Thank you all for your comments.

Quote Originally Posted by LineageRazor View Post
Pretty much the entire Crystal Tower storyline ended up with everything returned to exactly the same state it was in before the storyline began. All characters introduced during the storyline were gone by the end of it, and all characters preexisting before the storyline were still around after it was over. No lasting changes to setting, plot, or characters. All fluff.
This is an exceptional point, in my opinion. It feels like nothing meaningful transpired in terms of the plot and the characters. From a critical perspective: all 'new' characters were done away with, all 'old' characters were still there in pretty much the same situation. The Crystal Tower is pretty much exactly in the same state as if you'd done nothing to it at all. Thematically, it is a disappointing reversal to go from from the early eagerness to discover the secrets of a lost civilization to the ending resignation--tempered by however much bombast--that this project is beyond us, we should give up on it. G'raha Tia--whatever character he might have had, became a deus ex machina for the sake of the plot (the argument could be made that Unei and Doga were that already); and he adopts a very alienating attitude of paternalistic, holier-than-thou condescension when he seals the tower--which, even if we were to go along with SE's 'story' here, seems to contradict in its essence the fond desire that his Allagan ancestor wished to effect.

In the end, as a character, I've made no new friends, made no real 'progress' (things are only the same as they started), and I'm not sure why I went through the whole effort with the Tower at all. That's not a good way to tell a story. That's not how I felt at the end of the Praetorium. S-E can do better, and we should demand that they do their best with this game's plot, because it's very meaningful to us all.