What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

My own view is they should focus on making the setting interesting whatever they draw upon and avoid any preachy lecturing, particularly if they're shifting the focus to conflicts of "values" - I still want to see what they mean by that. I too will not be sitting around to endure more Alphirants or similar, particularly if they end up pushing values conflicting with my own, especially in terms of character responses. If EW is presaging what that's going to be like? Hard pass.

A proper rendition of Egypt could be interesting, because what we've seen so far is limited to a couple of dungeons. There's also other ancient cultures, like Persia, Babylon, Assyria and Phoenicia that they could draw on - I wouldn't say no to something based off the Aztecs or Maya. The expansions (other than SB) tend to be a mix of zones after all, so there's scope to cater to a variety of tastes. As Theodric mentioned, although most fantasy games draw on Europe, it tends to be medieval western Europe, so there's other regions and time periods (Rennaissance in particular) of the continent they could explore as well, and Ilsabard would be a good place to do so. As Rulakir said, it is a fantasy game at the end of the day, so focus should also go into making the locales somewhat otherworldly, and really try to visually differentiate it from existing zones - something both SHB and EW didn't always succeed at. My hope is that the graphics upgrade will allow for more detailed zones that can more closely match their concept art.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

People seem to be under a weird misconception that primals are suddenly going to be absent from the story and/or are no longer a threat simply because means to counteract and cure tempering exist now.

At the core, they are still extremely powerful entities that were noted as taking entire regiments of trained soldiers to keep in check even in the case of the lunar primals that were undeniably weaker then their willfully-produced counterparts.

Foreign lands are not at the leisure of having access to those countermeasures, either, so I think it's a given we're still going to be running into them on the overseas continents and likely even in Ilsabard despite the strong Garlean presence.

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Agreed - tempering just made the costs of fighting them all the more pyrrhic, but given enough aether, they're still capable of posing an immense threat. Aetheric WMDs. :D

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

Forgive me if I am more interested in the story of a rugged knight/forsaken prince like Clive or Hien than I am about Alphinaud and meme-status G'raha Tia.

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Indeed, I think more variety in the Scions in that direction would help. Part of why I was hoping for a fresh cast + Estinien.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

Yes they should probably learn from what makes games like Elden Ring so successful.

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Fromsoft game, souls-like, Miyazaki's name(<most important part) plastered all over the place, HYPE! = instant success and game of the year with 0% chance of failure.

Not exactly difficult. It's like final fantasy in that (although final fantasy has at least tried something different in the gameplay).

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

I look forward to seeing the reception of a game that sees the Scions up to their usual business in the middle of New World's jungles in a world void of Gods or interesting antagonists. Bonus points if they bring Lyse along for the ride. At this point I think I'd rather put up with her than some of the present cast members because at least she is somewhat attractive to me compared to the likes of G'raha Tia, which the game insists on pushing onto me at every possible opportunity.

Of all the men in this game to push on to us, why did it have to be him and Haurchefant? Strangely enough, no women in this game even remotely seem to take on such an overtly "affectionate" role, though I suppose over time that would become as equally aggravating given the lack of an option to avoid such interactions when you're not interested.

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Alisaie would be the one filling that role. Whether the player interprets her admiration for the WoL as a simple girls crush, or a mentorship and inspiration, it is there nonetheless. That's it though. As far as the close company we keep anyway. I would also argue that no male is pushed onto the WoL more than Zenos.

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Originally Posted by Gemina

Alisaie would be the one filling that role. Whether the player interprets her admiration for the WoL as a simple girls crush, or a mentorship and inspiration, it is there nonetheless. That's it though. As far as the close company we keep anyway. I would also argue that no male is pushed onto the WoL more than Zenos.

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Alisae is a child. Not an adult. I am not interested in a child having a crush on my character. There are no adult women in this game who behave the way Alisae or G'raha do. Zenos was insufferable from start to finish. Never make another villain like that.

This cast at present is too stale to carry me through a 7.0 in a setting that doesn't click with me on top of the moralizing and nation-toppling agendas that would inevitably come from the likes of the Scions.

The events of Endwalker have robbed the world of the elements that made it interesting to be in, the Empire, the Ascians, and the Gods, and now we are left with the Scions, a community that feels that Meracydia must=Africa/Australia and that the New World must=the Americas, the twitter fandom surrounding G'raha and Y'shtola, and people who believe that "ugh another castle/European nation would be boring."

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Originally Posted by Brinne

Forgive me for being a little abrasive here, but I promise you with absolute certainty that nobody here is that concerned about making sure you keep paying.

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Is the goal of SE to sell me their product or not? Is their goal not to keep me paying my sub? The interesting things that brought me here and got me to stay are done and resolved-I didn't come here for a visual novel where nothing of consequence happens in niche settings I fundamentally have little interest in compared to Ishgard or Garlemald.

