Ask Questions for Letter from the Producer LIVE LXIV (Natsuko Ishikawa)

[Anarawd]

I would love to know why during all of the firmament quests which heavily involve House Haillenarte - we do not get to see the Count even once? He has appeared previously in the machinist storyline but it almost looks like the devs forgot about his existence during the firmament storyline. It seems a little absurd that we have a slew of side characters appearing but not the Count of the house that is most involved in the restoration?

[SynthielLyrin]

During the Eden finale, Ryne and Gaia mention preparing for a festival. What are they celebrating, what will they do, is it going to be a recurrent thing or one players can see/participate in? Seeing their close bond develop was very sweet, and I hope that it can be explored more...

[Jaywalker]

During A Realm Reborn, the Ascians would frequently reference certain events being foretold or not. We've seen that there are instances when the Echo can provide foresight--is this a subject we will see explored in that respect in the future?

[Jaywalker]

We have seen and heard different things throughout Final Fantasy XIV regarding the mechanics of Ascian possession. Emet-Selch has pointed out that jumping from host to host frequently had done serious damage to Lahabrea's soul, leaving him diminished compared to his colleagues. The Summoner questline showed that black masked Ascians are able to possess only corpses and not overpower living hosts. From times Elidibus was shown inhabiting corpses, it seems he takes the time to repair them while Emet-Selch molds them into whatever appearance he personally prefers. When Nabriales was stricken down, he re-appeared over his own corpse as well. Finally, an unknown Sahagain chieftain was able to smoothly take over a living host nearby before being consumed by Leviathan.

If possible, would you be able to clarify some of the mechanics of possession, what is easier or harder to do, and who that mysterious and powerful Sahagain was that he outperformed even the Ascian assistants?

[Jaywalker]

Is it fair to assume that the reason Elidibus shaved Ardbert's face is because he dislikes having facial hair that much?

[Jaywalker]

Were there any character moments that could not be included in the game for practical reasons, that you find particularly interesting and would now be able to discuss?

[Glyphs]

We've been told that only pure-blooded Garleans get the third eye; yet Severa says she's only half-Garlean, and she has what looks like a small black third eye. Is it just a vestigial thing? Can that happen?

[ExtravagantSelf]

I recall you mentioning in a past interview that the white stripe in Emet-Selch's hair is somehow significant for some mysterious reason. Are we ever going to figure out why this is? I honestly wonder about it quite a bit since it was brought up.

[granfang]

Hello! I have a question regarding Thancred’s appearance in Shadowbringers, if you are able to answer. Apologies for the lengthy inquiry, and thank you for taking the time to read.

While his eyes seem to have changed to a lighter hazel for Shadowbringers (which I am quite curious about, but not the purpose of my question), there are multiple instances (in Lakeland, Rak’tika, and the Crystarium, but mostly Amh Araeng) where his model appears to have two different eye colours, and his left eye (which was previously the lighter one!) is slightly darker. I thought I was imagining it, but I was able to look through character data online and confirm.
There didn’t seem to be any instances of heterochromia in The Tempest or Il Mheg, and his eyes seem to ‘stabilise’ and stay one colour after his battle with Ran’jit.

Getting to my question, finally — were the odd-eyes in specific areas deliberate, or would that maybe be something that will be ‘fixed’ in the future, similar to how his right eye was patched back to dark brown in Heavensward? I was wondering if the aether in the area affected it, or if it were his own fluctuating, or something…

[FireMage]

Early in the Azim Steppe section we are introduced to the Mol elder Temulun, who when first meeting us refers to us as the traveler, something she does several more time throughout out time there. As we now know that we are the most recent incarnation of Azem who was The Traveler amongst the Convocation of Fourteen was this intentional foreshadowing on your part as you were in charge of the Azim Steepe section of the MSQ? And if so roughly how long in advance was it planned that we were Azem's incarnation?