[Suggestion] Historian system - Learn more about our world and more!

[Zaya]

So I wanted to make this thread to suggest a system that you can link to the unending codex that has been implemented in this patch (6.1).

The idea of this is to either have it as a job, or a system like the sightseeing log that's already in the game. I would personally say something like the sightseeing log is good, that way you can have the rewards based on the achievements you go through.

The point of this system is to learn more about the civilizations in the game, primarily the older civilizations.


We have a lot of older cultures that we know about in the game, like the Nym, Amdapori, Ronkan, Meracydians and more, these are just without mentioning the obvious ones like the Ancients and Allagans.

You could integrate this into the unending codex you receive to learn more about each civilisations cultures as well as architecture and history, this incentivises the ones that really like to figure things out about the world of FFXIV, as well as gives rewards, that can be related to the civilisations we research about.

For example you could research the past of the Ronka to find out how their civilisation lived and how it developed over time, the reward could be that you were able to figure out how to replicate a piece of furniture, armour piece, or something else.


One example I can think of is of Amdapor, considering they used statues to create golems based on beings of light (maybe sin-eater adjacent?) we could maybe figure a way to recreate a golem based on their white magic.


If you did the system similarly to the sightseeing log it could be something that leads to the next clue, maybe something like the broom quest in matoya's cave, it just hints to where the next piece might be, or an idea where you would look.



This could also be used earlier in the game than endwalker, but I think this would fit since we're going to go back to adventure, and exploring lost civilisations, ruins, and more certainly gives me adventure vibes ^^

Feel free to respond to this to add your two cents, it's always great to have a discussion ^^

[splinter1545]

I would definitely be down for a system like this, especially if we can even unearth artifacts that we can display in our homes/apartments. I wouldn't even mind if it's a limited job so we can get in-depth questlines and systems to revolve around it.

[Enkidoh]

The main problem with this however is actually caused by a particular problem in-universe - because the Calamities were so immensely destructive, they served as effective cultural reset-buttons that essentially wiped whole civilizations off the map, and even the events after often conspired to erase any real trace they even existed (the Sixth Calamity is an example, the three-way, later two-way, War of the Magi was so destructive on it's own, but the global Flood that was the actual Calamity and the resulting societal collapse afterwards where there was a backlash against not just magic but intelligence, saw to it that society across Hydaelyn and Eorzea especially collapsed into illiterate barbarism where even happening to be able to read would get you killed.). So no wonder little is known about even the societies that existed prior to the Sixth Astral Era.

Given things like the Unending Codex and, meta wise, the Encylopedia Eorzea, have a lot of guesswork and major gaps in knowledge, I don't see things changing too much (this also serves the development team well, it means less they have to retcon at a later date if they decide to change some detail in the lore to better reflect new content being added, which has happened quite frequently).

[Fyrebrand]

I like it!

What if, instead of it being a new job, it instead requires a breadth of activities that involve all kinds of jobs -- combat, gathering, and crafting? For example, maybe the quest chain involving research into Amdapor sends you to play the dungeons related to that. You get fragments of an ancient artifact, and then you have to play a crafting job to restore or reassemble the artifact (maybe a stone tablet or something). The completed artifact may hint at a location or serve as some kind of crude map, so you go where it indicates on a gathering job and search for something to excavate. Or you could even go back into dungeons as a gatherer in Explorer Mode, and follow the clues to find what you're looking for.

There could also be an aspect to it that has you becoming more familiar with the current state of the world, and has you do local FATEs or complete X amount of side quests. There are a ridiculous amount of side quests in this game, but as I've been going through the MSQ I feel like there is no need to actually do any of them, at least for leveling purposes. This could be an incentive for players to actually do some side quests and learn about local lore, and perhaps an excuse to dramatically bump the quest xp so we can level alt jobs during our Historian journey.

[hagare]

The main problem with this however is actually caused by a particular problem in-universe - because the Calamities were so immensely destructive, they served as effective cultural reset-buttons that essentially wiped whole civilizations off the map, and even the events after often conspired to erase any real trace they even existed (the Sixth Calamity is an example, the three-way, later two-way, War of the Magi was so destructive on it's own, but the global Flood that was the actual Calamity and the resulting societal collapse afterwards where there was a backlash against not just magic but intelligence, saw to it that society across Hydaelyn and Eorzea especially collapsed into illiterate barbarism where even happening to be able to read would get you killed.). So no wonder little is known about even the societies that existed prior to the Sixth Astral Era.

Given things like the Unending Codex and, meta wise, the Encylopedia Eorzea, have a lot of guesswork and major gaps in knowledge, I don't see things changing too much (this also serves the development team well, it means less they have to retcon at a later date if they decide to change some detail in the lore to better reflect new content being added, which has happened quite frequently).

I'd say that's more a reason to have archeologists rather than not.
It'd be cool too.
And have the excavation be like FF9's chocobo treasure lmao

Honestly, if after this arc is over.
I kinda want my WoL to be an adventurer who studies the past, legends and myths from all corners of eorzea.
An archeologist......... of light lmao

[Ravor]

I'd say that's more a reason to have archeologists rather than not.
It'd be cool too.
And have the excavation be like FF9's chocobo treasure lmao

Honestly, if after this arc is over.
I kinda want my WoL to be an adventurer who studies the past.
An archeologist.

Best idea i've seen in awhile, chocobo treasure map just like ff9 but this time we unearth artifact instead, also make it you can do it with party of 4 or 8 so there is more stuff to do aside of treasure map hunting

[Insertusernamehere]

Game it self does not have deep lore or history it is covered by calamity explanation. It is a nice idea but game don't have sufficient lore to cover the topic IMO.

It could be nice if they can properly build a history with lore and give races identity of their own.. Currently only Au Ra have a cultural difference and some Miqo'te clans at basic level (I am not sure about Viera they show up with expansion with no explanation).

It is something interesting to do in Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age (you will frequently find documents, tablets, books etc.. regarding events of past and reasoning behind it) but I am not sure if it is doable with shallow lore and history of FFXIV.

[hagare]

Game it self does not have deep lore or history it is covered by calamity explanation. It is a nice idea but game don't have sufficient lore to cover the topic IMO.

It could be nice if they can properly build a history with lore and give races identity of their own.. Currently only Au Ra have a cultural difference and some Miqo'te clans at basic level (I am not sure about Viera they show up with expansion with no explanation).

It is something interesting to do in Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age (you will frequently find documents, tablets, books etc.. regarding events of past and reasoning behind it) but I am not sure if it is doable with shallow lore and history of FFXIV.

They can always make more. We dig to find history pre cataclysm. To see how it was in the past. They don't even have to effect anything in present day.
They can just show us what happened. Like amaurot.
That way, we can actually lose. Because it's already happened. And nothing we do can change it. With the echo, we already have a reason to play as someone from that era. Seeing their struggles before the end.

[Zaya]

I agree that there are difficulties due to the calamities that have occurred, however if we just the example of Amdapor, we still have the ruined keep and the city, those parts are still "intact" however a lot of it has degraded over time, but I also feel like this could help them expand their lore or history by adding context to a few items or so we unearth, a good example of how that is done is Dark souls, not saying it is perfect but it does give context based on the weapons and armour you acquire as well discoveries you make.

I hope this could be implemented in the game as a system or a job, really anything, I would leave it up to the devs to figure out what might be more engaging, I feel like they've nailed most of the elements in the game when it comes to feel. so I tried to not push too hard in one direction with this idea.