What is with the constant mistreatment of the Garlean story?(6.1 Patch spoilers)

[Schwarzwind]

Mistreatment is a strong word...

Sadly the game can not cater to everyones tastes. I am happy for example that the game focused more on the Ancients and the mainplot and not on Garlemald.

I understand that some players would have loved to see more of Garlemald or Garlean NPCs from sidecontent like Bozja. Yet other players would have loved to see more of other characters or areas as well and never got their wish. Think about Hingashi. We only really were able to visit Kugane and never got to see the rest of the nation. Or Dalmasca, which we only ever visit in a raid.

The game has limited resources each expansion and can only implement so much. Therefore it is not surprising that we were not able to travel through a lot of Garlean areas or provinces. Or inlcude all the NPcs and give them their finale onscreen. What we got is already more than I had hoped for, considering that this expansion wanted to wrap up all loose plotthreads.

The rolequest conclusion was in my opinion well done and gave Garlemald's story at least closure. It also showed that the effort of the WoL and scions to bring all nations together and overcome their differences finally played out. I was very happy to see them work and fight together. Nero was also a nice addition, since I have always liked him a lot. It was only disappointing that Gaius stayed away.

Something that is mentionded here and in other threads that I do not understand is, however, why some people think that this will be the last we see of Garlemald. The rolequest left all options for Garlemald's future open. There were NPCs that decided to rebuild their society and establish a new government. Only 3 young people + Nero decided to go to the moon in order to learn more about it.

Maybe we will be able to help rebuild Garlemald in a similar questline like Doma someday in the future or get a delivery questline on the moon that includes Nero and the others. I would really like to see more sidecontent like that that shows us how Garlemald's future develops.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Mistreatment is a strong word...

Sadly the game can not cater to everyones tastes. I am happy for example that the game focused more on the Ancients and the mainplot and not on Garlemald.

I understand that some players would have loved to see more of Garlemald or Garlean NPCs from sidecontent like Bozja. Yet other players would have loved to see more of other characters or areas as well and never got their wish. Think about Hingashi. We only really were able to visit Kugane and never got to see the rest of the nation. Or Dalmasca, which we only ever visit in a raid.

The game has limited resources each expansion and can only implement so much. Therefore it is not surprising that we were not able to travel through a lot of Garlean areas or provinces. Or inlcude all the NPcs and give them their finale onscreen. What we got is already more than I had hoped for, considering that this expansion wanted to wrap up all loose plotthreads.

The rolequest conclusion was in my opinion well done and gave Garlemald's story at least closure. It also showed that the effort of the WoL and scions to bring all nations together and overcome their differences finally played out. I was very happy to see them work and fight together. Nero was also a nice addition, since I have always liked him a lot. It was only disappointing that Gaius stayed away.

Something that is mentionded here and in other threads that I do not understand is, however, why some people think that this will be the last we see of Garlemald. The rolequest left all options for Garlemald's future open. There were NPCs that decided to rebuild their society and establish a new government. Only 3 young people + Nero decided to go to the moon in order to learn more about it.

Maybe we will be able to help rebuild Garlemald in a similar questline like Doma someday in the future or get a delivery questline on the moon that includes Nero and the others. I would really like to see more sidecontent like that that shows us how Garlemald's future develops.

I understand limited resources etc. However i’m questioning, why then build up certain characters throughout an entire expansion, like Nerva for example, only for them to be used as random fodder? Or another example being Gabranth who was built up through the Ivalice raid series and bozja. We know a garlemald expansion was cut, so that most likely would have something to do with it, but when they constantly mention things like Nerva, or foreshadow things like the 2nd legion in Corvos, but then kill them off offscreen, it just screams either bad writing, last minute changes, or both.

[tokinokanatae]

I'm a pretty close reader with a love of lore and political fantasy, but when my friend was giving me a play-by-play as they went through the job capstone quests and mentioned "Nerva", my response was--and I mean this literally--"who?" One person's "carefully built up" is another person's "I have no recollection of this character at all."

