History GameplayAndStoryIntegration / FinalFantasyXIV

** 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, simultaneously justifies how they're able to conveniently bring 3-7 people into group content in even the most out-there locations. They first use it against Elidibus, and then in ''Endwalker'' they use before the fights with both Zodiark and the Endsinger.]]

** [[spoiler:Similarly, Elpis only exists in the distant past. It takes the sacrifice of Elidibus' remaining being, along with the capabilities of the Crystal Tower, to allow even a ''shade'' of the Warrior of Light to get there.]]

* When using the Trust System in ''Shadowbringers'', Thancred won't be able to use all of his weaponskills as a Gunbreaker unless "Minfilia"/[[spoiler:Ryne]] is also in your party. [[spoiler:This is because, after the events of ''ARR'' and his brief trip with the Flow spell, he can't manipulate aether and relies on Ryne to provide aether cartridges ahead of time.]]

* [=NPCs=] will, generally, remember you if you've interacted with them before. This can be as minor as the leaders of the city's adventurer's guild remembering you if you started in that city when you visit them for other quests, to as major as class and job trainers acknowledging your membership if you go there on quest-related business not related to the guild itself. Even the one-off holiday events show signs of the latter. Yugiri in the main story will even change her dialogue accordingly if you're a Ninja when you meet up with her again ("You should train to be a Ninja" to "You fight like one of us, I'm proud of you").
* When speaking with affiliated Grand Company members, they will formally address you by your rank (e.g. Captain (last name)). In the 3.2 MSQ "A Spectacle for the Ages", if you happen to be affiliated with the Immortal Flames, Raubahn will address you the same way since he's your superior.

* Members of the Garlean Empire are biologically incapable of casting magic, therefore the only casters you find in Garlean strongholds tend to be Lalafell or Highlander humans (who were drafted after their countries were conquered) and tend to be low ranked at that, or use shock-sticks, in which case they can only cast thunder and paralyze. In story quests where you're fighting alongside characters who have no healing capability like Cid (Garlean and incapable of using magic), Sidurgu (never in his life touched Conjury), or Thancred (who lost his ability to use aether) instead of using a cure spell on you like most [=NPCs=] in the same type of story battle, they'll use a powerful Aqua Vitae potion that accomplishes the same effect.

*** 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. Endwalker's 4th, 5th and 6th Zones have similar justifications. [[labelnote:To elaborate (''Endwalker'' Spoilers)]]The 4th Zone is the moon, accessed from the Garlean Palace turned Space Elevator, so teleports to the moon are relative to Garlemald. The 5th Zone, located in the distant past, is accessed via a time gate opened in the First's Crystal Tower, so fees are relative to the Crystarium and Mor Dhona. The 6th zone, the edge of the universe, is noted post-MSQ to have an interesting quirk where your spaceship somehow exists both in its hangar in Labyrinthos and in the landing site simultaneously. Teleports are relative to Labyrinthos and Old Sharlayan. This also explains why teleporting between the Moon and Ultima Thule is so expensive; despite both being in the Sea of Stars, they are accessed via completely opposite ends of the Ethyris.[[/labelnote]]
** This is why you have to use your aether to attune to the aetheryte's power and location -- doing so allows someone to teleport there safely since both your aether and the aetheryte's are in sync. In ''Endwalker'', a researcher in Old Sharlayan attempts to teleport you to an aetheryte you're not attuned to as a science experiment. The look on your character's face even suggests that they're well-aware of what it would mean if this failed. [[spoiler:While the teleportation works, it causes you to get very bad motion sickness that basically cripples you for around half an hour in-universe, rendering the prospect of teleporting to untuned aetherytes very impractical, unless you’re a Manderville.]]

* The implementation of NewGamePlus in 5.1 is justified by the ending of Shadowbringers' story as [[spoiler:the Warrior of Darkness regaling a curious child with tales of their deeds before coming to Norvrandt.]]
* Travel logistics are worked into how individuals and armies both move. In 4.5, Hien explicitly says that the main Doman fighting force will be delayed arriving in Eorzea as crossing the south sea (and having to avoid the Garlean home continent of Ilsabard) takes time, and not every fighter has the necessary Aetherpool to just teleport halfway across the world. Hien himself, Yugiri, and a decent chunk of Doman fighters are still present in time for the Ghimlyt Dark dungeons, however, because they attuned themselves to the aetheryte crystals in Ala Mhigo during the fight to take the city, just like the player does when they find a new aetheryte, so they ''could'' just teleport there.

