Thread: Revelations from Patch 5.1

Originally Posted by Yasune

There is a minimum amount of text before I can post my thoughts.

In the extra F'lhaminn quest, she mentions Warburton died 20 years ago. Shouldn't it be 15 years ago? Did Koji mess up, or did they suddenly jump us ahead five years?

Quick explanation of Time Bubble Mechanics

Koji has said elsewhere that time is "bubbled" and each expansion/patch is individually bubbled. While there are few definite examples of "X months/weeks have passed" a rule of thumb is that each patch/expansion takes place over several months in game have passed since ARR.

MSQ:

Not a lot in the way of amazing revelations this patch; it felt like filler, albeit necessary filler. Further investigation in how to get the Scions home. Follow up on the situation with Eulmore. Follow up on the situation with the Light-touched at the Inn. Was excited about the concept of a cure for Tempering, but am wary given how they seemed to spin it as being viable only in special cases (like Ga Bu). Would prefer to see a full-on cure - but given how awkward that would make the FATEs that involve Tempered, it probably won't happen. Ignoring paradoxes for storylines that are run out of order is one thing, but for events that happen continuously?

Found the dungeon to be kind of bland and boring. The fire mechanic on the final boss was interesting, even if it killed me a few times before I figured it out. All told, though, I couldn't really drum up any enthusiasm for beating up familiars to get their boss's attention.

Was hoping that the familiar Allisae would summon would be something unique rather than just another Porxie. Nope, it was a Porxie. Would have been happier even if it'd wound up being her clay abomination animated.

Same old Garleans, somehow find the time to commit abominable atrocities even while mired in a civil war. (Well, in fairness, the Ultima Weapon clone was put together well before the civil war. So it's more like, they found the time to DEPLOY abominable atrocities even while mired in a civil war.) Varis seems to be confirmed dead, which is a bit disappointing; I felt he had more to contribute, but nup, we get more Zeno, instead. Yay. Folks considered many possible outcomes for the murder, and several got it right: Varis dead, Gaius and Estinien get the blame, Zenos gets bored and leaves, Garlean Empire now in chaos.

Not gonna guess at the identity of Zenos's new helper. I'm hoping it's a new character, because all of the likely known characters I can think of would be lame. Looks like Zenos is well on the path I predicted for him to assume control of Zodiark, something I fully expect him to succeed at completely - no being absorbed by Zodiark instead, or any of that nonsense. Zenos's entire character, such as it is, is built on him accomplishing things assumed to be impossible, likely a deliberate reflection on the Warrior of Light's ability to do the same. He will control Zodiark because he has some kind of innate understanding of how Primals work, and the fact that Zo is an extra buff Primal is completely irrelevant.

I was touched by the Minfilia send-off, though I did feel that F'lhaminn seemed to take the whole thing a bit too stoically.

Neir raid (caution: Neir: Automata spoilers within - seriously DO NOT READ if you're still playing, or plan to play Neir in the future)

I enjoyed the raid; can't say how I'd feel about it if I hadn't played the Neir game, but a lot of what I loved about Neir was here. That said, this part of the raid answered NOTHING about how the robots and setting from Neir wound up on the First. Right now, we don't know if they're relics from this world, or travelers from the Neir universe.

The choose-your-quest bit was interesting; I don't remember which dwarf it was, but I sided with the one who doesn't trust 2P. I don't know anything about her, after all, except that 9S regards her as an enemy, and 9S is a pretty upstanding guy... most of the time. I can't discount the fact that he goes off the deep end in Neir when he witnesses A2 slaying 2B - and even when he learns it was a mercy kill requested by 2B herself, he's unable to let go of his rage. If 2P got on his berserk side, she might be the one in the right, with 9S running in full-on crazy mode. It's also possible that this is not 9S at all, but instead someone wearing a 9S body. The fact that 9S appeared to be "siding" with the Machine Lifeforms is not an indication one way or another. He's able to hack and control them, after all, so they're essentially just tools.

I adored the ability to explore the raid area after the fact, and even more so doing so with a purpose. A lot of the previous raids have had beautiful settings that I never got a good look at, having to press on with the group and all. I've occasionally wanted to check out the cells in Orbonne Monestary, for example. I hope this is a feature that comes up more often. As for the raid itself, my favorite was the GLaDOS-inspired second boss was probably my favorite, though I enjoyed tackling Engles, as well. The first boss... well, I learned I really needed to turn off other peoples' effects for that fight. i could barely see the thing in the cloud of effects, and some of its attacks were telegraphed by its movements.

Puzzled by all the folks saying "knowing Yoko Taro, this and this and this will happen!" I mean - isn't the whole point of Yoko Taro that you CANNOT know Yoko Taro? :P

Pixie Beast Tribes:

Liking the setup so far; I enjoy the concept of a Pixie dream world. Looking forward to what comes of the villain they introduced. Little disappointed they wasted Ezel's name on a Porxie. Not fond of Porxies in general. Not a lot else to say, until I've done more of the quests.

