How many more expansions do you think Garlean Empire will be destroyed? (Spoilers)

[Aldotsk]

As the topic says, has anyone kind of wondered if FF14 will only keep Garlean Empire for the rest of the series or do you think it'll eventually come to it's conclusion in one or two more expansions after Heavensward?

 

My honest theory is that Garlemald won't stay forever and it'd probably meet it's end by the third expansion of FF14 franchise, or even 4th. Hate to contrast to WoW's Wrath of the Lich King here, but a lot of people were not expecting for them to reach Icecrown until Blizzard announced it.

 

After Heavensward, perhaps we might be visiting Othard in the new expansion to reunite two continents to attack north - which would be the continent where Garlean Empire resides (4th Expansion perhaps?)

[Chris Ganale]

I'm very okay with this, and will be highly disappointed if we don't get our all-out war with Garlemald.

[Edda]

AS MANY AS IT TAKES

[Dravus]

I'm hoping that the Garlean Empire won't be destroyed. That'd be rather boring and I'd much prefer that Garlemald ends up being like the Archadian Empire of FFXII. Both armies are aggressive and expansive and force rival nations into either being destroyed or made to bend the knee and become part of their empire.

 

Add some memorable Garlean characters along the lines of Gabranth, Larsa and Drace from FFXII and there's no reason why we can't have a more morally grey rather than morally black insight into Garlean society.

 

As for the next expansion? I suspect we'll see Ala Mhigo and more 'floating continent' stuff before we hit Garlemald itself. We could even end up going to a completely different area that nobody expects.

[Aldotsk]

Wouldn't it rather be more of changing the new ruler and turning the empire into republic or democracy? That's how I'd see it. The WoL and others would kill the last "antagonist based" emperor and completely shatter the empire into more of lesser nation like the other three and make an alliance with them.

 

Otherwise, the entire empire would really fall apart.

 

Also I really doubt FF14's main focus was to fight against Garlean Empire forever. Technically the Heavensward is now focused on battling against mostly Dravanians.

 

We also haven't seen a lot of other islanders that may exist in the lore too.

[Sounsyy]

My guess:

 

3.0 Heavensward = "Sky" - Ishgard arc + Dragonsong War and Ul'dah close.

 

4.0 Ala Mhigo = Eorzean Alliance (finally) supports the Ala Mhigan Resistance and battles to secure Ala Mhigo before the new Emperor puts his full force behind the assault on Eorzea. This would secure a fortified foothold to fight the Empire from and drives the Empire mostly out of Eorzea. Opens up more of the Shroud, and old Gridanian wounds and lore about the Autumn War and the nations' treatment of the Ala Mhigan refugees. And finally having most of Eorzea opens the next expansion up for...

 

5.0 = "Sea" Limsa Lominsa story arc that's been in the background since 1.0 days. With Ala Mhigo retaken, Garlemald confronts Eorzea on all fronts, and it's up to Limsa blockade to weather the storm while the rest of the Eorzean Alliance fights Garlemald on land on the Ala Mhigan front. This expansion would open up the continent of Meracydia to the south, Thavnair to the East, and the New World to the West. This is our "exiting Eorzea" expansion, but not quite pushing into Garlean controlled areas.

[ChewableMorphine]

If it doesn't end with a superraid, like, Frontlines on a megaboss (Bahamut, maybe not, but Omega? More likely), I'll be kinda let down. Each grand company, maybe plus Ishgard for the full 100 player raid, on it for the very very last patch/expac for the game. Final Fantasy is known for their godlike final bosses, so XIV should be no exception. 

 

That is my dream.

[Maril]

My guess:

 

3.0 Heavensward = "Sky" - Ishgard arc + Dragonsong War and Ul'dah close.

 

4.0 Ala Mhigo = Eorzean Alliance (finally) supports the Ala Mhigan Resistance and battles to secure Ala Mhigo before the new Emperor puts his full force behind the assault on Eorzea. This would secure a fortified foothold to fight the Empire from and drives the Empire mostly out of Eorzea. Opens up more of the Shroud, and old Gridanian wounds and lore about the Autumn War and the nations' treatment of the Ala Mhigan refugees. And finally having most of Eorzea opens the next expansion up for...

