Echoes of Vana'diel FFXI Alliance Raid

[Payadopa]

All the shards have to have the same geography by the nature of how it all works and Vana'diel has its own separate gods and fully fleshed out origins so I feel like that would just cheapen FFXI's story if that were the case.

Very true. But we also got Ivalice so I don't see why it wouldn't work in that sense. The geography thing is true but nothing a cataclysm can't fix. They are the writers, they can do whatever they please. We will see.

[Kranel_San]

As others have said, what worries me is that this will be another raid with no context or understanding for people that don't know FFXI. I WANT to understand the story! I don't want to have to play other games to do so. If it's just another fanservice for other games series, it'll just be another raid I don't want to unlock.

Exactly. Ivalice Alliance raids are a prime example of how a collaboration should work in FFXIV. It expands upon worldbuilding and lore while also perfectly hitting the soft spot of fans, all while not requiring you to play any previous game or franchise, leaving everyone satisfied and happy.

A lot of the Nier backlash would not exist if the devs had followed in the footsteps of Ivalice Alliance raids, because I seriously hate the soulless abomination we have and wish I hadn't unlocked it at all, so I'm hoping the devs have learned their lesson and won't repeat the selfsame mistake again. Alliance raids should expand the world and the lore, not exporting soulless collaborations to the game.

[MikkoAkure]

Very true. But we also got Ivalice so I don't see why it wouldn't work in that sense. The geography thing is true but nothing a cataclysm can't fix. They are the writers, they can do whatever they please. We will see.

The distinction is that we didn’t get THE Ivalice that we’ve already been to and that all the games are from. We got a representation of it that fits into FFXIV’s world. Even then and even as a giant Ivalice fan, I didn’t like shoving whole swaths of one world into another setting and then having to change whole sections of the story like Ashe and Rasler being twins instead of husband and wife since Nabradia doesn’t exist in FFXIV.

We already know how the 5 races came about in Vana’diel and they also had their own versions of Ancients in the Zilart/Kuluu. It also had its own parallel worlds/timelines and lore and it would be disappointing to take all of that and 20 years of the game just to say “actually it’s been just a shard of the Source this entire time and Altana and Promathia are actually just Hydaelyn and Zodiark”.

There’s already precedence in events for FF character teleporting between worlds and I’d prefer that over it simply being a shard or Windurst being randomly inserted at the tip of Tural. Like someone said, the devs already said the shards aren’t other FF worlds and I don’t see why they’d backtrack on that now. As a past FFXI player, I’m interested in the new raid, but cautious about how it will be implemented and I don’t want them to ruin both games.

[Bonoki]

I'm not excited about the raid at all, but happy for FF11 fans. They deserve a win just as much as anyone else.

[Duskane]

I really love FF11 aesthetic so im pretty excited to see the raid

[Lomi]

That's not all what ff11 offers; it was a great MMO with many aspects (including combat), and I for one loved 11's diverse endgame setting (75 era) a lot more than 14's.
Unfortunately I doubt they'll do it service, but I'll appreciate what I can get!

[DarkMasamune]

I unfortunately didn't get to play FFXI as much as I wanted, but I was happy with that announcement ! I think it's a great hommage to Final Fantasy's first MMO and I can't wait to see how it's gonna look.

[Silverquick]

WOW....

Ok THIS i want to see.

I too am an old FFXI player. I used to play a Red Mage back then. Course you had subjobs there so I played Rdm/Blm mostly. I joined when the first expansion came out, which was when it first released NA side. I played through the second expansion, but left the game after that due to real life reasons, I hear there were a ton more expansions after that that I never saw.

That was a very unique world, and I loved it.

[Silverquick]

The distinction is that we didn’t get THE Ivalice that we’ve already been to and that all the games are from. We got a representation of it that fits into FFXIV’s world. Even then and even as a giant Ivalice fan, I didn’t like shoving whole swaths of one world into another setting and then having to change whole sections of the story like Ashe and Rasler being twins instead of husband and wife since Nabradia doesn’t exist in FFXIV.

Yeah they really kinda stretched that one.

The story wasn't even close to the FFTactics story, it was so bad they kinda skipped the part where the actual Zodiac stones WERE the Lucavi (Demons), and that the entire history of that world was a lie. That was the "conspiracy" they talk about in the modern write ups on it. So to be a "Zodiac Brave" meant... well something a lot different than it did in the Raid.

That said... despite ALL of that, and despite the fact I didn't really like the Stormblood expansion itself (there's a reason for that), The Stormblood Raids regardless of which type of raid you prefer were some of the best in the entire game. I don't think there's anyone who will actually dispute that. The 8 Mans were just as cool as Alexander raids were, and the Alliance Raids are so well remembered and played even to this day over and above the others. And I even have a high regard for the HW Alliance Raids. The VoidArk series of Alliance Raids were absolutely cool in their day. Still the ones I remember most are the Ivalice Raids.

[TheMightyMollusk]

So are we getting the full 18-hour battle with Pandemonium Warden?