The ending to Stormblood...

[Lersayil]

I had to deliberately lose the fight and adjust my glamour so I could look more heroic just for that moment lol. It was awesome.

Never forget to equip your heroic Namazu head.

[Derio]

I wish Hien had more skills though. I feel if they gave them at least 8 abilities it would make the fight more interesting or shorten the fight because those 3 moves get boring real quick.

The ending was just what I expected, because SB in my opinion has just been lackluster in terms of story and I expect SHB to be much much better.

[Gemina]

Reviving this thread since I just wrapped up the MSQ. I was really looking forward to reading everyone's comments, but avoiding spoileys was a must.

I echo a lot of views such as the finale not needing to be a two parter, but there is a lot I am ok with that many of you have expressed a discontentment for. Things like Estinien ex machina. I can understand that many would like to have seen it ala Omega vs Shinryu, but this is our fight; not his. He had his time in the sun with Nidhogg.

From what I understand from Aymeric's statements was that there really wasn't much of a fight, and Estinien just intervened Elidizenos from delivering the killing blow. The ascian was pushed to the point of exhaustion during the fight with the WoL (or at least his vessel was), and needed to flee at that point. Varis even mocked him saying, "I thought you could kill Eorzea's champion as easy as one could swat a fly?" He then just stood there and was like, "well... ummm… I'll get her next time." I strongly disliked that Elidizenos reduced himself to a chump, taking advantage of an incapacitated WoL in order to win. I feel the REAL Zenos wouldn't do this; he would have sheathed his Katana, and say, "We'll finish this when you're at full strength."

I enjoyed the actual fight, and did it as DRK. I feel like it would have been really bad for the ascian if we were not so inconveniently 'called'. As a huge Castlevania fan, and if you love those games, you find out that when you face a Belmont as an opponent, they are some serious ass kickers. I would not want to be someone the WoL wants to kill. Like at all. Controlling Hien during the first part doesn't bother me that much. I suppose they could give at least a couple more SAM skills and still keep it simple, but Yugiri shined in that fight with the use of her shadow clones, and a x4 NIN LB3. Gawd I hope NINs get shadow clones in 5.0. It would be Christmas in July! Lyse getting in a nice punch, revealing how Zenos' mask breaks was also gratifying after her being pretty useless in SB.

Zenos' obsession with the WoL isn't entirely one-sided. At least not from my own character's lore. There's a strong connection present between the two, and I enjoy that he calls us an enemy and a friend. Though these scenes where he says such the actual WoL knows nothing about, she knows the actual Zenos has not rejoined with the lifestream, and desires to liberate his body from Elidibus' possession. One of the things I yelled during that fight was, "Give it back! Deceiver!"

Our hooded figure definitely left more questions than provided answers. We still don't know anything we didn't already know. I feel like SB actually concluded around 4.3, and we pretty much are already in ShB. The transition to the WoD is a slow one, but I am ok with that. All in all SB felt rushed, but I still enjoyed the majority of it. No additional scenes from Gaius was also disappointing.

I was strictly told to get some rest while Cid and Co search for this beacon, so I guess it's time to renovate my home!

[TheMightyMollusk]

I felt like the storyline didn't end so much as just....stop. I think it would've had more impact if the Scions' incapacitation had been held until later, to set up the big mystery. Instead, we go through Ghimlyt Dark 2: Doman Boogaloo, a dragoon ex machina, and an obvious setup for a fetch quest....and that's it. Come back in a few months. Nitpicking follows.


Why was Hien, the head of a nation, on the front lines, when according to Raubahn there hadn't been any major action since the first attack? I could buy Yugiri leading a scouting party, but it makes little sense for Hien to be out there.

Estinien's cameo makes no real sense. There's been no indication that he was anywhere nearby, or that he's kept tabs on us since the Royal Menagerie (depending on when/if one does the level 70 dragoon quest), and he doesn't really do anything. It's like they just wanted to remind us that he's still alive. If someone really had to run in to save us, they'd already set up Raubahn saying he might have to take the field....

Why were we taken to Ishgard? If we were that badly injured, then logically we would've been treated at the Resistance base camp. Not to mention, getting to Ishgard from there would require passing through Ala Mhigo, then Gridania (home of the Conjurers' Guild, no less), then within spitting distance of Revenant's Toll. I can understand not stopping in Ala Mhigo, since if the front line there falls, the city's next, but carrying a seriously wounded person farther than necessary is generally a bad idea.

On a less nitpicky note, why were we not allowed to hug Tataru when she broke down crying? Our favorite little potato needs a hug, damnit!

[Akonyl]

Was hoping for a bit more to be honest, especially in comparison to how 2.0 and 3.0 ended. This didn't need to be split into two patches

If I had to guess, the reason it was split had nothing to do with the game itself and 100% with the fact that they didn't want to reveal the First before JP fanfest. Until then, basically everyone was on the timetravel train, not too many people thought we were gonna be world-hopping, so combining this into the previous patch would've killed some of the surprise.

