How to Make the New World Interesting

[aveyond-dreams]

I’m not going to suggest or entertain the idea that DT should take heavily after FFX given how forceful the implementation of FFIV was in Endwalker, with FFXIV desperately needing to regain its own footing without having previous mainline titles propping it up. The last thing we also need is a literal beach episode expansion given how equally forceful Endwalker was when it came to painfully “light-hearted” writing and slice of life moments that were difficult for players like me to sit through at best and utterly grating at their worst.

There have to be elements to captivate my attention and get me to care about what’s going on, so I have prepared a list of ideas that can spice up the otherwise unmemorable state of the New World. I think after 2 (though by the time DT releases it’ll be nearly 3) years of not much grit since the base EW MSQ, that these will be welcome additions to add more to the base premise of “we need to help the New World choose a new ruler” and G'raha Tia having a mexican.

1. Sacrificial Rites and Tribes



It’s a well known fact that a number of real world civilizations in the New World engaged in a variety of dark rituals in service to their respective gods. The Aztecs are the most notable example of this, with relatively recent excavations in Mexico uncovered evidence of ancient historical accounts of these rites. Source linked here.


In the context of FFXIV’s world, I suppose one way to incorporate this chilling element could be to use the Mamool Ja who don’t have anything scary about them or the neighboring Hrothgar tribe. They could regularly sacrifice or consume the flesh of the spoken races in service to their god or goddess, or potentially whatever Hrothgar matriarch DT is likely to unveil.

2. The Spooks of Appalachia



I think by now everyone has come across those tiktoks made by Americans living in Appalachia about their superstitions and monsters they fear, such as Wendigos and Skinwalkers. There was at least one forest/jungle zone revealed last fanfest, so it could be something as simple as whenever night falls in these woods, that all manner of fearsome entities come out. The party could be separated, and perhaps one of these entities could take out a party member or two midway through the journey.

3. Voodoo, Queens, and New Orleans



This is a bit of a combined topic that also links to Hrothgars as I mentioned earlier. Given the Hrothgars of Bozja have a reputation for being diviners and priestesses, why not have something similar for the New World? Hrothgar voodoo practitioners who have secluded themselves in the swamps of the New World and peddle their craft of black magic at a lofty price. There aren’t many “deal with the devil” type of situations in FFXIV but I think something like this would be a refreshing thing to see in this game.

New Orleans or similar cities with varying degrees of European influence would also help diversify the New World, as the city we have seen so far left much to be desired in terms of design and aesthetic. Some other cities that I think could be good to draw from are Havana, San Juan, San Antonio, and others in that vein.

4. The Real Pirates of the Caribbean



It’s an unfortunate state of affairs for the pirates of FFXIV that aren’t really allowed to be pirates anymore. They seem to be reduced to just ferrymen or “reformed” good guys which is a trope that has run its course several times over in this game. Some fearsome pirate lords like the one from the early Arcanist questline would be a breath of fresh air compared to Merlwyb’s unbearable preaching. Just nothing as bland as the Orlando Bloom look the WoL decided to rock in the trailer for some reason. I’d much rather see them crank up the FFXI corsair aesthetic to the max and dress up some highlander or larger builds up in those clothes. And for them to be wholly free of Lominsan oppression.

[Enkidoh]

Have you even been paying attention to the story? The story has shown blood sacrifices have been occurring constantly almost since day one, commited by various groups from the Lambs of Dalamud to the beastmen like the Vanu (that altar at the Cromlech for instance is clearly smeared with blood on that nasty looking spike, leading to no question what it's used for) - the Ascians even encouraged it as a way of superpowering Primal summonings - which dates back to the Ancients having to sacrifice themselves to summon both Zodiark and Hydaelyn. It's probably a given that the mamool'ja probably practiced it in their homeland so it should go without saying that somewhere on Tural it will happen, but it probably won't be literally shown, but merely hinted at or referenced.

As for pirates, there are still nasty ones that prey on shipping around, the story just treats them as the criminals they are. You're simply never going to be able to play as one, that's just being realistic.

As I've mentioned to you before in the past, the game is simply never going to allow you to be "the bad guy" no matter how much you plead, and will never be grimdark like you so desperately want it to be.

[Ranaku]

"Real" pirates were really boring tho, the real pirates didn't liked fighting and rather had their enemy surrender cause ship repairs are expensive when you can't go to normal ports.

