[Spoiler] Story inconsistency

[Lacey]

So..what would happen if someone were to complete the main story then complete the culinarian quest line afterwards? I say that because the sultana is killed in the main story, yet you prepare her a feast for the level 50 culinarian quest and she shows up to eat it.

[treuhavik]

Events occur in the order in which patch they were released. So, canonically, the level 50 culinarian quest happened long before the events of 2.55.

[Velox]

MMOs always suffer from these kinds of problems because side-quests arent within the time bubble of the main story, but still lie within the time bubble that they were formed. Yes it seems odd that you can do them out of order, but when you play MMOs you have to play them with that thought in the back of your mind that "this quest came out in 2.0 so I gotta treat it like I did it in 2.0 when it made the most sense."

Just can't be helped since MMOs are dynamic while single-player games are static.

[Bombast]

Events occur in the order in which patch they were released. So, canonically, the level 50 culinarian quest happened long before the events of 2.55.

This.

It's pretty interesting how many people are having problems wrapping their heads around basic MMO lore/storyline segregation, even after choking down the fact that every player character in the game (Even their own) is simultaneously the Warrior of Light, and some adventurer the Warrior of Light knows.

[Fenral]

Another one of these threads? This happens.

[Anonymoose]

Another one of these threads? This happens.

I like how the post refers to "the bubble" bursting when it's only about time passage (regardless of canonical continuity order).

Every MMO handles situations such as this in their own way, but we didn't know how FFXIV would because it hadn't come up. When Fusionx approached me about a "Before the Fall of Nanamo" post in January, I mentioned the CUL quest as a possible hiccup, but I didn't expect it to become evidence on all sides that something was hinky, just that - if Nanamo did bite it - that'd be where to look for the answer.

The "pretend it happened earlier" approach is a popular choice, but FFXI never went with it so I didn't think they would here - but here we are! We can now say with some confidence that Patch = Continuity. The time bubble still exists (at least as of 2.00 to 2.55; could change in Heavensward), but we now have "hard contuinity." You can say, for instance, that The Binding Coil of Bahamut happens before Syrcus Tower, and Syrcus Tower happens around the time Ramuh appears, and both are dealt with before defeating Bahamut.

World lore teams are often a little more meticulous than scenario writers (they have to juggle more without dropping things or letting them hit each other), so I admit a twinge of curiosity whether it was hard for them to accept Zombie Nanamo Dinner and Zombie Nanamo Nameday, or whether you just take it in stride and be comfortable with Patch = Continuity. It's at least better for the players than requiring a LV50 CUL to finish the main storyline before she kicks off.

[Fenral]

Well, I felt like bringing up "the bubble" mainly for it's implications about an indeterminate "when." What Ferne said about Simpsons time still technically holds true (still year 0), but we now have a much better understanding of what Yoshida meant at PAX East when he talked about the storyline being split into "seasons."

2.0's content is from season 1, and thus all takes place before the season finale "Before the Dawn." There are even some stray hints towards stories (mainly Coil) happening before you do them. No spoilers, of course, just enough to make you wonder if and when you do lack context.

Players getting around to leveling CUL afterwards will get multiple hints about it's place in overall MS chronology, the most obvious happening when we don't even consider poisoning Lolorito at level 30. And at level 50?
(Fringe season 2 spoilers):

Nanamo's just pulling a Charlie Francis.

For everyone else, time will tell. Some really good stories still manage to get away with only one or two game changing deaths near the beginning and never feel the need to kill anyone else off, because death has served its purpose. If nothing else, this will make Merlwyb's action scenes that much more gripping, simply by knowing that she could die, even if she never actually does.

[Anonymoose]

Well, I felt like bringing up "the bubble" mainly for it's implications about an indeterminate "when."

In that case, I, too, would say that ship has definitely sailed. I thought it was implying that Pac-Man Timespace had been broken by Zombie Nanamo, lol. Good comparison with Fringe's Unearthed incident, though. From now on we just have to say, "This episode was supposed to have aired earlier." when we see something out of place.

If nothing else, this will make Merlwyb's action scenes that much more gripping, simply by knowing that she could die, even if she never actually does.

A very big part of the reason I hope they don't reverse Nanamo it is the new sense of worry that we can feel for anyone in the story. When we first started tossing around ideas for how they might handle it, I was still worried this was going to turn out like the X-Files, where even after they've shown someone dying - rotting - getting found, put into a casket, given a funeral, and buried - and staying dead for a while - they still come back, because nobody important ever dies, lol.

Nanamo staying dead even makes me feel a little better about Moenbryda. I was really excited when her character showed up - a roegadyn female on Team Scion with a new personality and new interactions with the ones we know - and then just after I feel like I've gotten a feel for who she is, she gets a death that says I should feel something when I really just think a good character was wasted, and too soon at that. Now, seeing that meaningful characters aren't immortal and SE doesn't have to resort to the Moenbryda tactic for feelz, I feel like the incident was more like character development for the Scions - that we were an observer to their suffering.

[Metalsmith]

Think of the events of the quest as a flash back.

[Viridiana]

You two are seriously about to make me re-watch Fringe just to figure out what you're talking about. >_>