Revelations from Patch 6.3: Gods Revel, Lands Tremble

[JeanneOrnitier]

I work under the assumption that only Etheirys (and I guess the moon too) was sundered, but yeah, last time Square was asked this they said they aren't sure if it was just the planet or the whole universe either.

[KageTokage]

6.3 MSQ

The only thing I'm particularly keen on learning is why Golbez's scheme is only happening now because it has potentially deeper implications for the future if tearing down the boundary between a shard and source is somehow possible now when it wasn't previously.

Myths

I'm a little disappointed they seem to be taking the obvious "Hydaelyn made them" route for the Twelve...though given that they're suggested to be/have been the glue keeping the Source together in the wake of the sundering coupled with the implication they may disappear due to "enduring by the will of the star" who's kind of dead now, I'm curious if that's going to have any meaningful consequences as we push into 6.5 onwards.

The "Deryk is Oschon" vibes are just getting all the stronger, too.

[Denishia]

Thoughts on non-MSQ first

Alliance Raid:

I enjoyed it! Not as much as the first but it's the middle raid, so it will always be lacking. I was assuming that Dynamis was the 'prayer' part of 'prayers + crystalized aether = primals' formula, so the Twelve claiming not to be Primals feels like technical loophole. That the folkloric perception of the gods changing over time will change the gods themselves is a worldbuilding default I have in any story with a pantheon, so that was another revelation that didn't have the personal impact of bombshell new lore.

I loved Nophica the most visually -both her design and the stage/mechanics. I also liked her music the most. Menphina perched on her dog felt like something that worked better as concept art, and Althyk and Nymeia felt underwhelming, even if their mechanics were the most fun/challenging.

I noticed that Snoegrim's theory about them being directly connected to Venat's followers and the unnamed thirteenth god as the Watcher was, while the obvious theory, not actual confirmed by any of the Twelve. Then again, the storyline is the opposite of subtle about Deryk = Oschon (I was waiting for a dialogue option to tease him about it), so perhaps I'd be a fool to expect a twist. Besides the shoeing in of Mrs. Kick AST as to open up the final boss slot, nothing surprising. Loved that the Lambs of Dalamud was returned to and that the cult existed pre-Doomsday. There is a secret thirteenth god feels like a natural story beat but odd that that's the only real revelation. Halone in particular feels as if she's strayed from her yoke mandate, so I'm expecting the reveal, probably involving Oschon or the unnamed 13th, of what happens to a god that doesn't keep to their task. And I'm predicting that the Twelve's Endgoal with their questline is to self-terminate secure in the knowledge that mortals will continue to grow despite despair, thus re-enforcing Endwalker's themes and the Omicron Tribal Quests and paralleling Golbez's goal.

Tataru's questline I bust a gut laughing more than once plus the soft canonization of holiday quests amused me.

Custom Deliveries :

I love Anden. I love that the central story premise is restoring personal memories and self-identity; I love his frustration with the pixies, and I love that Voeburt is getting focus. And as a fellow Roe, I'm especially happy and hope that he stays a Roe, even if there's hints that it's not his original race. And the plant minion head mask tickles me.

[sidurgu-12]

Alliance raid

While i did enjoy it for the most part ive kind of checked out storywise because of the ancient reveal.

[Wyssahtyn]

Voidsent death mechanics

I thought voidsent dying on the Source just sent them back to the Thirteenth and we needed the Nullstone thingie from the Mhach raids to truly destroy one here. But the last two archfiends' aether apparently go into the Source's Lifestream?

[sidurgu-12]

Voidsent death mechanics

I thought voidsent dying on the Source just sent them back to the Thirteenth and we needed the Nullstone thingie from the Mhach raids to truly destroy one here. But the last two archfiends' aether apparently go into the Source's Lifestream?

Ten character

voidsents are usually just summoned into vessels so their defeats return them to the 13th. If theyre physically there then they could die in a normal way.

[Cleretic]

My general reactions to everything, after taking my time with all of it...

MSQ and Hecteye quests: Overall thoughts, the fact that it's very predictable is the only real problem; I expected everything that happened to happen, but that doesn't mean any of it was bad. More specifically:

• I love that this patch specifically is essentially a companion piece to the Reaper questline. Not only is Lapis Manalis explicitly a Reaper village (and specifically Drusilla's village), but Jullus casually drops the other side of a crucial part of the Reaper backstory, when someone tried to assassinate Solus.
• I think we need to ban Varshahn from announcing that we're going to the Void, bad things happened literally seconds after he said it both times.
• Rubicante's main mechanic is showing off that he's really good at mid-late 00s hacking minigames.
• I like Rubicante's whole thing a lot, actually. Very efficient delivery of a dignified man who's essentially opposing us for every single right reason he could possibly have. Definitely my favorite adaptation of the Fiends, taking him being 'the honorable one' in a much more respectable direction.
• Meanwhile, Cagnazzo's Hecteye story is fun in a totally different way. He joins the war! ...by punching out both sides of it for fun!
• 'We want to take over the Source so we can finally die' is an interesting companion piece to Fandaniel's suicidal angles.
• Golbez tying the end of his suffering to the Thirteenth finally dying is... interesting. Perhaps he's in some way tied to the Lifestream, or a convoluted Escape Plan C built into the shards run amok?

Alliance raid: Overall, I'm trying to not let my hatred of a day 1 alliance raid experience color it. A lot of what happened is neat, but I'm disappointed it's gone where it went. Fortunately, that's not all it did.

