

Outside of republics and democracies, that is entirely how power works. lol If you have the might behind you, you get to be in charge. IRL that might means being the strongest/most ruthless individual in some setups, and means having the right connections and political alliances in others, depending on the society. In fantasy games, its being invincible. If you are unable to be opposed, you are unable to be opposed. The people you are dominating don't have to like you for you to be in charge.

Also, in your example, 1. Achilles didn't want to be in charge of everyone. And 2. Agamemnon had the might of his political savvy behind him, in addition to being a respectable enough fighter. Neither were commanding through fear, but that's just b/c they didn't need to/want to. Its still an entirely viable path to take. They just didn't.

[Nalien]

Is that what he was fighting? I couldn't tell.

Probably a solo duty.

It's definitely a headless Ultima Weapon, which may have some interesting ramifications; Garlemald working to mass produce them? Heart of Sabik back again? Who knows. Seems Estinien attacks/destroys it, though.

[Evraeh]

I think we gonna fight as Estinien in a solo duty. I don't know but for love of God, please, I hope Zenos won't kill Gaius. I'm afraid because - why Estinien is alone in a fight? Do he run away from Zenos to call for help the WoL ? But if that so, Gaius is alone against Zenos (? maybe). With both of them, I'm sure they could manage to escape without so much problem but alone...

[ChaoticCrimson]

Didn't I see somewhere recently (one of the Q/As maybe?) that they might get more into the Hear of Sabik in the future? Given Elidibus' up-until-recent involvement with Garlemald, I don't think it would have been impossible for him to have recovered the Heart at some point and worked to repurpose it for a new model of Ultima Weapon. Of course, it could just be a reverse-engineered version of UW that the empire was working on, probably in hopes of mass-producing them in the future. As for Gaius, I'm sure I saw him in a different scene in the trailer. It's possible he and Estinien had to split up to handle different objectives at some point, so I wouldn't count Gaius out just yet. I still have a feeling he'll probably end up surviving so he can help to rebuild and reform Garlemald after Elidibus and Zenos are dealt with, maybe even becoming the nation's new leader in time.

As for the MSQ, the impression I get aside from the Garlean sections is that Eulmore has to come to terms with what they need to do to survive post-Vauthry, and also at some point, as others seem to have figured, we go to the new dungeon to locate the Nu Mou mage in hopes of finding a way to return the Scions to the Source. I can only guess that the voice saying we might doom our friends instead of saving them is that mage, and I agree that it's also probably in reference to fixing things with the Scions. What this process entails though I could only speculate on, though.

Don't have much to add for the Nier section as yet, since I'm actually in the process of playing Nier Automata now that I'm finally putting some time aside to do so (I'm really enjoying it so far!). I'm still intrigued how they'll tie that game into the FFXIV lore context, but it definitely seems the Dwarves are involved somehow as well as that machine graveyard.

[KageTokage]

Zenos glowing with darkness in the trailer scares me. I seriously hope he didn't eat Zodiark, I want the Zodiark fight to actually be a Zodiark fight and not Zenos for like the fifth time.

I took that more as a suggestion that he's basically an Ascian at this point.

The fact that he gained his artificial Echo partly by being infused with the aether of countless individuals would logically put him in a state closer to that of an Ancient.

Still, I seriously doubt he's going to actually take control of Zodiark or Hydaelyn because even in their weakened states they're still unimaginably powerful compared to a conventional Primal like Shinryu.

[Edax]

Outside of republics and democracies, that is entirely how power works. lol If you have the might behind you, you get to be in charge. IRL that might means being the strongest/most ruthless individual in some setups, and means having the right connections and political alliances in others, depending on the society. In fantasy games, its being invincible. If you are unable to be opposed, you are unable to be opposed. The people you are dominating don't have to like you for you to be in charge.

Also, in your example, 1. Achilles didn't want to be in charge of everyone. And 2. Agamemnon had the might of his political savvy behind him, in addition to being a respectable enough fighter. Neither were commanding through fear, but that's just b/c they didn't need to/want to. Its still an entirely viable path to take. They just didn't.

That's my point. Zenos is physically strong but as politically weak as a kitten. He's the governor of 2 provinces that are under enemy control, there are rumors that he's actually dead or the puppet of foreign influences, he's infamous for having no interest in administration and for how he was disinherited out of the line of succession. National Leaders aren't chosen by how much they can bench press.

Zenos is so politically weak, nearly any military leader can make viable bid to be Emperorship now, and Zenos wont have time to personally slay every member of the rebel armies and even if he did, he would have just demolished the military strengthen of the Empire to get the throne. Though personally I don't think the writers will go down this path.