I can't connect with the Memories of Vanadiel

[CidHeiral]

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

I'm both and I think both raid series are fantastic, but the FFXI raid series is definitely much more of a nostalgia love letter to people who played the original, so you're naturally not going to get as much out of the experience as veterans recognizing every location and reference. If you want to learn about the context for all that stuff I recommend playing retail FFXI which has an extremely fast leveling experience these days. That or watch some youtube videos. Even if you don't play the game the story and lore are pretty interesting.

[Keumjo]

I love FFXI and this raid is the only reason I was excited for Dawntrail. It's been nice for me to see a visually upgraded snippet of a game that I love. Having the opportunity to fill my house with FFXI music and my closet with FFXI gear makes me happy. FFXI is my one true MMO love and unfortunately any chance we'll have at a modernized version of it was slashed when they abandoned the mobile version.

That being said, I've never played Nier games before, so those were just cool looking fights and zones and nothing else to me.
I've played FFXII and Tactics, so I was familiar with the characters featured in their story, and it was fine, good fights good times.
We finally got the Twelve raid and I had everything I needed to be invested in that fully original story and, it was fine, but I wasn't exactly emotionally invested in it.

At the end of the day the raids feel so cut off from anything in my actual characters journey that I just see them as fun boss battles with usually cool armor by fight 2 and 3. The only reason I'm invested in FFXI raids is because my time in FFXI was the best in my gaming history and it's nice to be reminded of some of those feelings, but outside of that raid, I know nothing that happens in that raid matters in FFXIV, the characters will never be mentioned outside of those raids, so it's just a little pocket of joy to likely never be opened again.

[Hallarem]

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

Thats 14's thing. Its less of a "themepark" and more of an excuse for the devs to rip out storylines, characters and themes so they dont have to do any work themselves except forcefully slot in things. Its lazy, it lacks integrity and stopped being charming or nostalgic a long time ago.

Im half expecting Cloud to pop up and go "hey gang Im Bloud on a beach holiday with Bidus and Bquall. Lets go fight Bephiroth and say hi to Bifa hohoho" *you have a strange feeling you know these people* roll credits and insert silly theme used for everything in every expansion

[Auro_Seldaris]

Thats 14's thing. Its less of a "themepark" and more of an excuse for the devs to rip out storylines, characters and themes so they dont have to do any work themselves except forcefully slot in things. Its lazy, it lacks integrity and stopped being charming or nostalgic a long time ago.

Im half expecting Cloud to pop up and go "hey gang Im Bloud on a beach holiday with Bidus and Bquall. Lets go fight Bephiroth and say hi to Bifa hohoho" *you have a strange feeling you know these people* roll credits and insert silly theme used for everything in every expansion

This x 100. Despite reading an article where Yoshida said, "Well we try to reimagine things, we don't want them to be shallow surface-level references", that's actually all they seem to be. I have a friend whose favorite game of all is FFIX and she finds all this stuff to be shallow surface-level reusing of things, and actually somewhat of an insult to FFIX. "Oh look at Not-Garnet and Not-Steiner in Totes Alexandria Fr Fr! Why's it even called Alexandria, this has nothing to do with FFIX?"

[Loggos]

I feel the same. I have no connection whatsoever to the raids and the way they are presented doesn't really lead to me developing any interest in FF11 either. Like you said, it feels like speed-running through a slide show of different themes that are supposed to bring FF11 closer to you. But I'm not really into the visuals (which is the biggest/most impactful "selling point" to advertise it when you run the raid) and the raid's landscapes/themes feel too similar to what we have in FF14 anyways so why would I check out FF11 if I already get my share in this game.

(Of course, it's also supposed to be a treat for FF11 players but I do think if you make a whole alliance raid - one of the biggest pieces of patch content and something played by almost the whole player base - you need to account for the big group of non-FF11 players and get them on board as well, somehow.)

I'm also annoyed by the recent insistence on nostalgia and fan service. The Nier raid series was abyssmally bad. It had uninspired money grab collab written all over it. Oh well, at least we got a nice tank coat.

