Ala Mhigo Reconstruction

[Bright-Flower]

Did you play the Lv60-70 machinist quests? Hilda was a major character for that story.

I have not but now I have a reason to.

I was leaning toward leveling bard after I finish black mage, but maybe I'll level MCH instead for that.

[Alestorm]

The biggest issue (if no one's mentioned it yet) is Ala Mhigo isn't instanced like the Doman Enclave. In order to make changes to Ala Mhigo for a rebuild type of thing Square would need to make code adjustments and changes to the entire zone. Or we get an instanced portion of the city to rebuild and it can act as a proper city with a market board, retainer bells/hiring booth, leves, etc.

[Duskane]

The biggest issue (if no one's mentioned it yet) is Ala Mhigo isn't instanced like the Doman Enclave. In order to make changes to Ala Mhigo for a rebuild type of thing Square would need to make code adjustments and changes to the entire zone. Or we get an instanced portion of the city to rebuild and it can act as a proper city with a market board, retainer bells/hiring booth, leves, etc.

it would be no different then just making another room in an area
its not this ground breaking code to create a new area like Doman enclave
they did it during an expansion

"talk to NPC
would you like to enter ala mhigo
[yes] "

bam you're in there

[InkstainedGwyn]

The biggest issue (if no one's mentioned it yet) is Ala Mhigo isn't instanced like the Doman Enclave. In order to make changes to Ala Mhigo for a rebuild type of thing Square would need to make code adjustments and changes to the entire zone. Or we get an instanced portion of the city to rebuild and it can act as a proper city with a market board, retainer bells/hiring booth, leves, etc.

To be fair, instanced or no, there's plenty of precedence for areas that appear one way to someone who has yet to experience a questline and another to someone who's finished it (Alexander, Rhalgr's Reach, most beast tribe areas (Moogles, Namazu, etc.), Alpha's wanderings, etc. Upgrading Ala Mhigo would be no different.

[Lauront]

Plenty needs to be done! When a country occupies another, they make changes against that countries wishes. Instead it would be a reverse construction where one repairs the lives of the people living in the already existing structures.

There’s also an issue of Garlean nobles who live in the city. How did they go on? Do we keep them as hostages, let the willing stay? Or do we send them back? There’s plenty left to cover.

It was never really stated that there were any, to my recollection. If there were, they were likely to be military commanders and may as well be assumed dead at this point. Bear in mind, the province is a backwater as far as the Empire is concerned.

And it's not like any other nation is beating the Empire on their own. Heck, before Gaius took advantage of the rebellion against the Mad King ala mhigo was holding off the Empire just fine.

Was it? My understanding of the whole situation is that Gaius wanted to minimise casualties in the process of taking it over, not that he had any concerns that it'd put up too great a fight. After conquering the entirety of Ilsebard, the idea that Ala Mhigo would fend off the Empire is rather fanciful, to put it mildly. And "unity" would still leave the nation under the rule of its mad king.

Doma does indeed seem to have been pretty bad in some respects. Both it and Ala Mhigo were unruly provinces.

Aye, basically they couldn't beat the empire, were too cowardly to try and turned on an easy target to vent their anger... their own people, which is rather disgusting. Not to mention they stoned their own to death for siding with the Empire, but when you come to rally them to war, they'd rather stay submissive to the Empire.

And, lest we forget, they sought to inflict a pretty similar fate on Gridania, as the Empire had inflicted upon them - but ultimately they were unable to do so as they were repelled by the other city states. Yes, yes, it was a while ago (80 years), but their warlike nature means they're not particularly different to the Garleans who came to rule them. So I don't understand why they think they're owed some great sympathy, particularly as the other city-states bent over backwards to accommodate them, often to their own detriment, or why I'm supposed to see the Garleans as uniquely mendacious.

That said, none of the city-states strikes me as particularly able to do much against the Empire (or even the Primals/Eikons) without the WoL (their deus ex machina) or, to a lesser extent, the Scions. The only city-state the Empire actively avoids is Sharlayan, and that is because it has formidable magic prowess and defences. I think recent spoilers in the story might also explain imperial reticence to move to that area, given that it's where the Scions originate in essence, and certain somebodies might already have their fingers in that pie. However, we'll see where its story goes.

