Quote Originally Posted by Brinne View Post
On the other hand, the imagery of her mercilessly punching Themis in the face while Answers swells in the background!
My hot take: I hate Answers, I have always hated that song. I know I'm in the minority on this one, but ugh. I also hate Flow. Meanwhile, I've had any version of the Garlean theme from the radio to the dungeon stuck in my head on infinite loop.

That being said, I don't actually think most of it came from a place of malice - I think they came from a place of generally good intent, just good intentions that were focused so much toward encouraging the player that the integrity of the in-game narrative ended up suffering for it.
Thematically, I found EW to be full of platitudes and I've lost count how many times I've sighed or rolled my eyes at the dialog. It also came across as preachy. I sincerely hope this is a one and done in terms of having self help messaging throughout an expansion. >_>

They took those signals and patterns and probably deduced, for better or worse, that people would also love Hydaelyn with a reveal that "she was doing everything for you, actually." The Sundering would become a touching, if tragic, gesture, if it was done For You. And it seemed to have worked for a lot of people, too.
I think it worked for the people they were able to convince that the Ancients were doomed no matter what (or who were never attached to the Ancients). Those of us who saw numerous alternate paths that weren't explored are the ones left frustrated. Also, as an unabashed fan of the Ancients, I can say this did not work for me at all. Venat is directly responsible for condemning my favorite characters, in some cases to fates worse than death, and I'm supposed to like or be thankful to her? I'm instantly reminded of any given stalker film where the person commits unspeakable atrocities and then tells the object of their affection, "Can't you see? I did this all for you!" Not to mention that in order to get the WoL you have to slice, dice, and julienne fry Azem, her protegee. It's seriously messed up.

Just to clarify, I get what you're saying and I agree that's probably how they viewed it, I'm just pointing out how it came across to me (and others). Part of the problem is I personally found Emet to be the most sympathetic and arguably tragic (although Elidibus is up there) figure in the story. The post-Elpis cutscene with Venat's pity walk through the ages did nothing for me. She made her bed, she had to die in it. My heart broke for her victims. As such, was there not one person on FFXIV's team that thought presenting her as a "good guy" might have some issues?