Thread: Revelations from Patch 5.3

I had a lot of trouble getting through this because of a bad internet connection constantly disconnecting me. I wish I could have done it all in one go for a more immersive experience, but it was still great.

MSQ

I really enjoyed how the dungeon was like a last hurrah for Norvrandt with a bunch of familiar faces chipping in to help. I don't want our journey here to end, I'm going to miss it.

The Amaurot solo duty was okay, but the stuff afterward with the Constellation Crystals had me absolutely fascinated. My first thought was that they were actually Zodiac Stones. They were obviously still a reference, but I wish they had been outright called that.

In some ways, Elidibus and the Exarch feel like parallels to each other, both working to the point of their physical/mental health decaying for a promise they made to someone else long ago, doing it to honor a name. I like that. Elidibus in general really shined in this patch; not as much as Emet may have, but Emet had more screentime. I liked what Elidibus did have to humanize him here. Especially the ending cutscene when he was on his knees with the Constellation Crystals (also, I screamed when I realized that was Emet helping in the trial). Also, Zodiark (and him) being empowered by hope and wishes for salvation makes perfect sense. Elidibus an embodiment of the very concept of a Warrior of Light was awesome.

The WoL's face after G'raha crystallized was heartwrenching. I wish there had been an "I love you" dialogue option to say to him. It was raining after I returned to the Crystarium. I'm sure that was a coincidental timing and not intended on Square's part, but it was very appropriate.

Everyone's farewells made me sad. I'm glad Halric is doing better, but I feel sad for Runar and the Chais saying goodbye to people they love. Delivering Ardbert's Crystal to Seto was a shock in this quest, but it got me tearing up. Man, I don't want Shadowbringers to end you guys. Although I really wish more time had been spent on Thancred and Ryne's personal relationship, they felt skipped over which sucks because their relationship was a highlight of the expansion. Honestly I wish there was a way for him to stay. At least she has Gaia, so she's not alone. I hope she becomes the leader of Norvrandt's new generation of heroes. Also, I really liked Thancred giving her his Gunblade off to the side. Easy to miss, but very sweet.

What an incredible end to an incredible journey. I adore these characters and this world. And needless to say, I'm absolutely beyond elated that G'raha is a Scion now.

As for Garlemald... I hope Fandaniel is an interesting villain, because lord knows Zenos isn't. I am absolutely not looking forward to him probably eating Zodiark and becoming the final boss of this story arc, but I feel like the writing is on the wall.

Originally Posted by Hikari_Kishimoto

That would have been fine with me, but why not give it a decent ending then?
ShB was so well written, the story built up through many years - and now they just tossed it all out of the window in the blink of an eye.
That doesn't do the story justice. Another expension, or even an enlargened story patch, would have.

It's weird how the story is written because they def write it so it flows best if you're going through it all at once (like for new players or people catching up).
The 5.1-5.3 story is far more robust than an epilogue. It basically IS a full leg of the story. But for those of us experiencing the patches as little snippets of story with months of waiting in between it can be hard to see it, let alone feel it, that way.
If you ever replay ShB you'll have to let me know if you still feel the same way when you're able to take it all in at once.

Originally Posted by ItMe

The 5.1-5.3 story is far more robust than an epilogue. It basically IS a full leg of the story.

What I meant was ...

Elidibus being killed off so quickly after Hades felt rather rushed.
That is why it doesn't feel decent to me.

In addition: it seems as if Elidibus tempering had been broken in the end.
So, why did we have to trap him in the tower anyway?
(It seemed as if his soul had been absorbed by the tower)

MSQ

This was... a really, really good ending. Tied up a lot of lose ends in some very clever ways and let just enough plot dangling for the "breather" patches before the next expansion really kicks in.

