Revelations from Patch 7.3: The Promise of Tomorrow

[Teverino]

I have some thoughts, but I've recently come back to the game so there are some things I can't remember. But what about...

Can all Ascians freely move from shard to shard? If so, maybe the one we see is a messenger (like others have said) and the Winterers are a group spread out on the remaining shards and the Ascian keeps them in contact.

They are all up to different shenanigans on their shards and we have to go and stop them. I think that because we got the key, which lets us go to different shards, so we may end up using it to stop the group.

Another thing is that Calyx knew about the shards, maybe because the Ascian told him when recruiting him. "Hey, come be on our team made up of evil superstars from across the shards." or something like that.

[Cleretic]

Food for my brain worms

Confirmation that The Key is indeed the twisted white crystal in the chalice-like device. Also, apparently They Key caused an explosion when opening a portal that killed several scientists during one of Preservation's experiments on it from one of the data records.

"General Daily Report

Nothing of note. The mystery of the key's activation condition remains unsolved.

The key triggered an explosion today. Temporary interdimensional portal verified. Continue attempts to stabilize the core's energy reactions.

Thirteen researchers sustained fatal injuries in the explosion. Memory faculties of four personnel sufficiently intact for Endless conversion. Remaining nine designated for aether reclamation processing.

Nothing of note. Rejected resignations of two Milalla researchers.

Major incident. Details in full report."

Why is the portal opening process so violent? I think there is still the possibility that The Key could have been intended as a weapon, and not a simple tool. How were the Millala able to open their portal safely (unless they didn't)? Auracite is said to grant miracles for those with well intentions. Azem's symbol appearing on it is still a mystery.

I'm personally not surprised about this element.

When you think about it, portals ARE inherently violent, that's ripping a hole in reality itself. You do that while you're not prepared for the impact, or possibly the size of the thing? Yeah, there's gonna be some nasty collateral damage. And that's presuming you've successfully made a portal that goes from point A to a largely safe point B; they might've just ripped a hole into the rift itself and basically got hit by the interdimensional equivalent of 'getting sucked out of the hole in the spaceship'.

Frankly, now that I think about it, I'm surprised this is the first time we've heard about a portal-induced fatality!

[mallleable]

I'm personally not surprised about this element.

When you think about it, portals ARE inherently violent, that's ripping a hole in reality itself. You do that while you're not prepared for the impact, or possibly the size of the thing? Yeah, there's gonna be some nasty collateral damage. And that's presuming you've successfully made a portal that goes from point A to a largely safe point B; they might've just ripped a hole into the rift itself and basically got hit by the interdimensional equivalent of 'getting sucked out of the hole in the spaceship'.

Frankly, now that I think about it, I'm surprised this is the first time we've heard about a portal-induced fatality!

Some thoughts on this.

I feel like there is a big difference between the philosophical violence of tearing a hole in reality versus kills 13 people, 9 of which were so gruesomely annihilated they could not be made into Endless violent.

To me, tt seeds even more doubt that Azem made The Key, especially for us. To me, it would seem out of character for them to add a contingency to a personal tool, one they intend to pass on to a future self that if the 'wrong' person or someone lacking the knowledge on how to use it, it turns into a bomb capable of killing 13 people. I think they would want it to be easy to use, and just not work if it fell into the wrong hands. It's implied that Azem was a bit of a trickster, but I think something like this goes beyond a 'joke.'

[EdwinLi]

I'm personally not surprised about this element.

When you think about it, portals ARE inherently violent, that's ripping a hole in reality itself. You do that while you're not prepared for the impact, or possibly the size of the thing? Yeah, there's gonna be some nasty collateral damage. And that's presuming you've successfully made a portal that goes from point A to a largely safe point B; they might've just ripped a hole into the rift itself and basically got hit by the interdimensional equivalent of 'getting sucked out of the hole in the spaceship'.

Frankly, now that I think about it, I'm surprised this is the first time we've heard about a portal-induced fatality!

considering how strong the wind was when Krile's parents open the portal to the the Source during the flashback where they had to leave Krile in 7.0....

it seem like a normal aspect about the portals having some kind of strong blowback and this is when a gate opens a stable portal.

I will not be surprised if opening portals between worlds have a common reaction for being violent when they are created.

[Larirawiel]

I find one thing interesting ...

That Calyx can interact with the Ascian. This means, that the Ascian is also only a memory, persisted on a hard drive like Calyx.

