Patch 7 1 speculation

[Rosenstrauch]

I predict that the Pandaemonium follow-up, regardless of its actual contents, will result in another three years of Sundering discourse. Putting that thought aside, my money is on it being Claudien-focused and related to either the Heart of Sabik or the decidedly more enigmatic than pre-Pandae Ultima's origins. I have a distant hope that it involves taking full advantage of the now confirmed multiverse to go back in time and fill Themis and Erichthonios in on the full extent of the Final Days, but I've long made my peace with us not doing that and would rather look to the future (read: If we're seeing more Ancients, I'd rather it be a full expansion instead of a sidequest. Let them not feel like they've worn out their welcome.)


As for the MSQ, it calls to mind one of the flight quests in Heritage Found, wherein Shaloaci talks about remembering doing specific things with a person, but can't recall who that person was. I suspect that for the majority of Alexandrian and Yyaslunai folks, they're very used to "person-shaped holes" in their memories, and those who have spent their whole lives with regulators and only mingling with others who've done the same are unaccustomed to remembering their dead. That Sphene is such a beloved figure who has played a multigenerational role in everyone's lives has only made the pain of losing her all the more severe—the funeral for her, while much needed, is definitely a new experience for them.

I do have to wonder if this might lead to the public learning the reason Sphene is dead (ie: we killed her) and why she died (ie: The whole kit and kaboodle of Living Memory), or if that's going to remain under wraps for the foreseeable future. Likely the latter—I don't see that gun getting fired until 7.2, maybe 7.3 depending on how this expansion's patch cycle will play out. (Remember: Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers mostly wrapped up their post-patch plots by the end of X.3, while A Realm Reborn and Endwalker both extended it all the way to X.5.)

There's also screenshots going around of an Auri Samurai in both Doma and Shaloani—I suspect this is also related to Koana's big scene. Though given the aforementioned Samurai, Koana's big scene, the funeral, and the dungeon for the patch iirc being Alexandrian in design, I can't help but wonder if this patch might be trying to tackle too many things at once.

I'm also really looking forward to the Role Quest conclusion and the new 24-Man raids. Never played FFXI, but Prishe looks cool and I'm always happy to see more Bakool Ja Ja.

EDIT: Also, I still haven't stepped into M4S, but I'm hoping to clear it so that I can try out the new Ultimate for once. I think something that might set this one apart from previous Ultimates is the framing device. As you might recall, the Eden raids used crystals produced by Eden itself containing warped memories of our battles as the justifying device. It's possible that FRU will use the same or a similar framing device—IIRC, Gaia mentions being interested in exploring the ruins of Amaurot in 6.55.

I've seen speculation about Ryne being a shard of Mitron popping up because of this. While I'm pretty positive about that development in particular*, I think it's pretty clear from what we've been shown in all versions of the trailer/teasers that Ryne is merely being possessed during this encounter.

*There are at least seven shards of Mitron, possibly a full fourteen, and there's no hard/soft confirmation of which reflection Mitron and Loghrif came from before they died. It's entirely possible, plausible even, that two shards of Mitron could exist simultaneously on the First. The same goes for Loghrif—there might be another person with the "same soul" as Gaia on the First, or her soul might be several times rejoined. She could quite possibly even be eight times rejoined, like the WoL. And as the very idea that Ryne is a reincarnation of Minfilia has been hard debunked by the Antecedent's appearance in the Aitiascope, it's adds back a distinct layer of identity troubles to her character that made her original struggle to define herself so interesting.