I'd like to see Costa del Sol become a real town.

Not, like, a major city... but just more than a huddle of tents and boardwalks on a beach. I get that there's this sort of elegance to the arrangement at Costa in this game, but it also feels very... temporary to me. Sort of nomadic. And I don't know if it really does all that great a job conveying a tourist destination. Like... where do the guests sleep? Where do the townsfolk sleep? Where do they store food, etc? Why aren't there any restaurants (yes, there appear to be a handful of tiny bars, but I don't think it's the same thing)?

This is, clearly, a back-burner type issue, and even I don't believe it's anything major. But when I visited Costa del Sol back in FFVII, I was always enchanted by the just general beachy, lived-in feel of the place - it felt authentic; like the kind of coastal town that any of us might visit the world-over. Eorzea's version... doesn't. It feels like one (small) step above camping on the shore. And I'd like to see more than that.

https://i.imgur.com/4cc5KqR.jpg

I agree. Now that we have Restoration or Reconstruction as a game feature I could see them playing around with recreating some parts of the game. I know most people will point you to Myst, but we should reply to the; why not both?

Bonus if they can add the newer races running around the beach. I really liked the amount of people, animations, and stuff going on at the Ishgard restoration; that should be the future of town or settlements design when it comes to NPCs and NPC density.

I've always loved Costa del Sol, but I'd also totally be up for it getting updated a bit more, too!

I feel like everything *on* the beach looks phenomenal, so maybe have it build outward a little more, with more of a "city" taking up the main landscape.

Also, I don't know why, but I feel like there could be SOME kind of connection with Gold Saucer. Like... I dunno. Costa del Sol seems like a place that the real high-rollers of Gold Saucer might hang out, you know? Like, "this is where Eorzea's TRULY wealthy people go to vacation". Like, maybe with enough MGP, or some other means, you could acquire an "all-expenses-paid stay at Costa del Sol", with some kind of neat little quest-chain and cutscenes where you have this extravagant stay (or maybe your character goes to all these fancy things, like a pedicure, and just "doesn't get it"), maybe you get a new minion or something?

Costa Del Sol has some good memories for me, I remember lvln up there back in 2013 and doing battle leves there were you'd do that escort mission.

Plus I remember lvln my Blu Mage there while getting the silence move where u throw a fish.

My friend who doesn't play this game anymore still brings up his fondness for bloodshore and the stuff around that big crab fate.

Wasn't Costa del Sol built literally as Gegeruju's personal beach resort? It's not meant to be an actual town in-universe or a tourist destination and is more of a pitstop that the landowner lets people pass through if anything since everything (including The Flying Shark) was built for himself and his employees. And the dancers and workers sleep in those big tents or (if we're following real world logic) take the ferry back to Limsa where they actually live. I'm sure someone with fresher memories of NPC text can further clear it up. Aleport is an actual port town and it has all the stuff mentioned in OP as does Wineport for that matter.

I know people don't like the "but lore" explanation here but that's just what it is. I'd feel development of an encampment that would make more sense is Camp Outlook or building up Camp Bronze Lake and its hotspring area or even extending Mist's design outward more into the region its already in, sort of like you see main cities in the distance already.

I think it's more of the fact that in-universe it was a hastily put together retreat for a rich Ul'dahn. All the palm trees and such aren't even native to the area and were shipped in. It's not meant for tourists, but for 1 dude and his friends.

Outside-of-universe Costa del Sol looks like that because the ARR zones seemed limited, that zone already had a town, and because we don't see too much of the minutiae of day-to-day life even in the cities and you need to use your imagination a lot. It's supposed to be implied that nothing in the game is the exact same size as what we're seeing. Otherwise there's no way that teeny tiny Limsa Lominsa with no homes is a naval powerhouse, despite the fact that Thancred described it as a crowded city with alleyways. In 1.0 NPCs mentioned that there were residential islands to the north and south of the areas we have access to, but nothing like that shows up on any map at all. The concept art for the cities makes them look a lot more lively and lived in than how they're represented in the game.

That all said, I hope that 7.0 brings much needed updates to the ARR zones and cities and we get more things to do and more reasons to go back. They could easily throw a Gold Saucer rep there to handle a new sea-themed minigame or two.

I'm going to be honest: I don't have any particularly strong feelings about Costa del Sol and wouldn't care either way.

I've never thought to myself, "Man, I wish that there were more to Costa del Sol."

Costa del Sol will be busy here soon with the Moonfire Faire, since that beach is the location for it.

The idea of tents is really nice and could be used even outside of Costa. Having it as a fashion accessory like the parasols, or a consumable, would be neat.