So the devs said that the Dragonsong War...

[MilesSaintboroguh]

The story is always going to show Garlemade as a nation of conquerors with a few deserters that disagree with them. Most video game stories are as simple as that and I don't expect us (player or in character) to suddenly start sympathizing with a nation that wanted to conquer everything and use forbidden ancient technology that seems to get everyone screwed. Heck, 3.0 even showed the empire willing to slaughter beastmen in general just on the off chance that the good ones would turn bad and summon primals and that is just wrong to me (plus I love the Vanu Vaanu)


As for the potential on how 3.0 could end, I would say yes and no to the theories provided. It sounds simply too big to wrap up in the remainder of 3.0's life. It's more plausible for it to be stretched out to later expansions.

[Belhi]

I'm actually wondering how we will see them develop. I honestly suspect we will see Garleans we can be more sympathetic towards that are still part of the empire eventually, however I don't think the Garlean leadership will end up ever in that role. I'm very curious how the Garleans might react if they learn anyone can summon a primal. I could see on one hand them looking for a technical solution from the Allag which could get into some dangerous stuff or I could the current administration start to go anti religious in the hopes that removing peoples beliefs in gods would remove their ability to summon them.

I had one funny though that it would be weird twist if we ended up running into a ranking Garlean at some point who turned out to have the echo and who could hear Hydaelyn. I wonder if Garleans can even have the echo or their Aetheric handicap stops them from getting it.

[CyrilLucifer]

I I wonder if Garleans can even have the echo or their Aetheric handicap stops them from getting it.

I've actually been wondering this same thing. My personal belief is that they wouldn't be able to, since aether is what empowers crystals (hence ceruleum), and I'm assuming Hydaelyn is essentially an embodiment of massive amounts of aether.

[Kallera]

If the plot does go into that direction, I'd rather not see the plot turn us into the boring invincible hero that unites Eorzea and conquers Garlemald without so much as our reputation getting dirty. Never been in it, but I'm pretty sure that's not how war works.

But tbh I'd rather be surprised with something else entirely. Given the...limitations, i don't see 4.0 in the same light i once viewed 3.0, it needs a shake up, not formulaic stuff we all see coming as clear as their update schedule.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

If the plot does go into that direction, I'd rather not see the plot turn us into the boring invincible hero that unites Eorzea and conquers Garlemald without so much as our reputation getting dirty. Never been in it, but I'm pretty sure that's not how war works.

But tbh I'd rather be surprised with something else entirely. Given the...limitations, i don't see 4.0 in the same light i once viewed 3.0, it needs a shake up, not formulaic stuff we all see coming as clear as their update schedule.

Though I rather not see a "hah I beat you cause the plot said so, despite everything you did before that" scene either.

[Theodric]

Honestly, it'd be easily solved if they just went ahead and didn't cave into fan pressure. I'm almost certain that's what happened with Nanamo and Aymeric. Having both of them perish for being too idealistic would have reinforced the message that we can't save everybody and that sometimes our actions, whilst just, will have major consequences.

Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy XII are amongst my favourite games. Why? Because the heroes one in the end but it was a very bittersweet victory with important characters dying along the way and entire cities falling into complete chaos. Even the 'enemy' factions had characters who were redeemed or boasted redeeming qualities.

[dragonflie]

I'm mostly hoping that Midgar sticks around by the end of all of this ('-')
Would be nice for him to do more exposition about stuff that don't have to do with the Dragonsong War.

[Belhi]

To be honest, I don't think the WoL is invincible. The Blessing of Light, the echo and a big helping of skill allow us to go toe to toe with some serious enemies but it doesn't make us invincible. Primals are such difficult foes because they basically have I-WIN buttons against most foes. The Blessing and the Echo remove that, effectively stripping gods down to the power of very strong monsters. Lets not ignore the fact that other heroes have killed Primals before now. Its just there is usually a lot of collateral damage due to those I-WIN buttons.

We aren't superheroes or vastly more physically powerful than many other mortals in Eorzea. Our echo hasn't displayed a fraction of the stuff the Ascians can do with theirs. Hell, we can barely control our own and our use of it is random or passive. When they say we impose on the realm of gods, I read it as not that we are god like but that we are able to negate the power of the divine and force them into mortal confrontation. If we were God like we wouldn't be taking having to worry much about the threat of a Kobold even if they were from one of the Kobold's higher Orders.

Honestly, it'd be easily solved if they just went ahead and didn't cave into fan pressure. I'm almost certain that's what happened with Nanamo and Aymeric. Having both of them perish for being too idealistic would have reinforced the message that we can't save everybody and that sometimes our actions, whilst just, will have major consequences.

Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy XII are amongst my favourite games. Why? Because the heroes one in the end but it was a very bittersweet victory with important characters dying along the way and entire cities falling into complete chaos. Even the 'enemy' factions had characters who were redeemed or boasted redeeming qualities.

Nanamo I don't think they should have kept alive. I like the character but bringing her back really undermined the drama of 2.55 and for me shot down any of the potential really interesting development that Ul'dah, Raubahn and the Sultansworn could have had. It was very anticlimactic.

Aymeric on the other hand I think is important to the narrative to survive, simply cause I think if they killed him off Ishgard would fall into being a complete mess. He really is the only figure we have in Ishgard that can effectively act as a unifying force for the different groups. While such a story would be interesting and dramatic, it wouldn't be one that would end anytime soon, particularly with the Dragonsong war going on and frankly I feel that walking away leaving Ishgard as a complete wreck rob any real sense of victory from the expansion. The whole point of the expansion has been pretty much saving Ishgard and ending a thousand years of conflict. I don't mind a bittersweet victory as long as their is still a sense of victory.

Plus to be honest, by 4.0 I suspect I'm going to be kind of tired of Ishgard, it's politics and Alpine landscapes in general. Collapsing societies aren't a story that is going to get any resolution, even minor, in 4 patches.

Also I think you sell the villains in Heavensward short. Nidhogg, however lost in his rage, is pretty justified in it. We aren't simply killing him because he is the villain but because the only way to end the cycle of hatred and death is to kill the ones perpetrating it. If we add what the Allag did to the Dragons, Nidhogg's hatred of mortals is very understandable. The Garleans plans regarding the Primals (not the invasion which I think is purely arrogance and hubris) is to save the planet, whatever the cost. Its just their plans for it are either flawed or extremely questionable at best. Even Thordan was doing what he was doing for what he thought was the right cause, to bring peace and order to the world, even though it was a terrible and misguided plan. Infact the only evil for evil sake villians in HW really were the Gnath, the Illuminati and Vundu tribe who were all 'Power, Power, Power!".

[Alisa180]

Honestly, it'd be easily solved if they just went ahead and didn't cave into fan pressure. I'm almost certain that's what happened with Nanamo and Aymeric. Having both of them perish for being too idealistic would have reinforced the message that we can't save everybody and that sometimes our actions, whilst just, will have major consequences.

Did we kinda have the latter with Before the Fall and the aftermath? Yes, Nanamo didn't stay dead, but its being made clear that none of the Scions came out of that mess unscathed. The events of As Goes Light, As Goes Darkness are another example, what with the Brothers of True Faith, and people accusing us of being complict in a coups d'état. Which, let's face it, is exactly what that was.

You can have consequences for being idealistic without people dying Game of Thrones style. And I'd frankly rather not have FFXIV fall into 'anyone can die' syndrome. That's a very fast way to get me to stop caring about the characters. And excessive cyniscim can be just as unrealistic as excessive idealism. IMHO, compared to other stories I've seen, FFXIV does a good job of balancing out its overall optimism with doses of realism.

[Nalien]

The story is always going to show Garlemade as a nation of conquerors with a few deserters that disagree with them. Most video game stories are as simple as that and I don't expect us (player or in character) to suddenly start sympathizing with a nation that wanted to conquer everything and use forbidden ancient technology that seems to get everyone screwed.

I would imagine that we might end up sympathizing with Garlemald, the nation, but not Garlemald, the leadership. Similar to how we don't go "Thordan VII was a jerk, we should destroy Ishgard", I'd guess we go to Garlemald (perhaps invited in a similar manner to VI), meet the people and see that they are fine, perhaps with the leadership arguing that the ends justify the means. If the Garlean people are essentially good, and not cutthroat pirates or people who'd sell their own mother (hinthint), then that would make for a compelling development. Obviously we'd see no beastmen, and that would probably be a sticking point for our continued disagreement with them, but there is no reason for them to display the entire nation as warmongering maniacs.

I'd actually quite like to see Garlemald handled similarly to Aht Urhgan in XI. A more antagonizing leadership (actually, save one princess, Aht Urhgan had a pretty horrible leadership... Heck, they were at war with the Far East and thus Tenzen, which made visiting there a bit awkward at first), but we work with the people there regardless, because they've not really done anything wrong. While Aht Urhgan had a beastmen problem that we just dealt with in combat and nothing more, it would be nice to have a situation similar to Whitegate and various tribes, but that we deal with similarly to the Dravanians as well. We fight the "bad" ones and try to reason with the "good" ones, all the while attempting to stop the leadership making some big mistake.