Ishgard the most messed up area?

[Keddera_StormMoon]

I'd actually respect the OP's opinion if they actually took the time to get through the story and understand it before throwing out a critique of what is what many would argue is the best part of the whole game.

[Nhisso]

Best area.

[MOthe]

You don't even finished ARR to take these conclusions about Ishgard and HW plot, so i believe you're a troll.

[Tsumdere]

for what i saw anyway, as for me there is a bunch of things which are not right with this area, the choose made by the designer arent insight, and i just hope that Kugane will be more something than just copy of Kyôto from Sengoku period.

we dont need to be agreed, but i say my mind, i saw better heroic fantasy as creation of this kind.

that all

If you are disappointed in Ishgard which is connected to France by names and architecture only, you'll be supremely disappointed in Kugane which is a 1:1 copy of old Japan. Trust me, enjoy Ishgard. It's the best location and story arc you'll have for a long time.

[Edax]

Hello

i would like to speak about Ishgard aréa, storyline and role in the main story.

Many thing doesnt fit with this "kingdom"

first i find the landscap too much different about the geographical logic, look like a people choose to live in the mountain in tiny place only.

Then i find very weird to take most of the code of middle age in france, with christian systeme fanatisme and crusade stuff, and trying to do a poor copy of "game of throne like" with "house"
The plot there are very predictable and not very interesting at all, also it is very cliché about middle age in europe, for me the dev just build a kind of criticism of what they dislike from europe, many christian zelote created problem in japan in the past.

The kingdom is quiet poor, only snow and some mountain, not much personnality to compare with uldah for exemple. And they didnt work to make this place cool place to journey on, which is pity. beside in the main story they are just missing, like if those ppl are in their "world" with their "crusade" against dragon and "muslim", i mean "fanatic" as they are too. It sounds a "skyrim like" but very messy.

So tell me, what is the use of this kingdom in the main story and in the world of eorzea? It is like they dont fit at all with the rest, like a mistake in the matrice. And i m not astonish that they are just minor in the rest of the story. I d say it was just a kingdom to fufill a part of the story, where they didnt work very seriously on it.

Here are my feel, whats yours about? i m wondering if i m alone to find this "kingdom" as a mistake in éorzea who could be skipped.

The voiced introduction to the first zone explains why it looks like a fertile landscape has been frozen over. You can hear it here:
https://youtu.be/pMtHgMIPBOs?t=68

[milovan]

You dare question the birthplace of Dragoons!?

[Orbus]

Ishgard really is one of the best city states in the game, it was always a huge shame they relegated everything important in HW to idylshire instead.

[Iscah]

Ishgard really is one of the best city states in the game, it was always a huge shame they relegated everything important in HW to idylshire instead.

Idyllshire makes sense thematically though. Where are businesses aimed at adventurers going to (want to AND be able to) set up shop? Super-conservative wary-of-outsiders Ishgard, or a free-for-all frontier town frequented by treasure-hunters and explorers?

I think they basically had to create Idyllshire so their endgame hub would make sense in the lore.

[Edax]

Idyllshire makes sense thematically though. Where are businesses aimed at adventurers going to (want to AND be able to) set up shop? Super-conservative wary-of-outsiders Ishgard, or a free-for-all frontier town frequented by treasure-hunters and explorers?

I think they basically had to create Idyllshire so their endgame hub would make sense in the lore.

Except Idyllshire is at the extreme end of the world, far far away from any conventional mass transit apart from expensive aethernet rides. If they set up in the Sea of Clouds with an airship terminal, it would hardly mean that Ishgard would stop them, they barely control a fraction of that territory.

I'm pretty sure noble houses and political schemes didn't originate from Game of Thrones.



No they didnt come, but they really looks like and sounds like a symbol of missing imagination to setting political situation, i think there were more way to build this politics aspect than just with "house" like game of throne. To brand your univers and make it different from other, you have to avoid to take too much code which refer too some other saga or historic time. For exemple, i dont like Limsa Nomisa, but i never feel there "i m in Pirate of Carreabean"
Also there is no need to take a holy city to justifiy crusade, crusade were also used to purify the heretic in central europe, Russian from old time did crusade against teutonic for example.


Ishgard is a problem for me cause it is too much close whide from real historic stuff, and that is disturbing, maybe ppl here like Isghard cause they never focused on history or that not their first interest, so they can live this part as something new, but for me who read alot about medieval time, i say it is too much close from, and i phrase a criticisme of those design choice. Beside final fantasy always use to be to create proper univers who are really far from our world , current or past.

Be inspire is one thing, but do "look like" it is bad.
Here in the name of npcs sounds like old french name, in their deisgned armor, place or stronghold, i dont see anything original, i just see a look like. Also word has their mean, using crusade is not insight, crusade refer to one period, one moment, and one phenomen in history, take it and use it to describe a story in fantasy game, i dont find very clever, it is like for Uldah we get some word around Djihad, and you agree, today using this word would be suspicious, because of the current situation, but why use "crusade" which was also same bunch of maddness and crime, is more tolerable? Of course other fantasy game used this word but their univers was so far from what we know that it made less probleme for me. Here we have crusade, inquisitor, archevêque, come on where those guy come from? i dont want to play french medieval simulator. (joking, but you see what i mean) is it too hard to just create something different?
(0)

I generally oppose this idea. I love it when Final Fantasy actually pulls from history as an inspiration. When writers go FULL Fantasy, the world's are often poorly written and realized and the story often struggles to say anything meaningful when there's no real life analog to pull on. This is why I don't like garlemald, it's "generic fantasy bad guy".

You take one look at this guy and the moment you ask "How does he go to the bathroom?" and the immersion is ruined. And he probably bangs his head on the ceiling everytime he walks through a door. This is what happens when you let the "fantasy" elements completely take over. The writers and designers don't have time to make the fantasy "real".

[Seraph522]

I generally oppose this idea. I love it when Final Fantasy actually pulls from history as an inspiration. When writers go FULL Fantasy, the world's are often poorly written and realized and the story often struggles to say anything meaningful when there's no real life analog to pull on. This is why I don't like garlemald, it's "generic fantasy bad guy".

You take one look at this guy and the moment you ask "How does he go to the bathroom?" and the immersion is ruined. And he probably bangs his head on the ceiling everytime he walks through a door. This is what happens when you let the "fantasy" elements completely take over. The writers and designers don't have time to make the fantasy "real".

I mean, the Garlean Empire has pretty clear historical roots as well. It's a reference to the Roman Empire, specifically: republic turned empire under one man's rise to prominence, tendency to subjugate large swaths of territory and a generally condescending attitude to their populaces, even as they recruit large numbers of them to serve their military, and so on. Heck, the more recent patch's revelations hint at the idea that there is a cultic view of the Emperor, driving near outright worship. Not to mention the other similarities to other tyrannical regimes in the past.

And yes, the armor is ornate and over the top and doesn't make a lick of sense in terms of real world armor, but the same can be said about pretty much every major group in the game. Aymeric wouldn't have any easier of a time relieving himself in that outfit he always seems to be wearing.

Note that this doesn't mean I don't appreciate the historical roots of Ishgard's portrayal; I think they did an excellent job with that. But the Garlean Empire has similar historical roots; their questionable portrayal at times lies more with how they're presented at certain points than their historicity or lack thereof.