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

[KageTokage]

It seems like they've already established some degree of trade with the New World as a fair number of vegetables and other produce in Eorzea are stated as having origins there, and the 50-60 BLU quests entailed thwarting a Syndicate scheme to exploit the plight of the Whalaqee tribe for their natural resources.

I also get a vibe that there's something going on over there for the Mamool Ja to be regularly making the effort to sail all the way to Eorzea in search of greener pastures.

[EdwinLi]

It seems like they've already established some degree of trade with the New World as a fair number of vegetables and other produce in Eorzea are stated as having origins there, and the 50-60 BLU quests entailed thwarting a Syndicate scheme to exploit the plight of the Whalaqee tribe for their natural resources.

I also get a vibe that there's something going on over there for the Mamool Ja to be regularly making the effort to sail all the way to Eorzea in search of greener pastures.

While there is trade between Eorzea and the New World, we are still not given clear locations they have contact with yet. As mentioned, a lot of the New World is unexplored so it is expect there are civilization completely unware of Eorzea or may have heard some stories but remain unaware about events of Season 1 due to how far they are from the events or information were not being traded between locations.

However, with the focus on the Eorzea Alliance on rebuilding now that the war against Garlemald is over, we may see the beginning of a expedition team being created during 6.1 to 6.55 so they may begin making contact with the Unknown region civilization. If a expedition team is created then it is reasonable they will need people of many different talents to help support the team as well and preferably people with experience exploring unknown lands with other talents to help make establishing expedition outposts easier such as Adventurers.

[SeverianLyonesse]

I'm hoping if we visit Meracydia or the New World that we get more nuanced depictions of African/American cultures than we usually get. I don't see why Meracydia can't have more than just Egypt and Sahara/Serengeti equivalents, but maybe even some Berber, Akan/Yoruba, or Swahili Coast influences. And I think the New World can definitely do better drawing from Native American cultures than the one outfit we currently have.

[aveyond-dreams]

Not opposed to the above cultures being referenced in some way but I do not think you could sell an entire expansion's worth of that to the Final Fantasy core audience, people do not come to this game for that, which is to say nothing of the inevitable firestorm of people finding their depiction "problematic" no matter how much care they take in their inclusion.

Throwing in niche cultural depictions and veering further and further into obscurity will do little to attract new players who associate the game and the franchise itself with either the high fantasy or high tech settings of more prominent titles. Without "FFXIV" attached to the game's title there's very little chance of generating Shadowbringers or Endwalker levels of hype around fantasy Africa or the Americas. It's like those twitter and tumblr ocs that people make that end up being so "diverse" with all the things they throw into the mix that it's impossible to take seriously.

[MikkoAkure]

Not opposed to the above cultures being referenced in some way but I do not think you could sell an entire expansion's worth of that to the Final Fantasy core audience, people do not come to this game for that, which is to say nothing of the inevitable firestorm of people finding their depiction "problematic" no matter how much care they take in their inclusion.

Throwing in niche cultural depictions and veering further and further into obscurity will do little to attract new players who associate the game and the franchise itself with either the high fantasy or high tech settings of more prominent titles. Without "FFXIV" attached to the game's title there's very little chance of generating Shadowbringers or Endwalker levels of hype around fantasy Africa or the Americas. It's like those twitter and tumblr ocs that people make that end up being so "diverse" with all the things they throw into the mix that it's impossible to take seriously.

Niche culture? I wouldn't think people are playing the expansions specifically for the culture it takes place in. Treasures of Aht Urghan was a big expansion for FFXI and that was vaguely middle-eastern themed. Black Panther was based in Afrofuture theme and it was popular and successful.

Just because something has Western-European castles and dragons does not make it immediately popular and make everything else "niche culture". There are already items and creatures in the game that are from Meracydia that come from real-world West African culture and myth. If we go there, we're not likely going to see Euro-style castles, no matter how much you want to get your hopes up.

[Theodric]

I think the game has barely scratched the surface in terms of what it can bring to the table in terms of tapping into the various European countries for inspiration for future content. I'd very much like to see some Polish, Dutch and Swedish influence upon the game itself.

That goes for architecture, cuisine and mythology with the usual 'Final Fantasy' twist thrown in for good measure.

After all, a not insignificant amount of us playing this game are European nor are we prone to bundling every European country together and pretending as if there aren't major differences between each individual country present across the region.

[aveyond-dreams]

Niche culture? I wouldn't think people are playing the expansions specifically for the culture it takes place in. Treasures of Aht Urghan was a big expansion for FFXI and that was vaguely middle-eastern themed. Black Panther was based in Afrofuture theme and it was popular and successful.

Just because something has Western-European castles and dragons does not make it immediately popular and make everything else "niche culture". There are already items and creatures in the game that are from Meracydia that come from real-world West African culture and myth. If we go there, we're not likely going to see Euro-style castles, no matter how much you want to get your hopes up.

Though I've said it many times, I'll do so once again. The trend of drawing directly upon real world locations and trying to match it up to the geography of the in-game world is not a sustainable course of action. Inevitably, you'll run out of cultures to draw from or start drawing upon ones that are far-removed from the general setting and vibe of the game. FFXI's Aht Urghan had a whole lot more going on than "middle-eastern themed," goodness.

