FFXI Plot-holes and unclear issues

[Priran]

Doubt it. Bombs spawn pretty much anywhere during fog, and are at their strongest near volcanoes (and while Odin goes to Halvung, he'd presumably have no influence so close to another protocrystal as Ifrit's Cauldron).

[Septimus]

I was going to say bombs (& its subspecies) are most likely underworld flames, due to them usually appearing in areas related to Odin and/or Hades (Uleguerand, Northlands [S], Hazhalm, Halvung), but then I realized CoP clusters kinda throw a wrench in that idea. Maybe it could still work...Tavnazia does get dark weather for some reason. Or maybe they're just sparks of magical energy, with Tavnazian clusters being born of wyrm breath/Cape Riverne's spatial disturbance or something.

Bombs are in Horutoto Ruins, Gusgen Mines, the Eldieme Necropolis, Garlaige Citadel, Ifrit's Cauldron, Den of Rancor, and Oldton Movalpolos. Even with a connection to the dead or magic (still wouldn't get rid of Ifrit's Cauldron or Oldton Movalpolos, and Den of Rancor would be sketchy at best), Bombs also appear in a lot of zones during foggy weather. Not to mention that Djinn are all over the place in Vunkerl Inlet (S), and appear at all times in East Ronfaure (S), Jugner Forest (S), and Batallia Downs (S).

I think that we just have to go with the "A Zliart did it" answer for this one.

[6souls]

My theory is that Voidwatch is the lead-in for the "Last Stand" zone(s) that SE teased us with a few months back.



I wish they released larger concept art. I'm also looking forward to the new type of mob for parts 3 & 4.

[Sagacious Sundi]

I meant in abundance. lol Like how skeletons and ghosts appear everywhere, but the places they're common are obviously tied to the undead. Although I did forget about Garlaige (and a quick search shows me they're more frequent in other dungeons than I had recalled). Djinn I assumed were found in a lot of San d'Orian areas because of the proximity to the Northlands. Ifrit's Cauldron I simply ignored because you just can't have a fire area without bombs.

But yeah, I guess I'll chalk it up to a wizard/Zilart/black mage, too.

[Spira]

my take on arcana is that whilst almost all of them come about due to the presence of some kind of magic, some of them can be naturally occurring.

i think golems are the kind that can naturally occur in any area of huge magical influence. areas near the crags or powerlines, like fei'yin, beaucedine and zi'tah seem to fit into this.

bombs on the other hand are probably naturally occurring, like magical spirits of the wind. will o wisp is one of those, i suppose. their presence could also be tied to severity of "elemental energy", which would explain snolls in uleguerand, bombs in ifrit's cauldron and clusters in mount zhayolm. CoP clusters and a bunch of other bombs are probably fog-type apparitions and those in dungeons like GC.. well maybe GC has it because of some kind of magic that was applied to those areas.. like i dunno.. the banishing gate.

edit: then there are the artificial arcana, like acrolith, khimaira, cardians, mammets, spheroids, and uh.. iron giants and caturae. tho i'm not certain of the last 2

[Kaisha]

Does Zi'Tah have any lore regarding the size of its trees at all?

Assuming it wasn't just a natural occurrence, he most I could guess is the explosion at Ro'Maeve (back when the Kuluu were trying to stop the Zilart from opening the gateway to Tu'Lia) rained down the crystals and shit that you see lying all around the zone glowing purple and all (including the stalagmites and those little crystal springs you have to traverse tree trunks over), and that somehow affected the tree growth rate, as no other location on the three continents that we have (limited) access to have tree trunks remotely near that size.

Could also be linked to golems, since they mostly have presence around locations near or in spots that have those crystal chunks scattered about. I know Beaucedine has the black crystal bits embedded in the ground near the ocean which there are a couple golem around. I can't recall if Batallia did also as a fair chunk of its land got chewed out by that one explosion. If it did that'd throw that idea out the window as there are no golems in that zone.


I already forgot what explosions were linked to what event, even though I did just blow through all of ZM & CoP for my 2box a month ago. I'm fairly sure there was at least two related to the Zilart, and then one involving that Elvaan who fucked up Tav with the Lightbringer during the crystal war.

[Spira]

The write up on Zi'tah on the official website (available only on the JP site) make no mention of its origin..

if I could translate, it goes pretty much like this.

Sanctuary of Zi'tah
A coniferous forest located at the entrance of Li'Telor. It is not unusual to find countless trees in here that have ages in the thousands, and very little sunlight gets through, making it perpetually gloomy. However, thanks to the presence of stones scattered around that have tips that glow, the area is illuminated in an eerie glow, so that one may observe the unique curiosities of this forest in the day.

The people of Vana'diel believe this to be a sacred place, and until a recent times , it used to only see rare visitors in the form of pilgrims to Ro'maeve and goblins.

[Fereydoon]

Could also be linked to golems, since they mostly have presence around locations near or in spots that have those crystal chunks scattered about. I know Beaucedine has the black crystal bits embedded in the ground near the ocean which there are a couple golem around. I can't recall if Batallia did also as a fair chunk of its land got chewed out by that one explosion. If it did that'd throw that idea out the window as there are no golems in that zone.


I already forgot what explosions were linked to what event, even though I did just blow through all of ZM & CoP for my 2box a month ago. I'm fairly sure there was at least two related to the Zilart, and then one involving that Elvaan who fucked up Tav with the Lightbringer during the crystal war.

