Please don't harass people for ignoring/disliking the story

[Zebraoracle]

This... isn't entirely related to the topic on hand, but this thread made me think of it - some friends of mine really adored EW's story, like, a LOT, and say stuff like YoshiP was trying to send a message to the players through the story, like a moral that we need to learn or we're doomed as a species or something. I'm just a bit uh... confused on what that point is, and I watched and read everything related to the MSQ. Is it just that we need to be careful not to become stagnant as a civilization? Or something else? The way they talk I feel like I missed some sort of big revelation.

[aveyond-dreams]

This... isn't entirely related to the topic on hand, but this thread made me think of it - some friends of mine really adored EW's story, like, a LOT, and say stuff like YoshiP was trying to send a message to the players through the story, like a moral that we need to learn or we're doomed as a species or something. I'm just a bit uh... confused on what that point is, and I watched and read everything related to the MSQ. Is it just that we need to be careful not to become stagnant as a civilization? Or something else? The way they talk I feel like I missed some sort of big revelation.

Yoshi needs to stop trying to "send messages" and focus moreso on telling entertaining fantasy stories. When I write things the last thing I focus on is any specific "theme" I'm more concerned with the plot of what I'm trying to put out. Themes can arise naturally as a reader takes in the story without me spoonfeeding them the way Alphi did to us at several junctures in EW.

If Endwalker demonstrated anything is that his view on things is too different from my own for me to want to endure such preaching, from the forge ahead nonsense to brownie points scored by removing the gender lock from gear hardly anyone buys or wears. Appeals to virtue mean nothing to me, especially when such real-world morals have little place in what used to be a game set in a fantasy world and time period.

[Cithaerias_pyropina]

#venatdidnothingwrong

#zodiarkdidnothingwrong

[Atelier-Bagur]

#1.0didnothingwrong

[Boblawblah]

#zodiarkdidnothingwrong

I almost feel for zodiark, just a pathetic shell that ended up doing nothing. Total letdown. It'd be like Kefka just tripping and falling off the floating Island and dying. womp womp

[Ransu]

There's very little reason for me, if any, to seek out interactions or discussions with those who are fans of Endwalker's story. More often than not it appears that its defenders seek out those of us who took issue with it in attempts to prove themselves the correct and moral ones because they "understood" the story's true message and could somehow sympathize with the likes of Hermes.

We explain our grievances, get painted as bad guys ourselves or have other strange accusations like some of the ones in this thread tossed our way, and then the current defenders of FFXIV are mystified as to why the playerbase keeps dropping and why they continue to receive pushback from more and more sides.

I believe that quite a lot of issues could be solved by the following: by setting Yoshi free to work on other games and for Ishikawa to move on to other projects within CBU3. Of the remaining team, future main story writers should be selected from the sort that produced the quality of writing we saw in 6.2's Pandaemonium quests, as well as the more mature storytelling of Ivalice and Bozja's settings.

Endwalker was an expansion that operated on feels more than substance - I propose that tide be directly turned as soon as possible, lest the game continue to self select for the sort of players that would otherwise be more taken by games outside the fantasy genre than a mainline FF title.

That's because your opinion is completely invalidated. You constantly harp about stupid things like the female characters not constantly being damsels in distress and god forbid there's a lite scene where someone is eating a hamburger. Your takes are garbage and its why people don't take you seriously.

[Theodric]

I think I've seen far more meltdowns over people criticising the burger scene than criticism of the burger scene in question at this point.

[Lauront]

This... isn't entirely related to the topic on hand, but this thread made me think of it - some friends of mine really adored EW's story, like, a LOT, and say stuff like YoshiP was trying to send a message to the players through the story, like a moral that we need to learn or we're doomed as a species or something. I'm just a bit uh... confused on what that point is, and I watched and read everything related to the MSQ. Is it just that we need to be careful not to become stagnant as a civilization? Or something else? The way they talk I feel like I missed some sort of big revelation.

There was good discussion on the "themes" (such as they are) here and also here. I don't think it's quite so deep as him sending a message directed at us lest we fall prey to some "doom" as it is the writers playing with themes that they struggled to execute well in tandem with squashing two future intended expansions into one and thus producing a rather muddled hodgepodge that is inconsistent in parts with some of the game's own prior themes.

I almost feel for zodiark, just a pathetic shell that ended up doing nothing. Total letdown. It'd be like Kefka just tripping and falling off the floating Island and dying. womp womp

Yes, minus keeping the star alive for some 12k years and counting...

I think I've seen far more meltdowns over people criticising the burger scene than criticism of the burger scene in question at this point.

It's ironic, really. I don't recall ever reading a post I'd consider even remotely thought provoking from the poster just above you. He was going to come back and "educate" certain other posters on the Japanese script in the past but never really came back on that. Possibly because it was little more than hot air.

[aveyond-dreams]

That's because your opinion is completely invalidated. You constantly harp about stupid things like the female characters not constantly being damsels in distress and god forbid there's a light scene where someone is eating a hamburger. Your takes are garbage and its why people don't take you seriously.

Your complete misinterpretation of my positions is why I usually do not give those on your side a response. Why bother when you're just going to make stuff up to paint me as a bad guy? Enjoy the current state of FFXIV, because there are 2 paths from here.

1. the game gets back on track, people come back, things improve to fit mine and others' standards when it comes to story and content while those who play regardless of such things will continue doing so.

or

2. the game continues this misguided trajectory, the playerbase keeps dropping and the fall of WoW quite literally repeats itself. I get remembered as one of the few people who fought against it, while others are not.

[Avidria]

I almost feel for zodiark, just a pathetic shell that ended up doing nothing. Total letdown. It'd be like Kefka just tripping and falling off the floating Island and dying. womp womp

I think it's partly the odd pacing of EW and then trying to shove so much into it, and partly that, like... For all intents and purposes, Elidibus was Zodiark. The same way Venat is Hydaelyn. We already fought "Zodiark" in Shadowbringers, the shell on the moon was just the husk left behind after the fact. At least that how I view it.

The moon fight was hugely anticlimactic, but that's partly because it wasn't a fight with Zodiark at all...it was a fight with Fandaniel. Who I found utterly uninteresting as a villain outside of the slight change in pace from "woe is me behold my tragic backstory that pushed me to villainy..." (Not to say I don't absolutely love the Ascians, BUT, that's the trend of like every other villain we've had recently except Zenos "fight me bro" Galvus)

Bit of a ramble there, but, yeah.