FFXIV Lore Book: Would SE do it?

I was riding though Thanalan towards Black Brush, when I just asked one of my FC mates:

• “I wonder why this place is called ‘The Unholy Heir? How did it get that name?”

Then it continued on, as we started speaking about places within the game and the Lore set behind it:

• “Why is it called ‘The Eighty Sins of Sasamo’, and why are they considered sins?”
  
• “What are those statues and ruins on the way to Waking Sands, they weren’t there in 1.0, so they must have been uncovered during the calamity.”
  
• “Why is the Sil’dih Excavation Site basically right under, Ul’dah? Was Uldah always there or did they build it on top of Sil’dih to try and erase them?”
  
• “What are those ruins out in the desert by Forgotten Springs?”

Some questions we kinda knew the answers, but more kept popping up.

So the above said: Would SE ever be willing to put out a book of Lore? It could have little facts about areas, why they are named in such ways (because I know y’all didn’t just pull names out of a hat and place it there for no reason!), it could also include the naming conventions you have spoken of before for each tribe and race. You could even release it after 3.0 and add in lore about Ishgard, and the Dragons (like the dragon speech post) etc…

I know it’s out there in parts, that the Dev's post things here and there, and interlaced within in the story line. But its hard to remember everything... especially since I've been playing since 1.0. Also some is assumptions based on the bit of information given in the game, kinda a 'Oh they said this, so it has to mean XYZ happened!' but it's never clearly stated.

I would like a place where it’s all together and it could -at least- span 1.0 and 2.0. Just an idea, since I always buy the CD’s and art books just thought I’d point out something else I’d buy and that I would love to see released!

I heard a library in game could be possible, that'd be awesome - but a lore book with supporting images would be amazing. Images not required but I think it could be nice, sort of encyclopedia.

Sil'dih and Ul'dah were created together and were not always enemies so that is probably why they are so close (from Belah'dia). Although you can learn from a side quest that there are a number of Ul'dah lies, so maybe we don't know (if one story can lie or mistell, what prevents the other?).

I believe the eighty sins is for eighty stairs. I think I can answer the other two but those are going to be guesses that I'm sure someone has an actual answer for lol (I vaguely remember lines in the game about it, but I kind of rushed through everything when 2.0 first came out . . . :P).

I love this idea. I've hoping for stuff like this as the game grows!

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Originally Posted by Shougun

I heard a library in game could be possible, that'd be awesome - but a lore book with supporting images would be amazing. Images not required but I think it could be nice, sort of encyclopedia.

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Exactly! And Encyclopedia, that's exactly what I was thinking~!

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Originally Posted by Shougun

Sil'dih and Ul'dah were created together and were not always enemies so that is probably why they are so close (from Belah'dia). Although you can learn from a side quest that there are a number of Ul'dah lies, so maybe we don't know (if one story can lie or mistell, what prevents the other?).

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See and that's why something like this could be cool. Because my take was that it was Belah'dia until the two sides started wanting to do things differently and then split into Sil'dih and Ul'dah, and that's when things betwen them fell apart. So I always wondered why Ul'dah was basically on top fo the Sil'dih ruins. And the whole thing that came up with Hildy - which you mentioned... all the lies... >.<

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Originally Posted by Shougun

I believe the eighty sins is for eighty stairs. I think I can answer the other two but those are going to be guesses that I'm sure someone has an actual answer for lol (I vaguely remember lines in the game about it, but I kind of rushed through everything when 2.0 first came out . . . :P).

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Yeah! The it's the name of the stairs, because they are 80 of them... but why 'sin of Sasamo'? See I would like to know this stuff and I 100% agree with you, it's hard to remember everything that was said, especially which some is just brief mentions in passing! :D

Glad y'all like the idea! :D

That would be cool (:

They talked about the Unholy Heir in the lore panel at the fanfest, essentially it looks like bahamut's eggs or something like that, so the locals gave it that name (This is rough paraphrasing)

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Originally Posted by KaiKatzchen

Snip!

