New Revelations: Time Shenanigans

[Dualblade]

Personally I'm going to go with "Exarch G'raha's future now exists separately from ours." Mostly cause this makes for a rather obvious xpac area to go to after dealing with Garlemald and the Ascians.

[myahele]

Personally I'm going to go with "Exarch G'raha's future now exists separately from ours." Mostly cause this makes for a rather obvious xpac area to go to after dealing with Garlemald and the Ascians.

I'm going with this for now too.

Also, if future was the 8th Rejoining, shouldn't that mean that the Ascians were able to resurrect Zodiark? So what was he doing during all those centuries assuming he was resurrected? Or maybe he wasn't strong enough to do anything?

I am getting the feeling that messing with time like this will have some dire consequences, but I guess we'll find out in patches to come.

[Dualblade]

I'm going with this for now too.

Also, if future was the 8th Rejoining, shouldn't that mean that the Ascians were able to resurrect Zodiark? So what was he doing during all those centuries assuming he was resurrected? Or maybe he wasn't strong enough to do anything?

I am getting the feeling that messing with time like this will have some dire consequences, but I guess we'll find out in patches to come.

Well it was still in the midst of war, most likely it was nearing the point of having enough souls in the Lifestream for the Ascians to be able to finally do it but still a little longer off. But yes, we have plenty of just this xpac to go, much less the rest of the games life.

On the ethics of sacrificing a timeline to save a shard... having rewatched Urianger's explanation of the Eighth Calamity ('Unto the Truth' cutscene #2), it sounds like the world might be literally dying due to the effects of Black Rose. It not only killed a large percentage of the population but "brought death to the very soil". It's quite possible they are all doomed (or at least believe they are) whether their world continues to exist or not.

It's not that different to the Warriors of Darkness trying to rejoin the First before the flood could destroy it, I suppose - whether that's an acceptable thing or not.

Another reason I think our alternate future will be the focus of an xpac, while the way they went about it could be considered "better" in execution than how Ardbert and co went about it, it's still something that would lead to us wanting to save those who saved us if we could. At least, I know my WoL/D would want to.

[Nalien]

Personally I'm going to go with "Exarch G'raha's future now exists separately from ours." Mostly cause this makes for a rather obvious xpac area to go to after dealing with Garlemald and the Ascians.

I'm woefully behind on the story still, so perhaps this comes up more clearly in some post-MSQ sidequest, but I kind of took the Exarchs "I wonder if that other age continues onward somehow, cut adrift from time's flow?" to be foreshadowing for YoRHa... How else can you describe his original timeline but as a Dark Apocalypse? I imagine if it was cast adrift from time somewhere, and that small remnant is why the Exarch is still with us, we'd be incline to follow that thread to its logical conclusion to save that world as well... Can't stop that Calamity from happening, but we can help shape the aftermath, much like we did following the 7th, thought this time presumably with android waifus...

[Dualblade]

I'm woefully behind on the story still, so perhaps this comes up more clearly in some post-MSQ sidequest, but I kind of took the Exarchs "I wonder if that other age continues onward somehow, cut adrift from time's flow?" to be foreshadowing for YoRHa... How else can you describe his original timeline but as a Dark Apocalypse? I imagine if it was cast adrift from time somewhere, and that small remnant is why the Exarch is still with us, we'd be incline to follow that thread to its logical conclusion to save that world as well... Can't stop that Calamity from happening, but we can help shape the aftermath, much like we did following the 7th, thought this time presumably with android waifus...

It IS a possibility, however currently I am running under the assumption that the machine graveyard mentioned in one of the Dwarf sidequests and the androids mentioned in an Amarout sidequest will be what eventually leads us to it.

Of course it could be that we have that as part of the raid AND the alternate future also coming into play at the same time. Pro tip: Don't inhale any strange dust.

[Nalien]

It IS a possibility, however currently I am running under the assumption that the machine graveyard mentioned in one of the Dwarf sidequests and the androids mentioned in an Amarout sidequest will be what eventually leads us to it.

Of course it could be that we have that as part of the raid AND the alternate future also coming into play at the same time. Pro tip: Don't inhale any strange dust.

My current idea is;

While the Ironworks team on Source-b worked on timetravel, minds on the Garlean side also worked on a "solution". Naturally arriving at a fully autonomous, self replicating Magitek construct to bring peace, by force, and likely attempt to undo the damage caused by Black Rose. Naturally, as is always the case with such things, "bring peace" and "wipe out humanity" become synonymous. Obviously, the First can't really afford to send an army in to try and save Source-b from this scourge, so instead we opt to send in our own machine workforce of android waifus... With the Warrior of Light training them and supervising their mission... and accidentally teaching them humanity and making them self aware... which is already something Warrior of Light-ness has done to animals, so why not androids?

Naturally we'd need our androids to come from somewhere (or someone) on the First. Enter a beard-less Cid to match our lusciously locked Gerolt.

So I don't know, it seems to me like in the "bad future" timeline, Emet and Elidibus might have screwed themselves out of their ultimate goal ten times worse than Igeyorhm ever did. If a Calamity messes up the Source too much, you don't have enough lives left on it to sacrifice to Zodiark, and this is with, what, 5-6 Rejoinings left to go? (I wonder if the Ascians of the Bad Future didn't bother to stop the Ironworks and G'raha because they needed that reset button just as badly, too.)

