Massive Trailer Storybomb: Spoilers 6.4

[Cleretic]

...do you actually want me to crack out my favorite very silly subject for this? Because I know shared skeletons and animation sets, you don't wanna fight me on this:

• Omega's a gigantoad, as we all know.
• Althyk is an Odin reskin. (In fact Odin's mostly borrowing from the dullahans.)
• Trinity Seeker, the first Delubrum Reginae Trinity boss, is Ravana. There's a good few Ravana reskins around, actually, it's hard to count 'em up.
• Trinity Avowed, the second Delubrum Reginae Trinity boss (the one with the heat mechanics) is Shiva. This might also be the starting point for Asura, the Fanfest event boss, but we can't be sure yet.
• Hephaistos in P8 incorporates both Byakko and the centaur skeleton that started off as Ultima Weapon.
• Thunder God Cid in Orbonne is reused both for Perfect Thordan in Dragonsong Reprise, and Excalibur in Eureka Orthos.
• Scathach's model is reused for Omega-F, Penthesilea, the Spectral Necromancer, and a good few others; basically any floating female character wielding a long weapon of some kind.
• Inversely, Omega-M was reused for the Warrior of Light trial.
• All the Stormblood Eureka 'zone boss' enemies are reskins: Pazuzu is Diablos, Louhi is Cruise Chaser, and Providence Watcher is Nidhogg.
• Nael Deus Darnus' skeleton has been used in a bunch of places, perhaps most prominent being Nidhogg's Dragoon form in Final Steps.
• Sephirot was reused for Chaos in the Omega raids.
• The Diablo Armament, final boss of the Dalriada, is actually just NeoExDeath.
• If you want to specifically talk trials-to-trials, Ifrit actually was reused: as Diamond Weapon's unarmored form.

Hell, Thordan's skeleton has also been reused a couple times, as Exdeath in the Omega raids and Siegfried in the Masked Carnivale. You just probably didn't notice because you think of Thordan as 'big guy with big sword', so them changing up the weapon in question threw you off; fair enough, it was a surprise when I found out too!

[Eisi]

...do you actually want me to crack out my favorite very silly subject for this? Because I know shared skeletons and animation sets, you don't wanna fight me on this:

Haha nothing less expected from you!

Of course I would fight you on this, I already prepared! Let's go!

• Omega's a gigantoad, as we all know. We all know and it's heavily modified with the legs and the mechanical bits, to the point of being a genius recreation that can only be considered a prime example of reusing assets. Not comparable to Golbez' stance being a perfect reenactment of Thordan's, another pivotal MSQ boss.
  
  
• Althyk is an Odin reskin. (In fact Odin's mostly borrowing from the dullahans.) Yup! As is Raiden and the Pale Rider, Althyk wouldn't compare to a Thordan though!
  
  
• Trinity Seeker, the first Delubrum Reginae Trinity boss, is Ravana. There's a good few Ravana reskins around, actually, it's hard to count 'em up. Yeah bunch of Allagan Ravana Reskins along with the second boss of Temple of the Fist! I know my shit, you know what my conditions were! Main story trial bosses or even trial bosses in general! No less!
  
  
• Trinity Avowed, the second Delubrum Reginae Trinity boss (the one with the heat mechanics) is Shiva. This might also be the starting point for Asura, the Fanfest event boss, but we can't be sure yet. Oh, that one is genius! Didn't even know that! Would not have guessed.
  
  
• Hephaistos in P8 incorporates both Byakko and the centaur skeleton that started off as Ultima Weapon. Absolutely genius, no comparison to Golbez just immediately evoking Thordan on first glance.
  
  
• Thunder God Cid in Orbonne is reused both for Perfect Thordan in Dragonsong Reprise, and Excalibur in Eureka Orthos. Another great example of smart asset reuse which hides itself fairly well rather than being all in your face to the point of WANTING to be identified like Tordan and Golbez.
  
  
• Scathach's model is reused for Omega-F, Penthesilea, the Spectral Necromancer, and a good few others; basically any floating female character wielding a long weapon of some kind. Yeah the cute puppet from Lapis Manalis I would assume as well. Not main story bosses and fairly well distinguished from one another, Thordan's battle stance tho? That shit's iconic!
  
  
• Inversely, Omega-M was reused for the Warrior of Light trial. Never knew that, since the WoL uses a shield most of the time and Omega-M only some of the time. Plus the fluttering cape really helps guide your eye, a great asset reuse that doesn't draw attention to itself, unlike Thordan and Golbez who are both main storyline trial bosses I wanna reiterate!
  
