Thread: 8.0 and World

Originally Posted by Cilia

To start with, I think it's worth saying a few important things:




The current trend seems to be setting up a reflection as a bizarro incarnation of a previous Final Fantasy title and us stepping in to resolve some crisis (after the fact). 6.X was the first taste, Tuliyollal seems to continue this (Gulool Ja Ja, Zoraal Ja, and Gurfurlur are all named after XI characters with characterizations contrary to their original incarnations), and Alexandria cements it. While they may pivot considering how poorly Dawntrail's been received (all you hear in news about it these days is how stale the game is and how subs are dropping like flies), the most likely path forward with what we know is using the Interdimensional Key to visit other reflections which will have similar bizarro setups to IV and the Thirteenth and IX and the Ninth. Where they go from here is anyone's guess, but if I had to venture a guess I'd say something to do with X (since it's sandwiched between the games Dawntrail references and one of the most popular games besides).

i would love a final fantasy X themed expansion we already have so many references to Spira such as Ixion, Yojimbo & daigoro, the tidus and yuna glamour, and now the pelupelu too as well as Ronso. an Yoshida has said before that X was his most favorite FF so i think there is a high chance it could happen that we visit a Spira-esk world with alot of designs an themes that closely resemble what fans know an remember

I can get behind a lot of these ideas.

While I don't think we should put ALL of the Scions in the backburner, the majority of them should be shelved. Take the twins: keep them in Garlemald for an expansion or two and when they come back, they have visibly grown out of their teenage years. Personally, I'm not a fan of either of them. I think they were made more important than they should be. But give them a chance to grow off screen and maybe some real character growth can occur.

We don't even need all completely new characters for the roster. Throw in some old characters than didn't come back after their expansions like Feo Ul or (I assume we won't see much of him after DT) Erenville.

I'm really hoping for something in Ilsabard id love to see Corvos and Landis, I feel like Corvos would be Mediterranean themed from other lore we have learned of in the game.

Originally Posted by AlecIzaRogue

I'm really hoping for something in Ilsabard id love to see Corvos and Landis, I feel like Corvos would be Mediterranean themed from other lore we have learned of in the game.

Endwalker really should've been split into two expansions. Part 1 deals with Garlemald featuring Corvos and other Garlean provinces. Then part 2 deals with Endwalker proper.

Originally Posted by Yuella

Endwalker really should've been split into two expansions. Part 1 deals with Garlemald featuring Corvos and other Garlean provinces. Then part 2 deals with Endwalker proper.

As a number of you probably know (but I love as a fact but I'll always share it), this was the initial plan; we don't know much about that initial plan, except that the level 90 trial was Anima; I think Corvos/Locus Amoenus is a fair guess for another zone, but beyond that it gets really murky. (And also, Locus Amoenus is supposed to resemble Labyrinthos, which I wouldn't really call Mediterranean, but I don't know climates.) Anima even existing in that plan at least says that Garlemald still would've been in the state we found it, though.

I think it was the right move to combine them. I don't really think that the Ilsabard expansion would've had the potential to be more than a Stormblood retread of us walking through nations and reiterating a liberation story every time, and just speaking personally I don't see much excitement in trudging through more Imperial bases; frankly I was sick of the aesthetic after Stormblood, and even now I'm still not really hankering for more of it. Plus, presuming the story was essentially a longer version of what we got, there's not really a good expansion breakpoint; Anima might be the best one, but it'd really leave you hanging in a really difficult way, I've got no idea how you make those patches any good.

Endwalker might've been rushed by trying to fit two expansions into one, but it at least wields that rush. It's telling a story that makes sense being frantic and without much room to breathe; I would've liked more time in these places, but I don't feel like the story was incomplete by not telling it. ...except the story of the excaped slaves, that one was short-changed and deserves more space, but that's a problem with smaller solutions than 'whole expansion'.

So 8.0 is likely gonna be either Meracydia, Ilsabard, or Blindfrost. Blindfrost because we know so little about it, Meracydia to pick up the Void storyline, or Ilsabard to explore the various liberated provinces.

It's pretty much going to depend on which storyline gets left to cook in the background. Either the events of 7.3 are left to cook in 8.x, while we pick up the Zero storyline and try to fix the Void, or we give Zero and the Void more time to recover, and focus on pursuing the events of 7.3.

Originally Posted by Cilia

You have been paying attention to the plot, right? They're clearly setting up a reflection-hopping grand tour.

I actually think how they could structure future expansions is we travel to somewhere on The Source, but we get our foot in the door into an unexplored reflection. Like we go to Meracydia, but somehow get in contact with The Fourth as an example. Coincidentally, there are 6 surviving reflections so I think the 'season finale' expansion could be the 'shard hopping expansion.'

Originally Posted by mallleable

I actually think how they could structure future expansions is we travel to somewhere on The Source, but we get our foot in the door into an unexplored reflection. Like we go to Meracydia, but somehow get in contact with The Fourth as an example. Coincidentally, there are 6 surviving reflections so I think the 'season finale' expansion could be the 'shard hopping expansion.'

Oh, I would hate it if we got an expansion where the six zones were each a separate reflection... Imagine there was only one zone to explore on the First. That would have sucked.