story predictions for shadowbringers

[Fenral]

It's an old theory of mine from a million years ago that I might never have posted here, but I had always assumed that if/when G'raha ever came back, it would be as an antagonist. I get this sinking feeling that it will be Mr. Enigma himself pulling a Thordan and taking center stage as final boss after the top Sin Eater and/or Solus is defeated as our obligatory midpoint climax boss.

Unless they're laying the groundwork for another post-Calamity reboot of the entire game world, the world as we know it can't just end or be irreparably altered as a consequence of our actions, so if G'raha Salina was somehow trying to prevent some misguided utopia plan from failing, that would be something we could defeat without violating Alexandran Metaphysics. Or, for a more sympathetic motivation, it could also be that he woke up in the future and realized the Crystal Tower was completely obsolete, and thus Salina's wish could never be realized without returning the Tower to a point in time where it could mean something.

But as I was writing all that, it occurred to me that there is an actual FF series precedent for breaking stable time-loops with the power of hope: conveniently enough, it's FF1. The one with all the Elves, and Dwarves and such, kind of like Norvrandt. So the simpler "change the future" outcome is still possible, and is not necessarily at odds with either the above idea or the theory that G'raha is simply screwing the world up in an endless loop.


(But really I just want to skip the next three weeks of IRL and jump into early access. My vacation days have been approved and everything...)

[Jaywalker]

Got a few more predictions!

WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED

- Krile and G'raha are gonna have some kind of history/interesting dynamic due to both being students of Baldesion.

- Besides being partially crystalized, G'raha's appearance will have changed in other ways. Maybe/maybe not hairstyle, probably a little older. Basing this in part on the one listed face model difference I saw.

- The passage to the First will be opened using the same principles (Biggs and Wedge’s machine) that opened a rift to the Void. Instead of dark tendrils and the Cloud of Darkness speaking through, we’ll have light and our boy G’raha.

- Nero will return. He may or may not hang out on the first and/or meet G’raha again but if he’s aware he’s going to do everything he can to get in on this adventure. He may or may not have to make a choice of whether or not to stand against Garlemald but is very likely to have a super awkward reunion with Gaius at some point. May or may not survive. Will not wear the blue uniform under any circumstances.

- Solus will be confirmed as Emet-Selch. We will get more insight to Ascians and how they relate to life, death, and the divine crystals.

- Lucia and Gaius awkward reunion given she defected and now he’s just running around rogue killing Ascians. This theory is because I think we’ll get Livia callbacks, Gaius was re-introduced, and Ishgard involvement.

- The smaller crystal shards often shown to be circling Hydaelyn will be confirmed as either the Twelve, fragmented worlds split from the Source, or both. If they are both (can’t count reliably because some are usually behind Hydaelyn or otherwise out of view) it is possible that either there is a Thirteenth god or that Nald’Thal is technically two shards. Also, these will be tied to the crystals summoned by Louisoix as shown in the Unending Coil of Bahamut raid.

- Additional lore for both Hrothgar and Viera, as well as NPCs.

- Unukalhai will return to relevance.

- We’ll get more Allagan lore and more info on Princess Salina.

- Those twins we fight in the Ghimlyt Dark will return in larger roles and be more difficult to deal with.

- We’ll get a Nym raid or dungeon, leaning toward raid since most activity is located on the First. Raid will be more in the spirit of Shadow of Mhach and will serve as a hook to keep Nym involved when there’s so much light/darkness action happening as per Amdapor and Mhach. Might tease for more exploration in future expansions.

- We will have an audience with Zodiark, possibly either finding or being tasked to find his physical location.


REACHES/WISHFUL THINKING

- The Void will be relevant. I don’t have a clue if this will happen but I think there might be a battle between voidsent and sin-eaters or some additional interaction between The First and The Void to see if their respective imbalances can actually help each other reach a healthier state. Possibly a really cool job quest for BLM too but again, no idea if it will happen.

