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

[Carin-Eri]

Hm. I started during Stormblood, which I think mostly got negative reception for its story. Heavensward and Shadowbringers were almost universally beloved.

I think Endwalker is suffering from "Fridge Logic"; before I finished it, I heard almost nothing but clamorous praise for it, but the closer to the end I got and the more spoiler-filled discussions I was able to participate in, the more people I found critical of it. That leads me to believe that the earliest players were the ones who were most eager to love it and least receptive to criticism, while the more measured players are the ones that started beating it in the following months. Also, some of those early players who are now coming down from the high of the "honeymoon phase" are either just starting to see criticisms they agree with or are rethinking some of their earlier takes.

As I've said a few times, I was absolutely loving the story right up until Elpis. That was the exact moment that the story started veering into "What the hell are you guys talking about?" territory.

All this being said, the people who dislike Endwalker's story or the expansion as a whole are still a minority. A growing minority, but still a minority.

That's an interesting point actually. I mean, whilst I only very recently finished Endwalker it did (for me at least) present a few big "WOW!" moments - the Ragnarok launch for example, the surprise reveal of Zenos coming to our 'rescue'. And I have to confess, the cutscenes leading into the fight with Zenos, with 'Footfalls' playing in the background... I didn't know whether to laugh or cry - the whole thing was a joy to behold.

By the same token, so far as ShB is concerned, the entire sequence with Hades is something I've revisited a few times. I can say with certainty, having seen some reaction videos on Youtube, that I wasn't the only one almost in tears from the part where Ardbert offers the ailing WoL his axe, leading up to Emet-Selch's "Remember that we lived".
And, obviously, HW gave us the clearly much-beloved (and justifiably so) 'Final Steps of Faith'
Heck, even ARR gave us the wrongly accused Scion's dropping out one-by-one to allow the (barely then known as the) Warrior of Light the opportunity to escape.

But SB? I don't really recall any standout moments. I guess the liberation of Ala Mihgo was pretty good but I don't recall anything that gave me that "wow" factor that draws me to revisit cutscenes.

[CrownySuccubus]

That's an interesting point actually. I mean, whilst I only very recently finished Endwalker it did (for me at least) present a few big "WOW!" moments - the Ragnarok launch for example, the surprise reveal of Zenos coming to our 'rescue'. And I have to confess, the cutscenes leading into the fight with Zenos, with 'Footfalls' playing in the background... I didn't know whether to laugh or cry - the whole thing was a joy to behold.

By the same token, so far as ShB is concerned, the entire sequence with Hades is something I've revisited a few times. I can say with certainty, having seen some reaction videos on Youtube, that I wasn't the only one almost in tears from the part where Ardbert offers the ailing WoL his axe, leading up to Emet-Selch's "Remember that we lived".
And, obviously, HW gave us the clearly much-beloved (and justifiably so) 'Final Steps of Faith'
Heck, even ARR gave us the wrongly accused Scion's dropping out one-by-one to allow the (barely then known as the) Warrior of Light the opportunity to escape.

But SB? I don't really recall any standout moments. I guess the liberation of Ala Mihgo was pretty good but I don't recall anything that gave me that "wow" factor that draws me to revisit cutscenes.

Yeah, most of the "memorable" stuff from SB seems to only be things which are meme-worthy, such as Scholars catching Susanoo's huge sword with their books, Lakshmi's "bosom", and Gosetsu having a whole death monologue and conversation while he struggles to hold up a collapsing building. Even when I was going through every dungeon in the game while leveling all my classes to 80, I could recount exactly why the WOL had to fight in places like the Aery, the AC Research Center, Holminster Switch, Qitana Ravel and Mt. Gulg...but I was scratching my head trying to remember what the purpose of fighting in the Sirensong Sea or Castrum Abania was.

To its credit, I don't think Endwalker is going to have that problem. For all the faults I have with its story, every dungeon was pretty memorable. The Tower of Zot is probably the least of them, but I don't think it'll be possible to forget why you're there.