Each trailer is announcing the new expansion for FF14, which is a Massively Multiplayer Online game, like World of Warcraft. Each one continues the overall story. For Heavensward, your character is on the run, blamed for the poisoning of the little girl, who is a Queen basically. Taking refuge in a kingdom that has been at war with dragons for 1000 years. Stormblood has your character liberating kingdoms around the world from the evil empire. And Shadowbringers is your character traveling to a literal parallel dimension and saving it. Hope that clears things up a little! lol
The big difference between FFXIV and WoW is that each WoW expansion is a self-contained story, where FFXIV is a single continuous story. This makes a new WoW trailer a lot easier to follow, because there's usually only one or two minor details from the previous expansion that are relevant to the new story being told, but each new trailer for FFXIV becomes harder to follow than the one before, because you are missing more and more context each time.
@@kellynine7438 Also the trailers aren't like a typical trailer for a movie. Its not meant to tell you the over all story. Its just showing you important locations and characters for the most part, giving hints on what you'll be seeing and getting players excited for content. The guy with the axe who put on the dragon armor then who fought on the hand, was a samurai all represent your character in the trailers. From ARR to heavensward-stormblood-shadowbringers-endwalker, all are telling one giant story arch with multiple smaller arches going through. The next expansion which will probably drop end of 2023, is gonna be the start of a whole new giant story arch.
@@JamesHulltheFabulousJ honestly it's the best way to describe her though xD you think the average person who's never played 14 is gonna understand she's part of a race of lolihags? 😂
As a fiction writer you would love this game, and it's specifically designed for non gamers so there's really no gamer curve to worry about. (P.s. it's also a great way to grow a channel as ff14 fan are constantly chasing a new player experience for our story high...)
We term ourselves emotional vampires. We so enjoyed playing the story that we want to see others doing the same and experience thier highs and lows too.
Well you see...the story in a nutshell....is....you start out on a chocobo carriage ride...find a crystal....and then, like 300 hours later you go to the store to replace all the tissues you've used up. And that's basically it.
yeah Square Enix is very good with story but also it wouldn't do if they told the whole story in their short trailers so they make it vague you wont really get anything from only watching the trailer if you haven't played through the previous expansion. otherwise what would even be the point of playing.
@@jerome6519 japanese game trailers usually suck at presenting their stories though, its not just a Ff14 problem. Just compare this with something like eso or swtor where you can get a general gist of the story. Even though I love Ff14, the trailers are pretty nonsensical if you think about what its like for a newcomer. Even the ARR trailer is pretty bad at presenting its story.
@@ryanlin223 ffxiv's trailers aren't made with new players in mind. New players shouldn't even watch them to be honest because of potential story spoilers. Even the ARR trailer assumes you have some understanding of what was going on. This isn't even a Japanese thing. Gp back amd watch the first two WoW trailers.
Haven't even started watching but oh man am I excited to watch her brain have a melt down trying to understand what the hell is going on in this story 🤣
To answer the "why is everyone white" question, it's because the game is Japanese. Japanese people are generally pale, and very commonly depict themselves in art that way (especially anime) because they like pale skin (kind of like how people in the west like tan skin, they intentionally get tans). What we see as "white", they see as Japanese. It's a game for Japanese people first, so most of the characters in the game will be "Japanese" to represent their core demographic. There are many characters in the game that aren't pale, but most of the main characters are. In the game however, you're not playing a character they created, you make your own character (which can be whatever color you want). Also, these trailers are for "expansions" to the game's story, you're not really meant to understand them without having played the game, so don't feel bad for not catching on.
Not to mention most Japanese RPG are based on western high fantasy, which mimics medieval Europes. So it make sense to them to have majority of characters "paler" skin tone.
@@pngmk2 I can't necessarily support the claim, but I read that the reason so many characters are lighter in coloration is because its easier to render graphics wise than darker colors. SE tries very hard to keep the system requirements for ff14 down so a wider audience can play and not have a gaming cpu so that could also play into it.
Well, in this case at least, most of the characters in these_are_ depicted as white since a lot of the main areas are based on European places, but yeah that's generally true. There just aren't any trailers that show a bunch of Ala Mhigan or Hannish townsfolk.
You're just gonna keep getting upset if you expect a strong, simple connected narrative between trailers. This is an MMO game, and each of these trailers are for expansions AKA large content updates and new things to do. These trailers aren't meant to tell an arching story for a new viewer, they're meant as lore recaps for the previous expansion and then showing/inspiring us for the new expansion they're advertising, usually around showing a new zone/area/city and characters we've met in the game before
She didn't seem upset, just confused. And tbf not all mmos structure their trailers like this. WoW, for all of their faults, let's each trailer set itself up to be understood by anyone. FF14 takes the weird path of being very tired to the story in-game
@@GuyAngon That's because it leaves out everything from before one expansion to the next. Which reflects its stories; new expansion, forget everything from the previous trailer. FFXIV trailers recap major events to connect with the next chapter highlighted in a new trailer. They're more meant to be watched as you play the game; new expansion, remember what happened after you finished the previous expansion.
As a hardcore FFxiv-er can I just say that was hilarious to watch!! This is definitely one of those games that looks ridiculous from the outside but honestly I love every odd thing about it 😂😂😂
Final Fantasy 14 is a very story-driven game. Dozens and dozens of hours of story in between each expansion and each of these videos is an intro to each of those expansions. So yes, you are supposed to know what's going on in them. So don't feel bad that you don't because there is A LOT going on in this game. These cinematics are also meant to be a bit vague on what's to come because they don't want to spoil much but also want to deliver a visual treat. :)
"I think I'm missing something." Well just a few hundred hours of gameplay, questing, raids, and dungeons. I've been playing video games since I was a wee lad playing Super Nintendo in the early 90s, and started FF14 last year and it quickly became one of my favorite video game stories of all time.
@@HannaHsOverInvested That's if you're slightly rushing things. I've put a few hundred into a second character and with the benefit of knowing what I need and want to do I still haven't reached that first trailer you opened the video with. The game is addicting and I agree it's got one of the most investing and emotional stories I've come across in gaming. And I haven't even made it to the most emotional expansion hence the second character, I'm not ready to be destroyed yet.
This is putting it lightly, I've been playing for the last year or so and have not caught up to current "end", in fact I still haven't finished the 3rd expansion Shadowbringers.
@@HannaHsOverInvested i think im currently in the thousands in terms of hours and i havent even finished the last expansion yet lol theres a whole lot of content
@@HannaHsOverInvested Some streamers actually have spent 1 year just going through every story element, so it's not completely unamanageable when you think of it as 10 years of story releases digested in 1 year. It's like diving into a long running book series that just gets better with each book.
Just a note on the girl in red's outfit being 'impractical' ..... If i remember correctly, 'loose' clothing with flapping/wavy sections at specific places around the person were actually 'part of' the martial arts in some aspects. They were employed to 'blind' the opponent to what your own body was doing.
lots of people have a weird idea of "impractical" when it comes to fantasy clothing and armor simply because they have no knowledge of actual historical clothing and armor.
These trailers are most likely based on the assumption that the player base has already gone through the Main Scenario story in the game, so it's a trick to put out a trailer without giving too much. They mostly introduce new characters, suggest what the story would be about, introduce new locations, and a little bit of reminder of past expansions. I love the confusion that you had, and I hope it intrigues you enough for you to maybe want to go through the story in-game!
I've noticed some games, like World of Warcraft, largely tell the story in cinematics (so you can watch a series of them and get the through line) whereas others, like elder scrolls online and apparently final fantasy 14, tell the story in game and just have the cinematic to show..general vibes I guess. The second is definitely my preference (it's a game, not a movie) but does lead to confusion if you're only watching the cinematics. Also, these cinematics are mostly aimed at current and returning players.
Cinematic trailer are really just to hype up new players as well as give a teaser to current players (eg. on HW trailer, we got to see big dragons! Oh what is that? Islands in the sky? We getting flying! Oh look at that, dragons are attacking! Oooooh we gonna be at war with dragons!) It also helps that SE generally does an amazing job at hyped up trailers that looks spoilery but isn't even close to it when you find the context.
@@darkmirror21 I'd say you have it backwards. It's to hype up current players whole giving a teaser, and potential spoilers, to new players. I'm looking specifically at the Heavensward trailer in regards to spoilers as its the only one that actually recaps previous events.
"I feel like I am missing a key component to the story" Yes. The whole thing lmao. Still loving the reaction! They should have just made a movie along with the game
Naw the game too long to be telling a movie like that.... i mean ppl didnt take to well to advent children. Plus XD how do you condense nearly 600 hours of story telling into 2 hour bits?
@@squallofthedai you had the impression XD but you dont speak for everyone around. Thats like saying everyone in the world loves Kingdom hearts... I met people who despise that game with utter passion and hate the fan base as well.
Imagine that each of these final fantasy 14 trailers as a introduction of a book series. Sometimes it starts you from where you left off at the end of the previous book on to the next book of the series.
Gonna give you a brief summary for context for the Heavensward trailer (SPOILERS EH) After disposing of a very nasty piece of War machine from an invading nation (Garlemald) the Main Character (MC) and their companions participate in Banquet. The MC get invited by the Sultana for a private chat and during that meeting she gets poisoned The Sultana general in a fit of rage at the news kill a High Ranking Member of the merchant Syndicate of the city, which supposedly was behind of the whole thing, and get his arm chopped off and imprisoned. The MC gets framed for the Sultana's death. The MC escape and seek refuge in Ishgard which is the city of spires showed in the trailer, which was a nation that has been closed off for decades since it has been entangled in a war with dragons for a long time (Dragonsong war, or the Thousand Years War) MC get attacked by a dragon and is ill equiped to face this particular enemy and get saved by a Dragoon, which is an Ishgardian soldier specialized in killing Dragons. The camera then pans to a view of the city post a dragon attack, ruins and tired guards as a way to convey the toll that the war require of the populace but also a moment of reprieve where the MC just marvel at a place he's never been and has only ever heard of. The trailer pass to show skyship scouting areas around the city, these find that Dragons are coming for the city Dragons attack, last shots are MC donning the armor of the Dragoon to help repelling the incoming attack.
@@celticlord88 correct enough. This just summarize it for context or I would kinda have felt the need of going on on a tangent explaining the grand companies and how Raubhann ties to the Sultana I just had to simplify a bit in places
-There are a couple of recaps but maybe the best for you is the one the channel IGN GAMES has titled "Final Fantasy 14: The Story So Far" its about 9 minutes only, there are others that last about 1 or 5 hours so i think the short one is the best choice for you. -The same thing as in the wow intros. Game has long fat story, in fact one if not the best on a mmorpg, but the intros serve more to present the new classes and new enviroments. Dont try to find a cohesive relation between them. -Each numbered final fantasy is a totally different story and universe, only certain thins in common like some creatures or the names of some characters.
Lots of white people: Square Enix is a Japanese company. “Americans apply this thinking to Japanese drawings. But to the Japanese, the default human being is Japanese! So they feel no need to make their characters “look Asian”. They just have to make them look like people and everyone in Japan will assume they are Japanese - no matter how improbable their physical appearance.” - Julian Abagond Japanese animators took inspiration from Western animators, way back when cartoons were first being made. You can easily tell when they draw a Westerner, they use a lot of racial stereotypes like making them loud and disrespectful, sometimes they'll make them look like a fat American tourist, or give them blond hair, blue eyes and a cleft chin. Sometimes they'll draw them wearing almost Victorian Era clothes and give them a ridiculous accent if they want to show they're English.
The cadence of Final Fantasy XIV trailers tends to be: Show off the New Job/Class available in the new expansion Show off some of the characters/returning characters you'll meet Give a hint at some of the story you'll encounter Show off the part of the world you'll be playing in So it's understandable you'll be confused, especially without a lot of the backstory you learn from playing the game.
Yeah you need to realize that they are not going to tell you all the story, given that there's hundreds of hours of story. It is in fact one of, if not THE greatest continuous stories in all of gaming. There are things they set up 10 years ago that they are JUST NOW paying off in Endwalker, the latest expansion. These are EXPANSION trailers. You need to like find videos on the STORY of FF14 if you want more context. There's a bunch of people who have devoted hours and days of their lives to create such videos, you should watch them; but be prepared to spend hours on it. We don't "just go around fighting" in this game. There are friendships made and broken, enemies to make and fight against, grand quests to go on, monsters to slay, Primals to take down, secrets to find, lands full of forests, deserts, beaches and of ice and snow to explore, and even a chain of sidequests with a detective who can't detect but bumbles his way to the correct answer each and every time. You know how in our world we don't know what secrets the Earth holds under water and in hard-to-reach places of the world? In the game world its very much the same; we still don't know everything about the lands we inhabit here now 10 years on. We are still learning new things about old zones and cities. Also for the "white people" comment, you couldn't be more wrong. This is a Japanese game. They have a lot less compunctions and hangups about white/black race relations than the rest of the world does. They just don't get the whole thing. They create races to match the areas they are found in. Furthermore, there's a bunch of races in this game that are multicolored. In character creation you can literally do anything you want with color. There are even races of sentient animals. There are talking (and walking) catfish for god's sake. This is perhaps one of the most MULTIRACIAL games out there. You are taking a very small sample size of people you see in the videos and extrapolating it to the game at large and that's just not proper; especially given that the main character pictured is the same in each video AND they aren't going to show a lot of the characters from the expansions because they don't want to spoil.
Video game trailers are not the equivalent of reading a book about the game; they're the equivalent of reading a blurb that might appear on the back of a book about the game. They aren't designed for you to understand what's going on, instead they're designed to get you pick it up off the shelf by showing you what you can expect but not give you any answers to questions you may ask about it. It's not a movie, it's an advertisement and a hype piece. Speaking of ads, FFXIV would be a great choice as an introduction into gaming if you like a little camp in your story and have a lot of patience for the damn thing to GET anywhere. The main storyline content isn't mechanically difficult and the community is welcoming and patient with new players. Not to mention the free trial up to a pretty damn high level cap with no limit on playtime, about which you've certainly gotten bombarded in other comments by now.
