Quote Originally Posted by Skyborne View Post
As has been pointed out a bunch of times in this thread, the time travelling could have been replaced with the Echo. Given how solidly constructed Amaurot's buildings were and its position high up in the air, I think it's viable that Elpis itself could've survived to the present day albeit overgrown and with some islands missing/in rough shape. Instead of having Elpis as a zone, perhaps they could've had a 'North Garlemald' on the other side of the city and fleshed out the Empire a bit more... just a thought.
I don't know if I would personally have like that more, but it could have happened. Personally, I liked that we could walk and talk and interact with the Ancients pre-sundering. Echo flashbacks, or reading a dusty tome, or talking to specters doesn't make them feel as alive or real as they did when you could interact with them. I thoroughly enjoyed the side quests in Elpis more than a majority of zones in all of FFXIV. A lot of it for comedic sake, but side quests that that had you helping create and design monsters that you already knew about(mind you it's more time loop tom foolery) were very enjoyable. Plus the entire fan-service of doing quests with Emet and Hythlodaus. Not to mention that because of this echo time-loop thing we are able to learn more about Elidibus and Lahabrea( in the future hopefully) who in the past I could not have cared less about. Finicky and lacking solid plotline at times I still enjoyed a good chunk of what we were given.