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

[aveyond-dreams]

As Senti mentions, portrayals such as how the Ancients were depicted in Endwalker have issues attached to them given how the game seemed to lead us into liking them only to wipe them out...for reasons that were then further elaborated on in the Omega quest as being illogical, given that resistance against despair is something unique to individuals rather than whole collectives. The situation regarding the depiction of mental health and the behavior of Hermes is another complex issue that I don't feel equipped enough to elaborate at length on, though understandably it was not received well in numerous circles.

Playing through the expansion, there was little if anything that made me think of the Ancients as scary or beings to be feared. They seemed cool, and as someone who likes making/creating/writing things I felt pretty at home with them. Their reactions to their circumstances struck me as logical, with Hermes and Venat being the sole exceptions. Now with Lahabrea set to make an appearance in 6.2, I disagree with the notion that these 3 alone are enough to paint their society as something that couldn't have overcome despair or that the suffering of the Sundered somehow makes them superior to their progenitors.

I am also aware that there were Russian players who took issue with the way in which Garlemald was depicted and handled in Endwalker, especially with the implication that they would be left behind should the plan to evacuate the star come to pass. I can only imagine what seeing that must have felt like, but it is a symptom of the game taking a bit too much from real-world locations and inserting them in the game. That sort of trend isn't sustainable, and given how much Thavnair was made to suffer in Endwalker in comparison to the other regions of the world, I too would take issue with the imbalance in the way in which this apocalypse affected the world.

[Striker44]

As Senti mentions, portrayals such as how the Ancients were depicted in Endwalker have issues attached to them given how the game seemed to lead us into liking them only to wipe them out...for reasons that were then further elaborated on in the Omega quest as being illogical, given that resistance against despair is something unique to individuals rather than whole collectives.

I feel like that missed the fundamental point of the Omega questline. He finds things "illogical" because he can't yet actually understand or process emotions. To him, the only "logical" course of action is something completely, absolutely, and utterly devoid of any emotion, which just isn't human. While each individual may have their own emotional reaction to something, every member of that "whole collective" will have an emotional reaction of some form and to some degree.

The situation regarding the depiction of mental health and the behavior of Hermes is another complex issue that I don't feel equipped enough to elaborate at length on, though understandably it was not received well in numerous circles.

Please stop with the mythical "numerous circles" tripe. It got old long ago, and typically ignores the immensely larger portion of the playerbase that feels completely differently than whatever your latest whine is.

[Brill_]

Just finished Endwalker on my alt. After giving it a 2nd playthrough, it's a good story with too many filler quests disrupting the flow.

80-81 - Intro/getting things started. Kind of 'meh', but it was ok.

82-83 - Garlemald, I liked this even more the 2nd time around.

84 - Then we go the moon, find out the start of final days are upon us. So, we do a bunch of loporrit fetch quests. Only saving grace for this quest line was being on the moon as it was cool zone to explore.

85 - Things starting to hit the fan. Then in the middle of searching for that woman and her baby you stop and have this moment around a camp fire. 85 quests were good, but a few of them in that chain seemed to be poorly placed given what was going on.

86 - Elpis, I'm still mixed on this zone. It's a beautiful zone, nice to see some history. But 86 questline feels like feels like helping Hermes with daily chores people are suffering back home because of the final days. I found it very boring, even though a few of the cutscenes it leads to an understanding of why Hermes makes the decisions he does in the 87 quests.

87 - Finally getting to the reason we are in Elpis. Things start moving, then you spend a couple quests chasing Metion around the zone. That got a little drawn out. The cutscenes after the 87 dungeon made the slowness of the last 2 levels worth it.

88 - Worst part of the expansion. More fetch quests. 1 cutscene of value.

89 - first part was good. After the dungeon, but before you leave, some of those cutscenes felt out of place. Final zone was good. I like the stories of the races you find there. There also seemed to be times with excessive dialog that feels like it's dragging on when I'm at a point of being ready for the final fight.

In the end, I still enjoyed the 2nd playthrough even though I already knew what happened. The filler just makes it drag at times. For me, thats what keeps endwalker from topping shadowbringers. Yes, every expansion has it's filler. EW just felt worse. Maybe it's because of all the dire things that were going on. The filler in EW gave me flashbacks to the company of heroes quests in ARR.

[Vyrerus]

I thought it was pretty convenient that after we get back from Elpis, our biggest obstacle is merely convincing The Forum / prepping the Aetherburner. I realize it was necessary, but that second dip in Labyrinthos drags even harder than the Hummingways (though funnily enough they become involved in it, too).

Nothing within that point of the story is related to Final Days or Blasphemy phenomena, other than, "Oh hey, we know the root cause, so now we gotta rig up this spaceship!" Idk, it just felt like there was very little tension.

Aitiascope was interesting, by the Hydaelyn trial and associated cutscenes were pretty ehhh... and almost invoked another plot hole ( She fights us exclusively with aether, there's no mention of us using Dynamis against her, so it's kind of a head scratcher as to why her test really mattered much at all, other than killing her to get her out of the way and throw down her run away plan).

[Cach]

Nothing within that point of the story is related to Final Days or Blasphemy phenomena, other than, "Oh hey, we know the root cause, so now we gotta rig up this spaceship!" Idk, it just felt like there was very little tension.

Before the spaceship takes off, they do the "everyone gets together" thing, but they previously did that before the Garlemald expedition.
"Oh we doing this again, uh" the scene didn't work for me that second time.

[Striker44]

Aitiascope was interesting, by the Hydaelyn trial and associated cutscenes were pretty ehhh... and almost invoked another plot hole ( She fights us exclusively with aether, there's no mention of us using Dynamis against her, so it's kind of a head scratcher as to why her test really mattered much at all, other than killing her to get her out of the way and throw down her run away plan).

For this part, I always felt Hydaelyn's "test" was just to see if we were strong enough to stand a chance against Meteion, not necessarily anything specific to dynamis. More along the lies of "if we're going with your plan, then we're sacrificing my plan to flee on the Moon, so let's make sure it's actually worth trying...because if you're simply not strong enough, then everyone on Etheriys is now doomed."

[FatalFatalis]

666 pages, this is now a certified cursed thread

[Tama-Kanzashi]

For this part, I always felt Hydaelyn's "test" was just to see if we were strong enough to stand a chance against Meteion, not necessarily anything specific to dynamis. More along the lies of "if we're going with your plan, then we're sacrificing my plan to flee on the Moon, so let's make sure it's actually worth trying...because if you're simply not strong enough, then everyone on Etheriys is now doomed."

Yeah, cool plan, flee with the moonship which not only lacks Zodiark's shield but also is also not even close to the aetheric density of even the sundered world. Everyone will instantly turn into Blasphemies and it will be the World's End Dancehall up there.
Cool plan mommy. Man you are so smart, you even fooled Striker44.

[BaconBits]

Yeah, cool plan, flee with the moonship which not only lacks Zodiark's shield but also is also not even close to the aetheric density of even the sundered world. Everyone will instantly turn into Blasphemies and it will be the World's End Dancehall up there.
Cool plan mommy. Man you are so smart, you even fooled Striker44.

Actual Dead Space moment.

[ReynTime]

Before the spaceship takes off, they do the "everyone gets together" thing, but they previously did that before the Garlemald expedition.
"Oh we doing this again, uh" the scene didn't work for me that second time.

And despite there being no way to know when you'd return from the end of the freaking universe people from all over are gathered and ready to receive you back for the precise day you do.