I knew I recognized this guy from somewhere ...

[Anonymoose]

The First having these throwbacks is simply for fanservice reasons and doesn't necessarily mean anything deeper

I started reading the thread ready to lean into "don't think too hard about it" but then you came out swinging; thank you, lol.

Even from what little we've already seen of 5.0, there appear to be a lot of homages and previously lost opportunities recovered from the cutting room floor and molded into something that can be used on the First. That doesn't mean they retain any connection to their original destintion. The Crystarium is based on the Rapture-era designs that later became Limsa Lominsa. Then the guild in the trailer, also Limsa Lominsa, had to be radically altered for server stability because putting the aetheryte in the guild would have caused catastrophic congestion 2010. This left a lot of motifs free for recycling. They're good motifs, Brent.

Though the final nail in the coffin, imho, is that The First was redesigned multiple times before Oda/Yoshida realized it was Rapture they wanted to re-capture. Obviously that wouldn't have happened if it was intended all along that 1.0 too place on First ... never mind the overwhelming implausibility vis a vis the Echo of Silvertear Lake.

I'm ready for this to be a prolonged "See? The Warriors of Darkness were the CGI trailer party all along!" Part II.