Anyone else just feeling really disapointed this expansion?*vent*

[Solarra]

I am feeling rather disappointed with EW, mainly with the MSQ and the pacing, although honourable mention must go to the numerous escort quests and the totally annoying stealth quests that have you following an NPC (one or two would have been fine imo).

This is new for me, in other expansions I've enjoyed the MSQ more with each playthrough (yes, even ARR), now I'm skipping cutscenes when I go through on an alt.
Even on the first playthrough the pacing was a major issue, especially towards the climax. I could have done with far less of the Loporits, and the slow questing around the final area of Labyrinthos killed any sense of urgency.
After playing through again, I took a closer look at the things that had bothered me a little the first time round. Without the excitement of wanting to know what happened next, the flaws became more apparent. The expansion felt rushed, done to a formula and full of plot holes and lazy devices.

Garlemand felt really rushed, I was so looking forward to meeting some of the main Garlean characters and seeing more of this area.
Need to get to the moon? Well there's this oh-so-convenient device that gets reconfigured (by magic) and there you go! For me, there was far too much of this type of thing, getting over what appeared to be insurmountable difficulties with absolute ease.
Too many times I found myself thinking along the lines, 'But if we could do this, then why didn't we just...?'
I found Hermes unlikeable and totally illogical and inconsistent in his motivations, which could have been the basis for a really great antagonist, except all of that was skated over and I felt we were expected to just accept his view of the world.
Similarly, Venat's motivations were never questioned and we are expected to simply approve her actions without reservation.
I felt the 'emotional' moments were rather manufactured. I have felt teary while playing through other expansions, but this is the first time I felt the game was really trying to manipulate the player's emotions in an almost cynical way, maybe it has just been overdone.
Fake deaths... again!... yawn.
After getting quite fond of the Scions and feeling like one of the team in Shb, I felt EW undid a lot of that good work and left me feeling rather fed up with them all. I was so happy they were going off to do their own things for a while and so disappointed that 10 mins later, we had to get the team back together.

I am hoping this is going to be like SB, a rather disappointing MSQ that was saved by the later patches. However, the story of 6.1 didn't shine at all. It was obvious who the Scions should have spoken to before going into that dungeon and just unbelievable that was the one person they decided not to let in on their little scheme.
G'raha turning from world leader to teenage fan-boy was disappointing too.
6.2 was better, but time will tell.

What's really lifted the expansion for me is the story behind the raids. That has been excellent so far and very enjoyable.

[ReynTime]

I found Hermes unlikeable and totally illogical and inconsistent in his motivations, which could have been the basis for a really great antagonist, except all of that was skated over and I felt we were expected to just accept his view of the world.
Similarly, Venat's motivations were never questioned and we are expected to simply approve her actions without reservation.
I felt the 'emotional' moments were rather manufactured. I have felt teary while playing through other expansions, but this is the first time I felt the game was really trying to manipulate the player's emotions in an almost cynical way, maybe it has just been overdone.
Fake deaths... again!... yawn.
After getting quite fond of the Scions and feeling like one of the team in Shb, I felt EW undid a lot of that good work and left me feeling rather fed up with them all. I was so happy they were going off to do their own things for a while and so disappointed that 10 mins later, we had to get the team back together.

I am hoping this is going to be like SB, a rather disappointing MSQ that was saved by the later patches. However, the story of 6.1 didn't shine at all. It was obvious who the Scions should have spoken to before going into that dungeon and just unbelievable that was the one person they decided not to let in on their little scheme.
G'raha turning from world leader to teenage fan-boy was disappointing too.
6.2 was better, but time will tell.

What's really lifted the expansion for me is the story behind the raids. That has been excellent so far and very enjoyable.

About Hermes... I'm not going to say Kefka, Sephiroth, Kuja or Yu Yevon are particularly outstanding or just good villains because that's beside the point. What made them ACCEPTABLE as antagonists is that they're built up along a long story and you have plenty of time to get to your own conclusion regarding each one as evil forces or just people (in case of the first three). Hermes and Meteion? They try to cram feels for them in one questline. Two for Meteion. Two questlines for what is supposed to be the final bad of 10 years of story. Most of which is just retcon/made on the spot.
And the best part of those aforementioned bads? They're planned from the beginning, it shows, and they don't even need that much screentime. Kuja isn't on screen longer than Hermes is, Sephiroth is on screen even less, we HEAR about him a lot but see very little of him in person (until the sequels, prequels, etc, pretty much shat all on that), and yet it works because like the other mentioned antagonists, they're still built through their actions and their consequences on the world or characters around you. The only reason you have to accept that Meteion and Hermes are why the final days happen is because 8+ years later they decided it would be so. And they try to explain all of it in less than 1/3 of a single expansion.

[Atelier-Bagur]

About Hermes... I'm not going to say Kefka, Sephiroth, Kuja or Yu Yevon are particularly outstanding or just good villains because that's beside the point. What made them ACCEPTABLE as antagonists is that they're built up along a long story and you have plenty of time to get to your own conclusion regarding each one as evil forces or just people (in case of the first three). Hermes and Meteion? They try to cram feels for them in one questline. Two for Meteion. Two questlines for what is supposed to be the final bad of 10 years of story. Most of which is just retcon/made on the spot.
And the best part of those aforementioned bads? They're planned from the beginning, it shows, and they don't even need that much screentime. Kuja isn't on screen longer than Hermes is, Sephiroth is on screen even less, we HEAR about him a lot but see very little of him in person (until the sequels, prequels, etc, pretty much shat all on that), and yet it works because like the other mentioned antagonists, they're still built through their actions and their consequences on the world or characters around you. The only reason you have to accept that Meteion and Hermes are why the final days happen is because 8+ years later they decided it would be so. And they try to explain all of it in less than 1/3 of a single expansion.

