Thematic issues. Why all the sci fi.

[Catwho]

I think the problem is usually in final fantasy the technology is isolated. Its either ancient unearthed civilisation stuff like how Allagan was originally treated. Or its a scealed off isolated culture (Esthar, Shumi village in ff8)

There's some precedent with X-2. In FFX the ban on magitek forbade anyone from acknowledging the high tech of Zanarkand, other than the Bliztball arenas that were still in use. But in X-2 with the ban lifted, some people are eager to explore and adopt some of the newer tech. Others are less keen about it since it's hard to get over a religious prohibition that easily.

Not sure how since Sphene said it requires lightning input to make things but I guess we'll find out.

Electrope converts one element into another; I don't know if it HAS to be lightning, though. If it's programmable with magic runes, then it might eventually be able to convert any element to another element. Might need to combine it with whatever spells are powering the Eden light munching machine.

[Ath192]

The whole reason we went to Smiletron was because the Loporrits couldn't control their own machine and we had to get sent in to disable it with violence so I don't think it's exactly ready for mass distribution if that was even a possibility. Besides, like anything with the Loporrits, outside talk radio they only have contact through Sharlayan, who probably isn't about to spread that kind of stuff around the world and would realistically attempt to dissuade them from attempting to do so independently. And unless you think they're only talking to Garlean refugees, the rest of the world already has some way to receive the signals from the loporrits. Whether that was from distributed radios or ones made copying Garlean radios. And that's just a step above desktop orchestrions which have already been a thing.

As for electrope, the only way to currently get it is from under the dome or at the bottom of a gigantic cenote and through a portal into another world. Either way, it's not exactly available for the rest of the world to immediately have access to it even if there were massive stores of it remaining somewhere and they could actually power it. And that guy in the raid already had magic to create copies of people, but he's using bits of electrope to augment his abilities. Not sure how since Sphene said it requires lightning input to make things but I guess we'll find out.

Always an excuse to get nothing done. No wonder nothing ever gets done and everything feels stale. Either way; I’m not drinking the kool aid. We can probably look forward to the jetsons setting in 8.0 and get this:

The all new GM x FFXIV collab where everyone gets the choice between an electric hummer or the new Equinox. The Silverado is gonna be a cash shop item though.

I’m sure reasons will abound to justify those too.

[Astronema]

Coming soon allied race borg loporrit. Become one with the carrots.

[Remarus]

The whole reason we went to Smiletron was because the Loporrits couldn't control their own machine and we had to get sent in to disable it with violence so I don't think it's exactly ready for mass distribution if that was even a possibility. Besides, like anything with the Loporrits, outside talk radio they only have contact through Sharlayan, who probably isn't about to spread that kind of stuff around the world and would realistically attempt to dissuade them from attempting to do so independently. And unless you think they're only talking to Garlean refugees, the rest of the world already has some way to receive the signals from the loporrits. Whether that was from distributed radios or ones made copying Garlean radios. And that's just a step above desktop orchestrions which have already been a thing.

As for electrope, the only way to currently get it is from under the dome or at the bottom of a gigantic cenote and through a portal into another world. Either way, it's not exactly available for the rest of the world to immediately have access to it even if there were massive stores of it remaining somewhere and they could actually power it. And that guy in the raid already had magic to create copies of people, but he's using bits of electrope to augment his abilities. Not sure how since Sphene said it requires lightning input to make things but I guess we'll find out.

I was going to point out, if someone else hadn't, that we do see the world progressing... but really only through the Allied Society Quests. From which in Endwalker alone, we have provided abundant amounts of radios to Etherys to receive radio broadcasts from the moon which broadcast a race from the literal end of the Universe. Allagan, Garlean, and Alexandrian technology has started filtering through the world if we count available decor items. Tataru brags about her magitek kettle developed by the Ironworks (who also develop the airships and a billion other magitek inventions). The tiny airship you use in the HW Main Quest is immediately replicated and mass produced, to the point where multiple clans of sky pirates have them.

We also see in the 7.1 MSQ that people have moved back from Alexandria to Tuliyollal and given up their technology for a simpler life. They did not have to do this, their needs were wholly met inside Alexandria, they did it intentionally and in such numbers that the Dawnservants have spent time creating an advocacy and reintegration training group for them. Change takes time, and people are resistant to too much change in too short of a period of time. Couple that with the insane amount of convenience magic provides in Eorzea and how aetherically dense the area and its people are, and the need to upgrade from their normal way of life is much lower priority.

