FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Opening Movie Now Live! (01/07/2013)

I love how the NPC's are wearing those armband/necklace/goggle things differently. Yda has hers on her head, but it looks slightly different from the rest from what I can see.

In before argument about 1.0 markings...


wait.. too late

its actually a mask just in case the toxic gas still remains 5 years after the fallout.

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Originally Posted by Alerith

Actually, it was already stated that while brand new players start off at their respective nations, Existing 1.0 players will start off in a special starter area.

Don't make such large assumptions based off a bit of CGI.

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Would you be able to find the quote for this? Or anyone?

I'm happy to hear they are doing this, as I had thoughts that inconsistencies would arise due to NPCs not knowing who you were and what not. Though if we see some form of Louisoix's Spirit who tells us not to mention the shift in time, not to mention who we once were etc, things would be much more believable in Narrative terms.

For anyone wanting screenshots, I made a bunch here.
For End of an Era screenshots, it's in a past post here.

SHORT BUT VERY SWEET!
Some of my notes:
-A nice view of post time skip Limsa Lominsa! (non artwork)
http://www.dannykang.net/wordpress/w...7_07.49.48.jpg
-The Circle of Knowing members seem to have NOT teleported as they have new equipment/clothing changes. This would infer that Cid/GC leaders did not teleport as well...
-My take on the eye mark of the CoK members is it has to do with the devices. The aether distortion detector theory makes sense, so perhaps the mark indicates they're watching the aether as "guardians?" (it is an eye after all)
-Whatever the mark is, I'm inclined to believe it is not the legacy mark for players based on the assumption it has to do with the devices/storyline. It could be, but I would think the CG Midlander and his party would have whatever mark legacy gets...
-Saw an interesting close-up of the Crystal Tower with some gold/copperish things attached to it...
http://www.dannykang.net/wordpress/w...7_07.59.45.jpg
-It seems like SE changed the 3 emotes in one face at 7:35 based on our reactions lol (altho they could always just say the initial trailer had unfinished cg prone to changes)
-The CG Midlander's Chocobo is definitely a Legacy Chocobo from the armor and mark on it's beak. The other members appear to be riding rental chocobos. Pics below for convenience to compare the cg to artwork:
http://www.dannykang.net/wordpress/w...7_08.08.58.jpg
http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy...cy_Chocobo.jpg

Is that...it?

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Originally Posted by Thebard

Is that...it?

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you mean the opening and the beta sign up? yep that it what did you think?

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Originally Posted by Thebard

Is that...it?

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Enlighten me, what were you expecting?!

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Originally Posted by Thebard

Is that...it?

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It's more than what they could have given us. They could have just updated us on how preparation for the beta test is going and said to wait till next time...

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Originally Posted by Twiddle

Enlighten me, what were you expecting?!

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answers....and not the song.

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Originally Posted by Viscount

answers....and not the song.

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What answers did you expect from the opening... which would not be a spoiler for the new story line?!
Usually the opening brings questions to be solved by the player as they play the game...

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Originally Posted by Viscount

answers....and not the song.

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you are a funny fellow

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Originally Posted by Twiddle

What answers did you expect from the opening... which would not be a spoiler for the new story line?!
Usually the opening brings questions to be solved by the player as they play the game...

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its not really an opening, its a montage.

An army of chocobos
Appearence of Odin
Behemoth
Crystal tower

None of these are explained, none of them are coherent, what is the point of them?

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Originally Posted by Catapult

Keep in mind that white coloured objects (in this case hair) reflect what ever light falls on them, in this case a room lit by candles and other earthy glows. If Thancred now had brown hair, this lighting would make it look even darker again, which it doesn't, which means his hair is still ash-white.

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https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...64935812_o.jpg
I don't know..I mean look at the color of his shirt. It's not THAT much darker, compared to the drastic change from his hair. That, and his hair still casts shadows on his face, so it -should- be lighter if it's still ash-blonde

ME NO LIKEY ><;;;

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...94596456_o.jpg
Also here's another closeup of his meter thingy >.>


PS. I love that everyone calls our hero "Derplander" now XD

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Originally Posted by Viscount

its not really an opening, its a montage.

An army of chocobos
Appearence of Odin
Behemoth
Crystal tower

None of these are explained, none of them are coherent, what is the point of them?

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Play the game and find out, as simple as that... FFXI opening is the destruction of Tavnazia, you don't learn that until quite late in the game... Game has yet to come out and you are asking how it ends, and how everything ties together... one step at a time...

