What is going on with Square Enix and the 14 team?

[BrokentoothMarch]

That's an interesting take on the story I have not really seen expressed so far. I ending up going from really disliking her at the start to you-know-who being my favourites character in the game. I can totally see what you mean though, and thinking about it, it would have been much better if one or two of the Scions actually saw it that way too... everyone accepts Hydaelyn's actions with conveniently little fuss.

I actually started liking her and that began to decay quickly. I also felt a bit dismissed when doubt over her intent began to brew among the Scions in ShB as we were primed to believe that this is more a duality rather than Good v Evil, hence why the Light was the villain in that story, and then that was all ignored come EW. Indeed, I have immense qualms over the direction of the story, but realistically all I needed was for some questioning or "Hey, uh. Wasn't it a bit messed up when you did this?"/"Can you please justify why it's okay you did this but not when they do it?" to her. It otherwise felt too saccharine and as if at least my character, which they sometimes try to flavor as having my own will, had, well, no will beyond the desires of the Crystal.

Though I'll mute that part of myself for now. I can pull out an entire 'Charlie' powerpoint on my issues with the lore and Hydaelyn specifically. Ultimately, if I don't like the story, I can simply pass on it and I'm not exactly going out of my way to tell others they're not allowed to enjoy the story. I'm mostly irritated with the more gameplay aspects like Viera/Hrothgar still effectively being limited races or the housing fiasco which is a bit... unacceptable for any development team worth their salt, I feel? And the terribly outdated character creation, but now I'm getting greedy.