(Some spoilers for the games story to follow) These trailers do make alot more sense if you play the game, as each one is basically a teaser for what is going to happen next. Like a big one is in the last trailer Shadowbringers where Thancred(The guy with the gunblade fighting the white lion with a crown) says "I'm not going anywhere, Minfilia" The name Minfilia made fans go 'WAIT WHAT!?' because Minfilia is a character that's part of the story way back in A Realm Reborn as well as Heavensward, but she wasn't a kid. So there was a lot of confusion and fan speculation as to what was going on with this kid that looked alot like Minfilia and was being called Minfilia. Other ones like Heavensward basically recapped the last bits of story from ARR and set the stage for us going to Ishgard to deal with the Dragons as we knew from the main story quests that Nidhogg had let loose his dragonsong to rally his brood and renew his war against Ishgard. Stormblood was mostly showing us we'd be going to Ala Mhigo as well as the Far East with Othard. The fight on the stone hand was just the Warrior of Light and Lyse sparring together as they are actually friends and allies. The east showed us that Gosetsu and Yugiri would be continuing to play a part.(THey were the big man and smaller gal with horns ontop of the building.) Yeah there are alot of white people in the game, but the game does also have a good many characters with darker skin tones that play parts in the story. Like a fan favorite character who you saw briefly in the Heavensward trailer is Raubahn who is a darker skinned Ala Mhigan and is the Flame General of the Immortal Flames of Uldah so we see him alot, and he's an amazing character, badass fighter but has a big heart for his people and his friends. Though you probably would enjoy knowing that the 3 Leaders of the main CIty States you deal with in game, Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, Ul'dah are all women who are badasses in their own ways and just awesome characters. FF14 has alot of really cool characters you meet over the course of the story which is like an epic journey that makes you feel like a part of the world.
I still think it's wonderful that you're willing to enjoy the trailers to our game even if you're in the dark on the lore! I appreciate people trying new things! The lovely people in your comment section have been helping out too I see!
it's understandable why you don't understand what's happening since these trailers are just showing new places and a bit of what's going to happen in the next expansion of the story and you don't know the story if you really want to know what the story is about you should watch a summary but those are between 1-3 hours long
Well, it is a full story, and a very rich one at that. What you're missing is the many, many, many hours of gameplay, most of which is heavily story-driven and character-centric, that goes in-between these cinematics. I'd say it's impossible to make full sense of what every scene shows you without having played through the game's Main Story Quest line. :) Edit: And in hindsight I feel that I should also point out that these expansion trailers are not very story-driven at all, not at all like the World of Warcraft ones that normally focus on showing a specific event that takes place, involving specific characters, in a key moment of the story. These are more like a montage of new locations, new characters and new player classes being put on display for the specific expansion. The "main guy" you see return in each of these is representing the player character and the reason he appears totally different and with different combat styles in different scenes is because he's class-switching (classes are called "jobs" in this game, but I refer to them as classes as that makes more sense to a non-player). One of the things that makes FFXIV unique is the fact that you can play every class, or "job", on a single character. If you've played as a warrior and want to be a Black Mage or a Paladin you don't have to create new characters to do so, you simply pick up these new "jobs" and level them on the same character. I can really understand how confusing these cinematics can be to someone that doesn't play the game so don't feel bad that they left you confused. :D
Did you know that the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has a free trial, and includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 with no restrictions on playtime?
How would you think it would be all one complete story for the trailers? Would you put out a complete plot synopsis of your books to get people to read them? It is a full story, but you are seeing the end of one story and the beginning of the other.
it's super interesting seeing her watch these with the expectation that they are self-contained movies that are supposed to tell a complete story, rather than the reality that they're just cinematic teaser trailers for the game where the story is actually told lol
It's not an expectation. More of an unrealistic hope. Part of the fun is trying to follow an incomplete story. Sometimes I get the plot right, most of the time I don't.
Glad you enjoyed it!! It seems that this video is going under a lot of people's skin. Especially people who have played the game and are confused at why. I am trying to figure out the whole thing with a few trailers. But I'm really happy that you had fun because it's all just for fun. Thank you for your comment 🙏🏼❤️
@@HannaHsOverInvested people need to chill. It says in title someone who hasn't played before or knows what's going on so you're gonna be confused. I enjoyed your video immensely
You've already seen the 1.0 trailer, which is the three people in the tavern deciding on which quest to start with, premonitions of conflict with the Garleans, and the Warrior of Light is an archer. 2.0, or A Realm Reborn is the one with the dragon coming out of the moon and nuking everything in sight. Teh WoL is a Warrior (axe wielder) 3.0, or Heavensward, the WoL is still a warrior at the start and is approaching the city-state of Ishgard. They've been at war with the dragonkin for about 1000 years, and one of their frontline defenses is the Dragoon, the lancers that leap around. The expansion is centered around the Dragonsong War, as it's referred to. The dude in the airship is Cid. He's an engineer. 4.0, Stormblood, the Monk class that the WoL and the lady in red are using got reworked. This cinematic gives very little in the way of story beats, and the expansion on the whole is a bit of a low point imo. You're trying to free Doma, the land of samurai and ninja (Samurai class was added here, and WoL is shown as a samurai) form the Garlean Empire. in 5.0, Shadowbringers, the cinematic is interesting because you see flashbacks of all the other cinematics, and when the WoL is fighting the angel, he rotates through all of the classes we've seen him use in the other cinematics in order - when the angel first strikes, he's an archer. The bow shatters and he switches to Warrior (axe). Next strike, the axe shatters and he switches to Dragoon (lance). Eventually the lance shatters, and he switches to Monk (barehanded). His attacks are ineffective, and as the angel is about to crush him, he switches to Dark Knight and destroys it. The expansion focuses on a region that's nearly been consumed by a flood of light-aspected magic, hence the angel being the enemy and the good guy using the power of darkness. They added the Dancer class and female Viera (rabbit lady), as well as Gunbreaker (dude with the trenchcoat and the revolver sword).
Shadowbringers...will take time to explain....the world was shattered into 13 different shards and the Source (the world the game mostly takes place on). The Warrior of Light is transported to the 1st Shard, which is being overcome by Light Energy and is on the brink of being destroyed. If the 1st falls, it will cause a Calamity on the Source that will destroy civilization and kill millions. So, the Warrior of Light takes on the persona of the Warrior of Darkness to help restore the balance, so the 1st Shard isn't destroyed. This is a very brief summary, it skips a lot of detail vital to the story, but it gives you a general idea. Shadowbringers also has the best villain ever in the history of Final Fantasy, Emmett Selch. Look him up.
Watching your confusion was so fun! I'll try to be as spoiler free as possible here, in case no one explained it in depth. As a disclaimer, the FFXIV expansion trailers are front loaded with Easter eggs and story bits that you can't catch until you've actually played the story, so I can't explain all of them, but I can explain your big questions. 1.0 and ARR: - Only thing you need to know here is that the main classes were bard (the bow user) and warrior (the axe user) respectively. It comes up throughout later trailers. - The man you see as the main character of these trailers is a stand in for your player character. He's fondly called Meteor in the fandom, or derplander if you're shit posting. Heavensward: - You are a fugitive, left alone and isolated from your friends due to a setup in one of the major city states. Due to the alliance of the three city states and the uncertainty of your freedom in the other two, you're forced to run to a nation so isolated that you can't possibly be followed there by the alliance nations. It just turns out that nation has been in a millennia-long war against the dragon peoples. - The main class for this expansion is dragoon, the spear users. Dragoons historically were created to fight against the dragons, which explains why they use spears, have high jumping attacks, and wear spiky armor (think anti-raptor dog vests). Stormblood: - Due to unforeseen but long-running circumstances, the nations of Eorzea have been thrown into war against the Garlean Empire. The Garlean Empire controls two regions, both of which your goal is to free them: Gyr Abania, home of the Ala Mighans, and Doma, in the far east. - Due to the story taking place in two regions, this is the only expansion with two emphasis jobs. Gyr Abania is home to the monks, who are the melee fighters you see on top of the statue. The statue you see is Rhalgr, the patron deity of the monks. For Doma, the emphasis job is samurai. Ninja also gets some neat interactions just because it's also a job based in the Domans' culture. Shadowbringers: - In order to save your world from calamity, first you have to save another world. You and your companions are called to that world in order to save it from the corruption of light, but there are forces conspiring to stop you from doing that. The creature Meteor is fighting in the trailer is a result of this corruption. The scenes outside that fight scene are happenings of your companions' lives before you arrive and meet up with them. Minfilia seems very random if you don't know the lore, but trust me when I say she is very, very important to the story, even before this expansion. - The emphasis job for this expansion is dark knight for reasons that are very obvious in the name. - This trailer is unique in that it is not just future focused, but also past-focused. The scenes you see are experiences you've gone through up to this point. This is poignantly emphasized by your shift through each of your past classes. You start with bard, shift into warrior, then monk and samurai, and finally end on dark knight.
I had another comment, but I was done the minute you mentioned race. The trailers aren't making sense, because they're not gonna give you the whole story in the trailers. We put in HARD work and hundreds of hours to get the whole story -- also - there are MANY races you haven't seen yet - and MANY flesh color options for characters we make. There are many POC characters in this game. If you wanna understand it...play the game.
@@HannaHsOverInvested lol try all you like but you will not get it unless you play the whole game and each expansion. It's one long story from A Realm Reborn to Endwalker so each trailer you watch is more and more confusing. Sorry if the comment sounds mean, its not my intention
SPOILER WARNING: The story of Heavensward takes place at the end of A Realm Reborn story arc. The nation of Ishgard has been at war with dragons for 1,000 years. The magical protections around the city state are weakened by a rebel named Iceheart, and the dragons attack in mass. The Warrior of Light aids Ishgard at the battle of the Steps of Faith. At the celebration of the Ishgard's victory, the Warrior of Light and his allies are falsely accused of assassinating the Sultana of the rich desert nation of Ul'dah. The Warrior of Light and a few allies escape, and are given sanctuary by one of the royal houses of Ishgard. As the story continues, it becomes clear that the Ishgardian story of how the war with the dragons began doesn't add up. The Warrior of Light and a few allies travel to dragon country and discover the truth. That it was Ishgard that started it by betraying the dragons, slaying one of them to steal her eyes, which are the source of a dragon's power. Nidhogg, the brother of the dragon that was killed, is bent on making Ishgard pay for their crimes, meanwhile the church which rules Ishgard has its own dark secrets. Learning the truth turns Ishgardian civilization upside down, and forces the Arch Bishop to enact his dark plans to end the war.
You should be confused. These trailers only make sense if you played the story in FF14. The first trailer you watched, Heavensward, begins where the base game story ended. How in the hell are you expected to know what WTF is happening?! The 'guy' that is in all of the FF14 trailers is a stand in for the player, you.
If you go on to watch the Shadowbringers and Endwalker trailers I would recommend also watching the corresponding Launch trailers as well. It will shed some light plot wise, but there are spoilers so beware.
I second this. I think the launch trailers are much better contained "what is the story of this expansion" trailers than the actual opening cinematics so I highly recommend if you revisit FFXIV to watch the launch trailers for Shadowbringers and Endwalker instead.
Imagine try to understand XIV watching only the trailers and get upset. Like the 1000 hours story-telling doesnt count to get a general prospective. Its like me trying to understand her books watching only the covers.
Also, if no one has mentioned it, the guy you keep seeing in each cinematic is the same guy. hes basically a representation of the player. the poster boy of Final Fantasy XIV. and he (and by extension, we, as the player) is able to change jobs, thats why in each cinematic he is wearing something different or using different weapons (as demonstrated in the shadowbringers cinematic) also, in regard to your skin color comment, there are plenty of races and characters with darker skin tones, they just arent in the cinematics for some reason. no idea why also also: 14 takes the very uncommon approach that there must be a Balance. Dark is not inherently evil and likewise, Light is not inherently good. too much of either can upset the balance of the universe.
For the Heavensward cinematic it does recap some of the story that leads up to the start of the expansion. There is a lot of story that has happened since the A Realm Reborn trailer. Think of it as two seasons worth story has happened between them so it is understandable to be confused by just watching the trailers. Those that have played the through story up to this point in the game are probably still recovering emotionally from having to rewatch that first part :D
12:57 "Do we just fight in this world?" I mean if you stick to the story, no small part is the fighting. But the game gives you so much to do. People literally play it for just one aspect. It could be playing mahjong, fishing, crafting, gathering clothing (in-game referred to as glam/glamour), decorating houses, dancing in your glams; the possibilities are all up to you for the most part and you can do it all.
Ok so some quick context: *FFXIV*: Shows off the game as peeps going on grand adventures *A Ream Reborn*: Begins with the end of the Battle of Carteneau (CAR-TEN-OH). The garleans (black armor) pluck the artificial moon, Dalamud, from the sky (created by an ancient civilization) to destroy the Eorzean Alliance (good guys). No one realized that the primal Bahamut (big scary dragon) was inside (oops). Once released it wreaks havoc until Lousoix (Elf guy with the cane) whisks everyone away. No one knows what happened after that (See "Flames of Truth" for what really happened). You (the player) come in five years later to start a new adventure! ...Also some sketchy black robed figures called the Ascians wanna cause chaos to resurrect their dark god. Good luck! *Heavensward*: Congrats! You have become a Hero (aka the Warrior of Light, or Champion of Eorzea) known for Primal slaying and destroying the Garlean's Ultima Weapon. Unfortunately, you get caught up in a plot to assassinate the Sultana of Ul'dah and are forced to flee to Ishgard, a theocratic Nation embroiled in a thousand-year war with dragonkind. You continue your adventures helping the Ishgardians, learning the secrets behind the Dragonsong War, and foiling the Ascians and their dark plots. *Stormblood*: Congrats on the end of the Dragonsong War! Ishgard joins the Eorzean Alliance! Unfortunately, some guys (same knobs from the Sultana assassination plot) decide to get the Alliance involved in the liberation of the country of Ala Mhigo from the clutches of the Garlean Empire. How do you do that? By going to a completely different country on the other side of the world and liberating it! *Shadowbringers*: Well, your finally able to get into better contact with Mr. Crystal hand. He transports you to a world called the First, a reflection of the player's world (which is the "Source") in order to save the First from primordial light and in turn saving the Source from another calamity. You become the Warrior of Darkness in order to defeat the Light Wardens and bring back the night sky. Oh, and all the souls of your friends that Mr. Crystal Hand accidentally stole (oops) are here as well. Also, more context on the Ascians!
As many people have tried to state, what you've done here is essentially watch the trailers to different seasons of a long running show, except it's the trailers to different parts of a games story.