  
• All the Stormblood Eureka 'zone boss' enemies are reskins: Pazuzu is Diablos, Louhi is Cruise Chaser, and Providence Watcher is Nidhogg. Those are big smart, except providence watcher and really who cares about the dragons, Niddy is just Hraesvelgr as well, same with Vrtra and Tiamat even. That's like saying two Hyurs have the same rig, big deal.
  
  
• Nael Deus Darnus' skeleton has been used in a bunch of places, perhaps most prominent being Nidhogg's Dragoon form in Final Steps. No way! I thought Niddy was unique there! Really well done reuse that doesn't draw attention to itself, however obviously there is a clear connection between Nael and Estinien here, both empowered by an elder dragon? That is a thematic connection right there, one which I would expect for "same battle stance dragon abusers on a holy crusade" Thordan and Golbez as well!
  
  
• Sephirot was reused for Chaos in the Omega raids. Yeah that one's a bummer. Fortunately Chaos was just a first raid boss, but such an iconic FF character would have deserved their own rig, ngl.
  
  
• The Diablo Armament, final boss of the Dalriada, is actually just NeoExDeath. Yeah this is another absolute banger right here. Genius asset reuse between two iconic side content haymakers.
  
  
• If you want to specifically talk trials-to-trials, Ifrit actually was reused: as Diamond Weapon's unarmored form. Oh yeah, I remember that one, good call actually. That one suuuucked, but at least we already knew there was no continuity between that and Ifrit. With Thordan and Golbez we don't know yet! Plus it's just an alter form of Diamond Weapon and it's side content.

I really wanna also mention our favorite feetboss from Kholusia, Forgiven Pedantry, which is a reuse of the final boss of Weeping City, which is a reused Cloud of Darkness from WoD. That's bad asset reuse, but it's side content too

Hell, Thordan's skeleton has also been reused a couple times, as Exdeath in the Omega raids and Siegfried in the Masked Carnivale. You just probably didn't notice because you think of Thordan as 'big guy with big sword', so them changing up the weapon in question threw you off; fair enough, it was a surprise when I found out too!

Yes exactly!!! They didn't literally scream at you "THIS IS THORDAN" with Exdeath, as the stance was different! Siegfried was immediately noticeable tho, bad one! Still just another side content boss tho, not a big MSQ setpiece fight.

That was a great post Cleretic, but my argument still stands! Everybody who knows Golbez knows Thordan and his iconic stance, it's the first reuse of an MSQ trial boss in another MSQ trial and there's even a clear thematic parallel between the characters of Thordan and Golbez!

[VictorSpoils]

They already gave swords to two of the fiends, so it can't be that weird for Golbez to have one...right?

Trinity Avowed, the second Delubrum Reginae Trinity boss (the one with the heat mechanics) is Shiva. This might also be the starting point for Asura, the Fanfest event boss, but we can't be sure yet. Oh, that one is genius! Didn't even know that! Would not have guessed.

The big giveaway is TA whipping out the same three weapons as her, and the AoEs are similar.

Inversely, Omega-M was reused for the Warrior of Light trial. Never knew that, since the WoL uses a shield most of the time and Omega-M only some of the time. Plus the fluttering cape really helps guide your eye, a great asset reuse that doesn't draw attention to itself, unlike Thordan and Golbez who are both main storyline trial bosses I wanna reiterate!

Guess it was fitting for the two Amano dudes to have such a connection.

All the Stormblood Eureka 'zone boss' enemies are reskins: Pazuzu is Diablos, Louhi is Cruise Chaser, and Providence Watcher is Nidhogg. Those are big smart, except providence watcher and really who cares about the dragons, Niddy is just Hraesvelgr as well, same with Vrtra and Tiamat even. That's like saying two Hyurs have the same rig, big deal.

And then you've got Bahamut, who ended up looking significantly different from the rest of his siblings for some reason.

Sephirot was reused for Chaos in the Omega raids. Yeah that one's a bummer. Fortunately Chaos was just a first raid boss, but such an iconic FF character would have deserved their own rig, ngl.

Something I noticed is Chaos's Damning Edict is telegraphed but Sephirot's Ain isn't, so most people usually get hit by the latter. Sephirot also doesn't have his own Latitudinal/Longitudinal Implosion, but Spartoi in Bozja does.

The Diablo Armament, final boss of the Dalriada, is actually just NeoExDeath. Yeah this is another absolute banger right here. Genius asset reuse between two iconic side content haymakers.

Especially nice since the only reused attack between them are the Acceleration Bombs.

[Eisi]

And then you've got Bahamut, who ended up looking significantly different from the rest of his siblings for some reason.

This is so good, LET ME BLOW YOUR MIND!

