Since the original release of Final Fantasy XIV, the Garlean Empire has been a consistent threat as a massive imperial juggernaut taking over the world with fearsome Magitek. Given that ever-present threat, it was a bit weird that the end of Garlemald came in the middle of the Endwalker storyline.
In a recent interview with Famitsu, FFXIV creative director Naoki Yoshida and Endwalker lead story designers Natsuko Ishikawa and Banri Oda revealed that, for a time, Garlemald was going to get some more shine in the story. It was almost its own expansion, in fact.
“We expected that there’d be one expansion about Garlemald. The idea was that Anima would be the boss, then the next expansion you’d fight against Hydaelyn, Zodiark, and so on,” said Ishikawa about the initial plans. (Translated via Reddit user MKillerby.)
Yoshida explained that during the development of Shadowbringers, the team felt it might be possible to extend the end of the Hydaelyn-Zodiark saga for two expansions. After the response to Shadowbringers, however, it was ultimately decided a single expansion would be a better option. Oda admitted the overall flow of the story didn’t change much.
Yoshida also revealed the executive team had a retreat towards the end of 2019 to hash out Endwalker’s story. Following the retreat, however, Ishikawa felt the planned plot wasn’t good enough for the finale, so she rewrote the entire story and got it in two days before the hard deadline for the cinematic team.
“I was in charge of filling in the details of the story elements, but when I looked at the structure of the content again, I thought, ‘this might be okay for just another expansion, but if this is labeled the ‘finale’ is it really okay?’ So I reworked the story from the plot outline,” she said.
It’s interesting to wonder what would’ve been under those original plans. Would Garlemald have been larger as the entire focus of the campaign? Would we have been able to see the city in all of its splendor, prior to the events of Endwalker? One wonders how the overall flow of a Garlean-focused expansion would’ve played out.
If you’re still in the middle of Endwalker tackling Garlemald, we have a few guides that can help you out. And if you’re at the end of the expansion and wondering where everything is going next, here’s our detailed breakdown of what’s coming patch 6.1 and beyond.
