Revelations from Patch 6.1

[Jandor]

Where is the Anonymoose thread?
Anyway, I shall now copy his format. Hope he doesn't mind.

General thread for discussion of all the new lore dropped in 'Newfound Adventure.'

What usually happens is that the first wave of people each make their own "OP" with the name of the arc and a spoiler box...

Like

this.

...which has all of the things they noticed, the story as they understood it, and comments / feedback for the development team.

This allows people to partake right from the get go without worrying they'll, say, spoil themselves on the Alliance raid by trying to talk about the MSQ.

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Main Scenario:

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Myths of a Realm:

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Role Quest:

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[sidurgu-12]

that reminds me, i need to go offline until i finish everything. so until then https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUl9NPPMx8s.

[Mieck]

Ten Newfound Characters


MSQ

Seriously, if you've clicked this and not already completed..


Whatever my expectations were, Zenos's voidsent Avatar returning to the Thirteenth, which appears to be at least partially ruled by Golbez and the Four Fiends - a shard unto which Vrtra's lost sibling Azdaja disappeared five thousand years ago - was not really it. And the craziest thing is that this is probably just one thread - Thancred is off to the Far East for something, we still have the twins in Garlemald to follow up on. The Meracydia hints keep getting thrown out there. And something we haven't really thought about will probably come along and blidside us regardless. Although, after today's MSQ, that "something" might have to go some way...

Pretty wild by .1 standards, I think.

So much good stuff in here, especially the fusion of Thavnair / Uncharted / and Treasure of Aht Urghan that was Alzadaal's Legcay. Simply seeing the words "Arrapago Remnants" and "Zhayolm Remnants" on the screen was a nostalgia rush for me.
Also, the tie-ins from content like the Warring Triad and Void quests was very cool. I thought we might be getting to tackle the Void stuff from the side of the First, since we'd sent Unukalhai off there to hang out with Cyella/Cylva, but for Y'shtola to casually name drop in the MSQ was eye opening.

On the Avatar front, I don't know what I think about it completely. I'm at least 90% confident they haven't mislead us in those interviews and that Zenos is gone and done. More interesting to me is the identity of the Avatar's soul. I did wonder if it was Azdaja, but I suspect Varshan might have noticed something familiar about the aether when Zenos walks up to the top of Sharlayan in 6.0, so I'm wondering if this particular voidsent sought out Zenos because it would bring the avatar into contact with the WoL, on the assumption that this voidsent might be our shard from the Thirteenth.

The Golbez figure, since he had a familial connection in FF4, could well be Azdaja. That's my working crazytown theory for the time being.

[Zeich]

Heck, where do I begin...

MSQ (Through Dungeon)

I am enjoying the more casual air of many of the companions as we go along, and it's been nice to not be facing a world-ending threat. I enjoyed Gra'ha spazzing out when we asked him on an adventure - hoo did that boy look like he'd just won the lottery! I am curious, for anyone who has done through the second quest - does anything happen differently if you picked someone besides Gra'ha and Krile for the options? I couldn't decide but remembered Gra'ha wanted to go along on an adventure so I picked him just for that. Wondering if you get a different order if you pick another group.

Y'shtola freaking out at us waiting for her to wake up was an unexpected surprise - you never see her flustered like that, so it was amusing. Of course, I also received a death glare from her when I threw her under the bus at Vrtra's accusations so... ehehe. "We'll talk later." I'm so dead.

The backstory behind Azdaja was rather sad, but I'm glad that was clarified, and is totally not a plotline we're going to dive headfirst into because we're the heroes or anything, ahaha, nope. Potentially seeing the 13th shard in the future and fixing things up?

MSQ (Post-Dungeon)

So uh... HELLO GOLBEZ AND THE ELEMENTAL ARCHFIENDS. HI. I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU'D FINALLY COME TO PLAY. Super hyped for this - will it be the remainder of our EW trials, reminiscent of the Four Lords? I just know that I wanted these encounters for sooooo long.

Dungeon Itself

As a former XI player, I was stoked to see the ruins of Alzadaal! Three of the four Salvage zones were covered (Bhaflau, Arrapago, and Zhaylom), we had the Armored Chariot as the second boss (thank god it wasn't Long-Armed, no Brainjacks please), we saw Qutrubs and Acroliths... it was just a lot of fun nostalgia.

Also the last boss's spin mechanic was certainly something different...

Role Quest Finale

I won't lie, this one was sorta eh for me, but at least it tied up what happened with Nerva. Plus Nero just had to show his face again, so at least that much was fun. Still, go figure we missed Varis's heart of all things - I kinda wish we had gotten a solo duty for retrieving that, rather than letting the NPCs get it off-screen. I feel like that was a missed opportunity.

