New Release: Combat Frame XSeed: Classified Intel

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The post-future’s secrets revealed

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A freedom fighter returns from exile in space to liberate his people ...

An outcast soldier defies a global regime to regain his honor ...

A veteran pilot battles a ruthless foe to save the earth ...

A noble pagan seeks immortality through glorious death in battle ...

An ice-cold killer confronts his demons to secure humanity’s future ...

A journalist pursues truth at all costs and learns the price of dissent ...

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Click the image above to get your copy in ebook or paperback, and when you're done leave a review.

My Life As A Writer: Final Fantasy XIV: A Narrative Reborn (Part Four)

Hubris Leads To Downfall

There is a dramatic reversal of fortune, but because a MMORPG cannot allow for the player to make the wrong choice this agency is instead rendered to a supporting character. In this case, the reversal comes from the boy wonder Alphinaud Levelleur. His smug face though ARR, and his too-confident attitude that he knows it all even alienates his twin sister Alisaie early on, acted to forshadow this.

The climax of ARR's launch content is a pair of dungeons where the Warrior of Light leads a commando team against the Garlean Empire's two key installations in Eorzea, places where Ultima Weapon--a reawakened Allagan Primal-eating mecha--is repaired at and (respectively) deployed from. All of the Garlean antagonists are defeated by the end of this arc, and the reborn Eorzean Alliance celebrates victory.

In a more concise narrative, this would be it and the protagonist would move on to his next adventure--i.e. to the Heavensward (HW) expansion--but extra-narrative issues delayed that. Making a virtue of necessity, the narrative team used the intervening patch cycles to play out the logical consequences of tensions and attitudes already expressed during the 2.0 story.

In short, we have a filler arc.

Rather than come up with a sidestory that had no lasting consequences, the FF14 team decided to use this to make a stronger narrative bind between ARR and HW. The means was the act of hubris that manifested as Alphinaud's decision to raise a private standing army with no loyalties to any extant government, but instead to be the military adjunct to the Scions. This was the Crystal Braves Grand Company.

This was a very good display of competent storycraft on the part of the writers. They ensured that the downfall to follow was properly grounded beforehand; it was well-known that Ul'dah was riven with corruption, that the Monetarists were little more than gangsters with good publicity, and others regarded the Scions as a nuisance if not a threat. Forming the Grand Company was the act that forced these hostile parties to act against the Scions, and therefore against the protagonist.

This "filler arc" had the protagonist not only deal with unraveling a hostile spy network tied to the Garlean Empire, itself foreshadowing the reveal of there being such a network in action, but also had two apparently disparate narrative threads woven together. One was the Shiva thread regarding Ishgard, setting up the transition to the next expansion in one direction, while the corruption thread out of Ul'dah pushed it from the other; the latter supplying the former with resources being the hidden connection.

The climax comes with the apparent defeat of the Shiva threat to Ishgard, when the protagonist comes to Ul'dah to meet with the embattled Sultana only to be framed for her murder in a most farcical manner. The betrayal by the Crystal Braves is revealed, as the Ul'dah Syndicate is shown to have owned the Braves since its formation and used it as cover for wetwork and covert operations under the Scions' noses.

The surviving Scions are exiled to Ishgard, and thus the downfall sets up the next expansion's story with the protagonist and Alphinaud in a situation nearly as weak as when ARR opened.

A Narrative Graded

ARR's narrative, if rendered pure in cinematic form:

It would be considered competent, but not extraordinary, in its quality. As a novel, or novel trilogy, it would not be any differently regarded. It is solid, journeyman work.

The evaluation rises when the very short timeframe (for a MMORPG) and resources (ditto) are accounted for, but that still doesn't put it up there with MacBeth. What makes the ARR narrative worthy of study is in how the narrative structure got successfully dual-purposed for a MMORPG, not that the quality itself is anything to write home about.

For the TLDR crowd: It is not bad. It's good enough.

