What would you consider to be the most fitting City/GC for the overall story?

[wereotter]

Ul'Dah so far definitely has the most central plot points to the story, so it would make sense for the player character to be more invested in those plot points if he/she started there.

Ul'Dah has you interacting with Thancred early on, which helps establish him as a memorable character, but you do lose interactions with Yda. Y'Shtola is a major part of your interactions for the ARR story leading up to fighting Titan, so you interact with her a decent amount even if you don't start in Limsa.

Ul'Dah is also the scene of the major plot points at the end of ARR leading into Heavensward, it introduces the issues surrounding Ala Mhigo and its refugees, its where the Domans initially made landfall on Eorzea, and it's probably the city state with the closest political ties to Ala Mhigo in the post Stormblood story. So it would make more sense if the player character started there for those connections to exist.

After that, I would say Limsa since you do interact with the Admiral a decent ammount, I feel like I remember several meetings with her in the Heavensward story quests. Gridania is probably the one that has had the least impact on major story points. However, every city state is perfectly viable to start in since they do a decent job homogenizing the story regardless of starting city the further you get into the story.

[Lord_Umbra]

Derplander is WAR in the Answers cutscene.

Except Derplander is an Archer for most 1.0 CGI he did go War at some point but if we go by jobs then Gridania is starting City-State even ShB still had him being an Archer in flashback trailer for 1.0 parts.

[Enla]

From a story continuity standpoint Ul'dah ties better into the story of ARR and leading into HW given the Sultana and Thancred have big roles in that City State's MSQ. Overall it really doesn't matter though beyond that so any of them work.

[MsQi]

The one you choose.

[Enkidoh]

Except Derplander is an Archer for most 1.0 CGI he did go War at some point but if we go by jobs then Gridania is starting City-State even ShB still had him being an Archer in flashback trailer for 1.0 parts.

For most of the 1.0 opening he was ARC... except right at the start in the Adventurer's Guild, where he was dressed in a different outfit (a tabard) and, as far as can be determined, was actually not ARC but GLA (based on the sword strapped to his backpack he hoists onto his shoulder at the end of the opening - also some propaganda art from 1.0 showed him as a GLA with a sword, and SE themselves even have a display at SE HQ of his 1.0 outfit.. with a sword. He may have switched to ARC in the 'Echo scene' back to the Battle of Silvertear Skies, but he was for all intents and purposes a GLA originally (this was after all deliberate - SE were trying to show how the Armoury System worked in the original opening, that you weren't locked to a single class throughout the game).

By the Calamity though he had switched to WAR which is probably the Job he's now most identified with.

[Terin]

That's actually really interesting about good ol "Derplander". You're right, he was shown in Limsa as an Archer, I don't recall seeing him as a Gladiator, but definitely seems in that artwork. More interesting is that he *doesn't* show up as a Gladiator in the Shadowbringers cinematic, which is funny because he cycles through every other Job he's ever appeared in cinematics, before turning into a Dark Knight.

Something I've also noticed, is that any time it shows all three Grand Companies, the Maelstrom is *always* listed first. And on the Teleport screen, the Limsa Lominsa region (I forget the name of the actual island) is listed first in line, followed by the Shroud, then Thanalan (which seems a recurring theme). Even in the story, when all three storylines converge around lvl 15, it has you going to Limsa first, Gridania second, and then Ul'dah last (although it's the first Primal, so kind of the "big climax" even early on).

I dunno, I just always find it interesting to think about.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Ul'dah has the most ties to later story developments, mainly setting up Raubhan, Nanamo, and Thancred, which lays the groundwork for a huge chunk of the story from ARR to Stormblood.

Limsa Lominsa sets up the sahagin and Leviathan, which better leads into Sastasha, but then that whole plot line just kinda gets set aside until post-ARR patches.

Gridania.....is pretty? And has the only level one healing class? It brings up a bit of the "will of the elementals" stuff, but to date that still hasn't really gone anywhere, so....

[Enkidoh]

Ul'dah has the most ties to later story developments, mainly setting up Raubhan, Nanamo, and Thancred, which lays the groundwork for a huge chunk of the story from ARR to Stormblood.

Limsa Lominsa sets up the sahagin and Leviathan, which better leads into Sastasha, but then that whole plot line just kinda gets set aside until post-ARR patches.

Gridania.....is pretty? And has the only level one healing class? It brings up a bit of the "will of the elementals" stuff, but to date that still hasn't really gone anywhere, so....

Funny how everyone seems to forget that it was at Gridania that the Grand Companies were actually first formed in 1.0 (where Kan E, Merlwyb and Raubahn swore an oath of alliance to each other), and where they along with Louisoix, Cid and the Archons later had a victory celebration over Nael's defeat (premature of course but there you are).

Gridania was also where in ARR the Alliance met to discuss Varis's ascension to the Empire's throne (in 2.2), where Kan E met with the Scions about the sylphs summoning Ramuh (2.3), where the player met with Kan E and her siblings to ask for their assistance in retrieving Y'shtola from the Lifestream (HW main scenario), that Kan E actually travelled to the Churning Mists to meet with Chieftain Moglin at Moghome as Gridania's representative in developing relations between the moogles in on the surface and the sky (HW main story), and where the Alliance organized the assault on Balesar's Wall and discussed how to handle Shinryu (and where Nero showed up unannounced) (3.5 story). The climatic battle scene between Omega and Shinryu at the end of the 3.57 patch scenario also took place on the border between the Black Shroud and Gyr Abania. Kan E also plays a part in SB's later patch story after the 'Call' starts, in that she examines the unconcious Thancred in Ala Mhigo and declared that she could not detect his soul in his body at all.

And to say nothing of Gridania's Archons 'Yda' and Papalymo playing a major role in the 3.5 story, especially Papalymo's sacrifice to seal Shinryu and Yda's big revelation.

Gridania might not seem to play as much of a major role in the main storyline, but that is misleading, it has a very big part in world affairs, none the less because of it's close proximity to Ala Mhigo and thus was the closest of the citystates to the Empire (Baelsar's Wall after all pretty much was built through the eastern fringe of the Black Shroud).

[Schwarzwind]

Storywise I would say Ul'dah because you get to meet Nanamo, Raubahn and Thancred earlier in the story than with other starting citys and they play a significant role in the following story of ARR. Also, you learn more about the political schemes of Ul'dah and it's problems.

Gridania and Limsa starting quests feel kind of disconnected to the msq if you compare their starting quests to the ones of Ul'dah. It also felt nice for the story to begin in Ul'dah and end ARR with the escape out of Ul'dah, especially with the chocobo carriage since you meet the merchant from the very first quest again and he remembers you.