The only bit of Gridanian lore that stuck with me all these years is in quarrymill when meffrid couldn't get a single vial of antibiotics for his friend because the elementals said no and everyone was just gonna watch that guy slowly die of a festering wound
Yeah the Elementals are still upset about the Autumn War. Which is why Ala Mhigan refugees were better off in Ul'dah's territory than staying in the Twelve's Wood.
Honestly I think that scene is a microcosm of why we don't see much of Gridania. Not only does something like that *really* make it hard to like a culture, but it's also not really changed since ARR. They're still all dependent on the elementals to solve their problems, even when they're partly responsible for CAUSING them *stares at the EW quests*. Honestly I'm not sure how you progress the story with Gridania unless you get a situation where people look at the Elementals' shit and decide "enough is enough". Even then, that flies so much in the face of what Gridania is for those people that like it that it may not even be worth it to do that.
I mean to be fair wasn't that the guy that went forward to be the public face of the griffin and turned many people to Ilberds cause. Maybe those elementals were on to something
@@SynodicScribeI believe you strongly overestimate how much of that was the actual will of the Elementals instead of how much of it was the will of the padjal in question. It is far too *convenient* an excuse that the Elementals didn't want Meffrid's antibiotics when us killing deer to make our own was no issue at all. The leatherworker quests made *very* clear that when a Hearer claims something is the will of the Elementals, there is no recourse. Even if you are 100% aware the Elementals do not care. Nowhere to ask. Nothing. You either convince him or you are silenced by a despot.
@@taylorgrimm9574You are making two errors here. First is relying on hindsight. And unless you have 100% accurate knowledge of the future, justifying withholding aid for what a person, at that point in time, _might_ do is incredibly flawed. Not to say cruel. Second, while the DRK quests do tell us that he was the guy we helped when he had a festering wound in the Twelveswood, the Monk quests not only give us _another_ double, but one who keeps using the idea of the Griffin. Which is to say that even if Houdart didn't join Ilberd's mad call and became his double, others would and have done so. So events would still have played out like that. Just with a bit less of a personal stake for you, the player. Ultimately, even Meffrid returned to the Resistance to fight for his homeland. He joined Conrad in Rhalgr's Reach where he was cut down by Fordola. Houdart just took a path he believed to be quicker, more effective. Both met their ends being killed by the Empire they fought.
you know what else is an ongoing joke? gridania starters being thrown under the bus. we lost papalymo, we never even ever had yda, and everything about the rich history of gridania is left unexplored. the mun-tuy cellars are abandoned...
@@sur7969 They miraculously made useless NPCs live, but Papalymo died after one unvoiced cutscene. He was the sacrificial lamb for the plot. They decided he had to die
Honestly i think it was developed in reverse. They couldnt figure out storylines for papalymo and lyse. That and they couldnt find jobs to respec them and keep them cool. They couldnt figure out a job change for papalymo and by then papalymo was a minor char and they needed a sacrifice. They tried to make mnk cool in stb cs but realized they ended up being forced to keep lyse a mnk
Kanna e Senna did say in the role quest that she wants to go on an adventure with us, pretty sure she's going to pass on her duties and join the crew for a bit in a future expansion. Maybe 8.0 or 9.0?
A friend pointed out to us ""Even of your little Eorzea you know precious little...." He went on to drop the hint for the 24-man raid in Endwalker, but I hope there was more to it than that. I would love to see an entire future expansion begin in Gridania or the Shroud and take us into Gelmorra, only to discover that we have an entire Underdark's worth full of subterranean cities, caves, and chambers to explore beneath the continent we thought we knew so well. Wouldn't that also be an outstanding opportunity to finally have a healer (in this case White Mage) as the WoL job for an expansion?
The idea of bringing the current story back to the original city-states would certainly be a cool one conceptually. For Gridania, we have Gelmorra as you mentioned, and West Shroud was just outright removed as an overworld area between Dalamud's falling and ARR, maybe that could be 2 new zones with a new threat that showed up. Two more zones could be made with the surrounding islands around Vylbrand in the Rhotano Sea, possibly delving into Nym lore. And the last two could be centered around the ruins of Sil'dih and Mhach. Through the six zones you could have an expansion that dives deeper into the War of the Magi and potentially the other lesser known calamities and their potential lasting consequences on the source that laid dormant with all of those past elemental rejoinings.
@@rugalbernstein5913 YES! It's cool to see stuff around the world, but I would love to see more of Eorzea and what it is going to do after the fall of the Garlean Empire and the Final Days. Somebody get this man/woman (select appropriate) to Yoshi-P's office, now!
@@rugalbernstein5913oh absolutely, getting to explore extra areas of the original three regions would be sick, like west shroud from 1.0 as you say and nym or gelmorra
YES! I had a lengthy discussion about this. Limsa and Thanalaan (especially Thanalaan) have so much history and lore in them. Damn near all of ARR takes place in Uldah. And the point about Moon'cats and duskwights, they barely seem to exist in the lore at all. Heck, I know other races/tribes have certain quirks and naming schemes can't tell you a fking thing about Keepers of the Moon or dark elves. Edit: Can you tell I wrote that before watching the video?
Things left unsaid. What happened to the Garleans in Azys Lla? What happened to Dun Scaith? What are people DOING about Azys Lla? What is happening with Mach? What are the Tonberrys doing? Are the elementals still keeping people out of Amdapor? When will Gigi recharge? Will Greg return? Where did Tiamat go? What is going to happen to the castrums in Eorzea? Will we ever get to really explore the liberated Imperial provinces?
I think they just retreated after their legatus got Zurvan'd Suppose it's just there lying empty. Someone should check it out in better detail, if the sky pirates haven't stripped it bare Occasional aetherochemical research and little else it seems, but I'd be open to hearing more info if there is any Mhach is equally abandoned and equally as open to something being done as far as I know The Tonberries are working to cure themselves before they proceed to unseal and cure the surviving stasised Tonberries. What will they do next? I would also like to know I think they want to keep people out of Amdapor, even if they can't hide the ruins with glamours. I think they're relying on Gridania to make it so When the writers come up with a story involving Gigi Probably, think he's to popular not to. The one time he didn't, we got a trial for kind of but not exactly crossgender Greg Tiamat went to Meracydia to look after her children I think they're currently either destroyed, abandoned or under Eorzean control. Likely they'll either get the Velodyna treatment or just get dismantled It'd be nice. Especially if we could see them on the map #UncloudIlsabard
I would love more content for the castrums honestly. My favourite tribe quests are the Ananta because they use the castrum to rebuild their economy and bring hope to Gyr Abania. That type of recontextualization is direly required for much of Eorzea's castrums.
One of the most interesting and scary parts of Gridania is the Conjurer npc in front of his guild, refusing to heal a little child while their parents beg him. They're more similar to the standard D&D Druids than Clerics I think, they'll refuse to help someone if it goes against nature's laws. Oh and don't get me started with the guard npc saying that the only good Keeper of the Moon is a dead one, or the Postmoogle quest "The past is a story we never tell".
It's possible they just got fed up with Gridania in 1.0 where seemingly every quest within the black shroud came down to elemental fuckery at some point.
The Black Shroud really got the short end of the stick in the MSQ, even though there are bunch of really interesting things about it, like the Elementals, Gelmorra, the homes of the Duskwight Elezen or the Moonkeeper Miqote. We only get glimpses, and it's pretty unfortunate.
yeah keeper lore was touched a little upon in the Gridania leveling that they exist as the bandit claws, alongside two other groups of outlaws. most of those keepers lore are in the fate though, including the arrest of their main leader. the King. @@Lyn685
@@Lyn685 Unfortunately people take the worst from the Post Moogle questline, assuming that all Gridanians treat Keepers like that one Wood Wailer in that quest. And ignoring that the Coeurlking has been gaslighting and abusing the women under his thumb the entire time.
I play as a Keeper of the Moon and the few references to the Keepers, before Menphina's song, were Gridanians bashing them. The number of times a Grifanian NPC says "have you heard of the Keepers of the Moon?" and I just had to stand there like "well, time to once again hear how vile my kind is." I love Gridanian for the aesthetic and Kan E Senna is great and I am still happy to say I am a Twin Adder but GOSH I want some Keeper lore that isn't "vile poachers who upset the elementals". Duskwights and Moon cats have just spent over a decade being the boogeyman while every other sub race have gotten their turn in the spotlight and their virtues put on display. It's not just Gridania as a whole that has been unexplored, but as a result, two sub races have the thinnest of lore. And that lore is almost entirely "that sub race is bad." I just am tired of rotten scraps.
@@MurakamiTenshiIf I remember correctly most of the elves immigrated en masse and then settled in different areas. It was only in Gridania that the separation became more distinct due to inhabiting Gelmorra. Ilsabard seemed to mellow out with encountering more races and Ishgard went the route of zealotry and classism with the Dragonsong War, so a lot of Gridania's problems really seem to stem from the elementals being pissed about the War of the Magi and the Autumn War.
I've been replaying Gridania and my opinion based on the scraps we get has always been 'man are the duskwights and moon cats f'd over', imo there is an implication that they're forced into poaching/crime because they aren't permitted to ascend much higher in society, causing a constant negative cycle mimicking some irl issues. It's hard to imagine that not being the case now with how the beast tribes are being handled and everyone going 'haha we are kind of racist to you guys aren't we' lol? I would just love to see it explored at all 🙃
We've seen very little of U'Ghamaro. The mines only go so far into the front side of the mountain, while the U'Ghamaro territory takes up HALF of Vylbrand.
When you start in Limsa, you get accused of aiding pirates. When you Start in Ul'dah, you get shaken down by the Brass Blades. When you start in Gridania, the Wood Wailers defend your cart from Ixhal raiders and urge you on your way. And then the first person you can talk to says adventurers are a menace and you should leave.
Gridania: ecofascist ethnostate vibes sometimes. Limsa Lominsa: groups of scallywags ran aground and built a port city out of their junked ships, then somehow became a legitimate admiralty. Ul'dah: if prohibition-era Chicago was operated by Ferengi. I love this game, and more city-state lore/interactions would be great!
Ishguard: Funny pope man was in fact NOT the Chosen One, resorts to parliment. Ala Mhigo: Can everything stop falling apart for FIVE. MINUTES. Doma: Divine Right to Rule surprisingly works out when your ruler is a total chad. Kugane: We would tell you but then we'd have to give you a form for it. Azim Steppes: We fight and we vibe but noone but us gets to mess with us!
We had that in the old days, then the game super jumped the power shark until your killing abstract concepts like time and god wearing blue jeans in totally not Neo Tokyo
That would be great, but they're clearly hesitant to do that as it would require severely altering the existing map (and the devs have always tended towards laziness). You can see on a datamined map of the planet that Ilsabard is actually 50% wider than shown on any in-game maps. That's why the Dawntrail map is so inaccurate regarding the placement of the equator. We're outright told in 6.55 that the Three Great Continents are entirely in the northern hemisphere, yet the Dawntrail map contradicts that because they just blew up the existing map to fit the continents' east/west dimension. If you open the datamined planet texture in paint, and draw a line half way down it however, you find that the lore is correct, and the map wrong.
And to be nice to a growing boy like Alphie; they even decided to send her back in the nude... For as he says later on "It was a sight I won't forget anytime soon." Pretty sure he started sleeping with one open after that in case Shtola ever comes to strangle him in the night.
They limited the damage of the 7th Calamity to just the Western Shroud as well. That's why Gridania has so little scarring, the Elementals protected it.
Around 6:15 I was nodding and saying "yuuuuup." Call it recency bias, but the Endwalker tank job quests left a nasty aftertaste in my mouth. We get so little story in Gridania as you said, and the story we do get is of the elementals demanding and taking and punishing and selfish and reluctant to fix their own mistakes. "But they don't think like humans do" is cold comfort when quests like these make them easy to despise.
Even without them thinking the way we do, what does it say about people willing to forsake others just to have the aid of the elementals? They could be as bad as the monetarists but instead of cash it's magic. I love conservation and responsible land stewardship but it begs the question as to why the Gridanians can't or won't do so without the elements. Are they scared? Selfish? Omelas situation?
I fully agree that the Keepers and Duskwight should get msq focus, or at least Some sort of focus and fleshing out at some point. A new zone, deeper into the shroud, showing how the Duskwight and the Keeper Miqo'te live outside of Gridania's jurisdiction would be Amazing HOWEVER, personally, I would love to see more of Meracydia. I think it's honestly insane we never saw Tiamat again after the shadowbringers patch quests-- It was, of course, to make room for Vrtra in the msq for endwalker, but there's so much about Meracydia we don't know. The dragons have returned, Tiamat herself has returned-- who lives there now, how will they take this return of the dragons?
It's only Tiamat that returned to Meracydia. The other dragons in Azys Lla were too far gone for the tempering cure to work. That being said, there's probably some dragons there who never left.
@@DarthSanguine There probably are dragons there considering the description of Lunar Bahamut: "This manifestation of the elder primal is believed to have been called forth by Meracydian dragons held captive within one of the Telophoroi's mysterious towers."
They can add more lore/story to gridania by updating the grand companies to have levels above 60 and higher ranks. the three main cities have their own grand company which acts akin to a police force of some description, or acts like an army. we need more grand company stuff.
Pipe dream here, but if they ever let us go to the Duskwight city I want Folques (bullied Duskwight kid from the lancer questline) to have survived his nervous breakdown bungee jump into the abyss and be one of our eventual contacts down there, because that's a chip on my shoulder I've carried since I started playing this game in the first place. If someone as far gone as Fordola can get a redemption arc then let me friendship power that little edgelord dweeb too. In general I've always been a proponent of bringing the cast of the job quests more into the main story somehow, there are so many standouts like Sidurgu or the gang from the First that feel completely wasted as optional background characters.
