@@rinnnnnnnnnnrinRinOnishi Definitely, all MMO's have it to a degree. XI was just extra bad because getting around took ages, and getting somewhere just to click a '???' and watch a 1 minute cutscene and then have to go back felt terrible back in the day.
@@sharlayanforum Especially when you're checking the wiki between every step to find out where you're supposed to go because the in-game directions were almost always extremely vague.
I was wondering what you meant by teleporting, I had stopped playing 11 mostly in 2008, just saw that they allow you to teleport between home point crystals which is crazy. Imagine having to travel to those 20+ zones on foot and it taking anywhere from 10-60 minutes between cutscenes. Trying to get people for story fights was a nightmare back in CoP on siren server, you'd ask a few dozen people to fill out the party and only a handful would have even gotten past the promy's because of how much time it took just to travel between them.
To all of you watching this video and reading this comment right now. 11s story is absolutely phenomenal and it only gets better especially with chains of promethea. If you so choose or care to give 11 a try it's extremely easy to get into nowadays level up do story missions everything solo if you want to The community is very inviting. It's not as big as it once was and a lot of players on 14 came from 11 and hold many fond memories of their time there.
I second this. I started back in 2014 (an "Adoulin Baby", if such a term exists), and had a blast. Still not finished with everything as $$$ demands limit what I play, but I still enjoyed what I saw... ancient jank and all. :D
Be warned to anyone wanting to try it out. FF XI has no quest markers and no mini map so in order to start quests you're either going to need to look online to what NPC gives quests or do like we did back then and talk to any NPC we came across. Also traveling is a long run, there is crystals to teleport around but not a lot like in FFXIV. Also Enemies do not lose aggro and break off the farther you get. They will chase you to the ends of the earth! lol. However, you can get NPC's to fight alongside you as combat is slow and can be difficult. Controls might take some time to get used to as well as it's unlike any other MMORPG out there and can get very confusing. It's better to play with a controller. Also macros are very important and much needed to make life easier.
I'm realizing as I listen to CoP's story that it's probably still a LOT for a non-FFXI player to wrap their head around, especially when they aren't already familiar with a lot of the terminology... but for someone like me who used to play it long, long ago, this video's a really nice refresher on the plot. I had forgotten quite a bit!
Yeah it made sense to me when I was writing and editing this because I knew what I was talking about but as I listened to it for my "final pass" I tried to act like I didn't and I confused myself a couple of times lol. Thanks for the comment and the watch!
I have watched 14 minutes so far, and I would almost beg for you to finish the rest of the game for a recap just like this for the expansions past this. I played all the way through Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, and I missed so much of the story somehow which you've covered in the video. Please make a part 2 covering the rest of the game, I would be eternally grateful!
They're coming! I'm working on the Treasure of Aht Urhgan video now, and it should be out later this week! The rest will follow! Thank you for the kind words!
Let's not forget that Eureka actually has some ties to FFXI and that the minions of Mithra, Elvaan, and Tarutaru all mention being ancestors of Miqote, Elezan, and Lalafell.
Do they ever explain the connection between Hydaelyn and Vana'diel? I always figured it was just another "reflection" or something like Norvrandt. .......I've been playing these games for too long
Thank you for the kind words! I played XI for a long time, and I know I missed some things, but I was really trying to hit the broad strokes for those who have never and may never get the chance to play the game.
It's been over a decade since I played through these expansions, so this was a good refresher. I would also appreciate a recap of Treasures of Aht Urhgan, Wings of the Goddess, Seekers of Adoulin, and Rhapsodies (maybe also Abyssea since it ties into CoP a bit). That's obviously a lot of work, but this video was well done.
Maybe! I think that they share similar aesthetics, but Tural definitely feels a lot more South American, while Aht Urhgan was distinctly Eastern, borrowing a lot from Arabian/Indian/South East Asian influence. I feel that Aht Urhgan is more similar to Radz-at-hahn, and there are quite a few references to ToAU zones and areas in the Radz-at-hahn zones and, of course, the Alzadaal's Legacy dungeon, which is a direct reference to ToAU. I'd be surprised if they use the same reference points twice.
@@sharlayanforum I know! As someone who did the Alzadaal Undersea Ruins investigation a lot back in my day, I was squeeing like a middle schooler when I saw the FFXIV dungeon the first time.
as a 12+ yr vet from XI whos been on 14 since 1.0 then ARR since Beta, I will say thnk you for this recap though I remember xi very well it was nice to have it all it one shot not having to travel to a cs lmfao Cheers and ya earned a Sub
It's been a long time, but I thought that when Al'Taieu was sunk into the ocean, they defensively put the whole city into the Galkan mothercrystal, which was inside the city, causing a paradox. That's why Galkans are cut off from the normal cycle of life and death, which has its own wild story.
Yes! This is correct, I just didn't want to get too deep into it in this video since its designed to be a bit more brief, but you're right! More specifically, the Mothercrystal that bore the Galka into Vana'diel was the one that was moved to Al'Taieu and subsequently damaged by the Zilart. They defensively warped the crystal within itself with the city of Al'Taieu when they hid it behind the 5th mothercrystal, creating a paradox. How can something exist completely inside of itself, of course. The damage to the crystal and the warping created a sort of glitch that prevents the Galka's life force from being reabsorbed by the crystal when they die like other races, thus their soul is simply reborn into a new form. There's also some speculation that this is why there are no Female Galka, since Odin would only grant rebirth (being the diety in control of death and the distribution of the lifeforce back to the crystals) to male warriors, letting the females all die out.
Thank you for the recap!!! i was in like middle school when i bought the game with my allowances, rushed home, installed everything DISC BY DISC, logged into PlayOnline, waited DAYS for install, only for my parents to tell me "No mijo, its costs money" lol just the memory of not playing FFXI lives rent free in my head and im so glad FFXIV is doing a Raid series for it. I hope you decide to do more vids! This was an amazing video and gonna watch the most recent one.
Best MMRPG I've ever played, fantastic friendship builder with a great story. Extremely tough in the day with the 75 cap, I loved and lived it for years. Good memories.
This was a pretty good recap, at least the best I've seen for FFXI. It's wild how running around and levelling for weeks distorts the story and you're like "Wait, what's going on again?" so having it condensed like this is fantastic.
So they already shown they're incorporating Vana'Diel into the game world, at least I believe, not only with the Eureka minions, but with Bhaflau Thickets being the entrance of "Alzadaal's Legacy" dungeon, and those embarassed enough know what Alzadaal is, it's the place in Treasures of Aht Urghan where you travel through for Nyzul Isle, and is connected to the zones - Caedarva Mire, Mount Zhayolm, Aht Urghan, and Bhaflau Thickets. Bhaflau Thickets is the entrance area of Alzadaal's Legacy, and we got those nasty mummy Qutrubs, Runic Portals, etc, then Radz-at-han must be connected to Aht Urghan somehow, which further across the seas from that may be the New World Vana'Diel.
Thank you for putting this together, its been ages and looks like I forgotten most of the story. My memories of FFXI nowadays are just different ways of sacrificing a Taru.
I was today years old when I learned that Tenzen was from this game. It's always fun to learn about more references made in game and I'm looking forward to seeing how they tie the XI lore into the XIV raid!
Tenzen, Even including the gods from the storyline side quest are all from 11. Little references that he makes during the quest line refer to 11. Just wait because you were in for a treat.
My favorite thing about old school 11 players is reminiscing about the good old days. Like getting the an Emporer Pin before it was made rare/ex. Saving 10M to buy a scorpion harness. Or being amazed at seeing Avesta soloing NMs
@@NickOeffinger depending on when you played there was wicked inflation. I bought gil one time, literally once, because I just couldn't make 10m to buy a haubergeon.
It's a cool plot idea, but at 31:25 Yoshi-P in the past has stated that Vana'diel is not a shard/reflection nor the Source, rather it is a separate dimension entirely. This is also supported in how the Shantotto and Iroha crossover events were also treated as visitors from separate dimensions (like they also did with Noctis and likely will with Clive as well) Unless they are now changing their stance on that statement, this alliance raid might be more about dimension hopping or a (temporary) bridge between the dimensions rather than Vana'diel being part of the XIV one.
Ahh I wasn't familiar with that stance from him, but it makes sense. My theory could be slightly amended to work in that scenario. :P Thanks for the comment!
@@sharlayanforum Oh yeah, I could defintely see how some of your concepts would still work with some tweaks. Considering the straight up similarity of elements from FFXI in FFXIV, from mobs to glamours to name references, it could be possible that this alliance raid could be about a dimensional tear or some kind of accidental dimension-merging that has existed in the XIV universe where some of these FFXI elements over time found their way into the FFXIV dimension and were integrated into the Source, but were originally alien in nature. That way the raid could serve two purposes: 1) retconning an explanation of how all these re-used FFXI things are in the world already, and 2) being a fun temporary trip into FFXI Personally, I would really love some sort of reference about Dynamis in FFXI and how it relates (or doesn't) with Dynamis in XIV, even though I know they are totally different concepts.
Definitely! It'd be fun to see them talk about how Dynamis (energy) related to Dynamis (areas). I could see it being something like Ultima Thule, given that Dynamis is a Dreamworld given shape by the nightmares of Diabolos.
Well done! I played during high school. It took me 5 years to reach level 75 and beat Mat haha! Then, after I graduated, Abyssea came out and I got all jobs to 99 in like a week. Prior to that they made each part of the story take forever to achieve haha. It made the cutscenes dynamic, but good gosh it took a long time to get groups etc haha. Then you had to farm little items to unlock the fights. It was totally worth it though! I love that you put everything together and gave us all a refresh! Thank you so much!
Excellent recap brought back memories of me playing XI. Chains of Promathia was my favorite expansion. Challenging and loved taking players through the story
I was replaying Rhapsodies recently on a new Character, Inoha tells you that in her travles through time to come back and help you she met another you that wasnt quite you in another world, also in the recap of you talking to the Crystal theres a scene that the Crystal tells you Warrior of the Crystal that will soon be called Warrior of light. right before you fight Siren in Yhoator jungle i believe, the cutscene is triggered inside Sea Serpent Grotto. @@sharlayanforum
Thanks for the recap! I am a very big FFXI fan, as it was my first MMO, played it for like 8 years and I formed great bonds with ppl from several countries, even I met a couple friends from my city! Seeing what SE did with the past FFXIV raids, I think they'll create a new story but greatly based in the lore of FFXI (specially with Ivalice raids fusing FFT and some FFXII elements, specially the Ridorana cataract / the Pharos at Ridorana ), so my theory is that they'll mention most of the characters which forged Vana'diel story ( I would love they include ALL stories, not just Shadow Lord and and Zilart arc) Because of the setting in Tural, my thoughts are that they can include some more Aht Urhgan and Adoulin content (specially Adoulin because of the wildlands, the nature, the Naakuals, etc.). Although Aht Urhgan is mainly based in the muslim world, FFXIV traspolated some of its content into several places, let's remember that you find Mamool Ja in La Noscea... Qiqirns in Ala Mhigo, also in FFXIV we learn that the Blue Mage job comes from "the New World". So I hope to see more of its content in the raid. I would really love they include Wings of the Goddess music, in my opinion it has the most beautiful OST of all FFXI ♥
ty I have been looking for a story recap ever since the announcement of the raid for dawntrail, none of the video I saw were done to really explain anything the main story as you have, I greatly appreciate this video 😁👌
Thanks for the recap. I didn't realize I didn't do 90% of the story in XI. I only ever ran around and leveled jobs because I was bad at games back then.
