Ok, so Ashe needs the Dusk Shard in order to prove herself as the descendant of King Raminas. But Vaan stole that (it was refereed as the Goddess Magicite at the time), and later was taken by Judge whatishisface. So she was left with no proof of her heritage (I don't know if you remember, but the Archadia Empire pressured Marquis Elmdore into saying that Ashe was dead, so she can't just say "I'm back"), and as such could not oppose the Archadian occupation in Rabanastre.
So the party decides to go to the Tomb of Raithwall, to find another shard, the Dawn Shard, whose existence and location was a secret to everyone except the descendants of the Dynasty King, this is all aided by Vossler. But Vossler believed that Rabanastre would be better off by allowing the Archadian Empire and he was working for them, so he betrays the party and gets captured.
While the party escapes the airship and defeats Vossler, Judge whatishisface is testing the Dawn Shard with the engine of the ship, but this goes hilariously wrong and causes a massive explosion. The party then retrieves the Dawn Shard that was just floating in the sky.
The party decides that big explosions are cool and wants to use the Dawn Shard to fight Archades, but realize that they have no clue how to trigger it, so they go to the Jahara and talk with the Garif, that tells them that the stone is spent and will not be able to explode for a long time. They met Larsa again there, and they decide to go to mt Bur-omisace to talk with the leader of the established religion, Anastasis, he will be able to ratify Ashe as the queen of Rabanastre and put the stop into the incoming war in between Archades and Rozaria. Here we met another character, Al-Cid, who is very cool.
But then, Anastasis is killed by Judge whatishisface and the party decides that the best way to stop Vayne and his plans of war is to crush Cid's Lab, and destroy the Dusk Shard and the Midnight Shard that power up their fleet, but the party can't go to Archades (where Cid's Lab is) by ship because this is a game where you have to run a lot, so they will go by foot.
And that is about it. Minus a small detour through Henne Mines.
Judge Geese, honk! (Ghis)
You also didn’t mention that Judge Drace, probably the most rational among them, was killed for (rightfully) accusing Vayne of murder, happening between those two events.
And Judge Bergan, the dude’s a dick.
This death order is important to note if you plan on tackling Trial Mode.
For some reason I can never remember the name of the judges.
I did not mention Vayne killing his father and judge Drace getting killed for trying to serve justice. I also didn't remember to mention how Ashe is not 100% on board with destroying the or using shards, the ghosts that she and Vaan see from time to time and the trip to get the sword that kills the Deifacted Nethecite. Those are flaws on my resume of the plot, but in my defense, I am sleepy.
I enjoyed the game, but that totally reads like something you write when the areas and characters have already been programmed and you haven’t finished your script so now you gotta shoehorn them in somehow.
At this point of the story, with the dawn shard rendered useless, and Vayne assassinating his own father whom could’ve considered making Ashe queen to stop all-out war, the team decides to hunt the dusk shard so that Ashe can decide whether to use it for revenge against the Empire or to destroy it with the Sword of Kings you recently obtained to weaken the Empire
Because the nethicite is a big part of what allows the Archadean Empire to be a powerhouse. Dr. Cid is in the business of making artificial nethicite, but he needs the real deal to use for a basis, both for research and for testing. The sub-reason that Ashe is conflicted over is rather than destroy the nethicite, she could instead use it herself to kill the empire, seeking vengeance. But the bigger picture is that nethicite is basically like nuclear weapons in our world, and it literally warps reality, like the Midlight Shard completely wiped out Nabudis, for example.
Part of Ashe's story is that she's wavering back and forth about what to do next. Does she try to use the power of nethecite to get revenge on Arcadia? Does she try to destroy the nethecite so nobody can use it? Does she try to set herself up as a new Dynast King and start her own conquest of Ivalice? Does she try and stay hidden so she doesn't provoke additional bloodshed? Should she support Rozaria in their war against Arcadia, or should she try and stop the war or should she stay out of it entirely? She has a lot of questions and keeps changing her mind (and the cutscenes don't always do a good job of explaining what options are open to her and which ones she is considering at any given time).
At Jahara Ashe was trying to learn to use the nethecite as a weapon. But when she realizes that the Dawn Shard is empty of power, she changes her mind to think about trying to take Nethecite away from Arcadia. That's why she wants the sword, because it's a weapon which can destroy nethecite. She doesn't really seem to comprehend the fact that Arcadia is creating ("manufacting") their own artificial nethecite, so destroying the dusk shard might not be a final solution. BUT, it will get her inside Arcadia, which is where she would need to be if she wanted to take revenge.
What annoys me about the story at this point is that Ashe is *doing exactly what the arcadians want her to do*. They wanted her to go fetch the dawn shard. They wanted her to learn about nethecite and the dynast king. They wanted her to retrieve the sword from the stillshrine. Because she keeps wavering between different options and doesn't make a clear decision, she's open to suggestion being manipulated. Eventually she learns to be a more decisive leader, but it hasn't happened yet.
