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

[KageTokage]

I think the worst part to me about Endwalker's story is that it makes me feel a bit stupid for having cared or put any thought into it, discussing it with others, talking about "clues" or "it looks like lore is leading to this" when it feels very evident especially after the liveletter Yoshida did on the story that it was never really that deep to the developers. I feel bad for all of the people who have been truly invested in this story for years because I can and have easily just gone back to not really caring about the story and I'm okay with that. I don't have the same level of aversion to some of the characters that a lot of you do or the Slice of Life scenes etc, so it's not really going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back for me (that will be healer gameplay continuing down this path) but it is unfortunate that the story ever got to a place that made me invested to begin with. I just feel a little bit silly having ever cared, you know?

Their admittance that they're plenty willing to shelve plot elements the moment they've lost interest in them and that they were surprised about how deeply people were thinking about the story was a bit...disheartening, to say in the least.

It's made me feel like it's really better to just take things at face value because chances are, whatever you think is going to happen or where they're going to go with something is going to be less interesting/satisfying then it turns out in practice, assuming they decide to go anywhere with it at all.

One of the things I was most disappointed by was the fact that Zenos having visions of the Final Days amounted to literally nothing in the end and it felt like a particularly egregious example of them dangling a plot thread in front of our faces then cutting it because they didn't know what to do with it.

[Rulakir]

In a way, the blame is on me for getting invested into an MMO storyline to begin with, but I still feel as if the story was being led somewhere and instead they changed it to be a very banal feel-good "never give up and give in to despair!" anime message because of COVID and what everyone in the world has been dealing with since 2020.

I frequently wonder what we would've gotten had it not been for covid and Yoshi-P's bizarre need to conclude the story in 6.0, especially after learning internally there's still a lot of interest in exploring the Ancients. Ishikawa said in an interview she was "fine with ending the story at around patch 7.0 or 8.0".

One person I talked with who writes for a living said, "Writing takes a long time and that's not considering the bureaucratic process. So tell me that my story has to be scrapped and rewritten, that my time has been cut in half (the moving of the ending to 6.0 as opposed to 7.0) and that it has to be compressed in far lesser time (No longer than 6.1 to kick things off there) and that the ending has to be something I didn't plan for at all? Yeah, I promise you. I'm going to offer you garbage and you're a fool for expecting anything more."

I still like to think that Ishikawa cares about the story, but her hands are tied. Yoshi-P certainly seems to be the one making all of the decisions to finish up with the Ancients and move onto something else when the writers, JP VAs, various other internal staff, and of course the fans wanted more. I don't know what the deal is.

Their admittance that they're plenty willing to shelve plot elements the moment they've lost interest in them and that they were surprised about how deeply people were thinking about the story was a bit...disheartening, to say in the least.

Yeah, at this point I'm not sure why I should care about the story or characters anymore. Yoshi-P is the polar opposite of me in personality, so I don't feel I have much to look forward to if what we'll be getting from now on is only what interests him.

By the way, did you try joining the thread discord as Alijana?

[Theodric]

Their admittance that they're plenty willing to shelve plot elements the moment they've lost interest in them and that they were surprised about how deeply people were thinking about the story was a bit...disheartening, to say in the least.

It's made me feel like it's really better to just take things at face value because chances are, whatever you think is going to happen or where they're going to go with something is going to be less interesting/satisfying then it turns out in practice, assuming they decide to go anywhere with it at all.

One of the things I was most disappointed by was the fact that Zenos having visions of the Final Days amounted to literally nothing in the end and it felt like a particularly egregious example of them dangling a plot thread in front of our faces then cutting it because they didn't know what to do with it.

Yeah, as someone who once enjoyed doing every side quest in order to soak up every last bit of world building I have to say my enthusiasm began to decline with the increasing amount of dropped plot threads that amounted to very little. I think it's important in an ongoing story to keep things consistent because when it comes to MMO's, there's a broad range of players who invest in different aspects of the story and cast.

I remain baffled by the decision to artificially end the focus on the Ancients and Garleans in order to supposedly move on to something new only for the story to go right back to pulling at plot threads that have existed since the days of 1.0 and 2.0 once again.

I'm actually pleased that the likes of Sil'dih and the Thirteenth aren't being forgotten but I really hope that the game doesn't neglect the places mentioned in the Return to Ivalice/Save the Queen storyline. Ilsabard in general is a huge landmass that I'd rather not see remain covered in clouds.

[Jagick]

Yeah, as someone who once enjoyed doing every side quest in order to soak up every last bit of world building I have to say my enthusiasm began to decline with the increasing amount of dropped plot threads that amounted to very little. I think it's important in an ongoing story to keep things consistent because when it comes to MMO's, there's a broad range of players who invest in different aspects of the story and cast.

I remain baffled by the decision to artificially end the focus on the Ancients and Garleans in order to supposedly move on to something new only for the story to go right back to pulling at plot threads that have existed since the days of 1.0 and 2.0 once again.

I'm actually pleased that the likes of Sil'dih and the Thirteenth aren't being forgotten but I really hope that the game doesn't neglect the places mentioned in the Return to Ivalice/Save the Queen storyline. Ilsabard in general is a huge landmass that I'd rather not see remain covered in clouds.

