Revelations from Patch 6.2: Buried Memories

[Gogoglovitch]

Msq thought

Anyone else wonder if our reaper Avatar situation is like how Zero's was? Or is it because Zenos did what he did in order to use her as his Avatar that it is seen as a one sided pact?

There's a dialogue option that addresses this.

If you go in as Reaper, and then tell her at one point that you're nothing like Zenos, she'll say that your pact with your avatar does seem to be more equitable than hers was. So, while we still don't know anything about the voidsent we're bonded to, at least we know we're not exploiting it like Zenos was her.

[dragonflie]

Regarding Abyssos:

Somehow Themis (Elidibus) and Lahabrea will have to loose their memories like Emet in the final raid parts, or they would remember us in the later timeline, no? Maybe if Pandemonium returns home that will cause the memory wipe, but who knows at this point

Abyssos 5char

I can see us maybe meeting Lahabrea again since he died on the Source (and hints are that Claudien is grabbing the trapped crazy Lahabrea crystal.) Though which version he'll end up remains to be seen. As for Elidibus, he died on the First, and Hydaelyn had to actually ferry the souls over from there to the Source (as she did for Minfillia and Emet). So if he does appear, they are gonna need to explain how he did that.

[RyuDragnier]

Abyssos 5char

I can see us maybe meeting Lahabrea again since he died on the Source (and hints are that Claudien is grabbing the trapped crazy Lahabrea crystal.) Though which version he'll end up remains to be seen. As for Elidibus, he died on the First, and Hydaelyn had to actually ferry the souls over from there to the Source (as she did for Minfillia and Emet). So if he does appear, they are gonna need to explain how he did that.

There may be an easy way to do that, that may be hinting to the main threat for Arc 2.

Hydaelyn kept control of the Lifestream to help keep things Sundered, while Zodiark kept control over the planet's aether currents to keep Meteion out. Remember, when Zodiark died, the aether currents changed, allowing Meteion through. Even the FSH questline mentions how the fishing currents themselves started going crazy after that event, with fish ending up in places they had never been at before. So what happens with Hydaelyn dead? The Lifestream is going to be acting up (like how we're seeing Pandaemonium in there now), and it's possible the shards will slowly start getting pulled towards the Source to recombine. Should Elidibus's soul show up, that will be the clearest indicator that things are going to slowly get worse, a LOT worse.

[sidurgu-12]

There may be an easy way to do that, that may be hinting to the main threat for Arc 2.

Hydaelyn kept control of the Lifestream to help keep things Sundered, while Zodiark kept control over the planet's aether currents to keep Meteion out. Remember, when Zodiark died, the aether currents changed, allowing Meteion through. Even the FSH questline mentions how the fishing currents themselves started going crazy after that event, with fish ending up in places they had never been at before. So what happens with Hydaelyn dead? The Lifestream is going to be acting up (like how we're seeing Pandaemonium in there now), and it's possible the shards will slowly start getting pulled towards the Source to recombine. Should Elidibus's soul show up, that will be the clearest indicator that things are going to slowly get worse, a LOT worse.

ten plus charactersssss

but hydaelyn wasn't controling the lifestream. once sundered they just naturally stayed divided.

[Alleo]

MSQ

I enjoyed these quests, yet I still hope that we will only visit the void in the 6.x patches and not in 7.0. The castle was nice the first time but the constant having to run from one end to the other made it a bit annoying at the end.

Zero is a interesting character and I look forward to see more of her. Hopefully her name does not hint that she will turn into Zeromus at the end. I want her to stay our friend and to be alive but I can also see that the twist will be that she somehow gets turned because of overusing her power. I wonder if those crystals will be the big problem that will bring change in 7.0? After all with the Ascians mostly gone, who will teach unknown beast tribes how to summon their gods? What will our trials be in 7.0? Maybe those crystals will turn people towards summoning again.

