Additional Kagoshima Producer Letter LIVE Questions Answered (Updated Irregularly)

[Dualblade]

This reminds me of a thought I've been having lately. Namely the city-states in present-day Eorzea got really f***ing lucky during the Seventh Calamity. Yes, they endured some damage, but compared to previous disasters, they should be thanking the Twelve they came through with their civilization more or less intact.

Thats...actually a very good point. From what we have seen of the previous civilizations, and their calamities, we really did get off lightly. Could very much explain why the Umbral era could be considered so short, and why Lahabrea and his associates were trying to bring about the next one so quickly...

[LineageRazor]

Thats...actually a very good point. From what we have seen of the previous civilizations, and their calamities, we really did get off lightly. Could very much explain why the Umbral era could be considered so short, and why Lahabrea and his associates were trying to bring about the next one so quickly...

This is something that's kind of irked me, actually. The so-called calamity brought by Bahamut was so piss-poor, it barely affected civilization at all. It almost feels like an offense to the long-ago survivors of past calamities to call it a calamity at all, let alone something worthy of a change of Eras. The fact that the Umbral Era only lasted five years is also pretty hilarious.

Reading about disasters that brought folks like the Allagans or the Amdapori down, it seems difficult to compare them.

[Jojozan]

This is something that's kind of irked me, actually. The so-called calamity brought by Bahamut was so piss-poor, it barely affected civilization at all. It almost feels like an offense to the long-ago survivors of past calamities to call it a calamity at all, let alone something worthy of a change of Eras. The fact that the Umbral Era only lasted five years is also pretty hilarious.

Reading about disasters that brought folks like the Allagans or the Amdapori down, it seems difficult to compare them.

I have long suspected that the Eorzean Alliance called the Umbral Era off early, and that we are in a lull before the full Calamity hits. Each previous Calamity toppled the strongest nations around, and Garlemand is still there, to say nothing of the Eorzean countries.

[rainichan]

There's also the fact that Louisoix helped to quell a LOT of the damage that Bahamut would have done as well; I imagine Bahamut would have gone on a Megaflare spree once he was done with the heart of Eorzea and would have gone on to Garlemald and everywhere else to bring out a true Calamity. In the bluray with the CE for ARR, it says that Archons appear to try and get the people to stop Calamities in the other Eras, this time they were the most victorious at it is all.

[Unittj]

I have a question. Hiring any writers? LOL I would so help write lore entries if it meant getting the book published faster.

[Velox]

This is something that's kind of irked me, actually. The so-called calamity brought by Bahamut was so piss-poor, it barely affected civilization at all. It almost feels like an offense to the long-ago survivors of past calamities to call it a calamity at all, let alone something worthy of a change of Eras. The fact that the Umbral Era only lasted five years is also pretty hilarious.

Reading about disasters that brought folks like the Allagans or the Amdapori down, it seems difficult to compare them.

It does and doesn't but remember that the Calamity was cut-short due to the actions of Louisoix (which is covered in detail the Coil raid). If Bahamut was not stopped through the otherwise regrettable means taken to stop him (which was the only way to stop him, as no mortal on the planet had the power to contend), he would have continued his destructive onslaught until not a single creature lived. His rage was so deep--filled with the agony of thousands of years of entrapment and his children pleading for salvation--that he would have even slaughtered dragon-kind (he would no longer distinguish anything). It would have been the Calamity that would have completely destroyed all life.

It was this defeat that not only cut the Calamity short, but also the resurgence of aether from Bahamut's body (now free) and the remaining aether of the summoning of the Twelve kick-started the recovery of life and the re-balance of the planet's aether stream. The combination of the two was the reason why the calamity was blissfully short.

[Berethos]

If Bahamut was not stopped through the otherwise regrettable means taken to stop him (which was the only way to stop him, as no mortal on the planet had the power to contend), he would have continued his destructive onslaught until not a single creature lived.

I think if he had succeeded, the consequences would have been far worse.

Remember what the Word of the Mother said? Our calamities are accompanied by a rejoining of part of Zodiark and part of Hydaelyn...and I believe elsewhere it's mentioned that the actions of the Warriors of Light and Louisoix and the Archons helped prevent the rejoining from happening this last time.

She also reveals that the crystal we've been floating in front of is the last of her.

Which means had the Calamity not been cut short, it wasn't just Bahamut destroying stuff but the end of Hydaelyn entirely. Zodiark would have won.

[StarDrake]

Man, I am so late on getting in on this. Some thoughts!

