The Last Word – Storm over Gridania

Whatever this is, I can't say I saw it coming...

Ok so, there are aether wave disturbences, and a shady phantom esk figure. Kinda reminds my of ramuh (sp) from ffxi mixed with ff9. Or odin these two have been phantom esk figures in past ff games.

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Originally Posted by Hiemdall

Although the land of the Garlean Empire is from the east so LL would make more sEnce, but I have seem Garlean "AT-AT's" in Gridania

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Eorzea map: http://www.ffxivmaps.com/img/world-map-official.jpg

You mean, Gridania is the city-state closest to the Garlean Empire (not Limsa Lominsa), so it makes sense to see them in Gridania first?

I've been wondering, if the Garlean Empire destroyed Ala Mihgo and we can see a crashed ship in Mor Dhona... at the time of the invasion by the Garlean Empire, did they just skip Gridania in their conquest or what? Haha! So now they are coming back for it? :p

Mor Dhona was an Ishgard ship fighting the dragons IIRC.

The problem with the Twelvewood zone isn't the trees. It's all the rocks and cliffs and canyons. Burning down the Black Shroud would only net you a zone like Thanalan.

SE has to manage somehow to get rid of the stone, but keep the trees. Simple fire will not be enough. Something far more supernatural will need to occur. I believe this is the setup for that.

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Originally Posted by Sorel

The problem with the Twelvewood zone isn't the trees. It's all the rocks and cliffs and canyons. Burning down the Black Shroud would only net you a zone like Thanalan.

SE has to manage somehow to get rid of the stone, but keep the trees. Simple fire will not be enough. Something far more supernatural will need to occur. I believe this is the setup for that.

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I think when people say "Burn the forest of Gridania to the ground" I think they just mean "Get rid of this horrid zone set up"... Literal fire in game would suck, Black Shroud is a truly awing place, its the landscape that's the problem :P Or the "Stone" as you said it!

Some of the Narrow passages I hope they keep though, like the bridges + the ravines in between the rock walls like south of Humblehearth :D It doesn't need to be a FULLY opened zone, just don't make it exclusively lil tiny rooms and narrow passages like it is now Hehe

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The heavens seem hell-bent on inundating Gridania of late. While the Twelveswood is no stranger to willful weather, something is afoot that sits ill with this reporter. Driven by an inner disquiet, I set out on a mission to give shape and form to intangible trepidation.

Ere long, I pick up the trail of irregularity, catching curious whispers on the wind that deaspected crystals have been circulating. Yes, you read true: these crystalline manifestations of aetheric energy are turning up utterly divested of aspect. Even a wee tot could tell you that such a thing is an affront to the very laws of nature.

Perchance this development does not suffice to chill spines, the frightful rumors being propagated by a camp-bound transient could well prompt folk to run for the hills. This shady figure is said to manifest with nary a warning, preach feverishly of impending doom, and then vanish like a phantom only to reappear elsewhere. Though the ramblings of this seemingly touched soul are largely lost to gibberish, such is the zeal with which they are delivered, more than a few citizens are like to be taken by fear.

Far be it from this reporter's intent to incite panic, but if history has taught man aught, it is that we dismiss portentous signs at our peril. Are these incidents merely isolated occurrences? Or are they a dire warning of disaster? This I leave to you, our informed readers, to ponder.

Kipih Jakkya

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I COULDN'T UNDERSTAND SH*T BUT IT WAS AN AWESOME READ!

/jk, I used my dictionary =D

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Originally Posted by yukikaze_yanagi

Actually for cinematic pre-patch i mean something like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiZEZ83N1OM
A video with in-game graphic, not cg

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even this can be done in game
e.g: show when you try to enter that dungeon for first time ( chain quest )

e.g: zilart first quest ( warrior of crystal debut )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EChdhDdc5gU
( unlike ffxiv; ffxi don't have any voice )

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Originally Posted by Greed

even this can be done in game
e.g: show when you try to enter that dungeon for first time ( chain quest )

e.g: zilart first quest ( warrior of crystal debut )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EChdhDdc5gU
( unlike ffxiv; ffxi don't have any voice )

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FF 14 has Voiceovers?! ... xD .... oh ya... all 10 lines of it >.> ... sorry, I forgot... Fail ... *^.^* Hehe

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Originally Posted by Misha

I think when people say "Burn the forest of Gridania to the ground" I think they just mean "Get rid of this horrid zone set up"... Literal fire in game would suck, Black Shroud is a truly awing place, its the landscape that's the problem :P Or the "Stone" as you said it!

