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

[Erendis]

Yeah, I'll admit that I was kind of let down by how they've handled Garlemald. It was unfortunate they they destroyed it off screen, but I was willing to forgive that if they were going to let us restore it (new crafting area anyone?). Instead they were like "Screw it, too hard. Let's go to the moon." Seriously? It seems like their development habits have permeated the storyline now.

Not all of them went to the moon, just smaller part of them.

[deadman1204]

theres only so many stories there is time to tell. There are endless story threads left unexplored in the game

[SieyaM]

Even before EW released, Yoshi-P was talking about plot threads on how Zenos became a reaper and made a pact with his voidsent, along with talking about that it was quite unique and that these plot threads would be discussed and explored in the future.

Considering the direction 6.1's MSQ went, its not surprising they're bringing that avatar into the equation. That being said, given the finale send off they gave him at the end of 6.0, it's a high chance the "I am returned" line is just a fakeout for the playerbase, and its actually just the creature itself mentioning its back in the void once again.

Why is this MSQ though and not RPR questline filler, this has everything to do with RPRs and their job and could have easily been put there if they slotted out Zenos with some other random psycho to play the minor villain in that job quest.

[CrownySuccubus]

Why is this MSQ though and not RPR questline filler, this has everything to do with RPRs and their job and could have easily been put there if they slotted out Zenos with some other random psycho to play the minor villain in that job quest.

We honestly don't know if it IS MSQ stuff yet.

Elidibus/Themis was teased twice in the 6.0 MSQ questline, and then that turned out to be optional Raid content.

[Kozh]

The conclusion of Garlemald is such a let down for me. A waste of potential, I'd say. Feels like the devs doesn't know what to do with them or doesn't know how to write engaging political story, so they choose the easy way out.

I get that to some people Garlemald isn't interesting, for now. But that's the point of developing them in future story isn't it? We only saw a glimpse oftheir civilian life, their culture, etc. What's their history pre-empire (after being driven out from corvos)? How do they survive the harsh environment without magic? Let us see more about reaper lore perhaps?

I really hope that since alphinaud and alisae are still with them, we at least will visit the garleans again in the future. Even if it's only to show what happened to the rest of the people.

And honestly, this is just me, but for a group of people with "disability" to be treated with the most unfair treatment... kinda left a sour taste in my mouth.

[Corvus_V]

https://www.nhk.or.jp/anime/ff/ranking/?cat=series

Among the FFXIV characters, the only Garleans who ranked at all were Zenos and Asahi, who is a meme character in Japan. Keep in mind Minfilia, generally acknowledged as a very unpopular character, managed to rank near the very bottom.

lmao

so they choose the easy way out...

I get that to some people Garlemald isn't interesting, for now. But that's the point of developing them in future story isn't it? We only saw a glimpse of their civilian life, their culture, etc. What's their history pre-empire (after being driven out from corvos)? How do they survive the harsh environment without magic? Let us see more about reaper lore perhaps?

I really hope that since alphinaud and alisae are still with them, we at least will visit the garleans again in the future. Even if it's only to show what happened to the rest of the people.

And honestly, this is just me, but for a group of people with "disability" to be treated with the most unfair treatment... kinda left a sour taste in my mouth.

The more I look at it the more it does seem like they "took the easy way out" by basically nuking the nation in its entirety so there really isn't space for growth into some kind of readable conflict or story. I would not be surprised if that's the end of it and any remaining Garleans become side characters to the main cast, barring potentially zenos, which is ironic to me. I would prefer to be able to shut the guy out but I have a feeling theyre somehow going to revive him again and then force a redemption arc of some kind. The best I can personally hope for from my own preferences is more or less sidequests centered around rebuilding Garlemald because I have huge doubts they'll ever give it the Ishgard treatment, and everything else will move entirely past it and focus on the other shards.

I didn't really like Bozja's story either, but it wasn't exactly centered around Garlemald either, it was more about, iirc, some guy who was from a conquered nation who became a legatus and wants to make his own nation. So, like, rebels fighting rebels? I guess?

really everything i would've preferred to see at this point is too far gone; they simply cant do it with whats canon at the moment

[Theodric]

The conclusion of Garlemald is such a let down for me. A waste of potential, I'd say. Feels like the devs doesn't know what to do with them or doesn't know how to write engaging political story, so they choose the easy way out.

I get that to some people Garlemald isn't interesting, for now. But that's the point of developing them in future story isn't it? We only saw a glimpse oftheir civilian life, their culture, etc. What's their history pre-empire (after being driven out from corvos)? How do they survive the harsh environment without magic? Let us see more about reaper lore perhaps?

I really hope that since alphinaud and alisae are still with them, we at least will visit the garleans again in the future. Even if it's only to show what happened to the rest of the people.

