Is Minfilia always useless ?

[Riastrad]

The difference is expectations.

Popular fiction has conditioned us to expect the leader of an organization like the Scions to be powerful, charismatic, and lead the charge into battle when the time comes. Minfilia not really being any of those things is confusing for everyone expecting cutscene badassery that never comes. Tataru on the other hand is under no such pressure. As the office manager, "does boring stuff off-screen" is exactly what you expect from her character so no one gives it a second thought.

Then Urianger is just an ass for sending an individual he knows can't fight to a literal hellscape. Feel heroic? Maybe he can send Tataru next time it comes up.

[Iscah]

Then Urianger is just an ass for sending an individual he knows can't fight to a literal hellscape. Feel heroic? Maybe he can send Tataru next time it comes up.

Sending her as Hydaelyn's emissary to the First is very different to sending her as a mortal into a situation she can't handle.

[Riastrad]

Sending her as Hydaelyn's emissary to the First is very different to sending her as a mortal into a situation she can't handle.

Oh, it certainly helped. But it would have been better to just send us to begin with. The stalemate at Ala Mhigo was a disastrously bad campaign that cost the original timeline dearly. We knew the threat the Firsts fall into light would spell out and we did nothing. Original timeline WoL being a pile of bones on the wasteland of the Source is a testament to that. We act surprised that the aether of the land is drying up and wonder what could be going wrong, thinking all the while the threat on the First was dealt with by our little sacrificial lambs. The only difference was made by G'raha and the plan to alter history. So not for nothing, a random mortal had more of an impact than the Oracle who had been kept prisoner for at least the few years of her current incarnation. Even worse, she dies knowing it was all for nothing in the end in the original history.

Urianger actually comments on how it was all his fault during the trek in Ahm Arang. All the death and suffering were caused by his actions. Convenient then that he never pays the cost.

[Riastrad]

How would he plan to do that, though? As far as anyone is aware at this point, living mortals cannot cross the rift without first abandoning their body. The Warriors of Darkness had to kill themselves so their souls could travel to the Source; that's not really a solution that's viable for us. It would leave our own world unprotected.

It is an option for us though. We didn't know it at the time, but the implied reason the transference works perfectly fine for us and not others is that it is Azems power working for us. Ardbert may not have had to kill himself to traverse the rift. We also know that any one can in fact travel rifts due to our experience with the Crystal Tower. Nero physically went to the Thirteenth and came out no worse for wear. We just needed someone to open the way and we could have gone in. Hydaelyn's Oracle was right there, opening a portal. As for leaving the World at risk. We left the Ala Mhigan front for a boat trip for a good amount of time. The Grand Companies held the line just fine.

He is sending Minfilia – now an aetherial being and an extension of Hydaelyn Herself – to do a job that an extension of Hydaelyn can do. And at least in its original presentation in 3.4 was supposed to involve outright fixing the First by absorbing the Light and using it to recharge Hydaelyn's failing strength. Somehow (real answer: to give us a narrative in 5.0) that part didn't happen, Hydaelyn seems weaker than ever and Minfilia could only hold back rather than undo the Flood.

That is another problem I have. Hydaelyn seems inable to draw in aether as a primal should. It almost seems as though she has either been directed to never partake of the stuff or something is sapping her of it. It could also be that she is killing herself by constantly causing the stuff to enter stasis.

He beats himself up a lot about being forced into hard decisions, as I see it. He regrets the suffering that the generations of Minfilias have gone through, but if he hadn't sent Minfilia to begin with, the whole world would have drowned in the Flood of Light a hundred years ago and they never would have been born. (And they probably didn't suffer greatly more than the rest of the people trying to fight the sin eaters anyway.) It's a bad thing that happened instead of a far worse alternative, but he blames himself for it regardless.

I stand by my statement.

Its all moot. We should have just used the Crystal Tower to drain the aether of the land and wardens after each slaying as that was the plan to begin with. It was just botched due to G'raha and Urianger wanting to do it all at once, like fools.

[Iscah]

It is an option for us though. We didn't know it at the time...

If we didn't know we could do it, it's not an option.

And in any case it wasn't because of Azem's power, because the other Ascians can't do it that way. They also have to abandon their mortal host and find a new one in the destination world; meanwhile, Emet is puzzled and fascinated by the fact that the Exarch seems to have summoned us with our body intact, implying that this is something beyond even their ability.

We made it across the Rift in one piece because we weren't sent, but summoned by a method that the Ascians did not know existed.

And the reason we were able to be summoned is that Minfilia went first and halted the Flood so G'raha could go there and summon us to do our part. There is no getting around that sequence and skipping straight to "us saving the First" because those other pieces had to be in the right positions to make it happen.

[Riastrad]

If we didn't know we could do it, it's not an option.

And in any case it wasn't because of Azem's power, because the other Ascians can't do it that way. Emet is puzzled and fascinated by the fact that the Exarch seems to have summoned us with our body intact, implying that this is something beyond even their ability.

We made it across the Rift in one piece because we weren't sent, but summoned by a method that the Ascians did not know existed.

And the reason we were able to be summoned is that Minfilia went first and halted the Flood so G'raha could go there and summon us to do our part. There is no getting around that sequence and skipping straight to "us saving the First" because those other pieces had to be in the right positions to make it happen.

