We are brutal to the beast tribes

[SentioftheHoukai]

And on a more meta level it's because the ARR-onward developers didn't want to do that story. There was a big change in tone and direction between 1.0 and 2.0, and this was just part of it. My guess is the reasoning had three facets.

1. During ARR they didn't know they'd get to do anything else, the project was just 'make sure there's something not-shameful that we can call FFXIV'. That means focusing down the main story, which means filing off some of the more prevalent further content hooks 1.0 had.
2. Take away any inherent starting-zone bias in potential later content. 1.0 was setting the Shroud up to be the core of the endgame, which would make the people who started elsewhere feel a bit second-class. Basically the reason Revenant's Toll exists.
3. Just straight-up tonal difference. I don't know what 1.0's plans for the Shroud were exactly, but given the live game scaled back a bunch of the dark elements in 1.0 it's entirely possible that whatever was planned was just NOT something the new developers wanted to touch.

Not even gonna lie, it does interest me where they'd have taken that. Gaia's Wrath giving abusers of what's not truly theirs out of conceit what's coming to them just appeals to me as a concept. I can see why they'd not want such in their game though, they tend to put the more...... divisive topics on the back-burner or keep them out of focus, so to speak.

[Brightamethyst]

Gaia's Wrath giving abusers of what's not truly theirs out of conceit what's coming to them just appeals to me as a concept.

Problem is, that's not the only thing happening. The elementals aren't benevolent protectors of the forest. They're unpredictable forces of nature. Incredibly quick to anger and will punish pretty much anyone for any reason whether they deserve it or not, and feel completely justified in doing so. That's not justice, it's arrogance and bullying.

Just look at the EW tank role quests...

[DPZ2]

We spend a lot of time being show the horrors of the Garlean Empire and what its like under their authoritarian rule, and rightly so, but most of Eorza’s main cities have their own gaping issues that rarely got touched upon.

I believe that standard operating procedure for the Garlean Empire was to eradicate Beast Tribes because they call upon Primals, enslave entire populations of people and force them to work until they die of exhaustion, conscript conquered populations into the armed forces to further conquer non-enslaved populations, is different from the 'gaping issues' of Eorzea's main cities by major orders of magnitude. It's kinda like comparing an iceberg to an icecube. Both are made of frozen water, but the potential for disaster is much much higher in the case of the iceberg.

Does Eorzea have problems? Yup. Just not to the extent that some would like to believe.

We haven't focused on them in the past because, well, the Garleans were a big enough threat in and of themselves. We still managed to resolve issues surrounding the treatment of the so-called beast tribes. We also managed to move through the Garlean homeland without becoming them, which is major in and of itself.

[Cleretic]

Another thing to remember about the Elementals is that their whole thing pre-ARR was very much informed by combining Celtic fae with Japanese kami. We actually know what the current writers would do with both of those features if they wanted to use them, because Stormblood brought straight-up kami and Shadowbringers brought straight-up fae.

So... what benefit would there be to having full-power Elementals with the current writers, given we already know everything they'd do with them? The weakened elementals are actually more interesting, because that brings a new relationship, where the the people, the theocracy and the deity don't have a clear heirarchy of power between them. That opens up a lot of options that you don't have anywhere else, with Stormblood Leatherworker introducing a Hearer lying about the Elementals' wishes, or the Endwalker tank quests' approach of communicating to the Elementals as equals rather than gods.

It also makes the Elementals less actively antagonistic and loathed, which is good if they don't actually want us to think we should kill them. Which I think is good, I don't think we need a story arc of 'Ferngully but the loggers are the heroes'.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Gridania has had basically no MSQ focus since the Ramuh arc back in post-ARR. We meet up or pass through once in a while, but it's always about things going on in the larger world, not about the Twelveswood itself. We just get reminded that, oh yeah, they're still here.

[Veloran]

Frankly, I'm not sure why they even bothered to close all the conflicts with the Beast Tribes before Endwalker. None of the issues leading to the conflicts between the city-states and the tribes were really resolved (other than passing the buck on to the Garleans and saying "well, Garlemald is done now"), so all we're really left with is an overly-idealized new status quo where everything has been tied up into a neat ribbon, and the setting in Eorzea is left much more flat for it.

I mean really, none of the Beast Tribe issues feel very concluded at all. How does Merlwyb sticking her neck out for peace solve the issue of the Sahagin needing more coastal area for their spawning grounds, and the Kobolds being forced off land that now belongs to Limsa? Is Limsa going to give up it's coastline and settled farmlands? The Goblins and Amalj'aa were originally kicked out of Ul'dah and suppressed so the Syndicate could keep their monopoly on trade, have they all just turned over a new leaf and renounced their greed? The Ixal weren't even exiled to the mountains because of Gridania, it was the Elementals, so will the Elementals just be convinced to let them back in, and to allow their settlement of the forests? And I know we solved the tempering issue technically, but it's a bit baffling to think that a bunch of people who are tempered would just allow themselves to be untempered, and even moreso that they wouldn't continue with their religious zealotry when that was what led them to summoning in the first place. If Primals are summoned with the proper rights they won't even drain the land, right? So surely they would just do it anyway now?

