6.0 Story Speculations

[Guiballad]

Yeesh the Emet truthers are even more insistent than the Garlemald supporters back in the day...

Anyway there's two things i wanna throw out here and hope i have the braincells to return here to see people's responses about. Both these things deal with launch trailer content so spoilers:

On Fandaniel

It's weird to see so much discussion around Fandaniel's lines in the trailer because to me at least he sounds SO mocking. Like i can hear the bells of his little jester hat as he does a little dance while mocking everything the Ascians believed and worked for. I'm not a betting person but i'd bet that line is said to a fellow Ascian that didn't join him. This is based on the english version but having read french and german translations i think they sound super insincere too.

Final zone speculation

Ok so the trailer has this weird focus on going underwater and there's the line Emet says about going down to the place where souls and stars rest and the crystal dungeon that looks very much like the heart of the world... Guys. Guys i think we're FINALLY gonna find out what the entire hell is under Silvertear Lake and THAT is gonna be our final zone. I had never thought about the moon serving as a red herring but as a tinfoil enthusiast i'd also like to add that they made it clear from the first teaser we'd be going to the moon and if it was such a huge "spoiler" i don't think it would be advised like that.

[Yuella]

We may go: Thavnair/Garlemald split (Lv. 81 dungeon in Thavnair) -> Garlemald (Lv. 83 dungeon, first trial) -> Mare Lamentorum (Lv. 85 dungeon) -> Thavnair (second trial) -> Labyrinthos (Lv. 87 dungeon) -> Sky Island Zone (Lv. 89 dungeon) -> Final Zone (Lv. 90 dungeon, final boss)

[Vflower]

On Fandaniel

I don't think he's being insincere. There's several possible explanations for these lines. He could be tempered/manipulated in some way, or he just has been keeping his real plan secret the entire time (and to be honest, all his lines in the game so far sound more insincere and overdramatic to me than what's in the trailer).

My theory:
We know that souls move between our world and the Aetherial Sea, what if Fandaniel's towers can stop this flow of aether? By destroying the world and killing countless of people, he would be releasing all those souls and all that aether for Zodiark to feed on.
I believe we're going to see Zodiark succeed and recreate the beautiful ancient world (possibly with the support of Sharlayans who want a peaceful world), flipping the roles as we suddenly become the few remaining survivors desperately trying to restore their homeworld. As opposed to the Ascians, we're actually going to be victorious, though, and bring back our world in the end.

[Mansion]

On Fandaniel, technically we know very little of him. We know his ambitions from his self-satisfying performance in the Royal Menagerie. But there could be much more to him than that (I hope for him, because as it is, he isn't that interesting of a character). His Final Days / chaos plan could still be a means to revive Zodiark on a blank canvas, for all we know.
So I wouldn't look too deep in his trailer speech (nor his lines up until now) because it won't make sense until we have the full picture. I'm pretty sure they chose this line in the trailer to tease us actually.

[GoldStarz]

Has anyone else been keeping a running count of the dungeons since some people have been speculating we might get more than normal?

So far I've got 6. Is it normal for SE to showcase all the dungeons beforehand? This is my first time playing a new expac as it comes out since I joined during 5.1.

• Tower of Zot (71)
• Garlean Train Depot
• Thavnair on Fire
• Labyrinthos (?) Portals Dungeon
• Goopy Hell Zone
• Crystals Place (Aetherial Sea? Moon Core?)

I've also seen two places in the launch trailer that could be additional dungeons (what looks like the Garlean palace all tendrilled up and what's clearly an outside area in Garlemald, but for now I'm just assuming they're part of the train dungeon.

[Cilia]

Has anyone else been keeping a running count of the dungeons since some people have been speculating we might get more than normal?

Most of the dungeons, save for the final one, are previewed before the expansion's release. To my memory, anyway. I was aware of A Realm Reborn but didn't follow it in the media, Heavensward was extremely tight-lipped on Azys Lla, Ala Mhigo was kind of a non-brainer with the way Stormblood went, and The Tempest, much less phantom Amaurot and its accompanying dungeon, were also kept very close to the chest.

On that note, though... 6.0 (Endwalker) is supposedly going to have more story than the usual expansion (up though what would usually be the X.3 patch) so I suspect there might be a little more combat content to match - 2 or 3 more dungeons, maybe a trial or two.

[KageTokage]

Has anyone else been keeping a running count of the dungeons since some people have been speculating we might get more than normal?

