Is there potential for an "African themed" city-state?

[MikkoAkure]

Meracydia has both Egyptian and sub-Saharan African themes according to what very little we know of it.

We know there's pyramids and Egyptian things like sphinx and shabti. But there's also West African-themed conjurer staff in the game, Kple Kple, that had Meracydia flavor text in 1.0. Also in 1.0 was a mention of witch doctors being from the continent and trading goods with Limsa Lominsan ships.

Considering the writers bothered to have Emet-Selch mention Meracydia, we'll probably end up going there eventually. Especially since we've already used that speech as a guide for 6.1+. Yoshi-P said that where we do end up going after 6.5 will subvert expectations so who knows though.

There was when it came to the Egyptian aesthetics Bozja drew upon but with Yoship ending the storyline prematurely it is unlikely one will see the light again.

I don't recall anything Egyptian about Bozja except that the climate was dry because it was right next to Dalmasca. All the people and place names are Slavic-inspired.

[WellGramarye]

What were the pre-Ul'dah societies based on? Sil'dah, Belah'dia (Qarn) et all?

[MikkoAkure]

What were the pre-Ul'dah societies based on? Sil'dah, Belah'dia (Qarn) et all?

Sil’dih was probably the same as Ul’dah since they were both “twin” cities. The current Ul’dah sits on top of the old Sil’dih and we might find out more when the new criterion dungeon thing is released.

Belah’dia is a lot of stock Egyptian tropes and mummies, etc. without actually taking larger elements of their culture.


Honestly I like the old 1.0 Eorzea civilizations better because they’re not “X country, but fantasy”. Even Ala Mhigo, which has a lot of Turkish design elements and inspirations, doesn’t lean as hard into it as later civilizations. The people there have Germanic names and talk like they’re from the North of England.

[Jirah]

Hell yea! Shaman Job and Druid confirmed?

[Enkidoh]

Druid by my understanding is what CNJ is called in the German version of the game though so I don't see SE using that term. Also, despite some African and fantasy trappings there is also strong evidence Meracydia has asepcts of Australia as well ('mysterious 'great south land', has a very hostile environment filled with dangerous creatures, plus the recent Wind-up Kangaroo minion literally states it's based on a "Meracydian marsupial", all but confirming Meracydia=Australia.

It appears an Australian native tree (wattle) is also found there (samples of which apparently have ended up on Azys Lla and which wattle bark can be harvested as a crafting material by BTN from there, although the item description doesn't mention anything about Meracydia).

So Meracydia seems to be a mixture of sub-Saharan Africa and Australia with fantasy elements thrown in (and yes, Emet did hint at it in his big "these are places you just have to visit on the Source!" thing at the end of EW, although given the first one on his list we checked up on, we nearly caused an international incident so, I think a certain amount of discretion might be the order of the day with visiting it. )

[Kaliesto]

There was when it came to the Egyptian aesthetics Bozja drew upon but with Yoship ending the storyline prematurely it is unlikely one will see the light again.

They talked about coming back to bozja in its aftermath eventually, but just not at this moment for awhile.

[Zero-ELEC]

There is definitely potential, especially if we move towards Meracydia and they chose to go that way. That type of culture in fantasy is very rarely shown which would make for a very unique time.

[SentioftheHoukai]

They talked about coming back to bozja in its aftermath eventually, but just not at this moment for awhile.

They fired/dismissed the guy who wrote the plot and hastily wrapped it up in collectible notes. That doesn't sound like a plot they intend to revisit to me. Resembles more like something they intended to get rid of.

[MikkoAkure]

They fired/dismissed the guy who wrote the plot and hastily wrapped it up in collectible notes. That doesn't sound like a plot they intend to revisit to me. Resembles more like something they intended to get rid of.

We're veering off-topic, but Yoshi-P said in an interview in Famitsu last year that it wasn't hastily wrapped up and Matsuno wasn't fired or dismissed.
reddit link/

Matsuno himself said earlier than that in tweets that Bozja finished in 5.55 and they're liberated. There's nothing premature about Bozja and nothing more they can do with it. There was a thought to continue Dalmasca after Bozja eventually, and that idea was the one that is probably canned, but it seems like it's still up in the air.

[Cleretic]

Going for something more African does seem like the right angle to go for Meracydia, which is presumably where we're heading to in 7.0. We haven't really done that to a huge degree before; the closest being both the Amal'jaa and, yeah, parts of older Bozja (the murals shown between parts and the design of Queen Gunnhildr herself I know had that Mesopotamia-Northern Africa vibe). Honestly I quite like that Bozja had an overall vibe of 'paved-over Mesopotamia' where you could kinda see it if you looked, it was a great element for a nation that had lost touch with its past in so many ways.

Various pets and the like say Meracydia's a combo of Africa and Australia, as said, and that'd be pretty plausible to mash up and give some extra flair.