You hyped yourself up for the wrong part of the game if you were expecting a lot of narrative from the expansion cinematics, honestly. These are meant to draw you in, give you that first taste of what each expansion has to offer, and then you're supposed to actually play and experience the game in order to fill in all the 'what is going on' blanks that they leave you with. Though, alternatively, you could go through the patch trailers to get more direct hints to the overall direction, but that's a lot of watch time. It would kind of defeat the purpose of a story-focused game if they gave you all the story outside of the game. The devs have poured their heart and souls into this game over the last 10 years, and they want people to experience it. And as a player since A Realm Reborn's launch, it's been worth every minute.
For a bit of added context: The generic dude who you constantly see in these trailers is meant to be YOUR character and with the character creation your own Warrior of Light can be any gender, skin color or fantasy race you choose (if cat or bunny ears are your thing.) While the game is an MMO with a heavy story focus, the trailers for each expansion try not to spoil too much of the story and are pretty much just teasing new locations you'll see and experiences your character will go through in the new expansion. While the Shadowbringers and Endwalker trailers do go a bit more heavy into the story, these trailers REALLY aren't meant as promotion for new players but are rather fan service to excite fans who are already invested in the characters and story of the games. It's actually advised for new players to AVOID watching these trailers because without context they lose much of the strength and excitement behind them, not to mention the spoilers rampant throughout the trailers.
Long read but i hope it helps Heavensward trailer: Little tiny lady is a queen, big guy that was thrown in jail was her bodyguard. You and him get framed for her murder, he gets caught, you escape to that castle town. Castle Town is at war with dragons, hijinx ensue Stormblood trailer: you travel to totally-not China and Japan to recruit aid for a war with the evil empire that been attacking you since the first expansion. Shadowbringers: at the end of Stormblood you and evil emperor have duel and you win. Hinjinx ensue and you and your supporting cast get sent to essentially a parallel world where the light is consuming the world and killing everyone. You as the warrior of light must become the warrior of darkness to bring balance to the world so you can find a way to go home.
Thee confusion is understandable, those are basically teasers for the different part of the story, with maybe 50+ hours of story in between. Furthermore, being teasers, they're (well, usually) making a point in NOT being easy to understand what's going on to avoid spoiling peoples. What tells the story really are in game dialogue and in game cutscenes, there's an absurd amount of each. Those trailers are here to build the hype, show new places being added, some of the story character's new situations, new classes to play, etc, for each bloc of story/game being added, but NOT tell the story, since the story is told by playing the game. I suppose it could be possible to make videos containing the ingame content necessary to understand the full story, but these videos would be probably dozen and dozen of hours worth of content. Maybe some madman has already done that as well, but I would say, if someone wants to know the story THAT much, he may as well play the game since it's free to play for half of the story and a pretty good game overall ;D
The game is a storydriven game where you play the Warrior of Light. The Warrior of Light can be any race colour ethnicity or gender but for trailer purposes he is the same white skinned male. the story is given to you in conversations, cutscenes and in environmental storytelling. In between the story there is exploration, fighting and travel but also having fun with other players, buying and decorating homes, learning to craft and gather and even go to weddings between player characters. It's been said before but the trailers are there to give a taste of the mood and feel and themes of the story. the actual story happens inside the game...by playing it. The trailers are about, 1.0 while choosing quests in a bar the Warrior of lights gets a vision of something that happened 10 years in the past (if memory serves me well) A Realm Reborn a Mechanical meteorite falls down on the planet and the Warrior of light tries to prevent it together with friends and the gathered armies of his allies but eventually fails. the old wizard sends him and other adventurers (Players) 5 years into the future where the dragon is gone, people have no memory of how it got beaten and the world is still rebuilding from the devestation. Heavensward after saving the world corrupt elements in one of the states that you helped frame you for the poisoning of the queen. you flee to a new city but that city has a war going on with dragons. they have special knights that can jump really high and then use their velocity and weight to drive their lances into flying dragons. they show of flying islands and the big castle city to give players a taste of the new places they can go. Stormblood In Stormblood The warrior of Light has a sparring match with a friend before they are going to storm the imperial palace freeing the land from 20ish years of oppression by the evil empire. they show of the city of the empire on the map and then show of new underwater zones. They finally show off the new city in an eastern inspired continent where the warrior of light tries to find allies to stop the empire here and free the people from opression over here too. Shadowbringers they Show the literal end of the previous story with the fight between an imperial prince and the warrior of light then we fast forward to the warrior of light walking in a different world which is being destroyed by pure light called the first. He is here to rescue his friends who have been send there before hand. he has a bit of PTSD of about all the things he has done throughout his life up till here. then gets attacked by a being of light. We switch to two of his friends ina burning forest holding the line against whatever is attacking untill he's there to help. then we switch back to the fight where he changes jobs from archer to warrior to Dragoon then Monk and samurai. These are all the same jobs he had in previous trailers. then we switch to another city where there are fat cat people living in opulence above a shanty town. following that we see that in the depths beneath the city one of the friends is saving a girl from a giant light lion. finally we switch to a nice view of the new city where we see a new race that we can play and then we watch the insides of the large crystaline tower. here we see a man who has crystal hands watch the fight of the warrior of light and tell him that to change heis fate and the fate of the world he needs to become a warrior of darkness. The warrior of light changes to the Dark Knight Job and destroys the light monster and in doing so splits the ever burning light in the sky revealing the starry night sky that has been hidden from the people for over 100 years. Sorry for the wall of text and for any mistakes English is my second language lot's of love from the Netherlands.
@@HannaHsOverInvested its all fun and games until you look genuinely angry and agitated which spoils the fun just a smidge. and its not even the epilogues and prologues, its more like reading the dust jacket summary.
Your confusion the whole time was refreshing and amusing haha! I'm glad you still enjoyed your time watching through most of the trailers. You've still got one more, but that's also going to make you confused as hell. XD The Endwalker trailer is more directed at the veterans of the game and also serves as a teaser of what's to come in the expansion.
Understandable that you're gonna be lost from just the trailers. These are meant to be vague story-wise in order to prevent spoiling the story while being a showcase for game features. Not to mention the earlier trailers do not have any dialogue. There's also 2-years worth of in-game content in between each trailer.
So, as others have pointed out, FFXIV continues a single narrative that follows into every expansion, and each cinematic is there as both teaser and introduction to that chapter of the tale. The connecting story that makes them make sense is in the game itself, played by the player in a strong narrative. And since they don't want to spoil what's to come, they don't include a lot in the cinematic trailers. As for the lack of racial diversity, it's there, but it's handled via fantasy races. Eorzea (the main continent) is populated primarily by Germanic style humans (predominantly white), but there are a few strong standout examples of darker peoples, the sunseeker miqo'te (one of the two cat people races) are mostly tanned in complexion, Elezen (elves) come in all manner of skin tones from white as ivory all the way to the classic Dark Elf pitch black skin, then there are the Roegadyn, who are commonly green skinned like orcs, or red skinned, and many shades between. The primary reason for a lack in the trailers was location, as the ingame world has a distribution of skintones based on location more than by race. But the secondary reason is because it's a japanese developer, and with most japanese media, they tend to focus more on japanese or european apperance. One of the best characters with darker skin though, is General Raubahn Aldynn, a refugee of the conquered nation of Ala Mhigo, who through his prowess in battle rose up as a gladiator in the desert nation of ul'dah's colosseum to become one of the ten richest men in the nation. He then uses that wealth and influence to buy his freedom and becomes the most trusted companion of the Sultana (the little hobbit-like woman in the pink who drank the wine), and eventually with the player's help is able to return to his homeland in Stormblood, to liberate it from the Empire that conquered it. He's a noble soul, with fiery determination, a kind heart, and an unstoppable conviction.
If it helps to think about it this way: These are all trailers for different seasons of a long running TV show. Each of these seasons lasted for around two years each. So that's a lot of episodes, so to speak. And continuing the logic, if the seasons ran for two years before a new season came out, then the trailer for season one is going to be way different than the trailer for season 2 or even 4. Hope that makes sense. Edit: It's not a TV show, I'm using an analogy
Low key good your confused, for people who play MMo's we also dont like getting "spoiled" from trailers like these as we play out the game to get the story it self. It would be better to look into a lore video on ff14, or even a lore video in Final Fantasy it self.
The story is hundreds of hours long and complicated. You won't get it from a few minutes of trailers, so they don't even try to fill in people not in the know. They basically showcase locations, jobs/classes, and reference crucial plot points you'd have experienced or are looking forward to as a player of the game. Don't even try to make sense of it from just what you get from the trailers; you'll be way off the mark.
The warrior of darkness storyline started when you get transported to another world by the voice of the trailer this world is covered in light making it dangerous violent and it is terrifying to say the least
There's about one or two hundred hours of story between each of these videos, which is why they seem disjointed. These trailers are more to show off new places and features than to actually explain stuff. The rough, low spoiler outline is: A Realm Reborn: You have to rebuild after the dragon in the moon broke everything. Heavensward: After you get framed for murder at the end of A Realm Reborn, you flee north to a kingdom that has dragon problems. Stormblood: You decide to take down the big evil colonialist empire, which involves learning kung fu and going to fantasy Japan. Shadowbringers: You and your friends get summoned to another dimension where angel monsters are killing people. There's one more cinematic for the most recent expansion, Endwalker. If you want to revisit FF14, you might try checking out the launch trailers for each expansion, rather than these cinematic trailers. The launch trailers use in game footage, generally have more narration and dialogue, and show off a little more of the story, rather than just being a flashy thing they can put in advertisements.
The best explanation I can give is that the trailers for FF XIV are like the covers of a book more than a preview of the story. The game and community are *intensely* anti-spoiler, so all of the context of what's going on is in the game itself.
"I thought this was going to be a full story" --- It is. You aren't missing anything. The real target audience is the players who will have all the background information, from playing the game, that you're missing. For non-players, it just needs to be eye catching and maybe catch their interest enough to try.
So while others are explaining to you the story and how it's stitched together in these trailers, I just want to point out something specific to note. Others have commented on it a bit too: These trailers aren't meant to really explain the story or even be super followable. If you're confused, that's ok. They're meant as small hints and a cursory look at the next expansion for the FFXIV community. As others have mentioned, it's a Massively Multiplayer Online Game. What sets this one apart from others however, is that it's more story driven and oriented. So to get the story, you actually have to play the game; and there's a LOT to it. Each trailer will show the next expansion's new area that you get to travel to and explore, some new enemies you'll be fighting against, maybe a new class or abilities you get to be or perform, and sometimes things like a new race (like the bunny girl you saw, Shadowbringers introduced the "Viera" race which are bunny people). Just to really solidify this: the latest expansion "Endwalker" is the actual ending for this _part_ of the story (so this arc) that started in A Realm Reborn (what we call the original release of the game). It's going to continue on, with a new story arc, but this expansion is wrapping it up and beginning to place seeds for the next one. To put it into perspective this story has been going on for like 12 years. Started in 2010, got rebooted in 2013 game-wise since it wasn't too fun by modern gaming standards, and since then the story has been told through each expansion. I'm really glad you watched these though! Even if the story is confusing and hard to grasp from these, I think the self contained aspect of each trailer is fun and intriguing (to be fair it's meant to also get other people to be interested so they play the game lol). The animation is usually really good and you picked up on a lot of aspects even if you didn't really know it.
Super late, but basically, each trailer is designed to show you new areas and new enemies while only vaguely alluding to what the story is so as not to spoil the game before you play it. So as someone who has never played these games, it's not surprising that you have no idea what's going on. You're not supposed to. But if you would like some context for the trailers: In the A Realm Reborn trailer, the Eorzean Alliance (Your side) is at war with the Garlean Empire (the bad guys). During what was to be the final battle in the war, the Empire tried to bring the moon down on their enemies. More specifically, an artificial moon created by an ancient, advanced civilization (there is also an actual moon, too, but is not relevant here). What they didn't know is that a dragon was sealed inside, which once freed, wreaked havoc on the land and decimated both armies before being defeated by our wizard-like friend in the trailer. During his fight with the dragon, the old man teleports You (or rather the stand-in character for the player used in the trailers) away from the fight in order to save your life. This sets up the beginning of the game, which takes place 5 years after this battle, as the world is trying to rebuild from this calamity. In the Heavensward trailer, your character is racing to save the Sultana (Queen) from being assassinated. But they're too late and she is poisoned. Having been blamed for the assassination, your character is forced to flee to the frozen lands of Ishgard, where they are immediately pulled into Ishgard's never-ending war against dragons that has been raging for a thousand years. This trailer also shows your character changing classes from Warrior to Dragoon. In the Stormblood trailer, the Alliance is taking the fight to the Empire by liberating lands that they've conquered, beginning with Ala Mhigo. Here, your character has become a Monk and is training with the leader of the Ala Mhigan Resistance. The war is being fought on two fronts, taking your character to the Far East, where they have become a Samurai. Even in the Far East, the Empire has soldiers and influence, as it shows your character fight several Imperial soldiers in the Japanese-style city. In the Shadowbringers trailer, your character defeats a powerful Imperial on the battlefield before finding himself lost and confused in a strange land flooded with light. In this world, the balance of light and dark has tipped so far in favor of the light, that it is oppressively blinding. Here, an angelic creature (called a sin-eater in the game) appears to try and kill your character. The Warrior of Light (the name for your character in the game) goes through every class he's ever had in the trailers - Archer, Warrior, Dragoon, Monk, Samurai - but nothing can stop this colossal foe. During the fight, we have the voiceover of the mysterious hooded figure. This person has seen the future and is trying to prevent it from coming to pass. In order to do this, he instructs you to become the Warrior of Darkness. Your character switches to the Dark Knight class, and is then able to defeat the sin-eater, and in doing so, restores the night sky to this world that was up until then, drowning in light. If you decide to watch the last trailer, Endwalker, this trailer shows the world preparing for "The Final Days." The world is burning and those who give into despair twist and warp into nightmarish creatures who turn on their own friends, neighbors, and family. Our heroes travel around the world to try and gain the cooperation of leaders and governments to rally together in this time of unprecendented crisis, knowing that the end of the world draws near. One nation in particular (Sharlyan) seems to know something about the apocalypse that they are refusing to share, frustrating this hero that declares that while Sharlyan hides, the rest will fight til the end. Endwalker was presented as the final chapter in the story, and that's somewhat true. While the game has continued, it has begun a brand new story free from the overarching narrative that drove it for a decade.