[Theodric]

Main Scenario Quests:

I can't claim to be surprised that we're not being afforded a proper break from the Scions and Students of Baldesion, though at least Alisae and Alphinaud were entirely absent. I took great delight in deliberately excluding G'raha from my Trust run of the dungeon. Goodness me, he's such a weird little creep with his one sided, unwanted obsession with my character! He was never my favourite character though it's a real shame there isn't an effort to strike a balance and scale back his twitchy fawning.

I'm not sure why there was so much secrecy surrounding the name of the dungeon itself. Apparently something to do with FFXI...? I never played that, though, so any references are lost on me. The entire arc surrounding it ended up being Skalla 2.0 to the point where I genuinely had flashbacks to the days of 4.1...

No real complaints from me in regards to the dungeon itself, though. It looked good, the music is decent and the boss fights required careful positioning. The highlight is the spinning mechanic, which I hope to see more of in the future. That was clever.

The Thirteenth being the new priority in the story isn't too much of a shock. It's one of the story hooks I was most eager to see pursued, so at least that'll mitigate my lack of interest in the slice of life/'humour' associated with the perpetual ball and chain that is the Scions and Students of Baldesion.

Vytra's longing to reunite with his sister is touching and all, though it did make me smirk to see more of the 'rules for thee but not for me' at play. How interesting that no effort is to be spared, no goal considered impossible when the protagonists desire something but everybody else just has to roll over and 'move on'.

What looks suspiciously similar to Golbez and the Four Fiends was briefly shown. My interest was slightly piqued as a result, though it's much too early to have any real context. I would not be surprised to see the Four Fiends end up as Endwalker's equivalent of the likes of the Warring Triad.

Zenos' avatar also lingered which isn't surprising either. How much of Zenos actually remains is open to debate though I have a feeling he'll stick around in the background after multiple expansions already having much of their teaser cutscenes devoted to following all his walking and sitting.

All in all, it proved passable I suppose. It played things very safe and doesn't really feel like a new adventure so much as...continuing to pick at previous plot threads already established in the narrative as far back as 1.0 and 2.0.

It's a real shame that an entire expansion was cut out altogether that would have concluded the abandoned story arcs more gracefully but it is what it is.

The status quo and trajectory is proving similar to previous expansion cycles, so I suppose it'll be around 6.2 and 6.3 where things truly begin to pick up and get some sorely needed meat upon the bone.

I'll post my thoughts on the new raid later, since that'll be my second pursuit for the day.

[Lauront]

On the MSQ...

I mostly echo what Theodric said - G'raha in particular is just clingy in an off-putting way - but it's good to see some of the lore on the Void, strewn about in multiple locations (e.g. earlier quests, the EE etc.) brought into one place (the Unending Codex is a positive development... for the most part, as there were aspects of it I raised an eyebrow at) and a bit more er... light shone on the dark arts of void summoning etc., and the role of the Atomos. It does look like the clockwise arrangement of the Reflections is at least one theory as to their positioning, and why some are easier to access than others, although you could've fooled me with the First. Likewise, Y'shtola got more attention, but as expected, the nominal disbanding of the Scions has meant little in practice. Some cringe elements, which I'll admit are not my thing - I can only imagine the Scion fan service options in dialogue will not let up. I was glad to see they're continuing to make use of the Raen NPCs, e.g. the Radiant Host captain, and Vrtra/Varshahn, Fourchenault and Montichaigne are all characters I at least enjoy. The Hades flashback was a nice touch.

As many suspected, Zenos's avatar makes a re-appearance, and it seems to be something independent of who's pulling the strings in the Void. I only hope there isn't more Zenos in there, as I've had quite enough of him by this point - could be it's the 6.3 trial and that the elemental fiends are the trials. The Golbez lookalike is intiguing, given his aim.

The lore elements tying the Void to Vrtra (looks like they're building a parallel with what Nidhogg went through) explain Azdaja's fate and seem to be pushing things more towards the Void than anything Meracydia-related, although that would not surprise me as an incidental destination on the way. Looks like the Void will dominate the MSQ for EW, and that what this is opening up is travel to shards besides it as potential future expansion locales. Overall, not too shabby, as I like the Void and darkness aesthetic, but I'd say I'm at best mildly intrigued and will just observe to see where it goes and what they're doing with the game as at the moment I lack much enthusiasm for it.

On the raid...

Very coy with the details; they keep saying they're not primals, but ancient summons/constructs does not appear to be out of the question. Flashy fights, especially Nald'thal, but we'll see if there's more of a hook to this beyond administering more "tests". I'll reserve judgement on the lore elements on it but it seems a little ad hoc for the time being.

