Revelations from Patch 4.5

[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

"My goal is the salvation of this star!" speech from young Alphinaud years ago?
"Elidibus is Time-Travelling Alphinaud" theories ahoy. Alphinaud the Emissary was THE Emissary all along! (Trolololo~)

There's the first wave of that hypothesized realignment of [Eorzea] vs. [Garlemald] to [Eorzea + Garlemald] vs. [Ascians + Garlemald].
Can reclaim that from the "set aside due to being blindsided by the 5.0 teaser" bin.

Alpinaud is in soulless sleep. Krile is not.

AHAHAHA reason for Gaius's survival left at: MAN LITERALLY TOO ANGRY TO DIE

Aaand there's the Addition Retcon ("NEW REVELATIONS") door required for believing "Solus was one of the Overlords." By restructuring Emet-selch into the "of the Source" mix, there's now both legs to stand on for the "It wasn't really Solus" camp. (Now we must needs make excuses for Nabriales only mentioning the two when he originally told us about Originals and Reincarnates / Transmigrationists, but I've already got one possibility: interpret what Nabriales was saying as specifically an excuse for why specifically those two could enter specifically the Rising Stones in spite of the Blessing of Light.)

Also confirmation of another layer from the Soul Shenanigans post vis a vis "transmigration into a living host which kills and warps that host". Notice, however, that we once had 14 worlds and 14 overlords. Assuming the "Solus was just Emet" camp is correct, was Emet promoted after his assigned rejoining, or something? Or do 3 Ascians go unnamed?

Really solid dialogue at the parley, and an excellent feel for the dungeon (though did I see Kan-E-Senna wield a white magic barrier in battle? In violation of the Pact of Gelmorra!?) The story feels like it ends a bit too soon and without a final punch ... but, doesn't every x.50? Just short of a whole other patch cycle now until the real fireworks. Maybe it just feels that way because losing the last of our allies to the soulless sleep felt so inevitable, anyway.

They've definitely been setting up the Chekhov chemical weapon to go off, but who's gonna take the hit? As long as they don't pull an Infinity War and go all out on a dramatic slaughterhouse they're obviously just going to undo with time shenanigans, I think I'll be okay.

[Bright-Flower]

Edited because I'm trying not to hit the daily post cap.

MSQ: MSQ

The parlay with the emperor was well done. They didn't have him turn into a 'good guy' but he has his own goals, and was able to counter a lot of what the Eorzean leaders said.

The dungeon was pretty good, good atmosphere. I wonder if the two final bosses will be the Grynwaht of Shadowbringers or something since they survived.

The ending feels a bit anti climactic compared to this point in Heavensward, with Ilberd doing his summoning and Popolymo's sacrifice to stall it. But at the same time I appreciate having less dire of a cliffhanger for the next few months too.

I thought for a moment they would give an actual explanation for Gaius surviving but LOL NOPE.

Something else that was a bit funny was one moment Gaius seemed to be all 'the black wolf is dead I live only for vengeance now.' But then at the end of the conversation he's all wanting to fight for his nation. Poor guy's gonna be upset when he finds out Varis and the Ascians have the same goal, just with Varis having the caveat of wanting to destroy the ascians after mankind is made 'perfect' again.

I'll do Ivalice after work, that's all I have time for now.

[Guiballad]

I got halfway through the MSQ before i had to leave because of stuff but i wanna talk about it.

Nice to see Krilie back from Eureka. Also nice to see the MSQ acknowledge side content sometimes.

And Shadowhunter is Gaius. To the surprise of nobody. Also the way they "explained" his survival is almost hilarious. He just REFUSED to die. He was caught in a massive explosion and just DECIDED he was gonna live. The man has some serious guts and it's nice he's on our side for now.

Shame about Alphie tho :/ Didn't think they would knock him out already.

... 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.

I'mma properly edit this when i finish everything but i'm very intrigued with what i seem so far.

[Iscah]

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.

... 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.

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....

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?

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?

;_;

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.

[Bright-Flower]

Oh and another thing time wise...

So was it just me, or did Hien say early on the bulk of Doma's forces had to arrive by sea? Yet somehow, us chatting with Varis for a half your or so bought time for them to arrive in Gyr Abania? I know the game doesn't pay much mind to logistics and travel time but this really stood out to me. My not just leave Hiel out of this part and have him show up in part 2 where some more time could have passed? The doman forces don't actually add anything plot wise other than having Hien and Yugiri in the dungeon.

[DarthSanguine]

Oh and another thing time wise...

So was it just me, or did Hien say early on the bulk of Doma's forces had to arrive by sea? Yet somehow, us chatting with Varis for a half your or so bought time for them to arrive in Gyr Abania? I know the game doesn't pay much mind to logistics and travel time but this really stood out to me. My not just leave Hiel out of this part and have him show up in part 2 where some more time could have passed? The doman forces don't actually add anything plot wise other than having Hien and Yugiri in the dungeon.

Not quite.

Only their force capable of teleportation arrived in time for the battle. The others are still en route.

[Jonnycbad]

Seiryu trial

what element does he represent? Genbu used water but Seiryu also commands water? Shouldn't he be like ice or wind or something?

[KageTokage]

MSQ stuffs

The Scions' souls having vanished without a trace coupled with the mention of feeling as though they were "somewhere else" whenever the voice spoke continues to make me feel as through they're being dragged off to another shard. The thing that has me curious is how the WoL and Alisaie seemed to sense when Alphinaud was being spirited away even as distant as he was.

SE really pulled our legs with that trailer by having Solus' little speech to Varis being the stinger when it's totally unrelated to the WoL. Learning Varis' true motives was interesting though after all that's been withheld from him, I'm surprised he's actually trusting anything the Ascians say at this point.

Solus also seemed to be implying that the Black Rose is going to be a key part of causing the next calamity somehow...

[Fenral]

Em-es-queue:

Guys, we did it. We made it through a X.50 patch without one of our allies using Tupsimati to sacrifice themselves. Baby steps...

Though that's probably because The Voice is continuing to be as genre savvy as ever. Taking notice of Alisaie's death flag and getting her relocated to the Rising Stones will be best for everyone in the long run, I think.

Other than that, lots of bombshells that didn't really hit for much (like those boss mechanics). Gaius didn't need much convincing to stay on our good side, Varis is sparing us from having to explore the "Ascians are evil but their ultimate goal is good" angle ourselves, and Nanamo is genre savvy enough to already accept the "our differences are the root of conflict but can make us stronger as well" Aesop at the end of many a Light vs. Dark story.

Other than that, this was an oddly lean patch, storywise. It doesn't really feel like we've learned anything new, per se, just had the cards we already knew existed laid out on the table for all to see.

I'll get to the rest next, after I bathe and dress and pretend to be human for a bit.