Monday, February 1, 2021

Personal predictions for 6.0-- Sharlayan, Meracydia or the Thirteenth?

Personally, I like to tinker with the speculation--and investigative guesswork-- that one of the areas we will eventually access in 6.0 are the mysterious Isles floating above the Garlean capital-- 


I remember asking about this a couple years back-- I'm still amusingly surprised that many more players haven't been discussing this and I've blatantly asked Koji about  it a couple times on the forums.  For me, that area continues to be an intriguing factor for the future.  Next location on my speculative list is that we'll finally head to Old Sharlayan-- or Sharlayan proper.  


No doubt Meracydia is still another candidate on the list --it's actually third on my list; however, Yoshi's quibble about us revisiting Heavensward gave me pause for thought-- I reckon we will need the knowledge of the Sharlayans in order to be really effective as we head into Meracydia.   Besides, there's always the possibility we will have access to both.  Why?

When one examines the full map (see below) that was generated by some keen-eyed players on the Blue gartr forums --extracted from the 3.0 cutscene back in 2015-- source and credit to Kage-- Sharlayan's location offers a perfect gateway to the suspected "New World" located far west.  Meracydia on the other hand offers a potential locale (in the far south) as a place to gain extra knowledge, resources and insight into understanding where this strange lunar Bahamut might have originated.  Maybe-- just maybe.  If not, we'll possibly go there in 7.0 which might focus on taking us back in time to the Allagan Empire.

I just remembered something else-- Will we ever see a quest that lets us help Tiamat move on from her grief in Azys La?



Other elements to look forward to?  Ishgard.

Could the rebuilding of Ishgard also lead to the rebuilding of the Heavenward knights as well?   I still think it'll be exciting to continue rebuilding the other socio-cultural fabrics that make up Ishgard and see it become a bastion of strength against Fandaniel's machinations.


What could be the "theme"' job for 6.0?

I'm going with either Astrologian or Summoner-- both hold equal sway in my personal speculations, either one could be the choice or I could be completely off the mark-- that's the fun of making these lore speculations.


 Additional 6.0 speculations to think about?

How about really expanding the tale of Dalmasca-- the Save The Queen tale being interwoven into Gabranth's ambitions make a perfect segway into establishing this story arc for 6.0.  I'd also really like to see the theme of the Dalmascan culture reflected in future gear designs-- I've been asking for Rasler's armour for [I]years[/I]


The ark in the Peaks area of Ala Mhigo-- named "Nyunkrepf's Hope" is apparently one of the relics of the Sixth Umbral era.  Nyunkrepf Nyunkrepfsyn was one of the twelve Archons from Sharlayan who worked to prevent the Sixth Umbral Calamity around 1500 years ago.  What really inspired him to construct this-- more importantly, how did he develop the technology to make this innovative vessel?   This is yet another provoking element that leads me to speculate that we could be looking at more focus on Sharlayan and it's mysteries.



The politics of Garlemald and the imperial family-- I recall that Varis made clones of Solus but would it be far fetched to assume he also made clones of himself?  Even though I half-heartedly predicted back in 2018 that Zenos would eventually commit regicide, I'm still disappointed that we didn't get to see Varis have more screen time-- his work seemed--- unfinished.  I'm still looking forward to understanding the backstory which lead to Gaius killing off nine aspirants to the Crown

Other random stuff that came to mind-- I've been suspecting that the goblins' new workshop home at Idyllshire is still going to be a crucial sub-story to the main plot.   I'm still eager to see how their their battles with the Illuminati will evolve-- and perhaps they will form a new alliance with Cid's ironworks to develop more "Gundams"-- I would love more Gundams battles in the game-- still waiting for the Gundam weapon we used in 5.3 to officially become a personal mount.


What else can we hope could be waiting for us?  Perhaps free company sized airships and personal residential type airships for people who haven't been able to purchase houses?   I'm speculating that this could prove to be a possible alternative to the continued mess that is the housing process.    It'll be great to also have more focus on using our personal GC squadrons and trusts in open-world battles and fates-- the events of patch 5.4 have set the stage for this opportunity to be explored in 6.0.   Maybe it'll happen-- maybe not.

In conclusion, Natsuko Ishikawa's work on Shadowbringers was absolutely phenomenal but lets not also forget Kazutoyo Maehiro and Banri Oda's ability to exponentially support her storylines with excellent nuances, character progressions and exceptional lore development-- that's what I really want to see unleashed in 6.0.

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