What do you think of Ala Mhigo?

[Morningstar1337]

I'm asking for opinions about a certain unexplored City State and speculation on what might happen when we inevitably go there?

[CyrilLucifer]

Honestly?

I'm not particularly interested in Ala Mhigo in general. I'd rather go anywhere else on Hydaelyn.

I find its people constantly mentioning it to be obnoxious, and the entire invading Gridiania and then expecting Gridanians to help - then having a grudge against them for not doing so is just so, so absurd.

If another NPC uses "Ala Mhigo" as an excuse for their unacceptable actions, I'm going to scream.

[Cilia]

While it logically makes sense as the next place we'll visit, as the last Eorzean city-state and rounding out the Aldenard subcontinent as well as the staging ground for Garlemald's seemingly inevitable war with Eorzea...

... it doesn't sound like a pleasant place, with or without the Garlean occupation. On top of that, Ala Mhigans constantly using the city-state's occupation as an excuse for myriad stupid actions is a bit grating.

[AutumnHarvestwind]

I think it might be interesting, someone in another thread speculated about Ala Mhigan spear-men ship inspiring Garlean combat arts. Going out on a limb, but it could possibly be where Red Mage job is unlocked?
Though I agree with

opinion

While it seems like there is a LOT pointing to Ala Mhigo as our next course of heroic adventures, I'd prefer to explore other lands...Othard and Thavnair specifically.

[Frederick22]

I cant wait to see the big black gates. You know what I mean

[Jinrya-Geki]

Overhyped by whiney npcs. No interest unless I get to ruin any chance of them getting it back.

[Belhi]

Oh they aren't all that bad. Wilred wasn't so bad once he got over his idiocy and his gramps seems pretty cool. The MNK npcs from the MNK job quests seem cool enough. Even the jerk Eric, has his positives. The Ala Mhigans are desperate and rather traumatised. That often leads people to be stupid.

I might add, the Ishgardians hardly sold themselves particularly well prior to HW either. None of the city states are spotless in that regard. Limsa is the home of pirates or former pirates, Gridania still has racial intolerance existing in its society, and Ul'dah has a extremely shady past. Ala Mhigo might have invaded Gridania but at least they didn't try to turn the population into zombies or to the best of our knowledge, enslave a sentient race of Giants and bury them all underground when they were no longer needed.

[Shurrikhan]

From what's shown ingame so far, unappealing at best. Potentially, though, far enough into its colonization it could be pretty cool. If the main city is no larger than our own city-states, though...

[Velox]

Each day I look upon the giant wall gating the city-state from the rest of Eorzea and I crave more and more to see what lies beyond.

[Atoli]

the entire invading Gridiania and then expecting Gridanians to help - then having a grudge against them for not doing so is just so, so absurd.

That was more than 80 years ago though. Imagine if in real life Europe countries still acted like that, 70 years after the last WW.
So yes, not helping a citystate full of generations who had nothing to do with that war many years ago is kind of shitty behaviour on Gridania's side, tbh, especially since treaties were signed and everyone had been at peace for decades.

Now to answer the question:
I'm on the fence with that one. I know their home is occupied by the Garleans, but I'm so annoyed by all their bitterness and them acting so incredibly stupid at all times...
I saw the 1.0 main storyline where they tried to free Ala Mhigo with a group of..like, 20 people at most? And dragged my character into this. I saw everything that went wrong in the 1.0 MNK story (haven't touched MNK ever since, but I assume the story stayed pretty much the same). That was enough, so in ARR, I never even went to Small Ala Mhigo in Southern Thanalan. It's funny when the main story sends you there and all the NPCs say stuff like "oh yeah, hey, it's Meo, the one who has helped us so much!" and I'm like "I never talked to any of you because I didn't want to hear you moaning about your lost home."
The finale of 2.55 kind of sealed the deal for me where we found out that YET AGAIN Ala Mhigo-bitterness was the main motivator for the traitor. What a f*cking surprise -.-

BUT.
I'd really like to visit a city occupied by the Garleans! I always enjoyed the missions where you had to dress up as a Garlean or a beggar to not get noticed.
I'd love to see stuff like that return. Sneaking around a city would be very interesting and just for that, I'd like it if Ala Mhigo became open to us.