I dont like Varshans adult body. It looks fine from behind but his face puts me off. It looks somehow way too young. Thankfully he is using the smaller form outside of the void. I hope for him that we are able to save his sister at the end. That poor Dragon...also those poor void creatures. To have to suffer all the time while fearing the higher ones...that cant be a great life. Yet I cant see how we would fix the void in the main story, otherwise that side story in Shadowbringer was for nothing.

Raids

Three awesome fights (last one was a bit boring) and great music. I like the twist that the evil one was the mother. Lahabrea was also nicely done. He is cold and a bit of a asshole, since he just wanted to delete the place including the workers but also not really evil. Still something must have happened because the one we knew behaved quite a bit like his evil side, including useing that forbidden skill to fuse with the other Ascian. Wonder what the last set of trials will bring. Nice to see that our NPC is probably a reborn Eric.

I also gotta say: Young Lahabrea is really ugly...the older version is so much better. Still interesting to see someone truly age. Venat still looked so young, yet here we have someone clearly changing. Is that something that they can choose to do? Or is Lahabrea just reaaaally old?

[RyuDragnier]

ten plus charactersssss

but hydaelyn wasn't controling the lifestream. once sundered they just naturally stayed divided.

Are we 100% sure of that? It's never been fully stated.

[Kranel_San]

I took my time playing through the MSQ and the raid series and now that I have finished them I'll finally write my own thoughts which I warn you all, might be walls of texts to read

MSQ

So Zero was indeed Zenos's avatar. Something I have speculated earlier in another thread based on both having the same scythe model, but I also have expected a full cure and not just a: "You're less a voidsent but still one and not an actual fully-cured person."
In addition, I'm disappointed they have not thought or addressed the possibilities or potential of exposing a voidsent to Light aether earlier in the story from a scion, academic, or an ascian perspective. This feels like some of the devs and story writers never planned this earlier and just came with it for plot convenience. Even the characters (Especially Y'sthola) never pondered on it and were like: "Oh yeah the crystal purged the excess darkness and that's all.... moving on to the next plot!".
I really wish to see the topic returning in the future and being given an in-depth discussion in-game, explaining why or why not it might work on voidsents and other tainted beings (Like sin-eaters) and potentially other uses.

Speaking of sin-eaters, while this isn't specific thought to 6.2 MSQ, I have been wondering for quite a time why voidsents can express themselves while sin-eaters are incapable of any basic speech. Even by the in-game characters sin-eaters and voidsents are considered cousins and not that different from each other which really makes me curious to know why. I realize this might have been mentioned or even explained somewhere in-game but I'm not aware of such so if anyone knows please let me know why.

Voidsents not truly dying isn't something new to me. However, I always had the impression that if they died outside the void then they simply return back home and regenerate anew, but dying in the void is perma-death for them. I wonder if this impression was made because of some in-game dialogue or information or just other games' experiences blending in because of similarities.

The fact that voidsents can consume (and some even enjoy) consuming one another because of hunger isn't surprising to me, but it makes me wonder why sin eaters haven't done the same as they too hunger for living aether so it must also extend to eating other sin eaters. Are they unable of such? Living beings seem capable of passively absorbing sin eaters aether when killing them, although only lightwardens are too much to absorb which turns the host into one. There's definitely room for questions here.

Now enough of sineaters and voidsents and back to 6.2. Is it me or does the void seem to be more brighter and colorful than how it used to be in World of Darkness? Part of me suspects this has something to do with what Golbez described as the upcoming war and redemption. The other part of me is convinced that since Zero has paid no attention to it then it may simply be a change in visuals to not have the void looking bland, but she also had paid no attention to the big statue which is in the center of her domain, or was it always there?
In her dialogue, she questions whether the statue was always there or was placed by someone recently for some reason. Talking to a voidsent near the statue will reveal a belief that some voidsents do believe in a prophesied hero that will one day save the void from its current state, which screams loudly of ShB vibes and the "Warrior of Darkness" legend belief shared by the people of the first. Lightbringer expansion confirmed?

