[Wishlisting/Speculation] A historian weighs in: the New World

[KageTokage]

Considering that the Ascians meddled in the affairs of Meracydia, it would be strange to me if they hadn't been stirring up trouble over in the New World, too.

Having more advanced civilizations around just means more potential catalysts for a calamity, after all, and for that matter, we have no idea how things have progressed in the former continent since the fall of Allag, either.

[Iscah]

Sounds like they found a Garlean outpost, really.

Like, I get that it's meant to be a "modern civilisation" joke, but why should there be a fully evolved modern civilisation with skyscrapers and cars on an island somewhere? It feels like something that needs more space to develop than that.

Also, it means that most of the description for the Haragin doesn't tell you anything about the Haragin, not even their reaction to this strange tale.

[Cleretic]

Like, I get that it's meant to be a "modern civilisation" joke, but why should there be a fully evolved modern civilisation with skyscrapers and cars on an island somewhere? It feels like something that needs more space to develop than that.

Not in this setting, because that is basically the literal word-for-word story for the Clockwork City of Goug! Their people were stuck on a single island and couldn't use aether (presumably meaning that much like their Garlean descendants, attempts to spread out and get more land were futile), so instead of building out, they built up, and made a huge metropolis. ...which then got lost down the Ridorana Cataract, with the only part left standing being what's now called the Ridorana Lighthouse.

I empathize, I play Civilization games and have ABSOLUTELY had that kind of terrible starting location.

[VicBoss]

My first Final Fantasy was FFIV. I'm also Indigenous and happened to grown up in a town on the lake where Interior Salish legend says the serpent Ogopogo lives. Encountering Ogopogo on the moon on FFIV was genuinely a major turning point for me in appreciating my Indigenous background and I was really looking forward to going to the moon in Endwalker because I figured an Ogopogo encounter had to be a given. Needless to say I was surprised by how little time we actually spent on the moon and was disappointed in no Ogopogo. The New World is my second chance! I want that Ogopogo fight.

Other than that, I want the folklore and cultures of the New World to be as beautifully represented as Thavnair is to India. With some exciting flourishes and embellishments that heighten things and pique the interest of people who might not consider Native culture all that interesting compared to the usual JRPG go-tos. It doesn't have to be perfect and god knows people will find reasons to get angry no matter what, but as a lover of the Blue Mage lore I have faith that XIV's New World could be really wonderful.

If I'm talking my absolute perfect interpretation of the New World though, it gets a little complex but it would be pulling from some elements already established in-game;
The excerpt about the Haragin suggests that there could be a more modern style of civilization. We also have gear like the Frontier Dress which brings to mind mid-century American style. If that frontier refers to the New World it's not out of the question that the cities we might find are a little Final Fantasy XV-like in retro 50s presentation. Alternate history fantasy Route 66 Americana where the Native populations weren't wiped out by genocide and colonialism and instead thrived to create a unique but familiar culture. Like the 50s retro of Hammerhead but grounded in the style of FFXIV. Of course this flies in the face of everything that I usually like about the world-building of XIV but I'd happily make an exception this one time.

[Denishia]

I know it’s a long-standing meme about democratic governments in XIV but I desperately want a Six Nations/Iroquois League analogue as one of the secondary ally groups that we team-up with against whatever the antagonist nation state is.

Edit: Completely separate (well, also Salish) but recently watching yet about clip on the formation of the Missoula Badlands and I'd love to have a zone using that area as inspiration. Either pre-flood Lake Missoula with the giant Ice Wall or all the fun rock formations from the aftermath. The sinkholes in solid bedrock, the ripples, the broken hexagonal pillars of basalt, the random boulders...

However if the New World leans into South America, my wish list is another undead mummy-heavy dungeon like Qarn Hard, but this time more inspired by the Inca than Egypt. And an auspice that we first meet in transformed handsome humanoid form but is revealed to be a dolphin minion recolored pink (Boto).

[WhiteArchmage]

Ah, I thought I'd left for good but this topic is too close to home to pass up...

My primary fears around a New World story is the history of colonization that comes with it, though I will refrain from real-world examples for... obvious reasons. From what we know of Etheirys, the civilizations in the New World (which, also, we could probably stop calling it that, I'm sure the natives have their own words for it, though narratively I guess that's what we'll stick with since we can't be certain all civilizations there use the same name for their continent, rant over). IF the New World leans into being the Americas, there could be enough land (and content), to go to half of it on one expansion and the other half on the other, and there's a bucketload of cultures on both sides to draw inspiration from.

