Live Letter Thoughts

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

Endwalker, with eating burgers at the end of the world.

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You really hate Hamburgers.
Its hard to take you seriously, when you spend so much time and energy criticizing a character eating a Hamburger

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

I don't see you complaining about the silly Zenos date scene where we got captured.

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Good point, you never bring up that scene, but you constantly bring up the Hamburger.

The eating burgers scene with the Scions has a close counterpoint in HW with the dinner scene with Aymeric, honestly. And Aymeric's fork and knife and the meal presented is not remotely medieval - or even 1600s Europe. I can understand if its modernity is jarring -but then Aymeric's dinner scene was just as jarringly modern to me, and this is FF where the setting inspirations are eclectic - and good writing needs changes of mood and downtime.

If only that Zenos scene ended with either the injury of a scion or the removal of one from the plot, then perhaps the forge ahead message would've resonated more with people after seeing the mouthpieces of this message go through a more recent ordeal. In any case, if not the burger scene then we also know that Estinien putting his boot on the dormitory balcony was also rather costly. And yet, not a scene, not even a still, not even a drawing depicting the Sundering.

How can anyone justify this?

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Originally Posted by Denishia

The eating burgers scene with the Scions has a close counterpoint in HW with the dinner scene with Aymeric, honestly. And Aymeric's fork and knife and the meal presented is not remotely medieval - or even 1600s Europe.

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No, but it still was more fitting in the fantasy setting of Ishgard than eating hamburgers that came straight out of a McDonald's bag with the world on the brink of ending. The two scenes are not remotely similar in terms of how dissonant they were with the tone and setting their respective expansions were supposed to depict.

You're not going to convince me that having a fancy dinner in Aymeric's mansion where he treated the player with respect and not goofiness is in any way comparable to seeing G'raha Tia wipe the cheese falling off his burger or Alisae taking the pickles off of hers.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

If only that Zenos scene ended with either the injury of a scion or the removal of one from the plot, then perhaps the forge ahead message would've resonated more with people after seeing the mouthpieces of this message go through a more recent ordeal. In any case, if not the burger scene then we also know that Estinien putting his boot on the dormitory balcony was also rather costly. And yet, not a scene, not even a still, not even a drawing depicting the Sundering.

How can anyone justify this?



No, but it still was more fitting in the fantasy setting of Ishgard than eating hamburgers that came straight out of a McDonald's bag with the world on the brink of ending.

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I guess people don't try to enjoy a good last meal before heading off to war ever.

You have such a one track mind lol

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

I guess people don't try to enjoy a good last meal before heading off to war ever.

You have such a one track mind lol

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And that meal didn't have to be McDonald's. When the setting and characters are cheapened or disrespected like this, expect to encounter voices who are against such things. No one is playing Final Fantasy games because they want to laugh at people eating hamburgers, they want to experience a Final Fantasy story that makes better use of their screentime.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

No, but it still was more fitting in the fantasy setting of Ishgard than eating hamburgers that came straight out of a McDonald's bag with the world on the brink of ending. The two scenes are not remotely similar in terms of how dissonant they were with the tone and setting their respective expansions were supposed to depict.

You're not going to convince me that having a fancy dinner in Aymeric's mansion where he treated the player with respect and not goofiness is in any way comparable to seeing G'raha Tia wipe the cheese falling off his burger or Alisae taking the pickles off of hers.

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We weren't in Medieval Ishgard....we were in Sharlyan that is leagues ahead in Technology with a more Modern aesthetic.
There was no disrespect to the player or the games story. You are caught up on literally nothing, and think this criticism bears any weight to the game and effected it in such a negative way that its worth spending so much time criticizing it.

Also, there was no McDonolds, there was an Eatery that has created and served vast amounts of different types of Food. A hamburger is not that out of this world.

ARR's Bismark sandwich makes the complaint about a burger showing up somewhere else in EW a little silly.

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Originally Posted by Zanarkand-Ronso

We weren't in Medieval Ishgard....we were in Sharlyan that is leagues ahead in Technology with a more Modern aesthetic.
There was no disrespect to the player or the games story.

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Sharlayan, the nation that had been alluded to as being cruel and merciless when it came to handling the way in which they hoarded knowledge had an aesthetic so modern and unserious that it disillusioned those of us who expected something more compelling to be done with the place. You can be technologically advanced and modern while still keeping a tone appropriate for the expansion - but instead we got The Last Stand, dormitories, and far too many classroom lectures for my liking.

