Requiring a permit to cross the bridge was bad writing, change my mind.

[Cleretic]

Cleretic, I feel like you pulled "a second unrelated storm" out of nowhere. Why would you assume that's what I meant by "There was just a giant-ass storm. They couldn't at least say that the bridge was being repaired?" and not, say, "Make it another consequence of the same storm"?

I'll admit I misread that part, but I still stand by every other point I made around it. It'd still draw even further unnecessary attention to the storm, it'd reasonably knock out the bridge for WAY LONGER than the story calls for it to be out (remember that the Flight Of We Wingless is still wrecked, and then realize the bridge is WAY harder to fix), and it'd still lead to a really contrived combination of circumstances that the bridge would just coincidentally be fixed right when the rite of succession is resolved, rather than the much more reasonable direction of 'you can't get permits because of the rite of succession, so it's open afterwards'.

Yes, sure. As long as the bureaucracy has a good reason to exist!

...and you think it doesn't? The bridge isn't just a hugely important historical and cultural site, it's also perhaps the single most important piece of transport infrastructure in the entire game world; it's the only means of transport between Yok and Xak Tural. The only thing that might possibly make a claim for being as important is maybe the Steps of Faith, and Ishgard polices that bridge MUCH more heavily than Tuliyollal does theirs.

That bureaucracy absolutely has reason to exist! And has reason to be paused in the specific time we come across it; the nation is facing a logistical question that they've never had before, of handing over power between heads of state. It makes complete sense that they'd pause a few secondary governmental services while they handle that, especially if said leader has some level of influence over it. Like, if that permit even just has a 'The Office of the Dawnservant Approves' stamp on it, they have to work some stuff out when they first have to deal with a changeover.

[Supersnow845]

I'll admit I misread that part, but I still stand by every other point I made around it. It'd still draw even further unnecessary attention to the storm, it'd reasonably knock out the bridge for WAY LONGER than the story calls for it to be out (remember that the Flight Of We Wingless is still wrecked, and then realize the bridge is WAY harder to fix), and it'd still lead to a really contrived combination of circumstances that the bridge would just coincidentally be fixed right when the rite of succession is resolved, rather than the much more reasonable direction of 'you can't get permits because of the rite of succession, so it's open afterwards'.



...and you think it doesn't? The bridge isn't just a hugely important historical and cultural site, it's also perhaps the single most important piece of transport infrastructure in the entire game world; it's the only means of transport between Yok and Xak Tural. The only thing that might possibly make a claim for being as important is maybe the Steps of Faith, and Ishgard polices that bridge MUCH more heavily than Tuliyollal does theirs.

That bureaucracy absolutely has reason to exist! And has reason to be paused in the specific time we come across it; the nation is facing a logistical question that they've never had before, of handing over power between heads of state. It makes complete sense that they'd pause a few secondary governmental services while they handle that, especially if said leader has some level of influence over it. Like, if that permit even just has a 'The Office of the Dawnservant Approves' stamp on it, they have to work some stuff out when they first have to deal with a changeover.

That seems like a bit of a contradiction

It’s the most important bridge in the world so we have to shut it down when the government is having internal issues

[PorxiesRCute]

That seems like a bit of a contradiction

It’s the most important bridge in the world so we have to shut it down when the government is having internal issues

You said it.

There's not even a reason given for why you need a permit for the bridge. It's literally flimsier than being blocked from White Wolf Gate in Gridania.

[Cleretic]

That seems like a bit of a contradiction
w
It’s the most important bridge in the world so we have to shut it down when the government is having internal issues

They didn't shut it down, they just shut down new permits to cross it. People who already have them can and do cross, we see a handful of them both in the MSQ and sidequests. Reasonably speaking, everyone who has business regularly crossing already had their permits; there's no writing suggesting a huge backlog or great supply/transport issues, we're the only person who really seems to need a permit without already having one, and that's only barely.

Hell, I'd reasonably argue that permits probably haven't been paused for long, because Pashenine in the Fisher questline is unambiguously from Xak Tural, and is quite young. New permits were probably only paused for a couple weeks to a month or so.

Also, there's a yellow quest that briefly goes into the requirements as to why this whole system is needed; Waiting One's Turn, in Shaaloani. It's not fancy reasons; it's just that it's a big, singular bridge with a lot of transport on it, that calls for inspections and permits to ensure that everyone's getting across in an orderly manner with the goods they say they have. Given that exact bridge route both got exploited in the MSQ, and outright attacked in the role quest capstone, yes you do need all that overhead, and frankly there's a case to be made that it should be even stricter!

