Revelations from Patch 5.2

[Jennah]

Rampant Speculation

MSQ

We're told that Elidibus is the Heart of Zodiark; and the game immediately goes out of its way to say that there aren't two Elidibuses (Elidibii?), with the name only a title. My guess is the original gave up his body to Zodiark; and what's left is his spirit ... i.e., quite possibly the first Ascian.
I agree with everyone above that Zenos's white-robed friend is Venat - there aren't really any other possibilities that make sense at this point, other than "another new character". Considering what Zenos plans to *do* to Zodiark, it makes all the sense in the world that the 'Emissary of Hydaelyn' might be helping Zenos out; even if against current expectation she turns out to be good after all. (And there's a reasonable chance that that is Asahi's body; but that's no more significant than us seeing "Ardbert's" earlier.)

Eden

Not a whole lot to say here; though that final quest after the MSQ seems ... out of place? Thancred and Urianger *aren't* able to leave for the Source yet.
I also noticed that the crystal we wound up fighting looks a *lot* like Hydaelyn. Which makes a hell of a lot of sense, considering who Ryne is. Expecting to see (well, hear about) more of that in Savage.
... the fight itself actually reminded me a hell of a lot of the Lich King; what with the Ice Motif, and an OP hammer-wielding NPC saving our ass at the end, the last 10% of the boss's life being a free kill. I wonder if that was intentional?

Werlyt

We're getting the Sapphire Weapon next. Given that the X.3 trial is usually the MSQ, while these side stories are normally a solo instance ... who wants to bet that, just as in FF7, the Sapphire Weapon gets taken out via cutscene?
Seeing Nael pop up was really something. Presumably the others are going to have the spirit of a famous Garlean warrior ... but who? Regula seems a reasonable choice; and they explicitly name-dropped Livia in the cutscene. But if those are the three ... then SE opened with by far the most powerful and relevant, which seems off from a story perspective. Cid, Nero, and Gaius himself spring to mind; which would make some interesting reactions. They definitely would have had access to Varis's DNA, since he was running the project; and there are all those clone "Solus" bodies that still haven't paid off. And then there's probably their strongest warrior ... Zenos...

[smartazjb0y]

Rampant Speculation

Eden

Not a whole lot to say here; though that final quest after the MSQ seems ... out of place? Thancred and Urianger *aren't* able to leave for the Source yet.

You're the 2nd person I just saw mention that, glad to see I'm not alone haha.

It really does feel out of place. Thancred and Urianger leaving Ryne and going back to the Source very much feels like it belongs in the MSQ (and will undoubtedly be a big part of the 5.3 MSQ finale), and 5.3 is 3.5 months away. That doesn't necessarily translate to 3.5 months in-game, but you're right, they can't go back to the Source yet so it feels very...out of nowhere to have this farewell. I'm honestly not even 100% sure what the necessity of the quest is, maybe just them laying the groundwork really far in advance that the third wing of Eden won't have Urianger and Thancred?

[Ultimatecalibur]

You're the 2nd person I just saw mention that, glad to see I'm not alone haha.

It really does feel out of place. Thancred and Urianger leaving Ryne and going back to the Source very much feels like it belongs in the MSQ (and will undoubtedly be a big part of the 5.3 MSQ finale), and 5.3 is 3.5 months away. That doesn't necessarily translate to 3.5 months in-game, but you're right, they can't go back to the Source yet so it feels very...out of nowhere to have this farewell. I'm honestly not even 100% sure what the necessity of the quest is, maybe just them laying the groundwork really far in advance that the third wing of Eden won't have Urianger and Thancred?

It likely ties in with the cutscene in that previews that wasn't in 5.2 yet. We could get some more MSQ with 5.25 leading into Save the Queen.

[smartazjb0y]

It likely ties in with the cutscene in that previews that wasn't in 5.2 yet. We could get some more MSQ with 5.25 leading into Save the Queen.

I think we know that the normal mode is solo but the EX mode is 8man, so my personal guess is that when you run it normally solo it's with like "simulations" or whatever and that the cutscene isn't actually showing all of those people back on the Source. We did get semi-faked out with the scenes of

Zenos in Amaurot (was just a dream) and the starshower (was just an illusion)