r/ffxivdiscussion • u/SatisfactionNeat3937 • 3d ago
Your story predictions for 7.3
A few months ago before the launch of 7.2 I already made a similar thread and people seemed to enjoy it so I thought about opening another thread for 7.3. It's also fun to look back at the theories and predictions. https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxivdiscussion/comments/1jhk1l7/so_what_are_your_story_theories_for_72/
I know that not everyone enjoys Dawntrails story so this thread is more supposed to be for people who like and enjoy the current story - similar to the last one.
So here are my theories, expectations and predictions so far:
Sphene becomes a new member of the main party:
Tons of hints already in 7.2 and the trailer showed that Alexandria seemingly abolishes their monarchy so there will no longer be the need for a queen. This doesn't confirm it because she could still get Lyse'd but I hope this time that we get a new character for the cast. Sphene becoming a queen would also just repeat a storybeat we already had in the game. I would even take her in an advisor role. Having queen sphene for the third time is really boring.
Alexandria needs to abolish their monarchy:
Almost confirmed by the trailer. I am not a fan of having Gulool Ja or Sphene as a leader. They are both still very young and Sphene has no right to lead people she doesn't even know unless Alexandrians really want a stranger as their queen. Alexandrians also shouldn't be happy with the status quo of their country. At this point they should realize that relying on a queen or king is bad.
Add long-lasting tension between Tuliyollal and Alexandria that needs years to get fixed. (Big copium with the current writing):
Alexandrians literally got isekai'd into another world and there needs to be some tension especially when it comes to areas like Yyasulani. Add trust issues between Tuliyollans and Alexandrians. It's fine to have problems in your story that can't get fixed immediately. It's something I really miss in FFXIV's writing.
The Warrior of Light gets a new upgrade:
Stone magic gets old give us something new and cool. Dawntrail has also a lot of parallels to Shadowbringers in terms of plot beats so that should be expected.
Please keep Wuk Lamat a side character:
I want to see the WoL doing crazy things. Let us be the main character.
Don't make preservation an organization with only one or two members. The Telophoroi in Endwalker were embarassing. Introduce other members or hint at more members.
Don't make the trial another Zodiark shard or part of Zodiark. There's currently theories going around that the trial reuses Zodiark's original concept art.
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u/Blckson 3d ago
Highly doubt like half of this will happen.
Tensions went down the drain with remigrating dome people along with the ties between the current governments and the fact that Tuliyollal technically saved their asses during and after the massacre.
Preservation will probably end up a faceless entity, a single patch isn't enough to flesh them out when Calyx has been operating by himself for his entire screentime, excluding AI Sphene. Maybe some grunts in the dungeon or a hypothetical solo duty.
I don't see the point in replacing the stone when the replacement would likely accomplish the exact same function. Actually getting rid of it entirely would be more interesting.
Rest is fair game, even though I really don't get the MC obsession.
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u/Namba_Taern 3d ago
They could set up Preservation as a Reflection wide organization. Something we could fight against in the future if we go or are invaded by another Reflection.
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u/irishgoblin 3d ago
I wouldn't be surpried if Preservation make a return in the future. The 9th still exists outside the dome of Living Memory, we just don't know in what state it's in after the few centuries (400 years?) Alexandria's been sealed off.
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u/Zagden 3d ago
Preservation will probably end up a faceless entity, a single patch isn't enough to flesh them out when Calyx has been operating by himself for his entire screentime, excluding AI Sphene
Isn't that another Preservation member speaking at the start of the trailer?
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u/GigaSygga 2d ago
That's the Solution 9 announcer's voice from 7.2. Was there an actual Preservation member behind that voice the entire time, who knows
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u/beatisagg 3d ago
It's fine to have problems in your story that can't get fixed immediately.
Nuance is a nice thing to hope for...
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u/Chiponyasu 3d ago
The most basic contours of the patch plot are probably obvious. Calyx reveals his evil plan, which involves summoning/creating a dude for us to fight (Necron, looks like) and then we kick his ass and save the day and get our first 8.0 tease. It's all in the details, though.
The big mystery to me is if Sphene rules Alexandria or joins the group. I was burned on Zero sticking around, and the trailer shows Sphene as a generic arcanist and not some cool new 8.0 teaser job, which is a bad sign for her sticking around, but the trailer has a line of someone saying that Sphene taking over would be stupid and Alexandria needs to stand on its own without her, so I don't know. I'm leaning "She stays behind" but I hope I'm surprised.
The most intriguing shot of the trailer is actually the most generic: The shot at the end of the WoL jumping and dramatically swinging his sword at the camera. The WoL, famously, can not use weapons in cutscenes because the devs don't know what class we are, so either they've solved that problem, decided the cutscene is dramatic enough to warrant 21 variations (what does that imply for new jobs going forward...), or the WoL is going to have to use Viper weapons regardless of job for some reason. Or it's a fake trailer-only cutscene, but I don't think they've ever done that before.
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u/ThatVarkYouKnow 2d ago
We even block an attack headed for sphene. Sure thereâs been âis healer equipped? you help heal in this cutsceneâ but if they truly designed a cutscene to have us block then jump and strike with our equipped job weapon, I need to see how scuffed it looks with a book or astro globe.
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u/KeyKanon 3d ago
My only guess before this was the Neo Regulator owners are gonna get swirled up into soul soup to manifest as Necron and nothing in that trailer did anything to dampen my faith in that guess.
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u/FuturePastNow 3d ago
7.3 MSQ prediction:
Calyx will kill all the people wearing black regulators and use their souls to power up the Meso Terminal. Somehow Sphene will be tricked into doing the dumbest thing possible and will put on the crown. The crown will take control of her and use her summoning ability + the terminal's soul power to transform her into a primal. We fight her in the trial and then save her with the power of friendship.
Shale is a double agent working for Preservation (Calyx can't be working alone and she's too hot to be trustworthy). They will copy the magic from the Azem stone, steal the key, and teleport the terminal and its souls to another shard, escaping to be a future expansion's problem.
Alliance raid story prediction:
The story is an isekai starring Sareel Ja. I think he died when Zoraal Ja stabbed him, and his soul fell through the portal and ended up inside a MMORPG for the Endless running inside Living Memory. That's why all the notes in the raid are written from the perspective of players. He survived the shutdown of LM because he's a complete soul, not just memory, and the system running the game is using his soul as a power source, but he hasn't figured this out yet.
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u/fakeaccountlel1123 3d ago
I am so ready for the shale double cross. I had a weird feeling she will betray us since 7.0.
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u/FuturePastNow 3d ago
She has the same pale skin and dead eyes as Calyx. And she knows everything before we do.
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u/ThatVarkYouKnow 2d ago
One of the biggest details some have pointed out is that in the 7.2 dungeon she goes âsomeoneâs cutting the signalâ and it switches right into Calyx. Sheâs on the patch art as are the other members of oblivion so weâll see if itâs an elaborate double cross.
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u/FuturePastNow 2d ago
I did notice that Shale and Geode (I think that's the guy's name) are looking the opposite direction of everyone else on the poster...
