Will we ever see published novels?

Hey everyone! This is the first time I have used the Lodestone, I apologize if this topic has been discussed in the past which I am sure it has, I am still getting my bearings! :)

As the title says, I would love to see a novel collection begin. I would throw money at this! Eorzea has so much lore to it. When I look at bookstores and see the massive collection of books WoW has to offer, I cant help but think: Man, why can't FFXIV do this? With the second expansion coming up there is a ton of existing content that can be covered. What are the community's thoughts about this?

They can hardly produce and ship the current merchandise and you want more?
I won't even talk about the shipping costs which are as high as the item you want to buy.
For example the shipping cost in the EU for the Encyclopaedia is roughly 39 euros almost the cost of the book itself.

I love the novels that Blizzard released for expansion releases of WoW(the Illidan novel made me go and buy the Legion digital deluxe XD). Would love to be able to get some for FFXIV too. Would definitely expand the lore and make the world feel more real imo.

Well, obviously I would not want more if they can't manage what they have right now.. I had no idea there was such a struggle? You will have to forgive my ignorance on this topic. That is depressing to hear, thank you for the swift response.

I just picked up Illidan today! Can't wait to start reading it. :) I feel the same way, we would be able to learn alot more about the characters and major events in the lore!

I would really love this. They don't need to write it in-house; usually companies hire an author for it and we have already seen some nice lore-heavy snippets with the short stories published on the website now and again. I would definitely buy an actual novel. One that summarised the canon from 1.0 for those of us with no PC access at the time would be especially wonderful as he game expands and the legacy stuff becomes ever more mysterious to newcomers.

I would like this.

depends on how it is done. If it goes the blizzard route then no. I personally enjoy having my game lore ingame. You have no idea how irritating it is to have people in wow bitch you out when you are like "wait how did this happen!" then they tell you to go read the novel you newb! XD The side stories they released alongside HW those are ok since they are just side content and easily accessed but full blown novel, only way i can be ok with this is if is an adaptation of the current game into a novel or maybe some old era stories could be ok, just not "tie ins".

Does Encyclopedia Eorzea count? The book tells every bit about the realm from front to back. Or do you mean like how they write those short stories about certain NPCs that you see in the Lodestone? If that's what you mean then yeah, that would be interesting to have a novel series about the life of Eorzea. However, it may take a good while because there's A LOT to cover and SE have other merchandise to deal with.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ryukus

Well, obviously I would not want more if they can't manage what they have right now.. I had no idea there was such a struggle? You will have to forgive my ignorance on this topic. That is depressing to hear, thank you for the swift response.

---

I want more merchandise too but the current store has too many issues. And imagine that the company that handles the current store is better than the previous.
But right now orders are being canceled because the goods are always out of stock and it takes weeks to restock.
The shipping costs are out of this planet too. I don't know why a book must cost that high to deliver.
I can get goods from China or US (I live in EU) with way lower shipping costs.
Also there some weird things on their shipping process.
The Stormblood Collectors edition gets both free untracked shipping and paid tracked one but the book (Encyclopaedia) gets only paid tracked which is almost the price of the book itself.
That's crazy. And those costs are unjustified high. Also too often items are out of stock.
I just wish they could take the store more seriously and let us buy things without issues and without crazy shipping costs. Shipping a book in EU with a cost of 39 euros is crazy.

I'd like novels but definitely not any rehashing the main scenario from the scions/warrior of lights perspective.

I would much rather a story from the perspective of NPCs who dipped in and out, for example Iceheart recounting events from pre calamity through to the end.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gumbercules

depends on how it is done. If it goes the blizzard route then no. I personally enjoy having my game lore ingame. You have no idea how irritating it is to have people in wow bitch you out when you are like "wait how did this happen!" then they tell you to go read the novel you newb! XD The side stories they released alongside HW those are ok since they are just side content and easily accessed but full blown novel, only way i can be ok with this is if is an adaptation of the current game into a novel or maybe some old era stories could be ok, just not "tie ins".

