Live Letter Thoughts

[aveyond-dreams]

You arn't looking for a compromise, you are looking to get a specific style of writing, what YOU want. I honestly dont care how the author chooses to write, and Im not going to sit here and tell them how they should write, and bring up other works and tell them they should be like so-so. This isn't a resistance to outside suggestions, this is me saying the Authors vision should be delivered THEIR way, not somebody elses way.

I suppose that is the difference between you and I then. I am not going to hold myself back from weighing in on their work and bringing my perspective to the table. I feel that this is a necessary element in gauging people's reception to the story. Analyse both what people liked, and what they didn't. Whether they choose to act on people's feedback is their choice to make.

Its just like how there was a time, and sometimes still is people form WoW that like to come into FFXIV and say it needs to be like Wow. Saying FFXIV needs to have the same systems to be successful. Lo and behold, FFXIV isn't using those systems, and is still very successful without it. Meanwhile WoW has to steal from others to be successful.

I believe that FFXIV would benefit from incorporating some of WoW's systems, such as its Transmog system of glamours, as well as the customizable mounts and Dragon Riding that is coming are Dragonflight. Regardless of the source of the features, I believe these are some good ones that will help improve the FFXIV player experience.

Sure, not everybody will be happy. But I trust their decisions on the games direction more then somebody who will spend so much energy complaining about a character eating a Hamburger, or think every instance of fun and joy is bad.

I will continue to cite that scene as an example of one of the ways in which Endwalker missed the mark in terms of the tone in its storytelling. No one to date has provided an argument as to why scenes such as that one and Estinien's boot should have not only taken up so much of the animation budget, but were included while not depicting iconic moments such as the Sundering. Sharlayan and its characters were largely cleansed of elements that would have provided the sense of danger and intrigue once associated with them in the past, and I don't think this was to the game's benefit either.

This isn't a resistance to outside suggestions, this is me saying the Authors vision should be delivered THEIR way, not somebody elses way. This isnt Dragonage, or Game of thrones, or -insert title here-. If you want that, I believe you should go enjoy those titles, instead of trying to make and turn somebody elses work into another work.

In response to the above I will provide the following statements:

I suppose this might be another post to potentially bookmark in order to keep track of the points being raised but as has been pointed out in the past it is specifically being requested that there are meaningful lasting consequences for at least some of the major protagonists.

Not just throwaway side characters of little relevance who are created with the intention of dying horribly. Not only antagonists and villains who are predictably given a sob story to induce sympathy and then unceremoniously killed off.

The occasional character on the level of Alisae, Y'shtola, Urianger, Raubhan, Nanamo or Merlwyb actually facing death in a meaningful and well written fashion would do wonders to portray some actual stakes.

I'm not convinced that one sided magic and world altering abilities are particularly engaging, either. Wanting more fantasy elements does not necessarily equal wanting them to manifest solely as an excuse to shield the major characters at almost every turn, especially when the story is written in such a way as to disallow the antagonists to score any meaningful on screen victories.

I want a compelling story and lasting consequences would achieve that as far as I'm concerned.

As has been pointed out over the numerous past occasions where the 'this is not Game of Thrones' line has been spouted, many of us aren't asking for mass death for the sake of mass death and are instead asking for death to occur where and when it makes sense. Cladding the bulk of the cast in extensive plot armour simply sends things in the opposite direction.

I would humbly suggest bookmarking this post if you're able to. It might help refresh your memory next time this same point is raised.