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

[anhaato]

I certainly don't agree with all the hot takes here about how Venat committed genocide. This is being said as if ancients weren't sacrificed en masse to support their new god, and then more to fix the damage, and yet more to fight the second coming of the final days. At that point it was a dilemma of "do I let everyone be sacrificed for something that isn't working, or do I protect the still living souls and allow them to live on, but as fragments of their former selves?" and I don't know about you, but I'd choose a guaranteed future over the basically-guaranteed extinction of Etheirys. People just love to conveniently forget what would've happened if she didn't do all of that...

The one thing I wish they didn't do regarding this is ultimately portray her as the ACTUAL benevolent god, while Zodiark remained a malicious god purely because he no longer had a mind of his own and was the figure of worship of the Bad Guys TM. If they had only let Zodiark actually matter when the chips fell, and didn't make us kiss the ground Hydaelyn walks upon, then it would've been a far more compelling "maybe there's no real right or wrong" moment. Instead they had to portray her actions as abject good when it's debatable at best. The conclusion of the Elpis scene absolutely broke me, and I still believe it was an amazing part of the story. It would've been much better if we had instead just watched how everything proceeded up to it WITHOUT us intervening and creating a paradox that completely blows up numerous plot points from before.

[Lauront]

I certainly don't agree with all the hot takes here about how Venat committed genocide.

I'm going to link to the relevant dialogue here, because I think your understanding is a bit patchy (possibly because of the muddled post-Elpis flash forward scene, as it doesn't do a good job of conveying the story properly):



They sacrificed to bring Zodiark into being to halt the crisis, because of how depleted the star was by that point. Further sacrifices were made to rectify that. I'm not sure how exactly that means that what she did to the remaining 25% or so of the ancients is not genocide. Bear in mind, for her plan to work, she required Zodiark to be summoned and the star to be repaired, hence...



So there is no doubt about Zodiark functioning. Her reason for fracturing the remnant 25% is because she feared they'd eventually meet the fate of the Plenty, because they did not respond to her demands regarding suffering in the way she liked, and wanted to restore the world back to how it was (bearing in mind they were not given the true story behind her concerns.) It's for this reason that people term it a genocide. It's only dubiously shown as 'necessary' to deal with Meteion, and when answering the question about this, the writers framed a lot of it around her beliefs more than anything else.

[FrightfulNight]

Sigh I just saw the interview Zepla covered and it confirmed what i have speculated for a while, a Garlemald expansion was gutted to rush the finale. This just crushed me, I have wanted a Garlean expansion for years, especially with how much they have been building up to it for the past 4 years all throughout Stormblood and Shadowbringers and it just got massacred because they wanted to be done with the story.

What is even more disappointing is that despite being the focus point for the original 6.0 expansion when 7.0 would be the Hydalyn and Zodiark story arch conclusion and like i said before the storyline being built up for 2 expansions Garlemald only gets 1 zone and it feels more like a side trip in the MQS. This is probably why Ilsabard feels so awkward on the map not even getting a map like Orthard, instead still being covered with clouds. Oh but that is okay because here is a zone with dumb moon bunnies and a final zone that was made only for the 6.0 MQS and serves no other purpose and could have easily been an instance like the Omega rift in 4.0.

What is more Garlemald has gotten very little side content compared to other stories despite being such a large part of the over all story and world building so far. I mean we have the the final role quest confirmed to be there but that is it. I can only hope it gets the Lions share of the stories in the patch questlines and hopefully an enclave like zone so that the main quests there are not just in the subway to make up for the lack of hub which I feel it would have gotten as the endgame hub if the original plan for 6.0 held.

