[spoilers]3.2 MSQ Discussion/Reaction thread

[Nalien]

Edit for clarification: The Antitower was different, because, unlike other times, where she initiates communication with you, you initiated communication with her. And with the Echo probing her like that, she was unable to push you away.

She did push us away though... She used the very last of her strength to send us back to "the shore of the aetherial sea", I imagine we'd have been trapped there as Minfilia was were it not for that...

It's a very elaborate scheme if this is anything but a last desperate attempt to have us stop the Rejoining... There is more ammunition for us to sign up with the Ascians here, well... There would be if the Ascians weren't so painfully evil all the time... Except Elidibus of course, but he obviously is a schemer... Granted, we only know that through cutscene hacks, so far we have no idea he had the Warriors of Darkness sitting on the sidelines waiting for this, nor any idea he was involved with Thordan, or even than he is whispering sweet nothings in Uriangers ear...

[CyrilLucifer]

That's what I meant by "the Mothercrystal equivalent of passing out."

I don't think Hydaelyn wanted us to contact Her directly like that, even if only out of love and worry for us. She clearly didn't have the strength to sustain it. But we barged in anyway, against her will, because it's within our power to do so.

[Alisa180]

Didn't get the chance to write a full reaction this time, unfortunetly. Garland Tools updated with newest MSQs, and the journals for such contains an important clarification on what Alphinaud meant when he said we 'didn't know the full story.'

Reminded of the Antecedent's plight, Alphinaud ponders what could have motivated her to go to such lengths to deliver so curious a message.

Make of that what you will.

It's also been hinted via Tataru that we can still get Minfilia back somehow. My current guess is that this will involve restoring at least some of Hydaelyn's strength, so she can talk to us on her own again and will no longer need Minfilia as a mouthpiece.

Another quick note, Aymeric technically has 'quest immunity', due to a certain culinary leve:

Temple Knights First Commander Ser Lucia

The lord commander is a remarkably modest man, and shirks the fine cuisines of the capital, instead choosing to break the same bread as any common soldier. The one pleasure to which he indulges is a dash of rich birch syrup in his morning tea, ever so subtly. He may complain if he were to know of my intention, but given the immense burden he carries, I would give him naught but the most exquisite syrup.

So I'm about 85% he's not going to die.

[Harz]

It's been a long time since I screamed at a character for anything in any game/anime. I wasn't expecting Estinien to show up so soon and dive on Vidofnir's back....NOOOOO HOW COULD YOU!!!??? Although it was actually Nidhogg's doing, he almost runied everything that the meeting stood for.

I'm not sure he did. Consider that one of the reasons that the maid and her band tried to disturb the conference was because they believed that the Dravanians had no interest in peace at all and that it was all a trick. Nidhogg gored the Dravanian emissary in front of a crowd of Ishgardians, the conference may not have gone entirely according to plan but Nidhogg's actions demonstrated very clearly to the people of Ishgard that not all Dravanians share the same ideals.

The crowd wasn't chanting "Death to the dragons," they were chanting "Death to Nidhogg."

[Fenral]

Oh I'm not endorsing it, I just don't see what Hydaelyn gets out of this...

Is it not obvious? She was able to tell us only what matters most: that the Darkness must be pushed back, and the Ascians defeated. There is no hidden meaning in what Hydaelyn has said to us, because as far as She is concerned, what she has commanded is the most important conflict in the universe. She is desperate, willing to go to any length, put all her chips on the board, because if the final Rejoining takes place everything is over. As far as She is concerned.

But that's the thing: for all we've learned, we still have no idea what we're actually fighting against. It seems to me that Hydaelyn has gone full-on Bhunivelze on us. She doesn't wish anyone ill per se (besides the Darkness), but She simply has no grasp of the drives that make us human. We don't even know if the Darkness is something that ever needed to be banished at all, or if the entire struggle was simply born from a misguided ideal and perpetuated endlessly for no other reason than to justify the cost.