This isn't even purely a Beast Tribe thing. Ala Mhigo was impoverished a hundred years ago because their trade routes were made obsolete by better seaway travel, is that just a non-problem? The Eorzean Alliance as a whole just lost their main casus belli for joining together in the first place, is everyone just such great friends that they'll stay united with the vague goal of maintaining peace? Everything is just so clean and tidy right now, it hardly even feels like the setting with so much complexity and opposing motivations which started in 1.0 and ARR.

[Cleretic]

Gridania has had basically no MSQ focus since the Ramuh arc back in post-ARR. We meet up or pass through once in a while, but it's always about things going on in the larger world, not about the Twelveswood itself. We just get reminded that, oh yeah, they're still here.

I suspect that they'll get a patch focusing on them sometime in the 6.x run, in the same way Ul'Dah had a good one in Stormblood and Limsa had a really good one in Shadowbringers.

[Dikatis]

Snip.

The point isn't that everything is fixed and hunky dorky. Merlwyb sticking her neck out is the first step toward peace as the Lominsans are likely to renegotiate land and formally enshrine the recognition of Sahagin and Kobold territories and their rights as sovereign nations and people. But there are sitll problems. In the melee DPS quests, the Coral Tridents are still devoted to Leviathan and want to summon him again, with their version of events driving the Sahagin broodmother into despair and turning her into a blasphemy. And yet, Merlwyb's choice to finally bury the hatchet when she wasn't opposed to going to war with the Sahagin again in 2.0 is acknowledgement of the Lominsans' wrongdoing and a first step toward peace, as shown by how she is able to actively cooperate with the "fishbacks" she would've shot dead on sight at the start of the story.

The Syndicate definitely hasn't turned over a new leaf, but Lolorito's peace offering of half his wealth in exchange for a blank ledger means that Nanamo has the coffers necessary to properly push back against their policies. Pipin has likely taken over Raubahn's seat on the Syndicate and Nanamo's growing confidence means that she's much more likely to be able to handle herself and lead Ul'dah to a more equal future. With all likelihood, the Amal'jaa and Goblins will likely be treated like the Zun on the First if Nanamo is able to stay the course.

Ala Mhigo is still rebuilding, with Nanamo and Raubahn having to keep an especially close eye on contracts to keep Lolorito from robbing the Ala Mhigans blind. But progress IS being made toward rebuilding Ala Mhigo, as shown with the restoration of the Saltery and the addition of new businesses like Crown Gemworks (Goldsmith questline).

We don't have a clear picture of what's going in Gridania so I won't draw any inferences, but Gridania in general has been trending toward being increasingly open and less xenophobic as it grows increasingly involved with the rest of Eorzea and its seedseers' increasing contact with the outside world. There's no telling what will happen to the Ixal at this point, but Sezul Totoloc and Tataramu are likely lend a hand in that regard.

As for the whole untempering thing, the Eorzean Alliance has always restrained the tempered first before untempering them. Whether they "want it" or not, it's not a state anyone would truly want to live in, as shown by the Kobold patriarch's horror at what he did under Titan's influence.

It's a little idealized sure, but Final Fantasy is an idealistic series in general. I don't think Eorzea trending toward peace removes its complexity as there are still problems to tackle and things to solve. There will always be schemers and bad guys waiting to exploit others, but that doesn't mean things can't get better or that the city-states are all permanently set in their ways.

[Cleretic]

There's no telling what will happen to the Ixal at this point, but Sezul Totoloc and Tataramu are likely lend a hand in that regard.

While I think most of what Veloran is saying is just him ignoring the actual text on the subject saying otherwise, as you point out, this one's interesting to me because the Ixal are basically the only tribe where the core struggle stems from a problem that can't be broadly solved by interpersonal interaction. The Ixal are, fundamentally, suffering from a resource shortage; they need wood, Xelphatol can't grow nearly enough of it, and the Shroud is basically the only place nearby that can. If the writers were so inclined to there is potential for a plot there, either in the Ixal being the Elementals' first big lesson in compromise, or in finding the Ixal a renewable source of lumber that doesn't want to disintegrate them. However, that's definitely the sort of story that tends to happen more in sidequests than the MSQ.

[MikkoAkure]

The Eorzean Alliance as a whole just lost their main casus belli for joining together in the first place, is everyone just such great friends that they'll stay united with the vague goal of maintaining peace? Everything is just so clean and tidy right now, it hardly even feels like the setting with so much complexity and opposing motivations which started in 1.0 and ARR.

Why would the Eorzean Alliance break up? Just because there's no more shared enemy doesn't mean they suddenly stop working together. All of the city-states just finished fighting a war together as allies, Ishgard finally opened up to trade and is in permanent peace for the first time in 1000 years, Limsa Lominsa ceased their pirate activities and no longer attacks Ul'dahn merchant ships, and Ul'dah is currently funding a whole other city's reconstruction.

The exchange of goods, ideas, and people between the city-states is currently higher than it ever was in the 6th Astral Era. All of the countries' leaders are now very familiar and more or less friendly with each other and peace is on the way with the beastmen. All sides are learning that life in Eorzea isn't a zero-sum game where you better yourself at the expense of others and they can work together. Do you really expect them to suddenly start turning on each other over the really dumb stuff they had going on in the past after going through the end of the world together?