Echoes of Vana'diel Expectations? Hopes?

[Roda]

As someone who hasn't played any FF game outside of XIV, it's more important for me that they prioritize the story and content standing on its own and being grounded within the world of XIV over any kind of excessive nostalgia milking and fanservice.

I think the Crystal Tower Saga did it the best where you had callbacks in names aesthetics and themes to its original source material, but things were different enough that they still felt like they fit within the worldbuilding they were doing for XIV.
Meanwhile, while I liked the fights of the raid series, I didn't get much from the Ivalice raids because we were basically teleported to a completely separate world with a LOT going on that we got very little of outside of the gauntlet of recognizable characters. Like everything up to the white auracite lore was a bit overwhelming for me? It really just felt like there's this whole other fantasy setting that is supposed to exist off screen and that doesn't really matter unless we're in The Ivalice Zone. :x
And while I WAS the target audience for the Nier fanservice, I could tell that if I didn't give a shit about Nier/Automata/Drakengard, then I would've been fully confused for the entire duration of the Nier raids.

Also bring back mechanics that make cowards quit when they get it in roulettes!!!

[Rokke]

only thing I want is for one aiming set to be xi's flamenco flavored dancer gear ;-;

[Boblawblah]

As someone who hasn't played any FF game outside of XIV, it's more important for me that they prioritize the story and content standing on its own and being grounded within the world of XIV over any kind of excessive nostalgia milking and fanservice.

I think the Crystal Tower Saga did it the best where you had callbacks in names aesthetics and themes to its original source material, but things were different enough that they still felt like they fit within the worldbuilding they were doing for XIV.
Meanwhile, while I liked the fights of the raid series, I didn't get much from the Ivalice raids because we were basically teleported to a completely separate world with a LOT going on that we got very little of outside of the gauntlet of recognizable characters. Like everything up to the white auracite lore was a bit overwhelming for me? It really just felt like there's this whole other fantasy setting that is supposed to exist off screen and that doesn't really matter unless we're in The Ivalice Zone. :x
And while I WAS the target audience for the Nier fanservice, I could tell that if I didn't give a shit about Nier/Automata/Drakengard, then I would've been fully confused for the entire duration of the Nier raids.

Also bring back mechanics that make cowards quit when they get it in roulettes!!!

This is all I care about. I want to be able to play it without having played FFXI and understand the story completely.