Rhalgrs Reach should never have existed

[DamianFatale]

I've been thinking about this for a long time, and what went wrong with the Stormblood expansion.

It was Rhalgrs Reach. Literally nobody asked for it. Instead of Ala Mhigo being fully accessible in the story, we got this hub that everyone forgets about after Stormblood. If those resources had been used for Ala Mhigo instead, it would of reflected better in the story. Think about it. Ala Mhigo would of made more sense as that expansions Eulmore, or Thavnair rather than Rhalgrs Reach. Rhalgrs Reach might be the base of the resistance, but they didn't have to make the story around that. They could of used any of the other towns in Gyr Albania, and had it as some kind of a story related hold out. Rhalgrs Reach isn't even interesting other than its Monk lore, which it isn't even used for anymore. There was no point hyping or building up, or tying it to Monks when it literally did NOTHING for the story after we reclaimed Ala Mhigo.

We still could have gone to Kugane, but in this alternative timeline, Rhalgrs Reach would not have been the second hub, and Ala Mhigo would of have actually been used. It would of made for a better expansion looking back. I think it was a complete waste of dev resources, and created the issues that we have today with Gyr Albania feeling awkward.

[Stormpeaks]

[DamianFatale]

UGH I hate comments like this. So disrespectful. I put in the time and effort to make a point, and you come at with that attitude. Lame.

[Fawkes]

Rhalgrs Reach is like universally everyone's favorite hub because you could show off your mount in town.

[Yuella]

We needed to liberate Ala Mhigo in order to explore it. Since it's the last dungeon, it doesn't make sense if the secondary hub is only accessible after the game ends.

[RitsukoSonoda]

Rhalgrs Reach is like universally everyone's favorite hub because you could show off your mount in town.

You could do that in Idyllshire too

[fulminating]

The problem with rhalgr’s reach is pacing, it’s Kugane and generally othard that should never have been added. If resources hadn’t been burnt on a shallow holiday to zenos’s second house, we could have had an ala mhigo hub with marketboards, an undercover in the empire section and more in depth exploration of the empire not seen until bozja. Instead we got a two bit despot who’s only interesting as a contrast to another character half a world away and some lizards living in a giant teacup. Unfortunately this would remove the namazu from the story, but that’s just the cost. Given how advanced garlemald was portrayed with the medicine and cars, it would have been a way to introduce non-violent technology and further set up the cerulean fuel plot points dawntrail is likely to explore.

Keeping it in ala mhigo would also have allowed further parallel to be drawn between zenos and the warrior of light through npc conversation. Is he viewed as a walking weapon or admired by the population? No one knows because by the time it’s explored he’s destroyed their empire which probably has reduced the general opinion of him. There’s no accusation of hypocrisy over the scion puppet states and cia-style regime replacement when compared with imperial towns, just that air current quest in Ala banana.

The ruby sea is a whole lot of nothing, same as azim steppe, the former relying too hard on the diving mechanic to have room for much interesting zone design and the latter just a medium size field that doesn’t even achieve the oppressive agoraphobia they seemed to be aiming for. Since it’s inaccessible without diving, why not have underwater tunnels or caves there too, rather than just splashing around in the saucer?

[Bacent]

UGH I hate comments like this. So disrespectful. I put in the time and effort to make a point, and you come at with that attitude. Lame.

If it comes off as a hot take, people will respond as so.

Pointing out that you hate comments like that usually won't deter people from making more comments they know will get under your skin.


But any kind of problem with pacing in an area is due to us always needing to have the full hub unlocked by the capstone level, and each problem we tackle in an expansion being it needs to generally be mostly overish by the end of the X.0 content, and then the aftermath of said story for the next while, before the build up to the next expac.

Like I get it, but also it's an MMO, so things flow differently than a single player game would.

[Evergrey]

Okay

/10char

[Jojoya]

UGH I hate comments like this. So disrespectful. I put in the time and effort to make a point, and you come at with that attitude. Lame.

You weren't making a good point. Story wise it made a lot more sense for the Resistance to set up a base in Rhalgr's Reach than elsewhere.