History GameplayAndStoryIntegration / FinalFantasyXIV

** For that matter, it takes special effort and non-standard training off-screen for Y'shtola to go from a Conjurer to the unique Sorceress class that fights like a Black Mage on her own terms, something Papalymo doesn't manage to do. Meanwhile Alisaie canonically learns the Red Mage discipline properly and Urianger directly uses his Sharlayan studies to go the path of the Astrologian, though he can fall back to a custom version of the Summoner class as a DPS in ''Endwalker'' if need be, as he started as an Arcanist. Similar cases occur with characters like Thancred and Ryne, the former having to learn his Gunbreaker class from another character off-screen while he passed on his Rogue/Ninja hybrid knowledge to the latter, and Alphinaud only upgrades to Sage after being an Arcanist/Summoner for so long by inheriting his father's nouliths, which required returning to Sharlayan. Every Scion Job upgrade or origin comes down to either overcoming these in-universe limitations to go their own paths, or needing the right teachers and circumstances to learn the Jobs themselves.

-- (With Zero) ''"An equal to Drusilla. Extraordinary..."''

* In ''Heavensward's'' storyline, when [[spoiler:Nidhogg attacks the peace conference between Ishgard and Dravania]], Aymeric briefly takes up a bow and tries to shoot him. The 6.3 update adds him as a duty support party member for Sohr Khai, and he normally acts as a Gladiator, but if the player is a Tank job, he is instead an Archer.

* In ''Heavensward's'' storyline, when [[spoiler:Nidhogg attacks the peace conference between Ishgard and Dravania]], Aymeric briefly takes up a bow and tries to shoot him. The 6.3 update adds him as a duty support party member for Sohr Khai, and he normally acts as a Gladiator, but if the player is a Tank job, he is instead an Archer.
* In the 6.0 mission "Bonds of Adamant(ite)", the allies who show up or are mentioned helping will change depending on the post-MSQ Raids you've complete.
** When Alisaie looks up to the skies to see a group of flying crafts soaring by. Normally, it's Manacutters piloted by Ishgardian Knights. If you completed the Shadow of Mhach Alliance Raid series, [[spoiler:it's the Redbill Sky Pirates instead, focusing on Leofard and Cait Sith]].
** When Soroban and Hancock join the Scions, what they say changes depending on if you completed the Four Lords story and Return to Ivalice raids. Without them complete, Soroban just comes with a Kojin relic and learned that Hancock was on his way to Sharlayan and decided to join him. As well, Hancock just looks back at the massive airship in the air when he says that he needed a particular type of transport to get everything there. Complete them and [[spoiler:the katana with the relics is revealed to be Tenzen's Phoenix Blade and that the other Lords urged Soroban to take it to aid them in saving the star. As well, Hancock will add in that the Majestic Company offers their greetings to the Warrior of Light, happy to accompany them on another adventure, complete with the Prima Vista hovering in the background in one cut]]. Completing both Eureka and Save the Queen will also have Hancock mention how [[spoiler:the Bozjan Resistance and Ejika Tsunjika both chipped in to help out, though with a bit of grumbling from the latter on how he would have liked a bit of forewarning. The latter's presence is also dependent whether or not you let him sacrifice himself, and if you brought him back if sacrificed]].
** When Cid and the rest of the Ironworks show up, the number will increase slightly depending on if you complete the Omega storyline. [[spoiler:Doing so adds in Alpha and toy form Omega]]. Additionally completing the Sorrow of Werlyt [[spoiler:will get you a message and care package from Gaius: an Allagan artifact salvaged from Valens' Weapons project]].
** Horary Boulder got his adamantite from Mor Dhona, but with some help. If you cleared the Alexander raids, [[spoiler:the Idyllshire mercenaries that helped out include one Slowfix and his fellow goblins to gobbiebomb the hell out of the Allagan security systems]].

* "Egi Glamour" is backed by Arcanist theory and practice, with Y'mithra's research as the basis. An Egi's initial appearance is based on what the practitioner gravitates to, i.e. Ifrit-Egi for fire aether. If the caster wills it, they're able to reimagine the Egi's form into another, such as a Carbuncle, since the outer appearance has no bearing on the summon's aetherial properties. This is how players are able to alter the appearance of their summons without compromising the integrity of their summon magic.

