For those who forgot or scrolled past it in the msq, we do know for a fact, confirmed by an npc, that Sphene's crown is a special type of regulator. We were never told what was special about it, but that it was apparently unique in some way, form, or function than regular regulators. That begs the question about why Sphene would need a regulator at all, since she was an Endless. Maybe it's what facilitated her being able to control the mech guards so easily compared to Cahciua (aside from being literally in the system itself). What we do know (spoilers for the 6.4 raid series) for the long-term is that someone, either a species or civilization, predated or was around at approximately the same time as the Ancient Ones/Amaurotines. We get confirmation for that from the final tier of Anabaseios, where we learned that the Heart of Sabik was given to Athena by Ultima, the High Seraph, which is presumably the same one that we fight in the Stormblood alliance raids since they have the same name. Thus, there was at least one being at the time that existed and had resources that went beyond the capabilities of the Ancient Ones to understand, at least without an extraordinary amount of time for research. With that in mind, I really can't imagine a scenario wherein the Ascians, when they were attempting all of the rejoinings, would have been aware of the crystal inside the cup that we now have and not just used that to force the rejoinings or at least used it as a weapon of mass destruction. So, the question then becomes: "Where did the cup come from?" My thought is wherever Ultima came from, since we basically have two unknowns and they could feasibly be of the same origin. We have white auracite, which we've seen extensive use of, black auracite, which was the Heart of Sabik, so why not gold auracite, for whatever's in the cup? It could even be that the electrope is actually a product made with black auracite or something like that. It's practically a philosopher's stone, so who knows what it's capable of if used to its fullest, most eldritch, extent?
theres also a few lines from Meteion about some of the failed civilizations. She mentions a "higher power" that destroys its worshippers on a whim, and part of me wonders if that wasn't Ultima. (although for Ultima to do that and Meteion to witness it + for Ultima to interact with Athena would cuase wonkiness.) BUT IF ITS NOT ULTIMA, that just opens more questions lmao. ....
I think there is going to be a storyline focus on the "Key" and "Azem's Crystal" and how they are related. Showing the related symbols wasn't a happy accident before the last trial. In short, I think Azem created the key as a mode of transport of those he called to his side in ancient times. It was unsundered because it was in Emet's possession at the time of the sundering. So, we feel a responsibility to re-acquire the key to clean up our own mess. And, you know Y'shtola wants to get a hold of that key as well for personal reasons :D
I would have definitely been all for exploring Tural and its facets, cultures and the wishes of the people if I had done it by myself or with Krile and G'raha in tow. That would have been awesome.
Personal POV: - The Solution 9 storyline isnt finished, I think 7.1 to 7.3 will wrap up the fate of Alexandria, Sphene and their situation, we still have a time bubble to deal with, the soul transfer devices are not dealt with and the very society of the Everkeep has some fundamnetally twisted ideas of good and evil. It is possible they could resolve this in the Arcadeion storyline but I feel that would be a copout and heavily rushed. - I am going to guess the FF11 crossover will be the wol pissing about with the key to do reflection travel for the first time, and finding one of the other shards. - The other MSQ element will be figuring out Azem's mysteries and I think given the name "Dawntrail" is a double meaning it might literally mean following the trail of azem and finding some kinda lost junkpile/hoard/nerd basement your predacessor incarnate left for you to discover tied to reflection travel and more things to discover. - Criteion dungeons could easily resolve some of the mysteries tied to the fullness of Eorzea as a continent, aswell as the Blindfrost Treasure Island. - Merecydia is probably going to be 8.0 but it wont just be Merecydia, im going to guess its Merecydia + another Reflection or Reflections which could easily be solved over patches. - Ilsabards mainland will likley be 9.0 with another reflection theme yet again as the reflections seem likley to be the sub-plot ongoing along with finding out more about Azem each expansion. - 10.0 will likely wrap up the azem storyline. Thats my tinfoil roadmap for now. As for ongoing antagonists, I believe the reflections might be tied to the remaining sundered ascians, Altima, Halmaraut, Deudalaphon and Pashtarot, with Pashtarot the "Preserver of Order" being tied to Sphene, and likley the antagonist of the patches. We also have missing Garlean legions, more Allagan mysteries and the void which has only been partially fixed for now aswell as other possible cosmic threats. As for Merecydia, im expecting lore on:*Spoiler warning* - Summoner lore being relevent given it explains the state of Merecydia currently. - The warring triad city, a city state ruled by primals could be interesting. - The Dragons and the origional Bahamut, not his primal counterpart. - The World Tree. - The Barren Wasteland left behind by the Voidsent. - The Miqo'te tribes that lived there. Not all of this is likley to be covered in the expansion but some areas might be plus raid content.
This seems plausible to me. There's plenty left to do, the issue is execution. I don't buy their argument that tying things up with EW somehow left them in a difficult situation. The narrative and world are as rich as they choose to make it.
I personally see, outside of what dawntrail has established, like 3 possible "cosmic" level threats. Most obvious one is of course still "the void", a lot less eluded via raids would be the Eldritch angel species of Ultima Seraph, with stuff like Jenova, the creator, Bhunivelze that can be referenced there, and the thing nobody probably has at the moment in mind is Grahas original timeline, if that thing for some reason bleeds into our timeline again, than we have problems.
I believe it's the second myself, than the third and final arc would be the actual gods of this eitherys which would be representations of the devs, with the final final final boss being killing the WoL killing the player, and gaining control of their lives.
ever since ShB ive been wondering if we'll see Emet Selch of the other timeline show up with a fully rejoined Zodiark as the final final boss or something. Because according to some sources, after an 8Th Rejoining Hydaelyn would no longer have the strength to resist the Ascians' plots; and with the WoL and Scions dead there would be no one to stop further Rejoinings. The Ascians would NOT stop after 8 for sure.....
@@skybuilder23 I would be kind of disappointed if a plot point like that was just a "what if" superboss, but it would still be cool to watch people enjoy it. (I don't bother with ex's, savages, or ultimates tho, so id never see it myself)
Not to echo this sentiment of some one already said it but during the Yok Huy story in Urqopacha. Alphinaud and Krile, comment on it. Saying how the most likely cause of the disease that ravaged the yok huy was a lack of immunity because even the yok huy note that the Shatona and the Hyure population likened that desease to the common cold for them.
