Massive Trailer Storybomb: Spoilers 6.4

[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.

[Seraphor]

Ifrit, ...the Weapons,... DON'T share the same animations. .

Ummm.... huh?

[Eisi]

Ummm.... huh?

Yeah, yeah, I was already corrected by Cleri. Still it's just an alt form, not the prime form with the iconic stance as with Golbez and Thordan. Also Diamond isn't even MSQ.

[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!

[Cleretic]

Worth noting that some of the difference between that Bahamut and the Bahamut we've seen comes from Allagan augmentation/mutilation; if you look closely the 'horns' on Primal Bahamut are actually Allagan tech, with the real ones having been torn off.

Otherwise, I find it interesting to consider that Primal Bahamut almost seems to be perspective-skewed compared to the original. Like, he's how someone would've drawn Real Bahamut from memory if they'd mainly seen him from front-on and probably lower angles; overemphasising the chest because that's the thing that dominated their view. Which would make a lot of sense, since Bahamut was a big guy and the bulk of the dragons summoning him were... rather smaller.

[rxantos]

Golbez should have never had a sword to begin with.
Is one of the few pure magic characters with full armor. BUT NO OTHER WEAPON. Just magic.
Once again Square failed on their own lore.

[Lyth]

I can understand the relevance of the greatsword if we were talking about a character who had 'wandered into Eorzea' from another Final Fantasy universe, or who was encountered in the Interdimensional Rift between series entries. But Golbez and the Fiends in FFXIV have their own in-game backstories that already have been shown to differ from the originals. This Golbez could be using an anchor for all we care. His story in FFXIV may bring in some homages to FFIV, but it need not be a strict retelling.

[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.