* Allied Beast Tribes in ''A Realm Reborn'' all begin relations with the player at Rank 1, "Neutral". You may be a national hero who defeated the primals of their tempered kin, but they have no reason to believe you're any different from the other "civilized" races who treat them like dirt, and thus only truly begin to see you as a friend as you continue to help them out. From ''Heavensward'' onward, the allied Beast Tribes tend to start with better relations to the player.

** When Soroban and Hancock join the Scions, what they say changes depending on if you completed the Four Lords story and Return to Ivalice raids. Without them complete, Soroban just comes with a Kojin relic and learned that Hancock was on his way to Sharlayan and decided to join him. As well, Hancock just looks back at the massive airship in the air when he says that he needed a particular type of transport to get everything there. Complete them and [[spoiler:the katana with the relics is revealed to be Tenzen's Phoenix Blade and that the other Lords urged Soroban to take it to aid them in saving the star. As well, Hancock will add in that the Majestic Company offers their greetings to the Warrior of Light, happy to accompany them on another adventure, complete with the Prima Vista hovering in the background in one cut]]. Completing both Eureka and Save the Queen will also have Hancock mention how [[spoiler:the Bozjan Resistance and Ejika Tsunjika both chipped in to help out, though with a bit of grumbling from the latter on how he would have liked a bit of forewarning]].

** When Soroban and Hancock join the Scions, what they say changes depending on if you completed the Four Lords story and Return to Ivalice raids. Without them complete, Soroban just comes with a Kojin relic and learned that Hancock was on his way to Sharlayan and decided to join him. As well, Hancock just looks back at the massive airship in the air when he says that he needed a particular type of transport to get everything there. Complete them and [[spoiler:the katana with the relics is revealed to be Tenzen's Phoenix Blade and that the other Lords urged Soroban to take it to aid them in saving the star. As well, Hancock will add in that the Majestic Company offers their greetings to the Warrior of Light, happy to accompany them on another adventure, complete with the Prima Vista hovering in the background in one cut]].

* In the 6.0 mission "Bonds of Adamant(ite)", the allies who show up will change depending on the post-MSQ Raids you've complete.
** When Alisaie looks up to the skies to see a group of flying craft fly by, what they are change depending on if you beat the Dun Scath raids. If you haven't, it'll be three Manacutters piloted by Ishgardian Knights. If you have, [[spoiler:it's the Redbill Pirates, focusing on Leofard and Cait Sith]].

** When Cid and the rest of the Ironworks show up, the number will increase slightly depending on if you complete the Omegascape storyline. [[spoiler:Doing so adds in Alpha and toy form Omega]]. Additionally completing the Sorrow of Werlyt [[spoiler:will get you a message and care package from Gaius: an Allagan artifact salvaged from Valens' Weapons project]].

* Allied Beast Tribes in ''A Realm Reborn'' all begin relations with the player at level 1, "Neutral". You may be a national hero who defeated the primals of their tempered kin, but they have no reason to believe you're any different from the other "civilized" races who treat them like dirt, and thus only truly begin to see you as a friend as you continue to help them out. From ''Heavensward'' onward, the allied Beast Tribes tend to start with better relations to the player.
** In ''Heavensward'', the Vath begin relations at level 3, "Friendly", because helping them out is a part of the main scenario. The Vanu Vanu and Moogles begin at level 1 despite you helping them out in the main scenario because the tribe of Vanu Vanu you assist are a different tribe than the one you interacted with during the main story, and the Moogles are {{ungrateful bastard}}s who would rather laze about than do any of the work they've hired your help for.
** All three of the ''Stormblood'' beast tribes begin at level 3.

** All three of the ''Shadowbringers'' beast tribes start at level 3 as well.

** Starting in 6.1, Allied Tribes drop the "beast" label to better reflect Eorzea mending their relationships with them. Especially since the term was made up by the Ul'dahn monetarists and the Garlean empire specifically to drive a wedge between them and the so-called "five races" of Eorzea.
** Likewise with the past tribes, all the tribes introduced in ''Endwalker'' start at level 3 trust.

** When Cid and the rest of the Ironworks show up, the number will increase slightly depending on if you complete the Omegascape storyline. [[spoiler:Doing so adds in Alpha and toy form Omega]]. Additionally completing the Sorrow of Werlyt [[spoiler:will get you a message and care package from Gaius: salvaged parts from Valens' Weapons project]].

