Quote Originally Posted by MikkoAkure View Post
This isn't a historical record of events, this is a video game. And as many on both sides have said, the video game is pretty heavy-handed in portraying Venat/Hydaelyn and her actions as benevolent regardless what the player thinks. That means that's the story the writers wanted to tell. I personally feel like it's an exercise in futility to try to poke the story in a way that makes the Ascians indisputably right when to me, the end result of the game is that the writers put Venat on a pedestal. That doesn't mean that I agree with how the story got there. There were more than a few headscratchers throughout EW especially, but it is what it is I guess.
The problem is the narrative is telling me what I should think and feel rather than my arriving at that conclusion myself through the story. It is what it is, sure, but that means it's poor writing from my perspective. I don't know if you've ever watched Critical Drinker on YouTube, but I'm reminded of whenever he's doing a review and asking questions regarding the plot when the answer to them is, "Don't know!"

Quote Originally Posted by Lurina View Post
Like, take this whole Venat/Sundering thing. If you point your frustration where it belongs - towards the choices and beliefs of the Oda, Ishikawa and Yoshida, for whom the characters and setting elements are just devices - then the whole universe of FFXIV is fundamentally something you can't agree with, and the only way to express that disagreement is to quit the game. However, if you instead shift your perspective towards seeing Venat as an independent entity, and then judge her choices by taking the jank and vagueness of the story as literal in-setting facts, you can instead just see her as a bad person within an otherwise morally neutral setting, and continue enjoying the rest of the world without any cognitive dissonance.

People did this a lot in WoW.
My anecdotal experience with WoW is people are painfully aware the issue is with the writers. Danuser, in particular, is frequently called out especially as it's implied Nathanos is his self-insert. People may hate Sylvanas, but they also recognize she got to where she is because it's her fans who are writing the story.

As for FFXIV, I didn't have a problem with it until EW. I've only been playing a few months, for what it's worth, so my POV is from having gone through all of the MSQ relatively recently. I don't know how much of a difference that makes since I know long time players who share my thoughts.