Will miss not knowing more of the original story

[Niteshade_Rune]

Realizing Realm Reborn ( RRR baby!... totally unintentional) is based story/lore wise after the original makes me sad.

I was never able to really get in and fully enjoy and engross myself in the world the first time. Outside of enjoying the fantastic and epic feeling intro cinematic for my character and the place I chose to start in to a few of the earlier main story related quests I had barely scratched the surface.

 

Ah well, still anxious to see what awaits us when FFXIV returns :tonberry:

[Rhostel]

I sympathise, strongly. Thankfully, YouTube can help you and I fill in the gaps!

 

You know, when I get around to it.

[Tadir]

I'm still waiting for a writeup of all the main questlines and whatnot. I want to know what I missed!

[Merri]

Bit of an old topic, but I figured I'd give it a quick bump up since I have some information.

 

I'm in the process of rendering every major Seventh Umbral Era storyline cutscene into one video. (Shaping up to be something along the lines of an hour long movie)

 

So, that will be posted up, along with a written overview of the story. Figure with all the new members shuffling in, having some solid information on the backstory for the game will be fairly helpful.

 

Look forward to it soon!

[Aysun]

Bit of an old topic, but I figured I'd give it a quick bump up since I have some information.

 

I'm in the process of rendering every major Seventh Umbral Era storyline cutscene into one video. (Shaping up to be something along the lines of an hour long movie)

 

So, that will be posted up, along with a written overview of the story. Figure with all the new members shuffling in, having some solid information on the backstory for the game will be fairly helpful.

 

Look forward to it soon!

 

I am very excited to see this. Rather hope it's successful and motivates you to do the main Echo storyline as well. x3

[Tadir]

I wish there would be a way to go through the old quests once ARR launches. Like a way to enter a dream state to learn what lead to the new world.

[Kiljax]

Bit of an old topic, but I figured I'd give it a quick bump up since I have some information.

 

I'm in the process of rendering every major Seventh Umbral Era storyline cutscene into one video. (Shaping up to be something along the lines of an hour long movie)

 

So, that will be posted up, along with a written overview of the story. Figure with all the new members shuffling in, having some solid information on the backstory for the game will be fairly helpful.

 

Look forward to it soon!

 

I know it's only been a week or two, but... any news? This would help us who are trying to integrate smoothly into FFXIV who weren't around for the original story

[Merri]

I know it's only been a week or two, but... any news? This would help us who are trying to integrate smoothly into FFXIV who weren't around for the original story

 

Ah, yeah! It's actually been stickied over here for almost three weeks, now~

[Vareal]

You know, I'm excited for the video as well. The last part of it, anyway. I got all the way up to the final quest for my character but I wasn't able to complete it because, even though I was lvl 50, I wasn't strong enough to continue and out of the two non RP linkshells I'm in, up near the end of v1.xx, no one was playing, so no help for me. T^T

[Kiljax]

I know it's only been a week or two, but... any news? This would help us who are trying to integrate smoothly into FFXIV who weren't around for the original story

 

Ah, yeah! It's actually been stickied over here for almost three weeks, now~

Aha! I /had/ seen that thread!

 

Excellent work!

[Bernini-Martini]

How accurate is this synopsis form /r/ffxiv?

 

So then for those who weren't a part of 1.0 and would be starting fresh. How would they perceive the world from an rp aspect? Would that mean lore wise most new characters were left to deal with Bahamut [messing things] up and rebuild after he left?

 

 

That leaves new characters stuck with a backstory of "life really, really sucks," like they grew up in FFXI-Abyssea and are now joining the 'real world,'  doesn't it?

 

Edit: Also...I thought ARR -was- the seventh umbral era, even if it's the tail end of it (as we work to make things right!). Or has that era ended and it's the start of the next one for ARR?

[Ryanti]

This quote interested me.

 

So then for those who weren't a part of 1.0 and would be starting fresh. How would they perceive the world from an rp aspect? Would that mean lore wise most new characters were left to deal with Bahamut [messing things] up and rebuild after he left?

