Revelations from Patch 4.4

[Anonymoose]

Traditions traditions traditions.

For anybody who's new to this process, we've organically fallen into this habit of always making a Patch Day freak-out thread where we give our knee-jerk feedback and trade a few points so we don't just go spoiler-bombing the rest of our open threads in the first 24 hours.

By discussing each story arc in its own collapsible spoiler box, we ensure that people can take part in the thread without fear even before they've finished everything.

EXAMPLE

Like so.

MAIN SCENARIO

So, let's go in order.

Everything started out more or less as expected, just in the opposite order. We look for Alphinaud, no dice. We check out the Burn and figure out it might just be void of life because Allagans (...lol...) then head off to House of the Crooked Coin, that was Allagans (...LOL...). So already there's this sense of, "Wait, was the Empire's mission started under a false pretense?"

Aside, I got a hearty laugh out of the Xaela bit. The Steppe stuff in general usually isn't really my cup of thematic tea (worldbuilding and storytelling are great, just not my cup of tea). That said, I think Magnai and Sadu nailed it this patch. Moreover, derailing [Will Magnai finally notice Sadu is his Nhaama?] to have him strike out with Y'shtola was excellent. This is Carvallain and Rhoswen all over again. (Even though I'm pretty sure those two have had a secret on-again, off-again fling for years based on some of their interactions, but I digress.) Anyroad, well played. Little Sun...

So the voice hits and people start getting "called away" from their bodies. We can rule out Alphinaud, it looks like. And I still think it sounds like Arbert but... The only thing we've EVER seen call soul from body is Hydaelyn, and it looked like we were in nothingness. C-Crystal Dad? Is that you? Zodiark was like #3 or #4 on my list of possible voices, in the "I don't see how, but maybe." category. I could see how, now, lol.

This would explain pretty much everything else. Our soul would have been called into the rift instead of the sea. Zodiark would be speaking the "royal we" since He's all into the soul merging thing. Nabriales alleged that Zodiark held dominion over time ("Let eon become instant...") and it fits with the whole time compression thing. Twin Dooms... Calamity... Flood of Light... Time Compression... But is He just desperate enough to lie to us Himself now?

Meanwhile if it's Arbert ... not really much of that makes sense, yet. Pretty much just the twin dooms part.

Alright. The big enchilada...

...

LOL WHAT? "What if even Solus zos Galvus was guided by Ascian whispers?" has always been a background hum with little evidence either way. But Solus zos Galvus was either raised unto the status of or merely possessed by an Ascian the entire time, and the sole purpose of the Garlean Empire as he built it was to cause problems? That is going to be a wrecking ball through so many headcanons and roleplays. Holy sugar-frosted hells am I glad I never committed to anything more specific than, "A lot of the people are going to be workable, but the leadership has got to go."

So Varis believes in "reins of history in the hands of man" and his position is quite instantly almost-sympathizing for all the "He's irredeemable." crap I gave him earlier. And yet Solus believes that Varis believes that, in spite of not being an Ascian, in spite of his disdain for Ascians, the world and mankind itself should be restored to its "original form". Fascinating. And Ascolus believes that Elidibus is an insufferable worrywart but an impeccable mediator between Light and Darkness. So the Ascians, the Mediator, and Zodiark all claim to want to want balance and the restoration of the "original" everything...?



(Aside: Did anyone else get Ardyn vibes off of Solus? Not plot-wise, just mannerisms.)


I admit that the prospect of who to trust is muddy, and I admit that not every path leads to "Elidibus is a snake.", and I admit that Zodiark might be more complex than He seems. However, I've been Team Hydaelyn, Team World as We Know It, Team Reins of History in the Hands of Man too long to not assume Zodiark is just about to pull a Palpatine, clear the table, and take everything for Himself.

Stinger: Still yay it's Gaius, not much else happened. Though we're getting a foreshadow of Black Rose used on a more massive scale perhaps.

HAPPY PATCH DAY!

