Revelations from Patch 5.4

[Wyssahtyn]

On Bozja 5.45:

I see Garlemald has pulled yet more resources out of its rear and somehow managed to create an airship that appears to be even larger than the Agrius-class vessels (ofc it's a XII design too). Weren't those things supposed to be such a drain on resources that it was this huge surprise to see that the Gration was made?

[Hank_Hotspur]

Well seeing how the Ex-Garlean IVth Imperial Legion is filled with references to FF12 it makes sense they have a huge airship. I was almost expecting it to turn out to be the Sky Fortress Bahamut when it peaked out of the clouds.

[KageTokage]

On the subject of Bozja 5.4...

The story this time around was...unremarkable to me at best.

I'm still not understanding why Mikoto's foresight even needed to exist as it thus far hasn't actually contributed to much of anything (Both finding Cid and where Misja was going could've been realistically determined through normal means), and it's pretty damned obvious at this point that she's going to be fine in spite of the last vision she had. The whole reason they tend to include such abilities in fiction is specifically so you can change the future, so the concept of an absolute future just seems silly.

I'm not really sure what they're going for with Misja, either, because she's just come across as a less sympathetic version of Fordola.

Lastly, the notion of IVth legion somehow pulling a battleship of such scale out of nowhere feels a touch silly when they specifically mentioned that they had been lacking resources after defecting from the Empire (On top of the fact that even the united Garlemald had only limited access to them), so I'm curious as to what kind of justification they're going to try to make for that...

[MikkoAkure]

Well seeing how the Ex-Garlean IVth Imperial Legion is filled with references to FF12 it makes sense they have a huge airship. I was almost expecting it to turn out to be the Sky Fortress Bahamut when it peaked out of the clouds.

That airship is:

The Ifrit. It had a prominent role in FFXII and I screamed out loud when I saw it.

[Cilia]

Save the Queen, Part the Third

Meh.

So the Queen Gunnhildr primal is a primal... and it isn't...? Also, Save the Queen is really a chunk of auracite. (Nobody knows who crafted it, and nobody ever will.)

Misija used the Resonance machine to copy Mikoto's nonsensical Echo futuresight? *G-GASP!*

... who didn't see that coming.

Well, Save the Queen is not presently an issue and Misija is in the Bozjan Resistance's custody. And then Gabranth's critically strapped for resources rogue IVth Legion pulls an Agrius sized battleship out of nowhere, replete with dozens of escorts! (Naturally, it's a XII model.)

Delubrum Reginae is... not my idea of fun. Every boss has several instant kills, you lose mettle for dying, and instead of Vuln Up debuffs you get a debuff that at 2 stacks turns into a 2 second Doom. There's a 78k Mettle minimum to go in so if you die too much you get to go back to the Southern Front for more "fun," and naturally all the cool new toys like the golden Gabriel mount and new hairstyle are locked in there.

Aaaaaaand you have to do Delubrum Reginae to even start the new weapon upgrade quest, which needs 15 Memories from Southern Front Critical Engagements / Crystal Tower raid runs, 18 Memories from Shadow of Mhach raids and/or Gyr Abania FATEs, 18 Memories from Return to Ivalice raids and/or Othard FATEs, and 15 Timeworn Artifacts from Delubrum Reginae and/or Palace of the Dead clears. No data on FATE droprates, but Critical Engagements are not guaranteed drops; and of course, no cheating the raids with undersized parties.

My only response is...

*GROAN*

At least the new gunblade looks pretty cool.

P.S. Since it's very doubtful the IVth Legion saga (for want of a better term) is going to be wrapped up in 5.55, and he's more than likely still on board to see it to its conclusion, is it really fair to still call Matsuno a "guest" writer?

[Hank_Hotspur]

That airship is:

The Ifrit. It had a prominent role in FFXII and I screamed out loud when I saw it.

I hope we get Balthier and Fran's hoverbike as a mount at some point.

[Iscah]

Delubrum Reginae is... not my idea of fun. Every boss has several instant kills, you lose mettle for dying, and instead of Vuln Up debuffs you get a debuff that at 2 stacks turns into a 2 second Doom. There's a 78k Mettle minimum to go in so if you die too much you get to go back to the Southern Front for more "fun," and naturally all the cool new toys like the golden Gabriel mount and new hairstyle are locked in there.