[FrightfulNight]

I still have some hope that they can salvage the Garlean expansion after getting expansion gutted though. I hope that maybe one of the reasons they did this was to make the situation more unique in Ilsabard so that the plot was not to similar to Stormblood. Now with us having helped the capitol and Ilsabard being devastated by both the Civil War and apparently suffering the most damage from the final days, the various still active legions and the power vacuum that they wanted to create a more unique Ilsabard experience. I also hope that the developers see people wanting the clouds removed on Ilsabard and more traditional European fantasy zones which Ilsbard will have. I can imagine there could be a zone in Ilsabard inspired by Germany and Switzerland, something hinted at with the Online Store outfit as well as a Norwegian like zone and a more Gothic Romania like zone. And of course they can do a better conclusion to the Garlean storyline and do further world building with the Three Continents.

My main fear is that they are just going to Lazily have Ilsbard be resolved offscreen just like the Empire fell anticlimatically offscreen and all these storyarchs just remain on the cutting room floor and we will instead just go to Meracydia, or the New World, or other Shards to "Move On", locations i have almost zero interest in going to until this story is resolved in Ilsabard. If it is one of those locations first for 7.0 however then I may consider "moving on" and unsubscribing until an Ilsabard (or another Orthard) expansion is confirmed and use that time to whittle away at my increasing game library or further raise a Viera alt.

[Skyborne]

My main fear is that they are just going to Lazily have Ilsbard be resolved offscreen just like the Empire fell anticlimatically offscreen and all these storyarchs just remain on the cutting room floor and we will instead just go to Meracydia, or the New World, or other Shards to "Move On", locations i have almost zero interest in going to until this story is resolved in Ilsabard. If it is one of those locations first for 7.0 however then I may consider "moving on" and unsubscribing until an Ilsabard (or another Orthard) expansion is confirmed and use that time to whittle away at my increasing game library or further raise a Viera alt.

Would be nice to actually explore Ilsabard and deal with Garlemald in a way that isn't "lmao not my problem just move on sweeties, now you are part of the glorious global citizen Alliance and everything is great". However, it's pretty early to tell until 6.1 actually releases in a couple weeks. And even then, we may have to wait another 4+ months to see how things are going. My hopes aren't too high, considering how hard they want to just bury anything old and just immediately beat this "new adventure! new adventure! avenchur!" horse. While having afterschool club meetings and pizza parties with the Scions, of course.

My personal feeling is that because I do believe/hope that it was basically unintentional, now that it's been pointed out and come to their attention, that I can get past it and basically forgive it if it is addressed in some way. Please, please do not double down on "Venat absolute good, those Ancients sadly just had to die," FFXIV team. I've loved your game for almost ten years, want to keep loving it, and I really wish I wasn't here, cringeposting all my dignity away. Woe.

Still 99% sure we will get some sort of Tales of the End where Venat is shown saving Amaurotine schoolchildren from a burning building or something. P-please like her... please...

[FrightfulNight]

Would be nice to actually explore Ilsabard and deal with Garlemald in a way that isn't "lmao not my problem just move on sweeties, now you are part of the glorious global citizen Alliance and everything is great". However, it's pretty early to tell until 6.1 actually releases in a couple weeks. And even then, we may have to wait another 4+ months to see how things are going. My hopes aren't too high, considering how hard they want to just bury anything old and just immediately beat this "new adventure! new adventure! avenchur!" horse. While having afterschool club meetings and pizza parties with the Scions, of course.


Still 99% sure we will get some sort of Tales of the End where Venat is shown saving Amaurotine schoolchildren from a burning building or something. P-please like her... please...

Like i said, i can only hope it was moved to make the situation more interesting in Ilsabard, which it certainly is right now, but they need to strike while the iron is hot. Hopefully they can see that there are a lot of players who want to go to Ilsbabard and have the clouds remove and that there are a lot of players who think that the storyline in EW rushed a lot of long running plotpoints and stumbled at the end so they take the time to take a step back and do a better job of wrapping up some of theses stories in Ilsabard. If it is Meracydia or anywhere else however and we ignore the situation in Ilsabard to just go off and AdVeNtUrE and leave them to pick up the scraps after the final days then I may just unsubscribe (at least until Ilsabard) because that gives me little hope for a future story arch that they will just end it when ever they get tired of it or think what players want.

[PawPaw]

Still 99% sure we will get some sort of Tales of the End where Venat is shown saving Amaurotine schoolchildren from a burning building or something. P-please like her... please...

