Massive Trailer Storybomb: Spoilers 6.4

[Eisi]

Golbez is Thordan.

That one caught me off guard, I would have never imagined our boy to come back, but I guess the dragon connection is there.

[Cleretic]

...you're gonna need to explain that one, because I don't really see it.

Is it a 'same voice actor' thing? Because not only am I not sure they share a VA from listening to their voices back-to-back (assuming you mean Archbishop Thordan; if there's a non-primal King Thordan scene I don't have it on hand for comparison), but that's also not really a workable piece of evidence. Y'shtola and Titania have the same voice actor, but we're not really using that as evidence of anything but the fact Robyn Addision has a pretty good range.

[Eisi]

They have the same combat animations and are both trial bosses. That hasn't happened before with big story trials, because it would make them lose their individuality! Why do you think they usually make unique rigs and animations for those setpiece fights? It's to set them apart! This time they didn't, so I think the best explanation is that Golbez is Thordan.

[Eisi]

Evidence:

Ifrit, Odin, Shiva, Ramuh, Ravana, Bismarck, Leviathan, Titan, Bahamut, Nidhogg/Estinien, Sophia, Sephirot, Zurvan, Lakshmi, Moggle Mog, Susano, Tsukuyomi, Byakko, Seiryu, Suzaku, Hades, Titania, Innocence, the Weapons, WoL, Hydaelyn, Zodiark, Endsinger, Barbie and Rubicante DON'T share the same animations.

Why? Because they are all different characters.

Only Thordan and Golbez share animations. They didn't just copy one of the most iconic trial bosses' rigs for another important story trial. That wouldn't make sense, they might do this for side content. But for the MSQ?

No, Thordan and Golbez are the same character.

[Lunaxia]

Other bosses have utilised previous models, iirc.

I think the difference is that not only is it apparently the same model, but the design is unerringly similar too.

[KageTokage]

Trial bosses are where they tend to not use reskinned models, so seeing it here with Golbez is...particularly awkward.

Perhaps he'll ditch the sword after the phase transition and start fighting more like his Dissidia incarnation.

[RyuDragnier]

Trial bosses are where they tend to not use reskinned models, so seeing it here with Golbez is...particularly awkward.

Perhaps he'll ditch the sword after the phase transition and start fighting more like his Dissidia incarnation.

I think that's what likely will happen. It may be a case of him purposefully holding back to gauge our skill, before deciding that he shouldn't hold back at all if he wishes to win. Betting his enrage is Genesis Rock...the destroyer of all opponents in Dissidia.

[Cleretic]

...do you actually want me to crack out my favorite very silly subject for this? Because I know shared skeletons and animation sets, you don't wanna fight me on this:

• Omega's a gigantoad, as we all know.
• Althyk is an Odin reskin. (In fact Odin's mostly borrowing from the dullahans.)
• Trinity Seeker, the first Delubrum Reginae Trinity boss, is Ravana. There's a good few Ravana reskins around, actually, it's hard to count 'em up.
• Trinity Avowed, the second Delubrum Reginae Trinity boss (the one with the heat mechanics) is Shiva. This might also be the starting point for Asura, the Fanfest event boss, but we can't be sure yet.
• Hephaistos in P8 incorporates both Byakko and the centaur skeleton that started off as Ultima Weapon.
• Thunder God Cid in Orbonne is reused both for Perfect Thordan in Dragonsong Reprise, and Excalibur in Eureka Orthos.
• Scathach's model is reused for Omega-F, Penthesilea, the Spectral Necromancer, and a good few others; basically any floating female character wielding a long weapon of some kind.
• Inversely, Omega-M was reused for the Warrior of Light trial.
• All the Stormblood Eureka 'zone boss' enemies are reskins: Pazuzu is Diablos, Louhi is Cruise Chaser, and Providence Watcher is Nidhogg.
• Nael Deus Darnus' skeleton has been used in a bunch of places, perhaps most prominent being Nidhogg's Dragoon form in Final Steps.
• Sephirot was reused for Chaos in the Omega raids.
• The Diablo Armament, final boss of the Dalriada, is actually just NeoExDeath.
• If you want to specifically talk trials-to-trials, Ifrit actually was reused: as Diamond Weapon's unarmored form.

Hell, Thordan's skeleton has also been reused a couple times, as Exdeath in the Omega raids and Siegfried in the Masked Carnivale. You just probably didn't notice because you think of Thordan as 'big guy with big sword', so them changing up the weapon in question threw you off; fair enough, it was a surprise when I found out too!

[Eisi]

...do you actually want me to crack out my favorite very silly subject for this? Because I know shared skeletons and animation sets, you don't wanna fight me on this:

Haha nothing less expected from you!

Of course I would fight you on this, I already prepared! Let's go!

• Omega's a gigantoad, as we all know. We all know and it's heavily modified with the legs and the mechanical bits, to the point of being a genius recreation that can only be considered a prime example of reusing assets. Not comparable to Golbez' stance being a perfect reenactment of Thordan's, another pivotal MSQ boss.
  
  
• Althyk is an Odin reskin. (In fact Odin's mostly borrowing from the dullahans.) Yup! As is Raiden and the Pale Rider, Althyk wouldn't compare to a Thordan though!
  