I would like to see the future locations of this game handled with better care than this one was.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

Sharlayan, the nation that had been alluded to as being cruel and merciless when it came to handling the way in which they hoarded knowledge had an aesthetic so modern and unserious that it disillusioned those of us who expected something more compelling to be done with the place. You can be technologically advanced and modern while still keeping a tone appropriate for the expansion - but instead we got The Last Stand, dormitories, and far too many classroom lectures for my liking.

I would like to see the future locations of this game handled with better care than this one was.

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Now you literally have no defense or argument here.
All you are saying is you dont like it. Could have just said that instead of all the extra nonsense.

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Originally Posted by Zanarkand-Ronso

Now you literally have no defense or argument here.
All you are saying is you dont like it. Could have just said that instead of all the extra nonsense.

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When you take a nation known for sending assassins after people in order to safeguard its grip on the knowledge it has hoarded into a college town with a burger joint, I find that to be disrespectful to the setting and something that severely damaged my experience going through the story.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

I guess people don't try to enjoy a good last meal before heading off to war ever.

You have such a one track mind lol

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There is even a history record (and movies about it) that in World War I the three armies in the thrench stopped their fighting on christmas, made a truce and bascially celebrated christmas together. Exchanging food, singing together, playing soccer and so on. Afterwards these soldiers had to be changed out because they did not want to fight the other sides anymore.

And recently with the Ukraine you have countless of videos of soldiers and the common people that are having fun while the war is going on. A young person playing the piano while the warning bells go off. Soldiers playing music to other people. Even a soldier doing a silly dance because he and his friends got Pizza to eat.

So I agree with you Valkyrie, this makes perfectly sense, especially since the Final days did not even start at that point.

And about the burgers themselves (From Wikipedia)
As versions of the meal have been served for over a century, its origin remains ambiguous.The popular book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse included a recipe in 1758 as "Hamburgh sausage", which suggested to serve it "roasted with toasted bread under it". A similar snack was also popular in Hamburg by the name "Rundstück warm" ("bread roll warm") in 1869 or earlier, and supposedly eaten by many emigrants on their way to America, but may have contained roasted beefsteak rather than Frikadeller. Hamburg steak is reported to have been served between two pieces of bread on the Hamburg America Line, which began operations in 1847. Each of these may mark the invention of the Hamburger, and explain the name.

Hamburgers are typically sold at fast-food restaurants, diners, and specialty and high-end restaurants. There are many international and regional variations of hamburgers.

I marked the high-end restaurant because these are not just sold at McDonalds.

This still doesn't justify the cartoonish way in which that scene was depicted and how out of place it was in the MSQ. I hope and pray that we get sent off to the 13th and as far away from any modern aesthetics or any potential setting or scenario that might give way to more out of place slice-of-life scenes. Let us go fight demons, see gods warring against each other - I didn't come to FFXIV to be sat down in a classroom by day and have Uber eats burgers by night.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

When you take a nation known for sending assassins after people in order to safeguard its grip on the knowledge it has hoarded into a college town with a burger joint, I find that to be disrespectful to the setting and something that severely damaged my experience going through the story.

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Where was the burger joint and What was it called? Tell me why it is there, and why its a problem it exists.
You are literally flailing at this point, you feel disrespected over nothing.
And I dont like to put you down, but the more you go on, the more unhinged you sound to the point of lunacy.

Forgive me for expecting a gripping, thematically appropriate setting to accompany the expansion set against the backdrop of the apocalypse. With the Last Stand in Sharlayan and a currently unnamed cafe set to open in Ultima Thule, it seems that everything that helped me get immersed and invested in this world is being shut away in favor of things that do not fit with what Endwalker should have been or what it was advertised as.

Is it any wonder why for many 6.2 represents a crucial moment that determines whether or not they want to carry on through more of this or not? You have fans of the Scions tired of them and wanting new party members along with those of us who didn't like them to begin with, you have fans of the Ancients who disagree with the logic used to paint them as evil or Venat's notion that they would be subject to the fate of the Plenty, you have an ongoing lack of both housing and long lasting battle content, all while Hildibrand and Loporrits get up to their usual shenanigans on the moon - with the former being widely recognized as divisive and therefore kept in an optional questline not tied to player power until for some reason they decided to tie him into the Relic.

