I think FFXIV should be more political actually

[Empyr]

By far one of the biggest weakness of Dawntrail is Tural's lack of political turmoil. Despite Alexandria popping up next to them and staging an attack resulting in multiple casualties including the Dawnservant, who reportedly is a very beloved figure, there's next to no tensions running in Tural, and that's not including it's utopian backstory solved by The Dawnservant suprisingly easy from what we end up hearing. Obviously things have settled because of our actions at the end of 7.0, but there is very little to suggest there is trauma from this event outside of exploring how Turalians caught up in the dome acclimate back to Tural.

I feel like in the olden days, the msq would definitely try and explore this. Such as having a faction grift on Zoraal Ja's idealogy despite him leading the attack. Maybe they wouldn't know, or perhaps they would and do so anyway because they want power and don't care about people. Wuk Lamat as a character always expresses how she wants her people to live in peace and happiness, but seeing her people fall to hate and calling for war could have lead to some interesting avenues to explore. Like how empty promises and platitudes without action is a disservice to those we've lost and disrespects their legacy and in turn, could have enhanced Solution Nine's theme of remembering the dead in parallel, through bringing together people to remember those who have long passed.

In a recent interview, YoshiP brought up the idea of a Hingashi civil war. However, if said civil war was between an obviously bad side and an obviously good side, by it's own, it would be very boring. Stormblood got around this by examining how such a thing affected the people in said nations, such as the Garleans co-opting the Ala Mhigan national Anthem for themselves, but also how Doma's culture lead Yotsuyu to join Doma's oppressors in oppressing them, and how some Ala Mhigans tried to make a better life for themselves by joining the empire and betraying their country, because they believe it's the only path forward for them to take.

Politics is an all encompassing force that affects most every aspect of our lives (even if we may not want to admit it), and examining it's consequences has lead FFXIV to some decent heights even if the execution is sometimes a bit lacking. At the very least they tried. Comparitively trying to ignore it like Dawntrail did is what helps make the MSQ and by extension the world feel much more vapid and empty, and the character work was just not up to snuff enough to compensate. Conflict has forever lain at the core of any good work, and failing to set up said conflict will hamper the MSQ in the long run. Tural as it is is a literary dead end unless a meteor or some calamity manages to massively upend it.

In HW, Ishgard is an isolationist theocracy. It explores how religion at the government level can lead people into a never ending war when used to hold onto power. Aymeric's attempts to end the Dragonsong War gets waylaid by people who have lived their whole lives being told dragons are the enemy, and their refusal to see past what they were taught was one of the things the nation needed to overcome.

Recent characters have been very "on the tin" so to speak. You look at them once, and you know their deal from the start and the character never really goes outside of the tin. I think that's why Bakool JaJa is the fan favourite. Even if the execution is clunky and the foundation weak, he is the most nuanced character presented in Dawntrail.

Now is it perfect? No. Absolutely not, but it was engaging while trying to explore themes at a deeper level if you care to look, which is something FFXIV needs more than ever right now.

[Shinku_Tachi]

I agree.

Anytime people get on a "get the politics out my games" tirade. I always politely remind them how much Gundam, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, and so many other tales they love and cherish would suck without the politics.

[BlisteringFrost]

I agree.

Anytime people get on a "get the politics out my games" tirade. I always politely remind them how much Gundam, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, and so many other tales they love and cherish would suck without the politics.

I'm fine with a political intrigue in the story. But there's a line where it's used to write a compelling story and when it's used to further an agenda. Yoshi loves his political intrigue, it's why most of ARR ---> SHB has it. But the line is clearly in the sand too. No agenda pushing. Just a story.

[Hallarem]

It was a concious choice a 100% to replace the Whalaqee struggle against people wanting to exploit them, their culture being hounded by technology and robbery for their Ceruleum.
Instead we got rubber bullet cowboys, Miqo'ndians who don't care about anything and their herding that got interrupted was solved with a inoffensive train whistle and everyone was happy.

Now the whalaqee get only a minor quest where "haha hes funny, he eats stuff to learn blue magic, look its the FF9 character haahaa"

Bird people were just birdbrains who FORGOT their culture

Then there's the land of the infamous taco-peace, where the Mamool Ja EVENTHOUGH THEY SEND MERCENARIES ABROAD are too dumb to search for other seeds to grow in their soil or learn about anything, with a minor interesting tidbit on how blessed siblings are made

Solution 9 while very whitebread "Our whole personality is fearing death", has the most interesting plotline by far in Arcadion's storyline, where the characters are ACTUAL CHARACTERS with their own turmoils, goals and motivations.

Aaand Giants and "We are the merchant people, hey buy something"

The political and writing in general was very weak compared to what we got before that, though in Endwalker and Shadowbringers it was already clear they were poking away from political stuff. For example just tossing away Garlemald after teasing its complexities in Bozja and Werlyt, which they absolutely shouldn't. In Radz at han the story said there were nobles everywhere. And we only got.. quirky alchemists, dragon leader and puppet-ruler who got eaten. Funnily enough Sharlayan probably got the most politics. People want human stories to relate to, hardships the characters go through, unique nations and places, to see how people live.

Adventures are about living in them, their cultures, their habits, the way they talk and interact. What we are getting now is the equivalent of just looking at a picture of pretty things and not actually visiting and living in the location with the people in them.

[Empyr]

Stories ultimately are stories because they attempt to say something. Whether or not they succeed is dependant on how nuanced they can be.

[Veritas-Ancora]

The political turmoil of Ishgard is what made that entire expansion worthwhile.

I enjoyed the conflict in changing an entire government system into something more fair and equitable.

[Exmo]

Totally agreed, OP. You said as much but I want to reiterate, FFXIV has often flirted with political writing but generally flubs the landing. I think this generally stems from a desire not to assert a clear position in order to not upset players with dedicate constitutions. As a result the stories told tend to be politically naive and saccharine. I'd rather see the writers continue to play with political themes and properly confront itself, rather than resorting to superficial answers to difficult questions.

[Vatom]

I was scared this was something else lol I agree but I think the reason ff didnt was due to fear of it hitting to close to home for some people but I say that's a problem

[Hallarem]

I was scared this was something else lol I agree but I think the reason ff didnt was due to fear of it hitting to close to home for some people but I say that's a problem

A story shouldn't be afraid of describing it's world how they want it to function within the story and the world they created. If someone can't tell the difference between a fantasy world and the real one, they should just be serviced one sentence and one sentence alone.

"This isn't the real world, it's a fantasy world". You can't cater to nutjobs who think that every little thing in a game is somehow a real world equivalent and has to be stopped.

[Wyssahtyn]

bakool ja ja's only popular because of scalies. guy's a karma houdini otherwise.