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So,

I LOVE the idea. I would definitely be interested in buying something like a Lore-Book, or read every book inside a "Library" with readable books. In fact, I think any of the players that did the ques line for the reatest story never told, we wanted that stle of a quest because in order to figure it ou, you had to know about Eorzea, or it forced you to go learn, talk to other players, etc. That resulted i you learning more about the game, in order for you to discover the answer. (Or, a lot of people googled the answers without figuring it out. LAME)

The PROBLEM I see with your suggestion, is that if they wrote and published a book on the worlds history, it cuts off their ability to inject the history with leads for future storylines.

In the meantime, if you have these types of questions, you should wander over to the Lore forum. Be wary of threads/post titles with <<SPOILERS>> but keep on learning!

I'm sure Fernhalwes loves it when we ask for stuff like this. He might be localization, but I know that he takes the Lore very seriously when he does the translation stuff, and for the most part, he does an excellent job.

The problem with lore books for MMO's is they adapt and change so often plus retcon things quite a lot depending on new content. An electronic lore book app is better because can be patched/updated just like wikis can but a physical lore book might be problematic.

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Originally Posted by Snugglebutt

The problem with lore books for MMO's is they adapt and change so often plus retcon things quite a lot depending on new content. An electronic lore book app is better because can be patched/updated just like wikis can but a physical lore book might be problematic.

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To build on this thought, I wonder if the decision not to create one could also be based on the bit of freedom the localization teams have to slightly alter things in translation. If SE published a book like this, and it was translated as literally as possible from Japanese to sell in English, would we notice some differences in our lore compared to theirs?


Just me being skeptical I guess, but FYI I do love the idea and I would probably be among the first to buy such a book if it existed!

A lore library is rumored to be located in ishgard ... please look forward to it. :)

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Originally Posted by JayCommon

To build on this thought, I wonder if the decision not to create one could also be based on the bit of freedom the localization teams have to slightly alter things in translation. If SE published a book like this, and it was translated as literally as possible from Japanese to sell in English, would we notice some differences in our lore compared to theirs?

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It is possible, but it is an additional problem added onto the problems already associated with such a book. Honestly if they do a lore book I imagine it will only be an app or digital only variety. The question though becomes would it be highly profitable to make such a book when we have a lot of wikis which also contain that information. Perhaps a fan could compile a fan made wiki sourced lore e-book in PDF form provided they do not try to make any money from it since they do not own the content derived from the sources that made up the content within it.

I'd prefer they add a Data-log/Lore section to the games menues rather then charge us extra for a book.
Like they did with the FFXIII series, enter a new area, kill a new monster and the in-game encyclopedia auto-updates with new info.

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Originally Posted by Milmoko_Gemoko

I'd prefer they add a Data-log/Lore section to the games menues rather then charge us extra for a book.
Like they did with the FFXIII series, enter a new area, kill a new monster and the in-game encyclopedia auto-updates with new info.

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It would also auto update as storylines progressed, to reflect any new information you learned along the way.

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Originally Posted by Milmoko_Gemoko

I'd prefer they add a Data-log/Lore section to the games menues rather then charge us extra for a book.
Like they did with the FFXIII series, enter a new area, kill a new monster and the in-game encyclopedia auto-updates with new info.

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Originally Posted by Gralna

It would also auto update as storylines progressed, to reflect any new information you learned along the way.

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These are great ideas. Personally, I would still really like a physical copy of a book with some nice artwork to accompany the lore. ^^

Also, (again towards Snuggle's initial assessment about the story changing) I would love to see maybe like a "Eorzea Compendium" included with the Heavensward expansion CE. It could be the type of lore book that OP is asking for, but specifically state that the events in it are only recollections of the past, and give us maybe a bit more information then dialogue from the game. What comes to mind with your example is how Crystal Tower final boss was first named Acheron, but has since been renamed to Phlegethon. That type of discrepancy could be a bit weird to someone just jumping into the expansion. I would think that once Heavensward comes out, alterations on 2.x material would probably cease, but that's just pure speculation.

