what was the original 1.0 story going to be before it was altered for ARR?

[Lyndis]

The model is used again in the final heavensward dungeon.

[Addicted]

i never played 1.0 but i do know that they changed the plot around to where dalamud was falling from the sky in order to usher in ARR

https://gamerescape.com/2018/12/01/f...with-koji-fox/

This interview sheds some light on things related to the original 1.0 story. To quote the most relevant questions and answers (though I recommend you read the whole thing since it's quite interesting):

GE: Speaking of stuff we talked about before that may have fallen through the cracks… Do you have any updates on the so-called mysterious primal? There was the idea that right after Gaius took Ala Mhigo, he was going to keep going, but a primal halted his advance. It could have happened in ’57; could have happened in ’62.

Koji: That was related to the whole, “What lies deep beneath Silvertear!?” Yes, something stopped his advance. And then there was the trailer beam, tons of primals shooting out. And then there was the seal. What is it sealing? What was going on in there? A lot of this is where the 1.0 story was supposed to go, and there’s a lore reason for that.

When the Calamity happened, it caused a lot of changes to Hydaelyn. Whether that was enough to seal off something that was already sealed, but the seal was getting weak, or… That I don’t know. There could be something like that. The hint was that Gaius was stopped for a reason, and that it was a powerful force. There’s a presence. It wasn’t just Midgardsormr there, it was more of a force, and I can’t say anything more, for now.

GE: Some things from 1.0, one serious, one humorous. Fans made a big deal out of this old line, Minfilia suggested that those who’d beheld the end of the Walker’s path seemed to her as though they’d seen something either too terrible or too shameful and they were traumatized. Should we be worried?

Koji: I don’t think you should be worried. This also kind of ties to the presence that stopped Gaius’s advance. It would have played out in that direction, and now I don’t think it’s going to. I don’t even know if that presence is still there. I’d have to ask Oda-san. It all kind of led to the endgame content that was supposed to wrap up the original.

As for 1.0's Titan, there's this cutscene that went wholly unused - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO2QFM2a8PQ

[Shurrikhan]

It's hard to remotely piece together what the plot trajectory for 1.x would have been, but playing through one did get a distinct sense for its... feel, and some of the latent themes that were likely to guide it.

1.x, despite giving you the Echo, didn't really force you especially front-and-center. You were just one person who wasn't fated to blissful ignorance about the cycles the world had and would continue to undergo, and could maybe help to piece together the reasons why. Like other worldstories derived from the Fabula Novus mythos, it feels fatalistic and a bit oppressive, though much more open and less directed than its other works (FFIII/-2/-:LR, Agito, and FFXV, especially its original XIII-Versus concept). You're just one person, and the Echo was far less about empowerment than simply escaping the cycles as well as might be possible, through knowledge. To that end, you have slightly mindbender stories in the intros to each citystate where you blur invasively borrowed memories and your present reality that kind of make you question the idea of unseen influence or providence. Did you actually have an impact on Minfilia's early life (back when she went by Ascillia, and was branded the daughter of a spy who her later adoptive mother unwittingly may or may not have helped murder), or was that all in your mind? Iirc, she seems to remember you, as you are/were now/then, some 10+ years later...

The people you first get a sense might be Ascians are in fact the future Scions, the operatives of the Path of the Twelve (because, as Minfilia or Tataru put it, as long as you allegedly devote yourself to the pantheon as a whole, people generally let you go anywhere...), spreading cryptic inquiry and doubt while trying to keep an eye out for the changes in the world, geopolitical and more... underlying. The first actual Ascians you see are rather primative, not yet fully migrated into your Shard, and look like a typical empty-cloaked Voidsent. It's hard to say how closely some of what we've seen since could have followed logically from the 1.x trajectory; things were definitely different, but limits due to management, time, and funding make it hard to even get a fair idea of what would have been.

On the whole, all I can really say was the writing was haphazard, but it had some really good good food for thought to stew over and touched on some truly interesting settings components. I'd still like to see a style of writing that allows us engagement with the world without needing to rely overly on power-fantasy or a fully/tightly directed narrative, but if I wouldn't go so far as to guess that 1.x's narrative--given all the resources since afforded to Yoshida--would have been better than what we have.

[Daralii]

Aren't they Mystel? Hyur do seem to be taking the XI name though (humes).

I thought they were Mithra for some reason. Whoops.

[TheGrimace]

The model is used again in the final heavensward dungeon.

I think they had to change the Ascian Prime design a bit for Heavensward because China's rules against dead/undead imagery forced SE's hand, but for those who are curious, the Ascian Prime is the closest thing we have to how the Paragons looked in 1.0.

[Daralii]

The model is used again in the final heavensward dungeon.

Similar design, but altered.

1.0 Ascian:


Ascian Prime:


(Had to use the concept art since I couldn't find a good screenshot on Google)

[Colino]

Probably being made up on the fly just like everything else in 1.0 really.

Jokes aside I forgot about that Koji interview! It was quite something to see some light being shedded on that. After all, the story must have been by far the most developed aspect of the game that we didn't get to see in its entirety.

[Darkstride]

The model is used again in the final heavensward dungeon.

Yes, but the sense of life-threatening dread was more apparent in 1.0. When they saw the Ascian they were terrified. Their current cloak and mask form just doesn't have the same impact, it's just "Ascian bad". I could be wrong but I got the feeling in 1.0 that their original intent was for the Ascians to be much more monstrous, where the current iteration is instead just manipulative.

[Lyndis]

Yes, but the sense of life-threatening dread was more apparent in 1.0. When they saw the Ascian they were terrified. Their current cloak and mask form just doesn't have the same impact, it's just "Ascian bad". I could be wrong but I got the feeling in 1.0 that their original intent was for the Ascians to be much more monstrous, where the current iteration is instead just manipulative.

I think they wanted the ffxiv story to be more transparent. They got rid of a lot of the mystery and made ascians more relatable. For better or for worse.

I think the ascian prime fight was the devs kind of retconing one of their old unsolved mysteries.

[Aylis]

i never played 1.0 but i do know that they changed the plot around to where dalamud was falling from the sky in order to usher in ARR

No one knows for certain. Based on the handful of quests I remember and before Yoshida took over. The story seemed like it was going to be focused more on the war with the Garleans. I wanna say too on which side can control summoning primals first, but I can't remember if the story involving the first summon, Ifrit was created by Tanaka or Yoshida.