When are the Scions gonna get the memo...

[Anonymoose]

perhaps Anonymoose can explain it in detail but even the WoL can die.

I can kind of explain it; I just can't put it in a box. I'm actually kind of a buzzkill on these topics.

It's a video game, you must be capable of losing. It's a story, you can't actually be allowed to die (before your time...?)

One one hand, Gameplay / Story Segregation is a thing. On the other, you'll succeed in stopping time before stopping attempts to circumvent that by conjuring up excuses to explain everything from whose houses your retainers are robbing to how you can carry thousands of ponzes of items in your hammerspace knapsack to why enemies are weaker than the lore implies because they showed up at a certain level in a certain context to the fact I've been paid for killing the Garlock a hundred times and they don't even question it when I show up to claim the reward again.

When your HP reaches zero, you pass out; "defeated" / "knocked out". Sensing danger, you subconsciously return to the nearest or most familiar beacon of safety. That's as much as the game deems worthy of lore ... and that's yet to really come up in terms of the story itself.

More often, Hydaelyn Herself steps in when she feels like something might actually threaten us. Seven hells, you could probably blame Her for the whole lot of it, right? Maybe She whispers to your psyche the subconscious spark that allows you to ride the aetherial rivers to safety and give it another go. Maybe She senses the power discrepancy and tips her aetherial foot on the scales.

But without you being capable of being defeated or dying or being saved by Hydaelyn until she weakens Herself enough to lose the war, the story is more or less moot. Midgardsormr thought all of that was possible, which infuriated him to no end when he thought we were just riding Her power-ups to fame and glory we didn't deserve while she flickered in the darkness.

Or maybe that's what Yoshida meant when he referred to "the secret behind Hydaelyn and who the Warrior of Light actually is." /trollface /potstir

Pretty sure when you die its considered an alternate outcome to the encounter. Which the "real" you is aware of through the echo which is what makes the WoL so powerful. They can see alternate timelines as well as events of a person's pass. This also explains the echo buff you get in trials and such.

Pretty sure Ethys on Youtube covered this at some point.

While the "knocked out, returned to safety, tried again" approach seems adequate for those driven to make wipes canon, I admittedly still just point to the "Gameplay / Story Segregation" poster.

It's similar to the blaming of the Echo for being able to see enemy telegraphs ... even when you're up against something without a soul to resonate with ... or something lacking even consciousness ... or a regular old machine ... or literally just a falling rock.

The major theme of Hydaelyn's blessing is that you transcend mortal limits. Gaining extra [HP, MP, Attack Power, Healing Power] you don't normally have is precisely that, transcending your usual limits ... so they named the buff The Echo.

It's lore-consistent flavor, for sure, but I can't say I've found a compelling reason to consider a party wipe or enemy telegraph any more a part of the official storyline than, say, Expert Roulette, or the in-game clock's suggestion that I spent 4 straight days logging a hundred crates of loquats and then stat there for another 4 straight days smashing them into juice with my trusty pocket-knife.