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

[Moebious]

The Pandaemonium story so far, has been the better part of story from Endwalker, for sure. It started out rather dull and predictable, to very nuanced and interesting, and has my full attention now.

I expected a 1 dimensional Lahabrea, "I'm so evil!". And instead got an actual very complicated family situation, between Lahabrea, Athena, duty, research, and their son(s).
Lahabrea being duty bound to the point of choosing his son hating him, for betterment of the Star, or belief there of, seemed to be a neat way of using what was known so far. To then subvert it in an interesting way, to actually give him character depth.

Also, Athena! Incredible, even for how little we got of her, she's so much more interesting than any other female characters introduced in Endwalker. An actual cunning, manipulative genius. Her design seeming mid makes her just that more interesting, no shallow vanity for external looks, all about her research & goals, and means to get them. I do hope that whatever her own reimagination being will be, she'll be even that more cunning.

Just wish they had voiced the whole storyline and cutscenes, at the very least after the obvious reveal of their true identities.

[Irenia]

It's tragic honestly that after all this...we know how it ends.

You know, I don't know why the time travel segment needed to be a closed loop, especially since the side story on the website implies it creates a new timeline, which would have made Endwalker as a whole more interesting and actually allow the past section to not be a foregone conclusion, and add interesting wrinkles to present Hydaelyn and Elidibus in why they would send you to the past and help you go to the past respectively

I imagine it was plotted this way because they wanted to create a strong emotional connection between the ancient peoples and the player. Seeing the general reaction to the story I believe it worked well enough, but it also tests suspension of disbelief so hard with how awkward it makes things.

That said, hopefully the final leg is *not* a foregone conclusion, and is a satisfactory conclusion that isn't just either "and they go back to the past with no memory" or "dead people need to be dead and not mess with the living".

[NanaWiloh]

The Pandaemonium story so far, has been the better part of story from Endwalker, for sure. It started out rather dull and predictable, to very nuanced and interesting, and has my full attention now.

I expected a 1 dimensional Lahabrea, "I'm so evil!". And instead got an actual very complicated family situation, between Lahabrea, Athena, duty, research, and their son(s).
Lahabrea being duty bound to the point of choosing his son hating him, for betterment of the Star, or belief there of, seemed to be a neat way of using what was known so far. To then subvert it in an interesting way, to actually give him character depth.

Also, Athena! Incredible, even for how little we got of her, she's so much more interesting than any other female characters introduced in Endwalker. An actual cunning, manipulative genius. Her design seeming mid makes her just that more interesting, no shallow vanity for external looks, all about her research & goals, and means to get them. I do hope that whatever her own reimagination being will be, she'll be even that more cunning.

Just wish they had voiced the whole storyline and cutscenes, at the very least after the obvious reveal of their true identities.

Laha is a excellent example of one internally struggling person. Having whats holding them togather get nuked into oblivion.

[tokinokanatae]

I agree that it's just as important--if not more important--to share good feedback as it is to share bad feedback.

I tend to find the stories in the Raid series in this game to be pretty, well, mediocre. I didn't like Alexander from the beginning, didn't like Omega until the end, and thought Eden was poorly paced overall and ended with a dull whimper. I don't think they're a good showcase of writing talent, considering that, by nature, they tend to be truncated and any narrative considerations have to take back seat to (typically) fan service and threading four different bosses together per tier. Pandaemonium also had an uphill climb with me because I'm not a huge fan of its aesthetic or premise.

That negativity out of the way, I have to say that I really do think Abyssos is on another level as far as Raid storytelling goes. Yes, I'd love some more connective tissue--or at least hallways so I could get a sense of what Pandaemonium looks like--but it's doing a lot with what it has, through implication and character interaction. I was skeptical that the game could make me as wild about Lahabrea as I am the other Ancients, but it passed with flying colors. I love the characters--including Athena--and I'm dying to find out what happens next. Even if the next tier doesn't manage to stick the landing, I will always appreciate this tier in isolation for how excited it's made me about the game--an excitement I've seen mirrored elsewhere online as well. I want the writer to take what they've done in this tier and take it to the finale. If they do, it'll not only the best Raid tier in the game, but some of the best writing in the game.

[Pyro2hell3]

The way i see it the guy we meet in Pandaemonium is the "real" Lahabrea as in this is what he was actually like. Before the end of days plus 13000 years of bodysurfing turned him into the guy we meet in the msq.

[Kusanagi7]

I prefer this papabreha to the genocidalbreha we know of and the music was 10/10 for me.

[Midareyukki]

The first thing I enjoyed was how they managed to make the most out of an obscure mythological anecdote (Erichthonius's birth). As it went on, I enjoyed the way that they toyed with not one but two aspects of the FF mythos. Lahabrea is the opposite to Mateus in FF12, who in turn is named after the Emperor of FF2. The Emperor split his soul to conquer Heaven and Hell both (Pandaemonium is Hell's capital in Milton's Paradise Lost), while Mateus bound an ice goddess to himself as a hostage.

But the actual story itself, the way that each character brings nuance to what's appears to be a sensitive oedipus-esque scenario, is honestly really interesting. And it for sure made Lahabrea look far more respectful than any other aspect of the game.

We're told Lahabrea was a genius.
We're told Lahabrea was one of the strongest among the Fourteen.
We're told Lahabrea was the man behind the creation of Zodiark.
We're told Lahabrea's lecture hall was full of students eager to hear him.

But what we see in the entire game is a raving fanatic who plays all of the villain tropes and dies unceremoniously by some priest cosplaying as Arthur Pendragon.

Even our character at one point remarks with "Really??? You guys like THAT guy?!", because it's just so odd to hear all these interesting and frankly intimidating things about a man who we beat barely knowing what the hell we were doing. And then we beat again, only to then see Artoria Pope Alter slice him and end him.

And we finally see why he became such a degraded shadow of who he once was, what led to that, and caught a glimpse of his actual greatness. Again, a really good homage to just how underrated and underappreciated the greek god Hephaistos himself is, both in-mythos and by the people who study it. One of the Twelve bloody Olympians. A great god who created impressive and magnificent devices, whom even Zeus feared because at any given time he could unleash the monster powering Mount Etna. But all he's known for is being "the lame fire god who got angy at Aphrodite being a girlboss".

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.

When there's something positive to say, we're gonna be positive. It's just not always like that.

people never expect that when they're told "If we complain about the game, it's because we care about it and want it to improve" they're actually being told the truth.

[Jirah]

In before the usual culplits enter the topic and try to tell you how it was bad.

That being said I enjoyed it and look forward for the conclusion of Pandaemonium.

Theirs a word for this type of stupid behavior,

[Iyrnthota]

In truth, I was a little dissapointed.
I was looking forward to seeing how Lahabrea went mad/evil, but it seems like they're going with "it was his evil twin".
Personally I'm starting to tire a little of complex villains with tragic backstories, so I was hoping for just a straight up evil dood. Perhaps Athena or Golbez will sate my desire on that front.

That said, I did enjoy the story overall and am excisted to see what happens in the next installment.

[not_ya_wify]

After seeing Emets passed self in Elpis, did not doubt that Eldibus and Laha past selves would be different people from their present selves. What shocked me is how young Eldibus is and Laha having a son.

Considering Emet-Selch mentioned that Elidibus was basically a child and was looking up to all the older convocation members, as well as him reverting back to child after WoL murders him, I was surprised to see how grown he already was. I expected him to be Unukalhai's age. (Well not age obviously but about that height)