discussion Fantasias in Lore

[SapphireSkylines]

So, I've seen a lot of people who use fantasias, sometimes they use it because they want to create a completely different character and retire their old one, which is fine. But I also see people who use fantasias and keep their character the same and make some excuse for it, like magic or something. I'm just curious as to what you guys think. Can a fantasia be used ICly, do you think fantasia, the item itself exists in lore? Let me know. 

 

I'm pretty neutral on the subject myself and I just go with the flow, whatever makes people happy I guess.

[Kilieit]

Copy-pasting wholesale from my post in the General Lore Questions thread, where this topic came up recently.

 

Me Headcanon:

 

Fantasia is extremely rare and only spoken about in whispers. Most laymen agree it's an urban legend, and serial criminals have probably died in the Philosopher's Stone-like pursuit of this mystical potion which will allow them to become someone new, either from drinking a fake that turned out to be poison or from being killed directly by a competitor.

 

...rich businessfolk in Ul'dah are in possession of the substance, usually for recreational or vanity purposes; they don't call it by its common name, "fantasia", but by something else fakey and scientific-sounding that doesn't give away its purpose. It often ends up in the hands (or drinking glasses) of unsuspecting adventurers after it's been stolen or mistakenly taken by servants and wait-staff who service both said rich businessfolks and more common bars; sometimes on purpose (and then maliciously or mistakenly fed to said adventurer), sometimes on the mistake that it's actually expensive liquor (and then mistakenly fed to said adventurer).

 

Far more commonly available and known-about and, like, known to actually exist and not be a wild goose chase (do geese exist in Eorzea??), methods of changing one's appearances are glamours of various sorts, both the kinds weaved through prisms and the kinds cast by creatures like imps and sylphs. That would be most characters' first port of call if mundane disguises weren't doing the trick or weren't applicable to the problem.

 

[Seriphyn]

Devs specifically said it does not exist in the lore.

[Maril]

We have this interview wherein some people from the localization team state that the fantasia is, at large, treated as a meta item - and that is why there's very little reasoning for the item outside of it's flavor text. 

 

It all comes down to how you see the lore and how willing you are to bend it, using greyzones and questionable things. If you can find a headcanon that works for you, then it isn't like the world is going to end - but you should be aware that some people might opt to simply assume your character always were whatever race/gender you change them into as they might not be on board with a headcanon or fantasia use at all. You can get around that by simply not sharing the information easily, and if you feel like it is something that would naturally come up in conversation, you can always oocly whisper people first and ask if they're alright with you mentioning it. Don't take a no as a disapproval of your character - it's just really one of those subjects that split the waters so to speak.

[Flynn Bladebreaker]

*Is too lazy to search and copy paste for my opinion but I'm probably bad and should feel bad for saying it anyway*

 

In my headcannon Fantasia is only a myth, like there's only one in existence. They aren't in mass production. When a character says they've used one, Flynn just thinks they're lying/crazy and are using some advanced glamour. I know characters who have changed from male to female, became pregnant, went back to male... psst that's not how it works.

 

 

But people can do what they want, right? That's the popular saying these days. If the RP characters using fantasias were canon, the world would just- No, it is simply too insane to be accidentally used as it is.

[Iteza]

If ICLY they don't address the change, I just pretend they've been that way the whole time and never bring it up. If it gets brough up ICly, I just go with whatever they say since it probably just impacts their personal story.

 

I usually just make a whole new character entirely.

[LiadansWhisper]

So, I've seen a lot of people who use fantasias, sometimes they use it because they want to create a completely different character and retire their old one, which is fine. But I also see people who use fantasias and keep their character the same and make some excuse for it, like magic or something. I'm just curious as to what you guys think. Can a fantasia be used ICly, do you think fantasia, the item itself exists in lore? Let me know. 

 

I'm pretty neutral on the subject myself and I just go with the flow, whatever makes people happy I guess.

 

IIRC, the devs have already stated that Fantasias don't actually exist in lore.

[FreelanceWizard]

I should point out that Koji provided information on Fantasia and its relationship to lore at the London Fanfest: http://gamerescape.com/2014/10/25/final-fantasy-xiv-fan-fest-london-qas/ (Scroll all the way to the bottom for his answer to the question.)

 

Now, certainly, one can take that as a tongue-in-cheek answer, and there's a fair argument to be made for avoiding Fantasia IC for a wide variety of reasons (expectations of other RPers, the way it throws RP out of whack, the fact that there's easier means of changing appearance with better lore support), but it isn't a cut-and-dry "the devs said this does not exist."

[Kismet]

Regardless of whether it's lore appropriate or not (I personally stick to what devs say and treat it something that's only meant to serve a mechanical purpose), I'm more concerned about why people feel the need to use Fantasia as an excuse for changing a character concept.

 

Why intentionally choose one of the most unnecessarily convoluted methods for ditching a concept you don't want to RP anymore... as opposed to simply killing the character off, or just saying they went to go adventuring for the rest of their lives or something? People honestly can't think of anything else?

 

(Mind you, I'm not talking about people who do silly slice-of-life plots like "uh oh, they've been temporarily transformed and hi-jinks ensue~" or whatever. I'm only talking about people who intend to permanently close the book on a character concept and never return to it.)

[Dis]

I don't tend to treat fantasia as lore, because as stated above, it isn't actually seen in-lore in any major storyline and might not ever be. That said, I can understand why people might decide to just fantasia, and not change their name. Maybe they don't exclusively RP anymore. Maybe they want to keep their name so people can find them. Maybe they're changing the concept and simply dropping all previous RP history with that character because what they wanted to do with them didn't really pan out. Or it's entirely possible that they can afford a fantasia, but not a fantasia and a name change.

 

I, personally, don't see a point in utilizing a fantasia for any of my characters, except in the case of minor tweaks and such, but even those don't really 'count', since none of them relate to the fantasia itself (character's getting a tan, eye color change via alchemical lenses or something similar, disguises, etc). That said, I'm not going to crucify someone for it. I might gloss over it in conversation, or have my character dismiss that part of the discussion as unimportant information.

 

Personally, as far as fantasia itself goes, I find it much easier to pawn off sudden changes so far as race/height/body structure/build/gender as a type of glamour than to work a fantasia into the story. 'Glamour' also means that if I eventually get tired of the change, I can switch my character back, since it's known that glamours can be long lasting, but typically aren't permanent.

 

I think part of the choice behind it is that people like to be stubborn about a character concept, or in the worst case scenario, they paint themselves into a corner with something. They make or utilize some type of change to their character, really want to change it back, and aren't sure where else to go with it except to spin it out as a 'this character needs to change, and so I'll fantasia them'. Some people might even choose fantasia not realizing that it isn't typically accepted as in-lore. It all depends on perspective and reasoning, I guess. People sometimes have weird reasons for doing things.

[Shofie]

It's an item that does not exist in-universe, it exists in-game. 

 

That said, there are ways to rp around it!