Predictions for 5.3?

[Fenral]

With Crystal Tower being made to be required to do ShB's and the Trial being something we won't predict... I have a hunch it's gonna be Cloud of Darkness (assuming we're gonna be going through the World of Darkness to get the Scions back to the Source).

It's worth noting that Doga and Unei had monster forms in FF3 that we didn't get to fight (in FFXIV), but they would make perfect voidsent considering where we saw them last. That would allow us to physically fight some of the Exarch's baggage (justifying his place on the patch art) without, you know, having to physically fight the Exarch, who could easily pull the stunt that FF3!Doga and FF3!Unei pulled.

[Iscah]

With Crystal Tower being made to be required to do ShB's and the Trial being something we won't predict... I have a hunch it's gonna be Cloud of Darkness (assuming we're gonna be going through the World of Darkness to get the Scions back to the Source).

Oh, that's a cool thought! I was trying to think through what else relies on completion of the Crystal Tower, besides G'raha's current state, and yeah. Simply having access to the World of Darkess is a big thing, assuming we can still get there. It looked like the gate closed off when we escaped, but maybe the Exarch can get it open again. Or young G'raha for that matter...

It's worth noting that Doga and Unei had monster forms in FF3 that we didn't get to fight (in FFXIV), but they would make perfect voidsent considering where we saw them last. That would allow us to physically fight some of the Exarch's baggage (justifying his place on the patch art) without, you know, having to physically fight the Exarch, who could easily pull the stunt that FF3!Doga and FF3!Unei pulled.

I really need to play FF3 for context at this point. I had the DS version at one point but I never got far with it, and then I decided to have a clearout of games I wasn't playing...

And yeah, even only being familiar with the FFXIV take on it, Unei and Doga stand out as fairly likely to show up if we're actually building on the CT plot now. There's one variable line in Shadowbringers where the Exarch talks about "sacrifices yet unmade" in the default script but drops the "unmade" bit if you've completed CT, so he must be specifically referring to them.

[Vyrerus]

It's worth noting that Doga and Unei had monster forms in FF3 that we didn't get to fight (in FFXIV), but they would make perfect voidsent considering where we saw them last. That would allow us to physically fight some of the Exarch's baggage (justifying his place on the patch art) without, you know, having to physically fight the Exarch, who could easily pull the stunt that FF3!Doga and FF3!Unei pulled.

They didn't just have monster forms, they were monsters. Part of Xande's motivation for becoming villainous was that their mentor gave him the "gift" of turning him human/mortal. This resulted in him wanting to siphon the Crystals' energy so that time would freeze for most all of the world, allowing him to technically never die. When they assume those forms to fight you, those are their true forms.