With omega and return to ivalice......

Is the lore of ffxiv getting a bit to gimmicky? I feel like this game borrows a bit to much from past stories, and it's beginning to feel unoriginal and uninspired. Having big chunks of content being one big fan service feels very f2p mobile game-ish.

One thing ffxi has over xiv is original story arcs.

Well, first, I would argue that well over 90% of FFXIV's lore and story arcs *are* original. The main scenario, give or take a minor shout-out, is entirely its own thing, for starters - the events, location, characters, and even the application of the references to past series that do exist are XIV Exclusives. The world of Hydaelyn itself is completely original as well (and, I would argue, the most fleshed-out world in the franchise - though I'm sure some would debate that).

Now, the game is also a Final Fantasy Theme Park by design - Yoshida himself has used these exact words. As such, there are indeed a number of storylines that reference past games more directly, alongside the other minor callbacks and references sprinkled in. The thing is, I'm not sure they're as common as some would imply. ARR had Crystal Tower, sure, but that was written in such a way that tied it inextricably to the world and history of XIV. Meanwhile, I can't think of anything that's a comparably-large reference in Heavensward.

Looking at Stormblood: Omega does certainly reference FFV quite heavily, and though it's once again entirely in the context of XIV's world, Exdeath gave me a bit of pause. Though he, like the other bosses, is discussed as if he's a legendary figure in Hydaelyn, little other context or buildup is given, making the excuse for the reference feel a bit cheaper than usual. However, I'm willing to see where this goes; one (very minor) slip-up isn't enough for me to write off the dev team as having succumbed to Crossover Fever. And as for Return to Ivalice, let's wait for that to drop before we call creative bankruptcy. If it ends up being like Crystal Tower, I think it'll be fine; if we cross a portal into the world of Tactics and XII, I'll be willing to concede the point.

Ivalice could be a region under Imperial Control. We might go there to liberate it.

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Originally Posted by Hinoto-no-Ryuji

Meanwhile, I can't think of anything that's a comparably-large reference in Heavensward.

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What, the Warring Triad from VI as primals weren't big enough? Or the Heavenward themselves being the Knights of the Round? Or Krile Baldesion showing up, dressed in her iconic white mage robe with the eared hood? Sure, they made her a Lalafell, but that just makes her look more like her Super-deformed style in-game sprite...

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Originally Posted by Yuella

Ivalice could be a region under Imperial Control. We might go there to liberate it.

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there IS a mention of Dalmasca being a city under Imperial influence in 2.0 scenario during a cutscene featuring some imperial soldiers and some officer

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Originally Posted by Elutheriel

What, the Warring Triad from VI as primals weren't big enough? Or the Heavenward themselves being the Knights of the Round? Or Krile Baldesion showing up, dressed in her iconic white mage robe with the eared hood? Sure, they made her a Lalafell, but that just makes her look more like her Super-deformed style in-game sprite...

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Those are references, but none are on the scale of Crystal Tower, an entire raid themed around FFIII - location, antagonists, gear, aspects of the plot, the works. Krile, Matoya and the Warring Triad come the closest, I guess, but they're singular isolated elements wholly removed from their reference points - none of the plot or locations involving them even kind of resembles their context from the other games. The Heaven's Ward, meanwhile, are really just a new addition to the Final Fantasy tradition of sharing summon monsters.

With how the denizens of the deltascape are introduced all they amount to is a casual reference. They have no bearing on Omega's plot which would seem to be wholly original. They don't even really exist being conjured from some story Nero had heard of. Which incidentally suggests some version of FFV would seem to exist on Hydaelyn. Most likely in the form of a book, but possibly in the garlean equivalent of a video game and the idea of Nero playing it on a super Hingacom is hilarious to me.

Back to the subject at hand while XIV uses a lot of stuff from previous games I feel its in a sensibly remixed manner. No Kefka equivalent for the warring triad, the war of the magi is entirely divorced from the triad and given much more development, the crown prince solicits divine help not to end the interference of gods but because hes a total nutbar, etc.

As a fan of the franchise as a whole? I really don't mind the references at all. Be they subtle or heavy. There's plenty of original lore to be found, too, so it's not as if everything is just pure fanservice. We often get a bait and switch, too, as the above poster states - quite a lot of people falsely believed that Regula - bless his honourable soul - would go the way of Kefka, betray the Emperor and merge with The Warring Triad. None of which happened. Instead we got some excellent fights and music out of them and Regula died a hero.

There's also a lot more material that they can slowly introduce and twist in a similar manner. I'm particularly eager to see more FF9 and FF12 references as they are my two favourite titles in the franchise. I wouldn't be opposed to some FF7 and FF8 love either, though.

I don't mind if they go ham this raid tier. In another thread I mentioned I'd love to see them implement Chrono Trigger bosses, like the dragon machine when you break Chrono out of jail and of course Lavos, a multi tiered fight. Chrono series is an often overlooked franchise and it would be nice to know that someone in the SquareEnix company could do it some justice since we may never get a proper sequel. It doesn't HAVE to be restricted to FF games, we got some subtle nods in the form of Glamour from other less known SquareEnix games.