Primals Unquestionably Bad

[Viridiana]

7. garuda's summoning of ifrit and titan (interestingly, no crystals were used, instead it required multiple sacrifices of kobolds and amalja, nor was the summoning done by the beast tribes, it was a primal summoning two others)

It's my understanding that this is actually the beastmen summoning their primals in their final moments of desperation as they die. At least, that's what the summary text in the journal led me to believe.

[Pentacus]

It's my understanding that this is actually the beastmen summoning their primals in their final moments of desperation as they die. At least, that's what the summary text in the journal led me to believe.

it's still interesting since I'm fairly certain that they didn't have a few piles of earth and fire crystals with them at the time (considering that they were tied up and all), meaning that whilst the worship and desperation were there, the crystals weren't.

plus, from the cutscene, it definitely gives the impression that it's garuda doing the summoning, she hits them with a whirlwind like when she tries to temper the player, the beastmen cry out to their primals to save them, the beastmen turn into yellow and red sparkles which fly up to create the summoning circles, then ifrit and titan are there.

it certainly doesn't seem like the beastmen were intending to summon ifrit or titan that way, the fact that they were begging their primals to save them means that they didn't expect to die during the summoning, else the "oh titan save us!" would be a little pointless.

there's also the point that the beastmen were garuda's PRISONERS, if they had summoned their primals, they would likely have been our allies temporarily since everyone there except the ixal wanted garuda dead (hell, the reason they needed saving was because garuda was killing them)

[Viridiana]

it's still interesting since I'm fairly certain that they didn't have a few piles of earth and fire crystals with them at the time (considering that they were tied up and all), meaning that whilst the worship and desperation were there, the crystals weren't.

plus, from the cutscene, it definitely gives the impression that it's garuda doing the summoning, she hits them with a whirlwind like when she tries to temper the player, the beastmen cry out to their primals to save them, the beastmen turn into yellow and red sparkles which fly up to create the summoning circles, then ifrit and titan are there.

it certainly doesn't seem like the beastmen were intending to summon ifrit or titan that way, the fact that they were begging their primals to save them means that they didn't expect to die during the summoning, else the "oh titan save us!" would be a little pointless.

there's also the point that the beastmen were garuda's PRISONERS, if they had summoned their primals, they would likely have been our allies temporarily since everyone there except the ixal wanted garuda dead (hell, the reason they needed saving was because garuda was killing them)

The crystal thing is weird, yes, but the rest is all explainable. First, the tempering whirlwind and the whirlwind she uses there are different. The tempering one is blue in color, much like Ifrit's blue flames. The ones she uses on the prisoners is the same as the one she blocks Alphinaud and Cid with. Beastmen crying out to their gods for salvation is a perfectly natural reaction to facing imminent death. As to the primals allying with us against Garuda, I believe she expected to have to fight them. Unless she really thought they'd surrender their aether to her willingly. . .