On the topic of saving the void, it seems Golbez is preparing for war, with whom is yet unknown, but given the fact that he controls most of the void and with no other faction big enough in strength and numbers to oppose his rule of the void. It might be safe to assume this war is of a much larger scale than the void. Perhaps an invasion against the source or against one of its shards. It also could be a large-scale war with a new force we're yet unaware of, and who might be the main threat in 7.0. If this is true, then I imagine we're going to defeat Golbez and he says: "Oh you have defeated me, but you can't stop what's to come." before we have a revelation of this new threat, but enough of my imaginations, else I'd be wandering off with more lines of talking and speculating.

I think I have said everything that could be said about the MSQ. Looking forward to seeing what 6.3 will bring.


Raid

It seems many different speculations were correct regarding Lahabrea. Many people have speculated that the upside-down character in the 6.2 artwork is evil Lahabrea which is partially correct. I myself have speculated based on observations that the two are different people, which is not completely false but not correct too (I mean, they don't even have the same face structure and jaw).

Finishing both of Abyssos and Tartaros sections of Pandaemonium in one tier was quite a change of pace, although by going to Tartaros I have started to speculate that something might go wrong there which will force us to go back, or that Pandaemonium will somehow appear in the present day and we're to brave the place once more. The latter speculation grew more on me after we defeated evil Lahabrea because I was basically like: "Something is wrong, there is yet to be a third raid tier so it can't finish here." because with none left to fight at that point then what else other than present day Pandaemonium to be the third raid tier? Imagine my surprise when I didn't even have to wait for my speculation to get confirmed when the place itself showed up at the end of Part 2

But enough of me rambling about myself. I wonder why Present day Pandaemonium and whoever controls it decided to show up and continue the research now of all time? Some say Athena has found a way back from being dead, and that might be true because who else has knowledge of Pandaemonium and is interested in seeing the research completed? Unless we have another rogue ascian going awry like Fandaniel.

Unlike the MSQ section above, I don't think I have much to say about the raids beyond stating that I liked the plot twist where Lahabrea is the good guy and Athena is the actual big bad who was manipulative and cunning. Personally, I believe it to be essential for any manipulative villain to have this kind of plot twist where even the players didn't see it coming because it would make the villains live up to their name and capabilities.

Before finishing, I'd like to talk about Lahabrea. While it has been a short time, after seeing his good and bad sides, I really want to say that I don't think either can be the unsundered Lahabrea we know. While good Lahabrea behaviors are out of the question, evil Lahabrea strikes me as a simp to his wife instead of a maniac who literally screams: "Mwahahaha I'm evil!".
Sure, both are evil, but that doesn't really mean both should be the same person or even the same personality.

Thanks for reading my walls of texts

[Cilia]

Are we 100% sure of that? It's never been fully stated.

False until proven true.

The only thing Hydaelyn needed to constantly expend energy for was maintaining the seal on Zodiark. No mention of needing to keep the dimensional barriers up, or that her death would cause the reflections to recombine with the Source.

Really not sure where this idea's coming from?

[KageTokage]

There may be an easy way to do that, that may be hinting to the main threat for Arc 2.

Hydaelyn kept control of the Lifestream to help keep things Sundered, while Zodiark kept control over the planet's aether currents to keep Meteion out. Remember, when Zodiark died, the aether currents changed, allowing Meteion through. Even the FSH questline mentions how the fishing currents themselves started going crazy after that event, with fish ending up in places they had never been at before. So what happens with Hydaelyn dead? The Lifestream is going to be acting up (like how we're seeing Pandaemonium in there now), and it's possible the shards will slowly start getting pulled towards the Source to recombine. Should Elidibus's soul show up, that will be the clearest indicator that things are going to slowly get worse, a LOT worse.

There is that ominous Lifesteam-related prophecy in the Studium quests that I'm strongly feeling is going to be the event that "totally changes the story" in 6.5.

There's certainly been enough world-shaking, existential disturbances as of late to have thrown off the natural order in some terrible way.

[Lurina]

With the story having this background element of Y'shtola looking into travel between the Shards, I feel like the big change is gonna be that the lifestream 'bursts' or something, and suddenly travel becomes easy between them. So the scope of the world will expand with a bunch of new factions and so forth.