However, it is clear that if the team had the time and the resources, they could make a truly great feat of storytelling happen using the MMORPG medium. We would see this first with HW, and subsequent expansions only improve in storycraft quality.

A Realm Reborn: 7 out of 10 points.

You will be satisfied with the story. You will be entertained by it. You will not proclaim it as a classic, ala FF4 or FF6, but neither shall you overrate it (FF7).

My Life As A Writer: Final Fantasy XIV: A Narrative Reborn (Part Three)

A Narrative Reviewed

Now that we have reviewed what the FF14 had to do to successfully merge narrative and gameplay, let's take a loot at how well they did it.

Entering The Game

The narrative thread begins, as I said previously, with the outsider protagonist being called to Eorzea by the Mother Crystal Hydaelen to be its champion and defend her world. You appear in a realm of Hydaelen, Eorzea, previously devastated by a disaster known as "The Calamity".

The protagonist encounters an agent of the dark god Zodiark, an Ascian, on his way to Eorzea. He is briefly blessed with the full power of his future calling to banish this Ascian before being sent on to embody into the world.

Upon embodying, the protagonist awakens on route to one of Eorzea's free city-states that remain in the Alliance: Ul'dah, Gridania, and Limsa Lominsa. (By this point, Ishgard had already withdrawn.) Being that the protagonist is an outsider to the entire realm, no one knows who he is and therefore has no prior knowledge of his encounters with the divine. He is, therefore, treated as no different than all the other aliens and foreigners that have flooded into Eorzea to exploit the opportunities for fortune that come with post-war chaos.

In terms of storycraft, this would be the first chapter of a novel or the first few scenes of a film or pilot episode. In shorter or more efficient fiction, this is a paragraph or a voiceover during the first minute. Why? Because all of this is framework erection. You are telling the audience what sort of narrative this is, and therefore what they can expect from partaking of it. It is also, as I said previously, the ideal structure for MMORPGs--"Chosen One" or not, as Howard's Conan and other adventurers show--as well for tales in fantastic world which is why it is so popular.

While the protagonist goes about introducing himself and getting acclimated to his new base of operations and the people that make it work, he will invariably make impressions upon key figures that hold the power to help or hinder him and thus the first set of narrative conflicts establish themselves. These exist primarily to demonstrate the protagonist's character to the audience; that they also serve to teach gameplay mechanics and game features in an organic manner shows the competent application of the structure to gameplay needs.

In narrative terms, this entire establishing arc is done by the conclusion of Act One. The first problem--to establish yourself and prove your worth to your hosts--is complete, and you solved it by mastering the lessons offered and demonstrating a willingness to solve problems that the locals either cannot or will not handle themselves. Now that the protagonist has acquired a repuation as a reliable agent and is now entrusted with more difficult tasks.

Rising To The Challenge

The establishing of the protagonist's character as a reliable agent and a trustworthy ally against dangers and threats concludes by granting the protagonist an expanded role in affairs of state. This process by having the following recent history told to the protagonist:

• Five years before the evil Garlean Empire launched an invasion of Eorzea to conquer its nations and annex its city-states as provinces under its rules, erecting an empire in a blend of Roman and Persian techniques.
• Ala Mhigo had already fallen to Garlean legions, so the remaining states formed the Eorzea Alliance. The war ground on for sometime.
• The Garleans began to leverage their unique devices that mimic magical spells and magical beasts--"Magitek"--to overcome the defenders. This Magitek technology turned out to be far more developed and had far more applications than the Eorzeans realized, as it was based on the long-lost ancient civilization of Allagan.
• The Garleans threw a doomsday weapon--a weaponized moon with the god-like dragon Bahamut inside--at the Eorzeans at Carteneau in a last ditch move for victory.
• Archon Louisoix Levelleur of Old Sharlayen, in direct contravention of his state's policy of strict non-involvement with foreign affairs, lead a band of heroes known as the Warriors of Light and a pair of associated orders--the precursors of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn--to attempt to avert the devastation that Bahamut would wreak.
• This would fail, and Louisoix would use the relic in his possession to attempt a literal divine intervention as a last resort; in so doing, he threw the Warriors of Light into the Lifestream to save their lives. None remember who the Warriors were, only that they were at all. The desired scouring did not take place, but the damage done was nonetheless disastrous even if it did mean that the Garlean Empire was forced to withdraw.
• Five years have passed, and all three Alliance city-states remain unstable and rent with internal fissures as well as external threats of increasing power- including the Empire. To solve these problems, the demoralization has to be addressed first and foremost.

