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  1. #1
    Player
    LineageRazor's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    3,822
    Character
    Lineage Razor
    World
    Gilgamesh
    Main Class
    Goldsmith Lv 90
    While a lot of things are sped up and shrunk down for the sake of making the game enjoyable, I think the general assumption that we're supposed to make is that Hydaelyn is the same size as the planet earth. The maps we have of Eorzea don't give a great idea of where the planetary poles are, so it's difficult to tell just how big the continents we see are - but most probably, it's the intention that the distance between the East and West edges is roughly the same as the distance between Japan and Great Britain. I think we can assume days or weeks of travel by cart or Chocobo between most places in Eorzea, and the boat ride to Kugane likely took months. Even faster vehicles like Airships don't look like they travel nearly as fast as airplanes do.

    While not precisely in-game, Alisae's side-story on the Lodestone a while back mentioned that she spent a considerable amount of time traveling with a caravan, and it was clearly implied that this caravan was on the road for days or weeks at a time.

    Honestly, it's probably best not to think too hard about it. If pressed, there's likely a LOT of holes you can punch into the story - for example, Hien's nick-of-time arrival to support the siege against Ala Mhigo castle; it's likely that he and his followers were NOT attuned to any Eorzean Aetherite (possible, I suppose, but unlikely), yet they somehow timed their weeks- or months-long journey to arrive just as the Garleans started to mobilize their air force.
    (3)

  2. #2
    Player
    Brightamethyst's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Posts
    1,792
    Character
    Jenna Starsong
    World
    Goblin
    Main Class
    Scholar Lv 100
    Quote Originally Posted by LineageRazor View Post
    If pressed, there's likely a LOT of holes you can punch into the story - for example, Hien's nick-of-time arrival to support the siege against Ala Mhigo castle; it's likely that he and his followers were NOT attuned to any Eorzean Aetherite (possible, I suppose, but unlikely), yet they somehow timed their weeks- or months-long journey to arrive just as the Garleans started to mobilize their air force.
    Yeah. I remember questioning that at the time too. The game is usually very bad about showing the passage of time (blah, blah, time bubble, etc.) As players we see time passing in an instant even though on an intellectual level we know that it must be days or weeks or months between story events.
    (1)

  3. #3
    Player
    Rongway's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    4,162
    Character
    Cyrillo Rongway
    World
    Hyperion
    Main Class
    Black Mage Lv 100
    Quote Originally Posted by LineageRazor View Post
    While a lot of things are sped up and shrunk down for the sake of making the game enjoyable, I think the general assumption that we're supposed to make is that Hydaelyn is the same size as the planet earth.
    I can't link to it because of reasons (other people who have read it will understand why), but a few years ago (during 2.x I think, when we only had access to Eorzea) I read a decently reasoned explanation that used the distance a character could walk in a certain span of Eorzea time, cross referenced with the map of Eorzea, to determine that Aldenard is roughly the size of Wales and Vyllbrand is larger than the Isle of Man. But of course, even if it turned out to be accurate, this would say nothing of the size of Hydaelyn all told.
    (0)
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