History FinalFantasyXIV / TropesAToC

** ''Heavensward'': Telling the truth, however painful, is ultimately going to be a better choice than maintaining a comforting lie. In the Dragonsong War, both Ishgard and the Dragon Horde are each painting their own convenient narratives about what happened, leaving out key facts to push their own agenda. [[spoiler:Ishgard is lying about how the Dragonsong War started, since King Thordan I attacked an innocent dragon in paranoia of what dragonking could do to Ishgard, and stole her eyes as a source of power. This ended up becoming a SelfFulfillingProphecy, as the dragons were now motivated by vengeance. Meanwhile, Nidhogg, the vengeance-fueled leader of the dragons, refuses to explain anything about why he's attacking and is [[SinsOfOurFathers punishing innocent Ishgardians for the crimes of their forefathers]]. Not only does this continue a vicious cycle of death and vengeance, but it's only when the whole truth is exposed and the ones pushing the false narratives are held to account on both sides that peace can be restored.]]
** ''Stormblood'': All people deserve to be free of oppression. However, freedom is never going to come easily. As Raubahn puts it, "such victories are rarely won without sacrifice. But the prize is worth the price." For as much as Garlemald consistently tries to [[HopeCrusher crush the hopes and dreams of Ala Mhigo and Doma]], and as much as [[SafetyInIndifference the people have just accepted oppression as their lot in life]], it consistently fails to completely stop the clarion call of freedom when a HopeBringer shows up to unite them.

* AbsentAliens: The ''Endwalker'' expansion brings it up. The ''Endwalker'' expansion then explains ''why.'' [[spoiler: Most of them blew themselves up, or worse.]]

** Eorzean time zones don't exist for gameplay purposes. If it's 9:00 pm in Gridania, then it's 9:00 pm in Kugane. If it's midnight on the Source, it's midnight on the First. This is largely to prevent Disciples of the Land from getting confused by time zone differences while they go after rare materials and fish.

* AdaptationExpansion: In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', the Warring Triad were always together collectively and known as Fiend, Demon, and Goddess. In ''XIV'', each of the Triad gets their own name and backstory: Sephirot the Fiend, Sophia the Goddess, and Zurvan the Demon.

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: There is a ''massive'' list of things that were fixed from 1.0 to 2.0, and it only grew as the game evolved throughout the expansions. So much so that [[AntiFrustrationFeatures/FinalFantasy it has its own section]].

* AnAesop:
** ''Heavensward'': Telling the truth, however painful, is ultimately going to be a better choice than maintaining a comforting lie. In the Dragonsong War, both Ishgard and the Dragon Horde are each painting their own convenient narratives about what happened, leaving out key facts to push their own agenda. [[spoiler:Ishgard is lying about how the Dragonsong War started, since King Thordan I attacked an innocent dragon in paranoia of what dragonking could do to Ishgard, and stole her eyes as a source of power. This ended up becoming a SelfFulfillingProphecy, as the dragons were now motivated by vengeance. Meanwhile, Nidhogg, the vengeance-fueled leader of the dragons, refuses to explain anything about why he's attacking and is [[SinsOfOurFathers punishing innocent Ishgardians for the crimes of their forefathers]]. Not only does this continue a vicious cycle of death and vengeance, but it's only when the whole truth is exposed and the ones pushing the false narratives are held to account on both sides that peace can be restored.]]
** ''Stormblood'': All people deserve to be free of oppression. However, freedom is never going to come easily. As Raubahn puts it, "such victories are rarely won without sacrifice. But the prize is worth the price." For as much as Garlemald consistently tries to [[HopeCrusher crush the hopes and dreams of Ala Mhigo and Doma]], and as much as [[SafetyInIndifference the people have just accepted oppression as their lot in life]], it consistently fails to completely stop the clarion call of freedom when a HopeBringer shows up to unite them.
** ''Shadowbringers'': Let the past die. For as much as expansion BigBad Emet-Selch pushed the idea that only his people deserve to exist, he gets constant pushback from everyone because that's not his call to make. While wanting to go home and be reunited with your loved ones is an admirable goal, you must accept that your time has passed sooner or later and make way for the new generation.
** ''Endwalker''
*** Forge ahead. Hope is not weak, it is not foolish, and it is not wrong. Yes, WeAllDieSomeday, and everything in the universe will one day come to an end. That's no reason to just give up and wallow in despair and misery. Even when things look really bad, "hope will shine again" if you keep pushing yourself forward, because it's the little things that make life worth living -- the time with your loved ones, your personal triumphs, and shooting for your goals. That's where happiness is found, and [[TheAntiNihilist only you can decide what that means for your life]].
*** The first part of the expansion contains a HardTruthAesop that some people just can't be talked into changing their minds, even when sticking to one course of action is detrimental to them. When visiting Sharlayan early in the expansion, Alphinaud and Alisaie's mother tells the twins that some people just won't be convinced with facts or logic. [[spoiler:This is exemplified when meeting some non-tempered Garleans, who treat the Scions like vultures who have come to pick clean what little they have left, accuse the non-Garleans of making everything worse, spitting curses at them, and doing everything they can to defy what they want. This fear and paranoia even gets Licinia and her little sister killed when they flee their safe haven, dying in the ice floe, because they had convinced themselves that the Scions were evil. Alphinaud starts to say that [[IShouldHaveBeenBetter he should have said something else]], but comes to admit that he can't erase oppression or lingering hatred all by himself, and he understands why the Garleans think so badly of him.]]

* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'': Pure spellcaster classes (Elementalist, Mesmer, Monk, Necromancer) are restricted to lower armor ratings than fighter type classes.

* BonusBoss:
** Every trial has an extreme version, which is strictly non-mandatory and isn't part of any extra story -- most of them are even non-canon, just a minstrel's retelling of the actual events. But for completing them, you can get special gear and sometimes even a special mount. And if you collect all the Extreme mounts from an expansion, you get a mount for that too.
** ''Stormblood'' introduced Ultimate raids, gauntlets that that only the most dedicated of players will be able to conquer. The entry requirements are already stringent enough as one must complete the final floors of certain Savage tiers. And the fights themselves are very demanding, the most challenging content so far in the game even.
*** For defeating Neo Exdeath, you gain access to the Unending Coil of Bahamut, a MarathonBoss that pits you against Twintania, Nael deus Darnus, Bahamut, all three together, then a golden version of Bahamut. A successful run [[MarathonBoss generally takes about 20 minutes to complete]] and it demands that you understand mechanics that all appeared in the original Binding Coils.
*** For defeating Kefka's God of Magic form, you unlock The Weapon's Refrain, a big gauntlet that pits you against in rapid succession Garuda, Ifrit, Titan, Lahabrea, and finally the Ultima Weapon. Surprisingly, the fight is not quite the Marathon Boss that Unending Coil is, but it is much denser and mechanics occur much more rapidly, leading to a fight that is equally challenging.
*** For defeating Titan Maximum, you unlock The Epic of Alexander, a gauntlet that pits you against Living Liquid, Brute Justice ''and'' Cruise Chaser, Alexander Prime and the previous two, and finally an entirely new form of Alexander combined with Brute Justice and Cruise Chaser called Perfect Alexander.
*** For defeating Hesperos, you unlock Dragonsong's Reprise, a retelling of the ''Heavensward'' storyline. The story plays out normally with Sers Adelphel, Grinnaux, and Charibert, King Thordan, Nidhogg [[spoiler: in Estinien's body]], and finally Nidhogg's eyes. [[spoiler:It then takes you back to the point where Haurchefant died in the main storyline, but this time you need to also ''save him'' from his HeroicSacrifice. This leads to an alternate timeline where Thordan reaches Azys Lla without any resistance due to the Warrior of Light's lack of vengeance against him and the Heavens' Ward, allowing him to subjugate the Dravanian Horde with Allagan technology. The alternate storyline then pits you against King Thordan again, who will plead for mercy after reaching a critical percentage of his health, Nidhogg and an enslaved Hraesvelgr, and finally, if previously spared, Thordan absorbs all four of their eyes to become Dragon-king Thordan]].
*** For defeating Hephaistos, you unlock The Omega Protocol, an expanded retelling of the Omega raid storyline. The raid focuses on the titular boss in a WhatIf scenario where its testing continued, eventually culminating in [[spoiler: Omega gaining the ability to use dynamis, then merging with Alpha to create a near-perfect being with complete understanding of endings and beginnings, and finally obtaining the answers on the mortal heart it sought]].
** The Bozjan Southern Front has three {{Duel Boss}}es, which can only be challenged by completing certain Critical Engagements without ever taking avoidable damage. A single player out of those who registered after meeting the requirements will be selected to face the boss alone, and almost all of their attacks are avoidable {{One Hit Kill}}s. Defeating them rewards 99 lockboxes, an achievement, and a title.

