Thread: [4.4 Discussion] "The Reunion"

A early post for what may or will happen later in 4.4 and during 4.4 so remember there will be spoilers below once 4.4 is officially released mid-September.

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So we are heading to the Burn on a rescue mission already in 4.4 and it seems to be our 4.4 Story Dungeon for this patch.

How do you think our reunion with Gaius may turn out? Will WoL and Y'shtola notice it is him without his signature garlean armor appearance but notice his white mask?

I thought they may hold this off until 5.0 but guess for now they want to establish our potential Garlean allies even if the alliance is a shaky one.

I think we'll get the initial revelation with Alphinaud rather than the "rescue team", and I'm interested to see how he handles it. I think it's possible he'll notice the mask early on, quietly draw conclusions and wait to see whether Gaius wants to explain. (That part might not happen until the WoL arrives.)

Yep... this will likely evolve its way into canon.

Ever since Nero reappeared during the Crystal Tower story arc (patch 2.1 or 2.2?) the notion that he pulled Gaius out of the fire has been the elephant in the room.

I almost expect Shadowhunter to mysteriously and Totally Coincidentally take his leave of Alphinaud and Maxima mere minutes before the rest of the Scions arrive, and Alphinaud goes "who was that gallant and amazingly cool man", and the Scions go "we never saw him, but if he helped you through the Burn he must be a good person", and half the playerbase expires from orbs azure.

Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Well, ironically enough Nero appeared to be the most rebellious of Gaius's tribunes - Livia and Rhitahtyn were both zealously devoted to him, where as Nero simply went along with him for his own ends (not surprising then that he alone wisely realized when it was better to cut his losses and run after we beat him up, rather than his counterparts who fought us to the death, and paid for it with their lives). So yeah I too am keen to see a reunion between them... I imagine it would be very awkward.

And both Nero and Gaius were well aware that Gaius's first choice was always Cid, which would have been exceptionally annoying to Nero's inferiority complex. I'm not sure Gaius ever saw Nero as anything more than settling for what he could get, and Nero responded to that level of (lack of) loyalty in kind.

However, if they had both laid it out in the open (and I would imagine Gaius to be the sort to do so) from the beginning, then I'd imagine their professional relationship to be fairly acceptable. Both were doing their jobs, both knew what each expected of each other, and both had no hard feelings either way. If either one were the sort to let personal feelings interfere, I'd actually expect it to be Nero.

Y'shtola potentially being present is interesting given that she was also present during the temporary alliance with Regula van Hydrus. Alphinaud being saved by Gaius is also going to weigh heavily in Gaius' favour. The man is also pragmatic enough that he's likely to put old grudges aside for the sake of the greater threat - namely the Ascians.

Originally Posted by Theodric

The man is also pragmatic enough that he's likely to put old grudges aside for the sake of the greater threat - namely the Ascians.

I'd say that by working with Alphinaud, and by extension aiding the Scions (in a fashion), I'd say it's not just likely but has already happened.

Otherwise he'd have to be playing the long game for a grand betrayal at some point, and that runs the real risk of feeling Ilberd 2.0 (along with running counter to his pragmatic nature), so I don't think the story would support that particular direction anyway.

As for our actual Reunion, I'm of the mind that there will be some near misses in terms of actually meeting, and we may not meet until 4.5. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that they are going to use the system they setup for 4.3 to help tell more of that side of the story without having to have us meet up quite yet and in a way that is more engaging than a simple cutscene.

Originally Posted by YianKutku

I'm not sure Gaius ever saw Nero as anything more than settling for what he could get, and Nero responded to that level of (lack of) loyalty in kind.

I kind of don't think this is quite the case. While Nero is certainly second to Cid in terms of engineering ability, Nero is the one I'd trust more then Cid to deliver what he promised when he promised to do it. I can see Nero replacing Cid as a lead engineer, but I can't ever see Cid as a Tribunus.

The very reason Jessie even hires Nero on is because Cid really isn't cut out for running the Ironworks. He's really bad at keeping the business side of the Ironworks going on a day-to-day basis and can't seem to get that the Ironworks has to make a profit off of what he's doing. In fact, what he's doing is usually making sure various technologies don't spread. Which given the type of technologies he comes across is understandable, but still... Cid's seems like the kind of guy who comes up with all the prototypes, but never bothers figuring out how to mass-produce them. That's everyone else's job at the Ironworks. Only recently, it sounds like he hasn't even been making prototypes because he's so busy helping the Scions... I can easily see Jessie hiring Nero because she knows Cid will focus on what Nero is doing once he finds out about it (as opposed to not wanting to work on anything he doesn't feel like working on).

Oh man... I just thought of something hilarious... Jessie and Giaus have worked with both Cid and Nero. I can so see Jessie and Giaus swapping stories about all the difficulties they've had trying to get Cid to work on the engineering projects he's supposed to be working on. And all the ways they managed to get him to do what they wanted.