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

[Razzle]

I enjoyed the story, and i rather have few meaningful story quests and tons of less meaningful story quests, than just few meaningful story quests and nothing to fill inbetween. Not every single word and NPC speech have to teach us about Dalamud and the empire... We're adventurers, we help everyone in need!

[Felis]

Does not take hypnosis to brainwash. Garlemald in 1.0 was seen to use fear, intimidation, and misinformation to indoctrinate the children of Ala Mhigo (other places too) Indoctrination actually makes you believe what you are told, right or wrong, is the truth. Garleans don't need gods, because they are made to believe wholly in the Emperor. Not just as a man, as the one true voice of reason. The only law of humanity. The only true god. They're really not much better than tempered beastmen, their primal is just a man instead.

Exactly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU5N2...ailpage#t=7407

And don't forget, the empire want to do a genocide on all beast tribes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU5N2...ailpage#t=5859

[Aenarion]

Who did Gauis rape? He enslaved and pillaged Ala Mihgo, but you know what? With how every single Ala' Mighan npc acts, I could honestly say I hope they never get it back. He brought stability and prosperity to another city as told by his 2nd-in-command.

I had to lol at that one, using one bad guy's word to justify said bad guy's faction's actions. Maybe someone need to pay more attention to in-game texts, here's one straight from a main story NPC:

Glaumunt: An' then the imperials came an' took it all away. When Ala Mhigo fell, they put my family in a camp. Bein' a lad, I was made to do hard labor, while my mother an' sister were forced to do far worse... They hid their sufferin' from me as best they could, but I knew, an' the thought of it drove me mad. We had to escape. An' so I hatched a plan to get us out o' the city.

but hey, it was all really for the best, just like how Imperial Japan brought "stability and prosperity" to the rest of Asia, and comfort women were really volunteers right?

[d4rkie]

I believe you never went to Little Ala Mhigo, or Qarrymill, or even outside Ul'dah and talked/read what NPCs there are saying. Garleans are conquerors without remorse. I guess being part of a country who does the same IRL *spoilers* USA *spoilers* makes you sympathize with garleans more than the people fighting back.

[Aenarion]

I believe you never went to Little Ala Mhigo, or Qarrymill, or even outside Ul'dah and talked/read what NPCs there are saying. Garleans are conquerors without remorse. I guess being part of a country who does the same IRL *spoilers* USA *spoilers* makes you sympathize with garleans more than the people fighting back.

That's almost funny, it's almost like you're hopping on the bash-US train, because generalizing 300+ million people makes you cool

[Enkidoh]

Exactly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU5N2...ailpage#t=7407

And don't forget, the empire want to do a genocide on all beast tribes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU5N2...ailpage#t=5859

Yup. As far as the beastmen go, that also extends to the player, as was mentioned in 1.0 (as shown in a cutscene in that above link), the Garleans regard anyone with the Echo as a 'beastman' due to it's ability to allow communication with the beast tribes. Thus, for those wishing they could be a part of the Empire, well, they'd soon find life in Garlemald very unpleasant, and I guarantee, would be very quickly regretting their decision.

[Vmage]

I agree whole-heartedly!

There's also the whole Thancred thing, which is quite possibly the greatest missed opportunity in story-telling in this game.His character would have been so much better if he had been an actual villain and not some male damsel in distress. A plot where Thancred has been secretly double-crossing the Scions all this time, funneling intel to the Garleans or, even better, the Ascians to further some greater plot? Yes, please.

But nope.

so much that.... i was so excited when you see the bad guy was him

......and then soooooooooooooooo disappointed when they talk about him being 'controlled' :\

[Jinrya-Geki]

I had to lol at that one, using one bad guy's word to justify said bad guy's faction's actions. Maybe someone need to pay more attention to in-game texts, here's one straight from a main story NPC:



but hey, it was all really for the best, just like how Imperial Japan brought "stability and prosperity" to the rest of Asia, and comfort women were really volunteers right?

The same can be said for a good man with a few bad eggs in his military. One man can not control every action his troops take when they are around.

One soldier was viciously cutting down an already dead man in the Waking Sands when they took Minfilia. The White armored commander shot that imperial for disobeying her and she's obviously fiercely loyal to Gauis. She could be copying what Gauis would have done.

Unless I see a cutscene specifically showing showing something truly immoral I can't believe he was a truly bad guy.

There is far more evidence to show he was a man trying to do his way for the greater good. Like Durian from the Wtachmen, killing millions to save billions.

[shinros]

snip

Honestly I just don't view anyone as "good" in this conflict at the end of the day. Oh and about the void yea I will tell atomos you said hi and most likely diabolos is a voidsent too so I will say hi to him as well.

[Aenarion]

The same can be said for a good man with a few bad eggs in his military. One man can not control every action his troops take when they are around.

One soldier was viciously cutting down an already dead man in the Waking Sands when they took Minfilia. The White armored commander shot that imperial for disobeying her and she's obviously fiercely loyal to Gauis. She could be copying what Gauis would have done.

Unless I see a cutscene specifically showing showing something truly immoral I can't believe he was a truly bad guy.

There is far more evidence to show he was a man trying to do his way for the greater good. Like Durian from the Wtachmen, killing millions to save billions.

You're really grasping at straws here.

Did Hitler personally run the camps? Did Tojo gas and experiment on prisoners himself? Of course not, dictators seldom do the dirty works themselves, but did they authorize it? hell yes. Gaius RULED Ala Mhigo, to suggest that labor camps and systemic exploitation of the local population could be the work of "a few bad eggs" in a super-authoritarian state is laughably ignorant at best.

Seriously, the examples you're using, it's like claiming a mass serial killer is actually a nice guy because he helped an old lady cross the street in the morning. FFS, that scene in the Waking Sands is to show thte players how ruthless and how little Livia cared for people's lives, even one of their own.


FFXIV isn't some deep philosophical character study, Gaius is about as typical as it gets for your sunday morning ruthless tyrant B that tried to rule with an iron fist, which has only been done about 238749023847283907 different times already.