Revelations from Patch 4.4

[ObsidianFire]

Nah, it's Gaius. He's got the right weapons (two-handed gunblade), the right knowledge (knows who the Scions are, knows what Black Rose is) and is frustrated over the right things (Garlemald isn't ruling its territories well and the Ascians). And the area we first see him in (The Burn) has a remix of The Preatorium's BGM for its BGM. At this point, it'd be very, very odd if it wasn't Gaius.

An Eikon and a Primal are two different terms for the same thing. Eikon is the Allagan term for it and what Garlemald calls it; Prmal is what Eorzea calls it.

[Iscah]

I personally don't want it to be Gaius, though having him involved would be cool. But, that being said SE does tend to be heavy handed on the hints when it comes to big reveals. Although, what a Primal was still confused people until HW cleared it up: even though the hints were there since 2.1, and given again in 2.4. Also what an Eikon is compared to a Primal still confused some people... maybe those hints arent so heavy handed, lol.

I think it would be too far-fetched for it not to be Gaius at this point. Especially after they’ve dragged out the reveal for two patches now.

What else are they going to do? “Hah! We fooled you all with this new character who happens to be mistakeable for Gaius in every way!”

It would be a cheap twist, and wouldn’t make for a better story than it simply being him.

[Bright-Flower]

Yeah. it's about as obvious as the Griffin being Ilberd at this point. I'll be shocked if it's NOT Gaius.

[LineageRazor]

Finally found the time to catch up on this thread. Here are my thoughts on Patch 4.4:

MSQ:

I was pretty deeply disappointed by the MSQ, this time around. Patch 4.3 gave us two AMAZING plot hooks that I was looking forward to: the Shadowhunter, and Elezenos. The former got one, brief scene, and the latter got nothing at all. (I was also kind of hoping to see some developments with Fordola but, as I feared, the Tale from the Storm is all we get, material not even referenced in-game.) Instead, we spend most of the patch helping Hien set up an Allagan blockade so that he'll be free to send his forces to Eorzea - and I wasn't really buying the string of deductions that lead everyone to believe that was even a viable course of action.

Hien: I need to defend my home!
Y'sh: I have an idea! The Burn smells like Azys Lla - I bet they have a force field just like Azys Lla! Aw, but how will we power it?
Hien: No worries! Xaela legends say the House of the Crooked coin is a sliver of Nhaama! I bet it has oodles of energy we can use! To the Steppe!
Y'sh: Yup, this thing is full of energy, all right, and conveniently connected to the Burn.
Allisae: Hey, all, there totally is a working shield generator here, just as suspected!
Y'sh: Right, let's switch this sucker on!

I was like, seriously? This is some Adam West levels of Bat Deduction going on, here...

Then, just as it looked like we're getting started on the whole Garlean Problem, vwoop! Y'sh, Thancred, and Uriange all get their souls sucked out by a mysterious voice with annoyingly cryptic utterings.

And, to cap it all off, we learn that the Garlean Empire... yup. It's Ascians. It's always Ascians. I think that part was the deepest disappointment at all. The Garleans have plenty of human reasons to be the way that they are, but nope, there was never any noble design - just another Ascian, trying to make the world worse. I'm holding out a sliver of hope that the Ascian calling himself Solus is basically lying to Varis, that the real Solus actually had the quasi-noble ideals he was presented as having, and that the farce is being enacted to try to secure Varis's cooperation with the Ascians - but that's a slim hope, at best. Varis isn't the kind to fall for such a dupe, and he likely has very good reason to believe Solus really is his grandfather (or, at least, the Ascian who was in possession of his grandfather).

If any good came of this patch at all, it's that I have a new appreciation for Varis as a character. He's clearly stuck between a rock and a hard place, and not liking it one bit. I look forward to seeing what he winds up doing.

Suzaku:

Rolled my eyes at the Tataru/Soroban antics. I'll bet they worked a lot better in the Japanese; I'm sure there was a Gamera reference in there I wasn't getting. Rolled my eyes a bit at Suzaku, as well; unless Seriyu turns out to be female, she's the only female of the four, so OF COURSE her character is defined by being in love with a man. That said, I found her human form design to be quite unexpected; a woman with a personality like hers, I'd more expect to be a classically beautiful Yamato Nadeshiko type, perhaps sorrowfully strumming a harp if we're going to go the Bard route. Instead, she was a sprightly, almost tomboyish piper. In comparison to Byakko, too, Suzaku seemed delusional, and totally at the mercy of her raging Aritama, whereas Byakko, while overcome with violent urges, seemed much more in control, relishing the fight and urging us to take him to the limit. All in all, a collection of negative female tropes that I wasn't altogether comfortable with.

I enjoyed a lot of the mechanics of the boss fight, but felt like they should have milked the resurrection mechanic a little be more, and had her spend more of the fight in bird mode.

Omega:

This was definitely the storyline that I enjoyed the most. The revelation that Omega was doing all it was doing because it was HOMESICK choked me up a bit. I never really felt like Omega was evil, so much as misguided by his programming, and the bit at the end where Cid informed the dying machine that not only would battle never teach it what it wanted to know about the heroic SOMETHING it was trying to find, even if it had managed to acquire it it would have been detrimental to its goal of returning home, seemed almost cruel. The scene featuring the falling feathers of the countless Alphas that Omega had murdered was a powerful image, as was Alpha's caressing the dying Omega in spite of that abuse. While dialog in the game seems to firmly discount the possibility, I cling to the idea that a tiny spark of Omega found it's way into the OMG following Alpha, and that it is now learning from him as they travel the world together.