Unfortunately, Foulques didn't survive, as you can find his undead corpse as a rare spawn in Palace of the Dead, alongside other confirmed dead characters.
Gridania has always been my favorite city. It reminds me of my home near mountains and forests. When I lived 2500 miles away for 10 years, returning to the calming tones of the city always made me feel less stressed. There’s so many serene places in the city or immediate areas surrounding it to be able to go chill at.
im uldahn myself, so my gridania experience is a bit biased. the one that stood out the most is how they deny even the thought of *helping* dying ala mhigan (MSQ), how folques got thrown under the bus because hes duskwright (LNC), that one padjal candidate who got punished severely for not knowing better (endwalker tank role quest), and casual racism toward duskwright and moon cat strewn here and there in minor side quest. so.. yeah.... uldah is bad, but its the kind of bad that is public knowledge and expected. in gridania seems to have 'theres no war in ba sing se' vibe. i'd love for them to explore more about this city state. so many myths worth exploring. also please please please give duskwrights some highlight because i need them to shine more than being antagonists.
I will be eternally salty about them not allowing us to help Folques. They set it up that after he gets humbled by the boar you can reach out to him, then they just... dump him off a cliff. Even after the guild Master admits it's mostly because the poor kid was bullied and underpaid, nothing ever gets addressed. It's all just "he was too arrogant and ruined the trial, don't be like that loser," like wtf
@@M0ssP1glet yeah :< he doesnt have to die so many of ARR starting jobquests are weird like that, tho, even paladin is still weird while the other extention of basic jobs already took a level or two in storytelling. ig its just the team still trying to feel around and experiment how to incorporate that into the gameplay many of them very black and white, even when attempting to be nuanced.
@@AxionZetaOne for real, the manroe PLD have golden potential to be badass mentor, just make him former paladin who had enough of uldahns elite who uses paladin as their personal army to oppress people. its thematically yin and yang to DRK questline, since we're seeing things from the system. also its a ripe moment since bloody banquette too, people will want justice. (also im biased cause i love roegadyns, and up until that point, roes always protrayed as jokes, antagonist, or dead) but noo, they have to make him obsessed about his sword and establishing dominance, and hw pld become weirdly about deciding Whos The Alpha Tank idk if its social commentary about tanks who provoke war with other tanks like bitter divorcees fighting over custody on World of Darkness AR and cleave the party in the process lol edit: GLA questlines did better job being PLD than PLD itself. at least we have tournament arc, but why?? at that point???? why not leave gladiating to the gladiator??
One odd thing that I noticed during my replay of FFXIV is how starting at Ul'dah gives a more "personal" reaction to the WoL. Gridania and Limsa focus on the "crystal of light" where as starting in Ul'dah has Nanamo and the "Bull" having a strong inclination as to "who" our character is in the beginning. Having said that: I've seen experienced players advocate starting the FfXIV journey in Ul'dah as this seems to fill in certain details that an OG veteran player gets in special cutscene(s). Also the MSQ for ARR and Stormblood focus on the areas surrounding Ul'dah. On that note: unless a player levels ALL the OG jobs: it would seem that a lot of lore is left out without those jobs. An example is the dungeon with the "white mage that went nuts" over the death of her lover. Yes, the MSQ has our character interact with her a few times as a "sideline" NPC and then a brief conversation after that. She's not seen again until that dungeon. One thing that I wish the MSQ would do is focus on the lore of each city state a bit more in the beginning: apart from Alphibro's sarcastic review when selecting a Grand Company. ARR is meant to be a lore and world building introduction to FFXIV. While it does really good with the world building: the lore often comes at a later point where it doesn't seem or feel as impactful IMHO. One example of this is the "Binding Coils." We're introduced to whio was in the "red moon" and the events following that dragon's supposed death. Nothing in ARR points to who that was as clearly as Binding Coils does. I know it is optional side content now; but, Binding Coils normal should have been a required part of the MQS before going to HW (especially since we encounter his beloved in restraints). Also, Midgarsomer(sp?) held a "role" in ARR and HW; but, disappeared after HW. Where did he go (as we know he's not dead)? Why hasn't he appeared again (especially during EW)? There are a lot of unresolved plot points that are still hanging. Perhaps SE will address those at a later expansion beyond Dawtrail.
@@TheIvoryDingo I don't recall ever seeing anything like that in FFXIV. I remember Omega from a cutscene/MSQ story; but, don't recall anything regarding "Omega Raids."
@@MMOPC78 I was referring to the 8-man raid series of Stormblood. It was also given a teaser after finishing 4.0's MSQ to incentivise players to check it out.
@MMOPC78 sounds like you missed out on a plot thread! They start by speaking with Wedge in Rhalgr's Reach after finishing the main Stormblood MSQ plot.
@@AxionZetaOne My first play through of FFXIV was "rushed" and I apparently missed out on a WHOLE lot in the game. I'm going a lot slower this time; but, finding people to do "side dungeons/trials" is proving to be slightly difficult. Just got to keep at it I guess.
Man, as much as I know people love fantasy magical forest (and I admit it is a cool aesthetic) - It would be so cool to have an underground city of Galmora!
That's why I like the conjurer/white mage quest line. You delve the most into Gridania's society in there (at least that I have seen): the relationship between the city-state and the elementals (in ARR), the padjals (in SB)... In HW when you rescue Y'Shtola from the aether sea with Kan-e Sena's help you don't know why you go to that specific tree unless you have done ARR WHM questline where they tell you there resides the eldest and most powerful elemental. From there you can also guess that the reason Gridania is a pacifist nation is because Amdapor citizens' scars from the war of the magi (similar to Sharlean's foundation). With the lancer questline you can see a glimpse to the dusk elezen prejudice in the end (thou it's not explained why there's prejudice in there). And I haven't done much from the archer/bard questline to know how much is seen there.
The only real bigotry in the Archer questline in one Elezen who hates pretty much everyone not born in Gridania, and everyone in the guild dislikes him in return. The poacher tribe in it is very much a bunch of murderous shitheads who make a good case for the poachers being the instigators of the bad blood between the Keepers and Gridanians.
THIS. ALL OF THIS, SCRIBE. I started in Gridania and I wish so much more for my little forest home city-state. I imagine my character started in the outskirts of Central Shroud, and grew up there. There's so much lore and stories and such that haven't been covered yet. I really do want to see more about the Gelmorrans.
The "problem" with Gridania's story is that it's mostly contained in Version 1.0, and what remains in ARR are merely fragments. Tam-Tara Deepcroft (this dungeon is like 75% smaller than version 1.0, which had TWO floors), and The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak, were dungeons involved in Gridania's lore and the elementals IIRC. Heck the entire Shroud was different, but also largely reduced in size for ARR, which just like every other place in ARR, entire chunks are missing. The "Gelmorra Ruins" was a "above ground" dungeon in 1.0, more or less in the place it presently is in 2.0, just now the entrance is "collapsed." If Yoshi-P ever wants to have Gridania's history explored, it would likely involve a "Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard)" and "The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak (Hard)" that reflect the original designs, along with a "Gelmorra Ruins" . Ul'dah's story is intertwined with the MSQ and Thancred, hence all the development around it. Everyone else pretty much has no significant connection to their starting city anyway, and since Yda and Papalymo are written out, we likely won't see any Gridania development unless there is some Padjal-related MSQ story that brings the players back to explore. We've seen the Padjals almost entirely within the White Mage storyline. Perhaps we will see an investigation into the events of the sixth Umral calamity in more than just a book in Sharlayan.
I remember when they released the Variant Dungeon for Uldah and they mentioned that there would be 2 more Variant Dungeons to come out during Endwalker, many people theorized each city state getting their own Variant Dungeon. That would've been a perfect time to expand on the lore of Gridania or Gelmorra, it still could happen in Dawntrail/8.0 but it really could've been interesting to get the city-states all getting expanded on at the end of this story arc.
You know what? I’d kinda like to know more about the Moogles in the Twelveswood. Much as I can’t decide if I dislike the fact that the Moogles are a bunch of layabout that like to push work onto others, or that they are actually capable of getting stuff done when push-comes-to-shove, we’ve only ever been to Moghome in Dravania. We’ve never had to deal with the Twelveswood Moogles aside from a brief moment in the Bard quests, and the summoning of Good King Mogglemog XII (may he ever remain fluffy).
Nothing triggered me about Gridania as much as the EW role quest Civilians: Elder seed seer are you here to help us with our blight fighting the monster claiming our lives? Kann-E-Senna: no we are here to tend to the trees to appease the elementals "basically told them fluff off peasants" And its so sad that the encounter with Nophica didnt help to ease the issue
You and I took that differently. Kann-E was trying to find the root cause and get the help of the elementals to deal with the problem. Gridania is always about give and take as shown in that quest. The elementals offer protection and sustiance and in return the people of the twelveswood offer respect and support. Is it really worse than the institutional corruption in Ul'dah or the wealth born out of piracy of Limsa? You think the pirates of Limsa only ever attacked bad people. Hell, it had been less than ten years since they started attacking only Garleans and only 5 years prior there was still the risk of being kidnapped and sold as a slave just walking the streets of Limsa.
@@brynphillips9957 - Which brings up a good point: Ul'dah and Limsa have been addressing these issues. Gridania only ever falls back on "muh elementals" to the detriment of it's own people or a logical solution. And as the video brings up: we never see the positive results of that, only negative consequences of how single-minded the Gridanians are.
@@brynphillips9957 Not to mention that the presence of the Blasphemy was making the Elementals panicked. What do panicked Elementals do? Seal off the forest and kill everyone within. Kan-E tending to the Elementals was borne from a practical motivation; if they decided it was too dangerous then everyone, not just those sick, would be screwed.
@@brynphillips9957 the problem is that the elementals cant be trusted to protect themselves anymore, let alone a city state, as shown by the role quest where they are too panicked to even take care of themselves
I main a Duskwight, and she left Gelmorra as a young woman because she didn't want to be a poacher and bandit, but instead wanted to be seen by the citizens of Gridania as a respectable person. Then, after her Wildwood husband died, she stayed with her in-laws until she gave birth to their daughter, and left as soon as the baby was strong enough to travel because her in-laws treated her so badly because she's a Duskwight. Basically what I'm saying is that I have devoured every scrap of information I can about the Duskwight, and would kill for more!
To be honest, I'll be happy to see the Gelmorran lore, the Moon'qote's, and Duskwight's lore explored even further, especially since the Lancer quest made me sad about how they treat the Duskwight guy, Foulques. Also probably the story how Nybeth Obdilord managed to bring his Palace of The Dead to the Shroud.
Side quests, job quests, and even role quest had us dealing with elemental that really depicted them to quick of temper (whm) or needing to clean after their quick temper(EW ROLE QUEST) Also(and i don't remember, well, that part of msq), back in ARR, could've been the best opportunity to explain the Autumn War when gridanians refused the Ala Mhigans plea for help but I only remember elementals not allowing it's people to help them but not why the reason for not helping them
Indeed. They showed us how cruel and vengeful the elementals can be in that quest. While never really explaining the Autumn War, which is what incurred the Green Wrath in the first place.
@@Rsalynia Correct! In the Bard quest they discovered that an Ala Mhigan general invited a Gridania war hero to peace talks and poisoned him during the war. That knowledge is currently being covered up by Gridanian leadership to prevent the current tolerance from blossoming into outright hatred.
Wait, my understanding of the EW role quests wasn't that the elementals were being quick tempered but that they were too wrecked from saving the Twelveswood during the 7th umbral calamity. It stated that the Great One created a barrier around the twelveswood to sheild it which is why the Twelveswood took comparitively less damage and why the elementals were so weakened. People also assume it was all about the Autumn War when one of the quest givers in ARR for those quests was an Ala Mhigan refugee that had been excepted. It wasn't like the elementals accepted no one. It was done on a case by case basis, presumably judged by how the elementals percived the individual would be able to live maintaining the harmony in the twelveswood. Repeatedly it is mentioned that the elementals see the world through aether and thus differently from mortals. I think this is the biggest issue since people assume the Elementals motives are humanistic motives. This isn't neccesarily true.
Limsa is popular due to the location of its Aetheryte crystal being so close to its markets and that its the location of each server's Lalafell bench, first bench on the left, when facing the markets from the Aetheryte.
What would be nuts is if the Gelmorrans were fighting a war underground for centuries, but a sudden surge in their enemies' strength causes them to surface and ask for help, prompting a reconciliation between them and Gridania. Imagine if said enemies were void powered remnants of the a Mhachi invasion from the War of the Magi and them getting stronger was a result of the Thirteenth 'collapsing' into the Source like Y'Sthola theorized at the end of Endwalker. That could easily be a X.4/X.5 patch setup into a void based expansion.
You forgot to mention that unlike Uldah and Limsa... Gridania didnt need to grow, or solve any pressing internal issues. Sure, they have problems with the Duskwights but other than that... there are none. They didnt need to grow, they didnt have any real struggles. All their problems are purely external. What I would want are more quests involving Gelmorra, seeing one of the still lived-in underground settlements. And also more on the Elementals. As you said, they are not only wrathful spirits, they are also supporters and one of the reasons, Gridania exists to begin with. With all the stuff we got from Uldah and Limsa... yeah... Gridania deserves their moment. PotD and the EW tank role quests... that doesnt cut it.
