8.0 speculation

[Pimsan20]

So i'v been wondering on what 8.0 will become and I've seen posts that we might have a lot of ff based like 7, 6 and so on. But is it possible that 8.0 might be an original story with a couple of sprinkles of ref to FF games that might be related to the 8.0 story?

What do you guys think? Will 8.0 be an original story or a mix of several ff games ref?

[Cilia]

The current trend seems to be blending the protagonists and antagonists of previous titles and having them play antagonistic roles in the plotline, which is likely why people are reading the leaves and coming up with that. I would prefer an original plotline instead of a loose adaptation of a previous entry, but that does seem to be the direction things are headed if post-Endwalker's Void Arc and Dawntrail are accurate bellwethers.

Were I a betting man (and I assure you, I am not) my money would be on X.

[Cleretic]

Yeah, I think it will be original. Just like how I feel like every expansion before it was original.

Every FF expansion clearly takes some notes from a previous Final Fantasy in what sort of story it wants to tell and how to tell it, while then actually telling its own story in that same space; Heavensward is the hardest to read but it's sort of 'VII in different clothes', Stormblood is clearly riffing on VI and XII. Shadowbringers took notes from X and VII (Eulmore's a Midgar), while pretending it was taking notes from I. Endwalker is a little hard to read due to the famous expansion mashup, but I definitely read it as pulling from IV (even excluding the patch content), with some veins from VI, II, and possibly XV. And Dawntrail was obviously going for IX with a bit of X mostly as, like, connective tissue, but was doing IX in more complex ways than people give credit for; most people just saw the obvious markers like Alexandria and Sphene and kinda stopped there.

My gut feel for 8.0 (outside of 'I don't care yet, let me keep liking Dawntrail') is to either count VII out entirely, or to expect it to be sort of the 'fake inspiration', like 1 was to Shadowbringers; maybe the collectors' edition rewards are VII themed and we have something similar to how Stormblood's were V-themed despite the expansion very much not. I honestly think they've played the VII notes too often, and doing a 'VII Expansion' in the same way that Dawntrail is the 'IX Expansion' would mostly seem unoriginal; not only is VII a fairly 'active' corner of the property right now, but they've borrowed from VII so often before that it's just gonna feel like we've done all this before.

I think the next one going in on X would be a safe and strong bet, but I think VIII is an interesting vein they haven't done much with before, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that one take the lead. Or go absolutely wild and we hit, like, Type-0.

[Cilia]

I think the next one going in on X would be a safe and strong bet, but I think VIII is an interesting vein they haven't done much with before, and I wouldn't be surprised to see that one take the lead. Or go absolutely wild and we hit, like, Type-0.

VIII has it's iconic Triple Triad as an almost omnipresent part of the game, GNB which is pattered after Squall and Seifer's combat techniques, and Eden which is an abridged adaptation of VIII as a yuri romance instead of het. (You can't convince me otherwise.)

Outside of some cosmetics and the "obscure even to most X fans" Pelupelu randomly showing up in Dawntrail, what does X have? I'm drawing a bit of a blank...

I'd still prefer an original plot, I'm just saying.

[Cleretic]

VIII has it's iconic Triple Triad as an almost omnipresent part of the game, GNB which is pattered after Squall and Seifer's combat techniques, and Eden which is an abridged adaptation of VIII as a yuri romance instead of het. (You can't convince me otherwise.)

Outside of some cosmetics and the "obscure even to most X fans" Pelupelu randomly showing up in Dawntrail, what does X have? I'm drawing a bit of a blank...

I'd still prefer an original plot, I'm just saying.

I feel like X's had a lot of what I'd call 'undercurrent referencing'. It's rarely the main thing getting overtly referenced but it's clearly a prominent part of the pool. Like the Pelupelu, but also the Ronso being an inspiration for the Hrothgar (including being named that on the First), Bismarck basically being a Sin trial, Shadowbringers Amaurot DEFINITELY being based on Zanarkand, and I suspect the pilgrimage was an inspiration point for Dawntrail's rite of succession. It definitely has taken center-stage at some points, probably most prominently with Anima, but I feel like overall it's very rarely not in the mix. At the very least I feel like, if you did knuckle down and write out a 'FFX Expansion' you'd hit a lot more moments of 'huh, I guess they did use that before' than you'd expect.

I'd put VIII and X pretty much on par in terms of how many times XIV has 'done' them, with both of them being surprisingly rare for how prominent they are and both pretty well-positioned to be the next 'core' game for an expansion to riff on. It's just that VIII has gotten one or two more tentpole references you can very easily point to.

...come to think of it, patterning Halmarut on Edea/Ultimecia would be a pretty natural pick for an Ascian that's still fairly fresh.