Nero

As TVTropes is so fond of saying, something being tropey doesn't mean it's bad. Tropes are tools. Cliches aren't inherently bad either; a character can be predictable without being boring (and vice versa), and there's nothing wrong with predictability on an innate level, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. That said, I haven't noticed anything in roleplay as extremely prevalent. There are a lot of characters who are mercenaries or adventurers, obviously, but other than that I would call the variety wide enough that you don't need to worry about being "samey".

For my "main" characters, I've only ever roleplayed as males, though the reason I play only males is really just for the sense of aesthetic since all my MMO characters are male. I'm far too lazy to have alts, especially just for the sake of roleplaying. That said, I am somewhat wary of writing female characters, mostly because I'm not particularly good at narratively expressing traditional femininity; most of my female characters invariably end up as masculine characters that happen to have tits. In other words, if I don't have a specific reason to make a character female (e.g. approaching feminist themes through the lens of a character necessitates that said character be female, otherwise it runs the risk of being decidedly condescending), then I just make them male for the reason of aesthetic.

In case anyone was concerned, apartments in Shirogane are now sold out on Balmung. I found the arguments of "Wards and housing community are important" to be rather ridiculous considering that wards and the lack of instanced housing is why most people don't have houses. Such a limitation would be barely acceptable in a free-to-play game, much less a subscription game where everyone pays the same sub and yet doesn't have access to the same content.

At the very least, the outcry of having every house on almost every semi-populated server (although I think even the low-pop ones had a lot sold out) hopefully compels them to change the housing system to something more substantial. Since they don't have the server space for infinite wards, they really should just change to an instanced system.

This thread is tagged with [Discussion]; all posts should be relatively on-topic. Arguing about the merits of low fantasy and whether or not Final Fantasy is or isn't one isn't relevant to the discussion.

Somebody already had the good grace to post the best track from Persona 5 so that I didn't have to.

As someone who's anal-retentively detailed about stuff like this, the two-month travel time isn't really that important. Even if you're constantly going back and forth between Othard and Eorzea. If you're doing a plot, it'll stretch out the timeline somewhat (and there'll have to be some holes filled, like what character was doing while character was stuck on a boat) but otherwise I've found that it's not really worth it to let pacing suffer for the sake of realism or what have you.

Sephirot Barding is the superior barding. Always. It's the only way for our chocobos to be buff. I'd use it in-character if I could. But yeah, the super elabourate armours and stuff are cool in-game, but I wish there was something more practical. Anyway, on a more on-topic note, I've been trying and failing to get the hang of /gpose. I really wish there was a feature where you could control the time-of-day, at least cosmetically. Waiting twenty minutes for daytime just for a screenshot is kind of a drag. Otherwise, yay particle effects!

Here is the relevant info from Fernehalwes about hybrid races and interbreeding. It's improbable, but possible. So yes, you can roleplay a hybrid and be lore-compliant, and it'll be totally fine. That said, I would personally advise you to deliberately avoid the more common pitfalls of the "half-breed character". Don't make hybrids superhuman (why are hybrids inexplicably portrayed as better than everyone else?), don't make every conflict into a racial conflict (e.g. Hilda's conflicts with the Temple Knights is expressed as one of social class rather than race, even if the latter does play as a factor in the former), and when you do have racial conflict, be very careful about centering that racial conflict around your character's specific hybrid. The general stigma towards hybrid characters comes from the fact that many hybrid characters are written as fairly blatant Mary Sues who consider themselves very self-important in everything they do, who will shout about their hybrid status to the streets with a megaphone in one sentence and then angst about how everybody's racist against them the next. As long as you can avoid that kind of extreme, I see no reason why it shouldn't go swimmingly.

It took some time for them to release it, but we've purchased the license for IPS 4.2. Thank you for your generous donations! Now we can properly begin formatting and preparing the features of the new forum.

The regular Eorzean alphabet is a pretty simple replacement sort of deal too. I'd be quite interested if they fully expanded on whatever the equivalent for Hingan/Doman and kana is.

I mean, why does anyone pre-arrange any RP? Because they're looking for a certain kind of experience or scenario, and the statistical likelihood of that coming from un-arranged, spur-of-the-moment circumstances is incredibly unlikely. At the risk of some false-equivalency fallacy, do we consider the relationships of people who met through online dating less "organic" compared to those who met as friends first and became intimate later?

