Revelations from Keynote II

[Cilia]

Much stuff!

VIII-style Gunblade tank Job! If any game in the franchise has felt underrepresented to me so far it's definitely VIII, so I'm glad its gunblades are the style we're using.

Urianger and Y'shtola switching to AST and BLM, respectively! If I were to wager a guess "Master Matoya" is a Sharlayan title and the one we know now either relinquished or bequeathed it to Y'shtola.

Little Girl is Minfilia! Time travel? Consequence of "absorbing Light?"

Still no clue on what makes everything go to shit.

Nier Automata raid?! What the... flippin'...? Guess I'll need to redownload it and play past the first ending... if I can ever get off my arse and get through KHIII...

... and now everyone gets their long-desired bunny girl waifus. Happy?!

[Anonymoose]

Still no clue on what makes everything go to shit.

I'm not sure on the specifics, but the scene with Solus and Varis seemed to show Solus getting an idea. He's watching Varis decide to deploy Black Rose and musing over how "dear grandson" is making the "right" kinds of decisions and coming up with justifications that'll impress the people to boot. Then he thinks about Black Rose a little deeper ... it kills silently ... it moves like a shadow. Then he considers the fate of The First, and how ever since the Flood of Light began over there, it's been causing effects over here. Mulling that over for half a second he wonders "What if they could synergize?" and then he excitedly walks away like, "Varis, I leave the rest to you! I'm off to the First!" It's hard to imagine that is not gonna be 50% (at least) of 4.5 going sideways.

I admit I'm kind of curious if I should try playing Nier Automata. I've been avoiding it since I read the story synopsis and felt that it was kind of depressing. But if it will help me appreciate this new 24-man series, I might have to give it a fair go.

I can try to lay out a few things to help you make your decision.

I bought the original Drakengard on a whim and it turned out to be a mediocre video game software-wise (Dynasty Warriors + Ace Combat with a dragon) but the characters stuck with me for years. At first, the main character is just a vengeful jerk and his dragon partner is an ally of convenience, they detest each other. And every member of the party has some severely screwed up backstory that's subtly touched on in a way you might miss it entirely. And I recall watching the ending(s) thinking, "If only this made as much sense as Evangelion."

So then NieR came out and I bought it on a whim and halfway through the game there's a story about a red dragon and I was like, "This sounds like the joke ending of Drakengard." and did some research, and what the hell is going on, the same guy headed both games and NieR literally branches off of Drakengard's joke ending, timeline wise ... because all of Yoko Taro's games are stand-alone but (if you look close) connected by a complex conspiracy map involving games, novellas, audio dramas, stage plays, and musicals for no good reason but the fun of it. So already I had a sense this dude was off, but in a novel and magnetic kind of way, lol.

Anyway, the OG Nier, too, is a pretty basic, mediocre video game ... but with wonderful art, music, characters, everything, and then the story breaks your heart. Then you play through the second half of the game again with some slight changes, but it's just coming back to finish the job and break your spirit, too. I openly cried several times during that game. So when Automata was announced, I eagerly told Gamer Escape I was going to review it. I couldn't wait to write a review like, "This game is objectively middling at best, but you have to drop your entire life and play it right now." but Yoko Taro threw me yet another curveball and it's just a fantastic video game all-around, really.

So here's the thing: Automata isn't that sad. It's emotional, but very dry emotional, and most of it's in the context of the late-game. However, it's beautiful is many ways, and deeply philosophical if you read into it. But it plays off a plot point of the OG NieR, so it will spoil the entire game if you do Automata first, just be aware of that. There are also some returning characters references, so I would highly, highly recommend at least watching a playthrough of NieR before doing Automata if you want the full experience. Still, all in all, for everything sad in Automata, there's something fun, or just weird, or interesting, or supremely messed up.

I always show this to people to hook them on NieR 1, lol.

EDIT:
Re:Matoya // Big shrug. They even made her first word a blend of two voices, but was that just for effect? Is this where the "Y'shtola seeing with aether is an added burden on her spiritual vitality" brick drops? Is Matoya temporarily hosted in her body to prop her up? Is this how we lose Matoya? Or is Matoya just a title that lives on?

Re:Minfilia // Big shrug. She rode the Lifestream, shattered like glass, became one with Hydaelyn, and was then ejected from the Sea as a reincarnated Emissary. However she shows up is gonna be a "Sure, whatever, that makes sense." from me at this point. Let's see where this goes, lol. Maybe her journey here will help her be seen more sympathetically by fans after they made half the fanbase associate her with a million interruptions of the story to take a trip to Vesper Bay for a secure chit chat and help moving crates or whatever. They helped resuscitate the moogles' reputation, they can help Minfilia grow. (Literally and figuratively in this case.)

[Fenral]

EDIT INCOMING

Uh, oh. /10char

[Cilia]

I'm not sure on the specifics, but the scene with Solus and Varis seemed to show Solus getting an idea. He's watching Varis decide to deploy Black Rose and musing over how "dear grandson" is making the "right" kinds of decisions and coming up with justifications that'll impress the people to boot. Then he thinks about Black Rose a little deeper ... it kills silently ... it moves like a shadow. Then he considers the fate of The First, and how ever since the Flood of Light began over there, it's been causing effects over here. Mulling that over for half a second he wonders "What if they could synergize?" and then he excitedly walks away like, "Varis, I leave the rest to you! I'm off to the First!" It's hard to imagine that is not gonna be 50% (at least) of 4.5 going sideways.