 

I understand that some individuals would find this to be a dillema. But since I never really got started in RP for FFXIV 1.0, and quit after a few months, I found a way to manuvear around it.

 

Basically having that happen when Ryanti was still young enough to be with his parents, and having that time zone involve the later end of Lorenthian's (Ryanti's dad) story, and part of Ryanti's backstory. I'm about 70% done with the events their family goes through.

 

Because of Lorenthian's retreat and Ryanti not going anywhere near that battlefield, both of them had to put up with the five years.

 

It actually fits in really nicely by present day. I have a solid backstory on why I would pick any city, which gives me OOC freedom to make the decision.

 

It's all just a matter of having that hard time and how your character goes about that hard time and figuring out what happens to them during those five years if your character was 'new'. Obviously they would of had lived before the event too so that's your chance to have some backstory as well. I used the excuse of Ryanti being young and whatnot so he wasn't 'around' in 1.0 as far as adventuring.

 

EDIT: Also, it should be noted lorewise that everyone who was teleported was a 'hero'. Or at least that's how they described it. The 'heroes' that fought. So if your character isn't exactly a brave soul , or a heroic warrior yet... well you have that dillema.

[Rhio]

That leaves new characters stuck with a backstory of "life really, really sucks," like they grew up in FFXI-Abyssea and are now joining the 'real world,'  doesn't it?

 

Not exactly.

 

As far as new characters know, six years ago it became impossible to ignore the mess going on with the Empire. Five years ago the moon fell, and while we still don't know the scope of Bahamut's rage, it's safe to assume that it was a day of immense destruction. Houses were leveled, climates were changed, regions were destroyed, and a huge amount of the world was ripped apart in the blink of an eye. The impacts were large and far-reaching.

 

However.

 

After the end, while things got worse than they had been, they obviously were not unlivable. All three city-states yet stand. We've seen from official screenshots that settlements are all over, that people have expanded and built beyond the walls of Ul'dah and the spires of Limsa. For all the losses endured, life has gone on, albeit with the sense that what Bahamut wrought could happen again.

 

So everything isn't crap. It's worse, but it's not bleak. Even if Eorzea did lose many of its adventurers on that day as far as the general population knows...

[Merri]

I believe Yoshi-P even mentions during the live letter than Ul'dah wasn't hit during the Calamity, so it survived completely intact. No word on whether Gridania and Limsa-lominsa were directly hit either, so that's something that has yet to be seen and/or is something I can't mention without getting into NDA breaching territory~

 

Now, this is all speculation on my part so take it with a grain of salt.

 

Personally, I like to think the past five years haven't been easy, but they haven't been devastating, either. I mean, look at the progress that has been made in five years.

 

So, the calamity happens. We know that much. Bahamut blew some stuff up, and then supposedly retreated to lick his wounds after being locked up for thousands of years. The city-states are in an initial shock. Those present at the Battle of Cartenau Flats are all presumed deceased. Most actually are deceased, save us that were teleported by Louisoux. (We don't know if the GC leaders were, but they weren't directly on the battlefield so they may have not been teleported and still survived)

 

So, a big chunk of the Grand Companies is more or less dead. All three city-states are freaking out because Bahamut was set loose and wrecked the hell out of the outlying regions around the city-states. Countless lives are lost, families are torn apart, there's a lot of drama. Some ways of living may have been disrupted or outright killed by some of the destruction, but life would continue on. Eorzeans have been shown to be a hardy people. Most would likely strap up their boots and get to work on forging a new life for themselves. Farmers would start to re-till their lands and the like. There would be a plethora of new work available, which could honestly pull some people out of poverty that were in it before the calamity. Construction workers would be needed to help rebuild some settlements. People to gather the supplies. People to guard those people from new threats that have emerged in the form of ferocious new wildlife. Everyone would have something to do in order to help the world rebuild and heal. It wouldn't be a complete and utter apocalyptic wasteland.

