Ask Questions to Main Scenario Writer Banri Oda

Secret of Mana Crossover

Nier felt strange to add to the game since there's so many more Final Fantasy games to explore.

Will we see Secret of Mana, a branch of the Final Fantasy multiverse, be included in the content?

Will we see another Ascian Overlord form like the Ascian Prime, and if so, could this feature in a trial with savage (and perhaps later, Ultimate) difficulty? Although I enjoyed the encounter with this boss (so much I'd like to see a power up form inspired by it for BLM), I would not like to see such powerful entities trivialised in further dungeon fights.

In the more recent story content, the player character is much more active during cutscenes and dialogue than we used to be. We used to just stand by and watch events unfold, but now it feels like we are a more integral part of the narrative. Are there any plans to further increase this integration of our character into the story?

Similarly, I'd also love to see more dialogue options. Even if they don't have a big impact, it's always nice to be part of the conversation.

Can we have some form of open world lfp put into Eorzea? I know a bunch of players that would like this is done form.

Should we expect more lore from other worlds to be integrated into XIV as cameos to Eorzea's own stories and characters like Crystal Tower and The War of Magi or we will get more things similar to the Ivallice raids where the crossover world is almost that integrated entirely into Hydaelyn.

Altought the AST questline paints as Atroglogians and Geomancers being similars, most of Geomancy we see in game are very similar what what the Conjurers in the shroud deal with but with a oriental take on it, their practices also being similar to Feng Shui can draw comparisons with Conjurers. Are they somewhat connected or related, like cousin arts from distant lands.

In the Second Volume of the Encyclopedia we can read in the weapons sections that a lot of those weapons were forged witout the purpose that the players use them for, and the job/classes they use them with. Which is really interesting and shows how magical and martial arts are all connected somehow, but things like this are very rarely mentioned in game, will we ever get more of this?

Can someone learn the arts of the game's Jobs without a soul crystal to teach them? Making a parallel with how we have two jobs with empty Soul Crystals.

Can you bring Papalymo back in Shadowbringers? As a leader of the only Lalafell FC in Tonberry server I wish to see and interact more with the only lalafell combatant in the Scions. Thank you :D

Will we learn more of the Garleans’ link to Goug, given that Noah von Gabranth has hinted at the Purebloods being their descendants of the people of Goug?

Time to bring back all my roegadyn questions because I really need lore and Oda is our roegadyn friend.

Will we ever learn more about the Abalathian Hinterlands and the amount of clans/tribes of hellsguard that live there speaking the old tongue? It seemed like it was more of a small footnote in the lore books, given we see next to no hellsguard in Dravania despite that it is also a part of Abalathia's Spine. If there are enough hellsguard there to have an established culture where they speak the old tongue that not even Aerslaent uses (to our knowledge) and can permanently reside there (meaning there is ample food and water,) why does other lore regarding the amount of hellsguard in Ul'dah contradict it by saying that many leave their ancestral home due to it not being hospitable/not enough food for the clans.

Though not used since 1.x to describe the hellsguard, where does the lohengarde name they originally were called come from? It isn't from the old tongue/ahldzoeng, as hell is hyll and guard is waht, and we have loh (cloth/clothes,) gara (skin,) and garr (choir) as our closest written and phonetic to lohen and garde in the current dictionary.

Given sea wolf can be actually translated into the old tongue (Merlwilf) with no contradictory name it just seems odd that this archaic but not retconned term has no match in current lexicon.

Will we ever see an expansion to the current roegadyn dictionary? At the moment fans are having to transliterate from german or protogerman to make new words or 'roega-fy' them because we've not seen any updates to it since it was first released. Additionally, if we have confirmation of clans still using the old tongue/ahldzoeng can we learn how sentence structure works, or priority of nouns/verbs/adjectives in spoken order?

It is just really frustrating that I can make sentences in dragonspeak but not this, and now the new beast tribe in ShB has their own language (fae) as well. We haven't had lexicon or further additions to their language since the dictionary went live for 2.0.

