Revelations from JP Fan Fest (January 2024)

[YianKutku]

Some reveals and implications from the 6.55 MSQ.

The MSQ pre-empts all our questions about whether the Scions should participate in the succession ritual by explicitly saying outsiders are encouraged to participate. And even then, the WoL and G'raha can express caution at getting involved with politics anyway. The end decision is to go to Tural to see the situation first-hand, and decide from there; I think this is entirely fair and reasonable, even if Doylistically we know we'll be getting involved anyway.

As it turns out, the "client" that Thancred and Urianger were talking about is not Wuk Lamat, and likely not Gulool Ja Ja either. Wuk Lamat specifically wants the WoL, or rather "the strongest champion". So the Archon-seeking client is probably another one of the four claimants to the throne. Wuk Lamat's faction is primarily the WoL (and Erenville), plus Krile and the Leveilleur twins tagging along, the former to find out about the letter to Galuf and the latter to essentially sightsee. This does mean Estinien still doesn't really have a real reason to follow to Tural; I suspect it is surprisingly plausible he's going to turn up there just because he figures he can find work there, completely unrelated to the rest of the succession ritual. I just watched the post-credits scene: Estinien is literally going to Tural because he has nothing better to do.

The Miqo'te in the expansion art is likely Koana, Wuk Lamat's adoptive brother. "Second oldest brother", apparently. He's also likely another of the claimants to the throne. In fact, given we see five "new" characters in the expansion art, those are probably Gulool Ja Ja (obvious big Mamool Ja with two heads) and the four claimants.

Wuk Lamat says there is one particular claimant out of the four who must not succeed the throne. She uses male pronouns for this person, so it could be the Mamool Ja in the front row. Going further into speculation, this is probably the "eldest brother", and may be the "trueborn" son of Gulool Ja Ja. The other option for the "must not succeed the throne" character is Koana, but the way Wuk Lamat and Erenville were talking about him, they don't seem to be angry or sad, so I think it's less likely.

This leaves the woman at the top of the expansion art as the complete unknown. I am speculating she's the fourth claimant to the throne. Possibly Wuk Lamat's adopted little sister?

Completely baseless speculation: the way the woman at the top is posed, and the lack of information we have on her, makes me think she's either the true villain who's manipulating everyone into thinking the other claimant is the expansionist ambitious one, or she's the meek yet wise little sister type who ends up winning the succession as everyone else withdraws peacefully. I have no basis for this other than "vibes" and "it would be the sort of story I expect".

[Lady_Silvermoon]

Some reveals and implications from the 6.55 MSQ.

I really hope that if we throw our ample strength behind putting a person we've known for five minutes in charge of an entire continent, she immediately turns into Darth Vader and we spend the next five expansions attempting to fix such a stupid decision. I love that they anticipated our moral qualms and assured us it's fine, but didn't consider for one minute how stupid it is.

"But one of her brothers is a warmonger!"

"How do we know?"

"The person who wants us to put her on the throne told us."

We learned NOTHING from the Crystal Braves.

[Lium]

I really hope that if we throw our ample strength behind putting a person we've known for five minutes in charge of an entire continent, she immediately turns into Darth Vader and we spend the next five expansions attempting to fix such a stupid decision. I love that they anticipated our moral qualms and assured us it's fine, but didn't consider for one minute how stupid it is.

"But one of her brothers is a warmonger!"

"How do we know?"

"The person who wants us to put her on the throne told us."

We learned NOTHING from the Crystal Braves.

I sort of think that's why Wuk Lamat is there. Through her, we'll get to know the rest. But it will be up to the writing to make sure the WoL has learned from past mistakes.

I'm also wondering why we are adventuring yet again with the Scions. Did SE ever explain why? Pretty sure they said EW was going to be it for the Scions for a while and that we'd have new companions.

Hard to see how that happens when it appears the entire expansion is setting up a Scion vs. Scion showdown in whatever this contest is.

[Vallavia]

The Scions were formally disbanded so as to avoid being called upon in perpetuity by every world power to attend their myriad woes. Alphinaud even says that their operations will return to being largely conducted in secret, as they were in A Realm Reborn and previously with the Path of the Twelve, mirroring the initial move to Mor Dhona to remove themselves from spheres of political influence.

I never took this to mean that these characters were just going to evaporate from each other's lives indefinitely, just that they were going to operate independently of each other more. All the former Scions that we're regularly in contact with are close personal friends, and they come and go from their own tasks with regularity (Y'shtola and Estinien in the void camp while G'raha and Krile were investigating the Twelve, for instance). I understand that this is unfortunate news for those who loathe the Scions, but I think it's been made pretty clear from the outset that the principal cast is always going to be involved in some way.

[EdwinLi]

I sort of think that's why Wuk Lamat is there. Through her, we'll get to know the rest. But it will be up to the writing to make sure the WoL has learned from past mistakes.

I'm also wondering why we are adventuring yet again with the Scions. Did SE ever explain why? Pretty sure they said EW was going to be it for the Scions for a while and that we'd have new companions.

Hard to see how that happens when it appears the entire expansion is setting up a Scion vs. Scion showdown in whatever this contest is.

The events of the story already explain why during this MSQ.

