Disappointed in one Endwalker Aspect [SPOILERS]

[[Warning: Major spoilers for Endwalker, please don't read as I don't want to spoil the story for anyone.

So it really bothers me that Square Enix played it rather "safe" with this story. I came into the story hoping that Hydaelyn was actually going to be the villain of the story all along and we have been doing her bidding because we were "tempered" to her. I think they really did hint at this in Shadowbringers.

But no, she's a good girl all along and I really feel let down with this, feeling Square went for the "safe" option narratively. I think it really could have made this game a masterpiece in the vein of FF7 or FFIX if Hydaelyn had been evil, in an "Overprotective Helicopter Parent" sort of way and we had been forced to serve her the whole way through the game in a very "meta" sort of way as this is an MMO.

I certainly felt like that as I met plenty of characters I was doing stuff for that I simply did not care about (Tataru for example) and I felt the limited narrative choices in the story were hinting that we were under Hydaelyn's control and that's why Ifrit could not temper us.

I kind of feel a bit disappointed with this rather safe story. Its NOT badly told, infact I commend its writing but it just feels a little generic, especially with Metion just turning up from nowhere to be the "big bad".

there was nothing in the game that hinted that she was.

Not exactly sure how they played it "safe" when they literally tackled existential topics like the meaning of life, nihilism, the fermi paradox, and a battle against the very concept of despair itself.

There was no need to make Hydalaen evil, which funnily enough, was the most predictable and safe path they could have taken because everyone was expecting it.

Whether she is 'good' or 'evil' is in itself a matter of perspective.

Before Endwalker, it was suggested by a handful of posters that there could never be a good reason for a character or faction wiping out a civilisation or race right down to the very last man, woman and child.

It's very curious, then, that Venat is the exception to that rule in the eyes of some of those same individuals after it turned out that the Sundering was very much a deliberate act.

As for 'predictable' tropes, I find it curious that to some the 'evil goddess' trope would be some grave sin in the eyes of a some, but a gaggle of the more stale and overused tropes elsewhere are actively cheered on and encouraged.

Each to their own, I guess. To me, Venat is one of the most sinister villains in a Final Fantasy game to date. Others are free to believe otherwise.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

Whether she is 'good' or 'evil' is in itself a matter of perspective.

Before Endwalker, it was suggested by a handful of posters that there could never be a good reason for a character or faction wiping out a civilisation or race right down to the very last man, woman and child.

It's very curious, then, that Venat is the exception to that rule in the eyes of some of those same individuals after it turned out that the Sundering was very much a deliberate act.

As for 'predictable' tropes, I find it curious that to some the 'evil goddess' trope would be some grave sin in the eyes of a some, but a gaggle of the more stale and overused tropes elsewhere are actively cheered on and encouraged.

Each to their own, I guess. To me, Venat is one of the most sinister villains in a Final Fantasy game to date. Others are free to believe otherwise.

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Yes, she should have stood by and let the Ascians destroy themselves and let Meteion win. That would have solved ALL their problems. I'm not saying what Venat did was "good", but it was more a situation of, if she didn't, then the Ancients, unable to move forward, would continue to sacrifice their people in an attempt to get back their old world. And they would have doomed themselves. The most they were doing was stalling their own demise. Plus, she wasn't alone. In ShB, it was made quite clear she had a lot of supporters who also made sacrifices to give mankind a chance.

Btw, despite all his genocide, people still love Emet Selch because they though they didn't agree with him, they understood him. Just like most people understand Venat's motivations.

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Originally Posted by Ryaz

Yes, she should have stood by and let the Ascians destroy themselves and let Meteion win. That would have solved ALL their problems. I'm not saying what Venat did was "good", but it was more a situation of, if she didn't, then the Ancients, unable to move forward, would continue to sacrifice their people in an attempt to get back their old world. And they would have doomed themselves. The most they were doing was stalling their own demise. Plus, she wasn't alone. In ShB, it was made quite clear she had a lot of supporters who also made sacrifices to give mankind a chance.

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Them continuing to sacrifice is pure headcanon. There’s nothing hinting towards that at all. The 3rd sacrifice was to bring their people back, what reason would they have to continue sacrificing? She also didn’t have a lot of supporters. Pretty sure it’s mentioned to have been about a dozen, of whom she didn’t even tell what her actual plans were which we have proof of due to anamnesis.

As far as this expansion goes though, i do heavily agree it was played safe. There were basically zero long lasting consequences despite this being an apocalypse that one almost destroyed the entire planet. We only see the actual final days occur in two zones, whereas we merely see a few blasphemies pop up in eorzean zones. Pretty sad as many people were expecting more considering the trailer had the entire eorzean map on fire.

'It turns out the benevolent-seeming good god was evil and has to be given the smack-down to stop them' is such a cliche plot point that it would've been a genuine disappointment to see them go for that. Like, at this point it's actually a plot twist for a god like that to NOT be secretly evil.

I genuinely love that they went for an angle of her ultimately still being altruistic, well-meaning and good to the world we live in, it's just that she had to do something unfathomably horrible to make it all happen. I've not really seen that angle before, and I enjoy it.

Depends on your perspective, is Meteion winning really such a bad thing? Is there any point to saving a planet that has seen countless slaughters and evils from different species living there and will continue to do that even after this threat has been dealt with? Is it really worth it?

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Originally Posted by ddwarbird

Depends on your perspective, is Meteion winning really such a bad thing? Is there any point to saving a planet that has seen countless slaughters and evils from different species living there and will continue to do that even after this threat has been dealt with? Is it really worth it?

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The whole point of the game is that finding hope in the darkness IS worth fighting for. Those moments of happiness make it all worthwhile.

That's not what I took away from the game, I took away that Hermes never got an answer to his question and created a love doll that went insane and tried to kill everyone.