Thread: 3.4 speculation

Originally Posted by Cilia

Your alternative is that Hydaelyn is incompetent? Yeah, real reassuring... the Goddess doesn't know how to do her job or gauge her abilities...

Eh, I guess it's less incompetence and more exhaustion? She's suffered numerous Calamities at this point, countless Primals have been summoned and drained her aether, at least one Ultima to the face, and who know what else the Ascians have done throughout history... Calling her incompetent is more of a joke I have which stems from either a plot hole or a plot point; Hydaelyn spoke directly to us when we regained the Blessing of Light. Prior to that, and after, it is implied Hydaelyn has been too weak to communicate effectively since Praetorium... Given Word of the Mother ran out of power before telling us what exactly we're meant to seek, Hydaelyn talking to us directly just before our showdown with Thordan, to say pretty much nothing, strikes me as an oddity... Rather than incompetence though, I'm more incline to view it as a plot point, one which indicates that our Blessing is Hydaelyn... The Mother Crystal may have grown dim, but all the torch bearer references we had in 2.55 have me thinking that, rather than sacrificing waifus to revive Hydaelyn, we'll be sacrificing our Blessing... Her flame may have gone out, but we still carry the torch... 10g Word of the Mother was saying "Seek the Crystals of Light", or something similar... It would be a nice set up for 4.0 I think... Hydaelyn would be restored, the Ascians dealt with for the foreseeable future, and we'd be down one piece of plot armor... That allows 4.0 to be somewhat more interesting IMO...

That's really the only seemingly solid piece of speculation I have on what WotM was telling us to seek... The Lunar Whale is a half-serious possibility I guess, given we know the moon is a thing and is related to the current big bad... Could even have a Lunar Subterrane as the new dungeon for 3.5, given there is a statue of Zodiark up there, so presumably other structure too... I just think that's too much of an on-the-nose reference to IV (and that's coming from me...), plus traveling the the moon just strikes me as fairly ridiculous currently... I know Dalamud was in space, so the Allag certainly could have built a Lunar Whale... Heck, I seem to recall 1.0 originally planned for us to go to Dalamud while it was in orbit or something? So it's been on the table for a while for us to go to space... I guess that's the logical terminus of "Heavensward", too... Ugh, it just strikes me as such an odd shift for the story... Suddenly we're astronauts? No, it doesn't work IMO... It was odd in IV and it'd be odd here... I think VII did a much better job of building up its brief trip to the stars, but XIV hasn't had any such buildup and I'd hate to see it crammed into two patches worth of story... Heck, even VIII did a better job that IV IMO, though maybe that's just because bizarre events became the norm with that game...

In regards to Hydaelyn bear in mind that Minfilia was - at the point leading up to her 'possession'- in no actual danger. She had almost escaped with the Warrior of Light until Hydaelyn bid her to return. She even looked shocked and saddened by whatever she was told.

Hydaelyn, however, claims that Minfilia was 'lost and alone' and prayed for aid...to which she intervened. This is strange because Minfilia was deliberately placed in that situation by Hydaelyn. At best Hydaelyn is incompetent...at worst she's sinister and willing to sacrifice her own followers for her cause. Which, if it ends up being a necessity opens up the door to some pretty dubious implications in itself.

Either way I'm personally banking on Hydaelyn being bad news. JRPG's are notorious for making religion and religious figures into antagonists after all.

Personally I'm hoping that at some point in the story Hydaelyn takes a backseat, we see the Warrior of Light lose his blessings and we're forced to take on the role of an actual adventurer again - albeit one with great strength and reknown. Though if we ever leave Eorzea that's a great opportunity for our reputation to 'reset'.

Originally Posted by Theodric

In regards to Hydaelyn bear in mind that Minfilia was - at the point leading up to her 'possession'- in no actual danger. She had almost escaped with the Warrior of Light until Hydaelyn bid her to return. She even looked shocked and saddened by whatever she was told.

Hydaelyn, however, claims that Minfilia was 'lost and alone' and prayed for aid...to which she intervened. This is strange because Minfilia was deliberately placed in that situation by Hydaelyn. At best Hydaelyn is incompetent...at worst she's sinister and willing to sacrifice her own followers for her cause. Which, if it ends up being a necessity opens up the door to some pretty dubious implications in itself.

I imagine Hydaelyn said "Yo b*tch, I'm dying, Y'shtola will send you here so I can tell you TheTruth™", the whole "I'm dying" part being what got a "No!" out of Minfilia... When the Word of the Mother says that Minfilia was "lost and alone", I'm fairly certain that is referring to after Minfilia arrived at the Mother Crystal, she also says that Hydaelyn "went silent", or something like that...

I really cannot see any sinister undertones here... Like I've said, it was just a case of Hydaelyn being "incompetent", but you try being competent after seven Calamities, countless Primals, and two Ultimas to the face - I forgot she also saved Krile from an Ultima-like event at the Isle of Val... I'm not even sure what sinister plot Hydaelyn could be scheming that involves this... "I killed their leader and friend, now they'll do whatever I say!"? Yeah... Not sure that's how it works... Hydaelyn is one hell of a professional victim if this is the case... I half expect Elidibus to jump on this (I suspect he knew this would happen to Minfilia, given the interest he showed in her) and spin the "Hydaelyn will sacrifice you! She's totes bad!" narrative to his advantage, though I sure hope nobody buys it... I imagine that's the truth he always spoke of, actually... Still, it's an utterly ridiculous criticism to come from one of a group hell bent on causing chaos and ruining lives...

Originally Posted by Ametrine

In regards to Minfillia joining Hydaelyn;

The dialogue from the Word indicates Mini willfully choose to join Hydaelyn as she wanted to do something, anything, to aid. "If you can't speak, then let me speak for you!"

You also must remember Minfillia had no idea what we were doing as she had been floating in aethereal sea while we were helping Ishgard.

Minfillia seems more like a sanctified martyr in her current state, verses an unwitting pawn.

Martyrdom doesn't sit well with me, either!

Hydaelyn called Minfilia, when she was in no danger, and told her to run back into Flow - which Hydaelyn used to guide Minfilia to the Astral Aetherial Sea, where Hydaelyn was unable to communicate with her. Hydaelyn had to have known from the first that would be the end result. So Minfilia prayed and asked to help, and ended up getting assimilated by Hydaelyn.

I am not okay with this. At all. We've been fighting and killing for a long, long while now. If all our effort has done nothing but buy time... what was it all for? Is there no place in this world for Minfilia? If it means another tomorrow for the world then it's okay Minfilia had to die? What the hell is that?! I don't ever want to hear that again...

Necessary? Maybe, but I find that a contentious issue. It is in no way okay, though.