[Dear Fernehalwes] Finding lore while on the field

[Raven_Reborn]

This was originally posted on "another" FFXIV forum.. but I was told this may be the best place to put it. Here goes:

Fernehalwes (oh knowledgeable one) I hope this message reaches you for consideration. I will post it in the feedback forum, but I'd like the opinions of others as well.

For those of you who have played Skyrim or Oblivion.. you know that there are books you can pull off of bookshelves and on tables. These books sometime delve deep into the history of the world, revealing things that otherwise wouldn't be told in the normal game story.

I was thinking... Wouldn't it be really cool if we could explore the world more closely and actually find these books (tombs) with all kinds of deep Eorzean lore written in them?

For example.. there are so many little doors in Gridania that lead to shops .. or outpost watch towers that have a shop keepers inside. Why not add a bookshelf or a table with a book on it? When we example the book we get a little journal entry with some deep unknown history.

Maybe we could even get achievements for finding all of the hidden books (tombs) in the Black Shroud (just an example). Basically, I love the lore of FFXIV, and as much as I appreciate Fernehalwes's hard work with the Lore Forum... I really feel this is a chance the dev team could add even more depth in-game!

:-) thanks for listening.

[Loony_BoB]

I'd love for there to be lore found in the field - by battling, crafting or gathering. Essentially I think completing any line in your hunter's log should unlock lore for you to read when you have some spare time, just like killing mobs in FFXII did.

[Nuinn]

Oh, I love that idea :3

Perhaps we could even have a personal lore journal, which gets gradually filled, as we find random bits of lore in the world about different topics. Scribbles of paper (in dungeons, like the notes we can click on in Tam-Tara in 1.0), lore quests, random monuments that have inscriptions on them (there was even lore to be found on fountains in Ul'dah in 1.0), random NPCs that have no apparent use (not for quest, not merchants) that just "talk" when you click them but give you lore information. The journal could contain just about anything. Background on races, classes, guilds, free companies, cities, settlements, events. . . .

As far as the books that Raven mentioned go, would be nice if those books could be tied to a grand library of sorts, where the NPC librarian could have us go seek high and low for them, and acquire them for the library, or we could have them displayed on shelves in our homes. Or both! @_@

[SodRansom]

I totally agree with this. I think it's a great idea!

[Yrusama]

The stone monuments in FFXI were written by Gwynham Ironheart (one of my favorite bits of Vana'diel history). The achievement NPCs for Exploration and Dungeons are named Nedrick Ironheart and Milith Ironheart, and I believe they mentioned that exploration and cartography are in their blood. This is one of few hidden ties between XI and XIV.

I really hope we can get some tidbits of lore from the Ironheart family. I forgot if Nedrick had anything interesting to say, but Milith was the one who introduced me to the Gelmorran civilization. Surely everyone's noticed my sig by now.

[Nom-Brynn]

I think it's a dandy idea. It would add another dimension to the game .

[Nowen]

And all the lore you'll find in later quests/dungeons will contradict what's written in those books... ^^

[Orophin]

I liked picking up lore books in Diablo 3 like that. I wouldn't be opposed to this or a centralized location such as the Great Library ala FF5 either though.

[Urthdigger]

I think this would be nice. I can't help but think of Dragon Age's codex system, where finding books (Or otherwise stumbling across information, such as with first-hand experience) filled in a codex of lore you could look up at any time. It'd be nice for my character to have a tome all about the mysteries of Eorzea.

Oh gods... if this isn't added in-game, I am going to need to do this with a blog.

[Forgo]

I like this idea as well..getting to lore from field would be neat! And if it could be done a Libra spell or item to get info from..mobs?