RP Consequences of Main Storyline (minor spoilers)

[Kikoro]

I apologize in advance if this topic has been discussed before... I skimmed the subjects in this section and nothing sprung to attention, but if I have been remiss, a link to the thread would be most appreciated!

 

I try to keep the question as general and spoiler-free as I can.

 

Every character we create begins the game by listening to the "Hear. Feel. Think." words, and then by witnessing a starshower.

 

Of course, it stands to reason that the specific incidents should not be part of any individual storyline, obviously the same origin event cannot have happened to every character.

 

However, the story that follows

(rank 20)

strongly implies that the characters are part of a category of 'chosen' adventurers, being granted the same mysterious (and very useful) ability for equally mysterious reasons. We're talking hundreds, maybe thousands of adventurers -- room for everyone. Each would have his own path to follow, but those paths would lead to the eventual discovery of that power.

 

My question: is there a consensus on how to handle this complication in our RP? Should it

(the Echo)

be entirely left out of our RP options, or should it be allowed to every character (and/or NPC) that wants in?

 

Please share some wisdom! :tonberry:

[Seraphine Felstar]

I usually like to make up my own stories for my character and stay away from the game plot. Of course, my character will have knowledge of an event if I've done a certain mission, but she'll never claim she personally did something.

 

However, if someone wants to RP a mission/quest I'm not going to stop them since it's all personal preference. Unless it's having a negative impact on me, someone else, or is a blatant disregard for common sense, I'm not going to tell anyone what to do with their character.

[Merri]

I'm just going to throw this all in a spoiler because it's probably all going to fit into that category in some way, shape, or form. Obviously, don't read on if you want to avoid spoilers of the storyline.

 

And of course, any responses to this should be tossed in spoiler tags as well. Then again, this whole thread has potential for them, so people coming here will hopefully respect that.

 

 

It's a difficult subject to tackle. The Echo is an extremely powerful gift, and while I've only experienced up to the R42 mission, I still don't know entirely what the Echo is all about. I'm sure that's not something that we will fully grasp until they release more of the game's starting storyline, and finish the arc off before moving onto whatever the first expansion brings.

 

I'm sure there's a lot of people who don't fully understand exactly what the echo is, so I figure I might get into detail here with all I know.

 

As it stands, the Echo is given to mortals by the gods themselves. However, this isn't just a gift randomly received by mortals. The gods give this unique talent for a very specific reason. At some point in that persons life, the gift of the Echo will have a significant impact upon the realm, whether it's noticeable or unnoticeable. Something will come of it, and it is the duty of the gifted to find out what that is with the aid of the Echo.

 

Now, before I get into the individual power the Echo grants to a person, I'll explain the organization that those gifted with the Echo are drawn into. Those gifted with the echo join hands to walk what is known as the Path of the Twelve. It's an underground group, and they are not (currently) known to the public. It consists entirely of those gifted with the Echo, and those who seek to assist those with the Echo in finding their way. Members are often given what is known as a path companion to accompany them on their journeys as they unravel the mystery that is their specific calling, seeing as they can quite often be dangerous. The group is situated in Ul'dah, but they have branches in the peasant wards of Gridania. Those who are in the group basically "Walk the path of the twelve", in that they move forward with this gift from the gods to discover what it is the gods have in store for them. They're walking the path laid out for them. Thus, those gifted with the Echo are referred to as "Walkers" within the group.

 

The power of the Echo is quite an interesting one, and also very dangerous when it comes to roleplay. Essentially, those gifted with the Echo have the ability to literally relive the memories of people around them. Witness those events first hand. At first, to some one who isn't aware of their gift, triggering this can be as simple as touching some one. The walker is able to move about these environments, and even go so far as to interact with people during these memories. Whether or not that has any impact on the future has yet to be seen. I currently believe that one is able to relive these memories themselves, however it isn't time travel. Therefor, any interaction has no effect on what might be occurring. There could be no way to "prevent" it from happening in reality.

 

Now, it seems that the reliving of these memories happens almost instantaneously. While a walker might be reliving a memory that is several minutes long, it's length in Eorzea is but the blink of an eye. Sort of like a Tron effect (If any of you have seen the sequel that just came out, you might get that reference.). Now, it also seems that inexperienced users of this ability have a tendency to pass out from exhaustion after reliving this memory. However, as their understanding and skill with this progresses, that becomes less and less of an issue until it seems to vanish completely.

