*Spoilers* Anyone feel joining Emet would have been better

[Nilroreo]

Actually, Yoshi-P said in a recent interview that wasn't the case. He was always planned to show up again in Endwalker.

I know, but I'm pretty sure he did mention It was in part due to the positive reception of his character in ShB. I didn't completely mind his appearance in Elpis, I more so meant his appearance in Ultima Thule.

[Nilroreo]

He didn't. He said that was the plan even before the positive reception and that he specifically prevented merch of the character from being made during ShB because his role wasn't finished.

Hmm, Oh well. Ill take your word for it. Too lazy to check myself. Either way his appearance towards the end i felt was a tad corny among other things in that area, but that's just me.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Actually, Yoshi-P said in a recent interview that wasn't the case. He was always planned to show up again in Endwalker.

Yoshi P says a lot of things that aren’t exactly true tbf.

[Denishia]

Hmm, Oh well. Ill take your word for it. Too lazy to check myself. Either way his appearance towards the end i felt was a tad corny among other things in that area, but that's just me.

I'm just happy that someone else who actually liked his character also thought the Ultima Thule appearance was overkill. It took away the narrative focus that should have been on Meteion and the WoL and made it about Emet (and Hyth) that felt like gratuitous fanservice for those that liked that character. The only time I felt tempted to skip a new cutscene in the MSQ. For me, Emet is the prime example of how a well-written character can be one I loathe and find utterly unenjoyable to have in a narrative. His voice actor is skilled and fits the character- and exudes a negative charisma that made his choice of narrator for Endwalker my biggest problem with the Expansion.

[Lurina]

He didn't. He said that was the plan even before the positive reception (and that nothing changed because of it) and that he specifically prevented merch of the character from being made during ShB because his role wasn't finished.

This is not correct. He explicitly said that they "added lots of fanservice" regarding Emet because of his reception.

[Pofruin]

'Spriggy-selch reveal true face now! Spriggy-selch is Spriggades!'

Thank you for this ray of Hope in nest of Despair that is Lore forum lately.

I do still believe this is incomplete. There must be slightly taller Hytlogann somewhere close. And at least once he should ask: Gee, Spriggades, What do you want to do tonight?

[Lurina]

I'm not sure which interview you're thinking of, or if you understand Japanese and want to correct a mistranslation that's been going around, but he talked about it during Radio Mog Station a few weeks back.

That's what I'm talking about. He literally used the term "fan service" to describe his approach to Emet in EW in that interview.

[Lauront]

Genocide is an act, not a slur, and the context in which it is being used is appropriate with most understandings of the word, that being the deliberate killing of a specific group of people. 'A people' such as the Ancients, who are a people. The Sundered, who from an Unsundered's point of view would be another people. It's not being used to be 'spicy,' its being used because there are few more proper words to describe the acts that took place in this fictional world. If you are not able to stand people using a word accurately that isn't even harmful by itself, in a fictional setting of all things, then I do not know what to tell you. No.

If you object to the word "genocide" being used in this fictional context, the time to object was approximately three years ago when it entered common vernacular in the FFXIV fandom. The horse, cows, and sheep have long since left the barn. Instead, just be thankful you don't have "genocide apologist" lobbed at you for being supportive of a character that enacts one.

Agreed on both counts.

I only joined in on the convo about a week ago for this exact reason. I just wanted to vent a bit about how strangely hypocritical EW message was in regard to moving forward passed hard times among other things. I already discussed it in length but G'raha really is basically guilty of nearly committing an act the ascians are vilified for just one expansion later. I like G'raha but no amount of sugarcoating his situation will ever change the fact that his erasure was his intended outcome, and I'm not afraid to call this out.

On the topic of Venat vs Emet, Ill preface this by saying I had no reservations about killing Emet. I really like the guy, probably the only brutally honest character in the whole game, but it was survival, and I was fine with his death. Hell, I actually wished he stayed dead instead of having his corpse dragged back out of his grave for fanservice. As for Venat... Surprise, I actually liked her character, loved her even! I enjoyed every second with her on Elpis, right up to the end of KH when I noticed she came out with us. At that moment, I could feel the cogs rotating in my head and I remember telling myself that this singular decision is going to have ramifications rippling across the entire game and call everything Hydaelyn has ever said and done into question, and I was right.

My thoughts on that run along similar lines. Less so in regards to the bolded, but I thought he was at least handled well given the nature of the story (MMO with a defined path.)

It's kinda funny cuz I've been bingeing this game from beginning to end since early September shortly before my father passed away (ok this part isn't funny), so you'd think this expansions uplifting message would be right up my alley, but not quite. I'm fairly good at detaching my personal life from the media I consume, so most of its more sentimental bits, particularly in the final area didn't quite land for me on account of the expansions lack of stakes.

Yep, similarly here. I tend to compartmentalise these things.

Makes me glad I don't use reddit.

It's good for picking up on things like interviews, but it's not exactly well suited to discussion, at least not in the case of the XIV reddit. Very dependent what the subreddit is devoted to, I suppose.

[KariTheFox]

Keep in mind that the term "fan-service" has a slightly different connotation in Japanese than the strictly negative connotations it does in English.

[Lurina]

This is what I'm referencing, as translated by someone from the FFXIV Discord, but if you have a different interpretation or I'm missing something I'd like to hear it!

What you've posted here is a rough translation of the Japanese cliff notes of the section, itself written by someone over there trying to quickly summarize it, so it cuts a lot of detail. In that part of the interview, Yoshi-P is asked if Emet was brought back by popularity. He says no, and then the stuff about merchandise and him still always having had a further role to play. Prompted, he then goes on to say that his popularity did change the writing because they wanted to add fan service for the people who liked him.