6.0 Story Speculations

[YianKutku]

I’m going to say “called it!”

We’ve met some scummy people in this game. If a new guy rolls up and all but yells “I, too, am scum!” I will believe him until I get a good enough reason not to.

An issue I have is the game is very blatantly not letting us believe what people are saying. Fandaniel literally says "don't bother trying to talk me out of destroying the world, I will not explain nor listen", and then in 5.5 Estinien asks us if we're going to talk to Fandaniel anyway and all three responses are variations of "yes".

[Tensaihime]

An issue I have is the game is very blatantly not letting us believe what people are saying. Fandaniel literally says "don't bother trying to talk me out of destroying the world, I will not explain nor listen", and then in 5.5 Estinien asks us if we're going to talk to Fandaniel anyway and all three responses are variations of "yes".

I was so mad about that. The WoL should know by now that there are those you just can’t sit down for tea and nicely ask to change their ways -especially the ones who come right out and tell you they’re not thirsty. (Heck, I already did a whole job quest about accepting this! I ugly laughed when [redacted] started trying to lecture me!)

[BlitzAceRush]

I was so mad about that. The WoL should know by now that there are those you just can’t sit down for tea and nicely ask to change their ways -especially the ones who come right out and tell you they’re not thirsty. (Heck, I already did a whole job quest about accepting this! I ugly laughed when [redacted] started trying to lecture me!)

While you're right, as Estinien rightfully put it "Not everyone can be reasoned with" we won't know if Danny is one of those until we try, if every protagonist listened to every antagonist that said some variation of "don't try and stop me!" without even trying, many stories would have ended before they began.
You never really know till you try, after all, Danny may have said he won't listen, but that doesn't mean much, Emet acted amicable, yet in the end refused to listen and we only managed to come to an understanding after our fight to the death, Elidibus was supposed to be a negosiator, yet he took an even more rigid stance than Emet, once again only able to come to any kind of consensus after the death battle and having his memory restored. By that logic, the twist would be if Danny ends up being our most receptive foe, but even if he isn't, we won't know unless we at least try, telling the WoL "No!" has never really been an effective means of stopping us.

[Tensaihime]

While you're right, as Estinien rightfully put it "Not everyone can be reasoned with" we won't know if Danny is one of those until we try, if every protagonist listened to every antagonist that said some variation of "don't try and stop me!" without even trying, many stories would have ended before they began.
You never really know till you try, after all, Danny may have said he won't listen, but that doesn't mean much, Emet acted amicable, yet in the end refused to listen and we only managed to come to an understanding after our fight to the death, Elidibus was supposed to be a negosiator, yet he took an even more rigid stance than Emet, once again only able to come to any kind of consensus after the death battle and having his memory restored. By that logic, the twist would be if Danny ends up being our most receptive foe, but even if he isn't, we won't know unless we at least try, telling the WoL "No!" has never really been an effective means of stopping us.

I never trusted or expected to reach an understanding with two members of the group whose goal is to cause calamities and kill everybody, especially not with Emet saying things like “it’s not murder if I kill you” and “my goals are unchanged.” Every third quest, I was waiting for them to drop the act and attack me, so when shenanigans happened it was in no way shocking.

Fanboy has already put up his towers around the world, trapped people in them, summoned primals, caused lots of death and has the machinery in place to cause a lot more, and isn’t even pretending to want dialogue like the last two Ascians. Plus his partner/patron is the guy who wants to destroy the world to get a big pointless backdrop for his big pointless fight. He isn’t acting like he wants to be talked to, he’s acting like he wants his head caved in posthaste.

[Enkidoh]

I never trusted or expected to reach an understanding with two members of the group whose goal is to cause calamities and kill everybody, especially not with Emet saying things like “it’s not murder if I kill you” and “my goals are unchanged.” Every third quest, I was waiting for them to drop the act and attack me, so when shenanigans happened it was in no way shocking.

