A Thought: Why did they choose for us to go to Tural

So after playing through the DT MSQ, and needing a palette cleanser, I decided to make an Alt and replay the MSQ from ARR to EW (and probably skip my way through DT as fast as possible). First off to the people defending DT with "At least it's not as bad as Stormblood" you all are factual wrong. I just finished up Stormblood on the alt and it is better.

But that is not what this thread is about. As I was going through I completed the Return to Ivalice storyline, knowing I would want to get Bozja unlocked on this character, and that got me thinking. Why didn't DT take place in Dalmasca? Yea we got the raids and Bozja, but like imagine that area expanded out for a full Expansion. Without giving to much away, the set up for the area is better in place for us to play Mentor, and would just overall be much more interesting. Also it would make more sense, rather than some annoying rando dragging us to a random place for reasons that have no real connection to us, we've directly interacted with the people of Dalmasca, we've fought beside them, and we've seen glimpses of their country.

because they need to tick off the locations on that list emet selch rattled off

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Originally Posted by Wyssahtyn

because they need to tick off the locations on that list emet selch rattled off

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Which raises the question why are they following it like a check list? There's so much set up before that point.

I think the idea they are going for is that with the ascians finally defeated with their plans left half finished and unfulfilled it falls to Azem’s successor to fix the problems they created but never finished as emet finally considers the WOL a true successor to Azem now that they managed to stop Meteion when the ancients couldn’t

the list includes
-ruins under the bounty->fix the 13th
-the fabled city of gold->fix the 9th
-the identities of the 12->those who supported venat who want to pass on now that she is gone (minus deryk/oschon)

They seem to be leaning hard into the connection of Azem and the WOL and setting up plot threads around how much of Azem’s “mantle” per say the WOL wishes to take up and if they truly want to be Azem or not

I’m not saying this is or isn’t a good direction for the story but it is relatively consistent especially considering that Bozja is mostly wrapped up in Bozja, by the end of Zadnor we route the…….12th legion I think it is and they begin to flee. We could do an aftermath expansion but the garlean threat in Dalmasca is kinda already taken care of and it would also create too much conflict between those who did and didn’t do Bozja in how the MSQ would progress

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Originally Posted by Alchemii

Which raises the question why are they following it like a check list? There's so much set up before that point.

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To be fair the places and things Emet prattled off on were places and figures already established before he listed them off and were places and things the playerbase have asked about prior, examples being the Twelve [which they explored in the Alliance Raid series] and Meracydia. They just chose to focus on the New World for this expansion, no different than if they had chosen Meracydia.

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Originally Posted by Supersnow845

I think the idea they are going for is that with the ascians finally defeated with their plans left half finished and unfulfilled it falls to Azem’s successor to fix the problems they created but never finished as emet finally considers the WOL a true successor to Azem now that they managed to stop Meteion when the ancients couldn’t

the list includes
-ruins under the bounty->fix the 13th
-the fabled city of gold->fix the 9th
-the identities of the 12->those who supported venat who want to pass on now that she is gone (minus deryk/oschon)

They seem to be leaning hard into the connection of Azem and the WOL and setting up plot threads around how much of Azem’s “mantle” per say the WOL wishes to take up and if they truly want to be Azem or not

I’m not saying this is or isn’t a good direction for the story but it is relatively consistent especially considering that Bozja is mostly wrapped up in Bozja, by the end of Zadnor we route the…….12th legion I think it is and they begin to flee. We could do an aftermath expansion but the garlean threat in Dalmasca is kinda already taken care of and it would also create too much conflict between those who did and didn’t do Bozja in how the MSQ would progress

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Yea, but there's one minor detail. The City of Gold, and everything involved with the 9th and Solution 9 could have all taken place in this area. It didn't need to be Tural. Could have literally been anywhere and still would have worked out the exact same.

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Originally Posted by SDaemon

To be fair the places and things Emet prattled off on were places and figures already established before he listed them off and were places and things the playerbase have asked about prior, examples being the Twelve [which they explored in the Alliance Raid series] and Meracydia. They just chose to focus on the New World for this expansion, no different than if they had chosen Meracydia.

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Yes, but that doesn't mean they needed to literally go down them like a check list one after the other. That should have been more spread out. But my point still stands if the expansion had taken place in Dalmasca we'd still have the vacation fun exploration story, I mean the area is home to two different ancient civilizations that we know of, and we still could have gotten the City of Gold, Solution 9, Living Memory and all that stuff from the second half of the expansion.

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Originally Posted by Wyssahtyn

Because they need to tick off the locations on that list Emet-Selch rattled off

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If only he mentioned Aerslaent. I wanna go there.

