Would you join the Empire if you could? Ave imperium!

To be honest, I gave this some very serious thought and came to only one viable conclusion:

Only thing that would make me join the empire is if I could become a Legatus and then help Cid become Emperor.

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Originally Posted by Aicasia

The empire is full of rapists, so no thanks.

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That's "therapists", Mr. Connery.

Anyway, depends on the context. The Garleans' agenda is more "big picture" stuff, of course kept under their rule because they don't trust people to take care of themselves. Gaius is not a bad guy per se, and while you can say that yes, the empire is the bad guys of the story, the writers have presented them as either the lesser evil (1.0) or in a dark shade of gray with some of the stuff seen in 2.0.

On the upside you get access to magitek and it may even encourage some level of competition between player factions. On the downside you'd be likely to become a raid boss and have to put up with the likes of Nero.

It has been a while since the game's release, so now that more people have cleared the entire story, I would like some second thoughts on this.

One of my most disappointing moments was in the Praetorium, Gaius asked me if I believed in Eorzea, I said no. He acted like I said yes. What a shame.

if you actually read the story as you play you would know the empire is pretty vile.
You would also know the vast majority of "imperials" you fight are slave soldiers taken from conquered countries

and there's the whole storyline about the guy who hates the empire because they raped and abused his mother and sister to the point they committed suicide to get away

the garlean empire is kind of a cross between nazi germany and the persian empire. It's almost evil to the point that the only thing that makes sense is some dark primal has control of their top leaders and is manipulating them behind the scenes

you can also trace almost every horrible thing that's ever happened to eorzea in recent history directly to them.

There would be no Epic story then. You would not have the drive to increase your power. You would be a mindless soldier, and probably be stuck protecting lame outposts. There is a reason you are an adventurer and not really tied to a country. If you were a true soldier for Ul'dah you would probably never leave the walls or vicinity, never reach past level 30, because you would have an in game job. Then if you chose to switch you would be branded as a deserter and probably executed. Being an adventurer grants you the freedom to fight for your country or a country with out being part of it. You fight for the world. And even if the Garlean leaders have the right mentality they are obviously wrong because Hydalin says so. You know the magic crystal that tells you what to do. If the crystal was ok with the empire there would be no story or drive. It would just be "Craft more and carry on".

Join the guys that caused the Primal problem and just invaded a land for the sake of having it? Yeaaaah, no. That seems really stupid.

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Originally Posted by FyeyaHerald

Also, talk to the imperial soldiers in some of the quests; they talk about their childre

Then tell me they're all rapists.

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Rapists aren't people that have no families or kids. They're not loners that are easily distinguished from everyone else.

This is the worst line of thought. The other person may have over generalized the imperial troops, but this is worse. BTW, in general the Empire is very evil and the troops help commit those atrocities.

I'd consider joining the empire if Square had the ability to paint them as anything other than the heartless empire; Aside from a few one liners from a few stray imperial troops, who shouldn't even be on the front lines if that's their way of thinking, every person you meet seems ruthless and mostly evil to their core.

Square has always been good in being able to write an impressive villain, but they're not very good at trying to write a world that doesn't turn out to be incredibly heavy-handed or black/white at the end.

If I could join the empire, I probably would. The only thing Dalamud did to Eorzea was make civilians incredibly lazy and worthless. Perhaps the tyranny of the Empire would make them do something with themselves.

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Originally Posted by Ehllfhire

Do you not know how vile and evil they are? its like saying would you join the Nazi's during ww2?

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damn, where do i sign up for the empire

no thank you, i have no intrest in fighting on the same side as magitek nazis with gunblades and funny masks. now the holy see of ishgard on the other hand...

Totally would join if they put Kefka in charge imo.

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Originally Posted by saber_alter

no thank you, i have no interest in fighting on the same side as magitek nazis with gunblades and funny masks. now the holy see of ishgard on the other hand...

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Religious zealots who blindly followed a guy who killed numerous innocents and didn't question the sudden rise in deaths of 'heretics'. Yeah that sounds loads better

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Originally Posted by Cluebilly

Religious zealots who blindly followed a guy who killed numerous innocents and didn't question the sudden rise in deaths of 'heretics'. Yeah that sounds loads better

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hey! i'm just doing it to kill the dragons.

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Originally Posted by saber_alter

hey! i'm just doing it to kill the dragons.

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Okay fair enough. Defeating a dragon is pretty cool

Holy crap yes, I would join the Empire.

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B-but they take slaves and brainwash them!

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You learn about this from a decidedly anti-Empire NPC, of course they'll make them out to be the bad guys.

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B-but Ala Mihgo!

