Final Fantasy XIV - Kiwi Free Company

[King Of Braves]

They came from the Source. They fled during the Age of Eternal Frost. They're originally from the south sea isles, aka Aloalo

Ohh I guess I had misread that at some point. Well that's gay, I was actually vibing with the whole "lalas are actually interdimensional aliens" concept.

Has there been any talk of dropping MSQ requirements towards the next expansion?

I doubt I'll return anytime soon but if I do I dread the prospect of dragging myself through what remains of DT (stopped around the .2 patch)

Just skip the cutscenes the moment trooncat appears, you'll miss nothing relevant.

 

[Tanner Glass]

Has there been any talk of dropping MSQ requirements towards the next expansion?

Nothing about the next expansion will be known until the April 2026 fanfest, and even then they're likely going to stretch it over the year for the other 2 fanfests.

The only hints dropped is they're looking at it as a "big" expansion and looking to reset a few unexplained game systems. The current hopium is they're going to do another Realm Reborn style reset to get out from the decade+ of technical debt they've built up and that Dawntrail (and parts of EW and FF16) were mediocre as there was a newer version of FFXIV being built behind the scenes (similar to the 1.0/2.0 split teams).

I highly doubt they're that committed to XIV although I'm sure they're looking to cut down on several technical headaches, I imagine they'll just do what's easy (like removing all glamor restrictions) instead of what's needed.

 

[Not your Buddy Holly]

I imagine they'll just do what's easy (like removing all glamor restrictions) instead of what's needed.

They already hit all the big emergency buttons; unrestricted glamour, hats for the viera and hrothgars, and (hopefully 7.5) TARDIS housing with more housing space. Looking at Lucky Bancho and Steam count, none of this has stopped the bleeding yet. Square Enix refusing them a bigger budget means only one thing they can do; get rid of a lot (or even possibly all) of the old legacy code. Getting the technical debt gone and out of the way means they can stretch their yen tighter and more efficiently, without having to play Jenga every time they want to do something. I don't think there's going to be a NEW FFXIV, but I think it'll be a FFXIV that has a massive amount of QoL updates and can be more easily flexible with patches.

 

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

Square Enix refusing them a bigger budget means only one thing they can do; get rid of a lot (or even possibly all) of the old legacy code. Getting the technical debt gone and out of the way means they can stretch their yen tighter and more efficiently,

uh

No, it means that the legacy code will forever be there because to get rid of it would be incredibly expensive. 'Get rid of legacy code' tends to mean 're-write all of your libraries and utilities from the ground up, then debug where everything - literally everything - breaks because of dependencies that you didn't know existed and no-one bothered to call attention to.'

It would probably be cheaper for them to just write entirely new code than to try to clean up what they have. But neither of these options is particularly cheap. SQenix will only really move on a new one once it becomes clear that the cow is sick and band-aid fixes aren't really enough to do it anymore; but plainly speaking, if the story of the next expac is even just mediocre, it'll probably be fine. A lot of people have quit but are pretty clearly addicted, and just need an excuse to come back.

 

[Honka Honka Burning Love]

They already hit all the big emergency buttons; unrestricted glamour, hats for the viera and hrothgars, and (hopefully 7.5) TARDIS housing with more housing space. Looking at Lucky Bancho and Steam count, none of this has stopped the bleeding yet. Square Enix refusing them a bigger budget means only one thing they can do; get rid of a lot (or even possibly all) of the old legacy code. Getting the technical debt gone and out of the way means they can stretch their yen tighter and more efficiently, without having to play Jenga every time they want to do something. I don't think there's going to be a NEW FFXIV, but I think it'll be a FFXIV that has a massive amount of QoL updates and can be more easily flexible with patches.

I am not being an asshole asking this, it is a legitimate question.

Is there any Mainline Final Fantasy games that they haven't mined for nostalgia?

 

[Kane Lives]

I am not being an asshole asking this, it is a legitimate question.

Is there any Mainline Final Fantasy games that they haven't mined for nostalgia?

