What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[van_arn]

[B][COLOR="darkred"]chopchop.

What I get from this is I like Endwalker for the same reasons you dislike it. I can see it being a polarizing expansion.

I think where we can find common ground is what comes next: we're simply an adventurer again. We've done the crazy stuff, and it's time to just explore.

I still love exploring the ARR zones, too! Definitely give Thav another chance, though; I've found places in both Radz and the "proper" Thav I completely missed my initial time through!

[Escalon]

Snip~ Snip~

Oh fully agree and I'm about 100x times pumped about what comes next, not gonna lie. EW might have sucked for me, but I like I think the leads are pointing. And Thavnair I explored plenty, I consider myself an proper fisher in this game, so I explored every nook and cranny for fishing spots!

[Makeda]

There were parts I liked and parts I didn't like.

Zodiark goes down a little easier than I would have liked.
And the fact that the entire horrible situation for the multiverse was caused by an emo birdgirl that was a completely new NPC was a little disappointing. Such a big plot element should have been the result of an established character.

Otherwise I enjoyed many elements of the plot.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Walk into a room full of people tomorrow and try to explain to them the end of the workd us gonna happen in an unknown amount of time and get them to fully cooperate with you. Tell us how well that goes l o l

You’re oversimplifying the circumstances. Hades knew he was mind wiped, so did Hythlo, and both agreed no matter how crazy the claim may be, they must still listen and research due to their duty to the star. She could tell both of them and start from there. Not to mention she was a previous convocation member and she was friends with two people who were both offered convocation spots(one of them accepting said offer).

[Imperius_Relampago]

The mighty Zodiark, which has been build up as this mighty(evil) entity over several expansions, turns out to be nothing but filler trash for the first Endwalker trial

He was actually a very big threat. If he was freed, the world would be in extreme jeopardy, as given all the other things that were going on; Hydaelyn's weakened state, the End of Days, the inhabitants of Etherys would've been wiped out. It became impossible to keep dragging out Zodiark's arc through an entire expansion, which wouldn't make sense considering every Ascian, aside from a heavily corrupted/fragmentated Fandaniel, was dead.

The true cause of the Final Days is a pet-project from an ancient which goes mad after observing countless dead world and possibly causing the death of several world by projecting negative emotions unto them, and is thus dead-set on bringing despair to every world, upon which said ancient goes mad and is now letting her run her course to test humanity if they can withstand/fight despair

It's stated that the worlds Meteion visited, the inhabitants were either long dead or coveting death. Meteion began exterminating races as a kindness. It's a good character, with solid motivations for doing what she did/was doing.

Venat, who hasn't had her memory wiped + still remembers you from being in Elpis, quite apparently doesn't lift a finger to learn about Dynamis herself or to mobilize the other ancients to end Meteion then and there

She didn't gamble with the inhabitants of the now Sundered world. We, the PC, had already travelled back in time and told her about the Sundered world's beauty and our adventures in said world. She knew the inhabitants could overcome despair because she met us. Hydaelyn knew of the events leading up to when we went back to the past, because we told her on the bridge in the sky. That's where he knowledge ends. From the moment we return to the present, Hydaelyn has no knowledge whatsoever about what comes next. This is why Hydaelyn fought us, to test both our strength and resolve, and to see that we, the inhabitants of Etherys, can survive on our own without her guiding hand.

Really?
This is the best SQ could do in terms of story after ShB?

I don't understand the worship of ShB. Bare in mind, I only started playing FFXIV on the 25th of September last year (So 3 and a half months ago) and I ran through the entire MSQs of all expansions (With Endwalker being around 2 days after release) and honestly ShBs seems the weakest to me. There was no "Oh shit" moment like in Heavensward when your character arrives on a battlefield atop a First Brood (Hraesvelgr), hops off it's back and calmly walks towards Nidhogg while everyone else ran away, showing the dichotomy of the Warrior of Light and ordinary people; They run away from danger and death whereas we run towards it.

