New Alliance Raid Idea - Ultimecias Castle (FFVIII)

Ok I know that the next big raid is already confirmed, but this could be taken into consideration for a future alliance raid.
So I had this idea for a while now and I shared it here and there, but never really got 'into' it if you know what I mean. But it might be cool to see Ultimecia wreaking havoc on Eorzea and I think it's pretty much perfect as a alliance raid.

Here are some points -

1. The castle is already divided into sections that needs to be unlocked by doing certain things such as defeating mini bosses and collecting items. This could be divided perfectly into multiple raids.

2. There is an array of bosses already inside the Castle, some very raid-esque.

3. In some parts, you had to split the party into 2 groups to accomplish something. With 3 raid groups, this could translate into something that only each group can do in order to reach the goal. This is something that was sorta missing in the Crystal Tower raid, everything just ran in the same direction, kill the same boss, mob some more and done...

4. *Spoilers* By completing a certain split party objective you could unlock a special boss. Bonus boss with extra chests?

Just an idea :)

Would you guys like to see something like this? Or just let it burn? (I know there are FFVIII h8ers out there, but please keep the comments neutral, I don't want this to become a flame war about what FF is better and how FFVIII was pointless).

I don't really know FFVIII very well, but why would Ultimecia be here? The Cloud of Darkness made sense because "she" was stated to be a natural force that existed in between worlds. Ultimecia was killed though.

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Originally Posted by basketofseals

I don't really know FFVIII very well, but why would Ultimecia be here? The Cloud of Darkness made sense because "she" was stated to be a natural force that existed in between worlds. Ultimecia was killed though.

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It simply could be a reference or an homage to Ultimecia, without necessarily having to be the one from FFVIII, as I agree it doesn't make as much sense for that Ultimecia to be here as it did Cloud of Darkness. Perhaps a mage or a sorceress of a bygone, or more fitting, an era yet to be.

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Originally Posted by basketofseals

I don't really know FFVIII very well, but why would Ultimecia be here? The Cloud of Darkness made sense because "she" was stated to be a natural force that existed in between worlds. Ultimecia was killed though.

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Well besides being off-canon, there is a theory of a time loop. Since Ultimecia existed in the future, killing 'her' in the future would not exactly change the present time. Ultimecia can also travel through time, which she did as she was dying to pass her powers on. Which Rinoa eventually took. So potentially, 'Ultimecia' as a being cannot truly die. Well in theory anyways.
But what does anything in FF make any true sense? ;p

Edit; Why they had to kill Ultimecia in the future, was because she was aiming for a total compression of time; past/present/future. So her being alive in the future, means the present would have been destroyed. But as I said, killing her in the future, does not mean her existence is gone. One crazy theory is that Rinoa eventually turn into Ultimecia.

Given Nael van Darnus (VIIth Legion) decided to copy Sephiroth (FFVII) a whole lot, and Regula van Hydrus (VIth Legion) is almost certainly going to poke the Warring Triad to copy Kefka (FFVI) in some way, I wouldn't be shocked if we eventually get Rinoa van Adel (VIIIth Legion) and a plot involving Time Kopression and a body jumping sorceress from the future... Though rather than Ultimecia's Castle, I'd rather see the Lunatic Pandora, which could very easily have a similar backstory in this game given that post-credits teaser...

Might be able to combine both Lunatic Pandora and Ultimecia's Castle.

Lunatic Pandora, another cheezy ancient craft revived by some dimwits, which creates a portal for Ultimecia to bridge through. I mean that is what happened anyways, the bridge to Ultimecias time was bridged inside the Lunatic Pandora after beating Adel. The lore all right there, just need to piece all together.

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Originally Posted by basketofseals

I don't really know FFVIII very well, but why would Ultimecia be here? The Cloud of Darkness made sense because "she" was stated to be a natural force that existed in between worlds. Ultimecia was killed though.

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It doesn't have to be THE Ultimecia.

It could just be a character native to this game with her name and similar abilities/appearance. (with lore and history to fit the game)

I'd prefer it if they stopped making homage/reference raids completely and just made actually unique content to this game's lore, honestly.

I would love a castle like Ultimecia's Castle. VIII being my first FF so anything out of VIII makes me smile. Maybe when we raid the Garleans, they could use the Castle itself as a Raid.

And we could have the SeeD uniform as a glamour! (White SeeD uniform for the healers? :P)

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Originally Posted by NessaWyvern

And we could have the SeeD uniform as a glamour! (White SeeD uniform for the healers? :P)

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Type-0 uniform instead :p.

Any alliance raid idea would have to be implemented for next expansion, Void Ark will most probably lead up to 4.0 just like Crystal Tower did with 3.0.

I don't exactly have any sort of expectations for this, but if the Devs get an idea from this pitch, then I'll let them do the magic.

