Echoes of Vana'diel FFXI Alliance Raid

Then you will be sad

I do wonder if they going to make this canon like with the crystal tower raid. With both games being MMO and they share many similarities, you would think the two world will overlap for a MSQ expansion.

Big Shantotto is back

https://i.imgur.com/Yy6FXue.jpg


AF Gear is a surprise. Too many recolors though. I really wish they had broken the mold more with this alliance raid series.

https://i.imgur.com/IFiXPQr.jpg

EDIT: Actually I guess the RDM relic set is retextured and looks right. RDMs eating good this patch.

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

EDIT: Actually I guess the RDM relic set is retextured and looks right. RDMs eating good this patch.

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They are all actual class sets in FFXI - The left side until the middle are the AF versions of the Red Mage (AF2), Paladin, Monk and Thief, then goes on with Red Mage (AF1), Paladin (AF2) and Thief (AF2).

sam getting screwed over from sharing gearsets with mnk once again

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Originally Posted by Arrius

They are all actual class sets in FFXI - The left side until the middle are the AF versions of the Red Mage (AF2), Paladin, Monk and Thief, then goes on with Red Mage (AF1), Paladin (AF2) and Thief (AF2).

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Yeah, I mean I'm pleasantly surprised that they actually made different textures for the AF and Relic gear. They didn't do that for the Sandoria raid gear, the Errant set is just a lazy recolor. They also gendered the RDM pants this time when they didn't gender the Lilisette/DNC gear. So they did a slightly better job this time.

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

Yeah, I mean I'm pleasantly surprised that they actually made different textures for the AF and Relic gear. They didn't do that for the Sandoria raid gear, the Errant set is just a lazy recolor. They also gendered the RDM pants this time when they didn't gender the Lilisette/DNC gear. So they did a slightly better job this time.

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Likely since the San'doria sets are ones specifically from certain NPC's, mainly Zeid, Lilisette, Shantotto and Prishe and don't have gender differences.
That Lilisette's set is a close copy of the dancer AF is probably just by design, since that's what she wears in XI aside a few smaller changes in detail.

The gear has really been all over the place for this raid series. I suppose it's hard to pick a handful of sets from an MMO's entire history but it's a shame we didn't get some of the flashier sets.

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Originally Posted by Wyssahtyn

sam getting screwed over from sharing gearsets with mnk once again

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I find it far more egregious that every caster and healer has to look like a RDM.

But in general, this will always be the problem with having to share gearsets. Overall, I find the XI Alliance raid's gear to be a massive disappointment. I mean, yeah, congrats to DNC*, PLD, MNK, RDM and nonexistent THF (or NINs that want to cosplay one) for getting their XI classic AF... But it just goes to show how lazy they are with just recoloring Casting with Healing, Maiming with Fending, and Scouting in this spot with Striking or Aiming... I guess healers and DRGs miss out.

I feel like they should have just done AF all the way through since the 1st raid, and that way nearly every job that existed in XI would have had their day in the sun, even with the dev's penchant for only designing 4 unique gear sets and recoloring the remaining 3. Going modified Arkangels > NPCs > AF for 4 jobs feels incredibly unsatisying.

Huge disappointment for me.

The trouble with giving us AF and Relic gear instead of gear multiple jobs can equip is now I'm just going to be begging them for all the other sets too. Even if it's just a glamour.

https://i.imgur.com/vISHld2.png

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

The trouble with giving us AF and Relic gear instead of gear multiple jobs can equip is now I'm just going to be begging them for all the other sets too. Even if it's just a glamour.

https://i.imgur.com/vISHld2.png

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We need that Corsair AF armor

Are we not entertained! RAWR!!

WE NEED FF11 SAMURAI AF SET!!!

