Thoughts about future lower stakes adventures we can have?

With the goal for a bit to be lower stakes adventures (supposedly) after the end of 6.x so we can go back to being adventurers, I was wondering what sort of stories are we the community hoping to see on Ethirys and beyond.

I personally am hoping for a Hingashi expansion based on another War of Blood breaking out and all the warlords of the island vying for power. The set up is already there for Hancock to call us in to try to help one of the more moderate clans win so that the port of Kugane isn't closed forever, (somewhat reminiscent of us being wards of house Fortemps in Heavensward) and we have already seen some of the strife brewing for such an outcome with the Kugane Castle dungeon story where the merchant tries to take over the city of Kugane by hiring Yojimbo.

We were adventures for maybe twenty levels before we got pulled into the Scions, I have no idea why people have such nostalgia for that.

For my taste, I'd like to go back to mid-sized journeys. Not world ending but not grocery runs for the local waifs either. Another aggressive tribe or country, stakes that are important for us on a local level but not some cosmic threat.

Honestly I'd love some of the scattered garlean legions (or some other new upstart Empire) to try and go conquering allies of the WoL's allies.

Make them threatening not by trying to make them even stronger than the WoL (at least lore wise, we all know there's a need for trials and dungeons) but by being a genuine threat to all the allies we are not currently with. Have the WoL essentially play a game of cat and mouse With the villains.sure we could stomp them if we caught them, but make the story about breaking their war machine and their ability to evade the WoL and the Scions so we have to work not to be stronger than X but to get the chance to smash their face in in the first place.

I wouldn't mind some good old fashioned mercenary work. Not because the WoL is some great hero, not because they need to bail the Scions out from the consequences of their own actions for the umpteenth time, but simply because some people had need of an adventurer's services and were willing to shell out cash to get it done. Could maybe work a variant of hunt logs into the MSQ, too. Just some nice simple monster hunting for no reason other than the fact some random settlement, group of people, or rich guy is paying you to go handle business on their behalf(s).

I wouldn't mind being given a war to fight in either, but this would be under the assumption the WoL is there as a soldier and not being constantly deployed against rival factions as a walking WMD. We already know the WoL holds back in nearly all of their fights, so why not provide the opportunity for them to be a simple soldier for a while? They can bust out the super saiyan crap later on when some kind of primal or monstrosity of science inevitable gets introduced.

I just don't see how we can go back to being a simple adventurer again in a compelling and interesting way. That's how we had 4.1 dungeon and they vaguely tried with 6.1. Which missed the mark but considering that's SE's idea of being a humble adventurer again, I'd rather stick with the saving the world high stakes stuff. I just don't think in a realistic way, a person ever goes from being a beacon of hope and a legendary hero back to simple tavern quest picking up adventurer. Like we'd legit be getting ARR Titan and 2.X ARR quests all over again if we did.

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Originally Posted by Bonoki

I just don't see how we can go back to being a simple adventurer again in a compelling and interesting way. That's how we had 4.1 dungeon and they vaguely tried with 6.1. Which missed the mark but considering that's SE's idea of being a humble adventurer again, I'd rather stick with the saving the world high stakes stuff. I just don't think in a realistic way, a person ever goes from being a beacon of hope and a legendary hero back to simple tavern quest picking up adventurer.

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Trauma is a hell of a drug. Just about anyone who has seen combat is altered by it forever. In the WoL's case, they've been subjected to things so much worse than your average soldier wading through rivers of blood. Maybe they go back to being but a humble adventurer simply because it's what they want? At least for a while, since they probably realize there will eventually be another existential threat they have to face down. A vacation of sorts, if you will. Just not one of the Scion beach episode variety.

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Originally Posted by Absimiliard

Trauma is a hell of a drug. Just about anyone who has seen combat is altered by it forever. In the WoL's case, they've been subjected to things so much worse than your average soldier wading through rivers of blood. Maybe they go back to being but a humble adventurer simply because it's what they want? At least for a while, since they probably realize there will eventually be another existential threat they have to face down. A vacation of sorts, if you will. Just not one of the Scion beach episode variety.

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Yeah I guess my other outlook is that as long as we are going anywhere together with the other scions, we're going as heros not adventurers. If we want a real vacation, it's gotta be done kind of alone. Making our own journey.
Maybe I'm alone in thinking this way, but if I went on a vacation with my co-workers, I'd probably would feel that it's a work trip.

You know what I want to see?

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Reborn.

Uhh... JK! JK! Put down the pitchforks please!

(hides)

Square Enix are presented with a rather interesting challenge on how they top the big bad and a decade of story development. Even if there's still interesting parts of the game world left to explore, how can they do it in a way that's convincing whe nyou consider we're literally a god that has defeated all these crazy powerful characters. In any other medium that's not an MMO, Endwalker 6.0 is where a franchise ends. It's also the mistake Blizzard made with Warcraft, going to the Legion homeworld and facing off with Sargeras was the defining moment of ALL Warcraft lore (I'll ignore how they handled it) and everything after has absolutely sucked (including making up a bigger bad).

