Predictions for 5.3?

[Riastrad]

More likely it will be a reference to the parasite come to be known as Jenova in Final Fantasy VII. If you did the side content involving Aeris's mom in the original game, you know that this parasite was referred to by the Cetra as, "The Calamity from the Sky."

What this parasite did was take over life on the planet, eventually consuming and mutating a Cetra known as Jenova, giving her the will to dominate the planet.

Which I mean, in itself was a call back to Chrono Trigger with Lavos dominating Queen Zeal's will, but even with the advent of the Black Omen, she did not take over the planet or even adjust history really.

We gotta consider that when Zodiark went up against Hydaelyn, the planet got fractured on the space/time level, splitting into 14 separate instances of the same reality. No idea how a Lavos-like/Jenova-like would really play into that, beyond the initial calamity, given there's been no real sign of them this whole time.

Easy, Chrono Cross deals almost exclusively with alternate realities. Considering we supposedly (I almost doubt it) just altered our own timeline, and it was hand waived that the old timeline in which we died was simply cut off and set adrift, an entity like Lavos being the reason the fracture happened (which let us directly affect time) kind of fits a little too well. The best ending in Trigger leads directly into Cross. Lavos itself latched onto Schala in the Darkness beyond Time and began creating split realities to keep itself alive. Becoming the Dream/Time Devourer, a crystalline monster that had a young blonde woman in a white dress bound to it no less. Big hmm moment for me there when I saw the 3.2 patch art.



I don't trust Hydaelyn or the narrative that the Ascians are pushing. I think a parasite has literally wrapped its claws around the very weapons used to stop it. It's just a matter of time till we need to address that issue.





Forgive me the pictures. I don't like having to add so many, but I really needed the visual aids.

[Vyrerus]

snip

It's not that I don't like it. I just don't think that's the direction things are going to head. Though I've been wrong before.

Also though, the thing about Schala and Lavos and Chrono Cross and the reason I say that I don't know how Lavos would fit in with the world split is because the world was physically and aetherially split. If something like Lavos is in on this, it was Hydaelyn who caused the split, and therefore Lavos-like entity is also split and unable to enact its will. I guess that might cover why it hasn't reared its ugly head, but I still think they'll keep it to Final Fantasy references when it comes to MSQ.

I appreciate at the art, but while they seem similar on a visual level, Minfilia's predicament was quite different from Schala's. For one, she was absorbed by Hydaelyn, the supposed good in the story, not the bad. Second, she didn't really have amazing magical ability or anything special about her beyond diplomatic leverage enhanced by The Echo. Schala was taken in by Lavos due to her amazing magical potential, as she was the only one who could summon him to the surface using the Mammon Machine. Queen Zeal was unable to do that. Minfilia was taken by Hydaelyn as an act of desperation, and received her powers after the fact.

I do really like the comparisons you made, it is food for thought.

[Lauront]

It's not that I don't like it. I just don't think that's the direction things are going to head. Though I've been wrong before.

Also though, the thing about Schala and Lavos and Chrono Cross and the reason I say that I don't know how Lavos would fit in with the world split is because the world was physically and aetherially split. If something like Lavos is in on this, it was Hydaelyn who caused the split, and therefore Lavos-like entity is also split and unable to enact its will. I guess that might cover why it hasn't reared its ugly head, but I still think they'll keep it to Final Fantasy references when it comes to MSQ.

Bear in mind there is another precedent in the story, of an alien interloper, i.e. the High Seraph, and she was imprisoned in a pocket plane. Something similar could have happened to entity causing the whole situation, particularly if e.g. the 14th used their power to seal it away for that to be possible. That would explain it being missing in action and thus not sundered.

Although it's not yet clear if they're going to take the two primals in that direction, I think the parallels Riastrad noted are pretty intriguing and would be a cool reference to run with... and if it co-opted Hydaelyn somehow, it wouldn't even need to be sealed away for that to work.

oh, speaking of the patch art...

Yeah, it was also covered in some interviews (translations sourced from here):

Famitsu: The patch artwork has a man in a white robe and a man who looks like a warrior. Are they the key characters of the story?

