FFXIV as a FFXVI Valisthea MMORPG

[CidHeiral]

I'd play it. I quite liked the gritty angle that was present for much of ARR, HW and StB. I think it's a shame that FFXIV has moved away from that. The Witcher 3 and Baldur's Gate 3 show that there's a lot of appetite for that sort of thing, thankfully.

Gritty in what sense?

[ZephyrMenodora]

Gritty in what sense?

Also genuinely interested in this question lol

[Shurrikhan]

Gritty in what sense?

Presumably?

Moral greys. Conflicts in scope to which principles are applied rather than solely the overriding principles themselves. Actual warfare. Killed characters staying dead.

We still see echoes of some of that in Eulmore and in Garlemald, but it definitely takes a comparative back seat in ShB and EW.

[ZephyrMenodora]

Presumably?

Moral greys. Conflicts in scope to which principles are applied rather than solely the overriding principles themselves. Actual warfare. Killed characters staying dead.

We still see echoes of some of that in Eulmore and in Garlemald, but it definitely takes a comparative back seat in ShB and EW.

I'm not really remembering the early XIV experience the same way. If anything I thought the writing was a lot more transparent, and we didn't really get much in the way of "sympathetic villain" until later. Well we had Yotsuyu in StB I guess. Things seemed a lot more black and white "Beast Tribe/Summon/Empire/Theocracy/Ascian Bad!" Lots of one-note speeches especially in ARR.

[Theodric]

Gritty in what sense?

It was portrayed as a world in dire need of adventurers due to how dangerous it was for the average inhabitant to step outside of the safety of settlements. The City States were shown to have deep flaws that brought some grey morality to the table. The Scions did not mindlessly fawn over the player character and even selfishly exploited the player character to advance their cause. There was more in the way of mature/dirty jokes, political intrigue and consequences for the protagonists. Primals were notoriously dangerous due to Tempering and given that there was no cure for it back in those days, anyone Tempered was simply put to the sword as a grim and unfortunate necessity.

[Lauront]

It was portrayed as a world in dire need of adventurers due to how dangerous it was for the average inhabitant to step outside of the safety of settlements. The City States were shown to have deep flaws that brought some grey morality to the table. The Scions did not mindlessly fawn over the player character and even selfishly exploited the player character to advance their cause. There was more in the way of mature/dirty jokes, political intrigue and consequences for the protagonists. Primals were notoriously dangerous due to Tempering and given that there was no cure for it back in those days, anyone Tempered was simply put to the sword as a grim and unfortunate necessity.

You just have to look at the lore for places like Sastasha to see that.

[EgilTheStressedMage]

Giving the mods what they individually desire most in their life is still not payment enough to moderate this goddamn hellspawn of a forum.

It was portrayed as a world in dire need of adventurers due to how dangerous it was for the average inhabitant to step outside of the safety of settlements. The City States were shown to have deep flaws that brought some grey morality to the table. The Scions did not mindlessly fawn over the player character and even selfishly exploited the player character to advance their cause. There was more in the way of mature/dirty jokes, political intrigue and consequences for the protagonists. Primals were notoriously dangerous due to Tempering and given that there was no cure for it back in those days, anyone Tempered was simply put to the sword as a grim and unfortunate necessity.

Apparently that's too traumatic for people now. Everything needs to have a golden ending where everyone the player likes is alive and well, every problem is resolved without any effort.