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Originally Posted by Alchemii

Yea, but there's one minor detail. The City of Gold, and everything involved with the 9th and Solution 9 could have all taken place in this area. It didn't need to be Tural. Could have literally been anywhere and still would have worked out the exact same.



Yes, but that doesn't mean they needed to literally go down them like a check list one after the other. That should have been more spread out. But my point still stands if the expansion had taken place in Dalmasca we'd still have the vacation fun exploration story, I mean the area is home to two different ancient civilizations that we know of, and we still could have gotten the City of Gold, Solution 9, Living Memory and all that stuff from the second half of the expansion.

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It kinda did need to be tural because the rumour of the city of gold was created because the portal in skydeep cenote is what caused the giants to have dreams of the city of gold so the 9th has always been attached to the new world

If you mean they could have written it entirely differently so that there was no link but that’s an entire story rewrite

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Originally Posted by Supersnow845

It kinda did need to be tural because the rumour of the city of gold was created because the portal in skydeep cenote is what caused the giants to have dreams of the city of gold so the 9th has always been attached to the new world

If you mean they could have written it entirely differently so that there was no link but that’s an entire story rewrite

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The City of Gold was never mentioned in game until Ultima Thul when Emet-Selch mentions it. Before that point it wasn't in the game at all. Even after that point, it had no ties with the 9th, it was just "The City of Gold". We had nothing to go on.

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Originally Posted by Alchemii

The City of Gold was never mentioned in game until Ultima Thul when Emet-Selch mentions it. Before that point it wasn't in the game at all. Even after that point, it had no ties with the 9th, it was just "The City of Gold". We had nothing to go on.

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Okay but I mean that doesn’t change anything. The city of gold is the 9th even if we didn’t know it at the time emet selch mentioned it. I don’t think that changes anything. It’s not like el dorado style stories are uncommon with things associated with the fantasy equivalents of the Americas

What’s the most problem with the city of gold being in the new world and being relevant after emet selch mentioned it, I genuinely don’t understand your complaint

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Originally Posted by Alchemii

Why didn't DT take place in Dalmasca?

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Well mainly because that entire story got finished. What remained of it got told through the field notes in Bozja.

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the set up for the area is better in place for us to play Mentor, and would just overall be much more interesting.

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I agree it could have been interesting.

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Also it would make more sense, rather than some annoying rando dragging us to a random place for reasons that have no real connection to us, we've directly interacted with the people of Dalmasca, we've fought beside them, and we've seen glimpses of their country.

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Apparently they haven't ruled out taking us through what remains of Hingashi, but based on the map it appears we actually have been to almost all of it through sidequests.

So perhaps they meant Othard. There is still some of Othard we could go to like Nagxia, the area where Ridorana and Orbonne take place, the area around Dalmasca and Bozja, and Corvos and the garlean territories. Beyond The Burn and the Azim Steppe is also The Knowing Sea, some mountains and Blindfrost which was mentioned by Emet.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

Well mainly because that entire story got finished. What remained of it got told through the field notes in Bozja.
I agree it could have been interesting.
Apparently they haven't ruled out taking us through what remains of Hingashi, but based on the map it appears we actually have been to almost all of it through sidequests.

So perhaps they meant Othard. There is still some of Othard we could go to like Nagxia, the area where Ridorana and Orbonne take place, the area around Dalmasca and Bozja, and Corvos and the garlean territories. Beyond The Burn and the Azim Steppe is also The Knowing Sea, some mountains and Blindfrost which was mentioned by Emet.

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We have been to 2 places in hingashi- kugane and mt rokon, both of which are on the smaller island of hingashi

It’s the equivalent of visiting like 2 cities in kyushu and saying we have seen all of Japan despite never even visiting honshu

Corvos is also on ilsabard, not orthard

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Originally Posted by Alchemii

Yea, but there's one minor detail. The City of Gold, and everything involved with the 9th and Solution 9 could have all taken place in this area. It didn't need to be Tural. Could have literally been anywhere and still would have worked out the exact same.



Yes, but that doesn't mean they needed to literally go down them like a check list one after the other. That should have been more spread out. But my point still stands if the expansion had taken place in Dalmasca we'd still have the vacation fun exploration story, I mean the area is home to two different ancient civilizations that we know of, and we still could have gotten the City of Gold, Solution 9, Living Memory and all that stuff from the second half of the expansion.

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SE didn't "literally go down them like a check list" though. Of the 4 locations Emet talked about, they ended up going with the 3rd one on that list. Picking one thing out of a list of 4 isn't checking them off like a check list. I'm not saying Dalmasca wouldn't have been an interesting choice, but it was simply one of many avenues they could have chosen moving forward after Endwalker, but they didn't in favor of other choices.

