6.0 Mystery Zone Speculation

[DamianFatale]

Under the ff4 theme, I’d wager the Underworld. Everyone's expecting Zodiark, and I wager we do resolve that thread on the moon... but my wager for the last area is inside the planet itself, deep underground. With Hydaelyn.

I don't think we'll "defeat" either Zodiark or Hydaelyn. I could see us teaming up with them or disabling them to deal with the greater threat they were meant to keep in check.

What happens to our protection from the primals without them though. Doesn't it fade away if she dies due to Hyydaelyns blessing?

Or since we are you know... Azem.. they might go with that excuse to keep our echo. What about the scions though?

[Enkidoh]

What happens to our protection from the primals without them though. Doesn't it fade away if she dies due to Hyydaelyns blessing?

Or since we are you know... Azem.. they might go with that excuse to keep our echo. What about the scions though?

Protection from Primals is innate though, it's granted via the Echo, not the Blessing of Light which Hydaelyn gave the WoL (the Blessing is that fancy aetheric mandala where the Crystals of Light are 'arranged'). So it should remain intact even if Hydaelyn 'dies' (this was demonstrated late in ARR/much of HW after Midgardsormr sealed the Wol's Blessing, effectively stripping them of it's power - the WoL no longer had access to their 'hotline' to Hydaelyn, but they could still fight Primals without being tempered as normal.).

And this should be the same for anyone awoken to the Echo, it will still remain regardless what happens with Hydaelyn (on that last point I could speculate, but I won't).

[Packetdancer]

What happens to our protection from the primals without them though. Doesn't it fade away if she dies due to Hyydaelyns blessing?

Well, I mean, van_arn only presented 'disable' them as one option (alongside 'teaming up with them').

Were I writing this, I'd be sorely tempted to further upend expectations and have us working to restore Zodiark and perhaps fuse Zodiark and Hydaelyn into a new, more-balanced entity. (After all, we know primal fusion is A Thing thanks to Rastapast- er, I mean Raktapaksa.) That'd do an end-run around the Hydaelyn-vs-Zodiark eternal conflict, and even aside from the Echo (which we'd presumably still have) the newly-fused entity could presumably also still lend us a Blessing... though one assumes it would be a Blessing of Light and Darkness (or a Blessing of Balance) at that point.

After all, we've been the Warrior of Light, and the Warrior of Darkness... maybe it's time to be the Warrior of Balance, and try to keep things from tipping too far in any direction.

Plus, honestly, I feel like there'd be a bit of a poetic balance if the arc that began with us trying to stop the Ascians from restoring their god (who we now know was created to stave off the end of the world) concluded with us trying to restore Zodiark as a step in trying to prevent the end of the world, and an Ascian (Fandaniel) trying to stop us.

But, again, that's me as a writer; I have zero idea what direction the devs will take it.

[van_arn]

Well, I mean, van_arn only presented 'disable' them as one option (alongside 'teaming up with them').

Were I writing this, I'd be sorely tempted to further upend expectations and have us working to restore Zodiark and perhaps fuse Zodiark and Hydaelyn into a new, more-balanced entity. (After all, we know primal fusion is A Thing thanks to Rastapast- er, I mean Raktapaksa.) That'd do an end-run around the Hydaelyn-vs-Zodiark eternal conflict, and even aside from the Echo (which we'd presumably still have) the newly-fused entity could presumably also still lend us a Blessing... though one assumes it would be a Blessing of Light and Darkness (or a Blessing of Balance) at that point.

After all, we've been the Warrior of Light, and the Warrior of Darkness... maybe it's time to be the Warrior of Balance, and try to keep things from tipping too far in any direction.

Plus, honestly, I feel like there'd be a bit of a poetic balance if the arc that began with us trying to stop the Ascians from restoring their god (who we now know was created to stave off the end of the world) concluded with us trying to restore Zodiark as a step in trying to prevent the end of the world, and an Ascian (Fandaniel) trying to stop us.

But, again, that's me as a writer; I have zero idea what direction the devs will take it.

The Warrior of Balance [name provisional] would actually be a great setup for future content. And a pretty cool setup for another arc. We'd naturally be anti-void, and presumably have access to the machinery of both light and dark if that's the way the story would go.

Maybe it's a weird way of looking at Hyd/Zodiark, but I see them as more machines fueled by bodies rather than as beings with agency. I have no idea what their actual programming is, aside from "make the bad times stop" for Zodiark and "this way instead" for Hydaelyn, but finding consensus between those two directives could potentially bring about Zoedaelyn.

Then again, "using" Zoedaelyn would likely cost something. Maybe it's best to just blow up/absorb Zoedaelyn and deal with whatever it was created to muzzle.