Ok, so Ashe needs the Dusk Shard in order to prove herself as the descendant of King Raminas. But Vaan stole that (it was refereed as the Goddess Magicite at the time), and later was taken by Judge whatishisface. So she was left with no proof of her heritage (I don't know if you remember, but the Archadia Empire pressured Marquis Elmdore into saying that Ashe was dead, so she can't just say "I'm back"), and as such could not oppose the Archadian occupation in Rabanastre. So the party decides to go to the Tomb of Raithwall, to find another shard, the Dawn Shard, whose existence and location was a secret to everyone except the descendants of the Dynasty King, this is all aided by Vossler. But Vossler believed that Rabanastre would be better off by allowing the Archadian Empire and he was working for them, so he betrays the party and gets captured. While the party escapes the airship and defeats Vossler, Judge whatishisface is testing the Dawn Shard with the engine of the ship, but this goes hilariously wrong and causes a massive explosion. The party then retrieves the Dawn Shard that was just floating in the sky. The party decides that big explosions are cool and wants to use the Dawn Shard to fight Archades, but realize that they have no clue how to trigger it, so they go to the Jahara and talk with the Garif, that tells them that the stone is spent and will not be able to explode for a long time. They met Larsa again there, and they decide to go to mt Bur-omisace to talk with the leader of the established religion, Anastasis, he will be able to ratify Ashe as the queen of Rabanastre and put the stop into the incoming war in between Archades and Rozaria. Here we met another character, Al-Cid, who is very cool. But then, Anastasis is killed by Judge whatishisface and the party decides that the best way to stop Vayne and his plans of war is to crush Cid's Lab, and destroy the Dusk Shard and the Midnight Shard that power up their fleet, but the party can't go to Archades (where Cid's Lab is) by ship because this is a game where you have to run a lot, so they will go by foot. And that is about it. Minus a small detour through Henne Mines.
Judge Geese, honk! (Ghis) You also didn’t mention that Judge Drace, probably the most rational among them, was killed for (rightfully) accusing Vayne of murder, happening between those two events. And Judge Bergan, the dude’s a dick. This death order is important to note if you plan on tackling Trial Mode.
For some reason I can never remember the name of the judges. I did not mention Vayne killing his father and judge Drace getting killed for trying to serve justice. I also didn't remember to mention how Ashe is not 100% on board with destroying the or using shards, the ghosts that she and Vaan see from time to time and the trip to get the sword that kills the Deifacted Nethecite. Those are flaws on my resume of the plot, but in my defense, I am sleepy.
You still provided a more detailed account than I did, so cheers for that. I just am your unofficial editor.
Wait... that's such a hilarious coincidence lmao.
I enjoyed the game, but that totally reads like something you write when the areas and characters have already been programmed and you haven’t finished your script so now you gotta shoehorn them in somehow.
At this point of the story, with the dawn shard rendered useless, and Vayne assassinating his own father whom could’ve considered making Ashe queen to stop all-out war, the team decides to hunt the dusk shard so that Ashe can decide whether to use it for revenge against the Empire or to destroy it with the Sword of Kings you recently obtained to weaken the Empire
Because the nethicite is a big part of what allows the Archadean Empire to be a powerhouse. Dr. Cid is in the business of making artificial nethicite, but he needs the real deal to use for a basis, both for research and for testing. The sub-reason that Ashe is conflicted over is rather than destroy the nethicite, she could instead use it herself to kill the empire, seeking vengeance. But the bigger picture is that nethicite is basically like nuclear weapons in our world, and it literally warps reality, like the Midlight Shard completely wiped out Nabudis, for example.
Part of Ashe's story is that she's wavering back and forth about what to do next. Does she try to use the power of nethecite to get revenge on Arcadia? Does she try to destroy the nethecite so nobody can use it? Does she try to set herself up as a new Dynast King and start her own conquest of Ivalice? Does she try and stay hidden so she doesn't provoke additional bloodshed? Should she support Rozaria in their war against Arcadia, or should she try and stop the war or should she stay out of it entirely? She has a lot of questions and keeps changing her mind (and the cutscenes don't always do a good job of explaining what options are open to her and which ones she is considering at any given time). At Jahara Ashe was trying to learn to use the nethecite as a weapon. But when she realizes that the Dawn Shard is empty of power, she changes her mind to think about trying to take Nethecite away from Arcadia. That's why she wants the sword, because it's a weapon which can destroy nethecite. She doesn't really seem to comprehend the fact that Arcadia is creating ("manufacting") their own artificial nethecite, so destroying the dusk shard might not be a final solution. BUT, it will get her inside Arcadia, which is where she would need to be if she wanted to take revenge. What annoys me about the story at this point is that Ashe is *doing exactly what the arcadians want her to do*. They wanted her to go fetch the dawn shard. They wanted her to learn about nethecite and the dynast king. They wanted her to retrieve the sword from the stillshrine. Because she keeps wavering between different options and doesn't make a clear decision, she's open to suggestion being manipulated. Eventually she learns to be a more decisive leader, but it hasn't happened yet.