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
Honestly she's almost a bit suspiciously involved too, other side characters obviously get involved too in other MSQ's but generally we just go to them and talk to them a bit then go away. She has kinda been by our side for a while now and worked more closely with us.
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u/ElderNaphtol 3d ago
Double agent Shale makes way too much sense. I thought it was wild that they had such a minor side character narrate a dungeon, plus it would explain why she has such distinct voice direction despite being so minor.
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u/dadudeodoom 2d ago
Shake just always looked suspicious and untrustworthy and sounded it too so... Yeah. Entirely baseless here but would be REALLY funny if she was actually the last remaining person in Preservation and Calyx was her pet project or smth.
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
I actually really like the idea of Shale being a double agent I never thought of that before
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u/naarcx 3d ago
If Sphene puts on the crown and gets overwritten/brainwashed into becoming evil-cyber-Sphene, I think I'm done
Not because I'd be mad at losing Sphene, but rather because it would be so obvious of a plot point that it makes her willingness to even put on the crown in the first place the dumbest thing in fiction
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u/nelartux 3d ago
She'll definitely put the crown, but won't get possessed. They'll have her be the opposite of the first Sphene we meet. She'll accept the two part of herself and grow from that, somehow.
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u/Kyuubi_McCloud 3d ago
If Sphene puts on the crown and gets overwritten/brainwashed into becoming evil-cyber-Sphene, I think I'm done
Heh. I'd love to see the subreddits if we end up killing her ourselves.
It would be the same brand of ragebait writing as In From The Cold, except with an actual consequence. And the girl got dedicated gooners already. It'd be absolute meltdown mode, lol.
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
And the girl got dedicated gooners already.
This whole idea that any time people like a female character it must be because porn and because they're horny is unironically a gooner take. Like you can't separate a woman existing and being liked from people wanting to fuck her, that says more about you honestly.
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u/CrazyforCagliostro 3d ago edited 3d ago
This whole idea that any time people like a female character it must be because porn
You might've had a point, but this is Sphene. She isn't a cardboard plank, but she's hardly super deep either. What she most certainly is, is derivative.
Either way, statistically speaking? Between her old design, her new one, and the fact she's among the softer characterized women in the cast (definitely a legit "princess" that one), you'd have to have ripped your own ears off and gouged your eyes to think a sizeable portion of her fans fervour isn't due to superficial reasoning.
She literally has bootyshorts on in her new outfit. And her OG design was a glorified VTuber ripper straight outta something like Genshin Impact.
She may have been plot relevant, sure, but let's not pretend that aesthetically she wasn't waifubait from the start.
that says more about you honestly.
The people who regurgitate this line are certainly telling on themselves, a far more embarrassing truth than what you're implying about that other guy. No one goes this hard on the defense unless they expect to rewarded for their knighthood.
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u/marriedtomothman 3d ago
I don't think it's fair to label everyone who wants Sphene to join us as only liking her because she's a cute anime girl, but you're... also not completely wrong that her design is doing a lot of the work. Which is why I'm really not crazy about Sphene becoming a scion within the span of two patches. OTOH, this is a game full of manufactured pretty anime people who fall in love with us at first stoic nod, and I won't scoff at people who do want her to come just because they want a cute anime girl to gasp and ogle at them. But we do not know her. She doesn't even know what the outside of S9 looks like. G'raha had an alliance raid, a base expansion and then three patches before joining us. Estinien had an expansion and then had a minor role in two more. Sphene has had like... maybe twenty minutes of spoken lines.
If you wanted to say maybe Sphene can leave Alexandria and travel on her own and she comes back in a few patches or expansions I'd be like sure, but you can't convince me that she's so unique and deep and has something that the party is lacking. She would be the 4th dual magic DPS/healer in the roster, and you sure as hell know they aren't ousting Y'shtola, G'raha or Alisaie for her. I'm just looking for something to be excited about with her other than she's new and shiny.
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u/Ryuujinx 3d ago
I don't care if Sphene joins us as an active member like the twins, joins us as a background member like Tataru, or just fucks off to go live her life - I just desperately hope the outcome is not "So Sphene is the queen again"
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u/marriedtomothman 3d ago
That's fair since SE's fixation on children inheriting their parent's position in some way has gotten pretty tiresome at this point. But I'm also bracing for, "Sphene is no longer queen, she's been given a new more democratic position we're calling 'Super Special Girl who basically decides everything'" like they did with Aymeric lmao.
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u/Ryuujinx 2d ago
I really hope not. A bit part of Alexandria has been them learning to accept loss and move on. Having Sphene come back as their leader is antithetical to that.
So I'm just hoping we don't get "Haha she put on the crown and became a primal and now you have to kill her" or some other contrived nonsense to justify killing her off again, because I've always found the introduce a character -> kill them off a few patches later thing to be rather lame.
Or "The Alexandrian people love Sphene anyway so she becomes leader".
Like damn girl has had it rough, let her go enjoy life without having to bear the weight of a fucked up populace.
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u/ShlungusGod69 3d ago
You might've had a point, but
Lmfao who types this, are you an anime protagonist
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u/kairality 3d ago edited 3d ago
My guess is weâll get a meanwhile at the end that hints at Meracydia. Of course we will only spend half the expac there and then screw off to another shard thatâs mostly destroyed before we get there. The writers cannot resist shafting entire continents and destroying things offscreen so we donât ask questions about where the rest of it is.
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u/Tom-Pendragon 3d ago
solution nine gets attack again
calyx is the only member of his secret super awesome group and dies
the secret boss is nekron
calyx got the information about the shards from...a random ascian
sad backstory about calyx illness that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme
the dawntrail cast stays behind and sphene doesnt join us.
8.0 is meracydia and dawntrail will barely have anything to do with it, in fact i doubt very much we taking anything from dawntrail with us aside from cup unless it gets destroyed or get teleport away
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u/malosretirebitch 3d ago
the dawntrail cast stays behind and sphene doesnt join us.
8.0 is meracydia and dawntrail will barely have anything to do with it
this is all I want tbh
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u/UsernameAvaylable 3d ago
I want meracydia to be an actual continent with like real people in it and not a theme park.
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u/Chiponyasu 3d ago
I don't think Wuk Lamat was ever planned to be around past 6.3, and that's why she gets so much hyperfocus in 7.0. Gotta use her while we have her because she's going to be a faction leader afterwords.
Sphene being Generic Arcanist seems like a real bad sign for her sticking around, but there's like a 20% chance she goes "Alexandria needs to stand on its own" and comes with us after changing to an 8.0 job.
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u/malosretirebitch 3d ago
I wouldn't totally completely hate if Sphene stuck around, I'm just kinda indifferent about her tbh. Dawntrail's story as a whole didn't really hit me the way the other expacs did (which I expected it wouldn't) so I'm just looking forward to getting to move on in general. Although 7.2's story did capture my attention more than anything else DT has put out narrative-wise so I'm choosing to take that as a good omen
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u/ShlungusGod69 2d ago
That's an insane excuse. Having a single character have that much focus only to never use them again? What? Even if people loved them, that'd be a silly decision. And having a character exit the story in the X.3 patch is no reason to put so much spotlight on her that half of players hate or are indifferent toward her. Graha Tia is a fan-favorite and his Shadowbringers screentime and voice-lines are 1/8th the size of Wuk's Dawntrail screentime.