I'm late to the show and it may have been explained elsewhere but, the guy you see in every video is Your stand in. He's the "hero" as you progress through the main story. He also changes his class with each weapon, Warrior - Axe, Dragoon (dragon knight) - Lance, Monk - fists, Archer - Bow, Samurai - Katana, DarkKnight - Greatsword. All throughout the story you are the warrior of light, in the last trailer you watched Sadowbringers you learn that you aren't the only warrior of light and in another reality their warriors of light doomed their world. You and your friends end up becoming the warriors of darkness to save their world. There's a lot of backstory between each trailer, but I hope this was somewhat helpful.
I get your confusion. These trailers are specifically made for the players. The story has multiple branches to it so the video jumping around alot is it going to each branch. Theres usually 3 things ff14 trailers try to accomplish 1: preview story without giving it away. 2: showcase new classes and races (ie samurai in Stormblood and Dancer in Shadowbringers) 3: show a few of the areas we'll be exploring. Thats why you were getting alot of fighting then calm shots. Lets take the Shadowbringers trailer. It starts with the duel. That was the end of the pre-expansion content. Then it takes us to a world bathed in light. Thats new story and world. Then it takes us to 2 characters in a burning village. Players would recognize names and characters so more story. It goes back and forth a few times then begins to show different cities. New vistas to explore then you get a slow-mo of a bunny girl. This was the preview of the new race: viera and the new class Dancer. Don't worry about being confused. Even for players its meant to keep you in the dark so when the expansion drops its new for everyone.
I don't think my frustration lasts very long, and I also think its fun. So I guess I don't really understand your comment. The confusion is part of the fun.
yeah, the FF14 trailers are less connected cinematics, and more a super light show of what's to come and a continuation of what happened in the story prior it's a MASSIVE game, the trailers you've seen are hundreds of hours of story apart so it's hard to digest and break down without the context the best out of context cinematic is probably Shadowbringers, cause it kinda puts some of the pieces together (kinda? it's still the best with that context) and none of us really knew what was happening to a great degree
There is still one more trailer left for “Endwalker”, which is the newest expansion and rounds off this entire arc of trailers known as the “Hydaelyn and Zodiark Story”. It’s my favorite trailer out of all of them, since it brings together the story of everything we’ve gone through so far, as well as having an amazing soundtrack which combines the themes and leitmotifs of all previous expansions. It will truly melt your brain, but I definitely recommend that you watch it, as you will then have the full experience (in regards to the trailers, that is).
I saw someone else watch with the expansion trailer before each expansion cinematic, which helps a lot because it gives a quick movie trailer summary of what's happened and happening in the story.
"she's a bunny girl... and i am confusion" LMAOOOOO basically in each of these trailers it's a summary of what happened previously in the story, a brief introduction of the zones that we're gonna travel through, the new races (bunny girl) and jobs that's new or the focus of the expansion, and where the story is going next. since FF14 is an mmorpg with hundreds of hours of story, each trailer would be released after approx. 50 hours of playtime on the story alone. this is why non-gamers will be very confused watching these cinematics with no context lol
FF14 is the only story based game that does strong women correctly. It's fantastic how every character in the game was well written. It's also the only game that managed me to shed some tears. It's an incredible game.
this is definitely NOT the only story based game that does strong women correctly, but it's a contender for possibly doing it better than anything else (especially outside of indie games), and it's a rare and shining example of a game absolutely nailing it, and doing so with pretty much every female character, and also having a solid amount of female characters
The Shadowbringers trailer is the best, with or without context. When it released, it caused me to download and try the game. A few years later, I’ve played for about 2,000 hours. Now, *_that’s_* a trailer.
So actually its hard to explain 200+ hours of cinematic cs, but the reason why you actually don't understand the trailers is because they include kind of mysterious introduction to the new content, that will be released in addition to some thrilling spot lights for existing players, for example the man with the white hair who was running away with the cute little girl is called Thancred, and this girl during early story was believed to be the re-incarnation of the scions leader Miniflia, who was sacrificed to protect the (source) one of the 13 realms Quoting from a level 60-70 cs "one life for one one world, such was the bargain", and he was actually the closest to her than others since he was her sworn guard, eventually during the level 80 story you will discover as a player that she is actually not the re-incarnation of Miniflia.
Since you like writing and reading fantasy books i think you might want to consider giving this game free trial a go honestly. It's A LOT of reading and little actual gaming until you finish the main story plus it's very beginner friendly. I know you are not a gamer but it's never too late to become one ;). It starts very slowly and the community is one of the most welcoming to newbies.
To clear it up a bit, each expansion trailer generally showcases some of the areas and themes of the places you're going to go in that expansion. They generally show some story hints but you really need to have context to get most of it.
each clip is an expansion, basically a new book of the "FFXIV saga" the first clip showcased the end of A Realm Reborn, the poisoning of Nanamo (the pink munchkin) and the framing of the "murder" of our guy. Our guy then went on to avoid the authorities. he went to the Holy See of Ishgard, gets involved in the Dragonsong War, hence the people fighting dragons. the trailer also shows the "elite ops" of Ishgard, the Dragoons, Spear wielding, jumpy, flying dudes that ironically use the powers of the dragons to fight against dragons. This is basically the premise of Heavensward. the second clip shows us the somewhat start of the 3rd book of the saga, Stormblood, and a story beat revealed at the end of Heavensward, the girl who was sparring with our guy was pretending to be her long dead sister and now told us so. She seeks to retake her country occupied by the country that was shown to be the dark and lightning-y in the zoom out. we are helping her and the rebels. we sought help on another front, the Asian inspired place. we also team up with the big dude and woman on the tower too. the third clip is the Shadowbringers book, where we are shown at first a story beat from the tail end of Stormblood, our guy fighting in the battlefield. what wasn't shown is our guy is basically ripped from his dimension along with a few of our closest friends (the card guy and staff woman in a blazing fire, and the swashbuckling dude fighting a giant lion thing are one of those friends) to another realm to save that realm from utter destruction, which if happens, will cause a domino effect to our home dimension. the guy who is in the Crystal Tower is our friend btw and he was the one who pulled us away from our home. I hope this helps :D
the reason you feel confused is that the first trailer you've seen was from the Re-release of the game, "Realm Reborn" and every trailer here are announcing the new Expansion, which all have completely own stories that all intertwine together in the end at the current expansion "Endwalker" a trailer you have yet to watch. FFXIV or Final Fantasy 14 is an MMORPG, meaning that to understand the game, you'd have to go through the story from the beginning which depending on how much you would enjoy raiding/harder content and doing side content for side stories you might play the game for thousand hours and not be in the Endwalker's current end of story
Trailers are like teasers for fans of the game to get excited for the expansion they don't like telling you the story they want you to experience it in game
Not trying to hate but I am confused as to what is the point of this video? "Thought this was a full story..." These are trailers, trailers are not going to give you the full plot of what is going on because then why would the player base bother playing??? Now, I'M confused as to what the point of this is @_@
The trailers are intentionally vague so that the major plot points of the story aren't spoiled. It seems confusing as hell based on just the trailer, but it's all connected and it's great.
If you ever play understand the main story quest, MSQ has been shortened apparently. The game is hundreds of quests long when I played, so yes, it's all very deeply explained, you can't start at the middle and expect it to make sense.
I've noticed that the more story a game has generally the trailers are very vague, whereas multi-player only games like R6, Overwatch, valorant etc. have only their trailers to tell as much story as they can to make up for the lack of it in the game.
Late to this video, so no idea if you'll even see this but... Think of it this way. Final Fantasy XIV was the first book in the series - the trailer with them at the bar and the vision of seeing the battles was the set up; the call to adventure. A Realm Reborn was the second book in the series and that trailer was actually doing two things: Showing you how the first book concluded (the battlefield where the huge dragon just destroyed everything) and introducing the events just prior to the book "Realm Reborn" as well. Ultimately it is about an empire puppet mastered by evil beings to attack your lands. Heavensward is the third book in the series. The trailer won't make much sense if you didn't "read the prior book" because the end of Realm Reborn introduced this nation and their 1000 years of war with the dragons. The poison you picked up on and the guy losing his arm? That was part of the prior "book's" climax, so without "reading the book" you're rather in the dark. Heavensward is about uncovering the true origins of the 1000 year war, why the main dragon leading it is so hellbent on destroying this nation, and how to go about resolving the war. After that is resolved, the final chapter starts placing the pieces for the next book involving liberating a nation from an empire that has been present since the first book. Stormblood is the fourth book in the series. The trailer also doesn't make much sense in that respect without having "read" Heavensward. If you had, you know who the characters are in this trailer at the end with the hawk on her arm. Otherwise? Unclear. This book is about liberating not one, but it turns out to be two nations under the brutal heel of the empire and places us in direct conflict with the empire's prince - a man who finds ruling an empire, or even a territory boring and only seeks the thrill of combat against a worthy opponent. "Only in these brief moments, these seconds between moments, can we feel alive." Shadowbringers isn't quite the same. You'll have a little more context playing the game, but we were just as confused going into that one as well. The trailer brought a flood of questions, speculations, and confusion even knowing the story (that's what they were going for, though). Like "I'm not going anywhere, Mifnilia" is met with "WHAT?!" by every reaction channel playing through the game because last we saw Minfilia, she was an adult woman and essentially died, then sent her soul to another world to aid them. Heck, this entire trailer comes after the game's story where all the characters IN this trailer had fallen into comas and now they're in these different roles in places that seem familiar but are totally different. The first guy walking up says "What sayest thou, Master Matoya?" but Master Matoya is an old crone of a witch as we knew her. She's hunched over and delightfully cranky and sharp tongued... but when that hood blows back, that's her apprentice "Y'shtola" so again we were all going "Why did he call her Master Matoya? WHAT IS GOING ON?" And the climax of the trailer? We've been the Warrior of Light for the entire story. The Warriors of Darkness were our enemies briefly and how we're being told to *become* the warrior of darkness. It was a flood of questions, but the story itself was absolutely amazing. The story, however, is revealing more details about this universe; how there was once a single world, but it was split into 14 worlds - the original "source" world and its 13 reflections. This book's story is about trying to save one of the reflections from being destroyed, again all puppeteered by those evil puppet masters from the start..... but are they actually evil, or do we just not understand the purpose? For that matter, are we actually serving the one responsible for everything? Endwalker is the final book in this series. If you haven't read the previous books, specifically Shadowbringers, it really won't make sense, but it's gorgeous and does tell a little bit of story within the trailer, but not as much context without knowing all the "books" prior. Ultimately, the story is about finding hope in hopelessness and finding your purpose in life and what leads to happiness. It's one of the most emotional stories I've experienced in book, film, or gaming. There's so much heart in this, "the final tale of this star." Each trailer builds on the story the players just completed while teasing what's to come or giving a little set up going into the next chapter of the story. Ironically, I'm 100% sure you'd love every moment of the actual game's story from Heavensward onward because it just keeps building up intrigue and then when revelations come, they hit you like a truck. The majority of streamers don't make it through the full story with dry eyes. There are so many perfect moments of pure emotion from joy to sadness to bittersweet feelings of resolution that needed to be found, but not the way we wanted to find them. Of course, every ending is a new beginning and while Endwalker ended the story over all these "books" it will also introduce the seeds for our next adventure that will start a new book series. But this is the full story arc of Final Fantasy XIV > Realm Reborn > Heavensward > Stormblood > Shadowbringers > Endwalker. Whatever comes next will be a new tale for these characters to venture into. ""That which lives is destined to die. Love leads to loss. Every beginning has an end. Treasure every moment; every step of your descent. And there in the depths where souls and stars rest; find your truth."
These trailers are basically like a tiny prologue for each book in a series; like a page or two preamble that presumes you read the previous books, and mostly serves to remind you where you are and tease where you're going. As someone who has not played the game, you haven't experienced the 300 pages of story between each of these trailers, so it's going to seem like nonsense. They're also trying not to outwardly spoil the story in the game, so they tend to obfuscate, so even long-time players can't make complete sense of the trailer until they actually finished that part of the game.
![บุษบา - เมนทอล [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IGnWPokSEis/mqdefault.jpg)
"she's a rabbit, and i am confusion" 😭😭😭😭
🤣🤣
susssshsususushhhhh sssss accept the bunny girls.... and any other girls in the game 🤫
“Unnecessary violence to dragons.” Ysayle invites you to her party.
Pffft 😂
... meanwhile, HW-Estinien violently unfriends.
Each trailer is announcing the new expansion for FF14, which is a Massively Multiplayer Online game, like World of Warcraft. Each one continues the overall story. For Heavensward, your character is on the run, blamed for the poisoning of the little girl, who is a Queen basically. Taking refuge in a kingdom that has been at war with dragons for 1000 years. Stormblood has your character liberating kingdoms around the world from the evil empire. And Shadowbringers is your character traveling to a literal parallel dimension and saving it. Hope that clears things up a little! lol
The big difference between FFXIV and WoW is that each WoW expansion is a self-contained story, where FFXIV is a single continuous story. This makes a new WoW trailer a lot easier to follow, because there's usually only one or two minor details from the previous expansion that are relevant to the new story being told, but each new trailer for FFXIV becomes harder to follow than the one before, because you are missing more and more context each time.
@@kellynine7438 Also the trailers aren't like a typical trailer for a movie. Its not meant to tell you the over all story. Its just showing you important locations and characters for the most part, giving hints on what you'll be seeing and getting players excited for content. The guy with the axe who put on the dragon armor then who fought on the hand, was a samurai all represent your character in the trailers. From ARR to heavensward-stormblood-shadowbringers-endwalker, all are telling one giant story arch with multiple smaller arches going through. The next expansion which will probably drop end of 2023, is gonna be the start of a whole new giant story arch.
K....know FFXIV's songs... The Dragonsong War. It's just was going through
lol "little girl" is both inaccurate and correct
@@JamesHulltheFabulousJ honestly it's the best way to describe her though xD you think the average person who's never played 14 is gonna understand she's part of a race of lolihags? 😂
As a fiction writer you would love this game, and it's specifically designed for non gamers so there's really no gamer curve to worry about. (P.s. it's also a great way to grow a channel as ff14 fan are constantly chasing a new player experience for our story high...)
Yeah watching streams of ff14 is like a new crazy addiction for me lol
We term ourselves emotional vampires. We so enjoyed playing the story that we want to see others doing the same and experience thier highs and lows too.
