The Worst Part of Endwalker

The escort quests before they allowed us to mount up were painful and plentiful.

I suppose a few unresolved plot threads and just general dismay at the story direction. The Final Days basically amounted to nothing (at least compared to the Calamity) and I am still wondering where the rest of the ascians ended up as we are still missing some named in ARR cut scenes.

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Originally Posted by HanWenqing

Do you mean that the main quests will only be secondary quests? I'm sorry but in fact we visited the depths of the universe filled with dead worlds there is nothing but the other reflections if it's over for Zodiark then who will be the new bad guy? we beat the karen of the apocalypse I can't see any stronger than that if it's not Zodiark suddenly where is the interest I hope you're wrong or that they will change their minds

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power of villain does not equal quality of story.

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Originally Posted by Listrella

power of villain does not equal quality of story.

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Even with a great story the simple fact that i can destroy the new villain with one punch sound bad also yes power mean a lot to me as a man i love confronting ever-mightier foes, dancing ever closer to the precipice, wondering if this will be the one to finally, finally…. fill the void.

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Originally Posted by Listrella

power of villain does not equal quality of story.

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That and the fact Zodiark was never an actual threat… like yes he wanted to be whole again but if the shard of zodiark on the source died so did the rest of him.

“As goes the first so to do the rest of the shards follow” die on the source you dead af on the shards. Zodiark is dead dead, could be resummoner sure if someone found the concept and all that but would never be as powerful.

Plenty of classic FF villains or original villains they could implement that doesnt have to be world ending…

I've forgotten A TON of details at this point, so bear with me here, but there was a quest where we had to go to a certain spot and use <aether/dynamis/flowers/something?> to view an event (conversation? lol..) from the past. Was there a reason why we couldn't use that same method to remind anyone important WTF was going on after the memory wipe?

Also, I realize there were far more glaring issues, but I'm not sure if I can forgive them for ruining Emet Selch by making him all chummy and blech. DO NOT WANT.

Meteion will be remembered as the worst-most forgettable end bosses in all FF history. In fact she already got forgotten in the current patch.

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Originally Posted by AnnRam

Meteion will be remembered as the worst-most forgettable end bosses in all FF history. In fact she already got forgotten in the current patch.

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You say that but you have to admit that the part where she lifts her head and goes crazy in front of the screen was great.
I was praying so hard to see an alien civilization manipulating her but unfortunately it didn't happen like that
I'm sorry but her existence is proof of the stupidity of the ancient civilization that was supposed to be super intelligent

ninja should have been able to cheese those shitty "follow the target" quests with hide.

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Originally Posted by HanWenqing

You say that but you have to admit that the part where she lifts her head and goes crazy in front of the screen was great.
I was praying so hard to see an alien civilization manipulating her but unfortunately it didn't happen like that
I'm sorry but her existence is proof of the stupidity of the ancient civilization that was supposed to be super intelligent

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Hermes was like "Alright, I'm gonna ask you an extremely loaded question and then send you all out into the cold and vast universe to see if you can find the answer. Have fun! Surely nothing will go wrong!" It was less the civilization itself and more the doing of one man. Even Emet questioned his logic (or a complete lack thereof) at one point toward the tail end of the Elpis questline. Considering the universe, including our own is just a never-ending cycle of life and death (big emphasis on the death part) ...well...I'm not sure what Hermes was expecting to find. One would think that the citizens of Amaurot were more enlightened than that having mastered creation and destruction of any and all life on a whim.

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Originally Posted by HanWenqing

if it's over for Zodiark then who will be the new bad guy?

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It looks like continue with throwback retro bosses atm. 6.1 world of darkness scenes teased some stuff familiar to old school FF fans. Yoshida once said in interviews that even worlds from other FF games could be possible in the future, while not confirming they ever will, the story can go anywhere at this point.

But in 6.0 finale they name dropped a bunch of locations on the Source that we haven't visited yet, so probably staying local for a while yet. IDK how to make new bosses seem threatening after all the stuff our character has beaten so far. Most of the main characters on the hero side are written too strong because fear of removing fan favourites I guess, so only nobodies are dying.

