Thread: Patch 5.4 Trailer, Predictions, and Hints

I haven't really got any strong predictions on it but my thoughts are...


MSQ

Fandaniel is at least shaping up to potentially be more interesting than Zenos - not a strenuous feat to achieve, but still.

Judging from Zenos crushing his katana, and the fact that there is a figure in what appears to be the Menagerie in Ala Mhigo, where the main character had their big fight with him, I reckon that figure may well be him. The dark dragon form, in turn, looks to be a reprisal of what he did with Shinryu, only this time he is the primal, with Zodiark's power.

The towers spread out in Eorzea look to be for the purpose of summoning Zodiark. An interesting difference in the French version of the trailer is that Y'shtola references the promise made to Emet-Selch directly, so it's good to see the remembrance theme is still there. As I thought, the way they are presenting this is to prevent a tool for salvation from being abused for destruction. A shame that the English version omits that part, but perhaps there's more to it that just wasn't in that specific line.

Moving along, with 5.3 ending on notes of an apocalypse and speaking of the beast, the biblical version from Revelation had the mouth of a lion on the first beast and the second was a dragon. Fandaniel's mask is that of a lion (and corresponding star sign is Leo), and Zenos is presumably assuming a dragon form. The second beast's role was to promote the authority of the first.

There's been speculation as to why Fandaniel's sigil is inverted, maybe reflecting that his title is the inverse of that of his Scion of Light namesake from XII. In any case, I think it does look like they're pushing out Zenos as a boss fight sooner rather than later (how soon is anyone's guess, but at the least 6.0 rather than 6.3... maybe sooner), and Yoshi had said in a recent interview that he's just part of the puzzle.

Fandaniel does appear to be the mastermind in the whole affair, and I still wonder if this extends to ancient times. E.g. did he have something to do with the sound that ravaged Amaurot? Did he seed ideas into Venat's faction that would lead to summoning another Primal-in-the-Star with disastrous results? Or is there a disconnect with his ancient self and his current self in his relish for chaos? He is aware of what happened to the ancient world, but keeps distinguishing himself from the ancients (and apparently the main cast now?), and the matter of Zenos's visions remains in want of further explanation. Maybe Dan is the lead villain in the star's whole tragedy, or at least an accomplice, since the origins of the sound remain elusive.

An intriguing idea is that he's potentially the same soul shard as Zenos's, since the Overlords tend to be recruited from other shards. I wonder, then, if he's motivating Zenos to action in order to get him in a vulnerable position where he can force a merger with the Zenos soul shards and emerge as the dominant "persona" in the whole affair.

Either way, he interests me much more than Zenos, and I'm hoping it's not too long now that we'll be rid of the latter. I'm at least glad to see the remembrance theme with Emet and Elidibus isn't being dropped yet. There was also a glimpse of what looks like a big glowing blue crystal - Hydaelyn's chamber, maybe?

Sad to hear Garlemald has been ravaged, but in a way I would prefer that than some dumb liberation plot that forces too much compromise on it as it becomes another yawn-inducing variation on a theme. This doesn't rule out Ilsabard for 6.0, IMO, as Garlemald's end as a political force could actually make it easier to go there, but coupled with the hints at the end of 5.3, I believe we're headed to Sharlayan next, possibly with some other zones involved across the world to resolve the H/Z arc - just not an outright story split like SB's but more thematically connected.

On Eden...

So Mitron's the Ascian they're involving in that storyline. (I'm left wondering where's his bosom buddy, Loghrif?) Still makes me wonder if Lahabrea will appear in some other area of the story. The scene with Zodiark may be a flashback to do with him, but there's plenty of areas he could come up in besides (and possibly including) Eden. Also someone pointed out the second individual, on the right, is wearing the Shadowless female set, which is hoodless, so it's the hair which is so dark... possibly Lahabrea and Gaia, then. I imagine he could be getting a redux fight via Eden but we'll see.

Eden has tapped into the memories of the WoL - including the newly joined Ardbert fragment, I'd think - and the French version has a line about unleashing the memories of the world. So I'm of two minds whether it's actually Mitron, or just Eden aetherically reconstructing him based on memory, as she does with Primals. He was not put down using the white auracite method, so strictly speaking, his soul has not been forced to the Lifestream and he could remain at large.

Yoshi had mentioned that the sundered Overlords vary in clustering around the motivations of the unsundered Overlords (e.g. Igeyorhm), with others having their own agendas, so I am curious to see where Mitron fell on that spectrum. The warg boss is clearly picking up from the fates in Lakeland, and Cylva's involvement in instigating those, so perhaps Mitron is appearing in that context, since he helped her scheme.

As for Cloud of Darkness and the imagery of the Void, could be that Eden herself has devised the idea that a primal of darkness is what is now needed to "enliven" the elements in the Empty, and so scanning your memories she devises that. If that's the version of CoD the WoL remembers, he/she has a very filthy mind indeed.

I still believe the final boss will relate to Ultimecia in some way, especially the unknown voice's comment about drawing on memories. Yoshi saying this is XIV and not VIII, when this game has taken entire storylines from other FFs, just modifying them a bit, as well as bosses, borders on a ridiculous statement, but as a misdirect it makes sense.

Bozja and Werlyt

Not much to say on these. Keen to see how the Bozja story progresses and what Gabranth's role is. The next part will be focusing on Missija and the Queen of Blades (I'm guessing that's what the Asura-like figure with the multiple hands and swords is, although that female figure with the insectoid appendages is pretty close to the mural as well...) I am guessing the theme at the start is Bozja's and the latter half is for the MSQ.

