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

[AwesomeJr44]

You are not the authority on it. END OF. Yours is just one of many people and their opinions...and you're in the minority.

Stay mad Striker alt.

The worst part is that, literal seconds before posting, I removed portions of my post where I made clear that I was only talking about my peer's opinions because I wanted to keep it short. I thought "surely it will be obvious from context alone?".

In my experience, when you make posts on the forums, you have to assume the people reading your posts will intentionally take the worst possible interpretation of what you say, even when it's exceedingly obvious that that's not what you were saying. Either that or just assume you're talking to a child. You know what, it's probably both.

Indulge what? I loved Endwalker. It was a major satisfying conclusion to the story so far. End of? I'm pleased with how enjoyable it was and I am eager for the game to continue along the overwhelmingly positive trajectory it's currently on.

See how it easy it is to simply state it the other way? The difference is people who make it clear what they're stating is their own opinion rather than those who act as if their thoughts are magically absolute fact (doubly so when said comments fly in the face of actual facts).

Speak of the devil and he shall appear I suppose.

[NelaryNeaky]

At least Game of Thrones fans weren't as hostile to the idea that yeah, they dropped the ball in a pretty major way when it came to the finale. Here we get told we skipped cutscenes or goodness knows whatever else a certain crowd often resorts to.

The same crowd who, despite their protesting, would have loved any other alternate ending to Endwalker so long as it had official sanction by Yoshi. The inverse of the logic they are increasingly desperate to use in order to silence those of us who think for ourselves. They already proved as much is the case time and time again when the groupthink "corrected" for stuff like people calling out Menphina's design, only for the story then to switch to everyone somehow loving it? Or the same sort classic fear tactics used on streamers whenever they react to Elpis or Venat scenes the wrong way.

At any rate I do not understand why I should take those people seriously nor their constant need to jump in here. And to think, we might have gotten out of this expansion by summer's end if not for delay upon delay and we get to live the Endwalker experience all the way until possibly spring of 2024.

Man, I love your last sentence in the second paragraph. But I still wish you had shown some evidence for it. Just the phrase itself is absurd "classic fear tactics", like, people are somehow ready to hunt streamer or unsubscribe from him or what? You just say that as if people who first watch the scene already know about it in advance and know how to react to it to please their viewers on Twitch. That's a very strange accusation on your part.

No, I don't dispute that there may be such people, but what percentage of the audience would that be? 1-5%? No one would even notice them if the streamer was big. And again, what "classic fear tactics" will they use against the streamer? I just watch enough different reactions on the background (yes, I have nothing to do) and I don't see that the chat (if they are in the youtube video) are somehow trying to bully the person for their sincere reaction.

[Teraq]

If these forums had sound effects, there would be multiple high-pitched aggro pings as soon as the word "majority" is posted, or whenever someone expresses their (negative) opinion without the magic words.

You see, we stupid trancers suffer from aether-induced dementia as a side-effect of skipping all those cutscenes, and so we regularly forget the absolute state of this playerbase that is otherwise observable literally everywhere on the internet. Therefore it is necessary to urgently remind us of our lowly status and punch down as required! Surely this will stop giving this thread and its numerous effort posts attention.

[aveyond-dreams]

Surely this will stop giving this thread and its numerous effort posts attention.

Bit late for that given it's gotten 1,035,356 views already. And going strong, given the utter state of the writing in each patch.

[Midareyukki]

I have a weird question for you guys.

...is there anything you guys liked about Endwalker?

Like, sure, okay, it was a "major let down, end of" and all that jazz. But you guys are still here o: After 3 patches, and I assume it'll continue, yeah? Why? :| Do y'all think a miracle will happen and Square will change the course of their writing which they clearly haven't shown any indication of doing?

Now, I'm not saying "Go play another game if you're so bothered" since that's a stupid thing to say overall. But I don't understand why you guys want to remain in the game, knowing it won't change, knowing Square hasn't heard anyone's voice thus far...

Especially not when so many people have praised the expansion, both within and outside the forums.


I can go first, if you don't believe me. "Do I like FF14's writing?". No. Not by a landslide in Endwalker either. I enjoyed it, I think out of nostalgia and that's it. When I stopped to think, it just sort of crumbled? Venat was meh, Zodiark deserved better, Amon was irritating and I consider the Loporrits easily the worst addition to the entire franchise. I'm on an alt and my reaction to the plot halfway through Elpis was "Wow, this is so dragged out, and none of this is as well-written as other expansions were... Did they rush this?".
I don't even think the side stories leading up to EW were any better either, because I think Bozja's story was a depressing trainwreck, and I call Werylt gratuitous.
But I like it because... well, I personally can give it all a pass. I don't have to enjoy the story alone to find amusement in the game, which I do find loads. And even if the story has been "off" since Stormblood for me (a process me and my friends called the "Disneyfication" of FF14, turning the game too happy-go-lucky, consequence be damned), I figured it was the same cringy whimsical story other FF instalments have. A shame for sure, but nothing I can't swallow. Then again, I liked Dirge of Cerberus, so I'm not the paragon of "good taste in things".
I just ended up swallowing that this is how the game is now, Square certainly doesn't seem invested in changing it. I just accepted it and focused on the stuff I did like.

