distance measurements in the game

[-DMR-]

I'm just curious about something...

I was wondering about the japanese people who make the game, seeing that the imperial system for measurement (yards and miles), is used in Eorzean (as yalms and malms).

In Eorzea, have they not heard of the metric system for measurements? I wonder what kilometres and metres would sound like.

[Malzian]

I'm just curious about something...

I was wondering about the japanese people who make the game, seeing that the imperial system for measurement (yards and miles), is used in Eorzean (as yalms and malms).

In Eorzea, have they not heard of the metric system for measurements? I wonder what kilometres and metres would sound like.

I would have to say that they're probably not called 'yalms' and 'malms' in Japanese. This came about due to localization to English, and when they localization was done they picked the measurements from the English speaking country which was most likely to have the most subscribers (Which, of course, is the US) and used the measurements from there are the base to make it quasi-understandable. Of course, since it's a fictionalized quantification, it doesn't really matter... they could have called yalms 'turgles' and malms 'smurgles' and it would just be sillier to say.

[Lexxuk]

It's a game which is set in "the past", back then there wasn't real, scientific instrumentation that would allow you to measure a mm, cm etc. so you made do with what you know. Mile comes from the Roman, a thousand paces. Weights, the stone (English measurement) is quite literally that, the weight of a stone (so you have different towns with different weighted stones, then it became standardised).

So, the measures could be X paces, longer ones X*Y paces etc. Of course, it gets messy when the Lala get involved, they pay by the Lala yalm and sell at the Roe.

/edit @ above - it's the same measurements used in FFXI, so it's standard to FF games.

[Teslo]

It's a game which is set in "the past", back then there wasn't real, scientific instrumentation that would allow you to measure a mm, cm etc. so you made do with what you know.

I'm willing to bet the Garleans would argue with you. :P I'll bet it would be difficult to engineer complex machinery like mech suits and space ships without exact scientific instrumentation and measurement standards. :P

[Catwho]

Left out "ilm" for an inch.

That said, I always assumed that a malm was closer to a kilometer, and a yalm was closer to a meter than a yard. It's not accurate to either of them, though - a malm a reference to a position on a virtual map, after all.

[Lexxuk]

I'm willing to bet the Garleans would argue with you. :P I'll bet it would be difficult to engineer complex machinery like mech suits and space ships without exact scientific instrumentation and measurement standards. :P

They basically are stealing tech from an earlier civilisation, even the Greeks managed to make.........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

It's an object over 2,000 years old, took another 1,600 years for objects of the same complexity to be reborn. Then we get into the "magic" of XIV, 2 lumps of cobalt ore and 1 lump of iron = 1 cobalt ingot, exactly 2 lumps of cobalt ore and 1 lump of iron, which means every lump has the same purity etc. But they don't, so we just magic up the right sized stuff.

[Ashkendor]

I'm willing to bet the Garleans would argue with you. :P I'll bet it would be difficult to engineer complex machinery like mech suits and space ships without exact scientific instrumentation and measurement standards. :P

This. Even the Eorzeans have airships and guns, neither of which would function without precision measurement.

They basically are stealing tech from an earlier civilisation, even the Greeks managed to make.........

Yeah they are "stealing tech", but they're making it on their own. It still wouldn't function without precision parts.

It's an object over 2,000 years old, took another 1,600 years for objects of the same complexity to be reborn. Then we get into the "magic" of XIV, 2 lumps of cobalt ore and 1 lump of iron = 1 cobalt ingot, exactly 2 lumps of cobalt ore and 1 lump of iron, which means every lump has the same purity etc. But they don't, so we just magic up the right sized stuff.

That's just handwavey stuff to make crafting palatably easy instead of ridiculously complex imo.

[Lexxuk]

Got to disagree with you, cannons and guns don't really require precision. US MBT's have smooth barrels which reduces accuracy (UK MBT's will have rifled barrels). In the olden days, you make a cast, pour the molten metal into it, wait for it to set. There is no need for measurements to the millimetre. The metric system (as we know it) really didn't come into use until pretty much the end of the 18th Century, the Musketeers (known for their, err, muskets) are from the early 17th century.

Modern weaponry will require precision, as they have precision parts. On the other hand, do we even know what sort of measurements Garl uses? The UK is a mix of metric and imperial, mainland Europe is metric, the US is imperial, so you can have disparate systems and they could actually use a standardised form of measurements which goes up or down by 10.

/edit - also, the bird men can make an airship, and they don't even have proper thumbs.

[Aeyis]

They basically are stealing tech from an earlier civilisation, even the Greeks managed to make.........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

Then we get into the "magic" of XIV, 2 lumps of cobalt ore and 1 lump of iron = 1 cobalt ingot, exactly 2 lumps of cobalt ore and 1 lump of iron, which means every lump has the same purity etc. But they don't, so we just magic up the right sized stuff.

This was different in 1.0
There you had to find a recipe (or try combinations of materials out) to be able to craft an item. Had to make all the components with all the right materials. (IE: a chestpiece would have buttons you had to make, etc)

[Teslo]

also, the bird men can make an airship, and they don't even have proper thumbs.

They did need a Lalafell engineer to figure it all out though. :P