Revelations from Patch 3.5

[Belhi]

Some thoughts:

MSQ:

Our 'friend' Laurentius is gonna have some trauma issues over what he did, I think. I wonder if he'll get a redemption arc later on.
And is it too suspicious of me to think that Naago is shady? Her 'trustworthy' message ended up being just bait to set up Ilberd's plan.

I still want to punch the little punk.

[Fenral]

Oh, and I forgot to bring this up in my last post, but here's a little more on the Main Scenario, from the localization end of things:

In addition to cutting a few whole minutes worth of expository information available elsewhere and (intentionally?) changing the translation of Raubahn's "fortune favors the bold" catchphrase to the more accurate "victory favors the swift," Papalymo drops a bombshell in his final line that is unstated anywhere in English:

"Farewell, my second partner."

I'm starting to think that Yda is an impostor, but one who's actually been around for quite a while. Perhaps the twin switch has already happened, and it was 15 or so years ago?

Either way, this may simply be a side effect of them effectively cutting the quest chain in half after all the writing was done, and the usual redistribution of information that a certain Ahriman loves ended up leaving the big reveal until the next part.

[Mieck]

Oh, and I forgot to bring this up in my last post, but here's a little more on the Main Scenario, from the localization end of things:

In addition to cutting a few whole minutes worth of expository information available elsewhere and (intentionally?) changing the translation of Raubahn's "fortune favors the bold" catchphrase to the more accurate "victory favors the swift," Papalymo drops a bombshell in his final line that is unstated anywhere in English:

"Farewell, my second partner."

I'm starting to think that Yda is an impostor, but one who's actually been around for quite a while. Perhaps the twin switch has already happened, and it was 15 or so years ago?

Either way, this may simply be a side effect of them effectively cutting the quest chain in half after all the writing was done, and the usual redistribution of information that a certain Ahriman loves ended up leaving the big reveal until the next part.

Continued MSQ thoughts based on the above

On the twin switch theme... Papalymo made the remark about Yda's mask near the end of 3.4, I don't have the exact quote to hand, but he was starting to realise there were problems in giving Yda a mask.
Which, I agree Fenral, could make it possible that we have never known Yda at all. That this is her sister, masquerading as Yda, and has been doing so for 15 years or more.

Yda/maybe-not-Yda nearly jumped out of her skin when Gundobald recognised her in 3.4. Her mask was damaged in the escape from Ul'dah, but replaced quickly (though, I accept, that is as much for the continuity as for anything else). Gundobald thought it was her because of the mask? Or in spite of it?

If Yda died a long time ago, what might her sister's reasons be for impersonating her? How important was Yda to the fallen royal line? I know we've had good circumstantial evidence on that front, but has there ever been anything truly concrete?

[Naria]

MSQ

. . .So Papalymo is actually my favorite Scion. I don't have much of a reason for this besides having started in Gridania in 1.0 and thinking "oh that's adorable" as he is definitely the least developed of the Scions. When he started narrating last patch I was torn between "yea! Papalymo's getting screen time" and "Twelve Forfend, Papalymo's getting screen time--he's going to die". As much as I'd like to see my favorite Lalafell again--I really hope that we don't end up bringing him back or that he survives as I've been at my tolerance limit for fake-deaths since Nanamo+the Scions. Maybe by 7.0 I'll be willing to see a character miraculously survive without wanting to hit my head on my desk. I did find it a bit odd that Papalymo switched to present tense narration in this patch--I'm guessing the narration is some sort of letter or something he left for Yda? I'm glad we at least got the option to try to stay with him--its about dang time. Tataru is up to something though--are we about to get a very own Tataru redesign?

Heavensward Allied Beast Tribe

This one was a lot of fun and unless I'm completely mistaken it is implied that some of the dragons in the Churning Mists are from Tiamat's brood, which is interesting. I loved the focus on Deftarm--he really has changed a lot.

The Warring Triad

No big surprises here but it was nice see some one in authority--let alone an enemy--admit fault without us having to grind his face in it, and change course of this own will. It was an interesting contrast to the MSQ and Ilbred. I was a bit surprised that none of the Scions made any sort comment about Unukahlhai working for Elidibus since the kid didn't forswear that allegiance and while we may trust him that is still a big potential weak spot. Honestly I like the kid but given how desperate his is to be a hero and save the Source I could see him reluctantly turning on us if Elidibus convinced him it was for the greater good. The Source is near destruction according to Eli (taking this with a metric ton of salt) and as far as I can see there are only two groups that could actually be seen as threatening the Source with an aspect flood, the Ascians or the Scions.

The Scholasticate

. . . er I like the emote and the robe? It was nice to see Briardian mention Ellie but I wish that there had been more of him in this series and less teenagers. I suppose that would have defeated the purpose of the quest being about the "Scholasticate" but maybe they could have focused on the faculty instead. The little bit of lore we got was interesting but it just emphasized to me how much this series failed to flesh out Ishgard.

