Thread: 6.0 Story Speculations

Originally Posted by Lyth

Not really final boss material.

Those planned sacrifices I definitely do not care for too much, especially when they prove to be more or less fruitless. The kind of sacrifice I'm talking about though is one of circumstance beyond the character's control, and with them reacting to the situation in accordance with their character. We've seen that three times now too, perhaps more, but only once did it lead to a character's demise. The damage done to the character is always quick. The specific events I refer to go with these quotes:

Oh, do not look at me so... A smile better suits a hero.

Ah, a magical barrier. Alas... It will not save you.

Noooooo! Don't you dare! We came together, and we're leaving together!

Even our ideal hero needs saving now and again, and they've actually been hammering on the point recently that the WoL can't save everyone. But, contrary to that, they seem reticent to actually let characters in the main cast really suffer the consequences of their own actions. If the WoL doesn't have the power to save them, then the scriptwriter does, and it's come to a point now where, we haven't had a major or minor death(or real, lasting consequence) in so long for the good guys that the world ending situation we're supposedly heading towards feels dangerous only in the most tenuous way.

As far as Zenos's intent goes... It doesn't really need to be personal from the outset or for him at all. I'm not saying that he needs to come out of his chair like, "Yeah, I need to fire my friend up by killing his lesser friends. The ones who use him." I'm more thinking that his and Fandaniel's plan still has steps that must be carried out. What happens if a few Scions get in the way where Zenos needs to be doing some killing and other such similar business? They'll clash. I would hope that the writers lack the temerity to have Y'shtola live through another subclavian artery wound (taking a wound there has the victim bleed out in 4.5 seconds). Or any other person he clashes with.

As far as who Zenos is most similar to from other Final Fantasies? Hmm. To me he is most similar to Exdeath from FFV. Was defeated once before. Had a walk about outside of his own body, possessing other bodies in order to get his body out of storage/back. Thirsting for more power despite already being powerful enough to wade through 99.9% of the populace as though they were ants. Completely roflstomps the heroes on their first few encounters. Power he's after has world building and world ending proportions.

Originally Posted by Vyrerus

we haven't had a major or minor death(or real, lasting consequence) in so long for the good guys that the world ending situation we're supposedly heading towards feels dangerous only in the most tenuous way.

I thought about this and then I remembered the trope name, and I wonder if Square might have Zenos and Fanboy using their still-somewhat-unknown abilities on a Throw-Away Country?

I mean, not throwaway throwaway, we’d actually go and spend some time there rather than just hearing about it in a cutscene. Like if Tesleen was a country. Then we’d leave and Zenos would Zenos -maybe we’d be rushing to leave BECAUSE we knew Zenos was about to Zenos. We’d get to clearly see the baddies and their powers are even worse than we thought. We’d get some major consequences without having to lose any of our important real estate (a lot of which is still rebuilding from earlier shenanigans). And with the scale of the destruction, we probably wouldn’t have to hear anybody harping about “this is terrible and we’ve definitely lost and/or about to lose XYZ, but you still must smile and be hopeful because... hey, look over there!” which I personally find kinda grating when there’s nothing to back it up.

I would suggest someone could die on the way out, but even though I fall for it every single time I have noticed that people often do NOT die helping others escape. So there’d still need to be a death scene or two at some other point in the game.