Quote Originally Posted by WhiteArchmage View Post
It is likely around 4.x (likely 4.2-4.3) that the team starts plotting up ShB and Ishikawa finally gives them some backstory and purpose other than "vaguely hint at the 'true power of the Echo' while also being very vague at the nature of Zodiark and Hydaelyn." It's also around 4.x that we start our Great Offscreen Purge as Emmerololth gets destroyed pre-Eureka and two red masks get offed by Gaius (this one I feel some contention to, as HOW would Gaius know how to permanently kill off an overlord? So maybe he just killed their bodies). 5.x then has us off 4 in one expansion.
A minor addition: we do know from developer interviews that there was a plan about the Ascians before the one we got, it was just a different plan that we don't know the specifics about. We don't know exactly when the current Ascian plan came together, though; my estimation is that the outline came around during the Heavensward patches (thus explaining why Hydaelyn's Antitower speech is far more accurate than Lahabrea's Praetorium speech, and bringing in the shards with the Warriors of Darkness), and then gave the Ascians a break in Stormblood while they got the entire thing sorted out.

That roundtable scene was probably a mistake as far as foreshadowing goes, though. It didn't just force them into fourteen characters (and then accidentally caused plot holes after they decided some of those people were busy), it also forced them all to be hyur-shaped and uniformed, which shot them in the foot regarding them being visually distinct and diverse in ways that the rest of the game can be. I know personally, while I don't think I could've filled a group of fourteen shared-objective villains with compelling characters no matter how much I tried, I probably could've gotten further if I were able to go 'okay this one's a lalafel, this one's a roegadyn, this one's an au ra'.