We literally went to the south sea Isles. Thats what Aloalo islands V&C dungeon was. Also where the Milala in the 12th (Sphenes reflection) originally came from when our world had the 2nd calamity, the one of ice
Ita unsure if Alexandria was on the 12th, someone protected in its own pocket space, or a other reflection that experienced a second Lightning Calamity, since some elements will be duplicated.
@SuperRamos619 pretty sure it's a pocket dimension and all that's left of the 12th reflection. It did fall to the flood of lightning. The one thing is the Milala fled the source during the calamity of ice, which happened after the calamity of lightning. Though given how time works in the between the shards, it's likely that they arrived at time long before the flood of lightning takes place.
Alexandria is not the 12th - we have word of god on the matter. In a recent interview, Yoshi-P said that all Shards that were said to be gone in EE3 ARE in fact gone, and there will not ever be a "well actually..." at any point in the future.
I personally believe they originally intended for EW to end with Zodiark and move on to Endsinger at 6.3. They announced that EW was originally planned to be more than just an expansion. My guess that they originally planned on having Magus Sisters and Anima being the 83 and 87 trials, and since they moved everything forward, they changed them to dungeon bosses. With everything moving forward in the MSQ, they were left with nothing for the patch quests, so they took the idea they had for the Trial series and extended it. EWs trials are all FF4 themed and are out of place for being in the MSQ, but are in line for the Trial series. The Warring Raid in HW were from FF6, the Weapons in ShB from FF7, using not only the 4 Fiends from FF4, but Golbez and Zero us, is too much FF4 fanservice for the MSQ. I don't have a lot of hope going forward. DT felt like two half-baked expansions crammed together, the 8man raid series is the arena in Solution 9 were they apparently fought the souls of beasts (I wager this is where Zoraal Ja's soul/memories went since we didn't run into him in Living Memory), the Alliance Raid series is a callback to FFXI and I'm going to be super mad if the only use of the Key is to open a gate to the 11th to kick that off. I really hope I'm wrong and 7.1 starts off amazing.
They wanted Endwalker to pretty much be 2 expansions, but decided against it because the team wanted to do the stupid Meteia storyline, so the original story got HEAVILY shortened so they could just add both stories to one expansion.
it was also VERY clear to me the Magus Sisters were ment to be the 83 trial; Anima the 87/89 Trial and Zodiark the FInal boss; and the scrunched it down. WHile i loved Endwalker, part of me wonders what a more fleshed out version like they intended would have looked like. Radz at Hahn and Garlemald having 3 zone each instead of being 1 each....? Damn.
Regarding Sphene's crown, I believe somewhere in MSQ it was mentioned that she does have a more advanced Regulator. It was implyed it's the crown, at least to what the Solution 9 residents think. Given that Sphene was a projection of the Alexandrian database, it's possible the whole "the crown is a Regulator" point is used as an excuse to make the Solution 9 residents think she's alive, but that flashback at the end does seem to indicate she will play more of a role in upcoming patches. I think.
They let the ending super open and i believe they have even said that its on purpose, and that they would focus on different things based on how the players recieved dawntrail. Different reflextions is pretty obvious, but thry also hinted at the south sea islands (and meracydia has to come packaged in w that) and more smaller hints
I think you're correct with the regulator element because we haven't had the Necron equivalent for the xpac yet (if we're going by FF9 rules). I suspect we'll get him in the .3 patch and then build up to the next xpac from there.
I WAS TOTALLY EXPECTING SPhene to turn into NEcron, and while I was initially disappointed that he didn't......thinking of Zeromus, he still could. :) so im hoping...ALSO HOPING for a Soken-ized reimagining of the Final Battle music with Necron from FF9 for it........aaaaaa
@@phandaal I mean. Kind of I guess? But it wasn't so much the fear of death as like, life is full of suffering and meaningless. Kind of opposite in a sense? We can still get necron. And I won't be satisfied until we get ff9's Final Battle remixed by Solen complete with the moans of the dead.
I believe 7.1-7.3 will be focused on preservation I think Auracite is the key, and Ultima's race may be the main villains I know Y'shtola will get a Whole Cake Island esc character arc I believe they will leave the "actual gods" of Eitherys to the third and (hopefully) final arc. (I wanna see another FF MMO in my lifetime.)
Sphene, makes me want a truly psychotic female villain. I’d love a lusty power house of a character. I’d also love to see the main party turn on each other.
Spoilers alert. Hear, feel, think weighed heavily in Wuk Lamat's growth, not only was this focused on Wuk Lamat's growth, but for the WoL as well. In ARR we were told to hear feel think, in Dawntrail we felt what Hear feel think meant. The second is the big shot of Azem's crystal being front and center, the third was when Wuk Lamat asked why we do what we do and one of those answers was for the love of the star. This may indicate we are acquiring another soul. The 9th calamity is coming, as Emet-Selch pointed out if we survive each calamity we would be his equal. I am speculating, how it was hard for me to ignore the subtly. oh and Zodiark still exists in pieces on each moon of the existing reflections.
Sphene's crown is explicitly stated to be a special/unique regulator made just for her that does a lot of what the others did but all they said was that it's "special".
Yeah they basically have a free pass to do ANYTHING with those shards in terms of aesthetic so i'm really excited to see what they have, but I also want to explore them more like we did with the 1st than say the one we did in Dawntrail
@@JMulls If I'm correct Alexandria was all that remained of the reflection that fell to the flood of lightning. They only "survived" due to the their technology and possibly fitting in-between the their reflection and the Source. I mean it's not like time between the Source and the shards operates the same. It's possible the Milala ran from the Calamity of Ice only to arrive on that shard in what would be the Source's past before Alexandria and it's world fell to the flood of lightning. Time jumping is so confusing.. anyway, I also would like to have expansions focus on the reflections and not just small story beats in other expansions.
one shard is drakenguard/nier. another one is final fantasy 11. ff16 also if you consider all the events canon. ff13 lighting etc.they might make one our world earth since the maps are similar and se likes doing that meta type of story. one world be ff8 based.
@user-on5dl9hc2z where did you see that? Nier was another universe, not another shard. I try to keep up with the lore and haven't seen anything remotely claiming that.
Six total that haven't been totally destroyed counting the first and thirteenth so four left we haven't seen. Not sure of Alexandria's placement though, whether it was the twelfth (second umbral calamity) or the ninth and just another failed attempt of a rejoining (but that's only assuming the reflections are going by game order).
