I just dont understand whats going on with the 24 man storyline

[ObsidianFire]

They mentioned she was summoned by Ajora Glabados, and implied he was one of the earliest Warriors of Light. This suggests Ultima was contemporary with either the First or Second Calamity.

This is not true in FFXIV. It is the origin of Ultima in Tactics, but none of that information can be assumed to be canon for FFXIV unless FFXIV says it is. And in the case of Ultima, we do know the circumstances around her showing up on Hydaelyn. Which is that she's from some other planet/dimension like Omega and Midgardsormr are. We also don't know when Ultima came to Hydaelyn. We just know that Hydaelyn was much stronger when Ultima came as Hydaelyn was the one to seal her initially. Which is something she most likely doesn't have the strength to do anymore. There's also how it seems that Ultima was the inspiration for the Ultima line of weapons in Allaga which suggest she came to Eorzea before the 3rd Astral Era at the latest.

Also, Unukalhai implicated the fall of the Thirteenth World on auracite, suggesting she was able to disseminate the stones across all the shards or copies of Ultima were summoned on the other worlds.

There are several type of auracite in FFXIV. Many of which have nothing to do with Ultima. White Auracite is used by the Warrior of Light to contain Ascian souls and it is a manufactured auracyte by the Sharlayans. The auracite that was used on the 13th Shard most likely has nothing to do with Ultima because not only is Ultima not on the 1st Shard, but also because it is more then likely that the 13th Shard was Flooded with Darkness long before Ultima ever came to Hydaelyn.

[Zohar_Lahar]

This is not true in FFXIV. It is the origin of Ultima in Tactics, but none of that information can be assumed to be canon for FFXIV unless FFXIV says it is. And in the case of Ultima, we do know the circumstances around her showing up on Hydaelyn. Which is that she's from some other planet/dimension like Omega and Midgardsormr are. We also don't know when Ultima came to Hydaelyn. We just know that Hydaelyn was much stronger when Ultima came as Hydaelyn was the one to seal her initially. Which is something she most likely doesn't have the strength to do anymore. There's also how it seems that Ultima was the inspiration for the Ultima line of weapons in Allaga which suggest she came to Eorzea before the 3rd Astral Era at the latest.

The Echo flashback you see has Orran Durai explaining to Delita that Ajora betrayed Hydaelyn by summoning Ultima. And since he refers to Ajora as "first of the Zodiac Braves," that implies this was a really ancient event.

[Rufalus]

I think this story would have benefitted from having a different pacing than the usual 3-part raid series. For the future I hope they play with the content structure to make it less of a rigid formula. Some people will complain if patches start having a different composition than they were expecting, but people complain about everything.

[Wyssahtyn]

Ivalice raids had their moments, but storywise were ultimately mediocre at best, in my opinion. That goes for most of Stormblood, I find. And I'm not looking forward to seeing how Nier Automata's getting shoehorned into XIV in Shadowbringers.

[YianKutku]

My standard questions about the Ivalice raids starts mostly with "who were the Lucavi originally, before they became Lucavi in Rabanastre and Ridorana?"

And then it goes into "why were the Lucavi just sitting there waiting for us instead of doing something pro-active?" Because in previous raids, the bosses were clearly guarding something (generally found at the end), and were intended to slow us down. Or we've invaded their home (Ozma, World of Darkness). But the former possibility doesn't explain what the Lucavi were guarding, and the latter doesn't explain why they haven't wandered off and smacked down the looters already there.

I've heard speculation that the Lucavi in Rabanstre were freedom fighters of Dalmasca who wanted revenge against the Empire, hence their transformation into Lucavi, but as mentioned, they just sit there waiting for us, instead of going off to fight the Garleans. And given that Rabanastre is in ruins, clearly they were not present during the failed rebellion.

[Gula]

the whole ivalice 24 man series was an homage to FF Tactics,XII, etc. if you got more out of it yay, if not just think of it as more lore for you to grasp. it's just one of those things where YMMV. i for one will try to play Nier before the next 24 man series begins in 5.1.

As a slave to Yoko Taro, I'm sure with his writing, you wont need to. OG Nier is a direct continuation after the wtf ending of Drakengard, and Drakengard 3 is only a prequel via a certain ending. Yet each game can be played standalone for the complete Taro experience. But I do still recommend Nier Autobots.

[Theodric]

can't please everyone :shrug:

My thoughts exactly.

I enjoyed the raid series immensely and most of the people I know in-game did as well, even those who had yet to play a single 'Ivalice' title. It all tied in rather nicely with the rest of the game to give us some interesting lore implications elsewhere.

[Daralii]

The Echo flashback you see has Orran Durai explaining to Delita that Ajora betrayed Hydaelyn by summoning Ultima. And since he refers to Ajora as "first of the Zodiac Braves," that implies this was a really ancient event.

Unless I'm remembering it wrong, the blurb on her figurine says that Ultima was found already imprisoned by the ancient Ivalicians that would go on to found the Church, and that their worship caused her to develop self-awareness. Orran's an unreliable narrator, so he could have confused Ajora summoning her with Ajora granting her freedom.

[Phileas]

Reading all the responses it seems like Ivalice was a bit divisive in terms of storyline.

Thanks to everyone for the extra background to this story. Although yes i still feel it is the weakest of the 24 man raid series in terms of storyline.

I think i also found Ramza quite annoying throughout...

I am unfamiliar with nier automata so we’ll have to wait and see but i do yearn for maybe an original 24 man someday that can be unique to FFXIV.

[Noitems]

but i do yearn for maybe an original 24 man someday that can be unique to FFXIV.

Both Crystal Tower and the Shadow of Mhach raids have those elements but I would absolutely say Mhach is the better contender for something unique to just XIV.

Void Ark ties directly to the events of the War of the Magi, being the Ark Mhachi used to escape the great flood (which lead the Lost City of Ampador into it's mold ridden state). The ark is completely abandoned and ravaged by voidsent as the original Mhachi sacrified themselves to seal the voidsent (powering the ship) to prevent them from escaping.

The Wheeping City of Mhach is the the city of the mages of Mhach which again ties into the Ampador and the Void Ark.

and Dun Scaith is the final conclusion which was built by the Mhach as the final haven to live after avoiding the flood, which in turn was taken over by Diabolos (who has been a present threat since Ampador and Void Ark)

All of those elements feature recurring threats from the Final Fantasy series but is tailor made using XIV's story as the main base. It's not just an almost complete retread (as Crystal Tower raids were in terms of bosses) compared to the original.