So far I've got 6. Is it normal for SE to showcase all the dungeons beforehand? This is my first time playing a new expac as it comes out since I joined during 5.1.

• Tower of Zot (71)
• Garlean Train Depot
• Thavnair on Fire
• Labyrinthos (?) Portals Dungeon
• Goopy Hell Zone
• Crystals Place (Aetherial Sea? Moon Core?)

The previous launch trailers did have scenes from all of the MSQ dungeons IIRC.

I'm leaning towards the crystalline place being the Labyrinthos dungeon as given its location deep beneath the ground coupled with the Sharlayans actively researching the aetherial sea I feel like they'd have to have another Antitower-like structure to observe/access it from.

I'm assuming that dungeon with the portals is the one for the seemingly Ancient-focused mystery zone as the architecture is the same as we've seen from Akademia/Anamnesis Aynder.

That outdoor area with Garlean architecture seems like a distinct dungeon from the imperial palace/central tower and might be one of the post MSQ dungeons, especially since the Scions aren't present just for that one in particular. Perhaps there will still be some Anima-tempered Garleans lingering about that will need to be dealt with...?

That leaves the creepy hellscape as a toss-up between either Mare Lamantorum or the final zone...which has interesting implications in either case.

[MrThinker]

The previous launch trailers did have scenes from all of the MSQ dungeons IIRC.

I'm leaning towards the crystalline place being the Labyrinthos dungeon as given its location deep beneath the ground coupled with the Sharlayans actively researching the aetherial sea I feel like they'd have to have another Antitower-like structure to observe/access it from.

I'm assuming that dungeon with the portals is the one for the seemingly Ancient-focused mystery zone as the architecture is the same as we've seen from Akademia/Anamnesis Aynder.

That outdoor area with Garlean architecture seems like a distinct dungeon from the imperial palace/central tower and might be one of the post MSQ dungeons, especially since the Scions aren't present just for that one in particular.

That leaves the creepy hellscape as a toss-up between either Mare Lamantorum or the final zone...which has interesting implications in either case.

It definitely is either mystery zone or the moon because

you can see the giant concept matrices from Anamnesis Anyder in the dungeon crawl trailer

EDIT:

Has anyone else been keeping a running count of the dungeons since some people have been speculating we might get more than normal?

So far I've got 6. Is it normal for SE to showcase all the dungeons beforehand? This is my first time playing a new expac as it comes out since I joined during 5.1.

• Tower of Zot (71)
• Garlean Train Depot
• Thavnair on Fire
• Labyrinthos (?) Portals Dungeon
• Goopy Hell Zone
• Crystals Place (Aetherial Sea? Moon Core?)

I've also seen two places in the launch trailer that could be additional dungeons (what looks like the Garlean palace all tendrilled up and what's clearly an outside area in Garlemald, but for now I'm just assuming they're part of the train dungeon.

I would also like to add my two cents that "Garlean train Depot " dungeon is in fact the Garlean Imperial Palace all tendrilled up. The Dungeon Crawl trailer only has 3 dungeons previewed; Those being Zot, the train depot, and the portal dungeon. You can tell there is only 3 because each time they move to a new dungeon, a disclaimer about the things in the video not being 100% complete shows up. The Train Depot and tendrilled Palace sections take place in the same segment before the next disclaimer appears.

[Vyrerus]

Now that you mention that dungeon crawl I went and watched it. That architecture is 100% Amaurotine, too.

[Mansion]

On that note, though... 6.0 (Endwalker) is supposedly going to have more story than the usual expansion (up though what would usually be the X.3 patch) so I suspect there might be a little more combat content to match - 2 or 3 more dungeons, maybe a trial or two.

I don't think it's "more story" in that sense, I believe Yoshi P said something along the lines that we have now more Scions than ever, which implies giving each of them more screen time for writing / development. So 6.0's MSQ will be longer in terms of quests and cutscenes, but I find it very difficult to believe this means more actual gameplay content. I'm sure they will go for 5 leveling dungeons, 3 max level dungeons, 3 trials (2 extremes), because that will be major additions in terms of use of resources, and I'm sure they would have used that in the promotion. (But I'd love to be wrong and see them shaking the habitual for once!)
What could make things blurry in the trailer is that it can show solo instances where we fight along the Scions for instance, making it look dungeon-y. Or have dungeons with very distinct parts.