Conjecture Question..Any evidence to support/reject this theory concerning Echo?

[Yrusama]

I didn't think they were thrown forward in time really, just hidden away until the calamity passed. Though I suppose there's no functional difference really.

We didn't age and didn't perceive time, so as far as we're concerned it doesn't matter. From a physics standpoint, and when determining just how powerful Louisoix is, the two are very different. Did Louisoix really tear open a portal in time/space to deliver us safely 5 years in the future? Or could he have sent us to a zero-dimension temporarily? Given there's such thing as the Void, the latter seems a little more plausible, although I shudder to think that we were saved by the very concept that threatened Bartz's world in FFV.

[Yrusama]

If you can explain why I saw crayon drawings of the characters in some sort of weird picture montage, I will become your lore gopher for the rest of my life. (Lore gopher = "Go find me this cutscene") :P

This... deserves fanart. I wish I still had it in me to draw.

[Anonymoose]

If you can explain why I saw crayon drawings of the characters in some sort of weird picture montage, I will become your lore gopher for the rest of my life. (Lore gopher = "Go find me this cutscene") :P

OFF-TOPIC DIGRESSION, NOTHING TO SEE HERE

Are we talking about the last episode of Eva? Where the world is like, reduced to a sketch montage? Keep in mind that this is just an interpretation, because the damn thing was so ambiguous that they eventually flat out replaced the episode with a different one, but I think that it was a philosophical journey exoloring whether or not Shinji wants to accept the borders of all individuality collapsing or not, which is what might be happening; all humanity's AT fields collapsing into a single flood of LCL.

"Instrumentality" was the merging of every soul and consciousness into one, a singular, perfect consciousness - and Shinji contemplates the use of individuality - starting with himself existing in "the void" and then realizing that he can't exist alone (similar to Descartes writings on the topic of cogito ergo sum), thus expanding the images to include other people as a point of reference, eventually realizing that because there are so many possibilities and options due to the existence of so many individuals, that this is something to be treasured and thus he rejects the instrumentality altogether and (presumably, because the episode just freaking ends) saves the world from instrumentality. In exchange for this individuality, we get uncertainty, doubt, fear, insecurity, etc., which is what all the voices ask if he is feeling. We exchange abstract perfection for objective and subjective experience and thus save "life."

Again, can't stress this enough - this has all been retconned into oblivion by this point.

[Lady]

We didn't age and didn't perceive time, so as far as we're concerned it doesn't matter. From a physics standpoint, and when determining just how powerful Louisoix is, the two are very different. Did Louisoix really tear open a portal in time/space to deliver us safely 5 years in the future? Or could he have sent us to a zero-dimension temporarily? Given there's such thing as the Void, the latter seems a little more plausible, although I shudder to think that we were saved by the very concept that threatened Bartz's world in FFV.

See thats why it seemed feasible that it could have all just been an echo.. and when the echo ended we were back in the present which was 5 years after the events that happened in 1.X

OFF-TOPIC DIGRESSION, NOTHING TO SEE HERE

starting with himself existing in "the void" and then realizing that he can't exist alone (similar to Descartes writings on the topic of cogito ergo sum), thus expanding the images to include other people as a point of reference, eventually realizing that because there are so many possibilities and options due to the existence of so many individuals, that this is something to be treasured and thus he rejects the instrumentality altogether

and that actually explains it... so what would you like me to research for you, sir? ._.

[Anonymoose]

and that actually explains it... so what would you like me to research for you, sir? ._.

LOL. Feel free to put yourself on "at ease" status for now. I joined GamerEscape before I even started the game, so I saved literally everything (EVERYTHING) I came across. I saved more than I had the opportunity to wiki-fy before the game decided it was no longer applicable - and I'm still trying to slowly convert it into a saved lore compendium.

Right now, as I've said, I'm stuck on Limsa issues - then I move onto punching up Catapult's articles with images / missed dialogue (assuming there is any) because he has outpaced me entirely - then I can do Ul'dah and crank out the main story line... then it's onto the GC storyline, then going back to clean up classes, jobs, sidequests, and regular old NPC small-talk.

[Mjollnir]

Also, still rabid about how Y'shtola even made it off of that situation unscathed and not even bring it up. She has some superpowers... (that telekinetic bullet stop, making copies of herself to surround you, surviving tidal wave, etc.)