The Twelve being Venat's crew was really obvious, but I really didn't want it to happen because then BOTH raid stories would be about Ancients. Fortunately, at least that whole 'shaped by prayer' part adds several extra layers of weird; the Ancients are a kind of nonsense I don't like, but I really like THIS kind of nonsense.

I loved that they capitalized on the Lambs of Dalamud of all people. They're the only Menphina worshippers we've ever met, so them being our contact point was actually pretty nice.

As for the raids itself, I'm interested in hearing some analysis of Menphina's theme since I know I recognize that melody at least. Meanwhile, Althyk and Nymeia team up to form the version of HW AST that only exists in the minds of people with rose colored glasses that probably never played HW AST.

And at this point not-so-secret MVP, the Tataru quests: Overall, this is probably my favorite part; all hits, no misses.

Good to know the Phoenix Blade made it back after helping launch the Ragnarok! And any day we ruin Kageyama's life is a good day.

Fun fact: Hancock's part of the ever-enhancing Tataru gift is an actual in-game item, that you do indeed get from the oyster they mention! Thanks, Fish Lore!

And finally, this is the point where I got clued in to the fact they've been building up an unseen character for a while.

The guy that made the Galateas sounds an awful lot like the goldsmith that wrote about a succubus in Sharlayan's forbidden archives. Who writes exactly like the guy that screwed up summoning a succubus in journals in Gubal. ...who sounds like the guy that the mindflayer in Zero's Domain talked about.

...and who seems to be the Gridanian goldsmith that made a number of voidsent minions before bieng executed for practicing dark arts.

[Iscah]

'We want to take over the Source so we can finally die' is an interesting companion piece to Fandaniel's suicidal angles.

It's also an interesting parallel to

Xande's backstory in the original FF3, where he was "gifted" mortality and didn't want it.)

[Tehmon]

This patch was a mixed bag, where MSQ was of no interest to me but the side content completely made up for it.

MSQ

• The dialogue felt rather stiff and corny this time around. Alisaie was the worst offender in terms of really awkward and lame dialogue and interactions.
• This is the first time in Endwalker when I'm really bored of the scions. Why did we even bring Y'shtola along? Estinien as well, but Estinien is usually pretty silent and in the background so that hasn't changed, and him looking after Vtra/Varshaun is endearing, so at least he has that. Compared to 6.1 and even 6.2, the scions just don't feel as charming. Even Vtra/Varshaun was really one note this patch.
• Mixed feelings about Zero. I think that while I enjoy her as a character, I feel like how her story and development are handled is rather childish and tropey to the point of it detracts from me enjoying her more. Also the overuse of the hat tipping animation has got to go.
• Jullus was upstaging the scions in terms of personality and entertainment value. His weirdly romantic interactions with Zero were so absurd that they were hilarious.
• Rubicante was the shining star of the MSQ. He was the only thing in this patch I feel was well written, from his background to his dialogue. His predicament made me quite sad, and I am glad he managed to escape purgatory and join the cycle of reincarnation.
• When Rubicante said he wonders whether we might reach the singular jewel within Golbez or whatever, I wonder how literally he meant that.
• What Golbez is doing makes sense, albeit yes, it will have terrible consequences on the Source. But ultimately releasing all the souls trapped in hellish purgatory to the aetherial sea is by all means reasonable.

Alliance Raid

• The MSQ was so joyless that this was such a breath of fresh air. It was nice seeing G'raha again, and I've grown to like Snoegeim. I really enjoyed the comedic approach on the story, especially when the MSQ failed to entertain me much.
• I continue liking all the gods. I especially liked Menphina, and I didn't expect that. Her voice actress did a really amazing job on the raid, and I like how she balances between being playful and graceful.
• Most people, myself included, have speculated the Twelve to be connected to Venat, but I still didn't quite believe it. Truth to be told, I was quite taken aback by the revelation in the end. And the Watcher on the moon becoming part of the raid? Unexpected.
• Deryk, the Opo-opo and Watcher are throwing me in for a loop. I feel like at least one of them has to be a red herring. Was the opo-opo just an opo-opo this whole time?
• I truly hope this isn't another case of '' ancients need to make sure mankind can continue to exist without them. '' We've already had this story with Emet and Venat, do we really need the same story told for the third time?

[Naria]

MSQ

. . . So we need another way to the Void-- The Source's Crystal Tower, perhaps? This patch seems a bit slow, but that's because I'm used to the .3 patch being a climax. I'm assuming we will fight Golbez in .4 and then well-- I'm definitely getting a bit more concerned about Zero's ultimate fate. I hope we will rescue Azjadha, as I'd like for a happy end for a story involving the First brood for once. It was nice to catch up with the twins and Julius. The animations for the CSes continue to improve. In all I enjoyed this patch.

Myths

Was that Emet and Ryne's VAs as Althyk and Nymiea (in english)? I totally called that our knowledge repository was going to be a tomestone. Fittingly G'raha's was Count Edmont's "Heavensward". I wonder if we will get and explanation for Krile's besides just a general book.

The raid arenas themselves were fantastic. I felt bad for puppy-Dalamud at the end of the fight. The call back to the Lambs of Dalamud was neat, wasn't there a quest involving or introducing them them at the same location in Coerthas back in 1.0? Its been over a decade so I might be misremembering.

Tataru's Grand Endeavor

Continues to be cute and fuzzy. Considering how pretty the glam outfit we got as a reward is, I'm looking forward to what the finished Tataru's necklace will look like.