The story of the A Realm Reborn main scenario starts off very slow, which can be off-putting for new players. Are there any plans to rework the beginning of the game to make it more engaging for newcomers?

What are the naming conventions for Dalmascan Hyur?

How come one of the time settings we get in-game is still Eorzea Time, even when we are in Othard or Hingashi? Since they are different countries, shouldn't they have a different in-game timezone? Or are we living in a flat-Hydaelyn planet rather than a spherical planet?

Also for inclusivity, shouldn't it be changed to Hydaelyn Time instead of Eorzea Time if they do live within the same timezone?

Do you believe that the lore quest progression during the SMN quests, leading to the acquisition of the Bahamut-egi, poses a strong obstacle to being able to revise the job's ability set, and if not, how would you go about dealing with the existing lore if you opted to overhaul SMN in some way? E.g. extending the Demi-egi system more broadly and focusing on trances.

Can we have Promyvion as the new Relic Weapon zone?

Will we ever get additional lore about the Scholar pet, Lily? With the upcoming references to the Fey, I'd be excited to learn more about how Scholars first communed with these beings.

Stormblood presented us with an entire zone dedicated to Xaela lore (in both MSQ as well as quite literally all of the sidequests), whereas the only Raen lore we were given was limited to one little village at the bottom of the Ruby Sea. We know they were more willing to integrate and adapt to Othardian culture/society than their Xaela counterparts, but will we ever see more Raen specific lore? If not, are there any traditions the non Sui-no-Sato Raen kept that are unique to them despite having integrated into Othardian culture/society?

Can you make the Echo optional please? I felt like I could solve instances without it, but it was turned on anyway and I couldn't turn it off even if I reset the game. Thank you!

Does the lore/scenario team have any plans to give Kan-E and Merlwyb the same treatment Raubahn and Nanamo were given in the MSQ? We’ve seen Raubahn and Nanamo’s relationship fleshed out with Stormblood, but what’s the deal with Kan-E and Merlwyb, both individually as leaders and as allies/companions? It’s been years and I could at least use some closure on whether we’re ever going to get any more exposition on them or not...

Will there be any more information about the raen families or clans in the future?

Any chance we may be able to obtain dyeable Tribune ranked or higher ranked armor sets of the garlean armor via msq/dungeon or mog station?

In Patch 2.1, we give Warburton's journal to Urianger at Minfilia's behest. Will we ever get an update on the information inside?

Hello! My burning questions are related to Viera Lore, such as Viera Naming Conventions! Will it be similar to FFXII? Icelandic? Will these be Gender Neutral names, given the current lore about Viera gender not being apparent until at least their thirteenth nameday? Will Fran be a Leading Lady in future MSQ?! Will the Vorpal Bunny make an appearance? (Minion please?!) Will cutscene dialogue be different for Viera Players as it was for Xeala Players when journeying through the Azim Steppe?

I never gave up hope of Viera becoming a playable race! Thanks to all who made it possible!

Thank you all so much for your hard work on Final Fantasy XIV - the amount of love you all put into this shared experience as a development team is incredible.

I'm sure I speak on behalf of a lot of players: I really love the Dark Knight story quests, however upon finishing them, I was left wondering about a bit of lore that isn't fully expanded on. Sidurgu explains that the Temple Knights of the Holy See murdered his parents in front of him for being "dragon blood consuming heretics" based on their physical appearance as Xaela Au Ra, I'm actually curious to know how often (Xaela) Au Ra take refuge in Coerthas and were subjected to this same inhumane treatment by the Holy See.

In a pipe dream, I would love to hear the angry words Sidurgu has for Aymeric when he moves away from Ishgard's antiquated governing system.

In Stormblood, we are introduced to the Dotharl, which had brutally massacred another clan, the Hotgo.

https://i.imgur.com/HC0oajE.png

The Hotgo were mentioned in the Alexander chain, where their founders, went back in time to create the tribe.

https://i.imgur.com/0Hog5ee.png
https://i.imgur.com/eVBb91V.png
https://i.imgur.com/lrqAF4B.png

Where there any implications from this that lead to the Hotgo's fate?