Final Fantasy XIV needs to do better and figure out just what sort of game it wants to be moving forward. A well-crafted fantasy adventure, as the MSQ portions of the trailer would suggest, or a game with no clear identity if we take into consideration the things we saw in the 6.0 MSQ and continued push for "light-heartedness" everywhere. I have a feeling that those who defend such things would not be so turned off by the game should it adopt a more serious and nuanced approached to storytelling while those of us who would like a more focused experience are growing more and more tired of the inappropriate use of this light-heartedness coupled our favorite characters and settings being done away with one after the other.

Rather than continuing to go along with those who are fine with the status quo, I think that it is time to work towards restoring the confidence of the players they stand to lose after what has happened with this game in the past 8 months.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

Forgive me for expecting a gripping, thematically appropriate setting to accompany the expansion set against the backdrop of the apocalypse. With the Last Stand in Sharlayan and a currently unnamed cafe set to open in Ultima Thule, it seems that everything that helped me get immersed and invested in this world is being shut away in favor of things that do not fit with what Endwalker should have been or what it was advertised as.

Is it any wonder why for many 6.2 represents a crucial moment that determines whether or not they want to carry on through more of this or not? You have fans of the Scions tired of them and wanting new party members along with those of us who didn't like them to begin with, you have fans of the Ancients who disagree with the logic used to paint them as evil or Venat's notion that they would be subject to the fate of the Plenty, you have an ongoing lack of both housing and long lasting battle content, all while Hildibrand and Loporrits get up to their usual shenanigans on the moon - with the former being widely recognized as divisive and therefore kept in an optional questline not tied to player power until for some reason they decided to tie him into the Relic.

Final Fantasy XIV needs to do better and figure out just what sort of game it wants to be moving forward. A well-crafted fantasy adventure, as the MSQ portions of the trailer would suggest, or a game with no clear identity if we take into consideration the things we saw in the 6.0 MSQ and continued push for "light-heartedness" everywhere.

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......Good you know its called the Last Stand. Now, what was the point of its creation, and why is that a Problem.
My dude, nobody really cares that you would have preferred some things to different, many will even agree on some points. Its not offensive to say Endwalker kind of overhyped itself and didnt live up to some expectation, or wasnt as dark as they would have liked. This, Isn't, the Problem.

Your problem is you wanna come up and make statements that FFXIV will fail if they dont do things your way and how you feel they should be. Always bringing up other games and how they do their stuff, and say FFXIV needs to be like that. And then you go on massive rants about a character eating a Hamburger. And you start saying dumb things like Calling the Last Stand a McDonalds / a Burger Joint; devaluing and ignoring what it actually is, and acting like its a Game-Destroying event that there is any level of light-heartedness.
FFXIV knows exactly what it is, I think you are the one that needs to figure that out.

I feel as though the one instance we get of assassins from there is an outlier. Also we knew the Studium was a thing and that it was a school. The part of the Scions that were part of the circle of Knowing all attended it. It's funny how you nitpick and continously bring up that scene but not the other eating scenes. The burger happens before the Final Days starts. Yet after we learn that the towers can be taken down. Just because we know that everything is going to need to go to hell in a handbasket doesn't mean the characters know that soon after that scene it would.

We also have an eating scene right after Vrtra ended up choosing to no longer hide behind the half truth about the Saltrap. Mulling over what we know about the original Final Days and why there's a difference between why the changes by Dynamis affected what it affected.

We then again have another eating scene later on. That's part of a string of what would fit under your own label of filler mini quests. Would you still dislike that scene if it was Mist Beard somehow in Sharlyean eating that cheeseburger?

Well let's see, because I have a generally good track record of being correct about how some things would go down such as the introduction of gender-locked and limited races, trying to push Eureka on a playerbase that was largely averse to such gameplay (most of whose design issues thankfully being corrected once Bozja released), and nowadays the trend of subverting expectations even when it isn't appropriate in terms of both writing and content.

Time has often proved me right, and I would like for my suggestions to be considered given these circumstances. Choosing to not listen to the players who are voicing their concerns will, in fact, lead to the game's downfall whether they be issues with content, gameplay, writing, or any other aspects I haven't yet mentioned. You might not care about these things but I do, and I will continue to push the issue because I feel that this and others are important ones that need to be resolved so that this game can have a successful next 10 years instead of driving away its fans.

No one here wants to see FFXIV go the way of WoW. But if they don't start listening then people will start leaving and with how many titles are about to release in the coming year there's a chance that someone who has been here since day 1 of ARR might not come back. Soul Hackers 2 is releasing the same week as 6.2, then there's Diofield, Crisis Core, FFXVI, and so on. If FFXIV wants to bill itself as a full-fledged single player experience then it will have to meet the bar set by those and other games. Right now, the burgers and light-heartedness aren't helping it reach that goal.