The solution is to appoint the protagonist as an envoy to the other two city-states. The aim is to launch a public relations campaign, directed at rectifying the plumetting morale of the city-states' populations, and thus ward off the despair that makes them open to corruption and subversion by hostile parties.

All of this is to introduce the player to the rest of the playable gamespace and its signicant NPCs, and along the way expand the available features and content. During this time the escalation of the protagonist's activities is also done, going from dealing with local threats basing their predatory activities out of some dungeon, cave, or crypt to facing one of these god-like beings face-to-face.

As a result of successfully facing and slaying such a demi-divine denizen the protagonist also gets increasingly invested in his realm of adventure by joining one of the city-state's standing armies as a reservist; this results not only in expanded opportunities, but also in higher status in Eorzean society and the granting of a private mount for his use. In gameplay terms, this is when the player gets his first mount and most associated features are unlocked.

This arc concludes with a second, different, encounter with another such monster and as a result the protagonist cements his standing with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and becomes increasingly famous as "The God-Slayer" such that heads of state know him by name (and he, in turn, knows theirs) and the Garlean Empire takes notice of him. It is also at this point that the reason for how the protagonist can meet such beings--"Primals" or "eikons"--is reveals: the Echo, the blessing of Hydaelen.

The threat that Primals pose is also revealed here. Each Primal possesses the power to control the minds of mortal beings, a process called "Tempering" after the first such encounter with it; the firelord Ifrit uses a flame-like breath to mind control mortals, so it is likened to forging blades which requires tempering steel to suit. As the full nature of what a Primal is evolves, the form Tempering can take also evolves; savvy audiences (and players) can easily conclude that the Echo is Hydaelen's Tempering method, as once one is Tempered it is nigh-impossible for another to do so and--at this time--it is impossible to reverse.

This point in the narrative would lead up to the mid-point, setting up the means for a dramatic reversal of fortune to establish the climax. The protagonist is on an upward trajectory. He has proven himself a dependable ally, a resourceful warrior, and a loyal friend to his companions. While--unlike a literary example--there is no romantic subplot to alternately complicate and compel the protagonist in his actions, his quiet devotion to his divine matron becomes increasingly apparent to those closest to him; the leader of the Scions, and defacto priestess of their almost-cult, is a woman named "Minfilla" and also possesses the Echo- it is through her that the others come to believe in him as she does. This cleric-idol relationship serves the same narrative function of a romance subplot without any of the eros involved.

Continued tomorrow.

My Life As A Writer: Final Fantasy XIV: A Narrative Reborn (Part Two)

A Decision Reconsidered

During the redesign process, the team decided to commit fully to making FF14 a Final Fantasy game first and a MMORPG second. Yet they knew that they would attract a significant number of players more familiar with MMORPGs that don't possess this sorting of priorities. In order to ensure that the narrative created would be put front and second, the team made the call to use the narrative as a gate behind quick they would lock off access to the content.

The result is the Main Scenario Quest ("MSQ" hence). What it allowed the team to do is to use content access as a milestone for narrative progress. The narrative would tell the player about something useful for the player to know, and at the conclusion of that scene or chapter the player would gain access to a new feature or some instanced scenario such as a dungeon.

