Live Letter Thoughts

[Jeeqbit]

The over-emphasis on humor and slice of life

That was intentional to create a sense of calm and happiness after an expansion about despair.

"Forge ahead" just isn't how everyone deals with these things

Which is the reason Hermes becomes depressed and wants to end his own kind, and many people are not convinced there is a future and turn into beasts. Or if we want to go back to Stormblood, everyone we met was not convinced there was hope against the garleans. If the scions don't try to press a message of hope, then what are they supposed to do? Press a message of "yes, you're doomed, guess the enemy has got us"? The expansion is over, because the warrior of light gave up. The Garleans and Zenos are too strong. Probably no way to stop this final days, let's wait it out at Buscarron's Druthers.

It's necessary to push this message on people more than normal because of the fact they can turn into monsters if they lose hope. There probably isn't a reason to do it in other expansions.

the Scions, now thankfully mostly out of the way, who did not experience many lasting consequences as a result of their actions in the story.

Not in Endwalker, but at the end of ARR Y'shtola went blind, Thancred lost the ability to use magic, Alphinaud had his ego destroyed and Alisaie turned into an adventurer. They don't all need to be wounded in every expansion. We had Papalymo, we had Minfilia in Shadowbringers and Arenvald right before Endwalker, who had been fighting primals for us while we were away.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Hmm maybe we should put more fun and engaging battle content in the MSQ to improve the player experience rather than leaning too much into the visual novel sort of gameplay.

Considering the ARR patches were loaded with trials, I'm pretty sure it's not that simple. But, y'know, keep doing your thing and blaming the stuff you don't like.

[aveyond-dreams]

It's necessary to push this message on people more than normal because of the fact they can turn into monsters if they lose hope. There probably isn't a reason to do it in other expansions.

I'm choosing to highlight this specific part of your post because of how much it stood out to me. This is not a message that I feel does justice to the issues surrounding loss and grief. I expect better care for topics such as these from the story.

[VelKallor]

has not been received well by a significant amount of players whose ranks only seem to grow as time goes on.

This again? You DO realise that these sweeping statements, backed up by well..nothing..have zero credibility?

"Forge ahead" just isn't how everyone deals with these things, but the heavy-handedness with which the message is imparted can led to an uncomfortable experience for these players when it is delivered by the Scions <snip>.

Why do you keep making claims you speak for others..when you dont? You have ZERO idea what people think.

Pandaemonium is another issue, as upon further analysis it appears we actually did see all 4 fights with the 4th seemingly being Lahabrea, shattering his sigil which was recently described as a "power limiter" so he could face us at full strength. This could imply his demise, and with it no clear path <snip>

Or it could imply a dozen other things....maybe a good idea might be to wait until the MSQ is available, playing it and THEN drawing conclusions???

Endwalker's "forge ahead" message appears to suggest that we shouldn't react that way, and coupled with the clash between the ideas of reincarnation against permanent and lasting death it all makes for a very unusual situation. With the way in which Ancients were painted for not subscribing to that theme, despite them having every reason not to, it is understandable why some players are unwilling to sit through a repetition of that sort of story.

Speaking as someone who worked in a hospice, dealt with dying people and helping their families cope every single day with grief and loss for years?

You have no idea. None.

"Forge ahead" is just not the lived reality for many.

It is the lived reality for each and every one of us, a harsh inevitable reality we all have to face one day. The hardest choice of all is to find a reason to live after a shattering loss, to be able to face a new day in the knowledge that we must continue, that we mourn those we have lost , yet must return to our lives regardless..that the living still need us.

We have to forge ahead because we have no choice, we can either live and wallow in grief forever...or we can celebrate their lives by making each day we have on Earth the best we can.

I birth a world of suffering to mire and plague. In one fleeting moment lives come and go, ever moving towards the unknown . And in that fleeting moment they cry for the answer to the question

Why, given life, are they meant to suffer, to die. As fragmented imperfect beings, yours is a never ending quest..a quest to find your purpose, knowing your end is assured.

To find the strength to continue when all strength has left you..to find joy even as darkness descends..and amidst deepest despair, light everlasting.

You watched that cutscene, Aveyond..but you did not see it.

[VelKallor]

Yeah, maybe in a years time when the entire chain is complete. For now and the foreseeable they're still 10 minute yellow quests. Tataru's grand adventure aka, talk to a couple NPCs, port to sharlayan, done. See you in 4-5 months for the next 10 minute adventure.

Those chain quests are scattered across every zone in every expac.

[Padudu]

LMAO this thread is actually a shit show

[Imora]

not exactly what Lodestone says.... so easy to use that as a metric in point of fact, especially since as you say, you only play "mostly one character"

I started on another account in 2014. Would still be on that account if a) I could region swap and b) post on the forums.

It's not exactly difficult to sort.

[TheMightyMollusk]

LMAO this thread is actually a shit show

New to the forums? You'll get used to it.

[Padudu]

New to the forums? You'll get used to it.

Not that new. :P We can all acknowledge how trash fire a thread has become without being baby new to the forums

[aveyond-dreams]

I'm very much a loyalty until and past death sort of person, so this "forge ahead" messaging doesn't really resonate with me at best, while there are other players who have expressed their dissatisfaction in more emotional ways. It was not sufficiently sensitive nor did it account for people who don't react that way. In such a scenario, I feel it would've been a better option to express mournfulness and regret in more appropriate ways, especially through characters that have undergone more recent/prominent losses than the Scions.

A death that occurred 10 years ago for a side character is not going to have the same impact as more recent ones or ones that occurred in the main party, and I feel this should've been accounted for. The Scions simply haven't gone through enough in the recent past for them to go on to be the mouthpieces for a message such as this one. Thankfully with the retirement of most of them from the main party, the story can move past this controversial era and hopefully onto something more palatable and mature.

If you're going to build a story around themes, you have to be considerate that they will resonate and not be taken the wrong way by players. Extended internal discussions about the story that incorporated a wider range of perspectives may have accomplished this, and hopefully will be something they consider doing in the future. To summarize - I would not appreciate if after suffering some manner of loss in real life that someone came to me and tried to impart the message that Endwalker does of "forge ahead." My mind and my personality just doesn't work like that. Implying that people like me and others are wrong for being this way is rather exclusionary in a way I don't think they intended.