It's not Bahamut, it's the primal version of Bahamut. The real Bahamut that Tiamat knew actually looked very different!

Here is proof!



Yes that's right! That's official artwork of Midgardsormr's brood that far predates Endwalker and its depiction of Vrtra and Azdaja! So it's still accurate and we clearly see no big mofo primal Bahamut but instead something way more in line with his brethren.

So when Tiamat mentioned that the primal Bahamut bore no resemblance to her beloved, that was not just in terms of character, but also appearance!

[VictorSpoils]

This is so good, LET ME BLOW YOUR MIND!

It's not Bahamut, it's the primal version of Bahamut. The real Bahamut that Tiamat knew actually looked very different!

Here is proof!



Yes that's right! That's official artwork of Midgardsormr's brood that far predates Endwalker and its depiction of Vrtra and Azdaja! So it's still accurate and we clearly see no big mofo primal Bahamut but instead something way more in line with his brethren.

So when Tiamat mentioned that the primal Bahamut bore no resemblance to her beloved, that was not just in terms of character, but also appearance!

You know, looking at this again, that could indeed be Bahamut on the right and Ratatoskr on the left. It does resemble the summoned Bahamut, and differs quite a bit from the rest in appearance. This art also dates back to Heavensward, well after the primal version (and other concept art) was seen, whereas the Ratatoskr painting appears to have the signature narrow head. There do appear to be fake Allagan "horns" on Bahamut's head, but they alternate with what look like real horns matching the color of his body.

I don't think it was ever stated outright that the summoned version is physically different either. This post from an old thread mentioned something similar:

I'm definitely with the "4 is Bahamut, 7 is Ratatoskr" team. 7 is the only one whose horns really match that Ishgardian relief (four curved, forward-facing horns, two on each side, one above and one below). Considering that Primal!Bahamut was summoned by Tiamat and others who knew him in life, it's not unreasonable to assume that he bears more than a passing resemblance to the real thing, and 6 has an eagle-like beak that is absent in Primal!Bahamut (also, less horns).

Can't see the numbered image anymore, but there were some comparisons to the Bahamut minion (which seems to only have the natural horns). Some of these threads also suggested the then-unknown Azdaja on the bottom was Bahamut because of the curved horns, but it's now known that Azdaja has those too.

[MikkoAkure]

You know, looking at this again, that could indeed be Bahamut on the right and Ratatoskr on the left. It does resemble the summoned Bahamut, and differs quite a bit from the rest in appearance. This art also dates back to Heavensward, well after the primal version (and other concept art) was seen, whereas the Ratatoskr painting appears to have the signature narrow head. There do appear to be fake Allagan "horns" on Bahamut's head, but they alternate with what look like real horns matching the color of his body.

We know Ratatoskr is the one on the right because the Encyclopedia Eorzea shows a close-up of that exact picture zoomed in on that specific dragon for her entry on page 206. Bahamut's entry on the next page shows a close-up of the dragon on the left.

[VictorSpoils]

We know Ratatoskr is the one on the right because the Encyclopedia Eorzea shows a close-up of that exact picture zoomed in on that specific dragon for her entry on page 206. Bahamut's entry on the next page shows a close-up of the dragon on the left.

[TowaIsBestGirl]

[*]Scathach's model is reused for Omega-F, Penthesilea, the Spectral Necromancer, and a good few others; basically any floating female character wielding a long weapon of some kind.

I acquiesce fully to the idea that this is me being very petty and possessive, but I do not wish to let this go. Scathach doesn't deserve to have so many model/skeleton/rig thieves. I've always been fond of the goth/decadent daemon aesthetic so seeing her reduced to basically a test run/tool irritates me to new heights of irrationality. I simply cannot help myself.

Also: Golbez as an 'obvious Darth Vader homage', a character definitely not associated with sword-having while also being good at other things.

Can't be. Darth Vader has no sense of flair, no taste in being capable of magnificent cape flourishes. But also, what other things is Golbez good at? At least in Final Fantasy 14.

[Cleretic]

Can't be. Darth Vader has no sense of flair, no taste in being capable of magnificent cape flourishes. But also, what other things is Golbez good at? At least in Final Fantasy 14.

Evidently some sort of combat prowess and leadership skills--it's damn hard to recruit and keep in line a bunch of selfish voidsent, especially on loose leashes like he does. But also... well, he caught a dragon, and kept her both hidden and under control for a long time.

He's got a lot of implied skills and powers going; we haven't seen him directly do much to know how he did it, but he's definitely got some tricks. That's a pretty hard thing to pay off in a satisfactory way, he's REALLY gotta stick that landing, but I feel like the writers can swing that.