Revelations from Patch 7.3: The Promise of Tomorrow

[Cilia]

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

Plot twist:

As a part of Zodiark, Hythlodaeus' soul was never sundered and returned to the Lifestream once Zodiark was destroyed. Calyx can't be a sundered reflection of him.

[mallleable]

More food for my brain worms

So we know that The Key is actually just the crystal, and that Preservation had to build around to get it to cooperate with them by putting it in the electrope chalice. So this diagram from one of the monitors in the room where the Key housings were being 3D printed in the Preservation lab might be of the bare Key. But something is missing...



If it is supposed to be the crystal, then it is misising the tips at each end.



It might be possible that the ends, and maybe by extension the gold, Amaruotine-like details were added to The Key, maybe to be able to further control it, and are not part of the original structure.

[Raikai]

So, it's safe to assume that the

Countdown thing actually worked for Calyx to escape last second, or else we wouldn't see him interacting with the Ascian, right?

Now, one thing that I need to see again is if they used Winterer or winterer in the subtitles. I always have those on, but I forgot which.

If capital W, then indeed is the name of the organization, otherwise I'd think Calyx could be just referring to people in a cold place, which can be in Etheirys, yes, but also another reflection suffering from a surge of ice.

[Eldhelion]

i disagree

I'm very confident that it's a top-down pov, the crystal is just a rectangle twisted

[Cleretic]

Plot twist:

As a part of Zodiark, Hythlodaeus' soul was never sundered and returned to the Lifestream once Zodiark was destroyed. Calyx can't be a sundered reflection of him.

And the base logic didn't function anyway, we tried that last expansion.

I think we just suck at identifying voice actors, and want that to be a clue when the developers just straight-up don't use that piece. Remember how many people decided Nald'thal's two voice actors were any number of meaningful-to-the-theorizer character pairs, only for us to learn that they only have one voice actor and it's Matsya's.

Besides, I thought Calyx sounded like Asahi.

[Bonoki]

There is just one nagging question I have still that I hope gets answered with the following two patches.

Who is the 9th reflection for the Warrior of Light? We've yet to meet the person in question, and we're rapidly approaching the end of Dawntrail. At this point, it does feel like it could be Sphene if something happens to her in the following two patches. Since we know for sure Ascians are making a comeback, I'd like to assume we should be encountering our reflection any day now.

[Cilia]

And the base logic didn't function anyway, we tried that last expansion.

I think we just suck at identifying voice actors, and want that to be a clue when the developers just straight-up don't use that piece. Remember how many people decided Nald'thal's two voice actors were any number of meaningful-to-the-theorizer character pairs, only for us to learn that they only have one voice actor and it's Matsya's.

Besides, I thought Calyx sounded like Asahi.

It really just depends.

Some (voice) actors have better range than others, so it can be easy or hard to tell who's voicing who depending on how far from their natural voice they're going. Sometimes it's pretty obvious (Thancred and Rubicante), sometimes not (Koana and Gurfurlur). I like to think I have a good ear, but without a full cast list I can't say for sure.

Personally I thought (think?) Calyx sounds like Papalymo in his short 3.X appearances with a completely flat affect.

Regardless, sharing a VA doesn't mean there's some sort of connection between the characters...

There is just one nagging question I have still that I hope gets answered with the following two patches.

Who is the 9th reflection for the Warrior of Light? We've yet to meet the person in question, and we're rapidly approaching the end of Dawntrail. At this point, it does feel like it could be Sphene if something happens to her in the following two patches. Since we know for sure Ascians are making a comeback, I'd like to assume we should be encountering our reflection any day now.

Spoilers!

We won't necessarily meet every incarnation of the PC across the reflections, even if we do start hopping around them (which looks increasingly likely). Case and point the Thirteenth's incarnation of Azem is unknown and never met, though different sources suggest different identities for them (the EE Vol. 3 suggests it's the RPR avatar, while the game implies they were Contramemoria-era Golbez).

7.3 ended Dawntrail's main story arc; 7.4 / 7.5(.5) will be the prologue for 8.0. Sphene is probably going to be limited to small parts going forward, about as big as Vrtra did post-Endwalker (Void Arc notwithstanding). (The one popular character to come out of this and they sideline her after one patch. It's Moenbryda all over again, minus the dying.)

[Cleretic]

There is just one nagging question I have still that I hope gets answered with the following two patches.

