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

[aveyond-dreams]

...

"We want Heavensward again" has been the single most repeated feedback in terms of what people want to see in the story moving forward. This is objective reality. The setting and makeup of Heavensward was widely beloved and palatable to huge swathes of people. Final Fantasy Austrailia, simply isn't. They want their Camelot, with or without the Allagan ruins we visited for a span of 20 minutes and then promptly forgot about for the longest time afterwards in the msq.

Final Fantasy fans historically have never gravitated strongly to African or pre-colonial America. It would be impossible to sell me that sort of game with or without the FF title attached to it. I can already predict the plot being some uninteresting colonists vs tribes conflict that I simply lack the patience to sit through, these morals have already been repeated to no end already.

Thankfully as you said, New World has already latched on to that aesthetic and consequently failed spectacularly, souring it in the eyes of the general public.

In any case FFX being heavily inspired by Asia worked because it was a cohesive world designed largely around a specific look and vibe, along with the fact that settings in Asia seem to click with a lot of people generally. It was a colorful, vibrant world that was largely unconcerned with putting things in just for the sake of it, and all of Spira's locations fit together with each other nicely.

Locations like Spira or the far east however should not be the starting point of the next major story arc. It would be like opening season 1 in the middle of Kugane, which while it was a very well-received location isn't the sort of place a story generally starts, unless it is heavily based in an Asian setting overall. I'd like to see Bukyo someday, but not 7.0. A return to a high-tech setting can also come later on in the future, though certainly not so close to the start of a new story arc.

The next expansion should give us a place that serves as a new "home" similar to how many people are attached to Ishgard and its surrounding area, or how so many claimed they preferred the locations of the First as opposed to how drab and dull their Source counterparts were. All it takes is a read of the room to know what's going to work and what isn't. Almost like giving them the faerie kingdom, the elven forest kingdom and accompanying palace, along with the other high fantasy elements was exactly what people wanted.

[Slatersev]

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.

You keep saying this but it really just sounds like its not what you want and your trying to make it seem like its some objective fact.

What the fanbase would be interested in isn't some objective thing. and "We want HW again" isn't either. I adore HW, most of the fanbase does, but there is no evidence its the thing the "core fanbase" wants most above all else. Fans have been interested in the New World and Mercydia for years and in all that time theres never been "we better get a high fantasy European again" vibe to it at all.

Which, I'm sure we will at some point, but the idea the majority of the fanbase will be mad or put off if we don't doesn't have anything to back that up.

And I don't know why people bother worrying about if some people call depictions problematic.

1) No matter how loud they are there never more the a minority anyway.

2) EW literally just gave us fantasy India, I haven't seen any widespread attempt to call its depiction bad/problematic, has anyone else? Why would they feel worried about it when they just did it perfectly fine?

I'm sure there are randos on twitter somewhere saying that, but there are randos on twitter saying dumb stuff about literally anything.

[aveyond-dreams]

Well by all means put your theories to the test. I tend to be right about most things. I could see Eureka being a disaster from a mile away having already played FFXI and knowing FFXIV players would hate that style of grinding, I could tell that giving FFXIV players the male roe model+fur 2.0 was a hilariously bad decision in light of the playerbase's tastes being literally anything but that for male characters, and I also knew that no matter how much people cried about "the simplification!" of tanks, that the Shadowbringers tank changes would lead to more players than ever wanting to play the role (healers are another story entirely-good lord did they mess that one up).

So please, feel free to test your theories against mine and time will tell who proves us right. Given the choice, you'll catch me playing Elden Ring and FFXVI instead of FFXIV: adventures in Africa/Austrailia/America. Ghostwire Tokyo is also looking fantastic, as I've always wanted to explore a big city but absolutely loathed anything to do with those spiderman games that came out. Can't say I'm taken with Horizon Forbidden West, but Forspoken made quite the impression with that last trailer they put out.

I have more than enough options to keep me entertained should FFXIV choose to veer off into obscurity, then likely realize that woah! This isn't what FF players wanted. They prefer X and Y, and then promptly rectify the situation as they did with exploratory content and the limited races. Limited jobs seem to be the one thing they've remained adamant about, but anything is possible these days.

Edit = furthermore, besides appeasing the calls of "diversity" made almost exclusively by western fans, how in the world would they be able to sell such an expansion to the JP crowd? I find it extremely unlikely they would be taken by the prospect of Austrailia or Africa. To my knowledge they share the sentiment of wanting to return to traditional fantasy, castles, Ishgard, 1000s of pieces of fanart of Aymeric, etc. If they were boo-ing the Hrothgar reveal when the devs actively went against their wishes in that regard, I can imagine the sort of reaction they would have to being forced into a baffling setting that they are uninterested in for 7.0 at the request of western players wanting diversity for its own sake.

