By far one of the biggest weakness of Dawntrail is Tural's lack of political turmoil. Despite Alexandria popping up next to them and staging an attack resulting in multiple casualties including the Dawnservant, who reportedly is a very beloved figure, there's next to no tensions running in Tural, and that's not including it's utopian backstory solved by The Dawnservant suprisingly easy from what we end up hearing. Obviously things have settled because of our actions at the end of 7.0, but there is very little to suggest there is trauma from this event outside of exploring how Turalians caught up in the dome acclimate back to Tural.
I feel like in the olden days, the msq would definitely try and explore this. Such as having a faction grift on Zoraal Ja's idealogy despite him leading the attack. Maybe they wouldn't know, or perhaps they would and do so anyway because they want power and don't care about people. Wuk Lamat as a character always expresses how she wants her people to live in peace and happiness, but seeing her people fall to hate and calling for war could have lead to some interesting avenues to explore. Like how empty promises and platitudes without action is a disservice to those we've lost and disrespects their legacy and in turn, could have enhanced Solution Nine's theme of remembering the dead in parallel, through bringing together people to remember those who have long passed.
In a recent interview, YoshiP brought up the idea of a Hingashi civil war. However, if said civil war was between an obviously bad side and an obviously good side, by it's own, it would be very boring. Stormblood got around this by examining how such a thing affected the people in said nations, such as the Garleans co-opting the Ala Mhigan national Anthem for themselves, but also how Doma's culture lead Yotsuyu to join Doma's oppressors in oppressing them, and how some Ala Mhigans tried to make a better life for themselves by joining the empire and betraying their country, because they believe it's the only path forward for them to take.
Politics is an all encompassing force that affects most every aspect of our lives (even if we may not want to admit it), and examining it's consequences has lead FFXIV to some decent heights even if the execution is sometimes a bit lacking. At the very least they tried. Comparitively trying to ignore it like Dawntrail did is what helps make the MSQ and by extension the world feel much more vapid and empty, and the character work was just not up to snuff enough to compensate. Conflict has forever lain at the core of any good work, and failing to set up said conflict will hamper the MSQ in the long run. Tural as it is is a literary dead end unless a meteor or some calamity manages to massively upend it.
In HW, Ishgard is an isolationist theocracy. It explores how religion at the government level can lead people into a never ending war when used to hold onto power. Aymeric's attempts to end the Dragonsong War gets waylaid by people who have lived their whole lives being told dragons are the enemy, and their refusal to see past what they were taught was one of the things the nation needed to overcome.
Recent charcaters have been very "on the tin" so to speak. You look at them once, and you know their deal from the start and the character never really goes outside of the tin. I think that's why Bakool JaJa is the fan favourite. Even if the execution is clunky and the foundation weak, he is the most nuanced character presented in Dawntrail.
Now is it perfect? No. Absolutely not, but it was engaging while trying to explore themes at a deeper level if you care to look, which is something FFXIV needs more than ever right now.
Continue reading...
I feel like in the olden days, the msq would definitely try and explore this. Such as having a faction grift on Zoraal Ja's idealogy despite him leading the attack. Maybe they wouldn't know, or perhaps they would and do so anyway because they want power and don't care about people. Wuk Lamat as a character always expresses how she wants her people to live in peace and happiness, but seeing her people fall to hate and calling for war could have lead to some interesting avenues to explore. Like how empty promises and platitudes without action is a disservice to those we've lost and disrespects their legacy and in turn, could have enhanced Solution Nine's theme of remembering the dead in parallel, through bringing together people to remember those who have long passed.
In a recent interview, YoshiP brought up the idea of a Hingashi civil war. However, if said civil war was between an obviously bad side and an obviously good side, by it's own, it would be very boring. Stormblood got around this by examining how such a thing affected the people in said nations, such as the Garleans co-opting the Ala Mhigan national Anthem for themselves, but also how Doma's culture lead Yotsuyu to join Doma's oppressors in oppressing them, and how some Ala Mhigans tried to make a better life for themselves by joining the empire and betraying their country, because they believe it's the only path forward for them to take.
Politics is an all encompassing force that affects most every aspect of our lives (even if we may not want to admit it), and examining it's consequences has lead FFXIV to some decent heights even if the execution is sometimes a bit lacking. At the very least they tried. Comparitively trying to ignore it like Dawntrail did is what helps make the MSQ and by extension the world feel much more vapid and empty, and the character work was just not up to snuff enough to compensate. Conflict has forever lain at the core of any good work, and failing to set up said conflict will hamper the MSQ in the long run. Tural as it is is a literary dead end unless a meteor or some calamity manages to massively upend it.
In HW, Ishgard is an isolationist theocracy. It explores how religion at the government level can lead people into a never ending war when used to hold onto power. Aymeric's attempts to end the Dragonsong War gets waylaid by people who have lived their whole lives being told dragons are the enemy, and their refusal to see past what they were taught was one of the things the nation needed to overcome.
Recent charcaters have been very "on the tin" so to speak. You look at them once, and you know their deal from the start and the character never really goes outside of the tin. I think that's why Bakool JaJa is the fan favourite. Even if the execution is clunky and the foundation weak, he is the most nuanced character presented in Dawntrail.
Now is it perfect? No. Absolutely not, but it was engaging while trying to explore themes at a deeper level if you care to look, which is something FFXIV needs more than ever right now.
Continue reading...