Do you feel empathy towards the Warriors of Darkness?

[YianKutku]

I think the same could be said about the WoL and Scions. They know doing everything right would lead to a Flood of Light, yet they still defeated Primals and other potential sources of darkness. The mysterious man kept telling the WoL and Scions to stop what they were doing in regards to fighting Garlemald (not that they knew) and eventually intervened in during WoL vs Elidibus.

The best way for the WoL and Scions to not spread light by defeating Primals is to not have the Ascians tempt people to summon Primals in the first place.

Like, every indication we've had is that the balance between Light and Dark would have been perfectly fine if the Ascians simply left well enough alone.

That we are fighting for our survival (in the specific case of our actions against the Warriors of Darkness and Elidibus) and the protection of innocents (in the case of the Primals) is something I cannot imagine to be considered "bad". Are we supposed to just roll over and die? Maybe cause a few atrocities while we're at it?

[SeriousPan]

Xelphatol one where they were super cliche villains. The Miqo'te especially.

Xelphatol is where the whole WoD thing falls to pieces, like I said in the post. So I'm glad people agree. It's just insane how they act and then not long after I'm meant to be feeling for them and being like "oh they had their reasons"... for being moustache twirling villains that revel in causing the people of my world pain? Cool. :P

[Abigorium]

I don’t necessarily feel emphathy for the WoDs as much as I feel that they were somewhat more relatable than our own character. They had a voice, they had a story, and they were a very dark vision of a possible future if we weren’t careful (something our character arguably willfully ignored until 5.0 forced them not to).

I’m not excited to see their story because I know everything I NEED to already, and have zero reason to be interested further. I don’t need to know every hardship they faced because I already know how the story ended. It ultimately doesn’t matter. I AM however invested in the stories left up in the air from the 4.0 job quests because they deal with MY character and the characters I’ve been interacting with for years now. That’s why it feels like such a waste imo. It’s not that I don’t want to know about the WoDs, I just don’t want to know about them at the potential cost of the quality to the job quests I’ve come to expect (even if they make it pretty long, ONE quest per job at 80 hardly seems like it will satisfy).

To be fair however, I can also accept that they probably have a lot on their plates and this might have been one of the better solutions to whatever’s been going on.

[Gula]

No, for the exact reasons the OP stated. You can blame it on the "rush job" of their arc, but their personalities and characterizations were cliche' villains with sinister facial expressions and actions right up until they suddenly weren't when the plot suddenly deemed it necessary. Are we about to travel to a new world to attempt to bring balance swaggering-around looking malicious, shady and sinister while exclaiming how entertaining it is to kill people who mean no ill-will? I highly doubt it. Their situation sucks, yes, but don't expect me to take pity on them after they're beaten and only then decide to expose their situation after being purposely menacing (and smug) without a hint of diplomacy.

Also, I didn't know what the job Relics (?) looked like. So I saw a WAR with a bloodied axe and an absolute butthole to boot. There was no anti-hero vibe. That was just evil. So when the switcheroo came, I was kinda like- oh.

[Theodric]

Yes. I found them to be fascinating characters and never struggled to feel empathy in response to their plight. Arbert's voice actor did an incredible job, too, so that helped immensely. I was disappointed when their story arc ended abruptly so the news that they'll show up again in Shadowbringers is very exciting. I only wish they would have shown up as themselves in the present as they made for much more engaging rival characters in my eyes compared to Zenos.

[JeanneOrnitier]

It was pointed out to me in an in-game conversation tonight that the lore book says Arbert's axe, according to legend, drives its wielder insane. That may account for his more villainous personality in some cutscenes.

Yes. I found them to be fascinating characters and never struggled to feel empathy in response to their plight. Arbert's voice actor did an incredible job, too, so that helped immensely. I was disappointed when their story arc ended abruptly so the news that they'll show up again in Shadowbringers is very exciting. I only wish they would have shown up as themselves in the present as they made for much more engaging rival characters in my eyes compared to Zenos.

I definitely agree with them being more compelling than Zenos, for sure. I'm re reading the lore book tonight and the WoD profiles are making me really look forward to the role quests in Shadowbringers, I hope that we see all these meetings the book talks about.

I do wonder one thing though: How long ago were they alive? Their story in Heavensward made me think the Flood of Light was recent, but now in ShB we're seeing that the Flood has been going on for so long that the people of the First have legends about a bringer of night and all that. Does time flow differently between the Source and First? Or perhaps the Warriors of Darkness were sitting around as bodyless souls for a lot longer than we (and they) thought?

[RopeDrink]

Do you feel empathy towards the Warriors of Darkness?

I'm of the opinion that those who DON'T empathize with them probably haven't been keeping up with the story or just skimmed through it without much care.

The reason the WoD's were so engaging was the simple fact that they are a representation of what would happen if YOU remained unchallenged and essentially pushed Hydaelen to victory. They were just like us, making their own way as adventurers on their own world (shard) and finding themselves lumped with the same responsibilities we did - except they succeeded on all fronts, so much so that the "Light" was victorious... And this decimated their world outright. It is through them that we come to realize the need for balance to enjoy the shard/world as it is, whereas either Hyde or Zodi winning the Light v Dark battle would doom us all.

In short, they are a prime example of why we are becoming WoD's for the next expansion. You have to feel sorry for them because they didn't do anything wrong (in the context that they were just like us and doing the same things we're doing) and simply fought in the name of Hyde without knowing what we know now, and thus doomed themselves.

Bah, no need to explain it when you can let Arbert (WoD) himself do it. Props to Joe Dempsie, he did a solid job on the acting front. Also find it amusing how we've had one kinda-not-really villain voiced by Gendry from GoT, and now we have another not-really villain voiced by Roose Bolton (Shadow Hunter van Baelsar).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMMr_BZddAw

[dragoelete]

honestly im starting to think that maybe time in the shards moves differently than time in the source. because as someone pointed out in another thread the 1st calamity apparently happened only like 50-100 years after the sundering. with how the ascians usually like to take things slowly i dont see them finishing off one of the shards in such a short amount of time.

[Theodric]

I definitely agree with them being more compelling than Zenos, for sure. I'm re reading the lore book tonight and the WoD profiles are making me really look forward to the role quests in Shadowbringers, I hope that we see all these meetings the book talks about.

My main issue with Zenos is that he simply doesn't care about anyone around him. He has no sympathetic motives or goals. The Warriors of Darkness, meanwhile, clearly cared for each other and those that they left behind. Seifer cared about Raijin and Fujin in FF8. Gabranth cared about Larsa and Drace in FF9. The Turks cared about each other in FF7. Such a setup makes for better storytelling, so I hope FF14 leans on it more frequently moving forward.

[JeanneOrnitier]

Zenos is just extremely flat as a character. "I love battle" is the only aspect of his personality, and I roll my eyes whenever he's on screen. Especially when he's acting like him and my character are somehow frenemies. No dude, you're just a two dimensional evil empire man, I don't have any deep connection with you.

But yes, it was really nice how the WoDs had their camaraderie. That's another thing I'm really excited to see in the role quests in ShB.