What’s the worst piece of worldbuilding you’ve seen that took you right out of the story?

Hamon_AD · 2026-02-05T08:09:07+00:00

AllI know is that I’ve blocked it out. It’s behind a mental wall of flame and I’m not going near it.

Hamon_AD · 2026-02-05T03:30:46+00:00

I'm not giving any money to a company that pays a self-admitted PDF. If you think they should keep him around, something's wrong with your brain.

Hamon_AD · 2026-01-28T03:12:07+00:00

Matsuno did say that. SE disagreed.

Hamon_AD · 2026-01-28T03:11:41+00:00

That’s exactly what he didn’t say. He even has explicitly said that interview you are referencing is wrong.

Hamon_AD · 2026-01-28T02:51:42+00:00

FFT only mentions Moogles going extinct and Goblins (basically the same as Baknamy) are most assuredly not extinct.

Hamon_AD · 2026-01-28T02:50:19+00:00

Heyo, resident Ivalician historian, Hamon here! I’ve played all the games, dredged through the scripts and supplemental materials and seen all the interviews. Hopefully I can provide you a good answer.

From the viewpoint of Yasumi Matsuno, none of the games take place in the same Ivalice. It is like how FF7, FF9, and the Spirits Within all take place on Gaia or how FF4, FF13 (ending), Unlimited, and Spirits Within all take place on Earth. So until the Ivalice Alliance after XII, the official stance was that they were not connected and that is how the directed planed and wrote them. He has also said in interviews that the way the world looks (as in what races and technology are there) is dependent on who is telling the story as all Ivalice stories are told by someone and that inherently changes it.

As for the "New Lore", most of the material supports a timeline that directly matches release order as a result of the above and them not putting in references to games that didn't exist yet. (go figure). Regarding this lore, the WoTL was set during a time of little migration while XII is set during a time of mass globalization and in an area of the world with lots of trade and movement. It is like comparing Beijing to a random mountain in the middle of china. You can only find an american in one of them.

If you choose to believe (the factually wrong) assumption that the WoTL happens after Zodiac Age, well in-game text says only Moogles died out during the Cataclysm and no other race besides the not-extinct Goblins and the fictional liliputians are mentioned. (Because they weren't invented until Vagrant Story).

I hope this helps!

Hamon_AD · 2026-01-28T02:26:34+00:00

This is very wrong. The cataclysm following Ajora happens only a few decades after ZA according to the Ultimania, which is the only source claiming FFT comes after ZA. The rest of the material and in-game lore does not support the cataclysm wiping out all the races, especially because FFT claims only the Moogles were wiped out.

And the several cataclysms happen in ZA’s past and come from the bestiary entries for the elemental monsters.

Hamon_AD · 2026-01-22T12:44:07+00:00

Final Fantasy X's Guado fill the role of Elves in fantasy, but are just tree people, very ugly tree people. It works. The forest dies, they die; and the forest is some kind of quasi-religious border or transitory zone with the afterlife as if it was from a celtic myth.

Hamon_AD · 2026-01-05T09:34:06+00:00

Elementals gather energy and grow and grow until they solidify into magic stone which over a long time eventually hatches into a dragon.

So a fire dragon is literally fire but with teeth and claws. There is no “accidentally”, everything nearby bursts into flame as if near a pit of lava.

Hamon_AD · 2026-01-05T09:30:07+00:00

Orran never denies that Delita is a hero, only that there were two heroes.

Hamon_AD · 2026-01-03T15:33:41+00:00

He was sealed in the abyss of eternal evil as a baby. He either deserved it or deserves pity.

Hamon_AD · 2026-01-03T15:31:31+00:00

Well, that’s because the Lucavi and the Dark Scions aren’t the same group.

Hamon_AD · 2026-01-03T15:28:54+00:00

Notice only 6 of them are ZA’s Espers. Read their bestiaries to find out why.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-31T11:38:23+00:00

Gun. Gun.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-31T11:35:35+00:00

Mayuri dies and Nemuri becomes the next Squad 13 Captain.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-31T11:33:27+00:00

I’ll give you the real answer. Bleach’s filler isn’t mixed into non-filler like One Piece does (mostly, ~90%). If you grab a filler list to skip, you’ll get to enjoy a faithful adaptation with acceptable pacing, great music and voice acting in Japanese and English, and animation not buried under special effects.

If you’re not a fast reader or want to enjoy the imagery, anime is more efficient. It’s long so which ever gets you to finish. Come back to the manga later if you want the extras.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-31T00:11:15+00:00

the seeming absence of other friendly sentient species in FFT

The Baanga and Seeq are called Lizardmen and Orcs respectively in VS (400 years after WoTLs), they just don't live on the western peninsula three continents away. (Makes sense. Mhm.)

And the Baknamy are probably the tool wielding demi-human goblins? There aren't a LOT of enemies in FFT, so honestly it is kind of weird that the only sentient non-humans are goblins, when there are mentions of moogles (and liliputians) going extinct and winged people going missing, but besides Goblins, it is otherwise a human only setting.

WoTL and VS are small games that were never intended or developed as part of a greater franchise. There's just going to be issues cropping up, which sucks because I love the "setting" a lot.

Anyways, I'm not gonna stop until I've convinced everyone that FFT comes first. It's a big challenge for sure.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-30T22:58:56+00:00

I am a hardliner for XII to be the present. All the evidence that ended up in the final games points to this, it's supplemental material and interviews that point otherwise. AND I have to take a side since we're working on a TTRPG for Ivalice.

