Quote Originally Posted by Theodric View Post
I doubt it, given that many of the same problems are beginning to manifest here as well.

One of the biggest criticisms of World of Warcraft by many was the lack of consistency in the story and the bizarre decisions to turn even well liked characters into raid and dungeon bosses. To say nothing of how poorly the decision to resort to weird and contrived time travel as the justification for an entire expansion. Tying everything to 'Old Gods' was also criticised...as well as various other factors, such as Sylvanas and Jaina being pushed as victims when they decided to indulge in a bit of genocide. It's particularly revolting in Jaina's case given that her target was the Blood Elves - a race that was not only the most popular pick for Horde characters but was only a part of the Horde in the first place due to the Alliance already trying to wipe them out through no fault of their own.

So, bringing the discussion back to FFXIV...much of the above is now present in FFXIV as well. The weird attempts to excuse genocide when Venat is responsible for it, the contrived time travel, everything being linked to the Ancients to the point of considerable character agency being lost in the process and so on.
I know this thread isnt about that topic but I dont agree with that whole statement about this game's story going as haywire as WoW's awful plot. Are we just going to ignore the actual villains and how they committed genocide 7 times for the sake of bringing back a dead world? Are we just going to say its ok to deny the lives of the sundered their right to exist?

Lets not forget the whole reason this situation started was because of Hermes's irresponsible decision to decide the fate of the world and the universe based on the conclusions of an emotionally distressed bird about the meaning of life. If anything we should all point the finger at him. What Venat did was a gamble and it wasnt like she didnt suffer any consequences for her sundering. Every strife, every war, every extinguished life and the multiple rejoinings the Ascians made brought pain to her as she was connected to all life within the shards. But she knew that it was necessary for suffering to happen for us to appreciate the meaning of life and find the answer to Meteion's question, which is why you constantly listen to the words "Hear, Feel, Think" hinting the concept of dynamis. Nobody is saying what she did was 100% correct which is why Yoshi-P addressed in the live letter with his statement that "she really was an Ancient after all" for as the Ancients were akin to gods and in their hubris and power would leave the inevitable demise of their own making (as seen with the perfect society in the Dead Ends wanting to end their existence due to not knowing suffering).

Anyway this is how I saw it with Endwalker's story and I for one think its nice and beautiful.