So about Mericidia. Personally, I think they are going to be the next Garlemald. Like rn we are missing a true antagonist for this new arc, since both Sphene and Jarool Ja were handled in 7.0. We need a long term antagonist like the Garlian Empire or the Ascians, and given Mericidia’s history with Eorzea, they could fit that roll.
Honestly, I hope they'll bring back Sphene, seeing as the devs seem to dislike killing off "good"/not comically evil characters who we've interacted with a lot (I mean we didn't even kill Golbez, Zenos got a second chance, Meteion kind of survived, Thancred didn't die in ShB, none of the Scions died in EW, Omega survived, etc.). It just felt wrong to strike her down for wanting to protect her people, so hopefully they'll bring her back and since the endless are no more, she won't have a reason to harvest everyone's souls, plus we beat her once so if she tried again we could just take her out a second time. It'd give her the second chance that's been mentioned multiple times in the MSQ ("If things had been different...", "In another reality..." etc.), plus Tural could greatly benefit from it, seeing as both Eorzea and Radz at Han are starting to make more use of tech. Giving Tural a piece of the pie only sounds right and the people of Lost Heritage/Solution 9 would probably be more inclined to cooperate with Tural if Sphene and Wuk Lamat worked together, maybe they can even bring back some people from Living Memory, Erenville got done dirty. This could also give the world time to prepare for reflection travel while we (maybe) explore Meracydia in the next expansion, similar to how pre-ShB events in the First unfolded during Stormblood after the Warriors of Darkness teased it in post-HW. Just give me a happy ending pls (Also, is everyone ignoring how Zoraal Ja had a son? With whom? Why cast him out? Is he a clone? If so, why not just... put people's memories into clones? They really should address this, it feels like they just wanted to introduce some random bs with Gulool Ja) Not really related to the story, but I hope we'll get some more healers/tanks in the Meracydia expansion, seeing as it's very magic/caster-focused. Maybe a caster-based tank? Maybe the Meracydia expansion is going to deal with restoring balance to the reflections (namely the First and the Thirteenth) to prevent some big magic-based threat? A grand summoning gone wrong perhaps? They can really go in a ton of directions and I only regret not having a time machine to travel to the future to play them now
Yeah, we're going to be doing Stargate:Scions is my guess. There's going to be a big reveal in the patches of DT that the gate does, in fact, go other places ala the first episode of SG1. (Yes, I'm a Stargate fan.) They even hinted at this in the ending credits of DT with Erenville's comment about how Interdimensional fusion may have affected other shards.
@@1337penguinman i see you are also a man of culture. I think it will be used in the alliance raids to open a Portal into vanadiel. each of the 3 raids will be like expeditions into vanadiel areas
I'm skeptical about the direction of the coming 5 or 6 patches, with the base story being mediocre. Unlikely they will send the WOL to another major world/region for just some patch updates. I'm curious about this region's tural vidraal since they keep mentioning Valigamandra is not the only one. There could be more threats/sagas revolving around them.
@@siduxjxhdgzhdjxhxuuxxyhgg1079 while i severely disagree with his ascertain that the story was mediocre ( i rather enjoyed the hell out of it) he is correct in that we don't usually get new World Zone maps in Patches. The patches usually work within what the expansion has already added (certain zones like Bozja notwithstanding). I also think its HIGHLY unlikely we would visit more of Xak Tural unless it was half-assed via only dungeons or special instances (being on the red moon, which isnt its own full zone, on the void in the patches for example). I would be disappointed if they did that. Part of me is sad we never got see what Yasullani looked like before it was dimensionally fused. Hoping if they add more of Xak Tural, its fully fleshed out expansion zones. ALSO YES, Valigarmanda was my favorite part of Dawntrail; ive been listening to his trial music on repeat for like a week. If we get more tural vidraal id be super stoked!
ok hear me out: ...... with Eden we like, revived part of the EMpty but if i remember correctly they mention itll be many many years before the rest of the Empty is restored.........what if.......we take the Cup to Zero and dimensional fuse part of the 13th with the still defunct parts of the First's Empty....the two aether types cancel each other out, restores part of the First while also being the 13th.....?! dunno, just an idea i Had when they were talking about the cup. AALSO HINGASHI...that needs its own full expansion, cmon. Im hoppping for something like, themed around Japans Warring States period or the Meiji Restoration perhaps. It would be fun. Part of me wonders if Sphene's Crown has some kind of back-up of original Sphene's memories that robo-SPhene was trying to delete? And well both get to meet some incarnation of original Sphene as an Endless or something if we feed her aether; and the devs get to re-use the beautiful model they put so much effort into. Also, I was rewatching someone play the MSQ on stream and they very heavily imply the disease that wiped out the Yok Huy was just a common disease the locals shrugged off in a way that was like "we dont need to explain this any further" (bu i could be wrong.......) I like to think the chasm is literally the spot where Hydaelyn drop kicked Zodiark with her dimension splitting attack lol. Would be interesting if it was something else tho. OH SHIT I DIDNT THINK OF THAT. SPhene's Crown...what if it pulls her memory from everyone wearing a regulator and reconstructs her?!?!?!! We'd have a second chance with her, and she'd see that if she pursues that "kill everyone else for the Endless" line of thinking she'd lose (again) (also there's no more Endless to need to worry about)........HMMM, GOOD IDEA JMULLS. I went on my own tangent, but now you're talking about it being a killswitch instead....not what I was thinking, and not sure why the Alexandrians would create such a thing if they went to such lengths to create the Endless in the first place and Queen Sphene to protect them BUT it reminds me that with all the FF9 references I was kind of disappointed SPhene didn't turn into Necron as the final boss BUT.....with this crown business, maybe we will still get that (and a Soken version of FF9s Final Battle track :D ) And definitely, I loved Wuk Lamat (and DO NOT understand the hate all over the internet for her) but absolutely shell be the Hien/Lyse/Cirina/Aymeric of Tural; after re resolve the story of the patch series, we'll only see them sporadically since we'll be going on adventures while they run their nation. I'd love to see her join us, but I totally get that is NOT going to happen (and wouldn't want it to, for Tural). For the patch series, im guessing (hoping?) its the Scions addressing all the unanswered questions from the (really really ABRUPT) ending like .....WHICH SHARD IS ALEXANDRIA FROM.....IS THERE ANYTHING OUTSIDE LIVING MEMORY.....IS A SUNDERED ASCIAN INVOLVED...WHAT IS YSHTOLA GONNA DO WITH THE PORTAL/CRYTAL CUP.........WHATS WITH THE AZEM CUP TO BEGIN WITH........its bizarre to me theyd introduce an ENTIRE REFLECTION in they way they have unless there wasnt anything to explore outsiede of what weve seen. an entire ass Reflection deserves its own entire expansion ala Shadowbringers.....unless there's nothing left to explore (OR IF THATS GONNA BE ITS OWN EXPANSION WINK WINK?) obviously want to see Necron from FF9 as the patch boss, but they might do something more interesting than that.
