Modern vs Medieval, what time is it?

[Erendis]

Levequests or sidequests?

It is in both vanu vanu (daily) and moogle (beast tribe progression) quests. And I think there was a quest in Camp Cloudtop too, but I do not remember if it was a side quest or MSQ.

[Gula]

Of course it'd be in the quest chain I completely ignore...

Still, thanks for the info. Without a new Encyclopedia Eorzea, I'm absolutely starved for more daily life lore.

[Bright-Flower]

You really just need to take the setting on its own terms, don't try and worry about matching it to historical settings or what technilogy was invented when and where irl. Eorzea is neither medieval europe nor renaissance europe nor modern day western civlization, it's just its own thing.

[SannaR]

I'd say at least outside of the Steelworks most Ezoreans don't blink at guns as the Admiral and a whole guild we still can't join uses guns that look like flintlocks. Though the only time we ever see anyone reload a gun is Gaius and maybe in a Mch quest. Though the Nier raid I think at least for the 1st and to our character go beyond techwise at least with 2P and 9S of anyone's understanding of any level of tech. I guess our character could be like well I did see a giant space beetle turn into a person so maybe their like that.

[Tohe-Spidhire]

There’s a frequently referenced quote by the science fiction author, Arthur C. Clarke, which states, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Due to the multiple transitions between umbral and astral periods in Final Fantasy, magic can best be described as ancient technologies that permeate the entire world, the earliest origins of which have been completely forgotten.

A good example of this is an anime series, “Scrapped Princess,” where civilization had collapsed 5,000 years previously, and the medieval-style decendants perceived AI avatars (i.e, high technology interfaces) as gods, or forest spirits.

In this light, there isn’t a useful parallel to be drawn between Eorzea and real life history. At best, gameplay elements make reference to things and concepts that are familiar to us.

Garleans are an interesting twist because they reject the ancient technologies (that are perceived as magic), and hamstring themselves by insisting upon using magitek. The irony is that Garleans are still using “magic,” regardless of how they have dressed it up.

[MistakeNot]

Garleans are an interesting twist because they reject the ancient technologies (that are perceived as magic), and hamstring themselves by insisting upon using magitek. The irony is that Garleans are still using “magic,” regardless of how they have dressed it up.

The Garleans don't reject magic as such and they most definitely don't reject ancient technology. Their problem is that pureblood Garleans are genetically incapable of using magic, which left them at a serious disadvantage compared to everyone else. They developed magitek (which was in no small part inspired by ancient Allagan technology) as a substitute.

Magic in FF14 isn't just "sufficiently advanced technology". Magic is simply channeled and focused aether. Plenty of their advanced technology (new and old) does include the use of aether in one form or another though.

[Iscah]

The other side of the "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" quote is that if you're in a story where magic is a valid possibility, it may look like sufficiently advanced technology. The dimension-crossing in Shadowbringers is a prime example - the Exarch might have a tower packed full of ancient technology and the 'beacon' we find seems to be mechanical, but the summoning itself is incantation-based and is always talked about it in terms of it being a magical spell drawing on the energy of the tower.

You could try to interpret it (and every other magical thing in the story) as "actually technology so advanced they don't even recognise it as they use it" but it's going to be a convoluted and unnecessary version where the simple one is: magic exists, side-by-side with and often integrated into technology, because it's a natural part of that world and can be approached like a science.

[LineageRazor]

Yeah, there's no indication that there are "machines behind the scenes" that are responsible for magic, as was the case in Scrapped Princess. This is just a different universe that works with different natural laws, and the effects of some of those laws (having to do with Aether manipulation) are magic-like and perceived by the natives as being magic.

I mean, it's POSSIBLE that the Ancients set up some kind of hyper-high-tech system to allow people to manipulate Aether (nanomachines suffusing the atmosphere, for example), and did so so long ago that they themselves forgot the origins of their Creation magic, but there's been no hint of that in the lore.

There's a science behind Aether manipulation, to be sure; it's a phenomenon with plenty of study devoted to it, with testable and consistent effects. But there's no current evidence that it is the result of advanced technology, forgotten or not.

[Fenral]

The other side of the "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" quote is that if you're in a story where magic is a valid possibility, it may look like sufficiently advanced technology. The dimension-crossing in Shadowbringers is a prime example - the Exarch might have a tower packed full of ancient technology and the 'beacon' we find seems to be mechanical, but the summoning itself is incantation-based and is always talked about it in terms of it being a magical spell drawing on the energy of the tower.

I think that could actually explain why Exarch had such a hard time with it. On Norvrandt, he can make the Tower do stuff for him, but across dimensions it all comes down to his own control of magic. Even Y'shtola has a known tendency to flub her teleportation spells, and Raha was a Bard back in 2.0 when they only had like three buttons to worry about. It was probably way more than he could handle.

[Iscah]

I think that could actually explain why Exarch had such a hard time with it. On Norvrandt, he can make the Tower do stuff for him, but across dimensions it all comes down to his own control of magic. Even Y'shtola has a known tendency to flub her teleportation spells, and Raha was a Bard back in 2.0 when they only had like three buttons to worry about. It was probably way more than he could handle.

He talks about it in 5.1 specifically. It's partly because he's not naturally a mage and has to draw on the tower's energy, but also the spell itself has to be tailored to the intended target, which it why it goes wrong when he grabs someone else instead.

Y'shtola isn't flubbing her spells though. Flow is working exactly as intended, which is to say teleporting the target "anywhere but here" with a chance of ending up in the aetherial rather than physical realm. It's explained back in Heavensward (when they first worked out that she cast it) that normal teleportation spells require incantations and take some time to cast, but Flow is instantaneous - which is why she's used it as an urgent last resort.