As somebody who hasn't played any FF except for FF14 the call backs to other games didn't bother me in the past because it felt more like nods to previous games while turning the borrowed theme into something new to fit it into FF14.
In fact, FF14 is strongest when it creates new themes and expands on its own world. Shadowbringers and original characters like Emet-Selch show this really well.

From what I've heard the Zero story line was a complete rehash of FF4 and now the same appears to be happening with FF9?

This is a shame because FF14 has a good foundation and world to build on. It doesn't need to copy its homework from other titles in the franchise to shine. All this feels like the devs don't really believe in their own game if they feel the constant need to prioritise re-using other FF game's themes over creating something new from scratch.

Even Dawntrail/Tuliyollal could have been great additions to the story and world with proper writing. The concepts are good. They just need to be handled with the care they deserve.

[Daralii]

From what I've heard the Zero story line was a complete rehash of FF4 and now the same appears to be happening with FF9?

It's less that it's a retelling of IX(Endwalker's patch MSQ was mostly a bad retelling of IV with plenty of eyeroll moments if you're familiar with it) and more that it's plucking elements of IX, gesturing wildly towards them, and demanding you care because it's something you kind of recognize. IX is my favorite mainline FF and I just hate the expansion more because of it. The broad strokes of VPR's visuals are also copied and pasted from IX's main character, just with worse character animations.

[Auro_Seldaris]

It's less that it's a retelling of IX(Endwalker's patch MSQ was mostly a bad retelling of IV with plenty of eyeroll moments if you're familiar with it) and more that it's plucking elements of IX, gesturing wildly towards them, and demanding you care because it's something you kind of recognize. IX is my favorite mainline FF and I just hate the expansion more because of it. The broad strokes of VPR's visuals are also copied and pasted from IX's main character, just with worse character animations.

Yup, this is the same exact feeling my friend has about this. You're not alone, Daralii.

[LyrisAdamanteia]

From what I've heard the Zero story line was a complete rehash of FF4 and now the same appears to be happening with FF9?

Neither is the case, the only people saying 6.X are rehashes of FF4 are people who've never played FF4 and streamers trying to rage bait. It has a lot of homages to it in terms of character names but they're completely different characters and their arcs are different. Golbez isn't a mindcontrolled slave of the real villain, nor the hero's sibling like IV, he's a fallen hero trying to live up to his friend's legacy. Zero isn't the adopted child of a king who one day changes and starts warmongering and whose journey is about seeking forgiveness, she's a traveling warrior and the last of her kind whose journey is about learning to trust in others in a world that hadn't taught her that. Zeromus isn't the manifestation of the main villain's hate after death she's a manifestation of the grief of Azdaja and her want to return home. And so many other things, like the one thing they share is that Zero and Cecil both change from a dark themed job to a light themed one, big wow, much copy.

And the same thing for DT, I've read a great comment on this once but DT is insanely respectful of FF9 because of how it remixes its themes into something wholly original. Sphene (QE) is a twisted version of both Garnet and Zidane, Zoraal Ja has something similar going on to Kuja but not the same, the role of Garland is split between Gulool Ja Ja and Calyx (the former for his connection to the Kuja expy, Zoraal Ja, the latter for his connection to Sphene). But nothing is lifted wholesale from previous FFs. Yes, XIV is an FF theme park but the rides are stuff we've never scene in the exhibits they've put up. And for that matter would we call 1.0 a blatant copy of FF7? What about Sorrows of Werlyt? Did Eden rip wholesale from FF8? Its pretty disingenuous to see folks with takes like these, imo.

[Mecia]

I cant connect with it but im interested in it, so in a way the disneyland ride is working on me. Story is kinda whatever but ive always liked XI from the outside.

Its funny how the best music and coolest areas in DT are not from DT.

[DynnDiablos]

Hell, I played FFXI religiously back in the day on PS2 with the expanded HDD (the game came in a big white box lol) and I STILL have no connection to this greatest hits hallway of a raid.