meracydia will have a blitz ball stadium instead of an opera house im calling it we wont get to play blitz ball yoshi p made that clear but he never said it cant it be a new ranged physical dps and conveniently we need one a new
Doesn't one of the NPCs explicitly say that Sphene's crown is a fancy regulator? If she charged it with a few souls then who knows whether she's dead at all? Edit: Also, didn't YoshiP say during one of the media tour interviews that it would be relevant/ important to know about the identities of the remaining convocation members? Tying the two together, might there be a unsundered Ascian lurking who recovers Sphene's crown the same way that Nidhogg's discarded eyes were recovered after Heavensward? Maybe not to be used to channel aether, but to ressurrect her in exchange for access to the "dead" city?
The "Sacred sights of the forgotten people of the south sea isles" is referring to AloAlo island, the criterion dungeon. I believe the "treasure islands in blindfrost in Othard's north" is Mt. Rokkon. AloAlo island was the place where the Lalafel used the magic cup of teleportation during the 5th calamity to escape the source. Unfortunately it appears that they ended up back in time on the shard that rejoined in the 2nd calamity. The rest of the lalafel walked across the frozen oceans to the continents with stories (that go WAY back in the game's lore) of the population of the islands completely disappearing overnight. Now we know why. The Sphene crown is likely them teasing her possibly coming back if they choose to. There was a line from an NPC in Solution 9 that said her crown was some sort of special resurrection device.
come here to mention Alo Alo island. Just did it for the first time yesterday, after id done the Dawntrial MSQ and it was very .....OHHHHHH. lol. In the Volcano section of Living Memory there's that room "The Speaker's (something)" ... it made me curious if it was referring to ELidibus or the COnvocation with all the masks; but then i did Alo Alo Island with some people who knew what they were doing and wanted a warm body to join them (me) and on one run we ended up in a place called "The Shrine of the Speaker" and met......a certain individual .... I still have questions but yea, its was like oH THIS IS WHAT they were talking about.
@@redcloud16 The area in Living Memory is called Steps of the Speaker. Explore the side rooms there, two of them have some large interesting objects for you to puzzle over :). If you haven't yet, do complete the very short (5 minute) final quest outside the entrance which rewards you with the title "Sparrow's Harmony" and a piece of cheese ;). I complete all the Variant dungeons as close to release as I can, but I forgot that last quest myself and nobody tells you because the most vocal part of the community has done nothing but complain about these dungeons. I know people who like them and they have the metrics, so I suspect we will be getting more. The quality of the story telling and the combat design is above what we have been getting in the MSQ, although the dungeons in DT certainly show improvements - maybe the influence of Variant/Criterion?
Mt Rokkon is not in the Blindfrost, it's in Higashi. On the same island as Kugane, in fact. The Blindfrost is the ocean to the north of mainland Othard.
They specifically say in the msq that her crown is a regulator it just looks different so we have to keep that in mind. Kind of feels like a chekovs gun to me they mention it being a regulator but then she ends up being an endless so why mention it being a regulator? Surely that means something
It could be a bait and switch or it's a special type of regulator with different code than everyone else's which would make sense considering the role she played.
@@JMulls that’s true it could have a special objective written into it like a kill switch too. I love what you’re doing man keep it up can’t wait for patch content
@@X99-h6r they also had a very deliberate camera cut to the crown/regulator on its own after evrythings finished. that also means somethings going on with it.
you are totally sleeping on the group preservation. shale at the end name drops them and looking into them. also massively underselling the chalice. meracydia is press in case of emergency
Oh I 100% could be just wildly underselling Preservation. We don't really have any overarching antagonists right now and like MAYBE they could build up preservation to take on that role if they want to go in that direction. The chalice to me is so open ended as well, cause it could go for anything, i imagine we'll try and reverse engineer it... or we'll have Yshtola do that lol
The is an island to the north east of yak torel that should be the origin of the Roegadyn race and the lominisan pirates. I can imagine that we dont explore that. Well also explore the southern continent since that was part of emets prophecy for future content, along with the land of north othard, so we are gonna interact with those tribes again. From the cinematic it seems we will probably join estinians adventure, and explore whats below that giant bridge outside of tuli. Id also assume that we will investagte the southern part of tural, as well as those islands that are near the south east end. Im not sure we will do most of this, this expansion though because we already have our 6 zones. The only new area i know they are adding this expansion is the three small islands west of lomisina in tns form of a field,
No where dude. The 'graphical update' & story with characters nobody cares about, could be called vapourware. Yet the community sings and dances to the shadows upon the wall. Ever afraid to step into the light.
For those who forgot or scrolled past it in the msq, we do know for a fact, confirmed by an npc, that Sphene's crown is a special type of regulator. We were never told what was special about it, but that it was apparently unique in some way, form, or function than regular regulators. That begs the question about why Sphene would need a regulator at all, since she was an Endless. Maybe it's what facilitated her being able to control the mech guards so easily compared to Cahciua (aside from being literally in the system itself).
