[ SPOILER ] Appreciation: Thank you VERY much Dev Team...

[Ramesses]

... For the various implementations released in patch 4.3 and also for the truly excellent revelation that occurred at the Burn during the ending of the patch.

I say again... thank you, I thoroughly appreciate the storytelling in 4.3. If you have completed the patch 4.3 story, please feel free to click open below:

Where to start?

GAIUS!!! Yesssssssssss...Finally...He's BACK!!! I always believed! And now Garlemald can finally get not the Emperor it needs --that was Solus-- but the Emperor it deserves: our esteemed Legatus Gaius Van Baelsar!

To the best of my knowledge, our mysterious Shadowhunter is Gaius and I will stubbornly stick to my conclusions. All the clues, hints, nuances and glaring evidences are all there to see. And yes, I will still refer to him as "Legatus" because I truly do not recall him ever relinquishing his title. Indeed.

For years we called it! We speculated, speculated, speculated, and speculated some more... no body recovered, no Ultima weapon recovered, no "Heirsbane" recovered...and about ten months ago, I even ranted my full reasons for my displeasure about this whole business of the Devs "killing" him off. The immense potential for Gaius within the FFXIV universe was too massive to ignore within the current storyline. He was never really my enemy and yet, he was a dangerous friend... that was what made him incredible. Can't wait.

And with this reveal, we now have a heck of a story incoming... our Wolf should be at least sixty years old now but he looks to be in his thirties... yes indeed, this is a hell of a tale that needs to be told. He was always an integral part of FFXIV and was meant to leave his mark on this game by building something truly magnificent for Hydaelyn... and maybe even the moon.

Thank you once again for this Devs... I seriously thank you. And be sure to bring back Ultima Weapon back as well someday soon... somehow, Gaius is not fully complete without it.



Now on to the nitty gritty of this situation; and Devs, this where I shall offer a few humble words of my hopes for how his story will be explained:

• Please do not bring him back only to murder him off again... that would be beyond lame and a worse sacrilege as when you "killed" him off the first time. He is obviously our guide within the Empire the next expansion and will likely become a focal point for the Populares.
• Please be very prudent on how you unfurl his story of where he has been, what he has been up to, and all that yada yada. These are the real elements that will either make or break the story... make it solid, make it believable, make it organic, make it true to his character and to the character of the FFXIV universe.
• Please let him become a method through which our Echo ability can help expand/explain the past. He is now arguably the oldest Garlean NPC known to us and this makes him highly invaluable because he is the prime lens through which the early histories of the Garlean empire can be told... Solus' rise to power, the secrets of the magitek technology, Garlean innovations as they conquered Ilsabard and so much more.
• Please let us know more about the different military factions within the Empire and how they act cohesively (or incohesively?) with one another. I'm also eager to see scenarios, for instance, of Gaius taking over the mysterious Frumentarii, or how many of his loyal XIVth remain... since each Garlean legion is about 6,000 troops, how have the survivors of his beloved XIVth coped till date? And didn't Nael's VIIth merge with them at some point? (Forgive me, its been five years so my memory is fuzzy on this one).
• Please expand on Maxima, our well-mannered second-in command to that wretch Asahi. He strikes me as someone of importance in this whole mystery... and a thought has suddenly occurred to me: Could he be a descendant of House Darnus???
• Please vindicate Gaius is a manner that is fitting... he has lost everything and is possibly even a considered a traitor or scrouge by many in his own land; which is very sad, considering his past patriotism and loyalty to Solus.
• Civil war is obviously on the cards for the Empire (we speculated that as well several times over)... plus it stands to reason that House Galvus and their decadence eventually needs to be curtailed. I remember its stated in the Eorzean Encyclopeadia that the royal family members all have decadent villas on the outskirts of the capital... there definitely has to be some dissent with that, including some very corrupt officials running amok. Thus, there will be Garleans that need a new hero... and Gaius could fill that void.

---(Am I selling his bid for Emperor convincingly enough? If not, allow me to post up images of the speculative opulence of the royal villas, built on the blood of their conquered sublicants, and Varis still laughing all the way to the bank)---







Alright, enough of Gaius for now... I;m done gushing. However, please be rest assured that I will also post more comments in the other excellent threads I see on the Lore forums.

