3.5/4.0 Speculation & Discussion (Spoilers)

[Balipu]

Erm...

There are also extreme actions in most revolutions, as displayed by the Griffin and his Masks - this is like to continue. On the other hand the Garleans are almost certainly tyrants, as shown by their actions in Doma and their general dealings with us. Neither is a good choice... we need a middle road, but nobody will listen.

To be fair we never actually saw what happened in Doma. For all we know the Garlean rule was pretty okay and the revolution was lead by a Griffin like madman. Stormblood will be the first time we see Garlean rule in action.

Also while it is true that Yda probably won't just fire the wave cannon at everything for the lulz, if a community is wiped out or a sacred mountain blown up those who are affected, might not care.

Omega is from FF5....

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/O...inal_Fantasy_V)

Well yes, that's where we first saw it. Of course it showed up in the interdimensional rift. And we know that the rift basically flows between the various Final Fantasy settings.
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Omega_(enemy)

Out of curiosity, why is everyone convinced that Griffin is acting as a host for the primal rather than the traditional primal summoning. I am curious cause I cant see anything in the trailer suggesting that.

You need to slow down the video speed to see it, but when White Dalamud is being formed you can see the outline of legs wearing boots inside. There is obviously a humanoid figure inside.

[Rokke]

To be fair we never actually saw what happened in Doma. For all we know the Garlean rule was pretty okay and the revolution was lead by a Griffin like madman.

But we know from DRK/WHM/NIN quests that life in Othard isn't/hasn't been pretty okay.

[Balipu]

But we know from DRK/WHM/NIN quests that life in Othard isn't/hasn't been pretty okay.

But we never saw it for ourselves, did we? That's my point. We never actually saw Garlean rule for ourselves. I don't want to drag IRL stuff into it as politics is messy but it can totally happen that a whole nation wan'ts foreign rule to end, only to realize later that it was a lot better than what came after.

Of course once the Domans rebelled (we don't exactly know what they did beside trying to take over) the city was destroyed, but we really don't know what it was like before.

[Belhi]

But we never saw it for ourselves, did we? That's my point. We never actually saw Garlean rule for ourselves. I don't want to drag IRL stuff into it as politics is messy but it can totally happen that a whole nation wan'ts foreign rule to end, only to realize later that it was a lot better than what came after.

Of course once the Domans rebelled (we don't exactly know what they did beside trying to take over) the city was destroyed, but we really don't know what it was like before.

We do know something off it. People in occupied lands aren't necessarily citizens and as such have very few rights. We know this from Biggs and Wedges bios in the Lore book as well as general information on Garlean's caste structure. We know that conscription is commonplace. We know that people can end up basically forced working hard labor or even kept as 'comfort women' for Garlean soldiers.

Now it likely depends a lot on the governor in charge. I am sure there are more benevolent governors out there. However we do have a lot of information to suggest that garlean rule is often oppressive for many. In the Doman case every Doman we have run into save one was pretty any Garlean and all seem to suggest the Garleans took a rather indiscriminate scorched earth approach to pacifying Doma. I mean we could be wrong about Yugiri and the Domans we helped but they didn't strike me as quite so fanatical as the Griffin.

[Anonymoose]

Out of curiosity, why is everyone convinced that Griffin is acting as a host for the primal rather than the traditional primal summoning. I am curious cause I cant see anything in the trailer suggesting that.

I think it has something to do with the fact that you can see very humanoid feet inside of the alleged summoning sphere, as if the Griffin himself is transforming. I think it's a bit of a leap to make (I stopped at "It's a primal, Griffin did it." because the specifics seem irrelevant at the moment), but you never know. I mean, for starters, there are other humanoid primals. Sophia has feet. She's not a host. On the other hand, Thordan.

WARNING: HEADCANON AHEAD
I believe that Elidibus gave Thordan the Echo (Logic chain: Nabriales confirmed that Shiva was a test run by Lahabrea, Lahabrea and Elidibus were both shown behind the Archbishop's throne, Eldibus gave the Sahagin elder the Echo for seemingly no reason but to mess with the status quo, ergo perhaps it too was a Project Thordan test run). If true, it means that *both* primal-people were Echo users using the fuzzy walls of their souls to infuse themselves with a primal (as far as we know, Louisoix didn't become a host, he literally became a primal). Griffin is not known to have the Echo. But even if I'm right, Griffin meets with Elidibus, so he could have given it to him, too, LOL.

