The key to Azys Lla

[SannaR]

The problem I have with this scene and others like it where we just got done with a huge fight we tend to never look like we're tired. Mostly just because SE seems to have this problem of never showing our character being tired. The only time we seem to actually need a break is the first time we are shown there might be a slight problem with us absorbing lightwardens. Yet after we get back to our feet we just look like we're good to go and I want to say we even start to go ok what's next, but we get told to go to bed because we've exerted ourselves too much. Before Shadowbringers npcs even comment to us on how they don't know how we continue to go at the pace we are and that they feel bad about giving us yet another task for us to do. Then comes Shadowbringers and even though our character looks like they can continue the amount of times we're told to go get some rest increases to the point where it felt like they were going to tell us to go get some rest after attuning to an aetherite. If SE did a better job of showing that we're actually in need of catching our breath we wouldn't end up having scenes like this one where we just stand there and watch.

[Crushnight]

Tbf the whole Sea of Clouds section was handled poorly.

Bismarck shouldn't have shown up but be hinted at when we 1st go there. He was a primal and we straight up put killing it on hold(heck completely forget about it for ages) despite full knowing the dangers in doing so. Heck our response to Ravana was way way faster.

Why was the key immune to Bismarck's aether consumption (whole islands go but small key perfectly fine so I just chalk it up to allagen shenanigans).

The empire just goes from 1 batch of cannon fire ik protecting Varic would take precedence but still you'd return fire or at least hunt down Bismarck.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Tbf the whole Sea of Clouds section was handled poorly.

Bismarck shouldn't have shown up but be hinted at when we 1st go there. He was a primal and we straight up put killing it on hold(heck completely forget about it for ages) despite full knowing the dangers in doing so. Heck our response to Ravana was way way faster.

If you do the Sea of Clouds part after the first Western Highlands section, then you're immediately getting dragged from that into Alphinaud and Tataru's trial, and from there straight into rescuing Raubahn, and then into tracking down Ysayle and heading off to find Hraesvelgr (which directly includes facing Ravana). You never really have time to go back to Bismark this way, so it's somewhat more understandable.

Of course, if you do the Sea of Clouds part first, then it's a bit looser. It could sorta be justified in Bismark being in a far less populated area than most other primals we've faced up to that point (all of whom were within spitting distance of a major Eorzean city), or in just not having the means to fight Bismark available (for Ravana, we pretty much just walk in and pick a fight).

[kujoestars]

If you do the Sea of Clouds part after the first Western Highlands section, then you're immediately getting dragged from that into Alphinaud and Tataru's trial, and from there straight into rescuing Raubahn, and then into tracking down Ysayle and heading off to find Hraesvelgr (which directly includes facing Ravana). You never really have time to go back to Bismark this way, so it's somewhat more understandable.

Of course, if you do the Sea of Clouds part first, then it's a bit looser. It could sorta be justified in Bismark being in a far less populated area than most other primals we've faced up to that point (all of whom were within spitting distance of a major Eorzean city), or in just not having the means to fight Bismark available (for Ravana, we pretty much just walk in and pick a fight).

We literally had no means of catching Bismarck until we befriended a Vanu Vanu tribe and got their permission to use an island as bait because unlike the other primals, he doesn't stay in any one location and just flies around and periodically eats an island.

[MrThinker]

Why was the key immune to Bismarck's aether consumption (whole islands go but small key perfectly fine so I just chalk it up to allagen shenanigans).

This is probably not the right explanation, but I always assumed that the floating islands themselves were mostly made of crystal, which by its nature is faster to digest into aether by primals than other solid items.

[TheMightyMollusk]

That would be the "not having the means to fight Bismark" part, yes. We also probably wouldn't have enough pull with Ishgard to borrow the dragonkillers used in the fight before taking out Nidhogg at the Aery; even if we did, they'd be disinclined to loan out weapons if they still expected a full-on Dravanian offensive.

[kujoestars]

That would be the "not having the means to fight Bismark" part, yes. We also probably wouldn't have enough pull with Ishgard to borrow the dragonkillers used in the fight before taking out Nidhogg at the Aery; even if we did, they'd be disinclined to loan out weapons if they still expected a full-on Dravanian offensive.

Yep, exactly. Basically, Bismark was just a unique case of a primal being untouchable at its initial appearance due to both behavior and resources. We wouldn't have been able to reach Garuda or Leviathan either if we didn't have the resources on hand, and even then it was hard pulling from allies for one reason or another (the corrupted crystals for Garuda's first appearance, and having a big enough boat to hold all the crystals for Leviathan).