Well, I do remember Solus saying something about how Black Rose possessed the "perfect aspect" - that it kills silently. Beyond that I don't really have an idea as to what, exactly, he intends to do with it - if anything at all.

[CyrusArjuna]

Anyway, the OG Nier, too, is a pretty basic, mediocre video game ... but with wonderful art, music, characters, everything, and then the story breaks your heart. Then you play through the second half of the game again with some slight changes, but it's just coming back to finish the job and break your spirit, too. I openly cried several times during that game. So when Automata was announced, I eagerly told Gamer Escape I was going to review it. I couldn't wait to write a review like, "This game is objectively middling at best, but you have to drop your entire life and play it right now." but Yoko Taro threw me yet another curveball and it's just a fantastic video game all-around, really.

So here's the thing: Automata isn't that sad. It's emotional, but very dry emotional, and most of it's in the context of the late-game. However, it's beautiful is many ways, and deeply philosophical if you read into it. But it plays off a plot point of the OG NieR, so it will spoil the entire game if you do Automata first, just be aware of that. There are also some returning characters references, so I would highly, highly recommend at least watching a playthrough of NieR before doing Automata if you want the full experience. Still, all in all, for everything sad in Automata, there's something fun, or just weird, or interesting, or supremely messed up.

A raid series based off of the OG Nier could actually work with what we've learned in the last few patches without any Interdimensional Rift shenanigans. Given the twist at the end of the game...

(and I totally cried several times during the OG Nier too lol)

[Fenral]

I'd be lying if I said this was entirely traced, but I combined some of the actually-present details with a little guesswork:



While I suspect the full truth is more complicated than my initial guess, I'm still pretty sure this is the face under that hood.

[swiss_Momo]

not keynote related, but this was written on the high seraph Ultima figure:

Also known to ancient Ivalicians as the Angel of Blood, Ultima made her descent to Hydaelyn countless centuries before the rise of Delita and his storied unification of the realm's kingdoms. Hailing from a higher plane of existence far beyond our ken, Ultima was a being of pure destructive power, able to weave magicks that could unfurl the very threads of Creation. Yet like moths to flame, so are the weak drawn to strength, and it was not long before mankind's fear towards the high Seraph gave way to reverence, feeding the extradimensional traveler's empty soul until it brimmed with a force completely alien to Her - a sense of self. and thus thought the collective desire of mankind to worship what might bring him low was Ultima made a living primal.

[Anonymoose]

not keynote related, but this was written on the high seraph Ultima figure:

Thanks for this! Actually gives some support to random musing from 4.50 launch week; that maybe they were just trying to nudge the High Seraph in the direction of the transdimensional Kuribu. A seraphim and a cherubium would both have that "heavenly destruction" vibe to it. Same with the crowned lion.

[Iscah]

Something interesting in the art panel last night when they were talking about Alisaie's redesign for Heavensward: the intention (as part of the design brief) that she would be an eventual replacement for Minfilia's role in the Scions, once she matured into it.

It's worth noting that there have been a number of threads specifically requesting a Nier: Automata crossover event since the game's initial release.

I know there have been lots of requests for a "crossover event", but previous crossover events (to my awareness: Yo-Kai Watch, Dragon Quest and Rathalos) have been low-key temporary events or, for Rathalos, a short 'excuse plot' to establish the fight. I would have no issue with an equivalent NieR event - I wouldn't be interested personally, but I know people have wanted it for a long time and it would make them happy. I'd either do it for glamour items or skip it because I'm not interested.

My issue is with the scale of this crossover. This is an entire permanent raid questline, with lots of storytelling and multiple dungeons, that is apparently picking up the central concept of a separate game entirely and pasting it into FFXIV lore.

Yes, they can probably work it in with "Allagan AI robots" or something, but I dislike the fact that the concept has to be introduced to fit this foreign narrative instead of because FFXIV's story-writers decided that their story called for the existance of Allagan AI robots (and whatever other concepts they have to work in).

It cheapens the world of FFXIV. Instead of having its own original lore, it becomes a patchwork of other stories that you know exist in other games. Which is fine if that's the entire premise of the game from the start (eg. Kingdom Hearts) but when it starts off original and then all these story-heavy crossovers start creeping in, it's disappointing.

If I want to play NieR, I will play NieR. I don't want to be forced to play NieR in the middle of FFXIV.

Also to note, the knuckles on the [new character's] left hand look like they have jagged edges, making it seem like whatever this is, wasn't designed (I.e. Cosmetic) at least in its entirety. Kind of looks as though they lost the skin on their knuckles and this purple stuff was underneath.

I think the knuckles look the same as the mark on their cheek.

And the suggestion that it's G'raha is rather interesting. I've suggested before that it's possible we could see him back again, especially if there is time travel in play.

What do you suppose an unknown period of time sleeping in the Crystal Tower might do to a person? Odd crystalline growths on the skin?

Little Girl is Minfilia! Time travel? Consequence of "absorbing Light?"

It's not just young Minfilia from the past. She still has her glowing "Word of the Mother" eyes.

... and now everyone gets their long-desired bunny girl waifus. Happy?!

More happy about unmasked Urianger.

>_>
<_<

not keynote related, but this was written on the high seraph Ultima figure:

[...] and thus thought the collective desire of mankind to worship what might bring him low was Ultima made a living primal.

Should that be "through"?

[Arya_Leviathan]

Is it just me or does Titania resemble Alisaie a lot?