Quote Originally Posted by Daralii View Post
Regardless, the OP's point is that they've recently recycling entire storylines from other games in the series and just reframing them instead of just referencing them. Project Meteor, the Crystal Tower, Alexander, Matoya, Doma, Eden, etc are all references to other games in the series, but the XIV iterations were all their own distinct things. I think a lot of people are misunderstanding that.
I'm not a FF player outside of 14, I've only ever played a few hours of 9, maybe 2 of 13 and then bits of side games (Crystal Chronicles, Theatrhythm). I knew that 14 would always have references to other FF games in it when I started but never felt like me not understanding what said references were negatively effected my ability to enjoy the story. Sure most of the primals/trials were things from previous games, but they were still changed to fit the lore of the world. I didn't need to know who Matoya was in relation to whatever game she originated from, because she was tied with Y'shtola. It didn't matter if Eden was originally from another game, because the story around it was completely relevant to the plot of 14. When I first did Omega, I didn't understand any of the references to other games in the boss fights and it kinda made me not care as much about it, but it still included characters from 14 in the storyline and made it relevant so even without the nostalgia from fighting all these bosses from other FF games it was fun.

Part of me wishes I didn't play a bit of 9, because I was so aware of the references in the second half of the game that after a while I started wondering if the reason I wasn't really getting into the story was that I couldn't understand all of the references it was taking from it, as I never finished playing 9. Even Golbez and the storyline in 6.x felt slightly better as it was tied in with stuff that felt directly relevant to the world of 14. With Alexandria, they haven't fully explained what it even is yet. Is it some part of the 12th shard even though it was said to be successfully rejoined? What does "successfully rejoined" even mean now if one tiny part can still survive? Or was it something more like the 1st where an isolated pocket of the land was spared from the calamity and that's what merged? They could explain this post-MSQ sure, but I was really lacking on reasons to get emotionally invested in the whole area because the ties I did have an interest in finding out about (Erenville's hometown/family, investigating another reflection + it's relation to Krile) were sidelined for a completely new plotline and characters that were possibly all based on a game I know next to nothing about. Even the music was stuff from 9, right? (which felt like it didn't really fit the mood of the area along with the ominous soundtrack of Heritage Found, but i think that's more a personal taste thing)- I didn't remember any of it, but said to myself "what's this fairy tale ass music that sounds like it could be from some other older FF game lmao" when Sphene was first introduced and it didn't click in until a bit later that "oh, it is."

Yes its Final Fantasy 14, I understand that, but I know I'm not the only person who plays this game because I enjoy the story and world its created- not because it's a Final Fantasy game.