It's the End of the World as we know it

I was actually putting my money on Odin being the empire's primal, and the empire just calling other primals "eikons" as a way of differensiating their "true" god from all the "false" gods of their opponents.

So much for that!

I thought it became pretty clear that the Empire did not fully comprehend what Dalamud truly was. Gaius van Baelsar suggests as much when you encounter him before storming Castrum Novum to destroy the lunar transmitter; he says he suspects that Dalamud is more than the Emperor realizes and wants you to stop Nael van Darnus, who he believes has ulterior motives.

That said, I was also expecting Odin rather than Bahamut.

Bahamut doesn't surprise me, as when your talking a destructive summon, it's generally Bahamut.

Also I wouldn't could Odin out yet Mirage, though I doubt he's empire affiliated directly, but from the armor, it could be that he was a past Legatus or something reborn? Or I dunno, I'm merely postulating off the fact that they all have fancy armor.

That was a really amazing cinematic, and if you had been following the storyline for awhile then it was really something! I love how they built the story to cover the need for the new engine and redesign of the environments, I think that was a really cool idea so kudos to Yoshi-P for that one.

I'm so excited for ARR now.

Yoshi-P has been answering questions regarding the details behind Dalamud/Bahamut/the Empire/etc.

Originally Posted by Yoshi-P, on the FFXIV forums

In Version 1.0, we dropped many tidbits of information that hinted at Dalamud's true nature:

- Dalamud was created by the Allagan Empire and cast into the heavens several millennia ago.
- Eorzea is home to many deities. The beast tribes worship the primals, and the five races (Hyur, Elezen, Miqo'te, Lalafell, Roegadyn) revere the Twelve.
- The van Darnus family is of the blood of ancient Allag, and are the keepers of its secrets.
- An Ishgardian theologian who studied the dragons and their gods was kidnapped by the Empire and taken to the Aurum Vale.
- In the battle with Garuda, the primal says: "This is the price of your folly. The price of using the crystals' power─MY POWER!─to waken the other from slumber.
- The power of the crystals was absorbed by Dalamud.

I don't want to spoil the ARR story, but I can say this:

The dragons of Dravania are classified as a beast tribe. Nidhogg is not a primal, but a king among the dragons. Likewise, Midgardsormr--known as the Keeper of the Lake--while not a primal, is a revered existence among dragonkind. Just as men have worshipped kings throughout history, so too have the dragons.

I'm absolutely stoked for them to start engaging the story behind Ishgard more, even if we'll have to wait for an expansion.

Originally Posted by Ouch!

I'm absolutely stoked for them to start engaging the story behind Ishgard more, even if we'll have to wait for an expansion.

Ishgard is just a city though, so I wouldn't be surprised if it were added after release of 2.0 as a stand alone content patch. I'd be more surprised if they waited for an expansion to add it in game, after all it's part of the 5 city-states of Eorzea.

They already announced that we will have to wait for the first expansion for Ishgard.

Edit: Thought I'd back that up with evidence, so here's the question regarding Ishgard and Ala Mhigo from the third live Letter from the Producer. Emphasis mine.

Q: Will it be possible to visit Sharlayan, Ala Mhigo, Ishgard and the Garlean Empire from launch? Will new areas be added later?
A: Ala Mhigo and Ishgard won’t be available at launch. I know that people have been asking to see other new areas, since we’ve only shown Gridania so far, but we’ve completely remade all the maps. In that sense, all areas are completely new.

There are new settlements, monsters, and dungeons—some which are three times the size of current ones. Frankly, when you consider that it’s only been fifteen months since we started writing code and creating assets...if we wanted to include Ishgard and Ala Mhigo at release, it would take another year of work. The development teams wouldn’t like that very much.

Again, allow me to reiterate that all areas have been fundamentally rebuilt and should be considered new. We’d like players to enjoy this content first. We’re thinking of adding Ishgard, Ala Mhigo and other areas with our first expansions, so please look forward to it! In the meantime, I’m certain there will be enough content for players to enjoy."

See I remember reading that, but I guess the areas local to Eorzea didn't stick in my head.

Well that's a shame, I was hoping for the rest of Eorzea to be added up without the need for an expansion.

I would hope that Ishgard, Ala Mhigo, and Sharlayan are added together when they do go up. That would at least give us access to all of the major locations in Aldenard. If they're going to give us an expansion that doesn't add new areas beyond the continent of Aldenard, they better at least give us the rest of the continent we're already on.

I guess in retrospect they did something similar in FFXI. The first 2 expansions only gave us expanded areas on the first 2 continents, then the next expansion finally gave us a new continent.