What are these blue orbs?

I know they don't do anything, but I've seen them in more than a few places and just wondered what they represented.

https://i.imgur.com/tR4qEDq.png

Sightseeing log areas.

Ahhh... That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

stand on em and emote /lookout and for a select few, /pray to add the local to your sightseeing log

In ARR content they are 'invisible' and you had to guess where to do the emote. In HW and Stormblood they are right there for you but not all of them are /lookout.

T_T I was so intrigued by the post title. And then I saw the picture... ;(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sylvain

T_T I was so intrigued by the post title. And then I saw the picture... ;(

---

I'm sorry, *nervous laughter* maybe one of these days I'll come up with an actual question. ;v;

I got a question where is that orb, maube some people need it?

I was wondering what those were too! I never did the sightseeing stuff, so that makes sense.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eloah

I got a question where is that orb, maube some people need it?

---

That particular orb in the screenshot is found in Falcon's Nest, on top of the highest building with the burning flame atop. I've looked it up and there's a loooong list of all the locations with the coordinates on the wiki page.

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Sightseeing_Log

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dynus

I was wondering what those were too! I never did the sightseeing stuff, so that makes sense.

---

Yeah, same. I've only done like 2 in ARR because I've stumbled upon places and it'd say "You've arrived at a vista!" then say I've strayed too far because I took like half a step away. It was a lot more frustrating because there's a certain time period AND WEATHER to do the actions and there's no orb so I gave up on it and figured I'd leave it for when I have absolutely NOTHING else to do.

*scratches noodles and inhales deeply* Perhaps lorewise the blue orbs are fragmented memories of explorers past. Visiting one fills you with a sense awe and wonderment when you perform the correct emote associated with the location. Sadly the Orbs have faded in Eorzea and the feeling can only be regained through diligent explorers where as in other parts of the world they still retain their glow.

They're just locations that the Ironhearts have logged in their journals as noteworthy sights. No fragmented memories or anything - the glow is purely a gameplay mechanic.

Side note: I'm still kind of upset at how generic the impressions for each log are in HW and SB. The ARR impressions have a nice bit of poetic meaning.

And also typically give some clue to the emote needed. Some of the HW ones seem like they just want you to spam everything til you hit the right one.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hasrat

And also typically give some clue to the emote needed. Some of the HW ones seem like they just want you to spam everything til you hit the right one.

---

The first wave of HW ones do actually indicate which emote you need to use. It was with the second wave that they stopped telling you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Annana

They're just locations that the Ironhearts have logged in their journals as noteworthy sights. No fragmented memories or anything - the glow is purely a gameplay mechanic.

---

Why it is indeed mainly a gameplay mechanic, one could think of them as marks the Ironhearts left - after all, they've kept a journal describing the sights they've found. Wouldnt it make sense to leave some sort of mark at those sights aswell to make it easier to find them again? Pretty much how people irl would leave a mark on a tree or a large stone or arrange some stones etc. in the wild when they've found something they'd like to return to.