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

[CrownySuccubus]

Anima is Varis. He has been part of the story since the ARR post patches.

Yep. I edited that in because I figured that's what you were saying.

Sure, I guess, although Varis stopped having any agency on the plot after his death.

[Rulakir]

Had a friend translate the Mothercrystal cutscene for me and, once again, EN missing out on crucial clarity and context.

"Even those who don't even have a body anymore will answer your call...just like the souls in the Aetherial Sea. But you need to be aware of one thing. Azem's art is not simple magic. Rather, it is based on your own will that will only take form once you carry a heartfelt wish within you. 'Walk confidently towards your goal, following the dearest wish in your heart. Only then those powers will unfurl.' Those were the words of the creator (gendered based on WoL) of this magic."

This means that the WoL specifically willed Emet & Hyth to be there, which I think throws another sinister wrench into the mix. Other translations also have Emet in UT saying that 'Venat doesn't like to lose', which makes it seem like he was an insurance policy, one that's reliant upon his bond with Azem. Them being there at all is reliant upon the WoL's fondness for Emet as well for them to have such a strong, heartfelt wish to call them there.

While that sounds all nice and fuzzy on the surface, wow, is it emotionally manipulative AF. This woman's whole plan relies upon these two souls who are attached to each other regardless of incarnation. I'm consistently baffled how this woman is not presented as an antagonist or why the WoL doesn't have any issues with her.

Side note: I don't know where people are getting that Venat felt bad about what she did. She didn't express regret in EN nor did she in the translation, in fact, she says her actions were a test and that, "In the end it doesn't matter what I did. Just that you defeated me." She also channels her inner G'raha saying that it was the WoL who kept her going. I swear, every time I think this character can't get worse...

[Lustre]

Can i point you, my friend, in the direction of every final fantasy game ever made.

Main baddy -> not the real endboss.
Real endboss -> introduced right at the end of the game.

You are welcome.

Most real end-bosses arent as lame as Meteion. Even Yu Yevon from X had a reason for being underwhelming.

[Kazhar]

Side note: I don't know where people are getting that Venat felt bad about what she did. She didn't express regret in EN nor did she in the translation, in fact, she says her actions were a test and that, "In the end it doesn't matter what I did. Just that you defeated me." She also channels her inner G'raha saying that it was the WoL who kept her going. I swear, every time I think this character can't get worse...

In the french version, which is the one I played, she does say explicitely that she doesn't deserve pity nor forgiveness. ("Je ne mérite ni votre bonté, ni les excuses que vous me trouvez")

In english her wording is slightly more ambiguous as she says something like "there's no justice in my actions".

[Rulakir]

The thing is she doesn't regret it nor does she have reason to as the ending is exactly what she wanted. She goes out on her own terms completely content, a luxury none of her victims were afforded. Acknowledging the atrocity of her actions isn't the same as feeling bad about them. She would do it all again if it'd achieve the same result.

[Raoabolic]

Acknowledging the atrocity of her actions isn't the same as feeling bad about them. She would do it all again if it'd achieve the same result.

Meanwhile Vauthery is being killed repeatedly for his drops while looking at Venat going "O-Ok...". lol

[Kazhar]

The thing is she doesn't regret it nor does she have reason to as the ending is exactly what she wanted. She goes out on her own terms completely content, a luxury none of her victims were afforded. Acknowledging the atrocity of her actions isn't the same as feeling bad about them. She would do it all again if it'd achieve the same result.

It fits her characterization. For all the faults in the writing, I don't think they ever implied that she would have done things differently if given the chance. She believed it was a monstrous act, but the correct choice.
Personally I would have found her even less sympathetic if she had second thoughts. You don't kill your entire race for the Greater Good(tm) and then start being sorry about it a bit later.

[Rulakir]

Personally I would have found her even less sympathetic if she had second thoughts. You don't kill your entire race for the Greater Good(tm) and then start being sorry about it a bit later.

I never found her sympathetic in the first place. Her expressing even the tiniest bit of remorse would have softened my impression of her slightly. Sort of like Arthas in WoW. "Do you feel the least bit bad about anything you've done? No? Well, F you then." Basically how I felt about Hydaelyn.

[Vahlnir]

I never found her sympathetic in the first place. Her expressing even the tiniest bit of remorse would have softened my impression of her slightly. Sort of like Arthas in WoW. "Do you feel the least bit bad about anything you've done? No? Well, F you then." Basically how I felt about Hydaelyn.

Thankfully, the writers never really attempted to make Arthas anything but evil after he became the Lich King. I'm glad they didn't do much with him in Shadowlands aside from watching a fragment of his soul fade away into nothingness, because it really would have spoiled a wonderfully written villain. I realize that not everyone enjoyed that ending for him, but I was happy about it. It didn't give Blizzard a chance to ruin him like they did so many other characters. With Hydaelyn...I kinda get the impression that the FF XIV writers wanted the story to go one way initially, then somewhere in the middle decided to go off in an entirely different direction for reasons unknown.

[Theodric]

Heh. Honestly, FFXIV's writing circling the drain on some fronts simply makes me regret the state WoW found itself in. Characters such as Kael'thas, Illidan and Arthas intrigued and appealed to me much more than most of the characters present in this game. I saw the signs that WoW was heading to questionable territory right around the same time I started investing in FFXIV. At the time, it seemed to take its world building more seriously and it maintained a level of consistency that I appreciated. Now it really does seem like FFXIV is simply following the same trajectory as WoW and retconning large aspects of the story in order to prop up certain characters at the expense of others.

How interesting that both FFXIV WoW ended up having their respective stories thrown off course to downplay the atrocities of genocidal women who were then cynically framed as the real victims instead of, y'know, the people they wiped out.

I suppose we'll see what the 'new' story brings to the table as far as FFXIV is concerned. Though so far everything 'new' has simply been tugging at existing plot threads that have been dangling since the days of 1.0 and 2.0 which adds further weight to the theory that the development team wanted to wash their hands of the Ancients and the Garleans for the most part.