Dear SquareEnix/Natsuko Ishikawa - About Zenos in Endwalker *MAJOR MSQ SPOILERS*!

[HyoMinPark]

Sorry haters but sooner or later Zenos will come back in some way. We still don't know why he had dreams about the Final Days and what Emet-Selch did to him (convo between Zenos and Fandaniel in 5.2). Plus he's a Resonant (and probably something else we don't know yet). If he came back once, he can come back again, he probably can't die permanently. He's an awesome & mysterious character with tons of potential. I'm sure he'll come back eventually and I can't wait to see your salty tears.

Him being a Resonant is the result of the human experimentations performed in Stormblood—it’s the artificial Echo that Garlean scientists extracted from experimentation on various individuals—including Krile—and gave both him and Fordola that allowed them to manipulate and perceive aether.

Him coming back again would make him just like Y’shtola—who has “died” at least once every expansion to the point that should she actually die in the future, her death would be emotionally meaningless and have no impact. It’s been a fakeout each and every time.

I'm not talking about if it's good writing or not, but I mean sure, that's a valid opinion to have.

That’s…not an opinion. It’s simple fact. If your story is undermining the development of the characters within it, then it’s poorly written. There is no “opinion” about that.

[Elysidelphi]

What is done is done. Zenos was done dirty but bringing him back would be even worse. When it comes to long running game storylines, I think one of FFXIV's unique selling points is that the villains generally die and stay dead (unlike Trails, where the villains almost always escape to continue haunting the franchise and never get their comeuppance, or WoW where the new writers suck and can't get the audience to care about their new villains, so they keep resurrecting old popular villains).

Why do you personally think that bringing Zenos back would be even worse? Do you not think that Ishikawa could do something great with him? Maybe now that she doesn't need to focus on an entire 10-year old story and addressing all the loose ends, she could focus more on characters like Zenos and give them more depth, don't you think? There are already subtle clues in Zenos's story that she could build upon. She created Emet-Selch in 2 major patches and one expansion, she could turn Zenos around as well, develop him properly and address all the unanswered questions about/related to him.

[Senn]

That’s…not an opinion. It’s simple fact. If your story is undermining the development of the characters within it, then it’s poorly written. There is no “opinion” about that.

No, it's definitely just an opinion. If you feel like the story undermined the development of the characters, that's on you. The story worked perfectly for me since I was hyped to fight Zenos in the end.

[HyoMinPark]

No, it's definitely just an opinion. If you feel like the story undermined the development of the characters, that's on you. The story worked perfectly for me since I was hyped to fight Zenos in the end.

From an analytical standpoint—when it comes to analyzing and critiquing writing, if your writing is undermining your character development, it is bad writing.

It is most certainly not an opinion.

[DubiousDisk]

It's not over for Zenos. What is the "Bargain" he struck? I'm sure it wasn't "Let me gorge on the mother crystal and I'll save your WoL". And the way he was just left there. It feels like he'll be back but a different person tbh.

The bargain was

The scions let him gorge on the Mothercrystal to gain more power to fight WoL, and in return, he uses that power to help us out.

[Elysidelphi]

The bargain was

The scions let him gorge on the Mothercrystal to gain more power to fight WoL, and in return, he uses that power to help us out.

Was that clearly/explicitly stated/shown in the story?

[Senn]

From an analytical standpoint when it comes to analyzing and critiquing writing, it is most certainly not an opinion.

Ackshually, after many years of peer review and analyzing the data, it most certainly is an opinion.

[HyoMinPark]

Ackshually, after many years of peer review and analyzing the data, it most certainly is an opinion.

Are you accusing me of using the “ackshually” meme when you’re the one who has been doing it for several posts now?

My mistake for thinking one could actually have proper discourse on here.

[Senn]

Are you accusing me of using the “ackshually” meme when you’re the one who has been doing it for several posts now?

My mistake for thinking one could actually have proper discourse on here.

I'm not accusing you of anything though?

[ForteNightshade]

Yeah, but that doesn't really matter. At this point, it seems like the WoL has a personality of their own somewhat. And they chose to fight Zenos, plain and simple. I can understand why you may personally not like that, but that doesn't change how the story was written. And it doesn't change the fact he did develop, even if barely, because Zenos would not give the the WoL the option to walk away if he hadn't. No, the game doesn't actually give you the player an option - stop breaking the fourth wall.

It does matter. It's objectively bad writing to present the player with a choice they ultimately have no control over. FFXIV constantly highlights how the Warrior of Light is our character representation. They aren't in that scene as the narration refuses to acknowledge the choice given and forces us to answer the way it wants.

Ackshually, after many years of peer review and analyzing the data, it most certainly is an opinion.

I'd also like to point out the irony of this meme. What essentially started this back and forth is you quoting my initial post to say, "Ackshually, Zenos has the smallest sliver of development in this one scene that the story subsequently undercuts moments later." So if we're gonna meme...