Other 4.3 story elements:

• Prince Zenos, Ascians, sly-Magick-flying Elezens, a complicit Emperor, body swappings and Alphy exhibiting superb courage (thereby shutting up his nay-sayers)... oh my, the plot thickens indeed. Loved being able to control Alphy and it helped amplify this new direction I see the Devs following... immerse the player in every aspect of the story. Again, love it.
• Asahi's death at the hands of Yotsuyu was extremely satisfying for me and well delivered. Tsuyu's demise had a poignant feel to it that made it a great ending to that episode and Gotsetsu's subsequent reaction was almost predictable. Great work
• Speaking of Tsuyu, I do have a serious gripe with the weapons in the Extreme mode battle... why are only the Warrior and Dark Knight weapons beautifully done? All the other weapons are just mediocre as if the Dev team simply rushed through the designs to make the deadline! Just an observation.

Ridonana Lighthouse:

• Great visuals, great music (epic, majestic, grandiose... truly excellent) and Yiazmat's voice was perfectly amazing. It was great fighting him again in FFXIV after my first time of spending six hours fighting him in FFXII for the PS2 --coming to think of it, first time fighting him was about maybe 12 years ago? Bloody 'ell.
• For mechanics, they were fun and challenging but Devs, once again, you really should start considering giving casters more spells they can use while moving. The demands of all these added mechanics should also be balanced out with a couple more skills that can be used while on the move.
• Also, the new Greed system: Ultimately, I'm not a fan of this new system for several reasons that I will discuss on the battle/gameplay forums. I see the reasoning behind it (which makes solid sense) but it also establishes resentment towards gearing cycles and amplifies griefing tactics . By the way, there needs to be harsher penalties for griefing offences but that as well is for another section of the forums.
• Two elements I absolutely hated: The Red Chocobos and then making me run around with stupid fetch-quests before gaining access to Ridonana... what the heck??? Why, Devs, why? I hate sounding like I'm reprimanding the Dev Team but seriously guys...WHY???
• Only redeeming feature of that whole mess was that I got to see Drest again... and yet again, I'll ask: When can we hope to see more of his story? I still want to help him get back home.
• And since there was mention of Prince Rasler, can we still hope to see his armour as a reward? I've been asking since 2011 Yoshi... and for those who are wondering what the heck I'm banging on about, see the images below (Rasler and Ashe concept art from FFXII)

Other stuff:

• The redevelopment of Doma... excellent touchand I will continue to raid-loot all dungeons on their behalf. Thank you for incorporating it seamlessly into the story and not make it into some boring informercial
• The broken bridge at the far east of the Azim Steppe map... where does that lead to?
• Magnai and Sadu... together forever and all that yada yada... when is this happening?

The new Namazu beast tribe quests are fun... quick, uncomplicated and decent storyline. I actually hate the little slimy sly Namazu, perhaps it's because one of them betrayed me during the original Stormblood 4.0 MSQ... or maybe its their looks, or that squeeky sound they make...but I love their dialogue immensely. The mount is spiffy though:



The New Swallows Dungeon:
One word... Brilliant! Also love the gear very very much... Black Mage is my main, so go figure how pleased I am to don this around:

By the way... totally out of context... but when are we getting those Ziplines in Gridania? This too, I've been asking since during the 2.0 Alpha test back in 2012.

Thanks again for a great patch and on that note, I'll end it here with a couple beautiful pieces of artwork from an artist named Athena-Erocith from Deviant. Been a fan of her work ever since she did a few on Hauchy... and please Devs, don't bring Hauchefant back, he had a magnificent death that is already engraved in legends. Thank you.

[gumas]

i doubt they going to bring Hauchefant back to life considering his story and anything connected to him is pretty much concluded in HW, but i can see a very slim chance of WOL talking to him in a dreamlike state and maybe together with the shiva npc too which i forgot the name (the usual scene where you talk with huge crystal on the background) maybe when WOL is having a slump or regret over something, stuff like that.

