Question regarding Azys Lla.

[MrFluffyWolf]

Real quick before asking the question, I have NOT finished the patch quests for Heavensward, I'm only just starting the patch quests. Soo, I guess try to avoid spoiling too much, but this did bug me quite a bit at the time.

How did the Empire get into Azys Lla? Thordan needed a key. the WoL needed to go through a lot of effort to jerry rig a way through the barrier without the key.

The empire just... show up.
How? How did they get through the barrier? How are they there? Did I miss something?

By the same token how did Ysayle get in? Did the hole we punch in the barrier stay open?
A lot about what went on at the end of Heavensward feels pretty uhh.. rough.

[Brightamethyst]

Did the hole we punch in the barrier stay open?

Probably. I don't recall it ever being explained but the zone is at least partially accessible now. Gerolt is there making relic weapons, the Fractal Continuum (hard) NPC went there, and even the most recent ShB MSQ sends people there for a quest. The zone isn't easy to access, the general public probably doesn't know of its existence and you still need a powerful airship just to get there, but it's not completely shut off from the world any more.

The Warring Triad quests (optional, but worth doing IMO) also explain a lot more about what the Garleans are doing up there.

[MrFluffyWolf]

The Warring Triad quests (optional, but worth doing IMO) also explain a lot more about what the Garleans are doing up there.

I'll be sure to do those when I can! I can definitely see why plenty of people woulda want to be there, and I guess I could see Ysayle slipping through after the WoL. Interesting to know that later on the barrier isn't a problem later on.
But.. the empire just being there already seemed.. implausible. It's not likey they followed us or anything. Their big ol ship was just. There.

[thegreatonemal]

We broke the barrier around the place when we came through the Empire was simple waiting and moved in afterwards.

[MrFluffyWolf]

We broke the barrier around the place when we came through the Empire was simple waiting and moved in afterwards.

I'm almost 100% positive we poked a tiny hole only big enough for the Enterprise to get through. We did not destroy the entire barrier around Azys Lla with a tiny needle. It's even arguable that the barrier would have closed itself back up behind us. I really don't see any reason to believe the ram destroyed the entire barrier.
There's also the fact that they showed up immediately which implies they were already there. It's not like a ship that huge was gonna sneak up on us.

[Anonymoose]

Keep in mind that every detail in every cutscene needs to be placed there by someone because none of it actually exists. Everything they spend time and money putting there tends to matter (or be recycled filler, I guess). Watch the details in the cutscene closely. They need to utilize the massive aetherial wellspring in Nidhogg's eye to create an aetherial battering ram capable of outpacing the barrier's counter-resistance. The instant they break the integrity of the barrier, you can see a deliberate "dispelling" effect implying the rest of the barrier fails. It ripples outward from the hole punched through it by the battering ram.

I suspect the deliberately placed dispelling effect was specifically to avoid questions of how the floating city on our tail didn't immediately smash directly into the other 98% of the barrier surface area we didn't punch through, lol.

Confirmation from the lore book:

As they approached the floating isle, Estinien brought forth the Eye and channeled its boundless energies to fuel the newly installed aetheric ram, which made short work of the Allagan barrier. However, the party would have no time to celebrate, as moments later the Enterprise Excelsior found itself within the shadow of a gargantuan vessel. Successor to the Agrius, the imperial flagship lost at Silvertear Falls fifteen years ago, the Gration was the newest addition to the imperial fleet and the pride of the VIth Legion. The imperial battleship had lain hidden within the cloud bank, waiting for the Scions to defeat the Allagan defenses - and now the path was clear.

[Vyrerus]

I'm almost 100% positive we poked a tiny hole only big enough for the Enterprise to get through. We did not destroy the entire barrier around Azys Lla with a tiny needle. It's even arguable that the barrier would have closed itself back up behind us. I really don't see any reason to believe the ram destroyed the entire barrier.
There's also the fact that they showed up immediately which implies they were already there. It's not like a ship that huge was gonna sneak up on us.

Think of it like the energy shields on the Elites or Spartans in Halo. You shoot one tiny area of the shield, but the only thing that matters is how powerful the thing you hit it with is, in order to disable the whole.

Basically it's an overload principle. When something contacts the shield, the generator for the shield has to put out more power. Anything with enough force causes an overload, which stops the whole system.

I will grant that the way they chose to portray it was pretty poor. I had a similar feeling of, "Huh? How?" on my LP replay with that scene. It's like Moose says though, that little shockwave that ripples outwards from where we broke the shield is intended to show that we removed the whole barrier. If you watch it frame by frame though, you can see that it's not really a ripple, it's every hexagonal energy layer breaking apart in a rapid upheaval.

[Fengalon]

How did the Empire get into Azys Lla? Thordan needed a key. the WoL needed to go through a lot of effort to jerry rig a way through the barrier without the key.

The empire just... show up.
How? How did they get through the barrier? How are they there? Did I miss something?

The allagian empire created Azys Lla, so they dont have to break trough an Barrier they created it too. ^^

[Cilia]

The allagian empire created Azys Lla, so they dont have to break trough an Barrier they created it too. ^^

Not exactly the question.

The Garlean Empire (which I assume is what's being asked about) just piggybacked on the PC's efforts. The barrier surrounding Azys Lla couldn't be broken through using anything available to them, so they just waited for the Scions to break it using the aetherial ram and swooped in. The thing didn't auto-repair (thankfully?), so after breaking the barrier anyone could get through to Azys Lla.

[MrFluffyWolf]

Watch the details in the cutscene closely. They need to utilize the massive aetherial wellspring in Nidhogg's eye to create an aetherial battering ram capable of outpacing the barrier's counter-resistance. The instant they break the integrity of the barrier, you can see a deliberate "dispelling" effect implying the rest of the barrier fails. It ripples outward from the hole punched through it by the battering ram.

See, that's not an entirely strong implication. First of all, the barrier isn't visible until you make contact, and that ripple before the barrier vanishes happens after they stop making contact. We see a very clear "breaking" of the barrier effect around where we punched the hole, with hexagonal shapes buckling and flying apart from the point of impact. So, I don't think this is a case of "it's obvious if you watch closely," as much of it being a case of "do a wide shot that shows a similar effect spreading across the barrier instead of a completely different effect that doesn't look as much like breaking as the first one."

But you DID bring out the lore book, so yeah, That does answer my question! It really DID break the whole thing! Which does clear up that issue for me.

I still do take issue for the empire being there. They kinda just knew we were gonna be there? I guess when Regula said "and that explains my men's silence" I mistook that as surprise at finding out we were there.

Anywho, thank you tho! I'm glad to know about the shield! That clears that up.