Thread: Revelations from Patch 4.4

On Allag...

I believe it's already established lore that the Ascians taught them how to bind Primals/Eikons and other similar entities. Their involvement in the Allagan Empire is all but certain.

Originally Posted by Kallera

About Zodiark:

I have a feeling that this is Zodiark, the game seemed to make clear(in the journal text and musings of them going back home)that the WoD were going to their deaths, that through the 70drk quest the WoL believes Arbert among the dead. As WoL working under Eldibus, nothing seemed to suggest the WoD had any particular insight regarding this, or any talk with Zodiark at all. (Not that we’d be able to ask...)
Note that at times even Hydaelyn has had trouble contacting us without the crystal of light we get on occasion, and Zodiark is effectively doing this on the scions for the first time, specifically plucking people away.

While we are well aware that the flood is something both sides do not want, the notion of Zodiark not wanting a calamity(or this calamity at least) as well as the global phenomenon of aether going down throws something new into the mix.

Is the Ascian form somehow unable to be called in such a manner?
Is the draining aether in the land related to his want to return as an intervention, which gets interpreted by the Ascians first?

My thoughts on that are...

It's nebulous, to be honest, as we could be in error about Arbert's fate. That said, I'm not averse to the idea that it is Zodiark - it'd be very interesting indeed if it was. My suspicion is that he might be using Arbert's voice due to its familiarity to the WoL/Scions, if so. The timing, though, does not rule out the possibility that it is Elidibus. He is certain to see have predicted and seen through Thancred's plan; his warning to Varis suggests he is expecting something of this nature, when he refers to the Scions as "resourceful". Still, I'd say the odds are that it's the WoD if he's alive and, if not, Zodiark.

Originally Posted by Rosenoire

Varis and Zenos:

For me, Varis' callousness about his son's death makes so much more sense now than after the end of 4.0, because my take away was that Zenos hasn't truly been his son for a long time. Whenever Elidibus decided that Zenos would be an "irreplaceable test subject" and gave him the artificial Echo, I think it drove him insane. It makes perfect sense that Varis stopped thinking of him as his son when he realized that he was a monster, and as he noted, "monsters don't belong on thrones". As I mentioned earlier, it also makes me wonder about the circumstances of Zenos' birth. Did Solus suggest that Varis might make a better choice of heir if he had an heir of his own, fully anticipating that a child would be a useful tool, or potential host for another Ascian?



I'm certainly not ready to call Varis a good guy, but I do have some sympathy for him that I definitely didn't previously. Yes, he's ruthless--he'd have to be to claw his way to the top of the Empire. But then he finds out that his grandfather was a meat puppet for an embodiment of Chaos and that everything he thought was true about the founding of the Empire was probably a lie. At some point his son is given an experimental treatment that turns him into a maniacal killing machine. His only real friend gets killed. I'm thinking censoring artists was largely out of spite and a desire to damage something his grand-Ascian liked. That's still not good, but it is understandable.

I liked the idea that the Empire's problems were due to human failings rather than shadowy manipulation from evil overlords. But I do appreciate that Varis now feels less like he came from the Generic Final Fantasy Evil Emperor factory and more like a character with some depth and shades of grey.

On Zenos...

It's certainly food for thought and I agree with your interpretation. My interpretation of Varis's comments at the time were that he did not like his son much but let him conduct experiments that could be of wider benefit to the Empire, but are also risky in nature - plus he took a primal form on and also forsook the Empire, which no doubt bred hostility in his father. I had suspicions that the Resonance might be Ascian in provenance but the basis for it was not strong at the time. However, Elidibus gifting Ilberd Nidhogg's eyes was never accidental and certainly, Aulus stumbling on research enabling him to instill this Resonance is now likely to be anything but accidental, and in all probability, an Ascian project. So you may be right. Whether Zenos was born bad (Lyse apparently thinks not), or made bad, the end result was a monster Varis did not feel any empathy towards. I think they may be planning some manner of redemption arc for Zenos, similar to Yotsuyu - at least something to explain his motives and character better. Whilst I don't think he has the ability to take on any of the new crop of Ascians on directly, if he is even so inclined, I have a strong feeling that he will use his identity to assist the Scions in exposing their ruse, and this might be the wrinkle in their plan that they did not foresee, even if it amounts to nothing. It all depends at this point on Zodiark's true nature and how closely Elidibus and "Solus" align to his aims, and also the circumstances of Zenos's birth, like you point out. Varis is certainly being built up as an intriguing character, and SE now appears to capitalising on what might have seen obscure elements of the MSQ or major side-quests, like Regula's exhortation to the WoL. Ironically for Varis, working with the Scions might yield him a Garlemald closer to what he wants the Empire to be.

Above all else, I can't wait for them to add more of that theme that plays when Solus appears.

Here is the scene for any who want to re-watch without going to an inn: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jinmJ6m1Kbc

MSQ

I went back and rewatched the "mystery voice" cutscenes with voices turned on and... okay yeah I don't think I'd have thought of it being Zodiark with that voice.

Now I'm just even more confused.

I feel like it's puzzling enough that I can't speculate on it - that I don't know enough to form an idea.



Also it's so weird hearing everyone speak, and none of them sound how they do in my head.

Omega

Originally Posted by ObsidianFire

It also clears up one of the few things that always irked me about Heavensward. The Astrologins of Ishgard could predict the hoard's movements by watching the "dragonstar". I always wondered why that was the case and it now seems that the "dragonstar" might be where the dragons were originally from. It looks like they might still have a connection to it somehow...

I'd meant to post about this for a while, actually, because I'd already been brewing a theory that the "Dragon Star" might be the dragons' homeworld. I think I'd wondered about it anyway, given that we know the dragons are from another world and the tendency of the game to use "star" to mean "planet".

