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

[SentioftheHoukai]

Decapitation!

Whaaaaaaaaaat?!

It doesn't show him winning! No ending?! 0/10 would not read again!

[Teraq]

Props to Kozh for giving his (well drawn!) comic sound: I could distinctly hear the PING! aggro sound as the scouts of the Venatori linked it to their Discord(s) to brigade the thread, even prompting certain people to seemingly create Reddit accounts, or unlurk, as it were, to defend the honor of Mother.

Ummmmmmm pay attention to the story sweaty ok??

[Lauront]

Kozh can't post due to being unsubbed, but did this amazing comic of an alternate version of the Mothercrystal trial:

Twitter.

Reddit.

Highly enjoyed it, thanks for the re-post! Would that it were that matters could've taken a different turn.

[Kazhar]

Twitter.

Reddit.

That reddit thread went slightly better than the days when I was still trying to criticize Venat on the mainsub.
Of course there are still the same condescending posts implying that if you disagree with the way the story is framed, you're a troll / you skipped (even one there that implies that it makes you a furry somehow), and anything against Venat gets you downvoted to oblivion, but it seems dissenting opinions are becoming a bit more widespread than before.

It's a slow process but I think Endwalker will not be as fondly remembered a few years from now.

Great comic btw, thanks for sharing it. I would have enjoyed EW much more if even just the confrontation with Hydaelyn would have been framed differently.

[Xeronia]

It is a wonderful comic. I will say having poked through the reddit thread the replies really don't shock me at all. I think people forgot that in literature and any narrative you can of course have a different take away from it, that is the beauty of such a medium. To me in ShB I started to question if Emet-Selch is in fact showing me the Ascian side of the story why was Hydaelyn lying via omission to me? She never did more then point me at the "darkness" telling me to destroy it and informed me of the the sundering. EW did nothing to really combat that and if anything made it worse by not showing Venat's side as thoroughly as the Ascians was. I would have agreed a bit more with her if they had shown her trying to convince a Convocation member or seeing an echo vision of The Plenty and fearing her people would become that but it just isn't present in game.

[EgilTheStressedMage]

It is a wonderful comic. I will say having poked through the reddit thread the replies really don't shock me at all. I think people forgot that in literature and any narrative you can of course have a different take away from it, that is the beauty of such a medium. To me in ShB I started to question if Emet-Selch is in fact showing me the Ascian side of the story why was Hydaelyn lying via omission to me? She never did more then point me at the "darkness" telling me to destroy it and informed me of the the sundering. EW did nothing to really combat that and if anything made it worse by not showing Venat's side as thoroughly as the Ascians was. I would have agreed a bit more with her if they had shown her trying to convince a Convocation member or seeing an echo vision of The Plenty and fearing her people would become that but it just isn't present in game.

After playing games such as both Baten Kaitos, Final Fantasy 3-6, Xenoblade 1, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Tales of the Abyss, Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, I am convinced EW's story is what it is for the sake of being purely different with quality being as low as possible. But different has to also be good, which EW is not. I've said many times that I enjoyed EW, but after getting Hades in Trial Roulette, I can't say that with confidence anymore. Now I feel embarrassed that they thought this was the best they could do. If they wanted Venat to stay this big good who had to do a big bad and not make everyone feel awkward about it, then they should have shown it and not just said it. I would have been fine if Venat was killed during the Sundering and Hydaelyn was all her pride and self righteousness but without the humanity that came with it, in addition to showing the slow realization that the Sundering was truly the only option. I would rewrite Meteion to be something else entirely and give Hermes a justifiable reason to be loathing of his own species. The amount of ways they could have done this better is legitimately limitless.

So I just can't bring myself to feel strongly one way or the other with Venat. She and so much more are too inconsistently written to like or despise. How they thought this was on the same caliber as Shadowbringers, which is like when Sega made Sonic Generations and Colors then went back to making trash after making back all the money, will remain a mystery.

[Theodric]

Kozh can't post due to being unsubbed, but did this amazing comic of an alternate version of the Mothercrystal trial:

Twitter.

Reddit.

Worth a look just for the artistic skill, but even moreso if you wanted an actual confrontation with Venat instead of a gush fest. :P

That's pretty great. Not only in terms of the art style and quality of the work itself but also due to the premise of the subject matter. I know it's been pointed out many times within this very thread but simply treating Venat like a well meaning but ultimately genocidal maniac would have been far more appropriate than attempting to justify her actions in any way.

Being denied the opportunity to call Venat out felt very strange. Nothing would have been lost by giving a dialogue option that was scathing, or having at least one of the Scions be utterly disgusted by her callous decisions even if it ultimately benefitted them.

I guess we'll see what the next Live Letter brings in terms of news. For now, I'm mostly playing other games and have little desire to play FFXIV.

[Vyrerus]

After playing games such as both Baten Kaitos, Final Fantasy 3-6, Xenoblade 1, Skies of Arcadia Legends, Tales of the Abyss, Devil Survivor 2: Record Breaker, Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, I am convinced EW's story is what it is for the sake of being purely different with quality being as low as possible. But different has to also be good, which EW is not. I've said many times that I enjoyed EW, but after getting Hades in Trial Roulette, I can't say that with confidence anymore. Now I feel embarrassed that they thought this was the best they could do. If they wanted Venat to stay this big good who had to do a big bad and not make everyone feel awkward about it, then they should have shown it and not just said it. I would have been fine if Venat was killed during the Sundering and Hydaelyn was all her pride and self righteousness but without the humanity that came with it, in addition to showing the slow realization that the Sundering was truly the only option. I would rewrite Meteion to be something else entirely and give Hermes a justifiable reason to be loathing of his own species. The amount of ways they could have done this better is legitimately limitless.

So I just can't bring myself to feel strongly one way or the other with Venat. She and so much more are too inconsistently written to like or despise. How they thought this was on the same caliber as Shadowbringers, which is like when Sega made Sonic Generations and Colors then went back to making trash after making back all the money, will remain a mystery.

I love this post. It succinctly expresses how I feel about Endwalker.

[Rulakir]

Periodic reminder this thread has a discord! Share your feelings, know our thoughts. :P

https://discord.gg/5C9FyGaM

[SamSmoot]

I thought the whole exodus thing was pretty good, except for the silly moon bunnies. I don't even remember what the Shadowbringers story was about.