[Spoilers] Garlemald is a wasted opportunity

[Shurrikhan]

Who know that the world-conquering Garlean empire was really a medium-sized town all along.

The same people who knew that a city which, by lore, wasn't much bigger than Ulduh was actually the size of an entire, very large zone. (See: The Lochs and all its subterranean developments.)

[Antoine_Lenheim]

More than the specific story within the zone, I think a lot of disappointment is derived from the near-total destruction of the Garlean aesthetic and culture before we even really got to see it. Half the Garlemald zone is a complete pile of rubble, and the other half is just a snowy wasteland, so there's really no space outside of maybe the subway station to get any hint of their advanced magitek lifestyle and design. People wanted to see FF7 Midgar and instead we got FF6 World of Ruin. The Legions in the area are also either tempered or utterly destroyed, so instead of a situation where we need to make uneasy allies with the Garleans to go after Zenos, which would have allowed us to see the Garlean military from the other side, we ultimately end up just taking pity on some broken and hostile refugees, which is hardly something new to XIV.

And as it stands Garlemald and it's people just appear to be so obliterated that it's hard to consider any sort of story going forward with them. There might be a few Legions left out there, the clearly not-dead Gabranth and Gaius running around, but for all intents and purposes the Garleans as a faction appear to be done for - And we didn't even really get to see or involve ourselves with it's downfall, beyond the notion of a domino effect.

It's exactly that! They hyped us so much with Garlean Empire so when opportunity arrived to finally visit it ourselves and partake of their culture, technology, way of living. To see Garlean Empire in it's civilian setting, not militarian. And when we arrive it's nothing but snow and debris.

I think it wasn't a good idea to bring such destruction to the capital. I mean, it sort of works storywise but yeah, opportunity sorely missed.

[Feronar]

I would like to see a Garlean Reconstruction zone similar to the Doman Reconstruction zone in Stormblood. Perhaps a future expansion could have a different district of the capital rebuilt and serving as the main city hub for the expansion.

[Theodric]

There isn't really anything in the game that is built to scale. What we see is always a small slice of a much bigger whole. The recent FFVII Remake managed to capture the sheer scale of a city as large as Midgar, but even then there were only specific parts that could be explored.

Don't get me wrong - I would love FFXIV's zone design to be bigger and bolder than it is. I play ESO on the side and it's always a treat to get lost in a bout of whimsical exploration. To see what is inside every accessible building and to immerse myself in whatever new locales are added. I wish FFXIV had bigger settlements, to facilitate role-play and player engagement with the world itself more easily. It is what it is, though.

[YianKutku]

I wanted to know more about the Xth Legion.

As in, the legion that, when faced with the same choice that the Ist had, chose to bend rather than break, and ask the Eorzean Alliance for help.

That seems like a far more interesting story to tell than that of Quintus, if only because that story will continue rather than simply ending.

[RyuDragnier]

I wanted to know more about the Xth Legion.

As in, the legion that, when faced with the same choice that the Ist had, chose to bend rather than break, and ask the Eorzean Alliance for help.

That seems like a far more interesting story to tell than that of Quintus, if only because that story will continue rather than simply ending.

I keep saying it over and over (due to my own hopes), but maybe in Corvos? Really hoping it's the new relic zone and we get a bunch of storytelling with the Garleans there.

[dynus]

Speaking of the Legions, which ones are left? We've gone up against the XIVth, the VIIth (twice) the VIth, XIIth, IVth, Ist, and IIIrd. The Xth is accounted for, which leaves Legions II, V, VIII, IX, XI, and XIII in the winds. Wonder if we'll see them and if they support the Xth.

[Cilia]

Current Status of Garlean Imperial Legions:

