Relation of opening and closing movies

Forgive me, I'm not at all an FF 'geek', I've only ever played FFXI and now FFXIV, so I know nothing more of the general 'lore' than those games.

I can't figure out how the end movie relates to the opening one. Maybe it's because I never played the end-game events in XIV, but I have no idea how the events in Mor Dhona shown in the opening movie .. I assume that IS Mor Dhona where the action takes place .. relate to what happens at the end.

I watched the opening a couple of times last night, and see in there towards the end some 'demon like' creatures in those blue 'globes' that rush past the falling human.

Also, what about the meteorites, or whatever they are, that are raining down in the new character tutorial (at the point where you hear that small snippet of Answers), how do they relate.

Is there somewhere that explains how these parts of the story combine into a 'whole', or is there no real connection due to Yoshi fundamentally changing the base story from that which Tanaka worked on?

Those "globes" are the primals, ifrit, titan, etc. I think the only real connection between the videos is the location and that Bahamut is also a primal, at least we think he is. Think of it as just showing us 2 major battles that have happend in Mor Dhonna with the primals being involved each time. The Garlean empire also feature in both. It is never made clear exactly what is happening in the opening video, remember that was made a long time ago and their plans for the game have changed drastically since,

The directed connection between the two movies are the characters shown, which are the same. Lore-wise, opening is taking place 15 year since now, at the battle of silvertiers skyes (it's lore in-game, you can read it here http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...entry?e=341575) and the birth of mor dhona like we know. This ending wasn't obliusly planned, but somehow we'll know more in ARR, why dragons kill people, why bahamuth was sealed in the sky etc

I'll give you an explanation in lee man's words:

The opening cutscene is a premonition of the catastrophe.
The catastrophe being the empire's plans to summon this huge meteorite to crush against the planet and purge everything.
We destroy the device they use to attract it, but its too late. So we have a back up plan to pray to the 12 gods to stop the armaggedon.
There's a final battle between the empire and the alliance of nations in mor dohna (to where the meteorite is headed).

We find out then that the meteorite is in fact a cage. Holding the god dragon, bahamut.
The empire has been feeding it aether energy so its stronger than before.

Thus the twelve are unable to seal him once again, and our plan fails.

So the reincarnation of the god of space and time sends us beyond the reach of time. Thus saving us from dying.

This plot wasn't the original one. It was shifted and molded by Yoshi when he took over.
There are some unfinished plotlines left by tanaka which might resume on 2.0.

I would take the first movie with a grain of salt because a lot of what was shown just doesn't apply very well. The armoury system for one. This is how I see it, the midlander guy had an echo vision when selecting the card, witnessed the battle in Mor Dhona 15 years earlier, then came back to reality. Didn't realize what had just happened but just went with it.

In the last movie looks like he's made friends with those same adventurers from his echo trip (Possible?) plus the Mi'qote, and it's the last stand.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Majidah

We destroy the device they use to attract it, but its too late. So we have a back up plan to pray to the 12 gods to stop the armaggedon.

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Yup, it was part of our cunning master plan all along. It wasn't out of desperation or anything. Nope.

*cough*

There was a theory around that the dragon dying at the start summons Dalamud (awekening bahamut) with that light of aether, and as an added result the primals are also freed.

Then Bahamut mind controls Nael and shit happens.

Honesty, I dont think garleans knew that bahamut was in there, except maybe the van darnus guy since he had made a connection to it, in some part of the storyline it was even made known that he was hiding information from the emperor of the garleans.

What is weird is why send all those garleans and machines to attack us at the end if they knew Bahamut was in there. What I think is that it wasn't time for dalamund to hit the ground because it was still too high in the sky when it broke open. My guess is that they were gonna kick our asses, then leave the coninent of eorzea and then sit back and watch dalamund hit us, but things got crazy and a huge chunk of their military was taken out along with the rest of us, which was never their intention, which would explain why in ARR we aren't overrun with garleans.

There is no guarantee that Bahamut is a primal, but he most likely is, but the dragon in the intro mostly likely isnt a primal simply because isgard is fighting dragons nonstop and that dragon destroyed the garlean mothership before the primals fell from the sky.

Also I dont believe dalamund had anything to do with the intro, that was back when they were just gonna invades us, the dalamund plan came into play because of the failure of their invasion.

I read that ARR takes place 5 years later, I hope that isn't true at all because its extremely silly to have such a huge chunk of people die and then have entire villages rebuilt in just 5 years, that time span is way too short, even 10 years would be hard to swallow.

Also, big fail on Square's end for having people from his echo appear as his party members, I guess they should have kept some of the original story writers on the new team to avoid such obvious mistakes.

The gods of space and time sent us to the future? What are you talking about? lol Louisiox sent us to the future as his failsafe plan which Cid mentions after you win the To Kill A Raven battle in the instance that happens right as you win.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cegiana

Also, big fail on Square's end for having people from his echo appear as his party members, I guess they should have kept some of the original story writers on the new team to avoid such obvious mistakes.

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Why is this a bad thing? Where does it imply that the echo party (fighting the Malboro) left the planet entirely? The entire purpose of the ending cinematic was that all adventurers of Eorzea were in Mor Dhona fighting off the Garleans. Yes, it's incredibly convenient that the same people showed up to help him, but they'd be there anyway.