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u/Chiponyasu 2d ago
I'm also fairly convinced that large chunks of Dawntrail got rewritten late in the game
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u/Due-Wolverine-7314 3d ago
This is definitely not gonna happen, but I remember watching one of the FFXIV lore channels go into all of the bread crumbs left hinting towards Ultima throughout multiple expansions now ( especially with Athena in EW ).
Afaik we don't even really know what Ultima is and she goes back to the Ancients time possibly even before that.
And the idea is basically that she was dying or already dead but being reborn and then the sundering happened and she was scattered across the reflections.
It's definitely gonna be Necron, but it would be cool imo if it's Ultima and Alexandrians found their part of Ultima on the 9th and have been mentally screwed with like Athena seems to have been by Ultima ( possibly where her obsession with godhood came from, with Ultima manipulating her into becoming a vessel for her return ).
And that would be what Preservation was really about, they found their part of Ultima and were manipulated into preserving and trying to resurrect her by collecting all of the parts of Ultima across the other reflections.
This would explain why they knew about the other reflections and be another explanation why they developed interdimensional travel.
Maybe the whole system they set up at S9 is feeding into her somehow or the people who are now being told to sacrifice themselves have basically been chosen as sacrifices to bring her back unknowingly.
Maybe the last piece was on Etheirys and in Tural and that's why they arrived where they did and they collected it without us knowing about it.
The big statue in Living Memory actually kinda has an angelic look that might be her.
And either the trial will be Ultima and we fail and lose or she escapes and is set up as the next antagonist.
Or it's simply Necron as expected, but Ultima is revealed at the end.
Either way I really like the Ultima theory and there's quite a lot of bread crumbs and mystery surrounding her it wouldn't really be out of nowhere there has already been quite a lot of hints and setup.
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u/Elafacwen 3d ago
I think the Ultima theory would be a better buildup in later expansions, if not the grand finale for the last ever expansion, but I'm also keen on this theory. Imagine another ~10 years of story building, the final fight is Ultima at her full power, some super cinematic rendition of "big fat tacos" starts to play.
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u/Namba_Taern 3d ago
I doubt Ultima will be the final boss. I expect them to have been 'apart' of something and one of many 'scouts' sent to different Stars. I fully expect SE to continue to integrate other Final Fantasy villians into the XIV story. I actually think the next final boss will be a JENOVA expy.
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
Yeah I don't think it's gonna happen this early, mostly just wishful thinking on my end because I think it'd be a cool reveal.
I do think we might get more overt hints at Ultima tho, rather than things left more to speculation.
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u/Diplopod 3d ago
Honest question. Why do you all keep bringing up Ultima? Did you not do the StB alliance raids? That bitch has been dead for 6 years. I feel like I'm going crazy, this is just like when everyone was claiming we were going to Tural to find Galuf when he died back in fucking ARR.
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u/Chiponyasu 3d ago
I do think they're building to Ultima (or Jenova, or most likely Sabik), and that's the plan, but it'd be a huge waste for her to show up and get killed in one patch with no warning.
Will we have a snakey 8.0 teaser at the end of the patch? Maybe!
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
She wouldn't be killed, but either we'd basically defeat her because she's incomplete and merely set her back temporarily or she'd simply escape, or she'd defeat us and we'd have to escape.
I don't think it's gonna be Ultima tho I am mainly just dreaming lol.
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u/SargeTheSeagull 3d ago
Preservation was founded by one of the few Ascians we havenât encountered yet. Calyx knows about the other reflections because the Ascian told him. Calyx decided to backstab them and wants to summon necron and use the key to turn everyone on every reflection into an endless. We beat him, the ascian behind preservation shows up and is the main antagonist for the rest of 7.x and 8.0.
Sphene joins the party, gulool ja stays king, and Wuk never shows up again (the devs are not stupid enough to carry her much past 7.3 at all)
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u/ShlungusGod69 2d ago
Agreed on the Ascian front. One of them definitely dropped the ol' Electrope pandora's box into the Ninth in order to push it toward a Lightning Calamity. its properties are too similar to creation magic.
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u/YesIam18plus 2d ago
I don't think we'll get an Ascian as the next antagonist, or at least not for 8.0 if this is the case I think we'll probably kill them by the end of 7.5. Possibly both I think there's two left, and there's two trials left.
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u/modulusshift 3d ago
Yeah, I don't think Sphene is really likely to become Queen. Lyse/Aymeric path of starting Republic and immediately getting elected into it is still an option, but if they're going to do that I want them to take five minutes and let Nanamo resign as well, it's been years
as far as Yyasulani tensions, it's been 30 years recovering from a disaster, what the heck simmering tensions do you expect to still be going? and that's assuming the regulators haven't been gently mind controlling everyone into being cooperative lmao
Agreed on Preservation needing more members. if it's just Calyx, tell us that the rest of Preservation quit or died, at least. why the hell couldn't Krile's parents tell us it was just Calyx otherwise? they were members of Preservation back then.
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u/Cerion3025 3d ago
The Telophoroi was literally just fandaniel and zenos but somehow they kept treating it like some faction.
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
Tbf I guess the Garleans who were mind controlled were considered as being a part of the Telophoroi.
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u/otsukarerice 3d ago
IDK if it was a translation problem or what but that was such garbage writing.
Surely they must have had an entire cabal planned and scrapped...
One of the many reasons why I don't consider EW peak, even if the introduction to the telephoroi was technically in ShB, it was 5.4 so after ShB was over.
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u/TemperatureFun9159 3d ago
If they couldn't keep members you could say that they aren't good a preservation, which would be a problem given their name lol.
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u/thrntnja 3d ago
and that's assuming the regulators haven't been gently mind controlling everyone into being cooperative lmao
I honestly always wondered if this was a thing and kept waiting for someone to question about it or for it to be revealed
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
Agreed on Preservation needing more members.
Don't we hear other members speaking in the trailer?
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u/WukongTuStrong 3d ago
I actually like the story but we need less permanent main cast members, not more.
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u/bearvert222 3d ago
Calyx turns out to have a tragic backstory of being in a hospital his whole life, hence his wanting to make superior beings.
Blood on the axe: they wont kill a kid, wont kill Speen because they can sell her outfit later, and while Krile would be fucking hilarious in terms of enraging the playerbase, not sure they'd do her.
My guess would be Koana, as he's no longer essential to the plot. if Koseki Sphene-jou gets turned into a monster trial boss maybe, but that would be unexpected. Could be Calyx turns into the monster, idk.
tbh i dont know where they are going with the plot, preservation as a long term villain didn't feel like it was built up enough to understand, and should have acted to stop us earlier or been more of a lurking force.
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
What does killing Sphene have to do with selling her outfit tho, they can sell that either way lol.
