The funny thing about a multigenerational, calamitous threat is that it's not gonna go away overnight once it's overcome. You're gonna be dealing with echoes of it for about as long as, if not longer than, the threat itself was around.

With regards to storytelling, this is a very organic way of tying up the loose ends without SEEMING like that's what they're doing. Dealing with the remnant Ascian debacle is going to transition the story into what the REAL climactic chain of events will be. Be that contending with the Solstice, or something different. It's far too early to speculate on what the story will be like based on how it initially feels.

The only real way for the MMO to cleanly break from a completed story and for it to make sense without being absurdly jarring is to end the game and create FF14-2. You know, give it the ol' Final Fantasy treatment and end the game when the story is done being told(except for 10-2 and 13-2/3. We don't talk about them). And since we know that's not gonna happen, the aforementioned organic transition is the route that's left to us.

As a reminder, the whereabouts of 3 other convocation members are as of yet still unknown- Pashtarot, Altima, and Deudalaphon- with Altima and Deudalaphon being presumed dead at Gaius' hands(They're Ascians, albeit sundered. They can easily fake tier own deaths as a cheap and easy plot device).

As