Revelations from Patch 7.2: Seekers of Eternity

[17cupsofcoffee]

This takes me back to a comment I made in another (since derailed) thread in response to someone saying that Calyx likely has a tragic backstory that hasn't been fully explored yet.

I thought it noteworthy that the Endless from Living Memory based their visual appearance on the happiest moment of their lives; it seems to me that, judging by his appearance and the facts you've mentioned, Calyx doesn't have a 'happiest moment in his life' to base his appearance on.

That line from Living Memory also sprung to my mind while I was playing, though I had a slightly different read on it - I wonder if his appearance could be hinting that he was happiest when he was leading Preservation, despite his illness/frailty.

That could be good fodder for a tragic backstory too, if it's the early "saving the kingdom from the Storm Surge" Preservation that he's nostalgic for - or maybe he just really enjoyed hunting down Krile's parents

[mallleable]

I think Clayx is an Endless, but think he purged some amount of his humanity when he became one, like he probably saw it as a burden, and didn't want to take it with him when he transcended death. However, it might be possible to coax it back out like what happened with Endless Sphene in the trial which could be interesting. Memories are probably a lot more volatile, and uncontrollable than we think, and you can't just delete them.

Come to think of it, and thinking back to Montichaigne's lecture, memories probably aren't being deleted, just encrypted.

[Iscah]

Plenty of alexandrians died (again), alexandria is still on the source. They will have ended up in the main lifestream along with quite a few unsundered that were in zodiark. The time bubble will probably stop anything coming of it though.

If it’s purely physical contact then why did nothing happen in 3.4? He was already without his real body and there was a whole instanced duty where the wol punched him until alisae charged up the interactable text.

Ardbert might have been without his "real" body in Heavensward but he still seemed to be in a different state to what he is in Shadowbringers where he has become an intangible ghost only we can see.

So far as we can tell, the Warriors of Darkness are physical beings at the time they are in Eorzea -- having been brought over by Ascian methods, it's likely they have taken over other bodies as the Ascians do (and because that was the only possibility the writers had introduced at that point) or elsewise they may have spontaneously formed aetherial bodies like the Scions do in the First. Whatever the exact case, we know that everyone can see them and physically fight them. Those bodies would have been lost when they returned across the rift.

As for Alexandrian souls getting joined up with their shards in the Lifestream... if they do chance to come together, so what? That soul gets a little denser than a standard Source one but otherwise continues to function no differently to any other soul. We already have both the WoL and G'raha as examples of what happens when someone gets more soul density than is usual for their world, and the answer is basically nothing.

[Iscah]

When I was watching the cutscene, the first thought that crossed my mind about the corpse turning to dust was due to the neo regulator already uploading the person's memories to the cloud. However, since he is still alive and to prevent his memories and existence from being deleted in others' minds then the person has to be reduced to dust before the regulators can finish. As such, what people will see with their eyes is a permanently dead person (Whom they haven't seen before) that they used to know. This new dread of seeing dead people, plus the attacks, will ultimately further people's despair into escaping death.

This is just my interpretation of what happened.

This crosses over with what I was saying earlier about there seeming to be inconsistencies / lack of information about the current state of the regulator memory-wiping system now that the gate is closed and Living Memory is shut down. However, it seems that they currently are not losing their memories, at least until the neo regulator memory-rewriting stuff happens.

Additionally, even if the memory wiping is still happening, reducing someone to dust to prevent the upload would also prevent them from becoming Endless at all. It would probably be simpler to just disable the memory wipe.

[fulminating]

Ardbert might have been without his "real" body in Heavensward but he still seemed to be in a different state to what he is in Shadowbringers where he has become an intangible ghost only we can see.

So far as we can tell, the Warriors of Darkness are physical beings at the time they are in Eorzea -- having been brought over by Ascian methods, it's likely they have taken over other bodies as the Ascians do (and because that was the only possibility the writers had introduced at that point) or elsewise they may have spontaneously formed aetherial bodies like the Scions do in the First. Whatever the exact case, we know that everyone can see them and physically fight them. Those bodies would have been lost when they returned across the rift.

