FFXIV Random Speculation/Question thread II: Let's Speculate the Speculations

[Kiarax]

No idea if the mask is shopped on. It's very well done if it is. These are new to me, dunno if there's old shots of them elsewhere, if so I missed em:
http://i42.tinypic.com/bja161.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/ehf2wl.jpg

Edit:
http://i44.tinypic.com/r8ttsp.jpg
Nevermind!

[Lucavi]

Dungeon finder would definitely be cool. Although I've heard that it kinda kills the social aspect of grouping, but I think that can be avoided by making the grouping need some communication to work.

Like, even if you're in a group you still play "individually" and do not cooperate much with others. That shouldn't happen imo.

Well to be fair, the social aspect was dead anyway, if you really want to get to it. On PVE it was just a chore riding out into the middle of nowhere to have to summon people, and at quiet times of the game, such as late at night, it was nearly impossible to get a group for some of the earlier instances, especially the outlands instances.

On PVP servers, it was typically only "fun" when groups of alliance/horde were standing around summoning stones for turf wars. Having to shout for hours to get members and heading to the area was never fun.

Dungeon finder merely simplifies the task of running events you've run for years. It'd be the same as having some kind of "valkurm dunes" finder, that would group you up with a pack of 3 DDs, a healer and a tank and send you out to get some xp. Kill a certain amount of mobs or get a certain amount of xp and presto, you'll get some gil and a mithkabob or something.

TLDR: it didn't kill anything that wasn't already twitching on the ground. The only time it was ever "fun" to LFG and manually run/fly to instances was when the instance either first came out, or when an expansion first came out to get that large gathering of both interest in the instance, and that large gathering of alliance/horde in one area to let fists fly.

[Omniyoji]

WTF have they done to my elementals! Well I guess the pixie look is ok'ish.

[Lucavi]

Well they never looked fearsome to begin with. I just hope they still give off their element as they flutter around.

I wonder if they'll keep up the MMO trend of having elementals at a much higher level in their zone than everything else. Those things look too cute to kill me.

[Jinko]

It'd be the same as having some kind of "valkurm dunes" finder, that would group you up with a pack of 3 DDs, a healer and a tank and send you out to get some xp.

I think it would be more suited to quest and missions stuff than XP party groups.

I don't think it really kills communication other than "you wana party" >> "yea sure", it would be great if FF14 had a similar feature for easy party set ups, but the chances of that are next to zero.

[Kiarax]

admin: Removed as per NDA

[Battlecat]

There's a monocle! lalafell cuteness +1000!

[Hyan]

Well to be fair, the social aspect was dead anyway, if you really want to get to it.

Well in that case.. anything to make the grouping process more "casual" would definitely be welcome.

[futan]

Pretty good speculation, but I'm with Cairthenn on the lyrics, I think you have a couple wrong.

The garlean empire hasn't gone, they just haven't invaded the other city states. SE have said that the continent the players have access to is only a small one, so there are a few possibilities for their halted advance:

1. They are fighting the war on multiple fronts and someone elsewhere is putting up a decent fight, so all their efforts are concentrated elsewhere while a smaller force just holds the line to the north of the continent we are on.

2. The empire isn't as powerful as it seems and the battle with Ala Mhigo weakened them to the point that they had to stop the advance to rebuild.

3. The empire only invaded Ala Mhigo and the other cities that fell because of some dispute that is now settled and the other cities stayed out of it

4. Internal politics within the empire have stopped the invasion while a new leader takes over etc.

5. The current city states leaders are paying protection money to the empire without letting the public know, alternatively the empire doesn't see the remaining cities as a threat.

6. The war has stopped because they didn't find the WMD's in Ala Mhigo that the empires leaders swore would be there....


All those possibilities could lead to a greater storyline as you discover exactly why it happened, but I do like your idea.

7. The empire was just using Eorzea as a "door mat" to their destination. That is they had no interest in Eorzea, they just needed a way to their enemy and Eorzea was that path, defeating any resistance(Ala Mhigo) along the way.

[elsoco]

Spoiler: show

The land's a lie, so believe
Perhaps this means that the eorzea that we’ll be playing in is some kind of false reality or offshoot of the “real” game-world. When they call it a lie they give it a negative connotation, so perhaps a later part of the story might involve overcoming some plot to hide the “real” world.

Now open your eyes while our plight is repeated, still death to our cries lost in hope we lie defeated
This part seems to say that the same individual faces death or some other catastrophe more than once. This makes me think that either some great looming disaster was delayed through some world-wide magic (thus forcing you to face the disaster again), or your character goes back and experiences some great disaster over again. With all talk of dying, I’d be inclined to think that it’s something that’s killed you (or someone you’re echoing with), and you’ll have to go back and face it a second time.

