Was there a reason we never got to go Koshu during Stormblood?

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Originally Posted by Hallarem

Yeah, as good as some parts of Endwalker were. They made the same mistake of rushing everything into one expansion, with the inclusion of just having massive places in the lore being backdrops with surface level storytelling, nuking Garlemald for example and the absolutely dreadful Labyrinthos parts. Stormblood should've been Ala Mhigo and the next expansion should've been Doma AND Hingashi.

Even Dawntrail should've been just Tural and the patch content should've been the "golden city"

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I sort of story boarded this out, but my crazy idea of how I would restructure this, if it were up to me, was:

Stormblood should have focused entirely on Doma after the initial failures with Ala Mhigo and Rhalgr’s Reach. Basically, after the defeat at Rhalgr’s, we would still hatch the plan to split Garlemald’s resources and then travel to Doma. But after that, the Doma campaign would take the duration of the expansion.

Shadowbringer would still focus on the first and play out mostly as originally written, with us basically getting pulled from the original plan by going to do the Shadowbringers story. HOWEVER…

6.0 would then be focused on the return to the source, but ultimately we would find that our strategy to split up Garlemald’s resources was way more effective than planned. I would name 6.0 something like, I don’t know, Tyrantfall or whatever, and the story is entirely focused on liberating Ala Mhigo and driving north into Ilsabard. Post Tyrantfall would basically be focused on a. Rebuilding after the war and b. Using the threads laid down in Shadowbringers and Tyrantfall to build into Endwalker.

Then Endwalker would be 7.0, and would be a version of the Endwalker we got that largely improves on the pacing and developments of the original EW story from level 83+

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Originally Posted by Kisshu

I recall the ingame reason is that the country is very isolationist and has a civil war going on, mirroring old Japan and the Sengoku era.

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That is the watsonian explanation yes. The only time in the game so far we could bypass this restriction and get authorized to move in was for Mount Rokkon. Perhaps we'll have other ventures like this who knows... But I'd like them to flesh it out more than just a basic dungeon/trial.

It's a good question, and one I would hope to get a logical explanation from the staff.
But judging with how Dawntrail was written, I'd be surprised if they're found wanting in the 'department of forethought'.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

I think they have hinted about it as a possibility before. The problem I'd have with it, really, is that we have had a "Japanese-themed" expansion called Stormblood with a "Japan-style" place called Kugane and Samurai, and I wouldn't be enthusiastic about a repeat. I had to try hard to enjoy Stormblood and was able to but it was due to knowing that future expansions wouldn't be themed like that.

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It is a disservice to Square's imaginative artist to say that Hingashi would just be stuff we have seen before. Square's artist could conceptualize a lot of cool stuff like how Dawntrail had the pot village.

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Originally Posted by Valence

That is the watsonian explanation yes. The only time in the game so far we could bypass this restriction and get authorized to move in was for Mount Rokkon. Perhaps we'll have other ventures like this who knows... But I'd like them to flesh it out more than just a basic dungeon/trial.

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Mount Rokkon is still on Shishu. Ijin are forbidden from leaving Kugane itself unless there's someone able to pull some strings.

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Originally Posted by Hallarem

Most likely because they are saving it for a Hingashi expansion, that goes full samurai.
Unless they are lazy and blow it up like they did Garlemald because they are allergic to story with politics atm.

I'm still coping for them to open up Dalmasca, Landis, Bozja, Nagxia and other places that are mentioned, but hidden behind the Mist that is Ilsabard.

So many interesting places, but they decided to take the story into outer space, ends of the universe, time travel and more. So scaling down the story at the moment is a challenge they face.

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I wish I could like this comment multiple times. I've been coping for the exact same things, and still have a bitter aftertaste in my mouth with how Garlemald was treated.

A sense of dread hit my chest when they revealed that key at the end of Dawntrail. That, combined with the post EW patch still revolving around another shard--a shard that, if fixed, would wipe away even more conflict, grit and mystery from Hydaelyn--makes it feel like they just absolutely can't peel away from the formula they created with SHB. It makes the story telling feel disingenuous.

I want to see more of Hydaelyn because I love the world they created here. I'm sick of the thought of shard-hopping. There's so much more interesting lore and people within our shard that they can expand upon. Hell, Mount Rokkon specifically did make me want to see more of Hingashi again!

The best thing they can do is to never go to Koshu, so you can imagine the ideal version of Koshu with an amazing story and a well thought-out lore, and have that as your headcanon.

Because otherwise

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Originally Posted by Hallarem

I'm still coping for them to open up Dalmasca, Landis, Bozja, Nagxia and other places that are mentioned, but hidden behind the Mist that is Ilsabard.

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Dalmasca is what's going to happen. We will never go there because it's considered "solved" because of the SB raids and Bozja. Dalmasca and Bozja will forever be an unfinished, inconsistent arc. Enjoy!

Ugh,.personally speaking, I really don't want meracydia. It would be just another dragon focused expansion. I rather go to dalmasca and exploring the rest of ilsabard

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Originally Posted by Kozh

Ugh,.personally speaking, I really don't want meracydia. It would be just another dragon focused expansion. I rather go to dalmasca and exploring the rest of ilsabard

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I'm with you on this preference. I want to actually see Ilsabard and Dalmasca instead of a single zone called "Garlemald."

I don't mind the idea of dragon-focused stories, and I even like them. But tbh I don't have faith that the current writing team would do it justice. I fear it would just be an attempt to rehash Heavensward and would come across as a hollow echo of that story instead of being meaningfully written, with interesting characters and themes.

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Originally Posted by Daralii

Mount Rokkon is still on Shishu. Ijin are forbidden from leaving Kugane itself unless there's someone able to pull some strings.

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Alright point taken, I didn't read Koshu, but my point still stands at least for leaving Kugane, which is forbidden for all ijin, but we were allowed to do it once so far (and twice if we consider also stepping into the Daiyo's castle in Kugane). So with a lot of copium, Koshu isn't exactly off limits if the devs want to go back into Hingashi at some point with some content.