7.0 and Beyond: Vana'diel?

[Vasch]

I don't feel like typing out all the details for something that people will likely think "well that's stupid as hell," but this grew out a discussion our Free Company had and we figured we'd post our little pie-in-the-sky pipe dream for 7.0 or later.

Essentially, it seems like heading to Vana'diel for 7.0 or later expansions would be a real nice way to:
- Wrap up XI's story (we've already had the two worlds cross-over; XI's final ending story could have NPCs from XIV show up in XI, while over in XIV we're traveling to that shard).
- Discontinue service for XI (playerbase dwindling year over year) to free up resources for XIV's continued development
- Provide a potential reason for XI players to join XIV if they haven't already, and would make sense with the existing XIV lore (Shards, etc).
- Acknowledge that a lot of XIV's playerbase came from XI; it's total fanservice, but that's the point.

Announcing it would be a nice way to cap off XI's 20th anniversary in 2022 as well.

In short, it allows SE to free up server and team resources (which XIV devs always say they're lacking), would be a nice way to hook the XI playerbase and the continuing XIV playerbase after the end of the Zodiark/Hydaelyn saga, and would allow XI to still be relevant even after shutting off service.

There's already plenty of references in XIV that hint at XI, even so far as to directly hint at its existence as a shard.

I dunno. Just felt like sharing. I can break down the main points and the full discussion that led to this pipe-dream, but I'd rather hear everyone else's thoughts on the matter.

[Rasler_Heios]

I don’t think it should. The source’s own map is not even completely revealed yet. And then there are other shards that you can eve explore after. If the intention is to put another close in XI story then it should be conducted so in the said game. If to entice XI players to mo e to XIV then have a collaboration event to do so. FFXI being a numbered main series game is probably not going to be discontinued. It might even be appropriate to convert it to a single player mode for future FF fans.

[Vahlnir]

I wouldn't be opposed, but I'd like to see what they have in store for THIS game first. Like someone said already, the map isn't even fully fleshed out yet. And there's more to Hydaelyn than Ascians. Going to Vanadiel would be a great expansion though, in my opinion. Heck, there's enough world there that they could make multiple expansions. I do miss it sometimes.

[MoofiaBossVal]

FFXI already had a pretty conclusive ending with Rhapsodies.

For XIV, I'd like for 7.0 to be about going to Meryacdia or the New World.

[MartaDemireux]

I'm not sure where you're getting your information...

FFXI has actually been seeing a population increase over recent years. In 2016 they hit a low of around 7k active players. They've seen very steady growth up to its current number of 28k active players (that's over $350k/month USD). In August of 2020 they had a spike of 80k people logging in it seems.

The resources XI uses also can't really be used on XIV. They still require PS2 dev kits for XI. Server space and whatnot is extremely small in comparison. They've been running with a skeleton crew of sorts as well so it's not like it would free up a full team to work on XIV.

[Vahlnir]

I'm not sure where you're getting your information...

FFXI has actually been seeing a population increase over recent years. In 2016 they hit a low of around 7k active players. They've seen very steady growth up to its current number of 28k active players. In August of 2020 they had a spike of 80k people logging in it seems.

The resources XI uses also can't really be used on XIV. They still require PS2 dev kits for XI. Server space and whatnot is extremely small in comparison. They've been running with a skeleton crew of sorts as well so it's not like it would free up a full team to work on XIV.

It's MMOs like FF XI that provide a bit of comfort. Some might say this game is in the decline, or that other MMOs are in decline for that matter. But if an ancient relic of MMOs ages past can survive this long with a relatively small player base then the rest of them can too. lol

[Nestama]

XI's story has already been wrapped up, though. That was the whole thing with Rhapsodies of Vana'diel.

I also cannot see Vana'diel being one of XIV's shards simply because XI is clearly its own world without Ascians (and Au Ra, Hrothgar, Viera and Roegadyn. Yes, Roegadyn are similar to Galka, but Galka have a tail and have a lore reason for being male only). XI has its own Gods (Altana and Promathia) who created the five playable races + Beastmen, two "ancient" races (Zilart and Kuluu) and even has its own version of the Void/Cloud of Darkness. Don't even get me started on the multiple alternate timelines. For XI to be a part of XIV, there would need to be some retcon action with XI in general just so it makes sense in XIV and I doubt people who grew up loving XI's world, lore and story would be a fan of that.

[WhiteArchmage]

I mean, from what I've seen from their social media and such, XI still enjoys a healthy playerbase and regular updates. If its story was to end, I'd say it would end in that game rather than in XIV. Honestly, it'd feel like a slap in the face for the dedicated FFXI player who wasn't that interested in XIV to suddenly have to buy a whole other game with expansions (or current "complete collection", true) and get all the way to lvl 90+ to get closure for a completely different game.

Meanwhile, XIV players would be completely lost about XI lore, needing the bulk of the hypothetical 7.0 to give a broad strokes on the story and NPCs. Plus, completely different dev teams (NOW, the XI team worked on a lot of XIV 1.0, true, but ARR and up is a whole different beast).

[Enkidoh]

I don't see any chance of this happening. FFXIV's two past crossover events for FFXI featured FFXI npcs visiting Hydaelyn (one is still technically stuck here) and not the player's character (or even a boilerplate standin for them) so we will not see the reverse happening (FFXI's equivelant FFXIV crossover event to the Shantotto and Iroha events in FFXIV simply featured Eorzean spriggans somehow materializing in Vana'diel).

Yoshi is interested in taking FFXIV's story in a new direction once the current 'Hydaelyn/Zodiark/Primals/Ascians/Echo/Garleans' story is resolved, but that will obviously just still involve Hydaelyn itself as there is still so much of the planet that is yet to be revealed (the far western continent, Meraycdia and the southern islands, the rest of Hingashi beyond Kugane, Sharalyan and the northern islands the roegadyn came from, and of course, Islabard and the Empire itself) and many mysteries still waiting to be uncovered without having to uncomfortably shoehorn in another FF game's world to visit (mashing up the Ivalice games and their stories to fit into FFXIV's setting and lore for the Return to Ivalice raids already pushed consistancy over the edge as it was).

So I have to say a big no to this I'm sorry.

[Eloah]

I forget is the Eleventh shard still around? Cause that would be the only way to really link the two games naturally.