Awfully weak story... or is it? [WARNING:SPOILERS]

[Divinemight]

The Garleans aren't innocent or perfect, but they aren't any more evil than the people the players are fighting for.

For being one of the 2.0 character, all your statement are pointless to us. As 2.0 characters are raised with their home city state, Garlean is an invader, and Garius is the enemy. We will kill him without mercy.

[BlueMage]

Look at the people he employed - his right-hand men were ruthless murderers. He put them in a position of power because he believed they were the best for the job. Guess how they handled it?

Livia was pretty ruthless and evil, but the Roe general was a pretty cool guy (in the dialog before his fight, he told his troops to flee instead of throwing their lives away trying to help him while he tried to hold you off), and Nero wasn't evil - he was jealous of Cid, but Nero didn't actually do anything evil other than stay loyal to his country.

[BlueMage]

For being one of the 2.0 character, all your statement are pointless to us. As 2.0 characters are raised with their home city state, Garlean is an invader, and Garius is the enemy. We will kill him without mercy.

Actually, the NPCs point out various times in the story that the player characters aren't actually from Eorzea. They're outsider adventurers who are "willing to fight for a land they aren't from."

[Divinemight]

Actually, the NPCs point out various times in the story that the player characters aren't actually from Eorzea. They're outsider adventurers who are "willing to fight for a land they aren't from."

This only reinforce my point, as 2.0 character, all we see is Emprie is evil with their acts and Garius is ruthless. Nevertheless, we are going to kill him as our mortal enemy. You can went on for all enternity about ala mhigo, it is irrevelent to us as 2.0 character doesnt share same experience as 1.0 character. Garius has to die.

[Naunet]

Pfft, no more evil? Hello - just look at Nael and Dalamud. Summoning a moon (to say nothing of the sleeping dragon Primal inside it) to crash into Eorzea? I don't think you can get any more evil than that. And who instituted Project Meteor? Surprise surprise, the Garlean Empire!

That plot wasn't endorsed by the Empire. Nael was explicitly told to stop what he was doing, but he continued in secret because he was quite literally going mad with the primal's power. A whole lot of Garleans died at the Battle of Carteneau when Dalamud fell, too, y'know.

[Enkidoh]

My point was, the Empire started it regardless - Nael just took it to the inevitable conclusion (you can't tell me that no one realized that summoning a moon was a bad idea?). And it was stated that at the very least the Emperor did endorse it in principle. Ironically only Gaius was the only one to be against it, for reasons I already mentioned.

[Reynhart]

This is from FFXIV:ARR, and only from FFXIV:ARR. On the other hand, FFXIV apparently got build up for all these characters mentioned above. This means all the observations I made could have been significantly wrong. It feels like I'm playing a sequel, but it's not suppose to be a sequel.

Sorry to disappoint you, but storywise, ARR IS a sequel. The main plot of FFXIV was the Meteor Project mentionned a lot in ARR. As for the characters, FF XIV did have a proper introduction to most of them.

We saw the Grand Compagnies reform, the alliance being forged and the empire rising. Even Gaius was far better introduced in v1.

[BlueMage]

Pfft, no more evil? Hello - just look at Nael and Dalamud. Summoning a moon (to say nothing of the sleeping dragon Primal inside it) to crash into Eorzea? I don't think you can get any more evil than that. And who instituted Project Meteor? Surprise surprise, the Garlean Empire!

Sorry, but you are coming across as more and more in denial of just how malevolent Garlemald is made out to be. SE has made great pains to paint the Garleans as the antagonists in FFXIV - no matter how much you try and trivialize it.

Even if you disregard that Nael was possessed and deceiving the Empire, what Nael did is pretty irrelevant to Gaius, considering they were political rivals and Gaius actively opposed Nael's plans. As mentioned in the story, there are several Legatus' (people of Gaius and Nael's rank) who are all vying to be the next Emperor, as the current Emperor is very old and his health is failing. Gaius actually helped the players stop Nael in 1.0. As stated multiple times in game, his motivation is to free Eorzea from impotent dictators who cant protect their people (minor NPCs make it a point to mention that beastmen didnt summon their Primals once they found out about Ultima, and only resumed summoning once Ultima was gone) and create his own Empire where humans create their own destiny instead of being bound to the will of Gods.

Granted, he, like Nael, was ultimately tricked and failed, but unlike Nael, SE made great pains to show that Gaius wasn't a 1-dimensional villain who did evil for the lulz, and SE made great pains to show that all of the city states are guilty of their own crimes and wrongdoings, but I guess you'd rather trivialize those parts of the story.

But hey, way to not follow the conversation and explode hysterically.

[LiadansWhisper]

Some others have already pointed this out, but I think it's important to factor in how the Empire has treated the people of Ala Mhigo (especially the women). It's pretty horrible stuff, and not something that allows you to call them any shade of "good."

[BlueMage]

Some others have already pointed this out, but I think it's important to factor in how the Empire has treated the people of Ala Mhigo (especially the women). It's pretty horrible stuff, and not something that allows you to call them any shade of "good."

Look at how the soldiers of Ul'dah treat their own people (especially the women). It's pretty horrible stuff, and not something that allows you to call them any shade of "good".