SPOILER WARNING - Sorry SE, you've lost me with the latest story

[Kazrah]

I think the Warriors of Darkness storyline was a bit rushed, but mostly because it might have to do with the two goals this patch would have for the expansion story as a whole: Eliminate any major loose ends in the current expansion storyline and confirm general direction for where the next expansion is headed. By achieving both of those goals (more or less), this allows the MSQ in 3.5 to set up the complete stage for the 4.x storyline.

Yes, it was hasty, but I think the writers did the best that could be done given the goals required and what circumstances were or might have been involved.

[silentwindfr]

snips....

in HW opening, we don't see the whole group, only the midlander... the roe, the lala, the miqote and the elezen that we follow for ages are missing.
like said they had to do it like this if you think about it.... all the video of FF14 v1 was showing the group act.... no one sole hero (what heavenwards did) the symbolic was easy to grasps. i invite you to check every video of FF14 and you will notice it. the trailer was even showing the group as they was using class and the lala was using this same attack as cast a spell on the arrow of the archer (spell and skill we have never get by theway)

it was possible to create heros of darkness totally different from them.... then why use them? because soo far for FF14 every trailer (outside hw) was showing this group, but it was not us... it was the progression of this heroes, not us.... yoshida have said it, he want to place the player in the center of the story. and how do it more nicely than say good bye to this group that did make us dream. they was a perfect incarnation of FF14 V1, but with the next expansion, finally making us get the whole eorzea, it's time to say good bye to that past for move on to the futur.

i see it like this.... we are all free to see it like we want. but for me the symbolism is too strong for be.... ignored. they was never lazy about the story, yes we can argue that some story look rushed, but it's a mmorpg, not a solo game where you can spend 10-20-30 hours for develop an arc of story, player will want to advance in pve, pvp, craft or whatever they want to do. do i feel it's sad that the story can feel rushed... maybe yes. but if they try to make it longer, they will need to add more quest and the people will one more time complain that it's too long.

plus, nothing say that this story is not simply a teaser saying us.... well one day you will go outside your world. or threat from another dimension can anytime come out disturb you. and it can be something else than ascians. for now, personally i feel the warrior of darkness story to be fitting and really deep. i will never thanks enough for this.

[Airget]

They come from another world, everyone they know is dying/dead because of what they did. They don't care about our world, our world isn't their world. Our people aren't their people. All they cared about was saving their people and they were willing to do whatever it took to achieve that objective.

You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain. Yet in the funny twist they were already dead and yet their revived bodies able to use the power of the crystal to revive themselves countless time to achieve their objective lead them to the insanity that they literally cheated death and came to our world because they were that desperate to save their world.

[Reynhart]

Eh, I had no problem sympathising with their cause. My issue is just how quickly they were written out of the plot after being teased for so long combined with the fact that the 'main cast' never seem to suffer any real, lasting consequences. I feel like Nidhogg's arc and the Warrior of Darkness arc were both rushed but that's just me.

This is kind of tricky. It felt really rushed after so much teasing on the Warriors Of Darkness...but on the other end, it would have been very difficult to root for them if they just decide to be stupid vilains who don't explain their motivation after countless fights.

[ElieDavion]

i have just 1 thing to add in the 1.0 cutscenes the elezen is female yet the wod elezen is male (atleast the voice sounded male)

[Aronys]

No, the elezen was always male. You can see him in the opening scene of 1.0 trailer.

[Seig345]

in HW opening, we don't see the whole group, only the midlander... the roe, the lala, the miqote and the elezen that we follow for ages are missing. [...]

I believe we only see the midlander in HW's opening video for, to use a word you yourself used, symbolism. The entire theme of the ending of the story pre-HW and HW's opening is that of betrayal, isolation, and being alone. The Scions of the Seventh Dawn were scattered, lost, possibly dead, and we were forced from familiar lands into new, unfriendly territory, with only a disillusioned Alphinaud and Tataru accompanying us.

The midlander was still with his companions in 2.0's opening sequence, and the lead of the Warriors of Darkness was certainly our midlander's counterpart, and his Warrior gear (prior to changing into Dragoon regalia) was certainly not the colors of the Warrior of Darkness. It certainly wasn't the Warrior of Darkness midlander waltzing openly into Ishgard. Obviously I have no way of knowing, but I believe the odds are good that in the next expansion's opening cinematic, we'll see our familiar midlander, either as a Warrior or still as a Dragoon, reunited with his companions as he sets off on the next leg of the story.

That all being said, I agree with you that certain aspects of the story can easily be left to the player's own interpretation, and I too greatly enjoyed the Warrior of Darkness segment of the story line.

[CosmicKirby]

Ultimate Good heroes of Goodness who are so Good they accidentally destroy their world.

Within DAYS of arriving on alternate dimensional plane, thrill and delight in thinking they killed a teenage elezen girl.

These are not sympathetic heroes, they're villains written for the sake of having villains in your plot. They have names the writers didn't see fit to actually use more than once, how do they expect us to care?

[Teraluna]

Ultimate Good heroes of Goodness who are so Good they accidentally destroy their world.

Within DAYS of arriving on alternate dimensional plane, thrill and delight in thinking they killed a teenage elezen girl.

These are not sympathetic heroes, they're villains written for the sake of having villains in your plot. They have names the writers didn't see fit to actually use more than once, how do they expect us to care?

This is part of my struggling with this story arc. A group of heroic characters just turning up and gleefully killing innocents - yes gleefully from their comments, recall the poison arrow bit.

And the major one for me is the Hydaelyn story with this.
"May you walk in the light of the crystal - except your world guys where I'm going to wipe hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of lives off the face of it forever - but hey, we all have our off days"

[CosmicKirby]

This is part of my struggling with this story arc. A group of heroic characters just turning up and gleefully killing innocents - yes gleefully from their comments, recall the poison arrow bit.

And the major one for me is the Hydaelyn story with this.
"May you walk in the light of the crystal - except your world guys where I'm going to wipe hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of lives off the face of it forever - but hey, we all have our off days"

"But hey, now that I have this Avatar, a girl who was accidentally teleported for virtually no reason now that the story backed the fuck down, I can send her to your world to save it. I couldn't do this before, and this was totally the thing I needed and was waiting for. And even though Light is currently killing everything you love, totally trust me on this one."