[Bright-Flower]

I wish Hien had more skills though. I feel if they gave them at least 8 abilities it would make the fight more interesting or shorten the fight because those 3 moves get boring real quick.

The ending was just what I expected, because SB in my opinion has just been lackluster in terms of story and I expect SHB to be much much better.

It's a bit of a catch 22 with these 'control a npc' quests.

Do you give them interesting rotations? Then we have to learn how to play them well only for it to not matter 5 minutes later when we're done with them. Do you keep it simple? Then the gameplay is super easy and dull.

If they actually gave them more involved movesets you had to take advantage of to win it would be frustrating.

[Gemina]

Why were we taken to Ishgard? If we were that badly injured, then logically we would've been treated at the Resistance base camp. Not to mention, getting to Ishgard from there would require passing through Ala Mhigo, then Gridania (home of the Conjurers' Guild, no less), then within spitting distance of Revenant's Toll. I can understand not stopping in Ala Mhigo, since if the front line there falls, the city's next, but carrying a seriously wounded person farther than necessary is generally a bad idea.

On a less nitpicky note, why were we not allowed to hug Tataru when she broke down crying? Our favorite little potato needs a hug, damnit!

I wouldn't say the WoL was 'badly' injured. He/she sustained injuries for sure, but the greater concern was that the WoL lost consciousness like the other Scions due to being called. If the WoL did have serious physical injuries that required immediate medical attention then they would have taken him/her somewhere closer.

Then there is the matter that the conjurers were already taxed. Zenos basically laid out a battalion of troupes during the Empire's push including Hein, Yugiri, and Lyse. Their injuries very likely required whatever nearby medical facilities were available. Plus, there are all the other soldiers from the previous battle of Ghimlyt Dark still being attended to as well.

I also think it is easy to assume that Aymeric demanded the WoL be taken to Ishgard. There, he/she would be totally protected and also receive greater care if needed due to more available resources. On a personal note though, because of my attachment to Ishgard, there would be no better place to take me.

As for Tataru, I totally agree. I wanted to hug her so badly, and we probably wouldn't even had a choice if it was actually played out. Tataru would have launched herself at the WoL much like Nanamo has done with Raubahn as emotional as she was. Unfortunately, the WoL has very limited physical interaction with characters on screen, and we have to kind of fill in those blanks ourselves. So if that hug happened in your mind, then it actually happened.

[Iscah]

I felt like the storyline didn't end so much as just....stop. I think it would've had more impact if the Scions' incapacitation had been held until later, to set up the big mystery. Instead, we go through Ghimlyt Dark 2: Doman Boogaloo, a dragoon ex machina, and an obvious setup for a fetch quest....and that's it. Come back in a few months. Nitpicking follows.

I wrote in the equivalent topic on the Lore forum, everything seems to point to the story having been written with Ghimlyt flowing directly into the events of 4.56, without a break, and it's been roughly cut in half just for the sake of delaying it.

Hien & co.'s presence on the battlefield makes more sense as a continuation of the dungeon.

"Zenos" arrives at the end of 4.50, and in 4.56 Raubahn says the army must have been biding their time until he arrived.

Alisaie is 'taken' in the post-dungeon scene of the Ghimlyt Dark, and when we awaken after the battle, we have the option to ask whether she specifically is alright, or ask about the Scions in general. Which makes far more sense if she has just fallen than if all of them have been out for months at this point.

Also, a continuity error if you're looking in the right place - if you talked to Emmanellain after 4.50, he says that Artoirel is with the army at Ghimlyt (and Artoirel is absent from his usual location). But in 4.56, Edmont says he has just left!

---

I guess the question is, did they only ever have one story that had to be cut in half at the least-awkward place, or was there different content written for 4.56 that got pushed back into 5.0? They did say we'd learn what happened to the Scions, and we haven't, so perhaps something has been removed from their original story plan.

[SilverObi]

If I had to guess it was more about tradition or inertia to split the final story patch in two. The catch is that actually felt appropriate for the previous expansions but this one was a classic cliffhanger with no real direction or purpose to derive from it. Being told we'd be able to finally go to the First wouldn't have undone the awesomeness of the full trailer reveal and in fact would've given more context to the cutscene upon seeing it. But that's just what I think, they like repeating things over and over so hey we cut the last two stories in half so let's do it again regardless of story beats and narrative impact!

[Liam_Harper]

Do you give them interesting rotations? Then we have to learn how to play them well only for it to not matter 5 minutes later when we're done with them. Do you keep it simple? Then the gameplay is super easy and dull.

There's a middle ground though. The bulk of Hien's rotation was pressing 1.

Give him a 1-2-3, Midare on a cd, a flashy limit break and maybe a Kenki bar with Guren and it's very easy to pick up, will probably be fine if you misplay but feels more like a rotation and you have some flashy attacks to hit hard with and feel powerful.

If a "control an npc" quest means press 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, Dot, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1... then you lose because you aren't the WoL, what's the point?