Going back to what Venat says about becoming Hydaelyn's heart, but not vanishing from the world and keeping her own form... I think that's what happened with Elidibus too. He's less his own primal and more... an extension of Zodiark on Hydaelyn. Which... suggests a lot about why Zoidark was summoned... to save a world on the brink of ruin. Which... Zoidark did do... just at a very high cost. Only... no one remembers Zoidark, so to still have people worshiping him... Elidibus is at least getting people to hope for the same idea "behind" Zodiark. Only, our character isn't playing by the same rules as other Warriors of Light have which is a huge problem for Elidibus. We've seen him get more and more... desperate... ever since 3.4 when we foiled his plan with the Warriors of Darkness. And it sounds like he snapped when we finally went so far as to call ourselves by a completely new title. It's a sad end, but given what he was doing and how many lives he was messing with, it had to be done.

The fight with "Warrior of Light" is excellent and the number of call backs to other FF games and jobs is crazy. That the "Warrior of Light"'s ultimate attack is "Ultimate Crossover" is the cherry on top. As is what seems like the Ancient soul of Hades showing up to pull all of us out of the Rift.

Speaking of that... our Convocation Title and description is... amazing. Especially in light of something Temulun told us back in Stormblood.

Temulun
[You are] A singular radiance. Shimmering.
Like a jewel of the Dusk Mother, blinding in its brilliance.
Stars flicker and flock to you. Before such gathered light, even the secrets of the gods maybe laid bare.
Some are fated to rise in grace and glory. Others to falter and fade, though not from memory. Both will be your strength and salvation come the end.
Cherish the stars and the light they bring you in the dark.
For you are a traveler, are you not?

It's along very, very similar lines to what is read over the screen (probably in our star/soul crystal) when we summon the other WoLs/teammates to help us take down Elidibus.

Herein I commit the chronicle of the traveler. Shepherd to the stars in the dark.
Thought the world be sundered and our souls set adrift, where you walk, my dearest friend, fate shall surely follow.
For yours is the Fourteenth seat--the seat of Azem.

I find it very amusing that our OP Ancient ability is essentially the most OP teleport in existence (no wonder we never get teleportation fatigue). I don't think it's an accident that Hades' soul showed up on what looks like our Sigil of Power in that fight... not at all...

Watching the Scions say goodby to Novradant was... really emotional. It's amazing to think that from the Scion's point of view, they've been living there anywhere from three to five years. They've all matured in that time and really come into their own. What's also cool is to see that for all the Scions were leaders in their communities, the communities themselves will be able to get on just fine without them. Leading a people out of darkness (or light as the case may be) is one thing. Knowing that if you leave, your hard work will not go to waste is another. And it's clear nothing we did on Novradant will be wasted.

Elidibus not being around does kind of change things up on Zenos and Fandaniel's end. Before... we knew Zenos wanted to go take over Zoidark and then go fight us. But now Zoidak's heart is gone... and who knows how that is going to effect Zoidark. On top of all that, it sounds like no one is guiding the rest of the Asicans. And that could be... really bad in the long run. Like it or not, Lahabrea, Emet-Selch and Elidibus were the powerhouses in the Ascians and they honestly wanted the Source world to stay physically intact. Zenos and Fandaniel really don't care about that. In fact, watching Zenos and Fandaniel bounce off each other is like watching Kefja and Kuja interact in Dissidia. They're powerful enough to wreck the world and simple-minded enough to do so. And now there's no one riding herd on either of them to curtail that tenancy.

However, most x.4 plot don't end up continuing all the way into the next expansion. Wile I can see the fallout of whatever this Zenos and Fandaniel arc will be effecting the next expansion. I doubt Zenos and Fandaniel themselves will be major players in it. We've been wanting to know what Zoidark thinks for ages, and have found oiut that Elidibus is... a part of Zoidark. In effect, it's almost like we've been seeing something of what Zodiark is like since 2.3. I think Zodiark himself will take the main stage sometime before 6.0. How, I don't know, but Zenos wants to mess with Zodiark, and I have a much harder time seeing Zenos controlling Zodiark as opposed to oh... Zodiark controlling Zenos. As much as Zenos annoys me as a character, I can stand putting up with him if it means we get to finally find out what is going on with Zodiark.