[tokinokanatae]

Myths of a Realm:

The monkey is obviously Oschon. Our WoL powers led us straight to it instead of Deryk, Deryk won't give it a name because it seems "disrespectful", and there's a ton of emphasis on the "gods" having animal forms.

[EdwinLi]

Is it wrong that my inner self screamed like a joyful child when they revealed the leader of the Season 2 MSQ antagonist is

Golbez!

I easily recognize that armor and cape swooshing.

Not to mention that the theory about the Season 2 Main antagonists being

the 13th Shard (aka World of Darkness)

is now confirmed fact.

Makes me wonder who are the other members of the Season 2 antagonist group if they end up being

past FF game antagonists.

and what is their story that lead to this version of themselves to their life and current position.

Heck, where do I begin...




MSQ (Post-Dungeon)

So uh... HELLO GOLBEZ AND THE ELEMENTAL ARCHFIENDS. HI. I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU'D FINALLY COME TO PLAY. Super hyped for this - will it be the remainder of our EW trials, reminiscent of the Four Lords? I just know that I wanted these encounters for sooooo long.

Considering how important these scenes are in the MSQ, I suspect it is hinting that Season 2 focus maybe going to involve what is FF14 version of past FF characters with each Shard we have not been to yet representing a certain FF world or atleast FF14 version of that FF game world.

[Fenral]

Well, this certainly felt like a homecoming. I've missed these overeducated dweebs.

MSQ:

Of course I picked G'raha first. I was curious if picking other options would change anything, but apparently not. He is the game's current most popular surviving character (outranked only by Haurchefant and Emet-Selch overall), so I don't expect him to go anywhere for the time being, though our current trajectory with Y'shtola and Estinien is still a welcome change of pace.

I hope Y'shtola slapstick becomes a recurring thing. It's always a delight when cracks start to show in her "above it all" facade. Very humanizing.

Going to the Void is one of those "wait, we're doing this now" threads I wasn't expecting to dominate 6.1. But we're doing this now. Vrtra/Varshahn taking a sabbatical (and lovingly ripping off Scathacha from GBF in the process). Also Zenos(?) seems to have survived in some capacity, though this could just be his shadow.

Armored figure is not named, but the leitmotif says he's Golbez. It logically follows that the four elemental figures are the Four Fiends. This is probably the next trial series, but they could be MSQ-unlocked like the ARR series. Since we're presumably skipping the X.3 climax boss, we may actually get to fight all four of "The Four Xs" as trials for the first time ever.

Will comment on Myths later, after the obligatory drunk FC blind-run.

[Alleo]

MSQ

I really enjoyed the story. The humor was imo fitting and even though I am a bit surprised that we are doing things with the scions already, I cant say that I am disappointed by that.

Its interesting how everyone seemingly pointed out that the WoL looked and acted much more relaxed. For me it did not feel that way, but that could be because of the limited amount our character emotes. Still later it felt more like it thanks to some of the dialogue choices.

I choose Graha first, because he wanted to go on another adventure with us and his reaction was funny and adorable. The same with seeing Ysthola in a bit of a different position than normal. (And yes I had a huge grin on my face and laughed out loud after that summoning)

Estinien was awesome too. From him noticing that something weird was going on with the boy (and thank you SE that our character is allowed to notice that too) to him being thoughtful enough to help Vritra by bringing the right people to him.

The dungeon was beautiful, yet very scary. I looked outside every window and kinda wondered how anyone would even want to be on a ship...so many huge, dangerous creatures...

I am not exactly sure if I like the direction the story will take. I am not sure if I already wanted a void expansion when we barely even know the rest of the world. Hopefully the void will just be one part of 7.0.

Also about how only the good guys are allowed to not move on: The difference between them and the Ascians is the simple fact that Vritras sister could still be alive. Also we are not planning to wipe out planets full of living beings to get to her.The risks right now are still small (and in the end its probably the right decision since someone in the void is already planning a war) and most of the danger is for those that will go to the void. And I do believe that if it would come down to saving his sister and destroying Thavnair in return or save Thavnair but let his sister die, he would always choose the latter.

24 man raid

I am really thankful that quite a few people already knew the mechanics and bascially carried the rest of us through the raids. It was overall a great experience, even with the utter frustration of dieing too many times.

The music at the endboss was awesome.

Quite happy that we did not just go there to kill the gods and that it was just a test of them. Curious though how this story will go on. Will we just do one test after the other? Is there some kind of bad guy at the end that we still have to kill?