** When Alisaie looks up to the skies to see a group of flying craft fly by, what they are change depending on if you beat the Dun Scath raids. If you haven't, it'll be three Manacutters piloted by Ishgardian Knights. If you have, [[spoiler:it's the Redbill Pirates, focusing on Leofold and Cait Sith]].
** When Soroban and Hancock join the Scions, what they say changes depending on if you completed the Four Beasts story and Return to Ivalice raids. Without them complete, Soroban just comes with a Kojin relic and learned that Hancock was on his way to Sharaylan and decided to join him. As well, Hancock just looks back at the massive airship in the air when he says that he needed a particular type of transport to get everything there. Complete them and [[spoiler:the katana with the relics is revealed to be Tenzan's own katana and that the other Holy Beasts urged Soroban to take it to aid them in saving the star. As well, Hancock will add in that the Majestic Company offers their greetings to the Warrior of Light, happy to accompany them on another adventure, confirming that it's their airship]].
** When Cid and the rest of the Ironworks show up, the number will increase slightly depending on if you complete the Omegascape storyline. [[spoiler:Doing so adds in Alpha and toy form Omega]].

* In the 6.0 mission "Bonds of Adamant(ite)", the allies who show up will greatly grow depending on the post-MSQ Raids you've complete.

* In ''Heavensward's'' storyline, when [[spoiler:Nidhogg attacks the peace conference between Ishgard and Dravania]], Aymeric briefly takes up a bow and tries to shoot him. The 6.3 update adds him as a duty support party member for Sohr Khai, and he normally acts as a Gladiator, but if the player is a Tank job, he is instead an Archer.

* During the second phase of Abyssos: The Eighth Circle (Savage), you must create concepts to survive Hephaistos' High Concept. At the end of the second High Concept, you are required to mix two different concepts in order to survive his Ego Death wipe. [[spoiler:The concept you're supposed to create is the Phoenix, the symbol of cyclical death and rebirth. Hephaistos laughs in glee as the Phoenix concept you made resurrects you, as he himself was trying to resurrect Lahabrea's wife Athena.]]

When your character can be anything you wish them to be, it'd be easy to just have a cookie-cutter line of dialogue and call it a day. In here though, there's a staggering amount of little details that pay a lot of attention in world-building, from quest completion, to even your character's affiliations, race, and job at the time of a cutscene. Whatever's down here are some of the more major points, as listing every little detail would take a while when DevelopersForesight is in play, too.

* Each spellcaster class has a different style of mana management, and this is part of the lore.
** Conjurers and White Mages have reserves of powerful spells, but can easily run dry if incautious -- and their tutor warns that White Magic was normally restricted to Padjal in part because overuse of magic drained enough aether from the land to cause an entire Umbral Age. When compared to their other healer brethren, their spell repertoire gives them the highest raw healing and damaging power. However, they also the most costly healing spells in Cure II, Medica, and Medica II, and lack any personal MP managing abilities outside of Lucid Dreaming until obtaining Assize and Thin Air over ''thirty'' levels later.
** Thaumaturges and Black Mages have structured lessons about the ebb and flow of aether through Umbral and Astral ages, and correspondingly burn through mana in Astral Fire then use Umbral Ice to regenerate MP. Astral Fire halts natural MP regeneration, while Umbral Ice greatly accelerates it.

*** Summoners have the Aethercharge spell, which is also on a 60s cooldown, and grants usage of their gemstone Arcanum spells. Though all three of them are available, which order to use them is up to caster's discretion. Additionally, when an Arcanum is evoked, the effects are on a timer, so the Summoner must use their charges or lose them.

* Throughout the story, and as of 6.1 even in the Duty Support menu for your Scion and Grand Company accomplices, characters only ever seem to rely on Thaumaturges for offensive magic, even if you're a Black Mage or a Red Mage, and Conjurers for healing support instead of White Mages or other classes. The art of the Black Mages was thought to be extinct with the fall of Mnach and the Warrior of Light has effectively become TheChosenOne for carrying on its art in a rather exclusive manner, and the Red Mage is a highly customized fusion of White and Black magicks as the Warrior all but stumbled into learning under the sole remaining practitioner on his travels; Eorzea literally can't produce forces of either with such limitations. White Magic is also limited extensively to the Padjal as part of Gridanian tradition, with the Warrior being selected by a soul crystal to inherit it abnormally.

