Stormblood ending was thoroughly disappointing

[Dreggit]

I guess I felt more bothered by what felt like a bait and switch of the narrative focus then anything else. Being so lopsided I guess the player character doesnt really need to be amazing 100% of the time.

[Jandor]

Except, when it came to the day of release, it wasn't. Narratively, I felt we spent most of the expansion in Othard. Many of the major characters and conflicts seemingly come from Othard and while the story segments in Othard was great. I kept feeling that it was shoehorned in for us to go to this region.

I loved the whole eastern arc. Crossing the Ruby Sea, searching for Hien, the tribes of the Steppe, retaking Doma.

Solid stuff, loved it, but yeah the whole time I had this niggling voice saying "Why is the strongest person in Eorzea sailing off to the other side of the world for almost entirely unrelated adventure an acceptable response to the resistance in Gyr Abania getting soundly crushed?"

[TheHeavenAbyss]

I loved the whole eastern arc. Crossing the Ruby Sea, searching for Hien, the tribes of the Steppe, retaking Doma.

Solid stuff, loved it, but yeah the whole time I had this niggling voice saying "Why is the strongest person in Eorzea sailing off to the other side of the world for almost entirely unrelated adventure an acceptable response to the resistance in Gyr Abania getting soundly crushed?"

I don't think it was unrelated. IIRC they said it was to make the Empire fight a war on two fronts, giving an advantage to the Resistance. Yeah, they felt like two different stories, but the progression made sense to me.

[Mansion]

It did make sense, but it was far from balanced and focused,

I think that's the main thing. I think almost all the Doman arc is well written, although I don't like the Steppes part because it just felt for me as a wonky "btw, au ra come from there, see? ok now it's done, back to the story".

Then the Ala Mhigo arc is okay, but suffers greatly to be cut in two parts (I had forgotten most of it when we came back from Doma), and the big fight does not resolve anything because of that lack of focus and build up to it. And although as I said, they nailed the patches 4.2 and 4.3, but 4.1 just brushed what I actually would have loved to see, aka the reconstruction of Ala Mhigo, and some lore through key characters (maybe other flashbacks).

And now we are in another whole new story to take us into 5.0. My only hope for Ala Mhigo would be a heavy focus in 4.5, with some Garlemald attack or something like that. But I'm pretty sure we'll get back to Othard for some reason, and I kinda think 5.0 will be located around Dalmasca / Thavnair / Garlemald so it would make sens that 4.5 would unfold in Othard again for a bit.

Stormblood is good, it's just that the comparison to Heavensward focused and overall excellent writing is not so kind to it, I guess..

[Jandor]

I don't think it was unrelated. IIRC they said it was to make the Empire fight a war on two fronts, giving an advantage to the Resistance. Yeah, they felt like two different stories, but the progression made sense to me.

Yeah, they said that, but they never really show it.

Zenos pops over to see what's going on, tells Yotsuyu to get it sorted out and then hops back on his airship and flies away. We're told that we're over there to open a second front, but at no point does it really seem like the Empire is going to shift troops and equipment away from the Western front to deal with us. In fact, the whole Doma arc really gave me the impression that the Empire couldn't give two ****s about the place, which incidentally lends towards making our liberation of it seem more plausible.

Even if they do care, and they were going to shift things around and bring in some reinforcements, they never get chance. We pretty much fail spectacularly to open a second front to be honest, before it has a chance to become a bitter fight that bogs the Empire down, we go and bloody win it.
It might sting a bit to lose Doma, but at least losing it means it becomes a problem for another time. Any remaining troops can be safely shipped west to Ala Mhigo as an independent Doma is basically a non-issue for the Empire, Doma lacks the means or the will to be anything more than a minor annoyance. No proper army, no means to cross the burn, no desire to expand beyond their borders. The most they will do is send spies to engage in some sabotage and stir things up, annoying, but nothing that really poses an immediate existential crisis.

[TheHeavenAbyss]

Well, we do see some of the effects of liberating Doma in the Ala Mhigo front, because the imperial lupin troops end up joining us because Doma is now free, and since there are other Doman soldiers in other parts of the army, I think it's safe to assume that there were some more internal problems for the Garlean military (although that's me assuming). But, yeah, in general, I'll agree that it could have been conveyed better, and it seemed like Ala Mhigo was put a bit too much on hold.

But I guess it's not something that bothers me much about the writing of Stormblood in comparison with some of the issues I have with the story of Heavensward (like Thordan's motivation and objective, which I thought was a bit weak and poorly explained), since I mostly care about the characters, and in general I preferred the ones from Stormblood.

[Iscah]

Doma lacks the means or the will to be anything more than a minor annoyance. No proper army, no means to cross the burn...

No means to cross the Burn... except for when Hien feels like dropping in to say 'hi' to the Eorzean Alliance.

[Cilia]

I have to agree that a major flaw in Stormblood's storytelling was the disparity between East and West.

We started in the West, headed East at ~62, and didn't get back until ~67. Intentionally or otherwise, Rhalgr's Beacon felt like a much smaller conflict than the effort to free Doma... even though more battles were fought in the West, the time spent in the East made it feel lesser, for want of a better term.

Consequently this makes the Lochs rather like Azys Lla: really big open area with lots to explore, but very little explanation in regards to major landmarks and such.

[Rosenoire]

No means to cross the Burn... except for when Hien feels like dropping in to say 'hi' to the Eorzean Alliance.

He doesn't have to go that way--he can presumably take a ship from Kugane, or, since he's not Garlean, he can use an aetheryte.

[Rosenoire]

I have to agree that a major flaw in Stormblood's storytelling was the disparity between East and West.

We started in the West, headed East at ~62, and didn't get back until ~67. Intentionally or otherwise, Rhalgr's Beacon felt like a much smaller conflict than the effort to free Doma... even though more battles were fought in the West, the time spent in the East made it feel lesser, for want of a better term.

Consequently this makes the Lochs rather like Azys Lla: really big open area with lots to explore, but very little explanation in regards to major landmarks and such.

The pacing was a big part of the problem, for me. It felt like we were just starting to get into some real action in Gyr Abania when Rhalgr's Reach is attacked. The first dungeon of the game happens out in the ocean and has no relevance to anything else. Then we get to the East and it's another reset as we learn our way around Kugane just in time to head off to the Ruby Sea. It wasn't until Yanxia that I really felt a sense of urgency starting to build. Once we move to the Steppes, there's a clear ramping up through the Naadam, to Doma Castle...and then it's back to the West and we're starting over again.

It all felt like the story was being told in fits and starts. By the time I felt engaged by one arc, it was over and we're off somewhere else.