Maybe written into a corner where we keep slaying the monster of the week and nobody believes we are ever in real danger. It's a really hard problem to solve now to give any weight to actions and credibility to enemies. It's like 'reset tv' where everything is always fine and back to normal by the end of the episode. Events are basically isolated in their own time bubbles in this MMO format, no influence on the world at large.

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Originally Posted by Midareyukki

No it's not, you clearly weren't around during Stormblood.

The Lyse and Zenos hate was real, Yotsuyu was polarizing and Fordola was just a mess.

This is tame. Like, real tame.

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I didn't say that it's the worst that the forums had ever been - I said that the forums are the worst part of Endwalker.

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Originally Posted by Rufalus

It looks like continue with throwback retro bosses atm. 6.1 world of darkness scenes teased some stuff familiar to old school FF fans. Yoshida once said in interviews that even worlds from other FF games could be possible in the future, while not confirming they ever will, the story can go anywhere at this point.

But in 6.0 finale they name dropped a bunch of locations on the Source that we haven't visited yet, so probably staying local for a while yet. IDK how to make new bosses seem threatening after all the stuff our character has beaten so far. Most of the main characters on the hero side are written too strong because fear of removing fan favourites I guess, so only nobodies are dying.

Maybe written into a corner where we keep slaying the monster of the week and nobody believes we are ever in real danger. It's a really hard problem to solve now to give any weight to actions and credibility to enemies. It's like 'reset tv' where everything is always fine and back to normal by the end of the episode. Events are basically isolated in their own time bubbles in this MMO format, no influence on the world at large.

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We could always be stripped of power, Midgardsormr did it once, Hydaelyn is dead. Nothing says we can not be nerfed or that other threats dont exist out in the world that can be a major threat.

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Originally Posted by AnnRam

Meteion will be remembered as the worst-most forgettable end bosses in all FF history. In fact she already got forgotten in the current patch.

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Necron from IX is only remembered for literally coming out of nowhere, tying into nothing, and having no mention at all afterwards.

I honestly don't think we're done with Zodiark yet.

The fact that his character design in the trial shows him as incomplete - he's only been rejoined seven times - is a big clue that the other sundered bits of Zodiark are still out there.

We know from the 6.1 ending that Golbez is making a debut as a villain. What it he's one of the sundered shards of Zodiark?

Endwalker was only supposed to be the end of the Zodiark/Hydalaen saga. But if there are still remaining bits of Zodiark we need to defeat to return the lost souls of the Ancients to the Aetherial Sea, well, that's a new plot thread to follow.

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Originally Posted by Catwho

I honestly don't think we're done with Zodiark yet.

The fact that his character design in the trial shows him as incomplete - he's only been rejoined seven times - is a big clue that the other sundered bits of Zodiark are still out there.

We know from the 6.1 ending that Golbez is making a debut as a villain. What it he's one of the sundered shards of Zodiark?

Endwalker was only supposed to be the end of the Zodiark/Hydalaen saga. But if there are still remaining bits of Zodiark we need to defeat to return the lost souls of the Ancients to the Aetherial Sea, well, that's a new plot thread to follow.

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I mean, Fandaniel decided to destroy what was left of Zodiark from the inside out. And it has been officially stated that the Hydaelyn/Zodiark arc is done now. I'm typically skeptical of what they say, but I believe them on this one.

Feel free to disagree but the worst part for me was Anima. All this build up of this Primal Abomination spawning the Telophori …and the instance was the most malnourished piss easy thing in the entire expansion. Hakkue Manor requires more coordination and focus than that entire place. Massive waste of potential which is the running theme for EW as it does it again with the Ktsis…and again with the Aetherscope

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Originally Posted by Jirah

Feel free to disagree but the worst part for me was Anima. All this build up of this Primal Abomination spawning the Telophori …and the instance was the most malnourished piss easy thing in the entire expansion. Hakkue Manor requires more coordination and focus than that entire place. Massive waste of potential which is the running theme for EW as it does it again with the Ktsis…and again with the Aetherscope

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I was hoping that Anima would be a trial fight. The disappointment I felt was immeasurable.

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Originally Posted by chaotix69

Not only that, but essentially nothing you did over the previous expansions mattered. It was all for naught, in place of some bird lady that feeds off negative emotions and sings a song of death???