I like your theory, especially the time traveling aspects. If I had to guess about the raid introduction, I could see it being in some kind of virtual reality at Solution Nine. I really hope they don't do that though. Wouldn't be as cool.
Great recap! I only got as far as completing Rise of the Zilart. I loved exploring in FFXI. I hold very awesome memories of this game and this refresher brought so much nostalgia back.
I was just thinking the other day about looking up a video on a recap of FFXI. Thanks for the refresher, I left slightly after Abyssea came out and remember next to nothing about the journey.
"..and Tenzen fails to kill the warrior." I don't know man, I did that fight right after they (oops broke) buffed great katana. He defeated me PLENTY of times. 🙃 Personally I'd love an alliance raid that deals with the dynamis zones. I loved Dynamis and the alternate reality storyline. I do love the aspect of the raid making changes in the present.. ala Wings of the Goddess shenanigans.
So this video is bloody wonderful. Thank you for rekindling my old memories of easily the best Final Fantasy game ever made. Really apreciate your work on this video. Can't wait to see the recap of the expansions too.
I think having a storyline of the Dynamis main cities where we fight each of the beastmen leaders and then Shadow Lord would be pretty sick. I'm not sure about Absolute Virtue though, since they already used him for the Eureka stuff and Baldesion Arsenal.
@@sharlayanforum yup! Also thank you for the recap, it's been at least 10 years since I last stept foot in vanadiel. Looking forward to more of your coverage!
Great recap, and your edit regarding the Kuluu and Zilart covered the one part I was concerned about being covered or not- because I had somehow missed it myself, even when I replayed everything last year! I only just learned that from Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia when Selh'teus released last month.
Amazing recap, and I wholeheartedly thank you for putting it together. I smiled a bit when you prefaced the need for this video with "or perhaps you were too young to pay attention to the story", because that was entirely the case for me; I played through the base game, Zilart and was on the verge of finishing Promathia when I had to quit to focus on high school and college entrance prep. I absolutely did not have the attention span necessary to pay my full attention to the story back then, so I only remember bits and pieces of the story (although for some reason I remember thinking Kam'lanaut was kind of an a-hole pretty early on, and also that Raogrimm's backstory stuck with me because it was so tragic). You have done some heavy lifting for the community with this. I have long suspected Vana'diel was connected in some way to Eorzea, purely because the resemblance to the base races is too radical to ignore. Then you have little pointers to traits of Vana'diel explored in ancient Eorzean history, like Eureka, and certain characters like Tenzen (and then Iroha, who I did not know about because I didn't play through her expansion) making appearances in side-content. With that said, and while I think your theory of Vana'diel being an era of Etheirys' history is way more fun because of the implication of time travel, I'm not entirely certain that it isn't a separate shard; my reasoning is simply that their geographies are too distinct for Vana'diel to have become Eorzea in the last six thousand years. Assuming there's some overlap on their main landmasses, Garlemald's mountainous, unforgiving lands would have sprung from the Sea of Shu'meyo, and the entirety of the Othardian mainland and isles would have to have appeared from the eastern sea in that span of time (and being that there's records of the Allagan empire occupying Othardian land five thousand years ago, it is at least that old). No, I want to think that there's gonna be Ronkan shenanigans afoot in our visit to Vana'diel (and I also suspect that the devs, being ever so original, will have us visit the Eleventh for this adventure, which is one of the few shards left unjoined). While I don't have a fully formed theory as to how the raid storyline will go, I think that's a more likely path, as it would explain the geography of the shard evolving differently, and a history absent of Au Ra/Drahn characters.
I'm sat here looking up at my FFXI mouse mat which came with the game I bought and played 'way back when' and genuinely, completely excited that FFXI is getting another nod in FFXIV.
I did all of this and I can only remember like 10% of it lol. If they mention Tenzen in the rail I’m sure it’ll bring a shock to those who did stormblood 4 lords and vets like me to say “took you long enough “
its still online go play it. Hell you can even lock the newer expansions so you can play it in order now. And not get CS's from newer expansions until you want them.
The thing is, they've already confirmed that vana'diel is an alternate universe to my knowledge. The iroha event and the old shantotto event seemed to make it clear that it was a separate universe from 14, and if they're going to do an 11 storyline then I don't see why they wouldn't roll with what's already established. Plus I'd personally like to actually go to vana'diel itself and see the cities and zones in HD rather than it just be another time travel story. I'm also fully biased in wanting to see windurst and jeuno, if we even see the cities at all. Biiiiiiig desire to see what Heaven's Tower looks like.
They've used the terms "another time and place" and "another world" which are nebulous. I agree that it's easiest and makes the most sense for it to be separate, but, I just like the idea of it having a bit more impact than that. :P
Considering Tenzen appearing in the Four Lords raid series from Stormblood, I do believe that FFXI takes place in the Source. The Age of Prayer is probably how all of the change to the gods' image happened so dramatically, which would make sense. I also agree that Vana'diel doesn't make sense at all as a shard
Hard to say, they have already had two crossover events with xi and treated it like an alternate dimension more than a shard. At least from what I remember from the shantotto event
It's very likely that's the direction they'll go, as it makes the most sense from a "how can we connect these worlds" perspective, I just worry about the re-treading of that idea being Shadowbringers 2.0 if that makes sense. Thank you for checking out the video!
Thank you for making this. I've been meaning to do this and now i don't have to. This is a nice recap because I've been running a D&D campaign based on the ffxi world and plot
Ah, the game where I can play Blue Mage in all of its glory... Great recap! I like your theory, and I think to a certain extent it makes sense -- iirc the flavor text on the Wind Up Mithra, Elvaan, and Tarutaru hints lightly at (kind of handwaving it as "haha, but probably not") 11 and 14 being connected with those three being ancestors of modern equivalents. Would be very cool to see that worked in.
Good recap of the story! Thanks for putting all this together. Was also laughing at some of the story points that you were (" ...with biological weapons?" lol) thanks for leaving those takes in instead of rerecording
It's been so long since I've played most of this that rewatching the cutscenes/reading other recaps/writing scripts felt a bit comical at times, so I decided to roll with it. Tha ks for watching!
Great summary. I loved my time in XI and riding through it again with this walkthrough was a lot of fun. I still think that XI is a really fun game and that the story was great, Chains especially. The later expansions were good too but I feel the same as you that Chains was really the story that XI was made to tell. A lot of people look back on the social aspect of XI fondly, and while I do as well, the game's story was a real ride and that more people won't get the chance to experience it "as it was" is a shame. I hear that XI is soloable now. I've thought about giving it another run through for old time's sake but can't tell if it'd be better to "leave it alone" or to jump back in and try a few new jobs. Looking forward to any kind of nod they do in XIV.
It's definitely a soloable experience now-a-days. With a few good trusts and a decent weapon, you can level from 1-99 in like... 2 or 3 days solo. If you have someone to help you boost a bit and some XP rings, you can easily do it in a day. Once you're 99, most of the story content is absolutely easy mode, as almost all the level caps on old stuff has been removed.
I remember playing these expansions literally as they released and that fight to get into [Sea] is still one of the most absolute hardest encounters in any game that I’ve ever played. 😣
Thanks for the summary. It's been a long, long while since I played XI. Despite the nostalgia gremlins in my brain urging me to dip back into Vana'diel, I think it's better to let it live in my memory. The game's changed so much since I played last (2011), that I'm not sure it would be worth it, especially since my fonder memories are of meeting people with whom I am still friends today. Imagine--20 years of friendship from a MMORPG. I'm looking forward to the raid, for sure.
Thanks for the watch and the comment! It's definitely a different beast now, for sure. Since the introduction of Trusts the game has become much more soloable, but there's still some content that requires groups. If you ever really wanted to dip your tow back in and experience it as it was then, you should check out the Horizon XI private server! It's a 75 locked progression server that's in the CoP era right now.
I'm not an XI player, but from a friend that did (and was also all over me playing thru 14's story), they pointed out that Stormblood's story had ties to XI with what they did with Eureka. Eureka, Rabanastre and Ivalice were also folded into 14 with that xpac from other games, and the races in 14 look like they're pulled from 11's (with the Galka being split into the Roegadyn and the Au'ra, the Au'ra even referencing rebirth like the Galka even if it's not more than a belief), and there was a dungeon in Endwalker that apparently referenced a raid in 11 heavily I agree and feel like they're just gonna remix elements from 11, probably exactly the parts you mentioned above to fold into Dawntrail given what we know, and I think you were spot on about the deities being mistaken for Hyadelyn and Zodiark; we travel west, spurred on by Krile's grandfather Galuf (who also spurred on our adventuring in Eureka), there are Mamool'ja, Moblins and even the "Dawnmaiden" feels like it's gonna fit in with Dawntrail's theme and I'm getting that all of them seem to be direct 11 callbacks It's definitely not gonna be 1 to 1 with 11's take on it, a lot of the callbacks to other FFs tend to be remixed in some way in 14, but it's definitely sounding like it's going to be more of an "11" xpac than people are expecting lol This was an awesome listen, it sounds like 11's lore is as solid as 14's, definitely gonna go thru the other recaps to catch things thruout it for when DT drops. Thank you and your sources so much for wrapping all of this up so succinctly!
@@sharlayanforum Also forgot to bring up how Solution 9 might be Allagans that survived, and the Neo-Allagans might correlate to that advanced "angelic" species in 11, feeding into the raids over time as more's revealed in later patches- Ugh now the gears are turning, you did this to me! lol Kidding, love that there's so much to go off of now, and again thank you for the lore vids, it's enlightening! Here's hoping DT knocks your socks off!
Thanks for the recap, wasn't gonna go back to play it so glad someone made a video like this lol Personally, I think Vana'diel is gonna treated like another shard, with it's paralleling some of the things in FFXIV I think the "adventurer" will be part of our sundered soul and we'll see echoes to explain some of the game itself to us, so we're not entirely lost if we didn't look for videos like this one. I also think it seems likely someone will be revealed to have been an Ascian, maybe that Esha'ntarl (I don't think you mentioned what actually became of her) was one and she was somehow involved in spurning on the events of FFXI, which were originally thwarted by the adventurer and their allies, but they were unbothered cause something else was set in motion, however now knowing the truth through the events of Endwalker they want our help in stopping it? That's my line of thinking at least, a lot of guesstimations ofc, but that seems like a pretty likely way they'll go about it, to me at least lol
I think that it being another shard is definitely the most likely outcome. My theory was sort of a personal pipe-dream more than a "This is what they will do, trust me bro." It would be super cool for Vana'diel to be more integral, but it will more than likely end up being a shard where the adventurer or some other main character like Lion is out sundered counterpart, and one of the Zilart or Kuluu will be revealed to be an Ascian.
