What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[aveyond-dreams]

words

Seriously this is going nowhere and all you are giving me are less reasons to be interested in whatever cause you're pushing, drop it. I would rather hand over the reigns of Summoner back to the warlocks I argued against for the past several months in exchange for an expansion set in the high fantasy zones of Heavensward or magitek zones of Garlemald than try my chances with Final Fantasy Safari Edition. I'll gladly put up with the era of 2015-style gameplay all over again if it means I actually get zones I want to go to and spend time in.

I just want a proper conclusion to Garlemald's story. Knowing we were meant to get an entire expansion devoted to it - which would have likely put it well on the path of recovery - simply makes it all the more jarring to see it go from showing up in almost every teaser cutscene to becoming completely irrelevant.

Agreed. A Garlemald expansion would have given so much to this game, far more than throwaway concepts like Dynamis ever could. We could have gotten blueish-green forests like that one scene where Alphinaud and Gaius came upon the camp afflicted by Black Rose. Perhaps even an entire Garlean main city, where we could have met up with surviving members of the royal family. There were so many possibilities and all of it thrown away for the sake of Meteion and Hermes.

Potential plots could have explored ideological differences between the different nobles and generals, with so many different figures from Russian or Roman history they could have been inspired from. We could have also been given characters that took after "imperials" from other games, such as Celes Chere. Imagine being able to witness and participate in her rescue in a 3d environment like FFXIV's, and witness her emotions in scenes like her being accused by a Kefka-like figure of being a spy to scenes based off the Opera, or her famous leap from the cliffs off the solitary island. Other figures could draw from people like Gabranth, whose story I desperately wanted to see through to the end only for Zadnor to leave me with no reason to bother continuing the Bozja storyline.

After watching the trailer it seems like the scions are still around, though I was shocked to see that Y'shtola had already begun trying to find ways to travel between worlds. Perhaps if something interesting comes of it soon then her screentime won't feel as wasted as it usually does. I imagine the dungeon we are visiting is located in the South Sea isles, and I look forward to teaming up with Estinien again for it. Garlemald's scenes appear to be linked to the role quests, which I am unfortunately too far behind in levelling to participate in yet. Still, what I saw seemed interesting even if that region appears to be ignored by the patch MSQ.

In any case, in wake of them wasting the opportunity for such an expansion we can only realistically hope we get to explore the former territories in the future, and that they are prioritized over the more obscure locations championed by other certain posters. Again, there is little entertainment value to be had for people outside hardcore fans of certain characters if we're just sent off to an empireless, godless region of the world that is too far removed from what got people interested in the first place.

[CrownySuccubus]

Seriously this is going nowhere and all you are giving me are less reasons to be interested in whatever cause you're pushing, drop it. I would rather hand over the reigns of Summoner back to the warlocks I argued against for the past several months in exchange for an expansion set in the high fantasy zones of Heavensward or magitek zones of Garlemald than try my chances with Final Fantasy Safari Edition.

Again, I don't care about convincing you, because you can't be convinced. Your entire premise here is based on the nonsensical assumption that all of Australia and other entire continents are a "safari", which is just laughably ignorant.

But as I said, if you want to stop, feel free to stop saying ridiculous things. Such as:

In any case, in wake of them wasting the opportunity for such an expansion we can only realistically hope we get to explore the former territories in the future, and that they are prioritized over the more obscure locations championed by other certain posters. Again, there is little entertainment value to be had for people outside hardcore fans of certain characters if we're just sent off to an empireless, godless region of the world that is too far removed from what got people interested in the first place.

Once again, "My tastes automatically reflect the FF majority and thus must be catered to at all times, without any exception".

[aveyond-dreams]

"My tastes automatically reflect the FF majority and thus must be catered to at all times, without any exception".

I guarantee you that the majority of Final Fantasy players will gravitate more towards a game set in a European or Far Eastern region than they would an Australian, New World, or African one. Defy those tastes and let's see how far the Final Fantasy name brand will carry such a game, because goodness knows they'd never go near it without it.

I understand this may be difficult to understand if the circles you run in revolve around the twitter/tumblr crowd who value checking things off their many lists to include in-game rather than providing entertainment of substance, but it is the truth. What on earth about the wastelands of Australia are going to make people go, "Woah! I want to go there!" Like the skyscrapers of Insomnia or the towers of Ishgard invoked?

Am I seriously supposed to get hyped for a giant rock in the middle of nowhere?

[CrownySuccubus]

I guarantee you that the majority of Final Fantasy players will gravitate more towards a game set in a European or Far Eastern region than they would an Australian, New World, or African one. Defy those tastes and let's see how far the Final Fantasy name brand will carry such a game, because goodness knows they'd never go near it without it.

SOURCE: "Trust me bro".

Am I seriously supposed to get hyped for a giant rock in the middle of nowhere?

Oh, that's the ONLY thing to see in Australia? My mistake. These must be from Narnia, then:





When we expand to the greater Oceania region, we also get:

[Theodric]

What on earth about the wastelands of Australia are going to make people go, "Woah! I want to go there!" Like the skyscrapers of Insomnia or the towers of Ishgard invoked?

A good looking surfer with a design similar to Snow Villiers complete with an Australian accent?

I guess we could replace 'surfer' with 'blitzballer' to give it a more Final Fantasy feel.

[aveyond-dreams]

A good looking surfer with a design similar to Snow Villiers complete with an Australian accent?

