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

[Floortank]

Star Wars subverted expectations by killing Snoak in The Rise of Skywalker. Fans hated it.
Game of Thrones subverted expectations by having Arya kill the Night King instead of Jon Snow. Fans hated it.
FFXIV did what was mentioned above.

Are we noticing a pattern?

Yeah, that you haven't read any books.

[Berteaux_Braumegain]

Moment of levity? Wow if only Endwalker wasn't full to the brim with those. Anyway, the star of the moon should have been Zodiark. Not the Loporrits. End of discussion.

The Heavensward moogles may have been a nuisance but they certainly didn't torment us for as long as these rabbits did, and they didn't take the place of someone as crucial to the plot and core of the game as, idk, the main big bad that's been hyped up since 2013?

I sure remember how in FFX once we got to Zanarkand, the party decided to have a sing-along and played bliztball-oh wait instead of that the plot actually stayed serious as was appropriate given the gravity of the situation. Much how it should have in this case considering that the WoL had just killed the being responsible for warding off the final days.

I will admit that Zodiark being just a random throwaway boss was a bit surprising, but I suppose that's kind of the result of Shadowbringers deciding that Elidibus was basically Zodiark and was basically operating a giant meat suit in the shape of a god.

Granted, that just makes me wonder why people worshipped Zodiark instead of Elidibus.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I will admit that Zodiark being just a random throwaway boss was a bit surprising, but I suppose that's kind of the result of Shadowbringers deciding that Elidibus was basically Zodiark and was basically operating a giant meat suit in the shape of a god.

Granted, that just makes me wonder why people worshipped Zodiark instead of Elidibus.

But in this case we didn’t even get to see anything Zodiark themed with Elidibus. Instead they just used him to shill out ff1 WoL fanservice. We didn’t see him really use any darkness themed stuff. It’s always just light light light. Venat got her own solo instance fight and then Hydaelyn trial which was themed around her. Elidibus got random shitty fanservice and then Zodiark is just…a whole bunch of random.

[Berteaux_Braumegain]

Yeah, I remember saying to someone that Zodiark is the god of darkness and some of Elidibus' final words in 5.3 are how darkness should be destroyed. And he even says that while summoning a Dark Knight to help him, no less.

I was also kinda surprised that Ultima wasn't used by Zodiark at all during the Trial or the Extreme variant considering how Lahabrea said Ultima was the best spell ever and a portion of Zodiark's power.

[Theodric]

At the very least it would have been nice to have a longer conversation with the Ancient souls residing within Zodiark. More importantly, however, it would have been pleasant to see the Scions acknowledge that Zodiark was the one who put in the majority of the effort where keeping Etheirys safe is concerned. As a gesture of respect to the fallen, they should be spreading that knowledge far and wide. They're certainly all too eager to demand credit for each and every little errand that they, themselves, perform.

[KageTokage]

Yeah, I remember saying to someone that Zodiark is the god of darkness and some of Elidibus' final words in 5.3 are how darkness should be destroyed. And he even says that while summoning a Dark Knight to help him, no less.

I took the "darkness" he was referring there as more of a morality thing then literal, as from his perspective us and everyone else who'd oppose his duty of restoring the Ancient world were the darkness to his light.

[Berteaux_Braumegain]

I took the "darkness" he was referring there as more of a morality thing then literal, as from his perspective us and everyone else who'd oppose his duty of restoring the Ancient world were the darkness to his light.

Oh sure, I imagine he was getting into character a bit. He even stops being Zenos in an earlier fight because he has no idea how to LARP as him effectively and swaps to Ardbert instead.

But it was still a fairly amusing thing to note.

[Rosenstrauch]

I have seen people gush over the time loop because it's 'very Final Fantasy' and 'nostalgic'. As far as I know the only games featuring them are FF1 and FF8. Correct me if I'm wrong since I didn't play 1 (I know, I know, fake fan), but wasn't it about breaking the loop and freeing the people from Chaos?

It was, yeah—the game ends with everything you've done to get to that point being negated. Garland never becomes evil, the Four Fiends never return to torment the world, and so on. Though the time loop in Final Fantasy I didn't come up until the very end of the game, and the rest of the game had no time travel whatsoever.

Final Fantasy 8 is a stranger situation. The story didn't need to establish where Cid and Edea got the idea to make the Gardens. Nor did it need to establish which Sorceress Edea got her powers from. But the writers decided "Squall told them" and "Ultimecia gave them to her" were perfect, even though they just bring more questions than answers, if you ask me. It should also be noted that, in sharp contrast to Meteion, Ultimecia legit could not be confronted without first allowing her to nearly succeed in her goal of consuming all of spacetime. Meteion could have been confronted at any point in the story, however, so long as the ones seeking to do so had access to a starship and knowledge of her whereabouts.

[Rulakir]

They need to realize I think that a good chunk of the playerbase isn't...actually no even if I was still a teenager I would've been largely unamused by how Endwalker played out. This was a story that looked great in their heads, but whatever was in their heads didn't make it into the game we played, and the result was something that was too hastily put together.

When I was 12 I was already into my horror film phase, so this 'power of friendship' stuff would've been something that appealed to me when I was around 6 years old. I don't have a statistic, but I assume the average age of MMO players is in the mid-30s. I don't want to be preached at either, which I felt I was with EW's heavy handed messaging.

This closed timeloop also implicates our WoL in the original end of days (and our past self!). What would have happened had we not told Venat? If we'd stayed behind longer re-tell our story to Emet and Hythlo so they understood what they’d be up against? Or talked to Hermes helping him see he’s not alone, the world is worth saving, help him towards that path?

This is my #2 gripe after Venat's portrayal. I was screaming at the screen for my WoL to tell Emet the truth, to save them! We finally do only to have Venat betray us and the WoL does jack about it. Everything about the end of Elpis made me sick to my stomach.

[Kyohei]

There are several issues with how things got wrapped up in the end, but things concerning two characters especially.
First of course being Venat. We can see in Elpis how revered she is by the ancients (even Emet-Selch, you can see that if you talk to him between quests though I don't remember which ones). Honestly she's what's the closest to what royalty would be if such a thing existed in ancient times. Sure, that manifests as an ancient telling her to go and die, but dying peacefully is the highest reward according to them and proof of a fulfilled life.
Anyway, added to this we know that people in the area were aware of the WoL's presence who took the identity of "Azem's familiar".
Then when also taking into account that Venat, Azem, Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus seemed to actually be very close, and that the two latter knew something happened to their memory after Ktisis.
Taking all this into account, how we get to the conclusion that it's better to not try to retell the story as it really happened is hard to take at face value. The whole decision screams lack of faith from Venat in her friends and the ancients in general. Because again, they wouldn't have simply dismissed Venat's words considering the way she was viewed.
Then we have Azem described as one who would meddle in every kind of affairs. How exactly would such a person not get to know what exactly transpired here and inform their friends is a mystery to me. Even more when getting to Pandaemonium.
Azem not knowing doesn't sound possible, they would surely investigate that familiar of theirs and get to understand the situation. Azem not telling their friends (Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus) doesn't seem likely either, since not telling means setting them for a sour fate. The two friends who'd go out of their ways to shoulder Azem through any kind of antics...surely would believe him.
Yet, we are meant to simply take the story at face value and not think about all these inconsistencies, that take root in what the story itself paved.

Ona final note, if Azem is really "doing whatever the player want", mine would've certainly investigated and told their friends. But then the story would change completely.