Well you see...the story in a nutshell....is....you start out on a chocobo carriage ride...find a crystal....and then, like 300 hours later you go to the store to replace all the tissues you've used up. And that's basically it.
it really is lmao i ran out of tissues and need to go to the store and im not even done witht eh latest expansion
Start for the adventure, stay to resolve the questions of existential crisis and finding hope and purpose in the depths of hopelessness.
this is accurate
that sounds like an extremely long winded way to tell a hentai story :D
Mean while I'm a entrainer bard dressed as a jester in the golden saucer and then i change into a cowboy for chocobo racing XD
Game has like over 200 hours of story in the game, so yeah they mostly highlight new zones etc. in trailers and the somewhat "overall plot"
haha got it.
yeah Square Enix is very good with story but also it wouldn't do if they told the whole story in their short trailers so they make it vague you wont really get anything from only watching the trailer if you haven't played through the previous expansion. otherwise what would even be the point of playing.
@@jerome6519 japanese game trailers usually suck at presenting their stories though, its not just a Ff14 problem. Just compare this with something like eso or swtor where you can get a general gist of the story. Even though I love Ff14, the trailers are pretty nonsensical if you think about what its like for a newcomer. Even the ARR trailer is pretty bad at presenting its story.
@@ryanlin223 ffxiv's trailers aren't made with new players in mind. New players shouldn't even watch them to be honest because of potential story spoilers. Even the ARR trailer assumes you have some understanding of what was going on. This isn't even a Japanese thing. Gp back amd watch the first two WoW trailers.
200 hours more like 800 hours
Haven't even started watching but oh man am I excited to watch her brain have a melt down trying to understand what the hell is going on in this story 🤣
LOL enjoy!
To answer the "why is everyone white" question, it's because the game is Japanese. Japanese people are generally pale, and very commonly depict themselves in art that way (especially anime) because they like pale skin (kind of like how people in the west like tan skin, they intentionally get tans). What we see as "white", they see as Japanese. It's a game for Japanese people first, so most of the characters in the game will be "Japanese" to represent their core demographic. There are many characters in the game that aren't pale, but most of the main characters are.
In the game however, you're not playing a character they created, you make your own character (which can be whatever color you want).
Also, these trailers are for "expansions" to the game's story, you're not really meant to understand them without having played the game, so don't feel bad for not catching on.
Not to mention most Japanese RPG are based on western high fantasy, which mimics medieval Europes. So it make sense to them to have majority of characters "paler" skin tone.
@@pngmk2 I can't necessarily support the claim, but I read that the reason so many characters are lighter in coloration is because its easier to render graphics wise than darker colors. SE tries very hard to keep the system requirements for ff14 down so a wider audience can play and not have a gaming cpu so that could also play into it.
Well, in this case at least, most of the characters in these_are_ depicted as white since a lot of the main areas are based on European places, but yeah that's generally true. There just aren't any trailers that show a bunch of Ala Mhigan or Hannish townsfolk.
To add, there are a lot of POC characters in the game that have important roles. Just non of them are the main cast.
@@Wicca_P This is also partially true. 14's lighting system is absolutely abysmal for skin tones darker than a latte.
You're just gonna keep getting upset if you expect a strong, simple connected narrative between trailers. This is an MMO game, and each of these trailers are for expansions AKA large content updates and new things to do. These trailers aren't meant to tell an arching story for a new viewer, they're meant as lore recaps for the previous expansion and then showing/inspiring us for the new expansion they're advertising, usually around showing a new zone/area/city and characters we've met in the game before
Was I upset? If I was, I promise it didn't last long.
Also the later xpac trailers are full of red herrings
She didn't seem upset, just confused. And tbf not all mmos structure their trailers like this. WoW, for all of their faults, let's each trailer set itself up to be understood by anyone. FF14 takes the weird path of being very tired to the story in-game
@@GuyAngon Not really, my guy, it sets up a story and leaves it open ended, just like the FF14 trailers do. How every trailer does it.
@@GuyAngon That's because it leaves out everything from before one expansion to the next. Which reflects its stories; new expansion, forget everything from the previous trailer. FFXIV trailers recap major events to connect with the next chapter highlighted in a new trailer. They're more meant to be watched as you play the game; new expansion, remember what happened after you finished the previous expansion.
As a hardcore FFxiv-er can I just say that was hilarious to watch!! This is definitely one of those games that looks ridiculous from the outside but honestly I love every odd thing about it 😂😂😂
I am so glad you enjoyed watching my video. Thank you!
It... Doesnt really.
Its high fantasy.
If you want the story, you have to play the game. There are hundreds of hours of story between everything. It's fantastic.
Final Fantasy 14 is a very story-driven game. Dozens and dozens of hours of story in between each expansion and each of these videos is an intro to each of those expansions. So yes, you are supposed to know what's going on in them. So don't feel bad that you don't because there is A LOT going on in this game. These cinematics are also meant to be a bit vague on what's to come because they don't want to spoil much but also want to deliver a visual treat. :)
"That seemed like unnecessary violence towards dragons."
Yeah, that's heavenward lmao
But it was necessary :)
Or the entire Dragonsong War, when we think about it.
Never trust an Elezen.
"I think I'm missing something." Well just a few hundred hours of gameplay, questing, raids, and dungeons. I've been playing video games since I was a wee lad playing Super Nintendo in the early 90s, and started FF14 last year and it quickly became one of my favorite video game stories of all time.
haha just a few hundred.
@@HannaHsOverInvested That's if you're slightly rushing things. I've put a few hundred into a second character and with the benefit of knowing what I need and want to do I still haven't reached that first trailer you opened the video with.
The game is addicting and I agree it's got one of the most investing and emotional stories I've come across in gaming. And I haven't even made it to the most emotional expansion hence the second character, I'm not ready to be destroyed yet.
This is putting it lightly, I've been playing for the last year or so and have not caught up to current "end", in fact I still haven't finished the 3rd expansion Shadowbringers.
@@HannaHsOverInvested i think im currently in the thousands in terms of hours and i havent even finished the last expansion yet lol theres a whole lot of content
@@HannaHsOverInvested Some streamers actually have spent 1 year just going through every story element, so it's not completely unamanageable when you think of it as 10 years of story releases digested in 1 year.
It's like diving into a long running book series that just gets better with each book.
Just a note on the girl in red's outfit being 'impractical' ..... If i remember correctly, 'loose' clothing with flapping/wavy sections at specific places around the person were actually 'part of' the martial arts in some aspects. They were employed to 'blind' the opponent to what your own body was doing.
lots of people have a weird idea of "impractical" when it comes to fantasy clothing and armor simply because they have no knowledge of actual historical clothing and armor.
These trailers are most likely based on the assumption that the player base has already gone through the Main Scenario story in the game, so it's a trick to put out a trailer without giving too much. They mostly introduce new characters, suggest what the story would be about, introduce new locations, and a little bit of reminder of past expansions. I love the confusion that you had, and I hope it intrigues you enough for you to maybe want to go through the story in-game!
I've noticed some games, like World of Warcraft, largely tell the story in cinematics (so you can watch a series of them and get the through line) whereas others, like elder scrolls online and apparently final fantasy 14, tell the story in game and just have the cinematic to show..general vibes I guess. The second is definitely my preference (it's a game, not a movie) but does lead to confusion if you're only watching the cinematics. Also, these cinematics are mostly aimed at current and returning players.
Cinematic trailer are really just to hype up new players as well as give a teaser to current players (eg. on HW trailer, we got to see big dragons! Oh what is that? Islands in the sky? We getting flying! Oh look at that, dragons are attacking! Oooooh we gonna be at war with dragons!)
It also helps that SE generally does an amazing job at hyped up trailers that looks spoilery but isn't even close to it when you find the context.
@@darkmirror21 I'd say you have it backwards. It's to hype up current players whole giving a teaser, and potential spoilers, to new players. I'm looking specifically at the Heavensward trailer in regards to spoilers as its the only one that actually recaps previous events.
"I feel like I am missing a key component to the story" Yes. The whole thing lmao. Still loving the reaction! They should have just made a movie along with the game
Naw the game too long to be telling a movie like that.... i mean ppl didnt take to well to advent children. Plus XD how do you condense nearly 600 hours of story telling into 2 hour bits?
Maybe a series? With Vanilla FFXIV to Endwalker, you got enough story for several seasons!
@@loomingdeath1758: In what world was Advent Children not taken well, I always had the impression it was rather well loved.
@@squallofthedai you had the impression XD but you dont speak for everyone around. Thats like saying everyone in the world loves Kingdom hearts... I met people who despise that game with utter passion and hate the fan base as well.
Imagine that each of these final fantasy 14 trailers as a introduction of a book series. Sometimes it starts you from where you left off at the end of the previous book on to the next book of the series.
'Those outfits seem impractical for fighting' 🤣 Tip meet iceberg.
HAHAHA
Good thing she didn't see the stuff going on in Limsa......
Or any where on Balmung@@DietPropharah
Gonna give you a brief summary for context for the Heavensward trailer (SPOILERS EH)
After disposing of a very nasty piece of War machine from an invading nation (Garlemald) the Main Character (MC) and their companions participate in Banquet. The MC get invited by the Sultana for a private chat and during that meeting she gets poisoned
The Sultana general in a fit of rage at the news kill a High Ranking Member of the merchant Syndicate of the city, which supposedly was behind of the whole thing, and get his arm chopped off and imprisoned. The MC gets framed for the Sultana's death.
The MC escape and seek refuge in Ishgard which is the city of spires showed in the trailer, which was a nation that has been closed off for decades since it has been entangled in a war with dragons for a long time (Dragonsong war, or the Thousand Years War)
MC get attacked by a dragon and is ill equiped to face this particular enemy and get saved by a Dragoon, which is an Ishgardian soldier specialized in killing Dragons. The camera then pans to a view of the city post a dragon attack, ruins and tired guards as a way to convey the toll that the war require of the populace but also a moment of reprieve where the MC just marvel at a place he's never been and has only ever heard of.
The trailer pass to show skyship scouting areas around the city, these find that Dragons are coming for the city
Dragons attack, last shots are MC donning the armor of the Dragoon to help repelling the incoming attack.
He's the flame general, not Sultana general
@@celticlord88 correct enough. This just summarize it for context or I would kinda have felt the need of going on on a tangent explaining the grand companies and how Raubhann ties to the Sultana
I just had to simplify a bit in places
Nice short summary. And you stop and hw so she would savour the plotwists
-There are a couple of recaps but maybe the best for you is the one the channel IGN GAMES has titled "Final Fantasy 14: The Story So Far" its about 9 minutes only, there are others that last about 1 or 5 hours so i think the short one is the best choice for you.
-The same thing as in the wow intros. Game has long fat story, in fact one if not the best on a mmorpg, but the intros serve more to present the new classes and new enviroments. Dont try to find a cohesive relation between them.
-Each numbered final fantasy is a totally different story and universe, only certain thins in common like some creatures or the names of some characters.
Cool! Thank you!
I second this! A short story recap would be great at adding much needed context to these trailers watched today.
Lots of white people:
Square Enix is a Japanese company.
“Americans apply this thinking to Japanese drawings. But to the Japanese, the default human being is Japanese! So they feel no need to make their characters “look Asian”. They just have to make them look like people and everyone in Japan will assume they are Japanese - no matter how improbable their physical appearance.” - Julian Abagond
Japanese animators took inspiration from Western animators, way back when cartoons were first being made. You can easily tell when they draw a Westerner, they use a lot of racial stereotypes like making them loud and disrespectful, sometimes they'll make them look like a fat American tourist, or give them blond hair, blue eyes and a cleft chin. Sometimes they'll draw them wearing almost Victorian Era clothes and give them a ridiculous accent if they want to show they're English.
The cadence of Final Fantasy XIV trailers tends to be:
Show off the New Job/Class available in the new expansion
Show off some of the characters/returning characters you'll meet
Give a hint at some of the story you'll encounter
Show off the part of the world you'll be playing in
So it's understandable you'll be confused, especially without a lot of the backstory you learn from playing the game.
Nah, the only trailer that shows a new Job is Stormblood... Thats the only one.. And Square said they dont want to do that again.
Yeah you need to realize that they are not going to tell you all the story, given that there's hundreds of hours of story. It is in fact one of, if not THE greatest continuous stories in all of gaming. There are things they set up 10 years ago that they are JUST NOW paying off in Endwalker, the latest expansion.
These are EXPANSION trailers. You need to like find videos on the STORY of FF14 if you want more context. There's a bunch of people who have devoted hours and days of their lives to create such videos, you should watch them; but be prepared to spend hours on it. We don't "just go around fighting" in this game. There are friendships made and broken, enemies to make and fight against, grand quests to go on, monsters to slay, Primals to take down, secrets to find, lands full of forests, deserts, beaches and of ice and snow to explore, and even a chain of sidequests with a detective who can't detect but bumbles his way to the correct answer each and every time. You know how in our world we don't know what secrets the Earth holds under water and in hard-to-reach places of the world? In the game world its very much the same; we still don't know everything about the lands we inhabit here now 10 years on. We are still learning new things about old zones and cities.
Also for the "white people" comment, you couldn't be more wrong. This is a Japanese game. They have a lot less compunctions and hangups about white/black race relations than the rest of the world does. They just don't get the whole thing. They create races to match the areas they are found in. Furthermore, there's a bunch of races in this game that are multicolored. In character creation you can literally do anything you want with color. There are even races of sentient animals. There are talking (and walking) catfish for god's sake. This is perhaps one of the most MULTIRACIAL games out there. You are taking a very small sample size of people you see in the videos and extrapolating it to the game at large and that's just not proper; especially given that the main character pictured is the same in each video AND they aren't going to show a lot of the characters from the expansions because they don't want to spoil.
Video game trailers are not the equivalent of reading a book about the game; they're the equivalent of reading a blurb that might appear on the back of a book about the game. They aren't designed for you to understand what's going on, instead they're designed to get you pick it up off the shelf by showing you what you can expect but not give you any answers to questions you may ask about it. It's not a movie, it's an advertisement and a hype piece.
Speaking of ads, FFXIV would be a great choice as an introduction into gaming if you like a little camp in your story and have a lot of patience for the damn thing to GET anywhere. The main storyline content isn't mechanically difficult and the community is welcoming and patient with new players. Not to mention the free trial up to a pretty damn high level cap with no limit on playtime, about which you've certainly gotten bombarded in other comments by now.