 

5.0 = "Sea" Limsa Lominsa story arc that's been in the background since 1.0 days. With Ala Mhigo retaken, Garlemald confronts Eorzea on all fronts, and it's up to Limsa blockade to weather the storm while the rest of the Eorzean Alliance fights Garlemald on land on the Ala Mhigan front. This expansion would open up the continent of Meracydia to the south, Thavnair to the East, and the New World to the West. This is our "exiting Eorzea" expansion, but not quite pushing into Garlean controlled areas.

 

Pretty much sums up what I am hoping for

[Ryanti]

I can't imagine the Garlean Empire would ever be completely destroyed. Right now, it is the most influential nation on the entire planet, and when you consider just how much land the Empire has conquered and how large it is, it would probably end up killing itself before anyone else kills it.

 

My guess:

 

3.0 Heavensward = "Sky" - Ishgard arc + Dragonsong War and Ul'dah close.

 

4.0 Ala Mhigo = Eorzean Alliance (finally) supports the Ala Mhigan Resistance and battles to secure Ala Mhigo before the new Emperor puts his full force behind the assault on Eorzea. This would secure a fortified foothold to fight the Empire from and drives the Empire mostly out of Eorzea. Opens up more of the Shroud, and old Gridanian wounds and lore about the Autumn War and the nations' treatment of the Ala Mhigan refugees. And finally having most of Eorzea opens the next expansion up for...

 

5.0 = "Sea" Limsa Lominsa story arc that's been in the background since 1.0 days. With Ala Mhigo retaken, Garlemald confronts Eorzea on all fronts, and it's up to Limsa blockade to weather the storm while the rest of the Eorzean Alliance fights Garlemald on land on the Ala Mhigan front. This expansion would open up the continent of Meracydia to the south, Thavnair to the East, and the New World to the West. This is our "exiting Eorzea" expansion, but not quite pushing into Garlean controlled areas.

 

Sounsyy's theorycrafting here would have us not even touching Garlemald's land beyond Ala Mhigo until at least the third expansion. We're looking at the year 2017 here. Maybe further. Now, tossing out the concept of time here, would we ever get to the point where we push into their own territory and start wrecking faces? Sure.

 

But even if we outright defeat them in every sense of the word, the Empire will not die. Empires don't die that well. Just look at Rome. It 'died' in the 400's, but it truly didn't die until at least a thousand years later because of the Byzantines.

 

My theory suggests that the Garlean Empire will, in defeat, change. They will evolve into something else. They won't vanish from the face of the planet. They will instead become their own Byzantines.

 

What I hope will happen over the coming months/years is that they show the Empire in more of a grey light versus a black light. I've never been convinced that the Empire is truly evil. They just have bad apples. Eorzea is no different. Right now the only thing separating the two is point of view. I would like for them to highlight that more.

[Chris Ganale]

I just want to cut a bloody swath through armies of Bucketheads. I'm not hard to please.

[Sin]

I was thinking about this recently and my friends just told me to focus on the current expansion...

 

But... As I see it, the way its been done in every MMO I've ever played or heard of is to do new themes in each expansion in order to keep it fresh and exciting. Colors, music, landscapes... and even plotlines.

 

The problem with Ala Mhigo is that assuming that the next expansion is to take back Ala Mhigo and we get Gyr Abania and Xelphatol the bulk of such an expansion's plot would still revolve around fighting a war against the Empire for the liberation of Ala Mhigo. (Unless they just say 'we won' in the expansion cinematic, and boom we're in Ala Mhigo. Seems dumb though.)

 

To have the next expansion after that be pushing further up into Garlemald territory would or even dealing with Garlemald at all would be too soon. "We just fought the Garleans!" It would feel stale in my opinion.

