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

[Absurdity]

Also, watching the world race right now - It's funny, 'cause there was a WoW player on talking about how XIV doesn't have a ramp up from Normal to Savage content, so that makes it a bit tougher. Then the other guests gleefully explain that's why XIV is better. ? ? ? ? ?

So they invited nothing but sycophants, nice. Basically anyone with 2 braincells to rub together can see that having no difficulty curve and then a massive difficulty cliff from normal to even just extreme is not good design.

[Lunaxia]

omg, you totally missed the part where everyone said that Venat committed genocide. It was INTENSE, and everyone was like "yea, i never liked her, I'm just surprised it took everyone to catch on to how fake and evil she was."

It's okay, they inadvertently say that during the raids anyway

For me, it's been that way since back in 6.0 during the Hydaelyn fight. (I really did try, for the record, to see it through, but frustration won out.)

(Though it would have started regardless when we were revving up to save the world and I was suddenly required to pause to give a bunch of neurotic scientists a pep talk. That was actually likely the moment I lost the ability to have faith in the writing completely.)

[RyuDragnier]

I can't help but feel it's a little less a case of "things are just getting better" - the forums went really off the rails with the mud-slinging prior to 6.4's release - and more that previously, people with more positive inclinations towards the story were "this is fine"-ing the MSQ and holding off on criticism for what they presumed would be an eventual pay-off, only to have another patch offer... really not much of anything at all, which has led to more grumbling in a good chunk of the playerbase and by default made taking a more critical look at the game suddenly much more common and acceptable. There's still an air of bitterness about though, and some players still can't help but get in digs, as you can see here.

Mud slinging prior to 6.4 is an understatement. If I recall, it started during Shadowbringers, especially when it came concerning whether or not one felt "Emet-Selch did nothing wrong". You'd have the Ascian stans getting on the case of people who weren't in their favor, and people who weren't in their favor getting on the case of everybody who was. I do not recall any insane amounts mud slinging prior to that...off the top of my head anyway.

[Lunaxia]

Mud slinging prior to 6.4 is an understatement. If I recall, it started during Shadowbringers, especially when it came concerning whether or not one felt "Emet-Selch did nothing wrong". You'd have the Ascian stans getting on the case of people who weren't in their favor, and people who weren't in their favor getting on the case of everybody who was. I do not recall any insane amounts mud slinging prior to that...off the top of my head anyway.

I wasn't around when that was going on, so I can't really comment. I just know that previously most of the conflict was contained to this and a few other threads, and generally happened when someone with a grievance against negative opinions would come in and obliquely imply something unflattering to start off an argument. For the past few weeks it seemed to suddenly reach a peak with both sides forming factions and taking out grudges on the other, until basically everyone was strawmanning each other and trolls started joining in and further stirring things up. 6.4 seems to have poured some water on it, thankfully.

...I kind of regret not being around, though. I'd love to see the logic employed behind such arguments.

[Dorito_Burrito]

omg, you totally missed the part where everyone said that Venat committed genocide. It was INTENSE, and everyone was like "yea, i never liked her, I'm just surprised it took everyone to catch on to how fake and evil she was."

My favorite part was when she sundered everyone again, making them even shorter.

[Boblawblah]

My favorite part was when she sundered everyone again, making them even shorter.

So lalas had a couple extra sunderings..that explains so much.

[ArcturusWhisper]

Oh, you guys will love this particular little tidbit of the French localisation:

Instead of commenting on Athena's ambition with "And you would destroy the lives already upon it!", Erichthonios says "You would destroy current mankind to replace it with your 'new species'!? This is madness, that's… genocide!".

Interesting phrasing, isn't it? It's like you could literally just transpose this, word for word, particularly the specification of current mankind (because there is a special place in the sea of stars for people who just lump the Ancients and the Sundered under one big "mankind, unspecified"), to what anyone at all SHOULD have said to Venat.

Hey… she does have exactly the same eye color after all, doesn't she? Mommy…

I keep feeling the quest dialogues are like subtweeting You Know Who, even in English, lol. Guess I am not the only one.

I know that many of the dialogues by Lahabrea are really meant to hint on and contrast with what he became in the end, but the funny thing is whatever you want to say about Lahabrea it applies twice more to Venat, so the effect becomes hilarious and why I feel its basically subtweeting her.

[Xeronia]

I did the patch, I am upset at they fact they fixed the King Slime Hat on flight movement as Vrtra wasn't nearly as insane as Shinryu was at the end of EW in the physics. Moving onto the story it was...bad. The more I reflect on it the more I end up disliking it. So Golbez should have been a solo fight if he was just going to shake off the fight and go ahead like I barely scratched him anyway. In terms of the rest of the story I skipped one cut scene as the recap my friends gave me was enough to get what was going on and I didn't really care to see another food scene and fan-service Estinien. Overall this arc just feels bad to me in so many regards like the power-scaling and just how uninterested I am in Zero are major factors of me not enjoying the story arc much.

I will also cite doing optional content really didn't help this story arc. Oh you did Void quests? Sorry we can't even give you an option to say they are busy and can't help. You did the EW final role quest? Sorry it will never get brought up again as it has too many requirements. I really found it funny i needed permission to get in a tower I was already in once to deal with the final role quest. Like I understand there was more then just entering the tower but I would have liked "So can I bring up I saved you all from the blasphemy of the final role quest and call it even?"