Yeah the idea isn't perfect, and I am sure there would be some issues but it was just an idea. SE could decide the best way to do it, be it a book or an online thing or in game. But getting the idea out helps them see people would be interested in it. :)

Thanks for the different ideas and support~! :D

SE needs to find a way to implement the thing.

This is my single most needed feature right now.

Glad y'all like the idea. :)

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Originally Posted by Zetsumei_Tsunarashi

A lore library is rumored to be located in ishgard ... please look forward to it. :)

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Yeah, i do remember reading somewhere that they want to do an actual lore library in game location but that it would have to pass through the approval process. That's all I needed to hear them say lol.

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Originally Posted by Zetsumei_Tsunarashi

A lore library is rumored to be located in ishgard ... please look forward to it. http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/i...lies/smile.png

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Koji Fox dropped a very unsubtle hint that we'd be getting a lore library in Sharlayan, which is the other (abandoned) city state located within Dravanian territory. The goal, I believe, is essentially to have it act as a reference and resource for the lore that has been disclosed by the team yet is not necessarily explicit within the game. I'm hoping that we may get a few surprise reveals in there for those of us that take the time to trawl through it though.

One thing to note, however, is that a lot of the lore-related things that are still unclear to us are actually being withheld deliberately due to future plot significance. To take the OPs Eighty Sins of Sasalmo, for example, Koji has already refused to give us any answers about this because it's already something planned to be revealed later. As the Hildibrand finale made clear, the history of Ul'Dah and Sil'Dih is actually much more complex than we realised and it may be that they're planning to make this a focus of future content at some point. By extension there may be good reasons why many things such as this are currently mysteries to us.

I'd also like to say that in the interests of good writing there should always be some things that are never explained.

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Originally Posted by KaiKatzchen

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Lore Book?! Yes, YES...YES!!! Oh how I love lore everything! Honestly I'd love a physical lore book that I could have in my hot lil' hands as well!

Warhammer Online had something which would be a fantastic template for this, The Tome of Knowledge if I remember correctly. It collected all your stats as far as mob types discovered, kills, death count, total EXP earned, lord about the armor you'd found; where it came from, who smithed it, etc. It also collected lore about the game world. As you discovered new areas you would get a Tome unlock which gave you some information about the area, zone, dungeon or whathave you. Same with monsters you discovered. It was VERY cool feature, that I could see the FFXIV devs having a field day with.

I like the suggestion the lore team had better i think. An in-game location. It would be fun to visit, and would be easier to include in the story/game than a magically updating tome you had on you. Researchers could eventually uncover more information or something as the game went on, updating the library.

SE needs to build more hype around the universe of the game, like blizzard did with the Warcraft universe.

There needs to be books, art books, lore books, action figures, merchandise.

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Originally Posted by KaiKatzchen

The it's the name of the stairs, because they are 80 of them... but why 'sin of Sasamo'?

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Here's a lil' somthin'.

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Originally Posted by Fernehalwes

I can give you a little background on the oddly named locale, but only a little, because there is actually a quest planned for a future patch (written by me!?) that will feature the stone staircase and touch upon its colorful history.

For now, let's just say that several centuries ago, a certain member of a certain royal family was arrested for certain crimes, and a certain flight of stairs was used in her slightly cruel yet highly unusual punishment.

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On a "Lore-Book" itself, well...

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Originally Posted by treuhavik

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

In one of Ferne's more recent posts, he mentioned that something might someday be mentioned in some kind of tome that you might be able to read at a something something something. I think the lore-brary project might actually be moving forward.

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Aye - I've reason to believe we'll be visiting a certain scholarly group's vacant outpost in a very dragon occupied territory come expansion.

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