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

The trouble with giving us AF and Relic gear instead of gear multiple jobs can equip is now I'm just going to be begging them for all the other sets too. Even if it's just a glamour.

https://i.imgur.com/vISHld2.png

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Exactly my problem. I love that they included FFXI AFs but now I think its unfair because not everyone gets his favourite AF. Just a Handful. If they always wanted to add AFs to the Raid they should kinda have skipped the Arc Angels and Mission Girls and just straight up give us all AFs over the course of the Expansion.

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

The trouble with giving us AF and Relic gear instead of gear multiple jobs can equip is now I'm just going to be begging them for all the other sets too. Even if it's just a glamour.

https://i.imgur.com/vISHld2.png

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22 FFXI jobs, 7x3 gear sets from the raids.

Possible distribution of the sets could be:
Tanks: WAR > PLD > DRK
Maiming: DRG > RUN > BLU/BST
Striking: MNK > SAM > PUP
Scouting: THF > NIN > COR
Aiming: RNG > DNC > BRD
Healing: WHM > SCH > GEO
Casting: RDM > BLM > SMN

Maiming's last slot is a bit up in the air for BLU or BST. Although BST did were heavier armor, it might be that one for the set.
For all the other sets, I've tried to get the correct jobs into it, like BLM for casting. Rest of the jobs have been based on where they could fit in FFXIV system and open spaces.

They made the Windurst Walls zone look very nice. It's not broken into chunks and there's not electrope floating in the sky. Aside from the broken bridge and Shantotto's platform it just looks like an HD version of the zone.

https://i.imgur.com/MpqRnm5.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/2SyFdaJ.png

Please, for all that's good in this world, give us Shantotto's haughty laugh as an emote and, please please please, don't make it an Online Store emote.

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Originally Posted by BokoToloko

Please, for all that's good in this world, give us Shantotto's haughty laugh as an emote and, please please please, don't make it an Online Store emote.

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Ohohohohohohohohohohohoho

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Originally Posted by BokoToloko

and, please please please, don't make it an Online Store emote.

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Done! It's included with a high-priced statue.

https://media1.tenor.com/m/Q7ZTA9Kbx...ys-paw-paw.gif

She killed that man

https://i.imgur.com/diYqTQk.gif

Considering that is Absolute Virtue, a boss that back then in XI took 30+ hours before it got eventually nerfed several years later.
And she just blasts it away.

Be afraid of Shantotto. Be very afraid.

Irony is, Shantotto was just a minor NPC originally in FFXI, only involved in a couple of side quests to net a magic spell scroll, and shows up briefly for a few scenes in one Windurst mission and one of the expansion missions. Then she was added as FFXI's representative in the original Dissidia (and then only as a secret optional character seperate from the 'main' cast) and from then on she surged in popularity, having a whole miniexpansion (A Shantotto Ascension) involving her and even having the first FFXI crossover event here in FFXIV back in 2013 featuring her.

Personally, speaking as a Windurstian player, I never liked her personally, the stupid horse laugh and her psychotic personality that the other Windurst ministers tolerated just rubbed me the wrong way.

It was meant to be characters like Aldo, Lion and Zeid who were supposed to be the main NPC cast in the game, not an insane Windurstian tarutaru mage with delusions of grandeur.

Please, please, please have The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah music somewhere in this 3rd alliance raid... or at least as an orchestrion roll.

I hope they add more XI sets and armor pieces in the future. The only way I could be happier than getting the Rogue's stuff is to also get a Brigandine and some Leaping Boots. Loki's Kaftan was always really cool, too. And the Homam set... I could go on.

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Originally Posted by MoonPhaseAlpha

Please, please, please have The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah music somewhere in this 3rd alliance raid... or at least as an orchestrion roll.

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I would be surprised if that one didn't make an appearance given its popularity. I would also love if they included the track for Battalia Downs but I think that one is far less likely lol.

I'm kinda sad Bastok is the only starter City that got shafted. San d'oria and Windurst players got the chance to see a small portion of their Home in new grafics. Only Bastok won't be able to see their home in new glory. Thats kinda sad and unfair.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

and shows up briefly for a few scenes in one Windurst mission and one of the expansion missions.