You missed a bit at the end. Promathia and Altana were married. They were the only things that existed in an infinite void. Promathia was the god of death and destruction, and Altana the goddess of life and creation. Neither could do anything in an empty void. But Promathia could kill altana. But he loved her, he could not do it. But he's the god of death and destruction. He HAS to kill and destroy. So he killed himself. So Altana cried 5 tears onto his corpse that became the mothercrystals. And seeing this she made VanaD'iel out of his corpse, and us out of her tears and his body. When the player fights Promathia, we beat him. Then he just gets back up, because he's a god. And right before he strikes us down, he looks up and sees a single tear fall from Alatana onto his face. Promathia wants to reabsorb everything because it's part of him. Absorbing us is like sweeping up the cuttings after your hair cut, to him. When Altana's tear hits him he realizes we are not part of him, but part him and part Altana. We're not parts of him to be reabsorbed, we're his and Altana's children. Now he can't kill his wife, or his kids. But he has to kill something, he's the god of death. So he kills himself again rather than hurt his wife and kids. That and your final reward was getting to finally hear the game's theme song, Memoria de la stona, with all it's lyrics for the first time, overlooking the city from the prerelease trailer.
Awesome! There's some great subtext to the lore for sure. I wasnt looking to get too deep in this video, since it's more of an overview and recap, but this comment is a great deeper dive!
ive only completed the base games story, parts of all the other stories and part of CoP. Id love to keep playing but man all the quests and tutorials recommend to be playing multiple stories at once for proper leveling and it just gets confusing. Glad theres a recap like this
After watching this, it got me to finally purchase and download the game, after having last played since perhaps 2010. Very excited to start fresh and finally complete the entire story to RoZ and CoP :)
Nothing is more comfy than starting a fresh character in XI. It's an absolute blast not having to rely on finding a party or being forced to play a "useful" job. You can play whatever you want and go around adventuring/level in areas you like instead of dunes/qufim with trusts, which are also a lot of fun. Can't recommend it enough
Thank you so much for the recap. Even with it, the story is honestly hard to wrap my head around. Your theory about how they could go about the raid series is really interesting. I can only hope they do end up doing something like that. .... 10:33
I grew up on the Final Fantasy series and I gave this game an honest try back in its early days. Spent hours in the starting zone and was leveling slowly. I was used to Dark Age of Camelot and I remember this game being so frustrating. My breaking point was my baby character had just got lvl 5 and I recently learned I had to sit to regain HP faster. As I sat there, a higher lvl player running away from a much higher skeleton mob of some kind paths threw me and the mob 1 shots me and I DE LEVELED! I was so discouraged that I had worked for so much time to just lvl back down a significant amount I just uninstalled and never looked back. I did return to the FF series and played ff14 all the way to the current expansion. Thanks for explaining what ends up being an interesting story I've never been able to experience.
I have a feeling it is going to be a reflection with Promathia explained as a sundered Ascian who is defeated already and Altana being a sundered Disciple of Venat.
After watching this and remembering how Eald'narche and Kam'lanaut were scrapped from Dissidia Duodecim ages ago. I honestly love how FF11 might've had some of the best villains in FF. I would love to see FF11's villains show up as super bosses or optional ones. Thank you so much for satisfying my curiosity about the villainous Zilart brothers.
I honored to be here and watching this list before it blows up of views after the ff14 raid drops. This entire list of recaps were freaking awesome, bringing me back to my days in Highschool. I reactivated my old account and got back into the grind, I ain’t the same as back in the day but it’s still extremely fun! P.S. I also appreciate how you became more comfortable with each video and seasoned in a few jokes but didn’t fully pull away from your explanation. Will there be a future vid on ROV or resurgence?
Thank you so much for tghe kind words! I definitely get more comfortable with each video I post! I'll definitely do an RoV video at some point, but I'm not sure about VR.
Good recap. I'm really interested to see how they incorporate the history and how much we get. I would also point out that in the XI x XIV crossover we had Iroha. Who is Tenzen and Kagero daughter from XI. But more importantly at the end of the event she does not return to vana'diel. She instead sets off on an adventure of her own. I really hope they add her into this story.
Iroha 14's event actually being part of Rhapsodies when it was still running back then, it was separated into 3 big chapters, & by the end of chapter 2 where Iroha got thrown into portal-like in which coincidentally makes her land into 14's Eorzea, in which the original event itself was released right after chapter 2 concludes. Ofc she then able to go back to Vana'diel again, in which final chapter 3 starts.
I don't, for the time being. I wasn't really expecting this video to blow up like this, so I'll maybe make one in the future. Feel free to just share with the video link for now! I appreciate it! 💚
@@sharlayanforum mmo's eat up enough time but there are private ffxi servers like Eden to re-experience the 75 cap if you were ever looking. But if you wanted to play the ffxi story, retail is the way to go
I'm familiar! I played retail way back in the day, replayed all of it again a couple years ago, and currently dabble on the HorizonXI private server from time to time.
In a sense, you could say that the continent Seekers takes place on, Ulbuka, is analogous to the new world in a lot of ways. I think that borrowing the system of open world events that Seekers had, Colonization Rieves, would make a great back bone for an exploration zone, the Bozja/Eureka equivalent.
I have this feeling Lilisette will end up being a companion for the raid, and Lilith being one of the Antagonists that we will deal with later in the series. The Raid Hub of this new alliance raid will likely change drastically as the story progresses, and won't just simply be an archaeological dig, there even may be more than one hub. I also have a feeling there might be an NPC Shop in said hub that allows purchasing of FFXI-specific glamours, like the racial starting gear for FFXI.
First off very nice recap! Excite for this raid series! I beat all of 11 for the first time last year. CoP was by far the most dense and hard to follow storyline of any expac. I was reading and rereading scenes and wiki pages to make sure I was understanding everything. It's somewhat satisfying to hear even a simplified explanation can't help but come off as bonkers. Like yes I'm not crazy for thinking this was a little convoluted. You even excluded a lot of the side characters like Jabbos and Louverance. I was quite annoyed at Louverance' quests when I wanted to get back to the meat of the story lmao I appreciate the baffled reading of the Tenzen betrayal. Exactly how I felt when it happened. Definitely an excuse by the devs for a Tenzen fight. He's quick to apologize and rejoin the party. Nonetheless this is where a lot of the lore is and it's all very fascinating. Plus regardless of frustrations with clarity I can't help but commend CoP for 1. Not holding the players hands. Allegiance and motivations are all over the place. You can't just trust everyone is being forthright. And 2. Prishe's story brought me to tears. Love her. Lastly, I'm inclined to agree with your theory. This seems to be the most likely content for the 24 man. As much as I love future expansions in 11 more. Wouldn't mind seeing the areas from those expansions but many of the major bosses in ToAU onward already have a rep in 14. They could always do something a la Eden and give us a different interpretation. Would still work even in the source. Give us the image of these deities from a different era. But we'll have to wait and see.
Yeah rewatching the entire expansions cutscenes to write the recap left me almost more confused than I was with an 8 or 10 years old memory of the quests did. I told myself to limit the video to a hard 30 minutes so I made cuts wherever I could to make sure that the story was told but I didn't include every detail, so that meant picking and choosing which splinter detail stories got the axe, like Jabbos. My gut is really telling me we're going to see Dynamis, Sea, and Sky here... Like you said, a lot of the other stuff has been used. The only references were really missing are the early ones and then stuff from like Seekers onward. ToAU is pretty well covered, so I doubt we see much more from it. Thanks for the watch and comment!
Personally, I think that parts of FFXI will be ancient FFXIV linked with one or two of the reflections. Considering the ruins of the Ancients were in the first reflection and not the source, it would make sense that the vague understanding of Zodiark and Hydaelin in some incarnation would exist in one of the other reflections, maybe the gate of the gods referred to some advanced civilization in one of the reflections having found a way to open a portal to the source.
Thanks a lot on the recap for the story! I'm just going to respond to the final section of the video here though: Not sure if doing ANOTHER time travel section would work out here, especially one that works differently from previous ones. That is: one that actually impacts the present in real time. That would be too much for my brain certainly. Instead ancient aetheric or perhaps dynamis reconstructions of those times could work. Overall I expect the Vana'diel stuff to be fully localized within the New World and represent a past era of that continent. Promathia and Altana being so analogous to Zodiark and Hydaelyn presents an opportunity for New Worldizens to have some connection with those deities. Perhaps being the aliases used in some Ascian scheme. Representing them as separate counter pantheon to Z&H is problematic in my opinion, especially if they are given the same respect and power level as in Eleven. So they'd need to in my opinion, be aliases for the same deities or weaker deities/primals of that era. I will of course expect the Shadowlord and the Zilartian Princes to make an appearance. Perhaps the princes start off as our allies like in YoRha: Dark Apocalypse before the last minute switch. But with a distinct Eleven flavour. When it comes to the time period, I think the choice of timing it with the Allagan Empire or before it is functional. This raid series could also put a pin on the events of Allag's attempted conquest of the New World and the successes/failures in its wake. Perhaps Altana and Promathia were instrumental in stopping the Allagan advancements. Unsure if having the researchers from Eorzea come over so soon (in 7.1 when this Raid would presumably take place) into New World will work logistically. This will heavily depend on the diplomatic work the Scions are able to achieve in 7.0 before it. Perhaps they could just be researchers from Tural instead, since they have more stake in unearthing their forgotten past. Alternatively, they could just simply focus on the initial story arc for Eleven as this definitely is another promotion of Eleven for the Fourteen playerbase. Only hinting at Zilart and CoP stuff, which would be answered if they decide to install Eleven and play it. Either way, I am definitely curious to see where this takes us.
All good points! There's enough intrigue with just the Shadow Lord and the beastmen that they could easily focus on only the base game, but I suspect, like you said, that the Zilart and Kuluu will make an appearance and have some effect on how things play out. It'll be interesting to see how it goes, for sure! Thanks for the comment!
There's also possibilities that upcoming raids might be more related to the latest story adapted as part of FF11's Echoes of Vana'diel celebration, which is The Voracious Resurgence (TVR) that's recently just got concluded after 2 years of running, especially since TVR digs into mysteries regarding cycles of death & birth of Vana'diel races. Not to mention that they borrowed same logo arts for upcoming 14's ally raid when TVR was still in running.
Maybe! Although the logo art is just a reused asset from the 20th anniversary of FFXI's "we are Vana'diel" campaign, and they've already stated that they are working on custom arm for it, it just wasn't ready for fanfest. There's a ton of story possibilities for what they could cover, though. They might even manage to hit all the story threads in the game somehow!
Given the nature of the elements part of me feels like they might connect it to a strong elemental affinity. Seeing as we have (Darkness)Void(ShadowLord), (Thunder)Heritage Found(Rise of the Zilart) and (Light)First(Chains of Promanthia). I feel like they may try to connect the narrative in that way given that XI itself does play a lot with the concept of alternate realities, Abyssea, Dynamis, Wings of the Goddess, I feel like this could just be another concept where the echoes grasp onto a strong elemental affinity and manifest them into our reality. Heck a lot of their current endgame content plays around with the concept of alternate realities, or future realities(excuse to reuse zones) but XI doesn't shy away from what if a scenarios. One thing I'm curious about is if XI might have anything secretly planned to coincide with the 14 event because that would be neat.
