I hope the Writing doesn't remain like it did from Post 5.0 to Now (post 6.0)

[Denishia]

Reminds me that the reason I don't want to re-play Endwalker on an Alt/NewGame+ has mostly to do with how deeply negatively impacted my experience was having to suffer through Emet's obnoxious narration at the start of every zone in EW and the sheer relief when Alphinaud took over for the final narration. Elpis as a zone was not enjoyable but at least it had Hermes and Meteion and to a lesser extent Venat to salvage the experience, but when Emet dethroned Zenos as the least enjoyable or welcome Final Fantasy XIV character (and FF character in general), EW is worse than ShB in both his omnipresence and the writers' assumption that I enjoy him. He was a well-written antagonist but never anything less than manipulatively vile and frustratingly free from allowing our character to talk back to or counter, and the brand of villain wish-fulfillment that the Azem+Hades friendship hinges on is one that I find repugnant more oft than appealing. Coupled with my bored-at-best-to-outright-dislike of most every element of Amaurot salting the ground for that emotional beat to have any pull, that we're moving off from the Ascians and Ancients aside from a probably last bit in Thaleia has me beyond relieved. I know exactly why he and other related characters and plot beats and settings are so popular, and this isn't unique to XIV - one can get very used to series with a giant cast and yet the lone disliked character out of hundreds unfortunately being fan favorites.

[Turnintino]

Emet-haters rise up! ⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝

I sometimes wonder how much more positively I would've regarded those parts of Endwalker without his presence lol. The Elpis scenario, in particular, is riddled with things I take issue with, but it might've gone down a little easier if I wasn't being constantly beaten over the head with Emet-in-a-Xehanort-wig on top of it all.

[Cleretic]

Emet-haters rise up! ⸜(*ˊᗜˋ*)⸝

I sometimes wonder how much more positively I would've regarded those parts of Endwalker without his presence lol. The Elpis scenario, in particular, is riddled with things I take issue with, but it might've gone down a little easier if I wasn't being constantly beaten over the head with Emet-in-a-Xehanort-wig on top of it all.

I think the big struggle with Elpis for an Emet-disliker is that it's not necessarily an Emet story--it's much more about Hermes and Venat, Emet and Hyth are just incidentally present--but it's very deeply tied into elements that an Emet-disliker is probably inevitably turned off by. I don't know many Emet-dislikers, but for the ones I do it's rarely just 'I hate this guy and his smug face', there's always something about his greater story, and Elpis is just that story told first-hand instead of second-hand. So cutting him out wouldn't suddenly make it good.

I can imagine an Emet-less version of the events of Elpis quite easily, but I can't imagine a version of that story that I'd actually like all that much while still remaining 'the Elpis story'.

[Iscah]

Emet's obnoxious narration at the start of every zone in EW

The narration might have been bearable if Emet's voice wasn't so whiny. It really ruins some of the lines.

Emet-in-a-Xehanort-wig

I really could not take him seriously with that hairstyle. What were they thinking?

That said, I found him relatively bearable in Endwalker because he wasn't the villain from Shadowbringers, yet, so it didn't seem fair to hold any of that against him. Still my least favourite person from that story arc, though.

[Denishia]

For me it's that Emet has the same level of appeal, physically and emotionally, as Valens Varo. Emet has a little more inner emotional complexity, but character-wise saying someone likes Emet feels the same as saying they think Valens is attractive and compelling. Yet core emotional and narrative beats at the end of ShB throughout EW don't function if there isn't a positive emotional connection where he's thought of as entertaining to listen to and welcome to be around, equal to the Scions.

Which, I find people complaining about the story not killing off the Scions or completely ditching their characters after EW to be not just tiresome but lacking in narrative structure understanding (and marketing, but that is a valid consideration given too much weight in critique) - yet I do understand that response because it is that same one I have to Emet's over-saturation and his in-universe relationship with the WoL built not on what makes sense but the fandom's love for him. The Scions aren't my favorites, but at least I have the comfort that the character I found a cancer on the story only overstayed his welcome until 6.0.

