Ardbert's Party vs the Scions Analysis

[Rannie]

A burger is, ultimately, a meat-and-salad roll – not a really shocking and modern (or inherently unhealthy) thing even if it does feel a little jarring. But it does logically seem like the sort of thing that would cater well to students and teachers wanting a quick meal they can pick up and eat on the way to class. Also, if the whole point of Archon loaf is to stuff all your food groups into a single portable meal, then a burger achieves much the same thing while actually being edible.

I don't remember the rest of the food but they had a pretty big spread of things across the table, and again when we had dinner with the older Scions.

There was pizza , donuts, cookies (the one Alisaie took looked like a chocolate chip one), tea and macaroons as well. Quite possibly cupcakes also.

Yeah that Archon loaf seems just plain nasty. It's why the cul/alch studium quests has the quest giver wanting to make a new better tasting yet just as nutritious one... which I need to finish those quests >.<

I think what really offended me more about that food was .... who leaves a chocolate frosted donut uneaten. it's SINFUL! Ahem... errr sorry. My first job was dunkin donuts sooooo.....

[Theodric]

I just like interesting world building. I like stuff like the Dunmer in the Elder Scrolls games. They feel suitably alien and mystical in terms of their appearance, culture, architecture and the sort of creatures to be found throughout their homeland. I was hoping that Sharlayan would tap into that sort of unnerving fantasy aesthetic - instead we just ended up getting the equivalent of a modern day real world university town.

Each to their own, I guess, if they like that sort of thing. Though I prefer my fantasy to be more whimsical and consistent in its world building.

[Graeham]

I don't think it's particularly appropriate to try and use potential real world personal losses/trauma as an attempted 'gotcha' moment. Especially not in the defence of...pixels on a screen in a video game of all things. Pretty creepy, actually!

We agree with the post. If there is the pizza and the burger the donut and the tea and the buscute and the macroon and the cupcake you can not add the crepe. Is not healthy. Is worse than the pixieland. Is only able get away with bad eating because go to the other world make the light scionteam lose the body mass. The dark scionteam do the healthy way and do the gym.

Is important to be both whimsy and consistent at same time.

[Avidria]

Man the last few pages are almost enough to make me want to drag myself back through the MSQ again because I always thought Thancred saw Minfilia as like, a daughter lmao. Maybe a little sister at least. Genuinely didn't realize how close they were in age, just assumed Thancred fell into the same bucket of unrealistically pretty men who never age until they're Ancient
And that's even with doing the alchemy quests lol

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

Not necessarily. If anything, people who experience heavy loss and tragedy are likely to embrace such distractions. A lot of people working in the emergency services, or who have come back from the front lines also tend to lean into dark humour as a coping mechanism.

I survived an attempted murder. Fought off my attacker and got stabbed in the process. I joke about it with friends and family. Not everybody reacts the same way but it sure would be nice for the game to do more to make the Scions seem like actual characters who react like normal humans instead of being stoic and muted in their reactions to what is going on around them at any given time.

Either way, the 'flirty rogue' is a popular trope for good reason. If Thancred isn't going to fulfil that niche these days then it seems like a good idea to bring in someone else who will.

Not everybody copes with tragic events, or brushes with death by joking or rolling it off.
Sometimes people change when life threatening things happen to them, or even break down completely. The human brain is complex and diverse. I know these are fictional characters....but if you are going to say you want them to seem like actual characters who react like normal humans...then bro, you got it. But if you want them to just make jokes and jabs, shoot-the-shit and make light of things.....you're not looking for an actual person.
Sure, some people: such as yourself apparently, can turn it into a joke, but not everyone will.

Thancred Grew up, he experienced "Character Growth" so yeah he is no longer who he used to be back in ARR.
Sure I miss Suave Thancred as well, but I can appreciate a character realistically Maturing.

[VelKallor]

Not necessarily. If anything, people who experience heavy loss and tragedy are likely to embrace such distractions. A lot of people working in the emergency services, or who have come back from the front lines also tend to lean into dark humour as a coping mechanism.

They do...or in one case with a friend of mine, they crawl into the bottle. It took his mother, me, his sister and a therapist to drag him out of that bottle and to help him confront his demons. PTSD is real, the experiences you have change you in ways you cant ever imagine.

Thancred WAS a womaniser, the "dashing, derring do type"...then time and experience changed him. Remember after we confronted Ifrit? Remember what he said? He was remorseful that his carelessness almost got us killed..and resolved to do better.

Heavensward and Emmanellain

"You know nothing about me . I have fought tooth and nail for the people I hold dear, done everything in my power to save them and I have failed.

Learn to live with it....I have"

[Iscah]

I think what really offended me more about that food was .... who leaves a chocolate frosted donut uneaten. it's SINFUL! Ahem... errr sorry. My first job was dunkin donuts sooooo.....

Icing ruins doughnuts. Cinnamon sugar is the one acceptable coating, preferably with the doughnut straight out of the fryer and still warm, unless it's a good jam-filled one (brown and doughy, not the gluggy yellow sort) in which case plain sugar is acceptable.

In an attempt to be less blatantly off-topic I would like to offer that hamburgers and doughnuts have both existed in some form since at least the 1800s and possibly earlier.

[aveyond-dreams]

Icing ruins doughnuts. Cinnamon sugar is the one acceptable coating, preferably with the doughnut straight out of the fryer and still warm, unless it's a good jam-filled one (brown and doughy, not the gluggy yellow sort) in which case plain sugar is acceptable.

In an attempt to be less blatantly off-topic I would like to offer that hamburgers and doughnuts have both existed in some form since at least the 1800s and possibly earlier.

And the game isn't better off for their inclusion in the MSQ nor for the amount of money they likely took out of the animation budget - especially when to this day we have no in-game visuals of the Sundering or Hydaelyn's transformation apart from fan creations. I played Endwalker expecting an apocalypse with cosmic elements and a major focus on the gods and instead I got burgers, "thou shalt walk," and Dynamis with not even 30 minutes of Hydaelyn and Zodiark combined.

[Iscah]

Somehow, I doubt they pulled out of showing better visuals of the Sundering just so they'd have their budget for hamburger eating cutscenes.

For whatever reason, they decided to keep it vague and not tell us what happened.

If they were going to show it, they surely would have budgeted for it first and foremost.

Either that or they did make an animation and it fell victim to late changes to the plot and had to be thrown out.

[aveyond-dreams]

Somehow, I doubt they pulled out of showing better visuals of the Sundering just so they'd have their budget for hamburger eating cutscenes.

For whatever reason, they decided to keep it vague and not tell us what happened.

If they were going to show it, they surely would have budgeted for it first and foremost.

Either that or they did make an animation and it fell victim to late changes to the plot and had to be thrown out.

Indeed, I imagine the many forced attempts to portray Venat/Hydaelyn as heroic likely may have had something to do with that.

In any case Endwalker still falls short of the expectations anyone would otherwise have for the sort of story it presented itself as having, and this cast of protagonists isn't helping much. Especially now that the teasing of new characters and storylines hasn't led to much, my anticipation for the future main story is at an all time low. They should know better than to say such things without having any intention of following through with them.