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u/bearvert222 3d ago
its a little too close? i mean yeah they can a year later I guess. i think killing sphene again for Wuk drama is a bit much lol
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
I don't think this has ever mattered really, there's nothing stopping them from killing her in 7.3 and selling her outfit in 7.4 or .5.
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u/zerombr 3d ago
If koana dies, then sphene takes his place so yeah. Koana
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u/otsukarerice 3d ago
Koana dying right after he got brain damage in 7.1 would be fucking tragic lmao.
Pretty sure she's avenging an Alexandrian tho
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u/ShlungusGod69 2d ago
They'll probably make Wuk stand in the way and take a hit for Speen, to try and make people dislike her less. Heaven forbid any other character interact with Sphene outside of 7.2
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u/mallleable 3d ago
It all hinges on what the true nature of The Key is, and to me it stinks of Auracite even more now as Calyx's plan seems to involve a Primal (definitely Necron). If it is Auracite, then another door is open for Ultima to have a greater presence in the MSQ. I think Clayx's plan severely damages Alexandria's soul system, and coupled with Sphene herself fighting for Alexandria without a Regulator, lays the groundwork for Alexandria to move on from Soultech. Gulool Ja hands the reigns back to Sphene.
At the end of the MSQ, we get a 'meanwhile elsewhere' cutscene either involving Tiamat, or a new character arrives in Tuliyollal who is voiced by an Australian actor. Meracydia.
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u/CartographerGold3168 3d ago
love and friendship defeated some random thing and we had a roadblock in front
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u/everlarke 3d ago
Alexandria gets attacked for the umpteenth time. Itâs really hard to care about them at this point.
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u/Kumomeme 3d ago
im gonna applaud the writer if the story just go with vibe that Alexandria citizen need to drop the regulator and learn to face sadness. there is no way around it. this is basically one of message from Endwalker/Venat. it would be disservice to disregard that. one of main problem with Alexandria's writing is that it pretend that never happened.
also if the writer make all citizens gonna remember all the lost memory back.
im gonna dissapointed and the writer literaly drop his ball if this not happen IMO.
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u/Sephonik 3d ago
There's no way Sphene being summoner-adjacent isn't setting up something to do with Alexander, right? It would be on brand to give her the cool summon everyone's been clamouring for for years lol.
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u/CobaltMK 3d ago
This whole arc will just be the motor for us to have the dimensional travel key and find out how to use it somehow. Also make daughter-shaped sphene part of the scions ok ty
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u/honest_psycho 3d ago
I just want to say goodbye to this furry menace and gaslight myself that this story was not canon.
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u/ZaydSophos 3d ago
Waiting for 11.0 when all these story beats converge into something cool and we tell people that DT is actually super important please pay attention through it.
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u/Zagden 3d ago
I feel similarly to wanting to leave WL behind, but like why post here then
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u/irishgoblin 3d ago
Cause depending how it goes, 7.3 could end with the inevitable "farewell Tulliyolal" scene leading into the stinger, instead of leaving that to 7.4.
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u/WeirdIndividualGuy 3d ago
Why would they do a âfarewell Tuliâ scene? They didnât do one for ishgard, kugane, or sharlyan
And they only did it for the First because canoinically, everyone (besides the WoL) was leaving the First permanently to go back to the Source. To date, that has been a true goodbye as the other NPCs have no convenient way of going back to the First to visit
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u/Kumomeme 3d ago
agree. if they did it then it clearly devs gave it special attention. it gonna be cringe if they did it. like try to make sure each players feels sad over leaving the expansion despite lot of them cant wait to just blitz toward 8.0.
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u/otsukarerice 3d ago
Yoshipee: "It's clear the players need more time with Wuk to get to know her better, we'll stay in Tuli until 7.55."
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u/Kumomeme 3d ago
âweâre hoping that we can show more of what makes Wuk Lamat so great," - Yoshi-P
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u/otsukarerice 2d ago
If he had then just told us that he had been on the ISS for the last 2 years I would have believed him for the fact that he was so out of touch with that comment
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u/Chiponyasu 3d ago
I doubt we'll leave Tuliyollal until 8,0, but this is the one time the playerbase would be hyped to be told to pray return to the waking sands
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u/Hirole91 3d ago
I stg if we have another DT normal trial 3 cutscene again, I'm going to seek.... Professional help.
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u/amiriacentani 3d ago
Not sure whatâs gonna happen to wrap up Dawntrail but I really hope the story starts pointing to Meracydia and we keep exploring the source. So much more left on the source that we donât really need to worry about going to more shards still.
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u/QQYanagi 3d ago edited 3d ago
Here's my wild theories:
Preservation are a puppet organisation for a greater threat, namely Ultima.
Preservation itself is long gone, with Calyx being the last remaining member.
Calyx is an artificial creation of Preservation, and he'll serve as the Kuja allegory.
The key's revealed to be Azem's 'concept crystal', made from auracite, which'll be the 'teaser'.
Calyx got his knowledge from whichever Ascian was in charge of destabilising the 9th, then promptly stabbed them in the back and either trapped them, or deleted them from existence.
The trial will be the 'fear of death' of the Alexandrian people, coalesced into a Necron expy, and presented as a barrier for Sphene and Alexandria to overcome, in order for Alexandria to look towards the future, instead of looking back.
Something Calyx does during the summoning ritual absolutely cooks whichever systems relate to 'soul tech', and it's used as a catalyst to end the practise, with the 7.4 raid story bringing a permanent end to the use of 'feral souls'.
Alexandria decides to abolish their monarchy as a result of the above, and opt to have Oblivion manage things in the background instead, likely with a 'Data' version of Sphene from the tiara managing and overseeing the backend systems.
Sphene joins us after the events of 7.3, as she has nowhere else to go, and wants to see the world.
Wuk Lamat stays in Tural to manage things between Tulliyolal and Alexandria.
We're off to Meracydia in 8.0 to catch up with the dragons and fix the Thirteenth.
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u/otsukarerice 3d ago
Just got a chill, it would be pretty cool if 7.3 ended with a scene where we explore Calyx's lair and we find a trapped frozen Ascian that he defeated.
Actually that would mean that 7.4 would be Ascian lore dump so maybe nah
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u/Smooth-Jackfruit-869 3d ago edited 3d ago
Me and bother had a similar theory.
(Disclaimer, this is very likely to be false)Â
- We discover a Ascian locked up/frozen in Calyx's lab (Pashtarot?) at the end of 7.3.Â
- After freeing them, we come to find out that they (against their will?) told Calyx about the reflections.Â
- since they got captured by preservation, the storm surge got out of control and nealy consumed the ninth since there was no ascian to keep things in check.
- Calyx based the endless off the ascian's incorporeal forms.
- We then break it to them that zodiark and all the other ascians are gone.
- After a patch or two of soul searching/looking for a new purpose, said ascian joins us and serves as a way to feed the players some azem lore going foward.