** Why does the Machinist start at level 30 despite the Warrior being given a brand new soul crystal? Because Stephanivien designed his guns to be usable by any run-of-the-mill commoner even without any prior training. Since the Warrior of Light ''does'' have prior training, their knowledge puts them several steps above the baseline for the job.

** The FinalBoss of the Shadowbringers expansion involves [[spoiler: temporarily and successfully summoning [[BeyondTheImpossible 7 Warriors of Light from other shards,]] who make up your party for the actual boss fight.]] This ends up becoming a recurring plot point from patch 5.3 onwards, when [[spoiler: the Warrior of Light retrieves Azem's crystal and gains its ability to summon allies to wherever they are. They first use it against Elidibus, and then in ''Endwalker'' they use before the fights with both Zodiark and the Endsinger]].

** All three of the ''Stormblood'' beast tribes begin at level 3. Like the Vath, helping the Kojin out is part of the main scenario. The Ananta are part of the Ala Mhigan resistance, and literally half of the expansion was spent helping the people of Ala Mhigo drive the Garleans out. The Namazu, in contrast to the Moogles, are [[TooDumbToLive too trusting for their own good]] and thus see you as a valued friend even though you've only just met them and [[TheFriendNobodyLikes your character wants nothing to do with them initially]].
** All three of the ''Shadowbringers'' beast tribes start at level 3 as well. Not only are you [[spoiler:the famed Warrior of Darkness who brought night back to Norvrandt]], but there's also a secondary reason: The Pixies are aware that you've made a pact with [[spoiler:Feo Ul, the current Titania]] and don't want to make them angry. The Qitari personally saw your fight with the Lightwarden Eros and thus know for a fact that they can trust you. The Dwarves are lead by a man you personally helped get over his social anxiety and who also looks up to you for your skill.

** Likewise with the past tribes, the Arkasodra tribe in ''Endwalker'' starts at level 3 trust. The Arkasodra themselves are far more docile than the Gajasura, their Azim Steppe brethren, and [[spoiler:as savior and close associate with Nidhana and the Great Work]], Trna and her co-workers are more than willing to put their trust in you to reform their hippo racing lifestyle into a local delivery service.

* The three "Deep Dungeons" - Palace of the Dead, Heaven on High, and Eureka Orthos - both have a limited range of levels within, and starting from the first floor will reduce you to level 1 and 61 respectively as part of the challenge, with each dungeon also having a cap of 60, 70, and respectively. Further, within each, your gear is replaced by two simple stats which modify all relevant traits - your Aetherpool Arm and Armor. This is explained by enchantments on the two dungeons, and the security protocol on the third - it takes acclimating to the dungeon to reach higher levels of power, but there is a limit to how powerful each will let you be. Further, the weapons are specialized gear; other weapons are suppressed by the magic involved in each place.

* The two "Deep Dungeons" - Palace of the Dead and Heaven on High - both have a limited range of levels within, and starting from the first floor will reduce you to level 1 and 61 respectively as part of the challenge, with each dungeon also having a cap of 60 and 70 respectively. Further, within each, your gear is replaced by two simple stats which modify all relevant traits - your Aetherpool Arm and Armor. This is explained by enchantments on the two dungeons - it takes acclimating to the dungeon to reach higher levels of power, but there is a limit to how powerful each will let you be. Further, the weapons are specialized gear; other weapons are suppressed by the magic involved in each place.

* When fighting Alexander Prime, the primal will sometimes freeze everyone in place by stopping time. Buffs and debuffs on the players are also affected by having their timers stop and resume counting down when the time freeze effect ends.

