[ 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.