Quote Originally Posted by ArcturusWhisper View Post
Back in Shadowbringer, I was exactly those that want to stick game texts to the screen of those who couldn't stop gushing about how "perfect" the Ancient society was, so that they can properly read them. And yet here I am, despairing at people's ability to be consistent. Regardless of how "imperfect" that society was, regardless of what flaws they had, declaring that they deserved to be wiped out by one woman flies in the face of the morals of Shadowbringer.

5.0： No matter how imperfect, or flawed, people deserve to live.
6.0: lol nope, this particular group deserved to be wiped out for their flaws.
Indeed, Ancient society in ShB did seem less perfect than it did in EW, if you talked to the NPCs in Amaurot. The instance when our party is mistaken for children and warned that it would be best to don robes as they were probably being watched was particularly chilling.
Yet, there was no further development of this idea and Venat removing her mask in the EW short story is clearly not treated as a major infraction.

Had we been presented with a society where every action was watched and deviation from the norm had dire consequences, it might have been easier to accept Venat's actions. Instead the EW story presents us with a society closely resembling our own, only in some respects better. E.g. Hermes' rejection of society's norms is met with attempts at understanding and does not prevent him being promoted to the highest office.


My feelings about EW have made me look at the rest of the story and see that many of the flaws have been present from the start.

There has always been a tendency to tell rather than show.
E.g. We are told Minfillia does important work, but most of the time she's seen in her office alone doing nothing.
We are told Tartaru prevented undesireables from joining the scions, but we never see her doing that, she simply checks your name is on the list and lets you in.
We are told Lyse is the best person to lead the Resistance, but we never see her doing much to justify this.

Pacing has often been off.
The Loporits getting so much attention is the latest example, but the pre-HW quests dragged painfully and the return to Uldah in HW, felt like a very unwelcome interruption to an exciting MSQ.

Fake deaths have been overused from HW onwards. And Scion plot-armour means we're probably stuck with them forever (can't sell as much merchandise if you kill them). I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they tried to revive Emet Selch at this point!

So, I'm not expecting anything better from this writing team in the future. The story is pretty good for an MMO, and there have been flashes of brilliance now and then, but overall I wouldn't say it's great literature. After ShB, I was expecting so much more from this story and for me, it totally failed to deliver.