New Version Update Announcement! (08/11/2010)

[Dooom]

Lack of Mothercrystals wouldn't equate to lack of craigs. There's nothing sentient about the craigs, they're just structures.

idk man, I know those guys, they have some pretty good points to make on various subjects!

sorry, could not help myself, I suspect it was intentional on your part but it made me chuckle!

[Alkar]

Seriously who cares if these add-ons don't have a deep storyline or whatever you wanna call it? Abyssea is one of the best things the game got in a very long time exp wise (assuming those that lead have a brain and they're actually using it) and there are tons of things to do in there. With a few fixes it'll get even better.
They'll probably explain stuff but even if it's nothing groundbreaking, Abyssea still remains one of the best expansions/add-ons ever released.
Unless you're still part of the "bird camps will never die" crowd.

[Jeryhn]

And when talking about Lilith's realm, there are actually two:

Spoiler: show

Her original timeline where the crystal war was lost and the realm where she resides now, which is obviously inside Atomos.
Personally i think that Lilith's realm, Walk of the Echoes and Abyssea are all parts of the same realm.
It's the void where all timelines that Atomos once devoured converge.

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This is incorrect. The important distinction, and frankly - the most important clue that Lilith's realm is NOT Abyssea, is that in Lilith's timeline, the Crystal War never ended.

In Abyssea, there are also NPCs who mention the Crystal War and comparing their current situation to that war. Not to mention, in the Shadowreign era, the crags are apparently intact and the Armathrwn Society (Nag'molada + Zilart) are still running around.

Lack of crags (and telecrystals & mothercrystals) could be explained by any number of things in the Abyssea timeline, and is not really worth examining at this point. Honestly if I were to take a guess I'd say the disappearance of the crags (and potentially the mothercrystals) has a lot to do with why the sky in Abyssea has been sanguined and why there's so much dimensional trouble coming from that realm.

[Spira]

i could swear Abyssea already has a deeper backstory than any of the 3 scenario add-ons tho.

those stories had premises weaker than a SMN wearing full Dalmatica

[Draylo]

They were meant to be light, the first one was pretty fail in terms of story but the last two were just meant to be funny.

[Malacite]

Yeah, they were built to house and protect the Mother Crystals.

Hmm, now that you bring it up, maybe Abyssea's plot will focus on the mother crystals? I mean they are basically what made Vana'diel what it is and sustained the world. Their absence is actually a very good indicator/explanation of how the world ended up so messed up. The question is, wtf happened to them?


My earlier point though, was that them being in the past doesn't mean a thing because my theory was that Abyssea was Lilith's realm in the present, after all the calamity. Far as I can tell, when we go into the past, we're still in our version of Vana'diel, not hers. We don't really know what hers is like, and I just figured based on the plot and how horrible sounding her world is, that Abyssea was the perfect fit. If I'm wrong I'm wrong, but if you ask me it makes the plot more interesting my way.


It's not that far fetched either, I mean Alt'ieu was once a part of our realm but got split from us yet is still a part of it (hence the Empyral Paradox) so yeah... SE clearly doesn't give two shits about causality or physics.

[Jeryhn]

Spoiler: show

My earlier point though, was that them being in the past doesn't mean a thing because my theory was that Abyssea was Lilith's realm in the present, after all the calamity.

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Lilith is from the future. She is obviously much older than Lilisette, who comes from the present.

[Damane]

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Lilith is from the future. She is obviously much older than Lilisette, who comes from the present.

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Actually they are both the same age I would think, since our own counterpart spitewarden (ourself from Liliths timeline/dimension) is definitly the same age as our char. Definitly looking forward to crush myself in the upcomeing missions.

[Priran]

Yeah, they were built to house and protect the Mother Crystals.

No they weren't, they were built to tap their energy. The actual crystals are deep underground.

There's nothing that suggests there are no mothercrystals in abyssea (the presence of the 5 races is pretty good evidence that they actually are there). Rather, the lack of crags suggests that the Zilart either never existed or never tried to return to Paradise.

[Gwynplaine]

I think the most likely scenario is that

Spoiler: show

we'll find out all of Vana d'iel and Abyssea are all just in an autistic boy's imagined dreams about his snow globe.

[Toth]

Its interesting that they have not been any beastmen (excluding tonberries) yet in the zones.

[Koyangi]

Even though my 1st time beating CoP was a very long time ago, and I didnt get to absorb the story as easily as I wanted because there were gaps between missions in waiting for statics to go with, I didnt get to fully absorb the story, I'm redoing CoP now for an alt character and I've pretty got the whole thing figured out, I however think the WOTG main storyline is very good, I like it a lot, probably the best of any mission storyline in game so far.

[Dooom]

Its interesting that they have not been any beastmen (excluding tonberries) yet in the zones.

Especially interesting considering the origin of the Tonberrys in "our" ffxi.

[Jeryhn]

Its interesting that they have not been any beastmen (excluding tonberries) yet in the zones.

Gigas?

[Francisco]

I'm wondering if after the three nations fell to the beastmen (alternate timeline), Eald'narche and Kam'lanaut did something to GTFO, like activate the Crystalline and caused the crags and cermet conduits to vanish...

I vaguely recall a cutscene (I think it was a very late CoP mission, or for Bahamut or Apocalypse Nigh) that involved Esta'ntarl or whatever her name is... it showed a bunch of Zilart attempting to do something at a crag... can't remember what it was though.

I'm thinking the Zilart brothers are chilling in Al'Taieu, or Ru'Aun - or some sort of Zilart paradise.

[Forte]

I'm wondering if after the three nations fell to the beastmen (alternate timeline), Eald'narche and Kam'lanaut did something to GTFO, like activate the Crystalline and caused the crags and cermet conduits to vanish...

I vaguely recall a cutscene (I think it was a very late CoP mission, or for Bahamut or Apocalypse Nigh) that involved Esta'ntarl or whatever her name is... it showed a bunch of Zilart attempting to do something at a crag... can't remember what it was though.

I'm thinking the Zilart brothers are chilling in Al'Taieu, or Ru'Aun - or some sort of Zilart paradise.

You're thinking of one of the first CSs of CoP. They were monitoring the crystals.

[Francisco]

You're thinking of one of the first CSs of CoP. They were monitoring the crystals.

It's definitely not that... it was a flashback type cutscene. I'm not talking about the Mammet looking Zilart - but there were probably 15-30 people in formation doing something... the area looked like Tahrongi.

[Priran]

Especially interesting considering the origin of the Tonberrys in "our" ffxi.

tonberrys and xzomits existing in the apparent absence of zilart technology is one of the reasons I've capped my expectations for abyssea's story at "a wizard did it"

on the other hand, if NPCs have talked about the crystal war (I think I remember someone mentioning this) it's possible the crags exist but the mothercrystals are just in different locations

[Snick]

"a wizard did it"

This a million fucking times.

Once time travel becomes an element, all bets are off~

[Nightfyre]

It's definitely not that... it was a flashback type cutscene. I'm not talking about the Mammet looking Zilart - but there were probably 15-30 people in formation doing something... the area looked like Tahrongi.

The pact with Fenrir? That would have been in Sarutabaruta though.