(Some spoilers for the games story to follow)
These trailers do make alot more sense if you play the game, as each one is basically a teaser for what is going to happen next. Like a big one is in the last trailer Shadowbringers where Thancred(The guy with the gunblade fighting the white lion with a crown) says "I'm not going anywhere, Minfilia" The name Minfilia made fans go 'WAIT WHAT!?' because Minfilia is a character that's part of the story way back in A Realm Reborn as well as Heavensward, but she wasn't a kid. So there was a lot of confusion and fan speculation as to what was going on with this kid that looked alot like Minfilia and was being called Minfilia.
Other ones like Heavensward basically recapped the last bits of story from ARR and set the stage for us going to Ishgard to deal with the Dragons as we knew from the main story quests that Nidhogg had let loose his dragonsong to rally his brood and renew his war against Ishgard.
Stormblood was mostly showing us we'd be going to Ala Mhigo as well as the Far East with Othard. The fight on the stone hand was just the Warrior of Light and Lyse sparring together as they are actually friends and allies. The east showed us that Gosetsu and Yugiri would be continuing to play a part.(THey were the big man and smaller gal with horns ontop of the building.)
Yeah there are alot of white people in the game, but the game does also have a good many characters with darker skin tones that play parts in the story. Like a fan favorite character who you saw briefly in the Heavensward trailer is Raubahn who is a darker skinned Ala Mhigan and is the Flame General of the Immortal Flames of Uldah so we see him alot, and he's an amazing character, badass fighter but has a big heart for his people and his friends.
Though you probably would enjoy knowing that the 3 Leaders of the main CIty States you deal with in game, Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, Ul'dah are all women who are badasses in their own ways and just awesome characters. FF14 has alot of really cool characters you meet over the course of the story which is like an epic journey that makes you feel like a part of the world.
I still think it's wonderful that you're willing to enjoy the trailers to our game even if you're in the dark on the lore! I appreciate people trying new things! The lovely people in your comment section have been helping out too I see!
You're not supposed to understand anything from those trailers ^^ the story is in the game, those are just cool opening linking each expansions.
it's understandable why you don't understand what's happening since these trailers are just showing new places and a bit of what's going to happen in the next expansion of the story and you don't know the story
if you really want to know what the story is about you should watch a summary but those are between 1-3 hours long
Noted! Thank you!
Well, it is a full story, and a very rich one at that. What you're missing is the many, many, many hours of gameplay, most of which is heavily story-driven and character-centric, that goes in-between these cinematics. I'd say it's impossible to make full sense of what every scene shows you without having played through the game's Main Story Quest line. :)
Edit: And in hindsight I feel that I should also point out that these expansion trailers are not very story-driven at all, not at all like the World of Warcraft ones that normally focus on showing a specific event that takes place, involving specific characters, in a key moment of the story. These are more like a montage of new locations, new characters and new player classes being put on display for the specific expansion. The "main guy" you see return in each of these is representing the player character and the reason he appears totally different and with different combat styles in different scenes is because he's class-switching (classes are called "jobs" in this game, but I refer to them as classes as that makes more sense to a non-player). One of the things that makes FFXIV unique is the fact that you can play every class, or "job", on a single character. If you've played as a warrior and want to be a Black Mage or a Paladin you don't have to create new characters to do so, you simply pick up these new "jobs" and level them on the same character. I can really understand how confusing these cinematics can be to someone that doesn't play the game so don't feel bad that they left you confused. :D
It seems that you have not seen a trailer in your life, a trailer gives you a glimpse of the world and history, but it is an invitation to live it.
"unnecessary violence to dragons" that basically sums up the entire expansion of Heavensward
Did you know that the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has a free trial, and includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 with no restrictions on playtime?
i could spend a century trying to explain how much i love your username and still not capture it properly
How would you think it would be all one complete story for the trailers? Would you put out a complete plot synopsis of your books to get people to read them?
It is a full story, but you are seeing the end of one story and the beginning of the other.
it's super interesting seeing her watch these with the expectation that they are self-contained movies that are supposed to tell a complete story, rather than the reality that they're just cinematic teaser trailers for the game where the story is actually told lol
It's not an expectation. More of an unrealistic hope. Part of the fun is trying to follow an incomplete story. Sometimes I get the plot right, most of the time I don't.
@@HannaHsOverInvested it was fun seeing you guess ^^ from an outside perspective this would all look totally insane, definitely lol
As a person who's played since the beginning, I actually enjoyed watching your reactions at not really knowing wtf is going on haha! Very good video
Glad you enjoyed it!! It seems that this video is going under a lot of people's skin. Especially people who have played the game and are confused at why. I am trying to figure out the whole thing with a few trailers. But I'm really happy that you had fun because it's all just for fun. Thank you for your comment 🙏🏼❤️
@@HannaHsOverInvested people need to chill. It says in title someone who hasn't played before or knows what's going on so you're gonna be confused. I enjoyed your video immensely
You've already seen the 1.0 trailer, which is the three people in the tavern deciding on which quest to start with, premonitions of conflict with the Garleans, and the Warrior of Light is an archer.
2.0, or A Realm Reborn is the one with the dragon coming out of the moon and nuking everything in sight. Teh WoL is a Warrior (axe wielder)
3.0, or Heavensward, the WoL is still a warrior at the start and is approaching the city-state of Ishgard. They've been at war with the dragonkin for about 1000 years, and one of their frontline defenses is the Dragoon, the lancers that leap around. The expansion is centered around the Dragonsong War, as it's referred to. The dude in the airship is Cid. He's an engineer.
4.0, Stormblood, the Monk class that the WoL and the lady in red are using got reworked. This cinematic gives very little in the way of story beats, and the expansion on the whole is a bit of a low point imo. You're trying to free Doma, the land of samurai and ninja (Samurai class was added here, and WoL is shown as a samurai) form the Garlean Empire.
in 5.0, Shadowbringers, the cinematic is interesting because you see flashbacks of all the other cinematics, and when the WoL is fighting the angel, he rotates through all of the classes we've seen him use in the other cinematics in order - when the angel first strikes, he's an archer. The bow shatters and he switches to Warrior (axe). Next strike, the axe shatters and he switches to Dragoon (lance). Eventually the lance shatters, and he switches to Monk (barehanded). His attacks are ineffective, and as the angel is about to crush him, he switches to Dark Knight and destroys it. The expansion focuses on a region that's nearly been consumed by a flood of light-aspected magic, hence the angel being the enemy and the good guy using the power of darkness. They added the Dancer class and female Viera (rabbit lady), as well as Gunbreaker (dude with the trenchcoat and the revolver sword).
Shadowbringers...will take time to explain....the world was shattered into 13 different shards and the Source (the world the game mostly takes place on). The Warrior of Light is transported to the 1st Shard, which is being overcome by Light Energy and is on the brink of being destroyed. If the 1st falls, it will cause a Calamity on the Source that will destroy civilization and kill millions. So, the Warrior of Light takes on the persona of the Warrior of Darkness to help restore the balance, so the 1st Shard isn't destroyed. This is a very brief summary, it skips a lot of detail vital to the story, but it gives you a general idea. Shadowbringers also has the best villain ever in the history of Final Fantasy, Emmett Selch. Look him up.
Watching your confusion was so fun! I'll try to be as spoiler free as possible here, in case no one explained it in depth. As a disclaimer, the FFXIV expansion trailers are front loaded with Easter eggs and story bits that you can't catch until you've actually played the story, so I can't explain all of them, but I can explain your big questions.
1.0 and ARR:
- Only thing you need to know here is that the main classes were bard (the bow user) and warrior (the axe user) respectively. It comes up throughout later trailers.
- The man you see as the main character of these trailers is a stand in for your player character. He's fondly called Meteor in the fandom, or derplander if you're shit posting.
Heavensward:
- You are a fugitive, left alone and isolated from your friends due to a setup in one of the major city states. Due to the alliance of the three city states and the uncertainty of your freedom in the other two, you're forced to run to a nation so isolated that you can't possibly be followed there by the alliance nations. It just turns out that nation has been in a millennia-long war against the dragon peoples.
- The main class for this expansion is dragoon, the spear users. Dragoons historically were created to fight against the dragons, which explains why they use spears, have high jumping attacks, and wear spiky armor (think anti-raptor dog vests).
Stormblood:
- Due to unforeseen but long-running circumstances, the nations of Eorzea have been thrown into war against the Garlean Empire. The Garlean Empire controls two regions, both of which your goal is to free them: Gyr Abania, home of the Ala Mighans, and Doma, in the far east.
- Due to the story taking place in two regions, this is the only expansion with two emphasis jobs. Gyr Abania is home to the monks, who are the melee fighters you see on top of the statue. The statue you see is Rhalgr, the patron deity of the monks. For Doma, the emphasis job is samurai. Ninja also gets some neat interactions just because it's also a job based in the Domans' culture.
Shadowbringers:
- In order to save your world from calamity, first you have to save another world. You and your companions are called to that world in order to save it from the corruption of light, but there are forces conspiring to stop you from doing that. The creature Meteor is fighting in the trailer is a result of this corruption. The scenes outside that fight scene are happenings of your companions' lives before you arrive and meet up with them. Minfilia seems very random if you don't know the lore, but trust me when I say she is very, very important to the story, even before this expansion.
- The emphasis job for this expansion is dark knight for reasons that are very obvious in the name.
- This trailer is unique in that it is not just future focused, but also past-focused. The scenes you see are experiences you've gone through up to this point. This is poignantly emphasized by your shift through each of your past classes. You start with bard, shift into warrior, then monk and samurai, and finally end on dark knight.
"What sayeth thou, Mistress Hannah?" "I Am Confusion"
Always, and joyously, I am confusion.
I had another comment, but I was done the minute you mentioned race.
The trailers aren't making sense, because they're not gonna give you the whole story in the trailers. We put in HARD work and hundreds of hours to get the whole story -- also - there are MANY races you haven't seen yet - and MANY flesh color options for characters we make. There are many POC characters in this game. If you wanna understand it...play the game.
I find it funny when she said she was starting to understand 😂
lol, well I try.
@@HannaHsOverInvested lol try all you like but you will not get it unless you play the whole game and each expansion. It's one long story from A Realm Reborn to Endwalker so each trailer you watch is more and more confusing. Sorry if the comment sounds mean, its not my intention
SPOILER WARNING: The story of Heavensward takes place at the end of A Realm Reborn story arc. The nation of Ishgard has been at war with dragons for 1,000 years. The magical protections around the city state are weakened by a rebel named Iceheart, and the dragons attack in mass. The Warrior of Light aids Ishgard at the battle of the Steps of Faith. At the celebration of the Ishgard's victory, the Warrior of Light and his allies are falsely accused of assassinating the Sultana of the rich desert nation of Ul'dah. The Warrior of Light and a few allies escape, and are given sanctuary by one of the royal houses of Ishgard. As the story continues, it becomes clear that the Ishgardian story of how the war with the dragons began doesn't add up. The Warrior of Light and a few allies travel to dragon country and discover the truth. That it was Ishgard that started it by betraying the dragons, slaying one of them to steal her eyes, which are the source of a dragon's power. Nidhogg, the brother of the dragon that was killed, is bent on making Ishgard pay for their crimes, meanwhile the church which rules Ishgard has its own dark secrets. Learning the truth turns Ishgardian civilization upside down, and forces the Arch Bishop to enact his dark plans to end the war.
The guy you see in each cinematic is a stand in for your player character.
You should be confused. These trailers only make sense if you played the story in FF14.
The first trailer you watched, Heavensward, begins where the base game story ended. How in the hell are you expected to know what WTF is happening?!
The 'guy' that is in all of the FF14 trailers is a stand in for the player, you.
If you go on to watch the Shadowbringers and Endwalker trailers I would recommend also watching the corresponding Launch trailers as well. It will shed some light plot wise, but there are spoilers so beware.
I second this. I think the launch trailers are much better contained "what is the story of this expansion" trailers than the actual opening cinematics so I highly recommend if you revisit FFXIV to watch the launch trailers for Shadowbringers and Endwalker instead.
Imagine try to understand XIV watching only the trailers and get upset.
Like the 1000 hours story-telling doesnt count to get a general prospective. Its like me trying to understand her books watching only the covers.
Also, if no one has mentioned it, the guy you keep seeing in each cinematic is the same guy. hes basically a representation of the player. the poster boy of Final Fantasy XIV. and he (and by extension, we, as the player) is able to change jobs, thats why in each cinematic he is wearing something different or using different weapons (as demonstrated in the shadowbringers cinematic)
also, in regard to your skin color comment, there are plenty of races and characters with darker skin tones, they just arent in the cinematics for some reason. no idea why
also also: 14 takes the very uncommon approach that there must be a Balance. Dark is not inherently evil and likewise, Light is not inherently good. too much of either can upset the balance of the universe.
For the Heavensward cinematic it does recap some of the story that leads up to the start of the expansion. There is a lot of story that has happened since the A Realm Reborn trailer. Think of it as two seasons worth story has happened between them so it is understandable to be confused by just watching the trailers. Those that have played the through story up to this point in the game are probably still recovering emotionally from having to rewatch that first part :D
12:57 "Do we just fight in this world?" I mean if you stick to the story, no small part is the fighting. But the game gives you so much to do. People literally play it for just one aspect. It could be playing mahjong, fishing, crafting, gathering clothing (in-game referred to as glam/glamour), decorating houses, dancing in your glams; the possibilities are all up to you for the most part and you can do it all.
Ok so some quick context:
*FFXIV*: Shows off the game as peeps going on grand adventures
*A Ream Reborn*: Begins with the end of the Battle of Carteneau (CAR-TEN-OH). The garleans (black armor) pluck the artificial moon, Dalamud, from the sky (created by an ancient civilization) to destroy the Eorzean Alliance (good guys). No one realized that the primal Bahamut (big scary dragon) was inside (oops). Once released it wreaks havoc until Lousoix (Elf guy with the cane) whisks everyone away. No one knows what happened after that (See "Flames of Truth" for what really happened). You (the player) come in five years later to start a new adventure! ...Also some sketchy black robed figures called the Ascians wanna cause chaos to resurrect their dark god. Good luck!