Yoshida: Just like the patch artwork suggests, they express light, darkness and the arbitrator. Maybe the crystal in the background will be important later.

... and

Dengeki: Is that so. How was the order placed for patch 5.2's artwork? Elidibus in the middle draws my attention.

Yoshida: To be honest,it's particularly hard to discuss that question right now, because we asked for this artwork with the plot of 5.3 in mind (bitter smile).

If you experience all the way up to the end of patch 5.3's story and look back at this artwork, you would probably think "Oh, i see now" and be satisfied.(edited)

If i explain what's going on right now, Elidibus calls himself the arbitrator right? If you look at the artwork, he is standing between the warrior of light and the warrior of darkness, with his Ascian emblem showing in front of his mask. Which allows you to assume he is trying, at least now, to play his role as the arbitrator. Why is it written on top of the crystal is a question that won't be truly answered until you reach patch 5.3 and i would be happy if players imagined the meaning after 5.2.

During all of what's going on in 5.2, you will be approaching Elidibus as a person and i'm presuming players will be quite shocked after finding out about what he has to say. We went into detail to connect the dots in the story, so the MSQ will be very long.

I was just re-doing Amaurot and what Emet said earlier made me think:
"Do you honestly believe that half your number would sacrifice themselves to save the other? No, of course they wouldn't!"

But would they if they thought it was heroic? Isn't that what heroes do?

It's what the WoL's did - we just told them as much. They sacrificed themselves, and then again in order to save their star. I'm not sure how a fight might go down between us and the WoLs, but Elidibus might not need to convince them to fight against us directly, just using them indirectly as fuel for whatever cause he tricks them into believing.

It probably hasn't sunk into their minds yet that adventuring can be quite dangerous business. In fact, I bet that could be something the dungeon may touch upon.

[Sabrenn]

-snip-

I don't trust Hydaelyn or the narrative that the Ascians are pushing. I think a parasite has literally wrapped its claws around the very weapons used to stop it. It's just a matter of time till we need to address that issue.

-snip-

I've been playing FFXII recently, and considering how much is going to be inspired from it in the new exploration area and has been generally (nu mou, viera, 24mans from last tier etc)

I think you're on to something because of the crystalbugs from FFXII, bugs who take over save crystals until you kill them then the actual crystal comes back in its place, which could be what Lahabrea was trying to tell us:

The growing imbalance afflicting the planet must be redressed. If it is permitted to worsen, the very laws of existence--both aetheric and physical--will be warped beyond all recognition.

Know you the root of this corruption? Hydaelyn!

Like a parasite, She must be burned out if the planet is to recover. And naught but the return of the one true god will ensure Her complete excision. Yet to pave the way for the master's return, a chaotic confluence of untold proportions must needs be brought about. And that will necessitate the presence of the primals.

Crystalbug's description from FFXII:

Being a fiend that, unable to move and hunt for food on its own, mimics the form of a crystal, thereby tempting its prey to come to it. The deception is nearly perfect and thus almost impossible to detect. Should an ill-starred traveler mistake such a creature for a crystal, and reach out his hand, he will be treated to a maelstrom of the strongest magicks, before having his life juices summarily drained.

Which would explain what has happened to Minfillia. And why it keeps tempting everyone with "hear, feel, think".

These crystalbugs keep spamming self-heals so I've had to use mist abilities to get them down (limit breaks/summons in that game), so I can see why they are so desperate to try and get rid of the parasite. If the end of the world happened because of the imbalance caused by the parasite feeding on the mother crystal, then it makes sense that with their summoning powers they would try to destroy it with a summon that could kill it before it regenerates (Zodiark) while people mislead by the influence of the parasite would try to go against them. (Venat & co)

There's also the technick Revive in that game that forces the user to die in order to resurrect their target, which could explain why they're fine with a mass sacrifice in order to resurrect the summon, waiting for them to resurrect them back (as you normally do in ffxii: example, the healer is dead, the tank uses Revive sacrificing themselves to get the healer up that then resurrects them back).

I may be completely off but I was just thinking of this thread playing through FFXII and it would be interesting for the crystalbug theory to be actually true.