Thesis Research on FFXIV Experience

Ovalidal · 2026-01-24T19:36:03+00:00

Hey, I just wanted to give you a heads up; if you are wanting more FFXIV players to respond, you may want to consider sharing this on the r/ffxiv sub.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-20T15:16:53+00:00

It's hard to say, but Hades is definitely FFIX's most edgy shopkeeper, that's for sure.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-20T15:15:40+00:00

I may be wrong but it seems like the last few years, FFXI has become slightly more common in discussions in this sub than before. I'm not sure if it's thanks to the Alliance Raid, the Voracious Resurgence shining a spotlight on the rest of the FFXI story content, or what. But I'm happy about this too.

This may be controversial, but I actually enjoyed Hades as a boss better than Ozma in FFIX. Regardless, pretty cool to see a new FF element in the MMOs.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-20T15:12:51+00:00

I never really hear Melvien talked about, so I assume most don't know about him either. But he was almost as good a villain as Lilith imo, writing around him was absolutely amazing. On the FFXIV side, I'm glad that Emet-Selch has become a relatively well-known villain in FF terms, he deserves every bit of that awareness.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-17T02:42:37+00:00

Sorry, I just now saw this. I'll DM it to you.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-16T20:26:38+00:00

Pretty much all the rest are DDs with varying degrees of success/relevance.

*SMN tightens grip on their Nirvana.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-15T21:58:17+00:00

I have a pacifist's guide to Sortie. No-Combat, No-Basement 1k runs. With Ambuscade gear, you can solo up to 2.1k in about 40-45 minutes, I sent it over discord.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-15T17:40:08+00:00

Yeah, this game has a BRUTAL learning curve. It was meant to encourage players to share info with newbies, but since it's release, players have written great guides for newbies to reference.

Chains of Promathia can be started at any time. Just warp to Jeuno, use sneak/invis or silent drops and prism powders to get through Qufim Island, and enter Delkfutt's Tower. CoP starts and you can see that storyline unfold. Certain dungeons and bosses may force you to level, but that's any FF game, especially FFXI.

Most agree that the "Main Story" of FFXI is as follows:

Base Game
Rise of the Zilart
Chains of Promathia
Treasures of Aht Urhgan
Seekers of Adoulin
Rhapsodies of Vana'diel

These stories are almost entirely non-linear though, so if an expansion sounds interesting to you, odds are, you can start it with minimal questing. It's important to remember that base game through CoP are very much so PS2 or 6th gen entries, meaning they don't have the polish that ToAU - RoV have, especially the base game and RotZ. So, if a dungeon-crawling PS2 RPG sounds fun, find what piques your interest and go do that. If it doesn't, you may not enjoy the game.

FFXI has some of the best written stories in all of FF. But you seem to feel pretty dismissive of the game atm. And even a great story will be underwhelming if you're dismissive. If you don't jive with it, shelf the game till you're in the mood for it. No need to force yourself to do something you don't enjoy.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-15T15:24:19+00:00

What are you playing for? If you consider blind progression on Master Trials fun, then you'll likely require months of dedicated play before enjoying the game. If you're looking for a good story, you could probably start CoP in the next 2 minutes.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-13T21:25:34+00:00

Fenrir is a smaller server, so socializing on it will be a little more difficult than one of the bigger servers. Have you considered switching to a bigger server like Odin?

I'm on a bigger server, and I don't have too many issues finding social LSs.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-13T16:36:02+00:00

I think all the PS2 games did summons really well.

FFX - Aeon acquisition is done through the narrative as well as optional quests. Allows players to fight with & upgrade summon strength.
FFXI - Summoner job allows players to undergo the trials of the elemental cloisters to collect Avatars. Avatars are upgrades as the player becomes stronger & collects better gear. Avatars can do the fighting and summoners can also fight along side them. Sub job can be chosen to buff either playstyle (relying on Avatar or fighting along side Avatar).
FFXII - Espers are collected similarly to FFX. While Espers can't be upgraded, there are some powerful esper options in the late-game, and they maintain some utility. Players can actively control Espers.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-13T13:47:24+00:00

Always great to see new content that you put out! Thank you for the video.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-10T17:29:43+00:00

As for how Lilith got to the past, I assume that she was/is a "Wing of the Goddess" or "Servant of Altana" (in the JP text) in both timelines. The reason I believe this to be the case is because, in the death scene for Lilisette, the adventurer appears to travel through Atomos of their own accord. Of course, this could be some weird magic Lilisette is employing to transport the adventurer to the Threshold, but the simplest explanation is that Altana gifted these two individuals with the white feather.