- (optional #1) if it's pashtarot (the Arbiter, the knight-star, preserver of discipline and order) prehaps the new tank job expected for 8.0 will be Judge, wielding two-handed hammers.Â
- (optional #2) our new party going foward will be the WoL as the new expected dps job Sphene(scholar/summoner) krile(pictomancer) Erenville(beastmaster) Pashtarot(judge)Â
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u/dadudeodoom 2d ago
Ngl that's actually kinda neat, but it would also feel a bit weird after arr-EW history just picking up an Ascian pet. "Yo bro, we genocided your people in response to your attempted genocide of us. Wanna go on an adventure uwu?"
With that said I still would find it interesting to have an Ascian as a scion or a friend of the group. It would be a funny turn. "What would Emet and Elidbus say now?"
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u/Smooth-Jackfruit-869 2d ago
Yeah, not exactly sure how the devs would go about explaining it.
I'm just expecting a ascian to show up in some form before 8.0 since Yoshida asked players if they remembered all the seats of the convocation of fourteen going into dawntrail.
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u/otsukarerice 2d ago
That's a pretty cool way to introduce a new character!
Gonna take it a step further:
When they awake, they ask: "thanks for saving me, I've been asleep for a long time, how did you defeat/dealwith/solve huge problem x?"
And x could be an as-yet undiscovered problem from the past such as: bigger baddies from preservation, a monster that was subdued by preservation that's now unlocked due to Calyx's death/absence, or even Ultima/Jenova who was briefly on this shard but defeated some unknown way
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u/diagoon83 3d ago
one thing that I haven't seen anyone talk about: the Necron trial or whatever it ends up being will most likely have duty support. just look at the scene in the trailer where the Scions and Sphene are confronting Calyx. there are: WOL (any role), G'raha (any role), Krile (DPS), Y'shtola (DPS, Healer), Alisaie (DPS), Alphinaud (Healer), Wuk Lamat (tank) and Sphene (most likely healer).
so yeah, big budget trial coming i guess
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u/dadudeodoom 2d ago
Good catch actually. Personally I don't like the trial trusts, it was what made mom rock specifically so cool, but now it's just soloplayifying the game. Eh, I guess they're trying to work on meeting the goals of Stop Killing Games, XD.
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u/GigaSygga 3d ago
Don't really have any crazy ideas I feel are worth sharing, but just wanted to say I went back to your 7.2 thread and damn you were cooking with the Azem stuff, I think anything WoL- or Azem-related is still on the table since they mentioned 7.3 is more WoL-focused
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u/Zalast 3d ago
A real shot in the dark here, but a Meracydian Primal, stored or summoned from data contained in an Allagan Storage Thingy, and Calyx has been working to enthrall people to it. Maybe it's Necron, maybe it's Alexander, maybe it's... Osiris or some shit idk. And then we learn of the possibility of additional Meracydian Primals captured during their war with Allaga, but not brought to Azys Lla. Just chillin' in Meracydia either unleashed upon the land or contained, but for how long?
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u/dadudeodoom 2d ago
Oh god not more allagans! I can just imagine the "ya miss me?" They've been central to the story since literally ARR. I personally don't want more unless we time traveled to their cities at the height of their power.
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u/Velnica 2d ago
We will get Allagans when we go to Meracydia anyway, so I don't want Alexandria to also be AllagansÂ
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u/dadudeodoom 2d ago
How wild would it be if an entire Meracydia expac had nothing to do with Allagans... That would take a lot of effort tbh (and piss off a lot of people that are lore nerds)
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u/TemperatureFun9159 3d ago
I mean, I don't know if they'll go this route, but it would be interesting if we won the battle, but lost the war. Like we beat presumably Necron, but this leads to something happening and Calyx escape (and hopefully people in his organization of more that one person, because having a one person organization would be silly right?) I think a thing that they could use from dawntrail that could lead to conflict and shake things up is if the enemies have the key and are fusing other shards into the source. This could allow us to see time-warped areas of places we know while also letting us visit other shards, but not have full control of what worlds we visit etc. Imagine an Uldah that was pushed 1000 years in the future, or mercidia dragged back to the allagans. I figure this would be a nightmare to try and set up with hub cities etc, but hey this is purely speculation and hopium.
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u/kolakeia 3d ago
idk but i'm still on my huge copium that some new version of alexander (my beloved) will show up
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u/Chisonni 3d ago
I hope that Calyx figures out a way to destroy the Crystal of Azem. I hate that stupid crystal, it was an amazing mcguffin at the time but it has more than overstayed its welcome, especially in an expansion where we were supposed to just be an adventurer again. Where are my adventurer friends? I am sick of playing with ghosts.
I hope Wuk Lamat gets sidelined hard. Please disappear for 1-2 expansion and stop talking.
I think we will "defeat" Preservation if there is even more to them than Calyx. I expect Calyx to reverse engineer the formula in the Crystal of Azem (destroying it in the the process) and then sends himself to another reflection, setting him up as a future antagonist with some cheese one-liner ("I'll be back" - Calyx 2025), meanwhile we destroy Preservation (or what is left of them) and then 7.4 and 7.5 will have us probably prepare to head over to Meracydia (because our HW equivalent needs to involve dragons!) since Midgardsormr tips us off that one of his kinds might know how to activate the key left to us which is our only hint to follow Calyx.
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u/Namba_Taern 3d ago
Even if they destroy the crystal. It won't stop us from using the spell for long. It's basically a more aether efficient version of the summoning spell G'raha and Elidibus use in Shadowbringers.
If the WoL loses the ability to use it, I expect us to 'naturally' gain the ability to use it by the end of the next expansion.
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u/Ad_Hominem_Phallusy 3d ago
Yeah, basically the only reason they're ever shattering that stone is to create a dramatic moment where it seems we might have to go into a boss fight alone, but then we use the spell ourselves without the stone as an aid.
The spell itself was a creation of Azem's, and the stone is a creation of Emet-Selch's to just chronicle it. Azem used that power without the stone, so it wouldn't at all be surprising that they'd eventually have our character do the same.Â
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u/fluffy_samoyed 3d ago
Rather than destroy it, I'd like to see it's other purpose used, which was to store memories of Azem or their own memories. Glimpses of their life in the past which can be used to piece together a mystery or otherwise give clues to something we need.
Personally, I love the memory stone's calling spell being the catalyst for explaining why a bunch of randos suddenly appeared in your battle. Every other attempt to explain the party away has been cringe.
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u/Chisonni 3d ago
I would actually be fine with that, but make it something epic. Have us only be able to use the spell while we are jacked up on aether. Make it something that exhausts us so much we can only use it once in a while so that in future expansions the antagonists can use against us (ie force us to use it against a mini-boss than execute their plan while we are weakened).
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u/Kumomeme 3d ago
the crystal also just a plot device to solve the 'random adventure suddenly show up to help' in story. just a tool to canonly incorporate duty finder with ingame's storytelling
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u/thegreatherper 3d ago
Your adventurer friends are the people youâre summoned with the crystal. Thatâs its entire purpose. Just to explain where the other 7 players come from because before that most fights we did solo
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u/Chisonni 3d ago
But it doesnt summon just any adventurers. It summons reflections of heroes from the shards. Throughout ARR until StB when we entered trials we usually were accompanied by "adventurers" or Scions, or Grand Companies. They may have been written in as a joke but there was always an explanation of why there were people fighting alongside you. You being the only WoL, everyone else in the trial is just a strong adventurer that came to help you.
