Since we didn't find Mikoto among the hostages, I was dreading that we were going to find her dead, having died to Aulus' echo experimentation device. Then the hostage scene happened and you could cut the tension with a butter knife.
RIP all of those soldiers. Glad none of the named NPCs I had fought in the FATEs along with died.
Hm... so the Garlean commander doesn't seem to be on the same page as Noah, but it doesn't seem like he's plotting against Noah either. Now I'm starting to get interested in him. The insinuation that it was his plan all along to get the Bozjan Resistance to start researching memory infusions so he could summon a primal is a little convoluted. Couldn't the IVth Legion have researched that? They are notably heavy on non-Garlean members (in fact, I don't think I've seen a IVth Legion character of Garlean blood yet).
I'm baffled by the insinuation that Noah has a trick up his sleeve, that he is intentionally losing Bozja. Noah's plan seems rather straightforward: secure Dalmasca, dig in, and then sign peace treaties with everyone. That way, the IVth Legion will survive and can live to build up and conquer another day. Ofcourse Noah isn't going to waste his resources on Bozja (desolate wasteland with little strategic value or resources).
Also, I wish we got more scenes like the last one with Helsos poking at the commander. Helps make the villains feel more like people, like they aren't 100% plotting villains the whole time and actually have friends and banter. Would be cool if Helsos was defeated in the next installment but wasn't killed, maybe even joining the Resistance or pledging to serve Princess Ashe or something. I can't imagine fighting him again (unless it's with a new beast)... which means he might end up dying in a cutscene to betrayal or something. Hope not.
In the 5.1 MSQ, Alisae suggested that tempering could be cured, so I'm guessing if she manages to find a cure in 5.4 or 5.5, that cure could be applied to the tempered Bozjans. If the third Eden tier requires the completion of the 5.3 MSQ, the patch in which you cure the tempered Bozjans might also require MSQ completion. But I think it's more likely that we will have to tragically cut down the tempered.