Q:
How are dragon names decided? Many of the dragons in and around Anyx Trine have names made from words in from the dragon language, but there are others--Vidofnir, Vedrfolnir, Gullinkambi--who have names taken from Norse Mythology like Midgardsormr and his children's are. Is there a reason they have their own unique names? Are names like this earned?

A:
Every dragon has a name in the base draconian tongue, including the more prominent figures such as Bahamut, Vidofnir, Midgardsormr, etc. The 'Eorzean' names have been earned through the dragons' interactions with past civilizations. [...] Some of the dragons have even grown fond of these names, choosing to use them even when speaking with other dragons (who would otherwise know them by their draconian names).

Makes sense. And it certainly opens the door to one dragon being called, by a certain people further east, the Spirit Dragon...

Q:
Will we learn anything regarding the 1st or 2nd Astral Eras, or the nations contemporaneous to the Allagans during the 3rd and 4th Astral Eras?

A:
The further we look back into history, the less that remains in the way of clues telling us about those distant times.

Going to chest-beat a little and say that this is more or less how I thought it was - pre-Allagan history is so far removed from modern Hydaelyn that perhaps only the dragons of the First Brood would even recall much of the history and peoples of those eras, and even then it's hard to know how invested they were in Spoken history back then. As it is, it's myth at best, very little from that time has survived the march of entropy, and aside from forming some trivia for early Ascian confrontations, it isn't really relevant to the development or politics of modern Eorzea, certainly not in the way 5th Astral history is, or even Allagan history itself.

I do find the semi-assertion that 5th Astral history is also not well-understood to be a little odd, though - if anything, the game's quests give the impression that the history of the War of the Magi, at least, is still fairly well-documented and studied, even if the Mhachi have become boogeymen in the popular imagination. Certainly Amdapori history is a cornerstone of the culture of their Gridanian descendants (and if even mild inference is correct, their Ishgardian ones, too), and some attentive viewing seems to point to a lot of influence on Lominsan culture from the descendants of the Nymian Plainsfolk who integrated into the new city-state following its founding.

(I didn't miss the dodge about Fourth Astral history, by the way. Now I'm even more curious...)

That isn't to say, however, that no information on the earliest of the Astral Eras exists. The Allagans did their research, and some of that is just now being uncovered by Garlean and Eorzean scholars. And from what I've heard, their findings are slated to be published in a certain tome of lore scheduled for release later this year.

Dammit, Ferne, are you trying to make people vibrate off their chairs with hype?

status: currently vibrating

Q:
Will we hear about the 2 remaining dragons of Midgardsormr's First Brood during the Heavensward story-line, or at all?

A:[...] Well, I've spoken Oda-san, and I'm sorry to report that there are currently no plans to have either of the wyrms appear in the Heavensward (3.x) story-line.

So no Shinryu or MYSTERY OTHER DARGON in 3.x. A little disappointing, but not surprising - Heavensward is somewhat struggling to keep up with its huge cast as it stands. Hopefully we at least get confirmed names for the two before too long. Looooorebook?

Anyway, I'm loving this thread so far, and I'm looking forward to seeing more answers! (Hopefully that question of mine about the mechanics of healing magic makes the cut. ;.; )

[Vexander]

This is something that's kind of irked me, actually. The so-called calamity brought by Bahamut was so piss-poor, it barely affected civilization at all. It almost feels like an offense to the long-ago survivors of past calamities to call it a calamity at all, let alone something worthy of a change of Eras. The fact that the Umbral Era only lasted five years is also pretty hilarious.

Reading about disasters that brought folks like the Allagans or the Amdapori down, it seems difficult to compare them.

As others have said, it could've been much worse. Granted I think having what seemed to be about 75%-90% of Eorzea ON FIRE is pretty bad. Species of plants and animals went extinct, or nearly extinct, like the grapes in Wineport, or the wolves you can get from the Ixali beast tribe.

[Zohar_Lahar]

I do find the semi-assertion that 5th Astral history is also not well-understood to be a little odd, though - if anything, the game's quests give the impression that the history of the War of the Magi, at least, is still fairly well-documented and studied, even if the Mhachi have become boogeymen in the popular imagination. Certainly Amdapori history is a cornerstone of the culture of their Gridanian descendants (and if even mild inference is correct, their Ishgardian ones, too), and some attentive viewing seems to point to a lot of influence on Lominsan culture from the descendants of the Nymian Plainsfolk who integrated into the new city-state following its founding.

There's a lot still left unexplained, like why the War of the Magi started, why Mhach was so obsessed with destruction magic, what did Amdapor actually do that pushed the elementals into calling Oha-Sok, and how Nym's ruins ended up on floating rocks.