Political Ideology and Storytelling Within FFXIV

[Payadopa]

Not a fan of politics personally and i kind of play the game to get away from them, however one of my favorite factions is Garlemald and i hope we see it expanded upon in the future, as i do quite like empires.

I don't understand when people say that. Two people interacting is political. Societies in JRPGs are political. Unless it's Pong I fail to see how anything in game cannot be. You buying a game is political. An MMO population is political.
If anything, people should more interested in it.

[Bright-Flower]

I don't understand when people say that. Two people interacting is political. Societies in JRPGs are political. Unless it's Pong I fail to see how anything in game cannot be. You buying a game is political. An MMO population is political.
If anything, people should more interested in it.

A lot of the time when people say 'I don't want games to be political' they are either just blind to certain things being political because of status quo bias, or only complain about the politics when it's specifically things they don't want to see.

[Adeacia]

A lot of the time when people say 'I don't want games to be political' they are either just blind to certain things being political because of status quo bias, or only complain about the politics when it's specifically things they don't want to see.

Right here. They only complain when the politics shown doesn't make their political ideas look good.

[VictorTheed]

I even if it's not part of a full on face turn,

Nice, you used a pro wrestling term, I don't see that much on here, lol a Babyface Zenos would be wild but I prefer him as a Heel.

[Lauront]

A lot of the time when people say 'I don't want games to be political' they are either just blind to certain things being political because of status quo bias, or only complain about the politics when it's specifically things they don't want to see.

If by that you mean typically clueless or distorted representations of some ideological viewpoints by game devs who either don't know better or have an ax to grind, and worse yet, very clumsy attempts to graft onto the game current "issues" from RL political squabbles, then yes, that does not interest me, nor does it even need to interest me. Not sure why it should, and if people have a problem with that...



Yoshi at least acknowledges his team's limitations on that front, and even if the game isn't as elaborate in that regard in XII (which handled it quite well, IMO), it does largely try do it in a way that makes sense to the nations involved. Naturally, that could change for the worse, but at present I don't have such concerns.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I don't understand when people say that. Two people interacting is political. Societies in JRPGs are political. Unless it's Pong I fail to see how anything in game cannot be. You buying a game is political. An MMO population is political.
If anything, people should more interested in it.

Okay and that’s your opinion. I’m not a fan of it. Thought it was fairy obvious what kind of politics it was that i meant but i know this community loves to do mental gymnastics of assumptions. I’d rather not be interested in politics as it leads to arguments more often than not. I’m not a political person. So to the people saying “they only complain when the politics shown doesn’t make their own political ideas look good.” Please check yourself. This is exactly why i dislike politics lmao. People accuse and make assumptions about people they hardly know.

[Theodric]

A lot of the time when people say 'I don't want games to be political' they are either just blind to certain things being political because of status quo bias, or only complain about the politics when it's specifically things they don't want to see.

I don't believe that to be the case at all and it involves some rather bold assumptions about the players in question.

[Caurcas]

To get this back on the rails of politics within the world of XIV. I would be really interested in how the reconstruction and restructuring of Garlemald goes in EW.

[Vyrerus]

Hmm, as far as in game politics goes... they're everywhere, at every corner of the story. They're largely not what we care about, but they are omnipresent, and are generally the excuse for why world leaders who are competent fighters and could be heroes do not help us save the world. (Huzzah for that seemingly being setup to change in Endwalkers).


Gridania is an autocratic theocracy, now with nepotism.
Limsa Lominsa is an autocratic federation lead by big booba mommy milkers pirate.
Ul'dah is a sultanate, somehow, in spite of having no Islamic peoples as far as I know. Held in check by an oligarchy, which more or less runs the place in reality, buy and large. They basically leave foreign affairs to the sultan(a).
Ishgard is a constitutional monarchy. Yes, they don't call Aymeric a king, but their congress is the House of Lords, and he's basically a king. His title is still, "Lord." They still kowtow to nobles throughout, even though they point towards wanting true equality.
Garlemald is an Empire, and empires are evil. As has ever been the trope in RPGs.
Doma is a kingdom. Yay, Hien!
Ala Mhigo's going to be a republic, I guess. Huzzah for actual Bastok 2.0! Nah, jk.
Sharlayan is a republic without an executive branch. Forum members are elected... I guess? Guess everything is handled with majority votes in the Forum, and then are handed down as edicts? Not really sure, we don't know much about them. I do wonder how many votes have been 50/49 splits. Seems like there's a possible hierarchy within the Forum itself though. Hmm.

I'd say the most common note I've noticed in reference to politics, in world, is the idea that we should be sympathetic towards leaders. Leadership is hard etc. Leadership is kindred spirits with our heroing because they'd much rather be doing anything else, riding about with the wind in their hair. We see this sort of sentiment expressed several times in each era of the game. A time or two within the Scions themselves.

Most recently, Catboi Sage Deluxe expressed it, and then got it handed to him within three patches.
Before him, Hien expressed it, but not as directly.
Before him, Aymeric expressed it. Two or three times. Once over dinner. Invite me to dinner again, please Aymeric!
Before him... no one really comes to mind.

There have also been tandem expressions, not necessarily trying to tie leadership and our method for heroing together, but expressions nonetheless of, "Leadership hard. We're lucky they deigned to meet with us." type deals. Usually with Nanamo.

I find that interesting, because it's always said and never shown. We also know that though these leaders are always tied up in meetings and paperwork, they're not often boots on the ground in the thick of the work that needs to be done (though obviously the ones who can fight, do, at times. Nanamo, you suck!). But moreso with the manual labor. Like, I mean, Aymeric didn't exactly get down to the Firmament and start laying brick, like the WoL. Hien didn't start laying brick / funding the laying of brick in the Doman Enclave. WoL did.

I can't think of other examples right now, but suffice to say, the politics in the setting are definitely there. They're just more of a nuisance both figuratively and literally. They get in our way, and then have the audacity to grandstand as if they do as much for the world as we do. It's a cruel joke.

[GoldStarz]

Imagine claiming there are politics in FFXIV, or even just that they're not a big focus, when literally in the last major patch one of the major story beats was Merlwyb openly admitting that Limsa had been colonizing La Noscea throughout their history and attempting to make reparations with them knowing full well that nothing she could personally do would repair the damage her nation had done.

I'd rather fight for the Empire than for the Eorzean Alliance

Why would you rather fight for a facist government that openly claims racial superiority over all others?

To get this back on the rails of politics within the world of XIV. I would be really interested in how the reconstruction and restructuring of Garlemald goes in EW.

I really really hope this is where 7.0 is heading towards because it would let us finally have an Ilsabard expansion and it would be really interesting to see exactly how they handle this situation and whether they let Garlemald exist in a smaller form or just completely dissolve it.

I don't believe that to be the case at all and it involves some rather bold assumptions about the players in question.

Most of the time when people complain about politics it's about seeing something specific rather than just their presence itself, which pretty inherently lends itself to the argument. Plus, it's pretty close to impossible to make anything actually apolitical since pretty much all aspects of life are or can be politicized in some way.