[dapperfaffer]

That’s what i mean though. They had to involve all of this convoluted time travel to try and frame the sundering as semi-right when in reality it just isn’t. There’s little reasoning for her to have actually done it when they could’ve combatted meteion themselves, and it’s not like the ancients were without suffering. We’re shown numerous times how they suffered pre final days and even pandaemonium gives more insight on that, so that whole theme just comes off as pretty shoddy as well.

Hydaelyns actions were because she didn't think Zodiark would work, and it came at the cost of their lives. She had no plan other then how best do I ensure survival of life, and if it happens again how can life escape pre WoL.
Then post WoL nothing changed, except now we now the cause of the Final Days and what to kill to make it stop. So it gave another option other than flee from the fee-fees.
The traveling to Elpis was nothing more than exposition in what is largely an exposition heavy story as all it really did was explain what caused the Final Days in a convoluted manner. And to later explain the Hermes, Fandaniel, Amon and Allegan connection.

[Conundrum]

• The mighty Zodiark, which has been build up as this mighty(evil) entity over several expansions, turns out to be nothing but filler trash for the first Endwalker trial
• The true cause of the Final Days is a pet-project from an ancient which goes mad after observing countless dead world and possibly causing the death of several world by projecting negative emotions unto them, and is thus dead-set on bringing despair to every world, upon which said ancient goes mad and is now letting her run her course to test humanity if they can withstand/fight despair
• Venat, who hasn't had her memory wiped + still remembers you from being in Elpis, quite apparently doesn't lift a finger to learn about Dynamis herself or to mobilize the other ancients to end Meteion then and there, and instead chooses to turn herself into Hydaelyn, sunder the world and the inhabitants, thereby forcing them to live with and face despair and gambling that their resilience against despair might be enough to face Meteion one day

Really?
This is the best SQ could do in terms of story after ShB?

Yeah, I was completely unimpressed with the EW story.

But it was packed with tons of emotional manipulation that made people cry, therefore everyone claims it was awesome.

[EmpyreanHelios]

Yeah, I was completely unimpressed with the EW story.

But it was packed with tons of emotional manipulation that made people cry, therefore everyone claims it was awesome.

The thing is I cried during ARR, I cried during HW, SB, and ShB. EndWalker? No. Not one tear was shed. Who or what, was I supposed to cry for? The girl in the green dress who's quest was super annoying to do? Hermes who cared about soulless beasts, but suddenly went "everyone should just die."

Surprisingly, I came really close to crying for the Elephant guy carrying the baby through the forest while fighting his own fears and getting cornered by the beasts. Really close there. If only there was more moments like that and the pacing was done better.

[Conundrum]

The thing is I cried during ARR, I cried during HW, SB, and ShB. EndWalker? No. Not one tear was shed. Who or what, was I supposed to cry for? The girl in the green dress who's quest was super annoying to do? Hermes who cared about soulless beasts, but suddenly went "everyone should just die."

Surprisingly, I came really close to crying for the Elephant guy carrying the baby through the forest while fighting his own fears and getting cornered by the beasts. Really close there. If only there was more moments like that and the pacing was done better.

The single biggest one that comes to mind is "Voices from the past". Lets have some ghosts play soundbites of dead characters that people loved.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Hydaelyns actions were because she didn't think Zodiark would work, and it came at the cost of their lives. She had no plan other then how best do I ensure survival of life, and if it happens again how can life escape pre WoL.
Then post WoL nothing changed, except now we now the cause of the Final Days and what to kill to make it stop. So it gave another option other than flee from the fee-fees.
The traveling to Elpis was nothing more than exposition in what is largely an exposition heavy story as all it really did was explain what caused the Final Days in a convoluted manner. And to later explain the Hermes, Fandaniel, Amon and Allegan connection.

Except we’re later told that’s not exactly what it was. Venat’s whole thing was she didn’t think the Ancients could overcome despair/suffering and defeat Meteion. She knew Zodiark wasn’t a permanent solution, we’re shown this in Anamnesis. However the problem here is she didn’t even give the ancients a valid chance. She gave up on them in favor of someone she had only just met. We know they can manipulate Dynamis, we know that she could in some way get through to Emet. She just chose not to. If they had at least had her mind wiped then her actions and the sundering would make a bit more sense as at that point it would be more an act of pure desperation and unknowingness.