Replayability and rewatchability for Solo Instances

[VeyaAkemi]

On another note, sometimes I also wish they had a "hard" difficulty for some of these fights instead of just the easier modes, though I appreciate they are there for people who need them.

This is a large part of why I still wish the match against Gulool Ja Ja had been a trial instead, that fight is such a powerful vibe, but it being one-and-done(or two-and-done considering the fight against the phantom later, but that doesn't carry the same vibe), that it made me wish we could've gotten at least a EX of it, Vali can go back to FF6, fucker didn't need to be here.

[Raikai]

This is a large part of why I still wish the match against Gulool Ja Ja had been a trial instead, that fight is such a powerful vibe, but it being one-and-done(or two-and-done considering the fight against the phantom later, but that doesn't carry the same vibe), that it made me wish we could've gotten at least a EX of it, Vali can go back to FF6, fucker didn't need to be here.

I agree. Valingarmanda defnitely didn't live for the expectations. I thought it would play an essential role in the rite of succession, like being the final challenge and the entity that would bless the winner.

In fact, they also misled by showing the Alexandria's last boss, the Eliminator, in a way that made me think it would also have a pretty big role in the story.

[Jeeqbit]

I agree. Valingarmanda defnitely didn't live for the expectations. I thought it would play an essential role in the rite of succession, like being the final challenge and the entity that would bless the winner.

I didn't think that, because they teased it so much before release including in the MSQ. The lore and its theme and every "formula" thing about it pointed to it being the 93 trial and a 93 trial isn't a last boss by any stretch. I actually made a roadmap of how I thought Dawntrail would go after one of the Fan Fests on January 8th 2024 and most of it ended up being accurate, here it is (notice I placed Valigarmanda by Urqopacha). Then it just got outright confirmed if there was any doubt when Yoshi-P previewed it on stream.

They teased Valigarmanda as something you would fight along the way and that Wuk Lamat was excited to face. They portrayed "one of the candidates has really bad views" in a way that made them seem like they were closer to a main threat and last boss than Valigarmanda, in my opinion. Which, turned out to be the case since he's the 99 trial.

they also misled by showing the Alexandria's last boss, the Eliminator, in a way that made me think it would also have a pretty big role in the story.

Same but I expected it given they did the same with Endwalker and SE makes a formula out of every precedent. They teased the last boss of the first and second dungeons as if they were trial bosses so that they didn't outright spoil the 83 and 89 trials, which, they had basically spoiled anyway with the "end of the hydaelyn and zodiark arc" promotional material, but they gave you that just to suspend your disbelief a slight bit.

[Raikai]

I didn't think that, because they teased it so much before release including in the MSQ. The lore and its theme and every "formula" thing about it pointed to it being the 93 trial and a 93 trial isn't a last boss by any stretch.

I know, but they almost made explicit that the MSQ would be divided into 2 parts, the second one being north towards Solution 9, so it could somewhat match the midway through, making sense for it to be the 93 trial and the conclusion of the first part.

[VeyaAkemi]

I agree. Valingarmanda defnitely didn't live for the expectations.

I didn't find Vali disappointing, as much as I found them paling in comparison to the much cooler solo duty in the same leg of the story, Gulool Ja Ja was, by every metric, the Turali counterpart to the Warrior of Light, and the feeling of facing against someone who is essentially one of your predecessors is amazing, it was amazing against Venat, it is amazing here.

Though thinking about it, I feel you might be right that Vali would've been a better final boss, like maybe their presence could also serve to better explain Gulool Ja Ja showing up at the Golden City, other than "Gulool just planned to follow the winners all along", like maybe he had gone to Yak T'el to fight Vali again, maybe even planning a heroic sacrifice to take them down once for all, since he was by now depowered without the Head of Reason and even at their peak they could only seal Vali away, but then Wuk Lamat and Koana, with the Scions' help(including WoL as "the Scions" to be clear, WoL IS a Scion even if the term is broadly used to refer to the group outside of them), manage to strike down Vali without any losses, and Gulool gets to feel this absolute sense of pride in his children.

[Espon]

I didn't find Vali disappointing, as much as I found them paling in comparison to the much cooler solo duty in the same leg of the story, Gulool Ja Ja was, by every metric, the Turali counterpart to the Warrior of Light, and the feeling of facing against someone who is essentially one of your predecessors is amazing, it was amazing against Venat, it is amazing here.

Though thinking about it, I feel you might be right that Vali would've been a better final boss, like maybe their presence could also serve to better explain Gulool Ja Ja showing up at the Golden City, other than "Gulool just planned to follow the winners all along", like maybe he had gone to Yak T'el to fight Vali again, maybe even planning a heroic sacrifice to take them down once for all, since he was by now depowered without the Head of Reason and even at their peak they could only seal Vali away, but then Wuk Lamat and Koana, with the Scions' help(including WoL as "the Scions" to be clear, WoL IS a Scion even if the term is broadly used to refer to the group outside of them), manage to strike down Vali without any losses, and Gulool gets to feel this absolute sense of pride in his children.

I was kinda expecting Gulool Ja Ja to be the second trial as the final challenge. They could of easily made Zoraal Ja the final boss and pushed Eternal Queen to the 7.2 trial (Zelenia could take a hike). Might of even made the story flow better.

I'm expecting a Gulool Ja Ja fight in the final alliance raid, though. There's a reason Sareel Ja summoned a younger version of him, and I doubt it was just to show him off. Plus, FF11 also had a Gulool Ja Ja that lead the mamool ja in that game.