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

[Raoabolic]

Agreed. I feel the big problem here was how it was presented. It was the last zone, of course we knew they were copouts and how it was going to end. Had the script been written with us losing each Scion one by one after the Final Days started, somebody in Radz, somebody in Thavnair, somebody in Garlemald, Thancred's sacrifice, Estinien's sacrifice, and then culminating in losing the twins before the final walk, THAT would have made it hit even harder. Yes, them coming back would still be a bit of a cop out, but I think a lot of us would have accepted it a hell of a lot better.

That would not have been a bad direction if the writers wanted to keep key characters for the future. Sentai does that sort of thing all the time and if it's good enough for Toei then it's good enough for SE!

[Kaonis]

The main thing i was really upset about was the failed opportunity to use "you are not alone" or to be more precise the weak quest the implemented. FFIX You are not alone part of the story was an outstanding masterpiece in which the protagonist questions themselves and is supported and backed up by the party.

But the version we got was "walk up the shiny stairs"

That part I was rather upset over. Like I can see exactly the sort of thing they were going for and it could have worked. But this game has so many characters over close to a decade, I didn't remember half of them or what their voices sounded like. That moment fell flat for me as I couldn't connect a lot of the disembodied voices to who they were supposed to be. Maybe it hits differently for people who just very recently burned through ARR to EW, but as someone who was on and off playing since ARR launch I just couldn't connect them all and didn't get much of an impact from that moment.

[Midareyukki]

That would not have been a bad direction if the writers wanted to keep key characters for the future. Sentai does that sort of thing all the time and if it's good enough for Toei then it's good enough for SE!

Unfortunately, Square Enix is known for their Kingdom Hearts-esque writing.

[Carin-Eri]

That part I was rather upset over. Like I can see exactly the sort of thing they were going for and it could have worked. But this game has so many characters over close to a decade, I didn't remember half of them or what their voices sounded like. That moment fell flat for me as I couldn't connect a lot of the disembodied voices to who they were supposed to be. Maybe it hits differently for people who just very recently burned through ARR to EW, but as someone who was on and off playing since ARR launch I just couldn't connect them all and didn't get much of an impact from that moment.

I don't know - even having played the MSQ in a relatively short space of time (December 2021 - end of March this year) that 'walk' did upset me. Mostly because, so far as I recall, the first and last voice we hear is Arbert's:
First: "If you need a push, I'll be right there behind you"
Last: "Lets finish this"

I mean, I remembered most of the voices inbetween but the fact that the first and last voice was Arberts..... well, part of us or not, he really was with us every step of the way.

The choice of line spoken by Hien was interesting though - I would've assumed he would have spoken the line he spoke immediately AFTER the one we heard - "We who yet walk the path should not think too much on the destination. When the hour arrives, we shall welcome what comes with open arms."

[Atreides]

The one thing I agree with here is that the WoL is on a serious powertrip, at this point we're the omnipotent being that just dispatches of everything that crosses our path. There is no struggle to be felt, the only thing that comes close to it is SEs attempt to show the mortality of your companions (but there's still plotarmor for them). I don't wish for them to die far from it but I wish for the WoL to struggle again.

If it weren't for Zenos showing up for the Endsinger fight we would have lost because she has no honor and will not fight to the death, she will flee the moment she realizes that we overpower her and we wouldn't be able to do anything to stop her from doing that. It was very convinient that Zenos showed up precisely at that moment.

The post EW patches hardly feel like we're going on an adventure, we're butchering our way through as nothing is able to stop us. The 13th would be the perfect opportunity to have us defeated and flee the scene for once because we can't kill our foes no matter how hard we try, they'll come back but alas we had Zero to take care of that, imo she should've been introduced later down the line. I understand that we have to win in the end but it would be nice if the WoL would taste defeat again because it's been a while.
Currently I feel like Lunk from Cyanide and happiness...

[Lucida3b]

I feel like they be a bit of a tad cautious of having the WoL be easily defeated as it could just come off like ran'jit a bit. Which was more a problem of execution than concept in that he felt like a repeat of zenos in StB among other things

Though i did like the final thancred fight against ran'jit as a big highlight of the msq in ShB

[RyuDragnier]

I feel that the "In the Cold" quest was an attempt to remind the WoL and the player that we do have weaknesses and can be depowered. We went from basically a level 82/83 badass down to the equivalent of a level 1, and were forced to to use what we could to survive. I'm suspecting that won't be the only time that happens. If I were trying to make things interesting as a writer and dev, I'd make that happen again at the beginning of a new expansion, to excuse a new leveling system for 100+, and to throw a twist where the final boss of an expansion is the villain in our original body.

[Rolder50]

I feel that the "In the Cold" quest was an attempt to remind the WoL and the player that we do have weaknesses and can be depowered. We went from basically a level 82/83 badass down to the equivalent of a level 1, and were forced to to use what we could to survive. I'm suspecting that won't be the only time that happens. If I were trying to make things interesting as a writer and dev, I'd make that happen again at the beginning of a new expansion, to excuse a new leveling system for 100+, and to throw a twist where the final boss of an expansion is the villain in our original body.

My issue with this is that there were no lasting repercussions or long term effects of being depowered. It was resolved with essentially zero consequence to the main story, which makes it feel lackluster.

[Lauront]

We'll see what this "big" thing planned for 7.0 is. At the moment the game is struggling to retain my interest outside of its PVP, and I'm finding myself playing TESO more and more on the side. Being busy with work doesn't help, either, but I think even if I had the time to spare... the interest is just lacking.

As an aside, for any interested in the story critical discord some in this thread set up/have joined for those who wish to keep in touch in the event of unsubs etc.: https://discord.gg/yRYnT28T

[Thenightvortex]

We'll see what this "big" thing planned for 7.0 is. At the moment the game is struggling to retain my interest outside of its PVP, and I'm finding myself playing TESO more and more on the side. Being busy with work doesn't help, either, but I think even if I had the time to spare... the interest is just lacking.

It would be cool to have a rejoining with the 13th caused by the scions’ meddling and attempts to restore it, as unlikely as it is.

6.5 will probably be as significant as the final days.