---

Lmao! Are people on WoW really like that? Buahaha the elitism is too real! I personally wouldn't mind any route they took. If they are covering lore and breathing more life into the game I am cool with anything, afterall there is such a vast amount of content to test the waters with. I see your point though!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ryukus

Lmao! Are people on WoW really like that? Buahaha the elitism is too real! I personally wouldn't mind any route they took. If they are covering lore and breathing more life into the game I am cool with anything, afterall there is such a vast amount of content to test the waters with. I see your point though!

---

Other issue is that since its outsourced it starts to turn into a "to many hands in the dough" situation lol. If you play WoW you are probably familiar with the bastardization that is medan. Recent example of what i was saying is when I was told silvanas tried to kill herself around the time of WotLK and I was like "what!? how!? where!?" XD Apparently it had been covered in a novel, and i was a newb for not knowing this lol >.> This point becomes important in legion because you end up in "hell" and it involves silvannas and apparently its more important than the game presents it to be....or something....I give up with wow lore alot now XD

Still the sylvanna thing wasn't as bad as the warlords of dreanor issue with Grommash (literally orc hitler) apparently becoming a good guy and savior just outta the blue lol (you find out why from an in game toy apparently :P). But then again WoW is prolly trying to just forget WoD was ever even a thing.

But yeah i mean it could be done correctly, like maybe novels on what the scions were up to during the HW stuff before you find em etc. Though even in this case I would rather see it turn into a postmaster style quest chain lol. (as in have you travel around and hearing stories about them from npcs pov)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gumbercules

Other issue is that since its outsourced it starts to turn into a "to many hands in the dough" situation lol. If you play WoW you are probably familiar with the bastardization that is medan.

---

Medan is not canon. In the game, Medivh is still the last Guardian. You cannot stop people writing fan fiction, although the first part of the comic series is canon. I guess the writer just wanted to keep going with his own ideas. FFXIV if anything will have worse "fan fiction" then WoW, if you go by the filler episodes from the popular anime series. Maybe that is why they are not getting people to write stories for FFXIV.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chiramu

Medan is not canon. In the game, Medivh is still the last Guardian. You cannot stop people writing fan fiction, although the first part of the comic series is canon. I guess the writer just wanted to keep going with his own ideas. FFXIV if anything will have worse "fan fiction" then WoW, if you go by the filler episodes from the popular anime series. Maybe that is why they are not getting people to write stories for FFXIV.

---

If they can do it in house and properly I guess it would be nice, but I would still not like it to be too current. For example we gotten more or less the idea of what the allag empire and the myrisidia (sorry I know I butchered those) is. So a novel going into the nooks and crannies of that would be ok. For example if they released a novel about shinryu though and then he just magically appeared in stormblood as omega's counterpart with no in game explanation/story as to why he is there that would irritate me considerably >.>

Guess im a bit peeved at wow's overall ingame delivering of lore (which prolly makes it even more necessary for wow to have novels). So I guess i shouldn't ignore the possibility it could be done right, and i suppose other SE franchises have done things like this with success.

I would be on board for novels which have no bearing whatsoever on the game itself, or which set the stage for the future expansions in ways we won't see in game. For example, a Stormblood novel featuring the struggle of Ala Mhigans in Ala Mhigo to flesh out the setting and such would be welcome; something we won't necessarily see reflected in the game directly, but indirectly through quests (no NPCs from the novel save big names). I'd also be open to novels filling in some of the gaps in the story of existing nations and such. A Novel covering the selection of a new Archbishop in Ishgard, for example, would not be unwelcome, so long as the new Archbishop does not become pivotal in the game. Something like a merchant working under Lolorito to give us more insight into the good and bad behind him, and lend more nuance, wouldn't be bad either.

Alternatively, novels which take place in Eorzea's past would also be pretty great. I'd love a Trilogy about the War of the Magi, for example. Or the perspective of Allagans in the final days of Xande's rule before the Calamity. Or heck, even the rebels who fought against the Allagans.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gumbercules

Guess im a bit peeved at wow's overall ingame delivering of lore (which prolly makes it even more necessary for wow to have novels). So I guess i shouldn't ignore the possibility it could be done right, and i suppose other SE franchises have done things like this with success.