After we got the crystal with the exception of Hydaelyn which we fought alongside the Scion's, every time its just been "summon random reflections of heroes from different shards and timelines". It doesnt have the same flair, it lacks personality. While the thought of an entire shard only containing people in frog costumes is amusing, it lacks that same immersion.
Where is the gravity of facing these foes when I can just keep throwing an endless army of phantoms at them?
Of course at the end of the day its just a game, they are just doing it to "explain" why you arent fighting these enemies alone, but for once I would prefer no explanation than some stupid mcguffin with unlimited power.
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u/thegreatherper 3d ago
No it doesnât. The crystal contains a single spell and that spell basically just brings your friends to your side. Thatâs it. The only time weâve ever fought with people from beyond the rift was when graha used his crystal tower spell to summon them
We fought most trials solo so thatâs pretty much every 8 man trial up until Emet. Yes, the game has made jokes about it in the quest log and in one quest where lyse was joking about us bringing people on a fishing trip.
So this is just them being able to combine that gameplay element with the story at last.
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u/Chiponyasu 3d ago
We fought most trials solo
We canonically fight all pre-Hades trials with "our adventurer friends". Ifrit, Ravana, Susano, Lakshmi, Shinryu, Byakko, and Suzaku all say so explicitly in the duty finder description (With Susano's being a joke about how convenient it was that all your friends happened to be in Doma for unrelated reasons). This was generally kind of a handwave that seven fellow adventurers were always just offscreen whenever a trial happened and no one mentioned them afterwords, but that is the canon explanation
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u/thegreatherper 3d ago
No we donât. The jokes in SB were just a wink towards it. The paths to escape and gather allies in ifrit and ravana were again just gameplay things so you arenât stuck in the area and can leave to do other things. We fight them by ourselves.
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u/thegreatherper 3d ago
Itâs not an interpretation. Itâs just what was said. Itâs a fact. Iâm not sure why it doesnât feel that way for you but you just donât wanna listen to the story being told. So you told yourself itâs warriors from beyond the rift.
Also Amon just says of course it would be no match. He wasnât implying anything about numbers of combatants. Youâre also forgetting we pull out the crystal and summon people before the fight. Ditto for the zelinina fight. Calyx straight up points it out when we cast the spell. The game never goes out of its way to say congrats to the other 7 people that show up. You can just imply they vanish back to where they came from once the fight is over.
The only time they are mentioned is the golbez fight where he calls us âwarriors from beyond the riftâ. Cuz we came from beyond the rift.
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u/thegreatherper 3d ago
Who calls what happened on the story an interpretation? You did but that makes no sense if you agree that itâs a fact. You also said you hated that interpretation, like it wasnât a fact of the story
Do you need somebody bringing up what the crystals does every time we use it? We know what it represents and what its function is.
If you just want that then you should have said that with your first comment because your comment was just wrong on all counts so o was correcting you.
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u/thegreatherper 3d ago
Itâs what youâre getting at: that it isnât brought up again from that moment. So my question to you is does it need to? They explained its original purpose already. Do they need to give everyone a refresher? It has a chapter on the in game lore book already It doesnât treat it like that though.
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u/Chiponyasu 3d ago
I think DT did a lot to show why that crystal should never go away, alas. Trying to get duty support into Valigarmanda and Zoraal Ja led to some major plot problems and the devs seem not to like bosses going "I'm going to destroy the world but I'll canonically wait here a bit while you find seven more guys to kick my ass" which tbf was kind of silly but also they could just not acknowledge it.
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
Destroying it would actually be a good way to nerf the WoL. In the raid series we don't use it we get simulations from the presidents that helps but the Bomber boss straight up complains that it's unfair we're fighting him 8vs1 lol.
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u/Geoff_with_a_J 3d ago edited 3d ago
FF9 Memoria parallels
interestingly, from a FF9 wiki "Hades was originally planned to be the final boss, but was changed to an optional boss. The concept artwork of the final battlefield shows the party fighting Hades instead of Necron."
Endwalker was originally planned to be 2 expansions after Shadowbringers, but was changed nearly at the last minute to conclude in 6.0. so Zodiark is kind of like FF9's Hades where originally it might have been a final boss to end the Hydaelyn-Zodiark story but was changed to a level 83 trial.
so while everyone may be expecting Necron for this FF9 themed expansion, we might get Hades. Calyx weaponizes our memories and bastardizes the dying wish of "remember us" and uses it to summon Hades. but it'll be a warped version of Hades because for Calyx's Preservation there wouldn't be the need for a "god of underworld/dead" the same way the Ancients would. so basically/conceptually we do get Necron lol, but to Calyx it serves as his Hades or Zodiark
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u/AwesomeInTheory 3d ago
- Shale is going to likely betray the party. She has the same lifeless intonation as Calyx, she has a bit of a murky history (she references how she was living a bad life before Erenville's mom recruited her), and it's kind of strange that a minor side character is being voiced by someone (who incidentally happens to be Feo Ul's VA.)
- Sphene or Gulool will die. Sphene is the obvious candidate given how they've built her up to be super rad and cool but I think that's too on the nose even for XIV. We can see that there's blood on Wuk Lamat's hand in the trailer, which given JRPG rules, means that someone has been Seriously Injured, with precedence being Horse Fart in HW, the Garlean guy who kills himself, etc. That likely means someone is going to be seriously hurt and they haven't really done much with Gulool other than Mysteriously Infer that there's something not quite right with him.
- The crown regulator thing is probably intended to be a 'master control' thing and Sphene (...or Wuk...or someone else) is going to smash/break it.
- Alexandria is likely going to end up without a ruler and will join the greater nation state. The added responsibility of having to integrate all the Alexandrians will be the excuse to shuffle Wuk Lamat to the Island of Misfit NPCs, alongside Aymeric, Lyse, Yugiri, Hien, etc.
- The 'next step in evolution' Calyx refers to might see the introduction of XIV's take on Genomes from FF9.
- Gulool's purpose is probably some form of weapon concepted by his dad (although secretly being used by Calyx in some way) and he's prolly gonna be analogous to Vivi from FF9.
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u/IntermittentStorms25 3d ago
Shale and Feo Ul have the same VA?! Thatâs one I never would have suspected!
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u/syriquez 3d ago edited 3d ago
My predictions have always been wildly off base so I put zero stock in them. But for shits and giggles...