* 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. The uneasy alliance is also why they only cap at Rank 4, "Trusted". The Ixal is the only tribe in ''A Realm Reborn'' that caps at Rank 7, "Sworn", for the sole reason that they don't give two shites about the Wood Wailers or worshiping Garuda, and just want to make a high-tech airship to reach their promised land. From ''Heavensward'' onward, the allied Beast Tribes tend to start with better relations to the player.

** The Sage questline mentions that Sage arts originated from the use of adder stones to channel their magicks, which eventually evolved into the nouliths used by the job. This is reflected by the class's Addersgall and Addersting guages. Addersgall is a constantly regenerating resource that allows the use of special healing abilities, which also have a side benefit of regenerating MP. Addersting, meanwhile, is a resource that's generated whenever one of the sage's barriers is broken, which allows them to use a powerful spell that costs no MP. Expert use of the job revolves around being able to weave in Addersgall and other abilities in between attack spells in order to mitigate damage and keep the party healthy with the actual healing spells being reserved for emergencies or to shield against big attacks.

*** Scholars, meanwhile, have to upkeep their DamageOverTime spell, while preemptively casting their healing spells to form protective barriers on their allies. Their Aetherflow is also what fuels several key abilities to ensure survival, ranging from DamageReduction, to emergency burst healing.

*** 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. Endwalker's 4th, 5th and 6th Zones have similar justifications. [[labelnote:To elaborate (''Endwalker'' Spoilers)]]The 4th Zone is the moon, accessed from the Garlean Palace turned Space Elevator, so teleports to the moon are relative to Garlemald. The 5th Zone, located in the distant past, is accessed via a time gate opened in the First's Crystal Tower, so fees are relative to the Crystarium and Mor Dhona. The 6th zone, the edge of the universe, is noted post-MSQ to have an interesting quirk where your spaceship somehow exists both in its hangar in Labyrinthos and in the landing site simultaneously. Teleports are relative to Labyrinthos and Old Sharlayan.[[/labelnote]]

* While the Scions change classes over the course of the story, whatever class they embrace is skills compounded on what they already know to make them unique from the standard skillset players have access to. [[spoiler:Thancred, while having become a full-time Gunbreaker, is capable of performing the Ninja's "Shukuchi" to skip the tightrope illusion in Dohn Mheg. Y'shtola's Sorceress job functions like a Black Mage, but she is capable of casting Water, Aero, and Stone to full capacity; elements normally restricted to Conjurers, and is what she started as in ''A Realm Reborn''. In 6.2, if the need requires it, she can fall back into a healer role. In ''Endwalker'', Urianger is able to change from a healer to a Magic DPS, utilizing his Arcanist knowledge to fight alongside the Scions against Hydaelyn.]]

*** 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.

** Many dwarf [=NPCs=] will also have altered dialogue or additional comments if the player is a Lalafell, as their society in the First is vastly different from their culture in the Source (showing one’s face, for example, is a ''massive'' taboo).

** Many dwarf NPCs will also have altered dialogue or additional comments if the player is a Lalafell, as their society in the First is vastly different from their culture in the Source (showing one’s face, for example, is a ''massive'' taboo).

** This is why you have to use your aether to attune to the aetheryte's power and location -- doing so allows someone to teleport there safely since both your aether and the aetheryte's are in sync. In ''Endwalker'', a researcher in Old Sharlayan attempts to teleport you to an aetheryte you're not attuned to as a science experiment. The look on your character's face even suggests that they're well-aware of what it would mean if this failed. [[spoiler:While the teleportation works, it causes you to get very bad motion sickness that basically cripples you for around half an hour in-universe, rendering the prospect of teleporting to untuned aetherytes very impractical.]]