[Anonymoose]

Agreed on most counts!

The first thing I'm holding my breath for is an explanation for the astounding coincidence that they just happened to crash their airship ten yalms from a guy we haven't seen since 2.00.

However, the one thing we may disagree on is his trajectory from here.

I could write 20 pages on this to be sure, but I assume you know enough about the man to know where I'm coming from when I ask: Has he learned the flaws in his leadership? His blindness to the compounding effects of context? Is he fit to rule? Does he want to rule? If the influence of the Populares flourishes, would his rule even be welcome or consistent with its values? Maybe ... maybe not.

My beef was that Gaius was Mr. Conquered Five Cities / Mr. Outsmarted Nine Usurpers / Mr. Eorzea Must Be Saved (By Force). He believed Eorzeans were subjects to be guided and ruled well (after the complete and ruthless purging of the "enemies of order" through whom shadow might or might not root themselves to it, yes, we should admit). Then he was put on pause to be integrated into the 2.0 rebuild of the 1.0 story.

Between 1.18 and 1.23, Cid mocked Gaius to his face as an aging has-been resigning himself to betraying his principles and scurrying about in the shadow of the White Raven. He snapped out of it. He outplayed Nael and manipulated the resources to undermine Project Meteor into the hands of the Eorzean Alliance. It created an air of reclaiming his glory and serving the spirit over the Emperor's mission over the letter of the Emperor's orders. (Incidentally the exact opposite of how Zenos approaches Varis's orders.)

But then they unpaused him. His invasion's success? Ivy. His invasion's collapse? Ivy. His motivation? Self-serving. His death? A pawn in a war between gods he was too arrogant to believe existed and (allegedly) burned to death in a storyline whose theme was rebirth from the ashes. The overall story was good, and a lot of the desperation, arrogance, and blindness fit. However, in context of 1.0 and 1.23 it really broke my crayons to assume that's who he died as.

Even if villains mostly die in their expansion cycle, your first antagonist mascot, the man wearing the number XIV, a hypocrite wearing loyalty as a front for his personal ambition - the Black Wolf all bark and no bite - leaves an awful taste.

If he dies again, dies wielding his own power and influence, dies setting up the great game to annihilate a true enemy of order who would see the world of man owned by anything but man, dies in service to the spirit of the world's salvation from shadow, I won't be mad.

For all we know, the Garlean Empire he served and believed in can't be saved. Perhaps, through the Populares, he'll understand that you cannot take a shortcut to the world uniting against a threat - that taking away their freedom of choice will only fertilize the very ground in which chaos takes root. If he assumes that the Empire is better off led by someone who knows when to make allies, to trust and unite with them against threats, and that that man is not him, I won't be mad.

Not that I wouldn't support rebirth from the ashes leading our first antagonist back to our first great enemy's throne and ending the hostilities between us in a way you don't often see in a [Good vs. Evil] scenario, all to fight the true evil facing Hydaelyn together. I'd gladly take that ... if, as is the only thing I wanted all along, it served his character and the narrative well. If he dies in service to the same spirit, I won't be mad.

Nitpickery: Gaius is about 57. Compared to Count Edmont at almost 60, his appearance seems reasonable enough.

Aside: Matsuno-san requiring an unrelated multi-stage fetch quest about wine - complete with Sideways reference (I GOT IT THIS TIME, LOC TEAM. I SEE YOU.) - just to get in the 24-man raid felt like deliberate trolling. He's probably earned the right to mess with people a bit.

[Evraeh]

I agree as well !

I just hope it's not just a fast appearance... I was waiting for more than 4 years to see "him" back.

[Anonymoose]

Took me a while to update that post but hey what's a novella between two wind-bags who've been playing from the start, eh? :P

[Belhi]

I cant help but be a bit apprehensive about his. I have a lot of faith in the FF14 team but honestly I cant help but feeling a lot of the fanbase are blind to Gaius's past actions and flaws due to their liking of him and his reappearance, after Yoshi P in the past seeming to suggest it wouldn't happen, instantly makes be worry they might be accommodating effectively fan service.