Yeah, this is why I stopped even paying attention to the story, I just want to be a normal adventurer, not a god slayer. Sadly FFXIV is my only MMO option (only really popular mmorpg that has promising longevity, especially with active player count), being I hate the WoW community and came here as a WoW refugee. Went back to WoW for one month recently, and just decided to delete my entire Blizzard account so I won't be tempted to come back. So I'm kinda stuck with the OP Main Hero plotline, ARR is where I actually paid attention to the story, but after that, really didn't bother paying attention anymore as the story just gave me sheer boredom.

I also hated how Blizzard started to do the same thing too, "Oh hello, Mawwalker". Like I wanna create my own story for my character, not because the story insists that I'm important. But I guess Warrior of Light is kinda FF's thing, so I'll have to get over it.

Remember the Adventurers Guild? T.T

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Originally Posted by Palladiamors

We were adventures for maybe twenty levels before we got pulled into the Scions, I have no idea why people have such nostalgia for that.

For my taste, I'd like to go back to mid-sized journeys. Not world ending but not grocery runs for the local waifs either. Another aggressive tribe or country, stakes that are important for us on a local level but not some cosmic threat.

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Personally, I don't mind the whole 'Scion' thing.

However, I know that some don't like the fact that becoming a Scion was, really, something that happened through circumstance rather than something we actively sought. And that 'Scion' became our identity (well, that and Warrior of Light). In fact that may be one of the reasons that Zenos' line ("isn't that so.... Adventurer") before our final battle against him was a little more impactful for some - it was the first time in a long time that anyone had referred to us as "Adventurer".

I don't know if ever going to a casual adventure will really work when we are basically a walking cruise missile. Any "threat" now can simply be flicked away. It's like sending Superman to solve a local gang dispute. "Stop it or I'll bury you alive in a box and no force on this planet can stop me".

Gotta help Estinien buy new shoes.

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Originally Posted by Bonoki

I just don't see how we can go back to being a simple adventurer again in a compelling and interesting way. That's how we had 4.1 dungeon and they vaguely tried with 6.1. Which missed the mark but considering that's SE's idea of being a humble adventurer again, I'd rather stick with the saving the world high stakes stuff. I just don't think in a realistic way, a person ever goes from being a beacon of hope and a legendary hero back to simple tavern quest picking up adventurer. Like we'd legit be getting ARR Titan and 2.X ARR quests all over again if we did.

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I actually liked the Drowned City of Skalla and the bit of story around it.

I couldn't do that non-stop though. The reason it worked was because it was set up at the right time. It was also short and sweet, not particularly prolonged for the sake of dragging things out. The alternative to Skalla in the MSQ would've been sitting through a handful of cutscenes with Lyse.

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Originally Posted by Renalt

I don't know if ever going to a casual adventure will really work when we are basically a walking cruise missile. Any "threat" now can simply be flicked away. It's like sending Superman to solve a local gang dispute. "Stop it or I'll bury you alive in a box and no force on this planet can stop me".

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I think that's where SE's repeated implication of the WoL sandbagging most of the time has to come into play. Is it ideal? No, but at this point it's about the only way they can even be present on a normal battlefield without it being considered a war crime.

Alisaie has to buy a present for Thancred, but she doesn't know whether to buy a gunblade or knives. The answer is found at the end of a fetch quest involving the Ruby Sea for some reason.

- Garlemalds legions, inner struggles and rebuilding. Return of Gabranth from Bozja storyline to see how they fold into it.

- Ilsabard and corvos situation, nagxia, opening up the map of Ilsabard for more adventures.

- Save Hingashi for last to be honest, after New World and Meracydia. I want our adventures to be centered around "earthly" problems, political problems, not solving world ending problems for a while. Continent wide problems maybe?


I think people think that the WoL is somekind of superman/superwoman and underestimate just how much a normal adventurer can do as well, when you consider how aether works and how the different jobs function. The WoL is not the only adventurer, they are THE adventurer, but they are far from unkillable and unbeatable. They have some funky powers, sure. A very large toolbox of skills. If the WoL was such a nuke as you claim, we wouldn't have trials or cutscene fights at all, they would just steamroll. You need to consider the power levels of the rest of the world of aether users too.

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Originally Posted by TheGrimace

Alisaie has to buy a present for Thancred, but she doesn't know whether to buy a gunblade or knives. The answer is found at the end of a fetch quest involving the Ruby Sea for some reason.

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Compromise.

A gun that shoots knives.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/p...ootsSwords.jpg

Honestly, was kinda hoping the latest patch require the WoL/D give some of their own Aether in order to assist in the long term the reclaiming of the 13th.
(along with _____ getting _____ aspected ______ within them which turned out to be ______)

as a means of lowering our power.(even though it's quite easy to see what it's purpose is, and I do not doubt some would say it's pretty weak change story wise.)