---

The StoryLine addon sounds like an addition you might like in WoW :). It is hard to keep up with the lore in the standard window which is a shame. At least addons let people play how they wish to play.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chiramu

The StoryLine addon sounds like an addition you might like in WoW :). It is hard to keep up with the lore in the standard window which is a shame. At least addons let people play how they wish to play.

---

its more of an issue of delivery (unless the addon like really spruces up the writing too idk since i haven't tried it XD). I mean imma come of as a WotLK fanboi here but the story for that xpac had you from start to finish, from zone to zone. There was never a question of whether or not you were engaged in battle with the scourge. It did this while still delivering the stories of the zones to you within the confines of the overall struggle, it let you interact with arthas in very natural ways making you "important" without just shoving the general title or a shiny weapon at you. (arthas's on and off taunting of you playing into his hands was handled really nice =D) After WotLK ironically the next one that actually got my attention ingame with its lore was MoP, once I got over lolpandas :P


did check out a vid of the addon (not currently playing legion XD) and it really does look nice for delivery =D

I'd rather them use the money to make the game better.

Well, apparently FFXI had officially licensed novels published in Japan that tied into the game (at least according to FF Wiki), so tie in novels for FFXIV could be a possibility (after all, we've already kind of seen that with FFXIV anyway with 'Tales From the Calamity' and 'Tales From the Dragonsong War' being published online on the Lodestone), so anything is possible I guess.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Serilda

One that summarised the canon from 1.0 for those of us with no PC access at the time would be especially wonderful as he game expands and the legacy stuff becomes ever more mysterious to newcomers.

---

Unfortunately this is not really possible other than the 'Seventh Umbral Era' storyline (which was specifically designed to lead into ARR), as most of 1.0's original storyline (original 1.0 starting city story and 'Path of the Twelve' scenario) has been mostly retconned and cannibalized for ideas for ARR's main scenario (which is why the 'Waning of the Sixth Sun' Bluray with came with the Collector's Edition of ARR did not even feature any scenes from those original stories - they're no longer 'canon' really and would also give away ideas and concepts that SE had incorporated into ARR's storyline). So sadly I don't see SE ever releasing an official 'recap' of the original storylines 1.0 characters like Enki experienced in any form like a novel, such as the adventurer's arrival in their Sixth Astral Era starting city or joining up with the Path of the Twelve and being nearly shot by Gaius, as it's literally decanonized sadly and now gone forever. :(.

Well, there's ups and downs to having novels.

One positive is that you can expand the lore in directions not easily done in-game. Another is that you can sort of further establish your setting by using books as a means of divulging further into the more mundane aspects of the world (think of the post moogle quests, but written as entire books). Lastly, you're able to introduce characters and build them up, or further develop established characters in novels.

One of the big negatives are that lore in novels can lead to being forced to buy everything in order to understand what's going on. Blizzard has been pulling this as of late by having novels act as the foundation for expansions (Stormrage, Wolfsheart, War Crimes, Illidan), which means if you didn't buy the books, you're not getting the whole picture.

SE is also very particular with it comes to who gets involved with their products; I'm convinced that if SE were to release novels for FFXIV, they'd probably would do it in-house to keep the lore in-line with what they want to see (which means we won't get characters with an army of raptors).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Chiramu

FFXIV if anything will have worse "fan fiction" then WoW, if you go by the filler episodes from the popular anime series. Maybe that is why they are not getting people to write stories for FFXIV.

---

Whoa, I hadn't considered this.

As for Med'an, he may not be canon but someone actually paid money for the creation of that atrocity. That entire comic was just a really bad idea.

Side stories that are unrelated to the main story would be fine but I've always hated the way WoW tells half of it's story in the books it puts out. I don't want to have to pay twice so I can understand what's going on in the in-game story.

I’m positively sure they announced some light novels (for Japan) in one of the somewhat recent Live Letters. Must've been between the E3 and US FanFest one I think...?

Edit: Bloody Kupo, found it. Was during LL 32 @ TGS. No title, date ect given, except that'll be published by Dengeki Bunkou, with Yuu Fujiwara as writer and Noizi Ito as illustrator