A game for 4 year olds

[kaynide]

And I've said before, I think they really messed up by referencing "modern Earth tech" for Garlemald, especially those ugly boxy cars that look like they've made a 3D model of how a two-year-old draws a car. We've seen Garlean tech before that – the magitek armours and flying juggernauts with their whimsical winged bipedal designs and ornate details. Garlemald citizen tech should be based on those designs, not turning to a different source entirely.

I honestly don't really like the direction they went either; the things we've seen from the Empire are usually rather sleek. Sure, some steampunk-boiler plate kinda elements, but most stuff is rather smooth. I had thought they would appear more like something out of Bioshock or like.. Victorian-esque or Prussian-esque steampunk. Maybe even a little bit of that "retro future" kinda element.
Buuuut it is what it is!

I've just recently picked up Final Fantasy VI, where those magitek designs originate from, and while I haven't got too deep into it yet I would think they could draw on that setting as a basis for the accompanying tech level of the country. Narshe feels like it could a base design for a Garlean village, though I haven't seen much of the Empire yet besides their machines.

Enjoy it!

Not a bad call, and Narshe is a bit unique with the more steam-mining-elements, but you'll find most cities in the game to be very generic fantasy-rpg-town.

[Lyth]

Garlemald's broader issue, like many empires introduced in the Final Fantasy franchise as a whole, was that it merely ended up being a front for something bigger. The instant that the latter part of Stormblood revealed that Varis was no more than a puppet dictator under Emet's thumb with no meaningful power of his own, Garlemald itself was devitalized of its story potential. What's the significance of going head to head against the Emperor in a climactic battle when we've already crushed the Ascians? He couldn't even be considered as a Mid-boss. Where is the mystique in exploring the modern city of Garlemald when Amaurot is even more modern in appearance?

There was no opportunity to make Garlemald more interesting without wrapping up the Amaurotines' involvement in the story, preferably for good.

[Kozh]

The actions of the city-states have never been portrayed as a religious war, especially against each other. All of them believe in all of the Twelve; they just hold one in high regard as their own patron.

Even against the beast tribes with their different gods, it's not about "our gods are the right ones" but "their gods are living monsters and a threat to us".

Uh yeah, it's not super religious war or something like that. But I mean it's still war to expand their territory etc. They're just unsuccessful of going global.

Yes, it was cheap and awkwardly done, and seems to have been done that way because they didn't know what to do with Garlemald as a powerful empire so they imploded it.

So, having done that to remove it from play, why would the writers want to put it back as it was? What was the point of all the destruction?

No point. As for why would they want to put it back, maybe they feel bad for being incompetent? Who knows /shrug

Again, this mostly why some of us want a rewrite of garlemald, and yes, there's basically zero chance it happens. Or for what I want to happen, happen. I know that. Bet Aveyond and other know that too. This is simply a what-if.

And perhaps if maehiro is back from 16 maybe he can do something...? *inhale copium*

[SannaR]

I'd almost say based on the rich/high ranking people derailed train design that for those who could afford or were high ranked enough a fitting car model would look something akin to Captain Nemo's car from the film The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. Or I guess something like the Mac 3 from Speed Racer. The blocky smart car look and why they're so prevalent in the zone is the average citizen car model. I'd also go with 1920s 1930s top line Jaguars or other expensive cars that share the same kind of design. Or even the Batmobile from Batman the Animated show. Heck the Regalia would even fit. At least for the high end.

[MikkoAkure]

If they made even ONE of those cars unique and good-looking, people would be looking for it to be somehow relevant to the story, or at least start demanding it as a mount.

It’s too late for that. When I first saw them in Garlemald, besides thinking it was funny that the great, powerful, and evil empire putts around in tiny little city cars, I immediately wanted to see a Roegadyn or a Hrothgar in one and have it be a four-seater.

Plus my Hyur is too short for Noctis’ car and can barely see over the steering wheel despite everything else in the game being designed around my model so it would be nice to have a car that’s me-sized.

[Alleo]

So the questline is finished

After we ask around if the customers like the cafe we get a report that Elysium has changed again. We go there and the first thing we see is a new baby dragon. I was like "awww" and then so happy. Finally the dragons have their children again.