As some feedback: it seems like this is a great refresher for FFXI players, but for a FFXIV player like me, it was SO hard to follow all the names you were referring to. The videos in the background somewhat helped when they corresponded to your plot points, but I think bringing up the names of the places/characters more prominently on the screen (with images if possible) as you introduce them would make the video MUCH easier to follow. That said, I still appreciate you making the video! I may have to watch it a few more times to understand better, but I definitely want to understand more of the story prior to Dawntrail. Keep the videos coming!
@@sharlayanforum You're welcome! I'm well aware that doing would require additional editing compared to the current format, which probably requires even MORE time and planning, so I know it's not an "easy fix".
Tu'Lia? Dawn Bringer? An adopted daughter named Lion? Sounds like Dawn Trail in FF14 is gonna be pulling some inspiration from FF11, if not juat similar names or references. First of all, the name Dawn Trail. Gulool Ja Ja being the leader of Tural, in the capital city of Tuliyollal (close enough to Tu'Lia), with an ADOPTED LION daughter, our favorite hrothgal Wuk Lamat? Also the fact that Gulool Ja Ja is also the name of the Mamool Ja leader from FF11 as well. Love how so much of FF14 is a love letter and references to the rest of the franchise. ❤ Thanks for the super informative videos! I couldnt bring myself to play past the tree trial when I tried in 2023 😅 Really appreciate the story summary leading up to the new 24 man raid.
I like your theory on what’s likely to come and the recap of XI, but I do have one counterpoint: in FFXIV’s in game event based on FFXI, they basically confirmed that Vana’diel was its own separate world. I also couldn’t think there’s this gate to the Eleventh that’s been in Tural for thousands of years.
They stated that Iroah is from a "different time and place" and that it was destroyed, leaving her as the only survivor. It's a fairly nebulous explanation as far as in game. Shatoto has said she's from another dimension but that could mean a lot of different things. I certainly don't want to give the impression that my theory is what makes the most sense from a development standpoint. From that standpoint, just saying "its another world and here's a portal" makes way more sense. I just think that justification is getting a bit tired.
I didn't get anywhere trying to play Final Fantasy XI so I have no particular attachment to Vana'diel, but I think an underrated sad notion that comes long with setting Vana'diel as a time in the past of the XIV world is that means that Vana'diel is dead, and I don't know if they'd want to make that call while the original game is still running in some form. I personally would much rather see the continued trend of re-imagining themes, creatures, characters, and arcs from other Finals Fantasy into XIV rather than just plopping the events of XI wholesale into the timeline. Even if it falls into a forgotten era, there's a lot of baggage on the continuity of XIV that comes with just setting a whole game in there somewhere, and it forces the developers to be beholden to lore and story that they themselves did not write. Having to reconcile how or even if Galka turned into Roegadyn as well as us having met friends of Tenzen and the events of the Maiden's Rhapsody crossover as well as whatever went on with Shantoto does my head in. Precedence SEEMS to imply it'd be an alternate timeline or something, but if it's the same continuity there's no reason they'd recognize such a different world as it is. All this to say thank you for putting this video together! It's nice to have a cliff notes version of the events of XI to ground myself. I weirdly feel like I've never encountered anyone talking about the various ancients involved in the storyline for this game. Also all of these various people that try to kill you personally at one point or another lmao.
Thanks for the compliments! I totally understand the trepidation there, and I did consider the implications of marking Vana'diel as "dead" when coming up with my theory, but I also consider the lore of the games to be sort of separate. I would imagine they would appropriate the story of FFXI into FFXIV in a similar way they did FFXII with the Bozja content. It was there, and connected, but the events were different and had different outcomes. I guess I'm saying instead of making Vana'diel an alternate reality of Eorza, I want an alternate version of Vana'diel to BECOME Eorza, if that makes sense.
@@sharlayanforum I understand! I would find that much more agreeable! A retelling instead of plopping a whole game down in our game as it were. Given that and our history with raid suite NPCs, what XI NPC, if any, would you want to spend time with as we go through the story?
@@ararebeast I think there's a lot of good options! Tenzen is mentioned in the 4-Lords stuff in SB, and Iroha is used in the Maiden event, so those are both out, unfortunately... I think if we're keeping it strictly to the characters that would be present in the 3 expansions I covered that Lion, Aldo, Prishe, Mildaurion, and Gilgamesh would be an interesting group to choose from. If we're opening it up completely to any character, I would love to see Arciela and Ygnas included in some way, especially since the idea of Colonization Reives would make for great open world content, or even a good back bone for an exploration zone like Bozja.
Been slowly playing through FFXI, never touched it before last year. Its actually been really fun, very different type of gameplay ,but Im starting to catch its charm. Also I love your theory of how FFXI and FFXIV could be connected, both MMO lores have enough similarities that having Vana'Diel somewhere between Sundering and Allagan makes sense. Since wasnt the First or Second Astral Era the Era of Heroes and Gods.
Thank you for the kind words! The timeline is slightly nebulous, but the Second Astral Era is often called The Age of Prayer, and it is believed that this was basically the age that immediately followed the discover of Magic via prayer. while the Third Umbral is often called The Age of Holy Wars, where massive wars raged across the land. I think the most likely slot for FFXI to fit in would be the Third Umbral, as they could easily contort the "age of holy wars" to be a misunderstanding of a united stand against the Shadow Lord and the Beastmen Tribes.
Idk apparently there is something about Wings of the Goddess that puts a wrench in the connection theory but I’m sure that could be explained using the xiv lore somehow with enough back flips.
Yeah WoTG basically is made a wrenches. It deals with alternate timelines, time travel, past affecting future, it's a lot of worms in a small can. Any adaptation to 14 would require some serious backflips, but I just thought something like what I mentioned in the video might be a possible starting point!
The big problem with Vana'diel being a prior version of Hydaelyn/Etheirys and Quon being an older version of Tural, dating to be before the Allagans rose up, is the Mithra being there. The Miqo'te were created by the Allagans in much the same way as the Ixal were, but it'd be pretty weird if there was just this *other* race of catpeople who look just like Miqo'te but are entirely disconnected from them. It *could* be a Tural from between the fall of Allag and the modern day, but personally I'd rather it just be one of the shards, like the Eleventh or something, or another star in close proximity to Hydaelyn. Hell, if it's the latter, you could instead tie the plot in with Meteion, following up on her appearance at the very end of 6.0's story, where she's continuing her exploration of the universe but with a deeper understanding of what gives people meaning and hope. She enlists you to come help XIV's verison of Vana'diel because she can feel a disturbance in its dynamis and thinks you can stop whatever's causing the problem.
These are all fair points! I definitely feel like it being another shard or a nearby world is much more likely, I just wanted to posit a cool theory for how that might play out in a different way since it's very very likely the explanation will just be "it's a shard that's being rejoined go help." Thanks for the watch and comment!
The story actually makes sense when you're not teleporting to 20+ zones for the cutscenes lmao
XI definitely has an issue with "go here and talk to x then go to y and talk to z"
Xiv has a tad bit of that as well and it's REAL noticeable when the story has you warp to multiple places just to talk to various npcs.
@@rinnnnnnnnnnrinRinOnishi Definitely, all MMO's have it to a degree. XI was just extra bad because getting around took ages, and getting somewhere just to click a '???' and watch a 1 minute cutscene and then have to go back felt terrible back in the day.
@@sharlayanforum Especially when you're checking the wiki between every step to find out where you're supposed to go because the in-game directions were almost always extremely vague.
I was wondering what you meant by teleporting, I had stopped playing 11 mostly in 2008, just saw that they allow you to teleport between home point crystals which is crazy. Imagine having to travel to those 20+ zones on foot and it taking anywhere from 10-60 minutes between cutscenes. Trying to get people for story fights was a nightmare back in CoP on siren server, you'd ask a few dozen people to fill out the party and only a handful would have even gotten past the promy's because of how much time it took just to travel between them.
To all of you watching this video and reading this comment right now. 11s story is absolutely phenomenal and it only gets better especially with chains of promethea. If you so choose or care to give 11 a try it's extremely easy to get into nowadays level up do story missions everything solo if you want to The community is very inviting. It's not as big as it once was and a lot of players on 14 came from 11 and hold many fond memories of their time there.
I second this. I started back in 2014 (an "Adoulin Baby", if such a term exists), and had a blast. Still not finished with everything as $$$ demands limit what I play, but I still enjoyed what I saw... ancient jank and all. :D
Nothing will come close to ffxi 76 era
Be warned to anyone wanting to try it out. FF XI has no quest markers and no mini map so in order to start quests you're either going to need to look online to what NPC gives quests or do like we did back then and talk to any NPC we came across. Also traveling is a long run, there is crystals to teleport around but not a lot like in FFXIV. Also Enemies do not lose aggro and break off the farther you get. They will chase you to the ends of the earth! lol. However, you can get NPC's to fight alongside you as combat is slow and can be difficult. Controls might take some time to get used to as well as it's unlike any other MMORPG out there and can get very confusing. It's better to play with a controller. Also macros are very important and much needed to make life easier.
Or just go to a 75cap server.
@@SirChucklenutsTMyea. Catseye is really good.
“ some of the civilizations on the reflections, may surprise you.” - Emet-Selch
Truth!
I'm realizing as I listen to CoP's story that it's probably still a LOT for a non-FFXI player to wrap their head around, especially when they aren't already familiar with a lot of the terminology... but for someone like me who used to play it long, long ago, this video's a really nice refresher on the plot. I had forgotten quite a bit!
Yeah it made sense to me when I was writing and editing this because I knew what I was talking about but as I listened to it for my "final pass" I tried to act like I didn't and I confused myself a couple of times lol.
Thanks for the comment and the watch!
I have watched 14 minutes so far, and I would almost beg for you to finish the rest of the game for a recap just like this for the expansions past this. I played all the way through Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, and I missed so much of the story somehow which you've covered in the video. Please make a part 2 covering the rest of the game, I would be eternally grateful!
They're coming! I'm working on the Treasure of Aht Urhgan video now, and it should be out later this week! The rest will follow! Thank you for the kind words!
Let's not forget that Eureka actually has some ties to FFXI and that the minions of Mithra, Elvaan, and Tarutaru all mention being ancestors of Miqote, Elezan, and Lalafell.
Do they ever explain the connection between Hydaelyn and Vana'diel? I always figured it was just another "reflection" or something like Norvrandt.
.......I've been playing these games for too long
@@Thriving_in_Exile Actually, I believe they'll actually do so with Dawntrail's upcoming 24-man raid, since it focuses on FFXI!
@@Thriving_in_Exile They explicitly said that the world of FFXI is NOT a reflection.
As someone who has played FFXI for over 20 years now, this was a great recap. Appreciate your hard work and will be sure to share it :)
Thank you for the kind words! I played XI for a long time, and I know I missed some things, but I was really trying to hit the broad strokes for those who have never and may never get the chance to play the game.