@@markup6394 i mean we just watched an entire video explaining it, so it's funny that even though you watched the video your response is "No" and thus i laugh at the absurdity
Don’t even get me started with the unresolved story involving amberscale rock in central shroud from 1.0. It is even still there as a pin point on the map.
The elemental stuff is even worse when everyone tells you that the war with the Ixal only exists because the elementals punished them as a race and kicked them entirely out of the twelveswood. The Ixal themselves state that the elementals took away their flight. We never hear what the Ixal did to deserve the punishment, but the elementals sure are quick to recruit others to fight for the forest when they literally started their own war.
it comes up in HW I think it was that the Ixal lost their flight because they were originally Allagan creations that were genetically unstable and evolved to lose flight quickly as a result
I would most definitely like for Gridania to get expanded upon! I personally feel, after just recently replaying the ARR MSQ recently, that there’s also secrets that needs be explored within the deep woods in regards to the dark magics that make more than a few appearances throughout the story 🧐
I know it will probably never happen, but my greatest wish is that we get to fight the elementals. Strike fear in to the heart of woods and turn that fear into an ultimatum: "You need to learn to understand us as much as we try to understand you, or we will do what we must to preserve our selves" They can't keep doing things like they did in the Tank role quests. It's only matter of time before the elementals give someone their "one bad day" and then the whole wood will be in danger as they try (and begin to succeed) at killing the elementals and Gridania as a whole. All because the elemental can't or wont try and understand mortals. Heck that is basically the plot of the Role quest. It would be nice to nip this moral issue in the bud before someone tries to do a bad over it.
Shadowbringers spoiler below: ... ... ... We have proof as well that Elementals can be fought, can take a physical form, and can be defeated or destroyed. If you do the Mount Gulg dungeon with the Trust system with Uriangier in the party, after the second-to-last boss - the big rubix cube looking one - Uriangier comments "I believe that was... an Elemental turned Sin Eater...." WoL/D has fought and slain an Elemental in battle. A corrupted one, yes, but an Elemental nonetheless. Sin Eaters typically become stronger/more dangerous than they were prior to their transformation, from what we see of corrupted commoner NPCs such as in Holminster Switch. Zero reason why an Elemental would be different. Maybe the ones in Gridania should sense that and be a little cautious dealing with us.
@Rewwgh I've not yet done those areas, Eureka is next on my to-do list once I've gotten appropriate classes to the necessary levels. I'm in-between ShB and EW at the moment, pausing MSQ to level my less-used classes. Meaning basically all DPS except ninja and reaper, and all healers except sage.
As much as I would love to see more of Gridania and places in Eorzea like Gelmorra.... I doubt we'll be getting anything focused on the main city states for some time. At the very least, not before 7.4 or 7.5... The way the MSQ went after we finished on the 13th, some of the side quests, and certainly how they had already relegated so much of the cast to the role quests, it felt like they were shelving the area for the time being. They really wanted to give the feeling and realization that it was time for the WoL to leave his/her roots and explore the 'New World' across the ocean now. However, it does give a new expansion room to have us come back to a realm changed in our absence.
I think a big problem is that a lot of the existing lore is entirely missable. It's hidden in side quests and job/role quests (mostly CNJ/WHM but ARC/BRD, LNC, and DoH/DoL help). I think there were even occasions where Gridania lore was tucked away in seasonal events. I just hope that we get some of these lore snippets expanded on in future expansions.
Indeed, like moogle mail quests that explored little bits and pieces of the lore, including coeurlclaw poachers. I feel so bad for them, my God... But also I do beleive that overall sidequests are needed for enjoyment of the game.
There are a few things about Gridania that are quite important. The reality is that most of the problems the elementals deal with are caused by outsiders, and so they are xenophobic of encountering them. They basically attack any outsider that comes in, and the Gridanians themselves are the exception to the rule. In their defense, they're right; every uninvited incursion into their land that takes root has caused havoc and destabilized everything. The balance of nature in the region is finicky, and the elementals try to maintain it but are simultaneously influenced by it. They are glad to have the aid of the conjurers, brought to them the Padjal, in keeping things in check. As you've said, it's symbiotic. The elementals help keep Gridania defended and give blessings to the people, and the Gridanians make efforts to support the elementals in maintaining their balance of energies in the area. It's also worth mentioning that the elementals are akin to energy as much as creatures due to their nature. In fact, most don't even really 'speak', they kind of vibe, and what makes a Padjal particularly important is they can sort of translate this back and forth. When an elemental says 'no', it's not just some entity doing it. It's like nature is saying 'no' through a manifestation, and it often knows something the person doesn't, making the manifestation appear whimsical or xenophobic. *All of this doesn't matter anyway, though, because Endwalker retconned elementals to just be servants of Nophica. So yeah. None of it matters. None of Gridania's lore matters. The elementals' decisions? Were the will of Nophica, so they had no agency.* TBH the entire gods alliance raid story was a shitshow and I hate it so much.
Gridania feels a lot less compelling in general. It’s insular - most of their related quest stuff is only really concerning the special horn children or the conjurers. they don’t feel as welcoming to outsiders as the other cities. I think there’s room to expand the story of Gridania, but I can’t really see it happening. The way I’ve learned about the Elementals in the MSQ and side content makes me feel like they’re the Yakuza. They’re beneficial as long as you stay on their good side, but the moment you step out of their line, they’ll break your knees with a baseball bat. Look what they did to the Ixal.
I would love a dlc focusing on the tunnels beneath the twelveswood, a whole subterranean region and a brand new main player hub ran primarily by duskwights
As another commenter said, you could easily set up a Void-based expansion that starts in the underground, I think it would actually make for quite a pretty main city too
The thing that has bothered me since starting in ARR was that they have never once expanded on the underground CITY under the Black Shroud. Aka Gelmorra....The one that Duskwight Elezen come from, and still live in!
I would love to see a story on how those that speak for the elementals only know so much, and when they do speak, they speak without understanting the reasoning the elementals have for saying that. The poisioned ala'mighan in the Twelveswood goes on to reappear after his country's liberation. The Ala'mighans were told they couldn't stay, but what if the elementals knew their homeland would be retaken, and they needed all hands for it. That would cause us to question the reasoning of all those decisions and just how much the Padjals think they know. The whitemage quest drops hints that the Padjali were a little too narrowminded for their own good, and A'Towa'cant knew it and went far afeild to learn more of the world and its aether. Expand on that, and i think there is a solid basis for a story.
The Bard storyline works on the reasoning there where [Spoilers] They uncover a Gridanian war hero was invited over by an ala mighan for peace talks and such... only to be poisoned and killed there. It was then covered up by the upper level political figures / leaders to prevent the already strained situation between peoples to 180 into full on fighting over a strenous peace of sorts. [/Spoilers]
Talk about the Hellsguard their original tribe, Aerslant and Nagyn. As well as how both the Hellsguard and Seawolves originate from the same place and were once one people.
I'll admit I didn't care for Gridania and it's people for the longest time, I've always found the other city-states more interesting ever since ARR and I still do, but after the Endwalker Tank-role questline I genuinely hope we see more of them in Dawntrial. If Square can make me care about the Elder Seedseer even if it's from a side quest then they can do the same with the entire city-state.
I loved the EW tank role quests and I really would love to see more story like that, I appreciate them fleshing out Kan-E and the lore of Gridania! As my starting city I really want it to receive more attention!!
I dunno how to word this right, but I think this notion of yours is pretty much exclusive to non-Gridanians. To Gridanians, the EW rank role quest is pretty much more of the stale slop we've been served for the last decade, just this time we're not wearing white robes. We don't really find out anything new about her, we find out more about her bodyguard (who still doesn't have a name and is still wearing shitty ARR gear) and his overall story relevance is still in the negative.
@@ginger-ham4800 Idk why you felt that stale... I started with Conjurer/White Mage like 6 years ago and was blown away with the world building and lore of Gridania and its relations to the elements. Just finished it tonight adn it was great getting to see the Elder Seedseer actually going around out and about and not just standing around some room we kept returning to. It gave her an importance of being an actual leader, as well as the lancer/wood wailers that walk about the place. Everything, every relationship was strained under the weight of the danger. People spoke ill fo the seedseer in front of her and apologized, people later who had more passionate grievances spoke ill to her face accusing her of doing nothing or not enough. It completed with them all coming together. I do hope we'll have more fleshing out here in the future, but I can say Gridania isnt messed up like Uldah and Limosa. Uldah has vast issues with its inequality income despite its profits, and Limsa only recently banned piracy and slavery (yes even including their own citizens) in the last few years as they attempt to become a more respectable state. Those cities have more conflict going on, Gridania is peaceful, vast and plentiful in resources and lacks such issues.
One of the things about Gridania that influences the amount of story that it gets is just that it is the most stable of the city-states of Eorzea. Things don't really change much there. They are very much built upon ancient traditions, and their relationship with the elementals, and the elementals change at the pace of nature and the Twelveswoods as a whole.
One thing I would like to learn more of is the history of Miqo'te during the 5th Astral Era. We know going into it during the age of Ice that the Miqo'te migrated (back) to Eorzea en mass (Except for the G tribe) and after the age of Water they had encountered the other races and adopted modern Eorzean, but there are no records of anything during the 5th. The fact that the keepers show up in The Shroud during the 6th (Because the Gridanians treat them as new comers and problems) and according to the encyclopedia Eorzea they split off of the Seekers. The fact that the Seekers took up tribe names and the keepers split off them prior to that but after the migration really indicates that it was during the 6th or at least during the flood that they had the fateful encounter, leaving them present but unknown during the entire War of the Magi. (My own speculation: Given the Seekers love of sunny places it kinda implies that they were likely in Gyr Abania the entire time, but there is little evidence of this. But it kinda makes sense. With the Miqo'te Seekers being so few in numbers and loving sunny and high places that they would be up there in the process of the Keeper/Seeker split, the flooding would separate the two, when the Highlander Hyur showed up in Gyr Abania during this age it could be believed that they were the ones the Miqo'te met and conflict between the Proto-keepers and proto-Ala Mhigians pushed them out, when the Seekers proper actually made contact with these Hyur the adoption of the naming scheme would happen and around this point the Keepers would arrive in the Black Shroud. Again my speculation but there is so little to go on.)
I think the main issue with why Gridania feels so underbaked is that there was a massive focus on the city-state back in Legacy. E-Sumi-Yan was considered their main representative before Kan-E Senna was introduced in a later patch, and a lot of random places in the Shroud has more context if you were a Legacy veteran or watched a video. (Thinking specifically of Amberscale Rock here, the 1.0 Conjurer quests brought up some questions and theories but, well... Never elaborated on it.) Several of the main scenario dungeons were leftovers from Legacy as well, such as The Thousand Maws which they've confirmed will never get a hard mode version. That being said, I would love to see them actually go back to the Shroud and mayhap explain more about the Elementals. If we got The Twelve explained this expansion we might as well get a proper answer on why the Elementals are fine letting a twelve-year old girl die and why Gridanians are so scared of going against them.
Of course I want to know more about my underground homeland! I've been a Duskwight main since Stormblood 4.5, and the only home I have has two guards bullying a duskwight in front of the Lancer's Guild!
the fickleness of the elementals always reminds me a bit of Japanese legends about how local Kami will get mad and cause disasters if not properly worshiped, so a small part of me can't help but wonder if part of the reason the "elementals problem" is never really addressed is because the writers are hesitant to do a plot that might come across as "Shintoism bad" Like it's pretty much a cliche of JRPGs in general to have "Catholicism bad" as a plot point, but I could see them being less inclined to say bad things about "the home team" for lack of a better word.
Maybe I'm missing something, but right around 8:18 Scribe mentions "If Gridania hadn't been founded, Gelmorra would have been a modern city state." Gelmorra was a Second Astral Era civilization, and did we just forget Amdapor existed
I don't think it was. Gelmorra was the original home of the Duskwights because they had to live underground to stay safe from the elementals. That said, it is highly likely it wouldn't be a modern city state. The Duskwights are more culturally isolationist than the Gridanians.
What? Gelmorra was the 6th Astra Era civilization that was founded in the aftermath of the 5th Calamity of Water. When the Elementals decided that no more men would be allowed into the forest, the Elezen and Hyur were driven underground where they founded Gelmorra. Amdapor was of the 5th Astral Era.
@@Salt_Mage I have no idea why, but I was apparently conflating the Hyur and Elezen being driven underground with the lore from the Second Umbral Calamity where lightning storms were so bad it drove many underground.
If not already said, I think it'd be very cool to see a variant dungeon for Gridania. There were a lot of unused assets and dungeon areas back in the original version.
Don't forget, Gridania was pretty much completely different from 1.0. The zones were even more maze like, and the story line of the forest and crazed white mages were completely removed.
As a 10 year-strong Duskwight, you have no idea how much it pains me that they refuse to acknowledge us or our homeland. Not even so much as a paltry NPC here or there. We are so unbelievably rare one could be forgiven for thinking us extinct in lore. But the fact of the matter is, as far as we know and are told, Gelmorra lives. Gelmorrans are still thriving under the Twelveswood. There may be abandoned sections of the great city here and there, but I believe the main city is intact and thriving. Cut off from the rest of the world and living in an isolated community much like Sui-No-Sato. I pray that one day they will take us there, and I hope that when or if they finally do decide to delve into Gridania and Gelmorra, that they don't just say, "Look its all abandoned ruins. There's nothing there. Hasnt been for forever. Here's a single dungeon about it. Moving on." Because it just doesn't make sense. Duskwights aren't supposed to be extinct. So if they aren't living in Gelmorra, where are they?
I'd really like to see the writers explore the lives of those Ala Mhigan refugees living in Little Ala Mhigo, and what happens to them after the events of Stormblood and Endwalker.
