Does your starting city affect anything?

[Farore]

Title. I love the location of Limsa, but the people are so dark, as is the story. I love the people of Ul'dah, but I'm not a fan of deserts. I love the location of Gridania, but I don't like how the people act.

Now, does your starting city affect anything? 'cause my favorite class is Pugilist so far, but I'd rather start in Gridania or Limsa.

[Taika]

It doesn't affect anything, no. If you want to play Monk in future, you don't have to start with Pugilist in Ul'dah, but can start with Lancer in Gridania or Marauder in Limsa for your cross-class abilities.

But I'm a bit confused, since you already have a character. Are you starting over?

[ZhaneX]

A couple early MSQs, and taxes on items sold on the market board would be about all I think?

[Taika]

A couple early MSQs, and taxes on items sold on the market board would be about all I think?

You can hire retainers from other cities than your starting city, so it doesn't really affect that.

[ZhaneX]

You can hire retainers from other cities than your starting city, so it doesn't really affect that.

True, but given that you'll get the initial quest in your starting city, and thus hire your first retainer there, and then probably second out of habit...
Of course, maybe that's just me being habitual and/or lazy.

[Niwashi]

You can hire retainers from other cities than your starting city, so it doesn't really affect that.

True, but given that you'll get the initial quest in your starting city, and thus hire your first retainer there, and then probably second out of habit...

The quest that unlocks retainers is in Waking Sands for everyone. It doesn't correlate to your starting city. (Besides, even if you did hire your retainers in the same place, you can still change which city they're selling from at any time. I spread mine out, so that I have one selling from each city's market.)

The actual differences are: 15 levels worth of the story. An occasional slight dialog change thereafter. And one gear item that's unique in name, but generic in appearance. The only part of that that's significant is the first 15 levels of quests. (I consider that part worth starting three characters, one from each city, and playing each of them through that first segment of the storyline, up until the point where the stories merge, even if you don't want to continue with all of them after that. People who aren't as interested in the storyline probably wouldn't, though.)

[Mhaeric]

Title. I love the location of Limsa, but the people are so dark, as is the story. I love the people of Ul'dah, but I'm not a fan of deserts. I love the location of Gridania, but I don't like how the people act.

Now, does your starting city affect anything? 'cause my favorite class is Pugilist so far, but I'd rather start in Gridania or Limsa.

It only affects your early progression until you complete the air ship main story quest at level 15. I.e. your starting story line up until it all converges at level 15, which classes you have available to start the game with, and which classes you can first switch to when you unlock the armoury chest at level 10. I think there might be the occasional slight difference in dialogue from npcs who featured in your starting quests along the lines of them recognizing you as the new adventurer they helped out, but that's the extent of it.

It does not affect which classes you'll eventually be able to unlock, which grand company you can join, or any quests or story past level 15.

Whether you choose to stay with Ul'dah so you can play Pugilist earlier or choose to start in another city and play another class in the meantime doesn't make a difference in the long term. I, personally, would go with the city with the story I prefer so that I at least see the story for it, and then unlock whichever class I want to actually play at a later time since I know I'll get the class regardless of which city I choose. In fact, that's exactly what I did. I started in Gridania and now main BLM/SCH/SMN which are all Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah based classes.

[Frizze]

I got a little lucky in that regard, because the class that interested me the most(BLM - obviously) matched up with the city i liked the most. But yeah, what the others said above is right. The stories are all a little different up to level 15 or so, but once they send you to meet with the people at the other 2 city-states everything plays out the same. You can choose to join whichever grand company you like(and even change them later on), you can buy housing in the district of whichever city you like(assuming you find some available). And i think theres even a way to send a retainer you hired to a different city for tax purposes, even if you hired them somewhere else. So while your starting city is important at the start of your career, you may end up eventually going there only when quests dictate that you need to talk to someone there.

[Starcoder]

I have found, up to level 30 anyway, that small references to my starting city and the reputation I have achieved there occasionally is brought up in dialogue when it comes to returning there for another big quest.

I do get how you feel though, I too lucked out as someone else here, by wanting to be a Limsa Lominsa citizen and also wanting to main as a Arcanist/Scholar.

As others have said, after 15, you can ditch leveling your initial class and start somewhere else, but if you are mildly OCD or are a perfectionist like me, it'll prolly bother you!

Hope this helps.

[Melondra]

The city you are allighned to also affect your Grand Company Quests.