It's been over a decade since I played through these expansions, so this was a good refresher. I would also appreciate a recap of Treasures of Aht Urhgan, Wings of the Goddess, Seekers of Adoulin, and Rhapsodies (maybe also Abyssea since it ties into CoP a bit). That's obviously a lot of work, but this video was well done.
ToAU is coming very soon. The rest will follow. Thanks for watching!
ToAU has the biggest likelihood to be referenced in Tural and Dawntrail I feel.
Maybe! I think that they share similar aesthetics, but Tural definitely feels a lot more South American, while Aht Urhgan was distinctly Eastern, borrowing a lot from Arabian/Indian/South East Asian influence. I feel that Aht Urhgan is more similar to Radz-at-hahn, and there are quite a few references to ToAU zones and areas in the Radz-at-hahn zones and, of course, the Alzadaal's Legacy dungeon, which is a direct reference to ToAU. I'd be surprised if they use the same reference points twice.
@@sharlayanforum I know! As someone who did the Alzadaal Undersea Ruins investigation a lot back in my day, I was squeeing like a middle schooler when I saw the FFXIV dungeon the first time.
as a 12+ yr vet from XI whos been on 14 since 1.0 then ARR since Beta, I will say thnk you for this recap though I remember xi very well it was nice to have it all it one shot not having to travel to a cs lmfao Cheers and ya earned a Sub
Thank you very much for the kind words!
It's been a long time, but I thought that when Al'Taieu was sunk into the ocean, they defensively put the whole city into the Galkan mothercrystal, which was inside the city, causing a paradox. That's why Galkans are cut off from the normal cycle of life and death, which has its own wild story.
Yes! This is correct, I just didn't want to get too deep into it in this video since its designed to be a bit more brief, but you're right!
More specifically, the Mothercrystal that bore the Galka into Vana'diel was the one that was moved to Al'Taieu and subsequently damaged by the Zilart. They defensively warped the crystal within itself with the city of Al'Taieu when they hid it behind the 5th mothercrystal, creating a paradox. How can something exist completely inside of itself, of course.
The damage to the crystal and the warping created a sort of glitch that prevents the Galka's life force from being reabsorbed by the crystal when they die like other races, thus their soul is simply reborn into a new form.
There's also some speculation that this is why there are no Female Galka, since Odin would only grant rebirth (being the diety in control of death and the distribution of the lifeforce back to the crystals) to male warriors, letting the females all die out.
Thank you for the recap!!! i was in like middle school when i bought the game with my allowances, rushed home, installed everything DISC BY DISC, logged into PlayOnline, waited DAYS for install, only for my parents to tell me "No mijo, its costs money" lol just the memory of not playing FFXI lives rent free in my head and im so glad FFXIV is doing a Raid series for it. I hope you decide to do more vids! This was an amazing video and gonna watch the most recent one.
Definitely more to come on both titles!
Man, all the memories. Back when I did all these fights you HAD to have friends to pull it off. I still miss sometimes hanging out with them.
It was definitely a different and unique time to play MMOs.
Thanks for the comment!
Best MMRPG I've ever played, fantastic friendship builder with a great story. Extremely tough in the day with the 75 cap, I loved and lived it for years. Good memories.
For years, I've been looking for some sort of story recap and I couldn't find one, so thank you for this! It's exactly what I've been looking for
Glad I could help!
This was a pretty good recap, at least the best I've seen for FFXI. It's wild how running around and levelling for weeks distorts the story and you're like "Wait, what's going on again?" so having it condensed like this is fantastic.
Thank you very much!
The Ark Angels are what made me buy this all those years ago. Got it on my xbox 360 and loved every second of it.
So they already shown they're incorporating Vana'Diel into the game world, at least I believe, not only with the Eureka minions, but with Bhaflau Thickets being the entrance of "Alzadaal's Legacy" dungeon, and those embarassed enough know what Alzadaal is, it's the place in Treasures of Aht Urghan where you travel through for Nyzul Isle, and is connected to the zones - Caedarva Mire, Mount Zhayolm, Aht Urghan, and Bhaflau Thickets. Bhaflau Thickets is the entrance area of Alzadaal's Legacy, and we got those nasty mummy Qutrubs, Runic Portals, etc, then Radz-at-han must be connected to Aht Urghan somehow, which further across the seas from that may be the New World Vana'Diel.
Thank you for putting this together, its been ages and looks like I forgotten most of the story. My memories of FFXI nowadays are just different ways of sacrificing a Taru.
Blood for the blood god.
I prefer to punt the tarus.
@donnyyasu2764 Faces (laces) out? I hate when they curve to the right...
I was today years old when I learned that Tenzen was from this game. It's always fun to learn about more references made in game and I'm looking forward to seeing how they tie the XI lore into the XIV raid!
Glad to be able to teach you something! I'm pumped to see how they make it connect!
Tenzen, Even including the gods from the storyline side quest are all from 11. Little references that he makes during the quest line refer to 11. Just wait because you were in for a treat.
that's bc your not a FF fan >.>
No wonder the whole story arc felt alien to XIV
@@Bewefaustupid gatekeeping comment..
I was planning on doing one of these, but you did a better job than I could have. Awesome video!
Thanks! I actually watched some of your retrospectives recently! Keep up the good work!
My favorite thing about old school 11 players is reminiscing about the good old days. Like getting the an Emporer Pin before it was made rare/ex. Saving 10M to buy a scorpion harness. Or being amazed at seeing Avesta soloing NMs
It was definitely a time when achievements felt huge
10m for a scorpion harness !?!?!?
@@NickOeffinger depending on when you played there was wicked inflation. I bought gil one time, literally once, because I just couldn't make 10m to buy a haubergeon.
It's a cool plot idea, but at 31:25 Yoshi-P in the past has stated that Vana'diel is not a shard/reflection nor the Source, rather it is a separate dimension entirely. This is also supported in how the Shantotto and Iroha crossover events were also treated as visitors from separate dimensions (like they also did with Noctis and likely will with Clive as well) Unless they are now changing their stance on that statement, this alliance raid might be more about dimension hopping or a (temporary) bridge between the dimensions rather than Vana'diel being part of the XIV one.
Ahh I wasn't familiar with that stance from him, but it makes sense.
My theory could be slightly amended to work in that scenario. :P
Thanks for the comment!
@@sharlayanforum Oh yeah, I could defintely see how some of your concepts would still work with some tweaks. Considering the straight up similarity of elements from FFXI in FFXIV, from mobs to glamours to name references, it could be possible that this alliance raid could be about a dimensional tear or some kind of accidental dimension-merging that has existed in the XIV universe where some of these FFXI elements over time found their way into the FFXIV dimension and were integrated into the Source, but were originally alien in nature. That way the raid could serve two purposes: 1) retconning an explanation of how all these re-used FFXI things are in the world already, and 2) being a fun temporary trip into FFXI
Personally, I would really love some sort of reference about Dynamis in FFXI and how it relates (or doesn't) with Dynamis in XIV, even though I know they are totally different concepts.
Definitely! It'd be fun to see them talk about how Dynamis (energy) related to Dynamis (areas). I could see it being something like Ultima Thule, given that Dynamis is a Dreamworld given shape by the nightmares of Diabolos.
Well done! I played during high school. It took me 5 years to reach level 75 and beat Mat haha! Then, after I graduated, Abyssea came out and I got all jobs to 99 in like a week. Prior to that they made each part of the story take forever to achieve haha. It made the cutscenes dynamic, but good gosh it took a long time to get groups etc haha. Then you had to farm little items to unlock the fights. It was totally worth it though!
I love that you put everything together and gave us all a refresh! Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for the kind words!
Maat was quite the fight back in the day!
Excellent recap brought back memories of me playing XI. Chains of Promathia was my favorite expansion. Challenging and loved taking players through the story
It's always fun to hop back in!
In the expansion Rhapsodies of vanadiel they connect vanadiel to eorzea. This was released after ff14 failed before ARR came out
I don't recall that part of Rhapsodies, but I'm sure I'll find it in my recap of that story!
I was replaying Rhapsodies recently on a new Character, Inoha tells you that in her travles through time to come back and help you she met another you that wasnt quite you in another world, also in the recap of you talking to the Crystal theres a scene that the Crystal tells you Warrior of the Crystal that will soon be called Warrior of light. right before you fight Siren in Yhoator jungle i believe, the cutscene is triggered inside Sea Serpent Grotto.
@@sharlayanforum
Very comprehensive, thanks for all the hard work. I bought FFXI for the first time last week (OCT 24) and it's so overwhelming to get my head around.
Hope you enjoy it!
Thanks for the recap! I am a very big FFXI fan, as it was my first MMO, played it for like 8 years and I formed great bonds with ppl from several countries, even I met a couple friends from my city!
Seeing what SE did with the past FFXIV raids, I think they'll create a new story but greatly based in the lore of FFXI (specially with Ivalice raids fusing FFT and some FFXII elements, specially the Ridorana cataract / the Pharos at Ridorana ), so my theory is that they'll mention most of the characters which forged Vana'diel story ( I would love they include ALL stories, not just Shadow Lord and and Zilart arc)
Because of the setting in Tural, my thoughts are that they can include some more Aht Urhgan and Adoulin content (specially Adoulin because of the wildlands, the nature, the Naakuals, etc.). Although Aht Urhgan is mainly based in the muslim world, FFXIV traspolated some of its content into several places, let's remember that you find Mamool Ja in La Noscea... Qiqirns in Ala Mhigo, also in FFXIV we learn that the Blue Mage job comes from "the New World". So I hope to see more of its content in the raid.
I would really love they include Wings of the Goddess music, in my opinion it has the most beautiful OST of all FFXI ♥
this video is exactly what ive been looking for. Thank you for making it!
Thank you for watching!
ty I have been looking for a story recap ever since the announcement of the raid for dawntrail, none of the video I saw were done to really explain anything the main story as you have, I greatly appreciate this video 😁👌
Glad I could help!
You bet my teen brain didn't remember half of the story back then 😂
It's so great to find videos like this one to sort all those memories, thanks !
Glad you enjoyed it! New one coming soon!
Thanks for the recap. I didn't realize I didn't do 90% of the story in XI. I only ever ran around and leveled jobs because I was bad at games back then.
I like your theory, especially the time traveling aspects. If I had to guess about the raid introduction, I could see it being in some kind of virtual reality at Solution Nine. I really hope they don't do that though. Wouldn't be as cool.
There's definitely some interesting possibilities, especially with some of the threads they left in DT's conclusion
Great recap! I only got as far as completing Rise of the Zilart. I loved exploring in FFXI.
I hold very awesome memories of this game and this refresher brought so much nostalgia back.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I was just thinking the other day about looking up a video on a recap of FFXI. Thanks for the refresher, I left slightly after Abyssea came out and remember next to nothing about the journey.
Glad I could help! Thanks for watching!
"..and Tenzen fails to kill the warrior." I don't know man, I did that fight right after they (oops broke) buffed great katana. He defeated me PLENTY of times. 🙃
Personally I'd love an alliance raid that deals with the dynamis zones. I loved Dynamis and the alternate reality storyline.
I do love the aspect of the raid making changes in the present.. ala Wings of the Goddess shenanigans.
That 2hr window hit different after the 2hand buff ☠️
Wow! Amazing job! I hope you do the whole series. I look forward to watching every video you make about FFXI lore
That's the plan!
