Thread: 3.5/4.0 Speculation & Discussion (Spoilers)

To be honest, Zenos being a sympathetic wouldn't make him different from what already exists. We have had very few antagonists who at the very least don't have a solid justification for their actions, even if they are misguided. Having a villain who is just a cruel and evil personality is actually somewhat different.

I would say two things about this.

1. Having an really evil character as a villain can be fun. More over there is nothing saying he will be our only enemy. We had several antagonists we had to contend with in HW. I suspect we will have a number of players we are caught between again.

2. Zenos being a villain, or even Varis being a villain, doesn't mean we won't have sympathetic Garleans. More over Garleans who aren't neccesarily loyal to either of those doesn't mean they won't feel loyal to Garlemald itself. Being loyal to Garlemald doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as loyalty to its current ruler.

Originally Posted by Belhi

To be honest, Zenos being a sympathetic wouldn't make him different from what already exists. We have had very few antagonists who at the very least don't have a solid justification for their actions, even if they are misguided. Having a villain who is just a cruel and evil personality is actually somewhat different.

This is really true, even the Ascians are starting to get shades of grey at this point.

Though on the "Where's our Vayne character" issue, Zenos is almost certainly Varis' eldest child and I'm sure everyone remembers what happened between Vayne and his older brothers. If Zenos needs to be put down like a rabid dog we may not even be the ones who carry out the deed.

I do kinda like Estinien and I kinda like him for his attitude because it makes for a great deal of different characters. I have nothing against character growth but I hope that it wont mean that its barely Estinien anymore..(and yes even though I like him I am a little salty that it feels like he gets more screentime because Yoshida likes him..while all the other interesting characters got killed off..I am happy that he is alive but still..hopefully it wont mean that they just make him endearing to us to have another Haurchefant 2.0..)

Hm it being a hint towards seeing into the future or having a time skip is kinda interesting (but kinda out of nowhere if we can suddenly look into the future too..like why was you not able to do that when it was crucial to save a certain someone?)
Maybe this will be kinda a echo version of the past but instead of just being there and watching our echo grows strong enough so that we can actually interact with people in the vision?

I do love the more grey enemies because you will often find yourself in a inner conflict..because you can kinda sympathize with them. I am not sure if I will like Zenos..

I wonder if Cyril is still around? I'm curious as to her thoughts on Elidibus and how things will play out with him in 3.5!

Eureka was announced, but entirely devoid of context, so I'm not sure how I can feel about it. My original theory years back was that it would open up as optional content after Syrcus Tower was used for plot purposes, but the only indirect continuity we've gotten out of it since came from the very end of 3.4, and Nero's still too much of an unknown to say. Since they've announced the 2.X and 3.X patch-series stories will be skippable, maybe they'll just bite the bullet and make CT an additional requirement for whatever quest ties the Triad back into the MSQ (and thus include it in the "skip"), since this will probably be the last patch cycle where it can be cleared through DF. That would also let them drop it as a hard requirement for Eureka without having to write Eureka like the former never happened. The alternative is the Estinien card, where he addresses you like you've done 30-50 DRG even if you haven't. Either way, it's not something that can be left alone anymore.

But Yoshida has been playing the entire thing way too close to his chest. I'm hoping that's because there's actually something that he can't be trusted to keep secret if he talks.

I wonder if Garleans will (or already are) experiment on beast tribes and/or other creatures like the Allagans have? They've already built a Castrum in Azys Lla, so surely they're going to learn more about their experiments and the Garleans are all about emulating the Allagans. Maybe it's being done under Xenos' orders? That's a sure-fire way to make him dislikeable.

I am looking forward to knowmore about Garlean ideology. The 1.0 lodestone info about Garlemal Empire (that no longer exist) mentions that they were trying to prevent a Calamity.

Originally Posted by Fenral

-snip-

I'd definitely like to see side story content addressed and referenced during the MSQ's. I feel like at this point if they're going to add a way to skip large portions of the game then the developers should just design the MSQ's for those of us who aren't going to skip content and will lap up everything that they give us. It'd be a real shame if something like Mhach, for instance, is just lost in its own little bubble and never mentioned again...especially if we end up having to take down more denizens of the Void later on during the MSQ's or other side stories which seems likely.

Well, let's see... 3.4 was a reflection on what had happened thus far and I believe we will see us leaving Ishgard to travel back to Ul'Dah. Then, in 3.5 Part 2 (almost a guarantee), we will see the events that actually send us straight to Ala Mhigo.

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

One day we'll get our Larsa, I'm sure. At this point, wishing ill for the entire Empire is wishing for two continents to be thrown into upheaval. We and the Garleans share a common goal: the salvation of the world. It's everything about how to achieve that goal that we disagree on. But the Empire has been heading down the same path as Allag, and are making some of the same mistakes. We need only purge certain factions and points of view to make peace with the Garleans ... after a satisfying conflict, I hope. I mean, I'm lukewarm excited for our "Larsa", and all, but what about our "Vayne"? I've been so focused on my high hopes for Elidibus as one of the apex antagonists that I've barely considered it!

One of my biggest irritations with the whole "Both we and the Garleans want to save the world" thing is that the Garleans are so mind-bogglingly BAD at it. Pretty much every effort they make toward saving the world puts it in critical danger... Openly declaring genocide on the beast tribes causes an unprecedented surge of Primals. Dropping a moon on Eorzea triggers a world-ending calamity (thankfully, mitigated). Fielding Ultima Weapon results in it going out of control due to their lack of understanding of its nature (something of which the Ascians were only too glad to take advantage). The Garleans goal to harness the Warring Triad hasn't resulted in a catastrophe yet (unless you count their delaying us to the point where Thordan was able to achieve his goals relatively unhindered), but the storyline isn't over yet and I fully expect Regula to manage to trigger SOME kind of apocalyptic scenario before it's done. Cuz that's how Garleans roll, yo.

And yet in spite of their hilariously incompetent track record they seem blithely unaware of it to the point where they aren't even willing to entertain the notion that they are at fault for any of the near-disasters. This goes beyond mere evil empire arrogance and straight into the realm of comical stupidity. The stage is certainly set for a sympathetic Garlean faction to emerge - and all they really need to be is a subset of Garleans with sufficient political power who finally realize that the current leaders seem hell-bent on addressing every problem in such a way that they wind up unleashing powers that will destroy everyone, themselves included.