Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XXVII Lore Discussion

[Nestama]

I agree with you, to a point. I enjoy a good story as much as the next person but you can't have it all doom and gloom without something to lighten the moment. The craziness in the Hildibrand quests is that balance for the rest of the game, which despite some light-hearted moments and whitty scenes, still retains an overly serious note upon all things, yes even grinding.

I see this more as a problem, rather than a 'solution,' as this is exactly why I find Hildibrand quests so jarring. Why must the comedy be excluded into a single quest-line? What's wrong with putting more humour/comedy and light hearted scenes (that do not feel forced!) within the MSQ?

As Theodric said, I enjoyed the lore with Ul'dah and Sil'dah, but... the comedy in Hildibrand quests is just so forced (and mostly the same. It became stale).

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

He likely will be - Hildy's never leaked through before, so I doubt it will now. And better for it! As much as I like him (he's a big part of what made that 2.1-2.3 story slog bearable for me), he's best left in his own little corner of the world.

But if you're looking for "gritty", this is probably the wrong game. I sincerely doubt we'll ever get anything that falls under that banner here; FFXIV cares too much about balancing its more serious moments with a bit of levity to get TOO gritty about its proceedings, which is one thing I really like about it.

But then again, I also think the story behind Alexander is perfectly fine, so what do I know, eh?

[Theodric]

Oh, I agree that it shouldn't be all doom and gloom. Every Final Fantasy game has had it's quirky, weird and often unintentionally hilarious moments. I still laugh more than I should at the infamous 'This guy are sick.' translation error in FF7...

To the credit of the developers I did find the lore surrounding Ul'dah and Sil'dah revealed in the Hildibrand quests to be very interesting. I just can't stand Hildibrand or Godbert.

[Anonymoose]

I just can't stand Hildibrand or Godbert.

Not that I didn't enjoy the case we pursued for 2.0 to 3.0 (Gilgamesh and Sil'dih backstory were really fun, and some humorous FF references just don't belong in XIV outside of an arc like Hildy's), but I do miss what (I felt) Hildibrand originally was - a sort of proxy for the player, stumbling through the Calamity asking every single question we were ... but then answering them all completely, hilariously wrong - hijinks ensue.

So, these are the famous verses of prophecy. Their cryptic words fairly reek with the scent of an unsolved case! And we cannot, of course, forget the man of mystery himself. You are the enigmatic prophet of whom the rumors speak, are you not, Master Hoary-anger?

Call me what thou wilt─it is of no matter. I but speak the prophecy. For “crimson flame,” set “scarlet fire” if thou list, the path of fate remaineth ever unaltered.

Hmm. “Crimson flame,” you say? ...Can it be? Do you speak of the red moon─of Dalamud!? Are you hinting at some ominous change taking place beneath its celestial surface!? Do the words of the prophecy hold the key to solving the Case of the Ever-expanding Moon!? Yes! I see now why you have come to me, Hildibrand, agent of enquiry, inspector extraordinaire! I have the right of it, do I not, Master Yearly-anchor!?

...
I but speak the prophecy. These verses which thou termest “key” serve as warning, and rousing call both.

Ah, my dear Master Holy-rancor, I sense you fear this case unsolvable! Well you need not fret!

[Belhi]

I thought the Scholisticate quests were great. For me they answered on of the issues that I felt the MSQ wasn't going to have time to look into deeply and I was concerned was going to get passed over: The cultural impact on Ishgard's society of the revelations they faced, particularly with Ishgard being such a religious society. What the Scholisticate quests did was create a model in a sense of how the attitudes within Ishgard were playing out with the different students representing different elements within Ishgard society.

From a world building and lore perspective this was a much bigger deal than having a light hearted Hildibrand quest or something more dark and gritty. We did get some dark and gritty with the HW launch MSQ after all.

[CyrilLucifer]

snip

I agree, they helped fill that social impact void for me, it was what I was hoping to see in the 3.1 MSQ. I was just stating what I saw on the General Forums and other websites about them. There was a lot of apathy and boredom in general discussed. The unfortunate truth is that not everyone cares for lore and many of those who do, look at it only shallowly.

[Theodric]

In regards to 3.1 I have a theory that the original plan was to have a 'The Vault (Hard)' as the patches third dungeon. It makes sense to me because we got a duty there but...the entire story surrounding the place being taken over by Ishgardian's loyal to the Archbishop felt like it ended very abruptly. We didn't see what happened to the guy who threw the kid from atop the building, for example, nor did we actually get to fight him. The problem is it seems like the developers are splitting stuff up as to not gate it behind story quests. Not everybody enjoys slogging through the story, naturally, but ultimately it's a Final Fantasy game and that is a large draw for a great many players. I'd rather not see the core target audience shunned too heavily.

Which, incidentally, also means that I wish they'd put less focus on 'funny' pop culture references and Hildibrand and more focus on great storytelling. I'll be eager to see if 3.2 has the same impact as 3.0 in regards to appeasing my desire for that. 3.1 didn't do much in that regard and I know I'm not alone given that a lot of role-players I've spoken to feel the same way. A small portion of the community, yes, but role-players are typically heavily invested in a game's story.

[Mholito]

We didn't see what happened to the guy who threw the kid from atop the building, for example, nor did we actually get to fight him.

Go have a talk with Hilda in the Brume next time you get a chance. She will tell you about him.

[Theodric]

Go have a talk with Hilda in the Brume next time you get a chance. She will tell you about him.

Interesting. So Ishgard is still employing torture even after joining the Eorzean Alliance, eh? Wonderful!

[Belhi]

Honestly I wouldn't be surprised to see Limsa and Ul'dah having torturers, or at least Ul'dah. Limsa, being founded by pirates, probably has its own interesting and rather horrible ways of punishing or forcing information out of people.