Aymeric (SPOILERS)

[Fenral]

And Fenral

You get a like because I hadn't looked through this thread at all before now. :P I feel so loved.

When inevitable romantic undertones happen, mostly I want my character's reaction to not be fixed to the event scripter's personal bias, even if it can never go anywhere (then again, SWTOR got away with mind-rape hate sex and kept a T rating, so anything's possible). Failing that, I want everyone to be herosexual like in Dragon's Dogma, where literally any NPC in the entire game (except the mad Duke) can become your Beloved and will "reward" you after saving them from the Dragon.

...

But back on the topic of Aymeric, he's not evil, nor is he in any danger now that he's in our Leader group with the rest of the Eorzean Alliance. I think he's in a dark place now that he thinks killing Estinien is the way to start Ishgard's new future, and any thoughts of saving him must be pushed aside for the "greater good." He's also overworking himself with a life-threatening injury, probably because he's decided he doesn't deserve to be a part of the new Ishgard. He might even think he can just die here and leave us to carry on in his memory, because he believes Lucia's strong enough to carry on without him or some such rot.

Because the greater good doesn't allow you to value individuals (or yourself) independently of the group. I'm really glad this is finally becoming an actual conflict and no longer just taken for granted. Self-sacrifice can be really selfish sometimes.

[Februs]

Well, I haven't picked through this entire thread yet, and it's more than likely that someone mentioned this already, but if I were pressed to consider the possibility of Aymeric being "evil-ish" I could kind of see it.

The thing is, Nidhogg's actions play into Aymeric's long term goals (peace with Dragons). So, in theory, any evil actions that Nidhogg takes towards Aymeric or his possible allies is to Aymeric's benefit. At the peace summit, for example, when Nidhogg showed up and speared Vidofnir, he kinda sealed the deal. Humans and dragons alike witnessed his barbarism. He made an enemy of both. What better time for humans and dragons to come together against a common foe?

Being a smart man, it's not impossible that Aymeric foresaw such a development and plans to take advantage of the situation. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that he were secretly grateful to Nidhogg for his tremendously stupid actions. A more conniving character might have known that the attack was coming and intentionally allowed it. A downright morally reprehensible character would have orchestrated the whole thing with the intent of greasing the wheels with the dragons.

As for his advances on the Warrior of Light ... If I were being cynical, I would say that there's a lot of political posturing going on between Aymeric and the 3 GC's. First, he has us fight for Ishgard against our own grand companies. Then, at the last minute, he forces us to wear Ishgardian (butt ugly) colours during the melee. It's like he's politely declaring that he is claiming the WoL as his own. Even the other GC leaders took note of it, and despite their politically correct diction, there were a lot of heavy implications (the worst of which being a cold war styled arms race in which we are the arm) ... Again, though, that's looking at things with a pretty cynical eye, and it still doesn't necessarily paint Aymeric as a "bad guy." As of yet, his intentions do seem good ... Though, if he really does plan on taking a hold of our services and creating a united force with the dragons there is room for that cynical eye to stretch a bit to more grand aspirations that aren't necessarily as good as things seem now. I have a feeling that the Garleans will be the major stumbling block to any of that, though.

[Fenral]

After reading your post, I got this twisted idea in my head that Estinien is actually fully in control of himself, and he's taking on Nidhogg's form for the sake of making himself the last obstacle to peace between man and dragon. There's no way the Azure Dragoon would "accidentally" fail to land a fatal blow. Whether Aymeric is in on it or not is another story.

[Februs]

After reading your post, I got this twisted idea in my head that Estinien is actually fully in control of himself, and he's taking on Nidhogg's form for the sake of making himself the last obstacle to peace between man and dragon. There's no way the Azure Dragoon would "accidentally" fail to land a fatal blow. Whether Aymeric is in on it or not is another story.

It's kinda fun being cynical, isn't it? lol

[Morningstar1337]

After reading your post, I got this twisted idea in my head that Estinien is actually fully in control of himself, and he's taking on Nidhogg's form for the sake of making himself the last obstacle to peace between man and dragon. There's no way the Azure Dragoon would "accidentally" fail to land a fatal blow. Whether Aymeric is in on it or not is another story.

Final Fantasy XIV: Watchmen

[myahele]

I personally believe that Aymeric is slowly shaping up to become Ishgard's GC leader ... but what will happen to the Bishop's seat?

Will it be something like Ul'dah where there's the head of state and GC leader or will it be more absolute in the sense that Kan E Senna is Elder Seedseer/ GC leader?

I am mostly interested if Ishgard will keep it's Theocracy or will it become something else ... like a republic?

[Fenral]

It's kinda fun being cynical, isn't it? lol

I'm actually so cynical that it's rolled over into really stubborn optimism, like a reverse of the Nuclear Gandhi glitch in Civilization.

[CyrilLucifer]

I'm really in the same boat as Fenral. I'm so cynical it looped around into some sort of masochistic optimism.

In regards to Thancred turning to the Ascians/WoDs - Yeah, no. I don't see it as realistic at all.

I do expect him to do something very foolish and desperate to save Minfilia, but he was possessed by Lahabrea, I can't see him buddybuddying with Elidibus like we do.

My belief is that he's so averse to anything Ascian that if Urianger comes out and finally admits to having some nice, world-ending discussions with Second Best Ascian, Thancred will close his eyes and cover his ears and refuse to listen to reason. 'It's their fault she's gone!' or somesuch and lash out at Urianger.

[Morningstar1337]

Come to think of it, He didn't show up when we knocked on Sephirot's door (then again I;d imagine that be might be at greater risk than most being near primals/eikons after Flow)

[CyrilLucifer]

That's actually an interesting point. Why wouldn't Thancred be there? I mean, he went and solo'd a FATE for us during the MSQ battle, so he's far from helpless. Even Urianger was out there distracting/fighting the Garleans, and I don't think we've seen him take an active role in battle since 1.0.

So, where was Thancred? Was he not invited? Did he get mentioned offhand some time in the quest as busy and I don't remember it? Sephirot requires 3.1 to be finished to start, so it can't be that SE is playing it cautious and doing the "let's keep Thancred out in case they haven't done the MSQ" yet.