The way it strikes me right now, is that it's a bunch of pretty zones whose denizens I'm not overly fond of. The music's good, though, especially in the Lochs.

[Bright-Flower]

The autumn war was 100 years ago by now or so. Generations ago. LIke, nobody with a normal human life form who was a toddler during the autumn war is still alive int he present. It seems very silly to use it an example of why ala mhigans in the present are undeserving of sympathy.

Should we hold the people of present day Ul'dah responsible for what happened to Sil'dih? Any group is going to have skeletons in the closet if you're willing to go back several generations. Yes, we see flawed and bad ala mhigans, we also see plenty of good ala mhigans.

[Theodric]

If the Eorzean Alliance had not beaten them back then there's a good chance that the Ala Mhigans would have continued to try and conquer the rest of Eorzea. Ala Mhigan society hasn't undergone any major reform in regards to violence - its people have consistently been quick to anger and swift to make use of brutality. They worship a deity based around destruction and resort to barbaric practices such as pulling out their teeth and shaving their eyebrows to look more fearsome. Worse yet, they engaged in animal cruelty by capturing coeurls and beating them to a pulp for 'training'.

[Lauront]

The autumn war was 100 years ago by now or so. Generations ago. LIke, nobody with a normal human life form who was a toddler during the autumn war is still alive int he present. It seems very silly to use it an example of why ala mhigans in the present are undeserving of sympathy.

Should we hold the people of present day Ul'dah responsible for what happened to Sil'dih? Any group is going to have skeletons in the closet if you're willing to go back several generations. Yes, we see flawed and bad ala mhigans, we also see plenty of good ala mhigans.

I've noticed this tendency to try absolve other city-states of their sins because they were committed in the past.

Strictly speaking, yes, I agree that their people, as such, are not responsible for the actions of their governments. However, Ul'dah's government today can only wash its hands of anything in Sil'dih, because Ul'dah back then utterly destroyed its sister city by zombifying it. Ishgard, meanwhile, managed to embroil itself in a thousand-year war the consequences of which could have easily spread across the globe and probably would have, given Thordan's ambitions. Ala Mhigo, had it not been thwarted, would have aggressed against Gridania and possibly other city-states. The shoe was, until recently, on the other foot. Pretty much the same fate as Garlemald's neighbours came to suffer, after they had pushed it around for a while. The only reason I think Ala Mhigo tamed its ambitions was because it was resolutely driven back by the alliance of the city-states and faced internal strife later on. Also, although I won't lump him with Ala Mhigans in general, there was Ilberd, who was willing to bring about another calamity just to realise his treasured goal of liberating Ala Mhigo.

I don't think they deserved Zenos, but I can't say I care overly much what happens to them now that they're free. It doesn't help that I enjoy neither Lyse nor Raubahn as characters and would prefer as little as possible of them. Arenvald and Fordola have the potential to interest me.

Like I said, though, putting aside NPC writing, I like the actual zone and aesthetics, so I'd not be averse to a reconstruction for it. However, unlike Doma, Ala Mhigo itself is pretty much intact, so it'd have to be areas around it.

[Edax]

That said, none of the city-states strikes me as particularly able to do much against the Empire (or even the Primals/Eikons) without the WoL (their deus ex machina) or, to a lesser extent, the Scions. The only city-state the Empire actively avoids is Sharlayan, and that is because it has formidable magic prowess and defences. I think recent spoilers in the story might also explain imperial reticence to move to that area, given that it's where the Scions originate in essence, and certain somebodies might already have their fingers in that pie. However, we'll see where its story goes.

I actually think Ishgard stands the best chance against the Empire. While exhausted from a thousand year long war, those have perfectly honed military traditions and the alliance with very powerful dragons like Hraesvelgr. We've seen what kind of damage Midgardsormr can do to the Empire in the intro movie. Ishgard itself is covered with anti-air guns so I'd imagine the Empire would struggle to attack Ishgard directly, so the question being how good they'd be spearheading an attack into the Empire.

[ChaoticCrimson]

I almost wonder if the reason we haven't been able to visit the city proper outside of the dungeon yet is because something is yet to happen down the road. With recent story developments, it wouldn't surprise me if it's something big (and quite possibly nasty too). Time will tell, I suppose.