Crystal Tower theories

[Nalien]

I could see them making Crystal Tower quests a requirement for Shadowbringers, although oddly that haven't already which makes that somewhat doubtful I guess... Making it a requirement now would work and give people plenty of time, making it one at launch would no doubt ruffle a few feathers... Still they've done something similar in the past by locking the Nabriales sections of MSQ behind the previously optional Garuda/Ifrit/Titan (Hard) quests.

My money is still on G'raha being a bluff though, in fact I'll even name who I genuinely think it is; Halmarut. I really like the idea of "throw wide the gates" referring to the gates of the tower, and so far the only way we know of doing that is for civilization to reach a point where they rival the Allag; Sending the tower back in time (and to the First for reasons) gives civilization (specifically Crystarium) the time to achieve that, they certainly do seem very advanced (were those crystal ion cannons in the preview?). Then we get to arrive in the First for its grand opening to greet G'raha as an old friend, with him joining us as the first Scion we reclaim on our new adventure. Plenty of other reasons for me to suspect Halmarut, but I'm aware I'm building a house of cards in a tornado right now... It's probably just G'raha...

[zuzu-bq]

They will not make them a requirement, that is pretty much confirmed. However, the writter asked us to do it so I'd expect some cool extra dialog from having CT quests down. Tataru has a single line that reflects tha status of your CT quests in the 4.56 MSQ while the quests themselves kind of work to direct you into doing them if you haven't before.

[Fenral]

I'm going to take that a step further and posit that the roadmap up until now was based on the Binding Coil and Crystal Tower stories not being originally planned as "optional." The Binding Coil has the same overall feel as a X.3 climactic battle story, and at least half of the stuff that happens in CT (like Nero's return and G'raha's introduction) is already well beyond the accepted bounds of "side content." Yoshida was talking in vague terms about having 5.0 plans even before ARR.

[Iscah]

I posted this in the Revelations thread the other day, but should post here as well - since the "Enigmatic Figure" has now physically appeared in-game in 4.56, we can pick up his character data from Garland Tools, and it's undoubtably G'raha, or certainly using his model.

The models do have different settings for the basic face, but they're both custom faces anyway so I'm not entirely sure how the numbers work with those - but I think Enigma would need a different model because of the crystallised mark on his cheek and (I saw suggested elsewhere) possibly deliberately shadowing the eyes.

The only other difference is that G'raha has eyeshadow and Enigma doesn't. I had to recheck screenshots to even know it was there - you can barely see it since his hair covers up the outer edge of his eyes anyway.

I don't quite understand the character designers' logic for putting odd-coloured eyeshadow on characters... for some they'll use black and it seems like it's just meant to be part of their face shape (eg. Estinien) to extend the number of different designs they can make, but then others will have bright pink or green.

[Fenral]

Wow, uh, yeah. I'd know those presets anywhere. Probably still not enough to please the contrarians, but it's certainly enough to convince me.

Generally speaking, the devs use eyeshadow like stage/film makeup. It's not supposed to be noticeable, just a way of slightly adjusting the perceived shape and position of the eyes. My own character, seen at left, has some for the same reason.

Enigma G'raha probably doesn't need any because he has a full custom face texture, which would mean they've likely baked it to onto the base texture.

[Iscah]

Generally speaking, the devs use eyeshadow like stage/film makeup. It's not supposed to be noticeable, just a way of slightly adjusting the perceived shape and position of the eyes. My own character, seen at left, has some for the same reason.

I do get that - which is why it puzzles me when they use noticeable colours that don't actually blend into their skintone!

Browns and blacks make sense. Using Estinien as an example again, he has full eyeshadow in black and just looks like he has really sunken eyes. Stephanivien (MCH guildnaster) has the same in jade green, and he looks like he's wearing eyeshadow. (Although it did take me until Lv70 to notice - lots of dingy indoor shots and Coerthan blizzards, I think. But finally there was a closeup shot of him in sunlight, and it was really noticeable, and unflattering.)

So yeah, using it as a 'face modifier' makes sense, but in standout colors it tends to make characters look worse rather than better.

[AmemeAmeklin]

I do get that - which is why it puzzles me when they use noticeable colours that don't actually blend into their skintone!

Browns and blacks make sense. Using Estinien as an example again, he has full eyeshadow in black and just looks like he has really sunken eyes. Stephanivien (MCH guildnaster) has the same in jade green, and he looks like he's wearing eyeshadow. (Although it did take me until Lv70 to notice - lots of dingy indoor shots and Coerthan blizzards, I think. But finally there was a closeup shot of him in sunlight, and it was really noticeable, and unflattering.)

So yeah, using it as a 'face modifier' makes sense, but in standout colors it tends to make characters look worse rather than better.

I am willing to bet it's more for symbolism than looking flattering. House Haillenarte's main color is green, their symbol is the rose, they love nature, etc. It may be as simple as making a point that he is a member of Haillenarte (and, in fact, the eldest son). That and nobles are all eccentric on some level anyway. Stephanivien's outfit is a super dark green along the torso and the quarter skirt thing as well, but I think that's the gear's default color? I'd have to research him a bit more.

I did look into kabuki makeup but that's maybe a smaller possibility due to the subtlety, but may also be an influence in design choices at times. Green in kabuki theater symbolizes calm and also has an association with nature (much like in western cultures).

[Yuyuka3]

Wow, uh, yeah. I'd know those presets anywhere. Probably still not enough to please the contrarians, but it's certainly enough to convince me.

Enigma G'raha probably doesn't need any because he has a full custom face texture, which would mean they've likely baked it to onto the base texture.

You are 100% right with that...
I presented the comparison Enigma to G'raha two days ago in a Discord, and they were like, "yeah, could just be a bait-and-switch". Though I think it was likely far too much work customizing the model for that, and honestly, G'raha would just fit in so darn well with what we know so far... it would make less sense to do a bait-and-switch than not to if you ask me.

[ObsidianFire]

Someone pointed out that the character G'raha Tia is based on, Desch from FFIII, ends up getting amnesia at one point. If that's the case with G'hara, it would go a long to way to explaining why he doesn't recognize us, which is one of the main reasons I don't think Enigma is him.

[Nalien]

I'm thinking it's G'rahas body, but I'm doubtful whether it's his mind... Granted he gained the memories of Allag by the climax of Crystal Towers story (which is probably the Desch amnesia plot already covered IMO), but this all still seems very much outside the scope of their ability, they could barely use Crystal Tower to open a Voidgate, and when they finally did try that fully it basically blew up... My money is still firmly on "The Ascian who was overlooking the First", mirrors the plot of the Thirteenth nicely, explains the mastery of both time travel (see: Nabriales' fight) and interdimensional travel (that's just a given for Ascians at this point, right?), not to mention I can think of no one more capable of mentoring us in becoming a Warrior of Darkness than a friendly neighborhood Ascian...