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

[aveyond-dreams]

I do enjoy the shades of gray in that regard, especially in that not every Garlean is the same. More of that would be fun to work with. But arriving in Garlemald and trying to figure out how to not kill the poor, poor tempered Garlean soldiers that would happily fight us to the death even if they weren't tempered? They were laying on the concepts of 'if you kill your enemy you're as bad as them' a little too thick. Sometimes I'd rather the people in the story be a little more emotional and human than just... the good guys. I think that's the biggest issue with FFXIV's story as a whole though, especially in Endwalker. The protagonist has no emotional agency (or agency in general) and everyone acts like robots that have a fleeting emotion and then are immediately over it, regardless of what's happening.

In this regard, I believe Estinien’s character could’ve been put to better use because I specifically recall him having no qualms about eliminating the immediate threat in front of him. I think he was stopped from doing this or scolded by Y’shtola from doing so, which was frustrating. He is a soldier. Let him act like one. Leave the mercy for characters who are more suited to that sort of thing.

Or better yet, have an argument about whether or not someone should be spared. In Dragon Age, your allies will argue for and against sparing other characters and that includes other party members depending on how shady their origins are. Instead we got Alphinaud and Alisae making an enormous mess of things not 30 minutes after they arrive because they fundamentally didn’t understand how to manage the situation.

Admittedly, I would have preferred for some citizens of Garlemald to survive the conflict that engulfed the capitol but I wonder about the other ways that they could have managed this. FFXV comes to mind, with a far larger imperial capitol that was largely void of any remaining human life. The mission wasn't, "let's save whoever we can" (this task fell to other characters and DLC that was never released), the mission was navigate this place, survive, and get the thing you came here for. I know it's a stretch to compare the Gralea segment in that game to something like Resident Evil but it's about as close as you can get in Final Fantasy to that.

We got a Garlemald zone whose goal was to humanize, not to necessarily show off all the creepiness and dark underbelly of the city like how people understandably may have wanted. The weapons storyline does do some of this, but it's simply not the same as the dark treck through Zegnautus Keep or the discovery of the clones in Episode Prompto, only to watch them disperse into miasma not long after. They are both dark segments, but the sense of tension is higher in FFXV's case compared to Endwalker's Garlemald.

When imagining what kind of zones a Garlemald expansion may have had, I picture the following:

1. A former territory in a warmer climate where "magic vs magitek" is put on center stage. A fallen kingdom like Dalmasca for example, and all the associated political storylines. Anima and the tempering is introduced somewhere around here.

2. Those of us who have played FFXII and FFXIII may remember several enormous airships where significant portions of the plot took place. Some as huge as Sky Fortress Bahamut, what about a zone where there are several of these large airships that you work through in order to reach the largest in the centre? Basically the Sea of Clouds/the Churning Mists, except instead of islands you have the ships.

3. Think about the carnival from NieR Automata or Nautilus from FFXIII. The empire’s “resort” area, possibly the end result of their occupation of Locus Amoenus, where we could see a display of festivities and decadence. Something like the holographic parade from FFXIII that depicted the War of Transgression, as an effective way of delivering imperial propaganda. Magitek battles against such a backdrop would prove interesting, and adds some much needed color to a nation that many players believe is just black and red.

4. A “battlefield” and when I say this I don’t mean a bland, boring design like Bozja with just trenches and burning wreckage. Bloodstained mountains and geography on par with Coerthas – all while the city lights loom in the distance. For added dramatic effect, perhaps a neighbouring beast tribe may summon a giant primal that fell in battle nearby, making it a landmark of the region.

5. The outer capitol, where a segment similar to Endwalker’s Garlemald segment would have played out. People try to help the Garleans to varying results, as the mystery of Anima and the tempering reaches very high tension.

6. The innermost segment of the capitol where the imperial palace stands. Instead of the Tower of Babil being a structure that it was built and twisted into, it could have simply referred to the highest spire of the building like in the case of Syrcus Tower being the tallest part of the Crystal Tower. The final showdown and reveal of Anima, etc.