Gripes with Starting City and storyline

One thing you have to remember though, MMOs Stories in general assume the Player is One of a Kind. Each other player, assumed by story, are the equivalent of NPC adventurers to YOUR story.

This means that there is only one definitive character who enters the CIty State, that the Scions recruit them (effectively Before Ifrit) and that to help bluster the Grand
Companies you are asked to join one AS a Scion. Otherwise the Scions have the Army of Absolute Victory at their desposal because HOW MANY PCs ARE THERE? lol Because of this, you can go and say "I know I'm from Maelstrom, but I changed my mind; Sir, reporting to duty for the Flames." And Bam! Scion is allowed to switch, a City citizen would not be. This is very important to keep in mind.

Additionally, while you're assumed to be from outside of Eorzea it is mostly to explain why no one remembers you if you're legacy; adding into the information they give you regarding it. But, it also means you can make a story for yourself that brought you to the start of the game.

This character here is a Highlander. She comes from Al Mhigo; she was an infant when Al Mhigo fell. I have a whole story for her explaining her hardships she faced before she set out to start her story, AND WHY she does. I even tweeked cannon to have some fun, living with a Seeker Tribe outside the Sagoli Desert. Playing with their lore a bit, and using a couple of my other alts that I had tinkered with in creator as side characters. It made for a very interesting mindset for her, going out into the world when I look at storylines as an RPer.

Those talking about game design... having a player assigned to a city isn't impossible since FFXI did it before. It's just a bunch of flags and maybe city specific quests/missions.

However yeah, XIV is designed around the idea you aren't a citizen of Eorzea, just some wandering adventurer from nowhere.

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Originally Posted by Magis

Those talking about game design... having a player assigned to a city isn't impossible since FFXI did it before. It's just a bunch of flags and maybe city specific quests/missions.

However yeah, XIV is designed around the idea you aren't a citizen of Eorzea, just some wandering adventurer from nowhere.

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You aren't a citizen of the city states. Its worth noting there are characters in game who are Eorzean but who aren't or weren't members of the city states. One of the characters in the Archer class quests talks about how she lived in a village until the Calamity destroyed it and she wondered into Gridania. She talks about being an outsider too. The U tribe in Southern Thanalan is another example.

There is a lot of unheld land in Eorzea.

This, right here, with the starting cities is exactly why two of my characters are from another world altogether and got pulled to Eorzea, and my main will become an Au Ra with the tentative idea that she was sort of an advance scout for the refugees. Even that still leaves a few plot holes, but at least it clears the issue of her being from Eorzea originally, and all that.

I think that the whole "my memory is fuzzy about the last 5 years after the calamity" is kind of the scapegoat for a character's backstory. It explains a lot without putting a concrete definition on who your character is. You could be one of the original WoL, you could be a wandering adventurer, you could have been that guy's next door neighbor in Limsa, the thing is no one is exactly sure because of the ripples created when Luisoux time warped the original WoL. Any backstory is possible due to this, and it doesn't have to be one way or the either.

Im the opposite. I dont like MMOs that strongly tie your starting region to other aspects of the game, Id like to experience most of it in a way that doesnt require me to make several characters (even though I do). Most games that do this are pvp based games though with faction based gameplay. I just dislike being cut off from parts of the world or being treated differently because of where I started in game. Its generic and if I dont have the option to "disguise" myself then it makes no sense how every person in the world knows where Im from at a glance.

I would like to note though that in a way, the dialog is affected at times by which characters you interacted with first, and thus, by which city you started in. I know for certain that at the very least Y'shtola commented at least once about us having had early interactions and such, and I'm sure there are plenty of other times that characters have done the same, such as the Maelstrom Grand Company representative remarking on it when they were trying to recruit me. While it's not directly because of the city, it does mean that your starting city has an impact on certain dialog points. Likewise, your Grand Company that you're a part of, (and as such which city you consider yourself to be a member of), does affect nearly any dialog that directly involves said GC, at least from what I could tell. The same can also be said for any classes you've done the quests for, should you interact with those individuals again as part of the story. There are definitely points throughout that change based on your individual actions throughout your "history" in Eorzea. It's simply a matter of them being subtle changes so that they can have a cohesive story for every player without having to write exclusive quests based on certain interactions you've had.....