Ist: refugees in Garlemald, formerly led by the late Quintus van Cinna. Now under the de facto leadership of Jullus pyr Norbanus.
IInd: Unknown.
IIIrd: led by Vergilia van Corculum. Cured of tempering to Anima; status otherwise unknown.
IVth: went rogue and attempted but failed to establish dominion over Bozja / Dalmasca under the orders of their legatus, Noah van Gabranth. Status otherwise unknown.
Vth: Unknown.
VIth: dispatched to Azys Lla to unearth Allagan eikon binding technology, but deemed Allagan methods unworthy; Legatus Regula van Hydrus killed in action. Status otherwise unknown.
VIIth: formerly led by Nael van Darnus, who saw the Meteor Project to fruition in 1.X; routed by the Seventh Umbral Calamity, Legatus van Darnus killed in action. Reformed under the leadership of Valens van Varro and stationed in Werlyt, but Legatus van Varro was defeated and killed by defector Gaius Baelsar. Status otherwise unknown.
VIIIth: Unknown.
IXth: Unknown.
Xth: Surrendered to the Grand Company of Eorzea. Leading Legatus and status otherwise unknown.
XIth: Unknown.
XIIth: formerly led by Zenos yae Galvus, stationed in Gyr Abania and Yanxia. Uprisings against Imperial rule saw the legion ousted from its provinces; survivors taken as PoWs. Former legatus yae Galvus complicit in starting the civil war that all but destroyed the Empire, stripped of his title and given the disgraceful "viator" instead.
XIIIth: Unknown.
XIVth: formerly led by Legatus Gaius van Baelsar; went rogue on the legatus' orders attempting to conquer Eorzea, but failed. All but destroyed in Operation Archon, survivors are holed up in various Imperial Castra across Eorzea. Former legatus van Baelsar survived but deserted, and now leads reconstruction efforts in Werlyt.

[Kesey]

I felt like Garlemald was handled well. As this avenue of story telling allowed them show unique situation the people were in without the overreaching political power that has overshadowed much of the story.

Most other story paths to Garlemald would have needed a direct invasion of Garlemald and would have slowed the momentum of the story if we had to invade full scale. To take this thought further, I see this avenue of the story as the most interesting because it's a Japanese company showing us a fantasy retelling of Americans coming to Japan after the drop of the atomic bomb. The allegory can't be lost here because of it's ability to show humanity on both sides of the conflict.

Their most important story will be what comes after this. We clearly have a patch story coming where we'll visit Jullus and the twins. And maybe Gaius will be involved. At this point I'd be disappointed if we didn't reconstruct Garlemald.

[YianKutku]

Current Status of Garlean Imperial Legions:

Ist: refugees in Garlemald, formerly led by the late Quintus van Cinna. Now under the de facto leadership of Jullus pyr Norbanus.
IInd: Unknown.
IIIrd: led by Vergilia van Corculum. Cured of tempering to Anima; status otherwise unknown.
IVth: went rogue and attempted but failed to establish dominion over Bozja / Dalmasca under the orders of their legatus, Noah van Gabranth. Status otherwise unknown.
Vth: Unknown.
VIth: dispatched to Azys Lla to unearth Allagan eikon binding technology, but deemed Allagan methods unworthy; Legatus Regula van Hydrus killed in action. Status otherwise unknown.
VIIth: formerly led by Nael van Darnus, who saw the Meteor Project to fruition in 1.X; routed by the Seventh Umbral Calamity, Legatus van Darnus killed in action. Reformed under the leadership of Valens van Varro and stationed in Werlyt, but Legatus van Varro was defeated and killed by defector Gaius Baelsar. Status otherwise unknown.
VIIIth: Unknown.
IXth: Unknown.
Xth: Surrendered to the Grand Company of Eorzea. Leading Legatus and status otherwise unknown.
XIth: Unknown.
XIIth: formerly led by Zenos yae Galvus, stationed in Gyr Abania and Yanxia. Uprisings against Imperial rule saw the legion ousted from its provinces; survivors taken as PoWs. Former legatus yae Galvus complicit in starting the civil war that all but destroyed the Empire, stripped of his title and given the disgraceful "viator" instead.
XIIIth: Unknown.
XIVth: formerly led by Legatus Gaius van Baelsar; went rogue on the legatus' orders attempting to conquer Eorzea, but failed. All but destroyed in Operation Archon, survivors are holed up in various Imperial Castra across Eorzea. Former legatus van Baelsar survived but deserted, and now leads reconstruction efforts in Werlyt.

For additional potential weirdness:

During the part where Lucia gets the report about the failed attempt by the Xth to retake Garlemald, she says the Xth was trying to coordinate with "the aid of the IVth, Vth, VIIIth, and XIIth". The failure was apparently because most of the Xth's conscripts deserted, and communications between the legions broke down. (As usual, the grammar in the dialogue leaves it vague whether these events are correlated, causation, or coincidence.)

Which, given the alleged status of the IVth and XIIth, is a little odd. Maybe Lucia was summarizing (understandably given the situation), and it was actually "the loyalist remnants of the IVth and XIIth".