YoRHa

This felt like the "Route B" of NieR. We're figuring out things aren't what we thought they were and realizing the situation is worse than we thought it was. Which is what it needed to be. Best of all, my reaction to the dungeon was one long constant stream of "oh no, not this!" due to knowing what certain things in NieR are, which was exactly how I was hoping it would go.

Some fun highlights...

Angelic script being a timing-style mechanic that was reminiscent of a specific Drakenguard boss.

Operator 210's combat data being used in a fight with so many pods. Also... I was very much wondering why "End of the Unknown" was playing in her fight when... that song only plays for Adam and Eve... the two human-like machines created by the machine network.

This was promptly followed up by head screaming "no, no, no... alien ship architecture is here!!!" when that part of the ship opened up. By which point the ball of android bodies giving birth to something that used the Adam and Eve hair-like attack indicators wasn't even a surprise. Given how much trouble 2B gave the machines in NieR: Automana, it made total sense that it was a machine-body version of her. That it's to a mash-up of Torn From the Heavens/Dark Colossus only made it better.

Seeing the machines use the idea/appearance of YoRHa was... honestly really cool. It felt like something that could have logically come out of the end of NieR: A. 2B being the cavalry to stop the machine YoRHa was a really awesome moment. It's really cute to see 2B being... not overly concerned with people thinking she cares about 9S.

All in all, it was a fun romp. Which means that 5.5 is probably going to throw a massive 3rd Act curve-ball at us in typical Yoko Taro fashion...

Werlyt

If nothing else, this shows that Garlemald is running out of sane people for the position at the Legatus level ridiculously fast. None of the high-ranking Garleans we've met since Varris came to power except Regulus really fit into their positions. Valens is a particular kind of nasty we haven't seen in FFXIV anywhere really. It is pretty funny how he's really mad at Gaius for being the one to bring the old VIIth Legion down... when the only thing Gaius really did against the VIIthB that could really be called treason was when he told the 1.0 WoL that they'd be at Cartenau.

Valdeaulin is a pretty good take on "revenger" type characters... He's pragmatic enough to acknowledge that keeping Gaius alive for now is going a lot of people good since the Ascians do need to be stopped. At the same time, if Gaius does a 180, Valdeaulin won't have a problem killing him either since he has good reasons to hate him. I like how he admits that Gaius is a really smooth talker and that makes it much more difficult to know if Gaius is lying or not.

That Overdrive is supposed to fuse the pilot to the WEAPON is... very very worrisome. Particularly when all the pilots know it and are still turning Overdrive on. I am very suspicious that they are getting threatened by someone (probably Valens, but you never know).

The other thing the WEAPONs prove is that... primals/eikons are sill being summoned somehow. Probably in Ilsabard I'm guessing, as if it was in Eorzea, we'd know about it. And we know what happens in most of Othard by this point as well. Which kinda begs the question that if a lot of the WEAPON caracteristics come from the eikons they... absorb/devour... what happens to that eikon when we subdue the WEAPON? Does the eikon just... get pulled out by the Lifestream like Ifrit, Garuda and Titan were when Ultima Weapon being fought?

G-Warrior is as cool as hell. It's nice to see the Azys Lla models get more life. Gaius and Cid giving each other looks of "we've now both dug up Allagan Mecha and restored them to usable condition" was really funny to watch.

Urianger about the Fourteenth:

So the name and the allusions between the deities we know wasn't happenstance.

