Can i complain for a moment how its almost impossible to find a good community on ff14, I was looking so hard for a latino community that's not transphobic or racist but, they love generative AI. At this point I don't even know if what to stay lol. I can only sigh and leave that discord server
![While references to colonizers was a shared history centuries ago, indigenous people continue to experience repeated colonization efforts presently throughout the world; because colonization wasn't a single event. Needless to say YES. While the gear pieces wouldn't be as big of an issue if released within another expansion, the CONTEXT of releasing conquistador + musketeer-inspired gear in an expansion inspired by the PRE-CONTACT AMERICAS *is* offensive!
THE PROBLEM
Even as a latino person, I have my own reservations on the way Dawntrail has handled the variety of cultures across the two continents; but to take inspiration from military gear, not even really resembling Steiner (the closest comparison one could make for an FFIX example), is a poor decision especially considering the colonizing force parallels drawn from Alexandria/Solution 9 as a whole.
I had usually been impressed by FFXIV's design team to pull from different parts of history, literature, and media otherwise to create a unique blend of form and function with gear pieces. Whoever brought this up might have thought it relevant (and even impressive) considering the lack of media to come out of Japan with American influences, its anything but. Once again, these might have been welcomed if they were dropped in Heavensward or any other Eurofantasy expac! But its the CONTEXT of introduction within an expac in pre-contact Americas with danger of colonization on the horizon that makes it offensive.
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![1:1 replicas are not necessary to inflict the same wound or draw the same conclusions, as so many people in this thread already have. Replacing chesplates ith tabards still has the same connotations. We didn't get gear inspired by the British army during Endwalker while going through Thavnair, and they even had the tact to move away from SS/Nazi influence for the Garleans despite parallels of similar authoritative powers. Even Star Wars is more on the nose with its visual inspirations for the empire yet they aren't afraid to make them wholly antagonistic. Why now?
A previous poster brought up a good point with SQEX's design philosophy: "We can't use anything that has real-world religious or cultural connotations. If we want to make something that draws from religious imagery, ethnic clothing, and so on, it needs to be significantly altered."
The quote has become less and less viable overtime due to clearer parallels FFXIV has drawn to cultures for a specific narrative within its expacs. This can lead to disaster, either conflating living people to fantasy, or watering down the cultural importance of specific elements. This implies that you can't have a respectful mix of indigenous elements with OTHER fantasy/historical fashion influence throughout the world. Thus, as a product of either ignorance, lack of education, or malice, these faults will turn to repeated behavior within the community — as has been seen with the war bonnet, traditional Korean attire, and Sámi clothing. 2 out of 3 whose issues have not been rectified. [CONT'D ON NEXT SLIDE]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:6k2tsinmfq2ujybxu736qziw/bafkreid45u37tzmqqgudcvdjijkwbdmaeznvelmoipdzvie2bek4xhoqd4)