  
• Trinity Seeker, the first Delubrum Reginae Trinity boss, is Ravana. There's a good few Ravana reskins around, actually, it's hard to count 'em up. Yeah bunch of Allagan Ravana Reskins along with the second boss of Temple of the Fist! I know my shit, you know what my conditions were! Main story trial bosses or even trial bosses in general! No less!
  
  
• Trinity Avowed, the second Delubrum Reginae Trinity boss (the one with the heat mechanics) is Shiva. This might also be the starting point for Asura, the Fanfest event boss, but we can't be sure yet. Oh, that one is genius! Didn't even know that! Would not have guessed.
  
  
• Hephaistos in P8 incorporates both Byakko and the centaur skeleton that started off as Ultima Weapon. Absolutely genius, no comparison to Golbez just immediately evoking Thordan on first glance.
  
  
• Thunder God Cid in Orbonne is reused both for Perfect Thordan in Dragonsong Reprise, and Excalibur in Eureka Orthos. Another great example of smart asset reuse which hides itself fairly well rather than being all in your face to the point of WANTING to be identified like Tordan and Golbez.
  
  
• Scathach's model is reused for Omega-F, Penthesilea, the Spectral Necromancer, and a good few others; basically any floating female character wielding a long weapon of some kind. Yeah the cute puppet from Lapis Manalis I would assume as well. Not main story bosses and fairly well distinguished from one another, Thordan's battle stance tho? That shit's iconic!
  
  
• Inversely, Omega-M was reused for the Warrior of Light trial. Never knew that, since the WoL uses a shield most of the time and Omega-M only some of the time. Plus the fluttering cape really helps guide your eye, a great asset reuse that doesn't draw attention to itself, unlike Thordan and Golbez who are both main storyline trial bosses I wanna reiterate!
  
  
• All the Stormblood Eureka 'zone boss' enemies are reskins: Pazuzu is Diablos, Louhi is Cruise Chaser, and Providence Watcher is Nidhogg. Those are big smart, except providence watcher and really who cares about the dragons, Niddy is just Hraesvelgr as well, same with Vrtra and Tiamat even. That's like saying two Hyurs have the same rig, big deal.
  
  
• Nael Deus Darnus' skeleton has been used in a bunch of places, perhaps most prominent being Nidhogg's Dragoon form in Final Steps. No way! I thought Niddy was unique there! Really well done reuse that doesn't draw attention to itself, however obviously there is a clear connection between Nael and Estinien here, both empowered by an elder dragon? That is a thematic connection right there, one which I would expect for "same battle stance dragon abusers on a holy crusade" Thordan and Golbez as well!
  
  
• Sephirot was reused for Chaos in the Omega raids. Yeah that one's a bummer. Fortunately Chaos was just a first raid boss, but such an iconic FF character would have deserved their own rig, ngl.
  
  
• The Diablo Armament, final boss of the Dalriada, is actually just NeoExDeath. Yeah this is another absolute banger right here. Genius asset reuse between two iconic side content haymakers.
  
  
• If you want to specifically talk trials-to-trials, Ifrit actually was reused: as Diamond Weapon's unarmored form. Oh yeah, I remember that one, good call actually. That one suuuucked, but at least we already knew there was no continuity between that and Ifrit. With Thordan and Golbez we don't know yet! Plus it's just an alter form of Diamond Weapon and it's side content.

I really wanna also mention our favorite feetboss from Kholusia, Forgiven Pedantry, which is a reuse of the final boss of Weeping City, which is a reused Cloud of Darkness from WoD. That's bad asset reuse, but it's side content too

Hell, Thordan's skeleton has also been reused a couple times, as Exdeath in the Omega raids and Siegfried in the Masked Carnivale. You just probably didn't notice because you think of Thordan as 'big guy with big sword', so them changing up the weapon in question threw you off; fair enough, it was a surprise when I found out too!

Yes exactly!!! They didn't literally scream at you "THIS IS THORDAN" with Exdeath, as the stance was different! Siegfried was immediately noticeable tho, bad one! Still just another side content boss tho, not a big MSQ setpiece fight.

That was a great post Cleretic, but my argument still stands! Everybody who knows Golbez knows Thordan and his iconic stance, it's the first reuse of an MSQ trial boss in another MSQ trial and there's even a clear thematic parallel between the characters of Thordan and Golbez!

[Cleretic]

Yeah, I don't think this is actually a rule that they stick to so much as just 'a thing they haven't done yet'. They've done basically every other combination of 'enemy from <content type> reused as enemy of <content type>', including the 'trial-to-trial' that you were originally saying was some kind of sacrosanct.

There just isn't actually evidence here beyond this thing they do pretty constantly anyway, so no, I don't think you're onto something. What I would instead bring up as a comparison point is that we actually have a vanishingly small amount of serious 'cross-shard parallel characters', it's just the WoL/Ardbert and Cid/Chai-Nuzz, with that second one only barely being a thin, they only resemble each other in hair/beard style and owning a '___works' company. (Grenoldt and Mowen are very clearly jokes and so run on entirely different narrative rules.) So my argument based on pattern wouldn't be on asset reuse, but more on 'why would they do it this one time with this one character, and with nobody else in the entire Void storyline'.