Thread: Revelations from Patch 6.5: "Growing Light", Part 1

Originally Posted by SannaR

Myths

If Nald'Thal was a merchant what stuff would someone even sell in the pre-sundered world? Most things were hinted at just being made with creation magics. I also feel the whole being made a twin aspected god is a meta nod.

There are some goods we know of in the ancient world, I don't know if concepts would be subject to trade? But there are certainly raw materials still like the black goo thingies from Amaurot we use to create stuff out of that maybe have some special properties that make certain transmutations easier? Not everyone is good at creation of anything, so if I'm good at creating windows for example and just have exceptional talent at that, I might trade them with you who has great talent for creating nice garden gnomes. Sure, I might create my own (or maybe not even!) but yours are just better. Food is still a thing in the Ancient world which if you could just create it you would essentially eat the same you spend right? Netting zero, so you gotta intake. I assume worldwide "international" trade is important too. But maybe trading is just done for fun in the ancient world largely.

Fun fact: Hidden text doesn't contribute to the minimum 10 chars.

Originally Posted by SannaR

If Nald'Thal was a merchant what stuff would someone even sell in the pre-sundered world? Most things were hinted at just being made with creation magics. I also feel the whole being made a twin aspected god is a meta nod.

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Just throwing my own thoughts out there:

I'm pretty sure they did sell... some things. I do have a memory of being surprised somewhere in Elpis (?) when one of the NPCs talked about that sort of thing matter-of-factly and thinking "oh woah so they do bother with money."

Just guessing, I'd say maybe stuff like herbs, medicine, food, wine, flowers - anything you'd be more inclined to take from the natural world (I think they mention even their creations seem to fare better growing in soil than anything else.) And then we're assuming everyone is super proficient at concept creation and design and frequently submitting concepts - perhaps it's a smaller group than we realise, and everyone else tends to purchase their daily wares much like we do in the present day. Somehow I can't imagine things like pans, pots, furniture, various forms of equipment, books, writing utensils and the like qualifying for the bureau. So maybe that?

I kinda wish we could get some flavour text on the Ancients like we did with items for the Ishgard restoration, since I find small, goofy things like that really fun and interesting lol.

Originally Posted by Lunaxia

Just throwing my own thoughts out there:

I'm pretty sure they did sell... some things. I do have a memory of being surprised somewhere in Elpis (?) when one of the NPCs talked about that sort of thing matter-of-factly and thinking "oh woah so they do bother with money."

Just guessing, I'd say maybe stuff like herbs, medicine, food, wine, flowers - anything you'd be more inclined to take from the natural world (I think they mention even their creations seem to fare better growing in soil than anything else.) And then we're assuming everyone is super proficient at concept creation and design and frequently submitting concepts - perhaps it's a smaller group than we realise, and everyone else tends to purchase their daily wares much like we do in the present day. Somehow I can't imagine things like pans, pots, furniture, various forms of equipment, books, writing utensils and the like qualifying for the bureau. So maybe that?

I kinda wish we could get some flavour text on the Ancients like we did with items for the Ishgard restoration, since I find small, goofy things like that really fun and interesting lol.

@Eisi they sort of do count as you get yelled at for having a 5k character count even if most of those are hidden.

Man I swear I must have missed that or at least not picked up on it. As there didn't seem to be a lot of hints that there was any kind of economy either from Emet-Selch's Amurot or from many of the researchers on Elpis. Even when we would get told about that overseer and their subordinate dinner plans it didn't sound as though they were going to use items they didn't create themselves. Although I guess it didn't really hit me until now with the fact Venat told us she didn't have the supplies to make anything but tea as a sign that not everything was "poofed into existence". Even with the Volcano story it came off as an "Oh no it's going to destroy the grapes... not like we can't just conjure up some more." mindset that was part of why they chose not to intervene. I also wish we got more flavor text with some of the furniture that's supposed to be from then.

