Originally Posted by
DarthTaru
Disagree entirely. Under this model for identity we're essentially just midgets... Not very exciting.
The monolithic societies of FFXI gave the world diversity and clearly defined cultures that added a richness to the world this game completely lacks in its lore and mythology. If you were a Windurstian Tarutaru visiting Bastok or vice versa you were visiting a foreign land and it felt like it. Traveling to another city in FFXIV just feels like exactly that - traveling to another city. Denying each race a unique culture and civilization deprives them all of any real identity or character.
More over, if each race was given its own home nation the game world would be far more dispersed. Not everyone would be huddled in Ul'dah simply because of the market wards. People would be more inclined to stay in their own nation.
I started as a Lalafell in Gridania and I feel absolutely zero attachment to that place. It's in the woods. It has a creepy kid with horns. It has people of all sorts wearing silly wooden masks. It does nothing for me because it lacks a core or center that it would otherwise have if it were, for example, the home of the Elves.