CG Midlander

[Anonymoose]

EDIT:
This thread's major questions have all been solved and the results have culminated in this installment of Loremonger. Any conversation still taking place here is purely recreational chatter.

OP:

Something's up with this guy.

I've been analyzing this guy and his two parties on and off for two years now (trying to definitively state his story in a lore post) - and I've finally arrived at my conclusion. It don't think it's me - I think it's possible that Square Enix changed some things and forgot to change others (or maybe just didn't out those changes in a clear context). I'm posting this here since you LOCies have access to the core lore and maybe you can help clear up the disjoint.

I've been tossing around ideas of what's going on, ranging from echo to prophecy... from job change to aging... but no one assumption solves all the problems. (EDIT: Though we're now trying below!)

When we first meet this guy, he's with an Elezen Male and Miqo'te Female picking up some guildleves (presumably in Ishgard).

These two. (AKA AG Party)

Staring at a Resolve leve, he has a vision... He's no longer a gladiator - he's an archer. He's got new friends, an Elezen Female, a Lalafell Female, and a Roegadyn Male. Also, this is the battle of Silvertear Falls, which we know took place 10 years prior to Present Day.

(AKA 10 Years Ago Party*)
* The lalafell is, I assume, in this image... out of view there... by the feets.

After his vision, he snaps back to his gladiator self and he's with AG Party again. He says that he knows this is the leve he wants.

At first, I assumed he was in Present Day and echo-jumped backwards to a different context (possibly evidenced by the way 10 Years Ago Party reacts to him). However, it could also be interpreted that he is actually 10 years ago and is having a PROPHETIC vision of the future. This has troubled me for a long time... but now I think I've got my answer in the form of some other XIV Pre-Release shots... there is no answer because the video itself was edited in some areas. Here's one of several shots where he is 10 Years Ago ... with 10 Years Ago Party... as a gladiator.

So he could have just swapped jobs around, but it doesn't explain where AG party went when he showed up with 10 Years Ago Party.

And here he is as a gladiator during the Battle of Silvertear Falls in an earlier preview - except we already know that in this scene he is now an archer who's lost his bow while having a vision. There were edits made but I'm not sure what they imply. Compare:

I think that, originally, the scene in the AG scene didn't exist... it was just the 10 years ago content. Then, it was edited - are there mistakes and inconsistencies in the final version? It looks like it could be an echo, it could be prophetic, and he may very well be an interdimensional time lord with an identity crisis.

"Aw, sick! Maybe I'll level warrior, next!"



............

Flash forward to the Realm Reborn trailers. All the same characters are here - 10 Years Ago Party has MERGED with AG Party ... except that the roegadyn has armory system'd into the midlander's main job, and vice versa (and they went for each other's main job relic weapon, too, because why not). If these two parties had indeed met (we see them fighting together before and after this screenshot), why did they not fight together at Silvertear Falls? That was after he picked up the leave with them, no? And they were going with him, yes? So if it was in the future, what's up?

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M WEARING YOUR PA-
OH, GODS, WE DID IT AGAIN!"


--------------------------------------------

If you would be so kind, would you mind telling me the story of what's really going on here? Was the AG Isgard? Present Day 1572 Astral or before the Battle of Silvertear Falls in 1562 Sixth Astral? Was there editing or just he just hop jobs a lot?

If the Battle of Silvertear Falls was BEFORE the scene and he was echo-hopping to 10 years ago, where did he meet up with 10 Years Ago Party LATER? If it all took place 10 years ago and he was having a prophetic vision of was to come, why isn't the party he just told to accept the levequest with him helping him take out the marbol? (Theories below?)

... Did he really take that dive into the exploding primal ball? Midgardsormr's still dead so I assume so. How'd he swing surviving that one?

[Icecylee]

Armory System.

Not sure why it needs to be any more complicated than that - we've seen NPCs use the teleport/return function, no reason why they wouldn't be able to change classes as they please too (and occasionally show it in action in a trailer).