You know... We're missing the "Sleeping race on the Moon" from FFIV, although one could argue at this point that Zodiark being sealed away there, with the intent to revive sacrificed Ancients works to that point now, but since I'm talking YoRHa... Moon Server... What if our immortal moon wizards spirited away some survivors to out last the Calamity they caused and reseed the planet later?

Sets up a nice late-patch plot twist; "Oh great! There are survivors on Source-b!", "Oh... They worship the Ascians as saviors... Guess we better wipe them out and let these sentient androids we made inherit Source-b".

[Vayanne]

It would be interesting if he manages to contact his self on the Source. He did speak to us at the end of the SB and I suppose contacting himself should be much easier, as the connection between his selves must be much stronger. Maybe sleeping G'raha Tia and the Crystal Exarch could technically be viewed as shards of the same soul? Could that mean they can be re-joined the way the Source's WoL was rejoined with Ardbert?

[Alleo]

I am also not a fan of this time travel. (Even if I am happy that the exarch is still alive)

Even at the beginning I found the explanation about time to be much to convinient. Of course when we arrive suddenly time runs the same..It could have been much simply if they just said that the first was the same with time as the source until the Light flood and then it started to be faster there..This would have been a great way to say: Dont worry about the source because even if you are here for years nothing much will change in the original world..of course the stuff that happened with Garlemald may have made less sense but since we were able to do so much stuff in all the expansion with the time bubble still being there..well it would not be surprising that maybe in a few days on the source we got this change. So not a fan of that information.

The biggest one was the one with the exarch. I dont like time travels and I am quite sure that I dont like that the exarch has such a huge amount of power. Being away from the tower, tortured, shot and otherwise hurt and yet seemingy still able to bend time and space to send us warriors for help. (But I admit the scene was awesome) And somehow when all was said and done he still exist because somehow the future we stopped from happening still exists somewhere?

But doesnt that mean that all the Ascians in that future also exist? That we are death in that part of the dimension? Couldnt these Ascians still not just wake up their Zodiark and then destroy reality with it? How bad is it for those that hoped that their sacrifice would change the world only for their dimension to forever exist in misery? What about the souls of these people? Ugh my head..

[EdwinLi]

---- Ugh my head..

Sounds more like you just don't like this part of the story because you don't know which possible outcome this event is.

For me It is fine since it is not so called convenient but relates to preventing a future event we know will be completely out of our hands.

As for which possible timeline splitting there are a certain ones I can think up being...

1) Branching timeline - the two timelines are not far split off from each other that they cannot link to each other again thus this new timeline has become a separate existance to a point both timelines have no influence over each other anymore. Fate/Grand Order follows this theory with Season 2 storyline involving the Tree of the Nasuverse having each Branch of the Tree representing the point where the timeline remains the same and where the timelines separate such as Fate/Stay Night Universe, Apocrypha timeline, and Kalied Universe, and etc. being represented by a Branch of the Tree but all are part of the Tree since the Trunk is the Origin timeline where all branch of the different timeline began with the same Origins.

2) Intended Block Placement Timeline - there is no splitting of timeline but all events are part of one timeline that has been cut into differennt parts with Exarch timeline happening first then when he went back in time a new Block is placed where his old timeline Ended thus it is a consistent straight path. The Flash TV series follow this theory so everything that happened has always been in a single timeline despite numbers of the time being different.

3) Replacement TImeline - The New timeline replace the Old timeline thus all events of the old timeline no longer exists but only the memories of that time by those who took part in that timeline being the Exarch. Exarch only remains because he had such a great influence in the New timeline that it cannot remove him. Some series follow this timeline theory as it allows the characters to stay and keep memories of their old timeline but they can never return to that old timeline because it no longer eixts.

4) the Path has changed but the End Result remains the Same Timeline - The End result is still considered going to happen but by a different means thus the Calamity has not been prevented but a new threat has replaced Black Rose as the cause of the 8th Umbral Calamity which we can guess what, or should I say who, will still cause the 8th Umbral Calamity due to what we see at the end of the After credit scene. Though it may be far greater and outside of what Ascian wanted due to the nature of this person's insanity.

[Alleo]

Sounds more like you just don't like this part of the story because you don't know which possible outcome this event is.

For me It is fine since it is not so called convenient but relates to preventing a future event we know will be completely out of our hands.

No I dont dislike it because I dont know the possible outcome, even if it was quite clear I am just not a fan of time travel. Even if it was one clear outcome I would probably not be a fan of it but at least one could try to understand the implications.

I'm going with this for now too.

Also, if future was the 8th Rejoining, shouldn't that mean that the Ascians were able to resurrect Zodiark? So what was he doing during all those centuries assuming he was resurrected? Or maybe he wasn't strong enough to do anything?

I am getting the feeling that messing with time like this will have some dire consequences, but I guess we'll find out in patches to come.

The 8th rejoining does not mean that Zodiark is back, there are still quite some shards left to rejoin before that happens.