They are not going as Scions this time but as representatives of Sharlayan or just themselves for different reasons since the Scions have been "officially" disbanded to the public knowledge.

Thancred and Urianger are invited to be representatives for Sharlayan supporting one of the candidates as a means to help improve relationship between Sharlayan and Tural along with showing both nations are willing to work together.

Alphinaud and Alisaie are there since they decided they will take their Vacation time going on another adventure with WoL.

Krile is joining us because she wants to find out what became of her Grandfather.

Estinien is there because he is just traveling there to sightsee.

We do not know why Y'shtola will join us later but it is most likely involving her investigation into shard traveling.

G'raha reasons are unknown now but we should get his reason during the expansion storyline.

[Iscah]

I'm also wondering why we are adventuring yet again with the Scions. Did SE ever explain why? Pretty sure they said EW was going to be it for the Scions for a while and that we'd have new companions.

I have no recollection of the devs ever making such a statement.

Players (not all but some) were determined to spin "the Scions are formally disbanding" and "we're going on a new adventure" to add up to "we're going on an adventure without the Scions" but that was never stated.

The Scions do go off to pursue their own individual activities at the end of 6.0, but your conversation with Tataru at the start of 6.1 makes it clear that some time has passed since then. They're still your close friends and the people you're going to call on when you need someone with their particular skills.

[Lium]

I have no recollection of the devs ever making such a statement.

Players (not all but some) were determined to spin "the Scions are formally disbanding" and "we're going on a new adventure" to add up to "we're going on an adventure without the Scions" but that was never stated.

The Scions do go off to pursue their own individual activities at the end of 6.0, but your conversation with Tataru at the start of 6.1 makes it clear that some time has passed since then. They're still your close friends and the people you're going to call on when you need someone with their particular skills.

Didn't Yoshida make several comments last year about how we were going to distance ourselves from the Scions over the course of 6.X and leading to 7.0 and introduce new companions while the Scions would take background roles? I know I'm not imagining that.

It's why when the first trailer for DT dropped there was a lot of disappointment both on here and on social media about seeing the Scions again. To be clear, I'm not angry, just confused. I'm not one of those people that hates the Scions. I've always liked them. I just thought they were fading into the background for a bit. But we'll see.

[EdwinLi]

Didn't Yoshida make several comments last year about how we were going to distance ourselves from the Scions over the course of 6.X and leading to 7.0 and introduce new companions while the Scions would take background roles? I know I'm not imagining that.

It's why when the first trailer for DT dropped there was a lot of disappointment both on here and on social media about seeing the Scions again. To be clear, I'm not angry, just confused. I'm not one of those people that hates the Scions. I've always liked them. I just thought they were fading into the background for a bit. But we'll see.

Yep but at this point, I think they are just focusing on establishing lore reasons why they are becoming less involved with WoL overtime with 7.0 and 7.X since they kind of not used 6.X era MSQ to cover those reasons just so they can go through the World of Darkness conclusion plot. However, it is most likely going to be a mix result overtime since right now Yoshi-P and the development team have not established new characters to take up the roles for Trust dungeons and acting as long term companions for WoL in his/her new journey as a Adventurer. The Scions have their own separate reason for being in 7.0 is probably their safe attempt to ease things over with WoL returning to his/her roots as a Adventurer since they do not need to create a story focusing on getting to know these characters the WoL has known for a long time.

New companions for WoL in this new Adventurer Main storyline are going to need moments in the Main Story to establish them and the results will certainly conflict a lot with people's opinions comparing them to the Scions.

Personally, I expected atleast 1 or 2 new characters who will start replacing the Scions during 7.0, 7.X, or 8.0 and then from their they start working their way towards which ones are most likely to stay or settle down.

Thancred and Urianger are most likely the characters who may return the most often since they established themselves to be a adventuring dual.

Y'shtola joining in is most likely going to be a mix bag of "does this place has something she can use to learn about traveling to other Shards or not"

G'raha and Krile are the two who have the highest chance to distance themselves first since they are still rebuilding their faction in Sharlayan. However, this expansion is Krile chance to deal with the last personal thing she had on her mind for a long time before she can fully dedicate herself to rebuilding their faction.

Estinien is probably going to appear most frequently as well since he is a nomad traveling the world now.

Alphinaud and Alisaie are the two with high chance of appearing less in future expansions due to their position with representing Sharlayan in Garlemald's reconstruction. They're only here for 7.0 as a result of their Vacation time.

[Vallavia]

Didn't Yoshida make several comments last year about how we were going to distance ourselves from the Scions over the course of 6.X and leading to 7.0 and introduce new companions while the Scions would take background roles? I know I'm not imagining that.

If you manage to find these quotes, I'd be interested to see them; I've searched every translated source I could find for a quote from Yoshida on the matter and come up with nothing. It's a common enough belief that I'd like to know where it originated, but given the FFXIV community's propensity for running with preconceived notions and a lack of evidence to the contrary I'm inclined to agree with Iscah.

It's why when the first trailer for DT dropped there was a lot of disappointment both on here and on social media about seeing the Scions again.

I also don't really recall any mass discontent outside the official forums, but I suppose we could just be in vastly different circles.