Fanboy has already put up his towers around the world, trapped people in them, summoned primals, caused lots of death and has the machinery in place to cause a lot more, and isn’t even pretending to want dialogue like the last two Ascians. Plus his partner/patron is the guy who wants to destroy the world to get a big pointless backdrop for his big pointless fight. He isn’t acting like he wants to be talked to, he’s acting like he wants his head caved in posthaste.

Not to mention that of all the bodies to possess as his host Fandanglelangadingaling chose someone that was already heavily despised by players anyway - it's like he wants us to hate him, even despite his nihilistic jabbering. And yes, it's clear he's long past the point of any possibility of reasoning with him.

Well, at least we will finally get to rub that damn arrogant smirk off from Asahi's face ourselves, even though he isn't actually Asahi anymore of course.

[Tensaihime]

Not to mention that of all the bodies to possess as his host Fandanglelangadingaling chose someone that was already heavily despised by players anyway - it's like he wants us to hate him, even despite his nihilistic jabbering. And yes, it's clear he's long past the point of any possibility of reasoning with him.

Well, at least we will finally get to rub that damn arrogant smirk off from Asahi's face ourselves, even though he isn't actually Asahi anymore of course.

Tell me about it! Any other body and I’d be more interested in learning about the guy, but as it is all I want to do is knock out his teeth. The only way I could loathe his choice of host more would be if he bodyjacked Ilberd, or stitched the halves of... screw it, my notes have him as “Television” back together. Then again, Raubahn and/or the WoL would have turned him into a fine red mist if he did that and he’d have to go possess somebody else anyway.

Why don’t Ascians ever take Au Ra hosts? That would be rather imposing, I think. Or if one of them possessed Lolorito -I’d be crying laughing for days.

[Iscah]

I can't remember the exact conversation we had about it, but are we maybe going to try to talk to him to find out his true reasoning, not just the hammy "I just want to destroy everything" claim?

Well, at least we will finally get to rub that damn arrogant smirk off from Asahi's face ourselves, even though he isn't actually Asahi anymore of course.

On a side note I am still disappointed that they used "Asahi's face" for Moren. It's clearly that face and it's distracting because Moren isn't anything like Asahi but I keep thinking of him regardless.

[Rannie]

Not to mention that of all the bodies to possess as his host Fandanglelangadingaling chose someone that was already heavily despised by players anyway - it's like he wants us to hate him, even despite his nihilistic jabbering. And yes, it's clear he's long past the point of any possibility of reasoning with him.

Well, at least we will finally get to rub that damn arrogant smirk off from Asahi's face ourselves, even though he isn't actually Asahi anymore of course.

If only we could have punched the real Asahi...

[Vyrerus]

If only we could have punched the real Asahi...

We were about to, but then Yotsuyu was all, "SHANK!"

[YianKutku]

I do have a speculation about the beginning of 6.0: we'll be heading to Old Sharlayan first, and then due to their intransigence or perhaps some emergency, we'll go to Radz-at-Han. I think the "emergency" possibility is less likely, because in the Endwalker trailer, Urianger and Thancred are apprehensive about a coming disaster, but one which has not yet happened.

As for why we will go to Old Sharlayan first, there's a picture from the recent Fanfest (and probably before that, but the screenshot I have is from Fanfest):

(Spoilered for size.)

That's a Sharlayan-style aetheryte, in a location labelled as Thavnair.

The first thought I had was that this may be a Sharlayan enclave in Thavnair, perhaps in Radz-at-Han proper, or perhaps some short distance, and thus we have to go through a zone story to get to Radz-at-Han, the way we go through Kholusia on the way to Eulmore.

So if this is indeed a Sharlayan enclave, we might be going to Old Sharlayan first, get stonewalled by the Forum, and then some sympathizers contact us and recommend we go to Radz-at-Han for some reason. And this Sharlayan enclave in Thavnair is our initial support base there, allowing us access into Radz-at-Han with some diplomatic weight, instead of just being travellers and tourists.

Admittedly, I could be wrong. The biggest point against this speculation is that the buildings shown in that screenshot are very much Thavnairan in style, rather than Sharlayan. And we know Sharlayans like to basically copy-and-paste their architectural style anywhere they make a presence, like in the Dravanian Hinterlands and Idyllshire.