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

[KageTokage]

I feel like it's pretty hard to top "near extinction of all life on the planet" when it comes to tragedies, so the angle that Venat was trying to "play it safe" by not making any effort to change anything doesn't really vibe with me.

The main thing that bugs me is that they could've avoided most/all of the unpleasant and likely unintentional negative implications by simply having her memory get wiped as well, but they seemed care more about forcibly establishing a stronger connection to the player character for the sake of drama then anything else.

[Atelier-Bagur]

I feel like it's pretty hard to top "near extinction of all life on the planet" when it comes to tragedies, so the angle that Venat was trying to "play it safe" by not making any effort to change anything doesn't really vibe with me.

The main thing that bugs me is that they could've avoided most/all of the unpleasant and likely unintentional negative implications by simply having her memory get wiped as well, but they seemed care more about forcibly establishing a stronger connection to the player character for the sake of drama then anything else.

Which is fair that people can feel that way about the situation. Its just not something I would necessarily go that far into since the point of the story wasnt about changing the past anyway. But I do agree that it would've been better for her memory to have also been wiped but then it wouldnt explain Hydaelyn's secret plan to harvest the planet's aether to use it as a means to head into Ultima Thule or having her make the backup plan of escaping the star on a gamble.

It would've just left more holes into the established plot since it relies on her keeping her memories of Hermes and Meteion's plan.

[Vyrerus]

I wasn't planning on posting this anymore

I like the sentiment behind this post, as well as most all of the post as well.

I will say though, it's a common thing in RPG video games for information to be repeated ad nauseum. This is usually because the information itself is miss-able or at least deemed to be miss-able or perhaps hard to digest. Combine that with the fact that in Japanese fiction in general, repetition for emphasis has always been part and parcel to stories... Yeah, we get way more repetition than we need.

You'd think this would help the people who are barely paying attention, but I guess it just becomes a drone if they do, and might even cause more people to tune out.

[BRVV]

This isn't limited to Endwalker but is anyone anoyed by the writing and it's shortcomings in general?

The omega quests are about an entity that just wants to battle. The inserted old FF stuff in there is super forced. It reads like a fanfic.

I finally started the Bozja questline... it begins with a bunch of characters all talking the same way (like almost all characters in this game do) and spouting out lore. Did no one on the writing team hear about "show dont tell"?

[ReynTime]

I didn't mind that in Omega. At the time I thought it was just meant to be "the" FF fanservice raid.

But then the current MSQ arc happened which manages to be a lot less subtle than the Crystal Tower FF3 callbacks.

Endwalker aside I always enjoyed the setting in FFXIV way more when it wasn't trying to be a "Best Hits" of other Final Fantasy games. Maybe that's why I don't have a hate boner for the story of 1.0~1.23b like so many people seem to have.

[Atelier-Bagur]

This isn't limited to Endwalker but is anyone anoyed by the writing and it's shortcomings in general?

The omega quests are about an entity that just wants to battle. The inserted old FF stuff in there is super forced. It reads like a fanfic.

I finally started the Bozja questline... it begins with a bunch of characters all talking the same way (like almost all characters in this game do) and spouting out lore. Did no one on the writing team hear about "show dont tell"?

Its been this way since day 1.

Well day 1 of 2.0 at least. Really wish most of the msq and other important side story cutscenes had more cinematography and motion capturing like in the other games, especially the cutscenes in FFXII and FFXIII (which was how it originally was in 1.0 and it looked good)

[kpxmanifesto]

What exactly was the statement he made that gave him this reputation?

During the Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LXVIII, Yoshi P just seemed kind of unprepared to answer the fans' questions about EW's lore. He'd make comments like "I didn't actually imagine anybody would ask this" (3:40:57) or "wow you guys are paying close attention to this game!" (3:45:55). Like, dude this game is renowned for its story. Why is he so surprised that fans are looking for closure and want to ask questions that tie up loose ends?

He also couldn't answer basic questions about FFXIV's timeline, like how long has it been since 1.0 - "As far as the actual story is concerned, I don't really have an exact figure in mind or an exact imagining of how long it has been since 1.0 (3:49:20).

He would also deflect some of the questions by saying things like "when you're making this world you'll just sort of sometimes ignore things that are inconvenient" (4:25:35) and "I think you guys can come up with your own theories for this one" (4:08:49).

Overall, it just wasn't a very satisfying Q and A session for people either seeking answers to unresolved storylines or trying to fill plot holes.

You can watch the whole thing here at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRpdIL7_NII

[Melorie]

There's also a point in there somewhere about people playing a video game and expecting it to be the next Lord of the Rings in terms of quality. I don't expect an absolute masterpiece when I play a video game, so I'm very much satisfied and have a lot of fun playing something that's simply very good. A common thread I seem to find running through the complaints are people taking a video game way too seriously imo.

Uh. Disco Elysium, Planescape Torment, Night in the Woods, Outer Wilds, Pathologic 2, Spiritfarer, and I would say even Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Divinity II, Pillars of Eternity, Pentiment, etc, are all video-games with amazing stories, better than some books I've read. Acting like you can't criticize the plot of something because it is a "game" is such a narrow vision of what games can offer. This whole "you shouldn't take games seriously" are simply excuses to not think critically about stuff, which if it works for you... Wonderful, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be taken seriously at all. They're pieces of art and entertainment with a lot of possibilities. I'm sorry for you if you're not able to see this, you're honestly missing out.

Like, people have dedicated hours and hours to read the story, if you start the game now it'll take you MONTHS to catch up with the current story if you decide to read it and you can't think critically of this? The expansion biggest selling point is literally the story and you can't... take it seriously? LOL I'm literally reading a biggest amount of text than the entire Wheel of Time series combined and I should not think too much because it's just a game?

As of Endwalker: did I enjoy it? Yeah, but, at the same time, I can't think deeply about it. I have to enjoy it in a very superficial level otherwise the plot holes pop up constantly and I feel like most people find it the most amazing thing ever because they have no baggage. It's like the crowd that only reads Harry Potter and think it's the most amazing fantasy ever, because they haven't even touched Ursula Le K. Guin, Diana Wynne Jones, etc.

[Remedi]

5.0 dropped more than a year ago, unless your life is so empty I think you'd best move on more so if you believe nobody is hearing you.

[Melorie]

5.0 dropped more than a year ago, unless your life is so empty I think you'd best move on more so if you believe nobody is hearing you.

Dude, people are still writing Reylo fanfics and creating headcanons till this day, long after the last movie of the new star wars trilogy. If you think that someone passionate about a particular story has an empty life... You're in for a surprise tbh.