Final Fantasy X is the sole mainline game that hasn't been thoroughly mined out yet. The only references it got so far was a paid Tidus costume (might be others as well), and a small Thunder Plains reference in the Eden raids.

EDIT: actually come to think of it, I think XIII also hasn't been touched. Unsure why though. Maybe because they can't jam in a Lightning reference every five minutes lol.

 

[Dorkwan]

I am not being an asshole asking this, it is a legitimate question.

Is there any Mainline Final Fantasy games that they haven't mined for nostalgia?

I'm honestly surprised they haven't mined 7 more. Considering that both Lightning and Noxus whatever-his-name-is had physical appearances in the game I feel like they could've pulled a Kingdom Hearts and had a Sephiroth trial. Maybe that's their last line of defense, that or the Y'shtola hot coffee minigame.

 

[Tanner Glass]

Final Fantasy X is the sole mainline game that hasn't been thoroughly mined out yet. The only references it got so far was a paid Tidus costume (might be others as well), and a small Thunder Plains reference in the Eden raids.

You fight a version of Anima in the Endwalker MSQ as a dungeon boss and constantly tease Blitzball on top of that.

I don't think they've touched much on FFXV, FFXVI, any of the spinoffs, or much about FF7. They also have the entire SquareEnix library to tap into (like Nier), feels like they could slide in Bravely Default or Octopath Traveler. There's also spinoffs and such also to mine out.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

I'm honestly surprised they haven't mined 7 more. Considering that both Lightning and Noxus whatever-his-name-is had physical appearances in the game I feel like they could've pulled a Kingdom Hearts and had a Sephiroth trial. Maybe that's their last line of defense, that or the Y'shtola hot coffee minigame.

Sephiroth definitely is a "break in case of emergency" option.

 

[Well Intentioned]

A Chrono Trigger crossover thing would've been neat, too. Especially since last year was the (EDIT: I'm a retard) 30th Anniversary.

 

[Kane Lives]

You fight a version of Anima in the Endwalker MSQ as a dungeon boss and constantly tease Blitzball on top of that.

I don't think they've touched much on FFXV, FFXVI, any of the spinoffs, or much about FF7. They also have the entire SquareEnix library to tap into (like Nier), feels like they could slide in Bravely Default or Octopath Traveler. There's also spinoffs and such also to mine out.

Oh damn, yeah. I completely forgot about Anima. (That's how much a walkover it is, and it has the misfortune of being stacked right next to the Zodiark trial.)

I disagree on the lack of FF7 rep though, since the entire fucking Golden Saucer area is a love letter to that one. You might be right in that nothing else from 7 appeared in the game since though. EDIT: wait no, the entire Weapon Raids are from 7, lol.

 

[Tanner Glass]

Oh damn, yeah. I completely forgot about Anima. (That's how much a walkover it is, and it has the misfortune of being stacked right next to the Zodiark trial.)

I disagree on the lack of FF7 rep though, since the entire fucking Golden Saucer area is a love letter to that one. You might be right in that nothing else from 7 appeared in the game since though. EDIT: wait no, the entire Weapon Raids are from 7, lol.

I guess I mean "the core of the game".

There's FF7 references, but not like FF6 or FF4 where you fight all the major antagonists, Kefka, and roll around in several versions of Magitek armor. They have plenty of more to mine from FF7, like the entirety of the main plot complete with JENOVA and Sephiroth as the big showstopper bosses. I can also see them sneaking in some version of Queen's Blood into the Gold Saucer tied into the FF7Remake launches.

FFX hasn't had much taken from it, neither has FF8 despite the Eden raids. FF13 is relatively untouched outside of the side-fate as well.