Cheers

[Cleretic]

I find one thing interesting ...

That Calyx can interact with the Ascian. This means, that the Ascian is also only a memory, persisted on a hard drive like Calyx.

Cheers

That's... an interesting thought, although not one I'm 100% sure applies.

We don't really have any context as to where, or on what level of reality, that final scene takes place. Calyx and the Ascian didn't touch, which would've been evidence of something since Calyx kept appearing noncorporeally, but without that evidence, all that say is that they were in the same 'room' to some degree, while both parties are capable of some high-level nonsense that lets them project into other spaces anyway.

Reviewing that scene right now did make me notice something, though. It's a really tiny thing, but knowing the level of detail that they were putting into the character the past couple patches, I think it has to be something:

In that scene, Calyx's feet touch the ground. He has footstep sounds. There's also not that digital effect around his feet that's there every other time. Given that he's perennially hovering in every other sequence, I can't help but feel like that's deliberate. What that means, I'm not 100% sure; I feel like that might be a sign that wherever he is, he is on the same 'level of reality' as the completely black space around him... but, again, we have no context as to where or what that space is.

Especially because of the other thing I noticed: The Ascian doesn't have footstep sounds. So if we're using those as evidence, in that space, Calyx is 'real' but the Ascian isn't.

[Zero-ELEC]

I find one thing interesting ...

That Calyx can interact with the Ascian. This means, that the Ascian is also only a memory, persisted on a hard drive like Calyx.

Cheers

Right, I wanted to note that and forgot

How was the Ascian interacting with Calyx at all? Assuming Calyx is in the digital void (i.e. not a realised virtual place), with his continuity of body being a part of his expected experiences of existing, how did the Winterer Ascian even get there? Unless they've discovered means of turning themself digital and back.... Ascians after all are just soul and memory aether, not corporeal....

[Thighland]

IMO 7.2 MSQ had a great setup, but 7.3 MSQ just didn't deliver any very satisfying payoffs. I still have high hopes for the future, but the wait will be agonizing.

- Sphene being a fish out of water and being disguised didn't go anywhere, and she's just going to be Queen again anyway.
- They didn't do anything with Sphene's crown. Please don't tell me it doesn't matter anymore.
- Calyx' motivations aren't very interesting so far, and he's seemingly just another Ascian / "Winterer" pawn.
- Endless Sphene was able to give us the key because... she had more authority than Calyx in that moment for some reason? Feels like a Deus ex Machina. I need more context.
- Necron was supposed to be the culmination of Calyx' plans. And all it took to overcome it was a motivational speech by Sphene? Really? It feels like Calyx would've had more success by spamming us with lightning bolts, like he did in 7.2.
- Sphene didn't even visit Otis' grave with us. It's as if her own grief isn't important anymore.
- Any reveal regarding the key or the Milalla just got pushed into the uncertain future again, even though we've already been waiting for more than a year. I am getting impatient.

MSQ Positives:

- The robo zombies were great and pretty spooky.
- I did love the puzzles. More of that please.
- The second boss of the new dungeon was pretty interesting.
- I respect the work the devs put into the cutscenes, especially the WoL destroying Calyx' terminal.
- The restored Living Memory looks amazing. Makes me wish that we will spend more time there.

Alliance Raid:

- The fights were once again pretty good, but I think nothing comes close to the Shadow Lord from the first AR. I don't know what it is, but that fight might be one of my favourites in the game.
- I'm really invested in Prishe's and Alxaal's story. They're really relatable, and feel like a more satisfyingly written version of the Endless.

[17cupsofcoffee]

Rewatching the pre-trial cutscene, the mention of...

...Calyx using a 'concept' (presumably in the Amaurotine sense of the word?) as part of his primal summoning is interesting - especially given that it sounds very much like he shares an English VA with Hythlodaeus?

I'm not going to jump to any "he's Hyth's shard from the Ninth" conclusions from that (not only would that be boring and feel like a retread of Hermes/Fandaniel, I don't think it would even make sense, given that Hyth's soul was in Zodiark jail until Endwalker), but I'm curious to see if there's any significance to the casting.

Of course, I could also be completely wrong and it's just some dude with a similar voice - we'll see in 7.5, I guess

[Vyrerus]

Hello again, Lore forum.

