Rhalgrs Reach should never have existed

[Atelier-Bagur]

There's a difference between finding the place to be boring, and calling it a ruined town. One's a perfectly fine opinion, the other is an incorrect statement.


Except Old Sharlayan couldn't be visited when Idyllshire was the endgame hub.

I'm not talking about if Old Sharlayan didnt exist before Idyllshire. That was a response to a point you made about the Sharlayan design in Idyllshire, which doesnt live up to its counterpart now that Old Sharlayan exists and is a better version of that style. The only charm Idyllshire has are the goblins that inhabit there

[chip793]

I just don't like the pacing of Stormblood's opening act in general. The zones are great and the Reach is a pretty cool hub in universe and function. It just felt like it dragged like the old ARR post chain used to, though nowhere near as egregious. I still love the expansion overall and it has my favourite EX trials by a decent margin too. Every time I get one on mentor roulette I crack a smile because most of them are super easy and fun to teach sprouts in.

[DiaDeem]

[JohnLakeside]

The problem with rhalgr’s reach is pacing, it’s Kugane and generally othard that should never have been added. If resources hadn’t been burnt on a shallow holiday to zenos’s second house, we could have had an ala mhigo hub with marketboards, an undercover in the empire section and more in depth exploration of the empire not seen until bozja. Instead we got a two bit despot who’s only interesting as a contrast to another character half a world away and some lizards living in a giant teacup. Unfortunately this would remove the namazu from the story, but that’s just the cost. Given how advanced garlemald was portrayed with the medicine and cars, it would have been a way to introduce non-violent technology and further set up the cerulean fuel plot points dawntrail is likely to explore.

Keeping it in ala mhigo would also have allowed further parallel to be drawn between zenos and the warrior of light through npc conversation. Is he viewed as a walking weapon or admired by the population? No one knows because by the time it’s explored he’s destroyed their empire which probably has reduced the general opinion of him. There’s no accusation of hypocrisy over the scion puppet states and cia-style regime replacement when compared with imperial towns, just that air current quest in Ala banana.

The ruby sea is a whole lot of nothing, same as azim steppe, the former relying too hard on the diving mechanic to have room for much interesting zone design and the latter just a medium size field that doesn’t even achieve the oppressive agoraphobia they seemed to be aiming for. Since it’s inaccessible without diving, why not have underwater tunnels or caves there too, rather than just splashing around in the saucer?

I'm just started Stormblood and I'm both worried and excited for how the game will handle its anti-imperial story. It's interesting you bring up CIA style regime replacement because I've been getting that vibe too. On the other hand, I've heard lots of praise for the anti-imperial story from people from actual post-colonial nations and how they were very moved by Stormblood and even Ala Mhigo.

I'd be interested to hear more of your thoughts on the politics of FFXIV.

[Sjol]

Pragmatically, anything systems that exist 3.0 and later have to be in Idyllshire because that's the only end-game zone you have continuous access to from 3.0 on. Hence, WT and Faux being there. They could duplicate WT and Faux into other end-game hubs, but that's what it would have to be, duplication.

One comment in regard to OP's original post, things like: "It was Rhalgrs Reach. Literally nobody asked for it." give little room for discussion. To me, a lot of the statements come off not as opinion, but as fact. If someone in real life came in spouting their strong opinions with little verbal room for disagreement, you might roll your eyes in real life to signal that they're coming on a little too strong. I read the "OKAY" reaction gif like that. A little bit more "I think" and "I find" gives indication that you're open to other people's ideas and invite discussion. That's my take.

[1313]

Nothing is wrong with Stormblood. It's the second best expansion next to Endwalker. I love Rhalgr's Reach, and the nostalgic vibes every time I go there. The little caves in there are pretty, too.

[Iscah]

Pragmatically, anything systems that exist 3.0 and later have to be in Idyllshire because that's the only end-game zone you have continuous access to from 3.0 on. Hence, WT and Faux being there. They could duplicate WT and Faux into other end-game hubs, but that's what it would have to be, duplication.

Your statement makes no sense.

You never lose access to Rhalgr's Reach and the other two endgame hubs only have temporary aetheryte blockages when you first get there. By the time they are functioning as endgame hubs you have access to them 100% of the time and new game features can be based in those locations if desired.

[Sjol]

Your statement makes no sense.

You never lose access to Rhalgr's Reach and the other two endgame hubs only have temporary aetheryte blockages when you first get there. By the time they are functioning as endgame hubs you have access to them 100% of the time and new game features can be based in those locations if desired.

I was talking about systems introduced in 3.0 that are also available outside 3.0. Those need to be in Idyllshire. I wasn't talking about systems introduced after 3.0.

[ShariusTC]

people love to bullied SB because of its sotry, but SB has few of my most favor map design in this game, not even the infamous ShB or EW map can touch that godly design

[Avidria]

I mean personally I forget about most of Ala Mhigo in general like. I'm not sure putting the hub somewhere else would have fixed much when most of the things I didn't like about Stormblood had more to do with them trying to do two stories at the same time and doing neither of them the justice they could have. The pacing was all over the place and the back and forth between regions felt jarring, and I also just didn't like and didn't care about half of the characters by the end. I don't even remember most of them.

Rhalgr's Reach was one of the least forgettable things about the expansion for me. I at least kind of liked the layout and that I could still use my mount there, and *its* story was interesting independent of the rest of what Stormblood had going on. There wasn't really anything about the story that made me even want to see more of Ala Mhigo proper. I enjoyed the Othard zones way more overall, both story wise and in aesthetics.