Thematic issues. Why all the sci fi.

[Kunzite_Lockhart]

They opened Pandora's box with Solution 9, and there's no going back to typical fantasy anymore. Can't imagine returning to a regular fantasy setting—maybe if the WoL got isekai'd to another shard or something. I guess the game will end up with an FFXIII-style setting.

[Zakuyia]

Im shocked ppl dont realize ff has always been sci-fi theres a build up to show you that. How many of the franchise show sci-fi elements.

[AvoSturmfaust]

Like someone stated already there was since ARR Technology, the game was not once without it, be it the allagan, the garlea, our moontravel, heck even if you consider sidequests the shb weapon series, you fought as a big roboter i mean heck you even played star trek with your travel the beat up meteion

[genuine_stranger]

The whole thing with advanced technology made sense when it was just ancient Allagan tech and the Garlean Empire reverse engineering it with Ceruleum-based advancements, at least to a certain extent. (I might be misremembering on that.)

Back then, it was rare, dangerous, and mystical, but also lucrative, something the denizens of Eorzea sought after, tried to adapt, or feared outright.

But all of that went out the window as we got closer to Endwalker. The writers seem to have grown tired of the old setting and, like many in the entertainment industry lately, decided to "improve" on it instead.
-Cough GoT, Rings of Power, Star Wars cough–

Now, it’s all over the place, and we’ve got a colorful mix of whatever the writers feel like exploring. On paper, that sounds great - total creative freedom, right?

The problem is, if they don’t rein it in, it leads to not just writing inconsistencies, but a major disconnect between the pre-established world and their new ideas. At this point, it feels like they’re just throwing things in because they can, rather than because they fit.

[Anvaire]

Final Fantasy has always been a fusion of sci-fi and fantasy. I'm not a huge fan of the way that this is done in FFXIV though. It's less of a fusion and more like both things existing separately in the same universe.

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)

In XIV its shoulder to shoulder, and while there is some scope within the narrative, to explain electrope and garlean Magiteck, currently it feels that the implementation is for "cool factor" without effort to embed it into the actual world.

I thought this was true with the whole, technologically advance space bunnies, who are also stupid and the space ship in Endwalker. I suspect the devs have grown tired of "fantasy" and thats why we are getting more cyberpunk / sci fi stuff.

Im neither against nor for its inclusion personally, as long as it makes sense. I think one factor is that increasing makes it jarring is that every area in the game is set in a timebubble but also not. So you get coethas who are using candles still, and Sharlayan who are using magic lights, yet both are trading and have connections, so it feels off.

I dont think it helps that EW tied up and got rid of a truck load of the mysticsm without need. (Zodiark, Hydealyn, the twelve) and because they are both explained and gone, there isnt really anything for the "fantasy" to draw on, and Dawn trail didnt add enough depth to the ideas it added. Had they done alexandria as an expansion on its own after an expansion of Tural, it probably wouldnt be thematically jarring.

[Ath192]

I actually don't disagree that Sharlayan and Alexandria should change the landscape of the world now that they are an open part of it, but it also won't happen overnight, it's a bigger issue with how the game handles the passage of time, or rather how it doesn't, the 7th Calamity was still 5 years ago, and the change our newest tech savvy friends will bring should take decades to fully take form, it needs infrastructure, it needs people to be willing to adopt those technologies, and all that should take 10 to 20 years minimum to start happening, when they have been around for, like, I dunno, 0 minutes according to time bubble rules? time bubble is dumb.

I could also point out that FFXIV is also a setting where people can train their bodies enough that guns are just not all that, and ultimately exist alongside swords and bows, not simply supplanting it like in our real world, even the big wondrous ships of Alexandria were taken down by a singular dragon, who is at half-power at that, and we have a whole lot more of those, we have seen as far as Yotsuyu, a completely normal woman who has no martial training, while completely drained after we just finished beating the shit out of her Primal form, take several gunshots and still be able to stay awake for a few more minutes after, just long enough, even Sol 9 soldiers are shown to use swords as much as they use guns, because it's just the nature of the setting, physical strength is so much higher than IRL.

I agree with you here in a lot of ways, I will counter though that the reason crossbows replace bows was because they required little training, it's not that bows weren't deadly. But the amount of people you could train to be proficient archers was no where near the mass produced soldiers with a crossbow a nation could pump out, and now guns. The same can be argued for anything that requires training. So to the individual and exceptional adventurer this wouldn't pose a problem, but it would for most of the worlds citizenry, after all, we don't see most denizens of Eorzea at those power levels, or even using much magic for their daily lives. So it stands to reason nations would change around this same concept.

And again, the time bubble is the key component of the entire issue. We have rebuilt infrastructure in the game, quite a bite, so yeah, its just a huge issue we are forced to ignore. And if we don't, we realize nothing is cohesive and everyone just lives in gray area denial that the world has moved on time wise so if the world were to remain cohesive, it would be keeping up with the time.

Time that hasn't passed, and yet it so obviously has.

[MoofiaBossVal]

I liked the giant mechas in the Werlyt storyline. The Alexandria plot was interesting but it feels like there has been a missed opportunity to explore how a sci fi country arriving in this setting would affect it. Could have subplots about seeing countries trying to court Alexandria for favor or to take its tech and try to reproduce it.

[Anvaire]

I liked the giant mechas in the Werlyt storyline. The Alexandria plot was interesting but it feels like there has been a missed opportunity to explore how a sci fi country arriving in this setting would affect it. Could have subplots about seeing countries trying to court Alexandria for favor or to take its tech and try to reproduce it.

This is why i think it should have been the next expansion, and have it take over a lot of Tural so you would have to reexplore zones that were part merged. Im guessing from a continuity perspective it would be wierd as you'd end up with two similiar zones, but i think it would have given scope for the scale of loss and sudden 30 year time disparity much more than what we got with not visiting or building connections with the characters and zone affected.

[mallleable]

FFXIV, and Final Fantasy as a series has always been loose, and anachronistic with its visual style, and theming, and I would hope it would continue to do so.

[Hallarem]

Guess I'll join Admiral Bloefhiswyn and her Limsan navy into building a space pirate fleet.