Iroha

[Aryalandi]

I've just been wondering if they are ever going to officially tie her into the storyline, given that they are still bringing back her evenf after all these years and the fact that unlike the other crossovers she never actually leaves there is plenty of room for her to take part in future events, I was surprised that she wasn't in some way connected to Eorzea's far east or to Tenzen and that quest line.

It always feels to me like her event deliberately has no real resolution, like they made it specifically so that they could keep her around for later use.. yet they haven't yet and that's confusing.

I love her lore, and the connection to FFXI that she has, and the potential for her to strike out on her own in Eorzea as an adventurer like her master (aka you if you were an XI player) is such a wasted opportunity in my opinion.

[Vencio]

Anything to further the storyline,

Anything provided is no longer with any of the Scions associates (which I am already sick of),

Anything no more tied with Graha Tia & Y’shtola (made me cringe further I swear I developed a disdain for furry/cat/ over populated Mi’Qote) obsessed lovers without offending anyone (Buns & everyone else you’re cool!).

Honestly the new storyline should continue but with a brand fresh of new characters & flesh them out rather than all being part of a secret but uber “awesomeness” organization (please pleasee!! Don’t make every character white hair either like the Scions, that trend got old fast).

[Vyrerus]

I assume they keep her around as a yearly event due to the Japanese always respecting who/what came before. It's also an easy way to make FFXI vets who do come and play FFXIV eventually feel like they are seen. She's also a curiosity drive, particularly towards those who are vulnerable to wanting every scrap of content with their waifu in it. Makes'em go try XI out, and let it get a little more profit so they can excuse the little toasters they have it running on still.

It would be cool for her to be a character in XIV, but it'd also just be a little weird. Her entire schtick in XI is to be a time traveling daughter of Tenzen who served the player character in the dark future where the Cloud of Darkness began to erase Vana'diel (in this world, Cloud of Darkness is an extraterrestrial entity more powerful than the Goddess Altana). The entirety of her scenes in XI are her showing up, laying out your great destiny. Occasionally fighting something, and then suffering time traveling paradox phase out/erasure, only to be brought back by being imbued with the Phoenix from Tenzen's blade. She does fight Cloud of Darkness with the player at the end of Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, but after that she's pretty much not present within the game (though I haven't been back to do Voracious Resurgence yet).

With that in mind, I have no idea how they'd shape her in XIV, since she's more of a plot device than a character.

[Enkidoh]

It's a crossover event, it has no bearing on the actual main scenario and exists in it's own independent bubble story wise and is there for fanservice, nothing more. The original FFXI event along with the FFXIII and XV events were handled the same way - they have no connection or their events are never referenced in the main scenario, and Iroha is the same.

Ironically enough, her theme music reappears in FFXIV SB's soundtrack during completely unreleated events (such as the Four Lords events), and you can even get it for the Orchestrion too, but I think that was just Soken reusing it with Naoshi Mizuta's permission simply for fanservice, again, and is not representative of something deeper.

[Lihtleita]

we'll see her again when xi is finally put out to pasture

[Cleretic]

It might be worth noting that Final Fantasy does have a canonical explanation for how the game universes exist in relation to each other, which XIV has stuck to in a few places, and the XI event isn't broken by.

Essentially, every FF game exists as a separate universe within a multiverse, between which is the Void/Interdimensional Rift (the games differ on what exactly they call it, XIV goes for the Rift because it's already got a Void). There are governing cosmic figures over this multiverse, but they mostly don't matter except in the Dissidia games, and while it's possible to traverse this, doing so has only been important in one game: FFV, which didn't use it to cross over.

Iroha has clearly unconsciously traversed it; the main figure who's consciously traversed it is Gilgamesh, who's canonically from FFV and whose appearances are canonical to VIII, XII, XIII(-2) and XIV. There is also a Shinryu around (but not our Shinryu, who is different) and some number of Omegas (which might include our Omega). And then you've got Dissidia, where every character is basically a magic clone of someone in the multiverse except Gilgamesh and Shinryu, who are the real deals and just wandered in aimlessly.

I love the FF multiverse stuff, because there's just barely enough thought put into it to have some logical grounding and explanations, but to still have a bunch of inexplicable weirdo nonsense going on.

[Iscah]

Essentially, every FF game exists as a separate universe within a multiverse, between which is the Void/Interdimensional Rift (the games differ on what exactly they call it, XIV goes for the Rift because it's already got a Void).

The Rift in FFXIV is what separates the shards of the sundered world. There is no confirmation that it stretches further than that – the closest is Omega reproducing things it has seen via the Rift, but between its inability to distinguish fact from fiction and that "things from other FFs" encountered in Eorzea tend to be copies rather than direct crossovers, there's no guarantee that Omega hasn't simply found either similar copies or legends in the other shards.

Of course, there's the question of just how Omega got the ability to interact with the rift when it was built on an unsundered planet, but it's possible that it evolved the ability after arriving on Etheirys.

[Cleretic]

The Rift in FFXIV is what separates the shards of the sundered world. There is no confirmation that it stretches further than that – the closest is Omega reproducing things it has seen via the Rift, but between its inability to distinguish fact from fiction and that "things from other FFs" encountered in Eorzea tend to be copies rather than direct crossovers, there's no guarantee that Omega hasn't simply found either similar copies or legends in the other shards.

Of course, there's the question of just how Omega got the ability to interact with the rift when it was built on an unsundered planet, but it's possible that it evolved the ability after arriving on Etheirys.

It's not clear exactly how this Rift interacts with the other Rift, or if they're even different (much like how the space between Earth and the moon and the space between the Earth and Mars are both 'space'), but both of them do exist. After all, Gilgamesh is more loudly 'the Gilgamesh from FFV' here than he is in most other FFs. And in the English translation, the Kefka minion confirms Dissidia NT is somehow canon.

[Iscah]

After all, Gilgamesh is more loudly 'the Gilgamesh from FFV' here than he is in most other FFs.

Is he, though? As I said, plenty of other FF characters have appeared here as copies of their original-game selves while actually being entirely native to FFXIV's world.

How would you tell the difference between "Gilgamesh who is the actual same character as in FFV" and "Gilgamesh who is a copy of the character in FFV"?

[Alpheus]

Gilgamesh is the genuine article, same VA and model and characterization as the one that appeared in Mobius where he has ENG VA lines about his encounters in FFV, VIII, XII and XIII-2. with the ones in IX and XI being separate characters (though Gilgamesh [FFV] has been to Vanadi'el at some point as he wields the Hauteclaire [FFXI] in his XIV boss model). As opposed to XIV Ultros being a separate and distinct entity for example.

Unless they make a distinction in any upcoming side content, they could have distinguished this Gilgamesh from the one from FFV onward like they did with Ultros [XIV]. That they decided not to means Gilgamesh is more than likely the one that Bartz encountered.