So this video is bloody wonderful. Thank you for rekindling my old memories of easily the best Final Fantasy game ever made. Really apreciate your work on this video. Can't wait to see the recap of the expansions too.
ToAU is out now! The others will come in a little bit of time!
@@sharlayanforum yep spotted it just after hitting Reply :D - Thanks, will be watching it later today
Thanks for the video, I've been playing these 3 stories on a private server but your explanation makes more sense.
It can be a lot to take in when you're running around and doing the fights.
Glad it was helpful!
Watching this a year after BUT... love the video and would love to see your reviews of the other FFXIV expansions. Ty!
You definitely need to check out the Playlist on my channel..
I hope we have dynamis at the alliance raids 😍
With absolute virtue as one of the bosses
I think having a storyline of the Dynamis main cities where we fight each of the beastmen leaders and then Shadow Lord would be pretty sick.
I'm not sure about Absolute Virtue though, since they already used him for the Eureka stuff and Baldesion Arsenal.
@@sharlayanforum yup! Also thank you for the recap, it's been at least 10 years since I last stept foot in vanadiel. Looking forward to more of your coverage!
It's coming! ToAU script is done, just gotta get it on the mic.
@@sharlayanforum Maybe it's finally time for them to bring out the Pandemonium Warden, who for some reason did not show up in the Pandaemonium raids.
AV and PW were both already used in Eureka. PW is a NM and AV is a boss in the Baldesion Aresenal.
Great recap, and your edit regarding the Kuluu and Zilart covered the one part I was concerned about being covered or not- because I had somehow missed it myself, even when I replayed everything last year!
I only just learned that from Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia when Selh'teus released last month.
I had to put it in almost as much for me as the audience.
Amazing recap, and I wholeheartedly thank you for putting it together. I smiled a bit when you prefaced the need for this video with "or perhaps you were too young to pay attention to the story", because that was entirely the case for me; I played through the base game, Zilart and was on the verge of finishing Promathia when I had to quit to focus on high school and college entrance prep. I absolutely did not have the attention span necessary to pay my full attention to the story back then, so I only remember bits and pieces of the story (although for some reason I remember thinking Kam'lanaut was kind of an a-hole pretty early on, and also that Raogrimm's backstory stuck with me because it was so tragic). You have done some heavy lifting for the community with this.
I have long suspected Vana'diel was connected in some way to Eorzea, purely because the resemblance to the base races is too radical to ignore. Then you have little pointers to traits of Vana'diel explored in ancient Eorzean history, like Eureka, and certain characters like Tenzen (and then Iroha, who I did not know about because I didn't play through her expansion) making appearances in side-content.
With that said, and while I think your theory of Vana'diel being an era of Etheirys' history is way more fun because of the implication of time travel, I'm not entirely certain that it isn't a separate shard; my reasoning is simply that their geographies are too distinct for Vana'diel to have become Eorzea in the last six thousand years. Assuming there's some overlap on their main landmasses, Garlemald's mountainous, unforgiving lands would have sprung from the Sea of Shu'meyo, and the entirety of the Othardian mainland and isles would have to have appeared from the eastern sea in that span of time (and being that there's records of the Allagan empire occupying Othardian land five thousand years ago, it is at least that old).
No, I want to think that there's gonna be Ronkan shenanigans afoot in our visit to Vana'diel (and I also suspect that the devs, being ever so original, will have us visit the Eleventh for this adventure, which is one of the few shards left unjoined). While I don't have a fully formed theory as to how the raid storyline will go, I think that's a more likely path, as it would explain the geography of the shard evolving differently, and a history absent of Au Ra/Drahn characters.
I'm sat here looking up at my FFXI mouse mat which came with the game I bought and played 'way back when' and genuinely, completely excited that FFXI is getting another nod in FFXIV.
Same! It's exciting to see the game of my childhood crash into the game I'm into now
The fact that the character in the video is on Beastmaster brings a smile to my face. I did Rise of the Zilart as Beastmaster back in the day.
Feelz
I did all of this and I can only remember like 10% of it lol. If they mention Tenzen in the rail I’m sure it’ll bring a shock to those who did stormblood 4 lords and vets like me to say “took you long enough “
its still online go play it. Hell you can even lock the newer expansions so you can play it in order now. And not get CS's from newer expansions until you want them.
Thank you for making this! I'd love to see a video for the story through to Rhapsodies of Vana'diel.
I'm working on scripts for the next expansions now! It'll take me a bit, but expect some Rhapsodies stuff soon!
The thing is, they've already confirmed that vana'diel is an alternate universe to my knowledge. The iroha event and the old shantotto event seemed to make it clear that it was a separate universe from 14, and if they're going to do an 11 storyline then I don't see why they wouldn't roll with what's already established. Plus I'd personally like to actually go to vana'diel itself and see the cities and zones in HD rather than it just be another time travel story. I'm also fully biased in wanting to see windurst and jeuno, if we even see the cities at all. Biiiiiiig desire to see what Heaven's Tower looks like.
They've used the terms "another time and place" and "another world" which are nebulous. I agree that it's easiest and makes the most sense for it to be separate, but, I just like the idea of it having a bit more impact than that. :P
I played XI for years then quit when FFXIV came out, this was a nice refresh on the story and it actually like made me remember it more.
That's the goal! Thanks for checking it out!
Considering Tenzen appearing in the Four Lords raid series from Stormblood, I do believe that FFXI takes place in the Source. The Age of Prayer is probably how all of the change to the gods' image happened so dramatically, which would make sense. I also agree that Vana'diel doesn't make sense at all as a shard
Definitely! There's a lot of possibilities. We'll have to see what happens!
Thanks for the comment!
Hard to say, they have already had two crossover events with xi and treated it like an alternate dimension more than a shard. At least from what I remember from the shantotto event
I don't see any issue with Vana'diel being a shard. Leaves it open to be explored in a future expansion.
It's very likely that's the direction they'll go, as it makes the most sense from a "how can we connect these worlds" perspective, I just worry about the re-treading of that idea being Shadowbringers 2.0 if that makes sense.
Thank you for checking out the video!
I will always listen to any new video I come across talking about 11
Glad you enjoyed!
Great recap man, thank you very much!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching!
Thank you for making this. I've been meaning to do this and now i don't have to.
This is a nice recap because I've been running a D&D campaign based on the ffxi world and plot
Been looking for something like this for years.....GG bud.
Glad to help
Ah, the game where I can play Blue Mage in all of its glory...
Great recap! I like your theory, and I think to a certain extent it makes sense -- iirc the flavor text on the Wind Up Mithra, Elvaan, and Tarutaru hints lightly at (kind of handwaving it as "haha, but probably not") 11 and 14 being connected with those three being ancestors of modern equivalents. Would be very cool to see that worked in.
RIP BLU
Yes to doing a part 2 video covering the rest of ffxi, please.
ToAU is out now, more soon!
Good recap of the story! Thanks for putting all this together. Was also laughing at some of the story points that you were (" ...with biological weapons?" lol) thanks for leaving those takes in instead of rerecording
It's been so long since I've played most of this that rewatching the cutscenes/reading other recaps/writing scripts felt a bit comical at times, so I decided to roll with it. Tha ks for watching!
Just what I needed. Thank you so much ^^
Glad I could help!
Great summary. I loved my time in XI and riding through it again with this walkthrough was a lot of fun. I still think that XI is a really fun game and that the story was great, Chains especially. The later expansions were good too but I feel the same as you that Chains was really the story that XI was made to tell. A lot of people look back on the social aspect of XI fondly, and while I do as well, the game's story was a real ride and that more people won't get the chance to experience it "as it was" is a shame. I hear that XI is soloable now. I've thought about giving it another run through for old time's sake but can't tell if it'd be better to "leave it alone" or to jump back in and try a few new jobs. Looking forward to any kind of nod they do in XIV.
It's definitely a soloable experience now-a-days. With a few good trusts and a decent weapon, you can level from 1-99 in like... 2 or 3 days solo. If you have someone to help you boost a bit and some XP rings, you can easily do it in a day. Once you're 99, most of the story content is absolutely easy mode, as almost all the level caps on old stuff has been removed.
I remember playing these expansions literally as they released and that fight to get into [Sea] is still one of the most absolute hardest encounters in any game that I’ve ever played. 😣
Absolutely! Sea and Sky were brutal on release!
Thanks for the summary. It's been a long, long while since I played XI. Despite the nostalgia gremlins in my brain urging me to dip back into Vana'diel, I think it's better to let it live in my memory. The game's changed so much since I played last (2011), that I'm not sure it would be worth it, especially since my fonder memories are of meeting people with whom I am still friends today. Imagine--20 years of friendship from a MMORPG. I'm looking forward to the raid, for sure.
Thanks for the watch and the comment!
It's definitely a different beast now, for sure. Since the introduction of Trusts the game has become much more soloable, but there's still some content that requires groups.
If you ever really wanted to dip your tow back in and experience it as it was then, you should check out the Horizon XI private server! It's a 75 locked progression server that's in the CoP era right now.
than get them to play with you.
I'm not an XI player, but from a friend that did (and was also all over me playing thru 14's story), they pointed out that Stormblood's story had ties to XI with what they did with Eureka. Eureka, Rabanastre and Ivalice were also folded into 14 with that xpac from other games, and the races in 14 look like they're pulled from 11's (with the Galka being split into the Roegadyn and the Au'ra, the Au'ra even referencing rebirth like the Galka even if it's not more than a belief), and there was a dungeon in Endwalker that apparently referenced a raid in 11 heavily
I agree and feel like they're just gonna remix elements from 11, probably exactly the parts you mentioned above to fold into Dawntrail given what we know, and I think you were spot on about the deities being mistaken for Hyadelyn and Zodiark; we travel west, spurred on by Krile's grandfather Galuf (who also spurred on our adventuring in Eureka), there are Mamool'ja, Moblins and even the "Dawnmaiden" feels like it's gonna fit in with Dawntrail's theme and I'm getting that all of them seem to be direct 11 callbacks
It's definitely not gonna be 1 to 1 with 11's take on it, a lot of the callbacks to other FFs tend to be remixed in some way in 14, but it's definitely sounding like it's going to be more of an "11" xpac than people are expecting
lol This was an awesome listen, it sounds like 11's lore is as solid as 14's, definitely gonna go thru the other recaps to catch things thruout it for when DT drops. Thank you and your sources so much for wrapping all of this up so succinctly!
Thanks for the comment! They definitely have a lot of possibilities in how they could play it. Can't wait to learn more!
@@sharlayanforum Also forgot to bring up how Solution 9 might be Allagans that survived, and the Neo-Allagans might correlate to that advanced "angelic" species in 11, feeding into the raids over time as more's revealed in later patches- Ugh now the gears are turning, you did this to me!
lol Kidding, love that there's so much to go off of now, and again thank you for the lore vids, it's enlightening! Here's hoping DT knocks your socks off!
Your theory has me so excited. Hope that’s the true answer !
We shall see!
