Revelations from JP Fan Fest (January 2024)

[Eisi]

There's really not anything to say. We have absolutely no context for his appearance at all.

Ah, but you didn't mention him among the mystery characters!

Mysterious Hyur girl? Miqo dude who isn't G'raha?

What does it meaaaaaaaan?!


Also, looks like Thancred, Urianger, and Krile are the only Scions to make it to the poster.

You didn't see him! And then when I mentioned him you thought I meant Gulool Ja Ja, cause u didn't know who I was talking about, admit it :P

[DamianFatale]

What if solution nine were linked to the ninth shard? The problem is the ninth shard is still alive. The only way I could see that working is if the Solution 9 city/project was the reason the ascians didn’t cause a rejoining via the 9th somehow.

That could lead to the end of Y’shtolas shard travel arc if they were the keys to her finding the knowledge to do so. It also could lead to content on the ninth in future patches, or via a later expansion.

[Eisi]

What if solution nine were linked to the ninth shard? The problem is the ninth shard is still alive. The only way I could see that working is if the Solution 9 city/project was the reason the ascians didn’t cause a rejoining via the 9th somehow.

That could lead to the end of Y’shtolas shard travel arc if they were the keys to her finding the knowledge to do so.

Solution to the issue of a Rejoining of the Ninth? Is it related to the Lightning Aether in the area I wonder? Lightning powered city.

Or maybe it's called Solution Nine because it's actually a city from the future, the future after the Eighth but before the Ninth Umbral Calamity? And they travelled back in time to a solution? So exactly the same story we already got told except a different future timeline? But no Ascians anymore.

[Iscah]

I am very curious about this new civilization. Considering it is said to be ancient but still existing with people living in it. I wonder just how old it really is and how did this civilization remain unnoticed for so long by major civilizations in the surface. They certainly should have obtained help keeping themselves hidden for so long by someone or a group of people on the surface.

I was watching on a co-stream that did an unfortunate amount of talking over the English translation. Did they actually say that the city has gone unnoticed or are you making assumptions?

If it wasn't stated then I don't see any reason to assume it was hidden. If anything, it explains where Eorzea has been importing some of its more recent fashion choices from.

[Anonymoose]

But Soul Supply interests me. Is that a place you go to get a soul? To get supplies for your soul? Why do the people who live here need this? Or is it just a fancy name for a convenience store or something?

The icon is a heart and the video seems to show it from the inside, containing a bunch of bottle-looking things.

I'm most intrigued by the combination of the proto-alphabet and the signage with the faces.

Speculation runs rampant but then you figure it's probably worth trying to narrow the possibilities down to things that that play nice with what we can infer the Ascians, the Twelve, the Loporrits, etc. knew without making their actions/words over the span of years seem odd ... and then with terms like "Solution IX", "Heritage Found", "Soul Supply", and those posters...

I try to focus more on archiving than speculation but... that's an interesting puzzle.

For their part, the regulars in my usual sphere are already debating which Genome theory makes the most sense, lol.

[EdenArchangel]

Coming in hot with some more proto alphabet translations, lol:



"Elevators"



"Employment"
"Soul Supply"



This one starts with an S and I'm pretty sure the fourth letter is a u, but it's a bit too far away and blurry for me to tell. I'll edit this if I manage to work it out...

"Solution" again

[YianKutku]

I don't know if it's due to CG cinematic limitations, or if it's somehow significant, but I did notice just about every (humanoid, non-Scion) NPC in the cinematic trailer was wearing either voluminous red robes that remind me of what Gogo wears (both in the original FFV and FFVI, as well as the BLU instance in FFXIV), or a white shirt with suspenders that have a zillion shared models among crafting gear.

I noticed it because it was common to the point of looking like some sort of uniform, so I wondered if this is a uniform. Maybe indicating "people from Yok Tural" and "people from Xak Tural"?

[MikkoAkure]

I don't know if it's due to CG cinematic limitations, or if it's somehow significant, but I did notice just about every (humanoid, non-Scion) NPC in the cinematic trailer was wearing either voluminous red robes that remind me of what Gogo wears (both in the original FFV and FFVI, as well as the BLU instance in FFXIV), or a white shirt with suspenders that have a zillion shared models among crafting gear.

I noticed it because it was common to the point of looking like some sort of uniform, so I wondered if this is a uniform. Maybe indicating "people from Yok Tural" and "people from Xak Tural"?

A bunch of the suspenders-wearers seemed to be Miqos so I assumed they were Limsan sailors.

[diamondedge83]

Lots of interesting possibilities. The expansions have had similarities to the main titles; Stormblood vaguely resembled FFII (War with the Empire, nothing too deep), Shadowbringers had several elements from FFIII (Crystal Tower, Warriors of Darkness, Light and Darkness are neither good nor evil, Eternal Wind), Endwalker FFIV (Too many to list, lol). Assuming this trend continues, Dawntrail should have FFV references and story beats. We already have Krile stepping up to be a more important role, her namesake being from FFV. The main story element that I think they'd use is two worlds once separated remerging into one, but of course that's nothing new for FFXIV. Another game that has a major story element of two worlds merging is FFIX. I'm thinking that's the Solution Nine reference, and could be another plan put in place by the Ascians. Perhaps the whole northern continent is from another shard, or another shard is bleeding over into the source and perhaps that's why there's a huge gash in the world, and also why there are two very different civilizations in the same place. The whole "Soul Supply" thing has me thinking about Zidane's people, the Genomes, who are vessels waiting to be filled with souls.

[Rannie]

All these pictures of the newer ancient people ... I'm going to call it the Local Shopping mall... Employment is where the Employee's go for their breaks and lunches or the "mall cops" and the Soul Supply is just the local GNC

All the pictures of people are like the Victoria Secret Models or Actors from their Local TV Shows like "ENTM" (Etheriys Next Top Model) or Etheriys' Got Talent EGT.