Honestly 7.0 better show me something more interesting and I am just not excited for the main thing the game sells itself on, the story. I did enjoy the other content don't get me wrong but it is done so quickly I feel like I can just go "Actually play at launch and the X.55" camp if it continues as Endwalker has and I would save a ton of time and money.

[GaiusDrakon]

Why is this useless thread bumped again?

827 pages of discussing drunken writers' attempt at hardcore 20th century philosophy?

It's not that deep: the writers wanted to write a deep, nuanced story but failed. Which is why we have Venat and why the story is so inconsistent on whether Venat is "good" or "bad", in a way that miraculously somehow still doesn't portray any nuance. Imagine that.

827 pages of trying to find Answers in bad writing.

This thread started off basically saying that but now it's Venat vs Zodiark fanclub fight lol

Bruh even the writers don't know wtf they're writing and what exactly they want there's literally no point in trying to analyze this as if it's writing deserving of analysis. Don't forget that they try very hard to retcon characters because they are popular. E.g. Yshtola was supposed to die in 2.x but survived because people buy body pillows of her.

[Kaoru_Nagisa]

It is somewhat refreshing to see this thread still active, even if I feel it has long since become pointless; CBU3 and Yoshida clearly have a vision for the game, and its story, that runs opposite of what many people would have liked. For myself, at least, there is no longer a point in trying to bring the problems of it up, because nothing will be changing - they've made their bed, and chosen their audience. I appreciate those still fighting to showcase the atrocious state both the story and the game are in, however. This thread, for better or worse, stands as a testament to how poor of an expansion Endwalker is - what should have been our capstone to a 10-year long story, wasted and turned into the slop it is.

And this is what we can expect going forward? Atrocious.

I haven't bothered with these forums for a while now, as they too have not changed - the same voices trying to bring proper criticism, suggestions, and concerns to light, only to be shouted down by the same cultists who feel anything negative thing said about the game is a direct attack on themselves. It's an exhausting place, honestly, and I say this as someone who deals with the dribble of WoW's forums, lmao.

I've been spending much of my time with WoW. It ended up taking over as my "main" MMO, whereas ESO has been put in my secondary rotation that I sub to when I feel like/can afford to (which-- was recently, actually. Necrom is fun!). I also have added LotRO into the mix, finally, and I have to say - these three MMOs are likely to keep me satisfied for a long time. I can't recall a time in the past 10ish years where I felt as happy and relieved to go home and play an MMO, as I have since I left this game and moved to those three. It's done wonders for my mental health, and I have three games that all fill different needs in ways XIV never has - I couldn't ask for more, honestly!

And it is because of these MMOs, that I have finally been able to cancel my sub. I held on to it out of some misplaced nostalgia and attachment to my XIV characters, and due to the atrocious housing system; in a perfect world, I wouldn't have to be chained to an MMO I haven't logged on to in.... months, just to keep a house for the potential day I and my FC members return to this game. But as time has passed, I realize the likelihood of that has been slowly ticking down to a nice, solid "never". And frankly, in this economy? I can't afford to be paying for garbage I don't use. Especially so, when there are three other games far more worth what money I do have to spend on video games.

So I'm finally free. Free of this disappointment, of this wasted potential. Of the cultists, creeps, and lazy, terminally online complainers. My sub ends tomorrow, and I've finally uninstalled FFXIV - only keeping the screenshot folders, and even those will be getting pruned at some point when I feel like bothering, probably.

I wish I could say it was a fun journey, but over the months since I first floated away from it, I've come to realize I haven't really had genuine, all-encompassing fun or enjoyment with this game since Heavensward ended. I just kept lying to myself about it, or kept holding on for aspects it still was keeping me entertained with, even as other parts faltered. Up until I couldn't anymore, with Endwalker.

I think the only thing I'll really miss is the music - which I can listen to outside of the game, anyway. I'd miss my friends, but... most of them have left the game, as well, and many of us went to WoW (with some of us trying out LotRO, and a couple playing ESO off and on). My characters? The ones I was most attached to, I just yanked over with me to whatever other MMOs I ended up in.

Honestly, when I logged in to get stuff settled and pass money to the one friend who still actively plays, I felt... nothing, looking around the dead neighborhood we've inhabited for years. Only a small spark of sadness and regret when in our house, and I think much of that is more attributed to all the memories we made within it, rather than the place itself.

To those still finding things worth staying for, despite the problems you have with much of the game: godspeed. I am happy you can find those spots of entertainment and joy, genuinely. I wish I still could.

To those still keeping this thread active: godspeed. You have more fight in you to see change happen than I do, in the end. I'm too old to yell at an egotistical developer and his cult following, trying to see things return to how it was when I first fell for the game. I'd rather just give my money and time elsewhere, enjoying my free time and having fun adventures in gorgeous, thriving fantasy worlds with unique lore and settings that are allowed to exist outside of the PC.

I still appreciate this thread existing, and having given me an outlet for the feelings I felt alone in feeling back then. Though I no longer really interact with some in that one discord, I did appreciate the time I spent there, discussing things with others who felt as I did - and even having nice debates, and seeing the perspective of others, even if I may not have fully agreed all the time. I hope most of you are doing well, wherever your own adventures have taken you.

For now, it's good to be free. Was my journey worth it?

No. No it wasn't. Not when this was the payoff.