As for Werlyt, my only question is how it will be addressing the news of Garlemald's fall to some of the key players, like Gaius. So far its storyline doesn't interest me much. Maybe Nero will spice it up, if that's where the story he's showing up in... he's always following Cid around.

Lastly...

Digging the new tomeset and raid gear, but I do wish we casters got the tomeset healer set this time. ;.; Just throw us casters a serviceable hood already for an Ascian set!

MSQ

The void towers and Phoenix Chicken Bahamut are... not at all what I expected. And it seems like the visit to Matoya is somewhat minimized compared to that.

I have to wonder if the reason we go to visit her is because of the towers. I'll be a touch disappointed if that's the case, as I really had my heart set on a heart to "heart" with Hydaelyn, but oh well.

Fancy Dan is still a clown, but from the look of it he's getting right to the point. I like that. Will be interesting to see how we interact with him.

Eden's Promise

I'm glad to see my assumption that the Thirteenth/the Void would continue to play a role in this story. Surprised to see the Cloud of Darkness, though. And the Amano/Dissidia version, at that! I can only wonder at the context of this. Are we taking

The second boss shown, the giant black wolf with a sword, reminds me of Garm from Norse mythos. But one neat thing I should mention: The Shadowkeeper, Cylva, was responsible for the creation of the Wargs that still plague Lakeland to this day. Might be that this boss is a Warg primal, or something to that effect.

Or it could be a memory fight—the beast could be drawn forth from someone's memory. Could be Gaia's, which would carry some serious implications that are... hard to wrap my head around.

What I mean is: She talks about living in Eulmore under Vauthry in Eden's Verse. She thinks about her parents. And her belongings existed to be retrieved. But if Gaia remembers what went down with the Shadowkeeper, that would mean she was alive over a hundred years prior. Time displacement due to Shard hopping would explain that, but how can that be reconciled with her living in Eulmore as recently as Vauthry's reign?

Lastly, given how Ascian-heavy the trailer was, and how both Mitron and Lahabrea seem to be involved with Eden's Promise—the former is seen in the Empty and the latter is seen with what appears to be a female Ascian at their conference room in the Rift—I really hope I was right in calling it that the villain of Eden's Promise is an Ascian. My gut is still saying it's either the still living Altima or the recently deceased Igeyorhm.

Bozja

A Ravana clone wielding four copies of the SAM relic. Neat. And Misija is still around, of course. I do hope we get to point out the hypocrisy of enslaving Gunnhildr's Blades in the pursuit of founding a new state unfettered by the old ruling caste of Bozja. Given how sadistic she started acting once her true colors were revealed, though, I can't imagine it would matter to her.

Speaking of which, I do hope we don't end up killing the Blades. But I'm not confident enough to say we might find a way to save them before cutting down a few of them.

Oh, and Sorrow of Werlyt

Not much to say about this, other than I'm interested in seeing Emerald Weapon in action. I'm still hoping we'll get some further confirmation re: the hunting of primals to empower the Weapons, as I've mentioned in the past that the inclusion of that element is what's kept me from seeing Gaius's kids in a sympathetic light.

Yay Daddy Nero

Originally Posted by Lium

Garlemald is getting destroyed.

then if that was the plan to just do that imediatly and move on why did Fanadiel brag about taking over an influential person, and using his families wealth to no doubt influence others in the capitol, this implies using it's forces to do what ever he needs to do and not just destroying it until it has fulfilled his purpose, and hopefully not the lazy storytelling option of off screen, we also never had that full on war storyline that has been hinted at since ARR maybe even before, and him bragging about using his influence further hints at it, also destroyed does not mean we are not going there, the same thing was said about Doma in ARR and guess where we went in SB.

Originally Posted by FrightfulNight

Then once again why did Fanadiel brag about using Asashi's body and his families wealth and influence to well influence people in the capitol, perhaps destroying parts of the capitol is putting down resistance to Zenos's rule so they can use the armies to create more conflict and chaos, perhaps finally giving us that full scale war that has been hinted at for years now. Also note how they say large parts of the capitol are destroyed, not all of it. maybe this is setting up a role as an endgame hub that gets rebuilt over the expansion like Mor Dhona or Idylshire, just with a unlock similar to Eulmore where it is hostile for most of the story until the current leader leaves to initiate the final part of his plan in the final zone (the moon).

This is entirely possible. Although many here are longing to explore the empire, it's not difficult to see that a full scale invasion of Garlemald would rehash Stormblood. But a destroyed or raving apocalyptic area around the capitol that is visited to retrieve something or shut something off or down now becomes more feasible and falls in line with where the story may be going and does something very different from Stormblood. In this way we could by pass the messy war and all the unexplored territories, to have hellscape on earth in the capitol. But only as 1 out 6 new areas.

I feel as though that weird Bahamut-like primal might be an attempt at creating a new Zodiark, (Seeing as the original is still sealed away and liable to remain so for the forseeable future), and that those seemingly Mhachi artifices are responsible for its existence ...though it's not simply going to go away if we destroy them. It almost looks as though the structures are siphoning aether from something/somewhere up above them, and if I had to wager a guess, it's the moon. We already know Mhach has tried to mess with celestial bodies in the past from the level 60-70 quests which have you aborting an ancient spell of catastrophic proportions that was aiming to drag down an actual meteor that was passing by Hydaelyn; as opposed to creating an artificial one through aether manipulation.

I'm also wholly convinced that E12 is going to be at least heavily inspired by Ultimecia after hearing that line about extracting memories (Which she quotes basically 1:1 before summoning Griever in FFVIII). Hopefully this also means my wish of the obligatory new phase in savage having a remix of The Extreme is correct.