*Heavensward*: Congrats! You have become a Hero (aka the Warrior of Light, or Champion of Eorzea) known for Primal slaying and destroying the Garlean's Ultima Weapon. Unfortunately, you get caught up in a plot to assassinate the Sultana of Ul'dah and are forced to flee to Ishgard, a theocratic Nation embroiled in a thousand-year war with dragonkind. You continue your adventures helping the Ishgardians, learning the secrets behind the Dragonsong War, and foiling the Ascians and their dark plots.
*Stormblood*: Congrats on the end of the Dragonsong War! Ishgard joins the Eorzean Alliance! Unfortunately, some guys (same knobs from the Sultana assassination plot) decide to get the Alliance involved in the liberation of the country of Ala Mhigo from the clutches of the Garlean Empire. How do you do that? By going to a completely different country on the other side of the world and liberating it!
*Shadowbringers*: Well, your finally able to get into better contact with Mr. Crystal hand. He transports you to a world called the First, a reflection of the player's world (which is the "Source") in order to save the First from primordial light and in turn saving the Source from another calamity. You become the Warrior of Darkness in order to defeat the Light Wardens and bring back the night sky. Oh, and all the souls of your friends that Mr. Crystal Hand accidentally stole (oops) are here as well. Also, more context on the Ascians!
Its almost like you are trying to figure out the main plot of a series of books by just looking at the cover page lol
I'm playing this right now and I hear the story is 10 years in the making.
Yeah pretty much
yes and there is a new story line in the making as well so you can expect another 10 years of amazing story line ^_^
As many people have tried to state, what you've done here is essentially watch the trailers to different seasons of a long running show, except it's the trailers to different parts of a games story.
You hyped yourself up for the wrong part of the game if you were expecting a lot of narrative from the expansion cinematics, honestly. These are meant to draw you in, give you that first taste of what each expansion has to offer, and then you're supposed to actually play and experience the game in order to fill in all the 'what is going on' blanks that they leave you with. Though, alternatively, you could go through the patch trailers to get more direct hints to the overall direction, but that's a lot of watch time.
It would kind of defeat the purpose of a story-focused game if they gave you all the story outside of the game. The devs have poured their heart and souls into this game over the last 10 years, and they want people to experience it. And as a player since A Realm Reborn's launch, it's been worth every minute.
For a bit of added context: The generic dude who you constantly see in these trailers is meant to be YOUR character and with the character creation your own Warrior of Light can be any gender, skin color or fantasy race you choose (if cat or bunny ears are your thing.) While the game is an MMO with a heavy story focus, the trailers for each expansion try not to spoil too much of the story and are pretty much just teasing new locations you'll see and experiences your character will go through in the new expansion.
While the Shadowbringers and Endwalker trailers do go a bit more heavy into the story, these trailers REALLY aren't meant as promotion for new players but are rather fan service to excite fans who are already invested in the characters and story of the games. It's actually advised for new players to AVOID watching these trailers because without context they lose much of the strength and excitement behind them, not to mention the spoilers rampant throughout the trailers.
Long read but i hope it helps
Heavensward trailer:
Little tiny lady is a queen, big guy that was thrown in jail was her bodyguard. You and him get framed for her murder, he gets caught, you escape to that castle town. Castle Town is at war with dragons, hijinx ensue
Stormblood trailer: you travel to totally-not China and Japan to recruit aid for a war with the evil empire that been attacking you since the first expansion.
Shadowbringers: at the end of Stormblood you and evil emperor have duel and you win. Hinjinx ensue and you and your supporting cast get sent to essentially a parallel world where the light is consuming the world and killing everyone. You as the warrior of light must become the warrior of darkness to bring balance to the world so you can find a way to go home.
Thee confusion is understandable, those are basically teasers for the different part of the story, with maybe 50+ hours of story in between. Furthermore, being teasers, they're (well, usually) making a point in NOT being easy to understand what's going on to avoid spoiling peoples.
What tells the story really are in game dialogue and in game cutscenes, there's an absurd amount of each. Those trailers are here to build the hype, show new places being added, some of the story character's new situations, new classes to play, etc, for each bloc of story/game being added, but NOT tell the story, since the story is told by playing the game.
I suppose it could be possible to make videos containing the ingame content necessary to understand the full story, but these videos would be probably dozen and dozen of hours worth of content. Maybe some madman has already done that as well, but I would say, if someone wants to know the story THAT much, he may as well play the game since it's free to play for half of the story and a pretty good game overall ;D
The game is a storydriven game where you play the Warrior of Light. The Warrior of Light can be any race colour ethnicity or gender but for trailer purposes he is the same white skinned male. the story is given to you in conversations, cutscenes and in environmental storytelling. In between the story there is exploration, fighting and travel but also having fun with other players, buying and decorating homes, learning to craft and gather and even go to weddings between player characters.
It's been said before but the trailers are there to give a taste of the mood and feel and themes of the story. the actual story happens inside the game...by playing it.
The trailers are about,
1.0
while choosing quests in a bar the Warrior of lights gets a vision of something that happened 10 years in the past (if memory serves me well)
A Realm Reborn
a Mechanical meteorite falls down on the planet and the Warrior of light tries to prevent it together with friends and the gathered armies of his allies but eventually fails. the old wizard sends him and other adventurers (Players) 5 years into the future where the dragon is gone, people have no memory of how it got beaten and the world is still rebuilding from the devestation.
Heavensward
after saving the world corrupt elements in one of the states that you helped frame you for the poisoning of the queen. you flee to a new city but that city has a war going on with dragons. they have special knights that can jump really high and then use their velocity and weight to drive their lances into flying dragons. they show of flying islands and the big castle city to give players a taste of the new places they can go.
Stormblood
In Stormblood The warrior of Light has a sparring match with a friend before they are going to storm the imperial palace freeing the land from 20ish years of oppression by the evil empire. they show of the city of the empire on the map and then show of new underwater zones. They finally show off the new city in an eastern inspired continent where the warrior of light tries to find allies to stop the empire here and free the people from opression over here too.
Shadowbringers
they Show the literal end of the previous story with the fight between an imperial prince and the warrior of light then we fast forward to the warrior of light walking in a different world which is being destroyed by pure light called the first. He is here to rescue his friends who have been send there before hand. he has a bit of PTSD of about all the things he has done throughout his life up till here. then gets attacked by a being of light. We switch to two of his friends ina burning forest holding the line against whatever is attacking untill he's there to help. then we switch back to the fight where he changes jobs from archer to warrior to Dragoon then Monk and samurai. These are all the same jobs he had in previous trailers. then we switch to another city where there are fat cat people living in opulence above a shanty town. following that we see that in the depths beneath the city one of the friends is saving a girl from a giant light lion. finally we switch to a nice view of the new city where we see a new race that we can play and then we watch the insides of the large crystaline tower. here we see a man who has crystal hands watch the fight of the warrior of light and tell him that to change heis fate and the fate of the world he needs to become a warrior of darkness. The warrior of light changes to the Dark Knight Job and destroys the light monster and in doing so splits the ever burning light in the sky revealing the starry night sky that has been hidden from the people for over 100 years.
Sorry for the wall of text and for any mistakes English is my second language lot's of love from the Netherlands.
It’s like saying “ hey all, I’m going to be giving a book review on this series using only the epilogues and prologues.”
No, it's like, hey all. I'm going to try and figure out this thing with very little context for fun and see how close I get. Want to watch?
@@HannaHsOverInvested its all fun and games until you look genuinely angry and agitated which spoils the fun just a smidge. and its not even the epilogues and prologues, its more like reading the dust jacket summary.
Your confusion the whole time was refreshing and amusing haha! I'm glad you still enjoyed your time watching through most of the trailers. You've still got one more, but that's also going to make you confused as hell. XD The Endwalker trailer is more directed at the veterans of the game and also serves as a teaser of what's to come in the expansion.
Understandable that you're gonna be lost from just the trailers. These are meant to be vague story-wise in order to prevent spoiling the story while being a showcase for game features. Not to mention the earlier trailers do not have any dialogue. There's also 2-years worth of in-game content in between each trailer.
So, as others have pointed out, FFXIV continues a single narrative that follows into every expansion, and each cinematic is there as both teaser and introduction to that chapter of the tale. The connecting story that makes them make sense is in the game itself, played by the player in a strong narrative. And since they don't want to spoil what's to come, they don't include a lot in the cinematic trailers.
As for the lack of racial diversity, it's there, but it's handled via fantasy races. Eorzea (the main continent) is populated primarily by Germanic style humans (predominantly white), but there are a few strong standout examples of darker peoples, the sunseeker miqo'te (one of the two cat people races) are mostly tanned in complexion, Elezen (elves) come in all manner of skin tones from white as ivory all the way to the classic Dark Elf pitch black skin, then there are the Roegadyn, who are commonly green skinned like orcs, or red skinned, and many shades between.
The primary reason for a lack in the trailers was location, as the ingame world has a distribution of skintones based on location more than by race. But the secondary reason is because it's a japanese developer, and with most japanese media, they tend to focus more on japanese or european apperance.
One of the best characters with darker skin though, is General Raubahn Aldynn, a refugee of the conquered nation of Ala Mhigo, who through his prowess in battle rose up as a gladiator in the desert nation of ul'dah's colosseum to become one of the ten richest men in the nation. He then uses that wealth and influence to buy his freedom and becomes the most trusted companion of the Sultana (the little hobbit-like woman in the pink who drank the wine), and eventually with the player's help is able to return to his homeland in Stormblood, to liberate it from the Empire that conquered it. He's a noble soul, with fiery determination, a kind heart, and an unstoppable conviction.
"not the best place to have a shockwave fight" I'M DYING 🤣
If it helps to think about it this way: These are all trailers for different seasons of a long running TV show. Each of these seasons lasted for around two years each. So that's a lot of episodes, so to speak. And continuing the logic, if the seasons ran for two years before a new season came out, then the trailer for season one is going to be way different than the trailer for season 2 or even 4.
Hope that makes sense.
Edit: It's not a TV show, I'm using an analogy
These are basically like those eye catcher videos that play on an arcade machine when no one is using it.
Low key good your confused, for people who play MMo's we also dont like getting "spoiled" from trailers like these as we play out the game to get the story it self. It would be better to look into a lore video on ff14, or even a lore video in Final Fantasy it self.
"He killed him, just like that?"
HHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA no
The story is hundreds of hours long and complicated. You won't get it from a few minutes of trailers, so they don't even try to fill in people not in the know. They basically showcase locations, jobs/classes, and reference crucial plot points you'd have experienced or are looking forward to as a player of the game. Don't even try to make sense of it from just what you get from the trailers; you'll be way off the mark.
The warrior of darkness storyline started when you get transported to another world by the voice of the trailer this world is covered in light making it dangerous violent and it is terrifying to say the least
There's about one or two hundred hours of story between each of these videos, which is why they seem disjointed. These trailers are more to show off new places and features than to actually explain stuff.
The rough, low spoiler outline is:
A Realm Reborn: You have to rebuild after the dragon in the moon broke everything.
Heavensward: After you get framed for murder at the end of A Realm Reborn, you flee north to a kingdom that has dragon problems.
Stormblood: You decide to take down the big evil colonialist empire, which involves learning kung fu and going to fantasy Japan.
Shadowbringers: You and your friends get summoned to another dimension where angel monsters are killing people.
There's one more cinematic for the most recent expansion, Endwalker.
If you want to revisit FF14, you might try checking out the launch trailers for each expansion, rather than these cinematic trailers. The launch trailers use in game footage, generally have more narration and dialogue, and show off a little more of the story, rather than just being a flashy thing they can put in advertisements.
The best explanation I can give is that the trailers for FF XIV are like the covers of a book more than a preview of the story.
The game and community are *intensely* anti-spoiler, so all of the context of what's going on is in the game itself.
"I thought this was going to be a full story" --- It is. You aren't missing anything. The real target audience is the players who will have all the background information, from playing the game, that you're missing. For non-players, it just needs to be eye catching and maybe catch their interest enough to try.
So while others are explaining to you the story and how it's stitched together in these trailers, I just want to point out something specific to note. Others have commented on it a bit too:
These trailers aren't meant to really explain the story or even be super followable. If you're confused, that's ok. They're meant as small hints and a cursory look at the next expansion for the FFXIV community. As others have mentioned, it's a Massively Multiplayer Online Game. What sets this one apart from others however, is that it's more story driven and oriented. So to get the story, you actually have to play the game; and there's a LOT to it. Each trailer will show the next expansion's new area that you get to travel to and explore, some new enemies you'll be fighting against, maybe a new class or abilities you get to be or perform, and sometimes things like a new race (like the bunny girl you saw, Shadowbringers introduced the "Viera" race which are bunny people).
Just to really solidify this: the latest expansion "Endwalker" is the actual ending for this _part_ of the story (so this arc) that started in A Realm Reborn (what we call the original release of the game). It's going to continue on, with a new story arc, but this expansion is wrapping it up and beginning to place seeds for the next one. To put it into perspective this story has been going on for like 12 years. Started in 2010, got rebooted in 2013 game-wise since it wasn't too fun by modern gaming standards, and since then the story has been told through each expansion.
I'm really glad you watched these though! Even if the story is confusing and hard to grasp from these, I think the self contained aspect of each trailer is fun and intriguing (to be fair it's meant to also get other people to be interested so they play the game lol). The animation is usually really good and you picked up on a lot of aspects even if you didn't really know it.
Super late, but basically, each trailer is designed to show you new areas and new enemies while only vaguely alluding to what the story is so as not to spoil the game before you play it. So as someone who has never played these games, it's not surprising that you have no idea what's going on. You're not supposed to. But if you would like some context for the trailers:
In the A Realm Reborn trailer, the Eorzean Alliance (Your side) is at war with the Garlean Empire (the bad guys). During what was to be the final battle in the war, the Empire tried to bring the moon down on their enemies. More specifically, an artificial moon created by an ancient, advanced civilization (there is also an actual moon, too, but is not relevant here). What they didn't know is that a dragon was sealed inside, which once freed, wreaked havoc on the land and decimated both armies before being defeated by our wizard-like friend in the trailer. During his fight with the dragon, the old man teleports You (or rather the stand-in character for the player used in the trailers) away from the fight in order to save your life. This sets up the beginning of the game, which takes place 5 years after this battle, as the world is trying to rebuild from this calamity.
In the Heavensward trailer, your character is racing to save the Sultana (Queen) from being assassinated. But they're too late and she is poisoned. Having been blamed for the assassination, your character is forced to flee to the frozen lands of Ishgard, where they are immediately pulled into Ishgard's never-ending war against dragons that has been raging for a thousand years. This trailer also shows your character changing classes from Warrior to Dragoon.