And honestly, this is just me, but for a group of people with "disability" to be treated with the most unfair treatment... kinda left a sour taste in my mouth.

There's a lot of intriguing Garlean lore hidden away in side content that I really would have liked to have seen shuffled over to the MSQ's. It's kind of weird that the MSQ's pushed the stereotypical caricatures of cruel and ruthless soldiers so heavily. That sort of thing worked better back in the days of ARR when every in-game nation was portrayed as flawed and yet over time many soft and heavy retcons or story resolutions led to a 'nicer' image for the major City States.

It's weird that they saw fit not to give the Garleans that same treatment until after everything had crashed and burned.

[KurohNeko]

FFXIV never had a good story. Its just people overhyping it just because stories in other MMOs are either poorly told or just never really focused on them. This includes Heavensward, and Shadowbringers, stories told in those expansions have been already explored in other single player rpgs with infinitely better characters and presentation.

I'm sorry show me a game where the world is split into 13 pieces due to an ancient God like race trying to subvert the apocalypse and reconjoin the worlds bit by bit through calamites rejoining not just the worlds but peoples souls both wiping some memories each time to making them stronger and stronger as wanted by the mac daddy of ancients who sundered the world in the first place so that humanity would ascend past it's limitations by losing it's wings falling from grace and learning to walk, and the apocalypse being caused by one of the Gods creating a weapon of concentrated emotion whom he sent out into space to find the meaning of life and life on other worlds only to wind up with a dead space scenario where everyone is miserable and everything, even the worlds that obtain perfection, turn to dust and fall to nihilism as even the universe itself is hurtling to an inevitable heat death driving said emotional birb insane with despair to the point of becoming the stories main antagonist and driving world after world to extinction in some vain idea of mercy only to have her ass kicked by a God slaying empire destroying bad ass riding a dragon that used to be his mortal enemy through space to teach not only the bird but the other Gods that there isn't an objective meaning of life and you have to find it and you can't create paradise as paradise itself is Hell and that you must embrace suffering and turmoil and learn to overcome it without trying to do away with all of it.

Sure, some games touch on this, normally only one aspect. Not multiple. FF14 shifts entire genres from a LOTR style in Heavensward to some political theatre game of thrones in Stormblood to some world traveling ancient aliens shit in Shadowbringer and lastly dead space meets magic and ancient aliens in Endwalker. The writing may not be perfect, but those who say the story isn't good either fall into cutscene skippers who weren't paying attention, those with the literary ability of someone who binges marvel movies or someone with the intelligence level equal to a moogle.

[KurohNeko]

Between the whole place getting destroyed off screen, Regula getting shafted again and again, especially with us not even being able to mention him to Varis doing the alliance meeting and him not getting any sort of revels whatsoever in the weapons questline. Bozja being a cliffhanger that amounts to nothing and kills off its most prominent character off screen, to now the second legion being confirmed as destroyed so that whole Corvos plot line is gone, Nerva being built up all throughout ShB only to just end up as a blasphemy fodder without even his own model and used as a reskinned boss. To now the garleans just saying bye and going to the moon. Is this the superb writing everyone talks about? Building up plot points only for them to all be destroyed off screen or amounted to nothing more than fodder?

Bozja writer died or something before it finished so SE just dropped it.

[Kazhar]

I'm sorry show me a game where the world is split into 13 pieces due to an ancient God like race trying to subvert the apocalypse and reconjoin the worlds bit by bit through calamites rejoining not just the worlds but peoples souls both wiping some memories each time to making them stronger and stronger as wanted by the mac daddy of ancients who sundered the world in the first place so that humanity would ascend past it's limitations by losing it's wings falling from grace and learning to walk, and the apocalypse being caused by one of the Gods creating a weapon of concentrated emotion whom he sent out into space to find the meaning of life and life on other worlds only to wind up with a dead space scenario where everyone is miserable and everything, even the worlds that obtain perfection, turn to dust and fall to nihilism as even the universe itself is hurtling to an inevitable heat death driving said emotional birb insane with despair to the point of becoming the stories main antagonist and driving world after world to extinction in some vain idea of mercy only to have her ass kicked by a God slaying empire destroying bad ass riding a dragon that used to be his mortal enemy through space to teach not only the bird but the other Gods that there isn't an objective meaning of life and you have to find it and you can't create paradise as paradise itself is Hell and that you must embrace suffering and turmoil and learn to overcome it without trying to do away with all of it.

Those are certainly events which happens in FFXIV's story, but what about it makes it good? If anything your poor summary makes it feel it finally reached Kingdom Hearts levels of overly complicated.

Bozja writer died or something before it finished so SE just dropped it.

... Yasumi Matsuno is still alive and was the one who wrote the field reports which concluded the story.