Some of the Narrow passages I hope they keep though, like the bridges + the ravines in between the rock walls like south of Humblehearth :D It doesn't need to be a FULLY opened zone, just don't make it exclusively lil tiny rooms and narrow passages like it is now Hehe

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yea i think they should keep some of the topography, but not everywhere, change it up more, and have some parts of the forest you can walk reasonably off of tiny paths, even if thier are trees everywhere

i bet a Porsche that whatever happens will happen in a cutscene (if at all) and for all who play and start in this city nothing will change, nothing at all.
All the guild and shops there will stay where they are and people will play the starter quests just the same.

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Originally Posted by Randis

i bet a Porsche that whatever happens will happen in a cutscene (if at all) and for all who play and start in this city nothing will change, nothing at all.
All the guild and shops there will stay where they are and people will play the starter quests just the same.

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Ya would be stupid to change that all imo ... city and starting quests are just fine... I think it'll just effect the outside zone which is the problem... ALOT of work lost otherwise, lore , cs's , the like... just doen't seem them messing with the city at all... maybe a added decoration here or there and some new npc's... but that's all :D

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Originally Posted by Misha

FF 14 has Voiceovers?! ... xD .... oh ya... all 10 lines of it >.> ... sorry, I forgot... Fail ... *^.^* Hehe

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ffxiv do have voices in important c/s ( play story quest )

I can't stand all this speculation. I just want to know if anything worth my time is coming or not.

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Originally Posted by Greed

ffxiv do have voices in important c/s ( play story quest )

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Have...all of em... u obviously failed to see the sarcasm lol... Voiceovers aren't even worth mentioning in 14, such a measly pathetic amount of em! True story!!! ... Did YOU play through all the quests yet? :P

FF11 used to have in game cut-scenes prior to an expansion, if they could do that here like a week before it happens it would cause a nice bit of hype and possibly some advertisement.

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Originally Posted by Jinko

FF11 used to have in game cut-scenes prior to an expansion, if they could do that here like a week before it happens it would cause a nice bit of hype and possibly some advertisement.

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All the cutscenes in FF11 are in game.

My guess is that "The Black Shroud" zone will change to show a battle front coming from the northeast (around Camp Emerald Moss) with destruction in its wake. In Gridania new quests and story line which puts the player on those new front lines would be introduced.

Or they could just introduce a cut sceen showing the conquoring of Gridania and the map will change to something along the likes of past Final Fantasy's. One second it's a nice, peaceful place, the next its a military camp that you have to sneak into. Always my favorite parts in the past.

This is all just a ploy to get people out of uldah and into grid, I for one dont buy it.

I'm curious about the deaspected crystals mentioned in the second paragraph. A type of crystal called Deaspected Crystal with the following description:

This translucent crystal seems to have been completely drained of its elemental aspect.

and a quest item call "Unaspected Crystal"(dunno if this one is already in a quest or not) were found in the dats after the 1.17 patch. I don't know if what is described in "The last word" is already implemented and just need to be activate or if we'll have to wait for a future patch but it seem it'll come soon.

I'm intersted to see if this actual translates into something in-game. I'd be a bit disappointed if it was just lore and not a hint of things to come.

My guess is that they'll redo East Forest a bit since that area is very very mazy and have the 'end-game' dungeon stem from somehwere in that area.

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Originally Posted by Aramil

I'm curious about the deaspected crystals mentioned in the second paragraph. A type of crystal called Deaspected Crystal with the following description:

This translucent crystal seems to have been completely drained of its elemental aspect.

and a quest item call "Unaspected Crystal"(dunno if this one is already in a quest or not) were found in the dats after the 1.17 patch. I don't know if what is described in "The last word" is already implemented and just need to be activate or if we'll have to wait for a future patch but it seem it'll come soon.

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Those were part of a story quest, though I won't say which or for what reason for the sake of spoilers. It was not one of the last ones however.

Does anyone happen to know where they originally said they were going to do something with the Black Shroud zone? I remember seeing it a while ago but I can't seem to find it anymore.

With all the deaspected crystals in grid and it being so close to the empire, do you think we could just sell the real estate to the beastmen and get the heck out of dodge? No? Ugh, FINE. Freaking gridania...you are the weakest link!

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Originally Posted by Arcell

Does anyone happen to know where they originally said they were going to do something with the Black Shroud zone? I remember seeing it a while ago but I can't seem to find it anymore.

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I believe you're talking about this post by Yoshi-P on the Japanese forums. :)

Ah true, can we get a slightly better translation on that than Google translate? lol. I remember there was one floating around a while ago. Thanks for the link though.