I will say, though, that I felt a bit sorry for Chaos this patch. The big bad of the original game (and, arguably, the franchise as a whole if you go by Dissidia mythos), and he winds up being TIER ONE of the new raids. He's almost Alte Roite levels of easy! Poor guy. I definitely enjoyed the fourth tier fight; as a tank, I always appreciate it when both tanks are given serious tanking jobs to do. I also found M and F to be very reminiscent of the Ark Angels from FFXI, with their pale skin, white hair, and dark clothes - the Ark Angels were among my favorite foes in that game, and M and F, I think, were a worthy follow-up.

[Dualblade]

On Zenos and the Legions=FF thing, I always assumed Zenos was the XIV version of Judge Bergen myself. Bergen was certainly the most bloodthirsty of all the XII judges.

[JeanneOrnitier]

I just came back after a several month break and caught up on 4.2 to 4.4 in the last few days, but this thread is only for 4.4, so.

MSQ

As much as I'm sick of Othard and want to return to Ala Mhigo, I did enjoy this story a lot. The meeting/voice scene really pulled me in and I'm anxious to see where it goes, even if it's probably Zodiark. I'm kind of bummed that Thancred and Y'shtola just came back only to be taken out again, but it was fun while it lasted. They're my favorite Scions behind Alphinaud. Speaking of Alphinaud, the hook with him and Gaius is my favorite thing so far. It's our obvious way into Garlemald for the next expansion, and I like the setup.

I...don't know if I like Garlemald being an Ascian plot from the beginning. I don't think I do, it's tiring that apparently no one is allowed to be a villain in this game if an Ascian isn't pulling their strings. We'll need to learn more details before I can really finalize my thoughts on it though. For now, not a fan.

[Eloah]

I think it would be too far-fetched for it not to be Gaius at this point. Especially after they’ve dragged out the reveal for two patches now.

What else are they going to do? “Hah! We fooled you all with this new character who happens to be mistakeable for Gaius in every way!”

It would be a cheap twist, and wouldn’t make for a better story than it simply being him.

I'm not saying it's not Gaius. At this point I think it's him too. But, what I'm saying is, I'd prefer some twist, not a cheap one, but some twist where it's not Gaius. Remember, we don't actually know what Gaius looks like. The scars Shadowhunter has are superficial. And the gear we're are shown, mostly point us in Gaius' direction, good or bad. Combining these draws us to the natural conclusion, "this is Gaius". But it could be his protege, with Gaius alive but behind the scenes, leading the Shadowhunters. That's probably the case either way, I'm just saying it would be nice/interesting not to get what we are expecting.

Plus one other "clue" that, this is Gaius, is SEs tight lips. When SB launched and Lyse and her "job" were in question. Her Identity was "secret" but they confirmed, she was not a Dancer, she was a Monk.

[Nalien]

I'm still torn on it being Gaius... I mean yeah it is Gaius, but... Can't people just stay dead? But at the same time, A Realm Reborn really kind of ruined Gaius IMO... He went from an interesting and intimidating character in 1.x, to a moron in 2.0 who just got so easily used and thrown away by Lahabrea (who 1 - is not people, and 2 - never died to begin with so shush!)... Shadowhunter can be a second chance that is somewhat welcome, I guess... There's also going to be something delightfully ironic about him turning Heirsbane on Solus... Still, I'd love to know how he survived a Castrum going thermonuclear ontop of him (plus found his way to the Burn of all places), looking forward to Nero meeting him though, because just like with the whole "Lucia is Livia!" theory pre-Heavensward, "Why'd they abandon their Legion like that if they survived?" is the first question on my lips, except with Gaius it is so much worse... He dragged them all into a conquest against the Emperors orders, purely for his own selfish reasons, then abandons them all there? Yeesh...

Of course, the fact that it is Gaius means that Gaius is going to die in 5.0, maybe sooner... Just sayin'... Gettin' serious Ysayle flashbacks with this one... Alphi sure knows how to pick 'em...

[Remedi]

It's more probable that he's going to be the new emperor tbh

[Iscah]

But, what I'm saying is, I'd prefer some twist, not a cheap one, but some twist where it's not Gaius. Remember, we don't actually know what Gaius looks like. The scars Shadowhunter has are superficial. And the gear we're are shown, mostly point us in Gaius' direction, good or bad. Combining these draws us to the natural conclusion, "this is Gaius". But it could be his protege, with Gaius alive but behind the scenes, leading the Shadowhunters. That's probably the case either way, I'm just saying it would be nice/interesting not to get what we are expecting.

I still wouldn't see "it's not Gaius, it's his protege, but Gaius is also alive" as being any better or more interesting than the straightforward answer that the person who 'looks' like Gaius, fights like Gaius and is carrying Gaius's mask is not in fact Gaius. It would be unnecessarily convoluted and get us to the same end position.

I'm still torn on it being Gaius... I mean yeah it is Gaius, but... Can't people just stay dead?

Gaius has had a much longer setup on being "potentially not dead" than the recent reveals. We never see him die at the Praetorium - last seen standing and *still* monologuing in the post-dungeon-exit scenes - and he's not found in the Palace of the Dead alongside Livia and Rhitahtyn.