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Originally Posted by Supersnow845

We have been to 2 places in hingashi- kugane and mt rokon, both of which are on the smaller island of hingashi

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The Ruby Sea (if you want to consider it part of it), Kugane/Shirogane, Mt Rockon and the Isle of Val which is also one of the places there because it moved.

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Corvos is also on ilsabard, not orthard

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I never said it was part of Othard. But you can conceivably travel there through Othard.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

The Ruby Sea (if you want to consider it part of it), Kugane/Shirogane, Mt Rockon and the Isle of Val which is also one of the places there because it moved.
I never said it was part of Othard. But you can conceivably travel there through Othard.

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Neither the ruby sea nor the isle of Val is in hingashi (even after the isle of Val moved) so we have really only been to kugane and mt Rokon

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First off to the people defending DT with "At least it's not as bad as Stormblood" you all are factual wrong. I just finished up Stormblood on the alt and it is better.

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Stopped reading right here. If you want credibility, properly distinguish between an actual fact and your own personal opinion. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Supersnow845

Neither the ruby sea nor the isle of Val is in hingashi (even after the isle of Val moved) so we have really only been to kugane and mt Rokon

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Oh, well then I wonder where the Isle of Val is.

Either way, I'm not really feeling another Japanese themed expansion. One was enough. I made the most of it despite it not being my aesthetic and enjoyed it, but I did so knowing it was only for 2 years out of the grander picture of what would be a lot of expansions not themed like that.

I'm all about expressing criticism for Dawntrail, but this ain't it. Dawntrail's problems are plentiful, but choosing to go to Tural is least of them (I would say it's one of the only non-problems in the expansion). Can't help but feel like you're barking up the wrong tree and raising a problem where there isn't one just because you PERSONALLY wanted to go to Dalmasca.

The writers wanted to get away from Eorzea and all of the other environments we'd already visited and decided to send us across the ocean. Of the locations we've heard of, that meant either Tural or Meracidia. Meracidia has a lot of Allagan/First Brood lore baggage, while the New World had barely been touched. So they picked the more open option. (And yes, the role quests go back, but those are entirely optional. Only Shadowbringers has made them mandatory so far.)

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Originally Posted by Supersnow845

They seem to be leaning hard into the connection of Azem and the WOL and setting up plot threads around how much of Azem’s “mantle” per say the WOL wishes to take up and if they truly want to be Azem or not

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It's not a choice though.
They ARE Azem.

I have this prediction that when it comes time to finally end XIV, the Wol is going to join with all remaining soul-shards to become a true Ancient again, and then merge all worlds back into the Source like always was the Ascians desires but in a way that doesn't destroy the worlds or anything but rather creates a megaworld of sorts. Either that or repairs all the destroyed shards, and in so ding, the Wol will finally depart for the Aetherial sea and join with the rest of the ancients for new adventures in the afterlife. That's exactly how cheesy I expect it to end as.

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Originally Posted by Striker44

Stopped reading right here. If you want credibility, properly distinguish between an actual fact and your own personal opinion. Thanks.

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Actually it's a fact to me that Stormblood is one of the best expansions ;>
And I really don't understand why everyone hates it. Each to their own. Gave me anyway what I wanted; TO punch the stupid Garleans in their stupid face so hard they left.

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Originally Posted by Talamh

It's not a choice though.
They ARE Azem.

I have this prediction that when it comes time to finally end XIV, the Wol is going to join with all remaining soul-shards to become a true Ancient again, and then merge all worlds back into the Source like always was the Ascians desires but in a way that doesn't destroy the worlds or anything but rather creates a megaworld of sorts. Either that or repairs all the destroyed shards, and in so ding, the Wol will finally depart for the Aetherial sea and join with the rest of the ancients for new adventures in the afterlife. That's exactly how cheesy I expect it to end as.




Actually it's a fact to me that Stormblood is one of the best expansions ;>
And I really don't understand why everyone hates it. Each to their own. Gave me anyway what I wanted; TO punch the stupid Garleans in their stupid face so hard they left.

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The WOL is 9/14ths of the last ancient to hold the title of Azem. We don’t have to agree nor disagree with azem’s views, their work, or what they did as an ancient. Hell venat was Azem before our ancient counterpart became Azem and you can blatantly call our venat’s actions in tataru’s grand adventure

The WOL doesn’t have to take up the mantle of Azem if they don’t want it

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Originally Posted by Talamh

It's not a choice though.
They ARE Azem.

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Being a reincarnation of a person doesn't make you that person. Even having the previous incarnation's memories doesn't guarantee it. See Fandaniel and Hermes or Gaia and Loghrif for a couple of examples.