[VeyaAkemi]

Loporrit technology doesn't really provide anything that doesn't already exist on Etheirys. What are you referring to here? Ishgard and even Hingashi have multiple different kinds of robots. Garleans have radios but everyone else has linkshells. The only thing they could provide are carrot machines?

I will go as far as to say that this is exactly the issue that The Dreaming Ways formed to resolve, the Loporrits felt, quite justifiably, useless, made worse by the fact their uselessness was a good thing since it meant not evacuating the planet, and they needed to find new purpose, with Talkingway being the extreme end of the issue before they were able to reach them.

[Valence]

Anything Allagan isn't what's being argued against mostly. It is well blended and it feels more like ancient magical tech than star trek. You could tell they thought about how the Allagan technology and derived magitek would fit into the world.

It's the recent introduction of pop culture scifi and minimalism that doesn't blend well into the games aesthetic. When you walked into Azys La it the theme was clearly lost ancient technology and both you as a person and your character were in awe and wonder of what was introduced, likewise it looked much more retro-futuristic.

Now a days you're literally walking into trashy cyberpunk with shien streetwear and if you listen close enough you can probably hear the NPCs hollering at you YO YO YO WASSA HOLMES, YA GOT SOME ECSTACY ON YOU? all while they breakdance and drink fourlokos. I wonder if some people literally can't tell the difference. Like maybe an Allagan orb really is the same aesthetic as a harley davidson chopper or a DJI style drone to them.

Now I'd agree that the art direction isn't trying really hard to make their new sci-fy inserts really unique and creative, that's for sure. Allag was alike nothing else, even though obviously like everything it had its own inspirations. I feel like S9 is somewhere in between, where electrope is definitely its own thing with a clear direction, but the rest of Alexandria definitely feels more generic.

[Ath192]

Now I'd agree that the art direction isn't trying really hard to make their new sci-fy inserts really unique and creative, that's for sure. Allag was alike nothing else, even though obviously like everything it had its own inspirations. I feel like S9 is somewhere in between, where electrope is definitely its own thing with a clear direction, but the rest of Alexandria definitely feels more generic.

Yeah, the truth is that it's not that I have a huge issue with all the crap they've shown individually, the problem is that they've just tossed all these art concepts onto the game without blending them like Allag was. In reality it's not just sci-fi, it's the whole modern contemporary aesthetic that is the issue.

If you walk into a house with a bunch of mismatched lighting fixtures and appliances of different colors and designs it technically is a "functional" house, but it's not a nice place to be in aesthetically. And that's what this game feels like.

What's worse is that all this is a substitute for a lack of creativity, substance and depth into the game. Instead of really digging in deep into the lore of these places and showing us interesting concepts from within Eorzea, mystic creatures, lores, grand spells, involving stories; Places of wonder, fear, unexplained locations; they've opted for a very lazy approach of "lets bombard these people with all the pop culture and shiny concepts we can possible think of!" so that we're too distracted by all the shiny new stuff to really care about any of it.

The entire setting of this game is just a shallow prop. And the overworld definitely feels like it. To some degree I want to stick around because I had high hopes for this game but I don't know. Nothing is really treated with care or detail. Most people now a days get easily distracted and they like all this stuff though.

We're all over the place, but never for more than 20 minutes it seems. Now with cosmic exploration it just looks like we'll be redoing entire planets in 10 minutes a pop. I'll reserve my judgment for actual execution but idk how it can get more ludicrous. We have no cohesive date, time, era or any set location in this game. Kind of like the personification of ADHD. FFXIV is just everything at this point, and imo none of it is being done well. Including half solo game and half mmo.

[Tsiron]

Part of it was probably just the devs wanting an excuse to use all of the modern glams they've been adding (that no one forced them to), but Alexandria retaining none of its visual identity from back in the day was a real shame in my opinion. Even if it doesn't make sense with the electricity-theming since it looks more steampunk than anything, I would still rather have seen S9 NPCs wear stuff like the Neo-Ishgardian sets (which are basically the precursor to 7.1's Yuweyawata gear) than outright modern/cyberpunk nonsense

[kaynide]

Yeah. How?
https://unequalscenes.com/south-africa

I'm specifically talking in game, not real world, where (arguably) the "good" guys are in control of the space printers/free rabbit labor.

[Immut]

Nobody tell these guys about Pathfinder. Or Forgotten Realms. Or Baldur's Gate 3.