6.0 Predictions: Will it be Garlemald, Sharlayan, or Meracydia?

[Nanchi]

I'm in the minority here but I actually love Zenos for various reasons (less enthusiastic about Asahi tho, or Asahi's face for the matter). I don't think he's as bad as people paint him out to be, he just got the short end of the stick in Stormblood. Though I have full trust in ishikawa to make something grand out of it and I wanted to go to Garlemald for 4years now so I really,really hope 6.0 will be the time we actually visit the capital city. (Hopefully not in the way Ala Mhigo was handled)

And after that I'll be content with Meracydia.

[EdwinLi]

I'm in the minority here but I actually love Zenos for various reasons (less enthusiastic about Asahi tho, or Asahi's face for the matter). I don't think he's as bad as people paint him out to be, he just got the short end of the stick in Stormblood. Though I have full trust in ishikawa to make something grand out of it and I wanted to go to Garlemald for 4years now so I really,really hope 6.0 will be the time we actually visit the capital city. (Hopefully not in the way Ala Mhigo was handled)

And after that I'll be content with Meracydia.

Oh it is certain by now Zodiark is not Evil since he is born with valuing the life on the planet but the issue with him is that his Primal Programming makes him value the old life of the planet instead of the new life.

It is in the end the conflict of who is valued more for the "greater good", as Zodiark is created the value and preserve the old life of the planet by sacrificing the new life so the old world can continue while Hydaelyn is created to preserve the new life for a new generation of society but in return the old life will remain dead.

A very conflicting point of views because by preserving the old life everything will always remain the same forever and everyone they know will always be alive but in doing so they are forever locked from giving birth to a new generation of people because the new life must always be sacrificed to bring back those from the old world and never progressing from what they believe is the peak of a Peaceful world despite the flaws of that old world.

Preserving the new life means we will always have a new generation of people in society that will build and develop the world to a new uncertain future but in doing so we will eventually forget the old world and may even repeat past mistake because the new generations forgotten. It will always be a constant future of uncertainty but it will still be possible to one day to make the peaceful world that once was with the new generation and maybe a better one.

[FJerome]

Neither. We will somehow end up at the 13th... Again.

. . . I actually think it's a serious possibility? It definitely featured pretty heavily in Heavensward and given the Unsundered couldn't enact their grand plan without getting it back into rejoinable shape, there could still be shenanigans afoot regarding it.

[JeanneOrnitier]

I don't think there'll be an entire expansion set in the Thirteenth the way ShB was in the First, but I definitely think going back there at some point is very likely.

[FrightfulNight]

I do not think they will do a 13th expansion right after an expansion that takes us to the first, i believe or at least hope that wherever it is it will be on the source, mainly as this gives us new areas to use on the main story that takes place their, plus the 13th is not like the first where there was still some land that remained free from the flood, the flood of darkness on the 13th completely consumed it if i recall.

[Listrella]

who knows? shadowbringers taking place on the first came completely out of left field. It's possible it's one of these locations but it's also possible it's somewhere we know nothing about.

[KaerisKlyne]

After 5.3 I'm now convinced it will be a split-focus Sharlayan + Garlemald expac depending on how things shake out with our villains in 5.4 & 5.5

[Rosenstrauch]

After 5.3 I'm now convinced it will be a split-focus Sharlayan + Garlemald expac depending on how things shake out with our villains in 5.4 & 5.5

This is my inclination as well. Unless Zenos is the last boss in the 5.4 dungeon or a solo duty in 5.5, I've no doubt that we'll be going to Garlemald now. But I still fully believe we'll also be dealing with Sharlayan, if for no other reason than it seems like the most likely place to launch any kind of attack against Zodiark.

[Riastrad]

I have noticed a pattern when it comes to this games story telling. It seems that they always include (at least in my opinion) some sort of filler story in between the actual main event.


1.XX to the filler ARR. Yes I consider ARR a filler season of a TV show. I didn't even level up once during the dang thing.
Heavensward to a filler Stormblood. Ending a thousand year war vs a land grab, hell even the latest expansion picks up off events from Heavensward.
Shadowbringers to a filler Garlemald expansion. What better way to get rid of those guys, deal with the last of the Ascians plans and set up an all new story in one fell swoop? The Empire really doesn't even exist anymore. It's a graveyard. Also, Fandaniel is just using Zenos for a mass sacrifice. He is of the constellation of Leo, and some of you may remember what that particular zodiac does in FFT.


Just be ready for another time skip/our characters once again being forgotten and disappearing, fading into legend. Though I myself (in my insane, self deluded theories) want to deal with the original threat of whatever made the sound that drove the ancients mad. So I'm all for going back in time and doing just that. They did say focus on Heavensward, Alexander, and the Omega raids. We need to investigate Silvertear Lake further. Something worthy (*cough*Lavos*cough*) of a Elder Dragon being its Guardian is down there..

How can I post without leaving behind a lyric that I have been obsessing over since the patch dropped?

Seeking the peace of reason
Sheep in a peaceless season
Reason to keep believing
Waken the beast who's sleeping

7.0 is going to be something special. Some dev team members expressed their desire for various fixes and upgrades to the games combat and character systems, with Yoshida saying 7.0 at the earliest.

[KaerisKlyne]

This is my inclination as well. Unless Zenos is the last boss in the 5.4 dungeon or a solo duty in 5.5, I've no doubt that we'll be going to Garlemald now. But I still fully believe we'll also be dealing with Sharlayan, if for no other reason than it seems like the most likely place to launch any kind of attack against Zodiark.

It was brought up too many times in ways very personal to many core characters for us not to head there IMO. I've always regarded Sharlayan as a bit of a superpower, because we don't really know the extent of the knowledge they're hoarding and not sharing, or how much they might know about things directly related to the MSQ. If Garlemald continues to descend into civil disarray and collapses, I fully believe it could mean the rise of Sharlayan as a scholarly empire. Don't the HW AST quests deal with a faction intent on stopping the spread of some Sharlayan teachings? There's meat there for sure. And if they do end up a bigger threat because of the events of 5.4/5.5, it's still a way in if we're roadblocked on the mainland because we have a whole group of extremely important people to the plot with major ties to Sharlayan.

So yes, I agree and think it's not a leap to say we could be visiting both, and it's reasonable since neither is terribly large, so it likely wouldn't be as detrimental to the settings and stories if it was split (something I still think SB suffered from a bit).