It's the same problem with why Zenos didn't work for me until Endwalker's writing used his character and the associated tropes in a manner that finally felt novel and narratively satisfying. Because Zenos also demands that your WoL have a specific feeling of "this guy is a great rival and threat" (when his fights were boring) that shades into a meta-commentary on a player mindset that makes him a direct foil and frenemy ...if the player wants to see Zenos as that foil. And while the final option at Ultima Thule doesn't satisfy with the option to deny Zenos his fight, at least there's an attempt at variety in player choice responses. The option to rebuff or at least be neutral on Emet (and Hyth) isn't really there because the writers decided to tie the WoL to Azem and too strongly conflate the two without the dialogue option to reject or rebuff "Azem liked you so it's reciprocal". A mistake that they don't do with Ardbert. As an "Emet-disliker" there's a lot of reasons and the "WoL is a direct incarnation of Azem" isn't the sole reason but it definitely exasperates it and creates another reason why the Elpis section is nowhere near a favorite game segment.

I enjoyed Ilberd as a villain - he was sympathetic while also fun to hate and entertaining and his dungeon fight was fun - but I think it would have been interesting to think of Stormblood was given the Endwalker treatment: Ilberd is the narrator instead of Lyse and you're getting his post-death commentary and narration on each zone, the second half of the Peaks includes not just learning about the rebellion against Theodric but an extended Echo flashback where you're buddy-buddy fighting alongside him, Curtis, and Raubahn, and then his ghost manifests to help you in the Shinryu fight. And his role in Wilred and Papalymo's deaths are glossed over.

[Cassar]

I think Emet is such a fundamental part of the story of FF14 as a whole that if you don't like him then you probably just don't like the story that much overall. Like, they're not putting him everywhere in Endwalker because people like him, they're doing it because he's that much of an important character, especially in that context.
I remember (although I don't have the source) the devs saying that they always meant to make Emet an important figure in Endwalker, even before they knew his overall positive reception from the fans.

I understand where people that dislike him come from, though. I guess my point is that I think it's just very unfortunate that you ended up disliking one of the most important characters .

[Denishia]

I think Emet is such a fundamental part of the story of FF14 as a whole that if you don't like him then you probably just don't like the story that much overall. Like, they're not putting him everywhere in Endwalker because people like him, they're doing it because he's that much of an important character, especially in that context.
I remember (although I don't have the source) the devs saying that they always meant to make Emet an important figure in Endwalker, even before they knew his overall positive reception from the fans.

I understand where people that dislike him come from, though. I guess my point is that I think it's just very unfortunate that you ended up disliking one of the most important characters .

That's my feelings for a far greater extent for people would dislike the Scions or who fell in love with Amaurot/Elpis to the detriment of 99% of the game's setting and lore and zones. Emet's an important antagonist but he wasn't even the most interesting one for me to want to tease out their motives and emotional connections (that was Ran'jit! I am not kidding. Ran'jit with his Caius Ballad vibes) in Shadowbringers, and it's the later game assumption that I would connect positively to him in a way that it doesn't even demand from Elidibus or Zenos.

And as said, I have a lot of practice with loving or at least being neutral on a cast of hundreds in a long running piece of media while also having a prominent or fan favorite character be one of my most beloathed fictional characters (Wheel of Time and Rand al'Thor).

[WhiteArchmage]

Some important characters are meant to be disliked, though. You're meant to hate Thanos but he's arguable the most important character from Phase 2 and 3; you're meant to hate Hojo but he's arguably one of the most important characters in FF7, Kuja in FF9, Emperor friggin Mateus in FF2. Antagonists are antagonists because they set the plot in motion, and sometimes you can understand an antagonist's motivation while disliking or even hating them.

I have many issues with Emet, but probably the bigger one in EW is when tells the most tone deaf and hypocritical thing to the worst person possible at the worst time. "Who are you to decide whether we live or die?" to the head of a facility tasked with creating and ending new life... in said facility... granted, Emet's a huge hypocrite in general.

[Brightamethyst]

A big part of Emet's appeal is that he's the first, and only Ascian to actually talk to us. Prior to ShB, the Ascians spent many years being cartoon villains plotting and scheming in the dark. Their presence was all over the story but we the players never got any closer to solving the Ascian "mystery". Eventually it became more annoying than interesting.

And then ShB came along and Emet finally talked to us like real people and straight up explained what the hell was going on. It made him more... real, I suppose, than any of the other Asicans to date.

[Cilia]

I don't hate Emet-Selch, but I don't understand the rabid fan appeal he has. He's a great character, just not one I particularly like.