 

Sure, it would be a depressing time for some folk, but I don't necessarily think every character needs to have a sad story related to the seventh umbral era. It was a tragedy, but I'm certain many people found a new way of life for themselves and made the best of it. Adventuring would be growing yet again, as there would be new lands and ruins to explore. New things to map out. As mentioned earlier, hunting and gathering would be at a high, and re-building settlements and hamlets would require many workers. People would have things to do.

[Bernini-Martini]

Thanks, that clears things up a bit and brightens my prospects!  Knowing there were other smaller civilizations and such that survived in pockets (but might get 'absorbed' into the bigger ones later on even) lets me use a major plot device for my LARP character.

 

His village/tribe/whathaveyou's water supply was poisoned, and the crops and prey they used for food no longer stopped the hunger; people  who didn't die of poison or thirst could literally eat themselves to death without feeling full. My character isn't an 'athiest' per-se, he believes that like all parents, there comes a time where the children have to try to be on their own; maybe our gods weren't the kind to demand attention and sacrifice and rituals, and were far happier leading a people who could stand on their own, and was looking for a secular solution to the problem.

 

I guess that -does- fit into a 'post-apocalyptic-rebuilding' frame!  But in my head, I was thinking it was 5 years of Bahamut just destroying stuff and constant war and problems like the water supply would be drowned out; nobody would be living out there, more than likely everyone would be fighting over being able TO live there, or just all cowering in fear from bahamut's wrath.  Assuming the forest they were hiding in wasn't just on fire anyway.

 

Instead, the hellfire and brimstone part is over pretty quickly, and some (maybe most) of the timeframe was already spent on rebuilding then.  That's a big difference. Thanks!

 

 

Edit: Oh. Brainstorm! There's a pretty big problem nobody's addressed yet. All of the 'heroes' of the battle got put into a Doctor Who-esque Time Lock, or something similar. The world goes on without them, develops without them, adjusts without them. Suddenly, they all return. That's great and all. The heroes return. But that's a pretty huge population spike in the span of a few days. A crippled world that struggles enough on its own suddenly has to support more people! That could be a hell of a socio-economic crisis. Nobody wants to disrespect the heroes or disregard their needs, but where were they while we rebuilt? Can they support themselves, or did their heroic skills wane? Do they even have any money or family to support them? What if their old homes survived, but new residents took it over out of need?

 

The soldiers returning home in real-world America sometimes struggle to find jobs and cope with being back at home. It's a real problem, and I don't want to trivialize it, but a similar effect could happen in Eorzea!

[Fulcrum]

Edit: Oh. Brainstorm!  There's a pretty big problem nobody's addressed yet.  All of the 'heroes' of the battle got put into a Doctor Who-esque Time Lock, or something similar.  The world goes on without them, develops without them, adjusts without them.  Suddenly, they all return.  That's great and all.  The heroes return.  But that's a pretty huge population spike in the span of a few days. A crippled world that struggles enough on its own suddenly has to support more people!  That could be a hell of a socio-economic crisis.  Nobody wants to disrespect the heroes or disregard their needs, but where were they while we rebuilt?  Can they support themselves, or did their heroic skills wane?  Do they even have any money or family to support them?  What if their old homes survived, but new residents took it over out of need?

 

I doubt any of their skill degraded. Supposedly, even though five years passed in the world, it was mere seconds for those who were sent into the rift. They would be capable of what they could do previously, and while they would create an additional pull on the food supplies, they're actually quite a boon for the world.

 

They saw first hand what Bahamut was like, and can provide clearer information than those who were bystanders or not even present at his attack site(s). They also can fend off the ferocious monsters that have appeared, and many might have been skilled craftsmen or gatherers; they might not even put as much of a strain on the food supplies if a good percentage of them were gatherers too.

 

With the Grand Companies being largely destroyed, there's a lot of need for heroes and strong spirits (which might not yet have been heroes, per se), so they're likely a welcomed addition.

