FFXI The Novel

[Kingofgeeks]

I have an idea that I do not know how many others would be interested in.

I would love for someone (doesn't have to be SE) to write a Novel for Final Fantasy XI. They could start with FFXI, then make other novels based on to Zilart, CoP, ToAU... etc.

The novel will cover the backstory of FFXI along with a narritive of the events that unfold while the player finishes each mission.

Obviously this will be a complete book of spoilers but for someone that has beaten every storyline in the game, it would be a nice read years after this game is long dead. I would write it myself, but alas my writing skills not good enough to make a compelling novel, even if the story is already laid out on a platter.

So what do you think? anyone that reads this forum a good writer? I, for one, would pay good money for this novel (even if its just a text file to read from an eReader)

[Wenceslao]

I think they already have something like it but just in japanese imma search in the web I'm sure i saw it once, but teh idea is cool, i would love to read a novel about Chains of Promathia, i really enjoyed that expansion and i'd love it to be able to read it whenever i want

[Kingofgeeks]

Something told me they made one already in japanese. Its highly possible someone's already done this for some of the earlier expansions when the game was at the peak of its popularity. If anyone can find them that would be great. If anyone can pick up where someone left off, that would be great as well.

[JGwinters]

There indeed is a novelization series already, by Miyabi Hasegawa. It's been translated to at least French, has 30 parts in it I think with its future unknown. Likely discontinued at this point, a new one hasn't come out in so long.

Not sure if it's what you're after though. While there's some content directly from nation-missions in the first books, the latter ones seem to more concentrate on telling what else is happening in the world around the time of the mission stories. It does visit Tavnazia with CoP, Aht Urhgan with ToAU and the past with WotG, but that's about it.

[Kingofgeeks]

yeah, something like that would be pretty awesome to have, if only in text form. Someone else continuting where Hasegawa left off would be even more amazing

[Hotsume]

Just to let SE know I would pay money for any book form detailing FFXI's lore. IN ENGLISH.

[Halisstra]

If my character isn't the main character in the book it's not canon and I don't want it.

[JGwinters]

If my character isn't the main character in the book it's not canon and I don't want it.

Does that still apply when you're not the main character, but the main characters don't step in and claim the game's story? :) Like I said, the novelization series does have a little nation mission content but not much - namely, one of the three dragon fights. The first mini-series within the series actually (spoilers, highlight) culminates in a battle against undead from the seas and you just get to read that a bunch of some (unnamed) adventurers defeated the Shadow Lord while they were battling the undead in Selbina.

That said, it's a real shame that the series doesn't seem to be continuing anymore. It might not have been the height of literacy achievements, but it's entertaining enough to read. If you're interested in such things (and can read Japanese or French) I'd recommend checking out at least the first three books.

[Kingofgeeks]

If my character isn't the main character in the book it's not canon and I don't want it.

If the book was in digital form, i'm sure it'd be easy to just do a search and replace the characters name with my name. OR! if the book was written in first person, that would kind of preserve the feeling that you get when you are centered around the story.

It is a shame that they never did this, but that's my point: SOMEONE out there must be a good writer and still cares about this game. I just wish i could bribe someone to actually write it, even if they just took ALL of the books dialog directly from the transcription of the quests and missions already available from FFXIclopedia. All they would really need to do is fill in the blanks with some action sequences and maybe descriptions of scenery

[wfoley]

I would be willing to tackle this as a project for fun. I do some fantasy writing for fun from time to time.
Would people like the adventurer to remain voiceless? Genderless is doable as well, though it makes the writing dry due to lack of pronouns. I can write the adventurer as a jobless adventurer as well to give the image of the game. I think the story breakdowns would be shadow lord / zilart ; CoP(apoc nigh as an epilogue?); wotg ; abysses?. For main story and wotg, I don't think the individual nation quest fit well in the grand scheme, but maybe a small collection on their own? What are peoples' input? The dialogue is almost all online already so it shouldn't be too terrible.

[Kingofgeeks]

awesome wfoley! Yes i think that is a great idea about the main story being shadow lord with a zilart ended; CoP with Apoc Nigh ending; all of wotg and abyssea. you can also do the add on scenarios, since they're independent of any other story and should be easier to write. using all of the in game dialog would make it easy to read and true to all of the people wishing to reminisce about ffxi. but honestly though, work on the story of the shadow lord first; do it first so you're not intimidated by the size of everything ffxi.

as for the main character, if you can make it so that the main character is genderless and jobless that would defiantly keep the feeling of reader immersion. It should be easy for at least everything before wotg, because your character didn't really interact much, people just barked orders at you and praised you for bringing good news.

do this and i fully plan to make any story you make as viral as possible.