** The quest to first get into Sastasha is called 'It's Probably Pirates.' The quest to get into the Hard Mode version of the dungeon - 35 levels later - is called 'It's Definitely Pirates.' And in between the two is a completely unrelated main story quest in the nearby town... titled "It's Probably Not Pirates".

* ThirtyDayFreeTrial: Averted. While it started as a simple 14-day trial, the scope of what's available to players who haven't purchased the base game has gradually been increased. As of patch 5.3, the free trial goes up to the end of ''Heavensward'', which also includes the ability to make an Au Ra character and access to the Astrologian, Machinist, and Dark Knight jobs. There's also no time limit anymore; even if you play for hundreds of hours, the game will never charge you any money. However, there are several restrictions: you can only go up to level 60 with any class, you can't use the Market Board, and you can't send friend requests or party invites (though you can still receive both from other players). Also, if you ever upgrade to a paid account, you can never go back to a free one on that account.

** Even for Paladin, one-handed weapon and shields have been ''technically'' phased out. As of ''Heavensward'', a sword and shield have equal cost to every other weapon by splitting it -- a player needs to spend seven raid tokens for the Paladin's sword and three for the shield, while every other weapon needs ten raid tokens. Also, the sword and shield upgrade together, and as of ''Shadowbringers'' if a sword or shield drops, the other will ''always'' show up on the loot list. This ensures (barring rare circumstances like having two paladins in endgame content - something the design tries to make unappetizing) that a Paladin's weapons will always be at the same item level, instead of having a sword/shield that's weaker.

** 6.51 introduces ''VideoGame/FallGuys'' in the form of the Blunderville, a colorful lobby that houses courses straight from the Blunderdome, containing a slew of in-house gimmicks to make you stumble around like a fool. Participating in Blunderville lets you win Manderville Gold Saucer Fame (MGF) for prizes unique to the collaboration. Prizes include furniture based on the Blunderdome's courses, the Bean itself and a Pegwin as minions, the Rhiyes as a mount, Bean-themed glamour items, and the game's iconic Crown. While the prizes are limited-time, the courses themselves are a mainstay that go up in irregular intervals after the initial collaboration's run, akin to [=GATEs=].

** ''Dawntrail'' is a whole breather expansion after the events of ''Endwalker''. The teaser trailer and keynote address of Fanfest 2023 refer to it as "sending the Warrior of Light on a summer vacation" after the DarkestHour that was ''Endwalker''. With [[spoiler:the Final Days averted, the star saved, and Hydaelyn and Zodiark both gone for good]], the Warrior and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn heading to the country of Tural for a much-needed break. The teaser trailer also shows the Scions enjoying the local culture (such as eating the food and asking about treasure maps), along with the Meteor Survivor approaching Tural with a big smile on his face. In the same trailer, Erenville notes that the Warrior seems to be "enjoying [him]self for once" as they get closer.

** The 3.5 update on January 17, 2017 brought along with it a ''Series/{{GARO}}'' event, which ran for almost three years before eventually ending with Patch 5.1 on October 29, 2019. It returned for Patch 6.1 on April 12, 2022, with new gear for Gunbreaker and Reaper.

* CastFromHitPoints: No actual player abilities do this, but conjurers have a quest line where they have to help their guild deal with a healer prodigy who only wants to focus on healing, not the elemental part of their repertoire. Only it turns out, healing spells either have to be powered by the natural world or the caster's own life force. This killed her mother who believed borrowing the power from nature was exploitative, and you have to convince her not to follow the same suicidal path.

** Speaking of which, Ultimate weapons are this through and through. They have the same substat distributions as the Savage tier weapons they were released during, but have one extra materia slot, making them marginally stronger. Still, it won't be any serious use whenever the next Savage tier drops, but wearing it as a glamour will clearly show to everyone around you that you completed one of the toughest fights in the game.

