Ishgard the most messed up area?

[Seraph522]

The Garlean Empire has their founding origin from being outcasts. Carthage has such an origin since they were founded by the survivors of Troy, but Rome has no such origins. The Roman Empire (the first one) weren't really revanchists either. And given how we learn that the Garlemald was founded by a cultist Ascian who abandoned it to cause chaos for the "evilz", they seem more like fantasy bad guys then having any historical inspiration. How many cults have formed Empires in history? I can't think of any.

Didn't stop the Romans from trying to present themselves as descended from outcasts - that's the point of The Aeneid. And mostly the developers are probably cherry-picking elements of the Augustan era, which did have the Imperial cult, though that was not anything new by any means. Of course, the Ascians as a whole are Nebulous Evil Cult Organization #2,798; I care less about them as characters (aside from maybe Elidibus and Solus) and more about their lore implications.

Yeah, I don't like Aymeric's armor either, it's so bulky and large and he still got taken out by a kitchen knife. I was laughing so hard when that happened.

That kitchen knife was totally armor-piercing, there was nothing that could stop that. /s

[Iscah]

Spoiler, Edax and Seraph! (Multiple spoilers in fact...)

But yeah, about that...

Considering that female dragoon "armour" is considered acceptable wear for a frontline fighter, he might not be as heavily armoured around the stomach as one would expect...

Though seriously, I was so annoyed that he apparently went from death's door to "perfectly fine to raid the Vault with us" to still keeling over in pain just because he got a little overexcited while talking to us at one point.

The thing that does really bug me about Aymeric's costume design is the collar, which seems to be a round metal tube and looks terribly uncomfortable. A weird miscommunication between the 2D and 3D artist, perhaps?

[Edax]

Spoiler, Edax and Seraph! (Multiple spoilers in fact...)

But yeah, about that...

Considering that female dragoon "armour" is considered acceptable wear for a frontline fighter, he might not be as heavily armoured around the stomach as one would expect...

Though seriously, I was so annoyed that he apparently went from death's door to "perfectly fine to raid the Vault with us" to still keeling over in pain just because he got a little overexcited while talking to us at one point.

The thing that does really bug me about Aymeric's costume design is the collar, which seems to be a round metal tube and looks terribly uncomfortable. A weird miscommunication between the 2D and 3D artist, perhaps?

Spoiler shmoiler, it's a story detail near insignificance, apart from being really funny.

This is why I opted to dress as the other Azure Dragoon because the open naval was just too ridiculous for me:

I love the Haubergeon design, realistic and historical, even has the little modification for a tail to complete the fantasy setting.

[Iscah]

This is why I opted to dress as the other Azure Dragoon because the open naval was just too ridiculous for me:

I love the Haubergeon design, realistic and historical, even has the little modification for a tail to complete the fantasy setting.

I agree! Although for actual use, as I recall, the haubergeons tend to 'jingle' a bit as you run and it annoyed me.

I was using the relic arm/leg armour and pants with a cotton tabard dyed Abyssal Blue (aka "dragoon purple") which worked quite well, and I knew I was wearing sensible armour under it!

Have since upgraded to the Ironworks body piece instead, still dyed purple, but haven't found anything better than the other armour yet. I like that it isn't bulky, though the spikes are a bit hazardous! Also it must be a small miracle that we actually got full-length pants with that relic armour.


I don't know how it ever got allowed to exist as proper Ishgardian military gear. It's the absolute opposite of what they should regard as acceptable for protection or decency - by in-game as well as expected-historical standards. (Some of the weaver levequest descriptions seem quite horrified at what a visiting Ul'dahn is wearing...)

[kikix12]

Yeah, I don't like Aymeric's armor either, it's so bulky and large and he still got taken out by a kitchen knife. Right through where the thickest part of the armor should be.

Stomach is not where the thickest part of armor should be and kitchen knife is better against armored opponents than a sword is. In real life there is no such thing as damage numbers so a kitchen knife is as much a one-hit-kill of a weapon as a sword, gun or cannon. If it hits the vitals, that is.

