Is it just me, or are Expansions getting more brutal and depressing every time?

[Xuled]

No and none of the expansions have been “dark”.

[lalin]

i think if someone who struggles with depression or anxiety , who already have these thoughts on daily basis (why am i alive , what's the point of life? ) and such would find this expansion to be depressing .

[lezard21]

They are getting more depressing, yes.

It's depressing the lack of content and the more and more features that get cut with each new expansion.

[ApolloGenX]

I thought HW and ShB was awesome and not depressing... oh sure, they had sad moments of course, but they were epic. This one was ..... meh, nice fanservice getting to meet the Ancients... but overall it was a letdown....but it's the curse of the even number expansions! One good, one bad.

[Raven2014]

I don't really have a detached, meta minded look at things. Seeing brutally violent acts happening to any living being, whether named or not, is still very disturbing to see.

I don't look at characters are mere pieces or tropes. If I see a character being eaten alive, that's a very brutal and disturbing thing.

Amen my man, I hope and wish there are more players like you, who can appreciate the general world in its entirely rather than individually. But as you can see, a good chunk of players seem to be desperately need to see someone specifically close to them to die while what happened in the game world as inconsequential.

[Izar_Chillen]

This expansion needed phasing to tell the post Zodiark story . The old ARR/HW/SB zones should have needed us to go fight Blashpemy FATE bosses , and monsters in a separate phased version of the old zones for EW MSQ players (red skies , star showers , lvl 90 EW monsters in low lvl maps destroyed inns/buildings on fire)

It would have been awesome to see old dungeons redone as 90 dungeons with blasphemous monsters inside as post (non trust) capstone blue quest dungeons , or trial boss maps

[ThePlayerOne]

Hi, in my opinion you are right, in any case you do not have to read them all, press left mouse and you will go fast.
Of all the expansions this is the one i liked least, the only area where there are acceptable conversations are Elpis and Mare Lamentorum in my opinion.
p.s. the areas are all beautiful

[ApolloGenX]

Although I did enjoy this expansion- I have to say it gave me DQ Elusive Age vibes.... except that game had the flashback plays, the mysterious final character, and the time travel components down really well...it wasn't just a fanservice grab at nostalgia... they really gave it the effort it deserved.

I honestly feel like this was a FFXIV budget version of that game. Was it dark? Not too bad, really... but it just didn't give the time to things to really develop.. it was rushed and then ending felt a bit cheap.

TLDR: This expansion was ok, if you liked it, check out DQ Echoes of An Elusive Age... it was really fun and took this concept a LOT farther.

[NishaSetsuya]

Storywise there is buildup and then filler. The threat of Despair filled dynamis killing the inhabitants loses agency when met with the filler of the WoL time traveling into the past. IMO the entire planet should have been affected and reflected in every zone.

The Final Days bit in Thavnair was probably the best in the game before it dropped off hard.

The fact that it is not reflected in every zone is because "the final days" only hit first where the astral ether is less dense that why in other zone we have a really clear sky.

Some part of the story in endwalker seem like a deus ex machina but is not really like, everything that happen don't appear out of nowhere and are always because of the action of some character

[Bacent]

They are getting more depressing, yes.

It's depressing the lack of content and the more and more features that get cut with each new expansion.

It's true he thinks that. He makes threads about it and even brings it into other threads like shown.