Revelations from Patch 5.2

[Iscah]

I finished all the storylines today and haven't had a chance to read through all the posts here yet, but dumping my thoughts here now (because otherwise I'll probably repeat 5.1 and never get them posted at all). So apologies if I'm repeating things that people have just said.


MSQ:

Darnit Raha, don't go killing yourself over this! D:

I am seriously worried for him. And yes I realise there are all sorts of narrative reasons from the start indicating that he might not get out of this alive, but it's not going to make it any easier if it happens.

And it looks like the strain is doing something to his crystalline parts now... it's been pretty vague whether that's stable or whether it's slowly spreading, but I wonder if overexerting himself would specifically leave him open to that happening...?

I did like the conversations just before the ending about how he's working too hard, though. Like Beq Lugg saying that "assisting" the Exarch will include casting the occasional sleeping charm on him.

The switchabout with Elidibus is weird, because it's not really a switch, is it? If the rest of the Convocation knew their Elidibus had already sacrificed himself, how could an imposter possibly be fooling Emet-Selch? Was he that desperate to believe that someone else had survived along with him?

Unless of course he wasn't fooled at all. He seemed to loathe Elidibus in what little we saw of them together. Maybe he knows it's an imposter but there was no value in admitting it to us. Maybe he knows as he's dying that he really is the last of the unsundered Ancients.

The "everyone awakening to the Echo" things bugs me too - Elidibus says the starshower was an illusion, but was the voice as well? As others have asked, how are these guys all hearing from Hydaelyn when She hasn't been strong enough to speak to us for months?

Urianger's "walking on water" trick went about as well as expected (and anticipated) but... yikes, they're starting to show effects of their souls being disconnected. Not good at all.

Anemnesis was tricky, gameplay-wise - I had to do both the midbosses a few times each before I got the hang of it. The final boss was more forgiving... and now we know what a female Sahagin looks like!

I don't know if they were trying to set us up for moral ambiguity (or at least feeling guilty about it) with Alphinaud highlighting that we were attacking first, or if they're just trying to pre-empt accusations of it.

I'm also amused by the Sastasha music having been mixed into it - and the water grate mechanics in the final boss arena feel very much like a dig at how everyone just ignores the ones in Sastasha now.

I don't feel like the dungeon was presented really well though overall. You spend the first part on Bismarck with the camera uncomfortably close and you can't really appreciate the zone you're travelling through. You arrive at the location but you never get any well-framed views of it as you approach - it's murky and distorted by the water until you're on top of it. And even when you get inside into the big hall of concept crystals, there's no real chance to stop and appreciate it - and not a single scrap of paper to read. It feels like the opposite of the Grand Cosmos where I spent a good chunk of my first run admiring the feast and the ballroom - they just made you notice and want to take in details. Or the Twinning, where you have that first sweeping view of the central chamber. Anamnesis feels like it's just "there" and never caught my attention.

And Mr Totally-Not-Asahi at the end... well, in light of Elidibus being an imposter, why not two imposters? Maybe the alternate theory of Asahi being Elidibus was right after all...?

If you go to the Oculus post-story, it's empty except for Beq Lugg standing outside the Umbilicus door, and it's just that bit unsettling to not have G'raha in his usual spot.

Overall, I don't really feel that this was the "shocking revelations" patch it seemed like it was going to be. We confirmed Ardbert is Elidibus, we got a glimpse of some more pieces to the puzzle... they've raised questions but they haven't given the answers that will have the real power behind them. I'm not feeling like my understanding of anything has been shifted at this point.

The next patch is going to be the hard-hitting one.

Eden:

I really dislike Gaia from a character design standpoint. She looks like they tried to take the face exactly from the concept art and paste it onto the character model, and as a result she doesn't have what this game defines as normal human face proportions. It doesn't look right.

Also, it seem that NieR is not the only game we've got a crossover happening with. Hello Portal...

Werlyt:

An aside to the actual plot, but what I'm getting out of this is that there's a separate not-culturally-Raen Au Ra population in Werlyt which is.... this side of Garlemald? Somewhere near Ghimlyt?

Qitari tribe:

I'm a few days behind and just retrieved the first stela. Seeing as we can't wait for further evidence and have to make a choice, I went with the "nice version" of the emperor defending the Qitari... even if it's false, at least it's a happier story to remember, right?

Also I'm guessing the nondescript creatures haunting the caves are all actually great serpents.

(Also also, when do we get the line "why did it have to be snakes?"?)

Random non-spoiler:

Interesting detail on the new special tomestone for the raid weapons: it's made of "fused quartz". So tomestones are generally crystals...? Or maybe artificial crystals. I remember that being highlighted about the Azys Lla aetheryte.

I have a running theory that with various examples of crystals storing memories (job stones, auracite, etc.), the Crystal Tower itself has acted as a giant memory crystal and that's how G'raha received the memories of Allag once he was there.