Because my brain never shuts off as I’m trying to sleep... it went into hardcore thoughts on the Phases for a Trial involving Jacques... (Especially after seeing @lockeff14 mentioning wanting to post about their OC as a FFXIV fight, I second @benes-diction DO IT! I WANNA SEE!) so... I wanted to write this down while it was still fresh on my mind. It doesn’t help that the Trial Text that I made for him is also fresh on my mind now as well >>
Phase 1 - Family Bonds
Jacques himself will take on a form that is similar to how we have seen Nael deus Darnus in the Bindind Coil. However, with him would be a ‘Shade’ of Bahamut, something akin to the Summoners own summoning of Bahamut. This add will not be targetable at all through this first phase of the fight and players would have to avoid various attacks from the Dragon while also focusing on getting Jacques down into the next phase of the encounter. This would be the generic, let’s learn the major mechanics that will be going on through this fight phase.
Phase 2 - The Return
Once Jacques is brought down 25% of his total HP he will ‘flee’ the Arena to gather energy. During this phase, players will be faced with a more powerful form of Bahamut, one that while it seems to look like the Elder Primal it’s not the same. Players will take note that this ‘Shade’ lacks the Allagan pieces that the Elder Primal had and it’s scales are of a vivid silver hue. While Jacques is channeling his energy he will occasionally launch attacks however the players main focus is burning down the Shade before Jacques reaches his full energy, if he reaches full energy the entire party will wipe. This phase is all about placement and avoiding the AOE’s that both the Shade and Jacques will be using.
Phase 3 - The Fury of the Dragon
Once the Shade has been dealt with, whatever energy Jacques has charged will be used to unleash an attack that will deal damage to the entire party. After the attack, Jacques will disappear before landing on the center of the area landing in his dragon form. This landing will deal moderate damage to the entire party as well as knock them back, destroying a portion of the platform and the walls that surround it. If you hated Twintania’s wall of death then you are going to hate it here as well because once the walls have been destroyed the outer edge of the Arena will be covered with flames that will instantly kill anyone who touches them. This is another learn the mechanics phase as Jacques will be bringing new mechanics as well as using old ones from the previous phase. Players must then burn Jacques down to 30% of his health pool to trigger the final phase.
Phase 4 - Downfall
When brought to the final 30% of his health Jacques will once again leave the area and players will find themselves being shielded by Midgardsormr. This time he will use his ultimate attack, Exaflare, which is an instant kill should players not be within the shield. Once finished, Jacques will collapse into the center of the Arena in his normal form, exhausted. Players will have to bring Jacques down to 25% of his HP before he has recovered from his exhaustion, think of it as the big DPS check of the entire fight, if not taken down Jacques will return to his dragon form gaining a damage up buff which will make the fight nearly impossible to beat. If successful then players will have to face off against Jacques in his normal form, tired and exhausted but still capable of fighting. He will have various Dragoon Abilities along side being able to use attacks from the first phase of the fight itself. Once brought down to 1% of his HP Jacques will collapse and the battle will end.
Midgard will return to the battle and players will have the option to speak with him. This thought came to me with the Trust system coming in Shadowbringers, if players earned enough trust with Jacques as a companion then they would have the choice to spare his life and bring him back from his madness, those who didn’t would only have the option to kill him with the help of Midgard.
THIS IS ALL JUST WHAT IF STUFF AND ME WANTING TO WRITE THINGS OUT! I don’t know what I am doing with this so a lot of it is just... okay let’s slap it against the wall and see what works and what doesn’t. And a lot of it is just getting the idea out there before actually detailing it out >>