Gentleman Inspector Hildibrand

. . . the ending was really cute and I liked the credits with Cyr. I hope that they add him in as a background npc in Idylshire. Gigi's magic being Allagan makes sense as the Allagans had no concept of restraint but I can help but wonder if it is forshadowing Omega Weapon a bit.

Shadows of Mhach

More statues of that mysterious long haired Hyur everywhere--will we ever get an explanation?

[LineageRazor]

My thoughts:

In General:

so I herd u like game of thrones... SE certainly seems to have taken criticism of Nanamo's cheap not-death to heart, with several unexpected deaths of significant characters! I definitely wasn't expecting Ilberd to bite it so soon, Regula the way that he did, or Papalymo at all.

Main Scenario:

There was one moment no one has yet to bring up in this thread that struck me as a bit mean-spirited. The Scions all stand around and Alphinaud brings up the topic of electing one of their number to replace Minfilia as antecedent. After some hemming and hawing, the agreement is reached that they don't really need one, that the Scions can operate independently just fine. Essentially, this is official, in-game confirmation that, yes, Minfilia was a USELESS WASTE OF SPACE. C'mon, SE - I know you guys realized that Minnie was getting the whole Scrappy treatment by the fanbase and did your best to write her out of the story. But can't we honor her a bit by at least pretending that the work that she did behind the scenes was important?

Ilberd's strategy was pretty cool, and I rather enjoyed his boss fight. The bit where you need to kill one of the spears to make a safe area brought back fond(?) memories of Titan Ex back in the day. As noted, I wasn't expecting him to sacrifice himself. Some have speculated that his death may mean that there's a man behind the man - but I don't think there has to be. Ilberd accomplished everything he set out to do - he's gotten the gears of war turning, pretty much forcing the Alliance to take the Garleans on, and he's summoned a Primal who, in theory, will be pretty gung ho about freeing Ala Mhigo (and I don't believe for a moment that it's not going to break free, eventually). It's a remarkably well-executed Thanatos Gambit, and it should carry on well without him. The Resistance has lost a charismatic leader and will likely become disorganized, but the Alliance is there to pick up the slack.

I'm skeptical that Papalymo is actually dead. It's possible, but I'm skeptical. I find it pretty likely that he's going to show up alive later, and weakly joke that, having failed to die, he's not quite the "best pupil" he thought he was. But we'll see. I'll grant that his partnership with Yda did make him possibly the most "expendable" of the Scions.

Zurvan:

I have to admit, I wasn't extremely pleased with Regula's turnaround. I didn't feel that it was well foreshadowed, his sudden distain for the "broken" Allagan technology - there was no hint of any reluctance on his part during any of our other confrontations with him during this storyline. Plus, the distain doesn't make a lot of sense - while it's not a great idea to try to control Primals, containing them is a GREAT idea. It's the one sure-fire way we know of to stop a group from summoning a Primal, for them to have ALREADY summoned it, and for it then to become helpless and restrained. And these particular Primals remained safely contained for thousands of years with NO maintenance by the Allagans beyond the automated systems they set up in advance. Even if we accept that they would have broken down eventually, they only broke down NOW because of Thordan's and the Garlean's mucking about. Used properly, and with proper maintenance, there's no reason to believe that this technology couldn't contain Primals indefinitely. It's silly to toss it all aside as worthless.

Regula's sacrificing himself for his men and even for Unukalhai bothered me less. He's definitely been painted as a "worthy opponent" sort, so it's not out of line to give him virtues such as protectiveness for the men under his command. His desire to protect folks with the Echo makes sense, as well - more than anything brought to bear by the Allagans OR Garleans, people who simply can't be tempered are likely the world's best resource in the war against Primals. I think even Varis would rather have Echo users as allies rather than enemies - but his refusal to allow for even the slightest bit of compromise on Garlean policies makes that nigh impossible.

Dun Scaith:

Not a lot to say here, as things played out mostly predictably. I wasn't terribly surprised by Diabolos's goal in taking down Scathach; we've seen the same sort of behavior from other Voidsent, such as Halicarnassus and Cuchulainn. The Void is clearly a demon-eat-demon world! I was a bit disappointed by Radlia. She was clearly broken up by the loss of her men in the Mhach storyline, but she seemed perfectly chipper now. It's like, welp, I've got some new men, let's get back to being the pesky rival I was introduced as as if nothing happened at all! Cait Sith is still around after all had played out - and, for that matter, so is the Nullstone. Cait Sith's survival wasn't totally unexpected, but that Nullstone is a pretty serious artifact to have at our disposal. I wonder if we're going to conveniently forget it's available, the next time a major Voidsent becomes an issue?