The real problem is that to understand as much about Gridania, you have to read sidequest text, level WHM, SMN, and BRD (DRG really becomes more about Ishgard) do the Endwalker Tank Role quest, Sylph Tribe quests, and pay attention to the NPCs and quests around Palace of the Dead. It's not that the lore and story doesn't exist. It's that it hasn't been part of the MSQ since like 2.0, and the bits and pieces we have are scattered around in optional content.
I honestly don't care about Gridania because it is so unapproachable. The people seem to lack any sort of agency. Also, Kan-E-Senna's guard STILL hasn't got a name althought he's been such a character with a full personal backstory.
The aesthetic and music of Gridania and the Black Shroud has always been so nostalgic for me and I love spending time there. To get more lore to pair with this unexplained love would be incredible.
I wouldn't mind seeing more stories about Gridania. With the MSQ, yeah, the points you mentioned, that's pretty much what I picture what Gridania is, but there's so much more that can be explored that may explain the city state better. One of my friend's has a character that is from Gridania and would no doubt be really happy if they got to see more of the development from that city state.
I dunno, the Elementals seem really fickle and petty. Isn't there a family with a sick kid hanging out in front of the Conjurer's guild with a Hearer saying "Sorry kid, elementals said you're done now."
Aahh glad to see people touching this bit of the story! It is very much touched if you do the certain yellow quest in the black shroud, but very briefly. I hope later they do touch in more lore about the duskwright, they are *so* forgotten.
It's hard to imagine a Gridania focused story in the MSQ anytime soon, since we're going all the way to Tural in Dawntrail. Maybe in patch content? I think it'd be cool to at least get a Gelmoran variant dungeon, although something like that would likely be centered around a conflict between the elementals and Gelmorans, which we've seen time and again. I'd suggest a raid story, but that's what the motherboard city thing they showed us is gonna be, right? It's difficult to imagine where they'd be able to work in a story here with everything that's already been announced and the content structures we expect. OH WAIT! There's gonna be an exploration zone, I assume linked to the new relic weapons! Gelmorans are master enchanters! There's a possible connection there. An open world zone that takes place all or primarily in a cave system could interesting as well. Plus I was only thinking of battle stuff. There could be something like a custom delivery as well, among other thigns.
I chose Gridania as my starting city because I wanted to take bard as my starting profession, but also because as a Viera it made the most sense from a roleplaying perspective (hailing from the Golmore Jungle, coming from a society heavily focused on nature). I've also taken all the remaining professions available there, built a home there, and with all that, I do feel the place is truly where I belong in FFXIV. And you do get a better sense of the place if you do the profession quests for White Mage. But I agree that it would be awesome to have some more detailed lore to go on about the place.
I think it's also a cultural thing. Japanese culture is more likely to think of nature as a higher authority to humanity and existing in harmony with nature and local spirits, with its give and take, as a more ideal state. Things go well when the spirits are please and bad when they're not. To westerners this seems like a very one sided relationship, but to Japanese people seems more normal and thus no need to really delve into. I personally would love to see Gridania get more development. Elementals aside, it definitely has the least development of any city-state.
Check the lore from 1.0 thr city with most lore was gurdania back then, the mystery about moogles now showing themselves but only to the padjal and the children, the mysterious shells circle you can find in the black shroud used to be a place where kids met moogles and there is the mastery of the dragon satatue that had the traveller disappear, 1.0 was full of lore of for girdania and some of those elements are still left in 2.0 and can be found in the game including the shells circle and the dragon rock
Also the elementals had a stronger presence in 1.0, and they had more blood thirst than they are right now One of the encounters even had a direct story where the elementals got mad at a kid who burned a sacred tree and almost burned it Another part of 1.0 talks about how kan e sena did not want to be a padjal and we do play her story as a kid with the pad jal from the counjerers class quest If people are interested in knowing more about girdania, i would tell them to check 1.0 Just like how 2 0 is about uldah, 1.0 is about girdania
Most 1.0 lore surrounding Gridania has either been rendered non-canon or abandoned entirely. That and most players never even played 1.0, making those events moot.
@SynodicScribe not true at all, specific events were rendered canon Thr manfilia arc, and shoyru are gread example Both events were mentioned later in 2.0 and 5.0 respectively, and those are just two of many events
The endwalker LVL 90 tank quest explores the relationship between the elementals and the Gridanian people. In the series of those quests, I learned more of Gridania that I knew before.
Now that Garlemald has fallen, it peobably plunged each province into its own form of disorder, from Werlit in the west, to Dalmasca on the coast of the Bounty, to thr frozen shores. There is definitely enough here for an expansion... But... Looking back at ARR's lost legacy, i think we need the Courthas east lowlands, connecting the shrouds and central courthas areas, as well as... Hmm... Perhaps a variant+criterion would be a good format to explore the legacy of Gelmorre
Dalmasca isn't on the coast of the Bounty. It also gained its independence before Garlemald's fall. It happened off screen during the Bozja questline. Coerthas Eastern Lowlands is in the game already - it's the pvp map Fields of Glory.
@@DarthSanguine the bozja questline runs across the south coast of aldenard, and i thought dalmasca while not directly coastal, is the major city of a coastal region. Specifically across the bounty from thavnair.
The Bounty is to the west of Thavnair, while Dalmasca is to the east. Dalmasca is also a country, not a city-Rabanastre and Valnain have both served as its capital.
After the Uldah Subterrane, I fully expect SQEX to give us fantastic side stories through VC dungeons. I’m very interested to see where they expand the world with these side stories.
Considering the introduction of extra lore and stories with Variant dungeons, I hope so much that Gelmorra is going to be one of them in the future. Also, it's been 10 years and THAT one door in the North Shroud still triggers me like hell xD And if it's not a starting point of extra Gridanian/Gelmorran lore, I'll riot!
I've always wanted them to delve more into Gelmorra. It sort of feels like that was a location they were going to explore in 1.0. Until they closed it off in 2.0 calamity. I would love to for it to come back, i feel like there is so much there to explore.
Theres a gate going north in old Gridania where the wealthiest members of society live. Haukke Manor belonged to one. The fact we couldn't visit them may be testament to an isolationism and elitism that the seedseers had to balance with the common folk after giving up excess which Haukke Manor represented. So I think that will tie into Gelmorra somehow especially since in 1.0 Gelmorra is north of Proud Creek in the North Shroud. Perhaps Gelmorrans ARE Gridania's high society in isolation. Maybe they're just told to stay out of the way by the elementals in exchange for wealth. That's always what I believed anyway. Great video!
I love how Moogles went from being mysterious and hidden to most people, to the point they are now treated like pests when they end up in town trying to chat up random adventurers
Literally all my respect and interest in Nophica leaving my body when she vouches for the elementals was on par with the immense eye rolling and groaning when the EW tank quest was more elemental shit.
I have always wanted them to go back to Gridania/ Gelmorra, to see updated takes on the Shroud, and spin a long and exciting narrative right at the heart of good Old Eorzea. The thought is somehow just so charming to me. I'd also love another time travel expansion that takes us to an era in Eorzea's past, e.g. the War of the Magi, for instance. But we might never get that.
There are elementals on Elpis. Sure, we see plenty of creations that were in Elpis. but I found it extra interesting that the elementals were a concept going through approval.
Exploring Gridania's past via a V&C dungeon seems like a good fit and the devs want to continue supporting that system into Dawntrail. That would be a good way to have a lore dump that bridges into future storylines.
If we get another round of class based quests, I would positively love for the healers to have something in Gridania dealing with the elementals and finding out more about them
Not to mention one of the most important npcs who runs one of the main cities is a race (Padjal) that we literally know nothing about aside from knowing that they’re an ancient race. I have wanted to know more about that since the beginning and thought they were tied to something with the twelve especially because they communicate with the elements more than anyone else it seems. I’m really curious if they will ever tell us more about where they came from and what they did because I think that story line could be badass.
I really appreciate what you do. I started in Ul‘dah myself back in Heavensward. And I did realise how the story centers around Ul‘dah very much. Ironically, Kan-E-Senna is my most favorite of the three leaders. Perhaps it was why I enjoyed the Endwalker Rolequest for Tanks so much with her. And I completely agree! More development around Gridania would be great. After all, didn’t Nophica talk about the Elementals too?
The problem, such as I see it, is that development hits a bit of a snag when progression and change so often revolves around, or is in some way enabled by, the tidal-shift effects of the Warrior of Light being involved in things. Ul'dah (and relatedly Ishgard) exemplify this rather starkly. In Ul'dah, the Sultana's gaining the WoL as an ally prompted the Monetarists into an entire regicidal conspiracy to kill her before the balance shifted to her favor; in Ishgard, the WoL almost single-handedly upends a thousand years of social order (and yes, the appetite was already there, but change required them as an agent). Gridania runs into a problem here in that major change can't happen without the Elementals being integrally involved...which would require the WoL to probably become a Seedseer-tier Hearer to suitably interact with them. And canon has already more or less declared WoL deaf as a post there, even if you play White Mage. While this is hardly an insurmountable hurdle, as I see it, making that sort of a change to players' characters may be seen as no-bueno to the devteam, or it may simply be too narratively complex to be done without diverting resources from main efforts which have not yet occasioned the sort of deep-dive into Gridania that it would need (yet). Or maybe it's something entirely different, but that would be my guess.
Personally at this point, I'd settle for bringing in a "flashback" to the 1.0 world where we can play through the old questlines. Maye something like... you were the hero from back then, here's a deep dive recovering your own "memories", but mechanically you're there with friends, grouping up, all that good stuff, with modern mechanics.
While bandits and raiders may use the Gelmorran ruins as their base of operations, I don't think anything of the Gelmorran civilization remains, beyond what migrated onto the surface and founded Gridania. Based on what remains of places like Tam-Tara, Toto-Rak and Issom Har, I don't see there being anything but ruins left. That said, it could still be interesting to explore them in a similar sense to how we delve into the Sil'dihn Subterrane with Nanamo.
Watching 1.0 content has given me a lot of good answers for why things are the way they are for Gridania. If nothing else they've got plenty of untapped potential for Deep Dungeon content in Gelmorra or even something that could do more with the Elementals directly. In 1.0 they were very, very strict and wrathful at times, whereas post Calamity supposedly their efficacy has waned.
Yes. More Gidania and the Hyur Midlander homeland. All we know is they are travelers that adapt very well to wherever they decide to live and hail from many homelands, but I want to know where they come from as a majority.
The only bit of Gridanian lore that stuck with me all these years is in quarrymill when meffrid couldn't get a single vial of antibiotics for his friend because the elementals said no and everyone was just gonna watch that guy slowly die of a festering wound
Yeah the Elementals are still upset about the Autumn War. Which is why Ala Mhigan refugees were better off in Ul'dah's territory than staying in the Twelve's Wood.
Honestly I think that scene is a microcosm of why we don't see much of Gridania. Not only does something like that *really* make it hard to like a culture, but it's also not really changed since ARR. They're still all dependent on the elementals to solve their problems, even when they're partly responsible for CAUSING them *stares at the EW quests*.
Honestly I'm not sure how you progress the story with Gridania unless you get a situation where people look at the Elementals' shit and decide "enough is enough". Even then, that flies so much in the face of what Gridania is for those people that like it that it may not even be worth it to do that.
I mean to be fair wasn't that the guy that went forward to be the public face of the griffin and turned many people to Ilberds cause. Maybe those elementals were on to something
@@SynodicScribeI believe you strongly overestimate how much of that was the actual will of the Elementals instead of how much of it was the will of the padjal in question. It is far too *convenient* an excuse that the Elementals didn't want Meffrid's antibiotics when us killing deer to make our own was no issue at all.
The leatherworker quests made *very* clear that when a Hearer claims something is the will of the Elementals, there is no recourse. Even if you are 100% aware the Elementals do not care. Nowhere to ask. Nothing. You either convince him or you are silenced by a despot.
@@taylorgrimm9574You are making two errors here. First is relying on hindsight. And unless you have 100% accurate knowledge of the future, justifying withholding aid for what a person, at that point in time, _might_ do is incredibly flawed. Not to say cruel.
Second, while the DRK quests do tell us that he was the guy we helped when he had a festering wound in the Twelveswood, the Monk quests not only give us _another_ double, but one who keeps using the idea of the Griffin. Which is to say that even if Houdart didn't join Ilberd's mad call and became his double, others would and have done so. So events would still have played out like that. Just with a bit less of a personal stake for you, the player.
Ultimately, even Meffrid returned to the Resistance to fight for his homeland. He joined Conrad in Rhalgr's Reach where he was cut down by Fordola. Houdart just took a path he believed to be quicker, more effective. Both met their ends being killed by the Empire they fought.
you know what else is an ongoing joke? gridania starters being thrown under the bus. we lost papalymo, we never even ever had yda, and everything about the rich history of gridania is left unexplored. the mun-tuy cellars are abandoned...
man, papalymo shouldnt have to die.......
As a Duskwight who started as an Archer…yep.
@@sur7969 They miraculously made useless NPCs live, but Papalymo died after one unvoiced cutscene. He was the sacrificial lamb for the plot. They decided he had to die
Honestly i think it was developed in reverse. They couldnt figure out storylines for papalymo and lyse. That and they couldnt find jobs to respec them and keep them cool.
They couldnt figure out a job change for papalymo and by then papalymo was a minor char and they needed a sacrifice.
They tried to make mnk cool in stb cs but realized they ended up being forced to keep lyse a mnk
Kanna e Senna did say in the role quest that she wants to go on an adventure with us, pretty sure she's going to pass on her duties and join the crew for a bit in a future expansion. Maybe 8.0 or 9.0?
