Final Fantasy 14 and Final Fantasy 16 *FULL SPOILERS*

[golguin]

I'm assuming that FF14 players that saw the trailer for FF16 couldn't help but notice certain elements of the trailer that could have potential connections to FF14.

What are people's thoughts on the potential origin of the FF16 world and how it could relate to FF14? The biggest things that jumped out at me would be "The Mothercrystal" name drop and the summons being referred to as "eikons." The FF14 team that's working on FF16 could be balsy enough to set the game on a fallen shard or an early Astal Era on the brink of an Umbral Calamity. Thoughts?

 

[Nakazato]

Oh shit this is a good theory

 

[Deleted member 19767]

Loved it. Loved the connections.
Cannot wait.

 

[jonjonaug]

Up until the title drop I wasn't sure if this was going to be FF16 or an FF14 spinoff.

 

[Deleted member 27751]

I mean it has Yoshi P on this one so of course he'll connect it. Heck the art style alone gave that away.

 

[Kalentan]

I want this to be true so badly.

 

[Deleted member 58141]

It can't be in a shard since it has Shiva as a primal.

Shiva didn't exist until the sixth astral era, long after shards got separated from the source.

The similarities are curious indeed though.

 

[clay_ghost]

Like most MMOs, I couldn't get into 14. Heard good things about its story. It's there any good resources for lore /story summary?

 

[cdyhybrid]

Don't think it will be directly related, TBH - just some nods here or there for people that played 14.

Also it couldn't be an early prequel of 14 because 14's Shiva was a real person, not a primal from the start like the others. So they wouldn't have any inspiration for 16's Shiva because the original Shiva hadn't been born yet.

 

[Kalentan]

It can't be in a shard since it has Shiva as a primal, I think.

Shiva didn't exist until the sixth astral era, long after shards got separated from the source.

The similarities are curious indeed though.

Click to shrink...

Shards aren't 1 to 1.

Like how Bismarck isn't a Primal on the First.

It's possible a Shiva also came about as a result of different circumstances.

 

[Theswweet]

Yeah, XVI seems to connect eerily well to XIV lore about The Void/The 13th Shard. Namely:

Spoiler

What led to its downfall were heroes abusing the powers of the primals using Auracites, to channel their strength.

Guess what we're seeing a *ton* of in the trailer? Also, was that a mention of a spreading plague? Maybe it could have been... a Flood of Darkness?

 

[Deleted member 58141]

Shards aren't 1 to 1.

Like how Bismarck isn't a Primal on the First.

Click to shrink...

Yeah but you can take it that the Bismark of the first is the original creature the inspired the primal as a god the beast tribe revered. It works with the rules.

The original human called Shiva that was the basis for the primal didn't exist until after the separation by thousands of years. It was a creature or a concept before that.

Now there's a possibility that in that shard there was another human named Shiva that wasbalso influencial enough to he revered as a primal later on, and also had the same ice theme going for her, but that feels too coincidental for me.

 

[FPX]

I've always wanted to play and experience the story of 14, but it being an MMO and its length has always been a barrier. Is there a good channel or playlist I can watch?

Especially worried now if I might miss out on references or cool details in 16

 

[Rotobit]

Like in theory its cool but considering what happens to the shards it'd make things feel a bit... inconsequential? Like even FFXV which

Spoiler

killed off most of humanity ended on a somewhat hopeful note and most of the major named characters survive.

There's also the bit about it being called "stand-alone" in the PR, but I figure it'd just be theory bait even if more evidence crops up that supports it.

Ideal scenario in my eyes would it connecting but it being an alternate timeline where things don't go as badly.

 

[golguin]

Shards aren't 1 to 1.

Like how Bismarck isn't a Primal on the First.

It's possible a Shiva also came about as a result of different circumstances.

Click to shrink...

I was about to bring up the fact that shards do no share the same history. Let's not forget that Primals were created by Eden based on the memories of the WoL and were reborn as new versions of old Primals from the Source. There is nothing saying that Shiva can't exist on a shard via the soul memory before the shards were made. We already know that everyone has memories of The Final Days and that seeing the starshower illusion can awaken those memories in normal people and give rise to the Echo.

