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

[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...

[Senn]

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.



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...

You can't account for every choice in this game. There have been many choices that go against how a player sees their WoL. That's just the nature of this game, and the devs work within that limitation. Would it be nice if dialogue choices mattered in this game? Yeah, it would be. But it's not like that. Some people are of the opinion it's bad writing because "my character wouldn't do that", and that's a completely valid opinion to have. I've even said as much. But the WoL does have a personality of their own (a lot of it is left up to every individual's interpretation), and in this story, the WoL decides to stay and fight. That's how it's written. If you don't like the WoL's decision or the writing in that scene, that's absolutely fair. But it's just an opinion.

Anyway, that's not at all the point I'm trying to make. All I'm saying is that Zenos did develop to a small degree.