I hope that 6.2 manages to restore my confidence in the main story at least but only time will tell if the same will be true for Pandaemonium or Myths of the Realm.

I feel obligated to once again point out that the dinner scene takes place very early in the expac, before the Final Days are even retriggered. We'd just cleared the Tower in Thavnair. People like to characterize it as happening later on, after the Final Days have started up again, as though we're grabbing a bite to eat while people are turning into Blasphemies, but that's far from the case.

It's very clear that the issue isn't the scene, it's the characters in it and the fact that people like one character in particular.

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Originally Posted by tokinokanatae

I feel obligated to once again point out that the dinner scene takes place very early in the expac, before the Final Days are even retriggered. We'd just cleared the Tower in Thavnair. People like to characterize it as happening later on, after the Final Days have started up again, as though we're grabbing a bite to eat while people are turning into Blasphemies, but that's far from the case.

It's very clear that the issue isn't the scene, it's the characters in it and the fact that people like one character in particular.

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And early on in Shadowbringers we had an inn room rather than a dormitory, saw multitudes of people die rather than get saved by a teleportation spell, and were treated by far more compelling cinematics like our journey through the rift and a brief vision of Minfilia halting the flood of light. Opening with burgers in Endwalker did not hold to the standards set by Shadowbringers, and didn't make for a very strong start.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

And early on in Shadowbringers we had an inn room rather than a dormitory, saw multitudes of people die rather than get saved by a teleportation spell, and were treated by far more compelling cinematics like our journey through the rift and a brief vision of Minfilia halting the flood of light. Opening with burgers in Endwalker did not hold to the standards set by Shadowbringers, and didn't make for a very strong start.

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Says you. I rather enjoyed endwalker.

You are not the sole owner of standards of this game.


Also, again, I'd like to point out that you can, in fact, play XIV, enjoy it, and also play other games, and enjoy them. Crisis core remake will not stop me from enjoying XIV, even though I will play it. You seem to be a 1 game person. I am not.

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Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams

If only that Zenos scene ended with either the injury of a scion or the removal of one from the plot,

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You're so hung up on this terrible plot idea that its actually annoying. Thank God you have no involvement with the writing team. Your idea of a gripping story is pretty bland honestly.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Says you. I rather enjoyed endwalker.

You are not the sole owner of standards of this game.


Also, again, I'd like to point out that you can, in fact, play XIV, enjoy it, and also play other games, and enjoy them. Crisis core remake will not stop me from enjoying XIV, even though I will play it. You seem to be a 1 game person. I am not.

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He and a few others come off as those who are burnt-out but are in a denial stage of grief. As they constantly use language those with burnt-out use but they have this strong aversion to admitting it. That admitting that the thing they enjoyed is no longer for them or at least not satisfying the itch it once used to is shameful in some way. That they're unable to play XIV unless it's their number game they pour more hours into than the other ones. Reminds me of when I stopped listening to a XIV podcast. I and several others stopped listening to it because hearing how checked out and burnt-out on the game the hosts were every week wasn't fun. That they again felt guilt and pressure to continue on because they were hosts of a podcast. It also didn't help that some of them had another thing that they were more interested in that they then would spend more time promoting then the XIV podcast.

Oh no, the Ascian sigs have invaded.

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Originally Posted by SentioftheHoukai

Neither are you. I love this community, all the rampant hypocrisy makes my day slightly less BORING.

In all seriousness, the entitled and condescending tone in so many of this forums' retorts make it hard to take people seriously on the best of days.



In the future, I'd appreciate if you didn't make assault allegories. Making light of that to take a crack at Aveyond is offensive, totally beyond the pale and unworthy of these forums. Or anywhere, really.

Kindly never utter such things again in my presence.

~Signed, someone who has gone through something of that nature~

~THANKS SO MUCH FOR SO CASUALLY REMINDING ME~

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Except I don't come here and insist my opinion is the one that matters and everything I say is the only correct way.


And if you want to talk about condescending, look no further than the people who can't talk about venat without "mOmMy GoDdEsS" ing her name and acting like anyone who likes her character is flawed as a person.

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Originally Posted by SentioftheHoukai

Neither are you. I love this community, all the rampant hypocrisy makes my day slightly less BORING.

In all seriousness, the entitled and condescending tone in so many of this forums' retorts make it hard to take people seriously on the best of days.



In the future, I'd appreciate if you didn't make assault allegories. Making light of that to take a crack at Aveyond is offensive, totally beyond the pale and unworthy of these forums. Or anywhere, really.