 

[Kaivan]

Yup, there's definitely a connection between the two. They're at least set in the same world but different time.

The artstyle is quite similar too.

 

[Nakenorm]

I... I was just so blown away by the trailer that I didn't pick up on any XIV similarities, but gootyyy shiiiieeeeet. That would be awesome.

 

[Mifec]

It can't be in a shard since it has Shiva as a primal.

Shiva didn't exist until the sixth astral era, long after shards got separated from the source.

The similarities are curious indeed though.

Click to shrink...

I'm just gonna go with the similarities and terminology being similar cuz apparently Kazutoyo Maehiro is writing it.

 

[golguin]

It can't be in a shard since it has Shiva as a primal.

Shiva didn't exist until the sixth astral era, long after shards got separated from the source.

The similarities are curious indeed though.

Click to shrink...

The easiest explanation would be Shiva existing as a concept before the split. Most of the creatures in the world appear to have been the produce of creation magic and The Ancients. Shiva could very well be a concept that eventually manifested on the Source as a person that then would give rise to the Primal.

 

[Deleted member 58141]

Anyway, a piece of evidence that might support this theory is this 2019 interview with Yoshida where he says that they have lore written for each shard and that maybe one of them turns out to be FF7's Midgar. He meant that the possibilities are endless but that an interesting way to communicate this idea.

Curiously enough, in the same interview he mentioned the possibility of a single player FF14 spin-off but said that the team is too busy for that.

You “may discover” that one of Final Fantasy XIV’s shards is FF7’s Midgar

More Final Fantasy XIV expansions could take us to new worlds, Square Enix says

www.pcgamesn.com

 

[DjDeathCool]

I don't think it's going to be in the same canon because I feel having only one game separate two Eorzea based games would be weird.... but it would be really cool if I was wrong. Bring on the TV show as well!!

 

[Cactuar]

FFXIV players? What about us Vagrant Story players?? There's a lot to take in here!

 

[Kalentan]

Also this is pretty definitive. Dragoon's dead on the floor? I've seen this many times. ;)

 

[DanteMenethil]

FFXIV players? What about us Vagrant Story players?? There's a lot to take in here!

Click to shrink...

I have not played Vagrant Story but apparently the Joshua character means something for VS?

 

[Cactuar]

I have not played Vagrant Story but apparently the Joshua character means something for VS?

Click to shrink...

Yes he's the son of the Duke character but we have no confirmation that it's him, only that the character looks eerily like him and shares the same name. Not to mention there's no way this isn't Ivalice.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Wait, it's all FF14?

 

[golguin]

I don't think it's going to be in the same canon because I feel having only one game separate two Eorzea based games would be weird.... but it would be really cool if I was wrong. Bring on the TV show as well!!

Click to shrink...

We already have Final Fantasy Tactics existing in FF14 with a continuation of the real story between Delita and Ramza that's confirmed to be canon. We also have a FF12 that's currently existing in the plot of FF14 with some story differences. Just to be clear Ivalice does exist in FF14, which is why FFT and FF12 were brought in pretty easily.

If anything that would give rise to the idea that the shards can be used for other story beats outside FF14.

EDIT: This is an aside, but there is a Nier Raid that's currently happening in FF14, but I can't really say anything because it has potential spoilers for NieR: Automata as a potential sequal or prequal to the main game.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

see this is what I wanted them to do but with FFXI

a single player FF connected to FFXIV's lore is the next best thing tho. This theory would be awesome if proven true.

 

[Rotobit]

I will say there's probably a strong likelihood there'll be a cross-over event in FFXIV, I wouldn't be surprised if it happened before XVI dropped since that's an amazing marketing opportunity. That'd be where we'd get confirmation, I imagine, and also why I figure it'd be an alt-timeline or a shard we haven't really heard about, if they're connected at all. Would be a bit spoilery to have a cross-over that says all of the characters from the new game are dead.

 

[Kalentan]

We already have Final Fantasy Tactics existing in FF14 with a continuation of the real story between Delita and Ramza that's confirmed to be canon. We also have a FF12 that's currently existing in the plot of FF14 with some story differences. Just to be clear Ivalice does exist in FF14, which is why FFT and FF12 were brought in pretty easily.

If anything that would give rise to the idea that the shards can be used for other story beats outside FF14.

