Comprehensive Lore Database?

[Anonymoose]

That lore disc was a good format. Timelines with links and sub links. Then you can add a character list with links to more detailed info on each one. And I dont see how this would be a mess <...>

Most definitely that, indeed, does not fall under the "would become a mess," umbrella. However, the Lodestone PR previews and In Case You Missed Version 1 Bluray are pretty broad strokes. Once you collect spoon-fed flavor text, how do you build upon it without also having to expand upon the format? It'd be a shame for a lore compendium to stagnate at Eorzea 101. The world setting and backstory are massive just beneath the surface.

What you and I are suggesting aren't all that different, imho. You're essentially designing the lore directory I mentioned above; a portal of basics and introductions with links like [TIMELINE] [ATLAS] [FACTIONS] etc. that act as gateways leading downward into the specifics via a page structure that already exists, infusing those pages with things you learn by playing the game and looking for the truth.

People who don't know much have a place to start that's not overwhelming, but you don't end up excluding the people who dig past "Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn is the Admiral of Limsa Lominsa" until they find that <GENERATE RANDOM MERLWYB FACT> Bloodshore is named for a battle between the fleet of Captain Mistbeard and the pirates of the League of Lost Bastards under Captain Bloefhis, puzzling out that Merlwyb convinced her own father's greatest enemy to surrender his arms to her and lead Limsa into a necessarily more sophisticated age side by side with her. And then you keep theories on a separate page until Truth shows up because theory is fun, but canon or bust.

Sounds more like different layers of the same idea than ideas that are at odds to me (aside from the it should be official part, since most of what SE puts out is PR for people thinking about buying the game unless it's specifically an accompanying product, such as the artbook).

[Sakasa]

No I don't think it is but what you have is more like a library then a normal wiki. A Library houses both the current up to date news and facts but also contains the books devoted to theory based on that current up to date news. Larger and more aged libraries contain books of former ideas and disproven ideas which I do not think gamerescape would want waste space holding onto at least not a searchable capacity to avoid confusion.

Your view and model Anonymoose is very similar to theology research then to say an encyclopedia where the history of a place is just as connected as the stories it generated. So Egypt is a great example when talking about their old culture and gods most display what is known about them and the proof be it writings, or statues. Then there is the actual facts of the civilization and the enviorment. The third book which is not normally read would be a theory connecting the water god and paethon under coming into existance because the Nile floods. Which allows them to thrive in an overall area that would be dead with out it and at the same time the flood destroys things needed to survive which a singleton mind would contribute to punishment.

To some it looks very messy because the spider web touches multiple facts so in a web interface it would be linked all over. So Bloodshore would be linked to the greater contient, Merlwyb, Mistbeard, age of piracy, Merlwyb father, The League of Lost bastards. To me that is fine but it is not digestible as a prestated story where you go to the end of one specific target such as Jason and the argonauts where it doesn't give any focus on Hercules besides who he is and his purpose to the overall narrative. Personally I like your idea but Arthur Conan Doyle is also a favorite to me because even though it will be spoon feed at the end prior to that all the items are available to the reader to come to the same conclusion or a different (in this case wrong because Doyle knows the ending). So a list of theories on certain points allows a reader to weigh against the facts presented to them until Fern or others at SE reveals the truth of the matter.