Ugh, was that scene with Papalymo holding Tupsimati a flashback, or is he returning? If the later, can't help but noticed Yda is missing... Please don't let my random speculation that Yda will be captured in some fashion... Take Papalymo instead!
Derplander and his group turning Primals against their tribes? Pretty good plan honestly... Use their own trump card against them and what will they do exactly? Faced against the Garleans, they could just pray harder... Now? Summon Titan and he kills you, dumb plan... End scene had them using Crystals of Light for something... Are they theirs, though? There's a scene with the Warrior of Light chained up by Derplander, time to lose our Blessing of Light again?! "Guide my hand, I pray you", who ya praying to there Derpy?
Who gave the Ixali steroids? Mistook that final boss for an Amalj'aa for a while... Summoning Garuda like Ultima Weapon? Wonder if that's a new form of summoning, one we could perhaps take advantage of as well? After Derplanders group is seemingly turning Primals against their tribe, you really cannot expect me not to bring up Free Company Primal Summoning, can you? As I say every bloody patch, "maybe they're finally justifying it in the lore!"
Living Flame as out referential boss this time? Every patch has had one, kinda lame though, considering we already practically had him in Gordias... Final boss looks like a tiny version of the guys from Bravely Default... I'll now find it unacceptable if he doesn't say "S-splendid!" upon defeat...
Sophia... Thank you SE... I had a long rant about content ready a few days back, but it really had little to do with lore, but I was going to mention how I wish more Trails were like Steps of Faith (pre-nerf) and/or Turn 9, Sophia potentially looks like Turn 9, where the battlefield will change to kind of tell a story? It's the best SE can probably do with "Here is a square/circle, fight in it", so I'm glad to see more going on with Sophia than Sephirot... Most of the narrative in both fights is still probably going to come from the songs though, shame... Really wish we could get more stuff like Steps of Faith... The actual fight alone told me Dravanians were dangerous, Vishap was unique and the tense atmosphere it was originally tuned to was a damn near perfect set up for Heavensward...
Alexander, likewise, looks more involved... Actually starting outside and fighting our way to the top and in? Awesome. A lot of people are shouting "It's Ark!" at that one boss, but it has a passing resemblance to Mobile Type 8 IMO... I mean, it turns into an Airship, so... It's Ark! Although going back to my non-existent rant... Yay, another case of mechanics trumping narrative! He lets us jump on him, presumably to avoid some form of attack... Slotting him in with Xandes and his ilk for now, how am I meant to take bosses seriously when they actively help us like this?
Guy in the mask is Ilberd... Seem to remember that voice from the instance where we recuse Raubahn in 3.0, it's... Distinctive...
Guessing Palace of the Dead is to Tactics Ogre what Crystal Tower is to Final Fantasy III at this point... Wont get my hopes up for it as an event though, already been told its very grindy, and while 1-50 had some interesting things to discover (namely other dead NPCs), it really didn't have a lot going on... Would be nice if you could also find some random bits of lore lying around, kinda like with Dusk Vigil and other dungeons like it... Quite a lot they could fill it with, Amdapori lore, Gelmorra, and this necromancer... Shame the actual event is barren, just the story at the end of it... Sigh, if only we could get more events that actually have a narrative in doing... Besieged was so great at that, it wasn't some lame instance in which you're told the world is at stake... You were actually defending a city, you did it to defend the city... Not once did the game need to tell you that the area was a battlefield, you experienced the fact that it was... XIVs really lacking that kind of mix between gameplay and narrative... Even Sophia, as hyped as I am for her, is mostly getting exposition via song, not the actual sequence of fighting her...