[Alisa180]

*snip*

I second this. The attack was very important in showing the Ishgardians that there is an internal divide within the dragons. And as one crowdmember said, "So long as that dragon is around, we shall never know peace!' And the thing is he's right.

After that fiasco, I'm predicting about a 50% chance that Hraesvelgar is going to get involved now. On one hand, his feelings towards humans aside, Nidhogg nearly killed one of his children. (Most of the dragons in Alyx Trine are implied to be more indirectly related to Hraesvelgar. But Vidofnir calls him 'Father', and it's been pretty much stated he directly sired her.) If Hraesvelgar has any love for Vidofnir, Nidhogg's actions should be a screaming red flag of just *how* far gone he is. One that has a fair chance of kicking Hraesvelgar out of his 'uninvolved/neutral' stance.

[Frederick22]

I know what im going to said is vague and I could be very well wrong. But based on the picture of 3.2

I suspect Minfilia could not be totaly dead. Could be situation of "her life is now chain to the fate of the mother cristal"? If she died, so too will Minfilia?

[Alisa180]

*snip*

Discussions of Hydaelyn's morality aside, the simple fact is that the Ascians' are responsible for the Calamities that with the exception of the last one have wiped *entire civilizations* off the map. Lahabrea even says that massive death and destruction is required to fulfill the Ascians' goals. It's also stated by Elidibius that Lahabrea sought to initiate another Rejoining during Heavensward a.k.a another Calamity.

And it's heavily implied that if Louisoix hadn't intervened as he had, the last Calamity via Bahamut would have wiped out all life in Eorzea. Heck, even before Dalamund cracked open, it's said its crash would have obliterated Eorzea anyway, hence why we resorted to summoning the Twelve.

I found the transcript for one of Seventh Umbral Era 1.0 quests on FFXIV Gamerescape. Here's a relevant quote:

Thancred: Summoning them would be tantamount to bleeding the life out of the land. Yet without their aid, Eorzea is most assuredly doomed.

Thancred: Dalamud will fall, and the land will die. Even should aether still flow, life may never again blossom here.

Say what you will about Hydaelyn, but at least she's not trying to kill us all. In fact, she's actively trying to prevent that. You can say some of her actions are questionable. But given the choice between a debateably-manipulative goddess who, with the exception of Minfilia (and even then, it's implied that was an act of sheer desperation), has done nothing but help and guide us, and the servants of a god explictly looking to wipe out the people of Eorzea...Yeah, I'm siding with the goddess on this one.

[Lone-wolfe-02]

I don't trust Hydaelyn one damn bit. I didn't like Minfilla much to begin with but seriously what is left of minfilla now? she's just a damn puppet in my eyes now.

[greyfurr]

I don't know. I'm not getting the diabolical vibe from Hydaelyn. I mean she's been telling us from the beginning to hear, feel, think, and now seek; that's not something one tends to do when one is trying to pull a fast one. Start telling people to do that and you can't be all that surprised when they do, or all that shocked when/if they uncover your schemes. As for Minfilia, well, she had the opportunity to say no when we were fleeing Ul'dah. When Hydaelyn spoke to her, Minfilia said no then waited a bit then told us to go on without her and ran back to get caught up in Flow. That was her choice and one she didn't have to make. She could have said no and just continued on with us if she had wanted to but, for whatever reason, she didn't.

Once she was in the aetherial sea if Hydaelyn had wanted to subsume her so badly why didn't she just nab Minfilia when she arrived? Why did she wait until Minfilia offered herself up? This seems to hint, to me at least, that there are somethings Hydaelyn can't do. Whether these are self imposed restrictions or not I don't know, but considering how desperate she is she didn't pounce on Minfilia like a spider on a fly the moment she hit the aetherial sea.

Also, I'm wondering if the line "The crystal's power is all but spent" is referring to the one we were holding when we transported into the aetherial sea?