Non-Gamer Watches #165 - FINAL FANTASY XIV

"she's a rabbit, and i am confusion" 😭😭😭😭

“Unnecessary violence to dragons.” Ysayle invites you to her party.

Each trailer is announcing the new expansion for FF14, which is a Massively Multiplayer Online game, like World of Warcraft. Each one continues the overall story. For Heavensward, your character is on the run, blamed for the poisoning of the little girl, who is a Queen basically. Taking refuge in a kingdom that has been at war with dragons for 1000 years. Stormblood has your character liberating kingdoms around the world from the evil empire. And Shadowbringers is your character traveling to a literal parallel dimension and saving it. Hope that clears things up a little! lol

As a fiction writer you would love this game, and it's specifically designed for non gamers so there's really no gamer curve to worry about. (P.s. it's also a great way to grow a channel as ff14 fan are constantly chasing a new player experience for our story high...)

Well you see...the story in a nutshell....is....you start out on a chocobo carriage ride...find a crystal....and then, like 300 hours later you go to the store to replace all the tissues you've used up. And that's basically it.

Game has like over 200 hours of story in the game, so yeah they mostly highlight new zones etc. in trailers and the somewhat "overall plot"

As a hardcore FFxiv-er can I just say that was hilarious to watch!! This is definitely one of those games that looks ridiculous from the outside but honestly I love every odd thing about it 😂😂😂

Haven't even started watching but oh man am I excited to watch her brain have a melt down trying to understand what the hell is going on in this story 🤣

To answer the "why is everyone white" question, it's because the game is Japanese. Japanese people are generally pale, and very commonly depict themselves in art that way (especially anime) because they like pale skin (kind of like how people in the west like tan skin, they intentionally get tans). What we see as "white", they see as Japanese. It's a game for Japanese people first, so most of the characters in the game will be "Japanese" to represent their core demographic. There are many characters in the game that aren't pale, but most of the main characters are. In the game however, you're not playing a character they created, you make your own character (which can be whatever color you want). Also, these trailers are for "expansions" to the game's story, you're not really meant to understand them without having played the game, so don't feel bad for not catching on.

Final Fantasy 14 is a very story-driven game. Dozens and dozens of hours of story in between each expansion and each of these videos is an intro to each of those expansions. So yes, you are supposed to know what's going on in them. So don't feel bad that you don't because there is A LOT going on in this game. These cinematics are also meant to be a bit vague on what's to come because they don't want to spoil much but also want to deliver a visual treat. :)

You're just gonna keep getting upset if you expect a strong, simple connected narrative between trailers. This is an MMO game, and each of these trailers are for expansions AKA large content updates and new things to do. These trailers aren't meant to tell an arching story for a new viewer, they're meant as lore recaps for the previous expansion and then showing/inspiring us for the new expansion they're advertising, usually around showing a new zone/area/city and characters we've met in the game before

If you want the story, you have to play the game. There are hundreds of hours of story between everything. It's fantastic.

"I think I'm missing something." Well just a few hundred hours of gameplay, questing, raids, and dungeons. I've been playing video games since I was a wee lad playing Super Nintendo in the early 90s, and started FF14 last year and it quickly became one of my favorite video game stories of all time.

"I feel like I am missing a key component to the story" Yes. The whole thing lmao. Still loving the reaction! They should have just made a movie along with the game

I've noticed some games, like World of Warcraft, largely tell the story in cinematics (so you can watch a series of them and get the through line) whereas others, like elder scrolls online and apparently final fantasy 14, tell the story in game and just have the cinematic to show..general vibes I guess. The second is definitely my preference (it's a game, not a movie) but does lead to confusion if you're only watching the cinematics. Also, these cinematics are mostly aimed at current and returning players.

"That seemed like unnecessary violence towards dragons." Yeah, that's heavenward lmao

These trailers are most likely based on the assumption that the player base has already gone through the Main Scenario story in the game, so it's a trick to put out a trailer without giving too much. They mostly introduce new characters, suggest what the story would be about, introduce new locations, and a little bit of reminder of past expansions. I love the confusion that you had, and I hope it intrigues you enough for you to maybe want to go through the story in-game!

'Those outfits seem impractical for fighting' 🤣 Tip meet iceberg.

Gonna give you a brief summary for context for the Heavensward trailer (SPOILERS EH) After disposing of a very nasty piece of War machine from an invading nation (Garlemald) the Main Character (MC) and their companions participate in Banquet. The MC get invited by the Sultana for a private chat and during that meeting she gets poisoned The Sultana general in a fit of rage at the news kill a High Ranking Member of the merchant Syndicate of the city, which supposedly was behind of the whole thing, and get his arm chopped off and imprisoned. The MC gets framed for the Sultana's death. The MC escape and seek refuge in Ishgard which is the city of spires showed in the trailer, which was a nation that has been closed off for decades since it has been entangled in a war with dragons for a long time (Dragonsong war, or the Thousand Years War) MC get attacked by a dragon and is ill equiped to face this particular enemy and get saved by a Dragoon, which is an Ishgardian soldier specialized in killing Dragons. The camera then pans to a view of the city post a dragon attack, ruins and tired guards as a way to convey the toll that the war require of the populace but also a moment of reprieve where the MC just marvel at a place he's never been and has only ever heard of. The trailer pass to show skyship scouting areas around the city, these find that Dragons are coming for the city Dragons attack, last shots are MC donning the armor of the Dragoon to help repelling the incoming attack.

Imagine that each of these final fantasy 14 trailers as a introduction of a book series. Sometimes it starts you from where you left off at the end of the previous book on to the next book of the series.