Revelations from Patch 5.4

[KageTokage]

Honestly, Gabranth's near-complete lack of presence in the Bozja storyline so far has made me less interested in him. It does make me think they intend to stretch his role in the story past 5.55 because having him be dealt with there after virtually no build-up would be a bit...underwhelming. We've seen literally nothing of him aside from vague scheming about intending to use the Tartarus tech and primals to further his goals so far.

On a somewhat related note, I'm really hoping that circumstances in the Werlyt storyline evolve to make Valens the pilot of the Diamond Weapon because I don't think I'd feel terribly satisfied with him meeting any other kind of end. We've seen enough doom and gloom from this expansion already, so I'm praying at least one of the orphans makes it out of the mess alive.

[MoofiaBossVal]

Honestly, Gabranth's near-complete lack of presence in the Bozja storyline so far has made me less interested in him. It does make me think they intend to stretch his role in the story past 5.55 because having him be dealt with there after virtually no build-up would be a bit...underwhelming. We've seen literally nothing of him aside from vague scheming about intending to use the Tartarus tech and primals to further his goals so far.

If Gabranth isn't dealt with in 5.5, Endwalker might feel weird, where the Garlean Empire has been defeated and is rebuilding and the world has been saved from the apocalypse... and then you have Gabranth in the corner still fighting over Dalmasca.

I'm really hoping that circumstances in the Werlyt storyline evolve to make Valens the pilot of the Diamond Weapon because I don't think I'd feel terribly satisfied with him meeting any other kind of end. We've seen enough doom and gloom from this expansion already, so I'm praying at least one of the orphans makes it out of the mess alive.

I was thinking that the scientist's conscience was going to get him to sabotage the Oversoul mechanism, so when Valens orders the Diamond Weapon to Oversoul Alfonse... it doesn't work. So Alfonse would be saved. He'd turn Diamond Weapon around on Valens, who would reveal that he had a secret weapon that he hops into and begins piloting, and we'd fight Valens together with Alfonse (while in the G-warrior). Then Diamond Weapon and G-Warrior get damaged, so you have to finish the fight against Valens in the 8-man trial.

But then the 5.5 live letter straight up said we'd be fighting Diamond, so... IDK. So I guess Alfonse oversouls and we blow up Diamond Weapon in the trial while Gaius sneaks around the back in and kills Valens in a cutscene.

[WhiteArchmage]

If Gabranth isn't dealt with in 5.5, Endwalker might feel weird, where the Garlean Empire has been defeated and is rebuilding and the world has been saved from the apocalypse... and then you have Gabranth in the corner still fighting over Dalmasca.

On that point, Gabranth already seceded from the Empire, so it wouldn't be that weird that he's left as some dangling plot thread in 5.5 to be revisited in 6.1 side-content. That's already what he did in 4.5 in the stinger for Ivalice. If anything, Legati scrambling to declare themselves sovereigns of their assigned territories was part of my original guess for 6.0.

[RyuDragnier]

If Gabranth isn't dealt with in 5.5, Endwalker might feel weird, where the Garlean Empire has been defeated and is rebuilding and the world has been saved from the apocalypse... and then you have Gabranth in the corner still fighting over Dalmasca.

He may not still be fighting Dalmasca at that point. It could possibly end with him forcing a parley through superior firepower, where he takes control of Dalmasca Inferior only (meaning Lea Monde, Golmore Jungle, Greylic's Bend, and the port city Valnain) while letting them have back Dalmasca Superior (Rabanastre), Bozja, and Nagxia through a treaty/agreement.

[JeanneOrnitier]

If Gabranth isn't dealt with in 5.5, Endwalker might feel weird, where the Garlean Empire has been defeated and is rebuilding and the world has been saved from the apocalypse... and then you have Gabranth in the corner still fighting over Dalmasca.

He and his legion have already broke off from the Empire, so what happens to Garlemald going forward doesn't really factor into them.

I'm kind of 50/50 on if he'll be dealt with in 5.5 or not. I agree with the sentiment that because he hasn't personally had much presence so far so it would be anticlimactic to kill him off in only the same patch where he first meets the player.

[KageTokage]

I was thinking that the scientist's conscience was going to get him to sabotage the Oversoul mechanism, so when Valens orders the Diamond Weapon to Oversoul Alfonse... it doesn't work. So Alfonse would be saved. He'd turn Diamond Weapon around on Valens, who would reveal that he had a secret weapon that he hops into and begins piloting, and we'd fight Valens together with Alfonse (while in the G-warrior). Then Diamond Weapon and G-Warrior get damaged, so you have to finish the fight against Valens in the 8-man trial.

But then the 5.5 live letter straight up said we'd be fighting Diamond, so... IDK. So I guess Alfonse oversouls and we blow up Diamond Weapon in the trial while Gaius sneaks around the back in and kills Valens in a cutscene.

With how confident Alfonse seems to be about their plan succeeding despite Valens' open declaration that he intends to forcibly initiate Oversoul to prevent any treachery, I feel like there has to be someone on the inside who's been working with the orphans to try to ensure things go as planned (Though they obviously won't).

The sadist Valens is, I could see him deciding to personally deal with Gaius if he finds out about the relation the orphans have to him just to make them suffer more (Because they wouldn't really cognizant of the deed once Oversoul kicks in) and also just being even more flustered that he indirectly had been throwing a wrench in his schemes all this time.

The trial taking place at the cloud deck of what's presumably a Garlean aircraft also makes me wonder if perhaps we'll be thinning out their forces using the G-Warrior before we engage the Diamond Weapon in person.

[Cilia]

Yeah, Dalmasca being spared the apocalypse so Gabranth can continue to have a presence there wouldn't sit well with me. What I believe likely to happen is that Bozja will win its freedom but Gabranth will solidify his grasp on Dalmasca, and liberating Dalmasca will be a side story of some sort in 6.x. (Trials? Relics again? Idk.)

On a somewhat related note, I'm really hoping that circumstances in the Werlyt storyline evolve to make Valens the pilot of the Diamond Weapon because I don't think I'd feel terribly satisfied with him meeting any other kind of end. We've seen enough doom and gloom from this expansion already, so I'm praying at least one of the orphans makes it out of the mess alive.

The most likely course this is going to take (that I can see) is that Gaius will assault Valens' seat of power at the same time we engage the Diamond Weapon and kill him before he can force Alfonse to use Oversoul. Either that or he'll be just a few seconds too late and kill Valens in revenge. Either way, Valens is gonna get killed by Gaius and Allie will survive, so... yay?

(Please let us pilot G-Warrior for another mecha battle.)