Yeah except those fighting the malboro were fighting it 15-20 years ago, what are the odds that he would come across some of that party so far into the future and that they would become his party during the end, let alone that the Galka looks like he hasn't aged a minute? lol Takes you out of the story when it's such bad story writing (which says a lot cause I love FFXIV lore, much more than FFXI lore.) It's my ONLY complain about the ending, cause that damn FMV brought tears to my eyes and it rivaled the opening FMV of FFVIII when it comes to emotional impact (especially if you watch the FF8 intro AFTER you know the entire storyline, man, I'm about to pop in my FF8 now.) lol

And KiriA500, I can't stop watching your signature over and over again, it's hypnotic for some reason. lol

I assume in terms of Bahamut being a Primal or not, they'll do the XI-style thing, call the Primals that the beastmen summon "celestial" beacuse they're bound to the aether until they're summoned to our plane, and Bahamut would be "terrestrial" and isn't bound to the Aether, and can just fly around and wreak havoc as he likes to do. Obviously the lore heavily differentiates from XI and XIV in terms of how they perceive the primals (and the kind of power they possess), but I could see them using that type of foundation for the seperation of primals like Bahamut compared to Ifrit or Garuda (in the life in 1.x Garuda and Ifrit never posed enough of a threat to destroy Eorzea like Bahamut kind of just did). One thing we all know for sure, like in any other FF title; Bahamut is the god damn Wyrmking, and that's pretty bad-ass.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cegiana

Yeah except those fighting the malboro were fighting it 15-20 years ago, what are the odds that he would come across some of that party so far into the future and that they would become his party during the end, let alone that the Galka looks like he hasn't aged a minute? lol Takes you out of the story when it's such bad story writing (which says a lot cause I love FFXIV lore, much more than FFXI lore.) It's my ONLY complain about the ending, cause that damn FMV brought tears to my eyes and it rivaled the opening FMV of FFVIII when it comes to emotional impact (especially if you watch the FF8 intro AFTER you know the entire storyline, man, I'm about to pop in my FF8 now.) lol

And KiriA500, I can't stop watching your signature over and over again, it's hypnotic for some reason. lol

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Maybe they were also pulled into that battle because of the echo? *shrugs* I didn't mind seeing them...I like CGI of Roegadyn...lol!

Thanks! Here's the video if you wanna see the whole thing. The part from my sig is the very end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwg2Hpf4ta8

Final_Fantasy_XIV Info
The game takes place in a land called Eorzea, which consists the continent of Aldenard and its surrounding islands, all situated in the world of Hydaelyn.

Eorzea contains several independent city-states:

The bustling port and pirate hideout Limsa Lominsa.
The wealthy desert city of Ul'dah.
The city of Gridania hidden in deep woods.
The mountain top bastion called Ishgard.[1]

Eorzea was first inhabited by gods and goddesses, which the wandering tribes that settled the land started calling the Twelve. The gods blessed the tribes that came to the savage land with welfare, but the tribes began fighting with each other, and war tore Eorzea apart.[1]

FIRST VIDEO
Fifteen years before the events of the game, metal-clad warriors invaded Eorzea with flame-spewing weapons and colossal airships. The army came from the Garlean Empire, and it didn't take long before the mightiest of the six city-states, Ala Mhigo, fell under their force. The other city-states united their power to defend themselves, but just as fast as it had arrived, the imperial army was gone again. A new era began at Eorzea, known as the "Age of Calm", which the city-states spent by building up their defenses and training their armies.

Before, the cities had hired mercenaries for their inner wars, but now they trusted only professional soldiers, leaving the sellswords unemployed and restless. To keep them from causing harm and steer their energy into helping others instead, BEGINNING OF FIRST VIDEO the city-states founded a network of adventuring guilds.

Seventh Umbral StorylineEdit
Dalamud descends.

Fighting against the Garleans, the player encounters another Imperial Legatus named Nael van Darnus who sees the invasion to be for the greater good. However, as the player faces against the Primals themselves whose demise he wanted, Nael's plan is revealed to exceed the intent of the Garlean Empire by Nael's desire to purge Eorzea of its impurities with Dalamud. Though Gaius helps the player to stop the insane general, Nael becomes infused with Dalmund's power and resolves to plunge the world in the Seventh Umbral Era.

Not long after, the companies are able to track down Nael van Darnus's location; the Legatus is seen wandering near the Allagan Ruins in Camp Glory. An attack group is quickly assembled and sent to the region, only to find a patch of floating islands emanating a light similar to the one previously seem on Castrum Novum, the Rivenroad. From the Rivenroad, Nael oversees fiery rocks raining down from Dalamud.

Without any other alternatives to reach the Legatus's, the companies seek Cid for an airship. After a few preparations, Cid offers his personal airship, the Enterprise. However, the airship can only carry a small number of passengers, and as such, only a single group of adventurers are able to fly towards the floating islands for the final confrontation against the Legatus.
The party escapes Rivenroad.

After a fierce battle, the party seemingly succeeds in defeating the legatus. However, he stands up and is bathed by Dalamud's light, losing what was left of his mind and becoming a being of pure hatred. The battle starts once again, and the party finally defeats Nael. Following his defeat, the magic glyphs keeping the Rivenroad floating are deactivated, and the island starts falling apart. The group has no means to escape, but soon after Cid Garlond appears and rescues everyone, bringing the group to safety.

The Grand companies celebrate victory with a reunion on Gridania, as Cid assures everyone that Dalamud will no longer crash on Eorzea; however the player wonders if that's true, as there is still a sense of dread about Dalamud.

This is currently the end of the main storyline quests, as of patch 1.23.

I think the party members are the same really just as a nod to the first cutscene that we started with. They are really just a representation of us anyway, they're not meant to be actual plot characters. Seeing the main dude older, in AF with badass skills now is to reflect our own journey. So I wouldn't really read too much into it other than that.

In all honesty, I always saw the "vision" as a 2 different parts. The first part against the malboro is a premonition of sorts of the adventures he might have or people he will meet. The second part is a flashback of what happened in the past. That would explain his party mixture of beginning friends (miqote), and future friends (lala whm). :3 Just my two cents.