But, just cause the WoL/D can overcome anything in a 1v1/etc. doesn't mean that situations or people elsewhere cannot get to a comparable fraction of their overall.
[even with a couple of said folk with the right make up and ability or traits could lead an opposition] Be it a small group or plan will still cause an issue that would require collaborative efforts to overcome.
(though with newer, and less involvement with past characters could also have one running around more often than not. But it seems that SE still hasn't found a way. Unless DT was meant to be the true split off. which is almost a given, to never happen)

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Originally Posted by Bonoki

I just don't see how we can go back to being a simple adventurer again in a compelling and interesting way. That's how we had 4.1 dungeon and they vaguely tried with 6.1. Which missed the mark but considering that's SE's idea of being a humble adventurer again, I'd rather stick with the saving the world high stakes stuff. I just don't think in a realistic way, a person ever goes from being a beacon of hope and a legendary hero back to simple tavern quest picking up adventurer. Like we'd legit be getting ARR Titan and 2.X ARR quests all over again if we did.

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With you 100%

I cant stand when NPCs call me an adventurer!

Im the WARRIOR OF FLIPPIN LIGHT/DARKNESS

Pfft, adventurer.

I'm hoping the contest of succession and race to find the golden city is going to be more political intrigue with parties of varying shades of gray vying for power and not Pokemon Go, with three sides (the strong side, the smart side, and the other guys) and one side being clearly evil. I also hope it doesn't devolve into another metaphysical/apocalyptical hullabaloo. (◎ヮ◎)

To be fair, it is made explicitly clear that defeating the Endsinger was only possible because of being in a realm of literal "thought is energy" Dynamis AND that we couldn't do it alone and required the aid and power of all of our friends abusing that mechanic to essentially make us the Dynamis fueled equivalent of an Elder Primal. Hydaelyn we fought but she was weak after thousands of years and expending large amounts of her remaining power ever since defending us against Ultima, which we now know is an insanely powerful spell with future lore implications and related to the High Seraph being a possible Lavos/Jenova. They also set this up by having several NPCs talk with us about how we haven't heard her voice and that was a sign that Hydaelyn was running out of power/energy, thus weakened. Zodiark was, likewise, only at half-form, and it's heavily implied that Fandaniel was kind of okay with - and even wanting - us to win that fight. Finally, there's Zenos with the power of the Mothercrystal and Shinryu and Zero as Avatar, but he was still weaker than any of the three above, the Mothercrystal was mostly depleted of power at that point, and the cinematic seems to indicate we were an even match where we're both panting and barely maintaining consciousness when the fight ends and he (presumably) dies.

So while it's easy to miss, in the narrative, we killed two Eldest Primals and a universal threat god of despair, but in the first two cases, they were weakened and only at half strength (and wanting us to win), respectively, and in the latter case, was filled with asterisks and special caveats that made it possible, not us just being a literal ultra-god.

So in a narrative sense, I don't think they've painted themselves as much into a corner as most people think on first blush.

The last being we canonically fought, not in optional side-content (Sorrows of Wyrlit), at full power, was probably Warrior of Light or Anima. Atima was effectively a Primal, even if a powerful one, and ELightibus probably had a generally comparable power level to one, or a bit more powerful than Emet/Hades, perhaps. And in both of those cases (and several of the ones after), we had the use of the Azem stone (Emet was Graha's summoning, but kind of the same thing in practice) and had the help of 7 other warriors of comparable power to our own to do it. This was also true of Zodiark and Endsinger (in addition to all the Scions magic faithing us to victory), and against Hydaelyn, canonically we fought her with all the Scions if you recall that Trial allowing you to MSQ narrative Trust it in addition to her being at the end of her power. We fight the Pantheon, even all at once, but do so with 23 like-strength fellow warriors, too.

Oh, and TECHNICALLY we lost to Elidibus. Emet bailed us out.

And though the WoL has the title of god-slayer, that's only partially due to combat prowess. The other part is that it's hard to slay gods when you're tempered by them, so being immune to tempering is the big key there. And, again, we don't tend to canonically solo those, either.

.

So given all that, while the WoL IS very very powerful, it's not as absurdly so as it initially might seem given all the caveats and asterisks noted above.

A full army could stop us, or at least slow us down, and we still don't solo-gods, we have to rely on a team of friends of equal power with us to manage it.

So shifting from that to a more "monster of the week" thing isn't AS absurd as it initially might seem.

They could give us randomized objectives like what you see in Progress Quest. Everyone's story would be different yet equally status quo.

Krile needs a ride to the Dentist's Office. Only players with a 2+ Person mount can accept and complete this quest.

NPC: This mission is vital to the survival of the star but has a 0.1% chance of success
WoL: Ok this will be a cakewalk

NPC: We just need you to go pickup a 6pack of beer at the corner store.
WoL: #%@ WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!

On another note something that crossed my mind is that Hydalen and Zodiark were essentially the 2 primary forces left involved with the sundering that split the star into the source and it's reflections. In a way I feel like both of them existing were most likely the driving forces that allowed the star to remain stable while sundered. Now that both are gone I can see an issue arising of impacts due to remaining reflections becoming unstable to the point of possibly imploding or fracturing into smaller pieces or the reflections trying to collide and rejoin with the source on their own.