On Azem's role in the story

[Vyrerus]

FFXI gives you credit for saving the world but not enough to have characters respect that as an accomplishment.

Actually, it's more that the events that lead to you saving the world tend to happen out of sight of the common populace, or are intertwined with the government(s) of each nation. Who then choose to keep things somewhat quiet(and try to kill you a few times), though you also join a shadowy shinobi-esque organization(The Tenshodo) which pulls your ass out of the fire a few times, along with spreading words of your deeds on some level.

Though, there's also what many would consider an archaic, "Fame" system. Do enough sidequests, and the resident fame checker NPC of each city/town will tell you what the people think about you/how much they hear about you. Not sure if it's changed much, but there's 10 ranks per place, and a lot of places overlap on quests.

The first mission set for the base game are all tied to the three nations, with Mission ranks 4 + 5 being nearly identical for every nation. Those being, find the Magicite the Beastmen are hoarding, and then dealing with the Archmage at the seal of Fei'yin, finding the seal defunct, and then dealing with the revived Shadowlord.

Following that, is Rise of the Zilart, which presents most of its story up front, with the inbetween quests taking so long(well they used to, now they can be done relatively quickly in a few scant hours) that you forget the plot hooks by the end of it. Most of what was gained from RoZ was gameplay oriented (Loads of new zones, 4 new jobs (SMN, NIN, SAM, DRG).

Chains of Promathia has a much more cohesive story mechanism with shorter chapters and more focus on the CoP characters therein. It was considered the best expansion for a long time, and most old salts will still tell you that it's the best. The characters within it are all from out in the woods sorts of places, and most of your actions are hidden from the public by the Duchy of Jueno. All of your companions respect you highly, but at the end they all go to their far flung corners, their time in your adventure done. At the very end it ties into RoZ.

So at that point, if you'd done all the story while current(which due to horizontal progression and sheer difficulty back in the day), then that's when you've become a big damn hero.

Enter Treasures of Aht Urhgan. Using your connections in the Tenshodo you gain passage to the Near East, and go to a nation that seems to be modeled somewhat off of the Seljuk Turk empire. There, you have to make a name for yourself all over again as a mercenary, because they don't know or care about your deeds, and other nationalities are barely recognized there. In the doing of your deeds, you find out the Empire's dark secrets, which include genocide. Incidentally, you fall in with royalty and espionage agents from other lands simultaneously, and save the Empire from itself. If you follow up on the Odin sidequests, then you win the heart of Empress for the wrong reasons at the cost of giving your soul to Odin. But of course, Brandy is a fine girl, what a good wife she would be. But your love, your lady, is the sea. Errr, adventure.

Where next could you be zero to hero? Why, in the past, of course! Enter Wings of the Goddess. Complete with not just time travel, but alternate timelines and multi-verse theory!

Which leads into the Abyssea arc, which killed the game for most old salts if they played beyond ToAU. Save alternate Vana'diel wherein the you of that world failed in Chains of Promathia!

After that comes Seekers of Adoulin. It's kind of like Treasures of Aht Urhgan 2: Pioneering Boogaloo. Instead of a mercenary, you become a pioneer! Tame the wilds of Ulbuka! What crazy shit will you find out there with its insanely powerful monsters that are literal manifestations of nature?!

Then comes Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, which was intended to tie everything together in a neat little, "You're a big deal" bow. It was kind of a love letter to the game itself and the niche community that kept it alive, and most people considered it a satisfying ending, even if the characterizations of the previous casts coming together and what not were a little off kilter.

There's now the Voracious Resurgence, but I haven't been back to see what that's about. Yet.

But uhh, I'm gushing and rambling. The real reason that a lot of NPCs won't recognize you in the quests, is because the quests weren't programmed to account for progression. There's far too many of them, for one thing, but for the other, the game's progression used to be held up by leveling for so long, that it was quite uncommon for most folks to have done the multiple quests that certain special NPCs should recognize you from.
Most of the mission quests feature casts that are independent of each other.

[EaraGrace]

I think there's a distinction to be made between a character being special because of some inherent quality they have no power over, and a character being special because of a characteristics they fostered and worked on. In 2.x it could go either way, being chosen by Hydaelyn could be because were some super special amazing person, or because were really at this adventuring thing. It can go either way I think.

[Lyth]

I don't think that the Azem backstory has any real downsides. It simply acts as a connection to events in the game. Azem's soul existed pre-Sundering, but so does everyone else's. And even as a former Convocation member, there's nothing to suggest that they had any legendary talents that made them tower over their contemporaries, likeable personality aside. We also don't know a whole lot about their past life before joining the Convocation. What's to say that Azem is even from Amaurot to begin with, and not simply a talented outsider who was raised in their society and earned a place in its upper echelons?

Part of what makes Azem compelling is the fact that they act as a foil to the rest of Amaurotian society. They bring individuality in a society where conformity is the norm. They inject colour into a sterile world of grey cloaks and masks. They are rebellious in an institution that expects obedience and restraint. And that very much makes Amaurot as a whole seem somewhat relatable and human. In that final scene during the end credits, you see an intersection of what are effectively two 'families' crossing paths, the old guard passing the torch to the new.

Azem's role as a wanderer also helps motivate the travel motif that has emerged out of this expansion. Go out and explore what's outside of your walls. Travel, and broaden your horizons. Which is really perfect for a game like this, which very much rewards exploring side content, trying out every minigame and game mode, and achievement hunting (especially if you're interested in lore!) It also explains why they happen to have an affinity for every job stone that they come across.

I think the significance of the backstory to the plot going forward really depends on what comes out of Pandaemonium and Myths. And that's really just an exercise in patience over the next year or so. Depending on the setup here, Azem could have links to other plot threads as well, including Meracydia and beyond.

As for what the story would be like without it, there's no way to know. It's a bit like asking what KOTOR would be like without the Revan storyline as a narrative framework. Nobody knows, but this is not that story.

[SannaR]

You forgot the three mini expansions. But yes no connective tissue between most of the stories sucked. And even if you hadn't beaten a storyline needing to rebuild the friendships you made with Aldo, Zied and pirate Gilgamesh was just draining. Sure you got over it cause what else were you going to do? Be salty about it for months on end if not years? I wouldn't recommend XI to anyone. It has great stories and a wonderful world to play in. Great music to listen to, but the leveling and just getting around in the world I know turns off sooo many. I know they've tried to improve the leveling even after I left which was some time during ARR. But if unlocking all of the shortcuts (think aetherites and aetherite networks but for every zone. Including every section of towns.) is still as long of a process as it was back then yeah no. On top of the separate fame for towns and regions being like how the MSQ here is in that they had other things locked behind the higher ranks it just isn't a game I'd wish on anyone. Sorry for the derailment.