This actually is a big part of my own RP group that I still run in FFXI. In many ways we approach our RP as a 'retelling' of the story in FFXI and when we feel that we have told all the stories that can be told in XI, the same group will move to XIV and presumably follow the same structure.
But in many ways our group has modeled much of the 'Persistent Party' mold that you have with most FF RPGs. It started out with three RPers, and then it got larger, bringing in more members, etc. Since, in a way, this RP group doubles as a mission static, there is an active role on my part (since I schedule) to set events such as missions and quests (which have real IC importance to us) on specific days when all members can attend and so that people don't get left out of the storyline. More or less, for us, the party dynamic was born when a group of adventurers mutually bore witness to an Ahriman telling of the return of the Shadow Lord (Nation missions 2-3). It's been a lot of fun actually, since you get this mix of adventurers who aren't really all that great friends at first but witness horrible news of the Shadow Lord's return and all of them can't just sit idly by and watch as Vana'diel gets destroyed, so they have to learn to get along and grow together, which is what has happened in this LS.
How the game treats cutscenes has always been an issue since it sets your character in the spotlight and as the sole hero of Vana'diel... especially awkward since many of the missions that these cutscenes happen on you can't even do solo if you tried. But part of what is fun about the storyline is to be the characters shown in the cutscenes, lots of epic stuff happens in those... as a result we have people sort of fudge it and assume that characters in the cutscene are addressing our group and not just one individual. It is not the smoothest option but people like this one, you get the best of both worlds I suppose.
Bad parts about this set-up: it potentially can discourage new members. Someone might miss out when we fought the Shadow Lord, but arrive in time to defeat the Zilart princes. In cases such as this we try to not have characters flaunt their victories... instead of talking about how WE in particular defeated the Shadow Lord and poking at new people about how they did NOT, we talk about the return and defeat of the Shadow Lord as common knowledge. We handle the Divine Might RP in a similar fashion... we aren't going to be pointing out to new RPers later on "check out my fancy earring that you don't have." Generally, yeah, we don't do things that would upset people for having missed out on earlier stuff. Likewise our characters don't see themselves as the predestined heroes of Vana'diel hand-picked by the Goddess to save the world... our characters treat themselves more like they are regular people thrust into epic adventures largely against their will. Everyone was really shocked when
But even in that case, thoughts dissipated after one of us said "Just... don't think about it. I don't like thinking that I'm following on some predestined path." And that was that.
As with how our group interacts with others, we are the only FFXI RP LS on Siren and so I can't speak for how this would've worked. Another group might not like RPing with people who play themselves as the heroes of the game, and I can understand the reasons why. I suppose how I would resolve this is that our characters, when interacting with another RP group, wouldn't talk about their more extensive activities. This is something we already do to make the story make sense... most NPCs don't treat you like you are some badass who just saved the world. Most don't even seem to know of your activities. So we resolve this through keeping our mission progress secret... we argue that were we to tell the truth of our activities it could lead to widespread panic or people would just panic. I think this is what the game wants for your character anyways.... as Lion says
That all being said it isn't a flawless model, but what has resulted is a very closely knit band of adventurers, with a lot of complex reasons to travel with each other, and I have found very fulfulling.
But in many ways our group has modeled much of the 'Persistent Party' mold that you have with most FF RPGs. It started out with three RPers, and then it got larger, bringing in more members, etc. Since, in a way, this RP group doubles as a mission static, there is an active role on my part (since I schedule) to set events such as missions and quests (which have real IC importance to us) on specific days when all members can attend and so that people don't get left out of the storyline. More or less, for us, the party dynamic was born when a group of adventurers mutually bore witness to an Ahriman telling of the return of the Shadow Lord (Nation missions 2-3). It's been a lot of fun actually, since you get this mix of adventurers who aren't really all that great friends at first but witness horrible news of the Shadow Lord's return and all of them can't just sit idly by and watch as Vana'diel gets destroyed, so they have to learn to get along and grow together, which is what has happened in this LS.
How the game treats cutscenes has always been an issue since it sets your character in the spotlight and as the sole hero of Vana'diel... especially awkward since many of the missions that these cutscenes happen on you can't even do solo if you tried. But part of what is fun about the storyline is to be the characters shown in the cutscenes, lots of epic stuff happens in those... as a result we have people sort of fudge it and assume that characters in the cutscene are addressing our group and not just one individual. It is not the smoothest option but people like this one, you get the best of both worlds I suppose.
Bad parts about this set-up: it potentially can discourage new members. Someone might miss out when we fought the Shadow Lord, but arrive in time to defeat the Zilart princes. In cases such as this we try to not have characters flaunt their victories... instead of talking about how WE in particular defeated the Shadow Lord and poking at new people about how they did NOT, we talk about the return and defeat of the Shadow Lord as common knowledge. We handle the Divine Might RP in a similar fashion... we aren't going to be pointing out to new RPers later on "check out my fancy earring that you don't have." Generally, yeah, we don't do things that would upset people for having missed out on earlier stuff. Likewise our characters don't see themselves as the predestined heroes of Vana'diel hand-picked by the Goddess to save the world... our characters treat themselves more like they are regular people thrust into epic adventures largely against their will. Everyone was really shocked when
But even in that case, thoughts dissipated after one of us said "Just... don't think about it. I don't like thinking that I'm following on some predestined path." And that was that.
As with how our group interacts with others, we are the only FFXI RP LS on Siren and so I can't speak for how this would've worked. Another group might not like RPing with people who play themselves as the heroes of the game, and I can understand the reasons why. I suppose how I would resolve this is that our characters, when interacting with another RP group, wouldn't talk about their more extensive activities. This is something we already do to make the story make sense... most NPCs don't treat you like you are some badass who just saved the world. Most don't even seem to know of your activities. So we resolve this through keeping our mission progress secret... we argue that were we to tell the truth of our activities it could lead to widespread panic or people would just panic. I think this is what the game wants for your character anyways.... as Lion says
That all being said it isn't a flawless model, but what has resulted is a very closely knit band of adventurers, with a lot of complex reasons to travel with each other, and I have found very fulfulling.