So what about you guys?

[AwesomeJr44]

is there anything you guys liked about Endwalker?

Garlemald, the moon until after the trial, Elpis until after Ktisis (ignoring the time travel), Pandaemonium.

[Kazhar]

I have a weird question for you guys.

...is there anything you guys liked about Endwalker?

Like, sure, okay, it was a "major let down, end of" and all that jazz. But you guys are still here o: After 3 patches, and I assume it'll continue, yeah? Why? :| Do y'all think a miracle will happen and Square will change the course of their writing which they clearly haven't shown any indication of doing?

If we're talking about the story, I don't have much to say against Garlemald and Thavnair 2.0. (I know opinions are mixed on these so I'm only representing myself here.)
The zero consequence Fandaniel stunt at the end of Garlemald was certainly a sign of things to come, but otherwise I thought it was great. I loved the story of heroes wanting to liberate a country that doesn't want anything to do with them because you can't just erase decades of propaganda and bad blood like this.
Thavnair 2.0 delivered what I expected from the Final Days. Too bad the momentum died completely afterwards.
I really liked Pandaemonium so far too, but I reserve my judgement fom the time being. There's a lot that could potentially go wrong in a single patch.

But I can safely say I no longer play this game for the story. It used to be a major motivation for me, now I'm basically here only because I still enjoy the raids and playing with my group of friends. Have they not been here, I would probably have unsubbed.

If 6.1 onwards was a completely blank slate with an entirely new cast (and generally more exciting than what they delivered so far), I could have seen myself giving the new story a chance. But it seems it's gonna be more of the same (and Yoshi-P's comments that they want 7.0 to be another "battle of values" are worrying to say the least. After EW I have no faith they'll do it right, and I firmly believe ShB was a happy accident).

[EgilTheStressedMage]

Another critical video analysis of Endwalker from Echoes of Etheirys, this time focusing on the writing’s treatment of Zenos.

https://youtu.be/F1wv4ehavhI

Good video. At this point I'm going with "It'S mY sToRy! *angrily stamps feet*" for the reasons Endwalker happened. Other than spite of the community, arrogance from the success, ignorance from the money, validation from Twitter, ascian bad, or flat out just does not care, there is absolutely no way they looked at everything they had before the launch of 6.0 and thought "Yeah this is perfectly fine, glitches, contradictions, forgotten lore and all." Indie games keep me functional in this insane Hell we live in.

[Rosenstrauch]

I have a weird question for you guys.

...is there anything you guys liked about Endwalker?

Aside from 99% of everything in Elpis, because I seriously can't get enough of the Ancients and would gladly trade whatever plans the devs have for 7.0 or 8.0 in exchange for an entire expansion set in the Unsundered World?

I was quite fond of 99% of what went down in Garlemald, too. I've got my gripes about that, of course, and I'm also of the mind that we should've gotten a Greater Garlemald expansion that ended in the capital rather than containing the entire thing to one zone, but what we got was good enough, I think.

I also really like what I've seen in Pandaemonium, the Sharlayan idiot who sent us there aside. Themis and Erichthonios are lovely characters, and it was nice to see a side to Lahabrea that was unfortunately absent due the lack of planning that went into him in prior MSQ content. I even think Athena, a sociopathic megalomaniac with a penchant for human transmutation, is a pretty rad villain. She's what Amon-daniel should've been, honestly.

Finally, I like Zero. I don't care some details, as usual. But I'm a sucker for broken people learning to live again, and Zero scratches that itch well enough for me. I can only hope they don't do something stupid with her in 6.4, 'cause "the writers do something stupid with a character I warmed up to" has been a recurring problem with Endwalker for me, but that's for the future.

Now, I'm not saying "Go play another game if you're so bothered" since that's a stupid thing to say overall. But I don't understand why you guys want to remain in the game, knowing it won't change, knowing Square hasn't heard anyone's voice thus far...

For me? Hope, mostly. Right now I'm in the "only paying one month per patch at most" phase of walking away, but so long as there's some hope that CBU3 will look at the backlash Endwalker received and course correct. And if they don't, well, I've got a pretty big backlog to work through, games I've been itching to replay, and so on.

In fact, I'm not even paying my sub right now. Couldn't log in if I wanted to. I only have forum access because it takes weeks for the verification check to kick in.

Especially not when so many people have praised the expansion, both within and outside the forums.

Prepare to cringe.

But seriously, I am never going to give a fuck about that.

[Midareyukki]

But seriously, I am never going to give a fuck about that.

Even if that's what Square is having the most? o: Because "some hope that CBU3 will look at the backlash Endwalker received and course correct" might not happen if they think they did well.