So I'm taking a leaf out of X-Soldier's book. I have this super ambitious video essay concept in mind where I explore what a fully realized Midgar based game would be like, using New York City and Tokyo as the main inspirations.
So with that said, that is a HUGE undertaking for just me on my own. So I'm borrowing X's strategy and turning to you guys for opinions and insight on the highlight points of my essay, and to point me towards more narrowed down research.
The first, and major thrust I'm interested in is how New York City and Tokyo are both major economic/cultural centers of their respective countries. I can't speak to Tokyo just yet, but NYC has so many people from all over the world. It has more languages than any other country, and has huge chunks of the city devoted to specific world cultures that blend seamlessly one into the other.
So this is where I come to you guys on this subject: How would you extrapolate and/or rethink the cultures of each major city/village of VII? I have a tentative list, but some feel a little harder to pin down than the others. With that regard in mind, what do you think immigrants from those cultures would bring to Midgar?
Kalm: German inspired
Junon: Midgar in everything but name, just more of a military base than a real city. But maybe the previous village itself had its own culture?
Costa Del Sol: Hispanic inspired
Corel: Midwest U.S inspired
Gongaga: South American?
Cosmo Canyon: Native American
Nibelhiem: This one feels...I'm not sure. It has similar feelings to Kalm, but there's also the distinct Midwest type vibe they gave Tifa and Cloud. I'm most interested because there may be a fan-theory to work with here that the ShinRa dynasty began as aristocrats that started in Nibelhiem. Everything keeps coming back to that town.
RocketTown: This one's an oddball since it's an 'artificial' town that was built specifically for the space program. Midgar likely predates this, so it'd be Midgar exporting it's culture over to RocketTown.
Wutai: Japanese. No getting around that.
Knowlspole/Icicle Inn: Inuit?
So with that said, that is a HUGE undertaking for just me on my own. So I'm borrowing X's strategy and turning to you guys for opinions and insight on the highlight points of my essay, and to point me towards more narrowed down research.
The first, and major thrust I'm interested in is how New York City and Tokyo are both major economic/cultural centers of their respective countries. I can't speak to Tokyo just yet, but NYC has so many people from all over the world. It has more languages than any other country, and has huge chunks of the city devoted to specific world cultures that blend seamlessly one into the other.
So this is where I come to you guys on this subject: How would you extrapolate and/or rethink the cultures of each major city/village of VII? I have a tentative list, but some feel a little harder to pin down than the others. With that regard in mind, what do you think immigrants from those cultures would bring to Midgar?
Kalm: German inspired
Junon: Midgar in everything but name, just more of a military base than a real city. But maybe the previous village itself had its own culture?
Costa Del Sol: Hispanic inspired
Corel: Midwest U.S inspired
Gongaga: South American?
Cosmo Canyon: Native American
Nibelhiem: This one feels...I'm not sure. It has similar feelings to Kalm, but there's also the distinct Midwest type vibe they gave Tifa and Cloud. I'm most interested because there may be a fan-theory to work with here that the ShinRa dynasty began as aristocrats that started in Nibelhiem. Everything keeps coming back to that town.
RocketTown: This one's an oddball since it's an 'artificial' town that was built specifically for the space program. Midgar likely predates this, so it'd be Midgar exporting it's culture over to RocketTown.
Wutai: Japanese. No getting around that.
Knowlspole/Icicle Inn: Inuit?