Careful now, that probably is not inspired enough by "indigenous representation" and could cause yet another FFXIV social media controversy! Admittedly however, I would be more willing to welcome the advances of an athletic man with more masculine tendencies than I would be of someone like G'raha Tia and his kindergarten schoolgirl haircut. Be sure to include the likes of characters similar to Vanille as well please, she and Snow were both my favorites in FFXIII.

[Theodric]

Careful now, that probably is not inspired enough by "indigenous representation" and could cause yet another FFXIV social media controversy! Admittedly however, I would be more willing to welcome the advances of an athletic man with more masculine tendencies than I would be of someone like G'raha Tia and his kindergarten schoolgirl haircut. Be sure to include the likes of characters similar to Vanille as well please, she and Snow were both my favorites in FFXIII.

Yeah, I'd like more conventionally attractive male characters to interact with as well. For as much as some like to pretend as if JRPG's default to mostly androgynous looking men, I disagree since they're usually balanced out by the presence of a bunch of classically handsome and ruggedly handsome guys.

Thancred and Estinien are decent but I'd like someone designed along the lines of Hien as a permanent addition to the main cast and not just hidden away in side quests.

I'm glad that the character models are getting a new coat of paint. If they manage to fix the Highlander models and allow me to finally play a conventionally attractive male character who is muscular and tall then I'll be very happy.

There's always been something 'off' to me about many of the design decisions for the likes of G'raha. His voice doesn't match his features or mannerisms at all.

[Brinne]

It's me. I will happily take up the mantle of being part of the masses of very scary "twitter/tumblr fandom" that threatens to take away aveyond-dream's precious castles and their conviction that they can definitively speak for the Final Fantasy fandom, forever. I mean, I love Zenos, I occasionally go to Twitter, and I would be more than happy to explore an Australia or Africa-themed expansion. Truly I qualify as the stuff of nightmares.

Careful now, that probably is not inspired enough by "indigenous representation" and could cause yet another FFXIV social media controversy!

Goodness, you are upset about that one piece of criticism of your extremely long 7.0 fanfiction, aren't you?

[tokinokanatae]

I guarantee you that the majority of Final Fantasy players will gravitate more towards a game set in a European or Far Eastern region than they would an Australian, New World, or African one. Defy those tastes and let's see how far the Final Fantasy name brand will carry such a game, because goodness knows they'd never go near it without it.

Actually, I don't think most FFXIV players are as obsessed with locales as you are--and I say that as someone that likes locales very much. Locales are something most players accept passively. They just want it to look cool, and their range of cool isn't as limited as yours is. No one in chat for the LL watched the trailer and said, "a jungle dungeon?? Wow, cancelling my sub right now."

Again, you've already put forth your ideal vision for 7.0. It's not a 300 page thread full of wonder and excitement as you would expect if you truly have the pulse of what the fanbase wants as much as you claim. It seems more to me like your raging about "safaris" and "jungles" and "tumblr" are less about objective fact and more about your fears that the fanbase doesn't actually agree with you at all--and are more diverse than you'd like. A worry that the opinions of others count just as much in the eyes of the devs as yours.

Am I seriously supposed to get hyped for a giant rock in the middle of nowhere?

Now it's just sad that you would see scenery like that and think it has no place in the game. Your desperation to pretend natural beauty has only one form grows more and more pathetic the more you post about it.

[aveyond-dreams]

Actually, I don't think most FFXIV players are as obsessed with locales as you are--and I say that as someone that likes locales very much. Locales are something most players accept passively. They just want it to look cool, and their range of cool isn't as limited as yours is. No one in chat for the LL watched the trailer and said, "a jungle dungeon?? Wow, cancelling my sub right now."

Again, you've already put forth your ideal vision for 7.0. It's not a 300 page thread full of wonder and excitement as you would expect if you truly have the pulse of what the fanbase wants as much as you claim. It seems more to me like your raging about "safaris" and "jungles" and "tumblr" are less about objective fact and more about your fears that the fanbase doesn't actually agree with you at all--and are more diverse than you'd like. A worry that the opinions of others count just as much in the eyes of the devs as yours.

Can't say I'm particularly worried considering the fact that Creative Business Unit III is quite literally making the next mainline FF game tailored around my tastes. Seems my "vision" will be realized there as what will probably be the best mainline FF experience since the days of FFXII.

You are also mistaking a level vs an entire geographic area. No one minds if a level or dungeon deviates from the norm. What I mind and take great issue with is having my time wasted like the 3 zones of Gyr Abania and I do not want a repeat of that situation, not with how many of my favourite elements have been stripped from the plot and how bland the remaining characters are.

Additional edit because I'm not in the mood to waste one of my daily posts specifically for your later comment on this page = An empire with complex characters like Varis etc will always be more interesting than plushie Scions doing nothing in the middle of nowhere. The fluff and beach-episode locations belong on twitter for role players to comission fanart of, not for it to take up valuable screentime.

images

I see a generic tropical beach, a mansion someone made the decision to paint yellow for some reason, and a place full of fog that I cannot tell whether I am looking at Australia or some misty part of the UK.

If this is all you can bring out to market your Australia expansion you will have to do a better job to get me interested. Your rock and beach are not going to win against this when it comes to Final Fantasy fans. And that is why this is being made into a full-fledged Final Fantasy game and not whatever it is you're jumping through hoops to justify: