Lightning to Appear in a FATE in Final Fantasy XIV

[Raistlin]

Lightning’s invasion of Eorzea is almost complete. The crossover between Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII has been well-established at this point. It had been previously announced that Lightning would actually be appearing in FFXIV, though the details of that were not confirmed yet.

ffxiv lightning.jpg

Lightning will appear as part of a FATE, or Full Active Time Event. FATEs are randomly- or intentionally-triggered events that involve nearby players who want to participate having to tackle a scenario, which can involve anything from one giant monster to repeated, large-scale invasions. In one such FATE, Lightning will make an appearance, and FFXIV players will have the opportunity to fight alongside her!

The reward for successfully completing the event is the previously-announced Lighting Returns-styled weapons and gear, which will allow players to outfit their characters like Lightning and Snow.

What do you think of Lightning in Eorzea? What do you think the FATE will involve? Are there any other Final Fantasy characters you hope to see in future events? Share your thoughts in the comments.


[Source: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/alliance/collabo/]

[Del Murder]

Oh good, we haven't seen enough of Lightning yet.

[Mirage]

Eh. I... think this is getting pretty dumb.

[Ouch!]

So long as it remains a non-essential part of the storyline, I'm okay with that. If these kind of cameo appearances are relegated to FATES or quest lines that I can happily ignore, I've no major objections to it, even if I do think it's kind of stupid.

I do wonder if this means they'll potentially link FFXIV officially to FFXI. The appearance of Atomos in both titles (and with identical monster designs) has potential for some interesting narrative implications, especially since in FFXI Atomos and the Cavernous Maws allow travel through the Threshold into alternate times and dimensions. That Atomos appears in FFXIV from beyond the Void, I could easily see them trying to explain that it is the same Atomos and use him as a bridge between Vana'diel and Eorzea. That would be a lot more interesting than Lightning just showing up, but what can you do?

[Raistlin]

Personally, while I love all the Final Fantasy references and monsters being added to FFXIV, I'm not a huge fan of actual character crossovers. We're all used to seeing Bahamut in every FF game, but with very limited exceptions (most of them outside the main series), each game is supposed to be its own world and characters and lore. I don't really want to see Lightning or Tidus or Cloud or anyone else everywhere, regardless of how much I did (or did not) like them in their own games. And this particular crossover event seems rather forced to me, and like Ouch!, I'll probably just ignore it.

[Mirage]

Well I guess that with something as undefinable as "multiple dimensions/universes", any world could be connected to any other world through some atomos-like plot device. That being said, Vana'diel's time-space continuum has got more holes than a swiss cheese nowadays, and I'm not sure how many more dimensional warps it could take without imploding into a singularity.

I've seriously lost count on how many parallel realities and alternate histories there are in Vanadiel. Probably something like 6-7. I always like to think that introducing time/dimension travel to an otherwise "normal" world is one of the surest signs of writers starting to run out of creativity.

[Jinx]

Late news!

But yeah, this is smurfing idiotic. The more I hear about the stuff they're putting into ARR the less I want to play it.

[Mirage]

It's fine that they're putting in throwbacks to older final fantasies, like the crystal tower and stuff, but things should be "based on" that stuff, and designed in a way that makes it fit with the rest of the game's world, lore and all that. Putting in carbon copies of things from other games, that's just dumb.

[Rostum]

I think other than the fact that this breaks immersion in the FFXIV universe, it hits harder as being something I hate because you just know the higher ups forced Yoshi-P's hand to shoehorn Lightning in to market her for the new Lightning Returns...

So it really begs the question, is FFXIV just going to end up being a platform to market all the new Square-Enix games?

[Jiro]

Definitely too far. Save your any-bigger-than-a-slight-cameo-slash-reference trout for Dissidia.

[Aulayna]

Eh whilst this is toeing the line for me in terms of cross-overs, provided it's relatively minor and fun I can live with it. Plus, 'dat bow.

[Jinx]

Definitely too far. Save your any-bigger-than-a-slight-cameo-slash-reference trout for Dissidia.

A very, very small cameo. Like, maybe a hanging picture or statue of her in a random place.

smurf you, Square Enix. Seriously.

[mini ninja]

I don't see why this wouldn't seem cool to you guys, but in my opinion i find this awesome and stuff O_O

[Mirage]

Because it doesn't make sense for her to appear in the middle of a world that is completely different, and has nothing to do with whatever game Lightning is from. It's like A Na'vi showing up in Titanic, except that can't happen because the Titanic movie came first, but whatever.

[Elpizo]

It makes about as much sense as Cloud in FFT, or Luso and Balthier in FFT:WotL. Not the first time SE has done these kind of crossovers to promote their games.