In the Stormblood trailer, the Alliance is taking the fight to the Empire by liberating lands that they've conquered, beginning with Ala Mhigo. Here, your character has become a Monk and is training with the leader of the Ala Mhigan Resistance. The war is being fought on two fronts, taking your character to the Far East, where they have become a Samurai. Even in the Far East, the Empire has soldiers and influence, as it shows your character fight several Imperial soldiers in the Japanese-style city.
In the Shadowbringers trailer, your character defeats a powerful Imperial on the battlefield before finding himself lost and confused in a strange land flooded with light. In this world, the balance of light and dark has tipped so far in favor of the light, that it is oppressively blinding. Here, an angelic creature (called a sin-eater in the game) appears to try and kill your character. The Warrior of Light (the name for your character in the game) goes through every class he's ever had in the trailers - Archer, Warrior, Dragoon, Monk, Samurai - but nothing can stop this colossal foe. During the fight, we have the voiceover of the mysterious hooded figure. This person has seen the future and is trying to prevent it from coming to pass. In order to do this, he instructs you to become the Warrior of Darkness. Your character switches to the Dark Knight class, and is then able to defeat the sin-eater, and in doing so, restores the night sky to this world that was up until then, drowning in light.
If you decide to watch the last trailer, Endwalker, this trailer shows the world preparing for "The Final Days." The world is burning and those who give into despair twist and warp into nightmarish creatures who turn on their own friends, neighbors, and family. Our heroes travel around the world to try and gain the cooperation of leaders and governments to rally together in this time of unprecendented crisis, knowing that the end of the world draws near. One nation in particular (Sharlyan) seems to know something about the apocalypse that they are refusing to share, frustrating this hero that declares that while Sharlyan hides, the rest will fight til the end. Endwalker was presented as the final chapter in the story, and that's somewhat true. While the game has continued, it has begun a brand new story free from the overarching narrative that drove it for a decade.
"Shockwave fighting" slayed me 🤣
I'm late to the show and it may have been explained elsewhere but, the guy you see in every video is Your stand in. He's the "hero" as you progress through the main story. He also changes his class with each weapon, Warrior - Axe, Dragoon (dragon knight) - Lance, Monk - fists, Archer - Bow, Samurai - Katana, DarkKnight - Greatsword. All throughout the story you are the warrior of light, in the last trailer you watched Sadowbringers you learn that you aren't the only warrior of light and in another reality their warriors of light doomed their world. You and your friends end up becoming the warriors of darkness to save their world. There's a lot of backstory between each trailer, but I hope this was somewhat helpful.
I get your confusion. These trailers are specifically made for the players. The story has multiple branches to it so the video jumping around alot is it going to each branch. Theres usually 3 things ff14 trailers try to accomplish 1: preview story without giving it away. 2: showcase new classes and races (ie samurai in Stormblood and Dancer in Shadowbringers) 3: show a few of the areas we'll be exploring. Thats why you were getting alot of fighting then calm shots.
Lets take the Shadowbringers trailer. It starts with the duel. That was the end of the pre-expansion content. Then it takes us to a world bathed in light. Thats new story and world. Then it takes us to 2 characters in a burning village. Players would recognize names and characters so more story. It goes back and forth a few times then begins to show different cities. New vistas to explore then you get a slow-mo of a bunny girl. This was the preview of the new race: viera and the new class Dancer.
Don't worry about being confused. Even for players its meant to keep you in the dark so when the expansion drops its new for everyone.
i dont understand how you get frustrated. its like you loock at the covers of books and expect to understand the whole storry in them.
I don't think my frustration lasts very long, and I also think its fun. So I guess I don't really understand your comment. The confusion is part of the fun.
@@HannaHsOverInvested cool beans
yeah, the FF14 trailers are less connected cinematics, and more a super light show of what's to come and a continuation of what happened in the story prior
it's a MASSIVE game, the trailers you've seen are hundreds of hours of story apart so it's hard to digest and break down without the context
the best out of context cinematic is probably Shadowbringers, cause it kinda puts some of the pieces together (kinda? it's still the best with that context) and none of us really knew what was happening to a great degree
There is still one more trailer left for “Endwalker”, which is the newest expansion and rounds off this entire arc of trailers known as the “Hydaelyn and Zodiark Story”. It’s my favorite trailer out of all of them, since it brings together the story of everything we’ve gone through so far, as well as having an amazing soundtrack which combines the themes and leitmotifs of all previous expansions. It will truly melt your brain, but I definitely recommend that you watch it, as you will then have the full experience (in regards to the trailers, that is).
I saw someone else watch with the expansion trailer before each expansion cinematic, which helps a lot because it gives a quick movie trailer summary of what's happened and happening in the story.
"she's a bunny girl... and i am confusion" LMAOOOOO
basically in each of these trailers it's a summary of what happened previously in the story, a brief introduction of the zones that we're gonna travel through, the new races (bunny girl) and jobs that's new or the focus of the expansion, and where the story is going next. since FF14 is an mmorpg with hundreds of hours of story, each trailer would be released after approx. 50 hours of playtime on the story alone. this is why non-gamers will be very confused watching these cinematics with no context lol
FF14 is the only story based game that does strong women correctly. It's fantastic how every character in the game was well written. It's also the only game that managed me to shed some tears. It's an incredible game.
this is definitely NOT the only story based game that does strong women correctly, but it's a contender for possibly doing it better than anything else (especially outside of indie games), and it's a rare and shining example of a game absolutely nailing it, and doing so with pretty much every female character, and also having a solid amount of female characters
The Shadowbringers trailer is the best, with or without context.
When it released, it caused me to download and try the game. A few years later, I’ve played for about 2,000 hours.
Now, *_that’s_* a trailer.
So actually its hard to explain 200+ hours of cinematic cs, but the reason why you actually don't understand the trailers is because they include kind of mysterious introduction to the new content, that will be released in addition to some thrilling spot lights for existing players, for example the man with the white hair who was running away with the cute little girl is called Thancred, and this girl during early story was believed to be the re-incarnation of the scions leader Miniflia, who was sacrificed to protect the (source) one of the 13 realms Quoting from a level 60-70 cs "one life for one one world, such was the bargain", and he was actually the closest to her than others since he was her sworn guard, eventually during the level 80 story you will discover as a player that she is actually not the re-incarnation of Miniflia.
Idk why but your reactions made me laugh so much on this lonely night, thank you for that
Since you like writing and reading fantasy books i think you might want to consider giving this game free trial a go honestly. It's A LOT of reading and little actual gaming until you finish the main story plus it's very beginner friendly. I know you are not a gamer but it's never too late to become one ;). It starts very slowly and the community is one of the most welcoming to newbies.
To clear it up a bit, each expansion trailer generally showcases some of the areas and themes of the places you're going to go in that expansion. They generally show some story hints but you really need to have context to get most of it.
each clip is an expansion, basically a new book of the "FFXIV saga"
the first clip showcased the end of A Realm Reborn, the poisoning of Nanamo (the pink munchkin) and the framing of the "murder" of our guy. Our guy then went on to avoid the authorities. he went to the Holy See of Ishgard, gets involved in the Dragonsong War, hence the people fighting dragons. the trailer also shows the "elite ops" of Ishgard, the Dragoons, Spear wielding, jumpy, flying dudes that ironically use the powers of the dragons to fight against dragons. This is basically the premise of Heavensward.
the second clip shows us the somewhat start of the 3rd book of the saga, Stormblood, and a story beat revealed at the end of Heavensward, the girl who was sparring with our guy was pretending to be her long dead sister and now told us so. She seeks to retake her country occupied by the country that was shown to be the dark and lightning-y in the zoom out. we are helping her and the rebels. we sought help on another front, the Asian inspired place. we also team up with the big dude and woman on the tower too.
the third clip is the Shadowbringers book, where we are shown at first a story beat from the tail end of Stormblood, our guy fighting in the battlefield. what wasn't shown is our guy is basically ripped from his dimension along with a few of our closest friends (the card guy and staff woman in a blazing fire, and the swashbuckling dude fighting a giant lion thing are one of those friends) to another realm to save that realm from utter destruction, which if happens, will cause a domino effect to our home dimension. the guy who is in the Crystal Tower is our friend btw and he was the one who pulled us away from our home.
I hope this helps :D
the reason you feel confused is that the first trailer you've seen was from the Re-release of the game, "Realm Reborn" and every trailer here are announcing the new Expansion, which all have completely own stories that all intertwine together in the end at the current expansion "Endwalker" a trailer you have yet to watch. FFXIV or Final Fantasy 14 is an MMORPG, meaning that to understand the game, you'd have to go through the story from the beginning which depending on how much you would enjoy raiding/harder content and doing side content for side stories you might play the game for thousand hours and not be in the Endwalker's current end of story
Trailers are like teasers for fans of the game to get excited for the expansion they don't like telling you the story they want you to experience it in game
Not trying to hate but I am confused as to what is the point of this video? "Thought this was a full story..." These are trailers, trailers are not going to give you the full plot of what is going on because then why would the player base bother playing??? Now, I'M confused as to what the point of this is @_@
Me too Sister.
The trailers are intentionally vague so that the major plot points of the story aren't spoiled. It seems confusing as hell based on just the trailer, but it's all connected and it's great.
If you ever play understand the main story quest, MSQ has been shortened apparently.
The game is hundreds of quests long when I played, so yes, it's all very deeply explained, you can't start at the middle and expect it to make sense.
I've noticed that the more story a game has generally the trailers are very vague, whereas multi-player only games like R6, Overwatch, valorant etc. have only their trailers to tell as much story as they can to make up for the lack of it in the game.
You wouldn’t get the trailers story wise unless you played through each expansion prior
Late to this video, so no idea if you'll even see this but...
Think of it this way.
Final Fantasy XIV was the first book in the series - the trailer with them at the bar and the vision of seeing the battles was the set up; the call to adventure.
A Realm Reborn was the second book in the series and that trailer was actually doing two things: Showing you how the first book concluded (the battlefield where the huge dragon just destroyed everything) and introducing the events just prior to the book "Realm Reborn" as well. Ultimately it is about an empire puppet mastered by evil beings to attack your lands.
Heavensward is the third book in the series. The trailer won't make much sense if you didn't "read the prior book" because the end of Realm Reborn introduced this nation and their 1000 years of war with the dragons. The poison you picked up on and the guy losing his arm? That was part of the prior "book's" climax, so without "reading the book" you're rather in the dark. Heavensward is about uncovering the true origins of the 1000 year war, why the main dragon leading it is so hellbent on destroying this nation, and how to go about resolving the war. After that is resolved, the final chapter starts placing the pieces for the next book involving liberating a nation from an empire that has been present since the first book.
Stormblood is the fourth book in the series. The trailer also doesn't make much sense in that respect without having "read" Heavensward. If you had, you know who the characters are in this trailer at the end with the hawk on her arm. Otherwise? Unclear. This book is about liberating not one, but it turns out to be two nations under the brutal heel of the empire and places us in direct conflict with the empire's prince - a man who finds ruling an empire, or even a territory boring and only seeks the thrill of combat against a worthy opponent. "Only in these brief moments, these seconds between moments, can we feel alive."
Shadowbringers isn't quite the same. You'll have a little more context playing the game, but we were just as confused going into that one as well. The trailer brought a flood of questions, speculations, and confusion even knowing the story (that's what they were going for, though). Like "I'm not going anywhere, Mifnilia" is met with "WHAT?!" by every reaction channel playing through the game because last we saw Minfilia, she was an adult woman and essentially died, then sent her soul to another world to aid them. Heck, this entire trailer comes after the game's story where all the characters IN this trailer had fallen into comas and now they're in these different roles in places that seem familiar but are totally different. The first guy walking up says "What sayest thou, Master Matoya?" but Master Matoya is an old crone of a witch as we knew her. She's hunched over and delightfully cranky and sharp tongued... but when that hood blows back, that's her apprentice "Y'shtola" so again we were all going "Why did he call her Master Matoya? WHAT IS GOING ON?" And the climax of the trailer? We've been the Warrior of Light for the entire story. The Warriors of Darkness were our enemies briefly and how we're being told to *become* the warrior of darkness. It was a flood of questions, but the story itself was absolutely amazing. The story, however, is revealing more details about this universe; how there was once a single world, but it was split into 14 worlds - the original "source" world and its 13 reflections.
This book's story is about trying to save one of the reflections from being destroyed, again all puppeteered by those evil puppet masters from the start..... but are they actually evil, or do we just not understand the purpose? For that matter, are we actually serving the one responsible for everything?
Endwalker is the final book in this series. If you haven't read the previous books, specifically Shadowbringers, it really won't make sense, but it's gorgeous and does tell a little bit of story within the trailer, but not as much context without knowing all the "books" prior. Ultimately, the story is about finding hope in hopelessness and finding your purpose in life and what leads to happiness. It's one of the most emotional stories I've experienced in book, film, or gaming. There's so much heart in this, "the final tale of this star."
Each trailer builds on the story the players just completed while teasing what's to come or giving a little set up going into the next chapter of the story. Ironically, I'm 100% sure you'd love every moment of the actual game's story from Heavensward onward because it just keeps building up intrigue and then when revelations come, they hit you like a truck. The majority of streamers don't make it through the full story with dry eyes. There are so many perfect moments of pure emotion from joy to sadness to bittersweet feelings of resolution that needed to be found, but not the way we wanted to find them.
Of course, every ending is a new beginning and while Endwalker ended the story over all these "books" it will also introduce the seeds for our next adventure that will start a new book series. But this is the full story arc of Final Fantasy XIV > Realm Reborn > Heavensward > Stormblood > Shadowbringers > Endwalker. Whatever comes next will be a new tale for these characters to venture into.
""That which lives is destined to die. Love leads to loss. Every beginning has an end.
Treasure every moment; every step of your descent. And there in the depths where souls and stars rest; find your truth."
These trailers are basically like a tiny prologue for each book in a series; like a page or two preamble that presumes you read the previous books, and mostly serves to remind you where you are and tease where you're going. As someone who has not played the game, you haven't experienced the 300 pages of story between each of these trailers, so it's going to seem like nonsense. They're also trying not to outwardly spoil the story in the game, so they tend to obfuscate, so even long-time players can't make complete sense of the trailer until they actually finished that part of the game.