Sadly, I wouldn't hold your breath friend. They seem to have absolutely no interest in continuing that after Matsuno either left or got pushed out. Those plot threads were explained away in the post-Bozja field reports. Incredibly disappointing. Maybe we'll get to go there some day, but for some reason I find myself doubting.

[Theodric]

Sadly, I wouldn't hold your breath friend. They seem to have absolutely no interest in continuing that after Matsuno either left or got pushed out. Those plot threads were explained away in the post-Bozja field reports. Incredibly disappointing. Maybe we'll get to go there some day, but for some reason I find myself doubting.

I think it's far too late to salvage it now, unfortunately - though the game itself is simply a stepping stone to me until something better comes along. I've mostly been playing other games in my backlog and keeping an eye on some of the upcoming titles. They're thankfully being designed in such a way as to not really appeal to the 'Second Life' and 'Twitter Enthusiasts' that this game has unfortunately come to attract in droves. Generally speaking, they're the same crowd who turn everything into black and white morality, strip away nuance and make bizarre insinuations about anyone who can actually separate reality from fiction.

Matsuno being invited to work on FFXIV was a dream come true for me and it's bitterly disappointing that he wasn't given the opportunity to complete his work here. I feel for Ishikawa, too, since it seems like she was forced to suddenly change course as well.

We'll see how 6.2 fares, I suppose. Maybe it'll renew my interest, maybe it won't - but either way I at least intend to continue posting my thoughts about what I'd like to see until that point.

[Raoabolic]

I think it's far too late to salvage it now, unfortunately - though the game itself is simply a stepping stone to me until something better comes along. I've mostly been playing other games in my backlog and keeping an eye on some of the upcoming titles. They're thankfully being designed in such a way as to not really appeal to the 'Second Life' and 'Twitter Enthusiasts' that this game has unfortunately come to attract in droves. Generally speaking, they're the same crowd who turn everything into black and white morality, strip away nuance and make bizarre insinuations about anyone who can actually separate reality from fiction.

History has shown us that when the rot has become this bad then there is very little chance of the devs to fix it, doubly so if the income is still there. In hindsight I feel like I got bamboozled by buying the two encyclopedia eoreza books since the lore seems to change from expansion to expansion. At this point it feels like i'm playing WoW again and seeing everyone go "No, cata's story is actually pretty good!" while those that point out how cata is stretching the lore at best and flat out breaking it at worst are just "haters". XVI looks pretty good but it is a SE product so I do worry that half of the story will be broken up and sold as dlc and I do worry about what "online features" the game will come with, and let's not forget SE's ethics department. The worrying part is that I am playing less and less of XIV and more of my backlog but that backlog is starting to dry up. I need to expand my horizons, lol.

[Theodric]

History has shown us that when the rot has become this bad then there is very little chance of the devs to fix it, doubly so if the income is still there. In hindsight I feel like I got bamboozled by buying the two encyclopedia eoreza books since the lore seems to change from expansion to expansion. At this point it feels like i'm playing WoW again and seeing everyone go "No, cata's story is actually pretty good!" while those that point out how cata is stretching the lore at best and flat out breaking it at worst are just "haters". XVI looks pretty good but it is a SE product so I do worry that half of the story will be broken up and sold as dlc and I do worry about what "online features" the game will come with, and let's not forget SE's ethics department. The worrying part is that I am playing less and less of XIV and more of my backlog but that backlog is starting to dry up. I need to expand my horizons, lol.

Yeah, in hindsight I regret purchasing the lore books. The WoW comparison is very apt since it, too, decided to make sweeping retcons to large swathes of the existing lore and characters in order to prop up something else. It's a delicate balancing act because introducing new stuff is fine but if it's coming at the expense of what came before it then it's going to lead to a lot of disillusionment.

FFXVI is supposedly going to be 'complete at launch' so I guess we'll see if that remains the case. As for my own backlog, I've still got a decent amount of things to get through - it's mostly a new, fresh MMO I want at this point though the intriguing options to me are at least a year or two out.

[YukikoKurosawa]

They're thankfully being designed in such a way as to not really appeal to the 'Second Life' and 'Twitter Enthusiasts' that this game has unfortunately come to attract in droves.

You might have said this part in half-jest, but browsing twitter lately I've seen a shocking number of peope who quite literally mod their characters to look exactly like Second Life character models. Don't even want to imagine what these people actually do ingame.

But this is what the devs see when they look at FF twitter. Mayhap it explains the increased amount of modern-style clothing glams being put onto the mog station of late. They've realized the audience they've attracted and are banking off of it.

[Raoabolic]

You might have said this part in half-jest, but browsing twitter lately I've seen a shocking number of peope who quite literally mod their characters to look exactly like Second Life character models. Don't even want to imagine what these people actually do ingame.

You don't want to know. All I have to say is Miss Triss was a mistake and each day we stray further and further from the crystal.

[YukikoKurosawa]

Miss Triss

Whomst? Some mod creator or something?