Why cant we play Garlean empire?

[Rupel]

The way I see it we can't play as the Garlean Empire because Judge armors are simply too cool for school.

[jomoru]

Garlemad's objectives are noble, but its methods abhorrent. I don't judge it to be evil, nor Eorzea.

A question that's not really out or in topic: for an American, do you even wonder about the parallels between this story and the one between yours and the Amerindians?

Its the Indians fault for not having enough crystals to call up their gods.

[Meshico]

As we all know SE has a finger in all, especially a game that continues to give them revenue. So Yoshi P might have this idea, and all but he has quite the hump to cross before he can even start giving his Dev's something to work on.

But as stated before, if enough people show interest, they will at the very least comment on it. They may not give spoilers but they may say something as little as


"We will consider implementing this if we get more support."


So it really boils down to what the players want. I've given it my little "thumbs up/like button" so i'm supporting the idea. And hopefully that is where we'll go. Good/Bad I just like the idea of having two different countries on the same planet, and as always, I love hearing both sides of the story

[pyrocyborg]

Probably nothing new, but I guess everyone would play the empire just to be "evil" and have badass judges armors. It could be interresting, and could add something PvP-wise, but I do not think this is anything SE have in mind for this game.

Thing is... I do not like how nations are always categorized with this old good or evil dichotomy. Even if the Empire wasn't considered entirely evil lore-wise, new players would still think so when creating a new character and you'll end up with a bunch of kids in an entire nation (and some adults who would like to change faction... . ).

[Zantesuken]

So wanna use a Gunblade.....

[Nerfworthy]

So I realize this is a very old thread but I really want to play as a Garlean.......... the lore is so cool.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

From a roleplay standpoint, you kind of can, and we have at least one very prominent regular here who does. Just say you're Garlean and roleplay accordingly.

From a gameplay standpoint, though, that cool lore gets in the way of things pretty fast. The most obvious is the lack of magical ability; while this makes them distinct as a people, having an explicitly Garlean race requires the game to either ignore the lore or gimp the race. Fine; the PC can always be a special Garlean who has skills in magic. That then raises the question as to why they'd be off adventuring in Eorzea and not part of their nation's army; couple this with what the main story requires the player to do canonically, and it really narrows the sort of Garlean you can play. You have to somehow reconcile actively fighting against your homeland, or at the very least working against its best interests. My understanding is that the entire attraction to Garlemald is that it's such a stark contrast to the default allies you have in the game and offers a different point of view to the ongoing conflicts, but short of giving Garlean players a distinct MSQ, that experience can't actually be delivered.

If the game ever has Eorzea and Garlemald come to some sort of understanding, and/or decides to set a new starting point for the story down the line, then that might be possible. As it is, though, there's not really a way to officially let players be a Garlean in a way that works with the ongoing narrative and without compromising the desired experience.

[Theodric]

We don't necessarily need Garleans to be added as a playable race. I would be very pleased if they were added - especially if it was handled in a way that proved satisfying to fans of the Garlean Empire - but there's a great workaround as Hinoto states: role-play. I can't speak for anything other than Balmung's role-playing community but there's at least fifty people role-playing a Garlean in-game...and that's just counting those that I know of. They're rather popular!

You can design both Midlanders and Highlanders to look at least somewhat 'Garlean'. At the moment, we lack a 'third eye' glamour but it is my hope that we will eventually see one added to the game. At the moment, hairstyles that cover a character's forehead as well as the use of circlets serve as a decent workaround.

As far as the lack of magic is concerned, certain plot points revealed in the 4.0 MSQ's may serve as a way to introduce playable Garleans further down the line in a way that allows for them to wield aether effectively. The lore book does, however, imply that although it is very rare there are some Garlean Purebloods who are capable of using magic. Again, like Hinoto states, it'd be far easier if a new starting point is added later on.

WoW saw immense success by tweaking antagonistic non-playable races into playable races - and it such a decision was received exceptionally well by the player-base. It isn't unreasonable to assume that something similar could be done with Garlemald, even if it's just a specific faction of Garleans that priortise their people and homeland but aren't all that interested in a policy of expansion through conquering foreign nations. The developers have been very careful about keeping each of Garlemald's Legions as their own separate entity with their own specific motivations that do not necessarily align with Garlemald as a whole. Zenos is a prime example of this - he reveals that Garlemald is not his priority, a 'good fight' is what drives him.

Perhaps another Legion decides to take matters into their own hands and tries to embrace diplomacy to ensure stability within the Empire's existing holdings. By all accounts, some of the other Garlean provinces are prospering under Imperial rule, after all - which suggests that the more brutal approach of Zenos, Nael and Gaius is not the sole rule.

[CaesarCV]

To be fair to the point of more sympathetic Garlean factions, there actually is some evidence for such a faction existing. While the information we have on the Garlean civil war is quite limited, it was stated in the lorebook that the faction opposing Varis was actually also opposed to much of the expansionist policies of the Empire. We could definitely see them come up again in the future, especially with the inevitable Garlemald expansion. It would have been interesting if his faction had won instead of Varis's, but that would have also robbed the game of one of its principal antagonists. Still though, there are very many interesting possibilities for the future of more sympathetic Garlean factions, although they'd have to be somewhat separated from the Garlean government as a whole. Maybe another Rogue Legion like the XIV?

Each Legion has had its own motivations which is part of what makes them cool in my own opinion! While the XIV Legion cared a lot about equality and conquering Eorzea for the Empire despite being forsaken by them, the VII was focused much more on the elimination of the other races. The VI legion seems to be more of a special forces unit for Varis himself, and are directly loyal to more long term goals for the Empire such as the capture of Allagan technologies and finding ways to eliminate (or exploit) the Primal threat. XII legion was focused much more on oppression and allowing Zeno to indulge his personal vices, hence them being sent in to clean up after the Doman rebellion and pushed into the fringes of the Empire. It's cool since it allows the writers to present a great many different types of villains and characters for each Legion while still keeping them as a cohesive nation.

As far as Garleans as a race goes, I'm not sure they would need much more than a third eye glamour to be honest. They don't really have any other notable physical characteristics to separate them from Hyur. One possibility for including them would be if they ever decided to add more clans to the game, in which case they would be well represented as an Extra Hyur clan. And they would probably have to be explained away as the rare magic using Purebloods since even the Machinist class involves Aetheric manipulation. It's also super easy to play a Garlean other race conscript RP-Wise though. My favorite explanation is one of the survivors of Cartenau. Many of them were specifically saved by the Twin Adders, to the point that the 'number two' invented for Kan-E-Senna in Stormblood was a former Garlean soldier. Most of them probably had to end up as sellswords and/or bandits anyway...

[Kallera]

I think I would like playing for the empire to be honest. The city states just aren't what I started 1.0 with anymore, and there are times where I find Eorzea and the scions really grating.

It actually would surprise me if Elidibus' intented target for the last calamity is the Garleans, and he is playing the desperation of the realm(and the scions' clear bias)to his advantage, the region is known for its crystals, so maybe detonating that, along with the misery and realities of a empire broken in pieces with no one to turn to, would be what he needs.

It woulds add something to his idea that the Scions would be fighting with him.