What we do know (spoilers for the 6.4 raid series) for the long-term is that someone, either a species or civilization, predated or was around at approximately the same time as the Ancient Ones/Amaurotines. We get confirmation for that from the final tier of Anabaseios, where we learned that the Heart of Sabik was given to Athena by Ultima, the High Seraph, which is presumably the same one that we fight in the Stormblood alliance raids since they have the same name. Thus, there was at least one being at the time that existed and had resources that went beyond the capabilities of the Ancient Ones to understand, at least without an extraordinary amount of time for research. With that in mind, I really can't imagine a scenario wherein the Ascians, when they were attempting all of the rejoinings, would have been aware of the crystal inside the cup that we now have and not just used that to force the rejoinings or at least used it as a weapon of mass destruction. So, the question then becomes: "Where did the cup come from?" My thought is wherever Ultima came from, since we basically have two unknowns and they could feasibly be of the same origin. We have white auracite, which we've seen extensive use of, black auracite, which was the Heart of Sabik, so why not gold auracite, for whatever's in the cup? It could even be that the electrope is actually a product made with black auracite or something like that. It's practically a philosopher's stone, so who knows what it's capable of if used to its fullest, most eldritch, extent?
theres also a few lines from Meteion about some of the failed civilizations. She mentions a "higher power" that destroys its worshippers on a whim, and part of me wonders if that wasn't Ultima. (although for Ultima to do that and Meteion to witness it + for Ultima to interact with Athena would cuase wonkiness.) BUT IF ITS NOT ULTIMA, that just opens more questions lmao. ....
@@redcloud16 That's fair, but didn't Meteion also say that said the higher power "self-terminated" after their interaction?
@@Qorani_VT no she said it was the person she was talking to that did it not, not the higher power (I'm pretty sure)
I think there is going to be a storyline focus on the "Key" and "Azem's Crystal" and how they are related. Showing the related symbols wasn't a happy accident before the last trial. In short, I think Azem created the key as a mode of transport of those he called to his side in ancient times. It was unsundered because it was in Emet's possession at the time of the sundering. So, we feel a responsibility to re-acquire the key to clean up our own mess. And, you know Y'shtola wants to get a hold of that key as well for personal reasons :D
They could go anywhere as long they get a good writer for the story.
If you have talented people you can make a good story/expansion out of anything.
I would have definitely been all for exploring Tural and its facets, cultures and the wishes of the people if I had done it by myself or with Krile and G'raha in tow.
That would have been awesome.
Personal POV:
- The Solution 9 storyline isnt finished, I think 7.1 to 7.3 will wrap up the fate of Alexandria, Sphene and their situation, we still have a time bubble to deal with, the soul transfer devices are not dealt with and the very society of the Everkeep has some fundamnetally twisted ideas of good and evil. It is possible they could resolve this in the Arcadeion storyline but I feel that would be a copout and heavily rushed.
- I am going to guess the FF11 crossover will be the wol pissing about with the key to do reflection travel for the first time, and finding one of the other shards.
- The other MSQ element will be figuring out Azem's mysteries and I think given the name "Dawntrail" is a double meaning it might literally mean following the trail of azem and finding some kinda lost junkpile/hoard/nerd basement your predacessor incarnate left for you to discover tied to reflection travel and more things to discover.
- Criteion dungeons could easily resolve some of the mysteries tied to the fullness of Eorzea as a continent, aswell as the Blindfrost Treasure Island.
- Merecydia is probably going to be 8.0 but it wont just be Merecydia, im going to guess its Merecydia + another Reflection or Reflections which could easily be solved over patches.
- Ilsabards mainland will likley be 9.0 with another reflection theme yet again as the reflections seem likley to be the sub-plot ongoing along with finding out more about Azem each expansion.
- 10.0 will likely wrap up the azem storyline.
Thats my tinfoil roadmap for now.
As for ongoing antagonists, I believe the reflections might be tied to the remaining sundered ascians, Altima, Halmaraut, Deudalaphon and Pashtarot, with Pashtarot the "Preserver of Order" being tied to Sphene, and likley the antagonist of the patches.
We also have missing Garlean legions, more Allagan mysteries and the void which has only been partially fixed for now aswell as other possible cosmic threats.
As for Merecydia, im expecting lore on:*Spoiler warning*
- Summoner lore being relevent given it explains the state of Merecydia currently.
- The warring triad city, a city state ruled by primals could be interesting.
- The Dragons and the origional Bahamut, not his primal counterpart.
- The World Tree.
- The Barren Wasteland left behind by the Voidsent.
- The Miqo'te tribes that lived there.
Not all of this is likley to be covered in the expansion but some areas might be plus raid content.
This seems plausible to me. There's plenty left to do, the issue is execution. I don't buy their argument that tying things up with EW somehow left them in a difficult situation. The narrative and world are as rich as they choose to make it.
I personally see, outside of what dawntrail has established, like 3 possible "cosmic" level threats. Most obvious one is of course still "the void", a lot less eluded via raids would be the Eldritch angel species of Ultima Seraph, with stuff like Jenova, the creator, Bhunivelze that can be referenced there, and the thing nobody probably has at the moment in mind is Grahas original timeline, if that thing for some reason bleeds into our timeline again, than we have problems.
I believe it's the second myself, than the third and final arc would be the actual gods of this eitherys which would be representations of the devs, with the final final final boss being killing the WoL killing the player, and gaining control of their lives.
ever since ShB ive been wondering if we'll see Emet Selch of the other timeline show up with a fully rejoined Zodiark as the final final boss or something. Because according to some sources, after an 8Th Rejoining Hydaelyn would no longer have the strength to resist the Ascians' plots; and with the WoL and Scions dead there would be no one to stop further Rejoinings. The Ascians would NOT stop after 8 for sure.....
@redcloud16 an Ultimate, maybe.
@@skybuilder23 I would be kind of disappointed if a plot point like that was just a "what if" superboss, but it would still be cool to watch people enjoy it. (I don't bother with ex's, savages, or ultimates tho, so id never see it myself)
@@redcloud16 I really think they want to keep to their word of primals being over, So that's the only way I see a complete zodiark fight.
Not to echo this sentiment of some one already said it but during the Yok Huy story in Urqopacha. Alphinaud and Krile, comment on it. Saying how the most likely cause of the disease that ravaged the yok huy was a lack of immunity because even the yok huy note that the Shatona and the Hyure population likened that desease to the common cold for them.
We literally went to the south sea Isles. Thats what Aloalo islands V&C dungeon was. Also where the Milala in the 12th (Sphenes reflection) originally came from when our world had the 2nd calamity, the one of ice
Ita unsure if Alexandria was on the 12th, someone protected in its own pocket space, or a other reflection that experienced a second Lightning Calamity, since some elements will be duplicated.