You need to pick the three spots that are close to buildings. I got 8. She said something like "Of course I couldn't beat you"

Something I wanted to address earlier but forgot:

MSQ

So we know for a fact now that the 14th Convocation member, Azem, essentially us, was the defector they kept mentioning. But it was also said in 5.2 by Venat's group, that the defector wouldn't support them (Hydaelyn) either. While I know we're not really the same person we were eons ago, it's kind of strange how someone who shunned both gods is now so heavily associated with Hydaelyn? Or maybe it was just the sacrificial genocide Azem was against. Still an odd little nugget to me. I guess overall I'm saying I hope they don't just forget about Hydaelyn now, as there are still a lot of big question marks.

Originally Posted by VirusChris

I hate character limits on this site.

I didn't even you can win the fight. I thought kill three spots and return. I saw the Quest Marker change and I thought it was done. Still... was funny seeing her reaction.

"Yes, I bested [You]... in another gods damn life! You weren't even trying and intentionally lose!?"

It was something like that.

What does Alisaie says if you best her?

Originally Posted by Yuella

You need to pick the three spots that are close to buildings. I got 8. She said something like "Of course I couldn't beat you"

To round it out, this is what she says when you draw:

Anyway, I still need time to digest the MSQ, but I'm still giddy-happy about a bit of brilliance in the lore.

When I saw the constellation crystals, I went "those kind of look like soul crystals we use for Jobs".

And then I realized that this was probably exactly the point, both in the meta-design sense of the art team, and in-universe. Soul crystals were first created and put into widespread use in the Third Astral Era, ie the Allagan Empire. Which we know Emet-Selch had a strong hand in raising.

So of course he would come up with something like that (or at least influenced the people in charge to come up with something like that) for what we use soul crystals for in modern times, because that's what these crystals were used for in Amaurot, albeit at a much higher level of capacity and complexity of storage. And it probably helped in making its usage both widespread and enduring even beyond Calamities that us sundered souls might have a twinge of nostalgia at these modern soul crystals as How Things Should Be.

Originally Posted by Aeliott

Something I wanted to address earlier but forgot:

MSQ

So we know for a fact now that the 14th Convocation member, Azem, essentially us, was the defector they kept mentioning. But it was also said in 5.2 by Venat's group, that the defector wouldn't support them (Hydaelyn) either. While I know we're not really the same person we were eons ago, it's kind of strange how someone who shunned both gods is now so heavily associated with Hydaelyn? Or maybe it was just the sacrificial genocide Azem was against. Still an odd little nugget to me. I guess overall I'm saying I hope they don't just forget about Hydaelyn now, as there are still a lot of big question marks.

This reminded me of something I forgot to mention as well about the MSQ.

It's high time we had a little chat with ole Hydaelyn. It's been a while. In fact, I don't think we've actually talked to her directly since Heavensward when we got Her blessing back? We've only spoken to the Word of the Mother (Minfilia). But knowing that She's a primal and that we are Azem (I guess?) I feel like we'd have a LOT to say to her, and many questions besides.

As for Werlyt:

Finally did this next part. It was brief. Fighting as the G-Warrior was fun at first, and the design is badass, though it really reminded me of Evangelion. But the fight against the Sapphire Weapon was super annoying to me. I died twice just from mistiming the shield and speed boost, so on the third try I did it on very easy mode. I was more interested in the story anyway. These solo duties can really grate on my nerves.

The most interesting part was that one Duskwight soldier who is working with Gaius. Can't remember his name. But I like how he remains suspicious of Gaius. You don't go from being as obsessively righteous as the Black Wolf was, to suddenly being on a path to redemption so quickly. I mean, sure, a near death experience due to Ascian treachery and a butt whipping by the Warrior of Light is enough to make you rethink things, but to instantly become somewhat of an anti-hero? I don't buy it. His adopted kids seem to be the writers' way of convincing us that Gaius' heart is true, and that even though he was wrong, he is ultimately a good man. Again, I agree with the soldier. I'm not really buying it. We'll see what happens.

Gameplay wise, when do we upgrade our weapons? I thought that was the whole reason for this questline?