Giaus was a interesting character but he did more than his far share off horrible stuff. Ala Mhigo was an oppressed and brutalised nation before Zenos took over. He might have been an idealist and believed he was doing it for the greater good but that doesn't stop what was done under his command from being any less horrible. While I am not opposed with him coming back and us working with him, I am really hoping that doesn't get lost sight of in the process. It is a significant aspect of his history and character.

[Jyera]

snip

I could not have said a single word of this post better. I found the 1.x relationship between Cid and Gaius really compelling, and it puts the Praetorium in a context that weighs more for knowing that history. As a matter of fact, I'm fascinated but full of tension at the idea that they might meet again... how will Cid, who's gotten along in life since 2.0 under the conclusion that Gaius is dead, but who (from Omega quests) clearly still has shadows that weigh on his heart, deal with the prospect that the father figure who betrayed him so still lives?

I can't wait. ;_;

[ObsidianFire]

My beef was that Gaius was Mr. Conquered Five Cities / Mr. Outsmarted Nine Usurpers / Mr. Eorzea Must Be Saved (By Force). He believed Eorzeans were subjects to be guided and ruled well (after the complete and ruthless purging of the "enemies of order" through whom shadow might or might not root themselves to it, yes, we should admit). Then he was put on pause to be integrated into the 2.0 rebuild of the 1.0 story.

Between 1.18 and 1.23, Cid mocked Gaius to his face as an aging has-been resigning himself to betraying his principles and scurrying about in the shadow of the White Raven. He snapped out of it. He outplayed Nael and manipulated the resources to undermine Project Meteor into the hands of the Eorzean Alliance. It created an air of reclaiming his glory and serving the spirit over the Emperor's mission over the letter of the Emperor's orders. (Incidentally the exact opposite of how Zenos approaches Varis's orders.)

But then they unpaused him. His invasion's success? Ivy. His invasion's collapse? Ivy. His motivation? Self-serving. His death? A pawn in a war between gods he was too arrogant to believe existed and (allegedly) burned to death in a storyline whose theme was rebirth from the ashes. The overall story was good, and a lot of the desperation, arrogance, and blindness fit. However, in context of 1.0 and 1.23 it really broke my crayons to assume that's who he died as.

Even if villains mostly die in their expansion cycle, your first antagonist mascot, the man wearing the number XIV, a hypocrite wearing loyalty as a front for his personal ambition - the Black Wolf all bark and no bite - leaves an awful taste.

I wonder if Giaus' "regression" was done for the sake of everyone who hadn't played 1.0. It's a lot harder to have a strong finish to the first installment of something when the big conflict isn't black and white. It's a lot easier to leave the "grey" antagonists for later once "sides" have been established. IE: Nael is introduced first in 1.0, Giaus comes later.

As a whole, FFXIV really flips that concept on it's head. The Ascians, for all they're obviously the big bads, never get a lot of focus compared to the Garleans. Who even as early as 2.0 show signs of being manipulated by the Ascians as much as anyone else is. It's not until SB that we've really gotten Garleans that are clearly meant to be universally hated by the player-base. And even then it's made pretty clear that they're not on anyone's side but their own.

I'm now wondering if the devs decided to "reset" Giaus' 1.0 character arc and have him go though it again so it wouldn't be too weird for the non-1.0 people when it turns out he hates certain factions just as much as we do. There's other characters where not being able to see their 1.0 arc is a detriment to their 2.0 character (Minflia and Cid come to mind) and I wonder if SE was trying to avoid that with Giaus as he's off-screen often enough to get away with it. Or that the time is character is going to be the most important is so long after 2.0 that what they do in 2.0 with him isn't all that important so long as certain things happen.

[Ramesses]

Aside: Matsuno-san requiring an unrelated multi-stage fetch quest about wine - complete with Sideways reference (I GOT IT THIS TIME, LOC TEAM. I SEE YOU.) - just to get in the 24-man raid felt like deliberate trolling. He's probably earned the right to mess with people a bit.

