Solution 9 - Unfounded Speculation!

[MikkoAkure]

I know this has probably been said already and maybe even in this thread, but the one screen shot of Solution 9 that's on the official site just screams the Persidium on the Citidel. So, even if I don't expect to get any ME representation or jokes put in I'll be a little sad I don't have a hologram that tells me either to not to poke a squat praying mantis looking thing with a backpack on it or a random button nearby.

“I’m the Warrior of Light and this is my favorite shop in Solution Nine.”

That sounds like a direct challenge to Koji Fox.


Though we never had a FATE or quest named “First World Problems” in ShB and that would’ve been the most obvious thing in the world to do.

[SannaR]

“I’m the Warrior of Light and this is my favorite shop in Solution Nine.”

That sounds like a direct challenge to Koji Fox.


Though we never had a FATE or quest named “First World Problems” in ShB and that would’ve been the most obvious thing in the world to do.

It'd be an opportunity for Kate. That or a "There's something amiss at the Circle K." if we want to say the fountain drink is from a 7/11 or a McDonald's. Or even a joke about the WoL getting a slushie but didn't offer to get anything for anyone else.

[Cleretic]

I'm surprised we didn't get any radios as orchestrions post 6.0. Also can't wait for those who are highly opposed to anything modern in an FF game to get very angry at the drink fountain cup the Miqo'te is holding.

So weird that to those people, Solution Nine is a debacle waiting to happen, but Allag, Alexander and Garlemald were fine.

[Iscah]

Like, we need to build into every single theory about Solution Nine that it's the secondary city of the expansion; it's the Eulmore or Radz-at-Han.

This is why I'm really hoping it's not just "the antagonist that we have to convert to our side" because we already did that plot in Eulmore.

[SannaR]

So weird that to those people, Solution Nine is a debacle waiting to happen, but Allag, Alexander and Garlemald were fine.

Well I feel they were fine with the 1st two as even if Allag and Alex were higher tech than most of the world at the time. Garlemald plus all of the more modern outfits we have been getting lately have felt too modern. To close to what we have right now and despite every non modern day set Final Fantasy having some kind of modern zone or super boss from the start. That the scales have tipped too far in one side. In that it breaks their immersion even though we have all of those mascot costumes, a fugly pink rhino mount and the ability to look like you're running around a dungeon in an itty-bitty teeny tiny polka-dot bikini.

[Mixawaves]

So weird that to those people, Solution Nine is a debacle waiting to happen, but Allag, Alexander and Garlemald were fine.

Setting aside that a lot of people just don't want any modern tech in the game, I think some of the backlash is just not having the missing info of how they exist. Adding a new, actively populated civilization that surpasses the technology of anything we've seen thus far, and that no one in-world has ever hinted at requires a bigger narrative lift than something like Alleg does; evidence of Alleg have been everywhere in-game and they're wildly known and studied. It's going to be very out-of-place if our first canon mention of Solution Nine is random people around Tuliyollal casually mentioning their wacky neighbors to the north.

My expectation is the place is completely unknown to Tural and hidden when we get there and gets 'found' during the events. It could be cloaked (based on the original 'SECRET'-marked art of Shaaloani vs the updated one suggesting it could be phased) or some other factor(s) make it impossible for others to find. As much as I personally adore the cyberpunk vibes being added to the game, it's not going to work if everyone across the ocean knows about 2060 Las Vegas but no one's ever thought it worthy of mention to us.

[Iscah]

a new, actively populated civilization that surpasses the technology of anything we've seen thus far

I haven't seen anything so far to think they "surpass the technology of anything we've seen".

The styling is a bit more modern and less abstract-scifi but they seem at most equivalent to Allag, and we don't know anything about what their "technology" actually does beyond produce a lot of glowy lights. Even the Ronkans had that much.

[kaynide]

So weird that to those people, Solution Nine is a debacle waiting to happen, but Allag, Alexander and Garlemald were fine.

To be fair, Garlemald was very weird. Like, for one… The presence of semi modern cars, in a city that’s like…5 blocks across, with barely any road infrastructure outside of the city is really really off. I get scale is a thing, and “well there’s more city off camera” but still… cars are primarily to go between locales. Where is the highway going out of Garlemald?

[MikkoAkure]

To be fair, Garlemald was very weird. Like, for one… The presence of semi modern cars, in a city that’s like…5 blocks across, with barely any road infrastructure outside of the city is really really off. I get scale is a thing, and “well there’s more city off camera” but still… cars are primarily to go between locales. Where is the highway going out of Garlemald?

All of the cars found in Garlemald and the Novus D minion look like Japanese kei cars from the 50s/60s era or older European people’s cars, neither of which are really meant for highway travel and are designed for city driving. Considering that monsters are a thing that exists, the winter climate is extremely hostile, and there’s not exactly anywhere to drive to that’s close, it would be too dangerous and too expensive to drive anywhere far away anyway.

What we see is not the whole city of Garlemald because this is a video game and it’s scaled way down. Just like how Limsa Lominsa is much larger in its artwork than what we can play in. Even the rare cutscenes that take place in Garlemald before it’s blown up show it as much larger than what we later see and as a proper large city.

[kaynide]

I don't think this is plausible, but I would say this is the most interesting pitch I've heard for an Ascian related to Arcadion/Solution Nine, by far. (Also I would pitch Deudalaphon as the one doing this, because there'd be a fun echo with their historical role being the head of architecture.)

I still think a lot of Solution Nine theories are struggling with both overcomplexifying their angle by taking other people's theories as fact, and with the actual position of Solution Nine in the game. Like, we need to build into every single theory about Solution Nine that it's the secondary city of the expansion; it's the Eulmore or Radz-at-Han. That means that not only won't it dominate the story (because Tulliyolal still needs its half of it), but it also needs to still exist afterwards. In fact, it needs to exist in an even more functional state than it first appears in, because the vendor NPCs become available after the MSQ ends, not before.

If we consider that an Ascian (pseudo Ascian?) could exist within the Crystal tower without a proper body, it is very do-able. In the same way Tron’s world continued post MCP, I feel there is possibilities for this; someone might sacrifice themselves to become the new “will of the city” for example (rival group leader aka the brother). Or Cid magics up some kinda AI. Or (boring option) the evil AI or whatever becomes good/re-discovers their purpose.

Alternatively the city could just continue to operate without a control, leaving control in the hands of the people. Democracy! In #definitelynotNYC.

I hope to god it doesn’t involve Nier in any way though…