FF is not GoT.

[DragonSlayer45]

You should Play FF4 (the original one). People died like flies in this game.

I just got done replaying FFIX on mobile and the body count in that game for characters both minor and major makes FFXIV, and even most newer Final Fantasy games excluding Type-0, seem like a Nickelodeon cartoon by comparison.

[FJerome]

Not GoT? Have you never played final fantasy tactics OP? That game has tons of intrigue and a massive body count even before they start working in the demon part of the story. On top of the ending which shows you didn't really accomplish much for how hard you fought.

Yeah I think it's a very generational thing, depending on when you got into the franchise. Eorzea doesn't remind me of Westeros, Eorzea reminds me of Ivalice.

[Theodric]

You know, come to think of it pretty much every FF - even those with a lot of lighthearted elements - are pretty dark. FF7 had a lot of dark moments, for example. Remember the attempted live execution of Tifa? Shinra's experimentation? The effects of Mako energy? Aeris' fate? Biggs, Wedge and Jessie? Marlene being used as leverage by Cait Sith?

FF6, FF9 and FF12 also had many dark moments. FF Tactics did as well - though that's already been brought up.

[Dualblade]

FFV was probably the lightest game in the series and even it got dark.

Remember in FFV when Galuf went into basically negative HP and beat Exdeath on his own temporarily? How the characters tried everything in their power to save him, and failed?

[Frederick22]

Maybe 2.55 had some GoT references. But was just that, there was no massive murdered.

[Aeliott]

Errm. If anything XIV is more like IV in that it seems like a bunch of main characters die, but oh wait they're fine. Both 3.1 and 3.2 had multiple cases of this. And of course "the big one" from 2.55-3.0. Yeah they get injured but...so? :P there are far worse FFs for this kind of thing than this one. The "good guy" deaths we have had thus far in XIV aren't anything remotely GoT-like. They're just evocative of past FFs, the "noble sacrifice" cliche. If it was like Game of Thrones we'd have Lucia suddenly betraying and stabbing Aymeric, Kan-E-Senna gutting Merlwyb at a meeting and sleeping with a bunch of sellswords, Nanamo ordering every bastard baby in Ul'dah slaughtered and torturing people for sport, Raubahn decapitating the player character in a melee, and Alphinaud gelding everyone and fighting off a garrison of soldiers while shirtless.

There are strong parallels between the Dragons/Ishgardians and Wildlings/Night's Watch, with the need to reconcile ages of fighting and death, but that's about it. XIV is far from a bloodbath.

[MoarLegion]

I think the MSQ is following a "modern" take on FFIV. There are the obvious parallels, a shifting cast, characters lost to the plot coming back, Estinien in general, Ayermic shares a few traits with Cecil.
As far as the GoT thing, I don't think the parallels are in the dead cast, but in the sense that much of the plot focuses on Good Men or Leaders that genuinely care for their people/subordinates, and the myriad ways they get screwed over.
I think Nidhogg might end up serving as the Common Foe Ishgard and Dravania need to finally settle their differences. Whether the peaceful Dravanian faction decides Nidhogg needs to die, and whether they contribute to that cause remains to be seen.

[AutumnHarvestwind]

Oh boy, looks like someone didn't play FFXI.

this is somewhat of a tangent, but outside of the storyline, you had a real sense of urgency that you WOULD die and get a severe penalty like deleveling! I remember just spending hours in camping... valkrum dunes, quifum, the jungles ( OH GOD WOULD YOU GET LOST), crawler's nest, the deserts... so on and so forth and then boom, you'd accidently get aggro from an 'impossible to gauge!' trusight mob or something and DELEVEL A LEVEL AND A HALF!!
I remember when you first entered the promyvions ( i thnk thats what theyre called?) youd get the most CREEPIEST MUSIC, and names like 'weeper' and shit....just creepy, dark.
Also the base quest for fighting the shadowlord was so heartclenchingly dark...and... (again) creepy..
Not to mention, the game had a habit that nightfall = undead strong mobs would spawn. ( I always hated night time, while running through zones on low levels)

[Alberel]

I think Nidhogg might end up serving as the Common Foe Ishgard and Dravania need to finally settle their differences. Whether the peaceful Dravanian faction decides Nidhogg needs to die, and whether they contribute to that cause remains to be seen.

Hraesvelgr will be the one to decide that and Nidhogg just tried to kill his daughter. I think it's safe to bet that we'll be fighting alongside Hraesvelgr by the end.

[Synrin]

It's a game. It's characters in game. It's also life. Thousands of people die every day, whether it is a pleasant or not so pleasant death. GoT is REALISTIC. I read the books, and it is realistic. In the midst of a raging war, would you expect all the people to survive? I am surprised certain individuals haven't been poisoned yet. Such is the horror of war and CALAMITY. In this game, the only horrible death we got served was Haurchefant's. If you are referring to anyone else from the scions, we all got into a sticky situation and they escaped, one way or another. Moe, well, she just disappeared. And let me tell you that Raubhan was lucky he lost only his arm. That's what happens when you pick up a sword and go fight and when you meddle in politics and power games. Get real.