Thread: Patch 5.4 Trailer, Predictions, and Hints

Originally Posted by Veloran

Why would that mean he'd naturally have the Echo?

As an fragmented Ascian, Fandaniel would be an incomplete reincarnation of the original Fandaniel of the Convocation of Fourteen from the days of Amaurot just like the PC is to Azem. Elidibus' comments when awakening the denizens of the Crystarium to the Echo imply if not outright state it's derived from their soul memory, and of the Ancients the Convocation was the most powerful. If Zenos was a reincarnated Fandaniel (a la the PC and Azem) he'd probably definitely have enough of his Ancient incarnation's soul memory to naturally awaken to the Echo.

Zenos also was alive before Emet-Selch (as Solus) died, and if by some extreme luck his great-grandson turned out to be a Convocation reincarnate I doubt he'd pass up the chance to make use of him.

(Then again Zenos does say he's always dreamed of the Final Days, so maybe...)

Originally Posted by Veloran

I know [Zenos has] spent the better part of his screentime sulking in chairs, but I very much think he is [histrionic] when the mood strikes.

Zenos only really gets going when his battle lust completely overtakes his apathy. What little we've seen of Fandaniel thus far suggests he's like that pretty much all the time.

That may change moving forward, but as it stands now I can't agree the two are different shard reincarnations of Convocation Fandaniel.

Originally Posted by Cilia

Zenos only really gets going when his battle lust completely overtakes his apathy. What little we've seen of Fandaniel thus far suggests he's like that pretty much all the time.

That may change moving forward, but as it stands now I can't agree the two are different shard reincarnations of Convocation Fandaniel.

I think Fandaniel will be the opposite. He's crazy outside of battle, but will be dead serious in battle. I was also under the impression that he was going to be the, "exception" that Emet-selch implied in inbetween cutscenes dialogue where he said that rarely non-convocation shards are raised and given the office.

As far as the first two raid fights go, I'm fairly certain that they are going to be memory summons like the primals, except specfically for darkness elemental/aligned creatures to realign the entirety of the Empty. First Cloud of Darkness, and our WoLs are going to remember her based on the minion lol. Then the Shadowkeeper, based on mural or maybe a book picture. Once the Empty has moved back towards neutrality between Light and Dark, this allows Darkness to take the reigns of Gaia's mind and thus the transformations and real bosses come forth.

Originally Posted by Veloran

Really, Fandaniel's statements are SO 1-1 to Zenos' own mindset that it really makes me question whether or not they're both actually shards of the same person.

Not really as I see it.

They can't be shards of the same soul because then Zenos would (or should) be able to use the Echo without Resonance.

Further Zenos is not given to the histrionics Fandaniel has displayed thus far.

The Preliminary patch notes for 5.4 are out, and with them we know the names of the individual encounters in Eden's Promise.

Eden's Promise spoilers/thoughts, natch:

The first is Umbra, which makes sense given who the fight is against: The Cloud of Darkness. Though why we're fighting her is still a mystery at the moment.

The second is Litany. The core meaning of the word seems to be "a recital", suggesting that the fight is against a historical figure. It's against the big black wolf, of course—and given the location we've seen for that fight, it's pretty on the nose for a name.

But the third is where it gets weird. "Anamorphosis"—a distorted projection or drawing which appears normal when viewed from a particular point. The word means "Transformation" in its original Greek form, and is made of the root words "Ana" and "Morphosis" mean "Back, Again" and "A Shaping" respectively. I think this might be our Gaia/Mystery Antagonist fight.

EDIT 02: A shower thought. The primals we've faced in Eden, despite our intent to summon the originals, are all wildly warped from their original depictions. They're only really a match for the originals if viewed through a particular lens or from a particular point. I wonder if this fight might involve the Eden primals being reused in some capacity, as the trailer hinted that they would be returning in some capacity.

And the fourth is Eternity. Back when I posted my speculation on this, I believed Gaia and her "Fairy" would make up both the final encounters. I wonder if that might be true, and whatever we fight in "Eternity" is akin to Ultimecia's final form: Two alien women conjoined, their body "wearing"/devouring the universe.

Sad to say, there doesn't seem to be any room for Griever now. Aside from him and the final boss having a form resembling Ultimecia, I wasn't expect any further FF8 references. But it seems like there might not be any at all.

EDIT: Further thoughts, this time from lyrics!
Shadowbringers: "At this, the world's end, do we cast off tomorrow."
Return to Oblivion: "A voice from the past screaming 'there is no end'. A slave to my fate, ever doomed to repeat this (again and again and again)."
To the Edge: "Yes, time circles endlessly, the hands of fate train ahead (pointing to the edge)."

And two definitions of Eternity: "infinite or unending time." "a state to which time has no application; timelessness."

The latter definition definitely leans on the idea of "Time Compression"—all of time compressed to a single point. And it notably goes in the opposite direction of Gaia's character development: She goes from being lost in her own introverted misery to wanting to live to see "what tomorrow may bring". But in compressed time, only the here and now can exist. This does, at the very least, lend credence to the villain's modus operandi being the same as Ultimecia's.

The first definition, meanwhile, leans more on the emphasis of the conflict between Hydaelyn and Zodiark's followers being both endless, and invariably fatal, to both parties. I, um, seriously hope Gaia survives this. I actually like her character quite a bit, and find her friendship with Ryne to be sweet.

As an aside, I'm a bit surprised it took me this long to get the whole "time motif" Shadowbringers has had. It's pretty much everywhere, isn't it?