Thread: The Road to 5.0

To unwrite the past or fix a mistake can still be done in a present context. For example if an event like removing a potiential threat was suppose to happen during a certain time frame and didn't it happen we can still possibly fix this mistake and unwrite history by completing the event now.

For example, not related to the story, if a specific person is supposed to die before certain date in two months and an assassin misses their target on the intended day it could change the course of history creating a new time line. However they can still unwrite "that future" if they get a message from the future before the two month time frame is up and completes their mission. That is a way to unwrite the future without going back in time. I hope that makes sense

I think that something else needs to be considered. The message doesn't have to be literally from the future even if it refers to 'avoiding the future,' 'averting fate', or anything like that. Similarly 'undoing a mistake' doesn't have to be literally going back in time and undoing a mistake. Nor does it have to be even a literal prophecy. We have recently dealt with Arbert, a fellow Warrior of Light who fought too hard against darkness and doomed his shard to a flood of light. Given that a flood of light appears to be the threat of the expansion, it makes just as much sense that he's trying to avert the player from making his same mistakes, and to try and save both of their worlds from said flood. This would mean our characters don't have to literally go to the past, they merely have to move forward and figure out how to save the world(s).

Sorry I'm late to the party, but as an aside from translations I think something else previewed is a good chip in the 'time travel' pile in my opinion- New Game Plus.

It has been mentioned a time or two how much mess it is to redo zones and the like for different parts in the story and not being able to go back to old places, or for certain lore bits being lost and whatnot. A perfect outside example of this was WoW's Cataclysm expansion- they completely redid most low level zones in Azeroth and it removed a lot of lore-nugget quests from the game entirely. I feel like NG+ might be a way to reconcile changing stuff around us but allowing us a window to still access the old things (though I assume it won't include side quests still, hrm....). Either that or they realize there is going to be so much going on now in the long narrative that it's going to be necessary to have a refresher course in the story.

I don't feel like I have adequately explained why I feel this way about the NG+ aspect in comparison to time travel new zones or the like..... it's on the tip of my tongue but I can't quite get it into proper words.

New Game Plus isn't going to be an easy way to revisit old zones because you've gone beyond a "point of no return" in the story. It's going to force you to do the entire MSQ again - and then you will eventually reach that point of no return again and once again be cut off. It's a mechanism that might be fine for a single-player game, but not for this game with its social aspects and "do at any time" side content. Players cannot be permanently cut off from these elements of the game, and "you can go back as long as you replay the entire MSQ" isn't going to be an acceptable solution.

So I greatly expect that any dramatic world-altering events, or time travel, or anything like that, have to be created with the starting concept that the world as it is now will remain permanently available to players. Perhaps the story might temporarily block areas off, but they will be either short term or non-critical areas that you won't need to enter for other reasons. If we travel through time to the future or the past, if it is a solid world and not a temporary event, then there will be some kind of stable portal that allows us to travel back and forth.

Any major events that change the game world will likely be largely confined to the new zones. When Ilberd summoned Shinryu pretty much all of the damage occurred on the opposite side of Baelsar's Wall.

Hmm, if the rumours are to be believed about SHB's jobs, they could kinda hint at the upcoming locations

Dancer - Thavnair/Radz-At-Han
Gunblade - Garlemald

I proposed the theory a while back that Regula was killed as a consequence of Elidibus' scheming as a deliberate move. I'm glad to see someone else bring it up as it was shot down at the time. Elidibus' little helper had been fed false information regarding Regula's nature and even putting that aside there's the matter of Regula having to deal with saboteurs during his career who were not pleased in regards to his efforts to clean things up.

Yet Regula's death is very important in the grand scheme of thing as he was very much devoted to rooting out corruption and improving Garlemald from within. In his case, he just so happened to be Varis' best friend - and so Elidibus would stand to isolate Varis himself quite a bit by ridding him of Regula's presence and advice. If it came down to it, I do not doubt that Varis would have listened to Regula over Elidibus or Solus. Especially when it has been shown that he utterly despises Solus in particular - and his tolerance of Elidibus is equally as strained.

It also ties into something else of import. Each and every time we have seen a Garlean seek to change things from within, circumstances have conspired against them to either have them killed off, exiled or reduced to having to defect and turn against their former brethren - all of which ties into sowing the seeds of further conflict and distrust across the board.

As far as the actual conflict between Hydaelyn and Zodiark is concerned, I'm still not convinced that Hydaelyn can be trusted but I wouldn't exactly put my faith in the Ascians and Zodiark either. My hope is seeing Hydaelyn and Zodiark's influence rendered obsolete and for mortals to be free of the burden that is religion. Perhaps not immediately but by the end of the game's lifespan.

After all, I'm a firm believer that both the fate and history of mortals should be in their hands and not at all subject to the whims and different moral standards of deities.