What is your biggest wish for endwalker that you know probably won't happen?

[Juzjuzz]

- Higher difficulty on the new dungeons, normal trials and raids.
- Higher difficulty avaidable in solo instances.
- More skills at lower levels to try old savage/extreme content synched+min ilvl ​
- Better default stance for the guys, male miqo, aura and even male viera have weird positions.
- Less modern or streetwear glams.
- AF gear unlocked in the same roles.

[Joven]

the exarch had the perfect send off with telling us to take his soul crystal with us on our adventures while he's "guarding" the tower and, if they wanted to "revive" him in the body of graha, it should've had side effects or maybe be part of some hail mary to an unsolvable problem
then again, the plot point of yshtola depleting her life aether to "see" has been ignored the second after it was introduced, so I doubt it'll ever be a thing again (and would honestly feel pretty shoe horned in at this point imo)
I hope they send off yshtola to the first to be with runar and for graha to take a more withdrawn role (tho my bet is that he'll continue to play a part past endwalker)
maybe thancred could open up an orphanage or something

I don't think Y'shtola did that intentionally. I think it was an effect of her escape into the aether after Nanamo's "assassination". Thancred had the same problem on a smaller scale after the escape which is why he wore an eyepatch for a while because he lost "sight" in that eye. Though it is true that they just glossed over the negative effects and she goes about her business like nothing is wrong, which is kinda dumb.

[Rinhi]

I don't think Y'shtola did that intentionally. I think it was an effect of her escape into the aether after Nanamo's "assassination". Thancred had the same problem on a smaller scale after the escape which is why he wore an eyepatch for a while because he lost "sight" in that eye. Though it is true that they just glossed over the negative effects and she goes about her business like nothing is wrong, which is kinda dumb.

oh I know she didn't do it intentionally and with that plot point, her usage of aether still had consequences
until they forgot about - then she got zenos'd - then she went into the lifestream again and emet just happened to be exceptionally gifted in all matters lifestream related and got her out of it without any kind of effect on her, where even the godly elementals couldn't fully do it

[Vencio]

Personally I’d be thrilled for them to allow another tier for Paladin to have DPS role; akin to Scholar/Summoner.

I love my class very much & the idea of a crusader/Retribution holy knight sparks my imagination ((borrowed elements from WoW)).

Then again I am concerned as well if such measurements were to reach because it’ll undermine some other classes & frankly I love this game to much I have no issue with the current system at all.

PS: Left WoW last year for good over this game

[Theodric]

Fictional characters are fictional. They're not real. If someone joins the Dark Brotherhood or Thieves Guild in an Elder Scrolls game that doesn't mean they suddenly become an assassin or a thief in the real world. Even the developers themselves have stated across numerous interviews that it's all a matter of perspective, at any rate.

As but one example:

"The current state of global affairs is incredibly complex and simple two-dimensional theories of good/bad from ancient times can no longer quantify this world we live in. As such, a large factor [that contributed to the selection of these themes] is that I thought I could cultivate new values and a new sense of realisation within myself by changing perspective and carefully considering the other party’s arguments in regard to a given event. Half of the time these things are born from one’s intuition and flashes of inspiration. I guessed as much but it really is hard to explain."

Source: https://www.impulsegamer.com/naoki-y...vs-lore-story/

For good measure, here's another:

"Naoki Yoshida: Even in modern-day life, people already hold different views on where to draw the line between good and evil. The same can be said when you look back on history, in which the claims of those who emerged victorious were deemed to be right, whereas those who lost were wrong. However, with developments in culture and education, everyone knows that the world doesn’t work in a simple “good is right and evil is wrong” sort of way—I believe the world of Shadowbringers is a representation of that very idea."

Source:

https://www.siliconera.com/final-fan...gh-emet-selch/

[Lauront]

Another:

Talking of the story, what was your personal favourite while going through the expansion?

Yoshida - That’s a tough question, being in the development team, I’m involved with lots of adjustment and tweaking during creations, so I see all the cut-scenes and while in development I give feedback on if a cut-scene should be bringing up the tension in certain parts. I had to play Shadowbringers four times, so it’s hard to have one favourite part.

If I needed to pick one, there is a scene after you complete a dungeon in a cave where you see the murals that is the dream that the ancients saw which is about the war between Hydaelyn and Zodiark. Emet-Selch takes the whole party to the cave and talks about the war and Y’sthola, and other NPCs were surprised by his revelation about what had happened. This struck really hard to me.

This scene is really underlining the story of Shadowbringers. Everyone is in a different position, the view of winners will be different to those that have lost, and the truth that they may tell will also be different. There is not really any point in arguing who is right or wrong but what is really important is to understand that there are so many views, and we need to accept it; how can we move forward by us understanding each other.

Emet-Selch in particular, he has become an absolute fan favourite villain, not just within FFXIV but stacked up against any other Final Fantasy. What makes them different compared to previous villains?

Yoshida - There are several points that I’d like to make, but by saying some of them, I may let some people down and their interpretation of the Emet-Selch character. They’re a unique character. They were a tool to tell some of the mysteries that FFXIV has had, like what is an Ascian? What kind of people are they? Even though he was a villain, he is a part of the party at certain parts of the storyline, which allowed players to become more connected and feel his emotions. He was an integral character, but if I go into any more detail, I may let people down.

To tell the story of XIV, this is necessary for players to understand the Ascians and who they are otherwise it will affect narrative development and for those players to enjoy the story going forward. Not just the character design but the narrative designer and the modelling, so there was a lot of effort to bring out the true character of Emet-Selch.