* CentralTheme: Each expansion in ''Final Fantasy XIV'' has a central theme that defines the main story:
** ''A Realm Reborn'' has the theme of tragedies, and how to respond to them. The entirety of Eorzea is still reeling from the 7th Umbral Calamity and how the country should rebuild itself, as well as how to honor the lives lost in said tragedy, is one of the main ideological points of conflict throughout. Even for non-Legacy players this theme is still at play once the Waking Sands gets invaded and many of the Scions die. But the best demostration for this is after the fight with Gaius where the leaders, who mostly wanted to ignore the mention of the Warriors of Light due to how painful it was, either swear to not let the tragedy repeat or redeem themselves and ensure to not let another Warrior of Light behind after being forced to do so in the Battle of Carteneau.
** In ''Heavensward'' the main theme is the cycle of revenge, how easily it is to fall into it, how it twists someone into a monster and how hard it is to make amends, forgive and move forward. Ishgard and Nidhogg's Horde have been entangled in a war for hundreds of years with each side commiting more and more atrocities to each other in the name of vengeance. While at first the Dragons are made to be the bad guys, it's soon revealed that Ishgard provoked them into a war with a horrible and unprovoked attack, but even then the game makes it clear to the player that any moral high ground the Dragons may have had has been lost for centuries, with Nidhogg doing the same thing to Estinien as was done to him. The only way for both sides to move on and find peace is for them to accept the blame, either convince or outright eliminate those who still want to fight, and accept that neither side is a monster.
** ''Stormblood'' has the theme of justice and mercy while the heroes, ''especially'' Lyse are willing to do anything to defeat TheEmpire at first, the communities of Ala Mhigo and Doma are not so eager because of all the suffering they have endured every time they've tried to free themselves. The most crucial part of Lyse's CharacterDevelopment is understanding that aiding those that need it comes first and while the story does emphasize the importance of justice through one of the most despicable villains in the form of Zenos yae Galvus, it also introduces villains that ''at first'' seem just as evil but turned out to have been victims of circumstance that may not have turned out that way if someone had showned them kindness such as the Skulls, Fordola and Yotsuyu.
** ''Shadowbringers'' has a unifying theme of dealing with loss. In [[spoiler:the world of the First]], basically everyone has lost something near and dear to them due to Sin Eaters roaming about killing everyone they can. Thancred has to come to terms with the loss of his surrogate daughter Minfilia, complicated by the fact he has to protect a young girl who is her reincarnation but isn't really her. [[spoiler:Ardbert]] is struggling with having lost not only his entire world but the companions he fought with for a long time who sacrificed themselves when he was unable to, and various characters that you meet all have lost loved ones. The heroes are constantly hounded by an [[OldMaster elite martial artist]], General Ranjit, who has become bitter and broken from raising multiple generations of previous Minfilia reincarnations as both apprentice and daughter, only to see them die trying to save the world every time. We even learn that [[spoiler:the Ascians themselves are driven by loss. They summoned Zodiark into existence to save their civilization Amaurot from a mysterious entity that was destroying the world. However, due to the living sacrifices Zodiark was requiring, a faction of the Amaurotians summoned Hydaelyn into existence, and her striking down of Zodiark split the world and all the souls of those who lived on it into 14 pieces. The 3 remaining "true" Ascians: Elidibus, Emet Selch, and Lahabrea do everything they do to bring back the world they lost.]]
** ''Endwalker'' deals with hope and despair. The main conflict is [[spoiler:The Final Days are coming]] and there is nothing to stop it, driving the despair that people start to feel. However, the Scions being what they've been through, they've always been able to surmount what anyone would seem as impossible, creating hope that the conflict can be averted.
** Another major theme for ''Endwalker'' is death. Every major villain in the expansion is motivated by death in some way. [[spoiler:Fandaniel sought to kill himself and drag all of existence down with him as a final act of spite towards the Ascians for bringing ruin to his beloved Allag, Meteion was so broken by seeing countless worlds suffer and die that she came to believe that death was a mercy compared to a lifetime of suffering, and Golbez's drive to invade the Source is motivated by a desire to give his people a chance to finally escape the Void's cycle of resurrection and be allowed to finally die in peace.]]