This structure would be repeated for structuring the progress of various Classes and Jobs, such that the User Interface would not only display the MSQ but also the current Class or Job quest. The player would go to his Guild or Job mentor, and that NPC would give them a task that not only told a story to itself, but also compelled the player to display the mastery of his current skillset before learning the new technique. For example, the Archer quests have you proving yourself to key Archer's Guild members in order to learn their best techniques until you master all that they know, at which time are you directed to learn from a former guildsman that became a Bard and you repeat the process.

For a writer, analyzing this structure is useful. The real purpose is clear: you use the narrative as a means of getting the player to comprehend why he needs to go there and do this, learn that, etc. and so it is narrative used for didactic purposes first and pacing second.

However, take a step back and you see why the structure works. You see easily why it works because the MMORPG medium merges the psychological effect of direct and active participation with those of indirect and passive observation as an audience, and thus you can see the gears and levers do their work in real time.

This is a clear Problem->Reaction->Solution structure. It is equally applicable to episodic and serial storycraft, and very effective for audience-insert protagonists that are very common in popular fiction since you don't need to tailor the scenario to the protagonist's specific qualities to make it work; it's why this structure is often considered by Lit Fic snobs to be synonymous with genre literature.

The key here is that the FF14 team makes this structure do double and triple duty. While the player is told about a problem, the NPCs also relay information to him--under the guise of being an outsider that heretofore had no reason to know--that not only does the player need to know to complete the gameplay scenario before him, but that advances some aspect of the overall narrative- often by straight-up plot advancement. That information doubles as efficient worldbuilding.

By tying all of the repeatable content behind completion of the MSQ, and by making that achievable in pieces--the ARR unlock schedule can be seen here--the team successfully achieved the difficult task of merging a satisfying narrative with that a compelling gameplay experience. The MSQ is that solution, and later expansions refined how this solution got applied.

It is not a perfect display of craftsmanship. Especially later in the ARR narrative, there are some straight-forward infodumps and "As You Know, Bob" cutscenes where the protagonist's chief allies--the Scions of the Seventh Dawn ("Scions" hence)--masked by the cinematographers getting to show off how movie-like they can make their cutscenes. That said, even when they have to resort to such measures, the writing team still fulfills the two duties of a fiction writer: to provide an emotionally-satisfying conclusion to the story, and to provide an internally-consistent and believable story to the audience.

My Life As A Writer: Final Fantasy XIV: A Narrative Reborn (Part One)

Introduction

I maintain that most game designers, developers, and publishers are incompetent at narrative and storycraft. They should not, as a rule, attempt to mix narrative and gameplay because they are so enthralled with the former that they forget what business they are in and then they get indignant at being called to account for their incompetence and waste of time and resources.

Likewise, I maintain that authors and writers should not deal in game design. The two disciplines are significantly different and require not only dissonant mindsets but also do not engage the same skillsets, and when you have authors meddle with game design you get misses more than you get hits- and yes, that often includes famous examples such as Gullimore del Toro's involvement (however minor) with Death Stranding.

"Often" is not "Always", and there are examples of narratives incorporated into games that actually accomplish the goal of establishing a synergy between the two. The Final Fantasy franchise is often brought up, correctly, in listing those exceptions to the rule and the second MMORPG in the franchise--Final Fantasy XIV ("FF14" hence)--is one such example of success.

As the subtitle implies, this series focuses on the narrative in the initial relaunch of the game, version 2.0 and its later patches, subtitled "A Realm Reborn" ("ARR" henceforth). I will not address the original game, save as it relates to the subject at hand, and the same will apply to the expansions. Expansions will get their own series in the future. This is also not going to focus on the lore; there are plenty of videos on YouTube that go deep into the lore of the game. This series is about storycraft foremost; lore will be addressed only as it applies to storycraft.

There is no spoiler protection. Even Shadowbringers is past the protection date now, so it's all fair game until Endwalker releases later this year, at which time I will observe spoiler protection solely for Endwalker until this time next year. This is your warning.

Finally, this is a parallel to the gameplay-focused review on my main blog; if that's what you're after, you want to go here instead.

What Failed Before