Flow of time

[Denishia]

If they ever fully solidified the time flow between Shards into a measurable and controllable phenomenon, they gut the flexibility and range of stories.

The electrope around the portal - and possibly the portal itself?- wasn't there a thousand years ago when the Yok Huy were mining and starting to have the visions. Which, hmm.. We are going to assume that bleedover was attempts at the fusion that later affected Yssalani> Or a form or radiation contamination from the gate? Is the material electrope grown from whatever the gate is or just what you get from electric aether poisoning? I'm about to start mining in the Sylphlands.

And the Golden City of Alexandria with its dome, Endless, and regulators was running for centuries after the war and it was only as the power demand grew too great as a drain on the surviving aetheric resources that the idea of fusing with another Shard was urgent. The question then becomes is does Krile's parents' dialogue confirm that they personally were alive during the time that Eternal Queen Sphene was created or are they from at least a few decades afterwards? We do know that 100 years passed on the First when only a few months of Stormblood's MSQ did on the Source, and the flow on time isn't a steady conversion rate.

[Alenore]

Krile's parents bringing her here wasnt done within the dome, and it is in fact the WoL traveling that seems to synchronize the shards together. Its relatively unclear as to this methodology. But time is relative to ourselves in this world and all.

I don't agree WoL stabilizes time.
In ShB, the Exarch told us the First was coming to a period when time in both shards is flowing about the same speed. He didn't mention it was exactly when we joined, he seemed to know about it before hand.
In Dawntrail, Sphene tells us time synchronized when the army left the dome.

[Nitelancer]

I don't agree WoL stabilizes time.
In ShB, the Exarch told us the First was coming to a period when time in both shards is flowing about the same speed. He didn't mention it was exactly when we joined, he seemed to know about it before hand.
In Dawntrail, Sphene tells us time synchronized when the army left the dome.

Do you remember which part of the MSQ that was? I'd like to go back and read what she said.

[Alenore]

Do you remember which part of the MSQ that was? I'd like to go back and read what she said.

Around the first quests in Heritage Found, when Sphene does some lore dump on us.
At this timing in this playthrough https://youtu.be/tPbX4x8maDE?t=6461
Quoting G'raha :

And based on the queen's account, this encampment may have come to serve as a physical bridge between the two planes, after which the dome was forced into the Source's temporal flow.

[Nitelancer]

Around the first quests in Heritage Found, when Sphene does some lore dump on us.
At this timing in this playthrough https://youtu.be/tPbX4x8maDE?t=6461
Quoting G'raha :

Thanks!

Sphene:

"As absurd though it may sound, there is no doubt in my mind the events that led to the joining of our lands occured thiry years ago."

"Which is not to say I understand why our perceptions of the intervening time are so radically different. We only just become aware of the discrepancy, when Zoraal Ja's military base was complete, and we were at last able to venture beyond the barrier."

G'raha Tia:

"It's not unlike how time passess differently in the First and the Source—the fluctuating space of the rift between them disrupting temporal equivalence."

"Perhaps the same holds true here and time flowed faster within the dome."

"...based on the queen's account, this encampment may have come to serve as a physical bridge between the two planes, after which the dome was forced into the Source's temporal flow."

So, the construction of the encampment brought them into temporal equivalence. That is strange. Or was it the construction of Vanguard (dungeon shown before this part in the video)? That is where they traveled to the outside from. But Vanguard interfaces with the outside world—part of it is outside the dome. That how we bust in. But how could they build something on the outside without knowing that a lot of time passes inside?

...this is why I wish they would stay away from time stuff lol.

[Iscah]

My impression was that Vanguard was acting as a sort of "airlock" between the two realities, but once we burst it open, the area within the dome became fully part of the Source and subject to an equal flow of time. This is also likely what allows linkpearl communication across the barrier.

[Alenore]

My impression was that Vanguard was acting as a sort of "airlock" between the two realities, but once we burst it open, the area within the dome became fully part of the Source and subject to an equal flow of time. This is also likely what allows linkpearl communication across the barrier.

I don't see why it's when we went into Vanguard, and not when they obviously opened it to let troops and units go through.
We have no mention of Zoraal Ja having come back to a significantly different time, nor of any time effect between any command center they have (since they're able to relay infos to Zoraal Ja during the second attack) and the units/airships in Tural.

[MikkoAkure]

I don't see why it's when we went into Vanguard, and not when they obviously opened it to let troops and units go through.
We have no mention of Zoraal Ja having come back to a significantly different time, nor of any time effect between any command center they have (since they're able to relay infos to Zoraal Ja during the second attack) and the units/airships in Tural.

Yeah, I was under the impression through the dialogue that Zoraal Ja breaching the dome with Vanguard and sending his force outside the dome is what made the time on both sides sync up.

They said that they had to puncture the barrier in order for them to send their forces out and it makes no sense for the punctured barrier to maintain the time dilation inside, especially if it wasn't even known to Zoraal Ja since he thought 30 years passed on both sides.

[Astronema]

They introduced a new concept this expansion: interdimensional fusion. If the fusion takes time to complete, then time could be unsynced while it's happening and synced once it's done. That could be one explanation. But the idea of interdimensional fusion as a process is kind of hard to comprehend. Like a dome appeared and some people from our world got trapped in it while the fusion was incomplete?...

They stole this trope from the failed last season of the TV series sliders. A dr. Geiger uses a fusion device called the combine to experiment in fusioning dimensions.

[Cleretic]

They stole this trope from the failed last season of the TV series sliders. A dr. Geiger uses a fusion device called the combine to experiment in fusioning dimensions.

Far more likely is that it's riffing on Final Fantasy IX, which was approximately concurrent with Sliders' last season. The plan laid out in IX never really got put into play, but the description more or less lines up. Hardly 'stolen'.

And of course even then it was a reiteration on Final Fantasy V's story, and over the years similar ideas have cropped up in Doctor Who, Xenoblade, both DC and Marvel comics (including DC and Marvel together in 1996) and more examples that I haven't really got the time or interest in cataloguing. I wouldn't call this a common trope, it's not especially often that a story winds up in a situation to do it, but it's fairly plentiful to the point where Final Fantasy's done it a few times.