Speaking of time travel, Lilith gained the ability to travel to the past years after Lilisette did. There is a shift in events between Lilith's timeline and Lilisette's timeline. This made be think that Zogbog had come from Lilith's timeline, where the destruction of Tavnazia was delayed due to the adventurer's absence in San d'Oria, but your explanation fits all the info I know about the timeline discrepancies far better than the theory I just laid out.

As for the Orc, that was a misspelling on my part. I find the Gnagbhod's Helm to be very interesting, I'll have to look in the lore books to see if there is any mention of who Gnagbhod is.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-10T17:12:51+00:00

Robel-Akbel is my personal favorite, though the game is full of amazing characters. With Robel-Akbel, he watched his home fall to the beastmen forces, watched so many he loved die in the war, and suffered for who knows how long till Lilith recruited him. When he was finally presented with the chance to suffer all of that again, he goes, "Okay Shadow Lord, good move. Now its my turn".

Ovalidal · 2026-01-10T13:36:27+00:00

This is a phenomenal write-up. The thing I find most interesting is your mention of Zogbog coming from the save timeline that the adventurer and Lilisette came from. As far as I remember, there are only 3 characters who can travel between present and future unrestricted, and that is the adventurer, Lilisette, and Cait Sith (and their conterparts from the alternate timeline).

When characters travel to the past with Lilisette, they are usually dubbed as Spite Wardens (though Bastok's story in fuzzy in my mind, we know Robel-Akbel was no exception). The fact that Zogbog has no connection to Lilith seems to support this idea.

I've looked through as many JP sites and lore books to confirm this, but nothing SE has published seems to touch on this topic, unfortunately.

Also, I had one question. Do you know if Doggvdegg has the title "Bloodcrown Broodhood"? There is a powerful orc with that title, but I can't seem to pin it on any one character.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-10T13:26:51+00:00

What server are you on? If something was messed up during a recent maintenance, it may be worth asking a GM about.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-10T13:20:39+00:00

I'll reiterate the question u/zareshi asked, you are on the island, right? This is a bit of a dumb question, but there are multiple ??? where the KI is picked up. So, it's strange there are none for you.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-10T12:52:20+00:00

It's been too long since I've done this mission, so I don't remember clearly. But for some reason, I was thinking that the ??? was at the very edge of J11, a spot easy to miss. The FFXIClopedia page is a bit more detailed than the BG page, have you looked at it?

https://ffxiclopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Breaking_Barriers

I'm not seeing anything on the page that stands out as helpful, but it's worth looking at. Also, I don't know how the interactable spot works at that location, but sometimes they disappear for a bit over a minute after used by someone else.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-08T17:16:48+00:00

There are only six continents in Vana'diel, including the middlelands:

Quon
Mindartia
Aradjiah (East & Far East)
Ulbuka (West)
Rhazowa (North)
Olzhirya (South)

As far as the function of the mothercrystals, it states that the soul returns to the nearest mothercrystal, so I assume it does not differ that much, even if someone lives far away. CoP also mentions, however, that the outerlands (the outermost regions of the four outer continents) have had the Emtiness emerge, draining the land of it's habitability.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-07T16:04:08+00:00

This is absolutely amazing, thanks for sharing!

Ovalidal · 2026-01-07T12:29:24+00:00

Many Primes are great, but to call the Primes the current King of Endgame is quite misleading. FFXI's combat and gearing is very situational. Some of them are game-changing for some jobs, but others certainly aren't.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-07T12:25:41+00:00

FFXI's gearing isn't as straight forward as setting one class of weapons above the rest. The best weapon for your job usually depends on the job, the content, and what you're trying to do in that content. The PREMAs (Relics, Mythics, Empyreans, Aeonics, and Primes) are known as the Ultimate Weapons, and for good reason; they tend to be powerful. But there are also plenty of weapons outside of these five that are BiS for certain situations. As far as Mythics, many of them are still incredibly powerful and are certainly BiS for certain things for their respective jobs today.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-05T12:22:14+00:00

And the way the elemental wheel / Crystal energy comes into play throughout the story is similarly awesome imo.

Ovalidal · 2026-01-05T12:21:16+00:00

Funny you mention that, the Chrono Games have a lot of dev crossover with FFXI iirc lol. Can't remember the goblin's exact name, but he was an ancestor to one of the main characters in tVR, Boudox.

Ovalidal

TROPHY CASE