Political Ideology and Storytelling Within FFXIV

[_Koneko_]

eh i don't see the ascians being much of a problem in the future given most of the Convocation is dead and the rest are completely leaderless or on our side Loghrif (gaia) and we got emet's stash of Convocation crystals so no new members can be made and i dare say that if emet comes back he'd be on our side too and elidibus as well the only person that is sketchy is Lahabrea since he don't seem to be team Azem but there is most likely zero chance of him being reborn i hope we see hermes again so we can find the answers together

[KageTokage]

Fandaniel was a demonstration of what can happen if an Ascian is left completely unchecked to pursue their own aims.

However, I think it would honestly be more interesting if some/all of them decided to take Emet-Selch's lead and either bow out gracefully or more surprisingly, channel their power/wisdom towards a more productive purpose that does not entail stirring up chaos and destruction as they had long been instructed to.

[RyuDragnier]

Fandaniel was a demonstration of what can happen if an Ascian is left completely unchecked to pursue their own aims.

However, I think it would honestly be more interesting if some/all of them decided to take Emet-Selch's lead and either bow out gracefully or more surprisingly, channel their power/wisdom towards a more productive purpose that does not entail stirring up chaos and destruction as they had long been instructed to.

I can picture it for some of them. Altima is in charge of art, so we could easily find them relaxing the days away in charge of a city or town with a grand theatre and art gallery. They may even ask us for help procuring or coming up with ideas for future artwork, since Azem would be the perfect person to give a new perspective.

[LystAP]

Fandaniel was a demonstration of what can happen if an Ascian is left completely unchecked to pursue their own aims.

However, I think it would honestly be more interesting if some/all of them decided to take Emet-Selch's lead and either bow out gracefully or more surprisingly, channel their power/wisdom towards a more productive purpose that does not entail stirring up chaos and destruction as they had long been instructed to.

I always assumed that the Allagan Empire was their original attempt to do things well - given how the Empire seemed to have started nearing the phase were everything was 'perfect'. However, they gave up after the Empire started to decay and Xande went nuts.

[MikkoAkure]

I always assumed that the Allagan Empire was their original attempt to do things well - given how the Empire seemed to have started nearing the phase were everything was 'perfect'. However, they gave up after the Empire started to decay and Xande went nuts.

The Empire began to decay 300 years after it was made because everyone let machina do their work and people lost their drive. Then hundreds of years later Amon saw what was happening and decided to revive Xande to reinvigorate the Empire. It was after that Xande went crazy because he realized there's no meaning to life after being dead so he became a crazed tyrant. His original self from the beginning of the Empire was a visionary who recruited mages despite popular opinion being against them. Though Emet-Selch took credit for it too so he was probably intimately involved.

Regardless, the whole reason the Allagan Empire was brought up was so that it could be brought down, just as Emet-Selch did to Garlemald. There's nothing in the script to suggest that the Ascians were trying to make a new Amaurot or to do things "right", especially since the early days of the Empire involved mass bloodshed and intercontinental war.

As far as Fandaniel is concerned, I had the impression that he had been planning what he did for a long time since he was very suddenly at the ready with tempering towers all over the place and an army of enslaved dragons. It's just that after offing Elidibus he had no more adult supervision.

[EaraGrace]

Lakeland and Il Mheg were some of the main locations GPOSErs and RPers like taking screenshots and hanging out in. The Tempest and by extension Elpis are also beloved due to the unique development of the ancients: heavily inspired by Greek mythology, and all but ruled by a pantheon of demigods named after the Greek titans and gods. A classic fantasy element merged with an otherwise more modern one served to make the area more palatable and the ancients more than just dudes in hoodies.

Hey now people love Kingdom Hearts and I won’t stand by for slander (unless it’s correct in which case god dammit Nomura)!

And while the Greek influence runs thick, Amaurot is clearly a 1920s Art Noveau style city, and it’s that departure from typical fantasy that led people to be so enamored by it.

Also gpose and rpers is an odd way to judge the popularity of a zone. But this logic Ul Dah is more popular than Limsa, which I think we can both agree isn’t exactly true.

Furthermore, Eulmore was a democracy. They elected Vauthry’s father, and later elected Vauthry himself. As dysfunctional as Sharlayan’s democracy is, Eulmore is an even worse disaster. As for Bozja, Misijia’s ancestor, the Queen, was not an evil person. She accepted her role as a sacrifice after her death and was content so long that her people remained safe-the very spirit of a true leader. Gabranth’s faction was also full of more interesting characters than the entirety of the Bozja resistance, who I had very little reason to care for. The whole “the empire oppressed me” backstory a lot of them have has gotten completely stale.

Eulmore transitioned from a democracy to a autocracy under Vauthry, a move possible by his position as a Lightwarden. They are, after all, a democracy again.

And Queen Gunnhildr was a good person, who was then used and destroyed by the monarchy that gave her power. Her death came as a result of the true monarch refusing the throne and passing it’s responsibility and sacrifices to a servant girl. And to be frank, just because you personally didn’t enjoy it doesn’t make it bad.

Thank you for reminding me of the paladins of Ul’dah who have little to no plot relevance and whose job questline is regarded by the playerbase as the worst one in the entire game. They contribute nothing to the makeup of Ul’dah, save for a single npc whose armor style is completely out of place for the kingdom he serves. A believable Paladin in the context of Ul’dah should have looked like this, the ones they actually have hanging around would have been better suited being woven into the lore of Ishgard’s knights as the paladins of San d’Oria like in FFXI.

Few job quests have MSQ implications tbf. Dragoon certainly didnt impact Heavensward despite the obvious opportunity. And why? The Paladins fit fine in Ul’dah.

You are correct regarding Rak’tika, it was a visually impressive zone with a fleshed out cultural identity. It’s a pity we could not explore further into the Ronkan Empire aside from its ruins, but now that this aesthetic and culture has been woven into the fabric of the game a repeat of it would come across as boring if done in 7.0.

Just as there’s so many different flairs of European Kingdoms you can multiple flavors of Central and South American cultures, especially given the fact that 14 is free to take from a large time span.

While Namano isn’t a malevolent leader she’s about as interesting as a sack of potatoes and I do not care what happens to her or her people. A weakling who was ready to drop everything and run for the hills and after awakening I vaguely remember Godbert Manderville turning down her ideas about how to help the Ala Mhigans because they would negatively impact Ul’dah.

This seems unfair to her given the fact that she was a parentless child of five years old when she came to power. I’d wanna say fuck this too.

Contrast this with someone straightforward and (usually) competent like Aymeric and it’s clear whose better off taking charge and having the spotlight shown on them. A leader with a backbone who says, “I am in charge, this is my right, and I know how to fix this problem we are facing” after a character development arc where they come to terms with their fate/responsibility like Aymeric or Garnet is infinitely more interesting than “I can’t handle this so I’m quitting” like Namano.

Nanamo also had a character arc as well, and if we’re going to recognize the growth Aymeric has undergone we would be unfair to reject her growth as well. As it stands, she’s a widely respected and powerful monarch who successfully moving Ul Dah towards a brighter future, while still recognizing her failures and the problems baked into the city states society.