EDIT: This is an aside, but there is a Nier Raid that's currently happening in FF14, but I can't really say anything because it has potential spoilers for NieR: Automata as a potential sequal or prequal to the main game.

Click to shrink...

Just to make sure others understand, an Ivalice exists within FFXIV, not the original Ivalice. Unless that is what you were already saying and I misunderstood your post.

 

[golguin]

Huh.

Click to shrink...

This came from the main FF16 topic.

 

[hateradio]

I'm honestly kinda unimpressed. I didn't play much of XIV, so that doesn't interest me.

The story also seems to very pretty boring. I was expecting a female main character. :(

 

[FrankNitty]

I was thinking that it could be the source as a whole prior to the split that created the 13 shards but it being on one shard would probably make more sense

 

[FLCL]

Apparently G'raha's voice actor is used for the MC in both the ENG and JP Version!?

 

[Watershed]

Does this take place in Ivalice? It has some Ivalice-like qualities but that world is so elastic at this point it's hard to say it has any distinctive constants.

 

[Oleander]

Besides the art style, I see nothing that connects it to FFXIV beyond the connective tissue that is shared between all Final Fantasies.

Art style can be attributed to having the same artists. "Eikon" can be just another shared name for summons, like how Eidolon was used in both FFIX and FFXV.

In the meantime, the rest of the trailer shows a setting unlike any we have seen in FFXIV, and the nature of eikons possessing Dominants is in direct contradiction to how primals/eikons are established as being created in the FFXIV lore. I feel these are significant obstacles to any theory that the settings are connected.

 

[KeRaSh]

I've always wanted to play and experience the story of 14, but it being an MMO and its length has always been a barrier. Is there a good channel or playlist I can watch?

Especially worried now if I might miss out on references or cool details in 16

Click to shrink...

LobosJr. is doing a full playthrough of FFXIV and he's uploading the vids on Youtube. He's pretty much done with the game I think.

Also this is pretty definitive. Dragoon's dead on the floor? I've seen this many times. ;)

Click to shrink...

This fucking got me. xD

 

[Hikari]

Yeah, XVI seems to connect eerily well to XIV lore about The Void/The 13th Shard. Namely:

Spoiler

What led to its downfall were heroes abusing the powers of the primals using Auracites, to channel their strength.

Guess what we're seeing a *ton* of in the trailer? Also, was that a mention of a spreading plague? Maybe it could have been... a Flood of Darkness?

Click to shrink...

It can't be a prequel though

 

[Razmos]

I was thinking that it could be the source as a whole prior to the split that created the 13 shards but it being on one shard would probably make more sense

Click to shrink...

Nah, there was only one race at that time so humans/humes/hyurs wouldn't exist at that point.
I love the idea that this is the 13th Shard.

Anyway, the FF14 influence was very obvious. It feels like Ysale in Heavensward was the general beginning of this idea of humans being vessels for the primals/eikons which was been expanded in this title to be the "Dominants" it seemed like they were called

 

[Qvoth]

The FF14 team that's working on FF16 could be balsy enough to set the game on a fallen shard or an early Astal Era on the brink of an Umbral Calamity. Thoughts?

Click to shrink...

Oh shit that would be insane
But I doubt it

 

[ZiZ]

They might be connected in the same way FFXIV and the Nier universes are connected.

But I doubt that they will play a role in each other's story other than some similar terminology. FFXIV has the most FF-esque lore, I wouldn't be surprised if they used a lot of it's elements as new standards for the series.

 

[Chasing]

Apparently G'raha's voice actor is used for the MC in both the ENG and JP Version!?

Click to shrink...

Shit, now I can't unhear it. It does sound like him. I hope more XIV actors get roles in this too, lol.

 

[golguin]

Just to make sure others understand, an Ivalice exists within FFXIV, not the original Ivalice. Unless that is what you were already saying and I misunderstood your post.

Click to shrink...

Yes, there is an Ivalice that exists in FF14 that is not the same exact Ivalice that we see in past games.

That being said we do have a canon version of FFT in FF14 via the Return to Ivalice Raid that features "The Zodiac Brave Story" as a play being told in a theater. It has the canon characters with a new canon ending to FFT.