- Either Azdaja (comes from this, linked to this) or Vrtra (linked to this) will be brought up, either tied to the Dragoon quest or as a MSQ companion. Hraesvelgr has responsibilities on the Source and can’t leave. Others of the First Brood are dead or imprisoned, but there might be room for further lore about dragons, their origins, their travels, and their relationship to Hydaelyn. Omega allowed for some examination in Stormblood but we lost Midgardsomr for an uncertain period of time afterward. Especially given we’ll have some Ishgard activity again, it makes sense to me that we’ll have some more dragons.

- Garlean Emperor primal and/or Warrior of Light primal.

- Set ups for future plotlines following resolution for Zodiark and/or Garlemald problems, possibly involving the Twelve and/or Meracydia. I suspect we will see the Southern continent and its legacy of war against Allag before we see the New World but after seeing Garlemald in some capacity.


PROBABLY NOT BUT…

- We will either visit the moon or have visitors from the moon. Basically #thelunariansarecoming lol.

[Cilia]

Some things to remember:

Unless a stable dimensional gateway takes us to Norvrandt, we are unlikely to see / encounter anyone from the Source there with the exceptions of the Scions (who we already know had their souls yanked out and pulled over there) and Ascians (as incorporeal beings, they are able to traverse the barriers freely). Most people are probably too busy dealing with the war effort against the Empire on the Source to gallivant about an alternate world, as well.

The raid series have already been announced - the 8-man series is "Eden," focusing on restoring the wastelands created by the Flood of Light with the help of an NPC named Gaia (somehow). The 24-man series is a crossover with NieR: Automata. There may be some Nymian / Amdapori / Mhachi content, given the Kuribu construct seems to have been modeled on Innocence, but even if there is it'll likely be limited to a dungeon or two (Wanderer's Palace EX?).

Heavensward was the only major story arc with a huge twist in the middle. Thancred's possession and the development of Resonance were important bits, but only 3.0 had a mid-story climax boss (Nidhogg) before dropping bombshells. The closest 2.0 had was Titan (before the massacre at the Waking Sands) and Garuda (designed to show off how much of a threat the Ultima Weapon is), while I can't recall one at all from 5.0 (Hypertuned Grynewaht I suppose, capping off the Doma arc), but none of those really threw curveballs at the players before / after the fights quite like Nidhogg. There are a lot of unanswered questions, but I don't expect to defeat Solus halfway through the story and have bombshells dropped afterwards.

DRG's new abilities are still linked to the Azure Dragoon / Nidhogg bit (notably the new capstone skill, "Stardiver," is a renamed, watered-down version of Estinien-Nidhogg's Final Chorus super), so Midgardsormr's other children showing up sounds unlikely, especially given Job quests now only have one long-ish quest at 80 (the rest are "Role Quests").

Ah, yes, and I forgot that Elezen Zenos is going on a rampage to get his body and status back. That, Solus being in Norvrandt for something, and Varis seemingly playing around with Black Rose are just about the only things we know for certain are going to happen.

(In a bit of serendipity, I have a week-long (unpaid) vacation starting the week of the expansion's release. I'll have to work the Friday Early Access starts, but hey, I'm golden otherwise! Now I just gotta figure out what to do in the meantime... besides keep struggling to 10-2 in Azur Lane... especially since my D&D session this week got cancelled...)

[Acelyn]

well since we're bringing the shadows, i'm gonna guess we hotwire the void ark and ride it into the new world to spark a massive battle.

[Raikai]

I always thought that this expansion would be the one that we go fully against Garlemald to finish its empire, but apparenly we'll have more like a "sidequest-esque" expansion regarding that matter (not that this makes it lose importance or anything). So, in the wake of this fact, I think that our and the Scions absence from the Source for so long will allow the Garlean Empire to fully wreck havoc to Eorzea, and when we return, we'll find that mess. This will probably be a later portion of the expansion as a build up for 6.0 being what I thought 5.0 would've been.

Also I really expect/want that this whole set of events in ShB turn out to put both Zodiark and Hydaelyn in a gray zone, and we won't belong to either but our own.

