Pandæmonium story

[Lepus_Aetherius]

In the 5.0-6.0 stories, the Ancients have been portrayed as god-like characters with creation magicks who have infinite productivity and a near-infinite lifespan - everyone seeks common ground and there is no fighting, so their social structure as well as their emotions should be completely different from humans, which is why I like Hermes : He is the first ancient to show human emotions and values, to reveal a non-divine side.

Back to the point: the ancients had the "most progressive" society, but on the other hand, the story of Pandæmonium absurdly shows us the typical pre-modernism side of this society, a single-parent family that is common in reality. -The mother raises her child alone and then dies, the son resents his workaholic father who doesn't care about the family, and then the ancients fight over trivial and personal matters blah blah ......
This is ridiculous and I think it overturns the portrayal of ancient civilization in the previous stories, I can't find any hint of the "progressiveness" of ancient civilization and the "divinity" that was supposed to be prevalent in ancient societies that is often mentioned in the 5.0 stories ...... and this makes Hermes, the main character, look like a depressed sociopath in the previous stories

Pandæmonium's story makes ancient civilisation look like a cheesy family TV show with a new twist. If the story were set in Japan, China, America or Russia, or anywhere in real world, there would be nothing to fault, but the problem is that Pandæmonium takes place in the FFXIV ancient world.

[IdowhatIwant]

The Pandemonium story so far is a let down. It is painfully obvious we are going to see the original Lahabreha as one of the bosses, and see Lahabreha Jr. take up his role.

[KizuyaKatogami]

The Pandemonium story so far is a let down. It is painfully obvious we are going to see the original Lahabreha as one of the bosses, and see Lahabreha Jr. take up his role.

Doubtful. Unless they retcon the story the Lahabrea that exists in Elpis time is the same as our Lahabrea.

[Theodric]

The Elpis side quests dispel the idea that Hermes was the only Ancient to experience emotions. We saw plenty of examples of Ancients caring for each other and/or their creations.

[Lauront]

and this makes Hermes, the main character, look like a depressed sociopath in the previous stories

You won't get any disagreement from me on that point, Pandaemonium or not.

[Avidria]

I dunno, I kinda never quite believed the Ascians that their society was a perfect utopia in the first place. I didn't get that impression from any of what we saw in Amaurot. They just seemed like people with very alien philosophies relative to the modern First. Distanced from the concept of danger, apparently, but just as prone to hubris and arrogance and folly as the sundered they so looked down on.

Endwalker just reinforced the opinions I already had of them.

Also the only divinity I remember being mentioned related to the Ancients was from the perspective of Sundered people who had nothing but broken and faded memories of what, to them, was the creator and destroyer of the world and a society that their unsundered selves clearly thought of as a paradise even if it also very clearly had an ugly underside.

Doubtful. Unless they retcon the story the Lahabrea that exists in Elpis time is the same as our Lahabrea.

Genuine question here, but what would they need to retcon to make that the case? Is it explicitly stated anywhere that the genius scientist Lahabrea everyone seemed to love is the same Lahabrea we kicked into dust in Prae? There is a time gap between Elpis and the Final Days.

[Jeeqbit]

I interpreted it as being an almost-perfect society but with exceptions such as Hermes or Pandaemonium and it's because of these exceptions that we have to investigate them. We don't know the full story yet so we should wait until 6.4 to have all of the information.

[redheadturk]

Uh, yes, they did make Hermes look like a sociopath. Guess what? It might be because he sorta was

[Theodric]

One could propose that the real 'hubris' is taking modern day real world values and seeking to retroactively apply them to past societies both fictional and real.

[Vencio]

Unless Laha Brea has gone or be driven utterly mad & emotionally impulsive due to such destruction in their civilization,

Emet Selch somewhat displays a dysthymia depression with almost of an attitude “nothing left to lose”,

Hydaelyn likely not very proud at her approach but her result certainly wasn’t any different no matter how noble,

Elidibus sort of seems stuck in a schism state between both parties & utterly confused,

Ascians in general seem very stagnant in a society where it seems to be almost forbidden to show your true character & rather be as common as anyone as possible,

In a way, can’t blame Hermes to have gone nihilistic in such sadness, after all, being repressed out of your emotions by a system can just get the deeps out of you enough to commence certain unorthodox methods, hence the bluebird lady initiating the mad plan to anihilliate all life,