Thread: Revelations from Patch 5.3

Originally Posted by Rosenstrauch

Even if it's just a drop in the bucket, conservation of matter is still a thing—I think we're going to be asking "What's really up with G'raha Tia's soul?" for a long while.

Post-game dialogue sort of covers this.

It sounds like soul density is linked to how many unique pieces you've got, and duplicates somehow don't count. Let's just take his word on it and not think too hard. He's done the research, at least.

IMG]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/448734631458766858/744074972929982484/Graha_dialogue_post_5-3.jpg[/IMG]

Originally Posted by Iscah

I'm kind of surprised they didn't just go the route of transferring the Exarch's memories without his soul, though. I think it would have made the death scene more poignant, but at the same time I think I'd be stuck wondering whether he truly died (i.e. body considered dead, soul free to return to the Lifestream) or whether his soul would remain trapped in his crystalised body. That said, I had contemplated that as a potential ending for him - fusing with the tower completely and watching over the Crystarium forever - but then there's the running theme over the story that immortality is actually pretty miserable.

More on our Sammich Making Exarch

who also baked cakes

Is this may be due to the fact, he in fact became his own soul counterpart on the first by going back in time/dimensions? I mean who WAS his First counterpart otherwise? I also wonder if by him accepting his past self they may have left out that he also needed to accept his potential future self, rather than him just becoming "augmented" code? Would that mean however, he gained "2" vs one since future self came from a calamity, and became apparently his own FIRST counterpart?

Originally Posted by Iscah

General thoughts on MSQ:

The first part with the kids dragged unexpectedly. With so much content to go through and the knowledge that things were quite urgent for my friends' wellbeing, here I am participating in this cute but not particularly relevant sidequest instead. It's not terrible but the story isn't off to the exciting start I was anticipating.

I figure that sequence was meant to illustrate (with the subtlety of an anvil, but that's standard for FFXIV) that even if the desire to become Warriors of Light to help people was initially prompted by someone with ulterior nefarious motives, it is still a good and noble desire to want to help people. Alphinaud mentions as much after the grape-picking.

However, I also agree that it drags out a little too much. It could certainly have been streamlined a bit, especially since we didn't need to include fetch quests to make the point.

I admit I'm a little impatient to be able to discuss this patch without spoiler blocks, mainly because it's kind of a hassle to make sure I have that ten characters every time.

Originally Posted by Vyrerus

As for the trifling disagreement on soul destruction and aether blades, the soul does not need to be contained before blasting. Examples: Lahabrea killed by Thordan.

Actually, I read in an interview of the devs, that Lahabrea had not died to Thordans striking blow, but when Estinien had pierced Nidhoggs eye afterwards. In other words, he was still alive until the end of Stormblood. Not that it matters anymore.

Originally Posted by Vyrerus

Could you link that interview, because that makes very little sense. If that were the case, then why wouldn't Elidibus help him out of Nidhogg's right eye, and then help restore him to a proper body?

It's here.

Toward the end of Shadowbringers, players defeat Hades without imprisoning him in the White Auracite. But Lahabrea was defeated in a similar way, and eventually returned. Is Hades is done for good?

NI: With Lahabrea, he wasn’t literally put into the White Auracite. But he was absorbed into the dragon’s eye, and Estinien pierced it. Although he wasn’t imprisoned in the White Auracite, you can technically say he’s in the same situation.

When Hades revealed his true form, and his soul was there, we didn’t capture it in the White Auracite. He was held down and pierced with a stake, basically. He was captured and not able to move at that point, and then the Warrior of Light struck him with the blow, so it is believed that Hades has been completely destroyed.

Whether it makes sense or not (and we can see just how easily they can try force things to make sense, whether the end result is satisfactory, or not), the wording confirms what that poster said. Much the same with Emet-Selch, with the "it is believed". Perhaps there is something to the headcanon that souls really are indestructible, white auracite or not, and all that happens is that the soul is forced back into the Lifestream for rebirth; Lahabrea's was trapped in the eyes at the time. To me the way this reads is that they're being non-committal.

YoRHa fights against 10 characters in an effort to post this.

Did the raid earlier today. The fight itself wasn't really anything new. I did die a few times but that's because it was my first time in there. Future runs shouldn't be a problem. A couple people were creeped out by the last fight against 2P. I just typed in alliance chat, "This cannot continue," because the fight reminded me of the fight against Adam in Nier: Automata. I'm guessing that was intentional.

Was happy to see 9S! And also seeing 2B step up to defend the dwarves from the elders was a nice bit of character development on her part. When I was asked who was to blame for the incident, I chose "It's complicated." That's when 2B showed up. The whole thing ended on a downer with Konagg being alone. It was all very abrupt and gave the story a sad feel. I'm guessing this is the same ending for everyone? I can't imagine the Nier team writing multiple outcomes to the story.

And speaking of story, this is actually where I have a bit of a problem. I know this is a crossover event, but past raids in FFXIV are still considered part of the lore, even though they are optional content. As evidenced by the fact that Crystal Tower is now mandatory, Alexander was used to send Graha to the past and the Ivalice raids being required for Bozja. I can't for the life of me imagine how the Nier raids will be considered canon in this game. The leap in technology and the world-hopping implications are just too far out there (no pun intended) even for a Final Fantasy game.

Did you see those flight units attacking the dwarf village? Are you kidding me? Those things could wipe out the entirety of the First in the blink of an eye. Forget Ascians, Zenos, Fandaniel, Zodiark, Hydaelyn, Rejoinings...none of that would matter in the face of virtually anything from the YoRHa universe. The technology is quite literally light years ahead of ANYTHING in FFXIV. The Source would be utterly destroyed. In short order. It would be like Blade Runner showing up in Game of Thrones.

Is this just all for fun and not considered canon? Because otherwise this makes no sense.

Originally Posted by Lium

The technology is quite literally light years ahead of ANYTHING in FFXIV.

I did make a point earlier in this thread that it's actually not, and that's an even bigger problem: the Yorha raid treats it as some brand new out-of-context problem, while our character should probably just go "yeah, this sort of thing happens surprisingly often".

Specifically I'm thinking of Omega.