Endwalker was "meh" (for reasons other than technical issues)

[RyuDragnier]

It wasn’t really a shadowbringers decision though. They decided this expansion to have Fandaniel control Zodiark and just immediately rush us to be killed off. They easily could’ve written a way where instead of having Zodiark killed, someone else takes control of it and undoes the laws he put in place blocking Meteion. It screams incredibly rushed action to get rid of a major character because we don’t know what else to do. Like the fact he’s been built up since 1.0 just to be killed off in the span of 10 minutes while we have to sit through hours of venat and hydaelyn preaching is incredibly unbalanced.And yes Elidibus could be in Pandaemonium but at that point its like why bother. They shafted him in favor of Venat and Emet, gave Emet basically his entire role in the story so he serves little purpose. It's hwy i hate that they just handed the story over to Ishikawa because she just shafted characters that have been built up numerous expansions just so her personal favorites can shine, and it shows heavily in the story.

Zodiark's mere existence halts The Final Days. We literally could not have them without him being destroyed. Elidibus btw, is the Heart of Zodiark. Meaning what Elidibus wants is what Zodiark wants. Thus getting more information about Elidibus gives us more info on Zodiark.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Zodiark's mere existence halts The Final Days. We literally could not have them without him being destroyed. Elidibus btw, is the Heart of Zodiark. Meaning what Elidibus wants is what Zodiark wants. Thus getting more information about Elidibus gives us more info on Zodiark.

Except it’s a bit too late for that. Zodiark is gone. Like more info is always nice but at this point it just feels like they’re shoving him into side content because they didn’t know what else to do with him lol. I find it hard to believe had Fandaniel or Zenos become the heart they couldn’t control Zodiark to undo what he did but alas we’ll never know, instead we got asspulled Dynamis and Meteion lol.

[RyuDragnier]

Except it’s a bit too late for that. Zodiark is gone. Like more info is always nice but at this point it just feels like they’re shoving him into side content because they didn’t know what else to do with him lol. I find it hard to believe had Fandaniel or Zenos become the heart they couldn’t control Zodiark to undo what he did but alas we’ll never know, instead we got asspulled Dynamis and Meteion lol.

It's never too late. Look at Hythlodaeus, he was basically non-existent in anything other than his Shade until they had us go to Elpis, and now he's a fan favorite. Also, as much as you hate Dynamis and Meteion, at least they do not contradict lore.

[Caitlinzulu]

i kind of liked heavensward very much and shadowbringers was also rather well written in my opinion.
What i didnt care for was stormbloods rushed story and the sadistic actions of some characters. No matter how well written, if stuff like fordola and yotsuyu come up i am out. its just not the story i enjoy
endwalker feels rushed but then again we only have the basic story yet, we got 5 patches of story to come before we can compare

[KizuyaKatogami]

It's never too late. Look at Hythlodaeus, he was basically non-existent in anything other than his Shade until they had us go to Elpis, and now he's a fan favorite. Also, as much as you hate Dynamis and Meteion, at least they do not contradict lore.

They do contradict lore though. In the past the devs themselves stated lb’s were aether based, it even says it in the EE. Now they’re apparently dynamis? It’s just a way for them to hand wave plot armor and plot devices lol

i kind of liked heavensward very much and shadowbringers was also rather well written in my opinion.
What i didnt care for was stormbloods rushed story and the sadistic actions of some characters. No matter how well written, if stuff like fordola and yotsuyu come up i am out. its just not the story i enjoy
endwalker feels rushed but then again we only have the basic story yet, we got 5 patches of story to come before we can compare

Unfortunately Endwalker's story is indeed over. The devs themselves said they arent doing the typical 3-5 patches of continuing the expansion story. 6.1+ will be an entirely new story, which is why im especially annoyed at all the unanswered questions they left open and didnt address. Like the fact the sundered ascians got little more than a one liner mention is bad enough, but the fact is now theyre either all going to be hsoved into pandaemonium in which case, rushed, or they just wont be mentioned again.

[Bright-Flower]

I guess I just don't get what people expected from Zodiark. We knew from Shadowbringers that he wasn't really evil or the 'big bad.' And we learned that Elidibus was his heart, so we know what his personality 'would' have been like anyway.

