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 (By this point, Ishgard had already withdrawn.)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.