What is with the constant mistreatment of the Garlean story?(6.1 Patch spoilers)

[Tanis_Ebonhart]

I agree.

TC wanting side story stuff covered in the main story as much as they desired is odd.

I say give it time. If we do get a sequel to that side stuff then it'll be in side stuff as well and not pushed into the main story as a main theme. It would make no sense as not all players would experience it as its entirely optional. Heck, the requirements to unlock some of that stuff require completing previous side stuff before even being allowed to start it.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I mean, the off-screen made sense.

Zenos is a bad Ruler and a monster. What did you think was going to happen after he killed his father? By the time we got there he was already settled in and he was letting the other power hungry ones fight it out so that only the strong could lead... Assuming that they could kill him too.

Regula wasn't shafted. His story was fully told.

The point is that writing resulted in garlemald getting shelved…I and many others understand what happened. The problem is the writing letting that happen. Regula and Varis are regarded as incredibly close friends, yet we couldn’t even mention him to Varis at the Alliance meeting? Nor could we get a face reveal during the sapphire weapon fight? Varis’ boss fight was extremely half assed, so much so he didn’t even get a proper theme, just the normal ShB boss theme. And then now in EW Nerva who was built up every patch in ShB turns out to just be a reskinned dungeon boss in a side quest story, and the garleans have been shuffled to the moon.

[ElizanderNorisse]

I mean, the off-screen made sense.

Zenos is a bad Ruler and a monster. What did you think was going to happen after he killed his father? By the time we got there he was already settled in and he was letting the other power hungry ones fight it out so that only the strong could lead... Assuming that they could kill him too.

Regula wasn't shafted. His story was fully told.

I think giving Regula more screen time rather than just giving us his story would’ve been even better. He had the potential for a Garlemald expansion but alas.

[Iscah]

Plus, I think people's problems with the g'raha scene is how the devs prioritize "useless" scene like that over things that matters more, such as the details of the sundering etc. If the purpose is to give a "breather", they could just give us the WoL taking a break eating in their room then get joined by the scions, then fade to black (no custom animation, minimal dialogue).

I don't think we got that scene "instead of" the Sundering though. I think they hoped they could get away with not clarifying what actually happened afterwards, because it was always a fuzzy patch of lore and they never answered Q&A basic clarifications like "was the 'new life' that would have been sacrificed by the ancients sentient life?" and "are the modern races descended from ancients or created by them?"

At the time, it seemed like might have been dodging the questions because there were important reveals to be made later on about the answers, but we basically got nothing from Endwalker on this front.

Basically, I think they set up a mystery without deciding the truth beforehand, and couldn't invent a satisfying answer in the end.

[LeonKeyh]

TBH, from the writers' perspective, I feel like the whole Garlean story is more of a "ball and chain" that most people have lost interest in. If you think about it, the "one" expansion they focused on the war with the Garleans was deemed to be the "worst" one. I just don't think they want to deal with the story anymore so they tossed it into side stories so a side story writer can just finish it up and they don't need to worry about it anymore in the MSQ.

[aveyond-dreams]

The war against Garlemald as told in Doma was excellent. The war against Garlemald as told in Ala Mhigo was horrendous, because that region is as colorless as it is underdeveloped. Garlemald and by extent the Ascians represented a strong motivator in the story to get interested in. Now they're gone and while they've teased the void, who is to say that it won't suffer the same fate because the new target audience will "lose interest in it" in favor of more slice of life scenes straight of the FFXIV AU high school manga?

[Iscah]

I was under the impression that "slice of life" meant a genre where that was all that happened, not having a few scenes amid a larger narrative.

Also, Hildibrand irritates me and it is definitely not the same mood as the current MSQ.

[Raoabolic]

I was under the impression that "slice of life" meant a genre where that was all that happened, not having a few scenes amid a larger narrative.

Also, Hildibrand irritates me and it is definitely not the same mood as the current MSQ.

I would say the MSQ is steering itself to become as silly as Hildibrand. The only difference is that there are bigger issues the main characters have to deal with in the MSQ as opposed to the Hildibrand line. In fact, by 8.0 I would bet there will be a dancing segment fully animated and lasting for a minimum of 20-30 seconds featuring some of the main cast while an important plot point gets relegated to a text blurb over spending the time to actually show it in engine because dancing emet meme so funny!

[KizuyaKatogami]

I was under the impression that "slice of life" meant a genre where that was all that happened, not having a few scenes amid a larger narrative.

Also, Hildibrand irritates me and it is definitely not the same mood as the current MSQ.

It’s not just a few scenes though. There’s like 3-4 lunch/date scenes with the scions alone. Then there’s the loporrits which are basically slice of life everytime they’re on screen. You have the thavnair starting cutscene, the thavnair alchemists scene etc etc. It’s not just a few, it’s a LOT. Especially if you compare it to other expansions. And again, a large problem with it is where they are shoved into. I wouldn’t really have too much of a problem with it if there were actual stakes and consequences that we needed a relief from. The fact of the matter is that didn’t happen and probably will never happen at this rate.

[SentioftheHoukai]

TBH, from the writers' perspective, I feel like the whole Garlean story is more of a "ball and chain" that most people have lost interest in. If you think about it, the "one" expansion they focused on the war with the Garleans was deemed to be the "worst" one. I just don't think they want to deal with the story anymore so they tossed it into side stories so a side story writer can just finish it up and they don't need to worry about it anymore in the MSQ.

I feel this is framing the issue rather deceptively. Stormblood may be widely considered to be the worst expansion (jury's out on that for now) but the Garleans were hardly the reason why. It was mostly the pacing, and constantly jumping to and fro. Made it difficult to properly flesh out regions and the characters we'd meet in them.

The war against Garlemald as told in Doma was excellent. The war against Garlemald as told in Ala Mhigo was horrendous, because that region is as colorless as it is underdeveloped. Garlemald and by extent the Ascians represented a strong motivator in the story to get interested in. Now they're gone and while they've teased the void, who is to say that it won't suffer the same fate because the new target audience will "lose interest in it" in favor of more slice of life scenes straight of the FFXIV AU high school manga?

Well said. It more or less complements what I said, and frankly I agree about the Void. Consider it likely too, seeing as how the Scions and the fanbase both aren't very interested in making friends and allies so much as evil enemies to fight and kill.