 

No, I think if the next expansion is Ala Mhigo they'll add Xelphatol and Gyr Abania, and then some sort of threat we've never heard of will arise from those mountains and take us southward to Meracydia or perhaps Westward to whatever that is. -Then- we might see some more Garlean aggression, and roll our way into Garlemald in an expansion focusing on Ilsabard.

[Flashhelix]

3.0 = Ishgard/Dravania

4.0 = Ala Mhigo

5.0 = Othard/Doma

6.0 = Garlemald

7.0 = America

8.0 = Mexico

9.0 = Trailer Park

10.0 = Springfield

11.0 = Compton transition into Def Jam Records Presents Final Fantasy XIV

 

[video=youtube]

[Dravus]

Wouldn't it rather be more of changing the new ruler and turning the empire into republic or democracy? That's how I'd see it. The WoL and others would kill the last "antagonist based" emperor and completely shatter the empire into more of lesser nation like the other three and make an alliance with them.

 

Otherwise, the entire empire would really fall apart.

 

Also I really doubt FF14's main focus was to fight against Garlean Empire forever. Technically the Heavensward is now focused on battling against mostly Dravanians.

 

We also haven't seen a lot of other islanders that may exist in the lore too.

 

Well, that's pretty much what happened at the end of FFXII with Archades. The transition would take a long time, realistically, so having it happen overnight wouldn't be very realistic. The thing to remember is that the races within the Eorzean Alliance have mostly all been at war with each other in the past so there's hope that tensions between the Garleans may eventually subside especially if the Eorzeans end up becoming more technologically advanced themselves.

[Marisa]

K, time for my string of theories.  

 

First off, mark my words: Garlemald is gonna end up becoming the good guys. Anyone who's played Baten Kaitos should know what I'm talking about. Or Skies of Arcadia (and I honestly believe that parts of XIV were inspired by Skies of Arcadia). 

 

Now, we all know there are no off-screen deaths in FFXIV (or FF, for that matter), so I firmly believe that Gaius van Baelsar is still alive. And I don't know about you guys, but I genuinely think that Gaius is a good man. I also believe that Gaius will be the one who leads the Empire to become a force of good. He's had a lot of time to soul-search since the Praetorium, and I think he's gonna realize that Eorzeans are happy with their lot in life. Because really, his goal all along was to liberate us from our supposed tyrants.

[Aldotsk]

I do also have that feeling of agreement that Gaius isn't really the bad guy but he's really the one who took the burden of becoming a villain to the warrior of Light to test their strengths. But then again, he's kind of responsible for razing other nations with his conquest and dominating all of Primals - so I am not quite sure what his full purpose was besides him telling the WOL that he intends to end the false idolizing and false lies of the politics behind all three nations.

 

But if Gaius was to come back as supposedly, he's not dead - then who is he really allied with?

[Steel Wolf]

The way I see it, the Garleans have now been thwarted three times over in their attempt at conquest of Eorzea. Granted, the Castrums have yet to be disassembled, but that's owed more to dev resources not being aimed in that direction than any indication of continued imperial strength. Also, we still don't have an idea what the newly crowned Emperor will be doing about the campaign. Seeing as how they've thrown a legion at the realm (4500 to 5300 soldiers, assuming the numbers are the same), he may either just assume it a lost cause...or throw an entire army group at the problem.

 

Also, we STILL haven't been rid of the Ascians completely, and this story is hell-bent on making us care about them and their boogity-boogity-boo spooky finger ways.

 

I'd say we've got at least two more expansions or three before we even acknowledge Garlemald as a legitimate threat.

[Ryanti]

I'd say we've got at least two more expansions or three before we even acknowledge Garlemald as a legitimate threat.

 

Honestly, I don't even think they care about Eorzea anymore.

 

XIVth was acting on their own. I think they're too busy fighting wars on their own borders then worrying about Eorzea now. We'll probably get a fair amount of "THIS IS WHAT IS GOING ON WITH GARLEMALD RIGHT NOW" cutscenes like we did in 2.3 or whatever patch that showed the new emperor but that's about it really.

