Let's keep Character Crossovers from other Square-Enix titles out of FFXIV.

[Vilhem]

Why all the butt-hurt? Why attack Lightning? Why not attack Costa del Sol, The Gold Saucer, Crystal tower, Raubahn who is OBVIOUSLY named after the BLU from XI, those Mammets that are Automatons from XI, who knows what else? Oh! But those are places... so places from other FFs are okay, but heaven forbid Yoshi puts Lightning in a small role no-one knows anything about. Really guys?

If you guys don't like Lightning, then you have to dislike all the other homages XIV will have to the series. You can't just pick Lightning and be fine about all the other things, regardless if they are people or not.

While I agree I don't want her to be a part of the main story, she's in a completely different side quest that has NOTHING to do with the main storylines. If she is revealed as a *PLOT TWIST* Legatus, then you can moan all you want, I'll moan with you. As of right now, it's a one off event like they have every year with gear that will prolly be level one and only useful as fashion clothes.

I don't wanna offend anyone, but this is the cold hard truth: Yoshi already stated multiple times she's coming to ARR, there will be a series of side quests with lore friendly reasoning as to why she's here. Deal with it. "Oh, but I'm addicted to ARR! I can't leave! I HAVE to play these side quests!" Well, if you don't have enough self-control to NOT do these quests then I dunno what to say.

Yoshi is in charge, and while he's open to opinions and stuff, nothing you say will make him change his mind. That's fine by me. He does things that I'm not pleased with. I know he can't please everyone. I just deal with it and try to enjoy as much as I can. Besides, this is mostly to get people excited for Lightning Returns, and people playing Lightning Returns to show interest in ARR.

Thanks alot guys for making me all mean!

And you, good sir, have not read the entire thread. There are differences in bringing in assets (mammets), names (crystal tower, Raubhan), it's not the same as lifting an entire character and her back story and inserting it into the next numbered FF title. Things like Costa del Sol and Rauhban are similar in name only: it's not like The Immortal Flames leader is walking around as a blue mage trying to kill you. He has nothing to do with XI's character: they merely share the same name.

Lightning, on the other hand, is the same Lightning from XIII. She's not an Eorzean-original, like most fanservice things we've seen so far. This is what's causing the distress.

I do agree though, it's just a marketing ploy to promote Lightning Returns, and similarly the miqo'te outfit in LR is a marketing strategy to promote XIV.

[Lucke]

And you, good sir, have not read the entire thread. There are differences in bringing in assets (mammets), names (crystal tower, Raubhan), it's not the same as lifting an entire character and her back story and inserting it into the next numbered FF title. Things like Costa del Sol and Rauhban are similar in name only: it's not like The Immortal Flames leader is walking around as a blue mage trying to kill you. He has nothing to do with XI's character: they merely share the same name.

Lightning, on the other hand, is the same Lightning from XIII. She's not an Eorzean-original, like most fanservice things we've seen so far. This is what's causing the distress.

I do agree though, it's just a marketing ploy to promote Lightning Returns, and similarly the miqo'te outfit in LR is a marketing strategy to promote XIV.

And Lighting will have NOTHING to do with ARR's story. She will not affect the main story AT ALL. As I said before, you don't know why she's here, but we can rest assured, it will not affect the story at all. You miss NOTHING if you don't do her quest.

Like I said, just wait until she's here before you all go apeshit. Yoshi has said he has a lore friendly reason to her appearance. He didn't just go "OH HAI LIGHTNING! PLOP!" It's a temporary thing that has no bearing on the story. Nothing is forcing you to do it. If you don't like it, that's absolutely fine. Don't do the quest. You aren't missing anything. Hopefully, the weapons and armors are just for show, level 1 junk that doesn't really do anything other than take up your fashion slots or whatever. Blazefire Saber isn't gonna be some level 50 weapon that blows your relic out of the water. Snow/Lightning's armors aren't gonna be something 4x as powerful as Darklight. If it is, then I'll be right there with you, complaining about it.

And yes, I actually waded though 6 pages of this hate-fest. I deserve a medal (or achievement).

And you know, there are people who like FFXIII. Maybe not the characters or lore (or maybe so), but maybe they like the outfits and weapons. I would love to have gunblades in the game, and having Lightning's in the game, I'll take it.

[Vilhem]

I liked XIII too. And I'm not against Lightning being in XIV, either. I know, as well as others, that her quest MOST LIKELY won't affect the main scenario. Still though, it DOES take from the uniqueness of XIII and XIV respectively. Even XIII and XV (versus XIII), who share the main world lore, will have nothing to do with each other apart from the same mythos regarding L'cie and fal'cie and all that.

I do think, that the people who are bothered by it simply need not do the quest, but OP's plea is more along the lines of trying to prevent the floodgates from opening. Like.. "Hay, we did this with Lightning, lets do it with Sephiroth and Cloud and Tidus and all the other awesome FF series characters!" Which is VERY different than the Cids and Biggs & Wedges we've had pop in the series.

[Lucke]

I do think, that the people who are bothered by it simply need not do the quest, but OP's plea is more along the lines of trying to prevent the floodgates from opening. Like.. "Hay, we did this with Lightning, lets do it with Sephiroth and Cloud and Tidus and all the other awesome FF series characters!" Which is VERY different than the Cids and Biggs & Wedges we've had pop in the series.

