FFXI Plot-holes and unclear issues

[Septimus]

About Adoulin so may end up becoming sort of a spoiler

Laevateinn

Passed down for generations in the myths and stories of the peoples of the north is the World Tree motif, known to those intimately versed in such tales as Yggdrasill. One obscure legend tells of an ambitious Gigas who ventured to the center of the tree to obtain the single branch fabled to grow there, the “Branch of Ruin.” Known to sprout only the seemingly lifeless, skeletal frames of leaves in place of lush foliage, he plucked it at its base and made his way to the lands of the Dvergar, whom he commissioned to fashion the branch into Laevateinn.

Mulcibar's Scoria (drop's off Pandemonium Warden now)

Scraps of molten metal left over from the construction of an ancient city of demons.

all i can find that has links to the expansion video we will be going far north in the west maybe to the tip so may be new ice zones but all my bets are on a demon city by the end of the this expansion.

If you reread it, it does not say that the lands of the Dvergar are to the west, he picked the Branch of Ruin from the base, and then went to the Dvergars to have the staff made. Plus, we don't know how much about these stories are myth and how much are true (in the game). For example, Yagrush was made for confrontations against Leviathan on the high-seas, but we know that Leviathan is stuck in his protocrystal.

[Spira]

we'll definitely hear and see more about Yggdrasil in SoA and I've already seen it in the zone dats (its that thing i thought was a giant mushroom lol). Whether they decide to bring in and elaborate on the myth of Laevateinn is another thing altogether.

That said, I fully expect to see Gigas in this expansion because "Rhazowa in the north" is another keyword that appears in the trailer and thats the continent from which is home to the Orcish empire and the Gigas.
What is also interesting is that it implies that the continent of Rhazowa stretches north of Quon and onward west to north of Ulbuka, or maybe that Ulbuka isn't actually that far off from the west anyway.

[Guitarman]

Just wanted to interject and say I'd love if SE made a lore book, much like WoW does. I'd buy it in an instant.

[Suteru]

I'm pretty sure they already have.

in Japanese.

[Apelila]

FFXI Ultimania guide

But like Suteru said, if you can't read JP you can't get the candy inside.

[Suteru]

I miss Elmer's translations of stuff like this.

[Septimus]

Didn't you guys know? English-speaking nerds hate background information and shy away from debating about minute details left unclear in stories!

[Apelila]

If you know someone who can translated I would read the hell out of it. I'd read it so hard.

[Ophannus]

Are Voidwalkers and Voidwatchers the same? The dude who gives you Clear Abyssite in Ru'lude says Voidwalkers are Abysseans that are between worlds, he even says he dubbed that world "Abyssea" even though denizens of Abyssea refer to their planet as Abyssea. Plot holes! Also I don't think the VW storyline ever confirmed where VW's come from or why they're so pissed and attack shit.

[Slycer]

Voidwalkers are NMs. The same terminology applies to VNMs (abyssite popped, the pre-Abyssea kind) and VWNMs (Voidwatch), they are both Voidwalkers. We, the players, are the Voidwatchers. When you start a VW battle, you receive "Voidwatcher" status. As Voidwatchers, we are tasked with keeping the threat from the void (i.e. the Voidwalkers) at bay.

I cannot really answer your other questions. I'd have to go back and re-watch the Cait Sith cutscenes in Provenance, especially the one you get when you first zone in. There are too many "worlds between worlds" references in FFXI for it to really make sense. Walk of Echoes is another place that is supposed to exist between dimensions/times/worlds. As far as I can tell, there really is no good explanation in the story itself as to how the VWNMs are randomly pouring out of Planar Rifts all over Vana'diel. As far as the "why" of it, I think it had something to do with the mother crystal (in Provenance) attempting to restore balance to Vana'diel. Personally, I always thought the location where voidwalkers came from was a world that was neither here nor there, not our Vana'diel, but not the Vana'diel of Abyssea either. This is supported by the presence of Voidwalker NMs which must be forced into existence with abyssite in Abyssea itself - if they came from Abyssea, why would they need to be spawned there as well?

In Provenance, the caturae are, both figuratively and literally, pawns of the mother crystal, its first attempt at self-defense. Provenance Watcher, as the crystal guardian, is a final manifestation of the mother crystal, its last protection from the intruders (us). In Provenance, the Voidwatch tables are turned. There, we are the Voidwalkers, emerging from the Planar Rift in Provenance into a place we shouldn't be (the Planar Rift there serves as OUR portal in and out, not the enemies' portal). I assume that because of the dissociated nature of Provenance (it doesn't exist in any particular time or place), once we exit and re-enter Provenance, the battle begins anew (the final uncompletable quest of the Voidwatch storyline is "Ad Infinitum"), perhaps metaphorically representing our ongoing struggle for existence, or some other blah blah blah. I think the Provenance storyline is pretty solid, it's the stuff that comes before it that has a ton of holes.