Kindly never utter such things again in my presence.

~Signed, someone who has gone through something of that nature~

~THANKS SO MUCH FOR SO CASUALLY REMINDING ME~

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Sorry will come off as harsh or maybe I just missed the sarcasm.

Why exactly should someone be mindful of what they say around you?

If I missed the sarcasm sorry.

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Originally Posted by Alleo

Was this second island thing on a slide in a older liveletter or should something he said? Because I really wonder why they would already give us a new one soon (this expansion) when we just get a huge one right now. Of course I take it but maybe they could simply increase the one island and give us more there instead of two different ones?

But who knows maybe that will still change in development until then.

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From LiveLetter LXVIII
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...=1#post5861033

6th image in this post
to be fair it specifically says
"Additional area for Island Sanctuary"

the 2nd island thing seems to be community imagination running away with that sparse piece of info

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Originally Posted by Alleo

Was this second island thing on a slide in a older liveletter or should something he said? Because I really wonder why they would already give us a new one soon (this expansion) when we just get a huge one right now. Of course I take it but maybe they could simply increase the one island and give us more there instead of two different ones?

But who knows maybe that will still change in development until then.

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I'm not sure where the second Island is coming from. I don't remember reading anything about a second one. Even from unofficial translations. A second one so soon after being given this one with only the devs at this time know how long the average person should take to "finish it" feels as a bit much. Especially if it would be more of the same. Just not be a tropical Island. Not saying if there is a second Island that it would be more of the same, but without more information I'm not sure how much different they could make other Islands be.

Edit: Ahh should have read further down the thread.

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Originally Posted by Zanarkand-Ronso

You've asked for more then a Heavensward Approach.

For example, you keep bringing up other games and how they do their storytelling. Thats not asking for a Heavenward approach.
Saying how we should constantly be setting up camps after a dungeon and eating food rations and hunting for food, is not asking for a Heavensward Approach.
Talking about Friction between people, Arguments. Tension between party members as seen on other games, is not asking for a Heavenward Approach

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I too want more of a HW approach, darker story where death has meaning. I also want them to take the shb approach, unravel the time loop and allow both Ancient and Sundered to have their happy endings in a separate timeline. There was no reason they couldn't have gone with a branched timeline, which would have satisfied those of us who love the Ancients.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Except I don't come here and insist my opinion is the one that matters and everything I say is the only correct way.


And if you want to talk about condescending, look no further than the people who can't talk about venat without "mOmMy GoDdEsS" ing her name and acting like anyone who likes her character is flawed as a person.

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Whether you're for or against Venat, you cannot deny she exudes Big Momma Energy™.

She is referred to as the Mothercrystal for a reason lmao.

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Originally Posted by VelKallor

Ugh. No. Never.

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GW2's mount system feels insanely better than FXIV's, like incomparably better almost. Of course WoW's original system is akin to FFXIV but if WoW is inspiring from GW2 as it appears, for dragonflight, that imo is a fantastic addition for WoW players.

I would lose all my mounts, paid included, for that system.. not that I suggest that be the way they do it if they did lol.

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Originally Posted by redheadturk

I too want more of a HW approach, darker story where death has meaning. I also want them to take the shb approach, unravel the time loop and allow both Ancient and Sundered to have their happy endings in a separate timeline. There was no reason they couldn't have gone with a branched timeline, which would have satisfied those of us who love the Ancients.

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Your personal want of something doesnt just wish it into existence. You not being able to ration why something didnt happen the way you think/want, doesnt just make it happen that way.
And again, I have no qualms or arguments against a Darker Story. But thats just not how this story is currently being told. Sorry Fam

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Originally Posted by Shougun

GW2's mount system feels insanely better than FXIV's,
I would lose all my mounts, paid included, for that system.. not that I suggest that be the way they do it if they did lol.

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Well thats a FLIGHT system. Its naturally better because its a whole mechanic WITH your mounts, instead of just having faster movement speed around a map.

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Originally Posted by BaconBits

Whether you're for or against Venat, you cannot deny she exudes Big Momma Energy™.

She is referred to as the Mothercrystal for a reason lmao.

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That's literally not what I'm talking about. It's the tone they use lol.

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Originally Posted by redheadturk

I too want more of a HW approach, darker story where death has meaning. I also want them to take the shb approach, unravel the time loop and allow both Ancient and Sundered to have their happy endings in a separate timeline. There was no reason they couldn't have gone with a branched timeline, which would have satisfied those of us who love the Ancients.

