Thank you to whoever wrote the Pandaemonium story so far [SPOILERS]

[aveyond-dreams]

I too greatly enjoyed the story of Pandaemonium this patch and I'm excited to see how it plays out. It subverted my expectations in all the right ways.

[Atelier-Bagur]

I too greatly enjoyed the story of Pandaemonium this patch and I'm excited to see how it plays out. It subverted my expectations in all the right ways.

.....ok who are you and what did you do to aveyond-dreams.

[Kozh]

Like many others, I do worried a lot of Lahabrea portrayal in Pandae. 6.0 doesn't really inspire confidence of the writer's handling of the Ancients. So yeah, this is certainly a pleasant treat which I don't expect at all from the devs. I love seeing papa Lahabrea being rational good guy instead of cackling villain.

.....ok who are you and what did you do to aveyond-dreams.

Maybe if you actually bothered to understand people and not read it at surface level, you'll understand way earlier that lots of us who complain didn't do it for complain sake and those complains are born from genuine disappointment.

[Larirawiel]

I did not like the story. It is too much pointless drama. It was surely interesting because of more lore but ... drama. And i fear, that they will put more causal loop errors with the next content patch.


Cheers

[redheadturk]

I did not like the story. It is too much pointless drama. It was surely interesting because of more lore but ... drama. And i fear, that they will put more causal loop errors with the next content patch.


Cheers

Causal errors if it results in a split timeline where the Ancients still exist and are happy is fine with me. In fact, it's what I want

[EgilTheStressedMage]

It was good. Let’s see if it can stay good.

[Teraq]

(people talking about the lack of Hegemone)

Absolutely agreed that she was unfortunately the weakest link here even though she should have been a bigger deal, like Agdistis got a nice scene after her fight. At least give her a pre-fight scene like Hesperos so we got to know her better. The good thing is that she is the only key warder that's still alive, as we captured her and Lahabrea said he would stay behind to cure the warders using Athena's equipment. She did look pretty badly affected though… ew. I hope we're going to see a little more of her, but I'm not getting my hopes up on that particular front unfortunately.

(people worried about how it's going to end)

I both like and hate that this tier ends with the implication of

timey-wimey stuff happening, because it makes me hope for an alternate timeline ending where the Ancients can hopefully be free to decide their fate of their own accord, without a plot that contorts itself to conspire against them.

My best case scenario is, of course, that we tell Mankind's First Hero And His Final Hope everything. This literally wouldn't take much effort at all from the devs: just have the quest line end on the player choice of telling or not telling him. They wouldn't have to show us anything after that – just give us the tiniest spark of hope that things might finally go differently for them instead of being stuck in this hopeless time loop of fatalism. Some might not find this satisfying at all, but I would get the littlest bit of validation from it, and people who want Ancients to have the same fate they did in 6.0 would get theirs too.

I hate it, because the chances of me being let down are fairly good.

Whatever happens though… I've enjoyed this tier, and it's the journey that matters, not the destination, right? Well, unless the writers have decided you're going to end up like these distant aliens anyway!

So, similarly to how I felt after playing the Omega quests, I'll echo: thank you, writers!

I agree. While I didn't feel too much for the Omega quest as a whole at the time, it and now Pandaemonium make me feel like feedback to 6.0 is being listened to, in some way – this is why I made the thread. I don't know how futile the hope that they hear me is, but it doesn't hurt to try… One who tries nothing ends up getting nothing, after all. I'm not just here to wallow in Endwalker negativity within my comfy little Quite Lackluster; if we don't point out when we feel something is a positive step forward then we won't get anywhere.

(I also happened to do the SGE quest at long last at the same time, which featured a somewhat similar antagonist to Athena/a certain other lady who thought her people had to change by force),

Ohhh nooooo he said the thing out loud!

and it does show they could push the boundaries in their thinking quite far when motivated to, so I'd be keen to see what creative solutions they would come up with in the face of being unable to directly manipulate dynamis easily.

Well how about…

Lahabrea literally cutting off a part of his soul… and memories… enough that they can manifest as a separate entity that looks just like him… and which is considered unheard of and risky enough that Elidibus expressed surprise at him not dying outright…

Hm.

How about researching and iterating on that. Let's call it… sundering. But with measure, and one's actual consent. What a novel idea…

I liked the Story but it would have been a 10/10 if we could have heard Elidibus and Lahabrea Voice in some Scenes. It is only a 6/10 right now.

