I was quite dissatisfied with how the story was going up to Garlemald and very disenchanted. The events on the moon were ok but Loporrits aside, everything was more or less on mediocre rails.
Then there's the most epic narrative comeback: we beat Zodiark and unleash the Final Days, with chaos and mayhem everywhere. What the hell have we done?
The narrative becomes utterly grim and then we travel to the first and then a distant past with just a sliver of hope left.
The Elpis arc, which I thought would have been a mere cutscene (!!!), made me fell in love with the finale. It brought me much closer to the ascians/ancient and, even if developed shortly ( and a bit forced) Meteion and Hermes' story was appealing to me.
Even more so the relationship with Venat/Hydaelyn and the events that unfold felt like closing a circle. The hear, feel, think mantra; reminiscent of the original 1.0 intro, and rekindled as we approached Sharlyan, and the adventurish nature of Venat tickles the feels as she, that has been watching us since day one, asks if we liked our adventure so far.
From there on, another dip into the Final Day's mayhem with the dungeon littered by past friends and foes ( feeling the FFT dungeons vibe), a showdown with Hydaelyn, and then straight to the epic madness of Ultima Thule's.
Even though the sequential Scion's sacrifice was telegraphed I was too invested already and knee deep in decade-long feels and callbacks, to not fall in love with the music and the story again.
The crescendo to the finale was amazing, map climb, final dungeon through three apocalypses and final trial against Meteion.
We save the day but after her redemption comes the icing on the cake: crazy Zenos, high on the mothercrystal ( what the hell was Krile thinking?!?), challenges us at the end of creation.
We could have said no, we do it another day, but the adventure at the end of the universe was too much to pass up, and the classic final fistfight showdown.
TL;DR
Endwalker felt epic.
Where do they go from here ? And will we ever gain a voice?
Story Spoilers Post-Endwalker.
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12-18-2021, 09:42 AMKeithanStory Spoilers Post-Endwalker.
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12-18-2021, 09:56 AMvan_arn
We can go anywhere from here. It’s such a breath of fresh air having no idea what’s next.
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12-18-2021, 03:16 PMryouma17the only thing i wish for going forward is that whatever the next storyline is it doesnt take another 10 years to concludeQuote:
Originally Posted by van_arn
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12-18-2021, 04:14 PMvan_arnSo much this. I'd love a two or three expansion arc, but five was a bit much. People will always be disappointed when an arc concludes because this or that didn't get enough coverage, but that just misses the point of an ending being just as important as a beginning.Quote:
Originally Posted by ryouma17
Besides, we're not done with XIV. We still have things we've touched in the original arc (Void, War of the Magi, Locations we haven't explored) be their own arcs without needing to be subservient to the main storyline we just went through.