Endwalker is pretty great

[ForteNightshade]

You can comment however and whatever you feel like on threads. You can also make your own threads for anything and whatever.

The issue they're pointing out is that this thread is made purely as a reaction thread to other threads. The thread does not feel geniune, it feels forced(especially with the inaccurate comparison of IS to Orthos to Eureka/Bozja). A lot of the OP's post reeks of trying to be unique and different, rather than for the sake of putting something accurate and genuine forward.

This is the impression I walked with myself. Now it may not have been OP's intention, and I fully acknowledge that. What led me to that conclusion though is how their praise is largely contained to small pieces of content instead of the whole thing.

Take their Island Sanctuary paragraph. There's no mention towards the content itself (positive or negative) but rather a focus on outdoor furnishing as a major addition? That... shouldn't be a selling point when praising an expansion. Even Ultimate sort of falls under a similar category. Despite being someone who does all of them, they make up a disproportionally small amount of the playerbase. In fact, last I checked, TOP barely managed 1% and DSR 2-3%. Now I want to emphasis this is not, inherently, a bad thing. It's content for a specific subset of the playerbase with minimal develop cost per Yoshida's own words. That being said, it's hard to praise an expansion on the basis of Ultimate when so few players will ever touch the content. Ultimate is more that second dessert you indulge in after going out to dinner. It's a treat but not the main course.

Then you have the Eureka/Bozja comparison to... Island Sanctuary? That doesn't even make sense. The two are widely different pieces of content with completely difference targeted demographics. If you're going to try making a comparison, Criterion was sitting right there and while it still doesn't really work, it certainly fits better than Island Sanctuary. Speaking of which, I noticed the lack of Criterion. A lot of hardcore players I know liked the content... but not the rewards. I find it a bit interesting there was no mention of it whatsoever.

Perhaps I'm entirely wrong here and none of this was a response to the uptick in negativity but that's my takeaway.

[EliaStormblade]

I would really like to see them iterate on Island Sanctuaries, but I have to admit my ideas kind of fall short there. I do know that one half of it has to do with integrating official housing plots (long overdue), but the other half? The actual activities? It has to be better than just gathering, but how? I don't think they want to ever tie battle content to it, so then what do they do with it? Not saying there's nothing they can do, but I'd like to see what people think about it. Minigames?

[Absimiliard]

I would really like to see them iterate on Island Sanctuaries, but I have to admit my ideas kind of fall short there. I do know that one half of it has to do with integrating official housing plots (long overdue), but the other half? The actual activities? It has to be better than just gathering, but how? I don't think they want to ever tie battle content to it, so then what do they do with it? Not saying there's nothing they can do, but I'd like to see what people think about it. Minigames?

Hunting seems like it would be an appropriate minigame for the island. The game already has a handful of very simple first-person shooting minigames, so why not throw one of those in there?

[EliaStormblade]

Hunting seems like it would be an appropriate minigame for the island. The game already has a handful of very simple first-person shooting minigames, so why not throw one of those in there?

True. I was also thinking... why not have at least a little battle content? Like finding really strong animals in the wild and having to subdue them in actual combat rather than just catch them? Or something like that. Make it semi-challenging and rewarding

[Absimiliard]

Actual combat would be welcome. Admittedly, I don't really care for the gathering and crafting side of the game. I only ever got into it because I'm a greedy mofo with a love of currency. Being able to engage with the island through violence would make it a lot more appealing to me.

[Hurlstone]

True. I was also thinking... why not have at least a little battle content? Like finding really strong animals in the wild and having to subdue them in actual combat rather than just catch them? Or something like that. Make it semi-challenging and rewarding

I would agree with adding some of the mini-games, could even be a way to improve the animal catching mechanic which is a bit meh. Personally speaking though I like how Island Santuary is a non-combat place. I liek the idea of it being a more chill place of farming and long-terme planing over combat, but thats just me haha.

[EliaStormblade]

Actual combat would be welcome. Admittedly, I don't really care for the gathering and crafting side of the game. I only ever got into it because I'm a greedy mofo with a love of currency. Being able to engage with the island through violence would make it a lot more appealing to me.

Yeah, I just don't see them doing too much of it, nor do I think it would capture what made Bozja good for a lot of people... unless they allow for actual group interaction in it? Maybe. But they could at least have some island-themed combat. Maybe you're exploring it and come across a particularly strong mythical creature that basically acts like a boss FATE with its own mechanics, such and so. It would be better than just flowerpicking.

Other than that, maybe they could have Gold Saucer like minigames on occasion that also tie into the theme. I also recall someone mentioning some sort of archeology thing, but I don't know if that's at all likely.

[Kaurhz]

Actual combat would be welcome. Admittedly, I don't really care for the gathering and crafting side of the game. I only ever got into it because I'm a greedy mofo with a love of currency. Being able to engage with the island through violence would make it a lot more appealing to me.

On this note... IMO the absolute reluctance to tie crafting into combat-related activities (e.g., Dungeoneering), or vice versa (e.g., Treasure Hunting in IS) will ever be their biggest drawback.

Saying that, in general, they do have a somewhat reluctance of tying systems together to create something more substantial rather than just all these individual systems that nigh on act independently. e.g., Why not add BLU into deep dungeon, or why not reuse the logos/essence system in V/C, and/or deep dungeon.

[TomsYoungerBro]

I agree with DSR being a major success. It has been the best piece of content they have ever released IMO. Though a lot of that development was during ShB (and meant to be an ulti in ShB), so can't really give all the credit to the EW expansion for that one. Where you lost me though was TOP XD.

TOP being the most difficult fight to-date is a great thing for ultimates sure, but its polish and fight design are IMO one of the worst in an ultimate. Some of the clear bugs and enrage snapshots are god awful. I'm 99% sure the Omega beetle enrage is bugged because it snapshots extremely early and has wiped my group trying to build/hold which is an important thing in ultimates. I'm not sure how you can put TOP above TEA in terms of fight enjoyment and polish, but to each their own I guess? I personally would even put UCoB over TOP.

[BaconBits]

Midwalker lmao