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

[Brinne]

I mean, that'll just be a physical embodiment of the time travel plots of 5.0 and 6.0.

"We'll totally fight Fate when it's something inconvenient to us, but completely embrace it when it's a Fate we find agreeable."

vague chrono series spoilers

schala schala schala schala schala schala schala

[Lauront]

I just really hope the game doesn't do a timeloop to have the WoL become Azem. Worst ending possible and the fact it's possible scares me.

I've heard that theory. Both that one - and the alternate version of Azem becoming the WoL through voluntarily being sundered - yes, that might just have me embracing the Endsinger look. Or maybe join those Ra-La summoners.

[CrownySuccubus]

vague chrono series spoilers

schala schala schala schala schala schala schala

What "Chrono Series"?

They only made one game in 1994.

And NOTHING ELSE.

[Brinne]

What "Chrono Series"?

They only made one game in 1994.

And NOTHING ELSE.

i stand corrected, my sincerest apologies

okay, for real, chrono cross is a trainwreck on a whole special level above even endwalker, but a couple of the concepts i think would have been potentially interesting extensions of trigger's events - mostly the premise of chronopolis and schala's fate. if only they weren't in, you know, chrono cross.

[Rulakir]

I have zero confidence they can handle writing a conflict in values at this point, EW saw to that. The Omega quest chain re-introduced much needed nuance, but I don't know that we can continue to count on that. It seems the best I can hope for is they've gotten the message about diverse dialog options because I'm not playing my WoL through yet another expansion where I hate everything I'm doing while my character expresses nothing but positivity about it. Not to mention even the moral standards of the Scions are hypocritical now, so I can't take them seriously anymore either. I think more than just the WoL needs to do some reflection.

[Brinne]

I have zero confidence they can handle writing a conflict in values at this point, EW saw to that. The Omega quest chain re-introduced much needed nuance, but I don't know that we can continue to count on that. It seems the best I can hope for is they've gotten the message about diverse dialog options because I'm not playing my WoL through yet another expansion where I hate everything I'm doing while my character expresses nothing but positivity about it. Not to mention even the moral standards of the Scions are hypocritical now, so I can't take them seriously anymore either. I think more than just the WoL needs to do some reflection.

If it helps or clarifies anything, I think it was obvious, but Ishikawa more or less stated on Twitter that she wrote the Omega quests. They were really reassuring to me in the sense of both a) EW's missteps, however grievous, were definitely not coming from a place of malice, and b) it is really clear they were written largely in response to the concerns and criticisms expressed regarding 6.0, and shifted some of the rhetoric to accommodate. Knowing for certain the lead writer was behind this shift is nice, as well.

I probably have lighter expectations than a lot of people in this thread, but if those quests reflect the basic tone we're going to take when looking back on EW and topics like it, I do feel fairly reassured - though of course there's no way of knowing until it happens.

[Lauront]

I thought they were good, in adding nuance that was mostly absent in 6.0, but I am going to reserve judgement and wait to see how the short stories and Aglaia/Pandaemonium turn out, as they are both more or less epilogues to the ancients' story. I do think our feedback has reached her, as the quests touched upon some strains of thought here (and in a tinfoil hat moment, I also suspect there's another thread she may have had a hand in), as did the Nier crossover showcasing the actual events of the Sundering, but it'll be a while before any faith in the writing is fully rehabilitated for me, especially if there is a retrenchment in the remaining story threads, particularly as she's not the sole writer on the project.

[CrownySuccubus]

i stand corrected, my sincerest apologies

okay, for real, chrono cross is a trainwreck on a whole special level above even endwalker, but a couple of the concepts i think would have been potentially interesting extensions of trigger's events - mostly the premise of chronopolis and schala's fate. if only they weren't in, you know, chrono cross.

Yeah, Cross was another one of those stories where the concept was cool at first, until I actually tried to sit down and think about it. When it first came out back in 2000, I overlooked a lot of these issues because I was on the dopamine high of my favorite all time game (which is STILL my fave to this day) getting a sequel.

You are correct, though, that Chronopolis was probably one of the coolest ideas. It made sense to me that, in the future of the timeline we saved, humans would eventually experiment with and learn to control time travel. Where it immediately went wrong was the entire idea of the "Time Crash", and three different magical factors (Schala, the Dragon Gods, and the Time Devourer) all deciding to use that as their big plot-defining moment). Combine that with the laughable premise that the game's entire backstory (and thus, 10,000 years of history across two separate timelines) were because one man orchestrated it, and nowadays, I point to CC as the reason I will never trust any plot written by Masato Kato.

[Rulakir]

If it helps or clarifies anything, I think it was obvious, but Ishikawa more or less stated on Twitter that she wrote the Omega quests. They were really reassuring to me in the sense of both a) EW's missteps, however grievous, were definitely not coming from a place of malice, and b) it is really clear they were written largely in response to the concerns and criticisms expressed regarding 6.0, and shifted some of the rhetoric to accommodate. Knowing for certain the lead writer was behind this shift is nice, as well.

She's stepped down from lead MSQ writer, which is the concern. She may have written the outline for the next 10 years, but I don't know what to expect from these "junior writers" who will be taking over supposedly. Were it Maehiro coming back, I'd be a lot more enthusiastic. That's also assuming Yoshi-P can stop meddling and let the writers do their jobs.

How did you feel about the positing of Hermes and the Final Days being some kind of net positive for the world?

[CrownySuccubus]

She's stepped down from lead MSQ writer, which is the concern. She may have written the outline for the next 10 years, but I don't know what to expect from these "junior writers" who will be taking over supposedly. Were it Maehiro coming back, I'd be a lot more enthusiastic. That's also assuming Yoshi-P can stop meddling and let the writers do their jobs.

I dunno. The fact that Yoshi P's reaction to how the "junior writers" handled Y'shtola in 6.1 can be summarized as "Guys, what kind of amateurish fan fiction is this?!" gives me some modicum of hope.