Then, while replaying the earlier parts of the game - probably when you first reach Coerthas - I found that one of the astrologians explains that they make their predictions by tracking the Dragon Star's movement relative to other stars. So that more or less confirms it's a planet, and (if their universe works the same as ours) one that must be in the same solar system as Hydaelyn to be detectably moving across the sky.

Where the new information got interesting was Omega's description of its journey. Through an asteroid belt and then "Passing frozen star... Passing barren star... Passing vortex star... Passing dying star... "

But then its target's last location was "planet ******", so that implies it knows the difference between a star and a planet.

Or does it? A star can't be frozen or barren. A planet can't(?) be a vortex, but that could describe a black hole (which as far as I'm aware, isn't a particularly safe thing to have within your solar system). The ominous "dying star" could be either.

Have they come from within the solar system, or from an actual other star?


I'm kind of tempted to just throw it in the "writers didn't do their research on astronomy" basket until we get some less poetic descriptions.

Originally Posted by Dualblade

Personally I think Omega actually managed to get atleast some form of its data into the OMG minion that now belongs to Alpha, meaning it'll finally be able to experience that which it can't get simply from battle data.

I agree - it came to you of its own accord, plus you see it scuttling into the cave on its own and then chased out by a monster, so it's got some degree of an independent personality that can act on its own.

Plus! When you unlock the Savage trials, it turns out that Omega somehow transmitted a message into the magitek terminal just before disintegrating. Perhaps that wasn't the only device it got hold of?

And on the music:

I love that the final battle music seems to be a remix of that 'climactic defeat of Lahabrea at the Praetorium' music. I was really trying to place the track playing in the rift just before the battle, and I'm not sure if that was the same melody or something else, but I knew it and couldn't think what it was. But as soon as the battle started I thought OH IT'S THAT MUSIC.

10character

Originally Posted by Bright-Flower

OMEGA question.

So I liked the story, more than I initially thought I would. But I'm a bit confused by the history between Midgar and Omega.

Midgar had to flee his world and I assumed this was because of Omega.

But Omega makes it seem like it never bested Midgar?

Does Omega not count it because Midgar ran away and Omega failed to pursue him to complete the task and instead ended up with the Allagans or w/e?

The 2 fought and Midgardsomr defeated Omega. It was only a temporary victory as Omega was incredibly resilient. Midgardsomr realized it was only a matter of time before it reactivated with new strategies, and he was already weakened from the first fight and the planet they were on was on the verge of destruction. He fled to protect his brood and himself as it indicates he wouldn't have recovered in enough time to survive a second fight. When Omega recovered from its statis, it did detect Midgardsomr was gone and did attempt to chase him, but at that point, it was a long distance and apparently Omega was not really designed for deep space travel. The whole scene with Alpha traversing the stars is a report of Omega's journey as it traveled.

It was interesting to see that the patch title did actually make sense, but had a double meaning.

Not only does Violet refer to drawing closer to the Garlean Empire. But the true meaning is the revelation of the Black Rose poison, since poison is associated with the color purple/violet. Clever SE, clever.

Hello folks I finally have a chance to divulge my brain on MSQ:

It was a good experience to get to adventure with Yshtola and to see Thancred's face after a long period of not adventuring with them. Its also good that we can see that they aren't necessarily 100% safe. The most influential scions were snapped up from our grasp without any real explanation other than to cement that there is a big problem with the path that we decided on for Garleans.



Given what we know, we can surmise that the spreading of the information is going to raise dissent of the empire as long as the people remain oblivious to their captors. My head canon paints a picture in which people try to raise up against the Empire and places it in to a corner in which it has to take drastic measures in order to keep control. Which we already have some approval that this is a thing as the poison that was released on the rebel camp can be made an example. I do not believe this is tied in to the sudden weird/lack of aether that has spouted around the world. I tend to believe that forces that are beyond the world's current understanding are at play that is bigger than the empire.



It is also not terribly surprising that Solus is an ascian. It seems like Solus' upbringing was devoted to Military and Technological advancement which grew to help the people of the ravenous lands of the north. From what I gather he was 28(ish) years old whenever he assumed the role of Emperor and at the same time he declared war and starting gathering land and people to his cause. I would like to think that it was sometime in his teens or very early 20s that Solus was swapped out to be an Ascian. I feel like they seized the moment and swapped out whomever the real Solus was. After all the Galvus family was well known in the Republic. Either way it throws a wrench in the equation that the Eorzean alliance doesn't know about. It does bring up questions about how much the Solus really knew whenever Dalamud was brought forth to fall. I think he had a public image to save after the Bozja incident thus strung the project along until it could happen at an opportune moment while allowing van Darnus to succumb to the influence. I also think that the possession of a body doesn't stop it's aging process.



The Ascian Solus was an emperor for 40 years. That is probably a lot of Ascian energy expended to keep control of a body for so long which is the real reason why he was taking rest in the Ascian realm. To note, the return of Solus also coincides with Lahabrea's death which would have finally been confirmed whenever Estinien destroyed the eyes. Varis is nearly in a powerless spot at the moment. He is surrounded by Ascians and pretty much has to play to the beat at which the Ascian's demand. Pretty much his ONLY power play is to delay things as much as possible. We can see he is willing to rebel against his Ascian masters but to what degree does it go!? Why is it that the ascians bother not to just kill him and take his body!?


I have a few people on my list that I want to talk to about what is going on; Specifically Krile and Matoya for the Scions and maybe any or all of the currently existing great Wyrms to figure out what is going on with the planet. I also need a download from Tiamat specifically as to what happened with the Burn. I would think of all people she would at least have a history to that point.