Thread: Revelations from Patch 4.5

MSQ

So... (a) Solus seemed very pleased about the idea of a silent poison, (b) remarks that he and Varis "may not meet again in this lifetime", (c) made a specific point of the fact that while he can transform any host into his image, but it's not automatic and takes some effort, and (d) Varis subsequently turns up at the "peace talk" seeming several times more devoted to the Ascian cause than he has up to this point... which conveniently drives the Eorzeans to be even more firmly set against the Garleans than they were before, and increases the chance of war and mass chaos.

I am thinking there's a fair chance that "Varis" will suddenly change appearance at a suitably dramatic moment.

And I wonder, yet again, whether Elidibus was actually aware of Solus/Emet's involvement with Varis? Or has Emet simply claimed he's working with Elidibus, but actually Elidibus has no idea he's there - and hypothetically if Emet has now possessed Varis, is he trying to fool Elidibus as well as us?

As I said in the discussion on 4.4, Solus only reveals himself after Elidibus leaves the room.



Also, Solus's remarks about the clones seems to add to the hypothesis that "human Solus became an Ascian" (and was given the name Emet-Selch upon his 'ascension'), because he mentions that he could transform any host into "his own image", but Varis has saved him the bother by giving him a supply of hosts 'ready-made' with that appearance. Therefore, Solus/Emet's true appearance seems to be that of the cloned mortal Solus. Therefore making it much more likely that "Solus became Emet" than "Emet possessed Solus".



Our reunion with Gaius was remarkably understated. Was really hoping for it to involve some NPCs that would be a bit more dramatic about it... though I suppose for any players who hadn't realised who Shadowhunter is, that's now established and we can all equally anticipate what's going to happen when he meets up with Cid/Nero/etc.



I really cringed when Merlwyb tried to play the "we didn't take over anyone else's lands" card, because she was so openly unashamed of the Lominsans' disregard for the kobolds last time it was a plot point. It's always stuck in my mind and made me not like her as much as the other leaders.

Originally Posted by Guiballad

... oh god we doing cloning now. Also WHY would Varis clone Solus? En masse it seems. Makes me wonder how long he knew about grandpappy being an Ascian.

Cloning is an Allagan thing - evidently something they're working on replicating. And who better to clone than their exalted founder and emperor? (It turned out so well for the Allagans, didn't it...?)

From what Solus was saying, I don't think Varis was aware of the truth when he chose his grandfather as the subject of the cloning experiments.

Originally Posted by Rocl

Weird close up of black moths pinging against the lamp during the parley...I didn't suss that one out.

"Like moths to a flame", drawn to the light - hardwired into their system to fly towards it - only for it to be the death of them... *shudders*

The parallel is asking to be drawn and I can't think of any other interpretation.... although they did look more like butterflies than moths to me, which isn't "right" but let's just go with that....

Originally Posted by Rocl

A lot of what Solus said this patch rubbed me in such a way that I think he's being a major charlatan, and, in fact, not really Solus. Like, the Ascian pretending to be him is tugging on Varis' strings, since we knew he had great respect for his grandfather--sans that heir bit.

My first reaction was, that makes a lot of sense! Making use of all those Solus clones as a starting point, not a convenient coincidence.

But secondly, I have to hesitate because of that first scene with Solus, where Varis shoots him and he's immediately warped elsewhere and either very quickly possessed a guard or is now an aetherial 'ghost'. Either way he still looks like Solus immediately. Is this a confirmation of his true form, or iis he just very quick at transforming into something else?

Originally Posted by Fenral

lots of bombshells that didn't really hit for much (like those boss mechanics).

You mean like the Promethean laserbeam that one-shotted the healer the first time it went off, and me-the-summoner the second time?

;_;

Originally Posted by Bright-Flower

Second, where is Elf Zenos at? He was teased a the end of 4.2 and he repaired a flying machine and then just...hasn't been seen or teased again? I guess they're saving him for part 2? In my headcannon I like to pretend he never attuned to an aetheryte and just keeps flying back and forth from Eorzea to Doma trying to track the WOL down as we teleport between continients for msq quests.

Clearly having access to an instant warp would be cheating and would spoil the thrill of the hunt! ....as he flies back across the Burn for the fourth time this week.