@SuperRamos619 pretty sure it's a pocket dimension and all that's left of the 12th reflection. It did fall to the flood of lightning. The one thing is the Milala fled the source during the calamity of ice, which happened after the calamity of lightning. Though given how time works in the between the shards, it's likely that they arrived at time long before the flood of lightning takes place.
Alexandria is not the 12th - we have word of god on the matter. In a recent interview, Yoshi-P said that all Shards that were said to be gone in EE3 ARE in fact gone, and there will not ever be a "well actually..." at any point in the future.
I personally believe they originally intended for EW to end with Zodiark and move on to Endsinger at 6.3.
They announced that EW was originally planned to be more than just an expansion. My guess that they originally planned on having Magus Sisters and Anima being the 83 and 87 trials, and since they moved everything forward, they changed them to dungeon bosses.
With everything moving forward in the MSQ, they were left with nothing for the patch quests, so they took the idea they had for the Trial series and extended it. EWs trials are all FF4 themed and are out of place for being in the MSQ, but are in line for the Trial series. The Warring Raid in HW were from FF6, the Weapons in ShB from FF7, using not only the 4 Fiends from FF4, but Golbez and Zero us, is too much FF4 fanservice for the MSQ.
I don't have a lot of hope going forward. DT felt like two half-baked expansions crammed together, the 8man raid series is the arena in Solution 9 were they apparently fought the souls of beasts (I wager this is where Zoraal Ja's soul/memories went since we didn't run into him in Living Memory), the Alliance Raid series is a callback to FFXI and I'm going to be super mad if the only use of the Key is to open a gate to the 11th to kick that off.
I really hope I'm wrong and 7.1 starts off amazing.
They wanted Endwalker to pretty much be 2 expansions, but decided against it because the team wanted to do the stupid Meteia storyline, so the original story got HEAVILY shortened so they could just add both stories to one expansion.
it was also VERY clear to me the Magus Sisters were ment to be the 83 trial; Anima the 87/89 Trial and Zodiark the FInal boss; and the scrunched it down. WHile i loved Endwalker, part of me wonders what a more fleshed out version like they intended would have looked like. Radz at Hahn and Garlemald having 3 zone each instead of being 1 each....? Damn.
Regarding Sphene's crown, I believe somewhere in MSQ it was mentioned that she does have a more advanced Regulator. It was implyed it's the crown, at least to what the Solution 9 residents think.
Given that Sphene was a projection of the Alexandrian database, it's possible the whole "the crown is a Regulator" point is used as an excuse to make the Solution 9 residents think she's alive, but that flashback at the end does seem to indicate she will play more of a role in upcoming patches.
I think.
Hopefully we go.......as far away from Wuk as possible.
disagree, Wuk's the best. Hope we see more of her.
We've already had the South Sea Isles - that's what Aloalo Island was.
They let the ending super open and i believe they have even said that its on purpose, and that they would focus on different things based on how the players recieved dawntrail. Different reflextions is pretty obvious, but thry also hinted at the south sea islands (and meracydia has to come packaged in w that) and more smaller hints
I think you're correct with the regulator element because we haven't had the Necron equivalent for the xpac yet (if we're going by FF9 rules). I suspect we'll get him in the .3 patch and then build up to the next xpac from there.
I WAS TOTALLY EXPECTING SPhene to turn into NEcron, and while I was initially disappointed that he didn't......thinking of Zeromus, he still could. :) so im hoping...ALSO HOPING for a Soken-ized reimagining of the Final Battle music with Necron from FF9 for it........aaaaaa
@@phandaal I mean. Kind of I guess? But it wasn't so much the fear of death as like, life is full of suffering and meaningless. Kind of opposite in a sense? We can still get necron. And I won't be satisfied until we get ff9's Final Battle remixed by Solen complete with the moans of the dead.
I believe 7.1-7.3 will be focused on preservation
I think Auracite is the key, and Ultima's race may be the main villains
I know Y'shtola will get a Whole Cake Island esc character arc
I believe they will leave the "actual gods" of Eitherys to the third and (hopefully) final arc. (I wanna see another FF MMO in my lifetime.)
Sphene, makes me want a truly psychotic female villain. I’d love a lusty power house of a character. I’d also love to see the main party turn on each other.
they teased it in DT but then didn't deliver
Spoilers alert. Hear, feel, think weighed heavily in Wuk Lamat's growth, not only was this focused on Wuk Lamat's growth, but for the WoL as well. In ARR we were told to hear feel think, in Dawntrail we felt what Hear feel think meant. The second is the big shot of Azem's crystal being front and center, the third was when Wuk Lamat asked why we do what we do and one of those answers was for the love of the star. This may indicate we are acquiring another soul. The 9th calamity is coming, as Emet-Selch pointed out if we survive each calamity we would be his equal. I am speculating, how it was hard for me to ignore the subtly. oh and Zodiark still exists in pieces on each moon of the existing reflections.
Sphene's crown is explicitly stated to be a special/unique regulator made just for her that does a lot of what the others did but all they said was that it's "special".
kriles parents were calculator jobs. also digital necromancer is possible now.
I just wanna explore the remaining shards. Should be 6 is my math is correct.
Yeah they basically have a free pass to do ANYTHING with those shards in terms of aesthetic so i'm really excited to see what they have, but I also want to explore them more like we did with the 1st than say the one we did in Dawntrail
@@JMulls If I'm correct Alexandria was all that remained of the reflection that fell to the flood of lightning. They only "survived" due to the their technology and possibly fitting in-between the their reflection and the Source. I mean it's not like time between the Source and the shards operates the same. It's possible the Milala ran from the Calamity of Ice only to arrive on that shard in what would be the Source's past before Alexandria and it's world fell to the flood of lightning.
Time jumping is so confusing.. anyway, I also would like to have expansions focus on the reflections and not just small story beats in other expansions.
one shard is drakenguard/nier. another one is final fantasy 11. ff16 also if you consider all the events canon. ff13 lighting etc.they might make one our world earth since the maps are similar and se likes doing that meta type of story. one world be ff8 based.
@user-on5dl9hc2z where did you see that? Nier was another universe, not another shard. I try to keep up with the lore and haven't seen anything remotely claiming that.
Six total that haven't been totally destroyed counting the first and thirteenth so four left we haven't seen. Not sure of Alexandria's placement though, whether it was the twelfth (second umbral calamity) or the ninth and just another failed attempt of a rejoining (but that's only assuming the reflections are going by game order).