[Bright-Flower]

I always thought that this expansion would be the one that we go fully against Garlemald to finish its empire, but apparenly we'll have more like a "sidequest-esque" expansion regarding that matter (not that this makes it lose importance or anything). So, in the wake of this fact, I think that our and the Scions absence from the Source for so long will allow the Garlean Empire to fully wreck havoc to Eorzea, and when we return, we'll find that mess. This will probably be a later portion of the expansion as a build up for 6.0 being what I thought 5.0 would've been.

Also I really expect/want that this whole set of events in ShB turn out to put both Zodiark and Hydaelyn in a gray zone, and we won't belong to either but our own.

It'd be funny if 5.0's msq was saving the First, and then we get back and everything's gone to crap without the WOL. Ishgard fighting dragons again, ala mhigo and doma castle hard mode dungeons to re liberate those regions, primals, primals everywhere etc, and us just generally cleaning house before going to the empire in 6.0.

[LineageRazor]

I always thought that this expansion would be the one that we go fully against Garlemald to finish its empire, but apparenly we'll have more like a "sidequest-esque" expansion regarding that matter (not that this makes it lose importance or anything). So, in the wake of this fact, I think that our and the Scions absence from the Source for so long will allow the Garlean Empire to fully wreck havoc to Eorzea, and when we return, we'll find that mess. This will probably be a later portion of the expansion as a build up for 6.0 being what I thought 5.0 would've been.

Well, in fairness, saving the First will apparently bring a lot of things to light (haha pun) regarding the overall conflict with the Ascians and Zodiark. But, yeah, I agree - the storyline leading up to the end of the expansion SUGGESTED REALLY STRONGLY that finally resolving things with the Garleans was going to be next on the plate. And, in fact, the situation with them right now is so volatile that it seems downright irresponsible for us to be running off to the First before stabilizing things on the Source.

Also I really expect/want that this whole set of events in ShB turn out to put both Zodiark and Hydaelyn in a gray zone, and we won't belong to either but our own.

We've never belonged to anyone but ourselves. Hydaelyn's gifts were given with no strings attached. We freely choose to use them to help her, just as Y'sayle freely used Hydaelyn's gifts to help the dragons in their conflict with Ishgard. Hydaelyn has never once been presented as a lord demanding subservience. There are none we know of who worship her - few, in fact, who even seem to know of her. The ones who do know of her consider her to be a benevolent friend and ally, not a master to be obeyed. We help her because she is a kind and gentle being who is suffering and in need - and also because the goals of those who make her suffer will, if accomplished, destroy us and everything we know.

[Seraphor]

I feel like this “taking the fight to Garlemald” is a huge assumption on behalf of the fanbase.
SE or Yoshi have never really suggested this, in fact it was suggested that Stormblood was us taking the fight to Garlemald (we liberated their territories after all, and the Garleans were the main villains)
Compared to other Final Fantasies, you typical have the ignorant/totalitarian human enemies, who are defeated fairly early on and pave the way to the cosmic villain, whom the previous human villains were either pawns of, or naively working into their plans.
Think Shinra > Sephitoth, Galbadia > Ultimecia, Ghestalian empire > Kefka, etc.
Going into Shadowbringers, while some seem to think of this as a sidequest/diversion from the main story for some reason, it actually appears to be leading directly into our Hydaelyn/Zodiark conflict, and this could be our big cosmic villain showdown.
So Stormblood will have been our fight with Garlemald.
Frankly I’m not sure what else people would expect we would do in a ‘fight against Garlemald’. Would we be invading/ransacking Garlean home territories? How would exploring these areas as fugitives work in an MMO?
I feel like people just want to SEE Islabard, and SEE the Garlean capital, which frankly I don’t think would really be possible until we have concluded our conflict with Garlemald.

[Wyssahtyn]

I feel like this “taking the fight to Garlemald” is a huge assumption on behalf of the fanbase.
SE or Yoshi have never really suggested this, in fact it was suggested that Stormblood was us taking the fight to Garlemald (we liberated their territories after all, and the Garleans were the main villains)

Vegas Fanfest.

[Kusanagi7]

seeing as solus is on the 1st varris will still be bat insane like we seen n deploy the black rose in garlemald

we will in the short term work together with solus to combat the light on the first