Why i think "Flames of Truth" was a weak way to explain the world's survival

[DrMaverick]

Video in reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xOOFCltZuc [Final Fantasy XIV: Flames of Truth]

This video was released in 2015, two years after the launch of A Realm Reborn (and probably after Heavensward, though i can't be certain. Perhaps right before as well.) However, there is a gripe or two i have with the video, and one (i believe, at least) very legitimate plothole.

To go over my main gripe; this explanation (with Louisoix's sacrifice) felt very... how do i put it? Over-the-top, for lack of a better way to describe it. I feel like it didn't fit the tone of the game at all, and this is... PROBABLY due to being created after the original director, writers, so on so forth, were no longer working on the game.

But that's not to mention that this didn't have to be tampered with at all in the first place. It's stated that every Astral era (I believe the "golden" ages are the astral eras, correct me if i'm wrong) is ended with a cataclysm of sorts; this "end of the world" scenario is nothing new, so why did the world's survival have to be explained? It could have been written off as the world surviving like it always did. You could say that every cataclysm is prevented from destroying the world entirely, or that cataclysms aren't necessarily always of this nature, but we're given no indication for that! Many may assume, upon finding this knowledge, that this isn't a new thing!

Anyway, that's my rant just about over. Just something i noticed when watching Flames of Truth while looking at 1.0 gameplay and i thought i'd share it. I like ranting. But what do you all think about Flames of Truth?

[Anonymoose]

Before I could offer any of my own thoughts, I'd want to ask for a point of clarification:

The video actually first released in October of 2014 as part of The Final Coil of Bahamut. The Rise of the Seventh Umbral Era story arc of 1.0 and the Binding Coil of Bahamut story arc of 2.0 are two sides of the same coin. Did you see the video outside of that context? I can see where it might read differently in that case.

As for the survival thing, an Umbral Era typically comes with such cataclysmic destruction that Eorzea is all but completely abandoned and civilization practically starts from scratch when the land begins to recover and the first people return. Louisoix's actions mitigated that, thus preserving the areas and cities that we were familiar with so they could be in ARR.

[MeowingKittens]

Remember from the early MSQ that NO ONE recalls what happened and what ultimately saved them from utter destruction. There was a lot of damage done, sure, but it pales in comparison to what could have happened. Most calamities are so severe that civilization practically has to hit the "reset factory settings" button. Entire cultures get completely wiped out. But this time, it just...stopped. The most that could be inferred was that Louisoix and the then-Warriors of Light had something to do with it, but as he was never found (only the broken remains of Tupsimati), and no one can remember a darn thing about the WoLs save their existence, the details were a complete mystery. Bahamut was there one minute and then just...gone.

We don't get that closure until Final Coil of Bahamut, where the scene is question is a visual of the events Louisoix is telling to his grandchildren about exactly what happened that day (per their request). Most of the revelations occur shortly before that scene in the Coil narrative, but the gist of it is Louisoix was able to transcend mortal limits and quite literally tear Bahamut a new one. The scene functions as a way to engage the viewer with "wanna watch an old guy beat the ever loving crap out of a dragon 1,000 times his size?"

You're probably missing all context, and on that assumption, I can see how you'd view it as a bit over the top. The price Louisoix had to pay is only alluded to for a few frames, as that was likely a massive spoiler at the time. THAT Bahamut was defeated and the day was saved was never in question, else 2.0's story of 5 years later wouldn't exist. But without coil, the casual player had no idea HOW he was defeated, and the cinematic uses flashy effects to basically come out and say "Loiusoix beat him up and took his lunch money. The End."

[SannaR]

It's a hey this thing needs to be stopped because it's on a I hate everything rampage and it doesn't care that those who imprisoned him are long gone. Bahamut also seems to be able to easily enthrall things so if Loiusoix hadn't done what he did I don't know when or where he'd of run out of steam and energy. It also at least through the story of coil explain why the land didn't heal as well as it should have.

[WhiteArchmage]

While Bahamut was a Calamity on a much smaller scope than, say Oha-Sok, that was because he was stopped within minutes of his release; had Bahamut been allowed to run rampart across Eorzea he would have likely destroyed all city-states, reshaped the continent and bled the land dry of Aether. That said, it was a very different scenario than those we know of: The earthquakes caused by the Crystal Tower just stopped; the waters brought forth by the Flood receded. Given that we don't know what plan the Ascians had for stopping Bahamut, if Bahamut HADN'T been stopped (bearing in mind that Omega was still dormant) we could have faced an extinction level event like the thirteenth shard.

So you kind of answered your own question by saying "cataclysms aren't always of this nature" From those we know of, Bahamut is a completely different thing altogether.

[Berethos]

PROBABLY due to being created after the original director, writers, so on so forth, were no longer working on the game.

The team that designed and implemented the story that led to the near destruction of Eorzea at the end of 1.0 is the same team working on the game now. The original director and writers (at least the lead lore creator) had already departed/been replaced, as the current team was brought in first to see if they could salvage the game as it existed in 1.0. When they decided that shutting down that version and redoing the game was a better option, they then set about creating the story and events that would explain both the end of the world and how it survived.

When 1.0 ended, the shutting down of the server brought with it the End of an Era trailer...that trailer was the first 5 minutes and 35 seconds of the one that you linked, with the rest being revealed as part of the Final Coil of Bahamut, as Anonymoose mentioned.

While I don't have anything that would serve as definitive proof for this, I would not at all be surprised if the full version, including Louisoix kicking Bahamut's behind, was created back in 2012 before 1.0 had ended, and then they sat on the last 1/3 until it was the "right" time in the story to reveal the entire story.

[LineageRazor]

If I recall correctly (and I may certainly be wrong; I started playing with ARR, and so all my 1.0 knowledge is second hand at best), Nael's machinations, the fall of Dalamud, and Bahamut's reveal were all part of the new direction under Yoshi P. (Did Nael even exist in the lore prior, or was the character created from whole cloth after the changeover?) A story I heard was that Yoshi P had asked the lore team what was up with Dalamud, and upon being told that Bahamut was inside decided that would be the perfect way to end 1.0 to pave the way for ARR.

As others have stated, though, yes, this cataclysm is unique in the amazingly low amount of carnage involved. Louisoix tapped into some dangerous resources to make it happen, and paid the ultimate price for it, but the results speak for themselves. They might have seemed over-the-top, but the circumstances definitely called for an over-the-top response; the Godzilla Threshold had been crossed, and thoroughly.

[ObsidianFire]

Nael was certainly around in the 1.0 stuff come up with before Yoshida was brought on board.

I do find it very interesting that while the 7th Umbral Calamity didn't hit the "factory reset button" of society for once, we're already seeing signs of the next Umbral Calamity. And it's been no time all compared to how long the other Calamities happen after the previous one. So I wonder if the next Calamity happening quickly is a consequence of the realm not being totally destroyed in the previous Calamity.

[WhiteArchmage]

I'd put my money on the Ascians being completely put out by the comparatively low death toll and chaos from Bahamut and are "speeding up their timetable", so to speak.

[Anonymoose]

Nael was certainly around in the 1.0 stuff come up with before Yoshida was brought on board.

What are the premises this assumption is based on?