Supernatural Events in 2.0

[Anonymoose]

I'm bored with all the doom and gloom going on in the forums this week. I'd rather get back to the fun discussions. I suppose I'll try to get one started:

Let's talk about bringing doom and gloom to Eorzea in-game!

If the maps are being entirely redesigned, I think it's a good time to bring up an old fan-favorite question: What are some ways we could make the world feel more alive? In my opinion, some of the best material for fantasy comes from real-world superstition and theology. To this end, I'd love to see mysterious supernatural events occur in the game.

If Eorzea has thus far seen SIX DARK AGES, why isn't anything haunted?

Can we get some paranormal Easter Eggs in Final Fantasy XIV 2.0? Hear me out, here. How would you like to see rare occurrences at certain dates and times during which:

• The ghostly remnants of the lost Eorzea's past showing through into the new, 2.0 era and on into the future. (Thanks, Griss. FANTASTIC suggestion.)
• Ghosts appear in certain locations, such as sites of famous battles, abandoned/destroyed areas of the map, places in town strongly tied to violent lore.
• Normally decorative instruments that play themselves. (FFXI Harpsichord ftw)
• Lights going out in certain rooms that are usually lit.
• Disembodied voices that whisper in proximity to the character.
• Shadows that can appear on walls/around players where nothing should be.
• Silhouettes that appear where the player cannot get on the map that just... watch...
• Activity in areas that are already gloomy, such as cemeteries and misty, overcast... anythings.
• Static objects that use the ability to sense people that mobs used to display to tell when people are passing and occasionally interact with them. (NOT LIMITED TO SCARY THINGS! POTENTIAL FOR AESTHETIC AND COMEDIC INTERACTIONS AS WELL! Plants would be especially interesting to see do this; Shroud plants, cave plants, etc.)

Most of these have been inspired by creepy things from other games, such as the demonic ghost children in World of Warcraft. and the Shadow People of Hell Valley in Super Mario Galaxy 2. However, there's decent potential here. Even the game Echo Night Beyond offers inspiration in that maybe there could be rare quests that you have to be in the right place at the right time to accept/complete involving the supernatural of the world.

Just a thought.

[KiriA500]

Aw...I was hoping you were talking about having Dean and Sam Winchester show up and help us collect eggs.

Ghosts sound good too. :3

[Answa]

Something like this would be awesome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzpNIlYKlXQ

[Anonymoose]

Aw...I was hoping you were talking about having Dean and Sam Winchester ...Ghosts sound good too.

You use the bloody robe on the ??? to pop the ghost, and then I'll load my MSK weapons with [item=10009104]Rock Salt[/item] and we'll gank this motherbogy.

Something like this would be awesome. Link

Actually, that's not entirely impossible. They still have access to the code where mobs "sensed" you before deciding to leave you be, aggro, get curious, or run. They could very well use this on normally static objects to make them move if a player gets too close. (You know, like the Sea Hare, but scary instead of dangerous). I think if it only happened one out of every hundred times someone walked by, it'd be even better.

I'll add that to the list :P

[Malakhim]

I'm bored with all the doom and gloom...

OK.

Let's talk about bringing doom and gloom to Eorzea in-game!

I see what you did there.

All good ideas, but I'm pretty sure they're taking all this stuff(which is lore-related) into account already when designing the new areas and such. As it stands, we really don't have that many ruins around the place. Something cool like the ruins of Nabudis from FFXII would be groovy.

[KiriA500]

You use the bloody robe on the ??? to pop the ghost, and then I'll load my MSK weapons with [item=10009104]Rock Salt[/item] and we'll gank this motherbogy.

Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes! YES!

[TessaJalloh]

i'd love this, vets from FFXI will remember how awesome it was when you found out that the Gusgen Mines was haunted by the victims of a cave in, and the deeper you went, the more spirits you saw.

they even had some that would appear from the ceiling, even though the graphics didn't lead it to be truly frightening, i got chills sometimes, and wondered what the heck was going on when the cave in alarm sounded.

[Anonymoose]

I almost forgot about the Gusgen Mines ghosts... it was even more unsettling that they were all children and they moved with their feet dragging along the ground. I'd LOVE to see stuff like this; not just as often as Gusgen (where it was guaranteed) either, even if it was an urban legend among players until we figured out when and where they happened.

People just seem to love anything that is complex to believe in, mystical, and can't be proven one way or another. The game leaves the door open for things like spirits; they already dug into the supernatural stuff with religion, magic, and aether. Imo, we're just leaving out a grand opportunity.

I'd love to have an unexplainable and unexpected event just HAPPEN when I was in an area and have to figure out how and when and why, and bring people out there to see it happen again. It would be like the time the tonberries followed my alliance THROUGH THE TELEPORTER in Limbus, slaughtering ONE GUY, and then leaving - and not even the GMs would believe us. Except... you know, on purpose. And less funny.

[Nikita]

As far as spooky/haunted goes, I really want to see areas like Nashmau and Caedarva Mire. No, I am not asking for them to rip these zones completely, but I want to see a few zones that have the incredibly gloomy yet beautiful atmosphere that they did.

EDIT: And on the topic of spooky things that WoW did well: Haunted/Whispering Weapons and whispers from Old Gods in open world/Raids

[Anonymoose]

Caedarva Mire

Speaking of Caedarva, I'm surprised at Eorzea's lack of cemeteries. Are the THMs seriously the only people that save all their dead people in one part of town? Hell, we still do that IRL, it can't be that outdated...

Added to the list.