[Schwarzwind]

I understand limited resources etc. However i’m questioning, why then build up certain characters throughout an entire expansion, like Nerva for example, only for them to be used as random fodder? Or another example being Gabranth who was built up through the Ivalice raid series and bozja. We know a garlemald expansion was cut, so that most likely would have something to do with it, but when they constantly mention things like Nerva, or foreshadow things like the 2nd legion in Corvos, but then kill them off offscreen, it just screams either bad writing, last minute changes, or both.

I think you gave yourself your answer right there. A cut expansion means that they have to resolve all those character stories and loose plot points while setting up a new plot. Something has to give. And I do not think that Garlemald is the only victim in this. The MSQ suffert from this as well in my opinion and was rushed at some points and had lots of pacing issues. This is exactly why I love this patch so much. 6.1 felt much more relaxed in terms of pacing and gave the story and characters time to breath.

[Asari5]

i mean... they wanted to end it in 7.0... but they decides it would be too stretched out. so they ended it in 6.0. the result? 30% more story with a lot of things happening but also missing out of a lot of things. i assume zodiarc would have been the final boss in 6.0 and several maps for garlemald would have been on the table.

[KizuyaKatogami]

i mean... they wanted to end it in 7.0... but they decides it would be too stretched out. so they ended it in 6.0. the result? 30% more story with a lot of things happening but also missing out of a lot of things. i assume zodiarc would have been the final boss in 6.0 and several maps for garlemald would have been on the table.

They confirmed if 6.0 had been the garlemald expansion, Anima would have been the final boss, not Zodiark.

I'm a pretty close reader with a love of lore and political fantasy, but when my friend was giving me a play-by-play as they went through the job capstone quests and mentioned "Nerva", my response was--and I mean this literally--"who?" One person's "carefully built up" is another person's "I have no recollection of this character at all."

I think its just a matter of how much people pay attention. If im not mistaken Nerva was mentioned in almost every single patch 6.1+. Personally i was extremely interested in him mainly because we hadnt seen too much of people outside of the same faces of zenos,gaius,varis etc, so hearing a new name brought to the table was extremely interesting.

[SturmChurro]

I think you gave yourself your answer right there. A cut expansion means that they have to resolve all those character stories and loose plot points while setting up a new plot. Something has to give. And I do not think that Garlemald is the only victim in this. The MSQ suffert from this as well in my opinion and was rushed at some points and had lots of pacing issues. This is exactly why I love this patch so much. 6.1 felt much more relaxed in terms of pacing and gave the story and characters time to breath.

It did feel rushed, but Garlemald really got the short end of the stick. A lot of players seem to have this sort of phobia or hatred of the Garleans in general, especially in areas like twitter, so they were probably the easiest to just cut and get rid of.

[Schwarzwind]

It did feel rushed, but Garlemald really got the short end of the stick. A lot of players seem to have this sort of phobia or hatred of the Garleans in general, especially in areas like twitter, so they were probably the easiest to just cut and get rid of.

I am not disagreeing with you.
But if Garlemald really was so unpopular I understand why SE cut them short. In addition to the ressource problem. A shame, yes, but understandable to a degree because a story that focusses on unpopular characters or, in that case nations, is not adding anything to the longevity of the game. Let's just hope they do not cut short more plots in the future because that would hurt the game in the long run as well.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I am not disagreeing with you.
But if Garlemald really was so unpopular I understand why SE cut them short. In addition to the ressource problem. A shame, yes, but understandable to a degree because a story that focusses on unpopular characters or, in that case nations, is not adding anything to the longevity of the game. Let's just hope they do not cut short more plots in the future because that would hurt the game in the long run as well.

Tbf, whether it is popular or unpopular, i’d argue against it not adding anything to the longevity of the game. It’s a nation in the world. It’s a nation that has been a pretty big factor since the start of the game in 1.0, with many plot points and story elements of not only itself, but other nations attached to it as well.

[Brinne]

Honestly, when it comes to nations being mistreated or neglected by the narrative, I think it's the Gridanian fans that have far more a case than anyone else, lmao. (I would like to note that I am not, in fact, a Gridanian fan. But yikes!)