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

[PawPaw]

I think a lot of the hate I'm seeing is if you can't stand cuteness (cute bunnies and bird girl) you'll dismiss those parts of the story no matter what... but that's on you and your tolerances or suspension of disbelief.

Not sure if you're directing this towards this thread or EW criticisms on the web in general but I feel quite confident in saying that rabbits and Meteion have not been a focus of complaints at any point here. An occasional few comments? Yes, but I can't think of anyone for whom they are a cornerstone of their issues.

I can judge EW as it stands right now as the developers have said a few times at this point that there will be no post-EP patches that will wrap up the story the way we have had in the past. 6.1 is the beginning of an entirely new chapter and is not meant to be a continuation of EW. It is done and I am not happy with it and therefore I feel quite safe making my opinions on it known.

I've said this before but EW was the equivalent of a Michael Bay movie, the fast pace and big explosions happening constantly to detract from the fact that the story is a complete mess. I'm happy for you that you were able to enjoy it and loved the "frenetic" feel of it, but it destroyed characterizations and stories that I have loved for years and I can't see the sparkles for all of the mud.

[aveyond-dreams]

I've said this before but EW was the equivalent of a Michael Bay movie, the fast pace and big explosions happening constantly to detract from the fact that the story is a complete mess.

Precisely this. The moment I started thinking critically about what I had just experienced, I found myself questioning so much. My belief is that a combination of factors from the rabidness of the twitter character fanclubs and the emotionally difficult situation brought on by COVID ultimately led for an internal push for a "safe" story that was carried by fast pasted, though illogical chains of events.

It's not so much the cute elements in themselves so much as the timing of their appearance. I doubt FF7 would be as well received if, after a certain character's murder, you randomly saw Cloud running around and giggling with a group of talking bunnies. Or if in FF9 when an entire city was destroyed, immediately afterwards the party just shrugged and never mentioned it again.

Up until Endwalker I quite liked that FFXIV hadn't gone down the same path of WoW where things just happened with minimal build up or explanation and I don't think it was a good way to have the finale of a decade long story just rapidly move from one event to the next with minimal time to breathe. Especially with the fanservice stacked towards characters that already get the lion's share of attention...and aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

What I would give to return to the days of Heavensward when we still had a team of writers who were unafraid of allowing characters to exit the story once their roles were over, and for people's sacrifices to carry meaning. A less bloated cast of more distinct characters with a narrative that didn't tread so much on abstract nothingness.

[RyuDragnier]

What I would give to return to the days of Heavensward when we still had a team of writers who were unafraid of allowing characters to exit the story once their roles were over, and for people's sacrifices to carry meaning. A less bloated cast of more distinct characters with a narrative that didn't tread so much on abstract nothingness.

Well you might get that back soon, considering that writer's work with FF16 is almost done, probably.