The atrocity that was the "In from the Cold" quest ending - *STORY RANT*

[Eisi]

So basically:

"WHAT IS THIS? A GAME?! YOU EXPECT TO BE HAPPY!?? UNLESS YOU'RE EDGY AND MISERABLE AND EVERYONE IS DYING - ESPECIALLY THAT ONE CHARACTER EVERYONE LOVES - IT SUCKS AND I HATE IT AND YOU SHOULD HATE IT TOO!!!!!!"

That's what I'm getting out of this post.

To lose the one character everybody loves is a tautology, because that goes for every main character. It's part of the reason why it would hit so hard, it's tragic on a more personal level and a loss that can not be justified. But I do also believe that there is more that would come from a death like this than mere tragedy. It would have profound impact on the trajectory of the other characters as well.

It was a story about war, despair, the end in multiple ways and that this scene in particular involved machiavellian hedonistic psychopaths and nihilists. A story about the end of all things, a story about the death of countless worlds. They didn't need to tell that tale, but you must hate Endwalker for its subject matter alone. You probably hated Quintus and Thavnair part II and the Dead Ends.

Because this is what I want from a story that wants to show me hope in spite of all this - I want it to show me the lowest point, to show me that yes, even there it is worth it to go on. That is true hope. And on an abstract level with the dead worlds and lost civilizations this is where the story went. Even with individual destinies of side characters it showed us. But on a personal level, it refused.

If you don't want character deaths, don't tell a story about the end and loss and despair, about a war-torn world and well, about death.

I absolutely agree the death fakes in Ultima were stupid

Not a position that I hold by the way. I just think that the WoL should have also "sacrificed" themselves at the end and lived through a dream sequence, a mystic tale about the end and their role in this story.

I HATE movies where they kill everyone off just to get cheep hearstring tugs

And so do I. I like deaths though, there is no substitute for it. It happens irl too and I like stories that dare go there and amidst deepest despair show you light everlasting. Some connection that even death might not sever.

When I think of being heroic, I DON'T think of being held down powerless while my allies are slaughtered.

The purpose of the bodyswap was to take away your powers so that you became a regular footsoldier. You were pretty heroic in the quest nontheless, but someone at that level simply can't touch an Ascian or a Zenos. That doesn't mean they are not a hero.