[Payadopa]

The thing is, again, no ones asking for everyone to die. We’re asking for consequences. Please tell me how it makes sense that the expansion with the highest stakes so far and what’s supposed to be the darkest story yet is the only expansion where no one dies, there’s no consequences for the protags, and the one filled with the most humor.If we know everything is just going to keep going our way, it just makes the story utterly dull. I’m not playing this game so i can watch some slice of life anime. I’m playing it because it’s a final fantasy game with a final fantasy story. Every single other ff game in the series has had the protagonists lose in some way or have some form of consequences. Some of them have even had the antagonists win. I can’t help but think it’s partially due to the community. People just can’t seem to bear the thought of their favorite character kicking the bucket and so they spam things on the likes of here or twitter or reddit and SE would think it’s bad for business to kill them off. The main reason i can’t stand graha is just the amount of plot armor he has tied to him rivaling that of Yshtola. And also the fact he was a big part of 5.3 which was by far my least favorite patch. I don’t even regard his 5.4+ character as himself really because it just feels like someone’s forced in OC lmao.

We must have played different expansions then. Lots of people died. The caravan guy, Tesleen, Vauthry, the Warriors of Darkness, Emet-Selch... Who decides who's worthy enough to be counted?

It's not like I don't agree with some of your points but you're essentially saying the story is less meaningful because not enough main characters died, which is a smack in the face to the writer(s) who, according to many, delivered the most memorable FF story in recent memory, let alone for MMOs in general.

And you're reducing all that to 'but my least favourite characters didn't die therefore it's bad'. Again, that's too edgy for me. Characters dying does not a good story make.

[Theodric]

We must have played different expansions then. Lots of people died. The caravan guy, Tesleen, Vauthry, the Warriors of Darkness, Emet-Selch... Who decides who's worthy enough to be counted?

It's not like I don't agree with some of your points but you're essentially saying the story is less meaningful because not enough main characters died, which is a smack in the face to the writer(s) who, according to many, delivered the most memorable FF story in recent memory, let alone for MMOs in general.

And you're reducing all that to 'but my least favourite characters didn't die therefore it's bad'. Again, that's too edgy for me. Characters dying does not a good story make.

Nobody is asking for excessive death, just realistic consequences when high stakes are established. That's hardly 'edgy' - and it's a far more respectful portrayal than the false glorification of conflicts where the main characters return with minimal losses again and again and again.

I don't see how criticism of a lack of consequences is a 'smack in the face' for the writers, either. Especially when the game itself established consequences as being fairly common back in ARR and HW.

As for the characters who died, killing off only the antagonists and very minor protagonists does not strike me as acceptable. Even many of the single player games have been bolder than that.

Tesleen was introduced five minutes before her demise. Her death, whilst horrible and intense, meant little when no major character actually perished at the hands of Sin Eaters and the threat of their existence vanished in the same content patch that they were introduced in.

The caravan guy? Well, the fact that neither you nor I can recall his name says it all, I'd say. Much like Tesleen, he died mere minutes after his introduction. Another example of the red shirt trope in play, then.

Emet-Selch? Vauthry? The Warriors of Darkness? Yeah, they died. It'd be surprising if they didn't - because the game, unlike other Final Fantasy games, has a weird obsession with introducing complicated and sympathetic antagonists only to kill them off rather than keep them around.

Other MMO's such as ESO, GW2 and WoW have killed off major characters and even leader figures. FFXIV encases most of its cast in plot armour and that, unfortunately, leads to stagnation as far as I'm concerned.

[MikkoAkure]

Looks like the Garlean/Ascian/Zodiark apologist trio is out in force this morning.

Anyway.

Back to the topic of wishes for EW that probably won’t happen: I wish they would shakeup the same predictable progression/patch schedule. I thought they said that ShB was going to be done different than what we had before, but it ended up being more of the same. Not sure what they would do instead though and I feel like they’ve settled for the same thing to happen every single x.1, x.2, etc. patch.

I also hope they balance the jobs well enough without erasing their identities. I liked how most of the jobs felt in ShB. MCH got a much needed and appreciated rework and was fun to play for once, and they removed the dark arts button from DRK which felt more like an added annoyance rather than “engaging gameplay”, but BRD had a new identity crisis and other jobs lost complexity in their tool kit that wasn’t as much of a gate keeping hindrance like MCH was. The trade off was that every job was viable in the meta, and I hope that at least carries over to EW and we don’t go back to the dark days of specific jobs being exiled from most savage runs.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Looks like the Garlean/Ascian/Zodiark apologist trio is out in force this morning.

Anyway.

Back to the topic of wishes for EW that probably won’t happen: I wish they would shakeup the same predictable progression/patch schedule. I thought they said that ShB was going to be done different than what we had before, but it ended up being more of the same. Not sure what they would do instead though and I feel like they’ve settled for the same thing to happen every single x.1, x.2, etc. patch.

I also hope they balance the jobs well enough without erasing their identities. I liked how most of the jobs felt in ShB. MCH got a much needed and appreciated rework and was fun to play for once, and they removed the dark arts button from DRK which felt more like an added annoyance rather than “engaging gameplay”, but BRD had a new identity crisis and other jobs lost complexity in their tool kit that wasn’t as much of a gate keeping hindrance like MCH was. The trade off was that every job was viable in the meta, and I hope that at least carries over to EW and we don’t go back to the dark days of specific jobs being exiled from most savage runs.

Well what we’re discussing is a part of the topic at hand. If you look back and read you’ll see how it started. Anyhow, in response to your how shb was different than before, technically it was. The post patches were much more rushed