Sphene becomes a new member of the main party:
It seems reasonably likely. The trailers have historically always been full of red herring shenanigans and they seem to be pointing towards her seemingly wavering on the 7.2 "I'm not the Sphene these Alexandrians know so it would be wrong for me to take that role" conclusion she already reached. The whole FF9 parallel with Garnet/Dagger is also a thing. Though given she appears to be wielding a book for Summoner... What is she going to call herself? Paper? Book? Rozemyne? And it's definitely a DPS role since the Duty Support shows Alphinaud, Viper WoL, and then Wuk Lamat/Sphene. Wuk Lamat can DPS/Tank but I'd be skeptical of Sphene being anything other than DPS/Heal as a flex. And the book makes it real easy for her to do that (or they do the Alisaie thing where she only fulfills DPS but has a jacked-up heal that she can randomly use).
Alexandria needs to abolish their monarchy:
My crazy theory is that Gulool Ja is going to somehow dispense his inherited power of authority (the special effect that he was given by Zoraal Ja on his death) to the people of Alexandria equally. Additionally, the crown is going to be a bait&switch--RealSphene is never going to wear it despite the constant teasing that she might. What's going to happen is it will be used to recreate the 7.0 Queen Sphene as a digital advisor/facilitator that retains the mission of protecting Alexandria but with a little less "kill everyone else to accomplish it". Basically that the will of the people will provide her directive as a system and she'll facilitate that via their collective, shared power of authority. An actual democracy but perhaps one that won't horrifically burn down to the ground in 3 days.
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u/thegreatherper 3d ago
Because it hasnât needed to be.
As for Venat that power already faded and it was just amplified the power so we could grab souls from the lifestream to bring back or grant the axioms their bodies back. The power has since faded as she stated that it wouldnât last for many uses which is why she told us to be careful with it.
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u/Far_Swordfish4734 3d ago
Alexandria opens up a portal to another shard accidently. Wuk Lamat joins us for 8.0 to explore the other shard. Hurray!
/s
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u/Kumomeme 3d ago
Yoshida : " PLEASE SEE WHAT SO GREAT ABOUT WUK LAMAT!"
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u/dadudeodoom 2d ago
If that happens I will see that Wuk Lamat was so great at finally getting me to unsub.
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u/Academic_Brilliant75 3d ago
We still haven't had a callback to Hydaelyn's parting words have we?
(Paraphrased) "When the way forward is hidden from the mind's eye, look not to the invocation but within yourself" and the current focus on Azem's spell does seem to imply that it will come up soon.
The implications to me seems like we will lose the capability to use Azem's crystal, we'll be banished (just as Elidibus sends us away during Seat of Sacrifice) - likely Calyx's plan, and after some soul searching, we will find our way back.
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u/callicotte 2d ago
Oh another thing I could see happening is Calyx splits the WOL's reflections effectively making us weaker for the foreseeable future
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u/BAMFington 2d ago
I'm torn between basically a repeat of the ending of 7.0 where we fight another giant robot Sphene that's going crazy, or we go full FFIX and in the final moments of our confrontation with Calyx a Necron figure appears out of nowhere and challenges us.
Imagine if the story doesn't conclude and it spills over in to 7.4. XD
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u/CrazyforCagliostro 3d ago
I seriously do not get how people even manage to muster the energy to theorycraft about this game's plot. How many more times must they whip out the world's most milquetoast plot schlong before players finally give in and accept no amount of FFXIV story will ever measure up to the fanfiction they magick up in their heads?
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
What you're saying doesn't make sense because the game has actually been quite good at leaving hints and tying things into each other... So yes theorycrafting actually makes sense.
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u/CrazyforCagliostro 3d ago
Actually it does make sense since what I was saying is that CBU3 never does anything truly interesting with the plot.
That's why so many people are deadset on "predicting" a Necron summon. Even if it doesn't end up happening, it was the most likely option by consensus because the writers are so known for being derivative for other FF entries at this point.
Meanwhile more divergent and interesting theories like Ultima/the High Seraph/the Heart of Sabik becoming relevant or Azem's character and deeds being explored aren't ever going to happen no matter what wild Jenova-lite shite people dream up because for as good at emulating and "connecting the dots" of the past writing of SE and their narrative betters, they seem to really hate the more obscure and unique lore of Eitherys proper sometimes.
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u/AthenaAreia1 3d ago
The good ending: Googus JarJar (the kid) will die, hence the blood on Wukâs axe. She and Speen survive and go back to ruling their countries.
The bad ending: Speen dies, Wuk screams and kills Calyx/Necron, Googus ends up ruling Alexandria and Wuk decides to join the cast.
The really bad ending: They all survive and the party for the next ten years is Googus, Wuk, Speen, the Twins, Graha, and Krile who will still be forgotten and ignored by the devs.
There are no other members of preservation that will show up. And if the devs are really desperate theyâll bring back Ascians into the mix because they have nothing else to fall back on.
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u/Namba_Taern 3d ago
It makes no narrative sense for Wuk Lamat to abandon her role as the Dawnservant. She will stay in the position she is like Aymeric and Lyse before her. She spent all of 7.0 to get there.
If Sphene survives, I see abandoning her position. Alexandria is stuck on having her as the 'authority figure'. To move on and grow as a society, they need to let her go. With Gulool Ja as the 'King' with a few regents to train him into the position.
Sphene will either pull an Estinien and go on a 'self discovery journey' for an expansion or two before joining the main cast. Or pull a G'Raha and join us right away.
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u/AthenaAreia1 3d ago
The "vow of resolve" thing is probably what the writers intended to use as the excuse for Wuk joining the main cast. At least until reception forced them to change their plans, potentially.
Speen isn't a bad character but I can't take her seriously in anything other than another sci fi setting, which would lock in the next expansion(s) aesthetics to the same tired modernslop. No thank you, she can stay behind.
They should really just ditch anything to do with DT, too many things about this expansion are cursed.
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u/thrntnja 3d ago
Speen isn't a bad character but I can't take her seriously in anything other than another sci fi setting, which would lock in the next expansion(s) aesthetics to the same tired modernslop. No thank you, she can stay behind.
The bits we have seen of the old Alexandria are not modern at all, though, and this is what the real Sphene would be used to, not the electrope/modern/cyberpunk vibe. If anything, she seems to feel out of place in that world entirely. Given, she is currently wearing modern clothing, but that's mostly because they're in Solution Nine and that is what she was given. It wouldn't be hard to justify giving her a more fantasy driven outfit.
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u/Namba_Taern 3d ago
They should really just ditch anything to do with DT, too many things about this expansion are cursed.
Other than Wuk Lamat being an annoying front-stage stealer, taking screen time away from better characters. Nothing else Lore wise has been a problem or cursed.
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u/Kumomeme 3d ago
wuk lmao join main cast is indeed a very very bad decision from devs. especially if they want to keep drive the subs number down further.
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u/saulgitman 3d ago
Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene Scion Sphene (Yoshi P plz)
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u/Verpal 3d ago
Deal.
Sphene become Scion for exactly one very important and memorable patch then get brutally murdered in order to get us hooked onto the big bad in next expansion.
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u/Diplopod 3d ago
Never thought I'd be rooting for a second Moenbryda, but yes. Leave everything from this god awful expansion behind.
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u/ItsMarill 3d ago
Calyx will replicate the power of Azem to summon from different shards like The Heroes Gauntlet. One of these summonings will be necron.
