Thread: 3.4 speculation

Originally Posted by Tracewood

Interesting, I keep forgetting that the Garlean empire is still a far cry from Ala Mhigo. I wonder if we'll even scratch Pagith'an at all... maybe they're setting it up for something in the far future. Guess when NPCs start name dropping certain regions more frequently we'll have our answers.

If you were hoping for any Garlemald areas in 4.0 then chances are quite low.

At best we may probably focus more on Xelphatol, Gyn Abanla, and Ala Mhigo in 4.0.

Yoshi-P hinted a month ago when asked about Doom Train that he is saving it for when we begin progressing to Garlemald so I am guessing 5.0 is Garlemald expansion with Doom train as the 4.X Final Boss so we have Doom Train be our Access into Garlemald and the Garlean Empire areas.

Hasn't there also been talk of the next expansion being "water" or "sea" focused? B/c when Heavensward was in development, Yoshi said the choice in deciding which way to go with 3.0 was btwn "sky" and "sea" (or something similar)? So, since sky was covered by Heavensward, that leaves sea for this one.

That doesn't necessarily have to count out Ala Mhigo, though. I could see the route through the Saogoli desert in S. Thanalan opening up, leading to more desert/Paglth'an, and then eventually a harbor town along the southern coast of Aldenard. Like Valkrym Dunes (sp?) in FF 11. And, from there, we could sail to the coast of Ala Mhigo's region, bypassing the Garlean garrisons on the borders of the Shroud. It could be in a low key, spec ops, kind of operation to sneak around the Garleans' flank in Gyn Abania. Or maybe we'd get to see the warships being built on Vylbrand, like the Victory, in action and running active interference for us.

And in preparation for this undertaking, we'd interact with some other islands we've heard of, like those of Mercydia. In fact, those could be how Heavensward ties into the start of things, since Mercydia was (is?) a dragon homeland.

Originally Posted by Alleluia

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Ala Mhigo is actually a good location to start the Sea aspect of the expansion as it is the location near the Sea of Jade which is the Sea between 3 very well known locations for FF14 being Ala Mhigo, Garlemald, and Doma.



This would allow SE to set up for the Garlemald and Doma expansion more easily as they would now have several ways they can travel into Garlemald and Doma.

I usually avoid indulging in this sort of thing, so...

WARNING! MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF

AHEAD!

OK, so we can be reasonably certain 4.0 is taking us to Ala Mhigo. All the stingers have set it up - Elidibus and Urianger talking about Garlemald and the Triad, Yda and Papalymo helping out the Resistance, Ilberd Mysterious Figure, and Darklander and Elidibus in the Shroud. War is coming, folks! War!

3.4 will be a Garlean offensive. They'll be pushing out of Castrum Oriens, which will be the dungeon for 3.4. Thancred and Alisae will get back to us, the latter of which will tell us of Urianger's dealings with Elidibus. We'll go to confront him, and he'll just say he was heard Elidibus out but thinks he's crazy. However things will still be proceeding as per Elidibus' design (and the Gerun Oracles), and though proving Elidibus wrong would be nice we'll need to keep playing in defense of innocent lives. Darklander & co. will be the ones pushing for the offensive from Garlemald from within.

3.5 will be a counteroffensive from the Alliance eventually leading us into Ala Mhigo proper. Keeper HM will have nothing to do with Midgardsormr, maybe, but us just trying to stop the Garleans there from setting off a bomb and blowing up Silvertear Lake or summat (which would blow up the world... or summat... since Silvertear seems to be the wellspring of aether for the entire planet). The story will be... a war story. We'll be reunited with Yda and Papalymo, and at their behest as well as knowing the Alliance is gonna do it one way or another enter the fray. The 3.55 trial will be some magitek superweapon.

While there will be an original story, no doubt, I am nonetheless expecting 4.0 to be somewhat influenced by VI given the Empire's similarities to the Gestahlian Empire and the Triad will evidently have some influence on the MSQ. I'm still expecting a Kefkaesque figure for the 4.0 endboss, though, mostly because I want to fight a long, tough boss fight with the Black Mages mix of Dancing Mad as a backdrop.

There's still a lot of pieces to move into place, though, so I'm fairly certain this is inaccurate. The Genesis Expression... the Triad... Ilberd... Omega... the Warriors of Darkness... Nero... Regula... too much to fit into a picture when all we have is a rough outline of where things will go.

Will Yda fall? Will Garlemald get the Genesis Expression? Will Nero reappear and, if so, as a heroic figure? Will SAM have a Vergil-esque combat aesthetic? Will I finish my Guillotine of the Tyrant before Deus Ex: Mankind Divided releases? Will Mighty No. 9 ever be released on the Vita? Will I ever get around to starting that Digimon Tamers Abridged series so I can voice Beelzemon?

STAY TUNED! You can't be here! Only I can be here! Don't touch me...

What about Paglthian up there?

It seems reasonable to think that if we enter Ala Mhigo by sea, we could just as easily use that area as part of the journey.

Unless the trial is like a dungeon with us moving along parts of the boss as the actual terrain.

As crazy as it sounds, remember Midgardsorm's scale and the shear quantity of aether at Silvertear.

That kind of summoning could end very, very badly.... Which may be what the devs opt to do.

This talk about Kefka, not talking it down but the thing that made Kefka interesting compared to most villain was that he was a clown... though it was hard to tell back when FFVI was in pixel form, but the Kefka we know now is more of Square's answer to Batman's Joker.

The villains we have now take themselves far too seriously, but I get what you mean by "The Kefka" in the sense one of them might do something to the warring triad and cause total chaos.

Only villain that seemed to come close with that clowning personality was Nael in 1.0... and I wished I didn't miss out on that. His flamboyantly playful nature and posing while boasting about his grand scheme. There is Regula that's a little out there, but we don't get to see much of him yet... hopefully his story gets fleshed out more.