As far my own roleplay is concerned, if I'm roleplaying in /say then I'm inviting random people to join or at least attempt to join unannounced. There's really no point in roleplaying openly if you're not willing to at least entertain the thought of people from the world joining in. If I don't want people to join, then I just go to party chat where I type in my usual third-person style.

Interestingly enough, that assertion also establishes the existence of an Eorzean version of French and German, as well., since noble Elezen names use "de" as a preposition denoting "of", and "von" can be found in the form of "Baron Von Quiveron". As I'm so fond of saying, it's very bad world building to not formally establish whether or not your setting has multiple languages, which is par for the course for Square, but the fringe information is useful.

Red magic isn't outlawed; as far as I can tell, it's just relatively rare (but not SO rare that you can't RP a red mage). Weird thing is that the Red Mage trainer mentions being trained, but they make absolutely no mention of who trains them. Square Enix strikes again!

I've been critical of Square Enix's world building before, yet while I don't particularly debate whether it does or doesn't exist, it's just weird to me how shy they seem to be of establishing it, like having a character speak a single sentence in the language. It'd do away with basically all of the divisiveness. I mean, it definitely doesn't exist in the Japanese version (since everything in the Japanese version is...Japanese anyway), but the English localizers really couldn't have found a way to make it less ambiguous? Say a sentence! Have two characters speak the language! There's no need to skirt around it.

And as a slightly less controversial follow-up, here are a bunch of Hingan words! ijin - “Foreigner”. Can be used both politely or rudely. koban - Money. This is the term Hingans use instead of “gil”. bakufu - The Hingan military government. bugyo - Magistrate or Governor. Used in reference to the lord bugyo who rules Kugane. sensei - “Master”. This term is extremely uncommon; it is only used once in the entire game. The generic term “Master” is used far more frequently (such as “Master Musosai”). kami - used as a generic substitute for “gods”. (”Kami preserve us”, etc.). In a religious sense, used to refer to the spirits that reside in precious items and treasures, as well as nature. aibou - Generally, can be translated to “partner” or “buddy”, and can be used to refer to a close working relationship as “partner” (such as a detective and deputy). Reno and Rude from Final Fantasy 7 are an example of partners or “aibou”. In the Japanese version, Estinien calls the Warrior of Light “aibou” as well. keikaku - More than likely this is nothing more than a meme reference (as localisation often is). Still. It means plan. geiko - A skilled female entertainer. Modestly dressed, they engage in poetry, music, and dancing. tamahagane - Can be translated as “jewel steel”. In-game terminology is “Doman steel”. Tamahagane is symbolically significant in Hingan culture, most likely as the traditional material used to make katanas. onsen - A natural hot spring used for bathing. onmyoji - A priest (or more accurately, a diviner or cosmologist, but it seems to be interchangeable). Implied to be Hingan of origin. Onmyoji may use forbidden blood rituals to summon shikigami: restless spirits.

