New Year's Foreshadow 2021

[RicaRuin]

Forspoken

I agree with your very good and detailed post about the Sound, but according to I believe the reddit fan live translation of the last Live Letter Yoshi-P commented that Forspoken isn't the name of the next expansion.

[Veloran]

My understanding is that the Sound is coming back right now.

In 4.5, you had Matoya's magics shorting out. A few people I've talked to have attributed that to the Light aether from the First, but light aspected aether shorting out magic is not an effect demonstrated in the story. What is? The Sound. at the end of 5.0 we learned that the Sound warped the magics the Ancients used.

Then, in 5.2, Urianger heard a sound which ruined his water walking spell. In 5.3, Alisae and Y'shtola hear the Sound as well. These incidents are distinct from Thancred becoming tired due to his soul being divorced from his body.

The thing is, we have alternative explanations for all those scenes. With Matoya her brooms failing was resultant from the thinning of the aether caused by the flow of the Lifestream being impeded by the surging aspect of light. Urianger, Alisaie, and Y'shtola can call be explained by the strain on their souls. If that were to repeat now, on the Source, it could be a problem, but so far we haven't seen that. Moreover, the only adverse affects we're seeing there are the Scions getting headaches or losing concentration, not the absolute twisting of life caused by the Sound.

The dialogue of one of the crystals seems to suggest that one of convocation members apparently got screwed up during the summoning, probably by the Sound.

People take this as that, but instead his dialogue to me sounds more like the effects of his tempering taking hold.

There is little reason to visit Sharlayan unless we need the best and brightest magicians and their aetheric knowledge to save the world from a metaphysical threat.

There are many reasons we could need to go there. For example mass tempering caused by aetheric 5G towers that can only be undone through advanced Sharlayan magicks.

The Amaurotines heard of what the Sound was doing to other nations, but refused to get involved until it was affecting them, and by then it was too late, and their solution was halfbaked.

I'm not so sure they refused to get involved at all. The plan to summon Zodiark couldn't have been concocted overnight, and clearly they still had control of their magic to undertake the effort. What we see in the Tempest is the Amaurotines simply filing themselves in for sacrifice to summon him, and then when the Sound actually hits later on it's undone by Zodiark. I don't think it's the case that they were struck, and THEN summoned him.

I agree with your very good and detailed post about the Sound, but according to I believe the reddit fan live translation of the last Live Letter Yoshi-P commented that Forspoken isn't the name of the next expansion.

I disagree with the rest of the assessment, but don't believe his lies.

[Remus]

I agree with your very good and detailed post about the Sound, but according to I believe the reddit fan live translation of the last Live Letter Yoshi-P commented that Forspoken isn't the name of the next expansion.

Yeah, I'm not gonna believe that. This could be a prime case of lying to make people not think it's true the same way he said wasn't involved with FF16.

I mean why would he admit it?

[RyuDragnier]

It will need to be dealt with at some point, but I can currently only see the Sound as a threat once Hydaelyn and Zodiark are gone. It hasn't been a pressing issue for 12,000 years or even been apparent in any regard, so there's no reason for it to arise as a problem right at this juncture. It also has nothing to do with all the Garlemald stuff going on right now.

The Sound is going to be dealt with during this upcoming expansion. Why? Because it has already been stated by the final line of the final cutscene of 5.3 that, and I quote, "Into its domain shall the hero set forth, for the final chapter in the tale of this star." Meaning in terms of the world's fate, this is the finale, we will likely see no more "end of the world" scenarios after this. It's now or never for dealing with the Sound.

[Kesey]

The Sound is going to be dealt with during this upcoming expansion. Why? Because it has already been stated by the final line of the final cutscene of 5.3 that, and I quote, "Into its domain shall the hero set forth, for the final chapter in the tale of this star." Meaning in terms of the world's fate, this is the finale, we will likely see no more "end of the world" scenarios after this. It's now or never for dealing with the Sound.

"End of the world scenarios" are relative. Of course its the last one, until it is averted and then the next one comes along. There is no reason to think that the stakes won't ever reach that level in the story again.

[RyuDragnier]

"End of the world scenarios" are relative. Of course its the last one, until it is averted and then the next one comes along. There is no reason to think that the stakes won't ever reach that level in the story again.

"We've certainly come closer to the finale of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story arc with Shadowbringers, with the key themes of that being Ascians, Hydaelyn, and Zodiark," Yoshida elaborates. We won't have anything more with Ascians, Hydaelyn, or Zodiark after 6.x. Considering that The Sound is a major part of their Arc (as it's what caused them to be summoned), it's going to be dealt with. We won't be getting anything on that level again, meaning nothing that could potentially end the world. Now, the end of a few races, civilizations, etc? That's certainly possible.

[Veloran]

The Sound is going to be dealt with during this upcoming expansion. Why? Because it has already been stated by the final line of the final cutscene of 5.3 that, and I quote, "Into its domain shall the hero set forth, for the final chapter in the tale of this star." Meaning in terms of the world's fate, this is the finale, we will likely see no more "end of the world" scenarios after this. It's now or never for dealing with the Sound.

"Final chapter in the tale of this star" refers to Hydaelyn and Zodiark, as they take the position of the will of the star. I've also heard that's a not quite right translation from the original Japanese. Regardless it's definitely not the case that there's no more "end of the world" scenarios after 6.0.

"We've certainly come closer to the finale of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story arc with Shadowbringers, with the key themes of that being Ascians, Hydaelyn, and Zodiark," Yoshida elaborates. We won't have anything more with Ascians, Hydaelyn, or Zodiark after 6.x. Considering that The Sound is a major part of their Arc (as it's what caused them to be summoned), it's going to be dealt with. We won't be getting anything on that level again, meaning nothing that could potentially end the world. Now, the end of a few races, civilizations, etc? That's certainly possible.

You'll note that he says they're nearing the end of the Hydaelyn/Zodiark and that the Ascians mentioned as a theme in that arc. That doesn't imply the arc of the Ascians, or more specifically the Ancients and the ancient world, is also being ended.

I'll also say that the Sound is in fact not a major part of the arc of Hydaelyn and Zodiark. It's barely been mentioned yet and the Scions haven't even talked about it. Narratively it works better as a future threat, as it provides an impetus to visit other lands or even other shards in order to try to figure out a solution to it.

[Iscah]

Yeah, I'm not gonna believe that. This could be a prime case of lying to make people not think it's true the same way he said wasn't involved with FF16.

I mean why would he admit it?

Didn't he deny having a specific role in FFXVI, rather than outright say he wasn't working on it? And then it turned out he was working on it, but in a different role than he'd been asked about.

By that logic, a straight "no, that's not the name of the expansion" can probably be trusted, unless they're planning on a technicality that it would be FFXIV: Forspoken. But more likely it's incorrect, in which case there is some degree of benefit to stopping the speculation.

[Kesey]

"We've certainly come closer to the finale of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story arc with Shadowbringers, with the key themes of that being Ascians, Hydaelyn, and Zodiark," Yoshida elaborates. We won't have anything more with Ascians, Hydaelyn, or Zodiark after 6.x. Considering that The Sound is a major part of their Arc (as it's what caused them to be summoned), it's going to be dealt with. We won't be getting anything on that level again, meaning nothing that could potentially end the world. Now, the end of a few races, civilizations, etc? That's certainly possible.

Again, this still doesn't mean another story down the line will not have stakes like "ending the world". It will just not involve Hydaelyn and Zodiark.

[Kesey]

What are the odds the "The Resolute Man" is Louisoix?