Quote Originally Posted by aveyond-dreams View Post
Fan service to the degree we saw in Endwalker does not belong in the MSQ. Leave it in side quests if it must be in the game at all, because appeasing character fan clubs shouldn’t come at the cost of a well-developed story with compelling stakes and consequences.

Their fans would love them regardless whether they live or die and, as they tend to do, would move on the minute a new character that suits their whims is released.
I must respectfully disagree. There can be a place for both serious/heavy moments in the story while also allowing for lighthearted or even fanservice-y scenes to break them up and give the player some relief. A story can't be enjoyable if there's just one singular tone throughout the whole way through. That's something I've always loved about the FF series in general, in that they incorporate negative and positive tonal shifts very well.

There also wasn't all that much fanservice for EW at all, imo. Or rather, it was balanced? Either way, you're kind of exaggerating. You make it seem like it was in our face in every cutscene when that isn't the case at all. They can't just make the story for one specific type of player. We all have varying interests when it comes to the MSQ and it's, quite frankly, selfish to say it should basically be cutout and stuck elsewhere. There are things I didn't particularly enjoy the whole MSQ through, but I wouldn't suggest removing them out because I'm aware that others actually like it. (I'm not that crazy about Y'shtola for one, but I know others really like her. Plus, she can be interesting and funny at times, so I let it slide.)

Also, you're very presumptuous that all fans of a single character would all act the way you say. I enjoy characters with similar personalities to G'raha in other games or even anime, however to me he is very unique on his own and I don't see him as a pure list of tropes to latch on to. This goes for other characters that may be similar to him. I can acknowledge they're similar but I can still enjoy them to different extents based on the series they came from, quality of writing, style, character arc, etc. It's not all about just getting hot and bothered, lmao.