[Aerish]

Ascians giving aids

[Balipu]

They do not have to be fanatical.
Okay, so off topic IRL stuff. Here in Hungary pretty much everyone hated Soviet Control. Of course if you worked high up the food chain it might have been better, but average citizens all agreed that it sucked. They even called that era átkos, which roughly translates to: the cursed times.
Well if you ask your grandparents now they'll feel nostalgic about the cursed times because everyone had a job, education was free, living costs were low and generally you could maintain living standards that no law abiding hungarian citizen can have now. Or at least not with the same job and education.

[Cilia]

Only people with the Echo can perceive the Ascians, or so we have been led to believe. Causally, would that not mean the Griffin has it? Or at least a crude facsimile so he can talk to Elidibus?

There is no information stating the new primal is going to be a "Super Griffin." That's just my hypothesis, and I apologize if I've touted it as fact.

[Balipu]

Only people with the Echo can perceive the Ascians, or so we have been led to believe. Causally, would that not mean the Griffin has it? Or at least a crude facsimile so he can talk to Elidibus?

Not necessarily. Elidibus might have a body he occupies now. Gaius could interact with Lahabrea no problem while he was inside Thancred. And of course there is Travanchet the original Ascian.

[Anonymoose]

Only people with the Echo can perceive the Ascians, or so we have been led to believe.

I'd say that's at least qualifying support for the existence of: "Perhaps the Griffin has the Echo, now."

Maybe Elidibus is wandering around in a physical vessel, I guess, right? Moenbryda could see Nabriales just fine, she just couldn't understand him when he was speaking Ancient. Have we seen Eli in a meatsuit?

I'm also trying to recall evidence for Ascians being able to will themselves to be seen. They can manipulate how they appear to a degree, that's at least confirmed. I wonder how Elidibus approached the Sahagin Elder to offer him the Echo if he couldn't see him until he had the Echo.

EDIT: After Elidibus visits the Waking Sands, he leaves out the front door and starts walking north, trying to be obvious so that you'll follow him. Urianger catches a glimpse of him walking by, but thinks nothing of it at first because he expects Ascians to teleport instead of using doors.

[GARLEAN THINGS]

[GARLEAN THINGS]

Disclaimer: I have no chocobo in this race and I am just stirring the pot.

I mean not to detract from Garlemald's atrocities in general, especially those of the current leadership. Blanket genocide, not okay. Excessive force, generally frowned upon. Sacking a city and then keeping the violence and rape going as you funnel everyone into camps, pretty horrible. Garlemald comes in like a wrecking ball. All resistance is crushed. All threats (real and perceived) are exterminated. No chances, no mercy.

Moral High Ground: 0%

That covers about half of the stories we hear. "I can't believe the Garleans were that brutal in overthrowing my homeland." But we've heard very little about what comes after. Well, sort of. We often hear, "I can't believe the Garleans were so brutal in utterly crushing my insurgency." But, no sh[kupo]t. It's Garlemald and you're an insurgency. Just ... like ... <emphatic hand gestures> No sh[kupo]t!

But does Rhitahtyn gives no one else pause?

The lands [Gaius van Baelsar] has conquered were all beset with problems─poverty, starvation, lawlessness, and strife. My homeland was no exception. Had my lord not reached out and claimed it for the Empire, it would eventually have destroyed itself. But under his sage leadership, my people enjoyed such peace and stability as we had never known. And he only desires the selfsame for the people of this realm. Under his rule, Eorzea would be free from the shackles which bind it─the shackles of false faith. There would be no feeble leaders to misguide the masses, no eikons to bleed the realm dry. True peace would reign, and the people would be free to live their lives without fear of persecution or oppression. Should you doubt the truth of my words, I bid you look upon me. I am no son of Garlemald, yet Lord van Baelsar saw fit to raise me to a station of great honor. He measures a man not by his birth, but by his worth. Such is his sense of justice. By the grace of His Excellency, I am where I was born to be─upon the field of battle. He has given me a noble cause to fight for, and worthy adversaries to smite. I am not wont to bare my steel needlessly. But if you are deaf to reason...

After Garlemald is confident in its ability to instill goverment and ensure compliance with it, do the camps close? Do people just go back to work, pay their taxes, go to school, live as Garleans? Are things, for the height of the bell curve, more or less okay after that unnecessarily brutal "hard reset" of their civilization? And yeah, conscription, but for every <looks at list of nations that have conscription> North Korea there's a <looks back at list> South Korea.