Alright, ladies and gents, here's a fun topic. I recently did a bit of research into this particular topic to establish conclusively (short of getting an official answer from Koji or Square Enix) whether or not "Hingan" or "Doman" exist as a separate language, and whether speaking Hingan or Doman could be considered lore-friendly. For some reason, this seems to be a contested topic, so hopefully these findings will shed a bit of much-needed light. My intention here isn't to spark debate as much as it is to present what available evidence (or lack thereof) exists and open it to interpretation. TL;DR: The concept of “Hingan” and “Doman” languages most likely exists only as a localisation tool, primarily to explain Japanese terms to non-Japanese speakers and to thinly justify why there are Japanese words in the non-Japanese versions of FFXIV. There is no mention made of a different alphabet, grammar, system of writing, or sentence structure; only rudimentary vocabulary swaps. It’s highly unlikely that Square Enix intended or intends for “Hingan” or “Doman” to be a full-fledged language existing in the FFXIV universe. TL;DR 2: Do whatever you want as long as you're not hurting anyone or forcing them to do something against their will. It's just internet pretend fun-times, who cares. Firstly, there exist numerous references in-game to the existence of a “Hingan tongue” or “Doman tongue”, in the English version of the game only. Et cetera. There a few other inklings, but these are a few of the most prominent examples, and by themselves, hints pretty clearly at "Doman" and "Hingan" existing as distinct, separate languages with completely different alphabets. That said, there are conclusively no direct references to a modern Hingan or Doman language in the Japanese, French, or German versions of the dialogue. There are, at most, one or two vague references. In the instances where Japanese words are translated in other versions, translation is either glossed over or, in one particular case in the French version, is equated to a phrase in “en langue commune” (the common language”). In other instances (specifically the French and German versions), reference is made to the “ancient language” i.e. Ancient Hingan, same as the English version. In the Japanese and German versions, there are no references made to any differing languages. There are no translations or references to translations in the Japanese version at all, unless it’s in reference to a fictional, dead language (such as the Nymian language). In the German version specifically, translations of Japanese words are explained with no reference to Hingan or Doman. At best, it's explained in the manner of "this is what people call this thing, and it means this". There is exactly one instance in the French version where the following phrase is uttered by a Hingan: Some might assert that Hingan/Doman exists because of names. For example, “Yatsurugi no Yuki”, “Ame no Murakamo” (Susano’s sword), whatever the name of Zenos’ sword is which I can’t remember off the top of my head, etc. “no” is a Japanese possessive particle (that can function as a preposition or modifier), therefore Japanese exists, right? The problem with that is the implications. Does French exist on Hydaelyn because Elezen names use “de” (such as “Haurchefant de Fortemps”), and “de” is a French preposition denoting “of”? Does German exist on Hydaelyn because an NPC is named “Baron von Quiveron III Esquire” exists in-game, and “von” is a German preposition also denoting “of”? If “Yatsurugi no Yuki” implies the existence of modern Japanese, then “Haurchefant de Fortemps” (and similar names) must, by the same logic, clearly implicate the existence of an in-universe French, and Baron von Quiveron implicates the existence of an in-universe German. So with that, on to some questions. 1). If Square Enix genuinely intended for Hingan and Doman languages to formally exist in-universe, why is there little to no mention of them in other localisations of the game, and no mention in the base JP? 2).What language do Hingans and Domans speak in the Japanese version of the game? 3).Why don’t any of the Domans or Hingans speak Doman or Hingan to each other when they’re in private and not around any foreigners? 4). Why does everyone speak the same language even to characters who don't have the Echo? -- Conclusion: “Hingan tongue” and “Doman tongue” are phrases that are used purely to explain Japanese terms to non-Japanese speakers, and are mentioned only in the English version; if this was not the case, then they would have been mentioned in the other versions of the game dialogue. It is highly unlikely that these terms were intended to formally establish the existence of a modern Hingan or Doman language that is used in every-day life, hence why Doman is described as a “dialect” of common Hyur language in the lore book. These dialects exist only as vocabulary swaps; ijin instead of foreigner, koban instead of coin, aibou instead of partner, etc. There are no grammar rules, sentence structures, or any other significant differences that formally establish the presence of a full-fledged language. It's basically a way to justify those fun word swaps and teach the non-JP people some esoteric Japanese words. In the English version, “Ancient Hingan” is formally established to exist and is implied to form the basis of the vocabulary swaps. Otherwise, no mention is made of it. -- Like I said, don't take this as a condemnation of any sort; you do what you want. Anybody who wants to roleplay speaking Japanese as Hingan or Doman has, is, and will always be free to do so, and lore-policing is a no-no! (unless specifically asked for). More power to you!

Of the Eorzeans, Limsa Lominsa has the biggest firearm trade, followed by Ishgard in the form of the Skysteel Manufactory. While they're not so widespread that everyone has them, it'd a simple matter of finding the right merchant to obtain a firearm. Typical fare is muskets, but more complex guns such as revolvers are also available.