As for Alexandrian souls getting joined up with their shards in the Lifestream... if they do chance to come together, so what? That soul gets a little denser than a standard Source one but otherwise continues to function no differently to any other soul. We already have both the WoL and G'raha as examples of what happens when someone gets more soul density than is usual for their world, and the answer is basically nothing.

Taking her at face value, we’ve just had eutrope’s master plan being “eat an abnormally dense soul”. Even if it’s not being 2x or 7/6x or 9/8x as strong there clearly is some tangible difference. We can also think back to elidibus not koing exarch and commenting on his soul being dense.
The expansion has fixated on souls and inheritance. Why wouldn’t the long running plot thread also involving souls and inheritance be a consideration, especially since it is seems to be in the writer’s mind - see the focus on key and convocation stone.

I’m currently unable to check, but fairly convinced the involuntary ardbert fusion was just before bismark/after vauthry.

[Iscah]

Taking her at face value, we’ve just had eutrope’s master plan being “eat an abnormally dense soul”. Even if it’s not being 2x or 7/6x or 9/8x as strong there clearly is some tangible difference. We can also think back to elidibus not koing exarch and commenting on his soul being dense.

So the density matters in very specific circumstances where there are reasons for it to be important. That still doesn't mean it has major implications for the average person.

The expansion has fixated on souls and inheritance. Why wouldn’t the long running plot thread also involving souls and inheritance be a consideration, especially since it is seems to be in the writer’s mind - see the focus on key and convocation stone.

What is your point? This has nothing to do with your initial (and so far as I can tell, unprovable) claim that soul merging can only happen once the person is aspected to the particular shard.

I’m currently unable to check, but fairly convinced the involuntary ardbert fusion was just before bismark/after vauthry.

This is why your hypothesis is unprovable.

We can't assume that being Light-aspected was relevant to triggering the merge because what directly triggered it was physical contact, and the only times we made physical contact was after the aspecting happened.

If you could demonstrate that we made contact earlier and nothing happened, then you would have a valid indication that something has changed between the two instances, and the aspecting would be an obvious thing to point to.

Even then, there would be other possibilities like us coming into sync regarding our goals and aspirations. The fist bump that we do that triggers the first almost-merge wouldn't have happened earlier in the plot when hadn't built up that degree of connection yet.

[mallleable]

It would be so hype if in our inevitable fight against the president, the surviving Arcadion fighters jump out from the audience, and fight along side us, unenhanced for the last phase. Honey B. on DRG, Yaana on MNK, Dancing Green on DNC, and Sugar Riot on PCT.

[Iscah]

I've gotten M6 in roulette a few times now and it feels like the theming doesn't land at all. Her early attacks have this over-cartoonish effect but the resulting objects are dull; the landscapes she paints don't match that style and then what actually manifests on the arena is just landscape assets grabbed from elsewhere. It doesn't feel themed to the character at all.

(M5 on the other hand is great fun and sticks to its vibe the whole time, which makes M6 feel worse by comparison.)

[Turnintino]

I've gotten M6 in roulette a few times now and it feels like the theming doesn't land at all. Her early attacks have this over-cartoonish effect but the resulting objects are dull; the landscapes she paints don't match that style and then what actually manifests on the arena is just landscape assets grabbed from elsewhere. It doesn't feel themed to the character at all.

(M5 on the other hand is great fun and sticks to its vibe the whole time, which makes M6 feel worse by comparison.)

I had the same thought. And I'm a little surprised, honestly, given this is the same expansion for which they developed painterly-looking assets for PCT itself. It felt uninspired, and uneven with the first phase of the fight, which -- while maybe a little less engaging, mechanically -- is at least aesthetically consistent with the character. Would've loved to see more done with her graffiti style.

[SannaR]

I had the same thought. And I'm a little surprised, honestly, given this is the same expansion for which they developed painterly-looking assets for PCT itself. It felt uninspired, and uneven with the first phase of the fight, which -- while maybe a little less engaging, mechanically -- is at least aesthetically consistent with the character. Would've loved to see more done with her graffiti style.

More graffiti was put into the savage version of the fight. With adds and a lava phase. There is also a molobro mechanic.