[6.0 spoiler] Limit breaks

[Bright-Flower]

My personal thought is that they're making saying limit breaks are dynamis now, a retcon from previous lore that can be explained away as EE simply being wrong because of how little people know about Dynamis in general. The elpis trust people being able to use it is probably just for gameplay reasons or an oversight. It wouldn't make any sense IMO for the last boss, of all people, to mistakenly identify the tank lb3 as dynamus. And it's more recent than the EE books. They specifically put that line there and not say, after the scions prayers protect you from the second attempt.

[kaynide]

It’s a big question mark until official sources/story tell us more.

As in, just because in that moment the LB3 was recognized by the Endsinger as Dynamis, it does not mean all limit breaks or big boss moves are necessarily Dynamis. It doesn’t mean that any LB3s done by player characters or NPC allies are utilizing Dynamis.

I just suspect LBs to be a representation of pushing the limits of normal abilities, tapping into “something” to accomplish this. That something I would wager could be either aether or dynamis at any given time.

Of note to me: the actual power of dps lbs feels considerably weaker the farther the game progresses. Early levels it could deal as much as 15% total hp of the boss, but with Zodiark LB3 barely does 5%. I know it’s just for mechanical reasons, boss hp increases and ilvl, but it would be interesting to have that explained in game.

[Cleretic]

Something that's probably worth noting in terms of how we read interpretations of the lore regarding aether and dynamis: in Radz-at-Han, after the MSQ, there is an NPC that says that the transformations of the End of Days were the result of 'aetherial corruption' (It's Bhateeya in the High Crucibles, if you want to check). I feel like that means that just because an in-universe source says it's aetheric, doesn't mean it wasn't dynamis-related as well.

In fact, given that statement was said specifically by a Hannish alchemist--so both someone in close proximity to the End of Days, and who might've had reason to know about the theory of akasa--it might be reasonable to suggest that a dynamis reaction around an aetheric being is, by nature, also aetheric.

[Vyrerus]

Aether and Dynamis are both forms of energy. You could execute a technique using either as your resource. The more powerful Sundered seem to be able to call upon Dynamis, perhaps without realizing it to fuel their techniques.

It's still not 100% understood, but when the transformations take place that happen due to despair meeting the waves of song that Meteion trilled out to Etheirys, it seems as though the very quintessence of a lifeform's being is rearranged and consumed by Dynamis. The more intense the emotion, the more intense the creature made with all of the life in a person, because more Dynamis exerts more energy/force on them.

It's more of less the magical equivalent of Dark Matter. That is, matter in our world that does not interact with the electromagnetic spectrum. There is also Dark Energy in our real world, theoretical in nature, providing an answer and measurement for why the universe is expanding with the expansion itself accelerating. Of course, these don't have transformative properties, but that's where the idea comes from. Fantasy for your theoretical physics!

[PangTong]

Dynamis is a pure retcon explained away by Nidhana as "foreign scholars often conflate the two". That's their explanation for why the lore books are wrong about limit breaks, about why Mikoto (Archon in the study of aetherology) is wrong when she says feelings are aetherial phenomena, and why any jobs which harness emotions for power are wrong in describing that power as aetheric in nature. I find it difficult to believe that the setting's scholars, who are known to be able to perceive, sense and measure aether, could confuse an entirely separate energy source which cannot be seen, felt, or directly influenced, with aether. But that's the world we're in now.

[SaberMaxwell]

It's highly possible limit breaks are the result of one energy catalyzing the other. Dragonsong Dive, for an extremely loose example, probably using the aether of a dragons eye but channeling it through use of dynamis.

I'd also like to posit that dynamis is that "x factor" that plagued Omega so much during the Omega raids, and in his attempt to replicate what it was identifying as that "x factor" it replicated limit breaks with aether.

[Gerel]

Dynamis is a pure retcon explained away by Nidhana as "foreign scholars often conflate the two". That's their explanation for why the lore books are wrong about limit breaks, about why Mikoto (Archon in the study of aetherology) is wrong when she says feelings are aetherial phenomena, and why any jobs which harness emotions for power are wrong in describing that power as aetheric in nature. I find it difficult to believe that the setting's scholars, who are known to be able to perceive, sense and measure aether, could confuse an entirely separate energy source which cannot be seen, felt, or directly influenced, with aether. But that's the world we're in now.

Considering that dynamis effectively just replicates the power of aether, and can't be measured, it is rather easy to see why a group of experts would conflate the two and go with the simplest answer: everything is aether. Now that we know better? We can better attempt to define the barrier between what is purely aether, what is purely dynamis, and what is a combination of the two. We also have to take into account that we're not like Meteion; we're aether-heavy in comparison. We're just "light enough" on the building block energy that we're capable of interacting and utilizing dynamis to further enhance what's there--we're the happy balance between two extremes. I imagine that would cause further issues in trying to determine the use of dynamis without properly knowing what it is.

It also opens us to interesting possibilities on the origins of magick on the Source. Before, it was thought to be a result of fervent prayer in response to a Calamity. Now it could be that Dynamis played a hand in our discovery of it. Ushered in the very desire to research a way to replicate those spells and voila: aether was discovered.

[Puremallace]

Limit Breaks are dynamis in the same way we now summon other people into raids. Dynamis gives them a convenient excuse to actually put Limit Breaks into the actual lore of the MMO and not just something cool that is used in Final Fantasy games. They used the FF9 LB excuse for how Limit Breaks work.

[RyuDragnier]

Limit Breaks are dynamis in the same way we now summon other people into raids. Dynamis gives them a convenient excuse to actually put Limit Breaks into the actual lore of the MMO and not just something cool that is used in Final Fantasy games. They used the FF9 LB excuse for how Limit Breaks work.

Yet it makes sense here considering you can only use LB3 during big boss fights, the places where emotions would run the highest, as would stress. Plus it's kind of a meta thing, hilariously enough. Think of it from a "Day One" perspective of an Alliance Raid or Trial? You're about to wipe, and you WANT that healer LB3 to go off, you WANT to bring everybody up for the finish. Any time you go for a push for that victory, that clutch LB3 that saves the party, kills the boss before enrage, etc, that's practically the idea of Dynamis since our ingame character would be feeling that kind of stress if you go for the assumption that what you're feeling is what your character is feeling.