Your Thoughts On "Encyclopaedia Eorzea" Books?

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Really excellent sources that flesh out the world way beyond what we usually have access to in-game. For example, location, organization, character, Job, weapon and armor information that we'd otherwise never see.

I very much hope they continue to make new editions.

the Ultimania books are chock full of game info, creator interviews, stats, tables, etc. these books (or mooks as they're called in Japan - magazine/books) are massively long and there is so much text that it's never been worth it to have them fully translated and made available outside of Japan. There are a few exceptions but the only releases here were the anniversary editions that covered all the FF games out, and aren't really all that in depth.

The important thing to remember though is the lorebooks are written as actual in universe tomes, not a meta examination of the lore as a game world, hence as is noted repeatedly within the game's story, scholars frequently get things wrong or don't have the full picture, and so it is with the lorebooks.

Add in there are aknowledged errors and typos in the books, and a number of minor lore points that outright contradict what is stated in game, and hence it's best to approach the lorebooks with a grain of salt. Definetely useful for filling in a lot of missing info (and by Azeyma, there is lot), but not as a 'lore bible' for the game, especially when it contradicts in-game info (much of this comes about because early world building that is mentioned in the lorebooks, is often then changed later on in future expansions and contradicts what is written in them).

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

'lore bible'

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Now I wanna use the E. Eorzea to swear into a court room :P

Companion books are nice, but they shouldn't be needed to fully appreciate the story and world.

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Originally Posted by ChocoPuni

Oh, I did see various Ultimania books that don't seem like they were translated. FF XIII one and VII Remake, though I think VII Remake might still make it. I've also noticed there's a magazine specifically for FF XIV, not sure if they're still doing it.

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They've released a lot of the older ones. Look up the Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive books, we have 3 volumes of them here in the west. Vol 1 deals with FF1-FF6, Vol 2 is FF7 to FF9, and Vol 3 is FF10-FF14.

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Originally Posted by RyuDragnier

Vol 3 is FF10-FF14.

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Are the XIV ones unquie ultimanias, or did they bundle the Encyclopedias with the 10-12 ones?

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Originally Posted by ChocoPuni

No, apparently there are other Ultimania books that weren't translated. The ones we got are general info.

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Interesting, I was not aware of that.

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Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

Are the XIV ones unquie ultimanias, or did they bundle the Encyclopedias with the 10-12 ones?

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The encyclopedias are unique as far as I know.

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Originally Posted by RyuDragnier

The encyclopedias are unique as far as I know.

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I supposed some rephrasing is in order for clairity's sake. Are Encyclopedia Eorzea Vol.1 and 2 considered ultimanias and are thus bundled with older ones or are they not and thus that bundle has different ones for XIV?

I am an absolute sucker for "world companion" books. That means, though, that I'm easily embittered when the books are slapdash cash-grabs or outsourced hack-jobs. A lot of world-companions are letdowns. The Encyclopædias Eorzea blessedly are not. They're what a world-companion should be - a wealth of concept art and production blurbs stitched together and fleshed out into a coherent, thorough, thoughtful flow by the people who make the game itself. Quality-wise, they're the lore equivalent of Soken's "every track I made for this expansion" bluray soundtracks, and everyone who can should pick 'em up.

Alas... like all Bibles... they are not completely infallible.

When all is said and done, I have half a mind to fan-publish a classical style ERRATA supplement; a small packet noting errors and changes, or maybe even highlighting some of the deliberate misinformation the book's in-world tone spreads.

Not, showing any bias there, eh moose? I jest. I love the Eorzean Encyclopedias. We need a third one. I love compendiums. As long as they're not a hot mess and written by someone who doesn't know how that world works. Like the 3 or 4th Mass Effect book that is still being rewritten? though more likely as forgotten and some day I'll just have to suck it up and by a copy of it even though it's regarded as not cannon.

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Originally Posted by SannaR

Not, showing any bias there, eh moose

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Hey, I didn't even lavish praise for that the second book seemed to have noticeably higher error-catch rate and that whatever was added to the text screening process was a great idea and they should keep doing that.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

Hey, I didn't even lavish praise for that the second book seemed to have noticeably higher error-catch rate and that whatever was added to the text screening process was a great idea and they should keep doing that.

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That's why I did say I was just teasing. Same about keeping up with the improvements if/when they put out a third book.

Don't forget to let us know your review of them after you dig in!