It's absurd that raid storylines still have barely any voice acting, but sadly expected. But even compared with Eden 8, this one was a let down IMO. At least E8 was a lot more cinematic and featured Gaia too.

While I'll be satisfied if they end up wrapping Pandaemonium's story in a satisfactory manner, it won't change the fact it's too little too late and I'll always remain a mite disappointed their fates are relegated to side content but oh well you get what you get.

I understand what you mean, but unfortunately they can't exactly shove the story they inflicted on us in 6.0 under the carpet (I 100% wish they did though). This feels like getting scraps off the table, but at this point there's not much more they could have done sadly.

If they can avoid trying to double down on any rhetoric suggesting that the Ancients 'deserved' or 'needed' to be targeted by a genocidal campaign at Venat's behest then that'd be pretty great.

Oh sweatie if only you'd PAID ATTENTION to the story you would know that the Ancients never cared for or respected life at all. I know this, because I've been told so by the resident Saddest Man whose psyche has been ground down to fine dust for however many years by a job that does not fit him at all and who, according to an employee we literally choose to interrogate because she's been working long enough to assess his character, is the kind of guy who didn't seem to have any hobbies or speak much to any human being around him beyond pure professionalism. Look, the mood ring even said he's the only person who FEELS! It couldn't simply be that everyone around him enjoyed their daily lives and jobs and that he may be locked into his own negative bias and cognitive dissonance, no, PLEASE LOOK AT THE CUTE LITTLE HEDGEHOGS!!!

[SentioftheHoukai]

While I'm somewhat impressed with what I've seen so far, my confidence in the dev team is yet at an all time low so I'm reserving my expectations. Let us observe what we see from here on out, and go from there shall we?

.....ok who are you and what did you do to aveyond-dreams.

It's almost like you don't really know them. Much wow!

also athena is my wife, give me back my locket, teraq

You first, she's mine all MINE! You cannot have her!

Though I have to admit to being a bit wary about the finale. It's about nine months away but unless it somehow ends with a split timeline where both the Sundered and the Unsundered can be happy then it's going to feel predatory if the player character simply lets Themis, Eric and Lahabrea face the Final Days with no forewarning.

If they can avoid trying to double down on any rhetoric suggesting that the Ancients 'deserved' or 'needed' to be targeted by a genocidal campaign at Venat's behest then that'd be pretty great. I also don't want a situation where Athena, Lahabrea or someone similar learn of what awaits them and try to avert such a cause only for the player character to put an end to yet another route to potential salvation for their race.

Again, let me clear - having Venat deliberately wipe out her own people after making a lot of people come to like them was a major faux pas. Since the Scions and City State leaders are clad in ridiculous amounts of plot armour then even if we never actually hear from them again then shuffling the Ancients off into their own little happy ending would be a great send off. Not whatever Endwalker's base MSQ's was meant to be. The added benefit of course is that it'd allow for a potential expansion in the future where we do a deeper dive of the Unsundered World.

See, the issues I have with this is that it feels its not gonna matter regardless. While I'll be satisfied if they end up wrapping Pandaemonium's story in a satisfactory manner, it won't change the fact it's too little too late and I'll always remain a mite disappointed their fates are relegated to side content but oh well you get what you get.

Not to be too negative, just adding my two sense no matter how unwanted it is. Yeah, I'm like that.

[Brinne]

I might post more thoughts later, but for now I'll also say I loved Pandaemonium and can't stop thinking about it, and in general was really impressed by the characterization and also the fun interweaving of the imagery and the themes, even beyond assuaging some of my issues with the original 6.0.

The poison/parasite/infection imagery and metaphor as related to a family struggling with abusive dynamics and how it can seep into even well-meaning peoples' behavior and their thoughts! The codependence element! The reliance upon the players' general assumptions about the Ancients and Lahabrea specifically as hubris-ridden, arrogant, bad people--only for the structure to be built around pulling that rug out from under you for the exact oppposite reveal. The song, and realizing in hindsight it's characterizing Athena and her point of view! Athena herself is fascinating and fun! Themis continuing to be the sweetest and the best! It's all so good, and surprisingly sophisticated for my usual expectations for the way storytelling is handled in this game!

So, similarly to how I felt after playing the Omega quests, I'll echo: thank you, writers!

also athena is my wife, give me back my locket, teraq