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I got the opposite impression. At one point in Elpis, Venat asks us if it was worth it but we don't get the chance to answer. And one option when we speak to Meteion is (paraphrasing) that the answer wasn't there all along but we had created it. All of our experiences in past expansions made us the person we were at that point, someone who had loved and lost people and had bad things happen but kept moving forward. Someone who could provide the answer to why Meteion should still continue hoping.

Endwalker is just perfect, if you remove Zenos, loporites and censorship too.

Spoiler (End MSQ 6.0):

Because well at the end, zero blood while dying, it takes away from the drama of the scene.

Thanks again for the totally useless quest where Zenos takes your body for sightseeing and comes after you crawling in the snow.

Overall I really loved Endwalker, and have few real complaints. I kinda wish... a Scion had died? I dunno, their endless 'Oh we are gonna sacrifice ourselves ITS NOT LIKE YOU HAVE AN ITEM TO BRING US BACK ON YOU" got a bit monotonous. Also, whilst I personally loved what they did with Hydaelyn and she has kinda become my favourite character now, it would have been cool to see some of the Scions take a more judgemental stance.

The worst part? Easy: Labyrinthos act 2 (after Elpis). It was such an obvious, forced and boring filler, I really REALLY disliked it.
Second worst, the fake deaths, the fake finale days, the fake disband. I can't take it anymore.

I genuinely wonder how many more times the writers think they can get away with the fake-out deaths. It's one thing to be apprehensive about killing a character off because of how fans might respond (Emet's death already proving 99% of people would be okay with it despite how much said character is loved and will still keep making tons and tons of fanart of them.), but repeatedly pretending to do it when you know you have no intention of going through with it is just blatantly disrespecting the intelligence of your audience and wasting valuable run-time on yet another slow motion of [insert character here] getting mortally wounded, someone shounting [insert character name here] "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOES", and then they're just fine the next scene through whatever contrived justification.

Actually do it or stop pretending.

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Originally Posted by chaotix69

*************SPOILER ALERT*********************
Also, I am not looking to draw negativity from anyone, so if thats all you have, then keep it to yourself please.

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What, you're the only allowed to complain? *pft* Also, we knew Zodiark wasn't the big bad since SHB. You can't really bitch when you didn't pay attention.

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Originally Posted by Bad_Luck

What, you're the only allowed to complain? *pft* Also, we knew Zodiark wasn't the big bad since SHB. You can't really bitch when you didn't pay attention.

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I imagine they meant they want a discussion of it, not just people who come into threads and immediately pick fights or just actively do their best to derail the entire discussion. "draw negativity" reads like that to me at least. it's not a terribly high quality thread though, so who knows

I don't think Zodiark was the big bad after Shadowbringers set up "the sound" (really a song, but okay). I just wasn't expecting it to be a done deal this quick. I wish Zodiark had a bit more gravitas, but eh c'est la vie

guy can't have any more gravitas than bending the whole plot around him for about five expansions now can he?

I'm having trouble deciding between:

The quest before unlocking Aeitiascope dungeon that has you find 8 randos
The moon letdown
The Elpis letdown
The inexplicable, and quite uncomfortable vibes Ultima Thule gives me

Really, the only things I truely disliked about EW was... a number of odd retcons and changes to certain terms and names in the story - such as the Lifestream suddenly being discarded for "the aetherial sea", the whole 'Etheirys-replaces-Hydaelyn as the planet's name' thing, and the attempt to try and fix the contradictions with the Echo by saying it was the Blessing of Light that really protected against Primal tempering which only created even more glaring plot holes and contradictions. Probably this was a result of the staff changes behind the scenes in the Localization department (what with Ferne being seconded to FFXVI's development), but it still came across as glaring.

Meteion being the game's 'Necron moment' was also a bit weak, but at least Meteion had an actual story explanation and development, unlike Necron, who literally came out of nowhere in the last battle.

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Echo by saying it was the Blessing of Light that really protected against Primal tempering

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Wrong. Emet - Selch and Elidibus explained that.

Shadowbringers..the Echo was something we always had, weakened by the sundering. The Echo was an ASCIIAN ability, a trait, a power that existed before the fall of Amaurot.

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On the First, Elidibus revealed the true nature of the Echo to the Warrior of Light and their companions. The Echo awakened in those who witnessed a Calamity that bore a likeness to their innate ancient memories of the Final Days many millennia ago. After creating a star shower in the sky above Crystarium, the Echo was awakened in a small number of individuals in the crowd below. Using the form of Ardbert he convinced the now awakened crowd members to become Warriors of Light themselves.