I was joking about this same thing with a friend earlier but I feel as though it's guaranteed that we're going to get some sort of attempt at a retcon to convince the people who dislike her her to like her. I can smell it.

[Theodric]

I still have some hope that they can salvage the Garlean expansion after getting expansion gutted though. I hope that maybe one of the reasons they did this was to make the situation more unique in Ilsabard so that the plot was not to similar to Stormblood. Now with us having helped the capitol and Ilsabard being devastated by both the Civil War and apparently suffering the most damage from the final days, the various still active legions and the power vacuum that they wanted to create a more unique Ilsabard experience. I also hope that the developers see people wanting the clouds removed on Ilsabard and more traditional European fantasy zones which Ilsbard will have. I can imagine there could be a zone in Ilsabard inspired by Germany and Switzerland, something hinted at with the Online Store outfit as well as a Norwegian like zone and a more Gothic Romania like zone. And of course they can do a better conclusion to the Garlean storyline and do further world building with the Three Continents.

My main fear is that they are just going to Lazily have Ilsbard be resolved offscreen just like the Empire fell anticlimatically offscreen and all these storyarchs just remain on the cutting room floor and we will instead just go to Meracydia, or the New World, or other Shards to "Move On", locations i have almost zero interest in going to until this story is resolved in Ilsabard. If it is one of those locations first for 7.0 however then I may consider "moving on" and unsubscribing until an Ilsabard (or another Orthard) expansion is confirmed and use that time to whittle away at my increasing game library or further raise a Viera alt.

Yeah, I was bitterly disappointed by the lack of an authentic Garlean expansion. We've been following them in the story since the days of ARR and many people liked what they brought to the table so to have them thrown under the bus struck me as very questionable.

It also makes me second guess the feedback being gathered and sent to the development team. Where are they getting it from? What voices are they listening to and which are they ignoring?

Where are our community representatives and why aren't they engaging with the community here, on the game's official site? I guess they must be busy changing diapers or some such...

[FrightfulNight]

Yeah, I was bitterly disappointed by the lack of an authentic Garlean expansion. We've been following them in the story since the days of ARR and many people liked what they brought to the table so to have them thrown under the bus struck me as very questionable.

It also makes me second guess the feedback being gathered and sent to the development team. Where are they getting it from? What voices are they listening to and which are they ignoring?

Where are our community representatives and why aren't they engaging with the community here, on the game's official site? I guess they must be busy changing diapers or some such...

With how much it was being built up in both Stormblood and Shadowbringers, with all the cutscenes and even the solo duty there it felt like it was building for an expansion set there for 4 years and I was anticipating it the whole time getting more exited only for it to be one mostly ruined zone. It felt like Chekhov's Gun with multiple people calling attention to it on the wall and such a big deal being made out of it but when it comes time to set it off it is just one of those fake guns you see Joker use in the old Batman Cartoons with a flag that says bam coming out except here it would say Gotcha, now enjoy the stupid moon bunnies instead.

[Theodric]

With how much it was being built up in both Stormblood and Shadowbringers, with all the cutscenes and even the solo duty there it felt like it was building for an expansion set there for 4 years and I was anticipating it the whole time getting more exited only for it to be one mostly ruined zone. It felt like Chekhov's Gun with multiple people calling attention to it on the wall and such a big deal being made out of it but when it comes time to set it off it is just one of those fake guns you see Joker use in the old Batman Cartoons with a flag that says bam coming out except here it would say Gotcha, now enjoy the stupid moon bunnies instead.

Yeah. I'm still annoyed that nothing of note came of Regula's sacrifice in Azys Lla. Why did it take until Endwalker for the Scions to realise that the situation with Garlemald wasn't black and white and that there were plenty of good people set to be screwed over if it all fell apart when a high ranking soldier selflessly took an attack meant for a child right in front of the Scions? To my knowledge, they never mentioned it again and the story decided to present the likes of Valens and Zenos front and centre instead from that point onwards.