Opening movies for FF have typically been montages. Not exactly sure why it's now a surprise. Even 1.0's wasn't exactly forthright with explanations.

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Originally Posted by Viscount

its not really an opening, its a montage.

An army of chocobos
Appearence of Odin
Behemoth
Crystal tower

None of these are explained, none of them are coherent, what is the point of them?

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What the point of them? we find out in the storyline they just wont tell us everything then what the point of playing the storyline lol.

I wonder if all newly created characters will start out in one of the cities while the rest of us oldies will show up in a (pretty) forest :3 Yoshi did mention something like that, as far as I recall. I just wanna summon my legacy choco and jump into Mor Dhona like the guy in the opening vid. I wanna be THAT guy!

Is it just me, or do these symbols remind anyone of this:

http://i.imgur.com/dHMuL.jpg

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Originally Posted by Nuinn

I wonder if all newly created characters will start out in one of the cities while the rest of us oldies will show up in a (pretty) forest :3 Yoshi did mention something like that, as far as I recall. I just wanna summon my legacy choco and jump into Mor Dhona like the guy in the opening vid. I wanna be THAT guy!

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It should be based on where you were when the 1.0 world ended. I'll just wake up in a strangers room in Ul'dah!

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Originally Posted by Hestern_Nestern

Why, how intriguing! Thank you for this illuminating indication. ^.^ I are have luverzez thou for you.



I don't respond to you to disagree with you. You certainly have the rights to your critique. I, myself, wondered for a moment why the video moved here and there. But I considered that they called this a prologue, which often sets up the events in the bulk of a (let's say) "novel", but doesn't necessarily have to be a clear image of said events to be had in the novel. It's a rather sneaky way for an author to bring together some of the highlights of the story to catch reader's interest early without having to work for it later (Oh dear, I'm not selling this very well, am I?). I also considered the title sequence of Japanese animes and the rest of the video (after the End of the Era portion) reminds me of the way said title sequences are put together (I'm displaying ethnocentrism here, I fear).

What are your thoughts on what I have said? I sincerely hope I didn't make a weak analogy...I loathe having to read through one of those...I doth apologize if you had to suffer one at my hand! :o

EDIT: Would someone be so kind as to provide various screenshots of the suspected Survival Mark? I keep missing it in the video. I'm so sorry.

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It reminds me now of what I think is called a "Forward" (correct me if I'm wrong). Anne and Todd Mccaffrey used this at the beginning of most of the Dragonriders of Pern novels to explain the world of Pern to newcomers as well as set the framework for the narrative.

To summarize a text equivalent of what an outsider might think:

"In the beginning there were 3 nations who battled an evil empire that dropped a Dragon-Ball on their continent. Many were killed. In a last ditch effort, Mr. Oldguy, with the help of blonde Heart Throb, Midget & Blind Girl, and Kitty Mage, attempted to reseal the dragon in another ball, but it broke (probably because you have to weaken the Pokemon first). Mr. Oldguy then sends the warriors of the three nations forward in time.
These warriors find themselves in a place that is still beautiful, but there are still dangers among the shadowy trees and icy mountains. Fortunately Heart Throb, Midget, Blind Girl, and Kitty Mage are all there, and these warriors are ready to face this new world head-on."

Seems like a good enough introduction to me.

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Originally Posted by Arkine

The 5 main guys appeared from the past in a forest and that's OK but where the heck did their chocobos come from? lol

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I wonder what forest taht will be, because that's where us 1.0 players will be popping up at too :)

I have to agree - with caveats - with the two or three people confused at the lack of narrative in the second (new) part of the video. I am not disappointed, per se, but I do find the second half of the video to have muddied the narrative presented in the first half. Unlike my fellow commenters, I don't think it has to give us answers, but the End of an Era video had a very smooth narrative flow. The events made consecutive sense and told a story. The second half, on the other hand, feels somehow tacked on to me. Things come at you in a jumble of non-associated scenes; most notably the Behemoth and Odin scenes.

While I greatly enjoyed this video (I don't want to call it an Opening or Trailer) and I'm satisfied, I don't really feel like SE lived up to the bar they had set with the first half. It was like watching an Olympic runner stumble just as he wins a race. Yes he won, but not with the grace and excellence you really expect out of an Olympic runner.

I think they appeared in the Shroud, and ran to Coerthas (Remember, the Shroud and Coerthas are neighbors). Why they appeared there and not Mor Dhona is anyones's guess. Maybe Mor Dhona got obliterated to the point it was impossible to be dropped off there.