While we didn't know then, we never asked if we couldn't, and we eventually did anyways. In fact we didn't even need to be summoned at all now that I think about it. You still have the option of going down to the base of the Tower on the Source and using the device to travel to the First if you ever wanted to. So no, it is within our power to travel any rift at any time as long as there is a way to do so and we should know this already due to not only the events of CT, but also the fight in the Chrysalis being in another plane of existence. We could have all gone together. The Warriors of Darkness, Minfilia and Us. Hell, even our mounts and items crossed with us and that point is brought up as odd and is part of the main scenario as a major plot point. Our characters never asking questions and never being able to interject is a major let down in this games story.

Azem is not like other Ascians. It is not in their power to summon or travel the way we do. Each stone of the Convocation bestows upon its wielder the power of that particular office based upon the innate magic for whom the stone was made for. As Emet could see the hues of the soul with greater clarity (befitting his role as Hades), Azem could summon friends from afar and beyond (The literal Traveler and Shepard to the Stars). We see this when Emet's shade frees us from Eldibus's trap. Being mute and never sharing our other experiences is getting people killed for no reason.

[Iscah]

While we didn't know then, we never asked if we couldn't, and we eventually did anyways.

We "eventually did anyways" through a method that we didn't know at the time, that nobody else knew at the time, and required someone else to make preparations that had not been made at that time.

Additionally it was not something we could do at will. Again, we had to be summoned. The Exarch explains this to us. We did not travel there of our own free will.

In fact we didn't even need to be summoned at all now that I think about it. You still have the option of going down to the base of the Tower on the Source and using the device to travel to the First if you ever wanted to.

And how do we use that, and what is on the other end?

The Crystal Tower didn't appear in Norvrandt until after the Flood – therefore after Minfilia was there, therefore later than the point at which you propose we use the device to warp to the tower.

Even aside of the fact that the device didn't seem to do anything until the Exarch locked onto it as a beacon, it would have taken us somewhere other than the First: either to the dark future or to the current-day Source version of the Ocular or it just might not work at all.

Though the presence of the device down in the trench has always been a bit of a question mark anyway because, assuming it was the thing that Nero's radar picked up and there isn't something else down there, it doesn't line up with the rest of the timeline. It had to be put there by the Future Ironworks if not by the Exarch himself, and if he just opened the portal to the Source and tossed it through, then it shouldn't be there until later.

(My slightly wild theory is that there was some kind of separate unmanned craft sent back separately to drop the beacon – along with a curious message in a bottle that we found on the beach one Rising...)

So no, it is within our power to travel any rift at any time as long as there is a way to do so

We did not have a way to do so.

We still do not have a known way to do so outside of the specific aetherial pathways created by our summoning and then linking into the First's aethernet.

In fact, narratively (as opposed to what we can do for gameplay convenience) it seems like we don't really travel back and forth anyway, and when we do we use the Ironworks device and the mirror portal in the Ocular. We return to the Source through the mirror at the end of 5.0, and I think 5.3 as well. And IIRC it's specifically said that the Crystal Tower becomes known as the way that the Warrior of Light comes back and forth to visit.

It's also important to note that "getting into the rift" and "getting through the rift to another world" seem to be two separate things with different degrees of difficulty.

[Riastrad]

In fact, narratively (as opposed to what we can do for gameplay convenience) it seems like we don't really travel back and forth anyway, and when we do we use the Ironworks device and the mirror portal in the Ocular. We return to the Source through the mirror at the end of 5.0, and I think 5.3 as well. And IIRC it's specifically said that the Crystal Tower becomes known as the way that the Warrior of Light comes back and forth to visit.

It's also important to note that "getting into the rift" and "getting through the rift to another world" seem to be two separate things with different degrees of difficulty.

But we already know it's possible. That's the point. You are actually in the Thirteenth in the World of Darkness raid. Yes the original purpose of the Tower was to open a pathway to the Void, but Yoshida is now saying that it might just be a portal to more.

We never share information or ideas and it is becoming impossible to not address this issue.

[Iscah]

Azem is not like other Ascians. It is not in their power to summon or travel the way we do. Each stone of the Convocation bestows upon its wielder the power of that particular office based upon the innate magic for whom the stone was made for. As Emet could see the hues of the soul with greater clarity (befitting his role as Hades), Azem could summon friends from afar and beyond (The literal Traveler and Shepard to the Stars). We see this when Emet's shade frees us from Eldibus's trap.

None of this matters for the circumstance of our being summoned to the First.

We did not have our convocation stone at the time, and even if we did, Azem's special trick is summoning other people to Azem's location, not sending Azem to other people.

And even if it was, we would need to know a century-old time-shifted version of our friend is in a parallel universe hoping we'll come over and help them.

It doesn't work that way.

We knew nothing about needing to travel to the First, even if we had the power to do so.

G'raha knew he needed us, and he used his power to contact and summon us.

[Riastrad]

None of this matters for the circumstance of our being summoned to the First.

We did not have our convocation stone at the time, and even if we did, Azem's special trick is summoning other people to Azem's location, not sending Azem to other people.

And even if it was, we would need to know a century-old time-shifted version of our friend is in a parallel universe hoping we'll come over and help them.

It doesn't work that way.

We knew nothing about needing to travel to the First, even if we had the power to do so.

G'raha knew he needed us, and he used his power to contact and summon us.

The stones were created to ascend certain individuals to the Seats of the Convocation. Azem had the ability to summon friends and allies in times of need (some take this to play into the lore behind duty finder among other things.) Each stone bestows its gifts and authorities to the user. These are the signature spells and skills innate to the original wielder. The stone only helps define what we already knew. We have always been able to use these skills, now we know why.