War of the Lions chronology mixup?

October 27, 2007, 9:42 AM

Okay, as we all know Balthier is a playable character in War of the Lions. Well, a thought just occurred to me:

HOW is he in War of the Lions? In a cutscene he proudly professes that he's a sky pirate, yet nearly all technology has been wiped out since the time of St. Ajora. About the only pieces of tech we see in the game are Workers 7 and 8 and the run down Goug Machine City (the machine which powered up Worker 8 and the one that brought Cloud in both needed Zodiace Stones to power them, likely not the original power source). Plus, Balthier would just have to be pretty freaking old to have live that long.

In the original, they threw in Cloud and explained his being there simply by having the Celestial Globe rip him out of his dimension and into Ivalice. However, since Balthier is already of the same world, yet in a time many decades (likely a few centuries, though I'm not sure of the exact time span) earlier...I don't know how they'll manage to cover up that inconsistency, or if they'll even bother.

Oh and please note, I'm not complaining about Balthier being in the game, he's one of the few characters in XII that I liked. I just think too much and realized it makes no sense for Balthier to be in the game. At least he hasn't replaced Mustiado as the gunner though

EDIT: I'm sure this topic will slowly drift into talking about Balthier in Tactics in general, so I might as well say go ahead so nobody gets off topic.

October 27, 2007, 4:11 PM

I was wondering this as well, but i don't think theres meant to be a logical explanation because he says "This feels more like a cameo role" unless it's in a totally different part of Ivalice, since it is a pretty big world and like our own world one part of it could be lacking in technology....

Not that i mind he's in though, He's a pretty powerful character, and Barrage is just win.

October 27, 2007, 8:55 PM

That is true, Tactics takes place in a different region of Ivalice. Actually, I once saw a map (wish I'd saved it because I can't find it through googling) that someone had put together, and the Tactics region was actually the region stretching directly left of the XII region.

So who knows, maybe they still had technology in Balthier's region and his treasure hunting took him to Tactic's region. Still, that wouldn't explain the long passage of time between XII and Tactics <.< So I'm guessing they won't bother to explain that.

October 28, 2007, 1:51 AM

I dont know how to explain it either. I just assume that since the XII region is directly to the left of Tactics, he could have traveled there in a sense. We know that since St. Ajora's time, all technology had been wiped out, but there are still remains in Goug Machine City. Since there is no real explanation of the time period between XII and Tactics, I guess he could have just flew there and crashed his ship. I dont know...maybe I'll play through again and try to find some clues..

October 28, 2007, 4:08 AM

I'm replaying Tactics on my PSone right now, so maybe I'll be able to notice some things I didn't notice before. This game is constantly kicking my ass too

On another note, I love Balthier's new outfit in Tactics. Because this:

Is much better than this gaudy outfit:

I never quite understood why he wore those gay little fingerbands either o_O I mean of all the accessories Hot Topic has, they picked that one. I don't even see emos IRL wear those.

November 1, 2007, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VengefulRonin

That is true, Tactics takes place in a different region of Ivalice. Actually, I once saw a map (wish I'd saved it because I can't find it through googling) that someone had put together, and the Tactics region was actually the region stretching directly left of the XII region.

So who knows, maybe they still had technology in Balthier's region and his treasure hunting took him to Tactic's region. Still, that wouldn't explain the long passage of time between XII and Tactics <.< So I'm guessing they won't bother to explain that.

This sounds like the best explaination to me. Either that or Balthier was somehow frozen in time and cant remember much.

November 4, 2007, 7:51 PM

Maybe they had Botox in his region and he just pumped up on that for years and so still looks a young gun lol.

November 5, 2007, 1:38 PM

lol Botox...anyways I'm still going through and I havent noticed anything yet after 12 hours >.>;; maybe were not supposed to know..

November 13, 2007, 1:01 PM

I just watch video from Youtube where Balthier joins ( because I have no PSP and I haven´t ever played Tactics but I would really want to play it) I think it happens between destruction Bahamuth and ending. Timeline between that is a year and Fran was probably wounded badly after Bahamuth incident and while she was recovering Balthier was on a adventure.

And FFXII doesn´t have that much technology. Only Empire uses Magicites and we see modern hospital in a dream sequence but it is only a dream. Or then healthcare in Ivalice is very good.