FFXIV's Echoes of Vana'diel Raid – My Thoughts & Predictions



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20 thoughts on “FFXIV's Echoes of Vana'diel Raid – My Thoughts & Predictions”

  1. We got Tenzen as part of Source's history, we have Shantoto as part of Source's history, so i guess they will stick to it.
    I think Shantoto's Comet story(blm job questline 60-70) was dated to be 10 000y in the past? I dont remember exactly what was her story in XI, my memory isnt that good to remember each detail, but i think she was already dead there too. That entire Windurst story is foggy to me.

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  2. Who else when they announced FFXI before saying alliance raid was hoping they said "FFXi is coming to PS4/5, Xbox and Steam (if it isnt already, i play console) and will be included in your FFXIV sub" or even FFXi classic

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  3. 100% agree that XI shouldn't simply be one of XIV's shards. Back in HW I was perfectly happy with the idea that the other games in the FF franchise were the shards, but not anymore, not with how the concept has evolved. The shards are… well… shards. Fragmented echoes. The Source is held up as this unique world, more central than the others, with more aether than the others. So saying "this other game is a shard of ours" feels like it's denigrating the other game.

    It's far more respectful to take Vana'diel's concepts and remix them to stand as a fully-fledged part of the XIV setting.

    Or alternatively, if you really truly want the WoL to travel to Vana'diel proper and tie the two games together into a single multiverse… do some sort of dimensional travel "beyond the shards" to an entirely new world. (Ideally involving that character from the crossover quest a little while ago!)

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  4. Another route they could go down is a similar to one to the FFXI events in FFXIV: taking advantage of the timey-wimey shenanigans that come with the involvement of Iroha. Echoes of Vana'diel might be a more fully-fledged story than those FATE events, where we are guided by Iroha to vanquish various foes in a bid to combat the Emptiness. There might be some interesting cheeky nods in continuing that acknowledgement where Iroha, for some reason, "feels" as though the XIV player character is reminiscent of her master/teacher (the XI player character. It's cool because this is a nod to the one behind these player characters, *us*, the player). This also means that it would be "easy" to explain why we explore such a diverse range of FFXI locations. What I have in mind here is if CBU3 goes down the route of each alliance raid being a focused exploration of 1-2 expansions. E.g. Alliance raid #1 is base and Rise of Zilart, #2 is Chains of Promathia, #3 is Treasures of Aht Urhgan, or something like that.

    I am not saying I necessarily prefer this over a more in-XIV contextualisation, such as taking inspiration from Vana'diel to tell us a story about an old, lost civilisation. As others here have mentioned, I think going down the in-XIV history route has a benefit of providing some context behind why we see the existing XI references in XIV (Reisenjima, some enemies, etc.). A route like this would carry greater narrative justification, I think.
    To give another example, I am quite a big fan of how the FFVIII references in Shadowbringers was handled. It referenced the old and gave those who played FFVIII something new by way of XIV's reinterpretation. Additionally, at no point did the story or battles depend on the references; those who did not know VIII did not get anything narratively incomplete.

    I think one funny little thing they could do is add a little reference to the completion of Echoes of Vana'diel in future FFXI x FFXIV events. That is, Iroha will maybe say something based on whether a player has finished the alliance raids or not. Would be a cheeky reference to a reference, from a reference!

    As for music, I am moderately confident that we will hear Vana'diel March #1 in some way. It's so incredibly iconic, and it captures the heart of any FFXI player that hears it. It is also such an immediate track – as a player would only needed to have gone as far as the title screen to have heard it. Any time I hear that motif, it's like it pierces all the way to my soul.

    It is quite interesting that you had a similar-ish problem to me. While I did scream my ass off at Fan Fest when hearing the news, when I was later asked by my friends on who I thought would appear, where we would go or what we would hear in the raids – I also didn't find it terribly easy to come up with very quick, straightforward answers. There is a lot to choose from. Additionally, some of the reasons why the bosses, locations or music hold such importance to us XI players is because of our lived experiences of them. It's hard to convey how iconic Alexander and Ragnarok is without knowing how much of a spectacle Alexander was for FFXI at the time, for example. I think there's a lot of potential, and I am really excited to see what takes place. I'd also find it really cool if Naoshi Mizuta was brought on to collaborate with Masayoshi Soken for the music. Would love to know what they can cook up together!

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  5. I think they may tie it into the FF11 x FFXIV crossover event they've had already, with Iroha appearing in the FFXIV world. I'd like it if they handled it in the way that the FFXIV x FFXV crossover was, in that its another world entirely. We know that other worlds exist in FFXIV, so Vana'diel could be one of these other worlds out there. Something something portals, something something bridge, something something raid.

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