Tural Asadov

• The game’s producer, Naoki Yoshida, announced the expansion at the end of July 2023 during an official fan festival.
• He explained that the story will begin with playable characters being invited to the New World.
• These concerns about the way in which Latin American history and culture will be reflected in the game are understandable.

Final Fantasy’s track record

• When asked about the absence of non-white characters, he stated that this was because the game world was based on medieval Europe.
• Whether intentional or not, this white washing of European history ignores the continent’s racially diverse past – a misconception historians are already struggling to counter.
• While it’s still too early to tell, Final Fantasy XIV’s story has a track record of taking the historical realities of imperialism seriously, despite its fantasy setting.
• Like many other games in the series, the plot of Final Fantasy XIV centres around a struggle against the oppressive expansion of an empire.

Changes for Stormblood

• The game’s second expansion, Stormblood, draws attention to the ways in which local elites have sometimes collaborated with imperial rulers.
• This is an aspect of imperial history that historians such as Tanja Bührer are keen to analyse.
• It demonstrates that imperial relationships are not simply static interactions between colonisers and the colonised.
• Fordola Lupis is an antagonist in the story who serves the Garlean Empire after her home nation, Ala Mhigo, is annexed.