*(Laughs)*... Right??? I freaking knew it! They were having a right laugh with this! Plus, I also should have suspected when I noticed the title of one of those quests was "Power, Pleasure, Pain"... (obviously lifted from Seal's Kiss Of A Rose song). I'm still trying to remember which of the Localization Team said he or she liked Seal's music back in 2011 or so.

Grrrr... now I have to do some major digging later.

Anyway, as to the rest of your post, I'll be back in a bit Moose... I need to sort out a couple errands.

[Ramesses]

Agreed on most counts!

The first thing I'm holding my breath for is an explanation for the astounding coincidence that they just happened to crash their airship ten yalms from a guy we haven't seen since 2.00.

However, the one thing we may disagree on is his trajectory from here.

I could write 20 pages on this to be sure, but I assume you know enough about the man to know where I'm coming from when I ask: Has he learned the flaws in his leadership? His blindness to the compounding effects of context? Is he fit to rule? Does he want to rule? If the influence of the Populares flourishes, would his rule even be welcome or consistent with its values? Maybe ... maybe not.

Nitpickery: Gaius is about 57. Compared to Count Edmont at almost 60, his appearance seems reasonable enough.

Exactly right, Moose...what's a novella between two wind-bags who've been playing from the start? Indeed! Coming to think of it, the speculations we drum up on this forum is enough for the Devs to make a whole novel. I really wish I had more time to chime in more often because I keep seeing really great comments here on the Lore section but no time to read them all or respond. Not to mention all the previous speculations on other FFXIV boards for at least a year before the game released. My God, the discussions back then were amazing... good times indeed.

Alright first off, I will hold up a hand in friendly disagreement regarding Gaius' age... (this one gave me some head scratching yesterday while I was writing my post)... but I still believe he's encroaching sixty. Here's why:

Per our current Encyclopedia... (yes yes Moose, I know it still has a few howlers within)... he was just shy of turning 58 when he "disappeared". And since 2.0 the following has occurred (not particularly in this order):

• The Scions relocated to Mor Dhona, Alphinaud developed the Crystal Braves, we fought off Leviathan, King Moogle and I think some other primal (Ramuh?)
• The battle of succession broke out in Garlemald which is around the time Doma attempted to declare independence (which went belly up and cost them the life of Hein's father Kaien).
• We took in Yugiri and the Doman exiles and helped them build a home in Mor Dhona
• We dived into the events of the Isle of Val, the disappeared Students of Baldesion and Urianger's research into the Ascian's ability to move between planes...while also being meddling nuisances.
• We established closer ties with Ishgard through Hauchy, met Aymeric, and then dealt with all the unrest crap in Ul’dah --- which ends with Raubahn discovering that Teledji was masterminding it all, and cuts down the little muppet.
• Sultana subsequently "falls into deep sleep" the Crystal Braves betray us and we run for our lives to Ishgard. Thus I reckon we spent maybe 8 to 12 months.
• Heavensward kicks in; with the events leading up to Palalymo's sacrifice at Baelsar's wall easily taking up about roughly a year.
• On to Stormblood and I reckon we've been running about for perhaps...for lack of any real timetable... lets just say three months.

So I'd say it may have been at least two years since the events of 2.0; Hence why I pegged our Wolf at around sixty. I could be wrong, I could be spot on... I'm honestly not too hooked onto that detail. He still looks great for that age though... wonder what his diet is? I'm thinking he also works out often... he definitely needs great core strength to carry Heirsbane about.

By the way, heads up that my responses may seem haphazard because I'm jumping between a few posts while also trying to clarify my thoughts as they emerge.

Next item is one I have to wholeheartedly agree with you about... and that is the insane astounding coincidence that Alphy and Maxima crashlanded near Gaius... I'm glad it wasn't just me who caught on to that. And this is one of the reasons why I mentioned above that it is imperative for the Devs to make his "backstory" solid, make it believable, make it organic, make it true to his character and to the character of the FFXIV universe.. This is so very, very, very, important so that his tale doesn't fall flat on its face.

Finally, yes... per where our trajectories may diverge, I reckon this is where our discussion really evolves into a great seminar... and I'm honored to be in attendance.

