Revolutions Hype Thread

[myahele]

One thing that has me concerned; Thancred.

I have a bad feeling he's turned traitor

Him not being in the end of 3.56 made me think that he might be the spy leaking info to Garlemald. Although I don't think he's turned traitor, but more of a double agent of sorts (kinda like Urianger did) so that he can learn more about the Garleans plans and to see exactly who are the spies within the GCs.

He kinda has the (outdated?) intel that he was working with Gaius when he was possessed (they wont know the truth) and he can use that to gain their trust.

[PArcher]

Snip

Hm...I wonder if that may have been the start of it, actually. Much like the Ivy (hands up if you remember that plotline), a sleeper agent of the Emperor trying to keep things in check in Eorzea. To what end for Thancred, I don't know, but the Emperor wasn't exactly upset at meeting us in the Sea of Clouds.

Him not appearing at all with other Scions, even coming to Rhalgr's Reach gives me bad vibes; if he was a double agent, and still on our side, I'd expect him to be with us at important points such as that...

Mostly idle maintenance musings for now, but still a bit worrying to me.

[VargasVermillion]

I'll bet the highlander woman fighting for the garleans will be the young girl the real Yda failed to save.

[Lauront]

Muh man Zenos!

Doman lady looks interesting, too.

Don't care overly much about the rest.

What makes you believe that to be the case, out of curiosity? They already had him 'betray' the Scions once already though that was due to being under the direct influence of an Ascian. I'd be very pleased if they were bold enough to have a major Scion become an outright traitor, especially if it was due to concerns over atrocities committed and/or supported by the Eorzean Alliance in the name of 'freedom'. Chances are, though, if an ally 'betrayed' us it'd just play out like the situation with Urianger. Which wasn't bad, per se, but it would be very tiresome if we got another 'oh, they're actually a double agent, lol' scenario.

In regards to Zenos, it seems he goes up against Lyse, Y'shtola and Yugiri directly. Here's hoping at least one of them dies at his hands because we really need to see the major antagonist of the expansion shown to be a considerable threat. He'll likely meet his end at the hands of the Warrior of Light but it's going to be very dull if he is beaten back by individual Scions, too. There's a power creep in terms of their effectiveness which risks rendering major antagonists an empty threat.

I'm hoping Lyse or Yugiri. I kind of like Y'shtola. Those two, not so much. I'd like to see a Moenbryda type death, though, with Zenos completely overpowering one of them, like Nabriales did with her.

Part of the issue, I think, is that we could have someone like Regula to interact with and show us that not all Garleans are terrible people, or we could have someone like Livia to slaughter the Scions and shoot one of her own men regardless of the actual tactical value.

(I'm leaving aside Nael, who was clearly way off the deep end even for Garlemald.)

And there is very little, based on what we have seen, that implies the Empire prefers Regula-type to Livia-type. Even the descriptions of the Garlean(-allied) higher-ups we've seen in the Stormblood lore page prime us to believe both Zenos and Yotsuyu will be pointlessly brutal and sadistic, and this will be sanctioned (via apathy, if nothing else) by the Empire in general. I will concede the possibility of a bait-and-switch, but to do so would strike me as a bit too baroque.

One can certainly make a case that some of the Eorzean organizations have done plenty worse (Lolorito and Teledji spring to mind), but we rightly condemn them too.

I am not convinced that either Zenos or Yotsuyu will be "pointlessly" sadistic. Particularly the former, he is governing a region populated by an arrogant, warfaring nation that on multiple occasions sought to conquer its neighbours. Now they're all uppity because it happened to them. I don't sympathise much with Ala Mhigo. I don't even sympathise much with the city-states. They're spoilt, and reliant on the WOL to do their dirty work, whereas Garlemald has actually taken effective means to deal with a real threat, without the aid of some deus ex machina. They're also more than willing to lie about their contribution to stabilising Eorzea post-Calamity. There is no real verdict on what the Empire prefers, other than in dealing with recalcitrant regions it considers to be dangerous. Lest one forget, the Eorzean city-states take exactly the same attitude with the beast tribes as Garlemald does with them, and quite frankly, justifiably so, as on more than one occasion now they have seen attempts to summon dangerous primals in their midst, not by beast tribes but by "respected" members within them, and could only contain them via the WOL.

