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

[aveyond-dreams]

*points to Trachtoum*
*points to Mimidoa*
*points to sylphs*
*points to moogles*
*points to JP Haurchefant*
*points to half of ARR being a parade of minor characters in varying degrees of quirkiness*

Mimidoa leads into the iconic fight against Siren, one of my better memories from ARR. From what I remember he's a little Tyrion-type character that I'm surprised hasn't been called out by twitter as being problematic, and the current localization team would likely shy away from characters like him in favor of fleshing out the intricacies of what pronouns fae creatures use in Il Mheg. Mimidoa is not comparable to something as innocous and inoffensive as the catboy hamburger scene or the cartoon rabbits on the moon.

The Sylphs make the player characters do ridiculous things but they didn't outstay their welcome nor did they implant themselves in a moment as serious as shortly after the demise of Zodiark like the Loporrits did. The Sylphs were a part of FFXIV's world that was charming and fitting, not forceful "light-heartedness" shoved in just for the sake of it.

The Moogles are quite similar in this regard. A Final Fantasy staple, of course they were going to be ridiculous but again didn't outstay their welcome. In Heavensward they were used to payoff an earlier plot point about the Moogle King and watching characters like Estinien and Sigurdu call them out on their nonsense. Instead in EW Thancred just stoically nods and barely has a reaction to learning that the First would be abandoned if they go along with the Loporrits' plan.

I haven't played the JP version so I cannot speak at length about how Haurchefant behaves there but compared to the others characters in Ishgard he was one of the least memorable ones aside from his sacrifice at the Vault. I have very little relevant memories of him otherwise. In any case he wasn't nearly as forceful in the english version as G'raha Tia currently is.

ARR's characters were a lot rougher around the edges and less "tame" than some of the newer characters are. Back then they weren't afraid to go full medieval - now they are for fear of offending the twitter playerbase who cannot handle anything bad happening to their comfort characters nor characters that don't align with modern-day morals. You'll never see another Mimidoa, or anything in that vein with this current writing style, because someone will make a post along the lines of:

"Um, can we talk about how X character is so problematic? I can't believe that SE would enable this kind of mentality ingame like this"

"I can't believe that they really did that to X, do they hate Y group?"

and instead of ignoring these individuals and their circles SE in it's current state would more than likely bend to their whims and curtail the story to fit their worldview. The only way to be safe with those people is to do nothing but memes and jokes. The fact that I may have to cede this territory to them is something that bothers me greatly, I came here for a decent Final Fantasy story and gameplay but it's looking like there may come a point where we end up with neither.

[kpxmanifesto]

I would say the MSQ is steering itself to become as silly as Hildibrand. The only difference is that there are bigger issues the main characters have to deal with in the MSQ as opposed to the Hildibrand line. In fact, by 8.0 I would bet there will be a dancing segment fully animated and lasting for a minimum of 20-30 seconds featuring some of the main cast while an important plot point gets relegated to a text blurb over spending the time to actually show it in engine because dancing emet meme so funny!

We might as well just go full Looney Tunes at this point. The next expansion's final boss will be taken out by a giant rocket with the words "ACME CO." printed on the side. The boss will be covered in black soot and he'll slowly turn to face the camera with an exasperated look while the end credits start to play.

[Raoabolic]

We might as well just go full Looney Tunes at this point. The next expansion's final boss will be taken out by a giant rocket with the words "ACME CO." printed on the side. The boss will be covered in black soot and he'll slowly turn to face the camera with an exasperated look while the end credits start to play.

Oh come on now, that's just being silly. The rocket would be powered by aether and have the grand company logos on it and the boss would particle fade away after he looked at the camera. Sad music would then play. This is a very serious scene, please pay the reverence it deserves.

[LeonKeyh]

It's very much clear that the "quirkiness" was added in Endwalker to be a counterweight to the low points in the expansion. Shadowbringers was great but ended up being very emotionally draining from a story standpoint and they wanted to get as dark or more dark in Endwalker but felt the need to add those counterpoints to lighten the story.

If you think any of those are near the absurdity of Hildibrand, I feel like you have only heard of what Hildibrand is and haven't experienced it.

Endwalker was far from perfect, but if you feel like it was on the level of Looney Tunes, I have no idea what to say.

I haven't played the JP version so I cannot speak at length about how Haurchefant behaves there but compared to the others characters in Ishgard he was one of the least memorable ones aside from his sacrifice at the Vault. I have very little relevant memories of him otherwise. In any case he wasn't nearly as forceful in the english version as G'raha Tia currently is.