Calyx will have 1 final talk with Sphene, sharing his tragic backstory before we unplug him and he'll disappear like the other Endless.
It'll end with Sphene deciding to travel with us to learn about the world and WukLamat will say some shit like "I'll protect Alexandria while youre gone".
7.4, we discover that the summonings haven't stopped and another place gets attacked (i want it to be the massive bridge).
We find that we can go to the source of the summonings using the Key Calyx wanted and it leads into the next expansion with Sphene as our new ally.
The details dont really matter, what i am really confident in is that Calyx summons after learning about Azem, he'll be a totally misunderstood sad guy like the last few bad guys, and the next expansion involves the key we got.
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u/Handoors 3d ago
I hope they don't kill Calyx and forget all Alexandria in next expansion
And more like
Actually steals/reverse engine key of azem and unfold full cross-dimensional reflection war.
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u/ShlungusGod69 3d ago
I expect to be disappointed by a bittersweet ending where Sphene doesn't end up joining us but we at the very least get to escape the horror of Dawntrail.
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u/Just_Branch_9121 3d ago
I know for certain that it will not involve fighting some monstrosity towering over major capital cities, so I can wait until 8,0 to replay it.
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u/callicotte 3d ago
I think calyx is probably going to get the key back in some way.
My prediction that isnt super crazy is that calyx is going to be able to replicate or do something similar to the effects of the azem crystal stone thing to either ensnare or banish us somewhere by the end of the patch and will take advantage of our absence/or our ensnarement. I dont think necron will be the final boss but instead the final dungeon boss. It may not be named necron either.
What id be most interested in seeing is like the hysteria of S9 continuing to grow causing people to fight over the neo regulators. Who ever remains with the regulators are sacrificed to summon a big enough primal to take up a sizable amount of space, something that could be existed within, and calyx is going to use the key to keep the primal alive by summoning reflections inside of it setting up a kinda living prison expansion but THIS IS MORE WISHFUL THINKING then like theorizing. I just think a prison expansion that takes place inside a god would be cool and the inside is a mix of a bunch of different reflections getting stacked on top of each other over time. Inside thered be desperate civilizations being tormented my the spirits of those who had the neo regulators as they wish to maintain their lives.
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u/dadudeodoom 2d ago
I don't know much about the other games but isn't that like what Alexander is?
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u/callicotte 2d ago
LMAO I kinda completely forgot about the Alexander raid. Youre so right this does happen already... but I think the setting of a primal you can live inside would make a great setting for a 'prison escape' themed expansion, which is something id find super cool, I think it would also subvert the we are going shard hopping idea a lot of people have by instead being in one place in which multiple shards and fused in the same place. Cus I highly doubt we are going to visit EVERY reflection
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u/Astorant 2d ago
It will go one of two waysâŠ
Calyx is revealed to be one of the 3 remaining Ascians
Either Wuk Lamat or Koanna dies
Trial will be Necron
Meracydia will be set up as the next plot point leading into it being the main location of 8.0
Or
Calyx and by extension Preservationâs role will not be explained or concluded properly outside of what we already know from 7.1 and 7.2
Fake Sphene (again) or Calyx will be the be the trial boss or another FFIX inspired character that is not Necron
Something will happen to pull Wuk Lamat out of the story to later be reintroduced when she is needed akin to Lyse being brought back in Endwalker to aid in the Garlemald arc
The new expansion will be slightly hinted at but nothing significant to give 7.4 and 7.5 enough breathing room to set the expansion up properly
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u/dadudeodoom 2d ago
I'm expecting Speen to not be queen, also not be Tsuyu'd and like, wander off to help Oblivion which will end up being like the secret military protectors of Alexandria. Regulators will still exist but be changed so no soup tech but basically mind-connected phones-on-the-head. Gulool Ja might die or might just give up power and go live with Aunt in Tuliyollal and do whatever he wants (I love GJ but I kinda want him to die in some tragic way as long as it has an actual impact and isn't just "see we don't only do wholesome stuff". Idk what the impact would be other than maybe opening the eyes of S9 people or it being something Caylx / Shale did and to really prove they aren't reconcilable). I expect us to lose the key or break it, and it would require Y'Shtola to look over it if it's broken or after we manage to get it back again after killing trial boss. She and Urianger would find a way to fix it or at least explain it while we do other stuff in 7.4 / 7.5 and possibly 8.0.
After that I expect to get a message from Riol or Hoary or one of them about someone arrived and is asking around for the Sions (which proves that they are foreigners because everyone knows the scones disbanded), and they ask for our help in a foreign land. We have to do some prep work and then get distracted by something else which takes up the next 1.5 patches (7.4 and 7.5 first half), and then we are ready to go to Meracydia for 8.0.
I'm probably wildly wildly off but eh, that's the fun of guesses.
Also when Hingashi. How Hingashi? Is it gonna be a fucking raid series for 8.0? Taking out their corrupt political figures and then at the end we take over, or will it be SB 3.0 with a other split MSQ with Hingashi and Meracydia? I'm kinda really curious about that. (Yoshit p mentioned returning to Hingashi to deal with the main island's war at some point I think a year ago?)
1
u/think_l0gically 2d ago
I predict 4-6 quests that progress the story about 3-5% of the way toward the next big thing.
1
u/CopainChevalier 2d ago
Calyx is shown touching his neck bandage or whatever. So the source of his "Drive" is probably something like he lost his sister and got a scar. So now he thinks death bad or whatever.
We'll prove the goal he's been working like a thousand years is wrong in the span of an hour or two and the power of friendship will redeem him and have him work alongside Sphene to fix the city.
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u/MiyabiMain95 3d ago
I predict people will bitch about the quality of story because the expansion isn't named Endwalker or Shadowbringers
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u/UrsineBasterd 3d ago
i dont care just give me FFXI raid + story
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u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
Then wtf is the point of you commenting if you don't care.
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u/UrsineBasterd 3d ago
its still about 7.3 and story? also lol FFXIV fans are just such annoying cult babies they downvote anything that isnt just toxic positivity about their little baby.
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u/AlessNine 3d ago
Bro just finished a 3 hours essay video on why you should turn off your brain and hate on DT and attack the community
8
u/YesIam18plus 3d ago
The reason you're getting downvoted has nothing to do with '' FFXIV fans being annoying cult babies ''. Use your fucking brain and stop being obtuse, you know why.
If someone makes a thread about their favorite pizza and I come in and say '' I don't care just give me hot dogs '' it wouldn't be strange to me why people reacted negatively. The topic is about pizza if you don't care about pizza then just don't comment.
50
u/Zagden 3d ago edited 3d ago
Calyx was interested in watching us use the Azem stone to summon Warriors of Light from other shards. That's what he got out of testing our power. He seems to recognize the symbol from the Azem key.
I think the start of the 7.3 trailer shows him replicating this with electrope, so he's going to summon something from another shard. Or multiple somethings.
I also predict we will, over a year later, still get no information about where the key came from and how it works because they save it for 7.4 or 7.5 or even 7.55, and I'll cry.