Not to be like that, but when I talk about the themes and visuals of FFXIV I do so in the context of Japan being a former Empire/colonial power. It's essential to learn a country's history in order to grasp specific themes and imagery. i.e. the pan-asianism of "Doma" for example.

There is a reason why it reads as insidious, or why specific themes/narratives in the game fall into soft-propaganda. And honestly, I wish people in the community would be allowed to talk about these things w/out blowback because it's a necessary conversation.

People need to stop ignoring Japanese history when looking at Japanese media. I guess that's really the bottom line.

(Also if you're RTing this thread to purely be like "see I knew the game was bad" this is a broader issue and FFXIV is a symptom of that. This isn't an issue exclusive to this piece of Japanese media, even if there is a lot wrong w/ it in context to history/politics.)