It’s almost here! Yes, I know, we have a little longer until Final Fantasy XIV’s next patch properly arrives for the game since it’s dated for May 23rd, but we’re definitely into the back half of waiting for the patch, and I for one could not be happier about this turn of events. While I’m definitely not in the camp of people who have been grousing about a lack of things to do (in fact, I feel the opposite way about the game at the moment), I am still more than happy to get a bunch more stuff on my docket, especially when it all looks as engaging as what’s on the slate for patch 6.4.
The broad contours of the content we’re getting, of course, were already outlined when we got our prior live letter. But there’s still some interesting stuff to chew on from this letter and some speculation to be had, so let’s dive in and analyze it like we always do. It’ll be here in… eight days, after all. Eight days? That can’t be right…
While the trailer, as always, does its best not to give away anything that’s going to happen… well, there are some elements you can tease out of it. For one thing, it’s very clear that Golbez is channeling Azdaja much like the Shadow Dragon in Final Fantasy IV; that’s not a surprise as that parallel was set up a while back. Moreover, the contours of how things are working make no small amount of sense, as it appears that the plot mechanics are pouring aether into Zodiark’s restraints to open a void portal on the moon, hence why we’re going to a place called the Aetherfont.
One thing does strike me from the trailer, though, and that’s the addition of a new Garlean NPC into the mixture. We see this NPC only briefly once, but it’s clear that this is not one of the NPCs we already know. And make no mistake, this may be very important because while there’s no doubt Garlemald will be important in this patch’s content simply because we’re headed to the moon, it also creates the possibility of something altogether separate.
It’s hard to place exactly where the NPC is located. While it could be in Garlemald’s wreckage, it isn’t clear, and it also seems very obvious that the shot placed in juxtaposition to shots of Jullus are meant to capitalize on the Kuleshov effect there. You’re meant to think that they’re interacting in some way. But we don’t actually know that… and it would make more sense if the NPC in question was, in fact, a teaser for what comes next in 6.5 and perhaps 7.0. After all, there are a lot of potential traces of Garlemald out there…
Seriously, I did a whole column about the Garlean legions we’ve not heard about. It would be weird for Square to introduce a new NPC for this patch just to bulk out the conflict about whether or not Garlemald’s remnants will let us use the portal to the moon when we already know from the trailer that that’s what happens.
And speaking of NPCs: Whom are were accompanying on Mount Rokkon? Well, first of all, I’ll note that Hingashi was not among my speculated areas for new Variant Dungeons, but it is absolutely the sort of thing I was thinking about in that column. We know Hingashi is there; we haven’t explored it. This is the stuff I’m interested in, things we haven’t explored more or less to death. And we’ve clearly got Hancock on deck for the exploration, another person we’ve only briefly touched upon! Yes! This I’m excited for.
What we don’t know is whether or not this particular dungeon will address some of the content issues the prior Variant Dungeon had, although I’m hopeful that it is at least taken into consideration. Thus far there’s just not enough discussion to be sure yet. We’ll find out for sure in 6.45, of course.
Island Sanctuary, meanwhile, will be available for play right away… and we can see how the team is working hard to make this content even more housing-like for the people who haven’t been able to get a house. For all the whining about not getting a new Bozja and not having to farm content endlessly for the relic weapons, I’m going to be honest: This is exactly what I would like to see. This is far more important to me. If you told me that the team made a simpler Relic line just to have more Island Sanctuary time, I consider that time well spent.
Especially since, like… Bozja was the closest version of Relic content to being something people would ever actually want to play, and it still wasn’t very good for a variety of reasons. So I’m all right with this in the current state. (I’ll have more to say about this in a future column, I promise. Not sure precisely when.)
So the patch content all looks good. But the real question that feels like an open one is… what the heck is the Gilded Araya? Who are we fighting? It’s a new trial, but why and how? What will this be in the actual game when it’s not at the fan festivals?
Luckily, this is at least in part a pretty easy question to answer if you know your franchise lore. The being on display is Asura, the Queen of the Eidolons in FFIV (and you know how much this expansion has loved that game). About all we know at this point is simply that Asura will be a trial added to the game, almost certainly in 6.5, and based on the description and Asura’s pre-existing nature it is far more likely that Asura will be an actual trial rather than being a 24-person fight that gets sandwiched into the last portion of fighting the Twelve.
Yes, we do have an extra fight there. However, that last fight is likely to be against a hidden 13th, and thus it is highly doubtful that we’d fight Asura there… since if she were the Big Hidden Boss, they wouldn’t be previewing her now.
So what does this mean? Well, there are two possibilities. The first is that every version of the Asura fight is going to basically be a context-free fight against a figure from FFIV that didn’t fit anywhere else, since it’s the last major element from that game that hasn’t gotten some form of boss fight or nod in terms of content. But there’s another possibility that seems more likely to me.
After all… what have all of our Unreal trials been focused on? What seems like the mysterious land of summoned beasts and heretofore unseen reaches? If you had to point to somewhere that might have a queen of all summons on a map, where would you point?
I’m not saying it’s Meracydia, but don’t be shocked if that’s what we hear in July.
Feedback, as always, is welcome in the comments or via mail to eliot@massivelyop.com. Next week, yes, we’ll be picking through those patch notes for other gems along the way and just generally being hype. It’s almost patch day, after all.
The Nymian civilization hosted an immense amount of knowledge and learning, but so much of it has been lost to the people of Eorzea. That doesn’t stop Eliot Lefebvre from scrutinizing Final Fantasy XIV each week in Wisdom of Nym, hosting guides, discussion, and opinions without so much as a trace of rancor.