MSQ

So Maxima is back at Ala Mhigo and thus was able to warn the alliance. Nice to see that Gaius and the WoL meet again and that both can be nice enough with each other. Also......noooooooo not my little bro Alphinaud...whoever did this will pay. (And nooo Alisaie too) The meeting between Varis and the alliance was interesting (go Nanamo) but if he is not holding back something then well it seems that his ultimate goal is still to rule everyone under the banner of Garlemald and is ready to sacrifice millions and splitter worlds for that. Also how exactly would everyone unite as one single race again? Nice to see that Nanamo stood up to that, calling him out of it and reminding him that its each individual strenght and weakness that makes us work together. Its interesting how good he knew about Eorzea itself but I still found quite some of his arguments just to be "but you have done bad too" which will never help. Good to see that the alliance did try it different after the break and listened to our advise but thanks to the dungeon we already knew that it would be fruitless.

(And Varis emotions kinda reminded me about Yotsuyus brother)

Also great that Alphinaud and Gaius stopped the poision for a time. The dungeon and the fight itself was alright but right now it did not create a feeling of war inside of me. There was no talk about victims and the patch itself kinda ended strange. I dont like that the story is split up. I am also a bit annoyed that our character seemingly does not tell the content of the visions. We did understand him completely but did not feel the need to point out that a calamity was on the way. Still think that the next patch will be much better with it.

24 man raid

I did like the cutscenes but I still did not feel deeply about it. Too many stories and NPCs that I dont know since I never played those FF games. So most of these cameos felt flat. I am happy that at least nobody else died. The fights themselves were quite nice but sadly with that much happening I could not concentrate much about the things that the NPCs did in the last fight.

Also it just feels off how different Ramza is. He was a jerk all the time and now he is suddenly that nice..I talked to him after the raid and he said how holding the chain of his mother helped him because the hero Ramza cleaned him of his hatred and filled him with love...I was a bit like...what? I really dont like this change. I mean its fine to change a character but I find the reason to be bad and it happened way too fast too. (Magical chain that fills him with love..)

I wonder what will happen with the bit about the Garleans finding all the stuff in it. Maybe it will be important in the MSQ later?

Fran herself was okay but I am still not sure whats the deal with Vieras. But I am also more someone that likes beastly races.

(A friend of mine said that he finds it stupid that the father not only called his children after the heros but that they are looking quite like each other too and I kinda agree with him. Also how old was the old Alma in this? Because she still looked young but they seem to imply that she was pregnant? Also felt a bit strange for me.)

Four lords

The fight against Seiryu was nice (finally a male that is not just monsterous) and the part after that too. Nice to see Tenzen again and all I could think of was "Kamehame-ha" when he and my character did their things. The dragon was huge and it was shocking how he destroyed Genbu (but I also had believed that Genbu would be the one to go). Still seemingly that did not mean much because Genbu will still be around for quite some time. So kinda a happy ending. (And finally all the money for the scions..maybe they can finally pay us better?)

All in all a nice story but not something really outstanding.

To the guy above me

The reveal at the end of the Ivalice raid was hinted by the devs as being important to the MSQ/World Building/Lore. In my opinion, the fact that the Garleans came to the realization that the machina within Goug is identical their own means history repeats in cycles, whereby civilizations are destroyed and then new ones arise in which Ascians spoonfeed Magitek technology to. The Garleans think they are unique and intelligent for discovering it, but it was never ever really discovered at all. Solus was credited with discovering magitek and Ceruleum but we know he's an Ascian. So since Garleans can't use magic or summoning, they were fed Magitek to rise up against their oppressors much like beast men do when oppressed by their oppressors and Ascians give them the tools to fight back (Summoning).

So to sum it up, the Ivalicians were the ancestors of the Garleans from thousands of years ago. They had Magitek and were destroyed and now their ruins were found by Garleans who've only had magitek for about ~70-80 years. Confirms that the Garleans were not special in devising magitek, it's secrets were leaked to them on purpose

Return or Ivalice, or more precisely, the Scene after it:

Was that frickin' Aulus mal Asina? Or a relative of his?He in a younger body? He did succeed in separating soul and body, after all...

And now that I've done Ivalice:

WHERE TO EVEN FRIGGING START!?!?