Living sins of the past for our future is taken
Now this really makes it sound like we’d be playing in some event in the past. I’d assume that these sins were committed against your character rather than by your character, though a later line suggests otherwise. In that case, I’d guess that the sins are what caused the “plight” mentioned previously. When they say “our future is taken,” I’d assume they mean we’re dead in the future. Again, I’d say it’s really a tossup as to whether your character is the one from the past, or if your character will just be reliving some story npc’s past.

Judgment binds all we hold to a memory of scorn
It seems to say that because of some misdeed, we have to be stuck in some unpleasant memory. Considering the lines that came before, the memory is probably something that our character lives in rather than some mere recollection. Perhaps your character plays a part in something bad after all.

My conclusion:
I really think that the story could go one of two ways, but for the sake of conviction, I’ll go this way: Your character has the echo, and they’re echoing with “you.” When the garlean empire invaded, they set off some disaster. In an act of desperation, some adventurers (player-controlled) activated the echo, giving themselves a mulligan on things. So your character starts over (i.e., at the point where you start playing your character), and the influence from the echo frees you from your previous fate and gives you a chance to redo things. Even so, the true reality, the one we escaped from when we got the echo, still persists in some way, and in the end we’ll have to reconcile the past world with the real world in order to go on. In the “real” world, our character was about to die, so we’ll go to the point where they were about to die and instead we’ll save them.

There are still a few holes in my guess at the story, such as: What happened to the garlean empire, and what was the sin committed by the adventurers? I figured it was the adventurers that caused the echo since the song says that something the adventurers have done causes them to have to relive things. The beginning of the song also encourages them to be free though, so freeing themselves from their fate shouldn’t be a sin.

Don't you see it dude? It;s the Matrix! Upon creating your character and entering the game you are given the choice of taking the blue or the red pill!!!

Oh, I forgot, They also give you cake.

[Kyrra]

Well, the masks are definitely real. Was a few failed uploads in this but they were in moonrunes and there's waaaaaay too many to work out what it missed. Most of these are just items in stores (and obviously in Japanese), but there's some interesting images in there too.
Spoilered for the fact there's like a billion of them.

If you wanna post everything on your site I can upload a .rar with all of the images in Cair.

Thanks Kairax, I've posted these on my site, at least all the NPC screenshots. I wasn't going to grab all the store images (I'll wait for a English version to do that).

[Jinko]

Seems the glasses give you physical and magical defense and not accuracy, which is kind of odd.

Edit:- they also increase physical evasion.

[Kyrra]

Seems the glasses give you physical and magical defense and not accuracy, which is kind of odd.

The monsters are kind hearted and would never hit someone who wears classes... that's where the physical defense comes from.

[Skeptic]

Kia, you rock!

Nice pics, if you guys are interested in chatting during NA Alpha tonight add me on AIM. I'll be starting a Huge chat for everyone to come hang out in during. You're all welcome!

Is it safe to Speculate we'll be summoning elements like the old days?

[Kiarax]

Seems the glasses give you physical and magical defense and not accuracy, which is kind of odd.

Edit:- they also increase physical evasion.

Pretty sure they're just as a replacement to unwieldy looking helmets and stuff for some classes. Gladiator will probably get full helms whilst other classes get stuff like glasses or masks. Of course, we only have one head piece slot right now but that could change for full release. Since it seems like we're getting accessory pieces too and they don't currently have any slots to equip them in.

[Lucavi]

Well in that case.. anything to make the grouping process more "casual" would definitely be welcome.

Agreed. You can't kill what's already dead, or at least dormant. When Cata comes out, I'm positive that the "social aspect" will revive. I'd wager that Blizzard may not even impliment the newest instances into the dungeon finder if they feel that it'll just result in people sitting around in town.

Even if the did, however, it wouldn't hurt much. You don't "have" to sit around in town. People just choose to do so. I use it while crafting, gathering mats in the field, shooting up some alliance village, or taking screenshots of me free-falling from extreme heights (think jumping off of Mt. Everest without a parachute just for the fun of it - death penalties be damned!)

People just like to complain, no matter what medium they're immersed in.

[Hyan]

Anyways, EU people any problems with the servers? I guess not due to lack of complaining...? =p

[Hyan]

Ohoo, how was the mining process?

[Jojimbo]

More interactive at the very least.

Basically you go to a point (can scan for it, points you in direction and distance) and select to excavate it, you then take up a stance and get a message about how difficult it will be.

Select excavate button and then you have a circle with a ring that moves in/outwards, press X/A/Enter to stop the the ring. You do this a few times till you discover a vein, a hp bar pops up and you repeat the ring thing to deplete the bar.

I havn't figured out all the details, but basically there seems to be a chance for your swing to damage the vein (I havn't broken one yet though) and you have to keep stopping the circle in the same place or something happens (I'm guessing damage to the vein). Stopping the ring when its nearer the edge may/may not increase the hp taken away when mining, still need to test that fully but it *seems* to.

[Purrrfect]

Mining sounds a lot better than xi. Tis good news. Better login sounds like good progress.

edit: love the avatar arshesney