Arigaaz Posted July 31, 2019 Share #1 Posted July 31, 2019 Hello everyone! A question popped into my head that I don't really have an answer for, and I can't seem to find anything on the forums here (I might just be blind). I'd love to have your thoughts on the matter: How is raiding viewed in terms of RP or in the game's canon itself? The game's story itself seems somewhat wishy-washy on the topic. In some cases, characters mention that "Maybe the warrior of light has some friends that will help out", such as before Susano, but never really touching why these random adventurers have the gift of Hydaelyn or whatnot (understandably. Kinda tough to explain that in a lore-friendly way). Sometimes the game seems to imply that the warrior of light does it themselves. While this is a fun question, and one I'd love to hear more information on if it's out there, it's not exactly what I'm touching on. In terms of RP, I know many RPers like to raid as well as do their RP activities. Is there anyone that ties raiding into their RP in a lore-friendly way? The challenge seems to be trying to explain a fight that is a significant challenge, sometimes has big lore implications (like a major character dying), and worst of all, often needs to be repeated multiple times? Is there an explanation that makes it reasonable, like: "adventurers have been a part of expeditions on Titania's castle aimed at limiting the power of the once-lightbringer known as the Pixie King Titania. While the king was defeated by the Warrior of Light proper, efforts still need to be made by skilled adventurers to limit the power that Titania is desperately trying to reclaim, even as we speak. With every victory, Titania grows weaker, and with all hope, will never be able to reclaim the King's Throne. As a reward for these heroic deeds, the successful adventurers are rewarded with trophies proclaiming their victories." Whew. That even felt somewhat contrived to type, but I feel like it at least somewhat works? Not really though, because the Lightwarden's gone, as evidenced by the sky not being blinding, and Feo Ul is still the Fae King... Or is "raiding" just stuck with being a meta concept that is avoided in the (heavier?) world of RP, like the Warrior of Light itself, major character comparisons, and whatnot, just because it is too hard to explain in a lore-friendly way? A penny for your thoughts! 1 Link to comment
Andromeda Posted July 31, 2019 Share #2 Posted July 31, 2019 So a couple things exist in lore to help explain the mechanics of the game. All tolled, XIV does more to root gameplay in lore than most other games. In particular, as it relates to dungeons and trials this comes in this forms: While there is only one protagonist "The Warrior of Light", the main power that is used by WoL in instances is the Echo, and that's actually way, way more common than a lot of people think. The Path of the Twelve was a... let's be honest, a cult that later merged with the Circle of Knowing and became the Scions. The Path had thousands of linkpearls in circulation and a vast majority of these were in the hands of people with the Echo. Factor in that not everyone with the Echo would join a cult and you get a small but not insubstantial population with the Echo. This means that in dungeons the WoL is joined by other people with the Echo. The ego is different for everyone who has it, but some core gameplay mechanics are tied to it. The various indicators like AOE circles and stack markers are a product of the Echo's ability to grant limited prescience and wiping and restarting is honestly explained as Hydaelyn granting the party a vision of a possible future where the heroes failed, warning them of wrong choices. Eventually after screwing up enough this foreknowledge even takes the form of a buff granted by the Echo. So while some people do shun characters who have the Echo, its not as unfriendly to lore as might be thought and in fact a lot of gameplay mechanics are rooted in the Echo being abundant enough to call on. As for repeating a dungeon farming it, I suppose those could be Echo projections as well, showing potential successful futures. 1 Link to comment
Skae Posted July 31, 2019 Share #3 Posted July 31, 2019 Also, while lots of dungeons and raids would be hard to fit into RP "as-is" unless you RP as the WoL with friends, lots of them can be used as stand-ins for some other place. Trying to fit "raiding" in general into an RP framework would require some severe mental gymnastics and plenty of hand-waving. Fitting specific dungeons into an RP plot can easily be done however. Link to comment
Kieron Lohengrin Posted July 31, 2019 Share #4 Posted July 31, 2019 Dialogue repeatedly, specifically states that a lot of the group content necessitates the presence of other people as part of a larger expedition, such as the ones to Ivalice. Per Tales from the Storm, primal suppression teams are now a regular reoccurring necessity with other Echo wielders, while Rowena and EAT Company specifically set up on the Isle of Val to attract more adventurers, just to name a couple of examples. How you work your own plot into that established framework - big groups dealing with voidsent, magicite irregularities, PotD liches, etc. - is up to you and your friends. 1 Link to comment
Valence Posted August 1, 2019 Share #5 Posted August 1, 2019 The path of the twelve was founded by Ascillia who renamed herself Minfillia, and was intended as a refuge for echo wielders like her, that was aimed at helping people and do good deeds. The circle of knowing is totally different and was lead by archon Louisoix, and was essentially a sharlayan entity dedicated to do what the scions do today. Both groups merged near the end of 1.0. As for the reason behind raids, for extreme primals its usually a stronger summuoned version of them. For other extremes like Thordan or Tsukuyomi for example, those obviously can only happen once in history so they are just presented as a sung version of the fight that happened, song made by the wandering minstrel, inspired by the tale made by the WoL. For savage raids it tends to have various other explanations like Eden where it is a recollection of memories made by Eden based on the wol memory and recorded in a crystal that you can vividly relive through at higher pace. All in all except primals maybe, it is generally centered around the WoL. Link to comment
Tregarde Posted August 1, 2019 Share #6 Posted August 1, 2019 (edited) FF-XIV is a single player campaign, wrapped in an MMO. Very often events are presented in a way that really does not allow for lore-friendly ways to expand them beyond the Warrior of Light. So, fudge it! As long as you stay within the spirit of the game, people will accept almost anything. Edited August 2, 2019 by Tregarde Link to comment
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