E.g. Ilberd, as part of the Resistance, summoned an Eikon that could well lay waste to the majority of Eorzea; ironically, it'd be less threatening to Garlemald, with its Allagan-derived know-how, than Eorzea. Another example, Thordan. Yet another, Shiva. Doma, in trying to rebel, which I do not see as different to the beast tribes summoning primals due to their 'insecurities'.

They can either indulge in one-sided, Manichaean drivel, or they can up the quality of their writing and avoid turning Garlemald into an irredeemable villain, especially when they are non-committal in that regard. Their writing on Garlemald in the lorebook makes me hopeful that it'll be more than some evil pinata to beat upon. Much like they've not presented the by far more diabolical Ascians in a completely negative light.

[Rokke]

I was excited to start with and when I noticed a familiar pirate I squealed. I didn't even consider Carvallain's "spice trade" being our ticket East. Wonder how we're going to rope him into helping us.

And oh gosh, the clips of the Steppe. I've got a Kha, a Himaa & an Ejinn, and cannot wait to learn more about all of my lizards. Devs already said we'd see little Au Ra and now we got a peek at a grandma too!

[JenofWildfire]

And oh gosh, the clips of the Steppe. I've got a Kha, a Himaa & an Ejinn, and cannot wait to learn more about all of my lizards. Devs already said we'd see little Au Ra and now we got a peek at a grandma too!

That's what I'm hyped for, too. I have a couple of Xaela(male and female), myself, one of which I'm taking through Heavensward, and they're both Kha(I figured that's the perfect tribe for Xaela adventurers to come from). So, I'm definitely interested in learning more about the Xaela. I'm thinking the Xaela girl sitting with WoL and company by the campfire might be from the Kha due to apparently being open to apparently traveling with outsiders. Plus, the Steppes looks so pretty in a way. We saw less than a minute of them and I already want to explore them!

[Mieck]

I like the tune - I kept thinking the main refrain would resolve into a larger crescendo, like Answers and Dragonsong both did - and I suspect that is what is upsetting people on Reddit.
Personally, I like it when music keeps me on my toes.
Nothing really to add - I'd spotted most of the treats that have been mentioned, though thanks to Rocl for the Aymeric and Lucia screen shot. First two times, I watched on my phone, and the third on my screen, and I didn't see that at all!

More Alisae is great. She was boss in 3.4, so I'm glad she will be involved. I've also just (in the last week or two) levelled Ninja, so the Oboro tease is nice. Really enjoyed that story.

I do wonder whether we will have a gradual side-lining / writing out of the Scions. Alphinaud has already rung the changes about their jobs at the end of 3.4, and Minfillia is effectively gone. It is nice, though, that it looks like they all have stake in the start of the story and will accompany us through the wall to Rhalgar's Reach.

[Cilia]

YEEEEEEEAH!!! GET HYPE!!!

I just realized Early Access is less than a month away. I need to get dis preordered.

... aaaaaand gonna leave it at that. I'd rather avoid the dead horse Garlean debate.

[Khalithar]

As far as the story goes with all of the different places, I would absolutely LOVE if they did what happens in FF6 after the raft ride. Namely, three separate paths that culminate in the big story that can be done in either order.

"Warrior of light we must free the Domans, but we also must secure help from the Au Ra, and finally we must make an alliance with the Ananta if we are to have a chance. Which should we do first?" Then allow us, the player, to make that call.

[Belhi]

As far as the story goes with all of the different places, I would absolutely LOVE if they did what happens in FF6 after the raft ride. Namely, three separate paths that culminate in the big story that can be done in either order.

"Warrior of light we must free the Domans, but we also must secure help from the Au Ra, and finally we must make an alliance with the Ananta if we are to have a chance. Which should we do first?" Then allow us, the player, to make that call.

That would require the zones to lvl scale or alternatively the players to scale to zone level (though that usually has skill restrictions what wouldn't be popular with many who are just getting their new skills). It would be interesting but they haven't hinted about any tech like this being in place. Honestly I still think we go to Doma originally to try and learn something important about Zenos and freeing Doma just happens to be part of achieving that.