I can't connect with the Memories of Vanadiel

[Valence]

I'm both and I think both raid series are fantastic, but the FFXI raid series is definitely much more of a nostalgia love letter to people who played the original, so you're naturally not going to get as much out of the experience as veterans recognizing every location and reference. If you want to learn about the context for all that stuff I recommend playing retail FFXI which has an extremely fast leveling experience these days. That or watch some youtube videos. Even if you don't play the game the story and lore are pretty interesting.

I'm sorry but asking me to play a whole other game, and a MMO to boot, just to experience what the story should provide me with in the first place, feels a little like it's pushing it too far.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that some XI veterans enjoy this piece of content, but I'm not sure making nostalgia content only for a specific subset of its playerbase is sound.

Honestly, if you get tired of playing 14, I highly recommend picking up and trying out 11.

Sure, it's kinda archaic, basically an EQ era MMO, but it's a great game. Some of the best gaming years of my life were spent in that game.

See, that's the problem I have. After Yoshida constantly telling us to stop playing XIV and take breaks to play other games, now we have them telling us to do the same with XI. I don't want to. It sounds interesting as a game for sure, but I play XIV. I'd like XIV to stop actually leaning on other games to provide enjoyment.

It's not about being tired of playing XIV.