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Darker story where death has meaning, but they shouldn't apply it to the ancients. Did I get that right? You want us messing around multiple timelines (as if the time travel we just did wasn't bad enough) just so they can have their happy ending. To me, this feels more like fairytale than a "darker" story. Let's be consistent.

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Originally Posted by Anura

Darker story where death has meaning, but they shouldn't apply it to the ancients. Did I get that right? You want us messing around multiple timelines (as if the time travel we just did wasn't bad enough) just so they can have their happy ending. To me, this feels more like fairytale than a "darker" story. Let's be consistent.

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You realise there's a difference between the extinction of an entire race and one or two samey protagonists dying every now and then...right?

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Originally Posted by Anura

Darker story where death has meaning, but they shouldn't apply it to the ancients. Did I get that right? You want us messing around multiple timelines (as if the time travel we just did wasn't bad enough) just so they can have their happy ending. To me, this feels more like fairytale than a "darker" story. Let's be consistent.

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What they did to the Ancients is something that if it happened IRL would get a person executed. It's called genocide, and yes, it very well should be rectified.

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Originally Posted by redheadturk

What they did to the Ancients is something that if it happened IRL would get a person executed. It's called genocide, and yes, it very well should be rectified.

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Well, you guys keep using that word, but I don't think it's accurate.


Genocide requires the intent of eradicating a race or ethnicity. The sundering was not meant to do that. It may be the end result, but it was not the intent.

And even then, if you can "rebuild" the ancients via the rejoining, then they aren't eradicated, no? They are simply split.

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Originally Posted by Anura

Darker story where death has meaning, but they shouldn't apply it to the ancients. Did I get that right? You want us messing around multiple timelines (as if the time travel we just did wasn't bad enough) just so they can have their happy ending. To me, this feels more like fairytale than a "darker" story. Let's be consistent.

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Funny, I recall just such a story where, in spite of messing with time, the protagonists in an alternate timeline endure rather than being wiped out - yes, Endsinger looms large, but luckily the supreme deity is there to provide the right crowd with the information needed to hopefully 'forge ahead'.

As it stands, it is the major protagonists (particularly the Scions) which are by and large exempted from death, epitomised by the fact that with UT we are told it was obvious that the Scions wouldn't be dying there and would just be coming back - obvious in no small part because of the level of plot armour these characters enjoy.

Having the ancients struggle against and, say, succeed against the Endsinger in an AU is somehow materially worse than having the sundered do this in the current timeline, with the titanium grade plot armour and enveloping them at all times, against rather improbable odds, which the plot simply brute forces its way through? Seems like you only want the protagonists to be afforded this chance and solely want negative consequences accruing to third parties, by and large. So please do spare me this twaddle.

I by and large don't really care that much for an AU for its own sake, even though it'd be an interesting opportunity to explore their world under better conditions; I'd just like to see them given the full information they need to actually get an opportunity to find ways to address the situation.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

And even then, if you can "rebuild" the ancients via the rejoining, then they aren't eradicated, no? They are simply split.

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Have a supreme deity inflict that fate on the sundered then, for their own good. I am sure that'll jog Alphinaud's memory and it won't take him long to offer some choice quotes - something about not being able to tolerate their history being wiped out. BTW, she had the intention to change what they were through sundering them (she confirms this to Y'shtola), so I'm not seeing where the intention is missing.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

Well, you guys keep using that word, but I don't think it's accurate.

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It is. As per usual, my advice to you would include the typical suggestion of bookmarking this post. I know some posters really struggle to grasp concepts that have been explained to them many times already.

At any rate, here's the official definition of genocide:

https://i.imgur.com/Q6LEJqQ.png

The Sundering fits every single criteria. So...yes, it's an act of genocide. Hide it behind fluffy language all you like though if the protagonists wouldn't accept such a thing happening to their loved ones then there's really no reason for anybody else to either.

As opposed to the genocide the Ancients were planning against all the non-Ancient life that appeared after Zodiark but before the Sundering, or the genocides the Ascians committed against eight shards.

So basically both sides are terrible and we're better off without all of them.

Which she enabled by deliberately sparing Emet-Selch, as per the Q&A. What is your point?

BTW, there was no genocide of "all the non-ancient life" that appeared after Zodiark, just a portion of the life Zodiark fostered, which the ancients were divided over and was in the context of those souls inside Zodiark being in a purgatory, and which was not her primary, secondary or even tertiary reason for performing it.