Lets be honest, Gaius was born into an era when the Garlean Empire was very young and the imperial mandate was that of survival (then expansion) through military strength. Here is my little math and subsequent analysis of his early life:

• Gaius would have been born when the Solus was around 30+ years old-- here's how I arrived at that: Solus died at 88 when Gaius was around 57 going on 58.
• By the way Moose... just to go off-tangent a little: Did you remember the speculative discussions way back in early 1.0 days (before we even knew how the Imperial power structure and naming conventions were defined)... that Gaius may have even been Solus' son?--Adopted or biological--- or illegitimate, I forget which. I'll look for the thread... it may have been on these forums, on Allakhazam or FFXIVCore. This notion actually did pop up a few times over the years.
• But let's proceed. Note that Solus had become Legatus in 1513 at age 24 and declared Dictator in 1517 when he was just 28... which meant Gaius' viewpoint of the world from birth or an early age was one of imperial expansion and conquest through strength. That word Strength would become his mantra word and its safe to assume that he would gradually begin to base a lot of his ideals and beliefs on that word.
• Add to the fact that this chap diligently studied the elkons, the Twelve, the mysteries of Hydaelyn, military tactics, politics, governance... heck, he even had his own memoirs and dairies which became legend.
• Hence, we get to formulate the picture of a guy who not only drinks from the Imperial Kool Aid but knows how to brew it. His people had been trampled on like trash for centuries and cornered to live in the cold reaches of Northern Ilsabard until they discovered Blue Gold (Ceruluem)... can you blame him?
• He understood the essence of sheer loyalty to his Emperor, the conquest ideals of the Garlean empire to bring order and the big picture of what it really took to hold an empire together. Thus, one can't blame him for his sheer justification in how he believes the Empire is forging ahead with their beliefs.

And this is where the WOL's views start to oppose from his... what gives these Garleans the right to stamp their mandate on the rest of the world while creating chaos in their wake? How dare they think their battle to extinguish the elkons gives them an excuse to establish global order? And then grabbing up foreign youngsters to press into military service while promising them citizenship after 20 or 25 years of service? How dare they expend other people's lives in this manner? And so many more "how dare theys".

However, low and behold this Garlean is different... sure, he's not as radically different like Cid, Biggs, Wedge, Lucia and so on. No, this chap understands a more sinister underpinning to the aether energies, the Ascians, the crystals, the Twelve... and more importantly, he understand a few of the basic elements that holds an empire together:

• A powerful military to sustain order and protect NOT brutalize (for instance his leadership of his legions, unlike Zenos)
• A meritocracy system based on sheer ability and not race or citizenship (for instance, look at how he treats his lieutenants)
• A vision to sustain the resources, infrastructure and cultures of the various nations under their rule (for instance, his bloodless conquest of Ala Mhigo)

I saw all this and I grudgingly begin to admire the guy... it's as if he has memorized every word of Sun Tzu's Art of War. Granted, his views have flaws but step into his shoes and we start to see this multifacet set of ideals which makes one begins to wonder if he has the makings of a true Garlean Emperor... a Philosophical King if you will. He definitely had the resume to back it up. Cid is of course one of the first to call him out on several things in 1.0... and he hit a raw nerve in Gaius so bad that he actually shot him in anger. Remember that? (see image below)



Yet even Cid has his own flaws and I LOVE it that Nero finally called him out on one of them during the last Sigmascape srory arc. But I digress, that's another debate for another time.

Here's what I will add though; my main excitement for his return stems from the fact that he seemingly now understands there were inherent flaws in his ideals; and the Garlean mandate does not fully apply in these new times. A new ideal needs to be established for Garlemald, much more tolerance for other nations needs to be established, and the Garleans need to clean house from within post haste. The new civil war between the Populares and the (Optimates?) should be very very interesting... and who knows, even House Darnus or some other Larsa-like entity may emerge to lay claim to the throne. Right now, House Galvus are getting a little... weird.

Therefore, the fact that Gaius is hunting down Ascians solidifies this whole thing for me... once again, he's seeing the big picture with sheer clarity and actually acting upon it (although there is some revenge streak embodied somewhere in there).