Originally Posted by SannaR

MSQ quandary

I don't understand how Durante was able to go back to normal looking after he crushed that memoria crystal. Golbez gets hit by a beam from one and starts turning yet he seems fine. Also if Golbez is supposed to be our shard of the 13th then how did they start turning? If they had the Blessing of Light then that shouldn't have been happening. Unless they were soaking up a lot of Darkness off screen and that was a tipping point.

I've got some reads on this but it's basically just gut feel.

I feel like voluntarily memorializing yourself (that's a worthless verb for greater contexts but it'll do today) gives you a lot more control. Perhaps it's a matter of training for the situation you can be sure is coming, maybe it's something like 'you reflexively hold back when punching yourself'', something like that. So blasting someone else with it just drives them into a frenzy that they can't feasibly control, like we saw from the trash mobs like the Vampiresses.

Myths of the Realm:

I agree with the poster stating that it was a good story that didn't need to happen. In the end, nothing really changes for the world-building, so it felt like a bit pointless.

But then it did happen... In this case, I wish Myths of the Realm was actually the Raid series instead. Story wise, both AR and Raids have kind of a similar level of narrative complexity, but I'd just love to have the Twelve as Savage fights rather than Pandaemonium experiements.

MSQ:

I like the homage to FFIV and I felt it was a good storyline to be the 'filler'. Zero is a good spotlight character. I didn't like Golbez's characterization though. For the end he had, the character needed to be less chaotic evil and more neutral, because him changing sides was just way too forced by the end.

My other complaint were the Scions. The only member that made sense was actually Y'shtola, because it felt like the story kind of sets up a future development lead by her in managing to cross back to the First.

I don't hate them, but is just that since they'll be main cast once more in Dawntrail, might as well give us a little break from their presence.

10 characters
MSQ

Didn't see anyone else mention, but it looked to me like the memoriate that zapped Golbez used the Ardbert/derplander model. While everyone was guessing that Golbez was the Azem shard, I like the idea that the shard in the 13th may have ended up as a nobody.

MSQ: A thought regarding dragons' eyes

Vrtra gave an eye to Azdaja to save her, but what about her own? We retrieved one from Cagnazzo but I don't think the other one has been accounted for. Zeromus would have drained the aether from it, but the actual eyes seem remarkably sturdy in other cases like tracing Nidhogg's eyes through to Shinryu to still being intact when Estinien finds them afterwards.

Also, I wonder if we get Auri from Azdaja to match Varshahn at some point?

I don't really get why his vessel is out of commission, either. He removed his power from it to give it to Azdaja, but he still has his other eye to plug back in later, same as he does with the child form.

Originally Posted by Iscah

MSQ: A thought regarding dragons' eyes

Vrtra gave an eye to Azdaja to save her, but what about her own? We retrieved one from Cagnazzo but I don't think the other one has been accounted for. Zeromus would have drained the aether from it, but the actual eyes seem remarkably sturdy in other cases like tracing Nidhogg's eyes through to Shinryu to still being intact when Estinien finds them afterwards.

Also, I wonder if we get Auri from Azdaja to match Varshahn at some point?

I don't really get why his vessel is out of commission, either. He removed his power from it to give it to Azdaja, but he still has his other eye to plug back in later, same as he does with the child form.

First and third is pretty cleanly explained.

The eye we got from Cagnazzo was returned to Azdaja before the Golbez trial; her other eye was still in her. So both of them got lost in the Zeromus Mess.

The vessel was temporarily out of commission because he had to give up the eye powering it; it's back in action, and the conversation between Nidhana and the Radiant Host soldier confirmed it, it's just that because he's only got one eye right now, he can't go dual-boxing and controlling them both simultaneously anymore.

It's unlikely we'll get an Azdaja equivalent to Varshahn, not because it's impossible but just because she won't need it; Varshahn came about because of Vrtra's need for secrecy in Radz-at-Han. Azdaja doesn't have that same need.