JP Haurchefant (AKA Whorechefant) is a horrible womanizer/manizer who blatantly (and uncomfortably) flirts with the WoL. Brochefant (EN) is much better. JP lines include:


HAURCHEFANT: Oh, if it isn’t WoL! What is it? Have you come to show me the development of your chiseled body?

HAURCHEFANT: I see, I see! Though the matter of the supplies is rather unfortunate, it has led to your unexpected reappearance… Finally, the day has come when your sweat will sparkle in these snowy fields once more!
HAURCHEFANT: If you learn anything of value, please come share the news with me as well. Fufu… but this area has become increasingly cold, hasn’t it? A warm bed will be waiting for you!

[kpxmanifesto]

Oh come on now, that's just being silly. The rocket would be powered by aether and have the grand company logos on it and the boss would particle fade away after he looked at the camera. Sad music would then play. This is a very serious scene, please pay the reverence it deserves.

You're right, I forgot. The boss will be voiced by Samuel L. Jackson, and right before he completely particle fades away he says: "Oh no, motherfu-..."

[aveyond-dreams]


HAURCHEFANT: Oh, if it isn’t WoL! What is it? Have you come to show me the development of your chiseled body?

HAURCHEFANT: I see, I see! Though the matter of the supplies is rather unfortunate, it has led to your unexpected reappearance… Finally, the day has come when your sweat will sparkle in these snowy fields once more!
HAURCHEFANT: If you learn anything of value, please come share the news with me as well. Fufu… but this area has become increasingly cold, hasn’t it? A warm bed will be waiting for you!

Goodness, I didn't think it was possible to more forceful than G'raha Tia but I stand corrected. Thank you to Koji Fox for keeping that stuff out of the English localization. It's just so uncomfortable. The number one way to get someone to hate a character is to force them onto the player like this without also giving them the ability to tell them to get lost.

Also, interesting to note how it's only men in game who speak that way and that no women I can think of speak or behave in such an explicit manner. A bit one sided.

[KizuyaKatogami]

It's very much clear that the "quirkiness" was added in Endwalker to be a counterweight to the low points in the expansion. Shadowbringers was great but ended up being very emotionally draining from a story standpoint and they wanted to get as dark or more dark in Endwalker but felt the need to add those counterpoints to lighten the story.

If you think any of those are near the absurdity of Hildibrand, I feel like you have only heard of what Hildibrand is and haven't experienced it.

Endwalker was far from perfect, but if you feel like it was on the level of Looney Tunes, I have no idea what to say.



JP Haurchefant (AKA Whorechefant) is a horrible womanizer/manizer who blatantly (and uncomfortably) flirts with the WoL. Brochefant (EN) is much better. JP lines include:


HAURCHEFANT: Oh, if it isn’t WoL! What is it? Have you come to show me the development of your chiseled body?

HAURCHEFANT: I see, I see! Though the matter of the supplies is rather unfortunate, it has led to your unexpected reappearance… Finally, the day has come when your sweat will sparkle in these snowy fields once more!
HAURCHEFANT: If you learn anything of value, please come share the news with me as well. Fufu… but this area has become increasingly cold, hasn’t it? A warm bed will be waiting for you!

What low points though? It’s hard to take the “dark” stuff seriously when it either only happens to random npc’s or it’s immediately followed up by “lul funny rabbits.” It’s why i think Garlemald was one of if not the best part of the msq. It was dark yes, and they didn’t undermine it with any silly antics.

[MikkoAkure]

If you had actually read my post, you would have seen that i stated other ff's have scenes like this yes, however they arent as littered with them as ff14 is AND they are well executed and placed in proper areas that make sense.

In FF7, you can steal Tifa’s underwear in a serious flashback scene and Tifa even yells at you that you’re supposed to be taking this seriously.

You utilize a dolphin to jump and put you up into a Shinra base you’re sneaking into.

Red XIII dresses in a Shinra uniform and pretends to be a human while sneaking on a ship.

Tifa escapes being executed and has a slap fight with Scarlett on top of a giant gun.

Cait Sith exists.

[aveyond-dreams]

Thank you for describing a series of scenes and characters that were nowhere nearly as grating as the nonsense with G'raha Tia and the Loporrits were. It has gotten to the point for me at least where whenever G'raha Tia comes on screen, my motivation to play the game drops. He represents so many of the things that have gone wrong lately with recent writing and since PvE gameplay is floundering worse than PvP gameplay - somehow - this game's future is becoming increasingly concerning.

[RyuDragnier]

Thank you for describing a series of scenes that were nowhere nearly as grating as the nonsense with G'raha Tia and the Loporrits were.

To you maybe. I hated all of those scenes and sincerely hope they never show up in FF7R. Because if the Tifa vs Scarlet fight happens...I want kung-fu fighting.