* Why do you have to teleport to aetherytes? Why can't you just teleport anywhere you wish? Because you could possibly ''die'' from it! As explained in lore books, aetherytes are situated in areas where the physical and aetherial planes are closest to one another, with the aetherytes serving as beacons to allow a person to rematerialize their bodies and souls safely. Without them, they would be lost in the Lifestream and run the risk of having their bodies break down completely into aether. [[spoiler:The spell "Flow" allows one to teleport anywhere they wish, at least in theory: in practice, [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique it is so difficult to use that using it means risking one's life]], and even if you manage to re-emerge from the lifestream, your body and aether will suffer for it. Thancred managed to return under his own strength, but [[BroughtDownToNormal completely lost his ability to use magic]], meaning he was stranded in the Dravanian forelands where the spell plopped him out at until the player character happens to come through for an unrelated matter. Both times Y'shtola used Flow, she needed outside help to return, and the first time she did, she lost her eyesight from it.]]
* Speaking of aetherytes, the cost of teleporting to one depends on the actual in-lore distance between where you are and where you want to go. The first three cities are all in Eorzea and relatively near to one another, so it doesn't cost a lot of money to travel between any of them, and the costs gets lower the closer you physically get to them (e.g. teleporting to Ul'dah from Eastern Thanalan will cost noticeably less than teleporting there from the North Shroud). Going from anywhere in Eorzea to the Far East (Othard and Hingashi) and vice-versa will always cost a lot of money no matter where you are, due to them being quite literally in different continents on the opposite side of the world. The First, being a different dimension altogether, takes this to its logical extreme, with capped teleport fees to any other area in the game.
** The 6.0 update alters the logic behind teleporting to the First slightly; rather than it being as expensive as possible because the Warrior of Light is traveling across the rift, the cost is calculated based on them using the Crystal Tower as a conduit, which, in universe, was how they were able to travel to the First all along. As such, the costs are calculated based on the player's proximity to Mor Dhona and the destination's proximity to the Crystarium (or vice versa), where the Crystal Tower is in both planes.

* One of the late-game raids in ''Endwalker'' has a moment of Gameplay and Story Integration which can only be seen with Trusts. [[spoiler:During the fight against Hydaelyn, every Scion is programmed to get hit by at least one mechanic during the fight, except for Y'shtola. This is because all of Hydaelyn's attacks are telegraphed with aether -- which is the only thing Y'shtola can see, and thus would be able to predict with ease. She'll even say "The aether... I can see it!" during the fight in a text balloon.]]

* One of the late-game raids in ''Endwalker'' has a moment of Gameplay and Story Integration which can only be seen with Trusts. [[spoiler:During the fight against Hydaelyn, every Scion is programmed to get hit by at least one mechanic during the fight, except for Y'shtola. This is because all of Hydaelyn's attacks are telegraphed with aether -- which is the only thing Y'shtola can see, and thus would be able to predict with ease. She'll even say "The aether... I can see it!" during the fight in a text balloon.]]
* In 6.2, the biology of a Voidsent is expanded upon. [[spoiler:Zero explains that when a Voidsent dies, their aether disperses, leaving their soul without a body for a set amount of time since they're unable to enter the Lifestream. The World of Darkness, being the Warrior of Light's first excursion into the Void, is updated to reflect this lore by having the bosses dissolve into aether.]]
* The ''Heavensward'' Alchemist storyline brings discussion about the color of one's aether and is utilized to track down the culprit trying to attain eternal life. [[spoiler:Aether color comes into great importance near the end of ''Shadowbringers'', where it's revealed that the Warrior of Light and Ardbert have the same soul color, thus, making them sundered reflections of each other. Ardbert eventually rejoins with the Warrior of Light, strengthening their soul to stay their overwhelming light aether.]]

* The level 15 Rogue class quest involves Jacke and the player starting a fight against multiple foes with backup on the way. A well-equipped and fast player can kill all the foes before that help arrives. If that happens, Perimu and V'kebbe will survey the scene and comment that's "There's naught for us to do..." followed by Jacke chiding them for being late.

* The level 15 Rogue class quest involves Jacke and the player fighting against multiple foes with Perimu and V'kebbe coming in later to help finish the fight. A well-equipped and fast player can kill all the foes before help arrives. If that happens, Perimu and V'kebbe will survey the scene and comment that's "There's naught for us to do..." followed by Jacke chiding them for being late.

* In 6.2, the biology of a Voidsent is expanded upon. [[spoiler:Zero explains that when a Voidsent dies, their aether disperses, leaving their soul without a body for a set amount of time since they're unable to enter the Lifestream. The World of Darkness, being the Warrior of Light's first excursion into the Void, is updated to reflect this lore by having the bosses dissolve into aether.]]

* One of the late-game raids in ''Endwalker'' has a moment of Gameplay and Story Integration which can only be seen with Trusts. [[spoiler:During the fight against Hydaelyn, every Scion is programmed to get hit by at least one mechanic during the fight, except for Y'shtola. This is because all of Hydaelyn's attacks are telegraphed with aether -- which is the only thing Y'shtola can see, and thus would be able to predict with ease. She'll even say "The aether... I can see it!" during the fight in a text balloon.]]