New Collectables NPC:

Not too excited about drumming up business for the Beehive. In response to some others' misgivings, however, I think they're trying to spin it as a place whose workers don't feel shamed or exploited by working there. It's just work. While she has had little impact so far, the presence of one of the dancers in Kai's circle of friends is a way of giving the dancers a voice in the storyline, and unless she starts complaining, I'm going to assume the dancers in general are content with their lot. Totes putting Kai-Shirr in a bunny outfit once I can dress him :3

Hades Ex:

Only attempted this once, so far, but I gotta say that I really like seeing the Ascians of yesteryear make a reappearance with fight mechanics tailored to pay homage to their original battles. A nice touch on expanding the point in the original fight where Hades summons the spirits of the Ancients to help in his fight, this time literally allowing us to fight a few of them!

MSQ

The mysterious figure is quite the turn-up at this stage. Zenos' words hint that they're known to him, but then that may not necessarily mean this is a character we've previously seen before. At least we know now for sure Zenos is going after Zodiark next, likely to try to merge with him. But despite his newfound powers, I'm not entirely sure that even Zenos could overpower Zodiark completely, weakened or not. Hmmm... How interesting would it be if maybe Zodiark was influencing things to allow for Zenos to become a sort of avatar for him in a way Elidibus or the other Ascians could not? Wild speculation, of course, but I wonder...

I am absolutely not convinced that the "Ardbert" we see in the stinger's stinger is our Ardbert. I will say that his appearance, whoever he really is, caught me off guard. Whatever's going on here, I also have strong suspicions that Elidibus is involved. Curious how he didn't make an appearance this patch...

Back to Garlemald, I have to wonder if Varis actually approved the research into Arch Ultima or whether it was a secret Ascian agenda he wasn't aware of. Or perhaps he did disapprove and was aware, but couldn't act against the Ascians. Varis is gone now, so it's kind of moot anyway I suppose. Either way, I suspect the Ascians had a hand in it, given that only they could have provided the requisite data and resources after what happened to the XIVth Legion. It wouldn't surprise me if the Heart of Sabik was indeed involved in this process, and perhaps that was what Gaius sought but it was possibly relocated prior to his infiltration of Garlemald. At any rate, Estinien confirmed that Zenos was apparently able to completely remove Black Rose from the equation (as far as he's aware for now, at least). As a side note, Estinien's LB was pretty rad imo.

Aside from that, the story mostly turned out about as I expected. The Scions on the First work with the Exarch to find a way back to the Source, and we go to Kholusia to help with Eulmore's fallout after Vauthry. The dungeon was quirky and fun for the most part, and the dialogue bits throughout it if you bring the twins as trusts were funny. I've already taken a liking to Beq Lugg as well. It was nice to revisit the storyline with the light-afflicted in Amh Araeng. I liked the little shoutout to Angelo from FFVIII too. Interesting that this may lead to a way to break the conditioning placed on the tempered back on the Source, I hadn't thought of that before but then we didn't really know anything about this soulcrafting until just recently. I do worry about the implications of using Allagan science as a font for the Scions to get back though. The auracite was shady enough as it was for an idea.

Kholusia was a nice little bit of development if nothing else. The Chais are kind of adorable together lol. Dulia was precious as ever, and it does seem like Chai is starting to come into his own a bit. He understands he's not experienced enough in certain fields to handle all the responsibilities of being mayor, and makes it clear he can't do everything on his own. Despite that, he also doesn't want to delegate all the work to someone else without rolling up his sleeves and working himself. Still, there could be a chance for conflict in the future between those who were once in differing social classes during Vauthry's reign, but for now it appears the people are willing to come together to rebuild and survive.

Post MSQ (Mor Dhona):

I thought it was nice of them to devote a side quest devoted to F'lhaminn so she could have a chance to properly find peace with Minfillia's loss and move on. It was a pretty touching bit of story they could have easily just made into a passing bit of NPC dialogue and nothing else, but I'm glad they mad the effort to do it with a full quest instead.

Nier Raid:

Chaotic as it was in certain mechanics, I actually really like the raid itself. We didn't get all that much story about the androids and the machines themselves yet, and the factory itself is still somewhat of a mystery. I do have yet to read over the collection archives from the exploration, so those will probably reveal more things. I do expect there's going to be a significant amount more supporting lore come patch 5.3 when the next alliance raid comes out. After all, there's plenty of questions to be answered. There's the mystery of 2P herself, and her exact relation to 2B. Also, what were all those 2B units doing in that one room, and was it 9S that destroyed them? It seems like the Nines we see here is from post-ending-B in Nier Automata, very probably post-ending-C/D/E, or maybe it's just a version from a totally different timeline altogether. I suppose we'll find out soon enough. I also believe we're bound to run into A2 or a proxy of her along the way, though whether we'll have to fight with or against her is anyone's guess. I'd also love for Devola and Popola to make cameos in the future. I would be absolutely surprised if we don't see Emil down the line, granted he's not an android but still. Anyway, I did like that we could explore the raid dungeon after clearing it and really appreciate all the details and such, though I wish we could use mounts in there to make things go a bit more quickly. That's all I've got for now, I think

Ishgard restoration

They've actually tied in the Diadem closing storywise

Originally Posted by Chewy2nd

Ishgard restoration

They've actually tied in the Diadem closing storywise

I thought the Restoration wasn't available yet?

Originally Posted by JeanneOrnitier

I thought the Restoration wasn't available yet?

It's just a small bit of set up