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

[Theodric]

Didn't you hear? Apparently making Estinien put his foot on the balcony outside the Sharlayan *College Dorm* was one of the most expensive scenes in Endwalker. Look no further than the "slice of life" fluff to see where the budget that should've been spent on actual fantasy sequences has gone.

On that note, was anyone else disappointed by how normal Sharlayan ended up being? Every time we've interacted with anything Sharlayan outside of Endwalker it has always had sinister vibes to it. Eureka. The abandoned colony. The assassination squads sent to kill anyone sharing state secrets. It's a real shame it was simply reduced to a Disney style city of magic with no real grit. I also didn't like how the Scions had no reaction to the 'evacuation plan' picking and choosing which races were acceptable to take on board.

It's also annoying that it wasn't the Garleans who pieced together a spaceship given how that's...very much their sort of thing.

As an aside, do you have a source for that scene being expensive? It'd be good to dismantle the arguments that there's no wasteful spending.

[aveyond-dreams]

On that note, was anyone else disappointed by how normal Sharlayan ended up being? Every time we've interacted with anything Sharlayan outside of Endwalker it has always had sinister vibes to it. Eureka. The abandoned colony. The assassination squads sent to kill anyone sharing state secrets. It's a real shame it was simply reduced to a Disney style city of magic with no real grit. I also didn't like how the Scions had no reaction to the 'evacuation plan' picking and choosing which races were acceptable to take on board.

It's also annoying that it wasn't the Garleans who pieced together a spaceship given how that's...very much their sort of thing.

As an aside, do you have a source for that scene being expensive? It'd be good to dismantle the arguments that there's no wasteful spending.

Sharlayan as a place to afk and chill in is nice, the actual story I endured there was not. Given that it is home to the single-worst chain of filler MSQ quests, it was by far the weakest parts of Endwalker besides the Loporrit section of the Moon. There were so many problems with the way things went down over there, especially considering the stoic nature of our homogenous cast who couldn't give a human reaction when it was very clearly implied if not outright stated that the Garleans were going to be left behind.

The source for the interview was a translated one posted to the FFXIV reddit discord, but screenshotting it directly has proved a hassle. The translation was posted on January 9th, searching Estinien brought it up hidden behind spoiler text.

[MoofiaBossVal]

The source for the interview was a translated one posted to the FFXIV reddit discord, but screenshotting it directly has proved a hassle. The translation was posted on January 9th, searching Estinien brought it up hidden behind spoiler text.

Thanks. For all to see:

[MoofiaBossVal]

On that note, was anyone else disappointed by how normal Sharlayan ended up being? Every time we've interacted with anything Sharlayan outside of Endwalker it has always had sinister vibes to it. Eureka. The abandoned colony. The assassination squads sent to kill anyone sharing state secrets. It's a real shame it was simply reduced to a Disney style city of magic with no real grit. I also didn't like how the Scions had no reaction to the 'evacuation plan' picking and choosing which races were acceptable to take on board.

From the the 5.5 MSQ and the 6.0 previews, I thought that the Forum was somehow in collusion with Fandaniel and Zenos, building the towers for them (or providing the tech), and that dad was going to perform sabotage from the inside. He saw which way the wind was blowing in the Forum, but disagreed with the rest of the Forum (who voted unanimously to reject Eorzea's call for aid). So to maintain appearances, he voted to agree with the plan so he wouldn't have to resign or be silenced. He would still have power and freedom to act. He formally cut ties with his kids in order to keep them from being targetted by the Forum if they ever discovered he was actually working against them, and so that when he made his move and burned the Leveilleur name in the process, he wouldn't drag his kids down with him.

That theory that Anima would turn out to be mom was a lot more interesting than what we actually got.



Did we ever find out what this symbol inside the tower was supposed to mean? Why make an art asset that so closely resembles Sharlayan's symbol and arrangement of the Forum seats?

[Kaurhz]

Did we ever find out what this symbol inside the tower was supposed to mean? Why make an art asset that so closely resembles Sharlayan's symbol and arrangement of the Forum seats?

Can't say as I could contribute much, as I don't think their meaning has ever been established in game. But as far as connecting it with real-world concepts and the sort, there's always been stark similarities between these symbols and Logarithmic and Adinkra Spirals, if my memory is to serve me correctly.