Power Reset? [Spoilery]

[Mirhd]

Just gonna comment on one point regarding Hydaelyn.

As a reminder, she never gave us special powers or w/e, just her ward against aetheric corruption (tempering), which the game flat out mentions is all the Blessing of Light ever was. She also shielded us once which was during the encounter with Gaius and Lahabanana... and that's it. Everything else was us, including the Echo, which is just an inborn gift the ancients had to begin with, so nothing is going to "fade" since there was nothing there to begin with. If we never encounter another primal again, her ward is effectively useless, and even if that fades, we now have protection in the form of those talismans Nidhana and co. created anyway. Hydaelyns' entire gambit lay in whether or not people could stand on their own without some external force/power watching over them. She never gave her "blessed" anything beyond what they already had, her ward and the ability to occasionally communicate with her.

[ApolloGenX]

Just gonna comment on one point regarding Hydaelyn.

As a reminder, she never gave us special powers or w/e, just her ward against aetheric corruption (tempering), which the game flat out mentions is all the Blessing of Light ever was. She also shielded us once which was during the encounter with Gaius and Lahabanana... and that's it. Everything else was us, including the Echo, which is just an inborn gift the ancients had to begin with, so nothing is going to "fade" since there was nothing there to begin with. If we never encounter another primal again, her ward is effectively useless, and even if that fades, we now have protection in the form of those talismans Nidhana and co. created anyway. Hydaelyns' entire gambit lay in whether or not people could stand on their own without some external force/power watching over them. She never gave her "blessed" anything beyond what they already had, her ward and the ability to occasionally communicate with her.

I actually giggled a little when she mentioned it was just a traveler's ward... it had been so hyped.. and then she was like, oh it's just magic bug spray, no biggie.

[Mirhd]

I actually giggled a little when she mentioned it was just a traveler's ward... it had been so hyped.. and then she was like, oh it's just magic bug spray, no biggie.

XD. There's an imagine. :P Still, it was more ignorance on our part since we knew so little about it in general. Considering the ancients were effectively walking gods and seeing how difficult (and how long it took! the Allagans couldn't figure it out either) it was for people to discover a means to cure the tempered, there's probably a bit more to it than that, but yeah... To someone like Venat... "lel just a ward bro."

I think there's plenty of possibilities out there for something to challenge us. Also, we didn't beat all those enemies on our own. Canonically we call upon the strength of others. Since we have Azem's crystal still, I'm sure that trend will continue no matter if we go to other stars or Shards.

Pre-Azem crystal, not all of them, no, but plenty of fights in the game make zero sense to conveniently have an entire group of adventurers no one ever notices somehow there with you (despite the shoehorned claim the journal sometimes makes) and immediately gone the next micro second. It's more a case of story and gameplay segregation, and the Ifrit fight is a good example. That was a situation you couldn't have planned for, and I seriously doubt there were a bunch of blessed that had also been kidnapped by the Amaljaa. While people with the blessing aren't extremely rare, they aren't the norm, and everyone always seems surprised to encounter another one.

[TaleraRistain]

Pre-Azem crystal, not all of them, no, but plenty of fights in the game make zero sense to conveniently have an entire group of adventurers no one ever notices somehow there with you (despite the shoehorned claim the journal sometimes makes) and immediately gone the next micro second.

Haha, yes, what was that time they got meta about that? Stormblood was it, where they were like "Hey if any of your friends are fishing nearby" *winkwink*

But canonically we don't fight alone, cheesy as the game explanation may be.

[mathias-merodach]

If anything, they could start to play up that we are only a singular individual. Despite being as powerful as we are and all the friends, technology, and resources that we have access to, we can only ever be in one spot; only responding to one threat at a time and hoping others can hold on long enough until we're able to get there. This is something I think could have been taken more advantage of in EW, and might still be in post patch content, but it is a possibility. One that could even bring up a weaker foe but who executes gambits and strategies that make up for it.

[Mirhd]

Haha, yes, what was that time they got meta about that? Stormblood was it, where they were like "Hey if any of your friends are fishing nearby" *winkwink*

But canonically we don't fight alone, cheesy as the game explanation may be.

(Prefacing this to make it clear I have no issue with you, just that this is a point of annoyance for me with the game)

I'm sorry, but this still rings incredibly hollow for quite a few fights in the game, and Innocence is a particularly glaring example. For nearly every major fight in ShB your fellow Scions are with you (also Lyna and Graha in Holminster), and this makes narrative sense. They even climb Mount Gulg with you, but when you reach the top, they very clearly tell you to go on while they hold off Vauthrys' minions. Do people really suggest you just happened to have a bunch of people following in your (and your fellow Scions) wake, that only then, at the very end, actually do anything? Ludicrous. It can't even be explained away with the NPCs from the role quests, because they're never featured or even implied to be there at any point... nevermind the whole "corrupting light" thing.

I feel like the Trust system was introduced (and later, the Azem crystal), at least in part, to deal with the silly "you totally had a cadre of able fighters with you, lololol" nonsense, because many instances in the game absolutely could not have worked otherwise prior to that. The fights with the Triad in HW? Sure, that works, since you weren't on a time crunch and could (at least somewhat conceivably) scrape together a party to deal with them. Ravana? Yeah, no, it was just you and Ysyale, and she gets taken out by Ravana at the start.

[Iscah]

...

I agree. The "are they or aren't they there" business with players in trials is more confusing to claim they're there than to say the canon version is a solo fight as it logically should have been.

Even Azem's crystal doesn't explain it when we only received it in 5.3.