Thread: Revelations from Patch 3.56

WARNING

BECAUSE THIS PATCH IS ONLY MAIN SCENARIO,
WE CAN FOREGO THE USUAL "HIDE IN SPOILER BOXES BY STORY ARC" THING.

PLEASE COMPLETE THE MAIN SCENARIO BEFORE READING THE THREAD AT LARGE.

Something something traditions. Happy patch day, errybodeh!

I'll put mine in spoiler tags just in case anyone's eyes are skimming the OP against their own wishes.

Overall, SE doesn't seem to have tried to replicate the gut-punch that was 2.55. Much of 3.5 has has felt a little rushed, but I'm actually glad in retrospect that they invested what resources they had into the climax of the Dragonsong War and the Warriors of Darkness rather than handicap those and try to force something here. I had plenty of feelz for those patches. Knee-jerk, does this one feel anticlimactic? A bit. But it's a good set-up to Stormblood - which feels dark and violent and has a solid budget (like three times Heavensward). I'll take it.

Shinryu
Well, that came out of freakin' nowhere, lmao. I suppose all of that history repeating talk was a literal foreshadow. Don't get me wrong, it's appropriate given Omega, historically speaking. I do have some reservations about Shinryu being "just" a primal, though. I'd hoped he would be above Midgardsormr somehow (perhaps from his homeworld and/or the Dragon Star).

Still, this'll do, for now. Fits thematically, good designs, good animations, I give it a golfclap. (Still came outta nowhere, tho.)

Yda
I don't think anyone called that specific timeline, did they? lol

We've seen both sisters; Yda died between the 1.0 Echoes and the 1.0 Present. It's like the "It's Yda!" and the "It's Yda's sister!" crowds are both going to shout, "CALLED IT, I TOLD YOU!" at the same time.

For the Lady in Red, I'd been about 49% Yda / 51% Yda's Sister since October strictly because of the tats. If it was her, that'd have meant either SE has had magickal tattoo removal this entire time (Sure. Fine. Whatever.), SE used alternative facts in a trailer to mislead people (HISSSSS), or SE pulled the Sage tattoos of "the dumb one". That last one felt like a disservice because Thancred wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed at 17 and his were legit back then, so I gave Yda the benefit of the doubt.

Having Yda be an Archon, Yda be dead, Yda's sister be Yda as some of the time we've known her, and the secondary tats be tied to Papalymo I think cleans up all of the loose ends to reinvent the character without snubbing anyone (including us, the players). Yda was hanging uncomfortably in the balance between years of plot threads and this was a messy, but easy-to-grasp way of getting out of it and reinventing her that didn't manage to trip over any of the things that would have made me eyeroll to the point that I expected.

I suppose the days of having an equivalent Archon for each city is over in mission and in theme...
(unless we've just put Thancred and Y'shtola on the clock, as well...)

Nero
They really didn't address at all how he went from seemingly giving up his reckless pursuit of ultimate, unknowable power to Hahahahahahahaha! Yes! Fly free, my pretty! Show us what you can do! I suppose we'll have to wait for the Bend of Time. Unintended consequences via the machine's autopilot - who saw that coming? (Everyone raises their hands but Nero, even Aymeric, who is still rightfully mad at himself for telling us to throw the Eyes over a bridge.)

Did anyone catch that flavor-text from Cid?

We must be careful, old friend. The walking weapons of Allag were expressly designed to subdue primals, but men like Gaius will always seek to use them against mankind. It falls to us to ensure that Omega is never employed as a weapon of war. In the wrong hands, it would be...
It would be bad.

fist-shakes the name-drop

It was a patch of setting things up, which is to be expected, though it missed the kick of Steps of Faith leading into the Parting Glass. I hope the reaction to Steps of Faith hasn't scared them off doing big set piece story fights that are out of the normal circular arenas. The Cartenaux fight was fun, but ultimately disposable.

Omega released to be lost in the Bend of Time.
Shinryu released to become a fight (and if it doesn't, I will eat my new Tataru-branded monocle).

Both crashed on the other side of the Wall, necessitating a visit to Gyr Abania.
I hope Nero sticks around, or is at least involved in the main story for 4.0. He and Cid make an amusing double act.
Raubhan's line on the Wall could worsen the position of the Sultana - if her main supporter goes off on a quest, then the monetarists might be able to further restrict her already limited power. Also, they better not be setting Raubhan up as Hauchefaunt mk 2. It was nice that he got the credit screen all to himself, as well.

