Revelations from Patch 5.4

[Cilia]

Legatuses

I specifically said "actually practices the meritocracy the Empire preaches" and "does not indulge in petty racism." Anyone who ran the ARF for tomestones back during 3.X's relic weapon grind would know Regula absolutely indulges in petty racism; nearly every single time he appears on screen he takes the opportunity to denigrate the Eorzeans as "savages." It's so bad that it's even part of the combat data loaded into Sapphire Weapon! I'm not asking that he be a saint, nor am I saying the protagonists are, but if the guy does not respect people different from him can you really call him "one of the good ones?"

Him being besties with Varis is... beside the point, and at the end of the day it's not as if Varis was a good person either (even taking his difficult situation into account).

Gabranth is... difficult to figure out based on what we know. On the one hand, his soldiers are genuinely loyal to him, he wants to make a nation of equals, and he does not indulge in the aforementioned petty racism (to the point of including a Seeq in his ranks). On the other he employs the military brutality so prevalent in the Empire, is implied to have his position only (or at least due) to nepotism, and intends to make said nation of equality by brainwashing people (or at least those who refuse to bend the knee) with a primal. He's not a depraved scumbag (like say Valens) but I have a hard time seeing him as "good."

Gaius, while not initially good, does change as the story goes on. He has learned from his mistakes and is trying to make up for them - in his own violent way, but it's not as if either the Ascians or Garleans leave us a non-violent method of dealing with them. Every single Ascian has been deaf to reason (save Loghrif / Gaia, and that's just because she's an amnesiac reincarnation; if the Loghrif persona were to fully take hold she'd be just as bad if E12S is any indication) while the Weapons we're dealing with in Werlyt are not exactly designed for teachers.

Further, the only Imperial ambassador we've had the (dis)pleasure of meeting turned out to be an obvious snake, and while the (now-dead) Emperor himself did agree to meet the Eorzeans in negotiation his goal was never to hammer out any sort of compromise or armistice.

Werlyt Specifically

All I know is the G-Warrior is very likely to have some part to play in the last battle with Diamond. Gaius piloting against Diamond while we take on Valens mano-e-mano? Couldn't say, but we can't exactly pilot if it's going to be a Trial like Ruby and Emerald. G-Warrior is too huge for that.

Off-topic: Vegeta has been my favorite Dragon Ball character since I really started watching the series; I could go on for a while about why but suffice to say he's the most dynamic character, which makes him very interesting to me.

EDIT
Further VIII references in E12S

Now that some videos of it are out:

Gaia, in her "Loghrif / Oracle of Darkness" persona, has access to Ultimecia Final Form's two iconic spells: Hell's Judgment and Apocalypse, as well as Griever's Shockwave Pulsar. Her time magic returns as well, with one ability even stating "time is compressing."

The remix of The Extreme is... not as great as I was expecting. It's not bad by any measure, but it's not very different and the differences aren't an improvement IMO.