A friend pointed out to us ""Even of your little Eorzea you know precious little...." He went on to drop the hint for the 24-man raid in Endwalker, but I hope there was more to it than that. I would love to see an entire future expansion begin in Gridania or the Shroud and take us into Gelmorra, only to discover that we have an entire Underdark's worth full of subterranean cities, caves, and chambers to explore beneath the continent we thought we knew so well. Wouldn't that also be an outstanding opportunity to finally have a healer (in this case White Mage) as the WoL job for an expansion?
That would be amazing!
The idea of bringing the current story back to the original city-states would certainly be a cool one conceptually. For Gridania, we have Gelmorra as you mentioned, and West Shroud was just outright removed as an overworld area between Dalamud's falling and ARR, maybe that could be 2 new zones with a new threat that showed up. Two more zones could be made with the surrounding islands around Vylbrand in the Rhotano Sea, possibly delving into Nym lore. And the last two could be centered around the ruins of Sil'dih and Mhach.
Through the six zones you could have an expansion that dives deeper into the War of the Magi and potentially the other lesser known calamities and their potential lasting consequences on the source that laid dormant with all of those past elemental rejoinings.
@@rugalbernstein5913 YES! It's cool to see stuff around the world, but I would love to see more of Eorzea and what it is going to do after the fall of the Garlean Empire and the Final Days. Somebody get this man/woman (select appropriate) to Yoshi-P's office, now!
THIS!!! Gelmorra has always fascinated me yet we never get to see more of it
@@rugalbernstein5913oh absolutely, getting to explore extra areas of the original three regions would be sick, like west shroud from 1.0 as you say and nym or gelmorra
The lack of Gridanian attention is probably why the lore of Moon'qote and duskwight is so thin compared to every other race/subrace
As a Keeper player, it's rough out here. But I guess I get a lot of freedom to headcanon whatever I want.
@@neon9152 Same. I play a Keeper male, the rarest combination in the game. It's basically a blank check that says "go for it" lorewise
YES! I had a lengthy discussion about this. Limsa and Thanalaan (especially Thanalaan) have so much history and lore in them. Damn near all of ARR takes place in Uldah. And the point about Moon'cats and duskwights, they barely seem to exist in the lore at all. Heck, I know other races/tribes have certain quirks and naming schemes can't tell you a fking thing about Keepers of the Moon or dark elves.
Edit: Can you tell I wrote that before watching the video?
@@Boxkar24 We know the naming conventions of keepers at least, but yeah it's rough.
Hellsguard checking in. We're on life support.
Things left unsaid.
What happened to the Garleans in Azys Lla?
What happened to Dun Scaith?
What are people DOING about Azys Lla?
What is happening with Mach?
What are the Tonberrys doing?
Are the elementals still keeping people out of Amdapor?
When will Gigi recharge?
Will Greg return?
Where did Tiamat go?
What is going to happen to the castrums in Eorzea?
Will we ever get to really explore the liberated Imperial provinces?
And most importantly will Biggs get the pet dog Wedge needs so he can stop naming random constructs they meet.
Greg?
@@Duskaria gilgamesh
I think they just retreated after their legatus got Zurvan'd
Suppose it's just there lying empty. Someone should check it out in better detail, if the sky pirates haven't stripped it bare
Occasional aetherochemical research and little else it seems, but I'd be open to hearing more info if there is any
Mhach is equally abandoned and equally as open to something being done as far as I know
The Tonberries are working to cure themselves before they proceed to unseal and cure the surviving stasised Tonberries. What will they do next? I would also like to know
I think they want to keep people out of Amdapor, even if they can't hide the ruins with glamours. I think they're relying on Gridania to make it so
When the writers come up with a story involving Gigi
Probably, think he's to popular not to. The one time he didn't, we got a trial for kind of but not exactly crossgender Greg
Tiamat went to Meracydia to look after her children
I think they're currently either destroyed, abandoned or under Eorzean control. Likely they'll either get the Velodyna treatment or just get dismantled
It'd be nice. Especially if we could see them on the map #UncloudIlsabard
I would love more content for the castrums honestly. My favourite tribe quests are the Ananta because they use the castrum to rebuild their economy and bring hope to Gyr Abania. That type of recontextualization is direly required for much of Eorzea's castrums.
One of the most interesting and scary parts of Gridania is the Conjurer npc in front of his guild, refusing to heal a little child while their parents beg him. They're more similar to the standard D&D Druids than Clerics I think, they'll refuse to help someone if it goes against nature's laws.
Oh and don't get me started with the guard npc saying that the only good Keeper of the Moon is a dead one, or the Postmoogle quest "The past is a story we never tell".
It's possible they just got fed up with Gridania in 1.0 where seemingly every quest within the black shroud came down to elemental fuckery at some point.
A quest line involving beating some respect into the elementals would be kino
"Nah fam, YOU sit down" for once
The Black Shroud really got the short end of the stick in the MSQ, even though there are bunch of really interesting things about it, like the Elementals, Gelmorra, the homes of the Duskwight Elezen or the Moonkeeper Miqote.
We only get glimpses, and it's pretty unfortunate.
actually we got a lot of Keeper lore from the post moogle questline.
Very unfortunate. We've even seen multiple Seeker of the Sun tribes, but have yet to formally see a Keeper of the Moon encampment.
@@warllockmasterasd9142 True, but I think most people don't even know what the post moogle questline is though
yeah keeper lore was touched a little upon in the Gridania leveling that they exist as the bandit claws, alongside two other groups of outlaws.
most of those keepers lore are in the fate though, including the arrest of their main leader. the King. @@Lyn685
@@Lyn685 Unfortunately people take the worst from the Post Moogle questline, assuming that all Gridanians treat Keepers like that one Wood Wailer in that quest. And ignoring that the Coeurlking has been gaslighting and abusing the women under his thumb the entire time.
I play as a Keeper of the Moon and the few references to the Keepers, before Menphina's song, were Gridanians bashing them. The number of times a Grifanian NPC says "have you heard of the Keepers of the Moon?" and I just had to stand there like "well, time to once again hear how vile my kind is."
I love Gridanian for the aesthetic and Kan E Senna is great and I am still happy to say I am a Twin Adder but GOSH I want some Keeper lore that isn't "vile poachers who upset the elementals".
Duskwights and Moon cats have just spent over a decade being the boogeyman while every other sub race have gotten their turn in the spotlight and their virtues put on display. It's not just Gridania as a whole that has been unexplored, but as a result, two sub races have the thinnest of lore. And that lore is almost entirely "that sub race is bad."
I just am tired of rotten scraps.
Has a duskwight, hear hear! There's even no explanation on why there are Duskwights in Ishgard and Ilsabard!
@@MurakamiTenshiIf I remember correctly most of the elves immigrated en masse and then settled in different areas. It was only in Gridania that the separation became more distinct due to inhabiting Gelmorra. Ilsabard seemed to mellow out with encountering more races and Ishgard went the route of zealotry and classism with the Dragonsong War, so a lot of Gridania's problems really seem to stem from the elementals being pissed about the War of the Magi and the Autumn War.
Don't worry, we're getting a free fantasia soon
With the backstory that the elezen and elementals have together, I'd say it's more than justified for the duskwights to hate the elementals
I've been replaying Gridania and my opinion based on the scraps we get has always been 'man are the duskwights and moon cats f'd over', imo there is an implication that they're forced into poaching/crime because they aren't permitted to ascend much higher in society, causing a constant negative cycle mimicking some irl issues. It's hard to imagine that not being the case now with how the beast tribes are being handled and everyone going 'haha we are kind of racist to you guys aren't we' lol? I would just love to see it explored at all 🙃
We've seen very little of U'Ghamaro. The mines only go so far into the front side of the mountain, while the U'Ghamaro territory takes up HALF of Vylbrand.
Yep, it's one of those places showed in the trailer but never given a proper area in game.
When you start in Limsa, you get accused of aiding pirates. When you Start in Ul'dah, you get shaken down by the Brass Blades. When you start in Gridania, the Wood Wailers defend your cart from Ixhal raiders and urge you on your way.
And then the first person you can talk to says adventurers are a menace and you should leave.
Right? It's quite contradictory. haha
Gridania: ecofascist ethnostate vibes sometimes.
Limsa Lominsa: groups of scallywags ran aground and built a port city out of their junked ships, then somehow became a legitimate admiralty.
Ul'dah: if prohibition-era Chicago was operated by Ferengi.
I love this game, and more city-state lore/interactions would be great!
Ishguard: Funny pope man was in fact NOT the Chosen One, resorts to parliment.
Ala Mhigo: Can everything stop falling apart for FIVE. MINUTES.
Doma: Divine Right to Rule surprisingly works out when your ruler is a total chad.
Kugane: We would tell you but then we'd have to give you a form for it.
Azim Steppes: We fight and we vibe but noone but us gets to mess with us!
Limsa - where the npcs outright warn you about walking alone at night due to being kidnapped into slavery
@@HaddaClu Limsa - literally invented slurs for the sahagin
We had that in the old days, then the game super jumped the power shark until your killing abstract concepts like time and god wearing blue jeans in totally not Neo Tokyo
What I really want them to explore, in MSQ or otherwise is... UNCLOUDING ILSABARD!
YES!
#uncloudilsabard
That would be great, but they're clearly hesitant to do that as it would require severely altering the existing map (and the devs have always tended towards laziness).
You can see on a datamined map of the planet that Ilsabard is actually 50% wider than shown on any in-game maps. That's why the Dawntrail map is so inaccurate regarding the placement of the equator. We're outright told in 6.55 that the Three Great Continents are entirely in the northern hemisphere, yet the Dawntrail map contradicts that because they just blew up the existing map to fit the continents' east/west dimension. If you open the datamined planet texture in paint, and draw a line half way down it however, you find that the lore is correct, and the map wrong.
Everybody wants that, BEEN wanting that.
Didn't they say that most of Ilsabard is basically uninhabitable, and that's why it doesn't get unclouded?
If anyone asks “what has the Elementals done for us”
They brought back Y’shtola from the Lifestream.
and here i thought Yshtola gave them her best stinky stare and they helped her get back
great, now I hate them more.
And to be nice to a growing boy like Alphie; they even decided to send her back in the nude... For as he says later on "It was a sight I won't forget anytime soon."
Pretty sure he started sleeping with one open after that in case Shtola ever comes to strangle him in the night.
They limited the damage of the 7th Calamity to just the Western Shroud as well. That's why Gridania has so little scarring, the Elementals protected it.
"what have the elementals done for us?"
"Naked catgirl"
"Understandable, have a nice day"
Around 6:15 I was nodding and saying "yuuuuup." Call it recency bias, but the Endwalker tank job quests left a nasty aftertaste in my mouth. We get so little story in Gridania as you said, and the story we do get is of the elementals demanding and taking and punishing and selfish and reluctant to fix their own mistakes. "But they don't think like humans do" is cold comfort when quests like these make them easy to despise.
Even without them thinking the way we do, what does it say about people willing to forsake others just to have the aid of the elementals? They could be as bad as the monetarists but instead of cash it's magic. I love conservation and responsible land stewardship but it begs the question as to why the Gridanians can't or won't do so without the elements. Are they scared? Selfish? Omelas situation?
I fully agree that the Keepers and Duskwight should get msq focus, or at least Some sort of focus and fleshing out at some point. A new zone, deeper into the shroud, showing how the Duskwight and the Keeper Miqo'te live outside of Gridania's jurisdiction would be Amazing
HOWEVER, personally, I would love to see more of Meracydia. I think it's honestly insane we never saw Tiamat again after the shadowbringers patch quests-- It was, of course, to make room for Vrtra in the msq for endwalker, but there's so much about Meracydia we don't know. The dragons have returned, Tiamat herself has returned-- who lives there now, how will they take this return of the dragons?
It's only Tiamat that returned to Meracydia. The other dragons in Azys Lla were too far gone for the tempering cure to work. That being said, there's probably some dragons there who never left.
@@DarthSanguine There probably are dragons there considering the description of Lunar Bahamut:
"This manifestation of the elder primal is believed to have been called forth by Meracydian dragons held captive within one of the Telophoroi's mysterious towers."
I feel like we will be going there in a later expansion because Hades put that on our "Make WoL Stop Crying" list XD
Emet-Selch hinted at Meracydia
I live in fear that they'll finally do something with Duskwights, only to double down on them being a dedicated villain race...
They can add more lore/story to gridania by updating the grand companies to have levels above 60 and higher ranks.
the three main cities have their own grand company which acts akin to a police force of some description, or acts like an army.
we need more grand company stuff.
Also Grand Companies for the other Alliance members.
@@DarthSanguine exactly! Grand companies have a ton of potential
Pipe dream here, but if they ever let us go to the Duskwight city I want Folques (bullied Duskwight kid from the lancer questline) to have survived his nervous breakdown bungee jump into the abyss and be one of our eventual contacts down there, because that's a chip on my shoulder I've carried since I started playing this game in the first place. If someone as far gone as Fordola can get a redemption arc then let me friendship power that little edgelord dweeb too.
In general I've always been a proponent of bringing the cast of the job quests more into the main story somehow, there are so many standouts like Sidurgu or the gang from the First that feel completely wasted as optional background characters.
Unfortunately, Foulques didn't survive, as you can find his undead corpse as a rare spawn in Palace of the Dead, alongside other confirmed dead characters.
