Could The Cutscene At The End Of The Gameplay Features Trailer Take Place After EoD?

[mandala.8507]

Okay, so in my boredom waiting for a new trailer, I was rewatching some of the old ones and realized that the final cutscene for the gameplay features trailer actually has much better continuity as a scene that takes place after we take down Soo-Won rather than before. Here is the video I'm referencing, and it's the final cutscene with what I'm presuming to be a tentative "Friends Detective Agency" looking up at the Harvest Temple.

There are a few aspects of this cutscene that now strike me as interesting.

The first is that Marjory is wielding her Mendel weapons instead of Belinda's greatsword. At no point in the expansion does she switch back to using them, but of course we know from the post-game quest with her that she does eventually put Belinda and her sword to rest on a perch just outside the Sanctuary of Ione. This also happens to be right next to the vantage point from which the gang is witnessing the Void coalescing above the temple.

Secondly, if we look at the version of the Harvest Temple they chose to put into this cutscene, it's the one with the cover blown off the top of it. This only happens after the meta in the story, so it would again make more sense for this custscene to take place after EoD.

And lastly, I think this theory makes even more sense considering the new expansion formula where we are now getting additional acts of each expansion story after release instead of more separate and isolated living world story/stories.

For anyone who thought the Void just came and went with very little explanation, perhaps it is because that story will continue on into the next couple of releases where we'll learn more about it.

This of course is very conspiratorial and is more than likely just be a collection of oversights that didn't get caught before the studio had to lock in the making of this cutscene, but I just wanted to share the idea anyway.

I need this new trailer asap, haha.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

I'm pretty sure that was just a slightly-less-spoilery version of Dragon's End / The Only One and the group showing up. Marjory was wielding her axe and dagger in all the EoD promotions, so I wouldn't be surprised they just left her with those weapons for this trailer. I think this is just a different / scrapped version of the moment Void outbreaks across the world during The Only One, after the Dragon's End meta.

 

And I very much doubt they had the next plot ready enough to showcase even a conceptual design shot, given how rushed EoD itself was - they would not have put in development time to focus on the follow-up plot, just put seeds foreshadowing it in the game at most. Not to mention the dragon story is over, and Kasmeer's talk there with that shot is very much Elder Dragon related, while simultaneously dealing with the Void again so rapidly after dealing with it and making it a non-issue (for years to come) being the entire purpose of the EoD finale would make it pretty bad writing in all honesty.

We know that whatever tomorrow's release is, it'll be tied to expansion 4 in some way. I don't see them doing "we just solved the Void, so here's an entire year of more Void!"

Edited February 27, 2023 by Konig Des Todes.2086

[Poormany.4507]

8 hours ago, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

We know that whatever tomorrow's release is, it'll be tied to expansion 4 in some way. I don't see them doing "we just solved the Void, so here's an entire year of more Void!"

Considering they just posted a screenshot today of more void, it does seem the void is not yet entirely finished off and will likely be used to jump start the next update.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

52 minutes ago, Poormany.4507 said:

Considering they just posted a screenshot today of more void, it does seem the void is not yet entirely finished off and will likely be used to jump start the next update.

Yeah. Apparently so.

I hope it's minor Void involvement though, because otherwise it will utterly negate the victory at the end of EoD - as it'd be not even a minor delay from the Void being a massive threat once again.

Though it's not like it'd be the first time the immediate plot completely negates the victory and purpose of the previous plot. So who knows... and I'm starting to wonder who even cares anymore.

[mandala.8507]

Nothing is being negated. We defeated the dragonvoid. Hold your horses on the "it's bad writing" nonsense, because it's absolutely not bad writing if they execute the unveiling of this subplot properly and fully.

[Sajuuk Khar.1509]

29 minutes ago, Konig Des Todes.2086 said:

I hope it's minor Void involvement though, because otherwise it will utterly negate the victory at the end of EoD - as it'd be not even a minor delay from the Void being a massive threat once again.

I'd say about a year's time is a pretty good delay.

[Konig Des Todes.2086]

9 hours ago, mandala.8507 said:

Nothing is being negated. We defeated the dragonvoid. Hold your horses on the "it's bad writing" nonsense, because it's absolutely not bad writing if they execute the unveiling of this subplot properly and fully.

We defeated the Dragonvoid, but Aurene stated in Arborstone after that while the Void is present still, it's no longer an issue. If they make it an issue in the very next story chapter, then yes that'd be a bit of bad writing when they could have gone any other way. And having four world-ending threats back to back would be more than tiresome. Especially for someone who goes through the narrative together, without waiting months for the next release.

Whether it'll be really bad writing, or just a bit of bad writing, or just a very misleading promo image - we'll find out in a few hours.

9 hours ago, Sajuuk Khar.1509 said:

I'd say about a year's time is a pretty good delay.

If so, I'd be joining Ankka and the Six in getting the kitten out of Tyria. I'd rather not be facing world-ending threats annually, thank you very much. And I mean, who would, that's stressful and depressing as kitten.

Especially when every time you get told "that's the last of that for a long time" by a being who'll be living millennia longer than I - their sense of "long time" should be much longer than my own as a mere mortal, and even I don't consider a single year to be a long time.