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Which was in the middle of a self-destructive civil war before the Empire stepped in and prevented further bloodshed by bringing order

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B-but they loosed the primals at Silvertear!

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Those same primals which they now wish to stop. So why aren't you helping them?

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B-but Hydaelyn!

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Oh, just because it says they're bad automatically makes them bad? And you call THEM brainwashed.

Imagine an awesome ending battle. You'd be there on the elevator with Garlemard making his speech and you could make the decision right there to join the Empire. Garlemard will forgive your past transgressions if you help him bring order to Eorzea. He repairs your Magitek armor, and you'd be put in an instance where you could blow away Minfilia, that stupid Lala and Miqote, and optionally Tataru with one shot with your Magitek armor, sort of like Sephiroth vs Cloud.

The ending credits could showcase a technologically advanced Ul'dah without refugees, Gridania free of elementals, and Limsa free of pirates. And there you would be perched on Ultima next to Garlemard waving and smiling to the cheering crowds because they're free of the primal threat forever thanks to Ultima.

Now that would have been a great twist in a single-player story. Too bad this is an MMO. Instead we pave the way for hard mode and extreme mode primals and the continued strife in Eorzea. But it's okay because we killed the guy in black armor threatening our freedom to abuse refugees and cower from elementals. Great story guys! Can't wait for the expansion!

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Originally Posted by Cluebilly

Okay fair enough. Defeating a dragon is pretty cool

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That's what all the Dragoons say.
We make dis look good~

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Originally Posted by Alyko

Imagine an awesome ending battle. You'd be there on the elevator with Garlemard making his speech and you could make the decision right there to join the Empire. Garlemard will forgive your past transgressions if you help him bring order to Eorzea. He repairs your Magitek armor, and you'd be put in an instance where you could blow away Minfilia, that stupid Lala and Miqote, and optionally Tataru with one shot with your Magitek armor, sort of like Sephiroth vs Cloud.

The ending credits could showcase a technologically advanced Ul'dah without refugees, Gridania free of elementals, and Limsa free of pirates. And there you would be perched on Ultima next to Garlemard waving and smiling to the cheering crowds because they're free of the primal threat forever thanks to Ultima.

Now that would have been a great twist in a single-player story. Too bad this is an MMO. Instead we pave the way for hard mode and extreme mode primals and the continued strife in Eorzea. But it's okay because we killed the guy in black armor threatening our freedom to abuse refugees and cower from elementals. Great story guys! Can't wait for the expansion!

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Ironically enough, after finally finishing the main storyline the scenes in the Praetorium actually had me thinking about a similar alternative result for the end of the game (player character betraying Eorzea and joining Gaius and the Empire), however, I envision a very different outcome from such a situation.

Eorzea would become little more than an ultra-Balkanized dystopia constantly beset by ongoing (although probably mostly ineffective) resistance formed from the tattered remains of the Grand Companies.

Without Merlwyb to keep the pirates under control, they would become bloodthirsty and would be constantly attacking both civillain and Imperial transports, only without any check on their power. Ul'dah would probably be turned into a police state with a puppet ruler replacing the Sultana (and the Syndicate, if they still exist, would be equally ineffectual and propped up by Imperial gil). Gridania would probably isolate itself, the forest closing itself off like a green shield despite the best efforts of Garlemald to break through.

And all through this the player has taken on a Garlean name and is waging a genocidal war against the beastmen which just inflicts more pain and suffering on the realm, as the beastmen temper more and more hapless civilians and Imperial soldiers alike, the Empire despite their best attempts to harness the Echo, have all come to naught.

Imperial propaganda claims the tide is turning against the beastmen and their dreaded eikons, but the reality is very different. Imperial losses are rising by the day, and even with a realm-wide draft can not fully extinguish the beastmen threat, especially as they have entered into an uneasy alliance with Minfillia, who has gone underground with the remains of the Scions to hide from persecution.

And all the Mothercrystal can do is shed tears for Her fallen champion.

The Empire has tried on numerous occasions to kill me. Not exactly the kind of thing that screams "we're really the good guys, join us".

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Originally Posted by Alyko

Now that would have been a great twist in a single-player story. Too bad this is an MMO. Instead we pave the way for hard mode and extreme mode primals and the continued strife in Eorzea. But it's okay because we killed the guy in black armor threatening our freedom to abuse refugees and cower from elementals. Great story guys! Can't wait for the expansion!

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Here, stop hurting yourself.

Yes, the empire is full of hot people that want to put down the primitive and petty others who keep summoning stupid monsters that rob them of free will and do nothing but create a mess.

The Empire has technology, cool outfits, order, and for some reason is all hot people. It really would be best for everyone if the Empire could impose some order on this messy world.

