Oh my.

[Ecks007]

Jenova Cells. Explains everything.

[Enkidoh]

Oooh boy, I'm surprised the Loremasters haven't posted about this yet - they'll have a field day over this.

Personally though, I'm not convinced this is really is Nael at all - the last anyone saw of him in 1.0 was his body disintegrating into aether and flowing up into the sky to Dalamud - hence, whose to say this 'Nael' is just an 'aetheric entity' that has taken a loose form which is not 100% 'correct'? 'She', could be the same thing as Good King Moggle Mog the XIIth - aether given form and substance based on a desire or memory.

Not to mention Nael's official SE bio on the main FFXIV website has long stated Nael as male, and the kicker, the lyrics for Nael's final boss theme Rise of the White Raven, refers to him in the male tense (when translated into English from Latin). So, is that all just a retcon, or has SE decided to have a laugh at the players' expense by throwing all that away to instead pull a rule 63? I guess we'll find out soon enough.

[Tupsi]

Not to mention it's not the first time...remember Faris in FFV?

[ValorSekari]

I laughed harder than I should.

Me too lmao.
Can't take the damn scene serious with frosty @_@...

[Nestama]

During the 1.23 fight, doesn't his personality change somewhat when he becomes Nael Deus Darnus?

[AmyNeudaiz]

During the 1.23 fight, doesn't his personality change somewhat when he becomes Nael Deus Darnus?

He does, I stated earlier in the thread

[Nestama]

Ah, must have missed your post somehow.

[dragonflie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EHb-aUk0Hc <-- with battle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na4HqlJ25AQ <-- cutscene only

I went and checked the video. Start at 19:00 to 20:30 of the first link, and you can see the name change.

[Taruranto]

Not to mention Nael's official SE bio on the main FFXIV website has long stated Nael as male, and the kicker, the lyrics for Nael's final boss theme Rise of the White Raven, refers to him in the male tense (when translated into English from Latin). So, is that all just a retcon, or has SE decided to have a laugh at the players' expense by throwing all that away to instead pull a rule 63? I guess we'll find out soon enough.

This is actually already explained in the following dialogue.

[EdwinLi]

----

Funny thing about Bios.

Bios about characters are usually based on what is commonly known in the game by the majority NPCs. All NPCs have always known Nael as a Male so the bio is based on the NPCs knowledge about the character. However, the real bio of a character is usually secretly kept to the developers themselves so it is up to them to follow a common bio known to all NPCs in the game or pull a plot twist and reveal a piece of the character's real Biology through lore and story events like how they revealed Nael is actually Female.

This isn't the first time I've seen developers pull this gender bender stunt.