Should lore be more important than variety?

[radar]

A problem in many zones and many endgame events is that due to lore restrictions they refuse to add a wider variety of mobs, this hurts the fun of those events and the usefulness of the zones.

For instance, Lamia (and similar mobs) cannot be added in most zones because they are the result of necromancy experiments of the Aht Urghan empire. So they are can't really be added anywhere else.

However it would be fun to have them in more places, many of the monsters made for XI have been reused in XIV and with no care for lore at all (even cardians).

Should XI have a similar philosophy or at least be a little more lax with it? and for instance add more Lamia, Imps and other similar undead monsters to areas such as Ra'kaznar or even Sortie to add more variety and fun for those zones?

[Zenion]

I'd like to suggest a counter-example: the avatars in Abyssea.

The celestial avatars are singular godly powers that exist outside of Vana'diel proper. They're dormant now, and if they ever awaken that's an apocalyptic scenario on its own; that's like half of the overarching summoner plotline. If they appear anywhere outside their protocrystals without a summoner involved, it's big news and an immediate danger.

And then you visit Abyssea, and there's just... off-brand avatars, everywhere. The wild Carbuncle roaming in Abyssea - La Theine is fine, that little guy's a terrestrial avatar, basically just an ascended animal, if the world breaks badly enough why wouldn't you see one running wild. But then there's Titan, Ifrit, Ramuh, Leviathan, just roaming around with different names; Garuda, Shiva, and Diabolos apparently got their doppelgangers stuck between dimensions as voidwalkers. Why is any of this? Maybe if they'd gotten palette swaps it would be believable as a "cave monkey" situation, but no, this is just straight up... hey yeah so we decided you needed these avatars to fight, nah, don't sweat the story implications, Abyssea's already screwed anyway lol.

If something that has a very specific place in lore shows up somewhere else, there is a subset of players who will immediately think "hold on, that's not right, how does that work?" That's the price you pay for having a world that tries to make sense and be coherent, unlike FFXIV and its "throw it in, and we'll just say it's a simulation or a dimensional bubble or something" approach. Either some kind of explanation needs to be offered, or you damage player investment in the overall realness of the world.

[radar]

Abyssea is an alternate universe where Promathia won, and became absolute death (Shinryu)

The avatars were originally simple beasts, and Altana gave them the powers they have and made them her guardians / generals.

It says in the storyline of CoP, If the gate of the gods was ever opened, the avatars would all return to the mindless beasts they originally were.

The avatars you see roaming around in Aby have been reverted to simple mindless beasts again, they are no longer celestial avatars.

[Zenion]

The avatars were originally simple beasts, and Altana gave them the powers they have and made them her guardians / generals.

It says in the storyline of CoP, If the gate of the gods was ever opened, the avatars would all return to the mindless beasts they originally were.

The avatars you see roaming around in Aby have been reverted to simple mindless beasts again, they are no longer celestial avatars.

No, that's only half right. The terrestrial avatars are bound to Vana'diel in its current state, if it changes in some dramatic way - like, say, an apocalypse caused by Promathia being freed and... something something Emptiness, I forget what his actual endgame was but it obviously involved destroying the mothercrystals? - then they revert to mindless beasts, yes.

But the six in the protocrystals aren't terrestrials. They're tied more to the greater FFXI universe than the present Vana'diel we are familiar with; when their version of the world ceased to be, they didn't lose their divinity, they just went to sleep. From The Moonlit Path:

Carbuncle: Fenrir is, just as we are, one of the new energies born to the world of Vana'diel.

Carbuncle: We new powers are a part of Vana'diel. We must abide by its rules, and can die just like any other beast.

Carbuncle: The "avatars," on the other hand, are lifeforces that belong to an ancient order of things.

Carbuncle: As the ancient past of Vana'diel now sleeps, the lifeforces of the avatars are bound in torpor.

If anything, Promathia winning might have awakened the celestial avatars to wield their power over the world as gods again; might have been neat to have that as a set of bosses in there, and it could have made sense, but instead we got "sure, whatever, people want to punch discount Titan right in the loincloth to get amber light, right?"

That we can have a discussion like this is a testament to what can be built when you set out your lore and are consistent with it. We know what a terrestrial avatar is, we know what its rules are, we know how it is like and how it is unlike a celestial avatar, and we know how they fit in with the world. Playing too loose with things can just make it a game of "well okay, guess we're doing this now".

[radar]

They are ridiculously strict with lore, those avatars were not just put there for fun there is a reason they are there and with changed names and the way they are.

Altana and promathia were made by the great crystal, she made everything else and when she was defeated in Aby the avatars either reverted or went into hiding.

[Final_Farcity]

I see what you are saying. Hindsight, it makes some mobs unique.

However, lore does indeed place limitations on the game. The DRG and BST lore is particularly annoying.......those two jobs overlap in lore.......considering dragons can be controlled in other FF game by BST....as-well as Puks in XI.

As for the enemies, they could easily remedy this variety issue. Let's say they created a new hub city for an expansion.......where they are Trolls, or Mamool Ja, etc trading within city walls akin to Goblins. Thus, lore would also explain them being in the wilds beyond ToA areas.

Just a thought.......