If there are people that actually think like that, then we can kindly point them towards games like the Kingdom Hearts saga and Dissidia.

I doubt it though. SE and Yoshi have stated many times this is just a promotional thing between the 2 games.

[Fatestorm]

Cool. I can have Thancred all to myself then.

Vil... I know this is kind of off-topic... but when I saw Skye's post, I KNEW you were going to say this... I just knew it... <3

[Vilhem]

If there are people that actually think like that, then we can kindly point them towards games like the Kingdom Hearts saga and Dissidia.

I doubt it though. SE and Yoshi have stated many times this is just a promotional thing between the 2 games.

As I stated in an earlier post of mine, KH and Dissidia are not part of the main FF numbered series. They are fanservice games, or "B titles" if you will. KH caters to the Disney/SNES era nostalgia , and Dissidia is just an alternate universe altogether whipped up to have FF characters kick each others' butt. Popular games for sure! But very fanservice-y.

There was a blog post from Ferne awhile back hinting at some kind of Sephiroth thing..dunno if he was trolling (I hope he was trolling), but it does concern me a bit. Otherwise, yeah, I think the Lightning thing will just be an off-shoot cross promotion between the two games.

Vil... I know this is kind of off-topic... but when I saw Skye's post, I KNEW you were going to say this... I just knew it... <3

Of course you did <3

[Lucke]

As I stated in an earlier post of mine, KH and Dissidia are not part of the main FF numbered series. They are fanservice games, or "B titles" if you will. KH caters to the Disney/SNES era nostalgia , and Dissidia is just an alternate universe altogether whipped up to have FF characters kick each others' butt. Popular games for sure! But very fanservice-y.

That's right, but it's there. If people really wanna have Squall fight Sephiroth, Kuja fight Jecht, or Terra fight Zidane, they can play Dissidia. Lightning is not nearly on that level. She's just here promoting her game. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Hyrist]

Sorry, but some people are just a little too outspoken for me to continue conversing on this.

But as a parting comment - whether or not my previously mentioned games were part of the 'numbered universe' is irrelvant. Only two of the numbered universe has ever been MMOs, and Yoshida has already expressed that, honestly, he wants to veer away form the concept of the numbered universes to begin with.

The fact of the matter is, Square Enix does cameos well, and there are examples of it happening. There are those who will always be outspoken against it. But few complain when Gilgamesh shows up, like he did in 8, like he did in 12, like he will in 14.

This is just a matter of fans creating sacristies not shard by the company. And as I have said in other discussions, the only real people who set the standard for what is a Final Fantasy, is Square Enix.

[KaMuiSouZou]

Thank you very much for this contribution, sir. I'm a big fan of your work, and this is extremely thoughtful and well-reasoned.

Thanks!

I agree with the point you're making--that if you take something unique to one game and make it "common Final Fantasy property," then you're no longer using that item to make THAT game unique; and vice versa. However, I'd like to note that things unique to certain games can still advance Final Fantasy as a whole and as a brand. That is, unique characters and plots and so forth, great soundtracks, etc. A great soundtrack to a Final Fantasy generally isn't reused fully and completely in another game--and yet a good soundtrack, unique to a given game, still can advance Final Fantasy as a franchise and as a series.

Your point is true but is actually a bit outside of what I meant. In fact, it's more a continuation of my point haha. "Unique to the game vs Common to FF series" is a related but different topic than "Good for the overall series (advance the brand) vs Bad for the overall series."

Of course new, unique things can "advance" the FF brand haha! Otherwise it would imply that you have to use nothing but recurring FF things to be good, which is clearly not the case. Exactly as you pointed out, every new FF game introduces a new story with new characters, new soundtrack, etc.

Which goes back to something I said in my original post--Yoshi wants to facilitate greater collaboration between all of S-E's dev teams, and advance Final Fantasy as a whole and not as individual titles. I agree completely with his goal, but not his method--making each title special in its own way will, in fact, advance the brand as a whole. Pursue excellence in the details, and the series as a whole will be excellent.

This.

Overall, I'm okay with fanservice. FF is full of recurring things and turning some things that are unique into recurring things is okay. In many cases, it helps bring a stronger cohesive FF feel, which is what much of XIV's fan service has been like so far. But besides just a matter of what to use and how to use it, it's equally important to think what NOT to use and how NOT to use it. Messing with certain unique things can have the opposite effect, and imo having main characters in other games is a prime example. It's the collection of UNIQUE and SEPARATE games/stories/characters that is the foundation of the Final Fantasy name as a whole and should continue to be the heart of the series. You shouldn't RELY on fanservice to be what advances the FF brand.

[Keyln]

And yes, I actually waded though 6 pages of this hate-fest. I deserve a medal (or achievement).

As I stated in an earlier post of mine, KH and Dissidia are not part of the main FF numbered series. They are fanservice games, or "B titles" if you will. KH caters to the Disney/SNES era nostalgia , and Dissidia is just an alternate universe altogether whipped up to have FF characters kick each others' butt. Popular games for sure! But very fanservice-y.

Dissidia is considered cannon by the people who made Dissidia.