Gridania has always been my favorite city. It reminds me of my home near mountains and forests. When I lived 2500 miles away for 10 years, returning to the calming tones of the city always made me feel less stressed. There’s so many serene places in the city or immediate areas surrounding it to be able to go chill at.
im uldahn myself, so my gridania experience is a bit biased. the one that stood out the most is how they deny even the thought of *helping* dying ala mhigan (MSQ), how folques got thrown under the bus because hes duskwright (LNC), that one padjal candidate who got punished severely for not knowing better (endwalker tank role quest), and casual racism toward duskwright and moon cat strewn here and there in minor side quest. so.. yeah....
uldah is bad, but its the kind of bad that is public knowledge and expected. in gridania seems to have 'theres no war in ba sing se' vibe. i'd love for them to explore more about this city state. so many myths worth exploring. also please please please give duskwrights some highlight because i need them to shine more than being antagonists.
I will be eternally salty about them not allowing us to help Folques. They set it up that after he gets humbled by the boar you can reach out to him, then they just... dump him off a cliff. Even after the guild Master admits it's mostly because the poor kid was bullied and underpaid, nothing ever gets addressed. It's all just "he was too arrogant and ruined the trial, don't be like that loser," like wtf
@@M0ssP1glet yeah :< he doesnt have to die
so many of ARR starting jobquests are weird like that, tho, even paladin is still weird while the other extention of basic jobs already took a level or two in storytelling. ig its just the team still trying to feel around and experiment how to incorporate that into the gameplay
many of them very black and white, even when attempting to be nuanced.
@sur7969 god the HW paladin quests were so so dumb. Just wanted to knock their heads together and take the kid and leave.
@@AxionZetaOne for real, the manroe PLD have golden potential to be badass mentor, just make him former paladin who had enough of uldahns elite who uses paladin as their personal army to oppress people. its thematically yin and yang to DRK questline, since we're seeing things from the system. also its a ripe moment since bloody banquette too, people will want justice. (also im biased cause i love roegadyns, and up until that point, roes always protrayed as jokes, antagonist, or dead)
but noo, they have to make him obsessed about his sword and establishing dominance, and hw pld become weirdly about deciding Whos The Alpha Tank
idk if its social commentary about tanks who provoke war with other tanks like bitter divorcees fighting over custody on World of Darkness AR and cleave the party in the process lol
edit: GLA questlines did better job being PLD than PLD itself. at least we have tournament arc, but why?? at that point???? why not leave gladiating to the gladiator??
@@sur7969 Jenkins is one of the worst NPC ever
One odd thing that I noticed during my replay of FFXIV is how starting at Ul'dah gives a more "personal" reaction to the WoL. Gridania and Limsa focus on the "crystal of light" where as starting in Ul'dah has Nanamo and the "Bull" having a strong inclination as to "who" our character is in the beginning. Having said that: I've seen experienced players advocate starting the FfXIV journey in Ul'dah as this seems to fill in certain details that an OG veteran player gets in special cutscene(s). Also the MSQ for ARR and Stormblood focus on the areas surrounding Ul'dah.
On that note: unless a player levels ALL the OG jobs: it would seem that a lot of lore is left out without those jobs. An example is the dungeon with the "white mage that went nuts" over the death of her lover. Yes, the MSQ has our character interact with her a few times as a "sideline" NPC and then a brief conversation after that. She's not seen again until that dungeon.
One thing that I wish the MSQ would do is focus on the lore of each city state a bit more in the beginning: apart from Alphibro's sarcastic review when selecting a Grand Company. ARR is meant to be a lore and world building introduction to FFXIV. While it does really good with the world building: the lore often comes at a later point where it doesn't seem or feel as impactful IMHO.
One example of this is the "Binding Coils." We're introduced to whio was in the "red moon" and the events following that dragon's supposed death. Nothing in ARR points to who that was as clearly as Binding Coils does. I know it is optional side content now; but, Binding Coils normal should have been a required part of the MQS before going to HW (especially since we encounter his beloved in restraints).
Also, Midgarsomer(sp?) held a "role" in ARR and HW; but, disappeared after HW. Where did he go (as we know he's not dead)? Why hasn't he appeared again (especially during EW)?
There are a lot of unresolved plot points that are still hanging. Perhaps SE will address those at a later expansion beyond Dawtrail.
Midgardsormr featured in the Omega raids in Stormblood
@@TheIvoryDingo I don't recall ever seeing anything like that in FFXIV. I remember Omega from a cutscene/MSQ story; but, don't recall anything regarding "Omega Raids."
@@MMOPC78 I was referring to the 8-man raid series of Stormblood. It was also given a teaser after finishing 4.0's MSQ to incentivise players to check it out.
@MMOPC78 sounds like you missed out on a plot thread! They start by speaking with Wedge in Rhalgr's Reach after finishing the main Stormblood MSQ plot.
@@AxionZetaOne My first play through of FFXIV was "rushed" and I apparently missed out on a WHOLE lot in the game. I'm going a lot slower this time; but, finding people to do "side dungeons/trials" is proving to be slightly difficult. Just got to keep at it I guess.
Man, as much as I know people love fantasy magical forest (and I admit it is a cool aesthetic) - It would be so cool to have an underground city of Galmora!
I wanna go into that snooty wealthy are of Gridania that we are never allowed in. The Haukke Manor quest giver sits outside it.
I own lakeside property in lavender beds, the least they could do is let me, a clearly affluent & pronounced miqo'te, into their estate! 😂
That's why I like the conjurer/white mage quest line. You delve the most into Gridania's society in there (at least that I have seen): the relationship between the city-state and the elementals (in ARR), the padjals (in SB)... In HW when you rescue Y'Shtola from the aether sea with Kan-e Sena's help you don't know why you go to that specific tree unless you have done ARR WHM questline where they tell you there resides the eldest and most powerful elemental. From there you can also guess that the reason Gridania is a pacifist nation is because Amdapor citizens' scars from the war of the magi (similar to Sharlean's foundation). With the lancer questline you can see a glimpse to the dusk elezen prejudice in the end (thou it's not explained why there's prejudice in there). And I haven't done much from the archer/bard questline to know how much is seen there.
Having had characters do all three questlines: archer quests involve Keepers, and that's all I will say :3
The only real bigotry in the Archer questline in one Elezen who hates pretty much everyone not born in Gridania, and everyone in the guild dislikes him in return.
The poacher tribe in it is very much a bunch of murderous shitheads who make a good case for the poachers being the instigators of the bad blood between the Keepers and Gridanians.
THIS. ALL OF THIS, SCRIBE. I started in Gridania and I wish so much more for my little forest home city-state. I imagine my character started in the outskirts of Central Shroud, and grew up there. There's so much lore and stories and such that haven't been covered yet. I really do want to see more about the Gelmorrans.
My first character began in Gridania and I would LOVE to know the deeper history of the Druid Grove turned town.
The "problem" with Gridania's story is that it's mostly contained in Version 1.0, and what remains in ARR are merely fragments.
Tam-Tara Deepcroft (this dungeon is like 75% smaller than version 1.0, which had TWO floors), and The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak, were dungeons involved in Gridania's lore and the elementals IIRC. Heck the entire Shroud was different, but also largely reduced in size for ARR, which just like every other place in ARR, entire chunks are missing. The "Gelmorra Ruins" was a "above ground" dungeon in 1.0, more or less in the place it presently is in 2.0, just now the entrance is "collapsed."
If Yoshi-P ever wants to have Gridania's history explored, it would likely involve a "Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard)" and "The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak (Hard)" that reflect the original designs, along with a "Gelmorra Ruins" . Ul'dah's story is intertwined with the MSQ and Thancred, hence all the development around it. Everyone else pretty much has no significant connection to their starting city anyway, and since Yda and Papalymo are written out, we likely won't see any Gridania development unless there is some Padjal-related MSQ story that brings the players back to explore. We've seen the Padjals almost entirely within the White Mage storyline. Perhaps we will see an investigation into the events of the sixth Umral calamity in more than just a book in Sharlayan.
I remember when they released the Variant Dungeon for Uldah and they mentioned that there would be 2 more Variant Dungeons to come out during Endwalker, many people theorized each city state getting their own Variant Dungeon. That would've been a perfect time to expand on the lore of Gridania or Gelmorra, it still could happen in Dawntrail/8.0 but it really could've been interesting to get the city-states all getting expanded on at the end of this story arc.
You know what?
I’d kinda like to know more about the Moogles in the Twelveswood.
Much as I can’t decide if I dislike the fact that the Moogles are a bunch of layabout that like to push work onto others, or that they are actually capable of getting stuff done when push-comes-to-shove, we’ve only ever been to Moghome in Dravania.
We’ve never had to deal with the Twelveswood Moogles aside from a brief moment in the Bard quests, and the summoning of Good King Mogglemog XII (may he ever remain fluffy).
Nothing triggered me about Gridania as much as the EW role quest
Civilians: Elder seed seer are you here to help us with our blight fighting the monster claiming our lives?
Kann-E-Senna: no we are here to tend to the trees to appease the elementals "basically told them fluff off peasants"
And its so sad that the encounter with Nophica didnt help to ease the issue
Talking to Nophica just kinda swept the Elementals thing under the rug and made it worse, ngl. "They may be excessive but it's out of love" jfc...
You and I took that differently. Kann-E was trying to find the root cause and get the help of the elementals to deal with the problem. Gridania is always about give and take as shown in that quest. The elementals offer protection and sustiance and in return the people of the twelveswood offer respect and support. Is it really worse than the institutional corruption in Ul'dah or the wealth born out of piracy of Limsa? You think the pirates of Limsa only ever attacked bad people. Hell, it had been less than ten years since they started attacking only Garleans and only 5 years prior there was still the risk of being kidnapped and sold as a slave just walking the streets of Limsa.
@@brynphillips9957 - Which brings up a good point: Ul'dah and Limsa have been addressing these issues. Gridania only ever falls back on "muh elementals" to the detriment of it's own people or a logical solution. And as the video brings up: we never see the positive results of that, only negative consequences of how single-minded the Gridanians are.
@@brynphillips9957 Not to mention that the presence of the Blasphemy was making the Elementals panicked. What do panicked Elementals do? Seal off the forest and kill everyone within.
Kan-E tending to the Elementals was borne from a practical motivation; if they decided it was too dangerous then everyone, not just those sick, would be screwed.
@@brynphillips9957 the problem is that the elementals cant be trusted to protect themselves anymore, let alone a city state, as shown by the role quest where they are too panicked to even take care of themselves
I main a Duskwight, and she left Gelmorra as a young woman because she didn't want to be a poacher and bandit, but instead wanted to be seen by the citizens of Gridania as a respectable person. Then, after her Wildwood husband died, she stayed with her in-laws until she gave birth to their daughter, and left as soon as the baby was strong enough to travel because her in-laws treated her so badly because she's a Duskwight.
Basically what I'm saying is that I have devoured every scrap of information I can about the Duskwight, and would kill for more!
Good luck, the 30 of us that even play Duskwights got bodied narratively. Hell, we couldn't even get the West Shroud after 11 years.
To be honest, I'll be happy to see the Gelmorran lore, the Moon'qote's, and Duskwight's lore explored even further, especially since the Lancer quest made me sad about how they treat the Duskwight guy, Foulques. Also probably the story how Nybeth Obdilord managed to bring his Palace of The Dead to the Shroud.
*gets up and hits their toe*
"Argh! Those damned Allagans!"
Side quests, job quests, and even role quest had us dealing with elemental that really depicted them to quick of temper (whm) or needing to clean after their quick temper(EW ROLE QUEST)
Also(and i don't remember, well, that part of msq), back in ARR, could've been the best opportunity to explain the Autumn War when gridanians refused the Ala Mhigans plea for help but I only remember elementals not allowing it's people to help them but not why the reason for not helping them
Indeed. They showed us how cruel and vengeful the elementals can be in that quest. While never really explaining the Autumn War, which is what incurred the Green Wrath in the first place.
@@SynodicScribe i faintly remember the story going deeper into the autumn war in some bard job quests. stb brd i think?
@@Rsalynia Correct! In the Bard quest they discovered that an Ala Mhigan general invited a Gridania war hero to peace talks and poisoned him during the war.
That knowledge is currently being covered up by Gridanian leadership to prevent the current tolerance from blossoming into outright hatred.
@@SynodicScribe yes, that was it! thank you. it's been years since i've done those quests.
Wait, my understanding of the EW role quests wasn't that the elementals were being quick tempered but that they were too wrecked from saving the Twelveswood during the 7th umbral calamity. It stated that the Great One created a barrier around the twelveswood to sheild it which is why the Twelveswood took comparitively less damage and why the elementals were so weakened. People also assume it was all about the Autumn War when one of the quest givers in ARR for those quests was an Ala Mhigan refugee that had been excepted. It wasn't like the elementals accepted no one. It was done on a case by case basis, presumably judged by how the elementals percived the individual would be able to live maintaining the harmony in the twelveswood. Repeatedly it is mentioned that the elementals see the world through aether and thus differently from mortals. I think this is the biggest issue since people assume the Elementals motives are humanistic motives. This isn't neccesarily true.
Limsa is popular due to the location of its Aetheryte crystal being so close to its markets and that its the location of each server's Lalafell bench, first bench on the left, when facing the markets from the Aetheryte.
It's my least favourite starting city lore wise, but day to day convenience I will always choose it as my GC for the aetheryte tickets lmao
@@Scerttle its my fave so suppose it's just about different tastes.
@@steelclackers2611 Oh yeah, for sure. It's still really good even if It's my least fav, so I can see why it might be someone else's favourite
What would be nuts is if the Gelmorrans were fighting a war underground for centuries, but a sudden surge in their enemies' strength causes them to surface and ask for help, prompting a reconciliation between them and Gridania.
