Al-Cid could've been developed more. I mean, give us a few cutscenes of him at home before traveling to Bur-Omisace, trying to stop the powers-that-be from approving a war.

You'll find out that, while ole Archades is the aggressive one in conquering its neighbors, Rozzaria isn't exactly peaceful either. They notice the empire's westward march, and have plans of their own. You'll find out soon enough.

What about the scene where Drace is killed? Or where the party confronts Judge Bergan? There are so many awesome scenes I can't even count them all.

The Occuria, for example, could've had far more background. The bestiary and legends all mention the Gods, and that gives us loads of info on them. But things aren't explained:

- Why did they create the Pharos?
- Who were the people who lived at Ridorana?
- Why did they retreat behind the walls of Giruvegan after they finished creating it?
- Are there more Occuria, as is implied by the city surrounding the platform where they spoke with Ashe?

You could do this to almost every part of the game, to give us something more to chew on. Most of the information we get about the world is from items and bestiary entries.

VENAT IS A HERETIC!

I'm still not sure how I feel about the Occuria. They seem as though they have some kind of ulterior motive, possibly even something sinister. On the other hand, I have to agree with them about what Venat is doing, and about guiding the flow of history. Clearly, in the wrong hands, Nethicite is incredibly dangerous. Nabudis is evidence enough of this, so I can see why they would be angry with Venat for just handing out such knowledge. Everything they said about humans is true. Being guided by our base desires, wasting our too-short lives in things that, in the end, don't even matter. I am reminded of VIKI's quote from I, Robot: "You are so like children." And, like children, we can be pretty ornery at times. It takes humility to admit that you may not always be right. Perhaps, even more to admit that you need help and guidance. If the history of the humans in Ivalice is anything like ours, they certainly do need the guidance of the Occuria, whether they want to admit it or not.

Venat and the other Occuria are still in Cahoots?

I think that Venat is up to something. Something about her (its?) voice and appearance is noticably darker than the other Occuria, which I actually find to be quite beautiful in appearance. This may possibly be some type of misdirection, however. Personally, I think Venat has been misleading Dr. Cid and the others for some nefarious purpose. The manner in which she speaks, I can just sense that she is playing on the sense of superiority and pride that stems from their own human nature. For the time being, I trust the other Occuria, they seem to be alright to me. Gerun seemed genuinely upset about Venat's doings, so I don't think they're in on anything.

The Occuria are in the wrong, as is Venaat. Both groups are manipulative little twits. Each has very valid points, and from what I've seen after finishing the Pharos, both are in the wrong. Have you seen the cutscene where Venaat tears into the rest of her (the voice definitely leans towards she, while Gerun's seems very androgynous) kind. What she mentioned about them being too far removed from the flow of time to judge and rule correctly was on the money. However, that carries with it quite a bit of arrogance. Who's to say she doesn't want to rule over humans by giving them what they want while manipulating them?

BTW, I love that cutscene. Easily the best in the game. The VA is just raw there, and the intensity of their emotions is definitely felt, through the speech and the sudden (startling?) appearance of the other Occuria. Maybe Gerun woke them up, or mention of Venaat is enough to make them come running?

I suggest you try to complete the bestiary. You won't have such a high opinion of the Occuria by the time you're almost done. They're fearful, judgemental, manipulative and merciless. Reading up on the espers shows that rebellion against them isn't new.

I have to agree with you about the merciless part. All their talk about passing judgement on humans (and not only that, but using Ashe to pass more judgement) and "Let live some, and crush the rest" is evidence enough of that. However, their thoughts on humes are remarkably lucid, and I can't really bring myself to disagree with them.

If you haven't already done so, do the Fafnir hunt. Doing so will get you some nice arrows and a great/revelatory discussion with Relj. If you don't remember her well, she's the sole Viera at Bur-Omisace. She left The Wood to travel the world in order to find out why the Humes prosper so much so over the other races. I mean, this lady was an ice cold bitch. When the petitioner, Ieeha goes off with some other Kiltias to kill Fafnir, she simply says they likely ran away and used that as an excuse. So you go and deal with pain in the ass Fafnir and when you beat him you get a Ring of the Light, a ring worn by Kiltias.

Take it back to her and these three things happen:

- She realizes that he actually went
- He and his comrades likely got slaughtered and consumed
- She sincerely believed he was a coward rather than expecting the best out of him

This provokes some serious change for her, and mentions that now she understands why Humes are where they are in the world. That individually, they're weak, cowardly, etc... but when threatened they band together, and fight to the death to protect each other. The game lets this unfold far better than I could ever describe.

Just goes to show, the Occuria really don't have much of a point. The Undying could stand to open their eyes and acknowledge the better parts of Humes, but I think their paranoia gets the better of them. This is the same wariness that led to them creating the Entites (because each element, man was able to co-opt for their own use, resulting into violent reaction from the Occuria, which lead to each individual Entite), and with the Espers (Zodiark, especially).

If you remember way back in the Tomb of Raithwall, Ashe mentions the ancient legend of the Nu Mou and how they had become so powerful that they challenged the gods. In retaliation, she says that most of them were wiped out and that's how their tale ends. This sounds like exactly what they want to do with Humes, except they don't want to dirty their oh-so-righteous hands with the actual slaughter.