Hildebrand:

Not as many chuckles as I'd hoped for. Probably the greatest was when Vivi "reset" everybody, and Julyan's reset form was Scary Demon Mode. I definitely feel that the original Hildy storyline had a better "serious, epic" angle than this one did, with this revelations of the fate of Sul'dah. I felt like the story had some weight along with its comic trappings. This one, with the fountain-of-youth angle just seemed a bit too fluffy.

Scholisticate:

I just couldn't get into this one. Sure, I did all the quests, but I didn't really care about any of the characters, except maybe Briardien. It was no surprise to find that Father Saturnois was a villain; his very appearance screams "villain". Lebrassoir's betrayal wasn't particularly surprising; not because I suspected him, but because the whole darned storyline was beating it into us that whoever the culprit was, it couldn't be any of the obvious suspects. Which meant that pretty much the only person who would have shocked me as being the perp was Theomocent.

I'd kind of hoped that the whole ordeal would take on some crazy, fantastical angle toward the end, but it all wound up being rather stuffy and dull, at least in my opinion.

Almost forgot: Beast Tribes

Was not happy about the Tiamat cameo. I want to SAVE her, not watch characters poke fun at her humiliation and despair. For God's sake, even if we don't shake her out of her depression, I at least want to get her out of those wretched restraints! She can collapse into a puddle of misery if she wants to after that, but I hate that we're literally leaving her hanging there. As for the return of Nhaza'a Jaab - why does anyone even hire this guy? He has a 2/2 track record now of betraying his employers for pretty petty reasons.

[Alberel]

I haven't seen this mentioned yet regarding the MSQ:

Papalymo has been the one narrating the events of the story since 3.4 and his narration of the events at Baelsar's Wall are all being relayed in past tense. For him to be narrating makes it extremely likely that he is alive and will survive to the end of Stormblood to live on as the narrator of the story exactly as Count Edmont did.

[LystAP]

Some thoughts:

MSQ:

Our 'friend' Laurentius is gonna have some trauma issues over what he did, I think. I wonder if he'll get a redemption arc later on.
And is it too suspicious of me to think that Naago is shady? Her 'trustworthy' message ended up being just bait to set up Ilberd's plan.

Well, it was technically true.

And it is possible that Ilberd counted on people close to the Scions to run off to tell them. Her wounds were sufficiently severe enough that it took two of the Scions to heal her, and there's no reason to doubt her, especially given Yda vouched for her.

[alimdia]

On the ending of the triad...

I really didn't like how that ended.

"Hey guys I'm working for an ascian"
"Oh okay, welcome to the scions"

How does that make any sense?

[Atoli]

The Scions all stand around and Alphinaud brings up the topic of electing one of their number to replace Minfilia as antecedent. After some hemming and hawing, the agreement is reached that they don't really need one, that the Scions can operate independently just fine. Essentially, this is official, in-game confirmation that, yes, Minfilia was a USELESS WASTE OF SPACE.

What bothered me about that wasn't even that they admitted to anything. It was mainly the fact that..

...they only went on to INSTANTLY show right in the next scene that they can't do without someone taking Minfilia's place. Like, what's the big deal with all the "we don't need no leader!" talk when right away, you let Y'shtola take on the role of decisionmaker, the one who organizes everything and sends the others on the way (which, to be fair, she has been doing pretty much since she returned in early HW) while also keeping Alisiae back to have her do Minfilia's work of staying behind and watching over the headquarters. It seems so inconsequential when you absolutely do have a leader but refuse to call her that.

@Alberel: Naria earlier on this page noted that the narration actually switched to present tense this patch, so if that's true, I wouldn't get my hopes up :x

[Naria]

MSQ narration

So I did the MSQ late last night so I went back over to Papalymo's narration and it is extremely vague. He says "I suspect that the ill tidings from Gry Albania will be held as a turning point--the beginning to a bloody end." Papalymo dosen't know how history could view it. He also says "When the time comes I will make my choice--and you will make yours." It could be that he is alive and narrating this from the end of Stormblood (and has seen that bloody end) or it could be that he suspected that everything would go south at the wall and left a letter or that we are in for Alexander-style timetravel shenanigans. It seems to me that his narration is directed at Yda, however. He definitely seems to be talking to someone not just writing a history (which could just be a red herring, true). His "choice" hadn't happened yet which makes me think that this is probably a letter (unless there is some other important decision for him to make that would take him on a separate path from Yda.) After all Papalymo asked for Tupsimati last patch and I think he thought that the Griffin could be planning to summon a primal and was hoping that he was just being paranoid. Ofc the fact that I want SE to stop setting up deaths for the Scions if they aren't going to commit could be coloring my interpretation just a tad.