Who is the 9th reflection for the Warrior of Light? We've yet to meet the person in question, and we're rapidly approaching the end of Dawntrail. At this point, it does feel like it could be Sphene if something happens to her in the following two patches. Since we know for sure Ascians are making a comeback, I'd like to assume we should be encountering our reflection any day now.

Forgive me for the bluntness hidden under this spoiler tag, but: does it matter?

If I told you that it was Lithander, would it change his character in any way? If it was Robor, would he matter any more than he already does? If it was Demetrios, would he be any more meaningful to you? If it turns out their soul got eaten three months ago to fix an industrial accident, would you feel any different? (Actually I kinda like that last one, but I assume most others wouldn't.)

I'm genuinely (if angrily) asking these, because I literally cannot conceive of a way in which 'OH THIS GUY'S AZEM' does anything at all positive or interesting for the character you heap that on, and I'm kind of annoyed that some people seem to think it's a mandatory element for some reason. It's not really a problem with you, it's a constant thing that I see from a lot of people.

Hell, did you get mad when the 6.x story didn't say this for anyone on the Thirteenth, and it was only ambiguously answered in the EE3? Is this truly an essential box that needs checked every time you hear about another shard? And if so, why? Why is this supposedly important, can't characters just be worthwhile and compelling in their own right?

[Thighland]

Forgive me for the bluntness hidden under this spoiler tag, but: does it matter?

If I told you that it was Lithander, would it change his character in any way? If it was Robor, would he matter any more than he already does? If it was Demetrios, would he be any more meaningful to you? If it turns out their soul got eaten three months ago to fix an industrial accident, would you feel any different? (Actually I kinda like that last one, but I assume most others wouldn't.)

I'm genuinely (if angrily) asking these, because I literally cannot conceive of a way in which 'OH THIS GUY'S AZEM' does anything at all positive or interesting for the character you heap that on, and I'm kind of annoyed that some people seem to think it's a mandatory element for some reason. It's not really a problem with you, it's a constant thing that I see from a lot of people.

Hell, did you get mad when the 6.x story didn't say this for anyone on the Thirteenth, and it was only ambiguously answered in the EE3? Is this truly an essential box that needs checked every time you hear about another shard? And if so, why? Why is this supposedly important, can't characters just be worthwhile and compelling in their own right?

Counter Question: Did it not matter that Ardbert was an Azem shard?

There were things only Ardbert could do as a reflection of the WoL, and him being one made the relationship he had with us more meaningful. It's like meeting a long lost brother or sister.
Of course people would be excited to see more of them; how is that even something to get confused or irritated by? Especially now that Azem's key is a major focus in the story, the fate and legacy of Azem is more relevant than ever.

[Shookbeast]

Counter Question: Why did it matter that Ardbert was an Azem shard?

There were things only Ardbert could do as a reflection of the WoL, and it made the relationship he had with us more meaningful. It's like meeting a long lost brother or sister.
Of course people would be excited to see more of them; how is that even something to get confused or irritated by? Especially now that Azem's key is a major focus in the story, the fate and legacy of Azem is more relevant than ever.

I second this opinion, and I’m excited for possible Azem arcs. I find value in Azem shards because it’s a way for the player character to make some (personally) meaningful discoveries about themself.

What if the cloaked “you know who” at the end of the “you know what” cutscene is actually not a regular blankety blank… but is a shard of our volcano grape savior? But a bad one! (Duhn duhn duhn!)

Then anyone who is a shard of us/them - well they’re in danger. The bad one might want to eat them. Or maybe already has.

Cleretic, you are a wealth of knowledge and lore - but it’s clear you simply do not care for Azem theory - but there is plenty of room for us all to spin our fantasies. What favorite theories are you picking up hints for as this expansion winds down/up?

As far as my thoughts on 7.3. Yeesh. I appreciated the ways the writers tried to break up the MSQ, but looking back on it all now, this story gives me big Dragon Age 3 release pattern vibes.

That game got its ending cut off, and released a while later as DLC. It was done as a way to stretch out the story for more content and more cash.

Dawntrail (in my opinion) should have been the 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3 patches as a single release - with the filler cut down. 7.3 didn’t feel like the end of Dawntrail - it felt like the story finally kicked into gear - and that feels a bit too little too late for me.

Also, I wish we got a 7th zone that was all the broken down underbelly of Everkeep. The dungeons in that vein were cool, but I want a zone to explore and spend time in. Something like the sub-sub-sub-basements in Portal 2.