 

[Golfing on the Moon 1971]

I really like the unique aesthetics of FF10 (the ornate and weird Indian/Buddhist temple stonework of the Aeons, the Southeast Asian pacific island environments, Yuna's outfit, etc). But I wouldn't want the setting and characters to be copypasted into FF14 like how Alexandria and Garnet got copypasted into FF14. I would also like to see new Aeons along the lines of FF10's art directions without the actual FF10 Aeons being copypasted in. I have already fought 2 or 3 versions of Ifrit in FF14. I don't want to fight a 4th version of it. Bring in something like Angra Mainyu from FF10-2 or new original creatures with that FF10 Aeon design motif.

I also don't want Spire copypasted into FF10 because it is going to be the fourth or fifth rehash of going to another barely hanging on world that is in apocalyptic doomspiral/on the brink of total annihilation and saving it again. If we go to another Source it would be neat if that unlike Norvrandt/Void/Ninth, it was actually doing fine and an overall populated, civilized world like the Source. And no more speeches about existentialism and how it's a good thing that we all grow old and die and cease to exist when our lifestream burns out and are souls that have reincarnated into rabbits or whatever stop existing too.

A FF10 expac would also draw attention to just how much FF14 Summoner feels unsatisfying to play. Don't make it the poster expac job.


FF13's aesthetics would have been ripe to be used for a sci fi world. Unfortunately we just got invaded by a futuristic sci fi world it doesn't make that much sense to have it on another shard. And the rest of the universe is apparently dead, unless we are waltzing around the Omicron's world where all of the Omicrons are dead and we just interact with their leftover robots. They're gonna have to start digging for Square's other games not branded as official mainline Final Fantasy games at this rate. Maybe The Last Remnant or Xeno. Might be licensing issues with the latter.

 

[RIPRhongoBongo]

Bring in something like Angra Mainyu from FF10-2 or new original creatures with that FF10 Aeon design motif.

Vegnagun would go hard as fuck as a raid series. Maybe snipe the Via Infinito for a Deep Dungeon

 

[Pigeon Enthusiast]

We were also told in an interview that Emet and the rest of the ancients stuff in EW was already planned out from the start and had nothing to do with his popularity. The plot with them would have probably stayed the same regardless of whether or not we got a garlemald expansion. Too many plot points about the ancients in EW were laid down in 5.0-5.3 in ShB to feel like they were shoved in for fanservice. Also they planned condensing expansions pretty early into 5.0, if there was a plan it probably never made it past a story board. Not saying garlemald didn't get shafted though.

They pretty much said this in a Famitsu interview with Yoshida and Ishikawa back in 2022, yeah. The broad strokes were already storyboarded in 2019, in the months after Shadowbringers came out (because the CGI department needed the storyboards to start working on the big cinematics), and the storyline would have stayed about the same, just longer - an "end of Garlemald" expansion culminating with a fight against Anima, and then a big finale expansion with Zodiark, Hydaelyn and the Twitter Bird.
But they saw the fan response to Shadowbringers and decided to capitalize on the momentum by canning the Garlemald expansion and going right to the finale.

Final Fantasy X is the sole mainline game that hasn't been thoroughly mined out yet. The only references it got so far was a paid Tidus costume (might be others as well), and a small Thunder Plains reference in the Eden raids.

There's also the Ixion FATE in Gyr Abania, and the mount you get from it.

And DT has both the Pelupelu and their beast tribe questline, which is pretty much one big reference to Rin's Travel Agency in X.


TBH I suspect that we would have seen more FFX references in the notional Garlemald expansion, if it had not been canned. As it is I think they've been put back behind the glass in case of emergency, the same way VII seems to be, and occasionally they'll pull something out like the Pelupelu.
OTOH I think VII might also just be reserved because CBU1 is still doing the Remake stuff, and they don't want to step on each other's toes.

That really just leaves XIII, which... tbh I have no real idea about that. Never played it, don't know much about it. I am familiar with Lightning and that's about it.

There's also the newer ones, but...
XV got a crossover event, and I suspect that's all it's likely to get. It's too new and none of the antagonists etc really have any of the "hey, remember this?" nostalgiabait factor you can count on when mining stuff from the older FFs for theme park stops.
So did XVI for that matter, and that one is probably also going to be left at that, for broadly the same reasons but also like... Valisthea is just kind of Eorzea 2, by the same people. They could just have done that in XIV if they wanted.