[Rocl]

I'm going to get this one in here ahead of time, because I want to emulate Moose. Also, you should totally include the fact you make those fancy boxes with [HB ] and [/HB ] tags. (without the spaces between B and bracket, obviously)!

MSQ

Woo boy, as a fan of Allagans even I'm getting a bit tired. However, I have to admit that no matter when they revealed the area from which Azys Lla came or the Allagan influence in Othard it would've always felt convenient. There's just no escaping it. We knew Allag conquered Othard and it was honestly weird we had so little evidence of their presence except Heaven-on-High and now the Crooked Coin.

The mysterious voice definitely didn't appear to me to be Arbert after all, nor really Alphinaud. Apparently only the English text uses "we," so I have to imagine it's someone with a rather grandiose self-image--the only other being we know that can pull a similar stunt (shucking out souls to speak in an interdimensional space) is our resident Mothercrystal so ... Zodiark? Pretty gross, honestly, but so far it fits best. The dialogue does kind of fit:
changing history - undo the sundering
open the gates - tear down the barriers between worlds
make eons become instant - by returning the universe to its primordial state time as we know it would cease.

This also plays into why I don't really care for the whole Ascian plan--the basics of what we know about when Hydaelyn and Zodiark were one are pretty paltry but uh, mortal life certainly wasn't there. I have no doubt currently that the "rightful state" is nothingness/aether to be use by Zodiark.

Speaking of Ascian plans... do I get to scream about phones and calling things out years in advance?

Though I guess that's a totally believable plot-twist. "HA! THE GARLEAN EMPIRE? SOLUS ZOS GALVUS' EMPIRE WAS CREATED BY ASCIAN WILL!" What better way to ensure Gods are summoned, aether is drained, and wars waged than giving a backwater nation the power to conquer and installing a right sociopath to helm the most technologically advanced military in over 5000 years?

It fits neatly and so it was always kind of nagging in the back of your mind. Maybe not a compelling story for you and yours, but it was always a plausible possibility and to see it confirmed actually puts me a little on edge. It just... makes sense. It also puts Varis in a very interesting position. And how in the hell does an Ascian even sire a son/daughter to continue the royal line? When was Solus possessed? Was he once a mortal man? Does it matter? (Yes.) I wonder if, perhaps, Solus has a story rather similar to Darnus', instead of a sibling taking his guise and gallivanting about as him, an Ascian does it instead. Solus' rise in ranks through the military and the almost immediate beginning of Garlean expansion is too close together to ignore. Also why is he young now lol? I guess they didn't want an old stout man model to be a villain and decided to make Ardyn II instead.

Poor Gaius. Poor, poor POOR Gaius. He was utterly devoted to Solus. All those beliefs and principles. All of them utterly manipulated and instilled in him by Ascians. I can't wait to see what happens when he finds out Lahabrea wasn't the first Ascian to use him for their ends.

That we're seeing the comings of another Calamity already is worrying. Having been through this before I feel like the deaspecting of crystals was mere moons before the fall of Dalamud, tho come to think of it might've been even earlier than that.

Where the hell was Maxima? The only thing I can guess is that Shadowhunter and Alphinaud purposefully left him behind because of his outwardly Imperial attire and the fact they were going to a resistance camp. Why didn't Alphinaud hear this mysterious voice? The only thing I can put together is he was the only Scion who didn't know of the meeting....OR HE WAS THE ONE MAKING THE CALL... FROM THE FUTURE??? I hate that idea, please don't do it Square Enix.

There is an interesting bit of optional dialogue early in the MSQ:

Temulun: Strange... Amidst the radiance of your being, I sense a shadow. I pray it is but my imagination.

Bleh, why the Scions? My original guessing had it based on the fact they all dealt with the Warriors of Darkness based on the trailer, but Alphinaud seems kind of fine and Alisaie didn't have her soul removed from her body like the others. Why why why? The calls came at seemingly "important points in history" as well; Thancred coming up with a plan, Urianger deciding to go look over Thancred--it seems conceivable that the person is squashing out possible timelines they don't want but that's just ... terrible. I don't like that idea at all. Give me something more! Gah!

