Thread: Revelations from Patch 7.4: Into the Mist

Originally Posted by Cleretic

Yeah, this is what I'm thinking. Either this is just how it goes, or the Tyrant's been the champion long enough that he's become the branding.

Either that or he's the 80s Hulk Hogan of the Arcadion, and he's just the mascot regardless of championship status.

He's outright stated to have never known defeat prior to his match with the Warrior of Light. So it's definitely this.

Originally Posted by Cassar

I don't think so... Are you implying that they change the logo every time a new champ is crowned? The president's transformation into the Lindwurm happened relatively recently (3 years I believe they said), and there have been multiple champions that attempted to defeat him in those years, so the logo would've changed for each champion.

Maybe the logo is just the Lindwurm, since it's a legendary creature and has been for centuries, but this would mean that it's just a coincidence that the Lindwurm happened to play a very important role in the history of the Arcadion.

If I recall, it's only been Tyrant that has attempted to defeat him, and nobody else has been able to defeat Tyrant.

MSQ:

Krile having a crisis over whether she wants to stay on the Source or the Ninth felt rather abrupt since we hadn't been in Treno for very long at that point. Other than that, I didn't really have that many issues with the MSQ this patch.
I already like Halmarut. Up until now, the only Ascians we've seen who aren't inhabiting a Hyur's body were Emet-Selch and that one guy from 1.0. Not only that, but she's an Au Ra. I like how much sillier she is than the other Ascians we've seen. Her panicking after being spotted by the WoL was funny. I look forward to seeing more of her.

Arcadion:

I have mixed feelings on how the Arcadion questline ended. On the one hand, I'm glad that all of the fighters ended up surviving, even if such an outcome was kind of cheap. The president having secretly been good all along makes sense, seeing as it wouldn't have made sense for him to allow fighters to die if he had access to a cure.
On the other hand, I feel like the twist with the president undercuts the theme that the Arcadion had been building up until this point. This whole questline seemed to be centered around a bunch of teenagers (most of them Indigenous) living under colonial rule being exploited for entertainment at the cost of their lives. This would've been thematically consistent with Alexandria's depiction in the MSQ, but now it's suddenly been revealed that the system that was seemingly exploiting these kids was never actually planning on letting them die. This feels like a symptom of a larger issue Dawntrail's writing has in which it hints at certain themes but doesn't want to commit to them.

Things that stuck out to me from MSQ:

The opening scene having the DT crew say fond farewells really hammers that Dawntrail is good and over. It was a pleasant scene, but I just got this underlying vibe that the devs felt like they needed to make it explicitly clear Tural time is good and done for the haters without also putting down the DT fans.

The twins leaving surprised me, but I hope this means we'll finally see that growth spurt next time we see them.

I'm a bit confused on the time frame for the 9th. Krile's aunt seems super young since I was under the impression a few hundred years had passed for the 9th since Krile was given to Galuf. Unless it's Solution 9 that was going at warp speed for a bit there.

Pictomancy is terrifying. Oh my god, the insanity Krile can pull off. She absolutely ran herself ragged and well beyond her limits, and needed help of extra aether from the ladies, but the stuff she pulled was absurd.

G'raha casually talking about Lyna and waxing nostalgic over the Crystarium and his time on the First in a positive way is nice. How disgusting was that syrup Lyna forced on him that he compares it to "sin" when the guy's only dropped a single swear in his entire existence with us (during CT, btw).

Also, G'raha remarking Krile needs to be careful who she talks to about Treno because of their JOB as researchers and needing to reveal the info first for publication and not because of some cosmic necessity is new. Like, oh, yeah, this is what the Students of Baldesion do for income.

Man, I think I really love Krile. She's sweet, no nonsense, figuring things out for herself, and she gleefully takes the piss out of her friends whenever she can. Immaculate vibes. Let's keep her for longer, please. And the idea she and G'raha potentially replacing the Twins for a while as the pair that have really good, sibling banter has my full support.

I really like the fact the devs are just going all in on the fact that Calyx really is/was just a kid. His paradise for his "immortal" people was just a Disney theme park, and now he's content getting around in what is essentially a Mickey Mouse plushie. His immaturity is conveyed in such a unique way. Mica imagery is going to haunt the narrative from now on, I bet.

I'm also intrigued by how incredibly normal feeling and sounding Halmarut is. She's so unthreatening and unassuming but also casually discusses her Ascian status and dresses for the wrong era because time is meaningless to an immortal and that's what she likes. She's already shown to be self-serving, indulgent, and bad at being bad in a way that probably grinded against the other Ascians. Also, finally characters with green color schemes.

Like, both of them have me looking forward to the future regarding the Winterers because both are so unique to what kind of villains we've seen before.

Some gripes.

Yeah I think even though she finally got her spotlight and her arc, Krile being sidelined so much in 7.0 kind of hobbled her story. It was not properly built up at all. I think they need to learn to multitask better in 8.0 and on. Koana and Zoraal Ja also suffered badly from having their motivations not properly built up before they were "paid off," though Koana I think is a fundamentally dull character given how quickly he set aside his "technology at all costs" worldview and how few problems that even caused in the first place.

Some hopium.

Calyx remains the aspect of 7.X that I find most interesting and fun. Halmarut isn't as immediately arresting as Emet-Selch, but she might not even be a villain, and she holds some promise. The Winterers in general are an interesting concept. I just hate that we have to wait until April to learn anything more about wtf is going on. :P