(06-08-2017, 01:35 AM)Tiergan Wrote:(06-08-2017, 12:42 AM)Graeham Wrote: Again, much of that is down to personal interpretation and real world modern day concepts of law and morality. In the real world, such things would be absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable. In a fictional setting, though, we have the luxury of being able to tell epic tales and explore all manner of interesting themes and perspectives that wouldn't go down well in the real world.
So with all due respect, we'll just have to agree to disagree as well. I'm primarily concerned with looking at Garlemald through the perspective of Garlemald itself - Eorzea is an interesting place, don't get me wrong, but in terms of my investment in my character and the game itself it's Garlemald's story that intrigues me the most. Back when I played WoW my investment was in the ongoing story of the blood elves and the difficulties they faced as a race. I'm a sucker for antagonists and Final Fantasy games have a solid track record of creating some pretty interesting ones.
I'm well aware that Garlemald needs to make major adjustments and not everything that they do is great. Perhaps this is just a matter of poor communication on my part but all I'm really getting at is that from their perspective they believe themselves to be just and righteous...and that they didn't just decide to get up and conquer the world for no reason.
Would I like a more nuanced Garlemald? Certainly - but it's not as if there aren't existing nuances to be found. Plus when it comes to discussing fictional factions, nations and races there's always going to be a sense of 'tribalism' and bias towards one's preferences to various degrees, I feel. So far we've only really seen Garlemald through Eorzea's eyes - which at times can be rather biased. Understandably so, given the circumstances. Much like Ishgard, though, once we engage Garlemald more directly in the plot I'm confident that we'll see a much different side to Garlemald, even if it's only in the form of a breakaway faction.
Heck, I'm all for that - it's pretty much what my character revolves around after all.
I've just kinda been lurk reading - but I think all of this is easily solved by stating that from a OOC, Meta, Narrative-Only, Writers-And-Readers-Looking-At-Story-Objectively perspective - we can probably agree that Garlemald likely has good people living in it, but has an extremely villainous government that allows the practice of things like slavery, brainwashing, etc, which is both illegal and abhorrent in our modern real-world lives as well as the fictional Eorzean world.
From an IC-perspective, it makes total sense that a Garlean perspective on Garlemald would see the empire in shades of grey or even a positive light.
Mm! That's pretty much what I was getting at, in less words too. It wasn't my intention to excuse everything that Garlemald does. It certainly needs to change, though as with so many things it's a lot more complicated than many like to credit. There's going to be a lot of death and heartache along the like, for everybody involved. I was reluctant to draw comparisons to the real world beyond references to the British/Roman Empires...but historically 'liberation' has not been a pretty thing at all. I don't expect to be any different where FFXIV is concerned.
It's going to be very interesting to see how everything plays out, particularly where the Garleans living in Othard/Gyr Abania are concerned. Perhaps they'll be killed, imprisoned or forced to defect. If they're shown mercy, will it embolden moderate Garleans to speak out against their leader figures?
I'm very much of the belief that we need a moderate 'Larsa' type figure inspired by the character of the same name in FFXII's Archadian Empire. I'm sure a lot of people, even the Warrior of Light, would rally behind them.