OMEGA

Alpha is kinda dumb and I wish he had been deleted tbh--perhaps conditioning from all previous raids needing a heroic sacrifice. They did a good job of making me feel pity for Omega though. I wonder what Nero will do now... and it was nice to get some backstory on Midgardsormr and Omega. Interplanetary war, man, I had just pegged them as two rival factions on the same star. Also what the hell did Omega disperse into? Aether? That doesn't seem to make sense to me. I'm guessing the superfluid evaporated or something, I don't know. It was nice to see Hraesvelgr again, but sure was disappointed when he was about to talk to us about the covenant between Midgardsormr and Hydaelyn only to decide he's been talking too much and fly away.

Thanks, jerk.

It was nice to see those heroic sacrifices of past raids get a subtle nod nonetheless.

FOUR LORDS

Given Tenzen's connection to Phoenix in FFXI I actually really liked this bit. Her... unrequited love was kind of creepy to me though. Fun fight. Looking like we'll get Seiryu and Kouryu will be dealt with via a cutscene/solo duty tbh. I'm okay with that though as he just used the Kirin model it appears.

I can't say I got a lot of the .. jokes? I just kept raising one eyebrow trying to figure out what was going on. Like yea yea it's a bird it's a plane it's superman, but it just felt.. weird to me. I have to admit to not being totally into this storyline though, so your mileage may vary.

MISC

I don't know what to put here yet but I haven't done Saint Mocianne yet so maybe that'll go here.

[Cilia]

My internet is down... Damn it all...

[Kusanagi7]

LIKE THIS

like that?

[KageTokage]

Thoughts on the story.

Magnai getting shot down again made me giggle, and Sadu certainly is abnormally determined when it comes to fighting.

Thancred, Urianger, and Y'shtola getting put on the bench again right after they became relevant again was a bit...disappointing and I hope they'll all be back sooner then later.

I think we have our villain for the next expansion now if the original emperor/Ascian who founded the empire is back and manipulating Varis (Though he's certainly not happy about it). I'm also a little surprised by Elidibus' seeming willingness to deal with us personally, since I could've swore he said were instrumental to Zodiark's revival in some form or fashion so killing us would be kind of counter intuitive.

Surprised actual Zenos still hasn't shown his face again yet. I feel like he might just get swept under a rug at this point if they plan on concluding his role in the story in 4.5.

[Clawtooth]

MSQ Spoilers

The story was great this patch - especially the stuff with Y'shtola, though it's sad to see the remaining adult scions get benched again. Magnai's voice crack was everything.

I'm really annoyed though -- when Alisaie was talking about 'we need to get outside help' I was screaming at the screen:

I ... sure wish ... we knew ... someone who knew lots about Aether ... with access to a bunch of Sharlayan knowledge ... who would be deperate to help Y'shotla ... but if only we knew someone like that ... I just can't think of anyone

IF WE CAN GO AND BOTHER HER FOR THE NAMAZU QUESTS THEN WE CAN BOTHER HER FOR LITERALLY THREE PEOPLE'S SOULS BEING RIPPED OUT OF THEIR BODIES AND SHE DOESN@T EVEN HAVE DIFFERENT DIALOGUE
SHE'S STILL TALKING ABOUT THE AFTERMATH OF ALEXANDER inodfgnioszinodf
I@M SO ANGRY

That aside - loving the revelation about Zenos and Solus, and the Black Rose plotline becoming relevant again. Kind of wish we'd seen more Alphinaud and totally-not-Gaius; although Shadowhunter continues to probably be him especially with his line about rulership. Also loved that we got voiced Merlwyb lines for the first time since ... 3.0???

Haven't done Omega or Suzaku yet so I might post after those.

BUT SERIOUSLY JUST GO AND TALK TO MATOYA SHE MIGHT KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON

In addition, I'm no longer thinking the voice that 'Called' us is the Warrior of Darkness like a lot of us thought initially. I think it's probably a new character, though I don't know whom.