I see where all the real plot went this patch. Not only was it significantly longer (or was that just Thunder God prog?), we seem to have a lot of things that will almost certainly come up later, and much less ambiguously so than the last time a 24-man ended with a sequel hook. (That, y'know, still hasn't gone anywhere after four years.) The "rules" have officially been screwed.

Ultima is crystal Jenova, has now come full circle as the origin of the spell she was (out of universe) named after, and might even have something to do with the beings of Light we're slated to fight next expac. But it's hard to be sure.

I suppose Ramza (Beoulve) and co. needed to FFIII themselves because they didn't have their FFIII'd selves to block the death laser, but she still felt a little easy for an "unbeatable" enemy that had to be sealed away. All in all, that fight felt like what Cloud of Darkness would have been, if the CT series had the same level of event scripting.

Fran is our Dalmascan Yugiri. While most of her present model is recycled from Zodiac Age (like much of the raid series), her face appears to be new for XIV. They wouldn't do that for a one-off character, so I suspect we'll be meeting up with her again. Probably when it's time to meet up with...

The princess. Who leads the Dalmascan Resistance. Well, once faction, at least. Could it be? And how in the myriad hells did she pull that off after dying in Ba'Gamnan's arms? (Non-FFXII-ers: Princess Ashe was the leader of the Dalmascan Resistance.) As long as she still manages to sport a hot-pink pleather miniskirt in our early-industrial fantasy setting, she'll do just fine, whatever happens.

Noah van Gabranth. Oh just shoot me. With a Tartarus laser, at that. Okay, seriously, there is no friggin' way this isn't coming back, and since Yoshida has already said they won't continue finished quest chains, there's only one real place that can happen, and we all know it.

Lastly, anyone screenshot that map of Ilsabard that Fran unrolls? Pretty good odds that that's going to be one of our new region maps for the next expac. One of those pixels is probably where we will fight Gabranth.

And all that is without going into the plot itself, which managed to have the right bitter/sweet ratio without feeling rushed or cheap. Sudden, massive, and entirely offscreen character growth for bratty short dudes with ponytails is still totally a thing though.

Originally Posted by Fenral

And now that I've done Ivalice:

WHERE TO EVEN FRIGGING START!?!?

I see where all the real plot went this patch. Not only was it significantly longer (or was that just Thunder God prog?), we seem to have a lot of things that will almost certainly come up later, and much less ambiguously so than the last time a 24-man ended with a sequel hook. (That, y'know, still hasn't gone anywhere after four years.) The "rules" have officially been screwed.

Ultima is crystal Jenova, has now come full circle as the origin of the spell she was (out of universe) named after, and might even have something to do with the beings of Light we're slated to fight next expac. But it's hard to be sure.

I suppose Ramza (Beoulve) and co. needed to FFIII themselves because they didn't have their FFIII'd selves to block the death laser, but she still felt a little easy for an "unbeatable" enemy that had to be sealed away. All in all, that fight felt like what Cloud of Darkness would have been, if the CT series had the same level of event scripting.

Fran is our Dalmascan Yugiri. While most of her present model is recycled from Zodiac Age (like much of the raid series), her face appears to be new for XIV. They wouldn't do that for a one-off character, so I suspect we'll be meeting up with her again. Probably when it's time to meet up with...

The princess. Who leads the Dalmascan Resistance. Well, once faction, at least. Could it be? And how in the myriad hells did she pull that off after dying in Ba'Gamnan's arms? (Non-FFXII-ers: Princess Ashe was the leader of the Dalmascan Resistance.) As long as she still manages to sport a hot-pink pleather miniskirt in our early-industrial fantasy setting, she'll do just fine, whatever happens.

Noah van Gabranth. Oh just shoot me. With a Tartarus laser, at that. Okay, seriously, there is no friggin' way this isn't coming back, and since Yoshida has already said they won't continue finished quest chains, there's only one real place that can happen, and we all know it.

Lastly, anyone screenshot that map of Ilsabard that Fran unrolls? Pretty good odds that that's going to be one of our new region maps for the next expac. One of those pixels is probably where we will fight Gabranth.

And all that is without going into the plot itself, which managed to have the right bitter/sweet ratio without feeling rushed or cheap. Sudden, massive, and entirely offscreen character growth for bratty short dudes with ponytails is still totally a thing though.

here you go ^^