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Chapter Zero: Prologue
This update will literally just be the opening sequence with almost no commentary. It brings us up to speed with the setting of the game, since Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is part-reboot, part-sequel to the original Final Fantasy XIV that came out and bombed in 2010.
New Music: Prelude - Discovery
a vibrant planet blessed by the light of the Crystal. Amid azure seas, encompassing the westernmost of the Three Great Continents -
each one enjoying an age of peace - the Astral Eras. To date, all have proven ephemeral.
New Music: Answers
This track tends to get taken down on YouTube a lot, I've linked a video from the official channel that has it. It's the only one in the soundtrack that's heavily protected, so there you go.
In the year 1572 of the Sixth and most recent Astral Era,
A Warrior Hyur looks up at Dalamud after opening his helm.
A piece of Dalamud falls onto the battlefield, throwing up a ton of dust.
Dalamud, itself, also lights up more. The flames become more visible, and it seems like it's ready to explode. Big, giant pillars protrude from it like the one that landed previously.
Bahamut then fires a Teraflare straight into Dalamud, blowing it up and sending its shards flying everywhere.
The lands and the city-states just get decimated by the moon shrapnel. Pictured above is one of the cities: Ul'dah.
The pirate city, Limsa Lominsa, also takes a hit and also faces a tsunami.
Bahamut is just having a blast wiping Eorzea out right now and everyone is just powerless to stop. Wherever Bahamut flies, a dozen beams of light and devastation follow behind him and explode whenever they collide on anything.
An old elezen throws up his staff, which in turn...
... creates a giant spire of light.
The spire then launches at Bahamut, with more spires from other locations doing the same.
A sphere begins to form around Bahamut, sealing him inside.
Unfortunately, it explodes. The shockwave destroys the old man's staff.
Bahamut begins charging up another attack and it looks like everyone is fucked in this cutscene battle.
The Warriors of Darkness Light stand before their doom, forced to accept it. These characters are cutscene representatives of the player characters, but also characters in their own right.
The old man smiles as the light charges more. This introduction kind of seems to skip a pretty fucking important part here, actually, and I've only just now realised it while I write this. The footage is taken straight from the sick as hell End of an Era video that played right when the original FFXIV servers went offline (and I'm also using for the music in this part). Also, Warning: Don't watch any of the related videos because there's a risk of massive spoilers.
The mage slammed what remains of his staff on the ground, warping the Warriors away elsewhere (in time) before accepting his death with grace and a smile. That's the context here, and it seems kind of dumb that it's missing because it's a little important.
In any case, the light grows brighter, and the mage disappears into it.
The weird bit of border in the last shot wasn't me, by the way. That was in the video.
New Music: Dawn of a New Era
Odin rides Sleipnir in the woods, and the trunks recede to create a path for him her them. He's a new addition to A Realm Reborn.
Absolutely everything in this shot is also brand new - weather included.
And that's the introduction once you begin the game. It used to be mandatory until recently, but I'd consider it mandatory if you're getting into the game. It kind of misses out that the old, elezen mage sent a bunch of adventurers five years into the future, making them all disappear, but it covers everything else otherwise. Tune in next time for the game actually beginning.