Wisdom of Nym: When does Final Fantasy XIV return to the Void?

Some fans weren’t particularly happy with the time span Final Fantasy XIV We spent it on our little journey through the void with Zero and the like, but I feel like that says a lot more about the people in question than the story itself – and I prefer it immensely compared to the Warrior of Darkness arc. , from whom this has clearly been learned . If you forgot, the first patch of Heavenward These characters were introduced, then they were completely irrelevant for the next two patches, and then they came back, only to be insulted and completely forgotten for an entire next expansion. Not exactly elegant storytelling.

As it stands, the whole thing Endwalker’s Patches form their own isolated story, a prelude to a future expansion that moves the “We need to talk about the Void” subtheme from the realm of side quests into the main quest. That’s all well and good, but it also raises another question about the plot that… well… hasn’t happened yet. It’s okay to have that foreplay, but when does the real action begin?

It is important to note that the journey to the First was definitely focused on correcting the imbalance between the First and the Light, but this was the case not actually the main thing that connected it to the plot. The Scions and the WoL didn’t go there because the former wasn’t in a good place; They went there because it was the only way to prevent what would otherwise have been a disaster. This had to do with finding out what the Ascians were actually up to and shutting it down permanently, so to speak, which led to…

So, You you know – you were There. Or you’re just reading this column because you like the words I have to write. In this case, all I can say to you is: thank you for coming out. Sorry that doesn’t make much sense to you, but you’re probably used to it by now. Stay hydrated, I hope!

In contrast, there is good reason to be aware that even if the Ascians were still there, they would not use the Thirteenth to trigger a catastrophe. The whole part of the plan is messed up. And it wouldn’t matter anyway since Zodiark is very much gone at the moment. In other words, that particular item will not be associated with it anything longer. We won’t have another expansion where a cat holds our hands to avert a dark, alternate timeline in the future.

So why go to the Thirteenth other than to try to set things right?

From my perspective, there are two potential things that could bring us back to the void, and I see them both connecting us Dawn Trail. First, let’s talk about the more generous option, which is having the ability to resolve the imbalance of reflection in some way.

While Zero showed that it’s possible that Light still exists there, it’s also very clear that she hasn’t permanently fixed things; She’s clearly determined to make her world right, and she wants to work with Durante to make that happen. Exactly how she will do this is of course completely uncertain at the moment. She doesn’t actually have any to plan; she has a Hope. That’s good, because as she points out, the problems with the Thirteenth weren’t just about the airwaves, but about the culture, and fixing things means fixing how the whole place works, not just energizing it take care of.

But it does need to be repaired there too, just like the first one needed both. And at this point in the plot, we actually don’t have the means to do that. That doesn’t mean that’s anyone’s goal Dawn Trail is explicit at this point around Find the means to do it, but remember the old JRPG rule: whatever your goals actually are, to achieve them you must follow the main plot of the game and everything will fall into place naturally. So it’s entirely possible that we’ll just find the necessary plot mechanics in Tural or lying around somewhere.

The opposite, of course, is that the new villains on a larger scale want to use the Void for something specific. Certainly the swirling purple energy seen on some dungeon art as well as the Eliminator has at least some aesthetic symmetry to what we’ve seen of the Void in the past, but that’s just speculation based on very little information. And at this point we have no real idea who our bigger villains will be; We missed at least four Ascians, but it’s unlikely they’ll be a main target of the main quest in the future just because… you know, we’ve already done that. We squeezed all the blood out of that stone, period.

Does this mean there are no more major villains? Oh, hell no.

The purpose of this column, however, was not simply to state that we have other problems to deal with, but to speculate about when this whole prologue will pay off. And of course I don’t know with absolute certainty when we’ll go back, but I’m at least somewhat confident that we won’t pull through Dawn Trail. In fact, I feel that way Dawn Trail will have a much more familiar patch storytelling structure, where there is a full arc with an obvious remaining storyline from 7.1 to 7.3, which then concludes, followed by foreshadowing for the next expansion.

I don’t think the next expansion will get there either. Yes, that’s partly because I suspect our next expansion will send us to either Meracydia or the rest of Ilsabard (more likely the former), but it would also just be too early to go back to cosmic-multiversal things in general . And to be completely honest: I can imagine that at this point there will be many motives for us to deal with the void again.

From there… well, I think there’s actually a pretty good chance we’ll return to the Void for time reasons to set up another grand finale to the game’s storylines. Yoshida jokes about how many more expansions he thinks he can get through, but by the time we get to 9.0 it will be at least 2028. At that point there will certainly be a lot of technological debt and pressure to keep going.

Of course, nothing is ever certain. But I imagine there will be a few expansions and then we’ll be back in the middle of world crossing. What exactly we do there remains to be seen. Sometimes it’s fun to just be there and not just speculate.

As always, feedback is welcome in the comments below or by email at eliot@massivelyop.com. Next week I want to talk about something much sooner than necessary, namely the as-yet-unnamed next temporary job. What could it be? And perhaps more importantly, whose shirts will it steal?

The Nymian civilization harbored an immense amount of knowledge and learning, but so much of it has been lost to the people of Eorzea. However, that doesn’t stop Eliot Lefebvre from Final Fantasy

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