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Originally Posted by AlexNiculaie

Opening movies for FF have typically been montages. Not exactly sure why it's now a surprise. Even 1.0's wasn't exactly forthright with explanations.

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7-13 had perfectly reasonable openings and it didnt tell us about the rest of the story.
3-4 remakes had montage openings, so not really typical of FF at all

how does behemoth-crystal tower-odin relate to one another, i suspect they dont.
I get feel that im watching a trailer rather than an opening, its all cuts.

Really? 8's montage opening was clearly defined? Really? What about 12's? I'm not talking, hit start opening, which this obviously isn't, but the standard turn on the game, montage video, which it appears to be.

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Originally Posted by Lucke

I think they appeared in the Shroud, and ran to Coerthas (Remember, the Shroud and Coerthas are neighbors). Why they appeared there and not Mor Dhona is anyones's guess. Maybe Mor Dhona got obliterated to the point it was impossible to be dropped off there.

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Planetary spin.

That said, I actually assume that sections of Mor Dhona have been reinvigorated (it used to be a forest before the loss of Midgarsormr), and we were indeed dropped right where we left.

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Originally Posted by Viscount

7-13 had perfectly reasonable openings and it didnt tell us about the rest of the story.
3-4 remakes had montage openings, so not really typical of FF at all

how does behemoth-crystal tower-odin relate to one another, i suspect they dont.
I get feel that im watching a trailer rather than an opening, its all cuts.

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I agree. With how the video begins with the "End of an Era" footage, which was telling a story, the new footage just seems kind of...there for the sake of being there. I enjoyed the new trailer, but it just seemed more like a "Next time on Final Fantasy XIV" kind of thing than the end of the "opening movie."

I mean, hell, it doesn't even mention how far in to the future we are.

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Originally Posted by Viscount

answers....and not the song.

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I dunno, I think there were some answers. For instance: Limsa's towers survived.

My take on things:

- Wanna know what the eyewear stuff is
- Odin doesn't seem like a real antagonist..he's just kinda sitting there watching from the forest it looks like (kinda reminds me of FF4) Still think he might be Louisoix.
- Miqo'te got a chest enhancement
- The landmass coming up from the ground at the end is one of the concept arts from the original roadmap people were looking to be a "radical change" in the geography in Eorzea in 1.0

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Originally Posted by Yrusama

It reminds me now of what I think is called a "Forward" (correct me if I'm wrong). Anne and Todd Mccaffrey used this at the beginning of most of the Dragonriders of Pern novels to explain the world of Pern to newcomers as well as set the framework for the narrative.

To summarize a text equivalent of what an outsider might think:

"In the beginning there were 3 nations who battled an evil empire that dropped a Dragon-Ball on their continent. Many were killed. In a last ditch effort, Mr. Oldguy, with the help of blonde Heart Throb, Midget & Blind Girl, and Kitty Mage, attempted to reseal the dragon in another ball, but it broke (probably because you have to weaken the Pokemon first). Mr. Oldguy then sends the warriors of the three nations forward in time.
These warriors find themselves in a place that is still beautiful, but there are still dangers among the shadowy trees and icy mountains. Fortunately Heart Throb, Midget, Blind Girl, and Kitty Mage are all there, and these warriors are ready to face this new world head-on."

Seems like a good enough introduction to me.

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I guess some people need to be spoon fed the details... but not their leveling progression through quests though right? lol. This is just a teaser trailer, I'm pretty sure when we get the full version of the game they will have a little more detail and back story. Give away everything now and then when the game releases people will complain, "we have seen this already! where is the new stuffs!"

Viscount: That was as much a trailer as an opening... AS for "how behemoth-crystal tower-odin relate to one another" maybe they do maybe they don't wait and see!

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Originally Posted by Twiddle

Viscount: That was as much a trailer as an opening... AS for "how behemoth-crystal tower-odin relate to one another" maybe they do maybe they don't wait and see!

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The problem with this argument is that, from the perspective of those of us who are, for lack of a better word, complaining, these aren't two separate videos, they are one video, shown in parts. If the second half was shown as a separate video, I don't think there would have been many or any complaints about it's lack of narrative.

The problem that we are having is the absolutely stunning visual story presented by the End of an Era segment, which makes us - excited - go "and then, and then?" To which the video answers STUFF. The narrative grinds to an abrupt halt mid video. I would be fine if we had gotten no answers, and if the sequence following the Awakening of Derplander had had some sort of consistent narrative with the first half, but it didn't. You could arrange those scenes in any order and they would make just as much sense as the ones presented in the official video.