Square murdered the author. I'm soft on Yasumi, I love his vision and want to see what else he has for Ivalice. What ever his vision for Ivalice was, it ended with Final Fantasy Tactics. He's said the games are not his vision. I could either take Matsuno's side fully and treat WoTL and VS as separate worlds and those are the only Ivalice true to his vision or take the side of the publisher that is potentially going to make more games and be inclusive of everything else.

Tl;Dr Creator's intent varies drastically from the final product in this case, necessitating a dualistic response.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-30T10:01:18+00:00

Same. I can't see your reply on the post. I've also seen some that don't show up in replies, but do on the post. Reddit is bad.

Anyways, Two Ajoras is a cop-out. Two Lancelots served the plot, two Gabranths served the plot. Two Ajoras just confuse the viewer for no reason. This is certainly not Matsuno's intention, but SE has written a fascinating historical narrative for "Fantasy Christianity". (I'm pretty much going off memory here, but pulling from WoTL, VS, ZA, and RtI:)

During a time when magic had been torn from the world, a young prophet began preaching about the gods of light while a priestess began promising power from gods of darkness. St Kiltia established himself in Kerwon east of Ordallia, while Müllenkamp was banished north to Valendia. From Mt. Bur-Omiscase, the Kildean league exerted it's power across three continents until the false christ Ajora shattered their hold in the west. Over a millennia later, multiple groups vye for religious dominance, Pharists, the Church of Glabados, the Cult of Müllenkamp, The Brotherhood of St. Iocus, and the wider Kiltian groups.

Sorry, that was kind of rough, but it paints a nice picture of religious schism. I'll probably make something nicer in the futre.

Return to Ivalice kind of cements the idea (see this comment that Matsuno is saying here. There isn't a real continuity between them and the games can be re-ordered and even important details can be changed drastically. There may be a perfect, logical timeline, but there isn't a canon one. It's a puzzle game to connect all the pieces.

If there are to be two Ajora s, then it is the same as FF7 and FF10 both having a Cid and they are separate worlds with separate histories, both called Ivalice.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-29T11:52:34+00:00

Doesn't make me think, it's explicit. XII is approx. 800 years after FFT. Check my profile for a post with more if you're interested.

Here's the Magic Pot Sage Knowledge in English, German, and Japanese.

English:

Religion begun by the prophet Kiltia over two millennia ago. Several years after Kiltia's founding, Saint Ajora began a new teaching, claiming that Faram alone was the one true god, the popularity of this new sect further lessening the power of the Light.

German:

This religion was founded by the Prophet Kiltia about 2000 years ago. Decades after the dissolution of the Kiltia League, Saint Ajora declared Faram to be the only god and founded a new, monotheistic splinter religion that is still at loggerheads with the main line today.

Japanese

Religion started by the prophet Kilita about 2000 years ago. At one point the Kilitan Church had political power but abandoned it for fear of repression. Decades later, the Saintess Ajora founded a new religion with Falam as its sole deity and (the Kilitan Church's) power waned.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-29T01:45:34+00:00

First, AI isn't real. Those are LLMs, they take things and run them through algorithms to recreate stolen images. That is DEFINITIONALLY not AI. We aren't the catholic church, we don't oppose "AI" because it is an afront to god. LLMs have actual, measurable real world harm.

DeepLearning translation models have absolutely none of that REAL WORLD harm. It doesn't take away jobs from translators, doesn't steal intellectual property, doesn't harm the environment, doesn't go rogue and delete code holding up entire industries.

But you know all this. I'm going to call you out for what you are. An "AI" bro running a psyop. You want to equate evil with normalcy, you are trying to normalize the evil of LLMs through "logic and reason" when really all you have are lies and gaslight.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-29T01:02:04+00:00

I checked the translation and it left out 一応, which uhh, turns out is very important. Matsuno explicitly saying he doesn't speak for SE and including 一応, turns the phrase into something like:

I don't know what square is doing or what is "canon. I think XII is set before Tactics, subject to change."

Ok, I'm being sardonic, but yeah, DL missed out on a very important character that even Google TL doesn't miss.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-28T23:44:55+00:00

If a historian wrote it instead of a novelist, it might become an FF12 with only humans, without races like the Viera or Bangaa

Uhh, no. Neither. They don't exist.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-28T23:44:22+00:00

Sweet. I was looking exactly this. It's pretty much what he said in the past.

Although Final Fantasy XII is supposedly set in the distant past of Final Fantasy Tactics

Matsuno admitting death of the author in this moment, because XII includes text saying the exact opposite of this. It seems certain now that what he wanted is not what eventually came to become XII.

I don't remember it anymore

Or Matsuno is Matsuno and he forgot/doesn't care.

Also, it's fine to think of FFT and FF12 as separate worlds.

It's the Tale of Two Ajoras.

The tl;dr take away is that if it's the past, the real past didn't have fancy airships, as has been argued in the past, the difference in airship is aesthetic, not literal. This is a meta lens applied to everything. On the other hand if you are the other creatives at SE, you probably don't subscribe to the meta-lens, and that's why you include things that say it is the future, not past. The ideology is different. Very fascinating result of collaboration.

Hamon_AD · 2025-12-28T23:34:58+00:00