I don't feel like Fandaniel hijacking Zodiark and sticking around a few more levels would have improved the story any. It just would have stretched things out. I feel like going to the moon itself could have used some more in story buildup, but I don't have a problem with how things played out with Fandaniel taking over Zodiark and then ensuring he was killed. I feel like it worked pretty well as a 'disc 1 boss' right before the final days really start kicking into gear and we start getting answers.

[Shin96]

endwalker feels rushed but then again we only have the basic story yet, we got 5 patches of story to come before we can compare

Wasn't the expansion meant to end the whole arc in go? From what I remember, not sure.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I guess I just don't get what people expected from Zodiark. We knew from Shadowbringers that he wasn't really evil or the 'big bad.' And we learned that Elidibus was his heart, so we know what his personality 'would' have been like anyway.

I don't feel like Fandaniel hijacking Zodiark and sticking around a few more levels would have improved the story any. It just would have stretched things out. I feel like going to the moon itself could have used some more in story buildup, but I don't have a problem with how things played out with Fandaniel taking over Zodiark and then ensuring he was killed. I feel like it worked pretty well as a 'disc 1 boss' right before the final days really start kicking into gear and we start getting answers.

I expected him to at least get the same amount of screentime that Hydaelyn and Venat got, but again, both him and elidibus got a brief cameo and thats it. Considering how much they keep saying both beings arent good or bad but then they have one be used in a bad way and the other painted as a benevolent goddess who gets a huge amount of time to share her story and talk and has an entire arc dedicated to her is pretty imbalanced to say the least.Like when the arc is advertised as the nend of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark arc, and the official artwork depicts both of them together, i dont think its that farfetched to expect them both to get more than a 10 minute appearance.

[Tsukino]

Wasn't the expansion meant to end the whole arc in go? From what I remember, not sure.

That's right, we won't have the usual sort of "sequel" stories in 6.1 through 6.3 like the previous expansions' stories had. We do have Pandæmonium coming starting tomorrow though, and they appear to have made a model for ancient Elidibus just for it. So we won't have the same sort of follow-up in the MSQ, but that doesn't mean they can't flesh out other characters like him.

[HyoMinPark]

Do the role quests, they follow up on this happening in both of those places as well as Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, and Doma. I totally disagree with everyone saying the "Final Days" weren't there for long enough though, when we had one of only six dungeons devoted to it (two would have been horrible, especially considering we already did Amaurot) and the part that I thought dragged on the second most (next to Labyrinthos) in Thavnair chasing Matsya around for like an hour. It more than served its purpose of saying "it's going down right now, so make some decisions" in the scheme of the story.

Somehow I doubt the role quests will really fulfill what I was talking about here: the Final Days were built up through 5.4 and 5.5, through all the trailers, the PLLs—there was a lot of build up for something that, honestly, occurred fairly late in the story (level 84/85), and only affected two zones DESPITE the writers deliberately showing its effects in both Ishgard and Ala Mhigo. But the latter two locations were just completely dropped in terms of MSQ—and, as I said, it gave me the impression that more had been planned for the Final Days than what actually made the final cut.

If you want to bring up dungeons, though—compare to Shadowbringers: we had 5 dungeons that existed to purge the Everlasting Light from Norvrandt. 5 that existed to deal with sin eaters and Lightwardens. We get one in Endwalker to deal with the end of our world. As I said, feels like more was planned and then dropped for the sake of completing the story by the end of 6.0. And that just added to why I said it felt rushed and underused.

I also don't get this one at all. Zodiark is only half complete. All the ascians who really cared about bringing him back and were capable of doing so are already gone. Fandaniel's entire plan is to have Zodiark be destroyed to resume the calamity. None of this leads to Zodiark as the final boss; that ship sailed during Shadowbringers quite obviously.

I never said I expected him to be the final boss. That doesn’t mean I wanted him to be forgettable though—because, quite frankly, he is. We’ve spent years hearing about the guy, and incomplete or no, we whack at him for a few minutes and then he poofs. And we basically just move on and barely discuss him from that point.

Heavensward sucked though, I will never understand how anyone rates it higher than anything.

I mean, you’re entitled to your opinion—though I’d definitely say you’re in a minority here with it. But I fail to see what this little quip has to do with the rest of my post.