Can 7.0 focus on a storyline without the philosophizing

[TheDecay]

We really don't need another lecture on the meaning of life or existentialism. We don't need to watch yet another monologue on how life is worth living and we can still have purpose even if we fail and suffer, or how humans have free will and we need to fight for our purpose and choose our purpose even if we might fail, defying our fate and the purpose others impose on us (basically existentialism).

It's quite enough, CBU3. Please find some new material. Please write a story with nuanced and interesting character development perhaps, that isn't just traveling with 7 people who just alternate between "you are my friend and I appreciate you" or "don't die on me".

EW had barely any character development, and now FF16 doesn't have it either (other than maybe Joshua). It's like character arcs no longer exist in CBU3 games, giving way to the philosophy and life lessons that CBU3 wants you to remember. Which is fine once or twice but it is seriously getting tiring and tedious when it's the twentieth time the same moral of the story gets repeated again and again.

[tsuchii]

Is this ragebait? LOL
That's not a valid feedback. You can't just demand a game developer what they should and should not go creative-wise. It's their story to tell.

That kind of storytelling you are describing has always been a signature of the Final Fantasy main titles. Character development doesn't always have to be drastic to be interesting or nuanced. But yea, you are entitled to your wrong opinion.

If you want other styles or stories, there are plenty of other options outside of XIV.

[TheDecay]

That's not a valid feedback.

Thanks for being frank about your bad-faith attacks being bad-faith so I can skip reading the rest of your post.

[Nav_Fae]

Thanks for being frank about your bad-faith attacks being bad-faith so I can skip reading the rest of your post.

The only thing bad faith around here is your passive aggressive hated for CBU3.

[Jojoya]

It's hard to write an interesting story that's not going to have some philosophical point involved, and there will always be those who go searching for it then pointing it out to everyone around them.

I can agree it would be nice if they would at least vary up the theme a bit more. The "oh you were right, I was bad, I will be better from now on" does get a bit tedious with repetition though it doesn't bother me that much as long as I'm enjoying the story overall.

Is this ragebait? LOL
That's not a valid feedback. You can't just demand a game developer what they should and should not go creative-wise. It's their story to tell.

That kind of storytelling you are describing has always been a signature of the Final Fantasy main titles. Character development doesn't always have to be drastic to be interesting or nuanced. But yea, you are entitled to your wrong opinion.

If you want other styles or stories, there are plenty of other options outside of XIV.

It is valid feedback.

I don't see any demand language being used by the OP. I do see request language being used.

No need to get on the OP's case over this.

I swear, a ton of you people sound like you did not even pay attention to the EW story lol, these forums never disappoint with the hot takes.

Or people did pay attention to the story and got something different out of it because their life experience is different from yours.

One thing I've always hated about literature discussion is the "experts" insist there is only one correct interpretation for a piece of work even when the author states things are left open for the reader to interpret as they wish.

[Kazhar]

One thing I've always hated about literature discussion is the "experts" insist there is only one correct interpretation for a piece of work even when the author states things are left open for the reader to interpret as they wish.

After more than a year discussing that story with various people, I'm glad someone finally said it.
Nothing is more annoying than those who constantly talk about "media literacy" as a shortcut for disagreeing with the hivemind, ironically ignoring that the entire concept of being media literate is the skill of analyzing a story through an open-minded and critical (not necessarily negative) lens. Which sometimes involves understanding but disagreeing with the author's intent.
The point of reviewing media isn't to reach a nebulous consensus or an objective truth, but to be able to express our emotional connection to it (or the lack of it).
Most of the regulars who are critical of Endwalker have a very good understanding of what the story was trying to do. It's not exactly subtle about it. They just happen to either dislike the message or the way it was told. (in my case it's both)

And yes, about your second point, Yoshi-P literally opened the QA session of the infamous live letter 68 by saying that the story was meant to be open to interpretation. So any attempt at dismissing opinions because they don't reach an "acceptable consensus" is even more laughable in this case.

[iVolke]

Is this ragebait? LOL
That's not a valid feedback. You can't just demand a game developer what they should and should not go creative-wise. It's their story to tell.

So players aren't allowed to critic the story? That's a weird take.

"You can't tell Disney you thought Palpatine coming back was a bad idea, it's their story to tell!"

[Kranel_San]

We really don't need another lecture on the meaning of life or existentialism. We don't need to watch yet another monologue on how life is worth living and we can still have purpose even if we fail and suffer, or how humans have free will and we need to fight for our purpose and choose our purpose even if we might fail, defying our fate and the purpose others impose on us (basically existentialism).

It's quite enough, CBU3. Please find some new material. Please write a story with nuanced and interesting character development perhaps, that isn't just traveling with 7 people who just alternate between "you are my friend and I appreciate you" or "don't die on me".

EW had barely any character development, and now FF16 doesn't have it either (other than maybe Joshua). It's like character arcs no longer exist in CBU3 games, giving way to the philosophy and life lessons that CBU3 wants you to remember. Which is fine once or twice but it is seriously getting tiring and tedious when it's the twentieth time the same moral of the story gets repeated again and again.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. The entire 6.0 EW MSQ and the whole concepts of Dynamis and "The universe and its world have fallen into depression and that's why they're all dead" is quite boring to me. Perhaps one of the most boring cosmic-themed concepts I have seen so far in the history of gaming. Do you really want to convince me that the vast expanse of the universe, with hundreds, thousands, or even millions of civilizations got wiped out because of depression and despair? That they share the same understanding of emotions as the rest? That no one managed to stand against it other than a group of 16-30 years old scholars who took it down via the power of friendship? I'm not trying to shame people who like this sort of philosophy, but I'd prefer actions, actual mysteries, plot twists, and grey morality where neither side's actions are justified just like ARR/HW story writing over emotions and friendship.

[TheDecay]

I wholeheartedly agree with you. The entire 6.0 EW MSQ and the whole concepts of Dynamis and "The universe and its world have fallen to depression and that's why they're all dead" is quite boring to me. Perhaps one of the most boring universe-themed concepts I have seen so far. I'd really enjoy a return to the ARR/HW style of story-writing with its grey morality.

Exactly. Once or twice is fine but they've been doing this for six years now and it's really getting stale. There's really only so many times they can use the existentialist/defying fate trope before it completely loses its power.

[PEANUT]

Exactly. Once or twice is fine but they've been doing this for six years now and it's really getting stale. There's really only so many times they can use the existentialist/defying fate trope before it completely loses its power.

There is also beauty in consistency. These characters have been around since 1.0 days, they're not gonna just drastically change, they have developed their personalities and characteristics to become who they are all these years as we've watched their progression. If Y'shtola suddenly became lazy or an a**hole a character that wouldn't make sense right? So their belief in friendship and lending a hand and never giving up is gonna play into how they react to the events of the story, so yes, all of these expansions are going to include things that challenge those characteristics, such as existential crises, defying fate, etc...