From what we're shown post DT, I think we're gonna be doing the tournament arc in Solution 9 with the re-opening of the Arcadion.
that's the raid series
So about Mericidia. Personally, I think they are going to be the next Garlemald. Like rn we are missing a true antagonist for this new arc, since both Sphene and Jarool Ja were handled in 7.0. We need a long term antagonist like the Garlian Empire or the Ascians, and given Mericidia’s history with Eorzea, they could fit that roll.
Honestly, I hope they'll bring back Sphene, seeing as the devs seem to dislike killing off "good"/not comically evil characters who we've interacted with a lot (I mean we didn't even kill Golbez, Zenos got a second chance, Meteion kind of survived, Thancred didn't die in ShB, none of the Scions died in EW, Omega survived, etc.). It just felt wrong to strike her down for wanting to protect her people, so hopefully they'll bring her back and since the endless are no more, she won't have a reason to harvest everyone's souls, plus we beat her once so if she tried again we could just take her out a second time. It'd give her the second chance that's been mentioned multiple times in the MSQ ("If things had been different...", "In another reality..." etc.), plus Tural could greatly benefit from it, seeing as both Eorzea and Radz at Han are starting to make more use of tech. Giving Tural a piece of the pie only sounds right and the people of Lost Heritage/Solution 9 would probably be more inclined to cooperate with Tural if Sphene and Wuk Lamat worked together, maybe they can even bring back some people from Living Memory, Erenville got done dirty. This could also give the world time to prepare for reflection travel while we (maybe) explore Meracydia in the next expansion, similar to how pre-ShB events in the First unfolded during Stormblood after the Warriors of Darkness teased it in post-HW. Just give me a happy ending pls
(Also, is everyone ignoring how Zoraal Ja had a son? With whom? Why cast him out? Is he a clone? If so, why not just... put people's memories into clones? They really should address this, it feels like they just wanted to introduce some random bs with Gulool Ja)
Not really related to the story, but I hope we'll get some more healers/tanks in the Meracydia expansion, seeing as it's very magic/caster-focused. Maybe a caster-based tank?
Maybe the Meracydia expansion is going to deal with restoring balance to the reflections (namely the First and the Thirteenth) to prevent some big magic-based threat? A grand summoning gone wrong perhaps? They can really go in a ton of directions and I only regret not having a time machine to travel to the future to play them now
As soon as i saw the "golden city" entrance i was like, thats totally a stargate and we going to different shards.
Yeah, we're going to be doing Stargate:Scions is my guess. There's going to be a big reveal in the patches of DT that the gate does, in fact, go other places ala the first episode of SG1. (Yes, I'm a Stargate fan.) They even hinted at this in the ending credits of DT with Erenville's comment about how Interdimensional fusion may have affected other shards.
@@1337penguinman i see you are also a man of culture. I think it will be used in the alliance raids to open a Portal into vanadiel. each of the 3 raids will be like expeditions into vanadiel areas
I'm skeptical about the direction of the coming 5 or 6 patches, with the base story being mediocre. Unlikely they will send the WOL to another major world/region for just some patch updates.
I'm curious about this region's tural vidraal since they keep mentioning Valigamandra is not the only one. There could be more threats/sagas revolving around them.
does bro not know most of the games major story moments happen in post patches lmao
@@siduxjxhdgzhdjxhxuuxxyhgg1079 while i severely disagree with his ascertain that the story was mediocre ( i rather enjoyed the hell out of it) he is correct in that we don't usually get new World Zone maps in Patches. The patches usually work within what the expansion has already added (certain zones like Bozja notwithstanding). I also think its HIGHLY unlikely we would visit more of Xak Tural unless it was half-assed via only dungeons or special instances (being on the red moon, which isnt its own full zone, on the void in the patches for example). I would be disappointed if they did that. Part of me is sad we never got see what Yasullani looked like before it was dimensionally fused. Hoping if they add more of Xak Tural, its fully fleshed out expansion zones.
ALSO YES, Valigarmanda was my favorite part of Dawntrail; ive been listening to his trial music on repeat for like a week. If we get more tural vidraal id be super stoked!
ok hear me out: ...... with Eden we like, revived part of the EMpty but if i remember correctly they mention itll be many many years before the rest of the Empty is restored.........what if.......we take the Cup to Zero and dimensional fuse part of the 13th with the still defunct parts of the First's Empty....the two aether types cancel each other out, restores part of the First while also being the 13th.....?! dunno, just an idea i Had when they were talking about the cup.
AALSO HINGASHI...that needs its own full expansion, cmon. Im hoppping for something like, themed around Japans Warring States period or the Meiji Restoration perhaps. It would be fun.
Part of me wonders if Sphene's Crown has some kind of back-up of original Sphene's memories that robo-SPhene was trying to delete? And well both get to meet some incarnation of original Sphene as an Endless or something if we feed her aether; and the devs get to re-use the beautiful model they put so much effort into.
Also, I was rewatching someone play the MSQ on stream and they very heavily imply the disease that wiped out the Yok Huy was just a common disease the locals shrugged off in a way that was like "we dont need to explain this any further" (bu i could be wrong.......)
I like to think the chasm is literally the spot where Hydaelyn drop kicked Zodiark with her dimension splitting attack lol. Would be interesting if it was something else tho.
OH SHIT I DIDNT THINK OF THAT. SPhene's Crown...what if it pulls her memory from everyone wearing a regulator and reconstructs her?!?!?!! We'd have a second chance with her, and she'd see that if she pursues that "kill everyone else for the Endless" line of thinking she'd lose (again) (also there's no more Endless to need to worry about)........HMMM, GOOD IDEA JMULLS. I went on my own tangent, but now you're talking about it being a killswitch instead....not what I was thinking, and not sure why the Alexandrians would create such a thing if they went to such lengths to create the Endless in the first place and Queen Sphene to protect them BUT it reminds me that with all the FF9 references I was kind of disappointed SPhene didn't turn into Necron as the final boss BUT.....with this crown business, maybe we will still get that (and a Soken version of FF9s Final Battle track :D )
And definitely, I loved Wuk Lamat (and DO NOT understand the hate all over the internet for her) but absolutely shell be the Hien/Lyse/Cirina/Aymeric of Tural; after re resolve the story of the patch series, we'll only see them sporadically since we'll be going on adventures while they run their nation. I'd love to see her join us, but I totally get that is NOT going to happen (and wouldn't want it to, for Tural).
