Future direction of FFXIV

[KizuyaKatogami]

I am well aware they don't have everything planned out in advance, they say as much all the time. The same interview where they talk about how they wrote the Ascians over the years is the one people keep saying mentioned a Garlemald expansion being cut, when it never said that.

Having a good idea about what they would do if they decided to do two is not the same as cutting an expansion.

But they’ve stated in another interview that most of the devs thought they would be doing said 1-2 other expansions. We get Ishikawa’s take on this where she says it was overwhelming and then Yoshi said he knew it would be but he knew they could handle it. There’s numerous signs one was cut. From the random Varis fight in Bozja, to the entire bozja storyline basically resolving completely offscreen because they can’t really finish it if Garlemald isn’t in the story anymore… And then there’s the matter of that slide for ShB talking about Garlemald and yeah there’s just too much that points to it being a thing.

[MikkoAkure]

But they’ve stated in another interview that most of the devs thought they would be doing said 1-2 other expansions. We get Ishikawa’s take on this where she says it was overwhelming and then Yoshi said he knew it would be but he knew they could handle it. There’s numerous signs one was cut. From the random Varis fight in Bozja, to the entire bozja storyline basically resolving completely offscreen because they can’t really finish it if Garlemald isn’t in the story anymore… And then there’s the matter of that slide for ShB talking about Garlemald and yeah there’s just too much that points to it being a thing.

According to Matsuno himself, the Bozja storyline ended abruptly because the reception to the plot was mixed in Japan and Bozja is already freed anyway.

I don't know the impression well outside Japan.
There were pros and cons in Japan.
Some people said it was good, but other said it was the worst.
In any case, this story was completed because the Bozja was liberated.
Thank you.

The whole thing was separated from the Garlean storyline anyway. The whole point of the plot was a whole legion going rogue trying to make their own country and having nothing to do with Garlemald anymore. It would never have been a part of a possible Garlean expansion MSQ regardless unless they decided to pull another Crystal Tower and require all players complete the Return to Ivalice and Bozja storylines, which would have been a tall order.

And while I wish we got more Garlemald, they kind of flubbed the whole pacing by sending us to a side-dimension while things on the Source go on without us and then revealing probably a little bit too much about the greater backstory. And there's also the fact a Garlemald-centric expansion would have been Stormblood all over again, which would have just been covering the worst-received expansion for a second time. But in the end, Oda says the flow of the plot didn't change much from condensing it into one expansion anyway.