Thanks for the recap, wasn't gonna go back to play it so glad someone made a video like this lol
Personally, I think Vana'diel is gonna treated like another shard, with it's paralleling some of the things in FFXIV I think the "adventurer" will be part of our sundered soul and we'll see echoes to explain some of the game itself to us, so we're not entirely lost if we didn't look for videos like this one. I also think it seems likely someone will be revealed to have been an Ascian, maybe that Esha'ntarl (I don't think you mentioned what actually became of her) was one and she was somehow involved in spurning on the events of FFXI, which were originally thwarted by the adventurer and their allies, but they were unbothered cause something else was set in motion, however now knowing the truth through the events of Endwalker they want our help in stopping it?
That's my line of thinking at least, a lot of guesstimations ofc, but that seems like a pretty likely way they'll go about it, to me at least lol
I think that it being another shard is definitely the most likely outcome. My theory was sort of a personal pipe-dream more than a "This is what they will do, trust me bro." It would be super cool for Vana'diel to be more integral, but it will more than likely end up being a shard where the adventurer or some other main character like Lion is out sundered counterpart, and one of the Zilart or Kuluu will be revealed to be an Ascian.
You missed a bit at the end. Promathia and Altana were married. They were the only things that existed in an infinite void. Promathia was the god of death and destruction, and Altana the goddess of life and creation.
Neither could do anything in an empty void. But Promathia could kill altana. But he loved her, he could not do it. But he's the god of death and destruction. He HAS to kill and destroy. So he killed himself.
So Altana cried 5 tears onto his corpse that became the mothercrystals. And seeing this she made VanaD'iel out of his corpse, and us out of her tears and his body.
When the player fights Promathia, we beat him. Then he just gets back up, because he's a god. And right before he strikes us down, he looks up and sees a single tear fall from Alatana onto his face.
Promathia wants to reabsorb everything because it's part of him. Absorbing us is like sweeping up the cuttings after your hair cut, to him. When Altana's tear hits him he realizes we are not part of him, but part him and part Altana. We're not parts of him to be reabsorbed, we're his and Altana's children.
Now he can't kill his wife, or his kids. But he has to kill something, he's the god of death. So he kills himself again rather than hurt his wife and kids.
That and your final reward was getting to finally hear the game's theme song, Memoria de la stona, with all it's lyrics for the first time, overlooking the city from the prerelease trailer.
Awesome! There's some great subtext to the lore for sure. I wasnt looking to get too deep in this video, since it's more of an overview and recap, but this comment is a great deeper dive!
ive only completed the base games story, parts of all the other stories and part of CoP. Id love to keep playing but man all the quests and tutorials recommend to be playing multiple stories at once for proper leveling and it just gets confusing. Glad theres a recap like this
Thank you for checking it out!
no problem lol. Hope to see more recaps! @@sharlayanforum
There will be more! They take quite a bit of time to write, record and collect footage from Korvana for, though. :L
@@sharlayanforum That makes sense, wish the best with it!
After watching this, it got me to finally purchase and download the game, after having last played since perhaps 2010. Very excited to start fresh and finally complete the entire story to RoZ and CoP :)
Glad to hear it! Thanks for the watch and comment!
Nothing is more comfy than starting a fresh character in XI. It's an absolute blast not having to rely on finding a party or being forced to play a "useful" job. You can play whatever you want and go around adventuring/level in areas you like instead of dunes/qufim with trusts, which are also a lot of fun. Can't recommend it enough
Thank you so much for the recap. Even with it, the story is honestly hard to wrap my head around. Your theory about how they could go about the raid series is really interesting. I can only hope they do end up doing something like that.
.... 10:33
Gotta keep em in their feet
I grew up on the Final Fantasy series and I gave this game an honest try back in its early days. Spent hours in the starting zone and was leveling slowly. I was used to Dark Age of Camelot and I remember this game being so frustrating. My breaking point was my baby character had just got lvl 5 and I recently learned I had to sit to regain HP faster. As I sat there, a higher lvl player running away from a much higher skeleton mob of some kind paths threw me and the mob 1 shots me and I DE LEVELED! I was so discouraged that I had worked for so much time to just lvl back down a significant amount I just uninstalled and never looked back. I did return to the FF series and played ff14 all the way to the current expansion. Thanks for explaining what ends up being an interesting story I've never been able to experience.
It was quite the experience. Losing XP was the standard in MMO's back then.
@@sharlayanforum I know but loosing a lvl was a shock
It definitely didn't hold your hand. I remember de-leveling many many times! :P
I have a feeling it is going to be a reflection with Promathia explained as a sundered Ascian who is defeated already and Altana being a sundered Disciple of Venat.
That's a fun idea!
After watching this and remembering how Eald'narche and Kam'lanaut were scrapped from Dissidia Duodecim ages ago. I honestly love how FF11 might've had some of the best villains in FF. I would love to see FF11's villains show up as super bosses or optional ones. Thank you so much for satisfying my curiosity about the villainous Zilart brothers.
The Zilart brothers were very good villains!
@@sharlayanforum amen to that.
I honored to be here and watching this list before it blows up of views after the ff14 raid drops. This entire list of recaps were freaking awesome, bringing me back to my days in Highschool. I reactivated my old account and got back into the grind, I ain’t the same as back in the day but it’s still extremely fun!
P.S. I also appreciate how you became more comfortable with each video and seasoned in a few jokes but didn’t fully pull away from your explanation. Will there be a future vid on ROV or resurgence?
Thank you so much for tghe kind words! I definitely get more comfortable with each video I post! I'll definitely do an RoV video at some point, but I'm not sure about VR.
Good recap. I'm really interested to see how they incorporate the history and how much we get.
I would also point out that in the XI x XIV crossover we had Iroha. Who is Tenzen and Kagero daughter from XI.
But more importantly at the end of the event she does not return to vana'diel. She instead sets off on an adventure of her own.
I really hope they add her into this story.
There's definitely a lot of different ways they could go!
Tbh I hope its a reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally long story so it can be done proper justice :)
Iroha 14's event actually being part of Rhapsodies when it was still running back then, it was separated into 3 big chapters, & by the end of chapter 2 where Iroha got thrown into portal-like in which coincidentally makes her land into 14's Eorzea, in which the original event itself was released right after chapter 2 concludes. Ofc she then able to go back to Vana'diel again, in which final chapter 3 starts.
Until I started FF14 during 5.2, I didnt even know a MMO version of FF existed in the first place - let alone a second older one XD
XI was a weird time. It's a fascinating game to show what the state of MMO's was like back then, before WoW changes things forever!
@@sharlayanforum True... WoW changed the landscape - for better, I think.
This was amaaaaaaaazing, and as a follow Chris, I say good day, sir
The council of Chris's has deemed your comment acceptable. ;P
@sharlayanforum Do you have TwittX by chance? I was going to share this video but I wanted to at least link your name and such.
I don't, for the time being. I wasn't really expecting this video to blow up like this, so I'll maybe make one in the future. Feel free to just share with the video link for now! I appreciate it! 💚
Ohhh that's awesome! Finally more ffxi!
Glad youre enjoying!
@@sharlayanforum mmo's eat up enough time but there are private ffxi servers like Eden to re-experience the 75 cap if you were ever looking. But if you wanted to play the ffxi story, retail is the way to go
I'm familiar! I played retail way back in the day, replayed all of it again a couple years ago, and currently dabble on the HorizonXI private server from time to time.
ive heard seekers took place in the new world so i wonder if some aspects of it could be in the msq
In a sense, you could say that the continent Seekers takes place on, Ulbuka, is analogous to the new world in a lot of ways.
I think that borrowing the system of open world events that Seekers had, Colonization Rieves, would make a great back bone for an exploration zone, the Bozja/Eureka equivalent.
I have this feeling Lilisette will end up being a companion for the raid, and Lilith being one of the Antagonists that we will deal with later in the series. The Raid Hub of this new alliance raid will likely change drastically as the story progresses, and won't just simply be an archaeological dig, there even may be more than one hub. I also have a feeling there might be an NPC Shop in said hub that allows purchasing of FFXI-specific glamours, like the racial starting gear for FFXI.
First off very nice recap! Excite for this raid series! I beat all of 11 for the first time last year. CoP was by far the most dense and hard to follow storyline of any expac. I was reading and rereading scenes and wiki pages to make sure I was understanding everything. It's somewhat satisfying to hear even a simplified explanation can't help but come off as bonkers. Like yes I'm not crazy for thinking this was a little convoluted. You even excluded a lot of the side characters like Jabbos and Louverance. I was quite annoyed at Louverance' quests when I wanted to get back to the meat of the story lmao I appreciate the baffled reading of the Tenzen betrayal. Exactly how I felt when it happened. Definitely an excuse by the devs for a Tenzen fight. He's quick to apologize and rejoin the party.
Nonetheless this is where a lot of the lore is and it's all very fascinating. Plus regardless of frustrations with clarity I can't help but commend CoP for 1. Not holding the players hands. Allegiance and motivations are all over the place. You can't just trust everyone is being forthright. And 2. Prishe's story brought me to tears. Love her.
Lastly, I'm inclined to agree with your theory. This seems to be the most likely content for the 24 man. As much as I love future expansions in 11 more. Wouldn't mind seeing the areas from those expansions but many of the major bosses in ToAU onward already have a rep in 14. They could always do something a la Eden and give us a different interpretation. Would still work even in the source. Give us the image of these deities from a different era. But we'll have to wait and see.
Yeah rewatching the entire expansions cutscenes to write the recap left me almost more confused than I was with an 8 or 10 years old memory of the quests did. I told myself to limit the video to a hard 30 minutes so I made cuts wherever I could to make sure that the story was told but I didn't include every detail, so that meant picking and choosing which splinter detail stories got the axe, like Jabbos.
My gut is really telling me we're going to see Dynamis, Sea, and Sky here... Like you said, a lot of the other stuff has been used. The only references were really missing are the early ones and then stuff from like Seekers onward. ToAU is pretty well covered, so I doubt we see much more from it.
Thanks for the watch and comment!
Personally, I think that parts of FFXI will be ancient FFXIV linked with one or two of the reflections. Considering the ruins of the Ancients were in the first reflection and not the source, it would make sense that the vague understanding of Zodiark and Hydaelin in some incarnation would exist in one of the other reflections, maybe the gate of the gods referred to some advanced civilization in one of the reflections having found a way to open a portal to the source.
I forgot how weird FF can get 😂 But your idea at the end has me very onboard and hyped.
It's a journey for sure. Thanks for watching!
Thanks a lot on the recap for the story! I'm just going to respond to the final section of the video here though:
Not sure if doing ANOTHER time travel section would work out here, especially one that works differently from previous ones. That is: one that actually impacts the present in real time. That would be too much for my brain certainly. Instead ancient aetheric or perhaps dynamis reconstructions of those times could work.
Overall I expect the Vana'diel stuff to be fully localized within the New World and represent a past era of that continent. Promathia and Altana being so analogous to Zodiark and Hydaelyn presents an opportunity for New Worldizens to have some connection with those deities. Perhaps being the aliases used in some Ascian scheme.
Representing them as separate counter pantheon to Z&H is problematic in my opinion, especially if they are given the same respect and power level as in Eleven. So they'd need to in my opinion, be aliases for the same deities or weaker deities/primals of that era.
