Can we burn Ul'dah to the ground?

[IndyPendant]

I'm restarting the MSQ on an alt, and seriously, that cesspit needs to be cleansed.

If we start there, our introduction to Ul'dah is of a guard planting drugs on us to get us to "pay a fine" to avoid prison. As the MSQ progresses, we see a few instances of naive people trying to do good and almost getting killed for it, needing the WoL to save their lives. If we do sidequests and talk to non-MSQ npcs, we get numerous instances of outright starvation, utter brutality to the poor, and the rich elite celebrating their luxury on top of it all.

And then come the Copperbell Mines.

One of the so-called good-guys we meet says: "Our ancestors used magic to outright enslave a race of giants and force them to mine for us. When that magic started to break down the giants rebelled, so our ancestors buried them alive for over three hundred years. Well, our rich leaders have decided they want that mine's ore again. In our greed we accidentally set the giants free and they're rampaging around because they're upset with us. We didn't know they were still alive down there, but we're certainly not going to try to help them, that would take too long and cost too much. The most important thing is they're keeping us from our ore, so we want you to go in there and murder all the escaped slaves so our rich can get richer."

The final boss breaks down a wall, yelling about finally being free, so he's clearly not a ravening beast, we can communicate with him. We don't even try, we immediately attack him. While fighting for his life against us, he nevertheless still stops to free another of his people, and that one doesn't even fight us, instead running off to try to free more, and I can't stress this enough, former slaves from centuries-long imprisonment.

We murder them all. For coin and prestige.

...Are we the bad guys?

[Kranel_San]

What have I done? BURN UL'DAH! JUSTICE FOR THE GIANT RACE!

[SenorPatty]

I'm restarting the MSQ on an alt, and seriously, that cesspit needs to be cleansed.

If we start there, our introduction to Ul'dah is of a guard planting drugs on us to get us to "pay a fine" to avoid prison. As the MSQ progresses, we see a few instances of naive people trying to do good and almost getting killed for it, needing the WoL to save their lives. If we do sidequests and talk to non-MSQ npcs, we get numerous instances of outright starvation, utter brutality to the poor, and the rich elite celebrating their luxury on top of it all.

And then come the Copperbell Mines.

One of the so-called good-guys we meet says: "Our ancestors used magic to outright enslave a race of giants and force them to mine for us. When that magic started to break down the giants rebelled, so our ancestors buried them alive for over three hundred years. Well, our rich leaders have decided they want that mine's ore again. In our greed we accidentally set the giants free and they're rampaging around because they're upset with us. We didn't know they were still alive down there, but we're certainly not going to try to help them, that would take too long and cost too much. The most important thing is they're keeping us from our ore, so we want you to go in there and murder all the escaped slaves so our rich can get richer."

The final boss breaks down a wall, yelling about finally being free, so he's clearly not a ravening beast, we can communicate with him. We don't even try, we immediately attack him. While fighting for his life against us, he nevertheless still stops to free another of his people, and that one doesn't even fight us, instead running off to try to free more, and I can't stress this enough, former slaves from centuries-long imprisonment.

We murder them all. For coin and prestige.

...Are we the bad guys?

*Stoically nods and brings a fist to palm*

[Vidu]

...Gridania and Limsa arent much better - and neither are any of the other nations.

We might not be "the bad guys", but we're certainly not the good guys either - its a huge part of the FFXIV lore and story that there are no "good guys" and "bad guys", only guys trying to get by.

[ReynTime]

If this was the real world I'd agree.

But since this is a video game, I don't. The fictional world is a lot more interesting when the internal conflicts exist and not all problems, political corruption included, cannot be solved within the story's time frame. It bored me how quickly most of Aldenard's biggest problems got solved with the flick of a finger from 5.1 to 6.0 so we could have everyone holding hands as we returned at the end.

[Beytran70]

Honestly Ishgard seems to be making the most forward progress in all sectors, and they were already kicking butt. Aymeric truly is a god among men.

[Mimilu]

...Gridania and Limsa arent much better - and neither are any of the other nations.

We might not be "the bad guys", but we're certainly not the good guys either - its a huge part of the FFXIV lore and story that there are no "good guys" and "bad guys", only guys trying to get by.

I would say that Limsa and Ul'dah are at least on the road to getting better after the MSQ.
Gridania hasn't been shown to change much, with some of its populace still being xenophobic towards outsiders and racist towards Duskwights and Keepers of the Moon. We're only luck that Elementals were weakened after the Seventh Umbral Era and aren't using the Greenwrath all willy-nilly.

[GrizzlyTank]

One of the lovely things about this game, the subtle realism of the world.

[MidnightEquinox]

I started in Uldah because they seemed generally chill but between all the problems I despise them now.

I think Limsa is my favorite city at this point. They have huge problems but they seem more honest about it, and various groups are working on making a change. And Gridania grass textures are fugly.

[Poporito_Popoto]

Ishgard is the place that needs to be flattened by an earthquake.