Patch 7 1 speculation

[SannaR]

My guess on the Pandæmonium follow-up is that it might tie into Eden Ultimate with some extra information regarding Mitron and Loghrif.

Though, as people have noted here, we did already have hanging threads left behind after the raid story concluded, so it was expected that we'd get more on it sooner or later – though this is certainly "sooner".




There would need to be a reason for him to not be fighting, no matter what the scenario involves. Is he keeping watch for something? Casting a ward? Engaged in fighting smaller enemies off to the side?

Investigating weird stuff happening in Yak T'el is probably a Landsguard task in general, and despite the game putting characters in static places, Bakool probably isn't guarding the cenote 24/7. He might accompany us while it's someone else's guard shift.

Oh I know he's not meant to be static, but that he comes off as a person of action and not someone who would just stand by and watch. Which looks to be what he is going to be doing once inside the raid. Outside of it and in cutscenes I'm sure he will be part of the action. So for me why is he tagging along on the inside to just (far as we know) watch the scary adventure and friends beat stuff up.

[SannaR]

I know it probably isn't going to be this, but what if the female mamool ja is actually Zoraal ja's mom? We don't know who his mom was either.

I'm starting to wonder if Zoraal ja actually delt with a Tural Vidraal and that was just a cover story for whatever Turali version of Aulus mal Asina and Zoraal ja were up to at Yuweyawata Field Station.

[Lunaxia]

1st who had a Pandeamonium cap quest on their bingo card? What could we even be doing that involves npcs from that raid?

Do you have a link? This is the first I've heard about it.

And what would the purpose of that even be, anyway? "Now they're really, really, really dead"? More reassurances from beyond the grave they're totally cool with us, guys? Does anyone actually want to go back through this again?

If it boils down to being predominantly HoS lore... that's good for the lore fanatics, I guess, but it's a strange thing to go so far as to include considering where their priorities seem to be lying lately. I struggle seeing the point of it, unless...

I'm half-jokingly rooting for a build-up to "Ultima Prime", the real one, being the big bad of "Endwalker-2" (the second long-term catharsis). I would say bonus points if we end at Silvertear Lake

I joked I had "aliens did it" marked down on my bingo card when Emet-Selch started talking about corruption and a sound from within the planet back during Shadowbringers, and that I'd launch Yoshi-P if we wound up getting Jenova Mark II as our big bad for the main plot. After the Dynamis reveal, though, I don't think I'd actually mind that possibility anymore, so I wouldn't hate it! That whole arc always had a sort of "masterminded by the real villain" vibe anyway that never really panned out.

(What were the main theories for Silvertear, anyway?)

So it's also possible that line will be resolved with a few minutes of exposition about what pain and loss can teach us about ourselves and each other and how it can be used constructively and shouldn't be denied and rejected.

Well, it has been a whole... five minutes since they last reminded us about that, so it's about time!

[SannaR]

Do you have a link? This is the first I've heard about it.

And what would the purpose of that even be, anyway? "Now they're really, really, really dead"? More reassurances from beyond the grave they're totally cool with us, guys? Does anyone actually want to go back through this again?

If it boils down to being predominantly HoS lore... that's good for the lore fanatics, I guess, but it's a strange thing to go so far as to include considering where their priorities seem to be lying lately. I struggle seeing the point of it, unless...

Nothing from a slide and we won't have an official transcript til some time later but this is from the discord that does the fan translations. "Yoshida: "Since the previous raid, Pandemonium, story is concluded, we're adding an extra side quest there. Felt wrong to do that in 7.0 so we're doing it now"

If you want to know where during the Live Letter they mention Pandeamonium it's at the 1:07:03 mark. Right before they go into more depth about the information about the Alliance Raid.

[Lunaxia]

Nothing from a slide and we won't have an official transcript til some time later but this is from the discord that does the fan translations. "Yoshida: "Since the previous raid, Pandemonium, story is concluded, we're adding an extra side quest there. Felt wrong to do that in 7.0 so we're doing it now"

If you want to know where during the Live Letter they mention Pandeamonium it's at the 1:07:03 mark. Right before they go into more depth about the information about the Alliance Raid.

Thanks! I had a glance at that part in the live letter. What he said was actually kind of interesting - it's not going to be a long quest, and it's got kind of an "after story" vibe that didn't fit the atmosphere of 7.0 (or that's how I took it, I defer to the experts), so it seems like it's a kind of stand alone episode relating to the story of the raid quests? In which case, I sense a lore dump in the offing... I mean, I'll take it, especially over another farewell encore from the original three - I'm just surprised they're bothering.

[melbye]

So similar to Omega: Beyond the Rift maybe?

[Lunaxia]

So similar to Omega: Beyond the Rift maybe?

At a glance, it seems so, but maybe a little less reflective and more focused on historical events that led to the present (??? past) story. But that's purely my guess, mainly because I don't know just how much more brooding can be done on the Ancient storyline, lol.

[Malganis_L]

I joked I had "aliens did it" marked down on my bingo card when Emet-Selch started talking about corruption and a sound from within the planet back during Shadowbringers, and that I'd launch Yoshi-P if we wound up getting Jenova Mark II as our big bad for the main plot. After the Dynamis reveal, though, I don't think I'd actually mind that possibility anymore, so I wouldn't hate it! That whole arc always had a sort of "masterminded by the real villain" vibe anyway that never really panned out.

I mean if the team wants to add Eldritch deities from the whole of FF history like Jenova, Sin, Bhunivelze or "the Creator" over into 14, than the Heart of Sabik and Ultima Seraph are the most stable narrative bridge to do that.

At a glance, it seems so, but maybe a little less reflective and more focused on historical events that led to the present (??? past) story. But that's purely my guess, mainly because I don't know just how much more brooding can be done on the Ancient storyline, lol.

If needed the Ancients can be reintroduced with Grahas Black Rose timeline crashing into the current one lol

[Turnintino]

• Some people are having an uncomfortable reckoning with the fact Hildibrand's capable of being hot.

They shouldn't be, because that's almost certainly not our Hildibrand in the trailer lol. He's using a completely different Highlander face (although with the goatee from Hildibrand's). A shard of his, perhaps, but who can really guess with these quests.

[Lunaxia]

snip

I don't disagree! I was just never a fan of the alien concept in FFXIV's setting, but... well, suffice to say, things change, lol. And in such a case it would be quite sneaky too, since depending on where they take it, it's literally the perfect open door to hook back into any given storyline, including that of the Ancients, without too much of bending the plot back on itself.

...but all of this is said with an enormous pinch of salt. The writers seem to be inherently at odds with everything I'd consider a logical writing decision lately and vice versa (with the exception of Athena and Lahabrea's story), and I wouldn't be surprised if after all this we do get another broody requiem on overcoming loss and grief, but optimism and all that!