Imagine if said enemies were void powered remnants of the a Mhachi invasion from the War of the Magi and them getting stronger was a result of the Thirteenth 'collapsing' into the Source like Y'Sthola theorized at the end of Endwalker. That could easily be a X.4/X.5 patch setup into a void based expansion.
You forgot to mention that unlike Uldah and Limsa... Gridania didnt need to grow, or solve any pressing internal issues. Sure, they have problems with the Duskwights but other than that... there are none. They didnt need to grow, they didnt have any real struggles. All their problems are purely external.
What I would want are more quests involving Gelmorra, seeing one of the still lived-in underground settlements. And also more on the Elementals. As you said, they are not only wrathful spirits, they are also supporters and one of the reasons, Gridania exists to begin with. With all the stuff we got from Uldah and Limsa... yeah... Gridania deserves their moment. PotD and the EW tank role quests... that doesnt cut it.
Doesn’t need to grow…. Ha
Naw.... it needs to re-grow. The shroud is too small now that calamity destroyed so much of it.
@@HaddaClu You realise this wont happen in a day XD
@@siyrean It doesnt sound as smart as you think it does. If you cant argue your point, why writing in the first place?
@@markup6394 i mean we just watched an entire video explaining it, so it's funny that even though you watched the video your response is "No" and thus i laugh at the absurdity
Don’t even get me started with the unresolved story involving amberscale rock in central shroud from 1.0. It is even still there as a pin point on the map.
So much 1.0 lore involving Gridania was abandoned that it's kinda crazy. lol
The elemental stuff is even worse when everyone tells you that the war with the Ixal only exists because the elementals punished them as a race and kicked them entirely out of the twelveswood. The Ixal themselves state that the elementals took away their flight. We never hear what the Ixal did to deserve the punishment, but the elementals sure are quick to recruit others to fight for the forest when they literally started their own war.
it comes up in HW I think it was that the Ixal lost their flight because they were originally Allagan creations that were genetically unstable and evolved to lose flight quickly as a result
I would most definitely like for Gridania to get expanded upon!
I personally feel, after just recently replaying the ARR MSQ recently, that there’s also secrets that needs be explored within the deep woods in regards to the dark magics that make more than a few appearances throughout the story 🧐
I know it will probably never happen, but my greatest wish is that we get to fight the elementals. Strike fear in to the heart of woods and turn that fear into an ultimatum:
"You need to learn to understand us as much as we try to understand you, or we will do what we must to preserve our selves"
They can't keep doing things like they did in the Tank role quests. It's only matter of time before the elementals give someone their "one bad day" and then the whole wood will be in danger as they try (and begin to succeed) at killing the elementals and Gridania as a whole. All because the elemental can't or wont try and understand mortals. Heck that is basically the plot of the Role quest. It would be nice to nip this moral issue in the bud before someone tries to do a bad over it.
Shadowbringers spoiler below:
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We have proof as well that Elementals can be fought, can take a physical form, and can be defeated or destroyed.
If you do the Mount Gulg dungeon with the Trust system with Uriangier in the party, after the second-to-last boss - the big rubix cube looking one - Uriangier comments "I believe that was... an Elemental turned Sin Eater...."
WoL/D has fought and slain an Elemental in battle. A corrupted one, yes, but an Elemental nonetheless. Sin Eaters typically become stronger/more dangerous than they were prior to their transformation, from what we see of corrupted commoner NPCs such as in Holminster Switch. Zero reason why an Elemental would be different.
Maybe the ones in Gridania should sense that and be a little cautious dealing with us.
@@AxionZetaOne I think there are also variants of them in Eureka zones as well as the Aetherfont/Isle of Haam.
The Warrior of Light: god slayer, world saver, eco-terrorist.
@Rewwgh I've not yet done those areas, Eureka is next on my to-do list once I've gotten appropriate classes to the necessary levels.
I'm in-between ShB and EW at the moment, pausing MSQ to level my less-used classes. Meaning basically all DPS except ninja and reaper, and all healers except sage.
@itsshauta WoL: IT'S AVALANCHE TIME
As much as I would love to see more of Gridania and places in Eorzea like Gelmorra.... I doubt we'll be getting anything focused on the main city states for some time. At the very least, not before 7.4 or 7.5... The way the MSQ went after we finished on the 13th, some of the side quests, and certainly how they had already relegated so much of the cast to the role quests, it felt like they were shelving the area for the time being. They really wanted to give the feeling and realization that it was time for the WoL to leave his/her roots and explore the 'New World' across the ocean now.
However, it does give a new expansion room to have us come back to a realm changed in our absence.
I think a big problem is that a lot of the existing lore is entirely missable. It's hidden in side quests and job/role quests (mostly CNJ/WHM but ARC/BRD, LNC, and DoH/DoL help). I think there were even occasions where Gridania lore was tucked away in seasonal events. I just hope that we get some of these lore snippets expanded on in future expansions.
Indeed, like moogle mail quests that explored little bits and pieces of the lore, including coeurlclaw poachers. I feel so bad for them, my God...
But also I do beleive that overall sidequests are needed for enjoyment of the game.
There are a few things about Gridania that are quite important.
The reality is that most of the problems the elementals deal with are caused by outsiders, and so they are xenophobic of encountering them. They basically attack any outsider that comes in, and the Gridanians themselves are the exception to the rule. In their defense, they're right; every uninvited incursion into their land that takes root has caused havoc and destabilized everything. The balance of nature in the region is finicky, and the elementals try to maintain it but are simultaneously influenced by it. They are glad to have the aid of the conjurers, brought to them the Padjal, in keeping things in check.
As you've said, it's symbiotic. The elementals help keep Gridania defended and give blessings to the people, and the Gridanians make efforts to support the elementals in maintaining their balance of energies in the area.
It's also worth mentioning that the elementals are akin to energy as much as creatures due to their nature. In fact, most don't even really 'speak', they kind of vibe, and what makes a Padjal particularly important is they can sort of translate this back and forth. When an elemental says 'no', it's not just some entity doing it. It's like nature is saying 'no' through a manifestation, and it often knows something the person doesn't, making the manifestation appear whimsical or xenophobic.
*All of this doesn't matter anyway, though, because Endwalker retconned elementals to just be servants of Nophica. So yeah. None of it matters. None of Gridania's lore matters. The elementals' decisions? Were the will of Nophica, so they had no agency.* TBH the entire gods alliance raid story was a shitshow and I hate it so much.
Gridania feels a lot less compelling in general. It’s insular - most of their related quest stuff is only really concerning the special horn children or the conjurers. they don’t feel as welcoming to outsiders as the other cities. I think there’s room to expand the story of Gridania, but I can’t really see it happening.
The way I’ve learned about the Elementals in the MSQ and side content makes me feel like they’re the Yakuza. They’re beneficial as long as you stay on their good side, but the moment you step out of their line, they’ll break your knees with a baseball bat. Look what they did to the Ixal.
I would love a dlc focusing on the tunnels beneath the twelveswood, a whole subterranean region and a brand new main player hub ran primarily by duskwights
As another commenter said, you could easily set up a Void-based expansion that starts in the underground, I think it would actually make for quite a pretty main city too
The thing that has bothered me since starting in ARR was that they have never once expanded on the underground CITY under the Black Shroud. Aka Gelmorra....The one that Duskwight Elezen come from, and still live in!
The upper floors of the Palace of the Dead were part of that city.
I would love to see a story on how those that speak for the elementals only know so much, and when they do speak, they speak without understanting the reasoning the elementals have for saying that. The poisioned ala'mighan in the Twelveswood goes on to reappear after his country's liberation. The Ala'mighans were told they couldn't stay, but what if the elementals knew their homeland would be retaken, and they needed all hands for it. That would cause us to question the reasoning of all those decisions and just how much the Padjals think they know.
The whitemage quest drops hints that the Padjali were a little too narrowminded for their own good, and A'Towa'cant knew it and went far afeild to learn more of the world and its aether.
Expand on that, and i think there is a solid basis for a story.
The Bard storyline works on the reasoning there where [Spoilers] They uncover a Gridanian war hero was invited over by an ala mighan for peace talks and such... only to be poisoned and killed there. It was then covered up by the upper level political figures / leaders to prevent the already strained situation between peoples to 180 into full on fighting over a strenous peace of sorts. [/Spoilers]
Talk about the Hellsguard their original tribe, Aerslant and Nagyn. As well as how both the Hellsguard and Seawolves originate from the same place and were once one people.
I'll admit I didn't care for Gridania and it's people for the longest time, I've always found the other city-states more interesting ever since ARR and I still do, but after the Endwalker Tank-role questline I genuinely hope we see more of them in Dawntrial. If Square can make me care about the Elder Seedseer even if it's from a side quest then they can do the same with the entire city-state.
Maybe if you play white mage, conjurer
The lore was FANTASTIC and I adopted it.
I loved the EW tank role quests and I really would love to see more story like that, I appreciate them fleshing out Kan-E and the lore of Gridania! As my starting city I really want it to receive more attention!!
I dunno how to word this right, but I think this notion of yours is pretty much exclusive to non-Gridanians. To Gridanians, the EW rank role quest is pretty much more of the stale slop we've been served for the last decade, just this time we're not wearing white robes. We don't really find out anything new about her, we find out more about her bodyguard (who still doesn't have a name and is still wearing shitty ARR gear) and his overall story relevance is still in the negative.
@@ginger-ham4800 Idk why you felt that stale...
I started with Conjurer/White Mage like 6 years ago and was blown away with the world building and lore of Gridania and its relations to the elements.
Just finished it tonight adn it was great getting to see the Elder Seedseer actually going around out and about and not just standing around some room we kept returning to. It gave her an importance of being an actual leader, as well as the lancer/wood wailers that walk about the place. Everything, every relationship was strained under the weight of the danger. People spoke ill fo the seedseer in front of her and apologized, people later who had more passionate grievances spoke ill to her face accusing her of doing nothing or not enough. It completed with them all coming together.
I do hope we'll have more fleshing out here in the future, but I can say Gridania isnt messed up like Uldah and Limosa. Uldah has vast issues with its inequality income despite its profits, and Limsa only recently banned piracy and slavery (yes even including their own citizens) in the last few years as they attempt to become a more respectable state.
Those cities have more conflict going on, Gridania is peaceful, vast and plentiful in resources and lacks such issues.
One of the things about Gridania that influences the amount of story that it gets is just that it is the most stable of the city-states of Eorzea. Things don't really change much there. They are very much built upon ancient traditions, and their relationship with the elementals, and the elementals change at the pace of nature and the Twelveswoods as a whole.
I still want a sildean subterrain style variant dungeon for gelmorra
One thing I would like to learn more of is the history of Miqo'te during the 5th Astral Era. We know going into it during the age of Ice that the Miqo'te migrated (back) to Eorzea en mass (Except for the G tribe) and after the age of Water they had encountered the other races and adopted modern Eorzean, but there are no records of anything during the 5th. The fact that the keepers show up in The Shroud during the 6th (Because the Gridanians treat them as new comers and problems) and according to the encyclopedia Eorzea they split off of the Seekers. The fact that the Seekers took up tribe names and the keepers split off them prior to that but after the migration really indicates that it was during the 6th or at least during the flood that they had the fateful encounter, leaving them present but unknown during the entire War of the Magi.
(My own speculation: Given the Seekers love of sunny places it kinda implies that they were likely in Gyr Abania the entire time, but there is little evidence of this. But it kinda makes sense. With the Miqo'te Seekers being so few in numbers and loving sunny and high places that they would be up there in the process of the Keeper/Seeker split, the flooding would separate the two, when the Highlander Hyur showed up in Gyr Abania during this age it could be believed that they were the ones the Miqo'te met and conflict between the Proto-keepers and proto-Ala Mhigians pushed them out, when the Seekers proper actually made contact with these Hyur the adoption of the naming scheme would happen and around this point the Keepers would arrive in the Black Shroud. Again my speculation but there is so little to go on.)
I think the main issue with why Gridania feels so underbaked is that there was a massive focus on the city-state back in Legacy. E-Sumi-Yan was considered their main representative before Kan-E Senna was introduced in a later patch, and a lot of random places in the Shroud has more context if you were a Legacy veteran or watched a video. (Thinking specifically of Amberscale Rock here, the 1.0 Conjurer quests brought up some questions and theories but, well... Never elaborated on it.) Several of the main scenario dungeons were leftovers from Legacy as well, such as The Thousand Maws which they've confirmed will never get a hard mode version.
That being said, I would love to see them actually go back to the Shroud and mayhap explain more about the Elementals. If we got The Twelve explained this expansion we might as well get a proper answer on why the Elementals are fine letting a twelve-year old girl die and why Gridanians are so scared of going against them.
Of course I want to know more about my underground homeland! I've been a Duskwight main since Stormblood 4.5, and the only home I have has two guards bullying a duskwight in front of the Lancer's Guild!
the fickleness of the elementals always reminds me a bit of Japanese legends about how local Kami will get mad and cause disasters if not properly worshiped, so a small part of me can't help but wonder if part of the reason the "elementals problem" is never really addressed is because the writers are hesitant to do a plot that might come across as "Shintoism bad"
Like it's pretty much a cliche of JRPGs in general to have "Catholicism bad" as a plot point, but I could see them being less inclined to say bad things about "the home team" for lack of a better word.
Maybe I'm missing something, but right around 8:18 Scribe mentions "If Gridania hadn't been founded, Gelmorra would have been a modern city state."