[Burmecia]

No, instead you need a permit to travel between two halves of the nation and it's apparently been this way for a while, judging by this line:

Crossing the bridge to Xak Tural requires a special travel pass. Unfortunately, they won't issue any new permits until the rite of succession is over.

How does that mesh with the worldbuilding of Tural in any way?

At least we didn't need to fake getting married to enter the other side of the continent...

#what-happens-in-conde-peties-stays-in-conde-petie

[PorxiesRCute]

They didn't shut it down, they just shut down new permits to cross it. People who already have them can and do cross, we see a handful of them both in the MSQ and sidequests. Reasonably speaking, everyone who has business regularly crossing already had their permits; there's no writing suggesting a huge backlog or great supply/transport issues, we're the only person who really seems to need a permit without already having one, and that's only barely.

Yes, you're right: We're the only people who need a permit. It's transparently obvious that it's an excuse to keep us from going north.

Hell, I'd reasonably argue that permits probably haven't been paused for long, because Pashenine in the Fisher questline is unambiguously from Xak Tural, and is quite young. New permits were probably only paused for a couple weeks to a month or so.

Yeah, weird how Pashenine didn't mention any of that red tape. If the permits were such a big deal, he could have said something about being glad the Rite is over so he could get one or how he's glad he already had one before the Rite began.

Also, there's a yellow quest that briefly goes into the requirements as to why this whole system is needed; Waiting One's Turn, in Shaaloani. It's not fancy reasons; it's just that it's a big, singular bridge with a lot of transport on it, that calls for inspections and permits to ensure that everyone's getting across in an orderly manner with the goods they say they have. Given that exact bridge route both got exploited in the MSQ, and outright attacked in the role quest capstone, yes you do need all that overhead, and frankly there's a case to be made that it should be even stricter!

Solution Nine's army flew over the bridge and shot it up with robots. It would not have gone any differently if there was no permit system.

I know you fancy yourself a lore nerd, but I think you should stick to "which characters would call me slurs?"

[Exmo]

Solution Nine's army flew over the bridge and shot it up with robots. It would not have gone any differently if there was no permit system.

It's not the function of bureaucracy to stop an invading army. This is a strange qualm to have with the game.

Edit: the paragraph after the one I quoted, no idea what's going on there but yikes?

[PorxiesRCute]

It's not the function of bureaucracy to stop an invading army. This is a strange qualm to have with the game.

I was just responding to her assertion that the invasion justifies the red tape no one has to deal with but the player character.

Edit: the paragraph after the one I quoted, no idea what's going on there but yikes?

Cleretic is rather infamous for going on a racially-tinged tirade on Twitter on the topic of which FFXIV characters would be queerphobic.

[MikkoAkure]

I’m not sure why this is such a big deal for you when it’s not the first time this has happened. We’ve had blocked zones and even blocked halves of other zones preventing us from exploring in every single expansion since HW and this isn’t even the first time we needed a permit from the locals to cross a bridge to content that was already released in the same expansion. Even the most ARR-like expansion: ShB, that had the whole hub and spoke world map, required quests to access all the regions and it follows the pattern of sticking close to the narrative and having a narrated cutscene relevant to the MSQ when you first access a zone.

Like was previously mentioned, “big important bridge requiring permit” has an out-of-universe reason for existing and even as a lore nerd you cannot just ignore that for reasons why stuff happens in the game, which is part of why I really dislike all that “doylist vs watsonian” nonsense. If it didn’t have a permit, then what were you going to do there anyway? It would have just been an empty zone with absolutely nothing to do and nowhere to go since Heritage Found as a zone does not even exist yet and you would have had yet another blocker preventing access to Yyasulani.

Needing a permit to cross a bridge isn’t anywhere at all near the most head scratching moments of Tural world building so it’s a really strange thing to dwell on.

[Moomba33]

I didn't mind the permit per say...it was nice to have a reason why we couldn't go to the next zone instead of an arbitrary barrier at the zone line which mysteriously disappears when you progress the main story enough.

Really though, I think it would be better if the expansions were structured more like ARR and you could just walk to most places early. Save the hard blocks for locations that are really special and difficult to reach like Azys Lla and Living Memory. I suppose you may still need the occasional nonsense block for cases like Heritage Found to avoid needing to create a pre-Alexandria version of the zone.