Actual lore regarding the current civilizations on Meracydia (potential spoilers)

[MikkoAkure]

I am slightly concerned with Meracydia and the New World being content that reinforces colonialist tropes about Africa and pre-Columbian America. Not because I assume any malice on SE's part, but because if they were to use western pulp and adventure fiction as an inspiration, it could be easy to fall into those kinds of tropes if the writing team doesn't engage with them critically. (Indeed, the concept of an entire continent with people already living on them being a "new world" is an pretty colonialist idea already.)

That being said, SE has an okay track record so far, so I'm only a little concerned and more than willing to see where they take things.

After the original countries introduced in 1.0, SE has leaned heavily into cultural tropes for everything else, for better or for worse. Limsa Lominsa, Sharlayan, Ishgard, Ul'dah, Gridania, and Ala Mhigo all seem to have elements of real-world cultures, but don't depend on them and can stand alone. Thavnair, Hingashi, Azim Steppe, and Nagxia are ripped right out of our world and pasted into FFXIV with a fantasy coat of paint.

Thavnair is very heavily influenced by the Indian subcontinent. Nagxia is Vietnam, complete with their food, clothing, and a guerilla war against a larger, more technologically advanced empire in their jungles. Azim Steppe are Mongols on yol-back, complete with Nadaam and morin khuur. And the laziest copy/paste to me is Hingashi: a xenophobic, closed-off island nation with a single port allowed for foreigners on their western-most island and would be a 1-for-1 copy of Edo-era Japan if it weren't for the Tengu and Au Ra.

Then Doma is awkwardly "Japanese" despite having Chinese music, geography, and architecture.

I wouldn't get my hopes up too high for something that doesn't lean heavy into trope territory based on what we've seen since ARR.

I'd like to see Meracydia (or at least the part we explore in 7.0?) include locations that give off similar vibes to:
Cornelia Castle, FFI
Castle Fynn, FFII
Castle Baron, FFIV
San d'Oria, FFXI
Sanbreque, FFXVI

Considering everything we know about them leans into ideas from Egypt and West Africa, I do not expect Meracydia to have European castles.

[Jandor]

After the original countries introduced in 1.0, SE has leaned heavily into cultural tropes for everything else, for better or for worse. Limsa Lominsa, Sharlayan, Ishgard, Ul'dah, Gridania, and Ala Mhigo all seem to have elements of real-world cultures, but don't depend on them and can stand alone. Thavnair, Hingashi, Azim Steppe, and Nagxia are ripped right out of our world and pasted into FFXIV with a fantasy coat of paint.

Thavnair is very heavily influenced by the Indian subcontinent. Nagxia is Vietnam, complete with their food, clothing, and a guerilla war against a larger, more technologically advanced empire in their jungles. Azim Steppe are Mongols on yol-back, complete with Nadaam and morin khuur. And the laziest copy/paste to me is Hingashi: a xenophobic, closed-off island nation with a single port allowed for foreigners on their western-most island and would be a 1-for-1 copy of Edo-era Japan if it weren't for the Tengu and Au Ra.

Then Doma is awkwardly "Japanese" despite having Chinese music, geography, and architecture.

I wouldn't get my hopes up too high for something that doesn't lean heavy into trope territory based on what we've seen since ARR.

The copy and pasting from the real world after 1.0/2.0 has bugged me a lot. Hingashi could have been so much more interesting if it was a more Japanese inspired nation and less ... well, just Japan.

[Theodric]

Hingashi could have been so much more interesting if it was a more Japanese inspired nation and less ... well, just Japan.

Each to their own, I suppose. Hingashi remains one of my favourite in-game regions to date. I thought Kugane was a pretty interesting and beautiful place which brought a lot of things to the table that I enjoy.

I think the 'J' in JRPG's also stands for 'Japanese' so I suppose it makes sense to have an in-game region based around 'fantasy Japan'.

Let me put it another way then, a story that challenges the colonialist tropes of western pulp and adventure fiction, (by say, depicting native people as people with agency and culture of thier own, instead of dangerous obstacles to be overcome or victims to be pitied) would be a "cool story" to me

I feel like you've constructed some kind of sjw strawman to argue against when all I am hoping for is that boring stereotypes and tropes are not mindlessly regurgitated. Because I'd find it dull before I find it offensive.

FFXIV isn't a western game, so I'm not certain such tropes apply and even if they did, they'd be applied from an Eastern perspective.

Putting that aside, however, what is considered to be 'exciting' or 'dull' is entirely subjective in itself.

[Jandor]

Each to their own, I suppose. Hingashi remains one of my favourite in-game regions to date. I thought Kugane was a pretty interesting and beautiful place which brought a lot of things to the table that I enjoy.

I think the 'J' in JRPG's also stands for 'Japanese' so I suppose it makes sense to have an in-game region based around 'fantasy Japan'.

Based around Japan is fine, basically just being Japan was a tad underwhelming.

I wouldn't even mind if that's how they'd been handling locations from the start. Hingashi, Othard and Thavnair are all perfectly fine locations, they just don't feel anywhere near as creative as Eorzea did.