 

Also as the walker's ability grows, they can go so far as to invoke and relive memories on a whim without even having to make contact with any individual person. Merely being in their presence allows them to relive that memory in the blink of an eye and learn whatever it is they need to from that person. This is extremely dangerous from a roleplay perspective, as some one gifted with the echo could technically have access to your memories. While this opens the door for metagaming, I don't believe people should shy away entirely from it. If a solid and firm approach is taken, and the roleplayer is careful, it could be doable. Of course, it would be very beneficial to get consenting roleplayers to interact with when using these specifics abilities to prevent any major headaches.

 

Now, there's still more to the Echo. Walkers have the ability to understand and speak every language. Whether it's Mooglespeak, the tongues of the Beastmen Tribes, or speaking to the elemental Primals themselves. Their gift gives them fluency in everything.

 

...Big chunk of information, but, so far that's what I've learned. In fact, I have a feeling I've even left a bit out. It's been awhile since I've done the lower ranking missions.

 

 

So, yes. I believe roleplayers shouldn't be afraid to tackle this. You can do it, you just have to be careful, as you do with any roleplay. If some one can make it work, I'm sure it would make for absolutely amazing roleplay. Square set it up for it make sense for many people to have it. As you stated ,it is mentioned that hundreds, of not thousands of Adventurer's are beginning to wake up to the Echo. It's by no means something that is rare, and would be "Cliche" to have. Roleplayers shouldn't look down upon people who choose to use it, but there will always be stiffs who can't afford to give anyone any form of creativity. You just need to be able to look past those people. Just take a dive. Like I did in giving Endemerrin an artificial limb powered my Magitek. Was it a bit out there? Sure. But you can make it fit into the world with a little elbow grease. This subject already has the groundwork laid out for you.

 

If it's something you want to do, don't let anyone stop you if there's no harm being done to others. Go wild and have fun, because that's what it's all about.

[Sterne]

I usually like to make up my own stories for my character and stay away from the game plot. Of course, my character will have knowledge of an event if I've done a certain mission, but she'll never claim she personally did something.

 

However, if someone wants to RP a mission/quest I'm not going to stop them since it's all personal preference. Unless it's having a negative impact on me, someone else, or is a blatant disregard for common sense, I'm not going to tell anyone what to do with their character.

 

I think the style in which I created my own back-story meets you half way.

 

I usually like to keep my story somewhat connected to the main arch of the game, while making key diversions to maintain some semblance of uniqueness. In other words, creating enough diversions to make it my own.

 

With the way my characters story is developing, I'm purposefully staying away from including any of the missions I play through. In my head I'm enjoying the story that S:E has laid out for us as players, but acting out a story that's developed into something else with the people I RP with.

 

It works for me, and I still feel as if Sterne is a part of Eorzea and not just my own construct.

 

 

As far as role-playing the "Echo"... I'm staying away from that. In my opinion it would be to much of a meta-gaming thing, from what I understand of it anyway. Apparently you can:

• Speak to anyone, in any language.
  
• Summon forth a vision to view past conversations or events.
  
• Consistently be prone to black outs
  

 

It's rather messy and would kill any attempt to do anything sneaky IC, if someone wanted to. Not saying that I'm up to anything <_<

>_>

 

[Dakki]

Hm. Most discerning news indeed. >_<

 

I say this because any of you that have read Thorik's History will know that he had infact encountered The Echo, so to speak. I am also ashamed to say I didn't read too far into this matter, so.. To avoid meta-gaming I can either wipe that from his History (Although then he would die, as technically it saved him), or re-write that part.. Eg. The Clangers!! (Sorry.. I call the music playing Moogle's that.. )

 

Either way, this information into 'The Echo' is greatly appreciated and once I'm done with coursework and the likes, will most likely get to work on his backstory..

 

Oh, and Sterne, we ALL know what you get up to.. :moogle: (Kidding, ofcourse. Unless you do, in which case.. I am ashamed of you!! )

[SamusKnight2K]

I think as long as someone gives consent to use the Echo, doesn't try going about telling everyone by blabbing about the hidden group, and doesn't try to act out every piece of the main storyline, I just might accept the whole use of the Echo. For example, no doubt in the way the FF stories usually go, our characters will most likely somehow save Eorzea from a grim fate. That said, not everyone can suddenly be the "hero" of the day and save the lands. In fact if someone even tries this my character will downright look at them as if they're nuts. If you try to forcefully do something using the Echo without my consent (IE read something that was written OOC and suddenly bring this up ICly without any way of knowing outside of Echo use.) I will flat out blist you on the spot and just pretend your character had a mental breakdown right there, whatever amuses me.