[Chewy2nd]

MSQ spoilers

I don't think anyone could have predicted the events of this patch...

Solus is gonna be an amazing villian, I like Varis 10x more now too

[Mieck]

MSQ. Um...

The start...

I really enjoyed the Burn. Could be that's the best dungeon music, pipping Snowcloak. I'm with Moose on not being massively enamoured with the Azim Steppe - the only good part of the quest line in 4.0 was the Naadam, something I managed to replay on an alt this last week, but that's by the by. Magnai and Sadu just came over as a lot of tedious posturing. Seems like they knew this, so my girl Y'Stola comes to the rescue! The Steppe stuff here was very nice, and it leavs us with plenty of questions.


But wait, what?! In my head the entire time, Azys Lla was the result of plucking enormous parts of Meracydia from the face of Hydaelyn? I mean, there's the whole of Delta Quadrent which must have been, right? And the cathedral was dedicated to Sephirot - a Meracydian primal! My headcanon is in tatters... I'd even planned to post a topic in the near future asking what people thought might be a really cool scene SE could make for something we haven't seen in game yet, and I had a great setup whereby the Flagship is over Meracydia, lancing great chunks of the land up and away... Seems it's not to be.


The voice. I was all ready to say that the zinger would be that all of the Scions present at Bowl of Embers in 3.4... except Y'Stola wasn't, and Alphinaud was... so I guess that casts a little doubt on whether it actually is Arbet, since him communicating with the Scions he has actually met would seem a sensible leap. I still agree that it sounds like him, though. Another, semi-desperate reason to tie it all together is the name of the WoD patch - Soul Surrender. Not that the Scions willingly surrendered their souls this time...

Now, the Garleans...

I said in... some recent thread (maybe the 5.0 predictions?) that I'd be pretty let down if Ascians had been setting the Garleans up, and now I'm a little deflated. I'd hoped, at the very least, we'd be able to actually have people being wretched to each other without their being an Ascian or an Allagan behind it... and based off what Solus said, I wouldn't count out the rise of that empire being Ascian-aided, either. And, oh look... another resurrected founding emperor. Oh well...
This does all seem like Varis is in way over his head, though. He's the real puppet here, and I think he knows it.


Gaius! I wonder if they re purposed an OOB area of Weeping City for the resistance camp? Had that marshy vibe to it, I thought. And Alphinaud said nothing about headaches, so I suspect he was not affected by the voice.

Four Lords
Pending


Omega

Glad that our raid series companion actually got a happily ever after this time around. Hresvelgar was a proper tease, too. Please, tell me more about the pact between Middy and Hydaelyn. It is not a boring tale and you really should tell me. Everything!


Ahem. I really hope the Cid/Nero dynamic continues into 5.0. I think we're going to have great need of Cid for all our McGuffins, considering the events of the MSQ depriving us of our usual sources.

Misc
Pending

[Heliantheae]

MSQ thoughts

So Sadu; really, really likes fighting.

Those fights were really fun though. And I loved the part where we played a Y'shtola.

And I'm glad I'm not the only one who got an Ardyn vibe from Solus. He was so hammy, he ate the throne room right up.

Predictions for the next patch

They're going to use the Black Rose on something big. They razed Dalmasca to the ground and the way to Doma is cut off, so that leaves Ala Mhigo. Or who knows, they might aim it straight at us and unlease it on Mor Dhona.

[XelphatolTylenolCepacolAlcohol]

Predictions for the next patch

They're going to use the Black Rose on something big. They razed Dalmasca to the ground and the way to Doma is cut off, so that leaves Ala Mhigo. Or who knows, they might aim it straight at us and unlease it on Mor Dhona.

A poem from before the release of Stormblood comes to mind...

Look ye where the sun doth rise, see crimson embers dark'ning skies. Look ye where the sun doth fall, see azure lost amidst the squall.

Urianger repeats this to Alisaie before we first set sail for Kugane. It's never really been.....resolved.

I'm thinking possibly

Ishgard?