I think Lunatic Pandora would be a better idea, in which I suggested a year ago.

I would just love to see a raid with mechanics similar to that one dungeon in FF9 where the weakest weapons came out as the strongest. Would be unrealistic for PF, though.

Maybe just a single boss fight in whatever Coil-equivalent we will have in the future? One normal boss and one that takes more and more damage the weaker your weapon is. Would make for interesting group composition.

Haukke manor is Ultimecia castle

the entrance of HM = Coutyard of ultimecia castle

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...ons/UC_201.jpg

sounds familiar?
http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...tions/UC_3.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...ciasRealm3.png

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...ions/UC_15.jpg

http://i1197.photobucket.com/albums/...tions/UC_9.jpg

Lunatic Pandora is an interesting idea. Another floating Allagan structure that only lands once during a red lunar eclipse!

In Meracydia, of course, because why not.

I'm pretty sure it was mentioned that they don't want to build any more raids off of other games.

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Originally Posted by Dererk

I'm pretty sure it was mentioned that they don't want to build any more raids off of other games.

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And yet Void Ark has Cait Sith and apparently bosses from other FF games.

I'd prefer original raids myself, I don't care for lore from other games, I want to learn more about FFXIV's lore. We barely know anything about the Allagans as is even though they've played a prominent role since 2.0, and that's just scratching the surface.

On one hand I would like every FF, online or not, to draw (ohohoho) as little inspiration from previous episodes and be as unique as possible, but on the other, there is already so such fanservice and things that really don't feel right in the gameworld, so why not. Both Ultimecia's Castle and Lunatic Pandora are amazing places with lots of raid potential too.

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Originally Posted by Dererk

I'm pretty sure it was mentioned that they don't want to build any more raids off of other games.

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^This pretty much. Having FFIII's Crystal Tower as a raid in FFXIV was the exception rather than the rule, and was probably only added into the game for two simple reasons: one; Naoki Yoshida is on record stating that FFIII is his personal favourite FF game (along with FFVII), and two; FFXIV version 1.0's original producer (Yoshi-P's predecessor) was Hiromichi Tanaka, who was also FFIII's original producer, so having the Crystal Tower raid was kind of a fond salute to the former producer of both games.

As Derek stated, Yoshi and his team are not going to be doing any more fanservice dungeons, which I'm glad, as I would really like to see FFXIV ARR start to stand on it's own merits and feature new and original dungeons and raids instead of fanservice hand-me-downs.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

texty text

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I'll believe it when I see it. Given his track record, he seems to "change his mind" at the last minute.

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Originally Posted by Chiramu

Any alliance raid idea would have to be implemented for next expansion, Void Ark will most probably lead up to 4.0 just like Crystal Tower did with 3.0.

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Nothing says that Void Ark is going to be the first of a contiguous series. The 2.3 and 2.5 24-mans could be completely separate.

The only reason the Crystal Tower series was contiguous was because it was a recreation of the 3 section final dungeon of FFIII.

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Originally Posted by Ultimatecalibur

Nothing says that Void Ark is going to be the first of a contiguous series. The 2.3 and 2.5 24-mans could be completely separate.

The only reason the Crystal Tower series was contiguous was because it was a recreation of the 3 section final dungeon of FFIII.

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It wouldn't make sense for them to deviate from that format. When you say Ark, I assume it's a big ship. One Raid wouldn't be enough to cover a whole Ark imo.

Just hearing split paths sounds good to me. Would like it to be a true dungeon where we each decide a path and take it as opposed to the entire group moving as one.

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Originally Posted by AlphaFox

Just hearing split paths sounds good to me. Would like it to be a true dungeon where we each decide a path and take it as opposed to the entire group moving as one.

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Yes, I forgot what RPG did this but it was awesome to see your second party fighting across from you while reaching the end. I would love it if SE did something like this. Like you fight Trash mobs and open the door for your other team. Just thinking about it makes me wish they implemented this already (or hopefully in the future). ; ;

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Originally Posted by FallenArisen0990

It wouldn't make sense for them to deviate from that format. When you say Ark, I assume it's a big ship. One Raid wouldn't be enough to cover a whole Ark imo.

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I really hope we're not stuck on the Ark for the entire expansion's worth of 24 man raid content, they could easily squeeze it into a single raid. I mean, it's a ship, having 3 raid tiers based off a ship would incredibly bland unless they change the visuals, and how would they explain that? I'd rather they made a transition similar to WoD, like using it to travel to the Void. That sounds interesting.

I think the Lunar Subterrane (or something like it) is far more likely. We've seen activity on the moon already, and it fits better as a huge area that would require a large group to explore.

Some of the bosses in Ultimecia Castle have already been used elsewhere.