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

[PawPaw]

Great come back, please with all your intelligence guess the color that I'm thinking of. If you're not capable of that I'll call Mommy Venat to replace your entire neighborhood with Lalafell.

Hey! We're not all bad

[HollowedDoll]

Hey! We're not all bad

You have to admit it'd make a good horror movie if suddenly everyone near you was a budget chucky.

[Caurcas]

The more I think about it, the more I am bummed we didn't get that Garlemald expansion. We could've got such a political tragedy steeped in viciousness that resonated with more than the quasi-philosophical narrative of EW. Something sort of in the vein of Killzone 2-3 that left no one the good guy. Also we are denied that sweet aesthetic Garlean gear.

[Skyborne]

Also we are denied that sweet aesthetic Garlean gear.

The only consolation is the Q&A that confirmed we were getting Garlean armor/gunblades. They didn't say when though, please look forward to one set in 6 years.

[Caurcas]

The only consolation is the Q&A that confirmed we were getting Garlean armor/gunblades. They didn't say when though, please look forward to one set in 6 years.

I would've sold out Eorzea for a set of Legatus gear.

[TaleraRistain]

The people who write the story by their own admission rushed to wrap things up earlier than planned, cut out an entire expansion and ignored the established narrative from one expansion to the next. Furthermore, just because the development team say something it doesn't mean everybody has to agree with their take.

They did not cut an entire expansion. They didn't have storyboards or a script or had hired voice actors. They said they considered a Garlemald expansion ending at Anima and then Endwalker would be the rest. They decided against that after the response to Shadowbringers.

They didn't explain the entire thought process. One thing I could posit is that it could be difficult to not have that fill like a filler expansion very much like Shadowbringers was feeling in the lead-up quests. I recall a lot of sentiment along the lines of "We have things going on in Eorzea. Why are we going to another world?" They don't say one way or the other but I could see that being a reasonable path for their considerations to go down.

And no, nobody has to agree with their take. But there's a lot of things being stated in this thread as fact that are just as much headcanon as things others try to write off as headcanon because what's been presented to us either in game or outside media doesn't prove the conclusion one way or another.

[Nilroreo]

Venat had no choice' is suggesting that genocide is alright. That sometimes there's a good reason to partake of genocide. By that logic, the Rejoinings are entirely acceptable - except the story doesn't pretend that they are. Funny, that.

In hindsight, I probably should've seen something like this coming back when Urianger and G'raha were discussing the plan to rewrite history. Not once throughout that cutscene does it ever cross their minds the collateral damage that would ensue, but instead they frame the act as an honorable sacrifice by the Ironworks, as if to imply they're the only ones expected to be negatively affected by it.

Somewhere along the way, the devs deemed it essential that we perceive the Wol and any of their close associates as nothing less than infallible. Any tragedies perpetrated by someone on our side going forward can no longer be considered acts of cruelty as long as we believe our actions to be just. The total obliteration of future hypothetical civilizations can and will be justified as long as we stand to benefit from them, and any victims of said tragedy will either never be addressed in or outside the game, or inevitably be flanderized into a one dimensional hivemind nation bound for self termination. The line between hero and villain is getting sharper.

Hey! We're not all bad

/pet

[Valfreyja]

The total obliteration of future hypothetical civilizations

So, what you're saying is that before taking any action in the world of the present, those involved should sit down and consider what effects it could have on civilizations that -might- exist someday, somewhere, and how said action will affect them.

That makes for a gripping story. We can go back to the ARR days where we have 5 or 6 quests where we run back and forth to get tidbits of dialogue discussing the ramifications of our potential actions on civilizations that may or may not exist a few hundred to a few thousand years from now.

But padding and story bloat is always good. I remember ARR quite fondly for all it had.

[KizuyaKatogami]

So, what you're saying is that before taking any action in the world of the present, those involved should sit down and consider what effects it could have on civilizations that -might- exist someday, somewhere, and how said action will affect them.

That makes for a gripping story. We can go back to the ARR days where we have 5 or 6 quests where we run back and forth to get tidbits of dialogue discussing the ramifications of our potential actions on civilizations that may or may not exist a few hundred to a few thousand years from now.

But padding and story bloat is always good. I remember ARR quite fondly for all it had.

I don’t think you need to look back at ARR for that. Just do a small little rewind to 6.0 and you’ll be able to see the massive bloat that is moon rabbits, sharlayan back and forth’s etc.

[PawPaw]

So, what you're saying is that before taking any action in the world of the present, those involved should sit down and consider what effects it could have on civilizations that -might- exist someday, somewhere, and how said action will affect them.

I really can't tell if this is a serious question. When deciding on whether or not to implement Time Travel to undo history, then yes. I think it's fair to ask that some time be taken to consider how this may affect civilizations of the future. You're trying to make it sound as though the poster suggested that we sit down and discuss every mundane point of action that we do in the game before we do it, but that is a misrepresentation of her statement.