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Originally Posted by Gemina

Alisaie would be the one filling that role. Whether the player interprets her admiration for the WoL as a simple girls crush, or a mentorship and inspiration, it is there nonetheless. That's it though. As far as the close company we keep anyway. I would also argue that no male is pushed onto the WoL more than Zenos.

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As much as I dislike Zenos, his obsession can at least be seen as entirely one sided. Most games have the good grace to allow players to consent to whether a particular character fawns over their chosen hero. As another poster pointed out, Alisae is underage and although G'raha is an adult he acts like a child at times. It's incredibly off-putting for a lot of reasons - especially when player characters have the ability to perform an eternal bonding with another player character.

It's effectively marriage, so if a character is eternally bonded...why are some of the Scions treating my character as if that isn't the case? Why are they actively trying to be homewreckers? Why is there no option to tell Alisae that my character is into men and let her down gently rather than unintentionally stringing her along?

Furthermore, Yoshi-P has already referred to Alisae and Alphinaud as the 'waifu' and 'husbandu' of some players which...is pretty questionable in itself for obvious reasons.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

As much as I dislike Zenos, his obsession can at least be seen as entirely one sided. Most games have the good grace to allow players to consent to whether a particular character fawns over their chosen hero. As another poster pointed out, Alisae is underage and although G'raha is an adult he acts like a child at times. It's incredibly off-putting for a lot of reasons - especially when player characters have the ability to perform an eternal bonding with another player character.

It's effectively marriage, so if a character is eternally bonded...why are some of the Scions treating my character as if that isn't the case? Why are they actively trying to be homewreckers? Why is there no option to tell Alisae that my character is into men and let her down gently rather than unintentionally stringing her along?

Furthermore, Yoshi-P has already referred to Alisae and Alphinaud as the 'waifu' and 'husbandu' of some players which...is pretty questionable in itself for obvious reasons.

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Ngl I always felt weirded out by ppl who basically ship themselves with random fictional characters, but seeing as one of the most active threads related to FFXIV is the most vapid attempts at finding a partner, I'm not surprised.

What's wrong with having a bit of colonial era fantasy? Given the age of exploration seems to be when 14 is set.

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Originally Posted by HollowedDoll

Ngl I always felt weirded out by ppl who basically ship themselves with random fictional characters, but seeing as one of the most active threads related to FFXIV is the most vapid attempts at finding a partner, I'm not surprised.

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Yeah, it used to bother me less but we're now stuck in a situation with no compromises. The game insists on pushing the Scions front and centre at every turn to the point where new characters struggle to integrate themselves properly into the story. As much as I liked Shadowbringers, I think it would have been better if more of the Scions had been left behind.

I'm indifferent to Ryne, though I appreciated that she was a new face and travelled with us across every part of Norvrandt. Heavensward was enjoyable as a consequence of having most of the Scions take a back seat which in turn allowed Estinien and Ysayle to shine properly.

If the point is to appeal to the most players, then I’m not sure why G’raha Tia is under so much fire? He’s the most popular living character right now, so it only makes “logical” sense to use him as much as they can and avoid gruff and/or masculine types, as the player base doesn’t respond well to them.

Luckily, while we’ll probably be seeing a lot of G’raha Tia in the future, I don’t think the popularity of him or others of his type will stop them from making characters like Hien (or Gosetsu) should the plot call for it. Just like a wilderness zone doesn’t mean we will never set eyes on a castle ever again.

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Originally Posted by tokinokanatae

If the point is to appeal to the most players, then I’m not sure why G’raha Tia is under so much fire? He’s the most popular living character right now, so it only makes “logical” sense to use him as much as they can and avoid gruff and/or masculine types, as the player base doesn’t respond well to them.

Luckily, while we’ll probably be seeing a lot of G’raha Tia in the future, I don’t think the popularity of him or others of his type will stop them from making characters like Hien (or Gosetsu) should the plot call for it. Just like a wilderness zone doesn’t mean we will never set eyes on a castle ever again.

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Because he no longer behaves as the Crystal Exarch many of us enjoyed during the 5.0 MSQ and his slice-of-life stories make for absolutely nothing of substance. He is quite literally a comfort character that is still here because they did not want to go against the twitter community who would have absolutely moved on to the next available "pretty boy" the moment they stepped onscreen.

The degree to which a character is aligned with masculinity or feminity also influences how people receive them, both in appearance and behavior. Estinien and Hien are both masculine in their mannerisms and appearance and while Aymeric leans more towards pretty in his appearance, he is nevertheless a chivalrous knight-type character whose mannerisms aren't unusual.

Contrast this with G'raha Tia, who is a Face 3 catboy with hair that vaguely resembles that of a pre-school girl, with socially awkward mannerisms and general clinginess. This isn't the Exarch I enjoyed seeing on-screen in Shadowbringers anymore. He's a strange character who I am eager to leave behind.