Also, pretty much as expected on Yda front - the sister after all, but it means that (sniff) only us 1.0 people got to ever meet the real Yda - on a six year timeline, she will have died just before the present day 1.0. Anything in the Echo will have been the real deal. Lyse was a pretty good impersonator. As Moose said, it resolves her tidily (unlike Nanamo).

Also - that palace in Ala Mhigo. Very swanky.

Well, I've been waiting for Omega vs Shinryu since 3.0 and it finally happened and sortakinda in a way I was hoping for (Nidhogg's eye), so woo. That and Nero's return are really the most enjoyable parts of the patch for me. I enjoy how Nero continued reminding us that we have a world to save and that we really shouldn't be dawdling.

But can we please, please get more Ascians? Some of us actually like them. I, for one, love the meta overarching storyline and it's what keeps me invested in the lore.

Elidibus has had so few lines over the course of 2 years, and so very few of them actually relevant, that he might well not have existed.

That being said, I'm well aware that the Ivalice storyline will likely have Altima and possibly others involved but still - that's more than 6 months away.

Also, can we finally put to rest that horrible Princess Yda theory? Finally?

Edit: Also, Thancred was mysteriously missing the entire patch. Remember what happened the last time Thancred went missing?

I have to say that I feel like it was a disappointing end to the expansion. Where are the nuances? Eorzea has shifted into the role of the aggressor against Garlemald and I don't feel as though there's a good enough reason to take the fight to them at the moment. Nero having turned his back upon Garlemald completely leaves him as little more than a smarmier version of Cid. I just don't understand why characters on the 'other side' of conflicts but with legitimate, sympathetic reasons to oppose the Warrior of Light and Scions are killed off. The Warriors of Darkness, Regula Van Hydrus...the list goes on.

No attempt at diplomacy was made. Nobody brought up Regula's sacrifice even though his storyline really should be considered to be an extension of the MSQ's given how relevant it is to the game's story moving forward. I just don't get it - the lore book took the time to flesh out Garlemald as more than just a generic 'evil empire' and one can even argue that the Garleans were dealt a very poor hand, being unable to wield aether in most cases and being driven out of fertile lands in favour of living in a dangerous wasteland. They sought to survive, eventually becoming defiant and embracing magitek and military might out of necessity.

That doesn't excuse all of their actions, of course. Yet Ala Mhigo picked fights to prove it was stronger and because it wanted to conquer for the sake of conquering. As misguided as Garlemald's intentions may be at least they try and bring forth order and stability. The fight scene between Shinryu and Omega was pretty neat - we already know that Omega is going to be fight in the expansion and I have a feeling that Shinryu will be as well. The lack of a 'Steps of Faith' or 'Nabriales' for the patch was disappointing, though - we did get a duty but it was pretty lacking. Blowing up a goofy looking Roegadyn that felt like he should have been part of a Hildibrand quest didn't appeal to me. Nor did cutting through swathes of Garlean soldiers as if they were nothing. Can we least try to present Garlemald as a legitimate threat?

It's clear that stuff was cut. The Warring Triad storyline was going to be part of the MSQ's originally and as such would likely have been fully voice acted and referenced in future MSQ's. We were told that we'd learn more things from Midgardsormr about Silvertear but that hasn't been the case at all. I assume it has either been abandoned as a plot point or has been pushed into a future content patch. Zenos only showing up for a brief moment was a disappointment as well. In all fairness, he's the main antagonist of the upcoming expansion so he'll inevitably get his fair share of screentime.

Still, for me it all comes back to nuances. I really, really hope the Scions, Eorzean Alliance and Warrior of Light screw up badly by going to war with Garlemald since they'll be getting a lot of people killed and are, now, the aggressors. I hope this is highlighted and that Regula's sacrifice - or the existence of moral complexities within Garlemald isn't going to be ignored. Eorzea has a troubled history and a track record of treating its own inhabitants like dirt. Even after Ishgard's and Ul'dah's 'change' there's still people starving in the streets, inequality and xenophobia. It's understandable - that sort of thing isn't going away and sometimes isn't completely without justifications.

I guess I'll reserve my full judgement for the expansion itself. I just hope they truly do make an improvement over 3.0 for 4.0 just like 3.0 was a major step up from 2.0.

So... What happen to learning more about Silvertear in 3.x? Didn't they say we would learn more?

Overall I think the only highlight of this story patch was seeing it was Shinryu and the fight between him and Omega. Everything else felt like it was just dragging on... Even Nero was wondering why we haven't gone to Omega yet. In my opinion 3/4 of the story was just running around then the last bit was the only important part. Honestly it feels really rushed from what I played.

There wasn't much that surprised me this patch, the ending to this expansion was just meh and didn't really make me feel excited for what will happen next.