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Ah, that's just the brilliance of Shantotto. Her disguise as Karababa is such a success that it fools even veteran players!

No but really she shows up in a lot. Warp 2 questline, BLM AF armor questline, couple of CoP missions and a bunch of ToAU missions, all before Dissidia came out. Then she shows up in several of WoTG quests and missions, and lorewise was always a major hero of the Crystal War and part of the party that brought down the Shadow Lord. (Well, kinda sorta WoTG's story is crazy but she was there in Zvahl.)

As for Aldo and Lion, they were the main characters of Rise of the Zilart, and Zeid was a major player in Chains of Promathia.

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Originally Posted by Scott

I'm kinda sad Bastok is the only starter City that got shafted. San d'oria and Windurst players got the chance to see a small portion of their Home in new grafics. Only Bastok won't be able to see their home in new glory. Thats kinda sad and unfair.

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We've only seen Windurst and Aht Urhgan so far from the last raid, so who knows what else will show up. The Windurst area looked like it was boss-only with no trash, maybe Bastok will show up as a trash pull area like Ru'Aun and Qufim.

Aht Urhgan might also just be a Besieged miniboss/trash thing, all we saw was a brief glimpse of the Undead Swarm in the trailer with Lamia, Qutrub, and an Acrolith.

https://i.imgur.com/P89Kdmm.gif

Thats true. Yes. But its kinda unlikely they use 3 City Areas in one single Raid Tier. I would of course be pleasantly surprised if this would be the case.

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

We've only seen Windurst and Aht Urhgan so far from the last raid, so who knows what else will show up. The Windurst area looked like it was boss-only with no trash, maybe Bastok will show up as a trash pull area like Ru'Aun and Qufim.

Aht Urhgan might also just be a Besieged miniboss/trash thing, all we saw was a brief glimpse of the Undead Swarm in the trailer with Lamia, Qutrub, and an Acrolith.

https://i.imgur.com/P89Kdmm.gif

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

The trouble with giving us AF and Relic gear instead of gear multiple jobs can equip is now I'm just going to be begging them for all the other sets too. Even if it's just a glamour.

https://i.imgur.com/vISHld2.png

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HOOOOOOOLY F---CK!! WE GET RDM RELIC (AF2) AND AF1 YEAAAAAAAH *faints*,
THANK YOU, Square Enix!!!

And yes, I do believe we all could of get each jobs' AF for nostalgia, not gonna lie. So sorry to other jobs that didn't get it, I was hopeful that, like NIER raids, we all could get a coffer set with each job inside and randomly assigned on each run. But I guess it is what it is...

My possible take on why they didn't make other sets, of course this is my own speculation and may be with a lot of logic holes, people can decide if they make sense:

Using above image from left to right:

Samurai - We already have a lot of Samurai-y gear (but FFXI AF is quite unique, yes)
Puppetmaster - We don't have this job in 14
Ranger - Good one, but its close similar, Bard or, if using Guns, MCH are quite different enough to SE be indecisive
Beastmaster - They are going to add this so recently they didn't want to conflict it with FFXI AF
Scholar - We already have a lot of Scholar-y gear (but FFXI AF is quite unique, as well)
Ninja - Honestly, as a NIN on FFXI myself, I find NIN AF1/AF2 super bland and with odd shorts instead of pants, very weird imho and one of the "weakest links"
BLue Mage - diametrically different with current FF14 blue mage (A shame, tho. but that AF wielding a cane would of look odd to SE, I guess)
Black Mage - We already have a lot of Black Mage-y gear (Not having FFXI AF2 is a big bummer, not gonna lie)
Warrior - O.M.G. Sorry... But the AF2/AF2 is f-ugly xD. Became another 'weakest link', Warrior AF in FF14 rules. Oooga booooga xD
White Mage - We already have a lot of White Mage-y gear (Not having FFXI AF2 is a big bummer, I wanted condom hat UnU)
Corsair - We already one very Corsair-y gear already, Occult Crescent one.
Summoner - FF14 AF is way cooler already
Bard - Same reason as Ranger
Dragoon - Honestly, FF14 AFs are waaaaaaay more cool that FFXI
Geomancer - We don't have that job (yet ?)
Rune Fencer - We don't have that job (yet ?)
Dark Night - Another big bummer we didn't get it, especially AF2, had some purple accents that made it look awesome.