[Merri]

Not to mention that while it hasn't been directly addressed, I don't believe (and mind you, this is my own personal opinion. Others may differ) that there would be anywhere near a large population spike.

 

Bottom line, lore-wise I'm pretty sure only a few parties of adventurers were teleported by Louisoix. Yours, the one from the cutscene, and maybe a few others. I don't believe it was ever played up that thousands and thousands of people were instantaneously teleported. Sure, that's what's literally going to happen with the game, but that's across multiple servers and doesn't correlate entirely with the main story.

 

As far as the main story is concerned in-game, our "characters" were the lucky chosen few.

 

Now, in line with that, I'd like to believe that the people who were teleported, more or less, are those who actually roleplayed it happening. All the other people who don't roleplay are just sort of bodies that weren't a part of that, and that cuts down on the tens of thousands of others.

 

With that in mind, those that were teleported might well be under a 100 people, which seems much more plausible. A mass teleportation spell that could send thousands of people into the future seems kind of silly, since Louisoix would have been able to just save everyone present. I think it's inferred his magic could only save so many, so he chose the bravest among them, as is mentioned in this:

 

.

 

 

As far as skills waning goes, you can simply watch the "A New Beginning" trailer to get a feel for what happened. They literally pop up still in the poses that they were in before they were teleported. I believe it's inferred that to them, it was the blink of an eye. Our bodies were perfectly suspended in time, which is why we haven't aged. We will be the exact same as when we left from that battlefield.

 

Lastly, us that were teleported will actually be unique in the lore of the world. It has been mentioned that those of us that were teleported will be known as "Hollow beings" or "Hollow ones" by the general public. What exactly this means, and why we're referred to as this is unknown yet. However, they most likely won't be able to just "blend" back into society for some reason or another. At least, that's what I believe is being implied. We won't exactly be normal.

[Rhostel]

I figured Louisoix's spell affected anyone present who was touched by the Echo. In fact, that it was the Echo that made it work. Therefore the numbers could be anything.

 

Of course, those with the Echo not present at the battle wouldn't be sent. The spell had a radius. Thus Minfilia and others (Rhostel >_>) who were elsewhere would still take the slow path to the future.

 

Of course, that's a problem for those who RP as not having the Echo but want to be timeskipped. :\

[Rhio]

I've never liked handwaving things with the Echo; I assumed that Louisoix pretty much sent every living non-Garlean on the field forward, because even John Failspear the Level 0 Crowd-Surfer is going to do more good in the distant future than the immediate future. (The immediate future at that point consisted of getting killed by Bahamut.)

 

By my reading, at this point Louisoix had a lot of power without a lot of scope or time. He had the physical strength left for one more cast (funneling the power of gods through a mortal body is always going to result in some serious fatigue, just like running 10 gigawatts through a 6 watt fuse), and he had to make it count. So he scooped up everyone in range and shoved them forward.

 

Of course, that's only half a step away from assuming everything just works at the speed of plot. (Who did he pick to send into the future? All the people that got sent into the future. Doy.)

[Fulcrum]

Another thing to keep in mind...

 

 

I worked in the MMO industry before I got sick, and there was a common thing the developers always wished people would remember about their characters (especially RPers) - we are technically the minority in the world setting. Even though we don't always get to see them (less the case now a days with tech advances but still), there are thousands more NPCs than we know of, your average Joe who isn't and adventurer.

 

 

Where I worked, we sort of decided without really talking about it that the player populace was somewhere between 1% - 5% of the population; the average agreed upon was 2% - 3%. Some games may have more of the population be the player populace - I could see something like City of Heroes/Villains being more like 5% - 10% because of it's setting information. But for the more part, every game setting assumes the player populace is a low percentage of the actual populace.

 

 

As Merri mentioned, we can also sort of cut out anyone who isn't an RPer coming over or coming back, since they're not really all that involved with our calculations as a whole, and likely don't give a shit about it. That would bring down the percentiles even more!