Then we see the huge tree of the Nibirun, now part of the Omikron map. Its absolutely beautiful. The Nibirun are there too and are bascially wondering about the reason to life. At the end everyone of the new races come over and invite them to some nice discussions about the universe and the existance.

That finishes the story. I do say that the solution for the Nibirun was a bit fast. I guess the combined happyness of the other races got to them in the end.

I love that in their zone we have them talking with the Omicrons about trees while they just love discussions with the Ea.

And at the cafe you have one that is really fascinated with the joyfulness of the newborn dragon.

Also the Omicron gives new information about the Nibirun. They bascially managed to destroy any illness and violence and achieved eternal lifes. They reached harmony across the whole race which in turn meant that they never had any conflict anymore. But that was their end. Without pain and all the negative emotions, the positive ones also lost their meaning in time and thus they wanted it to end.

All in all a great storyline, with some emotional points and a very stunning Elysium.

[KageTokage]

I honestly wasn't expecting them to double down on the "joy is meaningless when not tempered by sorrow" angle for the Nibirun, because the vibe I was getting was more that they didn't have anything left to be joyful about because a complete removal of strife entailed throwing away virtually everything that gave their lives meaning.

That philosophy is one I just fundamentally cannot agree with.

[Alleo]

That philosophy is one I just fundamentally cannot agree with.

Its something we as humans can never really get because we are not immortal and we have enough suffering in our lifes. But I can see that a world where there is only pure harmony, no conflict (not even a small one between individuals) can get stale with time. It seems that their lifes were just the same day in, day out. If you have everything you can get, what do you look forward to? Of course it still needed Meteion and her questions that drove them over the edge but I can see it.

That in my opinion does not mean that we cant work towards a brighter future or that everybody has to constantly suffer. No I think it just means that perfection is not something we should want. Because in the very end it could lead to a utter meaningless boring life.

A life where (as Cleretic pointed out) they did not even have to eat anymore. So what do you do the whole day? Sounds absolutely awesome for a small amount of time (like our own limited life on earth) but absolutely horrible if you have the infinity before you.

[Brinne]

Its something we as humans can never really get because we are not immortal and we have enough suffering in our lifes. But I can see that a world where there is only pure harmony, no conflict (not even a small one between individuals) can get stale with time.

This begs the question, though, of who and what this portrayal and this theme is for. If it's something that can never really apply to us as humans, what is the audience meant to extract meaningfully from "a theoretical (but admittedly impossible outside of constructed thought exercises) existence that is too good or is absent of the things that make you suffer is actually bad?" What utility or urgency is there in exploring, in the world we live in now, "if you think about it being hungry can lead to good things actually" in a world that continues to struggle with mass hunger and poverty? Does it have any actual utility apart from self-satisfied navel-gazing about how, really, our current existence is basically the best one possible, we're number one, etc, etc?

[DPZ2]

This begs the question, though, of who and what this portrayal and this theme is for. If it's something that can never really apply to us as humans, what is the audience meant to extract ...

The questions you raise are older than the written word. From Hesiod's Golden Age to the Hebrew Garden of Eden to Plato's Republic and, much later. Thomas More's Utopia, there has always been a nostalgia for the 'good place' that we have, somehow, lost.

That we can even conceive of such a place, and strive toward it, is what makes us human.

The problem is that such a Golden Age has been achieved and lost, time and time again, without reason or purpose. The story of the Ancients reminds me of the tale of Atlantis, that perfect society that was lost to the waves during a catastrophic event.

The Ancient world was not perfect. It does not appear as though the Convocation 'ruled' the entire world, nor that those in Amaurot were all that concerned about those who were currently experiencing the Final Days "across the pond". There was debate on whether it would be a good test of some new concepts, but the reported death and destruction did not seem to affect the Amaurotines greatly.

Perhaps the level of Utopian ideal was not as worldwide-citizens-joined-together as we infer from the story line. Perhaps their society was on its way to becoming the Bronze or Heroic Age, having lost the Golden Age in times long past.