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

[ReynTime]

Reading about Zepla's reaction really makes me wish we'd get at least ONE content creator who'd openly criticize some aspects of the game like the writing. Someone kind of like MisshapenChair who wouldn't give two fudges about angry responses to their criticism.

IMO every mainstream game needs to have at least one critique like that to give an opposing PoV.

[Rulakir]

How did we understand the Ancients fluently when we went to Elpis?

I think the Echo allows us to understand them.

Reading about Zepla's reaction really makes me wish we'd get at least ONE content creator who'd openly criticize some aspects of the game like the writing.

The problem is this community is vicious. Rich Campbell was having his sponsorships threatened because he agreed with Emet in 5.0. I'm disappointed Zepla didn't stick to her guns, but I understand why. She doesn't stream anything else but FFXIV and is in good standing with SE to where she gets to interview Yoshi-P. Why would she jeopardize that? However, I do wish she wouldn't insult the people who think differently, that makes her part of the problem.

What amazes me is the gaslighting surrounding Venat ended in 6.0. Not only did the NieR crossover make her look like a villain, but the Omega quest chain also walked back a lot of the positive narrative surrounding her. Both of which were exclusively written by Ishikawa. Yet, you've still got ardent defenders of Venat who insist she made the best and only choice.

[Skyborne]

Someone trying to justify their simple Online Arguing addiction and acting as self-appointed Thread Police aside...

I lied about my last post, guys, the Omega quests successfully lured me in and I had to pop in to check it out!

My thought: Good, not only did it take some wind out of the 'muh resilience makes the sundered superior' sails (that never even really existed in the first place but I digress), but I was also able to actually express my own opinion somewhat! And judging by the lore thread I saw pop up and grow, it seems to have sown the seeds of chaos among certain people over mother dearest being even mildly criticized ingame! I was not expecting some disagreement from the Watcher, #1 Venat Cheerleader, himself!

But in my eyes, the damage to the lore and the bitter feeling I got from all the hypocrisy of 6.0 is still there, even if it does seem like the devs actually absorbed some feedback and threw 'us' a bone. It was somewhat of a course correction, though it did not really address absolutely everything I had a problem with (like that ridiculous codex entry). A start, though. I still don't intend to renew... I'll just have to hear about Pandaemonium and Myths second-hand.

PS: I died from cringe from the Tweetingway thing and am posting from the Underworld.

[Teraq]

I'm not villifying anybody specific or this thread as a whole. Just pointing out that it's creating your own faction to counter another faction. Aka tribalism.

I don't see how you couldn't? Half the people in this thread have stated how they, for example, felt drowned out or annoyed at trying to debate with people on other threads or platforms by people who all shared similar opinions. That's the exact same problem, but in reverse.

No, it's not "the exact same problem" when one group is the obvious minority. Do you realize this is the kind of reasoning people use to discredit safe spaces? I don't care about engaging the opposition. It's exhausting. I deal with people enough in real life. I want to enjoy things on the internet with people I agree with in my free time.

If people want to come in here just to argue and they're unhappy their arguments are being refuted, then they're free to go and enjoy literally any other FFXIV social media, away from the big meanies who don't like Endwalker.

You mean talking about how Zepla was wrong about this thread?

Yes. Because she is a person with a large platform and made a dismissive statement founded on nothing more than the thread title and its number of pages. Is there anything wrong with calling this out? Should we just take this lying down?

But in any case, very well done. At the exact same moment wider attention was called to this thread, you have personally managed to derail it and make it entirely about how the minority is really, really mean to the majority. Not a great look for us, indeed. Mission accomplished, huh?

Feel free to type up a response to this, I will be ignoring it. No need to drag this out any longer, I wouldn't want you to derail the thread again with a back and forth like you did with Theodric when he rightly called out the obnoxious puritanical villain-fans-are-bad part of the fandom.

Reading about Zepla's reaction really makes me wish we'd get at least ONE content creator who'd openly criticize some aspects of the game like the writing. Someone kind of like MisshapenChair who wouldn't give two fudges about angry responses to their criticism.

IMO every mainstream game needs to have at least one critique like that to give an opposing PoV.

Not familiar with streamers and youtubers myself, is there truly no one at all criticizing EW? That would honestly be a little depressing and... unsurprising.

How did we understand the Ancients fluently when we went to Elpis? When it's already established they speak an entirely different, incomprehensible-to-us language? I don't actually even remember how we understood the shades in Amaurot but I do recall they weren't literally speaking our tongue we just somehow understood what they were saying without actually understanding their language. Yet when we go to Elpis they just speak fluent modern-tongue?

There's a line I genuinely didn't get, it's when Hythlo expresses relief you talk their language. I would have thought that people back then were just "beyond" language in a way, as they presumably all had Echo powers. Why would the WoL not talking their language be an issue at all?

