My problem with solution 9 - spoiler

[KageTokage]

The aesthetic of Solution 9 really does nothing for me. I've never liked that kind of cyberpunk "everything is a billboard" setting. It's whatever; this wouldn't be the first time FFXIV has reached into tired genre tropiness (Pandaemonium).

My bigger issue is not with how it looks, but how it begs a lot of lampshading in the story. I really struggle to imagine how we spent an entire saga fighting a transcontinental technological superpower and transuniversal threat to the entire universe, and had never even heard of this city which is more advanced than anything we have ever seen on Etheirys. Even if they do manage to explain it away, it is likely to be an unsatisfying explanation.

I'm leaning towards them ticking another box on Emet's list of interesting places by making them be one of those "surprising" civilizations from other shards he mentioned.

[Iscah]

I'm leaning towards them ticking another box on Emet's list of interesting places by making them be one of those "surprising" civilizations from other shards he mentioned.

Why do people leap straight to this guess? Do we really want to burn through the entire bucket list so fast?

[KageTokage]

Why do people leap straight to this guess? Do we really want to burn through the entire bucket list so fast?

I think we're inevitably going to have to turn to worlds outside of the Source again regardless if they want to keep the game going for 10 more years.

Meracydia and Ilsabard can comfortably serve their own expansions, and Hingashi + the rest of the Othard could potentially do so as well, but at that point you've basically got the entire world covered.

[Iscah]

I think we're inevitably going to have to turn to worlds outside of the Source again regardless if they want to keep the game going for 10 more years.

Yeah, so wouldn't they therefore want to save the "check out the reflections" suggestion for us to actually go to a reflection to check it out, rather than rushing through a single zone?