As I said, it's not the video itself that is bad, it's that it's so jarring compared to the first half. If these had been shown separately, I don't think you would have seen any complaints of this type.

The opening portion of A Realm Reborn was alright, but it definitely lacks that "wow" factor that the ending video had. When I first brought up the video and it said 8 minutes I was surprised. Then I seen the meteor portion again. Got past that, and no mention or sighting of Bahamut, instead Odin comes out of nowhere. No Garleans to be seen. Also am I the only one or did the opening portion look like it had frame-rate problems? I seen slight dips.

So we know the three members of the CoK are alive, but no sighting of the three GC leaders or Cid yet either. I'm sort of surprised it was so short given they want to really impress players. Heck the 1.0 video was longer. Not bad overall though.

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Originally Posted by Hulan

The problem with this argument is that, from the perspective of those of us who are, for lack of a better word, complaining, these aren't two separate videos, they are one video, shown in parts. If the second half was shown as a separate video, I don't think there would have been many or any complaints about it's lack of narrative.

The problem that we are having is the absolutely stunning visual story presented by the End of an Era segment, which makes us - excited - go "and then, and then?" To which the video answers STUFF. The narrative grinds to an abrupt halt mid video. I would be fine if we had gotten no answers, but if the sequence following the Awakening of Derplander had had some sort of consistent narrative with the first half, but it didn't. You could arrange those scenes in any order and they would make just as much sense as the ones presented in the official video.

As I said, it's not the video itself that is bad, it's that it's so jarring compared to the first half. If these had been shown separately, I don't think you would have seen any complaints of this type.

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I think it's going to be split in two again... I think we select our character from 1.0 then get through the first half of the scene with them, then get to remake our character and continue with the following scene...

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Originally Posted by Hulan

The problem with this argument is that, from the perspective of those of us who are, for lack of a better word, complaining, these aren't two separate videos, they are one video, shown in parts. If the second half was shown as a separate video, I don't think there would have been many or any complaints about it's lack of narrative.

The problem that we are having is the absolutely stunning visual story presented by the End of an Era segment, which makes us - excited - go "and then, and then?" To which the video answers STUFF. The narrative grinds to an abrupt halt mid video. I would be fine if we had gotten no answers, but if the sequence following the Awakening of Derplander had had some sort of consistent narrative with the first half, but it didn't. You could arrange those scenes in any order and they would make just as much sense as the ones presented in the official video.

As I said, it's not the video itself that is bad, it's that it's so jarring compared to the first half. If these had been shown separately, I don't think you would have seen any complaints of this type.

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exactly.
Its very hard to convey in words, so let me show the others.

here is an opening for FFXII (bear in mind this is an opening and not a trailer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L20Ph_IC514

now here is the proper opening with narrative
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGd69sQKyGo

can you spot the difference?

Since we start on a different path with our 1.0 characters then those who don't have a 1.0 character chances are we will get an opening movie explaining everything that happened in-between.

Still love that End of an Era video (gives me chills) and the music fits perfectly.

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Originally Posted by Magnesium02

New video is like 75% (did the math) 63.58% of old video >.< But 6:30 = Thancred Lives!

But interesting new things is @6:15, 6:22 and 6:35 Y'shtola, Papylamo and Thancred have odd steampunk necklaces/armbands.
http://i50.tinypic.com/1fvbrm.png

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First off i liked it!

Second doesnt his shoulder "steam punk" accessory look like a face or even a kitty cat!

Third, couldnt the mark for legacy members not be on our characters at all, couldnt it be on the name plate above our characters head?

I think it helps if you think of this as one movie, instead of 2 movies put together. We have a narrative - the end of an era section - that tells you the background premise of the game. All of the new footage is then meant to be very trailer-like, saying "Now that we're here in A Realm Reborn, all of this stuff is going to happen so go play the game!" If I only looked at the new footage as the opening I agree that I wish there were more narrative. It'd be even less than the original opening to the game, which had a narrative but wasn't very clear what was going on. I think some people were looking for an opening like FFXI which told a distinct story. But as I said, if you look at this as one movie, we do get this, it's just not the new parts.

Well I'm excited to play ARR now. To me this opening movie didn't need to answer the questions of what happened that faithful night, which I am assuming will be answered in the game play. I'm trying to think of this as a person who never played 1.0... Will this opener be enough as is to explain the story thus far? I hope they narrate it.

Also.. needs more Sisipu. ^^