[Eurell]

That makes VW seem so much fucking cooler. I love ffxi storylines, but Voidwatch was killing me with their Shakespearean dialogue and every other sentence being about different worlds and shit. Between that and only getting a piece of the story every couple of months, I was pretty lost on a lot of it lol.

[Septimus]

Voidwalkers are NMs. The same terminology applies to VNMs (abyssite popped, the pre-Abyssea kind) and VWNMs (Voidwatch), they are both Voidwalkers. We, the players, are the Voidwatchers. When you start a VW battle, you receive "Voidwatcher" status. As Voidwatchers, we are tasked with keeping the threat from the void (i.e. the Voidwalkers) at bay.

I cannot really answer your other questions. I'd have to go back and re-watch the Cait Sith cutscenes in Provenance, especially the one you get when you first zone in. There are too many "worlds between worlds" references in FFXI for it to really make sense. Walk of Echoes is another place that is supposed to exist between dimensions/times/worlds. As far as I can tell, there really is no good explanation in the story itself as to how the VWNMs are randomly pouring out of Planar Rifts all over Vana'diel. As far as the "why" of it, I think it had something to do with the mother crystal (in Provenance) attempting to restore balance to Vana'diel. Personally, I always thought the location where voidwalkers came from was a world that was neither here nor there, not our Vana'diel, but not the Vana'diel of Abyssea either. This is supported by the presence of Voidwalker NMs which must be forced into existence with abyssite in Abyssea itself - if they came from Abyssea, why would they need to be spawned there as well?

In Provenance, the caturae are, both figuratively and literally, pawns of the mother crystal, its first attempt at self-defense. Provenance Watcher, as the crystal guardian, is a final manifestation of the mother crystal, its last protection from the intruders (us). In Provenance, the Voidwatch tables are turned. There, we are the Voidwalkers, emerging from the Planar Rift in Provenance into a place we shouldn't be (the Planar Rift there serves as OUR portal in and out, not the enemies' portal). I assume that because of the dissociated nature of Provenance (it doesn't exist in any particular time or place), once we exit and re-enter Provenance, the battle begins anew (the final uncompletable quest of the Voidwatch storyline is "Ad Infinitum"), perhaps metaphorically representing our ongoing struggle for existence, or some other blah blah blah. I think the Provenance storyline is pretty solid, it's the stuff that comes before it that has a ton of holes.

I think that you put more effort into explaining Provenance than the Devlopment Team did. VW and Provenance were pretty much excuse plots. The never really answered why they were happening in the first place, and lore-wise Provenance shouldn't exist at all. The original Mother Crystal was split into 5 parts, Paradise became Vana'diel- suddenly there is a retcon that Provenance was where the original Mother Crystal came from and there is still a chunk of it there. That is a pretty huge retcon- essentially stating that Paradise was a completely different dimension from the start- it contradicts a lot of CoP. (Then again, some of CoP contradicted stuff from RotZ, but nothing that fundamental.)

[Slycer]

I agree that there are plenty of holes in the storyline, but you can get around some of what you said (i.e. Provenance shouldn't exist) with the fact that Provenance does not really exist in any specific time or place (or exists in every time and place). Perhaps Provenance is the paradise you speak of, what with the fights being known as "radiances" and all.

[Septimus]

I agree that there are plenty of holes in the storyline, but you can get around some of what you said (i.e. Provenance shouldn't exist) with the fact that Provenance does not really exist in any specific time or place (or exists in every time and place). Perhaps Provenance is the paradise you speak of, what with the fights being known as "radiances" and all.

Paradise became Vana'diel when the 5 Mother Crystals were split. Vana'diel will become Paradise again if the Mother Crystals are recombined.

[6souls]

Prov is an alternate dimension or perhaps is more closely related to The Watchers from Marvel comics. Prov Watcher exists on their own plane & recently interfered with our Vana'diel, and the "true" Vana'diel, for reasons that have yet to be revealed (perhaps an Adoulin tie-in is on the way).

[Septimus]

Prov is an alternate dimension or perhaps is more closely related to The Watchers from Marvel comics. Prov Watcher exists on their own plane & recently interfered with our Vana'diel, and the "true" Vana'diel, for reasons that have yet to be revealed (perhaps an Adoulin tie-in is on the way).

According to the interview from S-E, Adoulin doesn't really have any connections to old stories.

Plus "reasons that have yet to be revealed" is generally a cop-out for writers. lol

[Suteru]

If Paradise is no more.. Where did Altana's tears come from at the end of CoP?

[Qeomash]

If Paradise is no more.. Where did Altana's tears come from at the end of CoP?

The lifestream.

Spoiler: show

Altana probably just exists outside of all the universes/worlds/dimensions. She's sitting there watching them all happen on different TV screens, pressing the pause, rewind, and play buttons as she wants while dragging things around from one screen to the next as she wants. If she doesn't like one, she rewatches it and manipulates it until she does like it. At worst, she cries on her remote and ignores that TV and starts watching a better one.

[Tarage]

Nonono, she's worse than that. She throws cats at her problems.

[Eurell]

Nonono, she's worse than that. She throws cats at her problems.