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

[Eisi]

Apologies, but I'd rather not. That has been discussed to death and a great deal of that discussion took place earlier in this very thread. Besides, I misread the quote from the story anyway and am therefore sorry for that too.

You did, BUT! There is still a quote in the text where Hien directly refers to G'raha as a scion. I was just a dumbass for not reading the whole text myself and having to be corrected by Cleretic.

[Theodric]

On the subject of the Scions, the previous story had this to say:



Source:

https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/10th_.../#sidestory_02

[Vyrerus]

Gotta wonder since the Scions are the Akatsuki in JP, do they just refer to themselves as the Akatsuki when asked for? Like we just shorthand them to Scions, but is there shorthand for Akatsuki?

[Vyrerus]

With faith uninspired with the last short story of the season, I'll be really surprised if Dawntrail isn't also lackluster.

My fellow Lackluster brethren, what are you up to these days? I've been playing FFXI more often than not, and can't help but think the Cumulus Masque's black half or in general would have made a good Ascian mask, whether it was just part of a transformation or not.

[ReynTime]

My sub expires in a few days. I may or may not come back, depends on my FC.
This is the first time I've been in an FC with around 15 frequent active members who all just stop playing indefinitely. The last active member let their sub expire a week ago so I have no reason to stay subbed for now.

I'm disappointed with not just FFXIV but SE as a whole. And the MMOs to come out since the 2010s have never interested me so I've been playing offline games, not exclusively RPGs. While the MMO market is completely unnappealing to me these days, between passionate indie projects and comfy but consistent non-indie releases I find myself with more than enough options for single-player experiences that I don't see the point in paying a sub fee to play a watered down, highly butchered execution of a single-player that XIV itself is pursuing.

I'd play XI instead, if they updated the UI. I know mods exist but I don't fancy paying for games in which players have to do unpaid QoL work for the official developers...

[Theodric]

With faith uninspired with the last short story of the season, I'll be really surprised if Dawntrail isn't also lackluster.

My fellow Lackluster brethren, what are you up to these days? I've been playing FFXI more often than not, and can't help but think the Cumulus Masque's black half or in general would have made a good Ascian mask, whether it was just part of a transformation or not.

Hah. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised but I think it's telling that they squeezed out yet another story based around a family that has already received a huge amount of attention during Endwalker. I think they're actively avoiding addressing anything relating to the Sundering at this point though given the previews of 6.5 it seems there will be yet another attempt to try and sanitise Venat and her followers. It seems as if the bleak apocalyptic vibe of the excess light in the First is also set to be exploited to solve the Zeromus situation. I can't express how weary I am of the focus on light, light, light.

I really wish I could enjoy Endwalker to some degree but it's really an expansion bereft of everything I liked about the game. The new PvP mode fell flat for me since I can't team up with my partner for it. There's no equivalent to Bozja or Eureka. What side content exists is tied to Hildibrand style 'humour' which is very much not my cup of tea. Despite it making perfect sense for it to happen, there's no Garlemald reconstruction either. The Void seems set to be wrapped up in a neat little bow despite being the perfect locale for an entire expansion. The list goes on.

I don't expect Dawntrail to be much different. Though with how eager CBU3 are to follow trends, hopefully it falls out of fashion to do whatever it is they're doing right now.

Funnily enough, I've been getting my MMO fix from WoW and ESO these days. They're both good for just playing casually when I want the backdrop of other players running around and some exploration. Neither are perfect, though the MMO market is slim pickings at the moment. As a roleplayer it helps that they have roleplay communities built around something other than 'venues', too.

Other than that, I've mostly been indulging other hobbies and other games - Baldur's Gate 3 has been a delight to play through and I quite like the exploration loop in Starfield. There's a few upcoming releases that I've eager to get my hands on as well - FFVIIR included. It's proof that Square Enix isn't necessarily the issue with FFXIV since they're more than happy to throw generous bones to people who like the antagonists in that FFVIIR. Just not in FFXIV, strangely.

[Lauront]

At least the sheer amount of releases and games in my backlog makes it easy to just let the sub lapse and forget about it. Still waiting for some further patching to BG3 before playing it more, so I am playing Kingmaker, which whilst a little rough around the edges in some ways, is a near perfect RPG experience to me in terms of how it plays, combining a kingdom sim with a Pathfinder RPG. Not that I expect an MMO to be able to compete with either for an RPG experience, but much like Theodric I'd sooner play WoW for an MMO fix these days than 14 as, messy writing aside, it is more of one than this is, and I appreciate that they're going back and adding things for the blood elves, as well as the playable man'ari Eredar option. I'm quite busy with work and other things, so I find myself wishing for more hours in the day.

[Vyrerus]

Hildibrand among other things

I actually had to login the other day to retain forum access, and I had yet to do the new leg of Hildibrand for the relic. It was very short though the comedy did land for me again. I'm easy to make laugh, heh.

But the most interesting thing that came from it was the nod to something both apart and not of Hildibrand. Apparently...

Hildibrand's ancestor was a Hyur midlander afflicted with a terminal illness that came in contact with an, I shit you not, Alien Symbiote. The Symbiote fixed and strengthened his body to a great degree, and this apparently passed on through the Manderville generations and is supposedly responsible for Godbert and Hildibrand's ineffable vigor. The storyline said that the Symbiote's race were called the Mandervillians and they had to flee their cosmic empire that was brought low by phenomena hinted strongly to be Meteion's Final Days

And that is legitimately the most interest I've taken in anything in Endwalker since we first opened up The Void. It means we might see the next threat be symbiote enhanced enemies. An ass pull lifted straight outta Spiderman! But one I've always rather liked, being a somewhat big fan of Venom and Carnage. Of course, it's just as easily discarded, with Godbert even having a line, "But the family tree says..." So idk. Like anything interesting in EW it probably isn't going anywhere cool.

[KitingGenbu]

I actually had to login the other day to retain forum access, and I had yet to do the new leg of Hildibrand for the relic. It was very short though the comedy did land for me again. I'm easy to make laugh, heh.

But the most interesting thing that came from it was the nod to something both apart and not of Hildibrand. Apparently...

Hildibrand's ancestor was a Hyur midlander afflicted with a terminal illness that came in contact with an, I shit you not, Alien Symbiote. The Symbiote fixed and strengthened his body to a great degree, and this apparently passed on through the Manderville generations and is supposedly responsible for Godbert and Hildibrand's ineffable vigor. The storyline said that the Symbiote's race were called the Mandervillians and they had to flee their cosmic empire that was brought low by phenomena hinted strongly to be Meteion's Final Days

And that is legitimately the most interest I've taken in anything in Endwalker since we first opened up The Void. It means we might see the next threat be symbiote enhanced enemies. An ass pull lifted straight outta Spiderman! But one I've always rather liked, being a somewhat big fan of Venom and Carnage. Of course, it's just as easily discarded, with Godbert even having a line, "But the family tree says..." So idk. Like anything interesting in EW it probably isn't going anywhere cool.

So in short, Eddie Brock is Godbert's ancestor? The spiderverse is wild....

[Snorky]

So in short, Eddie Brock is Godbert's ancestor? The spiderverse is wild....

Holy moly Batman.. wait bats eat bugs no this can't be are we getting Batman as a story too?