Yeah I think if I had to majorly criticize EW (even though I still very much like it) is that Meteion and Hermes werent given proper built up or even hints of their existence. And their surprise reveal to have been the true cause of the Final Days felt more out of the blue than anything. Again, I still accepted it for what it is but I wish they were able to foreshadow them more in previous expansions.

[kaynide]

…

This is the crux of what I consider a bigger misstep of Endwalker.

It was a weird choice (to me) to have Zodiak’s “heart” attack us as the “original warrior of light”, in ShB… and then for Zodiark to be a mindless… puppet..thing.

There is something to be said about having twists and turns, but sometimes you can just let the big bad BE the big bad a la Sauron or Voldemort.

There was no need for the entire 2nd half of Endwalker when it could/should have just been about us vs Zodiark.
No need to do a “oh and the Ascians weren’t branded and forced to serve, teehee.”
And “oh we already have a means to go to the moon”
And “sorry I’m such a bad father but it was in your best interest lolz!”

If anything, the post Garlean arch should have been “how do we get to the moon” and “we need help from everyone to make this work”, not “yeah we gotcha fam, just need you to throw some garudas in the engine”.

Sometimes, for better or for worse, it’s just better to make a solid conclusion, even if it is extremely easy to predict..and not go full Game of Thrones.

[Iscah]

No need to do a “oh and the Ascians weren’t branded and forced to serve, teehee.”

You mean Livingway's line about properly-done primals not tempering people, and you'd only get a tiny nudge from Zodiark? Apparently that's a mistranslation, or perhaps her tendency to understate issues, and other translations are more clear that something on the scale of Zodiark will still temper people.

[kaynide]

You mean Livingway's line about properly-done primals not tempering people, and you'd only get a tiny nudge from Zodiark? Apparently that's a mistranslation, or perhaps her tendency to understate issues, and other translations are more clear that something on the scale of Zodiark will still temper people.

Mostly this, yes. That the Ascians were explicitly not tempered (or if they were, it’s not strong enough to be meaningful). Were Emet compelled to fight us to the death, despite wanting to find another way, it would have made him more interesting.

I get them doing what they do, but it makes for a better tragedy if they have/had no choice. An “even if the ascians found another way to bring back their old friends, they could’t because they were forced to keep feeding Zodiark”

This could have been made all the more tragic if Elidabus was a first attempt at bringing back their friends, only for him to be a primal himself. (In a similar vein as Tiamat making bahamut).

Them realizing that even if they wish their friends back..they actually won’t really be those people…yet they are still forced/enslaved to serve Zodiark.

I don’t know if that would be a better story.. but I would have preferred a story meant to end the Ascian story to focus entirely on things established and not make up new lore entirely.

The constant changes in established lore disguised as fleshing it out was not something I enjoyed. Like the introduction of “janky primals” or Dynamis.

Though, full disclosure, I did/am enjoying the game..especially in chunks.. just the entire package feels off.

[Skyborne]

chadpost

My feelings exactly.

I'm tired of seeing people tear each other apart over differing opinions. It doesn't matter. No one is going to change their mind, because people aren't wired to do that once they've been conditioned in their subjective, personal experiences. People are not that self-reflective on average. If someone tells me, "Well, I'm having fun, and so are millions of other people" I just don't get it, because I don't know millions of people. I just know me, and my friends who aren't here anymore. This is not a "wow im so much better than the sheeple" opinion. This is a "My perspective is outright irreconcilable to a sizable portion of people, and it probably works the other way around as well." opinion. "Get some perspective", real interesting hearing that from a forum that constantly refuses to engage in simple empathy for anyone but their own side and sling frequent one-liner gotchas designed to hurt others. "Screw the other side, they're my enemy, hope they are miserable." I myself am guilty of this. The lines in the sand have been drawn for a long time.

Yes, I am disappointed in Endwalker.
No, I don't think there's anything I can ever do about it.
We can never go home.

Yeah, not particularly concerned about "majorities" that cannot be proven either way, only myself and my friends.

About Hermes... I'm not going to say Kefka, Sephiroth, Kuja or Yu Yevon are particularly outstanding or just good villains because that's beside the point. What made them ACCEPTABLE as antagonists is that they're built up along a long story and you have plenty of time to get to your own conclusion regarding each one as evil forces or just people (in case of the first three). Hermes and Meteion? They try to cram feels for them in one questline. Two for Meteion. Two questlines for what is supposed to be the final bad of 10 years of story. Most of which is just retcon/made on the spot.
And the best part of those aforementioned bads? They're planned from the beginning, it shows, and they don't even need that much screentime. Kuja isn't on screen longer than Hermes is, Sephiroth is on screen even less, we HEAR about him a lot but see very little of him in person (until the sequels, prequels, etc, pretty much shat all on that), and yet it works because like the other mentioned antagonists, they're still built through their actions and their consequences on the world or characters around you. The only reason you have to accept that Meteion and Hermes are why the final days happen is because 8+ years later they decided it would be so. And they try to explain all of it in less than 1/3 of a single expansion.

- enhanced super soldier who goes insane and gains god powers
- enhanced super soldier who goes insane and drops a meteor
- theatrical bioweapon goes insane, turns against his creator in a rage over his inevitable death
- summoner that once protected a recreation of his city, now degenerated into a mindless ravenous fiend
- Only Sad Man In The World researcher cannot accept the concept of death, goes mad from finding out his world is actually a relatively nice place and he wasn't vindicated... so sad.... doesn't he have a point? This says a lot about society.... so the narrative blatantly wants to make us think.

Man, putting him in the same category makes him seem even more out of place. (bear with me, I haven't played some of these in a while...)