Oh wow, sounds like we're on the brink of something big, I can not wait! ^^ Here is to hoping we see a judge-like gunblade wielding garlean blowing the hell up out of things (like the pre-release trailer)

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Originally Posted by Chrees

I believe you're talking about this post by Yoshi-P on the Japanese forums. :)

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That post is talking about map collisions. Which they have kind of already fixed, such as some of those high steps can now be stepped over not detoured around. There was no mention of gridania in that post....

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Originally Posted by Xmbei

That post is talking about map collisions. Which they have kind of already fixed, such as some of those high steps can now be stepped over not detoured around. There was no mention of gridania in that post....

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They mentioned short term fixes and a major refurbishment of the entire zone. The short term fixes are in.

I think anyone expecting huge changes to the zones apperance is going to be left dissapointed. I think FF XIV's world is the most boring, bland and depressing place i have ever seen in a game. It is a pathetic and lazy copy paste job. Making the enviroments look better would really help improve the game, i just can't see it happening. Future zones will be better for sure but they arent going to change existing zones. Don't build your hopes up, you will only be dissapointed.

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Originally Posted by Xmbei

That post is talking about map collisions. Which they have kind of already fixed, such as some of those high steps can now be stepped over not detoured around. There was no mention of gridania in that post....

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Nope.It says that the collision part is only the very first step of a deeper redesign process of the maps. They never mentioned gridania per-se, as far as I know.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Nope.It says that the collision part is only the very first step of a deeper redesign process of the maps. They never mentioned gridania per-se, as far as I know.

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Thats what I was saying, I mean yes map changes are coming. I just don't see how people are connecting it to Gridania. It's the hype wagon returning, with high levels of speculation with no real basis behind it. I think that its to all zones. As someone said I don't think it will be a full redesign, don't get me wrong I want a full map redesign, expecially in Grid. I just don't understand where people are getting this new map feature, if anything they will be adding a new area to Black Shroud, not redesigning what is out.

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Originally Posted by Sigmakan

I'm intersted to see if this actual translates into something in-game. I'd be a bit disappointed if it was just lore and not a hint of things to come.

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I doubt it would be published on the front page if it was simply lore. But how small or big the things to come are, I do not know.

been hanging around the Gridania camps, and no ghost or anything :(

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Originally Posted by Rau

been hanging around the Gridania camps, and no ghost or anything :(

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Might be it comes with the next update?

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Originally Posted by Cairdeas

All the cutscenes in FF11 are in game.

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I was referring to the trailers that's come out prior to the expansion, why do you have to disagree with everything i type its getting tiring now.

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Originally Posted by Munba

You don't consider those hidden 300mb of the last patch maybe.. :D

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I've already answered this.

Each file in the system contains huge chunks of the game, some are encrypted. The encrypted ones even if they only change 1 letter in the file they have to redownload the whole file.

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Originally Posted by Xmbei

That post is talking about map collisions. Which they have kind of already fixed, such as some of those high steps can now be stepped over not detoured around. There was no mention of gridania in that post....

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Originally Posted by Cairdeas

They mentioned short term fixes and a major refurbishment of the entire zone. The short term fixes are in.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Nope.It says that the collision part is only the very first step of a deeper redesign process of the maps. They never mentioned gridania per-se, as far as I know.

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Originally Posted by Xmbei

Thats what I was saying, I mean yes map changes are coming. I just don't see how people are connecting it to Gridania. It's the hype wagon returning, with high levels of speculation with no real basis behind it. I think that its to all zones. As someone said I don't think it will be a full redesign, don't get me wrong I want a full map redesign, expecially in Grid. I just don't understand where people are getting this new map feature, if anything they will be adding a new area to Black Shroud, not redesigning what is out.

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See, that's what I'm thinking. I realize that Yoshida's post talked mainly about collisions, but that's the closest post I could find relating to what Arcell was trying to find, as I don't recall there ever being an official post about complete redesign. I think people started plugging this into Google Translate (of which I'm also guilty, don't get me wrong) and saw the word "redesign" and just went with it. This + so many people wanting a redesign led to this false information being spread like wildfire, and now it's widely "accepted" on these forums that a complete redesign of The Black Shroud is underway. The article released today only serves to add more fuel to the fire.

If anyone can provide a link to where this has been stated, by all means, I'd love to be proven wrong. I'm all for changing The Black Shroud. I just don't recall there ever being an official statement.

Yoshida states that *the maps* (generic), will be drastically redesigned. So it's realistic to think that Black Shroud may be the first to undergo that process. The post that has been linked wasn't even "mainly" about collisions. Collisions are pointed at only in a passing note towards the end.

I really hope every time there is a major fix or event, the team creates a story to back it up or ties it into the overall storyline.

EDIT: People are mostly connecting it to Gridania and the Black Shroud because sidequests in game keep speaking of rumors that Black Shroud will be the first place to be attacked by Garlean forces.