I will of course expect the Shadowlord and the Zilartian Princes to make an appearance. Perhaps the princes start off as our allies like in YoRha: Dark Apocalypse before the last minute switch. But with a distinct Eleven flavour.
When it comes to the time period, I think the choice of timing it with the Allagan Empire or before it is functional. This raid series could also put a pin on the events of Allag's attempted conquest of the New World and the successes/failures in its wake. Perhaps Altana and Promathia were instrumental in stopping the Allagan advancements.
Unsure if having the researchers from Eorzea come over so soon (in 7.1 when this Raid would presumably take place) into New World will work logistically. This will heavily depend on the diplomatic work the Scions are able to achieve in 7.0 before it. Perhaps they could just be researchers from Tural instead, since they have more stake in unearthing their forgotten past.
Alternatively, they could just simply focus on the initial story arc for Eleven as this definitely is another promotion of Eleven for the Fourteen playerbase. Only hinting at Zilart and CoP stuff, which would be answered if they decide to install Eleven and play it. Either way, I am definitely curious to see where this takes us.
All good points!
There's enough intrigue with just the Shadow Lord and the beastmen that they could easily focus on only the base game, but I suspect, like you said, that the Zilart and Kuluu will make an appearance and have some effect on how things play out. It'll be interesting to see how it goes, for sure!
Thanks for the comment!
There's also possibilities that upcoming raids might be more related to the latest story adapted as part of FF11's Echoes of Vana'diel celebration, which is The Voracious Resurgence (TVR) that's recently just got concluded after 2 years of running, especially since TVR digs into mysteries regarding cycles of death & birth of Vana'diel races. Not to mention that they borrowed same logo arts for upcoming 14's ally raid when TVR was still in running.
Maybe! Although the logo art is just a reused asset from the 20th anniversary of FFXI's "we are Vana'diel" campaign, and they've already stated that they are working on custom arm for it, it just wasn't ready for fanfest.
There's a ton of story possibilities for what they could cover, though. They might even manage to hit all the story threads in the game somehow!
This looked interesting, but I could not get the volume to go high enough for me to hear it.
Sorry to hear that! I guess I'll keep levels higher going forward just in case.
it is possible it could just be my computer if nobody else has mentioned anything about the volume being low?
@@sharlayanforum
Thank you this was awesome 😄
Glad you enoyed!
Thankyou so much for this!
Glad it was helpful!
Given the nature of the elements part of me feels like they might connect it to a strong elemental affinity. Seeing as we have (Darkness)Void(ShadowLord), (Thunder)Heritage Found(Rise of the Zilart) and (Light)First(Chains of Promanthia). I feel like they may try to connect the narrative in that way given that XI itself does play a lot with the concept of alternate realities, Abyssea, Dynamis, Wings of the Goddess, I feel like this could just be another concept where the echoes grasp onto a strong elemental affinity and manifest them into our reality. Heck a lot of their current endgame content plays around with the concept of alternate realities, or future realities(excuse to reuse zones) but XI doesn't shy away from what if a scenarios. One thing I'm curious about is if XI might have anything secretly planned to coincide with the 14 event because that would be neat.
It would be cool to see a new XI event for sure! I'm skeptical though, since the game is in a sort of maintenance mode now. We shall see!
As some feedback: it seems like this is a great refresher for FFXI players, but for a FFXIV player like me, it was SO hard to follow all the names you were referring to. The videos in the background somewhat helped when they corresponded to your plot points, but I think bringing up the names of the places/characters more prominently on the screen (with images if possible) as you introduce them would make the video MUCH easier to follow.
That said, I still appreciate you making the video! I may have to watch it a few more times to understand better, but I definitely want to understand more of the story prior to Dawntrail.
Keep the videos coming!
Oh, and maybe bringing up some maps of the locations you're referring to would help too. Just a suggestion!
Thanks for the feedback! I take those things into consideration.
@@sharlayanforum You're welcome! I'm well aware that doing would require additional editing compared to the current format, which probably requires even MORE time and planning, so I know it's not an "easy fix".
Definitely not scared of the extra work, just not something I thought about at the time! :P
Damn this video bringing back memories!!
That was the goal! Appreciate you checking it out!
@@sharlayanforum super appreciate you making it sir!
Tu'Lia? Dawn Bringer? An adopted daughter named Lion? Sounds like Dawn Trail in FF14 is gonna be pulling some inspiration from FF11, if not juat similar names or references. First of all, the name Dawn Trail. Gulool Ja Ja being the leader of Tural, in the capital city of Tuliyollal (close enough to Tu'Lia), with an ADOPTED LION daughter, our favorite hrothgal Wuk Lamat? Also the fact that Gulool Ja Ja is also the name of the Mamool Ja leader from FF11 as well. Love how so much of FF14 is a love letter and references to the rest of the franchise. ❤
Thanks for the super informative videos! I couldnt bring myself to play past the tree trial when I tried in 2023 😅 Really appreciate the story summary leading up to the new 24 man raid.
There's a lot of little hints sprinkled around!
With the revelations of the 7.0 MSQ, I would love to hear your new theories in how this could potentially connect now!
Hey! Thanks for the comment!
I was actually contemplating doing a little "What I think might happen now" video... 🤔
Stay tuned. 🫡
Great video thank you very much 😁
Glad you enjoyed it!
Always figured it would be a shard since its less of a headache lorewise
Probably!
This came in handy considering I stopped playing 10 years ago. Honestly forgot most of the lore lol
It's easy to forget a lot of it! This was basically a different lifetime for many of us!
Thanks for watching!
All of these names in this game are so crazy and wild lol
It's actually insane
I like your theory on what’s likely to come and the recap of XI, but I do have one counterpoint: in FFXIV’s in game event based on FFXI, they basically confirmed that Vana’diel was its own separate world. I also couldn’t think there’s this gate to the Eleventh that’s been in Tural for thousands of years.
They stated that Iroah is from a "different time and place" and that it was destroyed, leaving her as the only survivor. It's a fairly nebulous explanation as far as in game. Shatoto has said she's from another dimension but that could mean a lot of different things.
I certainly don't want to give the impression that my theory is what makes the most sense from a development standpoint. From that standpoint, just saying "its another world and here's a portal" makes way more sense. I just think that justification is getting a bit tired.
@@sharlayanforum that’s also true and I see your point
I didn't get anywhere trying to play Final Fantasy XI so I have no particular attachment to Vana'diel, but I think an underrated sad notion that comes long with setting Vana'diel as a time in the past of the XIV world is that means that Vana'diel is dead, and I don't know if they'd want to make that call while the original game is still running in some form. I personally would much rather see the continued trend of re-imagining themes, creatures, characters, and arcs from other Finals Fantasy into XIV rather than just plopping the events of XI wholesale into the timeline. Even if it falls into a forgotten era, there's a lot of baggage on the continuity of XIV that comes with just setting a whole game in there somewhere, and it forces the developers to be beholden to lore and story that they themselves did not write.
Having to reconcile how or even if Galka turned into Roegadyn as well as us having met friends of Tenzen and the events of the Maiden's Rhapsody crossover as well as whatever went on with Shantoto does my head in. Precedence SEEMS to imply it'd be an alternate timeline or something, but if it's the same continuity there's no reason they'd recognize such a different world as it is.
All this to say thank you for putting this video together! It's nice to have a cliff notes version of the events of XI to ground myself. I weirdly feel like I've never encountered anyone talking about the various ancients involved in the storyline for this game. Also all of these various people that try to kill you personally at one point or another lmao.
Thanks for the compliments!
I totally understand the trepidation there, and I did consider the implications of marking Vana'diel as "dead" when coming up with my theory, but I also consider the lore of the games to be sort of separate. I would imagine they would appropriate the story of FFXI into FFXIV in a similar way they did FFXII with the Bozja content. It was there, and connected, but the events were different and had different outcomes.
I guess I'm saying instead of making Vana'diel an alternate reality of Eorza, I want an alternate version of Vana'diel to BECOME Eorza, if that makes sense.
@@sharlayanforum I understand! I would find that much more agreeable! A retelling instead of plopping a whole game down in our game as it were.
Given that and our history with raid suite NPCs, what XI NPC, if any, would you want to spend time with as we go through the story?
@@ararebeast I think there's a lot of good options! Tenzen is mentioned in the 4-Lords stuff in SB, and Iroha is used in the Maiden event, so those are both out, unfortunately...
I think if we're keeping it strictly to the characters that would be present in the 3 expansions I covered that Lion, Aldo, Prishe, Mildaurion, and Gilgamesh would be an interesting group to choose from.
If we're opening it up completely to any character, I would love to see Arciela and Ygnas included in some way, especially since the idea of Colonization Reives would make for great open world content, or even a good back bone for an exploration zone like Bozja.
God I love (and miss) this game
It was quite a journey back in the day!
Been slowly playing through FFXI, never touched it before last year. Its actually been really fun, very different type of gameplay ,but Im starting to catch its charm.
Also I love your theory of how FFXI and FFXIV could be connected, both MMO lores have enough similarities that having Vana'Diel somewhere between Sundering and Allagan makes sense. Since wasnt the First or Second Astral Era the Era of Heroes and Gods.
Thank you for the kind words!
The timeline is slightly nebulous, but the Second Astral Era is often called The Age of Prayer, and it is believed that this was basically the age that immediately followed the discover of Magic via prayer. while the Third Umbral is often called The Age of Holy Wars, where massive wars raged across the land. I think the most likely slot for FFXI to fit in would be the Third Umbral, as they could easily contort the "age of holy wars" to be a misunderstanding of a united stand against the Shadow Lord and the Beastmen Tribes.
Idk apparently there is something about Wings of the Goddess that puts a wrench in the connection theory but I’m sure that could be explained using the xiv lore somehow with enough back flips.
Yeah WoTG basically is made a wrenches. It deals with alternate timelines, time travel, past affecting future, it's a lot of worms in a small can.
Any adaptation to 14 would require some serious backflips, but I just thought something like what I mentioned in the video might be a possible starting point!
The big problem with Vana'diel being a prior version of Hydaelyn/Etheirys and Quon being an older version of Tural, dating to be before the Allagans rose up, is the Mithra being there. The Miqo'te were created by the Allagans in much the same way as the Ixal were, but it'd be pretty weird if there was just this *other* race of catpeople who look just like Miqo'te but are entirely disconnected from them.
It *could* be a Tural from between the fall of Allag and the modern day, but personally I'd rather it just be one of the shards, like the Eleventh or something, or another star in close proximity to Hydaelyn. Hell, if it's the latter, you could instead tie the plot in with Meteion, following up on her appearance at the very end of 6.0's story, where she's continuing her exploration of the universe but with a deeper understanding of what gives people meaning and hope. She enlists you to come help XIV's verison of Vana'diel because she can feel a disturbance in its dynamis and thinks you can stop whatever's causing the problem.
These are all fair points! I definitely feel like it being another shard or a nearby world is much more likely, I just wanted to posit a cool theory for how that might play out in a different way since it's very very likely the explanation will just be "it's a shard that's being rejoined go help." Thanks for the watch and comment!