Though Friday's live letter is extremely unlikely to contain hints of 7.0 besides the most vague themes and will probably be mostly fluff, it sure would be nice to have an idea of the general direction we're going in next. A setting for the beginning of a story that is likely to appeal to the widest swathe of people will either be centered around either fantasy, or modern/sci-fi, and would need elements that are familiar enough to make players feel welcome and grounded. It cannot be dominated by areas that draw from locations that fans have shown little if any interest in, though other cultures are free to be explored within a zone or two. While I'd rather start us off in a place akin to Baron or Cornelia, I won't be turned off if we somehow end up in Insomnia instead. I imagine a lot of people feel similar, so we'll see how it all turns out:

[Doragan]

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.

We went on the moon. More than that, we went to the very edge of the universe. The civilisations we met on Ultima Thule couldn't be further from where we live. Hell, we went in parallel universes.

But an expansion taking place in an african-themed area is "not the vibe" and "niche". What kind of insinuation is that? You can very much have a fantasy setting there. We very much just had that in Fantasy India with Endwalker. If that's not what you want to see in the game, or isn't familiar to you, I can understand, and that's perfectly fine. But please don't try to make it sound like your opinion is anchored as a fact. African, Australian or middle-eastern culture (or anything that isn't european castles,really) isn't "niche". In fact, it's probably one of the main draw of the games.

Ifrit. Garuda. Ramuh(Lahmu, Indra). Gilgamesh. Enkidu. Ravana. Laksmi. Sefirot. Zurvan.

These aren't european deities by any means yet, they are pretty much what defines the FF series as a whole. Ifrit especially. Ask anyone who knows where Ifrit comes from, and they aren't going to reply "the Qur'an". They're going to reply "Final Fantasy".

Personally, I believe that, if you're supposed to be an adventurer in this game, it makes sense that you go to unfamiliar places, to meet people and cultures you little, or never interacted with before. I would love to see primals from cultures I have very little knowledge of, and that goes for all of them. I loved seeing Scáthach and Dun Scaith in Heavensward. Anything I haven't seen yet, it would be super exciting to me. Of course, if we get an expansion based in Fantasy Spain, it would be awesome too. Basque and Catalan mythos would be exciting! (Maybe alongside a spanish localisation, eventually.. ah well.) " People do not come to this franchise for that. " I completely disagree with this.
If we end up going in fantasy america though, I would really enjoy Caribbean themed gear and locations. More dungeons like Hullbreaker sounds good too hehe.

furthermore, besides appeasing the calls of "diversity" made almost exclusively by western fans, how in the world would they be able to sell such an expansion to the JP crowd?

Point mentioned above. These deities have been an important part of the franchise since the franchises inception. Have you missed the 3 Gyr Abanian zones in Stormblood and what players wanted to do since ARR/HW? Free Ala Mhigo. And that's exactly what we did.

If they were boo-ing the Hrothgar reveal when the devs actively went against their wishes in that regard, I can imagine the sort of reaction they would have to being forced into a baffling setting that they are uninterested in for 7.0 at the request of western players wanting diversity for its own sake.

I hope you realise Hrothgar lore is based on the slavic parts of eastern europe,right? That would also be where the "traditional castles" you want are. Let that sink in for a bit. Hrothgar may not appeal to you, but I know a lot of players that came and stayed in the game for them alone. And on that note, you are not the JP crowd, nor their wishes, nor you represent any of them. You don't want it, fine. That doesn't make it the objective truth.
This game isn't "just for the JP crowd" anyways. It's for everyone.

I find it extremely unlikely they would be taken by the prospect of Austrailia or Africa.

Just say you do not want to see Fantasy Africa or Australia in the game and go. It's not that hard.
It's always the same refrain with that reasoning. African people and cultures in a japanese game? No! It's forced! They're for the sake of diversity! Niche! What about the JP players? The game is going to sink if there's not a european castle in it!
Enough of this nonsense. People have been wanting to see Thavnair ever since ARR relic steps. Meracydia was where most of the bahamut inception was. Little Ala Mhigo has been a thing for the whole time and people always wondered what the real thing looked like. We got the New World clothing since HW.
But you know what's REALLY going to be the end of the game? Fantasy Australia.
Get a grip.

[Cleretic]

By your logic, the top-selling Final Fantasy games should be sword-and-sorcery ones. If what people want from Final Fantasy XIV is European classical fantasy, then the most European classical Final Fantasies should be the big hitters--so, FFI through FFV, given VI veered pretty hard into steampunk. Fortunately, the Video Game Sales Wiki has a page specifically on Final Fantasy, so we can check this.

