Is the FFXIV story basically the PURGE?

[JackHatchet]

So from my understanding, in the fictional horror movie "The Purge," they've figured out that society functions best if we have a day of darkness once a year, so that people can be good the rest of the year. That is, everyone gets out their evil-impulses one day a year, so that they can be super good and nice the rest of the year. Trying to create some kind of wonky balance. I don't know. It's a fictional movie. *shrugs*


Now in FFXIV, they keep threatening that if we're good all the time, and let The Light win--that it'll consume our world-shard or some nonsense. And that's basically what happened with the Warriors of Darkness. Which means that ultimately to keep our world from being destroyed--we need to find a way to balance light and dark. So... wouldn't it be better to just copy the purge at that point? Run a tight ship of folks being good most of the year, and then just let people be evil one day a year to prevent us from ever going full-on light?

[MomomiMomi]

Light and Dark are not Good and Evil.

Neither is intrinsically good, and neither is evil. They can both be used for either purpose.

[JackHatchet]

But Ascians aren't really doing 'dark' as an elemental. They're doing 'chaos' as opposed to 'order.' Which is basically the Purge.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Light and Dark are magical energy types, not moralities. While Dark tends to be corrupting, that doesn't make it inherently evil. Dark knights use the power of the abyss, but they're still protectors of the innocent. Likewise, Light isn't always purely good; the big bad of the Heavensward white mage quests is a conjurer.

[BillyKaplan]

I'm amused you brought up the Warriors of Darkness because they're a good example to why this idea doesn't apply at all. One of the things they did to tip the balance in darkness' favor was to slay Ravana. You know who else does that? Us. It's literally the same action, what matters is whose proxy performs it. This has nothing to do with good actions or bad actions, it's simply a tug-o-war between Hydaelyn and Zodiark where both sides can have noble individuals as well as rotten apples, and internal strife.

[Vidu]

I've never seen "The Purge", but to me that concept doesnt sound like balance at all. 364 days of being good vs. 1 day of being evil? Both pushed to an extreme? How is that balance?

Wouldnt balance be good people doing bad things on occassion, wether its for a "good" reason (or at least thats what they believe) or because they're malicious once in a while?

To use a metaphor without good and evil - because as has been rightfully mentioned its more about order and chaos - wouldnt balance be more like having a well sorted armoire (to stick to the phrases of the game here) but still "The Chair" in the corner next to it? Rather than having that well sorted wardrobe for the whole year and then, one day of each year, pulling everything out of it, throwing it around in your room, making a huge mess, only to tidy up behind it afterwards?

It would be my understanding that the horror of the first world, the one the Warriors of Darkness came from, might not have started when it was flooded with light, but probably ahead of it. The destruction of their world shows that an imbalance towards light is just as destructive as an imbalance towards darkness (that we see in the Void). And I dont think a day of violence and murder could change that, because thats not the darkness we're talking about here.
I'm thinking about this more like a Ying-Yang-type of thing, something thats actually in balance with both light and darkness present in equal parts.

Those aspects of the world are quite different from how it seems to work in "The Purge" - from my understanding that would be more about psychology and human behaviour and in a sense bottled up emotions. It still sounds like a very terrible and harmful idea in general, not like one that would actually work, but thats beside the point.
Shifting a world towards light or darkness in the context of this game is, at least thats my understanding, not related to the murder-rate, but to things that influence the planet or at least parts of it on a larger scale (such as primal summoning). And I doubt that such a balance could be "forged".
Also... since its not about good and evil, but order and chaos - would schedulde chaos still be real chaos, when it actually follows an order and has little impact because the next day everyone will return to their normal life and clean up the mess from yesterday as if it was just a great big festival in the streets?

No, no, I dont think aetherial balance can be cheated that easly...

[Hyperia]

I've always viewed the story of FFXIV as a story of decline of society. Each era is progressively less powerful than the previous. This is my speculation on eras:

The beginning: Human civilization at its pinnacle, near god like powers with the ability to manipulate any form of energy and matter using quantum mechanics
1st Umbral: Something really REALLY bad happened (Ascians probably)
1st Astral: People picked up the pieces and started to rebuild, technology level was significantly diminished but still way better than anything the Allagans had or dreamed
2nd Umbral: Something really bad happened again (Ascians probably)
2nd Astral: Yea Allagans!
3rd Umbral: Booo Xandie blowing up the Allagan empire
3rd Astral: Tear down all the evil Allagan stuff and rebuild the world without their evil technology
4th Umbral: Something bad happened yet again (Ascians probably)
4th Astral: Rebuilding with what remains of the previous civilization
5th Umbral: More bad things happening... seeing a trend here? (Ascians probably)
5th Astral: Yea for the WHM, BLM and SCH cities, all magic little technology
6th Umbral: WHM and BLM wouldn't play nice with each other, blew up the world, turned SCH people into tonberries…. (Ascians probably)
6th Astral: Uldah, Gridania and Limsa 1.0 days
7th Umbral: BAHAMUTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!! End of 1.0 (Lets just blame the Ascians for 1.0)
7th Astral: Current time period

Throughout the eras, the level of civilization and its associated technologies has become less and less over time. We are now at a point where society is a mix of the dark ages and some very limited technology. If there is an 8th Umbral era, it will probably be the end of civilization and were literally reduced to sticks and stones with the people wearing animal hides.

[van_arn]

Please show me an instance of an Ascian doing anything other than roleplaying as Darth Vader. You know, like setting up an orphanage, giving a kid a lolly, maybe even helping an old lady cross the street.

While it may be true that light and dark may not be written as good and evil as a mere handwave, the Ascians aren't really written as anything but pretty darn evil.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Please show me an instance of an Ascian doing anything other than roleplaying as Darth Vader. You know, like setting up an orphanage, giving a kid a lolly, maybe even helping an old lady cross the street.

While it may be true that light and dark may not be written as good and evil as a mere handwave, the Ascians aren't really written as anything but pretty darn evil.

Elidibus saved Unukalhai from the void and sent him to help us with Ravana EX, Bismark EX, and the Warring Triad. But then there's whatever he's doing with Zenos's corpse. He's a bit of a wild card.

[Nabian]

I thought the purge was more about racism and the rich being allowed to go beat up the poor once a year