[Anonymoose]

"Job Change" is a good excuse (the armory system was a huge selling point, why not showcase it?), but I really don't think that's what they were going for on the whole. It explains away half of the errors - but only half. Clearly the scenes were edited. It doesn't explain the time jumps - echo or prophecy? Ageless from 1562 Sixth Astral to 0 Seventh Umbral?

I've updated the OP a lot since you replied, so maybe it's clearer now. If you can help me put the lore together so that it fits, I'm much more willing to buy that this was an artistic choice and that they just thought the scene would be more fun if he was an ARC for a few minutes.

[ninesunz]

Hey Anonymoose, you know the part in the video where he makes all those faces? That's you right now.

[Anonymoose]

It really is!

Updated again to be much clearer that I'm focusing on the time disjoints, not the job changes - citing the job changes only as evidence that time is passing and context is changing - because apparently I was super unclear about that.

Though, I mean, if he already had sword... and the roe already had axe... did they go for eachother's main job relics just to be competi-... never mind that. Armory system. Got it.

Let's focus on what year it is when, if that's an echo or a prophecy, and who makes his anti-aging cream (Is it Cid? I bet it's Cid).

[Alaltus]

I would prefer to think that it was an echo after all thats already in the story. Perhaps not only the hume experienced the echo but the whole party? i mean all adventurers/players have the power so perhaps its a reflection of that.

[gahoo]

Poor Fernehalwes is left to try to explain the (I think) unexplainable.

I thought the into was prophetic. That in deciding upon a leve, he had a vision of what it entailed, and then said "yes, that looks like what I wanted." That is why he looks the same in all parts of the original video (and, in theory, why the party/jobs can be inconsistent).

Admittedly, that doesn't explain the Battle of Silvertear Falls (about which I know nothing) or the ARR visuals.

[Anonymoose]

I thought the into was prophetic. That in deciding upon a leve, he had a vision of what it entailed, and then said "yes, that looks like what I wanted."

That's what I took away from it as well.

Let's try to piece together the lore, here.

It's 1562 Sixth Astral. The Empire has taken Ala Mhigo and is using it as a stronghold from which to attack Midgardsormr in Mor Dhona. Our midlander is passing the time with AG Party in Ishgard; he picks up a stack of leves and has a prophetic vision. Despite the fact that AG Party tells him their fate is in his hands, after he tells them of his psychic flash, they call him crazy and make for the door.

Bitter, our midlander goes out to Mor Dhona solo... where he comes across 10 Years Ago party getting stomped by a marbol. Bing bang boom, a few job changes later and they're turning the tides of battle before he's accidentally scooped into a Juggernaut and ends up free-falling from 12,000 ft. at an exploding primal ball a-

Wait... then how did he survive the fall?

Maybe he saw the fall coming and pulled some kind of James Bond stunt - safely arriving on the ground in front of the onlooking 10 Years Ago Party. Impressed, they follow him back to Ishgard where AG Party has to eat their hats over his vision being right and him being a total BA.

The two parties merge, have many great adventures, and beat Ifrit Extreme in time to join Louisiox on the final battlefield in 0 Seventh Umbral and get time-warped to ARR .

Yeah? How'd I do?

You think that's what SE had in mind?

[Zenaku]

i know for sure this is mor dhona
http://skepticalhero.files.wordpress...2_00360091.jpg

Which mean it the pass event from the current game the fight with the empire is also in mor dhona in a pass event. From the new video it more of current events or what going to happen i'm guessing in that video they going to allow us to see in the 11th.

But i also want to know what happen to the two people he was with to start with. I'm guessing they just ended up not playing together anymore. The race in 1.0 video really seem to dislike eachother calling them self by there race vs there name and also how Miqo'te and the elf was fighting so i'm guessing they just did not like parting together anymore.

[Icecylee]

Ah yeah, the rewording made what you were actually asking a bit more clear. I haven't really thought about it too much, since I just assumed that was an echo vision/jump way back when. On the other hand the opening cutscene when you start up the game is a vision of what's taking place right now, so... your guess seems reasonable enough, considering the circumstances are similar.