Thread: Revelations from Patch 4.3

Let me see if I can't grab all four languages here:
EN:

An adversary faced on the thirtieth floor of Heaven-on-High. Standing as a challenge for those heroes who would battle against threats of cataclysmic proportions, Hiruko was created through forbidden arts now lost to the world.

FR:

Cette mystérieuse entité barre la route aux braves qui parviennent à se hisser au trentième étage du Pilier des Cieux. Conçue pour ne laisser passer que les héros qui ont un espoir de survie face à des cataclysmes de l'envergure des fléaux, elle remplit sa mission d'écrémage en s'appuyant sur un arsenal conséquent, constitué de sortilèges interdits et aujourd'hui disparus.

DE:

Hiruko ist der Wächter der dreißigsten Ebene der Himmelssäule. Seine Aufgabe ist es, alle Helden zu prüfen und jenen Abenteurer zu finden, der die nächste Katastrophe zu verhindern vermag. Es heißt, er beherrscht eine Reihe geheimer, längst vergessener Techniken.

JP:

アメノミハシラの30層で戦うことになる存在。霊災規模の災厄に対抗し得る英雄を育てるため、その候補となる人材を試すために立ちはだかる。どうやら、その生成には今や失われた、禁忌の技術が用いられているようだ。

They all seem to say pretty much the same thing, though I think Japanese might specifically call out Umbral Eras.

Finally beat floor 30 of Heaven-on-High:

"It has been 3 major patches since our last heroic sacrifice." Welp, time to reset the counter. Nope, I wasn't inspired, sorry.

For all of a second second I was worried the tower wasn't actually Allagan, but nope. Still not a fan of how eager they are to leave their problems unsolved for future generations, but that's nothing new. We'll keep playing cleanup crew, as always. Thanks for nothing.

Interesting of them to name-drop Salina for the first time in three years, and Desch for the first time ever in-game, but color me slightly vexed that we just find out about the Onishishu now. They may be calamitous failures at their mission, but I guess they're good at keeping secrets, if nothing else.

Well, millennia have gone by with Heaven-on-High being around (supposedly), and numerous Calamities have happened despite that fact. If the point of the tower and the Onishishu's secrecy is to try and train warriors capable of preventing such Calamities, they've... well, not succeeded. Several have happened since the fall of Allag.

I'm going to try and solo Heaven-on-High. Hopefully I can get into the rankings and get the dodo mount.

Going to put on a hat I haven't worn in a long time, but here goes:

There is the incredibly small chance that Salina and Desch were name dropped not just for flavor, but to remind us that Syrcus Tower was also sealed with the intent of being utilized at some unspecified future date. Assuming the Onishishu aren't attempting to prevent calamities in general, but a very specific calamity, that Salina had some anticipatory knowledge of...

Then the entire thing goes from being more of that special brand of Allagan non-help we keep getting every single time they've gotten "directly" involved, to being very deliberate foreshadowing of a future story arc, perhaps the one Yoshida intends to start after we wrap up this Hydaelyn/Zodiark business.

"But the tower is too much for us to handle. That's why we sealed it."

That's also why Nero is helping out with the Omega problem.

Originally Posted by Nero

Garlond...
...The next round is yours.
But you can't keep holding back... It's time to unfetter that brilliant mind of yours. To do what must be done.
And I'm not just talking about what becomes of Omega.
You cannot preach “Freedom through Technology” and keep yourself locked up in chains...

Assuming Nero can get through to Cid, there's also the matter of the scanner Unei updated, which is still lying around Mor Dhona somewhere, doing absolutely nothing for the Eureka storyline it was initially speculated to connect to.

I short, we have lots of nice, frustratingly unconnected dots on the map, all painted High Allagan red. But maybe, someday, they'll line up somehow.

So... the patch 4.4 poster got revealed with the recent Live Letter.

Look at Gaius being all protective. I love that he's got his hand on Alphinaud's shoulder. So excited to see how this plotline turns out!

Also apparently we're going to the Burn. I guess someone either saw the airship go down or picked up a distress call, so we're going to the rescue. So I guess we might be meeting up with Gaius as well by the end of the patch? I was kind of expecting that group to have a separate arc for longer, though I'm not sure why.