Future leader of Apa Mhigo

[Frederick22]

It's probably best to avoid making those sort of comparisons altogether considering that we haven't actually seen Garlemald for ourselves yet. Comparing it to something as controversial as Nazi Germany feels rather unfair.

I dont think so. Withouth counting the most known facts. Both share lots of common things.

[Quor]

Or at least someone like Gaius. Someone who pushes for an end of hostilities between Garlemald and Eorzea in favour of unity so that Ala Mhigo can harbour both Ala Mhigans and Garleans. I feel like that would make for a much more compelling tale overall - because it's been almost three decades since Ala Mhigo was occupied and there's no doubt going to be a lot of people there who don't want the status quo to suddenly change.

Maybe I'm a bit late to the party, but there is RL precedent for people holding a grudge far longer than three decades. Just look at the situation in Ireland/Northern Ireland between the Irish and the British. The only reason Northern Ireland is still a thing is because the British imported a bunch of lower class Brits and Scots to Northern Ireland and gave them land (which was a big deal back in the day), and those transplants, finally being landowners, were willing to fight and die for the land they had finally been able to acquire.

If Garlemald did something similar (I see no reason why they wouldn't) then we could really get knee deep in the sh*t, politically speaking.

[Kotori_Southburd]

Ala Mhigo is not going to be a success story like presumably Ishgard
The entire nation will crumble because of a WMD like Ultima/Omega going out of control
It will be the "The Empire Strikes Back" of FFXIV, perhaps literally

[Frederick22]

Ala Mhigo is not going to be a success story like presumably Ishgard
The entire nation will crumble because of a WMD like Ultima/Omega going out of control
It will be the "The Empire Strikes Back" of FFXIV, perhaps literally

I think we already suffer that.

[Laili]

Ala Mhigo is not going to be a success story like presumably Ishgard
The entire nation will crumble because of a WMD like Ultima/Omega going out of control
It will be the "The Empire Strikes Back" of FFXIV, perhaps literally

Unless they do something to endear me to the Ala Mhigans really fast I honestly won't be too tore up over this.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

Well, Ala Mhigo has probably already all but crumbled; remember, they went through a fairly major revolution just prior to Gaius invading, and between being host to a foreign legion and going through a cultural upheaval, it's hard to imagine them retaining much of a national identity, at least publically. If there is some kind of devastation, it will be against the XIVth Legion still occupying it. Which would be interesting! I think it would be fascinating if we go to Ala Mhigo not as part of a military campaign to take it back, but because something caused the Empire to abandon it.

That said, I'm not sure I buy that they'd all be a "Garlean Generation" just because a few decades have passed either - half of Berlin was a Soviet state for longer than Ala Mhigo's been occupied, and they more or less shrugged and carried on once the Wall went down - and there's surely a local resistance of some sort, if even just a token one.

But yeah, I'm kinda curious about how the plot will move us in that direction. it's hard to get particularly fired up about liberating the place as things stand now. Much of what we know about pre-Garlean Ala Mhigo paints a picture even less endearing than Ishgard-under-Thordan:
-A "mad king" of sorts, who ruled with cruelty and incompetence.
-A population so ready to tear itself apart that Gaius was able to manipulate them into creating their own downfall. From the shadows, no less.
-With little to no mention of them in the century between the Autumn War and Gaius' coup, I get the sense they were even more isolationist than Ishgard (who at least had the excuse of a forever war against a horde of dragons).

That said, I think we have a more balanced cast of Ala Mhigan faces outside the city than most give credit for. Sure, the Resistance is pretty dire, most of them being either hopelessly naive or outright antagonistic, but we also have people like Widargelt, Erik, and Raubahn. As much as I'd like to see Garlemald become a part of the main plot thread again, there's plenty of opportunity for good drama with the Ala Mhigan cast currently assembled.

[Wadoka]

That said, I'm not sure I buy that they'd all be a "Garlean Generation" just because a few decades have passed either - half of Berlin was a Soviet state for longer than Ala Mhigo's been occupied, and they more or less shrugged and carried on once the Wall went down.

Raubahn: "Mr Galvus - TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!"

[Chewy2nd]

Judging from the pictures, the city looks quite Garlean these days, I imagine a lot of the old city has been replaced by Garlean structures.

[Belhi]

Unless they do something to endear me to the Ala Mhigans really fast I honestly won't be too tore up over this.

They same could be said about the Ishgardians leading into HW. We have had a number of friendly Ala Mhigans along the way as well as the jerks. Yda, Raubahn, and a bunch of the folks from Little Ala Mhigo. Wilred was a decent and earnest kid once he learned his lesson. I might be in the minority but his murder is one of the things that makes me less incline to be forgiving to Ilberd.

The most logical reason for us heading to Ala Mhigo is to counter another invasion attempt by Garlemald rather than simply to free Ala Mhigo. Its something they have been building towards for quite a long time now. 3.X has built up the military strength of the Eorzean Alliance a lot both due to the MSQ and in the Job quest lines themselves.

They could pull a curveball on us and have something come completely out of left field but it seems the most likely plot. What we actually do with Ala Mhigo and the Garleans who have settled there will be something dealt with once we actually have stopped Garlemald's war machine. My guess is things will get a lot more complicated once we are there, particularly if Garlemald is our future destination. If we go to Garlemald I'm betting we will be working with at least groups within Garlemald by that stage so the in for that would be in Ala Mhigo.

[Khalithar]

Ala Mhigo is not going to be a success story like presumably Ishgard
The entire nation will crumble because of a WMD like Ultima/Omega going out of control
It will be the "The Empire Strikes Back" of FFXIV, perhaps literally

I'm inclined to agree it will be that way. I kind of wish that it wouldn't be that way though, I want to say we could use more genuine triumph compared to moments of bittersweet triumph where we won at a cost, but given we're going to a heavily occupied and oppressed nation it will probably be just as dark as the ishgard storyline. I don't know, part of me wants an xpac that's more like the story of the original final fantasy, heroes save the world and the princess against a great evil and everything afterwards is sunshine and roses before we go to whatever the next story is and things go grimdark again.

I know it sounds boring, but I feel as though the story could use more genuine moments of triumph to juxtapose all of the Estinhogg screaming about murdering everyone and hurting our allies. Take the last appearance of Estinhogg as an example, I really think that overall moment would have been better without him, in my opinion anyway.