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

[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.

[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.

[Lauront]

At this point, they seem to be moving from the "liberation" plots to this "conflict of values" (whatever that means.) Depending on what that is, it could be good or bad. I just hope they keep any preaching - particularly from Alphinaud - to a bare minimum and that if they can't handle any "regime change" style plots with the sort of nuance they introduced to Bozja (regardless of how well that scenario executed it in practice), to refrain from it and stick to nasty creatures jumping out of shady portals or something, because the last thing I want is to see a repeat of EW, where my character is railroaded into particular responses. Yoshi has conveyed in interviews before that he understands that morality is quite complex and nuanced as a subject, so I hope that carries over into the next part of the story better than it did in EW.

As for the LL, the Twelve stuff could be interesting; seems like it covers Rhalgr, Byregot, Azeyma and Nald'thal. Also seems like the big tower in Garlemald will feature in some way, alongside Fourchenault, and that they're delving into the topic of the Reflections (to which I wonder if that scene with the cultist types, who look like the Lambs of Dalamud, has some bearing - the robes are definitely not typical Ascian robes in design at least.) Nothing overly exciting so we'll see what the 12th brings... besides the Twelve. :`)

[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:

[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.

[tokinokanatae]

If you're so excited about FFXVI and confident that the devs share your taste and vision, why are you so scared that FFXIV is moving in a direction you don't like? Maybe Garlemald 2.0: Even More Fascist will be right up your alley! It's not like you have any information about 7.0 at this point, so all this theater about how they better consult you on their design documents is just that. Theater.

[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?

[Sicno]

I thought Eureka was supposed to be Australia. Especially the part about giant creatures trying to kill you.

[aveyond-dreams]

All this talk and still no one championing the cause of the Africa/New World expansion can be bothered to come up with a concept that provides any entertainment of substance for those of us outside the fanclubs of Zenos and G'raha Tia.

You don't want churches, don't want monarchies, knights, empires, magitek, what on earth do you want then? A picnic on top of the rock I found on google? My expansion concept may have had its flaws but at least I could string together a plot with a beginning, middle, and end.