To be honest, I'd love to see a collection of these - even if only sold in occasional limited runs - with matching size and bindings - for the entire Final Fantasy history. Can you imagine having a shelf with them all in order? Uniform height, uniform texture... Encyclopædia Spira... Encyclopædia Ivalice... Would have to be creative for the unnamed ones, lol.

The answer is always more lore.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

I am an absolute sucker for "world companion" books. That means, though, that I'm easily embittered when the books are slapdash cash-grabs or outsourced hack-jobs. A lot of world-companions are letdowns. The Encyclopædias Eorzea blessedly are not. They're what a world-companion should be - a wealth of concept art and production blurbs stitched together and fleshed out into a coherent, thorough, thoughtful flow by the people who make the game itself. Quality-wise, they're the lore equivalent of Soken's "every track I made for this expansion" bluray soundtracks, and everyone who can should pick 'em up.

Alas... like all Bibles... they are not completely infallible.

When all is said and done, I have half a mind to fan-publish a classical style ERRATA supplement; a small packet noting errors and changes, or maybe even highlighting some of the deliberate misinformation the book's in-world tone spreads.

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Not sure if you realize it or not, or even care, but a statement like, "Alas... Like all Bibles... They are not completely infallible. ", Is very offensive to us of the Christian Faith.

Other groups get inclusive treatment around here and I would ask the same for those of us whose life and identity is rooted in The Bible.

You or anyone reading this can respond by attacking me, my belief system or by trying to pull me into some debate over theology but your waisting your own time cause I won't respond, I'm not trying to talk down to you cause I actually respect u for your lore knowledge you provide the community but I just thought I'd bring this to your attention.

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Originally Posted by VictorTheed

Not sure if you realize it or not, or even care, but a statement like, "Alas... Like all Bibles... They are not completely infallible. ", Is very offensive to us of the Christian Faith.

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However divinely inspired you believe the text to be, Bibles are ultimately physical books produced by human beings and are not invulnerable to errors.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_errata

Ooooh boy, this thread has gone off the rails...

I just want to point out that the context of 'bible' I used in my original post was referring to it's use as a literary term, that is, a document made by the creator of the work that is used as a master guide for the work's concept that includes things like character names, setting, plot details, and, when creating fictional worlds and universes like games, that includes the lore of that world, so that contradictions do not occur, especially when others later make their own works connected to it (spinoffs, sequels/prequels etc). Related to this is the term used to describe something that is considered true or accurate to that work, as 'canon'.

Like it or not, the English language has preempted religious terms into everyday use, and Moose was quite right in stating something that is written by humans to not always be as accurate or true as we would like to believe regardless of your own religious beliefs (and this is not the place to get into a theological debate, we're talking about a fictional universe here).

And before you pass judgement, the very word 'bible' is derived from the Greek word byblos, that literally just means 'book' (related English words are bibliography and bibliophile), so hence it's adoption into the English language as a word for a literary document used by writers to ensure ongoing story development does not contradict earlier ideas already set out in their concept.

I like the idea of the lore books. The art is great and the information worth indulging if you like the lore.

But what turns me off them is the idea they are written "in-universe" by someone in the game. And as such, because someone in-universe can't know everything, is easily retconned for story telling purposes. So they hold little weight as evidence of lore because they can be easily changed.

I know this is done to save work on the writer's end, but wouldn't it be nice to know things for sure?

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Originally Posted by Kesey

wouldn't it be nice to know things for sure?

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"How it really is" changes a lot behind the scenes, too, though.

When we sent the Warriors of Darkness home, the dev. team "knew for sure" that was the end of their story.
Then they wrote Shadowbringers, lol.

In-world observers being able to report "accurate" things while not being infallible is how the game avoids out-of-world retcons.

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Originally Posted by Kesey

...So they hold little weight as evidence of lore because they can be easily changed.

I know this is done to save work on the writer's end, but wouldn't it be nice to know things for sure?

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It's not to "save work", it's a necessity of their work in publishing a lorebook for an ongoing story.

Suppose the Heavensward-era Volume 1 cane out with a 100% true and accurate history of the world - the elder primals Hydaelyn and Zodiark; Amaurot; the Final Days... there's no way that would happen even if they have every single mystery mapped out and will never need to retcon anything.

The lorebooks still hold value, but it's the value of gathering up everything the characters (and therefore we) currently understand about the game-world and organising it in one place. It's invaluable for lore discussions and fact-checking even if it doesn't have all the answers.

Perhaps it's the difference between a lorebook for a game focused on world-exploration versus one focused on storytelling.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

I am an absolute sucker for "world companion" books. That means, though, that I'm easily embittered when the books are slapdash cash-grabs or outsourced hack-jobs. A lot of world-companions are letdowns. The Encyclopædias Eorzea blessedly are not. They're what a world-companion should be - a wealth of concept art and production blurbs stitched together and fleshed out into a coherent, thorough, thoughtful flow by the people who make the game itself. Quality-wise, they're the lore equivalent of Soken's "every track I made for this expansion" bluray soundtracks, and everyone who can should pick 'em up.

Alas... like all Bibles... they are not completely infallible.

When all is said and done, I have half a mind to fan-publish a classical style ERRATA supplement; a small packet noting errors and changes, or maybe even highlighting some of the deliberate misinformation the book's in-world tone spreads.

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I would absolutely love an errata supplement from you. You have an excellent eye for detail, paired with your wealth of lore knowledge. I was fortunate enough to get a later printing of EE1 (Japanese copy, but the text is in English) that fixed many of the errors you pointed out in the bug report thread.

I'm a sucker for books like this and they could not make the encyclopedias comprehensive enough for me.
I'd have gladly paid double had they added more. I have the ShB artbook too (well, my fiancé does) and while a lot of love clearly went into making these books, I was hoping for something that really went all out and it feels like they really had to be reeled back in so they could be sold at a more reasonable price.
However, the way they screwed over the staff that actually made the books... I'm not surprised we'll probably never get a 3rd encyclopedia and shame on SQEX.

My only complaint is that side stories that aren't complete before one book came out aren't picked up in the next. So they're a little light on things like Alexander and the Warring Triad, as the first book was published before they were finished, but the second left them out.

That said, I'd still be all over a third volume to flesh out the First.

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Originally Posted by ItMe

However, the way they screwed over the staff that actually made the books... I'm not surprised we'll probably never get a 3rd encyclopedia and shame on SQEX.

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How did they manage to do that? I've only just recently started looking more into the lore behind this game, and the encyclopaedias look awesome.

IIRC, they weren't given extra time or time off their normal duties to make the lore books. They decided to take on the extra work on top of their normal day-to-day duties.

I'm suppose to be getting the EE volumes 1&2 as a birthday present since before April.. been on waiting list for them and the tonberry plush (small one) hopefully they restock soon

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Originally Posted by b00

How did they manage to do that? I've only just recently started looking more into the lore behind this game, and the encyclopaedias look awesome.

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I'm not sure what they mean as they did the first one for the love of the lore and players. About the same happened with the 2nd one while also bringing on players like Moose for edits and such.

I still need to get my own copy of the first one and would love to have a third one that covers ShB and 6.0. I just am not sure how they'd go about the story bits since at least for ShB would maybe need to be written by some of the Scions as normally it's written by an anonymous scholar unless we want to say the WoL transported the book around. Which would be possible.

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Originally Posted by SannaR

I'm not sure what they mean as they did the first one for the love of the lore and players. About the same happened with the 2nd one while also bringing on players like Moose for edits and such.

I still need to get my own copy of the first one and would love to have a third one that covers ShB and 6.0. I just am not sure how they'd go about the story bits since at least for ShB would maybe need to be written by some of the Scions as normally it's written by an anonymous scholar unless we want to say the WoL transported the book around. Which would be possible.

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Or it was written based off of the accounts of the Scions... kinda like they were interviewed for stuff

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Originally Posted by Rannie

Or it was written based off of the accounts of the Scions... kinda like they were interviewed for stuff

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Yes, that would work as well. Though I'd hate to be the person who gets the job of interviewing Urianger.

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Originally Posted by b00

How did they manage to do that? I've only just recently started looking more into the lore behind this game, and the encyclopaedias look awesome.

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I retracted this in another thread and forgot I said it here too, but I was mistaken.
I was getting my lore books mixed up.

I’m thankful they exist -perfect example, I recently woke up and decided I wanted to know more about the Heavens’ Ward. I learned a tiny bit about one of the dudes from a DRK quest, but online, some kind soul was sharing info they’d picked up from the supplemental material. I welcome any opportunity Square takes to further flesh out this world (well, these worlds).

My issues with them are: availability, price, and shipping.