I rather have FF stick with the fantasy and not too much realism, thank you.

[Musashidon]

if we want realism we should conquer this new world as you can't get more realistic than that.

[Swordsman]

I’m not going to suggest or entertain the idea that DT should take heavily after FFX given how forceful the implementation of FFIV was in Endwalker, with FFXIV desperately needing to regain its own footing without having previous mainline titles propping it up. The last thing we also need is a literal beach episode expansion given how equally forceful Endwalker was when it came to painfully “light-hearted” writing and slice of life moments that were difficult for players like me to sit through at best and utterly grating at their worst.

There have to be elements to captivate my attention and get me to care about what’s going on, so I have prepared a list of ideas that can spice up the otherwise unmemorable state of the New World. I think after 2 (though by the time DT releases it’ll be nearly 3) years of not much grit since the base EW MSQ, that these will be welcome additions to add more to the base premise of “we need to help the New World choose a new ruler” and G'raha Tia having a mexican.

1. Sacrificial Rites and Tribes



It’s a well known fact that a number of real world civilizations in the New World engaged in a variety of dark rituals in service to their respective gods. The Aztecs are the most notable example of this, with relatively recent excavations in Mexico uncovered evidence of ancient historical accounts of these rites. Source linked here.


In the context of FFXIV’s world, I suppose one way to incorporate this chilling element could be to use the Mamool Ja who don’t have anything scary about them or the neighboring Hrothgar tribe. They could regularly sacrifice or consume the flesh of the spoken races in service to their god or goddess, or potentially whatever Hrothgar matriarch DT is likely to unveil.

So pretty much Mel Gibson's Apocalypto but in the style of FF. It's an ambitious idea, but it could work.

if we want realism we should conquer this new world as you can't get more realistic than that.

Lol, yes. Let's have Limsa Lominsa colonize the New World. Limsa Lominsa is essentially run by pirates after all.

[Avatre]

Seeing as you're just going to keep posting rewrites of stuff to make it suit your tastes, I'll link this:

Honest question here Aveyond....why do you keep coming back to this game, if you decide you need to rewrite the story of it to fit what you want? Wouldn't it be better to invest your time, and money, in a different game that fits with what you are looking for?

[Eisi]

I'm the opposite, I would love it if Dawntrail referred back to pre-colonial south-american tradition without too many African or European influences that would date back further than a hundred years. Remember in FFXIV there has not been a hegemonic western tradition that largely destroyed a pre-colonial Turalian legacy but instead Tural itself has had indigenous hegemoic traditions that dominated it's relatively isolated political and cultural ecosystem to this day. I think if done right they could come up with some refreshingly creative stuff if they used that sort of framework.

Regarding the Appalachian monsters, we can be sure to see many culturally unrelated monsters in Tural much like we have seen throughout the rest of Hydaelyn, I'm not sure why you'd specifically refer to Appalachia here. But I love the idea of day and night leading to different spawns, that shit was already so cool way back in Ocarina of Time!

Regarding sacrifice, one hundo percent! We have had that in Eorzea already and we should definitely have it in Tural somewhere as well. Cannibalism I could see done in more of a aether-absorbtion type way.


PS: I always thought that what Gridania should have had as a sort of early introductory sequence should have been the capital punishment of someone who broke the law of the forest where they (likely a Duskwight as well) would have been dragged to the place of execution by night with the people watching the punishment. But it would have been done in a cute Final Fantasy way, so rather than getting their throat slit or something, the Padjal would instead have intoned a chant and then cute little brightbugs would have flown in from everywhere lighting up the night and sat down on the delinquent in such numbers that you would only see light completely enveloping them. And then when the brightbugs would fly off, there would just be nobody there anymore. What I mean is you can be really dark and morbid, without going into gorey territory and I like it when they present even the more protagonistic factions as having a dark side to them.

[Boblawblah]

Just so we're all on the same page Avenyond, what is the current state of the new world?

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

I have prepared a list of ideas that can spice up the otherwise unmemorable state of the New World

?.....What State?
We haven't even gotten there yet, or really know anything about it.

Just so we're all on the same page Avenyond, what is the current state of the new world?

LOL You beat me to it

[TheMightyMollusk]

How to Farm For Attention.