I disagree about superpowers. She's shown she can cast Globe of Invulnerability (for want of a better name), which is presumably a 50+ Conjurer spell. No reason to think that her other powers aren't similar Conjurer protection spells; Stoneskin to catch an axe, Protection from Bullets... etc. Survive Tidal Wave? Reraise at the very least.

The copies thing was quite cool, but I think that's just creative use of the Echo by one who knows how it works. At the end of your conversation with a single Y'shtola, she Echoes back a few minutes off you to the start of the conversation so it appears to your memories that there are more than one of her; rinse and repeat five/six times. All it would take would be her sat down for ten minutes beforehand planning out exactly which instance of her needed to say what for it to make sense from your perspective - a flair for the dramatic certainly, but superpowers I don't buy (past lv. 99 CNJ).

The other possibility that's been playing in the back of my mind is that Y'shtola is more than one cat from a larger litter and the identical sisters go under the same name to misdirect their enemies. Maybe some of them have died.

By the way, the *whoosh* that occurs when you're talking to Urianger at the beginning of that scene is just him moving super-quick behind you isn't it, and not you Echoing into a past confrontation in the same spot between him and Y'shtola.

My Echo paranoia has now increased to encompass *whoosh* paranoia.

Also, for now I'm pretty much satisfied with my current revision of my post. Might tweak it later.

So anyway, if the power of the Echo is just to mess with people's memories to change their perceptions of what has happened, how come there was a Balloonfish, dropped by one of the Frenzied Aurelia during the first Echo, in my backpack when I arrive in Limsa Lominsa?

[Orophin]

Now I wish I didn't delete all my cutscenes out of frustration (couldn't find right compressions settings and needed the space). I'll probably check it out later on Youtube and maybe some transcripts from wiki sites.

Right now, as I've said, I'm stuck on Limsa issues - then I move onto punching up Catapult's articles with images / missed dialogue (assuming there is any) because he has outpaced me entirely - then I can do Ul'dah and crank out the main story line... then it's onto the GC storyline, then going back to clean up classes, jobs, sidequests, and regular old NPC small-talk.

Shameless plug, I just recently started encoding all my 1.0 videos to free up some space (nearly 2TB) on my hard drive. So far all of the original (Limsa and Path of the Twelve) and 7th Umbral cutscenes are up if that'll help any. I'm working on class quests right now. (well, when I'm at home anyway)

It's only cutscenes since I did all the recording out of my inn room journal so I don't have the quest text from the actual quest journal to associate with it.

https://www.youtube.com/user/oroelf

@Jacien: For future reference, all I do is record with Fraps, join the videos in virtualdub with ffdshow pack installed and Fraps codec turned on, then use Handbrake to encode to mp4 with H.264 (x.264) codec.

[Jacien]

So anyway, if the power of the Echo is just to mess with people's memories to change their perceptions of what has happened, how come there was a Balloonfish, dropped by one of the Frenzied Aurelia during the first Echo, in my backpack when I arrive in Limsa Lominsa?

My personal belief was that it was a developer's oversight. The city-state quests and events get so convoluted with all the Echo-jumping, it'd be hard to keep plotholes like that at bay.

Maybe when Minfilia says you can interact with objects when Echo-jumping you can also somehow manifest them when you come back? But nothing concrete has ever been stated about it.

Which is why the style of story telling is more direct in ARR and a while back last year it was mentioned that the original city-state plotlines were essentially scrapped (most likely referring to the style of story telling). It's not saying that they didn't happen, it's just that since it literally happened years ago, a good amount of it is no longer relevant in post-Calamity Eorzea.

[Lady]

So for this theory to work, it would have to follow the set rules. Meaning, a third-party user would have to Echo your character in the Present to see what they were doing the entire time they were Adventuring pre-Calamity. But somehow, they happened to stay out of view the entire time and not influence your character in any way (even during instances like Primal fights or the confrontation against Nael, or even places where events happened where your character was alone).

Ok more conjecture, and more theories... I'm building a house of cards now

What if Hydaelyn itself was the "being" that was the third party echoing our character? Or possibly the 12 doing it? After all we are the main character of this game, we could be epically this special. Yeah I know a bit grasping at straws, but its tickles my fancy to think its possible.

[Yrusama]

snip

In that same line of thought, perhaps she's able to cast Blink? It's the same as Utsusemi and the aforementioned Shadow Clone Jutsu, but wind-based. It's been in FF since the original game, though I don't think it ever made it to Eorzea. Perhaps it's a spell learned in Sharlayan?