I've mentioned it before but a 50 USD book, plus a 40 USD shipping fee, for the chance that the package will be stolen before it even reaches my zip code...? I want the physical book, don't get me wrong, the romance of having it on the shelf and pulling it out for cross-referencing something; but I'd happily pay -ok, not FIFTY, maybe 30 bucks- for a digital version I can be sure I'll get immediately instead of relying on the odd quote posted here and there on the interwebs.

In-universe narrator? No problem, even makes me feel more immersed. I don't care if it becomes "retconned" later, even science books have upadted editions as the sum of human knowledge expands.

Well since this was brought up again I might as well give my opinions on it.

I have mixed feelings on them. On one side they are very well done, not cheap looking and provide lots of lore information. On the other hand this stuff should be found in some way in the game itself (I dont really like Bozja that much but its notes system is awesome) and I really dont like that its written from an ingame perspective...

These lore books are often fantastic to be a reliable source for discussions..but thanks to their idea to make it from the scholars view (thus keeping themselves open to change information later down the line) there is always a chance that the information will be outdated and false one day.

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Originally Posted by Alleo

Well since this was brought up again I might as well give my opinions on it.

I have mixed feelings on them. On one side they are very well done, not cheap looking and provide lots of lore information. On the other hand this stuff should be found in some way in the game itself (I dont really like Bozja that much but its notes system is awesome) and I really dont like that its written from an ingame perspective...

These lore books are often fantastic to be a reliable source for discussions..but thanks to their idea to make it from the scholars view (thus keeping themselves open to change information later down the line) there is always a chance that the information will be outdated and false one day.

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About 70-90% of the information in the lorebooks are in the game. (I'd say about 70% for the first lorebook, and 90% for the second lorebook.) It's just that the lorebooks serve as a good way to consolidate that information, rather than have to hunt down obscure leve descriptions and Triple Triad cards. (And there's also a lot of lore in the game that isn't in the lorebooks, due to simple pagecount logistics reasons.)

I'm also a little frustrated with the diegetic viewpoint of the lorebooks, but I accept it as the best way to handle having a printed (ie unpatchable) lorebook at all, since this is a living story which often has to change based on non-story reasons, like game balance. I believe the writing team (Ishikawa and... I think John Crow?) had mentioned before that a lot of the "big revelations" weren't confirmed and planned out at the time the plot hooks had been laid out. The writing team just leave things open-ended in case they can come up with a plotline, and sometimes these pan out, and sometimes not.

Those books are great. Sadly, the only way to read those - for many people - is to get an unofficial PDF. I've been on the waiting list for ages now. Unfortunately, I couldn't afford them at launch. I wish they made a digital version, so this amazing work would be more accessible.

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Originally Posted by YianKutku

About 70-90% of the information in the lorebooks are in the game. (I'd say about 70% for the first lorebook, and 90% for the second lorebook.) It's just that the lorebooks serve as a good way to consolidate that information, rather than have to hunt down obscure leve descriptions and Triple Triad cards. (And there's also a lot of lore in the game that isn't in the lorebooks, due to simple pagecount logistics reasons.)

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Oh I know but I would still love to have a more central place to get them and maybe even more lore through the note system. I will keep dreaming about every single dungeon having one of those, maybe even one for each big boss.

About possible changes: I am fine if some aspects of the lore are a bit flexible but I guess at least stuff from the old ages or for the races should be right. But since this is from an ingame view even that could theoretically change. (Also how do these scholars get all these information on our story? ... Its Tatataru isnt it? She is selling our stories out to these guys!)

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Originally Posted by Alleo

Oh I know but I would still love to have a more central place to get them and maybe even more lore through the note system. I will keep dreaming about every single dungeon having one of those, maybe even one for each big boss.

About possible changes: I am fine if some aspects of the lore are a bit flexible but I guess at least stuff from the old ages or for the races should be right. But since this is from an ingame view even that could theoretically change. (Also how do these scholars get all these information on our story? ... Its Tatataru isnt it? She is selling our stories out to these guys!)

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They got it from the newpapers... lol those journalists are having a field day with the information they use and I bet the wandering Minstrel is adding his own in. Sprinkle in the heavensward book that Count edmont wrote and a dash of Tataru you have the Encyclopedia Eorzea and a lala with a hefty purse!

If anyone doesn't already have a copy, they've announced today that reprints will be available April 12, 2022.

Amazon has both volumes for preorder as well as the Square Enix store! I preordered mine on Amazon today