Gelmorra was a Second Astral Era civilization, and did we just forget Amdapor existed
I don't think it was. Gelmorra was the original home of the Duskwights because they had to live underground to stay safe from the elementals. That said, it is highly likely it wouldn't be a modern city state. The Duskwights are more culturally isolationist than the Gridanians.
What? Gelmorra was the 6th Astra Era civilization that was founded in the aftermath of the 5th Calamity of Water. When the Elementals decided that no more men would be allowed into the forest, the Elezen and Hyur were driven underground where they founded Gelmorra.
Amdapor was of the 5th Astral Era.
@@Salt_Mage I have no idea why, but I was apparently conflating the Hyur and Elezen being driven underground with the lore from the Second Umbral Calamity where lightning storms were so bad it drove many underground.
Interesting how you see that one NPC in Elpis with three Elementals. So it's been a concept created by the ancients?
If not already said, I think it'd be very cool to see a variant dungeon for Gridania. There were a lot of unused assets and dungeon areas back in the original version.
Don't forget, Gridania was pretty much completely different from 1.0. The zones were even more maze like, and the story line of the forest and crazed white mages were completely removed.
As a 10 year-strong Duskwight, you have no idea how much it pains me that they refuse to acknowledge us or our homeland. Not even so much as a paltry NPC here or there. We are so unbelievably rare one could be forgiven for thinking us extinct in lore. But the fact of the matter is, as far as we know and are told, Gelmorra lives. Gelmorrans are still thriving under the Twelveswood. There may be abandoned sections of the great city here and there, but I believe the main city is intact and thriving. Cut off from the rest of the world and living in an isolated community much like Sui-No-Sato. I pray that one day they will take us there, and I hope that when or if they finally do decide to delve into Gridania and Gelmorra, that they don't just say, "Look its all abandoned ruins. There's nothing there. Hasnt been for forever. Here's a single dungeon about it. Moving on." Because it just doesn't make sense. Duskwights aren't supposed to be extinct. So if they aren't living in Gelmorra, where are they?
I'd love to see more on Mach, Ampador, Nym, Gelmora and Sil'dah. Maybe even as a future expansion or two.
I'd really like to see the writers explore the lives of those Ala Mhigan refugees living in Little Ala Mhigo, and what happens to them after the events of Stormblood and Endwalker.
The real problem is that to understand as much about Gridania, you have to read sidequest text, level WHM, SMN, and BRD (DRG really becomes more about Ishgard) do the Endwalker Tank Role quest, Sylph Tribe quests, and pay attention to the NPCs and quests around Palace of the Dead. It's not that the lore and story doesn't exist. It's that it hasn't been part of the MSQ since like 2.0, and the bits and pieces we have are scattered around in optional content.
I honestly don't care about Gridania because it is so unapproachable. The people seem to lack any sort of agency.
Also, Kan-E-Senna's guard STILL hasn't got a name althought he's been such a character with a full personal backstory.
The aesthetic and music of Gridania and the Black Shroud has always been so nostalgic for me and I love spending time there. To get more lore to pair with this unexplained love would be incredible.
I wouldn't mind seeing more stories about Gridania. With the MSQ, yeah, the points you mentioned, that's pretty much what I picture what Gridania is, but there's so much more that can be explored that may explain the city state better. One of my friend's has a character that is from Gridania and would no doubt be really happy if they got to see more of the development from that city state.
I dunno, the Elementals seem really fickle and petty. Isn't there a family with a sick kid hanging out in front of the Conjurer's guild with a Hearer saying "Sorry kid, elementals said you're done now."
Aahh glad to see people touching this bit of the story! It is very much touched if you do the certain yellow quest in the black shroud, but very briefly. I hope later they do touch in more lore about the duskwright, they are *so* forgotten.
It's hard to imagine a Gridania focused story in the MSQ anytime soon, since we're going all the way to Tural in Dawntrail. Maybe in patch content? I think it'd be cool to at least get a Gelmoran variant dungeon, although something like that would likely be centered around a conflict between the elementals and Gelmorans, which we've seen time and again.
I'd suggest a raid story, but that's what the motherboard city thing they showed us is gonna be, right? It's difficult to imagine where they'd be able to work in a story here with everything that's already been announced and the content structures we expect.
OH WAIT! There's gonna be an exploration zone, I assume linked to the new relic weapons! Gelmorans are master enchanters! There's a possible connection there. An open world zone that takes place all or primarily in a cave system could interesting as well. Plus I was only thinking of battle stuff. There could be something like a custom delivery as well, among other thigns.
I chose Gridania as my starting city because I wanted to take bard as my starting profession, but also because as a Viera it made the most sense from a roleplaying perspective (hailing from the Golmore Jungle, coming from a society heavily focused on nature). I've also taken all the remaining professions available there, built a home there, and with all that, I do feel the place is truly where I belong in FFXIV. And you do get a better sense of the place if you do the profession quests for White Mage. But I agree that it would be awesome to have some more detailed lore to go on about the place.
The mention of the duskwight elezens being enchanters makes me wonder if there wont be some connection to pictomancer and its enchanted paints
Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te also adorn themselves with paint before hunting, so perhaps the two may have worked together?
I think it's also a cultural thing. Japanese culture is more likely to think of nature as a higher authority to humanity and existing in harmony with nature and local spirits, with its give and take, as a more ideal state. Things go well when the spirits are please and bad when they're not. To westerners this seems like a very one sided relationship, but to Japanese people seems more normal and thus no need to really delve into.
I personally would love to see Gridania get more development. Elementals aside, it definitely has the least development of any city-state.
Check the lore from 1.0 thr city with most lore was gurdania back then, the mystery about moogles now showing themselves but only to the padjal and the children, the mysterious shells circle you can find in the black shroud used to be a place where kids met moogles and there is the mastery of the dragon satatue that had the traveller disappear, 1.0 was full of lore of for girdania and some of those elements are still left in 2.0 and can be found in the game including the shells circle and the dragon rock
Also the elementals had a stronger presence in 1.0, and they had more blood thirst than they are right now
One of the encounters even had a direct story where the elementals got mad at a kid who burned a sacred tree and almost burned it
Another part of 1.0 talks about how kan e sena did not want to be a padjal and we do play her story as a kid with the pad jal from the counjerers class quest
If people are interested in knowing more about girdania, i would tell them to check 1.0
Just like how 2 0 is about uldah, 1.0 is about girdania
Most 1.0 lore surrounding Gridania has either been rendered non-canon or abandoned entirely. That and most players never even played 1.0, making those events moot.
@SynodicScribe not true at all, specific events were rendered canon
Thr manfilia arc, and shoyru are gread example
Both events were mentioned later in 2.0 and 5.0 respectively, and those are just two of many events
The endwalker LVL 90 tank quest explores the relationship between the elementals and the Gridanian people. In the series of those quests, I learned more of Gridania that I knew before.
Now that Garlemald has fallen, it peobably plunged each province into its own form of disorder, from Werlit in the west, to Dalmasca on the coast of the Bounty, to thr frozen shores. There is definitely enough here for an expansion... But... Looking back at ARR's lost legacy, i think we need the Courthas east lowlands, connecting the shrouds and central courthas areas, as well as... Hmm... Perhaps a variant+criterion would be a good format to explore the legacy of Gelmorre
Dalmasca isn't on the coast of the Bounty. It also gained its independence before Garlemald's fall. It happened off screen during the Bozja questline.
Coerthas Eastern Lowlands is in the game already - it's the pvp map Fields of Glory.
@@DarthSanguine the bozja questline runs across the south coast of aldenard, and i thought dalmasca while not directly coastal, is the major city of a coastal region. Specifically across the bounty from thavnair.
The Bounty is to the west of Thavnair, while Dalmasca is to the east. Dalmasca is also a country, not a city-Rabanastre and Valnain have both served as its capital.
After the Uldah Subterrane, I fully expect SQEX to give us fantastic side stories through VC dungeons. I’m very interested to see where they expand the world with these side stories.
Considering the introduction of extra lore and stories with Variant dungeons, I hope so much that Gelmorra is going to be one of them in the future.
Also, it's been 10 years and THAT one door in the North Shroud still triggers me like hell xD And if it's not a starting point of extra Gridanian/Gelmorran lore, I'll riot!
I've always wanted them to delve more into Gelmorra. It sort of feels like that was a location they were going to explore in 1.0. Until they closed it off in 2.0 calamity. I would love to for it to come back, i feel like there is so much there to explore.
I'm kind of hoping we get something in a future expansion. Maybe an entire expansion dedicated to the underground.
Theres a gate going north in old Gridania where the wealthiest members of society live. Haukke Manor belonged to one. The fact we couldn't visit them may be testament to an isolationism and elitism that the seedseers had to balance with the common folk after giving up excess which Haukke Manor represented. So I think that will tie into Gelmorra somehow especially since in 1.0 Gelmorra is north of Proud Creek in the North Shroud. Perhaps Gelmorrans ARE Gridania's high society in isolation. Maybe they're just told to stay out of the way by the elementals in exchange for wealth. That's always what I believed anyway. Great video!
I love how Moogles went from being mysterious and hidden to most people, to the point they are now treated like pests when they end up in town trying to chat up random adventurers
We haven't even seen elementals visually in the MSQ since the game relaunched iirc. The best documentation of them is from 1.0, it's kind of insane
Literally all my respect and interest in Nophica leaving my body when she vouches for the elementals was on par with the immense eye rolling and groaning when the EW tank quest was more elemental shit.
I have always wanted them to go back to Gridania/ Gelmorra, to see updated takes on the Shroud, and spin a long and exciting narrative right at the heart of good Old Eorzea. The thought is somehow just so charming to me. I'd also love another time travel expansion that takes us to an era in Eorzea's past, e.g. the War of the Magi, for instance. But we might never get that.
God, I do hope someone like you SS can have the opportunity to bring this up to Yoshi-P during events.
I'd be over the moon to have a chance to sit down and hear some of the devs talk about world buildings and story threads one on one with me. haha
There are elementals on Elpis. Sure, we see plenty of creations that were in Elpis. but I found it extra interesting that the elementals were a concept going through approval.
Exploring Gridania's past via a V&C dungeon seems like a good fit and the devs want to continue supporting that system into Dawntrail. That would be a good way to have a lore dump that bridges into future storylines.
If we get another round of class based quests, I would positively love for the healers to have something in Gridania dealing with the elementals and finding out more about them
Not to mention one of the most important npcs who runs one of the main cities is a race (Padjal) that we literally know nothing about aside from knowing that they’re an ancient race. I have wanted to know more about that since the beginning and thought they were tied to something with the twelve especially because they communicate with the elements more than anyone else it seems. I’m really curious if they will ever tell us more about where they came from and what they did because I think that story line could be badass.
I really appreciate what you do. I started in Ul‘dah myself back in Heavensward. And I did realise how the story centers around Ul‘dah very much.
Ironically, Kan-E-Senna is my most favorite of the three leaders. Perhaps it was why I enjoyed the Endwalker Rolequest for Tanks so much with her. And I completely agree! More development around Gridania would be great. After all, didn’t Nophica talk about the Elementals too?
…a buddy and I were talking about this the other day, hell a V&C going through the ruins underneath would be great.
The problem, such as I see it, is that development hits a bit of a snag when progression and change so often revolves around, or is in some way enabled by, the tidal-shift effects of the Warrior of Light being involved in things. Ul'dah (and relatedly Ishgard) exemplify this rather starkly. In Ul'dah, the Sultana's gaining the WoL as an ally prompted the Monetarists into an entire regicidal conspiracy to kill her before the balance shifted to her favor; in Ishgard, the WoL almost single-handedly upends a thousand years of social order (and yes, the appetite was already there, but change required them as an agent).
Gridania runs into a problem here in that major change can't happen without the Elementals being integrally involved...which would require the WoL to probably become a Seedseer-tier Hearer to suitably interact with them. And canon has already more or less declared WoL deaf as a post there, even if you play White Mage. While this is hardly an insurmountable hurdle, as I see it, making that sort of a change to players' characters may be seen as no-bueno to the devteam, or it may simply be too narratively complex to be done without diverting resources from main efforts which have not yet occasioned the sort of deep-dive into Gridania that it would need (yet).
Or maybe it's something entirely different, but that would be my guess.
Limsa Popular For Different Reason!
Personally at this point, I'd settle for bringing in a "flashback" to the 1.0 world where we can play through the old questlines. Maye something like... you were the hero from back then, here's a deep dive recovering your own "memories", but mechanically you're there with friends, grouping up, all that good stuff, with modern mechanics.
While bandits and raiders may use the Gelmorran ruins as their base of operations, I don't think anything of the Gelmorran civilization remains, beyond what migrated onto the surface and founded Gridania. Based on what remains of places like Tam-Tara, Toto-Rak and Issom Har, I don't see there being anything but ruins left. That said, it could still be interesting to explore them in a similar sense to how we delve into the Sil'dihn Subterrane with Nanamo.
Watching 1.0 content has given me a lot of good answers for why things are the way they are for Gridania. If nothing else they've got plenty of untapped potential for Deep Dungeon content in Gelmorra or even something that could do more with the Elementals directly. In 1.0 they were very, very strict and wrathful at times, whereas post Calamity supposedly their efficacy has waned.
We need more Gridania and Maelstrom lore quests. They could explore them with variant dungeons even.
Beyond Gridania- a story beat i wish was kept was Azem's "third path" idea that i didnt not feel we got to really tread in Endwalkers.
What is that?
Yes. More Gidania and the Hyur Midlander homeland. All we know is they are travelers that adapt very well to wherever they decide to live and hail from many homelands, but I want to know where they come from as a majority.