Well, joining the empire is something I could see myself doing. Because while their methods were anything but just, the desired end result was a noble cause at the very least. 'The end justifies the means' comes to mind. But mechanically, I can't imagine partying or anything would be much easier, what with how if there was a sort of 'join x or y cause' when one opposes the other, this would likely mean open world pvp or at least restricting people from playing with others who chose the other side. It's just simpler to keep everyone on the same side, and to fight for the same cause. Games with faction systems or story branch points do lead to a lot of money and time for a rather big risk. Don't get me wrong, the idea's neat and all, and I'm sure I'd join the empire on at least one character, but again, it's... risky.

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Originally Posted by Sparthos

Final Fantasy rarely allows you to be the villain so this would never happen. The Empire is clearly being setup as the villainous troupe here even if their aims are somewhat benevolent for the world at large.

If you're looking for a game that lets you do shades of grey, Final Fantasy is the wrong series. The Elder Scrolls perhaps?

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What are you talking about? Garlean are the good guys trying to educate the ignorant masses and offer much higher tech than what the other nations currently use, they even sent free cookies to the leaders of each nation and what did they do? Spit on them. Only natural they would retaliate, don't fuck with garleans cookies.

I would join the Garleans in a heartbeat just to look like a badass villain from an old school Super sentai/kamen rider tv series.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Ironically enough, after finally finishing the main storyline the scenes in the Praetorium actually had me thinking about a similar alternative result for the end of the game (player character betraying Eorzea and joining Gaius and the Empire), however, I envision a very different outcome from such a situation.

Eorzea would become little more than an ultra-Balkanized dystopia constantly beset by ongoing (although probably mostly ineffective) resistance formed from the tattered remains of the Grand Companies.

And all the Mothercrystal can do is shed tears for Her fallen champion.

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While we're exploring the mirror universe, you forgot to mention your character's new personality.

Ive wanted to join the empire since Nael Van Darnus stood before and almost made it seem like he was gonna let me join.

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Originally Posted by Vanguard319

While we're exploring the mirror universe, you forgot to mention your character's new personality.

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yup, that sounds just about right.


fuck it, For ishgard! down with the dravinians!

I would not join them.

Mostly because currently the Garlean Empire is basically having a Civil War in its own Empire between people of high power in the Garlean Society. The Emperor is losing control over his Empire and it is slowly falling to pieces now.

Machine men,

with machine minds and machine hearts

I would join them, I kinda like the idea of domining the world. :)

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Originally Posted by Alyko

You learn about this from a decidedly anti-Empire NPC, of course they'll make them out to be the bad guys.



Which was in the middle of a self-destructive civil war before the Empire stepped in and prevented further bloodshed by bringing order



Those same primals which they now wish to stop. So why aren't you helping them?



Oh, just because it says they're bad automatically makes them bad? And you call THEM brainwashed.

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on the first one...in 1.0 you witness it with your own eyes

on two, you later learn that imperial operatives fomented unrest in Ala-Migho CAUSING the Civil war they "galantly" intervened in.

and as two Hydalean, yeah I think I'll believe the SPIRIT OF THE FREAKIN' PLANET over some dooffus in a silly hat.

You'd have to murder Tataru as an enemy of the Empire.

Could you do that?

Could you murder Tataru?

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Originally Posted by Mezolitik

You'd have to murder Tataru as an enemy of the Empire.

Could you do that?

Could you murder Tataru?

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..... You are making it easy for me.

Yes I would join them just for shiits and giggles. O ya, only if they let me burn Grid and that "God wills it" nation to the ground.

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Originally Posted by HumsterMKX

..... You are making it easy for me.

Yes I would join them just for shiits and giggles. O ya, only if they let me burn Grid and that "God wills it" nation to the ground.

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You mean Ishgard? Hey,even if I don't plan on joining the empire I'd totally come along for that ride.

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Originally Posted by Cluebilly

You mean Ishgard? Hey,even if I don't plan on joining the empire I'd totally come along for that ride.

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Only if you promise I get all the Lalafell.... no wait.. thete arr no Lalafell in Ishgard.

Anyway you wanna become a model of this season's winter collection?

I'd join the empire but only pure blood Garleans can achieve high ranking positions. No love for us lalas so I'll stick to bashing in their shins.

I'd quit the day this became an option.

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Originally Posted by HumsterMKX

Might I enquire the reason for that decision?

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Most of the story is built around our ability, the constant threat of the primals and the Scions that became our friends, which then got slaughered by Livia. We got to defend Eorzea from an oppressive empire that poses as good but would take it as their slave.

As much as the writing sucks, I'd rather have it continue being about Eorzea and the Scions.

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Originally Posted by Ri_ri

I'd quit the day this became an option.

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Might I enquire the reason for that decision?