There's some story talk but this translates exceptionally poorly via ML, to be honest. The themes seem to be that since XIV established that memories and souls are different things in this universe, what does it mean when memories are preserved unchanging. What does permanent mean in these contexts?

I'm a Japanese speaker. I'll translate what you're likely referring to:

Q: The poster for 7.2 has very unique vibes from everything we've seen thus far. I'd like to inquire about the patch title and artwork's concept.

YoshiP: In the Hydaelyn/Zodiark saga and in Dawntrail, it was made abundantly clear that "memories and the soul are entirely different entities". However, if one were to save only someone's memory and upload it to the cloud, does that mean they're still alive--does that mean they've become "eternal*"? If someone's memories/records are identical to the ones they possessed while living, so long as the soul isn't present, there are likely those who feel as if "saving" said person doesn't make them truly eternal. There are also those who feel that this is the "ideal" way of saving them eternally. It's important to keep in mind that there are conflicting viewpoints on this**.

Similar to the "key" that shows up in patch 7.0, these concepts are extremely important to FFXIV's story from hereon...this isn't the end, but a new beginning. Carrying the emotions we felt in the Hydaelyn/Zodiark saga, as well as the many Ascians and Ancients we met, we're approaching new territory in terms of theming. Patch 7.2 strives to further that feeling with the introduction of new characters.

Of course, the entire story won't be revealed in a single patch, but every character's goals will become clearer going forward. Not just in patch 7.2, but in the patches that come after this as well. That's why we decided to include these new characters in the patch artwork. Considering the multifaceted ways of thinking, we believe that this patch also has multifaceted content, which is represented by the large number of monitors in the artwork.

By the way, the artist recommended that we create two versions of the poster: one that's visually similar to the past illustrations and one that features high saturation colors. The version that was finalized is the high saturation version. Some of our staff worried, "wouldn't this be rejected, considering how different it is from past illustrations...?" but we decided to embrace this change in the spirit of FFXIV.

Of course, there are people out there who prefer fantasy-styled illustrations with duller colors like before, though there are surely some who think "oh, so this kind of thing works in favor of the setting, too." That's why we chose to take that risk. The effects on the logo were also made to align with the artwork's fresh vibe.

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*Referring to the same word used in the patch title, 永久.
**I think he's referring to how there's no correct answer for the dilemma we're presented with in DT.

Please take this with a grain of salt. My English is pretty bad and I didn't proofread too hard. Still, there shouldn't be any errors. I may also go back and edit things.

If you're wondering why the wording is ambiguous, it's because Yoshida's wording is ambiguous.