We've explored Auri creation myths rather extensively through Xaela eyes, but that was it. How do these myths hold up in their Raen counterparts? Do they have different names for Azim and Nhaama that are more suited to their modern tongue?

Since the Blue Mage's weapons don't add any stats like other mage types focuses, is it possible to cast Blue magic using other types of weapons (or even none at all)?

In the Lore Book Vol. 1. it says that "After the Dragonsong War only 10 Dragoons Remained" Was it because all the others were killed or because they retired? What function does a post war Dragoon hold and are they training new ones? I would figure an army of aerial combatants focused on killing armored targets would be very useful against Garlemald's airships.

What exactly does the Pact of Gelmorra even entail anymore? We were told in 1.0 that it was basically a law enforced by the elementals which stated that Padjals could not get themselves involved with violence or battle:

Quote:

---

1.0 WHM quest, "When Sheep Attack"

Raya-O-Senna: My sister chooses to return to Gridania. She means to use her powers to fight in defense of her people. Surely that is beyond censure?

Oha-Sok: In that sentiment, thou art mistaken. Hast thou forgotten the Pact of Gelmorra? The powers granted by the Padjal must not be used in conflict.

Raya-O-Senna: I would struggle to forget that, so constantly do you remind me!

---

...Yet we've seen Kan-E defy this time and time again, whether it's her own desire to fight against the empire (as seen in The Black Wolf's Ultimatum), or the fact that she's literally going out and fighting in Ala Mhigo and Ghimlyt.

Don't get me wrong, it's really cool to see her kicking butt out there. In both cases, though, her flavor texts imply that her actions are "by the will of the elementals." Aren't THEY the ones who basically told her and her siblings not to involve themselves in conflict? Have the elementals who strictly enforced those finer details of the Pact remained in hiding since the Calamity, or did she just randomly get their approval? If she hasn't, could Kan-E potentially be in big trouble if said elementals awakened and realized what she was doing?

In terms of Keeper lore and the Shroud, when did the notorious Coeurlclaw gang start taking in male Keepers? Were they not mostly the Coeurlclaw King's harem?
https://i.imgur.com/9iD6w7j.jpg

Hello!

I would like to know your thought process and inspiration behind the Hildibrand Quests.

It's always really fun to do those, as they are really amusing!
Thank you for your hard work, always!

I know this has been asked before but it was really vague..how much time passes between each expansion in game? Two years? One year?

During the Coerthas/Ishgard storylines we learn that their astrologians track changes in the "Dragon Star" to predict the actions of the Dravanian Horde, and later in the Omega storyline we learn that Midgardsormr originated from a planet known as the "Dragonstar". Are these the same planet? Are they intended to be within the same solar system as Hydaelyn?

I had previously assumed that the Dragon Star must be a planet in the solar system, if it changes often enough to be observed constantly, but Omega's description of its journey from the Dragonstar makes it sound like it is much further away.

Additionally, Omega describes travelling past several other "stars" on its journey to Hydaelyn. The English translation uses that word to mean both "star" (eg. sun) and "planet", so it's not clear which object is the intended meaning. Could you please confirm which version is intended?

Do "human" races live in Meracydia, or only stranger creatures? We have heard about "tree-like beings" (who summoned Sephirot), "centaur-like beings" (Zurvan) and of course the dragons. Sophia's demiurges seem human, but are they Meracydian or captured Allagans?

Could we please get some more information about the current state of Duskwight society? The lorebook says that they still mostly live in remote caverns, and "the customs of the subterranean city of Gelmorra are still practised to this day". However, everything we've seen of Gelmorra is in ruins, and the two Duskwight archaeologists in the South Shroud describe it as if it was long lost to them.

Is there still a strong Duskwight community somewhere in the remote parts of the forest, and will we ever see it? (I would love to see a beautiful cave setting that isn't a dungeon.)

Do race-specific tattoos have any intended meaning, or are they just meant to be decorative?

Which of the characters we know (e.g. Scions, Matoya, etc.) possess the Echo and/or Blessing of Light?