Paladin has already good gear, but I am happy we get FFXI AF2, is awesome.
Yay to not have pseudo skirts on RDM, don't get me wrong, but on males if we look at RDMs, they look cool but... from behind.... >.>; looks like we have a long skirt and we missed our 18th century french dancing ball event, xD. So, hurray for AF1/AF2!! (yeah, yeah, RDM aesthetics are based on French musketeers but... not with pseudo long skirts all the time, please xD)
Thiefs.... really confused on this one but... oh well...

As I said it previously, is a shame we didn't get randomized coffer sets at the end of the raid (since this is the last one), so everyone could get a shot.

My two cents.

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Originally Posted by LordTimmy

Ninja - Honestly, as a NIN on FFXI myself, I find NIN AF1/AF2 super bland and with odd shorts instead of pants, very weird imho and one of the "weakest links"

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I liked how it looked as a mithra. Tights instead of shorts and the flaps on the body were removed.

https://i.imgur.com/Nfx3EHh.png

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Originally Posted by LordTimmy

Thiefs.... really confused on this one but... oh well...

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I assume it's the most "popular" job in FFXI because everyone levels it for treasure hunter. The Relic armor feels like a wasted slot though, they didn't even add the extra details for the arms/gloves.



https://i.imgur.com/jIQpuYu.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/x3HWQrY.png

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

Big Shantotto is back

https://i.imgur.com/Yy6FXue.jpg

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I'm not a FFXI player so I might be mistaken, but are her proportions a bit off? Her head looks too big for her body.

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

https://i.imgur.com/vISHld2.png

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I like the look of puppetmaster, blue mage, bard and rune fencer.

Weird that one of the RDM AF will be the healer set. Why not use Dragoon for Maiming and Ranger for Aiming?

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Originally Posted by LordTimmy

...My possible take on why they didn't make other sets, of course this is my own speculation and may be with a lot of logic holes, people can decide if they make sense:

Samurai - We already have a lot of Samurai-y gear (but FFXI AF is quite unique, yes)
Scholar - We already have a lot of Scholar-y gear (but FFXI AF is quite unique, as well)
Black Mage - We already have a lot of Black Mage-y gear (Not having FFXI AF2 is a big bummer, not gonna lie)
White Mage - We already have a lot of White Mage-y gear (Not having FFXI AF2 is a big bummer, I wanted condom hat UnU)

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It's actually amusing though; the same exact things could be said for PLDs and RDMs with that logic:
"Red Mage - We already have a lot of Red Mage-y gear (but FFXI AF is quite unique)"
"Paladin - We already have a lot of Paladin-y gear (but FFXI AF looks a little different from the 50+ heavy armors you could dye white)"

Far be it from me to take away your excitement for double PLD and RDM AF+AF2, but I hardly think those are the reasons why they didn't make other AF sets. The chief reason being they are beholden to their usual "We only made 4 sets, and 3 recolors," status quo; and unfortunately it's even more jarring when dealing with job-specific sets.

If I was to play devil's advocate for them and give reasons why these were picked, it's because:
1) These are 4 of the original vanilla jobs before expansions started hitting. And all save for PLD are base jobs. And I guess they just figured PLD AF better represents tanks than WAR's harness AF.
2) In a way, I guess you could argue RDMs could technically fall between healer and casters; but were originally more support-oriented.