The Champaign also has a similar coast, it's the border of the Sea of Shu'Meyo, when Al'Taieu sank/vanished/whatnot the coast got all sorts of fucked, it appears to be the same material that Prishe's magicite is made of, or Obsidian like Castle Zvhal. Qufim looks simiar too, iirc.

[Ocara]

All of the areas that look like that border the sea of Shu'Meyo if you look at the map/geography. I'm willing to bet it's all magicite from the al'taieu reaction, minus shadowlord's castle which is probably just stone. (the cliffs in the past jeuno zones all still look the same too, right? For some reason I don't remember seeing all the crystal shards littering the past batillia zone...)

Thanks to that video about Louverance I finally understand who the fuck he is. He's kind of cooler when you know he's that legendary thief and not just some random dude that shows up.

[Odin'sLaw]

from what i remember in one of the other final fantasy games bombs are born due to an area having to much magic in a small place over time forging them into a physical shell so if all ff games are canon to each other that's the best explanation

[Restrat]

Is there any in game reason for why arcana aggro magic? specifically in sky, why would the robot the zilart put there to keep it working attack magic users?

[Odin'sLaw]

Is there any in game reason for why arcana aggro magic? specifically in sky, why would the robot the zilart put there to keep it working attack magic users?

they aggro what attracts them (there "life blood" is ether)

[Septimus]

they aggro what attracts them (there "life blood" is ether)

Pretty much the best explanation I could come up with. Similar to (well... not really) how the undead aggro low HP because they want to make the living them.

[Odin'sLaw]

Pretty much the best explanation I could come up with. Similar to (well... not really) how the undead aggro low HP because they want to make the living them.

the Undead are brought back via Blood pacts (not so much unlike our summoners) so i presume that when they sense "blood" they get hungry for it

[Septimus]

the Undead are brought back via Blood pacts (not so much unlike our summoners) so i presume that when they sense "blood" they get hungry for it

I think that is just Norg summoning. Like if you look at the description of Ghouls, this doesn't look like something that someone would do voluntarily.

[ronin sparthos]

The summoning of Norg is similar in use to the necromancy performed by Lamiae in Aht Urhgan. I suspect they got the technique from there.

[Sagacious Sundi]

I'd like to bring up Tonberries' backstory, which I know has been discussed throughout the years, but eh.

So in ZM4 we get:

The Kuluu who survived the happenings of that day fled here. However, the power of the crystals left its mark on us. As time passed, our bodies and minds degenerated into the form you see standing before you.

But then in ZM13, it's said that the Meltdown turned the Kuluu into the 5 races:

Particularly, thine inability to communicate with the others of thy race casts a shadow over thy development.

This inability became increasingly evident after the Meltdown divided thee into the five races.

I suppose Grav could be referring to the Kuluu directly caught in the Crag of Vahzl's explosion, and Yve means all Zilart/Kuluu elsewhere. But then comes CoP...

Long ago, remnants of the Kuluu came to me and asked me to release them from the chains of Promathia.

I did as they asked...
However, the result was tragic. The Kuluu lost their original selves...

Now, maybe Diabolos only means Cryptonberries, but I was under the impression that Cryptonberries were the 'berries that allied with the Shadow Lord, hence why they aren't tied to Tonberry rancor, yet Golden-Tongued Culberry still drops an Uggalepih pendant (i.e. they're excommunicated).

Maybe whatever Diabolos did (something similar to the Eye of Altana?) could be considered "the power of the crystals" that Grav'iton is talking about.

Maybe he isn't talking about Tonberries at all?

Any other possibilities? Or is this just a genuine plot hole? If so, I have to say I prefer the Diabolos origin. It would certainly explain their hatred towards the 5 races (they're free from the chains and our guys aren't).

[Septimus]

I'd like to bring up Tonberries' backstory, which I know has been discussed throughout the years, but eh.

So in ZM4 we get:

But then in ZM13, it's said that the Meltdown turned the Kuluu into the 5 races:

I suppose Grav could be referring to the Kuluu directly caught in the Crag of Vahzl's explosion, and Yve means all Zilart/Kuluu elsewhere. But then comes CoP...

Now, maybe Diabolos only means Cryptonberries, but I was under the impression that Cryptonberries were the 'berries that allied with the Shadow Lord, hence why they aren't tied to Tonberry rancor, yet Golden-Tongued Culberry still drops an Uggalepih pendant (i.e. they're excommunicated).

Maybe whatever Diabolos did (something similar to the Eye of Altana?) could be considered "the power of the crystals" that Grav'iton is talking about.

Maybe he isn't talking about Tonberries at all?

Any other possibilities? Or is this just a genuine plot hole? If so, I have to say I prefer the Diabolos origin. It would certainly explain their hatred towards the 5 races (they're free from the chains and our guys aren't).

I thought that the Zilart became the 5 races and the Kuluu became the Tonberries. (But it has been ages.)

But it is entirely possible that Grav'iton didn't know that any other Kuluu survived past the ones in the temple and den. Possibly there was a group of Kuluu in the north that didn't know about the ones in the Temple (and vice versa) who asked Diabolos to remove their chains, he removed the chains on all of the Kuluu everywhere and then they became the Tonberries independently of the Meltdown. But this does seem a little plot-hole-y.

[Kaisha]

Aside from that soul whisper thing, aren't Zilart/Kuluu essentially the same?

[Septimus]

Aside from that soul whisper thing, aren't Zilart/Kuluu essentially the same?

Yeah. Kuluu are the Zilart who were born without the Whisper of the Soul.