 

Quite honestly I'm strongly against the use of the Echo, even if it can be tweaked with a little use, as according to the storyline, none are supposed to even be aware of this ability, or even speak of it. And in fact, as the storyline goes... Should you be found out, expect others to either want to kill you, have you exiled, thrown in jail and locked away, or utterly shunned. From what I can see, I don't believe it actually alters a history or what happened, but the person you used the Echo on just may realize you're not actually a part of that should you be seen in the memory. At that time, the person on the outside, will suddenly become aware you pulled some sort of strange ability and invaded their thoughts. So be careful, be VERY careful using this and either be prepared to be the victim of possible death threats IC, or hated ICly by many.

[Kikoro]

I want to thank everyone for the thoughtful answers.

 

I agree with every single point you have made (and the information from further down the road was invaluable, thank you Rain for taking the time to type it down).

 

After a bit of further meditation, I am adding my own humble take on the subject.

 

 

For better or worse, like it or not, the Echo is as canon as chocobos. It simply exists in the setting, it is a major driving force, and it involves a large group of people, most of them adventurers like my character. He is bound to encounter the phenomenon in a way or another; at the very least he will learn about its existence, as it seems to be a very poorly kept secret.

 

I think the main storyline is pretty sweet, and it's one vision after another. And they even give you a custom NPC just to make sure you follow the dotted line of the Path of the Twelve. If I had any doubts left, the entire FFXIV *trailer* is structured like an Echo's daydream sequence. Ok... Ok! I can take a hint, Square Enix. You want our characters to fit in there niche, and I do not particularly mind the effort.

 

Now, the Echo in itself, I don't like it much. I have a preference for unremarkable characters with no special abilities whatsoever. But being left out of the loop is no fun either. If there's a secret society of evil stamp collectors somewhere, I want in, just because it's a secret society!

 

So I'm thinking my character will have a very weak Echo, which will activate on its own, once or twice a year, giving uncalled for and irrelevant information, and of course my character will swoon at the most inopportune times and be a bother to everyone. And my poor path companion will complain incessantly and ask for a different partner but no, sorry, it's the will of the gods, you're stuck with the loser.

 

I'm confident I can follow my own little tale off the side of the main storyline, and find a personal reason for being given the power, and wrap it all with a nice colorful bow, and then move on.

 

Now, as for using the Echo in RP.

 

Using it on someone else's character without permission is downright mean, of course. It's not much better than /emoting "kills you dead, dead, dead." Besides, it would not mean anything if nobody is answering. There must be interaction. There is no RP if it's just me talking to myself.

 

How about using it in a scene? Just like in the main storyline, you learn stuff from the past because thanks to the Echo you were actually there when it happened? It sounds cool on paper, but it's a nightmare. Imagine entering a crowded room, and then you have to /tell everyone: "Hello, I'm not actually here, I'm a projection from my future self, who is looking into the past, which is your present. Please don't mind me and continue your conversation."

 

Not happening... Not unless they give us a "Echo mode: ON" icon to display over our character. (and that should come well after the 'Roleplaying mode: ON' icon... But that's a different issue)

 

I actually like this last option:

 

Whoever has the Echo, could walk to their target, so to speak, and ask them: "Hi, I'm using the Echo on you. Does it work? If it does, what do I see?"

 

Now, I'm not going to do anything like that with my character... That's just not how we work here at Gio Central. But I would welcome it, with open arms, if someone else's character did that to me.

 

It's not rude, I have the option to decline, and I keep control of my character's past actions. And it gives me more room for RP!

 

It allows me to disclose facts about my character that would not normally come up in conversation; what I do when I'm alone, or what happened to me yesterday at the market, and the last three words my mother said to me.

 

Even better: it allows me to disclose facts about my character, that my character wants to keep secret! That's pretty neat. I get to describe my grand schemes, my shameful actions, my deep regrets, my vulnerabilities, the combination of my safe. And you're at fault for spying on me, you monster you. And now that you know, what do you do? Good stuff.

 

 

Just my 0.02 gil, of course.

[Don Miqot'e]

Echo, in my own opinon, is part of FF 14's universe, so it can not easily be forgotten when writing out characters and events. I believe it is a tool, and like any tool, it may have its own deft touch to get it to work correctly. The difference, however, seems to lie in the fact that it is considerably more touchy. The difference between surgery and stacking boxes.