About a Pre-HW Interview

Hopefully interesting topic for you lot today. Mayhap discussion!

A few folks I know were having a discussion about the darker themes in Heavensward, and my mind drifted back to reading a Famitsu interview with Yoshi-P back before HW launched, wherein he talked about a miqo'te NPC we were supposed to be seeing that has a "wounded ear". The exact quote is as follows:

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"It's not so much about what we can write, but more about what we can show, it's not as unrestricted as it was years ago. For example, one of the new NPCs is a Miqo'te with a wounded ear, and that wound is a fundamental part of that NPCs back-story and character, but there could be some limits to how seriously we could treat that which limit our expression."

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So with that, I wondered if we'd seen this new NPC yet in the story. I don't think we have, but am I just missing something? Maybe the character was scrapped/replaced. I thought it might be Mide with a different injury.

I think it could very well be Mide. Perhaps - for whatever reason - they decided to change the character's race; perhaps to address the concerns that Au Ra felt very out of the loop. They've certainly drawn a lot of attention to Mide's wound at any rate...

Though I'd like to think we may see the NPC in question show up in 3.4, 3.5 or both. Hopefully it's a ruggedlygood looking male miqo'te for a change since there's a real shortage of them where NPC's are concerned.

Hmm, isn't that just an example? I took that as more "We could write a character like this, but we might be limited in how we show it, and that limits what we can write", not "G'raha Tia will be returning, damaged after an encounter with a certain forbidden land...", which is now what I want it to be...

If Mide was originally a male Miqo'te, then Alexander really would just be a complete retread CT. Really would like them to just suck it up and let one stick around, though. This isn't XI anymore; they're a playable race that deserves the sort of representative NPC every other race/gender combo has gotten. Or kill off Sidurgu so it's not just mancats feeling left out.

Yoshida tends to talk in hypotheticals a lot, that fans (especially /r/ffxiv) like to translate without paying proper attention to verb conjugations. I don't remember that specific interview, but it's highly likely that someone mistranslated. Then again, we still haven't gotten the side-story explaining Bahamut's capture that he said we would get, but I'm assuming that'll be part of the Triad story at some point.

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Originally Posted by Fenral

Then again, we still haven't gotten the side-story explaining Bahamut's capture that he said we would get, but I'm assuming that'll be part of the Triad story at some point.

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I wouldn't be surprised if that is covered by our incredibly brief and incredibly disappointing interactions with Tiamat... Though I seem to recall he also promised more on Omega, so perhaps that'll come up again along with more on Bahamut... Either that or we'll get new Mail Mog quests now that the Dragonsong War is over, and Hraesvelgr will send a letter to Tiamat, and it'll be perfectly justified, since I imagine he finds flying slightly harder now!

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Originally Posted by Theodric

Though I'd like to think we may see the NPC in question show up in 3.4, 3.5 or both. Hopefully it's a ruggedlygood looking male miqo'te for a change since there's a real shortage of them where NPC's are concerned.

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Not to hijack the thread but, yes, please, I'd love to see a male Miqo'te who is actually significant to the story for a change. The few prominent ones we've seen aren't exactly impressive so far. The Guild Leader of the Arcanist Guild seems incredibly irresponsible. The roegadyn woman made a much better leader figure in my opinion. The Nuhn of the U tribe is considered an oddity amongst Sunseeker Tribes, from what I understand, as normally women still hold the positions of authority there. Even then he doesn't exactly do a whole lot.


Maybe we could have a Sharlayan male miqo'te come help out the Scions, sort of like how Krile has. If Urianger goes the bad way, I could see a character like that taking his place. Bonus points if he's a Moonkeeper. Sunseeker males seem more prominent in the story than the moonkeeper ones. A moonkeeper male who even rejected his people's culture as systematic abuse of the male gender would be an interesting spin. We know so little about moonkeepers. Other than that males don't even get a name, just a number.

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Originally Posted by Vexander

Maybe we could have a Sharlayan male miqo'te come help out the Scions, sort of like how Krile has.

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You never met G'raha Tia, did you? He's even from the same organization, not that it was ever treated as that important a detail. Or mentioned ever again, considering there may very well not be any more Students of Baldesion at all besides him and Krile. He's not mentioned in Heavensward for... reasons.

Though there's always hope of him playing the Estinien card at some point, I guess. If they were to have a mancat rise to proper story prominence, I'd prefer they use one they've already introduced, considering the underutilized implications of his character.

(He's the good-guy version of Nael van Darnus, for Twelve's sakes!)

G'raha technically counts but he also has the whole 'Allagan' aspect to him. I'd prefer someone more down to earth and relatable who can accompany us on our journey for a time, help us out and form a friendship and alliance. As an extra bonus I'd love to travel alongside a tribal Miqo'te or Au Ra for a change. Most we meet are those who have, unfortunately, fully embraced Eorzean/Sharlayan/Doman culture rather than their own.

He could be relatable, if they chose to explore the thousand unexplored malms of character development between his penultimate and final scenes. One doesn't usually agree with the voices in their head right off the bat like that. Especially not artificially implanted mechanical voices. Ahem.

I mean, considering Ala Mhigo is home to the Allagan ruins where Ultima Weapon was unearthed, and we're moving ever deeper into conflict with their self-proclaimed successor empire... I can't seriously be the only one who sees the storytelling potential there. Much as I want the writers to put the Allagans to rest for good, if they must continue like this I'd like them to actually tie the disparate threads into something a little more cohesive than The X-Files' alien colonist storyline.

He could have been relatable if they spend some time developing him... but he's had more character exploration and development on this forum then he did on his own quest. Honestly, the whole tower quest line feels kind of rushed in hindsight. They seem to be giving the new 24 man much more story and character time. Not that I don't want more of both, and I love the story and the sky pirates are fun. I also want to live on their sky island.