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+--- Thread: Eorzea - the meanest FF universe in the series? (/showthread.php?tid=7040)
Eorzea - the meanest FF universe in the series? - JFrombaugh - 04-30-2014
As anyone who's played this game will know, the City States are plagued with NPCs who are rude, bossy, and unappreciative to everyone, both Players and other NPCs alike, and on the rare occasion that someone (such as Y'shtola) even acknowledges this, it's simply passed off as tough love. With this level of tendency towards rude comments and threats I myself would probably not last even 5 levels as an Adventurer without incurring a lawsuit of some kind.
It's been awhile since I've played them, but from what I remember in FFs 1-10, the protagonists (with a couple exceptions) were a lot more unambiguously "good" than the City States, and cared about the feelings of the people they interacted with, whereas it is quite apparent that 80% of Eorzea's population does not.
The real kicker is that from what I've heard from veteran players of this game, 1.0 was even worse about this than ARR!!! If that's true, then I hate to think what Eorzea must have been like back then...
I've never played FFXIII, but I've heard that it featured a much darker universe than past games, and many of the characters in that game rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way.
RE: Eorzea - the meanest FF universe in the series? - FreelanceWizard - 04-30-2014
Well... for the majority of FFXIII, you're on the run from people who want to kill you because they believe you're servants of dark, evil gods. Also, there's some pretty significant conflicts among the characters, some of whom are a bit... how shall we say... off-putting. So, yeah, it's not like most of the other Final Fantasy games.
I like to say that it works a lot better if you view it as the introduction story to a group of Abyssal Exalted.I wouldn't say XIV is the darkest of the Final Fantasy games, but it does starkly display a lot of its darker elements. Little Ala Mhigo has some rather disturbing quests, for instance, and the city-states are definitely not unambiguously good. In fact, most of them engage in some pretty ugly realpolitik.
RE: Eorzea - the meanest FF universe in the series? - thesunalsorises - 04-30-2014
(04-30-2014, 12:29 AM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: Little Ala Mhigo has some rather disturbing quests, for instance, and the city-states are definitely not unambiguously good. In fact, most of them engage in some pretty ugly realpolitik.
XIV's politics reminds me of the politics in Ivalice games, mainly XII and Tactics. Those two games had some brutal politics where the mode of operation was the ends justifying the means. I find that XIV's politics isn't as complicated as Ivalice's, in XII there's multiple factions and everyone has their own agenda and Tactics is well... even more complicated.
TBH, I don't think XIV is the darkest or the grittiest of the series, in IV Cecil destroys a village and runs away when he realizes what he's doing is wrong, and in VII Cloud's working with what is essentially a terrorist organization. So being dark, having mature themes and moral ambiguity aren't new to the series.
RE: Eorzea - the meanest FF universe in the series? - Ignacius - 04-30-2014
(04-30-2014, 03:55 PM)thesunalsorises Wrote:(04-30-2014, 12:29 AM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: Little Ala Mhigo has some rather disturbing quests, for instance, and the city-states are definitely not unambiguously good. In fact, most of them engage in some pretty ugly realpolitik.
XIV's politics reminds me of the politics in Ivalice games, mainly XII and Tactics. Those two games had some brutal politics where the mode of operation was the ends justifying the means. I find that XIV's politics isn't as complicated as Ivalice's, in XII there's multiple factions and everyone has their own agenda and Tactics is well... even more complicated.
TBH, I don't think XIV is the darkest or the grittiest of the series, in IV Cecil destroys a village and runs away when he realizes what he's doing is wrong, and in VII Cloud's working with what is essentially a terrorist organization. So being dark, having mature themes and moral ambiguity aren't new to the series.
Yeah, FFXIV looks like Candyland compared to Final Fantasy Tactics. Â That world was horrifying, considering it was mostly people's ignorance and ambition that led to its evil. Â At least now, we've got people in black robes with evil intentions to hate.
RE: Eorzea - the meanest FF universe in the series? - thesunalsorises - 04-30-2014
(04-30-2014, 04:00 PM)Ignacius Wrote:(04-30-2014, 03:55 PM)thesunalsorises Wrote:(04-30-2014, 12:29 AM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: Little Ala Mhigo has some rather disturbing quests, for instance, and the city-states are definitely not unambiguously good. In fact, most of them engage in some pretty ugly realpolitik.
XIV's politics reminds me of the politics in Ivalice games, mainly XII and Tactics. Those two games had some brutal politics where the mode of operation was the ends justifying the means. I find that XIV's politics isn't as complicated as Ivalice's, in XII there's multiple factions and everyone has their own agenda and Tactics is well... even more complicated.
TBH, I don't think XIV is the darkest or the grittiest of the series, in IV Cecil destroys a village and runs away when he realizes what he's doing is wrong, and in VII Cloud's working with what is essentially a terrorist organization. So being dark, having mature themes and moral ambiguity aren't new to the series.
Yeah, FFXIV looks like Candyland compared to Final Fantasy Tactics. Â That world was horrifying, considering it was mostly people's ignorance and ambition that led to its evil. Â At least now, we've got people in black robes with evil intentions to hate.
I know, there's no supernatural forces at work, it's humanity's inherent flaws that was the true evil in Ivalice. If you accept the theory that the events of XII lead to the formation of the church of Glabados and the destruction of the sun-cryst leading to the cataclysm, then it's even more apparent that they sort of wrote their own fate.
RE: Eorzea - the meanest FF universe in the series? - Kat of the Endless - 05-06-2014
(04-30-2014, 04:00 PM)Ignacius Wrote:This all over. FFT had a far darker political landscape than XIV did. I think its the best representation of a darker world in the FF universe, if we're making a list.(04-30-2014, 03:55 PM)thesunalsorises Wrote:(04-30-2014, 12:29 AM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: Little Ala Mhigo has some rather disturbing quests, for instance, and the city-states are definitely not unambiguously good. In fact, most of them engage in some pretty ugly realpolitik.
XIV's politics reminds me of the politics in Ivalice games, mainly XII and Tactics. Those two games had some brutal politics where the mode of operation was the ends justifying the means. I find that XIV's politics isn't as complicated as Ivalice's, in XII there's multiple factions and everyone has their own agenda and Tactics is well... even more complicated.
I don't want to spoil it for anyone, as for my money it's the best story in the FF world and everyone should play it for themselves. But the literature telling the tales between combat is some of the most interesting lore I've come across in the realm of FF games.
And the politics are twisting all over the place with shifting alliances, classicism, blood rivalries, open hostilities, quiet coups... your feet are never on solid ground during the entirety of it, and you find yourself questioning your closest friends and allies as much as you do your enemies. That game is the king of moral grey areas within the series. Love it.