Quote Originally Posted by RedLolly View Post
Solar Bahamut also fascinates me. A few of older FF's (VII in particular) would have variations of Bahamut as unique summons you could collect, so it's not new either, but Solar Bahamut in FFXIV is very clearly meant to be HYDAELYN but with a spoiler free coat of paint so as not to ruin the reveal waaaay later in ShB that she's an elder primal.

But it just doesn't work aesthetically and doesn't change a thing about how SMN plays other than the AOE heal opening up.
I get what they were going for with Solar Bahamut, it's just a big miss to me personally, especially since there's no Zodiark equivalant. I also dislike it mechanically, mainly that we get an extra Solar Bahamut phase in between Bahamut and Phoenix, which means we see those two summons far less often, particularly Demi-Phoenix which may as well not exist outside of boss fights. I'd actually be much less averse to Solar Bahamut if we had also gotten a Zodiark equivalent for the "in between Bahamut and Phoenix" spot. As it is now it just feels very tacked on in my eyes