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The reason we cant be tempered is because we have what Venat had given us, a "travellers ward".

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The Echo is something all Ancients had in its purest, most controllable form, but being sundered makes it weaker and harder to control.

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The Echo is the awakened remnant of an Ancient soul tapping into a smidgen of their inherent abilities. The Blessing of Light is the "traveler's ward" that prevents aether corruption. Remember, there was a "big reveal" that the Ascians use the Echo to traverse the Rift and possess people, and this was how Arbert and crew used it to shed their bodies and come to the Source back in Heavensward. Zenos proved that a person without the Blessing can resist tempering as long as they have a stronger will (perhaps dynamis is at play here?) and it is implied that his Resonant (and therefore the Echo in those tha

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It's still a retcon though because of numerous occurances earlier in the game of those without the Blessing but posessing the Echo still being protected - the big one was when Midgardsormr sealed the Blessing and yet the WoL was still protected against tempering as normal.

Really it was to try and plug the plothole where Emet announced that the Ascians were tempered by Zodiark, despite.. having the Echo themselves, and SE then had to try and write themselves out of that contradiction (this is a problem with writing a story over a long time, keeping metaphysical frameworks consistant in the narrative is never easy and all to often contradictions gradually work their way in, and often retcons are the only way to deal with it, as unsatisfactory as it is). Either way, it just opened more plotholes than it fixed.

My least favorite part was Ahewann's death. That has to be one of the worst cases of cutscene incompetency in any game ever, to the point it actually makes me mad as hell. Not to mention, we finally get a somewhat prominent and important (debatable) aura character and he immediately gets thrown out for no good reason. Meh.

Everything but the Elpis storyline. Only part I enjoyed about Endwalker so far.

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Originally Posted by Tehmon

That has to be one of the worst cases of cutscene incompetency in any game ever, to the point it actually makes me mad as hell.

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Not played bozja through then, I take it? Honestly I don't think it was massively worse than some other examples, at least from a healer/machinist pov. Not intended as an excuse or anything.

The plot about the twin's being "disinherited" going to absolute nowhere?
I would also say "In from the cold" for the exact same reason as the first, but I had a great laugh because I was glammed up in the chicken suit, so the image of Zenos in a chicken suit wading through the Garlemald cold was hilarious.

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Originally Posted by Rangiswimming

The plot about the twin's being "disinherited" going to absolute nowhere?

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That was a subtle one that got lost in the wash. It was always a lie. He never actually intended to disinherit them, he just wanted to stop them from snooping because he could get in real trouble if they found out about the secrets of the Forum. His plan, if the End of Days actually DID happen, was to find them to save them. We know that after the twins were born, Fourchenant "worked like a man possessed" according to Ameliance. If the world was really going to end, he wanted to save his kids. The Loppporits probably had a vague sense of the timeline based on what Hydalaen imparted to them, which is why they made contact the last time they had their 1000 year maintenance.

I suspect the Forum also knew that Zodiark was actually the only thing stopping the end of the world from happening (again thanks to the moon bunnies), and that's why their official position was one of neutrality toward the Ascians. They didn't want them to succeed in resurrecting Zodiark, but they also didn't want Zodiark to go poof. We all saw what happened. He was the plug in the dam.

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Originally Posted by Catwho

That was a subtle one that got lost in the wash. It was always a lie.

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This is exactly what I meant with it going nowhere. The heavy blow that was 5.55 is now rendered to "Aw shucks look at Forchie being dramatic and throwing a tantrum" because the whole "disinherited" thing was just lip service, and everyone knew he a) would never go through with it; and b) never actually did it.

So all of this twins angst about "opposing father even if they are disinherited" just falls flat. Nobody got disinherited, it was just dramatic posing and secrets. Forchie's angst about trying to save his children even though it could turn them away and the lengths he would go to keep them safe, also falls flat because the lengths never go to his expenses.

Not that the secrets weren't weighty. But they really had nothing to do with the whole "disinherited" business.

My character not being able to ask G’raha Tia out on a date is the worst part; he clearly seems to have a crush on the player regardless of gender, so let us have a picnic with him!