So while I'm wary about certain tropes appearing, I trust CBU3 enough to believe they won't fall for them and that we'll meet several different cultures inspired by a combination of other real-life cultures, my one wish is to see what their Primal-equivalent is. There are quite a few Gods, Deities, and Mythical Creatures in the continent to fill an entire new Codex, like, damn, I know Itzpapalotl is a hunt mob in ShB but I'd love to see her as the Obsidian Butterfly in all her glory, or since we got cheated out of Amaterasu, have Xochiquetzal as the Goddess of Beauty. Heck we already used Quetzalcoatl for Academia Anyder, but just use his Mayan version Kukulkan to have the feathered serpent besides the FF8 reference. Heck, I don't think FF has used Wiracocha/Huiracocha/Viracocha, the Lord Deity of Incan Myth, or Pachamama (Mother Earth) though I thiiiink her name has been used in XIV? I forget... and gosh what I'd give to see Mictlantecuhtli to really drive home how the "underworld" is seen as a place of respite

...So, yeah, New World Mesoamerican expansion, please (I'd argue against the term "South American" because the Mexica/Aztecs were in México which is NORTH America, if we don't count Central America the divide is between Panamá and Colombia and everything above Panamá is North, if we DO count Central America the divide is between México and Guatemala and Belize, with everything between that and Colombia being Central America).

[Denishia]

Yes! ideally a New World expansion wouldn't be condensing the entirety into 6 zones and one expansion, but giving us a foot foothold and then the following expansion giving more zones on the continent/pair of continents. Or if shared with Meracydia, to not make these two places ripe for full expansion(s) into single zones. Think ahead to 8.0 and beyond.

While I know it was also inspired by Ankor Wat, I will add that Rak'tika made me ecstatic because of the Mayan vibes of the Ronkan Empire - and that Ronka was not positioned as an evil empire like Allag, no mad science or aggressive imperialism. That even in the Qitari questlines the nature was left ambiguous to positive. I was so afraid - and then so relieved. And if they lean into the El Dorado trope, which I feel we have to have, there's a part of me that is torn between what type of ecological zone it should be found in, as the Seven Cities of Cibola should be in a desert region inspired by the Pueblo instead of the more tropical rainforest locale typical for El Dorado. Also, we know SE likes a Venice-inspired city, and I want an endgame zone city that draws some inspiration from the floating gardens of Tenochtitlan. Not a one-to-one direct inspiration. Maybe combine the El Dorado/Cibola tropes with something like Esthar, a hidden high-tech civilization free from Allag.

[kaynide]

Thank you for the read/insight.

Dunno where it will go, but typically when Japanese rpgs do a “americas” expansion, it is typically a combination of colonial era (pirates of Caribbean) and Wild West/gold rush era. I think even FFXI did a sorta “settlers go west” expansion but I quit before it came out.

I suspect that we will see a sort of Greatest Hits of America(s), probably taking from famous natural parks.

…so a sort of Grand Canyon/monument valley/mesa verde area with cliff palace..probably a redwoods..probably a Peru-esque machu pichu lost city… I’d love a Yellowstone esque area,personally.

That said, I also suspect they will go to Meracydia next, with some form of “Australia-Africa” vibe, which might utilize the cowboy/Mesa desert aspects….even that said we’ve kind of done mesa/desert zones to death…hard to say how/what they will do

[KageTokage]

I can't help but wonder what lies in the far-flung frigid north of the New World because from appearances it seems to extend all the way to the north pole, which seems like the perfect place to hide away some dark, ancient secrets...perhaps literally so because the calamities didn't necessarily effect all of Etheriys to the point that there was absolutely no traces of their civilization left, and I think I'd rather see more bits and pieces of their culture then Allagans for the umpteenth time.

I'd kind of prefer that the north/south portion got their own expansions, but a 50/50 split could also potentially work.

[kaynide]

I can't help but wonder what lies in the far-flung frigid north of the New World because from appearances it seems to extend all the way to the north pole, which seems like the perfect place to hide away some dark, ancient secrets...perhaps literally so because the calamities didn't necessarily effect all of Etheriys to the point that there was absolutely no traces of their civilization left, and I think I'd rather see more bits and pieces of their culture then Allagans for the umpteenth time.

I'd kind of prefer that the north/south portion got their own expansions, but a 50/50 split could also potentially work.

Honestly, of the biomes we’ve seen..I would really like a frozen tundra/arctic zone. Not “oh it’s Europe plus it’s got snow”, but full on glacier/sea ice. Alaska wilderness Long Dark kinda stuff. Jotuns and all.