Hello there, this is Mildra.

While the layout is still being worked on, the volume of text will mean it’ll take a significant amount of time. We appreciate your patience, and we’re trying to get it out to you as quickly as we can.

That said, I’d like to address the matter of the Final Fantasy XIV TTRPG, and what separates us from that project. The short answer to the question of what the difference is would be, well, everything, but I feel that merely saying that wouldn’t be all that convincing at best, and would be dismissive at worst.

I could go into differences in class design, customization, encounter design, core mechanics, and so on, but the truth is the difference comes down to completely different philosophies. The FFXIV TTRPG is primarily interested in creating a scenario-based adaptation of the MMO in question, with an emphasis on single-shot affairs in the way a lot of Japanese TTRPGs are designed. This has led to some misunderstandings in my opinion, since many aren’t aware of the scenario emphasis in Japanese tabletop and are attempting to look at it as if it’s “D&D in a Final Fantasy coat of paint”. Legend Edition is more focused on a “mythos not setting” philosophy, something that is equally viable in adapting the spirit of established Final Fantasy games, but also the wiggle room to do one’s own thing.

When I started the project, the goal was to have something that addressed a problem I had with several FFRPGs mentioned on the main page. Many of them skewed towards the SNES era of the franchise (i.e. IV, V, VI) with little support for other eras whilst claiming they could handle any iteration of Final Fantasy. While it could be done, it would involve a large amount of houseruling to make it work. My philosophy on houseruling is it should be a spice, not the main dish. Thus, I wanted Legend Edition to be something that’s as viable in high fantasy-leaning worlds such as FFII or XVI, steampunk ones like FFVI or XIV, contemporary ones like FFVII or XV. In addition, I want Legend Edition to be able to go into directions the video games have not yet, even ones I haven't thought of. People will inevitably homebrew our game, the least I can do is provide frameworks to make it easier for them to do it instead of throwing them into the pool and saying "swim".

Sakaguchi had at one point talked about how he felt Final Fantasy as a concept didn’t need to restrict itself to just RPGs, demonstrated by how he fought the higher-ups to allow for FFXI to get its roman numeral namesake. I think a game that is attempting to capture the soul of the franchise (iteration and experimentation) like we are should carry some of that thinking. Hopefully, once the book is in your hands, you’ll see that’s something we’ve done our best to carry forward.

Because of all that, I don’t see any potential conflicts with the FFXIV TTRPG, because where that game has its source material as the goal, for Legend Edition the source material is just the first step. Those two goals are as completely apart from one another as FFXI’s design is from FFXIV, despite both being MMOs.

Stay frosty!

-M