MSQ

So 7.3 was largely not as good as 7.2. However, I've seen people endlessly saying that this is, "The End of Dawntrail!" But it didn't seem to end anything, in my opinion. I think the setup/ending is continuing into 7.4 at least. Nothing felt resolved, and didn't feel like we're stepping away from DT events.

The cutscene work for the patch was good, but the emotional weight of events felt rather empty. I find myself caring very little about Geode being turned into dust (the dust did remind me of The Burn, though). In truth they could have used any Oblivion member, and given any of them the same backstory with Shale, but they chose Geode. I guess because they've enjoyed butchering Highlander guys for a while now (I actually think this is due to Highlander's have really strong emotive expression in XIV's engine. I noticed they gave a non-Highlander character the Highlander characters /anger/fume type emotes this patch too).

The keycard mini "puzzle" was more annoying than interesting to me, as it amounted to just talking to everyone and punching in the highlighted text.

The first two bosses in the dungeon were really cool to me. Necron fight was also fun.

The patch felt like fan placation. People have remarked on wanting more out Shale, and we got more out of Shale. People have remarked that they want less Wuk Lamat, and we got less of her. But they still held to writing her the same exact way when she did show up, and it didn't make her any more likeable. And also they inverted the trust list layout to have DPS on top and tank on bottom. This resulted in, if you plug in all-rounder first, it goes into the healer slot first, because while they allowed us to forgo Wuk Lamat in the dungeon for the first time in DT, I think they still wanted people to take her anyway. I made a point not too, as I have all expansion, but this was the first dungeon I got to do with Trusts this expac as a result. Her wall smashing scene was cool, but her being knocked out by her hands bleeding was way overblown for how little damage that is. That's a natural wound that comes to anyone swinging an axe, sword, or hammer without gloves. Hardly lethal. Hardly cause for concern.

Calyx being an Ascian or being in league with them wasn't surprising, but it remains to be seen if it's a fumble or not. When you think about it, Calyx's work on memory preservation is an even more concrete version of the Convocation Memory Crystals, like the Azem Stone. The Ascians in league with him may be seeking to bring the Ancient Ascians back by recovering and separating their memores from the currently Sundered souls.

As for the term or title Winterer, someone already brought up the dictionary definition. We have only to wonder from what are they Wintering? The Sundered World? The WoL's victories/life? The Unsundered's Revival of Zodiark? It could be any of these or all of them. The other question that comes along is, why would their progress cause Calyx to gamble on defeating the WoL and gaining the key? It sounds like they're not gonna need the key that we have, and that it'll remain in our hands, so that we may catch up to them. Meaning that our new, old villains are a step ahead already.

Alliance Raid

It was some solid memberberries. Not as polished(though also missing any dopeyness *glares daggers at Boxing Gloves Prishe.*'

The fights were fun, and the XI lore was mostly respected. Couple of issues I had with it though, as a long time XI veteran:

- The last journal entry on the floor of the red alert hall leading into The Celestial Nexus was more XIV flavored than XI flavored.

- When Ealdnarche gains sentience/admits to awareness of being an Electrope facade, he changes the arena into Al'Taieu. This is the Zilartian capital, however, the problem here is that they used the visuals from Al'Taieu that are currently in XI, and this is Al'Taieu 10,000 years after its dimensional separation from Vana'diel. It became dimensionally separated when Bahamut attacked it, the force of his assault broke upon its forcefield, which was powered by The Mothercrystals via The Crystal Line, like almost all of the Zilartian civilization. Combined with the Kuluu's assault on the Vahzl Mothercrystal Ark causing The Meltdown, the Zilart neither got to Open The Gates of Paradise (return Vana'diel and themselves to the realm of Gods), and this resulted in their capital being sundered out of Vana'diel directly, and this is the reason that Qufim Island is Crescent Shaped. That's where Al'Taieu actually sat, prior to The Meltdown. Al'Taieu as shown resides in Lumoria, which is on border with the celestial realm of the Gods and Altana, and in isolation the remaining Zilart that did live there became either Aerns or Quasilumins.

Ealdnarche would have no memories of how it looks now, as he hadn't been to the capital in 10,000 years. He wintered The Meltdown alongside his brother in stasis pods in Delkfutt's Tower. So while the memberberries of seeing Al'Taieu in HD were nice, they weren't what should have been portrayed. The XIV team should have made him approximate Al'Taieu before it was locked in Lumoria for 10,000 years.