They are welcome to give you Final Fantasy: Austrailia and Africa the expansion, but don't expect it to draw in Black Panther levels of success. People do not come to this franchise for that. The expansion would predictably not interest the two main groups of FF players who want to go to the castle in the distance or the sci-fi metropolis. Long-standing fans of the game would tolerate it, maybe, but even I would not find an entire expansion based in either location palatable. You would not be able to retain me as a player for its duration, I would gladly go lose myself in the FFXVI fandom once it gets going and try out other games while FFXIV flounders.

Understand your playerbase, and understand why they came to you in the first place. I sure didn't come here because of alleged "diversity!" in terms of cultural representation. Ishgard castle? Looked cool. Crystal tower peaking out against the light-flooded sky? Looked cool. Kugane at night? Prettiest city in the game. The moon and Garlemald? Fantastic zones we've been waiting forever to see up close.

And it bears repeating: the lack of traditional fantasy elements wore out and contributed to people being fed up with 1.0, and overt efforts were made to weave them deeper into the game moving forward. Now that the world has been reduced to a godless land bereft of most of its traditional monarchies in favor of freedom fighters and their republics, we need to re-ground the game as a whole. The first adventure of season 2 should not take place in an obscure setting built off a diversity mishmash "because it corresponds to X in the real world!"

I think the game has barely scratched the surface in terms of what it can bring to the table in terms of tapping into the various European countries for inspiration for future content. I'd very much like to see some Polish, Dutch and Swedish influence upon the game itself.

I'd also like to see some influence from Spain if possible. Some of its castles went on to inspire even Disney's famous vistas like Snow White's castle. It would also be cool to see a Venice-like Italian city too, though I fear it would be too close to FFXV's Altissia.

[MikkoAkure]

And it bears repeating: the lack of traditional fantasy elements wore out and contributed to people being fed up with 1.0, and overt efforts were made to weave them deeper into the game moving forward. Now that the world has been reduced to a godless land bereft of most of its traditional monarchies in favor of freedom fighters and their republics, we need to re-ground the game as a whole.

I haven't heard anyone complain about that except you. I was there in 1.0 and "lack traditional fantasy elements" was no where near on my list or anyone else I knew from back then.

The first adventure of season 2 should not take place in an obscure setting built off a diversity mishmash "because it corresponds to X in the real world!"

Meracydia isn't being hinted at because of some "diversity" thing. It's because it's a giant blank spot on the map that's been talked about since 1.0. That it takes after Egypt and sub-Saharan Africa has nothing to do with that except that was the flavor Meracydia has been given for over a decade.

There are places I am personally more interested in other than Meracydia anyway. Other locations in Ilsabard are much more likely to have the European-style castles you're looking for and the untapped European cultures Theodoric is looking for.

[Theodric]

I think there's a few interviews floating around where Yoshi-P expressed his own disappointment in the lack of traditional fantasy elements present in FFXIV. Perhaps one of our resident archivists can locate them?

I know I didn't really pay much attention to 1.0 for similar reasons and I did end up trying most other MMO's that were on offer over the years that had a heavy and traditional fantasy focus. So, yeah, I daresay a decent amount of people factor it into their decision to invest in a game. It's by no means the sole reason 1.0 was considered to be a failure, of course, but I do think it factors in to at least some notable degree.

[Cleretic]

Niche culture? I wouldn't think people are playing the expansions specifically for the culture it takes place in. Treasures of Aht Urghan was a big expansion for FFXI and that was vaguely middle-eastern themed. Black Panther was based in Afrofuture theme and it was popular and successful.

Just because something has Western-European castles and dragons does not make it immediately popular and make everything else "niche culture". There are already items and creatures in the game that are from Meracydia that come from real-world West African culture and myth. If we go there, we're not likely going to see Euro-style castles, no matter how much you want to get your hopes up.

This is someone who thinks the main reason Heavensward was popular was because it was 'Arthurian'. Personally I don't remember a floating hypertech continent and evil god-kings in Arthurian legend, but I admit I'm not fully versed in the story of Galehaut.

I think a very Eurocentric approach is exactly what they don't want to do for 7.0. A big thing they'll have to show after the first big story arc is to conclusively show they're still capable of new and interesting ideas, and 'Heavensward, Again' is exactly the wrong way to stake that claim. It'd be like if the first MCU movie after Avengers Endgame was just a retread of the first Iron Man, basically an implicit admission of 'we ran out of ideas'. In a similar way I don't think they'd want to do a 'colonialism-themed' expansion, not just because Limsa's ShB/EW story already shows they aren't fans, but also because New World already staked their claim on that one, regardless of how poorly. It never looks good to ape the look of competition, even if that competition sucks.

I think an African, South-East Asian, or pre-colonized American aesthetic would probably do them pretty well in that distinguishing. It's both not something FFXIV itself has done especially clearly (The Ronkans were not-Mayans, but they didn't exactly leave a big footprint), and something no other presence in the RPG market is making their 'thing'.

...plus if they borrow from South-East Asia and Polynesia then they can do big FFIX/FFX references, and that's one hell of a nostalgia hook.