Sorting by sales, and then throwing out the top result which is 'all FFVII games counted in one big figure' because that's just not fair. Unless otherwise stated, all individual titles mentioned are a collation of all versions of it in one lump figure, so 'Final Fantasy VII' includes both the original PS1 release and all re-releases of that title.

1. Final Fantasy VII, by itself
2. Final Fantasy X and X-2 together
3. The Final Fantasy XII 'series' (but realistically only XII itself with some extra margin-bumping from Revenant Wings)
4. The Final Fantasy XIII trilogy
5. FFXIV (I gather not including expansions)
6. Final Fantasy VI
7. Final Fantasy IV as a whole series including all remakes and After Years
8. FFVII on the PS1 just by itself
9. FFX without X-2
10. Final Fantasy XV

For what it's worth, the top-selling 'initial version no later remasters/re-releases' were VII, XV, VIII, X and XIII.

So, according to the math of what sells in the Final Fantasy series, we actually need less stock fantasy, and more pretty boys and diverse settings with a fairly direct tech-fantasy bent.

Or maybe we just recognize the wild diversity of the top contenders as a quality in and of itself; the big-hitter FF settings are cyberpunk, Polynesian post-apoclaypse, the Arabic-Indian-Turkish-Meriterranean setting of XII, whatever the hell XIII counts as, and then the grand tour of styles that is XIV.

Final Fantasy seems to hit best when it has the confidence to hit weird.

[_Koneko_]

and then we go there and its what its always been said was there a barren wasteland as far as the eye can see .. 10/10 content

all of your armors and weapons are half broken rusted and frayed but somehow better then your top end endwalker gear

[Theodric]

I'm sure there are randos on twitter somewhere saying that, but there are randos on twitter saying dumb stuff about literally anything.

To be fair, it isn't exactly a small number. The FFXIV Twitter community is pretty notorious for spouting some pretty bizarre takes, particularly when it comes to complex issues.

[Tlamila]

To be fair, it isn't exactly a small number. The FFXIV Twitter community is pretty notorious for spouting some pretty bizarre takes, particularly when it comes to complex issues.

Regardless, wanting high fantasy in a game that has never been high fantasy, and saying most of the community will leave if they don't, is foolish and biased at best.

[Rulakir]

Well, as a WoW refugee, I can't say I'm thrilled with a lot of the themes I've seen discussed since all but a few Horde races are based on African, Haitian, Central & Native American, etc. I feel like there isn't much in that regard I haven't already seen (done to death in some cases). WoW failed spectacularly with Egyptian though since Uldum was mostly a parody zone, so I would like to see that theme done right.

As for American history, the Wild West with steampunk could be cool. Not particularly keen on FFXV elements. I guess it's interesting to non-US audiences, but for someone who lives here I can think of hundreds of other locations I'd rather see than essentially my backyard. :P I don't know where it would fit, but my personal preference would be Grecian (ancient and/or modern). Gothic would be great too, like Revendreth. Generally, I'm not a huge fan of RL elements in games though. You have the ability to do anything, go nuts! I'd rather see something like The Plenty fleshed out over anything borrowing from real life.

I don't want Meracydia to be Dragonsong 2.0. I loved HW and I have probably said I'd like a return to something like it, but that had more to do with the storytelling than anything thematically. I think dragons are grossly overused in fantasy and especially in MMOs, I'd prefer to see less of them than more.

[Lyth]

I don't think that the architectural design matters nearly as much as the feeling you get while you're progressing through the story.

Shadowbringers wasn't particularly groundbreaking when it came to fantasy design elements, but it did a great job of making you feel vulnerable early on. You're pitted against oppressive, relentless opponents in the sin eaters, and slowly, bit by bit you restore order. Likewise, the strongest part of Heavensward wasn't the setting but rather the setup. Everything that you accomplished through ARR is gone. You're a criminal, wanted for regicide, and forced to seek exile in a country where outsiders are viewed with suspicion. It's a bit unfortunate that they can't temporarily limit your access to major Eorzean cities during this part as they would be able to in a single player game. Imagine sneaking around Ul'dah in disguise, South Figaro style.

I don't think that the specific geographical theme of Meracydia matters so long as they can capture that same sense of vulnerability.

If they want to explore a Disciple of Magic protagonist this time around, it might be interesting to traverse a continent where people are stratified and valued (or discarded) on the basis of their magical talent. But you can do this equally well in steampunk as you can in a high fantasy setting. Perhaps a mix of both, with non-mages foraging for scrap parts while mages live in their floating palaces. It's really much more about the execution.