Thread: [4.4 Discussion] "Change the Future"

I believe VERY STRONGLY that the voice we heard in our heads was Arbert's.

Minfilia probably reached out to our word and let his voice come through to warn us that we're making the same mistake they did (since we're about to go on full-blown offensive mode against the ascians) - Basically, they are meaning to warn us that if we kill the ascians, our world is done for, burned by the light's radiance, in the same fashion his were.

I also believe that the fellows who are now taking a long nap were brought to the WoD's world, in a manner very much alike the one the WoD troupe was brought here - soul only. It's quite possible that while they were in Hydaelyn, their physical bodies over at their world were in a similar comatose state.

Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by BellaRiddle

Any thoughts?

Since you very strongly believe the very thing that fell off of my "most likely" list, I suppose I'll put forth the considerations that I couldn't make fit.

Let's skip right over "none of the people who would have been transported to the First have Crystals of Light through which to make the journey." Maybe if Minfilia's doing it you don't need them, eh? So Minfilia mimics Hydaelyn's soul-call ability and leaves us ... elsewhere.

"That way...sorrow."
Thancred's go a bad plan. Ok.

"History...must be changed..."
Need to redirect the flow of events. Got it.

"Ahead looms a Calamity. Ahead looms Light, expunging all form and life. Twin dooms only you can forestall. Only you."
Alright, our first variables. Is one going to hit and then the other? Or could either hit and we have to walk between them? I'm guessing if you're guessing this is Arbert, the latter?

"Let expanse contract, eon become instant..."
Come again? Why does Arbert want to change the laws of space and time as his solution to this problem?

"Throw wide the gates that we may pass!"
Come again!? When did Arbert gain the ability to make time and space bend before him!?
What gate does he need to be let through? If Minfilia called me here, and he's still got his Crystal of Light, get it done, right?

And why doesn't Arbert sound like Arbert in Japanese?

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

And why doesn't Arbert sound like Arbert in Japanese?

Well the English voice cast has changed fairly frequently for a number of reasons, resulting in characters getting new voice actors (Yugiri tragically being the most recent afaik), I'd say that'd be the most obvious answer. Unless of course the Japanese voice actor for Arbert is still actively voicing other characters.

That said, I'm leaning towards future Alphinaud... The only thing throwing me off that is the last line; "Throw wide the gates that we may pass!", Zodiark I assume would be singular, the Warriors of Darkness could throw out a 'we' though... Then again so could Alphinaud, if the plan is for the Scions from the worst timeline to swap places with the current Scions, hence the soul extraction... Of course it could just be the royal 'we', but the more I thought about future Alphinaud trying to stop Skynet a Flood of Light, the more I liked the idea... Obviously future Elidibus could help out with any timey-wimey magicks... We've had Warriors of Darkness already, time for the Scions of the Seventh Dusk? This head cannon also involves something happening to future Alisaie, hence her remaining unaffected... Certainly giving future Alphinaud cause to say screw it and mess with time/history... There's also something wonderfully enjoyable about a Sharlayan not just involving himself in history, but going a step further and straight up opting to alter it...

And yes, the Scions from the darkest most terrible timeline all have felt goatees...

EDIT: Oh, and I completely forgot, Alphinaud grandfather did kind of send some of use outside time to avoid the last Calamity... So he has a family history of pulling some timey-wimey stunts...

Actually thinking on that a bit... Papalymo copied Louisoix by sealing Shinryu, next up some Scion has to copy him with some time magic? 6.0 some Scion is going to become a Primal. Can't tell if that would be an interesting narrative to tread, or a predictable one...

Originally Posted by Iscah

Side note: checking quest scripts on Garland Tools, I noticed that Elidibus's dialogue tag is not simply his name but "ELIDIBUSEORZEA". What could that mean for future developments...?

ELIDIBUS (SPEAKING THE EORZEAN TONGUE).

Ascian dialogue is marked not only with their name, but the language they're speaking. (EORZEA or ANCIENT)

This helps them keep straight when to use the red-on-black text.

Catching up with all the new posts, I've been ruminating on a lot and trying to sort out the pieces and probabilities. Not that probabilities are doing much heavy lifting for us with all these twists lately.

I've been twirling the Mysterious Voice pieces around and statistically they still feel Zodiark-shaped. As far as I can tell, we do not know of anything that could pull off a transdimensional soul-call conversation aside from a great crystal. We do not know of anything that would promise to force the barriers of time and space if only we would open the gates aside from Zodiark. Ergo, it is most likely either Zodiark or something we do not know.

(Whether Yshtola messing around with the purple moon crystal in the cave with the snake statues is related on top of that assumption...)

I've been trying to work out, for the sake of covering all the bases, how the Twin Dooms could be related rather than mutually avoidable and I've only got one idea so far:

If Souce-side, localized Light and Dark forces (i.e. the "bearers" of that power) are not in balance, it might just be generally unsafe to attempt to blow out a dimensional barrier. If Elidibus is making a Calamity-level move, the pieces must be roughly where he wants them and it's time to bring the confluence of chaos to a crescendo. If Thancred clandestinely moves to cause Garlemald to turn on itself and attempt to uproot the Darkness in their midst, Calamity-level machinations going off around the same time might be catastrophic.

This does the most lifting for the least work, but, again, logic alone hasn't been getting us very far lately.

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

Catching up with all the new posts, I've been ruminating on a lot and trying to sort out the pieces and probabilities. Not that probabilities are doing much heavy lifting for us with all these twists lately.

I've been twirling the Mysterious Voice pieces around and statistically they still feel Zodiark-shaped. As far as I can tell, we do not know of anything that could pull off a transdimensional soul-call conversation aside from a great crystal. We do not know of anything that would promise to force the barriers of time and space if only we would open the gates aside from Zodiark. Ergo, it is most likely either Zodiark or something we do not know.

(Whether Yshtola messing around with the purple moon crystal in the cave with the snake statues is related on top of that assumption...)

I've been trying to work out, for the sake of covering all the bases, how the Twin Dooms could be related rather than mutually avoidable and I've only got one idea so far:

If Souce-side, localized Light and Dark forces (i.e. the "bearers" of that power) are not in balance, it might just be generally unsafe to attempt to blow out a dimensional barrier. If Elidibus is making a Calamity-level move, the pieces must be roughly where he wants them and it's time to bring the confluence of chaos to a crescendo. If Thancred clandestinely moves to cause Garlemald to turn on itself and attempt to uproot the Darkness in their midst, Calamity-level machinations going off around the same time might be catastrophic.

This does the most lifting for the least work, but, again, logic alone hasn't been getting us very far lately.

Well, if the Rejoining requires the barriers between the worlds to be broken down, a flood in either direction could "spill", so to speak - especially if it occurs just as at the time of the Rejoining, and not in the distant past as on the 13th, so you may be right. Either way, a Calamity would be a very bad thing, Rejoining or not.

Edit - something interesting I came across today on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme...en_44_msq_and/

Usual spoiler warnings apply.