And stomach not only is not one of the critical vitals (you can die rather easily from being pierced in certain depth and parts of it, but not all), but it also requires more mobility than the rest of the body. A thick armor on the stomach means you cannot move. Like, literally. Heavy jousting armors were stiff on the stomach, and the knights couldn't even get up on their own once they fell off the horse (onto which they couldn't get without help either).
If you'll look at this armor, you'll notice that around the area that Aymeric was pierced the armor is actually divided into the top and bottom, with the bottom being a sort of plate skirt. If you have the opportunity to stick something between the bottom and top, you can very much hurt the person.
Of course...if your weapon can pierce the chain mail that is traditionally worn under plate armor, but we don't know whether Aymeric wears it too.

Ultimately a kitchen knife is better to deal with a heavily armored enemy than a sword...but in reality...you're not likely to kill anyone with either. Attacking around the neck where it's easiest to slide past the multiple layers of armor is your best bet...or just use blunt weapon. So if we accept suspension of belief as for why arrows can kill heavily armored enemies...a dagger is the least problem here.

[MistakeNot]

I mean, the Garlean Empire has pretty clear historical roots as well. It's a reference to the Roman Empire, specifically: republic turned empire under one man's rise to prominence, tendency to subjugate large swaths of territory and a generally condescending attitude to their populaces, even as they recruit large numbers of them to serve their military, and so on. Heck, the more recent patch's revelations hint at the idea that there is a cultic view of the Emperor, driving near outright worship. Not to mention the other similarities to other tyrannical regimes in the past.

Not to mention the most obvious references: Just about all the military ranks in the Garlean forces have names copied from the Roman army. Add in things like "Castrum Centri" which is simply Latin for "Central Fortress", and the inspiration from the Roman Empire becomes hard to miss.

[Penthea]

If you pay attention to the story a LOT of stuff is explained. In fact a lot of what you're pointing out is correct. But I won't tell why because spoilers >3<

Yea OP has either not been paying attention to what npcs are saying or they're making a lot of judgements based on very limited knowledge.

[Seraph522]

Spoiler, Edax and Seraph! (Multiple spoilers in fact...)

But yeah, about that...

Considering that female dragoon "armour" is considered acceptable wear for a frontline fighter, he might not be as heavily armoured around the stomach as one would expect...

Though seriously, I was so annoyed that he apparently went from death's door to "perfectly fine to raid the Vault with us" to still keeling over in pain just because he got a little overexcited while talking to us at one point.

The thing that does really bug me about Aymeric's costume design is the collar, which seems to be a round metal tube and looks terribly uncomfortable. A weird miscommunication between the 2D and 3D artist, perhaps?

The tummy window still bugs the crap out of me. I mean, I expect a little bit of ridiculousness in general when it comes to fantasy armor, but they're usually pretty good about making revealing armor sets equally revealing regardless of gender. Just makes it come across as silly, and it's why I prefer the level 60 DRG artifact armor set instead, even with the over-the-top number of spikes.

And yeah, Aymeric's recovery state being in flux constantly is also rather silly, though I've seen enough other works doing the "I'm totally fine to not be in bed rest!" trope before to kind of expect it at this point.

Not to mention the most obvious references: Just about all the military ranks in the Garlean forces have names copied from the Roman army. Add in things like "Castrum Centri" which is simply Latin for "Central Fortress", and the inspiration from the Roman Empire becomes hard to miss.

Can't believe I forgot to mention that. Yeah, Latin and faux-Latin names and words galore throughout their design, with maybe the exception of the middle/ranking names ('Van' is Dutch, not Latin, though maybe they were trying to evoke the Holy Roman Empire instead? Idk.)

[Kazhim]

Already with Gaius we have the tast

but, they look like more the empire of star wars than roman empire, i dont like how they designed this faction, always with stupidly heavy armored stuff. I mean it could be something strongly identical, yes, but this is a remake of ff12, and i always find sad to not see the face of the bad guy.

[Ramesses]

Already with Gaius we have the tast

but, they look like more the empire of star wars than roman empire, i dont like how they designed this faction, always with stupidly heavy armored stuff. I mean it could be something strongly identical, yes, but this is a remake of ff12, and i always find sad to not see the face of the bad guy.

Don't worry Kazhim, keep playing and continue with the FFXIV story... and yes, I liked FFXII as well.