[Dante Abigor]

Hopefully never.

 

To me from the beginning in 1.0 the empire was never outright EVIL, they just have forceful means and pretty hypocritical beliefs. As an example, in 1.0 Gaius ends up being a tsundere ally to you taking down the White Raven, only to turn around and become the villain in 2.0 and realize hes been manipulated. There's even evidence suggesting that Garlemald does indeed help the civilizations it conquers, such as the Roe knight being so adamant about protecting it(Until you brutally murder him, you monster), as well as Gaius repeatedly saying that they aim to conquer Eorzea to remove the Primal threat/abomination.

 

If the Binding Coil is any foreshadowing anyway, we will see someone related to the White Raven before we even see another lock of the new emperors hair, so Id say that if they DO end up destroying the empire, it would be in one of the way later expansions(like double digits.)

 

The Garlean Empire is like that looming threat that is uniting everyone. Without them on the horizon making everyone bite their nails in terror, everyone would return to being separated dickheads and the story IMO would more or less crumble into obscurity. What happens to a hero when the hero is no longer needed?

[Chris Ganale]

The Garlean Empire is like that looming threat that is uniting everyone.

 

Yeah, but no. I love me the shit out of some stories where everyone bands together to destroy the greater menace, but Eorzea is about as banded together as a pack of kindergarteners, and just slightly less threatening. And as someone who loves those kinds of tales and plays a character who has, in another setting, explicitly made the Genghis/Thanatos gambit to unite two separate worlds for the preservation of the future, the fact that Eorzea hasn't united into a single front of solidarity makes me want to line up every single person in a position of power who has not done everything within that power to make a united Eorzea happen and just run down the several-miles-long line, slapping the everloving goose shit out of all of them.

 

Further, because of the aforementioned love of the Gondor Calls for Aid trope, the betrayal of the Crystal Braves cut me to the core and has landed every one of those blue-coated shitbags (except Ol' Eyepatch) on my death list. If some part of 3.x doesn't involve hunting down and executing every last one of those oathbreakers, or at least doesn't see them dying horribly as a side effect of the various quests, I'll be sorely disappointed.

 

/dismountssoapbox

[Michikyou]

Honestly, I hope they arent destroyed. The presence of the empire make for great stories. Conflict in any aspect is always going to happen but this is a conflict that is not just physical but ideological. 

 

Extremest regimes verses Eorzean stability. Id love to actually see more of the empire in future patches.

[Dante Abigor]

-ERROR POST-

[Dante Abigor]

 

Chris Ganale

The Garlean Empire is like that looming threat that is uniting everyone.

 

 

 

 

Yeah, but no. I love me the shit out of some stories where everyone bands together to destroy the greater menace, but Eorzea is about as banded together as a pack of kindergarteners, and just slightly less threatening. And as someone who loves those kinds of tales and plays a character who has, in another setting, explicitly made the Genghis/Thanatos gambit to unite two separate worlds for the preservation of the future, the fact that Eorzea hasn't united into a single front of solidarity makes me want to line up every single person in a position of power who has not done everything within that power to make a united Eorzea happen and just run down the several-miles-long line, slapping the everloving goose shit out of all of them.

 

Further, because of the aforementioned love of the Gondor Calls for Aid trope, the betrayal of the Crystal Braves cut me to the core and has landed every one of those blue-coated shitbags (except Ol' Eyepatch) on my death list. If some part of 3.x doesn't involve hunting down and executing every last one of those oathbreakers, or at least doesn't see them dying horribly as a side effect of the various quests, I'll be sorely disappointed.

 

/dismountssoapbox

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doesn't help that the WoL is apparently a dumbass that cant fight without being told to do so either lol.

 

Also going to ignore the fact that NO ONE thought to tell the WoL who has already fought entire Castrums and Praetoriums and Primals AT LEAST TWICE EACH to stay behind and nuke the groups after them like a good little minion. Pretty sure he/she would have taken out a simple dozen or five of enemies before people started realizing who they were fucking with and backed off.