I can't connect with the Memories of Vanadiel

[Valence]

I have been an avid Final Fantasy fan since basically forever. I have played all of the mainline titles, but there is still a handful of games of the franchise I haven't touched, notably FF Tactics or FF XI. I do understand that the intent with those Alliance Raids is to generate an interest from players to go check out the actual game that they do refer, like it was the case with Nier for example.

Well, the problem is that I can't connect to those raids at all. I haven't played their material of reference. I just got through San d'Oria and like for Jeuno, we're going through places I have zero care about, because I have zero emotional attachment to those. I don't know what they're supposed to represent, and even having the narrator drop me a quick line "this is a calm place for new adventurers" isn't really helping either. So far those raids have only felt like going to Disneyland and jumping into the first ride for a movie I haven't seen. All it feels like is going through a trailer with fancy pictures and scenes trying to show you as much as possible from the reference material.

I don't know how people that have played through XI feel about going through this, or even how players that went through FFT/XII for Ivalice felt, or how players that went through the Nier series felt about the Nier AR either. To me, this just feels like fan service that leaves me completely cold, and the little story we're getting trying to connect this to XIV feels more forced and shoehorned than anything, as usual. I think there is also a big difference between inspiration and actual copy pasta, and the game recently even outside of the Alliance Raids has started to really feel like copy pasta (FF9 in the post Dawntrail segment, the Underkeep, the Beatrix doppleganger, etc).

Why can't we get original content and creativity? Or are we doomed to live in that perpetual loop of nostalgia down memory lane thinking that it will suddenly make everybody else hooked?

Or am I the only one feeling like this by now?

[Valence]

Like for real, did XI have all this copy pasta and fan service as well?

[PercibelTheren]

I'm in the same boat. I've never played any other FF games, so the nostalgia doesn't affect me. That being said, I really enjoyed Ivalice. I liked that they did their best to integrate it into the game's world. I thought NieR felt incredibly out of place. With Vanadiel, I have the same feeling I've had about the entirety of Dawntrail "Why should I care?" The game is failing to present me with compelling characters and stories and just going "Hey, look, it's Prishe, don't you like Prishe?" doesn't work for me, so I've felt very disengaged.

[Gwenkatsu]

To be honest, I usually don't even know what other games they're refering. Some stranger without memory drops out of nowhere, someone else turns up, people shout at each other, robots throw bombs at a flock of brain addled dwarfs, I get carried through a confusing raid, the end.
If this is meant to entice me to try out other games, it does not work.

[Daralii]

Like for real, did XI have all this copy pasta and fan service as well?

No, XI actually tried to be original. XIV has firmly decided to just be a nostalgia theme park.

[Auro_Seldaris]

It's not just "people who never played FFXI" who can't connect to it. My brother, who was an avid FFXI back in the day, just rolls his eyes. "I'm insulted by the blatant nostalgia-bait" were his precise words. "This isn't FFXI, it's just wearing it's face."

EDIT: He felt the exact same way about the Ivalice raids. FFT is one of his favorite FF games of all time, and he hated those too.

[SamuraiMiqo]

Sadly not all stories will entice everyone, and I'm on the same boat of not being able to connect to this raids storyline. Prishe seems cool, but when you have characters and quotes from the game without context it becomes a game of 'i don't follow' and 'I understood that reference!' Example: The Ivalice raids I enjoyed because I enjoy Tactics and get what they mean when certain characters pop up. But like when Prishe says 'You won't stop this flood of mortal existence!' I went 'i'm sorry, what?' because it's taken out of context and makes no sense when we as the heroes are throwing down with her.

I can understand wanting to show off other titles (I like Nier but the storyline as a whole befuddled me), or wanting to go 'We are going to splash a bit of FF 10's ideas onto this raid' but in the end, a more original idea might end up winning everyone over.

[Valence]

The problem isn't that some stories will speak to different people, the actual problem I have there is that not only this is fan service bait, but it's also presenting you with something you have literally zero connection to, because you haven't experienced it. You go through areas you have no idea what they are supposed to be in quick succession, and the game hopes that you'll be carried by the visuals alone.

I do feel that the Ivalice Raids worked better because they presented me with a gigantic loredump which allowed me to get a better picture, although it was hard to trudge through and very, very dry. But at least I had this as a lifebelt. And let's be honest, the Ivalice Raids worked because they were carried by incredible encounters that are still beloved to this day.

[Kranel_San]

Like for real, did XI have all this copy pasta and fan service as well?

XI is the opposite of FFXIV, since it barely has any nostalgia and fan service to it.

Everything there, from the beginning to the end is pretty original to XI, and the game feels like a classic FF game (Like FF1 to FF6) but in a 3D online world

I really just wish FFXIV would drop the Nostalgia bait and start focusing more on an original, exciting content and lore. (The exciting because myths raids were an original but not exciting)

[Striker44]

To be honest, I usually don't even know what other games they're refering. Some stranger without memory drops out of nowhere, someone else turns up, people shout at each other, robots throw bombs at a flock of brain addled dwarfs, I get carried through a confusing raid, the end.
If this is meant to entice me to try out other games, it does not work.

It won't appeal to everyone, and that's okay. For example, I actually ended up playing (and really enjoying) both Nier games because of the crossover in FFXIV. On the other hand, the FFXI crossover hasn't sparked a similar desire in me to try out that game, but hey, maybe it will for someone else.

No, XI actually tried to be original. XIV has firmly decided to just be a nostalgia theme park.

Meh, I'd say FFXIV is a mix. There's a lot of references to other games, which wasn't a recent decision by the way - before the game ever launched they loudly announced that it was going to feature lots of callbacks to the rest of the series - but there's also a variety of completely new content along with plentiful "twists" on the old source material they reference from other games.