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Originally Posted by LordTimmy

As I said it previously, is a shame we didn't get randomized coffer sets at the end of the raid (since this is the last one), so everyone could get a shot.

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Yeah, that thought did cross my mind back from the first alliance raid, especially with the tokens used in Jeuno to buy music sheets, but that's huffing some serious copium/hopium and was likely just a Nier raid caveat. We're in all likeliness just getting another set of FFXI orchestrion rolls to trade-in tokens for.

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Originally Posted by Yuella

Weird that one of the RDM AF will be the healer set. Why not use Dragoon for Maiming and Ranger for Aiming?

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Small indie company, please understand.

No, but seriously, like I mentioned above, RDM's AF was probably an attempt to split the baby for healers and casters by doing AF at all. I mean really though, it would have been lovely if they could have at least put in a little extra resources to give Maiming, Aiming and Healing their own AFs as well for the XI raid series' finale.

In the end, my issue with their choice of raid gear is that the whole thing now looks like they had 3 separate design teams working on the gear for each alliance raid set. The first group wanted to make cosplay outfits for players to look like the Ark Angel bosses (which I don't think anyone expected nor originally wanted when the XI raid theme was announced), the second group wanted to make cosplay outfits of important NPCs for players, like Ivalice alliance gear (again, I don't recall people getting hyped over NPC outfits, but people wanting DNC AF scored thanks to Lilisette). The third group decided they wanted to recreate AF gear- which I do recall being something people wanted to see. So we end up with a sort of mishmash of disjointed, inconsistent themes.

If they were going to do job AFs at all, they should have been consistent throughout all 3 alliance raids. At least that way, most healers, casters, melee, tanks and ranged DPS would have had one set that best represented them.

Alternatively, I think lots of people were hoping for iconic job-agnostic sets, some of which might actually be recolored feasibly (like casting/healing from the Second Walk).

Even reading reddit comments in the thread talking about it seem filled with more disappointment than hype.

I loved getting the DNC af last time but this next raid gear is a bit boring and safe. I wish they had given way more than us always sharing all the time it is lazy.

There are so many amazing outfits in XI I feel this last lot is lacking :(

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Originally Posted by Iscah

I'm not a FFXI player so I might be mistaken, but are her proportions a bit off? Her head looks too big for her body.

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She looks ok to me. Tarutaru are shorter than Lalafell, maybe she got a scaled down Lala body and that's what looks off. I don't think Taru knees can bend that much.

https://i.imgur.com/wv0ney4.png

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

She looks ok to me. Tarutaru are shorter than Lalafell, maybe she got a scaled down Lala body and that's what looks off. I don't think Taru knees can bend that much.

https://i.imgur.com/wv0ney4.png

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Thanks for the comparison image, but it makes me more certain that the proportions look off. Her torso is smaller and the puffier hair is making her face look even wider.

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Originally Posted by Iscah

Thanks for the comparison image, but it makes me more certain that the proportions look off. Her torso is smaller and the puffier hair is making her face look even wider.

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She's also been in some Dissidia games and her proportions aren't always consistent.

https://i.imgur.com/w73JkJy.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/77NDtBP.png

Hmm, so reused giant Shantotto assets from like 13 years ago. It does not inspire faith. :/
Pretty upsetti about the lack of giving us at least 6 different AF sets. No real excuse for it, either, since its also asset reuse.

And ughh, Windurst.

Smells like after this comes out, I'll finally unsub. At least until Coldilocks and the 7 Jotunn comes out. I'm like full doomer at this point.

I'm not sure what to think about how they've basically only shown Shantotto, I went back and watched the 6.5 and 5.5 trailers and they both show off multiple alliance raid bosses, basically just keeping the final boss a secret.

Hopefully it's a pleasant surprise.

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

I'm not sure what to think about how they've basically only shown Shantotto

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We'll be fighting gods in this one which will presumably be quite a spectacle, so they probably want it to be a fun surprise.