For the patch series, im guessing (hoping?) its the Scions addressing all the unanswered questions from the (really really ABRUPT) ending like .....WHICH SHARD IS ALEXANDRIA FROM.....IS THERE ANYTHING OUTSIDE LIVING MEMORY.....IS A SUNDERED ASCIAN INVOLVED...WHAT IS YSHTOLA GONNA DO WITH THE PORTAL/CRYTAL CUP.........WHATS WITH THE AZEM CUP TO BEGIN WITH........its bizarre to me theyd introduce an ENTIRE REFLECTION in they way they have unless there wasnt anything to explore outsiede of what weve seen. an entire ass Reflection deserves its own entire expansion ala Shadowbringers.....unless there's nothing left to explore (OR IF THATS GONNA BE ITS OWN EXPANSION WINK WINK?) obviously want to see Necron from FF9 as the patch boss, but they might do something more interesting than that.
Wait until you see MY take on Alexandria ;)
I agree with you 100% and a lot of people are missing the point of the story, but you nailed it.
meracydia will have a blitz ball stadium instead of an opera house im calling it we wont get to play blitz ball yoshi p made that clear but he never said it cant it be a new ranged physical dps and conveniently we need one a new
nooooooo im still praying on Azem's Crystal and the Azem Cup with all my might that we get Blitzball lmao.
Doesn't one of the NPCs explicitly say that Sphene's crown is a fancy regulator? If she charged it with a few souls then who knows whether she's dead at all?
Edit: Also, didn't YoshiP say during one of the media tour interviews that it would be relevant/ important to know about the identities of the remaining convocation members?
Tying the two together, might there be a unsundered Ascian lurking who recovers Sphene's crown the same way that Nidhogg's discarded eyes were recovered after Heavensward?
Maybe not to be used to channel aether, but to ressurrect her in exchange for access to the "dead" city?
The only unsundered Ascians were Lahabrea, Elidibus, and Emet-Selch, and they're all dead.
The "Sacred sights of the forgotten people of the south sea isles" is referring to AloAlo island, the criterion dungeon. I believe the "treasure islands in blindfrost in Othard's north" is Mt. Rokkon. AloAlo island was the place where the Lalafel used the magic cup of teleportation during the 5th calamity to escape the source. Unfortunately it appears that they ended up back in time on the shard that rejoined in the 2nd calamity. The rest of the lalafel walked across the frozen oceans to the continents with stories (that go WAY back in the game's lore) of the population of the islands completely disappearing overnight. Now we know why.
The Sphene crown is likely them teasing her possibly coming back if they choose to. There was a line from an NPC in Solution 9 that said her crown was some sort of special resurrection device.
come here to mention Alo Alo island. Just did it for the first time yesterday, after id done the Dawntrial MSQ and it was very .....OHHHHHH. lol. In the Volcano section of Living Memory there's that room "The Speaker's (something)" ... it made me curious if it was referring to ELidibus or the COnvocation with all the masks; but then i did Alo Alo Island with some people who knew what they were doing and wanted a warm body to join them (me) and on one run we ended up in a place called "The Shrine of the Speaker" and met......a certain individual .... I still have questions but yea, its was like oH THIS IS WHAT they were talking about.
@@redcloud16 The area in Living Memory is called Steps of the Speaker. Explore the side rooms there, two of them have some large interesting objects for you to puzzle over :). If you haven't yet, do complete the very short (5 minute) final quest outside the entrance which rewards you with the title "Sparrow's Harmony" and a piece of cheese ;). I complete all the Variant dungeons as close to release as I can, but I forgot that last quest myself and nobody tells you because the most vocal part of the community has done nothing but complain about these dungeons. I know people who like them and they have the metrics, so I suspect we will be getting more. The quality of the story telling and the combat design is above what we have been getting in the MSQ, although the dungeons in DT certainly show improvements - maybe the influence of Variant/Criterion?
Mt Rokkon is not in the Blindfrost, it's in Higashi. On the same island as Kugane, in fact. The Blindfrost is the ocean to the north of mainland Othard.
They specifically say in the msq that her crown is a regulator it just looks different so we have to keep that in mind. Kind of feels like a chekovs gun to me they mention it being a regulator but then she ends up being an endless so why mention it being a regulator? Surely that means something
It could be a bait and switch or it's a special type of regulator with different code than everyone else's which would make sense considering the role she played.
@@JMulls that’s true it could have a special objective written into it like a kill switch too. I love what you’re doing man keep it up can’t wait for patch content
Thank you hack! I appreciate that, I can't wait for the patches too, really interested to see where they take all this
she didnt need one since she was borrowing robot bodies... the whole plot point is ridiculous.
@@X99-h6r they also had a very deliberate camera cut to the crown/regulator on its own after evrythings finished. that also means somethings going on with it.
you are totally sleeping on the group preservation. shale at the end name drops them and looking into them. also massively underselling the chalice. meracydia is press in case of emergency
Oh I 100% could be just wildly underselling Preservation. We don't really have any overarching antagonists right now and like MAYBE they could build up preservation to take on that role if they want to go in that direction. The chalice to me is so open ended as well, cause it could go for anything, i imagine we'll try and reverse engineer it... or we'll have Yshtola do that lol
The is an island to the north east of yak torel that should be the origin of the Roegadyn race and the lominisan pirates. I can imagine that we dont explore that. Well also explore the southern continent since that was part of emets prophecy for future content, along with the land of north othard, so we are gonna interact with those tribes again.
From the cinematic it seems we will probably join estinians adventure, and explore whats below that giant bridge outside of tuli. Id also assume that we will investagte the southern part of tural, as well as those islands that are near the south east end. Im not sure we will do most of this, this expansion though because we already have our 6 zones. The only new area i know they are adding this expansion is the three small islands west of lomisina in tns form of a field,
XIV needs a huge backend revamp. They cant sit on the current systems for another 5 years.
One thing for sure no more wuk lamat!
No where dude. The 'graphical update' & story with characters nobody cares about, could be called vapourware. Yet the community sings and dances to the shadows upon the wall. Ever afraid to step into the light.
End game. Because the story is garbage
Garbage opinion is real.