When are we supposed to stop fighting?

[Jandor]

It wasn't so much that Zodiark was content to sit in primal sleep mode as it was he had no choice in the matter. Sundered and bound as he was, there was simply no way he could act. The separation of Elidibus did to some extent deprive him of his own will, but he did retain his instincts -- and those instincts told him to be free. He was also still beholden to the urgings of the Ancient souls within, whose motivations remained, above all else, the preservation and restoration of Etheirys and her people.

I assume He wouldn't have done a great deal even were He were not bound. He didn't do a great deal to stop Fandaniel diving in and taking over, and that was after the seals were broken, and Fandaniel is at least as sundered as Zodiark.

The whole thing came across very much like Zodiark drops into stand-by mode and waits when He is without a 'heart'.

As for aether; Zodiark contained the souls and combined aether of innumerable Ancients. It seems rather likely he might not even have been capable of running out in the first place. Hydaelyn was created using a much smaller number of sacrifices, and we've seen several times over the course of the game the decline in her abilities as her aether reserves dwindled. It was this depleted state that ultimately forced her to claim Minfilia, just as it forced her to utilize Krile a handful of times. We learn during the battle with her that she kept back just enough aether to be able to fight us with her full power exactly one time. It's not always immediately evident, but there are times (again, Minfilia and her trip to the First being the prime example) where Hydaelyn did take steps to acquire more aether.

I think we've basically arrived at the same destination, just approached from different angles. Either way, the end result is we think it's unlikely that Zodiark was lying about the releasing Ancient souls as a cover to get more aether.

-----

Alright. Then can I PLEASE WIPE OUT THE BEASTMEN!? They are constantly summoning primals which are a threat to our existence. Let's pull a Venat and do some genocide!

They were constantly summoning primals. That should stop now we've made peace with them and got rid of the people that kept teaching them how to do it.

[sidurgu-12]

I assume He wouldn't have done a great deal even were He were not bound. He didn't do a great deal to stop Fandaniel diving in and taking over, and that was after the seals were broken, and Fandaniel is at least as sundered as Zodiark.

The whole thing came across very much like Zodiark drops into stand-by mode and waits when He is without a 'heart'.



I think we've basically arrived at the same destination, just approached from different angles. Either way, the end result is we think it's unlikely that Zodiark was lying about the releasing Ancient souls as a cover to get more aether.

-----



They were constantly summoning primals. That should stop now we've made peace with them and got rid of the people that kept teaching them how to do it.

i think theyll continue summoning primals but with the twist that theres no more aether drain and tempering. i would love to see ifrit titan and ramuh parlaying with the cities lol.

[Necrotica]

i think theyll continue summoning primals but with the twist that theres no more aether drain and tempering. i would love to see ifrit titan and ramuh parlaying with the cities lol.

The tempering is stopped. By those few tribes that were taught the new method. Aether draining is still needed to power them. And I have to imagine the Acian method was been written down in a few books by now considering how many people were told.

So they have to choose. Tell everyone the SAFER method of summoning and risk a ton more summonings, or keep it all secret still, but risk people finding the worse way of summoning.

[Selvokaz]

The tempering is stopped. By those few tribes that were taught the new method. Aether draining is still needed to power them. And I have to imagine the Acian method was been written down in a few books by now considering how many people were told.

So they have to choose. Tell everyone the SAFER method of summoning and risk a ton more summonings, or keep it all secret still, but risk people finding the worse way of summoning.

Actually Susanoo was summoned with the need of Aether, so aether drain doesn't need to occur if sufficient fervent prayer is used.

[DPZ2]

Actually Susanoo was summoned with the need of Aether, so aether drain doesn't need to occur if sufficient fervent prayer is used.

It's almost as if someone is imbuing objects with Aether via fervent "prayer" and storing them away ...

[sidurgu-12]

The tempering is stopped. By those few tribes that were taught the new method. Aether draining is still needed to power them. And I have to imagine the Acian method was been written down in a few books by now considering how many people were told.

So they have to choose. Tell everyone the SAFER method of summoning and risk a ton more summonings, or keep it all secret still, but risk people finding the worse way of summoning.

iirc livingway said both tempering and aether draining was added to the process in order to cause more damage so while aether is needed for th initial summoning they dont need to drain ambient aether.

[Absimiliard]

The only primal that doesn't appear to require an external source of aether is Zodiark. Even Hydaelyn needed aether from an outside source to maintain her strength. It is briefly noted that her presence does in fact consume ambient aether, but she seems to willfully limit her impact on the world to her own detriment.

[Jandor]

I'd guess that new primals would still need to consume aether occasionally, even we need to do it occasionally, we call it eating.

The question does remain whether we can summon the new and improved primals at all though, technically the Lopporits created the ones used in the Ragnarok.
Flawed summoning might have been taught on purpose in order to create chaos, but that doesn't rule out the possibility that flawed summoning might also be the best the sundered can do.

[_Koneko_]

The only primal that doesn't appear to require an external source of aether is Zodiark. Even Hydaelyn needed aether from an outside source to maintain her strength. It is briefly noted that her presence does in fact consume ambient aether, but she seems to willfully limit her impact on the world to her own detriment.

actually your mistaken there if you look down during the zodiark trial you will see the father crystal :P so even that is kinda mirrored though i didn't really get the impression that the Hydalyne or Zodiark actually use their giga crystals Hydalyne by her own words was saving it up for the journey and was pretty much on her death bed and life support by the time we met her even if she consumed ambient aether its no where near enough to keep her alive shes been losing power to the point where she can't even skype call anymore by stormblood

[Necrotica]

To paraphrase TFS DBZA.

"Aether levels are bullshit."