FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn Opening Movie Now Live! (01/07/2013)

[ZakarnRosewood]

It reminds me now of what I think is called a "Forward" (correct me if I'm wrong). Anne and Todd Mccaffrey used this at the beginning of most of the Dragonriders of Pern novels to explain the world of Pern to newcomers as well as set the framework for the narrative.

To summarize a text equivalent of what an outsider might think:

"In the beginning there were 3 nations who battled an evil empire that dropped a Dragon-Ball on their continent. Many were killed. In a last ditch effort, Mr. Oldguy, with the help of blonde Heart Throb, Midget & Blind Girl, and Kitty Mage, attempted to reseal the dragon in another ball, but it broke (probably because you have to weaken the Pokemon first). Mr. Oldguy then sends the warriors of the three nations forward in time.
These warriors find themselves in a place that is still beautiful, but there are still dangers among the shadowy trees and icy mountains. Fortunately Heart Throb, Midget, Blind Girl, and Kitty Mage are all there, and these warriors are ready to face this new world head-on."

Seems like a good enough introduction to me.

I guess some people need to be spoon fed the details... but not their leveling progression through quests though right? lol. This is just a teaser trailer, I'm pretty sure when we get the full version of the game they will have a little more detail and back story. Give away everything now and then when the game releases people will complain, "we have seen this already! where is the new stuffs!"

[Twiddle]

Viscount: That was as much a trailer as an opening... AS for "how behemoth-crystal tower-odin relate to one another" maybe they do maybe they don't wait and see!

[Hulan]

Viscount: That was as much a trailer as an opening... AS for "how behemoth-crystal tower-odin relate to one another" maybe they do maybe they don't wait and see!

The problem with this argument is that, from the perspective of those of us who are, for lack of a better word, complaining, these aren't two separate videos, they are one video, shown in parts. If the second half was shown as a separate video, I don't think there would have been many or any complaints about it's lack of narrative.

The problem that we are having is the absolutely stunning visual story presented by the End of an Era segment, which makes us - excited - go "and then, and then?" To which the video answers STUFF. The narrative grinds to an abrupt halt mid video. I would be fine if we had gotten no answers, and if the sequence following the Awakening of Derplander had had some sort of consistent narrative with the first half, but it didn't. You could arrange those scenes in any order and they would make just as much sense as the ones presented in the official video.

As I said, it's not the video itself that is bad, it's that it's so jarring compared to the first half. If these had been shown separately, I don't think you would have seen any complaints of this type.

[Zezlar]

The opening portion of A Realm Reborn was alright, but it definitely lacks that "wow" factor that the ending video had. When I first brought up the video and it said 8 minutes I was surprised. Then I seen the meteor portion again. Got past that, and no mention or sighting of Bahamut, instead Odin comes out of nowhere. No Garleans to be seen. Also am I the only one or did the opening portion look like it had frame-rate problems? I seen slight dips.

So we know the three members of the CoK are alive, but no sighting of the three GC leaders or Cid yet either. I'm sort of surprised it was so short given they want to really impress players. Heck the 1.0 video was longer. Not bad overall though.

[Kirito]

The problem with this argument is that, from the perspective of those of us who are, for lack of a better word, complaining, these aren't two separate videos, they are one video, shown in parts. If the second half was shown as a separate video, I don't think there would have been many or any complaints about it's lack of narrative.

The problem that we are having is the absolutely stunning visual story presented by the End of an Era segment, which makes us - excited - go "and then, and then?" To which the video answers STUFF. The narrative grinds to an abrupt halt mid video. I would be fine if we had gotten no answers, but if the sequence following the Awakening of Derplander had had some sort of consistent narrative with the first half, but it didn't. You could arrange those scenes in any order and they would make just as much sense as the ones presented in the official video.

As I said, it's not the video itself that is bad, it's that it's so jarring compared to the first half. If these had been shown separately, I don't think you would have seen any complaints of this type.

I think it's going to be split in two again... I think we select our character from 1.0 then get through the first half of the scene with them, then get to remake our character and continue with the following scene...

[Viscount]

The problem with this argument is that, from the perspective of those of us who are, for lack of a better word, complaining, these aren't two separate videos, they are one video, shown in parts. If the second half was shown as a separate video, I don't think there would have been many or any complaints about it's lack of narrative.

The problem that we are having is the absolutely stunning visual story presented by the End of an Era segment, which makes us - excited - go "and then, and then?" To which the video answers STUFF. The narrative grinds to an abrupt halt mid video. I would be fine if we had gotten no answers, but if the sequence following the Awakening of Derplander had had some sort of consistent narrative with the first half, but it didn't. You could arrange those scenes in any order and they would make just as much sense as the ones presented in the official video.

As I said, it's not the video itself that is bad, it's that it's so jarring compared to the first half. If these had been shown separately, I don't think you would have seen any complaints of this type.

exactly.
Its very hard to convey in words, so let me show the others.

here is an opening for FFXII (bear in mind this is an opening and not a trailer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L20Ph_IC514

now here is the proper opening with narrative
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGd69sQKyGo

can you spot the difference?

[Lexin]

Since we start on a different path with our 1.0 characters then those who don't have a 1.0 character chances are we will get an opening movie explaining everything that happened in-between.

Still love that End of an Era video (gives me chills) and the music fits perfectly.

[Ragento]

New video is like 75% (did the math) 63.58% of old video >.< But 6:30 = Thancred Lives!

But interesting new things is @6:15, 6:22 and 6:35 Y'shtola, Papylamo and Thancred have odd steampunk necklaces/armbands.

First off i liked it!

Second doesnt his shoulder "steam punk" accessory look like a face or even a kitty cat!

Third, couldnt the mark for legacy members not be on our characters at all, couldnt it be on the name plate above our characters head?

[KaMuiSouZou]

I think it helps if you think of this as one movie, instead of 2 movies put together. We have a narrative - the end of an era section - that tells you the background premise of the game. All of the new footage is then meant to be very trailer-like, saying "Now that we're here in A Realm Reborn, all of this stuff is going to happen so go play the game!" If I only looked at the new footage as the opening I agree that I wish there were more narrative. It'd be even less than the original opening to the game, which had a narrative but wasn't very clear what was going on. I think some people were looking for an opening like FFXI which told a distinct story. But as I said, if you look at this as one movie, we do get this, it's just not the new parts.

[Mola]

Well I'm excited to play ARR now. To me this opening movie didn't need to answer the questions of what happened that faithful night, which I am assuming will be answered in the game play. I'm trying to think of this as a person who never played 1.0... Will this opener be enough as is to explain the story thus far? I hope they narrate it.

Also.. needs more Sisipu. ^^