 

[SnowBall]

Doesn’t EW imply that life would eventually come back to the universe? That was the takeaway I got from 6.0’s ending. They can easily retcon some reason for new planets and civilizations to popping up in the universe too. Shouldn’t be too difficult to come up with an excuse since this game retcons and walks back on stuff all the time.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

Final Fantasy X is the sole mainline game that hasn't been thoroughly mined out yet. The only references it got so far was a paid Tidus costume (might be others as well), and a small Thunder Plains reference in the Eden raids.

On top of the things other people have mentioned, there's also the reskin of the Ixion mount in Lv 90 treasure maps, and the Magus Sisters in Tower of Zot. There's also pretty big similarities between the bottom layer of Yak Tel and Lake Macalania. Heritage Found was also mentioned as being a homage to the Thunder Plains iirc (NPC there makes a remark about dodging the lightning strikes which was absolutely a reference to Lulu's Celestial Weapon) and if you want to stretch a bit, the Onion Knight demiclone in Eureka Orthos is reminiscent of Lulu's weapon. Personally I thought Solution Nine (also Amaurot) was rather akin to Zanarkand. Hrothgar are called Ronso in the First too. Mega Death in Mhach, the use of "machina" as a term for Garlean machines, FRIGGIN YOJIMBO (was disappointed his fight was so lame in XIV), Nirvana being the ARR WHM relic...
The nods to X are there, they're not as in your face as the others. Yet.

 

[Golfing on the Moon 1971]

That really just leaves XIII, which... tbh I have no real idea about that. Never played it, don't know much about it. I am familiar with Lightning and that's about it.

The main shtick of the original FF13 is that there are gods that rules over humanity called the Fal'cie and the heroes are trying to rebel against them, though it's not well demonstrated since the vast majority of the Fal'cie in the game are not depicted as tyrants or handing out orders, but are instead silent inanimate jobs performing certain functions like being a power plant or being an artificial sun. Or like Titan on the surface of the planet, just do whatever. The only actual Fal'cie ruler in the game is the evil pope. The heroes got tasked by a Fal'cie to kill the pope Fal'cie, or else turn into zombie monsters.

Setting wise, there are two worlds. There is the surface of an earth like world, and then an artificial moon called Cocoon that is inhabited by the Fal'cie and their human population there. There were humans on the surface of the planet but almost all of them got wiped out in a war. Both sides have modern looking urban cities with futuristic sci fi tech, but the two survivors of the surface dress like tribals for some reason. They would slot right in to FF10 or 12. The rest of the FF13 humans - who live in Cocoon - have modern clothing. So unless a FF14 expansion focused on that tribal aesthetic, it would just be mainly futuristic sci fi which we just did. We even just had a similar plot with the sheltered people of said sci fi container in Solution Nine now branching out into the outside world, which is what happens at the end of FF13 when the people of Cocoon branch out to the surface.

The two sequels are about travelling all over the place to different time periods. The main antagonist is a guy (voiced by Illidan) who was cursed to be immortal and is trying to get you to kill him (you are the only guy who can), but if he dies that triggers the end of the world (kinda did that a few years ago with Zodiark's death causing the Final Days to come back, not that anyone died from that). Because each level is a different time and place, there is a very loose setting - as in the countries and their culture, etc - is one of the most underdeveloped FF settings so there is not that much to borrow.

 

[Well Intentioned]

the Magus Sisters in Tower of Zot.

I'm gonna be an autist because, well, my avatar, but the Magus Sisters and the Tower of Zot are pretty explicitly modeled after their FF4 incarnations, right down to their casting animations resembling the black/white magic characters like Tellah would use.

The FFX Magus Sisters had insect(?) based costumes.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

Yeah, it's just one of those things that features in X but is a more tenuous connection because it features more than once in the franchise. All I want from X in XIV at this point is a shoopuf mount and I'll be content.