Rewritten MSQ - Garlemald and EW

[aveyond-dreams]

It seems to be a bit out-of-character for the game's theme to have a "benevolent" Imperial character decide that the conquered territories are better off with the Garlean Empire considering a whole expansion was spent on their liberation. And then cartoonishly out-of-character to blame atrocities on the Senate just because OP doesn't like republics.

It also appears that the WoL basically does nothing in the first of the two expansions laid out. A story where we go back to being the mute do-nothing feels like a step back from Shadowbringers where a lot of the appeal was the fact that we were actually the main character. Instead, that spot has been replaced with yet another in the line of important MSQ blonde girls after Minfilia, Ysayle (ish), Lyse, and Minifilia, so yay for consistency at least?

That's changed in the 2nd half of the OP but the rest just feels like a rant post because they don't like Venat. We already see her at the very end of Shadowbringers and that characterization doesn't fit in with the post. Let alone our interactions with Hydaelyn elsewhere in the game.

I have already explained in the rewrite how disastrous and irresponsible it would be to turn over some of these territories to their respective Ilberds and potential Thordans. The Grand Duchess is not a blind idealogue and quite frankly I do not care for backwards rules regarding what rank women may or may not attain when half the men are either slain, tempered, or missing. She has a working and amicable relationship with the people of the conquered territories along with her native Garleans because of her charity – as in charitable actions like volunteering as a medic, spending time with them, etc. Given the choice, the majority of these people would entrust themselves over to her care instead of these rebel warlords.

I thought having a Celes type character would be more palatable than a Larsa for a playerbase that had to put up with 8 years of Alphinaud. Having this character with similarities to Celes allowed me to bring out the Locke in Thancred and give him a proper arc by extension. In any case I would also remind you that the Archadian Imperial Senate from FFXII quite literally murdered the emperor after having orchestrated the deaths of several of his other male heirs. Evil moves in packs. It takes a lot more courage to single-headedly take top control back of a country that has by this point lost its way. I’m sorry that my style of handling political writing was not to your liking, I fundamentally disagree on the point that Sharlayan democracy spreading would be a good thing for the world (especially when Sharlayan was up to several shady things before Endwalker further declawed the nation.) You probably would have disliked it even more if I had fleshed out Rozarria to the degree I originally wanted, given that it too is a former empire.

Addressing your statements regarding Venat, in this rewrite she effectively tempered the WoL and has done so many times throughout history to prevent him from potentially being tempered by Zodiark and obtaining the blessing of darkness that would shatter the Mothercrystal in which she has hid herself inside. I strongly feel that playing up the fallen angel and traitor angle makes for a more interesting and entertaining experience than the way in which Venat was handled in the MSQ. Again, agree to disagree. Venat in either case is still the greatest deceiver and manipulator in all of history, and unworthy of the mantle of goddess.

Lastly, yes I didn’t put too many words in the WoL’s mouth or too many actions in their hands because I was too focused on trying to make use of the cast’s strengths and applying them to appropriate situations. This is what felt natural, given that it’s an MMORPG, you’re supposed to fill in some of the blanks here. I don’t think this is an unreasonable expectation.

[MikkoAkure]

In any case I would also remind you that the Archadian Imperial Senate from FFXII quite literally murdered the emperor after having orchestrated the deaths of several of his other male heirs. Evil moves in packs. It takes a lot more courage to single-headedly take top control back of a country that has by this point lost its way. I’m sorry that my style of handling political writing was not to your liking, I fundamentally disagree on the point that Sharlayan democracy spreading would be a good thing for the world (especially when Sharlayan was up to several shady things before Endwalker further declawed the nation.) You probably would have disliked it even more if I had fleshed out Rozarria to the degree I originally wanted, given that it too is a former empire.

Garlemald is not Archades.

The Senate was an advisory committee split between the Optimates and the Populares who didn't exactly work with each other so I don't understand how or why they could collectively do evil together. Especially since only the Optimates seemed to support the emperor. Then there were the Populares, who already existed in the game, and were written to be sympathetic by being against the Empire's conquests but went through the proper channels and just suggested reforms until they began to be purged by Varis and their supporters got gassed. Besides, I don't know how you consider them to be "Sharlayan style democracy" when Garlemald was a republic for ~600 years with no Sharlayan influence at all until Ascians got a hold of them and made them an empire. Landis was another republic in Ilsabard that had no Sharlayan influence.

If you want your "evil" force that assassinates nobles and kills civilians, look no further than the Lemures in the Reaper storyline who tried to assassinate Solus for trying to conquer lands that had nothing to do with the original Garlean goal. Or Eula who killed her dad and some others and was supported by Solus because of it. Or Titus, Varis, Nerva, and Zenos who mobilized their legions to fight for the throne and destroyed Garlemald over it. The scheming nobles playing their game of thrones and the actual assassination force that exists in-game are more likely culprits to be doing dirty deeds than a group of elected civil servants. The Senate was already established in the game by the time of Stormblood to be a potentially moderating force so unless you want to re-characterize Maxima and the Populares, it's just plain odd to do what you did.

It doesn't feel like your rewrites would fix anything. It just feels like FFXII randomly stapled into the FFXIV MSQ at best, and fanfiction that ignores existing lore in order to satisfy your preferences at worst.

[aveyond-dreams]

It doesn't feel like your rewrites would fix anything. It just feels like FFXII randomly stapled into the FFXIV MSQ at best, and fanfiction that ignores existing lore in order to satisfy your preferences at worst.

And neither did the fanfiction that made it into the MSQ with burger eating catboys and nonstop preaching about hope vs despair so hard that it became intolerable. Yes I am bringing up that scene again and yes it is absolutely justified given that it was the most out of place scene in the entire game. We are extremely unlikely to ever agree on what or what doesn't work for the story, and quite frankly I make no attempt to hide my own biases here - if something gets in the way of what I believe is effective storytelling then I ignore or remove it. I wrote down what I thought would be a cool experience. That's it.

I even mused on what incorporating Landis instead of Rozarria would have turned out like, but it seems you didn't like my ideas on that much given it would have been impossible for me to tell a compelling story by simply handing control of the republic back to a faceless senate instead of having Noah van Gabranth take charge of the place. Involving him in the political game being played out across Ilsabard would not have made for a bad story mind you, but "reverting" to democracy as you would have these nations do would have come across as dull and tired after having done this far too many times over the past decade.

I did what I could to reign myself in at times as I was writing that whole thing in the span of...somewhat less than 24 hours but given that it's summer I do not follow anything resembling a normal sleep schedule these days. Anyway, next year when FFXVI comes out I get the Final Fantasy game of my dreams. The next game of the mainline series was entrusted to writers who I believe did an effective job with their storytelling in Heavensward and across various Ivalice-adjacent media. I will be playing that while if things continue going downhill here, 6.4 will have the WoL working at a Wendy’s in the Void because the line between what could be taken seriously and what cannot has been crossed and the intended audience – seemingly – has shifted directly away from me.