[AnaviAnael]

How did we understand the Ancients fluently when we went to Elpis? When it's already established they speak an entirely different, incomprehensible-to-us language? I don't actually even remember how we understood the shades in Amaurot but I do recall they weren't literally speaking our tongue we just somehow understood what they were saying without actually understanding their language. Yet when we go to Elpis they just speak fluent modern-tongue?

I mean it's already bad enough the people of the first speak the exact same language as the source.

I attributed this to the Echo. It was stated elsewhere that the Echo gives people the ability to understand all languages.

[Theodric]

If nothing else it would prove to be an entertaining stream. Though I imagine the current gushing over "Tweetingway" taking over the official FFXIV twitter today will probably take priority.

It's a shame. As much as I think the presence of the Lopporits was poorly timed, I'm not afraid to admit that they're endearing and cute. Yet now because they're popular they're going to be milked until they become as unwelcome to me as 'forge ahead' and 'a smile better suits a hero' as Haurchefant is brought up yet again.

As an aside, if the game is doing so well for itself then I wonder why the marketing team is so desperate to get the FFXIV tag trending at every possible turn? Even we say 'every business wants to make money' which is true, it isn't a good reflection of the game to push cutesy stuff and little else.

I look at upcoming MMO's and they're showing off character models, weather effects, combat. The meat of their product rather than 'haHa funy joke1111'.

[Lunaxia]

(I'm not going to quote people directly here because it's a nightmare on smaller devices.)

Regarding the Ancients' language, it could be the Echo, although it's worth noting the Scions could understand the shades in Amaurot. I suppose Emet could deliberately have made them understandable to anyone so it was assured we could communicate with them, but I've always thought of it as similar to Dragonspeak, which I believe utilises aether in some manner to make their thoughts known to others (the written form being simply how humans interpret what they hear.) I was actually sad we never saw them speaking it, as I always quite liked their language and the extra dimension it added to the Ancients as a whole. As it stood, they often just felt like big humans, and I think they could have benefitted from a little more distinction from the sundered. It would have also made the fundamental similarities between them more meaningful.

I'd also like to add I completely agree with whoever commented about the tedious Sharlayan/ Labyrinthos section late in the game, I've heard people complain about the pre-HW quests and story pacing overall, but that was of the most excruciatingly frustrating and pointless parts in the entire game for me. After the intensity of the events in Garlemald, and the build up to travelling across the universe in a race against time to save the world from certain destruction, the last thing I want to do is stroll around town looking at water towers with rabbits and talk about vegetables! Then they ask you to float around and chat with any researchers about how they were feeling stressed out? I think that was the point I actually asked out loud if they were kidding and had to set my controller down and walk away for a while. I have never wanted Fray to reappear so badly and comment on the ludicrousness of it all, because I felt like I was going insane.

[Xeronia]

I know I have come in here and said my peace before but if I am allowed I just felt the idea to shove two expansion ideas into one for the sake of wrapping up the story was a terrible idea and nothing got really fleshed out due to it. I would have liked to see these resolutions in side quests happening in the main story. Garlemald shouldn't have been resolved in the final role quest, the realization "maybe all parties were wrong/justified" shouldn't have been in Omega: Beyond the Rift. I am glad they are in the game at all don't get me wrong but I know a good portion of the player base will never see these.

I also think the "cutsey" character moments really need to stop. I am glad they did call out the Y'shtola magical girl scene as a step too far for her character but at the same token G'raha is still acting like a fan boy over everything which is super jarring after how well he handled Thavnair during the Final Days. To me at this point some of the characters seem downright regressive in character growth which leave me just sighing and going "Hey friend can we just speed read this and get to the other content?". I also am a bit miffed we are still with the Scions and not building up a new cast to go adventure with but that is just my personal take of course. I would have much rather made Shadows of Mhach mandatory and gotten Cait Sith. (It would also maybe help the Alliance Raid roulette in forcing more then just CT to be unlocked.)

[AziraSyuren]

Ahahaha. I'm risking giving away my identity in Other Online Spaces here, but it's "Yasuda" from Umineko no Naku Koro ni. (If you have any interest in reading that title, do not look up anything about that character or that series. It's structured as a mystery story where you are supposed to work out the culprit and is one of those uniquely frustrating works where "you can't explain anything about why you love it without spoiling everything.")

Ayyy, you have great taste. Yasuda and Battler are some of my favorite fictional characters ever too.

[Brinne]

Ayyy, you have great taste. Yasuda and Battler are some of my favorite fictional characters ever too.

One of the undisputed highlights of my life was getting to tell Ryukishi07 that Yasuda was my favorite character in the entire world. \o/ Umineko lovers high-five! I have accepted in my heart that Requiem of the Golden Witch was literally peak fiction for me and I will never feel anything approaching the high of reading it ever again.