Aaaaaaand you have to do Delubrum Reginae to even start the new weapon upgrade quest, which needs 15 Memories from Southern Front Critical Engagements / Crystal Tower raid runs, 18 Memories from Shadow of Mhach raids and/or Gyr Abania FATEs, 18 Memories from Return to Ivalice raids and/or Othard FATEs, and 15 Timeworn Artifacts from Delubrum Reginae and/or Palace of the Dead clears. No data on FATE droprates, but Critical Engagements are not guaranteed drops; and of course, no cheating the raids with undersized parties.

The whole thing just sounds horrendously demotivating, and - I haven't done the new patch stuff yet, but it's not a story that's left me fretting for the characters in the meanwhile or anything. I'll still try it out and see how bad it is, and hopefully get some glamour from it, but... ugh.

It all just seems designed to put players through grinding hell.

[Cilia]

The whole thing just sounds horrendously demotivating, and - I haven't done the new patch stuff yet, but it's not a story that's left me fretting for the characters in the meanwhile or anything. I'll still try it out and see how bad it is, and hopefully get some glamour from it, but... ugh.

It all just seems designed to put players through grinding hell.

If you're looking for character development or something, let me just tell you now - there isn't any.

As I mentioned, Misija is defeated (after incarnate summoning herself as Queen Gunnhildr, of course) but based on an interview provided as a second dossier on her is utterly unrepentant. All of the tempered Blades have been mutated and end up being killed. The most surprising thing to happen is Rostik (the Hrothgar who taught Thancred how to use a gunblade, who shows up briefly in the GNB 80 quest) joining the fray before the descent into Delubrum Reginae. Everything else - except for the IVth pulling an Agrius-sized airship seemingly out of nowhere - is very predictable. (Even that bit's not a big surprise after Lyon loudly and obviously tries to get the PC and Mikoto to go after Misija as a distraction until their reinforcements arrive.)

Personally, I didn't get anything out of Delubrum Reginae except for Silver Bozjan coins, 100 of which you need to trade for 1 Gold Bozjan coin, and after collecting enough of those you can trade them to a vendor for armor with an Archadian Judge Magister aesthetic. The Gabriel Mk. III mount (gold instead of silver) and new hairstyle are rare random drops from the last chest, but other than that I have no idea what drops in there. (No, wait, I did get a tabletop furnishing. Yay.) Gold coins are very likely easier to get on Savage, but... I don't care for the armor, and like hells I'm doing that.

Luckily you do get a weekly quest that provides 12,000 Mettle and a few Gold coins after clearing Delubrum Reginae, so that should help offset frustration with the instance a bit.

Without data on the FATE droprates I can't say how grindy it is, but suffice to say I'm going to pace myself with this one. Players said the last step was too quick and easy, so they overcorrected this one methinks.

[MrThinker]

Without data on the FATE droprates I can't say how grindy it is, but suffice to say I'm going to pace myself with this one. Players said the last step was too quick and easy, so they overcorrected this one methinks.

So basically its the players fault.

[JeanneOrnitier]

Just the initial Bozja quest, nothing else so far:

If Save the Queen is indeed formed from the Lucavi-type auracite, and we know it was created before or during Allag's rule due to Gunnhildr saving Bozja from the 4th Calamity, that means Ultima first had to have arrived before or during Allag. And that once again creates a potential link between Ultima the High Seraph and the Heart of Sabik (via the Ultima spell), as Cid speculated back during the Ivalice questline.

Also new city from Bwagi's profile: Abdella in Landis.

I hope we get Balthier and Fran's hoverbike as a mount at some point.

Oh my god yes please.

EDIT: Finishing this patch's Bozja

Delubrum being queueable instead of a spawn timer like Castrum is SO nice. Easier too. Does someone know if there's even a reason to care about losing mettle on bosses? Does mettle even get anything once you finish Southern Front?

With Gunnhildr seemingly taken care of since the memory crystal used to call her is broken in half, I'm really interested in what Gabranth will do now. She was kind of the key of his whole plan.

HOLY SHIT IT'S THE IFRIT! God can you imagine if we see the Bahamut?! That probably is incredibly unlikely but oh my god I jumped a little when the Ifrit appeared.

Mikoto's profile mentions a disgraced sister named Kagura. Has she ever shown up before? She doesn't sound familiar.