One thing that really bothers me about MMO stories in general is that most of them try to pull this "YOU are the ONLY ONE who can STOP THEM" thing. Which I Hate, with a capital "H" and the fiery intensity of a million Foreman grills, because MMO stories can never decide if the Hero actually is the Chosen One or not. Up until now, I had been under the impression that the Warrior of Light had been defeating the Primals by themselves, at least ever since Thordan. Which is acceptable, that's what the WoL is renowned for, the god killer, the eikon slayer. Which is also why Zenos bothered the shit out of me; it's implied that he's some kind of experiment or clone or something, sure, but this wahoo with a golf bag and huge shoulder pads is on-par or greater than shit like King Thordan and Sephirot? Really? As I recall, there's also zero reason given as to why we are capable of defeating Zenos in the Ala Mhigo dungeon; maybe he was literally just waiting for the Warrior of Light to hit Level 70, I don't know. Anyway, I thought that the Warrior of Light was THE CHOSEN ONE, defeating the primals by themselves (and requiring help for larger scale things like Castrum Meridianium and the Steps of Faith). I didn't have a problem with that. What I did end up having a problem with was the story talking about how the Warrior of Light needs the help of friends to defeat primals like Susano, along with some OOC forum talk that "obviously the WoL didn't defeat primals by themselves, they had a bunch of help! It makes sense that Zenos beat them!" Which bothers the shit out of me, because narratively speaking, why aren't these other heroes mentioned? Either the Warrior of Light is The Chosen One, or he isn't, and if he isn't, why doesn't the narrative acknowledge the army of other loot-crazed wahoos that are clearly present in the setting and who also happen to be just as capable of killing Primals? Wy are these other heroes who are so clearly integral to my success not ALSO realm famous? Like, did everyone forget about Aragorn and Gimli and Gandalf and everyone else in the Fellowship because Frodo (well, technically, Sam) is the one who destroyed the One Ring? What kind of sense does that make? And yes, you can call this being extremely anal retentive and nitpicky and me being unable to suspend my disbelief or whatever, but it still bothers me. Clearly, in order for WoL to have help in fighting primals, the other 7 people would need the Echo or else be tempered, right? Why is the WoL the only one getting credit when everyone--at least everyone in the Scions--seems to know that the WoL needs help to defeat primals? Why don't they ever ask any of these other heroes for help when Ala Mhigo's shit is getting pushed in? Or I guess it's just a plot hole.

The auto-afk boot is nothing more than the server sending your client a /logout command. It's the same as hitting escape and pressing "Log Out", except the server is doing it for you, which is why crafting and Retainer Bells and NPCs circumvent it, since you can't log out while on those windows.

I posted this over on the OF (if you've been reading General Discussion you might notice me banging my drum over there quite loudly), but I think it's worth posting here as well.

I'll preface this by saying that this was ultimately a necessary measure (although if they don't time it right, it'll also be hilariously inadequate), but I'm also against blaming the players because blaming the players imply that the players have been given the adequate tools to handle this as a community issue, when players demonstrably have not received any such thing for the ~4 years this game has been released. "Alright, our sledgehammer put several holes into the walls, but at least that damned fly is dead!" You know what's really jarring? Watching the FFXIV NoClip documentary and then waking up to this kind of news. On the one hand, you have the amazingly well-oiled machine that is the FFXIV ARR team rebuilding an MMO in 2 short years while the other team maintains 1.0. Hearing the difficulties and success in intense project management to get an acceptable product out in a very limited amount of time, the amount of organization and dedication that must have taken. And then things like this happen. Server issues that have existed for years finally reaching critical mass during an important time like an expansion launch. The sheer lack of planning and foresight.

Conrad making Lyse as the leader was really silly because far as I recall, Lyse didn't do anything as leader. The only one she ever interacted with to any real extent was M'naago, and as cool as M'naago was, she didn't really do anything either. I mean, I get the feeling that the story was gearing Lyse towards a parallel with Hien, but Lyse really didn't learn anything. She started the story as a young revolutionary bent on freeing Ala Mhigo and ended the story as a young revolutionary bent on freeing Ala Mhigo. There was no transition. What made Hien a great character was that he was wholly focused on the welfare of his people. Hien was fully willing to consider the idea that revolution was not the best outcome, and that surrender to Garlemald, as harsh as it was, might be the best course of action. Amidst his doubts and his experience as having been born during the occupation, he was equally willing to fight or forfeit. However, all of these things completely fly over Lyse's head. Not once does she attempt to consider Fordola's perspective. While that mini storyline in Ala Gannha attempts to she some light on it, Lyse responds basically by being a robot that beeps "REVOLUTION REVOLUTION REVOLUTION RESISTANCE RESISTANCE RESISTANCE" over and over again. Lyse was ostensibly the "main" character and the leader of the Resistance, but she took a backseat to the entire Ala Mhigan revolution. She didn't do anything, plan anything, or make any real significant decisions in her entire time there. She was purely a biased observer, yet the story seems to expect that she be treated as the main actor in everything.